Constructing a Life

Visit from Baby Jack (and Amy and Tom)

Shelbitha — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:17:49 +0000

This weekend, my friend Amy, her husband Tom, and their 3.5 month old baby came to visit. Tom is doing some Air Force/medical training in San Antonio for a couple of weeks and they decided to make the drive up here to Dallas for a visit. Stephen loved meeting baby Jack and said, "Baby Jack is my friend, I like him" We had a good time and it was so nice to see them.

Sean and Summer did the Dallas Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon

Shelbitha — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:54:55 +0000

This weekend, Sean's sister Summer came up and together, Sean and Summer completed the Dallas Rock and Roll Half Marathon. Sean had shin splits while training and then got really busy, so he thought he would just run part of it and walk part of it and just do about half, but then apparently got really into it and finished it! It is Summer's fourth half marathon, she did the Rock and Roll in New Orleans just 2 weeks ago. We're proud of them.

Good walker

Shelbitha — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:07:34 +0000

When Stephen's with just mommy, Stephen does a lot of walking. The stroller is fine, a little inconvenient if you are just going somewhere short distance, but walking really is good for him. He now prefers to either help push the shopping cart or if there's a shopping cart with a car attached, he will drive the car. His longest is probably about 1/2 mile. He will walk home from the park and 2 weekends ago, he walked a good part of the way around the Arboretum. It is partly out of necessity for me since he's too heavy for me to carry long distances and because I know he's capable and it tires him out for naps/bedtime. We encourage it by saying, "you can walk or ride" with the stroller and he will usually prefer walking unless really tired. Daddy still carries him a lot, but he knows with me, he's going to walk more.

The other week, we went out to throw the ball for the dog. He walked on the other side of me from Emmy, who I had at heel, and he wanted to throw the ball for himself to fetch, so he brought his golf ball and threw for himself, while mommy threw for Emmy. It was quite funny.

Standup Comedian

Shelbitha — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:58:00 +0000

Stephen, while walking outside: "I was younger like mommy and daddy. Now, I'm 2 and a half"

While in the bath, mommy was talking about the rubber ducky and asking Stephen if he had a tail: "No, I don't have a tail, I have a penis"

Let's hope this week ends better than it started

Shelbitha — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:38:34 +0000

Stephen and I both got the stomach flu yesterday. I think we are both much better today, although in recovery. It is very hard to parent when you are that sick, but thankfully it was only a few hours until Sean came home and put Stephen to bed. A few hours of watching Sesame Street and Cars movie. On Monday, before the stomach flu, Stephen got into a fight, pulled some boy's hair, and that boy bit Stephen on the cheek. He's okay now after a lecture about not pulling hair and some advil, and the bite is now just a bruise, which is going away quite fast. Here's to better days ahead...

Bike Training in Sealy and Houston

Shelbitha — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:03:11 +0000

This weekend, Sean, Stephen, and I headed down to Houston for me to be able to do some training rides for the MS150 coming up. We went on one 50 mile ride on Saturday and one 30 mile ride on Sunday. It went really well, but the last 12-14 miles of the 50 mile ride was hard since it was head winds and through hills, but that's good practice :) We saw a lot of cows and really pretty farm land scenery on the 50 mile ride. We did an "easy" 30 mile ride on Sunday morning in the park near the Bayou that runs basically from Summer and Jon's house all the way to Katy, where Sean's parent's live. I took my point and shoot camera with me both days to get some shots. Stephen had a lot of fun with the rest of the family and Sean who took care of him both days. Sean got some golf in, we got a couple of good Catan Settler's games in, and had a good weekend.

ibooks

Shelbitha — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 01:11:51 +0000

okay, so I wasn't all that impressed with the ipad launch. I don't have an iphone, but i do own an itouch that I LOVE and am planning to get an iphone soon. I am a HUGE reader of actual books, BUT...I am excited about this ibook app on the iphone/itouch/ipad. Penguin books is exploring what kinds of things they should do with it...take a look. The audio is horrible, but I don't think you really need it to understand what concepts are at play here. Think about interactive books; kind of like taking Choose your own adventure books to the extreme...

Re-Flux

Shelbitha — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:07:51 +0000

I've been re-reading "Flux" by Peggy Orenstein, which is one of my favorite books. I first read this book at 24, on advice from my sister. 4 months later I met Sean. Then I re-read this book at 26, right before I got married and after I had moved with Sean cross-country. I thought it might be interesting to read it after having a baby and getting married. It is. My perspective has definitely changed in 7 years since the first read. At that point, I was so concerned about having equality in my marital relationship and wondering how I was going to have it all, or how I was going to find someone who would be my partner and what my career would be like. Now, I read it and I don't think that about that stuff to that extent anymore, I just do it. The book still reads well and I still find myself saying, "yeah, that's true" to most of it.

Here at casa Eidson, we have some flux of our own going on, with some EXCITING (as Stephen would say) stuff on the horizon that I can't talk about yet. :)

Stephen's Olympics

Shelbitha — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 03:51:40 +0000

Stephen really enjoys the Olympics, but hasn't chosen a sport yet. He does sing the national anthem and the Olympic song though:

What a difference a year makes

Shelbitha — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:32:33 +0000

Today marks the first anniversary of my right hip replacement and I'm getting all choked up here at how much this has made a difference in my life. As I went to the doctor for my one year appointment this morning, a flood of feelings came over me. I remembered what it was like waiting with my father for the surgery to begin, the fact that it was so early in the morning that the door wasn't opened, I remembered the pain of waking up after the surgery, and I remembered my most down point in time, when they took the catheter out and I realized that I had to get up to go to the bathroom myself and I couldn't imagine how I was going to do that.

How much different are things now? wow. No pain, I can bike, I can swim, I can carry my son up the stairs, I can take him out of the house without worry about not being able to carry him... I am so grateful of my marriage to my wonderful husband. I was thinking about how many things in our short marriage we've endured: car accident, back surgery, building a house in the middle of a recession, a kid, hip replacement, moving across country etc...and every time we go though something like that, our relationship gets stronger and more meaningful.

The other hip is fine. I go back in 2 years and every time I go back, they will take a picture of both hips to see how they are doing.