He's Done It Again

I tell ya' what. Every day I look straight into the eyes of my oldest child and implore him to stop.

"Stop growing, child!" I tell him.

He mostly laughs at me.

Today, he did it again. He turned eight. Eight! How can my boy be 8? I tried to take a photo-journalistic approach and catch it all on camera. *sigh* I'm too young to have an eight year old. I spent most of the day making a disaster of a cake. Trouble said, "It's disgusting!" No really, he did. About cake. :/

So aren't these pics grand? Doesn't Einstein look OLD?! I'll let you look them over before I tell you the FUNNY part.

We're ready for cake!


Umm... that's supposed to be Indiana Jones.


1 candle on his Temple of Doom cake.


Eight dollars for eight years.


Star Wars + Legos = Happy Boy


Oh my gosh! He's been wanting this for over a year!


My camera is better than mom's camera!


"Say cheese, Dad!"

Okay, the funny part. See how those first couple of pics are all fuzzy, woozy, crinkly and well... not good? Then see how, magically, the bottom photos are clear, crisp and they don't make you wonder if you crossed your eyes??

Guess what?

So we took all the pics, sang 'Happy Birthday', ate cake, Einstein unwrapped all his gifts. We sent the kids to bed and I sat down to write this blog (even though it's the middle of the night, because my mom will be wanting to see birthday pics and the dear thing wakes up before the sun). So I upload the pics. Then I start to feel nauseated. My lip trembles, my eyes water and I begin to cry.

Disaster! The photos were a mess. His only 8th birthday ever and the camera was on the wrong setting (darn fancy camera, anyway). So what did Handy Man and I do?

We make the kid REENACT his birthday. Those pretty pics? They're fake! He's only pretending to open his gifts and act surprised. Isn't he a sport of a child? His insane mommy's heart was going to burst for not getting his day captured, and the beautiful boy humored me and gladly, willingly and happily reenacted opening all his gifts so I could capture his 8th birthday.

'Cept when he got to this part:


Then he said his eyeballs were burning and he wanted to go to bed.

Blog Bloat: CONTENT #3

So far we've tackled tags and a little about sidebar bloat. This time I'd like to talk about content.

Human culture has a funny way of creating nuances, manners or etiquette. And you can go into an entire argument about how arbitrary and pointless it can be. But it boils down to this... humans like order. For some reason, we like to have rhyme and reason for what we do. The blogosphere is no different; it has its own culture, and likewise its own set of rules. Tough part is, no one really explains the "rules" to you, yet everyone and his neighbor's mailman's dog has a blog. And while everyone likes a blog that is unusual, offers something different, thinks outside the box, etc., I do believe there are some unspoken truths about blogging. Here are some of those that came to mind.

1. Write.
Now this may seem like an easy one. But you'd be surprised. What I mean by 'write' is to sit, think, compose something and write. People come to visit you for your content.

2.Play show 'n' tell.
People like pictures. You can play show and tell and still play it safe. Okay, don't photograph your children in their birthday suits. Don't give your address. Be attentive to what's in the background of your photos. License plate numbers, house numbers, school names, and such are a no-no. The only people who care about those things are exactly the people who have no business knowing.

3. Find your shift key already.
LOOK, I UNDERSTAND THAT TYPING IN ALL CAPS MAY SAVE YOU 0.023 MILLISECONDS. BUT THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS... IT'S RUDE. IT'S LIKE SHOUTING AT PEOPLE ALL THE TIME. PEOPLE GET AGITATED; THEY SHIFT IN THEIR SEATS. NO ONE LIKES TO GET YELLED AT. So please, turn your caps lock off. Find your shift key. Most keyboards have two - so no excuses. It's that important. Look at your keyboard. Do you see any other keys SOOOO important that there are two of them? No, you don't. So if the logic stands that you have two ears and one mouth so you listen twice as much as you talk... then I reason that you have two shift keys and only one cap lock because you're meant to shift every. single. sentence.

4. Play fair. Don't steal.
I once saw an entire blog post of mine copied and pasted word-for-word in someone else's blog. She didn't credit me, didn't link to me or acknowledge me in any way. She simply copied my blog, pasted it in her own and hit publish. I suppose I should be flattered (I wasn't. Plus I know her. Like in real life.). She probably assumed I'd never find it. Another blogger once stole my blog name. She used the word three instead of the number 3, but she wrote an 'about me' that sounded hauntingly like my own; "Life With My Three Boybarians - homeschool mom of 3 boybarians...". ( I know her, too.) Hmmmm. But mostly it's about taking words, art, photos - really any intellectual property of someone else's - and using them without permission or credit. There are some tricky rules. Learn them.

5. Write.
Oh wait... did I use that one already? So, once there was a blogger (not YOU, dear reader!). She did Menu Monday, Terrific Tuesday, Works for Me Wednesday, Thankful Thursday... and soon... her blog was a collection of nothing but memes. Don't get me wrong - participate in activities, groups, etc. Engage, play tag, have fun. But write, write, write. I understand that part of playing nice and making friends is participating in these every once in awhile. The quickest way to lose your readers is to offer them the blogosphere's version of hors d'oeuvres every meal and never serve a main course. If you're trapped in a cycle of those pick your one or two favs and drop the rest. Or get used to saying hello to your mom in each post, hoping she'll come back (Hi Mom!).

6. Run spell check.
Really. It's free. Lord knows it helps me. It's doesn't catch all the typos. Gracious, no one is perfect. Readers seem to forgive me for all my spelling errors. But if you speelling airrors are so freequInt that it's destrakting, people won't read. (Wasn't that annoying?!)

7. Fergoodnesssakes already. Learn the basic rules of grammar.
You don't have to pour over Strunk & White to get a handle on the basics. Writing with basic English grammar isn't terribly difficult. The blogosphere will forgive you for not writing like a pro. It will not forgive you for making yourself look inarticulate and careless. This one deserves a post of its own!

Come back and read how Mrs. Curlee, my 7th grade English Teacher, changed my life.

Of Rainbows and Robots, Legos and Pirates

Einstein came running in to find me. "I made a prism outside," he shouts. "Come look!" Only in the name of homeschool can you count both making prisms and landscaping chores as science. We've been doing a lot of "science" lately.




Can you believe all that green? Just when I thought the color would never return to the Arctic Tundra. It's baaaacccck! And so beautiful!

These are some of my favorite pics of the week. This is what boybarians do with Legos and extra boxes. I present... my robots and pirates.








And last but not least... this. This makes my heart pitter patter. It took every drop of will power not to scoop him up and love on him.

Blog Bloat: SIDEBAR CONTENT #2

I loved all the feedback and admissions of guilt from some of you in my comments. Too too funny! I visited each and every one of you and I have to say - those were some fine tags. My applause! And thank you to my friends who come for the 4th reason - just because. Awww, I 'just because' you, too.

To answer my mom's question: the silly word "blog" comes from web+log. I guess the original bloggers were seafarers who kept logs. (aw, laugh with me on that one!) And I'm not exactly sure what happened to the /we/ in weblog or when it was dropped. Wikipedia has this to say about blogs:

"A blog (an abridgment of the term web log) is a website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

"Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (artlog), photographs (photoblog), sketchblog, videos (vlog), music (MP3 blog), audio (podcasting) are part of a wider network of social media."

Key words there are the last two - SOCIAL MEDIA.

So if you are maintaining your own little niche for social media the idea would be to make it somewhere your social circle wants to visit. And, of course, we want to do our former seafaring predecessors some justice and make our blogs easy to navigate.

So let's tackle sidebar content. Generally speaking, many bloggers use their sidebars to point their readers to places of interest. Some people use it as an alternative to their 'favorites' in their bookmarks. There is NO right and wrong way to maintain our sidebars. In fact, seeing all the differences is what makes blogging fun! Give yours some personality!

But (and you know this was coming!) - beware of blog bloat. Blog bloat is fulling up empty space for the sake of filling it up. It's just as annoying as listening to my almost 8-year-old's verbal diarrhea (ask my mom - the boy has NO internal dialogue. I love him but he talks 14+ hours a day!).

Some sidebar netiquette:
* Dead links: are your links even active anymore? No one likes to follow a link to an Error 404 message. Check them regularly.
* Links for the sake of links: do you visit all the links on your space? If so, keep them! But beefing up your sidebars with links not even YOU use is pointless, makes your space look cluttered and disorganized. Don't get me wrong, keep your references, keep important places you need to find. But lose the rest.
* Endless sidebars: Generally speaking the prime real estate is on the top 800 pixels of your blog. Most of your readers aren't going to scroll down much, if at all. Those spaces (the top screen's worth) are what most people will click. Focus on making them click-worthy or readable.
* Consider moving some things to the footer: maybe your stat counter, the endless awards you've received, your music (more on that soon!), etc.
* Consider rotating content: if you have been around the blogosphere for awhile and have built a HUGE list in your blogroll, consider making an expandable or drop down box (Flooble, among others, offers this). Also, if bloggers in your blogroll have quit blogging remember to remove them from your list.

Now, if you maintain a blog that is what I would consider a resource blog - this wouldn't apply. Some people use their blogs solely as a place to gather, link and learn - Trivium Academy blog comes to mind. Since the purpose of her sidebars are to offer readers a huge collection of resources - the rule to keep links streamlined doesn't apply. If you have a resource blog, just keep your categories well-defined, easy to navigate, and clear to understand. The rule about dead links is universal though!

So, go take a peek at your sidebars from the perspective of a reader. Make sure the links are active, organized and not overly abundant. Your social media network will thank you!

Blog Bloat: TAGS #1

Is your blog feeling a little... bloated?

I have a multi-post series planned about blogging and the blogosphere in general. Because I'm like a total expert. Or not. Look out Kathie Lee! Moms are going to blog. So, maybe I can help... a little. Not like we took a college class in blogging or online networking. But since I'm kinda a web geek, certifiably these days, I have done a little homework about it.

I write this blog with some hesitancy. Why? Because everyone who reads it will assume I'm talking about their blog. I'm not. I'm speaking very generally about the blogosphere as a whole. And the "you" in this blog, well... okay, it does mean YOU.

Let's talk about content. One of the most misused blog features is tags. What are tags anyway? I'm so glad you asked! Tags are those handy little ditties that you fill in when you post a blog (at the very bottom right on Blogger). They are often called "labels" or "keywords" or "tags" depending on where your blog is hosted. But that's just semantics.

Tags are meant to work like signs on a highway. They let people know where they're going and when to exit. And if you use them incorrectly they just lead to traffic jams or worse - people start ignoring the signs all together. So, you! Yes, this actually means YOU... How are you using your tags?

There are generally two types of bad tagging. First is the over-zealous tagger. Her label list is SOOOOO long and has contents like:
my friend Sarah (1)
Valentine's Day Parade (1)
our Christmas Pics (2)
science (4)
bird watching (2)
day at the zoo (1)
my BFF Joe (1)
went shopping (3)
rainbow (1)

Yikes. Time to condense. Try: Friends, Holidays, Nature, school. Succinct! Succinct is nice. If you find your labels list having lots of (1) OR (2)... it's time to condense. If you have more than say 20 or 25... time to condense.

The other type of bad tagging is the lazy tagger. She doesn't tag at all. Or, she has so few tags and they are so broad you can't decipher the topics from them at all.
Life (68)
Home (40)
everything else (103)

In this case, it's time to narrow down your subject matter a little bit. Generally, no one is Googling "life" as a topic and they're surely not Googling "everything else". I am a lazy tagger (among other things). If I could get away with just NICU, homeschool, boys, web stuff... I would. But then, you might never come back. And then, well... I'd be writing to nobody. (Except you, Mom. Hi, Mom. *waves*)

Think of packing your house. If your blog was a house, and each blog had to be boxed up and put in the right room, how would you box it up? What would you write with that big, fat Sharpie on the box? "Home"?
In this case, think descriptive! You don't need succinct. You need beautiful-imagery-with-words, concrete subject matter, solid understandable topics. Try: crafts, recipes, remodeling, family, friends, etc.

Sooo... what will this do for you?

For one, people will be able to navigate your space. They are more likely to click through to other pages and more likely to come back. Having your subject matter clearly spelled out allows blog readers to customize what they read in your little neck of the woods. And let's face it, not everything we write is appealing to everyone (except what I write, of course! You do read it ALL, right??). For example, I tend to get 3 pretty broad types of visitors... I get a lot of preemie and NICU parents. I get homeschoolers. Last (but never least) I get people interested in web design, blogging, online networking (ie, geeks like me!). But the web geek doesn't really want to pull out her tissues and read about the NICU. The NICU mom doesn't have time to think about homeschooling. The homeschooling mom is so stinkin' busy she really just needs the curriculum posts. So, with a few simple clicks... people can head their merry way and find the content they are looking for.

So, why'dja come here anyway? Did you google blog tags? Are you guilty of blog bloat? What kind of tagger are you?

More on blogging later. Come back soon. Go fix your tags. And if you do spruce up your tags, let me know - I'll come check out your handy work!

ps - I spelled the word "blog" wrong in this post 5 times. At least I know you didn't come here looking for spelling tips. ;) Thank you Blogger for spell check.

School Shmool and Holy Clothes-Horse, Batman!

School shmool.

That's about how all of us are feeling about school these days. And I'm the worst of them. Today I even did the dreaded job of going through the Boybarians' closets. What a chore that is! Do you southerners do that chore? Today I took down, refolded and packed up every article of clothing in their closets. It. took. all. day! I pulled out all the summer clothes we haven't seen in months, opened them all up, see what would fit who, folded it all back up and distributed it where it needed to go. Oh the burden of having two separate wardrobes. Blah.

You know what else I discovered (while not doing school) today? Picasso had over 40 pairs of pants in his closet! I lost count of the shirts, but I had at least 10 piles...

Now, lest you all think I love shopping for little boy clothes... I will say... The Boybarians have boy cousins just a couple years older. And those boy cousins have boy cousins just a couple years older than them. So we get a long line of hand-me-downs. And while I might not love shopping for little boy clothes, their Nanie just can't resist having the most handsome Boybarian Grandsons on the planet. The boybarians also have 5+ sets of great/grandparents! So combined with generous loved-ones and all sorts of hand-me-downs it all sort of piles up by the time it gets to the second or third boybarian. But by the time it's just little Trouble left... I don't really need to save 40+ pairs of pants and 100+ shirts.

Incidentally, he is still wearing the 18-24 mo clothes I bought him 3 years ago. *sigh*

So we packed up all those piles of clothes. Off they go to new home! The closets look much more sparse, tons more tidy, and I can actually say with confidence (for once!) that everything in their closets are clean and fit them.

All this to avoid school. So what are you doing these days to avoid schoolwork?

ps - remember this guy? Some of you asked if he was rubber. Nope. He's real.

Happy Mother's Day

To all the mothers out there:
Hope this day is special. This is the toughest job with the lowest pay but greatest benefits. Hope you all have a day to enjoy yourselves and your family!

To my mother-in-law:
You could have warned me. Ha ha. Kidding. Mostly. ;) Thank you for raising the most loving husband and amazing daddy. I look at my own boys and wonder how you did it. Happy Mother's Day to the first woman in my hubby's life.

To my own mother:
Thanks for always being there when it counts, and even when it doesn't. Not only do I have the best mom, but the boys have an amazing Nanie. Happy Mother's Day to the #1 woman in my life. Wish you lived closer.

ps - Shhhhhh! Be the first to enter.... surprise BLOG MAKEOVER CONTEST over at my other blog, Graphically Designing!

Some 5th Birthday Moments

Don't you wish you could freeze time, just for a little while and keep them all just as they are? With each passing milestone, each passing month, each passing moment... I just want to bottle them up and keep them little and timeless. Instead I just click, click, click and try and capture as many moments as possible.






Look at Picasso's face! It is not often that little Trouble has the upper hand over his big brothers. But all the boys have been wanting the new Lego sets. Mr. Trouble was definitely the "cool kid" of the moment with his Indiana Jones and Star Wars legos and minifigs.

On This Day...

On this day, 5 years ago... I was 6 months pregnant. It wasn't an easy pregnancy. I spent months 2-6 alternating between cursing this child for being such a (literal) pain and crying myself to sleep for fear of losing him.

On this day, 5 years ago... I laid in antepartum. My water had already broken. I was 28 weeks pregnant. I was bargaining. I'd do anything, if only... "Please," I begged, "Let him be safe..."

On this day, 5 years ago... my BFF stood by my bedside on what was simultaneously one of the worst and best days of my life. She was there for the contractions, the scare, the emergency c-section, everything. I will go to my grave grateful for those moments.

On this day, 5 years ago... I called my mom at 6 am to tell her my water had broken. And even though she was a state away and supposed to go to work, she found a replacement and got in the car and drove a 3-hour trip in a little more than 2 hours to be there.

On this day, 5 years ago... Handy Man barely made it in time for his son's birth when the antepartum nurse failed to mention the severity and timeliness of the situation, leading Handy Man to believe he had time to run through a drive-through. Handy Man balanced the world on his shoulders in those days, and I still wonder how he held himself and all of us together.

On this day, 5 years ago... a baby boy was born. Silent. A neonatal team whisked him away and immediately worked their magic.

On this day, 5 years ago... a man we call "Dr. John" fortuitously was the attending in the NICU. He made some calls that day that still matter... to this day. We will never forget him or what he did on that day (and on the many to come) that changed the life of a child and his family.

On this day, 5 years ago... I learned tough new words. I entered the life-changing war zone called the NICU. No one who goes through those doors comes out the same person. If baby is there for a week or a year, it is a tough place to live... even for a day.

On this day, 5 years ago... our son survived his premature birth. We wouldn't fully understand what that meant, or how critical those first hours were until much later. Starting on that day we learned to appreciate grams, breaths, ounces and minutes.

On this day, 5 years ago... I made a resolution to never forget NICU families and how much that baby boy overcame to be who he is today. Trouble ultimately spent 3 months in the NICU - coming home on his due date, weighing 5 lb and 1 oz.

*

On this day, 4 years ago... we celebrated a first birthday. Our infant son weighed about 12 lb, and had recently learned to sit on his own. He was on oxygen, high calorie formula, and rarely left the house. He was meeting miletones, although delayed, and was a beautiful, happy, baby boy.

On this day, 3 years ago... our boy turned 2. At 18 lb, he was crawling, but not yet walking. He had a handful of words. He would finally walk a few months later, and put words together to communicate. He was still on oxygen, still rarely left the house. He was bold, happy, and charmed the world with his dimple and lashes. He became drug free this year - a huge milestone.

On this day, 2 years ago... our sweet, now bespectacled toddler turned 3. He was about 20 lb, still on oxygen - and would be until Independence day. That year freedom really rang for Trouble when he was finally able to take off his oxygen cannula. He was 38 months old.

On this day, 1 year ago... 4-year-old Trouble blew out the candles on his birthday cake for the very first time. He was surrounded by those who mean the most to him - his cheerleaders, family and friends - who got to witness a milestone that so many take for granted. Untethered by tubes, he ran around the playground with his friends, ate cake with his Nanie, and had the best birthday party a kid could have.

On this very day... our Trouble turns 5. He is an absolute miracle of a child. He weighs in at a whopping 26 lb, and although he may look like a toddler to those who don't know him, he is strong and scrappy. He has overcome more in 5 years than many will in a lifetime. He loves life! And we know that because of people like Dr. John and nurse Diane, his cheerleaders, friends, family and loved ones - that this is only the beginning of a very happy ending.

On the warming bed, in the NICU, 1 week old.


1st time Daddy holds him 2 1/2 weeks; Blanket made of washcloths. Nitric oxide.


NICU Homecoming - 3 mo old - with a 12" ruler.


Age 2


Age 3


Age 4


Age 4

HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY, TROUBLE!

Reason #574638526 That Our Neighbors Love Us...

Mr. Perfectly Manicured Lawn stood in his lawn pretending to water his lawn and pick up every twig in his yard. Under his breath I'm sure he was cursing Handy Man's name. He just can't see the potential. Can you see it?

Did you know that if you do all that digging - you'll probably find one of these? This pic is for my dad. Hey Dad, wanna come to Iowa and visit us??

Friends 'n' Rock Gardens

These are my favorite pics from this week.

We had friends over and I'm not sure who had more fun, Handy Man or the 7 kids running through the house! Our friends are just perfectly Trouble's size. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. ;)





And guess what! Guess who won't be the scourge of the neighborhood anymore? Well, we still might be. We're not sure we can keep anything alive. Maybe that's why Handy Man had 6 huge rock sculpture things delivered. What will Mr. Perfectly Manicured Lawn think of rocks in our garden?. As for the living plants... well, time will tell on that one. Handy Man has never planted a thing in his life. My experience? I once planted tulips. The squirrels dug them up and the deer ate them. It was a raging success. ;) But don't my menfolk look awfully handsome working in the yard?

Not Number 2

He's never done anything first.

He was middle born. Second child. Number 2 of 3. He walked second, talked second, grew up second. Then came "the new baby" and he wasn't even the littlest anymore. He was stuck between a louder, older child and a needier, younger child.



Until now.

Sweet Picasso is the first one to get big boy teeth. When he complained his middle teeth were hurting, imagine my surprise to find this.



I'm sure my mother is laughing now. You know how grown-ups always say, "Just wait 'til you have kids of your own...!". Picasso is all those things I was told as a child to 'wait for'. He is my motion sick child - my karma for being just like that as a child. He has my mouth - teeth that don't fall out on their own. He will soon be costing his daddy a bundle in dentist bills and orthodontics.

But gracious... isn't he cute? Just wait 'til he has his own kids!