29. Memorial Memories

Day 29: A Blog A Day In May

On Memorial Day weekend we always hang out with Parker's family. Parker's grandfather had 12 siblings, and about 8 of them are buried in Burley. So we always take a trip out to the 3 cemetaries in Burley to put flowers on the graves, and Dad gets to tell us all about our ancestors. I'm starting to be able to tell the stories myself after 6 years of marriage....but it's still a good tradition. I won't spend a lot of time talking about this, except to say that was what we did today. Caleb had to go to the bathroom a couple times while we were out there.....so we found a secluded area where he could drop his pants and go (cuz there were no bathrooms nearby). Parker told me he said this. As he's going near a tree he says to Parker, "It goes FAR!!" and Parker, trying to make things more discrete points his "private" down. Then Caleb says, "It makes MUD!" I busted up laughing when Parker told me that.

I'm sorry I'm getting so bad at the posting. I'm not gonna lie....I'm kinda sick of having to find something to blog about every day. I'll be glad when June is here. I do feel like this blog-a-day-in-may thing has helped me figure out things to blog about, and I'll probably do so a little more frequently now....but not every day. Man I'm tired.

Tomorrow we're going to Utah. Parker's grandparents are buried there, and we're gonna go to his Aunt's house for dinner. It should be fun. I'm so glad I don't have to work on Monday!

28. Fallout

Day 28: A Blog A Day In May

Well I've been done breastfeeding for almost 3 weeks now, and my hair is still falling out. For those of you who don't know....and maybe it's just me. But I think I remember my sisters telling me it happens to them, so somehow I think not....after having a baby your hair falls out. I don't know if it's from the trauma of delivering the baby, or if it's about the breast milk. I think it's the latter. Breast milk is full of nutrients and even fat cells to help your baby grow. It takes a lot out of a woman's body to make breast milk.....because it's got the same chemical make-up no matter who you are. And your body won't make un-healthy breast milk. So if the goods aren't coming from your diet, then it comes from your body instead. I'm pretty sure this is why back in the depression, nursing mom's would have a lot of dental problems, because they didn't have the nutrients in their body to fight cavities or gum disease. This is also my philosophy for why I've dried up eary. If your diet is questionable....meaning not extreamly healthy....and the goods aren't there for making breast milk....your body won't make it un-healthy....it'll just make less. And busy me, I really do try to eat well.....but I give in to poor meals and fast-food on more than one occasion. And whatever nutrients your body needs to hold onto your hair...I'm pretty sure that goes into the milk too (this is all my personal theory of course)...and so it falls out. A LOT. You can't understand this unless it happens to you. Hand-fulls come out in the shower. Then I brush it once I get out of the shower. It FILLS up the brush. I throw it all in the sink till I'm done fiddling with my hair, and then I'll throw it all away when I'm done. But more comes out when I blow-dry.....and then the MOST comes out when I flat-iron. It's a wonder there's any hair left in my head at all! I'm just wondering how long it takes my body to recover. Because after this phase, comes the baby hairs. It all starts to grow back....and when it does, they're all short little things that stick out everywhere, and make you look rediculous in a pony-tail. As of now, I HATE wearing my hair down, because every time I run my fingers through my hair, I pull out a hand-full! And it's EVERYWHERE! All over the floors, on my clothes. I find it in the baby blankets, and on the couch after I've sat in it. Augh. I can't wait for it to quit. I feel bad for Parker. He's gotta live with it too.

27. Progress

Day 27: A Blog A Day In May

Well, I had mentioned earlier that I was going to start trying to teach Caleb some of his letters. And I really have made some progress. He's such a sponge! If I can find a way to teach each letter in a way that he remembers.....he seems to do much better. So far he knows "T, S, M, A, and today we added B" I'm not quite sure if B is gonna stick yet....we'll find out when we try again tomorrow. But our refrigerator magnets seem to be the best way to teach him his letters. I try to make a game out of it, put 'em in a cup and let him shake it up. Or give him a raisin or something for each correct answer. He's doing so well! I'm really proud of him. Here's a video of our little game. Now please realize....for some reason he likes to pretend he doesn't know when he really does. So when I ask him a question and he gives the wrong answer first....I actually think he's just playing it up for the sake of the game. He sure knows it, as you can tell since he gets the answer correct on his second try each time. Here you go.

26. My Dirty Little Secret...

Day 26: A Blog A Day In May

Well I realized I have a nasty little secret. It's funny that it has taken me this long to confess. I guess when you live for so long in your own crud, you kinda forget how bad it really is. My car. Oh my poor, abused, little car. It's a 2003 Hyundai Elantra. We bought it in 04 with about 60,000 miles on it (I think). Living in Pocatello at the time, we made several trips to Burley and Boise. Then when we lived in Burley last year, Parker commuted to Pocatello twice a week for school. Then when we moved to twin, he commuted to Pocatello twice a week for one more semester. This car has a LOT of miles on it! Around 145,000 I wanna say. Here's the sad part. It gets washed maybe twice a year. Three times if it's lucky. And as the primary carrier of me and my children, it gets MESSY. VERY MESSY. It's constantly full of trash, dust, clothes, diapers, toys, and crumbs. It's VERY emberassing. Luckily, I never have to show it to anybody, cuz nobody ever rides in my car because the back seat is full of car-seats.

Well Today I'd had it. I cleaned my car. Inside and out. Is it dumb to wash your car only hours before a rain storm? I would say for my car....no. Because it needed it...rain or no rain.

I even took out the car seats and vaccuumed where they sit. I cleaned the windows, and the inside of each door....and did my best on those disgusting floor mats. They can't be cleaned really. The dust is embedded so deep, there's nothing that could get all that crud out. But I bang them off and vaccuum them to the best of my ability and call it good.
While I was cleaning my brains out, trying to finish before the looming storm arrived today....Caleb was there on the side-lines. He had a stick from his kite that spreads the thing so it'll fly. He'd been pretending he was directing a choir with it. But then when I stepped out of the car to put away the vaccuum, I saw what he'd done.

HE SCRATCHED THE DAYLIGHTS OUT OF MY CAR!!! It looks terrible! I wanted to cry. Then came the rage. What was he THINKING?!! I took that little stick out of his hands (I probably should've snapped it in half....but I didn't) and spanked his little butt as hard as I could, and then let him cry for nearly twenty minutes. I was so angry. I sat there and tried to wash it again.....hoping it was just the white from the stick. It looked better while the surface was wet. Then it dried....and it came back. GRRRR! I showed him what he did, and how I couldn't fix it. And he bawled and bawled. "I'm sorry mommy!" Sorry wasn't gonna cut it. I ignored him while I fumed, and he just sat there on the lawn and cried. Then I started thinking....how long was I gonna cry over spilt milk? I couldn't change it....and he'd been punished. It was time to get over it. I went over and gave him a hug. Reminding him that he is NEVER allowed to scratch my car, and that he was in big trouble for doing so. And then we went inside. Add it to the list of abuse that my car takes every day. It seems that no matter what we do to this thing, it just keeps on running. We've done hardly anything by way of repairs. It's been such a reliable car. I was so grateful when we got the title to that thing....and we're pretty sure we're just gonna drive it till it dies. There's no way we could ever sell it.....it's too used. There's nothing special about it. And now it's covered in scratches. I really should treat it better. Get those oil changes exactly when I'm supposed to....and wash it at least every 2 months or so. I'm gonna be better little purple car. I will.

Lastly, I just wanted to share this. Angie was gurgling today, and I just thought it was so cute! She's such a joy. She'll be crying her little head off in her crib, and as soon as you go to get her, she just starts to smile and bounce her little legs. She's just happy to see you all the time. If only we could be more like our babies. If our basic needs are met.....we should be happy. If only life were that simple.

25. Some Fun

Day 25: A Blog A Day In May

To be completely honest....my life is kinda un-eventful right now. I get up at 6:30 to get ready for work. I leave the house at 7:30 and I work from 8 to 5 on Monday through Thursday. When I get home, my evenings are spent juggling spending time with my kids and trying to get dinner going and cleaned up before it's late. Caleb is lucky if he gets his dinner before 8:30....and even luckier if we can get him to bed by 9. Honestly though, he handles staying up just fine....and sometimes even sleeps in if he's up too late....so we don't mind that too much.

Anyway....today after work I played with Caleb a little bit (I always try to give him some one-on-one time when I get home....and not just hit the chores and completely ignore him). It's been so interesting having him in Primary at church. He comes home knowing all these songs that I didn't teach him. Anyway. He wanted to sing "I blong to the church of Jesus Christ" today, in all the funny ways that they sometimes do in primary. This includes covering your teeth with your lips, or holding your tongue, or singing as loud as humanly possible. I decided to video it, because he was just giggling so much. So here you go.

He really is such a joy. He makes us laugh every day....and he's learning things so fast. I've decided to teach him a letter of the alphabet when we lie in bed at night. He only knows one right now. Letter "T" sounds like "tuh-tuh terrrrrrific!" He's got that one down for some reason. (even though I have been TRYING to teach him A, B, and C for MONTHS....and he still acts like he hasn't got a clue). Tonight we did "S" sounds like "Ssssssnnnnnaaakkkkee!!" We'll see if he remembers tomorrow.

24. Costco prints!

Day 24: A Blog A Day In May
So, remember my picture frame with the ugly pheasant? Turns out that blue border used to be green! I found out when I took the picture out, and saw the sun-bleach line where the picture goes beyond the frame. Incase you were wondering. Wanna know what's really sad? In the office that I work at.....there are SEVERAL pheasant pictures JUST LIKE THIS. Yeah. Talk aobut old-school. So I just want to say, that I don't think I'll become addicted to spray painting like my cousin is. I really have a hard time with the smell. I have to hold a damp rag to my face while I spray. And maybe my first project just wasn't as great of a success as it needed to be in order to get me hooked. I'll finish what I started...but I'm not sure I'll keep spraying once all these are done.
Here's how the frame turned out:

I could have put a few more coats of paint on. But the white over the wood gives it a kind-of old-school look to it....and we liked it. So it stays looking half-painted, with some of the grain of the wood showing through (I'm not sure if that shows in the pictures or not....but it's there).
I definately love the picture I put in it! We've discovered that for printing pictures, Costco is the way to go. I printed an 11X14 of our family picture....and it was 2.99. YEAH! And the quality is AMAZING! You just up-load your pictures at costco.com and then tell it you'll pick up the prints at your nearest store. SOOO EASY!

Lastly I just wanna say I'm really sorry I got so behind this week. I'm gonna try to go out with a bang this last week of May. I'm gonna stay on-top of the blogging.....and hopefully have some good stuff to talk about as well.

Incase you are curious, I have ANOTHER excuse why I got so behind. Thursday morning I woke up with a stiff neck. I couldn't turn to my left at all. I could hardly turn my head. I got into the shower, hoping some heat would loosen things up. No go. There was no way I was gonna be able to work. If I had a desk job I might be able to. But as a dental hygienist....there's just no way I was gonna be able to sit with my head bent all day when I was that uncomfortable. So I called in sick. And it took the entire weekend to heal. Now my neck is feeling better, but my shoulders are so tight and knotted up from trying to compensate. I am seriously considering going to get a massage this Friday or something. (can you believe I've NEVER had one before?). I think it's gonna be a long week if my shoulders continue to ache like this. The muscles get to tightened up it feels like they're BURNING! I just have 3 more days of work....and then it's Memorial Day weekend, and I'll have another 4 day weekend to relax.

23. Lost connection

Day 23: A blog a day in May

Okay....this post is kinda cheating....I'm sure you all noticed that I got WAY behind on my blogging this weekend. There are several excuses. We went to the temple with Parker's brother, Garrett, on Saturday. We were with family the entire day....and when it was all over...we were spent. And then to top it all off our internet wasn't working on Saturday. So it didn't get done. So this post is nothing more than an excuse.....and a promise that my post for today (which I will do tonight) will be much better.

Peace out.