One's Responsibility as a Free Man

"To give up the task of reforming society is to give up one's responsibility as a free man."

-Alan Paton

Altering One's Attitude

"The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes."

- William James

AND

"The greatest discovery of my generation is that man can alter his life simply by altering his attitude of mind."

- James Truslow Adams (1878-1949)

The Right Track

Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.

- Arthur Godfrey

Misery

"Most people would rather be certain they're miserable, than risk being happy."

-Robert Anthony

Baby Growing in dah Tummy

A mother once said...

"When I was six months pregnant with my third child, my four year old came into the room when I was just getting ready to get into the shower. She said, "Mommy, you are getting fat!"

I replied, "Yes, honey, remember Mommy has a baby growing in her tummy." 

"I know," she replied, "but what's growing in your butt?" 

Broken Things

"The tragedy is not that things are broken. The tragedy is that they are not mended again."

-Alan Paton    

The Halfway Moment

Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it may be recalled and perhaps remedied.

- Pearl S. Buck

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 74

Because we were listening to Led Zeppelin yesterday morning while making and eating breakfast together, and we all, including Jellybean, were enjoying the music a great deal, and my honey-man began this conversation (well, really, I just sat there grinning, eating my toast, listening to him go off) about the best classic rock bands of all time.  He mentioned early Genesis and Rush in this conversation of his, and at some point he paused and he somehow solicited an answer of agreement from me.  It was then that I made some snarky comment about how his opinion only dates him and severely so, but he didn't really hear my snarky comment clearly, so he responded in this way with great earnest:

"Wait, what did you say? I didn't hear that."

(I begin to giggle and laugh and he shakes his head to emphasis that he really means he did not hear me)

He continues: "I know that it something witty and demeaning, but what did you actually say?"

He is such a darling geek and I love him so.

UPDATE/CORRECTION: I let it slip late last night (Tuesday the 2th) that I'd blogged about this (above) and as I explained to my honey-man what I'd written about him, he was aghast to hear I'd misreported he had said 'classic rock', when "I said PROGRESSIVE rock, not classic. Progressive!"  And he wanted to be sure that I had emphasized EARLY Genesis, "before Phil Collins ever came into the picture, hell no."

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 73

Because of the six loads of laundry I'd washed over this past weekend, he had it all folded before Sunday afternoon.  I love that he folds the laundry - - folding clean clothes is what I hate most about doing the laundry.

Our Prince Will Reign Supreme

Whoops - found this sitting in my Drafts, written January 11th:

We found out today [January 11th!] that we're having another girl!  This makes me soooo happy for a number of reasons.

Most obvious, there's the simple practicality of it:  We already have baby girl clothes and girl stuff, and two girls could share a bedroom together -- I'm envisioning bunkbeds.

Secondly, April of last year, there was a study commissioned by Faye Mingo of Bounty.com to investigate parents' believed best sibling combination for a peaceful homelife. The polling results from  2,116 parents surveyed = Two girls are unlikely to fight, will play nicely with each other, and confide in their parents, according to the study. Granted, this is NOT a rule, and even if it were, exceptions will always arise in any case. Yet, it does sound good, doesn't it?

Some have asked me, don't you want one of each?

Yes, we already have ourselves a daughter, but we do already have a son as well, even if the angel boy-O is not of my womb.  Foremost, beyond the practical reasons to favor two girls, I like the idea that our having another girl will allow the angel boy-O to be our one and only boy, our reigning prince supreme!

Yes, I knoooow, older siblings of step-family arrangements do, and often, have to deal with the reality that younger sibs may come along, be they of the same sex or not.  Comparisons can and will be made between any sibling arrangment as to the differences between their upbringing.  Children grow up and they survive it, but it can be a challenge no matter what to varying degrees.  I know this from my own experience.

It is my mere humble opinion that in my own experience it is easier to make LESS comparisons between siblings if and when they are of the opposite sex, because, well, they're not the same.

Overall, the image I have in my mind of our angel boy-O, grown older and taller, with a lil' sissy's hand held in each of his? This image warms my heart to the point I feel my heart might EXPLODE!  He is already such an awesome big brother to his lil' sissy, and now he will get to be the protector and prince for TWO little sisters.

Will Never Tire of Hearing 'I Believe in a Thing Called Love'

Doesn't matter the mood I may already be in, whenever I hear "I Believe in a Thing Called Love," by The Darkness, I escape entirely into major glam rock mode and I can't help but sing along.

Overheard

"My mommie is very tall and she takes really good care of me and she loves me and I know that she loves me. Cars are dangerous you know."

Baby Chubb

Nearly two weeks ago, my toddler told me flatly that she's chubby, poking at her tummy with a delightfully dimpled finger as she said it. 

We'd just gotten out of the tubby, our hair still dripping, our faces clean and flushed. I was all wrapped in a towel, and she had already shed hers in record time, standing naked atop her step stool at the bathroom sink, looking critically at herself in the bathroom mirror.  

I had been expecting a moment like this to happen someday, when she's, ohhh, 8 or 10 years old - NOT when she's merely TWO and successfully potty-trained just last November.  

Seeing her looking at herself in the mirror, her lil' head turned to the side, brow furrowed, chin down and frowning, and utterly gorgeous, all smooth and flawless and perfectly healthy, I could not believe my eyes, nor my ears.

She then specified: "My belly is chubby."

I did not tell her yes or no.  Instead, I snatched her up in my arms and I kissed her belly all over and blew countless raspberries upon her cheeks, neck, arms, belly and legs, telling her over and over again that I LOVE HER GORGEOUS BELLY and I LOVE EVERYTHING about her darling body, and that she is BRILLIANT, and WONDERFUL, and AMAZING, and AWESOME, and PERFECTLY HEALTHY as she is.

She giggled like mad, squirming and kicking in my arms, and breathlessly, she told me she loved me and that I am her momma.  And I held her tightly in my arms and I gently, softly kissed her forehead, and I kissed the darling dimples of her baby hands, and I told her yes, I am your momma and I LOVE YOU as you are.

Dressed in her footed jammies and 6 bedtime stories later, she was in her bed and I had quickly forgotten (thanks in part to being preggers) that my two year old had somehow gotten it in her head that she's chubby and this is somehow a bad thing.  I only remembered our exchange today, after reading an article via a friend's Facebook wall post, and then it all came screaming back = My daughter, not yet 3 years old, is already at risk for female body image issues - What the !?!?  

I knew well before she was born that we would have to fiercely combat society's stereotypical treatment of little girls; pretty, cute, darling, beautiful little girls. Nonetheless, I did not expect an introduction to body image issues so soon, well before she'd reach grade school.

Jellybean hasn't said anything more to me about the matter since that night, but I'll be bracing myself for more.  The aforementioned / linked article, I'm sure I'll be using it for future reference when the time comes again.

Recounting the Day, as to Why I'm So Tired

Beginning at 6:30-ish am -

Began a load of laundry in the wash.
Helped my honey-man steer the angel boy-O through his morning's departure, for him to head out with his dad for the airport to return to Utah.
Breakfast of pumpkin waffles with peanut-butter refused by the toddler, in favor of nothing but 1/2 a cup of milk and nothing more.
Cleaned the kitchen; cleared the dishes, wiped down the counters and kitchen table, began a full dishwasher's load, and swept and mopped, all while Jellybean read stories to her lil' furry friends in the front room.
Changed over the load of laundry to the dryer and began a 2nd load in the wash.
Played dress-up together for nearly an hour. I was the evil witch, commanded to cackle every 10 minutes or so.

Tried for 10 minutes to get Jellybean to consume something non-liquid, to no avail; "No thanks, I'm not hungry, mommie."Painted fingers and toes, hers and mine, while watching an episode of Dr. Seuss (a first for us both) and her 1st time ever at-home TV watching of Sesame Street, brought to you by the letter 'J', no less!
10:30 am -
"Mommie, I'm hungry." Me: Okay, you can eat your untouched waffles leftover from breakfast. Her:  "No, I'm not hungry, mommie."
Made Tapioca pudding together - her 1st time, both making it (she loved it!) and eating it (she absolutely hated it!).
An an early lunch together at 11am, and yes, she did eat her waffles first.
Changed over the 2nd load of laundry to the dryer and began a 3rd load.
Over 2 n' 1/2 hours -no exaggeration here- of playtime together at the kitchen table with Playdoh.
Followed by 30 minutes of Playdoh clean up.
Watched 2 episodes of The Muppets, season 3.
Read 6 libary books and then laid the Jellybean down for a late afternoon nap.
Made 'Bean with Bacon' soup on the fly to satisfy an enormous preggers craving.
6pm -
Had dinner with mah honey-man before Jellybean woke (very late) from her nap.
Fed (read 'forced' and/or 'bribed') Jellybean dinner, negotiating 6 big spoonfuls of soup for 3 SweetTart hearts from our candy dish, purple, orange and pink, to be exact in her request.
Remembered the last load of laundry, waiting still in the washer, to be moved over to the dryer, and asked my honey-man to do it please.
30-minute long shower with the Jellybean, complete with the drawing of a dozen or so different zoo animals using her bath crayons, which Jellybean dutifully cleaned up at the end using her "brown brush with soap, please."
Bedtime for the girlie by 8:15pm, followed by 20 minute visit with my honey-man, folding laundry together, and 30 or so minutes tidying up, aka attending to the explosion of toys left downstairs.
Bedtime for mommie...after I finish this via cell phone-written blogpost... 10pm-ish.

P.S. My thumbs are sore now! and I'm tired. and oh yeah, I'm pregnant.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry.

For the Love of Kitty-Kats ~ #22

"The trouble with a kitten is that eventually it becomes a cat."

- Ogden Nash

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 72

On Jan 3, 2012, at 12:48 PM, "Ang in Sin City" wrote:

Subject: For Halloween this Year!

I want you to be a farmer, complete with overalls and either a straw hat or John Deere cap, and I'll be a chicken, as will (Jellybean) - - and maybe we could get (angel boy-O) to be bacon slices and the baby will be a sunny side-up egg. Maybe we could get (Wendy) and her (Lovin'-man) to dress as pancakes and/or hashbrowns! hee hee

And my honey-man's email response to my email:

"Okay. You've lost yer mind!"

A Conversation with My Two Year Old

Found this after this past Christmas, sitting amongst unpublished post drafts.  It's from July 2011, written while we were driving in the van on our way up to Utah for the 4th of July holiday, and for the angel boy-O's 13th birthday celebration:

Jellybean: Where do we live?
Me: We live in ----
Jellybean, interrupting me, squealing at the top of her lungs: --Las Vegas, mommie! We live in Las Vegas, Nevada, mommie!
Me, chuckling: Yes, we live in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Jellybean: My big brother, he lives in Ogden! Ogden, Utah, mommie!
Me: Yes, that's right.
Jellybean: Momma, how old is (angel boy-O)?
Me: He'll be 13 years old on his birthday.

Jellybean: When's my birthday?
Me: Your birthday is ----
Jellybean, interrupting again, squealing at the top of her lungs again: March 26th!! And I will be THREE years old!
Me, laughing: Yes, you will be three years old come your next birthday.
Jellybean: Mommie? --followed by a long pause, a little sigh, and no continuation--
Me: Yes, punky? I'm listening...what?
Jellybean: Mommie, I love you too.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry