Friday, June 18, 2010

When I was your age...

{Dear Eisley & Pie #2}

I grew up hearing all about things from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Parents love to say "when *I* was a kid..."

So now I would like to share with you how different technology was during my youth. The 80s & 90s.

Here is what my first cell phone looked like. It was just a phone. There were no calculators, alarm clocks, texting, or fancy ringtones. If you were to see a side view of this baby, you'd see it's about the size of a brick. This was when I was 15. Prior to that, if you were out and about and wanted to make a call, you had to find a quarter and a payphone.

I watched TV during my early years on something just like this. Yes, ours even had a faux wood box {to match your furniture!}, turn dials, and {WHAT?!} no remote!!!
The first computer I ever used looked like this. Mind you, there was no internet quite yet. No searching Google for this or that. Instead we'd pull out the phone book to find a good plumber or the local pizza delivery.
Your Auntie Bea & I both begged for this one Christmas {and got it}, our first Nintendo Gameboys. This was how we played video games from anywhere, on a pixelated black & green screen, roughly 1.5" square.
And when people in my day wanted to listen to music "on the go", there was this handy invention - the Sony Walkman. You'd just pop your tape cassette in there, press play and - viola! - you're listening to music anywhere! If you wanted to repeat a song, all you had to do was hit the rewind button.... and hold it for 2-3 minutes. But *THEN*, my dear, was yet another great invention, one that came along when CDs overtook tape cassets: the Sony Discman! With this portable CD player, all you had to do was pop in a CD and press play. Later versions had skip protection, and that was a good thing...
And computers really got high tech when the Mac Classic rolled out. Notice the sleek mouse on this baby:
I remember how big a deal it was when we got our first caller ID! Now we could tell who was calling when the phone rang. It was utterly amazing technology.
And when someone called and we didn't have time to answer it, our handy-dandy answering machine allowed them to leave a message for us:
Mommy's first car was a 1986 Honda Civic. My arms got toned that year from the lack of power steering.
When we wanted to watch a movie, there was no pay-per-view or on-demand place to simply download it. Instead, we hopped in the car and headed here, a video rental store:
And we rented this, a VHS cassette:
And we popped it in this, our VCR:

We've come a long way, Pies 1 & 2.... a loooong way.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

{Little Baby}

{The pregnancy test I was given at the doctor - hugely positive, yay!}

{Dear Little Baby #2 - Whoever you are...}


I love you.

Up until now this blog & my life as a mother has been mostly all about Eisley. But now you are on your way as well, another sweet blessing in my life among all the others.

It is still hard at this point to imagine loving another being as much as I love Eisley, but I know they say it is possible, and I know I will. Heck, already do. Don't ever forget it. Your momma loved you since the day she saw that faint pink line.

You & I have something in common {other than DNA} in that we both have a big sister. Another thing in common is that we both have really wonderful, amazing big sisters. How lucky are we?

Eisley is sometimes lonely and bored for a playmate and I know she will benefit so much from having you in her life.

Little Baby #2, you were planned and you were so wanted. I feel incredibly blessed to have conceived two "first try" babies. I have known of too many deserving women who did not experience this "luxury" and so I do not take that fact for granted. And so I thank God for your existence and His plan for your life. Even if you are making me sick and exhausted. And overly-sentimental. Blame the hormones. They make me cry at every little thing...

On the day I found out you existed I thought to myself, "God has smiled on me today!" I was just so excited and grateful.

You are like a smile from God in my eyes.

{Love, Mom}