Venting

I just got off the phone with a woman at the doctor's office, and she made THE comment.  THE comment that I hear every time I go anywhere with all the babies from total strangers.  THE comment that everyone loves to laugh and joke about at family gatherings.  THE comment that makes me want to scream in my head - "Shut the hell up, and just think for 2 seconds!!!" 

What is THE comment?  WOW, all girls.  Don't you know how to get a boy?.......or some variation of the same.

We had a boy.  Our second child was a boy.  He didn't make it.  Liam.  Liam Friedrick was 100% boy and didn't live long enough to even know what it was to take a breath in this world.  He didn't live long enough to know pain, loss, humiliation, frustration, etc. 

He knew he was loved, and that is how you deal with that loss. 

I don't blame strangers, but for those who do know, it tends to bother me.  I understand that people forget things, but for goodness sake....do we have to have the same conversation every single time?

I'm not "hung up" on our loss - for lack of better words.  God blessed us multiple times with our children.  They are happy and healthy, and perhaps they wouldn't all be so if I had 4 children aged 3 and under.  Maybe they would.  We will never know. 

I'm just tired of THE comment.  I don't need to be reminded, I think about Liam all the time.  Maybe I should remind other people. 

I don't know how to handle it.

Let Them Eat Cake!

The twins had their first birthday party this weekend.  No, this is not a post about their birthday (that will come in a day or two when I have all of the pictures), but about their cakes!  I wanted both girls to have a birthday cake of their own, but REALLY didn't want to pay for two cakes.  So, I searched and searched and found what was supposed to be super easy birthday cakes at Parenting.com.  Maggie, my Curious George lover was to get a monkey cake; Ella, my Clifford lover was to get a red dog cake.  We are talking about miles beyond my normal "open the cake mix" element here.

Saturday was cake making day - Sunday was the party.  I have never in my life felt so uncomfortable in my kitchen than I did on Saturday.  I was petrified that I was going to mess them up and ruin the whole point of having two different cakes in the first place!  Yes, I know this sounds a little extreme for some, but you other Moms out there know exactly what I am talking about.

All this stress and worry, and I get halfway through the monkey cake and it is a breeze!  It was unbelievable!!  AND, both cakes turned out EXACTLY the way I wanted them to! 

Here is baby Clifford:

And here is the Monkey:

 

How cute are they?  So, for anyone that needs a cake any time soon, check out http://www.parenting.com/birthday-cakes.  I'm talking about step-by-step directions and at a fraction of the cost of a store bought cake!  And for goodness sake, if I can do it, then ANYONE can!

Our Dinner Garden

So it's finally begun.  Last night I took a basket out to the back garden to cut enough for salads for the hubs and I.  I even snuck over to Karlie's garden and picked a few pea pods to throw in there.  By the weekend, I know I'll be planning meals around what is ripe. 

Satisfaction is setting in. 

See the okra coming up on the left?  See my big beautiful tomatos?  There's also cabbage, peppers, yellow squash, zucchini, acorn squash, cucumbers (they are trying to take over!), lettuce, salad mix, spinach, and green beans.  Yum, yum, yum. 

See the big flowers in the back?  Yep, that is my sunflower patch that stretches about 150 feet - mixed with okra of course.  Who needs a privacy fence?

This is Karlie's garden.  It stretches the length of our back porch, maybe 3ft deep by 10ft.  We've already done 3 rounds of radishes for her, and here you can kind of see her pea plants and carrots coming up.  Nope, we don't really get peas - she picks them too fast for them to actually grow peas in the pod.  Such a hardship when your child wants to go outside and pick her own healthy snack, isn't it?

Tomato patch on the side of the house.  I've only got about 6 big plants now, but there are 12 more that are struggling to catch up.  Last year from this little patch alone we had tomatos until the end of October.  My fingers are crossed that they keep going!

My pitiful attempt at an edible landscape.  It just doesn't get enough light here!!!  Actually, parsley, peppers, squash and cucumbers are doing great.  Too bad that is only half of what I put in there!  I think that I'm going to go ahead and start more lettuce here, and see how it does.  No use not trying, is there?

So, now that I've shared what I've been woking on, I'd like to share what I've learned this year.  First, never plant cabbage seeds directly in the ground (well, it doesn't work well here), start them in something first.  Second, and most importantly, keep and boil egg shells with water to make your own fertilizer.  It is just as good, if not better than MiracleGro.  I know the hubs and I have never had results like we do in the back garden before!!!

Mommy's New Song

All my girls have a song.  Of course this started with Karlie, and in the pursuit of distraction, Maggie and Ella's songs developed as well.  The best part about everyone having their own "song" is that eveyone knows their own and feels super special when we sing them.  Here they are:

Karlie Bea, Karlie Bea, Karlie Bea's ......a......bumble.......bee......BZZZ(of course at this point she gets pinched).

Maggie May, Maggie May, you woke up bright eyed today...

Ella, Ella, you've got something to tell us.  Ella, Ella, you're going to wup all the fellas...

So, Karlie, being the musical little thing that she is, made up a song for me:

Mommy, Mom.  Mommy Mom.  Mommy Mom sings us songs.

How great is that????