every captive thought

Wow! There is a major storm blowing in. How exciting! Except Brad is out on a run right now. Hope he runs fast! That is the difference between a real athlete and myself...he runs even though there is a severe thunderstorm warning...I run for cover. Today I had such an immense amount of grocery shopping to do that I dropped my son off with his Nana so I could concentrate. It took me 2 hours. I don't think I have ever grocery shopped for 2 hours before in my life. It's exhausting. Anyhow, I got back to a spoiled little boy. He was asleep when I got to Mom's and when I woke him up, he didn't want to have anything to do with his mommy. He just wanted Nana. Spoiled, spoiled, spoiled. I love it! He's easy to spoil. I am looking forward to this 4 th of July weekend. Both of my sisters will be in town! I can't wait to see them! Bean is also coming to town and we will get to see him too! I have a lot to get done between now and Friday. We have also started planning a t...

Have I ever told you the story of my engagement? I didn't think so! It's such a good story. Brad and I started dating on August 15, 2004. We had known each other for years before that though. Of course we met at a coffee shop. He worked there and I went there everyday. After our first date, he brought the most beautiful bouquet of flowers up to my office. A couple of days later he was off to San Diego. He was in the Navy. We kept in touch and saw each other about every 6 weeks. Eventually he moved back to Amarillo. Our normal routine was to eat lunch together every Saturday at our favorite park. But on October 1, 2005, he told me he wanted to meet me at my apartment and he would stop and pick up lunch on his way there. He finally called me and asked if I could come down to the parking lot to help him. As soon as I got down the stairs and outside, I heard the clippity clopping of horses. I looked around the corner and there was my handsome Bradley, in a suit, holding a bouquet o...

In the 11 or so years that I have known Brad, I have rarely seen him as excited as he was on Saturday. Sure he was excited when we got married...when we bought our house...when our son was born...but Saturday, the object of his deep delight was this... Yes, a brand spankin' new edger/weed eater (that he spread out all over the living room to admire). His excitement was enough to get him out in the nine-thousand degree heat for FOUR straight hours. His excitement caused him to do this... (read the entire manual) And this... (smile while doing hard sweaty work) And this... (flex his great big yummy muscles) And all of this caused me to sit inside in the nice cool house for a long time, perplexed and pondering what could possibly bring me the same measure of joy? Food? Shoes? Purses? Clothes? Kitchen appliances? Egyptian cotton Ralph Lauren sheets? Jewelry? New granite counter tops? A day at the spa? A 99% off sale at all of my favorite stores? Nope...none of these things would motiva...

I think that I might have the strangest neighbors in the entire world...bless their hearts. I've said before that we live in a neighborhood with ALL decrepitly old people . Well, the house across the street from us went up for sale and Brad and I are praying for a normal young couple with a baby to buy it. So today James and I were out front saying goodbye to my mom and two of the old folks wobbled over to talk to me in the blazing heat for about seventythousand hours. Apparently their internal thermometers are broken because James and I were both sweating profusely and they looked as cool as cucumbers. They are the official neighborhood gossip-spreaders and they do their job efficiently and expediently. Anyhow...this enfeebled couple told me right after we moved in that one of the previous owners of our home had "just died right there in the living room". Always what you want to hear about your new home, right? Not so much. They also told me about the house "down-th...

I realize that I have become the crazy bird lady with my obsession over the birdies on my porch. I don't know what the deal is. I am consumed with all things baby since becoming a mother, I guess. Anyhow, this morning when I opened my door...much to my shock, heartbreak and horrification...all three babies flew off! How could this happen so soon!??!?! It seems like just yesterday they were pretty blue eggs and now they are flying away from me?!?!? I am hoping they will stay and live in the nest...forever. Just like James will stay in my nest forever and never leave. This is the mommy. She is keeping a close eye on her babies. And she's so pretty too! Ok...I am really going to try to spend less time taking pictures of the birds. It's like when you go on vacation and come back with fiftybajillion pictures of mountains and flowers and scenery that you don't really care about but at the time thought it was imperative to have pictures of all of it and now you have to exp...

Today I was determined to get James' album caught up...and I almost did. It was fun to look at all of the pictures from when he was so tiny. I miss that tiny stage but I love the stage he is at right now. He is such a sweet boy. I'm pretty boring today. Maybe I'll be more interesting tomorrow. The most fascinating thing that happened to me today was when my sister called to tell me the shocking news of Michael Jackson's death. I told her I would do a moonwalk in his memory tonight. Brad did...stunningly well too. He's got some moves.

Tonight at dinner, I gave James a bunch of snacks to keep him busy while we ate. A bunch of snacks. That pretty much all ended up smashed up and gooey in his chubby wet little hands. Which then turned into a goo river flowing all over the highchair tray. Which then caused Brad to gag. Which then caused Brad to get up from the table before we had finished dinner to begin de-gooing the baby. (Which I do several times a day...without gagging). Which then turned into a demand for an immediate bath (for the baby...not him...although he probably would've liked one himself so disgusted he was). Look how happy Daddy is that the baby is no longer gooey. Then we went outside to enjoy the flowers. And then I took pictures of my baby birdies. Can you believe how big they are?!?! Me neither!!!!

I wasn't going to post this video so as not to inflict my singing on anyone else (besides James and Brad...poor guys)...but I think it's kind of funny. I have wanted to get a video of how cheerfully James wakes up. This morning he was playing happily in his crib with Puppy and Monkey when I went in to get him...until he smacked his head into the aquarium. I shouldn't think that is funny, but I do. After that, he had his first all natural oat bran spelt waffle courtesy of Aunt Carrie. He LOVED it.

James is being a real sweetie-pie today. I had to dress him in camo to counteract the cupie doll curl on top of his head. I finally managed to get a picture of his little tooth! And the one beside it is just about to poke through. He was especially clingy yesterday...which I NEVER mind...but Brad told me to ignore it otherwise he'll get spoiled. "Get" spoiled??? Ummm....I think someone is already spoiled. BUT...I was reading in my Babywise book today about discipline (among other things) and it said that the goal of discipline is to "encourage your child in right behavior by correcting wrong behavior" and that "children don't naturally grow into right behavior-they are trained into it". I've thought a lot about these things today and although it seems entirely inconceivable to me that the precious angel could ever misbehave or require correction...I know the day will come. But...that day is not today.

James has a vehement love for all things gadgety. Remote controls, phones, cameras, electrical cords, and now computers. I momentarily (and hesitantly) left my computer on the floor yesterday to run and change out some laundry...thinking I could get back to save it before he noticed it and could get to it. WRONG. He's fast. Real fast. O-well...maybe he will be able to teach me how to use it. I wonder how good drool is for laptops???? "She's gone! My turn!" "www . babyeinstein . com" "Sweet! A new video is out! Put it on Mom's Visa. Order. Confirm." "Oh NO! Here she comes!!!" "BUSTED!"

Bradley, come to find out, has quite the green thumb! When we bought this house it had a hideous dog run at the back of the back yard. It was concrete with a chain link fence and a green ugly plastic thing over the top. It was truly an assault to my senses. So one day last summer Bradly decided to get rid of it. He took out the fence and ugly green thing and then, with Herculean strength, busted up the concrete slab and actually moved the pieces himself. With his own bare hands. I walked out there at one point and saw him lifting a piece of concrete about 4 feet wide by 3 feet long. He is SO strong! (I was pregnant at the time and I dared not lift a finger to help, but I sure enjoyed watching!) After that, he laid sod and made a beautiful garden. He really researched what to do with the soil, what flowers would grow best in that area, and how to take care of it. It was pretty last year, but this year it is just spectacular! He has a wisteria, star flower vine, larkspur, poppies, silver...