Eat, Eat, Eat!

This really should be my mom's post because she told us this story. Julia was at Bonnie's, probably a Monday when Jai worked at library, and they were next door playing on the neighbors' swing set. Suddenly Julia took off running toward Bonnie's house, yelling "Eat, Eat, Eat!" She was hungry apparently & there was no stopping her from exclaiming her need for food. We laughed & laughed when Bonnie told us of course.

Julia is truly her mother's daughter - when she's hungry, she's got to eat NOW! Darn the consequences or anyone in her way! : )

Life In Hell...

a toddler version of Julia at bedtime.

Spring of Full(er) Integration

Tara posted recently about giving herself over to our marriage, child and each other more fully. I too have had to come to terms with that concept. I haven't been forthright with her about my finances which has been a burden on me because I knew I should tell her the full extent of my debt but I didn't because among other things, I thought I could handle it. We have had several meetings about our finances and each time Tara gets a little more info about where I'm at but in this electronic age I never had paperwork to show her what was going on and for whatever reason, she never asked me to pull it up on the computer. Now, in the grand scheme of things the debt is handlable. Our house isn't gonna be taken away, our cars are safe but - and here's where I never considered the family - we are extremely limited with savings for the future and comfort money and following that through, we are now limited on vacation time b/c I took a weekend job. Of course, these are luxuries to many but b/c of my poor money management they are not luxuries we can afford although we should've been able to. 

There are all sorts of personal reasons why I didn't disclose fully my situation but none of them hold water. I find it hard to allow myself to justify personal behavior and decisions to anyone considering my last experience with that was explaining my reasons to my parents.

So, now my debts are in the open and to more fully integrate myself  I have submitted to following the Blood-Type Diet. Tara is a firm believer in this diet but I am completely skeptical. I opened my big mouth and told Tara there are all sorts of variations of the original book, one of which is related to getting and being pregnant, which is a category we are in. We are trying to get pregnant again. Tara saw in that book a tip for a more successful conception is to have both partners follow their respective diet plans. Well, that's why I am on board. Although I am skeptical I will follow the plan. I could always lose some weight and even if the blood type diet makes no sense to me if it results in lower blood pressure I'll take it. So, until we get pregnant, stop trying to get pregnant or my blood pressure drops significantly I am on the blood-type diet.

Integration is a lifetime effort and until I die I promise to continue to become more integrated in this marriage and all other relationships which I am partner. Now, let's see if I strength to follow through with the promise.

A Sick Child is a Funny Child

I know I shouldn't laugh at Julia when she feels bad - she's got some stomach bug - but her pitiful call for Tara or me is really cute and even a bit funny in its pitifulness.

"mooommeeeee" if Tara is here
and "daaaddddeee" every other time.

I don't know exactly what's going on. She ate a good breakfast yesterday but after the Y she ate about 2 bites of a granola bar and wanted to go take her nap. Three hours later she woke up, ate the rest of the granola bar and wanted to lie back down. Within an hour I heard "daaaddddeee". By the time I got down the hall she had thrown up the granola bar all over the guest bed. HUGE MESS. Same thing happened with yogurt at dinner time except this time we heard "mooommeeeee".

We gave her some ginger tea and a bit of crystalized ginger, read a couple of stories and she slept the rest of the night without incident.

This morning...so far so good eventhough she says her stomach hurts.

Anyway, those pitiful cries for help are sometimes sickly cute.

My brother Joel

I've been meaning to post about Joel for months, in particular 2 stories! Even though it is October, I'm going to date this in April because these definitely happened before that.  Joel moved into our house in February 2010 & moved out in March 2011. It was an interesting experience for all of us. Johnders fell in love, truly adores Joel. Julia did too - she really enjoyed seeing Joel every day. They both seem to miss him lots. Jai & I had slightly different perspectives on Joel living with us, versus a trusting dog & small child. : )

Even though Joel really wasn't self sufficient enough to live on his own, we finally had to make the hard decision to ask for the key. He transitioned permanently to living with his girlfriend, whom he met in January, her 4 year old daughter & her mother. Not the best circumstances, but Joel had over a year to get his life in order.  He kept his job & paid most of his bills which is amazing, but other decisions were not as well managed & we didn't feel comfortable anymore.

Story 1 - really it's more of a comment as is Story 2 - this one is truly funny
"A sweater is like putting on a warm hug."
Imagine a 35 year old man who is 6 feet tall saying this sentence to you.

Story 2 - we laughed a bit after, but it's not funny, truly reflective of Joel's poor decision making process
After getting arrested for a DUI in January, Joel, Jai & I were discussing the situation, trying to understand what happened, why Joel had been driving after drinking, some options/choices he could have made. Joel says "so if you & Jai go out to dinner, 1 of you doesn't drink?" One of us replied "uh, yes, 1 of us is the DD." Joel's response - "Wow, that's really responsible."

I love my brother & wish him well. I truly hope that he is able to organize his life to take care of himself & his children in a mature & responsible way. I also will try to help him if I can, but not at the sacrifice of my safety or my family's.