He Was Right

So the other day, Dustin and I were having a discussion (read: argument) and it came up that I doubt my ability to write. Well, he found this poem that I forgot I wrote and it really rocked me. I actually have to share it. Bear with me here, just this once.

My Daughter

Ageless now
Trapped forever
In photographs and memories
She grows daily
More precious every second
Every breath amazes me
I see her ever as she is
And as she was
From the second she moved in me
My life forever changed
No longer just us two
But now we are three
My daughter
God's gift to me
My purpose in this world
The greatest task
Is to make a difference to her.

Just had to type it out and share it with you.
Later

What's new?

School has started! It seems the end of summer comes sooner and sooner with each passing year. Before long, we will have done away with summer break entirely and our children will be the dour little scholars or the hideous little delinquents we truly wish they were! Wait, does that make any sense to you?
Anway, off of that soapbox and on to another: my girls! They are getting so big these days. Faith got weighed and measured on Friday and she is 23lbs+some that I failed to note or understand and she is 31 and a quarter inches tall. The Ab-ster was already at 15 and a half pounds at her last check-up and she was at 24 and a quarter inches in height. Faith has developed an attitude to go with her adorable personality and it flares up in the most interesting ways. Abby has begun rolling over quite efficiently and pushing up on her arms. Faith has written on herself with various pens about four times in the last week. Abigail isn't sitting up by herself quite yet, but she makes a good effort. Both girls adore each other and giggle and laugh together a lot. Faith says hi and kisses her sissy al the time and Abby will stare and smile like she understands everything. I love just watching them!
We are all awake, albeit in different roms at the moment, just waiting on Grandpa to get out of the bathroom, so we can take a bath. I will be so happy wen we are out of here!!
Later.

The girls are sleeping!

As a mother of two, I have learned that sleep is a precious commodity, meant to be treasured to the nth degree in all it's various forms. So I am taking this rare moment in which my daughters are both sound asleep to blog. Or something like that, anyway.
The girls are awesomely amazing and awful at the same time. If one is upset, the other is too. Faith has finally decided to have bouts of jealousy which manifest as fits of screaming and bursting into tears at the least provocation. Fun on so many levels, that! But they also get along famously. Faith will talk to Abby and Abby beams out of her little eyes all the love she has for her big sissy. So adorable! And Faith is constantly kissing her on whatever body part she can reach.
Oh, and Mr. Dustin Ryan Pedretti produced some gassy girls, let me tell you. It's horrible and cute at the same time. Must be some kind of mother madness! LOL

*BTW, as I finished typing the last line of the first paragraph, I heard the unmistakable sounds of Abby awakening. Which actually sounds quit creepy!

Been a While

I hate that life itself takes money. Its depressing on so many levels that I have to get a job. I'm hoping that Walmart or someone will hire me for a few hours a night, four or five days a week.

I did try to sell blankets on Craigslist to make money, but apparently at this time of year the only people interested in anything I'm selling are spammers. The jerks!

Abby is nursing really well. With Faith, I had such a hard time. Not with getting her to nurse, but with the pain. Not to mention the surface infections she lovingly bestowed on me constantly. Plus the first night she was home, she had to have a bottle of formula to calm down and go to sleep. Abby has been so different. She nurses like there's no tomorrow. Literally. When that child is hungry, the whole world knows about it until she is satisfied! Sunday night, Dustin and I went and saw the new Transformers movie (Awesome!) and Rebecca kept the girls. I should tell you that Abby has a grace period. You can do whatever you want, shopping, eating, housework, whatever for about two hours. Sometimes a little more. At the end of that time, you had better get her what she wants, quick, fast and in a hurry. Well, it just so happens that the movie was almost three hours long, which was about 30 minutes longer than her grace period. Poor Becca was texting us frantically asking what to do because she had tried everything. Even the bottle of formula I had made up for her. My darling child gagged when she tried to get her to drink it. Gagged. Obviously Abby is as given to drama as her big sister. Of course, all I could think when Rebecca said that was "That's my girl!" Any sympathy I had paled in comparison to the pride that my baby is ONLY satisfied with her mommy! She finally calmed down when Rebecca rocked her in the rocking chair. We finished the movie and came home to immediately nurse.

Dustin has been working crazy hours. Leaving the house at 5:30 in the morning to come home after 5 at night. Been a bit tough on all of us. Now he has to work on Sunday and Rebecca and I are driving to Houston by ourselve. Since I haven't driven in Houston at all, he's making us meet my parents at Loop 336 and HWY 45 and one of them is going to drive the rest of the way. Sweet, yes, but irritating, too. But since he's now officially in charge of the pre-fab area/workers/whatever, he can't miss a single day. Really bites!

Hey, if you guys know of anyone having a girl in the winter months, I have a bag of warm baby girl clothes. There are some regular clothes, too, but a lot of it is warm clothes. There are different sizes, too. I think they cover 0-6 months in sizes. Not a total wardrobe, but a good start. Let me know.
Later, ladies!

A Mother's TRUE Revenge

I am not so naive as to think that I will not miss changing their diapers. I will, I know it. Just like I miss nursing Faith even though nearly every second of it was filled with almost excruciating pain. However, I wish to say this one thing and mothers world-wide will acknowledge it as truth.
I will never EVER miss dirty diapers. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER.
In fact, I look forward with GREAT relish to the day I can hold my grandchild, smile sweetly and hand him/her over to their mother with a diaper filled to the brim with horrible grossness. Then, and only then will they have repaid me for any of the diapers I have changed in the last fifteen months or any of the ones that I will change until Abby is potty trained.

Family stuff

So, it's been a little while since I posted. Been a little busy!
Abby's a month old now and Angela is in the States on leave for 15 days, give or take. That's the news and not what I wanted to write about.
I've been thinking a lot about my childhood and family life. Partly because of my children and partly because of this show I found on TLC called Kids by the Dozen. I did watch a couple of the 17 and 18 kids and counting about the Duggars, but frankly, I found them quite weird. (No offense to any of their admirers, just an opinion)
But Kids by the dozen was different, they seemed more normal somehow. I could relate to them more.
Like the Heppners. Not a fairyale love story by any means. They didn't just meet and fall in love and live happily ever after, popping out kids as they went along. They had very real struggles and issues and managed to make something good out of them. I had fun watching them.
The Arndts made a business out of their family, but in a good way. They have a ministry and they are all involved in it in a different way. One of the boys, I think the oldest, was talking about being in the midst of a big family and what it was like growing up with that many kids and all. It reminded me of a conversation, Dustin and I had once about my family. I said that it was easy to look at it from the outside, now that I have some distance on the whole thing, and think, Oh my gosh, there are nine of us! But when we're all together, it's not the same, it's just us. As a kid, it seemed strange that other people thought that we were strange!
Anyway, been thinking about htis for a while now and its nce to have it out.

My Sweet Husband

So, before Faith was born, Dustin was really worried. Not so much about having a baby, but more about bonding with a baby. He wasn't sure how he would respond to her in an emotional way.
Flash forward to last night. Faith was on the bed with him and Abby. I was getting ready for bed so I could nurse the baby and we could all relax. Faith was crawling near the edge and he grabbed her shirt and said, "You're going to fall off." And she did. Right out of his hands and smack on her face. I saw the blood and ran to get ice. When I got back, he was cradling her and she was screaming into his shoulder. He was so upset, he was almost in tears. There was so much blood in her mouth that it looked like she had knocked out her new tooth on top. He ordered me to make an appointment with the dentist in the morning. I calmed her down and cleaned her up and thankfully, her teeth were fine. But he was still so upset and nearly in tears himself. It took him longer to calm down than it took her. He said that he'd had no idea that his heart and his feelings would or could hurt so much when she fell down. Even when it's a little spill, he still hurts for her.
God blessed me` with a `man` w`ho `has more heart than I do.
**Faith 'helped' me type that last line**

Abigail Irene

Well, she's finally arrived. Abigail Irene Pedretti made her debut on this world at 10:17 am on Wednesday, April 8, 2009, a mere four hours after we arrived at the hospital for my induction. 8 pounds and 1 ounce, 20 inches long, she is adorable and so very tiny!
We had a great experience at the College Station Medical Center. The nurses, my doctor, everything. Too bad the epidural didn't get a chance to fully kick in before the birth! You have to have a full bag of fluid before they'll let you have an epidural and I was ready to go before that happened. Thank heaven it was able to take the edge off, but trust me, I had enough pain that I almost ALMOST never want to do this again!
The day nurse from today and yesterday was really old. I would say at least sixty and I felt bad everytime I needed to ask for something. She was really nice, but that thing in my head that is conditioned to respect my elderly elders kept trying to convince me that I didn't really need anything! I'm glad I was abe to get up and around before she was on duty. I might never have gotten up out of bed!!
Anyway, I'm glad to be home. More another day!

April Fool's Day

Faith took two steps without prompting last night. The she took four steps toward me while I was encouraging her. She did that twice. So ten steps total! I'm so excited!
Of course, it also opens up another million worries for me. She's already discovered the joy of being higher by standing on something flat, so the next step is climbing. Which she has already tried to do on the baby gate that stops her from crawling around the less than clean livingroom.
I have an appointment tomorrow. On my due date. Again. The kid just doesn't want to be born yet. On the bright side, they'll have different birth months.
Oh, and Faith has two new teeth she started cutting on her birthday. One on top and one on the bottom beside the other two. So it looks really goofy when she smiles. It's so funny!
So, it's the first of April and no baby. I guess the joke's on me......

Same Again

So, I'm exactly where I was last week. Exactly. And she said she can't really say I'm actually at a two anyway!
On the bright side, I've eaten whatever for the past month or so and I've weighed the same for the last three weeks. Yay for me!
My hands swelled yesterday enough for me to have to take off my wedding ring. Of course, when I showed Dustin, he thought I had lost it. Last year, I started swelling in December. I only just this last month started swelling.
Later, guys!

March Madness

My mind has disappeared. Somewhere back when I prayed, "Lord, I don't have to have a million children. Just give me one healthy child, and I will be content." God must have laughed hysterically.
Faith started cutting her top teeth on her birthday. And now she's got some cough-y fever-y deal going on. Thank you, Dustin. She has a dr. appt on Tuesday and I'll talk to the doc then about it. No fever right now, but she is coughing periodically. Nasty and wet and gross.
The baby is ever so comfy making Mommy miserable. Between her, her sister and her daddy, Momy is about dead half the time. But she's there and alive and active. So sweet and tiny in there. My doctor said that she was about six pounds already two weeks ago. I'm also dilated to a two and thirty percent effaced.
Please God, I can go early. I don't care if they'll have the same birth month anymore! I just want it to be over!!
Later, y'all......

Five Weeks

So it's five weeks till the baby's due date. I hit the nesting time again. And things are looking pretty clean around here! LOL
Faith has new curtains and a new rug. The odd stack of boxes that was by our door is gone. And the myriad of dog papers Dustin had scattered all over his area of the office is now out of sight, if not organized. Of course, Dustin notices nothing unless I point it out to him and he hasn't noticed the latest thing I did today yet. He's been home for two hours.

And now the little angel who refused to eat her kunch and tried her best not to take a nap and when she did, slept for only thirty minutes, is now throwing a fit peppered with 'mama' s because 'mama' took her cell phone away and put it up. Horrible mama!

My temper is increasingly shorter as the days go on.

Legality

Passing the driving test was one of the hardest things I've ever done. It was actually scarier than childbirth with Faith. Mostly because the woman testing me was intimidating as all get out. She was the same one who failed me twice two years ago. I was POSITIVE she was going to fail me again. But she says, "well, you passed your driving test", etc, and I quit listening. Way to make my birthday!
2-4 weeks and I will have the real thing not just the temporary. Can't wait!

My birthday, beyond passing the test, was actually pretty great. Dustin and I went to TGI Fridays and a movie while LaJuana, Kathy and the kids watched Faith. Have you ever been craving something and not quite sure what it is and you keep trying different things to figure out what it is you want? Well, I have ben craving red meat. So at TGI Fridays, I ordered the petite sirloin and mashed potatoes - they have amazing mashed potatoes - and the first bite was so divine. It was exactly - EXACTLY - what I have been craving. So perfect! I believe that if you can't get excited about your food than there's no point in eating well. You may as well eat one thing all the time. It won't matter to you anyway.

Anyway, I'm doing okay today except for the little craziness with Faith earlier. She scared herself playing in the closet, and cried a little bit. So, being a good mommy and not wanting her to do it again, I very gently and sweetly helped her out of her situation and set her on the floor outside the closet. And she promptly began screaming at the top of her lungs. Like I had killed her or something. She has started this ridiculous fit-throwing thing. She doesn't even have the timing for it to make sense as a fit. She just waits for a few minutes, kind of fussing, and then, THEN, she flips out. Completely. I have no idea what to do about it. It's the perfect button to push for complete and utter frustration in Mommy.

Anyway, later, gators. Have a good day!

Friday the 13th

Personally, I think it's a lucky day. For Dustin, anyway. LOL

I'll be 23 years old and a mother of one and a half. Wow. I've been married for nearly five years, in a relationship for almost six, and with the same wonderful, annoying man who fathered both children, one of whom is standing up by her toybox, making a moaning/yelling sound. Like a wacko. LOL

50 days to go to the due date of baby #2. I am so tired of being pregnant. They don't tell you when you're thinking and wanting a baby that it's not all sweet thoughts and glowing feelings when your pregnant. Don't get me wrong, there are those things. Then there are the lovely, LOVELY side effects, like nausea, gas, heartburn, pain in weird parts of your body that have NEVER hurt before. Then the muscles get stretched which, let me tell you, is freaking awesome. Plus, your grumpy half the time and no one can do anything to fix it for you. It's actually not fun to be grumpy all the time, despite how it may seem to others.

Friday, we're going out to eat, just me and Dustin. LaJuana's keeping Faith for us. Plus, I'm taking the driver's test that day, too. Which, I'm afraid I'll fail. I just want to pass the stupid thing so I never, ever have to do it again.


I definitely think it has to do with how close they are going to be. With time, I would have been more healed inside than I am. Plus, I don't think I got to get over the hormones from Faith either. So it was kind of wonky anyway

Last of January

This will be the last post for January and I totally had a reason for writing it and have now completely forgotten it. I'll just wing it!
Faith is sick. She has a cold and is getting her very first antibiotics twice a day. I have to say, when Dustin is sick, I always think that it's amazing when he gets better and both of us are still alive and in love. Because he's really annoying when he's sick. (Not so much lately, though) But when Faith is sick, my whole world is in pain because there is nothing I can do for her. Since she as a cold and is not two - not even one-, I can't give her any real medicine for her cough and no decongestant either. So she can't breathe at night because she can't breathe through her nose and forgets that. So she'll be asleep, close her mouth and try to breathe through her nose and wakes herself up choking and coughing. Poor baby. So none of us have been getting a whole lot of sleep.
I am so bored!! But our income tax money comes in next week and we're going to get a car and then, finally, I'm getting my license! Long overdue by anyone's standards!
Megan is coming to visit tomorrow. Resale shops and Dustin has Faith. Maybe. I'm hoping becase I could really use the break.
Anyway, lunchtime! Gotta go, bye!!

Oh yeah, Faith stood by herself yesterday. I was making her walk with me and I let her go to see if she would stand and she did. For about ten seconds. Then we went over to where Dustin was and did it two more times, once for about fifteen seconds and then for about thirty seconds. She was so cute! Then Dustin went and texted EVERYBODY about it, which was realy even cuter than Faith! LOL

Adventures in Resale Shopping

Well, every week since before Christmas, Faith and I have been going to resale shops with a friend and her son. We have had a blast and managed not to spend too much money while still getting some really nice stuff.
But that's not my reason for this blog.
As we've gone along, we have had a few 'adventures' and I just wanted to share them with you guys.
On one occasion, Chelsea - my friend - and I were looking through the box of toys while Jayden and Faith were playing right beside us. Faith crawled into my lap and I started smelling a minty odor. I kept thinking, 'Did someone dump mouthwash in here or something?' Then I happened to look at my darling daughter and discovered she had a piece of gum in her mouth. From off the floor. GROSS!!!
Another time, (at the same resale shop, oddly enough) Faith wanted me to hold her and was a bit fussy, so I picked her up and loved on her. She nestled her head on my shoulder - and promptly spit up in my hair, down my back and on the floor. THAT was lovely! Chelsea had to help me clean it up, but after that, Faith was fine.
Then there was the wonderful time that we walked into St. Vincent's and were met with a loud harangue about the economy and this guy's job and how the 'Mexicans' are destroying 'our' workplace and a whole host of annoyingly loud opinions. We didn't stay long that time. Plus they wouldn't let Chelsea go to the bathroom. Big, pregnant and they said no. Can you believe?!
Oh and don't let me forget the time a man walked up to a woman he did not know and asked her if she ever made tamales and how much would she charge for a dozen. I was more offended than she was. I mean, he didn't know her at all and thought that just because she was Hispanic, she would have made them. She told him that she would charge like eight dollars and when he walked away, started talking to the woman with her in a low voice. The whole thing was so weird!
At two of our shops, they always give us or Jayden something for free. Mostly toys or a little thing, stuff like that.
I love resaling, as I call it. Since my friend's due date is Friday, I'm going out on Saturday after the FWAC meeting with LaJuana and the kids. Looking forward to it!

Update on new law

http://collegestation.craigslist.org/bab/988743252.html

Snopes says that the new law is just stricter regulations on the reselling of things that MIGHT have lead. That's it. Much ado about nothing.........maybe......

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-thrift2-2009jan02,0,2083247.story

This a story on one of the stupidest laws they have ever passed. Obviously these people have no idea how many people shop for their children at resale shops. But this law may also effect the private sale of children's. Private. Like garage sales or over the internet on craigslist or ebay. As if it's anyone's business!
And where are these items supposed to go? In a landfill. Sounds great for the environment, doesn't it?
So what am I supposed to do now? I may never be able to afford brand-new clothes for my kids. The resale shops I know may not be able to afford the tests this law requires. So what exactly is my option? And what about the economy? Don't resale shops have a part in that?
Has the world lost it's mind?!
Wait, that was actually retorical...........

Update: I talked to one of the ladies that run Second Chance Resale and she said that it wasn't going to effect their clothing sales, only their kids' toys and equipment sales. She said that the only thing about the clothes was a certain type of zippers and a certain type of button. Also, a friend of mine talked to some resale shop she knows in Austin and they are not going to be effected by the law at all becase they meet all of the requirements in the bill. They also said that some of the shops here in Bryan may be exempt and not know it.
Be nice to know the exact parameters of the laws and what it entails and will effect, don't you think?