The Cast

The Rock
My beloved husband. We've been married since 2005. Our life as a couple began back at Christmas time 1999. Believe it or not, we met at a bar in Orange Beach, AL on Thanksgiving night. His "big line" was "Hey."

He's my rock, my foundation. He's sturdy, he has great shoulders. He has the weirdest sense of humor. For example, here's a joke he gets me with once every 5 years or so...

R - Who is bigger? Mr. Bigger or Mr. Bigger's Baby?

M - What are you talking about?

R - Mr. Bigger's Baby. He's a little Bigger.

Haha. Snort. Snort. And that my friends, is the life we live together, in a nutshell.

DEE-structor

Our 6 year old earned this name at about 6 months old. He never crawled, he rolled to where he wanted to go. Then he ran, not walked, at about 10 months. Any glass in our house got broken, any books that were within reach lost pages, anything that should not go into his mouth did. (I have replaced 3 lamps in the last 5 years.) "DEE-structor strike again" is a familiar refrain at our house.

This is our favorite anti-stemming device. His trampoline, given to him by his Fah-Abulous Auntie Jude! He does have feet (even if they are currently not visible). This thing has some serious spring, and he loves it! His favorite thing to do when getting to watch a show is to bounce and bounce and bounce. DEE recently figured out how to get it down for himself, so now I wake up in the morning (mostly on weekends) to the sound of my little man, jump, jump, jumping away.

He loves music. We have drums, a guitar, an accordion, lots of various lutes/whistles and a tambourine, all his size. The Rock and DEE have sing along sessions, so long as DEE gets to pick the songs. Our favorite kids artists are: Dan Zanes, Laurie Berkner, the BareNaked Ladies (Seriously!), Trout Fishing in America  and  They Might Be Giants.

Smiley

Just over 4 years apart in age, our Smiley recently turned 2. He couldn't be more different than DEE if he tried. Late to walk, early to talk, he is going to be our Babblefish.

What I love the best about Smiley is that he is always smiling. DEE tries to squeeze him to pieces, Smiley laughs. DEE does not want to share toys, Smiley happily burbles along in DEE's wake, picking up anything that gets dropped as DEE tries not to share. Smiley keeps trying to interfere in DEE's personal space and slowly, DEE has come to accept it. I cannot tell you how full my heart gets when they play together.

You can trust that we are watching him pretty darned close to see if he will exhibit the same signs that DEE did when Autism first appeared in our lives.

And Finally... Me, Redly, Momma.
I obsess. I swear. I have a burden of guilt that occasionally I like to take up on my head like an African basket and walk with it around the block a time or a thousand. I'm terminally crazy. I make up songs on the spot and sing them in public to my children. (Did I mention that I can't sing?) I am the woman that drives the shopping cart like a maniac thru Wal*Mart so I can hear my kids laugh. My Rock would tell you that I am an emotional basket case, over-critical (mostly of myself) and awesome! (Thanks honey!)

This is us. Oh, and our dog, Rosie. Patience Rose, to be exact. Thank you cousin L for naming her. We all live in our little house in Lower Alabama and share our lives with each other. And in a small way, with you. Thanks!