Romanticizing the past

My kids are all at a great age. Sometimes I wish I could just freeze them right where they are and not have them grow another inch. And I know when they grow up and I look back, this will be a time of great memories. I'm sure I won't remember arguing with my twelve year old that her shorts are too short or telling my ten year old to stop yelling at his sister or my six year old crying her eyes out for not getting her way. I was thinking about how funny it is that we romanticize the past the way we do. When I decided to have sterilization surgery after my daughter was born my doctor said that I should be prepared for the emotions that would inevitably come when someone close to me had a baby. Maternal instinct isn't something you can just shut off. Well, my brother and his wife had their third baby, a girl, about eighteen months later and I was totally fine. The memories were still fresh of the swollen feet and hands, backache, being up all night with a crying baby, and the unpleasant side of breastfeeding. Then my sister had another baby. Then my friends all seemed to become pregnant at the same time. You'd think that a girl's night out with three friends and me being the only one not pregnant would spark any emotions I'd been suppressing. But, actually it was nice to be the thin one. So, the breakdown my doctor was sure was coming didn't happen....... until.......

No, I'm not actually breaking down and tearing through a box of kleenex or anything but, I'm having some unexpected feelings lately. I've become casual friends with the woman who bought the house my husband and I built when we first married and she and her huband are expecting a baby boy any minute. I think it's the memories of us in the house with our new babies that's causing it. When we brought our first baby home from the hospital to that house my cousin had made a big sign that said "welcome home baby Shelby" and put it on the front of the house. My two older ones took their first steps, said their first words, and had their first birthday parties there. It's funny that I choose not to remember the weeks my daughter had colic and I paced the floor all night or the time when she was about a year old and somehow got into the fridge and smeared an entire tub of Country Crock butter into the carpet.

Maybe God designed our minds to do this on purpose. Otherwise my mother might make good on the threat she made when I was eight. She promised that when I had a home of my own she was coming over to track mud on the carpet and jump on my furniture. SShhhh. I'm sure she's remembering me as a darling eight year old angel and has suppressed the rest.

Retiring Stamp Sets

See which MyAcrylix stamp sets are retiring this year by visiting my CTMH site and clicking on "shop online". At the very bottom of the list of products on the left hand side you'll see "Retiring Stamp Sets". If you love to stamp like I do and are as addicted to the MyAcrylix stamp sets you'll want to make sure you purchase your favorites from this year before they're gone.

Don't forget that for the rest of November, thanks to the Stampaganza campaign, when you purchase two MyAcrylix stamp sets you get the third free.

Snow Day Memory

We finally got some snow here in the midwest. My kids thought it wasn't going to happen. So today, they're on their third snow day in a row and I predict they'll be bored by 1:30. I'm very thankful for all my mom memories, I have a treasure trove full. One of my favorites always comes back when it snows. December 20, 2004- they were cooped up in the house and getting really bored. My daughter, Shelby was 7. She was going through a "dress-up" phase. I say phase because she's into barbies now, seldom dress up. Anyway, she would twirl around the house in her clicky little plastic high heals with her pink feather boa and her teal Little Mermaid dress and then change into her cheer uniform and tennis shoes and jump around chanting and whooo-hoo-ing. I don't remember exactly what I was doing, but I was distracted. She came in and asked me, "can I dress Austin up like a girl?" Without giving it any thought, I said, "Sure."

Now, Austin was five at the time. He's a very rough and tumble, dirt collecting boy who's had numerous trips to the E.R. for critter bites and bike accidents. At the age of five he was a firm believer in the existence of cooties and that girls were the prime carriers. So, as soon as I uttered that word, "Sure", I thought "oh boy, here we go." "He's gonna get mad that she even asks to do this and they'll be fighting in a minute."

Well, a few minutes went by and I didn't hear the arguement that I was sure was coming. Instead, it was eerily silent.....

And then I hear the clicking of those plastic heals in the kitchen...... so I walk in....... to find....

My son in a pink, sparkly princess dress with a blonde wig on and those high heals!! Yep, Kodac moment. We've had the close up posted on our refrigerator for four years now! Someday, really soon, I'm sure he'll make me take it down. It gives everyone who comes into our house a chuckle.

And now, as I sit typing, my roudy nine-year-old speeds around doing donuts on his four-wheeler in the field behind our house. I'm thankful to be living in the era of photography and pink dress-up dresses and wish kids didn't grow up so fast.