In Good Hands

Our morning was spent at the library, returning books/movies, checking out new items, exploring the new computers, and attempting Storytime. The Lime was doing well until the teacher gave him an orange egg shaker rather than a blue one. We barely made it through the song and then it was out to the puzzle table.

Prior to Storytime, while The Lime was trying to figure out how to use a mouse rather than swiping the computer screen, I saw two moms walk into the library, each holding a child. It wasn't long before one mom said, "Okay Sweetie! I've got to go but ______ will take good care of you!" The little girl cried and cried and cried. I noticed they didn't go into Storytime but I could hear the crying continue throughout the session.

The filler in mom and little girl, Lily, were sitting at the same table that The Lime went to. Not long after we sat down, Lily stopped crying and was distracted by the plethora of puzzles to choose from.

After about 10-15 minutes, Lily began to whimper (mind you she's not even 2) and ask for her mom. The filler in mom said, "Crying is not acceptable right now. Your mom is not an option. You need to stop." I couldn't believe my ears!

Then the filler in's child crawled off and she left Lily at the table with me for about 10 more minutes until I had to evacuate the premises due to The Lime's bowels. I'm no child abductor but if I wanted to snatch Lily, I could have and the filler in would have had no clue. It broke my heart.

It broke my heart that Lily simply needed to be comforted and she was told to stop. It broke my heart that Lily's mom obviously trusted this other woman to take good care of her child and it wasn't happening.

It did make me grateful that The Lime has been in great hands, for the last three years, while I've had to work. Even though he cried every time I left, I knew it wasn't because my sister wasn't treating him nicely. He freaked when I would leave him with LaVor...he just loves his mom.

I never have to worry if he won't get a hug or if his owies won't be kissed or if he'll sit in his diaper too long or if he'll go hungry.

Every time I tell someone that my sister and I switch off working days with baby-sitting days, they tell me how lucky I am. And I'd have to agree.

If only Lily had an Auntie to love her as much as The Lime is loved.

How Rude!

From Urban Outfitters

I never really thought about it before, but I suppose my job is customer service related. I'm the first thing a patient sees when they walk in and their last impression of the office as they leave. Despite it being EXTREMELY hard at times, I try to represent the office well and make every effort to keep my cool in heated situations.

My family celebrated my Mom's birthday last night and on the way to dinner, I made a slight detour to grab some balloons. Since I was a last minute balloon buyer, the store's staff rang up my merchandise but helped the others in line before blowing up the balloons (which I was fine with).

The second person in line was a crotchety old woman, on the hunt for purple beads. In her loud, demeaning voice, she explained to the employee that she had called two hours before, to inquire if the store had purple beads in containers. She said the man on the other end confirmed that they did. Well, according to the customer, not only did they not have purple beads in containers, they didn't have purple beads at all!

Then the stones started flying.

"If you don't have something, then you shouldn't tell people that you do!"
"Get off that microphone thing and find someone who can help me!"
"Why don't you help me find them! Isn't that what you should be doing anyway? It's called good customer service!"
"Maybe your staff needs to communicate better!"
"You're the one I spoke to on the phone!" "No he's not. He just started work an hour ago."

At one point, the crazed woman looked at me with a smirk on her face, hoping to get a "You tell 'em!" look in return but all she got were some rolled eyes.

As I stood to the side, listening to all of this, I could not believe how rude some people can be. And I was so impressed by the employee that kept her cool, despite being yelled at for something she had nothing to do with.

The customer and a new employee began looking around the store for the infamous purple beads. If the customer hadn't been so rude, I would have chimed in and told her they were on the display right behind her, during her rampage.

T H I S Much

I just walked into the garage to get some hot chocolate packets, only to find LaVor's work clothes and boots taking up most of the entryway. Right next to his stuff were The Lime's boots.

I've said it once and I'll say it again...The Lime wants to be just like his daddy.

While I was getting ready this morning, I could hear The Lime asking for "Daddy". He might have been dreaming because he only did it a couple of times and then fell back asleep.

After I got him up and dressed, The Lime said he wanted to show LaVor something. I was still in his bedroom when he walked down the hall to our room. He got to the doorway, looked in and let out an, "Awwwwww!" when he realized LaVor had already left for work.

I immediately called LaVor so they could say good morning. They talked for a couple of minutes and then The Lime said, "I love you so much! I love you THIS much!"

I don't know what happened on the other end of the line but it made me cry.

He sure loves LaVor, even this much (we stretch our arms out as far as they'll go).

On the way to my sister's, The Lime reminded me that Daddy was going to pick him up at the end of the day.

I'm used to it now, but if LaVor isn't able to pick him up and I show up, The Lime throws a major fit. I am certainly not his favorite (unless he's hurt, then I get to cuddle him) and I'm fine with that.

I love that The Lime and LaVor are best buds and that they love each other THIS much.

(My sister shared with me the sweetest little story this morning. When she went to drop The Lime off yesterday, she didn't initially see LaVor's work truck. My niece spotted it and The Lime apparently got so excited, little tears started forming in his eyes. Geez! I just love 'em!)

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.