Do you have great parents?

 

I do.

Love you guys!



Oh. By the way....Piper is doing much better. Prayer works.

Giving away the baby stuff...

Today we brought up all the stuff from the basement that The Pea has outgrown. The swing, bouncy seat, car seat, boppy, stroller, bath seat and bumbo chair. We have some friends who are having a baby and figured we'd pass it on (since The Hubster got "fixed" a few months ago). It was so sad! With the older two I couldn't get rid of the baby stuff fast enough. However, I also had really bad post-partum  depression. But this time, this baby, I have enjoyed so much!!! She is getting so big and it is terrible! Don't get me wrong. I love watching her grow and learn. I love that when I get her up in the morning she babbles non-stop for the next 10 minutes like she's trying to tell me about the dreams she had while sleeping. I love her little shoulder shaking dance she does when she hears music. I love that she's already developed quite a sense of humor. I love that when she get's excited or is snuggling in to get comfy she wiggles her bum back and forth with her little hands in her lap. I love watching her walk around with her blanky all wadded up in her arms. But.... I miss the the newborn noises and smells. I miss her being curled up on my shoulder breathing softly on my neck. I miss her tiny baby hands on the bottle while she ate and her tiny baby toes always curled under. I miss just watching her sleep all swaddled up in her bouncy seat . I miss taking her in the shower with me and having her little body curled up against my bare skin.  I miss the huge chubby rolls at the tops of her inner thighs that you could only see when you changed her diaper (and yes I most certainly would have taken a picture of them had  they not been too close to her girly parts to be appropriately photographed!).

Why not just have another? Well, every time I get prego my blood pressure gets higher, I get closer to being diabetic and my babies have to be born earlier (and they get bigger every time!). The Princess was 9lbs. 7oz. at 3 weeks early, The Pirate was 9lbs. 15oz. at 2 weeks early and The Pea was 10lbs. 5oz. at 4 weeks early and her shoulders got stuck on the way out! There were definitely some tense moments when that happened! Then she ended up in the nursery the whole time I was in the hospital because her apgar score started at 2 when she was born and she required oxygen and help with her blood sugar. My doctor asked me after The Pea was finally out if we were going to tie my tubes. At the time we said no because we didn't want to rush that decision. She told us that as a doctor she would recommend that I don't have anymore children in the future as I could risk having dangerously premature babies and my own major health problems. Taking the Pea home on time was definitely a blessing we didn't take lightly. Of course, then she ended up getting Meningitis 2 days after her homecoming and went back to the Children's Hospital for the next 10 days....but that's another story. So you see there will be no more newborn babies for us. The Hubster got snipped a few months ago after we had had more time to think and pray about it.

I swore after my first I wouldn't have a second (thanks to depression for me and EXTREME colic and reflux for her-we're talkin' exorcist style, projectile vomiting here-), then swore after the second that I was done (thanks to more depression and reflux). I just didn't want to go back to that time in life. I loved my kids but babies had not been a very good experience for me. Then, 4 1/2 years later, miracle of miracles, we changed our minds. 'Maybe it could be different' we thought, and it was. The pregnancy part was still hard. Bed rest, high blood pressure, borderline diabetes, bulging discs, early baby etc. But the actual baby part was magical! She was adored! She was the best baby too. She rarely cried unless something was wrong and I tried to soak her in as much as I could. But it's never enough I suppose...

I've read enough blogs about terminally ill children and babies that die to truly appreciate the fact that my baby is still here. I guess I am just mourning the fact that she is not so much a baby anymore. I suppose that part of me is sad that I didn't enjoy my other two babies very much and wish that this baby stage could last a bit longer to make up for that.

Whew! Well, this post evolved into something more than it started. Who knew that giving away some baby stuff would result in all of this! It's funny, I'm actually glad that it all went to a good family. Like it's some kind of pet or something :). I guess I'll just have to borrow their baby sometimes as payment right?

Thanks for the therapy...

Oh yeah, and today was The Pea's first day in Nursery (Sunday School for toddlers). Talk about rubbing salt in my wound! She did so great though. No tears! When I peeked in to see how she was half way through, she looked so cute sitting at the little table eating snacks with her classmates...*sigh*

My name is Misty....and I am a shopaholic.

I, like a lot of you, am a stay-at-home mom. I am so very blessed  to be a stay-at-home mom. However. I get so freaking stir crazy sometimes that I feel as though I may literally implode at any moment if I don't GET OUT! I know I shouldn't complain. I know that I am incredibly blessed. I know there are mothers who would give anything to stay home with their kids and some mothers in this economy that just wish they had a home to stay home in. So I know I sound ungrateful and I am sorry. But there are so many days that cooking the same meals and cleaning up the same messes and stopping the same arguments just to have them all repeat themselves almost exactly the next day is so maddening! It's like the movie Groundhog Day. Only it seems so much funnier when it's Bill Murray and not me.

Here's where the shopping comes in. I get bored, I get stir crazy, I desperately think of somewhere, anywhere to go and that somewhere is usually Target. Or  Hobby Lobby. Or Walmart. Or....well, you get the picture. Why don't I find a hobby? I have them. Unfortunately my toddler's hobby is to make it impossible for me to do any of them. I miss being able to sit down and bead, or edit pictures, or just watch a T.V. show without being interrupted 47 times. It's very bad when your baby grabs your container of beads and chucks it on the floor. Very bad. So, as mentioned above, I shop. I buy more beads that I won't be able to use for the next 3 years or so. I buy clothes that I think will make me feel better about myself, that I can't fit into because I can't find time (or energy) to work out. Not to mention, when I am not shopping I am eating because I am bored . The people at McDonalds know me now. They see me so often that they ask how my kids are and where I have been when they don't see me for a day or two. Pathetic! The worst part is that a) I pass it on  to my kids and b) I feel so bad when I have to answer to The Hubster for the damage (to our banking account) I have done. He is always patient. He rarely gets mad at me and even when he does it's not much. But I don't want to be this way. I want to be fulfilled. I want to be productive. I want to be SANE!

Before I had kids I worked in  the mortgage industry. I was pretty good at it. I got things done, and they stayed done. People listened to me. I miss that. I miss the satisfaction of closing out a file and knowing that I would never see that file again. I loved that feeling that all my hard work and research and sometimes fighting for the things I needed was really worth it. I miss feeling like my co-workers respected me and thought I was intelligent. Now my brain has shriveled. It doesn't seem to take a lot of brain power to do load after load of laundry and dishes. I HATE cooking (hence the McDonalds...). Most days I do the bear minimum and look forward to going to bed. Wow. I am a real downer. No wonder ya'll keep coming back!

So anyway, here's my question. Do you guys feel that way? What do you do about it? I am stuck in a serious rut and feel like I have been since, well, since I became a mom. Yeah. 9 years, I know. Now, let me clear something up. I LOVE my kids. I DON'T want to go back to work. I KNOW this is where I should be as a mother and the whole point of my rambling is that I want to make it a better experience for myself, which will in turn make it a better experience for my family. Not to mention save us money. Although I'm not sure how the McDonalds employees will go on with out my bright smiling face and sparkling wit.

And that's all I have to say about that.

I need to lose 50 lbs. in 3 weeks!

So I found out that one of my High School friends is getting married on February 4th and I am panicking! 3 weeks!!!! Can a girl lose 50 lbs. in 3 weeks?! Just lie ok? Seriously though. Back in High School cute Michelle was a year younger than me and she was so cute! She would always tell me how pretty I was and how she wished she was skinny like me and now look at me! Augggghhhh!!!! Ok-breathe...... Here's my plan. I am going to keep working out and stuff and between now and then I am going to hunt down a really fabulous outfit and a killer pair of shoes. So here is where you all come in. Keep your eyes out for anything you think might be an outfit that would make me look 50lbs. lighter and 5 years younger. Piece of cake right? Here's some pics of stuff I liked when I went window shopping online...

So what do you think? Which would be the most flattering? Do you like any of them or should I go with dress pants and a top instead? I'll be waiting to hear from you....

Oh the carnage! (Warning:Too much information)

So the whole "I need to attend my church meetings" resolution got off to a bad start. Saturday night The Hubster took The Pirate to a snowmobile motocross exhibition at the Rio Tinto stadium. The Pirate apparently consumed 2 hot dogs while there and had the time of his life! He actually informed me that it was the "best day of his life!" They got home about 10:45 that night and The Pirate woke me up about 6:00 the next morning saying he had thrown up in the bathroom. "Yeah" I thought, "At least he got to the bathroom instead of all over his bed." I get up and realize he should have said he threw up all over the bathroom! (I know-TMI) Good Morning to me!!!! So I wiped it all up got him situated down stairs with a bowl then sat, half asleep on the couch with his head on my lap (as he insisted it needed to be for optimal comfort). He threw up once more then decided to go lay by himself thereby freeing me to go back to bed. I remember The Hubster leaving for church (he looked really good that day) and then The Princess waking me up around 9:00 to ask if she could get the baby out of her crib. I think I mumbled, "Sure, if you want to take care of her." (Woohoo! And the 'Stellar Mom Award' goes to.....Your's Truly!) I finally got out of bed and went down stairs around 10:30 and The Princess had fed The Pea and everyone was happy. There is definitely something to be said for having kids so far apart! What a sweetheart The Princess was! She is such a great big sister and a pretty darn good babysitter too! Well, this long story is just to say...I didn't make it to church.

Oh and FYI-I'm pretty sure The Pirate had a bit of food poisoning from his nutritious dinner of animal byproducts slathered with ketchup in a bun. He ate normally for the rest of the day and went to school today. Which means....yeah me! Since it doesn't appear to be the flu, I won't have to expect a week or two of cleaning up any more vomitrocious messes. I know- again- TOO MUCH INFORMATION!