The Quiet Life of Violet

Sorry guys!

 

(Giveaway winner announced thursday!)

Lessons Learned: Being a Mother

 [My new natural habitat]

Things I've learned so far:
(There are positively more, but my sleepy fog head prevents me from using my brain to its full potential.)

 

•  It really IS different when it's your baby... the poop, the drool, the sleep loss, everything. There's no question, you just do it because you must.

• You really can love and strive to protect with a fierceness somebody that you just met.

• Newborn babies really DO take up the whole day. An hour here or there while he's sleeping becomes a mad rush to get things done and feel a little bit of normalcy.

• You will have to decide between taking a shower and eating your food while it's warm.

• Your baby will inevitably wake up the second you sit down to eat dinner. You have three options: shovel your food into your mouth like a hungry dog and then tend to the baby, have one of you hold the baby while the other eats, or just let the baby cry. I've mastered eating like this furry little boy (second picture form the top).

• Even though I thought I did, I never knew how much I loved Dustin until I saw him tenderly take care of our baby.

• When you're tired and the baby is crying, you WILL make up or sing annoying/funny songs to get the noise to stop. Dustin has taken to humming THIS song.

• Your boobs suddenly become more than just sexy fun-toys.
  
  
• There is nothing sexual about breastfeeding your baby.

• You can have another person's pee (your baby's) on your clothes/blanket/in your hair and not care at all. 

• Diapers should grow on trees.

• Your boobs will leak when you least expect it. Wear nipple pads.

• Don't give people a definite time when you've got a newborn. Give them a two to three hour window for your arrival. 

• You really can make life better with a hug or a cuddle. 

• The baby really is worth all of the trouble. Seriously. 

• Life is even more amazing than I thought it could be. 

• I love being his Momma.

  

 

 

Thursday -- Holy Crap!

How is it Thursday already?

I've been lucky enough to have the luxury of just loafing around all week while all of my loved ones are either working at their jobs, working on their new and old businesses, finishing up the school semester (Brother, Sister and cousins!) or healing (my poor Momma broke her arms).

And me?  I've made some phone calls, I went grocery shopping, I napped like a large cat (even though the sun is on vacation), I've almost completed my Christmas shopping and watched movies -- lots and lots of movies. I am so dang lucky. SO lucky. My Sissy never ceases to remind me just how so I am as she's rushing off to one of her two jobs or trying to complete essay after essay. I'm thankful that she serves as a reminder for just how lucky I am and I hope (hope, hope!) that one day, if she'd like, she gets to be a stay at home wife/Mom. (I love you Sissy!)

What's up with this blog? I have two amazing new series that I'm dying to share with you guys, but they're both gunna need a couple more weeks worth of work before I share. I can't WAIT!

Also, I have another  series that I'm thinking of starting and it will have to with diet and healthy eating and will be laced with more practical recipes and tips. I'm still in the brainstorming stages of that one, though.

Oh, also, I now have 24 followers on here! I'm 76 away from achieving my "100 followers goal"  and each time I see that a new person  has joined, I do a little dance, laugh a little laugh and check out their blog.

I've been getting about 350 readers a day which just blows my mind! I know it might not seem like a lot to our more super fantastic bloggers, but I squee like a little girl each time I check and see that I've had a bunch of readers each day!  Teehee!


On the home front, I need to show you guys our Christmas tree, large and in-charge, but we ran out of lights (we've never needed more thant two strings!) and we're having a heck of a time finding another string of yellow mini lights. I think we're gunna try the hardware store  tonight.

I have the mantle all decked out with a garland and pretty beads and bows and twinkle lights that feel like they're gunna give me a seizure at any moment. We've been burning fire-logs and eating peppermint taffy and watching movies at nighttime.  Totally romantic and just what we need!

We also need a new couch, a real couch because this guy is kind of weak-sauce. We're totally scouring Craiglist in hopes of finding a great piece at a good price.

 On the body/mind front, I've decided to just let go and let God. I can only control so many things (even though I'd like to control most everything), so these past few months have been a lesson in just learning to sit back and let go. Let things happen when they're meant to. From cancer to babies to jobs and money, I can only do so much, you know?

I found this awesome quote on a wonderful little blog and though that it was entirely appropriate for what's in my heart.

"I have a lot of faith. But I am also afraid a lot, and have no real certainty about anything. I remembered something Father Tom had told me--that the opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. Certainty is missing the point entirely. Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns."  —
- Anne Lamott (Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith)

May your day be filled with little rays of  light and paw-fuls of peppermint taffy. 

1,300 Things to Be Thankful For (week 18)

 

426. Skyping with the love of my whole life (and flashing a boob).  ;D

427. Finding blogs with pretty pictures that the blog owners took themselves.

428. Dance parties in the car.

429. New pack of bobbie pins.

430. Homemade, gluten-free chicken strips


431. Pretty pea-green velvet cushions on Leigh-Ann's couch.

432. The town of Morden, Manitoba.

433. Beautiful patina on vintage door hinges.

434. Plucking out the first few grey hairs.

435. "99 Bottle of Beer on the Wall."

436. Getting tripped up on the freeway when I see the signs --  "Maximum 100" ... that's 100 kilometers per hour, not miles per hour! Gets me every time!

437. Making sugar scrubs for my lips.

438. The cherry chocolate-y brown color of my eyes.

439. "Snap, Crackle & Pop."

440. Giant popcorn bags at the movies.

441. Pretty ponytails on twenty-somethings.

442. This picture I took of myself a few years ago. It makes me realize how much I love my tattoo and my wedding ring.

443. Miniature ponies.

444. Hand-sewn quilts.

445. Pretty boys who speak french.

446. Roadtrips = funny faces and multiple people with bandannas and sunglasses.

447. Holly's business, McKenna Salon & Spa.  The Aveda products were amazing! Ahhhh.

448. Laundry baskets with sweet smelling, freshly folded linens.

449. "This Little Piggy..."

450. Really deep talks with Leigh-Ann. Giggles, God, men, babies, tears & "We gotta go to sleep!"

 

Flashback Fridays -- Got Your Back

This is how big of a scar they make when they decided to take out a whole lung.

Crazy! I remember my surgeon telling me that her hand kept cramping up as she was holding the 4 POUND  bone tumor as they were "breaking it out" of my body. Breaking it out sounds wrong.. I think they probably cut little bit of connective tissues by little bit, until they were able to remove it. Four pounds! That's, like, half a baby. How did I even breathe with half a baby in my lung?!

After the surgery, when I was allowed to go home, I was given some pretty strong drugs to take for the pain, but they make me puke, so I only took Vicodin, which made me puke (and gave me nightmares), so I then resorted to Tylenol. It was reallly scary and I felt like my scar was going to tear open each time I coughed.

When they cut me during surgery, they cut through some of my nerves, which, to this day are still funk-da-fied (that's a word, I say so). Right under my right boob is still a little bits tingly. Under the scar, I can't even feel anything.. Dustin can touch me and I won't notice until he touches the skin around it.  Kind of freaky! Also, in order to actually get to my lung, they had to break some of my ribs... now they told me that they "broke" them, and with that I get a mental picture of my proper, Chanel wearing, lady surgeon flying through the air, breaking my bones with her elbow, much like this:

.. but with less lime green fringe and more blood.

Oh! Want to know something weird and gross?... Yes? Of course you do!

Well, when they remove an organ, such as a lung, something has to FILL the space. Over about the span of a month post surgery, the empty space started to fill... with "fluid." Don't ask, I don't know! But, the funny thing was, each day, as it filled more and more, the NOISE would change. At first when I'd lay down, it sounded like the ocean waves... swish.........swish........swish. Then, as it continued to fill it would sounds much like sloshing of a half filled plastic soda bottle, on its side. And then, as it was almost full, it sounded like your stomach does after you drink too much water and lay down.. like a water bed. (When I'd turn over at night, I sounded like a washing machine.. slosh, slosh, slosh.) Eventually, the space became full and hardened up, which still grosses me out  to think about. Like a giant, hard booger in my chest. I always tell Dustin that if we get caught in the middle of a fire fight, I'm good as long as they shoot my right side! Saved by a giant chunk of  body booger! Gotta find the bright side, right? ;)

*Yawn*

[I'm a cup kisser.] 

Just got back from a whirlwind trip down to Southern California. Visited friends and hung out at the House of Mouse (Nerdy term for Disneyland)!

Anyhow, I'm pooped, exhausted, dirty haired and ready for bed... and it's only 8:51 p.m.  Whoa. Early bird status.

Just thought I'd pop on and show you my (sun-burnt) little face.  More this week!

Love you guys!

xx,

Violet