Reader Poll!

I take lots of pictures. Lots of pictures. Sometimes I like to play around with my photos, and sometimes I like to leave them relatively alone. And sometimes I can't decide which I like better. SO! You be the judge and tell me in the comments which of these three photos you like best.

Is it A:

Is it B:

Or is it C:

I await with bated breath!

Take Me Home

This morning while the kids were eating breakfast, Maggie started shouting that there was a rainbow in the sky. Since the sun hadn't even come up yet I knew that wasn't possible. Or was it?

I grabbed my phone and ran out to take a picture. The deck was wet with dew and it was a little cooler than I expected (since it was 78 degrees here yesterday) but I stood out there and gave myself a minute to take it all in.

Because soon it will be gone.

The West Virginia experiment is coming to a close. On Monday the house goes on the market and we start hoping/praying/cursing/evoking witchcraft that it sells in a timely manner, because sometime around July the first SOB starts his new gig up in Pittsburgh.

I can't say I'm entirely surprised. SOB has been pretty dissatisfied with his work ever since we moved here. Bit by bit it's gotten worse instead of better. He'e been on the prowl for a new job since the new year, but this one came up rather quickly and in the short span of six days it was a (nearly) done deal. The i's aren't quite dotted yet and the t's still need crossing, but it's good enough to call up the realtor.

How am I taking this, you ask? Well, that's a toughie. I think that this move is 100% right for us and our family. Living in the close suburbs of a city is life as we know it. Life as we like it. All of the things we've been missing here in WV will magically re-enter our lives. Non-chain restaurants, Montessori schools, Trader Joe's! In all seriousness, the number of times I've eaten at Ruby Tuesday's and The Outback Steakhouse these past two years is embarrassing.

But.

There's always a but, right? I do kind of like it here. I've had a lot of really good, important personal development here. I've made some amazing friends. I had a darling baby here. We live in a spectacular house that will be out of our price range in any place that people actually want to live. I've started a business here. I'm working as a leader with a local support group near and dear to my heart. In settling for West Virginia I've settled in West Virginia.

So now maybe you understand why it's been a little quiet around here. I've been working through this and thinking about every little thing possible to think about.

BUT!

Moving to Pittsburgh will be awesome for us.

I'm excited.

Family of Six, One Year Later

Always and Forever My Baby

Oh, Fred.

I just put you to bed for the last time as a baby. Even though we had the cake and the party, and even though today is officially your birthday, you were born just before midnight, so technically you're not one for another five and a half hours or so. This is the thing I've been clinging to all day to keep me from bursting into tears.

No matter how old you get, you'll always be my baby.

Fred Is One! Help Me, Please!

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Freddie Fridays

The next time I do a Freddie Friday, he'll be one. GAH!

The Sound of Silence

A long, long time ago, I can still remember, when my Sam was just a little boy. A little boy who couldn't hear all that well. Or talk all that well. And then he got ear tubes. And speech therapy. And he got better at those things.

Well, now he's six. And his ear tubes fell out over a year ago. Coincidentally, he's been getting in a little bit more trouble at school lately. Then one day at hockey practice he kept having do push-ups, which is an indicator that he was doing something wrong. I asked him about it afterwards, and he said he kept getting in trouble for not listening. With tears in his eyes, he said, 'but mom, I can't hear them out there.'

In a flash, I recalled all of the times at home he seemed to be ignoring me, or had to ask me to repeat myself more than once. I remembered seeing him hold his hand up to his ear when he was trying to her me from across the room or from the top of the stairs.

I got him a doctor's appointment for the next day, and I was hoping that they'd look in there and see fluid, just like when he was little. But there was nothing wrong in there. His audiogram was normal, also. So today we're off to the ENT for a full blown hearing test and exam.

For once in my life, I'm kind of hoping that instead of having real hearing loss, my kid is a serial exaggerator like me. That's normal, right?