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Olympic Athlete Bodies, Side by Side

They’re the best of the best, aren’t they? The cream of the crop, the pick of the litter. The finest, most talented, and most dedicated athletes at any given moment.

You’d think they’d somewhat resemble each other.

Okay, so I know that people come in all different shapes and sizes. And it’s obvious that there exists different standards and physical advantages for different sports. But looking at these Olympic athletes side by side, I couldn’t help but be surprised at just how different their body types are.

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Happy Birthday, Aerin!

As of 9:20am today, our Aerin Isabel turns 2 years old. When I updated our speech therapist on the status of Aerin's hearing — that she is, indeed, still hearing impaired and will need tubes placed in her ears — the reaction was one of pure shock. "Just judging by the tremendous progress she has made in the short time we've been together, I would have never guessed that she still has trouble hearing. What a trooper!" Aerin is, without a doubt, a trooper for having endured such a large portion of the past year with an impediment. For not letting that get in the way of her adventurous ways. For refusing to live in the shadows, and trying ever the harder...

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OMGz I Want This Book

As if being a huge fan of J.J. Abrams who also happens to be a book nerd is not reason enough…

A few months ago, geeks worldwide went into a guessing frenzy when Abrams’ production company tweeted the following:

The secret is finally out, because the mysterious trailer was for a book, which Abrams conceived and written by award-winning novelist Doug Dorst.

Simply titled S., the book is actually two books in one: the first, Ship of Theseus, written by fictional author V.M. Straka, and the second, the story that plays out between two strangers within the handwritten margin notes and the documents placed between the book’s pages (letters, cards, notes, and such).

41-oATFYEQL

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Tubes in Her Ears

Aerin has been doing wonderfully with her speech and developmental therapies. In just one month, the number of words she says has more than doubled to over 50, and she has even started to put together two-word sentences. (e.g., "Blow bubbles," "Juice please") She can now count to ten, and tries her best to sing along to familiar songs. I really believed her hearing was back to normal, and both her therapists agreed. We were wrong. I brought Aerin to our follow-up ENT appointment this past weekend, confident that the doctor would give her a clean bill of health. But as soon as he examined her ears, he shook his head and said, "There's still a buildup of fluid behind her eardrums. The...

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