It’s slowly dawning on me that I will soon have a 2 year old. I’ve had one before, but I traded him in for a 3 year old. Baby Mae will no longer  truly be Baby Mae.

Today Mae decided to injure herself. I think she over extended her knee or something (as diagnosed by Dr. Nichole Baird over Facebook). She came limping in to me. She couldn’t bear any weight on it. For as dainty as Mae pretends to be, she is brutal. She has injured herself numerous times and done a good job at it. She may like Princesses, but she will take you down like Hulk Hogan. She seriously walked out of one room, into another, whimpered a little and came out limping. Less than 30 seconds folks and I’ve got a potential crisis on my hands. To distract her I sat her in the tub with me while I showered. After I was done, I took her out, wrapped her in a towel and propped her on the counter. I grabbed the hair dryer out of the drawer and proceeded to blow dry my 2 year old’s very curly, very crazy hair. It was straight! She kept looking at herself in the mirror and saying “Hair?”.

Let me just say that the sheer joy that I experienced while blow drying my daughter’s hair was ridiculous. I revel in having a little girl. I thought the feeling would fade, but I adore all things girly for her. The day we found out we were having a girl, I rushed to Babies R Us and bought dresses. Her closet was constantly re-organized & planned for optimum outfit choosing before she was born. I packed her diaper bag full for the hospital because I wanted to dress her up! I bought hair bands, socks, shoes, dresses, even an newborn infant sized bathing suit that she wore only twice. When I would get her ready for the first few weeks of her life, it took me 20 minutes to chose what she was going to wear. It was very carefully coordinated. I still am purely delighted when I buy her clothes or dress her up. She loves to have her nails painted, her hair done and to wear something “pretty” as she says. She is that girl.  The girl that I prayed for and I wanted so very much. I am grateful for her, even if she is a little monster sometimes. Let’s not sugarcoat that… Here’s to Princess Mae!

Last night I took Josiah to see Iron Man 2. Yeah, I know. It’s PG-13. I’m aware of explosions and the few bad words. I already saw it, I knew when the bad words were coming. I know what my child can handle. The kid has seen Star Wars, I think he can do comic book robot violence. Before we went to the theater, I stopped by Vons to get some snacks and pick up juice. There was a Mom behind me in line, who’s eyes I could feel burning into the back of my skull. She had to of been an Orange County transplant. She had on a huge winter jacket for the mild cold that was outside (this is a yearly phenomena in the OC, right when everyone who lives in real weather need jackets and coats, the Orange County Housewives bust our their winter wear despite the 80 degree weather). She also looked way too put together to be at the grocery store. Josiah was very, very excited to see Iron Man and kept getting out of the cart. At one point he fell out of the car part of the cart.

“UH-OH!” She exclaimed. I looked down at him and he smiled I told Orange County housewife:

“He’s fine. He’s smiling.”

“Well that’s a good sign.” she says.

At this point I’m realizing that she thinks I’m a bad parent. I ignore her and hand my coupons over. I’m sure that offended her sensibilities,too. You only love your family if you pay full price, right? The cashier is talking to me and asks how my Mother’s Day was and I let him know it was good and then I tell him Josiah and I are on our way to see Iron Man.

“How old is he?” OC face asks.

“He’s 3.”

Now she’s really onto me. I’m taking him to a blowing-up movie. I had just clarified to the cashier I had already seen the movie and knew when to cover his eyes and ears. Here’s the kicker- Josiah had a Star Wars gun with him. I’m sure her pedicured & manicured sons were not allowed to play manly and have a gun (NOTE: I have seen small boys getting manicures when we lived in OC). My son had also dressed himself for this outing. Flannel shirt. Shorts on backwards. Shark slippers that light up. PERFECT. I have bigger fish to fry, why do battle about wardrobe?

After paying .23¢ for 5 bottles of juice & snacks for the movies (BOOYAH!), we were out the door. As I was loading my bundle of Iron Man energy into the car, I could feel her staring at me from across the parking lot. I felt like giving her the one finger salute. Who the heck did she think she was? Hasn’t she ever seen an excited kid before (I’m sure if her kids get excited, she just medicates them)?

This whole experience didn’t really make me mad, I actually enjoyed it. I was having fun being a parent, my kid was behaving, but being a boy. She probably had so many standards for her kids and they way the looked, what they wore, what toys they had that were all very superficial. She didn’t approve of me. That was quite obvious. I don’t care. Sorry Orange County Housewife. Sorry I offended you…….. *not really* Mwahahaha.

On the way home last week I started a Pandora station for the kids. We’re not big on kid’s music in the car. They dig what we dig. But I thought it might be fun to see what came up. I, of course enjoyed the Disney classics and a few Veggie Tales’ songs. Then the most horrendous thing happened: Alvin and the Chipmunks came on. They were singing: ALL THE SMALL THINGS by Blink 182. I am not Blink 182’s biggest fan. I’m not even a fan. I’m not even willing to listen to Blink 182.

I also talked to my brother, Aaron the music guy, about good kid’s music last week. He brought up Johnny Cash’s kid’s album with The Dinosaur Song. What a fun kid’s CD- it’s quality. I love Mr. Cash and for him to be singing about dinosaurs to my 3 year old, it makes my day!

I used some Amazon gift card $ from Swagbucks to buy music for the kids. I got the Johnny Cash album and a few Rockabye Baby rendition songs:

-Kashmir by Led Zeppelin (most epic song opening, even in lullaby form)

- Enter Sandman by Metallica (Metallica isn’t really my cup of tea, but how could I resist buying this song to help put my children to sleep?)

-Come as You Are by Nirvana (for the nights they wear their flannel jammies to sleep)

-Wish you were Here by Pink Floyd (I just ♥ this song)

-You’re my Best Friend by Queen (We played this song at our wedding)

What good kid’s music do you like?? Any hints?

Ready for what I paid out of pocket for all of this goodness??

$8.76!!

Here’s the breakdown:

CVS:

-2 Gallons of Whole Milk: $2.59/each, used $4.00 I had in ECBs=  $1.18

I got three HIGH VALUE Catalina coupons:

-$5 off a purchase of $15 or more (it expires tomorrow, which is kinda lame, but we’ll see if I use it)

-$2.00 off any Huggies Baby Wipe Tub or Refill

-$4.oo off Huggies Box Diapers

The total at CVS should have been:

$5.59

Target:

-7th Generation Dish Washing Liquid: $2.49, used Free coupon c/o Recylcebank= FREE

-Gilette Men’s Bodywash: $1.99/each, used $4/2 Gilette Men’s Body wash or Deodorant= 6 FREE BODY WASH, 2 FREE CLINICAL STRENGTH DEODORANT!

-Right Guard Travel Size Deodorant: .99¢/each. Used $2.00/2 coupon=FREE

- Iams Premium Cat food: $7.99, used $5.00 off any size Iams Premium coupon: $2.99

-Apple Juice: $3.74 (Price Cut for Target Brand Apple Juice)

-Kashi Cereal: $4.99, used FREE coupon from Freecycle= FREE

-Teddy Grahms: $2.00 each. Used Target Coupon for $1.00/2 and a Manufacturer’s coupon for $2.00/2= $1.00!

I also had a gift card with $2.01 on it (we bought drinks and popcorn when we started shopping).

So…the total at Target could have been:

$44.56!!

So, for both trips it should have cost me:

$50.15!!!

When we got done at Target, Josiah gave me a thumbs up and said “Good Shopping today, Mom!” It made me smile pretty big. I had to text Nichole and let her know what he did and she texted back part of Proverbs 31: “Her children will rise up and call her blessed!” That made me smile, too.

Hey Moms & Dads,

Just so you know, you can listen to FREE radio episodes of Adventures in Odyssey on Focus on the Family’s website.

First off let me say thank you to all of you that prayed for Mae Mae. It’s an amazing feeling to know that you have friends praying for you! I think for me the highlight of Twitter or Facebook would be the ability to start an instant prayer chain. Thank God for that!

Here’s what happened last night:

Josiah, Mae and I were in the office playing a very fun version of Toy Story mania online. They were both in one chair and it ended up behind my chair. Mae apparently stood up, grabbed  onto my chair, and then fell face first onto our laminate floor. I was right there, scooped her up, gave her some loves and took her down the hallway to see Daddy for some Daddy comfort. While standing in the hallway she started convulsing/seizing. Her eyes were glared over, her arms shot straight out and she reared back. Her one leg that wasn’t against my body stood straight out. I held her away from from and shouted her name. She didn’t respond to anything. I think at the most it lasted 10 seconds. It felt like forever. I’ve never felt anything like that in my short stint as a Mom. Cameron asked if she was maybe just throwing a fit and wanted down. Nope. I know my kids and I know when something is off or wrong. That’s why God gave Moms intuition.  He took her while I looked for my phone. She cried for a few minutes, had some juice and was “out of it” for about 5. We watched her for an hour and decided to call the pediatrician’s office. He told us to take her to the ER.

Cameron took her while I waited for my sister to come get Josiah. He went to St. Joseph’s first and there was a 4 hour wait (that’s where our pediatrician recommended), they sent Cam to UCI Medical Center. I met them there and we were whisked back to a little green room. We kept Mae busy with lots of Cheerios, juice, books and Cinderella doll. When we finally saw a doctor she said we need to do a CT Scan. Because Mae is 18 months old, they’d probably have to sedate her. At first they were going to use Benydryl, which I was all for. The less meds the better! She came back and said the head ER doctor said they’d have to do full blown “sleepy juice” as we call it here. Yikes. I prayed and prayed that they wouldn’t have to and if they did that all would be OK. The LVN came in and inserted an IV in preparation. Nothing like holding down your kid and then keeping her from ripping out an IV. We’re pretty sure that the LVN had us confused with the couple across the hallway because he mentioned something about going to CHOC hospital and the transport team was on their way for the CT scan. Wait, what? We were more than surprised. But Cameron asked and we were staying put. The couple across the hall from us had a little baby that had rolled off a couch and hit the back of his head, he’d been throwing up. I’m pretty sure they sent him to CHOC. Poor baby. At one point I met eyes with his Mom and gave her a “half smile” of encouragement. I prayed for them while I was in there.

Cameron was fried. His phone was dead, he had nothing to do while we waited. Poor guy. He’s a real man. Not one word of complaint out of his mouth.

Mae fell asleep after we turned the lights off in the room and I rocked her to sleep. She woke up a few times screaming and tearing at her IV. She kept saying “No mo(re)!” which is new. Cameron and I zoned out in the dark waiting for the next step. We could hear the sounds of the ER, and the young woman next to us who was so completely wasted on something that she couldn’t tell them her birthday. I could hear them calling her “Stephanie” and prodding her for information. I prayed for her, too. I thought about my baby girl in my arms and wondered where Stephanie’s mom was. There were twins somewhere in the ER that we could hear off and on. They sounded so small. The worst thing I heard all night was a man (I don’t know how old) yelling and shaking his bed and saying “Look at me now Mom! Is this what you wanted?” “I’ll show you!” I didn’t see him, but he sounded like his mouth was injured. I don’t know what his story was, but it killed me to think about it. It’s just amazing how when you least expect it, you see what a lost terrible place this world really is. You see how badly people need Jesus. I could feel how badly this world hurts the heart of God last night.

Around 1 AM they took Mae and I up to the CT scan room. I was nervous. I wanted her to hold still without any help. She lay there and I held her juice cup in her mouth. She was so, so tired at this point. I prayed for her to just keep still. I really didn’t want for her to be sedated. She held still and they got the picture!! She was entranced by the machine and comforted by the sound I think. I also know that God helped to keep her head still. Mae is not one to be held down. She puts up a fight when you wipe her nose. She was a calm, intrigued child last night when that camera spun around her little head.

We went back down to the room and she fell back to sleep on the bed. I finally laid down next to her. Cameron grabbed the chair. Poor guy, always getting the lame chair during the hospital stay. I slept. She slept. I think Cameron slept a little. Around 3:30 they came in and told us everything was OK. The nurse came and removed the IV and we were on our way.

This morning Mae is up and enjoying a little “bad parenting”. She’s eating a Girl Scout cookie as a part of her balanced breakfast. Thank God we can go back to the routine. So many people don’t get to this soon after an injury. Thank you thank you thank you to all of you that prayed and passed our prayer request along. We’ll follow up with our pediatrician this week to see if anything else is going on.

Baby Mae is A-Okay!

Just a friendly reminder to Moms out there: Remember to have fun. I was vacuuming the office today and then proceeded to vacuum my children. They loved it. It’s cliche, but kids won’t remember how clean your house was, but they will remember these types of moments.

P.S. Would you just look at those beautiful kids??

Out of everything I have a strong opinion about, I would say the sanctity of life is #1. I strongly believe that there is an abortion industry that has done nothing but deceived generations of women into believing that abortion doesn’t hurt, isn’t wrong and that it’s not a baby. Yesterday I watched with great interest the Tebow Pro-Life ad from Focus on the Family. I thought it was well done and was light & fun. I think the misconception about us “pro-lifers” is that we’re all about gruesome signs of aborted babies and condemning women simply because they are women. While I do know that pictures of baby’s bodies ripped limb from limb after an abortion is effective under certain circumstances, loving someone unconditionally and giving grace and hope is far more effective in all circumstances. I think that the story of one mother’s decision to defy a doctor (or two) who told her that she wasn’t carrying a real baby, but a mass of “fetal tissue” might make us stop and think once again what it means to be a society that aborts unborn children under the mask of helping women.

If I could, I’d like to share a story. My parents have 4 children. I’m the oldest. Followed by Paul Andrew “Andy”, 23, Aaron Randall, 20, and Lauren Michelle, 18. I only write their middle names because that’s the way I think of them. I usually call them by their first and middle name, or a nickname I’ve created for them. Obviously they all love that. My youngest sister, Lauren, was a surprise. A BIG SURPRISE. To say the least. My mom had been very sick with my brother Aaron and the doctors told her not to have anymore kids. So, my dad being the loving husband, put himself on the chopping block (quite literally) and got a vasectomy. My mom felt for quite awhile that someone in the family was missing. She cried about an unknown child that she wasn’t going to meet because she couldn’t have anymore kids. What a surprise when right around my brother’s first birthday, they were pregnant again. I remember that day- I was sitting in the living room coloring. Both my parents came into to tell us. Oh joy! Perhaps I would get that sister I wanted! Obviously at the age of six, I had no idea of what this pregnancy entailed.

When the time came to call the OB-GYN, my mom was asked this question after they saw her medical history “Did you want to go ahead and schedule a termination?” It was nonchalant, it was easy, it was typical. My mom said no, knowing this meant that she was most likely going to be very ill. This wasn’t going to be easy. But it was going to happen. My Dad who was only 32 when my sister was born, claims his chest hair went white overnight during a hospital stay where they told him my Mom might not make it.

On May 21st, 1991, my Mom came home from a Doctor’s appointment and asked “Do you guys want to have a baby tomorrow?” They induced my Mom the very next morning and my sister was born that evening. I remember the phone call my Grandma Berry got saying that my sister had finally arrived! I shrieked for joy! A SISTER! Later that night my brother Andy and I were picked up by a family friend, Sharon and taken to the hospital to meet our sister. (Sorry Aaron, I don’t remember if you were there or not!). My mom was still in the delivery room, which seemed like the world’s biggest room at the time. In my mother’s arms was a pretty big baby bundle (My sister weighed over 9 lbs when she was born). She was swaddled, but her butt-cheeks were hanging out. I like to remind her of that- I saw her butt first. There was my sister. A person. So small. So new. Despite complications and recommendations, my sister was here, a beating heart and everything one could want in a baby sister.

When my sister and Mom finally came home to our little house on Second Street, I remember reading to her. It was some Looney Tunes book and I figured that was my job, to read to my sister. Thank God that my Mom knew better. She knew who was in charge, she knew that God had a plan and a purpose for my sister. If she didn’t have my sister, who would I have read to?

Now I know that this debate goes deeper, but let’s all stop to think for a minute about the fact that my sister is here, and she’s full of life. Let’s think about how many siblings our friends or ourselves are missing because an industry and movement has lied to us about our own bodies and the new lives we create.

Tootsie is here because my mother chose life.

As an appreciator of art, I enjoy this. As the mother of a huge TMNT fan, I find this incredible.

**Collegehumor.com**