Dear Fuller,
Today is your 8 week birthday. We have had a good go round and there have been plenty of firsts to enjoy. Your first smile, first giggle, first car trip.

And then today we got to some of the firsts that a new parent never really wants to do: first time taking a rectal temperature while a nurse is waiting on the phone. In a few minutes, we will be in the doctor’s office and it will be the first time we sit in the “sick” waiting room.

I can’t wait for the next first: your first recovery from sickness.

I love you lots, get better very, very soon.
Mommy

Thanksgiving was a good one. And this morning I had something new to add to my thankful list. Fuller went to bed at midnight and slept straight through until 5:15 this morning. That is the most sleep in a row I have gotten a while! I am crossing my fingers that it will happen more often and regularly.

You know, we have already received Fuller’s birth certificate and social security card, so when do we get his decoder ring that will help me figure this kid out? Is there an 800 number I should call?

There is a new link on the sidebar leading you to our online photo album. Thanksgiving 2004 pictures have been posted. Go gaze on our pretty, pretty faces.

Dear Heavenly Father,
For all these things, we are truly thankful.

Today Fuller & I went to my office for a Thanksgiving breakfast. It was the perfect opportunity to eat my weight in grits and eggs and to show off the simple fact that Damon & I make beautiful babies.
After the grits and eggs had been consumed, I met with my manager to discuss when I will be going back to work. It was decided that I could ease myself back into the rat race routine starting January 3rd.
And now, to be honest, I am slightly depressed.
This is not the life that I wanted for myself. This life, the one where I wake up in the morning, get ready and kiss baby on the head as I walk out the door to bring home the bacon, it isn’t the reality I saw for myself.
But, it is the reality that is. It is the plan that God has for my life. And since I have 40 days left to give complete attention to my son, I will hold him those few moments longer every day and know that regardless of what kind of mom I am (stay at home or working) Fuller will always be my son.

Many medications come with the following warning label:
“If pregnant or breast feeding, do not use.”

They should really put that warning on refried beans.

Sorry Fuller.

This is a story told to me by my mother. It is being written here to preserve it for as long as I like.

Saturday evening my parents are at home and a sister calls them. She says, “Are you listening to Prairie Home Companion?”

My father, who answered the phone, says that no they are not because they have not been able to find it on the two local NPR stations in Dayton.

The sister says (and I am paraphrasing because 1. I was not there and 2. I didn’t write down exactly what my mother said), “Well, Garrison Keillor just said that Evangelical Christians shouldn’t be allowed to vote because their citizenship is in heaven.”

Based on my sister’s tone, my mother took her statement to mean that my sister did not appreciate this statement made by one of America’s oldest radio performers and writers. Maybe my sister thought that Mr. Keillor had gone a step too far.

After my father hung up the phone it rang again, almost immediately. It was another sister.

She says, “Are you listening to Prairie Home Companion?”

My father, who answered the phone, says that no they are not because they have not been able to find it on the two local NPR stations in Dayton.

The sister says (and again, I am paraphrasing because 1. I was not there and 2. I didn’t write down exactly what my mother said), “Well, Garrison Keillor just said that Evangelical Christians shouldn’t be allowed to vote because their citizenship is in heaven.” And then she laughed and laughed as if it was the funniest thing she had heard in her life.

My parents just looked at each other in bewildered amazement. (So says my mother.)

I find this story to be a funny one. I also find the statement by Keillor to be funny, meant in jest. And I am not a Democrat.

But, I find it funny in the “Ha ha” sense as well as the “isn’t that interesting” that two children could grow up in my parents home and come out with very different perspectives on the world. It just goes to show that everyone is different with different views and yet sometimes we are related.

And that is as close as I will ever get to writing about politics on this blog.