My Happy Little Life.

First of all, I have a new goal. Brian and I have been talking recently and I have made a goal to be more positive. I don't really think I'm a negative person per se, but when I read negative things, then I get irked. Really irked. Sometimes uncontrollably irritated. So, if there is a negative something posted, well, anywhere, I am simply going to ignore it and not pay any attention to it. I really struggle with people being down on themselves (weight loss/gain, beauty, talents, you name it). I think this is a recent thing for me. Since I have had Claire, I have really had my testimony strengthened on how much we are loved. If I can love this sweet little girl beyond what I can even describe, then how much am I loved by Heavenly Father? I've never really considered myself to be so loved as a child, but then again, I've never had a child that I have loved so deeply that I worry every waking (and sleeping) moments. When I think that I couldn't possibly love her more, she smiles or chews on her tongue and it takes all my strength not to squeeze her to smithereens! I am positive that I am loved that much and more by my parents and by the man upstairs.

Now, as for my happy little life. I am going to now describe little things that make my stomach flutter.

1. I know this is CRAZY weird! However, just wait and someday you'll understand if you don't already. I am so grateful for baby blow outs. Yes, you read it right. After two days of not having a decent bowel movement, a huge one is welcomed and even praised in my book! Sure, washing it all of the clothes gets a little old at times, but boy howdy, I am grateful for them on occasion.

2. The funny nursing moments. Like today, Claire is a monster. She's even growling like one. Teething, maybe? Dirty, nope. Sleepy, nope. Hungry, YES. So, I sit down to nurse her and resume the position. She eats for about 7 seconds and proceeds to stretch my nursing parts out to the ends of the earth because she thinks looking around and eating at the same time sounds like a better plan. So, instead I just stand her up, she looks around, and starts to whine because she is hungry again. I'm sorry that stretchable, leather nipples are not on the menu today, but at this Dairy Queen you either eat being still or go without.

3. Waking Brian up with that cute little face. If I wake Brian up it's usually followed by groaning and rolling over. If I put Claire by him, she'll put her fat little hands on his nose and pull, but he loves it. He always comments on how cute she is. It's also way more effective in getting him up because when she wants to play with your face, she doesn't let up.

4. Our new SWIMMING POOL!!!! Ok, lame excuse for a pool, but Claire doesn't know the difference yet. I had to put that cute swim suit on her though and "go swimming" at least once during the winter. I'm hoping and praying that it still fits her in the summer.

5. This picture. I look at it and cannot stop laughing. I promise that she's not drunk.

Also, Brian doesn't like when I don't wipe the drool away before picture taking. But, there's no use, it's permanent.

And this picture. It's just so cute.

6. One word. Hubster. He's wonderful, charming, and completely ridiculous at times. We laughed our guts out this weekend over so many things. I love a good laugh and a good friend to laugh with. He's the little kid I need in my life so that I don't get angry mommy lines in my forehead or naggy wifey stiffness in my fingers. He's the right amount of everything and I love him.

For now, that's my happy little life. Not much, but it's all ok by me. :)

Chinese Starvation vs. Hunger games and Lie To Me

My friend Kara would never let me throw any food away. It was ridiculous. One day I had ONE PIECE of french toast leftover and she stole it away from my plate as I was emptying it into the trash and said, "the people in China are starving" and put that one stupid piece of french toast in the freezer. It bothered me more than it probably should. I told her that I would probably be throwing that away in two months when she still hadn't eaten it, but she assured me that she would. Guess what I did months later? Yes, I threw that stupid piece of leftover french toast away. Who likes french toast with freezer taste all over it anyway? However, apparently the people in China wanted her to eat that piece of food.

Thankfully we had our very own Chinese representative move in to be roommates with me. Bethany Matheson. Bless her heart! She had been to China (twice I think) and had my back. Once again Kara told us not to throw our food away because the people in China were starving and Bethany said, as I was rolling my eyes at Kara's determination, "the people in China don't eat this crap!" THANK YOU BETHANY! We proceeded to throw away leftovers after that and I felt totally justified.

So, I was thinking about all of this in the shower the other day (always the best place for thinking) and I thought about how saving our food, throwing it away, or eating everything doesn't help the people in China at all. Plus, there are homeless people right outside our door. Why do we have to call on people around the globe for homelessness to give us a reason to be conservative? Odd. Anyway, I think it's funny. If we were going about this the Kara way, then technically being obese is a compliment to the Chinese because we can say, "Hey! Look at me! I don't throw food away! I eat it all, yeah baby!"

Well, since I've read the Hunger Games, I kinda feel bad sometimes when I throw food away. It's actually kind of annoying, but good at the same time. I don't let my french toast rot away in the freezer, but I do eat more of my leftovers. Sigh.... That was it. That's why I told that insanely long story, just for that.

Also, I just finished the second season of Lie to Me and I miss the characters already. How will I know if people are deceiving me if Cal Lightman isn't there to tell me so? How? Sigh. Tim Roth sometimes even feels like my next door neighbor or best bud. I miss him. Sigh. Lots of sighing. I will wait for season 3 to be on Netflix and that will be a happy day.

Physical Therapy

I've never done physical therapy before. I guess there is always a first.

When I was induced with Claire, my first nurse was less than stellar. She never came to check on us, would be gone for hours, forgot things when she came in, and she put my IV in a terrible place. She put it right at the joint between my thumb and wrist. Needless to say, it was painful and inconveniently located since I couldn't move my thumb for the duration of my labor because it would be to painful. I didn't ask her to move it because I had heard IV's were painful and I thought I was just being a baby.

After we were home from the hospital, I would try and pick Claire up from her cradle and it was excruciating! My hand would freeze up and it took all my strength to finish picking her up. It was so painful. I started doing some stretches to see if it would help, because, once again, I had other friends who had their IV location hurt for a couple weeks, so I didn't think anything of it. After about two months of it hurting like crazy, it started to ease up a bit. At times it would bother me, but it didn't really interfere with my day to day tasks.

Christmas came and it started to just ache a little, more to the point of annoyance, but soon the pain came back with a vengeance. I couldn't move my thumb at all without cringing and moaning. Oh, it was so painful! So, the past couple weeks I've been wearing a sort of brace to keep my hand idle and it helps a little bit until I start using it like normal. I couldn't really steer the car, couldn't cook, couldn't carry Claire without pain. Everything made me realize how much I use that big fat finger.

Today I went to the doctor. Well, that wonderfully terribly nurse probably caused nerve damage in my wrist. Thanks nurse Lauren. I have to do some physical therapy next week and then I meet with the hand surgeon/specialist the following Monday. Hopefully I won't have to have surgery, but it will be nice to know what's going on.

Point of the story.....don't base your pain off of other's experiences, just go to the doctor. I've been guilty of committing this crime all my life.