Books that linger

Do you have a book or books that have stuck with you for years? While I have read several great works of literature during my time as an English major and just trying to be a well-read individual, the one book series that stands out most in my mind is one I read in elementary school — the Ramona series.

There are so many things in those books that I remember so vividly, descriptions so wonderfully painted that still resonate with me now. There's the scene where Ramona makes slacks for her stuffed elephant but fails to account for her rump, leaving the elephant with saggy knees and pants that don't cover her behind. I think of this whenever I wear leggings, worried if I, too, have saggy elephant slacks knees.

Of course, there's Ramona's classmate with the curly blonde hair and Ramona who just itches to pull one of those locks to see if it bounces like an actual spring. She eventually does and, of course, gets in trouble because that's just what happens to Ramona.

Other moments that stand out are when she describes being curled up in the booth at Whopper Burger with her dad, and the coziness of that booth mixed in with the warmth of the french fries — crispy on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside. Or when she squirts the whole tube of toothpaste into the sink because it looks like frosting, only to have to put all of the toothpaste into a jar and use it herself (because the whole family dipping their toothbrushes into one jar would be unsanitary).

And there are many, many more I could list (turning the Q of her last name into a cat, the "No Smo King" signs, throwing up at school) …

For whatever reasons, these images have stuck with me for 20+ years. As a writer, I can only hope that one thing I've ever written lingers with one person for longer than a week, so it's awesome to think of generations of children growing up with this character and her impact lasting past childhood. Scenes so perfectly depicted like in this series are one of the reasons I fell in love with words and writing in the first place. What seems simple so accurately captures an idea or moment that you can't help but carry it with you long after the book is finished. That's an impressive thought.

So, share with me. What book or book series still sticks with you today?

The big haircut

Last week, Preston got his first official "big boy" haircut. Even though Scott and I had been pretty resistant to cutting his hair, when we noticed he was rocking the Andy Samberg circa 2006, we decided a haircut might be overdue. 

The main reason I'd been dragging my feet to cut Preston's hair is that I didn't know what to do with it. I think it's easier with a little girl. You can give them a simple little bob and it can be as long or as short as you want it. The most difficult decision there is bangs or no bangs. A little boy actually has to have a style: bowl cut, crew cut, buzz cut, etc. But when I saw this little boy on Mini Boden, I thought his hair cut would fit Preston perfectly.

I'm thankful my friend Amber was able to do it since my usual hair stylist was booked solid. I took Preston over to her house, and she cut his hair in her bathroom. She was so sweet to take time out of her afternoon to clean up this shaggy little dog.

While he loved Amber and an excuse to play with my iPad, he hated the clips she used to section off his hair. Whenever he'd reach up and feel one in his hair, he'd cry. When she got to the top section, he reached up to feel for a clip to find there weren't anymore in his hair. He was so happy that he clapped and shouted "Yay!"

I love this new 'do, and he looks so cute it makes us wonder why we didn't cut it sooner. As an added bonus, since his haircut, no one at Walmart has called him a girl. So it's a win all around.

I can't get over how big he looks in this photo. I can't believe he'll be two on Friday!

Gift ideas for mom

Mother's Day is fast approaching. For whatever reason, this holiday always has me scratching my head about what to buy. What do you get the woman who not only woke up at all hours of the night to feed you and made it through the ages of 2 and 12-18 without shipping you to the zoo but also came to stay with you for two weeks after you've had a baby and listened to whatever problem (real or imagined) you brought to her over the course of 28 years? While one gift might not say all of those things, here are a few ways you can tell your mom thanks for being your mom.

1. How cute is this set of pears? I love the sweet, simple sentiment and can see them easily fitting in to any mom's decor. This is a great gift if you happen to live far away from your mom because they would be such a nice reminder for her to glance at every day when she might not see you as much as she likes.

2. Of course, every mother needs a Mother's Day card, and I love everything Rifle Paper Co. does. This card is great for when you can't get your mom an actual trophy but wish to express that feeling just the same.

3. A stack of these dainty initial bracelets would make any mom proud. Get one for each of her children's (and even grandchildren's) names. They'd make a great conversation starter, and what mom doesn't want an excuse to gush about her kids?

4. My parents always request pictures of Preston when I ask them what they want for any gift-giving occasion. One of my favorite places to go for everything photo is Shutterfly. They offer tons of wall art options to display those timeless memories. I love the look of the mounted wall art, but they also offer canvas, wood, acrylic and even metal prints, plus cute decals. With all of the choices, it's easy to find an option that fits your mom's style and features her favorite face for all to see!

5. Buying scents for others can be tricky, but this Nest set of five offers the recipient a variety to choose from. And with such beautiful packaging, these bottles would look lovely on your mom's vanity.

6. My collection of recipes derived from my mom, grandmothers, great-grandmother and mother-in-law. It's such a neat collection of generations of special women. This vintage-feeling recipe tin would be a great gift to keep all of those treasures in one place.

I hope this helps you on your quest to celebrate all of the mothers in your life!

Easter 2014

I hope you had a very happy Easter weekend! I was able to snap a few pictures of Preston hunting eggs after church. Getting pictures of him has gotten increasingly difficult for me because he wants to come and grab my camera from me and point it around saying "Cheese! Cheese!" So the eggs were a good distraction — and a big hit, too! When we walked out the front door, he squeezed his little fists together in excitement and squealed, "Ay-ggs!" He kept shouting that to Scott, "Daddy! Eggs!" And while he understood the concept of finding the eggs, he didn't get the "put them in your basket" part. He would just pick them up and set them back down.

We were also able to celebrate a huge milestone in Preston's eating this weekend. I put some Annie's graham bunnies in Preston's Easter basket, and with much cheering and fist pumping, he actually ate them — chewing, swallowing and even asking for more! He's making such progress with therapy, and Scott and I were so proud of him. It was an Easter miracle!

I'm always a little sad that, because of Scott's job and how busy this weekend for the university, we're never able to visit family and have to stay in town. But, over the years, I've come to enjoy a holiday that's just ours. We get to make some new traditions and memories while carrying over pieces from our past. I always make my mom's hash brown casserole because it has always been a staple on Easter Sunday for as long as I can remember. And watching Preston hunt eggs was a fun first that I look forward to doing in years to come.

I loved the day with our little family and look forward to many more Easters that we can make our own.

P.S. I just had to include this picture. Scott was coaching Preston to pose by leaning against the tree, and this was Preston's translation.

My writing process: A blog tour

A week or two ago, my dear, sweet friend Alex asked me if I wanted to participate in a blog tour sharing about my writing process. Now, while I have a blog, I don't tend to do a lot of those communal, bloggy things. I used to do "What I'm Loving Wednesday," but that's about as close as I got. But this one seemed different, and I liked the topic at hand, so I went for it.

As a side note, if you don't know Alex or don't read her blog already, you are missing out. Alex is a beautiful person, inside and out, and I love her dearly. God is working through her in an incredibly difficult time in her life, and to see His glory shine through her is incredible to witness.

With that being said, on to the questions!

1. What am I working on?

I'm a writer professionally, which, even after almost six years of doing so, sounds incredibly strange to say. I work at the university I attended and write for the alumni magazine and various other university publications. I'm also the copy editor, so I get to mark up text and make it better. Right now, our spring magazine is in the building stages, where the copy is complete and being edited and placed into the magazine layout. One of the less glamorous things I do is the commencement program editing, and this May the university is transitioning from two to three ceremonies because of the large number of graduates. So, I have more than 900 names to comb through and compile, complete with hometowns, honors and majors.

As far as my blog is concerned, I use this as an outlet to write about whatever I want and don't tend to work too far into the future. If it strikes me as something I'd like to write about, I write it and publish it, so I don't have a whole lot waiting in the wings.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

From the perspective of my blog, it's different because I'm different (which is basically what Alex said but totally spot on, so I have to agree). While there are millions of blogs out there written by women, some of whom who are Christians, some of whom have a husband and kids, some of whom have jobs, some of whom like to talk about clothes, at the end of the day they aren't me.

3. Why do I write what I do?

I began this blog mainly as a way to keep Scott's and my families informed as to what we were up to. It was also nice to have a place to write recreationally rather than professionally. It slowly evolved to a place where I could record memories, reflect on what I'm feeling, talk about things I liked or that interested me, and just serve as a map of where life was taking me. Lately, I've really appreciated having chronicled my pregnancy with Preston because I've looked back on it to help me remember what's to come this time around, like approximately how big I was at 20 weeks so I know what to look forward to at the beach this year.

4. How does your writing process work?

When I blog, it's pretty much coming straight from my head to the keyboard to the world. Sometimes I take a little more time to "craft" a post, but usually they are ideas I've been batting around in my head for a little bit or something that's been weighing on my heart. I tend to write it all out the night before I post it, look over it the next morning, and publish it at some point that day. Sometimes, I open a draft, type one phrase, sentence or paragraph that I've been formulating for a while, then come back and build around that.

In addition to visiting Alex's blog, you should check out these three women and their blogs. They'll be posting their writing process next week!

Katie 

from Kate + Nate

Taylor 

from Tea With Mrs. Kee

and Charlene

from From Bisons to Buckeyes

What a difference a decade makes

As a kid, I always had a journal. And while I enjoyed writing as a way to sift through my thoughts and emotions at the present moment, I always journaled with a sense of future. I imagined myself older, stumbling upon a tattered spiral notebook and being transported back to that 12-year-old girl and her tweenaged problems. I wanted my kids to read them at some point, to see what their mom was like way back then and to see that maybe they aren't the only ones to have ever felt a certain way. Granted, I'm no Anne Frank, but capturing the present moment in a journal to read about after several years had passed always appealed to me.

When we were in Nashville for spring break a few weeks back, my dad tasked me with going through some of the stuff in my room and decide whether I wanted to keep it or not. One of the things I found was the journal my high school English teacher had each of us keep during senior year. With my 10 year high school reunion coming up this October, it seemed like a fitting time to read through it.

One entry caught my eye especially. It was about where I thought I would be in 10 years — what 18-year-old me, while sitting in a metal chair with half desk in a room with cinderblock walls and educational posters, thought I'd be doing right now.

April 19, 2004
Where do I see myself in 10 years? Well, I'll most likely be out of pharmacy school, working at Walgreens or something similar (hopefully here [Nashville]). I'll be 28, so I think I'll be married. I hope I'll be married. Kids? Perhaps, most likely given the fact I'll be 24 when I get out of school and don't plan on getting married while in school. Sometimes that interferes with scholarship, and if I want to go to Samford, then I'll need all the money I can get. 

After reading it, I couldn't help but laugh. My plan 10 years ago is quite a bit different from where I've ended up.

For those who don't know, my original college major was pre-pharmacy. I was never a good science student, but I also never tried to be one, so I thought if I really tried in college it would be different. It turns out there are just somethings, regardless of effort, you just can't do if you're not meant to. Science, chemistry especially, is that for me. My second semester my freshman year, I switched to an English major and never looked back.

I don't live in Nashville or work at Walgreens, got married at 22 while I was still in college, have one kid and one on the way, and never went to Samford, not even for a visit. And, despite the fact that my plans and my reality don't match up, I'm not the least bit upset. In fact, it's amazing that the things that seemed important then aren't that important now. I didn't even know then most of the people who mean to the most to me now.

It provided a neat perspective, to think about the things that I worry about or want now and how they'll seem so small through a 10-year lens. I'm interested to see what the next 10 hold!

Image via Flickr

Making room for Baby #2

Yes, we're making room for baby #2 who is expected to arrive in late October. My sweet friend Cassie took this picture (as she usually does) to help us share our exciting news with the world. As a couple of side notes: 1. Who has ever looked that happy to be reading What to Expect When You're Expecting? and 2. Preston's look of concern is for Cassie. He really wanted her to sit on the bed with us and show him the back of her camera.

When I first found out I was pregnant, I was pretty shocked. While we planned and prepared for Preston a few months before I ever got a positive test result, this one wasn't so planned in that it wasn't at all, and all those things I felt we had a little time to think about pre-Preston came rushing forward that early Friday morning because I had to think about them — now! It was a little overwhelming. Poor Scott, I woke him up before 6 a.m., and before he had time to become fully conscious, I dropped the "I'm pregnant" bomb on him. "You've got to let someone wake up before you say that!" was his response.

Now, if you know Scott, you know his plan of one child. As an only child himself, he liked the idea of continuing that tradition. But he actually handled the news much better than I initially did (at first I was crying because, oh my goodness, we're having another baby and then I was crying because I felt bad for crying about the baby). He said there were a lot of things we didn't know about becoming parents the first time, and that God worked it all out. He'd do that for us this time, too.

Having had some time to adjust, we're all very excited about what's to come. We never made a big to-do about telling Preston because, at not quite 2-years-old, he still doesn't quite get it. But we talk about the baby, and at dinner in his roll call of people he thinks we should pray for, he'll mention "Baby Tummy" (because, in my attempts to explain the baby is in my tummy, he thinks the baby is in everyone's tummy), which melts me into a puddle every time.

I've noticed some similarities and some differences between this pregnancy and my last. With Preston, the nausea came in waves. When it hit, it hit hard, but it didn't last long. With this one, I feel perpetually queasy. Food helps some, but overall I feel blah a lot of the time. My earliest craving with Preston was lemon and carbs, and in keeping with the acidic theme, this go-around all I want is tomatoes and carbs. Both times, sweets sounded disgusting. With Preston, that went away in the second trimester as I formed a deep love for milkshakes and Cocoa Puffs. So, we'll see if these are any indication of another little boy in our future soon enough.

Thank you all for your congratulations and well-wishes. We are excited about what the future holds for our growing family and appreciate your prayers and encouragement along the way!