....

So I have been crazy busy and distracted, the blog has been slow, and so has my personal picture taking. I feel guilty, I usually take hundreds upon hundreds of pictures of the kids every week.  Right now I am taking so many pictures of other people, righting up receipts, scanning contracts, ordering prints, editing, scheduling... etc.  I just have not had the motivation to add to it. haha. It is good. I really enjoy what I do. I will be happy when I am busy enough I can higher an assistant to do the receipts, bills, book keeping, mailing... etc.  I am feeling just a touch over whelmed, especially with my vitamin b12 being out of whack, my brain some times feels like cotton balls... today more of a heavy goo. ^_^ Some of you know what I am talking about! You are lucky if you don't!

So we have been really good. Kjeld is in Seattle working for his parents.  And I am up here working, and holding down the fort.  It is hard to be away for Kjeld for so long. I miss him a lot. However, I am able to get more chores done because I am not tempted to cuddle or chit chat, or stay up late talking and watching silly movies. The kids are doing great, Liala is becoming more helpful, and I am having an easier time working with her. Dude is talking a lot more, and we are trying to potty train... and he just doesn't really care to; but I will get him out of diapers before next school year! Elsa is starting to talk more, and she is just so bright, she has trouble some times because she has so much on her mind that she wants to communicate, and when she can't she gets very frustrated. It is pretty cute to watch.

I wanted to mention something that I find very cool, for myself any ways.  I have always struggled with body image.  That need to be skinnier, and curvier... mostly wanting to be curvier. It has always tugged at me, and made me feel like less of a woman, because I don't have a particular body type. And I have always known it is silly, that genetically, physically, and practically I will never have that body... SO it has been a GREAT relief to have started running. It has completely changed the way I look at my body.  I am not wishing I had a body type that is impossible.  When I used to look in the mirror, I would poke at my thighs and thing... why are they so big, why can they be skinny like __________ (insert skinny legged model/celebrity here)... Now I look at my thighs and I want them to be bigger. I want runners thighs, I like having muscle where as before I wanted to be soft.   OH, the other one (might be TMI for those who are more sensitive)... Boobs.  I used to wish I had big boobs, when I was starting puberty my friend and I would stuff our shirts with socks, and in my prayers and star wishes I would ask for big boobs... sad I know... and up until recently I had still wished for large breasts... even considered surgery.  But now... NOW I LIKE THEM SMALL! They are easy to run with, and I like them. It is crazy how a few months can change my whole body image.  I no longer am wanting to be something I am not... I want my body to be that of an athlete strong and to have endurance.  I want to work with my advantages, and push my body to be the best it can be...  ^_^  So a vain relief and change, but it is so much easier to believe that beauty isn't important when you are happy with the way you look.

In the past few weeks I have also learned a lot about the intersexed.  It has really changed the way I look at gender.  Before I was pretty ignorant, I thought there were males, females, and hermaphrodites(which is actually an offensive term, which I didn't know).  But having learned more about anatomy I have found out that male and female parts are very similar as they are developing.  A penis is a testosterone enlarged clitoris... and other such connections.  So once in a while there are children who are born with either an enlarged clitoris or a small penis and still have a vagina, and others are born with no sexual organs at all.

What is sad is that it is a common practice for doctors to have the parents choose the childs gender, and then preform cosmetic surgery on the child.  In nearly all cases the children grow up and are very unhappy with the choice their parents made; it leads to confusion, depression... and all sorts of other issues that come along with what has happened.

This information has lead me to believe that in school and at home children should not be only thought about male and female anatomy, but how there are other possibilities... and they are not deformations, but another gender... or at least that gender cannot be such a factor that infants, and children are getting cosmetic surgeries before they have any input.

I plan on reading up more on this subject, and I hope that others do as well. ^_^ Okay, I am done, my knee seems to be iced enough and the children are making a ruckus.

Have a fun 4th of July weekend!