AUTHOR - A Very Blessed Wife & Mother

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Happy 11th Birthday Son


The change from year 10 (left) to year 11 (right)



9 - years away from 2 decades
7 - years away from graduation
5 - years away from a driver’s license
2 - years away from the dreaded teenager
1 - year away from a even dozen
A - few months since your first cell phone
1 - year since a decade
5 - years since wanting to cuddle your mommy
6 - years since getting caught trying to knock down your army men with your woot-woo
7 - years since the start of school (pre-K)
8 - years since your first memory
10 - years since your first word (dada) and first step (10 months)
11 years since seeing your amazing face for the first time

Daimen, I remember where I was 11 years ago, today. I was in labor, trying to bring you into the world. I won’t get into all that because you will say “ewww mom that is sick, please stop telling me that stuff”. So, I will just talk about this past year, ok?

Daimen, you are turning into such a young man, it kills me to see how fast it is going by. It seems like just yesterday you wanted to cuddle with me on the couch all the time but in real time it was about 5 years ago. Ok enough of that, let’s talk about this past calendar year.

You became a big brother again this year, that makes 3 younger brothers that look up to you as their idol, and a younger sis that well loves you in a younger sister way. In Kollen and Nick’s eyes you can do no wrong, and I have a feeling Gage will follow suit. When you play with or even just look at him, Gage just giggles and smiles forever. You even learned how to change a diaper and feed him a bottle this year. The other day at the zoo you were feeding Gage a bottle (the first time for you) and doing such a good job I said “you are hired” and in the Daimen, witty past your year’s way, you said “but I didn’t apply”! I did not expect that response but did find it hilarious. You have grown in the sarcasum category this year, sometimes it can get you into trouble but mostly is quite amusing.

You have been to a few places this past year:

  • New Braunfels, Texas – Camping at Yogi Bear, Tubing down the Guadalupe River, Slitterbaun
  • The Great Wolf Lodge – Indoor water park & resort
  • Florida – Visiting your family
  • The Villages Water park – which is where you are today with Vic and Deb


Things that have NOT changed this year:

  • Your hatred for tomatoes
  • Your puppy love for Jocie
  • Your interest for catching bugs
  • Ability to make me laugh

  • The love you have for Salt (below, licking the salt rock walls of the Salt Palace)
  • Your love for building things (including this Edible Halloween Castle)
  • The picky relationship you have with most foods
  • Your kind hearted sensitive soul
  • Your ever expanding ways to be a young entrepreneur

Things that HAVE changed this year

  • Your hate for tomato soup is now a love/obsession
  • The dreaded broken bone in April (Thank goodness)
  • Your love for computers is ever present
  • The new hair growth on your upper lip (wow, already a baby stash)
  • Learning to Man-Scape that dark Uni-brow

  • Drinking from a bottle for the first time in 10years (rootbear chugging contest)
  • As of today, your allowance went up a dollar (darn birthday inflation)

And the most remarkable of all your changes is one of my proudest days.....You were Baptised on March 22, 2009


As this week wraps up, so does 5th grade. I know you are very excited for this summers festivities and new experiences (just thinking about it all makes me tired). This coming Saturday will be your Birthday Pool Party and I am sure you will have quite a few people in attendance.

Son, I could not have asked for a better young man and I am so Thankful God gave me the gift of raising you. You have taught me so much about myself, life, and the deepest of all loves. For that, I want to Thank you. You will always be my first born, the big brother, and of course the Drama king of our family. Happy Birthday Son! I Love You!

Friday, May 22, 2009

Billy

Maybe we should have named him Billy, goat that is. Gage has found a new fun obstacle that also requires daddy to be quick, Mount Saint Belly is its name and hiking is the game….

This mountain is special because it moves around and is only worth climbing when it is perched upon our bed. It is about 300mm above king bed level and covered with growth, however most of the time it is heavily blanketed with black cotton (if you ask Gage it is yummy to chew on). This mountain was created about 5 years ago, slow but steady growth shortly after marriage, if I remember right. I am certain it will be around for decades to come and from what I hear it only grows fast like that when true happiness has been achieved. So, we welcome this good luck charm in our part of the woods. Without further ado, here is Mount Saint Belly or otherwise known as “Daddy’s Keg”.




SUCCESS..............




Um I mean SUCCESS...........


And then Daddy has to be quick and grab little goats legs so he does not fall head first down the other side of mount belly, which happens to be steeper on the down side and goes about 2.5 feet below king bed level down to the hair covered sedimentary floor.
This is the scene (below) after the hiking slash/catching festivities, 2 blinks away from ZzZzzzzZzzzZzz....

I have a feeling I will be chasing a mobile destructive force really soon, similar to my friend Geohde at http://missionimpossibleinfertile.wordpress.com/, I just wont have to worry about a paci thief unless the dog counts.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Mother'S Day

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Scene - #1
Time - 9am Sunday May 10th
Location - Restaurant, breakfast buffet
Attendees - Meme, Daimen, Gage, Jer, and I
Food - Not great but you can’t win them all

The food was not great but we had a good time. Meme got a necklace from all in attendance and then also Todd, Kim, Emma, and Kollen who all had a couple thousand miles excuse.

She loved her gift, a handmade custom hand stamped necklace that included all her grandkids names and their respective birthstones. It is beautiful and I hope to have one of my own one day *hint hint Jer*. Happy Mother's Day MeMe!
We were able to get some good pics of Meme with the kids.
Below is a cell phone picture of her necklace (sorry for the quality)

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Scene - #2
Time - 12pm Sunday
Date - May 10th
Location - M & P’s House
Food - Great
Attendees - Mu, Pappy, Sarah, Andy (Sarah’s fiancĂ©), Laurie, Blake, Audrey, Nolan, Mace (in-utero), Daimen, Gage, Jer & Myself. I heard that Erin, Terrance, and his cousins made a later appearance but it was after we left.

We had a great lunch and humour courtesy of the guys and the grill at M&P’s house. That is a good look for you Pappy (below)
Ok back to Mu, she got a few gifts on this important day.....
From Laurie & Blake and Jer & I we her a custom hand stitched apron with the words “Mu’s Kitchen” on it and little stick kids representing her grandkids. It turned out so good that she didn’t want to wear it while cooking for fear it would get dirty, we insisted, once the other two girls have babies then the apron will need to be re-done, more kiddos added.
From Sarah and Andy some flowers that will last forever.
We enjoyed spending time with everyone and Mu is our lifesaver again when she stayed with us for a few days to take care of our sick baby while we worked.
Here is Mu with her apron and flowers……

Apron close-up (above), stick kids are pictured in this order…..Boy to the left is Daimen, holding Gage on his shoulders, then there is Kollen holding Audrey’s hand, and lastly Nolan carrying his baby brother Mace in his arms.

I do not think I have introduced Andy or Blake, so here ya go…..Pictured to the left is Andy (future brother in-law, fiancĂ© of Sarah, and amazing musician) and to the right is Blake (brother in-law, husband to Laurie, and a pain in the funny bone).

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Fast Forward A Week

Scene - #3
Time - all day
Date - Sunday May 17th
Location - My House
Attendees - Daimen, Gage, Jer, and I
Food - Doughnuts for breakfast & Taco Bell for lunch

Because Mother’s Day during Scene 1 & 2 was meant to celebrate Mu & Meme as mothers which also means a full day away from home, we decided that Mother’s day for me would be the next Sunday. Also, Gage was feeling better by this past Sunday so that made it a lot less stressful for me to have waited a week. Daimen started by giving me a handmade card,
the contents were a bunch of Mother’s Day poems, most of them from a Mother’s Day poem book, however one poem stood out. I think the author of this poem is amazing and his words touched me deeply….Daimen himself wrote this for me….

You are the most beautiful flower in the garden
The most friendly kitten in the boy
And the brightest star in the sky
I Love You! Love Daimen


Then this one he copied from the book was also wonderful….

God’s Gift
My mother is a special gift
A special gift that God gave me
I’d be lost and lonely without her
If God took her away you see
I love her so much
That I couldn’t bear to live without her healing touch
Thank-you God for giving me such a loving mother
For I wouldn’t want to be part of no other


I have a very sensitive oldest son and I wouldn't want it any other way. Then I unwrapped the gift from Daimen, Kollen, and Gage, it was bunch of pictures of my boys in a frame that has a I “heart” Mommy cutout for the pics. (Pictured below is the frame and card)
The boys picked out the pictures and Jer put it together, so sweet. I have it up in my office right now and find myself looking at it alot. Then Jer gave me a wooden box that has a painted tile on the top of it that says “Mommy’s Treasure Box” and has, well, here look for yourself

My normally un-sensitive husband stepped way out and gave me more than a gift but a memorial of all our babies. Of course the 3 I speak about the most are printed on there but Jer and I have 3 more babies, they are in the Lord’s hands but they are still ours and I still think about them. Our first little angel would have been 2 this July 14th and the twins (who would have never made it as twins (one was in my tube) would be 8 months old now. I must say this was the best Mother’s Day ever, not just because of the gifts, but because all our babies were thought of on that day.




Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Wordless Wednesday -Gage 21wks



(Daimen took all the pictures below, I think we have a skilled photographer on our hands (why do people say "on our hands", he is not on our hands at all, he is way to big for that?))



Monday, May 18, 2009

"Not Me" Monday

This is my first "Not Me" Monday post. Stellan's mom (Mckmama) at http://www.mycharmingkids.net/ (website that my computer at work will not longer let me visit) started "not me" Monday's as a therapeutic way to post one's own flaws (in a humours way of course).

I present to you my first therapy session:

I "would not" joyfully take pictures of my sick baby covered in snot after a gigantic sneezing session and "did not" become bitter at my camera because the pictures are fuzzy and it missed the huge snot bubble he blew, "not me", no that would be disgusting and I am more mature than that.
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There is "no way" I would have thrown caution and size 12 pants to the wind and consume enough heresy’s chocolate to be equivalent to the size of a house brick this weekend, and I "did not" ask my husband to go get me some more at the store when I ran out, nope “not me”, that would be dangerous and go right to my hips.
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Oh my, I would never let my now 5 month old son explore the wind maker in my office with his little, delicate, unscathed fingers, nope, "not me". Truly, I know it is better to steer babies away from curious objects like fans then to let them cautiously explore them with their hands.
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I would never be a “not cool mom” and insist my 10 year old boy learn how to change a diaper. It is not like the baby is his (and he better not be thinking about one for 15 or so years), and he is a boy after all. "Not me". How could I ever subject my oldest to diaper doOty (ha), never, and I absolutely "would not" ever giggle in delight the whole time while taken pictures of the experience to show to his wife one day, NO way, "Not me"!
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This past week I "did not" just rub spit-up into my chest with my bra when Gage aimed so cleverly down my cleavage and gave a hurl. After "not" rubbing it in I also "did not" glance down to see if you could see the wetness from the outside, "did not" give it a satisfying “ah does not smell to bad” sniff, and "did not" wear the shirt or bra the rest of the day. I would never do that and would turn my nose up to anyone who did, "not me", no way. *smirk*

Aha now that was very therapeutic, you should give it a try.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Gifted

Gifted, I do not mean the "special" way, if so I would be talking about myself.

Gifted, as in my wonderfully brilliant first born and his end of the year project for his Gifted and Talented class.

Daimen's Twin Towers Project (pictured below with his project and teacher).
Daimen is such a bright soul and blessed with a large amount of intelligence way beyond his age. He has been in the gifted and talented program since 1st grade. Sadly his teacher is retiring this year which makes this project viewing extra special.
*(above) Daimen hugging his gifted teacher for the last time, "we will miss you Mrs. S and good luck on your future endeavor"*


He picked the Twin Towers as his project building and worked hard all year constructing it (twice even, more about that in a second) to scale and including a power point presentation about the towers. I must say *blushing* I am so proud of this young man. He is so talented in so many areas (gets that from me, ha) that I can not wait to see what he picks to be when he grows up. Whatever he chooses to do, I am certain he will be successful, he wouldn't have it any other way.
I don't want to say much more because his 11th birthday is around the corner and I am already thinking about my letter to him and I do know it will include something about his obsession to always be perfect (which is a flaw, ha that is deep).

Daimen your project is amazing and I am so very proud of you and all the hard work you put in it. I am also amazed by your maturity after one of your building got ruined by the spray paint and you and Jer had to drive to town, buy supplies, and spent hours putting together a whole new tower. You were quite upset, but realized that was not getting you project any closer to being finished, so you put on your big boy pants and fixed it, like a young man. It turned out so well you received an award for the top 20, that is wonderful, I love you son.
I don't want to say much more because his 11th birthday is around the corner and I am already thinking about my letter to him and I do know it will include something about his obsession to always be perfect (which is a flaw, ha that is deep).
(Below), a picture of last years project. He had to make a model city, with his own buildings, rules, roads, etc.....