She's so close!!

Brinna is *this* close to crawling. I just know I'm going to turn my back and she's going to take off. Please excuse the crappy quality of the video. Our camera is pretty much shot.

Pupcakes and Friends

Adelae and I made some pupcakes (cupcakes) last week. I got all crazy and made all different colors of icing. (Ok, I didn't make the icing..I bought a tub and just added food coloring) As a special treat I let her and the girl I babysit have one after lunch. The first thing I said was "Now be careful and don't get the icing all over the place."





Does it look like they listened?

6 month year olds*

Brinna turned 6 months old on the 25th! I can't believe it! It seems like the time has just FLOWN by!
I'm constantly comparing the girls and what they look like at each age. When they were little, they could have been twins. For my Wordless Wednesday this week, I thought it would be fun to put up pictures of the girls at the same age, to get a side by side comparison. Forgive me, these aren't the most flattering pictures of them. I was looking for pictures of them both in the same position. It's not as easy as you may think! But, here they are! The top on is Adelae and was taken in August of 07 and the bottom was is Brinna and it was taken on her 6 month birthday. They actually don't look as much alike as I thought they did!




*Ben ALWAYS says 6 month year old. I don't know why or how it started, but it's sort of stuck. I do know that you're just suppose to say 6 month old ;)

For more Wordless Wednesday, head over to 5 Minutes for Mom.

A lesson learned

Something not so cool happened to me the other day. I commented on a blog that I read quite often. I actually comment on this particular blog quite often as well. I've had cyber discussions and email discussions with the writer of this particular blog. I like her. We seem to see eye to eye on a few things and she's helped me with some baby wearing and cloth diapering. In this particular post she was talking about her parenting philosophy. Her daughter had thrown a fit in church and she decided to ignore the fit until the child was calm. In my comment, I totally agreed with this type of discipline, as this is how temper tantrums are handled in my house. I also commented that I stand my child in the corner if she's bad. I stated that it seems like there are days when she's in the corner all day long. (Trust me..she only LOOKS sweet and innocent!) For some reason, two other readers and commenters chose to misinterpret my words. They seemed to think that I mean that I stand my child in the corner from the time she wakes up till the time she goes to bed. Apparently I don't even let her out for meals or potty breaks (insert eye roll here please!). I tried repeatedly to explain that she does not spend the entire day in the corner. If she misbehaves, she receives a warning, and if she chooses to do the behavior again, she stands in the corner for 3 minutes (let's face it...it's usually not even a minute). She has to apologize to me for being bad and then she's free to go on her way. Now, if she chooses to repeat the behavior, back into the corner she goes! These terribly viscous women went so far as to hunt me down, find out my full name, the town I live in and my home address. Allegedly they called CPS on me stating that I was abusing my child and the child I care for three times a week.
I was appalled. I was totally shocked that anyone would EVER think that I abused any child. It's been eating at me for days. I define myself as a mother. That's my job. My role in society is to mother my children. Their upbringing is my job. If you know me, you know that my children are my life. I am rarely with out them. To think that someone would say that I was abusing my children just knocked me flat. I ranted, I raged, I cried. I called my sister and I ranted and raged to her. I ranted and raged on Facebook. I ranted and raged to my husband. And now I'm blogging about it. This happened several days ago and I'm still enraged that anyone would think that I'm an abuser.
Then I took a step back. I thought about it. I knew that there was a lesson to be learned here. I knew if I just breathed and settled myself, I'd find it. At first I thought that maybe the lesson was that I'd made myself too accessible on the internet. So, I changed a few things. I even thought about taking down my blog. Then I thought about making it private. Then I abandoned that idea. I did change my profile settings on several of the websites I use and made sure privacy settings were what I thought they were on others.
Then I chuckled. I chuckled because I had been praying for patience. I am cursed with a temper. I inherited it honest from both of grandfathers. The temper in our family is legendary! So, lately I've been working on my patience. Patience with my husband, patience with my children and patience with myself. I realized that God put these women in my life as a test of my patience. He wanted to see if I could handle it. I admit, I could have handled it better. But I could have handled it worse! I could have resorted to name calling and public scorning as these women did.
All in all, I came away from the situation a stronger person. I learned a hard lesson about what to share and whom to share it with. I sincerely doubt that CPS will come knocking at my door anytime soon. If they do, they will find that my children are loved, fed, clothed and have a roof over their heads. They will find a less than perfect mother, but they'll find a mother that has dedicated her life to loving her children. So, to these women I say, you are not my judge. Only God is my judge. He is the one that decides if I'm worthy, not you. I also say thank you for teaching me a lesson I needed to learn.

Dear Chipotle...Letters of Intent

Dear Chipotle,

I adore your food. I love that I can get a burrito the size of my forearm for $6.00. I love that my daughter can get a cheese quesedilla for $1.00. I love that your guacamole has the perfect avocado to cilantro ration. But, I will not be returning to your fine establishment.

My husband, two children and I recently picked your restaurant to enjoy our weekly dinner out. My infant daughter needed a diaper change and I boldly said to my husband "Let's wait till we get to Chipotle. The bathrooms at this WalMart are foul!" So, off we went to Chipotle to enjoy a nice family dinner. Or so we though. Upon arrival we realized that the place is TINY. There were about 10 tables and they were situated pretty much on top of each other. This mean little to no room for a high chair. That's sort of a problem since I have an infant and I refuse to sit her carseat on the floor for the duration of our dinner. However, we boldly forged ahead. We ordered our food and I took my darling infant and her urine soaked diaper into the rest room. Initially, I was very impressed. The stainless steel was quite nice and clean. Hooray! But wait...where's the changing table? Surely there's a changing table right? Hmm..Not on the wall. Perhaps behind the door? Nope! Maybe it's a built in one that looks like a counter top? NO! Hmm..am I in the women's restroom? Yup.. WAIT! So you're telling me that in a national chain restaurant there's NO CHANGING TABLE? COME ON! REALLY?

Oh Chipotle, how lucky you are that I have a wonderful husband. You see, I was going to change my daughter on the counter by your cash registers. Oh yes I was. I may have gotten me kicked out, but perhaps my point would have been made. However, my husband stopped me. Wanna know what he did? He took my INFANT out to the car in below freezing temperatures and changed her in the car. Yeah..in the car...in the cold. Did I mention that she's an INFANT? Oh..Chipotle..you are so lucky that my children have kept me busy this week and I haven't had a chance to actually send you the nasty email I've been drafting in my head.

In the future, when designing your box-sized restaurant, please consider that there are people with children that need diaper changes. Your spiffy stainless steel bathroom does me NO good if I can't use it to change my child's diaper.

Sincerely,

Never coming back to your restaurant even though your food is very tasty.

PS..and $1.25 to add guacamole to a burrito? Really? I've made guacamole and I'm certain that the little spoonful you put in my burrito does not cost even close to $1.25.

My little fashionista

This is what happens when you let an almost 3 year old pick out their clothes.



I made her change her pants, but she kept the rest of the outfit on the entire day. Perhaps a career in fashion may not me such a good idea.

Hey! Slow Down!

I'm pretty sure Brinna is WAY too little to be doing any of this stuff. I mean..sitting? and WALKING (with assistance of course). COME ON KID! You need to stay a baby for just a little longer. Plus, we don't have baby gates yet :)






What are you Wordless about this week? Head over to 5 Minutes for Mom and see what others are Wordless about too!

I have a dream...

Today is Martin Luther King Jr Day and in honor of him, I wanted to write about what my dreams are. As I was writing this post in my head, I got to really thinking about what it means to have a dream. Of course I dream for big things like world peace, then end of famine, the end of needless suffering of all human kind, I dream that all child molesters get what's coming to them, I dream that there is no more murder, I dream great big dreams. Then I dream medium dreams, I dream of living debt free, I dream of owning my own brand new home, I dream of owning a new car, I dream of being so wealthy that I can donate tons of money to all the worthy causes out there. I dream that eventually professions like actors and athletes will make less money and professions like teacher will make more money. I dream for racial equality, I dream of a world where celebrities weight isn't front page news. I dream that eventually society will recognize that those of us that breast feed and cloth diaper aren't hippies and tree huggers. I dream a lot of things.

But, then I REALLY started to think about my dreams. When I start thinking of all the things that this world isn't, I get overwhelmed. So, I shifted my focus to what this world is. I think of my dreams from when I was a child. So many of them are now my reality. I have two amazing and healthy children. I have a fantastic husband that loves me for me, despite all my flaws. I have my dad, stepmom, brothers and sister in my life. I have a great relationship with my mom. I have a fabulous extended family that is willing to help me in any way, should I need it. I have a roof over my head and food on my table. These may be mundane dreams, but they're still dreams. They're my dreams that have come true.

I'm still focusing on the dreams that haven't come true. I'm still dreaming of lots and lots of things, but I'm also spending a little more time focusing on the dreams that have come true.

Letters of Intent

Dear Post Office that "lost" my package:

You suck. See, I bought the things in the box from a friend of mine. The items in the box were to be intended for as a Christmas gift for my child. Thankfully, she isn't old enough to realize that she didn't get the games for her Leap Pad. However, I've had to listen to "Disney Princess Stories" more times than I care to admit. In fact, I've had to hide the Leap Pad from my daughter because of the lack of books she owns for her Leap Pad. This results in lots of whining and begging for her "computer." It's not fun. Next time she whines or cries about it, I'm having her call you. I would bring her to your office so you could see the tears and the puppy dog eyes, but it's too far of a drive. The package is being re-shipped so please don't lose it this time.

Sincerely,
A Mom and the end of her rope

Dear Whining Child,

Please stop. Mommy is tired. Your baby sister is not sleeping well, so neither is Mommy. If you continue to whine at a decibal only dogs can here, I will be forced to stand you in the corner for an undetermined amount of time. And furthermore, if you could please sleep in your own bed all night, I would really appreciate. I do love to snuggle you, but waking up at 3:00 am with your foot in my face is not snuggling. It also prevents me from getting a full nights sleep. Oh! One more thing..your baby sister does NOT enjoy having her head squeezed so please stop. Honestly, MY head may explode if I have say the phrase "Stop squeezing your sister's head!" one more time.

Thank you,
Your loving and adoring Mommy

Don't forget to head on over to Foursons to link up and read other letters.

Mmm...Good Stuff!

In an effort to put a little meat on Brinna's tiny little body, we've started her on cereal and baby food. Due to some computer problems, I've been unable to upload videos till now. So, this is a little late. She actually started eating cereal on Jan 2. She LOVED it and has since progressed to baby food vegetables. So far she loves everything she's had (squash, carrots, and peas). I did sneak a little peach juice into her cereal and she LOVED that! We have to make sure to feed her before we eat or she'll cry the entire time we're eating. She looks at the highchair and says "Mmmm..mmmm...mmm.." and smack her lips. She will even take her thumb out of her mouth, just long enough to put the spoon in though. (She's an AVID thumb sucker, despite my efforts to the contrary.)

Christmas with my family..WW style

When you have a family as big as mine, Christmas can get pretty crazy. This year I took a short video of the organized chaos.



If you want to see what others are Wordless about, head over to MomDot!

Not Me! Monday

I most certainly did not inform my husband that I was leaving him alone with the kids while I went out and partied. Nope! I'm such a good wife I would, of course, include him in the plans. I would also NEVER make him re-arrange his work schedule so he would have the day off. Nope! That would be terribly selfish!

I would never laugh hysterically when my almost 3 year old daughter said the word "ass." Nope! That would be highly improper. I would most certainly NEVER ask her to repeat what she said, just so I could chuckle again. No way!

I would NEVER debate not having a birthday party for the same almost 3 year old because I'm sick of parties. Nope! What kind of a mother would I be?

I would NEVER leave the bathroom light on all day so I didn't have to keep getting up every time that same almost 3 year old has to go to the potty. Nope!

I would certainly NEVER be blogging instead of putting the laundry away like I promised myself I'd do today. No way! I would NEVER do such a thing!

I would never invite people over for lunch and then forget they were coming. That would NOT result in my frantically trying to hide dirty clothes and clean laundry from the guests. No way! My house is ALWAYS company ready.

I would never wipe my daughter's nose with my hand, then wipe my hand on the inside of my pocket. Nope! I'm always prepared with tissues. (Note to self..do not use pockets on jeans.)

What don't you want to admit to this week? Head on over to My Charming Kids to see what other mom's didn't do this week.

Letters of Intent

Dear Computer Mouse:

Please stop sucking. I realize you have been well loved in the three years that we've had you. I understand that you're tired and possibly broken. However, I am snowed in. I can't replace you right now. So, stop sucking until I can get to the store. You're making my internet time very difficult.

Sincerely,

A click happy computer user

Dear snowplow drivers:

Thank you for plowing my road. You made it possible for my husband to get to work this week. I really appreciate that you take the time to plow my road, even though it's not a major road. Kinds sucks that it keeps drifting after you plow it, but that's not your fault. If I could get you to stop, I'd offer you a cup of coffee or something to show my appreciation. Plow on plowers!!!!

Sincerely,

Thankful not to be snowed in

PS...any chance you could plow my driveway?

Write your own Letter!!! Head on over to Foursons after you're done.

The Wole Family...Wordless Wednesday

We had family pictures taken for my Dad and Stepmom for Christmas. Let me tell you, with 13 grandkids, the bulk of whom are 10 and under with 3 being babies; and seven adults it was no easy task. Coordinating schedules alone was a nightmare! We got it done though. We had a fabulous photographer, so that was a MAJOR help. I wish I could show you the look on their faces when they opened the gift. I wish I could share the pride in their eyes when the saw all the pictures. It wasn't an expensive gift, but I think it was the perfect one.




If you want to see what other people are Wordless about head over to 5minutesformom. As always, don't forget to link up!

It's been a year

It's been a year since my Grandmother passed away. I know I've mentioned her several times in my blog. I was really close to my Grandmother growing up. She was always there when I needed her. I can remember one time I was about 10. I was having a really bad day. I can't remember what made me so sad, but I was inconsolable. Grandma pulled me on her lap and rocked me in her chair. She had this horribly ugly orange rocking chair that creaked when you rocked in it. Every time it creaked Grandma would say "rock-a-by, rock-a-by." She held me that day for a very long time, even though I was WAY too big to be rocked. Grandma didn't care. She just gathered me up in her arms and rocked me anyway. Through all the times that I spent with my Grandma, that one sticks out the most. I think it's because it's so representative of who she was. She was always there to pick me up when I fell. Sometimes I would get so frustrated because she had the nerve to let me fall. I mean, how dare she! Now I know why she let me fall. It was to teach me how to pick myself back up again.

The day before Grandma died, I took Adelae to see her one last time. Grandma was barely responsive, but when she heard that Adelae was there she tried. She tried to say Adelae's name and she tried to kiss her. That gesture alone shows how much Grandma loved my little girl. It's a very painful memory, but it's also one of my favorites.

I was there when Grandma took her last breath. I know that God called her to Heaven to sit amongst the angels. I know that she watches over us. It still makes me unbearably sad that my girls won't remember Grandma. It tears me up that she will never gather them up in her lap and tell them "rock-a-by" as they fall asleep. It makes me so sad that I can't call her on the phone and talk to her. Or go to the nursing home to visit her. It kills me. I think of her every single day. I miss her like crazy.

I know that Grandma left a fabulous legacy through all her kids, grandkids and great grandkids. I try every day to be the Mom that she would want me to be. I pray every day that I've made her proud. I pray that I become half the woman she was. If I can achieve that, then I will be happy and satisfied. I know that one day I'll see her again.

I love you Grandma!

Letters of Intent

Dear people that are unable to drive the speed limit,

Get. Off. The. Road. Seriously. I can't tell if it's because we're doing more driving than usual, or if there are more idiots on the road, but why can't people drive the speed limit? If you are unable to operate a vehicle at the posted speed, you shouldn't be driving. Nothing irritates me more than when I'm cruising along to my destination and come up behind someone going less than the speed limit. Now, I can understand if the roads are bad, but not when they're clear. I think if you can't drive the speed limit, you should either stay in town or get the hell off the road. If I were a lawmaker, I'd make a law. It would state that if you can't drive the speed limit, you must put your four way flashers on. That way people will know that you are incapable of driving. It give those of us that are capable of driving the opportunity to pass your slow moving vehicle without even slowing down.

Sincerely,

Person in a hurry

And while I'm on the subject

Dear people that can't keep a constant speed,

Please use your cruise control. Second on my list of annoying things while driving are people that zoom up to 65, then fall back to 50, then back to 65, then back to 50..you get the idea. I like to use my cruise control. I like to not have to worry that I'll *ahem* accidently go 70 in a 55. You will get rear ended one day due to your bad driving skills. Personally, I don't think the person that hits you should be at fault. Nope! It should be you person that can't keep a constant speed.

Sincerely,

A woman that likes her cruise control


Do you have someone you'd like to write a letter to? Tell them exactly what you think? Write your letter of intent! And don't forget to go to Foursons to link up!