Wordful Wednesday

Fifteen years ago I was in a local hospital watching the LAPD chase O.J. Simpson around the LA freeways. All in slow motion. There were only 5 TV stations plus the hospital station and those 5 stations were showing the OJ chase. The hospital station was showing "How to breastfeed your baby." I was in the hospital because I had just had a baby. And I already knew how to breastfeed and I was SICK of OJ! But I had a treasure that helped take my mind off the boring TV.

When I got pregnant in the fall of 1993 I was not a happy camper. Things were "complicated". Having a baby was the last thing I needed or really wanted. This came from me, a person who had tried everything to even have one child. This baby came along with no drugs, no surgery no temperature taking...nothing. This baby came because he wanted to and he was supposed to be here. He was another miracle to add to the other two miracles in my life.

I was old and tired and sick. I did not want to be pregnant.

My boy decided he wanted to be born a little early and tried to force his way out about 3AM the morning of June 17th. My water broke and I started into labor dreading what was to come.

Around 7AM Alexander James entered my world. I was pretty doped up from the C Section so I didn't get a good look at him plus later in the recovery room someone handed him to me and I almost dropped him since my arms too were numb.

BUT.....

Later one of the nurses brought him to my room. She picked him up, turned him to face me and my heart melted. I remember saying to him, "Oh, it's you!" And it was him. I knew he was supposed to be with me. This baby who came at one of the worst times of my life was a blessing that day and continues to be a blessing today.

Happy 15th Birthday to my chubby, curly headed baby and the best boy (teenager) in the world....please stop growing up!

More Wordful Wedneday over at Angies.

Happy Birthday Baxter!

Today is my good friend, Baxter’s Birthday. He is turning four.

I stopped by the grocery store this morning and bought him a gift. He loves cheese curds and pea pods so that is what he got. He also received a platypus toy from someone else in the office. He loves food so my gift was a hit and the platypus squeaks so he loves that too.

Here he is sitting up and crossing his little paws so he can have some birthday cheese.

These are the doggy pizzas his mom and dad got him. These smelled good enough that I could have eaten them for lunch. They were chicken and double cheese pizzas. Pretty nice food for a dog.

Mr. Baxter waiting patiently for his Chicken and Cheese Pizza

And here is Baxter sitting pretty in a chair being a good dog waiting for his pizza.

I think he had a good birthday!

It Was A Dark And Stormy Night

It was surely dark but probably not stormy 52 years ago when I was born in a German Army Field Hospital. In celebration of my own birthday here are 52 things about me!

1 – I love Cats!
2 – I am scared of the dark.
3 – I love the Green Bay Packers. Before Farve, after Farve, forever.
4 – I cry at, over and because of just about everything.
5 – I love to sing but really stink at it.
6 – I was named after my mother. Why couldn't my older sister have been saddled with this?
7 – My aunts are the greatest and I am so lucky to have them!
8 –I have a friend who has been my friend for over 42 years! Love you Sidlet!
9 – I am deathly afraid of spiders. Even little teeny tiny ones. I blame it on the Tarzan TV series of my childhood.
10 –I hate milk except on cereal and with chocolate desserts like chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cake and brownies.
11 – I have dissected both frogs and chicken eggs.
12 – I walked into a plate glass window at the mall during Christmas time. I wanted to see if a guy had sesame seed buns. (He was wearing a Big Mac shirt)
13 – When I was a senor in High School a group of Junior boys would follow me around. I never could figure out why but NOW I work with one of them!
14 – As a teenager I wanted to be a Social Worker and save the world one child at a time.
15 – I am 5 ½ inch feet tall.
16 – I wear ring size 5 ½ and shoe size 5 ½.
17 – I was my mom’s second biggest baby. The biggest baby (Jack) is now about 6 feet 1 inch. Life is just not fair.
18 - Being Seventeen was my favorite year until I turned 50! Great memories.
19 – The High School Adiel coaches cheer at once put a Fire Hydrant next to me during a Basketball game. We were the Huskies so I guess it was kind of funny.
20 – I had German Measles when I lived in Germany.
21 – I love yellow roses and daffodils.
22 – Fall is my favorite season and September my favorite month.
23 – Thanksgiving dinner is the best. That is what we’re having for my birthday dinner!
24 – I hate to shop for clothes, shoes and accessories because I can never find anything that fits right.
25 – I wish I had both of my sisters crafty genes.
26 – Water scares me.
27 – Because of this I only shower, never bath!
28 – But rain makes me very happy.
29 – There is a touch of OCD floating around inside of me.
30 – I read the Bible from cover to cover when I was 15 years old.
31 – My favorite Christmas Hymn is Oh Holy Night. I love the part that says, “Fall on your knees.” Give me chills every time I hear it.
32 – Merry Christmas, Darling can still make me cry. 34 years later!
33 – Speaking on Christmas, my favorite Christmas song is Felix Navidad played REALLY loud.
34 – When I was born I had a full head of thick black hair. I now have thin, fine, mousy brown hair.
35 – I am not a morning person.
36 – BYU and the U of U are my favorite college teams. Unless they play each other and then I become a BYU fan!
37 – All my toes have been broken. Some more then once. (I swear I am not a klutz. Said in my best Nixon voice)
38 – I sucked my thumb until I was in fourth grade.
39 – Because of the German Measles I had I got Mastoid Infection which paralyzed the left side of my face. I then had to have surgery in German at the age of 18 months.
40 – I love to work with the youth at church.
41 – Apples are my favorite fruit. I eat at least one a day.
42 – I love Snowmen and have a growing collection.
43 – I have been a huge Barry Manilow fan.
44 – My favorite concert of all time was Elton John in 1975 when he was still dressing up and being a wild and crazy guy.
45 – I have watched the Sound of Music at LEAST once a year for as long as I can remember.
46 – I had my first child at 30 which is VERY old here in Utah.
47 – Diet Coke is my good friend.
48 – One of my brothers died from years of drug abuse. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE DRUGS!
49 – In 1974-1975 I steadily dated three guys named Kelly.
50 – My favorite hobby is reading. (Is reading a hobby?)
51 – Contrary to what my family will tell you, I really am able to spit gum out a window as long as it is open.
52 – My life is better now than I ever thought it could be and probably better than I deserve.

Here I am with my MUCH older sister Marrla shortly after my surgery and while still living in Germany. I am the cute little bundle of pink on the left. I am sure there were times when my mother too wanted to feed me to the wolves!!

Thanks for celebrating with me and thanks so much for all your love and support! I feel like I have so many blogging friends that I may never meet who really are my friends! And thanks to all my friends I have actually met! You are all the best and I miss seeing you! (And thanks to Jill and Kristin for being good sisters and sister-in-law and reading my blog!)

Happy Birthday Madie Pie!

Happy Birthday Madie! Here she is last year, Sweet 16!

I have only one daughter. I only have two sons, so it's not like I have tons of kids, but only one daughter. I always wanted lots of girls and I am so grateful that I now have only one. Girls are hard so I am glad I got to focus my attention on just this little one.

Anyway, my one beautiful daughter just celebrated her 17th birthday. It feels like just yesterday I found out I was pregnant with her and dragging my sisters into my filthy bedroom to tell them that miraculously I had gotten pregnant. I remember the day of the ultra sound and crying with joy because I was having a girl, going back to work and sharing that with my friends and they cried and hugged and kissed me. I remember the nasty complication I had and what a treat it was to finally deliver her and get rid of my maternity girdle!! (I ceremoniously trashed it when Alex was born!)

Most of all I remember scheduling the C-Section and going to the hospital and waiting for the process to start and how scared I was. It had been six years since the last time I had done this and I wasn't sure I was ready. After those nice drugs I think I was ready to do just about anything. My Doctor delivered her and called her "Pumpkin" and it sort of stuck. She has always been the Pumpkin Pie Girl.

She was boy crazy on that first day and I think she really is getting worse and worse. But she is more crazy for animals. Cats, Dogs, Rats, Hamsters, Mice..anything that she could and can drag home with her and call her own. She still has all her cats, six or seven plus a hamster. (I think the cats ate her last mouse.) Her greatest loves are Llama's and Alpaca's. Don't know how they could ever sleep in her bed like the cats though.

Llama Lover Madie...with a baby Llama and a Llama puppet

She works hard now at a pet store and is great at her job and enjoys it most of the time. She is a Junior in High School and now our (please note the our) goal is a car. Can you just see and all those A's and B's coming???

Here she is just last night letting a Ferret kiss her. Maybe this will keep the boys away!

So Happy Birthday to my wonderful, challenging, beautiful daughter!

Love you tons and tons, baby girl. So glad you are part of my life.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

Today is my youngest child's birthday. He is 14 years old and is such a good kid. He loves to ride BMX and actually won a trophy of which is is very proud. He also plays the trumpet in the school band and is excited to get to High School so he can be in the marching band. He is a great son and I am so very lucky to have him! (And sometimes he smiles, he really does...he just doesn't like the way he looks when he does.) Even without a smile he is a handsome fellow!

We stopped by a craft store last night to see if there was something amazing he wanted for his b day, and he wanted some rubber letters so he could put them on his chest and spell his name while getting a suntan. Now that is a little bit weird but at least I know where he is most of the time and he hasn't gotten into any really big trouble. (Except those pesty grades! Evil Algebra.)

This is the boy who hugs me all the time and tells me how pretty I am (did I mention he was a bit delusional?) he still goes to church with me without protest, and he even gives me foot massages! This child is a saint. He was worth the labor, the C-section, the nursing and all the other childhood traumas. I love you Alex! You are the best.