Happy Birthday To My #1

This week was Connor's ninth birthday.  Are you kidding me?  NINE.  As in, one less than a decade.  Its shocking.  Just shocking.

That big boy right there, hamming it up with his mama at Fort McHenry last month is mine.  I made him.  Okay, okay.  I made him with some single-celled help from his father (smile/wink), but my body and my heart actually manufactured him.  I actually gave of myself in the most incredible of ways to create the small man that's standing right there.  I am so glad that I did.

The day before Connor was born.

Connor is, what conventional wisdom calls, "a handful".  But really, if you want something great in life, don't you really want a whole handful of it?  Not just what you can grab with a tweezer or a pinch...but a whole, overflowing, messy, delicious, more-than-you-think-you-can-handle handful of it?  That's what we got with Connor Robert Tate.   Every day I marvel at the overflowing of everything that he brings to his life and to ours.

This year has brought so many changes to Connor and to our family.  We're passing outside of his brother's babyhood and into a different world.  Connor has taken this ride of a new baby in older-age with us as a partner.  He's a great, big older brother.  A great one.  He's patient and caring.  He entertains his brother and keeps him safe. Life with a baby is not easy but Connor has made it easier than it would have been.  I am amazed at his capacity to move on from the tough stuff and focus on the things that make life good.  I hope he's always like that---its the secret to happiness.

Just like his dad, he loves sports and he's good at them.  If only there were more time in the day for more of them.  His love for football, basketball, and baseball was really cemented this year.   I suspect that he'll also be like his dad in that he'll love them all so much it will be hard to focus on any single one of them. 

Connor is doing really well in school.  His report cards this year have been amazing.  He loves history and math.  He's not big on reading, but he eats up information in any other delivery channel he can get it.  

A few weeks ago, someone (a mom with a daughter in Connor's class) I don't know terribly well told me that she saw Connor at school and that he asked her if she'd be chaperoning their spring field trip to a farm.  When she told him she wouldn't be able to because she had to work, she said his face fell and he told her how much fun he had with her on the last trip.   She said it was so nice and that it made her feel so appreciated and wanted.  That's my boy...his heart on his sleeve.  I hope that he keeps it there always...no matter the price...because that's where it belongs if you want people to know you and your heart.  

I love you, Connor.  You truly changed my life in the most amazing way and made me into a better person.  It is truly and always my privilege to be your mom. 

"I'll love you forever.  I'll like you for always.  As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be."

Baby Birds

Some smart mama bird built her nest in the right family's St. Patrick's Day wreath.  She got to stay for a long time.  And we got to see four baby birds grow up and leave the nest.  Plus, there was the added benefit of all the bird poop.  That was really awesome!   Fly away safely babies.  Glad we could give you your first home. 

A Pitcher Full Of Joy

Connor pitched his first EVER baseball inning tonite and it was scoreless. It was awesome to see. He looked like a real ball player out there. He was even spitting. It cracked me up. I love this kid.

Egg Hunt

This year we totally mixed it up with a last minute jaunt to Maryland so we had to find a place for the egg hunt we usually have in the yard on Easter morning. Luckily, the little tourist book in our hotel room had a piece on the Cylburn Arboretum--and it was the perfect spot. I'd like to go back in a few weeks when trees and flowers are in fuller bloom...but the five minutes I spent under a wide open white lilac--the scent of which nearly laid me out with joy--was a great gift. So was watching these two run around a field and find their treasures.

Easter Weekend Blossoms

This picture doesn't capture the brightness of this azalea on a hidden path at Cylburn Arboretum

And this one was so big and the color contrast within each petal was amazing.

Look at this clump of fluffy double blossoms on this city cherry at the Inner Harbor

This gorgeous monster is on the backside of Fort McHenry. 

And this Mountain Laurel was at the arboretum.

And this one...well she just has the best hair-colorist!

Ha!  Gotcha!

The Disappearance

There was a major incident today at Imagination Learning...Palmer went missing.  Apparently, at some point someone noted that he wasn't around.  They began to look for him.  Once they could not find him in the room, an all out search began.  Did he escape the building somehow?  Where was he?

Here's where he was:

Those poor teachers.  He was tucked in that space between the bookcase and the wall and from all reasonable angles he was invisible.   He must have been tired, my little pumpkin.  There is never a dull moment.  Not a one.

Joan, Joan, Joan

Season 5 of Mad Men begins tomorrow and I am anticipating it greatly.   There have been a fantastic few years of great dramatic television series and Mad Men is certainly at top of my list, right up there with The Sopranos and True Blood.   So much about the show appeals to me.   The office environment, the male/female workplace dynamics, the era (which isn't much examined), the deeply emotional and psychologically complex story lines and character development.  It is a deep and delicate dance that is peppered with intermittent moments of horror and revulsion.

Though the molten core of the show is certainly Don and Peggy, I must admit a fascination with Joan. Played by Christina Hendricks, she is an intriguing and beguiling character.  Joan is the office manager for the advertising agency that is the backbone of Mad Men.  She is sexy but maternal.  She is tough but knows when to back off.  She lets the madness around her happen and chooses her moment to intervene carefully.  She is fantastic under pressure---a force of stillness in the midst of mayhem.  She can be cutting and direct, but her motives are rarely poor.

One of the scenes that encapsulates her to me is this one...maybe one of the most memorable Mad Men sequences ever.  Bear in mind that this idiocy is happening in the office where everyone is drunk after work and thinking its rational to drive around a lawn mower.  (Side note:  I talked to my former boss this week and we've often talked about Joan as he's a Mad Men fan too and he said he'd never be able to watch this again because his son cut off his toe with the lawnmower this past weekend!)  You'll see Joan being Joan--both in her interaction with Peggy and with the "incident".  Handling it.  Dealing.  On point.  She rarely shows weakness unless she knows she can do it safely and unobserved.

I totally admit that egocentric or not,  I see glimmers of myself in her. I definitely identify with her and that is why I love her character so much.  I need 25 pounds surrendered to the treadmill,  her wardrobe and push up bras, and her hair color.  And then you can bring on the madness---or more of it, anyway.