You have stolen my heart

I love the song Stolen by Dashboard Confessional and as I watched Eric dancing with the kids this afternoon I realized how my heart has been stolen by these three people. Ten years ago when Eric and I became friends, I never imagined that I would marry him one day. Even when we started dating and I kept trying to break up with him because I was scared of falling in love again I never imagined that he would not let me go and that he would show me that I could trust in him. Eric stole my heart years ago and though we bicker and drive each other crazy a good bit of the time, my heart belongs to him.

Years ago I remember telling my mom that I didn't ever want kids. I was not a typical girl around babies, I didn't swoon or want to hold them and up until 3 years ago I couldn't care less about babies. When Emma was born I had no clue how to change a diaper, make a bottle, or burp a baby. I'm not sure what changed in me but one day I knew I wanted to be a mother, I just didn't expect to be this in love with my children. Don't get me wrong, I knew I'd love my kids I just never thought the love I would feel would be indescribable. How do you describe love for people who make me feel like the most special person in the world? How do you describe love for people who are part you and who make your heart melt every time they look at you? My heart has been stolen by my children, it belongs to them.

It's amazing where life takes us. I am so blessed that God has put these three people in my life and that I get to share my heart with them!

There Is A Mountain

This past Saturday Emma discovered a new song. We were watching Playhouse Disney which is our normal routine on Saturday morning and after Handy Manny a music video came on. The video happened to be the new Kenny Loggins song, There Is A Mountain which features his daughter Hana. Well Emma fell in love with Hana Loggins instantly. In the video she is dressed up like a butterfly princess and Emma just stood there staring at the TV asking me who the little girl was. After the video was over, Emma asked me to play it again (the girl only 2 and a 1/2 understands the concept of the DVR so well). I think I must have replayed the song for her at least ten times. Finally I told her only one more time and she reluctantly agreed.

An hour or so later, she seemed to have forgotten the song and we went in to her room to get changed for the day. It was then that Emma discovered the butterfly costume that has been sitting in her dress-up basket for over a year now. She begged me to put it on her so that she could be a butterfly like the little girl. I thought it was so sweet that of course I helped her. Here is Emma all dressed up.

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She stayed in costume all morning long and as we were playing Candy Land in the front room we heard the song come on the TV again. Emma jumped up and ran to the TV and stood there swaying back and forth trying to sing the words. Needless to say, she asked me to play it again and again and again.

Later when Eric came home from work she was so excited to tell him about the butterfly song and we found the full video on youtube which she watched at least 20 more times. In a few short days she has learned most of the words to the song and loves to watch it on the laptop while twirling around. Here is the video I took of Emma dancing which she didn't realize I was doing and then ran away once she figured it out.






I know I shouldn't be allowing her to spend so much time in front of the TV or computer but I just think that it's so cute that she wants to sing and dance to the song. Watch out Broadway here comes Emma Hildwine!

Lord Helmet

Today Eric and I took Josh for his cranial appointment to see what they had to say about the flat spot on his head. The first part of the session was photographs of Josh's head and the second part was a review of the photos and discussion with an Occupational Therapist. Here are my photos (actually Eric took these with my camera because I couldn't get them to take) of the photos taken in the office.






After seeing these pictures it was much easier to see how misshapen Josh's head really is. The OT also asked us questions about Josh and determined that his head actually began the process of being misshaped while I was pregnant with him. That made me feel a bit better knowing that it wasn't our fault his head is shaped this way, that we did all we could to try and correct it but because of his position in the womb he was destined for a funky (as Eric calls it) head.

Our session ended with our therapist telling us about the DOC band (or helmet as many call it) and I asked her if Josh's head shape affected his brain in any way and if this was purely cosmetic. She said that it does not affect his brain but later in life it could affect his vision (because of his eyes being misaligned), his jaw (because one side is pushed forward more), and the ability to find a helmet that fits his head later when he plays sports. She said that they do not think of it as cosmetic, that it is reconstructive.

As we left the appointment we had many things to consider. We aren't obligated to get the band for Josh and they leave the decision up to you. The therapist told us that they will check with our insurance company and let us know if they will cover the band (usually they don't). Regardless, I think we've come to the decision to get the band for Josh (or Lord Helmet as I will lovingly call him! Space Balls anyone?) So goodbye new TV, goodbye trip to Disneyland, goodbye gym membership and hello weekly trips to Phoenix Children's Hospital, hello 23 hours a day in the band, and hello to a bill that is going to cost almost as much as my engagement ring! Hopefully Josh will never need braces because he's met his quota for the next decade or so! :o)

Whale Wars, what the......

So Eric's new addiction is a TV show called Whale Wars. It is on Friday nights on Animal Planet. He swears up and down that this show is ridiculous but yet he keeps watching it and even DVR's it. The whole premise of this show is about a boat crew (The Sea Shepard) who sail the seas looking for Japanese whaling vessels to terrorize because they are against whaling. The Sea Shepard has no real legal authority to be doing this they are just a bunch of whale loving (nothing wrong with that) hippies. The problem (in my opinion) is when they begin ramming their boats into Japanese whaling vessels and throwing stink bombs at the Japanese crews. They even go so far as to talk about how they would give their lives for the whales. Seriously???? Do they realize that their are real human beings dying every single day in every country of the world? It is a whale! Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against whales and in fact I consider myself an animal loving person. It just makes me a bit crazy when I think about how much more concerned society is with animal life then they are with human life. As I finish this blog, the show is ending and the Sea Shepard has arrived safely back on Hobart Island. The Captain is meeting with news crews and is handed a letter, inside is a unknown white substance. Could it be Anthrax or some other deadly toxin? Great, now I will have to tune in next week to find out!

Because I have too much free time!

So I have finally decided to start blogging. Eric has been telling me to do this for a long time but to tell you the truth I had always believed it was silly for people to journal their lives on a blog. I also wondered why people thought that others cared about what they were doing and what they thought. Well that was before we got a card recently from Eric's grandparents who live in Florida. Eric's grandma has Alzheimers and so they haven't traveled to Arizona since Emma was a newborn. In the card, Eric's grandpa wrote a note about how much they love his blog and how they look at it often. It later dawned on me, that this was how they would know their great grandchildren, through Eric's blog. So that little note made me change my mind about this whole thing and made me realize that this is a great way to share our lives with those loved ones living far away from us and even those friends we don't connect with as often as we'd like. So welcome to the world of blogging Jill Hildwine, eat your own words!