A friend of mine is pregnant with her second child and she asked me for advice on handling two. I drew a blank. After all, we’re still taking it day by day over here. Then it hit me, start praying for their sibling relationship now. Before Mary Virginia was born, I was mostly worried about how
The other day I picked up my purse and the strap broke. It’s been breaking for a while; it has a lot of bead work and it had started falling apart. But, like most things in my life, I ignored it because snacktime and book time and taking toys from your sister time does not wait
Tom got me an electric blanket for Christmas. I can’t figure out why my skin isn’t made of the same material as this blanket. It’s the perfect gift, the sort of gift that helps me know Tom really knows me. I’m always cold, and I can’t stand being cold. I’m the kind of person who has an overwhelming urge to
The other day we went to Target and left with ANOTHER new toy car for David, and ANOTHER doll for Mary Virginia. If you know anything about gender stereotyping and how toys perpetuate gender roles, then my shopping trip is grooming David to be an engineer at Ford Motor Company and Mary Virginia to flunk third grade math. If
When we play with Play-Doh, David usually doesn’t ever really form the dough “things”, he just smashes and drops it on the ground and asks me to flatten long pieces into roads for his cars. Meanwhile, his sister constantly tries to sneak tastes the Play-Doh even though, after every time she manages a bit in
Last night we went to a Thanksgiving celebration with friends, and we were driving home a bit later than we should have; not respecting bedtime quite as closely as we promised we would. When we stay out too late, Mary Virginia is not a happy traveller. While she cries the entire way home, the rest of us
Mary Virginia is just at the very beginnings of being interested in coloring. She’ll hold a marker, draw a few lines on the paper, and a few moments later try to climb on the table. The only reason I’ve even started “coloring” with her is because she wants to do whatever her brother is doing, so
David is three, which means this blog is three, too. Just a few days after he was born, in the late morning while he was snoozing beside me in bed I wrote the first post. That’s not entirely true. Tom started it months earlier. He created the URL and wrote the first eight posts chronicling our Fifty
David has taken almost zero naps since he turned three. We still go through the motions, though, every day. After lunch we read a book, turn off the light, close the blackout shades, and I cover him with his blankets just the way he likes it — white blanket first, then green blanket. I give him
I already mentioned that our vacation was mostly rainy and overcast. In fact, it was SO rainy and overcast, that I can only remember putting sunscreen on my fair-haired, fair-skinned babies a grand total of one time. I know, I know, you can still get burned when it’s cloudy. But when it’s cloudy, raining, and you’re huddled
Last weekend was both my birthday and Labor Day weekend. Wait. No, that’s wrong. It was two weekends ago. Slow down, September. Traditionally, Labor Day marks the end of the summer; pools close, we put away our white pants, and I can commence rolling my eyes at people who actually look forward to fall. But summer can’t
Tom’s parents have a lake house on the same street as the lake house my parents have owned since the 70s. Tom and I were actually dating when his parents bought the property, and when they did we just decided to get married because otherwise it’d be too awkward. When I was a kid, my dad would throw
We’re celebrating this weekend. The sort of celebrating that calls for standing in the front yard wearing a pajama shirt waving a flag. All before 8 a.m. Today is my 32nd birthday and tomorrow the Hokies kickoff their football season. Here’s to the start of a great year. A year in which maybe we’ll get around to
My parents still live in the house I grew up in, and it’s awesome because I get to see my kids exploring the woods I used to explore, swimming in the pool I used to swim in, and sledding down the same hills I used to sled down. And they do things that we never
First, some context. David likes to ask me what people say, what inanimate objects say, or what people are going to say. Then he makes me do a full mock conversation about, for example, what the car in front of us is saying. It’s saying, “You can follow me!” It’s a cute routine, and it can
Mary Virginia took her first steps a while ago. She even started walking, cautiously, earlier this month. But on July 18 we decided she’d officially earned biped status. And all of the sudden she’s saying new words and phrases. She actually says “I want that.” It sounds more like “Iundat” but the connotation is there.
Fanatics, the leading online retailer of officially licensed sports merchandise, invited me to be part of their Future Fanatics campaign to show how the super-fans of tomorrow are getting their start. Fanatics.com has everything from MLB hats to football jerseys from your favorite college team. Or if you still need a World Cup jersey, they’ve got those, too.
Last Sunday we had an unusually hard time getting ourselves and the kids ready for church. By the time we were all dressed and had everyone’s bags packed, and were walking out the door, church had already started. We loaded everyone into the car, and as we drove Tom and I discussed the intricacies of
David finished his first year of preschool last week. Assuming we can get him potty-trained by August, he has two years of preschool left. After that he’ll go to kindergarten, then elementary school, middle school and high school. If he decides to go to college that’s 20 years of school. His time in the classroom
SPRING IS HERE! Let’s all pop a Claritin and go roll around in a bunch of pollen because it’s not going to snow again FOR AT LEAST SIX MONTHS! The transition seasons are wonderful — capricious, but wonderful. And while the chill of fall if foreboding, the warmth of spring is exciting. The only thing
Mary Virginia goes down for her afternoon nap about thirty minutes before David, and she wakes up about thirty minutes before he does. Those two thirty-minute periods are her favorite parts of the day, because while David is sleeping in his room, his toys are all in the living room. Unattended. She always goes straight
We were trying to get her to say, “21.5 lbs, in size 12-18 month clothes, ten and a half months old.” But this is as far as we’ve gotten. And I suppose it’ll do. For now.
Hippity hoppity, Easter’s on its way When I took these pictures two years ago, I thought it would be the last time I’d be able to convince David to wear bunny ears. What I didn’t know then was that my little boy loves accessories. He doesn’t mind — and even requests — hats, sunglasses, suspenders, and
I got an email the other day from Babycenter.com that said kids should play outside everyday to burn off some energy, and because, “Being outdoors also provides sensory stimulation (the sun, the birds, the dirt) that can’t be replicated indoors.” Great idea, Babycenter.com, but where are you when it’s time to clean up this mess?
Last week Mary Virginia was pummeled with a small fever that turned into a big fever that turned into the sort of fever that bulldozes your backyard to build a strip mall. That sort of fever. You’re probably getting tired of hearing about us getting sick. You and me both. All Mary Virginia wanted was
Not every day is all rainbows and shamrocks around here. But today? (Aside from the snow and sleet outside.) Today that’s all it is. Happy St. Patrick’s Day. Hoping your day is filled with pots of gold and blue-eyed leprechauns, and reminders that we have a God who lavishes blessings on his people. “In him
These photos are a bit dated. This happened two months ago. (The really funny thing is, it happened 21 months ago, too) We had just come home from a long weekend away and were unpacking the car. There were bags full of toys, clothes, food, and babies everywhere. Apparently, Mary Virginia needed a snack. You know