Here are some more baby shower pics...
Jen and Ellie... and my Aunt Rita and Sue

Here's my cousin Lisa and her little Ladell

Candace is ALREADY back in shape after having her little one only a couple of months ago! And go ahead and COMPARE JESSI's tummy and MY tummy. Now mine is obviously bigger... but here is the kicker. JESSI is giving birth in like a WEEK and I've still got FIVE TO GO!!! Blast you girls that can get to the ninth month only gaining 20 pounds!!!

Okay I DID pull my camera out again after everyone left... Hayden and Colton wanted some "COOL" pictures of them making "SCARY" faces. And I can't tell two of my most favorite boys in the world NO... so here are a few of my fav's (out of about 60 pics- and yes that is exaggerated using the Wendi factor)

Then of course I realized I went the entire shower without taking any pics of my kid... so I snapped a couple.

She's doing her two most favorite things... playing the guitar and EATING... come to THINK of it... she DOES have a bit of Starling in her. (and half of mommy... I DOOO love to eat... especially yummy cup cakes- THANK you JESSI).

Baby Shower

Jessie, Susan, and Faith threw me a TERRIFIC baby shower! I didn't know that so many cute boy clothes existed and I had no idea how talented some of the ladies were. I got some cute, cute gifts! Thank you everyone that came! I took some pics of the first people there... and then started eating... YOU can probably guess that the camera never made it back out of the bag again once food was near my face. IT was VERY YUMMY food!

Here's Emily and Preston! And Candace and Whitney with their little ones!

And sweet Susan! Thanks for hosting the shower at your house. ON PROM DAY. Trooper Mom!

And my mom and Brooklyn

Faith, Emily, Jessie, and little Ella

WOW. Time to play catch up. (Don't worry... it'll be the abridged version).

SO... I went back to the doctor and weighed in at 143... (my trusty calculator reminded me that I've gained 35 pounds...) I go back to the doctor on TUESDAY with the comfort of knowing its CHECKING time. (If you don't know what that means... consider yourself VERY lucky... the doctor tries to grab your tonsils from the other end of the body.. in a nutshell) ANYWAY- I am NOT excited about that... I figure that I'll KNOW when Brighton's on his way out because either a ton of fluid will fall out of me OR contractions will hit and send me to the emergency room just for the epidural ALONE... so I've really thought about playing hooky and forgoing all of my apts until I go in for the finish. Because... they don't GIVE you medicine before they go to jabbing to Tim-Buck-Two with their hands and it is NOT comfortable! And I'm a little terrified... its worse REMEMBERING what it is like then going in completely oblivious. And all they can tell me is.. "Hmm... looks like NOTHING is happening... but the good news is... i'll be searching up in ya' again NEXT week!" ugh... I get a stomach ache just THINKING about SIX weeks of pregnancy. And SIX weeks of doctor's apts. And SIX weeks of WAITING for the inevitable... LABOR... I might need one of those RELAX pills. I am KIND of freaking out now that the end is in sight... Oh... actually... its FIVE weeks away. DANG! that means that Jesse's baby will be here in TWO weeks or less... funny. That doesn't stress me out nearly as much. lol

I feel so unprepared. We haven't set up Brighton's bassinet in our room. And I haven't taken all the pink ribbons off of the car seats and strollers. And I haven't finished Brighton's room...NOT that any of that is ESSENTIAL... it would just make me feel a little more prePARED.

You want a glimpse of what I HAVE done?? If you haven't heard of nesting... well... here's some pics that might demonstrate...

I tried to wait on Starling to help me... I did... but he's so busy and I'm so IMPATIENT and Brighton's so... ALMOST HERE that I just took EVERYTHING out of the play room and moved it to OTHER places and NOW I can see what I'm working with. A big ole' empty room. I'm now back to waiting. Starling has to put up the bunk beds and be my furniture rearranger so I can say, "Let's try this here.. NOPE. THere... NOPE move it there... NOPE... ya know... i liked it better the first place we tried it." And so on with the twenty things that need to fit up in that room. Starling did put up all the base board in the red room! and we've since moved everything back to its original position and I cleaned it up so its not looking a hot mess... BUT Brooklyn's room remains the same... I moved all her toys to the red room though so she has plenty of play space.

I've also been cooking! Granted... it meals like Pork-n-beans and weanies, corn (out of a can), green beans (out of a can), and mac-n-cheese (out of a box... and things such as THAT, but its a BIG step up from cereal! Brooklyn helped me cook stuffed crescent rolls... well... helped with the cheese clean-up anyway.

Brooklyn has also been begging DESPERATELY for some "birf-day take!" so I finally broke down and made her one... even though its NOT yet her birthday...

And... Starling bought Brooklyn the most WONDERFUL thing that can be bought for an almost two year old OBSESSED with going for a "ru-i-i-i-de" on her Daddy's motorcycle or four-wheeler... a HELMET. Starling gave it to her and told her that he'd take her on his motorcycle the next day when he got home from school. WELL he didn't get home until TEN thirty AT NIGHT (even though he was GOING to be home at SIX) and despite that little DARK and LATE factor... when Brooklyn heard Starling's motorcycle roar into the breezeway... honey, I've never seen such a scurry to get down from her booster seat and RUN as fast as her little chubby legs could go to find her helmet. She met him at the door with her helmet on her head, her hands raised high, and yelling at the top of her lungs, "HEY DADDY!!! WANNA GO FOR A RU-I-I-DE!!!" Like he could tell that little grasshopper NO... So I grabbed Charkley and we went on a little family ride around the neighborhood. (Yes. All of our neighbors appreciated it... the loud rumbling of a motorcycle going UP and DOWN the road ten times...). But it made Brooklyn happy and sometimes I choose her over other people... some STRANGE partialness... I don't know...
Isn't she cute in her helmet.. OH and her SHADES...

Morning Mourning

Isn't there some UNWRITTEN RULE about Morning Sickness? Like... once it STOPS it’s not allowed back to torment the prego again? I have started feeling nauseous again… and at first when I PROJECTILE vomited my breakfast across the bathroom three days ago, I thought… well maybe my breakfast didn’t settle well. .. (after all my breakfast was a banana and half a tub of chocolate chip cookie dough..). THEN when I got sick the NEXT day, I thought… hmmm maybe I have a virus… but I felt fine and didn’t throw up anymore. TODAY when I threw up I had that panicky… “I’m PREGNANT!” feeling… except that I’m already pregnant and I already KNEW that… (I guess my body has just been conditioned to panic at vomit in the morning).

It better stop. This SAME thing happened with the Brooklyn pregnancy. I was sick as a poisoned dog… then one day it stopped! And then I got so fat and uncomfortable I could barely breathe and STARTED throwing up again. I thought every pregnancy was DIFFERENT… mine hasn’t been different AT ALL. And that was my motivating factor in EVER becoming pregnant again. ALL the women said, “Just because you almost DIED of sheer discomfort with Brooklyn doesn’t mean a THING when you get pregnant again. TRUST ME,” They all said, “With my first I was deathly ill and I didn’t even HAVE morning sickness with my second.” Well, spare me all the encouragement if I ever get pregnant again. (And that is a BIG IF!)

I’d rather go into my pregnancy a realist, prepared to donate my body to a small mule that practices Conga on my insides around the clock. I’m going to go ahead and tie a black belt around Brighton when he decides to get up out of me. He’s earned it. As far as I’m concerned, he’s perfectly mastered the Karate kick, the jab, the chop, the twirly thing (I think my intestines got entangled the last time he did that), and any other thing that people learn at these self-defense classes to injure their Host, I mean opponent.

I just hope to have Brooklyn potty trained by this little Ninja’s arrival. She did very well today, having no accidents… RIGHT up until I posted on Face Book that she had NO ACCIDENTS. THEN, while playing in the kitchen with her magnets she called, “Mommy… I need to go potty…” I could tell in her voice, and her cowboy walk, that she PROBABLY didn’t need to go potty ANY MORE… I asked, “Brooklyn… did you pee pee in your panties?” Her little eyes wondered around the room for a bit, finally found my waiting face again, and she said, “uhh… yeah.” I said, “UH-OH Brooklyn…. We aren’t supposed to go potty in our panties. We’re supposed to go in the potty.” She nodded her head repeatedly… “don’t go pee pee in your panties, Book-lan… ‘posed to pee pee in da’ potty, Mommy.” And then I LEFT her in her nasties, to get a good feel of WHY she doesn’t need to pee in her panties, while I cleaned up the little puddle in front of the fridge. By then she was panicking. “Mommy, es yucky! Want off!” I helped her out of them and LOW and BEHOLD she had POOPED! (She normally doesn’t even poop in her DIAPER so I was NOT expecting that!) She was mortified when she saw the poop on her LEG. I was just trying not to throw up as I slung the undies into the sink for Starling to deal with.
Brooklyn got a bath after that and she was GLAD of it. She does NOT like being dirty. After she got out she tried on EVERY pair of her panties saying, “TOO big.” Then taking them off. Finally I said, “Then let’s put a diaper on your bum.” Suddenly her panties FIT and she scurried away. I really HOPE she likes panties again tomorrow. I NEVER know with that kid. She can hold her pee longer than I can. I pee three times before she has to go and I think I’ve been annoying the living squirrels out of her because I want her to pee as often as I do. I forget she doesn’t have something jumping up and down on her bladder. Oh well… I guess eventually she’ll just GET it. Hopefully sooner than later.

The Battle of the Bucks

I recently was in the process of chewing out... I mean having a DISCUSSION with my husband… about how to spend his paychecks. I know I lot of sexist men out there might be of the opinion that "He who makes the money dictates how to spend the money." WELL- it don't BE that way in MY CRIB." I want our house to operate something like, "He who makes the money, pays the bills. The LEFTOVER money gets to pay off big things like EXTRA money toward the house (so it doesn't actually TAKE us 30 years to pay it off) or toward renovating our house or SOMETHING that we actually NEED". I've created a list of things we DO not NEED.
1. motorcycle
2. ANOTHER four-wheeler (or the one we already HAVE)
3. Subaru, Caravan, Bronco, AND Altima. (We only need two.. preferably the Altima and Caravan. THAT way I can drive BOTH since the SUBI AND Bronco are sticks and Starling refuses to teach me to drive a stick)
4. TWO trailers (I get needing the double axel one- though our neighbor and Starling's DAD have offered to let him use THEIRS anytime... and we're keeping the little one bc it’s a good FOUR-WHEELER trailer??? oKAY...)
5. BowFlex (seriously what person ACTUALLY uses their home gym?? and where would we put it? Starling BARELY uses the gym membership he HAS and that's with FRIENDS going with him).
Those are just the FIVE things that popped into my head. (and the FIVE searches I saw on EBAY). There are plenty MORE things that we don’t need.
Starling’s JUSTIFICATION for buying ALL of his WANTS is: “I sold my motorcycle that I had and made a profit on it so I can use that money to either buy a bike of greater value than the old one- using the entire sum- OR buy several things with the money.” I think he referred to it as his “investment fund” that he keeps SEPARATE because the original motorcycle came INTO our marriage and he never “had” to sale it… AND while that appears to be PERFECTLY sound logic, I don’t LIKE IT ONE BIT! And so I decided to get myself a WANT list of a bunch of expensive, random, useless things I could just BLOW my money on… Amazingly… it was more difficult than I thought… I don’t really “WANT” anything. So I had to do some SERIOUS pondering… If I were to decide to sale the Altima, which Starling said I have every right to do and spend that money HOWEVER I see fit, I suppose I would just keep driving the van- only $1500 spent there, buy a Jacuzzi to go next to our gazebo (I found some nice ones on ebay for $2000), HIRE someone to do all of our landscaping instead of BIG OLE PreGO ME and busy out his wa-zoo Starling, pay someone to rip out our driveway and redo a DOUBLE drive and while they were at it pour a larger patio in the back, pay someone to close in the breezeway and renovate it accordingly… (WELL actually, none of those are really comparable because Starling wants all that stuff, too…) hmmm… I’m having a hard time coming up with something I could want that Starling would think is a useless piece of CRAP like I feel about his stuff… he’d like a Corvette or Jeep, or a tennis court, or a waterfall in our back yard, or a new fence… He’d probably have more fun on a giant Diddy Bops in my backyard than me… OH I KNOW! I’d turn our backyard into a petting ZOO fully equipped with goats, sheep, chickens, rabbits, ponies, and a baby elephant. And I wouldn’t charge ANY money for people to come visit. (If I charged money, Starling would consider it an investment and be happy about it).

April Fools

I woke up tired but happy and took Brooklyn to the doctor at 10:30 to get her shots. She was SUCH a little trooper. She was so polite and sweet to the nurses and doctors right up until they STABBED her three times in her legs at which time she looked at me in HORROR and SCREAMED at the top of her lungs. I quickly said, "LOOK BROOKLYN! You get stickers on your Bo bo's!!" Through her tears she perked up and said, "Lo-O-oo-k, mu-um-my... st-st-st-stic-ters..."

I felt so sad for her that I didn't make her put her pants back on. (Wish I got that option after visiting the GYN and them giving me a HOO-HA exam). I took her to get chicken nuggets and an icy and then we did some shopping. I happened to hear the words April Fools on the radio and realized with a start that "I," the Devious Diva, had not only FORGOTTEN that today was April Fools, but COMPLETELY shirked my responsibility to plan and execute the most AMAZING trickery on my unsuspecting husband. In a mad rush I racked my conniving brain for something good. "I'm pregnant..." over-used and TRUE... I wrecked the car... already used that one on a regular day... I got HIT by a car... already did that one (and the result wasn't that good...Starling left work and got really mad)... I got a new dog... not drastic enough...

And then it hit me like a splash of perfection in the face. I texted Starling, "Omg... have I got news for you... you are going to have to sit down to hear this." Starling, who is in class who CANNOT ever TEXT me back says IMMEDIATELY, "tell. am sitting." (ummm hmmm... and he says "I'M" the GOSSIP).
I text back, "I really don't think that I can tell you over texting. This is a face to face matter that concerns our child. Nothing bad..just... you are going to be shocked"
Starling:"okay.. you have me worried"
Wendi: "Like- I made the doctor TRIPPLE check kind of thing bc I was in shock." "Don't be worried. Be excited?? Maybe?? We'll talk when you get home. I'm going to die until then."

Again. Starling is in class. He CAN not EVER text, LET alone CALL. My phone rings IMMEDIATELY. I answer in a... probably choking kind of voice because I am trying not to laugh. He asks, sounding VERY concerned and worried, "Wendi, WHAT is going on?" And so I just went about telling him as if it were all true and very naturally spilled the beans...

"Well I took Brooklyn to the doctor and then we went to Target and stuff and then I had my apt. at 1:30... well you already knew that... and it was just routine checkup thing. But I told Dr. Carter that I've been cramping alot and she said lets just get an ultrasound just to be on the safe side." I pause for dramatic effect and to giggle into my sleeve. Starling impatiently says, "UH HUH?" And I continue, my voice cracking perfectly... "Well... the ultra sound lady tells me everything looks fine but she keeps referring to the baby as a "she"... and she asked if we had any names picked out and I said Brighton and she referred to the baby as a "she" again... and so finally I corrected her and said, "well we're having a boy" and she was like- um... "No... this baby is a girl" and I said, "NOOO its a boy. We've already had the gender ultrasound and was assured that it was DEFINETLY a boy. I have pictures!" and I crack my voice again, "And Starling... I made her go get my doctor and Dr. Carter looked and said it IS a girl... I just started CRYING... I wasn't SAD neccessarily but I was just in SHOCK and i kept asking over and over... HOW CAN THIS Happen?!? How do you mistake the GENDER?? We WERE TOLD boy... like the ultrasound had a PEE PEE!!" aND I take a deep shaky breath (bc I am BUSTING at my sides) "And they said something about little girls being swollen in their down stairs and it doesn't happen often and they are really sorry... STARLING what are we going to DO!? I have my baby shower coming up and how am I going to tell JESSIE that she just spent all that money on invitations for "Its a BOY" when there is no BRIGHTON! There... there's a GIRL in me!!?? And we don't have a name! I feel so unprepared!" And I finally take a long enough breath for Starling to speak. Except he doesn't. "Starling?" I whimper... trying not to let the grin into my voice.

"This.. this is insane. I can't believe this.. this is crazy... I've heard of boys being mistaken as girls but never the other way around... this is nuts... man..."

"Starling this is the most ridiculous thing that could ever happen! Why is everything bad happening to us all at once! Not that its bad- but its insane... are we like CRAZY WIERD Happening magnets?"

And then the poor boy starts trying to COMFORT me. "Well... these things happen sometimes... I just can't believe that... MAN... but it'll be okay..."

"I do not even KNOW how are parents are going to react..."

"man. this is nuts.. its so crazy... they are going to freak... this is the strangest thing I've ever heard of in my life."

(And he basically said that over and over in shock forEVER. Then he had to go).

I hung up and laughed. And LAUGHED. AND HAHAed for thirty straight minutes. He was in class worried sick over his boy turning into a girl!

He left class early to go to a closing and he told Ken, his broker, about it. Ken said, "yeah... I forgot today was April 1st." And Starling STILL didn't catch that I was yanking on his ear lobe.

He walked into the door and gave me a hug and then said, "Oh.MY. Gosh. You got me. This is April Fool's Day. I seriously did not connect that until right now. I can't BELIEVE you!" And then I laughed at him for another thirty minutes.

And NOOOooo, he didn't get me. And how could he? The master of trickery cannot be tricked.

Anger Management

I think I've already made it pretty known that I am a bit HORMONAL and that I have monthly nervous breakdowns that occur without too much control on THIS end. I like to believe that I'm going to AVOID it for the next month or somehow FEEL it coming on and STOP it... but I've yet to be successful for the last... OHHHH... FIVE years...

YESTERDAY was a doozy. SEE... I did feel the physical symptoms that I feel every month when the CRAZY is brewing all up inside my hormones. I woke up DEAD tired three days in a row... yesterday being ZOMBIE tired, but I had plans and had to keep them. I went and did my visiting teaching (HuRRAH- 100% on the LAST day of the MONTH even though one ended up just being a phone call instead of a visit...)and when I went home after 11a.m. I literally PEELED myself out of the van and BARELY crawled into the house with Brooklyn whining because she wanted me to carry her and I was NOT going to. I felt the ANXIETY I always feel when the CRAZY is bubbling about inside my head. I was overwhelmed by my "stressful" (stay at home mom with pretty much NO responsibilities) life. And my energy level was negative 1,092. I gave brooklyn spagetti o's right out of the can and turned on pbs and went to my bed. Brooklyn played very nicely with her toys and would come and climb in the bed with me every fifteen minutes or so and say, "Brooklyn es tired, too." and lay with me and give me kisses. She NEVER went to sleep, though. I didn't really get to sleep either because I had to keep an ear out for any crashing noises.

My mom called to see if she could get Brooklyn and I gladly sent her away to play with my mom so I could just GET through the inevitable. I was feeling proud of myself for keeping my cool (since that is the MAIN problem I have on PSCHO day... I'm like a snap-dragon being held on a leash made of rope. I tug at it until it SNAPS). With Brooklyn away and STarling at school... I decided I would be FINE. I wouldn't chew anyone out or tell Starling I can't deal with him anymore or decide to throw out all of Starling's clothes not put in the laundry... you know- the normal monthly routine...

WELL... I had barely gotten back from dropping Brooklyn off when I hear a gosh-awful barking in my yard. It wasn't Charkley. He was curled up on the couch. I try to ignore it. BUT- agitating things are REALLY hard to ignore when I'm on the RAMPAGE.. Normal annoyances are like NAILS shredding a CHALK bored so ACTUAL teeth gritting annoyances are like someone thumping your ear repeatedly after being told to stop 12 times. Then I hear a SCREECHING cat and I knew it was MY cat and I see my neighbor kid and some other kid I don't recognize in my yard. I walk outside breathing deeply.

A little brown weiner dog has cornered my cat, breaks through to eat her, she FLIES into Starling's SHED and the dog follows her in there barking frantically. The two girls are yelling, "Hurly! stop! Stop!" like he's going to STOP! So I go.. PICK the dog up by his neck fat and FLING him out of my SHED and go back into my house. My mind is RACING with NASTY things I want to SCREAM at the dog, but I'm trying to CONTROL my hormones. I let the girls take the dog to my FRONT yard, where they stop and play, and I go get my cat out of the shed and let her come inside because she's shaking and covered in dog drool. I barely set her down on my carpet when I hear that dang BARK happy dog go off in my shed AGAIN.

I walked out of my door, GRABBED the dog AGAIN, flung it into the little girl's arms that just HAPPENED to move into our neighborhood last week and this is our FIRST meeting, stuck my finger RIGHt in her face and said, "YOU better LOCK that dog up, NOW. If it comes into my yard again I WILL shoot it!" And walked back into my house. I stalked BACK to my bedroom practically shaking with annoyance and RAGE and tried to take a flippin nap.

I was boiling and my mind was too racey so I went into my backyard to move all of Brooklyn's little tyke cars back under the overhang in case it rained some more. As I am walking out, I hear the little girl telling my neighbor (the Dad of the neighbor kid that comes to my house every day) that her dog ran into my shed and that I told her I would... and then she SAW me. That girl shut her mouth and ran back to her friend. (WHO is STILL playing in my front yard). Dan, my neighbor, said, "What?" so "I" finished telling the story FOR her. I said, "She was just telling you how her dog attacked my cat in MY SHED and how I told her to lock up her hound or I'd shoot it." And then I turned to the kid and said, "RIGHT? If my cat is in YOUR yard, your dog can EAT her up. But when she is in my SHED, where your dog has NO BUSINESS EVER entering... I'll put a stop to it, OKAY?" And I walked off again. (You should have seen my neighbor's faces... Starling and I have told them I am crazy but I think they thought we were kidding).

So then I go back inside feeling ABSOLUTELY NO remorse (because I feel no remorse when I am on whatever level of NUTCASE I get to) but the rational side of me that is TRYING desperately to plead with my BRAIN is saying, "You should feel bad about that. How would you like it if someone told you they were going to kill Charkley? And she's a KID, for crying out loud. And it was a DANG WEINEY DOG! like even if the cat did get chomped by him, HOW much damage could he really do?" But I still felt no remorse. So then, I looked up and saw Jesus staring at me from the kitchen (where His picture hangs) and I decided I should pray until I felt bad about what I was praying for. SO I DID. And let me tell YOU- IT TOOK AWHILE.. but FINALLy I felt my nerves calm down a little (though they were still a bit edgy) and I heard some rational thoughts enter my brain. I decided to act on my rational thoughts before they turned crazy again.

I walked out my front door where the two girls were STILL playing and said, "Let me introduce myself as NOT the psycho crazy neighbor. I'm Wendi and I'm not going to shoot your dog. I don't even know where my husband keeps his gun and even if I did I have no idea how to shoot it. And I'm sure that your dog is just excited to see the new neighborhood and I just gave away a dog that acted just like him. So tell me your name." She's probably ten. She said, "I'm Haley and WHEW... you did have me scared there for a bit. But Franja told me you really like dogs and are usually nice." I smiled and told her I am nice 29 days out of the month, but once a month (at least) I go bizerk and she'd have to pardon me, but I'm working on it.

Then I told Starling what I did as soon as he drove up and he was trying to look supportive without laughing. I didn't think it was all too funny. Its always very disturbing to me when I can't MAKE myself stay NICE. He was probably thinking it was nice to have my BLOW UP directed at someone other than HIM, I don't know. So then I told him I wanted him to work on the pool deck and Gazebo and he said, "That's the last thing I want to do. I wanted to go pick up my new motorcyle." (He just SOLD his other bike for a profit so he could buy his dream bike). My blood kind of simmered than boiled in 2 seconds flat. I don't know if that had anything to do with my emotional state or not... motorcycle talk ALWAYS seems to do that to me. But having just told Starling I felt like an emotional rollercoaster.. and him seeing my eyes turn red and horns flip out of my head, he very quickly said, "Lets go work on the DECK! I was totally kidding about the bike. Really."

So we go outside with pen and paper and finish drawing our plans... or attempt to. He gets six calls in a row and then says, "I'll be there in 10." And then he's off to show some realestate even though he just got HOME. He says, "Why don't you ride with me? We'll talk about the deck on the way." So I do... but he was on the phone the whole time and then he took forever showing the house and then ANOTHER couple drove up and he showed them some houses. (I walked around the fancy neighborhood trying to exercise away my nerves and get some good landscaping ideas). He FINALLY finished and we went to eat at Burger King because apparently I'm addicted to that new burger on their dollar menu-I've eaten one every day this week- (even though Starling made me get a buy one get one free whopper). We saw Eric and Steph getting out of their car as we drove up. Ironic. I'm sure I was a super delight to be around. I ALWAYS am during my MELTDOWN days (which is why I usually stay LOCKED in my house and Starling takes Brooklyn to play ANYWHERE other than near me. BUT I felt like I kind of had it under control having prayed and all. Then Eric started talking about motocylces and I started wondering if Steph has psycho days, too. (By the look on her face, I'm thinking motorcycles strike a nerve in her too). I started feeling very anxious and irritable and dropped Starling off at home so I could go get Brooklyn. I prayed the WHOLE way to my Mom's and by the time I got there I felt capable of conversing without throwing flaming daggers.

I came home and asked Starling if I could tickle his back (which is pretty much equal to me asking if I can jump his bones- his two favorite things in life) since he had been in school all day and then had to work late and was now using his only freetime watching YOUTUBE videos on building a deck. I think his shirt was off before I finished asking him.

I then read my scriptures with Starling and Brooklyn, said prayers with them, and we went to bed. THE NIGHT ENDED without me DESTROYING any property, causing bodily harm to my husband, or making any permanent enemies (probably just weary neighbors). So... I count that as a successful day.