Overheard in the bathtub...

So my two oldest children are taking a bath and I'm just around the corner putting the leftover dinner in the fridge.

I hear, "Emilee Erin DeZort, will you marry me?" Her reply? "Well, I would like to, but you're supposed to have a ring and you don't have one."

A minute later I walked into the bathroom to see Megan sliding a toothpaste lid onto the tip of Emilee's finger for her "gagement ring". Emilee then annonced she was having a baby and proceeded to have a beautiful water birth.

ROFL....is that a daughter of a doula or what?

Ah, the memories...

Today I had the wonderful opportunity to get together with an old childhood friend. Her mother and my mother were good friends and we played together all of the time. I moved away when I was eight, and her family moved several states away soon after that. I've only seen her two or three times since then. I'm now married, with 3 small children and she is married with an adorable little girl!

It turns out that she only lives an hour or two away from me now. Her mother was up visiting and so we all got together....the "original" mothers and the "little-girls-all-grown-up" mothers.

She looked so wonderful and it was a joy to see her (despite the fact that she is cute and skinny...something I can only aspire to!) It was so much fun reliving old memories and sharing new things in our lives. I have more memories of spending the night at her house than I do of just about anything else in tnat period of my childhood. We watched Smurfs and She-Ra together. We built forts and hunted for BB's on the streets we roamed (remember the days when little kids could actually roam the neighborhood?) We would force our little brother and sister to sit still and play school with us, or we'd try to get them to kiss each other...that is, when we weren't trying to get away from them! I think about her often when I see my daughters making "best friends" with children they are growing up with in the neighborhood. I often wonder if they will look back with the same memories.

We're all grown up now. She has a beautiful little girl that has this crazy, huge grin she shares very easily. She looked just like her Mama. It was a nice reunion....certainly not something I get to do everyday. As soon as they left I had to go look through my old pictures. I didn't ask her if I could post pictures of her in the internet world, but well, our history will allow her to forgive me. lol



Here we are doing I have no idea what. I'm the blonde with the horrible haircut! But look at our feet! Certainly the best part of this picture is the Jellies! Man how I thought Jellies were cool!



Here we are in the back row. The girl I have my hand on is her little sister. The other two...well, I have no idea who they are. But I'm pretty sure the outfits we're wearing were made by my friend's mother. I could be wrong though...afterall, it has been 20 years.

When your lessons to your children come back to bite you in the butt.

So we have a rule in our house.

Put your stuff away! Not that it gets followed very often. My children area always leaving their things out. I've had almost every single toy taken away before and it didn't seem to help a whole lot. Not that I can blame them; I'm not the best at picking up either.

Anyway, to drive home the point that they need to take care of their stuff, if they leave it out, it's anyone's game. Emilee will get upset because Megan is playing with some special toy/project/gift of hers and if it wasn't put away then I tell her that it's not my problem. Basically, if she leaves it out then the other kids can do what they want with it.

So tonight I took some money out of my jeans pocket before sticking them in the washer and just left it on the counter. Do you see where I'm going with this? When I told her it was mine, she asked the question....the question she really had every right to ask. "How come I have to give stuff back to you when you leave it out, but Megan doesn't have to give stuff back to me?"

Good point. My daughter is now $7 richer.

Happy Birthday Dear Melia

Wow. Two years already? I felt like taking a trip down memory lane today.
I realize it's long, but indulge me.

It was a Sunday night. I was due the next day, although I use the term “due” very loosely. When I was first pregnant, and I went in for my first appointment with my midwife, I informed her that I had been late with my previous two, and I was pretty sure I ovulated close to a week later than the average woman. So we changed my due date from the 2nd of June, to the 7th. No real reason to say the 7th, it was just later and sounded like a good date.

So I was “due” the next day. I had a final scheduled for Tuesday in my online college course I was taking. The instructor emailed us Sunday afternoon informing us we could take it anytime we wanted. I hadn’t studied, but not wanting to push my luck on the baby front, I decided to sit down and just take it and get it over with. I started the test around 10:30 that night. About half way through the test, I was just really uncomfortable sitting there. You know how it is when you’re 9 months pregnant. Is there really a comfortable way to sit? Then I began to notice that the insane urge to stand up seemed to be happening every 5 minutes or so. Hmmmmmm….

By the time I was near the end of the test I could hardly concentrate. I just wanted to be done and to walk around. I quickly finished the last question (I got at A by the way!) and began to walk around the house.

Nothing.

Worried that I would be calling my birth team to my home in the middle of the night, I did what any sane pregnant woman about to go in labor would do at midnight. I did the dishes so they wouldn’t think I was a slob! While doing the dishes I definitely felt a little bit crampy, but I couldn’t classify anything as a contraction really, since I couldn’t really feel a beginning and an end. I could just feel a little bit of a peak now and then. I decided I really should go try to get some sleep in case I was going to be getting up in a few hours. I laid my head down on the pillow and boy, it felt nice. I was tired so I instantly began to drift.


YEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW! A contraction came and it did NOT feel good. My body screamed to get up, but I really just wanted to sleep. Knowing that often times when you change a position, the next one is stronger, I kept laying there thinking they would alleviate. YEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOW. Ok, Ok….they’ll settle down.
YEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOW! I literally jumped out of bed because basically every cell in my body told me that that was not ok to be laying like that! I got back up and walked out into the living room.

Nothing.

Well, not nothing, but certainly not much. A light bit of cramping every 5 minutes or so and that was it. I remember feeling silly just walking around, at 1am, with hardly any labor going. But I knew I couldn’t lay down. For some reason, when I laid down they hurt like crazy! So I walked around for a little bit and they slowly became stronger and more defined.
Around 2:30 I woke my husband and asked him if we should start filling the birth pool. With my last birth, once things got cooking, they really sped along. So I was in this weird in between stage, where I wasn’t positive this labor was going to stick, but I couldn’t wait too long or things would get rolling to fast to do the things I wanted. We decided to start filling. At 3am I called my midwife and told her I didn’t know if she should come, I didn’t want her to waste her time….but it might be it, etc, etc. She decided to come.

Meanwhile we ran out of hot water with the tub half filled. By now I was really starting to feel uncomfortable and I was tired (because it was 3:30am!) and really wanted to relax in the water. My mother arrived and we suddenly had a brilliant plan! The next door apartment was unrented at the moment and when no one lived there, the managers always left it unlocked! My mom and my husband took pots and pans and went over and stole their hot water, one pan at a time, and brought it back to my tub! They single handedly filled the rest of my huge birth tub that way. Aren’t they great!?!

My midwife and her assistant showed up around 4am. I told her I did not want to be checked because if I wasn’t very far along I was going to be discouraged. So I spent the next 15 minutes or so leaning against a wall and saying, “Freak Freak Freak Freak Freak Freak Freak Freak” during the entire surge. I don’t know why. It certainly wasn’t planned and not something I did with my other two, but it sure felt good! The rhythm and the noise really helped to relieve any tension I had. I was having a lot of discomfort in my back, so I was really using anything I could to keep myself loose.

My doulas arrived around 4:30 when I was getting into the tub. Boy, that tub felt good. It was pretty hot though, so one of my doulas spent almost the rest of my labor bringing cold washcloths and putting them on my face, my back and my neck. My dear wonderful husband spent the entire time pushing on my aching back to relieve some of the pressure I felt. My other doula sat in front of me with a pillow on her lap, and I leaned over the edge of the tub and laid on her lap while she played with my hair.

Around 5:30, I asked to be checked. I was ready to hear the news. 6cm! Not too bad, I had hoped for more, but wasn’t too disappointed with that. I went back to work at relaxing and moaning through my birthing. My oldest daughter (who was 4 ½ at the time) woke up around this time. She was a little anxious since she woke up early to all of these people in her house and didn’t get the build up of early labor to adjust to. Grandma took her out in the living room and put the Lion King and watched the movie with her. They would come in and peak in the room ever so often.

Around 6:00 I told everyone that I felt complete and could probably start pushing. However, I remembered the pushing as very overwhelming with my second. The urge had been so strong that I hadn’t felt very in control and I was really nervous about starting that again. So I continued to labor for a bit longer (probably 15-20 minutes) until I realized I really wasn’t going to get anywhere just doing that. So I started pushing. I told the midwife something didn’t feel right and she checked my cervix and found a little lip left. During the next surge she simply popped the lip up over the babies head and then things felt much better to push. Shortly after I started pushing, I felt a pop and knew that my water had finally broken. Pushing in the water felt so much better than it had pushing on my back in bed with my second! I could “feel” more, as in I could tell what my body was doing and where the baby was, but it didn’t feel nearly as overwhelming. I could feel my body doing it’s thing, but I didn’t feel like I was on a runaway train like last time. I had the oddest sensation when I felt the baby’s head slip into the birth canal. It didn’t hurt a bit, but I felt so full. I could feel my body stretch and I knew when to back off so I didn’t tear. At one point when I was pushing, I could hear the Lion King in the background. It was playing that scene when Scar is singing all evil like, and I heard him sing, "Powers of Contention!". I remember yelling at someone to turn it off because my baby was NOT going to be born to a song about contention!

I was pushing on my hands and knees and when she was born, and the midwife just somersaulted her between my legs and she floated in front of my. I picked her up and out of the water, held her to my chest and just became overwhelmed with so many emotions. She was finally here! She didn’t breathe at first, but she was pink and healthy looking. She held her head up on her own and looked at me, and at a few other people in the room. Then she laid back on my chest and the midwife tickled her feet and she slowly started to breathe….a little bit at a time with just a little meow here or there. It was so wonderful.
Later, Emilee helped Daddy to cut the cord. Megan came in about an hour later and met her new little sister and we gave the girls their Big Sister gifts becasue it is so special to become a big sister and we knew they would be wonderful big sisters.

It took us two days to name her Melia (Muh – Leah). We had picked out Olivia, Alyssa, and Allison, but none of them seemed right! On day two, Emilee said she thought she looked like a Melia. It fit immediately. Even Daddy agreed (and Daddy does NOT like unique names) so we knew it was meant to be.

My little Melia is such a personality. She has this insane screech/giggle she lets out every time she sees a balloon. And I mean EVERY time. We hear it several times a day. She notices them in the horizon when they are miles away at a car dealership, or in a grocery store 6 aisles over. I hear the screech, and I immediately begin looking for balloons. She has the curliest little hair. She is slow to give people a smile sometimes (you can always see the wheels turning behind those eyes and she’s figuring people out) but when she does, it’s magic. She’s a Daddy’s girl too and if she hears his car after work will run out the door giving him the “balloon” screech!

She’s my little Melia and she’s Two!



Surrounded by my husband and my two doula's support



Pictures of me holding my baby for the first time (as well as the people who held my hands the entire time)



And here she is today, trying to be big like Daddy and eat her dinner while leaning against the kitchen counter.

How cute is that?

About 18 hours after our first dental floss experiement, Emilee lost yet another tooth! We'd discussed pulling it that night, but since it wasn't ready to pull the night before when we got the first one, I figured it wasn't ready to pull less than 24 hours later. But while playing in the back yard and chewing gum, it popped out all on it's own! I think the first one was helping to hold it in or something! lol

She is also sporting the haircut she recieved right after school. I had to drag her in (since the last 30 days consisted of conversations along the lines of "If you keep crying, we're cutting it all off", etc, etc, etc.) I made her go in and she was sad. But the cut is so cute on her, even SHE could see that! She ran her hands through her hair all day commenting on how wonderfully tangle free it was and how she was going to keep it like this for a while. It is awfully cute on her. Growing up I said I'd never cut my children's hair short. I thought little kids and long hair were inseparable! But Emilee just looks cute cute cute with short hair. Her hair is so thin and straight and short hair just complimetns her face. We had it cut in an inverted bob and slightly stacked in the back. It's a bit shorter than we asked for, but still adorable on her. Yes, that was pride you heard in my voice....I'm a sinner.

I've always thought kids with their teeth missing were cute. But something about it being on my own "baby" just makes my heart melt. I love that look!

Two graduations in one night!

My baby....my oldest baby, graduated into the toothless club tonight! She's had a loose tooth for months now, but it was hanging on strong. Actually, now both of the bottom ones are really loose. Today I noticed you could see her adult tooth coming through right behind the back edge of her loose tooth. She's quite the scaredy cat, but I convinced her it would be fun to pull it. So we sat down and I tried very unsuccessfuly to grab a hold of that tooth. Baby teeth are incredibly tiny when you think about it. Yeah, yeah, I know, stating the obvious. Anyway, we attempted the old tried and true dental floss method, but I had the hardest time getting the dental floss around her tooth! It just wouldn't stay on. It didn't help that she was a little stressed out and her bottom lip would tighten up and get in the way. I finally grabbed the tweezers to help hold the back side of the floss in place. Bingo! I know she was really nervous, but I honestly think that I was more nervous than she was. I knew that if I failed to pull that tooth out, it would 1) hurt her and 2) increase her paranoia about loosing a tooth. So after I made her a giggle a bit I yanked with all of my might. It actually came out quite easily. She had this look of shock on her face, and then I dangled the tooth in front of her. She was all grins! She started this uncontrollable, excited giggle and started chanting, "it's out! it's out! it's out"...but that excitement slowly morphed into a full blown panic attack.
"It's out! It's out...........oh no...It's out! Aaahhhh, I'm scared, I'm scared (imagine her now running around in circles petrified) I'm scared." I should have video taped it. I probably could have won some money on America's Funniest Home Video because the extreme emotions she bounced to in that 5 seconds was quite funny!

I guess she'd seen the blood on the end of the tooth and was really worried. So of course, I couldn't let her look in the mirror for about 5 minutes because she actually bled quite a bit. I was grateful Megan didn't say anything to her.

So now my baby is toothless and she is loving it. Most of her friends have all lost teeth already so she was feeling left out. Now I just have to remember not to go to bed before doing my part!



The second graduation was my precious Megan! She had her preschool graduation today. They had cute little graduation caps and everything. They called the kids' names and they would walk down the aisle gingerly, most of them acting shy. Then Megan came bounding out when it was her turn and skipped and twirled her way down the aisle! I'm so bummed I didn't get a picture. She was moving so much and so fast that the only two pictures I snapped were way to fuzzy to even post.

My little girls are growing up.

A French Kiss

When my oldest daughter was younger (around 3), she would ask for a "turn kiss", which meant a kiss where your heads turned, like at the end of the fairytale. She also knew that the mouth was slightly open. Man, kids are really observant, even of cartoons! She would try to "turn kiss" us all of the time.

So today, when she asked for a French Kiss, I assumed she had renamed the Turn Kiss and wondered where she had even learned that term in the first place. What is a kindergartner doing learning about French kissing? I began to giver her a speach about how some kisses are for Mommy's and Daddy's and other kisses are for kids when she lamented, "But I just REALLY want to kiss you on both cheeks".

Ahhhh......a French kiss. Ok, I get it. Sure Emilee, French kiss all you want.

Birthday on a Birthday!

So Monday was my birthday! Happy Birthday to me! I had a pretty fun one! Since becoming a mother, Birthdays are pretty much a regular day most years, but this one was fun! My husband took the day off of work and my MIL and GMIL were staying with us and they watched the kids while James and I went out. They baked me a birthday cake, helped the girls wrap presents and then MIL took us out to dinner as a family that night! It was really a great day!

I also got to go to a birth on my birthday! I had a client who was due in the middle of June but had been having a lot of health issues. She decided to have a C-section (her first had been C-section, her second a VBAC homebirth) because of some liver issues and her baby boy was born Monday morning at 37weeks, 1 day weighing 9lbs 9oz!!!!!!!!! That's right! 9 1/2 pounds and 3 weeks early! Wowsers! He was absolutely adorable and my client was happy. It was fun to get to go to a birth on my birthday! What better way to celebrate than that?

My talents lie in other places.

I love to do my girls' hair up in cute little hair styles. I'm pretty good at it too. Now, don't mistake that to mean that I actually DO it very often, because really, who has time to get three little girls all spiffy every morning? And even if I did have the time, who would want the fight? I don't feel like listening to the shrieks of horror every morning. I get enough of that just brushing their hair. Especially when it will be all messed up by the time lunch rolls around. But when we buckle down and do it, it's cute! However, there is one aspect of hair care that I just can not get the hang of.

Parting.

I can not part my children's hair for the life of me. I try, I really do. But it's not uncommon for me to have to redo a part 4 or 5 times before I get it to where it is even enough to call it good. Not great, just good enough that people won't be able to notice how bad it is from a distance of more than 20 ft. Perhaps that's why I don't do their hair more often.

Megan wanted her hair is "two braids, mom, two braids" the other day. I eyed her head, looked from the front, from the back, from every angle I thought would be helpful. I parted a little, rechecked, parted some more. I had done a pretty good job for my first part of the day. I felt good about my part. It was even! I had mastered it, finally! I hate to say it, but I was......proud! That is, until I got both sides braided and took a step back.
*sigh*

Childhood memories

So sorry for the terribly dim picture, but it was super sunny outside, they were sitting in the shade and well, I'm not a photographer! And I realize only one has a "normal" smile, but if you've ever tried to take a picture of 3 children, you probably know this is the best out of 30.

Here they are, enjoying a favorite memory of mine from childhood! Dipping fresh strawberries in powdered sugar! No summer in childhood is complete without it!

So what are your favorite childhood summer memories?

On another note, day 12 and still struggling with a voice. The good news, is that while horrible sounding, there IS noise coming out now. So I can talk and be understood which is truly a blessing. So, improvement at least!

6 days and still counting....

So, small update....voice went away again. Didn't make it to the Dr.'s today because I had some issues scheduling issues. So I'll go tomorrow. My good friend around the corner offered to come and sit with my kids during naptime (the only time I could get an appointment).


And no, Stacy, I wouldn't call. Although you can; It might give you a good laugh. I can't promise you'll be able to hear me though. :)


Oh, and just because saying it once in my last entry isn't enough, Do you know how hard it is to parent without a voice?!?!?!?!?!

Let's just say there are 4 garbage bags full of toys, shoes, DVD's, etc out by my back door right now because the kid's must not have thought I was serious when I told them to pick them up or they'd get thrown away. Since I am NOT going to say it twice on a day when each word takes great effort, they now are going to be missing a lot of things. I'm trying to contemplate if I'm going to be mean enough to make Emilee go to school with just socks on because her shoes are gone. With how cranky I'm feeling right now, I just might....although I'm sure I'll get a good night's rest and feel sorry for her in the morning.

6 days....

That is how long I've been without a voice. I started getting sick last Friday night. I woke up on Saturday, started loosing my voice and got a horrible flu!!!! Man, I was really sick. Sunday was a little better, but the cold had really moved to my chest/thoat area, my voice became worse and I started a really bad cough. That night I was short of breath and my poor husband was really started to worry. Each day, I would wake up feeling better, but my voice would be worse. Yesterday I really couldn't speak much. This morning, I couldn't speak at all. As in, just air came out. I was literally louder if I whispered.

It was quite frustrating, at that point, trying to call my husband and communicate to him that I needed him to call the Dr's and set up an appointment. I literally shouted into the phone, with my mouth right at the reciever. I shouted one word at a time....often 2 or 3 times until he could understand. It was really pathetic.

So now I have an appointment at 3pm. Guess what just happened?

Yeah, you guessed it....I just got part of my voice back. it's certianly still "gone"....but at least noise comes out now.

So, does that mean I'm getting better? It will be just my luck that by the time I go to the Dr. it will be all better and I'll look like an idiot. But maybe it won't. It went in and out a lot yesterday. I guess only time will tell.

One thing I can say, It SUCKS to try to parent three small children when you can't talk!

Don't bother me unless the house is burning down....

You all remember comments like that from your parents, right? Well, they don't work with young children. It sure didn't work when I used it in the desperate attempt at 10 minutes alone in the shower this morning. 10 minutes is all I wanted. 10 minutes with no one else touching me, snotting on me or talking to me. My kids didn't listen.

However, that was actually a good thing. But, next time I make that statement, it will need to have some amendments made to it.


"Don't bother me unless the house is burning down, the 4 year old is about to pee her pants if she doesn't get into the bathroom right now, the toddler has found the paints and is attempting to decorate the couch, or the neighbor boy has walked into our house."


I'm sure I'll have to add more next time.

The wait is over...

James didn't get the job. They found someone with experience underwriting government loans (which is what we were HOPING this job would help him put on his resume).

I was so looking forward to the extra income this job would give us. We certainly wouldn't be rich, but we would have been able to make ends meet...something that is difficult to do some months.

Tomorrow will be another day and we'll begin the search once more!

But for tonight...I think I'll go cry.

I knew it!!!

I've always suspected that my children were from another planet. Today my suspicions were confirmed.

Megan wanted some of the vitamins Daddy was taking. Daddy told her they were not for children.

"Oh", she replied. "So they're only for Humans?"

Oh the waiting.....

I hate waiting. I am an extremely impatient person. Actually, I'm a control freak, really. Which means I hate waiting becuase I'm not in control at the moment. We're waiting to hear if James got a job he interviewed for or not. It's a scary move, but one that we've been getting more and more excited about as we've thought and prayed about it. Now we just have to wait and see if they'll want him!!!

The longer it takes, the more nervous I'm getting. Last week she told him she wanted his answer (he actually wasn't sure at the interview if it was the right fit, and she spend a good part of the interview actually trying to convince him it would be!). Well, now we've given our answer and she says she'll let us know next week.

NEXT WEEK? I can't wait that long. Just tell us and get it over with. If the answer is no, fine. We'll get over it and move on with looking for other jobs. But I hate just waiting...not knowing and letting someone else have our future in their hands for the next week.

Someone distract me!

Lesson Learned!

The other day, Emilee was asking for MORE ice cream. She'd already had two bowls, for pete's sake. But she wanted more. We talked about the importance of eating healthy and making our bodies strong. Her reply? "I'll eat healthy tomorrow!" Hmmm, she must have subconsciously picked up the same justifications I use every day. I told her that "Tomorrow never comes." but she just gave me a weird look and went on trying to convince me she'd wouldn't eat any junk food for a few days.

Yesterday Emilee and I were spending time together while the other two children were napping. We played UNO and snacked on Pop, chips and chocolate (those Cadbury MiniEggs just kill me every Easter). When I remarked about how we were eating such horrible snacks the strangest look came over her face. All of a sudden her jaw dropped to the floor and she remarked, "Mom, you're right! Tomorrow never DOES come!"

Do you think learning this lesson at age six will keep her from procrastinating like I do?

A new resolve...

I've had a thought formulating for a few months now, and it has become louder and louder in my head. I'm at the point now, that I want to take notice and do something about it.

I've come to the conclusion that I'm too negative. Not necessarily in a "bad" way. I think I'm relatively "normal" and I don't believe that my friends consider me a really negative person, but maybe I'm just in denial. But I have been thinking about the people that I admire the most in my life and the one characteristic that I've noticed they all possess is the ability to be so positive and upbeat all the time. And I'm not talking a bouncy, giggly, cheerleader type happy... just a content, glass-half-full, I'm-on-the-green-side type happy.

A greeting with a friend might go such as this....

Me: Hi! How are you?
Friend: Great, and you?
Me: Oh, ok. Tired.
Friend: Oh, that's too bad, why?
Me: Oh, my kids were up a lot last night...I had a ton to do, blah blah blah blah.

Not that I think it's a bad thing to be able to vent and share my frustrations and trials in life. Not at all. I'm just beginning to think that I do it too often. I find that I talk about my frustrations in life a LOT, whereas the women I admire most do it very little. I don't hear of them discussing all the things they need to do, frustrating run ins with people, etc. Sometimes they do, but it's rare. I think that it's quite common with me. I don't want to be a negative person. I don't want to even be a mediocre person. I'm not trying to compare myself with these women, but I do want to try to emulate some of the qualities I find important. I want to be a person that people feel good to be around. I want to be someone that people feel comfortable with, uplifted when they're around me and happy.

In order to do this, I'm not going to be able to just tell myself to stop feeling that way. That would kill me! I'd be suffering in silence. I'd feel lonely and unsupported and unvalidated. That's certainly not going to help me be an uplifting person to be around. In order to do this, I'm going to need to make a concentrated effort to look on the bright side a little more often. I think I'll stop to smell the roses and make sure that I remark on their beauty out loud to my friends, so that I get in the habit of sharing THOSE happenings in my life as well. I want to spend less time thinking about what I have to get done, and more time thinking about the blessings I have in my life. I'll spend less time thinking about the monsters that I call my children, and more time thinking about the beautiful spirits the Lord allows me to call my children. I'll spend less time complaining about how men operate, and more time thinking and remarking on the man who supports me, regardless of how emotionally unstable, cranky or demanding I am.

Yes, I'll start there. And I'm going to force myself to say those things out loud. I think that I think verbally (did you follow that?). I think better when I talk things out (or write things out). I can sit in a room and be quiet and mull over the same topic forever and not get anywhere. But the minute I begin to talk it out, the thoughts come together, they evolve and progress. I think that will actually be the key to changing my thought process. I need to change what I TALK about first, which will require me to take notice of those things so that I can talk about them, and I truly believe that my thought process will naturally follow. See....even as I wrote this my ideas of how to do this have evolved.

That's my theory anyway, I'll let you know if it works!

What a day....

I had a friend's children over today. She's having a baby this coming week and I thought it would be nice for her to have a nice conference Sabbath to rest, relax and listen to the prophet and apostles. Her oldest two spent the night last night, and her 2 year old twins came over for the day. Her oldest daughter is my daughter's age, her second daughter is my second daughter's age (they're actually about 12 hours apart in age!) and her twins are just a little over 2 months older than my youngest. All girls (hers and mine). 7 girls, ages 6 and under in my house today. It was a blast, albeit quite chaotic!
Here's a picture of one of the meal times, probably
the only "controlled" time of the day.


It was a nice day outside, so they got to play outside for a while. It's really nice having older kids to play with my kids. It actually makes life easier since they occupy each other and spend less time following me around saying, "Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom". Having extra toddlers, on the other hand, is quite the workout. Take one toddler, who gets into everything, spends her days moving articles from one room to the other, turning on water faucets and trying to smash crumbs into every possible corner and then triple that. I got a workout! It really was fun though. Of course, maybe that had to do with the fact that I knew that at the end of the day it would be over! Things are always easier to do one day at a time.

Hmmm, guess I really picked the right name for my blog after all!

A confession...

I am a selfish blogger. Yes, that's right. For the last month I have written a few blogs and read about the same. Thank you so much for those who come and read and post your comments. It means a lot to me.

I have been so busy this last month that I haven't had the time to read all of yours. And I really want to! I hear everyone comment about how wonderful they are and I'm jealous. Jealous that I've missed out....jealous that I can't write like that! I've been so busy my life has felt chaotic and stressed and even when took time to breathe I couldn't get my mind to focus. I have been concentrating on all the things I need to get done, and very little on anything (or anyone else). I've been selfish and self-absorbed.

BUT, I have been slowing my business down. My family needs me more. I have 4 more classes to teach and I then I'm pretty much done (with the exception of one birth in June and one in September!). I can just be me! I can concentrate on my kids and my church calling and just enjoy life. I'm looking forward to it. I've joined a group of women that go walking 3 times a week, which gives me time to clear my head and calm my thoughts down a bit. It also means that when I take time out for myself (ie. naptime!), I will be heading straight here! And reading....reading....reading.....I can't wait to catch up with all of you and see what's been going on outside of my own little world that I have been so wrapped up in.