BrianandLibby.com

Aaaah, there is a peaceful quiet in my house right now. Avery has been pretty sick the last 24 hours, which means my typically full weekend has turned into a lot of cuddling, cartoons…and a lot of cleaning while Avery naps, with very little leaving the house, with the exception of a trip to the pediatrician’s this morning. So far she has tested negative for flu and pretty much everything else so we’ll just have to wait it out and see why her temperature has fluctuated 9 degrees over the last 24 hours. But she’s still a happy kid and it has afforded me a lot of quality time with her this weekend, which is always a treat. A lot of time to do absolutely nothing but my most important job: Being Avery’s Mommy.

It has also brought me to where I am right now. Sitting in front of the TV and folding laundry. Two things I rarely do. But when I actually get a chance to, I love it. I realize that’s really weird. I think I like it so much because if I’m sitting in front of the TV folding laundry, it means Avery is sleeping (to her a basket of laundry is like a box of shiny new toys to disperse around the living room). It also means that pretty much everything else around the house is done. Cooking and cleaning the kitchen are typically higher on my priority list, and picking up of course, for my sanity. And, well, folding laundry also means that the laundry is clean and dry, which in itself is rare.

Today all of those things are true. And the beds are made. And lunch is made…and dinner. In fact the only thing left to do is vacuum…which is always left to do when you have a kid. Because I never vacuum when she’s awake, and can’t really do it when she sleeps.

I think folding laundry in front of the TV is the best kind of relaxation for a neat freak with mild OCD like me. Because it’s enjoyably relaxing AND it’s productive. Bonus! (See how sick I am?)

Anyways, this weekend has left me with so much time to myself that I actually remembered I had a blog! I really do miss blogging. And I hope to do it more often but, well, life happens, and it appears that blogging is even lower on my list than folding laundry. We’ll see!

Ever since social networking has created in me the insatiable desire to reveal everything about my life to everyone (well, at least everyone with high-speed internet access), the only thing left to decide is what medium I will use to accomplish this. For a long time, it was this blog. Recently, as life, busy-ness, and yes, a bit of laziness set in, I have found great utility for an even more addicting, bite-sized, fast-food mass messaging system. Yes, I temporarily abandoned my blog for Twitter.

Twitter has it’s advantages. But the specific ones that won me over were as follows: It’s completely portable (sorry, but even I can’t tolerate punching out an entire blog on my iPhone), it really doesn’t require any obligation, and it makes stalking even easier, even welcomed. Most importantly it satisfies my craving for self-divulgence…with half the fat and calories! You know what I mean. Twitter is all the fun with less work.

Unfortunately, Twitter has proven itself a little too micro for someone as macro-mouthed as myself. The word twitter actually means “a short burst of inconsequential information.” Vertical measurements aside, there is nothing short about me, or more specifically, about the way I share information, inconsequential though it may be. I can’t tell you how many times I have tortured myself trying to cram my thoughts and happenings into 140 measly characters. Sometimes I can’t even get a sentence out in 140 characters. I am longwinded. It’s who I am.

On top of that, I think Twitter has taught me something about myself. It turns out I don’t just want to blab out tons of information about myself…I actually enjoy it. Writing is an outlet for me. I don’t just want to get the word out in the fastest way possible with the least amount of characters. I actually want to take time to write about things.

In short (haha), my constant snacking on Twitter has still left me hungry for something with a little more meat on it. So will I be abandoning Twitter like I did this blog? Nope. I still think Twitter has it’s place, just not as a replacement for blogging.

I miss blogging. I’m going to start again…tomorrow. In the meantime, here is a picture of Avery to wet your appetite. Although tomorrow’s blog is not about Avery, it is a big fat controversial blog, sure to make many of you angry and prompt lots of comments…what better way to return from my two month hiatus!

You’ve probably already seen this picture on twitter or facebook but I think it’s adorable so here it is again.

No, that’s not a backdrop, that’s the real live view from Andy and Staci’s backyard! And the little hunk of cuteness in the picture is Jenn and Steve’s son, Drew.

Today was my first mother’s day, and although the thrill of being a mom myself is amazing, I found myself spending a lot of time thinking about my mom, or “Mimi” as my neices call her. My mom just got home from spending the entire week in Florida with her mom, or “Gigi” as we call her (as in G.G., or “Great Grandma”).

Gigi lost her husband to cancer just a few months before my mom lost my dad to cancer. She’s been living on her own for five years now, with lots of family closeby to help out as needed, and keep her company (or should I say, enjoy her company…my grandma is hilarious, and loads of fun!). However, she recently received a diagnosis that prompted our family, herself included, to agree it was time to move her into an assisted living facility. So my mom, along with her sister, spent this past week scoping out possible locations, working on logistics, and ultimately just caring for their mom.

Like the great husband and father that he is, Brian gave me complete decision-making rights today…I got to pick where we went to lunch, where we order dinner from (he just suggested Juicy Burgers…I love him), and how I spent my afternoon while he watched Avery. As strange as you may find this, all I wanted to do was spend a couple of hours out front getting rid of a ton of weeds and a climbing rose bush that had disappointed me for two summers already. So he stayed in with her and I headed outside to do some work.

What a huge pain that rose bush was! The neglected condition it was in shows me that it had been there many, many years, and I knew there would be a lot of roots to pull up. I went to town cutting back all the brush first so I wouldn’t get punctured by thorns every five seconds. It filled one lawn bag about two thirds of the way and I thought I should start with a fresh one as I tackled the roots. I started with what I saw poking through the ground and followed it, destroying any ground that got in my way until I reached the end. About two hours and two full lawn bags later, I found myself about a foot into the ground and four feet from where I’d started.

I couldn’t help but think of how amazing this root system was. The span was unbelievable, the depth was surprising, and the volume of them was…well it was really heavy. I kept thinking about how even the roots four feet out from where the bush broke through the ground’s surface were integral in keeping it there. Or how many roots it took to hold the bush in place. I couldn’t help but realize how I paid so much attention to what I saw above the surface and often forgot about the amazing (and much larger) root system that supported it.

As I came inside after finishing up, and heated up a cup of coffee from this morning’s pot (something both Gigi and Mimi do!) I couldn’t stop thinking about the amazing women whose legacy I have the privilege of carrying on…the women who make up my strong roots. That includes my mom, her mom, and my dad’s mom. Women of God, women of prayer, women of strength and purpose. I am ashamed to say I sometimes forget how their lives are the very reason I am who I am today…they have supported me and been my life line.

Then my mind wanders to my daughter and the great things I hope to see her accomplish in her lifetime. I hope that I can be the kind of influence on her that my mom has been on me. And of all the great things I hope she does, all the things I hope she experiences, I can think of no greater ambition for my daughter than for her continue this great legacy of women in the Massey and Acuff families…for my baby girl to someday know the joy, the honor, the privilege, and the great responsibility that is motherhood.

I wish I had pictures of Avery with BOTH of my grandma’s but for now, here is one of her with my dad’s mom “Dadaji.” Bonding with her granddaughter and her great granddaughter!

My little Paki Princess in training:

More posts to come…my week will calm down Wed/Thurs. Still a little crazy right now!

Yes! I am on vacation! Which means a bit of a blogging vacation as well (as if I wasn’t already on one of those). But I am keeping up with the world (or, rather, allowing the world to keep up with me) with frequent tweets and the occasional mobile pic uploaded to facebook.

A few highlights thus far:

The plane ride was MUCH better than expected. When we went to bed the night before Brian looked at me and asked when exactly we decided that flying a six month old to the West Coast was a good idea. I told him he was crazy for worrying and she’d be fine. Inside, I was terrified. Fortunately, it wasn’t bad at all. Keeping her happy on the flight was much easier than getting around the airport (not to mention out of baggage claim, to the rental car shuttle, and into our car) with a stroller containing three carry-ons, a six month old in a baby bjorn, a hanging bag and three large rolling bags. We really need to learn to travel lighter, but in our defense, we had to pack for two weddings, three cities and 10 days of vacation. Anyways, she was fine and I only found myself walking up and down the aisle shuuushing her once in the 6+ hours we spent in flight. The secret? Lots of formula, a babybjorn and an endless supply of skymall magazines for her to shred to pieces.

And now we’re here, and the weather is hotter than it has been this time of year in several decades. God’s favor? I think so…it drops 20 degrees the day we leave. Some of my favorite things are my early mornings with Avery before everyone gets up; this morning she enjoyed a breakfast of Gerber baby oatmeal on the patio.

And, of course, taking her swimming has been a highlight! We’ve done it three times already. Truth be told, she is pretty indifferent to swimming and probably enjoys bathtime much more, but I still take her, and she doesn’t hate it!

Off to dinner in Laguna Beach!