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I have spent many Easter picnics bundled up in my picnic blanket and with the cooler weather earlier this week, it seemed like this year would be the same. However, the sun showed up near the end of the week in time for our Easter gathering with friends. We met at a local park on Saturday where we shared an Easter feast and put together an egg hunt for the kids. One of Davin's friends brought a dump truck to play with in the sand; dump trucks are a new fascination for Davin, so much so that we had to beg him to leave it to hunt for eggs. He had a great time finding the eggs once he figured out what was going on. On Sunday, Chris gave a beautiful talk in church. Davin, Rowan and I enjoyed it from the mother's lounge as Davin bolted during the sacrament and wouldn't go back into the chapel. In the afternoon, we took a walk on Wake Forest University's campus and enjoyed their spring flowers and blossoms. Later that evening, my cousin, Laura, came over for dinner and we ha...

Imagine this: you wake up one morning and realize that you have bars around your bed. You are literally sleeping in a cage. Your hands and legs move but you seem to have little control over where they go. With a little focus, you can move your head from side to side, but there isn't much to see, which doesn't seem to matter because you can't see very well any way. Your sense of smell is strong, but that isn't a plus because you barfed on yourself sometime during the night and you smell like rotten milk. The one sensation that overwhelmingly makes itself known is hunger. Unable to form words, the most basic human sounds erupts out of you and you start to cry. I think it is easy to think that the life of a baby is so easy. I do everything for Rowan. However, as I watch him struggle each day to make his body function the way that he wants it to, I realize how frustrating it must be to be so little sometimes. If an adult were in his situation, they would be considered an in...

Davin can hit notes that are almost inhuman. His ringing decibels soar to heights that break glass. His elevated tones vibrate perfectly on my ear drums at a level that is exhausting by the end of the day. He screams when he is upset, when he wants his way or can't communicate what he wants right away. Sometimes he screams just for fun (though not for my pleasure). When Davin isn't screaming, he is singing. He can sing "As I have Loved You", the entire song on key. He will sing hymns, silly songs, and occasionally the Beatles (I'm so excited to pass the torch to yet another generation). Isn't that typical for motherhood? I feel like I ride a constant pendulum of highs and lows. One minute you want to strangle your child and the next you are hugging him. I am either scolding or laughing with little in between (fortunately more laughing than scolding).

It’s official! We are now card carrying members of the Piggly Wiggly. This honor is only rarely given to a few Westerners and never any Yankees. Having a discount card at the grocery store that symbolizes the South signifies that we have arrived. Though we will never be called Southerners, having a card at the Piggly Wiggly at least means that the natives find us tolerable. Unfortunately we won’t be able to use it because we don’t have any Piggly Wigglys here in Winston-Salem. We got the card earlier this week when we traveled to Hilton Head Island, SC. Chris has the week off for spring break and we decided to head for the beach. Although it wasn’t quite the basking-in-the-sun experience that we were hoping for, we still managed to enjoy ourselves. We stayed at the Hilton Oceanside Resort, a lovely spot right on the beach. Some of our favorite activities included digging holes in the sand, playing golf at a pirate-themed mini golf course, eating at our favorite local seafood joint, The...

Up until Rowan was born, Davin had a hard time being left with others. I would usually only leave him with friends who had kids his age, so he should have been okay. However, he would still have a teary separation, even if for only a few minutes. Just before Rowan was born, something changed and he decided that it was a lot of fun to be with other families after all. This was a huge relief because at that time I needed a lot of help and it was great to know that Davin was having a great time hanging out with other moms and kids. Davin’s perspective of other moms, however, is somewhat skewed. When he goes over to play, he has a great time. He isn’t reminded to do things like eat his dinner and he doesn’t have Mom to tell him that he is being naughty. However, when he comes home again, he has to be with the mean Mom who won’t let him play in the pots of dirt and won’t let him have chocolate milk all day long. Then there is Dad. When Chris comes home from school, it is like an LDS comme...

*Warning: This post is not for those with a weak stomach or those who do not have kids.” There are events that are monumental enough to retire clothing to the happy dumping grounds, events that are beyond the power of the washer to save an outfit. The other night, the four of us went to Barnes and Noble (Davin loves to play with the train set in the kids’ section). Chris was holding Rowan when an explosion occurred, shooting up Rowan’s back. Fortunately I was prepared with a well-stocked diaper bag, but there was no saving the onesie filled with poop soup. There have been times when I have not been so well prepared, however. When we were traveling back to Austin, we had a layover in Memphis. The flight left Austin early in the morning and we had anticipated changing Davin from his pajamas into clothes later in the day, thus we had packed a change of clothing in the carry-on luggage. However, Davin was bright and chipper at 4 am, so I opted to change him before he left. A little voice ...

One of my most favorite baby milestones is the first laugh. A couple of weeks ago while we were traveling in Charlotte, Rowan had his first laugh. Chris was swinging him back and forth and out burst a little exclamation of joy. Since then our son, whose middle name means “he laughs”, has an occasionally delicious moment of laughter. The other night as I was undressing him for his bath, he burst into laughter. Rowan knows when it is bath time and it is the best time of the day. He’ll casually recline in the tub like a little man soaking in a sauna and then explode in a series of mad kicks and splashes. It’s a great time for us to chat and catch up on the day’s events. It is our little time of quiet because his noisy older brother is usually in bed by the time Rowan bathes. There are two things I wish I could preserve like a jar of jam: the sound of little baby giggles and the feeling of a squishy wet baby wrapped in a towel with his big blue eyes peeking out of the hood.