Perspective

My brother-in-law's father is dying. For some reason I find myself crying a lot. I feel so bad that his family has to see their dad go, I find myself thinking more about me and my dad and how I do not want to see him (or Mom) go and how sad I will be when that day comes.
It also brings back all the feelings I had when Britt and Taye died.
Death just brings a new perspective to life. I wish I had something really profound to say, but all I have to say is that all that is important in this life is how we act, what we DO, and how we treat people. It really doesn't matter what "things" we have or how much money we earn, etc.
I have a lot of regrets in life, I just want to start fresh, with a new goal to be positive and happy no matter what situation I am in.
I give you all permission to help keep me on track, just give me little reminders if I start to veer off course! :)

Jealousy...inevitable with the "Middle Child"

I've been feeling really bad for Will lately. I can see him fight for attention. While I'm rocking James to sleep and John is helping Patrick do homework, Will is literally running from John to me or vice versa trying to get in on the one on one. It's heartbreaking for me to feel unable to give my child what he needs.
Tonight, Patrick was on the computer with a camera hooked up so he could have a video phone conversation with his best friend, Haillie. Will really wanted to talk to her too, which he did, but it was only a 2 minute conversation, definitely not long enough for him. On the other side of the room, James got a new toy to try out since he is now old enough for the "Johnny Jump Up". Poor Will, he needed something new to do too!
Here is an example of how Will was feeling tonight:

Luckily, we needed a few groceries, Will got to go to the store so he could have his daddy all to himself!!!

Hope it helps.

My old Friend, Drew

This is Drew (about 11 years ago) probably after some craft night we just had! :)
Drew and Matt eating breakfast that we made for them. I love Jana in the background!

I have an old friend who was recently diagnosed with cancer. He's a very funny, very cool guy and my first couple years away from home would not have been as fun as they were if I didn't have him in it...Anyway, here's a link to a blog that explains more and has the info if you feel like you'd like to help out...

http://laptop4drew.blogspot.com/

Oh Happy Day!!!

It's been way too long since I've posted, but better late than never right? :) This has been kind of a fun week; full of milestones for us.
On Sunday, James' first tooth broke through, so he's not sticking his tongue out as much as he had been the week before.

Today Will went #2 on the big potty all by himself (2nd day in a row, but yesterday was in the little potty). After about 5 days of going in his underwear, we're finally here! I'm so excited to only buy one size of diapers, it's definitely a huge progress for Will!!!


This isn't really a milestone, but it's a change for me. For over a year I've been growing my hair out. I liked it but then it just started getting too heavy, especially for St. George so I got it cut. It was a horrible experience, so this week I chopped it. It feels nice to have my hair out of my face and having a specific "hair due" is nice. I'm weird, I know, but I like it better than just letting it fly all over the place and ending up like I didn't even do it....Ayway, here is my new due:

Sometimes we get a little bored down here cause the kids haven't really made close friends yet, we have to get creative so the boys don't kill each other. I love this picture of Patrick and Will. They had a lot of fun playing with these cans. I was actually surprised that Will could do it so well, he caught on really fast.

Last week my mom accidentally bought grapefruit juice thinking it was orange juice, my dad's been trying to come up with some ways to make it taste better so everyone will drink it. Well, yesterday there was some left over Black Cherry Koolaid in the fridge, he added the grapefruit juice and then to sweeten it up some more, he added Sprite. It was drinkable, but still bitter and not really a juice I'd like to drink for breakfast....Anyway, Will really took to it and calls it his Happy Drink -- it makes him happy. The "zip" really is only Sprite, I promise! ;) Here's a picture of Will and his Happy Drink, which is now all gone, guess you'll have to make some more, Dad!