Just been thinking

*This is a long ramble. Only read if you have a few hours. :o)*


Isn't it fun to see you in your kids? Let me take that back... Isn't fun to see the good things from you in your children? I look at Victoria and I think she is a little mini me. Most people think that Anne is a mini me, but in all reality Victoria looks like me and Anne looks like my sister, Melissa, from when she was younger. (I'll find a picture and post it.)

This is me I think around age 5/6 and Toria age 5.

I remember being a lot like her. I was the middle child and felt those middle child feelings. Our personalities are very different though. (does anyone know about the color code? If you don't then I highly recommend it. It will help you SOOO much with dealing with other people and you family) Anyway, Victoria is a red personality and I am a blue. Both a strong personalities, but she is A LOT more vocal about her desires than I ever was as a child. Robert is a red... I wonder if he was like Victoria.


Anyway, back to my post. I love watching Robert interact with his dad. If you catch them in the right conversation you will see a mini me in them too. Robert's dad has a great easy going sense of self and he LOVES to tease anyone and everyone. He has passed that on to his son and his grandson is showing it too. Sometimes they will laugh the same and also smile the same (look at my last post with all three of them smiling- too cute).


Those who know me know that I love to scare people. I get the biggest kick out of scaring Robert. Ok, I really love scaring anybody, but Robert is my favorite. Kyle has taken that love too. He gets us pretty good. Anne and Victoria don't really get into it, but Claire has started to love to scare us. She is getting better at it. Her favorite place is behind my bedroom door and when Robert walks through she jumps out and says boo. Too cute!


Robert has always been really great at school and has a passion for learning. He has pasted that on to Kyle and Anne. Anne and Claire love to draw and create and Robert and I both love doing that. (Robert is really good at drawing portraits and I am more of an expressionist artist.)


When you look for a spouse you (mostly unintentional) look for someone similar to your dad/mom. You might think I want to marry someone who does this just like my dad or make sure that your spouse doesn't have that same flaw. For me, I knew what I wanted and what I didn't want and I chose very well.


We also look at our parents and say I loved how they did this and I want to do it with my kids or, again, the opposite. And sometimes you wished you wouldn't do such and such, but darnet, you do it anyway.


Recently I have been thinking about these kinds of things and also those hereditary things we pass on unintentionally. Robert gave Claire his blues eyes and I gave Kyle his big brown ones. I have thick straight hair and so does Kyle, Anne, and Victoria. Claire the the only one who has Robert's curl. She also got a lot of red from him and he got that from his mom's side. I don't know where her sixth toe came from- must be Robert-. Kyle has a dark patch of hair in the back left side of his skull and a huge cowlick on the top right. I think almost all of the boys cousins (and some of the girls) on my side have the same things.


I look at my mom and see such great traits from her that I wish to have and grateful that I have some. Such as her kind heart and patience for everyone. She loves to be crafty. She opens her door and does what she can to help those in need. I didn't get her height, but one thing I didn't really want, but got, from her was her nose. And she got it from her mom. Another thing I didn't want from her was her pain. She is a silent sufferer in a lot of things, but mainly her bodily pain. About 10 years ago she was diagnosed with a Spinal arthritis. There is nothing you can do, but manage the pain. She has gone through numerous pain medications and is now on a shot that works most of the time. It gets bad enough that she can't move her neck and has to be in bed for a week at a time. She will be on these medications for the rest of her life.


After our long tip to Utah at the beginning of November I was experiencing a lot of back pain. Back pain isn't a stranger to me. I started feeling it when I started Beauty School 12 years ago, but it usually stops after a day. This past episode lasted for weeks, so finally after I couldn't take it anymore, Robert insisted I call the doctor. The doctor, at first, blew me off with a pulled muscle diagnosis, but after the ex rays he changed. With a shocked face he came into the room and said that for a 30 year old he was surprised on how much arthritis I have on my spine. He wouldn't doubt that it is the same as my moms because it is hereditary. Ankylosing Spondylitis is the official name. As of now, I just have a really bad form of spinal arthritis and I get to manage the pain with medication and work on not letting it get worse. Sense seeing the doctor, I just have a tolerable pain daily, which is better than before. My days as a cosmetologist seem to be numbered. I am a little sad about this, but all good things have to come to an end right? On the plus side though, maybe I'll get a maid. -Laundry day is my worst day of the week- That probably won't happen until my hubby starts making a million or two, but a girl can dream can't she? :o)


Of all the things that I can and will pass on to my children I hope that this isn't one of them. I am ok with having my mom's nose and I would take her short stature if I could trade the pain. Do you think Heavenly Father would do that. I wouldn't want my sister's to get the arthritis though, so I better keep it. Heavenly Father only gives us challenges that he knows we can handle, so I know that I can do it with his help and Robert's. By the way, did I mention how much I love my husband. When I came home from the doctor with the diagnosis he just hugged me and laughed. He said that he would be happy to push his crippled old wife around in a wheel chair. Hey, that will be a plus to this too- I'll get a handy cap sticker which means better parking. Awesome!-