Today

28 years ago.





















A very young Jo (19 years) and a very young Bald Man (22 years) joined hands, stood before their God, their family and their friends, and promised they would love each other forever. We were married in the Oakland Temple in California.



















28 years. Sometimes it feels as though I just blinked my eyes. How did we get here? I look at the young me I was, and I know I had no idea what was ahead of me. The lows, the tears, the heartbreak. My young self would have never discerned the joy that awaited us. That there would be times my heart would be so full of awe, gratitude and pure bliss that I would hardly be able to contain it, much less find words to explain it. We have three grand daughters now. Our children are going to start turning thirty in just a few years. I assume there will be more grand children to come yet. More highs, more lows. All I ask is that my best friend be beside me. Happy Anniversary Bald Man. I couldn't ask for more.

Introducing....

The Squidlet! She arrived at 10:14, after just 8 hrs of labor and one, just ONE push!
She weighs 7lbs 3oz and is 19 1/2 inches long. She is WAY more tempermental than her sissy, Junebug, but nursed like a champ from the word go. She is very, very vocal!
I feel so incredibly blessed.



It was awesome, both sets of grand parents were there right after the birth so we got to do some extended family bonding.



This is NOT my favorite picture of me, but, I love you enough to share.



Oldest Son, Girlfriend and the Squidling



Ooey, gooey and so brand new!



My heart is full. I have been abundantly blessed. Three grand daughters! God is good. I can't wait til tomorrow to go love on her some more!

We Are Definitely Having A Baby

We are at the hospital and Girlfriend is laboring. I will update when the Squid arrives. She is doing well.

I Might Lose My Mind

They (the hospital) sent Girlfriend home. False alarm. If she was leaking amniotic fluid, it resealed its self. Girlfriend came home pissed! Very grumpy, cause she, like all of us at 8 months plus, is tired of being pg and just wants to have the kid!
The check arrived in the mail at almost 5:30! The sad part? It is an out of state check, so they are holding it for 11 days! I wasn't expecting any money, so this little piece of heaven is just the thing for some cheery thoughts and some fun. And of course, some bills too. Maybe, just maybe, Bald Man and I will be able to get away for a weekend. We haven't had one since Little Man joined our family more than 10 years ago. I am not going to discuss any baby having until the kid gets here, I am tired of false blog alarms. I will post pics when the deed is done! Thanks for hanging out with me today though, it was fun, at least for me!

ARGH!

The waiting is killing me! And now I have TWO things that are killing me with all this waiting. First, of course, we have the Girlfriend and the Squid. She called a couple of hours ago and said her water was leaking and should she go in. Being a cautious retired midwife, I said, go! But, they haven't called. I am on the labor support team, so I am supposed to be there. BUT, they could have decided either she wasn't far enough along to warrant the team getting called out, OR, they decided they can do it on their own, which is fine with me too. I am all about the mom and dad getting what they want.
And to answer K and J's question about catching my own grandbaby, nope. Girlfriend's mom is a nurse, so she isn't into the homebirth thing, and I want to be able to actually pay attention to the new grandbaby when she gets here. If I were catching, I spend far too much brain time checking on vitals for mom and babe to actually be emotionally involved in the birth. So even for my homeborn grandbabies, (I am hoping there will be a few!) I don't plan on catching.
Second, my sister called and said there is a largish check in the mail for me from a very unexpected inheritance! I am dying here folks! A grandbaby and money on the same day!! Of course my mail doesn't arrive til later and my granddaughter either. What a day! Whoo hooo all around. If I drank, this round would be on me. Instead, go buy some Sparkling Cider and later, after Squid and the check arrive, we will all celebrate!

Not Tonight!

The contractions decided to peter out. I guess I will go to bed after all. I am a tiny bit disappointed, but hey, Squid-ling will be here soon enough. I will keep you posted and I promise, when Squid gets here, you will have your fill of pictures and videos, until you scream, "enough, I'm done!"

Maybe?

We might be having ourselves a new grand daughter tonight! Girlfriend just called and is marshalling the troops for baby having time. She was dilated to 5 on Monday, so it is looking like a fairly short birth. Wow. Prayers and good thoughts please!

Mountain Monday in August

I am blogging during my escape from insanity. Little Man's summer program is over and I have a WEEK, a WEEK people, until school starts. It isn't so much that he is more than I handle. I can, and we even have fun together. It is just that he is soooo time consuming. He pretty much needs one on one supervision at all times. He can play in his room unsupervised, but even then, I don't know when he is going need me. I hate being interrupted when I am trying to do a project, so I don't like to start stuff, so then I won't get upset when he needs me. Does that make sense? But he still has his afterschool program, so I have 3 hours of peace. And look at that, I am choosing to spend it with you! Don't ya feel special?

Girlfriend, Princess and I took the Littles to the county fair. We had a good time. Little Man had some unpleasant moments, but he had fun, which is what is important. I got hit on by a carnie! Can we all say ewwwww! He had boobs! And long hair! Not my type. But it was funny. Bald Man has no worries.
Pea did NOT enjoy the itty bitty roller coaster. Little Man loved it! This pic was taken of the Pea before the ride started!



Large slide with burlap sacks



June Bug was scared horribly by the piggies. We are bad people, cause we thought it was funny!



The pony ride on the other hand, was a big hit with all three of the youngsters!

















The petting zoo part got three thumbs up from the kidlets.







I took a pic of this sheepie, cause it was wearing a purple coat! Who knew there were sheep coats? Not me!


Guess who turned 3???



Here she is, all blinged out!



A conversation this morning with the Pea and myself.
P:Bam maw, when I get bigger, I will have a LONG neck.
M: You will?
P:Yes and spots, I will be a giraffe!
M:Wow!

It has been three months since Little Man's last button change, so that was on the list of things needing to be done this weekend. Here is his pretty new one, inflated so I can check it for leaks. Posted for the curious.



I deflate the old button, pull it out, lube up the new one, slip it in the stoma, (hole) and then re inflate it. I do it when he is asleep, he hardly stirs. Much less traumatic than his haircuts!

I do believe that catches you up on the last week. One more week til school starts, one more week til school starts... my new mantra....

Sabbath Story

Religious Content

Lessons From A Child

A few years ago we had gone to church with my nephew and his family. His twin sons were being given their blessings. In our Church, new babies are introduced into the Church with a name and a blessing, given usually by their father and other male friends and family. The men stand in a circle in the front of the congregation to hold the baby and give them their blessing. In this particular circle stood a young man with shoulder length, wavy, brown, hair and a beard and mustache. Little Man, being about 5, was standing on the pew and spotted the young man. He said, loudly, "look mommy, it's Jesus!" and proceeded to climb off the bench with the intent to run up the front of the church to where "Jesus" was.
A simple mistake, but a precious lesson.
Which of us, knows what my son knows? You see Christ. You run to Him. Fully expecting a welcome by your Savior. There was no doubt in Little Man's mind that Jesus was expecting him and would scoop him up in arms of love. The reality of Jesus is no story in my son's mind. He is real and His love is always present. A good sabbath thought to ponder today. Should you wonder, remember the faith of a child.
At the end of the service, Little Man was still pretty sure that was Jesus, but took the young man's word he wasn't. Someday Little Man, someday.

Wild Mountains!

Well, I guess you might call the mountains wild, since they are not tame, but I really meant is the animals in the zoo by the City near and named after the Great lake of stink, brine flies and sea monkeys. First mountains, then the zoo and a call to repentance!
The mountains seem to be pretty much the same week after week lately. Except for times when there is so much pollution you can hardly see them. BUT, at the same time, they are uniformly beautiful!











Pretty huh?

June Bug LOVES lasagna, as you can see:




And we went to the zoo last week! I am having a tough time picking out just a few pictures to share, cause we had a great time. Little Man and the Pea agreed they both wanted to ride the train first. Whew. No fights there.







The bump has a blog name now! Introducing my grand daughter, Squid. Wiggly child. 3 weeks til we get to meet her!









The Pea was thrilled that there were "gatorades"!!



Baby gatorade!




















Girlfriend was very proud of this pic of a rhino rear end, so I had to post it for her!



We all had fun and everyone came home really tired.

Now, a call to repentance! For Eliza's mom and Coach B, if I don't get some addresses confirming your winner status, I will give your Almond Roca to Holly and Jill!
Keep reading my blog for a future contest involving more of Jo's famous and begged for, Almond Roca.
And I have a new girl blog crush, who asked for a special shout out. Mwah, This one is for you,Kristina of Pulsipher Predilections! She is also now added to my blog roll. I am glad she didn't turn tail and run away after I left her a comment about poo on her last blog post. She is new here and I lost my all about my family side bar when I moved to my new digs. She is unaware of how much Little Man's poo rules our lives. But she will find out, if she sticks around, won't she class???? bwwwwaaahhaaahhaa!!!

And We Have A Winner!

Click on this picture to the right. You have NO idea how much time I spent trying to learn how to add mouseover notes to a picture. AND then, stupid flickr didn't put the right one on the blog. BUT, if you click on it, it will take you to the mouseover tagged photo. Please, please, click on the picture, it will make me feel much better about how much time I spent. PLUS, you will learn what those things are that were under my bed.



Remember this post? How Well Do You Know Jo?

If you haven't read the hilarious comments, you need to. I will wait!

The rubber duckie really is June Bug's. BUT, Holly's comment is linked to this old post about two ducks that were anything but innocent!
The black comb is the one we use to do Little Man's hair in the morning. All the cards are his as well. He loves cards for some reason. He isn't as bad as he used to be with collecting them and fingering them, but he still likes them! The duplo blocks, ditto, he loves to fidget with them. The syringes are for his feeding tube. They must fall down on the floor and then get kicked under the bed. Ditto that on the gatorade bottle. The sucker is the boy's too, from a doctor visit. He just isn't big on things going in his mouth, like food. Hence the tube.
The Batman car, pretzel, and upside down chicken are the Pea's. She loves to drag stuff in my room. The crocodile book she also dragged into my room. If you ask her what the animal is on the cover, she will answer, confidently, " a gatorade!" much to my delight.
The lavender body spray is MINE! I find it calming. And boy, do I need calming most days! The See's candy wrapper and Christmas candy wrapper, see above, calming. I have a tendency to shove it under my pillow to keep myself from having to share!

In light of all the hilarity, and the clever and witty comments, I must declare all four, Coach B, Eliza's Mom, Jill and Holly winners!!! Send me an email, (lakotajo2 at msn dot com) with your addresses and you will receive a package containing, taaaa daaaa......
my homemade, to die for, world famous, often begged for, Almond Roca!!! Thank you for making this so much fun.

And We Have A Winner!

Mountain Monday, erm..I Mean Tuesday And A Secret!

I was sitting down last night, a bit late to do my Mountain Monday post and the boy woke up. It was late enough that I knew I wouldn't be getting up again, so I bagged Monday and that leads us to Tuesday! But you will have your reward, because I have been keeping a secret from you and I am ready to spill the beans, finally!
So, the mountains. Beautiful as always. The clouds were so swirly and pretty. Every time I look at the mountains and think of you, my bloggy friends, I am reminded of how lucky I am to have them near me.









Near the mountains, was a cute fuzzy buzzy fellow.






We celebrated a birthday! He had so much fun. This was the first year he really got the whole birthday thing. We had way too many people over, so after presents, Boy and I holed up in my bedroom for some quiet time, and guess what? We avoided any unpleasant outbursts. Sometimes I do it right.






Naturally, there was cuteness over.



The Princess has been doing creative things to the Pea's hair. She looked so dang cute!








And now. The secret. Remember Dec? Remember this? If you don't remember or are new to the blog, or just in general refuse to click, basically Oldest Son and Girlfriend, (mother to June Bug) had a huge break up in Dec. While our family and Girlfriend have things pretty much sorted out. Things with Oldest Son and Girlfriend remain volatile. They are on again, and off again and they make my head spin. And this, really, I promise, is leading the the secret I have been keeping. I kept thinking I would tell you as soon as I knew what was going on with them. But I still don't know what is going on and dang it, you need to know!! So hear goes. :::deep breath:::
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
**
*
*
*
*
*
*




We are having another grand daughter in September! I have given up on the whole keeping track of Oldest Son/Girlfriend on and off relationship, but that doesn't change the fact that in a few weeks I will have a precious newborn to nuzzle and kiss and breathe into. There ya go. Beans spilled.

Tomorrow, Little Man has a doctor's appt and we are taking him and the grand girls to the zoo. There will be many fun pics I am sure, for next Monday.