Quick Takes

I am low on original material lately which is directly correlated with lots of solo parenting. These thoughts may have morphed into blogs but never had the chance to do so. So, for your reading pleasure, the blogs that might have been....

1. I am not an outside runner (or exerciser). I like air conditioning, Pandora, reading closed captioning on the tv to pass the time, seeing how many calories I've burned (bad, I know), and the fact that my knees don't hate me like they do on asphalt. However, in an effort to pass time with a teething, non-sleeping, stuffed up mini-toddler, I have been running at the river. And let me tell you, listening to my child yell "doggie" and "see, see" is even better than Steven Curtis. And the top of my girl's slightly over-sized head? That sight beats anything I'll see at the gym. I may be a convert to outdoor running.

2. I think caller-ID (and maybe texting??) are  hurting relationships. Since I am awful about checking messages, I answer the phone if I see a number I don't recognize. It could be work or a long-lost friend or someone telling me I've won a trip to Mexico. But a friend calling? Or mom? (sorry ma), I make a quick judgement on whether I can talk at that moment. And despite best intentions, that call doesn't always get returned. It may get a 200 character text conversation though. And we all know that relationships thrive with such awesome communication. Duh.

3. My friend sent me this article on respecting our husbands.  She starts,  "When I married my husband over twenty years ago, I fully intended to unconditionally love, respect and admire him. I had great intentions of being the perfect wife, offering kind words, a romantic kiss and dinner on the table every evening. But then careers took off, bills increased, children were born, laundry piles grew, and life became chaotic. Along the way I subconsciously created a measuring stick of expectations for whether my husband actually deserved my love and respect." Well, sweet Ross Ninness got no promise of dinner every night but he did get other promises. And while we are in a season of lots of love and respect (and quick rebounds when we fall), I like the author's reminding of " the powerful influence I have on my husband and my marriage when I choose words that build up. Words that encourage instead of discourage. As women, we have the power to build up or tear down our husbands every day, merely by the respect we give and the amount of faith we let him know we have in him." p.s. husband, if you are reading, love and respect go hand in hand with hershey's bars.

4. My girl is either sick or is getting her dimply tush kicked by some teeth. Either way, My dimply tush is also getting kicked. She is a hard babe to comfort, not being of the snuggly variety of little girl. She is mostly just whiny and it takes about 1 millisecond of whining for me to forget that she feels like junk. I reminded myself to pray for her today, for her comfort and healing and that she, in the words of Kindergarten Cop, "STOP WHINING!"

5. If you have a husband who travels for work, please come to my house. I am going to kiss your feet. Clean or not. Ross applied for a job awhile back that would have required 70% or more of travel. I wanted the job but we prayed for protection in that decision and they did not proceed with his application. After a few weeks of a taste of that life, I am ever so grateful that he did not get that job. My husband is beyond awesome and beyond involved. And I am beyond cuckoo when he is gone.

6. I think parenting is the biggest game of trial and error ever. Or in my case, error and error, and error and error. MK turned 1 and is throwing us some curveballs that rival Tommy Hansen's. This makes me incredibly thankful for a community of moms from MOPS, facebook and among friends. We are slowly making progress on sleeping and drinking milk again.

7. My life these days looks very different from a few years back. Aside from the obvious husband and baby thing, my volunteer work and interests look different. I used to go from a job that involved abused children to volunteering at night in a family homeless shelter. My days, nights and weekends were filled with lots of hope and redemption but tons of suffering. While my heart was sincere, there was plenty of dysfunction in why I did all this too. Nowadays, I "serve"  among other moms who mostly build me up. I get to spend my days laughing with and co-miserating with beautiful women. And recently I agreed to become the recruitment advisor for ADPi at Georgia Tech. It took about 30 seconds with them to realize that I loved this. The chapter is fantastic, the women so genuine. Not a silver spoon to be found. I am realizing that I can give my time and "talent" without it putting me in the fetal position once a week. I will always be a social worker and have all intentions of returning to that career. But this time of serving without the sadness is really refreshing. And that is fine!

8. My husband lost his wedding ring. He was so worried I'd be livid. I am so sad that he was bracing himself for the wrath of Keri. I want him to be assured of loving, kind words from me. And when he told me last night, I did give him loving, kind words. He was gone for days. I don't care what is on his finger, I just wanted him home. Though we might be going to Claire's for a ring for him. It would take all of 3 brain cells for some chick to decide he was worth hitting on. 

9. I just got an email that my best friend will be in Atlanta next week. We average seeing each other once every two years. I seriously just did a cartwheel in my living room (and almost busted it on MK's tea pot!)

please note piggy tails on my mullet baby. I die.

trying so hard to get into that liquor cabinet. daddy's girl.