Beautiful Weekend

This past weekend marked a couple BIG milestones. On Friday my dear friend, Malia, married my dear brother-in-law, Derek, on a beautiful spring evening.

Derek and Malia met at St. E’s hospital. They were both there visiting us after Addie was born. Malia, Megan, and Stacy all happened to visit the same time Derek was there. As it turned out, they noticed each other that day, and as they say - the rest is history!

The other major milestone celebrated was Addie’s 3rd birthday.

For the past few weeks/months Addie has been asking me if she’s three. So when the day finally arrived I went to get her out of bed and started singing “Happy Birthday to YOU!” at the top of my lungs. When I opened her bedroom door she was standing in her bed grinning ear to ear.

We started celebrating right away with some chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. Granny and Granddad called and also sang Happy Birthday to her. This started a trend, and throughout the day Addie would ask, “Momma, can we sing?” and we’d break into the birthday song again.

The day was actually pretty quiet. With the wedding and all the fun surrounding it we were both pretty pooped come Sunday. Addie and I did whip up a birthday cake from scratch – which turned out pretty yummy if I do say so myself.

Dennis got home that evening, and we sang happy birthday AGAIN, and then dug into the cake. We finished the evening with a partial viewing of “Chicken Run”, and then it was off to bed.

I think she had a pretty good day. She knew it was birthday, and seemed really excited. That made it really fun.

I remember feeling really sad on Addie's birthday last year because my baby had changed so much. But this year I wasn't sad at all. Nostalgic, maybe, but I've learned that every year just gets better and better. And every year I grow to love her more and more.

I can’t believe my baby girl is three.

Road Rage Hits Home

I had an interesting ride into work this morning. I noticed this pickup speeding on the parkway into town, so I had my eye on him once we reached downtown. Sure enough, he nearly ran into me as he cut across two lanes. I honked and braked and followed him for a few blocks wondering if he was feeling bad for his mistake. We then ended up at a red light side by side. I looked over to see who this excellent driver was - half expecting to see a 17 year old kid behind the wheel. Instead I saw a very angry 40ish guy, in a bill cap, with a red face who was yelling at me through is open window. I was completely amazed. As his face grew more and more red I started scanning his cab to see if this genius had a gun rack. He proceeded to call me every name in the book until the light turned green. To prove his point, he then raced in front of me and slowed down just to show me who's boss.

Boy. He sure put me in my place. I'm sorry I got in his way this morning. Really. I am.

This unpleasant, and thankfully inconsequential, experience really got to me. I was physically shaking when I got to work. It was scary. And I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me angry. Having my life and personal property put in jeopardy tends to tick me off. But it mostly just made me sad.

There’s too many angry people out there. If this gentleman got that mad over something so small, what would have happened if he'd actually hit me this morning? Maybe I need a gun rack . . .

Granted, I am no angel behind the wheel. In fact, I would say that I am a little on the aggressive side. I have been known to criticize other drivers and their lack of driving prowess, but I've never verbally assaulted anyone. Still, I need to remember, what goes around comes around and I should give people a break. And I certainly need to be a better example to Addie.

So, I’m going to really try to be a nicer person, not just behind the wheel (God help me!), but in general.

Just don't cut me off, you #$&*#@!!!!

Sigh.

Sex Sells as Parents Sell Out

I just read an article in the Omaha World Herald about the whole "Hannah Montana" in a bed sheet photo fiasco. http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1219&u_sid=10333220

I know this isn't the first time, nor will it be the last. I remember a Rolling Stone cover of Britney Spears - back when she too was a favorite of pre-teen girls - posing seductively on a bed with silk sheets and a black bra when she was 17. Who would let their little girl do that? And then there's those John Bena Ramsey pageants. Ick.

Helloooo, earth to parents. Come in parents . . .

I don't think a 15 or 17 year old kid has the judgment to say "I'm not comfortable with those images." "Or that's inappropriate." When I was 15 I probably would have said, "Wow! I look like, HOT!". And that's when mom and dad step in.

What bothers me the most is that it even occurs to anyone to photograph a 15 year old naked in a bed sheet. When did that become OK or even mainstream? Isn't this child porn? Or am I just naive? Our societal reaction shouldn't be "she's being exploited" - which she is. We should all be saying "Eww!" and feeling our skin crawl. It should be repugnant. Not just disappointing that she's being "a bad roll model" - which she is.

As the mom of a little girl I'm so sick of the sexualization girls and teens. It's harmful on so many levels, not to mention dangerous. Girls clothing has been overtly sexualized for quite sometime - basically the entire 21st century. Even some of clothes for Addie I think is too grown up, and she's not even three. I can't imagine what she'll be asking to wear when she's 13.

Dennis can't have kids sit on the ground at his church camp without getting an eye full of thongs peeking above low cut short-shorts. And don't get me started at what kids show up to church in. And there they sit in the pew right next to their parents. When did it become OK and mainstream for our little girls and teens to dress like hookers? At church?! They're not clubbing. They're worshiping. Seriously. This isn't just a famous kid's problem.

Or am I just a prude?

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you wonderful moms out there – and grandmas, too! I’d especially like to send a very special shout out to Grandma Pope.

Ever since Addie was three months old Grandma Pope has been spending one day every other week babysitting her. This has been such a huge blessing for us all. A big blessing for Dennis and me who knew Addie couldn’t have been in better hands and a blessing for Addie who now has such a beautiful relationship with her Grandma.

Next month Grandma will relinquish her responsibilities as Addie moves on to pre-school. This hardly seems possible to Dennis and I.

Dennis seemed a little blue this morning, and when I asked him why he said it was because his time at home with Addie is going to change. Our baby girl will inch out more into the big ole world. I know she’ll thrive. She’ll have a wonderful time, but we also know that times are a-changin’.

So, thank you Grandma for helping make our kooky child care arrangements work for the past three years. You have been a blessing to our little girl and to us.

My Mother’s Day weekend was very nice. Dennis’ present to me was to clean the entire house, do all the laundry, fold it and put it all away while I took a Korean cooking class with friends on Saturday. Who could ask for a better gift than that?

Sunday was also a very special day. We all gathered at Sheridan Lutheran for Carter’s baptism. He was so sweet. He slept through the entire thing.

It was a beautiful afternoon so after the baptism celebration we went home and planted trees, shrubs and the garden. Addie and I were in charge of the garden. Addie dug intently in the dirt and helped me plant spinach, lettuce, peas, cucumbers, carrots, beans, tomatoes, bell peppers and zucchini. Now, we’ll see if any of it grows!

Pike

Addie completed her first swimming lessons class yesterday. I’m going to miss her saying “Quack, quack! Pull the water back!” while doing the crawl stroke at the dinner table.

She has passed the “Pike” class with lots of smiley faces on her evaluation from teacher Mary. As a reward Mary asked if any of the kids wanted to go down the water slide – ALONE! Addie and one other little girl said they did, and Addie was the only kid that wanted to keep going down the slide. She went down a total of four times before they had to cut her off so the other swim class could begin.

So, do we have a little dare devil on our hands?

Lucky Girl

I’m a lucky girl. After my last woeful blog entry on Thursday my husband and baby girl were there to greet me when I came home from work on Friday - a whole day earlier than expected!! I got misty when I saw them. I was SO happy to get to see them before heading out for a much anticipated girls-weekend in Des Moines.

The Des Moines weekend had been on the books for nearly a year. It was planned WAY before Derek and Malia’s engagement as just a girl’s get way weekend, but we decided to convert the weekend into a bridal shower/bachelorette party for Malia.

We had planned the weekend to take place in Des Moines simply because it’s the mid-point for the six of us. But I’m actually pretty impressed with all the fun things Des Moines has to offer – this of course, comes from a girl who lives in Lincoln, so . . .

But I think we would have had a blast if we had met up in Podunk, IA or Onehorse, NE, because my friends are just F-U-N! I think the most laughs were just sitting on the beds in the hotel talking. Which may mean that calling our weekend a bachelorett party is a misnomer. When we were coming back to our hotel after a leisurely Italian dinner around 10 p.m. we saw another bachelorette party heading out. This group of young women had the scantily clad bride in a veil and her friends looked like call girls. What the!? Our definition of fun involved heading up to our hotel room, taking off our heels and getting into our jammies.

So, we took our sensibly-dressed selves up to our hotel room to enjoy some amazing cheese cake and wine and showered Malia with gifts. We must have been a little on the noisy side because “Hotel Management Services” came to call around 11 pm asking us to “please keep it down”. Smack dab in the middle of my “how well do you know Derek” quiz. Jeez!

We all laughed a LOT, and relished the time to go shopping without having to take a toddler potty, or eating a 4 course meal without worrying about the kid’s bedtimes. But the best part was just spending time with such a great group. These women are beautiful, talented and smart, and I’m so lucky to call them friends.

And how amazing that one of these wonderful women will soon become a member of my family. I’m a lucky girl, indeed.

I Want My Baby Back

When Dennis said that he and Addie would be spending the week in Cozad, I didn’t panic. I actually thought it would be fun to have some quality ME time. I could hang out with friends, eat out, shop, get a pedicure and see a movie in an actual movie theater.

The week started off nice. I got a much-needed pedicure with my mom-in-law on Monday. Went shopping on Tuesday. Went shopping again on Wednesday – to take back stuff I bought on Tuesday. (I’m obviously out of practice.) Tonight I’m going to a movie with Malia. So, I’ve had a really fun-filled week. It’s been nice, but - I MISS MY BABY!! WHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!

I’m trying to be strong, but I miss my sweet little girl. I walk by her room, and my heart hurts. I miss her asking me a ton of questions – “Momma, is Addie three?” or “Momma, does Albert (our cat) have a jinee (vagina)?” I miss her just spontaneously saying, “Momma, I love you.”, and giving me hugs and kisses. Or her keeping my road rage in check “Momma! Don’t shout at people”. Or her breaking loudly into song “JUST A SPOON FULL OF SUGAR!!” I LIVE for that!

Now, don’t get me wrong. I also miss Dennis. I HATE it when he’s gone. But Dennis and I are used to being apart. We never lived in the same town, or country for that matter, while we were dating, and with camp he’s usually MIA pretty much all summer, so we’ve got the whole being apart thing DOWN.

With Addie it’s a whole different ballgame. This is the first time I’ve ever been apart from Addie for longer than a few days. It will have been SIX whole days!!!

She’ll probably be in a training bra and shaving her legs when I see her again. Sniff.