Artificial Love

Ashlyn is 8 months old now and she has two new best friends. I am pretty sure she loves these two MORE than me!!

Introducing...

Ashlyn's eyes light up when she sees her new best friends from across the room. She squeals with delight. She kicks her feet. She holds them tightly. She kisses them.

Humph. Well, best friend butterfly and Mr. Frog got nothin' on me! They can't feed Ashlyn a bottle. They can't change her diaper. They can't hold her. They can't give her a million kisses a day. They only have artificial love.

Ashlyn, I win this competition. Even if it seems like you enjoy their company more, I LOVE YOU MORE than butterfly and Mr. Frog!

Finders Keepers

Ashlyn is finally ready for her highchair (we actually have one of those seats that hooks onto a normal chair for space saving reasons). So, what this means is, wahoo, I get to clean that old crusty, nasty thing from when Ambria used it last, probably 2+ years ago.

Hmm, let's just say it wasn't pretty. I gagged a few times and brown and black sludge spewed from the seams.

Good as new.

Ashlyn will never know the seat was a hand-me down from Ambria AND Mariah. Her sisters left her a thoughtful gift: 6 years of crumbs.

Pieces of Me

Parenting is quite a journey: ups, downs, smiles, frowns. For the most part, I 'signed up' for most aspects of the responsibilty and the honor of becoming a parent, but where is the handbook for the parts of parenting that I didn't sign up for? Where are the 10 steps to overcome these difficult times? Where are the how to's for when the unexpected happens?

Jerry and I were watching tv last night, and about an hour after Jerry tucked in the girls and kissed them good-night, out walks Mariah. From just the glow of the television, I looked into her eyes. They were red, puffy, teary, and bloodshot. My heart sank. I immidiately realized that she had been sobbing for an hour, since we turned out the light and told the girls "I love you." Her tiny body was shaking and she attempted to talk in between deep, choppy breaths.

As I gazed into her eyes, my heart continued to sink. I saw a piece of me when I was a little girl in her.

I saw a piece of me in her.
I saw a piece of me in her.

All I could do was hold her. I want to hold her forever.

I didn't sign up for THIS part of parenting. I didn't sign up for the days when my children break my heart. I didn't sign up for the days when I can't put my child's heart back together. I want to kiss her and make all her boo boos of life go away.

As my heart fell to pieces, I fell to my knees...and didn't and don't know how to pray.

Shopping Carts and Sugary Goodness

It is no secret that I have a sweet tooth. Shhh, just don't tell anyone else.

Today while in the grocery store, I figured out that I am NOT the one to blame for the liking of sugary goodness.

While in the cereal aisle, I slowly pushed my shopping cart, (you know the shopping cart where you can only see my hands and my eyes over the handle because I am so darn short?! OR the shopping cart where you CANNOT SEE ME AT ALL because I have Ashlyn's car seat on top of the cart)...Ok, so you get the picture, me in the cereal aisle and I was actually looking to buy healthy cereal (yes, I do enjoy healthy things too). I guess I haven't noticed before but ALL the healthy cereal in my grocery store is on the TOP SHELF!

Manufacturers and grocery chains definitely know what they are doing by placing all the sugary goodness at KID EYE LEVEL...aka, ME!

So, here I am r e a c h i n g for the healthy cereal on my tip toes, and then that wasn't good enough, so I had to stand on the bottom shelf of cereal to reach the top, and I still had to s t r e t c h.

See, I am not the one to blame. Other people are the reason I am so drawn to sweets because other people put these addicting treats at MY EYE LEVEL!

(What does this have to do with Raising Three Girls? Not sure, but hopefully the girls will be taller than me when they get older so they can see over the shopping cart).

Guns and Diapers

Most of my dreams at night are uneventful, boring, not worth mentioning, and/or forgetful, but last night was a little different. Moms and people who enjoy "couponing" will enjoy this dream...

I was alone in my house and some guy came inside and was chasing me all around and was going to kill me. He had a gun and we were running everywhere. Somehow, in the midst of being killed, I thought about a Huggies coupon on the internet that I needed to print off. I actually stopped to print off the coupon ($2.00 off one package of Huggies Snug and Dry).

Well, at least I got my coupon!! I woke up, so I guess that means I didn't get killed.

Let's look into this dream a little deeper... This coupon was more important that my OWN LIFE! Hmm, interesting. It is/was a good coupon and I do enjoy saving money on diapers if I can. I am actually not a crazy coupon clipper. I clip coupons every now and then to save some money, but in all reality, I don't think I would have stopped at my computer to print off a Huggies coupon if I was being chased by a guy with a gun. I'm just sayin'.

Not to throw Huggies under the bus, but for future reference, diapers are not more important that my life or your life! :)

Oh the Joys of My One Handed Life

When I first began this blog, I really wanted to write more frequently, but you see, these days, I usually only have one hand free, literally. Ashlyn is a good baby, quiet and content, but because she is a baby, she does require to be carried (duh). I have learned to do many things one handed, call me talented and/or brilliant if you like and insert applause here. :)

Moms have this super hero giftedness of one handed activities and carrying many things at one time-like a car seat, a purse, a diaper bag, and ten bags of groceries.

So, since I have been thinking about this one handed life that I lead, I have thought about some out of the ordinary things that I do on a day to day basis one handed/while holding a baby (in no particular order).

*Prepare baby formula (which includes use of a can opener)
*Pour formula into baby bottles
*Help Mariah get dressed for school
*Help Ambria get dressed
*Make beds
*Put load of laundry in washer
*Put load of laundry in dryer
*Dry dishes
*Check facebook (ha, bet you didn't realize all status updates and comments are done one handed and while feeding Ashlyn a bottle!)
*Make macaroni and cheese (the microwave kind)
*Cut up waffles
*Cut an apple
*Vacuum
*Wash windows

Despite this awesome talent, there are some things that I have found that NEED two hands and that I cannot do while holding a baby...

*Tying shoes (I just can't figure out how to do this with one hand!)
*Washing the bathtub
*Ironing
*Baking/Cooking

And there are a few things that are just more convenient with the use of two hands...

*Blogging...hence the lack of posts.