Sock Man

Every week of toddlerhood brings new developments, obsessions, and (in our son, anyways) quirks. This past week, Shepherd kept pulling BJ's socks out of his sock drawer and bringing them to me. I couldn't figure out what his wanted, so eventually, I just decided to put the socks on him.

He thought this was pretty great, so he brought me another pair. Since he only has two feet (both of which already had socks), I put them on he hands.

Now, socks are officially the coolest toy in the house. Here is a picture from a few days ago when he brought a pair to his father. BJ calls it "Socks on the Go":

I don't know how long socks will hold a fascination with Shepherd. All I know is that toddlers are wonderfully weird little people, which makes them really fun to live with.

A Muddy Puddle

After five days of rain, my little out-doors-man son nearly went in sane this past week. Only once during the week did the rain let up enough for us to run outside. Here's what happened during our brief outing.

Shepherd immediately noticed the giant rain puddle outside our backdoor, so he did what any self-respecting toddler boy would do. He stepped in it.

Then, he squatted down and ran his fingers through the murky waters.

Soon, he realized that muddy puddles were capable of being splashed much like his bath water.

Of course, he isn't allowed to stand in his bath, but he eventually realized that the muddy puddle was a perfect spot to experiment with step splashing.

And the splashing-by-jumping technique.

Then he found a stick.

And he found that you can splash muddy puddles with sticks.

So he set in the middle of the puddle and splashed the muddy waters with his stick for a good fifteen minutes.
As a result of everything I have hereto mentioned, this is what his face looked like prior to me stripping him down in the yard and carrying him at arm's length to the bath tub.

Needless to say, in Shepherd's book, this was the greatest of all great days, and he finds most days to be pretty great.

Mommy's little farmer

This summer, we are hoping to have a garden in a raised bed in our backyard. Currently, the bed is full of very tall grass, but yesterday afternoon, BJ and Shepherd worked together on remedying that problem.

During the afternoon of hard work, it is possible (that is, if the muddy drool is any indication) that Shepherd ate some (or a lot) of the soil.

He ran circles around BJ while BJ pulled and pulled and pulled.

He examined the integrity of the bed walls while the wind blew his hair in a super-model way that makes me giggle.

This photo is only here to demonstrate the general cuteness of dimpled elbows on toddlers.

He also talked and talked and talked about gardening. Of course, his 'talking' has very few actual words in it, but it still all sounds very important.

All in all, it was a good day outside. All this boy wants to do these days is play outside, and when he is happily playing with rocks, sticks, and dirt, I can't help but think that is exactly where little boys belong.

A totally inappropriate blogpost

Words of wisdom I overheard passed from father to son tonight while BJ gave Shepherd a bath:

"Trust me son. That is the last place you want an infection."

The Wedding

As of Saturday, my brother is officially married. When I sat down to write this post, I quickly found that a day and an occasion this momentous and joyful is hard to put into words, so for the sake of ease, here is a top ten list (in no particular order) of my favorite things/moments about Bro's wedding.

1. the rehearsal dinner. Of course, the rehearsal dinner was my family's 'job', and we had a blast doing it. We gave out paper-back classics for party favors, had handmade bookmarks for the place cards, and had beautiful, handmade menus. And the food! The food was a feast of Egyptian food. Sounds odd, I know, but Egyptian food really should be more popular. It is amazing!

2. playing dress up. It had been a while since I had the opportunity to put on a formal dress and really do my hair. Despite being the size of a small fishing boat, there is a little girl within who just wants to be pretty. Also, it was fun seeing my family dressed up. Mom, Dad, and Bro all looked pretty dang spiffy.
3. seeing Shep in a tie. Being a product of BJ's gene pool, this is sure to be a rare thing, so I am choosing to enjoy it while he is too young to protest.
4. catching up with old friends and family. After three years of being secluded in Kentucky, there were a whole lot of people at this wedding who I hadn't seen for years. Also, I'd never met the one-year-old son of my brother's best man, Will. It was a treat both catching up with the old and meeting the new.

5. being a 'groomswoman'. I stood with my brother and Will for the wedding. As cliche as it sounds, it was truly an honor. When I was first asked to be a groomsman, Mom declared that I would be the prettiest groomsman ever. I responded that while I didn't know about that, I was quite sure I'd be the most pregnant. I was right. (As an added bonus, Will was happy to stand next to me because I made him look taller and skinnier.)

6. watching BJ officiate the ceremony. BJ did a wonderful job officiating the wedding. He shared the job with a wonderful minister from the Methodist church were the wedding was held, and they matched up perfectly. BJ gave the sermonette at the beginning of the ceremony, and it was about how marriage is one of the 'thin places' where we see the character of God and the good he intended for us. Hearing my spouse's view on marriage was pleasantly eye-opening. Basically, I'm really glad I'm married to someone who sees marriage the way BJ sees it.

7. BJ dropping the ring. In a priceless oops, BJ dropped one of the rings while he was praying a blessing over them. After amen-ing, he announced, "I just dropped one of the rings, and it is right there (pointing at the bottom of Stephanie's full skirt)." It was easily retrieved, and things moved on.

8. imagining incredibly cute nieces and nephews. Stephanie was a breath-takingly gorgeous bride, so what can I say? My mind went there.

9. taking communion. Bro and Stephanie decided to take communion as their first act as a married couple, and the rest of the church was invited to join them. It was a perfect reminder of the sacredness of marriage, the beauty of our faith, and the generosity of God. Simply put, it was one of those moments when the presence of God was tangible.

10. seeing my brother happy. Honestly, is there anything better?

The Difference Between a Mother and a Father

On learning our second child is a girl...

One of the first things I said was, "Yay! I get to plan a wedding one day!"

At that exact moment, BJ later informed me that he had been thinking, "Oh crap, I have to pay for a wedding one day."

Forget Super Tuesday: Here is the really important news of the day!

Last time, I let BJ share the news, so this time, I'll let Shepherd do the honors.


She is healthy and beautiful and wonderful. She never stopped moving the whole ultrasound. What an unbelievable blessing!