Father Time

Merry almost Christmas! The kids are on winter break, we're going to wash every piece of laundry in the house today, Mama Hen and her 9 baby chicks are out of the house and happy in their own box of straw -- all is well!

Oh, I didn't mention we hatched 9 chicks in the house recently? In the living room, specifically? No? Must have been because it wasn't the highlight of my month. Broody Mama who hatched and cooed at her precious babies -- darling, yes. In my house? Boooooooo!

Still, there was a snowstorm, Mama wouldn't leave her nest, she was covered in snow under the honeysuckle bush, we couldn't let her freeze to death just because she was following her motherly instincts, so we brought her in the house. It took three days after the last chick was hatched before I was standing over Mike as he rested on the couch, and arms waving and eyes wild, begged him to let me help him build a home for the new family. Mission accomplished.


That taken care of, I could concentrate on other seasonal things: Christmas presents, baking, indulging in treats, praying for New Years when all the treats would be gone and veggies would reappear, yelling at kids about clumps of mud tracked through the house...all those things that make Christmas magical.

In the midst of it all, Tanner's relapse has been a specter lurking over my shoulder and hovering overhead. You can read about it here, and about our big hopes for Father Time.

Hope you have a Merry Christmas and mud-free days in the New Year!

Love from the farm,
Teri

Back In the Fight

We're back in the thick of it, wrestling alligators again...

After 7 blissful months of remission where Tanner got to grow, play, laugh, grow, feel like going to school, spend time with friends, grow, look great, play 8th grade football, move freely...and so much more...he has relapsed, we learned from his doctor last week.

So, after 7 months of enjoying and being grateful for every carefree moment I watched him enjoy, I'm now looking forward to learning what his doctor has in mind for getting him back into remission and onto enjoying the upcoming Christmas season.

I'm looking forward to getting him well so he can enjoy a healthy winter and be prepared for whatever he wants to do in the spring...baseball, track, weightlifting, whatever.

I'm looking forward to positive test results, dialing back awful meds that nonetheless get his kidneys back on track, and having those meds, with which we have a serious love-hate relationship, pull out a victory for us once again.

I'm looking forward to someone, somewhere finding a cure.  Please.

And, I'm looking forward to Tanner sporting a kick-butt pair of alligator-hide boots one day. Soon.

Love from the farm,
Teri

Not One Bit Jealous

Ever since Macy was wee, I've admired her cheekbones. I always liked to look at her in profile, because she had the quintessential Disney princess profile: apple cheeks, narrow jaw with a slightly rounded chin, perfect brows and bowtie lips. It is the profile of Belle, of Ariel, and of most every other Disney princess.

I can't tell you the number of times over the years when I've chuckled because she turned just so and I could see it. As she's gotten older, I don't draw the comparison as much; probably because we're not watching as many Disney princess movies around here. But, I still love her apple-cheeked cheekbones.

See the apple cheeks?

See the perfect chin?

And, because I'm a good mother and not at all shallow enough to be jealous of my children, let me just say that I am not jealous of the fact that her beautifully shaded cheekbones in the first picture of her singing are not enhanced with blusher of any kind. That's just how they appear. Naturally. With no foundation or powdering or synthetic blusher or anything. None at all.

And I'm perfectly fine with that. Not one little bit jealous.

While we're at the things I'm not jealous about, let me just say this about Karlie Q Pelican.

I'm not the least bit jealous of those adorable freckles or the myriad natural highlights in her hair that scream "I belong in a wheatfield as the sun is sinking low on the horizon, bathing the waving grains in a warm, gauzy glow!"

I'm not jealous of her lush fringe of eyelashes either.

Or how she can rock a cowboy hat.

Nope, not jealous one bit.

I'm super happy for them.

Just super happy.

Yep, they're super.

Mmm-hmmm.

GOOD for them.

Me and my ruddy skin and ill-defined cheekbones are just So. Darn. Happy. For. Them. Both.

Love from the farm,
Teri