Thinking of them...

My experiences over the past year have taught me many things, but one of the most important of these is a greater sense of empathy for anyone dealing with loss (adoption or otherwise).

So when I read about these families whose plans have been so drastically interrupted by the recent events in Haiti, I could identify with them.

My heart & prayers go out to them. I hope that all of their families can be brought together safely & soon!

Thursday's Soapbox: Helping Hands

(I know wrong day, but this post has been sitting started in my poor list for such a long time & my brain is quite fried, so pleeeease forgive me! ;)

Toddlers~they bring so much joy & wreak so much havoc at the same time!

My little whirlwind can tear apart our house in minutes if he feels the need to do so, especially if I have just cleaned the floors!

Toys can be strewn throughout the main floor of the house just waiting for their chance to injure big feet within seconds...especially on days when he decided that sleep was not really necessary the night before.

And food can be tossed on the floor when he decides he is done eating it & then left unnoticed to 'petrify' on its own without a care if one of the big people doesn't see it immediately...

So, when the phrase "Lukey help!" entered the vocabulary many months ago, you can bet I went with it!

Now...

When food is thrown on the floor-he has to clean it up, especially if it is a big mess (with lots of supervision of course.)

When evening comes-he must pick up all of those toys strewn across the main floor & hopefully is learning that it is much easier to pick it up once he's done playing with it, which is something we've been working on too.

When the washer is done, he has become a super helper who can push closes in the dryer faster than I can get them out of the washer.

And, last but not least, now dishes are flying out of the dishwasher (& into my hands then to the cabinets) at lightning fast speeds-who knew dishes could be so fun?!

Disclaimer: Just because all of this "help" is very much appreciated & is good most of the time, does not mean that it is always the case. It also doesn't mean that my house remains spotless (far from it actually), but I'll encourage any interest he wants to show in these household tasks & if he ever gets married someday-maybe his wife will be able to thank me someday! ;)

Think he's missing some folks???

Things that came out of Luke's mouth today...

"Uncle Eric do a somersault?"

"Aunt Beth, SEE Aunt Beth!"

"Wyatt has crackers? Go get them!"

"Play? Play with Brielle?"

"Megan, do a somersault?"

"Melissa coming?...Aunt Emily coming?"

"Go see Jellybean?"

"Pauline's house...go there!"

Hmmm...maybe we should plan to do some visiting sometime soon :) I'm just going to take a stab at it here & say that maybe he's tired of seeing just mom & dad day after day.

No worries to any family members not mentioned here in this post-even though he may not have mentioned you today-I can guarantee that he HAS mentioned at least every single person in both my family & Scott's over the past weekend AND the 2 snow days before that (when he was stuck at home with me ;) at least once!

Please know that you are all very much loved by us & by at least one little 2 year old out there in the world most especially & don't be surprised if you get unexpected company sometime soon ;-D

NEWSFLASH!!!

This may come as a shock to all of the meteorologists, news anchors &/or the media in general, but it's...

WINTER and it's JANUARY!

So, I would expect it to be cold & gee, somehow as I recall, I think it was cold last winter too...all of these news reports on the 'record' cold temps & the 'possibilities' of snow lead me to wondering...

What could it possibly be like next winter? Hmmm, I guess I'll just have to wait & see ;)

"Auf Wiederschauen"...

is the answer that I got when I searched for how to say goodbye in Austria & these are the words that I am using in this post for someone whom we had to say goodbye to today...


Fr. David, our priest.

He was a generous, sweet, gentle man & a great priest.
From the moment I first became a member of our parish, he had always made me feel welcome & as if I had always been a member of the parish.
He was relatable-he let us know his shortcomings, which in return helped us to better understand our own.
He was unique for a priest in the fact that he too was an adoptive parent (to a son via foster care who is now Scott's age) which gave him insight into the world of parenting & left him with some great stories to tell.
By the way, have I mentioned that he was also a great storyteller/writer & one VERY proud grandpa :)
He was an awesome example of carrying one's burdens without complaint-he had the terrible duo of Parkinson's & cancer, but he very rarely complained about either.
He loved music & no matter how awful our parish sang-he always held out hope that he could make us better :)
And as you can probably guess, he was well-loved by his family, friends & parishioners & he will be greatly missed!

He also liked to travel & especially liked Austria where he was hoping to be able to visit again one more time...
So after the funeral, I came home & played the piano for a little bit (maybe he heard it :) & I searched the internet for how to say goodbye in Austria & the answer I was given is written in the title of this post, but what I failed to mention is that the actual definition I got for these words was...


"until we see each other again" & once I saw that-I knew it fit perfectly!


So, Fr. David, "Auf Wiederschauen" :)

Logic from 2 year olds...

Episode 1:
On New Year's Day, while celebrating Christmas with my family, my sister Emily reported that her 2 year old, Megan (who is only 2 days older than Luke & who's mom is also attempting to potty train her) said while sitting on the potty a few days earlier...

"I didn't fall in mom, I just touched the water." :)


Episode 2:
This morning as I was pouring my cup of coffee, Luke says...

"Two year olds drink coffee"

To which I replied...

"No, two year olds don't drink coffee"

He came right back with...

"Two year olds see the coffee"

I couldn't argue with that, I guess.

Resolution Time!

I believe that I was a miserable failure with last year resolutions, but that's OK-this is the reason we get a 'new' year every year, right? :)

My resolutions for this year are as follows...

1. Lose at least 20 lbs. (But I hope I can make it much, much more!)

2. Read 40 books this year, including some "classics". This is the same number as last year, but I only made it to 34 so I still have room to improve! I am also planning on trying to make more of them 'thinking' books, thus adding in a few more classics this year.

3. Run 3 miles/5K. I think this is totally doable-I just need to keep working on building my stamina-the most I've worked up to thus far is about .5-.6 miles at a time so I still have a ways to go.

4. Set & follow good routines to help our household run more smoothly. I had many good routines in place back in 2008, but it was mostly all me doing them. After Scott's job loss-he took on many of these tasks since he was home & then after getting the new job-I never really took them back up again & he didn't have the time initially to keep doing them either. We have been floundering quite a bit around here in recent months & we've realized that we BOTH need to take part in some of these chores that had previously mostly fallen on me to do, if we are going to get things back in order & KEEP them that way.

So, there you have it, the 2010 list & I think that they are all VERY achievable! Best of luck to all of you with whatever your resolutions may be! :)