that's reality, sweetheart.

I used to haaaaaaate the Duggars.  You know who I'm talking about, right?  The good old fashioned, wholesome family featured on the reality show, 19 Kids and Counting on TLC?  The sight of them used to make my skin crawl and my mood fowl.  I thought it was sick, twisted, and disgusting that they breed the way they do.  At first it was like the perpetual trainwreck that I could not turn away from, but I have to admit...I enjoy watching the show.  It's the family I love to hate...and love.  Many of the things they do still annoy me but I must say, I've learned a thing or two from mama Michelle. 

What I dislike and/or disagree with:
 - Overpopulation (really...what if we ALL had 19+ kids!?)
 - Making the older kids raise the younger kids...so much for being a teenager!
 - Not kissing until your married...really?  Who does that?  I can understand the moral argument or desire to be abstinent from sex prior to marriage, but what if this mate has rancid breath?  Totally intolerable, rancid breath.  Deal-breaker!! Hello!?!?
 - Stating in your vows that you will let the Lord determine the number and timing of your children (trust me, if said Lord had anything to do with choosing the families that are able to recreate over and over and over and over, I wouldn't have a job.  Hmm...maybe he gives the guy with the high sperm count the rancid breath...that might work).
 - Never allowing your children (or exposing them to the opportunity) to meet people that are not like them.
 - The whole courtship thing - they don't date, they mate.  They literally choose a person and then "court" them with the intention to marry them right off the bat.  I get not wasting your time but is it really a sin to explore the options?  Hell, you aren't going to kiss them so what are you risking?
- Their house is a compound, complete with a cafeteria-style kitchen and laundromat.  I'm not saying it's wrong, but it's definitely not homey. Oh, and all of the kids have to keep the whole house clean.  I don't think I ever see Michelle cleaning.  Probably hard to though, when there's always a baby on your boob.  Or in your belly.  Or both.
- Did I just hear that they are looking forward to having more children?  After their latest, Baby Josie, almost died?  Michelle, you can't hold them in past 24 weeks anymore...it's still unknown if Josie will have lifelong health problems as a result of her extreme prematurity.  That vagina needs to be closed for business. 

What I agree with and/or admire:
 - They have NO debt.  None. 
 - Those kids are the most well-behaved kids I've ever seen.
 - It doesn't seem like being on TV for so many years has changed them or compromised what they value.
 - The entire family has a positive attitude about everything.  All the time. 
 - Mom and Dad Duggar are madly in love with each other, and the kids know it because they show it.
 - The parents teach their children to carefully consider their reactions to situations that are out of their control.  This one is my favorite, so I'm going to go off on a tangent now.  Consider yourself forewarned. 

For example, what good does screaming at a vehicle that cut you off do?  It might make you feel better, but it makes everyone else in the car feel tense.  Is it necessary to do that in front of your child?  I think not.  What does that teach them about dealing with life when it doesn't go their way?  Throw a tantrum.  (Forget the fact that people are absolutely loony and will not hesitate to bust a cap in your tailpipe).

Think about how often we overreact to the most insignificant things.  I'm as guilty as anyone else, but I'm trying to work on it.  I don't want my kid to think I'm going to blow up if he screws up during his soccer game or spills kool-aid on the couch (bad example, he will not have kool-aid on the couch under my watch.  Ever).  I don't want my mood or my reaction to make people (especially my family) afraid to approach me with unfortunate news.  I strive to be more understanding.  More patient.  More accepting. 

One episode of 19 Kids and Counting in particular got me thinking about all of this.  There had been an ice storm and the weight of the ice caused lots of limbs to fall off of a large tree and create a huge mess in the Duggar yard.  I remember the endlessly cheesy dad, Jim Bob Duggar, saying something along the lines that he could get really upset about how inconvenient it was to have to clean it up, but instead he chose to be thankful that they had the equipment and the ability to clean it up and that the tree didn't fall on their home or injure anyone.  Hmm...good point.  I think at my house, we would have just complained.

Enough about the Duggars.  Here's some comic relief after all that seriousness.  Whew.

Have a good weekend,

~C~

6 month letter

Dear Theo,

I can't believe you've been here for half of a year already.  It's so strange how much faster time seems to move now that you're a part of my life.  Before you, not much changed in the span of six months.  But now?  Now you have evolved into a completely different person than the one you were just 26 weeks ago. 

Six months ago you couldn't smile your sweet baby smile.  Or laugh.  Or sit up.  Or bite.  Or eat food (pureed, albeit).  Or sit in your carseat for 5 seconds without wailing.  Or entertain yourself for 5 seconds.  You couldn't sit in the big boy stroller.  Or stay awake for more than an hour (unless it was the middle of the night...then, my boy...then, you had stamina).  You wore the teensiest clothes and they were loose.  You have doubled your birth weight and then some.  You're more than half a foot taller than you were back then.  What if I did that every six months?  See what I mean!?

Your first spring and summer have zoomed past us.  You have no clue that it's about to get bitter cold here in the midwest.  The second six months of your life will be spent in sweaters and mittens and you'll be wrapped up in blankets.  The walks through our neighborhood will become more sparse as the temperature drops.  The sun will sink down behind the bare trees early in the evening.  You will smell new smells, like leaves burning and hot apple cider. 

Your first Halloween, Thanksgiving, steps, words, Christmas, solid foods, and birthday are all still ahead of us!  I know you are going to bring us more and more joy as time continues to fly. 

It's a funny thing, "knowing" you.  When I was pregnant, I could predict your waking and sleeping cycles.  I jokingly reprimanded you for shoving your entire leg between my ribs.  Moments after you were born, I remember thinking that I had known you my whole life and what a relief it was to finally see you, hear you, kiss you, and hold you in my arms.  Two weeks later, I thought I was really getting to know you well as we were figuring out this whole how-to-be-a-mommy/how-to-live-on-the-outside-of-mommy thing.  Now I look back and realize how much your personality has grown.  And guess what?  You can't even talk yet.  Aside from the joyous squeals and your backseat babblings of "ay-ay-ay-ay-ay," you haven't told me much at all.  Not one story, not one joke, not one synopsis of how your day was, or what food you like best.  I can't wait for you to run up to me and give me a hug by wrapping your little arms around my legs.  15 years from now, you might not think I know you at all, but I will always try.  And I will always like you, no matter what you think or how you feel. 

This 6 month birthday of yours coincides with mommy deciding to finally clean out your closet.  I had no idea it would be so emotional for me!  I don't typically save things that I don't need, but it was hard parting with ANYTHING of yours.  You are precious, so all the things that represent you are too.  I will have to work on that, as we are already running out of room.  Now your closet is free from newborn layettes and 0-3 month onesies.  I found myself hugging your tiny outfits to my chest, then running to the next room to show your daddy with a half-smile/half-frown on my face, saying "remember when he wore this!?"  "Remember when he was this tiny!?" Or more accurately, "I can't believe he was ever this tiny!"

The truth is, Sweet Pea, you are still tiny.  I can hold you close and smother you with kisses and you don't try to get away (well, sometimes you're squirmy but usually, you think it's hilarious).  I can carry you on my hip as we stroll down the driveway to check the mail.  You fit on my lap and in my arms.  One day, probably not so far away, I will look back at pictures from this time in our lives and swoon over how small and sweet you were. 

Because I am so painfully aware of that, there's a cloud of sadness that hangs out right next the the rays of happiness and joy that you bring to my life.  Sharing this life with you is a gift and I feel like the luckiest mommy ever, just being able to do so.  But I know, before too long, you will grow up and not need me like you do now.  I hope you will always need your mommy in some way. 

I love you, Sugar.  Happy Six Month Birthday.

xo,
Mommy

if this doesn't confuse him, nothing will

How in the world will baby Theodore ever learn his name when he has so many?

Itty Bitty Boo (my husband is Big Boo...I'm Little Boo, so this one emerged when I was pregnant)

"Buddy" and variations:
 - Little Buddy
 - Bud
 - Bubs
 - Bub-Bub
 - Bubsy
 - Bubsers
 - Bubsy Wubsy
 - Bubberton

"Sweet Pea" and variations:
 - Sweet Pete
 - Sweet Peezus
 - Sweetie Petey
 - Sweetie Bee-bee

"Sugar" and variation:
 - Sugie

"Theo" and variations of Theodore and Theodore Jack:
 - T-Doh'
 - T-O
 - Theodoh' (Thee-uh-doh')
 - Theodorable
 - T-Jack
 - TJ
 - The "O"
 - Theus
 - Theo Leo
 - Theo-doe-doe
 - T

Poor kid.  (Um, that's not one of the nicknames...just my final thought.)

~C~