Be Back Soon

Quick update...I am going through withdrawals from not posting. I've been in Glamis the last two days...I just got back 2 hours ago and still need to take a shower to get the 2 inches of dirt scrubbed off of my skin. So much to write about, like sleeping at a 30 degree angle in a motor home because we were stuck in the sand...I will have pictures and details later, but I just wanted to check in and say hi! I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend! Gotta go...

Oh one more thing, my last post is null and void now. I figured out how to get my family all healthy without the drastic measures...SEPARATION! Yup! The kids went to the grandparents house and Ricky and I went on vacation and now we are all healthy. Woo hoo!

Drastic Measures

Drastic times call for drastic measures, right? Well, right now the sickness that has overtaken my family and has just begun round two this morning is pretty drastic. I am so sick of cranky kids, phlegm, my man voice, and snot covered sleeves. So I am implementing some new rules and procedures around my house. 

- Face masks must be worn 24 hours per day in and out of the house by all members of the Murray family

- Absolutely NO SHARING of anything...this includes sippy cups, forks, spoons, food, toothpaste, toys, beds, etc. 

- All members must wear gloves sprayed down with Lysol at all times 

- If an individual coughs or sneezes in the house, a cloud of Lysol must immediately be sprayed around them 

- All clothes must be changed as soon as a member of the Murray family returns home from work or any other place. Dirty clothes must immediately be placed in the washing machine. 

- Any sleeves that are used to wipe snot must be burned completely

- Any tissue or wipey used to blow a nose, must be thrown away in the dumpster down the street. 

- The cleaning lady must now come every day...(I know this one is a little unreasonable but like I said, desperate times call for desperate measures.)

I really hope that the implementation of my new rules will make for a healthy Murray family. There is light at the end of this mucous- filled tunnel! 

Separate Toothpaste

After about 3 months of being married, my husband informed me that we needed to have a serious talk. My mind swam with thoughts: Oh no is he going to ask me to switch to 2% milk instead of 1%? Is he going to tell me that he doesn't like my cooking? Did he get fired? "The talk" was about none of the above. It was about toothpaste. No, not the type of toothpaste, rather the fact that he wanted us to have separate tubes of toothpaste. He could no longer share with me because the way that I cared for my toothpaste tube was unacceptable, disgusting, and quite perturbing to him. I was devastated. When you're married you are supposed to share things like the toothpaste. What next, separate beds??? My sulking and dramatics did nothing to sway his opinion. From then on, he determined that we would have our own toothpaste tubes. 

The other day, I looked at my toothpaste and then glanced over at his and I finally understood after 3 1/2 years of marriage why my husband would not share a tube of toothpaste with me. 

I know I know, some confessions are better left unconfessed. What will people think of me now? Maybe I should clean up my act...naaaah

Today I...

Was excited to get to sleep in because my hubby was going to handle the kids

Was very un-excited that my sleeping in was non-existent since Maia threw up all over her bed and I was the lucky one who got to clean it all up

Sniffed everything and everyone all day to find out where the lingering vomit smell was coming from. I never did find the culprit.

Did the dishes, but you would never know because my sink is full of dirty dishes again

Discovered that baby wipes are very useful for blowing your nose without making it raw

Coughed so hard I gave myself a headache

Confused my brother when I answered the phone...he thought he called the wrong number because I sounded like a man

Listened to Noah say, "I need to be wee-spet-fuu" (respectful)

 Got in the shower with my bra on

I Knew God Liked Me!

Today I am writing to you from the fog that is in my head. I sound like a man with a deep phlegmy smoker cough. I should have done a video blog, then you could see how manly I really do sound. It is so bad that when I am on the phone with my husband he asks twice if this is really his wife. 

  Anyways, back to my topic...yesterday night at around 6:00, I had to take Maia Belle to Urgent Care because she was just not doing so well after her puking incident. Despite my need to do absolutely nothing but sleep, I got us both ready and headed out the door. On my way to the Urgent Care Center (which is 40 minutes away) I remembered that I had to go pee. I had to go the whole time I was getting Maia ready and getting her bag packed but I was so worried about her that I forgot. Now, I was in a predicament, because in  my rush, I also forgot a stroller which meant that there was no way I was going to be able to go to the bathroom unless I asked a random stranger to hold her. Shoot! Oh well, my skinny jeans had prepared me for this predicament so I tried my best to ignore the pain in my bladder and just focus on getting Maia to the doctor. When I got there, I was so thankful to find my Baby Bjorn underneath the backseat. I strapped my 20 pound baby to my belly paying no attention to the pressure on my bladder, grabbed the other 30 pounds worth of purse and diaper bag and headed into the building. Upon arriving to the pediatrics floor, I looked around to see a packed waiting room with about 30 or more sick children waiting to see a doctor. At the check in, I asked the lady how long the wait was, she informed me it would be about 2 hours. Keep in mind, my urge to pee, my phlegmy cough, and my need to sleep. Then she said that the doctor who was on tonight was Maia's actual pediatrician. Hearing this made the 2 hour wait seem a little less daunting because at least Maia would be seeing her own doctor. Maia and I went to the furthest corner of the room and I unloaded my pained shoulders and settled in.  While praying with her for her dinner, I had a little conversation with God, "Lord, I know that this is a long shot, but you know how awful I am feeling and how awful Maia is feeling. Both of us will be miserable by 9:00 p.m. Do you think you can somehow bump us up in the line? We'd really appreciate it. If not, please help me to keep my sanity for the next 2 hours. Amen." Right as I am about to put her food in her moving target mouth, I hear the nurse call "Mia Moo- Ray." Oh my gosh Maia, that's us! God really does like us. It's a miracle! Our 2 hour wait has only been 5 minutes! Frantically, I waved to the nurse to let her know that I was coming fearing she'd realize her mistake and call someone else. I clumsily gathered all of the stuff that I had unloaded and hobbled over to the nurse ignoring all the death stares that I was getting from the annoyed waiting room sufferers and the things I was losing out of my diaper bag. 

 Maia and I made it in and out of the Urgent Care facility within 40 minutes (two ear infections and chest congestion). I think God knows I would have lost my sanity right there in that waiting room while my bladder exploded and He thought it wouldn't be pretty so He granted me a miracle. I knew He liked me! 

Another Bleh Mommy Day

My house smells like a mixture of cleaning products and vomit. I am ever so grateful to my cleaning lady for the cleaning product smell. It is so nice to walk into a spotless, dust free, tidy house. What is not so nice is to take a 20 minute drive home with a crying sick baby and get home and admire my nice clean house and then have my crying sick child throw up all over me and my spotless kitchen, scrubbed floors, and vacuumed carpet. I've decided that it's moments like these that make me a mommy. I am sure every mom out there has a vomit story like this and I am sure I will have many more. Today, rather than finding the humor in it, I just wanted to sit down in the nastiness and cry with Maia. I too am sick and feel awful and yet here I am cleaning up puke off my newly cleaned house and off my baby (I don't get the luxury of cleaning myself off) and comforting her and rocking her to sleep. That is what you sign up for when you have children...Okay, time to go take a shower, I cannot handle the puke smell on myself anymore...Yes, you read that right. I blogged about the situation before I changed my vomit clothes. Blogging is very important you know...

Dinner and a Vacation

Last night after I put the kids to bed, I felt that I deserved to board a plane to Hawaii for a 2 week vacation without kids. Dinner was quite an event for us as both kids and mommy were sick. After finishing cooking chicken fajitas, soggy mushy rice, and microwaved beans I forced both my crying, coughing, snotty children to sit in their high chairs.  Noah insisted on eating by himself and refused to let me clean his runny nose so he had an extra salty version of dinner. I served Maia's bowl and sat down to feed her. This was unsatisfactory for Noah because he wanted Maia's chair to be as close as it possibly could get to him. To stop his blubbering and stop the fountain oozing from his nose, I pushed Maia's chair as close as I could to his and reached across the table at a sideways angle trying my best to get the food into Maia's mouth failing miserably. Most of her food ended up in her high chair or shooting across the dining room as she chose the most inconvenient times to cough. By this point, I was experiencing hot flashes, a pounding headache, and a painful cough. No time to focus on that, Noah was done and crying again because he wanted out of his chair and he'd been up for 6 hours straight which is way too long for my sleep-loving child. I made him sit for 2 minutes longer: just enough time for me to wolf down my cold dinner. After, inhaling my dinner in record time, forcing my way to Noah's nose with a wipey which threw him into a coughing fit and getting Maia out of her chair and shaking all the food off of her, I got their bath going. I must say that I am very proud of myself for even giving them baths and putting them in clean jammies because what I really wanted to do was skip baths, strip them down, and put them to bed in their diapers which would have been a lot less work. By the time we said our night time prayers and "proper" doses of Tylenol had been dished out, I was in a full cold sweat and wheezing like a 80 year old smoker with Emphysema. I wanted a game show host to appear in my living room and announce that for all my hard work, I had won a 2 week Hawaiian vacation as soon as I was well enough to take it.

Wordless Wednesday

Noah Makaine Murray - 7 Days Old...God is good

And the Most Improved Award Goes To...

MEEE! 

...I have so many people to thank...umm I'm so nervous...I wasn't expecting this award at all? I'd like to thank God for giving me these crazy moments to write about and I want to thank #11 on my "25 Random Things" post for boosting my numbers, I'd like to thank my children for all the writing material they provide me with...Oh shoot! They're starting the music, I have to hurry...ummm, I'd like to thank my husband for running to the store every night for things that I "need" so that I can sit down and blog. Oh and before they push me off the stage...I'd like to thank all of my followers who have added Confession Mama to your blog roll...oh wait please just one more...A special thanks to Mid-Life Crisis Man for the beautiful letters you've inspired, you will not be missed...

They had to wrestle me off stage. I've straightened out my clothing and fixed my hair and I'd like to say, YAY! I have 20 followers now! That is a huge milestone, you know. Twenty people read this blog on a regular basis and care about the mundane happenings of the Confession Mama..of course it's not 73 followers like my friend Bridget but what can I say I am not a homeschooling mother of 5, I mean who can compete with that? 

Phlegm is Knocking at the Door of My Lungs

Doesn't God know that I do not have time to be sick? Just because my two children sound like they are coughing up lungs all day and have dried booger encrusted faces does not mean that I have to get sick does it? Yup, it does, I can feel the germs closing in on me and there is just no escape. No amount of pre-natal vitamins or denial can save me from the impending phlegm that will fill my lungs tomorrow. Gross visual, I know.  The germs are going to have their way with me despite my taking triple doses of pre-natal vitamins. I guess now I can just pray that this nasty chest cold does not last long because I have two sick kids to tend to and a job to go to. Maybe I'll just call in sick to my wife, nurse, mommy, and church jobs tomorrow...is that even possible? 

Biggest Loser Here I Come

I think I've reached the end of my cookie, cake, chocolate covered raisin eating days. Sad, I know. But, it's finally time to put myself on a diet or I will be the next contestant in the Biggest Loser. This weekend was a fabulously gluttonous one and 4 pounds later, though I don't regret the gluttony, I know I cannot keep it up unless I want to be subjected to Jillian using me as her personal transportation device. 

   You see Saturday night was just too good to pass up! It was Valentine's Day and we spent it with two of our best friends Eddie and Jen. Jen came up with this great idea to copy fondue recipes from the Melting Pot for appetizer and dessert and then to have filet mignon for our main course. Remember those days when you were dating first dating your husband and you would order a salad and then hardly touch it because you wanted to appear feminine and attractive and not like one of the boys who could beat him in an eating contest? Well, that was never the case with me and Ricky. On our first date, I asked if he was going to finish his food and when he said "no," I finished his plate along with mine. So, this Valentine's Day it made sense for me to be totally un-feminine and un-attractive by eating until I had to unbutton my jeans and then go back for more. The food was just too good. However, now that I am 4 pounds heavier from one meal, I am motivated to change my eating habits and maybe even actually work out so that I can squeeze back into my skinny jeans... but first I have to finish off the leftover pizza and breadsticks from last night...Oh dear...I'll go work on my audition video for the Biggest Loser now.  

Oh Happy Day!

Today is a very good day. There is nothing that could squelch my exuberance, not even my disastrous kitchen, the massive zit on my neck, or Maia's poop in my finger nail. Why? The long awaited day has finally arrived: Mid-life Crisis Man is moving out! I bid farewell to the late night revelries, the drunken yelling, the never-ending Guitar Hero, the wall-thumping music, and the obnoxious Pontiac engine revving. There will never be another letter to Mid-life Crisis Man on my blog again! (Okay, I have to admit, that made me sad for just a second, but now I am over it.) Good bye Mid-life Crisis Man. I hope that your new journey leads you to a job, sober living, and a mini-van. 

Army Crawlers

My kids are abnormal and I am a little confused as to why they are this way. At 9 months, my son Noah mastered the army crawl and I waited and waited for him to move on to normal crawling...you know hands and knees crawling like every other kid I know? He never did. I remember reading something about kids eventually having reading disabilities if they don't crawl and since I do believe everything I read, I freaked out. I tried to have training sessions with my son to teach him to crawl like a normal kid. I developed bruises on my knees from all my crawling around the house as an example to no avail. Noah completely ignored all my training and decided to go straight from the army crawl to walking. I was devastated but I decided to be proactive about the reading thing by reading to him everyday and getting him to love books. Although he didn't mind a couple books, I think trying to read to him for an hour straight was a little much, he was not interested. I have yet to find out if the not crawling thing will affect his reading abilities, but I am continuing to be proactive and will be ordering Hooked on Phonics for him tomorrow...I am sure he will be thrilled.

  Anyways, I had really high hopes for Maia. A few weeks ago, she started to get on her hands and knees in the crawling position and rock back and forth like she was ready to go. I was so excited. For the first time ever, I was going to see one of my kids crawl like a normal kid. This past week, my high hopes have come crashing down. Maia has decided that she can get around much easier using the army crawl method. She doesn't even get on her hands and knees anymore. She just slithers on her belly all over my house and is very content to do so. It gets her where she wants to go efficiently and she is satisfied with that. (Insert sigh here)I guess I'll have to start my strict reading regiment with my daughter as well...although...I must say that there is a bright side to having abnormal army crawler children: my floors are always clean and I don't have to lift a finger. I just spray a little Clorox on the floor, place them on their bellies on a cleaning towel and taaa daaa sparkling clean floors! 

*Disclaimer for CPS: I make sure to put face masks on my kids so that they don't eat or breathe in the toxic fumes of the Clorox.  

A Little Late Wordless Wednesday

25 Random Things

I've been tagged by quite a few people on Facebook to do this but I decided to use it as a blog instead since I don't have anything to write about today besides a bratty little boy who got spanked twice and put into time out twice in one day! Here goes nothing...

1. I love food. All kinds of food. I am not picky and will try just about anything.

2. I want to be a Yoga Master some day and teach yoga classes and be calm all the time.

3. I also have this secret desire to be an esthetician.

4. I read my own blogs all the time and critique my writing. 

5. I am in the very beginning stages of writing a book with Chuck Booher

6. I love to read but I get really into the books I am reading and I get the story mixed up with my real life. I also neglect my kids and my hygiene when reading a book. 

7. I got my first spray tan ever on Friday and I smelled like urine for 2 days straight. That mystic spray stuff stinks! 

8. I am obsessed with parenting. I have very strong opinions on parenting but I am also like a sponge when it comes to parenting advice. 

9. I grew up thinking my family was perfect and I recently got a very tough reality check revealing that we were in fact very imperfect.

10. I was extremely athletic growing up and even played college basketball for 1 semester. I also played softball, soccer, volleyball, ran track, and was on a swim team. Oh and I completed a sprint triathlon and hope to do another one this year. 

11. It makes me sad that I only have 15 followers. Sometimes I have pity parties for myself because I want to have more followers! 

12. I really think that God forgot to give me rhythm when he made me and I have had multiple conversations with Him letting Him know how much that upsets me. I just want to dance!

13. I once was in the same recording studio as Bone Thugs and Harmony and had to be hidden in a back room because I would have been seen as "fresh meat." That scared me right out of the music business! 

14. I think my husband is the greatest and hottest husband and father in the whole world...apparently all of the bridesmaids in my brother's wedding thought so too! Ha ha girls, he's all mine!!!  

15. Ricky is better at packing the kids' diaper bags than I am. I always forget wipes, bottles, or someone's food, he never forgets anything.

16. I have been pregnant 4 times. I've miscarried twice. 

17. I secretly hope that my next pregnancy is twins. Shhh don't tell anyone! I know you think I am crazy but think about it...it's like a two for one deal! I only have to be pregnant one more time and I get two babies out of it and then I am done.

18. I really want to home school my kids. 

19.  I am not fond of pets, particularly dogs...I have been known to kick 2 dogs in my lifetime because they pissed me off. 

20. In high school when I played basketball, I was known to be somewhat of a bruiser. I enjoyed knocking girls down...there is even video footage of it somewhere.

21. I love whipped cream especially on my coffee drinks.

22. I hate cleaning but I hate a dirty house...my solution? The cleaning lady.

23. Credit cards stress me out so I don't use them. If I do, I go home right away and pay the balance online. 

24. When my kids are in the car, I spend most of my drive time facing the back seat. It is a miracle that I have not been in an accident yet (knocking on wood now). 

25. I have to watch the Biggest Loser while eating something extremely unhealthy. Tonight it is chocolate covered raisins with a glass of milk with 1 ice cube in it. 

I think that is 25 things and I need to go get inspired to stop eating unhealthy foods by Jillian and Bob. I am off to eat some chocolate and get inspired. 

Snow Day

Today we decided to have a snow day...well more like a snow 20 minutes. We ended up pulling off on the side of the road and getting out for 20 minutes to play in the snow. I have never been in a snow storm or experienced "soft snow." As a Southern California girl, the most snow I've seen is the dirty left over icy stuff on the side of the road on the way up to Mammoth in July. Our friends Jen and Eddie decided to brave this adventure with us and what an adventure it was! I don't think they will ever have kids after spending the day with our kids but it definitely made for fun memories between not knowing how to properly apply snow chains, to the screaming kids, to the inadequate "snow" clothes (sweat shirts and jeans), and changing diapers and wet clothes in a stuffy car...it was good times. Here are some pictures and a video (if it decides to upload).

Noah attempting to catch the snow on his tongue.



Untitled from Taleah Murray on Vimeo.

Two Super Cute Kids For Sale

On Friday, I went to Chuck E Cheese for a play date with my Mom2Mom group. The ladies there were asking me how the heck I manage two babies so close together. I bragged on how easy I have it and how much I love having them that close together and how I want to have my next two that close as well. I even came home and bragged to my husband about how I feel that having my kids 13 months apart is really not that hard. We both agreed that we love having them this close together and don't feel that it is difficult at all. You know the proverbial saying, "Pride comes before the fall?" Let me tell you, that I am a living example of this proverb. All of my prideful talk on Friday amounted to lies by Sunday.

  It was my brother's wedding day and it was pouring rain. I got Maia all dressed in her frilly dress, Noah in his tux, myself in my dress, packed their bag with what amounted to 50 pounds of stuff, made sure my husband was dressed decently, and we headed off to the wedding early to take family pictures. By the time we got into the hotel lobby for pictures I had stepped in a puddle with my cute new shoes, had nearly all my face make up sweating off my face, had flat hair, and gave the guy walking behind us a free show when I bent down to pick up Noah to save him from the puddle. I could tell that this was not going to be fun. We tried to keep the kids occupied for an hour and half while we waited for our turn to take pictures which you can imagine was torture for both me and them. Not only did I have to keep an eye on them, I also had to watch my great grandparents who kept trying to sneak my kid candy while I was not looking. By the time it was our turn to take pictures, Maia was practically jumping out of my arms as she was sick of being held and I was battling with her to keep her headband on. Noah was not about to stand still for pictures and we had to bribe him with anything and everything(excluding sugar) we could think of to smile at the camera. Then came time for the wedding. Noah was the cutest ring bearer ever. Ricky took charge of him and I took charge of Maia. We stashed our seats with bribery materials and I settled in my seat and began the process of bouncing Maia to sleep while everyone stared at the crazy lady with the 5 inch heels and short dress trying to bounce the screaming baby to sleep in the front of the church. Thank God for the loud music in the church. She finally fell asleep and I sat in my seat with aching arms unable to remove the hair sticking to my sweaty forehead and falling in my eyes. Once Noah got down the aisle both he and Ricky joined me in our row and Maia woke up. We began our "keeping the kids quiet" mission. We had 4 different types of snacks and 3 toys. Once Maia was over the snacks, I just tried my best to keep her from squirming out of my arms. Every time Noah would start to talk, we would shove more food in his mouth. Finally the recessional came and we filed out down the aisle with 2 kids, one with food remnants all over his face, 3 bowls of snacks, 1 empty package of freeze dried fruit, 2 Elmo dolls, an umbrella, and 1 toy car. I am sure all the guests were thinking that we were one crazy family. 

  The next part to get through was the hors d' houvres and champagne session. This proved to be Hell for me. My feet were throbbing from my uncomfortable shoes not to mention I'd been carrying my 20 pound baby all night and apparently this was a stand up hors d' houvres party. There were no seats anywhere. My kids were starving despite the snack party during the wedding so I decided to pull out their food and feed them standing up. The only problem was that I had only packed food for Noah. How the heck with 50 pounds of stuff did I forget to pack baby food for Maia? I improvised and gave her some of Noah's food in extremely small pieces. Somehow I managed to feed them both at the same time while family members held them. Finally they opened the doors to the reception hall and I got to rest my feet for all of two minutes. No time to rest, Noah wanted to run around and check out the room. The rest of the evening was a blur. Between Noah almost dropping an entire dinner plate on his lap, falling out of his chair twice, spilling water all over his tux, Maia grabbing a glass of champagne, screaming her head off because she was exhausted, my sweaty face and strapless bra being around my waist, and everyone feeling horrible for me and staring at me like I was a pity case, I decided it was time to go. I was on the verge of putting for sale signs on my children, killing my husband, and checking myself into the nearest mental facility. If you ask me anything about the wedding itself, I can honestly say, I don't know. I don't remember what the bride's dress looked like, what was said during the ceremony, what the first dance song was, or who was in the wedding party. All I know was that I wanted to sell my kids to the highest bidder, ask the bar tender for a strong drink, kick off my shoes, find a dark quiet corner and fall asleep. I've learned my lesson: It is anything but easy to have two babies 13 months apart. Anyone want to buy 2 cute kids? 

Embarrassing Moment #129

Have you ever been so embarrassed that you wished the ground would open up and swallow you whole? I had one of those moments tonight. We were at my brother's rehearsal dinner because his wedding is on Sunday. Both my family and the bride's family were in this small garage since it was pouring rain outside and we were listening to my dad give a toast to the bride and groom. It was very quiet besides the voice of my dad and of course my Noah, who could not sit still. I kept trying to get him to be quiet but he continued speaking in his loud voice. While I am trying to keep him occupied and quiet, I see his face change to one of concentration. I know this face very well. Oh God please no! He turns to me and says the dreaded phrase, "Noah pooping!" He begins to grunt and I think, Oh God please no. Not right now! If you've been reading this blog long enough, you know that my son is not a discreet pooper. He grunts as if he is in the World's Strongest Man contest pulling a semi- truck. The other problem with my little situation was that I was stuck. The only way out was to squeeze by my father who was in front of everyone giving his speech. I could only imagine what people would think if I scooted by my father with my grunting child in the middle of a serious speech. In the midst of my panic and my son's commencing grunt, he passed gas rather loudly. Of course this happened during a pause in my father's address. As my face turned red, Noah looked at me with a mischievous smile and the realization that he didn't have to poop after all and happily said, "Noah farted!" I could feel my entire table staring at me as I quickly covered Noah's mouth with my hand and shushed him. I could hear the stifled giggles throughout the room and I looked over to see if the bride and groom had heard. Thank God, they hadn't, I swooped Noah up, scooted by my father and took him outside in case he had anymore flatulence to release and announcements to make about it. Why do kids have such bad timing for these kinds of things? 

Daddy's Sleeping

Today, when I got home from work, I was greeted by my child who looked like an orphan child. He opened the door and walked out into the garage with bare feet, wild hair, and a food-stained face. I gathered all my groceries and asked him to hold the door open for me (we are teaching him to be a gentleman!). As I trudged up the stairs with my load, I asked him where his daddy was. His response, "Daddy's seepeen." I laughed, and waited to hear Ricky's voice, but I heard nothing. When I got to the top of the stairs, the sight I beheld was nothing short of a complete disaster. Toys were scattered all over the living room floor, along with half-full bottle, a sippy cup, a smashed bag of snacks, dirty socks, Ricky's shoes, mail, and the couch cushions. Noah ran over to the couch, pointed to the sleeping beauty lying there and proudly said, "See? Daddy seepeen!" Ricky quickly woke up wiped the drool from his lip and said, "I'm not sleeping!"  I didn't dare ask how long he'd left our children to ransack the house. I just went about putting the groceries away as Ricky whispered to Noah to warn him when mommy gets home next time...

Way Too Busy...

Today is my birthday and I am having a crazy busy day at work. No time to post a blog today, but I will tell you this, I am sitting here writing this after running all around the church campus to get stuff in place for a conference we are having and I am trying my best to discreetly blow on my armpits so that I don't have armpit stains as I greet pastors tonight who are coming to this conference...I know I know way more information than you needed but would you expect anything less from the Confession Mama?!

My Birthday Surprise

Okay, so tomorrow is my birthday. Go ahead wish me Happy Birthday...awww thanks, you're so sweet! Yesterday Ricky told me that he had a surprise for me today. I was so excited but deep inside I was a little irritated. Why? Well, usually Ricky is not very good at surprises. Every time he has a surprise for me I already know what it is or at least have an idea. But, I always pretend like I don't know just to make him feel like he surprised me. Back to yesterday; when Ricky told me that he had a surprise for me I realized that I had NO CLUE what the surprise was. We woke up early, he got the kids ready and he told me to wear jeans, a t-shirt, and tennis shoes and we headed out the door. About a half hour into our drive, I wanted to somehow make myself deaf because I had been listening to Noah say, "Get Out?" repeatedly for 15 minutes straight and Maia screaming at ear piercing decibels. I had no idea where we were going or how much longer it was going to take to get there and Ricky kept asking me if I knew where we were going yet. I did my best to keep my cool because I didn't want to ruin it for him. Just about the time when I was going to start pulling out my hair, we pulled into a drive way with a big sign that said Lake Elsinore Sky Diving. Oh dear, I don't wanna die! I have two babies to take care of... You brought this on yourself Taleah. This is what you get for talking a big game. You always say that you want to go sky diving and now your husband has granted your wish. Don't be a baby. I decide right there and then to have fun and enjoy the adventure. I didn't read any of the forms that I signed and closed my eyes and covered my ears through the entire video that told me that I couldn't sue them if I died. I paid very close attention to the 5 minute instruction course, put on my jumping gear, told my guy that I didn't want to die, said a quick prayer, and boarded the plane that looked like it was built in the 1960s. I tried my best to ignore the guy who was telling the pilot that something was leaking on the plane. I also tried to dismiss the fact the the pilot ignored the guy as well.   As the plane reached it's desired altitude and the door flung open, I was very close to having a complete melt down and begging the pilot to take me back to the ground. I reminded myself how much Ricky paid for this and decided I was too cheap to chicken out. The only way down was to jump and that is what I did. 

  The whole experience was quite a thrill even though it was a little awkward to be strapped to some random guy. Oh and I felt like I was going to puke when we were floating through the air because I get really bad motion sickness. But, I did it! I jumped out of a plane and I lived to tell about it! It was a great surprise...definitely one that I will remember for the rest of my life! 

This is CJ, the random guy I was strapped to. He and the camera guy had an obsession with the "hang loose" and the "thumbs up" hand gestures. They kept telling me to give "thumbs up" for every picture. I tried to explain to them that only foreigners do that...

This is my sexy head gear. Don't be jealous, I know you want one. 

This is me trying not to cuss because I am so scared...

This is the most flattering shot of the day...wind in my lip and obviously unbotoxed forehead (notice the thumbs up by the camera guy)
The parachute worked! Major whip lash and then motion sickness. 

A Little Fun

Some of the best times I've had with my kids have been when I just let them go and be free to have fun. I let go of my desire to keep their clothes clean and dry and my fear of them getting hurt and let them enjoy the moment while I sit back and watch. Today we had one of those moments. It was after church and both kids were in their cute outfits and Noah wanted to play in the fountain. He started by just dipping his hands in the water and splashing a bit and ended up looking like this! He giggled in delight and I grimaced thinking about how smelly his soaked shoes would be! 

This is a cute picture of my wet babies after their fountain fun!