Early this morning, even earlier than breakfast, Ren went downstairs to get a cup of water. While he was down there, he spied a rare treat in our house—donuts! He grabbed two and started to make his way back upstairs to where I was. B saw him and asked, “Whatcha got, Ren?”
“Donuts.”
Read MoreEarly this morning, Ren crawled in bed with me, not something he does every night...anymore. I looked at the clock and thought of early Thanksgiving mornings a few decades ago years ago when my mother was already out of bed to get the turkey in the oven. By the time the rest of the family woke a couple hours later, the house would be filled with the aroma of roasting turkey. And just a few more hours after that, around the formal dining table set with my mother’s finest china and silver, we would all take turns stating what we were most thankful for. Then we would dive into a very traditional Thanksgiving dinner.
Read MoreFlip Flops, we used to call them thongs, a name now almost exclusively relegated to skimpy underpants. Whether you call flip flops or thongs or jandals, pluggers, go-aheads, slaps, you know what they are, those simple open-toed sandals, consisting of a flat sole held loosely on the foot by a Y-shaped strap that passes between the first and second toes and around either side of the foot.
Read MoreI woke to the sound of a little boy’s whisper, “Momma, momma, are you awake?”
“No.”
He laughed in his nearly 5-year-old mischievous voice that sounded much more blaring than angelic at 6 a.m. “Yes, you are. Good morning, momma.”
Last night, Brently came home late from rehearsal. He decided to sleep on the couch so that he wouldn’t keep me awake. This meant his half of the bed was unoccupied. Somewhere around 4:30 a.m. I got up for a bathroom break. When I returned to my bed, I found it occupied, first by Ash and then by Ren. “Someone is sleeping in my bed,” I said to myself. “This bed is too full.”
Read MoreI burned dinner tonight. Not all of it. Part of it. I remembered the dish in the oven only moments before pandemonium ensued. The smoke detector beeped deafeningly. It’s human voice broadcasted with urgency, “Fire, Fire, Fire.” The dog barked incessantly, increasingly louder and in sync with the smoke detector. The girl covered her ears, screamed and ran from the kitchen. B reacted calmly. He handed me the baby after I removed the offending pan from the oven and set it safely to rest away from any fire. He stood under the battle claxon attempting to silence it.
Read MoreThis morning as B is getting ready to leave for work, and I was fixing breakfast for Ash.
Me: I need to empty the dishwasher.
Read MoreIt’s was late morning here on the eastern side of the country and with a couple of fun client projects sitting on my desk making good progress, I decided to take a short break and go for a Big Gulp–a college habit I just never seemed to break. Ash and I grabbed some loose change from B’s giant jar and hopped into the car headed for 7-11. As we pulled into the parking lot, she started on her chorus of “I want a Slurpee, I want a Blue Slurpee.”
Read MoreLast night, baby was moving a lot. For the first time, I could feel the kicks outside of my tummy. I asked B if he wanted to feel the baby. He rolled over and placed his hand on my tummy just as a super power kick thrust from my belly.
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