nicknames

On Sunday night at dinner with the in laws, we had a discussion about nicknames. Particularly not so nice ones my husband and his siblings had given other children around the neighborhood growing up. :)

It got me thinking a lot about nicknames. Usually nicknames are given to you by someone else because they represent something about you. ie a hobby, skill, trait, quirk or physical characteristic. I have had a lot of nicknames in my life given to me by other people, probably at least one in every category. I have been given shorter versions of my name and longer versions of my name. I have been given names that rhyme with my name even.

But our conversation made me think about two names in particular that I have been given to me that like a lot of nicknames have "stuck" whether I like it or not.

The first, was given to me by my 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Steele: I remember when she gave it to me, we were at parent teacher conferences, and she handed my mom the paper with the words on it "princess of perfection". Now to a 3rd grader THAT is a pretty cool title, and I remember at the time thinking I was pretty special. But now that I am an adult, I think my teacher was trying spell something out to me and my parents. That maybe ALWAYS having an organized and clean desk, (I remember kids in my class asking me to help them organize theirs like mine) immaculate pencil box, (my markers and crayons were ALWAYS color coordinated), and cursive exactly like the examples, WASN'T always a good thing.

But who is going to seek help for the daughter that never has a messy room?

Fast forward 9 years, and I am about to graduate high school. In all my life I have NEVER been more busy, more consumed and more stressed than I was my senior year. A lot of kids tend to go part time their senior year, do less, get a part time job, you know that sort of thing. NOT ME. I was on Dance Company, on Drill Team, the Social Representative on Dance company in charge of all the parties, on the year book staff, in advanced Multi-Media where we competed and did big projects, not to mention I had all my other classes too, where I was determined to get a 4.0. and then there was all the other aspects of my life, boys, friends, church (in no particular order of course.) By the time I graduated high school, I had been given 4 academic letters and 1 athletic letter, and I was to say the least BURNED OUT. Anyway, I had asked one of my teachers to write a letter of recommendation for me and I remember reading it and going through it and was pleased by all the things she had said about me, and then I came across the part where she said "Amy is a natural born WORRY WORM" And I remember thinking WHAT? What is that supposed to mean? I was ticked. But my teacher was right, I was and still am, and always have been.

Anyway, neither of my names were terribly rude names, as like lets say "Baboon face" but I think they do say something about me, where my own "Achilles heal" is.

So lets fast forward another 9 years, and am I doing any better? Have I overcome my over stressed, overworked, perfectionist self? No, not really. But I am trying to be better about letting things roll off my shoulders. Those who know me are probably thinking, really Amy? Are you REALLY doing better? And I would say, yes yes I am.

One of my sisters said to me the other day "If Amy says its too much, it IS too MUCH"

I know I am doing a lot this summer, I see that when I talk to people and their mouths drop, or they say things like "wow, I don't know how you do it." Sometimes I don't either, and sometimes I have those days were I want to run away. I think we all do. But this is who I am, I enjoy being busy, I enjoy helping others out, I enjoy using my talents to grow and learn new things.

But my point to all of this, something that I didn't learn in high school, that I am TRYING to learn now, is that it is IMPOSSIBLE to be perfect. It is IMPOSSIBLE to do everything that is asked of us, or everything we want to do, so why try right? Because, all we need to do is our best, and the Lord can help us where we fall short.

Even if we don't get everything we think we need to get done, we don't have too. It hasn't been an easy lesson to learn for me, as I am independent and stubborn, but I am trying to humble myself and apply the atonement here in my life so I and those around me can be happier.

I'm gonna fro up...

Swimming lessons start tomorrow, and my stomach has been hurting all night. I just know I wont be able to sleep well tonight.

wish me luck, I am so nervous.

Don't forget to check out the posts below, I have been blogging a lot lately....

PLEASE PLEASE with A CHERRY ON TOP!

Ok folks, as MANY of you already know, sometimes I do things that are a little off, but sometimes these things turn out profitable. Like one year I listened to the radio every morning on my way to school just so I could win prizes. And I did! 12 of them to be exact.

Today is on of those days. I decided to enter my baby in a contest, and even tho there are a million other babies in the contest, stranger things have happened. When I did it, I got this adrenaline rush thinking "what if"! Even if no one goes and looks at my entries, he is still eligible in the cute one, but if I get a bunch of people to go view them, he is also entered into a popular one.

I have my heart set on it a little too much, I keep daydreaming about flying out to New York (a place I have never been) and spending a couple of days there with my family, and watch as people gawk at how adorable my baby is. I don't know it may seem really superficial to some of you that I am wishing for such things, but wouldn't it be so fabulous?!

And then you all would get your Parents magazines and see Axel on the cover in all his cuteness and can say "Hey! I know that kid!" SO, it's a Win Win for all right? Even if you don't know me and you stumble across my blog, I would greatly appreciate all the help we can get! Oh and if you love us that much feel free to spread the word too...

Anyway, I know its a long stretch and I know some of you probably have better things to do, but I am just asking you to go HERE, and take a look, click a "LIKE", and maybe make a comment or two on how adorable our Axel is... pretty please!

Thank you much!

nevermind (to be read in Eeyores voice)

To the post below, I take it back, I still DESPERATELY WANT that camera, but turns out my other camera is not something I would feel right about selling. You see we got that little SD card in the mail yesterday and it doesn't work in our camera, and its not because the SD card is a dud, you see a year ago when I bought it I threw my SD card from my other camera in it and had the same problem, so I assumed it was my SD card. So we ordered this one this year, because last year it just didn't work loading pictures over and over again.

Anyway, sad day for me, but I wont be selling that camera after all, and I probably wont be getting that other camera either. No matter how hard I try to justify that I NEED it, I really don't. Maybe next year!

ahhh I WANT THIS

I REALLY REALLY REALLY NEED this for my swimming lessons! I am putting it out there in the universe in case someone out there decides they want to give it to me...

I am also considering selling my other point and shoot camera (with SD card for $40)

so I can justify buying this one, I only took like 20 pictures last year with it so it really is like new (we bought it refurbished for 50 so it has a small dent on the front) It is just for swimming lessons. It takes really good pictures actually like this....AND we just ordered a BRAND new memory card for it that hasn't even arrived yet. 4mg, which I will throw in for FREE!

Anyone tempted?

our BIG weekend

Ok, so you know how you plan and you plan for something awesome when you have a big weekend, like lets say, Memorial Day? And then the universe throws a wrench in it and the whole thing blows up in your face? And you just are soo unhappy the whole time because of the expectation you had?

Do you get what I am trying to say? Well that was our Anniversary/Memorial Day weekend, and yeah I am going to say boo hoo, poor me for a minute, because we, ok so maybe I, REALLY needed it to be great. So thanks universe for NOT throwing us a bone...

Axel had Croup and was just miserable until Monday. I became his human pacifier all weekend long. And I say this because as much as I LOVE nursing and am so grateful that I was able to do so, last weekend was one of those times where all I wanted was for him to take a pacifier or a bottle. It was horrible, and really until you have that experience you really have no clue what I am talking about, nor can you sympathize. So don't judge me.

But we still tried to have fun... even with a sick baby. There was some fun sprinkled here and there. So in a way, I guess you could say our glass was half full, but in a lot of ways it was half empty as well. Despite our efforts to have lots of fun, it wasn't until about Monday, and then we really had fun. So here's to the glass being half full!

We went to the Zoo, and met up with Kassie, Jerome and Story. It was PACKED, and we packed way to much stuff, and I wish I would have left Axel's stroller in the car, because it really just got in the way and was only carrying stuff that we really didn't need anyway. We didn't need it because Kory carried Axel around the entire time anyway so he could impart all his animal wisdom on him. And believe me, this guy knows ALOT about animals. SO I basically just stood back and watched and lugged around all the luggage, as my husband and son spent the afternoon discussing animals.

Most of the animals were being lazy or they were gone. I was really disappointed that there were only 5 penguins, when last time there were like a bazillion, (yeah that's a number).

But Axel enjoyed all the Foliage ( I learned you pronounce it this way, go, HERE or HERE to hear the correct usage) He also really liked the animals that he could see, like the giraffes, the baby elephant and rhino.

Pretend that the big tiger is Celeste, and the little one is Zoe :)

Then after we went to the zoo, we took Axel swimming for the first time, which he loved! I wish I would have gotten a picture of him just chilling in the tube the entire time just watching all the kids swim. It was cute. If you were there you know what I am talking about.

Then we came home and finally watched AVATAR! I know most have you have already seen it, but we don't go to movies anymore because 1) people are WAY too loud at movies, and it drives us both crazy.(side note: The last time we went to a movie I was 7 1/2 months pregnant, and I got into a fight with a lady who would NOT be quiet, yeah I was THAT angry, and when I was pregnant I really didn't have a filter, if I was mad, I was not afraid to tell you so.) and 2) Despite my inability to control my rage when people ruin movies for me, its A LOT more fun watching movies on my big screen TV, in my skivvies while my husband rubs my feet, eating brownies and ice cream. My point, we finally watched Avatar, and it was really good. I liked it a lot and Axel went to bed peacefully that night. So good way to end our weekend. :)

Like the month of May, our weekend was "In like a lion and out like a lamb."

That although, at first it was really hard and really stressful, and it came with some major meltdowns on my part. (more on that another time) By the end of the weekend, everything was back on track and we had a good time.

Bum crawl

Today Axel learned that he can turn around in the shopping cart and it is a much more interesting view.

He also decided today that slithering on his belly, is not nearly as comfortable as it is on your bum. ( I am extra happy about this because I am tired of lint rolling his entire tummy)


I guess it's go go go from now on...