Oww-ee

Aiden got his second "bloody" oww-ee, in his life. Aside from when he bit through his lip, he's had very few scratches and hurts. He fell last night outside while we were cleaning up toys, and got what Brody would call a "Bruce Willis" scratch, perfectly placed on his forehead.

A trip to the zoo...

The Nashville zoo has a new exhibit of Aligators. My 4 year old son could not wait to go and see them. So we went, and we raced up the paths past all the other exhibits until we got to Aligator cove, and saw around 16 baby aligators swimming creepily in the murky water. At first, we could only count 5 or so, but my dad quickly saw how they hid themselves amongst the logs, and on the bottom of their artificial swamp. We stayed and watched them, my son entranced with their movements, and the informative video playing in the background. He soaked up the information like a sponge so he could repeat it later to his daddy and friends. I couldn't get over how sneaky they were, and how beady their yellow eyes were. Nonetheless, I was happy to watch my son's enthusiasm.
I am NOT a fan of reptiles in general, but aligators and snakes are my least favorite of the entire animal kingdom. My son knows this, and thinks it is hilarious to try to get me into the snake building, and get a glance at one of the many snakes in there. I avoid that section of the zoo, so much so that I sit outside and wait for my husband to bring the kids back out. Unfortunatly on this trip to the zoo, I was forced to enter the dark, humid small hallways filled with glass boxes of snakes. My sons took off in opposite directions, and my dad and I split up and followed each of them. Just entering this place made me breathe heavier. I hugged my sides and walked quickly down the un-necessary small hallways. I closed my eyes, as I rounded a corner of snake boxes, and jumped as my earing touched my neck. I caught up to my son just as he was pointing out to me that I was standing in front of the giant snakes chamber. I closed my eyes and backed into an artifical plant that I subconciously imagined to be a snake landing on my shoulder. I gasped, grabed my sons' hand, and took off down the hallway. Once I reached the exit, my son informed me he needed to pee, and off we went again down these hallways.
This place that I usually avoid, I had to spend a near hour in, and made about 4 loops through. My sons made friends with some children that were equally enthralled with the creatures, and they played and giggled and pointed as my son laughed hysterically at my jumpiness.
As I was darting through this place, following my boys, I had time to think about a few things. One, I am going to have 3 boys, who will all love to torment me with my fear of snakes and aligators, so I better get used to it. And two, I learned where the snake boxes were, so now I can enter this place, and only look at fish and turtles, and act relatively calm, so my sons won't get a kick out of scaring me to death. I'll have to work on my initial reaction, but i'll master it, and they'll never know, that the snake place creeps me out, then maybe eventually they'll tire of the snake house, and we won't have to go back.
More likely, although, I'll learn to appriciate the things they find facinating, and they'll continue to find ways to scare me one way or another, I guess that is just what boys do, but I believe, or I'll pretend, that they do it out of love.

Weird Parents

Cops: Parents Kidnapped Daughter To Force Abortion
19-Year-Old Recently Told Parents She Was Pregnant

(CBS) After disclosing to her parents that she was pregnant, a 19-year-old Maine girl was allegedly bound with rope and duct tape by her parents, who then allegedly attempted to drive the girl to an abortion clinic in New York on Friday for an emergency abortion, police said.

Katelyn Kampf, 19, was able to escape from her parents’ custody when they stopped to use a restroom in Salem, New Hampshire. Police said the girl fled to a local department store where she was able to call police. Police found her behind a shopping mall and, shortly after, found the parents, Nicholas Kampf, 54, and Lola Kampf, 53, driving around a parking lot looking for the girl.

The parents were taken into custody by Salem Police and brought to police headquarters. A search of the vehicle revealed rope, duct tape, scissors, and a .22 caliber rifle. The father was found in possession of a loaded .22 caliber clip in his pants pocket.

During an interview with the girl, police found that her parents were upset after she recently told them she was pregnant. The girl told police that a physical altercation ensued and the girl was forced to the floor. The girl was then allegedly bound with rope around her legs and hands. She told police that she was carried to a vehicle and driven away by her parents.

According to the girl, her parents were driving her to a location in New York State to have an emergency abortion performed. The girl was allegedly taken from the family’s home on Country Lane in North Yarmouth during the morning hours on Friday, police said.

The Kampf's were arrested following their interview by New Hampshire and Maine investigators. They have been charged by the Salem, New Hampshire Police with kidnapping. They were transported to the Rockingham County Jail in Manchester, New Hampshire where they were each being held on $100,000 cash bail. The case will also be reviewed by Cumberland County prosecutor's for potential Maine charges, police said.

(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

This sucks

I just spent the last few months, thinking about these next few months. I am prepared, and I know what I am going to do, but now I regret how I spent these last few months with my husband by my side. He was home, everyday for nearly 2 months. We were team parents, and we enjoyed being together, but now as I dropped him off, I realized that I wished I would have spent more time mentally in the moments. I spend way to much time thinking, planning and preparing, when I could have spent the time simply enjoying being with him. Now I won't see him very often for a few months, and our talking time will be limited. He is my best friend, and I take him for granted.
I am starting to realize more and more that life comes at you in chuncks of time. Some are longer than others, some are really short. Nothing stays the same for very long, good or bad. A man named Randy Elrod came and spoke at a bible study I was attending a year ago about the topic of "moments", and how he had learned to grasp that concept with his own family, and how important it was. He wrote a book, or is in the process of writing a book about that, which I will definitley pick up.
As I drove home tonight, I was searching for the perfect song to cry to. I was looking through my husbands favorites, when I realized that my baby son was singing in the back seat, and that was enough. It was enough to cry to, enough to fill my heart with joy. It was enough to be the perfectly innocent, melancholy soundtrack for the drive home.

Change

I can feel the season changing from summer to fall, in the cool breeze that was blowing this evening. Although I am a huge fan of summer, because I don't have to wear socks, or itchy sweaters, and can enjoy the fresh air outdoors, I am ready for the season to change.
Everyone has their favorite season. The wonder to me, is that God made seasons that are as different as the people He created. Not only does He appeal to everyone through these seasons, but He also knows us well enough, to know that we would grow weary if the seasons never changed. We would become dissastisfied with summer, winter, fall or spring, if we had it all the time.
Sometimes I worry over change, and other times I embrace it with enthusiasm and eagerness. I think change is most scary when you are comfortable with what you have and are not ready to let go, and move on to an unknown newness. But I also believe that God is kind enough, that if we let Him, he gently prepares us for the change. Time allows changes of heart and mind to any given situation. Just like the summer is slowly fading into fall, so is my baby slowly growing in my belly. This baby will bring change to our family, and we enter into another world of parenting that is unknown and a little scary, but by the time he is ready to be born, I will be ready to embrace the change that his little presence will bring.

Pessimistic

"The optomist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true."
~James Branch Cebell

I wish I was an optomist, but I am definitly a pessimist. Is it possible to change yourself into an optomist? Is it possible to re-shape how you veiw everything? Because I am a pessimist, my answer to these questions must be no, but I hope that I am wrong. Because I have hope, does that make me slightly optomistic? hmmm....

Boys vs. Girls

So now that I am pregnant with my third boy, I have decided that I need to learn more about these boys that are filling my house. After growing up with a brother and a dad, being married to Brody for 6 years, having a four year old boy and a 19 month old boy, I am thourghly convinced that boys are different than girls.
Firstly, they like to wrestle, girls don't. As my first son has grown, I have had to learn how to play with him. He doesn't like spiderman and wolverine talking and getting to know each other, they are supposed to fight, and once again, wrestle. For some reason that is more fun.
Secondly, the words "poop," "booty," "toot," of any form can make any male young or old laugh. (not to mention that boys smell more than girls...)
And thirdly, they love adventure, and love to succeed, and be the hero.
I am currently reading a book called, "The Minds of Boys," by Michael Gurian. He has done extensive scientific research on boys minds, and shows that the brains of boys are literally built differently than girls.
Some quotes from the book:
~"Boys tend to have more dopamine in their bloodstream which can increase impulsive risk behavior" (is that why Eliot thought it was a good idea to try to jump off the trampoline on his skateboard?)
~ "The boy fueled by his boy energy, tends to learn by innovating in risk- taking ways, wearing goggles so the dangerous game can go on."
~"This boy energy, is one of the greatest assets of a civilization. Our homes and buildings are built by it. Our roads are laid down in its vision. Our rocket ships fly because of it."
There is debate on wether all children are blank slates, waiting to be written on, or wether they are born with gender differences. In our neighborhood, there are 15 kids that play in our cold a sack nearly every night. The boys are usually riding bikes, throwing a football, running, and jumping off of things. The girls will sit and put on make up and jewlery, or perform a song and dance for everyone. The girls like to be pretty, and the boys like to be tough. The girls like to talk and bond, and the boys like to wrestle.
Through everything I have seen thus far, and witnessed in my life, I simply have to conclude that boys and girls are different from each other. That, I believe, is what God had in mind when He created us. He intended for us to be different, and we as women couldn't live without the men and boys in our lives. Even as rough, smelly, and confusing as they are.

Hypnosis

A couple of years ago, Brody and I went to a seminar on hypnosis. It was offered by his work, at the time, through the sheriff's dept. We chose a seat in the back, in a room of about a hundred people. We giggled as they started talking, thinking this would be good free entertainment. We expected to see people barking like dogs, or dancing around on chairs.
Instead we ourselves were hypnotized along with everyone else there. It felt like I was in a complete state of relaxation, unable to move my body, sinking further into the chair. I knew where I was, and who was around me, but my eyes were so heavy that they didn't want to open. The speaker told us affirmations in a soothing tone, and encouraged us to eat healthy and told us that we loved water, and couldn't get enough of it. Ironically after the seminar the line to the water fountain nearly went out the building.
The highlight of the evening, for me, was at the end, when we all stood in a train around the room, with our hands on the persons' shoulders in front of us. Brody has an aversion to touching strangers, especially elderly women, like the one that he had his hands on at that point. When the speaker instructed us to give the person in front of us a good shoulder massage, Brody glanced back at me with a look of terror in his eyes, but proceeded to give this nice old lady a good shoulder rub!
After experiencing the state of relaxation that takes place in hypnosis, I began to research it for childbirth. I watched an amazing video about it, and have heard many testimonials about getting through labor relaxed and enjoying it. I've also learned a lot about myself in my past two pregnancies and births, and that is mainly, that I am shy and don't enjoy the attention that being in labor brings, which therefore tenses my body, and works against the contractions, causing stalled labor over and over again. The best that I have handled it in the past was when I sat In the dark with headphones on listening to relaxing music, unaware of who was in the room, or the machines beeping. I have also had such bad experiences with epidurals, my first leaving me with toxoplasmosis the next day, and my second leaving me with a spinal headache, where the fluid surrounding your brain drains out of the punctured hole in your spine, and is incredibly painful.
I don't want to enter childbirth this time around with the fear I feel from my last two experiences, therefore I figure that learning to completely relax, even when in pain, or when strangers are around me, will prove to benifit the labor in one way or another. It may sound strange, but I hope it works, and if it doesn't, I'll just ask Brody for a good shoulder rub, I've seen his work with the elderly ladies.