Who's more pregnanter?

We were watching 19 Kids and Counting the other night (Yes, the show that used to be 17 Kids and Counting....and then it was 18 Kids and Counting and now it's 19 Kids and Counting!! The show about the Duggars who, as a friend of mine put it when they had their 18th kid, "Hey Duggars! It's a vagina, not a clown car!!" wow, that still cracks me up!)

So, we were watching the episode where Michelle gives birth to their 19th baby, Josie Brooklyn...if you consider an emergency C-Section due to preeclampsia at 26 weeks gestation "giving birth". And the emergency C-Section scene was pretty graphic. And the narration was quite candid, about how the mother and the baby can both die from complications caused by preeclampsia.

You don't realize how much your five year old absorbs and comprehends until you're in this position, innocently watching a family show which spawns a dozen thought provoking five year old questions.

Remember, this is a conversation with a five year old:

O - Mom, what would happen to the baby if you died while the baby was still in your tummy?
Me - Well, one of two things. If I died and the doctors caught it soon enough, they could still deliver the baby and the baby could live. OR, if I died and they didn't catch it soon enough, the baby could die inside of me.
O - What happens if the baby dies when it's still in your tummy?
Me - Well, if the baby died inside my tummy, I would still go to the hospital and deliver the baby, but the baby wouldn't be alive. that happened to Aunt Amy's baby and that happened to Aunt Tara's baby and they are both angels now. But not the baby Aunt Tara has in her belly right now, it was the baby before this baby. Chase's sister, Delphine. The baby she has in her tummy right now is alive.
O - Who's more pregnanter? You, or Aunt Tara?
Me - I am, by about a month or so.
O - Could you die when you go to the hospital to have the baby?
Me - Yes, Owen. I could die when I got the hospital to have the baby. But, that's not going to happen (all the while I'm thinking, don't promise him that you won't die, because, really, that's not a promise you can keep and then if you do die, he'll resent you for the rest of your life for breaking your promise).
O - Mom, I really hope you don't die when you have the baby.
Me - Me, too, Owen, me too. I don't think I will.

A deep, deep conversation with my five year old, all because the Duggars didn't get the message about the clown car.

Two Things

Me: "Owen, what did you do at school today?"

Owen: "Two things."

LONG PAUSE while Jordyn and I looked from Owen - to each other - back to Owen in anticipation of his response.

Owen: "Lunch. ....... And Recess."

I relayed this story to Kevin when he got home last night, and apparently, every time Kevin talks to Owen on the phone in the evenings, Kevin says to Owen, "Tell me two things you learned at school today."

So, now Owen is hooked on "Two Things."

Apparently we're getting two dogs soon

Every January I salivate over the HGTV Dream Home and enter the contest daily. This year is no different.

It's located on 3 acres in a gated community in Sandia Park, NM with gorgeous mountain views all around. And from what the marketing literature tells me, they have 300 days of sunshine a year there. Despite being in the desert region, the summers don't get too hot, low 90s. Which, to me, is absolutely PERFECT.

I've spent countless hours taking the virtual tour. Watching all of the videos. Looking through all of the photos. I imagine my family living in this home. What rooms we would have to repaint or add bunk beds to. Where we would put the Wii or where the kids' backpack/school/sports gear would go so that the home would accommodate our family needs. I've researched the community and looked up information on the schools, shopping, and restaurants.

Basically, I've been dreaming.

What an adventure it would be to leave this cold Michigan life behind, along with all (or most) of our acquired schtuff, to start fresh and clean in beautiful New Mexico in a spectacular, fully furnished, professionally decorated home (with $500k pocket cash and a brand new SUV to boot!)

That's what the Dream Home is all about....dreaming.

And, I'm not the only one in the family dreaming.

We made a deal with Liam that if we win the Dream Home, we'll get not one, but TWO dogs.

He is certain we will win and has started researching what kinds of dogs we should get. He reminds me every day to enter the contest and we talk about the move to New Mexico frequently (Owen's biggest concern are the poisonous animals). When Liam says his prayers at night, he asks God Jesus for us to win the house so that he can get his dogs.

Like I told Jordyn, you have to believe to receive. And I believe we will win.

Which means, apparently, that we're getting two dogs soon.

Although Jordyn has been counteracting my belief with her own "I don't believe, I don't believe, I don't believe" mantra because she doesn't want to leave her friends when we win.

Neither do I. So, will you all come with us?

Now THAT would be a dream come true.

Sights and Sounds and Smells

Kevin was laid off on January 15, 2009. He went through quite a dry spell where there was just no work available and very few (to absolutely no) leads. I think he went the entire summer with out a single phone call.

And then November rolled around and he suddenly had more than one promising prospect.

On November 7 he discovered that he was awarded a contract position that started on November 16. Not the same thing as being hired permanently full time by a company, but exciting nonetheless.

He quickly had to set up an LLC for Hillary Consulting, get a tax ID, a business bank account, fill out the paperwork for his contract, take the required drug test, make travel arrangements, etc.

Then the big day came.

And I was struck by the various sights, sounds, and smells that had been absent from our house for the past ten months.

I watched him iron his shirt.

I heard his "dress" shoes click clacking on the tiled kitchen floor.

I smelled his cologne. (He claims it was aftershave).

These sights, sounds, and smells warmed my heart and I felt a sense of pride mixed with sadness, as if I was sending my child off to his first day of school. How would he manage with out me? Or really, how would I manage with out him??!!

He's been back to work for a month now, and one sight that I still haven't witnessed (and with the way his billing cycle works, I'm not sure when this sight WILL materialize) is a paycheck.

There won't be any feelings of sadness when that finally appears, I can tell you that.

Cherish

CHERISH.

That's my word for 2010.

Amy chose ORGANIZE.

Ali chose STORY.

I chose Cherish.

Cherish -
–verb (used with object)
1. to hold or treat as dear; feel love for: to cherish one's native land.
2. to care for tenderly; nurture: to cherish a child.
3. to cling fondly or inveterately to: to cherish a memory.

As my pregnancy continues, I want to cherish the "free" time that I have right now. Because, come April, so much of that time will be consumed with the baby.

I also want to cherish the miracle of life growing inside me, heartburn and all. OK, so I won't cherish the heartburn, but I want to be mindful of how I am cherishing this pregnancy so that the heartburn will irritate me a little bit less than it would otherwise.

Once the baby arrives, I want to cherish the bond I'll form with him and the impact he will make on our family dynamic.

I want to cherish the time I have with Kevin now that he travels and is gone most of the time. Our time together is limited and should be treated with care.

I also want to cherish the time I am NOT with Kevin, because that means that he has a job and a paycheck and we don't know how long that will last.

I want to cherish Jordyn, Liam, and Owen and my relationship with them and their relationships with each other. They will never be this age again, and I will never get another chance to mother them at this point in their lives. I must treat this time with them tenderly and dearly. Not that I won't yell at them from time to time (I'm human), but hopefully by focusing on the word cherish, I will yell at them a lot less.

I want to cherish as many moments in our lives as possible by honoring our stories in my blogs and scrapbooks.

And tomorrow, I will cherish the last day of my two week vacation by indulging in some ME activities. Exercising, eating well, organizing photos, and scrapbooking.

Here's to a Cherished 2010.

One More

When I started 2009, I was planning on blogging a whole lot more than I had done in 2008. I realized that blog posts are GREAT sources for scrapbook page material, and I wanted to record the moments AS they happened.

Well, here it is 2010 (however you want to SAY it), and I haven't created a blog post here in SIX WEEKS. I looked at my total number of posts for 2009....68. My total for 2008? 67.

Exactly one more post was created on this blog in 2009 than in 2008.

At this pace, maybe in 2010 I'll create 69 posts here at The Life of Heather Leigh!!

I do know, though, that I have kept up with and completed my Project 365 blog by taking one photo every day and blogging a bit about the photo and the day. Definitely something I want to continue in 2010.

So, I guess between this blog and the Project 365 blog I created 68 + 365 posts.

And then there were the 63 posts that I created on my Scrap blog during 2009. Although, I haven't contributed to that blog in nearly EIGHT WEEKS! But, who's counting?

I guess that means that, overall, in 2009, I created 496 posts - WAY more than "one more" than last year.

And don't forget all of the Facebook updates. Also a great way to document my life.

But, between Project 365, Heathaz Scrapz, and Facebook, I stopped updating this blog as much.

Which I thought was OK.

But I've come to realize that I'm missing out on telling some good stories by not giving them the breathing room that this blog allows. Stories I want to remember and record (using more than 140 characters) and eventually (possibly) scrap into a tangible piece of evidence that I can hold and look back on and cherish.

And, while I haven't really set any New Year's resolutions (yet)....I think that telling my story and my family's story is going to be number one on that list.

And I will tell those stories through this blog, my other blogs, Facebook, scrapbooking, and whatever other methods that I may find that work for me.

I am recommitting to telling those stories. To cherishing these memories.

One.more.time.