Xmas giveaway!!

Mama's Holiday Wish List Meme


TodaysMama (link to: http://bit.ly/tmwishlist) and GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10) are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I'm sharing this meme with you.

1. What is your holiday wish for your family?
Peace, love and healthy holidays!!

2. What is your Christmas morning tradition?
Waffles and big glasses of milk!

3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be?
Black Tie Mousse Cake from Olive Garden!! ( I think one piece is about 3,000 calories - but SO worth it!!)

4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money?
Our family likes to watch (or go see) The Forgotten Carols. If everyone is healthy this year (fingers crossed!!) we will go see the lights at Temple Square.

5. What games did you play with your family growing up?
Canasta and Parcheesi. I was a pro at Parcheesi and my mom lost her temper more than once with me for "killing" her and sending her back to home :)

6. What holiday tradition have you passed on from your own childhood?
The kids get to open a present on Christmas Eve - it's always new PJ's

7. Where would you go for a Christmas- away- from- home trip?
Anywhere warm!! I would love to go to Hawaii or the Bahamas with all of us

8. Check out GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10) and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year?
The top three things that we would get would be: DSI XL, Xbox 360, and a Kinect! So fun!!

One of Those Days

Two weeks ago, Brielle was sick. I mean, REALLY sick. It started out as a cold, quickly went into an ear infection, antibiotics didn't help (really wicked virus!) and turned into pneumonia. She was having such a hard time breathing and my nebulizer was doing nothing for her. We went back to the doctor (for the third time) where she got different medicine for the nebulizer, stronger antibiotics (hello yeast infection!), as well as something similar to oral prednisone, but stronger. They wanted to put her in the hospital until her breathing got a little bit better, but I assured them that I had been through this before and could handle it once I got the meds in her (the steroids work pretty fast). So, off we went to get the life saving (literally) meds. The pharmacy filled the wrong one. I got home before I realized it. We went back. They told me they didn't have what I needed - I needed to find another pharmacy that did have it (The third one finally had it). In the meantime, Belle is having a horrible time breathing, so once I got the medicine I sped home as quickly as I could - just to get pulled over for speeding. I got a ticket, wasn't friendly to the cop (who was nice and very decent about how mean I was to him), and was a bad example to Sammy, who was with me when this all happened. Anyway, long story short - Brielle got sick, I got a ticket, Brielle got better, I paid my ticket, went to traffic school and apologized to the officer. And we all lived happily ever after....except - I got another ticket yesterday.

So, the ticket yesterday went better (does getting a ticket ever go well???) A cop was hiding (yes, hiding - I HATE when they do this!!) just above my house waiting for people to blow through a stop sign there that's on a dead end road. Sam was late for an appointment, Brielle also had her well baby check up that day, so I looked both ways, slowed down slightly at the stop sign, then made the turn. Then I saw the lights. Crap. Another ticket - but at least I didn't yell at the officer this time and she even told me she would radar my street for speeders (if I'm gonna get a ticket, I want company in traffic school). But it's made me stop and think. I have so much going on - school, house, kids, church stuff, laundry, meals...the list goes on and on. Something has to give. But none of it is going away - except maybe for school.

I LOVE school. I love the feeling of accomplishment. I love that I might finally be able to realize the life goal of becoming a nurse. I even loved Chemistry - and that, for me, was hard to love. However, am I sacrificing my family too much? I've started to think so. The thought keeps coming to me that I have too much going on. I'm starting to focus on school and try to fit my family in where I can. It should be the other way around. But if I don't get all A's in my classes then I won't get into the nursing program. But school will always be here, my kids are going to grow up all too soon and when that happens I don't want to have regrets.

So, with so much sadness in my heart (and whole body if that's possible) I think I've come to the conclusion that I need to quit school for now. One part of me feels like a failure, a quitter. The other part of me knows that it's the right decision for the time being even though I don't like it.

I love my family so much and want to be a great mother and wife. That is my focus for now. I will miss school and the success I had in there for the short time that I was able to go. But, I will also look forward to the time that I get to go back again and finish what I started. In the meantime, I'll be the mom in the park having fun with her kids.

Maisy

All of my kids love to hear stories about themselves when they were babies. One of their favorite questions is, "What was my first word?" Generally, and I'm not sure what this says about me as a parent, it's the word no. But then, after that they want to know what other word they have said. And I can't remember. I haven't written it down anywhere and my memory is terrible....so, this vital piece of info for my oldest five kids has been lost forever.

All except Brielle. Her first word was No, just like the others. But her first FULL word (you know, with more than just one syllabul) is....(drum roll, please!!) MAISY.

I"m proud of myself that I've recorded this so in a few years when Brielle asks me these questions about herself when she was a baby I will be able to answer. However, to explain the word Maisy might not make me feel so proud.

Maisy is a cartoon mouse. She comes on everyday on channel 16 and Brielle loves her. Honestly, her mouth droops open and she will sometimes still drool as she's watching this show. And the show is cute. That's not the issue. The issues is this: MY DAUGHTER'S FIRST REAL WORD IS ABOUT A CARTOON!!!! Does anyone else see a problem with that?

Way too much TV time, I think. I have vowed, starting in two weeks (end of the semester) that we will spend a lot more time at the park, and much less time inside the house learning about Maisy. We will smell the outdoors more and eat popcorn and chocolate less. We will become a happy, functional, active family with more to talk abut than just Maisy. And maybe her next few words can be about something besides cartoons :)

Bye Bye B

I knew it was time. In fact, it should have happened long ago. But I couldn't let it go. I loved it - its look, its feel, and most importantly its symbolism. But, it's finally happened. The binky is gone.

From the time Brielle was born, she has had a binky in her mouth. We bought them in huge amounts so that we could have one in every room, in every diaper bag, at grandma's house, in the van, etc etc. She NEEDED one. And it reminded me that I still had a baby. But her teeth are so bad (seriously....really in need or orthodontia already at 21 months). I made a vow that January 1st was the day. And it was...until about noon. And then it was nap time and I caved. She asked for her "B". And even walked over to the cupboard where we keep them and reached up. And looked at me expectantly. And gave me the most beautiful wide gap, buck tooth smile that I had ever seen. I couldn't say no. I gave in. She slept peacefully.

A month later it seemed as though the gap was ever so slightly wider. I made the decision and was firm about it this time. It was a Sunday. After church we came home, had lunch and then I announced that it was time for the little girls to have a nap. Brielle asked for her "B". She walked over to the cupboard and reached up. She looked at me expectantly and then gave me her most winning smile. And I stood strong. I told her "No!! B is all gone!!" She looked down at the ground, then up at me and quietly said "K." She then went to bed for the first time in her life without her binky. I waited for the screaming, thrashing and temper tantrums. They never came. And now, almost a week later, the temper tantrums still haven't shown up. Who knew that it would be this easy??

I, on the other hand, am really missing B. I loved the way she looked with it in her mouth. Loved the sucking sound that she made with it. Loved knowing that as long as she had a binky, she was still a baby.

Moving on from one stage to the next is hard. I've been fighting having to close the "baby chapter" in my life for the last year. But, if diapers are the next thing I get to give up, I think I'll be okay.

Sophism

Sophie says the cutest things. Yesterday, she was sitting at the kitchen counter, happily munching on Wheat Thins. Suddenly, I heard her gasp and stop chewing. She looked at me and said, "My tongue bit me." Classic.

Grateful in January

January is such a hard month for me. There's hardly any sun, it's cold, the air is smoggy and the snow looks dirty. I started wondering if there was anything good about January. So, I made a list of the things that I have loved about this month.

1. Blue eyes. Brilliant, lovely, deep blue eyes. I can forget all the naughty things that Brielle does when I look into her eyes. Truly, I could get lost in them.

2. Humidifier. Yes, it's January so we've been sick. Almost all of us (knock on wood). Breathing treatments weren't working, antibiotics weren't kicking in as fast as I wanted. But the humidifer always comes through. It makes breathing just a little bit easier. Plus, it's fun walking into a room and immediately feeling like I'm in Hawaii :)

3. Snowmen. Sophie made her first snowman (with the help of her fab sister, Sam). It was darling. At approximately 5 inches high and 3 inches wide, there was not one cuter snowman on the block - or the world in my opinion.

4. Forts. Truly, this has to be the best way to break up a boring, dull January night. Dad is a fort builder extraordinaire, and the boys love learning from him. It makes sleeping (even when sick) so much funner!

5. Food Storage. After the earthquake in Haiti, I decided that I really needed to get more organized. Inventory was taken, shelves were swept and cleaned, and water was refilled. I don't have enough of everything that I need, but I'm a little better off than I was at the beginning of the month. What more could I ask for?

6. Sleeping kids. It's nice to sleep. I really like it. Fortunately, my kids are all growing to like it, too. And the positions that some of them sleep in - really funny!

So, looking back on the list of things that I'm grateful for, I know that I wouldn't change a single day. Today, the sun is shining, it's almost 40 degrees and I feel like a very lucky mama.

A Better World

16 very short years ago, the world became a better place. A happier, funner, more complete place to be.

The date was November 2, 1993. It was a crisp Autumn morning with bright blue skies and happy, chirping birds. And, most importanly, it was my first day as a mother to a darling baby girl.

Kiersten was born at 2:14 pm. She weighed in at 6 lbs. 7 oz. and 20 inches long. She was the most gorgeous thing I had ever seen. My labor with her took just over two hours and when I saw her, I fell in love. She had just a few pieces of very blond hair, long feet, and the cutest lips, nose and chubby cheeks I have ever seen! I couldn't quit kissing her.

Kiersten is such a great girl. We've watched her go through so many stages of life already. She was quite shy in her younger years and would hide behind my legs when someone new approached her. She was also very into Barney, the big Purple Dinosaur!! One afternoon when Kier was about 3, I laid her and Sam down for a nap. Usually they would put up a fight and cry, but this day they just laid down and it got very quiet very quickly. I was congratulating myself on what a great mom I was until I started to hear little giggles coming out of their room. I peeked in to check on them and was so surprised at what I saw! Kiersten had found a purple (permanent) marker and had colored her whole body (and Sam's!) purple so they could look more like Barney!! That was Kiersten first attempt at art - and what a masterpiece it was!!

As the years went by, Kiersten became a little less shy, quite a bit better at art and the funnest daughter I could ever hope to have. She is energetic, smart, kind, helpful, loving, a good friend and daughter, and a spiritual daughter of God.

I love you so much, Kier. I'm so glad you're my daughter and growing up to be so beautiful, inside and out! Never forget your goals in life and remember that you have so many family and friends that look up to you and love you.

Have a fabulous day and a great year, my love - you deserve it!!
xoxo