What's in a name?

     

     What’s in a name? Everything! Names can cause heartache or triumph. They’re an adjective that’s so powerful tears of joy or sorrow can come with a mere mention. I’m trying to teach my kids the lesson that names are so important. 

    

      That was one way I knew a new chapter in my life had begun. I knew when we planned our family that I would have to be one of “those” moms who work outside her home. So when the day finally came to take my precious baby boy to the wonderful, loving people who would care for him in my absence there were no tears. Not from me and certainly no from him. When I arrived to retrieve him that first day one of the other mommies was there & she called me a name. She said “Oh you must be Robert’s mom”. There it was. She called me a name that no one outside our family had used to describe me before. MOM – it hit me like a ton of bricks; the newest chapter in my life – MOM. It brought tears to my eyes. It’s a name I wear proudly. So fast forward 5 years. I’m having a conversation with Lauren (who is 2) on our way to her school. I say “La, do you prefer to call me Mommy or Mom?” Imagine my surprise when she says “Um, Paula”. I had worked pretty hard to be called Mom. Guess I need more teaching time with her!

The Kids

This is my boy. My Son. My ray of light. The reason I decided "heck this was so much more fun than work let's do it again". My Little Bit of a Boy from Heaven right here on Earth. In fact we take to calling him Little Bit because when you put him with other kids the same age...he's typically smaller. You're probably looking at the picture and wondering 1. What's wrong with his smile, or 2. Why is he eating meat off of a fork?. Well answer #1 - the child won't stop moving to take a photo with a digital camera to save his life so we end up catching him mid smile. And #2 - he loves grilled pork chops and just couldn't wait. Funny huh? Yep that's my little bit!

 

This is my girl. My Daughter. My answer to "what was I thinking? 2 is more than 1" or "if the 2nd would have come 1st we might not have the 2nd". She's just so different in every way possible from the boy. I love her! She's ornery! We refer to her as "The La" in our home. I wouldn't change a thing, but some days...WOW!

Some of What I Know

They say you should write what you know about. Well, I know I have an amazing family. And what is it they do that's so amazing you ask. Well for starters they exist. I have been blessed with a wonderful husband who/whom I take for granted because I can be a horribly greedy woman. For some reason he still loves me after all these oh so many years.  I also have been blessed with 2 astounding kids. The fact I get to be their mom just stupefies me. They are smart, funny, caring, compassionate, etc... I remember when I was expecting each of them just how incredible the process of them coming to be actually was. How everything has to work just perfectly for a child to be created. Then I would question as to whether or not I was up to the responsibility (something that should probably be thought about prior to conception rather than during pregnancy. just a tip!). Then these perfect little angels were placed in my arms and I chose to take on the task. To do my very best by them (sometimes the lyrics of Quincy Jones' "Just Once" come to mind, you know "I did my best, but I guess my best wasn't good enough"; because some days I'm a very ordinary mom). Fortunately I've also got a pretty awesome extended family. Just so we're clear I include my friends in my extended family. Mostly because we live 109 miles to our closest parental unit, so having friends who help out is just phenominal. Hopefully we've been able to let them know what they mean to us. So with that I hope to update this blog with stories & photos of their amazingness (yep - I just made that one up). Maybe I will upgrade my efforts from ordinary to extraordinary soon as well!

My small town life...

Here's a little bit about me.  I know the blog is titled "the Copeland Colloquy" but at first it's probably all about me, because sometimes that's just how I roll, that and I can't sleep...

I grew up in a very small town.  Actually I grew up in a neighborhood of fifty or so homes 5 miles from a small town.  I lived on an acre of land that was a corner lot and on 2 sides surrounded by wheat fields.  My best friend Shawna lived 1 house away. My family planted what I thought at the time was a huge garden. My friends & I played outside spring, summer, & fall until it was dark and you could hear the moms yelling out the door for you to come home for dinner.  If we wanted something to do on a summer day, we'd ride our bikes that 5 miles to town and then try to convince my mom (who worked) to drive us home.  Our town did/does have a swimming pool that was the main source of entertainment for us on those summer days.  I remember thinking how big it was - now when I see it, I wonder how it ever held so many people!  We had 1 school.  It takes up like 6 blocks or something for K-12.  It may have Pre-K now.  When I started school Pre-K wasn't an option.  When my family first moved to this area there was a program just starting called Yogi Bear Preschool.  It was more like a mother's day out program as it was only 2 days a week for like 3 hours.  What I think is cool, is that I'm still friends with a few of those people.  In Junior High (OK, so maybe in my sixth grade year they were trying to change it to Middle School, either way we all know it as hell) that was the first time you got to pick "electives".  Our options were music or band (gee, if you didn't play an instrument guess what elective you got to pick?).  There may have been options for another hour, but I'd have to consult my cousin on that, and she'd kill me if I called her right now!  Once in high school your options, weren't so much options.  It was choices based on if you thought you'd be going to college or not.  If going to college your choices might be which Algebra I class would you be taking the one at 1st hour or the one at 4th hour.  Oh you want to take a foreign language, Spanish was your choice.  I graduated with 43 other people. Some of the best people I know. Since I was from a small town I was able to be a cheerleader for 3 years.  I was able to be on the yearbook staff (shocking that I like to scrapbook now!) for 2 years. I was able to have a pretty sheltered existance. There are a lot of really good things about small towns...

I guess this worked as an insomia cure. I'll have to pick up here another time...

Late Night Musings...

As I laid there listening to the 2 year-old struggle with sleep I popped out of bed to see if I can help her in any way...that's what moms do.  Especially at 12:15 in the morning. You do everything in your power to make sure all can sleep.  Now I can't sleep.  Ah, such is life...

Since sleep was avoiding me, I thought I would add to my blog.  Might as well and I shouldn't have any distractions, the worst might be that this makes me sleepy...so into my thoughts...

As I contemplate what I want my blog to be I think I just want it to evolve into whatever.  I'm in no way authorized to be an expert on anything, but I'm happy to share what knowledge I have gained.  I'm older than I think I am and better than I used to be.  I am amazed daily at my children and am so grateful I get to be their mom.  I am blessed with an incredible husband who tries so hard to help me be happy. I hope to entertain, enlighten, maybe even provide an example (probably of what not to do), but I'm in no way trying to offend.  Please keep that in mind when you read...

My first blog...

OK - so here goes...my first blog. In preparing to join the blogosphere I did some research. Apparently I'm supposed to type this like a conversation...let's have a chat shall we? That and I'm supposed to ask readers for input...not sure how many of those I'll have (readers not comments)...if nothing else this should be cathartic.

I've been thinking a lot lately about courage and what I feel is my lack of it. So this is my attempt of stepping out of my comfort zone of obscurity. I have been thinking about the people who make others stop and watch . Those who get things done. Who aren't afraid of other people's judgements.(You may be surprised to know I have A LOT of friends that fall into the category.) Then I think about the differences between that person & me. Obscurity is what comes to mind. Obscurity is my fuzzy pink blanket or "PINK" as my daughter would say. I like working in the background, working in the kitchen during the party. Doing research others don't want to do because the end reward may not pay off with public displays of achievement. I like taking care of all the little details others find monotonous. That's why blogging seems a little out character for me. It means drawing attention to myself, putting my feelings out there in cyberspace for all to view or criticize. Or perhaps even brag on achievements (I do have 2 AMAZING kiddos and an INCREDIBLE husband!). Someone might read this. They might not get my sarcasm or humor. They might judge my parenting skills. They might think I'm dumb; or worse write something unkind below (just remember I can remove those). They might not agree with me (which is really OK because I'm not sure there are that many people who are as conservative as I am). So with that in mind as long as they don't compare me to someone who has been blogging for a while, I'm OK with that...