Classic Hilton's

Birthdays...Wedding...Funeral...Theater...Work...School...Travel...Sickness...CYT...Gymnastics...wow...I'm looking back over our September calendar and wondering: how did we do it all?    Brett, Jenna and their new addition Piper, moved to Smyrna. Yay! It's so nice having them close by. Of course they are busy looking for work and establishing themselves in their community, but we still get to see them pretty frequently. Mom and Dad celebrated 31 years of marriage by flying out to California to help them move all their stuff back east!  Brett, Jenna, and new puppy Piper! When Nana's away, the cat gets all sneaky! Ray was promoted to shift lead/Catering Coordinator at McAlister's and so was finally able to quit Target. His schedule is gradually becoming more predictable and I can see that he is growing in his management role. Acting is a little slow right now, but truthfully I am thankful for the breather. I think we needed this time to adju

I read a random blog the other day. It was a fit person writing a letter to a fat girl. She wanted her to know that when she sees her on the track, she is proud of the effort she is making, keep going, blah, blah, blah.  I wasn't impressed. Maybe I didn't buy it, or maybe I just didn't care at that particular moment, but for whatever reason I was not encouraged or interested in continuing the conversation, so I moved on. Fast forward to today. The girls and I dropped Grayson off at school and went to the park. We walked the loop three times, and on our third trip around, we passed a beautiful young woman. She was fit and looked great in her show-offy work out clothes, perfectly curled pony tail, and fashionable sunglasses. Meanwhile I'm huffing and puffing up this tiny incline in my baggy t-shirt, hair falling out, sweat dripping down my face, pushing a stroller, and pulling a dog (who at this point was pooped). In my state of absolute mess, I thought about that b

I'm not really in a good mood right now. In fact, I really feel like the bad word for "crap"...the one that just "happens". I'm hating what I see in the mirror. My clothes don't seem to fit right - they are all too big, too small, and just unfashionable. My hair is a mess. The only thing I can do with it is to pull it back in that stupid pony tale, which just makes me look like Hurley from Lost . Ray can't say anything without throwing me over the edge into tears or a rage of anger. Sometimes both. Mostly both. I would like nothing more than to curl up in a tiny ball on my bed and stay there for...well forever! Also there's the occasional cramping, bloating, and nausea. This smells suspiciously of PMS.  I hate PMS. One of my favorite things about pregnancy is the lack of PMS. I hate being on birth control. I don't know what's real (I mean in terms of my emotions. I know Brooklyn, Grayson, and Madi are real.  White Collar  and Drop Dead

Well the fact that the deadline (August 25th) came and went without us even realizing our experiment was over might be a telling clue as to how well it went!  It's true. In many ways we allowed life to overwhelm us, living comfortably in our old habits rather than make the effort to renew our minds. If looked at closely, there were many failures over the last seven weeks. But there were also some small victories. Lessons were learned.  Ever since becoming a parent, my big philosophy has been "respect the power of the boundary and routine"! Even as infants my children responded to the swaddle. I could see it in their eyes. The boundary of the blanket gave them security and comfort. As Grayson is going through his difficult toddler phase, nothing works as well to calm those tantrums than a little alone time in his crib. Similarly, nothing gets my kids back to their normal happy selves like a good routine. Holiday, sickness, vacation, whatever it is that throws things out o