a boy and his dog

The past month has been a bit of a whirlwind. My Delta mileage statement pretty much sums it up. At the end of February, I should reach the silver medallion level which is 25,000 miles traveled.

And believe you me, this is NOT something to brag about.

Since the beginning of the year, I've been pretty much traveling every other week. Home a week, gone a week, home a week, gone a week. This is my home a week. Next week is my gone a week.

But after that, it should slow done. "Slow" is a relative term however.

I do have some things I've been wanting to write about including some new work projects that have launched me out of my comfort zone, my continued struggle with health, fitness and weight loss (January was tough!), my goals for 2012 (key words: expectation management) and of course, the loves of my life...Tony and Ryan.

But for now, here is my favorite picture of Ryan and Abby. It's about all I have time and/or energy for. But I'm sure you'll agree, there's nothing like a boy and his dog.

the first stitches

Yesterday, I had one of those phone calls that every mother dreads..."hi honey, we're at the hospital." But Tony was very quick to add, that everything was ok and that Ryan fell and just needed 4 stitches.

I guess they decided to go on a little hike and when Tony put Ryan down, he fell and hit his head against the car. Ryan's not much of a crier and only cried for a few seconds so Tony didn't think much of it. But then a moment later he saw blood and knew it was emergency room worthy.

Traveling is always hard, but when your baby is sick or injured, it's HORRIBLE! All I wanted to do was be at home. Oh, the homesickness. And oh, the guilt.

I felt bad for Tony too - having to wait for hours in the emergency room, having to entertain Ryan with blown up gloves and those giant popsicle throat sticks.

So now our little boy has 4 stitches on his eyebrow (which is probably the first of many). Tony said, other than the shot, he was very good and brave. What a little trooper.

And me? I had to settle for some darling pictures from my husband. Even with stitches, I think he's the handsomest little 18-month old I've ever had.

I've looked at these pictures at least a thousand times. The first time I looked at them, I cried. I sat in my hotel room and just cried.

The thousandth time I looked at them, I still got a little teary. But not so much from homesickness. More for gratitude that everything worked out ok. That my husband is capable and caring. That my little boy was with his daddy. And most of all, that I'll be home in just a few short days.

God Grew Tired of Us

Last week Tony and I watched the documentary "God Grew Tired of Us" about the Lost Boys of Sudan. From the very beginning I was captivated and touched. So if you haven't already seen it, I highly recommend it.

The documentary focuses on just 3 of the more than 25,000 Lost Boys in Sudan and the 3800 who were able to come to the United States as refugees.

Every time I return home after a trip to a third or developing country, I'm reminded how truly blessed we are to live in such luxury. There is so much focus on the US economy right now, but it boggles my mind how our country can be in such an economic mess and yet the movie theatres are full, restaurants are full, shopping malls are full.

Whenever I travel to Peru, I'm reminded of what a blessing it is to enjoy our level of hygiene. Clean water from our faucets, washing machines, the ability to take a shower every day with soap, shampoo and clean towels. Truly amazing when you don't have it.

In the film, it shows the three boys (really, men) coming to the United States for the first time. On the airplane, they are confused by the airplane food and eat the pats of butter and packet of mayonnaise. At their apartments they are amazed by the lights being turned on with the flip of a switch and the different types of meats in their freezer.

Now, I know our economic problems are real and I'm not downplaying them by any means. But watch the movie. When you see life through the eyes of these boys, you realize how much we take for granted, how much we need to appreciate the life we enjoy and the family we have, and most of all, how much we need to treat each other with kindness, with respect and with charity.

another day, another bad haircut

The haircut incident was actually a couple of weeks ago before my Atlanta trip at the middle of the month. I thought by the time I got back from Atlanta that his hair might have either miraculously grown out or Tony would have taken Ryan to get a proper cut.

But this is what I came home to.

But, if you brush it to the side, it doesn't look so bad. In fact, he looks kinda like my cute little boy instead of someone who could be a stand-in on "Dumb and Dumber." Unfortunately, his bangs stay brushed for about 12.5 seconds.

At this point, his bangs are so short, I think there's no other recourse but to let it grow out for a week or two. I will be in NY for a week-ish so that should give it a bit of time to grow. And then I'll look into the age requirements for mousse and hair gel.

Mr Brown in Atlanta

I'm guessing people are probably tired of me showing the same tradeshow photos all the time, but besides Tony and Ryan, I don't have much else going on in my life. Sad, but true.

So here are some pictures from the Atlanta show a couple of weeks ago. It was actually a great show to do - compared to last year's January show, we had great weather. Last year was the crazy snow storm in Atlanta that turned into a giant ice field. It's probably the craziest ice I've ever seen in a big city. The show was a good one. Mr Brown is well into its 2nd year and going strong. There signs of a strong economic recovery (knock on wood) were everywhere. Last year our customers were cautiously optimistic with the cautiousness in the forefront. Now the cautiousness seems to still be there, but lurking somewhere in the back room.

A lot of our stores reported a really strong holiday season and an amazing first two weeks of the year (again, knock, knock on wood!). So here's to a great 2012.

Next up: Mr Brown and Julian Chichester in New York - show starts on January 28th - if you happen to be in NY, come see me!

Bad Hair Day

Since the day was Ryan was born, he's had good hair. In fact, at the risk of sounding completely conceited, Tony has said, if Ryan DOESN'T get good hair from us, we've done something seriously wrong.

So there you have it. We have good hair and we know it (actually, I've always disliked my super straight jet black hair, but I think Tony has fantastic hair for a middle aged man!). And lucky for Ryan, the hair genes kicked in. In fact, besides comments about being happy and cute, hair comments are probably the third most common regarding Ryan.

For the past few months though, the hair comments have turned from "I love his hair" to "when are you going to cut his hair?". His lovely locks were indeed getting long, but I loved it that way. I mean, it's not like he had dreadlocks or anything. But about 3 weeks ago, a new friend came over and said, "how old is your little girl?" Little GIRL?!

I began re-thinking the haircut thing.

I did break out the scissors and trimmed his bangs just a touch so they didn't hang in his eyes, but I couldn't bring myself to do much beyond that. And then one day, I was sitting at my desk in the kitchen (yes, I work in the kitchen now - all the better to watch the boys' activities) and I heard "oh no....". From the intonation, I knew it was something that was not dangerous, but definitely not good.

I turned around and there was Tony with a pair of scissors in his hand. Ryan was standing in front of Tony with a gleeful look on his face. He obviously had no idea that his own father had just massacred his beautiful head of hair.

Now I think Tony is a wonderful father. I rarely have to tell Tony how to parent and I seldom have to correct any of his fatherly skills. But this time, I couldn't contain myself. And then I had to call my mom. She responded, send me a picture. I'm sure it's not so bad.

So I did. She texted back, "it's not so bad."

And then I sent her another. She texted, "oh my....well, I'm not sure what to say now."

Lest you think I'm over-reacting....

Now, I do realize that bad hair is not the end of the world and there are starving children that are much worse off. But tell me, if you have a good thing going, why cut it?

greetings from Atlanta

Sometimes I feel like I live in a traveling bubble. I'm in Atlanta right now and feel like I've been here for two weeks. But the reality is, it's only been five days. Only five days?!

Whenever I go on a trip, I of course miss my boys. Tony is a champ holding down the fort and being a single dad. Most of the time I don't worry at all about Tony being able to take care of Ryan on his own. When I talk to many of my cousins and friends about Tony, I realize how amazing he is to be a single dad so often.

But today I talked to Tony for a little bit during the day and Ryan is sick. For the most part, he's acting his normal self - running, climbing and jumping, but he also wants to cuddle and be held much more than usual.

And Tony says he thinks Ryan misses me. That makes me cry just to write it. This is the first trip I've been on where Tony thinks Ryan misses me. That breaks my heart. And I hope it doesn't break his little heart.

Every night before I go to bed, I go through my photo library on my phone. I look at my favorite pictures and my favorite videos. Over and over.



For Christmas, we gave Ryan a big bottle of bubbles. I know, we're big spenders. He did get another toy that he loves, but more on that later.

That night, we blew bubbles over and over for our little boy. I LOVE watching his excitement, hearing his squeals and seeing the wonder in his face. It cracks me up when that bubble lands on his little nose.

Oh, that he could stay this small always and forever. Everyone keeps telling me that every stage gets better and better (until those teenage years!), but I'd love to have him stay the bubble-chasing little boy that I love in these videos.