story of the week

follow this link and read this story or watch the video... this is almost unbelievable! it's so amazing what the medical community is capable of.

if only

i was reading this article today that stated stay-at-home moms would make around $117,000/yr if we were financially compensated for our work. oh how i wish raising a family was something our country really valued. it's funny how i always thought we never had any money before kids when Chris and i were both working full time ... now i know the meaning of no money. gosh we must have wasted so much money then.

a conversation yesterday:

May- am i a kid?
me- yes
May- are you a kid?
me- no, i'm an adult
May- and you are a human too

i'm glad she thinks so :o)

simply heartbreaking

why do bad things happen to good people? this is the age old question that i am sure will never be answered. i just read the news that Steven Curtis Chapman (a singer/songwriter who i used to be really into)'s five year old daughter died this afternoon in a car accident. it sounds like one of their teenage sons didn't see her in the driveway as he was backing up. tragic. that poor kid. that poor family. my heart aches for them tonight.

things like this really help put my life into perspective. 30 minutes ago i was struggling with Mayden (who is sick it seems) trying to get her to stop crying and fall asleep... wondering if i'd get much sleep tonight. now im so thankful that i just might have to be up with her little coughing self all night. i will serve her with a joyful heart tonight!

lean mean green machine (sorta)

there is something so appealing about this lifestyle to me

surf wise trailer... click on the Surf Wise photo to the left

this breaks my heart

no kid should have to experience this. so sad.

TX going overboard??

i've been keeping one eye open on this child abuse case in TX (the polygamy case) and i'm pretty sure i don't agree with what's going on. i don't know all the details but seems to me this could have been handled much better then it has been. is it really necessary to separate the babies from their mothers? i understand that the state is trying to protect these children but being separated from the only caregiver you've ever known especially at a young age could do more damage then good.

obviously i think this and most cults are nuts (to say the least) and i don't think abuse is okay but i have a feeling the mothers are not the ones that need to be kept away from the kids. in my opinion they are just as much the victims as those children are.

i don't understand it but i accept it

1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to go out to eat. (more than once but less than 10)

2. Multiply this number by 2

3. Add 5

4. Multiply it by 50

5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1758...If you haven't, add 1757.

6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.

You should have a three digit number The first digit of this was your original number. (I.e., How many times you want to go out to restaurants in a week.) The next two numbers are YOUR AGE ! ------ (Oh YES, it is!)

THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR (2008) IT WILL EVER WORK, SO SPREAD IT AROUND WHILE IT LASTS

online photo contest

so this website Five Minutes for Mom is having a photo contest for Mother's Day.

i found this photo from back in August when Cameron was (exactly) 2 months old. we spent a good part of that night nursing, singing & rocking ... anything to get him to sleep, and ended up on the couch. that morning Mayden found us and climbed up for a snuggle. as you can see i am clearly exhausted yet totally reveling in every minute with my two munchkins. ahhhh motherhood!

somebody sure has a lot of time on their hands!

a few things

last Thursday my good friend Julie (her husband & son too) welcomed the newest member into their family: Elle Alysse! she's super cute and super tiny. it's amazing how quickly you forget how small they come into this world. Cameron was a little more then a pound lighter then she was and yet i was so surprised at how little she looked. funny!



did anyone watch NBC's Dateline last Friday? they showed the craziest story i've seen in a long time. it was about two girls who were mistaken for each other in a car accident. one lived and one died. the details are so bizarre and heartbreaking for both families. i don't know if they have past Dateline episodes online for people to watch but if they do, you should! it's called: A Twist of Fate

Cameron finally popped his first top tooth thru today. the next one is only days away i'm sure. here's some video of him at lunch today (carrots) talking about Dada clearly only to get me to stop bugging him.

ask questions

so here is a bit of seriousness for you. i'm not sugesting that everything depicted in this video(s) is true, but it makes you question...and questioning is always a good thing.

4 part mini movie


part 1



part 2



part 3



part 4

funny funny funny

this is my favorite superbowl ad this year. every time i see it crack up!

everything under the sun

so here's a bit of whats been going on and what i've been thinking this last week and 1/2 of no blogging.

last week i took Mayden to the doctor for what should have been her 2 year check up but really ended up being her 2.5 year check up... that's what happens when you have your second kid on almost the exact same day as your first. anyway, it wasn't as horrible as i thought it would be. we'd been reading about the Bernstein Bears getting a check up, watching Elmo visit the doctor and even did some roll playing. she tried so hard to be brave but she lost her cool a few times. i was so surprised that she cried when the Doctor listened to her heart...not so surprised when she cried about the shot. good news though: she's healthy and no more needles until she's 4!!

Heath Ledger unexpectedly died last week. so sad. death is such a crappy thing. i mean it's probably great for the people doing the dieing (hopefully) but it totally sucks for everyone who's left behind. i think the thing that makes me so sad about Heaths death (besides the fact that he was a fantastic actor) is that he was my age & has a two year old daughter. this poor little girl probably doesn't even know what's going on. since having kids i sometimes think about what would happen if i suddenly died. morbid i know, but still a real fear i have. i know they would be loved and well taken care of by their dad & grandparents but still how sad would that be for them?! i guess that's a bit selfish of me to expect my kids to be devastated over my death... but i think they would be. it makes me cry to really think about it, i mean the thought of not being able to be with my kids forever (or at least a really long time) kills me.

Friday i took May-May to our first 'aqua tots' class at the community college pool. she loved it! it was so nice to be doing something different for a change. the class is only 30 minutes long so it seems like as soon as we get in the pool it's time to get out. plus with all the work of dragging her there and getting bathing suits on then off again i really wish it was about an hour long. or at least schedule some free time in after our class so we can stay in the pool. anyway it's a lovely addition to our week.

last night i figured out that Cameron can hold his own bottle! because of our failed breastfeeding attempt i try hard to mimic it as much as i can by making it a point to be the one to give him most of his bottles and to always hold him, make eye contact etc. BUT yesterday Cam was super hungry right at the moment May ran her lip into our computer table. she was fine but i pushed my luck and decided to try and sneak some saline solution (which she hates!) into her booger filled nose and in turn created an even more major freakout... complete with vomit! so needless to say Cameron had to wait. i eventually threw (not literally) May in the bath and got Camo set up with his first solo bottle. i left the room fully expecting for the bottle to be on the floor when i returned but i was wrong... i couldn't believe it, he ate the whole thing by himself!

hopefully i'm back to regular blogging!

FREE THE THREE

so Chris and i recently viewed the documentaries Paradise Lost 1 & 2. i actually watched them twice because this case is really disturbing to me. the documentaries walk you thru the triple child murders of West Memphis, AK back in 1993. the crime itself is horrific but an almost equal injustice (and much of the focus of the movie) is the conviction of 3 teenage boys who were supposedly in a satanic cult.



the trial is a circus filled with a media fueled frenzy. basically their case against the three boys is a coursed confession & the way they dress. the jury ends up with a guilty verdict and even sentence one of the teens to death. they do this without a single bit of conclusive evidence. if they murdered those boys then of course they are in the right place but i don't understand how can you convict on a capital murder trial with no evidence? worse yet, since the convictions there have been a ton of evidence that these boys did not commit the murders. and that things happened much differently then they first suspected. however the courts are in no hurry to do right so they have been sitting in jail for the last 15 years waiting. visit their website http://www.wm3.org/ to read it all. it's a very well done and extensive website and will probably take you days to read everything but it's all there. i just don't know how people can be so blind.

there is great theory (one i happen to believe) that a parent of one of the boys is more likely responsible for the murders. but as Damien put it "it's not as scary to believe that blood thirsty satanist were out murdering children then it is to believe that parents were actually murdering their own children."

this is exactly the reason why i am so proud to live in a state that has recently abolished the death penalty. juries do get it wrong. innocent people do go to jail. there are many reasons to do away with capital punishment as an acceptable form of punishment. and because innocent people are sometimes mixed up in all of this is a very good reason. how dare we try to play God.

support the innocence project who are there to help wrongfully convicted people get their sentences overturned.