Happy Fathers Day

So, it has been 10 years since I've even had a father to wish a happy Father's Day to....and though that may be sad....to some....it re-assures me that I did have a loving and giving Father that gave his life entirely to me and my family. .... and now that I'm a mother, it means even more. I celebrate my dad and the amazing sacrifices he gave to me......he was the ultimate DAD. He sat through tap dance recitals, and softball games, and musicals, and late night wakings, and enveloped me in hugs in situations where I felt hopeless, and told me that I was special, and gave me things that meant the world (aka: when my curling iron broke before school on a Valentines Day and he ran out to Walgreens and bought me one when I needed to look "cool" at school) and believed in me when nobody else did, and was....the ultimate dad. How can I ever repay that gift he gave me. How can I ever live up to the legacy he left? I can only be the person I am today, because part of him is FOREVER in me....and I give it back, each day, in many ways....just as he did leave an imprint on many people's hearts and lives.....I can only wish I do the same thing.....what an amazing gift.

Clutter....

So, as I try to clean house.....I am amazed at the sheer clutter that is my life. How did I accumulate so much STUFF over my lifetime? I have no idea. I only wish I was the type of person that could simply throw away things like old birthday cards or old pictures taken YEARS ago that don't have much meaning anymore. I'm not that type of person. So, the clutter continues. I am in a purging mood, however, so LOOK OUT! I am going to try to become a minimalist. Good luck to me. And I need to still figure out what to pack for a week at the lake....that should be fun to do! Ahhh....

Almost there.....

Well, I have almost completed my first year back to work after having Jacob. I have 2 and 1/2 more weeks. Cannot wait!!!! I am looking forward to spending mornings taking walks to the park, days in the backyard in the kiddie pool, Target at 9am on a Thursday when NOBODY is there, having unlimited hours a day to spend with my little boy, and having 2 glorious hours each afternoon to myself! (That's assuming Jacob keeps his nap this summer!!!) I have had a great first year back to work and have really enjoyed where I am working and am looking forward to going back there in the fall but........LET THE SUMMER BEGIN!!!!! :) In 2 and 1/2 weeks.....

In Rememberence.....

Thought I'd share a little note that I wrote to my family, in honor and rememberence of my father, Norm Lundgren. I send a mailing to them every year on the anniversary of his death. This year, this is what I wrote......

"To live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die." ~ Thomas Campbell


Dear Family,

I cannot believe it has been a decade since we’ve lost our great father. However, as we know, so much joy and love has come to our family in these past ten years. A young, innocent 2nd grader has grown into a lovely young woman and will soon graduate from school. New members of the family have come to love and marry our siblings and become an integral part of the Lundgren clan. Two little boys have come into our lives and brought unexplainable joy and vibrancy to our family. Homes have been bought and sold and remodeled and built. Careers have been left and created and expanded and changed. Trips have been taken, adventures have been had, and lives have been changed. Loved ones have gone to share eternity with dad and join in everlasting love. So many events have occurred and so much has changed. However, the one thing that has remained constant throughout these past ten years is our unconditional love for one another. We may not see each other every day or even every week, but we always remember and we always love. How proud he would be of us. How happy we would make him.

Not sure if I’ve ever shared this story, but I’d like to. The night daddy died, I was in Rhinelander, Wisconsin out having fun with Scott just having graduated from college and making the six hour trip up North to see him. Around 11:15pm on Sunday, May 10th Scott and I were driving home from a local bar in Rhinelander when all of a sudden a lone deer ran in front of Scott’s truck. Scott must have been going 45-50 mph at the time and we slammed on the brakes. Sure he was going to hit the deer, Scott put his arm out in front of me as we braced ourselves for a collision. After the car screeched to a halt and we opened our eyes, we saw the deer “in the headlights” staring at us. Untouched and unhurt, but shocked and surprised, the deer simply ran off into the potato fields. We watched the deer running away and remained amazed that it hadn’t been touched. I have always remembered that exact moment on that particular Sunday night. Maybe it’s because I wasn’t there, in Naperville, to be with daddy, as some of you were, and it’s my way of “remembering” the moment our lives changed forever. However, I will always think of the day, time and moment daddy passed and think of that deer. The deer was not hurt that night, the deer was not in pain, the deer was rescued by something out of our control, and the deer was able to be free. I like to think that daddy is running free in the potato fields of heaven!

So, don’t be sad today as we remember our father, our husband, our grandfather, our friend. Be happy that he made us who we are today, as a family. He’d be so proud.


"What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us." ~ Helen Keller

Peave....

So, I don't understand why people have to make judgements or comments about how little or how much somebody's childbirth must have hurt. Especially OTHER mothers. Was at a party talking to a nice fellow mother and we were discussing our birthing situations (which isn't really necessary at social functions, but somehow it manages to come up). Well, I explained how I had a planned C-section because my son was breech. So, she proceeds to say "So, that was pretty much PAINLESS compared to my 7,000 hour labor and the fact that they had to give me oxygen because the pain was so blinding, blah, blah, blah and pain and blah and ouch and it hurt, blah" WHAT? Ok, yes, my c-section was PAINLESS....if PAINLESS means having your already stretched out stomach sliced open from hip to hip, having all of the muscles in your core torn through in order to yank out a 9 pound baby and then having your muscles and skin sewn back up and stapled together. THEN, you are expected to walk laps around the maternity ward of the hospital as you are told to "stand up straight" as the stitches that are holding your upper half of your body and the lower half of your body together feel as though they are RIPPING out. (Much like I believe it would feel if you were pulled apart by being tied to two vehicles....NICE) THEN, not to mention you are also visited EVERY 2 hours by a rough handed nurse who wants to push as hard as she can down on your already torn apart stomach to "check to make sure everything is okay". OH yeah, and you have to take care of a newborn through it all. So, yes, nice lady-mother-person at the party.....my c-section was virtually PAINLESS.

Why do people say some things? Ok, done venting. Sorry to have possibly convinced my friends who are not yet mothers to abandon the idea completely. :) Have fun!

I've decided that my blog should be called "Cynical Crabby Butt"

More hours in a day please

I feel like if I had 28 hours in a day, I could get everything done. Not asking for 30 or 40 or 50, just 4 more hours. And it would help if I wasn't COMPLETELY exhausted by 7pm at night. Oh alas. I also secretly wish I was one of those people that COULDN'T sleep and was up all night because I swear to God my kitchen floor would be clean and I'd get laundry done. Why do I have so much laundry for 3 people????? WHY?

Ok, done with that. Back to work.

First Entry

So,
As if I don't have enough on my plate to keep me busy (a toddler, my job, my house, my NEEDY dog, my NEEDY husband, my mom) I have to go and find Facebook and create a blog. Thanks a lot, Amanda! :)

Today we will be going to my nephew's 3rd birthday party. Finally got Jacob down for a nap after many attempts to lure me into his room asking for juice, milk, snacks, teddy, toliet paper, the lint on the ground, a spaceship, etc. :) Scott, Jacob and I will leave around 3 for the party, but only Jacob and I will return here tonight. Scott has taken up a new and bizarre hobby of watching Cage Fighting. Yes, Cage Fighting. You know the "Ultimate Fighting Champion" crap? Apparently it's LIVE and well in Joliet, IL. A friend Scott plays hockey with has a V.I.P. table at a fight tonight. Not sure I'd want to be a V.I.P. ANYTHING at a Cage Fight in Joliet, but whatev. I married a man that likes Hockey, Cage Fighting (a sport that puts two humans in a cage and lets them go at it) and Texas Hold Em' poker. NICE! God love him.

Well, off to clean my house before I have a few friends over tonight after the party while my husband watches two grown men beat the crap (literally) out of each other in a cage. NICE!

:)