My number 1 One Year Old!

The love of a child, priceless!

The Perspective of Patience

Going through Facebook this morning, I found a quote posted by one of my friends:  "Patience is not the ability to wait, but it’s the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting."  Patience has never been one of my virtues, but it's something that my son has been teaching me this first year of his life.  Especially when trying to get him to go to sleep.  He's a very light sleeper and many times I have to hold him until he's deep in sleep before putting him down.  That can take anywhere from a few minutes (on good nights) to a half hour (when he's had a nightmare.) 

As I sit, holding him, I'll say to myself, "Patience.  Savor this time.  It'll be over before I know it."  And I look down at him and memorize every bit of his face, his little hand as he sucks his thumb, his hair (we're getting his first hair cut soon since he turns one this month) and sometimes the emotions overwhelm me and I start to cry.  It's all I can do to not sob somedays, not wanting to wake him.  My hormones never have gone back to normal... not even vaguely close to what they were before the pregnancy.

He's growing so fast!  He's so curious and is constantly getting into things.  He refuses to learn what "No" means.  He totally ignores me 99% of the time when I call him.  And I know that's all normal.  But it's frustrating and again, I need patience.  And I take a step back and watch him grow his curiosity.  Instead of trying to stop him from what he needs to learn not to do, I observe him learn and explore.  I still stop him when he touches what can hurt him, but it's all Perspective.  Some days I get caught up in trying to protect, when I should be encouraging his exploring and learning.  That's when the Patience comes in. 

And then there's the hand-me-a-toy-and-take-it-back game... now there's some patience in progress.  And the pick-me-up-let-me-down-pick-me-up-again game.  That one gets quite exhausting after a few minutes.  He loves to hold my hands and "climb" up the front of the couch, like a mountain climber. 

There are many more repetitive games that he's teaching me, but they all have the same outcome... me learning patience... or trying to, that is. 

Fun with Fonts and PhotoShop Frenzy

Well, if you're a geek like me, you'll love the websites I found today!  I've found some amazing brushes for PhotoShop... All Free!  And some great fonts, free as well!  Along with some other really cool stuff....

Font Squirrel

Background Labs

Brush Lovers

1stWebDesigner

SwiftPSD

I haven't been paid to advetise these (although, wouldn't that be great if I had?!  My hubby would love me for that!) so, don't think these are just ads... No, I just really found them totally interesting and thought that some of my readers (the few of you that I have) would enjoy them too.

So....  Enjoy!

Biopsy Blooper

Once again, it's time for another one of Mama Kat's Writing Prompts.  This week, I've chosen:

5.) I sometimes laugh when I'm uncomfortable...or being yelled at...or in church...or at a funeral. Write about a time when you laughed at an inappropriate time.

Unfortunately, that's too easy.  You see, a few years ago, I had my first mammogram.  Not the most pleasant experience in the world, but it got worse when they found a “suspect” spot on the x-ray.  They said that my breasts were very fibrous, so it was difficult to tell for sure, so they would have to do a biopsy. 

Biopsy.  One of the scariest words in the English language.  It is full of the unknown and has the potential for the worst case scenario at it’s end.

Needless to say, I freaked. 

I prayed, I had many family and friends praying, I got a blessing from the Bishop and one of his counselors, I ran the whole gambit… I wasn’t taking any chances.  If I could have found my lucky rabbits foot from when I was a kid, I’d have broken that out too!

So, the day finally came.  They numbed me up, prepped me, etc.  I was terrified.  And then, during the “explanation” of what was going to happen, they showed me the gigantic needle that they would be inserting into my breast to take a few samples.  Oh. My. God.  It was HUGE!  The needles they take your blood with are dwarfed by this baby.  It’s David and Goliath time when comparing this needle to one you usually see when having blood drawn. 

Again, I freaked.

I started shaking even more and here I was, lying on the table, one arm up over my head, breast exposed, crying a bit because of the stress and all the emotions running through me and then the raiologist guy who was going to perform the biopsy took out one of those long q-tips with that reddish stuff they put on an area to keep it clean for any type of surgical procedure.  He rubbed it over my breast, hit the nipple with the q-tip, and it happened…

I laughed.  And not just a little giggle, but a huge guffaw.  I couldn’t help it.  Everyone was shocked and the radiologist said, “Well, that’s a first.  In all my years, I’ve never had anyone laugh during this procedure.”  I tried to apologize, I was so embarrassed.  I’m so darn ticklish and all the emotions and all the anxiety had nowhere else to go but “out with a laugh.”  Nothing I said made it any better either, everyone was just standing around me staring, so I finally shut up and just waited.  The radiologist took his cue and continued to rub the q-tip around a bit more and honestly, it was all I could do to keep from laughing even more.  I really am that ticklish!  And with my underarm exposed... well, that’s one of my most vulnerable tickle-spots.  Just having someone close to that spot can make me giggle in anticipation of a tickle, so I was doomed, to say the least.  There must have been a very traumatic tickle-war in my childhood... but I digress...

The procedure went on and I went through the dreaded “waiting in limbo” time period.  And the healing period was quite painful as well.  Thankfully the prayers all worked (I’m giving God all the credit, for sure!) and it came back negative.  But due to the laughter incident, I was totally mortified and come to think of it, I haven’t been back for another mammo since.  Hmmm... well, with all the poking and prodding I had done during my pregnancy, maybe, just maybe, I won’t be so ticklish from now on?  Yeah, right!  Don't even think of going near my feet! 

PM Stretch

Mmmmm, does this ever look good... I could really use a good little mini workout before bed... and after just watching this I'm soooo ready to sleep!  LOL  Just kidding, well, sort of, it just looks so relaxing!  Especially that hip stretch.  I could really use that one.  I think I'll try it in the morning like the guy says.  Hope you enjoy!