Halloween Rant!

So here is my parental rant for the day and if you know me you have heard this rant before. It is my Halloween costume rant. My twins wear junior size clothing and apparently according to those who make Halloween costumes feel that my 11 year old needs to be a slut for Halloween. It can be a nurse slut, prison slut, witch slut, devil slut, pirate slut, pixie slut, goth slut.....and the list goes on and on. If my girl is 11 or 19 I hope I have taught her enough common sense that she can decide on her own that there are other cute Halloween costume choices aside from being a SLUT!

Why has this become the new fad? The media and marketers have decided collectively that all girls should wear as little on this holiday to prove their sexiness. Listen I am not a prude but I think you can look sexy as women without blatantly looking like you just stepped off a bad adult film set and I especially do not want my 11 year old looking like she just came from an adult film set.

So to the marketing companies I want to say, PLEASE, let my child be a child and try not to dress them up as some pedophiles fantasy!

So I suppose we are off to the local thrift store to come up with something on our own and I promise you it will be three times more creative and they will look appropriate for their age!

Hello World

I suppose I have never noticed or maybe it is a new feature but you can track how many people have looked at your blog, what post was most popular, and the countries where people have viewed your blog. The top three are the UK and China and Germany. What do people in China think of my random pictures and a glimpse into my somewhat boring American life. My vacation pictures seemed to be popular in Germany and my X-rated peanut butter post was popular for the UK it seemed to get a LOT of hits but I think that was random people logging on thinking they were going to see more than a picture of a Reese's peanut butter cup (who knew the Brits were into peanut butter). I more or less started blogging because I enjoy writing though I know my grammar could use some help. I do it for family and friends so they can see what is going on in my life. It is basically my online journal without getting to personal so as not embarrass myself and my family.

So to my intercontinental audience I am a typical "middle america housewife". I am married, have three kids, own a home, have debt, drive an over sized gas guzzling vehicle, I am on the internet to much and watch way to much reality T.V., Believes in God and this country,owns a gun, loves the great outdoors, and last but not least always on diet because I indulge in way to much over processed American cuisine..............but.........

I also want you to know that I am going to college to be a nurse, my goal is to get me a passport and come see your country some day, my family is everything to me, I am LDS, we are struggling like many other Americans right now financially but we know that everything will work out in the end, most Americans are good hearted people, I have dreams, reluctance, fear, and self-doubt, optimism and pessimistic emotions running through me at all times. All of this makes up me...a typical "middle america housewife".................Hello world my name is Michele and welcome to my life

L-O-V-E

I have not lost a spouse. parent, or a good friend to death. I know at some point I will experience at least two of these things and maybe all three in my life. When someone around me looses someone that was an intricate part of their life and they loved my heart breaks for them because I know if I lost my spouse or a parent or a dear friend my heart would shatter into a million pieces. So where do you begin to put those shattered pieces of your heart back together?

I suppose your heart will mend day by day and there will be days that not a stitch will be made because it will hurt to much. I think that love is where it all begins. The love you receive the love you give and the never ending love for that person that is no longer with you..

Show your love everyday with those around you. If it is a hug or a kiss or the words it is all food for your soul and for your hearts.
Let there always be love ..................

Unforgotten Feelings

As I was flipping channels on the T.V. this morning I came across a documentary about a women who had a micro-preemie. The baby was born at 25 weeks and weighed only 1 pound. They had the decision to take him off of any life support because they knew his ability to thrive and live would be limited to say the least. They choose to continue with the support and health care and though there were times they thought he would not survive and he will have always have disability issues in the end he made it. He was walking and smiling and laughing and doing things the doctors said he would never do.

Though we are approaching the twins 11th birthday in a week my memories and feelings that I experienced while they were in the NICU will never be forgotten. The women in this documentary described the NICU as a science fiction lab that few are aware of. The delicate support of death and life is executed everyday. I was lucky, it is a constant barrage of tests that determine if your child will have a life of health and mental normality, all of our tests came back good where as others were not as lucky. To not be able to hold your child right away, to be able to kiss them on their head, to dress them in their new onesies, and not be able to give them a bath, all these things are taken from you and all that clouds your mind is the thoughts of, "please Lord let them make it through this day."

I felt this woman's uncertainty of the future and her fear of what the outcome may be. You learn to live by day, hours, and minutes in the NICU. First thing you check is if any weight gain has happened and the slow removal of wires and tubes. The less tubes there are the better things are getting.

I do remember the first time I did get to hold them, feed them, bathe them. It was the stepping stones to them coming home.

They give you CPR class before they send you home with a preemie. They have apnea issues and tend to forget to breath. You leave the hospital with oxygen and wires still attached. You leave the security of the doctors and nurses behind and now you are in charge of this fragile little life.

The twins were born on September 10th and Cheyenne came home first a few days before Halloween. They kept Kaitlynn another week because her oxygen levels kept dipping. When I finally brought Kaitlynn home I laid her down next to Cheyenne and it as though she just knew instinctively that was her other half, the one that shared the womb with her. She began kicking her feet and smiling., she knew she was home.

We have been fortunate that they have few issues. We had a scare of cellulitis (picture above) and a tumor on Cheyenne's ovary that proved to be malignant but after surgical removal there was no need for chemotherapy. They have a few speech delays and learning delays but they keep up in school with a little extra effort and help.

Here they are 11 years later. They are starting to change to young women now and they love Hannah Montana, Wizards of Waverly Place, music, makeup, clothes and boys. They are amazing and they will always be my little miracles!!