The truth about my blog name

When i was 16 years old, i saw this movie. An obscure flick... it wasn't even at the Warren, i had to go to the now defunct Cinemas West to see it. You can find a synopsis of it here And it struck my heart... the costumes, the story, all of it. Apparently, i am an incurable romantic. Poor Joe has seen it more times than he would care to.

Danielle (Cinderella) is an incredibly strong, idealistic, bold character, even in the face of adversity. She isn't passive, she sees injustice and fights it the best way she knows how. I love that she is portrayed as a loving and caring person, but strong.

In part of the movie, she is about to go to the ball and tell the Prince the truth... that she isn't a Countess, but a servant. She stands there for a moment and tells herself, "Breathe, just breathe." And that moment, became the basis for my blog, for the theme of my life, if you will.

Motherhood has been a strange, wonderful, exhausting journey. It has taken me places that i never knew possible, within myself. Places that i didn't know existed. Places that, had you asked me five years ago, i am pretty sure i wouldn't have wanted to go. And truly, it has only just begun.

Now more than ever, i have to remind myself to just breathe. When i am feeling especially overwhelmed or frustrated or joyful, i just have to take it one breath at a time. To remind myself that i am only going to have one chance to live this moment, this day, this life. To make the best of it.

My apologies if this is disjointed :)

Beautiful blanket!

I gave this blanket to my beautiful mother-in-law for Christmas. It is knit on size 10 1/2 needles in Knitpicks Suri Dream, which is a luscious Alpaca/ Wool blend. It is deliciously soft and warm!

It's just me

Sorry for no updates for a while. My camera has been on the fritz, so i haven't been keeping up like i should.

So all you have for this blog post is me. Sweet, little ol' me, in Idaho, with my three kids.

We are getting back into the swing of things here. My groove was off the first couple of weeks, but this week has been better. Which is good. We are back to baking and playing in the snow. And occasionally, trying out driving again. It is funny. In Wichita (which is about as flat as Teton Valley) i drove in the snow while we were visiting. And without snow tires, might i add. And then i come back here and get all clammy about getting behind the wheel. I have driven on it a couple of times, but for the most part, we have been hanging out at home.

It snows a lot here. A lot. Like, almost every day, at least some. I still maintain that i really love the snow... it is so beautiful. Not like stinky Kansas where it is dead cold and windy but not snowy. The kids play out in it almost every day, and they love it. It is almost up to Isaac's waist, so they have to kinda crawl through it. It is such a strange change after growing up in Kansas all my life.

I crochet! The woman that works Saturdays at the yarn store told me some time back that she would teach me, but i was just too busy or Joe was working, so i hadn't gone. But i learned this last Saturday. I think i qualify as a real yarn artist now.

Hmmmm, what else? Oh, Liam is a big boy now. He does things that kinda surprise me sometimes, because in my eyes, he is still such a baby. Like last night at dinner, he was sitting in his booster and eating his soup with a spoon extremely well. When i ask him questions, he nods his head and says, "Uh-huh". I am not so sure i am ready for the growing up. With it, i am afraid will come more adventure and trouble. He is already tiring enough!

They call to me now, so i shall go. Joe is going to look at my camera soon and i hope to update with pictures!

Other random pictures from Christmas!

The babywearing baby-sitter, my niece, Sophia. My sisters and i went out one evening and she so graciously baby-sat my little guy. I figured he would probably get tired so i left the mei tei. I am not quite sure it was tied correctly, but it did the trick.

Isaac and his godfather, Uncle Father Matt on Christmas. I wish i would have gotten one with his godmother, his Aunt Patty.

A Sullivan Family Christmas!

This doggie sang a song and his lips moved. Annika very deliberately sat down with it in her lap and then kept putting her hand in his mouth. She is so adorable!
My goddaughter, Teresa. In this picture, she totally looks like her mama.
Jude took a keen interest in me taking other people's pictures and let me take one of his!
Isaac and the obnoxious snowman (look familiar, Amanda?) It was really really loud, but all the kids loved it.
Grandpa and his twelve grandchildren. Liam was less than pleased about this picture, apparently.
Me and my lovely sisters. Since they are all taller than me and they were wearing heels and i was wearing flats, i stood on a stool.
Our family.

Fun at Grammie and Grandpa's!

It was so wonderful to see all our friends and families for the holidays! Joe had to leave earlier than i did, but the kids and i spent a lot of quality time with everyone. Liam liked his snuggly naps with Grandpa.
Issy chilling with her Grammie.
Silly Ise laying on my lap. No idea why he is sticking his tongue out.
Poor Liam got an ear infection the night before we got there. He didn't feel very good the first couple of days. This is him sitting in the highchair briefly the first morning, playing with the fat moose named Plumpy.
Liam playing with trains at the table. Once his ear stopped hurting, it became apparent that a house being "child-proofed" is different than a house being "Liam-proofed". He particularly liked to stand on the dining room table and play with the light.
Coloring!

We are adjusting to being back here. Missing everyone. I was having some "people withdrawl" symptoms yesterday, but am feeling better today. The kids are happy to be playing in the snow again... they played outside for an hour today. I am eagerly anticipating our next trip home (driving, not flying!) at the end of March.

My journey home... the long version.

Wow, what a trip! We went back to KS for Christmas, and it was quite the visit. Joe came back on the 26th and the kids and i were supposed to fly in on Friday. Supposed to.

I had a four hour layover at the Dallas airport and then was supposed to fly into Jackson Friday night. The kids and i ate lunch, hung out at a little play area and then walked to what was supposed to be our gate. No one there. I then noticed that they had changed our gate to allllll the way at the other end of the concourse. Okay, fine. So we walked to the gate and as i was sitting down, a gentleman said that our flight was delayed two hours and we weren't leaving until 7:30 (we were supposed to leave at 5:20). I panicked at the idea of having to entertain the kids for two more hours, so i went to the desk to find out what was up.

As i walked up, the fellow behind the counter said that they had just cancelled the flight to Jackson due to weather and that we wouldn't be able to leave until tomorrow morning. Oh, and we wouldn't be getting our luggage, either. Let me break this down: three kids under the age of five, 15 more hours until we leave, no clothes, no toothbrush, almost two thousand miles away from the hubby i was so ready to see.

Now, unless i am pregnant, i am not a huge crier. But boy, things were looking pretty bleak and i started to cry. I walked over to the kids and Issy asked what was wrong and i told her that we wouldn't be able to see Daddy until tomorrow and she started to cry. So i pulled myself together for them and tried to decide what to do. My first instinct was to just rent a car, and drive back to Kansas, but i didn't have any carseats. So it seemed that i might just have to rebook for Saturday morning and stay the night in the airport.

So i went to stand in The Line. Holy cow, i think that might have been the longest, slowest line. Ever. As i stood in line, i chatted with a lady behind me, whose name was Janie. She asked what i was planning on doing and i said i guessed i would stay at the airport. She had been on the phone with her son, who was booking her a hotel through priceline and she said she would call him back and ask him to get two rooms, one for her and one for the kids and i. She let me use her cell phone to call Joe (mine ran out of charge a week ago and i didn't have a charger with me). I got rebooked for a flight in the morning and we took the shuttle (and that was one scary Texas shuttle driver!) to the hotel. We had dinner with Janie and headed in for the night.

I got up early, showered and put on my dirty clothes, used my face powder and chapstick and wished fervertly that i had put hair product in my carry on. But, alas, no. And as vain as i am, it hardly mattered. Got the kids up, went to the airport, had breakfast, hopped on the plane. On the flight from Texas to Chicago, Isaac had to use the bathroom twice and i spilled a good portion of coffee on myself. But i had Liam's boogers on me anyways since i had been wearing those clothes for over 24 hours and he has a cold, so the coffee was a welcome change. Janie helped me hold Liam periodically when i looked particularly frazzled and was really good with him.

We finally got boarded on the plane from Chicago to Jackson that afternoon, and it looked like we might just pull this off. Issy had a meltdown about not sitting by the window, Isaac had a meltdown because he was tired (and subsequently fell asleep) and Liam had a meltdown because he was tired (and he also fell asleep). It was a bumpy entry upon our arrival in Jackson and i am not likely be travelling by air anytime soon, if i can help it. The kids and i have never been so excited to see Joe.

The Epilogue: I should note, that when i spoke to Joe on Friday at four, it was not snowing in Jackson. It was sunny, in fact. So the whole, "We are cancelling due to weather" story is pretty bogus. My plane was supposed to get into Jackson at 7:15 on Friday. The Jackson Airport landed planes until 11:00 that night, so there is definitely something stinky about that story.

There was, however, a snowstorm, that came overnight Friday. So we were the only plane to land on Saturday in Jackson. They made a big announcement about it while we were waiting for our luggage and i thought, "Hmmmm, if we had come in last night, it wouldn't have been a big deal"

My luggage wasn't there yesterday. I spoke to someone incompetant on the phone twice last night, trying to make a lost luggage report. They called me today and delivered it to my home in Driggs this evening.

As Janie and i were parting, i was thanking her and asked how much i owed her. She had helped me so much, i felt so grateful for the kindness of this stranger. She told me not to worry about it and just to help someone when they needed it if i got the chance. So there you go, folks. It was a journey to get back, but kindness and human decency does exist :)