I think every mother has extreme dreams for the success of their children. After watching my boys (yes, even innocent little Connor), I have come to the conclusion that they will HAVE to be involved in some extreme athletics, both in order to let out some of their aggression, but because I believe deep down inside both of them there is this innate drive to tackle/kick/hit things. This drive cannot be subdued for long, and in the moments of extremes, that deeply buried psychological programming, will come out.
I saw a commercial today that brought tears to my eyes, just because of how true most of it has been for me (and I think for most mothers of boys). To see where it leads the children in this commercial makes my heart want to swell with pride for what I hope to see in the future.
Every night we chase the boys in circles around the living room/kitchen in order to let off some of their steam.
We had (note - had) a beanbag chair that we brought outside so the boys could take flying leaps into it after springing off a trampoline, until it burst and the small styrofoam beads went everywhere in the yard.
When I was pregnant with Connor - I swear my ultrasound would've been like the baby in the commercial. For nothing, could I get him to stop spinning circles, until he finally jammed himself upright in a breech position
We have not had a broken coffee table yet, but have had it removed from our living room for years so they can't use it as a trampoline itself. We have had broken lawn chairs outside from being climbed/jumped on. The cushions from our couch frequently get removed, and the La-Z-Boy is used to leap off of onto the cushions.
I hope this is the start of something that good...
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Psycho and Velcro
Once there were two little boys, named Psycho and Velcro. They lived in a quaint ranch in a quiet neighborhood, and were very interesting boys.
Psycho, as he so earned his name, was named that after being about 6 months old, where he would literally cinch himself up so hard and squeeze, thus resulting in his whole body shaking in something that resembled a mini-seizure. These were few and far between, but nonetheless, they occurred almost daily. At first his parents worried, but soon learned it was just Psycho's way of letting off steam.
Psycho continued to earn his badge of psychotic honor after entering the "terrible two's" at about 14 months, and could throw tantrums like you've NEVER seen! To this day, his parents don't voluntarily bring him into a store/any public place where he could bolt, without bribes in tow. (Although his parents are STRONGLY against them, fruit snacks work almost every time!).
Not too long after that, Velcro was born. Velcro earned that name not too long after he came into this world, because for most of his infant life was spent in a sling, attached to his mom. After he grew out of the sling, he wanted to be carried by mom. Today, if I (oops, I mean, his mom) is within sight, Velcro wants to be held by her. This means while she is doing dishes, brushing her teeth, folding laundry, and even while changing clothes - which she hasn't figured out yet so he will stand right below her sobbing while she changes her clothes as fast as she can!
It will be interesting to see how these personality traits play out for both Psycho and Velcro as they grow up, and grow to be adults.
I have attached pictures of the guilty parties below....
Psycho, with his sinister grin
Velcro with Mom, imagine that....
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Free To Be You and Me
Mom, this one's for you...
Messing around on Youtube today, I found this video. It's almost as though someone stuffed me in a time machine, and sucked me back to 1981.
Every week my mom used to take us to the Marion Library. I LOVED it there! I loved the look, the smell, and the funky carpet they had in the kids area. They had places you could sit and read, and sometimes we even went to story time. It was fantastic!
Another thing we did there was check out the record "Free To Be You and Me", every single week. Seriously. I think we went through 15 record needles listening to that thing, and every week brought it back, and every week, checked it back out again.
I think my sister and I listened to that record 15,000 times! I'm putting the introductory song on here so my mom can join me for a trip in the "wayback" machine!!! Hope you like it Mom! (Boy, listening to this record every day 25 times would have me wearing earmuffs, or drinking heavily!)
(Also, check out all the famous people that were on this record!)
Messing around on Youtube today, I found this video. It's almost as though someone stuffed me in a time machine, and sucked me back to 1981.
Every week my mom used to take us to the Marion Library. I LOVED it there! I loved the look, the smell, and the funky carpet they had in the kids area. They had places you could sit and read, and sometimes we even went to story time. It was fantastic!
Another thing we did there was check out the record "Free To Be You and Me", every single week. Seriously. I think we went through 15 record needles listening to that thing, and every week brought it back, and every week, checked it back out again.
I think my sister and I listened to that record 15,000 times! I'm putting the introductory song on here so my mom can join me for a trip in the "wayback" machine!!! Hope you like it Mom! (Boy, listening to this record every day 25 times would have me wearing earmuffs, or drinking heavily!)
(Also, check out all the famous people that were on this record!)
Nie Nie
I recently found this blog after it was nominated for a "Perfect Post" award earlier this month. If I had come across this blog any earlier, I might've jumped quickly to judge.
http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/
The author of this blog is Stephanie Nielsen. She is a young mother of 4 children, her parents are both Utah Senators (I believe, or something close to that), and her husband is absolutely PERFECT! Actually, everything about them seems to be perfect (thus my quickly jumping to judge). Her children are beautiful, her blogs are fantastic, and she clearly seems to just LOVE life!
In August of this year, her and her husband were returning from their vacation on a New Mexico ranch, and were involved in a horrible plane crash. Nie Nie (as she refers to herself) and her husband were in a small prop plane. Christian (Mr. Nielsen) had recently got his pilots license that was a gift from his wife, and was putting it to use. They lost power in the air.
Today, both Stepanie and her husband are both still in the hospital. He has burns on about 30-40% of his body, and she 70-80%. She is still in a drug-induced coma. They have years of recovery ahead of them, and numerous surgeys as well.
Stephanie's sister-in-law (once again, I believe - I've been so fascinated reading past blogs, I haven't researched all the details yet) has picked up on maintaining this blog. Readers that have been fans of the blog will write in and tell what their favorite blog is, and that blog gets reposted. You may have holiday blogs in September, and 4th of July blogs tomorrow, but it's fantastic.
There have been tons of fundraising activities so far, and actually it is expected for the fundraising to reach about One Million Dollars for this couple and their family.
This blog has really touched me, and I love reading the past posts, learning about their family, and really realizing that this is a woman who truly just LOVED life, her family, and everything she did.
I think of this often, when I'm frustrated, or time seems so short, or I just have too much to do. Life is so precious.
http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/
The author of this blog is Stephanie Nielsen. She is a young mother of 4 children, her parents are both Utah Senators (I believe, or something close to that), and her husband is absolutely PERFECT! Actually, everything about them seems to be perfect (thus my quickly jumping to judge). Her children are beautiful, her blogs are fantastic, and she clearly seems to just LOVE life!
In August of this year, her and her husband were returning from their vacation on a New Mexico ranch, and were involved in a horrible plane crash. Nie Nie (as she refers to herself) and her husband were in a small prop plane. Christian (Mr. Nielsen) had recently got his pilots license that was a gift from his wife, and was putting it to use. They lost power in the air.
Today, both Stepanie and her husband are both still in the hospital. He has burns on about 30-40% of his body, and she 70-80%. She is still in a drug-induced coma. They have years of recovery ahead of them, and numerous surgeys as well.
Stephanie's sister-in-law (once again, I believe - I've been so fascinated reading past blogs, I haven't researched all the details yet) has picked up on maintaining this blog. Readers that have been fans of the blog will write in and tell what their favorite blog is, and that blog gets reposted. You may have holiday blogs in September, and 4th of July blogs tomorrow, but it's fantastic.
There have been tons of fundraising activities so far, and actually it is expected for the fundraising to reach about One Million Dollars for this couple and their family.
This blog has really touched me, and I love reading the past posts, learning about their family, and really realizing that this is a woman who truly just LOVED life, her family, and everything she did.
I think of this often, when I'm frustrated, or time seems so short, or I just have too much to do. Life is so precious.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Why I love sappy movies sometimes...
A quote from the end of Hope Floats:
"My dad says childhood is the happiest time of my life, buuutttt.. I think he's wrong. I think my mom's right, she says 'childhood is what you spend the rest of your life trying to overcome'. That's what momma used to say. She said 'beginnings are scary, endings are usually sad, but it's the middle that counts the most'. You need to remember that when you find yourself at the beginning, just give hope a chance to float up. And it will too."
I love that quote. How true it is.... We have to remember every day that we're in the middle of this beautiful thing called life.
(You have to get 3/4 through this clip to get through the quote, but it's worth it - this part of the movie makes me gets a tear in my eye everytime.)
"My dad says childhood is the happiest time of my life, buuutttt.. I think he's wrong. I think my mom's right, she says 'childhood is what you spend the rest of your life trying to overcome'. That's what momma used to say. She said 'beginnings are scary, endings are usually sad, but it's the middle that counts the most'. You need to remember that when you find yourself at the beginning, just give hope a chance to float up. And it will too."
I love that quote. How true it is.... We have to remember every day that we're in the middle of this beautiful thing called life.
(You have to get 3/4 through this clip to get through the quote, but it's worth it - this part of the movie makes me gets a tear in my eye everytime.)
Friday, October 10, 2008
Who says summer is over?
This is "Curly" and Dylan right after Tyler nailed them with the hose last weekend!
My wish - That summer would never end!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Frustration turns to relaxation
I'm so desperately behind at work, it's scary. I think there are at least 200 e-mails I have yet to get through and had hoped to get online tonight to clean some of those up. For whatever reason, I can't log on. You have no idea how frustrated that makes me. I am in a training class the next two days, so it's not like I can even skip a meeting or shut my door to get something done. Looks like, it just won't get done.
But, I am sitting next to Tyler. He's been sitting here coloring next to me, making pictures of dolphins, writing his name, and sorting through the crayons over and over finding all of the orange ones, etc. I never realized how that smell, the smell of Crayola Crayons, can bring back such memories.
Every Christmas when I was little, my Grandma Breuer would get me a Crayola Caddy. She could've asked "Would you like $1000 or a Crayola Caddy?", and I would've picked the Caddy - hands down, every time. I would use them until the crayons were stubs, and there was virtually nothing left of them. It was wonderful.
Tyler is now having so much fun with them - it reminds me of me. He is pulling them all out and drawing with each and every one of them to try them all out - so completely excited with each one - one after the other.
Work can wait. This is priceless.
But, I am sitting next to Tyler. He's been sitting here coloring next to me, making pictures of dolphins, writing his name, and sorting through the crayons over and over finding all of the orange ones, etc. I never realized how that smell, the smell of Crayola Crayons, can bring back such memories.
Every Christmas when I was little, my Grandma Breuer would get me a Crayola Caddy. She could've asked "Would you like $1000 or a Crayola Caddy?", and I would've picked the Caddy - hands down, every time. I would use them until the crayons were stubs, and there was virtually nothing left of them. It was wonderful.
Tyler is now having so much fun with them - it reminds me of me. He is pulling them all out and drawing with each and every one of them to try them all out - so completely excited with each one - one after the other.
Work can wait. This is priceless.
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