SUNRISE, SUNSET...SWIFTLY FLOW THE YEARS

So lately I've been having that song from Fiddler on the Roof going through my head. You know the one... "Is this the little girl I carried? Is this the little boy at play? I don't remember growing older......when did they?"

Yeah. I'm not liking this kids getting older stuff. I came home last night from something at church and I swear Tessa had grown like 6 inches. She just seemed so big.

And Bethany...Bethany outgrew her church shoes a month or so ago and we haven't been to the valley to buy more so what did she do this Sunday? She wore mine. They were only a size or so big for her. um what?

And Kamron...Kamron is actually keeping his room clean without me asking...AND- he's a webelos scout. Next thing you know he'll get his Eagle and then he'll be driving and then he'll be on his mission. YIKES!

Let me make this very clear. I WANT THIS ALL TO STOP. NOW! Normally when I say that it works. It's not working right now. I must resort to other measures. I'll talk to KC tonight about locking my kids in their rooms for a year or 2... LOL!

I’d like to share with you a poem I wrote today for Tessa. It combines the urgency I feel to teach my children about the things they need to know but also the reluctance I feel in letting them grow up. I hope you like it.

My Dearest Tessa Marae;

If I could keep you small I would.
I’d cradle you with tender care.
Your baby nails would never grow.
We’d never leave this rocking chair.

If I could keep you small I would.
I’d wrap you tight in blankets snug.
I’d stare into your eyes all day.
We’d be each other’s cuddle bugs.

If I could keep you small I would.
Your baby scent would never leave.
You’d be my world, and I’d be yours.
A happiness some ne’er achieve.

If I could keep you small I would.
Your little voice would stay so sweet
Your heart so pure, your love so true
Your smile, a warm and blessed treat.

But you must grow – it’s awfully true.
I cannot stop our Father’s Plan.
You must grow big. You must be strong.
I must do everything I can.

To help prepare and teach you
All the ways that you must go.
It will be hard - but I’ll be here.
Don’t cry right now. You’ve time to grow.

Right now I think we’ll stay right here.
And rock and sing and coo and smile.
I know I cannot keep you small, but
We still have a little while.

Love, Mommy

I challenge each of you moms out there to find just a moment today to stop. I listened to a speaker last night at the American Mother's Meeting who spoke on what she thought about the quote "Wherever you are.... Just be there." She spoke about her sister who, to fight her frustration of sleepless nights with her new baby would take that time in the middle of the night to pray for that child. Amazing. Feeding a baby in the middle of the night and praying for that child. She continued the habit on as her kids grew older and became teenagers and she was up at night worrying about them. She'd sit in her home waiting for them to come home and she'd pray for them.

Sooo.. stop today. Just for a minute. Stop thinking about dinner and the carpool and the field trip next week and your church lesson on Sunday and all the other things that we have to worry about. Just stop. And figure out where you are and be there. I know it's not natural, because as women and mothers we are planners and worriers and fixers. But take a one minute break today because time goes sooo fast. Speaking of which, I need to get going.

Peace and love to you all!

Mom's Day

I am writing this post at 9PM at night on Mother's Day. After having a lot of time to relax today (because my loving husband did nearly everything today- IE: the kids were up and dressed for church by 7AM and then they served me breakfast in bed - our mother's day and father's day tradition) I thought I'd take a minute and post something very dear to my heart.

I LOVE BEING A MOTHER.

I love it. It is hard. It is painful. It is exhausting. It is heartwrenching. Sometimes it is downright horrible. BUT- and it sounds cliche, I know... I TESTIFY..there is NOTHING more rewarding than being a mother. Nothing.
I specifically want to give a cyberspace high 5 to all of the stay at home mommies out there. Holy crap. This stuff is hard. I have been a stay at home mommy for just over 7 years now. If you haven't done the math, I worked until Kamron was almost 3 and Bethany was 1.5 years old. They both started in daycare when they were 6 wks. old. I was blessed with a wonderful daycare lady, Roxy, who watched my children (and also, conveniently lived across the street from my mom and dad) and I am grateful for her example. I try to be a good daycare mommy like her. For those of you who don't know... We share our home on a daily basis with other people's children, which is sometimes hard. But I am grateful. I am grateful for my job. I thank my Heavenly Father every night for the oppurtunity I have to work and help provide for my family. After having Tessa this winter, I have found a renewed energy and love for my job. These little kids don't care if their mommy's work all day, they just care that wherever they go during the day that they will feel safe and happy and loved. I try to do that for them.

I AM NOT KNOCKING WORKING MOMS, because I know that in this day and age it is hard to make a living sometimes, even with both parents working. I have been on both sides and I am not judging. There are some working moms that can do it all. I could not. There came a time in my life as a working mom that my priorities were all screwed up and after much prayer and worry I quit my job and decided to stay home. The story is way more complicated than that....and some of the details are personal, but I KNOW that had I not followed the promptings I received to quit, although scary as they were....my life and my family's life would be much different now.

Now I am blessed. Beyond description. I will not go into detail about all of the things we had to give up or all of the $$ I used to make. It doesn't matter. Although we have less now, my life is more full. Some of my best friends, Kristina Wright and Virginia Herbst were once teaching a class on parenting and chores and etc. and they ended the class with a handout. It says "Mom, I am the PURPOSE, not the interruption. This has been hanging on my refrigerator for a good 3 or 4 years now. And I swear by it. It is my mantra I repeat to myself when I get frustrated about mommyworld. My children are my purpose in life.

And with that I will end by thanking my loving mother, AKA: my "MOMSTER". We have had our differences in life, as most moms and daughters have, but I am truly grateful to you, MOM, for everything you have taught me and are still teaching me about being a mother. I know you worry about if you did a good job when we were kids and I want you to know you did. Thank you for staying home and putting your career on hold to raise me and nurture me (and making that decision BEFORE the proclamation came out-wow). You taught me how to love children and make everyone around me feel appreciated and significant in life. You taught me that it's okay to forget the pile of laundry and sit down with your kids to read or play a game. You taught me how to teach my children. How to be involved in their education and how to stand up for what I believe is right for them. You taught me the importance of 'me-time' (although you never took enough of it for yourself). You taught me the importance of Family Home Evening and togetherness. You taught me that children are way more capable than anybody thinks they are, and most of them just need to be given the chance to prove it. You taught me how to be fair, while also understanding that everybody needs to be taught and molded differently. I always felt that even though I was just a child I was still a person of great importance whose opinion always mattered. You taught me how to set boundaries and follow through even when it is hard. But most importantly you taught me how to love my little children uncondtionally and to make sure that they know that everyday. And for that I thank you and give tribute to you. I love you. Happy Mother's Day.

Snowblowers and Poopy Diapers

Just a quick "new baby" story.....
I'm laying in bed a few Sundays ago about 7 AM listening to KC outside. He had gotten up at 5AM to snowblow the driveway so he could get out to go to church by 9. (He also volunteered to do the neighbors driveway cause her hubby was out of town - I think Russ plans his 'trips' around snowstorms - j/k) I'm exhausted and sore and just not in a really good mood and KC comes in laughing. huh?

Soooooo... you all know we just had a baby. A baby we love. A cute adorable baby. But a baby who also produces lots of poopy diapers. I don't know what people did before diaper genies....we thought about maybe not buying one this time - but the thought of taking every poopy diaper (10 + a day) outside with a newborn after surgery in 5 ft. of snow was a bit too much for me. So the diaper genie jumped to the top of the baby shopping list and we purchased it a week before Tessa was born.

Back to KC - so he's laughing and I'm thinking "what the heck? KC doesn't normally laugh after snowblowing for 2 hours." And then he asks me who emptied the diaper genie yesterday. What?

Okay- back to a good 24 hours before.... I'm completely overwhelmed and my house is a disaster and I enlist (draft style, not volunteer style) my children to help me clean my out of control house. They decide that they've been watching dad long enough and they know how to empty the diaper genie. Which they did (I was surprised and happy) and we send Bethany outside with the diaper sausage links to put in the big trash can outside......do you see it coming yet?

YES!!! KC proceeds to tell me that as he's snowblowing outside that he gets close to the garbage can and the snowblower starts acting funny. And before he could realize what was going on the little mini diaper genie sausages start shooting out of the snowblower into the drift across the driveway! OHMYGOSH!!! Sooo we do a little investigation and Bethany said that when she went outside the lid on the garbage can was frozen shut so she just left the diaper sausage links in front of the trash can. Which would have been fine had it not snowed 8 inches that night...!!

Anyway- KC tried to retrieve them all out of the snowbank, but he thinks we might have a few surprises come Spring. NICE!!! LOL! Thank goodness they are little newborn diapers- otherwise I don't know if the snowblower would have survived. Something I'll have to remember when Tessa's 2 and the big kids want to 'help' by emptying the diaper genie.

So- snowblowers and poopy diapers. While not a good combination normally, it makes for a great way to start off an otherwise gloomy morning.

TESSA MARAE NAY

HERE SHE IS.....!!! Our newest angel. Tessa Marae Nay. Born Jan 15th at 11:16AM. 7 lb. 6 oz. 20 inches long and absolutely beautiful. We are so grateful to have her in our home. It's what I've been dreaming of for 8 years now. What a blessing she is.....

I'm tired. Been home a whole hour now. More pics will come later... Love you all!

New Years Weekend

Just thought I'd share what we did this weekend. The Ricks family, consisting of my sister Heather, her husband Steve, and their 3 boys, Seth, Trevor & Alex came up for 4 days. It was a ton of fun. These are some of my favorite pics captured this weekend.

This is all 5 of the cousins on the 'batman' sled that Trevor got from Santa. With all these boys Heather's house is full of superhero stuff....but not for long. Little pink things are appearing slowly but surely. They are expecting baby 'Danielle' in 3 short months.

This is my sister Heather and her husband Steve. Steve made the same mistake KC did when I was 6 months pregnant with Kamron and we went snowmobiling. They tend to forget that the extra 5 or 6 inches in your belly at that stage makes it harder to reach around them and hold on. Heather almost came off the back just like I did 10 years ago. LOL! I should have warned her. She made Steve ride behind her after that.

This is Seth. The biggest Ricks brother. He's 5 years old. He had a few issues the first day with the snow......got stuck in the slide off area between the window and the house.....then he lost a glove never to found again till Spring (if we're lucky), but when it was all said and done he didn't want to go home.

This one and the next one are my favorites..... This is Kamron in his truest form. This child was born to be in the snow. He only gets about 20 minutes outside every day at lunch (not something I am very happy about) so when he gets home from school I pretty much let him play outside till it's dark. He's one of those kids that (if I don't pay enough attention to this need right now) might eventually run off and be a ski-bum living in a tree somewhere.

And the last one. This has got to be one of my all time favorite pictures of KC & Bethany. We got the kids snowshoes for Christmas and they love them. Kamron is more of a speed demon (spending time snowboarding, snowmobiling, and on the sleds) but these snowshoes are exactly Bethany's pace. Her and Daddy are now calling each other their "snowshoeing buddies". Way cute. I'm sure they'll use them tons, too. Some of our bestest friends, Chris & Tracy, got us a family pass to the Little Ski Hill & Trails this year. Woo Hoo! We love you guys!

I also just wanted to say how thankful we are that we were led by The Spirit to McCall and are blessed enough to be able to have the time and resources to enjoy the beauty we are completely surrounded by.

THE BUNNY

Soooooo.... being in a friendly type mood considering I only have 27 hours (and counting) of daycare left before vacation....if you can call it that... I thought I'd share something weird about us. We all want to know weird things about people.....don't even act like you don't. Girl, you know it's true.

So I begin. If you are so priveleged to be reading this blog today you will be informed of a great Nay Family Secret. Let me introduce you to another family member at the Nay home. This is 'THE BUNNY'. THE BUNNY has been a part of the KC & Crystal relationship since 1995 or 6-ish. I brought it back from Chicago (the birthplace of beanie babies, by the way) and gave it to KC as a gift. He, being the dutiful boyfriend at the time, claimed to love THE BUNNY. I, being the (insert whatever you want here) girlfriend, began to pretend that I was jealous of the attention THE BUNNY was getting. I had no other option but to begin to torture it.

And here we are 12 years later......THE BUNNY gets found by me and gets tortured. IE: Hung by it's ears from the rafters, cooked in tinfoil above a candle flame...etc etc. Then I hide it again and KC begins looking. When he finds 'THE BUNNY' he 'sets it free' again (meaning he hides it somewhere else). He usually takes pictures of it waving or hopping into our house (he claims it's living free in the wild and will only come visit when I'm gone)......this is one of those pictures above. Below is another one he took with a note the Laurels had written to me. JERK! (I, BTW, just said the word 'jerk' out loud, too. This is how serious THE BUNNY situation is in our house.)

Our home is now split into TEAMS. KC & Bethany against Crystal & Kamron. Now....after reading this post, if you don't want to be our friends anymore we understand. We have had full-on-knock-down-drag-out-wrestling-matches over THE BUNNY in our home. It gets scary. I believe the longest it was hidden was about 2.5 years. Yes I said years. And yes, KC had hidden it that time in the coat pocket of a long overcoat he inherited from some great uncle. A coat he's only ever worn 2x to funerals. He's good. He's scary good. As of now, Kamron and I are in pursuit of THE BUNNY. I am in the process of cleaning out our bedroom (the only place THE BUNNY is allowed to be hidden) to make room for the baby. So I WILL find it today. I will. THE BUNNY WILL BE MINE. Maybe this is why I share this information. It's a huge celebration when one team finds THE BUNNY! Why not share the good news with our friends and loved ones??? LOL....

And- I know you've probably never been asked this question before in your life........but I'm looking for new 'torture' ideas. Any suggestions?? I'm thinking rabbit stew........

1st Day of Christmas Vacation

Sooooo....We made it. Today was the 1st day of Christmas vacation. I didn't think it'd ever come! There are times, in a daycare lady's life that any type of school vacation is horrifying.... but I was really looking forward to this. And today was AWESOME! We ended up with a total of 11 kids. 5 of those being invitees to Bethany's extremely delayed birthday party. (Long story- not enough time today) We really had a ball today. Started off with singing HSM karaoke (for those of you who are still un-informed: HSM = High School Musical). Then we settled into watching HSM 2.

Lunchtime came 1/2 way through so we paused to make our own personalized English Muffin Pizzas with RootBeer and 7up or a combo of both (thank you Wright girls for the yummy idea). I should mention here that, being pregnant, I could not have managed lunch without the help of Sarah Wright. I was scared of today so asked her to come over with her sisters and help me. Thank you Sarah!

After lunch we finished our movie and then had birthday presents, cake and cones. The daycare kids got along with the big kids who got along with each other which makes getting along with me wayyyyy easy. We finished the party off by another good 45 minutes of HSM Karaoke. Which is what we were doing when most of the parents came to pick their kids up. I think they probably believe I've lost it. After 6 years, of daycare though, the higher decibel levels don't seem to bother me. Yet another blessing.

You all need to know that I prayed that I could just get through this day and my prayers were answered above and beyond that which I needed. Heavenly Father blessed me with a wonderful start to Christmas vacation this year. Maybe so I can ponder on the joys of my older children as I am preparing for this new little one. I've joked with my children from the beginning of this pregnancy that I'm having another baby to remind me that I liked them once, too. Luckily, they both have good attitudes and take it all in stride. But I'm thinking it's not that funny anymore... My older children DO bring me a different kind of joy. Not the 'I feel needed all the time joy' that I LOVE, but the 'Wow. I taught them how to do that a year ago and they actually remembered this time' joy. Which I'm learning is a HUGE thing too.
Sorry. Now you're just listening to the ramblings of a pregnant lady. A humbled, happy pregnant lady.
I hope your days were all as good as mine. If so, remember to give thanks in your prayers. And if not, just be thankful you had another day. LOVE ALWAYS!