learning to walk

Here are a few videos of Luke learning to walk....I apologize right now if they make anyone (mom) dizzy from the fantastic home-video quality filming.

love

I have been thinking a lot about love lately and all the different types of love, and what it can do to you.

I look back to when Cory and I first said "the L word" and I almost laugh, because if you compare the amount of love I have for him now, to what I thought I had for him then....it's almost like I didn't have a clue back then. Does that even make sense? It is such a deeper and stronger bonding type of love now. The type of love that only comes with years of life experiences with someone.

The type of love that is the hardest to grow.

Then I think about the love I have for our little Luke. I never imagined that I could love something so deeply and instantaneously as I did that little man when he was born. It seems like such an obvious love - I mean, of course I love him...he is a part of me.

His little being literally grew as a part of me.

That type of love comes so naturally.

When I think about the love I have for Luke, it makes me realize the love my parents must have had for me and all my siblings. I wish I could be a fly on the wall to watch my mom and dad's world turn upside down every time they held one of us for the very first time. I'm the first girl in my family (and 1 of only 2) so for a little while, I got to be the favorite daughter...I wonder if my Dad looked at me with the kind of awe I see on other dad's faces when they hold their baby girls.

Being a parent has made me learn to appreciate my parents and their lives so much more than I ever could have before.

Mom and Dad....thanks for everything. I mean it. Really.

Then I look at my siblings and the bond I have with them. (wow, I totally just typed bong....that would have been a funny sentence....we shouldn't go there) This bond was not an easy one to create. I mean, sure we were bonded because we are blood related. That didn't mean much when we were all pre-teens with out of control hormones and attitudes. I think about the influence that each of my siblings has had, and currently has, on my life....I would be an entirely different person had it not been for each of them. Some of them I talk to more than others, but I still don't think I make it a week without talking to each of them at least once. And by talking I usually mean texting....

Ryan is a great example to me of hard work and determination

Tyler is the person I can talk to about anything...seriously - anything. from putting out aircraft fires to the ugly she-mullets I see

Amber is my very best friend. and not just sister-friend. real friend. We laugh harder together than any other two people in the world. I don't think we go a day without laughing until we cry. Or crying until we laugh....it's odd how laughing and crying always seem to come hand in hand. She understands me more than I ever thought she could. We are so alike, and yet so different. No wonder we hated each other for so many years....

Jared is the one we all seem to be living vicariously through. The smart, athletic, good looking, intelligent, hard-working one. And through all that he is still hilarious.

Jake is my little buddy (and always will be, even though I'm sure he's bigger than me now) He will always be the cutest youngest brother that knows how to stand his ground thanks to 5 older siblings that push him around. He is the one I can talk sports and music with. I'm sorry to say, Jake definitely has the best taste in music....it's just like mine!

Anyway, this turned sappier than I wanted it to....I am just so grateful for the wonderful friends and family I have in my life. I am grateful for the ability to love. And that the people around me have the ability to love me back.

friendship

...it's an interesting thing isn't it?

There are so many types of friends:

work friends

school friends

sort-of friends

and real friends.

Work friends are inevitable - I mean really, most people spend more time with co-workers than family.

school friends are convenient - who doesn't want the guarnatee of having someone sit next to them in class?

sort-of friends - these are the people you hang out with out of obligation. or maybe just because you only like them sort-of. or the people you know that are friends-of-a-mutual-friend so you see each other on random occassions.

Real friends. Now these are hard to come by. These are the ones you talk to more than once a week. and because you WANT to - not because you feel like you should. These are the ones that bring you diet coke or a chocolate shake (depending on the day and mood). these are the ones that you call when you are LIVID about something, in SHOCK about something, just heard JUICY gossip, or just need to chat.

Is it just me, or is it very difficult to move up in this chain?

There are people in my life that became my friends because of work or school, and yet - no matter what either person tries, it seems to stay that way.

There are people in my life that are sort-of friends that just can't seem to make it to the Real Friend category.
And yet...it is SO easy for someone to slip down this ladder.

It's so interesting to me how life changes like that.

There are people in my life that I have known for 2 or 3 years, and yet I consider them Real Friends.

And yet, there are people in my life that I have known for 10 or 15 years that are just sort-of friends-through-a-friend.

Now obviously, if I wanted that "sort-of" to become something deeper, it was my responsibility to do so.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about any of this.

I've just had some interesting realizations the last few months about friendship and what it's really about so I thought I'd share some thoughts rather than just letting them swim around in my head...

5am

This is what happens at 5am......

I am...Megan. Mother. Wife. Sister. Daughter.
I want...to be skinny.
I have...a very happy life.
I wish...it was 7 years from now.
I hate...being at work at 5am
I fear...the man lurking in the darkness
I hear...nothing. absolutly nothing.
I always...wear clothes.
I usually...don't go a day without sunflower seeds and diet coke.
I am not...very good at being sympathetic. or patient.
I miss...sitting around the kitchen table with my crazy family and laughing until it hurts.
I love...my cute little family. kissing lukey's face. seeing cory after he's been gone all day.
I never...go to sleep without a good night kiss and telling cory i love him.
I rarely...leave target without spending $30.
I cry...rarely really.
I am not always...nice to everyone.
I lose...my mind on a very regular basis.
I am confused...by some people and their weird habits.
I need...sleep and food or else i am cranky.
I dream...about what life has in store.

a day worth remembering

8 years ago today, I was sitting at the kitchen table getting ready for my jr. year of high school. We got a phone call from my grandma (totally weird at 7am). She told us we had to turn on the tv...i remember turning it on thinking it must have been an accident and what on earth could have caused a plane to hit one of the twin towers. Then the 2nd plane came...... I remember being so confused, nervous...I don't even know how to explain it. Just in awe.

Complete Shock. The thing I remember the most, was the few days and few weeks later. The feeling of complete patriotism running rampant through our country. How odd, it seemed, to have the ENTIRE nation on the same side. The decent-human-being-side. I so entirely wish that I could thank each and every soldier who has given their life, their time, and their energy in keeping our country the free. We are all indebted to those soldiers forever.

My heart goes out to those who lost their fathers, sons, daughters, mothers, sisters, brothers and friends because of the heinous actions of others.

I get teary-eyed just thinking about that day.

one step at a time

That is currently Luke's life-motto.

We were visiting DARLING little Libby last night, and Luke took his first steps.

Thank you Jared for being cool enough for Luke to like you enough to walk to you.

He wouldn't even do it for me.

Maybe someday he'll walk to me on-demand so we can catch a video of it.

Maybe.

Someday.

so last year.

isn't this over yet?

I mean seriously.

opinions

My surprisingly opinionated son (thanks for passing that on cory...) has eaten nothing but freeze-dried yogurt bites, grapes and teddy grahams for the last 3 days.



oh, and anything that anyone else is eating.

healthy right?