On Being Intentional

A couple things for today...

• I am finding out that the key to happiness in my life is being intentional. The more intentional I am about things, the more I get out of them (and the more they get out of me). I have to intentionally love my husband. I have to intentionally be kind and encouraging to the people I work with. I have to intentionally pack my gym bag and put it in the car in the morning before I go to work. I have to be intentional with how I parent Harper. Maybe this stuff comes second nature to you, but I have to work at it. Too often I float though my day or just try to hurry up and get it over with. But, that's such a waste of time. I want my time to count for more. So, I'm trying to be more intentional.
• I'm pretty sure she's going to be on American Idol some day. We got her this microphone for her birthday. I think she likes it. Don't mind the morning hair or the poor quality of the cell phone picture.

Birthday Party

Most of you know that Harper turned 2 on Saturday. We went all out for her first birthday party (as most parents do). But this year, we wanted to do something more low key. So we invited over a few close friends for dinner, presents, and cake. Here's how it went.

Tortellini, Pretend Burps, and Bottom Lips

I'm working on getting all of the pictures and video of Harper's birthday party together. It's a big job. In the meantime, here's a video from lunch yesterday. Lord help me.

2.20.10

Dear Harper,

Tomorrow is your second birthday! How time has flown by. It seems like just yesterday that I was holding you in the hospital.

You've had a big year. You’re little (or should I say big) personality is really starting to shine through. I think you’ve inherited some of my OCD and perfectionist tendencies. You enjoy putting your toys in their proper places and you make sure all cabinet doors are closed at all times. You also get frustrated when you can't get your baby dolls to sit up quite right or when your blanket isn’t properly folded. Don’t worry, as I’m beginning to learn, the world won’t end if blankets are out of place or cabinet doors aren’t closed.

Other sides of your personality are also becoming more apparent. You're definitely turning into a bit of a girly girl – that you did not inherit from me. You love to carry around purses and wear big girl jewelry. And, all of a sudden, you have all kinds of opinions about the clothes you wear. I have to pick out a couple outfits in the morning and let you pick which one you want to put on, or else you aren’t happy.

I think the biggest event for you this past year was starting baby school. You love to go to baby school. You have made so many new friends and have learned about all kinds of cool things like penguins and pomegranates. Your teachers tell me that you are the best talker in the class but the messiest eater. They call you the Little Teacher because you try to keep all of your other classmates in line – that you probably got from your dad. Your best buddy at school is a cute little boy named Luke. When we walk into class in the morning, he runs over to give you a hug and help take off your coat. You guys aren’t allowed to sit next to each other at lunch anymore because you paint each other with applesauce. Oh well. It happens.

I am so proud of the little girl you are turning into. You have such a sweet spirit. My heart is unbelievably happy when I watch you sing your little songs or do your happy dances or rock your baby dolls. You are smart as a whip and you are openly kind and loving. I’ve said it a million times over the past two years, and it’s still true. You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me. My heart is bigger and softer because of you. Thank you for the joy that you bring to my life. I can’t wait to see what you get into over the next year. Happy birthday!
Love,
Mom

Ask The Scientist

Ok. Here's something new for today. I'm going to call it "Ask The Scientist". Do you ever wonder about science related things? Like why your stomach doesn't digest itself or how aquatic frogs can hibernate underwater all winter and survive? No? Just me? Well if you do have any burning scientific questions, ask me. I might know the answer right off the bat, but I guarantee I won't know the answer to all of the questions. But, I'll figure it out and get back to you.

Here's one to start us off. Did you ever wonder why your noes runs when it's cold outside?

You nose is designed to warm, humidify, and filter the air that you breath before it reaches your lungs. One way that your nose does this is to produce a warm liquid (ie. mucus) for the air to pass over. If you're healthy (and not cold) you produce about 32 ounces (almost 1 liter) of mucus every day. Most of this mucus falls down the back of your throat and is swallowed.

Underneath the glands that secrete this mucus, you have a huge amount of tiny blood vessels which help supply these glands with oxygen and plasma that's used to make the mucus. In cold weather, these blood vessels dilate. This means you have increased blood supply to your nose, which in part protects your nose from the cold, but also means your nose will begin producing greater amounts of mucus (because more plasma is reaching your glands). This increased blood flow is also why your nose turns red when it's cold. Because your nose is making much more mucus than usual, not all of it can go down the back of your throat all at once. The overflow, if you will, drips out of your nose while it's waiting to go down your throat. Make sense?

Ok, now it's your turn. What do you want to know?

Random Wednesday

Let's see. I haven't been in much of a blogging mood lately. Partly because I've been a little busier than usual, and partly because I just don't have much to say. But here are a couple random things that are swimming around in my head today.

• I finally broke down and did it. For the past 5 years, my husband has asked me to give him a list of things that I would like to get as gifts. Apparently, I'm hard to buy for (although I dispute that fact). So, he wanted me to make a list. Until Monday, I was very much against making said list. One reason was because I wanted my husband to read my mind (joking, but only kind of). Secondly, receiving gifts makes me a little uncomfortable to begin with, so the proposition of making a whole entire list of things that I wanted did not sound like fun. But, in the end I caved. I made my list and I even included which holidays are important to me (ie. I could care less about Valentine's Day but I want him to celebrate our anniversary). It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Is this something you do in your families or do you have another system that works?
• Harper is turning 2 on Saturday. I can't believe that 2 years have passed in the blink of an eye.
• I like reading blogs. Here are just a few of my favorites. What are some other blogs that you think I need to know about?

1. This is my friend Melanie's blog. She's funny and her family is always up to something interesting.
2. This is my friend Christina's blog. I don't actually know Christina. She lives in Texas. But, I'm pretty sure we'd be friends if we lived in the same town. She has a beautiful family and her youngest daughter reminds me so much of Harper (she even looks like Harper).
3. I've been reading this blog for a couple weeks now. The authors shared their story at our church a few months ago (and have recently come on staff). It was pretty amazing. Even if you can't relate to the specifics of their particular story, I challenge anyone to not be inspired and convicted by their daily advice and wisdom. They are doing a good thing and I appreciate it.

Snow Day

Rob has today off, so he and Harper are hanging out. Whenever Rob is home alone with Harper, he sends me pictures of their adventures - probably to reassure me that she's fine and that the house isn't burning down. I appreciate the gesture. Here are the pictures that were in my inbox when I got to work this morning.

A car seat makes for a comfortable way to sit at the front door and watch all of our neighbors struggle to get up the (tiny) hill at the top of our street.

Putting her new snow suit on to brave the flurries outside

Happy Snow Day!