Oh No! Another Year Gone By....

T continues to bring total joy to my life.  We moved to Utah right after the Myrtle Beach trip, and we have been here ever since.  First in the apartment at Mimi's and then T and I moved to the "new house" in November, 2011.  He seems happy here, as he starts the day knocking on the neighbor's sliding glass doors to see who can play.  We all face a common area backyard and someone always has the sprinklers on or loaded water guns or a snack for everyone else.  T is in T-ball and he loves it- he hits left after a few weeks of trying right and the practices use water balloons to keep things fun and cool.  He asked his dad to be a coach, mostly because the real coach lives next door and Mike and Mac talk about their dad being a coach.  To J's credit, he stepped right up and the other dads folded him in as another coach in a very smooth transition.  What else in one year? Still loves singing, too smart for his own good, loves wearing his spiderman or batman or superman (backup costumes) all day if he can.

Jason Aldean In the House...

I got to spend a lot of time with T lately and I love it. Susannah lives with us this summer and she has already taught T how to write letters and copy letters in his new little book just for this purpose. He is getting really good at performing his country music songs for himself in front of the reflective fireplace or standing on a box that used to hold toys but that he now declares is his stage. His fist is usually a microphone, although he also has a microphone, and he plays a VERY intense air guitar. Sometimes when people ask him what his name is, he says "Jason Aldean." I have been trying really hard to get him to listen to more appropriate music, but it seems you can't go back. I am still going to try! He likes country music so much that he has even gotten J into it.

J just told me that T asked him a question and J replied that he didn't know. T looked at him and said "Dad, just get your phone and look it up!"

Firsts...

This week is the first time that Tanner is sleeping without his bedrail. It happened by accident because we left his super long bedrail at the beach. Joshua and I braced ourselves for a rough night(s) but we were pleasantly surprised when Tanner slept through the night we got back, and all the nights after it, without falling off (the "thunk" before we bought the rail was the absolute worst). He is proud and we are too...we are also getting ready for our summer trip to California, where I am dreading the ridicule when certain people see that I still spend too much time feeding Tanner myself (because he takes SO SO SO SO long), so we are working on that (in training together, really). Lastly, Susannah is helping me teach Tanner how to put his underwear, pants, and shirts on. He is doing such a great job and is quite proud, but shirts give him a real problem. I love watching him spin and try to find his own head inside the shirt. I also note how I have to hold myself back from wanting to smooth the road for him, or worse, do it for him. I have a lot to learn as a mother, and perhaps a bit to learn about how over-serving can kill self-reliance as much as under-serving people. Hmm.

Growing Up Southern...

We took Tanner to North Myrtle Beach for a week. We stayed at the moldiest high rise ever, but Tanner asked daily if we could live there forever, please. It was awesome to leave the windows and back sliding door open for the breeze and to hear the sound of the ocean. It turned out that we accidentally stayed for the start of Biker Week, which was an eye-opener for all of us. We went a bit dorky-family and all bought the same shoes at the Converse outlet, so expect future pictures of our resultant cuteness. We also had some rainy days, so we headed to the amusement parks and museums in the area. We even held a little baby tiger and a big tiger, and fell for his fervent request for a new cowboy hat- which he LOVED.

Things He Says....

Tanner recently said the following things I want to remember:

1. Mom- come get the ant!!! Come find it...oh, well. At least we tried our very best...

2. Dear Heavenly Father, please bless us to not die.

3. Here is my song for Daddy: "Dad is the best because he lets me watch TV whenever I ask and if he listens to me I will listen to him..."

4. Mom, you can't just lie there in bed when someone tells you they want breakfast. That is a bad decision!

5. Mom, will you please go to work and earn some more money so we can buy more toys???

Where Did the Time Go?

I can easily explain why it has been years since I posted: I forgot my password. I had to find it for something else and since there is still no baby book for Tanner I decided to try this as a memory-keeping venue instead. I also never got the hang of talking about cancer in the blog. If I had been a blogger before, then it would be more natural. I was also in massive denial, which would have been less possible if I was writing more about it. Now I wish I had written more just because it would be nice to remember some of the highlights. Now, more about Tanner. Except my alone time is over because he came in to ask me to do a Leapord Dance with him. He is going to teach me but says I have to close the computer. Here goes.

Altered States...

Joshua goes to the gym every day- partly because it is good for him and partly because it is the best child care value around. Lately he comes back from the gym with reports about sightings of very flat chested women. Usually he mentions his findings when he sees me walk by in my "step into it so you don't have to pull it over your head" post surgery camisole- it is a medical product beauty with one inch of lace for sass and otherwise two pockets ready to accept up to a "D" cup worth of quilting batting at any moment. It basically looks like a full length jog bra and I never put batting in it. He sees me and says something like "I was walking on the treadmill and this woman walked by who was wearing something like that and she was totally flat. I mean totally."
I take this update exactly in the spirit in which he means it- it is just an update about what "normal" is out there. And I appreciate it. And I think it's sweet. And I like good data as much as the next person. It just didn't occur to me until yesterday how funny it actually is. I mean, this is probably happening in households around the country, probably with data collection by the husband going in the opposite direction. I bet not all the wives are as happy about this as I am!