Sully recently started calling Adam “Hero Daddy”. He wants to wrestle with his daddy, bath with his daddy, paint with his daddy, and watch dirt bike races on YouTube with his daddy. Sully not only watches his every move, but he’s now trying to emulate them. It is becoming clear that the mister really is a super hero in our little boy’s eyes. #minetoo
See more posts like this on Tumblr
#minetooThere are so many people that use ‘following your dreams’ as an excuse to not work. When in reality, following your dreams, successfully, is nothing but work.
Magic words.
Halloween this year was an adventure. Sully has been asking to be Spider-Man for well over a month now and practiced saying “trick-or-treat!” for weeks. When Trick-or-Treat night finally rolled around, we were really impressed. For a little tyke, he carried himself well and insisted on taking only one piece of candy from each house we stopped at to visit. He was doing great! And then, not far into our adventure, he saw a clown. Let me tell ya, she was terrifying! I was carrying Sully and as soon as he caught sight of her, his legs dead-locked around my waist. We carried on with our night, stopped to rest and eat a hot dog (the local car dealership had their grill up and running), and then went home to call it a night.
The last few nights have been different though. Sully doesn’t want to sleep by himself and tells me that he’s scared. That damn clown! Last evening, after carrying out our bedtime routine for almost an hour, I finally told our little guy that if he’s ever scared, all he has to yell is, “Mommy, I need you!” and I’ll come running to his bedroom. It worked. He went to sleep and we didn’t hear a peep all night.
This morning, we woke up excited for Sully’s big Halloween parade at his daycare. We packed his costume and got him excited for the party. I showed up at his daycare in time for the parade and helped him collect tons of goodies from the different rooms. Things went great! Just as I was getting ready to leave, my little guy’s eyes welled up with tears, he wrapped his arms around me, looked me dead in the eyes and said, “Mommy, I need you.”
In that moment, I thought my heart was about to explode. How do I leave now? He got me. Within five minutes, I had a mini barrel-chested Spider-Man sitting the backseat of the Jeep and home we went.
Happy Halloween, friends!
Happy Halloween from the Hicks!
Twinkle, Twinkle while he’s trying to tinkle. 💙
People tell you a lot about how much parenting will change your life and they’re right. But usually they mean that you won’t ever sleep in again (you won’t) and a few other things about how much we “give up” to become parents. No one tells you how much you’re going to laugh. No one tells you how much wisdom resides in these small humans, how much they will teach you about love and life and friendship and forgiveness and worship. No one tells you how good and freeing it is to leave your selfishness behind. No one tells you about recapturing your own wonder and innocence, about re-reading the Ramona books, about playing football in the basement, about birthday parties and snow days and every day beauty. All the best things I know about the big nouns and verbs of a life came back into my life because of them.
🍂🎃🍂 it’s fall, ya’ll 🍂🎃🍂
Change.
For some, the idea of laying down roots, growing into their home, and year-by-year etching a mark on the wall to track their baby’s growth would be a dream come true. I work with people who’ve spent the last 20+ years supporting the same employer. A milestone that I know I’ll never accomplish in my lifetime. I love those people. Their level of contentment and the pride that they take in knowing just where they belong is comforting.
I don’t have that and, while refreshing to see in others, it’s not actually something that I’m particularly found of achieving. There’s something at the heart of who I am that needs change and, thankfully, I’m married to a man who feels the same way. We joke that the only thing we both consistently keep the same in our lives is the love we share for each other and our son.
Call me crazy, but I love learning a new neighborhood, getting lost in my own self-discovery, falling in love with my husband all over again in a new space, and watching strangers discover our son’s spark. I actually enjoy knowing very few people, having to build connections, and once again rediscovering why I’m a person worthy of being called a friend.
It has been two years since we moved back to Huntingdon,
one year since my husband took on a new position,
and two years since I’ve changed employers.
For some, it sounds like we’ve barely sat still, but for us, the impulse to change has lit itself on fire once more. This time, instead of packing it all up and hitting the open road, we’ve decided to take some time to redefine ourselves in this space.
The Mister started running, quit drinking months ago, sold off thousands of dollars worth of hunting, fishing, and outdoor gear, and has laid his focus on qualifying for Loretta Lynn’s. Over the last year, we’ve streamlined our relationships - prioritizing the ones that make our family better and walking away from the ones that didn’t. We’ve started using the word “no” much more often. It has been amazing! Our weekends are much more rewarding when we’re the ones who get to map them out. We’ve both dug into our work, outlined the places for growth and the skills that we still need to develop, and set a plan in place to make it happen. We’ve been staring at world maps much more these days and working to put funds behind our urge to explore foreign territory. We’ve put a lot of focus on identifying a place/neighborhood/community/school that is best for Sully and, this time around, we’ve constructed a two year plan that’s focused on getting us there.
I can’t help but feel like we’re growing up. In our mid 20’s, we leaped at every opportunity and barely evaluated the risk. No doubt, it was fun… and thankfully, also proved to be incredibly rewarding. In our late 20’s/early 30’s, we’re discovering that taking a look ahead and preparing a staged plan isn’t so bad after all. There’s beauty in knowing that adventure awaits and comfort in realizing that we’re at a stage in our lives that allows us to take a little more control of our destiny.
[picture via the lovely, Jill Isaacson]
Tomorrow morning, we’re taking Sully to see his first Motorcross race. I was going through old drafts on here that never got posted and this seemed like a fitting one to finally bring to life. Originally written in the spring of 2014.
Boys & Bikes.
These are my boys. Both love bikes.
At 7AM this morning, I walked downstairs to see both of my boys watching racing videos. Dudes hitting big air, dirt flying, Radioactive playing in the background. It was that kind of morning.
The littlest one yells out a “WooHoo!”
The big one laughs.
Ten minutes later, the big one shuts down the YouTube video.
The littlest one goes into an all-out meltdown.
“Kids on bikes! Watch kids on bikes,” he pleads.
We tell him that it’s time to start our day.
He throws his hands in the air,
screams, shouts,
tears fly,
and within a few minutes, he’s vomiting all over the couch.
I’m speechless.
It’s amazing how intensely passion can manifest itself inside a two year old.
Checking out a “cool tree”. Sully asked me if this is where the monkeys live. 😂
