Rosie Posie Girl.....

So Rosie is now 7 months old, sitting up and happiest in the middle of all the action.

I kiss you back!  I mark you with my bodily fluids! Muahahhahahahah!

She has the funniest way of looking up at you when you hold her, as if she is checking to see whether she knows you or not.  She knows me, and once she realizes it's me she grins all over herself. Then I give her 1,000 kisses all over her neck as fast as I can.  She likes it!

Yes, I let you kiss by kissy cheeks, nice lady who doesn't think I should be put down.

I had a little trouble during the time I had both girls by myself.  The angel showed up unexpectedly to cut some limbs for me, bringing his two dogs. His two dogs are the mother and brother to my own, so I had two small children, two big children of my own, an angel with a chainsaw and 4 dogs running in, around, and through the house for awhile.  Remember when I said I'd relaxed about how clean, or unclean, my home is all the time now?  Well, it's here to stay.  At one point I was holding the baby, sitting at my kitchen table, and one dog or another would come in and either stay or go back out, Abigail was having the time of her life with her "big boys" in the backyard, and I thought, "this is all right!"

It all worked out fine and then I couldn't get Miss Rosie Posie to go to sleep.  She wasn't cranky or anything, she just wouldn't go to sleep and I couldn't put her down and Abigail was only going to be entranced in a movie for so long.  So I strapped that baby in the car and drove around for about 20 minutes. When we got home she was almost out, but she had this thing she does where she leans forward.  What she is leaning toward  I do not know, but she's going to have a great set of abs at the very least.  I rocked her a little more and she let go completely.  I laid her down in the cradle and then I went in announced that she was asleep for the night and Abigail and I did the happy dance.  It came right back to me, just like riding a bike.  That gave us time to watch a movie together, which we do in bed, eating popcorn and drinking juice or tea.  She always announces that she doesn't get to do this at her house because "mommy doesn't like messes".  I tell her it takes a long time to get over hating messes and her mommy isn't nearly old enough for that yet. ;)

The next morning Rose and I were up early, getting along just fine when she gave me *that look* sitting beside me in the corner of the couch.  I know *that look* and so I picked her up.  It must be very hard to poop when you are sitting on a couch, don't you think?  Sitting on anything, actually.  Once I picked her up it really got to going faster.  We were in it together, I felt her pain, I told her she wasn't alone.

Soon I felt the dreaded blow out diaper leaking through her back, onto my arm, and then on my front, onto my chest.  It kept right on coming faster than I could find anything to absorb it. I started for the bathroom and it started dripping off my elbow!   Frantically I rolled my robe up to try and contain the hot, pungent mess as I raced down the hall to the bathroom.  Down went the baby onto the bathmat!  Off came any and all clothes that either of us were wearing, I rolled it all into a huge ball with nothing showing on the outside, and into the shower we went!

I had told her mother the day before that I would probably just take her into the shower with me.  Her mother said she didn't know if she would like that because she had never been in the shower before.

I am here to report that she liked it just fine.  Whether this is because she was covered in hot, stinking, radioactive teething baby poop or because we had bonded and she had decided she could trust me, I couldn't say.  Probably a little of both.  She didn't make any sounds when she was pooping and she didn't make any sounds in the shower. She seemed to be in her happy place, in fact.  I cleansed her off, talking to her the whole time.  I said I didn't know WHO had pooped in her pants but they better never do that again!  I rinsed and then I lathered up and then I rinsed her again and she seemed to enjoy it!

I washed her off, heart in my mouth, remembering the different holds, turning her, alternating the holds, and then sat her in the back, out of the spray where she had a ball trying to grab the shower curtain while I washed myself.  I don't know why I was so afraid, I've taken MANY showers with many babies, and never come close to dropping one yet.  I think it's just that I've lived long enough to learn that it can be dangerous to be over-confident.  Not to worry, though. I still got it!

After that it was just a short time until we had to go meet their mom.  I was both looking forward to, and dreading that.

Abigail said her legs were hurting and she needed to stay with me a lot longer.  No, she couldn't get up.   She couldn't feel her legs.  I dressed her like I used to "when she was a baby" and let those two little girls spend as much lazy time as possible in Mimi's bed.

My new favorite sight.

The others babies that love my bed.

This is how she looks when I kiss her head.  I am behind her doing just that here.  This child saved me in a way.  She came along just as I was about to lay on the couch forever and let it all slide.  For her I got up, and my small part of this world has been so much better, ever since.

When we met their mom, she was impressed that Rosie tracked me with her eyes.  What can I say? She's a sound judge of character and she knows who loves her.  After that blow out diaper, there really could not be any doubt.  Only she and I know just how awful it really was.  When I got home and looked at the sweet little pink sleeper imprinted with rosebuds that was soaking in the sink, the stain went from one ankle to the armpit on the other side.  It was EPIC!  Epic in a horrible but memory-setting way!

Only you know and I know, my Rosie Posie girl. ;)  Well, and now the internets.  I beg your pardon in advance, for when you are 11 and can read and get mad at me for this.  

I also had a great idea.  I've always read in books about taking out stains with club soda.  I had never tried it, but I did have some Ginger Ale from making awesome waffles, and I figured I would soak the acidic stain in the greatest antacid known to man.  IT WORKED!  The stain came out.  I was so excited I called her mother who said "Oh, she's about to outgrow that size anyway."

Took the wind right out of my sails, I tell ya, but still, at least now I know.  And now you know too!

It took me a week to catch up on my rest and everything that *must* be done around the house, but it was so worth it.

Until we meet again, my sweet girls.  Next time I promise to schedule a lazy morning in there. Some things you have to make time for, and some things just can't be hurried, especially when you can't feel your legs.

Welcome to Blogland, Patty Miller!

This is a post to welcome a new blog to the land and to my blog list.

Please check out my dear friend's new blog at http://learninglifethroughperseverance.blogspot.com

She has been a beacon throughout my entire adult life. She was my first boss, and remains one of my idols.

I don't even know who I would be without her.

After not talking for years, as mother's tend to do when their babies are "growing out from under them" (her words, spoken circa 2004 or thereabouts), I called her up out of the blue and the depths of a depression that was just seeming to lift.

I was astounded to learn that she had 

1) retired  (WHAT?!)

2) survived breast cancer (WHAT????!!!!!)

3) felt called by God to do something more for Him than running production facilities, so she became a part time minister at the Trinity United Methodist Church in Moberly.  (OH!)

She's that kind of woman.  Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.....there is simply nothing that she can't handle.  She is human, though, and now ready to broadcast her awesomeness to the world.  At least the parts that have the internets.

Needless to say, we had a lot to catch up on.

She's 10 feet tall and bullet proof, in my opinion.  She will deny this.  It's part of her awesomeness!

Her husband's just as good and I have loved her boys since they were practically babies!  SOB!

Can't wait to see what she does next!  Check her out and get in on all the good stuff!

LOVE HER!

Iheartradio, we need to talk.....

One of the things I have done to take back control over my life is limit what I listen to in my daily life.  I turned off the news years ago but was still surrounded with some very strange stuff that also made me crazy on the radio.  So I started being very careful about where I keep my dial tuned.  It has improved my life dramatically.  Actually, that's an understatement.

One of my favorite things in this battle is Iheartradio.com. It's a free music service, where you give them a general idea of what you like and they just keep throwing stuff at you to judge whether you like it or not. If you like it, it plays again. If you don't like it, it never plays again.  I mean never.  The best part, though, is that there are no commercials or idiot DJ's to make you crazy.  In case those things have that affect on you, that is.

Everything was going really good until I decided to "make" a station called Orleans, after the soft rock group you may or may not remember.  Whether you remember them or not, I'm sure you know the song Still The One.  This is a basic idea of what I was looking for.  I guess because they were popular in the 70's, the powers that be go by the genre and the time period to throw more stuff at you.  If you are picky about your music, this may make you crazy anyway.

I had always known was picky about music, but I like so many different kinds that I doubted this would be much of a problem.  Always the optimist, that's me.  Not really, just seeing if you are paying attention. So I "made" my Orleans station and it threw out the Bee Gees, Bob Seger, Gordon Lightfoot, Van Morrison, Carole King, the list goes on, but all were good with me. I "liked" them all.  THEN it started throwing Linda Rondstat at me.  I down arrowed her.  The first time I didn't think much about it.  But it kept throwing more at me.  I down arrowed them ALL and I realized a couple of things.

1)  I am not a Linda Rondstat fan.  I never knew this before.  She can sing, don't get me wrong. She has a great voice and great control. It's just that her songs........well, her songs get on my nerves.  All of them.  You have to be in a certain mood for almost all of them.  They are all so intense, they wear me out.   Take You're No Good, for instance, please! Been there, done that, done WITH that, quite your whining, Linda, suck it up and move forward like the rest of us have. Probably your friends and family knew it all along!   I guess I'm just never in those kinds of moods anymore. I lack the energy and have learned that this, too, shall pass.  But Iheartradio did not seem to be getting the hint.  It's not about the songs, it's about the artist, and I am here to tell you, Iheartradio, I am not a fan of Linda, so you can quit putting both herself and I through this embarrassing rejection.  Enough already!

Which leads us to:

2) that there were only about 3 women who were even singing (successfully) at that time.   Besides Linda (cringe) and Carole King (give her to me all day long) they started throwing Melissa Manchester at me. Now, I had actually forgotten all about Melissa, who also can sing very well, but does not "do" it for me. Never did, never will.  I may have forgotten about her, but I can say that I never even knew she sang so many songs!  I was exhausted before I got them all down arrowed, and in desperation I just "made" another station.   It turned out pretty much the way you would expect.  Some good, a whole lot of bad (at least to me), and a few that I had forgotten about.  You might be saying "Couldn't they have thrown in some Heart?" Good idea, just a few years too early.  

The worst thing is that never, NEVER do they play some of the best songs that an artist ever did, if they were not commercially successful.  Take Jackson Browne, for instance. I "made" a Jackson Browne station, but do you think Sky Blue and Black ever came up?  Maybe Fountain of Sorrow?   NO! Know what did?  Lawyers In Love! GIVE ME A BREAK IHEARTRADIO!!! I KNOW YOU ARE JUST A BUNCH OF KIDS GOING OFF TOP 40 LISTS AND HAVE NO IDEA WHO HE EVEN IS!!

So, now that I have outed Iheartradio, and every other music program I have tried, I will give you some advice: ITUNES, baby!  Go to Itunes, find your music, and it is there for you forever. You can make playlists or play it anyway you want, all day long.  Yes, you have to pay for it, but only once and it is WORTH it!  You can also make any kind of CD you want once you have the music.  My boys have memorized their favorite CD's of mine, whose titles are "Trip To The Zoo" or "Summer 2010" or "Mellow" or "STRAIGHT UP ROCK" or, more sensibly "The Mills Brothers".  OK, not the Mills Brothers.  If you are below the age of 50 I doubt you even know who the Mills Brothers are and I will tell you that they won't be found on Itunes.  They are probably a bunch of kids also.  You have to go to Youtube for The Mills Brothers, but it's free and they are a classic.

What I will say for Iheartradio is that it's a nice change, if you work in a metal building and all your radio will pull in is the local station that is nothing but Top 40 (or perhaps 20) syndication.  That crap about drove me to riot in the streets before I took control and got back in charge of what my head was filled with.  The twins still want to listen to that station, and any time I turn it on, they automatically start singing along, no matter what song is playing, like Pavlovian dogs.  It's kind of scary.

I still felt kind of bad about it until I heard a commercial, when the twins were in the car, by a very deep voice telling us all about the wonders of testosterone enhancement.  I don't know who might need testosterone enhancement, probably older men?  But I was terrified that it might seem like a great choice for teenage boys.......  That was it for me. I know things are tough all over, but when you have to stoop to accepting money to run commercials like that (and I do feel for you, my brothers, but perhaps you could consider you programming?  Good programming could lead to better advertisers?  Just a thought.), you are on your own.  I am done mindlessly driving along while my blood pressure rises listening to bad music and worse life choices presented as if they are sane, which they are not, to people who don't even have enough sense to turn the station.  All this zombie talk is not about nothing, you know.  They are real, just not in the way they are being portrayed by the entertainment industry to part you from your hard earned dollars.   And they are everywhere!

I am frequently tuned into American Family Radio (AFR), found in this area at 91.5, which is Christian based talk radio.  There is no music here, but it's a really good source if you want to know what is actually going on in the world as opposed to who won on American Idol last night, which seems to be being discussed on *some* radio stations as if it were actually news.  Perhaps, to some of America, it is.  If you would like to give it a try you might want to prepare yourself beforehand, depending on where you usually get your news.  In any case, I can pretty much guarantee that you will be aware of things at least 2 weeks before the so-called "press" mentions them, if ever.  Oh, and your children will never hear anything you wish they wouldn't. I promise!  At night they often have sermons that just last about 30 minutes.

One evening, I turned it on as I was making my piles of bills to go through, and I just sent up a prayer that consisted simply of "Lord, you know my needs".  I sent that prayer at the same instant I turned on the radio, which was turned to AFR, and I immediately heard a deep voice with a Texas twang say "and stay tuned for our next segment on What To Do When Thinking About The Future Is Making You Depressed".  I laughed out loud and looked up and was floored because that was exactly what my "need" was at that moment!  Sometimes I feel like He doesn't answer prayers, but this time there really could be no doubt.  I was so very glad that I had heard that instead of a song about some kind of sexual practice or other!

That is how low the bar has fallen, folks.  If you haven't faced that yet, I suggest you listen closely to what is constantly playing in the background of your world.  It's the background of your life.  Choose freely but choose wisely.  Especially if you have kids.