It may very well have frozen over...

I hate eating my own words. No matter how you season them, they never taste good. See, in the past whenever anyone would mention going to a high school reunion, I came back with "When pigs fly", or "over my dead body" or some other cliche' phrase. You might gather from this that high school was not an altogether enjoyable experience for me.
Don't get me wrong, there were parts of it I loved. Like playing on the tennis team, and running cross country (even though I was slow!), and Mrs. Rice's English classes. And even getting my heart broken, every girl needs to experience that in high school! And it's not like I was beaten up in the girls room or stuffed in my locker. There are much more subtle ways to be shown you aren't quite up to par. Some people may think the most deadly animal is something like the Alaskan grizzly, or Africa's Black Mamba snake. I beg to differ. That distinction belongs to the American Teenage Female.
So no one was more surprised than me when I went to my high school reunion today. Or to clarify, the picnic preceding it. And it was fun getting to see the people who came, and remember the one's who didn't. It's funny, even though we weren't all there, you could still find almost every stereotype. The class clown, the really sweet girl, the really smart guy, the wild child, the girl who (for reasons known only to her) is just a little bit snobby.
Ten years didn't seem to change us all that much. But it did give me a new perspective on the trial that was my high school experience: I wouldn't change a thing. Oh, if you asked me that question in the middle of my sophomore year, I'd have said "Heck yes, get me out of this!" But one thing I've learned in my life (going to wax poetic here for a moment, sorry!) is that everything happens for a reason- get this- especially the hard things. And because of high school, I learned some very valuable lessons, lessons I can pass on to my daughter. Lessons that maybe some people didn't ever learn, and never will.
Like how everyone should be treated with respect. (I was guilty of breaking that one a lot myself.) Like how it doesn't matter what you are wearing on the outside, it's how you feel about yourself on the inside (That one took me a long time). Like your self esteem doesn't come from who you sit beside in World History, it comes from inside and once you find it, no one can take it away.
And most importantly, that friendship isn't a temporary contract that you keep as long as it's convenient for you. It's a commitment that you make, even when you discover that person's imperfections. Especially then.
Because if you do, they'll always be there for you. They're the ones that keep your kid from falling in the creek at the class reunion picnic.
I love you, Jess.

A Lesson in Being Grateful...

Sometimes we just need a kick in the rear to remember how good God really is to us. My sister send me a link to a foundation called Kari's Heart Foundation. It was started in honor of Kari Schoondyke, who passed away recently at 7 months of age due to a congenital heart defect. My sister and brother in law are friends with Kari's parents, and the Schoondyke's have begun this foundation to provide assistance to families who are dealing with a hospitalized child. So I went to the website to check it out. (http://karisheartfoundation.org)
At the bottom there was a little video of Kari's short life. And so I started the slide show. I knew it was going to be sad, but I told myself that since I already knew how the story ended, I should be able to watch it without getting torn up. Wrong.
I did good till about halfway through. There was a picture of Kari after one of her open heart surgeries, laying there in just a diaper, with that scar down the center of her chest and tubes plugged in everywhere and her eyes covered up. That's when I lost it.
The reason? In a cabinet in my mother's house, there's a picture album with a picture of another little girl. She is 11 months old. She is naked, with a scar down the center of her chest, and a clear box over her face, and tubes plugged in here and there. This little girl was also born with a heart defect, a hole in the septum that seperates the ventricles of the heart.
This little girl is me.
And I sat there, with tears running down my face, and though about how wonderful my God is. I know Kari is in heaven, because all children are innocent. And I thought, how wonderful that he saved us both.
How wonderful that, years after he guided the doctors at Vanderbilt University as they patched my heart, he did it again, when it had been broken beyond repair. He truly does bind up the brokenhearted, like the Bible says!

At least dessert was good...

This evening was one of those that makes you want to pull your hair out...but ends well. To me, one of the most challenging aspects of being a working mom is trying to get home and get a decent, home-cooked meal on the table as often as I can. Finding things that are fast, easy, and taste good is a challenge sometimes. Today I was ready to throw in the towel and order a pizza! To start with, due to a crock-pot malfunction, my soup beans weren't done. So I had to pour them into a pot and put them on the stove to finish cooking. I didn't have enough flour for the fried corn and had to use corn meal instead (which turned out okay but was just aggravating). Then my corn bread stuck to the skillet, and I blistered my hand on the hot handle trying to shake it out! And of course, when we finally sit down to eat, Bella will eat none of the above. She instead chooses to have Raisin Bran. Halfway through that she turns the bowl over.
Needless to say by the end of the meal I was a little high strung. I asked K to take her outside to play a few minutes while I cleaned up the kitchen. So I stood there at the sink, angrily scrubbing pots, and thought, "Calm down!" So I just told God how I felt, like I wasn't doing a very good job at being a mommy today, and please to help me have patience. And I repeated my request to be a stay at home mom! (I keep remembering the parable in the Bible about the unjust judge!)
So with my spirits renewed, I decided to make a yummy dessert. (One S or two? can't remember!)
Anyhoo, I had some oatmeal crisp cookies I made the other day. I took them, softened some ice cream, and made ice cream sandwiches, and then rolled them in multicolored sprinkles! They got so messy K had to take Bella outside on the deck to eat hers. But watching them enjoy dessert just saved the whole evening!

A Good Weekend

This has been a good weekend. On Friday I went for a check-up at the OB-GYN. Dr. May listened to the baby's heart, which was beating in the upper 140s/ lower 150s per minute. He also assured me that my fall at Lowe's Thursday night wasn't severe enough to have hurt the baby, although he said I was lucky not to have a broken rib! Thanks to my lack of nausea and insatiable appetite, I'd gained 3lbs since last visit, which leaves me with just 27 to go if I'm going to stay within the 30lb weight gain goal. Stop laughing, I did it last time! But we'll see, the most important thing is a healthy baby! Several of my skirts are starting to get uncomfortable, but I'm no way big enough for maternity clothes just yet. I hate this in-between phase, and it's come much faster this time around. Will Arabella I didn't wear preggo clothes till about 18 or 20 weeks. Something tells me I'm not going to make it that long this time!
Yesterday Kenneth stained our front porch (or at least 90% of it, but I'll get to that later.) It looks really good. I stayed in with Bella, I didn't want to be breathing the fumes from the stain, plus I didn't want Bella right in the middle of it. Which, inevitably is where she'd end up! Kenneth got all of the porch except the ends. When they built our house they put holly bushes around the front porch. And apparently the holly bush is attractive to every species of bee in east Tennessee. So they are swarming this time of year. I have to tell on my husband here, he has many many wonderful qualities, but the fact remains he is afraid of bees. Can't stand them. So the ends of the porch have been postponed until he can arm himself with a can of bee spray. And possibly a protective suit.
Today we went to church, which was nice, me and the girls sang a new song that everybody liked. Then me, K, and Bella went out for lunch. The rest of today has been rather lazy, as a Sunday should be! K is napping, because he has to get back to third shift tonight. I'm getting ready to make Bella her evening beverage, a sippy cup of chocolate milk, and get her wound down for bed. Then I get half an hour or so of 'just me' time to shower and get ready for bed!

Conversations

It is so amazing watching (and listening!) to Arabella learn how to talk! She's gone from making little da-da and by-by sound, to sentence structure at age two! Okay, not very advanced sentence structure, but I'm pretty impressed. For example, I'm swinging her in the swing at my moms yesterday evening before church and she points over to the side of the yard where my dad always burns leaves. And she says, "Momma, wook! Pappaw, weese! Haah!" which translates to "Momma, look! Pappaw, leaves, Hot!". Being her mother, I know she is trying to tell me, look mom, thats where pappaw makes a big hot fire and burns the leaves! Isn't that cool?
Of, course we do have instances where our communication breaks down. Like this evening, when we are in Lowe's buying stain for our front porch and she pretends she doesn't know what it means when I say, "Bella, stay with mommy!". So she goes running off and turns the corner into the great unknown, and here I go after her, speedwalking. FYI: the floors in Lowe's are treacherous. You need cleats for traction in there! DO NOT wear flip flops! Anyway, I come flying around the corner to catch her, my feet go out from under me, and down I go. In a graceful heap. Of course the first thing I think is "I'm pregant! The baby!" But I really didn't fall hard or jar myself badly, I caught myself mostly on my wrist and side, but did get a nasty scrape on my ribcage from the corner of a shelving unit. Ouch! I'm really sore already.
Note to self: wear tennis shoes to Lowe's and keep child in buggy!

Bath time and Harry Connick, Jr.

I just got Bella out of the bath. Bathtime is always an adventure. The second she gets in the bathroom she starts 'messing' as I call it, just getting into everything. (For the record, she pretty much does this all the time.) She's squirting the shampoo in to the tub or she's in the closet trying to reach her sidewalk chalk. Once she's in the bath I can relax a little, I just have to supervise the level of splashing. And occasionally stop her from dumping a cupful of water over the edge of the tub. Or keep her from pulling the knob that turns the shower on, which she does even though it scares her. Okay, so bathtime isn't really relaxing!
But the best part of bath time is when I get her out, wrap her in her little hoodie towel, and pull her onto my lap and wrap my arms around her. Then we sing.
I've never really sung normal lullabies to her. When she was tiny I would sing "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash. Or that old song from the 50s or 60s, "Palisades Park", that always made her laugh. But right now her absolute favorite is "A Wink and a Smile" by Harry Connick, Jr., from the soundtrack of Sleepless in Seattle. I have no idea, but she loves this song. She'll lean her cheek against mine, and the awesome part is she's trying to sing, too. She'll repeat the last word or two from each line. It's the best thing ever.
After all, "You can't have a dream, and cut it to fit. It's only green lights and all right, we go together, like a wink and a smile."

Yes, God cares about the kiddie rides.

Yesterday was our big family adventure to Dollywood. We were packed and ready to go on time, which is a slight miracle when my sis is involved (Love you, Rach!). Despite our punctuality, it didn't look good at first. It rained the whole way there. It sprinkled. It drizzled. It gully-washed. It plain old poured. The closer we got to Pigeon Forge, the darker the sky looked. I was just saying, "Lord, please let it stop raining so these girls can ride the kiddie rides!" I know my mom was in the car behind me doing the same thing!
When we got to Old Mill to park (FYI: you can park for free at Old Mill, ride the trolly to Dollywood for 50 cents, and they drop you off right at the front gate. Saves paying $8 to park in section S and hoofing it 2.5 miles to the gate!) it was still sprinkling rain. By the time we got to Dollywood, it had quit. By the time we walked to the kiddie rides, the sun was out. It stayed out all day, and as soon as we got to our hotel last night, it started raining again.
See, God does care if two little girls get to ride the rides. Thank you, God!
Bella and Ashlyn had a ball riding the rides. We all rode the Carousel together, except my husband who felt it beneath his male dignity. And we all rode the train, which made us all sleepy. It was a perfect day at Dollywood. Not too hot, and virtually no lines. The longest we waited for anything was our lunch!
After we got back to our hotel, the girls played in the pool, then we had an impromptu pizza party in mom and dads room.
I'd like to say this day ended with some extremely refreshing sleep, but this was not the case, at least for me. I was awake most of the night for no apparent reason. But Bella slept good, which is most important. This morning we had breakfast at the Apple Barn. I ate so much. A couple of hours at the outlet malls (where I bought a cute preggo shirt) and we headed home!