i n • p u r s u i t

I have to start with this one, even though it was already posted on my blog. :) This photo was taken at my dad's annual white elephant Christmas party. Someone brought a "man kit" that included these mustaches. Somehow, by the end of the evening, all the Heusers had mustaches for a family photo op.   This is my Christmas card display this year. I don't have a mantle and I wanted to display my cards in such a way that didn't, you know, get in the way. Also, I needed something on the walls of the dining room. I just love looking at everyone's Christmas cards each year!   The G kids on Christmas Adam. This my 5th year taking Alex & Lauren to see the St. Francis Festival of Trees and Davis's 4th year. Its one of my favorite Christmas traditions and they get so excited to hang out downtown for a little while. :)   After the looking at the trees, I was going to grab some hot chocolate. Instead, the kids wanted to go to Panera for lun...

The pain in my throat woke me up in the middle of the night, two nights ago. I was wondering if I didn't have strep and grabbed my phone to call my boss to ask her advice. Turns out L had a pretty bad sore throat too and was going to be swabbed to check for strep. So, I tagged along. Two positives. So, L and I were streppy together. And you know, with bosses like mine, working when you'd rather be home isn't so bad. It was a lot like I was at home sick. Tea. Soup. Lying on the couch watching Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer. Janelle swabbed me at her work. Saved me the $100 the minute clinic would have charged me for an exam and a lab. L hung out at a (fellow streppy) friend's house almost all day and a neighbor volunteered to bring A home from school. (Due, I think, to Janelle calling them and giving them the lowdown.) Made my day much easier. Jeff brought D home from preschool and then worked from home so I could rest in the guest room. While I was at w...

Before you ask, my big life changes do not have anything to do with babies. If I say that I'm announcing news, 90% of you will assume I'm pregnant. The other 10% wound up here by mistake. The whole thing has such a convoluted story, I have a hard time figuring out where to start. So, let's start with the fact that Mike and I are becoming those people. The ones that have gardens, don't shop at Walmart, buy meat from a farm and make their own granola. We've been thinking about moving down to only one car. Namely, getting rid of my lemony car. Eventually. Like say, leaving my job sometime in the summer of 2012 because, by then, maybe I would be pregnant. And, bebe or no, all three kids would be in elementary school and I would because just about useless here. And then, when that transition happened, we'd transition to the one car. Until we were able to find a used hybrid Ford Flex. A hybrid Ford Flex does not exist yet, however, so Ford's...

You've got to give a Valentine's day card to everybody, right? And so the school's will send home a list of names so kids don't leave off someone. I saw the list of Davis's classmates and I've never seen a class full of so many unique names! Linus Cooper Wyatt Moritz Wolfi Parker Hans Caroline Christopher Davis Annaliese Jackson Yes, you read that right. Wolfi! How's that for a name. I hear he's from Germany.

Alex is turning six tomorrow and I cannot believe he was only sixteen months when I started taking care of him! Well, in preparation for tomorrow (which includes an abundance of birthday parties) Lauren and I have been shopping, sorting, wrapping, and, oh yeah, we remembered to eat lunch sometime in there! She has been such a great helper that it makes up for her taking fourty-five minutes and fifteen yes-i'm-certain-this-is-what-i-want-oh-wait-look-at-that 's to pick out a present for her friend. After lunch, Lauren, Davis and I put together the goody bags for Alex's birthday party. Lauren and I each took some bags, I would dump the candy out on the floor, determine how much of each piece went in the bag, and the we'd get to it. Davis was a great helper for almost the whole time. It's fun and easy when you're starting out with granola bites and fun-sized M&Ms. But the smaller and smaller the candy got, the more candy there was out there (18 packs of M...

Lauren, what's this baby's name? Umm... Fayden . But isn't the other baby named Zayden ? Those are really similar names. Maybe you should pick out one that sounds a little different so they don't get confused. Okay...um.... Hayden ...yeah. You see, that sounds a lot a like too. Zay-DEN, Fay-DEN , and Hay-DEN . See? Those all sound alike. Ohhhhh. Okay. You get what I'm saying? Yeah. {thinks for a moment} How about Jayden ! ♥, TiffanyAnne

He had huge purple bags under his eyes. I think those were to catch the crocodile tears. He howled because he was starving. He howled because he didn't need a nap. "30 minutes," I told him. "Lie down for 30 minutes and then you can be up." So, very begrudgingly and knowing he couldn't win, he went down. Surprise, surprise! He actually fell asleep! 45 minutes later--so I fudged a little!--I go in his room. "You can be up now." I rub his arm. "Want to watch a TV show and have a mix*?" Just like I promised. He looks at me, rubs his face, and goes back to sleep. Oh yeah. This nanny was right, kiddo. *A "mix" is a mixture of snacks. Fruit snacks, cheez-its, crackers, the occasional marshmellow, cranberries, etc. This is their favorite snack.

Lauren complained while she was watching TV and I was slaving away in the kitchen over Spiderman mac & cheese and chicken nuggets. "Starving?" I say. "You're not starving!" (Oh, yeah, you guys see it coming already, don't you?) "Yes, Miss Tiffany! I'm STARRRRRRVING!" "Lauren, did you have breakfast this morning?" "Yes." "Did you know that some kids in this world don't have as much food as you do?" "Yes." "Some kids don't get enough to eat. They are starving. You're not." And then I promptly felt very old. I'm officially...what? The "starving kids in Africa" speech is known by moms nationwide. I'm certainly not officially a mom. But maybe, just maybe, I'm officially just as annoying as Mom.

And so we did. "You go first," I told her, "and then I'll go." "Okay," she said, and grasped my hand. She squeezed her eyes shut. "JESUS SAID NO RUNNING IN THE HALLWAY. JESUS ALSO SAID NO RUNNING IN THE CLASSROOM BUT YOU CAN RUN OUTSIDE. AMEN."

I'm sitting here with a toddler at my feet who doesn't yet toddle but understands a heck of a lot more than he lets on. He's fifteen months and some days but was seven weeks and one day premature. He was supposed to be born August 1st which would have made him not even fourteen months old today. His brother is at kindergarten and his sister is at preschool. He has moved from sitting at my feet to staring out the window. Not only staring at the window, but coming in full contact with it and kissing the cool glass. Making silly noises and walking away leaving behind a smear of baby saliva. He's moved on again. This time to the small desk that technically belongs to his sister but is used by all three children. He likes the desk because it houses wonderful things like markers to suck on and draw all over his face and crayons to chew and subsequently spit out. Those things are yucky. He loves brushes. Hair brushes or tooth brushes, he doesn't really care. He knows ...

Davis is a rather noisy baby. He is nearly always grunting and stretching, even when asleep. Sometimes, when he has been asleep and quiet for a while, I get a little scared. Oh no! I can't hear him, what if he's not breathing? What if he somehow threw his blanket on his face and smothered himself? So, I go to whereveer he may be sleeping and lower my head down so that it is very, very close to his and I listen to him breathe. Not yet satisfied, I softly rub his back or run my finger down his cheek just so he will squirm a little, sigh a little, and continue sleeping. Just to see him move to know that he is okay. ♥, Tiffany Anne

It all started out with what I thought was a rather good idea. Breakfast for lunch. The kids totally dug it. Bacon, eggs, toast, and hot chocolate for lunch? What an cool idea, Miss Tiffany! I was at the stove making bacon. I dunno what I was doing wrong, but the bacon was all sticking to the pan and withering into nothing. And not the proper kind of withering that bacon is supposed to do. Still, they turned out OK. I planned on making the eggs in the bacon grease because, really, everything tastes better when made in bacon grease. But after cracking open and whipping a few eggs with some seasoning, I noticed that everything in the pan was blackening. Oh well, shucks to bacon grease, I'll just use a different pan. So what did I do with the bacon pan? Me, being the GENIUS that I am put it in the pan in the stove and EVER SO SMARTLY decided to cool it off with some water. Because I'm just so intelligent like that. Well, obviously, smoke goes everywhere and the fire alarm goes of...

Two children have just been put to bed. One is strapped to my chest with the help of the BabyBjörn...a very complicated piece of work! It kills the muscles in that neck/shoulder/back area to wear it, but he loves it. Today is my Janelle's first day back at work which means it's also my first 10-hour day without her since Davis was born. Needless to say, I was pretty darn apprehensive. So far, things have gone well. It's 3:00 which means I have been here for about 7 hours. All the kids are still alive--so that's a plus. To be honest, God has been with me today! It has gone leaps and bounds better than I though it would making me wonder what I was so nervous about. But then again...no one is sick, we didn't have to rush to make it to school, Davis is still blob-ish (i.e. not getting into things). There is a day coming, a day not long from now that will top my worst day ever. But God will help me get through that one too. And really? At the end of the day, even if I ha...

"Upside Down" by Jack Johnson Who's to say What's impossible Well they forgot This world keeps spinning And with each new day I can feel a change in everything And as the surface breaks reflections fade But in some ways they remain the same And as my mind begins to spread its wings There's no stopping curiosity I want to turn the whole thing upside down I'll find the things they say just can't be found I'll share this love I find with everyone We'll sing and dance to Mother Nature's songs I don't want this feeling to go away Who's to say I can't do everything Well I can try And as I roll along I begin to find Things aren't always just what they seem I want to turn the whole thing upside down I'll find the things they say just can't be found I'll share this love I find with everyone We'll sing and dance to Mother Nature's songs This world keeps spinning and there's no time to waste Well it all keeps spinni...

Day classes: Probability & Statistics, Geography Night classes: French Internet classes: Astronomy I'll probably add another to my day classes schedules. I've got to go to Greenville Tech on Thursday to get things sorted out. I'll probably end up having to take French II over Christmas break. We shall see. Hopefully, I'll stay with greenvillescene .com and hone my writing skills there and in school. Then, by the time I graduate, I'll have "relevant work experience" and a degree. I just talked to Jeff about how I'm going to stay on. I babbled about how I don't want any one else taking care of my kids and how lucky I am to have this job. Seriously. I am getting crazy good experience that will definitely be useful later in life. I get to play almost all day. I get paid to go to the swimming pool. Also, I just love the family. It's great just being here. The other day, Lauren and I were talking about family and friends and the roles that we h...

I remember the first time I had alone time with Lauren. She was so tiny and still on the monitor. Janelle had taken Alex to get a haircut. So there we were, in the master bedroom. I sat on the bed watching her sleep in her bassinet willing her to wake up so I could see her eyes. No such luck. I picked her up, just to be able to hold her. She was wrapped in the pink blanket with flowers that she still likes. She lay on my chest, stirring a bit, but not waking up. So sweet. So very sweet. I had my first alone time with Davis this morning and it was quite the opposite. Ha-ha. It's not that he cried the *whole* time, but let's just say I ate my lunch while walking in circles and bouncing up and down on the balls of my feet. I am so talented. Ohhh yeah! Okay, so, he was a bit fussy, but he did quiet down. He is just so darn cute and has such beautiful eyes. He's going to grow up to be just as handsome as Alex because they're baby pictures are practically identical! I'm s...

I have been neglecting y'all and I do fully apologize. I've begun to think that there is more to life that my blog. Obviously this is a completely ridiculous notion and I am going to great pains to correct my wayward thinking. [Side note: I just heard Mike exclaim something in the kitchen and then come into the office and go, "Hey, would you eat a steak right now?"] Yesterday was a rather good day. I got to work only two minutes late which is rather good considering I left the house ten minutes late. By 10 AM we had already eaten breakfast, discussed Evan Almighty, and played with pots and pans. The kids put on their swimsuits and I hauled the car seats out of the Mountaineer and into the Corolla. One Boisseau, one Heuser, and three Godlewskis searched high and low for the blue-and-white tote (the "swimming bag"), pink goggles, green goggles, pool toys, and kitty-cat flip-flops. I considered wearing my bikini but decided to give my new one-piece a try (mostl...

Davis Jeffery 4lbs 2oz 18 inches long 2:24 AM The new little guy was a bit early at only 32 weeks 6 days (eight days more premature than little Lauren) but Janelle says he is doing well considering. Davis will be in the NICU for about a month. Alex & Lauren are with their grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles down at Hilton Head right now and they'll be back next week. Keep them all in your prayers because it can't be easy with a pre-schooler, a toddler, and a newborn in the NICU. I guess I'll experience the chaos first hand when I return home from Boston! Please keep them in your prayers! ♥Tiffany♥

Lauren is beautifully potty trained. She has rarely had an accident lately. She's even stayed dry over night. But it is so hard to get that girl to put her clothes back on after going potty. I'm not going to do it for her because I know she knows how. So, I'll spend the better part of the hour saying, " Lauren, you need to put your panties on! " And when she's sixteen and OverAnalyzed is a published book, Lauren will hunt me down and kill me for writing this. ♥Tiffany♥

Alex: Miss Tiffany, I really can't sleep! I can't make my eyes close! It's toooooo hard!!! Tiffany: Well, that's okay, just rest for a few minutes. You have to lay down and rest. But I'll come back in a few minutes and let you know when you can get up and play quietly in your room for the rest of nap time. Alex: Fine . ::leave....return a few minutes later:: Tiffany: Alex? Alex? Are you awake? ::silence:: ::two hours later:: Alex: Miss Tiffany? Can I be up now? I couldn't sleep, it was too hard to make my eyes close. ♥Tiffany♥