Inspiration Beyond My Imagination - My Favorite People

I love this song and I love Judy Garland and I'm learning more about her right now. Every time I learn something new about her or her life, it inspires me. She's a powerful performer. Her vocals are killer! Anyway, I love to learn about her. I'm very interested in her.



Fred Rogers is probably one of the most Christlike people I've ever observed. I love the sound of his voice. I loved his show and I now really appreciate what his message was. It's too bad he's gone now. I think we need a lot more people like him around.



The Jackson 5 is my all time favorite band. They sang, danced, played their own music, and when they were allowed by their label, wrote their own music. They did it all, and did it the best. This is one of my favorite performances of one of my favorite Jackson 5 songs.



This is a very cool compilation of footage that talks about Vitiligo awareness basically and uses Michael Jackson as a platform. Michael has been pretty private about his disease but there are definately pictures that reveal it. Karen Faye, the blonde girl in this clip is his make up artist. She explains it pretty well. All of Michael's supporters love her. But this clip is on here because Michael is one of my favorite people, and I thought this was a good informative clip. Even Donny Osmond is in here.



I think Walt Disney is basically a genius. I'm very interested in him also. He made it possible for everybody to be more childlike through his parks, cartoons, and movies.



I have hours and hours of footage of Michael. I have so many concerts and performances, but just as many interviews and clips like this one and these are really my favorites. Michael is my biggest source of inspiration and he inspired me to learn to dance on my own, to write music and poetry, and to learn to play the bass on my own. He inspires me in the same way that Fred Rogers does to be a better person, more Christlike and childlike, and to have integrity and do what's right. He pretty much inspires me all the way around. I have never observed anyone that has done so much good, but that has been done so wrong.
But this is a fun clip from some footage I have.

Random

First of all I want to post a big Thank You to my mom who came and spent a week and a half with my little family after I had Phoenix. She does this for every single grandchild and it is such a big relief to know that she'll be there to help with chores, cooking, and taking care of the kids so you can take care of yourself, and little by little adjust to having another kid to take care of. I thought it was tough giving Phoenix a bath with the two of us...the day after my mom left, he pooped everywhere and there was nothing else to do but give him a bath. I was on my own this time though and he was slippery as can be, but with just my two hands I held him with one and washed him with the other. Anyway, thanks mom for coming and doing your thing and I can't wait for Phoenix' blanket!


In Oct. I found out I needed 4 fillings from the Dentist! I got 1 filled and he wanted to do the rest after I had Phoenix. I have to get 3 more this month now and it is not going to be cheap! They will be $97.00 a piece! I am not thrilled about paying so much to the Dentist, but my teeth are getting pretty sensitive so I will actually be glad when they are done but yikes it's expensive!



Shar and I were on the computer a few days ago and I checked my email. I had gotten one from one of his best friends growing up. Shar was sitting right there and the Subject said Sharrid's good friend Ryan Malone. Shar couldn't believe it. They were childhood friends I guess and I'll bet they found my blog somehow and emailed, that's why the email was my email. Pretty cool, he gave us all his info so Sharrid could contact him.



I was in Babies 'R' Us yesterday to look for a double stroller I want which they were out of and it was an ugly print anyway...so I started to look at their boys clothes knowing I probably wouldn't find anything (I don't care for their clothes usually) and of course I was right, I didn't find anything good. Let me just say that I hate Americana themed clothes, I always have. It took me a long time to like Old Navy for this reason, it seemed all their T-shirts were like that. Babies 'R' Us had a whole section of Americana clothes for boys I guess for the 4th of July but I hate them and would never wear them or have my kids wear them. I don't know why. I love our country but I think it's way cheesy to wear those clothes. I also don't like Americana decor, like for your house. Take no offense, it's just one of those things for me...



To end the randomness I want to announce if anybody cares that I changed our Bios on the side here. They all are a little different if you care to read them, except I don't remember if I changed Phoenix'...anyway the big news around here is that Sharrid quit Walmart and started 4 online classes with Rio Salado Community College going towards an Associates in Criminal Justice, Corrections. So he is home in the mornings til about noon when he heads to the van pool to go to the prison. He still works swing. Shar said this batch of classes end in September.



Yesterday we went into town of course for all our errands. Phoenix and I both had our 2 week appts. They were very impressed with his weight gain. I keep telling everybody that he is not going to be a newborn for very long. He has such a big face, thick neck, big shoulders and chest...he's a natural breastfeeder just like Marce was. Marce thickened up pretty good til he became mobil, then he lost it all and turned into the twig he is. Anyway Phoenix weighs 10 pounds 5 ounces now. We both have dr. appts. set up again, his 1 month and my 6 week.
Yesterday we finally got a Costco membership. We've been meaning to get one our whole marriage, just never got around to it I guess. I've been to Costco a lot of times, esp. with my Grandma Packard, but yesterday after getting my own card, I felt a bit overwhelmed by it all and really didn't know what to do with myself. We looked around, bought a new vacuum, and ate hot dogs and a churro at the food place. Marcelus took one sip of my berry smoothie and claimed it for himself. I have never seen him so possessive over an item of food before! He didn't want to share it with Shar and I, and kept putting it on the other side of him. They are good, I've had them before. Next time I know to get him AND myself one.
We then went to Home Depot to get some screws to hang a big picture I bought a while ago for our family room. This is what the picture looks like. Mmmmm peaceful huh?

We also got 2 big shelves for our garage thank goodness. I'm tired of all the oil cans and tools hanging around. Time to organize it all! There should be plenty of room for everything!

I bought Marcelus 2 new movies yesterday and I've realized that I only want to buy him one at a time from now on. When I buy 2, he totally clings to one and pretty much disregards the other. I bought him The Aristocats, and another childhood favorite, Land Before Time. He watched the Aristocats 3 times in less than 24 hours. I put Land Before Time on this morning and he watched a bit, then all of a sudden ejected it. hmmm. I know he doesn't really know what Dinosaurs are and the movie can be a bit slow but still...By the way, this is the original, not one of the million sequels. I will never buy a sequel to this movie. The original is good, the rest I am proud to say I have never seen. I love this movie though, the music especially Diana Ross' song. I have it on my iPod and my mom used to sing it. Going through the opening credits I saw that it's a Lucas/Spielberg movie. I had no idea, maybe that's why it was so popular when I was a kid.

Last night we skipped family night. It was late by the time I got dinner ready and it was time for bed by the time we were done eating. We are saving what we were going to do for next week. Sharrid came up with the idea to make puppets out of paper brown bags since we have them and never use them, we were also going to make home made ice cream but we'll make that tomorrow or something...and maybe next monday too...you can never have enough of that and I bought a really cool maker a bit ago that is electric but can also be cranked manually. Shar and I were going to have a bit of an adult family night after the puppets to talk about plans for our backyard but we have plenty of time for that since we aren't planting the sod til it cools down. The only thing we can do now is plan and put the sprinklers in...the most exciting part to me comes at the end anyway, planting flowers and plants, and buying the backyard toys. I plan on getting a mini trampoline (not exercise, but 8 foot diameter) They are like half the diameter and height as a normal one, perfect for toddlers,...and I'll probably get them a climbing block thing, maybe a toddler friendly swing set...I'm also excited for Sharrid to build the sandbox.

Lastly, I wanted to ask all of you where you have boughten or where you like to buy furniture...I would poll this but of course don't know the answers...Duh! So just comment below. We are looking for a black bookshelf and TV stand but haven't had much luck I guess where we're looking and really don't know where to buy furniture, let's be honest we haven't boughten much! We got our couches at Big Lots of all places but we really like them, anyway we're going to try a place called Potato Barn in Gilbert but...any other suggestions?

10 Days With Grandma!

Marce got some new clothes at the Mall and he loved to play with Grandmas hair blower!

I put mine where he couldn't get it a while ago because I was sick of finding it around the house...

Marcelus playing with his memory cards he got from Grandma for his 2 year old birthday

He likes to find Peter Pan, Cinderella, and any dogs and cats. It's a Disney themed memory game.

Me and my boys at the mall food court a few days after I gave birth

I had some errands to run after my mom got in town. I wasn't planning on having Phoenix a week early!

Phoenix' 1st Doctors Appointment

Phoenix went to our pediatrician a few days after he was born. Everything was healthy and he had gained weight back and some! The Dr. said that feeding must be going well, because the weight gain was great. It was funny to be in the "Princess room" with the 2 boys. Marcelus LOVES Cinderella, but didn't have a clue who any of the others were. In his defense, we don't have any of the other princess movies yet... I think Marcelus was so happy someone else was being poked and prodded at the Dr. instead of him! Unfortunately, he has hated the Drs. office ever since he was about 15 months, those darn shots!

What A Difference!

These are pictures of Sharrid switching out our old bed and setting up the new one. We bought a nice mattress for real cheap from some friends in our ward since they were getting a new one. It was less than 2 years old and our old mattress was awful. It was a Queen, super firm, and we both hated it. We don't even know where it came from! If there's one thing I've learned from this experience, it's get yourself a great mattress when you get married. Our new mattress is a California King, and it is super soft. My body just sinks into it at the end of the day, which feels great! We went to IRCA and got a box spring and frame for less than 100 bucks. Now, we have a bed that has tons of space for both us and that we are really comfy on. We love it!

Phoenix' Birth - The Story

It's hard to remember all the details of a birth. It's so surreal and such a dream for me anyway that I want to just press rewind and experience it again but it's gone in a matter of a day, just like Christmas....gone for a whole nother year! With delivering a baby, even longer! I'll do my best though mainly for family history to write a good account of what went down...

On Sat. May 24th I waited up for Sharrid to get home from work, right around that time (midnight) I felt achy, odd pains and pressure, and a whole lot of Braxton Hicks! I then had a feeling I would have the baby in the next few days, even though I wasn't due for another week.
I went to bed, slept fine, woke up and got us all ready for church. While at church I started having tons more Braxton Hicks and they began to be stronger than just BH. That along with pressure made me think I was probably dialating, and was the night before as well. I didn't start dialating with Marce til after I was in full blown labor so I hadn't experienced this at all so I talked to a few people in the foyer about it. I was pretty sure I was at least dialating if not going into the beginning of labor. We got home from church and started doing whatever, then I kept complaining to Sharrid about the BH's. At the same time I was totally playing them down. He started to time them and I reluctantly told him when the pains came. I guess I didn't want to get my hopes up in case it was false labor...they were about 10 minutes apart for a while but they came closer and got worse. I was breathing through them pretty good. We decided to start packing up and arrange for Marcelus to go somewhere. We finally got packed and in the car. We dropped Marcelus of at April Duggins house a few hours after church. The labor in the car got worse even though the contraction times were a little sparatic, they were mainly 5 minutes apart now. We got to Mercy Gilbert Hospital and checked in. In the car I was complaining that with every contraction, my stomach was becoming more and more empty and I needed to eat something, so when I was checking in Sharrid went to the cafeteria and got me a banana nut muffin; something I would normally hate but loved at the time! I ate that as they wheeled me up to a room. When I got there I went to the bathroom and put on a robe. They got me all hooked up and checked everything out, I was dialated to a 6 at this point, and was very proud of myself! With Marcelus I got my epidural when I was a 5! I was doing much better this time! I labored another coupld hours or so. Sharrid was a great source of security and was "there" all the way. He stayed by my side and held my hand for sqeezing sometimes. I got my epidural when I was a 7-8. It was as easy as last time and I was ready for it so that I could rest a little. Phoenix's labor came faster and stronger than Marcelus'. It progressed faster. The epidural was nice and numbed everything. I couldn't really feel anything. I wished it was more like Marce's, the perfect balance: feel no pain, feel all the pressure. But with this one I felt basically nothing. My water broke a while later and they noticed it when they checked me one time, there was water all over the bed and me but of course I couldn't feel it. They got me new blankets and a little bit later I was able to start pushing with Shar and the nurse. My nurse was half white half black, and we ended up finding out that she was a member of the church. It was pretty cool for us to have those things in common. Dr. Conrad, a woman, got there and I scooted down and we pushed for real. They told me they could see hair and that even though I couldn't feel anything I was pushing great. They were really encouraging and kept saying things like "more Lexie, a little harder, keep going, a little stronger..." At that I was wondering if I was doing well or making good progress but sure enough he came and they put him on my tummy. He was born on Sunday evening at 7:44. It took him a while to start breathing as they were clearing his passages but just seconds later they wrapped him in a small white towel and put him on my chest for me to hold. I don't remember Sharrid cutting the cord at all...hmmm... I noticed right away that he was heavy. They told me then that this baby was not a 7 pound baby as Marce had been. I was anxious for the weight but it would be a while before I knew. They told me that even though Phoenix was big, I made it look easy (the delivery). Later after finding out he weighed 8 pounds 10 ounces, I was super proud of myself! My placenta wouldn't come on it's own, so after about 20 minutes the Dr. went up in me and retrieved it. Her whole arm was up me! When she got it and brought her arm out, it was all bloody but she got the Placenta! She told me I'd be given an antibiotic in my IV in case of infection. She then sewed me up. I did have to have an episiotomy with Phoenix as well as Marce but I was just proud I had that big of a baby still. I know that she wouldn't have given me one if I didn't need it, we were already clear on that. Dr. Conrad and I talked together while she sewed me up about our families. We had some things in common too as she was the 3rd child of 6, the last being a boy. After a bit, Connie showed up and I relaxed in bed as we talked with Shar and my nurse, about our families and the new Temples that were coming to Arizona. I breastfed Phoenix who like Marce was a natural, but he was held by Connie or under the heater for the most part. After awhile I was ready to be transported to my recovery room but my nurse wanted me to use the bathroom first. I got to the toilet, and then started to lose it. I remembered I passed out on my first attempt to use the bathroom with Marce. I told her this and she wondered why I hadn't told her this bit of info earlier, like before I got out of bed...I told her I forgot til now. She called for some sniffers but I was going. She was in my face asking me loudly if I were still with her. I just tried to focus my eyes on her and stay alert. The sniffers were way strong but I was gone after a few seconds. When I woke up they were all trying to walk me back to the wheelchair to get back in bed. I got back in the bed and the nurse said she was going to have me stay here til she knew I was stable. I got really cold and started to shake all over uncontrollably. I tried to control it but couldn't. They brought in heated blankets and piled them on me, and she put one around my head so only my face was showing. She put an oxygen mask on my face and kept asking me questions as I was shaking like crazy all over...the bed was probably moving a lot. She asked me questions like "are you with me?" and what's my babies name, and Connie asked me what my favorite movie was, when I answered "Mad Mad World", she told the nurse I was alright ha ha. The fact is I was alright, I was just very cold and couldn't stop my body from shaking violently. I eventually warmed up and stopped shaking. It was a long while before that happened though. It must have worn my body out because after this I was exhausted. I was given a catheter so I wouldn't have to attempt going to the bathroom again that night. I got to my recovery room and fed Phoenix once again before I was finally able to "try" to sleep. It was past midnight. Phoenix did much better in the night compared with Marce. I woke up at 2 am wide awake and surprisingly a little warm. I kicked my covers off. I just sat there in the dark for a few minutes. Sharrid looked like he was sleeping cold on the bed thingy next to me but wouldn't wake up when I called him. I had an extra blanket to give him but he must have been too tired. I got tired again and went back to bed. Over the next few days I knew I felt better this time around. I purposely tried to sleep and rest as much as I could in the Hospital. It felt great to shower of course and I took 2 showers while I was there. They gave me 3 stool softners in the Hospital and I just want to say it was a bit overboard. I enjoyed the Hospital food although you could only choose between a couple of things. I had a whole menu to choose from with Marcelus. I made sure I sent for Phoenix' birth certificate and Social Security card. Phoenix was circumsized the last day I was there. We left the Hospital Tuesday afternoon just after mom showed up. We stopped at Carrabas for dinner. My visitors in the Hospital included Connie, Connie again with her whole family, my mom of course, my good friend Janny St.Onge, and my good friend April Duggins who took care of Marcelus stopped by my house later that week for a visit. The first week home mom and I went into town about every other day. I got my ears peirced in the mall and Phoenix pooped in Childrens Place all over his clothes! Phoenix was discharged weighing 8 pounds 5 ounces but at his 2-3 day Dr. appt. he was back up to 8 pounds 13 ounces. Sharrid was a great partner to have during the whole experience, he got to take off quite a bit of work actually. It was great to see him more. I was really lucky to go into labor when I did as he was able to drive me to the Hospital and be there. I was a week early and Phoenix would have been over 9 pounds if I'd have been on time! So overall here are my thoughts on it all:

Pregnancy: no sickness, carried very low, bad glucose test experience, measured week ahead, born a week early, hospitalized in March for bad flu
Labor: great pace/progressed faster, played it down, left house at the right time
Delivery: epidural a bit strong for my liking, episiotomy, said I was a good pusher again
Recovery: went to church the very next Sunday, better than last, breastfeeding going great, bladder weak again, tailbone sore without meds
Phoenix: great breastfeeder, sleeps well at night considering, hiccups a lot, does well in the car mostly, pees a lot when we change him, needs to burp very well

There will be more posts and pictures coming soon...

Phoenix' Birth - First Week At Home

These are pictures of Phoenix' first week at home. He reminds me a lot of Marcelus when he was a newborn. Some of these pictures are at the wrong angle so that you wouldn't have to break your neck to see them, so his faces he's making are a little weird, cause they are really side ways. I'll keep posting pictures as I take them. Swelling and blotchy skin has gone away but his cheeks are still big and plump, I like them! His toes are so long!