The Dos and Don'ts of Tropical Storm Debby

I may be a Florida newbie, but I think I've already figured out how to survive my first tropical storm. It hasn't stopped raining in two days and there's no end in sight. But here are my tips for surviving Debby.

Don't bother changing out of your pajamas for the entire day. You aren't going anywhere and no one is going to come see you.

Do take advantage of the fact that there wasn't any lightning and fill up the bathtub for use as a pool. Get in with your toddler and splash wildly.

Don't bother doing laundry in your outdoor laundry room. (I wish I could have taken this advice, but dangit I needed clean underwear.)

Do hide behind the recliner any time your toddler starts playing on her own so as to not interrupt the fleeting moment of peace and calm.

Don't freak out when the electricity flickers.

Do blow bubbles. Lots of lots of bubbles.

Don't bother taking your carload full of stuff out to your new place. Even though you have to be out of your house by Saturday.

Do chase your toddler around the table. Over and over and over again.

Don't give up on discipline when that same toddler tries to climb onto the table for the fiftieth time in an hour.

Do mentally write your blog post in your head to keep from going insane talking to someone who never talks back.

Don't stick to your no-tv rule. Turn that thing on. Leave it on all day.

Do sit at the window watching and listening to the rain.

And do take advantage of the endless entertainment a camera with a self timer has to offer.

Why I Love My Husband (13)

I really need to write out the details of our newest sweet little baby. And update on our housing situation (we're in full blown moving mode and it's CRAZY!) But instead I'll throw a Why I Love My Husband post up. They're much easier to write and take far less mental energy. He's just easy to love!

I love my husband because he rubs my belly and talks to our little baby. More often than I do-I sometimes I'm forgetting I'm even pregnant! It's just too surreal.

He kisses my belly goodnight.

He holds me and reassures me when I'm crying because I have no milk for Hannah and she's so, so so very upset about it.

He moves stuff out to the truck in the rain and doesn't ask me to help. He just lets me read articles online and check Pinterest.

He suggests we eat spaghetti for lunch and dinner today. Then leaves his plate on the table to he can reuse it and save on dishes. Some wives might not think so highly of that. I think it's resourceful!

I married a gem.

Another Miracle

Last Saturday, the three of us went out to eat at a fancy Italian restaurant. Because, you know, that's what we do when we

FIND OUT WE'RE PREGNANT!

We're both still in shock. No meds. No  ultrasounds. No nothin'! We're so grateful that God is growing our family and making Hannah a big sister!

I'm five-ish weeks. I got a progesterone shot on Tuesday and am waiting for the lab results from my HCG.

More details to come. Probably more details than anyone cares to know. But I'm already so excited to record the wonderful little details of our second child's life!

Thanks be to God!

Quick Takes

-1-

Hannah was super tired all day. By 6:30 she was overtired and needed to go to bed. As I was nursing her to sleep I thought, "I'm going to have so much time to myself this evening!" and I proceeded to write out my entire quick takes in my head and dreamed about eating popcorn. Two screaming fits, a bath, and reading books for 2+ hours later.....I can't remember anything. So here is the stripped down, shortened version of whatever genius quips I had in my head two hours ago.

-2-

I got stung by a bee. It hurt. For 12 hours. Now it itches. And the damn bee made me leave my shirt at the pool and it's not in lost and found. Stupid bee.

-3-

I made homemade popsicles! And we can't get them out of the holders......

-4-

I treated myself to a Butterfinger Blizzard from DQ today. Delicious. And expensive! Wow. They call that a small? I could have eaten five of them.

-5-

Since I'm talking about treating myself, did you read my post about how I'm not generous?  Well the post isn't anything special but the comments are amazing! Some pretty smart ladies are reading this blog. Check them out.

-6-

I had something funny for #6. I swear I did.....

-7-

I quit.

Popcorn.

Creative Generosity

A while back a blogger posed the question: How do you want to be remembered?


Some of her examples were "honest", "joyful", "kind". The first word that came to me when I read the question, the answer that came straight from my gut, was "generous."

Generous? I think I actually laughed out loud. Who in the world would remember me as generous? I'm far, far from it. And probably even the opposite-greedy, hoarding, stingy.

It's no secret that Ted and I are cheapos. But it's not because we hate spending money-it's because we don't have much to spend. Managing our finances on one modest income takes a lot of hard work and creativity. And in order to make it work, we're forced to be cheapos. Cloth diapers, beans and rice, cutting our own hair, reusing aluminum foil-whichever way you look at it-we're cheap. And it shows in our gift giving. We honestly just can't afford to give lavish gifts, however much we want to. I try to keep birthdays, father's day, etc under five dollars. Not an easy task-and it's probably not always received well. But it is what it is.

But generosity isn't only about gift giving, although that is certainly a part of it. Generosity calls us to give of our time, talent, and treasure. If our treasure is in short supply, surely I can try to be generous with the other two. But I'm just.....not.

I have wonderful examples of generosity all around me. Friends who bend over backwards to try to help and never expect anything in return. One friend, Haley, is the embodiment of generosity. When I have old clothes to get rid of I take to them to a consignment store so I can make money to buy more clothes. But Haley came up with the idea of having a clothing exchange. I'm embarrassed to admit that I was reluctant to participate for the fear that I would give everything away and not get much in return. Ugh. I'm so greedy. And today, she let Hannah and me have two of her passes to the aquatic center in town so we could swim for free. I know myself. It would have been VERY hard for me to do the same for her. I did give her two cute outfits I didn't need for her little girl. But even this gesture of generosity was tainted. They were the only two outfits that the consignment store wouldn't pay me for.  Was ten bucks really worth it? Wouldn't it have been better to give her all of it-she's making due on one income too! And the clothes were GIVEN to me! Yes, I'm that bad.  I don't "pay it forward"-I just think about getting paid! I'm reluctant to let friends borrow things for fear they'll be ruined and I won't be able to afford to replace them. But I happily borrow items from these same friends all the time. Un-generous for sure.

Last night Ted mowed our yard for the first time (the owner of our duplex just laid down sod, we only had a dirt pit before). I asked him to mow our neighbor's half so she wouldn't have to worry about it. She was stressed about having to pay her lawn guy more to have it mowed. While he was out mowing last night Hannah and I watched him out the window and I thought, "I'm not doing anything to help her. I'm not doing anything to help anybody." But it occurred to me that staying inside with a sixteen month old by myself is most definitely a sacrifice, especially after being alone with her for the first 10 hours of the day. It took him double the time, time I could have been using to have a bit of respite from my motherly duties. So in a way, I was generous. It wasn't huge. But it was something. And today our neighbor called crying to thank us. Her brother is dying and she just came home from seeing him for what might have been the last time. She told me that seeing her yard brought her more joy than I could know. I got a sense of what it feels like to be generous.

All this to say-I need to learn generosity. But I don't have any money-so I need to learn to do it creatively. In giving of my time-well most of my friends have their parents in town and aren't in need of babysitters. And time is hard to give when I have a toddler in tow. And talent? I can't even think of what my talents are. I give out therapy advice to friends who ask for it. But that's hardly being generous-that's just being a therapist.

So I'm not sure how exactly I want people to remember me. But if "generous" is at all what I desire, I better get to work. Does anyone have any ideas of generosity that don't involve money??

Making Memories in MO

We spent the last week and a half visiting family and friends in Missouri.  It was too short. But it wasn't too hot. Or too humid. Or too covered in mosquitoes. Those are things that Florida definitely is, but Missouri definitely is not. At least not in June. So we spent the week....

running outside. In grass. Real grass. Just because we could.

and kissing Mary. Because we love Mary. And we just couldn't stay away.

going to the zoo and seeing all the animals that we've been looking at in our books for months. The only day that was super hot.... 

so we cooled off in the splash pad.

and finally found those elephants we'd been looking for.

we swam in the creek. And loved it. Even when Dad was distracted by a fish and let Little Girl walk into a pool as deep as her head. Little Girl just spit the water out, wiped off her face, and tried to jump in the pool again.

we relaxed. And cuddled with a great godmother. And introduced Hannah to one of my favorite spots on earth.

we ate a lot of ribs. But didn't cut a single tooth.

and barbecued not once, not twice, but three times. And said, "Yes Hannah, that is a dog," way too many times to count.

and we finally went out on the boat as a family of THREE! 

we trusted a 16 month old to steer us to safety.....

because apparently she knows how to drive.

and she definitely knows how to dance.

and stay up way past her bedtime.

Because we only had a few days to pack as much fun in as we possibly could. So we pushed back bedtime, dealt with waking up at 5:00 am, and experienced as much of Missouri as we possibly could.

When we got home we were greeted by a freshly painted house! The owner decided it needed a new coat of paint. We used to live in a red and green duplex-but the green is now white and the red is now......pink. Definitely pink. Fuchsia to be exact. I'm pretty sure they were going for the same shade of red-but they failed miserably. We now live in what our neighbor describes as "a strawberry candy cane."

Good thing our lease expires at the end of this month! Where are we going? Oh that's a whole 'nother post. And it's a doosey. Our crazy little life is about to get a little bit crazier. With plenty of heat, humidity, and mosquitoes.

*objects in picture are pinker than they appear)