An anecdote about Richard:

The other day I asked Richard if he had heard about the tornadoes in the south. He said he had heard on ESPN radio that an Alabama football player had been injured during a storm. I suggested that perhaps sports radio isn’t the best way to stay up on current events.

This morning I read on Facebook that Osama Bin Laden had been killed. (I’m laughing out loud at myself for the irony of my last two sentences that didn’t occur to me until I typed them.) I called Richard and asked him if he’d heard the news. He responded “Yeah. I just heard on ESPN radio that last night at a baseball game as people got word of the news from their cell phones they started chanting “U.S.A.!” I laughed. He said “See? I can still stay up on things by listening to sports radio.”

In fairness, an anecdote about myself:

Richard and I had a great debate recently about the effectiveness of advertising. I was arguing about one form of advertising in particular. Can the people who stand on the sidewalk and wave signs for their business really be effective? This led to further discussions about marketing and I maintained that I was not generally influenced by advertising.

Later that evening I had the pleasure of Richard’s company at the grocery store. When I noticed that my usual brand of peanut butter was gone, I selected Jif. I made the following comment “I guess I’ll get Jif, beause I’m a choosey mom.”

You can imagine the gloating and that came in minutes that followed. And the hours. And the days.

The fact that there are more pictures of Miriam than the boys is no indication of my love for each of my children, just that Cameron and Eli’s pictures all looked mostly the same. I just chose the best version of their phony smiles.

When I really get motivated I’ll dress all four of them up and attempt a picture of them all. (Or I guess I should say, Krista will attempt a picture of them all.)

Miriam gives me the expression above at least 1,407 times each day. I love it. And I am so glad we have it captured for the ages.

On Saturday Richard took the boys to the BSU Football Spring Game. Cameron was so excited to go to the Bronco field. Afterwards he told me all about the defense and how the offense didn’t look so good. Ever since the game either Cameron or Eli will periodically shout “And that’s another Bronco… FIRST DOWN!”

These jerseys were a birthday gift from a grandma who knows her grandsons well. This is their best action shot. (It had to be an action shot, Cameron wouldn’t just stand still and let me take a picture.)

I guess by having player jerseys and going to the spring game, we have taken our fan-dom to a new level.

Another event pre-Simon was Cameron’s St. Patrick’s Day race. It was the same race he ran a year ago, with Mark. It’s been six months since Mark’s stroke but he came to the race and it was a meaningful experience for me, and hopefully for Cameron too.
There were lots of friends there and they all wore stickers in Mark’s honor. Richard ran with Cameron and Eric (far right) this year. Unfortunately I missed Cameron coming across the finish line because I was looking for Richard, who apparently was having great conversations with Eric while they ran. Thankfully Grandpa Bird was there to cheer Cameron across the line.

Richard and I usually go to bed around 10:00pm. The house is dark and quiet. I guess Simon doesn’t like it. During the day he is a pretty content baby, but once the lights go out…

I try to put him to bed around 9:30 so he’ll be asleep by the time we are ready to sleep. Without fail he wakes up around 10:00 ready to party. So we hang out, the two of us, until about 11:30. He’s looking at me now,wide-eyed, as I type. I love babies.

After re-reading my post I wrote yesterday, I realize it is terribly written. Oh well. Perhaps it is a reflection of my fragmented and garbled state of mind. Yeah, in fact, I wrote it that way on purpose…