People email me pretty often these days asking why I’m not updating the blog like I once did. I apologize. Let me tell you a story to try to explain my current situation….
Once upon a time, in an average home in an average American town, a little family lived out their days. The daddy went to work each morning. The mommy wrote press releases and grants and cared for her daughter. The daughter played all morning, ate lunch and then took a two-hour nap during which her mother updated the family blog, cleaned, paid bills, prepped supper, brushed her teeth, finished writing assignments or caught a few ZZZs herself. All was well in the world.
One cold day in mid-November 2008, the daughter declared herself beyond napping. “No more naps, Mommy!” she announced with her little hands on her hips and her head tilted just so. And despite the mommy’s best efforts to manipulate the situation, the daughter really was done with naps. No amount of begging, bribing, yelling or praying influenced the daughter’s resolute decision. Her napping days were over.
Thus the mommy’s world was turned upside down. The family blog became the least of her worries. Entertaining and educating her daughter while also meeting deadlines and maintaining a clean, safe home became all she could do. She suffered through the holiday season trying to be merry and bright, all the while staggering under the weight of life with a toddler who no longer napped.
Slowly but surely the mommy has adjusted to a complete lack of alone time and the constant chatter of her daughter who only sleeps at night and never, ever takes even an extended blink during the daylight hours. The mommy hopes to share with you more of the family’s adventures as time and energy allow. They will live happily ever after, right before your eyes on this very blog.
This story was inspired by true events.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Happy New Year!
We brought in the Year of the Ox by celebrating with other area families with children from China. We are so blessed to have many Chinese American kiddos in our state! Here's my favorite picture of the evening with our darling, innocent child squeezing her new friend into hysterics. We also uploaded pictures to our Flickr account if you want to see more! Happy New Year! Xin Nian Kuai Le!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/84389878@N00/
Friday, January 23, 2009
Take Your Vitamins Every Day
Reagan's Nai Nai (my mom) is really into vitamins. She has a tray (which I would use for breakfast in bed if it were mine) that lives on her kitchen counter. Every inch of it is covered in pill bottles and we have no pharmacists in the family. Short ones, tall ones, fat ones and they all fix something or build something or make something function better. She takes her vitamins and supplements daily at breakfast. When she travels, she carries her beloved supply in a big Ziploc bag and proceeds to spread them out and take inventory whenever given the opportunity.
During our Christmas visit, Reagan spent several mornings quizzing Nai Nai about vitamins in general--their individual purposes, tastes, colors and size. Nai Nai explained them as she downed them. Reagan watched in fascination.
At home Reagan eats her own vitamin each morning in the shapes of Bam Bam, Pebbles or Dino. I swallow one of the Flintstones down myself now and then for good measure and a little trip down memory lane.
I had no idea how much of an effect those vitamins had on Reagan until this morning. We were stir crazy. I suggested shopping and Reagan jumped up, nodding her head vigorously. "Yes, please!"
We headed to Walgreens and perused the aisles picking up chapstick, toothpaste and cheese sticks along the way. We made our way down the vitamin aisle purely because I wasn't yet ready to go back into the cold outdoors. At once Reagan starts bouncing around in the cart. She leaned this way and that, spinning her neck around like a demon-possessed kid in a B movie.
"Where Nai Nai? Where Nai Nai go? Nai Nai here!!" I couldn't figure it out. We hadn't even been discussing my mother. Now Reagan was leaning toward the shelves...the shelves of vitamins. She pointed and reached and pointed some more because her mother isn't the sharpest crayon in the box.
"Nai Nai's vitamins! Nai Nai here with vitamins!" And she was right. We were in Nai Nai's Utopia, the vitamin aisle. We were surrounded by brown bottles and giant letters like E, D and A. I explained to Reagan that Nai Nai was in Colorado with Papa and that other people in the world take vitamins, too. (Though, knowing the size of my mom's collection, I appreciate Reagan's opinion that all the vitamins known to humankind are Nai Nai's).
She was disappointed to say the least. We headed for checkout in silence and on the way out to the car, Reagan leaned in to me to protect herself from the wind. She whispered in my ear one more time, "Nai Nai's vitamins in there."
During our Christmas visit, Reagan spent several mornings quizzing Nai Nai about vitamins in general--their individual purposes, tastes, colors and size. Nai Nai explained them as she downed them. Reagan watched in fascination.
At home Reagan eats her own vitamin each morning in the shapes of Bam Bam, Pebbles or Dino. I swallow one of the Flintstones down myself now and then for good measure and a little trip down memory lane.
I had no idea how much of an effect those vitamins had on Reagan until this morning. We were stir crazy. I suggested shopping and Reagan jumped up, nodding her head vigorously. "Yes, please!"
We headed to Walgreens and perused the aisles picking up chapstick, toothpaste and cheese sticks along the way. We made our way down the vitamin aisle purely because I wasn't yet ready to go back into the cold outdoors. At once Reagan starts bouncing around in the cart. She leaned this way and that, spinning her neck around like a demon-possessed kid in a B movie.
"Where Nai Nai? Where Nai Nai go? Nai Nai here!!" I couldn't figure it out. We hadn't even been discussing my mother. Now Reagan was leaning toward the shelves...the shelves of vitamins. She pointed and reached and pointed some more because her mother isn't the sharpest crayon in the box.
"Nai Nai's vitamins! Nai Nai here with vitamins!" And she was right. We were in Nai Nai's Utopia, the vitamin aisle. We were surrounded by brown bottles and giant letters like E, D and A. I explained to Reagan that Nai Nai was in Colorado with Papa and that other people in the world take vitamins, too. (Though, knowing the size of my mom's collection, I appreciate Reagan's opinion that all the vitamins known to humankind are Nai Nai's).
She was disappointed to say the least. We headed for checkout in silence and on the way out to the car, Reagan leaned in to me to protect herself from the wind. She whispered in my ear one more time, "Nai Nai's vitamins in there."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
