MOM and DAD





I find myself really missing my parents-again. Being a mother, myself-for 5 years now, has changed my outlook so much. Has gentled me so much in my judgement of my parents.-and changed my perception on things I thought they did wrong but realize now that they were just doing their best. I find myself thinking back to my childhood, now that Bella is older, and old enough now to remember what happens now, when she's older. My mom was so sweet. She did so much with us. The zoo, Greenfield village ( a wonderful fake old fashioned town park thing) Making every holiday incredible, always ready to fight our battles, I could go on and on. We were her whole life. She taught me how to read before I was in kindergarten.
Now that I'm teaching Bella the basics, I realize what a task that was. Now that I'm raising my children, I realize what a huge task that is, and how hard it is to be a parent. sure, my parents made mistakes. But everyone makes mistakes. I wish I had the wisdom then that I had now-to see the love behind all my mom's and dad's actions.
To see their actions in a different light-and not to view everything as negative or condemning. My mom is sick now, and worn down, and partly because of her service to me and my brothers. When we all were sick, she would still be going, taking care of all of us. She worked so hard-I wish that I didn't feel like it was too late to give her all the honor she deserves. If you are reading this, mom, dad, I love you and i'm grateful that you are my parents. Thank you for all your love.

I think there's been a consensus on the whole "stranger touching my baby, what should i do?" issue.
Judging from the comments, I think slapping is the winner.

I miss Alias

Party Time for baby Sunshine




party over

Stomach Flu strikes again

Baby Etiquette

I'm used to people cooing over my babies. I start to get on edge when they try to touch them. I get very edgy when they actually succeed at touching them. But I had a scary (to me) experiemce last night that puts me way past edgy. Nathan and I were just standing in downtown santa cruz and this girl I know at the mission came out of nowhere and put her hand on Abby's face then tried to KISS her. I jumped back about a foot in shock and fended her off with one hand. She's come up before and touched her cheek, and I hate it, but I haven't said anything. But last night really got me to thinking. We're down here to minister to a certain culture. And some of them live on the street-the girl that invaded my space lives in the woods in a tent. That's really scary to me. I don't like any stranger touching my kids, period, no matter who they are. But I definately don't want someone who lives in the woods and on the streets touching my kids. But I can't just leave Abby at home, either. So what do I do? Where do I draw the line? I am a huggy person, but I am very protective of my personal space, and Abby is solidly in my personal space. But where is the line drawn when it's ok to offend someone because I'm not comfortable? I need to put her in my other sling so she's closer-and I'm going to make big buttons-one that says "DON'T TOUCH MY BABY" and one for her that says "DON'T TOUCH ME"

Just for anyone who's curious-I went with the red. We bleached it first. I highly recommend bleaching your dreds (if you have them,and you're into cheating) it accelerates the maturity process at least 6 months. At least.

this week in pictures