I wasn’t planning on doing this post, but as I was working on the cards, I realized I could have used more specific step by step instructions. Yes, it was EASY. Yes, I figured it out based on what the original creators posted, but it wasn’t until after my fourth or fifth card that I finally got the hang of it, so four of five of the Valentines didn’t turn out as well as I would have liked.

Probably anyone with 1% more talent/intelligence than me could figure it out: no problem. But here it is for the rest of us.

First I donned Megan in some red and pink attire. Then we headed outside for a quick photo shoot. I showed her what I was planning to do ahead of time, so she knew what to do with her arm.

Then I loaded it up on the computer, added the text, and printed them out.

After cutting them apart, I used a razor blade on a cutting board to cut holes at the top of her hand and then below her hand. I started by cutting just a little slit through the paper, but that ended up tearing the paper when I tried to add the lollipop. So I cut out actual square-shaped holes to stick the lollipop stick through. It helped to make the bottom hole larger than the top hole because I found that the bottom ripped easier when I tried to push the stick through.

Then I carefully pushed the stick through the paper. Like I said, my first few ripped a little, but I found that it was okay because the lollipop covered it up. By my fourth or so lollipop I had figured out how to make the holes better, and they weren’t tearing at all.

I put a little strip of tape on the back just for reinforcement and so they didn’t totally fall apart before the children received them.

And…Voila!

Megan thought the Valentines were so fun. One thing I didn’t like, is that when she asked if she could help, there wasn’t too much of it that she could actually do. I would have rather it had been more hands on for her, but I think that she still loves that she’ll be giving Valentines to her friends with her picture on them. I am glad I followed through with this project and that it’s all finished and ready for V-day. Being a mom on holidays is SO FUN.

PS, I don’t deserve any of the credit for the creativity of these fun cards. I thought the idea was SO.CUTE., so I did it, and thought I would share how. Do it! It’s fun! Oh, and it only cost me $2. I just had to buy the lollipops, and I got them at K-Mart tonight: 14 for $1. Also, I thought the heart lollipops were cuter than Blow-Pops or Tootsie-Pops.

So…I decided to just even it out.  I think it turned out pretty darn cute.  I wish I would have thought to take some “before” pictures.  Oh well.  Here are the “afters”.

This wasn’t actually her first haircut.  When she was born, she had a “tail” of hair right in the middle of the back of her head, and I cut it off!  I wonder if I would have left it, if the sides and middle would have been even at this point instead of the “wings?”  Probably the back was just getting rubbed shorter since she sleeps on her back.  Well, whatever the case may be, her new cut is perfect and she couldn’t get any cuter no matter what.

Two hours I must have sat there. I probably would have gone inside sooner, but Jane was content to roll around in the grass, and big sister Megan was running circles around the lawn and jumping gleefully into an inflatable kiddie pool. I made anklets for the girls and then one for myself. Eventually the serenity of the afternoon began to wan; Jane was ready for a nap and the shade was overtaking Megan’s fun and causing her to shiver, and so I stretched out my legs and went to stand up.

As I stood, my back immediately screamed in protest. Although my back is an inanimate object in that it is actually incapable of vocalizing, I find it hard to believe that the entire city of Provo didn’t hear the spinal rokus that went down that afternoon. I was hurting, and I was hurting baaaaaaaad.

The pain I felt that afternoon was not altogether a pain that I was unfamiliar with. I had had similar pains during both my pregnancies with Jack and Jane, but in those days, if I rested up and was sure to avoid activities that caused pain, it would ease up on me, and after both pregnancies, went away altogether. But, it’s been six months now since that fateful afternoon out in the lawn, and not one day has gone by since then when I haven’t been in pain. And most days, the pain is excruciating.

I have had countless doctor’s appointments, even harder to count have been the chiropractic adjustments from my brother who so genuinely wanted to help ease my pain. I’ve had an MRI, done physical therapy, seen three doctors including a orthopedic surgeon, taken more medication then I care to admit, laid in bed for days at a time, slept on the floor for weeks, slept on the couch, slept on various beds, tried so many other things, and yet the pain persists.

The problem is a herniated disk, and while the next step in the chain of medical treatment is likely steroid injections and maybe even surgery, I am trying to avoid that by continuing physical therapy and core strengthening excersizes which, let me tell you, are NOT easy to do when the pain is SO constant. It takes everything I have to just do the simplest of stretches or excersizes.

The hardest part about all this is that it keeps me from being the mother I want to be. I can’t sit on the ground and play dolls with Megan, and when Jane was learning to crawl, I could get down on all fours with her and encourage her. Those are just two of dozens and dozens of examples of ways in which I can’t be there for them. I’m not the homemaker and wife I could be either. The house isn’t always clean, and meals aren’t always prepared. I can’t serve people in ways I would like. I can’t offer to watch the young twins of the exhausted pregnant woman I visit teach because the very thought of chasing her boys around sends me into a world if hurt.

Anyway, I am not sure why exactly I am staying up way too late to write this way too long post. I don’t need pity. I don’t need anything from anyone, (Adam is so incredibly supportive and helpful and we’ve got everything worked out so that, regardless of the constant pain I am in, our world is continuing to spin – not quite as smoothly or at the exact angle that it should be – but spinning all the same) tonight I just felt like using my blog as the outlet it was created for. For the support and strength of those who care most about me.

And also…through all of this there has been one lesson that keeps pounding itself in my mind…you know that quote that is so popular, that has made its way round and round the Internet, that has been attributed to Plato and Ghandi and who knows who else, about treating everyone you come in contact with as if they are going through a horrible trial, because they probably are??? Well, my friends, that’s the message. I doubt that most if the people I come in contact with on a daily basis have any idea that I live in pain. I know that Megan’s kindergarten teacher doesn’t know that the reason why I don’t volunteer to help in class is because I am physically incapable. Although not ideal, this is what I am dealing with, and I am trying my darnedest to not let it interfere too much with my responsibilities as a wife, mother, sibling, neighbor, and friend, but it definitely isn’t easy. And likewise, there are people who I come in contact with every single day who are facing their own private battles.

Sometimes I write posts that are totally necessary for me in that they serve as reminders to look outside myself and to just try to work a little harder and to be a little better. Maybe you are one of those people who I see every day who needed to hear that I am aware that in “private heart are hidden, sorrow that the eye can’t see.” I get it, and I’m so sorry.

Well…I guess I better wrap it ip here. I’ll save the story about how not long after this back pain began, I was witness to a freak car accident on the freeway and actually jumped out of my car and into a stranger’s moving vehicle while she lay passed out in the fast lane. I’ll also wait on my awesome story about how I landed myself in the ER one week ago tonight with kidney stone. Oh and I guess you should know that I am on new meds that not only make me cranky and gain weight, but also give me insomnia…so here I am! That’s all I’ve got for you folks tonight G’night.

Pure and simple, Jane is a SWEET.HEART. She is tender, and funny, and oh-so-cute. One hilarious quirk about Jane is that she grabs our faces and turns us to her and looks directly in our eyes when she wants to “talk” to us. If we even try to look away, she grabs our faces hardcore and makes us look directly at her. It is so cute.

Jane is still CA-RAZY about Sing-A-Ma-Jigs. They are by far her favorite toy.

For some reason, Jane LOVES to dance and SING along with the theme song for “How I Met Your Mother.” Just this week, she started dancing with her legs as well as her arms. It is so cute to see her little legs moving and grooving.

Jane still prefers nursing to any other food, and we are just following her lead when it comes to mealtimes. We offer her table food many times throughout the day, and we don’t think it will be too long before she is nursing less. I am just hoping that she will be a better eater then her big sister.

There was a time when Jane was sleeping most the night in her crib, but now she’s mostly sleeping in our bed. Truly, we all sleep better this way.

Jane is quite the jabber-er. She doesn’t say too many words, mainly just unintelligible jabbering, (as well as: mama and dada) but she does say ONE complete sentence ALL.THE.TIME. “I did it!” She absolutely says this complete sentence in correct context. SO.CUTE. Her little baby jabber is pretty darn cute as well.

Jane and Megan are starting to have more fun together as well. Megan LOVES her little sis, and Jane is just CRAZY about her big sis. It is fun to watch their relationship grow and develop.

Jane is definitely growing up on us. But she’s still just 12 months old and our sweet little baby. She is a pure delight. We are just so in love with her. More and more each day, in fact.