Sorry for the long silence and break from posting pictures of the girls. I have a ton of pictures on my camera waiting to be uploaded to the computer. Life is just busy right now, but I'll try to get some updates on here this weekend!
On a totally different note, I had a bit of a shock this week on Tuesday when I got to work. As I walked in the door, I found out that a friend and co-worker died very unexpectedly. She was young, only 47, and just didn't wake up Tuesday morning. She was a truly caring person who always stopped by to check in and visit with me. I really miss her smile and laugh. She leaves behind her husband and two sons. If you would keep her family in your prayers right now, I know they need them. It is a reminder to me that life is so fragile; we have no idea what each day will hold.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Whoa.
I never read Atlas Shrugged in school. I vaguely remember it being on an optional reading list for summer reading in high school, but I guess I picked something else off of the list. I'm adding it to my book waiting list that I'm running right now. I just finished one book, so I'm now reading three; I'd like to shrink the list down to one before I pick up another. In any event, I read this article today and I'm intrigued. This one might have to jump to the top of the list and pass up Mr. Lehrer's new book that I wrote about a week or so ago.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Give-away!
Beth is giving away three blog makeovers at her blog! If I don't win (fingers crossed) one of them, I'm going to have her makeover my blog the old-fashioned way (by paying her to do it). Check out her work and if you have a blog enter to win!
Friday, March 06, 2009
Passions of the brain
I'm currently reading about four or five books, something I never do. As a general rule, I like to read one thing at a time. My brain can only take so much, but lately so many books have piqued my interest. In any event, one of the books I'm reading right now is My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor. It is a fascinating and captivating book. In it, the author tells how she, a "neuoratomistis" (huh?), trained and learned in all things about the brain, had a stroke at age 37. She details how she "observed" herself having the stroke and was able to seek help as she saw what was happening to her. I told Jeff that after I finish reading it he shouldn't be surprised if I talk constantly about going back to school to get my PhD in neuro-psychology. The book reminded me how much I loved science in school and brought me back to my college days of studying psychology.
On Monday, I was listening to Fresh Air and I was totally absorbed in the program. Jonah Lehrer was Terry Gross' guest and he recently published a book entitled How We Decide. It sparked that science-love, psychology student in me once again. It is a look at how emotions play into the decision-making process. We tend to think of rational decisions as those that would be made easier if we didn't have so many emotions (um . . . some of us more than others). Lehrer said that emotions play a much bigger role in those "rational" decisions than we realize. There are people whose brain's have been damaged in certain "emotional" areas due to brain tumors or other trauma and those people who you would therefore think would be able to easily make "rational" decisions cannot make even simple decisions such as what color pen to use.
The study that Lehrer talked about that interested me the most was about how our minds are not meant to handle the amount of information we have coming at us in modern times. In the study there were two groups of people. Group A was asked to memorize a string of 2 numbers and Group B was asked to memorize a string of 7 numbers. Both groups were told they had to remember these numbers and would be asked about them later. After they memorized the numbers, they were led to another room where they were offered their choice of two snacks: one was a "sensible" fruit salad, the other a decadent piece of chocolate cake. The people who remembered the 7 numbers were two times more likely to choose the chocolate cake. He reasoned that remembering even just 5 extra numbers made people more likely to make a less sensible decision about one's health. Don't get me wrong here, I love a good piece of chocolate cake, but the observation is an interesting one.
In my mind, this translated (surprise!) to motherhood (or parenthood if you will). As a mother you have so many things you're trying to keep in your head, so many things to focus on and organize and manage. Is it any wonder that many moms struggle with weight or eating healthy or really any decisions that are "good for you"? I know that may seem simplify things a bit too much, and I don't mean to make a huge generalization that many moms are overweight or don't exercise enough or don't eat healthy because they are busy, but I do believe that it's worth adding to the conversation.
On Monday, I was listening to Fresh Air and I was totally absorbed in the program. Jonah Lehrer was Terry Gross' guest and he recently published a book entitled How We Decide. It sparked that science-love, psychology student in me once again. It is a look at how emotions play into the decision-making process. We tend to think of rational decisions as those that would be made easier if we didn't have so many emotions (um . . . some of us more than others). Lehrer said that emotions play a much bigger role in those "rational" decisions than we realize. There are people whose brain's have been damaged in certain "emotional" areas due to brain tumors or other trauma and those people who you would therefore think would be able to easily make "rational" decisions cannot make even simple decisions such as what color pen to use.
The study that Lehrer talked about that interested me the most was about how our minds are not meant to handle the amount of information we have coming at us in modern times. In the study there were two groups of people. Group A was asked to memorize a string of 2 numbers and Group B was asked to memorize a string of 7 numbers. Both groups were told they had to remember these numbers and would be asked about them later. After they memorized the numbers, they were led to another room where they were offered their choice of two snacks: one was a "sensible" fruit salad, the other a decadent piece of chocolate cake. The people who remembered the 7 numbers were two times more likely to choose the chocolate cake. He reasoned that remembering even just 5 extra numbers made people more likely to make a less sensible decision about one's health. Don't get me wrong here, I love a good piece of chocolate cake, but the observation is an interesting one.
In my mind, this translated (surprise!) to motherhood (or parenthood if you will). As a mother you have so many things you're trying to keep in your head, so many things to focus on and organize and manage. Is it any wonder that many moms struggle with weight or eating healthy or really any decisions that are "good for you"? I know that may seem simplify things a bit too much, and I don't mean to make a huge generalization that many moms are overweight or don't exercise enough or don't eat healthy because they are busy, but I do believe that it's worth adding to the conversation.
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Lost again
Last week I said I was lost when it comes to LOST and I'm not ready to change my status on that after last night. So, what is the deal with the blue vehicles? Blue VW buses, a blue Jeep? There's probably absolutely no significance to that whatsoever, it just caught my attention.
I didn't LOVE last night's episode, it was only so-so for me, but it did make me fall a little more in love with Sawyer. We got a chance to see a little more of his kind, "softer" side. I have been waiting for Juliet and Sawyer to get together, so we finally got a little peek at that. I am praying that their relationship isn't short-lived; I'm not ready for the Sawyer, Kate, Jack triangle to re-emerge. BTW, did Juliet look a little pregnant or was it just me?
In my mind, there weren't as many questions answered last night as there have been in the last two or three episodes, but my brain might not have been able to take too many more "answers" right now anyway. I'm still trying to sort through all that we've seen so far this season.
Again, I don't have a whole lot in the way of "theories" or connections from last night, but I did love seeing Sawyer happy and having him be the hero and good guy of the night.
Shannon is taking a LOST break this week, but thee are a few links in the comments FYI.
Update: Great recap from Amanda here.
I didn't LOVE last night's episode, it was only so-so for me, but it did make me fall a little more in love with Sawyer. We got a chance to see a little more of his kind, "softer" side. I have been waiting for Juliet and Sawyer to get together, so we finally got a little peek at that. I am praying that their relationship isn't short-lived; I'm not ready for the Sawyer, Kate, Jack triangle to re-emerge. BTW, did Juliet look a little pregnant or was it just me?
In my mind, there weren't as many questions answered last night as there have been in the last two or three episodes, but my brain might not have been able to take too many more "answers" right now anyway. I'm still trying to sort through all that we've seen so far this season.
Again, I don't have a whole lot in the way of "theories" or connections from last night, but I did love seeing Sawyer happy and having him be the hero and good guy of the night.
Shannon is taking a LOST break this week, but thee are a few links in the comments FYI.
Update: Great recap from Amanda here.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Come Together
A while back I posted on my other blog about a "merge" of the two. You can read what I wrote there, but the gist of it is that with Charlotte's then imminent arrival, I felt like so many things in my life were coming together in a new way. It seemed natural that perhaps the two blogs should "come together" as well.
With that being said, this is something I would have probably previously posted there, but I think I'll make that transition today and put it here!
There are a lot of really great blogs and websites out there, but only so much time in the day. There are a few that I read regularly (check the list on the sidebar) and several that I check every few weeks or so. If I need a good word, I can always check in on Bring the Rain, Angie Smith's blog that she stared when she found out the baby she was carrying would likely not survive. If I need a laugh or a good "mom moment" I read Suburban Turmoil, Lindsay Ferrier's blog that ranges from funny to poignant often all within one post. So imagine my delight when the two of them came together to talk about something close to my heart!
Here's the video of Lindsey interviewing Angie (they will appear a couple of minutes into the video) about her experience of how others responded to her loss.
Dealing with a person who has experienced a miscarriage or a stillbirth or the loss of a child or parent or fill in the blank here with any other loss that alters your life is really hard. Really hard. Even as someone who has been there, I find it difficult to deal with.
Before we lost Joshua I would have been more likely to say nothing if I couldn't think of "something good" to say to someone who was going through that process. Now, on the other side, my best advice is to do the opposite of what I was inclined to do; it is always better to say something. Anything. Even if it's just like Angie said, "I don't know what to say or do, but I am so sorry." That recognition means more than I can say. When we were in the early days of grieving the loss of our baby, I found myself wondering, "does anyone have a clue what we're going through?" because it was so rare that someone outside our family (or close friends who are "family" to us) would say anything at all about the fact that we lost a baby. Those people who put themselves out there and asked questions, said the hard things, and were willing to make themselves uncomfortable on our behalf stick out in my mind even today.
With that being said, this is something I would have probably previously posted there, but I think I'll make that transition today and put it here!
There are a lot of really great blogs and websites out there, but only so much time in the day. There are a few that I read regularly (check the list on the sidebar) and several that I check every few weeks or so. If I need a good word, I can always check in on Bring the Rain, Angie Smith's blog that she stared when she found out the baby she was carrying would likely not survive. If I need a laugh or a good "mom moment" I read Suburban Turmoil, Lindsay Ferrier's blog that ranges from funny to poignant often all within one post. So imagine my delight when the two of them came together to talk about something close to my heart!
Here's the video of Lindsey interviewing Angie (they will appear a couple of minutes into the video) about her experience of how others responded to her loss.
Dealing with a person who has experienced a miscarriage or a stillbirth or the loss of a child or parent or fill in the blank here with any other loss that alters your life is really hard. Really hard. Even as someone who has been there, I find it difficult to deal with.
Before we lost Joshua I would have been more likely to say nothing if I couldn't think of "something good" to say to someone who was going through that process. Now, on the other side, my best advice is to do the opposite of what I was inclined to do; it is always better to say something. Anything. Even if it's just like Angie said, "I don't know what to say or do, but I am so sorry." That recognition means more than I can say. When we were in the early days of grieving the loss of our baby, I found myself wondering, "does anyone have a clue what we're going through?" because it was so rare that someone outside our family (or close friends who are "family" to us) would say anything at all about the fact that we lost a baby. Those people who put themselves out there and asked questions, said the hard things, and were willing to make themselves uncomfortable on our behalf stick out in my mind even today.
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Charlotte has something to say:
Here's a short little video of Charlotte talking to me as we were getting ready to leave the house this afternoon. These moments make the sleepless nights a distant memory (even though we had one of those less than 24 hours ago).
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