SPH: Safe

I tried to post this Saturday evening when we got home from a busy day, but Blogger was not cooperating!

I hope that I can always keep her this safe.

What exit should I take to sleep?

My MIL recently bought a house in our neighborhood, one street over actually and we are so excited to have her so close. She is very excited as well. Unfortunately, we are still waiting for her to sell her house in town, so she is commuting back and forth in the interim. Last week, hubby went down to get the guest bed from her house so that she would have something to sleep on in the new house. Thinking that the box spring and the mattress were wedged in good enough with boxes on the trailer, hubby made his way back north on 45. About half way into his trip, a couple people pulled up beside him honking and pointing. Hubby looked and looked before he realized that the mattress had flown out of the trailer. Not knowing how far back it had flown out, hubby circled around and around in search of the mattress, he finally found it. Luckily it had not caused an accident and had somehoe flown across two lanes to land on the left shoulder. Fortunately, the mattress was salvageable. Unfortunately, the shoulder was so narrow, that hubby might have been killed trying to load it back onto the trailer. Needless to say, MIL was not thrilled about the loss of her mattress.

My Nana-In Law called my MIL the other day and said, "I was just calling to see what exit I'm sleeping at next time I am there." That lady cracks me up!

This that and the other

I present to you, randomness. It's been awhile since I did a "real" post. As in, not just filler or pictures, but something real that reflects on the goings on in the world. Albeit my world.
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When I grow up and become a parent of a school aged child, I have decided that I will proudly display a bummer sticker that says simply "Proud Parent". Technichally I guess I don't really have to wait until she is school age.
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Last week when our babysitter came over to watch Boo Bear so the hubs and I could go to dinner with friends, she told me a shocking story. She is 18 and going to a local community college. She was telling me that soon she would have more time to babysit if I needed her. I asked her why that was and she told me that she may be dropping out of her English class. It seems that her professor gave them a speaking assignment in which the purpose was to hone their public speaking skills. (sidebar: Back when I was in college, we had English and we had Speach, two very distinct classes) The subject matter for this 10 minute speach was to be P0rn0gr@phy. I'll let that sink in... I don't care what age you are and what class it is, I think it is completely unacceptable to assign this topic in a school. If I was paying for that class, I would be throwing a fit. Anyways, her Dad was livid and was going to pull her out of the class. I would to for that matter. There are plenty of other interesting and controversial (if that was the purpose) subjects to discuss out there these days without having to bring that into the mix.
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My life is full, my days runeth over and my wheels keep spinning and I am so thankful for all of that.

I should post something

Something.


Kidding. Life is moving along at a pace that lately I am having trouble keeping up with. It seems, just when I get a handle on my day, it's over.

Boo Bear is crawling all over and pulling up on everything, so my life is full of following her around and picking up or moving whatever she is trying to stuff in her mouth or pull on her head. It's called babyproofing, one minute at a time. And cleaning as you go.

She is so mobile that I can really only work while she is napping, which in itself is a moving target right now.

I am finding that I really don't want to do anything outside of the house because it is really so much trouble. It takes forever to get out of the house; trip to the car, put baby in, turn car on, realize I forgot something, leave car running with baby in it (before anyone freaks out, we live in a very small, very out of the way neighborhood that if you don't know where it is and you happen to be here, you are lost), make mad dash inside for whatever I forgot. Rinse, lather, repeat, at least 2x. An any outing farther than say Target, the bank or Walmart is sure to mess up Boo Bear's schedule and I really can't have her napping in the car, because as I said, I have to work while she naps and I can't do that while driving the car. Hence my being tied to the house.

I also find that even outings without Boo Bear, leave me less than thrilled. It takes a lot of work to leave a breastfed baby anywhere without boobage for any length of time. And my free time, read, alone time, is very scarce and frankly I would just be happy sitting on the couch vegging instead of driving somewhere, spending money I don't have, carting child and 10 million of her necessary items to and fro, so on and so forth.

So, as you can see, I'm a grump, a pain, a short-tempered, hoo ha and did I mention that it seems my Aunt Flo has come back to visit, despite the fact that I am breastfeeding, but I am sure that has nothing to do with my foul mood.

Going back under shell now...

Genuinely Needed Support

An friend of mine from blogland is in need of your thoughts, prayers and support. He is dealing with an issue that I am very familiar with. This man has helped me with blog issues and work issues and although I have never met him, I have met his wife and have spoken with them on the phone and considered them to be true friends of mine. Please go and give them some of your kind thoughts and support.

SPH: Lost

I had some trouble with this subject. Rather, I didn't already have anything that would fit. And then I realized that the leaves are falling and my crepe mertle is all but gone. This must mean that despite our 80-90 degree weather, fall is indeed making it's way into South Texas. Happy Saturday folks!

Before you do anything else today...

... go tell her HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

My life is truly blessed because she is in it. May you all have at least one friend like her.

Update: Link should be working now. I'm a dunce.

SPH: Sleeping (Two days late) and Photo Friday

I had totally planned on being on the ball and posting a fabulous picture for last week's SPH and Photo Friday. Unfortunately, I had to make an impromtu trip to Austin. My grandmother fell and broke her hip, my mother flew in and me and Boo Bear went to visit and make grandma all better. Well, as much as we could. Grandma had her surgery yesterday and it went well, hopefully she will make a full recovery. As full as an 86 year old can make, we hope. She is now recovering and giving all the nurses what-for, something she is quite good at.

So here are my late photos. Sorry for the delay and I hope you all had a fabulous weekend!

SPH: Sleeping

This was taken probably when Boo Bear was about 1.5 weeks. It's when we first noticed her sleeping with her hands behind her head. Something that would later lead to her wearing her helmet and sleeping like this.

Photo Friday: Thin

Dear Daughter

Dear Daughter,

This letter is different than your monthly updates that talk about your cuteness and your milestones. This letter is about the things I hope that I can do for you as a Mother. This world we live in, it is a harsh world. I will never gloss that over, because it is important for you to know. But I hope to protect you to the best of my ability.

In this world we live in, I hope someday you will understand the decisions that your father and I make when it comes to you. I hope that you will understand why it is so hard to just let you go outside and play without watching over you like a hawk. I want you to feel free, but want to protect you from the predators in this world that may be disguised as community leaders, religious leaders, teachers and friends. I want you to be like the other kids, but understand why we do not let you watch TV. There really is nothing on there worth watching anymore and I know that I shouldn't watch it either. I hope to teach you the joys of reading. The places that books can take you and the things you can learn without ever having to experience them for yourself.

I hope that when the time comes to send you to school, that the bureaucrats have gotten their act together and decided that more important than getting money for more passing test grades on state tests, is learning and teaching our children, not only the things they need to know for tomorrow, but how to "fish" in the world, not just be handed the fish. I hope they can find a balance between discipline, self-esteem and learning. Life is hard, it is not fair and it never will be, so coddling our children is not in their best interest. I hope that you never have to experience being held hostage and watching friends be hurt or killed and I hope I never have to stand outside a school praying that my child is alright.

I hope you will understand why you have a curfew and why it is so important to keep it. Good things do not happen after midnight. Night time is dangerous and I only want to protect you to the best of my ability. I hope that you will understand that when you start driving, why you can only have one other person in the car with you. Driving takes skill, practice, and focus. You cannot have focus with 4 other teenagers in the car. If you do have focus, odds are it will be on a boy or some other interesting thing at school, not on the road. I hope I never have to be on the receiving end of a late night phone call telling me that you are not coming back from wherever you have gone. I hope that the lesson death brings is a lesson you do not learn too young. Losing friends at any age is difficult at best, but the teenage years are hard enough and full of other lessons just as hard.

I hope that I never have to hear a doctor tell me something is wrong with you that cannot be fixed. I hope that you never know real pain, but I know that is not possible. Pain is a part of life. I hope I can teach you how to deal with it gracefully. Someone once said, just because you have a pain, doesn't mean you have to be one. Handle pain and heartache, difficult situations with grace, others will notice.

I hope that I can teach you to make good decisions so that when I am not with you, you will make good decisions and be proud of them. Sometimes good decisions go against the grain. That's okay. Stand up for what you believe in and remember that all fads pass and you learn more with age. I hope that I can lead by example and not be a hypocrite, I will do my best. For I should never say, "do as I say, not as I do." I hope that I will make you proud and that I will make God proud for how I raise you.

I hope that you know that I will always do the best that I can do. Sometimes my best will be better than other times. I hope that you will realize that I am human and make mistakes, much sooner than I ever realized it with my parents. I hope that you will be forgiving when I do make mistakes and I hope that I can do the same for myself.

I hope that my marriage to your father will be a living example of a healthy, happy relationship that you will someday model your own marriage after. I hope that we will teach you that arguing is good and healthy, and that when you love someone, it's not about who's right or wrong, but about making it right. It's never too late to say, "I'm sorry."

I hope that you always know how much I love you and how beautiful you are. I hope that I can teach you the true meaning of beauty, both inside and out without blurring the line. I hope that I can break through the hold society has on appearances and teach you how to love yourself for you and to never feel bad about who you are. Self esteem is such a fragile thing, easily broken, hard to repair. Pride can be dangerous as well. Balance is one key to a happy life.

Lastly, I can only hope that as you grow, this world just might make itself a little better. I hope that as a Mother, I can be a part of making the world a better place, not the other way around. I love you, dear daughter and pray for your safety.

Love,
Momma

More hubby humor

It was brought to my attention that I didn't make the joke below clear. Hopefully now it adds more funny!

What is Snoop Dog's favorite flavor of Oatmeal?

Peeyaaatches and Cream.

I love that man.

And more...
As we discussed Boo Bear's long fingers and her possible musical talent.

Me: Maybe she will play piano.
Him: The better to hold her harmonica with. (Note: I bought my husband a harmonica last year for Christmas because he mentioned in passing he might like one. I have created a monster. We now have 7 harmonicas and he spends any free time he has playing.)
Me: I don't think she can get a full scholarship for harmonica, not even to Julliard.
Him: You never know, there's probably someone out there who got a full ride for the triangle.

To know him, is to love him.

Austin Trip

I really have no time to post, but did say that I would post about our trip to Austin. It was awesome. The kids were great and I got to spend some great time with my sister and brother-in-law and my grandmother. Here is the trip in pictures.

The boys were never quite sure what to do with Boo Bear, but she had a blast hanging out with them.

Aren't they all adorable? I'm not biased either!