Counting My Blessings

I've been driving extra cautiously and trying to be extra patient. I've been trying to remember every moment how very blessed I am. I've been wanting to blog all week, but I just couldn't figure out what I wanted to say.

On Monday night, a mom was driving with her three children and was in a car accident. She was taking a left turn and didn't see a car coming and the car was broadsided. She and her two year-old were bruised, but otherwise physically fine. Her eight year-old had major injuries to his leg and has already undergone two major surgeries. Her four year-old was killed.

I just can't imagine. My heart breaks for her. My heart breaks for the entire family. I just can't imagine what they must be going through. I wish I could do something, but I know nothing will take away the pain and anguish they must be feeling.

I tried to do something by making a donation to a bereavement fund set up for the family. I've been saying lots of prayers. I've never met this woman, but I wish I could give her a big hug and hold her tight and tell her that somehow everything is going to be all right.

Why does it take tragedies like this to make us realize how blessed our everyday lives are? Today I am counting my many blessings (two of which are snuggled in their beds right now as I type this). I pray that I will never have to feel the unimaginable pain of losing one of my children. I pray that I will be spared that anguish. I pray that God will hold this mom close and hug her and tell her that somehow everything is going to be all right.

For more info, or if you want to help this family, check here and here.

Dear Sunshine,

Dear Sunshine,
What happened? Did I do something to make you mad? We've been hanging out practically every day since I moved to Texas in June. I thought we'd gotten quite close. I know I really like you. I thought you, Blue Sky and I were like the Three Musketeers, BFF and all that.

So why have you suddenly disappeared? Did I do something to offend you? Were you frightened away by my old acquaintance Gray Sky who seems to have moved here from Ohio? Do you not like our other visitor Windy who seems to have grown bigger and taken up permanent residence here? I don't know if you heard, but we even had a visit from Tornado Warning last night. The boys, Zoe and I spent a half hour huddled in my closet sometime around midnight. It wasn't fun.

Please, my good friend. Come back! I know it's December, but I've been spoiled by our close friendship and I miss you! It's just not the same in Texas without you.

Your friend,
Haley

Can You Tell My Mom's a Knitter?

N modeling some of his mommy-knit items on a chilly morning last week.

My little man's a camel

J is wearing underwear today for the third day in a row. He is so excited. We (I mean, he, but this is as big of a deal to me as it is to him) put underwear on for the first time (if you don't count this time) on Friday during N's morning nap. As soon as N woke up, J ran up to him and said, "N, I'm wearing underwear." It was really adorable. When B got home from work, J proudly announced, "I have Elmo on my bottom" and proceeded to pull down his pants to show his underwear to his daddy. Again, really adorable.

It's only been three days, but J is doing great so far. He hasn't had any accidents (just a little leak when he waited too long once). That's the biggest issue we have right now as he's fine with going 3-4 hours between potty breaks and that makes me nervous so occasionally I have to make him stop and try to use the potty. Apparently, he's a camel and can hold it forever. Anyway, J's still sleeping in a diaper at naptime and bedtime, but that will come with time. I know there will be accidents and that's okay, but I am thrilled with how things are going so far. Go, J!

Look at that cute little guy in his Elmo underwear! Don't worry we didn't sit around pantsless all day. We're even venturing out into the big world beyond with underwear on. So far so good!

A little bit funny looking, but it works

J built this train track yesterday. I was impressed. He did it all on his own. It is a little bit funny looking, but it works.

I kept looking at it because the shape reminded me of something. I couldn't figure it out.




But then I realized, it is shaped like N's head:

Poor N has a crooked head from his Torticollis. Because he preferred to look to one side, whenever he sleeps on his back all the pressure goes on one side of his head. So his head is misshapen. It has actually improved a lot since he started therapy for his neck. In fact, he has graduated from physical therapy because there is no sign of the Torticollis now. Unfortunately, his head is still misshapen. Our next step will be to decide if we want to get him one of these. I'm torn. We will see.

It's funny looking, but it works.

A Crafty Christmas

I am sharing my love of crafts with J and I love it. He really seems to enjoy making things with me. Yesterday we made these adorable reindeer ornaments.



J did the handprints, I cut out the heads and antlers, and then J glued on the eyes, nose, head and tail. I think they turned out really great and we had so much fun making them.


Here are a few bonus pics of J working hard:

Staying Public, but in a More Private Way

Since I moved to Texas, I've met a lot of moms with blogs. None of my friends in Ohio had blogs --that I know of anyway, some people are rather secretive about their blogs. In fact, I used to be one of those people. I never told my friends about my blog. I liked the fact that most of the people who read my blog were people I had never met in real life. I won't call them strangers because some of them have become my friends, long distance ones that I've never met in person, but friends all the same. My blog started as a way to share my knitting with other knitters. I had discovered knitting blogs and I loved to see what other knitters were creating. In my own blog, I soon branched out to include life updates, but knitting was my main focus and goal. When we moved to Texas, I decided to use my blog as a way to update friends and family on our lives, to share pictures of the boys and to even share the occasional video. As I met more moms with blogs, I expanded my blog reading to include more of these "mom blogs" and not just my original knitting/crafting blogs.

Now it seems like a lot of these mom blogs are going private. Now they are "by invitation only." This isn't a big deal. I was invited to continue reading most of them--although I didn't get an invitation to Amie's and I really miss it. She writes one hilarious blog. Amie, if you're out there--can I have an invite? Please?

Anyway, I've been thinking about going private. I, like all moms, don't want any crazies somehow using my blog to track down and steal my adorable children. That would be incredibly awful. But I love that strangers read my blog. I love that anyone out there can come across it and be inspired by a knitting project or laugh at the silly antics of my boys. I love that someone can come across a post and be touched by a Top Ten Tuesday thought or a poignant Photo Friday picture. I don't want to change that. If this was a private blog, I would never have gotten a chance to meet Lydee or Sophanne or Suzanne or Kristin or Cheryl. I would never have experienced the joy of my first readers and their kind comments.

So I have decided to stay public, but in a more private way. I am editing some posts to take out some of the "identifying information." I will be removing a few photos and possibly a whole post or two. I will be editing posts so that my boys are simply identified as "J" and "N" and "B." But I will stay public--so please keep visiting and reading whether you know me in "real life" or not.