Natural Highlights

There's nothing quite like discovering your first gray hair. It's been a good four or five years now but suddenly they are coming on like never before.

I like to put it in the terms of my hair stylist who says, "No No, they are beautiful highlights!" Thanks, Sebastian, I do love you... and you know this... but... highlights... ??

... Ok, well.... maybe they are highlights. Highlights of the ridiculous stresses a 30-something year old experiences. The bank account is too low. New car smell makes you naseous. Your darling cat escapes on a brisk May morning at 5am while the car and driver waits for you to get to the airport on time so you can go get MARRIED.... Yep, there's two more. What do you MEAN you don't have my size? Can you check again? Sorry, honey, I accidentally threw away your favorite....

Highlights alright.

Another parking ticket.. ANOTHER day I've overslept. How could we possibly be out of toilet paper, don't you add these things to the list??!?!?!?! Malignant WHAT!? Here comes another set of three.. four.. maybe even more. Aren't we highlighted enough?

That moonroof in the car? Forget about it -- it's a 'highlight highlighter." You got 'em, we'll show you! Who needs to be reminded EVERY TIME THEY LOOK IN THE REAR-VIEW MIRROR??

The best highlight of all? When your coworker stops you mid sentence to let you know you've got something in your hair.

SOMETHING? Sweetheart, that's not just 'something' -- those are my highlights..... and there's more where this came from....

A Bouncing Baby Boy!

or is it........ Bigfoot?

New Years Eve this year brought us the thrill of seeing our new little bug on an ultrasound. We were thrilled with the experience -- what a miracle a child truly is. He showed us his personality by waving, kicking, rolling and twisting all over... and wasn't shy in the least. We can't wait to welcome him to our family.

Quite a shock to learn it was a boy.. to this day people still think I'm carrying a girl. (This is why our nursery walls will not be blue!) We had to admit we both thought it was a girl as well. I guess we'll never know until the little bug decides to join us :)

The preparations have begun with the start of registering... names...crib shopping.. and nursery decoration. But first comes cleaning out his room which currently consists of mommy's dressing / craft room. (This could be a bigger project than the rest of the above!) A Michigan winter is a perfect time to organize and clean! If I could just get out from under this comfy warm blankie....

Goodbye, 2009!

Adios... Au Revoir... See Ya... GET OUT OF HERE!!!!!!!!!!

For many, and we are not excluded, 2009 was not the brightest of years. Ok, yes, we did conceive in 2009 and our pregnancy has thus far been uncomplicated. But we also experienced some of the most traumatic and testing situations of our lives. We lost a pregnancy right before our very eyes. We watched firemen axe away portions of our home. We learned about cancer... the hard way. We lost a job and a major income source for our family. We even did a couple of those simultaneously!

We wondered at times why we were being tested so much. We experienced frustration.. anger.. fear and depression. We were challenged by friends who, to this day, have chosen to lash out, telling us how we could/should be managing our situations and our lives... and then disappear.

But, among the negative friends, the doom & gloom and depression... we learned a big lession that hit us square in the face, repeatedly: Life isn't always easy, and certainly isn't fair. But we will survive.

We can live on less. We have friends who love us without judging. We have a supportive family. (Who at one point was there with beer ready!) We have each other. We are stronger for having experienced these things together. We will survive.

The destruction of 2009 will not go away over night and we, like many, are on our way to moving past the darkness. Welcome, 2010. We embrace the blank pages that lie ahead and look forward to making them beautiful.