Pastor Mom

I Don't Know if I Can Do It

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Beth) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:24:00 +0000

Jay and I went to the orientation for Joshua's playschool tonight. He stayed home with Jay's mom and watched videos and put together puzzles. And when we got home he hugged me tight, gave me big kisses, played with my hair, and assured me that he'd rather go to school than stay home with me. And then I rocked him in his room with his head curled up on my chest while his soft little baby arm held onto my neck and I thought, Why on earth am I going to send this child away from me? Ever?

Not the Biggest Loser!

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Beth) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 23:03:00 +0000

So today was the awards ceremony for the Lose to Win competition. I got an inside tip this morning from a gal in my aerobics class that they call the members of the winning team in the days before the ceremony to suggest that they might want to make an extra effort to show up. Having not received a call, I was pretty certain that our team wasn't going to walk away with any money. But we all got T-shirts and water bottles, and I got to cheer loudly for the top teams. The first and second teams lost 26% and 27% of their combined weight, respectively, and the winning team lost 40%! That's serious business!

My mother-in-law, who is visiting, went with me. We were privileged to sit next to the second place team, Chubby Buddies, and the winning team called themselves "Who's Yer Fatty?" Personally, I would've given them the money because that's just funny.

The winning individual lost 16% of his weight during the nine weeks of competition. Jay and I had just about decided that it would be next to impossible to lose more than 15%, but this kid did it. Pretty awesome.

The best part was that the coordinator of the program shared with us that she and her colleagues had received emails throughout the course of the competition thanking them for the motivation that the contest provided. I didn't win any big money, but I was pretty proud to be in that room today.

Winners

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Beth) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 14:10:00 +0000

Last night we watched Constantina Tomescu-Dita win the women's marathon at the Olympics. I'm certainly no running enthusiast and I have zero familiarity with the world of women's distance running, but I watched the race thinking, "Man, her name sounds so familiar!"

It all made sense when, towards the end of the race, the announcer said that she had won the women's division in the 2004 Chicago Marathon. Aha!

Jay seemed nonplussed when I reminded him that he had actually run in a marathon with her. Yes, he also ran with 37,000 other people. Yes, she was having a post-race rubdown while he was at Mile 13. But he still ran in a marathon with an Olympic gold-medalist.

And I think that's kinda cool.

Stay Tuned

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Beth) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:11:00 +0000

I have completed the next step on my quest to take over Jackson.

The YMCA pays for a spot on Good Morning West Tennessee every Monday morning. Because my beloved 6:00 a.m. aerobics instructor also happens to be the Marketing Director for the Y, she asked me to appear on the spot last Monday morning to share my success story. It was all of two minutes, I guess, but I managed to plug the Lose to Win program, the Y's website, and the upcoming FatBurner contest, so my beloved aerobics instructor was quite proud. When I went to work out later in the day the woman who works at the desk told me that Amber had dragged the whole class (I would have normally been in her Boot Camp class had I not been asked to share my celebrity with all of West Tennessee) down to the fitness center to watch. A message that I received later from Amber, which was full of energy to say the least, led me to believe that the entire fitness center erupted in applause when I finished. I'm not so naive as so believe that was the case, but Amber now insists that I will just have to go back to the show in the future.

Next stop! Radio!

Super Dad

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Beth) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:27:00 +0000

A few weeks ago we hosted Music Morning at our house. It was just a little get together for my stay-at-home moms group, a chance for the kids to look at, hear, and try out instruments. We had a good turnout of both kids and instruments, including a tenor sax, and alto sax, a piano, a violin, a guitar, a dulcimer, a clarinet, and various percussion instruments. Everyone seemed to have a good time, and after it was over we all ate lunch in shifts around the kitchen table.

After awhile I noticed that Jay and several of the kids disappeared, so I went on a little hunt and this was what I found:
He's either brave or crazy to start up a game of Candyland with four kids (one had left by the time the picture was taken) between the ages of two and four. It didn't last very long, but at the same time no one got hurt, so I guess it was a success. Here's to Superdad!

Happy Birthday Little Girl!

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Beth) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 01:21:00 +0000

My how a year has changed us all! Happy Birthday precious one.

15 More Minutes

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Beth) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 01:56:00 +0000

First a photo in the VIP, then the YMCA's Member of the Month. I OWN this town, baby!

True Confessions

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Beth) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:13:00 +0000

It has come to my attention that at least one of my readers thinks my blog makes me look like Perfect Mom.

So I'm here to tell you that on some days I find it nearly impossible to do a good job of loving my two-year-old.

Today is one of those days.

There.

Slow Food

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Beth) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 19:00:00 +0000

I have to admit that when I first came across the term "slow food," I assumed it was coined by a bunch of crock pot enthusiasts determined to convince the world that slow cookers were the real way to prepare food. But as I read more, I realized that slow food was more an attitude than a piece of equipment, a list of ingredients, or a collection of recipes. Slow food is really an attitude. Slow food is about enjoying food--the ingredients, the preparation, the consumption.

For us, slow food is about enjoying the family trip to the Farmer's Market every Saturday. It's oohing and aahing over the box of produce that we receive every week from our CSA. It's talking as a family about what we're going to eat and how we're going to fix it. It's including everyone in the preparation of the food (as much as they can be included. For Clare, this sometimes just means chowing down on a raw green bean as Joshua and I snap them). Most of all, it's intentionally sitting down to enjoy each meal together.

It wasn't until I saw this picture that "slow food" finally clicked. (Don't worry. I'm now 15 pounds lighter than I was in that picture).
I have a similar picture of my grandmother and me, sitting on the couch snapping green beans together. And I can remember sitting in my grandmother's driveway with my grandmother and my great-grandmother shelling fresh peas.

I have a million memories that I want to make with my children, but I hope that the simple ones like this are the ones that will shape them. I hope that memories like this one will remind them that they needn't be in a hurry, that life is best enjoyed slowly, and that there is nothing more precious than spending a few quiet moments with a child.

The More-Than-Capable Husband and the Personal Trainer

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Beth) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:39:00 +0000

As part of the Lose to Win competition I signed up for a month ago, I get a free month of YMCA membership. At first I wasn't sure what to do with it. After all, Joshua's not a real fan of the nursery (any nursery, not just the Y nursery) and most of the classes were either early in the morning or during dinner. After thoroughly enjoying a 9:30 CardioPump class while Jay stayed home with the kids, I decided to make a concerted effort to attend more of the classes. My next effort was a 6:00 a.m. CardioPump class with Amber, a 4'8" British powerhouse who makes me feel like a palsied giraffe. But I loved it. I loved it so much that I now attend three 6:00 a.m. classes every week. Monday is Circuit Training, Wednesday is Step and Ball, and Thursday is Cardio Pump.

I am not a morning person, but this is by far the best self-care I've ever done. I get to listen to ESPN radio on the way to and from the Y, and I get to spend a whole hour just taking care of me. I feel better, I think I look better, and I'm pretty sure I'm more pleasant to be around. Of course I know how lucky I am, too. Jay gets up with Joshua and Clare and takes care of them so that I can have my hour of bliss, and then cooks a wonderful breakfast when I get home. Not all women are so lucky.

Yesterday I showed up for the Circuit class at 6:00 a.m. only to realize that I was the only one there. The only thing more grueling than circuit training is circuit training with a butt-kicking instructor who now has you one-on-one. There was no way to hide, no way to avoid scrutiny. But she was gentle to this poor soul and I left feeling wonderful.

Who knew the kindest thing I could do for myself was get up at 5:30 and have someone torture me for an hour? I never would've guessed, but I'm glad I figured it out. And I'm glad I have a family who makes helps me make it happen.

A Taste of Things to Come

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Beth) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:49:00 +0000

Joshua sleeps in a big boy bed now. Actually, he sleeps in a big big boy bed. His friend Charlie was getting a new bed for himself and generously offered his old double bed to Joshua. We hadn't really thought about moving Joshua out of his crib, but when the opportunity presented itself we decided, Why not? And wouldn't you know it, the day after we picked up the bed from Charlie's house, we found out that Joshua's crib had been recalled. We weren't terribly concerned; after all, he's been sleeping in it for 2 1/2 years without incident. But we decided to use the recall as an excuse to go ahead and make the leap to the bed.

Jay set up the bed in Joshua's room right away, but we decided to let Joshua get used to the idea of a bed before moving him into it. He bounced on it, read in it, and rolled around on it. After a few days, we went to Target to pick out some sheets and a blanket for it, knowing that he'd probably sleep on top of the bedclothes and under his baby blanket for at least the next six months.

It took awhile, but we finally made our way out of the "licensed character bedding" aisle to the "we don't watch TV and we just want some plain old bedclothes" aisle. I picked out some comforters for Joshua and let him choose the one he liked best. It didn't take long. He like the comforter with the dark blue/light blue stripes. The only problem was that then I saw the quilts--and they were so pretty--and I knew they would look so nice in his room--and that they would be so much more comfortable that the comforter--and that it was just too bad because Joshua had picked his favorite already.

But I gave it my best shot anyway. "Look at this nice quilt Joshua! Which do you like better? This one (hefting the striped comforter out of the cart) or this one (rubbing the pretty quilt to show how comfortable it was)?"

"I want the stripes. Put it in the cart Mama."

We did this for the next few minutes, until I had exhausted all of the quilt possibilities. My boy wanted the stripes and there was nothing I could do about it.

Or was there?

Yes, for a fraction of a second I thought to myself, "I'm the mom! I have the power here! And if I want him to have the quilt, then by golly he's going to have the quilt!"

Yikes! Did I really think that? Yeah, I did. And then I thought about all the times over the next 16 years that Joshua will make his own decisions and his own choices. I realized that Quiltgate was only a taste of what's to come. All the decisions that I will disagree with. All the times that I will want to wield parental power to gain the outcomes that I desire rather than the outcomes he wants. All the times I will just have to bite my tongue.

I've read over and over again that, for a long time, babies don't know that they are not you and that you are not them. Now I know what the Terrible Twos are all about. I am not Joshua. He is not me. We have different opinions, different ideas, and different agendas. He copes with that by yelling and crying and throwing himself on the floor. I cope with that by sitting back and thinking,

"Oh, s@#$!"

The New Neighborhood Lawn Service

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Beth) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 03:55:00 +0000

One thing about living in the country is that you'll never know what critter you'll find in your yard next. We're used to frogs, lizards, snakes, turtles, and deer, but the horses were a little surprising. They belong to our neighbor, but they like our grass better.
This one was taken at the beginning of June. I was going out for the evening and was a little surprised to see them in our side yard.
And these were taken just the other day, after I saw one of them walk right past the front door, practically on the sidewalk. We told our neighbor they were welcome to stay as long as they wanted...less mowing for us!

The Big Book Post

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Beth) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:36:00 +0000

From Jenny's Blog:

Updated: Read Gary's comments to see where this list actually originated.

The Big Read is an NEA program designed to encourage community reading initiatives. They've come up with this list of the top 100 books, using criteria they don't explain, and they estimate that the average adult has only read 6 of these. So, we are encouraged to:

1) Look at the list and bold those we have read.
2) Italicize those we intend to read.
3) Underline the books we LOVE (Since Blogger won't let me underline, I've used an asterisk)
4) Reprint this list in our own blogs

Here goes...What about you?

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien*
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling*
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving*
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery*
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood*
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

That's My Grandpa!

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Beth) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:36:00 +0000

They're a couple of tottery old guys, but you won't find bigger hearts. Herb's my Grandpa. Clyde is (obviously) my uncle. Enjoy!

Regression

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Beth) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:57:00 +0000

We have long been thrilled with Joshua's ability to spell his own name. He hadn't done it in awhile, so Jay and I both chuckled yesterday when we heard from the backseat, "J-O-S-H-U-A spells Joshua!"

"Very good," I said. "How do you spell your last name?"

"B-E-R-N-H-E-I-E-I-E-I-O!"

Big Fat Loser

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Beth) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 14:01:00 +0000

Since Tennessee is the sixth fattest state in the country, and since Memphis is the sixth fattest city in the country, the good people at the local hospital have decided to do something about it. They launched the "Lose to Win" challenge. Each team of four people pays $40 to enter the challenge. That $40 dollars also gets them a free month of membership at the YMCA, and two free months of membership at Aquatherapies. At the end of two months, everyone will weigh in again, and the team with the highest percentage of weight lost will win. The grand prize is $1000 and a free year of membership at the Y (among other things), and there are pretty decent prizes for second and third place teams as well.

Two other need-to-lose-this-baby-weight mamas and I made a team that also includes one of their husbands. The challenge started on Tuesday and things are going well so far. I have changed my eating habits and am feeling much better in general. I've found that it's easier to stay in touch with what's going on in my body when I'm not cramming food into it for comfort or entertainment (I tend to eat when I'm bored).

So we'll see! I'm not sure we're in the running for first place since none of us have that much to lose. But it's sort of fun anyway to see how we'll do!

Nine Years Ago Today

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Beth) — Fri, 30 May 2008 23:30:00 +0000

We were married! And now we're going out to dinner! By ourselves! Ta Ta!

Siblings Are Great Leverage

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Beth) — Tue, 27 May 2008 19:35:00 +0000

Lunchtime today featured a meltdown of epic proportions. While Clare sat contentedly in her highchair, a bite of fresh peach in each hand while making the sign for "more," Joshua was going nuts. It was to be expected, I suppose, since he had a rotten nap yesterday and got in bed a little later than usual last night.

He had requested a turkey sandwich for lunch and, as usual, had eaten the bread and left the turkey on his plate. He's typically compliant with my request to finish his turkey sans bread, but today he would hear none of it. Tears streaming down his face, he couldn't seem to stop himself from repeating, "I don't want to eat the turkey! I don't want to eat the turkey!" He did, however, want "banana with the peels," but didn't want to accept the fact that he couldn't have the banana until he ate the turkey.

So there he sat, refusing to get down from the chair, refusing to remain at the table, refusing to eat the turkey, refusing any kind of friendly words from either Jay or myself, and refusing to be amused by Clare who continued to sign "more" while holding food in each hand.

"I don't want to eat the turkey. I don't want to eat the turkey."

Finally, I said, "Great, then Clare can have your turkey!"

"I want to eat the turkey!!!"

I exploded in laughter before I could turn away and Jay nearly blew roast beef all over the kitchen. Needless to say, he still didn't eat the turkey and needed some time on the front porch with Vati before he finally got it back together, but there was much tension released and Joshua was once again saved from being thrown in the backyard with the chickens.

More Shameless Bragalating

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Beth) — Sat, 10 May 2008 05:05:00 +0000

Not only do I live with a crawler and a 100-piece-puzzle-putter-together, but as of today I live with the recipient of the Howard Newell Innovative Teaching Award.

It appears that I'm the only person around here that hasn't done something impressive lately.

I'll have to look in to that.

It's My Bloggy and I'll Brag if I Want To

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Beth) — Wed, 07 May 2008 04:51:00 +0000

Today Joshua finished a 100-piece (Ages 5-10 years) puzzle all by himself. Start to finish, it was all Joshua, all the time.
And then there's Clare. She's big. At her nine-month appointment she weight 22.5 pounds, she was 29.25 inches long, and her head was 18.7 inches around. She's off the chart in every category. Even the cute category, but they don't measure that at the doctor's office.

Healthy Communication, the Joshua Way

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Beth) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 01:56:00 +0000

Joshua's pediatrician was right. He really did jump from using single words to full sentences almost as soon as Clare was born. The funny thing was that most of his sentences were phrased as questions. It makes sense, I suppose, since he primarily heard us asking questions of him:

"Did you fall down?"
"Do you want some more to eat?"
"Did you go to the store with Vati today?"
"Did you have a good time?"

He wasn't asking us to answer those questions, of course. Instead he wanted us to ask them of him. "Did you have a good time?" was simply Joshua's way of saying, "You should ask me if I had a good time!"

Although he is much easier to understand now, he still phrases many of his sentences as questions (he'd make a great Jeopardy contestant). We called my grandmother the other day after we had gotten home from Target. He wanted to talk to her, and when I gave him the phone he asked, "Did you buy a crock pot?" I had to explain to my grandmother that the purpose of our Target run was to replace the crock pot that I had broken the day before. "Did you buy a crock pot?" was Joshua-speak for "You should ask me if I just bought a crock pot!"

The more I've thought about it, the more I'm convinced that Joshua's method of communication is pretty healthy, particularly among those of who tend toward passive-aggression. Instead of moping around the house after an especially harrowing day, waiting for Jay to ask what's wrong, I could simply greet him at the door with, "Did you have a crappy day?" Then Jay would know right away to ask, "Hi Mary Beth! Did you have a crappy day?" It sounds like I'm showing concern for him, which is good for this people-pleaser. But it's really a way to get him to ask about me.

And instead of slamming doors and rolling my eyes, waiting for Jay to ask me what's wrong, I can just walk right up to him and say, "Are you really, unbelievably, mind-blowingly angry with me?" And Jay would know right away that the appropriate question to ask is, "Are you really, unbelievably, mind-blowingly angry with me?"

I think I may be exposing too much personal pathology here, but I just wanted to share my ground breaking insight, courtesy of my 2 1/2-year-old son.

Overheard

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Beth) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 23:57:00 +0000

Clare was napping in her bed. I was resting on our bed. Jay was in the shower and Joshua was standing outside the shower, patiently waiting for Vati to emerge. Once Vati dried off, Joshua was full of questions:

"Are you going to shave?"

"No, but I thought I might brush my teeth."

"Do you got a bottom and a penis?"

"Yes I do."

"What do you do with your penis?"

*Chirp* *Chirp*

"Well sometimes I put underwear over the top of it. What do you do with your penis?"

"Sometimes I put a diaper over the top of it. Do you pee pee in the potty with your penis?"

"Yes, I do that, too."

Meanwhile I was pee peeing in my pants.

Need New Babies. Mine Keep Growing Up

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Beth) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:15:00 +0000

Clare's first tooth finally broke through this morning. She's seriously considering crawling, although she still finds rolling much more effective. (That's an 18-month dress on my 8.5-month-old daughter, by the way.)

And Joshua--geez whiz, Joshua. He informed me the other day that the batteries were dead in one of his toys, so I showed him how to use Vati's screwdriver to open to battery cover. We took out the batteries and replaced the cover. I promised him he could put the new batteries in after we bought them. Fast forward a few minutes when he asked for the screwdriver again. I gave it to him and went to clean up the kitchen. When I peaked in on him five minutes later he had taken the cover off of another toy, removed the dead batteries, and was in the process of putting the cover back on. When we bought new batteries later that day, he repeated the process again on the first toy, asking for help only to get the screw going in the right direction as he replaced the cover. He even got the polarities correct when he put the batteries in.

Sure, it makes life easier for me. But now all of the battery-operated toys work again and I have a headache.

A Special Day

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Beth) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:09:00 +0000

"O God, it is our prayer that Clare will come to know the joy and suffering of being concerned about everyone she meets; that she will see each person worthy of dignity and acceptance. We hope for her a growth into fuller and deeper levels of humanity as expressed through Jesus.

"We pray that Clare will live in a world where justice is increased and where violence is decreased as a way to settle differences.

"Our hope is that Clare will understand that You alone can give life meaning and purpose and direction, O God; and that she will be on her knees before You with words of thanksgiving; and on her feet for You with deeds of love. This is our prayer. Amen."

--From the Service of Infant Baptism at Broadway United Methodist Church

Twins and Basketball

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Beth) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 19:34:00 +0000

If you followed the NCAA women's basketball tournament, GO VOLS you know that Brenda Frese, head coach of the Maryland Terrapins, recently gave birth to twin boys. Her high-risk pregnancy limited her ability to travel with the team to away games, but that didn't seem to affect the players too much. They entered the tournament as a 1-seed and made it all the way to the Elite Eight where they met Stanford, a 2-seed.

And although it made me a little sad that Frese wasn't home with her 5 1/2 week-old boys during that game, I thought it was pretty rockin' that she showed up to coach. She sported her "of-course-I-still-have-to-wear-this" maternity shirt under a black blazer and looked undeniably cute-yet-badass, all at the same time.

The highlight of the game for this mom of two, though, was when Frese was slapped with a technical for arguing with a referee. Jay and I laughed out loud. That poor woman has 6-week-old twins at home, out-of-control hormones coursing through her body at top speed, and probably hasn't had a full night of sleep in the last six months (although I'm sure Maryland is paying a pretty penny to make sure she has all the help she needs). Of course she got a technical foul. That handwriting was on the wall before the game even started.

The funniest part, though, was when the TV cameras panned to her husband in the stands. He looked and her and gave a half-hearted shrug, as if to say, "Now you people know what I'm living with every day."

I say, Go Brenda. That technical was for all of us sleep-deprived, hormone-laden, leaking, lochia-y, postpartum moms who couldn't blow our tops on national television.

Thank you.