Anydangways, on our way home there were some spots of cool fog.  And that got mee to thinking about how we often refer to “dense fog.”  That got mee to thinking about the word “dense.”  When I was younger I used to think it meant “light,” “airy,” or “fluffy.”  So then when someone would give mee bread or cake to try and call it “dense” I assumed it would have the consistency of angel-food cake.  I was confused by it being more like pound cake instead.  I do not remember when I finally understood, probably a science class when talking about mass, or maybe a social studies class when talking about population.  In any case I figured it out.  Some people may wonder why I misunderstood the word in the first place.  This is why.  I often heard some individuals called “dense.”  These are the same people I heard called “air-heads.”  So in my young-brain-logic, dense=full of air.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

*Okay, so “often” could have been only once or twice for all we know, then again it could have been everyday.  (Un)fortunately, I do not remember who was called this or by whom, I just remember hearing it.

And just for fun, here is a picture, or two, of an amazing little girl typing the text after the picture.

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TTJHY555sgsssssssssssssssssssssssccdwdqsss7444nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnjghbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb+

633.

3…

020789.89+.66

3

nj

k,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o,o

+++52525252521*99*9*2jhihhhhhhhhhh  hhhhhnnn77777,,,,,jkukun jnjjjjo6yygjujynfg0 .236663666666666 vc’ c[vbccv999999999999999999999999999ui

96.

2.

I know the first thing that comes to my mind when I hear that term is teenagers.  But I am here to remind us all that it is not just teens that are on the receiving end of this bad behavior.  There are many adults who participate.  Both those who bully and those who are bullied.

I would like to extend this invitation to everyone:  Please do not bully.  Not in virtual reality, not in real-life reality either.

Let us just get along.  If you do not wish to interact with an individual, just do not do it.  There is no need or benefit in going up to them and specifically ignoring them, or acting like they do not exist.  When a person is standing next to you and you believe they do not exist, does that mean you do not exist either?  Likewise, going into a person’s space on the internet (even if it is simply where the person may see it) and talking about them, or saying rude things to them is bullying.  Do not do it! 

Public versus private.  If you are planning or simply talking about private events, do it privately!  Or in the least do not be offended when “public” people ask for details because it looks like a fun thing. *

I believe one of the biggest reasons people do this on the internet is they don’t see it as real.  People who if you asked them in person if they are a bully would tell you they are not.  In person they probably would not perform the actions that hurt.  Why then does s/he feel differently about typing bullying words?  I do not know the reason, nor do I want to dwell on that, I am tired of trying to find out. 

This is why my online presence has been very scarce for the last months.  Do not ask details, I will not share names, I likely will not even tell the story with names changed.  This is part of my resolve to choose to not be offended any more.  And, yes, I do recognize that being offended is a choice; even if a person intends to offend mee I still can choose not to be offended.  I am human and probably will find offense at times, but I am working on decreasing this occurrence.

Just let’s remember what we do online is the same as going into another person’s home and saying/doing these things.  It stirs the same feelings in your own self.  The biggest difference is that in person, you can use body language and tone of voice.  When a person reads a message, it is open to interpretation based on what mood they are in, health, what they were just doing, etc.  Personally I do not like feeling like a “friend” has come to my home and started being rude, It would make mee want to kick them out.  So essentially that is what happened, I logged out and kicked them out of my personal space. 

Then, one day I was talking to a friend, she noticed I had not been online in a while (we were talking about facebook specifically) and asked if I was okay.  This is a real friend.  In the course of the conversation she asked if I missed it.  I understood the question to be about missing facebook.  I said that honestly no I do not.  As I have reflected on that conversation it occurs to mee that perhaps she was asking if I missed people.  I suddenly realized that while I kicked out the bullies, I also kicked out the not-bullies.  And I found that I missed out on a lot of great things.  (Things that I would know if I were “present” in the conversations.  I know some people have sent mee info/messages on facebook.  I know because you have told mee to go look and reply.  Slowly I think I will get to them.) So do I miss facebook?  Not necessarily.

Do I miss people?  Yes!  The positive ones.  Those who uplift, and bring a smile to my face.  I miss the fun conversations that I am sure have taken place among my siblings and cousins.  I miss being able to laugh with friends when they laugh or being able to shed a tear when a friend relates bad news.  The years and miles have separated many people.  The internet offers to be a gap connector.  Though the distance is great, we can enter each other’s’ homes and share our lives.  That is why I still have hope.

So, If you are worried that you are a bully, step back read what you type (listen to what you say) and think about how that would sound/feel if directed at (or excluded) you.  Only you can know your intentions.  If you can better/more clearly/less offensively state something, try.  Let us all work together to become a better society.  I know we can do it together.

* This brings up another point:  Stop whining because “Amy” and “Sally” are friends and hang out.  If you want to do things with Amy, invite her to get together, instead of crying because she invited Sally.  Do you want a friend that only whines and tries to make you feel bad?  I most certainly do not, I cannot think of anyone who does.  And even if a person does want that, do you really want to choose that kind of negativity for your life, or your family’s life?  I do not.

Friends are good to have.  They are great to have.  We can learn from each other.  We can have fun together.  And people can have friends that are other people.  Just because I enjoy walking with one friend and cooking with another, does not mean I can’t do something else with yet another person.  No one can be everybody’s everything.

First we had to see if her helmet would fit her yet.

Still a little loose, but we decided it was close enough to go for a short ride.
After the ride she and Jacob had matching helmet-hair.

Next time we will have to set up the camera on a timer so we can get a shot of all three of us out for a bike ride.

We were all relaxing, Marcia on the floor, Me in the recliner and Jacob on the futon with the iPad. He fell asleep, and Marcia saw this as her opportunity. She crawled over, stood up, realized she could not reach, and put her xylophone in place as a step. Sadly for her, Jacob woke up in time to rescue it from her.

Then we decided to let Copyright take a turn at the piano. I hope you can get an idea of how much she likes the piano. Unfortunately, this video turned out odd. I recorded it with my phone. Now, watching the playback, it has the full three and a half minutes of video with audio, though somehow it un-synced. I don’t know how or why. When I uploaded it to youtube, it sped up part of the video and cut it short, and so there is only 25 seconds of audio. I (as her mother) still enjoy it, I hope you can too.

Another interesting fact…Marcia Had tooth number 8 break through the gums. Four on top and four on bottom! (Part of mee thinks this is unfair. I know all people are different and what not, but I know of kids that don’t start getting teeth till their first birthday. I wonder why she is in such a hurry.)

She was walking all around the office.  I had given her some puffed rice to snack on, with mee in the room I was able to keep an eye on her.  While she is good with the walker, I am still quicker.  I was watching her, she was eating and loving her freedom.  Before my eyes, she got sleepy.  No whining or crying, though she was happy I picked her up to lay her down.

Here are some of the pictures taken during the first video.  And one that she wanted taken of mee.  I figure I ought to include myself at least once in a while.

First video was recorded to capture Marcia’s reaction to seeing her pictures.  The second is to showcase her self-feeding skills.  The videos are not really “thrilling” and I know that many people get bored of seeing baby videos, but I am happy with what she can do and figure that any grandparents or aunts/uncles or cousins Nana might be interested.

When I checked, YouTube had aborted the video. No reasons, just did. So now, 18 hours and 14 restarts later here is the second video.

Other notable information on Marcia (aka Copyright2010):

She has seven teeth, I can see the eighth right under the gums.
Her favorite color seems to still be red, though I do have some neon yellow fabric that she loves to play with.
She LOVES music.
She is always trying to take the camera or phone.  Always is not allowed to do so.  Always complains about that.
She is ticklish, and has an amazing laugh!
She pulls herself up on everything she can, she tried to climb up the outside of the walker this evening.
She likes to walk if some body holds her hands.  Once she figures out balance, there will be no stopping her.
She claps when she approves, or hears the words “good job.”  No matter who did the good job.
She claps when we get her out of the crib after naps.
She loves to look in the mirror.  Especially right after napping.  She smiles and talks and claps for the baby in the mirror, which I am sure she knows is herself (for a while now).
She roams all over her crib.  Standing, sitting, laying.  She does all that on her own.  She also moves a lot in her sleep.
She loves taking a bath.  She stands and sits and crawls all over the tub.  She would probably live in there if we would let her.
She likes to eat.  Her favorite foods thus far are butternut squash, puffed brown rice, and bananas.  I think she would eat anything if I mixed it with bananas.  She has not yet rejected anything, however the food she has been least thrilled with is apple.  We are also now on the look out for sensitivities to that with a second attempt, after a break.
We have been working on ASL signs.  She seems to understand the ones we use most.  She has been able to consistently make her version of “more,” “food,” “done,” “what,” and just today I saw her do “milk.”
She loves to bounce.  Jacob likes to tell people that “just like a puppy, you can tell how happy she is by how much her butt wiggles.”

Marcia likes to eat.  Marcia likes to eat bananas.  Marcia likes to feed herself.  She has trouble picking up small pieces of banana, so I let her have a big piece of it.  This is what she did.  I thought she was done, then she started to have more fun, thus the two clips together.  I hope you enjoy.  Just so you are forewarned, the video is about six minutes long.

After she was done, I cleaned quite a bit of mashed banana off the floor.  And Marcia needed a bath, in which, she crawled all over and stood and sat and played and chased her rubber ducky and foam letters all around the tub.  She sure is a fun and busy little girl!

Now for a few still shots:

I was working on a sewing project and Marcia was playing with toys in the middle of the floor.  I heard her squawk for attention.  I turned around and discovered that she had gone exploring.  This is how I found her.

Once she saw she had my attention, she was happy.

And this last Sunday Jared (one of Jacob’s brothers) was set apart and left on Wednesday for to serve a mission.  Marcia will certainly miss him.  We all will.

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Marcia the younger is the offspring of Jacob and Marcia (the elder).  She is eight months old (yesterday) and woke with a sixth tooth in her mouth (this morning).  Her favorite activities are exploring the house and attempting to claim anything her parents hold.  She enjoys typing, pulling herself up on things, and walking with assistance.

Also, we got to go hang out with the Richard and Ginny clan including Martini and Noah-gator tonight!  That was lots of fun.

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Translation:

Dear Daddy,

I miss you. I hope you are having a good time at Youth Conference. I am excited to see you tonight.

Love,
Marcia Holland

Also, Happy Anniversary Ryan and Anissa!

The weather was beautiful, so we took 14-week-old Marcia for a walk. After we got home, she started “talking” and insisted on being listened to. Here is her story.

So, here goes something: 2 videos. Of Marcia the younger. With brief appearances by the arms of Jacob and Marcia the elder. They are each around five and a half minutes long.

This first one is from the twelfth. In the bath tub. I put her in the bathing suit I wore as an infant (for modesty’s sake). It is nice to see a human wear it. For the past couple decades it was worn by my cabbage patch kid.

This second video is from today. First part this morning, second part this afternoon.

I hope you enjoyed the videos as much as we enjoy Marcia.

She is getting so big!

And we love her!

Now with the holidays over, perhaps life will slow down.  Then maybe we can get a good routine happening, or at least pretend it is happening.

Tonight we did a photo shoot.  Pictures to come soon, perhaps I will be able to post some while she naps tomorrow.

Yesterday was her Naming and Blessing at church.  It was a very special day.  Some of our favorite people came to share in that with us.

I will also answer some FAQs when I post the pictures.

• In January, Jacob went back to school to work on getting a Masters degree in Computer Science.
• On one saturday in April, we got an iPad and learned that we were going to become parents (OK, so getting an iPad isn’t really a huge accomplishment, but it WAS an exciting day, and helped us launch a new business).
• On June 14, we closed on the purchase of a house that had been trying to sell itself to us for two years, and on the same day started telling people that Marcia was pregnant.
• On December 3, Marcia completed her mitosis and now we have two Marcias.
• 2 weeks later, Jacob finished his second semester of graduate school (with a 4.0 GPA, which I’m quite proud of).
• This morning, December 31, we read the Second Epistle of John, which was 373 consecutive days of reading scriptures together. 2010 was the first year in which we read together every day.
• Also as of December 31, we have kept the smaller Marcia alive for 4 whole weeks, which is longer than any plant (and most fish) we’ve ever owned. The original Marcia is still alive and happy as well.

2010 Was very good to us, and we’re excited to see what 2011 brings. Happy New Year!

First picture as a family of three.

Bonding with her daddy as they check out her mommy.

The two Marcias hanging out.

I just love this one.

Perfect little hands.

Long precious feet.

Our little burrito.

Wearing bikes for Daddy.

This is what she did when I started singing Thriller to her.

Holding onto her mommy helps her sleep.

Folding her hands, is she praying?

Just precious!

Family picture after everyone has cleaned off.

Marcia Holland Thurman was born at 7:17 this morning. She weighs 6 lbs, 7 oz and is 20 inches long.
Marcia (Mom) and Marcia (baby) are both healthy and happy and doing great.

She is named for her mother and for Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, with whom she shares a birthday.

Pictures to come later.

*Here is a picture from Tuesday, mee at 39 weeks:

And this one too, because I like my shirt, and I think it hides my belly, kinda, though I am pretty proud of that belly…

(Also, because it makes mee laugh.)

Our water bill is due the same day each month (this is not the negative part).  I most of the time remember when that day comes up.  Not always though, sometimes the date occurs to mee a few minutes before the office closes.  Today was one of those days.  We made it over in time, so no late fees charged. Yay!!!

The electric/gas bill on the other hand cannot pick a  regular day to be due (this is the infuriating part).  I never know what day of the month it will be from month to month, It gets moved around and on occasion has left us with the bill being due twice in one month.  It does not happen often, but it has happened.  I liked it when it was due about a week after the water bill was due, and I had a good shot at remembering to get them both paid on time.  This last one arrived and I looked at the bill, and saw “15″ of the month.  Well, when it occurred to mee this afternoon that today is the 15th, I grabbed the bills and set out to pay them, only to realize that when I saw the “15″ it was really a “12!”  Great I get to pay a late fee, and it is no where near another bill due date for us to be able to remember to pay it on time.  And, it gets even worse knowing that the bill does not get printed the same time each month, so there is no way to know that it will be arriving in the mail at a set time either.

How rude!

Not bill related, but while I am on the whining kick…. We went to St Louis a few weekends ago* and had a couple of interesting retail experiences.

The first experience: we went to the customer service counter and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited some more.  Finally, we walked over to one of 4-8 employees, standing around, not helping anyone.  We asked if that person would be able to help us out.  She said she would page the customer service representative to the counter and told us to walk over there.  We did as we were asked (told).  We waited another at least five minutes, after the page was made.  We saw the form sitting on the counter that we would need to fill out; we decided to be proactive and start filling out the form.  We figured if it took that long just to get a person to help us, we would be sitting “forever” waiting to get the paperwork going.  As I was filling in the last part of the form, we saw the customer service representative walk up to the counter.  Yay, we were going to be assisted.  Not!  Another customer that walked in the door at the same time that the employee walked up to the counter was asked if she needed any help.  (In my head: “Are you ——- kidding mee?”)  CSR got on the computer and looked up some information for her and then walked away from the counter, still not acknowledging our presence, despite the page being for us and we had clearly been sitting there for quite a while, with no assistance.  We almost walked out.  At that time, the CSR returned to the desk and asked if we had been helped.  No, that is why we were still sitting and waiting for her.  She took our paperwork, typed on the computer** and got us on our way.  I was a bit surprised that they had her as the CSR, not only for her inability to be helpful, but in regards to her hygiene.  She had what looked like left-over chewing tobacco wedged in her teeth (she was not “chewing” at this time), and her finger nails were caked with stuff under them.  I only hope it was not contagious, since she was after-all touching lots of things other people would purchase and take home.  If I wasn’t ready to walk out while waiting for someone to help us, or after the CSR attended a customer that had just walked in the door instead of the people who were waiting and had had her paged (us), then the lack of cleanliness was almost enough to make mee do it.  But I was feeling stubborn-ish and did not want to let my waiting be in vain.

The second experience:  I was in need of locating a new brassier.  I knew the size and style, I just needed to find one.  Because this was a positive experience, I don’t mind telling the name of the place, the Motherhood Outlet Store.  I found the item, I walked up to the cashier and she asked if I had tried it on first.  I told her that I had not, since I was just at another place and found the item same style and size and tried it on, and it fit.  She encouraged mee to try it on anyhow.  And because we had just this summer given a seminar on fashion (of all things we could have talked about), and in the presentation we gave strong instructions to always try on clothes you will buy, I decided I should try it on.  I did, and it did not fit.  She told us that the clothes they have marked a specific way tend to have something wrong with them, sometimes it is a rip or a stain, and sometimes it is simply mislabeled.  This time it was mislabeled, or miss-sewn, it was not a “uniform” or “symmetrical” fit.  So, while we were unable to make our purchase there, we would gladly return there if the opportunity/need arose.

As we walked out of there we reflected on how the two experiences were so different, and how we would be much more inclined to return to the second store with ease, and be very hesitant to even step back into the first.  We have considered, yet have not done this, writing letters to the head quarters for each of the stores telling our experiences and telling them why or why not would we be willing to return.

* I will post more about that soon-ish (I love that ending “-ish”)
** Much more better is that she mistyped part of the info, so we had to figure it out when we got home from the trip

We were attending a friend’s wedding and we were dressed up pretty nicely.  (In the start of this dream I did not appear to be with child.)  We were asked to go and check on flowers or something to make sure it would be ready for the ceremony to start.  We needed to pass through an indoor pool room to check on what ever the thing was.  As we walked by the pool, some teenage boys decided it would be fun to see if they could get us wet.  Well, when I looked down to see if my dress was wet, I saw something starting to move in my abdomen.  I thought that was odd, I had not eaten recently, so it couldn’t likely be indigestion.  There was stronger movement, and I saw a distinct foot outline on my stomach.  So I got out my camera to take a picture, and before I could push the shutter button, there were 3 strong movements again, and out of my belly popped a foot.  This foot was sticking out past the knee and would not relax.  We searched all over to find any doctors we could, in hopes that they could figure out how to get the leg back where it belongs.  I woke up at this point, with the baby’s leg still sticking out of mee.

When I was awake, I found myself holding my hands as if I was holding the leg, just as I had done in the dream, and there were strong movements/kicks right where I felt them in the dream.  Boy was that trippy!

So, Halloween was this last weekend, and I was trying to think of what I wanted to do for a costume.  Many people gave ideas, some fun, some cheesy, some I was not interested in at all.  I started thinking about how hard it would be to make it look like the alien from Alien.  Then it occurred to mee, I had that dream.  I could sew a leg.  I could make at least one dream become a reality.  So I did.

Jacob said there was a little something missing, blood.

It did seem to add that little extra umph.  The best comment of the night was when a cute kid (not really yelling, but speaking quite forcefully) said, “Why is there a foot in your belly?”  I couldn’t help but laugh as I tried to explain that it is not real.  And even better is that every time I laughed, the leg would kick around.  It was fun!

And because I love him, here is a picture of Husband, and (fake) baby foot*.

And the weekly count down has arrived again.  35 weeks down, 5 to go.  Here is what is probably my favorite picture from this weeks photo shoot:

I sure do love my monkey footie pajamas!  Now if only I could find some in Copyright sizes…and if Jacob were willing to wear a pair of them as well, we could have a fun family picture in a couple months.

*Foot is also some times known as fot, this developed when one of the ultrasound pictures, that refused to show us if Copyright is a boy or a girl, was labeled with a fot in stead of a foot.

Only six to go?

I can’t hardly believe that there are only six more weeks of this.  While it will be nice to have my baby in my arms, I think I will miss the fun stuff that comes with the baby being inside….

I have been busy sewing, and other stuff too, but there has been a good amount of sewing.  Lucky mee, I have pregnancy carpel tunnel syndrome-that they assure mee will end when baby comes out.  For now I wear wrist braces, and it makes it much more bearable.  I have been sewing blankets/quilts, some clothing projects, and I made major progress on my Halloween costume.  Pictures will come later.

And the white ghosts on my pants glow in the dark!

So, now, for why you are all here reading this in the first place….

Remember this post?  We do.  And we have our winner.  This person “won” it a while ago.  September 1st, 2010 at 2:37 am, to be exact.

This seems to have been a  group effort, and so technically we have three winners, Fiona, Bran, and Nuala.  And it is also important to note that they live in Bulgaria, so it is not unreasonable for two three-year-olds to be up at 2:30 in the morning, our time.  Though, from what I have seen over the years, it really wouldn’t be unreasonable for two three-year-olds to be up at any given point in the night/morning.

Now, I just have to get the prize out.  When y’all moved to Bulgaria I failed to acquire your address.  If you could email that to mee, the prize can be on its way.  It will be good.  We promise!