tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-175564462024-03-05T00:51:18.037-06:00Heather in all Her StrangenessWhat kind of a word is strangeness? I sure hope it's a noun.Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019916492989415983noreply@blogger.comBlogger445125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17556446.post-43514756448251520392021-12-07T09:14:00.007-06:002021-12-07T09:14:49.771-06:00Smarty Pants I was a bright kid with parents who valued education above most things, so I did well in school. I also talk too much, so other kids knew I knew the answers. This wasn't as much an issue in elementary school (though I did generally have more interactions with teachers and other adults than with peers) as in high school. Even in junior high, I was mostly grouped with the other nerdy kids, soHeatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019916492989415983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17556446.post-46426649028020332752021-12-07T09:02:00.005-06:002021-12-07T09:02:52.887-06:00Pastor's KidMy dad was a pastor. I don't know how much other parents' jobs affect their kids, but being the pastor's kid meant people didn't want to be friends with me. Maybe it was because they thought I would tattle if they did something wrong, or maybe they thought I would be judgy as a result. Or maybe it had nothing to do with my dad, but there were definitely first dates in high school where faces Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019916492989415983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17556446.post-7832664106487930122021-12-07T08:33:00.005-06:002021-12-07T08:33:51.751-06:00Always the New Kid We moved a lot. Like A LOT. I was in two different kindergartens, five different second grades, moved during fifth grade, and between ninth and tenth. Between the moves and the different school districts breaking up elementary, middle, and high school differently, I was perpetually the new kid. Small towns don't do a very good job of embracing a new kid. So, I didn't make a lot of Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019916492989415983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17556446.post-37534270947183289042021-12-02T14:46:00.002-06:002021-12-02T14:46:26.579-06:00Living in the Philippines We moved to the Philippines when I was 5, and come back when I was 7-and-a-half. During the first 6-8 months, we were living in Quezon City, so we saw other Americans most of the time. We lived in an ex-pat area and I was young, so I didn't really understand that we were viewed as invaders and colonizers.Then we moved out into the barrio, and lived there for two years. There, we were the Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019916492989415983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17556446.post-78307552247715062822021-12-02T11:10:00.004-06:002021-12-02T11:10:45.382-06:00Six Eyes When I was three, it was determined that I could see almost nothing with my left eye. I was subsequently diagnosed with a birth defect in the lens that led to surgery at age 5 to remove it and start down a path of patching, contact lenses, and bifocals to try to get any functioning vision in that 20/2000 uncorrected eye. In the 80s, there was no concept of progressives, so the bifocal line Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019916492989415983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17556446.post-46369996654970392102021-12-02T10:27:00.001-06:002021-12-02T10:28:20.029-06:00Being an Outsider In my last therapy session, she made a good point that I identify very hard with being an outsider. There is definitely some truth to this, and I do know that I really hate feeling like an outsider. Things like moving away and suddenly hearing nothing about what's going on with my friends. Or finding out about a block party where our invitation was lost and feeling left out. Working for a Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019916492989415983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17556446.post-81205085758687768382021-02-14T10:19:00.003-06:002021-02-14T13:00:32.011-06:00Rambling Thoughts About Men in Powerful PositionsJust gonna write. I've been MIA for a long time -- raising two little boys, working, living life. Too much to cover in some sort of weird little catch-up post. But I have things I need to process and things I need to write about, so I'm going to use this spot. I haven't ever been much for journaling, and besides -- at this point in digital life, my hand cramps from writing 3-5 sentences in a Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019916492989415983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17556446.post-86880248154163357742013-08-09T16:12:00.000-05:002013-08-09T16:12:00.348-05:00Starting to DiscussThe way we've decided to talk through the adoption process probably isn't the way other couples might do it. But, we do what we do, and I may as well put it out there.
We found an agency through my church, and downloaded their adoptive parents pre-questionnaire. The first pages are easy enough -- questions about us, our ethnicity, jobs, religion, health, age, etc. Then there are the pages Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019916492989415983noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17556446.post-30448100417624753332013-08-06T15:01:00.002-05:002013-08-06T15:01:18.077-05:00New Thoughts on Family MakingSo, we've had a crazy month in my little family. Caleb turned one, had hand-foot-and-mouth disease, fell on his head and broke his collarbone. RB got a sinus infection. I had my first post-D&C period which became a suspected ectopic pregnancy. Too much. Really, just too much.
RB is doing better, Caleb is almost all healed up and nearly walking, and I survived my period. One thing I didn't Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019916492989415983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17556446.post-48512490269571561842013-05-23T11:20:00.001-05:002013-05-23T11:20:30.397-05:00Dark Can Be Funny, Right?This pregnancy wasn't planned. We had started talking about the possibility of trying this summer to give Caleb a little sibling, but we hadn't entirely agreed on that timeline. No, we weren't preventing. But considering it took us months to get pregnant before, while actively charting, I didn't really think we were in the market for an Oops. And, yet, that's precisely what happened.
Pregnancy&Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019916492989415983noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17556446.post-45179376732679014522013-05-20T16:03:00.000-05:002013-05-20T16:03:05.386-05:00Why Being Pregnant Scares MeSo, yeah, still (probably) pregnant. Still in a bit of denial here.
Obviously, some of my nervousness comes from the fact that Caleb is so young. He still doesn't sleep through the night (well, maybe 1-2 nights a week he will), so I will go from no sleep while pregnant to no sleep while in the NICU to no sleep with a baby to no sleep while pregnant to no sleep with a baby (hoping to skip the Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019916492989415983noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17556446.post-12393493257317760882013-05-07T10:51:00.000-05:002013-05-07T10:51:00.296-05:00Getting Back to RunningI gotta get in shape. No, really. I gotta.
A couple of weeks ago, I ran a 10-mile race. Well, ran is a bad word. But when I signed up for it in November, it sounded like a good idea. I was sure our family would settle into a routine where I would be able to go running on a regular basis, and paying the registration fee for a race was a sure-fire way to make sure I wouldn't bail on my need Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019916492989415983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17556446.post-72257602976771174252013-05-01T09:10:00.003-05:002013-05-01T09:10:44.795-05:00Cleansing the BodyYears ago, a coworker did this crazy diet -- he consumed nothing but lemon juice, maple syrup, cayenne pepper and water for ten days. It looked miserable during the ten days, but he kept saying how he felt really good. He lost a pretty significant amount of weight, and then switched to a vegetarian diet, and is still thin today.
I was intrigued, so I researched it. Called the Master Cleanse, it Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019916492989415983noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17556446.post-33698014825026711872013-04-30T10:28:00.001-05:002013-04-30T10:28:32.739-05:00Dealing with Uncle ZSo, my brother-in-law is driving me crazy. We call him Uncle Z, and he's RB's only brother. Sigh.
A little background. When RB and I started dating again (that's another story for another day), things were fun and carefree between us. RB was living in Dallas and I was living in Austin, so one of us would make the trek, and we would enjoy an immensely fun weekend of lazing by the pool, eating Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019916492989415983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17556446.post-56287634247829076812013-04-26T16:37:00.000-05:002013-04-26T16:37:00.459-05:00Caleb's Latest Health FunTurns out, Caleb can't hear.
I'd been lamenting to friends that he hadn't started "conversing" with us, and didn't seem to respond when I came into daycare unless he could see me. I was told that I was overreacting, and that he was just being stubborn and ornery early, and I should just get used to being ignored. I'm his mother, after all.
But it still didn't seem right. So, when he had his Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019916492989415983noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17556446.post-86255329723896398312013-04-25T12:48:00.002-05:002013-04-25T12:48:49.039-05:00I know, I knowYes, I am a slacker. I don't mean to be, but I am.
Turns out I'm having trouble fitting in the things I *want* to do with all the things I *have* to do. So, something has to move around and make room.
I'm making room.
I have tons I want to write about. Partly because there is lots of stuff that I need to get out of my brain and process on a screen, but also partly because I need to re-find my Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019916492989415983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17556446.post-4102460432814625632013-02-23T06:23:00.001-06:002013-02-23T06:28:07.500-06:00Entering the 21st CenturyCheck it out! I'm blogging from my phone! Who knew there would be an app for that?
Now, it's just a matter of whether I really want to write posts on my phone, what with the annoying autocorrects it tries to force on me and the thumb cramps that are inevitable.n the plus side, though, I'm laying in bed with my computer in the other room, and I'm still able to post. That's a pretty sweet tradeoff,Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019916492989415983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17556446.post-50118798828912447192013-02-01T11:23:00.001-06:002013-02-01T11:23:46.279-06:00Updating the CoughCaleb was doing better with the cough. We were even able to skip the rescue inhaler a couple of times, which was awesome. And then he got another virus.
It's not terribly surprising that he gets sick. RB and I work full time, and Caleb goes to daycare. We like the facility and the teachers, and he's in a really small class. But he's still around 4-6 other babies on a daily basis. And it's winterHeatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019916492989415983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17556446.post-65135013818217055862013-01-22T13:30:00.000-06:002013-01-22T13:30:00.067-06:006 Months Old!Caleb is six months old today! It's amazing how fast time has flown, and how lucky we really are to be here today. I can hardly believe it. And so, this seems the perfect time to tell about how that day went down for us.
Six months ago, today, I went to church with my mom and sister who were in town because it was the weekend of my baby shower (I was seven months pregnant). As we were leaving, IHeatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019916492989415983noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17556446.post-50820807233784565682013-01-17T14:05:00.002-06:002013-01-17T14:05:57.694-06:00Gotta Run!I used to run quite a bit. I started out liking triathlons, and realizing that I needed to train so that the run at the end of each race didn't kick my rear so badly. So, I got this book (yes, really -- with the old '70's-style running shorts on the cover and everything), read up on the psychology of training and how to avoid injury, and started running. I trained for a half-marathon, and Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019916492989415983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17556446.post-21276933587379507892013-01-11T13:32:00.001-06:002013-01-11T13:32:12.437-06:00UghSo, it turns out that the chest x-ray we had done in December wasn't quite as clear as we were led to believe. The quote from the pulmonologist was "They told you this was normal?" Anyway, so we have bronchitis. And now we're working on learning a new medicine delivery mechanism. We had finally gotten pretty good with managing the nebulizer treatments (even if that meant that RB and I were Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019916492989415983noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17556446.post-64962709159632596062013-01-04T09:27:00.001-06:002013-01-04T09:27:43.051-06:00Caleb's CoughI am SO over this cough that Caleb has. He is so little and so sweet and so happy all the time. And he's had this stupid cough and the associated wheezing for seven weeks now. That's nearly a third of his little life. A third. He'll be 24 weeks old on Sunday, and it's broken down into thirds -- the first third was in the NICU, the second third was our "normal baby" adjustment time, and the Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019916492989415983noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17556446.post-32548499092126866382013-01-03T13:58:00.001-06:002013-01-03T13:58:45.247-06:00Reintroducing MyselfSince I was away for a while, I was thinking that I kinda need to do a reintroduction to myself. And since I just had to do this Get To Know You type exercise, I thought I would share the results here.
What is your favorite color? Why, yes! Every shade of blue IS my favorite color! Except when I'm also loving green and red. Or purple. But never pink. There is no such thing as a good shade of Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019916492989415983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17556446.post-77572813838562393022012-12-30T22:02:00.001-06:002013-01-03T13:59:39.226-06:00Who's The Big Baby?I am blessed beyond measure, and there are so many reasons why I was so close to not having what I have today. Caleb was so early, that if he'd been born 50 years ago or in a country with less fancy medical care, he would be dead. During my pregnancy, I had low progesterone, and required supplements in order to keep him around and growing. The previous pregnancy wasn't so lucky. How did I Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019916492989415983noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17556446.post-73596805657513311732012-12-14T05:54:00.003-06:002012-12-14T05:54:49.281-06:00Torturing CalebOne of the pieces of advice I was given at my shower was:
"Don't try to make a happy baby happier."
I ended up having Caleb the next day (story for some other time), but I remembered this little gem. As he's gotten older and more interactive, he is definitely a happy baby. We enjoy talking to him and dive bombing him and whatever, and he just smiles and laughs. He only cries if he's tired or Heatherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15019916492989415983noreply@blogger.com2