Teenage Love Affair

"I don't think Olivia likes me anymore. I think we're done."

"Really. Why do you say that?"

"Well on Friday she looked at me like that- {gives the sideways dirty look}. You know."

"And you don't know why?"

"No, I don't know why. And she said she can't wait til this scratch on my eye goes away. She said she likes me better without it."

Jaw drops open. "She really said that to you?"

"Yea," with a nod.

Your typical teenage drama. The problem? This is my 5 year old talking to me.

Oh Mexico

We just returned from a fabulous trip to Mexico. Kaia girl has her very own passport and now has a stamp on it. A big accomplishment for a 3 month old. We spent six days sitting by the pool, dunking waves as Porter calls it, playing ping pong, eating buffets, and drinking Coca Cola light. That's right- Mexican diet Coke. Search Mexican diet Coke on my blog and it'll come up more than once. But this time I have even more to add...fountain Coca Cola light. Let me tell you it doesn't get any better than that. Which is why by 10 am every morning I had probably already drank my first gallon for the day.

This was a last minute trip, as in Yosh called me 10 days prior and told me to somehow get a passport for Kaia in the next two days. After I told him that was impossible, I went ahead and did it. Anyways, with the quickness of the trip, I had no time to research the place. I'm not sure I even knew how to say the name of the city before it was time to leave. But Dallin and Porter did- Zihuatanejo. Not sure how to spell it and spell check didn't have any better suggestions. Now I'll tell you what, my husband is really growing in his husbandly role. Yosh told me he had something scheduled for me to do everyday and I didn't even take the time to ask him what that meant. Not that he would have told me. Well I found out soon enough. After walking into our hotel room, there was a note on the bed telling me to call the spa so that we could schedule my "Harmony" package, which included 5 consecutive days of treatment. Yoooosh you're too good to me. So on Monday I go in for my first massage. I think they called it an Indian ritual or something. As part of the treatment she started poking on different pressure points and I don't know if this is a pressure point or not, but she started poking right on my bladder. My bladder that was full of the gallon of fountain coca cola light. Even though I had just emptied it. That's how much I was drinking. Well this full bladder instantly brought me back to an untold part of my delivery story. I had just gotten an epidural from this cute old man, Eduardo....

when the nurse checked me and said I was at a 4 or a 5, that the baby was still high and I had a ways to go. That was a few minutes before 11 am. She then went ahead and hooked me up to a catheter. Instantly I began to fill the catheter. And I kept filling it. Apparently this grabbed the nurse's attention and she watched. And then started on her commenting, "Oh my gosh, you're up to a thousand cc's. And still going. Why didn't you just tell me you needed to use the bathroom?" I'm just laughing and I tell her, "Well, I didn't even know I had to go to the bathroom." I guess I'm just as bewildered as she is, although I have been called an elephant pee-er before (courtesy of Yosh). But I think that is referring to force rather than the quantity. Either way, I couldn't will myself to stop if I wanted to. "1200 cc's. I've never seen this much urine at one time before. This is amazing." I'll have to keep that in mind to write down on those awkward questionnaires when they ask for unique talents. Right around 1200 cc's I guess I was finally dried out. 25 minutes later the nurse came to check on me and had a whole new mouthful of comments, "Oh my gosh, why didn't you tell me you felt pressure? This baby is here. Do not push, do not move and you better call your husband and tell him to get here right now if he wants to see this baby be born." When the dam broke, the baby must have slid right on down maxing me out at to a 10 in no time flat!  Well, back to the massage room, I'm chuckling to myself thinking about the shock of her career the masseuse would be in for if she pushed that bladder point just right- 1200 cc's in not an amount of pee you can disregard and keep on working as if nothing happened!

Maturation and Immaturation....

It's all happening in this house. Even if immaturation isn't a real word. With that clarification, we'll start out on that note. When Yosh came home from his Denver trip a few weeks ago, he commented here and there about a couple of observations while staying at the Reese's. "Gay, you should see the Reese's house. Emily has done some pretty amazing things." I told him I have seen pictures on her blog and that she is style combined with talent  in a way that makes me green with envy. "Yea, I know there are pictures but seeing it is even more amazing."   Emily, do you want to come decorate our house?!! I think that's a style Yosh and I could easily settle on as we have differing tastes!  He also commented about some recipes that Emily makes. And let me clarify- he didn't even try these, he just heard the recipes. (Since when Yosh pays attention when the topic is recipes, I don't know. But it sure caught his attention.) He was all, "Maybe we should try those." My response- maybe a bit snippy..."Have you not noticed I don't cook anymore?" These days a "cooking" is Trader Joe's gnoccis with a bag of Caesar salad. 

I was thinking about these things over the next couple days when the realization hit me... I used to do these things also. I used to cook dinner 5 times a week and cooking had a very different definition- entree plus two sides. Seriously. Every meal consisted of that. And I probably baked about two times a week on top of that.

While my talent level is nothing even close to Emily's, I also did little projects around the house. Painting this, refinishing that, framing a picture or two, making books. I'm nothing close to the crafty type but I enjoyed having a project to do. 

So what in the world happened to me? The answer was crystal clear. A kid or two. It feels like a lifetime ago. I'm not sure I even know that girl anymore. I think she shows up about every 6 months to make a Sunday dinner and then shows up every time a child is born to half-decorate a nursery. Now, this is not at all depressing to me. In fact it is inspiring and motivating. I have a feeling she'll be coming back around when her youngest baby is about 3. But not with all the cooking- that's overrated.

I have immatured in that area of my life, but I think for the same reason- adding a kid or two to the family- that I have also matured in other areas. Thursday morning started out with the sun shining and the boys playing. At 7 am no less. And that was after they were already dressed and fed. An awesome start to the day. (I'm not being sarcastic either!)  A little before 8 we were leaving to take Dallin to the corner to go to school. But Porter didn't let Dallin ride his Razor to school which got Dallin all fired up. I often times mediate the boys' disagreements/conversations when necessary, but 95% of the time, I don't force any decision on them. And Porter's decision was he wasn't going to let Dallin borrow the Razor. We walked to the corner and Dallin continued to pout. And then just sat himself down in the middle of the side walk talking about, "I'm not going to school today." And sure enough I can see the little family he walks with approaching, leaving only about one minute to dismantle this bomb that in reality requires 30 minutes. And there is no miraculous ending to this story. The friends approach and are patiently waiting as Dallin goes back and forth about 5 times as to whether or not he's going to school. Finally he decides he is going but is slowly shuffling at a snail's pace which will inevitably make all of them late for school. The mounting pressure is killing me. I have the friend's mom and three experienced moms that we were making small talk with watching me. I don't know exactly what to do and when I do decide, I have absolutely no idea if I'm making the right decision. But I call Dallin to come back, who is now a block away, which ends in me half-dragging him back and we make our way back to the house. Don't worry- this isn't the area where I've matured. Still clueless in a lot of the mothering department. I tell him he can go to school whenever he is happy and ready to cooperate with others. And it probably did take about 30 minutes, but we made it there and it all turned out ok. But the big feat for me was the fact that that incident didn't set the mood for my day. So many times I let hiccups and bumps in the road affect me way too definitively, if that makes sense. And that is something I've been trying to work on. Especially with kids, there are going to be a lot of bad 10 minute spots through out my day. And sometimes even bad 30 minutes, or maybe even longer. But I can't let those times define the rest of the day. And way too many times I have let those bad 10 minutes trump the awesome 3 hours we just shared. As much as possible I need to find the strength to get over it and go on being happy and enjoying life with all the little critters ya know.

And Thursday I was able to do that. The following pics are all from that day. Proof that it was an awesome day. 

(And let's be honest, when it's sunny and 80 degrees and you're swimming in April, it makes the whole concept of moving on and choosing to be happy a whole lot easier!)

Even Dallin B put a smile on his face the rest of the day!