The Blogship: How Heidi Klum Brought Us Together

This is the tale of a true 21st century friendship...blogship.

Back in 2006, blogs were the new, hot thing in my world. It was fun to have this little blip on the world wide web for reflection, pictures, and plenty of randomness. One day I was reading another friend's blog and left a comment on a corresponding post about how much I love Project Runway. Pretty soon after, I had a comment on my blog from a girl named Kelli stating that she read my comment and that she was a fellow PR fan as well. It was a fun "Make It Work" moment.

I clicked over to her blog to see that we happened to go to the same university and had many of the same friends. As I read several of her posts, I read back to when she wrote about suffering a miscarriage losing a sweet baby she had been so excited about. Many of the words she wrote struck a chord and felt very similar to my feelings after the miscarriage I had the year prior. I left a comment with just a couple words of encouragement and understanding about her heartache.

That started a good year or so worth of blog commenting back and forth. We later joked that it was such a 21st century friendship that we "met on the internet." And to take the next step, we began to meet in person and hit it off great making us "real life" friends! :)

So that takes care of 2 of the girls in the picture.

Throughout this time, my sister Shannon (also a blogger) had noticed comments on my blog from this girl Kelli and had clicked through to read her blog. From there, she happened upon the blog of Kelli's sister-in-law, Karen.

And this is where the story gets a little creepy...and funny. (love you Shannon!)

Shannon started reading more of Karen's blog. This would be appropriately called blog-stalking. Over a period of time, she happened to piece several things together realizing that she and Karen both lived in the same particular small town and moved to another same particular small town within months of each other. They also happened to both have daughters born within weeks of each other and delivered by the same doctor.

Shannon starts confessing to me that she's figured out that she has so many things in common with this girl. This girl she's never met.

And then she starts seeing Karen around town. Several times. It was hilarious every time I would get a call from Shannon saying, "I just saw Karen and her daughter, Bella!" They would even have stranger small talk. Little did Karen know, Shannon knew everything about her already.

So finally, Shannon got brave one day. She ran into Karen and just unloaded it all. Oh how I wish I could've been a fly on the wall during that conversation. "Hi my name is Shannon. My sister and your sister-in-law met from each other's blogs and then I started reading your blog and realized that we both moved here from the same exact town and we both had a baby around the same time and we both went to the same doctor, and we both..."

Karen was a trooper. Instead of running and screaming from the blog stalker, she invited Shannon and her family over to her house. And that's where another great friendship began. In fact, those two daughters born around the same time, are also best of friends.

It's such a funny and random story. But to me, it's a great story to prove you just never know how your life experiences can bring you together. I would've never wanted either Kelli or I to have to go through the pain of losing a baby, but I'm thankful that through that mutual pain, a bond was formed. In fact, several bonds and friendships have formed.

And I guess we should also thank the love of Heidi Klum and her Project Runway awesomeness. :)

Will ~ 8 & 9 Months

Hopefully Will is going to forgive me one day that his monthly updates have turned into every other month updates. :) What a fun couple of months with our sweet Baby Will! It is still my absolute favorite baby stage. I am seriously kissing on him all day long. Wonder if he's annoyed? But it's around this stage that they really start to seem like older babies and become so much more curious and entertained with the world around them. So cute and so fun!

The milestones I remember from the 7th month:

• He became a sitting pro. I think it was just a couple of days after he turned 7 months old. Now it certainly can aggravate the reflux spit-up, but it doesn't phase him at all. The other thing to be careful is big brother coming in for a hug. Still, he loves it.
• He started putting the pacifier back in on his own. Now that is a biggie in my book! Thanks to the video monitor, if he wakes up at night, I can tell if he can get to the pacifier himself. Love that!
• He also got his bottom 2 teeth. Definitely some fussier moments but not too terrible. Or maybe I've already forgotten?
• And finally we are on a much more consistent nap routine with just 2 naps a day. For the most part, he does really good of each one being about an hour and a half. And he usually sleeps from about 8:00ish to 7:00ish at night.
• He has got some crazy hair! It's coming in fast and coming in all over the place.

And for the 8th month:

• The highlight/lowlight of the month was that he got RSV and his first ear infection. I'm thankful that it seemed to be a mild case. But even with that, it was 8 days of fever and a pretty pitiful snotty, coughing baby. So sad, but we're so thankful it didn't get worse.
• Will has started talking up a storm. It's pretty cute when you can finally hear what their "talking voice" will sound like. He says da-da all the time. Seriously all day long. No ma-ma at all. Trying not to be too bitter. :) He makes the ya, ba, and all kids of strawberry/blowing noises with his mouth. He also is becoming known for his trademark fish face. Can even do it on command...funny!
• He LOVES to stand up and hold on to things. Wondering if he'll cruise around before he even crawls. He loves it. As far as crawling, still not happening. He can creep and roll anywhere he wants to go but just doesn't stay up on all 4s yet.
• And by this point, I finally got him up to 3 meals a day of baby food. He loves his morning oatmeal and fruit. Likes sweet potatoes, carrots, the stage 2 meats, and veggie blends. He does NOT like just green beans. At all. And he doesn't seem to care for the Stage 3 foods yet. (Another mommy guilt that I made all of Tate's baby food at this point. Sorry Will...love you just as much!) He also has started eating puffs and even gets some in his mouth on his own.
• I'm a little nervous to say it for fear of jinxing, but the reflux spit-up has gotten a little better. He still spits up but it doesn't seem to be near as much. I'm sure the sitting/standing and baby food are all helping. Really hoping the trend continues!
• He still LOVES his bath. Absolutely LOVES it! He knows that word, so when you say "take a bath," he gets a huge grin and starts giggling. Cute. And if you ever give him a bath, watch out, he slaps and splashes the water like crazy.
• He can do a round about wave and clap. It may be a few minutes after you say it, but eventually he'll show you his trick.
• He likes the pattycake song, when Macy barks, his animal and babies video, shape sorter, Sofie the Giraffe, the jumper, being outside, being tickled, big brother making noises, and going on walks in the stroller.

I love you Baby Will and am soaking in all of these sweet baby moments as you are only 3 months away from being 1 year old. How is that possible?

2010: My Year In Books

It's January and time to wrap up my annual Year In Books. I've been driving myself a little crazy trying to remember the books that I read. (Not counting the hundreds of times I've read Starry Safari, Curious George Plays Baseball, or Click, Clack, Moo...Tate's current favorites.) But the truth is, there aren't a lot to remember. 2010 was not my biggest year in reading. Having a baby and managing two different freelance jobs seemed to take up most of my spare time. (And there was also my 3-month obsession with Words With Friends.)

But for the record, here is my small list of books I read in 2010:

The Help by Kathryn Stockett - I read this early in the year, and I'm sure by now most have heard of its greatness. Seriously one of the best books I have read in a really long time. I LOVED it! I'm not sure why I enjoy reading about that time period so much, because it's incredibly sad. But I find myself drawn to those books all of the time. This story is intense and so touching. Surely there will be a sequel and a movie made. Can't wait!

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay - The other time period I find myself reading a lot about is during WWII. Wow, I sure pick some happy years, huh? This probably ranks lower on the books I've read about that time. It's well written and very interesting. But it is seriously sad. So sad, I had nightmares about it. I wish there was something redeeming to the sadness, but there really wasn't. Kind of a downer.

Jantsen's Gift by Pam Cope - I followed it with this book, which has unbelievable redemption to the sadness. And the fact that it's a true story is pretty incredible. I would encourage anyone to read this. As cliche as it sounds, it will be life-changing. In fact, we have several friends who are going through pretty amazing life-changing experiences right now, and this book was a part of that. It will open your eyes in so many ways. From grief to some heart-wrenching, horrible things that are happening to innocent children all over our world. I hope that I will never forget what I learned and will always want to do something about it.

Parenting With Love & Logic by Foster Cline and Jim Fay - And then to the older child in my home. The 3rd year has been a doozie for us, so I was looking for anything I could get my hands on to help. As with all parenting strategies, there really isn't one across the board method that will always work. So you take pieces here and there. So far, I really like that the purpose in this one is for your child to think and eventually come up with the right solutions on their own. I have by no means perfected it but definitely found this helpful.

Heaven by Randy Alcorn - This was a book I read as part of a group study. I definitely recommend reading it with a group because on your own, it may become a little overwhelming. It's a big book with a lot of content to cover. I admit to skimming at times. But the main points that I did learn were fascinating. He writes that there isn't much teaching about heaven in most of our churches today. So much of what I read was new to me. It will answer many questions and at the same time cause you to ask many questions. Most importantly, it does re-affirm and make me look forward to what a great (sure wish there was a better word than great to describe heaven!!!) place it will be.

On my list to hopefully read in 2011:

Open

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Still Alice

The Hole In Our Gospel

Benjamin Franklin's biography

Scream-Free Parenting

Any other good ones out there?

And in case you're looking for some book suggestions, here are my lists from 2007, 2008, and 2009.