Motherhood Sisterhood - a novel ;)

In anticipation of the upcoming move of my only relative in UT, I decided to say "yes" to a babysitting request that would span Saturday morning to Sunday evening. Jill, my sister and good friend, and her family will be packing up and moving to ?? wherever her husbands occupation takes him this summer. I thought that babysitting for an extended period of time would give me my fill of them and I would be able to part with them peacefully.

However, I am afraid it might have the opposite effect on me now.

There is something to be said about the difficulty in going from one to four overnight. There is also something to be said about the constant need for attention, love, reassurance, correction, and more attention of those four little ones. It is exhausting.

And yet, at the end of such an experience, it leaves one feeling empty when they go back to their one. One mouth to feed all day, one attention to entertain, one heart to love and reassure, and no correction (she's too young - at this point I consider it more reminding than anything).

Such an experience is an eye openner to the challenges that lie ahead in parenthood. (As Chad said at the end of the ordeal, "That was WAY harder than I thought it would be!")

Such an experience makes one happy (and hopeful) that they come one at a time into this world.

And such an experience made me realize how fast they grow up (though it doesn't seem fast enough at the time).

So, now here I sit with feelings of gratitude that my daughter sleeps in until 9 on good days and I am responsible for one; yet sorrow at the thought that my cute second family will be leaving me soon. The sister who let me live with her when I ventured out to a new land after highschool. The sister who let me escape to her house on weekends in between the stresses of weekday college life. The sister who left bags of groceries on my table when I was a (literal) starving student. The sister who hopped into a car at some unearthly hour in the morning to be at the hospital when my first was born, bearing gifts. A sister who earned my degree as much as I did, though hasn't yet received her own.

Selfless in every way, my sister has taught me to be a better me. And now I finish the process with the help of my hubby and child(ren).

To say the least, I will miss you Jill. And your cute little family.

And I have NO IDEA how you keep up with them!!!

Pregnancy and Dreams

One thing pregnant women are known for is their very vivid dreams. Those of you who have been pregnant probably know what I am talking about. Those of you who haven't listen up.

I woke up this morning wanting my dream back. It was a food dream.

I suffer from BIG time food aversions, but apparently my dreams are immune to this. Right before I woke up, I had in my hands a HUGE plate FULL of 3 main dishes: one large hamburger, a HUGE serving of spaghetti and meatballs (and I remember that the spaghetti was specifically THICK), and four HUGE slices of pizza.

Where did this dream come from?! And WHO could eat all that, even if they wanted to? Not me. But, oh, how I crave what I had in my hands. And wish spaghetti wasn't a victim of my food aversions!!

Waiting on the Weight

Have you ever started a very rigorous exercise routine, thinking you might start seeing results within the next month or so? Only to find, of course, that you are still waiting . . . two months later? And you are acutally GAINING (that's right, GAINING) weight?


"How can this be?", you ask.



1- Maybe you have a thyroid problem (most often NOT the case).




2- Maybe you are under-estimating your in-take. Once again, simple mathematics can rule this out (although this is statistically the most common problem when one finds themself in this situation).



3- Maybe your exercise routine isn't really THAT intense?? (I'll give this one to you, but trust me, mine is).




4- Maybe you should throw your hands in the air, give up, and just take the dang pregnancy test already.

So I did. I am due at the end of October. ;)

2 years!!!

I can't believe it! Today marks our 2-year anniversary! So Special! It seems like its been so much longer, but yet 2 WHOLE years!!! (Give me a break, we took a little longer that most of you to find each other, kay?!)

If only:

I could still fit in my wedding dress (or any of my pre-children clothes, really).

We could afford a second honeymoon (cause that would rock!).

I cared as much about my appearance now as I did then.

I were better at cleaning the house (sorry, hon!).

I didn't have to spend ANOTHER anniversary pregnant!!! DANG! ;)

OH WELL. At least we still feel the magic.

A Tribute to Tiny Minds Thinking BIG.

Do you remember when you were young and your parents would rarely leave you home alone (for fear of coming home to ashes)?? Do you remember the thoughts you had right when they'd leave (on those rare occasions that they chanced you and a firey home)?? Oh, come on. You remember . . . the first thoughts you had were, "What can I do NOW that everyone is GONE?"

(Don't deny it!)

Well, I know now what Breanne would do.

Yesterday she was fighting naps harder than any fight I have ever seen from her. In a state of despair, I lay down quietly on my bed to "listen" to her (aka use as little energy as possible without actually endangering the life of my 10-month-old). So, one minute I see the clock say 3pm, the next I see it say 4. I had fallen asleep.

Oh, but she hadn't.

My room looked like a wrecking ball hit it. Really.

How?, You ask . . . especially cause she can only crawl, right? (Oh, don't I wish that were the case). She has learned this new trick. Stand holding onto a table and pull everything on it to the ground. Then rummage through the remains. Thus I found her when she somehow found my car keys and sounded the panic button - gotta love they way their little minds work. Some other discoveries in my room:

-Calendar of Christ Chad brought home- dragged across the floor (and crinkled as though she had been sledding on it). Cute, Bree.

-Cell phone on the floor, opened, battery dead (if you got a call from me, you know who and why).

- Diaper bag pulled apart and emptied. All the toys strewn at different points of the room (with her socks, of course).

- All the stuffed animals and my workout clothes I keep on the shelves strewn to various points of the room.

-Chad's night stand open and contents pulled out.

-Cabinets of our window seat (both of them) open and contents (once again) lay scattered throughout the room.

- My shoes dispersed throughout the room (and my closet empty).

- And all cables I keep carefully wadded up on my nightstand were on the floor and looked like they took a serious beating.

(Yes, she is kissing her reflection!)

I would be mad, but I did fall asleep. And it is OBVIOUS that she kept herself entertained for the whole hour. No complaints from her, I'm sure.

Best Place to Live

If you are a runner, perhaps you have thought this before.

The best place to live is at the lowest point in the valley. Why? Because when you start running, you want the work-out. So you want to be running up. And when you are finished running, you are so tired that you would really like to be trotting down.

I however, live somewhere in middle. That means that I am running down (because up would be really, really, REALLY steep). And the whole time I am running down, I am passing those who are running up, feeling like a wimp. And then, I turn around way too soon because I am afraid I will be too tired to run up if I run down much longer.

And there you have it, the best place to live (in my short-sighted, runner's mind) is in the lowest point of the valley. So I can run up and then down.

In Lieu of this Month's Motorcross Challenge . . .

We have a new center piece.

I know it isn't much to look at, but the contents make me DROOL! For those of you who don't know, Chad and I are participating in the BYU wellness program. They offer specific challenges throughout the year, and we complete them. This month it is to consume at least three servings of fruits/veggies a day (though it is recomended to take in 5).


So, what's the big deal, you ask?? That's just it! I LOVE fruits and veggies! And so does Chad. Completeing such tasks are not difficult, and they come with their perks, like: cheap binoculars,

hand-held radios (that everyone seems to own, or at least know how to be on the exact channel that we are), a camel pack (which I LOVE), and a few other random things. Oh, and a healthy body, but who counts that one, really??


Can't wait to see what prizes we'll bring home next!!

Big Dreams, Little Body . . .

Wishing I could read . . .

and find my pencil.

Wishing I could drive . . .

And put mom in the carseat!

Wishing snow were warm . . .

and I could frolic!

Procrastination

Do you remember those days in school?? You know, the ones that practically required that you wait til the last minute to do all the BIG assignments that are due the next day? I mean it SHOULD have been a requirement if it wasn't, because everyone seemed to have waited until the day before they had to be turned in to even THINK about what they needed to get done.

Oh, I remember those days. But, one day I got tired of the stress that I felt because of my procrastination. I am happy to report that I stopped procrastinating my assignments the last year of my college career. It's about time to learn such a thing, right??? (Like 16 years of schooling should have produced a better, faster learner, or something?)

So Breanne and I arrive home safely from a nice LONG vacation (at least long enough to forget how to run my organized Provo life). I thought it would be a good break for my grad-student husband. Ya' know, get all those dreaded assignments done, or something . . . and then spend some hard-earned, well-deserved free time with his much missed wife and child . . . or something . . .

. . . RIGHT.

What was I thinking?

He spent until 2 am last night doing the four assignments and taking that big mid-term all due today. I guess it really is a hidden assignment to wait til the day before.