Chasing My Blessings

Recently my vet said that our dogs, now that they are 7, are considered "seniors." I have to admit, my heart sank a little when she said that. I can still remember the day I hand-picked each of them from their litters. While they are not litter-mates, they are from the same set of parents, so siblings none the less. They were both very different as puppies, but equally lovable. We got Ellie a few months after we got married. At around 5 pounds, she was the runt of her litter of 11 and just as sweet as could be. She has always been our more anxiety-prone dog, and certainly not the dominant one of the two. We didn't know it, but she had parvovirus when we got her, and for the first 2 weeks we had her I rarely left her side, shuttling her to and from the vet office nearly every day for more fluid. Till this day, she and I have an unspeakable bond. Her loyalty is most apparent when there is an unfamiliar face at the door, or when Bill gives me any type of affection. She lo...

I'm not sure if this is how it works in other people's households, but this is how it works in ours. Husband makes a sandwich and takes it to the table, or couch where he can watch whatever sporting event he is currently following, and eats it. Wife makes a sandwich, puts all of the "sandwich fixings" back in the fridge. She notices the countertops are dirty and so she proceeds to clean them. She then throws in the load of laundry she was reminded of while she was cleaning the countertops. She lets the dogs inside. One of the kids tells her he is hungry and/or thirsty so she fixes him a snack. She shoos the dog away, who is sniffing and aggressively and searching for the sandwich, which is still sitting on the counter, untouched. She then proceeds to clean up after her child, who is done with his snack. The other child is now fussing and she puts some new toys out for him to play with. She lets the dogs outside. The phone rings, and it's her mother. She has to...

Ok so maybe I'm being a bit facetious. The truth is, we have worked really hard these last seven years to build a solid marriage. We have both grown a lot as individuals and as a couple and while I am a firm believer in that old phrase, "there's always room for improvement," I can honestly say I think we are in a really good place right now. Yes, our lives are busier now than ever before and that obviously creates a certain amount of stress, but we are able to take it on and work through it together. As we have each learned the other's strengths and weaknesses, we have also learned to swallow our pride in certain situations, and let the other take the reigns.                     Like most of our anniversaries, we didn't actually do much out of the ordinary today. I ran in a 10K and Blake ran his first kid's fun run, while Bill and Landon cheered us on and snapped photos to commemorate the event. Afterwards, we came home and Landon nap...

I encountered some headwind on my run this morning, which made for a good workout since I was pushing a double baby jogger that weighs in excess of 75lbs. I was reminded of a recent conversation I had with my husband, an avid cyclist, who said that "headwind doesn't really matter much when you are running with a jogger like it does on the bike." Right, because a double jogger is so much more aerodynamic than an exceedingly fit man riding a bicycle with a sleek frame made out of carbon fiber. My rebuttal was met with my husband's firm conviction that he was right, and I could see that I was not going to win this one. Although I couldn't help but feel a little defensive, I decided to drop it. Chose your battles and chose them well. Lesson learned: A man on his bike will not be outdone by a woman pushing a baby jogger.

Blake: "Mom, when I'm big, I'm gonna be in charge like my dad." Me: "Maybe, but who's really in charge?" Blake: "You are mom. But dad is sometimes, right? When you're not." Me: "Right." (after coloring a picture) Blake: "This is a picture for my dad. It's for God to look at, but for my dad to have." Blake: "Mom, I see the moon! It looks like Africa." Me: "Africa?" Blake: "Yes, Africa." Me: "Is that where Marty and Alex live Blake?" (from Madagascar) Blake: "No Mom, they live in our TV, not Africa."

Blake    born 4/24/07 My firstborn. It took a little bit of time to convince my husband that he was in fact "ready" to be a father, and then getting pregnant was a little more difficult than I would have hoped, so his arrival was much anticipated. He was a clomid baby. First time (thank goodness) was a charm. I was a blubbering mess in the delivery room. The sheer joy and excitement I felt in anticipation of finally becoming a mother had definitely gotten the best of me. As soon as he was born, my midwife laid him on my chest and I knew I had never seen anything more beautiful. My heart swelled to a size I didn't know was possible. Our lives with him the last 4 years have been nothing short of exciting. He has opened our eyes to so much we would have otherwise may never known. He made us parents. He turned 4 recently and he we got him a pedal bike (sans training wheels), to replace the balance bike without pedals he had ridden for nearly a year. He learned to ride it in ...

Well, I guess I am. Maybe it's the peer pressure I am feeling, because I know so many people who blog. When I was young, my parents used to say to me, "if your friends were all jumping off a bridge, would you do that too?", and I suppose sometimes I would have. Maybe it's just the simple fact that I need a creative outlet, an escape if you will, from the daily wife/mother/nurse duties that have become my life. I think it's actually a little of both. My husband actually came up with the name of this blog. I had intended to name it, "counting my blessings," but seeing as it would be a place for me to reflect on my life experiences- so much of which involves my children, it seemed "chasing" was a better fit. So often my kids will say/do something that blows my mind, and I think to myself "I've got to start writing this stuff down! I'm going to want to remember it later." Currently, I have 2 children- Blake (4), and Landon (1). ...