There has been so much going on. While I may expound on a few of these when I am more capeable, here are some bits and pieces.
- My niece is keeping Ellie Nan. We weren’t sure if she would be placed for adoption or not. It has been very traumatic and stressful for our family. Loads of emotions were being flung everywhere causing a lot of issues, hurt and stress. It was a huge decision, and I didn’t envy my niece in making it. It will be quite the challenge because she still has a year of high school left, but the most important thing is that she is at peace with the path she picked. She couldn’t give her up. As someone who has lost a baby (I know, it isn’t the same thing, but in my opinion it is damn close.) I understand, but she is only 17 and I also strongly support adoption, so it was tough to know how to feel. I just wanted her to do what she felt in her heart was the right thing and she did that. Right now the goal is to just help her as much as we can. She’s a straight-A student, and I just want her to be able to get through college. Hopefully, it will happen. She’s a hard worker, smart and is taking to motherhood like a duck to water, and Ellie is the sweetest little baby. I love and adore her. Everyone does. In my opinion, once decisions like this have been made you need to look at all the positives you can.
- A whole lot of stress and worry has been going on about James. The issue of where he lives may be resolved. (As far as I know. It seems that whenever I think it’s settled, um, it’s not.) He will remain here but he’ll be seeing more of his dad. Which has always been totally fine with me and an option. There aren’t many words adequate to describe my relief. That’s all I’ll say about it online, since this whole thing made me break my rule about never writing about my first husband out of respect and I feel torn about everything.
- It’s Nooncy’s BIRTHDAY TODAY!!! HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAR NOONCY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!! I hope you had a big serving up cupcakes for breakfast. (FYI to those who are new-Nooncy is my awesome sister-in-law) Last night we went to Happy Sumo for some killer, killer sushi. Big thanks to the bro for treating. Love you, Nan.
- PMS is wrecking havoc with me. I am so damn emotional lately. It’s exacerbated by my inability to just shut the hell up. Have you ever had times in your life where you just do and say the wrong thing all the time? With everyone and everything? Because that seems to be exactly where I am. I’ve been forceful, emotional and vocal in many of my blog comments and emails. When I’m trying to be helpful, it translates into drama and makes everything worse. Things I write come out as bitchy and hostile, when I don’t mean them to be. It’s weird for me. It’s causing me stress. I’ve gotten to the point where if I just can’t settle on down, I’m going to lock up my computer until I trust myself around it. Either that or just duct tape my damn mouth shut. (How do you lurkers do it? HOW?). Sorry if I have hurt or pissed people off, really I am.
- The boys went back to school yesterday (And there was much rejoicing. Yay…). We have a tradition with the boys of taking them out for breakfast on the first day of school. Yesterday was no exception. They decided that they wanted to dress alike, so I let them.
I had cupcakes waiting for them when they got home (Again, another tradition).
- I got word that I will be the mezzo soloist in “The Messiah” again this year. Yippee!
- On my way back home from Salt Lake late last night, I stopped off to see a friend who lives in Ogden and we went for coffee at a rather ghetto coffee shop called Grounds for Coffee. The crowd hanging around outside kinda made me fear for my life, but we went in anyway since it was the only place still open. Ogden is kind of Utah’s answer to Detroit. There are some areas that are quite beautiful, but there are many areas that just, um, aren’t. I believe that the paper that was left on the table we sat down at says it all:
- I am hoping to gear up and get the rest of my trip planned this week. I’ll letcha know how it goes. OH, and if any of you camera types could please answer my camera question that is in my sideblog I’d really appreciate it.
That picture of the boys and their beautiful blue eyes reminded me so much of their mamas. Such handsome little fellas!
I am SOOOOO happy everything is hopefully resolved with James. I cannot imagine the relief you’re feeling!
My heart goes out to your niece. A couple of months ago, there was a 20/20 special on teen-aged girls who got pregnant and the heart-wrench decision of whether to keep the baby or give it up for adoption. They both went through with the latter but I WEPT along with them as they handed their life and blood over to another….
Amber-They are my handsome little men and thanks for the compliment. :)
Oh, yes I am so relieved about James. I have been consuming packs and packs of Tums lately because of the stress. My poor tummy. I really just wanted to make the best decision and man is it TOUGH to sit down and really, really look at if that is YOU. :S
I watched the 20/20 show. It was right before she delivered. The suffering and joy of the whole thing was hard to watch because we had no idea what the outcome would be. I just wanted her to be as sure as you can be with something like this, and i think that has happened.
I have a friend who gave her daughter up for adoption only to take her back a month later. It’s her greatest regret in life (not keeping her daughter to begin with, that is; she’s never told her that she gave her up for a while). I’m glad your niece has a solid head on her shoulders. With all the awesome support she has, I’m sure she will do well. Good luck to her and her little one.
Detroit is scary. Well, according to the hubby, it’s not scary because there’s no one down there anymore (Detroit is actually pretty small; everyone really lives in the suburbs). It’s just empty buildings and Mexico Town (best food in Detroit!). He’s says no one is homeless in Detroit. I believe him. He works in downtown Detroit.
The beautiful thing about PMS is it passes. And I haven’t been offended one bit. :)
My parents were only 17 when they had me. They both finished high school after I was born, with the help of family. My mom is one awesome lady who also happens to be my best girlfriend. She is an incredible mom to me and all my five siblings. Things were tough financially for them for the first few years of my life, but they did it and I am proud of them and I know they are proud of themselves.
Wow girl! A lot going on. You made me tired just reading it all! You need a vacation!
The boys look SO handsome! What a nice tradition to take them out for breakfast. Makes the beginning of school very special that way.
Tell your niece that she is so brave! It’s tough raising a child on your own. As the mother of two adopted children, I am SO appreciative of the sacrifice their birth mothers made!!!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOONCY!!!!!
Also, I love your traditions for the first day of school for the boys. That’s really nice to make them feel special.
You have a lot going on right now. Whew!
I revel in calling her “my old lady” for three months each year. Good times!
The breakfast cupcakes didn’t materialize because she decided she wanted them after dinner tonight for her birthday cake. The tricky part will be figuring out how to get so very many candles on one little cupcake…
Oh, I’m glad I’m not the only emotional one lately!! There are times I take a break from my blog and constantly wonder if I should shut it down and be more private about my life, but then I write a post and I start to feel better about things. We love you and hope to read more. :)
Congrats on “The Messiah”! Now there’s affirmation if you ever needed it.
Can I say again that your boys are GORGEOUS. Look out as they get older. And I LOVE the tradition you’ve started for their first day of school. I’m going to remember that and do it with my girls as well. So sweet.
Feel better!
I have too much to say in a comment, so I’m emailing you. But OMG!!!!!!!!!!!! Congrats on the Messiah. I’m SO coming to see it this year. As I’ve told you a thousand times, you are amazing.
Well, you know I sort of understand the baby thing although I had Faith when I was capable of being a mother by myself. Still, you can’t take a baby back… so it’s wonderful you all are supporting her. I’m sure this has been a really difficult time for everyone.
Canon. I love my Canon – and before my last Canon (which was a Powershot) I had two Nikons.. I prefer the Canon. I have an XTi and I love it. I probably would have kept my Powershot much longer had someone not tripped over a cable and slammed it into the hardwood floor (shhhhhh).
Squee!! You’re almost to England!
Also, that ad in the Ogden paper is too funny.
Lots of things going on for you. I hope you can find some time and relax. I hate it when things I say are taken out of context. I’ve got a weird situation with my sister right now, but she isn’t talking to me so i don’t know exactly what is wrong.
Anyway, it’s hard to know what is right, but things seem to work out. I hope for the best in all these situations.
Alicia-I was so saddened at some of the GORGEOUS homes and buildings that were burned and abandoned in Detroit. I ate in Greek Town and HELLO YUMMINESS.
Charli-really? I had no idea. Wow, that is a very good ending to a challenging start. My niece will not be marrying the father, and so it will be different, but I think that she can do it, really I do. I’ve gotten quite a few emails from mom’s who were young and it has helped allay the overwhelming fear and concern…Some.
Peachy-It’s true. I’m so glad I get one in TWENTY DAYS!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!
Sharon-Oh, yes. I thought of you a lot during this time and how much you love your kids.
Sparklie-Awe. She’ll love the birthday thoughts. I
Linny-HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!
THAT comment is right up there with “Butt Dingo Rene”! Ha ha ha ha! Tell Nan I’ll make her more.
Alecia-The Messiah was a very cool affirmation. I LOVED doing it last year, and I am sure I’ll feel the same this year. This whole PMS thing seems to be getting worse as time goes on. I searched PMS and Hormonal on my blog and, um, I write about it a lot. I wonder if it is really getting worse or if I am more attuned to what is causing my emotions to go cuckoo? I LOVE my breakfast tradition. The boys do, too. They always get funny face pancakes, even though at 11, James thinks that this may be his last year for “Juvenile Food”. (I KNOW.)
Rachel-Coolio…I’ll go look.
Holli-It has been tough. The hardest thing of all was to just try and let her figure it out and be supportive. You feel so useless.
I am leaning towards the Canon option. Mine wouldn’t be an xti, but my friend has a cannon and I like the photos it gets. I LOVE the photos that you take. I would love to have a really fast camera to keep up with my boys, but I think that the Canon Sure-Shot is still pretty good. I also don’t know if I could get acquainted with the Nikon well enough before I go (Plus, the hideous fear of hurting it)
Hairy-I know, the classified ad just freaking KILLED me. It was so appropriate, somehow.
Occidental-Ug. I hate the weird vibe that happens where you know that SOMETHING is wrong, you just can’t figure out what.
I’m still fascinated by the fact that in the US, kids are back to school this week. G doesn’t start school until after the Sept long weekend.
Great photo of the boys though :)
And hurray for the solo! I love the Messiah! Will you be posting a clip? ;)
As a person who had a special needs baby in high school it makes me heart warm to know her family is helping her so much! Congrats on the part. Happy birthday Nooncy! Those boys are adorable.
No – but I loved my Powershot too. It would have lasted a long time had Faith (that’s a secret) not slammed it to the ground (that was an accident).
The Powershot is beyond durable. If you look at the hell I put that thing through – when I look back I’m amazed it lasted as long as it did. I never thought twice of having it out in the rain or anything else. And it was dropped many times – just never slammed lens first into a hardwood floor.
The Nikons aren’t that difficult to use – I still use my sister’s when she wants me to take pictures. I just really like Canon. All I can say is don’t get anything from Amazon. After three defective lenses I am about to flip. They refuse to pack their photography stuff carefully and they just ship it in the plain box! I will never buy anything from anywhere but Adorama again. Not only do they have amazing prices, but they’ve gone above and beyond to help me when I’ve had an issue (like I needed to return something but couldn’t find the box – so they found an old one – shipped it to me and let me use that to return.. otherwise I would have been out a lot of money). They rock.
btw – I want to come see you in the Messiah!
Angella-My kids are actually in a charter school (Still free and public but receives less federal funding so that parents have more control over things like curriculum and calender)
Our school starts earlier than everyone, but we get out earlier, too. I don’t know if I could have my children in the house until after labor day. They would kill each other!
We used to start the week before Labor Day and I liked it as a kid because it was nice to have a long weekend after the hecticness of the first week.
Holly-Yup. She has quite the path in front of her. We will be there as much as we can doing the whole “It takes a villiage” thing. She is doing most of it herself, which is how it should be. We just want to be a strong support, not the primary.
Holli-Ok, here is something with the powershot, though. It only has 6 megapixles and my tiny compact has 7.2?!!! Does that mean that it is an inferior camera or something. Oh, this hurts my head.
You should totally come see me. You could wear your evening dress and I can wear mine and we could go drag main street. (I mean, isn’t that what you are supposed to do when you are from places like Utah and Oklahoma?????) HEH.