Welcome to my Life!

I am a stepmom, a biological mom, a wife and very family orientated. 

My journal is set to private however if you would like to be my friend, please feel free to ask and I will add you on. 

Did you ever wonder how the mothers of premature babies are chosen?

Somehow, I visualize God hovering over Earth, selecting his instruments for propagation with great care and deliberation. As he observes, he instructs his angels to take notes in a giant ledger. "Beth Armstrong, son. Patron Saint, Matthew. Marjorie Forrest, daughter. Patron Saint, Celia. Carrie Rutledge, twins. Patron Saint ... give her Gerard. He's used to profanity."

Finally, he passes a name to an angel and smiles. "Give her a preemie."

The angel is curious. "Why this one, God? She's so happy."

"Exactly," smiles God. "Could I give a premature baby a mother who knows no laughter? That would be cruel."

"But does she have the patience?" asks the angel.

"I don't want her to have too much patience, or she'll drown in a sea of self-pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wear off, she'll handle it. I watched her today. She has that sense of self and independence so rare and so necessary in a mother. You see, the child I'm going to give her has a world of its own. She has to make it live in her world, and that's not going to be easy."

"But Lord, I don't think she even believes in you."

God smiles. "No matter, I can fix that. This one is perfect. She has just the right amount of selfishness."

The angel gasps, "Selfishness?! Is that a virtue?"

God nods. "If she can't separate herself from the child occasionally, she will never survive. Yes, here is a woman whom I will bless with a child less than perfect. She doesn't know it yet, but she is to be envied. She will never take for granted a spoken word. She will never consider a step ordinary. When her child says 'mama' for the first time, she will be witness to a miracle and know it. I will permit her to see clearly the things I see – ignorance, cruelty, prejudice – and allow her to rise above them. She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life because she is doing my work as surely as she is here by my side."

"And what about her Patron Saint?" asks the angel, his pen poised in the air. God smiles.

"A mirror will suffice."

The developmental evaluation people just left a little while ago. All in all it went well. They did make a suggestion or two but seemed really impressed with what she was doing. And they loved her big bright eyes and how alert she was. One lady said several times she was well proportioned.

Some things she isn't doing yet.

Reaching for objects
Holding a toy
Following a toy above her head


What she is doing that they seemed impressed with
Her eyes move and her head doesn't when she is tracking
She bounces on her legs and will even stand on them and "dance" with some support
Her sleeping schedule....how knew...I don't think she sleeps enough LOL

What I need to help her with
Putting her on opposite sides of stuff. Apparently she favors the right side and they want me to make sure I do things that make her look left as well. For example I hold her on my left arm so she looks right. We need to mix it up a bit so she isn't always looking right.


So I'm happy to report she doesn't qualify for services. They told me if I had any questions to call and if need be they would come back in and recheck her or they could help me over the phone.

I'm glad that is done, I was a bit stressed over it. But happy to hear things are going as they should.

Ok I came home at lunch today because if I didn't I might be tempted to quit my job. This week been horrible. I am looking forward to the weekend. We are going to New York City this weekend and I'm hoping it changes my mood somewhat.

Actually Friday night I'm going out with a friend and I'm sure that will make my mood a lot better. I haven't seen her in a while and could use some time out.

been in a bad mood this week.

Kelly has been out of the office her basement is flooded. Work been yucky, I have a headache, darn sinuses. That with a few other things going on has made me a big crank.

We have had rain now for a few days straight. Lots of flooded roadways. Took me over 1/2 hour to get home tonight a ride that usually takes 10 minutes. What a mess. And the no sign of the rain letting up until Wednesday or Thursday.

Lots to do today. Happy it is Saturday.

The weekend is almost here and I think I can use it to catch up on sleep. Ya like that will happen. Dear Hubby has been sick all week and not sleeping well, thus neither am I. I think last night I got maybe two hours of sleep and although he stayed home today I went to work dragging my behind.

This weekend is hubby is feeling better he is working on Saturday. I think I’ll get some housework done and have some downtime. I kind of like it when he works overtime because I can do what I want to do. Not that I don’t get to do that when he is home but its me time and that makes a world of difference. Sunday is Mother’s Day and we are taking my mom to a Flea Market. Yes so we can buy some fleas. LOL. She loves to go and I figured what a better gift than to spend the day with her. Also we will take her out for lunch. It should be a pretty relaxed weekend which is good as the next few weekends are going to be a bit crazy. Seems we have those spurts. Relaxing weekend a few crazy weekends and than a relaxing weekend. Oh well. Summer is coming and there will be more crazy weekends than relaxing ones. The last few years I have prayed for winter to come so I could have some weekends at home. Considering I hate the snow that has got to be pretty bad.

Well its Tuesday. Everyone say AHHH now. I’m not sure what is so great about Tuesday but something must be. I get to see my nephew tonight so that is good. See there is a good thing about Tuesday or at least this Tuesday.

There are always two indications to me that summer is on the horizon. Now I know the first thing that comes to most people minds is the warm weather. My indication that summer is coming is not so much the weather but the full calendar. For months now the calendar has been filling up but when I can look at the calendar and see no time off on the weekends for several months I know that summer is just around the bend.

I’m definitely looking forward to this summer events. With several camping trips, family gatherings and a few big celebrations on the horizon I can tell the summer is going to be packed full with things to do. Never a dull moment in this house I tell you.

What an awesome weekend. I couldn’t have asked for a better one. We saw so much of Boston that I had never seen before. The weather was great and it was nice to get away just the two of us for a few days. Leave the stresses of life behind and enjoy each other company. I have no idea how we are going to top this next year for our anniversary. I am thinking it is not going to be easy.

GRRRRRRR

This isn't letting me access anything. All I can do is update but I can't see if you have updated. :(

Until my birthday and than I'll be a year older. UGH. When I was younger I thought by this time I would have a house, a dog and 2.3 kids. LOL. Well now I'll be officially 35 and old. LOL.

Well I got a lot of stuff done Saturday. I was up at 7:30am took out the summer cloths but away the winter stuff. Did a lot of cleaning. Small stuff that no one can see. Like cleaned out our bedroom closet. Got rid of a bunch of stuff. Didn't stop until about 3:00pm just in time for your father to come home.

I didn't sleep good on Saturday night was up about 2am didn't go back to sleep until 4:30am up again at 6am. So I slept most of Sunday. The race had a rain delay so it won't be on until tomorrow. BUMMER.

hmmmm..

nothing really new...nothing to write about...nothing, nothing, nothing

Ok not sure anything is happy about it. Its way too early and raining. I had a good weekend, although didn't get anything done I wanted to. Now I have to go to work. YUCK. We have an audit tomorow double, no triple Yuck.

I was in a really good mood until things hit the fan at work today. I just pissed right now. We were supposed to have a meeting with Mexico today (we being my boss, Kelly and I) and I was the only one who could find time to go. Than it was a big bitch session and we have to reschedule anyways. So what is the point?

I want to go home and work on website tonight or maybe tomorrow night. I’m not sure. I just want to do some updates and such. Put up some new pictures etc. I did put up the NY pictures last night but want to change the site itself. I have an idea on how to update a few things that I want to try. So we shall see. Maybe it will work maybe it won’t.

Well the trip to NY was nice. I would do it in two days again in a heartbeat, if we could afford it. It broke up the ride and didn't seem like we were in the car forever. We stopped at a few Walmarts, Howes Carverns and an Indian Museum on the way down. Got to NY about 7pm on Friday. Saturday we went around looking at campgrounds for the new camper. Not very exciting but I was happy to spend time with your grandparents.

Looks like the Wisconsin trip may be off this year. Apparently they can't get a hold of Tony. Your grandparents are talking of coming down in June to visit with the new camper. That will be good. So you will see them soon.

Other than that nothing new really. Got home after 7pm last night. Was happy to sleep in my own bed.

Hope you have a good week. Talk to you later.

Both of us were sick most of the weekend. I have never slept so much in my life. Didn't even get out of bed yesterday. Today we had to go to Sharon's and pick up the club house. She was cleaning house and wanted to throw it away. So that is sitting in Scott's cellar. That was the highlight of my weekend. NOT.

Things are going well. I'm getting excited between the trip to Vermont this weekend and than going to NY for Easter. Plus May calendar is full with our anniversary and the trip to New York City. I just can't believe it. I've been in such a good mood lately. Tons to look forward to. The summer is almost here and our summer calendar is pretty full. A few camping trips, a bunch of family events. Life is good.