Never Enough

A girl can never have enough shoes...

even a little girl.

Orphans

Kids go through phases. This much I know. Phases like,

**I can't speak so I will yell...loudly

**potty training...is that wetness supposed to feel uncomfortable?...cuz I feel just fine

**sleeping or more accurately - NOT sleeping through the night

**I hate everyone

**I will not eat anything you put in front of me unless it is straight sugar

**dressing myself - cuz flower patterns and stripes totally match!

You know, phases like that. So I have noticed that my kids go through an ORPHAN PHASE during the summer they are 2 years old. Here are some photos from my archives to demonstrate.

Let me begin, though, by excluding Sydney. She was the first and was my permanent sidekick. She was pretty much a rockstar all growing up.

PARKER
CAMILLE

And cute little RACHEL

She does not look like an orphanin the next picture

but just look at those feet!!!

"Oh Mercy" as my friend, Jenn, says

I had the worst day (Tues). It was horrible and compounded with post-partum/nursing drama/5 kid chaos . . . it was BAD! The long and short of it is that I assumed Hash had been added to our health insurance but found he wasn't at the last minute. We have 30 days to add a new child and I found out he wasn't added - on day 30. I made some phone calls and thought the ball had started rolling but...at 2:00pm, I realized nothing had been done.

No problem, thought I. I will fill out the form and fax it over. PROBLEM!! Not so easy.

no dial tone

massive tangle of cords behind computer

Bryce screaming and hungry

no long distance dialing

can't hook back up to computer

can't find extension cord

Severely disappoint a daughter (involving tears)

cartridge problem-can't scan

neighbor scan but wrong format

And the list goes on and on. At this point - I'm sweating like a cow and stressed out of my mind. (I would say pig, but right now, I more closely resemble a cow). It was my breaking point. Luckily my parents were here visiting for a minute and my Dad took all the paper work to a store down the road a bit and faxed it for me. 1 hour before closing time. Why didn't I just think of doing that when I first found out? Of course, it takes several hours to receive and process on their end. But at least I have the fax confirmation to prove that we sent it in time.

My parents left and I lost it. I cried and sobbed. When I finished, I informed Parker that I didn't want to hear from or talk to anyone for a while. I needed to pump. As I finished telling him that, I heard my neighbor in my hallway. So I put myself back together again (you know what I'm talking about) and went into the hallway.

"How much of that did you hear?" I thought.
"I'm stressed," I say, understatement of the century.
She said, "I know. That's why I'm here. What do you need me to do?"
"Take my kids, including Bryce, so I can pump, please."

And without another word, she took my kids and I had a few minutes to myself to thank my Heavenly Father for surrounding me with such love, support and strength when my reserves are on empty. This same Father arranged for dinner to be brought that night as well. It wasn't originally planned to come this night but through other scheduling problems, it ended up coming exactly when I needed it.

I'm surrounded by amazing women who act on inspiration. They probably don't even know what they're doing most of the time. Simple things like notes like this:

I'm here to tell you ladies...all of you who live near me, thank you, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

Thanks for cleaning my floor, doing Syd's hair, talking, sharing smoothies, watching kids, dinners, friendly notes, lending breast pump, encouragement, just for BEING THERE.

Hopefully, someday, I'll be able to return the favor. Maybe someday when I'm not such a basketcase! Based on the way things have been going, it might be a while.

Still smiling

Life has been kind of hard lately. I mean, comparatively speaking, my life is a dream. I couldn't ask for more! The difficulties I've been dealing with (see yesterday's post and tomorrow's post) are so minor compared to other's. So I have to be careful about complaining.


But my challenges have brought some tears. So I've been trying more diligently to find things to smile about. And smiles are in no shortage around my house. Especially with Sydney. I found this entry on the front page of her dictionary. She felt compelled to add her own definition:

Sydney: /sini/ noun. a person, a very awsome person.

**PRICELESS**

Later in the day, Sterling was telling Sydney how he has a "hug list" for when he gets to heaven. People he admires and loves will be on his list to find and hug when he gets to heaven. So Sydney started making a list of her own:

Syd: "Family members, Jesus, Joseph Smith, Mary (mother of Jesus)..."

Ster: "Hannah Montana"

Syd: "I don't think she'll be in the same kingdom that I will be in."