Fun New Pictures

The title explains :)

As promised, Harper's Princess song.

Harper is a stinkin cutie

Her songs make me super happy :)

"Harper a princess
Ree-Ree a princess,
Mommy a princess,
No, Daddy not a princess!"

I'm going to do my best to get this on video-so stinkin cute!

Also - I'm on vacation all next week - Yay!

Finding Time...

Trying to find time to update is difficult. In a world of time-outs and hyper kids, it's hard to just take a moment to think about the good things.

My kids are now at the age that they are constantly at each other's throats. Jealousy abounds in our house lately. If one gets something, the other is in tow, wondering where their prize is. If one is being good, it's inevitable that one is being naughty. Such is the life of 2 and 4 year olds.

Ridley is starting to get full-on ready for Kindergarten. Learning her address, phone number, and other such items is hard for her to comprehend, but she's getting there. She's writing all of her letters really well, and is finally getting the concept of time. She now calls tomorrow tomorrow instead of yesterday. Small goals, big rewards! She'll be taking a test in January or February to get into Hawthorne Elementary's ELP program (Extended Learning Program). This is an all day kindergarten program for advanced students. I don't want my kids to get bored in school like I eventually did, so we need to make sure to keep them challenged as much as possible. This program also includes after school hours for a number of different activities, like piano or violin lessons, basic gymnastics, and a lot of other choices. Once the time gets closer, we'll let her choose her after school activity. This is a great program, especially for us, since I cannot change my work schedule easily. Knowing that I'll be able to pick her up from school around 5:30 is a great relief.

Harper is talking up a storm and loves to have books read to her. She is doing everything she can to keep up with big sis, and is acting older than her 2 years all the time. She's climbing, jumping, yelling, hitting, running - everything and more you could expect. Her speech is growing by leaps and bounds every day, and we can actually understand almost everything she says now! Even though Spongebob Squarepants still comes out as "Baba Dada", we know what she means :)

Work has been steady for both of us. There have been layoffs all around me at my work, but I'm confident that I'm in the clear, at least for now. Andrew's business is finally starting to pick up at work, which is a good sign for holiday retail sales. If he can keep having up numbers, he might even bonus, but we're not keeping our fingers crossed.

I'll do better at keeping this updated. This is much longer than I had originally intended, so hopefully I've got it all covered :)

Halloween 2009

Slightly late - but still adorable :)

Brooklynn and Harper Turn 2!

My sister and I are lucky enough to have had our second children 1 week apart from eachother. In the spirit of turning 2, my niece Brookie very nicely shared her birthday party with my little Harper (who will be turning two on Sunday). Here are some pics of the event. :)

I'm taking a stab at writing a book...

Here's the beginning. Let me know what you think. Would you read it based solely on this?




The Child,
Full of Hope

By
Emily Stuart


"The sun has a purpose. The moon has a purpose. The snow has a purpose. Cows have a purpose. You were born for a purpose. You have to find your purpose. Go to school. Learn to read and write. … What is your purpose, your occupation? Find your purpose.…"


Love is the net where hearts are caught like fish.”

- Muhammad Ali


Prologue


Her life started in much the same way as any other. A hot night in Abbadia San Salvatore, Italy, young hormones raging.

“C'mon baby. It'll be ok. Everyone is doing it.”

“Ok, but don't tell anyone about it. I don't want to be the town slut.”

At the age of twelve, what else would people think?

Jump ahead nine months. The tiny, innocent baby had heard the rumblings from outside the womb the whole pregnancy.

“That poor little baby, being born to a thirteen year old mother. How will she ever take care of that poor child?”

“How could her mother let this happen. Only twelve when she got knocked up. Tsk tsk.”

“She's clearly just a rebel, and that baby has no chance of anything better. That's really too bad. If only she'd had parents who cared, maybe this wouldn't have happened...”

Little did they know, the young mother was on her way to LAX, the largest airport in California, USA.

Adoption was the name of the game now. With a picture of the parents-to-be in hand, her mother moved swiftly, so as to not bring much attention to their “little problem”.

“Get out of the car now Diane. It's time to go.”

Her mother helped her carefully, so as to not damage the precious, money making cargo she held in her nearly bursting belly.

“Do you remember what you say to these people when you get there?”

“Of course, mother. We've been through it a thousand times, at least.”

“Repeat it to me. I want to make sure.”

“Thank you so much for taking this burden off of me and my family. You are godsends. You have saved me the hardship of trying to raise a child of my own when I am just a child myself”, she stated in the broken English she had been practicing over the last seven months.

Her mother insisted that the child would be an American, far away from any ties to the “family” the baby would leave behind in their small city in Italy.

Self-preservation had been a lifelong struggle surrounding (but not constricting) the small baby, even before her hapless birth.

“Here's your ticket. There's your terminal. Don't call until the baby is born and gone. Your father and I will wire you the money for a ticket home when you can prove it's all taken care of.”

“Uh, okay. No 'good luck', 'remember your breathing', 'we love you honey?'”

“Of course not! How absurd you can be, little girl! You got yourself into this mess. You're lucky we've gotten you out of it. Goodbye.”

Not only did the young girl feel crushed, but she had a feeling the small baby in her belly felt it too.

Sadly, she did.

Nice and Cozy!

Ridley thinks keeping Harper awake is the funniest game EVER! Yes, I know the video is black - that's because Harper is supposed to be sleeping and Ridley is keeping her awake.

And she likes to tell jokes....

Ridley likes to tell silly stories

Pre-Easter fun times.

I finally got my dumb phone to work with my computer so now I can put up some more pics from the pre-Easter extravaganza that was my family get together :)

Easter - yes, a few weeks later....

Here's some photos from Easter weekend. We had a blast coloring and subsequently looking for eggs.






I can't get my pictures to load from my phone, but I'll get them up soon. :)

The October Garden

If you were zinnia, still bright
in the October garden and I the last
orange cosmos.
If you were catmint blue
draping yourself over the cinder block wall
and I the weed coming up through gravel.
If you were the bamboo pole, listing
under the weight of late green tomatoes
that will never ripen now, and I
the frayed string that binds them.
If you were heavy purple grapes dangling
over the canted railing and I the feasting
thrush.
If you were summer's echo
in yellow coreopsis and I the tall sedum,
autumn-flushed.
If you were the sun
breaking slant over that little grove of aspens
across the street,
if you were hummingbird's
quick wing,
if you were winter coming on
or the studious worm and I the turned
earth, the patch of moss beneath an oak,
the oak's sharp-edged leaf ready to crackle
underfoot, the white-throated sparrow's
familiar three descending notes in a minor
key,
oh,
if only I were sometimes
you and you were me.

It's Official.

I do NOT have cancer.

For those of you who were wondering what the crap was going on, I found a lump and was extremely worried that I might have cancer.

A little background...

I am adopted. I have known this since I was a baby. I have tried to contact my birthmother from time to time in my life, all to no avail. I even stated that I just needed to know some medical history, not become one of those Maury Povich "Successful Reunion" stories. F that. I just wanted to know what I, and my children, are in for. Health-wise anyhow.

Dramatic as it sounds, it's not so bad. I don't care that I don't know her. She was young and either couldn't take care of me or did not want me or both. No big. I've had 27 years to deal, and I have.

Until I found that lump.

Over the past two weeks, it had grown, so I was even more worried about it. I have since found out that had it stayed the same size, it would've been more to worry about. Little did I know. Sheesh.

Anyhow, I had a mammogram, ultrasound, and biopsy yesterday and it's Prognosis: Negative. (I couldn't help the Seinfeld reference)

I couldn't be happier! It's the biggest stress off my back that you could imagine.

There's still a lingering suspicion there in my mind, because, if you don't know me well enough, I'm a HUGE worrier. H-U-G-E. So, in my steadfastness, I will continue to monitor it.

I was told that it's an infected/clogged mammary gland that has probably been clogged/infected for quite some time, as I was unable to breastfeed either of my kids. Probably hereditary. Stupid heredity.

Anyhow, everything is back to normalcy on the homefront. Thanks for the support, even though you didn't know what the crap was going on. :)

I moved Duck Hunt on my blog.

For the 1 of you that cares :)

I added Duck Hunt to my blog.

It's fun. You should play it.

Bad News

Begin Transmission:

Some bad news has come my way this week. Majorly bad news. Ugh.

I don't know when I'll feel ok to talk about it, because right now, I'm not ok.

If I don't answer calls or texts, it's not you. It's me. (I'm like a bad break up right now).

I love all of you. Maybe soon I'll be more open to talking.

Right now, I just need to wrap my mind around this.

End transmission.

Potty Trained! (For the most part)

Ridley is now officially potty trained! There is the occasional accident, as is to be expected. However, she's doing great! She definitely needs to be reminded to go, but she's doing super great!

This being said, it's kind of a bum out. It means that she's that much closer to pre-school in the fall and even closer to being a four year old! I cannot believe that she is so old! It seems like it was very recently that I was freaking out I was even having a kid. Now she's extremely independent and such a big girl!

I'm very very proud to say that she's a mini version of me and Andrew. We couldn't have asked for a better little girl!

Sunday Funday (A Few Days Late...)

This past Sunday, the girls and I went to my mom's house to have a picnic and play at the park. The picnic ended up just being lunch at the house, but that's ok. It was still super fun.

After a long week for my mom, sisters, and brother, we had a nice, chilled out day.

I love my family. My mom, Shannon, Christopher, Jordan, Maranda, Ashley, and Bryson are all super awesome. I wish I told them that more often. I'm pretty lame.

Here's some pictures from the park. Super fun!

I would have labelled the pictures, but there are too many, and I'm lazy ;)

I hate Comcast.

Really. A lot. For over a month now (probably more like two) Comcast has sucked. A big one. Every show we try to watch is all pixely and crappy. On Demand doesn't work. Ever.

I've called multiple times with my bitch-face on and still nothing happens.

This matters for mainly one reason...

I can't watch Battlestar Gallactica.

I know. I'm an uber dork. I don't care though. I love it. And when I can't watch it, my bitch-face stays on longer.

They come on demand on Saturdays. I can't seem to even remotely get them to work until, at the earliest, Wednesday.

This has not been too big a problem as I have been able to watch them online.

Until February 20th's episode.

Nope, it's not online. Neither is February 27th's. I was finally able to watch the one from Feb. 20, but still no luck on Feb. 27's.

Ugh.

Does anyone know of any websites that'll have it?!? I'm dying here.

The Cast Is Off!

Ok Shannon. So you're right. I screwed up my pictures and they're all corrupted. I have to now figue out how to upload my pictures from my phone. So this is the crappy pre-blog I promised you.

I got my cast off today. I also got the pins removed from my arm. Not the most pleasant experience, but I'm happy to have somewhat freedom now. I still have very little range of motion, but it'll get there, faster than I think apparently.

I will figure out the picture thing tomorrow. I'm sleepy now.

My Canvas

Living on the walls of my own life
I live on the sidelines
Hanging in an eight by ten
Hoping for even a sideways glance...

Why don't you invite me in?

Ignored like the canvas
Hanging on a wall
Years of diversions
To distract you from me.

Why don't you invite me in?

Screaming and yelling
For the attention I need
Even a little bit of dusting
For the canvas on the wall.

I need a larger space
For the dreams that I hold
So dearly in my canvas...
You may as well paint over me
For all the glimpses offered me.

And then a look,
A squint in the dark,
Maybe this painting is
Worth something after all.

I feel like an outsider
In my own life.
I need to look deeper,
More regularly,
Into my own canvas.

Why don't I invite me in?

Sunday Funday!

The girls and I had tons of fun at Discovery Gateway today!

Wrist

I had surgery on Monday to put in some bone graft and two pins. Fun times :)

I still need to put up my x-rays, but no worries - they're coming soon!

My hurty New Year's Eve

I'm stupid. Slipping on ice is just a thing I do. Never this bad though...




I'm probably going to need surgery. I broke my wrist and cracked my elbow. Totally gnarly.

Stupid icy stairs plus drinks. Stupid me.

I've heartily decided that I will rarely go to a party ever again, if even at all.

So. Not. Worth. It.

However, I have some pretty rad x-rays. I'm going to post them later. When I get a little less hurty.