Wednesday, September 2, 2009

150 Words on Motherhood...

Okay- so it seems that most of my posts lately have been pictures so I thought I'd treat you to a few rambling thoughts.... (are you excited or what?)

The other day I was talking to my mom and she was telling me a conversation that she and a friend had been having. Her friend was saying how gracefully her daughter-in-law was taking to being a mother- she was relaxed, easy going, new cute haircut, and was already losing her baby weigh. And I just started to laugh... I know that there are people out there like that... But when I compare my life to theirs all I can do is laugh. There has been NOTHING graceful about my "journey" into motherhood.

As a matter of fact, I think that rather than sliding gracefully into motherhood I have gone kicking and screaming (with a small dose of pouting in the corner). My hair did not get cuter, I did not get skinny, I don't make my own baby food or bake my own bread. When Delaney was a newborn, I didn't smile calmly when she cried or take her to the mall when she was two weeks old. For the first 3 months I broke out into a cold sweat every time she cried, I obsessed about people using hand sanitizer before they touched her. I held her for naps for the first 7 months of her life, for the love of God! (and I wonder why she has sleep problems)

As far as I can tell mothers appear to fall into three categories: 1. The graceful mother- they seem to thrive with motherhood. They always look cute and smile- they are relaxed and seem to function as if they've always had a baby on their hip. They're impossible to hate 2. Me. The anxious, I miss my old job, where the hell are the keys, stop painting on the wall with peanut butter please, where is your father? Kind of mother. and 3. The "happy pills" mother. Ok- you know you've read their blogs or seen them around... they are the ones who are always happy, perfect husband, perfect children (a whole baker's dozen worth) never a stray hair, training for a marathon then baking homemade cinnamon rolls. ( I am convinced that these women are delusional from years of sleep deprivation or are taking something I would like to get me some of).

I felt bad about not being one of those graceful mothers for awhile and then I figured out that I might as well laugh. Thank God for my mother and Fran and Jessica who never once lied and said that motherhood was all shits and giggles. (actually it is a lot about shits and giggles but you get my point). And, it would appear that there is going to be more kicking, screaming and pouting soon to come since we're having another one in March (see how I snuck that in there- just had to see if you were still paying attention). Maybe I'll get a good haircut and lose 20 lbs after this one....

HEY- a girl can hope right?

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Fun at the Fair

On Friday, we all loaded up and ventured out to the fair to check things out. It was hot but the kids LOVED it! Here are a few pictures...


Can you tell that Laney is telling me "NO-NO" in this picture? :)
Petting the hop hop.

Hey- LOOK- I got all four kids to look at the camera!



Laney and Emersyn checking out Old Macdonalds farm.



Thursday, August 27, 2009

Scrub-a- dub- dub

I thought it had gotten a little too quiet... and this is what I found. Laney, in my shower (note she had locked to two dogs in there with her) LIBERALLY applying shampoo to her whole body (and the dogs..) I think she made it through half a Costco bottle of shampoo before I found her....





Family Pictures

This summer while we were at the Oregon Coast our friend Annette took some family pictures and they turned out pretty great .... here's my favorite!



If you get a chance check out her other stuff at http://olivieriportraitdesign.blogspot.com/. That girl's got talent- believe me- I don't look that good in real life! Thank Annette!

Priest Lake



We just got back from Laney's first trip to Priest Lake- so I thought I'd share some pictures... My family used to go to the Lake for a week every summer but somehow got away from it. This was our first time back in 5 years and I LOVED IT!! We didn't get to go for the whole week but did have a great time. I ate huckleberry everything, and we wakeboarded , tubed and generally enjoyed the weather. I'm hoping we keep the tradition going!

Falling asleep at the camp fire- too much fun for a little girl!
Laney playing with her Uncle Drew

On the boat with Grammie


More playing in the sand



Helping Grampa put the Kayak away

With Grandpa in the kayak




Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Look Who's 2 !!!!



That's right, today my baby girl is offically 2 ! Hard to believe! We had her birthday party Saturday and she got so many toys she doesn't know which one to play with first- and my house pretty much looks like Toys R' Us after an explosion. For the first time, she really got into opening her presents and was taking them around to different people so they could help her open them faster. It was pretty funny!

A few quick facts about my cute two year old- She is definately a girlie- girl. She loves dolls, doll houses. She can play with her dolls for hours- putting them nigh-night, feeding them, making them dance- you get the idea. She also loves leading the dogs around on a leash and generally harassing them. She talks a lot at home but is really shy in front of other people and rarely says a word. She loves fruit snacks, cucumbers, and anything sweet! She is well into her terrible two's and hates to shop or be told no (who doesn't) and she currently thinks everything is "mine". Lately, she has started running around the house singing to herself "do-do do-do do-do" . Pretty cute!

And now... Look how time flies! She was so little....

Monday, August 3, 2009

25 cents



Last Thursday Laney and I were downstairs, she was playing and then came to me choking on something. I flipped her upside down and in the process she swallowed whatever it was. I thought the ordeal was over but called my mom just to make sure- she suggested I call Laney's pediatrician to just be safe. So, I called and the nurse said I had to take her to the emergency room IMMEDIATELY to make sure it wasn't stuck or in her lungs.

So, still not completely panicked (which is saying something for me) I called Ryan and off we went to the Hermiston ER. Once we go there they took x rays and Ryan noticed that there was something pretty big in her stomach. The Dr took a second look and then told us we were going to have to take her somewhere to see a specialist to see if it had to be removed (now, I'm starting to panic). So, we drove to Kadlec and went through the x ray emergency room thing again and the specialist decided that he was going to have to remove it.

So, they had to take my baby and put her under general anesthesia and go in (with a scope down her throat) to remove, what turned out to be a quarter. (yes, at this point I completely panicked- lots of crying and renting of clothing). The actual procedure took less than 20 minutes and we got to take her home that night- so in the big picture it was a pretty simple thing. And she's completely recovered. I will say that I think that the moment they carried her off crying to put her under was probably one of the worst moment of my life- broke my little mommy heart! Hope I never had to do that again!

All in all, we got to the Hermiston ER at 4:15 and left Kadlec after midnight- long day! Needless to say I have gone through the house picking up and hiding all our spare change- that is going to be one expensive quarter!!!



(This is some pictures of the quarter in her stomach and the actual quarter they removed- The Dr said it was a good thing we had it removed because it was already blocking her stomach- scary!)