Non-Pregnancy Thoughts

As sad as it is to say, I am finally getting used to the idea that I won't be having a baby in December. Yesterday though, I did start crying at the baptism that I attended. The person being baptized was this young lady and the only talks given were by a couple of other young ladies in her primary class (she's 10 versus 8, which really affected the maturity of the talks...they were wonderful.) All I could think of was my own daughter getting baptized...it was heartbreaking for me.

In total opposition to that, surprisingly, I am loving being my own person again...a non-pregant woman. I went from being pregnant with Joseph, to nursing for a year afterwards, and then on to being pregnant again almost immediately after I stopped nursing. I certainly didn't feel like my own person...I felt like a mom.

Don't get me wrong. I still feel like a mom (and I do love it!) but now I also enjoy feeling like a regular person again...one that isn't gaining weight every day, or isn't able to bend over and shave her legs without taking a break every other minute. I also enjoy having my breasts back. The medication they gave to induce labor also caused my body to think that I needed milk. It was painful and seemed to take forever to get back to normal. Now that it is, I am even more appreciative of a regular old female body.

Courage is...

Courage is finally becoming familiar with the unknown.

That not-so-profound quote was just made up by me for my son. He is very "cautious" when it comes to trying to new things.

I will never label him as a coward, because he is not. He simply needs a few tries and exposures to a new activity before he has the courage to do something.

It is kind of ironic that I just barely wrote about his dislike of typical playground fare. Why ironic? you may ask. Well, the day after I typed up those two posts, Joseph went down a multitude of slides (the particular park we were at had three slides: a small one, a twisty one, and a tubular one). He also chose that same day (yesterday) to absolutely BEG me to place him in the swing, and not protest after having been placed there! Hooray! Going down the slide and swinging, all in the same day, seems like a pretty big acomplishment to me.

Park II

As I mentioned earlier, I've been going to more parks lately...some of them are a 10-15 minute walk (which is really good since I want to be more active!). This park is down the road a ways and has this really cool tractor/sand scooper. It was really hard to control, though, so Dad had to help Joseph do it.
Did I mention that Joseph doesn't like swings, either...

Park I

I have been trying really hard to be more active since my delivery...I want to be extra, especially healthy before getting pregnant again. Plus Joseph has been watching WAY too much TV and if I go to the park instead it gets us out of the house. There is a park right by our house and we went there the other day after dinner. William and Joseph taking a ride on the motorcycle.
Joseph really loves playing on the motorcycle...can you believe how many teeth the kid has? He's getting another couple to fill in the spaces, too!
Joseph still doesn't like slides...he got burned one too many times over the summer before I learned that July is not the time to visit any parks in Arizona. He'll sit at the top and make like he's going down and then he'll back away. I'm looking forward to the day that he gets up the courage to go down on his own.
Joseph leaving the park...doesn't look to happy, does he?

Cutest Word Ever

Who would have thought that I would say Joseph's cutest word right now is "no."

First of all, Joseph used to say in his cute little voice that "no" he wouldn't like a swat on the fanny. He doesn't really do that any more...which is too bad when I really don't want to swat him on the fanny. No excuses now. Gottat get that swat :(

Now Joseph uses the word no really appropriately, thank goodness. He'll say no if he doesn't really want the cup of water I offered him. Or he'll say no if he doesn't want to read that one book but instead wants the other one.

Here's an example from today: He was in the bathtub today while I was getting ready to get in the shower (we have a separate bath/shower divided with a half-wall and a glass partition...very nice!). I'm not really paying attention to him when he starts saying "mom...Mom....MOM....MOM!!"

"What do you want, Joseph?"

"Mom...*blab*"

Handing him the green cup on the counter: "Is this what you want?"

Pushing it away with his hand carefully: "No...fry."

"Fry?"

To interject, let me explain that there was an OLD box of fries on the counter...I obviously needed to throw them away but never did. My mistake! because he wanted one. (I did give him one finguring that potatoes from Saturday wouldn't be too bad for him.)

I love it when he says "no" in that cute little voice of his, so much that I don't mind hearing it from him for now. I'm sure this won't last much longer and I'll have to deal with really obnoxious "nos" from him. Hooray for each day that isn't like that yet.

The other day, Joseph fell onto the edge of the toy chest...the result can be found in these pictures. He cried a lot but then recovered amazingly quick (certainly not like I would have done if the same had happened to me. I would have been laying down for the day pumped full of meds) This happened last Friday (the 12th) and his black eye is still hanging around, though it is almost gone.
This last picture is the best because it makes the eye look REALLY bad...it will be great as a picture 10 years from now but he wasn't that bad, of course.

Valerie Rose Jolley, our daughter, was born yesterday on September 10, 2008 at 2:30 in the afternoon. As a stillborn, she was really tiny since I was only 26 weeks along but had the cutest little feet and hands. I want everyone to know that I have appreciated all of the support and love that has been shown to our family. I love you all. Please call me if you want to...it is not an intrusion but is a welcome distraction from my troubles.

I realize that a blog post is not the ideal place to discover this information about my situation but I know that for some of you, this is the only consistent contact we have. I don't want to trivialize her importance by making it into a simple post, but I know that some of my friends and family only keep in contact with my through this very outlet.

Again, we love and appreciate all of our friends and family...I promise more posts of happiness, with cute pictures and videos, but not now. Just know that Valerie will always be in my and my husband's heart.