mommyhood

I like potty teaching.

A lot of moms do not. Emily from church said her Hell would be potty training for eternity.

I sort of like the challenge. It gets me kind of excited. I think I am good at it.

"Let's hear the poop plop Ju Ju! Let's hear the plop! Music to my ears! I love seeing your poop and pee in the toilet!"

But I am horrible at other "mother" things. I can't let a baby cry at night. My babies are not the best sleepers because of it. I can't seem to wing Ju-Ju from the Binki. She just loves that thing so much at night time...I don't have the heart yet to give it to the Binki Fairy just yet. I am weak...and lazy. I love how nicely she goes to sleep every night with it...

But potty teaching I have handled pretty well so far. I have some great techniques that I think work well. 2 for 2. I think it is all about the preparation and persistence that seems to make it a good experience. But I have heard boys can be a nightmare to potty teach. I may just hate potty training if I ever have a boy.

Julia has been diaper free for 2 weeks now. She is a little champ. She had to be pushed a little at first and then she decided all on her own one day she didn't want to wear diapers. That made it easy! Maybe I shouldn't take any credit for her...but again she was a horrible baby so maybe mercy is kicking in.

I've been practicing my song on the piano...slow moving but coming along. I can't seem to play the top hand and bottom hand together very well...that could be a problem- but it will come...oh what a beautiful song.



Julia was wide awake in her crib when I got home from the club last night. She heard me walk in and she yelled, "Mommy yrrrr home!" We stayed up until 11 just talking and singing every disney song. She always asks me to sing for her. She slept with us and when I woke up later, Kenzie was in bed with us too! LOL...oh dear. Including my abnormally premature big belly that is 5 on a queen bed. For some reason I wasn't all too bugged...because normally I would be. But it felt good to be together for about 10 minutes...and then I got bugged...the "togetherness" didn't last long but it was nice while it did.



...had an ultrasound the other day...I finally decided to go to the doctor. I have an amazing midwife who I already love. Mother of 7. She will be perfect for the birth...

so the ultrasound was amazing and made these past 3 months of hell so so worth it. There the baby was- swimming around alive big and healthy- the girls were with me and they sat so still and intrigued as they watched the TV screen. My midwife says that it is 95% BOY! ...she was pretty sure she saw "boyhood" but the umbilical cord was sitting close...Chay later said, "it was not an umbilical cord."



grateful to be a mommy today...

chay pretending to be me

So I sat down to blog something. I opened up my blogger to write a post but somehow got sidetracked with kids screaming or whatever- I don't know- but I didn't write more than one sentence...and then I got really sidetracked and never returned to the computer until late at night after everyone was asleep. And this is what I found "already" written on my post. One of the many reasons not to leave the post page open and unprotected. So I have to post it now...it is too funny not to...oh the sarcasm...just so you know- this post is FULL of sarcasm and satire...funny Chay...real funny:

I can't believe I am married to Chay. I am so so so lucky. Of course we are madly in love and he is such an incredible husband and father. He may seem like the nicest guy to everyone but he is 10 times that as a father and husband. Even though he's got millions of dollars in the bank from his "wheelin' and dealin'" he still makes it a priority to get up everyday at 4:45 and do the paper route. He says that even though we don't need the money that its a good reminder to all of us of the value of hard work.

His birthday is coming up in a couple months. Chay has tons of "man toys" but the one that he doesn't have yet is a Yamaha R6 motorbike. I think that will be the perfect surprise for him (don't you?). I can't wait to see the look on his face when he sees it in the driveway with a big birthday bow on it for him. I'm also planning a surprise dirt bike trip with him and his best friend John down in Moab. After that Chay and I will have his favvvvvorite sister Tara babysit our girls for 2 weeks while we fly to Europe and visit a bunch of sites.

Chay is devoted to be the best person he can possibly be. Whether it be fulfilling a church calling, as an employee, boss, dad, husband, citizen, President of Chaymerica, on the racetrack, closing deals, helping old Grandmas cross the street or even saving a family's cat from a burning house....he does it 110%. I honestly don't know how he does it all. I get so happy and twitterpated when he walks in the door and I'm honored to make him a 3 course meal each night. One thing that melts Chay's heart is when I scratch his back and rub his feet while we talk for hours about Gospel doctrine. I am sooooo blessed to have Chay as my husband...I'm just in awe right now thinking about it.

Exactly where is this Chaymerica?

thoughts

still alive...still pregnant...still sick...

I go in sick spurts. Being around adults seem to help me. Usually I try to fake that I'm not sick. Doesn't work all the time. If I have food in my stomach at all times it seems to help settle things- hence the butt is growing faster than the belly.- if I go too long without food or if I eat the wrong food, I get off track and I will throw up all day.

I am so entirely wasted. So tired. Like "I can't do anything" tired. I need the sun. I really miss sunshine. When I am sick like this I always think of the Indians and the Pioneers who had no choice but to keep working, keep moving, keep surviving despite horrid morning sickness...oh I would be the worst pioneer. Don't you love the pity party??? Don't worry, I am fully aware of it.

I need a trip to Hawaii. I need a maid too...oh that would be nice.

other thoughts:

Haiti is on my mind a lot these days. I really get sucked into stuff like this. CNN has the best coverage. I watch it whenever I can- I can't even imagine going through what these people are experiencing. I sit on my couch watching the news and when stories air where Haitian mother's are searching for their children in the rubble- I lose it every time. Tears of sadness.

If you want to donate money but are a little worried how much of your money will actually go to Haiti- donate here http://give.lds.org/emergencyresponse all your money will go directly towards helping Haiti. You can read what the church has done HERE for Haiti.

Christmas thoughts:



Joette knocked on my door a couple days before Christmas. She drove down to surprise me. I cried like a baby when I saw her. I needed family so bad. I actually felt more alive with her here. Being sick is so emotionally draining. It was a tender mercy to have my sister with the family this year. Christmas was magical. My girls loved having Joette around. The house was always clean when she was here.






Her Christmas gifts to me were my favorite gifts. She played my piano every day for a week straight and she bought me wash rags. I LOVE the wash rags Joette. I love the endless supply in my bottom drawer. Rags just keep coming and coming.

One of the songs Joette played for me on the piano is Comptine d´un autre été l´après midi. Joette played it so beautifully. I fell in love with the song. Oh how I wish I could play it. Music really draws out many feelings in me- it kind of takes me to another place if you know what I mean. Joette and I both agreed if we were professional musicians (which we are far from), our goal would not to only entertain our listeners but to allow our listeners to take the music and go to their own place with it, to make it a personal experience. That would be the goal. meaningful- we would shoot for meaningful.

Do you want to hear the song? oh and the video- I don't really think of trees when I hear this song but this is the best video I could find. Enjoy. oh the piano. Blessed piano.



since I haven't blogged for a month or so...a lot of things have happened. My dad got married a couple weeks ago. Kind of a bittersweet moment. I am just so grateful for my siblings. I feel like my brothers and sister are my stability right now in my immediate family. We are all kind of in this together. Although it seems I'm the only one who isn't handling all the changes that well...maybe it's because I'm the baby of the family...I might just still be in denial.- ...having a hard time letting go of the family structure I grew up with.

But I am happy for my Dad. I really love his new wife Kay. I just miss Mom. What can I say? I miss having a mother who always cared, always called, always listened, always gave me support, always reminded me how much I am loved. I miss that. I miss her.

All I know is our parents must have done something right, because us siblings are very close friends and would do anything for each other. We understand each other's quirks...and somehow the relationship foundation we have is more important than petty miscommunication silly stuff that some families deal with. Although I do remember when we were little Bryon locking me in dark rooms, giving me dead legs until my legs were blue, and pinning me down to either halk loogies or fart in my face. Joette and I had our fair share of fist fights and Keith was always beating up Bryon for beating up on his sisters...let's just say we have come a long way.

I looked this afternoon for a picture of us kids when we were younger to scan...no luck- got too tired. We were a cute bunch us Tomblin kids.