Today

I haven't posted in a little while. Today was a good day. Why not write about it.

Patrick had to travel for work. He left this morning at 7:00 and will be home sometime tomorrow probably. Travel is part of the job, but something that has gotten harder and harder for me. I think it is the combination of being 30 weeks pregnant along with having a little boy who is precocious and almost 2. We actually bought the book "Making the Terrible Twos Terrific" this weekend. Needless to say, PD has discovered that he has a mind of his own with a vengeance. This leaves me with some trepidation when I am going to be the only adult with him because my patience sometimes runs out.

God, however, decided to give us a great day today. There was lots of obedience and minimal crying. It started with coffee from my wonderful husband in the morning. This was followed by PD sleeping until 7:40 which is not late but not early either. I got a shower and surfed the internet all before he woke up.

After PD woke up, we played in his room and the entire upstairs for a while. This is not unusual and typically makes our mornings more manageable. After that we had a nice breakfast where PD didn't take his bib off without permission once. PD then proceeded to sit in his highchair for 15 min while brushing his teeth. This allowed me to clean the kitchen without help :-)

After that, we went to the eye doctor to pick up my contacts. Again, not Earth shattering stuff, but it was getting something done. PD got to "drive" the car for about 30 min when we got home. This was an old favorite activity that has come back in force. He only cried minimally when we had to get out of the car (AMAZING). The rest of the morning was spent playing outside. I raked all of the leaves in the front yard for a fun little pile :-) Then, we went to the back yard and played with the dogs until snack (which was not in his highchair as I promised PD that we could watch for the garbage truck and it had not come when it was snack time). After snack, we read books adn took a nap (ALMOST 3 HOURS).

When PD woke up, there was a lot to do. This usually leads to melt down central, but today, he was so focused on getting to the farm that he ate his snack, got dressed and got out the door in less than 20 min from waking (A MINOR MIRACLE). We went to Target and got everything we needed for our upcoming trip to NC. The only minor snafu was not finding a 20lb turkey. I was going to take it to the farm because they have a big freezer and I have a little one. On well, I will try again later this week :-). Target's turkeys are 68 cents a pound right now if you are looking.

We went to the farm where we were greeted by my wonderful grandparents. Grampy was burning leaves which mesmerized PD for a while (Pyros run in the family). He was sufficiently wary to stay far enough back that I didn't even benefit from the warmth of the fire, though. As soon as PD saw Grammy, he ran toward her yelling about the fire and seeing her and running. He then proceeded to count to 10 while counting the "fires" in the leaf pile. This is a trick that started this week. Grampy left a huge pile of leaves (10 times the earlier one) for us to play in. That little boy loves to jump in the leaves. He is truly funny and infects everyone around his with joy. After the leaves, we moved the porch for a while until time for dinner. Grammy made acorn squash stuffed with italian beef...YUMMY! PD was, as always, the center of the conversation, talking about who knows what. When he was done with dinner and we were still eating, he decided to spin in circles in the kitchen and sing the alphabet. Tonight was the first time that I have heard his do all of the letters all the way through. Impressive, at least to admiring Great-grandparents and a Mommy. After that, we had a nice ride home even though the moon was not out (the moon is up there with PD's favorite things).

So, that was my day. Not exciting, but I got some things done. I have been struggling with being frustrated and not as nice or as patient as I want to be with PD. Today was a good day, thanks in no small part, I am sure, to answered prayer. A good night's sleep is also helpful. With that, I am going to call my husband and go to bed.

Goodnight all.

Time Change

If I were motivated, I would look up the origins of Daylight Savings Time and have insightful thoughts to post. Instead, I am a little tired and annoyed, so I am just going to vent a bit.

Whoever made up the fall back part of Daylight Savings Time is not my friend. Not only does this totally mess up the schedules for all of the babies out there...mine only partially included because he is now back to his old wake up time of 7:30 almost.

It also totally messes up my dogs which is the much bigger problem. I or Patrick are coming downstairs at 6:30 in the morning with murderous thoughts on our mind. Clearly we are people of routing because Jackson starts barking at no later than 6:30 every morning. This used to not be such a problem when we lived in NC without a kid because PAtrick adn I could just yell from out bed for the dogs to get back in bed and hush. Now, however, the dogs barking might wake up the small one. It is definitely the lesser of two evils to get out of bed and silence the dogs instead of waking up the baby.

On another I really dislike fall back note...who thinks it is a good idea for the sun to be up earlier...like at 6:30 fully bright for the day and in exchange have it be totally dark at like 2 in the afternoon (a slight exaggeration). Most normal people like to be outside in the evening if it is nice out and that is no longer as much of a possibility. It is probably a conspiracy of prime time television.

Funny PD sayings:

On Halloween standing at the door looking at Trick-or-Treaters: "Hi kids. How are you today?"

When I told him he would have to ask Aimee for her keys:" Aimee say, sure PAddy, you have Aimee's keys."

At night when we are praying before bed: "thank you for anybody, thank you for peoples...he also thanks for cars, mammy and daddy's keys, cow (his humidifier), nobody, every family member he can think of with preference for Aunt Lori, Uncle Mick, Aimee, Grandma and Papa, fountains and many other things. This boy knows that God made everything better than most adults.

That is all for now. Someone is up and I haven't had coffee yet. Have a great day...hope you are up and enjoying the sun now since it will be dark all too soon.

Eternity

I have been thinking a lot about eternity this past week. My 12 year old cousin went to Heaven on Thursday night very unexpectedly. She was sick and then she was gone.

It is so easy to be flippant about life. I, myself, haven't really had anyone close to me die. All the people I know that have passed away recently have been elderly. It is so easy to become complacent and think...I have plenty of time to do everything that I need to do...Oh, I will be nicer to that person tomorrow...why do it today, tomorrow is coming soon enough. That wasn't the case, though, for one little girl, and only God knows if it is going to be the case for me.

It is so important to love well and without reserve now when we still have time. It is important to tell people that there is an eternity and that they are welcome to be a part of it. That is really the best love you can give. t is so hard to do, but so important to think about. We are blessed to know that there is one more little girl safe in Heaven who we will be able to see again someday. It is not always that way for people and I honestly don't know how they do it. How can people get through tragedy without God.

That brings me to another thing that I have been thinking. Why does tragedy happen? I have been thinking about that. It is so easy to say that God is in control, because that is the truth. I read somewhere recently someone's thoughts about this. The question was something like...If God is in control, then did He mean for this to happen? I don't think so. I think that this is a fallen world. God gave us the privilege of having free will from the beginning. Because of that privilege, sin came into the world and with sin came bad things like death. God didn't make this evil world, we brought ourselves into it by not obeying God. So, God didn't make my cousin die. He is love and love doesn't do things like that. The good thing, though, is that God can use that death for good. God can always overcome evil with good. It is amazing to think and a great thing to hope for when in the midst of a terrible situation. Praise God that He is that great.

As for me, I am glad there is eternity to hope for. God is good, even when there is bad in the world.

Addendum: I have no idea if my thoughts are theologically accurate...they are just my thoughts. Feel free to correct me :-)

Silly Boy

This is really a post to use at a later date when my son is old enough to be embarrassed by what he says as a baby.

We went to the library the other day. If you ask him about it he will tell you that the library has books. He will also tell you that he saw "gooses and a "lawn mow mow" there.

This, however, is not the funny part. I checked out three books for him. He calls them the monkey book (Hand, Hand , Fingers, Thumb), the bunny book with he big and little bunnies (The Runaway Bunny) and wheels on the bus (The Wheels on the Bus). Patrick and I are over and over again awed by PD's vocabulary. He is saying 3-5 word sentences regularly and can sometimes pull out a whole story. Right now, he is a little obsessed with potty stuff. Probably because we are working on using a big boy potty, but who knows.

Almost all of PD's really long sentences have been about poop in some form or another. His most recent accomplishment..."Daddy check baby's diaper see any poop come out. Daddy change him." He is explaining a picture in the bus book. It has gradually evolved in the past two days and is one of the things he talks about the most.

I think it is funny and probably grandparents will too. I definitely want to remember it.

Back in Action

So, I have been thinking. Life changes so fast. We haven't been on this blog in years, and I think maybe it is time. Maybe we should start to document the randomness that is our lives. I haven't done anything close to a baby book for PD, so maybe this will be a way to help remember some of the funny things he does as well.

Since our last meeting...

I have absolutely no idea what all has happened...but it has been a lot.

1. We had a baby boy, PD, who is now 20 months old and hilarious.

2. We moved from our home and all of our friends in NC and on the East Coast to the middle of the country with the hopes of building a dream house on 12+ acres.

3. Patrick and I both have new jobs. Patrick's requires a lot of travel and mine is super flexible.

4. We are going to have another baby in January. For all of you who know our story about PD, this is a miracle.

5. We are doing our best to understand God's plans for our lives.

So, a short and sweet overview of our BIG life changes. Hopefully, now, I will be better about letting people know what is going on in our lives and documenting the silliness of PD that I don't want to forget. Feel free to read or not. I am thinking this is more for me than you...but you are welcome to look into our world if you would like.

Austin, TX

After my 3rd trip to Austin in the past 18 months, Brianne finally got a chance to experience it for herself. She flew in Friday night, barely had time to change her clothes before we were off to an outdoor concert @ Stubb's - the Old 97's (who are based in Houston and whose lead singer was born in Austin) were playing the 2200 capacity GA venue with their country inspired rock 'n roll. They were good - awesome sound and great energy.

Saturday morning - we slept in (8am CST) and then caught a cab to the Magnolia Cafe on South Congress - where we had, after my omelet and Brianne's Migas, the best pancakes in the history of civilization. I don't know if it was the hint of gingerbread or the actual cake-like size (almost 9" diameter), but they were the best. I am not exaggerating.

We lazed around Saturday afternoon - nap and College Football before catching a cab to within a mile (close as we could get) of Darrell K. Royal - Texas Memorial Stadium. We had sweet 30 yardline seats to see Texas pummel Baylor, 63-31. At least 21 of Baylor's tally were apathy/pity points (Texas' athletes were demonstrably bigger, stronger and faster). We had a great time with 88,953 of our newest friends. They love their football in Texas. Kinda like they love their basketball in North Carolina.

After the game, walked back downtown, passing the Texas State Capitol (see below). We went down to 6th Street, Austin's version of Bourbon Street, but with no strip clubs and more tattoo parlors. It was Saturday night after a big Texas win, so all the freaks were out. Bri and I made the loop down and back before getting a late dinner in basically the only non-dive restaurant/bar on the street, besides Dan McKlusky's: The Iron Cactus. Good food.

Sunday, we slept in, packed up and flew home. It was a whirlwind 48 hours, but lots of fun, and a nice break from our typical weekend.

Look who's Licensed...

Search for Licensed Physical Therapists

Surf to this site and search for "Tonker".

Snoqualmie Falls

We went to Snoqualmie Falls on Labor Day, and had a great time. There's the Falls and a cute little utopian community with hypervigilant cops (speeding ticket going downhill - craziness). We followed the trail down to the river, where Patrick dropped his cellphone (splash!) while trying to take pictures for some Latino gentlemen (at least he didn't drop their camera).

Vegas, Baby!!!

On our way out to Seattle, we had to stay the night in Las Vegas because our flight from Raleigh was delayed. A trip to Priceline.com and 69 bucks later, we were checking in to a 28th floor room in the Monte Carlo Resort & Casino. It was 2:30am PST, we hadn't slept a wink on the flight, and we had to catch a 8:30am flight, but none of that stopped us from taking a walk down the strip to the Bellagio and back down past Aladdin. Strip denizens are pretty seedy at that particular time of day, but regardless, we enjoyed our brief jaunt before collapsing into bed for a much-needed and well-deserved 3.5 hour nap.

Seattle @ Dusk

Here's the view from Kerry Park on Queen Anne's Hill. Brianne took this on our last night in Seattle. Pretty Sweet. We really enjoyed our time there, and we're already planning a return trip in 2007.

There are more pictures to come.

Starting out

We were with Keba in Seattle and she helped us start a blog as we were enthralled and amazed at her blogging skills. Hope you enjoy!