Write this down April 18, 2012

I have all these thoughts flying around in my noggin’ and I need to write them down before they are all forgotten!

First of all, I love watching old people. At the grocery store. At the post office. Especially at baseball games. I love how in St. Louis, even the oldest of old ladies wear their finest Cardinals outfit to the game… they are loyal fans, remembering the likes of Stan the Man and Lou Brock in their prime. I saw one older lady this weekend at the Cards/Cubs game that still stands out in my mind… beautiful white hair, wearing her navy dress slacks, white collared blouse and red blazer, along with a ball cap (probably from the 80′s or earlier) and carrying a small gold purse. She was adorable!!

Second, I have to pay tribute to the wonderful family who helped me this weekend. Friday night, I was on my way to mom and dad’s for the weekend. I wasn’t more than 30 minutes past Poplar Bluff (an hour from home and 2 hours still from mom and dad’s) when I heard a whirring noise and discovered that my back, drivers side tire was flat. I pulled off the highway, and (thank the Lord) was just in time to pull into the little ole town of Greenville, MO. Some lovely folks (who I later learned were Dwayne and kids Leanna (19) and Dawson (12)) were finishing their pizza, waiting for mom (Rhonda) to meet them at the Bear’s Den (the parking lot that found us) so they could go camping for the weekend. Not really knowing the first thing about changing a tire (except where the spare is kept), Dwayne was glad to offer us his help. The tire tool that came with our car was not the right size for our car (which reminds me, I need to put that on my Walmart list…) so Leanna borrowed one from someone who worked at the restaurant. In the meantime, Dwayne had asked us where we were headed and suggested we not try to drive the 60+ miles on to Farmington (the closest place with a tire shop) on just a spare… so instead of putting my donut on, they called their friend who owned the tire place in town to see if he could reopen and get me what I needed. While we waited for either the owner or his son to call them back, Dwayne took my flat tire and a plug kit down to the gas station to see if plugging it and filling it back up would fix it temporarily. It didn’t. The tire was completely ruined. We found out that Dad and son from the tire store were headed out of town, so Rhonda came up with plan C (or however many options down the list this was!). They had recently purchased new tires for their cute little blue Pontiac, and she decided that she and Leanna would drive to their house (in CLUBB, MO… a “suburb” about 15 miles from town) get one of the old tires they had just replaced, and would put it on my car. (By the way, have I mentioned that these people were crazy nice? And so down to earth! Not acting one bit like this was any inconvience to them at all – just acting as if we were family or like this was a normal Friday night occurance for them… it was so grately appreciated.) After waiting a while, Momma showed up with the tire, and we waited for another fellow to get a tire tool (he was helping someone else on the side of the highway, so we waited for him to finish). Buddy showed up with the tire tool and he and Daddy Dwayne took my flat tire and their old tire down to the “shop”, fixed it up, brought it back and popped it on my car. During the 2-hour ordeal, I had offered them snacks, tried to buy them sodas, and when they were finished, tried to give them money. They wouldn’t take any of it. They were just nice people, showing the love of Christ to strangers who were in need. The Lord showed out on that Friday the 13th… reminding me there is no such thing as luck (good or bad) and that He knows best and is ALWAYS in control. When we stopped, it wasn’t dark, it wasn’t raining… there are so many things that could have gone wrong, but the Lord blessed us tremendously by putting the right people in the right place at the exact right time. If it weren’t for the Eades family, I may have been a bit grumpier when I finally got to mom and dad’s at 11 pm, but instead I was rejoicing in the Lord for showing His kindness and mercy to this child! Leanna got engaged Easter weekend and I intend to send her a wedding gift. And if I knew their birthdays, they would all get birthday cards from me. Oh, and I would also love to someday meet their pet goat, Puff, who they bottle fed from birth, potty trained, and take on vacation.

Third, and most importantly, my kids are fantastic. I love the feeling I get when they put their head on my shoulder. Or when they reach for me as soon as they see me. Or ESPECIALLY when I pick them up from the Virginia’s and they come running with arms open wide. Oh and when they laugh when I get their super ticklish spots (Emma’s ribs and Leo’s feet) Being a mom definitely has its challenges, but it is the BEST job in the whole wide world. Right now Emma likes to say things are her favorite. Any movie she likes she says is her favorite. She is SO into Disney princesses and Barbie dolls and it is really adorable. She sings her ABC’s, Jesus Loves Me, My God is So Great, etc. and is actually on pitch! Last night I caught her singing, “How Great is our God” (Chris Tomlin) while laying in bed. I love it that her daddy reads Bible stories to her and prays with her every night before bed. One specific story and then I’ll brag on my other kid: This weekend, I was carrying her out to the car because that’s where her shoes were and we were getting ready to go somewhere. I squeezed her as we were walking and said, “Oh my GOODness I love you so much!” and she quickly followed with, “I love you too!” Then I asked her if she could show me how much she loved me. She held up all 5 fingers on one hand and said, “MUCH”, so I asked, “How much is that?” and she said, “Five”. I thought if I was a 5 out of 10 then I needed to do some work! So then I asked, “Well what’s the most you can love someone?” She answered, “Four”. Made my heart smile SO big.

Leo is at SUCH a fun age! He is almost 15 months, and he is starting to follow instructions like, “Go get sister” or “Hand me your paci”. He says, Mama, Daddy (although still not TO daddy), dog, bawk (talking about chickens), ball, bye and HI (with the sweetest southern accent), and sometimes he will repeat a syllable or two if you are trying to get him to say a new word. Oh, and of course, “NO”. Mom swore he said things like Layla and Rowdy (our two dogs) and Papa and Nana this weekend. This weekend he also started giving high-fives on his own. Lately, he has done it when prompted, but after dad gave him one Saturday night at the nursing home (hi Grandma!), he walked circles in the room, raising his hand as he got to each person, saying, “uh?” (translated, “high five?”) His other new “trick” lately is to dance, and by George, it has got to be one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen!! All he does is stomp his feet and wave his little fat arm around, but it cracks people up every time he does it. And the more people laugh, the more he does it! I’m calling it now – future TWIRP King or at least voted Class Clown. The boy sure does love a crowd and a laugh!

I love my family and my family loves me.

Some more firsts February 2, 2012

(Written 2/1/12)
So… while giving the kids baths last night, my son told me “no” for the first time. I was less than thrilled, but I have to say, it was quite cute.  For some reason, he loves to stand in the bathtub. I had been telling him over and over to sit down, and would repeatedly gently sit him down on his bottom. It was nearing the end of bath time and, once again, I said, “Leo, sit on your bottom!” He promptly swung his arm at me and said, “NUH!” So hard not to laugh. Emma, of course, picked up on this right away and said, “Momma, he told you NO!!” Yes, thanks dear. I hadn’t noticed.

I made cupcakes last night to take to Ms. Virginia’s for Leo’s birthday. I placed them in a Rubbermaid container and put aluminum foil over top. I set one cupcake out (because I’m an awesome mom) for Emma to have for breakfast. I was awakened in the middle of the night (3:12AM to be exact) to a strange rustling noise and then Laila barking. BARKING! At 3:12 AM!!! Again – less than thrilled. I stumbled out of bed to find that Laila had eaten Emma’s breakfast cupcake and was barking because she couldn’t get the aluminum foil off the rest of them. Awesome. I was fuming at her (please note, this is not normal – usually when I am woken up by stupidity in the middle of the night, I’m as pleasant as a peach) but she just looked at me like, “Come on! Open them! I’m hungry!” Dumb dog.

We watched Annie last night. That was a first. The Corning community theater group is supposed to be performing it this spring, but we’ll see. I’d bet my bottom dollar that it’s a cute show, though!

Last first of this post – IT’S MY BABY’S FIRST BIRTHDAY!!! Sad face. There’s something bittersweet about a baby’s first birthday… it’s such a special milestone, but it also makes this momma realize how quickly time flies. I’ve been taking as much time as possible lately to cherish those cuddles. Housework will always be around, but my babies won’t!

Wordy Dird February 2, 2012

1/30/12

Setting: Jeremy, Bethany, Emma eating supper in the living room (bad habit, don’t start it). Watching Big Bang Theory.

Scene: a character (Leonard) has replaced his normally dork-appropriate glasses with contacts to please his girlfriend. He attempts to follow someone through a doorway and fails, running into the doorframe.
 
Leonard: D*** contacts.

(canned audience laughter)

Emma: (laughter, turns and looks at mom) He said, “D*** contacts!!”

SILENCE.

Bethany: (turns to Jeremy, face tingling) I’m hot. I don’t know what to do!

Jeremy, trying to control his laughter (more at his wife than at his daughter), begins to explain to Emma that d*** is a word like stupid or shut-up, and that when we say those things, it makes God sad.

Thank the Lord for a level-headed husband who is quick to think on his feet! (Unlike his crazy wife who is easily bewildered at the thought of her smart 3 year old repeating a wordy dird on tv and thinking it was funny!)
 
The end.

will the madness ever end? January 9, 2012

No, no it will not.

taking the easy way out January 9, 2012

So… right. Same ole, “it’s been a while” excuses… here’s an email I recently sent a coworker, it should help with the catching up.

Emma is SUCH a big girl!! You would not believe it! She turned 3 in October… she is smart (and a smart alec), talkative, and loooooves all the Disney Princesses. She also went through an obsession with Toy Story starting about a year ago when I got the 3 movies for Christmas last year. My mom gave me Woody and Jessie dolls that she had bought when the 2nd movie came out (over a decade ago) and Emma stole them from me right away. She got a Bullseye for Christmas this year. She is so creative and has such a huge imagination. She could sit and play with dolls for hours. Her latest craze has been Tangled (Rapunzel) (great movie!) and Snow White (and those little guys).

Leo will be ONE in just a few weeks! Feb 1! He is growing like a weed. He eats like a maniac but he is still a scrawny little fella! He’s finally starting to pack on a few pounds these last few months since he’s switched to whole milk, but at his 9 month checkup he was still in the bottom 5th percentile for weight! We’re aiming for 15th at his one year checkup. He is crawling and standing by himself… he’s taken a few steps, but only because we were trying to make him! He is such a good baby, very easy going. He only really gets upset when there is food in his presence and it’s not going into his pie-hole. He sorta freaks out when he wants food. LOL!!

Gosh, it’s been so long since we’ve talked, I don’t know what else I need to tell ya! OH! I went to the World Series in October!! Game 1!! It was AWESOME!! Oh yeah, and (obviously by the email address) I got a new job!! I started in September and am working about 35 min from home at a place called Tenneco in Paragould, AR. It is a manufacturing plant that makes Monroe brand shocks and struts. The job is INCREDIBLE. I work 7-4, so I get prime time with the fam in the evenings. I’m salaried, so I get 2 weeks vacation plus a week off at Christmas plus all the holidays. I am the Admin Assistant for the Director of North American Aftermarket Operations– in short, he’s the “big boss” over 3 plants (here, VA, and CA), and we make parts for stores like NAPA and Advance Auto Parts who sell to people who fix their own cars instead of just buying new ones.

Whew! I’ve jabbered on for a while, huh? Hope you enjoyed the novel.

dreams June 2, 2011

I had a dream last night about my friend Gerald who passed away 4 ½ years ago. We were in the same place as Jeremy and Macie but I never saw them in my dream. It was just me and G-Funk. Walking to the car. And there was a hotel/hospital with lots of levels and lots of different buttons in the elevator. The whole time I was with him we were just chatting like everything was normal… but I knew that he was going to die the next day.

It’s not the first dream I’ve had about Gerald. Or lots of levels in a building and a hospital parking garage for that matter. I had a dream once about Gerald, my friend Jenny who died 7 years ago, and another person who had passed away. (I can’t remember who the 3^rd person was… and maybe I knew them in my dream but not in real life. But they were definitely dead too. I think it was a friend’s grandma…) Anyway, we were at a wedding, and our dead friends were the guests of honor. They had a special bench in the back of the auditorium, which was actually the best seat in the house. They all sat on this bench and I think they all had bouquets of flowers. We all wanted to make them feel special since they were dying and this was the last thing they were going to get to do in life.

One time I dreamed about Jenny singing. And it was beautiful. I wish I had written it down at the time, because I remember it was a very nice, detailed dream.

Most of the time I don’t dream (or at least I don’t remember) about people I know. But over the last few years I’ve had dreams about my friends who have gone on to be with the Lord, and they have been the most clear, colorful dreams… dreams that I feel even after I wake up. I always remember feeling in the dream like I want to cherish the moment forever because I know I’m not going to see my friends again in life. Maybe they are just a way that God uses to remind me that even though I won’t see them again on earth, I will see them again someday. And it will be beautiful.

frustrations June 1, 2011

I was just browsing in my employer’s “store” (a place where you find the supplies you need and before you leave, you record the item and cost. I’m surprised you don’t have to pay for them yourself. Just saying.)

ANYWHO – there were things in the “store” like brightly colored file folders, interoffice mail envelopes,  Confidential stamps, highlighters, binders, desk organizers…

I miss the days when I actually needed those things to perform my job. Not just to decorate or pretend I was important, but when what I did was important. Not now. I don’t feel like my existence here makes a bit of difference in the world. It just helps me feed my family.

I feel like a minion here. I’m pretty sure they would function fine without me. No, I know they would be fine without me. They wouldn’t skip a beat. I hate that the extra $150/week I earn here actually helps us pay the bills… otherwise I’d quit in a heartbeat. I hate the constant gossip, the bad attitudes, lying and snide remarks. I’m trying to be a light, I really am. They know I’m a Christian. I’ve invited them to church. They know I live an upstanding life and they resent me for it.

I don’t know how I got on this rant from talking about file folders but I did. One of those days I guess. More like one of those years, but whatev.

… go feed baby Leo… May 11, 2011

My sassy 2 yeard old is at it again. I can hardly keep up with her antics! She’s ridiculously cute, even though she can be a little stinker.

Setting: Monday afternoon, nap time.  A time when she always wants me to lay down with her until she falls alseep.

This particular week I was busy doing housework, the baby was asleep, and I had things I needed to do other than falling asleep for an hour with Emma. Usually I tell her something like, “I need to go feed baby Leo” (I only use the excuses when they’re true!). Well this time, my only excuse was, “Mommy has work to do”, which made me feel like an aweful mom… being too busy to lay down with my toddler when all she wanted was for me to just be with her. I reluctantly laid down with her in hopes that it wouldn’t take her long to fall alseep.
Now there is a bedtime rule that you should know about– her Woody and Jessie dolls are her absolute favorite things in the world right now and she likes for them to sleep with her. The rule is that if she’s sleeping by herself (without mom or dad), then they are allowed to lay down with her. But if she needs mom or dad, Woody and Jessie have to sleep in her bed by themselves.
Today I fudged on the rule a bit… hoping that I wouldn’t have to stay in bed with her, I let her have Woody and Jessie with her. Since I ended up laying down with her, I also ended up played Police Mommy, and had to keep making her put them down and stop playing with them so she would eventually fall asleep.
After a few minutes of secret conversations, I finally said something along the lines of, “Emma, put Woody and Jessie down or they’re going to have to go get in your bed.”

She thought for a second, (I could see the wheels turning) then pointed at me and said, “… You go feed baby Leo…”

I could barely contain my smile. Knowing full well that she intended to play with Woody and Jessie after I left, I agreed to leave, reminding her it was nap time – not play time – and that if I caught her playing with them I would take them away.

On my way out she asked me to shut the door.

wow… a year? April 25, 2011

I’m so lame. I’ve been thinking lately… “I need to post something. Emma has said some funny things since the last time I posted.”

Didn’t realize it had been a year. Yikes! I jotted down a few stories back in the fall… I’ll try to think of some more recent ones. But for the sake of catching up and filling in the gap, here ya go:

Dinosaurs

I’m off work on Mondays and Emma and I get to spend the whole day together. Sometimes I’m fortunate enough to be off early on Fridays, too, and this particular weekend was one of them. Monday afternoon, Emma – out of the blue – started saying, “Dinosaurs, Mommy! Dinosaurs!”, to which I replied, “Dinosaurs? Well ok!”. She kept repeating throughout the evening, “Dinosaurs, Mommy! Dinosaurs!” I said things like, “Yeah! Cool! Dinosaurs!” and, “What about them, honey?” but I never got a response more than, “Dinosaurs!”

Well… Jeremy came home and I informed him (where she couldn’t hear) that his daughter had been talking about dinosaurs all afternoon. Sure enough, a few minutes later this conversation went down:

E: Daddy, dinosaurs!

J: Dinosaurs? Where did you learn about dinosaurs?

E: Um… Elmo!

J: (somewhat directed at me) Elmo? Did you and mommy watch Elmo today?

Me: Um… no but we watched it Friday morning, like more than 80 hours ago and he talked about dinosaurs!!

Kids are seriously little sponges. She amazes me every day!

Cookie Tree

I’m a big fan of Sesame Street. I mean, who isn’t? Right? That’s my favorite show to let Emma watch and lately I’ve been DVRing episodes so we don’t always have to catch it when it’s on. Plus as much as I love SpongeBob, that and Dora are better alternatives in my opinion.

I had some work to do in the back bedrooms so I turned Sesame Street on and let her play and watch while I worked. The next thing I knew, she was in my bedroom jumping up and down and reaching as high as her little arms would reach exclaiming, “edda mommy uh uh COOKIE TREE!!”, and nothing would do until I followed her into the living room to watch Cookie Martin attempt to plant a cookie tree. UH-DOR-A-BLE.

I Got You Babe

At the most random times it seems, Emma looks at either me or her dad and says, “I got you babe”. I think it is seriously one of the cutest things ever. I can’t even remember how it started for sure… I think she and Jeremy said it back and forth one evening, but she is always the one to bring it up now and I love it.

Nighttime

Every night before bed, Jeremy reads Emma a story- either out of a Bible story book or one of the others she has in her ever-growing library. We then pray with her and try to leave her on her own. Most of the time, she asks one of us to lay down with her… if we don’t, she cries, and if we do, (lay down on the floor next to her bed) it usually takes her less than 5 minutes to doze.

It’s really sweet to hear her repeat a prayer after her daddy. Not much is more precious than a child praying.

 

TBS

You know you probably watch too much tv when your 23-month old randomly says, “T-B-S, mommy”. I’m just waiting for her to say, “T-B-S… very funny” J

 

Twinkle Twinkle Jesus on the Water

I laid down with Emma yesterday for her nap because we are trying to break her of her paci. I fell asleep easily as she “played with mommy’s hair” (I think it benefits me more than her, but I’m not complaining!) and woke up a few(ish) minutes later to her laying next to me staring at the ceiling singing, “Twinkle, twinkle STAR, twinkle, twinkle STAR”.

On the way home from church Sunday, Jeremy and I were talking and heard her say something about “Jesus”.  As we listened, we realized she was saying, “Jesus on the water. Jesus on the water”, which are kind of the lyrics to the 2^nd verse of one of the songs the kids sing on Sunday nights (Peter, James and John in a sailboat). It’s amazing the things she retains!

 

Jesus Loves Me

The child sings “Jesus Loves Me” randomly and all the time. I love it. She started singing the first couple of lines a couple weeks before she turned 2. The week after, she started singing the whole song. Did I mention that I love it?

 

Beef                                                      11.3.10

The other night, Emma was playing with a toy tractor that had pictures of farm animals on it. I pointed to the cow and asked her what it was, to which she replied, “hamburger”. ?!?!? I don’t remember teaching her that… and I’m not sure she did it on purpose, but for REAL??!

And then last night after church, we were waiting for Jeremy to ‘lock up’ (ie quit talking to Donald and Ralph J) and she wanted to ‘take my picture’ with my phone. She said, “mommy, smiiiiiile”, and when I turned around to smile she said, “say, cheeeeeseburger!”

 

Jesus Loves Me Part 2                    11.15.10

Pretty close to her 2^nd birthday, Emma started singing Jesus loves me. This is how the current version goes:
Jesus loves me, yes I know
For the Bible tells me so
Little monsters him belong
They’re so weak, they’re so strong
Yes Jesus loves me
For the Bible tells me so!

 

What’s Wrong with that Lady?  11.22.10

Last night, I turned on the AMA’s for what I intended to be only a minute. It was just in time for them to announce MICHAEL BUBLE as the winner of Favorite Adult Contemporary artist (yay!!) so I left it there for a bit.  Immediately following that announcement, a [psycho)] artist named Ke$ha started to perform. She was dressed in some sort of all-black, leather get up with glow-in-the-dark goggles… dancing and jumping around to some really weird music (this makes me sound really old, I know). Anywho, as soon as she started singing, Emma jumped up and ran as far away from the tv that she could get and still be able to see it, turned to Jeremy and said, “what’s wrong with that lady??”

 

Wipies                                                 11.26.10

Jeremy watched Emma on Black Friday while mom and I went shopping. He stayed at mom and dad’s house with Ben and Luke and played/watched video games and football all day I think. At one point, Jeremy asked Emma to bring him the wipies, which were sitting on the couch, fairly close to her. The following took place: Emma picked up the wipe package, took them to the kitchen and placed them on the counter and then came in to Jeremy and said, “I can’t reach them!”
What a hoot. Jeremy said, of course, “yes you can, go get them!” and she went and (reluctantly I’m sure) got them off the counter. Think this 2 yr old needed attention? J

Unkersaw                                           11.27.10

Before we left South Roxana on Saturday after Thanksgiving, mom was telling Emma where we were going/where she lived. Emma would repeat mom, saying, “Corning, Unkersaw”. It was just too sweet. The whole way home she said, “I wanna go to Unkersaw!!”

 

Bells                                                      11.27.10

The Saturday evening after Thanksgiving, the church kids played the bells at Christmas in the Park in Corning, when they had a little program before they turned on the Christmas lights and decorations for the season. Emma “played” with the kids. She of course had no idea what she was doing, but she was pretty cute if I do say so myself. She ended up standing behind 2 kids that were taller than her, and since she really wasn’t doing much, Jeremy didn’t want to push her to the front and look mean to the other kids and parents, so he left her there. A few times I could see her peeking out, trying to see me and just ringing those bells the whole time!

I pooped my pants                          11.28.10

Emma often “calls” Nana or Papa on her  “phone” (sometimes it’s a calculator, sometimes it’s a hairbrush, etc.) While I was working on the computer recently, I overheard her “conversation”with Papa:

“Hi Papa! Yeah… uh-huh… Papa, I pooped my pants!”

I texted dad to let him know (just after I finished laughing hysterically), and his response was, “I think you’re going to have to take care of it!”

Crazy Train                                          12.6.10

I started selling Miche purses this past fall, and had a party over the weekend. Along with the party orders, I had gathered a few orders from work people, school people, and family, and was trying to organize and order on time over $1,000 worth of stuff. My sweet, sweet 2 year old just wanted some attention from her stressed out mommy, who was home from work, as usual, on a Monday. Between her wanting me to hold “baby brother” and help her with his blanket (among other requests), phone calls, emails, discontinued items, 3 rambunctious dogs, etc., I thought I was about to pull my hair out. I told Emma, “Mommy is about to take a ride on the crazy train!” To which she responded, “Mommy, I’ll go with you!”

Even though I was doing my best at avoiding all requests and outside distractions, my loving daughter was willing to follow me wherever I went… just to be with me. I love that kid.

oh right! so… 30 weeks from now… July 1, 2010

I’m having a baby!! Just found out (+ test) at the end of May and went to the doc this past Tuesday! I’m officially 9 weeks and 4 days along. Due January 30! Emma is going to be a big sister!!! We are SO excited.