They're not *just* songs

I was thinking while in the shower the other day about my blog (the shower's where I come up with a lot of my posts, actually) and my thoughts eventually led to my playlist. My playlist is filled with my favorite songs-songs that move me, songs with stories behind them, and songs that have been stuck in my head for the last decade. When I added a playlist to my blog, I intended to give ya'll a glimpse into my head and my life, but I realized somewhere between the lathering, rinsing, and repeating, that to you...they're just songs. You don't know whether I posted a song because it changed my life or if it is simply on this week's Top 40. So, I thought I'd take a few of the songs off my playlist and explain to ya'll what exactly they mean to me. I know, it's a little egocentric to assume any of you even care, but indulge me (you are, after all, reading *my* blog)...

PS~For your convenience, I've posted a playlist of these specific songs off to the side of the post so you'll be able to follow along if you so desire.

Wildflowers by Tom Petty
Spencer gave me a burned cd of songs that reminded him of me while we were dating. This song was on it. Whenever I feel old and frumpy, I turn this on and it reminds me of the girl I used to be and who I know is still there somewhere.

Hips Don't Lie by Shakira and Pour Some Sugar On Me by Def Leppard
Who doesn't need a couple of incredibly sexy songs to dance around to in the kitchen?

Bubble Toes by Jack Johnson
Favorite. song. ever. 6 years in counting and hasn't been topped yet.
Incidentally, it also reminds me of my nephew Greyson who actually *does* have bubble toes.

Sweetness by Jimmy Eat World
Jimmy Eat World=High School.

Cherry, Cherry by Neil Diamond
This is one of my favorite songs of all time. While it's mostly true that Spencer led me to the Neil Diamond light, this one was around for me long before he was.

Hot 'N' Cold by Katy Perry
This song reminds me of Spencer when we were dating. Mean, I know, yet oh-so-true. For those of you who knew us while dating or have heard the stories, you'll know what I'm talking about. Incidentally, it reminds Spencer of the type of music that was popular while he served his mission in Russia (it's the techno feel to it).

Is There Life Out There by Reba McEntire and New Soul by Yael Naim
You know when you hear a song and you just recognize yourself in it? That's exactly what happened when I heard both of these songs for the first time. I hear them and can't help but say, "that's me" for completely different reasons.

Come A Little Bit Closer by Tony Orlando & Dawn
This one's for you, Lib.

Stacey's Mom by Fountains of Wayne and Hot Mama by Trace Adkins
On those down days when all you can do is compare yourself to the tan 'n' toned co-eds, just jack these up and you won't be able to stop from feeling like one hot mom yourself.

Better Life by Keith Urban and Forever In Blue Jeans by Neil Diamond
I just can't help but relate to these songs. They're my life. One of these days we'll graduate, eventually make decent money, and move on, but I'm sure going to enjoy myself in the meantime.

Thanks for humoring me. Hopefully you at least kinda enjoyed the music along the way. Have a fabulous day!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Here's what we've been up to lately...

HALLOWEEN!!!

Ezra as our little train conductor:

Georgia made a very pretty fairy princess:

(Aren't the tutus adorable? My sister, Stephanie, my mom, and I were feeling kinda crafty one day and decided to make them. Also, a big shout out to Steph who made the flower crowns while I was in the hospital with Scarlett!)

Georgia and her be-u-tiful cousin, Ella

First Bath!

Thank you Mimi for the cute purple hippo towel!

(I know, I know, not the best picture in the world, but she was really squirmy, so we weren't getting any fabulous ones. )

Family Home Evening on Noah and the Ark

(FYI-We're making banana boats in these pictures)

(that's some bad, bad hair, isn't it...)

Georgia picked out all the chocolate chip and marshmallow "passengers" and left the banana pieces behind :P

Getting to dress up in fun new clothes!

Thank you, Auntie Libby for the friggin' adorable outfit! Scarlett might not look it in this picture, but she was practically dancing with excitement at your fabulous taste.

Happy (late) Birthday, Ezra Emil!

On October 23rd, my little Ezra turned a very big 3 years old. I can't even believe that he has gotten so big, so very, very fast. Ezra came into the world wiggling and wailing and hasn't changed much since.

In the weeks leading up to Ezra's birthday, I often asked him what he wanted for his birthday. Ezra, having a vague idea of what a birthday entails, informed me that he wanted to blow out candles and open a red present with Skittles in it, which are good for his tummy (Ezra-speak for an allergy-safe food). This is *all* he wanted, which he repeated many times over. Spencer, for one, was ecstatic because he assumed this got him off the hook for giving anything more to his first-born than a pack of 97 cent Skittles. Luckily for Ezra, I had bigger plans for his birthday.

On the long-awaited day, Ezra started off bright and early at preschool. There, they had their annual Harvest Fest, which Ezra assumed, as any egocentric 3 yr old would, was completely for him. Following this, they sang Happy Birthday to him, gave him a construction paper crown, and gave him some Skittles for part of his snack. After I picked up Ezra from school, he was very excited to tell me how his birthday went, thinking that was the beginning and end of the celebrations. It was quite the task to convince him that his birthday actually lasted all. day. long. *gasp*

After preschool, we went up to my Mom's house to spend the day and get ready for the evening's celebrations. Ezra got to help me make his cupcakes (he requested cupcakes instead of an actual cake, which was a-okay with me) and after they cooled, he and his cousin, Greyson, got to decorate some of them with sprinkles. Later, Ezra, Cooper (another cousin), and Greyson helped us make cheese-less pizzas for dinner.

Ezra and Greyson working studiously

There's that "cheese" face again...it's startin' to get a little old

After we had pizza for dinner, it was the long-awaited present-opening time. The kid made a haul. I'm not quite sure how it happened. I really didn't intend to spoil him rotten, I think I just don't really buy any toys the rest of the year, so they all have to be stuffed into his birthday and Christmas *shrug*

On to the orgy of gift-opening...

And, of course, the beloved Skittles...

After all the presents were finally opened, we ended the night with cupcakes, Luigi's Italian Ices, and Philly Swirls.

Happy Birthday, my wonderful Ezra! I can't imagine my life without you and I certainly wouldn't want to. You are my very special Ezra Sunshine and I love you with my everything.

Waiting on The World to Change

Me and all my friends

We're all misunderstood

They say we stand for nothing and

There's no way we ever could

Now we see everything is going wrong

With the world and those who lead it

We just feel like we don't have the means

To rise above and beat it

So we keep waiting

Waiting on the world to change

We keep on waiting

Waiting on the world to change

It's hard to beat the system

When we're standing at a distance

So we keep waiting

Waiting on the world to change

Now if we had the power

To bring our neighbors home from war

They woulda never missed a Christmas

No more ribbons on the door

When you trust your television

What you get is what you got

'cause when they own the information ooohhh,

They can bend it all they want...

One day our generation

Is gonna rule the population

So we keep on waiting

Waiting on the world to change

Now we keep on waiting

Waiting on the world to change

We keep on waiting

Waiting on the world to change

John Mayer

Waiting on the World to Change

Change has come...and I, for one, can't wait.

You knew it was coming...

Introducing

Scarlett Caroline Lifferth

Born October 28th, 2008

9:31pm

6lb 12oz

19 3/4 in

We welcomed the newest addition to our family on Tuesday night. Ezra and Georgia have both adjusted fairly well and love to give their little sister lots of pats and kisses. I'm doing just fine and have recovered well. I'm no where near adjusted to having three kids, but I assume that's something that comes with time...it does, right? Please tell me it does. Scarlett is just beautiful. She has lots of dark hair and those beautiful trademark Lifferth fingers and nails (look at Spencer's or his sister Heather's hands if you don't know what I'm talking about). I think she looks a lot like Ezra, only girlified and darkened, hence a lot like Spencer...or more accurately, Heather, who looks like a feminine version of Spencer. Scarlett's been a fairly easy baby so far and is a champion nurser. We'll see how long that lasts as she gets older. She just might end up a diva like her older sister. It's hard to believe there's now five of us in our little family, but we wouldn't have it any other way.

The proud new daddy

The necessary disgruntled old man picture

I love this picture because it shows all of her dark hair

Ezra and Georgia checking out their new sib':

(gotta love those scrunchy, odd-looking newborn expressions;)

Right before we left the hospital

This was taken yesterday afternoon after most of her swelling has gone down, so it's a pretty accurate idea of what she really looks like

For those who like all the gory details...

...here's the birth story.

I woke up on Tuesday contracting about every 10minutes so. They were intense-ish all day, but weren't progressing very quickly, so I wasn't too worried about things. I figured I was in actual labor, but I have a tendency to putter during labor, so I was just going about business as usual. Anyway, about 5:00ish that evening, I started seriously timing my contractions and realized they were speeding up fairly quickly. I started packing up the kids to go with my mom to her house and getting stuff for the hospital and by the time I left, my contractions were about 4-5 minutes apart and were hurting a lot. They continued to get more intense on the drive down to the hospital (about an hour away), but actually spread out in time to about 6 minutes apart. I was paranoid about going into the hospital and having contractions that far apart, so I convinced Spencer to pick up some dinner for himself and fill up the car with gas before we parked at the hospital. I considered stopping at the mall to walk around for a bit-thank heavens we didn't or I definitely would've had a baby there. When we parked they were still 6 minutes apart. My doctor suspects at that point in time, I was probably dilated to a 4/5. Because I wanted to give my contractions a chance to speed up, I had Spencer park in the parking garage (rather than do valet parking at the front of the hospital) and walk to the hospital with me (it's about a 5 minute walk while not in labor). As soon as we started walking (especially w/two flights of stairs ), my contractions sped up like crazy. When I checked in at labor and delivery, it was exactly 8:32pm and my contractions hurt like heck, but I was surprisingly managing them really well. I think it's because I seriously thought I had like 6 hours of labor ahead of me, so I kept on comparing them to how much more intense they'd be getting, if that makes any sense. Anyway, they put me in triage and the nurse checked me and lo and behold, I was fully dilated. So, I had dilated from a 5ish all the way to a 10 in the time it took me to walk from the car to labor and delivery. That was a very. long. painful. walk. Anyway, right after she checked me in triage, I started to feel a little pushy. They immediately moved me over to a delivery room and called my doctor, who arrived all out of breath about 10 minutes later. I couldn't hold back any longer so I started pushing soon after the doctor got there and two contractions later, we had a baby. I was lucky and didn't have anything more than a little skid mark. Scarlett was officially born at 9:31, so about an hour after we got to the hospital. The pushing was by far the most painful part for me. The contractions were very intense, but I just focused on breathing and relaxing my way through them and I somehow was able to stay on top of them pretty well. The pushing...well, let's just say I was glad it only lasted for like five minutes, although I was at least crowning for nearly all of it, so that probably didn't help things any. After birth, however, I just felt so fabulous. I couldn't even believe how great I felt, both physically and emotionally. It was such a high and it was so nice not to have to deal with everything that comes with an epidural and tearing and all that. 4 days post birth, I seriously feel almost completely normal.

Since Scarlett descended so quickly, there was loads of mucus still in her lungs when she was born (because it didn't have a chance to get squeezed out in the birth canal), so after the first initial holding and cord-cutting, the nurses and pediatrician started to suck out the mucus and fluid. That took about 30-45 min because they were having a hard time keeping her blood-oxygen levels up. They suspected that part of the problem was how upset she was, so they had me nurse her skin to skin. That calmed her right down and helped loads with her blood-oxygen levels. Other than that, however, she was just fine at birth, w/apgar scores of 8 and 9 (all the points taken off were for color-she was VERY blue at birth, despite being alert and active).

Well, that's it in all the gory details. For all the childbirth veterans out there, hope you enjoyed!