Re-evaluating

What is paramount in your relationships?
Love?
Friendship?
Kindness?
Service?
Forgiveness?

Or is it more like
Being right?
Having your needs met?
Convenience?

Tough questions.

I think my default mode is to want to be right and have my needs met and have convenient interactions with people.

However, I'm learning that relationships that are worth investing in require much more of me than what my default mode will offer. Sometimes (probably all the time) it's way better to put love ahead of the desire to be right. Service above having my own needs met. Kindness and friendship above personal convenience.

What is your default mode? Do you need to re-prioritize? Do you need to recognize and take a step back from relationships with messed up priorities?

I'm going to be re-evaluating what kind of things I bring to the table in my relationships. I want my default mode to be love, kindness, friendship, service, and forgiveness. How about you? What do you bring to the table?

Not Good

This is some scary information...

Via: Online Schools

I'm The Boss and Cat Calling

This video depicts several things. First, it illustrates the power struggle that's currently brewing in our house. My mom tells me that I had this exact same conversation with my grandpa when I was about Harper's age. She comes by it honestly. Secondly, this video shows Harper's cat calling abilities. She's very interested in our cat these days. I can't say the feeling is mutual.

Wardrobe Malfunction and Kite Flying

I had a big important meeting at work today. It was big and important. Did I mention that it was big and important? Well, I wanted to look nice for my big important meeting so I wore a nice white sweater. At least it was white until about an hour before my meeting. I got a big ink stain right in the middle of my chest. I tried to use a little bleach to get it out, but it only made it worse. So... I high tailed it over to the campus book store and got myself a brand new Vanderbilt t-shirt. Thank goodness I work on a college campus with a bookstore within walking distance. And thank goodness I'm a scientist who can wear a t-shirt to a big important meeting. On a side note, my brain is completely fried, but the meeting went well.

On a slightly happier note, Harper and I flew our first kite together yesterday. Check it out!

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

We had a family outing to the ball park last night to see the Nashville Sounds take on the Oklahoma City Red Hawks. It was great. We braved the weather and had an awesome time. Here are some cell phone pictures of our night.

We had great seats right behind home plate!

This kid has a serious attention span for a two year old. She loved watching all the action.

Speaking of action, here's an action shot of some singing and clapping.

Have I mentioned that I am chopped liver when he's around?

It did sprinkle periodically, but she didn't care one bit. And I only cared half of one bit.

Right when we walked into the stadium, a super nice usher gave Harper a batting practice ball. She slept with it last night.

Such a fun night. I think we just might have to do it again.

Wet Feet

This morning, Harper and I had to stop at CVS before going to baby school. It rained a little overnight, so the parking lot was wet. On the way out of the store, Harper laid eyes on the one and only puddle in the parking lot. Before I could stop her, she got a mischievous look on her face, yelled "Ta-Da!", and jumped in with both feet. Water went everywhere. Her shoes and socks were soaked. As I was buckling her into her car seat, she said "Mommy, my shoes wet." - like she was surprised that jumping in a crater of water would result in wet shoes. This is what I'm dealing with. I see a pair of galoshes in our future.

We're Working On It

Here is my 2 year old's rendition of the ABCs. It's a work in progress.

Who knew that even the ABCs could contain a little drama? That's just what you get with this kid.

Congratulations Kelly!

My friend Kelly had a sweet little baby boy yesterday. Meet Corbin.

Pretty cute. If you get a minute, you should check out Kelly's blog. I'm sure it will soon be filled with beautiful stories of new motherhood (and maybe some puke and blowout diaper stories too - it comes with the territory). And while you're at it, you should also check out her photography blog. She's an awesome photographer and I have the pictures to prove it! She took this shot of Harper last summer.

And You Think You're Having A Bad Day

I don't know about you, but I feel like this sometimes. Now granted, it may not be as dramatic as this but sometimes I do I feel like my brain has been taken over by a nasty fungus and I become toxic to those around me.

I'm getting better at identifying what my triggers are. Sometimes it's money related, sometimes it's husband related, sometimes it's work related. But, unlike this poor ant, my fungus is not real. It's just self created stress and anxiety.

I'm making progress in this area, though.

I'm learning to focus on what is true, not what I feel.

Can anyone else relate?

Really???

I took this picture in the parking garage at work this morning. Seriously? It was the only license plate (if you can call it that) anywhere on the car. After some googling, I found out that it's fairly common to issue these types of tags in Georgia. The only thing that would've made it better is if it would have been on a PT Cruiser.

Weekend Update

We packed a lot into this weekend. Here's the rundown:

• Up early on Saturday morning to go to the gym. I took a kickboxing class that completely kicked my butt. There was a woman in the class who had to be at least 7 months pregnant. She utterly schooled me. It was awesome (heavy on the sarcasm). But, at least I went. Hopefully, I'll do better next time.
• Took Harper swimming after my kickboxing class. She's a fish.
• Later that day, we hung out with some friends and went to the zoo. Here's a picture of Harper and her buddy Cooper.

• At the zoo, I realized that my kid is super brave. We went to an animal show and when the trainer brought out a humongous tarantula, Harper said "Me hold it?" It was literally as big as her face.
• Went to church on Sunday morning. Music was great. Message was great. If you're in this neck of the woods, you should check it out.
• While the kiddo napped and Rob was at work, I watched the second Twilight movie. It was ok. I liked the first one better. Don't judge me.

Cell Phone Picture Friday

Harper got a belated birthday present last night (although it really wasn't belated to her because she sings Happy Birthday to herself every day even though her birthday was about 7 weeks ago...). It's an art station. She LOVES it! Here are a couple (kind of bad) cell phone pictures that I took this morning.

Friends and Funny Pictures

This is my friend Tory. She's Harper's buddy. She also took most of the next few pictures.

Tory does not have 3 legs. However, she is easily suckered into reading Harper books.

Harper has half and half hair. The front half is pin straight like mine and the back half is curly like Rob's. Genetics is a funny thing. You can really see the different types of hair in her pig tails. The hair on top is straight, while the hair on the bottom is in a ringlet.

This is my friend Katie. She's Harper's buddy too.

She has a dog named Scout. Harper likes to tell Scout what to do.

It's tough love.

Katie accidentally took this picture. She hit the button right as Harper started coughing. Actually, coughing isn't the correct term for it. Sometimes, she swallows wrong or something and makes this horrible noise like she's going to projectile hurl all over everything. It's startling the first time you hear it. After that, it's just plain funny. (Note, she was not choking or in any danger. That would not be funny.)

This kid is a nut.

And I totally love every bit of her.

On Forgiveness

On Monday, my small group talked about forgiveness. It was a great discussion. Over the next few weeks we are suppose to be working on making a list of people in our lives that we need to forgive.

This is easier said than done for me. The truth is that I can't really think of any people that I need to forgive. I don't like conflict, so when it comes up, I like to get things settled quickly and move on. I think this is good because I don't hold grudges and I don't carry around a lot of unresolved stuff.

But, I feel like I may be missing something subtle. I don't know. Maybe I should just be grateful that I don't have unforgiveness issues and move on. Here are some of the questions in my head right now. If you have any opinions, I'd be glad to hear them.

• Do you have to feel completely neutral about someone or a situation to mean that you have forgiven them (ie. if you still have hurt feelings over a situation, but have chosen to forgive the person who hurt you, have you really forgiven them?)
• If you just plain don't like someone, does that mean that you are choosing not to forgive them for something even if you can't put your finger on what that may be?

Am I over thinking this?

Wavy

Did you know that you have beautiful things like this floating around in your body? We are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Easter Recap

What an awesome Easter weekend! We had so much fun hanging out together as a family and spending time with friends. After church yesterday, we went to our friends' house for lunch and an Easter egg hunt. It was great! Here are some pictures from the hunt.

I think this is my favorite one.

Poor kid ran out of room in her basket and was forced to make a pile on the ground.

I included this picture as a matter of record for Harper's future therapist. It's not unusual for this kid to have a crowd standing around her, taking pictures, and commenting on how cute she is. It's probably going to give her a complex. I'm ok with that.

Game Changer

Good Friday

Today was a good day.

My daughter actually said the following: My mommy loves me.

Score!

Also, I totally got my butt kicked at a circuit training class that Rob and I took at the gym. It was horrible and awesome all at the same time.

Also, I have a Savior who specializes in resurrections. You can read more about that here.

Also, I like this song.

Random Thursday

A couple things for today...

• First, American Idol so got it wrong last night. Didi should not have been the one to go. I can think of at least 2 people (not mentioning any names, Katie and Siobhan) who are not as talented as Didi. But, I guess I can't complain too much because I didn't vote. Now, I think I'll jump on the bandwagon and root for Crystal.
• Just in time for Easter, Harper has pink eye and an ear infection. Darn you baby school. Rob took her to the doctor this morning and the good news is that we caught it early enough that she can just take oral antibiotics instead of having to do eye drops. Silver lining, right?
• Speaking of Rob and Harper, they are best buddies these days. Harper wants very little to do with me when he's around. She even tells me "no come, Mommy" when they go down stairs in the morning. Oh well. It's just one of those things.
• Here are some pictures from the Easter egg hunt last Saturday.