Sheepish

Here is the breakdown of Thursday:
10-noon: Volunteering for Take Home Reading at school
noon-1:30: At hospital with Mike and his 2 pints of lung-sludge
1:30-2:30: Picking up food at Cafe Rio for Bubble Boy. Comfort Food makes it all better, right?...
2:30-3:15: Couch-time, talking with Mike
3:15-6:00: Picked up Max from school, took him to get his hair cut, grocery shopped, stopped at Wal-mart (Max talked me into it, to look for some #$^%&* game he's been saving for), stopped at Sonic for Mike's fav limeade, came home exhausted. I was in-&-out of the car all day, going here, going there, heaving my not-so-nubile self to and fro without cease. I'm finding that going non-stop is tiring when pregnant. Go figure.

So. I spent the morning (10am-noon) exchanging the books for the Take Home Reading program at the kids' school, at the end of which I got a call from Mike at the hospital, having been there from 8:30 'til noon, telling me the doctor was about the drain his lung. (Here are a few verbal memory-triggers: pneumonia, fluid-filled lung, Bubble Boy...)

Mike: "They're going to drain my lung now if you want to come."
Crystal: "Ok. It'll take me about 15 minutes to get there; do you want me to come?"
Mike: "If you want. They're ready to do it now."
Crystal: "Just start and I'll finish the books and be there in about 45 minutes."

About 5 minutes after hanging up the phone, I stopped in my tracks and thought, "WHAT? I'm so lame! He probably wants me to be there!" I called to find out where to locate him, but no answer; obviously, they'd already begun. I spent the next half hour sick to my stomach and feeling like a big jerk. When Mike called, I'd been so distracted with the #$^%& books and leaving them mid-process. And--in my puny defense--he was being a typical man-talker. If that had been ME about to undergo some surgical process, I would've said, "Please would you come be with me? I'm kinda freaked out."

So he calls me back after they're all finished and tells me where to meet him and that the Dr. still needs him there, etc. Now that I actually know WHERE to find him, I rush off to the hospital and when I get there he looks terrible. And tells me it was really creepy and he passed out. (and they sucked 2 pints of what looked like swamp water out of his body. blech)

Yes. I win the Wife Shmuck of the Year Award.

Play by Play

Last Saturday, I found Isabelle snapping pictures from the upstairs window. This girl is GOOD! She captured a little story here, moment by moment:

This is Max, creating two little mini snowmen.

He stands back to critique his work:

He makes an adjustment:

He leaves. What cute snowmen!

Too tempting to resist. Typical boy.

Heyyyy! That looks fun:

Watch this. Isabelle got it in constant motion. Here she comes.....

.....closer......

.....and smash!

And again! The poor disemboweled snowman must've made a satisfying smoosh.

She's a bloodthirsty little girl. In pink.

My work is done here.

I snapped this one, a while later. But Isabelle's series of photos just cracked me up! I wonder what was going through her mind, what she saw that piqued her curiosity and made her stay at the window and document the quirky doings below. She has a funny little sense of humor emerging.

My Word for the Year: Moments

Here is the explanation of "word of the year," as told by
mastermind Ali Edwards on her website:

"Can you identify a single word that sums up what you want for yourself in 2007?

It can be something tangible or intangible. It could be a thought or a feeling or an emotion. It can be singular or plural. The key is to find something that has personal meaning for you. This is not your mother's word or your spouse's word or your child's word - this is YOUR word.

One little word can have big meaning in your life if you allow yourself to be open to the possibilities. And here's one thing that is totally interesting: sometimes a word will pop into your brain and it will not make any sense to you right now. Give it some time. Let it percolate a bit. I have often found that our hearts speak to us in very unique ways. Maybe this is a word you need to hear but just aren't ready for it yet. Again, be open to the possibilities."

My word for the year is "MOMENTS," the idea for which originated from Rob Thomas' song "Little Wonders." Here is the chorus:

"Our lives are made
In these small hours
These little wonders,
These twists & turns of fate
Time falls away,
But these small hours,
These small hours still remain."

When trying to come up with my word for the year, I had been thinking of how a person's memory of their life is not comprised of one long, continuous timeline. We don't remember our lives like a movie, non-stop. We remember our lives in short bursts..."pieces" of our lives. And as a mother, I want my kids' short memory bursts--their MOMENTS--to be happy and wonderful. I want to take advantage of the opportunities that different MOMENTS present me. I want to teach rather than yell (haha--good luck to me!), I want to laugh and I want to be in the MOMENT with my kids.
* All photos taken by my children, during private moments of mayhem, with Isabelle's camera. I found later them on iphoto.

52 Blessings, Week 7: My Father & Mother in-law
Your love is immeasurable, your selflessness astounds me, your hugs are precious to me, and Tom--I can't imagine a life without your laugh in it.

The Grande Dame of Good Mail

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a certain girl in blogland is the Queen of Good Mail. (how'd you like my butchering of Jane Austen?) If that is so, my mom is the Grande Dame. For years, I have received letters and cards with thoughtful pieces of this-&-that enclosed. She has randomly sent packages, which never fail to pop out of my mailbox as a complete surprise, to me and--even better--to my kids.

Thanks, mom, for that unfailingly consistent demonstration of love throughout the years; beginning, I remember quite clearly, with a box of cookies my freshman year of college as a tangible reminder that I was loved. I'm not sure you realize how appreciated each mailbox surprise is when I greedily snatch it out.

Here are my latest packets: A cute valentine with photos of moments from 2007.


And a Valentine package for my kids containing BOOKS! They ripped open the box and grabbed their books with gusto. Each of the kids loved your choices. And look! The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E.! Max will love it. ("Night At the Museum" was a rip-off of this book, I swear.)

Jammies for Lima Bean. Fuzzy jammies. Delightful!
And then today I was surprised by a cute little bundle of goodies for Lima Bean; superhotmama (private blogger, dangit!) sent (gasp!) handmade goodies: a one-of-a-kind little beanie elephant and a Taggy Blankie. And. Do you SEE the ward cookbook??? Do you see it? This is the best ward cookbook I've ever laid eyes upon--no kidding. Thank you so much, Janie. I can't wait to see Little Lima Bean with Taggy. My kids are all very tactile and love to twirl their hair, slink their blankie corners under their fingernail (a certain fingernail, at that), and snuggle up to fuzzy animals. It is a foregone conclusion that Lima Bean will have his own little tactile trait, and he is certain to love this colorful Taggy and elephant.
Earlier last week, a valentine arrived from Carlo--a.k.a. Carolynn--and it made my day.

Going even further back, in early February I got a thoughtful little note and welcome dose of DARK chocolate (my fav) from Laurie. This was for no reason in particular--just to say Get Well. I think dark chocolate is the only flavor that is strong enough to penetrate Flu Tastebuds. Thank you, Laurie! You're a sweet friend.

Here is a little packet that I tore into. Literally. I saw that it was from Anne and clawed my way into it in order to get to those cd's. FOUR of them! Now here, ladies and gents, are some tunes that will get even a 5½ month pregnant lady exercising.

And now. I want you to look very closely. Among the various goodies in Michelle's envelope was nestled a tiny silver box in the shape of a star, which I plan to fashion into a pendant of some sort. It is an enchanting little item and I love it. Thank you so much, Michelle, for braving the bone-chilling cold of Canada to forge your way to the post office!


So, Mom. It seems your tenacious and creative usage of the USPS has caught on! Good Mail circulates the globe, and you have always been The Grande Dame of it.

Friday Funny: The Geriatric Bike Gang

IT'S A BOY!
52 Blessings, Week 6: Our Little Lima Bean

This image (above) is of the baby's face profile. His little hand is up by his mouth. You can even see his tiny spine and upper torso! His arms were crossed and held close up to his face in every image we saw.
And here is his arm--so tiny, but perfectly formed. What a miracle.
Hee hee. There's no room left for doubt in this picture. To understand this view, imagine the baby sitting cross-legged on a glass table and the "camera" is right underneath the glass, taking a picture of his little bum. (what an invasion of privacy) Max was so tickled to find out he's got a little brother coming.

There is something very special and sacred to me about those moments in the ultrasound room. To glimpse the tiny little life inside me, at the very moment in time that the baby is doing this-or-that inside of me, is beautiful and breathtaking. I feel a connectedness that is even more immediate that when he kicks and moves--probably because I can see him. I can see him! That little half-angel that is still a part of Heaven.

I am so grateful to have this baby to distract me from other problems at hand right now. I feel like my attention is forced to be focused on the big picture, the long-term vision of my life, and I am glad for that. I'm so eager to meet this little guy in person; to hold him for the first time and start our earthly adventure together, as the newest member of our little family and as mommy and son.

52 Blessings
Week 5

I am grateful for innocence that still lingers.

Somebody Shoot Me

So. It's 5:35am and I've been WIDE AWAKE since 4am. I blame this on watching "Lost," which I vow to never watch again. That show makes me tense. Obviously. I have been in-and-out of sleep all night, never to enter that blissful REM stage. Am I fated to be an insomniac my entire life? I did not take my beloved 1/2 sleeping pill tonight, though, which was a mistake. Besides, once I was awake for 10 straight minutes, I became ravenously hungry. This happens quite frequently, actually. I'll toss & turn and wake up just enough at night to be conscious of my growling stomach. At 4am. Yes--it actually is growling. Making a baby evidently requires a lot of energy. And food.

I haven't had much time since Tuesday's ultrasound to sit down and post--and I've wanted to scan the CUTE little pictures of the baby. Yes! There's a real, live baby in there. I have actually been wondering, since I haven't felt it moving very much.

And I've been a little down in the dumps because I'm not Isabelle's primary teacher any longer. *sniff* When I came home & told her, she broke into great, shuddering sobs--poor thing--which made me start to cry, so we sat on the barstool and cried together. I will have to pay some special attention to her in the next few weeks. I would usually be pretty excited about my new calling, but dangit! I was very attached to my cute, perfect little 8-yr olds. I accused the 2nd counselor of releasing me because I passed out chocolate to my class all during sharing time last week. And we are on the front row. But they are so perfectly reverent that they deserve chocolate to reward them!

Tonight I came home absolutely exhausted from helping at school all morning (take-home reading), running to the store to get supplies for the HUGE salads for the teacher luncheon, running home & making the salads, running to the luncheon & making 4 trips to my car to bring in all the salads & crockpots, waiting for 90 minutes at parent/teacher conferences (which is more exhausting & brain-deadening than unloading my car, I swear), and then loading all the luncheon crap BACK into my car. Normally, this would be all in a day's work--no sweat! But I find my stamina is seriously reduced since being pregnant. And it feels so weird not to have the energy to knock off my overplanned lists every day.

I wish I could say I went to the gym at 5am, since I could not sleep anyway, but no. Forget it. I am exhausted. So the potato look (that's my body shape at present) is probably here to stay 'til about September '08. Sexy!

Tomorrow's agenda:
* do something interactive with Mimi in the morning (oh please, for the love of all that's holy, let it not be Polly Pocket)

* get brows waxed at 11:30, returning home a happy woman who instantly feels prettier due to said brow-shaping

* sneak in a nap because Mimi will need me to lie down with her to persuade her to nap

* scan ultrasound pictures and try (but probably not succeed) to load the ultrasound video on my blog, thus announcing to all and sundry what gender of Lima Bean is in there!

* throw together some food that passes as dinner

* wish that I were going out on a date with Mike

* go to bed early, instead

I'm off to go drink the rest of my slimfast (best midnight snack ever) and watch food network! It's 6am. WHAT THE CRAP?!

Rip Van Sprinkle


This week I feel like I walked straight out of the pages of Washington Irving's story. Life has been a-whirl outside my door while I've been caught in a time warp inside. But! We're all finally on the road to recovery (with the exception of Mike, who is The Bubble Boy for now).

Tomorrow is a big day; the suspense will end on two counts:

1) IT'S ULTRASOUND DAY! Mike and I are taking the kids with us to see it because they are all old enough that I think it will be a fun memory for them. We can't wait. Isabelle, in particular, has been counting down the days for about 10 days now. I went to help in her classroom today and her teacher said to me--first thing--"So I hear tomorrow is the big day at the doctor's," with a bemused look on her face. Sister Bear has been excited to give her teacher all the baby's milestone announcements: This week it's as big as a red pepper (her favorite vegetable--she loved hearing that particular comparison), this week it's growing a spine, this week it's got the fingers all the way grown, etc, etc.

2) I am going in for an interview with the 2nd counselor of our bishopbric to, presumably, get a new calling. For the ending of this suspense, I am not so excited. I love my present calling of teaching the 8 year olds in primary--especially because cute little Isabelle is in my class and it's her baptism year. I have only been in primary a year and I am hoping not to be released because I will really miss it. I've especially loved watching my own children in primary. Mimi is so exuberant in her front-row seat with the Sunbeams. She waves her hand high in the air to answer any and all questions, not having a clue how to answer most of them. She's bounded up to the podium a few times to say prayers, recite Articles of Faith and give impromptu testimony on Fast Sundays. It's been so fun to observe this part of their little lives. *sigh*

I also plan to post a montage of my favorite pictures and quotes of President Hinckley later this week, for my personal rememberance and for my kids to look at later. Because we've all been so sick with flu, I've not yet felt up to compiling my thoughts and feelings in a coherent manner. We just watched the funeral tonight for Family Home Evening (thank you, tivo!) and there are a few cute little things I need to jot down about that that I'll want to remember later. I think I'll do this tomorrow.

This is a busy week for me--in a good way. I've got the ultrasound appointment tomorrow, get Max to-and-from Scouts, a church appointment in the evening, helping with the Teacher's Luncheon Wednesday & Thursday, babysitting swap at my house Wednesday, doing the take-home reading Thursday and all of the regular schedule in between. So--goodnight!

52 Blessings

Week 4I am thankful beyond measure for our time with
prophet Gordon B. Hinckley.