New Blog

Well, I must say, I am nervous to do this but...

I've moved!

Come on over to my new site!

http://mommiverse.blogsome.com

Change your links and let me know what you think!

Photo Show

Got some pictures of the kids taken yesterday. Noticed they looked oddly like last year's shots:

Smiles

A few things that make me smile:

1. Spider gave me her first social smiles this morning. The joy! She's like a real person now!

2. Spider's increasingly more awake, big, blue eyes.

3. A fresh box of Crayola Crayons. Does anyone else just love new crayons? Whenever they are on sale, say five for a buck, I buy a bunch of them. I don't give them to my kids (they might get one), no they are for me. For me to look at and maybe color with. Is that weird?

4. Creative Memories is launching digital storybooks. I went to training last night and holy cow, I am excited. Anyone who does digital pictures and doesn't like to scrapbook (and even those who do) is going to want one of these. (I sent mine in for printing yesterday) The software is incredibly simple to use-- you just drop and drag your pics into templates of your choice, add your journaling, and send it in. They send you back a beautiful book. And they ARE beautiful. If anyone is interested let me know... the software should be available for free download in October...

5. I just got my proofs for Spider's baby announcements and they are AMAZING!
And last, but not least...

6. My lightning fast internet connection. Life is good.

Tears are Flowing

A Haiku
by Me

The Tears are Flowing
High Speed Internet is here
A Beautiful Thing

Trust

What is trust?

The Merriam Webster Online Dictionary indicates that trust is to place confidence or rely on. So when you trust a person, essentially you place confidence in them or you rely on them. But it still has many different implications.

You can trust a person, for instance, not to totally destroy your laptop when they take it to the library to use wireless internet. (Apparently, Charming does not trust me in this matter.) Or, for example, you can trust a person not to hurt your feelings. You trust people not to steal from you or lie to you. You trust people with your children. Your trust people with your secrets and your vulnerabilities. You trust the valet when you leave him with your expensive car, (though maybe you shouldn't, lest you have a Ferris Bueller like experience).

My point is, there are so many facets of trust. We use the word in so many different ways that mean so much more than just "place confidence." What does it really mean when you tell someone, "I trust you."

I trust Charming, for example, to provide for our family. I trust that he will do what he can to protect my body and soul from harm. I trust him to love me and not hurt me. I cannot trust him, however, to clean the house while I am gone, or do chores unless I ask him, or be on time, necessarily-- based mostly on past experiences.

I trust my mother to be supportive of me, but I can't always trust that she will not get her feelings hurt by something that I do. I can trust her with my feelings, but not necessarily my secrets.

I trust my father to assist me should I call on him for help, but I cannot necessarily trust him with my feelings. I trust him to love me, but don't trust that when we're together we won't argue.

And the thing about trusting another person, is there are so few we can trust completely for everything. Really the only person we can trust in with our whole souls is God. And though I didn't intend for this to be a religiousy post, who else is there? I don't even trust myself entirely. And yet I can trust that the Lord is perfect and makes no mistakes. I can trust that if something bad goes on in my life, that He will be there for me, without condemning me or making me feel dumb.

Isn't that a good feeling?

Any thoughts on trust that you'd like to share?

Jealousy

Alright, I am going to let you in on a little secret... Shhh...Are you ready? Okay. Here goes.

We use the word “boobs” at my house.

Now you know. Not the most conservative, toddler appropriate term to use, and yet easy to say and less crass than many other synonyms.

I make this confession to you, so that I may tell my story.

Now, it's not a secret that I am breastfeeding Spider. We do call it “nursing” around here (not boob-feeding, like you might be inclined to believe) and it is a source of much jealousy for my two older children. Reenie is jealous because it takes Mommy's time and attention. E is jealous because he too would like to be able to breastfeed Spider.

I kid you not.

The other day E and Spider were laying on the floor together when E begins to lift up his shirt and ask the baby if she would like to nurse. He and I then had the following, emotional conversation.

Me: E, you can't nurse because you don't have boobs.
E: Yes, I do.
Me: NO you don't.
E: (Getting tearful and lifting his shirt) Yes I do, they are right here.
Me: Okay.
E: (Whining) I have little boobs.
Me: Okay.
E: (Still whining) You have big boobs.

And then I could not argue. He is a very perceptive child.

Spit-up

Okay, so I have a confession... I like the smell of baby spit-up. No, no I love how it smells.

Good thing, since I have a newborn, eh?

No, seriously. I love how the scent of spitup. My fragrance of choice? Eau de bebe puke.

Need convincing? Okay, well a couple of months ago a friend brought her baby over with her on a visit. The baby was about 3 months old and she spit up on me. My friend kept apologizing and I kept reassuring her that I didn't mind. (Hey, I'd been spit up on before!) Anyway, so after she left, I totally could have changed my shirt, but I did not. I just kept smelling myself all day and smiling.

So that's all. I am loving the smell of Spider and Me. And loving that I just got one more pair of pants to fit.

P.S. The posting has been sporadic lately for two reasons. 1. Spider. 2. Slow Lame-ola Dial Up Internet, aka $10 a month spent so I can spend 20 minutes trying to get to my inbox.

What I Grew on my Summer Vacation

Happiness is cheap groceries and a new baby

So I actually dared to take my THREE children to the grocery store Monday. We had to use the car cart, of course. E rode in the front, Spider was in her car seat which I (gasp) snapped into the child seat part (thus making loading groceries into the cart rather interesting), while Reenie insisted on walking and "helping" me by pushing the cart and picking out groceries to put in it.

And let me just tell you, I flipping ROCKED the Albertson's Store Monday. I spent $56 and saved... $89 . Yes, you read that right friends. But wait- there's more. I still haven't sent in my $10 rebate which means, I essentially spent $46 and saved $99. Who rocks? Yeah, that'd be me.

Grocery savings powers aside, I would like to post about how happy I am right now. I fell like I have the opposite of postpartum depression. Call it postpartum elation, even. Having a third child has been VOLUMES easier than I thought it would be. Of course, it helps that Spider is an awesome baby as far as sleeping goes, and we are only a week and a half into this parenting three kids thing. But seriously, I am adjusting incredibly well.

I feel so blessed to have this new baby. My family just feels more complete now, though we might not be done, I feel as if we were we'd be okay. I love having a baby again. I love the little noises she makes, I love smelling her and holding her, I even love changing her little tiny diapers. I am so in love with this itty bitty miracle.

I could not have asked for a better labor either. It was of course, labor, and therefore had the accompanying pains, but it was the first labor that I actually had time to mentally get in the game. My first labor was induced with pitocin and was 3 hours and 45 minutes of hard and fast contractions while I was stuck in a bed with no pain medication. The second labor was 75 minutes and was filled with the panic of "are we even going to get there in time?" This time my water was broken by my midwife and six hours later Spider was here. Still short. The labor itself was only about 2 or 3 hours, but the contractions came on slower and the hard part of labor--transition-- had a lot less mental anxiety for me, and I am sure this is because of my many prayers said before and during the event. (I of course offered many prayers of thanks afterwards as well.) I got one stitch and my body is loving being un-pregnant.

And to top it off, I have felt so much love and support from my church family. I just can't believe how many people visited me in the hospital and who have called and offered to do things since I've been home. And of course all the food that has been brought to us. It has all been so wonderful and I feel so happy and content.

Seriously, does life get any better than this?

She's HERE!

Baby Spider has arrived!

6lbs 2 oz, 17 1/2 inches long. Tiny, tiny, tiny.

But doing well. Best labor yet-- all natural.

And I am loving having a wee one again.

The Big Day Comes Soon

Monday.

Monday is the day that my nurse-midwife will break my water, because I have fast labor and want to make sure I am actually at the hopital for the birth. (Reenie's labor was 75 minutes, please don't be jealous).

Monday is the day that we will wait for Baby Spider to come.

Monday.

The Big Day.

I have more anxiety than I thought humanly possible.

Because I know what is coming. Excited as I am to meet this baby, I don't really want to experience the process. And it is scheduled. Which means that I know when it is going to happen and I am going voluntarily.

Is it too late to back out of this?

You'd Think I was a Robin or something...

The nesting has gotten seriously out of control....

How many crazy things have I done to my house in my very pregnant state? Let's Review:

In the past month and a half I:

*painted thewalls in the "eating nook"

*painted and stenciled the family room walls

*went crazy hanging up photos and mirrors that had been lying around for months

*did some creative work in the baby's room including painting a picture frame with a picture of a little girl praying in it and putting up vinyl lettering

*completed numerous baby preparation shopping tasks

In the past couple of weeks I:

*wiped down all the lightswitch plates to get the fingerprints off

*wiped down the walls for the same reason

*cleaned toilets when I thought I might be in labor (four hours of contractions 5 minutes apart)

2 days ago I:

*organized my closets

*went through all of Reenie and E's old clothes and separated and labeled them by size

*sewed burp cloths that I intended to make when E was a baby

*sewed a bib for Reenie out of tablecloth type vinyl that I intended to make for E when he was her age

Yesterday I:

*sewed more kites for E and Reenie's room

*had Charming help me rearrange our family room furniture (I LOVE it)

*decluttered my entire main floor

*vacuumed

*cleaned my bedroom

*wiped down my cabinets

*got on my hands and knees and cleaned under the cabinet in the place where the garbage can usually is

*wiped down the front of my fridge

*wiped out a drawer in my bathroom that's been bugging me for awhile

That's It.

4 days until the big event. What else needs to get done?

Young= Bad?

Not to unnecessarily revisit this topic, but today there were 3, yes 3, cups in the cubby when I went to put mine in. Gross-osity.

Okay, on to today's topic.

Does it bother anyone else when older celebrity moms talk about how they're SOOO much better of a parent now than they would have been if they'd had kids in their 20's?

It sort of offends me.

Not because I have a problem with older moms... I just happen to be a mom in her 20's who doesn't think that I am a crappy mom because I am in my 20's.

Fair enough?

The thing is, how do they really know that about themselves? How can they really say they are a better parent now than they would have been then? Less selfish now? More mature now? I don't know. Personally, I feel like at whatever age you are, having a baby changes you. Becoming a parent forces you to be less selfish, forces you to grow up because all of a sudden your life isn't just about you anymore. Someone very small depends on you entirely, for everything, and that really makes you have to step up and be an adult.

And you can make comments like, "what about Britney Spears?" and that kind of thing, but really, do we think she would be that much more mature in 20 years? I think for the most part the non-mature parents are the people lacking education, who quite frankly would probably be the same type of parent at 20, 30, 40 or 50. And all parents do make mistakes, even Britney.

Am I way off?

I hope I haven't started any controversy here, but I just don't like being made to feel bad about being a young mom.

Monday Morning Confessions: Things I have gotten used to, but will not miss when they are gone

Another pregnancy post. (Stick with me, I've only got a week left!)

1. The drool

I have grown accustomed to this little "habit" of mine that occurs everytime I sleep. I will not miss my wet pillow when this pregnancy is over.

2. The neck sweat

I don't know what it is, but whenever I sleep, I sweat profusely between my chin and neck.

3. The pains

Not really used to them yet. Yesterday I had sharp pains in my left leg and ahem... buttocks every time I walked around. Won't miss them.

4. Waking up multiple times a night

Oh wait, this one isn't going to go away. At least it won't be because I have to pee. At least there will be an actual little person who will be happy to see me, instead of just cold, heartless porcelain.

Your turn. Any unpleasantries in your life, that you've gotten used to that could go away and you'd be glad to see them go? Fill me in.

Burning Question

Does anyone else have one random light in the house that is always on? For no logical reason? Mine is the laundry room light. Why it's on, no one knows.

And, FYI- the last few weeks of pregnancy are torture.

The Urine Sample

Yeah, I am not going to be pregnant for much longer, so I figure I better talk about all the pregnancy topics before it's too late...

But before, I get going on this one, many of you commented on the last post about loving the increased bust size during pregnancy. I wanted to mention that I liked this as well, but did not care for the stretch marks on the associated appendages. In other words, as exotic as it sounds, "Tiger Boobs" are not that great.

Okay, so the urine sample. At my current nurse-midwive's office, you pee in the cup and put it in that cubby thing in the wall. Am I the only one that secretly fears that just as I am putting the cup up there, that the nurse will open the other side at the same time? Not that it's that big of a deal, I mean whoopdy-doo, she saw me and identified me with my own pee, but still. That'd be a little weird.

And is anyone else grossed out, when they put their own cup up there and someone else's cup is there too? Last week, I faced near crisis when there was not only one cup up there, but two. Two cups of other people's pee, and to make matters worse, they were placed in such a manner that in order for me to put my cup up there I would have to move one of them. In other words, I would have to touch the cup of someone else's pee. I think I finally just used my cup to kind of shunt the other one over, praying that no spillage would ensue.

Of course, the pee sample at the doctor's office is not near as bad as the dreaded 24 HOUR URINE SAMPLE. If you have never had to do this, pray you never will. I had to with my first pregnancy because I had pre-eclampsia. Oh my word. Every time you pee, you must collect it, and pour it into a big orange jug. This big orange jug must be kept... dunh, dunh, dunh... in your refrigerator! Aahhhhh! So gross. I remember being so relieved after I had done it, glad I would never have to do it again. Yeah, I think I did about 3 more of those that pregnancy. Sick.

So yeah, any thoughts? Yes, I know I have just asked you to comment about pee. But c'mon, we've all had to do it at one point, pregnancy related or not.

Monday Morning Confessions: Pregnancy

Well, I am 37 weeks this week. Some things I love about being pregnant, and some things I don't:

1. My body

I love it, love it, love it. I love being so curvy and voluptuous and having a good reason for it. (And I love not feeling guilty about brownies and ice cream). Charming likes my body too, and that's a plus. Of course there is one exception to my body self-love:

2. My butt

Yeah, I am not so big in the belly this pregnancy, but I noticed the other day that my butt is. In fact, I would go so far to say that my rear end is bigger than my belly. Not good. Not good at all.

3. The constant need to pee

Is it some kind of punishment? I mean, seriously. Is it very important that I need to use the toilet every 15 minutes, and sometimes just to dribble out almost nothing? At my baby shower during my last pregnancy, my friends had to guess my least favorite thing about pregnancy, and most said bedrest, since I had been on it for 9 weeks between the two pregnancies. But they were wrong. Need to pee. Hate it.

4. Feeling Baby Move

Unless I am trying to sleep and the child is keeping me awake, this is pretty much my favorite thing. Not to be cheesy, but it's pretty magical. It's the one thing that I miss once they're on the outside. Special. Really Special

5. The Braxton-Hicks Contractions

Really, I like to call these "fakey" contractions, since whoever Braxton-Hicks was, they certainly didn't invent the darn things, though it was nice of them to take the credit for them. Let me tell you that I love and hate these suckers. I like them because I feel like my body is doing something, and every one of them makes me that much closer to the big day. I don't like them because they are starting to be painful and because every one of them makes me think I am that much closer to the big day. And because I have so many, it is hard for me to know when I am really in labor (hence why Reenie was born 10 minutes after we got to the birth center.)

6. My wardrobe

Again, mixed feelings. I have some really cute stuff that I can only wear during pregnancy, but 9 months of the same stuff is a bit long... Especially towards the end when I only have one outfit that fits. And after the birth? No good at all, even though they are usually all that fits.

Your turn. If you've been pregnant, what did you like? What did you hate? If you haven't been pregnant but you've had a friend or relative who has, what did you like or hate about them during their pregnancy? (Be as nice as you can). Tell me, I want to know.

The Long Awaited

This post is about two long awaited things: 1. My first pedicure in over five years, and 2. the pictures of my pink walls.

So the pdicure... I have had plantar warts on my feet since I was pregnant with E, thus preventing me from getting a professional pedicure. After much effort, they are finally (mostly) gone. So, since I can't reach my feet myself, I set out for a pedicure.

Funny thing happened in the comfy, vibrating spa chair in a room full of strong and foreign smells- I started to feel lightheaded, like I was about to pass out. It will go away, I told myself. Then I prayed it would go away. But no. Progressively worse, friends. It got to the point where I almost couldn't hear anything. So I told the lady I didn't feel well, she saw my lack of pigment and took me over to the couch to lie down. She then gave me some menthol stuff that she uses (as she herself passes out quite frequently) and tried to take care of me with water, Dr. Pepper and Asian Shrimp Crackers.

I can't remember when I have been taken care of so well. And I love my new beautiful feet.

Now, before I post the pics of my family room, let me make the following disclaimer: I love interior design, I watch HGTV when I can, I have a subscription to Better Homes and Gardens, and yet, I am no interior decorator. I can't quite get it right. So forgive me. Hopefully with time I will have my mother's skills of turning trash into home decor treasure. Until then...

This is my kids room, that my sis and I painted a few months ago. I am supposed to make more kites, but hey, it took me months to sit down and do the three you see here.



These are some scrapbook style works I did for the wall going up the stairs. The frames are mirrors from the dollar store.



This is a picture I got for Baby Spider's room. I bought the pic and the frame separately at a thrift store. The picture was actually bigger with a rip in the corner and the frame was all white. I chopped the pic a little, painted the frame and voila! Less than 2 bucks.



Here it is, the family room. Note the contrasting stencil work... And I need something for that right corner space. A picture or a huge plant or something.



The couch needs a throw or a quilt or something. And pretty pillows to tie the colors together better.



In my dining room.



It is a shame that this picture did not turn out better, as it is my favorite of the pink walls.



Well, at least they like my decorating...



And that's that. Let me know what you think.

Also, please note that if you spend almost an hour trying to make a post like this using dial-up internet, your two year old will take a pen and create tiger stripes running the entire length of her legs.

Slacker

I am a blog slacker, it is true. BUT...

The pictures of the pink living room are coming... I don't have a digital camera, so I do things the old fashioned way. With a film camera and a scanner. Expect them Friday... They are coming.

And I have funny kids.

Tonight Reenie had one of those glowstick bracelets. She was putting the plastic connector in her mouth and then pulling it off the stick with her teeth. It made a sound and she then informed me, "I made it fart." Yeah, she's not quite 2 yet.

Then later she was telling us that we were all robots. E comes in and says, "Don't be so DAFT. We're not robots we're boys and girls." Daft? Don't know where that came from. Funny though. Charming asked him who was a boy, and he said, "E." Then Charming asked him who was a girl. Reenie. "And who else is a girl?" he asked, to which E replied, "Who's a lady? Mommy."

The pictures are coming soon, and hopefully a better post.

Mom-ness

So I am sitting here in front of the computer with a teletubbie in my shirt between my bosoms and two kids on my lap.

Just thought you should know.