Latest Pictures of Eden

I figured I'd post some recent pictures of Eden because I know that is the real reason most of you tune in!

Eden after mommy kissed her:


Eden sitting in her bouncer - laughing at her toys:


Eden looking at herself in the mirror - one of her
favorite activities:


Eden in the dress Grandma Kesler gave her (she loves
to suck on it and everything else):


Eden with her cousin Matt (who just got home
from his mission to France/Switzerland):


Eden with her friend Katie (mommy with her friend
KayDawn):

Unexpectedly Tagged

I've been tagged by Charlotte. I am to write about 8 unexpected things. I'm choosing to write about 8 unexpected things since I moved to Alabama a year ago.

1 - I didn't expect to be pregnant so soon (two months) after I got married and that it would be so emotional for me.

2 - I didn't expect that my husband would have medical problems and end up having three surgeries last fall.

3 - I didn't expect to love the songbirds who make Alabama their home.

4 - I didn't expect flowers to bloom in January.
(this is a photo taken in our back yard last January)


5 - I didn't expect to miss my best friend's wedding (because I was 8 months pregnant).

6 - I didn't expect that Alabama would celebrate Confederate's Memorial Day.

7 - I didn't expect to make it through labor and delivery so well (and that Eden would come four weeks early).

8 - I didn't expect that my husband would have more medical problems and have another surgery this fall.

I'm not going to officially "tag" anyone but feel free to include your own unexpected things in either a blog or a comment on this blog.

*************************************************************
unrelated:
I just have to shout out a wonderful thing! IT IS RAINING! (It hasn't done that for quite some time here.)

Television Favorites

Ok all of you who lived the late 70s/early 80s, tell me which of these were your favorites:

1. Magnum P.I. or Rockford Files
2. Brady Bunch or Partridge Family
3. Sigmund & The Sea Monsters or H.R. Pufnstuf
   
4. Star Search or The Gong Show
5. Solid Gold or Dance Fever
   
6. Love Boat or Fantasy Island
7. Diff'rent Strokes or Facts of Life
8. Silver Spoons or Punky Brewster
9. Battlestar Gallactica or Buck Rogers
10. Bionic Woman or 6 Million Dollar Man
11. Lavern and Shirley or Happy Days
12. Alf or Mork and Mindy
13. Fame or Welcome Back Kotter
14. Moonlighting or Remington Steele
15. Charlie's Angels or Hardy Boys

my answers:

1. Rockford Files
2. Brady Bunch
3. Sigmund
4. Gong Show
5. Dance Fever
6. Love Boat
7. Facts of Life
8. Silver Spoons
9. Buck Rogers
10. 6 Million
11. Happy Days
12. Mork
13. Fame
14. Remington Steele
15. Charlie's Angels

What other shows were your favorites?

Motherhood

Tonight as I sat rocking my sweet Eden (and not wanting to lay her down quite yet), I pondered about how much I just didn't know before I became a mother. I thought about the times I was a royal brat to my own mother. I had no idea how much she loved me, sacrificed for me, cared for me, and worried for me. I just didn't know. Now it kills me to think that someday (all too soon), Eden will be a teen or a tween and will say any number of the following: "You just don't love me!" "You don't understand." "I don't love you." "You're mean!" etc. It will KILL me!

Motherhood is HARD! There is just no way to comprehend the sacrifice (whether it is sleep, or ice cream, or free time, or whatever!) and the concern (is she breathing? is she developing correctly? am I doing this right?). This afternoon Eden seems to have had a bad tummy ache (she has acid reflux) and she was crying in obvious pain. I seriously hurt with her. It is impossible to comprehend this kind of love until you've actually experienced it.

I wonder how I can ever repay my own mother. How can I ever apologize enough for the bratty things I did and said as a thoughtless teen? How can I repay her for the sleepless nights (and not just when I was an infant) or the numerous prayers in my behalf? The truth is that I can't. The other truth is that regardless of my behavior my mother continued, and continues, to love me with the same (and yet more developed and perfected) love that I am just now coming to understand.

Motherhood is amazing!

Its all good & well irregardless of who your talking to

Admission: I'm a bit of a grammar snob. I get a kick out of the English language with all of its rules and exceptions to the rule. I don't always get my own grammar shined to perfection but I still enjoy editing (in my head) when others are speaking. Here are a few of my favorite errors.

Good and Well
I had a friend who was disgusted whenever someone answered the question, "How are you doing?" with the reply, "good." He'd say "nuns and priests do good." In other words good is not an adverb so it can't describe how you are doing. The correct response is that you are doing "well."

Adding prefixes and suffixes
People, intelligent people, say "irregardless" all the time. Well, I hate to say it (actually I LOVE to say it), but that isn't a proper word! What people really mean is simply "regardless." Irregardless is considered nonstandard because of the two negative elements ir- and -less. It was probably formed on the analogy of such words as irrespective, irrelevant, and irreparable. Those who use it, including on occasion educated speakers, may do so from a desire to add emphasis. Irregardless first appeared in the early 20th century and was perhaps popularized by its use in a comic radio program of the 1930s. My friends (Tom, Charlotte, Phil, Tracey) and I came up with the ultimate word for this category: disirregardlessliness.

Who v. Whom
If the person about whom you are speaking is receiving the action it is "whom" if the person is performing the action it is "who." This is so old-school that hardly anyone uses "whom" anymore. It is like the young women at church Sunday who read a scripture that said, "ought ye not..." It drove them nuts! They kept saying, "ought not, ought not? What does that even mean?" That is probably how most people feel about whom but I still think it is useful.

Its, it's, your, you're, to, two, too, there, they're, their, etc.
Just get these correct, please! You can't rely on spell check for everything!

Prepositional phrases
Hardly anyone uses these correctly anymore. These are probably in the "ought not" category. Strictly speaking (or when speaking strictly), a sentence should never end with a preposition (to, from, about, etc.).

Strange phrases (popular in Utah)
"Is what it is, is"
"Might could"
Need I say more? Unfortunately I might could but is what it is, is that I just can't stomach it!

Passive voice
This comes from years of writing essays and papers in history courses. No passive passages allowed! Now it simply drives me nuts to hear people speak passively. The one that really gets me is when people pray that we "might" do this and we "might" do that and that we "might" be blessed with this and that. It is so passive and if there is a time for action, I think it is in our prayers. I hate to admit it but sometimes I'll whisper in my head, "he means bless us that we WILL do this and we WILL do that and that we WILL be blessed with this and that."

And that, friends, is when you know you've gone too far as a grammar snob. Correcting people's grammar during prayers is just too much!

(feel free to edit any errors in this post) :)

We're Back

We had a very nice time with friends and family and now it is good to be home. It is hot and humid here but it was hotter and dry (too dry) in Utah!


Eden had such a nice time meeting lots of people and especially seeing all four of her grandparents again. She spent lots of time with them. She has grown so much. She has doubled her birth weight now.

Here are a few pictures from the trip.

This is Eden after her first experience in a swimming pool (she didn't like it).


Eden playing with Grandma Kesler:


Eden with cousin Alex (who was in Utah for EFY - he lives in Corning, NY)


Watching Punka's TV with cousins Allison and Tanner:


Eden was really fussy this day but her 4-year old cousin, Brady, was sure he could calm her and sure enough he did!

Mission Reunion

Last weekend Phil, Eden, and I attended a mission reunion. It was the 20th anniversary of the formation of the New Hampshire-Manchester mission. I served 19 years ago! Amazing. There weren't too many people there but it was really fun to see those who did make it. It was really fun to catch up with people. How funny though that I was there with my newborn talking to guys who had teenagers! There really weren't any surprises. Those who were great elders seem to be great dads, husbands, church members etc. It was fun to see. None of my companions were there but I got an update on some of them. Sister Waite is also a new mother. I believe that she and her husband now live in Boise. She was supposedly going to attend but didn't make it. Sister Fletcher is a foster mother and living in Nebraska. I have kept in contact with Sister Cannon and she and her family (husband and two boys) live in Michigan. I have also kept in contact with Sister Israelsen. She and her husband are building a home in Cache Valley and have a baby (Katie) who is two months older than Eden. I believe we'll see them in the next couple of weeks. It was fun to see Kelly Moulton - we were never companions but we've stayed in contact.

Some of the elders that were at the reunion include Elder Hitchcock who now lives in Oregon (he was from MT), Elder Magleby who lives in St. George UT, Elder Wade (and his wife) who still lives in Nashville (that is close enough that we may have to visit them), Elder Davies who is a professor at Weber State in Ogden UT, and Elder Burnett who still lives in NM.

Seriously it was so fun to see these people. Missions are great experiences!

Here are a few pictures:

In Utah

Well, we are in Utah now. We will be here through July. Eden did SO well on the flights here. She was an absolute angel. That right there makes giving up dairy, tomatoes, garlic, onions, chocolate, beans, broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage totally worth it! Seriously, it is quite a challenge to decide what I CAN eat these days but Eden's colic has been reduced to about an hour a night instead of 5.

We are spending a couple of weeks with Phil's family and then we'll be with my family for a couple of weeks. Therefore, my posts will be infrequent.

bamamoma

Colic

Eden has had colic and therefore no time to blog. However, Phil and I are both tired of looking at the hair photos (I'm sick of both of them) and so he asked me to do a new post just to get rid of that one from the top. So, with that in mind, here it is.


-tired bamamoma

To Perm or Not To Perm - that's my question

So, I'm thinking about getting a perm. My natural curl is slightly less than the first picture and I think I'd like it slightly less curly than the second picture. Weigh in people - am I crazy or do you think it is a good idea?

thanks,
bamamoma

I remember when...

• Ice cream cones were 10 cents
• television channels "signed off" for the evening (and there were only 3 of them)
• Nixon resigned
• Gas was 50 cents a gallon
• kids (meaning I) could play outside all day without fear of strangers
• terrible pollution/trash was on the sides of the roads (we've come a long way)
• I was afraid of vampires coming into my room at night
  
• there were bears all over Yellowstone
• Love Boat was the most popular television show
• my hair was light blond and my skin was dark brown (I lived in AZ)
• divorce was seldom heard of
• microwaves didn't exist
• 8-track tapes were the "new technology"
• seat belts weren't legislated and car seats didn't exist
• I could sleep through the night (wait, that was just a year ago!)

(this post was done at 4:34 a.m. while Eden slept in my arms - she's had a tummy ache all night! I'm going to go try to put her in her bed and see if I can get some zzzzzzs)

ABCs of Homemaking

Charlotte "tagged" me on this and so here it is:

THE ABC's of HOMEMAKING

Aprons- yes or no? If yes, what does your favorite look like?

• I always forget to use them (although I have a blue/white checked one and a New Orleans/Jazz one). In fact the last time we had people over for dinner I looked down to find my shirt covered with flour, etc. I didn't have time to change so I put the apron on to cover the mess (I believe most people use aprons to catch the mess).
  

Bake-What's your favorite thing to bake?

I love baking cookies and breads (hmmm, I like eating those things too!)

Clothesline- yes or no?

• No, I never really understood the "dried in the breeze" thing because any time I've dried something on a clothesline it was just really crispy instead of "Spring fresh."
  

Donuts- have you ever made them?

• Yes, I have a great spud-nuts recipe and it is a family tradition to make them at Halloween.
  

Every day-Name one homemaking thing you do every day.

• Cook the meals.
  

Freezer-Do you have a separate deep freeze?

• No, but I would like to.
  

Garbage disposal- yes or no?

• Yes, although Phil doesn't like it when I put too much stuff down it. One time I actually clogged it and he had to take it apart and be the hero!
  

Handbook- what is your favorite homemaking resource?

• My mom and the internet.
  

Ironing- do you love it or hate it?

• Hate it, I have come to realize that one of the most hateful things about ironing is the sound the board makes when you put it up and down. Now I just leave it up and I hate ironing much less than I used to.
  

Junk drawer- yes or no? Where is it?

• Junk drawer? Try junk room! Right now our laundry room is the junk room and the last room in the house to have order put to it. Some day...
  

Kitchen-What is your kitchen color and decorating scheme?

• We just painted our kitchen walls. They are now "cloud burst" a lovely blue/green color. Eventually the cabinets and trim will be painted an off-white color. The new floor is a wood laminate - kind of a medium color.
  

Love- What is your favorite part of homemaking?

• I do love the creativity involved in homemaking. When I create a meal or crochet or sew or even create order out of chaos there is a great sense of creativity. Of course the best thing right now is the little person we've just created (co-created). It is a wonderful thing to sit and watch her little facial expressions and body movements and talk to her about her past and her future.
  

Mop- yes or no?

• Yes, but far far less often than I should.

Nylons- wash by hand or in the washing machine?

• Machine (unless of course they get a run faster than they get dirty, then they just get chucked).
  

Pizza-What do you put on your pizza?

• My favorite is Thai pizza but that is off limits until Eden can handle the spicy-ness of it.
  

Quiet- what do you do during the day when you get a quiet moment?

• Blog of course. Sometimes I take a nap.
  

Recipe card box- yes or no? What does it look like?

• Nope
  

Style-What style is your house?

• Ranch - brick with a front porch and a great deck in the back.

Tablecloths and napkins- yes or no?

• Tablecloths when guests come, Phil and I use place mats. Paper napkins with every meal.

Under the kitchen sink- is it organized or toxic wasteland?

• Mostly organized.

Vacuum-how many times per week?

• Probably once a week - we share that duty and it doesn't get done as often as either one of us would like. We have the blessing/curse of having carpet that doesn't show anything and so it doesn't get vacuumed as frequently as it should.
  

Wash- how many loads of laundry do you do per week?

• Three or four loads every other day. Darks, Whites, Lights, Towels/Baby blankets.
  

X's- do you keep a daily list of things to do that you cross off?

• Not regularly but I do sometimes. Phil is the list person in the family.
  

Yard- yes or no? Who does what?

• Beautiful yard with huge trees, flowering shrubs, bulbs, grass, swing set, large deck, squirrels, and the neighbor's cats. Phil is the yard guy (although last fall, I did some of it while he was sick and before I was too pregnant).
  

Zzzz's- what is your last homemaking task for the day before going to bed?

• Scripture reading and prayer with Phil. At first I thought, "that isn't homemaking!" But then I realized it is one of the most important ways we make our house a home. I LOVE having that time together. It is a great habit!

Now I am supposed to tag three other people. I tag Layne (although I doubt she'll do it), Amanda (although Jodi may have also tagged her), and Michelle.

Then and Now

Yesterday was one of those yearly milestones for me. It got me thinking about how much my life has changed in the last year. I've gone from single to wife to mommy. So much has changed due to those things. Here are a few:

Then: Did three loads of laundry every other week.
Now: Do three loads of laundry every other day.

Then: Had a boss that showed little appreciation for all the long hours I put in.
Now: Have a "boss" who snuggles, coos, smiles, poops, urps, and sleeps to show her appreciation for all the long hours I put in.

Then: Had plenty of discretionary money for things like professional massages, eating out, and movies.
Now: Don't have discretionary money OR time for such frivolous things but I have a husband who gives great massages, makes dinner occasionally, and checks out old movies (my favorite kind) from the library.

Then: Had the means to travel to Europe and around the U.S.
Now: Drove to Birmingham (an hour away) without Phil yesterday to take my mom to the airport. Eden's fourth trip to the BHM airport (in her short 4-week life) because so many people want to visit her.

Then: Spent the day listening to KUER/NPR streaming on my computer while I worked.
Now: Spend the day listening to KUER/NPR streaming on my computer while I work.

Then: Worried and fretted about my future.
Now: Worry and fret about Eden's future.

Then: Lived near family and friends who supported me through the good and bad. A good, comfortable existence.
Now: Making new friends and holding on to the old as much as possible.

Then: Ate too many sweets.
Now: Eat too many sweets.

Then: Had to wash my own car, take out my own trash, do my own dishes.
Now: Phil washes the car, takes out the trash, and does the dishes.

Then: Wondered if I'd ever be a wife and mother.
Now: Can barely remember when I wasn't a wife and mother.

Then: Very blessed.
Now: Very blessed.

Eden's Big Day

On May 27 (Sunday), Eden turned one month old! She has changed so much in that little amount of time. Our lives have changed a bit too! On her one-month birthday she received a name and a blessing at church. Phil pronounced a beautiful blessing for Eden. My mom knows shorthand so she was able to record it and then type it out for us. It was brief but very wonderful. A couple of women who work with Phil came for the blessing and that was especially nice (along with having mom there of course!).

I made a white dress for Eden. As it turned out, there was exactly enough fabric left over from my wedding gown (which my mom and I made) to make a dress for Eden. It is very simple but I like it and especially like that it has sentimental value (and that it was FREE!). My grandmother sent a beautiful white afghan for the big event as well (as did my dear friend Charlotte and Phil's cousin Gail).


It was a very nice day.

Stone Mountain

I can't believe it has been ten days since I last posted. My mom has been here for the past week. That has been great! She came for what she thought would be Eden's birth (she already had her ticket). We've had lots of fun. On Friday we went to Atlanta, GA and went to Stone Mountain. It was interesting to see the Plantation buildings and the carving. Just to give you perspective, Robert E. Lee's ear is about the size of an average man. That is pretty huge!

The carving is of Robert E. Lee (in the forefront) who was the Confederate General. To the left of Lee is Jefferson Davis who was the President of the Confederate. To the right of Lee is Stonewall Jackson (the "hero" of the Confederacy).

It is fascinating to hear about the Civil War and the Confederacy from a southern perspective.

We had a nice drive to Stone Mountain and enjoyed a picnic near the Grist Mill. It was a nice day with my cute little family and my mom.



Here is a picture of my mom and Eden.