I’m becoming my mother!

Growing up, I used to find myself following my mother around a local pottery/garden shop. She would spend hours looking at fountains, plants, and house décor. I, on the other hand, would unenthusiastically walk behind her counting every second until we could escape the boring place. I never understood why she and my grandmother enjoyed spending money to then go and plant things. They, in turn, would explain how therapeutic gardening was for them and how I would understand one day. (I didn’t ever think that would happen!)

I must give my mom and grandmother some credit here – they both have a great green thumb. Each year, they pull their plants out and get them refreshed for spring. Next, they go and buy new plants to add to the collection and it looks fantastic. My oldest brother got the talent for landscaping. I, on the other hand, have been known to kill ivy.

Fast forwarding a few years to the present, I’ve found myself learning about plants and home décor. I’ve always been a huge fan of plantation homes and how they are landscaped. There are at least three reasons I now find myself eating large amounts of crow: One: I now go to the same pottery/garden shop I dreaded as a child. Two: I happily give up shopping trips to stay home and decorate the backyard with a cool new fountain or wind chime because it’s relaxing. And three: I take my poor little girl to the plant shop while she looks at me with the same bored look I gave my mother. Yep…it’s happening. I am officially turning into my mother one day at a time.

If anyone could attest to this idea, it would be my best friend Kate. She and I have known each other since grade school and we talk at least once a week to keep each other in check (mostly to laugh at one other). I tell her how much I put my foot in my mouth and she clues me in on her latest kitchen design she is working on. (Not that I’m proud but her latest just got featured on HGTV.) Nonetheless, Kate has seen the good, the bad, and the ugly from me so when I start telling her my planting journeys she can not help but laugh hysterically while reminding me how much like ole mama I’m becoming.

So, is it okay to become like your mother? In my case, my husband would probably have to say heck no. (Just kidding!) But to me….it’s really a blessing. She is one of the smartest people I know and I can only hope to teach Little Miss half the things I have been able to learn from her. In a nutshell, she is stubborn, funny, very determined and most of all a true person who I am lucky enough to have teach me the love of business, plants, gardening, and life!

Much love,

CSA

The Terrible Twos Already?

(insert laugh here)....the past few weeks have found us entering into a phase where patience and sanity are pushing the limits. I consider my husband and I somewhat intelligent people; however, no school, seminar, or parenting website has even tried to explain how the heck you deal with a toddler's tantrums. Are these the terrible twos?

It started about a month ago. I try and take every other Friday off to spend time with our Little Miss. She is 16 (almost 17) months old now and still fascinates me as I watch her advance. On this particular day, we did our usual morning breakfast, followed by a fantastic walk, great lunch with daddy, and then mama had this wonderful idea of getting the weekly grocery shopping done before the weekend rush started. Big mistake! As we walked into the doors of Target, Little Miss kindly started to tug away from me. Grabbing her to stop as I got a buggy, she proceeded to throw herself down to the ground, kicking and screaming bloody murder. Are you kidding me? With people looking and giving me the "control your kid" eye, my blood pressure began to boil. Do I spank her right here? Do I leave or become that parent that has a screaming kid throughout the store? I had no freaking clue. All I knew was I had a screaming kid and I was pissed. To add to that episode, these tantrums are starting to happen at restaurants or social events too. My husband is a lot more patient with her than I am, but we are still in this flux on how to discipline her effectively.

It's good birth control I suppose, but how the heck do parents do it? We have been blessed with an extremely independent (i.e. stubborn) daughter. Watching her these past few months, I have been amazed at how quick she catches onto things, and more importantly how sneaky she is. She knows exactly what I'm telling her - I know it. But, when she is in a mood or doesn't get what she wants, the battle is on and God help me it wears me out. How do we discipline a toddler? We both believe in spanking; however, I don't think spanking every other minute is very productive. Then comes timeout which is a whole other story to me. She will not stay in the corner for anything. It's so nerve racking. People are constantly asking when we are having another one. Our answer - as soon as we can tame this one! HA!

Long story short, just laugh with us during this stage. There are nights when we find ourselves exhausted and annoyed at each other because of different parenting tactics or having to leave an event early because we have an insanely grouchy Little Miss. I swear I'm starting to see gray hair and Dave laughs because he thinks he is balding more and more each day. All in all, I think this is God's way of getting us back - for being the stubborn children we were to our parents and for reminding us that, even though intelligent, we sure as heck don't know everything.

Much love,
Carla

Grammy

I had mentioned in a recent post that my grandmother has been continually ill this past year. It's hard for me to really capture how neat of a lady she is, but if you are lucky enough to know her you can understand exactly what I'm trying to say. She is by far the most genuine person I know and sees people for who they really are. She's smarter than folks give her credit for and she has an amazing faith. She's my Grammy and if I'm being completely honest, watching her age has been a really hard adjustment for me.

She started her career working the 7 to 3 shift as a floor RN. After working and retiring from a local hospital at 65, she decided to come back into healthcare as a diabetic educator and continued working until she reached 70 years old. To this day I run into people that have worked alongside her. Each of them tell me similar stories: how she always cared for the patient first and was by the book when it came to nursing. That's our Gram...always making sure everyone else is okay before herself. The caretaking even spilled over into our family life. If one of us got sick or fell and scabbed a knee, Gram was there to rescue us. When my mom had breast cancer, Gram was the one who picked us up from school and made sure we were okay. She has been a rock through everything, quietly protecting us in more ways than we knew.

After my grandfather passed away in 2001, she moved in with my folks. I was in college at the time and I know it was a major adjustment for my parents, but I so looked forward to driving home and spending time with her. We used to stay up for hours sitting on her bed talking about life. The conversation could go from shopping to boys to religion and I loved it. She has a way of telling you the truth in a gentle and honest way. Never once has she said a hateful thing about someone else - she might not like what they are doing, but she has never been hateful. Instead, she answers each rough patch with two simple phrases: "patience darlin patience" or "such the life."

She was the one who, after I brought my now husband home for the first time, looked at me and said, "I like him darlin" while everyone else was sizing him up. I'll never forget that! She was smitten with him before I was and I have to admit she has good taste - I'll take smart and humble over cocky and dumb any day! Her advice on love was always the same: don't worry about what others think; you have to decide what makes you happy.

It's those little tidbits she has given over the years that I have come to be grateful for. We have had some pretty close calls with her lately - one while she was staying with my husband and I and another where she could not remember our names. It's crazy how you jump into action when someone you love is in need. I've learned first hand you will do anything when placed in that moment. In each little episode though, somehow/someway she has amazingly bounced back and gotten to come home to share more memories with our family. She comes home a little weaker than before but constantly remains the lady that wants to do nothing more than to be with her family.

I know I'm running on borrowed time lately and the wisdom she has bestowed upon me is such a blessing, but I hope that I can live up to the great lady she is. She is my hero and someone that, even when she is gone, I will remember forever. I have started getting real emotional each week when she is with my little girl reading a book or playing with baby dolls. It's in those little moments that I cherish memories that are being made and appreciate our different generations being able to spend time together.

Until next time...much love!

My Sunrise

Each year, our church does a Lenten devotional booklet for members to read each day in preparation for Easter. It's a short little thought booklet and somehow I get roped into writing one every year. Although a little early on my deadline, I hope you enjoy:

2011 Devotional

This world can sometimes knock the breath out of you. We all grow up and get so wrapped up in the big business deal or birthday parties or ourselves that we forget to really stop and look around at all that God has provided for us. Instead, we become complainers and keep taking for granted so many gifts we have on a daily basis. Just think for a second with me: what are some of your daily gifts?

For me, that gift is the sunrise. A sunrise makes me stop for those few little seconds each day and realize that God created everything. He has created all of us: the birds, the trees, the clouds, and has brought life into each. I can remember a time growing up when I thought everything in this world was as marvelous as that sunrise. A time when I didn’t fear being judged or being perceived badly by other people. Instead, I focused on what was good in the world and how I could help the world become a better place. I don’t know about you, but I want and need that positive thinking back in my life.

My hope this Lenten season is that you take a moment and find your sunrise. Make a point to stop each day and thank God for that daily gift you have been given. I know for me, through good times and bad, that sunrise gives me reassurance that God knows exactly what I need and what I need to be doing.

Much love,

Carla

Christmas 2010 - For those of you that did not recieve!

I forgot! Some friends of ours have moved and didn't receive their annual Andersonville letter. The world stops I know, but here is the copy. Sorry for the delay. Merry 2010 Christmas! :)

12/8/2010

Well Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all! Our hope this season is that you and yours are doing well and enjoying this season without too much hassle. I can’t help but get a little giddy lately thinking about Sasha’s face opening presents and really embracing Christmas this year! Life in Andersonville has definitely changed. My oldest brother used to always say “you will be there one day.” Well….we are here and boy is it funny. Dave and I now wake up early, sing various kid songs, plan before leaving the house, do spot checks on our clothes for “spit up” marks, and have officially mastered the dirty diaper. Life in the fast lane, right? We have officially arrived and ironically enough, we love it!

January marked a big change for our family. We ended last year talking about the purchase of a new house. After much packing and a great moving crew, we left our little townhouse and the memories of our first home. I have to laugh because if I heard it once, I heard it a thousand times from Dave and my dad: “Carla, you have too much ______ (I’ll let you fill in the blank)! All in all though, we love our new home and have enjoyed being able to have our friends and family come and enjoy time together. The neighborhood is great, kids live all around us, and our neighbors have been nothing but excellent. It’s a true blessing getting to make this new house our home.

Now on to Miss Sasha. She is still the apple of our eye and has every one of the grandparents wrapped. Her smile just reminds us of how blessed we are to be parents. She is now 15 months old and into EVERYTHING! Besides her usual baby doll or blanket, she enjoys reading and LOVES music. Anytime there is music on, she dances around clapping and laughing. Not that I’m biased or anything, but the girl has some rhythm. I’ll keep you posted on where this takes her! In October, we celebrated Sasha’s first birthday. I’ve always said I would not be one of “those parents” that has elaborate birthdays, so when I looked up and finally counted the 60 adults and 30 kids in our backyard, I had to laugh at myself and joy the bandwagon. It was perfect though. Sasha had such a great time and we’ve realized anything with the Anderson/Sepulvado family is never going to be small.

Dave and I are doing well. Dave is still a computer programmer with Morris and Dickson. They now have over 100 pharmacies using their software and continue to roll new ones out each week. I’m still in awe of his talents and really thankful that his company is so wonderful. He’s a great dad and a wonderful husband! As for me….I’m (really it’s “we”) are still building and diversifying our medical staffing business. Our team is excellent and I am very thankful to work with such great people. Our big news for this coming year is moving into our new office building. We are set to close this week and move in this weekend! Maybe we can have a baby daycare in there somewhere?! More on this topic for next year’s letter.

Until next year, we leave you with a wish for a wonderful holiday season. Our hope is that you find time to enjoy the real reason we celebrate Christmas – the birth of our Savior! And as our family always says, we wish you and yours Health, Wealth, and Time to Enjoy It!

Much love,

Dave and Carla Anderson