Culture Club

...aka The Modern

Today my friend, Amanda, and I went to the museum. Now, I have not been much of a museum person up to this point in my life, but it was really fun! Although there were a few "pieces of art" that I think that my children could have made by wallowing around in some blue paint then rolling on a canvas, there were some truly beautiful pieces. We went to the museum today to see the Ron Mueck exhibit. It was amazing!!! He is a sculptor that creates images of humans that are so lifelike it is almost scary... but he does it with a twist. They are all extremely larger or smaller than real life. They have hair, blood vessels, freckles, wrinkles, fingernails (and a few other things that make me blush) that look very very real! It truly was amazing!

These were a couple of my favorites... We were not able to take pictures of our own, so I found these online. Notice how big the baby is compared to all the men that are carrying it.

This one is called "Two Women", but I have renamed it "Milly & Bea". They are tiny - maybe 1 1/2 - 2 feet tall. Look at that detail!






This one is called "A Girl". It is amazing to me how Mueck captured this tiny newborn baby-look with a sculpture... that is about 15 - 20 feet tall! He didn't miss a detail - even down to the doctor's bloody fingerprints on the baby's back! Amazing!








Thanks Amanda for infusing this plain-Jane with some culture. I had a great time! And thank you to my sweet fiend, Cheryl, for watching my boy, so I could go add to my sophistication. :)

Sad Baby

Today Cooper is not feeling his best. He ran fever last night. Today he is okay - just not himself. If it were up to him, he and I would camp out on the couch and snuggle all day. Unfortunately, life has to keep moving sometimes... I have spent the day bouncing back and forth between 2nd grade, a snuggly baby, 5th grade, a whiney baby, back to 2nd grade, and so on. During one of my visits to the kitchen table to help Allie with her school work, Cooper - wearing only a diaper - crawled up on the table, stood up, put his hands on his hips, and stuck out his lip. He just stood there. Looking at me. Sad. Silent. His big brown eyes seemed to be saying, "What are you thinking Mommy?!? What on earth could be more important than holding me, this adorable little diaper wearing bundle of joy, right now?" Then, he flopped onto his tummy and started kicking his little feet and banging his little fists on the table. He followed that with a swipe of his arms that landed all of Jack's school work on the kitchen floor.

"Okay, already! You've got my attention!"

After a reprimand and explanation that I have to help the big kids with their homework today too, we found our way to the chair - just him and me - for some snuggle time.

Swimming in October

Yesterday the boys and I went swimming with my sister and niece. I think that it is the first time that I have ever swam in October. Amazing! It was really, really nice. The water felt great, and the hot sun on my skin was rejuvinating. This is not what I would prefer for October weather, but it is good.

Tagged Again

... by Elizabeth

TAG: MY MAN
Okay yall, it's a tag! You know the drill...at the bottom I'll list who I'm tagging.

1. Who is your man? Corey
2. How long have you been together? 20 years - together, 15 of those years - married
3. How long did you date? 5ish years
4. How old is your man? 38
5. Who eats more? He does.
6. Who said "I love you" first? He did.
7. Who is taller? He is.
8. Who sings better? I'll have to go with me on this one, but I love it when he sings. It makes me laugh!
9. Who is smarter? He is. Very logical.
10. Whose temper is worse? Mine. He has almost lost the ability to lose his temper. Me, not so much.
11. Who does the laundry? Me. 99% of the time.
12. Who takes out the garbage? Him. 99% of the time. Although we have 2 boys in training.
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? We both sleep on both sides.
14. Who pays the bills? He does.
15. Who is better with the computer? Definitely him.
16. Who mows the lawn? He always has, but this year I got the neighbor boy to do it for him since he was so busy.
17. Who cooks dinner? If we are home... Usually me, but he does it sometimes too... and is much better at it than me!
18. Who drives when you are together? He does.
19. Who pays when you go out? He does.
20. Who is most stubborn? That would be me. Very.
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? He never thinks he is wrong... and he is usually right. I am wrong a lot, but I don't like to admit it.
22. Whose parents do you see the most? Mine - they live in Waco. His mom lives in Tennessee.
23. Who kissed who first? It was mutual.
24. Who asked who out? That's a long story... see previous blog entries.
25. Who proposed? He did.
26. Who is more sensitive? Me! I got all of the sensitive bones of this marriage.
27. Who has more friends? He knows a lot of people, but I think I have more "friends".
28. Who has more siblings? He does. He has 4, I have 3.
29. Who wears the pants in the family? Although I love my jeans, he is the official "pants wearer". We like it that way!

I tag Emily, Sara, Adrielle, Mom, Amanda, & Brook

That Kind of Day

So, if you couldn't tell from my earlier posts today... it's been a rough one. It started that way this morning, and it continued off and on all day. Why are some days like that?!? Homework is hard. Chores are even harder. Hands hurt from writing too much. Backs hurt from... something, I can't remember. (Something just ALWAYS hurts when it is chore time.) Tears are free-flowing (from more than one of us) She mocks him. He screams at her. The baby has an unusually short nap. Blah. Blah. Blah. Well, by 7:00pm I was exhausted. "Sick-a-fork-in-me-I'm-done! Exhausted!" Corey was still working, dinner had been cooked and served, the kitchen was a royal mess (It wanted to match the rest of the house. How could I say no?!?), and all I wanted to do was take a little break on the couch while the kids played around me as I dozed. I felt it was necessary to make it through the rest of this god-forsaken day. (Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration.) As you can probably tell from the mood of this little ditty, my few moments of rest didn't go so well. Imagine that! Cooper pulled the blanket out from under my head just as I was dozing off, Jack climbed on top of me - repeatedly, and Cooper literally crawled my head (Which, by the way, my hair is attached to. Ouch!). In this midst of my misery Corey walked in. I asked for a rescue... somehow he did not read the clues that I was serious. He laid on the floor and dozed off for a few minutes, himself. Once I finally gave up on the idea of rest, started cleaning the kitchen, and sat down at the table to finish homework with Allie, Corey walked up, smiled and said, "That was the best nap!"

Breathe in. Breathe out. Don't yell. Don't cuss. Just smile and say, "Glad you enjoyed it."... or something like that.

Now, I am off to say, for the gazillionth time tonight, "Go to bed!" "I'm serious!" "Right now." "I'm done!!!" "Sure, go get a drink." "I love you too." "Now, go to bed!" "Right now!" "No, you may not play 'just one more game'." "I'm serious! I'm done!" There are still uniforms to prepare, lunches to make, laundry to change, homework to check, and a kitchen that is not finished being cleaned that I have to get to tonight.

Mommy Thoughts

"A mother is only as happy as her least happy child."

I recently heard this said. It rang true with me then... and it resounds with me today. I could substitute the words "peaceful" or "content" for "happy"... whatever. The fact is, when my kids are upset, unhappy, stressed out, lonely, hurt, discontent... I am too. I feel for them. With them. Today, I am feeling for one of them in particular. I want to fix their little life. Make it better. Give them the perspective that I have. I want to take the pain away or at least put a band-aid on it... all while teaching my little one to persevere through this. Keep working. Keep struggling. Never give up. They are good enough! They are worth having a good life. A great life! So as this child struggles to find answers to questions about young life and the motivation and perspective to keep trying, I struggle too. I know that I cannot fix everything, so I must release my motherly grip a bit and see what happens. It is scary.

Odd Timing

Last Friday early, early morning I posted "wish that i could... on so many levels". It was about my feelings of wanting sleep, obviously. And maybe not so obviously... my feelings of wanting the experience of holding a sleeping baby again. The one in the picture... his siblings... ones that I have lost... and ones that are not even in existance.

That night, my brother & sister-in-law announced that they are expecting a baby. I am thrilled for them. Beyond thrilled. But a twinge of sadness has entered my heart too. This is the brother and sister-in-law that we shared our last pregnancy with. Our babies are the same age. For 3 years we have shared every milestone that parents of new babies share. Now, they are moving on. They are having another baby. I want to move on with them, but at this point I cannot.

What odd timing... as my heart is longing for something I cannot have. Life. Full of odd timing!