Too many to choose from...

Today was one of those days that I could blog from many angles about several topics. I easily could have titled this blog Self Pity 180, POP Goes the Knee, or Pants Optional. So I guess I'll write about all three and let you know a little bit more about the craziness of my day to day life.

Self Pity 180

Ah Calvin, how I love you.
Sunday and today were those type of days when I just felt crappy. Any specific reason? Not really. A lot of little things here and there married with a nasty headache make for a grumpy sour Marie. I was just feeling sorry for myself for not having a "perfect" life. It was bothering me that no matter how hard my husband has tried he has yet to find a full time job and that as much as I try not to I get easily frustrated by my beautiful almost two year old. So there I was feeling so down about life when honestly I had nothing too major going on. I've come to the realization that I will never have perfection if I keep looking beyond my nose. I need to look at what is right in front of me and be insanely blessed for what I have now. I was reading some blogs and I can across one that many women seem to read. The author of it was in an almost fatal plane crash and is a mother of four, her story was even on Oprah recently. I read some of her posts and thought to myself, "Why are you even upset? You could haveit SO much worse than you have it. Shut up and start enjoying life." So that's what I did. I took the kids, we went downstairs and proceeded to laugh (all three of us) and just spend time together. People joke that the only guarantees in life are taxes and death and sadly that is true. I'll never know how long I'll have to be with my family so I should life every day to the fullest. I don't want to get sick years from now and be mad at myself for wasting so much time. Even if I don't get sick and I die in a blaze of glory at 107 in a motorcycle stunt I still don't want to be in my house, alone, wishing I had spent more time with the kids and Jesse while they still were around 100 percent of the time. So here is what I decided while snuggling in bed with the kids, I guess they could be considered resolutions of sorts-
1. Take a bazillion pictures. Even of stupid things like the muffins I make for Sunday dinner with the kids.
2. Make things as memorable as possible. The paparazzi style photographing of my family will help with this, but I want to do things with them. I'm not saying we'll fly to France every July (although that might be nice) but I want to make traditions and be known as a mom who was involved with my family. I will be the mom who takes impromptu picnics and has random family parties just for the sake of celebrating. The following quote hopefully should sum up the message I'm trying to convey.
"Find joy in your children. Don't over schedule them or yourself. You may not be able to take them on exotic vacations. It doesn't matter. When the day dawns bright and sunny, take an excursion to the canyon or the park. When it's cloudy and wet, read a book together or make something good to eat. Give them time to explore and learn about the feel of grass, and the wiggliness of worms." --Marjorie Hinckley
3. Except that as a mom "me time" is usually going to include at least one other member of my family. Be happy that they like being around me because it may not always be that way or be able to be that way.
So there you have it. Look forward to seeing more random blog posts because I hope to use this as more of a daily (or at least 2 or 3 times a week) journal for my family and me to enjoy.
POP Goes the Knee
For the past few days I've heard an odd sound when Zeke kicks his legs. At first I just thought it was him passing gas (he does that A LOT and quite loud at times) and I thought nothing of it. Then I realized it was happening more often or was it that know I was listening for it to happen, I'm not quite sure. So I asked four different people what they thought and all of them told me to take Zeke into the doctor. I was convinced that it was his hip and I was afraid that it was dislocated. I was reading some medical journals about babies who are born in the breech position (which is what Zeke finally came out in) and how they are more susceptible to having dislocated hips. Then I thought back to how rough his delivery was and how this shoulder (on the same side as the popping sound) was dislocated. His doctor doesn't work on Mondays so I took him into his partner because I didn't want to wait a day. The doctor looked at him, did several stress tests on his hips, and told me that he was fine. Then Zeke started kicking and the pop sounds happened. (It didn't happen at all and I started thinking I was overreacting to nothing.) The doctor touched his knee, went "hmmm", and then told me that the popping sound is from his knee. He explained that if it were coming from his hip he'd be worried but since it's "just his knee, he's fine". Really!? But he went on to explain how tiny babies have more cartilage in their knees than bones and that 1 in 25 babies just make that sound when they move. He said that if he screams out in pain I should be worried but if not I shouldn't be concerned. The doctor said it should go away when he starts crawling and his knee cap strengthens, so we'll see!
So the baby is okay but at the yearly check up for the dog I learned she has a heart murmur. Oh life... so we could either put her on heart pills for the rest of her life (5+ years) or just let her be. Since she acts just fine I chose the latter.
Pants Optional
So after having my pity party, finding out the dog has a weird heart, the baby is okay, and then resolving to be happier, I took the kids downstairs for some snuggle time before naps. I changed Zeke's diaper and Rosalee told me, "Mama I don't want my pants on too!" so I left Zeke's pants off and proceeded to take her pants off. Then the kids starting laughing, smiling, and being beyond cute. So I grabbed the camera and started my new commitment to loving my life all the more.
The first picture is my FAVORITE and will be printed out and then hung on the wall. After I took off Rosalee's pants she crawled over to Zeke and they both started laughing like they had some big secret or conned me. This photo is just too precious not to end up on the wall!


Zeke was in SUCH a great mood that he smiled and cooed the whole time!

Rosalee was less than enthuased that I wanted to be taking her picture instead of letting her watch Dora before her nap.