“Mama Can You Hear Me?”
Mothers everywhere I implore you. Heed the toot! Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security by repeatedly unproductive toots. If your child has not “deposited” in two days, yet has been tooting up a storm, do not assume that last toot you just heard was unproductive! Children have a way of lulling us into a false sense of security by making major loud “uncle craig” style toots. Then comes the moment, you’re having a lovely cuddle on the couch. Baby is sleeping peacefully on your chest, full belly, quietly breathing, and suddenly… a slight movement… “toot” … not one of those big burley toots being ripped over the last few hours… but a nice, gentle lady like toot. You sit for a moment and realize you’d best get your other child a drink of water (since she’s been begging you for the last three minutes from her high chair). As you get up, you think you might feel a little moisture, but it’s been hot & muggy and you’ve been sweaty, so you go to lay the baby in the cradle. As you are looking at that darling angelic face you see a bit curry colored substance on your arm and realize… yes, the baby has had a MAJOR blow out! Not just a little blow out, or average blow out, not even a more than average blow out… but a blow out to beat all blow outs! As you carry her to the kitchen (instead of the bathroom because there is less carpet between you and the kitchen than you and the bathroom, and closer to the baby bath tub) you begin to realize that there is blow out on your shirt, and your shorts and you scream to your husband for assistance. As you try to extract your child from their clothing, without making it worse… you make it worse! Not only does your baby get a “curry smear” all the way up their back, on the back of their arms but it even goes into their hair. What you also at first fail to realize is that it has dribbled down your baby’s leg and at least a quarter of a cup of curry sauce has hit the floor! Taking care to avoid the puddle, while laughing your head off in amazement, you order your husband to get the camera… no one will believe how bad it was!!! 
(it’s unfortunate you can’t see it as well in the photo as it was in person!)
After tag team rinsing the baby off, and then giving a very thorough bath, your husband disinfects/sanitizes the kitchen counter, sink and floor while you lotion and redress your darling, once again lovely smelling, angel. And so begins an evening of laundry!!! :) One more round and I get to go to bed. Night night all!!!
HIP-HIP-HOORAY, I DECLAIR IT’S JAMMY DAY!
Sometimes it hits me… Hey, I’m the mom!
Vienna is a happy little girl, most of the time. She however doesn’t like to get dressed without playing the run away game. On mornings I’m feeling tired, which basically is most mornings right now, this does not amuse me… then it hit me… hey, why do we have to get dressed anyway? Her jammies are clean, she just slept in them, no accidents, no peanut butter sandwich down the front, or spilled milk like her clothes get during the day. Just sleep “dirt” which is what? Not much in my estimation. Therefore, I have declared it Jammie Day! I mean, her jammies cover her just as well, if not better than her clothes. So who cares? Well, my mom, but her jurisdiction over me has gotten gray since I got married and had kids of my own. YES! 
***insert maniacal laughter*** The power is intoxicating… maybe we’ll have ice cream for lunch!
To You Oh Lord- Ziva’s Dedication
I’m really embarrassed at how much I’ve cried over the last two years. Suddenly I tear up over just about anything that could be considered touching! I mean really, I cry at commercials, when I read scripture, when I just look at my rose garden and think oh isn’t that beautiful and tear up! It’s ridiculous! Something has happened to me now that i am a mom. Originally I blamed it on pregnancy hormones, but I didn’t get a break from it in between my girls, so, it just must be the new me! But what I don’t understand is why more mom’s and dad’s don’t tear up dedicating their babies. Think about it… it’s the first step in letting go of your kids, the first moment you say, Ok Lord this is out of my hands and fully in Yours. Not that His hands aren’t the most trustworthy place in all existence for your babies to be, but still… the enormity of that statement to me is a huge deal. I know that it may mean that some day he calls one of my girls to live over seas, far away from me, and as much as I don’t ever want to live far away from my girls, I do want them to follow Him. But since I have lived far from my family, and at present have family living over seas, I guess maybe I realize a bit more what it could mean in the future. I try not to borrow tomorrows troubles but at moments like a Dedication it’s hard not to see what could come. 
Pastor Jerry is a family friend and he did Ziva’s dedication blessing, which was sooo nice, and we are so glad he was able to do it. He’s also good at helping by cracking jokes! He did however resist joking about Ziva’s dress :) and what I like to refer to as her “Flying Nun Sleeves!” 
I found this dress in Good Will. It is sooo beautiful. Someone went through a lot of work to make it and I just thought it was sooo very sweet. (It doesn’t show up so very well in this photo, mabye I’ll have to take a photo of it on the hanger to show). Then I found the white booties at Carter’s (the ones that were made with the dress were waaaayy too big for Ziva). I did not try the dress on Ziva until the night before her dedication (as I was too busy adding bling/beads to it so that she could sparkle! I mean really, when you are being presented to a King you need to be beautiful and have some bling!!!) Anyway… I didn’t realize how HUGE the sleeves were going to look against her head ha ha ha… but I still loved the dress on her :) Though it was a bit warm in church (usually the a/c keeps us all feeling mostly cold, not this last few weeks though!) so we had to take the dress off her rather early!
To add to my tearfulness I must confess that we had a rough morning. Not only have I been a bit sleep deprived, but several things that were supposed to happen kinda fell apart… we were late which added to it all and … well, I’m not handling stress so very well… but hey, nothing that huge or important (it just felt like it at the time!) So just prior to service starting I had a bit of a major meltdown (hence no makeup left!)
Times like these it also hits me however, how blessed I truly am! I waited many long years to find my Sam, and he is more wonderful than I could have possibly imagined! And that we have such a fabulous live, and two beautiful daughters, well, that makes me cry too!! So you see, I can’t win for loosing as far as the crying goes, but I figure hey… sometimes crying is a good thing!! 
HAPPY BIRTHDAY VIENNA!!!
Two years old… I can’t believe Vienna is already two years old!!! We had a fabulous birthday celebration! 
Uncle Matt and Auntie Es spent the night, so it was a great treat to her to find them here when she got up in the morning. (which came all to early for me let me tell you!) In the morning she got a Mini Mouse “back pack” and inside the small little pouch she got some “chappy”
(she is currently obsessed with Chap Stick! so I broke down and got her a stick of her very own… all natural so when she over indulges or actually eats it the effects wont be sooo bad! ha ha ha). Her lips will never get a chance to be chapped! ha ha ha… She carried her Mini Pack with her all morning.
We spent the morning at Silver Creek Falls with Uncle Matty and Auntie Esther (who is here visiting from Ukraine).
Vienna did great hiking down and back up from the South Falls (we made it all the way past the bridge at the bottom). The weather was PERFECT~! After our little hike we went over to the play structure to have lunch… I packed everything for ham sandwiches… except the bread! Thankfully I had a PB&J for Vienna already made, so she was able to eat. The rest of us had Soda, Oreo’s and Dorito’s for lunch!!
After our adventure we came home and had a family party for Vienna. Ziva slept through the whole party (well, until the cake was served!) so that was a very good thing for me as I got to participate in everything and it all ran smoothly! (well, except Es had to hand wash dishes because I forgot to turn on the dishwasher before we left, oh, and the same with glasses… yeah, recognize a pattern here!??!! still not back on my “mental” game!!) Vienna had great fun, she loved all her gifts.
Auntie Es got her an ice cream cake from DQ (one of the things on her “list of things I’d like to do while in the U.S.”) and decorated it with an Elmo and Dorothy :) (It’s actually a bath toy where the water washes the dirt spots off of Elmo, but no matter, it was actually clean! ha ha) and the cake was a huge hit, though Vienna was a bit confused about having the cake be cold! Until she realized it was ice cream, then it didn’t take long to eat it And we had spaghetti for dinner (Vienna’s favorite).
My big girl was so tired by the end of the day she didn’t even put up a fuss!!!
I was equally tired… still am
Nostalgia!
Nostalgia, today I got an email from a friend recalling memories of Ferrell’s Ice Cream Parlors. They were a Portland Oregon original, I didn’t know that they had them anywhere else in the country but apparently at one time they had 130 parlors! (now they are back down to three… one in the L.A. area and two in Hawaii). It was a fantastical place for a kid to go! The people all wore old fashioned shirts and straw hats, the tables were printed with old newspaper prints, there was ice cream ice cream and more ice cream, lots of pomp and noise… they would bang a drum, set off a siren and sing loudly for any birthday, anniversary, or other such event. There was even a bowl of ice cream you could order that two people carried out on a stretcher because it was soooo big!!! (like party size!) Then there was the GINORMOUS (thats enormous on top of gigantic) candy shop filled with old fashioned candies… suckers as HUGE as your head (and half my body when i was a kid!) twirlly suckers, jars upon jars of jaw breakers (some almost as big as my head!!) Oh the amazing-ness of Farrell’s. Sadly they are no longer in the Portland area, and apparently the family is out of the business now and it is in the hands of others… but my fond memories of the few times we were able to go for those special treats will forever be in my memory. Thanks Kathleen for reminding me!!
That begs the question.. what will Vienna and Ziva think back on when they have kids of their own and lament the loss of their “nostalgic” place? What will they remember as great fun, and fantastical? What memories can I create for my little ones? Yesterday was Vienna’s 2nd birthday (but we couldn’t all get the family together until tomorrow so we are celebrating tomorrow). I can’t wait for her to have her little family party! I’m ready to decorate and make it a special time, even if it is just a cake and a few presents… after all, that’s more than she needs! I’ll post about it on Monday.
We’ll also go to the beach sometime in the next two weeks with Auntie Es and Uncle Matt while Es is here from Ukraine. The beach has always been a special place to me, and I hope it will become a special place to my girls! There is just something about the grandeur of the ocean that leaves no doubt there is a divine creator in control of everything!!
For now, I’m off to try to just get us dressed for the day ha ha ha… and then Mimi (grandma christoff) will come and watch the girls while I shop for groceries and party supplies… gotta at least have a few streamers!)
Hope your day is full of memories today!!
