Midwifing for Lena

Both of our cats were pregnant. Madorie was ridiculously swollen. So much so that she could barely walk. Anytime she'd come up to you, she'd want you to cradle her belly to take the weight off of her back. Poor thing. Lena was just as big--but not as much.

They had their kittens twelve hours apart. Madorie went into labor early in the morning on Tuesday. She finished up around 11am. She is the proud Momma of five healthy, beautiful kittens. I was at work, but Casey said that it was adorable! Lena climbed in the box and coached Madorie through the delivery and loved on her! Awwww!
Later that night, Lena went into labor around 9:30pm. She would not let me leave her side. Needless to say, I didn't sleep that night as I played midwife to a cat. Lena's first baby was a little difficult, but the rest came more easily. She finished up a little before 5am (I had to be to work at 7!), and is the proud Momma of four healthy, beautiful babies.
Madorie and Lena are wonderful Mommas! (Except they are paranoid and always try to move the babies every five minutes...so we had to lock them all up in a cage.) But they do the cutest thing EVER! They act like sisters that had babies at the same time...so when one gets tired and needs a break--she leaves the nest while the other holds down the fort. This gives time for one or the other to eat, take a nap, play and stretch for an hour or so. Then they'll switch off. It's pretty sweet of them. They are good kitties.

Now that Lena has had a litter of kittens, I want to get her fixed. I really wanted her to have babies before I got her fixed. I talked to the vet in town. Almost $100.00! That's nonsense! I wonder if you can Google how to fix a cat at home...?

Great Christian

When I first moved back home and started working on of my co-workers would ask me a "Question of the Day" everyday about Mormonism. He's a super awesome, sincere guy. He pastors over at a local baptist congregation.

A few weeks back he invited me and the missionaries to come visit his church on a Sunday evening to discuss our doctrines and beliefs. It was a really great experience! Mr. Bruce really likes our missionary efforts.

He's so much fun to work with! And I'm so glad that we can discuss any topic from a gospel perspective.

Mr. Bruce and I.

Thank Goodness I'm NOT a Single, Working Mother!

What a whirlwind weekend! I had to work, so I was staying in town instead or visiting my family.

Anyhow, earlier in the week my sister called me all distressed 'cause her baby's daddy was being a jerk. He's the controlling type--and even though they aren't together he will never help her out with the baby because he doesn't want her to have friends and go out and have fun. So I told her that she could bring my beautiful niece to me anytime and that I'd watch her.

Well, Courtney (my sister) picked THIS weekend for me to babysit Peyton (my niece). I had a few options for Friday night: I could go to a Scentsy Party...or have a friend over for grilled hamburgers and Wii goodness...or babysit 2 year old triplets with the addition of my one year old niece, Pey-Pey. I decided to take the babysitting job (on account of spending almost $100 to get my brakes fixed). The triplets were pretty good. Peyton, on the other hand, was not her usual chipper self. She was super fussy!

Saturday I was supposed to go to work at 9am to finish setting up at the fair grounds. But they told me I didn't need to come in since I live a little bit out of town. So Peyton and I stayed home--played outside, watched cartoons, played toys, etc. That little turkey was fussy and REFUSED to take a nap! I needed that nap too since I was going to be working until midnight! Well, she finally starts to fall asleep at 4:45pm. I let her take a little 15 minute catnap, but promptly awoke Sleeping Cutie so she wouldn't be up all night.

Peyton loved the playhouse. She went in and out of the door!

Pey-Pey frolicking in a field of flowers!

Emma and Aeris laying in the sunshine. Peyton fell over. She was searching for Emma's "Belly Butt."

Casey agreed to watch Pey-Pey on account that she's a really easy baby. But they had gone to some relative's birthday party. I had to be to work at 6pm. Casey called me around 5:30 and said that they were on their way home, but had to stop by a store because Emma was running a fever and throwing up. I didn't want to burden Casey with a fussy baby on top of her own sick child. Plus I was freaking out about being late for work. (Being late freaks me out almost to the point of hyperventilation). Needless to say, Casey walked through the door and I immediately exited at 5:57pm. I was late. Boo to that.

The Sleeping Angel I came home to Saturday night after work.

Sunday was pretty amazing. I don't think I listened to anything said during Sacrament Meeting. But Peyton was very well-behaved. I sat with Tracy because she has a two year old--I figured that would provide some self-entertainment for both babies. Good thinking on my behalf! ;) Peyton was also pretty good in Nursery. She fussed a little bit--but that's because she was tired and getting hungry...which is a good reason to fuss.

We went home, ate lunch, took a nap (hooray!), then played inside and outside, ate dinner, and took a bath before Courtney finally came and relieved me of duty at 7:30pm. All in all, I think Peyton had fun. I know Casey's girls loved having her! And of course, I absolutely adored having her...except that time on Saturday when she refused to take a nap and fussed all day long because she was tired...yeah, that time she could have spent with her Mommy! ;)

"Cheese!" Pey-Pey eating dinner!

Truth be told: I'm so incredibly thankful that I'm waiting until marriage to start a family. I'm so blessed to NOT be a single, working mother. Honestly, I wouldn't wish such a circumstance on my worst enemy (not that I have any, really)! It's super tough to try to work full-time...usually ridiculously crazy hours and juggle feeding, clothing, entertaining, and cleaning up after baby. Good job to all single, working moms out there who are still slightly sane and look good! You are incredible!

Drunken Philosophy

Ever since I could remember my parents have had get-togethers at our house. Be it for a special occasion...or no cause at all--people would come to our house for a cook out, karaoke, a game of quarters, Phase-10, Jenga--whatever.

"Mock" Zumba Session

I was askedto hold a "mock" session of Zumba. No one that RSVP'ed for the FREE class showed up. Except my buddy, Kourtenay. So she got a private one-on-one session of Zumba from yours truly! We sweated. A lot. Also, I may or may not have thrown my hip out of place practicing for this class.
P.S. Check out my super-duper cute new Zumba pants in the mirror in the background of the photo! They are aqua blue and yellow with long samba tassels on the butt and knees...with drawstrings at the ankles. I was pimpin' the LL Cool J style with one leg up and one leg down. I know, I know. I'm hot. At least I was after class! I worked us out hard!

B-x-R-x-A-x-C-x-E F-x-A-x-C-x-E!

I got braces last Tuesday! They were rather unpleasant, but I'm adjusting. A word of advice to weight watchers--if you want to lose weight, just get braces--you'll never chew again! ;) haha. I was swallowing yogurt and juice for every meal and lost four pounds in a week. But I'm slowly starting to chew again. My diet has increased to yogurt, bananas, noodles, mashed potatoes, and soups. Pretty impressive, I know. Next I'm bustin' out my Belgian waffle maker!

This is what I look like with the braces now. I only have the top row braced. The bottom row will get braces in a few months. I picked green rubber bands. For Zumba. For the month of March (I am Irish).
Anyhow, I took some before pictures of my face/mouth because they say that your face shape can change. So I wanted to do a before and after comparison of my face structure and teeth.

Here are the before pictures:
Obviously after pictures will follow in a few years! :)

Hibernation's Over!

Sorry to my faithful blog-readers who have been forced to take a sabbatical for the entire winter season. I guess I went into hibernation. Well, I wish that's what had happened. Instead I was busied with work, work, more work, and a little bit of work. Plus internet where I stay isn't of the fastest quality. For all intents and purposes, I live in a signal black hole. I can't get decent internet access. I don't get a cell phone signal. Kind of puts a damper on my technological sociality.

Recently, Casey (my roommate and best friend) got me addicted to 'Alias'. We obsessively watched all five seasons through the good graces of Netflix. The obsession is finally over, and we are carrying on with normal, mundane, everyday life. Hallelujah for DVD players and television sets. (We don't get satellite/cable either.) We have also spent a good portion of our time playing 'Just Dance' on Wii. It's tons of fun. There must be a dance craze in the exercise industry.

I've been Zumba'ing in up. Practicing up to three times a day. My six pack is actually making a come back which is timely for the upcoming swim suit season! Polly just finished teaching the Winter Session of Zumba. I taught my first class ever during that session. Brought back the stage fright that I suffered from in Junior High and High School. Practice will hopefully bring me out of my shell. I currently have about 45 minutes of music choreographed and relatively memorized for execution. I'm memorizing more stuff. Polly's 6 or 7 months along in her pregnancy--so Spring Session of Zumba is entirely up to me and any ounce of capacity that I may or may not possess. I'm really psyched out about teaching (in an anxious way), but our Zumba enthusiasts are very supportive. Plus it's me or nothing. [=

I have been toying with the notion of becoming a Pampered Chef Consultant. I never really thought I'd be interested in sales or having my own business for that matter. But one of my good friends, Tracy, is a PC Consultant--and she's super great at it and L-O-V-E-S it! I want to take it on as a sociological venture. It'll really give me the opportunity to dabble in a side of my personality (the fun side) that always gets punked out and suppressed by the tyrannical side of my personality (the workaholic). Plus I always feel a little awkward in social situations and settings in which I have no defined purpose. It's always been rather difficult for me to spontaneously have fun...solely for the sake of fun, with people I barely--if at all--know. Pampered Chef will give me the opportunity to dress up like the 'Leave It to Beaver' mom--in pearls, apron, high heels, and oven mitts (which, quite frankly--I'm pretty stoked about!). So I can totally play the part and be super-duper FUN! Not to mention I'll get to spend more time in my hobby of experimental cooking--also fun. Plus I have a purpose: sell great products so that my hosts and I can get free stuff (plus I make a little bit of extra money which never hurts either). All in all, I'm pretty excited about it!

Church has been going great. I've been blessed to be in southwest Louisiana where a whole two Mormons reside--so I get to do missionary work quite often. It truly is a blessing to be able to share the Gospel, bear my testimony of Christ, and enlighten others about Mormonism. Just last week, the pastor of Ludington Baptist invited me and the Elders to teach at his church. His congregation was really pleasant! Elder Adame spoke about our basic beliefs and doctrines focusing on the Restoration. Elder Green spoke about the structure and administration of our church. And I spoke about the three-fold mission of the church focusing on missionary efforts abroad. It was a very lovely experience. Everyone was super nice and gave us lots of compliments!

Since the new year, I have been a Primary worker during the second hour of church. And during the third hour I've been teaching the CTR 4&5 class. It's fun most of the time. But those little ones have too much energy. I'm not sure how much they really learn in class from all the cuttin' up and horse playin'. But I'm tryin' really hard to bring the Spirit to class with me! :)

About a month or so ago I was called to be the Ward Camp Director for the Young Women's Summer Camp. I'm pretty excited about it since I've never been to a YW Summer Camp before. Word on the street is that it's pretty awesome. I'll let ya know. :)

My family is doing stupendously! I haven't seen them as often as I'd like because I've been working on the weekends or babysitting. But I did get to go down last weekend for my Dad's birthday. I got my Dad some Pampered Chef grill stuff. He's really been wanting a fish basket for his grill (so that he can grill his fish). I also got him this really cool bbq turner/flipper ma-jig that is also a knife, a poker, and a beer bottle opener. It's pretty neat. Then I got him the 'Grill It Quick' recipe book. It was also the first time I'd seen my parents since before my birthday. So they gave me my birthday present--they got me a laptop for my birthday!!! I love it! So hopefully I can blog more. And do genealogy. And practice Zumba. And...well, whatever else it is that people do on computers. :)

For my birthday, my best friend and roommate, Casey, threw me a surprise party! It was awesome! We ate gumbo and s'mores brownies. We played Wii and Rock Band. I sang and the game told me I am "messy". Ahhh well. So I can't sing. And last weekend for my Dad's birthday, one of my other best friends, Kourtenay, came and spent the night with me. It was so much super-duper fun! I felt fifteen again!

My nephew, Landen came to spend the night with me a few weekends ago. I really had a lot of fun with the little guy. I sure did miss him when he left. I was even able to bring him to church with me which was such a treat to see him feel the Spirit. This past weekend at my parents' I spent a lot of time with Peyton. The minute I walked in the door she didn't want her mom anymore--it was all Aunt Sondra! The little monkey is getting so smart. She does this new thing now which is quite hilarious: whenever someone squats down and their butt crack hangs out--she'll stick her finger down there and holler, "CRACK!!!" It's pretty funny. She's great entertainment.

Work...ah, work--how it consumes my life! Since the new year two people were laid off. Then another person quit...then another person went out of country for a family crisis. Four people short helped me 'inherit' lots of new responsibilities at work. Things are finally starting to settle down a little bit--but this week is Spring Break which means all of the kids are out of school and spending their break at our facilities. We took them swimming at Ft. Polk's covered pool on Tuesday. Today they went to Gone Wild Safari in Alexandria. I start teaching the Spring Session of Zumba on Monday. We are also going into our fifth week of the Nurturing Families Program--I teach the children's component of the program. Before we know it the seasons will change and job responsibilities will shift again. In a few weeks I'll be getting re-certified as a lifeguard because this summer I'll be managing the public pool. Needless to say, my job keeps me on my toes! :) Which is good...most of the time.