Eleventween

Blessing dress by Mom. Blessing blanket by Great-Grandma Elkington. Blessed April 2000.

It's really hard or me to believe that I became a Mom 11 years ago! I mean, I remember a lot about being pregnant with my first baby and all of the drama we went through coupled with the miracle that all babies truly are. And here we are 11 years later and there is still a lot of drama and still a lot of miracles.

Becca age 2

This year of Becca's life was significantly toned down from the years directly previous. We went from seizures every day and at least one big one every week to no seizures at all. She has had mixed blessings come with being more aware of herself. She's more aware of the things that she likes (us, music, etc.), but also more aware of the things she doesn't like (chaos, physical discomfort). She used to just sort of exist in this state of placidness. Seizures were these rude little monsters giving her an unexpected re-boot that totally threw us all for a loop. We know how blessed we are to have the Ketogenic diet work for her.

She is quicker to smile these days. She is happier, like giddy, giggly, joyfully happier. Her happiness and her smiles last far longer than they ever did before, too.

Becca age 11 Great-Grandma Sagers age 92 :)

She's also been a lot warmer this winter! It kind of hit me one day that jeans are about the dumbest winter-wear for Becca there ever was. They don't hold out any of the cold nor do they hold in any of the warmth. Other than being trendy, there's really no use for them in Becca's winter wardrobe. She has a couple of fleece pants from Old Navy, etc. and I had the thought that I could make some more. In steps Grandma Lee with her fairy dust and made her several pairs of the cutest fleece pants ever! With matching hoodies to boot! And speaking of boots, another addition this year, are the Ugg knock offs that turned out to be the best investment I ever made for calf and ankle warmth. I was always worried about getting them on and off and having them stay on. Turns out, she has just enough flexibility to get them on and just enough ridgidness to hold them on! Win-win!

Becca after school January 2011, hair re-do by Gracie

We hope we made this year enjoyable for you, BeccaBug! We love you SO much and are blessed to have you in our family. Please forgive us for our shortcomings and we'll keep doing our best to help you enjoy your life and feel loved and be comfortable.

P.S. Next time I write a birthday post, I will post it, instead of saving it until I found more pictures and posting it a month late! :)

I'm still here!

As you may or may not have noticed, I tend to have blog constipation. I wait and only write about the big stuff that happens. :D I guess you could say I have IBS... Irritable Blog Syndrome. But I so love reading other people's blogs about all the little day to day stuff, too. So, here is my offering of Ex-Lax (and my last unattractive metaphor!) and this post isn't about anything! :D

I have felt like I'm floating lately. I'm on a river, so I'm still going in some direction or another, but I don't feel like I am taking an active roll in propelling myself down the river. Pregnancy has really slowed me down, and not that it shouldn't, but my life seems to have only two speeds... really fast and really slow. The last weeks of school were insane! I ran around to 2 different schools to dance festivals and plays and delivering teacher gifts and all the while shuttling the littlest 2 in a 2-40 air conditioned van... 2-55 if I was really in a hurry! ;) And now that everybody's home I don't want to go anywhere, I don't want to do anything, I just want to sit with my feet in the kiddie pool and eat popsicles. :D

I have found, to my great surprise, that my kids can work with proper motivation and I'm not SO behind on housework as I was in previous weeks. They can be really quite charming if they are rewarded sufficiently and hopefully punished less. :D I am of course saying this after the "Bedroom Coup of the Beginning of the Week." Their room was a Disaster area with a very capital D! Clothes everywhere mingling dirty with clean, purses, necklaces, dollies, hair elastics... you name it and it was on the floor in there. And it happened much in the way a tornado does. It had been clean for what I'll call several weeks, but was really closer to a week and a half when all of a sudden the laundry bags exploded everywhere! It might have something to do with them breaking the PVC framework for the laundry sorter and the bags then slouching to the floor. After asking nicely and giving them helpful hints (why don't you pick up everything yellow first?) it wasn't getting any better, so I invaded! I kicked them outside to play and cleaned the room myself, stashing favorite books and toys and even a couple of clothing items in bags with their names on them. Since then they have had to earn back the things the invading army took by doing jobs for the general. :D Geoff and I decided that they'll do it until they get their most favorite stuff back and then they'll lose interest and then to D.I. will go the spoils of war. :D Some day it might even be their own idea to keep it clean! For now, they don't get read to at night unless everything is picked up and hopefully they'll get into a better routine.

I hate seizures! I don't even want to go into it, but I hate them so bad I can taste it in my mouth! :P Blech!!

I wish I had time to write! I've always said that if I made it a priority I could go all the way and love every minute of it. BUT I also know that if I did make it a priority, it would selfishly climb to the very top of the list and push out things like clean dishes and clean clothes and reading to my kids and walking to the park and cooking nutritious meals. And so, it sits comfortably under those things for now waiting for me to give it the time and focus it needs to really become something. Someday before I die, I hope for you to have a copy of a book on your bookshelf that I wrote and that you actually enjoyed reading. :)

So, here's to enjoying a paddleless canoe ride down a lazy river once in a while. Here's to letting things slide a little sometimes as long as I eventually get back in gear and get things done. Here's to kiddie pools and popsicles. And here's to motherhood not being perfect, but being memorable and fun and well worth the journey!