Renew Your Spirit Sunday with Family

Easter Sunday with Bean (age 2) and Bunny (11 1/2 months)

Happy Valentine's Day

In honor of Valentine's Day, here's a picture of the two people I love most in this world.

Can't talk...writing.

I haven't been posting as often as I'd like, but I have good reasons. They are:

Bean likes fruit snacks

And:

Not even one, and already a couch potato....

And:

My goofballs!

And, really, what could be better?

That said, I am writing. Quite a lot, actually. And after Christmas, I'll have updates on the coffee house book. Enjoy your holidays, and may you be surrounded by friends and family.

Fiction Friday: introducing my children to literature

My two-year-old son loves stories. Whether I'm reading his story about Chip & Dale (which he calls "Dale book") for the ten thousandth time or telling him my version of Caps for Sale while we work on potty-training, he adores stories. It makes my heart happy to know that he loves stories as much as I do.

And now that he's getting old enough to sit through short stories, I've started thinking about things I want to read to Bean and Bunny. What stories were favorites of mine that I want to pass on? What books from "the canon" do I want them to be familiar with? So I'm starting to compile a list, which includes short books for now and longer books for later. Things like Amelia Bedelia, lots of Dr. Seuss, the Berenstein Bears, and The Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day are on the short book list. Things like Black Beauty, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler are on the longer list. And, of course, The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde. (No child's library is complete without it!)

What books do you think are important to childhood memories?

"Mom" beats "writer" this week

My poor darling Bean has been sick this week. I think he's on the downward slope of it (thankfully), but for the past few days my time has been spent wiping a snooger nose, distributing doses of Tylenol, wiping a fever-hot body with a cool washcloth, and spending lots of time snuggled in the recliner to "bock-a-bye."

Sick Bean on Tuesday

While I haven't taken Bean in to his pediatrician or the ER (again: thankfully), I've been concerned for the past few days. Bean's temperature is normally about 97.5, and at it's highest it was about 101. It was not a happy afternoon for me.

Because of Bean's cold, I haven't spent much time at my computer this week. My email inbox is overflowing with unread and unresponded-to messages. My poor coffee house characters have been sitting on the sidelines patiently twiddling their as-yet undescribed thumbs.

Now that Bean is starting to (finally) feel better, I'll be spending more time writing again, and getting caught up from the past few days' lack of work.

I am a writer, and I always will be. But I'm a mom first, and this week, I've been a mom.

Is there anything that keeps you from writing sometimes? If so, what is it?

**SHAMELESS BABY PICTURE**

My little elf!

Happy National Bosses' Day!

In honor of the celebration of the day, here's my boss in his work shirt.

Our Java Bean Has Arrived!

Wyatt Nathaniel was born on August 6, 2009 at 9:39 p.m. He weighed in at 6 lbs. even and 20 inches long. For a full account of his birth story, feel free to check out my personal blog.