Saturday, April 28, 2007

I am NOT a chicken!

Okay, maybe I'm a little bit of a chicken. But only when it comes to some things. I would willingly throw myself in front of a semi truck or moving train to save one of my children. I have eaten escargot, tongue, and numerous other odd cuisine. I can clean a wound without getting queasy, give blood, watch my children get shots. I am brave in lots of ways.
But tonight, I was not brave. I was cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, and sent Olivia into the laundry room with some dirty clothes. She called out "Mom, there's a lizard in the laundry room". I did not believe her. Why and how would a lizard be in the laundry room? When she said it again, I dropped what I was doing and went to check it out. Lo and behold, there was a lizard, with about 6 inches of it's body peeking out from underneath a rug. I freaked out.
This is the part that makes me thankful for friends. I called my friend and neighbor Diedra, who loves all things creepy and crawly and is not afraid of anything. She dropped what she was doing, and came over to capture the intruder. After a few attempts, "Allie" (short for Alligator Lizard) was rescued and set free in our yard.
I have to ask myself why I am afraid of a creature much smaller than me, and as of right now, I have no answer. So THANK YOU DIEDRA!!!!!

Monday, April 23, 2007

Big People Crash, too

At 34 1/2, I had my first bike crash since I was about 6. It happened during triathalon training on Saturday morning, when I neglected to unclip my shoe from my pedal before stopping. Actually, I had unclipped my left foot, but for some reason, I leaned to the right. Oops! It happened so quickly, and yet seemed in slow motion. Pavement is not very forgiving! The scrape is healing, and no permanent damage was done...except to my pride, perhaps!

The fall was a good reminder for many areas of life. I pedal along, cruising at a good pace and then all of a sudden, a red light comes along, and if I'm not paying close attention, WHAM, I hit the ground with a thud. These times force me to examine my life, and figure out why I missed the warning signs.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

What is a "Blog" anyway?

Well, I've decided to jump on the "blogwagon" and start keeping track of my life. I had a resolution this year to be better at writing about what's happening in our family, how I feel about things, etc., and I think I've only written about 5 times so far this year. Not enough...

So, I'm hoping that this will be a good solution for me. I spend time at the computer every day, and I certainly type faster than I write, so we'll give it a try.

What's happening in my life? Olivia is on Spring Break from school right now, giving us an excuse to be a little lazy in the mornings. After 5 loads of laundry, we went to the gym for a run (training for the Danskin Triathlon in June), followed by errands and a stop at the park for a little playtime.

It's amazing to me how fast the kids are growing up. Jack swings on the big kid swings now, and can do it without pushing! Yahoo! His little legs pump him up so high, it makes me nervous. And Olivia can easily reach a bar now that she couldn't even jump to last year. How does that happen?

Grant got his first tooth today - it's been working it's way in for about 3 weeks now. Thus begins the next year of teething pain, biting, chewing, oral exploration, etc. It also marks the end of an era of toothless baby grins in our family. I'll miss those...but look forward to the toothy grins that are to come.

Three kids make for busy days, and nights too, sometimes. But I can't imagine doing anything else at this stage of life. I love being home full-time (a bit of an oxymoron, as I rarely am actually at home these days!) and feel completely fulfilled by my duties. Olivia asked me yesterday when parents get "Spring Break", and I giggled as I thought about it. I told her that I'd get my spring break when all my kids are grown up and moved out of the house. So for now, I'll enjoy my year-round job of mom, while I continue to define the other parts of me as well.