Henry, before the brain injury

In the first two weeks after Henry entered the hospital, we were told that he’d suffered both major types of brain injury – traumatic and hypoxic – , but that after he woke from the coma, he’d made it past the critical point. We all thought he was going to live. The online photo album I started at that time with photos from Henry’s hospital stay is still to this day titled, “Henry’s Recovery,” and I spent every moment I could in those first two weeks researching care and rehabilitation for brain injury patients, anticipating a long road back for Henry.

I just knew he could do it, and we would help him.

The Lorax Movie

Many classic Dr.  Seuss tales have important lessons for children to take in – such as, “A person’s a person, no matter how small,” from “Horton Hears a Who” – but perhaps no Seuss story is so full of teachable passion than “The Lorax,” with its dramatic storyline of environmental recklessness.

My son Henry in the hospital about 2.5 weeks before he died on May 31, 2010

My friend and fellow Babble blogger, Monica Bielanko — mother of three-year-old Violet and one-year-old Henry — has written a gorgeous new essay about how parents of healthy, living children feel terrified much of the time about what terrible, tragic things could happen.

I remember that feeling very, very well, and she’s described it perfectly.

But I don’t feel the same terror any more.

My First Picky Eater

A big thanks to YoBaby for sponsoring this post and some others I will be sharing in the weeks ahead on the topic of feeding G and her siblings. CLICK HERE for more of this discussion.

As the mother of five children, I thought I pretty much had the whole baby-feeding thing down by the time G arrived 19 months ago. I mean, how much different could this baby be than her four older siblings, right?

Wrong!

In case you hadn’t heard, JC Penney recently hired America’s sweetheart – and everyone’s fave dance partner – Ellen Degeneres to appear in a national advertising campaign.

Although I almost never get to watch her show because it’s on at a time when I am at work, I am a big Ellen fan in general, so just by hiring Ellen, JC Penney might have registered on my retail radar in a way it hasn’t in years.

"A Precious and Extremely Absentminded Commodity: the Katie Allison Granju Story""

According to friends and family, I am hard to get on the the phone, and also kind of tough to keep on the phone. This popularly held opinion of my phone (UN)availability was hammered home to me this morning when my good pal and fellow Babble blogger John Cave Osborne and I were chatting about something or another via telephone.

More at: RyanGoslingLovesMombloggers.Tumblr.com

Like just about every other self-respecting female under the age of DEAD, I find actor o’ the moment Ryan Gosling to be more than a little bit attractive.

He’s a cutie, for sure.

Me, with my oldest daughter J and my youngest daughter, G

When we mothers and fathers are living in those those early, honeymoon years of parenting – that time in our lives when our children are still babies, or young children – our optimism for the futures that lie ahead for our obviously exceptional offspring is generally shimmering and boundless .

Leo, age 10 weeks

In the last few days, I suddenly realized that our family has a milestone coming up; next week, our giant sweetie of a dog, Leo will turn four years old.

The photo that made me start thinking.

I am going to start right out by admitting that I am kind of embarrassed to write about this topic. In fact, I’ve started and stopped discussing it publicly multiple times in recent months because I just don’t want to sound nuts. But I keep thinking about it, and there have just been so many people who have told me their own stories of connectedness with loved ones after death that I just keep coming back to this …