Chatty Cathy

When you feel very passionate about something.. and feel like you need to be heard, it's hard to keep quiet. I can appreciate that. I am a passionate person myself. I get it. I support it. I'm on board. But, when you feel the need to get your point across at 4:30 in the morning every day.. it's a little exhausting. My sweet little Miss Presley has decided that she needs to get a few things off her chest every morning. She wakes up and just starts talking. She can go on and on without the need to really even catch her breath. Her 'speeches' are often very emotional. She'll throw in a little cry, a scream and sometimes even a laugh. She's never quiet though. She's a pretty loud talker. She doesn't really know what an 'in-door' voice is yet. I'm not sure why I should be surprised. She's been making herself heard from the get-go. She's one determined little girl. She was determined to enter the world much earlier than expected.. so she decided to pop on out about 4 1/2 weeks early. Then she was determined not to eat so she spent ten days in the NICU. When we got her home she was determined that just because she was a third child.. oh no, she would not be forgotten or overlooked. So she basically screamed her head off the five months of her life. And now she's determined to make her voice heard in the form of chatter. She too wants a say in this family. She wants to get her point across. At whatever time fits her schedule. She has apparently penciled it in at 4:30 a.m. every single day. Weekends included. The thing about Presley is.. she does not want to be told what to do. When my husband or I gently tell her, 'shh.. go back to sleep.' She's not happy. She's like.. 'Oh no. No one tells me to shh.' And she'll often cry at that point. My husband then typically hands her over to me to nurse her. That usually quiets her down. It gives her a chance to collect her thoughts again. To come up with some good talking points for later. I actually enjoy hearing what she has to say. Just as long as it's not in the form of a scream. So carry on Presley. But if you could decide to just push your speeches back a couple of hours..

Bad News Bears

Let me just start by saying I nearly broke my foot, lost my voice and almost threw my back out today. It's all due to what else... but coaching Piper's soccer game. Her team is bad. Really, really bad. And that's putting it mildly. Her coach wasn't able to make it to the game today so she asked Craig to fill in.. who then asked me to do it. I can't blame the coach for not wanting to come. We've only lost every game by lots and lots. I can't blame Craig for not wanting to coach again either. The last time he filled in, the other coach came over and apologized because they won by such a landslide. This time it was my turn.. and I was determined to do whatever it took to get our team a victory. Or at least on the scoreboard. On our way to the game.. we prayed. Asking God to allow us to play with excellence. He can move mountains.. surely he can help a little league soccer team. I had visions of 'Miracle on Ice' and 'Hoosiers'. I was fired up. If only my team of Bad News Bears felt the same. When we got there, one of the girls was crying because she didn't want to play. Her parents forced her out on the field. Literally. We all started chanting her name so she would get it together. Thankfully it worked. She was willing to at least just stand there. I told all the girls they could do cartwheels down the field if the scored. They informed me they didn't know how.. so we settled on forward rolls. My sister threw in a trip to the snack bar. Which they loved. Craig promised an all expense paid trip to Disney if they won. Yes, we're that desperate and not above bribery. While we were 'warming up' I was a total spaz. I wanted to get those girls on fire!! So just as the game was about to start, the other coach asked me if I was going to be this excited throughout the entire game. I was thinking, 'listen buddy... I'm the third string coach here. I'm doing whatever it flippin' takes to get us on the board.' The first quarter was good. We indeed got on the board.. but were still a few goals down. The second quarter.. not so good. They had an All-American on their team who was five feet taller than the other girls and could've been on the US National team. Every time the ball came within 12 feet of her, she somehow managed to score. Third quarter.. a little better. We got a couple of goals again.. the girls were turning on the heat. To continue this inspiration and motivation, I was throwing girls up in the air, waving their hands around, encouraging forward rolls, you name it. The final quarter.. a bit of a beat down. Mia Hamm was back on the field. Our girls got discouraged quick. One of our players refused to run and started yawning... complaining how tired she was. No forward roll would turn her attitude around. She was done. And fortunately, a few minutes later so was the game. There would be no trip to Disney since it was obvious we didn't win. But we were headed to the snack bar since we at least got on the board. And wouldn't you know it.. that little girl who wouldn't run.. ran all the way to the snackbar. Next week is our last game of the season. I was thinking about having Mickey and Minnie come to the game to cheer them on.. but it looks like all I need is a Snickers bar.

New Adventure

I am really excited to announce I have started a photography business. Writing is such a passion of mine.. and so is photography. I would love to capture images of your family! Please check out my photography blog at www.jamieborgmanphotography.blogspot.com. Have a wonderful day!

Carrot Top

Who knew carrots could be so powerful.  I know they're good for your eyes and all.. but I had no idea they could be life changing.  For the past three days Miss Fussy Pants has eaten carrots for dinner.  For the past three days, we've been Fuss-Free.  I can't figure out why all of a sudden she's been so darn good.  Other than the carrots.  She sits contently in her car seat even when we're not moving.  She seems happy to just lay on the floor.  She's just changed.  It's gotta be the carrots.  When I feed them to her she inhales them.  She can finish an entire container in about two minutes flat.  And when she eats she keeps her elbows up at all times.. as if she's prepared to block out anyone trying to snag her beloved carrots.  She's even pooping better now.  It's nothing short of a miracle.  However, since she's started eating/inhaling the carrots, she hasn't really been napping all that great.  She's basically boycotted her morning nap.. and her afternoon nap is only about an hour long.  But still.  She's happy.  Maybe she's afraid to sleep because she thinks she'll miss out on eating her carrots.  I've debated giving them to my two year old son to see if that'll make him a happier child too.  Or heck, maybe I'll start eating them.        

A New Chapter In Fitness

Every Fall it seems like God breathes new life onto things. After summer vacations end groups pick back up again.. activities resume full speed ahead. Sometimes it feels like we're being pulled in a thousand different directions.. feeling a bit chaotic, possibly even frantic at times. But all in all, fun things. A new chapter began in my life today. I started teaching a fitness class (yes, you can die laughing if you'd like) at the YWCA. It's called Boot Camp. I have never taught a class before.. in any arena. I had no idea what to expect. The fitness director just started promoting the class a few days ago.. so I wasn't even sure people would even show up. It starts at 5:45 a.m. Crazy early I realize. But it's the only time I can really workout due to my husbands work schedule. I had taken a similar class at the fitness center I belonged to in Kansas City. It nearly killed me. I thought it would be fun to teach here. Plus, by teaching we get a greatly reduced membership fee.. the facility has two pools which my kids are excited about.. and it pays. So, I'm getting paid to workout.. not bad. I wanted to leave my house at 5:25 a.m. It would give me enough time to get there, make sure I was organized, etc. I wanted to wake up at 5:00 a.m. Instead, I woke up at 5:18 a.m. My alarm didn't go off. I think I didn't set it right or something. I was now in a dead sprint. I had to nurse Presley and I didn't leave until 5:37 a.m. I got to the Y at 5:46 a.m... ran into the class.. told people to start running around the track.. and tried to look calm, cool and collected. That's when I met two sweet little ladies, Debra and Margret. Both 70 years old. There for Boot Camp. Neither one had ever worked out a day in their lives. Margret was wearing black jeans. Debra had on a shirt with sequins on it. I was totally unprepared for this. I just assumed everyone would be super fit.. dressed head to toe in their Nike Fit (for the record, I am soo not super fit). Just like my gym in KC. Well, not quite. I had four people in my class total. All different fitness levels, all different desires. I quickly altered how I had planned to teach the class. Debra and Margret would get the scaled down version (no pun intended). And they were quite simply, amazing. They tried so hard. They had wonderful attitudes. They never gave up. When they were done they gave me high fives.. it was incredible. I asked them how they felt. 'Awesome,' they said. It was awesome for me too.. despite the fact that I'm still in an aircast and can't do anything.. but other than that! I'm excited for this new chapter. To see the progress in Debra and Margret. To encourage others to lead healthier lives. To live healthier myself. Next time I'll just be sure to set my alarm for it.

Man Down

When you run, there are wipe outs.. and then there are wipe outs. My fall yesterday was of epic proportions. It was a beautiful morning for a run. Perfect actually. I was on a trail run at Clinton Lake. It was a fairly large group of us. It was a little mini-race. I was going to attempt to run 8.5 miles. My furthest since becoming a mom. When you run, you naturally form little packs based on how fast (or slow in my case!) you run. I was with two other ladies. We had a great pace. We were just starting to settle into the run. Then, boom. The lady behind me wiped out. We stopped, made sure she was ok. She sprung right back up and we kept going. We talked about her fall, how it happens to everyone on at some point, especially on a trail. And I was thinking to myself, I have never fallen on a trail before. About two minutes later I was jumping over these vines and boom, boom, boom. I was done. As I was jumping over the vines, I awkwardly stepped on a rock that was poking up out of the ground. I felt approximately three pops in my ankle. Before I even hit the ground, I knew it wasn't good. The pain was insane. Not childbirth pain, but it hurt pretty darn bad. The ladies I was running with immediately stopped. They knew I was finished. After only 1.56 miles in, my run was over. Another little pack of runners caught up to us.. stopped.. they knew too. I was in pretty bad pain. Fortunately someone had their cell phone. Unfortunately, because the trees were so dense, it wouldn't work. One of the women ran back to get help. I pleaded with the others to go on. I didn't want to ruin their run. After begging them to continue on, finally they left. I decided to attempt to walk for help as well. There was a road about a half mile back. As I hobbled along, I could see a little tendon that had popped out of my ankle area. I wasn't sure what that meant. Could it be broken.. a bad sprain? I didn't know.. except for the fact that it was so not good. I wasn't sure why I decided to start walking. I felt a bit like a survivalist at that point. Showing my determination and will to survive (ok, I'm clearly being dramatic here, but don't you ever wonder if you'll have what it takes to survive if you were really forced into it??). As I was getting close to the road, help arrived. A man named Gary. He found a walking stick for me. Held my hand as I cried. And encouraged my every step. We made it to the road. He flagged down a biker and asked him to get help. Several minutes later a Park Ranger and a nurse from the race met us. She drove me back to the finish line where I would wait for my sister and the other ladies who went out there with us. As I sat waiting in the car I just felt so bad. Bad for my husband who would now have to take on a huge burden of taking care of the kids, house and me. Bad because I wasn't sure how I would manage watching four children with a hurt ankle. And just simply bad because it hurt. After about a half hour of sitting there wondering how I was going to break the news to my husband, I made the call. "Hon, we're going to have to go to the hospital." He was of course very caring, compassionate and understanding. The x-rays showed no broken bones. Just a bad sprain that would require crutches and an aircast. This little incident has been a wonderful opportunity to see into my daughter, Piper's heart. She has been by my side nearly every second. Taking my plate to the kitchen, cleaning up, getting me ice. You name it. There's not a job that's too big or too small for this sweet little four year old. As I was taking my shower, she even pulled her little rocking chair out of her room and put it in front of the bathroom door so she could hear when I was finished. She was there in case I needed her (she told me she pulled her rocking chair out so she wouldn't get tired of standing. Cute!). I know I'll recover quickly. I already feel a bit better today. In the meantime I have three good feet. One of mine. Two of my daughter's.

A Dead Fly

I think my day could best be summed up by the fact that I drank a dead fly floating in my water. I'm totally not kidding. Today was borderline awful. There were some definite bright spots.. but overall, not so good. Let's see.. it all started with Miss Fussy Pants screaming from about 3:00a.m. until 8:00 tonight. I have no idea what caused this insanity. It just came out of the blue. I wish I knew whether it was something I ate.. the new medicine (she's now on Prevacid).. or what. I don't get it. Yesterday she was awesome. Beyond awesome. She was angel baby. I actually got to enjoy her. When she cried (which was very rare yesterday) I actually felt a huge amount of compassion.. I felt so much joy because I actually felt compassion (I know that sounds terrible but when you have a child who screams all day it's hard to muster up. So it was nice to know it's still there.). But today was a totally different story. She only slept about thirty minutes. Total. That's it. All day. Every time I tried to put her down.. she would scream. Even after I held her for awhile she would scream. I gave her a nice warm bath, which she loved. But the second we got out.. she screamed. I changed her clothes. Maybe she didn't like the ducks on her little jumper I thought.. so we changed into stripes. I changed her diaper a thousand times. We drove around. Nothing worked. There was one point in the day that I just couldn't take it anymore. So, I dropped the f-bomb. I'm not proud of it. I try not to say it very often.. but it just came out of me. To make matters worse, I actually dropped the f-bomb and then said.. 'strike me down Lord.' I know. I was losing it. Not five minutes after I asked God to strike me down.. that's when the ol' fly in the water number happened. I seriously think it was God telling me to shape up. You see, I hate flys. And to think that I had a dead fly swooshing around in my mouth makes me sick. And He knows it. So, the point was well taken. Fortunately I had a meeting tonight so I was able to escape the looney bin for awhile. When I came back I was much calmer. Very brain dead, but calmer. As I put Presley down, I was basically begging God for mercy. "Lord, I am turning this over to you." She has now been asleep for about 54 minutes. The longest she's slept all day. Thank you Father, Son, Holy Spirit. I haven't had any water since I was nearly struck down. I've been too scared. But frankly, I'm dying of thirst. I haven't cussed since my little 'episode'. I'm thinking I should be ok at this point. But, I think I'm going for bottled water.