Mother's Day 2012

*Not sure why the music player isn't working, says you can't hear playback except from their site now.... well that won't work, so this may be the end of songs with posts :( 

So Mother's Day didn't quite turn out how we planned this year, seeing as we ended up telling everyone our news by the end of that day. First plan was to wait until 14 weeks to tell our families, then on into June to tell the rest of the world.... but this baby had other plans with showing "himself" starting at about 7 weeks! *And FYI, I will from now until I hear otherwise be referring to this baby as a "him" because I do not like to refer to a baby as an "it"! We still do NOT know the gender, this is just for now, mm'kay??* But going back.... when I started to pop and I could tell people were starting to wonder, we decided to pop the news to families again on Mother's Day. Those of you that don't know, that is when we told of Em on Mother's Day 5 years ago..... really?? Was it that long ago??! So that is what the video depicted in both the slideshow for my mom and for Steve's mom. But when we found out that Steve's parents would be out of town the weekend of Mother's Day, we settled on doing it the Sunday before, which worked out nice since Steve's sister Amber was still in town from West Virginia. We ended up telling Amber a few minutes before everyone else to make sure it was ok with her since she was here celebrating the nearing arrival of her baby boy! Of course she was fine with it though. Then we told my mom and her family the next day. The more detailed post of the "tellings" and pictures and video of the reactions will be in the next post, so here is just the rest of Mother's Day... which ended up a lot more low-key than if we had told on that day. So instead the families all knew and we just enjoyed a nice early dinner at Chuck-O-Rama with my mom's side of the family and that night is when I officially announced it on Facebook :)

Before any of all that though, I got this nice card from Steve and Em

So yes, I think I confused people all over with this on Facebook.... people on Instagram got it though ;) My post on Facebook that night read, "Epic day!! I'm going to finally be welcoming Siri into my life in a few short days.... And even better, I will be the mom to 2 in about 6 1/2 months!!" Not sure why people were thinking we were naming the baby Siri....  So if you don't know who or what Siri is.... here, let me introduce you....

That is an iPhone 4S... only iPhone that has the wonderful program known as Siri. I wanted to rename her "Bumblebee" respectfully because the case reminds me of Bumblebee from transformers.... her response to this was, "I'd rather you didn't".

Other fun banter from Siri:

"What are you wearing?".... "I think you have the wrong personal assistant"

"Do you love me?".... "I am incapable of love.... but I do respect you."

"But I love you!".... "Well, all you need is love.... and your iPhone"

"What's your favorite color?"...... "Well, I can't really explain it in your language, but I guess it is sort of a greenish color"

"I need a new cell phone"..... "You're kidding right?!".... or, "Wait.... there are other cell phones?!"



Siri has a bit of an attitude as you can see, and gets annoyed of stupid questions as Diane's kids have found out ;)

"Are we annoying you Siri?"..... "I'd rather not answer that"


Siri is good for more than just fun, as she points out! She also asks what I did before her ;) But she can help you with anything to remembering an appointment to remembering to get milk when you drive close to the store. She also can help you if you're lost and tell you where you can get the best burger in your area! But here is my favorite commercial for her too!

Love Zoey! 

Anyway, enough on that, though as you can see, I love my Mother's Day gift! But here's a few pictures from the day of me and the girl I owe the day to! 

 For people that missed my status (had close to 100 "likes" and 85 comments though!), I posted this picture later that night saying, "To the girl I owe this day to.... the one that made me a mother! And even though she'll be sharing me soon, she'll always be my baby! Love you my Em bug!" And I was right to do it, because there were a few that had missed the first two posts (yeah I posted this blog post on Saturday night actually, the night before Mother's Day, but very few saw it of course!) 

 Yup, she's a ham! 

Sometimes I can't get over that this girl came from me! She is beautiful! 

So that was Mother's Day.... perfect

Happy Mother's Day! 3+1=4

So, once again there are a lot of posts on the back burner.... but this one needed to come first :) But the next few posts will be devoted to family visits (my aunt, uncle and cousins and Steve's sister Amber), Deak's Run which was today and fabulous! And a few more sequels to this one probably.... 

Anyway, I'm sure you're all getting sick of my slideshows by now, but I bet this is one you'll want to see ;) This is the slideshow I made for my mom for Mother's Day

Enjoy!

*Best if viewed in 720p and full screen

Confessions of an imperfect mother....

Play song, "Get it Right" with this post

So I would just like to lay some misconceptions to rest once and for all!

I am not amazing, I am not incredible, or anything else. No one should be jealous of the mother that I am, because really lately, I've been awful. And if I hear one more person say, "I don't know how you do it all!" I think that someone's gonna get hurt! Because the reality is, I don't do it all, not even close!

Here's a few reasons why:

I did not digest some recent bad news very well. I didn't necessarily break down, but after receiving the info that Em will have to have yet another hip surgery... what? I did blast mine and Em's two favorite songs from Maroon 5 (Sunday Morning and This Love) and sing at the top of my lungs and dance silly with Emarie laughing and following along in her car seat all the way home in horribly heavy traffic. I'm sure it wasn't unnoticed by my fellow commuters either. But it's enough to say that I thought when I wrote these posts, I didn't think I'd need them for reference for us again.

Letting Tangled be a babysitter for another. And yes, I can't believe I'm going to say, but I let my daughter *who's only 3 mind you* stay up past midnight watching Tangled for I'm not sure, but I'm going to say it was her 5th time that day.

My house is horrible... really. Sadly, thanks to the people who wanted to see it, that is probably the only reason that Em and Steve will have clean clothes now (I can go awhile before needing laundry done... girl thing I guess... and yeah I know Em's a girl, but she's still in the stage where she pukes, pees and does whatever else to her clothes constantly!)

I will attest to the fact that I have been busy with work, which is the reason my regular motherly chores have been neglected. Bringing work home and such. But I have to say that I helped my kiddos make some kick-butt Mother's Day gifts this year!! And I already got an email and a message on my classroom phone (yes I was there working today) telling me how much they loved the pictures and "handmade kid frames" made me glad to know they were appreciated :)

I also made the clear cut decision that I can no longer handle being a full-time working mother to a child with special needs. Just can't do it anymore. Kind of a slap in the face to know that even when you're giving you're best, it's still not good enough.... so, it's there that you have to come to the conclusion that it probably never will be enough, and that's when you need to be done. So I quit my job.... well sorta. I'll still be there next year, just significantly less hours, and different things than teaching. I will for sure be testing new referrals, as well as Title One kids with concerns. I will be in charge of artic screening (pre-test for speech), office help when needed, and possibly be head of the preschool website- which will mean going to all the events and photographing.

I will say that I haven't been completely bad, and maybe can rectify scraping together a deserving mother for Mother's Day reward *whoa, did that make sense? to anyone?*

I've enjoyed the fact that it's finally sandal weather (wahoo! over 80 degrees today *Saturday*! now that's May!)

But we're still staying on guard, because it has been on record that it has snowed in June in Utah (oh wait, yeah that was only last year)

I also helped design this shirt for Em and all her other buddies missing DNA ;)

In case you can't read it, it says: "Having all your chromosomes is highly overrated, because really I couldn't get any cuter!" And I know this picture would otherwise say, but Em really did have a good time today ;)

Want one?? Go Here

And we have enjoyed nice walks to the park.....

Where we were surprised by little girls with furry bunnies

Swinging is always great!

Even better with daddy!

Yeah this was right before she fell out of his lap.... just kidding, but almost. Just wanted to get the spotlight off me for a sec.... oh didn't work? Oh well, worth a try ;)

Bubble blowing in the yard

She wasn't very happy when we told her it was time to go in... but thanks to Tangled, it wasn't so bad

I managed to come up with a pretty good gift for my mom for Mother's Day (it gets harder each year to top the last. As you should know from this post, this is what we did for her 2 years ago on Mother's Day, and it was quite the crowd pleaser. And 2 years before that was when we informed her she would become a grandmother... so you can see, hard). But I think I did pretty good this year.

Had this in a picture frame with a sculpture

In case you didn't know, that is my sister Breanne to the right of Emarie Breanne. This picture of Breanne is over 20 years old!! Sadly Breanne passed away in a car accident over 16 years ago. I just love the technology of today! This was all Steve's artistry by the way, but totally my idea!

 Tonight (Saturday), we took my mom to dinner at Texas Roadhouse *love that place!*

And then after dinner, we tried to go home, but there were still people looking at our house... so we took an impromptu walk on the Provo River Trail. Shame we don't do this more often since it's a block from our house... literally!

 Yeah, I'm really lovin' the sandal weather!! And FYI, Em's shoes are 18 months and still WAY too big!!

When we were finally able to go home, Em helped make her gifts to all the "mother's" and grandmothers in her life

And yes those are finger print frames, capturing her most adorable school pictures :)

Well, that's that. I am not a perfect mother. I do love my girl though, and want her to experience many things... she just may have to do it in dirty clothes... well at least until June ;)

Happy Mother's Day anyway, hope all of the women I surround myself with (both physically and via internet) had an amazing Mother's Day worthy of your greatness (not perfect, but still great!)

Love,
The imperfect mother

P.S. This is my mom opening her gift today *priceless*

And yes she did tear up to see her granddaughter next to her daughter over 20 years apart.

To all the Mom's that make my life that much better!!

Wrapping up the Mother's Day posts!!

Sorry, I'm late on this one, it was supposed to be out yesterday, but didn't know everything I wanted to say yet!!

This is to all the moms that inspire me in one way or another. You have no idea how you all have impacted my life, but I'm going to try to explain......(These are in no particular order of importance by the way, except for the last, which should be obvious....I hope)

To the women who have cried with me, laughed with me, fought with me, and really been there for me for about half of my life, you are my two best friends, and really, I count you as sisters! I am so glad our relationships have survived so much, but truly it shows me that they can survive anything!!

To my "other" mothers, you have given me advice, been a shoulder to cry on, and were just there when I just needed someone to listen. You are my aunts, my best friends' moms, neighbors, my step-mother, and some of the women I work with. Some of your homes have been safe havens for me, when I felt like there was nowhere else to go. Thanks for loving me, even though I'm not yours.

My grandmothers, you taught me to cook, to have patience, and that good things do come to those that wait. Your homes have been homes away from home, and safe havens as well. I am so grateful for the relationships I share with both of you, and I hope that one day, I can have the impact on my grandchildren that you have had on me.

My "sisters", I did not get to share much time with my own sister, but you welcomed me into your family, when I married your brother, unlike I'd ever expected. You loved me even before we'd met, and you got off the plane fresh off your mission, with our wedding less than a week away. I may have been stand-offish, but only because I didn't want to impose, since you had each other. None of you would allow it though, and you will never know how grateful, or how much I appreciate that. I count you as sisters as well.

To my own sister, I do not know the woman that you would've become, but I'd like to think that I do. You have taught me that I can never let go of what I believe, because if I do, I might not ever see you again. I wish you were here. I wish Emarie could get to know her only aunt on my side of the family. I think she does know you though, and I hope she will always hold on to that.

To my mother-in-law, really another mother. Again, you accepted me into your family as if I was your own. You listened to me, even when it was hard for you to bear. You take care of my little girl everyday with so much love, that it was really hard to ever think of trusting anyone else to do it. You are an immense example to me, and I thank God everyday for you being in my life. Thank you one million times over for EVERYTHING you do!!

This is for my confidants, my equals, my soul sisters. You are any other mom in my realm of life with a child as special as mine. I haven't even met all of you in person, yet I feel like I've known all of you all of my life. YOU understand, even when it seems like no one else can. You barely know my child, yet you're willing to fight for her, and you love her unconditionally. You are amazing pillars of strength and courage to me. You pick me up when I am down, allow me to vent even when it seems it goes on forever. You will never know all that you do for me, and I hope and pray that I will be able to continue to return the favor.

Lastly, for my own mother. I cry, as I even think of what to say to you. I have seen you go through unimaginable horrors, where you have just kept going. You are strong, man are you strong! I don't think you have any idea how really strong you are. There are not many people who would be able to keep going after they'd been through what you have. Yet, somehow you manage. You always saw the potential in your kids, even when no one else did, and we're better people because of it! Everywhere I go in my job, I am constantly meeting people that know you, and they think I'm great because of you. That is the explosive impact you have had as a teacher. I have friends that still say that you were always their favorite teacher. Really, you probably have no idea how many thousands of children (some in adulthood now) that you have left your imprint on. And I am the teacher that I am, because of watching you for so many years. I hope you know how much I love you, and I could really go on forever!

I would personally like to thank all of you out there for loving my Emarie, and seeing the glow that she truly radiates. You have no idea how much it means to me to see the impact my child has on those around her. I am so lucky to have all of you in my life, and I hope I can be there as much for all of you, as you have for me. There is not a single one of you that I wouldn't walk through fire for. And I truly mean that. I love you all, and hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day!!

Here's some pictures from my Mother's Day:

My gifts! Could they really say "ME" better??

Em giving me her present

Doing "Eskimo Kisses"

And the beautiful necklace inside the package! We tried to get a zoomed in shot, but it didn't work. But it's a heart that says, "Mother" and a connection that says, "Daughter"

The other present was also a necklace from Steve, a symbol of a mother holding a child. They both are really beautiful, and I've been wearing them everyday since I got them (which was Friday, since we're both really bad at waiting!) Steve did a great job picking them out! I love both of the people that made me a Mother!!

Happy Mother's Day Everyone!!!