September Gemma-isms

I really hate the term "terrible two's". I get that there are toddlers out there who may deserve this title but I certainly do not have a terrible anything at my house! Does G have her toddler difficulties? Absolutely. She never met another toddler...or dog...or mom she didn't love to hit. But for all the times she throws a shoe at me there are seven other things that make up for it. In reality don't we all have our vices?

Some of my favorites about G this month are as follows.

G is a very busy girl but somehow has found even more ways to be busy. This month her words really boomed. she will repeat anything and everything we say.
Some of my favorites are:
yeah baby: me-G want to go on a walk?
                  G-yeah baby
cinderelllala
jersey
what's this
I come? me-I'm going to the bathroom
             G- I come?
dance- she holds out both of her hands and wants to rock back and forth like in junior high but I will get into the dancing later
Hands? G-hands mum? she wants to hold hands 24/7 it is the best thing in the whole world.   

She did lots of mess making including destroying four MAC lipsticks but she did it the name of beauty so I'll move on eventually. She is really into her hair and makeup and clothes...she is pretty well rounded but there is a very strong girl side in there. G loves hunting for bugs and collecting rocks but all while wearing a bow of her choosing and an accessory or two. Everyday she checks out my earrings. After a thorough investigation she says "so pretty". I'm on the verge of taking her to get hers pierced but then I remind myself she will cry really hard and then I'm good with waiting.

Her latest obsession is taking a bath while watching Cinderella. It is her favorite thing and wants to do this two or three times a day. It is seriously cute. She wants her nails painted a few times a day as well. How does such a tiny person have so many opinions and know what she wants? It boggles my mind. My dad says it is Karma but I mean come on child! When bedtime rolls around I am usually over letting her choose out her perfect pajamas. My sister gave her some pajamas with black poodles on them and if they are dirty all hell breaks loose till I can distract her.

We are still taking Gemma to horse riding lessons and she is still smitten. I wish I could take her everyday...mostly selfishly as I would love to ride everyday as well. I will not live through my child I will not live through my child...please choose to be a trick/barrel rider all on your own!

OK so the dancing. She dances all day long everywhere we go and demands music and dancing at least twice a day. Long before Greys Anatomy I started "dancing it out". Bad day? dance it out. Good day? dance it out. Boy problems? dance it out. Sooooo much homework? dance it out. Dancing it out is on the top ten list of my life philosophies so the fact that my child wants to dance it out with me might have made me cry the first couple times. But I got it over it real quick as we were too busy dancing it out.

She is my absolute joy and I love spending my days with her. Heaven help us when it snows and stuck inside more often than not. She would play outside all day if I let her. My main grievance is that every time she wakes up  she seems older and looks less like a baby.

Day-th, Doth, Die-th

"A Daith piercing is an ear piercing that passes through the ear's innermost cartilage fold, the crus of the helix. In most areas this piercing is pronounced "day-th" although the proper pronunciation is "doth" rhymes with "moth"."

***I have spent the last 30 minutes researching the etymology of the word Daith and come to the conclusion that it is simply a Piercers term. ....Gemma is sleeping so what else do I possibly have to do? ***

After a year of deliberating, researching, and talking to piercers, acupuncturists, and experienced friends...or the random stranger down the makeup aisle at target...I decided to pierce both of my ear's Daiths. I am writing this post for the friends who are curious how it is going and for anyone curious about Daith piercings.

I have had migraines ever since I had Gemma. At least one a week. Now I say this feeling guilty because I have two sisters who have incredibly intense migraines and have suffered for years. I am not quite on their level of superhuman. I literally don't know how they live sometimes. However, I have these migraines and after two weeks of a consistent migraine I got in the car and drove to a Pierce shop I had been researching and pierced my ears. DJ pierced my right side first and I kid you not it was as if the right side of my brain, neck and spine took a breath. He then pierced the left side and I had the exact same brain breath. I laughed and I may have even cried a little bit. As we drove home I came to the conclusion that I have had a headache everyday for my entire life. I had never felt so clear, so pain-less, so awake.

It has been a full a month since and I have had exactly one headache since. Not migraine...headache. Curable with some Excedrin and a coke. Lasted maybe an hour. THAT IS IT! But wait there's more. Ever since I can remember I have had nightmares almost every night. Some aren't so awful but others have made it impossible for me to sleep, or want to sleep, or stay asleep. I believed that I had an over active semi dark Hitchcock-esque brain. As stated before it has been a month since my piercing and I have not had a nightmare since. I have had comical dreams, weird dreams but nothing that woke me up or fueled my insomnia. This has been my favorite part of my new bling. Words cannot adequately express the relief this has brought into my life.

So not only are my headaches and migraines gone, so are my nightmares. So dear friends if you are considering this piercing for migraine relief...give it a try. If it doesn't work for you then you can always take them out. I am aware that there is no science behind piercing your daiths, no Doctor stamp of approval but I am living proof that it helped me. I was at my Dr's office a few days ago and he noticed my ears and he mentioned that he has had several patients try the same thing and had similar success. PS I love my Dr. He is the best Dr. I have ever had. Whatever he says is gospel.

As most of my three readers know (Hi Mom and Dad!) I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints aka Mormon. We believe in modest dress which includes one set of earrings for women. However upon further investigation there is a "but" to this rule.

"Latter-day prophets strongly discourage the piercing of the body except for medical purposes. If girls or women desire to have their ears pierced, they are encouraged to wear only one pair of modest earrings." (https://www.lds.org/manual/true-to-the-faith/body-piercing?lang=eng)
I consider Migraines to be under the category of Medical Purpose. If you believe otherwise please contact either of my sisters or google symptoms and side of effects of migraines. I do not think I am less of a member or at fault for this. I am a better wife, mother, person sans migraines. I have more peace without nightmares. This was a good move for me.

Anyway...this concludes my bla bla on my current life choice. If you have any questions or would like to hear more bla bla on this topic call me up!

ps Yes I do believe my cool factor has gone up significantly since ;)

Summer 2012

My mom is a Canadian. She loves the trees and the mountains and white Christmas's. It still stuns her that she has two Arizona daughters who admire cactus, love the heat, and live for the summer....well at least I do! I wait around for the summer all year. There is something so magnificent about sun soaked days, summer storms, popsicles and endless afternoons of swimming.  My parent's always supplied fabulous summers. Now that I have my own family and I'm in charge I once again long to be the kid again! Mom's don't get a break. However, we had a wonderful summer. We road-tripped, flew on a few planes, swam as often as we could, ate an endless supply of popsicles, and managed to keep Joe home for summer's entirety. 

If You have met Gemma then you know that within five seconds of meeting her she will mention horses. We talk about horses all day. This obsession has been going strong for about a year now. So to humor her horse loving soul we took G to several rodeos this summer. She LOVES the barrel racers, does not like the cattle roping, and cheers on cue as loud as any full grown drunk adult. Joe and I loved watching Gemma love the rodeo. I would have to say that was the highlight of my summer.

After two months of almost consecutive travel, Gemma and I decided to join Joe on his work trip to Tennessee. This was a learning opportunity for me. In the past when I travel I do not make a day to day plan. Wandering a new city and playing it by ear is all the fun right? Well, when you have a toddler who needs to nap and eat all the time this just isn't possible. So note to self...next time we travel to a new place I will write out a day to day schedule complete with restaurant options. We really did have a spectacular time and ate all the things southern. The highlight for me was to be able
to see my friend Erin in a wedding dress. We sold enough of them together and had been there for each other's college high and lows so this was a really important event for me. You know those people that you can go years without seeing, but when you do see them its as if nothing has changed? that's Erin. She had a beautiful reception at a lakeside mansion complete with fireflies. Not sure who loved the fireflies more....me or Gemma.

Gemma is a fish. She would swim all day if I let her. My sister would make sure to invite us every time she went to the pool (because I live in Utah now and it is NOT normal to have a pool in your backyard) and G really had no fear this summer where the pool was concerned. She wore a life jacket and followed her cousins around that pool for hours. Next year I think she will need some formal lessons and possible and introduction to Synchronized swimming.

My beautiful baby turned 2. I do not feel I was adequately warned that my baby would get so big so fast. She is smart, fiery, curious, has an excellent slap, loves animals and books, loves to dance. She is quick, outdoorsy, loving, and I adore all the things that make her up. I wouldn't mind freezing her as she is now...but I am curious to watch her grow up.

Every time Summer rolls around I go Straight into Lakehouse mode i.e. buy every single book in my Amazon cart because obviously I will soon be headed for my Aunt and Uncles Lakehouse in Canada where I will spend a month lying on the dock reading a new book everyday. Someone asked me recently where I go to find peace and without hesitation I said the lake house. I haven't been in years but I can close my eyes and see it and smell it and I'm instantly happy.  Well this summer I once again did not go to the lake house and had to remind myself that pleasure reading time comes hard these days. I did manage to read a few books. My favorite by far was the Rent Collector by Camron Wright. I had been wanting to read this book for a while but when I finally picked it up and read the back I really wasn't sure why everyone was raving about it. However, I opened it and read three pages and didn't put it down till I finished...literally. Ultimately the story is about a young mother living in a garbage dump in Cambodia trying to keep her infant son alive. She discovers someone in her life can read and begs her to teach her how to read as well in the hopes that she will be able to someday teach her son to read thereby...changing his fate. When I was 16 years old the boy I was dating told me I was stupid because I read. To this day I am not sure what his intentions were. Why he chose to spit that stupid all over my face is beyond me...because if there is one thing I know for certainty it is that reading can only make you smarter, happier, and better. Anyway...this book had me connecting with it on so many levels. I read the whole thing with a highlighter.

Summer is ending and I am ready for a beautiful Utah fall. The magic of summer lives on into adulthood. Every year I think Maybe I won't feel it this year. Perhaps I am over summer...But nope. Summer 2017 was wonderful and new. Just as Summer always should be.