Wherein a bad mother disfigures her child

I am pretty sure that the pediatrician is going to think I abuse my son. He has a new bruise on his face at least once a week because the kid cannot fall or bump into something without his head taking the blunt of the trauma. He's tough though! So at least there's that.

Last night I was in the basement letting Mason play with toys and trying to entertain Brielle with a rattle and my charm. Mason has one of those cool spring horses and kiddo loves that thing, but he can't get on it by himself, so he just stands on the railing that holds the horse while he pets it and talks to it and whatever. That's what he was doing.

Sesame Street was on the tube but since neither of my kids care one ounce about TV it wasn't really doing any good. (PS. I had this idea that I wouldn't let Mason watch TV until he was three, but then I realized that was crazy talk and I let him watch Sesame Street, Martha Speaks, and Mickey Mouse Playhouse. Problem is, now he won't watch for longer than 10 minutes which is not long enough for me to shower and is it my fault because I wouldn't let him watch before?)

Anyway, he wasn't watching Sesame Street so I went to turn it off, which turned into finding something else for him to watch, which turned into getting distracted by Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure, which turned into him falling off that stupid horse because I wasn't watching for twenty seconds.

I heard a crash and ran around the couch to see him sitting on the ground with blood pouring out of his mouth. And then the crying started, by both of us. I scooped him up, ran upstairs yelling for Tim to help me, got him to the sink and plucked a tooth. Yep. Plucked a tiny baby tooth, root and all, right out of my precious baby's mouth. Then we rushed him to the dentist (Who came in at night, on a holiday, for free! And he even brought two toys because he wasn't sure if he was going to be seeing a boy or a girl. Thanks Dr. Murdock!) where he had another tooth plucked from that darling little mouth. Then the dentist said, "hopefully the third tooth isn't lodged in his gums, keep an eye out for infection." THREE TEETH!

The third tooth wasn't lodged in his gums, I found it on the carpet downstairs. We are hoping that the loss of three teeth doesn't affect his speech development or he may have to get fake baby teeth. Luckily, the loss of three bottom teeth can't do anything to ruin that baby smile.

Finally, a baby blessing

Please note: When shopping for baby blessing dresses you will have the best luck and widest selection if you bless your baby between 0-3 months.

Brielle recieved a blessing from her dad yesterday. It was a beautiful blessing. We had it at my parents' home with the family. She sure has a lot of people that love her. And how couldn't we?

This one is about my mom

Dear Mom,

Last night Tim and I were driving home from visiting his wonderful mother and we were listening to the Zig Ziglar CDs that you gave Tim for his long drive to work. Zig was talking about a man who admired his boss, and he was helping them man understand the qualities that one should possess before they are admired. With each quality he discussed, I tried to think of a person I know that I could admire because of their acquisition of these traits. It wasn't hard for me to think of someone who has them all.

Humor: I know that you try to laugh at yourself, even when you may not want to. It's one of the things that makes you so easy to be around.

Honesty: I've never known you to tell a lie. (Although I do remember you "changing your mind" a few times when I was a kid:)

Friendliness: There is a reason you can never leave the grocery store without a stranger or the checkout girl telling you their life story.

Confidence: Confident and bold and brave. You always seem to know that you are perfectly capable.

Integrity: You know your values and you live them, you don't just pretend.

Persistence: Setting goals and really working on them is a trait that anyone could learn from you.

Humility: I remember the way you always let us play with the kids that some other parents may have shied away from. That really taught me a lot about being humble and recognizing that we are all children of God. And I always had a friend.

Hard Worker: I think this is one thing I admire the most about you. When you see something that needs to be done, you do it. I wish I could learn to just work without talking about it, and putting it off, and then feeling guilty about not doing it sooner, and then rushing through it. I've never known you to be a consistent procrastinator like myself.

Positive Mental Attitude: I never woke up a single morning to a grumpy mom. I've always loved the way you try to set the mood in your house first thing by being outwardly happy. Your positive mental attitude has carried the weight for some very sad kids so many times.

Compassionate: I see the way you visit and pray for the women around you. No one could doubt that you genuinely care about the well-being of everyone you come in contact with.

Faithful: Your testimony in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was the cornerstone of my own testimony for a long time. Your trust in the Lord and his love of all of us is inspiring to me.

Dependable: There have been a million times that I have called and asked you to drop everything and help me. I've taken advantage of your dependability because I always know that you will come through for me.

Loving: I really believe that I have the most loving mother.

Enthusiastic: You have an excitement for life that is contagious.

Patient: I was an annoying kid. Thank you for not letting me know that until I was an adult.

Good Listener: I always had an ear when I got home from school. You know I love to talk. I love that you are always willing to listen.

Character: You are a person of Character. You are trustworthy and fun and all the things listed here and more.

I think my own children will be pretty blessed if I can emulate even half the characteristics that seem to come so easily for you.

I love you,

Crystal

It's been one of those weeks

Have you ever had one of those weeks when things seem to happen exactly the way you could only hope? I hope you have. And I would know exactly how you feel because this has been of those weeks. They followed the weeks of negotiating the worth of the place we lived, lots of stress and prayers, and packing way more than we expected (is that how moving always is? You find all these places to hide stuff that you use once a year and you take a load to DI several times a year so you figure you won't have that must stuff but then you find those hiding places and BAM, you're headed back to Walmart for the fourth time for more large Tupperware containers to hold it and writing ridiculously long sentences about it?).

So here is a list of reasons that this has been a week that has made me so thankful to the wonderful people around me and to the good Lord in Heaven.

I have really cute kids. This one in particular thought that the money in the Easter eggs was way less cool than throwing them across the yard and watching the pennies fly out. He has also multiplied his vocabulary since we moved in with my parents.

I've taken regular showers and eaten some delicious meals and gone on some great walks and had a friend to talk to every day because of this lady.

I got really spoiled on my BIRTHDAY! 26 is the new 19, right?

Got a massage one day, and glitter toes the next with this best friend.

The weather is so nice all of a sudden!

Ate at one of my favorite places in the world, the Idle Isle Cafe. It makes me so nostalgic. Can't we all just be 15-year-old waitresses in our small home towns forever? Would anyone judge me if I worked there a couple of days a week, even though I'm a college grad with two kids, just because I miss it? This is not a rhetorical question.

  

I've also caught up with a friend I've been missing and my little boy finally learned how to hug when he saw how adorable her daughter is. I've done crafts and lots of organizing. I've had some late night conversations with my dad. Also with my relatively new sis-in-law and she's pretty dang cool. I've eaten too much dessert. I've gone on dates! With a hot guy!

I don't deserve all these blessings, but trust me, I'll take them with a thankful heart.

I know, I know, a post with no pictures is no post at all

Change of plans! Again! So, the house we were planning on renting, the one up on the hill with a great deck and views, across the street from a park with swings... that house sold the day before we were supposed to move in. Back up plan! We are now renting my parent's fabulous basement and seriously, this is much better.

So far we have enjoyed the benefits of built-in babysitters, homemade meals made by someone who knows how to cook, a heat blanket on the bed! I mean, come on. It doesn't get better. Plus I have really enjoyed being back in my home town and Tim even admitted that it's growing on him. Music to my ears.

Mason has really had the best time of it. He loves the big house and loves the big yard even more. We cannot keep that kid indoors. He is learning a few new words everyday now, all of a sudden. The adorableness of Mason is never ending.

So, if you happen to know where my parents live, stop by and say hi! And if you happen to see a great deal on the perfect house in the perfect location (you know the one, right?) then let us know.