Angel Girl turned one!

So April 19th 2008 has come and gone and my Angel girl is officially one year old. I even made an extra effort to savor her newness and the first year still flew by. Angel girl’s birth story in brief:

Little Angel girl came into our world yesterday. Hubby and I arrived at the hospital at 5:30a.m. Pitocin was started at 6 a.m. The doctor broke my water around 7:30a.m. Shortly thereafter I was given an epidural. By 9:30 a.m I was dialated to 4cm…They checked me again at 11:30a.m. and I was 10cm! I started pushing at around 12:02p.m. and Angel girl was born at 12:08p.m. Only 6 hours of labor and 6 minutes of pushing (as opposed to 19 hours and 1 1/2 hours of pushing with my last one). - My journal entry 4/20/2007

Angel girl was 10lbs. 2oz. and 22 1/2 inches long when she emerged. So I started out with a linebacker

I was so very sick that day. I had viral pink eye in BOTH eyes and a horrible head and chest cold.

Now she’s almost 20 pounds, has more hair and 4 little teeth. We had a fun little birthday celebration.

Here is the mini cake I made for her

I’m so in love with my baby girl and so happy she joined our family!

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April 21, 2008 | Filed Under Kids | 29 Comments 

Afraid of everything

It was 85 degrees yesterday. EIGHTY FIVE. Of course we had to go out and enjoy the fine weather. So after picking Count Dooku up from school, we drove to our favorite playground. I settled down around the sand box where Count Dooku was playing. Then I encouraged Obi Wan to join his brother. Obi Wan whimpered sadly and shook his head. He sat down by me instead and I assumed he would go off and play soon enough. But he didn’t.

My conversation with a friend kept getting interrupted by, “Aaaagh!” and “No-ho-ho-ho-ho!” and “Eeeee!” followed by a cowering four year old clasping my arm or snuggling into me. I was so focused on conversing that I didn’t register his behavior in my head at first. Every time he made a noise I just kept telling him to shush or to go play. Finally it clicked and I wondered what all of his fussing was about and why he wasn’t playing.

“Obi Wan, what in the world is the matter?”
“I mee a go home!”
“No you don’t need to go home. Why are you squealing so much?”
“Aaaaagh! A bug! A bug!”
I shooed a little fly away from him
“Nohoooooo! Go away bee!”
“I shooed the fly away from him again.
“Are you flipping out because of the bugs?” I asked
“I no wike bugs mom.”

Well I guess that was my answer. I kept encouraging him to play but he wouldn’t leave my side. I had thought he wasn’t afraid of bugs anymore. Last Summer he was but then he seemed to get over it.

Oh.
Wait.
He didn’t get over it. The bugs just died. Now they’re back and Obi Wan is as afraid as ever. Combine that with his stubborn personality and no amount of coaxing could get him to leave my side for an instant. The constant squealing and whining was pretty darn annoying. I did have to laugh though when the whining that interrupted me at one point went like so,

“Mom, iss da big bad wofe. I scared a da big bad wofe.”
“Big bad wolf? What in the world do you mean?”
“Der mom, da big bad wofe.”

His little finger pointed toward a park bench where a huge husky sat panting in the shade of a tree, it’s owner holding the leash.

My boy is afraid of bugs and dogs and I don’t know what to do to help him get over it. *sigh*

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April 18, 2008 | Filed Under Kids | 11 Comments 

Men and Make up

If you read my recent purse post, you may have been able to surmise that I am very much a girl of the Au Natural mindset when it comes to makeup. This doesn’t mean that I won’t brush on some eye shadow and mascara from time to time, but that is as far as making myself up goes. My lack of wanting to make myself up stems from a very early dislike of my gender in general. I dealt with some very mean girls in elementary school, starting in the third grade and decided right then that I wanted to be nothing like them. This meant doing the opposite of everything they did. So I refused to wear makeup, played baseball with the boys at recess and caught bugs and worms to dangle in their screaming faces after recess. How charming I was! But I digress.

I married a man who hates make up more than I ever did. Not just on me but on the female population as a whole. When I comment on how pretty a face we just saw on TV is, he’ll correct me by saying she wasn’t necessarily pretty, just made up (if she was). For him, made up in any way is not very attractive, though the woman beneath the make up may be.
For me, made up is pretty as long as it is not overdone. I did remind him that you can be wearing make up and still look very natural and beautiful and he conceded that yes this could be true. Half the time the silly boy can’t even tell that I’ve put mascara on, so either my trying to accentuate my lashes so my eyes look half alive, isn’t working after all or he’s just not as put off by it as he claims.

Hubby has promised me with a passion that if I ever decide to wear lipstick, he will not kiss me while it is on. Whether it be the kind that won’t come off on other surfaces or not. The thought of his lips touching the stuff, or his hands touching a face with even a tiny layer of base gives him the heebie jeebies.

So now I ask you, how does your husband feel about make up? Or if you’re a man (though I honestly don’t think I have any male readers), how do you feel about make up?

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April 17, 2008 | Filed Under Random | 23 Comments 

Being a Mother

School would be out in 15 minutes. I had arrived early and pulled into a space facing my sons class. Only a moment later the school doors swung open and 30 or so kindergartners swarmed out onto the playground to savor a bit of the warm day, the first we’d had in a week.

I watched my little guy in his gray hoodie climbing the equipment, going down the slide and chasing friends around. After one particularly long chase that began with 6 kids, Count Dooku was the only one left in pursuit. I watched as he caught up to the boy in front of him. I watched as the boy turned around and shoved Count Dooku hard onto the ground.

I heard the driver side door click and then realized it was my hand on the handle, tense. I was ready to march on over to that offending child and give him a piece of my mind. But I stopped as rational thought took over instinct. I can’t be there to help him up every time he falls. I shouldn’t help him up every time he falls, even if I am there.

As I watched, Count Dooku stood up and went back to playing as if nothing had happened. I relaxed, thankful for his ability to shrug things off. Yet I was troubled as I realized this was only one of the first of many painful experiences he would face in his life.

How many times will he face physical hurts? Emotional hurts? Will his heart get broken? Will he lose faith in the goodness of humanity? What wouldn’t I give to be able to shield all of my children from hurt and harm all the time?

But I can’t give them that. No one can.

A simple quote comes to mind:


Worry is like a rocking chair–it gives you something to do but it doesn’t get you anywhere.

Instead of worrying, I should be asking myself what I can give them to help them get through the painful tomorrows?

I have gotten by on faith. Faith that God exists, that he is aware of me personally. I have gotten by on love. The love of family and friends has buoyed me up in my darkest times. I have gotten by on others belief in me. Those who have expressed their belief in my ability to be better and do better and overcome hardship, has helped keep me going.

I can give them all of that. But even after I give them all I can to see them through, they will still be the ultimate deciders of their reactions toward what mortality hands them. I can only hope to set an example of patience and kindness that perhaps they will follow.

So much to work on personally, so much to teach, so overwhelming at times are the considerations of a mother.

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April 14, 2008 | Filed Under Motherhood | 22 Comments 

ABC Tag

Richelle tagged me with this fun ABC tag, so you get to learn a little bit more about me. :)

A - Attached or single: Attached!

B - Best Friend: Meisha

C - Cake or Pie: Apple or Pumpkin Pie

D - Day of Choice: I like Saturdays because my husband is home.

E - Essential Item: Internet

F - Favorite Color: I like white. But since that’s not officially a color, I like burgundy and muted shades of purple

G - Gummi Bears or Worms: Neither. Sour Patch Kids

H - Hometown: Spent my first few years in So. Cal, the rest in Utah

I - Indulgence: Peanut Butter anything

J - January or July: July by a long shot. I’ll take sweltering heat over cold any day

K - Kids: Three

L - Life is incomplete without: My family and the gospel

M - Marriage Date: December 19

N - Number of Siblings: 5 - 2 brothers and 2 sisters

O - Oranges or Apples: Apples

P - Phobias or Fears: I’m a wee bit claustrophobic

Q - Quote: “I don’t think the world should assume that we are all natural mothers. And it does. I don’t think it’s such a big thing anymore, but the idea that you sacrifice everything for your children—it’s a load of rubbish. It leads to very destructive living and thinking, and it has a much worse effect on children than if you go out and live your own life. You’re meant to adore your children at all times, and you’re not meant to have a bad thought about them. That’s facism, you know, and it’s elevating the child at the expense of the mother. It’s like your life is not valid except in fulfilling this child’s needs. What about all your needs, your desires, your wants, your problems? They’re going to come out anyway, so it’s better they’re acknowledged straight off. Having said that, I really do believe that children have to be protected. They have to be loved. Somewhere between the two, I think, something needs to be sorted out. The relationship between parent and child is so difficult and so complex. There’s every emotion there. We mostly only acknowledge the good ones. If we were allowed to talk about the other ones, maybe it would alleviate them in some way” - Marina Carr
Saw this quote in one of Ree Writes’ posts and just loved it!

R - Reason to Smile: My Kids

S - Season: Summer

T - Tag: Anyone who wants

U- Unknown Fact About Me: I love tomato products, but I hate plain tomatoes.

V - Veggies or Fruit: Both

W - Worst Habit: Picking scabs

X - X-Rays or Ultrasounds: I’ve had both

Y - Your Favorite Food: A thick juicy steak with sauteed mushrooms

Z - Zodiac: Libra

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April 12, 2008 | Filed Under Memes | 6 Comments 

A True Fairy Tale

A story Obi Wan told me 5 minutes ago after I told him it was time to pick up.

“Wuts upod a time, der were two boys. Der names were Count Dooku and Obi Wan.
One day, dey maked a huuuuuu-uuu-uuuge mess! Da boys tell’d der momma, “You cwean up dis mess!” Der momma made da mess aw cwean. Dee End!!!”

In your dreams little man.

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April 11, 2008 | Filed Under Humor, Kids | 14 Comments 

Evolution of Me

School Pictures

Hey, pretty cute!

Not as cute.

The downward trend continues.

HOLY MOTHER OF PEARL!! What the flip did I do to my hair, and why?!?!?

There’s hope on the horizon.

She might even attract a man

Do boys ever take horrid school pictures? I mean, there’s so much more you can mangle when it comes to long hair. And why did my mother ever let me mangle it so? (love ya mom)

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April 10, 2008 | Filed Under Photos, Random | 20 Comments 

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