Insights&Inspiration

We were having a wonderful visit with my grandparents just recently.  They are really our favorite people – happy, vibrant, smart – both in life choices and overall intellect.  Though they could retire and live off of grandpa’s fireman pension and their social security, they choose to continue to both work so that they can live comfortably, affording the extra luxuries that they only now are able to spoil themselves with.

I found myself looking at them and hoping that Ryan and I are as happy and comfortable as they are when we are their age – a discussion Ryan and I have had numerous times.  We see a lot of similarities in their relationship dynamics and hope that we are able to be in a similar position as they are in 50 years from now.  I started reflecting on what it would take to make sure we follow a similar path, and why it is that so many families seem to miss the mark on this one.

Smart life choices is huge – but consciously maintaining the relationship is really the key, I would venture to guess. (more…)

Now that my daughter, Makenzie, is nearing the one-year mark, she is really starting to interact with her environment in an actively thoughtful way. Though going from crawling to walking is no doubt the biggest milestone yet, sometime the little milestones are just as exciting to witness.

For example, she is now beginning to assign words to inanimate objects (her first inanimate object word: “baseball” – thats my girl!).

And just yesterday I got her dressed but hadn’t put her shoes on yet.  I then walked into my room, leaving her behind me for a moment, only to turn and see her walking towards me carrying her shoes that she had found and picked up completely on her own – as if to tell me its time to put her shoes on now.

She has even figured out how to scroll through my photos on my iPhone! (more…)