Tally Mark 36 - Part 2

On the carousel at Fairyland

-Has a crush on my niece's friend, Jordan. She's a cute girl with glasses and The Lime talks about her all the time. Last Thursday, when we were picking the kids up from school, we saw Jordan and she gave my other niece a hug goodbye. As we were walking away, The Lime started whining and was on the verge of a meltdown when I asked him what was wrong. He said that he wanted to give Jordan a hug, so he and Claire ran after her. He came back with an extra pep in his step and a huge smile plastered on his face.
-Is all about "fire" right now; trucks, boots, hats, radios.
-Has a sassy little mouth that sometimes gets washed out with soap. We have to remind him every now and then that he's not the boss.
-Is attached to his baby's hip, now more than ever. Whenever he gets sad, he wants baby. When we leave the house, baby has to go with us. Baby went to church with us last week but had to stay in the car during the block. As soon as we got to the parking lot after church, The Lime said, "Baby will be so happy!" Baby is a pink leopard.
-Loves Oreos.
-Likes to pretend that he's a waiter from the hot chocolate scene in "Polar Express".
-Still has an amazing memory. Asked me a question today about LaVor roasting a pig for a ward BBQ back in June.
-Insists on putting his belt on himself. He does a great job.
-Is in love with his blue monster truck shirts. If you haven't noticed in the pictures, that's usually all he wears. I had to buy two so I could rotate them. I really don't know what I'll do when he outgrows them.
-Won't mess up the folded laundry if I have him putting it away as I'm folding it.
-Has started asking, while we're driving, where we are. As in like every 10 seconds.
-Likes to tell us we did a good job when we read his "searching" books.
-Warms our hearts and makes us extremely grateful that Heavenly Father chose us to be his parents.

Tally Mark 36 - Part 1

One week old

Dear Freddy,

You're a smart boy so I know you won't think that your name is Freddy, even though I call you that all the time. It just happens to rhyme with "ready".

As I write this, my mind is taking me back three years when I was sitting in the exact spot on the couch, breathing through contractions. I've gotta be honest, dude, I'm much more comfortable tonight than I was then. But I'm not as excited. The anticipation of finally being able to meet the little person that I had only felt for nine months was getting to me and I couldn't wait for the contractions to get closer so that we could go to the hospital and get the party started.

And what a party these last three years have been.

When you first arrived, I would send pictures to Omi and write her letters as if you were talking to her. I've been reading those letters this last week and all of the things that I imagined you'd become, have so far come true.

You are just like Daddy when it comes to fixing things. In fact, your fire truck is sitting in front of me with a screw driver hanging out of it and you threw a fit before bedtime because you still needed to fix it. I reminded you that even worker men needed to sleep.

I anticipated you loving to visit Daddy at work so you could drive the tractors. Sure enough, you do! Although you have been a little hesitant the last couple times we've gone. But once you honk the horn at me a few times, you're comfortable again.

You are a bright, funny, sweet, charming, curious, button pushing, thoughtful, loving little guy. Each day with you gets better and better. Thank you for being my sweet boy!

Ugga mugga!

Mama

Baby, baby, baby, baby

For more than half my life, I've been known to my family as Popie.

 It started out with my sister calling me Poopoo (flattering, isn't it?) then it got cut to Popo, which eventually turned into Popie. Even the neighbor kids call me Popie.

LaVor isn't so sure about the nickname thing. He calls me Kimberly and every now and then Sweetheart. He's now known as Daddy most of the time, occasionally Sweetheart and sometimes LaVor. If he really wants to rile me up, though, he calls me Baby.

 Just writing it makes my skin crawl.

 I HATE when "baby" is used as a term of endearment. It just sounds trashy and sleazy and I don't know why. I'll take Snookums or Sweet Cheeks over Baby any day.

 I will make one exception to the word. One of my favorite movies is "Walk the Line" and one of my favorite lines can be seen at 1:19 in the following clip.

That's the only time "Baby" will fly.

Tights, Turtlenecks, and Thermostats

As long as we've lived here, we've had issues with our heating/AC. Despite it being looked at every summer, it's been deemed useable and we've chugged along.

In the last few weeks, we noticed that even though the heat was "on", it was not running so the house would be cooler than the temperature we set it at. A quick flip of the on/off switch seemed to solve the problem.

Then I woke up yesterday and found our home was much cooler than normal. A quick glance at the thermostat revealed it was 54 degrees in our house, which was 5 degrees warmer than when LaVor checked it at 3. Quick wardrobe changes and hot water on the hands seemed to work for a little while but the remainder of the day was spent in flannel pajamas and wrapped up in thick comforters.

It hasn't helped that the night temperatures outside are flirting with the high 20's/low 30's and our windows allow the outside temperature in.

So at night, I cover up with two comforters and snuggle as close as I can to LaVor. But during the day, I'm attempting to stay warm with tights and turtlenecks.

Brokenhearted

I try not to believe too much that I read, especially off the Internet or in trashy celebrity magazines. So when I saw the headline of Bethenny Frankel seeking primary physical custody of her daughter, Bryn, I knew I had to investigate. Next stop was Bethenny's twitter feed which had a few recent well wishes from her followers. But then I got to December 23 and knew something was up. "I am heartbroken. I am sad. We will work through this as a family." Noooooooo!

Despite my giving up "The Real Housewives of _________" a few years ago, I have still followed Bethenny on her reality television journey. I tuned in each week as she planned for her wedding and prepared to give birth, I watched as she became a business guru, I cried when Julie decided to go back to Pennsylvania, I laughed when I saw Jason's parents and how much Bryn looks like her Grandpa. Throughout all of that, I was a bit concerned about the speed of Jason and Bethenny's relationship but he seemed normal and real and she never had that. I was counting on the normal and real to make their marriage last forever but it didn't. And I'm sad.

How I want to remember them (I feel like I'm at a funeral)

I'm sad that Bryn won't have her family together, I'm sad that Mr. and Mrs. Hoppy lost one of their sons and now their daughter-in-law, I'm sad that Bethenny has had a hard life and longed for love from a mother and father (since she didn't get it from her biological parents) and won't have those figures in her life, I'm sad that Jason and Bethenny weren't "the one" for each other.

I do have to say though, that I'm not surprised this all came about. On the last season of "Bethenny Ever After..." the couple had some major issues together and individually. But there's always that part of you that hopes they can overcome things and beat the odds. I guess this just means a new concept for her show. (Speaking of shows, I'd love to go down for a taping of her talk show when it returns.)

Tom and Rita better not let me down.

And It Feels Alright

On my way to work yesterday, I was listening to the alternative station and was pleasantly surprised to hear something other than Muse or Mumford & Sons (even though I do like them...just hate how often they're played). Naked Eye by Luscious Jackson was blasting from my speakers and I, amazingly, remembered all the words.

My mind instantly went back to 1997, when my sister and I (I think she just went to support me) went to a model search at the Hilton down the freeway. We met in one of the ballrooms, they schooled us on which way to walk up to the judges(?), how to twirl, and what to do if they nodded or told us to stay. Based on my 7th grade photo that I recently shared with the world, it's no surprise that I got a nod. I'm laughing as I write this because I don't know if I went because I thought I could really be a model. Anyway, as we were leaving the hotel, we heard "Naked Eye" on the radio. We drove down the street to the mall and spent our night there instead.

Then while at work, I was sitting there, minding my own business, when my ears perked up and heard another blast from the past, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" by Starship.

I don't remember much of the before details except that I was 3 and had been playing in the backyard with my brother. We were remodeling our house at the time and our backyard had mounds of dirt covering it. Tommy and I were playing with the wheelbarrow and I somehow got bonked in the forehead by the handles and had to be taken to the ER. While lying down on the backseat of our Ford Econoline (like the one in Goonies...watch for it in the first 5 minutes), holding a red washcloth to my forehead so I wouldn't see the blood, I heard this song on the radio. My mom saw my forehead recently and said, "You still have the scar from the wheelbarrow!" I sure do, which is one of the reasons why I still have bangs.

But at least, after 25 years, it feels alright.

New Year's Eve

It was 15 years ago on New Year's Eve morning, when I went to a church basketball practice.  On the way home, my vision started going blurry and I felt the beginnings of a headache.  Within probably an hour after I first noticed the symptoms, I was throwing up as a result of a migraine, which I blame on the purple pants I was wearing (some believe my theory is crazy but when I got migraines on two separate occasions, while wearing purple pants, I decided to swear them off forever).

The rest of my day was spent in bed, sleeping in my dark room.  As the day went on, into the night, I could hear my siblings getting ready for their various dances or parties.

While my parents watched the festivities in the family room, unbeknownst to my sister (who hates vomit), I hunkered down in her bed and watched Dick Clark on her new t.v. in her room.

That was probably the worst New Year's Eve I've encountered thus far.

Which brings us to last night, which was one of the best.

We spent a majority of the night at LaVor's parents', where we ate Chinese food, played round after round of Golf and then Wizard, munched on popcorn and red vines, and The Lime got hyped up on tart sparkling juice, Oreos, and fruit loops.

Before it got too late, we went outside and lit the 8 boxes of sparklers we had from our wedding (6 years ago).  The Lime was hesitant at first, had fun, and then got smoke in his eyes and called it quits.  The paranoid person I am, I was convinced one of the anal neighbors would call the cops but we were fine.

After a couple more games, and episode after episode of Caillou, we went back home to ring in the actual New Year.  Before heading out to watch the fireworks on t.v., we all snuggled on our bed while LaVor and I asked The Lime what all of his favorites were.  We did that for about 15 minutes and I enjoyed every second of it.  He's getting so big and smart and I can't quite grasp how quickly time is passing me by.  I want to just bottle him up and keep him little forever.  I also notice I get emotional at the end of the year, each year, because it means his birthday is just right around the corner and I (selfishly) don't look forward to it.

We watched the fireworks show in San Francisco and caught glimpses of the ones in Seattle and Las Vegas.  The darn thing went on for a good 15 minutes and then it was time for the little dude to hit the sack.  

 

2012 has been kind to us and we look forward to what 2013 will bring.