45 Life Lessons

Just got this in an email...thought it was pretty good.

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio
"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written."

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first pay check.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

Best Buy, Here We Come

Our camera has gone on to camera heaven, and it's time to redeem our Best Buy points for a new model. I'd love to get an slr camera because I'm constantly missing great shots. But, I don't want to spend an arm and a leg because we also need a new video camera, which is also on the fritz. Any suggestions from my photog friends out there?

Crawford Cousins Reunion

Ok, so my camera picked a fine weekend to poop out on me. I didn't get a single shot. Luckily, everyone else did and posted them on Facebook. Here are a few from the weekend. Thanks again Kari & Olivia for planning everything!

Say What???

Hayden got out his doctor kit this morning and put the stethoscope up to my heart.

"I hear something," he told me.

"What??"

"I hear Jesus in there."

(We've been talking about how he can ask Jesus to live in his heart and how he lives in mommy's)

"So, what's he saying?" I asked.

"He says he wants to come out."

Great.

Oy Vey

Both boys have pink eye, and the little guy has an ear infection. Happy Memorial Day to us! Poor guys.

Hungry Girl

I've heard the girls at my WW meetings talk a lot about "Hungry Girl" - her website & cook books. I stumbled upon her website the other day and found it fairly resourceful. For those of you looking for tips, meal ideas and some inspiration, here is the website. www.hungry-girl.com She has a new cookbook out as well, which has over 200 recipes that are 200 calories or less (and all Points values are listed, which means the calculator is not necessary - yeah!) Haven't bought it yet, but hope to soon. And for those of you having success with lower-carb fare (like my sister & brother-in-law - again, yeah!), she has good grocery store finds for that on her site as well.

Of course, there will be no talk of calories on this holiday weekend!! Bring on the brats & potato salad!

Monday, Monday

A rare occurence...both boys clean at the same time!

















Trying out his new 3D sidewalk chalk. It's actually really cool!!

A Note To God

Maybe I'm just hormonal right now, but I just watched this performance on Oprah and was in tears. I was in good company, as both Oprah and the singer herself were in tears as well. Powerful song. http://www.oprah.com/media/20090429-tows-charice

The Tough Questions of Life

Our big family room TV is on the fritz and won't be repaired for 2 weeks. So, on this rainy day, the boys and I have been hanging out upstairs. While laying on my bed, eating popcorn and watching Tom & Jerry (of course) to get ready for nap time, an insurance commercial came on.

I wasn't paying much attention until Hayden looked at me very seriously and asked "Why do my rates keep going up, mommy?"

It's time to turn the TV off. He's already worried about his insurance policy lapsing.

Grandma & Papa Marlow

Finally...some pics of my parents! Thanks again for coming this weekend. Twice in one month!! Can't wait to come to The Vern next weekend. Love you!

Biggest Cry Baby

Am I the only one who cried watching the Biggest Loser finale last night? I was pushing for Tara (who I think looks like Kate Winslet). They all looked great, but Helen could put on a few pounds if she wanted to :)

Back To It...

After a great Mother's Day weekend, it's back to the ol' grindstone!

I took the past week and half off from the gym because of the swine flu...or just a cold. Either way, it really sucked. Now that we're all 100%, we're getting back in the swing of things again.

I did a post sometime back about treadmill tunes, so I wanted to add two more that have gotten me through some rough (aka - I did NOT want to be at the gym) workouts. Both are from Slumdog Millionaire. One is "O Saya", which has an awesome drum beat that starts out moderately fast and gets really fast, which always makes me want to kick the speed up, if only for a minute or two. The other is "Jai Ho", which has been out for a while, but I recently downloaded the PussyCat Dolls version. That changed it up a bit.

As a side note, we have a large Indian population here in Normal...and on our street, for that matter. As I listen to "O Saya" and "Jai Ho" at the gym, I look around at all of my fellow Indian gym-goers and think, "I'm listening to your music, bro." Like somehow they know and we'll have some type of Indian-Caucasian connection. I feel as though we should fist bump mid-sprint. At other times, I want to take off my headphones and ask one of them, "What the heck are they saying in these songs??"

So, if you're wanting some treadmill tunes, there you go! Any other suggestions??

I hope all of you moms had a WONDERFUL mother's day weekend...and I hope everyone has a great week!!!

All Grown Up

Ok, so they're not all grown up. I realize that.

But yesterday marked some major milestones for both of my boys. And no, one of those milestones was unfortunately NOT being 100% potty trained!

Let's start with the big guy. I had signed him up this past winter for a preschool starting this fall that meets 3 days a week for 2 hours. But, with all of the chaos that comes along with the holidays - and having a newborn - I didn't do a ton of research. So, we thought we should call a few more preschools to see what our other options are. Most are on waiting lists at this point. (side note: this whole preschool thing stresses me out! I feel as if I don't get him in the right one, he'll wind up living in a box, spending his days talking to his pet shoe, begging for money on the corner of GE & Veterans) I digress.

So, yesterday, we toured a preschool that has a small waiting list (1 kid) for the morning but that has its afternoon class open. We loved it. But, more importantly, Hayden loved it. He didn't want to leave. It's through a Lutheran church, and we just happened to come on chapel day. It was awesome to see the pastor leading the kids in prayer. Hayden sat there in the front of the class with his head bowed, repeating the words to the prayer. Troy and I just looked and each other and smiled.

Our baby is growing up.

And now for the little guy. Yesterday was his 6 month checkup, and he is proving to be a true Frerichs boy - in the 92% for height (can you say basketball scholarship?) After the exam, we started talking about development, diet, sleeping, etc.

It blows me away that Carson is now ready for baby food. We've been giving him some cereal, fruit and veggies here and there. But now, he needs to have it three times a day when we eat our meals. And, he's ready for bigger foods like bananas, bagels and biter biscuits (things to gnaw on).

What??

It just doesn't seem to possible! But here's what really gets to me. The more he eats real food, the less he nurses. I can already see a difference. He mainly nurses in the morning, maybe a little bit throughout the day and then at night before bed. I know I'm going to miss it and can (kind of) see why my mom wanted to wait so long to stop nursing. I guess my first day of kindergarten was reason enough for her to stop! (just kidding...it wasn't that bad)

I didn't have to worry about any of this with Hayden because my body took care of the nursing stoppage on its own when I went back to work.

On a purely selfish level, his decrease in nursing really stinks in that I get LESS CALORIES per day! Time to batten down the hatches.

My little baby is growing up.

All of this being said, it is amazing how quickly they grow up. But the cool thing is that I'm not bummed about it. I remember when I first had Hayden, people would constantly tell me - even random strangers - "They grow up so quickly! Before you know it, they'll be in college, getting married, etc..." I wanted to punch them! It made me sick to my stomach! I wanted him to be a baby forever!

But now I see how much fun they are the older they get. I could never look at Hayden and think, "Yes, he's fun now...but I liked him so much better at 2." Ok...there may be moments when I think that, but they are fleeting and far between :) I really feel like I'm doing my best to cherish every little moment, with a few hiccups along the way. That's all we can do, right?

Of course, it's somewhat easy for me to say this because we are planning to have another kid...or kids. When I'm done nursing our last child, or when we send our last child to kindergarten, I'm sure I will be a puddle of tears. For now, though, I'm enjoying the milestones.

But about this potty training thing...

6 Months

I can't believe the little guy is 6 months today! What a fun half a year it's been.

And a Dog Named Boob

Hayden just informed me that someday we will get a dog and put him in a big cage and he'll pet him and he won't bite him and we'll call him Boob. "Boob" isn't a common word around our house, but he's heard it quite a bit on "Horton Hears a Who".

I guess I better get used to the sound of it. After all, it looks as though we're destined to have a shedding, slobbering Boob running around our house someday.

Yeah.

Jumped on the Bandwagon

All right, I'm doing this Facebook thing (again).

Yeah, Kari!!!

Congrats, sis, on the new job!!!! I can't wait to visit you at our old alma mater!! Use your clout to reinstate the chicken pot pie suppers, will ya?