You Were Wrong Mom

When I was about 14, I had a “boyfriend” - as in a classmate asked me to “go steady” with him. My family was living smack in the middle of Utah at the time, which means we were surrounded by a 99% Mormon population. Something you may not know about Mormons is that in general they are not allowed to date until they are 16 years old. We attended a middle school where dances consisted of the boys trying to act cool against one wall and the girls giggling against the other wall. There was not exactly a lot of interaction. Our “relationship” consisted of talking on the phone in the evenings and being too embarrassed around each other to say more than “Hi” at school. We didn't even get close to holding hands. By the way, his best friend had a similar relationship with my best friend.

A real breakthrough came right before his 14th birthday. We had probably been “together” for a month or less. He wanted my best friend and his to go with us to see a movie in the little local theater, where everyone in town went. His mom was even going to go and sit behind us. My best friend’s mom said she could go if I could (probably because she knew that my parents were utlra religious). My mom said, “No, that it was a date.” I couldn’t believe it, especially with his mom going! I reasoned, begged, pleaded and did just about everything to convince my mom to let me go. A word of advice...never go up against a red headed Irish mom, it is just a waste of time and energy. She had heard some statistic that girls have s*e*x exactly two years after their first date. She was not going to budge. As you can guess, nobody got to go. Probably a week or two later, we broke up for whatever childish reason. We were still friends though, which is basically what we were when we were “going together.”

Recently, through the power of internet networking, we found each other and have chatted a little. It turns out that he is gay, which incidentally makes me like him more (as a person of course). I can only imagine how difficult it was growing up in the middle of Utah. He is not living there anymore. He has even travelled a lot and lives an interesting life. Now, I really wish we would have been better friends. I called my mom up to let her know that in the end I was right. She didn’t have to worry about anything happening between us. Of course, she is a much more laid back person twenty + years later. She just laughed. She also denies knowing that his mom was going to go. I am sure I stressed that point in my pleading. I called one of my brothers who was about 7 at the time just to make sure & he remembered that detail.

Moral of the story - Sometimes the teenager is right….but don’t quote me on that in about 12 years, when I am battling my kids.

Flashlight Queen

Remember when I revealed that I somehow have a 100 or so flashlights? No? - I just buy too many because you can never have enough. My husband has been teasing me about it for years.

Last night, we had a crazy hail & lightning storm and the power cut off for 6 hours. Even though everything isn’t put away from our move, I easily found 2 flashlights. Now, I suspect my hubby will not be so eager to tease me, about that anyway.

Now that I brought up teasing, one of my friends mentioned that her husband teases her horribly. She seemed slightly bothered by it. It isn't a big deal to me, but I grew up in a family of teasers. I told her that I just tell my husband that “It is a GOOD THING THAT I AM PERFECT.” Works every time!

Single Moms

The last few weeks my husband has been working A LOT. He is overseeing 12 projects. 11 of them are going on in the day and 1 is happening at night. Theoretically, he should not be able to leave work at all because he is supposed to be there when things are happening. The other 2 guys that do the same thing he is doing have 3 - 5 projects. He doesn’t have the workaholic personality, but he is good at what he does and he gets excited about the idea of new projects, so he is given too many.

Because my husband is gone all the time and the fact that Sunday is Father's Day have me thinking about single moms. Lately, I have been feeling like one (who has a boyfriend that she sees once in a while). I guess I can't say that I feel exactly like one because most single moms don't get to stay home or work part-time from home. I am lucky about that, but I also don't get ANY breaks - well except when they nap. Fortunately, they both go down from about 1:30pm to 4:30pm. That is my only me time, which I have to use to get work done. Did I mention that working from home is tougher than dropping the kids off at daycare & going to work? It is when I have a tough deadline.

Rambling, rambling, rambling...where was I going with this? Oh yeah, single moms should be able to get gifts and celebrate Father's Day as well as mother's day. It is hard work. By the way, that is my excuse for my latest little on-line shopping sprees. I just want to make sure I get myself the perfect gifts the kids needed stuff too. Don't worry, I did find something for my hubby. I guess I'll give it to him next time I bump into him. :)

Beating the Heat/Old Navy Ad

Just Add More

I had a follow up doctor appointment for the kidney stones yesterday. I wasn't surprised to find out that mine are solely caused by the fact that I do not drink enough liquids. However, I was surprised when he told me that I also need to be drinking a LOT of lemonade. Apparently, the citrus is good for the kind of stones (calcium) I had. Good thing I like lemonade and it is also nice for the horrible heat wave we are experiencing in Texas. Sadly, I was hoping the remedy would be lots of ice cream.

I also took Jordan to the doctor today. He is 6 months old now (sniff, sniff). He is 28.25" long (93rd percentile) and 15 lbs & 13 oz (30th percentile). Yep - very tall & very skinny. When I mentioned that he still isn't sleeping through the night despite the fact that I am feeding him breakfast & dinner, she told me that he needs more food. She wants me to start feeding him lunch & yogurt for snacks. On top of that, I guess I am supposed to continue breastfeeding.

For the past few weeks, I have been thinking about my dad's eating habits and skinniness. He used to eat 4 - 5 heaping plates of food for each meal and his ribs were all very visible. I wondered if this trait had been passed down to Jordan....this one trait that I wish I had gotten. How could this be inside me & not be something I possess? I also thought about how expensive our food bill is going to be in the future. I guess this is part of having a boy in our family. My husband, father-in-law, and brother are also known for being big eaters (nothing like my dad though). People are always commenting about how much they can put away. Jordan was bound to join the club.

One thing is for sure, I am going to be making lots of trips to the grocery store for lemonade & baby food.

Dog Days of Summer

I have been looking forward to this summer for the last 6 months. I was excited about taking Lexi and our friends to the various pools (beach club & waterpark) in our community. Now that the heat & humidity has hit,....I think I've changed my mind. We may have to live at the pool. I guess I am looking forward to my family reunion in the Grand Canyon in July. Perhaps, I'll consider that cool.

Flamingly Liberal

Since moving back to Texas, I have realized that my moderate/little to the left views are extremely liberal here. I guess it should not come as too much of a surprise seeing that it is a predominately Republican state that is strongly proud of being in the Bible belt. One of my friends told me that our voting district is considered the most conservative in the US. I don’t think that is necessarily a bad thing; I have just always felt that I am more on the liberal side.

Those who know me would definitely say that I am a laid back person. I am opinionated, but I have an open mind. While I feel a little out of place at times, I recognize that it is a wonderful location to raise kids. I went to high school here and I can tell you that I never experienced peer pressure. We had a big group of guys and girls. We were too busy playing volleyball, watching movies, joking around, and doing a million more things. This is a place where lots of kids are involved in Bible study and various church activities.

We live in a safe place and I am comfortable raising kids here. I hope that my kids continue to be surrounded by great influences, but manage to pick up a little of my open mindedness. Mainly, I would like them to be generally caring people and be able to listen and figure out their beliefs for themselves (after they move out of our house of course - until then they are MINE). :)

Five Years

Our anniversary is on Saturday, but we are celebrating this evening because a friend offered to watch the kids while we grab a quick bite to eat. We haven't been out in a long time, so this is exciting for us. We are going to try out a little Italian place, which will not be quite a cozy as our first date in Coconut Grove. Things have changed quite a bit since then.

It has been five crazy years that included having 2 kids, moving 5 times including the big one from FL to TX, buying and selling a house, buying another house, losing my father to brain cancer and his mother to lung cancer, as well as all the regular marriage stuff. Talk about tough times! Ok, so overall it has been a fun ride.

I don't really have the time or energy for a tribute post, but we also don't have time to celebrate the 5th one right either. I guess we'll save up the thrill for the 10th one.

Mother's Day

This Mother's Day I am celebrating the fact that I get to be a mother to these two characters.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to you all, for those of you have mothers & for those of you who are mothers.

Thoughts of Another

This weekend, Steve admitted that he works late sometimes because he finds life with kids can be stressful. He loves it, but it can be overwhelming for him. I just stayed quiet and listened mainly because I have no response. Should I point out that I deal with most of it? No, it doesn't change his feelings. Besides, we have very different views when it comes to family and kids.

The entire time I was pregnant with Lexi, it was easy to think I could do it again. I have always wanted at least three kids. My thoughts were not so pleasant when I was pregnant with Jordan. In fact, I spent the whole pregnancy thinking I NEVER wanted to do this again. However, shortly after he was born, I really wanted another one. He has been such a wonderful baby, except for the frantic hunger pains at night.

Steve, on the other hand, feels differently. He was very happy to have one and was pleased to have another one, but for him three is too many. Throughout the last year, he half joked about getting a vasectomy. Actually, I am sure he was seriously considering it, but I asked him not to. I told him that I haven’t made my mind up about a third, but I wanted to leave the option open. In reality, I wasn’t too worried considering the fact that he never finds time to go to the doctor for even normal things.

I guess it shouldn’t be surprising that we have such different opinions of kids when you look at our families. I am the oldest of five and he is the youngest of two. I have twelve first cousins on my dad’s side and ten on my mom’s. Steve has three on his dad’s side and none on his mom’s. Holiday gatherings with my family are full of noise and millions of things going on at the same time. With his immediate family, we mostly sat around talking or all did a relatively quiet activity (before the kids came).

For me, kids are everything. The joy of nurturing and watching a person grow is one of the best things in life. I realize that I am lucky to have two kids, but three would be better. It is not only for me, but for them. We will not always be around for them, but they will have each other. The more siblings they have the more support they can give each other. I know that the idea of large families is engrained in Mormons and it is something that I have a hard time giving up on. Of course, I don't want a whole bus load of kids, but three seems reasonable.

We have seven months before we would even start trying for a third, so why am I thinking about it now? Mainly - because we're packing and moving so it would be a great time to unload maternity clothes and baby stuff. Partly - because my sister-in-law is pregnant and could use the stuff. Partly - because I’m not young so a quick decision would be best. In reality, I am not ready to let go of the idea of three kids yet so the stuff goes with us.