Mayah The Writer

Ariel and I went shopping this afternoon and left the kids home with Duane. When we got home, we discovered a story (or possibly a poem???) that Mayah wrote, all by herself. No joke. Duane swears he didn't help her write it.

Here it is:

Are words like, Flopping, Hopping, Stopping and Narrow part of the kindergarten curriculum now? Because, when I was in kindergarten, I was reading words like Fat, Pat, Mat and Cat. Have things changed so drastically since I was five?

I swear I'm not one of those people who insist that their kid is themostamazingsuperspecialgeniuskidever, but, Mayah keeps surprising us. I mean, really surprising us.

I'm going to have to talk to her teacher after the holiday break, to see if this is normal. Because, really, I don't know.

Amazon Is The Devil

So, we went to my brothers house for Thanksgiving this year, and he had just purchased Rayman Raving Rabbid's TV Party for their Wii system. Right off, it was a favorite with all the kids because they could all play it and it's pretty cute to boot.

Ever since then Mayah has been talking about the game, asking for it non-stop, and we don't even have a Wii system...yet. She's even been drawing pictures of the cute bunnies from the game. Duane and I have found the whole thing amusing. Really.

Well, it is funny up until the point when your five-year-old gets on the computer and actually purchases the game. Okay, to be fair, she purchased the wrong game. She actually purchased Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, which, it turns out, is another game altogether.

But, she is only five...

I know, I should be mad at myself for letting my five-year-old daughter on the computer to begin with. Don't worry, I am. But, I'm also furious with Amazon. You see, apparently there is something called '1-click' and it's just sitting there, all innocent-looking, on a little orange colored button on the right-side of the screen. It just says 'Buy now with 1-Click'. You don't even need to SIGN IN.

YOU DON'T EVEN NEED TO PLACE ANYTHING IN THE CART!

All you have to do is push that innocent-looking button and BAM, you've got yourself a game for a Wii system that you don't even own yet.

Oh, and, she really did purchase it. REALLY. Aaand, even though she just barely purchased it, it's too late to cancel the order. Already!

Apparently Amazon is really on top of things because my invoice says: "We are preparing these items for shipment and this portion of your order cannot be canceled or changed."

The best part: We should have it by December 24th. Talk about insane luck.

Amazon. Is. Evil.

My goldie locks has chicken pox

As I was getting the girls ready for church this morning, I discovered a few suspicious spots on Malia. I freaked out immediately because I know for a fact they weren't there yesterday evening. I hoped that a bug had gotten to her last night but my suspicions were confirmed after closer examination of Malia's spots--she definitely has chicken pox!!!

It turns out that I exposed Malia to the chicken pox because I had shingles. I thought that if she was going to get chicken pox they would have shown themselves at least a week ago. I didn't know that it takes 12-14 days for the chicken pox virus to incubate before showing up on the skin. I feel so stupid because I would have known how long chicken pox takes to incubate had I done all the research ahead of time.

Luckily, I haven't taken Malia to church for 2 weeks--Conference Sunday and the week before that because I thought Mayah had pink eye (turned out that she didn't have pink eye, she just had something in her eye) and I still had shingles--and of course I didn't take her to church today. Anyway, Malia hasn't really been in direct contact with other kids over the past two weeks. The handful of kids that she has been around were all old enough to have been vaccinated against chicken pox--I think.

I am sure everyone is asking why on earth I didn't finish vaccinating Malia. I am asking myself the same question.

The last set of vaccinations Malia received was when she was 9 months old. Soon after that, Mayah was diagnosed with autism. While I have never felt that Mayah's autism was caused by vaccinations, I personally know a lot of parents who swear that their children were neurotypical until they received a certain vaccination. Hearing these stories really scared me and I decided to wait on vaccinating Malia further. I fully intended on getting her vaccinations done by the time she was old enough to attend public school but I just wanted to spread them out a little. Unfortunately, my plan backfired and now my child has chicken pox.

Moral of the story: vaccinate your children.

Side note: As of mid-September, Mayah is fully vaccinated--so no worries there.

Seasons change

It is finally cooling down here in Michigan. As of yesterday (Wednesday, October 10), we are finally getting the weather one would expect for this time of year. There were days last week that we were getting 89 degree weather. YIKES!!!

Since the weather has finally changed, I have been putting the girls summer clothing away. I couldn't help but get a little teary eyed when I realized that most of the stuff won't fit them ever again. I wish my kids would age a little slower so I can enjoy this precious time a little longer. I swear it doesn't seem that long ago that they were both babies. They have changed so much in such a short time.

Thinking about my girls and how quickly they have grown got me thinking about how quickly time passes. I also started thinking about how life unexpectedly changes. Looking back at the past 7 years made me realize that most of what has happened in my married life was not exactly planned by Duane or myself.

Seven years ago Duane and I were newly wed, super happy, inseparable and disgustingly in-love with each other. Both of us were happily employed and living in Colorado at the time. Duane and I had all sorts of plans for our future.

Five years ago, Duane and I had just moved from New Mexico (after living there one year) to Utah so Duane could attend BYU to get his MBA, I was 4 months pregnant with Mayah, I was only working 20 hours a week, Duane wasn't allowed to work (per BYU's request) and we were really struggling financially. Duane and I decided that graduate school was the best option as no one was hiring just one year after 9/11. We had no idea what we would do after Duane graduated.

Exactly three years ago, we had just moved to Michigan 3 months previously, Duane was working for Ford and was called to be the Elders Quorum President in our ward and I was 2 weeks pregnant with Malia and didn't even suspect as we weren't trying to have another baby at that time. Mayah was finally old enough to attend nursery at church but she kept me on my toes the rest of the week.

Just last year, Duane and I were seriously discussing the prospect of not adding to our family ever again. There were several reasons as to why we were discussing that possibility, all of which were valid reasons, most of which I will not go into now. At the time, I was feeling very overwhelmed with the girls. Mayah had recently been diagnosed with high-functioning, mild autism and Malia was a force to be reckoned with--a very stubborn and determined little toddler. Both children demanded a lot of time and attention from both Duane and myself, so we felt like it might be best to keep our family from expanding.

Now Duane is still employed at Ford, I am 15 weeks pregnant with our third child, Mayah is attending a wonderful preschool that has a program for autistic children and Malia is our fun little two year old. We are also very happy with the life we have.

Duane and I had no idea what life had in store when we first got married seven short years ago but our Heavenly Father sure did. It wasn't by chance that we ended up in Michigan. I know that Heavenly Father has guided us down this specific path for a reason. He knew what our family would need to pass through in order to be happy.

I know that Heavenly Father is aware of me and my family. I know that he loves us. I know that he only wants the best for us. I know he will do what he can so we might return to him some day. These thoughts are what keep me from giving up when life throws another surprise our way. These thoughts also keep me from running outside to shake my fist at the sky--and yell--when life takes yet another unexpected turn. ;)