Nightime thoughts with Briana

I am a night owl.
(insert dog howling, which is what just happened in my head and seemed appropriate at the time...now, not so much.)

Over the years many things have tried to change this...getting up for school, 8am classes in college, and later, jobs. The most recent attack on my owlness has been, motherhood. Something about sleeping in 4 hour increments (if you are lucky) makes you tired, early.

However, I believe that my most creative, imaginative and fun self comes out after 8pm. It usually arrives around 10pm with a "tada" and a "let's do something fun" and no amount of "go to bed" or "we have to get up early" seems to phase it. Usually. Yet since having Rye I think my owl friend has been hibernating.
But, as the months go by and the sleep increases he (yes, it's a he, don't ask me why) has been rubbing his sleepy eyes, stretching his legs and preparing to make a comeback. He's been out a few times...and that makes me happy. Makes me feel more like the "old" me. So much changes with your body and your mindset through this whole having a kid/being a mom process. It's nice that some things are still there.

Well, that's all for now. Kind of random ramblings, but then again, that's the "old" me too.

Dee Dee's Tulips

Sorry to repeat myself, but here is the latest painting off the ol' easel. It's on 2 canvases 18"x12" oil and pencil. Named after Mom.

Birds of a feather.

oh these pictures makes me happy. hope you get at leaste 1/10th the enjoyment out of this as me.
happy rainy thursday.

All you need is a thumb and a giraffe....

for Trev and Mom...

Week One/Month Five

Week One of Operation Survive without Trevor: Completed.

We have survived! I think I've done more this week than in the past 3. I can't imagine what i was trying to keep my mind off of? Well, special thanks to Becky and Ellen who came to hangout with me and Rye this past week. They made it go much faster and we had some good Hart bonding time. Here are some pics.


Rye and Aunt Becky



Rye and Cousin Ellen



Becky and Ellen pre-hike



Becky and Rye: Snugglefest 2010

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Month Five: Rye is how old?!?

Yep, 5 months old today folks. He's gaining new skills everyday and honing some of his old favorites (such as the silly faces...)


He's about 17lbs and wearing 6month clothes now. That's why we call him Sir Chunk-a-Lot (ok we don't really call him that).
Some of his new skills include, playing in his Johnny Jump Up:

Singing Opera to Dad...

Long hikes with Mom...

Giggle snuggly time (ok, so that's on old one)

The momentous introduction of solid foods (jury's still out on that one)

Sleeping in a big-boy sleep sack instead of his straight-jacket snugglie...

Sometimes Rye is so darn cute we just want to eat him up. Of course we would NEVER try that...

Seriously though, check out those chunky cheeks!

He's our little man and we are loving every minute of it.

Mobile Alabama

Is this a trick Question?

Setting: Ace Hardware
Cast: Me, Cashier and Middle aged gentleman checking out ahead of me.

Man hands cashier a PLUNGER to check out.
Cashier: Will this be all?
Man: Yes.
Cashier: Who's this for?
(remember, he's buying a plunger)
Man's expression starts out at "Excuse me" and ends up somewhere around "none of your business".
Man: Um...???
Me: aside--heheheeee
Cashier: Do you have an account here?
Man: Oh! Uh, no.
Cashier: Ok.
a minute passes....
Me to Man: That's kind of an awkward question when you are buying a plunger huh?
aside---heheheee
Man: Yea, I was trying to figure that one out. I was thinking...um it's for the toilet?
Cashier shoots me a dirty look, she's not finding this amusing at all.

I think that most of you will be pleased to know that for once it wasn't me saying the awkward stupid things!

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling...

Look what we learned today!

p.s. notice the "Chaz and Rex" socks!

Dad, Dad, I'll miss you so bad...

Ok, let the count-down begin. 47 days to go until Trev gets back. Man oh man, I'll miss that man!

We've spent a lot of time bonding as a family over the last 2 weeks. Here are some shots of Trev and Rye. He sure loves his Daddy...

My boys...starting off so sweet...


And then naturally taking a turn for the silly...

But always ending up oh-so-sweet!

Please pray for Trev as he's adjusting to life in Japan. Pray for safety and that he'll have a productive and fun time.

If you want you can pray for me and Rye too. Pray we don't get sick of each other (ha!) that we stay safe and don't get overwhelmed by miss-fulness.

Here we go...

p.s. Becky, that doesn't count so don't hate me!!!

Save the Drama for your Mama

Aaahhh...salaam and good evening to you worthy friend. Please, come closer...ah, oh too close, a little to close...there, welcome to....(fill in the blank)

The last post was, admittedly a bit dramatic, so here is some lightheartedness to even the playing field. (not sure if that analogy works here or not).

enjoy!

Make a new plan, Stan

Per Wikipedia:

The five stages of grief are:
1-Denial
2-Anger
3-Bargaining
4-Depression
5-Acceptance


I would say I'm finally at stage 5 although I do take the occasional trip back to 2 and 4 every now and then. That said I'm moving on to the planning stage. Planning what needs to be done before he leaves, planning what I'm going to do while he's gone, planning ways to make things...ok. Here's what I've got so far....


Projects to do:
painting
practice french
listen to the new Amy Grant CD non-stop (better do it while Trevs gone! ;)
photography
miscellaneous house projects


People to visit:

Becky and Ellen are a coming round the mountain when they come
Hopefully--any word yet?--Jenn and Ella are coming for a visit near our birthdays
Perhaps a trip to VA for Easter--yes Mom I'll call you about that soon...
And LOTS of play dates, and "party at my house" get togethers...oh I'll be needing my girls...
I'll also be spending lots of time with my sweet, sweet boy

Doesn't sound that bad, does it?*



*yes, i'm working on convincing myself too.

Bird's the Word

Sometimes you do whatever it takes to cheer you up. And today, my friends, that is a dancing bird.

Florida

Last week we headed down to Florida for Rye's first visit. Thankfully we found a really cheap flight on Allegiant so the trip was 4 hours instead of 10. Not bad. I was a bit nervous about flying with Rye because I always had issues with my ears popping when i was little but he did great! Only a little bit of crying on the descent on the way there and he slept through the entire flight on the way back. Thank you Lord! We did have a bout of crying on the way back, but it was before we took off...at 6:50 in the morning after having been up since 4:30am so i really coulnd't blame him for that...though I doubt our fellow passengers were as forgiving. oh well.

Although our trip didn't go as planned... we still managed to have some fun and accomplish our main goal, which was to spend time with family. Here are some pics from the trip.

Trev's brother Jon and his wife Adrian


Trev's sister's husband Rich and our neice Autumn



Trev's mom and Rye



Our nephew Caleb



Our neice Sammy






Trev's Dad...reading, i mean sleeping, i mean reading....

We did actually make it to the beach for about 15 minutes (not including the hour car ride). Rye hated it! Of course it was so much bright and sunnier than Chattanooga....i think it's been overcast since he was born so he's never seen so much sun! He refused to open his eyes the whole time we were in the sun, and we did have him under an umbrella too. Oh well. This is what he thought of the beach....

Oh well. We finally gave up (after 3 minutes at the beach) and headed back to the car. We saw a pier under a bridge and stopped to take a few more pictures since it was shaded. That went over much better....

The rest of the week (when not sick) was spent hanging out with the fam. Here are a couple more shots...

This is Trevor's Aunt Joyce and his cousin's son Chase....no idea what that relation is to Rye.

LOTS of snuggle time with Grandmommy!

Overall it was a great time, just wish we could have avoided the funk and had more 'quality' time. Oh well, guess we'll have to go back soon!

12 days til 48 days

Well. It happened. We were praying and hoping it wouldn't but it did.*

*this first line actually applies to 3 things in my life right now so please, allow me to explain.

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# 1. The stomach flu. In the middle of our vacation. Enough said.

# 2. A bad head cold. Piggy-backing the stomach flu. In the middle of our vacation. And that's not even the worst of it.

#3. First day back at work we find out that Trevor has to go to Japan for 2 months. And he's leaving in 12 days. 2 months. In Japan. In 12 days.

I've been trying to decide if I was going to allow this post to head down the steep slope of self-pity and gruesome complaining. Honestly I'm not ready yet to make it positive and upbeat. I'd like to surprise you all with my optimism and trust that God will work this for the best but honestly, I'm just not feeling it yet. I know it in my head but my heart is just really, really sad. So, I'll just leave it at that for now.

That and a sweet picture of Trevor and Rye at the beach. More on that subject to come.

Rye: Take 4

Why 4 months is the best age so far:
1. Rye is only getting up (usually) 1 time a night. So we still get our special sleepy snuggle time but we also get some good sleep.
2. More mobility! Not only can he control his head like a champ, Rye can also sit up with assistance, roll to his side and back, maneuver his way all around his bed and stand for up to 12 seconds between breaks.
3. As Aunt Katie called it... his personality is really coming out. He usually wakes me up with a song in the morning...no words yet but definite volume and inflection. He gets super excited to see Mom and Dad, and he's developing his skills as an entertainer. He giggles, laughs, yells, sighs, oohs and ahhs and makes, hands down, the silliest faces. Ever. Case in point:

In short, We LOVE this age. Thank you Lord for blessing us with such a silly, sweet tempered and happy baby.