Classic Hilton's

It has been two years since I last published something, though certainly not since I've had something to say!  My brain is simply brimming over with thoughts that I want to get out, but for the moment I want to reflect on where we are versus where we have been. My hope in the coming months is to write more regularly and to capture our homeschooling journey on these pages. Perhaps they will be a comfort to a mom in similar circumstances or an inspiration to someone who wants to homeschool but doesn't know where to start. Or maybe they will just be a personal record of who we are and what we're up to at any given point in history and someday my great grandchildren will find it and get a better sense of who they are!  We moved to Pennsylvania about 15 months ago so that Ray could work as an actor in Moses  at Sight and Sound Theaters. It was an incredible experience that has led to many wonderful changes for our family. He was blessed with a second contract to be in the ...

We were playing together in the nursery, the three kids and I. Grayson brought me a book, and said, "ree!". We had literally just read that book, so I handed it to Madi and said, "Madi, do you want to read the book?". Then Grayson said,"No baby ree, mommy ree!" I love hearing his thoughts communicated so clearly!

I start this blog with a giant sigh of exasperation. I roll my eyes heavenward and shake my head with a chuckle as I tell you,  This boy is driving me bonkers!! We've reached the "terribles", that joyful time in a toddler's life that is absolutely defined by selfishness, stubbornness, show offing, and sweetness.  It's a critical phase of development as the toddler learns to express himself as something of an individual, while we mold him into a socially acceptable human being. Brooklyn went through it,though she asks me not to talk about it, because she is in the phase of development where she feels shame and embarrassment...a whole other ballgame, let me tell ya! But anyway, she not only survived, but managed to turn into a lovely, well mannered little girl. All it took was painstakingly consistent discipline, heaps of patients, lots of laughing, and a fair amount of grace. Of course Brooklyn wasn't competing with two other siblings for mommy and dadd...

Grayson James Delano Hilton September 5, 2012 - 18 mos 22 lbs, 7 oz, 31 in The best kind of trouble we could ever wish for. Dear Grayson, At 18 months old you are a tornado of activity!  You more than keep us on our toes! You communicate beautifully with fluent toddlerease as well as a series of gestures and grunts. Most recently (you are 20 months old as I finish writing this - see what I mean about keeping busy??) you have started saying "Yesh" or "Yeah" or "YEAH!!" to pretty much anything we ask for you. It's adorable. You also have words for Nana (nany), Bob Bob (BahahB), Daddy, Mommy, and Madi (baybee). You have a sort of grunt for Brooklyn that you actually say with your mouth closed. It's interesting. You can also make a number of animal sounds and gestures: elephant, cow, pig, horse, tiger/lion/bear/alligator (which all sound the same), Thomas/trains (whoo whoo!), a very girly dinosaur, monkey, anything with a siren, dog, and...

It's 3:45 AM. The house is quiet. Everyone, including the newborn, is asleep. But my mind is racing and won't settle down, so...I blog ;0)  I've tried on multiple occasions to put down everything that has happened in these last two weeks, but the task has proved a little difficult. It's been a bit of wild ride - meeting Madi, coming home from the hospital, dealing with the wound and the internal fluid pockets - I am only just now starting to feel like normal is a possibility.  I have three holes in my stomach. Actual, literal, open holes. Two are very small, the result of the doctors draining two pockets of fluid that were putting some very painful pressure on the rest of my body. Together they were only about 100 cc's, which is less than 4 oz. Not very much to be causing so much pain, but that is the beauty of the human body. We are so perfectly created that it only takes a little thing in the wrong place to throw us off. The other hole, which we call my wound,...