The Shape of a Mother Post

I posted in The Shape of a Mother. If you don't know this blog, it is fabulous. Absolutely fabulous. Anything that spreads the word that we are all unique and beautiful women--not air-brushed or spotless Vogue models--but real, tangible women--is a wonderful thing!

Link to my post.

I originally was going to post as "Anonymous"--but I kind of want to share my story--my wonderful husband, the fact that I am imperfect. Beautifully imperfect... Anyway. Check out TSOAM. It's one of my favorite blogs. ;)

Anna's 2 Year Appointemtent Shocked Me!

Why did it surprise me? Because Anna is 36 Inches Tall... meaning she is in the 94th Percentile!!! Can you believe that? At her 18 Month appt. she was only in the 65th, so I thought she would slow down and be about in the 60th by her 2 yr appointment (I'm only 5 foot 1 and Paul is 5 foot 10). NOPE. She's still growing and I'm beginning to believe that she inherited the P-------n Height Gene. (Come to think of it, my Aunt Susie is pretty tall... And Aunt Shirleen, too.... and my uncles were/are all over 6 feet.... maybe it's a combo of my genes and hers?) Enough rambling.
She is 27 pounds and a few ounces, making her in the 65th for weight. Her head circumference was 80th percentile.
I'm still shocked that she's so tall... I mean, I could see it when she was around other two and three year olds, but... I guess I never thought she was above the 60th percentile. I'm.... shocked. What's a synonym for that so I don't sound redundant? Amazed. I'm amazed.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

I got a kick out of this scene from Bones last Wednesday...

If you don't know the dialogue or anything.... I'll give you a quick overview. Basically, Brennan needs magnifying glasses to examine the skull. Booth finds these around an old lady's neck. Booth comes in. Grins. Walks up to her and says, "What I want you to do is take off your glasses, shake out your hair and say, 'Mr Booth, do you know what penalty is for an overdue book?'" Brennan's response? "Why?" Booth looks... annoyed? Flustered? and mutters, "Never mind."
Brennan gives him another errand... finding a butane lighter, denture cream and face powder.

When he's out of sight, she takes off her gloves, takes off her glasses, shakes out her hair... looks confused. Gets that "I don't know what that means" look on her face and then puts back her hair and glasses. LOL....

So Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I'll be spending the next week in Roseburg with family.
Happy Dancing Turkey gif... (Why would he be so happy when thousands.... hundreds of thousands... of his relatives are getting their heads chopped off, we shall never know. Maybe he got his hands on the apple cider.)

glitter-graphics.com

Christmas Dress Pics

I took these indoors and Photoshopped the background to a solid black... also did some red-eye correction.

2 Years of Breastfeeding

You know, if I didn't stop to think about it, I would have never really realized the significance of breastfeeding Anna for two years. That's lower risk of breast cancer, stronger immunity for Anna, more exposure to brain-building chemicals found in breast milk, etc, etc, etc...
It's kind of amazing. But I really don't think about it any more. The goals, I mean. I don't think about breastfeeding goals or milestones any more. I never really have. I suppose that's out of the ordinary. I never bought any bottles or formula (although my MIL sure bought me bottles and Similac kept trying to get me on their bandwagon! No thanks to both!) Some other company gave us liquid formula with nipples and little glass bottles. Those were great for that ONE night when Anna was 2 weeks old and Daddy stayed up with her and I SLEPT! AND woke up in pain and engorged lol. Other than that.... I honestly never had a goal. I was a member of this mommy site full of notoriously blood-thirsty women, always attacking each other for doing anything remotely resembling "wrong"... giving babies solids at 5.5 months old, as opposed to 6 months old (give me a break! She sucked on a cookie, people!)... Giving her a cookie for her first food and not pureed green beans (I wouldn't like that, why would she? PLUS it was a Girl Scout cookie!!! Who could pass that up? "On my honor I will try to serve God and my country and to live by the Girl Scout Law and give my daughter a Girl Scout cookie for her first taste of heaven.")
And to top it all off... the women of that unnamed site told me that saying that my goal was 12 months was TOO MUCH and to not have such a long goal. Have a 3 month goal or a 6 month goal. Give me a break! Why should we have so little faith in our selves? Why would I arbitrarily break down and give my daughter a bottle... run the water, boil it, de-germify bottles, buy the bottles that are the most healthy, measure the powder, mix the water WHEN I CAN JUST WHIP IT OUT! I deserve one of those bumper stickers that says:
And this isn't in offense to bottle-feeders or formula-users. It's more in offense to those catty women who were my first real experience with "breastfeeding supporters"... Pah to you.
Point is, my first and only goal was one year. I made it. From now on I'm winging it. Anna likes the boob. I like the closeness and the benefits.
Oh and I found my way onto diaperswappers.com and started a thread announcing my two year milestone. Within a day or two four or five more threads popped up announcing 2 year milestones or goals being reached. I was really excited and pleased by the support and praise. It was very nice to hear it. ;)

So, in closing, whatever your goal is. 1 week, 1 year, 3 or 4 years... if and when you make that goal, good for you! You are amazing and I support you and we all should support one another. For being moms, even. Waking up several times a night for months (for me, twenty months! argh...), for feeding and changing our babies, learning their voices, their turns of temperament.... celebrating their firsts and OUR firsts, their goals and OUR goals. It's an amazing experience, motherhood. It truly is. And I am blessed to be one of the women in the world who gets to experience motherhood in one of the ways that it is offered.

I hope that some day I can adopt a child (or children) and experience motherhood in a whole new facet. Motherhood isn't how you feed your child, it's the love that you give your child. A woman who gives birth and breast feeds her child can just as easily abuse that child or starve that child. A woman who adopts and bottle feeds can just as easily smother her child with love.

I honestly don't know where I'm going with this now... I suppose this is what happens when I decide to write after midnight....

I'll post pictures in the next post. ;)

Anna is now 2!

Here are a few pictures of the day! My husband made the cake. It turned out great. Anna tore into her presents and cake. It was a very good day, I think. :D

Anna's 2nd Year Video

Anna will now be 2 in 6 days.
I made this video to celebrate that fact.
The song is Beyond Measure by Jeremy Camp. I thought it was an appropriate song considering that we have truly been given more than earthly treasure, more than beyond measure by God.

Twisted Beauty

This is for the young women.

How often do you tell yourself that you are beautiful? How often do you tell yourself that you are enough? How often do you believe it? I wish that I could hear more often young women telling themselves positive things. I am beautiful. I am smart. I am friendly, kind, sweet, talented. Especially when it comes to physical appearance, I am saddened when I hear negative comments of young women and girls about themselves. To bring this to a personal level, when I look at myself nude, I think that I am beautiful. I am curvy, I have stretch marks, cellulite. The whole nine yards. I am far from taut and airbrushed. Is it safe to say that I am human? Imperfections are what make us human. Who wants to look like Barbie? I could hardly call her perfect. If I looked like her, I'd be more ashamed than if I looked like myself. I am proud of my body. It draws air into my lungs, digests my food, feeds my child, birthed her into this world. It worships God. It reflects His Image. How amazing is that? We LOOK LIKE GOD. I don't know how much more beautiful that can be. To look like Him. To reflect His Image. To be Made In His Image. Think about it. Can you truly look at yourself in the mirror every day and say that you are ugly when you are made in God's Image. You are His creation. Now, go back and say those things again. Is it possible any more? I admit I have bad days where I feel bloated, ugly, what-have-you. But more often than not, when I go and take a shower, I stand in front of the mirror nude and I think, "I'm beautiful." Not to be vain. Vanity and loving yourself are two very different things. And I am far from vain. Vanity is believing you are perfect. In all honesty, it is the IMPERFECTIONS that I find myself admiring most. My humanity is beautiful. The half-a-dozen teeny stretchmarks that speckle the left side of my belly, just below the navel. My womanly figure, changed by motherhood. I find myself becoming and not in the traditional sense. I've learned to love myself.
And that sense, that need to love myself is all the more amplified by the fact that I am the mother to a daughter. A girl who will someday look up to me and mirror her own self image against my own. I will be her mentor, her heroine, her mother for years to come and I know that by telling her that I think I am beautiful and I think she is beautiful, that that will add to a positive self image. I remember being six years old and believing I looked fat in a bathing suit. I heard those comments, I suppose, way too often from my own mother or women I looked up to in my life. I know how that effects young girls and I am determined not to be a part of that cycle. That cycle stops here. When my daughter and I go shopping when she's fifteen, I will try on a dress and I will tell her that I look beautiful in it. And if it's the wrong size, I will tell her so. It's the wrong size, then go get the next size up. No big deal. Being a larger size has nothing to do with beauty. The sooner we realize that, the sooner we can end the cycle in our daughters' lives.

I am Beautiful. I am 5 foot 1 3/4 inches. Last I checked I weighed 125, but I think I'm closer to 128 now. I don't work out much, if ever. Shame on me. I should take better care of my body. I wear size 5 to size 7 jeans. I wear a 34A bra. I have stretchmarks on my hips, thighs, breasts, tummy. I have cellulite on my butt. I can't remember the last time I shaved my legs. I am imperfect. I am human. I am a beautiful woman and I welcome the imperfections that make me ME.

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As it turns out, I've been talking to Dove about their Campaign for Real Beauty. I love this program. Beauty comes in all shapes, sizes and colors.
You can go to www.campaignforrealbeauty.com to download free self-esteem building materials for girls, moms, and mentors including:
• True You and Mirror, Mirror booklets
• Interactive exercises
• Workshop Facilitator Guide DVD

Words of the Day

I love learning language and new words. I think I'll do a new word day every so often....

Here are a few, some new to me, some not:

tête-à-tête : I love this word. It sounds just like the definition. PRN: Tet-a-tet. –noun

1.	a private conversation or interview, usually between two people.

sotto voce : I kept coming across this one while reading scripts. Had to look it up. PRN: sawt-taw vaw-che.
–noun in a low, soft voice so as not to be overheard.

sou marqué : This one is new to me. PRN: soo-mar-key

1.	a billon coin of France, issued in the 18th century for circulation in the colonies.

2.	something that has little or no value.

resplendent \rih-SPLEN-duhnt\, adjective:
1. very bright or shining; splendid

mot juste : This one's new to me, too. \moh-ZHOOST\, noun:
1. a word or phrase that exactly fits the case

10 Days Until Anna's Birthday

In honor of my little Anna Daisy, here is the song that Anna was named after. Daisy Bell by Gerald Adams and the Variety Singers.

The Treatment of Our National Leader

From "Wall Street Journal"
By Jeffrey Shapiro

Earlier this year, 12,000 people in San Francisco signed a petition in support of a proposition on a local ballot to rename an Oceanside sewage plant after George W. Bush. The proposition is only one example of the classless disrespect many Americans have shown the president.


According to recent Gallup polls, the president's average approval rating is below 30% -- down from his 90% approval in the wake of 9/11. Mr. Bush has endured relentless attacks from the left while facing abandonment from the right.


This is the price Mr. Bush is paying for trying to work with both Democrats and Republicans. During his 2004 victory speech, the president reached out to voters who supported his opponent, John Kerry, and said, "Today, I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent. To make this nation stronger and better, I will need your support, and I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust.
"

Those bipartisan efforts have been met with crushing resistance from both political parties.


The president's original Supreme Court choice of Harriet Miers alarmed Republicans, while his final nomination of Samuel Alito angered Democrats. His solutions to reform the immigration system alienated traditional conservatives, while his refusal to retreat in Iraq has enraged liberals who have unrealistic expectations about the challenges we face there.


It seems that no matter what Mr. Bush does, he is blamed for everything. He remains despised by the left while continuously disappointing the right.


Yet it should seem obvious that many of our country's current problems either existed long before Mr. Bush ever came to office, or are beyond his control. Perhaps if Americans stopped being so divisive, and congressional leaders came together to work with the president on some of these problems, he would actually have had a fighting chance of solving them.


Like the president said in his 2004 victory speech, "We have one country, one Constitution and one future that binds us. And when we come together and work together, there is no limit to the greatness of America.
"
In Opinion Journal Today

To be sure, Mr. Bush is not completely alone. His low approval ratings put him in the good company of former Democratic President Harry S. Truman, whose own approval rating sank to 22% shortly before he left office. Despite Mr. Truman's low numbers, a 2005 Wall Street Journal poll found that he was ranked the seventh most popular president in history.


Just as Americans have gained perspective on how challenging Truman's presidency was in the wake of World War II, our country will recognize the hardship President Bush faced these past eight years -- and how extraordinary it was that he accomplished what he did in the wake of the September 11 attacks.


The treatment President Bush has received from this country is nothing less than a disgrace. The attacks launched against him have been cruel and slanderous, proving to the world what little character and resolve we have. The president is not to blame for all these problems. He never lost faith in America or her people, and has tried his hardest to continue leading our nation during a very difficult time.


Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty -- a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House.


Mr. Shapiro is an investigative reporter and lawyer who previously interned with John F. Kerry's legal team during the presidential election in 2004.


http://online. wsj. com/article/SB122584386627599251. html

Anna's 2nd Year

12 days until my baby girl's birthday...

Countdown to Anna's Birthday!

13 Days Until Anna's Birthday....

Today, a slideshow of Anna's 1st Year:

Musica!

"Now That You're Near"
Hillsong

Halloween Pics

Anna is now 16 days from turning 2! I can't believe it! Right now I'm so tired, though, that I think I'm going to pass out, so I'm really aiming for the short post here. ;)

Anna as Elmo!!!!!!!! (Next year we're choosing a costume with wings and a wand. Poor girl kept being called "Mr. Elmo" and "He" all night... *sigh* It's the hair... people just can't fathom a two year old girl with barely any hair lol.)