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May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts. May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet of $100 bills.May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips! May your clothes smell of success like smoking tires and may happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy. May the problems you had forget your home address! May 2008 be the best year of your life!!!
On the eve of my 29th birthday, I take a look back at what my 20's have given me. After turning 20 I was newly married to the love of my life, many skeptical people said it wouldnt last, who really finds love when they are 19? Well we did! We are going on 9 years of marriage and still happily in our honeymoon stage =) At 21 my husband and I became home owners, yes it was very exciting for us! During the next 2 years we travelled, went on a cruise, adopted a couple dogs, and worked on our home. I finished 3 years of school and became a licensed massage therapist for the state of Washington and ran my own private practice. At the ripe age of 23 our daughter was born and yes she was planned! Something happend when I turned 22 and I wanted a baby in the worst way. Good thing Mike was right on board and well, 9 months later welcome to the world Sydney Selah Larsen! After Syd came I gave up my massage career and became stay at home Mama, a title I am still proud to wear! We watched her grow and learn, went on some more vacations, worked some more on our house and decided to add on to our family. I found myself at the age of 25: 9 months pregnant, just sold our house with 3 weeks to pack up and move out, with a 2 year old in the process of potty training and completely at peace with it all =) What a joy when our son arrived! We decided not to find out the sex of the baby with both pregnancies. After Sydney was born I REALLY wanted a boy. Don't get me wrong,I would have been very happy with a Happy healthy baby girl but my hearts wish was for a boy. I cried tears of joy when our Doctor announced "you have a son". I will never forget that moment as long as I live! How awesome of God to grant me my hearts desire!! So at 26 I found myself with a 2 and 1/2 year old, a 3 month old and living in my in laws spare bed room! Good thing I adore my in laws and they adore me! It was a great birthday. I remember Karen (my mother in law) putting a little candle in my bowl of peppermint ice cream =) and Dave (my father in law) giving me the most beautiful pair of princess cut diamond earrings I had ever seen! at 27 I fully committed to getting rid of the 50 lbs I had gained while pregnant with my son, during this mission I discovered I had a congenital heart defect. One episode of tachycardia left me on the floor gasping for air and my daughter asking my husband "is mama having a heart attack?". 2 months later I had heart surgery and have had a clean bill of health ever since. Turning 28 I was happy, healthy and 45lbs lighter, yes I still have 5 lbs to go! They seems to be lingering. I also became a group fitness instructor and have found great passion for health and fitness. But this would prove to be the most difficult year yet. My father in law was diagnosed with cancer in feb and again in june. He has had 2 major surgeries and other minor ones as well. It has been very hard for us as he is such a dynamic part of our family. We also had some good times during my 28th year and I will not forget those moments =) So on the eve of my 29th birthday I think my 20's have given me some much, I don't really know that my 30's could even compete? But I am ready to embrace 30 with arms wide open, even though it is still a year away =) Happy Birthday to me!
Dear Santa,
I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on
demand, visited the doctor's office more than my doctor and sold sixty-two
cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school
playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out over several
Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on
the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when
I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years.
Here are my Christmas wishes:
I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any color, except purple, which
I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze, but are
strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle in the
grocery store.
I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of
my last pregnancy.
If you're hauling big ticket items this year I'd like fingerprint resistant
windows and a radio that only plays adult music, a television that doesn't
broadcast any programs containing talking animals, and a refrigerator with a
secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.
On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, 'Yes, Mommy' to
boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools.
I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting 'Don't eat in the
living room' and 'Take your hands off your brother,' because my voice seems
to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the
dog.
If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time
to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of
eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a
Styrofoam container.
If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the
holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.
Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is calling and my son saw my feet under
the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back. Have a safe trip
and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in and dry off so you don't catch cold.
Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.
Yours Always,
MOM...
P.S. One more thing...you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my
children young enough to believe in Santa.
For my very first blog I am going to blog about the gift of love. You may think you have an Idea of what that means but it hit me BIG today on the true meaning. My husband is one of the last true hard working men. He gets up every morning at 3:30am to be at his job by 5am. He is now running the small family business solo, since his dad is unable to work due to his battle with cancer. Now that things have changed at the business he is working more hours and is very tired when he gets home. He works a printers bench all day and now has tennis elbow, golfers elbow and problems in his wrist due to the strain on his body from printing. He does this because he loves his family! A gift of love!
So out of this inspiration of his gift of love, I thought I would do the same. Just so you know I HATE to shovel snow. Also I very rarely use the word hate because it is such a strong emotion, just like love. I loath shoveling. Even though I love the snow and think it is the best ever to have a white christmas, Shoveling snow SUCKS!!! Ok you get the point. So the last few weeks we have gotten a fair amount of snow and even thought I cant stand to shovel, I got my butt out there and shoveled it. You really discover exactly how long your drive way is when you have to shovel it and let me tell ya, we have one long a*# drive way! At our house we have Mama jobs and Daddy jobs. A typical "Mama Job" includes: dishes, laundry, general cleaning, etc.. A typical "Daddy Job" includes: mowing the lawn, handyman stuff around the house and generally all care of outside things. Well even though it is a daddy job, I shoveled. Why? because I love my husband more than I hate shoveling. The last thing he needs to think about when he gets home is shoveling our stinkin' drive way. He needs to eat a hearty meal, lay back on the couch, chat with his family and RELAX! If I could give my husband the world I would, I wish he didn't have to work long hours at a job that reeks havok on his body. So the least I can do is make his time at home enjoyable. That is my gift of love!
