I'm Disappointed.

Is it legal to vent on a blog?

I don't usually do that...

What do you think of this dress?

Well, I ordered it for maternity photos on November 2nd. The etsy shop owner is in Thailand, so it took a week for my payment to be approved. That was on the 9th.

Her shop says that items ship within 24 hours after payment is approved, unless it's the weekend, and then it's within 48 hours. Well, 5 days later, on the 14th, it still hadn't shown that it was shipped, so I emailed her to see if she had just not updated the status or if it really hadn't shipped.

She didn't respond for 3 more days, on the 17th. She said that she had found a small color mark on the dress and it needed to be redyed. It would be ready to ship in 2 days. I thanked her for her dedication in making it a great product, and waited for it to ship.

On the 28th of November, 11 days later, I emailed her again asking about the dress as the status still wasn't updated to it having been shipped.

It turns out, she didn't ever send it, and had to go out of town for a funeral in the family. She said that she was sorry, and that she'd gladly send me one of her other dresses that were available and ready for shipment- which was, at the time, red, rust, white, and gray and lavender. I'm really disappointed because I don't want any of those colors. Plus, even with expedited shipment, from Thailand, it would still take 2 weeks. That puts me into mid December, and only 2 weeks from my expected birth (I'm planning on him coming 2 weeks early like all my others). IF all went well with shipping and it got here within the allotted amount of time.

I told her that I was sorry for the death in her family, and asked if we could just do a refund. She agreed, and apologized again.

I feel bad, because I can understand the emergency travel and issues that follow losing a loved one. But now my plans were ruined. It'd be cutting it too close.

So, it doesn't look like I'll be doing any maternity pictures. Bummer.

And before anyone tells me to just find something else, well, I'm not going to. I have searched for a dress for literally my ENTIRE pregnancy for photos. And if you know me at ALL, you know that every picture I have of myself is of me in a costume or dolled up. I don't get in front of a camera unless I'm looking pretty specific.

Some examples:

Okay- yes, i DO actually realize that I am beyond dorky. But I get seriously sick of seeing those stupid maternity pictures with the ribbon around the belly, or the hands making a heart over it. Ew. Or the ones with the dad standing behind the mom and their hands all intertwined and their eyes closed. I'm sorry. But I just prefer something a little more....not-done. ~Sigh~

Oh well. There's my vent.

Touchy Topic Tuesday: I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

PRETTY PLEASE!!!! Join me on Mondays for my new meme- Mommier-Than-Thou Monday, and let us know why you're a better mommy than anyone else out there!!!

Also, Merry Christmas! Please click the link above to read about my sweet Scarlet, her accident, her successful recovery and how YOU can help us help the children of Primary Children's Hospital by purchasing a beautiful, unique Spoon For Scarlet. They make lovely ornaments for your tree, eye catching window decorations, and perfect gifts both for the holidays and beyond.

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Touchy Topic Tuesday:

"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"

Tonight, I am snuggled under a blanket, and sipping a cup of pumpkin spice cocoa. Molly, my black lab, is stretched out on the floor beneath me, and the room is illuminated by only the screen of my netbook, and the pinpoint lights of the Christmas tree we put up and decorated yesterday.

Under the tree, my most favorite decoration, The Kneeling Santa, rests below sloping boughs, right next to the Fisher Price Nativity my kids just love to play with.

There aren't any gifts yet, but honestly, the thought of Santa's yearly arrival makes me giddy all the way to my toes.

Yes, the rule in my house does happen to be "If you don't believe, you don't receive."

I believe in Santa. And, naturally, so do my kids. And, as it goes, I will defend their innocence on the matter as though it were a matter of life and death. After discovering that the mystery of Santa Claus was not what I had always dreamed it to be, the season just wasn't the same to me anymore. At least not until I had my own children. Now, the magic of the holiday is tenfold.

Now, it seems to have recently come to my attention that Santa Claus is a touchy subject. I have heard over and over the phrase "You can't spell Santa without Satan." and passionate mothers accuse that an encouragement of belief in something like this is an insult to their child's intelligence, and even more claim that they will never stoop to such an atrocity as to lie to their child. Then of course, there are the holier-than-thou mothers who insist that you can't do Christmas correctly while using Santa because it takes the focus off of Jesus Christ, which is the true meaning of Christmas. (And for the record, I would love to extend an invitation to all of THOSE mamas to join my Monday meme- see above.)

My rebuttals?

"You can't spell Santa without Satan"

Well, you can't spell God without dog either, but that doesn't make him any less divine, does it?

"It's an insult to my child's intelligence"

Well, one of the most brilliant minds that ever lived is quoted to say "The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination." (Albert Einstein)- it sure is a sad day when a young child is expected to be too mature to pretend or too smart to hope for something magical.

"I will never lie to my child"

Well, maybe this is just me, but I doubt it because if it really were JUST me, Santa would have died off generations ago, but when i finally approached my mother with serious intent to find out the truth about Santa Claus, and she told me, very honestly, that no, Santa wasn't real, but that it was such a lovely tradition, to let children believe that there was such a man, so giving, so loving that he spends his entire, immortal existence serving others, and what an example that should be to me- that I should give generously too- well, I never ever once felt deceived or lied to. A bit let down, perhaps, that the legend was not true, but I did not trust my mother less. I simply began to look forward to doing it all myself some day.

"Remember the reason for the season. It's about Christ, not Santa, and you simply cannot have both."

This is simply not true. As I said, beneath my beautiful Christmas tree, devoid of any presents as of yet, my dearest decoration stands, the Kneeling Santa. Some find this cheesy, or cliche. I find it positively humbling. WE have always taught OUR children that Santa brings presents to children as a symbol, because Jesus was God's greatest gift to us, and we receive gifts to remind us of that. There are symbols from everything- from the striped candy cane (the shepherds who saw the angels who brought wonderful news), to the star on top of the tree (the star over the stable). We talk almost daily about Jesus Christ, and about his birthday. Like the wise men, bringing gifts to baby Jesus, Santa brings presents to children. Like the wise men, MY children, instead of receiving gifts from their mom and dad, choose a child from the angel tree, and we put much thought into the gifts we will purchase for a child who has very little. It is something they look forward to with all their hearts.

There ARE two aspects of Christmas. Jesus Christ- the reason for the season, and Santa, who is only a deterrent to the religious aspect if you MAKE (not 'let', 'make') him be so. It is so very easy to explain to a child, in simple, understandable terms, the differences.

To be honest, I just don't really care if people choose to believe in Santa, or if they promote it with their children, or if they seriously feel like Santa is such a huge lie that it will destroy their children's psyche that they'd rather just never even introduce the magical, hopeful feeling many of us remember in the first place.

What I DO care about is that those parents keep their mouths shut about it and teach their children to do the same. When my child talks about a gift they were given, and an adult turns to me "Where did you get that?" and my child answers "Santa brought it!", it is not, in any way, acceptable to respond without hesitation "No, seriously, where did you get it?" (Yes, this comes from personal experience.)

On Christmas morning, it is REQUIRED that, if you are spending the morning with us, that you guard your comments with strict precision. I do not want to have to give you dirty looks, or remind you several times that SANTA brought these gifts, I did not purchase them myself. But you'd better believe that you WILL receive a tongue lashing if you are to ruin this day for my children.

If your child knows all the dirty laundry about Santa, please, please, teach them that it's not okay to go blabbing it to their school friends. My oldest is 5. I don't expect her to believe forever, but 5 years old is still a very tender young age in my eyes, and if you choose not to employ Santa in your holiday, that's fine with me. But don't you dare let your child take it away from mine.

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Now, give us your opinions, friends! Do you believe if Santa? Do your children? How do YOU separate Santa from Christ? If you don't employ this tradition, why not, and what ARE your traditions?

Mommier-Than-Thou-Monday

Link up, friends, by linking your blog to the linky below, add my Mommier-Than-Thou Monday button to your post so your readers can come here and link up too, and let us know why YOU are such an excellent mommy!!!!!

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Two weeks ago, I took all three of my children to the dentist for the first time in their lives. Scarlet's mouth was too little for x-rays, but Lilly and Mahone got them done. They all sat there happily while they had their teeth counted, cleaned, and had a tray full of strawberry flavored fluoride shoved into their mouth, and then selected very precisely the prizes they were so dearly entitled to.

Not a one of them had a single cavity!!!!

Well, I should say not, since I spend so much painstaking time brushing and flossing their teeth morning and night!!!

And THAT is why I'm such a good mommy!!!!

Touchy Topic Tuesday, Bad hair day???

Remember, everyone, to put my new Meme on your Monday Blogging agenda!!! Click the button below to find out more! Lets get this show on the road, and get some great link ups while reminding ourselves why we are AWESOME mothers!!!

Likewise, click on THIS button to find out about Spoons For Scarlet. Christmas is coming- it's the perfect time to purchase a gorgeous Spoon For Scarlet ornament for your Christmas tree, all the while helping the children of Primary Children's Hospital here in Utah:

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Touchy Topic Tuesday:

Bad Hair Day?- Boy with long hair banned from Catholic School

This Article was posted at the beginning of November, was posted on my MSN Today pop up and out of curiosity, I read it.

The story makes an attempt to be heartbreaking, but really isn't, so much. As a matter of fact, it's just irritating how entitled it is.

The story tells of a 4 year old boy who, when he was 16 months old, lost his grandfather to lung cancer. His mother, a devout Catholic, decided then to grow her son's hair long so as to eventually donate the locks to children who undergo chemo therapy and lose their hair.

Under other circumstances, the idea is sweet, and even admirable. BUT, here is where the plot thickens: Good Catholic mom enrolled her son in a Catholic School pre-kindergarten.

Apparently, when she registered him, the school was alright with her decision to keep her son's hair long, as long as they cut it before he entered Kindergarten, however, before the summer was over, the board of Diocese changed the policy to include pre-k in the policy for boys needing to have their hair "clean cut" as part of the dress code for the school. They gave him until October 1st to have his hair cut.

It is said that the mother of the boy had set up an appointment at a salon and invited a news crew to cover her son's clipping on September 30th. Apparently, though, there was a storm and they didn't go get the boy's hair cut. When they showed up for classes on October 1st, the teacher would not let the boy into the classroom because his hair was not up to par with their policy. She is found to say "He has done nothing wrong, and he is the victim here." The Diocese that run the school agreed, saying that it was a matter that lay between the Parents of the child and the school officials, and that the child had done nothing wrong, but then went on to blame the mother for the problem.

The mother says “I love my church, but this isn’t about the church. It’s about the authority and power and power abuse,” she said. “I honestly think that my son has been totally branded by the Diocese of Trenton. I don’t think I’ll be able to get him into any Catholic school.”

She feels that sending him back to that Catholic school will mean that he will be made fun of. She also says "I honestly feel that they are not worthy to have us here."

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Well, now for my opinion, and your arguments for or against my own.

Honestly, I think that the mom is 1. Looking for public attention, and 2. She's extremely full of herself.

I don't think there's any argument whatsoever against the fact that the situation in which her father died is very sad. Cancer is never something that is an easy thing to deal with. It's always devastating, and I think that under other circumstances, the growing of her son's hair for donation is very admirable.

However, what I find very irritating is that she expected a private Catholic school to bend the rules for her son.

I think the part that bothers me about that the most is that it happens regularly. You read stories online all the time about Private school teachers or students thinking they are above the rules. One in particular comes to mind about a teacher who happens to be a lesbian marrying her partner, and getting fired from the private Catholic school she worked at, and then, contrary to her longstanding contract, which states the school's rules against same sex marriage, claims that she was fired unfairly, and that because of her loyalty for over 15 years, her failure to follow staff policy should be overlooked. It happens all the time, and it's ridiculous in my book.

This is the thing: A Catholic school is a private school and private schools are allowed to have dress codes, uniforms and requirements for the way their students present themselves. Heck, the public school I went to didn't allow over-the-top hairstyles or outlandish hair colors to be worn by students. A person who is going to be working at or enrolling in a private school needs to understand that yes, there are rules, no, they are not exempt from those rules, no matter their cause or reason, and yes, those rules will be enforced. It IS, as a matter of fact, fair and well within their rights for the school's officials to enforce those rules.

The school changed the policy the summer before this boy entered the school year, even though at the time of registration, the school officials said that his hair style was alright. Well, they weren't lying. At the time, the hairstyle WAS alright. The policy was changed to include pre-k, but I doubt with every fiber of my being that it was done specifically to force her child to conform. As a matter of fact, the policy change was very likely discussed, decided on and in effect long before the child ever enrolled. Some people just really are so vain they think everything is about them.

The mother had an appointment to cut the kid's hair on September 30th, and she had a news crew ready to record it. The story says there was a storm that happened, which, apparently, stopped them from getting to the appointment. Seriously? I think that's a huge cop out. And she knew the rules. If it wasn't done by October 1st, the boy would not meet his school's requirements and therefore, would not be able to attend school. In my opinion, waiting until the day before the deadline was pushing the limits quite a bit. Why wait so long? I doubt his hair grew half a centimeter from the beginning of the school year to the last day of September. And why invite a news crew if it's REALLY about the service and charity of donation to kids who lose their hair? I have a very dear friend whose daughter, by the time she was 2 years old had hair past her butt and thicker than an adult's hair. She donates her hair to locks of love on a 6 month to 1 year basis now, out of the goodness of her heart AND to keep it under control as it grow so quickly. She is 7 years old and has never called a news crew for the attention.

I DO agree that the boy didn't do anything wrong. But I stand by the school's decision not to let him in. As the mother of children the same age as this boy, I know full well that what they do is my responsibility. If I am responsible for getting them into the dentist, but I never take them, they may get cavities. If I do not take them to get their vaccinations, they may catch pertussis. And this mother did not take proper responsibility for her son and get his hair cut, to which the consequences were that he was not allowed to go to school. And what's so simple is that to be able to come back, all she had to do was get it cut. Instead, she made a stink about the whole thing and got herself plenty more public news attention.

She says that the Diocese "branded" her son and that he'll never be able to get into a Catholic school again, and i think that's bull. SHE branded him by making a big deal of this. This boy could not be allowed to have the rules bent for him. This whole thing isn't ABOUT him. It's about adherence to rules and regulations. Everything about this little boy being innocent is true. He did nothing wrong. He is too young to be blamed to his lack of adherence to the rules in this particular case. However, due to fairness to other students, the school could not just say "oh, you didn't make it in time? Oh, that's okay, come on in. You have all the time you want!" No, that's not how rules work. It's nothing personal. It's not against her son. It's a rule in the policy and that is subject to be upheld. It's an example to other students and parents that the rules are actually important.

Honestly, I have to sit back and wonder just a bit, did that mother use a rainstorm as an excuse so that she could try and get the school to let her son continue to grow his hair?

The mother also says that it's about "authority and power and the abuse of power"- well, I have to vehemently disagree. Schools have power for a reason, and in this case, they are not abusing their power. The family was given ample warning about the impending date of importance. And they did not take that seriously. Rules were not followed and were therefore enforced.

It does not say if the child has had his hair cut since or not, but I disagree that she could not put him back in the same school. None of those 4 and 5 year old kids are going to care about this incident, the only reason it would follow him throughout his school experience is because his mother, looking for her 15 minutes of fame, invited news crews to cover her temper tantrum. Even still, the kids in this child's pre-k class likely know nothing about the whole situation. It's also completely unbelievable that the teacher spent a lot of time talking about the situation.

So, basically, my opinion is this: When you sign up for something, be it a private school, a religion, a club, etc, there are rules and regulations to follow. There are restrictions. There are codes to follow. If you don't like them, then don't apply. But don't bash them and refuse to adhere, do not insist that you are being treated unfairly or get the public involved if you DO apply and fail to follow the rules. If you want to succeed in certain atmospheres, sometimes there are hoops to jump through. If you knowingly take that upon your shoulders, it is, indeed, fair.

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Give us your opinions, friends!!! Was the school out of line? Was the mother out of line? What is your take on this story? Let me know! I can't wait to discuss it! Remember: Everyone is welcome to their opinion, but please refrain for mean, hateful comments. Bashing me or my other readers/commenters will be deleted immediately.

Mommier-Than-Thou-Mondays!!! New Meme Announcement

Okay, so, I have tried to start up multiple memes, because, well, I just want to be that cool that people actually link up with me.

Unfortunately, none of my memes have caught on.

So I started thinking. What do we ALL want? What do we all NEED?

Well, here's the deal:

I pretty much think I have the cutest, smartest, most clever, and most creative children in this entire world.

Yes, sometimes I'll mention something awesome that they've done, or why I'm proud of them, but I DO actually try to keep my mommier-than-thou feelings to myself, because really, when it comes down to it, when you're sitting around with a bunch of other mommies at playgroup, waiting for school to get out, or ~ahem~ eavesdropping in ~ahem~ on the group of cliquish mothers next to you at the library, it's really nothing but annoying.

To hear someone talk about how superior their child or, worse, their parenting style is, well, lets just say "Them's fightin' words."

No one wants to hear about it.

BUT....I DO!!!

Mostly, I want to brag. I have some amazing kids, and I want to talk about it. As a lot of what they do and say and what they're learning has a whole bunch to do with ME as their mother, it's just not bragging about THEM.

Besides that, with all the mommy guilt we suffer from day in and day out, don't you think that it would be kind of nice to have a place to weekly display the things you're doing RIGHT??? Don't you think it would feel good, boost your confidence in your mom-hood to really just say what you think makes YOU worth it?

That's what this is about, friends. And I dearly hope you think it's worthwhile too...or this meme will end up just another notch on my bedpost...and that would not make me happy.

So link up, girls, post the button to link back here so even MORE mommier-than-thou-gals can join up, and brag away. What makes YOU the best mommy in the world???

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I got the button picture on Googleimages.com. I don't know who it is. And I hope she doesn't mind me using it!!!!

Wordless Wednesday!!!

September

October

Last week (pardon the water spots on my mirror.)

Touchy Topic Tuesday: "Mommy, where do babies come from?"

Just one thing first, friends!!!

PLEASE take the time to click on this button and read Scarlet's story. Spoons For Scarlet is my humble attempt to help those who helped us, to give back and to hopefully increase the number of success stories! All proceeds benefit the Primary Children's Medical Center. The button is available for grabbing on my sidebar! Spread the news!

Touchy Topic Tuesday

"Mommy, where do babies come from?"

Okay, it's no secret that there's something growing inside me. Call it a baby if you will, though, at this point in my pregnancy, I'm becoming bitter about the pain and discomfort, and he's a bit more like a parasite.

As a matter of fact, I have only around 7-9 weeks left of this pregnancy.

A confession: I have a really hard time keeping my mouth shut about anything and everything. So, my children have known about my little bundle of naked joy flipping around in there since he was nothing but a quickly dividing clump of cells.

Of course, as children do, it wasn't long before my two oldest were cornering me with questions about how the baby come OUT of my belly.

Well, for US, the answer was pretty simple. We started from the very beginning by calling our children's "private parts" by their correct names. Frankly, it drives me absolutely crazy when I hear a child refer to their vagina as a "cookie" or a "sweet spot" or a "pee pee" (or even grosser, in my opinion, for boys: "Peep"). I mean, as a married adult, I have all kinds of hilarious and derogatory names for my girly bits, but those are used amongst my friends or during those times that we call "behind closed doors", not when we're referring to our children.

I guess when it comes down to it, I was simply not raised to be bashful about the things that are simply facts of life. I mean, I tried very hard to resist that. I gagged every time my mom and dad kissed, I refused to mention it to my mother when I needed new sanitary products, and I would rather insist that I wear the same bra day in and day out rather than go with my mom to buy any extras. (Still, she kept my underwear drawer well stocked and full of clean new items, which is what I'll strive to do with my own children: Thanks mom, for that example!)

But I guess some of my mother rubbed off on me, because now, the casual mention of my son and his penis, or my girls and their vaginas make me wince a whole lot less than the adult woman who openly admits that she teaches her daughter to refer to her vagina as a "treasure box."

The answer, for our children, was simple. It takes a mommy and a daddy to make a baby, which grows in mommy's tummy until it's big enough to live outside, and then, with the doctor's help, the baby is born by coming out the mommy's vagina. Does it hurt? Yes, but if it hurt TOO much, then mommy would only have had one baby, and that would be it. They're still too little to be taught the specifics of sex, but when I feel they are old enough to know, when I feel it's necessary, or when they ask with more of a mature intention, my discussion will be just as honest, forward, and most assuredly will come from me and my husband as opposed to other children at school or online sources.

As an expectant mother, I belong to a few birth boards, and all my loyal readers know I have a very complicated love/hate relationship with the whole idea of birth boards, but I find it passes the time, answers odd questions i have about whatever pain or sensation I may be dealing with, and somewhat fulfills my need for social interaction.

Of course, this subject has been addressed, probably too many times to count, where a mother is wondering exactly how to break the news to their older children without causing psychological damage.

Admittedly, I am infinitely appalled by the many women who simply tell their children that they go to the hospital and buy a baby. How dumb do they actually think their children are? What's even more ridiculous is that they are convinced that this type of answer appeases their child, and the kid stops asking questions because they have been given a satisfactory answer. As a matter of fact, though, those are the kids who say to themselves "Okay, mom's crazy...I'm going to ask Michael, at school, who seems to know everything about everything." These also happen to be the kinds of parents who never discuss the birds and bees with their children and then are horrified and extremely angry when their 15 year old comes home pregnant.

Many parents just tell their children that the doctor cuts open their belly and pulls the baby out and then sews her back up.

Well, that's fine and dandy...IF that's how your baby will be born. But it's honestly a bit disgusting to me that parents can be so terrified of saying the word "vagina" that they'd rather fill their child's head with images of doctors with knives. And yes, it happens a lot. I'm telling you, that would be far more traumatizing to MY children than learning that the baby comes out of a part of my body that is MADE for delivering babies.

All in all, I guess that's my policy: Honesty. Kids aren't stupid. And discussing labor and even conception with even very small children does not have to end up being sexually explicit. But you're insulting your child's intelligence when you lie to them.

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Give us your opinion!!! Let us know how YOU feel about 'the talk' and while you're at it, tell us what kind of names YOU have heard those delicate parts referred to as- be they YOUR names, funny names, or whatever!!!

The Golden Tooth Brush

When I was a kid, I remember, in the depths of early darkness of winter, lying on my mom's dark brown shag carpet and watching all those classic and cheaply made cartoons. You remember the ones: Under Dog, Mighty Mouse, Rocky and Bullwinkle and so on.

Somewhere in there, I remember watching an episode about the bad guys who had stolen an extra large solid gold toothbrush. What I remember most about it was that every time they would say "Extra large solid gold toothbrush" they would add "with extra firm bristles for exceptional cleaning!" and then they would smile, there would be a 'ding' and a flash of light on their smiling teeth for emphasis. Most of the time the characters had their hand raised with one finger in the air, and their eyes were closed.

I am not sure why this episode stuck with me, really, and it has had no baring on the kind of toothbrush I use. In truth, I don't believe I have ever, not once, in the years and years I've been buying tooth brushes, looked at the package to find out whether my bristles were firm or soft or somewhere in between.

Unfortunately for me, though, last Thursday morning, I woke, as usually, stumbled down the stairs to get my children their awaited morning breakfast, and once they were all munching merrily, I sat down to my own extra large bowl full of delightful cinnamon toast crunch, only to wince in absolute pain at the agonizing shock of the cold milk washing over my lower back teeth. It was all I could do not to spit and not to choke.

So, off to the dentist I went, bright and early on Friday morning. X-rays were taken, my teeth evaluated, and I was sobbing inwardly, knowing full well that I was going to need a root canal. (Seriously, why do these things always happen to pregnant women? We should be exempt. Instead, we are more susceptible to tooth problems, exceptionally rare disease, and strangers feeling the need to butt into our personal lives as though we are all public domain.)

I was honestly kind of horrified when I was first told that my teeth are beautiful and perfect and that I do not have any cavities.

I know. What weirdo is horrified at the thought of NOT having cavities to fill? Well, I am, because the LAST time doctors told me that there was nothing wrong, it took me over 2 months to figure out where the pain was coming from, why I was feeling it and then it took me longer to convince them that it was, in fact, real and not just all in my head. My IUD was ACTUALLY, at the fault of an idiot nurse practitioner from the military base clinic, shoved through my uterus and was floating precariously around in my intestines.

So, what was going on in MY mind was: "If it's not a cavity...WHAT IS IT and HOW DO I GET RID OF IT????"

Well, I am lucky that it was so simple.

Apparently, a tiny bit of my root was exposed back there due to my pregnant gums retaining water.

I was advised to brush my teeth with Sensodyne toothpaste (which I was SURE, throughout the duration of my life so far, was only for OLD people.) and to make sure I use only very soft bristles.

Haha! NOW I know what those little labels are talking about!!!

Wordless Wednesday

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Touchy Topic Tuesday: Christmas Before Thanksgiving???

Touchy Topic Tuesday

Christmas Before Thanksgiving????

So, I love autumn. And I love Halloween. I love the crispness that comes into the air, the rain, the colors changing all over, lighting trees and bushes alight as though they were on fire.

As a mother, i have grown to love Halloween even more. I love watching the kids decide what they want to be, and choose their costumes. I love the details they come up with- like, Lilly insisting that she needed to have blue hair to be the corpse bride, and Mahone being too serious to join in the dancy Halloween songs we sang at one party because Indiana Jones would NEVER do the goblin-pokey.

And two days after Halloween, I walked into Wal*Mart to find a giant, beautifully decorated Christmas tree.

On Facebook, I am seeing more and more people brag about how they have accomplished their Christmas shopping already.

And in retaliation, person after person types exclamations of disgust about Thanksgiving not getting it's day.

Well, frankly, I hate Thanksgiving. I don't like thanksgiving food, and ever since I've been married, I have had to endure 4 different Thanksgivings every year because apparently it's just TOO important to miss, so I have to eat 4 versions of the same dinner.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm very THANKFUL, and I appreciate the intention behind the holiday, but I just can't stand the day.

Christmas, on the other hand, IS my favorite holiday.

And I don't just start after Halloween. I listen to Christmas music all year long. Every night, I play CDs of lullabies while my children drift off to sleep. And they're Christmas songs.

Seeing the tree at Wal*Mart didn't upset me at all. In fact, it only inspired me. I rushed right over to the seasonal isle, only to be disappointed (yes, I truly was) that they were still clearancing summer plants.

I, too, have already started Christmas shopping, and soon I will be finished.

For our anniversary on November 21, Brandon and I will be seeing a Christmas play.

I. Love. Christmas.

And it just can't start too early for me.

Now, I know that a lot of people feel that Thanksgiving deserves it's fair share of attention. And it does. To my knowledge, Thanksgiving has never been canceled. I've had at least one Thanksgiving dinner every year of my life. In fact, my youngest brother was BORN on Thanksgiving, and that was a particularly special Thanksgiving that I'll never forget.

But lets face it. Aside from meeting with family, which is always, ALWAYS a pleasure, there is nothing else TO Thanksgiving. There is no music pertaining to Thanksgiving, there aren't really any great decorations, and there is no gift giving, no exchange of sentiments.

I mean, of course, it's always wonderful to talk to our children about being thankful, and ask them what they are thankful for, and the answers are always deliciously sweet. But, personally, I find the whole thing tedious and drab.

I know, also, that the other common argument for the disdain for Christmas advertisement is the belief that Christmas is overly commercialized.

Well, Christmas most certainly IS commercialized. I am already starting to see commercials on television advertising sentimental jewelry and walking-talking dolls that pee when you feed them a bottle. I also, very happily, received some valuable Christmas decoration coupons from Tai Pan Trading Company advertising 25% off of any Christmas tree (which, I might add, were huge and gorgeous.)

I am a Christian mother, and when it comes to Christmas, it is a duty that both my husband and I take very seriously to keep my children's minds in the right place when the big guy in red comes to town.

It's a daily discussion at Christmas time, about how Christ was born in a stable, and that, as his birthday, we celebrate by giving each other gifts. This year, for Christmas, instead of buying our children presents from Mom and Dad, they will choose the name of a child their own age off of an angel tree, and we will be buying presents for that child. They will have no gifts to open from us at all. And they have known this since July, we have discussed it in length, and hopefully the idea and importance of charity and selflessness throughout the holidays will seep into their little brains and hearts.

And yet, I don't mind the commercialization at all. I love Christmas commercials advertising everything- especially when they're adorable or hilarious.

And, I just LOVE buying presents. I love going overboard. i love to see my kids wake up to Christmas morning and what Santa brought them, wrapped in colorful, metallic paper and piled high across the room. I love to sit and think about each recipient of my gifts on an individual basis to try and find the thing they love most. something that will inspire them. Something that will make them gasp- in the good, surprised way.

And it goes without saying, I love to get gifts too.

I think that there are two separate parts of Christmas. The spiritual kind and the commercial kind. And if you can figure out how to keep them separate, then in my book, it's all okay.

So, how do YOU feel about Christmas in November? Do you love Christmas? Or do you feel that Thanksgiving gets the back burner? Let us know!!!

Latest Kid-isms

Lilly

Lilly: I think Brandon's a fairy, like me.

Brandon(DH): Maybe he's part angel like his mommy.

Lilly:Well, all I know is that his eyes go like moons.

Mahone

Brandon: That is a good hypothesis! (About any number of Mahone's daily ideas)

Mahone: I don't have a hypothesis. I'm just a smarty pants.

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"Mom, I think that when Jesus created the dinosaurs, there were no craters on the moon yet!"

Wordless Wednesday

These are the wings I made for the hair show. I am pretty disappointed though, because they told me that they were going to do this big old photo shoot and take tons of pictures, but they only took these 2. So, that's all I can show you of my epic wings. She still looks pretty good though, don't you think?

Touchy Topic Tuesday: Is the Glass Half Full or Half Empty????

Not too long ago, a blogger I respect very much told me that I should never apologize on my blog. Okay, she doesn't know me personally and did not tell me this in specific referral to MY BLOG, but she DID do a blog post about it, and said that our blog is our space, and while she sees people every day starting their blog posts with "I'm SO SORRY I didn't post yesterday" or whatever the apology happens to be about, and said that she is, frankly, sick of it.

I recognise this in myself, especially as of late with my morning sickness and children in school and family illnesses and so on, and for the most part, I feel that she has a very VERY valid point.

I have a life- a REAL life- outside of blog land, and of course that takes the utmost precedence over my nightly ritual.

However, I DO feel that I owe an apology today. To my dear readers, whom I treasure very much. Today is Tuesday. And it's time for our Touchy Topic. It is the day when my blog usually reaches over 100 hits. It is the day I receive the very most votes on Top Mommy Blogs, and the day that I read the most comments. (WOO HOO FOR COMMENTS!!!!) It's also a day I receive the most private messages bashing me for my opinions so blatantly posted, and, as I obviously did it specifically to provoke debate and challenge discussion, I usually welcome those comments too.

Unlucky for me (and my terribly compromised immune system) I have been feeling really icky again the whole day.

And this Touchy Topic Tuesday is going to be fairly mediocre.

There is likely going to be little or, as I more likely expect, no debate. But the question, I feel, is honest. And it's easy. It didn't take me too much work...which means I get to go to bed early.

So, for the lack of rallying inspiration, I do apologize, but I ask you, as my beloved readers, please, please, leave a message and let me know what you think!!!

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Touchy Topic Tuesday:

Is the Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

(Photo courtesy of google.com)

I heard the question posed to me often, even from a very young age. It should be an easy question for a child to answer. Normally, to a child, things are what they seem. The answers are quick because they see what it is and say what they mean.

Lilly said: Half empty

Mahone said: Half Empty

Scarlet said: Half Full

As a kid though, this question befuddled me. There simply wasn't enough information. If the person posing the question could tell me 1. It was FILLED to the half way line, then my answer would easily be that the glass was half full. But if they told me 2. That the glass was full to the brim and then was drunk or poured out, then it would be obvious that the glass was half empty.

So what exactly does that say about the way my brain works? Am I an optimist or a pessimist?

Honestly, I'm probably just too analytical for my own good.

And believe me, my issue continues today. (Ask Brandon. He'll tell you.) And I still don't know if the glass is half full or half empty!

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So what is it friends??? Half full or half empty???

For the record, Brandon says: "It's half way to another glass!" (Which, I, personally, interpret as optimism!)