My baby is legal (at least in Alberta!)

**I would just like to say that I realize this sounds a bit like a eulogy, but it is hard not write in past tense when you are going back 18 years!!**

18 years ago today I was in the greatest pain of my life, not a drug to be had (I still think they did on purpose, as a hard lesson for a young girl to learn), with two hours of intense pushing, she arrived... my beautiful, wonderful, lovely little girl!  Natalie Elizabeth was born on October 27, 1993 weighing in at 7lbs 11 oz.  She was the talk of the high school that day! LOL 

I was very young, 16 years old, but I had the incredible support of my amazing family and I knew that with that, we would be just fine! 

Natalie was quite an easy baby, and even though we have had our moments, she has continued to be an easy child all the way through!  Natalie was never a girly-girl, HATING the colour pink and never really playing with dolls; Her favourite toys were dinosaurs and horses and by the age of three, she knew how to pronounce the name of any dinosaur that ever roamed the earth!  Natalie's very favourite dinosaur of all was the big purple kind...Barney!  She was obsessed with him and anything to do with the show!  I can't tell you how many times I had to hear that song..."I love you, you love me, we're a great big family..."!  There was nothing more important in her world than Barney...well, except maybe Pops!!  Pops is the name my step-dad, Pat, acquired when my nephew, Avery, was little.  My children have never called him anything but Pops!  Pat and Natalie have a very special relationship, probably in my opinion the most important to her.  When Natalie was a baby, Pat took the night shift, getting up in the middle of the night with her, feeding, changing, burping, rocking!  He played such an important role in her life and bonded with her like nobody else was able to.  When Natalie graduated, we were asked to have someone important in their life write them a letter, and I never thought twice to ask Pat to write that important letter to her. 

Natalie started kindergarten young, as an October baby, she was only 4 years old going in, and to this day it is the biggest regret of my life.  She struggled through a lot of school, but the one area she never did struggle with was reading! She was reading shortly into Kindergarten and that was always her strongest attribute in school!  In grade five she was tested for her reading level and she was at a University level!  School was not always easy for Natalie, but this past June she graduated from grade 12 and it was such a proud moment in my life!

Dinosaurs were not the only animal she has loved!  Horses have been her biggest passion in life!  She has always loved horses and had the chance to start riding when she was about 8 years old.  She took lessons in Lloydminster at a stable and when she turned 9, she joined the Vermilion Light Horse 4-H Club.  She rode her Grandpa Scott's horse, Drifter, for quite a few years until she had the chance to use a very special horse named Jett.  Jett belongs to my Aunty Barb and Natalie has had the opportunity to ride Jett for a few years now.  Natalie and Jett have a very special connection, as did Drifter and Natalie.  I know horses will always be a part of Natalie's life and I hope that one day in the future she will have the chance to have a horse to call her own!

Today I will watch my daughter blow out the candles on her 18th birthday cake and with that in mind I will send her off into adulthood with a list of 18 things to always remember...

1. Always be kind to others
2. NEVER DRINK AND DRIVE
3. It's never too late at night to call your mother
4. Respect yourself
5. Follow your dreams, but live in reality
6. Always keep a few Aerosmith songs on your playlist
7. Don't give yourself to just any old boy
8. Pay your bills on time
9. It's okay to eat dessert first
10. CLEAN YOUR ROOM
11. Always listen your instincts
12. Do not wear too much make-up
13. Remember that you are beautiful
14. Remember your little sister and brothers are still looking up to you
15. Always use your manners
16. NEVER DO DRUGS
17. Always be yourself
18. Life's a Journey, Not a Destination

We love you so much Natalie, we are here for you every step of your journey!

Happy Birthday!

SJ




Some of these pictures have been scanned (and I am not very good with technology!), so a few of them seem a little off kilter!

Going home from the hospital

About 6 months old

My very favourite picture of Natalie!

2 years old

Grade 4

Getting ready for a riding competition (about 12 years old)

Natalie & Jett at 4-H Expo



Going for her interview at Boston Pizza

Grad 2011

Grad 2011

Oops, I did it again!

There are those days in my life when I think the day is going well enough to take my children out in public, but then I do it and I remember why I don't do it very often!!  I had absolutely nothing going on today and I even slept in until 8:30 a.m.!!  The first indicator of what was to come was the fact that Grace was up before me...bad sign!  Since I had nothing to do today and Greg was going out of town, I decided it would be a very good day to take my kids to the store to buy the boys new winter boots...and to go to the hardware store to pick out paint colours for their bedrooms.  Since I am one of those mothers who believe it is very important for children to have input and choices in their world (not huge life changing choices, but choices like paint colour), I decided to leave it completely up to them as to what colour their bedrooms become!  We are having a friend of mine sew some curtains for Mark's bedroom, so I have to see what colour they are going to be (because I let my friend pick out the material) before we pick out paint, but the colour Mark really, really wants is called Wasabi and it is VERY, VERY bright green!!  Grace picked out a very lovely shade of purple and Will had a very hard time deciding on the perfect colour...blue, red, orange, brown, red with orange and blue polka dots, orange with red and brown polka dots...oh, to be three again!  In the end he decided he really, really wanted brown and picked out a nice shade (Mark calls it "Chocolate Bar") and once we get it on the walls I plan to buy some red and blue and maybe orange polka dots to add to the room!  I also bought a nice blue for our main bathroom.  I am not even close to being ready to paint any room and after the day you are about to hear about, it is going to be a few weeks until these rooms look any different!

I really should have listened to my gut and left Grace at home with Natalie, because we hadn't even left the driveway when she started screaming!  I think the first time was about the fact that Mark was touching her.  I told her that I would leave her at home if she didn't smarten up...I should have followed through!  We stopped at the hardware store first and ended up staying there far longer than planned because as soon as we started looking at the paint chips it seemed like all of Vermilion had the same idea!  We had one can tinted when natured called and we all had to go and find the bathrooms!  By the time we got back to the paint area there was a slew of people having paint mixed and since we still had three cans to mix, we had to wait in line!  Apparently hardware stores aren't very exciting for kids!  Mark bugged Grace, Grace whined; Grace wanted to play with Will, Mark all of a sudden wanted to play with Will; I gave Mark my phone just to shut him up, they all wanted my phone!!  I tried to trick them into searching the store for garbage cans but they wouldn't fall for it!  I tried everything!  I guess the lady mixing my paint has seen far worse because she gave my kids balloons because they were "so good"!!  It seemed like forever we were in there and I was ready to go!  By the time we left, my kids were starving!  We went over to Subway to get some lunch and when we walked into that building it felt like we just crossed the border to Mexico!  Here is a little tidbit of info you may not know about me - I HATE the heat, no matter if it is natural heat of forced heat!!!  Apparently, the air conditioning is not working, and it was HOT in there!!  My kids all stripped their jackets off and Grace just kept saying to me: "I'm sooooo thirsty"!  We got out of there as fast as humanly possible and found some benches down the street to eat on.  Will took his sweet time eating his sub and chips and after about 20 minutes of sitting on a bench outside I had to tell him to wrap it up so we could keep going on this adventure of ours!  I guess I should have given him a few more minutes because as soon as we got back to the vehicle to wash Doritos and mustard off my children's faces, a guy walks up to me and says: "Excuse me Ma'am, but one of your kids hit my truck with your door"....are you freakin' kidding me???  I went with him as my Dorito faced children stood on the sidewalk and I rubbed and rubbed his truck with the sleeve of my jacket!  I think he could tell that I was about to the boiling point and I might just snap at any moment so he said it didn't look too bad and not to worry about it!  Once I rubbed it, there really wasn't much of a mark on it.  Our next stop was the department store where we had to buy the boys some boots.  I let them pick out their boots, and as Mark was trying his on, Will decided to play a game of hide-and-seek in a small town department store!  After finding him and threatening him with a spanking if he didn't stop hiding, I sent them downstairs to the toy department...and told them very firmly NOT to ask for a single thing down there!  Once I had paid for the boots and got the kids back upstairs, we headed next door to the drug store.  Will was making an old lady laugh as he was dancing and giggling in front of the securtiy camera, because he could see himself on the monitor!  The kids all tried on Halloween masks, I picked out some Halloween candy for the big day and took the kids to the front of the store to pick out their treats; Mark found his quickly and so did Will, but my sweet, sweet Grace just couldn't find what she was looking for!  I finally had to give her a five second warning to pick something fast because there were other customers waiting, so she picked out some chocolate covered raisins.  We all headed out of the store after one more jig in front of the security camera and walked down the street to our vehicle.  All three of the kids had to sit in the same row today because I had the third row put down and of course there was a whole lot of fighting and screaming as Grace tried to get her seatbelt done up with her big brother just inches away from her!  I think she managed to reach a new note today with her high pitched scream!  As we were driving home, just a few seconds after she had buckled in, she let out a blood curdling scream and didn't let up until we pulled into the driveway...she spilled her chocolate raisins!!  It was one of those moments in life that I actually envisioned what it would be like to just pull over and either drop her off on the side of the road or for me to just simply walk away!  Of course I am not insane, just a little touched, but I would never actually do it...just fantasize about it!  When we finally got home I gave her four little Halloween chocolate bars to make up for her spilled raisins, because even though I have no problem with my children eating food off of the floor, I draw the line at my vehicle floor, and Wal-Mart's floors!  The minute we walked into the house I made her climb into my bed with her blanket and chocolate bars and turn the t.v. on, cause mama could take no more of her today!!

Now that my children have boots and paint, there is no reason to take them out in public anytime soon...except to trick-or-treat, but at least then they are disguised and me acting like a crazy lunatic is acceptable on Halloween night!!

SJ

Thank you...

It only seems fitting to talk about what I am thankful for this Thanksgiving weekend.  Here is what I am thankful for (in no particular order):

• my family
• my husband
• my children
• my house (the fact that we have one)
• my friends
• Aerosmith
• food
• my flabby body
• my kids school (and teachers)

I am sure I am missing some things to be thankful for (pretty much everything in my life), but I will tell you about the above list.

for some reason I have the next part highlighted...don't know why and don't know how to get rid of it, sorry!

FAMILY...

I got a big one! I am not sure that anyone of my parents or grandparents set out to give me such a large family, but here it is and I love it! I have two sisters, four (half) brothers and three step-sisters; 22 Webb (first) cousins, 14 Duguid (first) cousins (I think my arithmetic is correct on those), don't ask me how many second or third cousins I have! I have a mom, dad, step-mom, step-dad, mom-in-law, dad-in-law; I have two grandmas & one grandpa who I still get to visit with; I have four of the world's most amazing children (of course I am a little biased); I have two other entire families from my step-parents who have made me feel nothing less than part of their families; I have two entire families from my in-laws as well! (Are you still with me?)...plus everywhere I turn in my little town, I am related to someone!! Life is good when you have family around...my life is great because of it!

HUSBAND...

 You couldn't find two people who were more opposite than Greg & me!  We have worked out pretty good though!  I bring the loose, liberal, free-spirit parts to our marriage and he brings the structured, conservative, A-type personality to it!  We are like peanut butter and jelly, the two of us!  He loves me for who I am, what I look like and even for how much of his hard earned money I spend!!  He's a keeper!

CHILDREN...

What more can I say about my children than they are the most wonderul things that ever happened to me!?!?!  I have had children under my roof and in my arms since I was 16 years old and I can't imagine a life any different than that!  There has never been a job I wanted to do more than being a mother!  I will run through what I am most thankful about each one of my children...

Natalie: I am so thankful that even though she is turning 18 in two short weeks, she has not really given us too much grief as parents!  She may have a messy room and a forgetful mind, but we sure got lucky in the teenager stage of her life!  She has been a great kid and I know she will be a great adult!

Mark:  I am so thankful that Mark is a smart, artistic, sentsitive kid!  He loves his momma more than anything and even though he doesn't really like me to give him kisses, he still lets me!  He is almost 8 years old and I am so excited to watch him grow into the wonderful young man I know he will be!

Grace:  I am thankful that even though I call her a "diva", she really isn't one!  Grace is a 6 year old girl with very independent personality!  I know that she will grow up to be someones boss and I am sure that after she gives us a run for our money as a teenager, I will have no problem cutting those apron strings!  She will have no problem leaving the nest either!!

Will:  I am thankful that he LOVES being my baby!  I am sooooooo thankful that this little boy of mine is so perfectly perfect after all the issues he went through as a baby (you will read all about these issues on November 30, when I blog about his birthday).  I am so thankful for the funny things that come out of his mouth.  I am so thankful for the idea that he will never want to leave the nest...but I am sure if you ask me in twenty years I will be ready to push him right out of the tree...but for right now, as a three year old boy, I am so thankful!


HOUSE:  We live in a big, warm, not-even-close-to-being-paid-for house and I am so thankful for that!


FRIENDS:  I have the world's greatest friends!  You know who you are, and I thank you for being my friend! 

AEROSMITH:  Thank you Steven, Joe, Tom, Brad & Joey for coming together long before I was even born and creating America's greatest rock and roll band (and if you are laughing at me right now for typing that, just Google it...it's right there in black & white!); Thank you for making me the crazy fan who knows every little detail of your life; Thank you for my first born sons middle name (Tyler); Thank you for making my 30th birthday the best a girl could ever have; Thank you Joey for the drum sticks that now hang in my craft Aerosmith room that you passed to me and Amy at the very first concert I was ever at; Thank you Steven for doing American Idol so that the whole wide world can see why I have been so crazy for you for the past 23 years!!

I will take this moment to say sorry if any of my friends are offended that Aerosmith got a much longer blurb than they did...you know I love you too!!

FOOD: do I really need to elaborate?

FLABBY BODY:  I am thankful for this flabby body of mine because I means I have lots of food to eat! 

KIDS SCHOOL:  My kids (the two who are in school) attend Vermilion Elementery School (V.E.S.) and that is the school that I attended from grade 1 - 3 when I lived here.  It is a great school with wonderful teachers - one who just happens to fall into that "Duguid first cousin" category I mentioned earlier!  My kids teacher this year are Sandy Birch and Rebecca McCullough.  Ms. Birch is Grace's teacher (and was Mark's last year) and I don't think I could ask for a better grade one teacher!  She teaches the way that I think - no extra pressure on these little people...I love it!  Mrs. McCullough is the teacher who Mark wanted and got this year!  She is a lovely woman who is very artistic and that is exactly what Mark needs!  He came home from school with 4 thanksgiving crafts!!  She is right up his alley!  Mrs. Bonnie Bauer is the music teacher at V.E.S. and she has been teaching music there since i was in school there!!  She might just be the most wonderful human being on earth!  She is lovely, kind, sweet, wonderful!  I can't go on about the entire staff, so I will just say that my kids are so lucky to have such a wonderul school to call their own!

So many things in my life and this world that I am thankful for...those are just a few!

Happy Thanksgiving!

SJ

P.S. Thank you for reading my blog!  I am thankful to know that people actually like what I have to say!