Today, my middle baby turns five. I can hardly believe it was nearly five years ago when we came across her sweet face in our favorite pet store and went through that whirlwind 4-hour romance before finally bringing her home to become a member of The Hubbo Family.
I can't imagine life without her.
Happy birthday, Sookie. Momma and D'dee lub yours toe berry much.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Too Much...Too Many
Too much...
to do
time between blog posts
running through my head when I'm trying to sleep
love for that little girl
energy in that little girl (hell, half that energy would kill me)
beauty and innocence in that little girl
that I want to get involved in
that I can't get involved in right now
that I will get involved in someday
yarn (never thought I'd say that!)
clutter (like mother, like daughter)
hassle to grow my hair out, but - damn it - I'm gonna try
Too many...
ambitions
credit hours
responsibilities
reasons to love The Princess
reasons to stay in bed late on Sunday
reasons to say, "Screw the house work," and crochet instead
days in a row that I say I'm gonna post a blog
days in a row that I don't find the time to post a blog
blog posts that ramble on like this for no apparent reason
people in the world who need our help
ways to help those people
of us don't do it because we simply have too much on our plates
***
Full-time employee. Full-time student. Full-time momma. Full-time wife. That's me. Hell, that's a lot of full-time stuff.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Smush
Frantically, her eyes dart around the room.
The tears are welling up, and she's beginning to panic.
Every muscle in her little body is wound as tightly as it can go.
Her eyes lock on mine, and she rockets across the room into my lap.
She grabs the back of my neck as hard as she can with her little fingers and wrenches my head toward hers.
She pushes her chin into mine so hard that I have to fight tears from welling up in my eyes, too.
And then, out of nowhere, her little arms start to relax. I can feel my face again, and I can see that her eyes no longer hold the expression of a caged animal being led to slaughter.
I don't think I'll ever be able to fully understand her sensory issues, how they work or how things seem to her. Nothing in the living room seems overwhelming to me in the slightest, and I wrack my brain trying to figure out what caused this meltdown.
I try to tell her again and again that it's not okay to smush other people's faces, that it hurts. But deep down inside, I'm torn. In the grand scheme of things, what's a little pain when it helps her to get over something that is bothering her? Isn't this just her way of telling me not to do something? That it hurts?
The tears are welling up, and she's beginning to panic.
Every muscle in her little body is wound as tightly as it can go.
Her eyes lock on mine, and she rockets across the room into my lap.
She grabs the back of my neck as hard as she can with her little fingers and wrenches my head toward hers.
She pushes her chin into mine so hard that I have to fight tears from welling up in my eyes, too.
And then, out of nowhere, her little arms start to relax. I can feel my face again, and I can see that her eyes no longer hold the expression of a caged animal being led to slaughter.
I don't think I'll ever be able to fully understand her sensory issues, how they work or how things seem to her. Nothing in the living room seems overwhelming to me in the slightest, and I wrack my brain trying to figure out what caused this meltdown.
I try to tell her again and again that it's not okay to smush other people's faces, that it hurts. But deep down inside, I'm torn. In the grand scheme of things, what's a little pain when it helps her to get over something that is bothering her? Isn't this just her way of telling me not to do something? That it hurts?
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Falling Into Place
There are times when - like everyone else, I'm sure - I feel as though I'm floundering through each day, simply hoping I don't screw anything up beyond repair.
Then there are times when everything falls into place. Over the last seven years since I first met The Hubbs, we've come to the realization that we are both very Taoist in our philosophies. We don't fight the current; we simply pay attention to what the universe is trying to tell us, and we do our best to follow our guts.
When things have been right in the past, they've simply fallen into place. Our wedding, for example, was probably the most stress-free wedding in the history of the world. There were small disagreements and perhaps an apoplexy or two, but nothing compared to the horror stories all of my married friends have. Buying the house, getting the dogs, having The Princess, and the way we've dealt with everything that has come since...well, let's just say we try to follow the path.
Sometimes we get lost...absolutely. But rather than stress ourselves out any more than necessary, we tend to sit back for a minute and analyze. There is almost always a clear path to follow to get us out of whatever briar patch we may have stumbled into, and it's usually plain as day if we just allow ourselves to be calm enough to see it.
Why am I rambling on like this, you may ask? A couple of days ago, I began toying with the idea of starting a One Mom's Journey team for the Chicago Walk Now for Autism Speaks event in May. I floundered a bit, and I wondered if this would be the right choice. I asked the advice of those close to me and decided it would all work itself out one way or another.
And then I sent out a message saying that the team is up and running, inviting people to join and/or donate. The amount of interest so far has been overwhelming, and it's shaping up to be quite the event indeed. While the team is still small on paper, I've got quite a few more people who have already committed, and they'll be showing up on my team web page soon. I've already received two donations, and the walk is over two months away.
Something tells me I'm doing the right thing here. It's going too smoothly to be wrong. Seriously, two or three days in, and everything's already falling into place.
If you'd like to join the One Mom's Journey team, visit our team page. To make a donation, please visit my personal page.
Then there are times when everything falls into place. Over the last seven years since I first met The Hubbs, we've come to the realization that we are both very Taoist in our philosophies. We don't fight the current; we simply pay attention to what the universe is trying to tell us, and we do our best to follow our guts.
When things have been right in the past, they've simply fallen into place. Our wedding, for example, was probably the most stress-free wedding in the history of the world. There were small disagreements and perhaps an apoplexy or two, but nothing compared to the horror stories all of my married friends have. Buying the house, getting the dogs, having The Princess, and the way we've dealt with everything that has come since...well, let's just say we try to follow the path.
Sometimes we get lost...absolutely. But rather than stress ourselves out any more than necessary, we tend to sit back for a minute and analyze. There is almost always a clear path to follow to get us out of whatever briar patch we may have stumbled into, and it's usually plain as day if we just allow ourselves to be calm enough to see it.
Why am I rambling on like this, you may ask? A couple of days ago, I began toying with the idea of starting a One Mom's Journey team for the Chicago Walk Now for Autism Speaks event in May. I floundered a bit, and I wondered if this would be the right choice. I asked the advice of those close to me and decided it would all work itself out one way or another.
And then I sent out a message saying that the team is up and running, inviting people to join and/or donate. The amount of interest so far has been overwhelming, and it's shaping up to be quite the event indeed. While the team is still small on paper, I've got quite a few more people who have already committed, and they'll be showing up on my team web page soon. I've already received two donations, and the walk is over two months away.
Something tells me I'm doing the right thing here. It's going too smoothly to be wrong. Seriously, two or three days in, and everything's already falling into place.
If you'd like to join the One Mom's Journey team, visit our team page. To make a donation, please visit my personal page.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
One Mom's Journey is Joining the Walk
On Saturday, May 21, I'll be joining the crowds down in the Big Bad City for this year's "Walk Now for Autism Speaks" event. The three-mile journey starts at Soldier Field, and there is no registration fee.
Want to join me? Visit the One Mom's Journey team webpage at http://www.walknowforautismspeaks.org/chicago/onemomsjourney to join my team.
Can't join the team? If you'd like to make a donation, you may do so by visiting my personal page at http://www.walknowforautismspeaks.org/chicago/onemom. All donations are greatly appreciated, no matter how great or small.
Want to join me? Visit the One Mom's Journey team webpage at http://www.walknowforautismspeaks.org/chicago/onemomsjourney to join my team.
Can't join the team? If you'd like to make a donation, you may do so by visiting my personal page at http://www.walknowforautismspeaks.org/chicago/onemom. All donations are greatly appreciated, no matter how great or small.
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