He'll Be the Death of Me Yet!

Remember that feeling when you bring your newborn home? Your child is so tiny, so frail, so fragile, you hover over him. You check his breathing six times a night. You panic if he sleeps in later than his usual schedule. He seems so perfect to you, you worry in the back of your mind that Heavenly Father just might decide he needs this baby back. This fear of death usually goes away after a few months. But with Romney? Well, let's just say he has a way of bringing that fear back every so often.

Maybe it's because he's so passionate about life. Or maybe, more likely, it's because he's impulsive and doesn't think things through very well. Whatever it is, he is such an accident prone child! My worried mother's heart gets no rest.

Riding his scooter in the rain led to a chip of bone that still floats around in his chin. Skimboarding at the beach gave him his first broken bone. Notice I said first? A stick in the foot meant a nasty infection that lasted months. And who can forget that horrible bike accident that landed him in the emergency room just a few months ago?

We took a trip to the Urgent Care yesterday. Romney had been complaining about pain in his chest right under his ribs. At first, I thought it was indigestion from those nasty Taki chips he eats. But it was worse the next day, and the next. I've learned from experience that if I take him in, it's usually nothing, but if I don't, it will be something serious. I erred on the side of caution. And ... it was nothing. A bruised rib or strained muscle caused by swimming or coughing too hard. Nothing to do about it but give him some ibuprofen and let it heal.

Pacified, I let him go to the concert last night. He comes home late and wakes me up at 12:45 am. "Mom, I think I broke my arm," he tells me. He was in the mosh pit, and some guy kicked him deliberately. There is a bump on his forearm that makes me think he might be right. So, we'll wrap it up and put it in a sling today, and take him right back to the doctor tomorrow.

Did I mention he has started driving?

Olympic Observations

"Whoa! It's like that American skater is auditioning for the role of Carrie's prom date with that hair."

"Thinking Canada should be putting their ice dancers on the hockey team."

"Is it me or does anyone else wonder if that's Will Ferrell down there doing a parody of ice dancing? No? Just me, then."

"Chest hair sequins have no place in the Olympics."

"So a Terry Goodkind novel just threw up on the ice dancing rink. "

Colleen Lindsay via Twitter (@colleenlindsay)

Love Is In the Air

The Howells family had a very wonderful Valentine's Day, and I hope you all did, too!

Carrying on the tradition, we had our Valentine's Day breakfast for dinner. The menu included pancakes by Johnette, a lovely yogurt and berry parfait, bacon, applesauce with cinnamon hearts (only I couldn't find the hearts and had to settle for Red Hots), berry punch, a Valentine's fortune cookie, and a heart-shaped donut for dessert.

Love and fun abounded for all!

Make a Smilebox greeting card

Happiness Is ...

My birthday! Everyone really outdid themselves. Johnette started my day off perfectly by cleaning the ENTIRE house the night before. Anneli helped her with it; the boys were not quite so receptive to the idea. So, the morning of my birthday, when I stumbled out of bed to wake the children for school, I did not step on one single item! It was heavenly. I looked around the loft, and the tidiness made me smile.

I got lots of "Happy Birthday" wishes as the kids came in for morning family prayers. After prayer, they broke out in a spontaneous rendition of "Happy Birthday" for me.

I think one of the worst parts about being a mom is having to bake your own birthday cake. It just seems wrong! Well, I definitely didn't have to worry about that this year! My dear friend, Josie, came by after lunch with one of her world class cakes. It was a cinnamon bundt cake with heart shapes around the top. This is Gabriel's all time favorite cake. He thinks Josie should go into business. Sadly, the cake didn't last long enough for me to get a picture of it.

Later that afternoon, my other dear friend, Lisa, brought me a birthday cake, also! This one was a triple decker chocolate fudge cake layered with fudge frosting and marshmallows. It was so tall, I asked, "How am I going to be able to eat this?" Romney then replied, "Like this!" He then took a huge bite out of my beautiful cake! Needless to say, that ended up his piece of cake.

I received some lovely cards from thoughtful friends. My parents sent me the most wonderful book through the mail ... and it arrived right on time!

My husband surprised me with a card and lots of chocolate. OK, it wasn't really a surprise. A card and lots of chocolate are actually required on my birthday. He then took me out to dinner at Benjarong, our very favorite Thai restaurant in Redlands. It was super delish!

I don't often enjoy my birthdays, but this time, I just had a very happy, content feeling all day long. Thank you to my wonderful, loving, thoughtful friends and family for making my day so fantastic!

When It Rains, It Pours!

Ah, fate has a funny sense of humor! Rom's fantastic day at the store two weeks ago sparked a run that rivaled our best week ever. It was wonderful! We felt like we had a little breathing room, finally. Last week continued to be good, although not quite equaling the week before.

Rom was in the store Friday morning when he heard a huge crash! Apparently, a car driving by kicked up a huge chunk of concrete that shattered our east window. And it was raining. Of course. Take that, happy hopeful Howells!

I'm so glad it happened on Rom's day of work (sorry, honey!), because he took care of everything masterfully. The window was fixed by the end of the day, and the damage to our checking account was less than expected.

We're starting to move into the "mattress season." I bet you didn't even know there was a mattress season, did you? People are starting to get their tax returns. President's Day is coming up. Then Memorial Day. Ending with Labor Day. Good times. Even better, we have finally found someone to cover Sundays for us who leaves us with a profit at the end of the day! We are experimenting this month. He is also covering my days for me during my birthday and our tent sale. If he's successful (come on, it's not that hard to be more successful than me!), then we might make it a permanent solution. Fingers crossed!