Milestone Weekend

We had a lovely weekend out of town for Memorial Day, and spent time with both sides of my family. We stayed with my Mom's older sister, and everything was wonderful. Back at Christmas, I had brought up my sadness that Jensen doesn't have a grandma on either side, and she had happily offered to step in as a surrogate. As great as that was, for some reason, having her be Grandma Sandy just didn't fly off the tongue for either of us. A big reason probably being that it's hard to switch gears after calling her Aunt Sandy for my whole life. So, I was talking to Jensen about her, and "Auntie Grams" slipped out. An epiphany that sat well with all!

We also experienced some major milestones. Jensen managed to begin full-on pushups, up on his toes, just like grown-up ones, and after a few tries, was able to get his knees under him. Shortly afterward he also came to the conclusion that he can lay on the floor and scoot himself backwards using his hands to push himself. Bottom line? (haha) This boy's gonna be crawlin' soon, and I'm gonna be in tru-uh-ble.

Also, during one of his many giggle fits, Michael pointed out to me that he now has 2 more teeth breaking through, this time on the top!

He also has started drinking juice from a sippy cup, mainly with a little help from a grown up, but sometimes all on his own! And today was the first time I actually saw him pick up a fruit puff with his thumb and forefinger! YUM!

Last, but not least, one of my younger cousins was sweet enough to teach Celine how to ride a bike. She had tried several times before, but for some reason was panicked about getting a bruise. After watching my cousins do it, she became convinced it was safe, and one of them gave up his bike and taught her himself. So, she spent the last hour of our trip happily zooming up and down the road in front of the house. Good for her!

counterproductive

I don't know what's up with me the last few days. I have more to do than ever before, but feel more tired and, well, blah, than I have in a long time.

There's nothing depressing going on, but I suppose there's nothing amazingly spectacular happening at the moment, either.

It's just been hard to be motiviated the last few days, and for me, that always means going back to my natural groove, however physically miserable that might make me later. It doesn't matter what time I get up, I've always been a night owl, so when I'm moody I find myself up at all hours.

Tomorrow, I'll be needing a huge pot of coffee.

Time flies

It is hard to believe this shot was taken only about 6 weeks ago! Jensen is growing and evolving at such a rapid pace!

He is now rolling over and back with hardly any effort. He is doing his crunches every day, and I bet will be sitting up on his own quite soon.

He also has a developing sense of humor, meaning that everything, and I mean everything, is hysterically funny. It's FANTASTIC! All I have to do is look at him and breathe loudly, and I am rewarded with cascades of baby giggles.

He makes me smiles hundreds of times each day, sometimes even when I'm not in his room. I sneak up near his door and when he thinks he's alone, he babbles to himself. Well, either that, or he's talking to the animals on his mobile. Sometimes I think I can ever hear certain words, but mostly is sounds like yadda yadda yadda.....wait, I DO say that!! He's a genius!

nostalgia

Sometimes when it's very late, and I'm up by myself, having that bit of alone time, I have a tendency to mentally slip back into my past. For me, music has become more and more a part of the way that I remember things. and sometimes recent songs bring up old events. So, here are the songs in my brain tonight...make of it what you will. (I was gonna do that cool think where you click on a single word and BAM! the rest of your post reveals itself, but it was too complicated for me. Blah.)

Missing (Everything But the Girl)
River (Sarah McLachlan)
Under the Gun (Supreme Beings of Leisure)
Bed of Lies (Matchbox Twenty)
I'll Cover You: Reprise (Rent Soundtrack)
HeyThere, Deliliah (Plain White T's)
Sama Veda (Shanti Shanti)
New York City (Norah Jones)
Sadeness: Part 1 (Enigma)
No Man's Woman (Sinead O'Connor)
Tenderness on the Block (Patty Larkin) -which you can only hear on the
Sliding Doors movie

Hope you're inspired to start compiling the soundtrack of your life! Enjoy.

My soapbox

I had been spending the morning researching insurance possibilities for Michael and Jensen, when I had a conversation with an independent insurance and estate planning consultant. He mentioned that we should really start looking at life insurance just in case. As the talk continued and I gave him more information about our situation, he told me that some companies wouldn't let me be the beneficiary of a life insurance policy for Michael because we aren't married. I had honestly not even considered that possibility.

So, if we've ever talked, you know that I had to deal with both my parents dying young and having to figure out how to close their estate. After my conversation today with this representative, there is even more to do than I thought.

My message to you is this: plan your estate. Even if you're 29, single and have no kids. Plan for the unexpected. Understand that what you have may not even be released to your family or loved ones if you don't put your wishes in writing and make sure someone knows where that writing is.

Of course, it's even more important if you have a significant other, child, or pet (yes, pet) that you know you want to have taken care of if you're not around. I'm not advocating any particular company or person, I just want you to find out what your rights are in your individual situation and the steps you need to take to make your your wishes are carried out if the unthinkable happens.

Finding out today that even if Michael would have to shop around more just for a company that would allow me to receive the benefits just struck a nerve and I don't want to go through the helplessness I felt with my parents. I didn't even know that my mom had bank accounts in several places, or that my dad still had ibm stock when things happened. And having to contact all of those places is hard enough, but having to explain the situation a million times and prove who you are is not any fun. I know it could be even worse if Michael doesn't get a will together that specifies that we have a relationship. Otherwise, according to the legal system, we're nothing to each other.

More Jensen

Here is another of Jensen's new photos. I can't get over how big he's getting. The other baby at church who's 15 months or so is actually smaller than Jensen! I can only imagine how confused he must be when he sees this tiny boy get up and run around! I bet he's wishing he could join the fun!

He is rolling over more now, and can stay up on his tummy for a long time before getting tired. He says "Momma" all the time, but is trying out his "f" and "oo" sounds. He still can't sit up by himself, but has begun doing "mini-crunches" to try to get up. Let's see, what else...when he is placed into a sitting position, he can stay there for a good while with some help for balance, and can even balance on his own for a few seconds here and there. And, his two teeth are totally through and he now is trying to grab for the spoon when we feed him! Sometimes it's hard to get the spoon back because he likes to bite it. He is becoming his own little person more and more each day!

As for me, I've started training to be a storyteller as part of a new Children and Worship program at church. I'm also starting to throw out ideas on how we may be able to draw more families and trying to follow through on one at a time as the ideas get approved or dismissed from the proper committees. I'm also starting to help our VBS director get geared up for this year's event.

At home, I'm trying to work on the computer scoring tests, but it is going slower than I had intended and I'm not getting in as many hours as I would like. Avon is barely existent. I'm going to have to start taking it more seriously if I'm going to make any money this way, so I've started looking as business cards and a window sticker that aren't too expensive.

Finally, I've decided to give the child modeling world another try, now that Jensen is a little older and we can really tell that he's truly easygoing and happy all the time. I've got my list of agents together and am going to create my own 8x10 comp card collages to send out.

And, that's what's going on with me...now that Jensen is older, and I've had more time to recover, I feel like I'm getting my energy back. I don't exactly bounce out of bed, but I've been trying to walk a few times a week, and we've been making more of an effort to eat more healthy and go to sleep earlier. I guess it's starting to show a positive effect!