Well, she did it...

Before as Christy does Bradie's hair...she is SO good for Christy! It makes me mad...for like two seconds. Seeing that precious face is worth it!

Dropping your kid off at school is such a huge range of emotions the only thing I can find to compare it to is actually BIRTHING the little human in the first place! Okay maybe that is dramatic, but if you've read my last post, it makes sense. Speaking of that post, soon after I went and picked blackberries with the kids and now have a freezer full of black/raspberry jam. Tremendous help to my funk.

Anyway, enough about me! Bradie did great today, no tears, no dramas, just her happy-go-lucky self after that brief "Bradieweariness" wore off! I am proud and EXHAUSTED as I realized much of my angst as of late had direct relation to this milestone. Sigh. A happy, relieved sigh. So far so good. And that is good enough for me right now.

Man, these pictures really are pathetic! But those mommy images I have tucked away are pretty priceless and I can still hear her little voice say "I think I'll miss you at preschool mommy"

blech

happy "new year"! Teacher culture and life celebrates the end of shaggy, unshaven fancy freeness and the beginning of new possibilities that STRUCTURE can bring! But, oh, the adjustment. It is hard around here in Merryweather land. Marcus comes home quite glazed this first week or so and it is challenging to get all the things done I would like. Out of perspective this can actually turn into much anxiety and a general tearfulness for me. Pathetic right? I know! It is crazy. This morning I woke at 4:50 (thanks Marcus' alarm!) and instantly begin running through birthday ideas for Bradie. If I weren't half asleep I probably would have had a panic attack! Sometimes not having a "real" job is tremendously hard. Like floating in a dinghy in a boundless ocean. Being able to do "anything" is such a tall order sometimes. I don't want to be a driven busybody of a mom but I don't want to waste my days either. I want to savor life, I want fruit, I want to be intentional with my kids. But I also want a clean desk and to not waste my precious, limited closet space. I want to find time each day to be in God's Word. I want to lose the 8 pounds I've gained since weaning Beau....blech.

Kinda journal-y for this blog, but sometimes keepin' it real is the only way. So there, anxieties cast out upon the One who cares with a side of gritty update. Order up.

beauflex

Happy 18 months little man!

Giving your child a name of a very common sound is just too much fun sometimes. The past two days I have heard Bradie call her brother "Beaubadyer" which is very similar to something that daddy calls him (Beaubadiah) and it kills me because she uses her sympathetic sister voice and eyebrows* both times she's said it.

Let's see, Beau's latest tricks: climbing on chairs in the kitchen, climbing on the toilet to reach the deodorant, climbing to try and reach for knives....see a pattern? At least he can't be sneaky! The sound of a dining table chair being dragged across the kitchen is, thanks be to God, unmistakable. So welcome to round two of toddler foolhardy naughtiness!

Positively, welcome to fun games, sweet kisses and giggles and the general yumminess that is Beau of the past. Now add some true personality and you have the verdict: the kid rocks, people!

*you don't know Bradie until you know her eyebrows!