If I had a hammer...

Sunday Jun 21, 2009

If I had a hammer...

I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening

I can say this for sure - if I had a hammer (and I do) I'd most definitely hammer in the evening. We may have lost our minds because we have undertaken a major home improvement project. We're remodeling my craft room and a non-functional half bath into a pantry, laundry/utility room, and real half bath. You know, the kind of bathroom where you don't have to sit on the toilet sideways. Seriously, the front edge of the toilet was about 4 inches from the wall, so you literally had to sit sideways. Did people in the 50's not have knees?

We're still in the fun stage, aka demolition. Walls come down way faster than they go up. Carpet comes up way faster than new flooring goes down. Check out our progress:

Matt giving me a hand

Derek punching through the wall with his head

Matt conquered Mt. Chunk-of-Sheetrock

Bye bye tiny bathroom!

But the best part of the whole thing was that all of the work we've done was completed AFTER Jay was asleep. His room is righ next to the demolition zone; in fact, his crib is on the wall about 4 inches away from one of the walls we were ripping out. And he didn't even make a peep. When I said the kid loves his sleep, I wasn't kidding.

Posted at 10:44PM Jun 21, 2009 by Jen Foster in General | Comments[3]

Good Night, Sweetheart...

Wednesday Jun 10, 2009

Good Night, Sweetheart...

...well, it's time to go (do, do, dee, oh doh)

Peek in on a little Foster family time...Earlier tonight, Jay was happily playing with his toys in the den, pushing his trucks down the ramp of his new gas station (Thanks, Jasper!!). It was only 7:15, and he doesn't usually go to bed until close to 8:00. Suddenly, he stood up and said "Nite Nite."

"Do you want to go night nite?" I asked.

He stands up and walks through the kitchen and into his bedroom. I get up to follow him, and by the time I get there, he's standing at the crib on his tippy toes trying to pull himself up and INTO the crib. Yes, our kid told us that he wanted to go to bed. We kissed him goodnight, laid him down, and he never even squeaked. How lucky am I?

When I was pregnant, I of course had many dreams for him. I hope he gets his Grandpa's sense of humor. I hope he gets his Dad's patience. I hope he gets compassion and kindness to others from his LaLa. But most of all, (totally selfish desire here!) I hope he gets Uncle Matt's sleeping habits. He is a champion sleeper ... he can sleep anywhere, anytime. My brother could, and actually has, sleep through a hurricane. So I guess I got my wish - Jay got Uncle Matt's love of sleep. Somebody remind me about 14 years from now when I've spent an hour trying to forcefully drag him out of bed that you get what you ask for.

Posted at 10:57PM Jun 10, 2009 by Jen Foster in General | Comments[2]

Comments:

Jen, that is really, really funny! He can join the "We Love Our Beds" club (WLOB)that BA and I had in college.

Posted by Brandi on June 11, 2009 at 01:09 PM EDT #

Jen, you make me laugh. Parenthood becomes to easy when your kid asks to sleep. I would say he would be quite the prodigy if he next asked to be potty trained.

Posted by Ali Perry on July 02, 2009 at 08:42 PM EDT #

That's what you get when you confuse...

Friday Jun 05, 2009

That's what you get when you confuse...

your stomach with your heart!
-Barenaked Ladies

Man, I'm getting to the point where I need to start every entry with "Forgive me readers, for I have sinned. It's been 3 weeks since my last blog post." Seriously, I just realized I've only posted 3 times since Easter! Geez, what has been keeping me so busy? Oh yeah - job, husband, kids, travel. Sigh. I promise I'll do better. My posts may be more brief, but I really will try to put up something at least once a week. Really.

So, Bonjor from Montreal! Derek's here for a conference, and I'm tagging along for the opportunity to stay in a swanky hotel with fluffy towels. For me, the ultimate in luxury is a fantastic hot shower, thick towels, and someone to clean your bathroom for you. So I'm living it up! While he's off preaching about the dangers of cryptosporidia in baby cows (did I spell that right, honey?) I'm napping and blogging and planning our adventures for tomorrow.

Like all our travels, we have pretty much planned our routes around where to eat. Tonight, beer festival. Tomorrow, smoked meat from Schwartz's. After that, poutine, the Montreal comfort food of French Fries topped with cheese curds and gravy. Sounds like a heart attack on a plate. Can somebody forward this to Miss Betty? She just didn't know that her fries & gravy at Two Guys were a French-Canadian delicacy!

But I am missing my baby boy something awful. I got a phone call from his teacher yesterday while I was stuck in the Cincinnati airport waiting for our flight attendant to appear (a 2 hour delay!). Jay was feverish and needed to go home. I had to call LaLa to go pick him up early. She says he's feeling better, but I still hate being away when he isn't feeling well. When you're sick, you need your mama! But I'm sure she's taking good care of him - she even called the nurse line at our pediatrician just to be sure.

I think when Derek imagined a romantic long weekend in Montreal (the O is a pair of smooching lips in all the tourism info!), he didn't really imagine me calling home every hour, on the hour. So I'm trying to balance my mommy instinct to check on my baby with my opportunity for a few nice days with the hubby. And so far, we are having a great time!

Posted at 04:34PM Jun 05, 2009 by Jen Foster in General | Comments[1]

The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home...

Monday May 04, 2009

The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home...

'Tis summer, the people are gay;
The corn top's ripe and the meadow's in the bloom,
While the birds make music all the day;
The young folks roll on the little cabin floor,
All merry, all happy, and bright,
By'n by hard times comes a-knocking at the door,
Then my old Kentucky home, good night

Weep no more, my lady,
Oh weep no more today!
We will sing one song for the old Kentucky home,
For the old Kentucky home far away.

While I'm certainly no Kentucky girl, I've got enough roots to sing the song. And certainly enough Kentucky roots to celebrate the running of the 135th Kentucky Derby in fine style! On the first Saturday in May, you can bet I'll be enjoying one of my dad's famous Mint Juleps (aka the McLean Mojito) and watching the most exciting 2 minutes in sports.

This year we managed to fit in 2 events on Saturday - our Sunday School class retreat and the Derby Party (though we're paying the price with some serious exhaustion today!). And the Derby party was great, as usual. After 30+ years of throwing this event almost every year, my folks have got the party thing down to a science. There's always a great crew of neighbors, friends, and co-workers and it was fun catching up with everyone.

Jay was in rare form, showing just how adorable he could be. He met a new buddy, Alexander, and they bonded over having chosen almost the same outfit to wear to the party. (That is cool when you're 1, although it may seem less cool when they are in high school.) But Jay's favorite part of the whole party was when Mom & Dad finally gave in and let him play in LaLa and Grandpa's fountain. Check it out:

Posted at 09:21PM May 04, 2009 by Jen Foster in General | Comments[1]

Mississippi Queen

Wednesday Apr 29, 2009

Mississippi Queen

If you know what I mean
Mississippi Queen
She taught me everything
This lady she asked me
If I would be her man
You know that I told her
I'd do what I can

"Hmmm, what could this blog be about?" you're asking. Well, we're not going to Mississippi, that's for sure. And we've never met the queen. It's all about the music.

My latest goal is to get Jay to enjoy good music. He's recently started to dance along as his Fridge DJ (thanks, Aunt Jill!) plays the hits. Of course those "hits" are songs like "Ten Little Leapfrogs" and "The Days of the Week." Not exactly your high culture tunes. So, every day in the car, we sing along to the radio.

Yesterday, we were singing to one of my current favorites - Jason Mraz' "I'm Yours." Such a happy little tune and so easy to sing along with. Jay didn't seem to care one way or the other. So, when the song was over, I started surfing through the XM buttons. He didn't seem to even notice I was changing stations, until we hit Classic Rewind which was playing Mississippi Queen. Immediately, he began clapping and slapping his hand on the console in time to the song. No lie! Now, this song is not your happy little kid ditty. It's the real deal - 1970's classic rock. And he was clapping and slapping along like "Finally! Some REAL music!"

We've got a budding rock star on our hands, folks.

Posted at 02:10PM Apr 29, 2009 by Jen Foster in General | Comments[2]

Christ the Lord is Risen Today

Sunday Apr 12, 2009

Christ the Lord is Risen Today

Alleluia!

Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!

Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!

Sing, ye heav'ns, and earth reply, Alleluia!

Happy Easter! Easter is always a very reflective time to me. At church this morning, we stopped to remember those in our congregation who have died since last Easter. Lately, I've been very much missing my "Appie" who died just before Easter. Every Easter, we would dye eggs at her house, and she never seemed to mind that we left permanent splotches on her kitchen island. But the sermon today was about living in the present and remembering the fact that this moment is part of eternity. So I'm celebrating Easter with a sense of joy and real gratitude for the people I have in my live - and those who have been a part of my life and are now watching over from a distance.

We've had all kinds of fun ways to celebrate Easter this year. Jay got to experience his first Easter Egg Hunt, which his daycare held on the Capitol grounds. He wasn't too excited about hunting the eggs, but he did like putting eggs we found for him into his basket and opening them up to discover the treats inside. If only his mom would have let him eat the candy...

And yesterday we took him to get his portrait made in his new Easter outfit that LaLa gave him for his birthday. Cute as a button!

Okay, if that picture of him "dancing" in the center doesn't make you laugh, I don't know what will.

Happy Easter!

Posted at 02:19PM Apr 12, 2009 by Jen Foster in General | Comments[6]

Sounds like life to me...

Thursday Apr 02, 2009

Sounds like life to me...

Sounds like life to me, ain't no destiny
Yeah, the only thing for certain is uncertainty
You gotta hold on tight, just enjoy the ride
Get used to all this unpredictability, sounds like life
Man, I know its tough but you gotta suck it up
To hear you talk you're caught up in some tragedy
Sounds like life to me (sounds like life to me)

Sometimes when I write in the blog, I have a topic in mind and find a song to go along with it. Other times, I hear a song and it just such a perfect snapshot of my life at that moment that I just go with it. This (Sounds Like Life by Daryl Worley) is one of those songs.

A few months after Jay was born, when both Derek and I were trying to get into the routine of work/school/daycare/fix dinner/pack bottles & lunches/repeat, he got a little overloaded. In what we now both refer to as the "suck it up" speech, I apparently told him that this is your life now and you better come to grips with the fact that the time you used to spend lounging on the couch watching My Name is Earl is now taken up with time lounging on the floor and playing with Jay. And if you do get any free time, those dishes aren't washing themselves, thank you very much. I have no recollection of this conversation (remember, I was in a sleep-deprived coma for many months).

Then, a bit later, I had the same "I can't take it anymore!" kind of overwhelmed feeling. We were driving back from a trip, and I had a mini-breakdown in the car. I told Derek that we could never go out of town again because it's just too hard to pack the gazilion things that we have to bring JUST IN CASE and then come home to a house that's a wreck and not have had any time to prepare for the week ahead. And he ever-so-gently reminded me of the suck it up speech I had given him.

We even had to give the "suck it up" speech to some friends of ours. New Mom Friend was missing out on the fun of what she could do with her cutie pie in favor of what she "ought" to do. She had that overwhelmed look, and we could tell it took everything she had to get it together enough to come to church that morning. Derek (ever so gently!) told her about our suck it up speech ... and I think it helped. She's mentioned since that she's thought back to that conversation and been grateful for the reality check.

When everyone said "Parenthood will change your life" I imagined all the cutesy, snuggly ways my life would change. I even prepared for the sleepless nights and dirty diapers. Spit-up stains on my shirt? Bring 'em on. I guess I just wasn't prepared for the not-so-good ways that parenting would change my life. Namely, I wasn't ready for the fact that I will never again in my life feel like I'm organized and "together." So, back to the song. I heard it this morning in the shower, and I had to laugh. Someone finally wrote the suck it up speech into song.

This is our life. And we absolutely wouldn't trade the chaos for even one moment of peace and quiet.

Posted at 09:26PM Apr 02, 2009 by Jen Foster in General | Comments[2]

Comments:

TOJ, I love you...even though you don't feel organized and "together!" You're a kick butt Mommy!

Posted by TOOJ on April 06, 2009 at 06:29 AM EDT #

I have passed this now infamous speech onto others. Way to go guys. I hope everyone is feeling better, including the grandparents!

Have a wonderful Easter we love you all!

Posted by robin Perry on April 07, 2009 at 10:29 PM EDT #