The Simple Joys of Life

Give, Love, Trust, & Listen, But....

A Strong Person

Our Lives are Shaped by Those Who Love Us...

A friend shared this on FaceBook today...it really hit home with me & I wanted to share it with you.

" When I was a sophomore in high school, on the first day of class my English teacher wrote at the top of the chalkboard, "Our lives are shaped by those who love us, and by those who refuse to love us". It remained there all year. I believed it then, and I believe it even more now. That is why it is so important to me to instill this belief in the smallest of children, in the grade school and high school youths, and the rest of us who have moved beyond those years. Every word you speak, every smile you share, every hand you extend, can help shape a life. The choice is yours--and the ramifications are huge--we are all shaping lives by our choices--one life at a time." ~ Mary Schanberger Hennessy

Love

Meet Branwen

I have a very sweet friend, Jill, whom I met a couple of years ago via Facebook through another FB friend. I love Jill for all sorts of reasons including the facts that she's hysterically funny; honest about daily ups & downs as well as the hard blows life can throw at you; she is open about her struggles with God but has never stopped trusting Him, loving Him, or believing in Him even when she couldn't see Him through the utter darkness surrounding her; she's an incredible mom, wife, daughter, & friend. I love her 'cause she talks on FB about things I'd never heard of before--things like "family cloths" or "mama cloths" & is okay when I laugh & ask questions about it or gently tease her. (If you don't know what "family cloths" are, I'd  tell you to look them up, but, I'll just tell you: instead of toilet paper, some families use nicely sewn soft cloths to wipe with that are then disposed of in a sealed laundry bucket--or in her case, laundry pail--to be washed later. I'll stick with my Charmin Ultra Soft which costs me $12/mo for 12 triple rolls and deal with the fact that I spend $144/year on TP. And if you're wondering: yes they keep TP in the house for guests & her husband who isn't into the cost saving measures of family cloth! ROFL!!! And if you haven't figured out what mama cloths are, you can just look 'em up folks. Hint: try Etsy--they are sold there.)

Jill has an awesome best friend, Molly, who is the proprietor of Sweet Seriah (who can be found on Etsy, Hyena, & Facebook) & Jill works with her...yes, they make babies together! LOL But not just any babies. The most incredibly special baby dolls that makes grown women long after them & little boys & girls become wonderful little daddies & mommies.

These Nurture Babies come with all skin, hair, and eye colors--some are boys & some are girls And each one is unique: no two are alike. And I am absolutely in love with each and every one of them! I'm pathetic: when a new baby's pictures are posted on FB, I oooh and ahhh over them like a little girl!

I mean: come on: those are precious--who wouldn't want a Sweet Seriah baby???? When Teagan is here, we often sit and go through Sweet Seriah's baby pictures, with Teagan exclaiming over how cute they are and aren't they precious, etc. I have to say, Teagan has been so good: while she's said she has wants "that one!" or "that one!" she has never actually asked for one. I don't think she knows they are for sale! LOL Oh the innocence of a 3 year old!

I however, am 42, and am very aware that they are for sale, but could never afford one on my silly disability pay (I mean, let's get real, I can barely afford life on my silly disability pay!)...but that sure hasn't stopped me from loving each & every one & from constantly sharing their postings on my FB wall, to the point that I've received texts or private msgs from friends asking me what my interest in these dolls are & why I am obsessed with them!!  Hahaha! One friend even asked if am I being paid to promote them--uh, no!!! In fact I highly doubted that Jill & Molly knew how much I liked their Nurture Babies because a lot of people like them, comment on them, and share them on FB.

So you can imagine my shock, surprise, & joy when I had a message from Jill saying that she wanted to gift me with my very own Nurture Baby! I was to choose what I wanted my baby to look like and she & Molly would make one for me! She said a lot of other really sweet & wonderful things too about our friendship... Isn't it funny how you can grow so close to people you've never even met in-real-life? I truly treasure our friendship & was completely blown away by her offer of a Nurture Baby. I tried to tell her that I certainly don't expect rewards for being friends! But she insisted, so I accepted.

If you know me at all, you'll know I started to cry! Teagan was here and asked me why I was crying--I told her I was crying because I was so happy. (I think it's important to confuse children as early as possible!) Then I told her about Jill & Molly making us our very own Nurture Baby & pulled up the pictures of them, saying we got to choose what she looked like. Teagan immediately insisted that she have "yellow" hair... Honestly, that wouldn't have been my first pick (dark or red would have been mine) but I can't say no to Teagan. Actually Teagan wanted a black baby with yellow hair, so actually, I can say no to her: I told her our baby could either have yellow hair or black skin but not both together! What can I say? She surprised me by sticking by the yellow hair. It soon became apparent that we wouldn't be able to make any other decisions because we love how all Nurture Babies look, so I told Jill that we would like a girl with yellow hair.

Last week I was surprised to get a message requesting my address--our baby was ready??? She arrived on Saturday at the same time that Teagan arrived to spend the night! Together we opened the box and brought out the letter from Jill. In it she explained that she & Molly had been working on another special baby but after she was done they noticed a slight blemish on her cheek which meant no one would want to buy her, and while she wasn't exactly what we had asked for, would we adopt her?

We pulled back the packaging and there lay the most beautiful little girl--with dark hair!!!! I was thrilled!!! She was beautiful!!! I instantly fell in love!!! As for Teagan, well, I don't think she remembered her request for yellow hair:

She couldn't contain her joy!!! Teagan has a delightful habit of naming her friends all sorts of unusual names--many of them starting with the letter P ~ but I jumped the gun on her a bit and christened our girl Branwen. In addition to her dark hair, she has lovely eyes the same color as Teagan's!

Teagan fell deeply in love with Branwen: she was her constant companion! In fact, I only got to hold Branwen when I helped to change her clothes. (Branwen came with three different outfits!) The rest of the time, it was all about Teagan & Branwen!

Teagan gently placed this butterfly on her to watch over her during her nap; 

to wake her she had the butterfly tickle her nose.

While Teagan's other friends weren't totally neglected, I think Marie was feeling a little put out: who was this new friend taking up Teagan's attention???

Gypsy took more of a "if you can't beat them, join them" attitude and lay down practically on top of Branwen!

 That evening we celebrated the birthdays of Pinky (the monkey) and Perry (the mouse)--they both turned 34! Branwen attended her first birthday party....

Usually spending the night here involves a long bubble bath in Gramma's great big tub. Not this night: This night was spent playing with Branwen! And her first night here, Branwen slept in Gramma's big bed with Teagan & Gramma...not with Auntie M. I would have been jealous, except for the fact that they were so happy together!!

At bedtime, we always read a variety of books--Teagan's choice of course. But she has great taste and it's always interesting to see what she will choose. Typically, Teagan & Gramma cuddle up under the covers & I sit at the foot of the bed & read to them. This night was no different except for the addition of Branwen.

One of Teagan's all-time favorite books is called I Love You Like Crazy Cakes except she calls it I Love You Like Cupcakes...which makes a lot more sense for someone who loves cupcakes! She first saw this story when we had cable through Verizon Fios & they had this awesome On Demand Kids channel that had books that had been "filmed"--narrated with close-ups of the illustrations. Teagan was only 2-and-a-half when she first saw & fell in love with this story.

Tonight, she chose Just Grandma & Me, Love You Like Cupcakes, Roxaboxen for her stories (in that order). I was just part way through Love You Like Cupcakes when she interrupted excitedly: "Her adopted baby looks like our adopted baby!" Sure enough! They did look alike! Teagan was amazed that our adopted baby looked so much like the adopted baby in the story: same hair, eyes & rosy cheeks. And she has always said that the mama in the story looks like me.

Then, with wide open eyes, and in a near whisper, she said that this story is just like Auntie M who was waiting for a baby of her own to love, too... "And now you both have one!" (Insert happy, drowsy sigh.)

My 3-year-old niece is deep!!!

Thank you, Jill (& Molly too!!!) for your kindness & generosity!!! I love, love, love my sweet Nurture Baby ~ and I love you too!!! By the way: after 3 days of searching for whatever mark it was you thought you saw on her cheek...I think I might very, very faintly see it. It appears to be the shape of an M. My baby is even more special!!

PS~I was so grateful that Branwen was with us yesterday to help comfort Teagan!

Nice Day Turns to Mini Horror Story...

I have so many things to post about & get caught up on, but today's events are so horribly in my mind, I must write about them now! Hopefully my writing won't be to terribly disjointed! :-)

So, my mom, Danielle & Dante, Tiffany & Teagan, and I went to the Country Village today for lunch & to walk around & have fun. We had lunch at a little Italian restaurant. The kids had a fun time running around looking at things (like ducks & roosters & windmills & lots of interesting shop things). 

See??? Fun Times!!!!

We had a grand time...what's not to love: great company, fun shops, pretty things, things with wheels (that's what's important to Dante! LOL), cousins loving on each other, beautiful weather. Lovely!

Then we made the mistake of going back to the little park so the kids could go on the little push-around merry-go-round. In the past, the cute little horse-go-round really didn't spin--you had to seriously put in a hard-core work out to get it to move at all.

This is a picture from a couple years ago when Ava was here with us & 

Teagan was only 1 & we had to push & shove to move that sucker at all!

But someone has apparently fixed it and, boy, does it work! With the merest of pushes, it spins & even gains momentum when you aren't pushing it at all. 

This guy was there with his daughter who was much older than our kids (8 or 9 maybe?)--we all got the feeling it was maybe his "visitation day" as he just didn't strike us as a father who was just out for the day with his child...I don't know how to explain it. Frankly he came off as a guy who couldn't handle raising a kid full time. Not really the point though. The point was, he had her spinning so fast on that thing that she was but a blur. However she loved it! 

But then we came along and another mother with younger kids came at the same time & the guy finally got the clue that the toy wasn't for his daughter's exclusive use...I think when his daughter said something about giving the other kids turns! So she got off & the two of them actually wandered off.

So I was on it with Teagan & Dante & a couple other kids  and we were just kind of spinning slowly, nice time. I was half-standing/half-sitting on that middle section holding on to Dante making sure he didn't just decide to get down while it was moving. He was loving it and everyone was having a great time. But guess who comes back? The father/daughter duo. His kid gets on, yells to go faster and the guy just sends us spinning. Didn't ask. Didn't notice that there was an 18 month old...or a couple of 3 or 4 year olds on there! 

I could barely keep my balance & was trying to hold on to Dante for dear life and was worried about Teagan but I couldn't really catch my breath to tell him to stop. Just as I was able to yell out for him to stop, my mom started yelling at him to stop the whole ride & then Dante sort of slumped from dizziness & let his grip on the horse go & I had this grip on him that was like a straight jacket. The thing stopped & mom ran over and Dante slid down & stumbled off with this look on his face like "what the hell just happened??" Teagan slid off too & grabbed my hand as I staggered off unsteady & sick. I gave the guy a dirty look and commented to loudly on "what the hell did that jerk think he was doing?" When my head cleared & I turned around and told him afterwards that he shouldn't do that with other people's kids...but he did it anyway, again, later... In the meantime, Dante actually peed his pants (or filled his diaper) he was so shocked! He was dry when I set him on that horse!!

The crappy thing is that what happened with Dante wasn't even the worst thing...that was still coming. The guy & kid slunk away after I snapped at him. Teagan & other kids recovered & happily get back on. Then the other kids left. Man & kid come back. Now it's just Teagan & his kid who once again screams to go fast. Teagan laughs & says something like, "yeah, go fast!" Teagan is THREE!!! So the idiot freakin' sends them spinning like crazy. Danielle was walking away to go change Dante's diaper & I was following her to give him his trusty car & we both heard this shriek & turned to see Teagan flying through the air. My sister & mom were screaming & running towards her. I turned & started running towards her from the opposite direction. Danielle started running after me, holding Dante. (My chest is getting tight just typing this!)

Teagan had become dizzy, lost her grip, & flew off!!! She landed head/face first in the cement & grass next to the spinning thing & the asshole was still kinda laughing!! 

Teagan bit through her lip, scratched her chin & face + her knees were all scratched up through her pants. She was screaming & bleeding all over & the jerk didn't even apologize. 

The guys kid said something like, "Wow! Dad, are you in trouble?!" And he laughed and said, "Yeah, I guess so!" and kept pushing her around in circles!!! (But she kept saying, "Stop, that little girl's hurt!")

Teag was able to shakily stand & my sister just grabbed her up, threw her purse at me & ran asking where a bathroom or first aid station was. My mom gave the guy a dirty look (& word) & followed. Danielle followed them & I quickly gathered up my sister's purse & the items that had fallen out.

Frankly, I didn't know whether to beat the crap out of that jerk or run with the others to the bathroom with Teag. My love for Teag won out. And I ran with the rest of the group towards the far off bathroom. When I glanced over my shoulder, though, that guy was still crazily spinning his kid around on that damned merry-go-round! (Though I chose Teagan then, I did go back looking for the him soon after & I think if Danielle hadn't had Dante, she might have gone after him too! Instead she wisely took Dante to change his very wet pants.)

Teagan screamed & cried the whole way to the bathroom (at far end of village while the not-so-merry-go-round is at front) and kept saying, "No go faster, no go faster!!!" Her mouth was bleeding & her whole lower face was swelling rapidly. We ran in the bathroom & I went into the restaurant next door & got ice. People were asking what had happened & a couple had seen what happened & followed us. People offered first aid kits from cars or stores & were very kind.

The sweetest offer though was from the woman from the awesome toy store, Toys That Teach: she brought us in, settled Teagan in a sunny corner where they had books & a cozy chair & a baby doll & a rocking horse and brought us their 1st aid kit while Teagan was distracted by all the awesome things around her. The woman didn't even mind that we brought a screaming, bloody child in--in fact she ushered us in. Very, very sweet!!! Teagan slowly calmed down & stuck her tongue back out at me so we could see if it was bit through & let mommy feel her teeth. Teag quieted & asked to sit on (of all things!) the rocking horse! When a horse bucks you, you have get right back one, you know! 

Thank You to Toys That Teach!!!

I took this lull to take the camera & hunt down the arse who had done this to our baby...he had left the area (and I think the whole shopping village), so I was spared being arrested for killing him. Truth be told, right before she flew off, all 4 of us felt like we should get her off that thing and away from that jerk, and Tiff was moving forward to do so... Should have followed our instincts sooner!

Anyway...when I got back to the toy store, Teag was curled up on mommy's lap reading a book. She couldn't really talk as her mouth was so swollen, but she did agree to go look at their train set. But when she tried to walk, it hurt too much, so mommy carried her. Then we found this fun section with all these themed sticker books--kind of part story book, part paper dolls, & part stickers. Mommy told her she could have one so she sat on my lap & slowly narrowed it down from 1 of each, to just the Ballerina sticker book & was able to carry it to the counter. The lady told her how brave she was & asked if she likes puppy dogs (think she saw Teagan admiring the $25 purse that looked like a puppy that mommy said she couldn't get!) and then gave her a whole roll of different puppy stickers for being such a brave girl! Score!!!!

She was able to walk all the way back to the front of the Village to the fabric/quilting store is where Gramma, Auntie Danielle, and Dante were waiting for us. She carefully carried a doggie sticker for Dante the whole way. When we got there she couldn't really talk clearly, but said something like, *sniff* "Heya Dante, thith thitker th for you!"  *snuffle* [Here Dante, this sticker is for you!]  (This was followed by what was supposed to be a smile).

Dante loves his cousin and looked confused by several things: her beat up face, her speech, and lastly, by her offering. 

(Later Gramma told me that he did not know what to do with that sticker! First it got stuck on one finger so he tried to pull it off, but then it was stuck on the finger of the the other hand...hmmm, pull it off...wait! Stuck back on the 1st finger. Ugh! Pull it off...back on 2nd hand/finger. Confusion mounts. This went on for a minute or so with confusion coating his face til a light bulb went off! His face brightened. He smiled. He bent down. And carefully stuck that darn sticker to the floor of the store. Sigh. Relief! ROFL)

Joyous Boy...he looked VERY serious when his cousin got hurt!

By this time Teagan had had it--she was done with this day & wanted to go back to Gramma's. It didn't matter that Gramma was staying with Auntie Danielle & Dante at the store...she cried at the suggestion of going home. So Auntie M & Mommy agreed to take her back to Gramma's (why it is Gramma's house & not mine is beyond me--but all the kids call it Gramma's house: they must think I'm the most horrible freeloader!)

We walked back to our car, carefully skirting the area with the dangerous toy (and I made fun of parks for removing those things! Now I see why they did!!!) & settled Teagan in. Out came Purple (her special blankie) and The Pluggie Fairy even made one of her pluggies magically appear (the Pluggie Fairy takes Teagan's pluggies to babies during the day and brings her one at bed time)...but poor little girl couldn't even suck on it. But she was happy to let it rest in her mouth! Then she snuggled with Auntie M's new doll, Branwen. (Yes, I have a new baby doll~another story I'll share another time!)

She fell asleep about 5 minutes into our drive. About 10 minutes into our drive she cried out in her sleep:

"No go fast! No go fast!"

And then snuggled Purple & Branwen closer. Her mommy & I looked at each other & teared up. I crept quietly out of the car when we reached my house, gently removing Branwen & replacing her with one of Teagan's stuffed animals that I had also been carrying. [Teagan had wanted them all to come with us today--who am I to argue? ;-) ]

This was last night but it's a close approximation to how 

Teagan & Branwen looked in the backseat today

Emergencies involving our precious children bring out some strange behaviour in people. For instance, Teagan's typically mild-mannered, non-swearing daddy wanted to kill the effer when he found out. Her usually foul-mouthed Auntie M didn't swear once during the whole episode, nor did she kill the effer when she had the chance (though it definitely crossed her mind--his kid being there stopped me). Her mommy was cool & calm under pressure but her Gramma who handled all sorts of boo-boos over the years was shaking. Auntie D surprised me in also wanting to smack the guy! And Dante who had been wriggling around wanting to get back on the spinning monster saw what happened to his beloved cousin & fell quiet and didn't ask to go back there again. And while one stranger hurt, many others reached out in kindness.

We have much to be grateful for. Dante could have slipped off and been injured today too. And Teagan's injuries could have been much, much worse: she could have lost teeth, broken an arm, or worse, her neck.

So while she "bounced" back this evening at home (meaning her mood bounced back to its usual cheerfulness--she couldn't eat & talking is difficult), we are grateful that our precious girl is not hurt any worse than she was. Her parents are keeping an eye on her in case of concussion. And we know God had His hand on her today--despite all of us not listening to our instincts or His nudges more quickly.

Last week when I took apart one of Teagan's roses to dry it's petals, 

I discovered all of them to be heart-shaped!

Updated 10/01/12:
Today Teagan is bruised & banged  up but her spirit is bright! She is playing & dancing, but still wants lots of cuddles...and talked Mommy, Gramma, & Auntie M into letting her spend the night here again. Milk it girl!