One day Leads to the Next:

Our daily lives are so full lately, I haven't been updating as much as I like. The death of the camera is hitting me especially hard. So many times during the day I think to myself "oh I gotta get the camera... Look how cute he is!" only to have it dawn on me that my camera has bit the proverbial dust. I did get some great video of him riding in a local fire truck for the first time.
Our local Albertson's grocery is supporting a "Walk for Life" relay team. Part of the fundraiser they held included the Albany Fire Department giving rides around the parking lot in a fire truck. Indy was tickled.

The above picture was borrowed without permission from Albany's Fire Department Homepage... At least I didn't steal their bandwidth!

Memorial Day

The US celebrates Memorial Day over this weekend. It is a time to reflect on those who gave their lives for our freedom. It has evolved in to a time to care for all of our lost loved ones.
We have lost many loved ones along this road. The most beloved, the most mourned, are my grandparents. I miss them still. I mourn for my children, who wont get the chance to have my Grandma and Grandpa McGarry in their own lives. Duck was not even one when we lost my grandfather, and my grandmother followed a couple years behind him. My sons have awesome grandparents of their own, but none could ever be like the ones we all lost.
So, my memorial day tribute is to my grandparents; still loved. Always missed.

DANG....

So I spent a few hours grinding my teeth and cursing trying to change the hard drive in my moms computer... I failed. Spectacularly. So, today Chris made chili. Then he went and retrieved moms tower, bringing it to our house. Melody's husband came over and fixed it. It took him about 5 minutes. Bastage.

Sigh...

You may recall a few weeks ago I mentioned my camera was on its last legs, then it made a miraculous recovery? Well, now its really, truly, dead! It took the flash memory card out with it. I hadn't transferred that last batch of pictures to the computer yet, either. So, now you will just have to take my word for it that he continues to grow and thrive and be cute, until such time as I can afford a new camera. Never Fear... Next payday I will pick one up. So only a few weeks until new camera and new pictures. In the mean time I will be chatting on the blog so feel free to come back anyways...

stay tuned!

Neighborhood Ham

I am proud to say that we live in an apartment complex where I know "all" of my neighbors. Indiana is a well loved member of the community. He and I go outside to play in the grassy common areas, and most of the neighbors will call out his name and a hearty hello as they pass by, or from their seats on the porches. He is often offered treats, too. I like knowing its safe for him to take a cookie from the old man next door. I love knowing the neighbors and having a nice gossip on the patio or sitting in the breeze-way.

What does this picture have to do with the neighborhood? Well, this morning Indy and I headed out front to get a picture in the rain and play in the puddles when one of the upstairs neighbors hollered down a "Hello, Indiana!" Indy looked up towards the balcony and smiled delightedly. I couldn't resist capturing his happiness in his growing sense of community and friendship.

Some people like the Mets:

The fun thing about the internet (well, okay, there are lots of fun things about the internet but I meant this is one not that it is the only one...) is that occasionally you can run into old friends. Through another friend I was fortunate enough to do just that.

Occasionally I like to mention other people's blogs, and encourage my readers to read them... So Thoughts and Dreams is the newest edition to my blogroll. He is said old friend and he has an enjoyable blog.

And, just for him... While My Guitar Gently Weeps on Transbuddha Have you seen this Uke video?

Last One:

this is the last picture of the other day I plan on posting. Indy is sitting in front of an azalea here. I do believe this is one of the azalea's that I have given my mom over the years. It constantly amazes me that she can recall who gave her what and when from out in her garden. There is just so much out there! I have been over at her house every day for the last few days trying to fix her computer. Now, at least, she can do some stuff. She still cant use blogger, but we are working hard to get it back up and running for her so that you all will be able to enjoy her garden with us.

Be Careful What You Wish For!

Have you ever tossed a coin down a wishing well and made a secret wish? Most of us have, whether we will admit to it or not.

When I was young, my grandmother always told me to be careful what I wished for because I just might get it. She also told me to not make "those" faces because my face would freeze that way. It never did.

other stuff:
today is the 26th anniversary of the eruption of Mt St Helens. Check out This Cool Site that shows you real time pictures of the mountain as she is now. Different, but still beautiful. Like me.

Out and Around!

Today was such a beautiful day! I took some wonderful pictures of Indiana in the garden at my mom's house and then we went on over to Chris's work and let Indy visit daddy for a few minutes. Daddy loves showing off the kid whenever he gets the chance.

Anyways, back to the pictures; I took some lovely shots with beautiful purples, reds, oranges and yellows in the background. Indy surrounded by beautiful flowers and plants. So, why did I pick this one today? Indiana just looks so lovable in it. So, I may scatter some of the other photos taken today into the next few days blog entries.

Don't go thinking I just don't change his clothes when you see this same outfit tomorrow.

Toga Toga Toga

Once upon I time, I seem to recall my best friend wore her moms best "floral toga" to school. Melody always was an individual. Indy, true to his Aunt Mellie's rebel nature, prefers stripes to classic white.

Actually, Indy is a nudist. Our morning ritual includes a trot around the house in the towel. Literally this is the time for me to chase him in the hopes of pinning him down and getting a clean diaper and some clothes on him. When I finally catch him he SCREAMS until he is clothed and let loose.

Let loose for today he ran to his books and had to read "farm friends" 6 times before he would go play on his own. He visited the Donkey, and he went to his best little girl friends house to have lunch. I got a nice break today as he went visiting for nearly an hour!

3 days until the DaVinci Code! I am re-reading the book so I am ready to see it Friday night!

Mother's Day Apology:

You may have noticed that I did not post yesterday. I love my mom, and she deserves a great mother's day post, but it took me longer than one day to come up with something to say. I still don't know how to express in words how much I value my mother. Sure, there's the thing about giving me life, but there's so much more.

My mom taught me so many lessons about life, she probably doesn't even know the half of it! She gave me not just her love, but the lesson of loving life, loving music, loving family and nature. She, in her special way, gave me knowledge of God. So many lessons I didn't bother to appreciate until I matured. She taught me to forgive. She taught me my abc's. She taught me that it is ok to be me. She taught me the beauty of flowers in a garden, and that sometimes hard work can be beautiful,too. She taught me to be a great mom to my children. She still teaches me lessons, every day.

So, here is the truth of this post. I owe my mom an apology. When I was a little girl my parents got divorced. I did not know my dad until I was older because my sister and I were "step-parent adopted". If you don't know what that means, its where the biological parent (in this case my father) signs over their rights and the step parent then goes to the courts and petitions to adopt. So I didn't have visits or anything like that because my legal parent was now my moms new husband. As a teen I had the opportunity to meet my biological father once. It didn't go very well at all. So, moving forward: a couple of years ago I was dating a guy who's father was deceased and it got me to thinking... Here I have this perfectly good father out there somewhere and I don't speak to him because I am a snot, and here my boyfriend doesn't have a dad at all! So a little bit of catholic guilt and an internet search engine later, I phoned my biological father. We chatted on the phone weekly for almost three years before I finally met him and his family in the flesh. I thought everything was going great. I suddenly had several brothers a dad and even a new friend, in my dad's wife. My mom never, in my life, said bad things about my dad. She told me once, when I was a teenager and badgering her about it, that one day I could make up my own mind about my dad. That is all she ever said. So now, it was time for me to "make up my own mind". She never tried to stop me. Now, I wish she had, but she knew that I am the type of woman who has to figure it out for myself. I let myself be sucked in. I even stopped writing about my mom on my blog when "they" asked me too. (oh, your dad wont read his grandsons blog and therefore will miss out on Indy's daily life because your dad doesn't want to read about your mom) I tried to pretend that my mom didn't exist when I talked with them. I cant believe I listened to that crap. My mom didn't care when I wrote about my dad. She just read Indy's blog and was proud of her grandson and her daughter. She understood that I don't have separate lives, and it isn't healthy for someone in my position to cultivate secrets. I have one life, and you are either in it or out of it. No one is going to dictate to me that I have to put my mom (or any one else for that matter) "over there" in order for them to accept me. I don't give a DAMN what happened 25 years ago, and if he still does, that's too bad for him. So, my husband and I received letters from my "biological father". The slap at my marriage was intolerable. The slap at my older sons father was uncalled for. The idea that I was unkind to his wife was ludicrous, (I went out of my way to be kind and say good things about her and welcome her in to my family. In fact I have even posted about her Here ). But, what is unforgivable is his comments about my step father. Not only is his information inaccurate, it is mean hearted to the point of being down right evil. To point a fine point on it, with no beating around the bush... If my biological father can express any sympathy what so ever for any reason what so ever towards the man who repeatedly molested his daughter, well then that biological father can "Fuck right the Hell off". So, I am back to not having a father, but now it is my choice, and it is the right choice for my family.

In this my mom also taught me a valuable lesson. Sometimes, even when you don't want to, you have to let your children learn their own lessons the hard way. You have to give them the opportunity to decide some things for themselves. And no matter what they decide, you still love them.

So, I have no picture for today. I have just these words of apology for my mom. I am lucky to have you and to have Donnie and hopefully I learned a new lesson from all of this.

Handsome is...

My mother always said, "pretty is as pretty does". Her mother said it before her, and I can even recall my great grandmother saying that same thing. So, for me, with all the male type creatures in my life, I suppose it would be "handsome is as handsome does".

I am happy to report that I am the lucky wife of a "handsome inside and out" kind of guy. Here, I picture him teaching the young Indy how to play video games (they were playing something terrible like Grand Theft Auto, probably... And you can see the bright red cord to Indy's controller; It isn't plugged in, but it doesn't bother the kid at all to be unplugged).

Indy is enthralled with television. He turns it on and flicks the channels. He stops usually on music or animation. If he finds neither he gives up and wanders away to something else, leaving me to shut it off. Given any kind of encouragement he will help play video games on the telly or on the computer. He especially likes games with flashing lights and loud music. He tolerates Everquest.

Thumb Sucking

I am a fairly laid back type of mother. Sure, my house is clean and he gets nutritious food, but I am not "anal-retentive" about it.

He can have snacks now and then that perhaps a more structured woman wouldn't feed her children. He can stay up later than his usual bedtime because he isn't drowsy enough to sleep.

Indy just kind of lives, if that makes sense, or you know what I mean.

He dances to music because music is playing, not because I make him.

He plays with the ball because it is there and so is he, I don't hand it to him.

I read to him because he brings a book to me and "Asks" for me to read it. (ok he hands it to me and makes fun grunty noises).

He cuddles his blanket and sucks him thumb, and it doesn't hurt him. (the buck teeth thing is a myth... The dentist, pediatrician, and nutritionist all said so)

Gardening

Indiana loves this tree. It is a Japanese maple, and really, just his height. When we go outside to play he always makes a bee-line for the tree and plays with its leaves and branches. (This is the same tree from a few months ago that was just bare branches.)

It is just crazy how fast he is growing and learning. None of us are sure where the smart gene came from, but I am thinking its recessive in the rest of us! His newest "skill" is singing. He has always been so musical, entranced by any music from Ringo Starr to TV Jingles to his FisherPrice teddy ball toy that lights up and plays a snappy tune. He is almost physically unable to restrain himself from dancing. Now, however, he will literally sing. I sing him the theme from Elmo's world, and when I stop he starts singing lalalalalala until I start singing again.

Other news: Duck finishes the 7th grade on June 15th. Racing season has started down in Cottage Grove. If anyone else points out that Duck will be driving just next year, I think I am going to cry. I am not older, just wiser.

IT WORKS!

Good News! I got a few pictures of Indy! No, I haven't gotten a new camera yet, but i was able to to get a couple on the old one. Told ya he was still handsome!

He had a well check yesterday and he is officially big again. He is one pound per inch. 30 pounds and 30 inches. Percentiles he is 99 height 99 weight and 99 average. The woman administering his tests said he seems closer to his second birthday than his first in not only his height/weight but also in his development.

Some things make a mother proud. Hearing that just made me sparkly proud as Indy isn't 13 months old yet.

temporarily interrupted

I want to apologize for the interuption in updates here at the State of Indiana. We are doing well, Indy is growing handsomer every day. Until i get a new camera my updates will be sporadic at beat.