Correction!!!!

This is a little note to clarify one important detail in my last post. I am not pregnant! I was simply wondering if and when I do get pregnant, what I'll learn from the fourth one. That was not an announcement! Sorry for the confusion!!

Evolution of a Mother

As I sat at the computer tonight, I found myself scrolling through Alex's baby pictures. A flood of memories swept over me as I combed the pictures. I couldn't help but compare the kind of mother I was then to the mother I am now. As a young, 23 year old mom, motherhood was just as much about me as it was about Alex. When he cried I thought, "What's wrong with me, what am I doing wrong?". When he learned to roll over, it was, "Look what my baby can do." That was insecurity that comes with being a young new mom. I was making the transition from wanting a career as a dietitian to wanting one as a mother. I was getting use to staying home all day long...and not feeling guilty for it. Mostly I was trying to figure out what the heck I was doing. To help me in this, I began to read the books...parenting books for every topic. Experts explained how to get your baby to sleep, to eat, even to develop more dendrites. You name it -I read it.
And of course I believed everything in the books to be absolute truth. I began to wonder why everyone else didn't do things like my books said they should...

Then Alex became a toddler and things changed a little. I knew it was time to add another child to our family. With Jeff still in grad school it seemed, to some, ill timed. But it was the right thing. My pregnancy with Isaac was different than with Alex. With Alex it was all about how my body was changing, how the baby was inside of me. With Isaac, everything became about the baby. I was so excited to meet him! When he was born, both Jeff and I looked at each other and cried. We knew how much happiness this little guy would bring. What I didn't know was how 2 children complicated life a bit. There had to be a book about that, right?

It wasn't until number three came around that I learned a valuable lesson in mothering: the mother is the nurturer. When Jackson was 5 weeks old he got sick with RSV and had to be in the hospital for 5 days. After he was admitted, Jeff came by the hospital to give him a blessing. Then he left. I, of course, was the one who stayed with Jackson in the hospital. I knew that Jackson needed me. Not just because I had to feed him, but because I needed to nurture him. Those were 5 very sweet days when my only job was to be by Jackson's side and take care of all his needs. I discovered that there were mothering traits that couldn't be found in books. I learned that I had those traits all along, I just needed to find them.

I'm beginning to get the baby bug again and am so excited to see what number four will teach me...I'll keep you posted.

Alexander

Isaac

Jackson

Entrepreneur

I often wonder what Alex is going to be when he grows up. For a seven year old, he certainly has an eye for selling things. This past week, Alex decide to turn our front yard into a mini-golf course. The charge of admission was $2.00 (pretty step considering the whole course consisted of one hole). With signs posted on the community mail boxes and clubs in hand he waited for customers. And waited... and waited...until Dad came home and played his course. Word spread around the family and Margie stopped by after work. Alex netted $5 and squandered it at WinCo buying candy.

A few days later, he decided to form a club. He walked around the neighborhood asking kids of all ages to join his club. There were a few takers and the first official club meeting was held Saturday afternoon in the play structure. He named the club, "Art and Craft and War Club". We quickly vetoed the "war" part of the name. I really don't know what he'll come up with next, but I'm sure it'll be interesting.

Turning 30

October is the month of birthdays for our little family. One week after Alex turned 7 I celebrated my 30th year on earth. My romantic husband took me away for the weekend to Bend, OR. We had a fabulous time. A million thanks to Margie for watching our boys!

When we returned from Bend, our house was decorated with hearts and signs. The young women of our ward and one very fun leader (Wendy Talbot) made me feel so loved on my b-day.




When I walked in the door, Margie and the boys had baked a cake, decorated the room and written special notes to me.

Here are the notes:

Dear Mommy,

I love you! You are the best in the neighborhood!
I have a song for you...it goes like this:
Mommy, Mommy is great!
Mommy, Mommy is fun!
Mommy, Mommy, Mommy...is the best one!

Happy Birthday!
Love From,
Alex.L


Dear Mommy,

I love your very much and I hope you have a good day.
I love you even though you're fancy.
My favorite thing about Mommy is that she is cool
and the best person in the world. I love you even though you're cool.
I love you 200 extra. And you're the best in the neighborhood.
My most fun thing I like to do with you is play games.

(dictated to Grandma Margie from Ikey)

Coming home to this great family was the best gift I could have been given!

Birthday Bash

Cyberchase we're moving
We're beating Hacker at his game.
Don't tell me that he's trying to hack the Motherboard
we'll get him every time.
Cosmic worlds! Freaky places that we've seen
We've got the power of ONE TWO THREE FOUR!
Running in a cyberchase, we'll meet him face to face
we'll stick together all the time!
Adventures in cyberspace. The chase is on just wait.
C Y B E R CHASE!
http://www.thirteen.org/cyberchasenews/downloads/mathsports/cyberchase.wma



Alex celebrated his 7th birthday with a Cyberchase theme (the great cartoon on PBS). The theme song (posted above) echoed throughout the house all last week, as Alex memorized the words. It was a great party. The kids went on three missions to save Motherboard from the evil Hacker. First they broke geodes open, revealing "powerful" crystals, second they dropped tiny sponge animals into water to see them expand, third they played a life size game of Cyberland (like Candy Land). Much fun was had by all.

The Buzz cake was a hit too!

Kids Say the Darndest Things

I always knew my son Ikey was a chatter box. He's the one who stops complete strangers in a store and tells them all about the goings ons of his day. He's been known to ask employees of JoAnn Fabric for a quarter so he can buy candy. He is always talking to someone and I can't always edit what he says. This week in church was another example. In primary they were talking about talents. Kids were naming all the different kinds of talents people have. Ikey raised his hand and said, "Some people's talents are to have babies!". Four different friends have called to tell us about this comment. Oh, the world through a four year old's mind! It's appropriate that the name Isaac means "laughing one".

Soccer is a'going!

We are in full swing of soccer season now. We've adjusted to the schedule, the practices, the new friends. Now we get to sit back and enjoy the games. Alex is learning some skills and is getting great exercise. The highlight for this week, however, was bringing the after game snacks. Boys and food - a connection I'm beginning to understand!

The other boys keep themselves entertained by swinging and kicking the soccer ball around. We love starting our Saturdays with a little outdoor recreation and exercise!

Harvest Time

I love fall time. The newness of school, the welcomed change in weather, the beautiful leaves, October birthdays and...canning season! Each fall I take the boys to the farm to buy fruit to can. I love teaching them where food comes from. They get to see farm animals, climb bales of hay and become excited (the one time a year) about fresh produce. This year I decided to can applesauce. With the help of Ikey, Alex and Jackson, I canned 80 lbs of Gravenstien apples. The result was homemade applesauce tasting as good as candy. I can't help but think my pioneer grandmas are smiling down on me from above because of my day of production!

Weekly Update

As I sat down to check my email this Saturday night, I began responding to friend. There were so many things I wanted to tell her about my week, that I abruptly ended the email and just decided to blog. Since I want to keep a better record of my life I am going to treat this blog as a journal. If you have ever read my journal, you would know that I don't do spell check, and never proof read. That is how this blog is going to be. It would simply be too much work for me to worry about typing the perfect essay. So any readers out there, you have my apologies for bad grammar and erroneous spelling errors.

With that said, here is my first official weekly update:

Alex is officially on the Green Gators soccer team. He started practice two weeks ago. The most exciting thing for him was the assemble. He got the head to toe hook up at the NIKE E-Store. The kid was so thrilled to wear his cleats that he even took a stab at tying his laces! (How bad is it that he's almost 7 and can't tie his shoe? I blame Velcro).
Then the practice started...at first he was lovin' it. He got to make new friends, chase a ball around and be outdoors. After a few practices he began loosing interest and acting goofy. So goofy, in fact, that he was distracting the other players. When we talked about it, it became clear that Alex didn't feel like he was good at the game. So we decided to research soccer on the computer. It wasn't long until he found some U-Tube clips of soccer tricks. Then the idea was born - Alex was going to make his own power point on soccer. In the power point, he was going to have a "demonstration" video (starring him) of all the various soccer moves. The video is still in the works, but I may just have to post it when it's done. That's my Alexander, more interested in how the sport is played than playing it.

Ikey, on the other hand, could kick the soccer ball around all day. I can hardly wait to see how he does next year!

This week Jackie started waving. He takes his fingers and rubs them together like he's trying to snap. It's darling. He also discovered how fun it is to make noises while plugging your nose. When I'm singing him his bedtime song, he will plug my nose and laugh at my distorted voice. Then he'll plug his nose and sing his own song. I usually get him pretty giggly before bed. And the sweet boy still falls asleep, what a blessing!

Jeff and I went to the temple this week. It was wonderful to get that break from the world and reconnect spiritually. It was not wonderful to come home to reports from the babysitter that Alex and Isaac were awful. My boys are not always easy to parent, but I always get good reviews from babysitters, so I was quite surprised when the sitter reported that Alex has locked her out of the house. Apparently the Ice Cream Man came and Alex wanted to buy something. In our house we have the rule that Mom and Dad don't buy from the Ice Cream Man, but that the boys can buy if they use their own money. The babysitter did not feel comfortable with the idea and told Alex no. That was when he ran inside the house and locked the sliding glass door. He did eventually let her in the house. When we got this report, we sent the boys to their rooms for the night, which was pretty drastic because it was before dinner. The boys also had to go to the sitter's house and apologize. I know they learned a good lesson about how to treat other people and Jeff and I have reaffirmed our commitment on discipline. I tell ya, this parenting thing is not easy. Just when I think things are going great, one of my sons' does something to remind me that I have a lot of work to do.

So I fianlly got a blog.

I don't know why I have snubbed the blogging community for so long. Maybe because I didn't want to become a slave to my blog, feeling like I need to update it whenever Alex stubs his toe or I make a new recipe for dinner. Maybe because I don't want random people reading my even more random thoughts. Whatever the case, here I am, proving that I'm not quite geriatric, and that I can indeed keep up with the internet community. Frankly,if it weren't for a certain long distance friend, with whom I want to keep in contact with, I certainly wouldn't have felt any pressure to bare my thoughts and pics online. But here I am, taking the blogging plunge. I may take a couple good strokes and wear out, or it may become a great outlet. Who knows?