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"Raising a kid is part joy and part guerrilla warfare."
~Ed Asner "I'd like to be the ideal mother, but I'm too busy raising my kids." ~Unknown "Cleaning up with children around is like shoveling during a blizzard." ~Unknown "The best conversations with mothers always take place in silence, when only the heart speaks." ~Carrie Latet "Whenever I held my newborn baby in my arms, I used to think that what I said and did to him could have an influence not only on him but on all whom he met, not only for a day or a month or a year, but for all eternity -- a very challenging and exciting thought for a mother." ~Rose Kennedy Hi.  I'm Amie or as my son affectionately calls me, Mamie.  Perhaps a cross between Mommy and Amie?  Whatever the case, I don't mind because he's cute and lets me smother him with hugs and kisses.  My husband and I live in East Michigan.  We have three children; our baby dog Dakota, our daughter Izabelle, and our son Noah.  Izzie loves doing everything I do, which includes singing and baking.  Noah loves to eat, play and cause as much destruction as possible.  Sometimes I'm the only one who can tame him.  My dog has a tumultuous relationship with Noah and, for his own safety, keeps mostly to himself during the day and cuddles with me at night.  This blog is my journal, memory keeper and photo album.  My babies are growing up so fast and I want to remember every moment.  Well, almost every moment.  I promise there will be no flashback memories of when I was pregnant.  At least I hope not.

Sooo, I don't really have any recent non-serious pictures of me.  I'm not really a serious person anyway.  The only time I get my picture taken is when Izzie says, "Lets take a picture together."  And we always end making silly faces.  I'm usually the one behind the camera and I'm perfectly happy there. I have a love/hate relationship with .  I love being able to experience all four seasons, sometimes in one day.  I love the Upper Peninsula and being surrounded by the .  My extreme allergies and asthma hate .  My cold-blooded self hates .  I am a bit ocd, on again-off again caffeine addict, accident prone and a little quirky.  Okay, my husband tells me on a daily basis how weird I am.
I love fall, roasted marshmallows, hot apple cider, Starbucks, anything sour: limes, lemons, lemon sorbet, green apples; granola, being any place that's warm; vacation (What's that again?); taking baths, Lysol wipes, Febreeze, wrestle mania (The Bug Vs. The Beast); moons and stars (I have a tattoo of a moon and one of my sisters has a tattoo of a star.  I know, we're cool like that.); the feeling of fresh, clean sheets; finding the positive and good in everyone and every situation; being expressive and creative; anything that has to do with music; inside voices (not in my head, rather my children using their inside voices, just to clarify); thinking about some of the wonderful memories I have from my travels overseas; thunderstorms (I'm the person that will get as close as I can to the storm instead of hiding out in the basement); penguins, laughing for no reason and being absolutely ridiculous and silly; taking in the moment; meditating, being passionate, scarves (Some people love shoes.  Some people love purses.  I love scarves.)  I love making up words, and using the most descriptive words I can, even when talking about the simplest thing.  I usually have about a million things going on in my head at once, but somehow my head has still managed to stay attached to my body.
I have a horrid distaste for black licorice and marmite and the thought of touching or eating any kind of meat still attached to the bone makes me want to vomit (I had a bad experience). I loathe disorganization and plugged toilets (the plunger and me vs. the toilet happens daily); and as much as I try to have faith in the USPS, I just can't do it.

I love, love, love my children.  I bombard them with hugs and kisses every day.  I tell them that I love them every day.  I read them a bedtime story and sing songs to them every night.  (Okay, once in awhile we skip the story.)  I will tuck them into bed until they tell me they're too old for that, which I hope doesn't happen for many years.  They are everything to me and everything about me.  They make me want to laugh more, love more, fight harder, live more passionately, be a better person, and they have brought me through things I never thought I would go through.  I have many flaws that I either embrace or try not to worry about because I don't want to waste time thinking about my imperfections; As it is, I already do that too much.  I am a work in progress.  I am a postpartum depression, anxiety and OCD survivor.  Okay, so the OCD is still bad.  I am a recovering dietpopaholic.  I am stronger than I ever thought I was.  Besides being a wife and mother, I am also a sister to eight siblings.  Yes! I come from a big, crazy family.  My parents have a custom built table that can seat, I think, over twenty people.  We use it for the holidays just for our immediate family and I'm the only one with kids so far.  I cannot wait until the rest of my siblings start having babies and our family is overtaken by a bunch of little people.

I don't really know what else to say except that I kind of feel like I just filled out a 'will you be my friend' application.  If there is anything else you want to know about me, just shoot me an email at email@example.com.
Oh, except for this... What a great family photo, don't you think?
We considered using it as our Christmas picture to send out...
(Oh, and in case anyone cares, I was a pajama hippy.  Yes, they are footed pajamas and I totally still wear them.  They are sooo comfortable.) Find out more about the Momma behind Izzie and the Beast. Izzie's New Blog! Twitter / zurimama IZZIE AND THE BEAST. Design by SkinCorner Sponsored by StylistBackgrounds