Mama Bird

I see you Mama bird, taking care of your chicks. The moment you land in front of the bird house there is all sorts of squaking at you, I’m sure those squaks are all saying “I’m hungry, Feed me”. You dutifully give up the worm you just spent the last ten minutes trying to catch to make sure your chicks are well fed and happy. You fly off again, I’m assuming to catch something else to feed your babies, because that’s what us Mama’s do, we take care of those who need it.

I hear you Mama bird, tweeting, twittering and squaking at your babies - warning them of the danger that is outside. You are on a tree limb and a Blue Jay is in between you and your chicks, on top of the play set, mearly feet from the bird house that holds your precious babes. You alternate squaking at the bird house and the Blue Jay - obviously I don't know what you are saying, but it is urgent, frantic even and THAT I understand. The heartwrenching pain your mama heart gets when you have little to no control over what may happen with your littles. Feeling that the world is spinning at your feet and you alternate between praying that God will save them from harm and yelling/screaming at whoever might listen to help you.

Thankfully that Blue Jay flys away, babes untouched and safe as can be. You return to the bird house, its quiet as you approach, your chicks heard you "be quiet, there is danger" - but with one little tweet from you the bird house explodes with loud tweets and twitters and squaks, your littles are glad you are there, that same sound that just 30 minutes ago reminded you that this Mama task was hard and demanding has just reminded you that this Mama task is oh so worth it.

Its been a struggle these past few weeks with bigger than life attitudes, talking back, time outs and having earlier bed times..Thank you mama bird for reminding me that no matter how stressful this Mama task can be, that it is worth it. Reminding me that those  squaks, tweets, and chirps are a gift from God - Totally makes it worth the long hours, going from here to there, always on constant alarm to make sure all is right in their world.

Rest easy Mama bird, you've got this!

The creepy crawly L word...

About a month ago Lexi and I had to deal with the L word... nope, not love... LICE! I have no idea where she got it as all of our friends kiddos were free and clear of the little buggers, but sure enough, she had them... and then gave them to me! She was scratching her head for a couple of days and kept complaining that her head itched... Its summer so I'm gonna be honest here, sometimes baths are the same as playing in the sprinkler or playing in the pool! So, off to the bath I sent her to scrub her down, thinking that maybe she just had a build up of chlorine... Still itchy? YEP! I put her head in my lap and pull her hair up and Woah, bugs!! I had visions of that little comb and wrestling with Lexi to have her sit still long enough for me to comb every single piece of her hair, lets just say there was crying and screaming and some bad words in these visions. Off to Pinterest I went to find another alternative to getting rid of these things. I really didn't want to do much chemicals on miss Lexi's head and honestly, my head was itching and I figured I should find something we could use that we already had around the house. I found a couple of different solutions, Mayo on the head, Vinegar on the head, mouthwash on the head, coconut oil on the head. Some of these sounded like they had some potential! Cheap, things I already had on hand and from what I was reading, not a lot of combing!! I did a combination of a couple of the things I found online. Coconut oil and Listerine. The coconut oil is supposed to suffocate the bugs and break down the outer shell of the eggs. The Listerine is suppose to kill both the bugs and the eggs since the coconut oil broke down the outer shell. First, I put coconut oil all over the hair and scalp, like really doused it and rubbed it in, I then put on a shower cap and let that sit for half a day. Word of warning though, the coconut oil goes from solid to liquid with body heat, so make sure to tuck some papertowels under the shower cap to keep all the oil from dripping down necks and foreheads (the husbands reclining chair wishes I would have thought about that before). After letting the oil sit for a good 4 hours, I ran the comb through her hair and was able to get bugs and nits out of her hair, it was pretty easy because the oil made it slick. Then, we washed her hair with dawn soap. It feels weird and almost gritty trying to get the oil out, but do the best you can. Then, I put Listerine in her hair, I soaked her hair in it, left it pretty drippy and then put the shower cap back on. Again, use the paper towels to catch the drippyness that can happen. I let that sit on her hair for another 4 hours, combed and washed with dawn and then regular shampoo and conditioner. With the conditioner in her hair I combed again, let me just say that my combing was not intricate or very detailed, not section by section like you are supposed to. I didn't get anything out with that last combing! I did the whole regimen again two days later with no bugs or nits to report and I can gladly say that they didn't come back! I'm pretty sure this was the easiest way to get rid of Lice I have ever heard of. I can guarantee you, if our house is ever infested with them again, this is the way we are going! And now I have to stop writing about them, because my head itches!!

This girl

This girl of mine - she has my heart. She is beyond silly and makes me laugh every single day! Some of her favorite things right now is telling me no (big shocker) Making silly faces at the phone while I take pictures of her, Writing notes to others (score, mommy got a note!)  Showing off and being the center of attention - as long as she knows the people around her. She wants to be tickled, but tells you to stop. Sneaking in our bed for some midnight snuggles.

Reminder of the day - be thankful for the moments you have with those you love. Those moments are fleeting and are not often able to be repeated. Make memories while you can.

My husband and his daughter

I was looking through my phone today at all the pictures that have been taken... A majority them have been of my beautiful daughter.. and she really is beautiful.. its not just the mommy in me coming out.. we get stopped constantly to be told how beautiful she is... I hope that she will know how beautiful she is when she's grown.... Anyway other pics are if Mr Clear and Lexi. He loves his daughter... Completely and totally smitten with her might be a better description of his feelings toward her... And she thinks that no one is better than her daddy...  And when the two if them are our playing around their love for each other absolutely radiates!!

It reminds me how blessed I am to be marries to a man who puts his family first.

Right nor Mr Clear is down helping my parents remodel a home for my grandparents to move into. He took off from work to be able to help my parents. It just reminds me how much I love that man...