12

No I'm not posting by numbers. Although you may seem to think this since my last post was titled 8.

We had another birthday here at the O. house. George turned 12. While Jillian had to deal with a sick sister on her birthday George had to deal with a sick mom. Thankfully Ty stepped up and took George and his buddies off for a game of laser tag and some pizza.

Here's to George turning 12. It's a couple of days late but it's better than nuthin'.

George came to our family sooner than expected. It was only a few months after McKenna was born when I started getting the feeling that there was another little spirit that was longing to join our family.

This was highly disconcerting to me because, let's face it, McKenna was not an easy baby. When I told Tyran of these feelings that I was having he was not happy. And I said "You think I want to be saying this? I'm the one who has to carry the baby and give birth?"

17 months after McKenna joined our family we were in the hospital again awaiting George's arrival. He made his appearance a week early (as did all my children thank heavens!) around 6 in the evening and weighed in at 7 pounds 14 ounces.

Here he is on his blessing day.

He was so stinkin' cute!

But that hat didn't stay on for long.

He had a very large head and it was leaving

indentations on his poor little noggin'.

When he was just a few months old one day Ty was holding him after coming home from work. He looked at me and asked me "Did he get dropped or something today?"

Me (shocked and more than slightly offended) "No! Why?"

As Ty was holding him and looking at him he had noticed that one pupil was bigger than the other. Which can be a sign of a concussion so he was thinking that maybe he had been dropped. We scheduled a dr's appt. and from there we went on to a CT scan because in rare cases the difference in pupil size can be caused by a tumor.

Thankfully this was not the case and it's just something weird that comes along with George, especially when he is tired. The dr. just told us to make sure that we let any other dr's know and to make sure that they were aware of this if we ever had to take him into the ER. (You can sort of see the size difference in this picture)

I loved this little fishing hat that he got for Easter one year.

We lost it at the Art fair and I was sad.

I would have held onto it for him to give to his son.

This kid has the cutest smile and face ever.

That grin has gotten him out of more than I care to admit.

This year isn't the first year G has had to deal with a sick mom.

Jillian was born four days before his 4th birthday.

We were supposed to go out to McDonald's for his birthday.

Well I had some post delivery complications and

ended up being very ill and back in the OB's office instead

of taking him out to lunch.

I felt so bad. Here he was opening his presents at the foot of my

bed just before bedtime.

I love toothless pictures! Don't you?

This was a trip down to Pine Lake where he caught

a horned toad. He loved that thing

(can't you just see that in his face?)

and wanted to bring it home with us.

We made him leave it there.

He was not happy.

Here he is with his sister Jilli the day of his Baptism.

I love this picture so much it hurts.

He is such a great big brother.

He needed a picture for a "About me" poster for school

I took this one and printed it out and made him take it to school.

He didn't want to but when he showed it to his class they loved it.

It is SO George.

Looking Spiffy at 10.

I love his Hazel eyes. They are so full of sparkle and life.

And here he is now.

He got glasses just before Christmas last year.

I have a feeling that he'll be on that phone quite a bit more

as the years keep going by.

And it will probably be a girl on the other end of the line.

That scares me.

On Sunday he will get the priesthood.

The same day that Jillian will be confirmed a member

of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

I have a feeling it's going to be a great weekend.

Love you George!

Happy Birthday!!

8

Eight years ago I gave birth to (possibly) my last child.

(I don't want to say that she is definitely our last child because I know how that works. The minute I say she's our last and we are never having any more BAM! The Man upstairs starts to chuckle and decides to send a "surprise")

She was born at 11:35 p.m. weighing 9 pounds even.

When she entered this world and they laid her on my chest she was so quiet but she was very alert and just lay there gazing around. So quiet and calm but those darn nurses wanted to hear her cry so they started rubbing her down. I was not happy about that.

I remember the nurses commenting on how beautifully pink she was.

I believe that one of them even commented that they had never seen a baby as pink as her.

She and I are very similar which means that there are times when

we have a difficult time getting along.

Why is that? You would think that would make us get along better, wouldn't you?

She takes a while to warm up to new people and when people first meet her she is very quiet and serious. This was and still is hard for me to understand because I'm a little more outgoing than that.

She did take after me in the hair cutting department.

My pre-school graduation picture looks eerily similar to this one...

She also takes after me and my love of all things chocolate.

She once gave herself a haircut that was so bad this was the only way to fix it.

And it cured her of ever cutting her hair again.

Here she is at three trying to decide how to blow

out all of those candles on her Elmo cake.

Again, she takes after me in the fact that she can fall asleep

almost anywhere.

Isn't that a good thing?

A year later at 4. She got the fast growing hair from her dad...not from me.

Just one of my all time favorite pictures of her.

This was her just one year ago at 7...

And here she is.

My 8 year old.

She got to open a few presents the morning of her birthday.

Her new clothes and a book.

She didn't get to open the rest of he presents until the next day.

Why? You ask.

Because her older sister had to go in for an unexpected appendectomy.

I had to call her from the hospital and explain that she would have to wait for her birthday dinner and to open the rest of her presents.

(McKenna felt awful that this all happened on Jilli's birthday)

And do you know what her response was?

"Okay mom."

She wasn't even upset at all

She just said

"Okay mom, as long as I get my presents and my birthday dinner sometime then it's okay.

Tell McKenna I hope she feels better."

I love her.

I am His Daughter

There's so much more to me
He helps me see that I have so much to offer
I am His daughter
He loves me the way I am,
He's my strength when I stand
He is my King, and my Father,
I am His daughter

Unique understanding

I had the chance to go to a meeting of LDS women in our area tonight. It was a Tri-Stake fireside with the guest speaker being Julie B. Beck the president of the Relief Society. I wasn't able to stay for her whole talk because I was there with my mom and she fell ill so we had to leave and I only heard about 15 minutes of her talk.

But what she shared in those 15 minutes was something I needed to hear.

First of all she asked us some questions and had us raise our hands. She wanted to get to know us a little better she said. How many of you are or were temple workers? How many are single sisters who've never married? How many are widows? How many of you have children? Were a few of the questions.

She then went on to say that each one of us are going through a unique journey. No two of us have had the exact same experiences. And while we can talk to one another about our experiences and our journey no one can truly and fully understand what another has gone through(or is going through) because each set of experiences are so personal, so unique.

The reason for this unique and personal journey is so that (hopefully) we will learn to turn to the Lord.

That is where I got up and left but this is what I took away from that....

We can talk to one another and bear one another's burdens. And we should. But when all is said and done no one understands us the way the Lord can and does.

He has experienced everything.

Every worry.

Every pain.

Every heartache.

Every loss.

All the anger.

Every heartbreak.

Every frustration.

Every sorrow.

Every humiliation.

All the guilt.

All the tears.

He has experienced them all.

And He understands.

Turn to Him.

He wants us to share all of that with Him. He can ease burdens. He may not take them away but He will ease them.

He understands.

He not only understands all of those things listed above, He also understands...

Every happiness.

Every triumph.

Every smile.

All the laughter.

Every embrace.

Every kiss.

Every step forward.

All the joy.

All the peace.

And He can and will bring all of these into our lives if we can but understand.....

That He understands.

Lessons Learned in 2010

• That the television show Hoarders is a big motivational tool for me.
• Always make sure that the people you love KNOW that you love them and appreciate them...you never know when they (or you) will be gone.
• Saying I love you is one of the easiest things to do and one of the most difficult.
• Death is a trans-formative event. Both for the person who dies (obviously) and for the people who are left behind.
• That transformation can be a good one or it can be a bad one.
• There are a lot of Peeps haters out there, which was surprising to me. How can one hate pure sugar?
• Sunscreen is my friend.
• I would literally melt if we lived in a humid place. I must be related to Elphaba.
• It's all about Family and mine is amazing...warts and all.
• The people who seem to be worried most about others judging them are sometimes the ones who are judging others the most, thus the fear of being judged.
• That amazing joy can be found in the darkest of places...if one has faith...and hope.
• Blog conferences can be fun even when you are hormonal.
• The people in the blogging community are amazingly loving and supportive and they stick around even when I go for weeks without a post.
• I love Girls Camp.
• Don't put two liter bottles of soda on the back step in sub zero temps. They will explode.
• Roasting peppers in a glass pan in the oven is a bad idea...unless you want a really clean oven.
• I laugh when other people don't....a lot.
• Laughter can be healing and cathartic.
• You can Google just about anything but you may not get the answer you were seeking.
• Comet cleaner should never be stored on the top shelf because if it's been opened and it falls it goes ev. er. y. where.
• I'm more patient than my husband when it comes to teaching driving lessons to our 16 year old.
• Just because you get a year older, doesn't make you a year wiser.
• I will NEVER outgrow Sesame Street.
• There are some people, who, no matter what I say or do will take offense.
• There are some people who are looking for something to take offense at.
• God is aware of me...not only aware of me but knows me personally and knows not only the big struggles I am facing but the small ones as well.
• It is possible to catch a glimpse of heaven.
• My big struggles may seem small to others...and that's okay. They are still mine and there is something I have to learn from them.
• It's important to be Thankful.
• Saying goodbye is hard.
• I really don't like to cook.
• I'm not very good at blogging consistently.

Any lessons that you've learned that you want to share?