Communicating withSIGN

Baby Sign Language!!! If we know the sign for a word, we sign it (and speak it) flooding Aliyah with language.

I have read about the benefits of using sign with your kids, but it still knocks my socks off when I see it first hand!

Check out my updated video, tell me what you think AND share with your friends, facebook, twitter, etc... anyone you think would enjoy learning more about sign language. I would love any feedback.

Thanks, friends!

Sick Baby

Our dovie girl has been sick. Our plans (which included tickets to Sesame Street Live) were shot this past weekend when Aliyah acquired a horrible cough/wheeze and a 101.8 degree temperature. It was just awful to hear her so clearly uncomfortable.

The good news... apparently babies can handle much higher fevers than adults. So we gave her some baby tylenol and wiped her down with a cool wash cloth. Her Grammy & Grandpa hooked her up with baby menthol wash and rub along with a plug-in vaporizer and spa treatments on the bathroom floor soaking in the hot steam of the shower. Thank goodness for them!

We called our friends and cancelled plans... I waited until the very last minute in hopes that things may turn around for Aliyah. I wanted to take her to Sesame Street so badly because I knew she would just love it! I went with my childhood best bud, Jordan, when we were young and I would have loved to take Aliyah. I still have high hopes for next year!

Having a sick child makes us feel so scared and helpless. I have cursed myself on more than one occasion over the fact that my squeamish stomach and fear of needles ruled out any early aspirations for a career in medicine. If I was a doctor or a nurse - at least then I could do something - take some sort of action to help her. But instead Tyler, her grandparents and I were running around trying to fill sippy cups with cool water, searching through online baby encyclopedias for the chapter on fevers/coughing/wheezing and taking Aliyah to the bathroom for steam breathing treatments... all in a bit of panic.

There have been so many times on our parenthood journey where we’ve looked at one another and asked “What do we do now? What does this mean? How do we fix it?” and every time we’ve had to find our way to an answer through trial and error, calling on those who know more than us (doctors, family, other experienced parents) and praying that the choices we make are the right ones.

Before parenthood, I had never been faced with so many new challenges and foreign situations in my life. There is always something new to learn, something difficult to overcome… be it small things like teaching our daughter to put her toys away when she is finished playing with them or big things like coughing so hard that she becomes out of breath & sky-high fevers. It’s exhausting and reassuring when we find our way to an answer and we make it through another day. If we can get this little girl, and her future sibling safely and happily to adulthood without too many miss-steps and wrong turns I’ll consider this entire journey a success.

And along the way, we’ll keep adding to our list of “Things we now know how to do” or more accurately “Things we now know how to do... as best we can” We’ve come a long way in a year and a half's time, but we have so much left to learn!

{Be Present}

I’ve read Glennon Melton’s Don’t Carpe Diem article linked over and over again the past week and I wanted to take a minute to respond. I agree with many of the things the author says - Parenting is hard and ridiculous at times - it fluctuates often between moments of challenge and blessing.

But here is where we differ - there are days that the ONLY thing that does keep me from pulling my hair out or completely losing my cool - the only thing that helps me regain my composure - is to remind myself that these are beautiful moments and I need to be here.

Being able to rationalize the irrational times with Aliyah, in the very moment - me, as her mother - she, as my daughter - is worth savoring too. Channeling that idea has made the more unpleasant experiences feel less overwhelming: She needs you, Marcie. Look at how small her hands are. One day the little red, screaming face is going to be a grown person who’ll be flying past me and out the door. But right at this moment, I’m the only person in the world who can help her through this. Shhh Shhh, Aliyah. Mama’s here. Some nights have been exhausting, mentally and physically but they are what they are - Some trips to the store have me checking over my shoulder wondering how many people think I am abducting someone else's child - all part of my experience in raising my girl - and so I do my best to just take them at face value and find the good to get me through.

That doesn’t mean that I don’t lose my cool, that I don’t feel overwhelmed, that I don’t wish sometimes that I was somewhere else - but being able to stop and think about the fact that we get our children as babies for such a short period of time, and as toddlers and little children for for such a brief span in the course of their life - it’s what pushes me to buck up, to keep my wits, to do what I need to do to get us through the toughest of days (or nights).

I need that internal pep talk. The constant reminder. The time goes so fast. too fast. But that realization doesn’t stress me, if anything it’s my reminder to slow down. Slow it all down and just be in this moment. The crying-and-can’t-be-calmed moments and the you-are-driving-me-crazy moments. While it works for me, I don’t expect it to work for everyone - but for my sanity, I will continue to say CARPE DIEM when it comes to raising my kids.

The worst moments and the best. I will sit in them and allow them to be whatever they are. Being able to look at the moment objectively - to find the beauty in the chaos or the humor in an otherwise stressful situation - it’s how I cope. I make mistakes and I get flustered and some days I think I may very well go insane… but reminding myself to be here - it always feels like an anchor to me. It’s how I get my arms back around the situation when I feel buried by the challenges of parenting. Maybe that makes me obnoxiously glass half full and the annoyingly silver-lining type - but it works for me.

I don’t want to wait until I’m the little old lady in the grocery store to realize that every part of this crazy, stressful, magical path through parenting is worth savoring. I need to do it every day, in little bits along the way. Attempting to savor all the good moments, but the hardest ones too. It’s how my heart and head work best. In my experience, that need doesn’t add pressure, it relieves it.

So that’s my two cents.

Carpe diem. over and over again.

The Continuation of AND

Lately, I’ve been waking early and spending the first moments of my mornings thinking about the continuation of AND in my life.

For so long, it was just me. I was Marcie. singular.

Then Tyler came along and I acquired my first AND.

Marcie AND Tyler. There was someone else to worry about. someone else to care for. to love. someone else to consider and put before my own needs.

With Aliyah, my AND moved forward again.

Marcie, Tyler AND Aliyah. my time. my energy. my focused exploded in even newer directions as I watched her sweet presence change every facet of what we knew about love and affection. There was even more to consider, more weight to every decision, more motivation for every action we took.

So lately, I’ve been laying in bed, watching my big AND and my little AND sleep. I rest my hand on my budding baby bump as we snuggle in the soft cotton of our sheets and prepare my heart and mind for our AND to move again.

Marcie, Tyler, Aliyah AND sweet baby number two...

Sometime around the first of August, we will be four. Another warm body will fill our bed and we’ll all be carried along in the continuation of this beautiful life and the future possibilities of AND.

It feels so good to be a part of this.
Overwhelming Joy. Indescribably Blessed.

The Cutest Cat Eyes in Town

Look who found my "Pink Lady" sunglasses at Grammy's house yesterday afternoon...

I know this isn't the most cheerful post, but it's what is on my heart today...

Bill Byington was a man full of love and kindness who lost a year long battle with cancer. He was (and will continue to be) very special to our family.

I love this picture from when he came to meet Aliyah at the hospital. He gave Aliyah her first horse (stuffed animal) which is extremely appropriate if you know Bill... full of love and kindness

You Better Work it Girl

Baby fashion at it's finest!!!

This Kid is Tangible Happiness

I can't stop smiling when I am around her!!!

Cribs

The Inzer bathtub edition...

Tyler and Aliyah have been perfecting their bathtub art! I had to add something to this masterpiece although it pales in comparison to all their doodles. Aliyah got a little crazy and decided to see what her tub crayons looked like on her daddy's face... she has such an amazing daddy!

oh. hello

Finding the motivation to sit down at my computer is pretty much non existent when the hubs has so much time off. We have been enjoying our time together snuggled up on the couch in our pjs, eating pancakes for breakfast and ringing in the new year. And here is our 2011 in review - A look back at my most favorite moments...

Another Year Lived In Love

JANUARY

Aliyah experienced her first snow... can you believe those cheeks?!?

FEBRUARY

We hosted our annual family Superbowl party, celebrated Valentine's Day and Aliyah mastered her first word in American Sign Language, "MILK"

MARCH

We took our little miss to the Colorado Rockies and the two of us hiked all over Breckenridge while her daddy went snowboarding with Uncle Austin and her grandparents. We also celebrated Daddy's 27th birthday.

APRIL

We celebrated 5 years of marriage, survived a hail storm, watched Aliyah's first tooth poke through and took our first family bike ride. A lovely month indeed.

MAY

My sweet baby-love turned ONE!! She also took her first steps, went to a Royals baseball game with her great-grandpa, Bear and took a few trips to the Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead and the KC Zoo.

JUNE

We took a road trip to the Omaha Zoo, soaked in the pool and danced the night away while celebrating with my long-time friend, Jordan, on the marriage to her night in shinning armor.

JULY

This month was packed with outdoor concerts, running through sprinklers, Fourth of July, Aliyah's first plane ride to Las Vegas with Grammy and me... And then her second plane ride with the Inzer side to New Orleans to visit her great grandpa, Bear. We had a great time and she did great on the plane!

AUGUST

Aliyah got her first pet - a blue betta fish! We mostly relaxed by the poolside and kept cool in the shade.

SEPTEMBER

We went to DISNEY WORLD!!! It was so amazing and an experience we will treasure forever. We are already planning our next trip. This was also Aliyah's first time to the ocean. We celebrated my 29th birthday with a trip to the KC zoo.

OCTOBER

Trips to the park, K-State football games and camp outs. Maple Leaf Festival and pumpkin patches!

NOVEMBER

The gibber-jabber that comes from this girl is hilarious!! She is always telling us a story. We traveled back and forth between families for Thanksgiving and started getting ready for Christmas. Aliyah took a serious interest in the potty and is about 50/50 letting us know when she has to go but almost 100% when dealing with "number two" (I promise I won't post about this on facebook).

DECEMBER

Christmas was amazing. It was hard to get Aliyah to focus on opening new gifts because she wanted to play with everything she opened. Two of Aliyah's best buddies turned one and we welcomed the new year with open arms and hearts!

2011 was a year of big blessing and I am excited to see what is in store for our little family in 2012!