A moment to breathe...

Is March almost over? As usual, it's been too long since I updated. But that doesn't mean I don't check all-ya'lls blogs. (I don't really say all-ya'lls, but I know my Charlotte pals will appreciate this odd expression. There are a few zingers in the South that stop me dead in my tracks: all-ya'lls is one of them). Anyway, things have been great. Can you believe how fast Easter came? Last week I had big plans to have some sort of dinner here. But something even more fun happened: Jenny and Nate Richards paid us a visit from Philly instead. It was fun and sort of spontaneous--we had a blast. Poor Jenny had to join me for Enrichment Night because I had to play guitar for it, but other than that, we had no set plans during the couple of days they came.



They left Friday, with us wishing they could stay even longer. Cannon, Grant, Henry and Jack played hard while their parents caught up and chatted endlessly--swapping residency stories and basking in the sunny (but sorta cold) Charlotte weather. Harland worked Saturday and into Sunday, and came home in time to do Easter Egg hunting and baskets before we had to speak at church. When we got home, we were just glad to relax. We decided not to go anywhere, we didn't have anyone over, and it was really nice. This says a lot coming from me. I get sorta depressed when we don't spend holidays with either extended family or friends, but this time, it felt nice.

Our growing boys!

As for the boys, they are growing like all those weeds in my garden. But isn't that everyone's plight and delight with kids? I see pics of your kids and I can't stand how they've grown. Cannon still has some babyish tendencies--now and then an insane tantrum rises or shyness that results in baby talk. And thankfully, he still wants me and Harland to snuggle him every night at bed time. But by-and-large it scares and at the same time excites me how much he's maturing. Henry is at the height of tantrums, but he's easy to distract and even easier to console. (Harland finds candy works everytime....tongue-in-cheek) He prefers cars, trucks and knights to noise making toddler toys and balls. This, of course, is because Cannon prefers those. It's creepy to hear a two-year-old yell "Where's my gun?" but what can you do? He's imitating his 4-year-old brother, who will make a "gun" out of anything--a letter "L", a harmonica, an umbrella, a piece of cantaloupe...you name it, it has gun potential. Henry also LOVES to sing. He sings all day to himself. I think it's hard to know if you're really spotting evidence of personality traits or merely stages at this age, but I like to think he's like me in that way. I sing all day long, nerd that I am. And I have a song for everything. Someday, my kids will hate it, but for now, they love it.

A visit in January to see Elyse and Grant, Eliza and Audrey. They live in Cleveland, but Kirtland is quick drive away.

My final piece of breaking news is that we found out Henry, too, has Celiac disease. We begun to wonder when his otherwise skinny body began to look like he was 9-months pregnant. Exactly two years ago, almost to the week, Cannon, who was exactly the same age, was diagnosed with this intolerance to gluten that changed the way he'd eat forever. In the year following, he gained 10 pounds (yowza!) as well as got his energy back. It was a miracle. So now, I'm wondering how Henry will do on the diet. I just can't believe it, though. Two in one family. We tried to make it celebratory for them when we found out by telling Cannon that he now had a gluten-free buddy. I am a great actress--looking thoroughly thrilled through the entire family-"party" at Outback Steakhouse. We even wrapped up a present, a cute little children's book from Primary Children Hospital called"The Trouble that Jack Had..." Cannon loves it. He read it to Henry with delight, truly excited that his brother could join him in his diet.


Well, I've gone on long enough. Life is busy and good, Harland's hours seem a bit better lately, and I'm happy to be doing some writing again. I'm attaching the web-version of an article I did for Charlotte Parent's April issue. Just so you know, the last paragraph is really a sidebar in the published version. It's an entirely seperate story and looks weird in the body of the larger story. http://www.charlotteparent.com/Articles/Features/FeatureArticle.aspx?cid=467&subid=75