ONE CRUSTY MOM-E: Birthday Celebrations

The post titled Older Than Dirt, was sent to me by my dear cousin out in Arizona.
Although not all of these are true from my lifetime, they still bring back that certain memory lane thing.
(Remember, I turned 33 on Friday, so naturally not all of these apply). But for all of us, a reminder of memory lane, no matter what, is a beautiful thing.

By the way, CHERYL!! You are equally as sweet, as my dear friend Diane for the special, adorable card I received from you for my birthday, yesterday! I love your creations, you really should market your cards, they're vintage and nostalgic and refreshing with warmth! Thank you so much!

On a side note, I've been missing since Friday not due to all my birthday festivities, but rather I have had a little Benjamin sick yesterday, Friday.
Plans for Dinner at a restaurant called Wildfire were arranged with reservations at 6pm.
Santa Margarita Pinot Grigio was on the list of "allow me to sniff the cork please, and nod my head regardless, just pour me a glass so I can enjoy the succulent taste that it brings us, dear waiter."

Horseradish crusted bacon wrapped filet migon was going to be split by Bigdogg and I, due to the fact that I've put myself on a healthy kick habit, even Starbucks has been excluded.

Dressing up and nails done, was part of the plan for our date night evening, celebrating my 33, my lucky number, as I know this year will be a good one.

But with a burp and a vomit, you'd say "is his name, Chuck?" At about the ten am hour, Ben proved our plans kaput. His cheeks flushed with slight fever, where did this come from? So sudden and surprising, the birthday dinner that would never be, now was just something, nothing, it was done.

Guidelines to give to my youngest middle twenties dear sister who had requested to watch our three, were tossed in the garbage along with the wet towels and rags from the surprise that was given from my dear number 3.

I spent my birthday doing laundry, and washing the floors, cleaning up after the one you'd call "Chuck," especially after the items he left on the floor.

Reservations were cancelled from Bigdogg not I, for I had that lump, I was afraid I was going to cry. I knew it wasn't Ben's fault that he suddenly grew ill, but why oh why does it have to happen today, can't this happen next year?

I dealt with it and faced it, even better than my older two, for they were quite sad to hear that their auntie was no longer coming. It was part of her gift that she wanted to give to me, her oldest sister, a date with my husband, she pregnant and still willing.

My other dear sister (God bless both of them) drove 45+minutes to enter my home. She walked in for only one reason, for a loving hug and a kiss, her three little ones sat waiting in her white snowcap mobile. She brought me a treat, something she felt I deserved, a beautiful frothy white chocolate Hot Chocolate from our near by double d's (DUNKIN DONUTS). Oh was it perfect!

A beautiful present from my Bigdogg and children, as Sir Chuck the one that we call Ben, walked around at sunset with a his sugary cookie, you would call them snickerdoodles, I had baked them at noon. A snicker-doodle in hand, he appeared like there was never a problem, for within 2hours after that 10am hour, no sign of any type of fever, only had those three rounds of vomit from the 10am hour. The flush of the cheeks had returned back to normal, now just his precious pearly white skin shown at the then 7pm hour.

My parents stopped over, and played with our boys. They brought me a gift filled with scents and decor. A softened gaze from my dad, his eyes oh so tender, as he looked down at me, his frame beyond 6ft 7. A happy Birthday to me, they both said so sweet, and then we spent time talking in our family room, how neat!

A ring of the our chimes, it was my dear friend, Kina, she had stopped to give me a hug, to tell me to hang in there. A purple bag in her hand, she passed it along to me gentle, A passion red candle with a hurricane vase, was a beautiful gift that she gave to me, the one whom she calls a good friend. A dear friend is she for taking the time to remember, a drive to the store, just the thought was what mattered.

A gift again as I said above, from my dear Bigdogg and3 sons. Something that our Jackson helped his father with, I have to say this was the gift that won. Something that I didn't ask for, I don't ask for these things, something that I'd say is an "extra" but the wonder of it all was a beautiful thing. The beauty of it made me gasp with such surprise, for in my hands sat a gleaming and glitter journey of sorts, the path of 5 stones sat curving, the size of them grew as the end reached closer to just right of my heart when worn around my neck. And then with a box, a beautiful silver box, etched into it a symbol that Bigdogg and I use, there were two engraved hearts, entwined, not one, but two together forever, and always, how true. With a special phrase that we use for just us, something that we both cherish, one of the many things that is how we identify our love to one and the other. Since dating from April this year will be beyond 7years, reaching at 9 is where we're at on our number journey, and personally, if you ask me, it seems like yesterday when he asked to be mine with a ring on my finger.

A wonderful birthday. We ate pizza that we baked on a stone. A bottle of barefoot wine instead, my glass was half full. A wonderful day, and I reminded myself that everything happens for a reason.

The hardest part of it all, was the middle of last night, for our darling Ben woke up with a fright. About 3am in our neck of the woods, tears and trembles could be heard down near his hall. He decided to grace us FINALLY with returning to sleep at oh, just before 7, we did want to weep, 7, so rest assured today, we are quite out of our haven.

But lucky for us, and I apologize so, for this is a bit bashful, you may blush a bit more, for there was some time we had privately, yesterday oh, on Friday morning, while all our boys slept, he leaned over and whispered "good morning..." and the rest is not your business but mine and his alone.

Last night we were laughing because soon after my wine was finished with 3 glasses having been poured, I fell asleep in my chair, my mouth sat wide open, my head turned to the side, perhaps there was a snort or snore, I don't know what happened. Thank goodness for that lovely episode from Friday morning, as I love my husband and passions important to how we work our marriage.

Now I will close with this Gosh awful rhyme, and show you the words I had intended to from before I started this impromptu rhyme. To share before this awful rant took me from all sides, oh just shush all your whining, now please stop your blushing, and please get over the fact, the fact that I made mention, that I had "relations" on Friday long before a quarter of seven. We're all adults here, and this all part of marriage, for what's wrong with being able to have some good old fashion passion?...

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

You may have seen this before as I have, but it is still fun reading it.
OLDER THAN DIRT LightningBugs / Older 'n Dirt!!

"Hey Dad," one of my kids asked the other day, "What was your favorite fast food when you were growing up?" "We didn't have fast food when I was growing up," I informed him. "All the food was slow." "C'mon, seriously. Where did you eat?"

"It was a place called 'at home,'" I explained. "Grandma cooked every day and when Grandpa got home from work, we sat down together at the dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put on my plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it."

By this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn't tell him the part about how I had to have permission to leave the table. But here are some other things I would have told him about my childhood if I figured his system could have handled it:

Some parents NEVER owned their own house, wore Levis, set foot on a golf course, traveled out of the country or had a credit card. In their later years they had something called a revolving charge card. The card was good only at Sears Roebuck. Or maybe it was Sears AND Roebuck. Either way, there is no Roebuck anymore. Maybe he died.

My parents never drove me to soccer practice. This was mostly because we never had heard of soccer. I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50 pounds, and only had one speed, (slow). We didn't have a television in our house until I was 11, but my grandparents had one before that. It was, of course, black and white, but they bought a piece of colored plastic to cover the screen. The top third was blue, like the sky, and the bottom third was green, like grass. The middle third was red. It was perfect for programs that had scenes of fire trucks riding across someones lawn on a sunny day Some people had a lens taped to the front of the TV to make the picture look larger.

I was 13 before I tasted my first pizza, it was called "pizza pie." When I bit into it, I burned the roof of my mouth and the cheese slid off, swung down, plastered itself against my chin and burned that, too. It's still the best pizza I ever had.

We didn't have a car until I was 15. Before that, the only car in our family was my grandfather's Ford. He called it a "machine."

I never had a telephone in my room. The only phone in the house was in the living room and it was on a party line. Before you could dial, you had to listen and make sure some people you didn't know weren't already using the line.

Pizzas were not delivered to our home. But milk was.

All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered newspapers. I delivered a newspaper, six days a week. It cost 7 cents a paper, of which I got to keep 2 cents. I had to get up at

4 AM every morning. On Saturday, I had to collect the 42 cents from my customers. My favorite customers were the ones who gave me 50 cents and told me to keep the change. My least favorite customers were the ones who seemed to never be home on collection day.

Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the movies. Touching someone else's tongue with yours was called French kissing and they didn't do that in movies. I don't know what they did in French movies. French movies were dirty and we weren't allowed to see them.

If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may want to share some of these memories with your children or grandchildren. Just don't blame me if they bust a gut laughing.

Growing up isn't what it used to be, is it? MEMORIES from a friend:

My Dad is cleaning out my grandmother's house (she died in December) and he brought me an old Royal Crown Cola bottle. In the bottle top was a stopper with a bunch of holes in it. I knew immediately what it was, but my daughter had no idea. She thought they had tried to make it a salt shaker or something. I knew it as the bottle that sat on the end of the ironing board to "sprinkle" clothes with because we didn't have steam irons. Man, I am old. How many do you remember? Head lights dimmer switches on the floor. Ignition switches on the dashboard.Heaters mounted on the inside of the fire wall. Real ice boxes.Pant leg clips for bicycles without chain guards. Soldering irons you heat on a gas burner.Using hand signals for cars without turn signals. Older Than Dirt Quiz:

Count all the ones that you remember not the ones you were told about
1. Blackjack chewing gum
2. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water
3. Candy cigarettes
4. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles
5. Coffee shops or diners with tableside juke boxes
6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers
7. Party lines
8. Newsreels before the movie
9. P.F. Flyers
10. Butch wax
11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix (OLive-6933)
12. Peashooters
13. Howdy Doody
14. 45 RPM records
15. S&
16 Hi-fi's
17. Metal ice trays with lever
18. Mimeograph paper
19 Blue flashbulb
20. Packards
21. Roller skate keys
22. Cork popguns
23. Drive-ins
24. Studebakers
25. Wash tub wringers

Welcome To Crustybeef~
Another good night, I hope all is well.
I sign off tonight with a thank you to all of you for all the well wishes I read one and all.
Thank you for your thoughts, I know this is a ramble, but I really appreciated them, Kyrie your online card was so cute and clever!
Sleep well dear friends, I'll chat with you tomorrow, in the meantime goodnight.
I will end now with
Always,
Elizabeth

Has it really been a year since we went from 2 to 3?

Has it really been a year since we introduced 3 to 2 and 1?

My baby, my Ben, my "Hamean" is now one!

But I don't want him to be one!

I want him to be that little baby that was kiwi'd from my open stomach. That little baby that when he cried, it sounded more like a cough-it was his signature.

(*he had to be kiwi'd out of me, he was stuck up hanging around near my ribcage.)

Anyhow, Ben was born on July 17th 2006 by c-section. Yes, that's now a total of 3 c-sections with one half of natural labor 2 days and 3.5 hours. The hospital we chose to deliver him in was the same hospital that I was born in 32.5 years ago. The same name, just a different location.

Delnor was a very small hospital-which I liked right away. Sure it was roughly 35minutes away, but I was having a c-section so what's the rush?

I also chose Delnor due to the anesthesiologist. My Aunt being in the medical industry worked with someone that was related to the head of anesthesiology over at Delnor.

I have yet to follow up with you about the remaining drama's from Sullivan's birth, but due to the issues I had previously during Sullivan's birth, (which I will talk about and write about eventually) I was very concerned over getting the right anesthesiologist to do their job. Thus, by the request of my Aunt, I suddenly had the head o anesthesiology administering my spinal.

Benjamin Elijah was born in the afternoon and it was an amazing experience. The hospital, kind, and small, not treating you like a corporate FedEx account, they tended to your requests.

(Bigdogg cutting umbilical cord)

Bigdogg dad so proud, stood so tall. As he know has three pups-three precious boy pups. He showed no fear, only concern for me. His passion for this family showed 3x these three!

(*Ben's first kiss!)

My sister and her three children came and sat in the waiting room, just to here the announcement of whether girl or boy. They were even able to be brought back near the nursery to view the newest member of their family.

What I appreciated the most about this particular delivery, is that within minutes after I was brought into the recovery room, Benjamin was in my arms. With my other two children I was "kept" from them until I was given my mother baby room.

I can't stress how at ease I felt with Benjamin.

The nurses mentioning that it's time for his bath-I couldn't let go of him.

His smells.

That cooing noise newborns make when they nurse.

The way their fingers clasp gently together.

The way they do their newborn dance of eyelids fluttering and suddenly like a dog dreaming, they shudder their entire body. It's always reminded me a soul being brought into a new world, and waking up. First the nerves, than the rest of the development.

I love the smell of newborns.

I love the newborn look. -Mostly no eyebrows, no eyelashes, alien like-but when they're your own, they are beautiful. As you probably already know.

I knew going into the pregnancy of this number 3, now one year old Gentle Ben, he'd be my last delivery.

My last "attempt" to produce a little girl.

My last c-section.
Maybe that's why I was so at peace this time. I savored every single moment of every single thing he did. (It wasn't until I stopped nursing months later did the PND kick in!)

Sure, I may not have written it down in the baby book, like I did for Jackson. Sure he may not have as many pictures in his photo album compared to his older brothers, but I savored him and stored every smell, every noise, every memory within my own mind.

Gentle Ben is a perfect end piece to our puzzled family. A perfect personality to be #3, not to mention being our baby.

But today he's one. I woke up early today to write all this down-I didn't want anyone to see the tears rolling down my face. I'm thankful he's healthy. I'm thankful I'm blessed-but why'd it have to go so fast? I thought I was savoring it all-in order to slow down the process of baby to boy.

He's no longer on formula-now vitamin D milk

He no longer faces the rear when driving in our car-frontfacing normal carseat

He no longer gently nurses-he wolfs down his pancakes

He's no longer that amoeba-now he's a budding toddler

But no matter how big he gets, how much he eats, or if he wants that purple corvette someday when he's in his 6plusteens, He'll still always be my baby.

My third and final son.

Happy First Birthday Dear Benjamin!
We love you!

Always,

Mommy, Daddy, Jackson, and Sullivan

Welcoming Him to Crustyland!!

(*Benjamin Being brought into the world)