Saturday, August 29, 2009

blogs and brothers

This week I realized that my Bellies In Bloom blog gets readers from all over. Scott gets embarrassed that I write so candidly about women's issues. Someone has to do it and, well, I have a passion for sharing and am not shy about it. I got an email from a lady in WI (I think??) who found my blog and realized we were like minded. This lady created a company that makes a line of organic mama, baby, and body products called Lusa Organics. She offered to share some of her products with me if I ever had a giveaway on my blog. Well, as "luck" would have it, earlier that day I had been thinking about doing a giveaway for my 100th post. Click here to check out my giveaway. The gift set of booty balm, lip balm and sugar scrub is so fantastic, so enter to win!

Henry is in town indefinitely now. Playing at open mic night and then the next night as the solo gig, he was offered a weekly gig and has more prospects in the midst. I am happy for him and think this may be a good change for him right now. He is coming over today to hang out with us. He has been staying with friends in Dallas. As a good big sis, I will feed him a good home cooked meal from the grill and do his laundry.

Thanks for reading guys! Have a good weekend.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

birthday week

Happy Birthday to me!

This week has been fantastic! I have hung out with friends, gone to concerts, and this afternoon I am getting a massage and facial.

But, last night was especially fun. We went to Dallas to watch Henry play a solo gig and then all the open mic artists got together and played improv! It is so cool to see four guys play that have never met each other before and how they can make the most awesome music! Not used to staying up and staying out late, so we have spent today trying to recover.















Monday, August 24, 2009

hippie wannabe

I think I was born in the wrong era. Well, not really, but I would probably have been a hippie back then. My inner self is crying out for braids, long skirts (oh, the long, flowing skirts), tie die shirts, bell bottom pants, and several more pair of Birkenstock sandals. But, my closet is full of high heels, flip flops, tennis shoes, and straight cut jeans. I don't have a garden (yet), but I eat organic and prepare strange foods. I am kind of crazy about natural birth and I make my own concoctions to cure my illnesses and injuries. But, I wear make-up and fix my hair every day. I do burn incense in my house...can't do scented candles. What to do?

So as for my inner hippie or at least the inner 70's in me....

I would not be much for anti-war protests or bra burning (well, possibly bra burning, but only for my own sake - dang under wires!). I doubt I would have worn my hair parted down the middle with peace sign jewelry all over me and a leather tie around my forehead. But, if lived back then, I would quite possibly have decorated my home with macrame plant hangers and wall hangings - probably of an owl, and big shaggy rugs. I would have had a big orange, brown, green couch that was most likely extremely uncomfortable to get comfy on. I am sure I maybe would like to watch Mary Tyler Moore or go disco dancing. Did hippies watch t.v. and dance? I would be the exception.

I would have the most amazing brown kitchen appliances and herbs growing in the windowsill above the kitchen sink (the legal kind of course). There would be orange and gold checkered carpet on the kitchen floor. Ok, that just sounds gross. I would grow all my food out in the garden.

I would ride my banana seat bike everywhere. It would have a basket on the front of it. I may have a car, not sure. I would read at the park in the afternoons on my quilted blanket. I may roll my eyes as I pass a phone booth where 20 people are trying to stuff themselves inside.

Of course, I wouldn't have a cell phone back then. But, then again nothing is "urgent" (unless you are having your baby of course) and if I am home and you call, I would visit with you. Otherwise, call me later.

I wouldn't wear make-up and my hair is long and flowing. Sometimes I would put it in braids.

My record player would play Bee Gees and Fleetwood Mac.

I might actually have a pet rock too!

Not sure my occupation. I would probably be a some sort of birth support person, but that was before the word "doula" was around. Maybe I would be a midwife when midwifery was coming into play and birth was coming back out of the hospitals again.

If I were a mom, I would play wooden blocks with my cloth diapered babies and take them to the park in a sling. The thing about all of this is that these people did this and didn't even try. There was something instinctual about it. Now you hear about all these parenting ideas and gimmicks. "Do this and your kid will learn this"...."do that and your kid will be do or say that".....I don't think they they consciously thought about it back then. Wearing your kid in a sling was quite possibly "just what you did". Kids didn't sit in front of the t.v. for hours. They played outside. Parents didn't worry about them running around the block with the neighbors. Oh, and I would be that mom who attends a breastfeeding group since breastfeeding would just be coming back. I can see it now, all the moms sitting in the park in a circle on blankets breastfeeding their babies while their older kids run wild in the park. Makes me kind of giddy to think of it because these women would have come from the generation whose parents formula fed and they were breaking the cycle!

Well, I am a child of the 80's with side ponies, Barbie doll houses, My Little Ponies, and over-sized shirts tied in a knot on the side with leggings and jelly shoes. Now I am an adult in the the 21st century with all kinds of technology and fashion that I can't get away from if I wanted to. Oh, how I wish I was a hippie living on a mountain off the land somewhere.....

I wonder if I would have been friends with my parents back then?

Stayin' alive, stayin' alive, ah, ah, ah, ah, stayin' aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

it's official...

I am the worst house keeper on the planet. This afternoon as I swept cobwebs out of windowsills, cleaned dirt out the shower, loaded 5 loads of laundry, and dusted until I sneezed, I realized, I am not good at this. Some women pride themselves in having a spotless, clean house every day of the week, while I, utterly embarrassed, allow parts of my house to go to ruins. Well, the hiring someone part is out of the question. I had to chuckle when Scott asked me if I was done yet. He had quit helping a while earlier. I proceeded to tell him that "house work is never done, don't you know that!?" Ugh....the mere realization that housework is ongoing just makes me exhausted thinking of it. I love a clean house, don't get me wrong, but I wish I had a magic wand or my nose wriggled just right. Growing up we had lists on Saturday for cleaning. We weren't allowed to do anything until the list was done. That must have been around the time that I took a true disliking of cleaning. Even to this day, I feel guilty if I take a break in between the things to do on my "to do list". Like Mom is going to track me down with a dust rag and tell me to "get busy or no friends over." I remember saying things in my cleaning rage like "you only had kids so they could help you clean your house!" Hmm...that idea doesn't sound half bad right now.

Scott and I got an early start to the weekend with a half day Friday. We decided to piddle around Lowe's for ideas for a bathroom remodel on a $200 budget. Looks like we may start painting over Labor Day weekend. It has turned out to be a fabulous, long weekend for me. By long, I mean two days off. We closed the spa on Saturday and I actually did whatever I felt like yesterday. I slept in, then we lounged around the house before seeing a matinee. I drug him to Julie & Julia. It was a cute movie, but the audience was filled with a bunch of elderly ladies. We were two of the first people there and he crouched lower and lower in his seat each time another lady would come down the aisle looking for a seat. He may kill me for telling you, but he actually like the movie! Then we went and got some things to cook for dinner and came home. The real excitement of it all was that Scott got to cook out on the new "mini" grill we purchased this weekend. My husband finally feels like a manly man out by the grill now. It is amazing how giddy a man can get when grilling a meal to perfection! Well, actually it wasn't perfect, the squash and zucchini turned to mush, but the corn on the cob and chicken was good. I gave him a break for the first time grillin' at home experience. We have been married three years and this is our first grill. I must say that I regret not having one before. Meals are quick and simple and the clean up is a cinch! The two days off in a row is what started the house cleaning extravaganza in the first place. I guess I was not sure what to do with myself for two whole days and that is when I got the urge to clean my house. Thank goodness that is over....for now.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

thank goodness I am bored

Well, I am not really bored, but I was pondering today about the past several summers and how involved they have been...especially in August.
  • August 2008 - Recovering from surgery
  • August 2007 - Moved to Arkansas (on our 1st anniversary)
  • August 2006 - Got married
  • August 2005 - Moved from Kansas to Texas
  • August 2004 - Getting ready to quit Wal-Mart and start massage school
  • August 2003 - Actually, I think this particular year was pretty uneventful
  • August 2002 - Recovering from my burns
  • August 2001 - Moving to Arkansas to go to U of A
  • August 2000 - Again, kind of uneventful
  • August 1999 - Moved to OKC for my first year in college and Oklahoma Christian University
Then, there are always several family birthdays (including mine), vacation, and school starts back. I miss celebrating August birthdays. When we all lived in Mac, which none of us do anymore, Heidi, Emily, Henry and I used to celebrate all together....usually with a DQ ice cream cake. Wish I had a picture of that. By the way, Happy Birthday you guys! Oh, and I can't forget sweet Joely who just turned the big #1!

Happy 1st Joely!


Happy 23rd Hen!


Happy 29th to me,
Happy 26th Em,
and Happy 27th Heids!


But, this August, other than our trip and my conference (which was actually a lot), it has been pretty calm around here. Our first two anniversaries had major events surrounding them. I am glad that this year we didn't. It was a nice, quiet dinner out. Nothing too fancy. We ate at Mac's on 7th and then to Curly's for frozen custard. It was nice to have time to sit and visit about our goals for marriage in the upcoming year. I want to write them out and put them in our memory box and take them out in six years and see where we are at. We sure aren't where we thought we would be three years ago, but that is okay. We have come a long way. People say that the first year is hard. I have to say the first two years have been especially difficult for us. But, we are in this together and can see great things ahead!

So, since I am so bored....I will go read the library books on pregnancy and childbirth I checked out today! That ought to keep me busy.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

dear baby

Dear Baby,

It's your mom here. It has been a year since I found out about you and lost you all in the same hazy moment. I think about you all the time. I am thankful for your short presence because it truly did change me. I know that sounds so cliche, but it did. Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like if you had decided to really come and live in this world. I tease you that you wanted to be big and muscly like your daddy and that is why you didn't make it all the way down the tube. That gives us a bit of comic relief. But, if you were here, I wonder what you would look like. Were you going to be a boy or a girl? What would your personality be like? All these things I want to know about you.

When I say I think about you all the time, I really do. I know your time here inside of me had a purpose. You weren't meant to make it and sometimes I wonder why? I kind of know better, but still I ask why? God placed you inside of me for a reason and I guess I don't need to know all the whys right this moment. I know enough.

We really want you back though. I take it a lot harder than your daddy does. I wonder when I will see you again. Will you come back or will it be another? I try and tell myself not to take the tests...that I am only setting myself up for disappointment when they only have one line instead of two. Sometimes I beat myself up and wish I had been a more observant mother. If I had, then my tube would not have gone with you, or maybe it still would have, I don't know. Saying or thinking that won't change what is though.

So, baby, I want you to know that we are waiting for you. You are very much anticipated and being prayed for constantly. I will be a good mommy and your daddy is amazing. We can't wait to meet you. I know that you are waiting for just the perfect moment and that is really okay. We will do our best to be wait patiently. I will try not to cry the tears of sorrow any longer. It makes your daddy sad when I cry for you. You just come when you are ready.

I love you baby.

Love,
Mom

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

love. love. love.

This time three years ago, I was about to walk down the aisle! A lot of ups and downs have happened since then. We have moved three times, lost of a baby, and lost and gained jobs. I am thankful for friends and family who have been supportive of everything we have gone through. We are hopeful that the 3rd year of marriage will be the best one yet!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

planes, buses, and automobiles

We just returned home today from Kansas for my 10 year high school reunion and from a family reunion in Virginia. We had a great time catching up with old friends and family we hadn't seen in several years.

Our trip started last Friday when we woke up at 3:30am to catch a 5:50am bus downtown in Fort Worth. Needless to say, we have decided that we will not be taking a bus trip again....EVER! We got to Wichita around 1:30 and my cousin and her kids picked us up and took us to Hesston to hang out with more cousins. We went to my parents for a quick nap before the evening reunion festivities.

After the weekend of reunion events, we caught a 6:00am flight on Sunday from Wichita to Richmond. (Don't ask me why we take these early flights, it really isn't our thing to be dead sick and tired once we reach our destinations!)

REUNION

Yes, you are seeing double! Scott and Hannah M. and Scott and Hannah R. What a fun reunion we had there!! Unfortunately, I was not feeling well that night, so we had to leave a bit early and skip the bowling activities.
Laura and her adorable little girls came to the barbeque on Saturday at lunch.
Scott and Hannah have three cute little girls. This is their oldest. She is full of drama just like her mama!
This is Hannah's youngest who will be 1 in a couple of days. She is so cute!!!
And, yes the Hannahs again. It has been way too long. We really need to get together more often than we do, but the distance is a strain.
Chelsea and Davin just had a precious little man in June! It was so great to see them as well. I got to meet her husband for the first time.
The Hannahs, Katie, and Laura.
Hannah and her Scott. Such a cute couple!
Me and my Scott.
Katie and Travis. They have two sweet little girls. Unfortunately, I didn't get to snap a pic of the kiddos over the weekend.

VIRGINIA

Scott took a liking to his cousin's baby, Andre, right away. The poor little guy was so wiped out that he fell asleep right on Scott's chest.
Scott's Aunt with her grandkids, Claire and Mac. They love to read books at that age.
Scott, his cousin, the two little guys, and I all went to the children's petting zoo to feed the animals. All we left behind was sun screen and water or we could have stayed all day. Mac was having so much fun even though the goats were biting his hand when they ate out of it!Mac and Tine feeding the goats. Mac got really attached.
Mac made a new friend while he was visiting the pygmy goats. When he ran out of feed, he thought they may like to eat sticks and pieces of grass off the ground. Well, it was worth a try.
As we were leaving, they had a stand with drinks and sno cones. Mac was excited to get a red sno cone on our way out.