Memories of me...

After reading my blog, my mother has filled in some blanks from when I was a baby. Mom had Bryan and me at the same time(he was 13 months I was a newborn) alone in California. My birth father was busy not being a very good dad. With all that said, Who would have had time to photograph? Mom has filled in some blanks!

I will quote her:
"No you did not weigh 9.5 at birth you weighed 7lbs 9 0z and were not very handsome. I did not want you to ever know what you looked like at birth. (I did not get any newborn pictures of either of you) You were very dark red and your nose was absolutely flat against your face...and I loved you. You had no hair at all (however your first poop had a wig worth of black hair so I guess you shedded it before birth and ingested it).
Aside from the flat nose the rest of your head looked normal. However your eyes were so big and brown, but with no nose to offset, you looked lots like an owl. No, I never told you this. I always wanted you to know how beautiful I thought you were.
I was so damn busy with two babies. I was home with you the next morning at 10 am. You were 17 hours old. You nursed like it was your last meal...every meal, and were the most pleasant child...could you have sensed how guilty I felt for robbing Bryan of his babyhood....remember he was a little over 13 months old. Oh that is a story you do remember huh. You slept through the night at 2 weeks of age and never were colicy or fretful. You were an absolute joy and you were beautiful as you grew. I did not have a camera except a poloraid and the film was expensive. I did take some pictures I think...look in the box. At four months we moved to PA from Calif. I flew with you and Bryan from LA. He was 18 months plus and way active and you needed to nurse twice on the plane. I got stranded for awhile in Pittsburgh until Grampy and Grammy could be at the airport...I forget what was the change that caused that.
You did not walk until Bryan's 2nd birthday. On his birthday, in fact. You crawled wherever you needed to be and climbed on everything. You were muscular but chubby and when you finally decided to walk you ran. You loved to sit in the Highchair and play with your food. As soon as you were not being watched everything was on your head...now I know why you like hats...You made me smile and cry at the same time, lots.
People would stop and comment on your beauty. I lived a very quiet life and was either at work or home with you two, mostly alone. I guess some of this you knew but I guess I have left lots of gaps even yet...what else did I leave out...I hope there are some pictures of your babyhood."

Some of my personal favorite memories as a toddler/preschooler are the stories when Bryan and I were sooo bad:
paint and hangers, paint all over the room
mattress+water=swimming pool
my own haircut thx to Mr Roger's outing
swimming in the creek naked before dawn
sitting out on the roof with our Dalmatian
swinging on the swingset dead of winter in my diaper and boots at 5 am
throwing my laundry out the open window cause I didn't want to put it away
pour whole box of cereal in bowl, not eat it all and hide it behind furniture
ripping open feather pillows to pillow fight brother
throwing eggs at the 2 Dalmatians

These all surely made my mother cry time and again. This is proof children should be locked in their bedrooms! Just kidding These were all his ideas and I just went along with them. wink wink

Other great memories:
Hershey Park Happy
Dog show weekends away(always had fun playgrounds!)
playing outside until late
bonfires and chip parties
jumping over the bannister and landing in piles of clothes
antagonizing my brothers and sisters
skating rink
taking care of bulldogs
CHRISTMAS!!!!
all holidays
Saturday night, generic chips and orange soda watching tv until I fell asleep
Grampy and Grammy's
bike riding
sports
summers at the swimming pool
my appendectomy and the enema before hand(that was fun)
dad sat up with me the night before my appendectomy
picnics up at stone quarry
Brockway 4th of July parade and fireworks
long bike rides through woods
cross country skiing with bryan and almost freezing to death
my broken leg and my mother rescuing me on the hill on my sled
riding to school with my mom
our wreck in the snow in the jeep
me wrecking the dodge colt on ice and doing more damage to the guardrails than the car

With all of my excitement about preserving the past and scrapbooking, I trampled right across my mother's feelings! Just because there are not many pictures of me, doesn't mean I didn't have the Picture Perfect life. (I was thinking like a scrapbooker when I made that comment! Had nothing to do with my mother!) My mom and dad took truckloads of lemons and turned them into the best lemonade! I could not have asked for a better dad...or mom for that matter! Being a kid...being me...growing up was the most awesome thing ever. I played outside from sun up to sun down, coming home only to eat. I would say the one area my mother let me down was...forcing me to eat salmon patties in pita bread. Please just kill me now. What the heck?, with bones too!?!

Memories last a lifetime...pictures fade, wrinkle, rip, and get lost!