100 Things About Me

In honor of my 100th post I decided to follow along with many of the other blogs that I read and let you all in on 100 things about me. Here goes:

1. I am happily married
2. I got married at 18
3. My husband was 21
4. We were married for two years before our first child was born
5. Our first child was a girl
6. We had another child 3 years later
7. Another girl
8. We had another child 18 months later
9. A girl
10. I am pregnant again
11. My youngest is now 11 months old
12. We don't know what we are having yet
13. Probably a girl
14. I would be completely okay with that
15. So would my husband
16. I could have 15 kids
17. My husband can't fathom 5
18. I love my family
19. I am a stay at home mom
20. I worked for a while but found it overwhelming and unfulfilling
21. I think some women really can make it work
22. I couldn't
23. I am a very picky eater
24. I hated to spend the night at other kids houses when I was a kid for fear of what they might have for dinner.
25. I was once forced to take a thank you bite at a friends house
26. It was tuna casserole
27. I don't like tuna
28. I don't make my kids take thank you bites
29. I do insist that they have table manners
30. My favorite food is probably pizza
31. Just with pepperoni though
32. I pretend to like things so my kids won't be picky
33. I like to exercise
34. I haven't done that much in a few years
35. I have been either pregnant or breastfeeding for 3 years
36. I love breastfeeding
37. I breastfed all of my kids their first year
38. They have all slept in our bed for some period of time
39. I graduated high school in 1999
40. I finished two years of college
41. I had my first daughter the summer after my second year
42. I didn't go back because I couldn't fathom leaving her
43. We once moved 2000 miles away from our hometown just for a change
44. We moved the 2000 miles back
45. The experience made our family stronger
46. I used to want to be a lawyer
47. Now I don't think that's what I was meant to do
48. I still like Law and Order though
49. I had a very happy childhood
50. I never questioned my parents love for me
51. I have always loved sports
52. I got cut from softball my sophmore year in high school
53. I still think I got robbed
54. I never played again
55. Not even recreationally
56. I don't drink alcohol
57. Or use drugs
58. I love to read
59. I read to the girls all the time
60. My favorite season is summer
61. I love flip flops
62. My kids all have flip flops
63. Two of my kids were born in the summertime
64. I will be having another this summer
65. I hate mosquitoes
66. I once left a window open letting in a swarm of mosquitoes and resulting in over 45 mosquitoe bites
67. I was the only victim
68. I stayed up and protected my baby like the warrior I am
69. I am a worrier not a warrior
70. I once rushed my middle daughter to the E.R. only to find out she had a cold
71. My husband had talked me out of calling an ambulance
72. Her breathing sounded funny to me
73. I'd always rather be safe than sorry
74. I like snow at Christmas but I draw the line there
75. I love the fall
76. I love to rollerblade
77. I have broken 4 bones and had stitches 4 times
78. All of this happened before I turned 12
79. Thankfully my parents had good health insurance
80. My mom is my best friend
81. We were pregnant at the same time
82. We had the same doctor
83. I beat her to the delivery room
84. I saw her give birth to my sister
85. I still call my Dad just to talk
86. I don't really like t.v.
87. I hate reality t.v.
88. I like to watch the news
89. I don't have a lot of rules with the kids as far as television and candy
90. They don't really abuse either
91. I hate drama
92. I am kind of reclusive
93. I don't like to share my food
94. I don't eat much candy since one of my back teeth broke off
95. I don't have dental insurance
96. I am terrified of losing my teeth
97. I had braces when I was a kid
98. I broke three retainers
99. My parents had a lot of patience
100. I celebrate life and thank God for all that he has given me.

Happy Valentine's Day

We had a good day and an even better evening. The girls helped to make a really nice dinner and dessert and everybody actually stayed in their seat for the better part of the meal. Afterwards we surprised them with the movie Cinderella III and they were ecstatic. You can't really beat a nice dinner and a romantic movie on Valentine's Day.

What's that Noise?

I've always wanted an indoor swimming pool. Somewhere to swim and relax year round. Well now I have one, kind of. It started with the sound of rushing water coming from the basement door and resulted in a large amount of standing water that is now our basement. Turns out the drain valve went out on the hot water heater and let's just say "she blew." Ugghh. The King has it under control for now and the water is draining on its own. Let's just hope it's that simple because replacing the hot water heater right now is not an option.

Dreaming

With all of the girls I had some type of dream when I was pregnant indicating that I was having a girl. With Chiggie it was a pink blanket among other things. With Tea I actually dreamed of the birth and finding out she was a girl. With Midge I also dreamed of the birth and sure enough another girl.

A few weeks ago I had a pretty strange dream. I was cooking in the kitchen on the stovetop when I opened up the drawer beneath the stove to get a pan. Right there in the drawer was our new baby and it was a girl. I ran and got the King and we even named her. A really cool name that I plan on using if it's a girl by the way. I told the King about this dream and he thought the baby being in the drawer under the oven was symbolic for "bun in the oven" and that peeking in the drawer was kind of like an ultrasound. We would be finding out the sex before the bun was ready to come out.

Anyway skip to this weekend when I had another dream. In this dream I went to a doctors appointment towards the end of my pregnancy. For some reason I had to be taken across the street to the hospital for an emergency c-section. They knocked me out completely and when I woke up I was alone in a recovery room. I got up and even though I was feeling pain I walked from the hospital to my house to tell the King what had happened. Oddly he was excited and we both walked back to the hospital to see the baby. On the way there he asked me if the baby was a boy or a girl. I had no idea. We picked up our pace. Once we got to the hospital we went straight to the nursery and there our baby was wrapped in a blue blanket and wearing a blue cap. It was a boy! My first boy dream ever!

Now what am I supposed to think?

Finally

The clouds broke and we saw the sun.....for a full day. Oh yeah, we took advantage of it. I have been wanting to have the King take the training wheels off of Chiggies' bike but it just wasn't nice enough outside to practice. Until today that is. He took them off and practice we did. I took her to a church parking lot right around the corner where she would have lots of room and we wouldn't have to worry about cars. At first she was a little weary, but she picked it up really quick. Now if we could just teach her to break instead of just falling at full speed when she wants to stop!

Breaking Free

Yesterday the girls and I decided that it was essential to our sanity to get out of the house. We set forward on the task of getting everyone ready and headed out to meet my Mom and little sister for lunch.

We agreed on McDonald's so the girls could burn some energy off playing in the play place. They enjoyed their lunch, but they were giddy at the chance to run, climb and slide. We let them play for a long time before literally dragging them out. On the way home we stopped by the Clerk and Recorders' Office to get the tags for the camp trailer. We happened to be the only ones there and were in and out in about 10 minutes, which is by far a record for us.

Hopefully February will finish as quickly as it has started. Aside from sweet little Midge's Birthday, I could easily live without this month. I think that's why it's the shortest, no one could take one day more. But persevere we will and spring it will soon be.

Just Thinkin'

I've been thinking a lot lately about what I want for my girls. Trust me living in Colorado in the wintertime, you have a lot of time to "think." I have established in my mind what I don't want. I don't want to over schedule our family to the point that we never see each other. I don't want to spend more time talking about what we want to do than we spend implementing our ideas. And most of all I don't want to spend so much time over analyzing every little moment that I am too mentally exhausted to enjoy life.

When Chiggie was a baby I had it all right. I didn't even know it and it was completely out of my control, but I had a good thing going. We didn't have much money so I had to be really creative in the ways of entertainment. We took a lot of walks, spent time at different parks, and visited with family. Cable television was a luxury that we did not have so we read all the time. Not surprisingly after she was born I lost 100 lbs in less than a year. There was no fast food, no t.v., and often times the King had the car and our mode of transportation was on foot. I exercised a lot just for fun. I didn't realize at the time how enriching this all was for her.

Fast forward almost 6 years and two kids and an additional pregnancy later. We don't have a whole lot more money, but enough to make a difference. I don't know what we would do without the t.v. or the computer. I do try to take the girls on walks and to the parks but sometimes it just seems like a lot of work. One of the reasons I love the town that we live in so much is that it is small and there isn't a lot to do. That's not a typo, I really feel that way. Sometimes when you have to try a little harder you learn to enjoy the small stuff. Spending a summer day at the local pool or the library or riding your bike to the ice cream shop to have a treat really is something special.

Anyway, I guess I am just saying that I want to focus on what it is really important. In just a few months Chiggie will start Kindergarten, and there will be 4 little ones in our family. Things are moving so fast. I just want to down shift and take it a little slower for a bit.