Southern Belle

For once, I'm not talking about this in reference to one of my favorite songs. :)

Today, a friend e-mailed me this article from Garden & Gun magazine. In its entirety, it's eight screens worth of reading, but I'm only concerned about the first three.

My friend's note to me (and the others to which she sent this) included the following:

It discusses a new meaning of "southern" 

and I know for me, explains a lot about who I am.

We talk a lot about "culture" in reference to other countries and the way they do things. Until this afternoon, I'd never really considered the culture in which I was raised. Even though I know different parts of the good ole U-S-of-A have their different nuances and personalities, I never really put much thought into how much being from the South helps define who I am...in a good way.

Aside from "Southern hospitality," the only other aspect of the South that I've thought much about is the Southern twang (which I proudly do not have).

So bring on the meat-and-three, the true Southern hospitality, the self respect, the babies and the community. I'm proud to be a real Southern Belle!

The Sequel

A few blogs back, I mentioned that there were lots of things I wanted to blog about, but just couldn't. I'm finally able to blog about one of them, since we made it public last week.

I am pregnant!

Yessiree Bob. I'm about 11 weeks along, which makes my official due date March 13, 2012. There's really no coherent or obvious way to weave together my thoughts and some of the fun facts I have to share, so I'm going to rely (once again) on my trusty bullets:

• My children will be roughly 20 months apart. 
• That means I will have two in diapers at the same time. And two under two. Wowza!
• I always said I wanted to have my two babies by the time I was 30. I never really thought that would happen, but I'm going to be basically accomplishing that. I turn 30 on January 21st. 
• I'm secretly hoping this baby will be born March 15th. That way, both my babies will have birthdays on the 15th. That's fun.
• Everyone's telling me how great I'm going to be as the mother of lots of children. Um...lots? Is there something I don't know? 
• I already have anxiety about trying to figure out how to shower (or otherwise get anything accomplished) with two children.
• Most of my family is already on the boy bandwagon. That's their guess at least. I'm just not convinced one way or another yet.
• If it is a boy, the seasons will be close enough that we'll be able to use a lot of R's clothes.
• If it is a girl, I'm going to need some serious help, because I don't know that I'm cut out for picking out frilly outfits.
• If it is a girl, there will be a serious limit on the amount of pink we bring into this house.
• I've already had two ultrasounds and have been able to see the little booger rockin' and rollin'. 
• Speaking of ultrasounds...FUN FACT: I had two early ultrasounds with R. His heart rate at the first was 129; at the second, it was 176. This baby has had the exact same rates as R: 129 at the first ultrasound and 176 at the second. Weird!
• I have morning (and noon and night) sickness. Meh. 
• I'm so stinkin' excited about how close these two will grow as they get older. I know it'll be harder on me in the first few years, but I'm already imagining how awesome it will be once they're old enough to be friends! 
• Since they'll be so close in age, they will even be in middle school together for a year. That's something my sister and I never had, since there are nine years between us!

Hollow Leg?

My son just turned 13 months old. He is long and lean. By long and lean, I mean 90th percentile for height and barely 50th for weight (stretched to his length, which makes him look even skinnier).

At his last pediatrician appointment, they sent me home with bullet points about the next few months. One of the points said that, at this age, many kids develop "toddlerexia" and don't eat so well but every few meals.

Not my kid. I think he might have a hollow leg.

I met friends at Firehouse Subs for lunch today, partially because kids eat free there on Wednesdays. I decided that today would be my first attempt at ordering food for R in a restaurant. Typically we always just take food for him, since he mostly eats fresh fruit and veggies.

I ordered him the kid grilled cheese sandwich. I cut off the crust (because it was really hard) and cut the sandwich into little pieces for him. He demolished it. I'd also brought a banana and a fruit cup as sides. He downed those in no time. Then...he reached onto my plate and ate the last two inches of my Philly cheese steak. Then he grabbed the crust from his sandwich and ate all of that. THEN he stole my pickle off my plate and fed that whole thing to himself.

After that, I think he was still looking for more! But we'd been there an hour and a half and he'd eaten more than I had, so it was time to go!

I've decided he eats more than most 3-year-olds (including the two who were with us).

Oh...and he definitely figured out how to make room for all that food. He smelled rotten before we ever got into the car. And when we got home, I change one stank nasty diaper. Whew.

Concerted Effort

I've been a stay-at-home mom for 13 months now. (Well, technically 10 months. I went on a three-month maternity leave with the intention of going back to work. I just never did.)

I am a very independent person, even though I'm very social. So, my days usually consist of doing whatever I feel like doing. R and I have our routine, and we run our errands and do our chores as necessary.

I have LOTS of stay-at-home mom friends and friends with flexible schedules and days off. But I'm terrible about calling them to get together. More often than not, it's a facebook wall conversation that goes something like this:

• Me: I feel like I haven't seen you in forever. We need to get together soon! What's your calendar look like? 
• Her: I know! We do need to plan something soon. Next week is a little crazy for me. Let's shoot for the week after that.
• Me: Sounds good! 

And then we never follow through. We have that conversation multiple times over several months before we finally buckle down and get together. You'd think I didn't like hanging out with these people or something!

This week, I've changed that.

I have a friend from high school who had twins 18 months ago. We have talked about play dates since our kids were tiny. Finally, yesterday, we got together. It was great! R had to skip/delay his morning nap to accommodate, but it worked out just fine.

And then I topped off yesterday with phone dates with two of my best friends. Yesterday was a win!

Today, I took the initiative to ask one of my best friends from church to lunch. Bingo-bango...we're out of the house and killing a couple of hours again! We even had another friend join us last minute. Good day!

So, I'm hoping I'm on a roll here. Watch out people! Your phones will be ringing soon!

To continue this awesome momentum, I have a question. I know there are tons of free activities around town for moms and their preschoolers. Who knows what? Where do we need to be going and when? What should I look for? R has more than reached the age/activity level where it's just not feasible for us to play at home all day every day.

Support ALL of our troops

I'm not sure how to write this post without sounding callous. Know up front that this is coming from a place of major compassion in my heart.

Of course I am deeply saddened by the recent loss of 30 lives in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. Many of those lives were United States special forces...Navy SEALs.

The tragedy resulted in major and continued media coverage. As a result, I've also seen and heard of a lot of fundraisers and support being raised for the families of the lost SEALs.

I love how Americans can pull together in a tragedy like this. I think it's an amazing show of compassion, love and patriotism.

BUT.

I hate how this has come to be. Yes, our Navy SEALs and other special forces are highly trained and should be highly commended. Yes, our special forces take on some of the most dangerous missions in war. Yes, our special forces and Navy SEALs are heroes.

But these recent events have seemingly elevated the lives of these soldiers and the hurt of their families over all of the other troops we have...and have lost. I'm sure it's due in large part to the knowledge that it was a SEAL team which took out Osama bin Laden and the warm fuzzies everyone has for the SEALs because of that.

What about the other thousands of lives lost in the last decade in Iraq and Afghanistan? What about the thousands upon thousands of family members they left behind? Don't they deserve the same support and compassion as these 20 families?

I'm not a media basher, but it's a shame that the families who receive the most support are the families whose soldiers died in the most publicized attacks.

We should support our troops. We should support ALL of our troops. And we should support their families. All the time. Not just when the US brings home a flag-draped box.

Tell anyone you encounter who's wearing a uniform that you appreciate them. I don't care whether you agree with the wars. These people take their orders and march courageously forward -- whether you agree or not -- all to sustain your freedom. Tell them thank you. Tell them thank you all the time, not just on holidays. Prove me wrong, and show me how compassionate, supportive and patriotic Americans are when the camera's not rolling.

Blogger's Block

I want to blog, but I can't seem to do it.

Part of what I want to write just won't come to me.

And part of what I want to write, I just can't talk about. (No drama. No worries. my world is certainly not crashing down.)

Is there a cure for this?