Various & sundry musings...

On any normal day, I find myself zooming around town, in a car dirtier & messier than I'd like, and depending on the time, there's a good chance that mini-me is in the back seat. He's usually talking about this & that. Fer instance, this morning, he was musing that "Pluto used to be a planet, but now it's just a moon." Me: "Really? Did you learn that at Montessori?" Noah: "No, Grandma. Grandma knows everything." Me: "Yes, yes she does."

But then, every once in awhile, I guess his little tootsies get hot, and he takes his shoes off. Mind you, I know when this happens, even if I haven't turned around to peek at his cute little toes. I have no clue when he went from a sweet-smelling baby to a little boy with feet that smell like old french fries. Believe me, for a while, I was searching under the seats, between the seats, for the offending tater, convinced it was there. But no, it was simply our little boy's feet.

I guess the smells only get worse from here.

But speaking of smells, tonight I had the most wonderful compliment paid to me by Sir Stinky Feet himself--
Noah: "Mommy, what do you smell like?"
Me: "I don't know. What do I smell like?"
Noah: "You smell like the special kisses you give me, Mommy."

*Sigh*

I still snuffle his feet every chance I get, stinky fry smell or not!

Thankful for all my blessings

I am about to go to bed, and I remember that this morning, Mom reminded me that it was September 11. I'm sure someday I'll be able to get through this day without crying, but not today. I didn't watch any of the news coverage. I didn't read the paper. I saw flags at half-mast, and wished that we'd put our flag out, too. It just sort of hit me, after I kissed my baby goodnight, and realized that he'll never know a world where this day wasn't the day that changed most of us.

I am sure that we all remember where we were that morning. I was at the T.B.I. lab in Jackson, listening to a morning call-in show, "Bob and Sheri" when they broke in and reported that there had been an accident, a small plane had flown into one of the World Trade Center towers. The next thing I knew, they were reporting a second plane, and one of my coworkers ran to the front of the lab where I was, and I think we were both in shock. She ran next door to the field office, where they had a TV. I was sort of stuck, not sure what was going on. She ran back in to tell me that the Pentagon had been hit. And then the plane went down in Pennsylvania.

I called Patrick, to make sure he was ok. He wasn't anywhere close to New York, but I had to make sure he was safe.

Then I just remember all the footage, all the stories, the pictures, it was everywhere.

My heart aches when I think of how I'm going to have to try to explain to Noah why and how someone could do such a thing.

Until then, I'll continue to kiss his cheek as he's sleeping, dreaming of kitties and rainbows (as instructed by Grandma), and know that I am so thankful for all that I have.

A little patch of green in the middle of town

Patrick found out about a park pretty much right smack dab in the middle of Spartanburg. So, we all hopped in the car a couple weekends ago & went for a little hike. Saw lots of wildflowers and butterflies; a river that looked fairly clean; and a boardwalk that went over a swampland where Patrick saw a heron. Noah seemed to have a great time, so I'm sure we'll be going back again.

Okay, not the best picture of Patrick, I think I'm passable, but LOVE the funny face Noah was making!


We're a little more normal in this one!


My two boys...


This is at the beginning of the hike. Noah had never really experienced a mud puddle before, and actually slipped in this one. He was a bit muddy for a while, until the mud dried & we could flake it off!