my dreamy boy still makes me weak in the knees

We went out on our anniversary date one day late, but the timing didn't matter at all. Annie was very sweet to watch our short people so Dave and I could enjoy a dinner out at The Cheesecake Factory. As is customary at such establishments, we stuffed our faces with scrumptious food, and of course had to somehow manage to eat some cheesecake. Dinner alone is such a novelty, and way too infrequent, which makes us appreciate it all the more. Annie took some pictures of us as we headed out the door. The middle one, though unflattering, makes me laugh because it appears that I (in usual fashion) am being bossy and Dave isn't on board. But I just love any pictures of the two of us...standing by this guy is such a privilege that always amazes me.

the beauty that can be when love is cultivated

Another year of happiness gone by, to now add up to a grand total of 11! As Beth would say, "Seriously?". Despite the rather pensive looks in the picture, we are madly in love, more so than on the day in 97 when we (nervously) said "I do". Of course now we know that we had plenty to be nervous about (in Dave's opinion this is namely the now-infamous Warren fertility), but quickly learned that there was more wonderful than either of us could have dreamed up ahead of time. So once again I thank my husband for this great life we have, this busy family we've made, and the anniversaries to come. The SlaughterHouse is another year blessed.

I'm on a roll (I can't be bothered)

An update here for those interested (I'm not offended if that's not you): Ricki Lake, after being specifically referenced in the resolution that I linked to earlier, decided to (with her publisher) write a response to the personal attack. Click here if you'd like to read what she has say. After wide-spread disgust for the AMA and ACOG's ridiculously worded smear against Lake, the two organizations scrambled to "reword" their resolution, removing the reference to her (and subsequently blaming each other for the original inclusion...hehe). For those of you who are reading this, wondering what all the fuss is about and why some of us are up-in-arms, realize that even if you aren't (and never intend to be) a "homebirther", these two bodies would like to categorize home birth as tantamount to child abuse, and if they can do that, legislation to that effect could likely follow. If home birth is criminalized, what next?

if you came to make some trouble, better make it good

Oh, don't get me started....too late, already did. Probably all of you who check in here are aware that I gave birth to my last 3 babies at home. Under no normal circumstances would I dream of darkening the door of a hospital while in labor, and even the thought of hospital birthing again is enough to make me need a drink ;-) Obviously I am a strong proponent of midwifery and frequently encourage low-risk mothers to consider what I believe to be the best and safest model of birth care -- STAY HOME! Some new media attention has recently been shed on the whole home birth issue, with the documentary spearheaded by Ricki Lake, called The Business of Being Born. I highly recommend it, and applaud her willingness to take on this topic in a society decidedly UNfriendly to the home birth culture. But boy did she ever scare the birth establishment! OBs and hospitals everywhere are scrambling to convince people that Lake (and the producer, and everyone in the film) are just fringe quacks and liars to boot. I love it when they get this defensive...means something is going right. So now they, in their elitist medical wisdom have passed a resolution designed for damage control in the wake of the film's success, as well as an attempt at greater future control in birth legislation. The medical establishment would never want it to get out to the masses that, shhhhhh....women can give birth on their own.

...say I'm holding up for the worse

Uh...didn't I say something about injuries usually being Henry's bag? Ok, shouldn't have said that, and I'm greatly regretting. So the details are a bit unclear as to this latest SlaughterHouse incident. There was something about 2 brothers wrestling, lots of shoving, fighting as SuperVillains, and then an inevitable tumble that happened to be right into the side support of the bunk beds. To his credit, our Texas Tough #2 son didn't shed one tear or even whimper, just said "yeah, hurts a little bit". The first shot was about 20 minutes post-tumble (after icepack).

Sunday morning shiner! Not my favorite thing, going out in public w/ a kid looking like this. Thankfully everyone at church just laughed.

Day 2...looking worse before better is normal, right Aubrey??

I see myself reflected in someone I used to know

In one day this week, Warren lost his first tooth (just before his 7th birthday) and also had Daddy remove his training wheels...riding like a pro already. This is entirely too much growing up in my humble Mom opinion, and I've kindly asked him to stop it. He is flying high, after finding a generous monetary contribution to his vacation spending $$ from the tooth fairy, and is showing off a bit, spinning around the neighborhood on only 2 wheels. All this, and I'm bracing for my oldest to enter double digits soon...noooooooooo!

if they ask you how I'm holding up...

So far our summer has been fairly injury prone, as you can see. I'm not holding my breath that things are going to change much, though less blood-loss would be a plus. Princess here fell off a slide at our church picnic (funny: we hear someone calling "Slaughter injury!") and bled for quite some time, after which she insisted on going back to the playground and promptly fell off of the ladder, opening it all back up again. A couple of days later, we had lunch at my friend Jen's house, joined by another old friend Kim, and Liam decided to dive off of Jen's table and land on the corner of her wall. He's smart like that. Kids are so fun.

summer lovin', had me a blast

Some summer pool fun w/ the Taylors. My kids are such fish, they would live in the water if I let them. Sometimes I wish I could ;-)