This Guy

Yesterday I had some good old fashioned QUALITY TIME with my man.

Yeah...This guy....

Which reminds me of this.... after only a few days of hanging out with Pete I found this at my apartment with a bag of candy. haha

Have I ever mentioned how fast I fell for this guy?

Anyway- that wasn't my point. I had a perfect day hanging out with my family yesterday- which was very very much needed.

I woke up this morning completely rejuvenated. Spiritually and emotionally.

Man I love that guy... one day spending time with him, and I'm ready to take on the world again.

Tubes

We woke up at 6:00 am and got ready. Pete gave Adaliah a beautiful blessing while she was still asleep. Then we packed her up and headed to the hospital.

Adaliah was very brave as she waited. She waved to the nurses and they came in to do tests. They were all very nice, they gave her a cloth doll and blew bubbles for her.

So stinking cute...

I was so glad Pete was able to come to the hospital with us. I always feel so much more relaxed when he's there to help. I think Adaliah would say the same thing...

The surgery was very quick. They put her to sleep, they drilled holes in her ear drums, stuck tiny tubes in, then waited for her to wake up. The whole process only took about 30 mins.

When they gave her back to us she was very mad and loopy from the anesthesia. She screamed and cried for quite awaile. Poor thing.

But around 9:30 she feel asleep and when she woke up an hour later she was back to her normal self. The doctor said her ears were full of gewy puss- so she would probably feel a pretty automatic difference with the pressure in her ears. I'm so happy for her!! I hope this means we are done with the ear infection game once and for all!!

ps- Suprising news!! When they weighed and messured Adaliah we found out she hasn't gained a pound since her 9 moth apt but is 1 1/2 inches taller! I think our girl is slimming down.

She was 21 pounds and 29 1/2 inches.

What? Swiming....in February?!

On Saturday Karen asked me if I wanted to go to St. George...on Sunday-Tuesday. Very last minute! But It sounded like a great time- so I went! Nobody was using a time-share condo of her in-laws...so we jumped on it!

I needed the trip. I needed the warm weather... I am so wintered out by February every year...and seems like spring doesn't come until May! So I was loving the St.George sun.

It was so much fun- swimming, hiking, shopping, eating out, eating WAY TOO MUCH Easter candy, and watching movies....my kind of trip!! Thanks again Karen for the invite!

Birthday Fun

Birthday Girl...

Birthday Cake....

Birthday Presents...

Birthday Hugs....

Decorations....

Family....

Friends....

All tuckered out after all the fun was over....

The story...I've never shared it...

A year ago from today was a normal busy day. I had lunch with my mom, granny, and sister Karen. I bought ribbon... I learned how to make bows from my sister-in-law Amanda. I came home and cleaned and vacuumed my house.

Then 7:30 pm I was scrubbing my blinds... 10 days before my due date. I felt a big contraction coming so I went to sit down. I sat down and noticed I was wet....very wet. My water broke! I yelled to Pete (who was not supposed to be home at the moment- it was a miracle he was) and we grabbed my hospital bag (that I had packed the night before because contractions were so strong) and ran out the door. I had a painless ride to the hospital fist pumping the whole way!
8:00- Get checked in...feeling great...no contractions...loving life.
8:10- THEY HIT- AND THEY HIT HARD! Non stop- never giving me a break to catch my breath... I'm throwing up...shaking...in more pain than I thought was possible.
9:30- Ask for my epidural... They say only if I've progressed to a 2...I'm a 4.5
9:45- I'm a 5...I get my epidural
10:00- I can relax...I call my sister to come hang out (thinking I have 12 more hours of labor)
10:45- She gets there
11:00- Nurse comes in to check me and announces that I'm a 10! "Don't push! I'll call the doctor"
Wait for the doctor for a hour...so annoying.....
12:00 am- start pushing....
still pushing....
still pushing...
1:24- Adaliah Joy is born. She was BEAUTIFUL! Black curly hair and dark eyes. I thought for sure she would be her daddy's girl.
Little did I know...she's 100% her mom. I can't believe it's been a year!! It went by way too fast.

Cupcake stand story

This week is "get ready for Adaliah's birthday party" week. I'm having way too much fun. Her birthday colors are zebra and hott pink.

Well I wanted to buy one of these- but they are $40..and I needed 2. I'm too cheep for that.


So I found out they make cardboard one's for only $8.....that's still $16... I'm too cheep for that.

So then I went to walmart and found in the 70% off valentine bin a hot pink one with hearts...so I bought it...and covered the hearts with zebra. $2.50. I'm not too cheep for that.

By the way...did you hear me say Adaliah's 1st birthday? What? She's almost a year?!?! Part of me is shocked that it came so fast, but the other part of me feels like she's going on two. Actually if you ask her she'll say 2 with her two fingers up. ( she picked this up from her two year old friend Savanah one day when they were over) Her communication skills in the last few days having been blowing me away! When did she turn into a toddler?!

She follows me around all day and talks to me.

Dali: "Mamma"

Me: Yeah?

Dali: Bubble!

Me: You want me to sing the bubble song?

Dali: Yeah!

or

"Mamma, up!" or "Mamma, stroller!" or "Mamma, juice" It's crazy! She's up to over 30 words. Her newest word is tickle. Yesterday while helping her put on her coat, she started tickling my neck and saying "tickle tickle tickle" It cracked me up! What a big girl!

And here is a sneak peak of her 1st year pictures....

Don't we all feel this way?

The Glamorous Life of a Mother : By Bekah Ackerman

Wiped across my blouse is a stripe of baby snot,

A burn on my arm from lifting the crock pot.

Band-aid on my thumb from a knife that was dull,

Poop on my skirt from a diaper too full.

Mascara under my eyes from my afternoon cry,

I’m so hormonal and I don’t know why!

My purse has been replaced by an ugly diaper bag,

It’s so heavy that it makes my shoulders sag.

My hair is in a pony for the 3^rd day straight,

It’s been pulled on an chewed- I’m sure it looks great.

No way I’m wearing heels while carrying a 20 pound baby,

There goes my last shot of feeling like a lady.

Should I take a quick mirror glance before I go?

Maybe it would be better if I didn’t know.

Grab my new lip gloss that I just bought

Run out the door…

man I fell HOTT!

Adventures

After another few hard days of fevers, runny noses, hard nights, and a fussy baby...Adaliah was diagnosed with her 4th ear infection today and they found fluid built up behind her ear drums. I scheduled her apt to get tubes put in. Hopefully we are on the right path for a healthier baby. Good news is- the doctor said that the fluid can cause problems with balance and hearing- meaning slowing downing their ability to talk and walk. Adaliah definitely dodged that bullet. She's up to about 25 words and is cruising around like a pro. Count your blessings!

I threw a bridal shower for Joel's fiancée Jamie. We are so excited to have Jamie in the family! They will be married in less than a month!

We went to a super bowl party with Pete's work friends. There were balloons ad kids EVERYWHERE and Adaliah had a blast!

Throwing it all out there

Today while doing the dishes I was looking at my disgusting cracked bleeding fingers and feeling them burn from the soap and crack open every time I bent my fingers.. it got me thinking about trials.

Usually in the blogging world you only see other people's best sides, and sometimes its easy to try to compare yourself. I'm guilty of that. But the truth is...everybody is human...everybody has trials...they are just not the things they choose to blog about.

That got me thinking....and I decided to blog about some of the things I struggle with. Not because I want your compassion but I guess so I can just throw it out there. So i'll start with my eczema- my horrible horrible skin. Bloody, rashy, dry, hands, feet, and legs. My hands look like 70 year old woman hands. When I was in elementary school kids would always ask me if it was contagious while backing away. I have to use medicated lotion or it makes it worse. In middle school I did dance and cheer- and when I was deciding what to do in high school..i choose drill because the costumes covered my legs...It would have been humiliating wearing a minnyskirt in the winter when my legs are a scabby rashy mess.

Which reminds me...I danced my whole life. I did drill team my Freshman year, took my sophomore year off and then picked it up again as a Junior. I LOVED my freshman year advisor, but the new advisor my Jr year wasn't a big Bekah fan...to put it lightly. She said I didn't have the mental ability to dance. So it wasn't my dancing...it was that I was stupid. It was a humiliating year- she loved to embarrass me if front of the team. The year ended with her making a "new rule" that if somebody hasn't been on the team for 2 consecutive years..they have to try out again. The funny thing was...I was the only one that applied to. She wanted to cut me.

So I didn't even try out. I took up ballet instead. Later that year I won Regional Dance Sterling Scholar which I really wanted to rub in my old advisors face...I had a 4 year scholarship to SUU along with other scholarships to choose from. That backfired when I told SUU I wanted to accept the scholarship and they told me I couldn't use it because my ACT score wasn't high enough. After re-taking it 3 times and hours and hours of studying..more studying then everybody I knew added together...It still wasn't high enough. So all my hard work for Regional Dance Steraling Scholar was in in vain because I just wasn't smart enough.

I struggled in college. I failed stats.... after I had already walked. So I'm still 3 credits away from getting my AS.

I took piano for 9 years and I still can't play the hymns. Most of the rest of my family are like music genius. I think I'm mildly dyslectic. I can't spell or read well. I'm sure you've all noticed. When we first got married I didn't want to blog because I was embarrassed of my spelling..and my "thens" and "thans" and all my other errors... but I decided I don't care.

Speaking of the rest of my family...I had an interesting time growing up. My three closest siblings in age all got very sick around the same time and were in and out of hospitals for several years. Needless to say- they needed a lot of my parents and leaders attention. Obviously they were the ones with the big trials.... but in my my 12 and 13 year old mind it meant no attention for me. First I dealt with trying to stay away from the family and rebelling...sneaking out...lying to my parents...a lot. I felt like I had nobody to relate to...and felt very alone.

Then I decided that wasn't making anyone happy and flipped a complete 180. In doing so...I lost a lot friends which I still feel guilty about. Friends that still hate me to this day. Friends that I would pick up for church every week...and after the lost friendship didn't want anything to do with the church. A lot of weight still weighs on my shoulders for that.

My siblings are all very musically talented and very smart....I never have much to say when they all get together. Not because I don't want to...

I loose everything I touch, I'm a horrible cook, I don't write music, I don't teach school, I don't have a degree, I don't have a large vocabulary, I don't make amazing crafts, sew amazing things, have amazing talents....or any of the other amazing things everyone else blogs about...

But guess what! I'm me! And I've learned to enjoy that... I'm a mom, a wife, a friend (not a very good one sometimes), and I strive to improve myself daily. And that will have to due- because that's me!