No use cryin' over (fill in the blank)

Setting the scene: Ugh. I don't know whether to grouse about allergies or a sinus flair up, but for whatever reason, my nose is in direct opposition to the rest of me and my sinus' have also begun to wage a war. (afternoon update: I now have a horrific cough to go with the runaway nose...grrrrrr). They say when you are pregnant, you are more susceptible to this. Whatever. I don't like it. I feel weary and GRUMPY (and we all know I do dumb things when GRUMPY).

So, you can only imagine how happy I was when my sweet E came up to my room this morning where I'm trying to catch the last remaining moments of sleep and says, "Mom, A has spilled some orange juice. But it's okay," she says, putting her hand up to me as if giving me the sign for "Stop right now before your emotions spiral out of control. "It was an accident."


It turns out that A was trying to get her sisters and herself some orange juice. A very nice idea. Alas, she spilled the entire contents of the pitcher on the counter, herself, and the floor. HEAVY SIGH on my part; plus, who doesn't like a 3 year old reassuring them several times that it's all okay because it's just an accident. After assessing the situation (with a pounding sinus headache, let me just add), I asked if A had permission to do this from Dad (who, as President, left earlier to help out with the HOA's neighborhood beautification day, but to give him credit, he did give the girls breakfast before he left). Of course, the answer is no. She says they were just thirsty. And by the way, she also informs me that her pajama's are sopping wet.

Meanwhile, it takes me a second to see that O is kind of whining and pulling on the footie of her sleepers. Yes. She has walked through the creek of juice and has now meandered all around our main floor, both on the wood part and on the carpet. The happiness of the moment is, as you can imagine, SEEPING through me.

Long story short: I clean up lots of juice off lots of floors, with a very minimum on yelling, so I was pretty happy (in fact, I only screeched once when O started to cross the orange creek) even though I am not feeling my finest and am grumping about cleaning things up...does that make sense? Anyway, during the whole process, I'm talking to A, trying to explain why I am so frustrated: next time, you need permission to have o.j. and, of course, my most recent explanation of things: I'm not mad that you spilled the juice. I'm upset because of what I now have to clean up.

It's at this point that E pipes up and explains to A that the many times she's wet her pants over the last two days (I have no idea why, but she makes it into the bathroom and then can't get those dang pants down in time! But it's okay, because it's just an accident), that I'm not upset with her peeing her pants, I'm upset at having to clean the pee up on the floor. And it's so true.

The other day, I even spilled some leftovers on the floor and I found myself calling me by name and for saying, "for crying out loud!" So, see, my girls are in good company...because there are indeed accidents. I'm just upset about the extra work of having to clean up said accidents.

Something a little more frothy

Thanks to those who patiently read/sat through the earlier rant. And here is that something more light-hearted I promised.

Last night, we had a "Mall Food Court" themed dinner. I made calzones (which were okay) and an Orange Julius knock-off that was downright delicious. And so, without further ado, here is the recipe. Yum. And can I just say, the kids L.O.V.E.D. it.

"Orange Julius" beverage (with my commentary)

6 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate (which is half a can of the frozen stuff)
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
8-9 ice cubes (who knows how many I actually used...I had my fridge "crush" a big plastic cupful and used that)

1. Combine all ingredients except ice cubes in blender.
2. Blend for about 1-2 minutes, adding ice cubes one at a time. (you may need to stir...but be careful about hitting an air pocket which can then send globs of the mixture all over. Oh yeah. Fun times)

3. Enjoy!

Festering issues

You may not agree with this, Gentle Reader, but I've got to get this out else it will continue to fester inside, oozing and throbbing. This is a rant. You now know this in advance. So, I'm going to lance it as best I can, and it's probably going to be a long post, so I apologize in advance if you were looking for something light-hearted to jump start your morning. I'll try to post something happier later.

However. Two news stories this week have bugged the holy cow out of me and I've just got to get these feelings out! The first: the toddler who was, literally, held down and forced to smoke pot from some &$!@#$ teenager's pipe and the second: the FLDS raid, where they have taken children (over 400 of them, with about 130 of them under the age of 4) away because of alleged abuse (that happens because they are married off so early...the State of Texas allows marriage at age 16 with consent of a parent).

The first story upset me so much when I saw it that I had to turn off the video feed, and I burst into tears. It's haunting to watch and I haven't even seen all of it, it affected me so. The basic story is some teenager went to a pawn shop and sold his camcorder (probably for more drug money) but left a tape in it. On the tape (and what we the viewer see) are two teenagers and a toddler they were watching, and the teens are smoking pot. They literally hold this baby down and put the pipe in her mouth over and over and laugh about it. Watching this little baby struggling to get away while these two teenagers are trying to get the pipe into her face made me beyond angry. After they "succeeded" and the poor baby started coughing, they shoved a sippy into her mouth before putting the pipe back.

ARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHH! At that point, I had to turn it off. It still upsets me, because I see that baby (who is now 2, and I'm sure it wasn't the first or last time this happened to her) and immediately think of O. I read comments about it and totally could empathize when one writer said that if something like this happened to one of his/her children, "they wouldn't be able to find the bodies" of the teenagers who did it. I do not condone murder, but I can appreciate the feeling behind the post. The "good" news is that the baby is now out of this environment, but still. She will be effected her whole life. Who knows what that has done to her developing brain and nervous system and....ugh. I could go on, but I'm sure you see what I'm talking about.

Before I launch into the second story, you need to know that I am against polygamy (hello! It's against the law to have more than one wife and OHHHHHH the smears against my religion because of these cults still practice it), I am SO against child abuse and especially sexual abuse and firmly feel people who violate this should be castrated, at the least. Seriously. I do. The damage they do to children...I just...I can't even verbalize the hurt to my heart even thinking about such evil. I look at my own children and I cannot abide the idea of anyone damaging them so, and yet it happens every day more often than any of us know. I am not a perfect mother, and I acknowledge this, but there is a line that should never be crossed, and it is my RESPONSIBILITY as a person to protect my children and others.

That said, while I have sympathy for the intent of what the State of Texas has done, I am INFURIATED at how it has happened. They have, by sweeping in and taking all the children, basically stripped this community of all their legal and constitutional rights. They have punished these babies for this "alleged" abuse (and it may be there are cases of this abuse because I highly doubt they have choices as we'd want them to have. BUT!!!!). They can't even identify the supposed 16 year old caller who phoned in to report abuse, and the man she claimed was her husband and caused the abuse hasn't been in Texas since 1977!!!! AND, instead of dealing with this situation on a family by family basis, like they would any other case, OR, taken away the MEN out of the compound so they could go family by family, they have yanked ALL of the children under the "probability" that IF one household is abusive, all must be abusive because of their weird belief systems.

In fact, the head CPS investigator Angie Voss said, "When asked if she believes that the children should return to the compound, Voss said they should not because the sect members do not believe they are doing anything wrong."

HELLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOO! The state of Texas did something wrong. Granted, this compound is based on a religious lifestyle that we don't understand. We are definitely the outsiders. But can you imagine if the U.S. government went into an Amish community like this? Or a Muslim community? Or even fenced off any downtown area of any inner city and took children away from their parents because of a potential abuse? 'Cause alot of these kids are living in h*ll holes (see the poor toddler above!!!!) and have young single mother's under the age of 18 . I mean, these FLDS families have had 400 of their babies (some as young as 6 months old) taken from them, and these children...this is all they know! Everyone they love and know are G.O.N.E. They do not understand, nor are many of them able to comprehend, what is going on. They just know their mom and dad are being kept way from them (in particular, their moms) and often the older children, who could comfort younger siblings, have been removed from them as well!!!! And, considering the size of Texas, can you imagine trying to find adequate foster homes for 400+ children--because like all CPS agencies, I'm sure they are adeptly handling all the rest of the children in the system? And the state hopes to break this cycle of a cult how? By breaking up these families.

Let me put this another way. We live in our community quietly for years, and some people think we are darn strange and carry on strange practices that they don't feel are "normal" and that we don't have choices but are brainwashed into accepting this lifestyle (well...that's just described how some people view the entire state of Utah, doesn't it my LDS friends? And what about me, a "Mormon." Yep. I've heard folks talk about me and my beliefs this way. And what about you other devote Christians, too. See, if you aren't doing what the "world" wants you to be doing, you are ABNORMAL and brainwashed). So, ARMED law enforcement (with machine guns and bullet proof vehicles!) go to our local elementary school, and based on a "tip" that purported abuse has occurred from someone they can't even identify, have taken all of our children away. They are now forced to live away from us. No contact, not even by phone just in case we are trying to get "our stories straight." And some are even younger than 5. And you, as a parent, CANNOT get to them, even though you have been told by some that if you cooperate, you will see them again. But you don't and can't. You may even be a nursing mother, but that doesn't matter. Your infant may be susceptible to abuse, based on this one tip.

I'd be more than bawling, like those poor FLDS mothers are. I'd be frantic. This, Gentle Reader, is stripping away SO many constitutional rights it's not even funny. I'd also be suing the State of Texas, that's what I'd be doing.

There are two atrocities going on here and I can see why people would be torn about this case: Alleged Abuse and Stripping of Constitutional Rights

But let me just remind you of a little group of people...they were called the Nazi's and they rounded up, on purported charges, people that were of different faiths and view points and separated them from the rest of society so they could "break the cycle" of the existence of these people. And one of the most efficient ways to do this, get 'em while they are young and get them before they can repopulate. This is just wrong.

If the government can enter their temple, what's to prevent them from entering MY temple? If the government can strip them of their children based on (let's be honest) blatant religious prejudice, what's to keep them from taking my children because they think *I* and my belief system are "weird." You see where I'm going, right? And all this based on an unsubstantiated "tip." It's not right. Because now it's up to the parents to PROVE (guilty until proven innocent?) that no abuse occurred. Ugh.

And what bugs me is that I'm sure, with a group that large, some abuse did go on. That SICKENS me. I highly doubt, however, that all were complicit. Yet, our "experts" who are sharing their experiences with the media and thus the world, are disenfranchised FLDS people, who "escaped" this cult. Surely you heard just this morning about "CNN's Nancy Grace speaks to former FLDS child bride Carolyn Jessop who describes the alleged abuses she suffered," such as babies being water tortured? I hope this didn't happen, but really now. As anyone knows, the very best people to ask about a group of people (like Mormons) are individuals who are NO LONGER part of that group (like ex-Mormons), because they'll tell you the truth, not this indoctrinated brainwashed crap all believers are forced to uphold, don't you know. Oh, uh huh. What. A. Hot. Mess.

Thank you for putting up with this rant.

I'll end with this last thought:

"They came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."

~Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)

Seriously...

Today, J came home for lunch while I was putting O down for her nap and when I saw him, he informed me that A told him that her uterus was hurting.

Ooooohkay.

I asked her if her stomach was hurting...no, she explained. Just her uterus. You'll be relieved to know that an hour later, her uterus felt just fine.

I believe, Gentle Reader, a bit of explanation is in order. We've been fairly frank with the girls about where the new baby is in my body because we didn't want them worrying that they might have a baby in their stomachs (which, trust me, one of my older girls would have fretted about), so they know that the new baby is growing in my uterus. They know that they, also, have a uterus because it's part of all girls bodies, and when they are older and married, they can have a baby grow in their uterus, too. We've described where it is in my body and that it's kind of a balloon-like room that gets bigger as the baby grows, but keeps the baby very safe and comfortable, etc., and helps to let the baby know when it's time to come out. They've taken it in stride, and I highly doubt anyone but A really has a clue about it, but like I said, at least E isn't worrying about eating something and getting a baby in her tummy (...oh yes...this is an issue. Remember, this is the 4th time we're doing this so we've learned something along the way).

I have to admit, though, I didn't see this possibility coming. I'll, uh, post further developments, should they arise (but let's all hope they don't). In the meantime, if you have the need for some ...um...unique jewlery, celebrating this little expanding balloon-like room, feel free to head on over to Luna Parc's creations. Seriously. How interesting a concept are these? And, yes, they are what you think they are.

From the CNN Political Ticker...

I thought this was really funny, and considering how much I owe to the Obsession of Mitt's campaign leading to my own entry into the blogworld, I wanted to post it (FYI: the Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner in D.C. is supposed to be rife with satirical wit, in case you didn't know).

Romney: I could have won, with a few more Osmonds
Posted: 10:34 AM ET

WASHINGTON (CNN) — At Wednesday night’s Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner in Washington, D.C., former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney gave his “Top 10 Reasons for Dropping Out of the Race":

10. There weren't as many Osmonds as I thought.

9. I got tired of corkscrew landings under sniper fire.

8. As a lifelong hunter, I didn't want to miss the start of the varmint season.

7. There wasn’t room for two Christian leaders.

6. I was upset that no one had bothered to search my passport files.

5. I needed an excuse to get fat, grow a beard and win the Nobel prize.

4. I took a bad fall at a campaign rally and broke my hair.

3. I wanted to finally take off that dark suit and tie, and kick back in a light-colored suit and tie.

2. Once my wife Ann realized I couldn't win, my fundraising dried up.

1. There was a miscalculation in our theory: "As Utah goes, so goes the nation.”

Yeeeeehaw! It's Kindergarten Roundup Time!

Yesterday evening, J and I went to A's new elementary school for Kindergarten Roundup. I did just fine until the kindergarten teachers started reading, "Twas the Night Before Kindergarten," and I got a little teary-eyed. Ohhhhhhh for crying out loud (or perhaps should I say, Ohhhhhhhh for trying to cry all-inconspicuously and quiet-like). My first born is going to start that long legacy of S.C.H.O.O.L. *sniff**sniff*

It was a quick hour and a half (for me anyway...J was ready to go after about 40 minutes, so I'm sure the rest of the time dragged for him) of filling out forms (we didn't know to bring proof of residency, A's birth certificate or her Social Security Number, but luckily we DID bring our checkbook. Good-bye $70.00! Who knew?) and sitting in the cafeteria whilst listening to school bus options (we'll be driving, so it didn't really matter), the PTA president (maybe I'll be a huge volunteer...next year), the nurse (who went over the "Please don't bring your kids to school with a fever 99.9, vomiting and/or diarrhea bug and they must be symptom free for 24 hours" admonition), the secretary (ahhhhh, the power she must have. She'll let us know by June if we have AM or PM class...Go AM class!) and the three kindergarten teachers (who shared ideas to help get our kids ready for kindergarten and their school supply preferences. Big dry erase markers? Better for little hands to hold...good to know! Best markers? Crayola's because they are truer in color. Hmmmmm...hadn't thought about that, but they are sooooo right! Have conversations with your kids NOW...it'll help them in kindergarten. Heavens, I don't know if we can KEEP A and E and O quiet. Read, read, read to your children and take them to the library! At least I felt good about the last one).

I have to admit, I was soooooo happy after the Roundup that we had been sending our little darlings to the Baptist Preschool near J's work. It's been totally worth the investment! I'd like to think I'm the type of mom who is hands-on, working with her kids and engaging with them reading and doing crafts and music and science-y things daily, and who would have them all ready for Kindergarten by herself, but I know when I'm whupped...and I'm whupped.

I'm sooooooo GRATEFUL for such good preschool teachers, reasonable tuition that we can afford and a gradual buildup of time away from mom! Holy cow! SOOOOOO GRATEFUL! I mean, not only have they taught/supplemented the above mentioned things, but other life lessons such as helping the kids learn how to get the coats zipped up...heck! I'd probably still be doing A and E's because I'm faster (and, admittedly, a control freak) if it wasn't for our preschool teachers telling me to let them do it.

And I know that there are mom's who can and DO prepare on their own and I'm in awe of you. You are what I want to be when I grow up because it takes an enormous amount of effort. But until then, I'm grateful for the help we currently enjoy and for being able to go to Roundup and realize how blessed we've been.

Sad Report: The camera is having issues

Our camera is officially on the fritz. Sometimes it seems to want to work and then...pssssbts. It shuts itself off. This does not bode well for "capturing the moments" on a whim, as I've discovered today.

We have our friends JK and his little sister B over today, and when J came home, he asked them if they would be willing to go out and pick all the "yellow flowers" that have inundated our backyard. They were THRILLED with this idea...based on their reaction, I've really got to work on my delivery of how I ask kids to do chores, I tell you.

Anyway, they are out there and E has decided to wear this sunhat that, luckily, has a strap on it. I say luckily because we are having GUSTS of wind that can knock any one of these little kids on their bottoms without a moment's notice. It is soooooo funny watching them scurry, trying to get these flowers picked while the wind is making this awfully difficult! I wanted to get a picture and also take a shot of the bird's nest. Alas! The camera is, as my children say, "Not being my friend!" and I just had to share this news and knew that you could appreciate it, Gentle Reader.

Nesting

Tis the season, I guess.

Across the way on the outskirts of a nearby neighborhood, on the other side of a 4 lane road, is this little pond that geese seem to LOVE from fall to early summer. We see them there all the time and it's kind of neat to watch them fly in and swim or walk across the road (that's a hoot in fact). Two weeks ago, I was surprised to see one brave little soul who built her nest on a "wall" of rocks for the second year in a row, sitting on her nest. Last year, I never saw any little goslings, and I think she might have been chased away from her nest by the lawn care company that was moving and trimming stuff over there, but I could be wrong. Yet she's back. So far this nesting season, she's had to sit through a number of torrential rains and some nasty cold snaps, so I wish her well on her endeavor. Plus, I think it'd be neat to see some little babies swimming in that pond, but that's just me.

On the other hand, I'm not feeling the love so much for a young Robin couple who have decided that our newly acquired swing set is a FABULOUS place to set up residence. We have a slide/swing set that has a little house thingy over the slide, and the birds have built your typical round nest in the rafters of that little house thing. So, my kids (with the exception of O who could care less) are hesitant now to use the slide (sigh). (the picture on the left shows what the nest looks like...now just picture it in the little house-covering-thing near a slide...I'll try to get an actual picture if I can)

But more importantly to me, you should see the state of our deck and stairs leading to the lawn (I may spare you the picture of this, though). In their quest to what...look for better nest material? Look for potential enemies? Chirp proudly about spring? I have no idea, but these birds visit our deck with GREAT regularity and consequently, our deck and stairs are COVERED in bird poo. Seriously. Crap is everywhere (excuse my French!) and I'm grossed out. I've already mentioned the torrential rain that cleaned off one round of it, but today it looks just as bad as ever. I can't let the baby out by herself because she thinks these round white piles are FASCINATING and must be touched and examined with fine detail.

Oh yes. You can only imagine.

I'm only hoping we have avoided tasting those little "treats" by my shrill shrieks of, "EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! Leave that alone!!!!"

So, you see that I'm not against nesting. I'm just against any crap that comes with it...like so many things in life. lol.

Hope you are having a good day (and sorry about the spacing situation of the last few paragraphs...after trying to fix these dastardly things, I've given up for the time being. Yet another example of the above complaint. sigh)

My Kids Language of Love

Have you ever heard of that book, The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman and Ross Campbell? I've heard and, very recently, requested it through my library (which I highly recommend...not necessarily the books--I'll let you know about it after I get it done, but the method of getting them: THROUGH YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY). I've also requested The Five Love Languages of Children. Supposedly, these books talk about how people express their love in different ways, and it might not be how YOU need love expressed (and vice versa).

So, that got me thinking: how do my kids show their love to me? These are a few things that I've noticed just today:

1) "Flowers": My children pick me random wild "flowers" (aka: dandelions) that begin wilting almost the moment they are given to me. I try to be effusive every time they give them to me because I know the intent, whilst hiding the fact that I actually get a bit grossed out by them being in my hand. But it's true...it's a sign they love me and that they know I love flowers that daddy gives me (aka: roses, hot house flowers), so they are doing what they can to mimic that.

2) "Hugs/Wipe Nose": My children have all gone through this phase, and I'm not sure if I should count this as a true expression of love or a true expression of convenience. It's where my kids come up to me, arms raised because they want to be picked up and then give me a huge, loving hug...right before they wipe their nose across my shoulder. You can see my dilemma. But still, the hug is nice and happily, once they pass the toddler stage, the snot part tapers off dramatically so all I get are normal hugs which are drastically more enjoyable.

3) "The random kisses": My kids still do this, regardless of age, and I've notice the more randomness of it while I'm pregnant. What they do is kiss me at the most convenient-to-them spot: my arm, my hand, my thigh...you get the picture. When I'm pregnant, though, they like to send greetings to New Baby as well, so they kiss whatever bump on me they feel might contain new baby. When I'm sitting, this often means my bosom is fair game (I'm not sure how they miss the growing stomach, but still). This brings up the subject for another (somewhat humiliating) post: Appropriate Touching of Children to Adults, especially in public. I'm sure I'll be getting to that soon.

Regardless, isn't it interesting? How do you show love to your family and vice versa, and do they know it's a sign of YOUR love for them? Hmmmmm. Let's take a moment to think about it, shall we?

Girl names...

Since we found out we're having a girl, people have started asking if we have a name. The truth is, I do. I've had one since *before* we knew for sure it was a girl, and the first and middle name came to me while driving home from a temple trip in St Louis MONTHS ago, so I feel pretty good about it. J likes it. I like it. A, E, and O are still processing but I'm sure they'll come around.

One of the nice things about it, though, is that for the first time it's not a name that is on ANY top ten names list (that I know of) anywhere...good or bad name lists. This is new for me. When we came up with our three older girls' names, we thought we were being so clever because we named them scripturally...little did we know that other people were loving these names, too. Consequently, when A, E, and O (especially O) go to school, they'll be in classes where there will be SEVERAL girls with the same name to be sure. Ugh. So, I wanted to avoid that. It's also probably why when the name came to me, I was so dang tickled.

Anyhoo, armed with the fact that this name was fairly unique, when people used to ask if we had a name, I'd proudly say, "Yes! It's..." and freely tell them and enjoy basking in the "that's so cute!" that they normally reply (and thanks to those of you who thought the name was gross but humored me anyway). However, that being said, I was reading on a friend's blog the other day and their friends just had a baby and had named the baby MY name...well, a variation of it, but still! Now, truth be told: I have NO idea who these other people are and this particular friend doesn't know that that is my baby's name (and in fact, may not even know I found her blog!), so they did NOT steal the name, but still. How weird is that???? So I've decided to reveal my name on a Need to Know basis only, so forgive me if I'm a little coy about it.

In the meantime, I thought I'd have a little experiment and list some of the names that my girls have come up with for their new sister (or past imaginary friends) and have subsequently named some of their dolls. Do tell if you hear of anyone naming their girls these names.

Names From A: Angel Princess OR Angel Valentine (ugh. Seriously, can you imagine? And of course, A is very fond of both of these potential names) ; Acicia (A-see-see-ya) who is now the name of a doll; Creesha (this was the imaginary friend I was referring to. Seriously, she was part of the family for a while. One day, we were driving home from church and were several blocks away when A started screaming that we'd left Creesha at church and she was running behind the car, frantically trying to catch up with us. No lies, we had to pull the car over, open the door and let Creesha "in" before we could drive on home. I've always admired and had quite the mental image of Creesha pumping her little imaginary legs to get to our car from the church building, because we were probably driving 40 mph...that story still makes me laugh when J and I talk about it).

Names From E: Baby Ondica (On-de-kah) also now a doll's name; Tina Maki (Tina Mah-kee...which sounds like a sushi to me, but still, this was an offering)

Names From O: Ado and Odo (these are the names she calls A and E, so they may not count, but think they are a hoot and had to share).