A Family Resemblance

I am sure most of us have stories of being told you look like Uncle So and So, oh, you have Auntie What's Her Bucket's nose... It is a natural human instinct to try and find where we belong. In a culture that values community over all else, this becomes incredibly important. Knowing who is family and who is not, was life and death not so very long ago. I was astonished a few years ago. I had been attending a large gathering for people who work with the Native American communities and chatting with someone. When she found out what my tribal affliation was, she looked long and hard at me and said, "You look like a..." and blurted out the name of my maternal grandfather, I was impressed, but not too much, because anytime I go home, I get pegged for looking just like my family all the time. (Oh you must be a..., you look just like them) But then the young woman continued to gaze at me and said, but you also look like a.... Then I was really impressed because she had pinpointed my maternal grandmother's line. Wow. I realized the ability to distingush families and resemblances is most likely a culturally taught concept.

Dang! Ain't I cute? And I can see why some people have wondered if I had some sort of Asian blood.
I was really surprised when our Little Man arrived and I thought he looked very much like me and my family.


I suppose I shouldn't have been too surprised, his tribe is one of the ones that neighbors my tribe, I am sure we share more than just a few alleles.
No one ever asks me if my boy is adopted, besides being a bit browner than the other kids, he fits right in, looks wise.*



My Little Pea has entered an age where she reminds me greatly of her mommy. I find my self shifting back and forth in time as I play with her, feeling as if I am back 22 years and then shifting back to the present. Tell me what you think....





And now. On to the minor crisis of the moment. Poor Girlfriend, she mourning the fact June Bug looks just like her daddy!



Girlfriend is blonde and was a tow headed youngster, all of her siblings are blonde. So to look at this sweet baby and see dark where she had supposed she would see light has been a shock.



She was warned though. Bald Man told her that I have domineering genes and to give up hope the child would look like her. June Bug got Girlfriend's pouty lips, but the rest is all us.

*Not that I care, really. But adoption has so many issues revolving around loss, and one of the things adoptees mourn is loss of family resemblance.

Don't Let Your Kids Look!

I was over at Granny's and she had a widget you can click on and find out what your blog is rated.

Check it out!



Yup, me, your local Mormon lady was rated R for the use of the word poop 6x, gay 4x and crap 1x. I hate to say it, I guess my life is not G rated, although my mouth is.
Eliza is hatefully, terribly amused by this. Her blog was only rated PG. Guess the stupid rater missed her use of the "f" word just a few entries back. All I have to do is say the word "poop" to send her into peals of laughter. So, whatever, don't believe the blog rater, they don't know crap and I say, POOP on them.
And it is Mountain Monday, although my lil' bloggies, I am not as happy as I usually am. We had an emergency run to the Ped's office yesterday since Little Man's eye was tearing, swollen and had some eye boogers. He has pink eye. He is home today. Any hope of accomplishing anything today is pretty much out the window. Ah, so goes life.
Instead of listening to me whine, I will regal you with pictures of my life. Here goes:

The Mountains. That snow is ALL gone. But the mountains outside my window continue to be beautiful.


On friday, Girlfriend and Oldest Son brought the newest member of our family over.
Her daddy is hopelessly gone on his daughter and she quiets to the sound of his voice and his touch.


Girlfriend looking so very good!


There was much fighting with Little Man and the Pea over the new baby. Who ever was holding the June Bug was happy and the other was howling. That was fun! (not!)


There is no doubt this baby is loved.

This Law Applies to Everyone

I was, um... indisposed this morning when a mighty thunder of fists was applied to my front door. This caused my birdy to squawk loudly. I quickly pulled up my pants ran to the front door, only to find a friendly neighborhood police man standing there. My first thought was "oh my gosh, what has JJ done now?" But no, thank goodness, I guess, it wasn't JJ.
Many long centuries ago, Sir Newton made note of a law, and whether we like it or not, it applies to all of us.
So what happens when this:
is being driven too quickly through our apartment parking lot and meets this?:



Your votes are being tabulated and counted....

According to Sir Issac Newton, this is what happens...



Ah yes, Mr. Police Officer, who disappointingly enough wasn't even hot, was there to tell me we had been in an accident while our van was parked. Sigh. Stupid kid, he hit TWO other cars with much less damage on their bumpers and then plowed into the side of my van. I think he will be okay, he was sitting up, but he did hit his head quite badly. I am just glad it seems like no one was hurt badly or killed. But it did kind of start my day out badly.
And my husband? Geez, that man just scares me sometimes. Our van was parked right out side our apartment, just across the lot. There was a four wheeler plowed into the side of it. It was hit hard enough that it pushed the back end of the van clear across the parking space. It had happened when Bald Man was walking out to his van to go to work. But! Did he notice? Nope he did not notice a large four wheeler smushed into the side of my van. He did see the bloody boy who did it, but didn't notice the van. I wonder about him sometimes.
Thank goodness for me, there is a ribbon of sweetness woven through each of my days. Behold!

Little Man and June Bug:


And her royal Sweetness


That is all.

She's Here!

Her Royal Highness The June Bug came into the world in the wee hours last night. Her final uterine act was to keep EVERYONE up all night. Hopefully that will be the last of her little dramas. She weighs 6 lbs 12 oz.
Wow what a night! I went over to the hospital about nine last night and was immediately put to work as labor support. Girlfriend did an incredible job. If you had bet me money I would have said there was NO way she could/would have done an induced labor for as long as she did, unmedicated. But she did. The other grandma helped in the laboring department and I must say, the two grandmas rocked the house. Girlfriend was sorely afraid the two of us would fight with each other. With good reason. Other grandma is a nurse and me as a midwife, and we are both outspoken and well, yeah, Girlfriend's fears were not unfounded. But the day was all about the Girlfriend and both grandmothers not just comported themselves with dignity, but with compassion and love. By the end, we were hugging and crying together. June Bug had some troubles getting her breathing together and had to spend a couple of hours in the nursery being watched, but she eventually decided to behave and breath well. I am so proud of my son and the way he lovingly supported the mother of his child through her very long labor. Dang, I am proud of both of them. I had kept saying how much I wanted June Bug to inherit her mommy's luscious lips and guess what? She did! Look at those pouty lips. Can NOT wait to smother them in kisses.
Here is one of the new family



And this picture proves how much I love you, my bloggy darlings. I am willing to post a very unflattering first picture of the Grandma and her new grand daughter.



Please do not try to tell I look fine, if you tell me I look just fine, I am going to start wearing a paper bag on my head so I don't have to torture people with my mug. Not a good picture of me, but it is a very good picture of how very much I love this dear little person already. I am blessed.

Aaaaahhhhh!

Oh save me please. Little Man is home sick with a nasty cold, today is the second day and I am trying very hard to be a good mommy, but by last night, when Bald Man got home, I was soooo outa here.
Yesterday sucked and I am hoping for a better day today, but we shall see.
On top of Little Man being home, the Princess and her Pea were over too. Princess has a kidney infection, bad cold and fever, Pea just has the nasty cold. But after taking care of three people yesterday with Pea and Little Man at their incessant best, I was done people, done! Today Princess has another fever and so does Pea. I am hoping I will not be asked to do any rescuing, because I am not sure I have it in me today.
AND! The big news, Girlfriend is currently hooked up to Pitocin, (do not ask me how I feel about it, since you do NOT want to hear my tirade about western medicine and childbirth) and since she is quite favorable for an induction, we should have our little June Bug here today. Um, not quite sure how in heaven's name I am going to be able to get over to the hospital to see her, since I have the monster and he is sick... but I suppose I will figure something out...
The apartment is a mess, I am grumpy, Little Man keeps saying, "I'm not sick, I want to go swimming", with me, saying, "you are NOT going swimming, stop asking, you are sick, you can NOT go swimming" oh, at least 50 times in a hour, which makes me even grumpier, yah, it is not even 9 and the day sucks. I have escaped for the moment, Little Man is watching a movie on cable, (Flushed Away) and I am trying to stuff breakfast down myself and type a blog post at the same time.
Say a prayer, send my Oldest Son and Girlfriend some prayers for a safe delivery and I will talk to you later.

Mountain Monday Again

Here ya go! This last week, the heat wave broke and it rained and rained. Precipitation at higher levels is snow, as you can tell. Very, very pretty mountains, with green, white against the blue sky. It is going to be hot again this week.





Still waiting for Girlfriend to have the baby, she is so miserable with the heat and everything. And of course I can't wait to get my hands on my June Bug. Oldest Son overall has been admirable with the pregnancy, he is very loving and spoils Girlfriend with her every whim. I love it when he shows his sweet side. He will be a great dad.
Gee, I guess I am boring, I can't think of anything else to say! Anyway, Happy Mountain Monday to all of my bloggy dears.

Sorry!

I have been a bad blogger this week. It has been a bit nutty and life is very full and round as you can see.....



Our little June Bug will be here by the 14th of June. I am in the middle of trying to make my new grand daughter her ragged edge quilt. This on top of having to drive all the way into the Big City to pick up more formula for Little Man. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention... you remember the eating thing, with Little Man? He quit. He is down four pounds. So being out of formula is just not an option right now. It was nice while it lasted. The eating thing, that is. It gave us more time, and that is not anything to laugh at.
I will leave you with something cute and something funny.
First the cute:

My Brown Eyed Girl


And now the funny:



******** (updated)For some reason the youtube video isn't showing up, if you can't see it like me, try this link instead
)
Okay, I give up. If you can't see it like me, then just go to Youtube.com, put in Meeko, cockatoo in the search bar and watch bird vs cat, part 4. Stupid blogger.*****

If you turn up the volume you will hear the kitten hit the wall. These two are soooo funny together and are good friends. After Meeko chases the Kitten Formerly Known as Justin away, she says to her "come on, come on". The kitten isn't really afraid of the bird, so I guess Meeko hasn't really given her a good bite... yet!

Conversation With God

READER ALERT!!! ...Alas, Jo's internet is down until tomorrow, so she is paying instead at an internet cafe type place for her fix today. No mountain monday. This post will take the place of MM today.

God, Um, I don't mean to whine or anything, and I really am very grateful for my blessings and for answered prayers. Really. But, could I please beg you for an uncomplicated blessing?
We are so happy, really thrilled that Little Man is eating. It is no small miracle and every bite he chews and swallows is met with prayers of gratitude and thanksgiving. Really, I mean it.
But I just don't understand, why if it goes in, the coming out has to be so complicated? So many phone calls, hours of worry, and the conversations about poop! Oh my gosh. Especially the one to the lady who didn't identify herself on the phone and I thought was the GI nurse, but turned out to be the school district's special ed person. That one was not so good. I was quite embarrassed. And I felt stupid.
And then we have all the medicines, because Little Man is so complicated.
God, we are really so glad that the medicine worked, that he didn't get all stopped up and impacted, because we have been there, and being inpatient, and NG tubes, Go-lytely and enemas are so very unpleasant, and we are really grateful, I mean, really, really grateful that it didn't get to that point. But did it all have to come out at 3 in the morning? With poop like everywhere? Is there any particular reason that we were all up, and there was poop in the bed, and poop on the floor and poop all over the bathroom and even getting all that poopy stuff in the washer, I had to wash down the washer, cause there was more poop? And did he really have to stay up the rest of the night? So come Saturday day, Bald Man and I were absolutely dead with tired and we couldn't do anything that day? Don't get me wrong, we are so very grateful our prayers were answered, really. But 3 a.m.? Did it have to be 3? That is the part I don't get. If there is something I am missing here, please fill me in.
So, please God, don't think me ungrateful, but could we please have some uncomplicated blessings? I really am too tired for anything else. Either that or send a maid. I could deal with that. Thanks as always, Your Child, Jo

Blogging For LGBT Families

(click on the pic for more info)

At the request of a fellow blogger I admire, (Hi there Yondalla ::::waving:::)I decided today was the best time ever to talk about being LDS and NOT being anti-gay.
You can read more about this issue at this website: Affirmation. Officially the Church is very anti gay and went so far as to come out in public support of a bill banning gay marriage and legal rights for gay couples in 2004. Article in wikipedia. I personally voted against the bill. It is complicated to disagree with the culture of the Church, especially in Utah. If this issue comes in the conversation, I inevitably end up being stared at as if I am an alien, and I suppose in some ways I am.
It all comes down to just this simple sentence for me.
"I refuse to feel threatened by other people loving each other."
In the book of John in the New Testament, our Lord and Saviour says to us "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you." ( I don't notice any kind of extenuating circumstances, like, don't love them if they are gay)
My hubby and I have been married for almost 27! years. How does two men or two women, or one man and four women threaten the institution of marriage? In my eyes it doesn't. No one can threaten my marriage except for myself and Bald Man.
I feel very strongly that families need to be protected. And when I say family, I mean any group of people who are choosing to live and love together, and very, very especially when there are little people who need/should be protected. They need legal protection, they need to have access to medical insurance through the big people in their lives, they need to be protected if something in their family goes awry.
So today, I am blogging in support of all families. No matter what they look like, just like my family, love holds them together ultimately. Go hug your family today. We all deserve it.