Score One for Mommy

The scene: A glass shower in Eric's and my bathroom.

The players: Eli Wilson, 1 year. Mommy, 28 years.

Eli's side of the story: "I just love to open and slam shut the glass shower door 2,438 times a day, particularly when my mommy is taking a shower. What's so wrong with that?"

Mommy's side of the story: "I can't stand the door being opened and slammed shut 2,438 times while I am in the shower. First of all, it is annoying and makes me cold. Second of all, it gets the wood floors soaking wet. Third of all, I am afraid that one day, after a particularly hard slam, the door will shatter, leaving both me and Eli severely injured."

The battle: Eli goes for the door. Mommy says no and pulls his hand away. Eli goes for the door. Mommy says no and pulls his hand away. Eli goes for the door. Mommy says no and pulls his hand away. Eli goes for the door. Mommy says no and pulls his hand away. Eli goes for the door. Mommy says no and pulls his hand away. Eli goes for the door. Mommy says no and pulls his hand away. Eli goes for the door. Mommy says no and pulls his hand away. Eli goes for the door. Mommy says no and pulls his hand away. Eli goes for the door. Mommy says no and pulls his hand away.

The outcome: Now, after a simple "no," Eli happily walks away from the shower door, never to slam it again.

Eli's final opinion: "I guess I'll give her this one. I'll save the major battles for public places."

Mommy's final opinion: "I won! I won! I won!"

*Seriously though, I am so excited that Eli seems to be getting the hang of the word "no." Even though he really wants to touch whatever it is that he isn't supposed to be touching, he is listening to and obeying me without much of a fuss. I'm thrilled!

Amazing Grace

I am writing through tear-filled eyes and lips that cannot stop praising the amazing God we serve...

Eric's mom, my dear, sweet mother-in-law, after 50+ years of being a practicing Buddhist, has accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Savior.

Her testimony is one of the steady, gentle pursuit of the Lord, and my heart is overflowing with gratitude that we serve a God who loves us so relentlessly. This is the absolute best news that we could receive, and we are rejoicing with the angels in heaven today.

If you do not know Christ, please hear me when I say that there is nothing greater than a personal relationship with Him, and know that I would love to talk with you about anything regarding our sweet Jesus. And if you do know Christ, take a minute and just thank Him quietly for your salvation, and for the grace and love with which He never, ever stops pursuing us. Truly, His grace is amazing.

"Dyeah"

Eli's only words have been, for months and months now, "Mama" and "Dada." Occasionally I'll hear him say, as he's banging on the glass door separating him from the dogs, "Izzie." But will he repeat anything I say to him? Nope. Will he say anything on command? Nope. Will he embarrass me when I proudly announce to my family, "He can say 'shoes'!" only to have him look at me with a blank, silent stare? Yup.

Anyway, Eli has recently added a new word to his vocabulary. Dyeah. He walks around saying that word all day long. Who knows what it means. He obviously is using it for something ("that," maybe?), but I have no idea what it means. Frustrating, to be sure.

So for now I will sit here and regret that I never taught him sign language, because the main form of communication for Eli now is incessant whining and adamant pointing.

Pleeeeeeease, son, learn to SPEAK!

But seriously, how in the world can I get annoyed with this adorable child?



I'll tell you how: You're at the city pool/splash pad, armed with goldfish, cheerios, and juice- all his favorites. Sprinklers, spayers, water, sun- all things he adores. And then he spies it: the stainless steel water bottle you've hidden at the bottom of the beach bag, filled to overflowing, weighing who knows how much (I'm guessing upwards of 37 pounds.). The bottle you packed for yourself to drink out of. The bottle filled with tasteless water instead of the yummy juice in his small, plastic, light-weight sippy cup.

But does he want the snacks? the sippy cup? the pool? Of course not. And does he know how to speak so that he can politely and sweetly ask, "Dearest mother, may I please have a tiny sip of the water in your cup? I will be eternally grateful." No. He cannot speak. As previously stated, whining is his main form of communication.

And so it commences. And any mother who has had a strong-willed toddler will tell you that whining without satiation leads to only one thing: a tantrum. And so, to prevent said tantrum, I let him drink out of my heavy stainless steel water bottle. Crisis averted.

Until I look up for one blasted second to wave to a friend and he drops it on my toe. It took all the self-control that I have been taught for 28 years not to yell an obsenity as I grabbed my foot in agony.

And that, my friends, is how you can be annoyed at this little cutie.



But still. I love him more than the air I breathe, and I'll take a hundred broken toes if it means I get to spend every day with him, listening to him run around the house yelling, "Dyeah! Dyeah! Dyeah!"

Getting to Know You

For lack of better things to post about, here's one of those "tag 274 of your very closest friends" notes from Facebook. This will eventually show up on Facebook thanks to the handy-dandy note-uploader thingy, so if you are reading it there and not on this blog, then tag yourself and answer away! If you are reading this on the blog, consider yourself tagged as well. I'd love to read more about all of you!

Here goes...

Getting to Know You...Share

1. What time did you get up this morning? 8:30am, a sleep-in Saturday thanks to my sweet husband!

2. How do you like your steak? Medium.

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? "My Sister's Keeper." If you want to cry a lot, this is the movie for you. If you like endings that are true to the book, this is not the movie for you.

4. What is your favorite TV show? Amazing Race.

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? Right here in Mesquite, Texas, because this is where our family, friends, and church are. But if I could magically transport our entire life, people included, to another location, I'd have to go with Greece. It's the most beautiful place Ive ever been, and the food is amazing.

6. What did you have for breakfast? "Huevos con Pappas" from the Pancake House, lovingly (not at all begrudgingly, of course) shared with Eli.

8. What foods do you dislike? I think I'd eat any food in the world as long as fruit and cream are not combined. For some reason I cannot stand the combination of fruity things with creamy things. (Make fun of me at will.)

9. Favorite Place to Eat? Cheesecake Factory.

10. Favorite dressing? Good ol' fatty ranch.

11.What kind of vehicle do you drive? Honda Accord.

12. What are your favorite clothes? Jeans and soft long-sleeve tops in the fall and winter, gym shorts and a tank top over a bathing suit in the summer. :)

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? The East Coast, to see my grandparents in Maine and Pennsylvania.

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? It depends on my mood.

15. Where would you want to retire? Wherever was close to my family and friends. I wouldn't want to be too far away from the people I care about. I can't ever see us "retiring," though.

16. Favorite time of day? When Eric gets home from work in the afternoons- both me and Eli are so excited to see him.

17. Where were you born? West Chester, Pennsylvania.

18. What is your favorite sport to watch? Baseball in the stadium, football on TV.

19. Bird watcher? Not actively, though I enjoy seeing cool birds when they happen to fly near me.

20. Are you a morning person or a night person? I used to be a morning person. I think now I'm neither. :)

21. Do you have pets? 2 dogs and 2 cats.

22. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? Nothing from my own life, but the international swimming people outlawed those fancy razor suits that everyone wore at the Olympics last year. Plain old Speedos for everyone. I think this is exciting news. :)

23. What did you want to be when you were little? A teacher, I think.

24. What is your best childhood memory? I had such a great childhood with so many perfect memories. I think my best memories are of summer vacations in New Braunfels.

25. Are you a cat or dog person? I like both. I guess I'd pick dog over cat, though. If it was a good dog.

26. Are you married? Yes.

27. Always wear your seat belt? Absolutely.

28. Been in a car accident? Yup, my sophomore year of college. We were all taken to the hospital, but I was fine except for a bad case of whip lash.

29. Any pet peeves? I hate it when people spell words that should start with a "C" with a "K" instead. Like "Kar Wash" or "Sno Kones." What in the world?

30. Favorite Pizza Toppings? Green peppers, onions, and italian sausage.

31. Favorite Flower? White lilies and hydrangeas.

32. Favorite ice cream? Chocolate chip cookie dough.

33. Favorite fast food restaurant? Chic-Fil-A.

34. How many times did you fail your driver's test? Zero.

35. From whom did you get your last email? A work client.

36. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Home Depot for sure.

37. Do anything spontaneous lately? Not really. We have a 1-year-old. Spontaneity is hard to come by. :)

38. Like your job? I only work 1-2 days a week, but I love it. Even more than that I love staying home with Eli.

39. What was your favorite vacation? Honeymoon in Washington State.

40. Last person you went out to dinner with? My favorite person in the world- Eric!

41. What are you listening to right now? The baby monitor.

42. What is your favorite color? Blue.

43. How many tattoos do you have? None at all. When we turn 30, though, my friend Sarah and I want to get tattoos if our husbands don't talk us out of it first. :)

44. How many are you tagging for this quiz? None. Tag yourselves, by all means, though.

45. What time did you finish this quiz? 11:47pm. Goodnight, internet.

I Have a Headache

Yesterday and today have been medically interesting. And this time, surprisingly, it wasn't Eli who needed the unexpected trip to the doctor- it was me!

When I got Eli up from his nap yesterday afternoon, I noticed that I couldn't see him very well- my vision was kind of dim in one area of my sight. Thinking it was just because we were in his room with the blinds closed, I walked out into the bright living room. It wasn't better at all- it was worse! I started seeing this wavy, shimmery thing on the side of my vision, and it freaked me out.

I called my mom immediately, because she's a nurse and because she's my mom, and, though calm as always, she was pretty concerned, because she has a rare disorder of blood vessel weakness that caused her to have a mini-stroke at age 44, and it tends to be genetic. And guess what her first and only symptom was? Visual disturbance in one eye!

Of course, I am (internally) going nuts- I am a hypochondriac as it is, but add to it the actual presence of a serious symptom and you've got one scared girl! I called Eric while my mom entertained Eli, and he came right home from work and took me straight to the ER. By the time we left the house, though, my vision was back to normal and I felt great, apart from a headache. But still. We had to get this checked out.

The ER visit was surprisingly quick and easy. I guess if you have such a strange one-sided vision thing they panic and get you right back, because the initial diagnoses for this type of thing are stroke or retinal detachment, both of which must be treated immediately. I was thinking in my head, "I will be very first 28-year-old to have a stroke!" I was also thinking, "This is just like Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken where Sonora loses her vision due to retinal detachment after her horse slipped on the high-jump platform and she plummeted into the water with her eyes open." Of course, I didn't say any of this out loud because apparent mental insanity would only make things worse.

Anyway, after eye dilation, exam, CT scan, and eye sonogram (who knew they did sonograms of the eye?), I was pronounced healthy. The doctor urged me to go to my eye doctor asap, hoping that he could find something that the ER doctors couldn't. He also uttered the words "multiple sclerosis," which of course sent me into a panic and straight to the health-related websites searching for early warning signs of this disease, visual disturbances being among them. (I must stop my hypochondiachal ways!)

Anyway, I am rambling way too much... My wonderful, fabulous eye doctor that I have been seeing since I was in 5th grade squeezed me in this afternoon. While his staff oohed and aahed over Eli as he pushed the rolling chairs all around the waiting room, I got the most thorough eye exam known to man.

The diagnosis? No, not a stroke or a retinal detachment like we feared... occular migraines. Basically a migraine headache that doesn't manifest itself so much in pain but more in visual disturbances that last for about 20 minutes and then go away completely, leaving you with a headache. That's all! We are so relieved!

Though I'm sad that we spent probably thousands of dollars at the ER, I am so thankful that it is only a migraine thing that will probably only occur every once in a while and is relatively harmless. It's crazy how life can change in an instant when health issues are at stake.

But tonight the Wilson household will all sleep safely in our beds here at home and thank God for healthy, normal days.

Weekend Hi-Lights

Favorite Moments of the Weekend:

1. Eric brought me flowers on Friday afternoon, as a prelude to the great date we had on Friday night. You just can't top Primo's on Lake Ray Hubbard.

2. He also bought several drinks developed by yours truly. Most of you know that I work for a flavor company. We make all kinds of flavors for ice creams, candies, drinks, baked goods, etc. Blue Bell, Sara Lee, and tons of other places buy our flavors, and products sold by our clients are available everywhere. I rarely notice them, and I honestly don't even know the extent of what we sell and who we sell to. But we walked into Albertson's the other day and right there in the front display were my drinks! This project consumed all my time and energy for several long months before I went on bed rest with Eli. I never really knew what happened with it- who bought it, how it was being sold, etc. But then there they were, in all their glory- my beautiful, sugar-y, artificially flavored beverages. I made them! Me! My college education paid off! :) Anyway, Eric came home home with all the flavors on Friday so that my family could taste them this weekend. :) It made me happy that he was so proud of me.



3. I got to sleep in until after 9am both Saturday and Sunday. I have such a sweet, selfless husband. He wakes up at 4:15am every week day, as opposed to me waking up at 7am with Eli, so you'd think he would be the one needing a little sleeping in. But instead he almost always gets up with Eli on the weekends, and I feel so spoiled!

4. Lots of sun and swimming, and even some pool volleyball.



5. We visited Eric's mom and step-dad in Fort Worth on Saturday afternoon, and we had such a great time. They just moved into a new house that has tons of space for Eli to run around. We had such a great time with them.

6. And the best part of the entire weekend is an amazing testimony to the grace and pursuit of God. I can't wait to tell you guys about it, but I need to wait a little longer. Eric and I both were moved to tears by this incredible answer to prayer and the amazing work the Lord is doing in the life of someone we care about so deeply.

What was your favorite part of the weekend?

Throwing a Fit 101

How to Throw a Supremely Terrorizing Fit
by Eli Wilson

1. Act deceptively happy when Mommy takes you to swimming lessons. Display mock enjoyment at the variety of activities offered at the pool. Convince your mommy that you are having a terrific time.

2. After she is thoroughly convinced, drastically and immediately change your mood. Become unbearably sad. Fuss a lot, squirm even more, and make sure to make all the other moms look in your direction.

3. When mommy is sufficiently frustrated by your behavior, it is time to turn it up, both in volume and in attitude. Begin screaming uncontrollably. Push away from your mommy so that it is nearly impossible for her to hold you in the water. Once again, make sure that everyone in the entire pool is looking at you.

4. After mommy gives up on the idea of finishing class and begins to get out of the water, lunge dramatically at the side of the pool so that she sets you down on the side, thinking that this is what you want.

5. Now is the time to really put on a show. As soon as you are on the edge of the pool, scream as loudly as possible, arch your back, and throw yourself onto the hot concrete, kicking and screaming all the while. Act like you absolutely despise the woman who birthed you and want nothing to do with her.

6. As soon as your mommy carries you over to the shade to get you dressed, and when you are completely sure that she is frazzled, embarrassed, and losing her patience, do a 180-degree turn-a-round, deciding that now your mommy is all that you want in the world. If she puts you town for 3.4 seconds to wrap a towel around herself, cry the most heart-breaking cry that you can muster so that all the moms in the area are propelled to ask your mommy, "Why, what is wrong with your precious boy?" See? They're all on your side now!

7. When mommy manages to get you dressed, despite the screaming and clinging, and takes you to the car, settle comfortably into your seat, drink your juice, eat your snack, and play contentedly with your toys. Act like nothing ever happened.

8. Fall alseep in the car so that when your mommy goes to get you out when you get home, she sees your sweet little sleeping face, complete with gorgeous eyelashes, incredibly soft skin, and hair that smells so yummy. When she picks you up, snuggle against her so that she questions whether the precious being she is holding is actually capable of the events that just occurred. Congratulations, you have won your battle.

(But not the war!!!)

The Shack

Has anyone read The Shack? The author's name is escaping me right now. I'm pressing on through it because about a million people I know are singing its praises, but I must admit that I'm having a hard time. There are several theological discrepancies, in my opinion, and if I can pick those things out, that's saying something. :) Also, the writing is slightly I-just-took-a-writing-course-and-now-know-how-to-use-tons-of-corny-similes for me. But everyone keeps saying to keep on going, because it will change my life.

Opinions? Encouragements to press on? :)

I'm the Mom...

...who everyone feels sorry for when they see her scarfing down her hamburger on a picnic blanket as her child smears gooey animal crackers all over his body and lunges for open cans of Dr. Pepper, as all the other adults enjoy their meals at big people tables.

...who gets all the stares in Bed, Bath, and Beyond because her son is throwing a fit because he can't get down on the floor and run around, thanks to his mom, who forgot to put shoes on her newly walking child.

...who is blissfully happy with her life and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!

Seriously though- you know you've been in some store and stared slightly judgementally at the person with the tantrum-throwing child. I've been there and done that, at least before I had a kid of my own. Now when I see a mom with a screaming, squirming kid in her arms, I am very tempted to ask her if I can take him away from her for a minute so she can have a break! :)

And you know you've been eating a great meal, savoring every bite, while you watch with some pity the mom with kids who sits near you and inhales her food before her little ones squish her hamburger in their fists or take off in the other direction at top speed. Again, been there and done that, before I had a child of my own. Now there is no pity, just a smile of happy understanding as I inhale my own hamburger. :)

It's funny how much life changes with the addition of a child (or two or three or four), and, while it can be harrowing and patience-testing at times, I seriously wouldn't trade it for anything in the whole wide world. I'll take a big hug from a kid with ketchup-y hands... I'll chase my toddler through a store... I'll take all of those little "moments," because it means that I get to be Eli's mom. And there is no greater joy in the world!

We had a wonderful holiday weekend- I hope that you guys all enjoyed your time with family and friends as well.