Dull Moments

My mom made me do it. I am only sort of joking. The January hostess gift is something I wanted, and my mom wanted to order stuff, so she told me to have a party, and we all know you are supposed to listen to your mom when she tells you to do something. So, what's so great about this stuff? I mean, we are talking about cleaning. WHO CARES?!?! As a mom and self-professed clean freak, I spend a lot of time cleaning. Norwex is faster. Time saved = happy girl. Work smarter, not harder, poeple. When I got pregnant, I really started to evaluate our exposure to certain things. I switched all my cleaning products and a lot of my personal care products to things that were gentler, "greener", and less toxic. With a baby who puts his mouth on everything, I can't mess around with some killer cleaner that's poisonous. With this switch, my allergies and asthma improved. Like, I did it for my baby but I started to feel better. Than I read Jen Hatmaker's "7...

We are fighting some wonderful winter illness at our house. So, from our now-sanitized-to-the-max-home to yours, here is a happy Christmas moment that warms my heart. And seriously. Don't come into my house unless you are going to go wash your hands.

i have a sick baby, a house that looks like a tornado came through here, 100+ Christmas cookies to make, and 2 parties to go to this weekend (and gifts to wrap for both of them. I DON'T EVEN HAVE WRAPPING PAPER). so why not spend precious time while sick baby is sleeping to blog? procrastination makes us all efficient. for your viewing pleasure, i submit a photo comparison of Joe to robert and to me at similar ages. Left: Joe, 8 months. Right: Robert, 9 months enjoy. Joe: 8 months Me: some time between 9 months and 1 year Joe: 6-7 months Me: 7-9 months all this shows is that you can feel like death for 41 weeks and that baby will have the audacity to look just your husband. except maybe kind of your eyes and some of your smile.

Unwrapping the Christmas ornaments for our Christmas tree, I kept thinking, "Didn't I just do this?" If pregnancy was an eternity, the months of having a baby have been in fast forward. Life thinks it's smarter than me by racing faster than I can keep up with, but  I am on to it . I am on to how fast the first months of our son's life have gone. I am on to how fast his first Christmas is approaching. I am on to the fact that my little baby is slipping into toddler hood day-by-day. I am on to it. In a world full of fast and now, I remind myself to stop. In a season normally packed full of events and cheer and business, I take deep breaths and remind myself that my hope and joy aren't quite yet fulfilled. In a time in life when part of us honestly can't wait to get the first set of holidays without a loved one behind us, I am trying to find a way to enjoy them, too. When I put Joe down for a nap today, he turned into me as he fel...

I don't know why or how or what, but my left shoulder is completely messed up. I can't breathe without it hurting. Since we have a long car trip ahead for Thanksgiving, I called the chiropractor yesterday and they worked me in so that we could try for some relief before I left. After, I asked the chiropractor what I could do to help. He laughed. He looked right at me and laughed . "Why are you laughing?" I asked. "Nothing will help." He responded, still laughing. "The only thing that will help it is rest. And I am looking at your son in his car seat and I know the minute I am done you are going to hoist it up and then spend the rest of your day picking him up. You can't rest it. So you will have to deal with the pain. Do your best." He then carried Joe and his car seat out to the car for me. I fought back tears this morning lifting Joe into his high chair. Picking him up to change his diaper. Cradling him as he drank his bottle. Un...

I realize there is no actual theological basis for saying, "God threw me a bone". Seriously. It's been a rough couple years at the Brack house between my nightmare pregnancy and everything that's happened this year, and I'm not seeing any metaphorical light at the end of the tunnel. But one of my very best friends in the whole wide world whom I have known since I was 7   is moving {back}to the Indy area (and she would appreciate my use of "whom" there). She both knows me better than 99.9% of the population, loves me the way I am, and absolutely refuses not to hold me accountable. And she's fun and we both love coffee and wine ( nothing could wrong there). Friends like this aren't a dime a dozen. She laughed at how excited I was, and all I could say is, "No really, my life has been that depressing". I mean that in a very retrospective, narrative way. I am not depressed  but things have been kind of depressing around here and good ...

5 years ago today, robert asked me to marry him. we already had a wedding date (nice, right?) but in that moment, we forever sealed our lives together. i may have said "no" because i was getting off a flight and really hungry and feeling lightheaded, but i still married him, and i think that's what counts. 5 years later, we are still saying yes. or no. either way, we are embracing life together. the pain, the challenges, the joy, the heart bursting moments. there's no one else i would rather say no to for the rest of my life.