For the love of others

With our country in the grips of a recession and uncertainty looming, it is nice to be reminded of the good things.  I know I am guilty of getting wrapped up in my family and how we will be impacted by this faultering economy, and on top of that Christmas is around the corner.  Christmas is a magical and stressful time.  I love to look at Carson and see his face light up when he sees the department store Santa, this kind of happiness is unadulterated and completely priceless.  However, this is also the time of year when everyone else is taking advantage of that warm fuzzy feeling that comes with Holiday cheer.  There are several worth while charities who need help and they all step up their efforts during the Holidays.  It breaks my heart to not have the ability to help everyone.  I would save the world if  I could, but  I can’t and I am a strong believer in charity starting at home.  We have given to Harvesters, the Salvation Army, United Way and Operation Breakthrough, but our phone still rings off the hook with calls from other charities and when you tell them you can’t give at this time they act as though you are some kind of cold heartless person.

On to the happy stuff…

I was looking at the news today and after weeding through all the financial junk, I found the real news and these stories brought tears to my eyes.  It warms my heart to think there are people out there who still champion the causes of those who may not be able to or know how to speak for themselves.  The innocent victims of life or circumstance. 

http://www.kmbc.com/news/18208484/detail.html

http://www.kmbc.com/news/18205679/detail.html

These stories got me thinking as to how I can become more socially concious as well as raise my children to be sensitive to the plight of others.  It is so easy to get wrapped up in our own lives and fall into a routine maybe thinking only if…  Only if what?  What can I do to be a better person?  What can you do to be a better person?  It is amazing how many lives we touch in our daily activities.  The help given doesn’t have to be financial.  It can start with a smile, a thank you, a level of understanding.  Times are tough, why make them tougher?  We each have the power to improve the lives of others, we may not be able to give tons of money or time, but even the little things can make a difference and if you are in a position where you have an excess of either money or time, how about giving some of it?  I’m a fan of the grassroots campaigns, like the little boy mentioned in the first article above.

Baby Battle Cry

So Amelia seems to have adopted a battle cry.  She does this just before she steals DuckBear, pounces on her brother or does some crazy dance.  It’s nice because it serves as a forewarning of impending trouble.  What I don’t get is why she chose this particular battle cry.  When mischief is at hand Amelia yells “ELMO!” and then goes after whatever she’s going to go after.  It’s great!  She does seem to be kind of an Elmo junky so maybe the attacks she’s committing are being done in the name of Elmo.  If that is true then I’m kind of concerned.  Is there an Elmo cult?  Is she at danger of joining it, or has she already fallen prey to the words of Elmo?  If I start finding “Elmo Loves You” pamphlets under her crib, I’m going to need to hire someone to deprogram her.  Until then I will just need to enjoy the cuteness of her little voice yelling “Elmo!” right before she bashes her brother in the nose.

Daycare Adventures

Life is just never boring!!

Yesterday when I went into Carson’s classroom, to pick him up, he was in “time-out”.  When  I asked why I was told that he and another little boy were sharing the same potty.   I guess they were both trying to pee in the same toilet.  It is a rule at daycare that only one person can go into the bathroom at a time (they have a bathroom for boys and a bathroom for girls).  I told his teacher I would talk to him about it.  That night, at dinner, I asked Carson why he was in “time-out” at school.  He gave me a little more detail.  It went like this “Brady and I were going potty in the same toilet.  Brady told me he was going to pee on me and I told Brady I was going to pee on him, but we didn’t, we were just joking.”  I asked him if he thought he should share a toilet with someone else and he said “we use the same potty here” (meaning at home).  I told him yes, but not at the same time!  I explained to him that only one person was allowed in the bathroom at a time, at school.  His reply “but there are 2 toilets in the bathroom.”  It’s true!  Each bathroom has 2 toilets.  How do you argue with that logic?

Just to give everyone an idea of what dinner is like with Amelia…  They are teaching her sign language at school, and I’m amazed her little arms don’t get tired at dinner time.  Through dinner she is constantly giving the sign for more.  As soon as she has 1 or 2 pieces of food left on her tray she starts telling us she wants more.  I thought she would have slowed down a little on her eating, but last night at dinner she at 2/3 a can of pasta, a hotdog, 3 heaping tablespoons of corn, a cup of mandarin oranges and 1/4 of a graham cracker.  It’s just amazing how much food that little girl can put away.  Then after her bath she drank 8 oz of milk!  According to Dan, for breakfast that morning she had 2 blueberry pancakes and a cup of peaches.  MUNCH! MUNCH! MUNCH!

If you have nothing nice to say…

…just don’t say anything at all!  That’s what I was always told and I think that is why it has been a while since I’ve blogged.  Life has been crazy, which is normal, but it’s making me a little grumpy.  My weekend was filled with a pager and lots of time on the phone.  It normally wouldn’t be a big deal but, oh who am I joking!  It always annoys me, not that I have the pager a great deal anymore.  I’m greedy with my weekends because that’s the only real time I get to spend with my family.  However, I think the person paging me suffered quite a bit as well.  At least once when I was on the phone with him, Carson and Meals decided to do a scream serenade!  It’s amazing how insync they can be.  My ears are immune, but the person on the other end of the phone does not have children, and they probably solidified his decision to not have children.

I’m on a break from school, about 2 weeks left!  I really want to be done.  This last session was tough on me.  My heart just wasn’t in it.  I’m hoping this next session will be better.  Dan has his flight test coming up (next week) for his commercial pilot’s license.  After that he will start training to become a flight instructor.  I’m very proud of him and he gets to do a job he loves.  That is rare!  I’m still playing softball and loving it, but am wondering how much longer I will be able to play.  My post game ritual of the double “I’s” (ice and ibuprofen) is just not cutting it.  I’m sure my days are numbered!

Carson and Meals are Carson and Meals!  Carson will be moving to the pre-K room on August 20th.  He seems pretty excited about it, but he is not excited about going to kindergarten.  We will need to work on that!  Amelia is having a great time running around and rough housing with her big brother.  She’s little miss chatter box, we just don’t know what she is saying.  Last night she discovered that pounding her shoe’d feet on the kitchen floor makes a really cool noise.  After dinner we stripped her down to her diaper and she still had her shoes on, we have video of her performing her baby river dance routine.  Crazy hair and all.  I figure this is something for the first date!

They start driver’s ed so soon!

Grandma was in town this week.  It was so nice to have her here!  Carson and Amelia loved it and of course it went way to0 fast.  Anyways, the kids spent a lot of time outside this week.  During that time, Amelia decided she was going to teach Carson how to drive. 

I can just hear her now…  “Keep you hands at 2 and 10, both eyes on the road and can you make a U turn because I just dropped my binky.”

So now I’m counting down the days until we go to Michigan to visit.  Maybe this time I’ll actually get to spend some time with my mom.  During her visit here I was inundated with homework and two papers.  Even though I didn’t get to spend a great deal of quality time with mom, she did spend a lot of time with the kids.  So much, I think she’ll maintain her fix until we come home in September and even then she may decide to pick up a few shifts at work   Either way, it was great having mom out here, but Carson was sad Grandpa didn’t come as well.

Emotional Turmoil

This week has been a week full of happy and sad news. 

First the sad news…  One of our co-workers, Kelly will be leaving Helzberg to move to Iowa with her husband Eli.  I’ve worked with Kelly for about 6 years and her leaving is like losing a family member.  I am happy for her, because this is something she wants.  However, it’s sad as well.  I wish Kelly all the happiness and luck with her move!

One the good news front…  My mom called and said she would like to come visit. Mom and Dad haven’t been out since the end of March so I’m very excited.  Mom will be out here on July 7th.  Carson is really looking forward to Grandma’s visit, as am I! 

Other good news…  My friend Laura is pregnant!  Laura and I have been friends since 7th grade and we’ve been through some good times and bad times together.  Laura married Chris last June and they will be having their first baby in early December. 

I’m still waiting to hear from my friend Kelly in regards to current news on Sienna.  I think about her often.

This week has been a week of tears, both happy and sad.

To end this on a happy note, I’m attaching one of Meal’s one year pictures.  I just love my crazy haired girl so much!!  Her one year pictures captured her perfectly!

Sienna Update

Just a quick post…  Sienna came through her surgery well and the doctor was very pleased with the results.  According to Kelly, the doctor was able to put everything back into her abdomen without compromising any veins or organs.  A Gore-Tex patch was put in place and her abdominal muscles were sewn into it.  This patch will need to be removed in approximately 6 months.  The skin was then stretched over the patch and sewn together.  Currently she is in the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit) under heavy sedation and on a vent.  They hope to have her off sedation some time tomorrow. 

I know the surgery was just the beginning for Sienna, however; I was so relieved to see she came through it well.  I thought of Kelly and Steve a great deal yesterday, especially during the time leading up to Sienna’s surgery.  Just thinking of it now makes my throat feel like it is swelling shut.  I look at Carson and Amelia and think how lucky I am to have two very healthy children.  I can’t think of anything, in the world, more precious!  Please continue to send good thoughts to Kelly, Steve and Sienna!  They still have a long journey ahead of them.

Please send good thoughts to Grand Rapids!

Tomorrow morning at 7:30(Eastern Time), Sienna will have surgery to correct her giant omphalocele.  Sienna is my friend Kelly’s baby girl.  She is absolutely beautiful and very loved by her mom and dad.  Sienna was a long time coming and I can’t think of a baby who is more wanted or loved.  Sienna was born January 28th, 2008 and has already overcome a lot of obstacles.  Tomorrow will be a new challenge.  I know she is in great hands, however, it never hurts to send good thoughts to someone who needs them.  Please think of Sienna, Kelly and Steve tomorrow.  Send them your thoughts of support.   I can’t imagine the anticipation Kelly and Steve are feeling tonight.  I want to cry just thinking about them.   I know they have a wonderful support system, but when it comes to your child, the only thing that matters is having them safely in your arms.  Once I hear more regarding Sienna’s surgery, I will pass it on. 

Here is the sweet little pumpkin you will be thinking about tomorrow.

The Birds, Bees and Four Year-Old Mind

Well it happened, kind of.  Not so much the dreaded “where do babies come from?” question.  It was a little different. 

Here’s the story:

A friend of mine from work, Andy, invited us to a BBQ on Saturday.  On the way to the BBQ we drove by Liberty Hospital.  As we were driving by, I told Carson “that’s where you were born”.  Who would have thought something so innocent would have lead to the following question.  “Mommy, how do babies get out of their mommy’s tummys?”  YIKES!!  I look to Dan for support, but none was to be found.  He was really really concentrating on the road.  I think he even had white knuckles.  However, I know the issue wasn’t the traffic or the weather.  No support there.  So I told Carson that sometimes doctors cut the babies out of their mommy’s tummys or they get out the natural way (I told him where they come out).  That answer lead to Carson asking, “what’s a bagina?”   I could hardly stand it.  So I explained to him that it’s something girls have instead of a penis.  That seemed to satisfy him.  Until the next day.  Out of nowhere he says “Mommy did Meals come out of your bagina?”, “Yes, and so did you”.  That was followed by a “GROSS!!!”

I’ve always told myself I would be honest with my children.  But, I wasn’t ready for this kind of question.  I mean, he’s 4!  I can just imagine him going to school and telling all his friends about babies coming out of baginas.  Something similar happened when he asked me if everyone dies.  I told him everyone dies eventually but they are usually very old.  He was nice enough to go to school and enlighten his friends.   He came home and said “I told Kaleb that everyone dies and he cried!”  Great! 

Speaking of death…  Carson told me he wanted a fish and when the fish dies he wants a bird.  I asked him what he would name the fish and he told me “fishy”, I then asked him what he would name the bird and he told me…are you ready for this…he said he would name him Frank.  Just kidding!  He would name him birdy.  I guess that would be better than naming it Bagina.

Happy Father’s Day!!

Today is a very special day!  It’s the day to celebrate fathers.  Wow am I lucky!  I have a great dad who is an awesome grandpa and a wonderful husband who is also a super dad!!  In my birthday post for my dad, I talked about the good times and great memories.  I learned a lot from my dad, and now it’s his time to teach my kids bad habits   Which I think is great!  He’s raised his children and now it’s his time to enjoy his grandchildren, even though he doesn’t get to spend tons of time with them.  However, the time he spends is always top quality (as far as squeezing a lot of bad habits in a small amount of time).  Carson adores his grandpa!  I’m sure Amelia will too.

Dan, is a wonderful dad to Carson and Amelia.  He is loving and fun!  It’s not always easy, especially with a four year-old, but Dan manages.  It’s been nice lately because Dan has been getting to spend the mornings with the kids because he is taking them to school.  It’s really good for him!  Below is one of my all time favorite pictures of Carson and Dan.  This was an awesome day!!

Happy Father’s Day Daddy and Dan!!