Rachel Callahan

Silly Shoes

Posted on Posted by Rachel Callahan Categories Parent of the Year, Toddlers: The Experience, Weird Strange and True

I have been very, very fortunate to be the beneficiary of an extremely large collection of baby and toddler clothes, socks, shoes, etc that have descended from a long line of wonderful cousins. And when I say large, I mean large. My cousin (the one that was the latest possessor of and greatest contributor to the collection) delivered me the first of several loads of clothes on my due date for Ali. Here is a picture of me sorting them:
WOW I was pregnant.

Anyway.

I have used these clothes well. At times, they made up most of Ali’s wardrobe. They’ve been great! I SO appreciate it. And we’re still growing into some of them!!

On Saturday I was looking through the shoes that Ali had not yet grown into for a pair of tennishoes. I found them, and I also found this pair of boots:
I remembered seeing them a while back when I had sorted the clothes – specifically I remember being puzzled. They were brand new – the soles weren’t scuffed a bit – name brand boots (Kenneth Cole, for those of you wondering). First of all, I didn’t even know that Kenneth Cole made toddler boots. Second of all, I was wondering why someone in the line of these hand-me-downs had bought name brand boots and then never used them.

I soon found out.

So, although I wasn’t completely sold on their practicality or even style (sure, on a 20 year old they would look fine, but on a 20 month old?), but I was too curious NOT to at least try them on Ali.

She was quite confused as to what I was doing – why I was stuffing her foot and her leg down in big, long, thick black things. And here is what I learned about these boots (and why they were never worn):

  1. The leather was as tough as . . . well, very tough leather. Like the leather that they make motorcycle knapsacks out of. Or men’s work boots. No softness at all. There was NO way her ankle was bending in those shoes.
  2. They came halfway up her knee. So there was going to be no ankle OR knee moving happening here.
  3. Despite the fact that they were three shoe sizes too big, they were so tight on her calves that I had to pull them together to zip them, and to which Ali immediately started protesting, “toooo tight!!! toooo tight!!!!” (and for the record, Ali does not have fat calves)

They ended up looking like leg braces for the poor child. It cracked me up!!

Err. . . she wasn’t quite as amused.

Here she is, examining her braces (I love how it makes her feet pigeon-toed):
“trying. . . to. . . lift. . . my. . . legs. . .”“Mom, are you KIDDING me?!?!?!”
So, Ali named these boots “silly shoes”. Whenever she sees them, she points at them and excitedly say “silly shoes!!”, but when I ask her if she wants to wear them, she vehemently shakes her head and says, “all DONE silly shoes!!!!”

Update: We went to the mall today (two days after Ali’s experience with these shoes), and every time we passed a shoe display with boots, Ali pointed and said, “SILLY SHOES!!!”

Book Giveaway – win it before you can buy it!!

Posted on Posted by Rachel Callahan Categories Giveaways and Contests, Shamelessly Plugging Away

I am so excited to be giving away a total of SIX books (three sets of two) written by one of our good friends and small group members!!

Jarrod Jones is a dynamic youth speaker, and awesome writer, and a great friend. He has published two books – The Backward Life and 13 Ways to Ruin Your Life.

The Backward Life is an easy to read, down-to-earth book that discusses how God wants us to live our life. Living life backwards means living like Jesus did – giving to gain, losing to win, and turning first and last around.

Jarrod’s good friend Mac Powell of Third Day wrote the foreward for this book. Here is an excerpt of his introduction:

It’s not until we die to ourselves and start living for Jesus that we receive real, amazing, abundant life. This is exactly what my brother Jarrod is trying to explain in this book. The Backward Life shares many encouraging, uplifting, challenging, and funny stories as examples of how we can all have that abundant life when we learn to die to ourselves, love God with all our heart, and love others as we love ourselves. . .I am truly honored to have been asked to write a foreward for Jarrod’s book. I look forward to hearing of the many lives that will be encouraged and changed by his words. Jarrod Jones was my hero when we were little kids. He still is.


13 Ways to Ruin Your Life is being released on October 13th (that’s right – win it before you can buy it!! Wow I feel cheesy. OK I’m over it.), and is a book written primarily for men (but would be very helpful for parents to read that are raising young men, or for wives to read) based on Proverbs 7. It is a blunt, practical, biblical guide of how to guard yourself from sexual sin, how to conquer it, and how God can redeem it.

David Nasser, an internationally known speaker and author, said this in his foreward:

In the following pages, my friend Jarrod Jones has done an amazing job of waging war against sexual sin. By using Proverbs 7 as a catalyst, Jarrod tackles this controversial topic in a biblically expository fashion. I love his honesty in these pages. Written from a ragamuffin’s perspective, Jarrod uses his own failures and victories to connect with the reader. This is not a book written by a “know it all” who has conquered sinful temptation, but rather practical wisdom from a guy who has been there himself. . .this book can save lives.

SO. I am giving away three sets of these two wonderful books! This contest is open to all U.S. and Canadian addresses. All you have to do to enter is to leave a comment on this post by midnight, October 7th. I will randomly select the winners and announce them on October 8th at 2pm. I will email you if you leave your email address, or you can just check back here on the 8th.

Good luck!!!

Deception and Parenting

Posted on Posted by Rachel Callahan Categories Deception: A Parent's Best Friend, Parent of the Year, Toddlers: The Experience

I know, I know, I know. Everyone always says to always be 100% honest with your children. But I certainly remember my Dad’s “magic powder” that made every boo-boo feel better. He ALWAYS had some in his pocket. Who wouldn’t have magic powder if it makes a child immediately feel better?

I have noticed lately that I have started using deception in my parenting. Very effectively, might I add.

All week long, Ali has been brokenhearted about a broken crayon. Every time we get the box of crayons out, the first one she pulls out is the broken one. She shows it to me and says “Broke Pink Crayon.” I will distract her with her 63 other unbroken crayons, but she keeps going back to the broken one, telling me the facts of the tragedy all over again.
On Thursday, Chris came home while we were coloring, and she showed him the crayon and told him her sad, sad story. Being the ultimate Mister-Problem-Solver, he immediately heads off with crayon in hand to bring a smile to Ali’s face. Assuming what he was looking for, I call out after him to tell him that I haven’t been able to find the scotch tape for a while (probably found and then hidden by the same little person bemoaning her crayon). Still convinced of being Mr. Fix It, he heads off in hopes of finding the elusive scotch tape.

He comes back with a still broken crayon.

In the meantime, I have managed to find the most similar crayon and have hidden it away without Ali noticing. I take the broken one from Daddy, hide it in my hand, tell Ali I’m fixing it (as she watches in amazement), then, using amazing slight-of-hand tricks used before only by the likes of David Copperfield, VOILA!! I hand her the other crayon.
She looks at me, beaming with gratitude. I get a very excited “Thank you, Mommy!!!!”, and she starts coloring with her now whole beloved pink crayon.

Chris rolls his eyes teasingly at my victory, and says that I cheated.

But it sure was effective!!

Second example, though not quite as deceptive:

Since birth, Ali has been afraid of the hairdryer. Mega afraid. Tears and all, usually starting just at the mention of “hairdryer”. This is odd for her – it’s her one main phobia (and since I have a very severe phobia myself, I give her grace for hers). So I usually dry my hair before she wakes up.

A few weeks ago I had to dry my hair with her there. I had an idea, and I decided to give it a try. She reveres the word “happy” for some reason, so, after she had already started having a breakdown just by me telling her what I was about to do, I told her that the hairdryer was a “happy hairdryer!!!” Amazingly, she immediately quit crying, started smiling brightly through her tears, and saying, “happy hairdryer!!!”. Now, anytime I dry my hair, she says “happy hairdryer!!”, while smiling. She’s still glad when I’m done – she gives me a hearty “all DONE happy hairdryer!!”, but it sure works well!!

So I’m sure I’m not alone in employing a little bit of deceptive parenting techniques, right?

. . . or am I?

AJ is Two!!

Posted on Posted by Rachel Callahan Categories A Day in the Life, The Blissfulness of Life, Toddlers: The Experience

My blogs this week have been heavy on words and light on pictures, so I am going to even it out with this blog!!

AJ’s birthday party was today, and Ali had a blast!! It was so fun having a park day with LOTS of friends!!! Here are pictures from the festivities:

Ali and the birthday girl:
They are such girls – loving the mirror!
AJ swinging like a lady and Nathaniel swinging like a little boy!
AJ and Titus:
Ali looking all thoughtful. . .
AJ and Sarah Kate (With Ella in the background):
Ali found the letters and was overjoyed!
Ali in the huge swing (it always looks like a handicapped swing to me):
AJ and Benjamin having a fun conversation. . . wow she looks so grown up here!
Abby giving AJ a push:
Abby and Claire having a blast!
Ali found some unsuspecting strangers having a snack. She decided to sit a little ways off in hopes that they would take the hint that she would really like to partake with them.
They didn’t get the hint, so she finally just boldly walked up and said “Crackers Please. Juice Please.” I rescued them from my begging daughter.

Slipping out of the huge swing. . .
I know this is weird, but this was Ali’s first ever juice box! She loved it:
Three of the four adorable B. kids. . . actually four of four – the fourth one is just hidden behind Abby:
AJ loving her candles!
Blowing them out:
The whole crew!!! Ali looked like such a big girl, sitting on the bench the whole time by herself!!
Two of the three littlest attendees:
Claire REALLY enjoyed her cake! All the way to her nose!
Some of the napkins blew away, and Ali raced off to save them from sure escape. Here she is running back with her catch:
Claire was a great help – she “Mothered” Ali, and every time Ali would wander off, Claire would go get her and bring her back:
The kids checking out AJ’s loot:
Ali and AJ had a nice quiet time playing with everything:
This was Ali’s first real birthday party to go to, and it was SO MUCH FUN!!! I love this age!!

Rave Hairspray Does Not a Roach Kill

Posted on Posted by Rachel Callahan Categories I embarrass myself just for your amusement., Just My Luck

So I think I have mentioned previously my illogical and very serious fear of roaches. I am lucky that we don’t see them too often, but being that this is the SOUTH, you can’t fully avoid the devilish creatures.

And when they do make an appearance, you can rest assured that I am screaming, squeezing my eyes shut, and climbing on the tallest piece of furniture available, simultaneously.

Luckily, for his heart’s sake, Chris has learned that this reaction is not because a burgler just broke in, or a gunshot came through the window, or any other such serious tragedy. It just means that I need him to be my knight in shining armor and kill the roach.

Because, literally, I cannot make myself get near enough to kill it. I can’t even get myself to throw a dead one away, even if I know it’s been dead for days and I have a whole roll of toilet paper to guard my hand from his dead body. I can’t do it.

So anyway, all that to say. . . .

It was around midnight last night, and of course Chris was already snoring (it takes about .05 milliseconds from the time that he speaks his last word to his first snore EVERY NIGHT), and I had to go to the bathroom. I go in, turn on the light, and there’s a big one. And a tall one. Some of them stand tall and make themselves look more menacing. He was from this crowd. AND he was fast.

I turn off the light and run back to bed.

But then I’m lying in bed, thinking about Big Tall Fast Roach (BTFR), and getting more and more afraid that he is going to come into our bedroom, and please no please no please no, crawl up the bed.

And I still have to pee.

So I go back in there, with much fear and trembling. I think that maybe I can put the garbage can over him. After all, it’s pretty big so I don’t have to get close enough to aim well. But he’s fast. Really fast.

So I grab the closest aerosol can around – Chris’ Rave #4 hairspray (it masks his gray hairs) – and I start spraying him.

This makes him faster.

He starts running towards me, and I start silently screaming. Silent because I really didn’t want to wake Chris. Screaming because I really can’t help it. It comes out like a frantic whimpering.

Either the whimpering, the continuous spraying sound, or the noise of me running backwards as fast as I could woke Chris up. He ran in, already knowing exactly what was going on, and smooshed him with toilet paper and flushed him. That easily.

I do think the Rave blinded BTFR, though. Because when Chris got down in front of him, he just stood there and allowed himself to be smooshed.

So, maybe it’s not too bad of a defense.

Mysteries of the ALDOT

Posted on Posted by Rachel Callahan Categories "Deep" Thoughts by Rachel, Utter Silliness

A lot of stuff happens every four years. The Olympics, the Presidential Election, and I have to get my driver’s license renewed. I actually just now realized that it fell on the same four year schedule as the previous two things – maybe that will help me remember next go-round.

Anyway, so Ali and I headed to the lovely boutique known as the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) today.

We get in line, and as we’re standing there, I see a sign that says “no debit or credit – only cash or checks”. BUT the window right next to that one had the Visa/Mastercard sticker. I ponder this for a few minutes, knowing that I don’t have a check or enough cash to get my DL. I finally realize that apparently if you’re getting your TAG renewed, they take plastic. But if you’re getting your Plastic renewed (aka Driver’s License), they don’t. Go figure.

So Ali and I get out of line, stroll across the parking lot to the Post Office, buy enough stamps to not feel auspicious by getting cash back with the purchase (that magic number of stamps is 10, just in case you wondered), then stroll back across the parking lot and get in line again. Miraculously, only two people got to skip ahead of us due to my lack of proper fundage.

So now I’m looking around at all of the signs to make sure that I haven’t missed something else, and I notice that the line on the OTHER side of me where they are doing driver’s tests only takes Cash, Credit or Debit – NO checks!!

So, as a public service announcement, let me summarize what you can and cannot use at the ALDOT:

Tag Renewal: They’ll take anything. Even your firstborn, I hear.
Driver’s License: Cash or Checks only, please. They don’t believe in taking plastic, only issuing it.
Driver’s Test for New License: Cash or Debit/Credit only, no checks. Apparently they are afraid of all of the sixteen year olds running around kiting bad checks.

Yes, these lines are all run by the same infamous Jefferson County figure, Travis A. Hulsey. So why the disparity in options?

Which brings us to ALDOT Mystery #2:

Why in the world are you supposed to make your checks out to Travis A. Hulsey?? Why not ALDOT?? What kind of scheme is he running?

Now obviously it’s not his original scheme, because we all USED to make our checks out to Randy Godeke. But apparently Randy got enough cash and checks from us that he is good to go, and passed the reigns to his buddy Travis.

Ah, the world will never uncover the mysteries of the ALDOT.

Thankful Thursday. . . along with a bit of confession.

Posted on Posted by Rachel Callahan Categories Thankful Thursday

It’s that time again!

But first of all, I have to ‘fess up. . . I have been putting off writing today’s Thankful Thursday post. Every week since I started this weekly column, I knew what I was going to write, and usually even had this post written, days in advance. But this week, I still don’t know quite what to say, even as I type these words. It’s not that I’m not thankful – because I certainly am – it’s just that it’s not coming to me as easily as usual.

I think the reason for this is that I have felt a bit down this week – not sure why really, just down. It may be as simple as being a side effect of the anesthesia and surgery-related drugs that I took last week, and, maybe, the CUTTING OPEN of my body. I seem to remember feeling this way after past surgeries.

I also feel like all of my blog posts this week have shown my state of mind – they’ve had quite the serious note. Not that I have anything against being serious – I just prefer being more of an “entertaining” blogger. As I noted in my sidebar yesterday, I’m really hoping that my sense of humor wasn’t kept in my gall bladder, because at the moment it feels like it is missing again.

Anyway, I’m not trying to whine on Thankful Thursday – I’m just being honest, and letting you know where I’m coming from. I am very, very thankful though. And so I think I’ll do bullet points for today’s Thankful Thursday:

  • I am so thankful that my surgery is over, was successful, and I was able to recover (for the most part) so quickly.
  • I am so thankful for my parent’s willingness (and even eagerness!!) to keep Ali for a couple of days while I recovered. I didn’t really realize the depth of that gift until we picked her up on Saturday and I realized how exhausting it was to keep up with a toddler after having surgery!!
  • I am thankful that Ali grasped that Mommy didn’t feel good. She was so great to go to Daddy automatically when she wanted to be held, read to, played with, etc all weekend long. A toddler’s intuitive abilities are really amazing!!
  • I am thankful that even in a “down” or difficult week, my hope is in Christ, and so even if I don’t “feel” good, I certainly have a peace and joy despite my feelings because I know it is temporary, it will go away, and that God is in control and will provide for my needs!
  • Post Script Thankfulness (I wrote this post Wednesday afternoon and it is now Wednesday night): I had a wonderful night and talk with Chris and am feeling much better than I have all week. It’s amazing what being able to voice (and write) feelings can do to alleviate their pressure. And I am SO thankful for Chris’ encouragement when I need it the most!

OK – your turn!! What are you thankful for today? Leave it in a comment, or if you have a blog, write a post and link it in with Mr. Linky, and you can have the pleasure of welcoming my wonderful readers to your site!

To use Mr. Linky to link to your blog, just type in your name in the first slot, then copy and paste the URL of your blog post in the second one and click “Enter” – then there will be a link to your post from my blog!

Stick to What You Know

Posted on Posted by Rachel Callahan Categories "Deep" Thoughts by Rachel, On a more serious note. . .

You know all of those Delta Dental commercials and billboards that will have something like “Pop’s Donuts and Opthamologist” or something like that?

The point, of course, is that Delta Dental specializes in just one area, therefore making them superior in that area.

So now I have request. Jillian Michaels, of Biggest Loser training fame, please, please, PLEASE stick to what you know best. You are an awesome fitness trainer. Please stick to training.

Jillian was “counseling” Michelle, one of her team members, last night on her issues with her Mom Renee, whom she is competing on the show with, because Renee had divorced Michelle’s dad 6 years ago, taken her two sisters with her, but left Michelle behind with her Dad. Obviously, Michelle had issues with abandonment, not being good enough, that her Mom really left because of her, etc. So, to try and help her forgive her Mom, Jillian says the following:

You should be happy for your Mom, because your Mom did the best thing that she could have done for all of you by leaving your family, because she wasn’t happy. . .she had fallen out of love. Would YOU want your child to be in a loveless marriage?

Both Chris and my jaws hit the floor.

If I were a ranter, which I am going to try and not do here, I think I could literally go on for days about this quote. I think I could quote enough from marriage books, the bible, and PLAIN OLD COMMON SENSE to make this post at least 53 pages long. But I try not to rant on here, so I will just say this:

Jillian, how is it that you expect your contestants to not give up, to work their butts off, and to do whatever crazy things it takes to lose weight and keep it off, but if a person is “unhappy” in a marriage, the BEST thing they can do for everyone involved is walk out of it?

No work? No effort? No determination? That’s IT!?!?!

I really hope that struggling couples across America didn’t buy into Jillian’s logic last night. Because making decisions solely on the idea of chasing one’s OWN happiness never ever works, in the long run.