♥ Miles’s laughter
♥ Inspiration in autism
♥ The dimples in baby knees
♥ Ella leaving her hair pretties in
♥ Aaron willing to do crazy things to make me laugh
♥ Plotting wardrobes
♥ Amazing friends
♥ Random days in November that are like late Spring
♥ Green eggs and ham

I have the most amazing husband ever!

He’s been taunting me for weeks about this amazing date he had planned. In fact, it was so amazing that he even arranged childcare himself for the kids!

As we pulled into the Civic Center’s parkinglot, he handed me tickets for the Trans Siberian Orchestra. How amazing is that???

Some thoughts from the evening:

Who knew that violinist could be so badass and awesome?

I love the way the group works together and obviously has fun.

If I can feel the heat of the stage flames from the other side of the arena, the performers are lucky to still have their hair intact!

Speaking of hair, there were only 2 regular performers who didn’t have ridiculously long hair and those guys were looking a little shagging.

Made me kind of wish I had the fantastically long hair the female vocalists were sporting, but I so don’t have the time to maintain it.

The music was incredible!

The lights were CRAZY!

I’m a bit deaf now, but it was SO worth it.

Poor Miles didn’t do too well with a bottle, so Jenn (our childcare provider) had to call in the backup! My friend Beth graciously offered to nurse Miles if he needed it since she has the same dietary restrictions I do. I am SO grateful that I have friends who are willing to step in when needed so Aaron and I could have our first real date since before Ella was born.

I took a short video of the concert. It’s about 30 seconds but I can’t get it to post. Lame. So here’s the link.

The AMAZING vintage jacket. I <3 it so much.

Feeling a bit giddy after the concert.

Aaron is such a fantastic guy. I’ve always known this but he really drove home the point with our date tonight.

I’ve been having kidney stone issues, as I’ve mentioned before. My doctor ordered a CAT scan and discovered five small and one almost too large to pass on my own. He spoke with a urologist and they agreed that it is VERY odd that I have so many, esp with being on a dairy free diet. So I have an appointment scheduled for about a week from now to see the urologist to discuss blood results and what could be causing these stones to form.

In the meantime, I am suppose to be on a medication to break down the stones so I do not experience another horrible kidney stone attack. Dr. C called in the prescription to the pharmacy just before business hours ended this evening and I sent Aaron after dinner to pick it up.

As it turns out, this medication is marketed as a treatment for men with enlarged prostates. I was denied the medication since I do not meet these necessary requirements. I nearly died laughing when Aaron told me since as I was nursing Miles during all of this. Uh, yeah, good to know my insurance agrees with my view of life. Though it is rather frustrating that in attempts to avoid medical fraud, they are denying clients treatment they need.

So here’s to hoping that Dr. C will be able to convince the higher ups to approve the medication tomorrow. In the mean time, I’m glad it provided me with the opportunity to laugh myself silly.

Aaron was laid off yesterday.

We’ve known for about a week that this was coming. During that time, I was okay. Now that it’s a reality? Not so much. I’m struggling to find words to express my emotions at this time. I have a constant headache, I’m worried and trying to figure out what more exactly we can cut back.

It’s so hard to remember that God has promised us to always keep us with clothes, shelter, and food. It’s so hard to just let go and let God. I’m fighting the phrase “God helps those who help themselves”. The struggle to find a balance with letting God do his thing and I doing what needs to be done is quite a battle. Sometimes it’s a moment by moment fight.

We are blessed with an amazing community of friends and acquaintances. I shared our situation with them and Aaron’s idea to work as a handy man to bring a cash flow into our home to supplement unemployment. So far, Aaron is really busy and working hard! He’s has odd jobs all through this week and part of next. Between his jobs for friends, unemployment and our savings, should be okay until Aaron can land a job.

It’s just a matter of aligning my mind’s knowledge and my heart’s fears. I hope this happens soon.

Happy Fall!

This year was Ella’s first to go trick or treating. She had a TOTAL blast and even Aaron (who is typically a Scrooge about this sort of thing) enjoyed himself. Since our neighborhood was rather lame with only 1 porch light on for the entire 2 blocks, we walked to our friend’s neighborhood and hit the jackpot. The whole street went ALL OUT and it was so much fun!

She told me she wanted to be a “pink dancing girl”.

Miles was a pastel checked ghost and stayed tucked away from the cold.

Ella’s favorite bit of decoration!

This should be interesting…

In the past, I have attempted NaNoWriMo. This is where people from all over the globe attempt to write 50,000 words towards their personal novel. I’ve never come close to meeting that goal and have generally felt rather discouraged by the end of the month. This year, I don’t want to face another failure. I need something that I know I can accomplish. Seeing something through to the end and enjoying the process is something I need in my life. Most often, the things I enjoy get put aside (like knitting) in favor of completing things I’d rather leave for another day (like laundry).

So this year, I’m attempting NaBloPoMo aka National Blog Posting month. My goal is to post something every day, even if it’s just a picture. Of course, the goal is to not just post pictures but to work on writing skills, etc.

Of course, considering that I’m finally able to post this at 9:40pm on November 1st while anxiously watching the baby monitor to judge just how long I can let Ella fuss until I need to go in and help her back to sleep doesn’t bode well for the remainder of the month.

Neither does the fact that was a horrible run on sentence.

This letter will be going in her special box, where I put little things like her yearly letters and hair from her first hair cut.

Dear Ella,

It simply amazes me that you are two years old today. I felt this way on your first birthday and I’m sure I’ll feel like this on your third. Even though some days in toddlerhood seem to drag on forever, when it’s all said and done the days are literally gone in a blink of an eye.

A few weeks before your birthday, you suddenly started identifying colors. Out of nowhere, you pointed to our house numbers and correctly named them all. Your four word sentences are giving me a run for my money.

The things you love: Elmo, playing outside, Blues Clues, bumble bees, The Wiggles, sweeping, washing dishes, going on walks, rough housing with Daddy, juice, loving on your baby brother Miles.

You imitate everything your Daddy and I do. You fold your clothes with your teeth like Daddy does. You mimic my soothing techniques I use with your brother when you tend to your Baby Emily. I think in just a few short weeks, you’re going to decide that you are DONE with the high chair because you want to sit in a big girl chair like Mama and Daddy.

You have a very nurturing and sensitive heart. When a baby cries in the grocery store, you immediately want to run to the baby and take care of it. Sometimes, if the baby keeps on crying, it’s all I can do to convince you the mama is taking care of her baby.

Once you form an opinion, you are hard to budge. I nearly died inside the day at the park where you informed a friend of mine that daddies are suppose to use bottles, not mamas. You were never told that mamas couldn’t use bottles! Daddy just explained to you how daddies feed their babies the night before and you formed your own conclusions.

This past year has brought so much change to your life. You are now climbing, shouting, talking, singing, dancing, counting, and coloring. You have a new little brother as well! The adjustment to a sibling has gone so peacefully. I’m so incredibly proud of you!

With love,

Mama