Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother’s Day

Last weekend was Mother’s Day. Happy Mother’s Day to everyone out there, we all came from someone and somewhere. The gift of life is a precious and extraordinary miracle. I was looking at my “Mom’s One Line a Day: A Five Year Memory Book” and here are a few of the thoughts that I recorded in 2012 when my daughter was born.

“I have never made anything so exceptional. I fell in love with you the minute that I heard you cry.”

“You are a miraculous example of God’s wonderful presence in the world.”

“I think you are the prettiest baby that I have ever seen, up to this point. (Might have other kids don’t want to jinx things.)”

I am always surprised as she grows and changes; of course that is silly babies change. Babies grow up, that is what they are made to do but as I looked at my daughter having a real tantrum the other day I was shocked that she looked like a toddler. There she was flopping on the ground, screaming in a high pitched keen and making her spine into a ridged arch at someone else’s house! All I could think about was how old she looked; I called my friend over and made her check out my wailing toddler. Allie will be 16 months on Thursday. I tell everyone in a dazed tone, “Look at her face! She looks like a kid not a baby.” I am trying to savor every moment, milestone and breathy little kiss: I don’t want to forget anything and I want to appreciate everything. So as my second Mother’s Day passed I savored an entire day to do nothing but enjoy my family and sit on the couch watching a Star Trek marathon, Star Trek (2009), Wrath of Khan and Search for Spock. Earlier in the day we went to Knott’s Berry Farm for Mother’s Day Brunch it is a sometimes family tradition, I remember going when my Aunt had just become a new Mother and it was fun reliving the experience as a Mother myself. As long as I can connect past memories and new experiences I think I will remember the good parts of life and the good times with my daughter. Maybe all of the tiny little kisses won’t stay with my memory but I will have one good memory of loving this time when my daughter was little.



She squealed and waived when Snoopy was across the room and when he finally came over she just kept drinking that bottle. Goofy girl.



In the spirit of savoring memories, my baby got her first “boo boo” and I just had to document it. She wore a skirt to daycare on Friday, she played with gusto and scraped her knee. It has been opening up and bleeding a little bit over the course of the weekend but it doesn’t seem to bother her. She has not cried or scratched it and I am very proud that she handled it so very well.

I also have a funny Mother’s Day story that ended in a cute pair of new shoes. It’s always good when new shoes are involved. While I was walking to get brunch my Sandal broke as I was walking in it. One minute I was blissfully sauntering across the street and the next minute I was hobbling along trying not to step in something funky. I called out to Terry and stood there with a blank look on my face, “I broke my shoe.” I frantically searched through the virtual car in my head and came to the conclusion that I had brought all of the shoes, which had been bouncing around the back seat, up to the house just the day before!  I let out a pathetic sigh and then my brain really started working, I am at an amusement park they must sell cheap zoris (flip flops). I limped into the first store I saw and asked the sales clerk if they sold shoes … AND THEY DID!! Lovely, beautiful, comfortable and REALLY expensive Minnetonka Moccasins and Sandals, so I looked pitifully at Terry and said, “They are all expensive.” He just sighed and said, “Happy Mother’s Day.” So that is how I ended up with a lovely new pair of grey zoris with the softest soles I think I have ever had in a pair of shoes.

I hope you all had as much fun as I did on Mother’s Day. Have a fun filled week as well.



Sleepy Allie taking up the whole bed, I just love her little stomach sticking out.



Bits and Bobs

Bits and Bobs

I found a few things that I wrote but didn’t do anything with; I am going to share them now. Just for fun.

iPod

“The insides of my ears are throbbing a warm pulse with every heart beat becoming more and more tight, I will not take out the ear buds. The music is my only anchor to peace. When I take them out the real world comes too close, touching and pushing. Too close, the people come with their smiles, sticky hands and wet breathe. As long as the music is with me there is a transparent bubble that bounces the people back to their place. Boing!

            Ralph has been slinking around the perimeter of my bubble attempting to get my attention with some paperwork. My eyes are glazed over, the bubble gives the real world a hazy summer day feel and I fall into that haze. I work on my computer as an automaton finishing assignments with minimal thought just the ebb and flow of my smooth flexible fingers.”

I CLEARLY wrote this while I was at work. Hahahaha! I am REALLY a great people person as this selection illustrates. By the way, I do not work with someone named Ralph; I have changed the name to protect the innocent.

Death

“Death was last seen in the auction room looking worried … David Lehamn

Everyone knew that Death was absentminded, too many people were still living for that not to be true, the entire Graduating class of Claireville High School 1901 could still be seen shuffling along the middle of Main Street hoping that someone would succeed in running them over. Of course this never happened the townsfolk were honest law abiding citizens and would not dream of usurping another’s position. It was Death’s job to handle the afterlife and all trappings that went with it, if Death was not performing his job correctly it was not up to the town to make the reprimand it was God’s responsibility. A small town like Claireville was also very strictly Protestant and none of those newfangled ideas, from the big city, about self-determination and self-reliance could take hold in such a town where everything had been the same since even the class of 1901 could remember.

Yearly Town Auction – Mostly all of the towns’ items were switched around from house to house because no one new came in to town and no one outside of town knew about the auction.

The Big Black Steamer Trunk – always filled with something new the hot ticket item for the auction, each year the steamer trunk would mysteriously fill with new and different items, whoever got the trunk was envied for the entire year

Death’s Shoes – when death lived in the middle of town in the prettiest two story Victorian that he had personally restored with impeccable craftsmanship, it became difficult to leave for work without the entire town knowing about it. Death had a special pair of shoes that would make him stealthy as a cat and quiet as a mouse. Where are the shoes?

Claire Number  12 – Very inquisitive, named for the town, in fact most of the young girls born in Claireville were named Claire and had to be given a number designation, the poor school teacher would become so frustrated before the designations were implemented that she would tear out her hair, that is why she now boasts the prettiest wig in town made up of not 3 but 5 different hair colors. Claire was very clumsy, shy, and bored.”

I found that quote online in one of those “Get started writing now!” websites and I think I had a good idea. Not sure exactly where I was going with it though and I wonder why I didn’t continue? Hmmmm … I guess if anyone wants to help the little story along send me ideas. ; )

Right Now … Allie and I made pasta salad, muffins and Chocolate Brittle last night. I pulled a chair up to the counter so that she could be my Quality Control Representative. She thought the black olives were a wonderful addition to the salad, the peanut butter chips had a good smooth texture and the muffins were good for throwing.

 

Right Now … My baby is a dancing queen. She also makes me laugh.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Real One

REAL ONE

I had an epiphany, a REAL one, on Saturday 05/04/13. I was laying Allison down to sleep. We had come home from a Cinco de Mayo party and she had fallen asleep in the car. Her little tired head was snuggled into my shoulder and when I started to lay her down she opened her eyes, smiled, patted my face and then went back to sleep. I just stood there half stooping over the bed with my arms around her. As I held her I felt a weight that had been sitting on my shoulders melt into my bones. Taking deep breathes I could feel that sense of rightness roll into every part of my body. This is my life. Everything I do is for my family. I don’t want to write about my job. It is not the focus of my life but recently there have been changes made at work, reorganization. That word should not be a scary one but when it starts floating around an office it is scary, layoffs always follow and then a redistribution of the workload. It happened at my work two weeks ago and we are all still reeling in the aftermath. For two weeks my old friends “Panic Attack” and “Indigestion” were unwanted house guests. They were interrupting every waking and sleeping moment of every day. Literally I was waking up every hour at night in a cold sweat to worry over how I was going to set up a spreadsheet. That is ridiculous. After the dust settled from the reorganization, I and one other woman were left standing from our formally 10 employee strong group. It made my head spin. Suddenly I had a whole new group of people to work with, a new boss, new expectations and new reports to complete with a whole new set of deadlines. The old work that I had was still expected to be completed and now I was supposed to figure out how all of this was going to happen in three days. Needless to say I freaked out. I was still going to work, answering emails and the phone but on the inside I was losing my mind. I got sick everyday (you fill in the blank here) and had blinding headaches by the end of every work shift. But Saturday night I realized that all of the worry and grief was nothing to the importance of my family. I will learn how to do the tasks that are being set before me. I will learn to deal with the new deadlines. I will eventually hand my previous work over to someone else that is now responsible for it. I will learn a new rhythm with my newly defined position. These things will happen and I am no longer going to let the worry rule my life. I have a job so that I can one day buy a house for my family. I have a job to provide a good life for my family. I do not have a job to fill my day with something to do; I can do that just fine on my own. I do not have a job to give myself a sense of identity, I have that already; I am Jennifer McAlister Miller. Go back and see the second Blog that I wrote and you will see all the things that make up me. I am not my job. This idea may not work for everyone else. This is my epiphany. My job is not my life it is a means to living my life. Something that I did not want to happen has happened; so now I get ahold of my racing heart, snuggle my baby and lean on my husband. We will move on and make it because what is life if we are not enjoying each other? Worrying about a job will not help me be happy when I spend time with Allison. I will worry about work while I am at work and I will revel in all the fun that is my family.

Now let me show you the fun I had at the 5^th wedding anniversary celebration of my friends Noelle & Jason and April & Dustin. Twenty-six people and one fluffy white dog made the trek out to Parker AZ to play in the desert heat. Five years ago my friends had a double wedding, the one and only one I have ever been to, and it was a REALLY great party. So now we are going back out to the Desert Bar where it all happened to have another party. Families have gotten bigger and babies have grown up and we all rekindled the fun of the first party for this celebration. The Colorado River was chilly and that was good for cooling down sweaty babies and scorched toes. The Bluewater Casino and Resort offered gambling fun for the adults and a swimming pool with a waterslide. All of the kids had a great time flying down the slide and creating their own “lazy river” by swimming relentlessly in a circle. Watch out for Jason the ambushing speed bump!  

On our balcony a pigeon family made a nest and laid an egg! Allie decide that it was her responsibility to wake the little family every morning, especially when she was naked.

Disclaimer!!! Naked baby ahead!

Complete change in topic with no tie in! Here we go.

Terry and I got married and we went on THREE honeymoons! Yes, we were spoiled by people that love us and I have always been very thankful for the generous gifts that we received. So in February 2009 Terry went to Honolulu Hawaii. We stayed at the Wyndam at Waikiki Beach Walk and for a week enjoyed beautiful beaches and tropical weather. It was sunny and warm in the morning and rained in the afternoon. The night we went swimming in the pool there was a thunderstorm over head, it was spectacular. While we were there we went to the Dole Pineapple Plantation and bought a pineapple. At the plantation they taught us how to plant our own pineapple by twisting off the top leaves and then putting it into a pot with dirt. It is that simple. It is not that simple though to get a fruit to grow. Even at the plantation it takes at least two years to get one plant to bear one fruit. So after four years of carefully tending our pineapple plant a cute little pineapple fruit has grown. I can’t wait to eat it!

And for some Right Now … This is what I think Medusa’s Gardener might look like. It is very creepy every time I walk by, I’m just waiting for that statue to jump up and scream.

Right Now … Allie really likes the Bunny at April’s house and she likes playing with Zannah.

Right Now … The sky is doing crazy things again.

Right Now … Allie makes me laugh when she waves and laughs at all of the cars as we go on a walk.

It is now time to enjoy the things that make me happy. Have a great week everyone!