Why I Shouldn't Write When I'm Angry:

I just have to brag about my children for a second. They are smart. Not just smart, but brilliant. They have super-powers that not very many other children have. It's really amazing to witness. Somehow, despite the fact that I graduated in the top 10% of my high school class and Magna Cum Laude in college and I have a decent amount of street smarts and IQ, my children have been able to see this

stamped somewhere on my body. I can't see it. Maybe it's on my chest. Maybe my belly. Maybe on my arm, I don't know. But my genius children can see it and that's what's important. I'm so proud of them. It makes me feel so warm and fuzzy.

(So much for my break from sarcasm, eh?)

Some Good Things

I've decided I've been sarcastic enough for a day or so. I've noticed some good things I thought I'd share.

Here's to the unsung heroes of my children's school. One of the people that I notice everyday that is AWESOME is the crossing guard. I have no idea what her name is. I hate asking people that question, don't ask me why. Anyway, she recognizes me, my vehicles, and my children. She calls out to the girls to tell them I'm coming if they're dawdling and taking too long. She waves all the time. We always share a kind word. And when she has a substitute, you really see how well she does her job because no one is as alert and on the ball as she is. She's a great person and really cares. She just proves that no job is "minor."

Now that January is almost over, I've decided to make a few resolutions. A little late, I know. One of my resolutions is NOT to stop procrastinating. That's just asking too much. But I have already begun paying more attention to what I'm eating and I'm expecting to begin working out on Monday when Millie turns 6 weeks old. My goal is to be to my ideal weight by my birthday in September. That gives me eight months to lose TONS of weight. More than just the baby weight, unfortunately.

Today was Day 2 of my huge task of cleaning our downstairs. Ever had a "catch-all" room in your house? That's what half of our basement has been. Now our family room and office are actually a family room and office. Minus the furniture. But that's okay because all of my junk is contained and organized and put away and it's so nice now. I'm especially proud of myself for only taking two days to do this since Josh has been working, so I've done most of it by myself, and I've still had to be Mom and care for an infant and pick kids up from school and make dinner and everything else. It was a HUGE task. But now it's done. The last box has officially been unpacked. Whew!

Oath of Friendship

I got an email from my mentor, Carolyn, that I had to share. But I decided to broaden the number of people I share with. This forward takes the tone that I love so much about Carolyn, but it also takes the tone that I myself use quite often.

Are you tired of those sissy “friendship” poems that always sound good, but never actually come close to reality?

Well, here is a series of promises that actually speak of True Friendship.

You won’t see cutesy little smiley faces – just the stone cold truth of our great friendship.
1. When you are sad, I will jump on the person who made you sad like a spider monkey jacked up on Mountain Dew!!!

2. When you are blue, I will try to dislodge whatever is choking you.

3. When you smile, I will know you are plotting something that I must be involved in.

4. When you're scared, we will high tail it out of there.

5. When you are worried, I will tell you horrible stories about how much worse it could be until you quit whining, ya big baby!!!

6. When you are confused, I will use little words.

7. When you are sick, stay away from me until you are well again. I don't want whatever it is you have.

8. When you fall, I'll pick you up and dust you off – after I laugh my butt off.

9. This is my oath . . . I pledge it to the end.

'Why?' you may ask; because you are my friend!

Friendship is like peeing your pants, everyone can see it, but only you can feel the true warmth.

Try sending this to ten of your closest friends, then, get horribly depressed ‘cause you can only think of four!


I even liked that last line. Which part of the oath is your favorite? Mine is the first one. I'd kind of like to see a spider monkey jacked up on Mountain Dew. That would be a sight. I envision something like the time my brother-in-law James was first dating Lori and he was a hyper, springy, gangly thing. Once he and Josh were standing on Mom and Dad's deck and James jumped his springy, gangly butt up on Josh's back and Josh almost threw him like a rag doll down off of the deck. I wish you could've seen it. He looked like a spider monkey jacked up on Mountain Dew.

By the way, I totally plan to do all of these things for you, my friend.

A (ahem) Stroller Down Memory Lane

Today we bought Millie a Travel System. If you're unfamiliar with baby items, this is a combination of a stroller and a carrier carseat. We gave our old one away, with everything else baby that we once owned. And it took Josh and me a while to figure out which system we wanted. We chose one that looks a lot like this one:

Isn't it pretty?

Looking at these systems caused me to jog down Memory Lane, imagine that. We used our first travel system until it fell apart. I mean that very literally. We wore it out. We got it for Emma in 2001 and used it through 2003. We moved onto campus to return to school in 2002 and needed a way to carry our little girls around. Campus was too small to drive everywhere, but too big to carry an infant and toddler around. So, naturally, we used our stroller (Abby had outgrown the carseat at 4 months old). But, being poor college students, we couldn't get a double stroller, so we just put both girls in the single stroller. The problem was, Abby was still very young, but a beefy baby. See?

Weebles Wobble, But They Don't Fall Down

So, there wasn't enough room for Emma to sit with her in the seat. So, Emma, who was very petitewould actually sit in the basket underneath the seat--I'll pause for a second while you scroll back up to look at the stroller. She'd climb in from the back of the stroller and sit cross-legged. She was very comfortable, most of the time. Fortunately for her, once she outgrew the basket the whole thing fell apart. I searched through all of my pictures to see if I happened to have captured that sight, but I couldn't find one.

Sometimes I have to wonder, how do college students make it, and then I remember stories like this--you just make it!

If 30 is the New 20...

...then why is 6 the New 16?

Last night I wrote a post on our family website about not understanding boys. I made a comment that the girls rarely truly surprise me. Of course, I spoke too soon.

Tonight as I was blow-drying the girls' hair before bed, I finished with Abby and pointed out to her how long her hair has grown. It's now almost mid-back. She was so excited...so very excited that she exclaimed, "Next I'm going to get boobs!"

My thought was, "Oh, for frick's sake, you're killing me!"

P.S. Millie spit up on me earlier today. I didn't notice it until I was cleaning the mirror in the bathroom and wondered when the bird pooped on my shoulder. Nope, just good old fashioned spit up. I look like a stinking bird-lady. Oh well.

Sick Day

Today I'm sick. It started last night after dinner. I thought at first that it was what I ate, but when my stomach didn't settle and the chills started, I figured I was pretty much screwed. This afternoon my stomach got even worse. My tummy is very, very tender and just plain hurts. I'm holding down food, but I haven't eaten much for fear that I won't continue to hold it down. And the only reason why I've even tried to eat anything at all is because I'm nursing. Needless to say, I'm miserable.

Plus, Josh is working this weekend. Of course.

So, when the kids had an early out this afternoon (it's the end of the quarter) I thought I was going to be in big trouble. But the three big kids played very well and quiet for a decent portion of the afternoon--hoping for peace all afternoon is more of a joke than a miracle. Anyway, I was feeling so cruddy that I forgot that I gave them permission to play with Abby's dress-up makeup. This is why they played so well today:

I think we have a few makeup application lessons to give before we let them wear the real thing, don't you?

We Have Plans

This summer one of Josh's and my favorite performers will be coming to the Montana State Fair, which happens to be held about five minutes away from our house. So on July 30th you can expect to find the two of us at Josh Turner's concert. If you're not familiar with him, I've uploaded a video I made of Millie which uses our favorite song "In My Dreams." Give it a listen. And you have my permission to ogle at our beautiful baby.

A "Loverly" Day

This new blog world has exposed me to some really great people, including my new friend Celine who gave me this great award. Celine lives in France and is preparing for a move from Paris to closer to her family on the eastern side of France. Her blog is so fun to read and I love the pictures she posts--sights I hope to see myself someday. Thanks, Celine, you rock!

I'd like to spread the love and show off some of my other friends with "Loverly" blogs.

My sister Tara has begun the New Year with the resolution to blog more. She's just created her own personal one. It's definitely worth looking at and seeing the pix of my extremely handsome nephews.

Jeri Dawn is a high school friend I reconnected with through the blogging world after years of separation. I love being able to relate to so many of her experiences and seeing her girls. They're so cute! And, she's recently discovered that she's expecting. Woo hoo.

My BFF Cindy has two (almost three) WAY cute boys. She's got some great stories of their happenings. Her son Ricky is a riot to read about--he says the funniest things. You have to check her out.

Mindy is another high school friend who is also pregnant. She's out near Washington D.C. and has always been up for wherever life takes her, be it D.C. or the Ukraine. I love reading about her life out there, it's so different than the near-frontier life of Montana.

Girls, I love reading your blogs. They are loverly! (The word "Loverly" is from one of the songs on My Fair Lady, by the way.)

Picture Dump

Today I got my haircut. The stylist and the older lady next to me were very nice. When I told them I needed an easy style for my curly hair because I have four kids, they both told me that I'm not old enough to have that many children. They were so nice. They made me happy. My short hair is so much easier than the grown-out mess I'd been dealing with.



Here's Millie on Sunday before church. It's also before she spit up all over herself. She's wearing the same headband that James' mom (Lori's mother-in-law) (Lori, my sister) made for Emma nearly eight years ago. So sweet.






Here's Emma and Abby. I have no idea what the context of this picture is.







The other day I told Matt to put his shoes on. Here are the shoes he chose. Whatever.

Last night we had the missionaries over for dinner. Matt told them this joke: "Knock, knock" "Who's there?" "Grown up" "Grown up who?" "You is a grown up." We tried to politely give him a courtesy laugh and after a few seconds of that Matt said, "Do you get it?" We all just cracked up. Then he told us a few more jokes and followed up the near silence of struggling with the punchline with "Do you get it?" This morning he told us that he asks that because Emma and Abby always ask him if he gets their jokes, so it must be a requirement in joke telling. It was pretty funny. Do you get it?

I've Come to Realize...

I've been doing some introspection lately. I don't really know if that's a word, but I'm going to use it anyway. Tonight I received a message from a former professor telling me about some of my friends from the theatre and what they're up to. Several of my friends are very successful in their acting/designing careers. The one that made me gasp was finding out that my friend's husband is working with the costuming of Saturday Night Live. I love SNL. In fact, I've even dreamt of being on the show.

That got me thinking of my life and the direction it's taken and the direction it may have taken if I'd put "career" first. I never considered a career for myself because I always wanted to be a mom. And if I had to choose something to do, I'd choose acting. But I've learned that it is very, very difficult to be both a mom and an actor. (By the way, actor is considered gender-neutral.) I once met Dawn Wells, who played Mary Ann on Gilligan's Island. I asked her if she thought it was possible to hold a TV career and a family at the same time. She said no. She's never had children and she told me that her friend Barbara Eden from I Dream of Jeannie had her son during the run of the show and said that trying to focus on the two things at once was nearly impossible. I know Angelina Jolie has 14 kids and still has a movie career, but even she has said that she wants to retire to be able to focus on her family.

I guess this all got me thinking of how I had to choose either family or career. I think the first year and a half after I graduated from college, and ultimately decided to end my acting career, I resented the fact that my spotlight had dimmed. I was pretty miserable for a while. I didn't want to be home with my kids, but I did it because I should. And I think one of the culprits for this attitude was being so close to the place I missed so much. We stayed in our college town during that year and a half and I longed for the limelight. Acting was easy. I spent 15 hours a week at rehearsals, plus time spent at home memorizing. I stayed very busy and the kicker of it all was that I was successful. I was important. This is the kind of thing I've always fed off of. So, when the applause ended, I felt ripped off. I hate that I felt this way, but the truth is sometimes ugly. Motherhood was hard. I never really had to be a mom before. Daycare, Head Start, and preschool took care of my children for me. Josh tucked them in at night.

Now that I've put myself in order, I'm so much happier. I don't need to have the validation of a stranger to make me happy (although I love comments on the blog, hint hint). I've realized that I'm in a different phase of my life. Now is about my family. Truthfully, the four years of college should've been about them too, but I had a lot of Me Time. But, I'm going to try not to regret that. It's okay that I'm not working my "dream job". I may never have the chance at Broadway or Hollywood. But I also don't have to give up on my desire to act again someday. I firmly believe that there is harmony in all things. That doesn't necessarily mean that there is balance in all things. I couldn't balance family and theatre in college. Barbara Eden couldn't balance family and her TV career. Each end of the spectrum takes too much commitment to allow balance. But time creates a buffer and eventually harmony can be attained through patience. I'm not sure if that is profound or gibberish. I've spent all day cleaning the house and it's almost 1am. All I know is that I may not be basking in a successful career in the world, but I'm doing the most worthwhile thing for me at this time. I wouldn't trade my children for anything, most of the time. I need Josh more than any role that could ever be offered to me. And this is a good thing to realize. I think I've known this for a while, but sometimes the realization doesn't become tangible until you put it into words.

Do I hope to someday be Ms Hannigan in Annie or a regular cast member of SNL? Of course! But for now, I'm completely satisfied playing the role of "Mom."

Random Thoughts from the Day

Thought Number 1

Ever notice how Julia Roberts walks kind of like a man? She has this manish saunter that doesn't fit her look--you'd expect a seductive, slinky walk, but it's not. Mind you, I have nothing against Julia. I'll happily watch her movies, but she just has a non-sexy walk. I've determined that I have this same sort of walk when I wear my big ol' snowboots. I've been wearing them for a few months now, since the snow and ice started. I'm still wearing them although the January thaw has melted most of the snow, but my regular boots aren't waterproof and I haven't gotten around to buying new ones. I think we all know from previous posts how excited I get when I need new clothes. Now if I could only emulate Julia Robert's waist size...


Thought Number 2

Today Josh and I had lunch at 3-Ds. It's one of my favorite local places. It's got a great Mongolian BBQ. Anyway, on the walls are all of these ads from papers dated the late 1950s. It advertises Dining, Drinking, and Dancing (the 3 Ds). There are all of these acts that they promote to perform three times a night. There's even one ad for Family Night, which included the entertainment. It makes me wonder what the place was like fifty years ago. Now the neighborhood it's in looks rundown and pretty ghetto. But it still has a HUGE neon sign above it that you can see from across the river that says "3-D". It's really cool and I don't know if it was in place way back when. I'd just really love to know what the place was once like. Looks like I should do some research.

Thought Number 3

Do you remember "Goat Boy" on SNL? It was a skit done by Jim Breuer and he was half-man half-goat and bleated in the middle of his sentences. If I could find a clip, I'd add it here, but I can't. Oh well. Anyway, I think of this character a few times a day because Millie has begun making this same baby-bleating noise. I think it's a precursor to baby-babbling, but for now it just sounds like she's our little "Goat Girl." Am I a bad parent for thinking that?

Thought Number 4

Josh and I went to see Paul Blart: Mall Cop. It was pretty funny. I liked it. I just wish movies weren't so predictable. Maybe slasher films are less predictable, but I don't like those kinds of movies despite the fact that I grew up watching crime dramas (who doesn't love Raymond Burr?). I'm definitely not saying to avoid Mall Cop, but it follows the typical Lovable Loser Turns Hero mantra. Oh well. I couldn't write them any better, so who am I to complain?

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Okay, I have no idea how many "Mad"s go into that movie title and I've never seen it, but I think it has something to do with zaniness-madness rather than anger-madness, but I'm focusing on anger. I think I'm allowed to put off my loveable self every so often.

First, we took the kids to a movie today. At least we tried to. A few weeks ago Josh got discount movie tickets from work so we could take Peter and Genica to a movie before they moved away. The problem was, we wanted to see Bedtime Stories, but our discount tickets were not valid for features out less than 12 days. So, we did something else with Pete and Genica and saved the tickets for another time. We decided to try to use them today since the movie is more than 12 days old now, but the theater was messed up and the sound wasn't working on our screen, so we got a refund and will hopefully get to go see it some other time. You try explaining to a 7-, 6-, and 4-year-old that they can't stay in their theater seat to see the movie they really, really want to see. I was not a happy camper.

Something else that is angering me is the limited conversations I now have with my children. My usual comments to them generally sound like this:

Leave Millie alone, please
Get away from her
Will you just let her sleep, please?
Stop rubbing her head like that
She just fell asleep!
Stop forcing her pacifier into her mouth
Keep your toy car off her head
Are your hands clean?

It's like Millie is the new toy that the big kids can't keep their hands off of.

It reminds me of Tommy Boy: "I'm like Jojo the idiot circus boy with a pretty new pet. Hello there pretty little pet, I love you. And then I stoke it, and I pet it, and I massage it. Hehe I love it, I love my little naughty pet, you're naughty." I'm going to stop the quote there because I don't want to think of my older children mauling Millie to the point of ripping her to shreds. But they get pretty darn close sometimes. Ugh. I'm glad they love her, but not while she's sleeping!

My Giddy, Gay Husband Part 2

Josh just read the previous post for the first time and made me edit it. I had to rewrite his wording with the radio more exactly and add the name of the bass player. He takes his man-crushes very seriously!

My Giddy, Gay Husband

This morning, when the alarm went off, I woke up to the incredible news that Emma woke up early, got herself dressed, ate breakfast, and prepared mid-morning snacks for herself and Abby all on her own. Usually the mornings include a bunch of nagging and grumbling, but Emma did such a good job this morning.

Then, Josh walked in the door. He'd been at work and decided to play a prank on the radio station on his way home this morning. The station has different themes for different days and Wednesdays have the classy question of "Who would you do?" where you call up and vote for which of the two people the station suggests you would "Biblically Know". Today was 60s day and the choices for men were Raquel Welch and another woman, I can't remember who and for women were Paul Newman or Robert Redford. Josh sat in our driveway this morning, submitted his vote, and then came inside all excited because he hoped his vote would be aired. It was. This is what we heard on the radio:

Radio: Who would you do?

Josh (in a very effeminantly gay voice): Paul Newman. He is GOOORGEOUS! Did you see him in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof?

Radio: (Laughter)

Josh: Meeeow!

Radio: (More laughter)

Josh: And in that Cars movie as that little purple car...he really got my engine RUNNIN'!

Radio: There's always one!

The guy they aired immediately after him voted for Robert Redford, but he used his normal voice. Josh LOVED that he played a prank on the radio station and we were all laughing--including Millie.

However, I think the vote would've been more difficult for him to make if the choices were Tom Selleck and Sam Elliot. These are Josh's self-proclaimed "man-crushes." Them and Wes English, the former stringed bass player from the Flying W Ranch Wranglers band.

I don't know which is more disturbing, that Josh has so many man-crushes or that this fact doesn't really bother me.

By the way, if I had to choose between Tom Selleck and Sam Elliot, I'd totally choose Tom. ;o)

Montana Ninjas

Yesterday Josh and Matt made me crack up. I hope I do justice to this story because it's such a "You had to be there" moment.

Matt loves to roughhouse with his daddy. But yesterday when I had to get up and do something, I interrupted the play when I handed Millie off to Josh. So the rough house turned from Josh and Matt playing around, to Matt and Millie playing.

Josh and Matt had been play-fighting. Josh told Matt that Millie fights dirty and then proceeded to show him what he meant. Matt had his hands up and Josh told Matt that Millie had something on her hand. Matt moved in to check it out and Millie (with Josh's help) delicately punched Matt in the nose. Matt reeled away from them laughing, but totally shocked. Josh said to Matt, "See? I told you she fights dirty." Then Josh told Matt that Millie had something on her foot. You guessed it, as soon as Matt came in to inspect it, he got kicked in the face. Matt was just as shocked as he was the first time this happened. Finally, Josh asked Matt if he heard Millie rumble and asked him to sniff Millie's bum and see if she needed a diaper change. Sure enough: bum in the face attack by Millie. Matt AGAIN reeled away laughing and in shock. It was as if he couldn't tell that Josh was controlling Millie's actions and Matt was surprised that his little sister would fight so dirty.

Yeah, that was a "You had to be there" moment. Oh well.

Two other Matt moments...at his doctor's appointment last week, the doctor asked Matt about his older sisters. Matt said that his sisters are Emma and Abby. Then he said, "Abby is annoying." Guess what word is used a lot at our house.

Moment number two. Tonight I went into Matt's room to help him get ready for bed and I asked him if he got his room clean. He said, "I can't clean it well because of all of Abby's cwap!" Then he took Abby's doll and stroller to her room and said to her, "Abby, keep your cwap out of my woom!" Guess what other word is used too much at our house.

Here's the kicker...if those two kids can't keep their rooms clean, they're going to share a room when Millie's ready for her crib. That way the mess is contained into one area. I can see the future blog posts now..."So, today Abby and Matt buried themselves in all their toys, clothes, and cwap..."

No Pictures, Please!

This is going to be a crappy post. Literally.

When Josh was serving his mission in South Africa, he had some interesting experiences including the day his companion trapped a monkey in their flat. Josh says that monkeys are as common in the neighborhoods as stray cats are in the US. But, I guess his comp rigged the window in the kitchen and trapped a monkey in the kitchen. The monkey freaked out and began jumping and screaming around the kitchen leaving "deposits" throughout the room (that's college-talk for poop). Josh's companion was from Madagascar and struggled a bit with English, so when he and Josh opened the kitchen door his companion shouted, "Oh, guys! Poop ever'where!" (You have to hear Josh say it to fully appreciate the humor of the statement.)

I was reminded of this story when Millie pooped on me today. Twice. In the same diaper changing situation. There are some things that I didn't miss before Millie was born. As I held her bum in the air to place the clean diaper under it and the eruption occurred, I really wanted to shout, "Oh, guys! Poop ever'where!" But Josh was sleeping so I didn't. Then, when I held her bum in the air to place the second clean diaper under it and the second eruption occurred, I just wanted to swear.

This reminded me of a poem I wrote in my Creative Writing class one summer semester before Matt was born. Please allow me to share.

Maternal Mania

MAR-CHING MAR-CHING MAR-CHING MAR-CHING

And so my daughter does it

Marching around me

As I sit on the floor

Wrestling with the other one

Pinning her down

The rancid odor singes my brain

Oh Baby

What did you eat

The television blares

To drown out the noise

The Marching

The Crying

The Washing Machine

Daddy shouting

To tell me a story

Of happenings of his day

It's almost too much

It's almost too much

The pressure is rising within

I feel it Surging

Mounting

Uncontrollable

Vesuvius

Eruption!!

Catch my breath

With the net of sanity

Wipe the tears

With the tissue of reason

I didn't expect

To laugh

I think that sums up motherhood, or at least my perspective of it for the day.

Cleaning time

Yesterday I asked the kids to clean their rooms. Matt immediately began crying and telling me that cleaning his room makes him old and if he gets old then he'll die, so he doesn't want to clean his room because he doesn't want to die. WHAT?!?

Abby was cleaning her room today (because it wasn't finished yesterday) and blared her music on her CD player. Just because she wanted to hear her music. It reminded me of the other day when she was blaring her music (Heaven help us, it was Hannah Montana) and Josh and I were sitting in our room with Millie. Josh yelled out for Abby to turn her music down. I just started laughing. Shouldn't we have another six years, at least, before we yell at our children to turn down their bubble-gum music?

And not to leave Emma out of the mix, she brought home a gingerbread house she made at school at the beginning of the Christmas break. Unfortunately, she was pretty sick that first weekend before Millie was born, and wasn't well enough to begin picking at her gingerbread house herself. But everyone else was healthy enough. A few days later, when the house was nearly bald, she came pouting to me saying that everyone's been eating her gingerbread house. I told her that I knew that. She paused, looked at me, and asked, "Have you been eating the candy on my gingerbread house?" I looked at her with a very matter-of-fact look and said, "Yes, I have." I thought for a second that she was going to go berserk, but instead she shocked me and her face brightened and she gave me a huge hug. I think she appreciated my honesty, but mostly she reminded me that we don't always have to get mad at each other. She made me rethink everything that day.

Happy Birthday, Elvis

Today is Elvis' birthday. I didn't remember until I saw some Memory-Lane shows on TV. But it did remind me of my fascination with him.

When I was little (like kindergarten) I remembered hearing the rumors that Elvis was still alive and hiding somewhere. Well, my dad had dark hair and he liked to sing Elvis' songs. So, naturally, I was convinced that my dad was Elvis in disguise. (Wouldn't that have been awesome? Money problems, Schmoney problems!)

A couple years later I realized that I had been a bit silly, especially when I realized the age difference between the superstar and my father. Elvis and my grandmother (Gramma) went to the same high school in Memphis, but she was a few years older than him, so he wasn't in any of her yearbooks. I got past the idea of Dad being Elvis and then my crush on Elvis began.

In high school I made an idiot of myself. I know, all of you that knew me then are thinking, "Which time?" For those of you that didn't know me then, I was a bit...boisterous in high school. In choir one day we were talking about Elvis. I don't remember why. But, I was not sitting in my seat like I was supposed to be (surprise, surprise) and when the choir teacher asked why so many people love Elvis, I volunteered an answer. The problem was that as I was answering, I was running back to my chair so I wouldn't get in trouble and I bounced on the seat and it made me emphasize my statement more than I intended. So, when the teacher asked why so many people love Elvis I yelled out, "Because he's SOOO fine!" bouncing into my seat on the word "so." Does that make any sense? I'm sure everyone thought I was just being way loud, but truthfully, my haste to avoid punishment bounced the answer out of me a bit louder than anticipated. Like I said, a bit boisterous.

If I knew how to put songs on my blog I'd totally fill your head with Elvis this evening. Love Me Tender was the first movie I ever cried during. My children rock out to Little Less Conversation. And I own a set of Elvis trading cards that my grandparents brought back from Memphis when they went to visit my great aunt once.

Happy birthday, Elvis.

The Treasure State, My Foot!

Montana's nickname is the Treasure State. Evidently it has to do with how important mining is to Montana. Yeah, yeah, sure. I think Montana needs to reevaluate and consider looking at Minnesota's nickname: The State of 10,000 Lakes. The difference is that Montana should become the State of 10,000 Rivers.



All of our snow that has accumulated since before Christmas is beginning to melt. As I drove to pick the girls up from school today (about four blocks) (yes, that makes me sound lazy, but it's cold and there are several hills), I drove through some of the biggest and deepest puddles I've ever seen in my life. This is the next vehicle we need to buy:

Okay, not exactly, but these puddles are ridiculous. They take up the entire street from sidewalk to sidewalk and hover over the dips in the road. And the bad part is that tonight is supposed to be down to about 9 degrees, so Josh should have plenty of people in the ER from falls tonight.

Luckily, the Missouri River is about a dozen blocks downhill from us, so that's where all the water will eventually go, but until then we're waterlogged.

Seriously, ridiculous!

Millie's Moment

Today Millie had a two-week checkup with the pediatrician. Just to remind you, a baby loses a few ounces of weight right after birth and hopefully gains it back by the time they're two weeks old. I was a bit surprised by Millie's growth. She weighed 7 lbs 6 oz at birth and dropped to 7 lbs the day we left the hospital. She was 20 1/2" in length at birth. At today's appointment (she's 16 days old), Millie weighed 8 lbs 8 oz and measured 23" in length. Her head circumference is in the 25th percentile, her weight is in the 55th, and the doctor didn't tell me what her length percentile is except "tall." I can't believe she's already growing so big.

This is the blanky my mom made for Millie

This is not a sombrero--it's the head cushion for her bouncy seat

I'm pretty sure she's pooping in this one--don't ever tell her I exploited this moment

If she's not pooping or eating, she's sleeping

...Still sleeping

The big kids playing a game they got for Christmas. It didn't take long before I had to tell them to put it away because they couldn't stop fighting. I know three kids going to bed early tonight!

Team Edward vs Team Jacob?

Okay, I'm going to preface this with a spoiler alert. Who knows what word-vomit I may spew from my mouth. If you haven't read the Twilight series or are in the middle of it, you may not want to continue reading. Like I said, I don't know what I'll end up saying.

So, for the last two weeks (yes, Millie is two weeks old today) I've been required to "take it easy." Josh has been taking very good care of me and the doctor gave me some very specific restrictions. So I've done the only thing any 30-something married woman would do (evidentally)--read the Twilight series. I read the first book a few weeks ago when the movie came out because we had a girls' night with a bunch of ladies from church. I wanted to read the book before I saw the movie. I think the movie ruined the book for me, though.

Stephanie Meyer does a great job of writing romance, sexual tension and suspence. That first book was exciting to read. Maybe it was just my pregnant hormones, I don't know. Well, Josh didn't mind me reading it! ;o) That may have been too much info. But I imagined Edward to look like Josh, which according to the book description, he doesn't. But that's how I imagined him. Then I saw the movie, which has Edward look the book description (by the way, it's the guy who plays Cedric Diggory in the Harry Potter movie) and then I didn't read the second book until after Millie was born. I put the rest of the series off because I was afraid I'd get caught up in the books and then not get ready for Millie or Christmas. I know myself.

Anyway, I just finished the fourth book the other night and realized that I didn't like it. I liked the first three books, but not the fourth one. Anyone else feel that way? I considered the first book a love story that involved a vampire rather than a vampire story. That's fine with me. I'm not into blood and violence. And I loved Jacob in the second book and I totally rooted for him during the rest of the series. Part of my draw to him is probably the fact that he's a big, dark Indian that radiates heat. If you don't know Josh, I've just described him. And as I was reading the rest of the series, I was in bed leaning against the wall (we don't have a headboard, it's on our list of "wants") and the wall was cold and hard. I didn't find any comfort in it.

So, according to my limited local research, I'm the only woman in the world that wasn't in love with Edward. Maybe it was because the movie images ruined my imagined images. Maybe it was that I identified with Jacob more. Maybe it was because I didn't feel that Bella would get to progress with an immortal vampire. Maybe it was that I had a few weeks' break between the first book and the rest of the series. I don't know. But I knew the fourth book revolved around the idea of the youngest character, and I was hoping that character would be tied to Jacob in a less cop-out manner. And, Josh thought it was a very anti-climatic ending. He was disappointed.

And, according to the "Who is your REAL Twilight boy?" quiz on Facebook, my Twilight boy is Jacob. Big surprise.

Overall, there were good and bad reactions to this series. I think I'm disappointed that I spent several days reading a book that I was somewhat let down by. Or maybe I'm upset that I've become a "Twilight-Mom". The biggest thing that always happens when I finish reading a series like this is that it gets me itching to write -- someday I'm going to sit down and write the novels welling up in my mind. Yeah, this blogging stuff is nothing compared to what I'd like to write. I'm sure that's hard to imagine!

Oh, and this whole "Team Edward", "Team Jacob" thing? We saw shirts in the window at Hot Topic with these sayings on them. I don't really get the whole "Team" thing. But, I thought it made an interesting title.

"Grade A" Checkup

Today we took Matt to the cardiologist for his semi-annual heart check-up. After a physical exam and echo-cardiogram, the doctor proclaimed this check up as "Grade A." That's always good news.

It's funny how some things change and others don't. Since Millie's birth, Matt has taken on the role of big brother. I was a bit nervous about this, but he's done a great job getting into his new place in our family. My favorite thing he does is sing to her. He makes up his own songs and they include words like, "Sleep, Millie, I'll take care of you." It's the sweetest thing!

But as well as he's done to become a big brother, today's doctor's appointment reminded me that he's still a little boy. As he laid on the medical bed thing for the echo, he stayed very still like a good boy, but eventually held his hand out toward Josh and me. I realized what he was doing. He wanted me to hold his hand. Since Millie's come along, Matt just looks like a big kid. I used to see him as a little boy, but now he's obviously a large boy. But that doesn't mean he doesn't need his mommy and daddy sometimes. He's such a good boy. I happily held his hand and I could see the comfort overcome him.

Anyway, he's healthy and happy. The doctor says we hope to get another six years (at least) out of this valve. That would be great. The longer it takes to have to replace it, the fewer surgeries he should need in his life. His next check up will be sometime around his birthday in June and then we may even go to annual checkups instead of twice a year. Good news!

To Everyone I Love...

...Okay, what the heck? This may be a double standard, but I really don't care.

First of all, if you're reading this, I probably love you. So this note is for you. Just because Josh and I have moved away from people we love, our friends and family, doesn't mean you should all live so far away from us now. You're supposed to all want to live near us and be with us.

Okay, well, this is all coming out because Peter and Genica are moving to Logan, UT, tomorrow to begin school at Utah State this winter. Yes, I went there and I loved the experience (for the most part) but that doesn't mean that they need to move away from us. We still have Mom and Dad, my grandparents, and an aunt and uncle, but that's not nearly enough. I know you all want to live by us. I can feel it. My postpartum hormones tell me so. I know you all want to deal with the subzero temps in the winter and the near 100 temps in the summer. I know you all want to have ultimate outdoor living a maximum of two hours away. I know you want to live in the shelter of a steady housing market with an increasing unemployment rate. Okay, so there are pros and cons, but the biggest pro would be that we can all live near each other. Ladies, we could do lunch and have play dates and our kids could all be friends forever. Guys, you could go do the woodsy stuff with Josh and I'd even let you go do other guy stuff like play in the mud and build things. Or whatever it is that guys do. I don't know since I'm not one.

Anyway, if you'd all just realize how happy you'll be by moving to Montana and living nearby, I'd really appreciate it. There are plenty of houses for sale around here (Mom and Dad's old one included) and our bishop is a mortgage broker for Wells Fargo. We've totally got some ins. So, I'll hold my breath and hopefully we'll see you all and your U-Hauls soon!