BnK Harris Family

Little boys drive. me. CRAZY!!!

2011-06-03T22:11:00.002-06:00

UGH!!!

Little boys are MONSTERS! These hooligans are driving me NUTS!!! My house is a disaster this last week because I seriously can't keep up with all the chaos and messes!

Cameron is pulling everything in sight off of shelves and out of toy boxes. NOTHING stays put away with that kid! He just moves from cupboard, to shelf, to toy box, to cupboard, to drawer, etc. etc. This little dude is a tornado and nothing stays in its place once he crosses it's path!!! I think he's my most energetic and 'exploring' 1 year old yet!!!

Zackery and Kadan..... *shudder*..... it's a good thing they are sleeping so I can unleash my fury on my blog. OH MY HECK!!! I'm about ready for military school and they are only 6 and almost-4!!! I don't know what's gotten into them lately! Zack's always been one for mischief. Kadan's always been a handful when it comes to power struggles, but he really didn't start in on mess making til Zack started to get older and Kadan joined in.

I have marker on my walls. Holes in my couch. Things being thrown. Things broken. Brownies snuck from the cupboard and eaten (ALL OF THEM) in the wee hours of early morning. and little boys PEEing everywhere!!!!!!!!!

We've really been trying to come up with more 'creative' punishments. For example... for the holes that were poked in the couch with scissors, we talked about how it is NOT fun to have your things ruined. The couch was important to mommy, and now its ruined (okay... its far from completely ruined, but I was till DANG pissed about my 3 month old couch!!!!!). So I took his 2 coupons for kids meals at restaurants that he got from school that he was really excited about using. And I cut them up. In front of him. He ran up to his room crying and I was nearly in tears myself (after he left the room of course, when he couldn't see). And at that point I wasn't even so upset about the couch as I was having to cut up his stuff. I HATE having to do it. But I knew it was necessary for him to learn.

Example two... the kids pee-ed on their mattress. In the middle of the day. WHY?!?!?! I don't know!!!! Ask the monsters who are masquerading as the children I love. What the heck would possess someone to think it was funny/cool/whatever to PEE on their bed. on purpose. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't find a girl doing that. Peeing isn't 'cool' to girls. It's just a fact of life. To boys (or at least to crazy boys like mine...) peeing is like this super cool squirt gun weapon with infinite possibilities. Possibilities like seeing if you can make it shoot clear into the toilet from across the bathroom (about 5 feet away... which, fyi, they could NOT make it).

UGH. So the mattress is removed from their bed. It isn't salvagable. they have another mattress on the top bunk. But it's staying their for a bit. They're sleeping on the wooden plank that supports the mattress. I'm sure its not comfortable. And the moral of the story is... if you PEE on your mattress... you do not get to sleep on it.

Geez. I have no idea what to do about this parenting stuff. How do you know if you've come up with the right punishment? That it's enough? Or too much? Or relevant enough that the kids learn something from it? Every kid has such a different personality. How do you know what to do?? It's such a hit and miss thing. Yesterday I made Kadan write "I will not lie" over and over on a piece of paper. Will it help? I don't know. But I don't know anything else that will help for sure.

The best tool I have at my disposal? Preventative measures. If my children are busily engaged in activities... they wont have time to get bored and come up with the idiotically bad choices they've been making lately for 'entertainment'. I'm not a fan of scheduling my kids days away... but I'm trying to get them out of the house as much as possible. Playground, free summer lunches at the park (offered by school district), storytimes and crafts and activities at library, family bike rides, swimming, reading books and playing games with them at home, and they're both starting baseball next week... Please. oh, PLEASE... I just pray I have the ability to keep them engaged in GOOD activities enough that they stay out of mischief.

I love my children. But I am EXHAUSTED from the last couple weeks!!!!!

The Great Kids Clothing Exchange 2011

2011-05-24T21:22:00.002-06:00

The last week I've been going through closets. Sorting out old clothes to get rid of. The last few days have been the kids closet's turn. A couple times a year I also have to put away the small clothes and get out the bigger sizes for the boys (since apparently they don't understand the meaning of 'you-are-my-babies-stop-growing-up-please'). So while I was sorting through the closets I also did what I like to call "The Great Kids Clothing Exchange". And it seriously was a huge ordeal with 3 kids! Size 5T, 4-5, 3T, 6 months, and 6-9 months clothes all got packed away. Sizes 6, 6-7, 4T, and 12 months all got brought out and organized into the closets and dressers. Winter clothes were all packed away in bins and shorts and sandals were busted out. Shoes were also a part of this. Size 12, 7, 0, and 1 were all put away into the 'shoe bins' awaiting their turn on the younger brothers' feet. Size 9 and 3 were brought out once again.

And the kicker? I seriously about teared up a few times! It was SO hard to put some of those clothes away! Really not too hard to put away Kadan's clothes, since in another year they'll be brought out for Zack, and 2 years after that again for Cameron. Zack's were a little harder, but not terribly bad. Cameron's clothes were the worst! All these adorable little baby clothes. So tiny. And they may never get brought out again. I hate putting away baby clothes. It seriously tugs at my heart every time. How sweet they were in this outfit or that funny little thing they did when wearing that outfit. They crawled it this or laughed in that. One very very hard item to put away was a little sweatshirt with a castle and a dragon on it. My brother got it for him for Christmas. Not only is it insanely adorable, but I LOVED putting him in it because it matched our little one's nickname. That's one I'm sure I'll never get rid of. I have a few items from each boy that really just stuck out with memories. Even if we don't have any more kids (or just any more boys), I'll save those items.

I should be greatful that little mini Cameron is finally in 12 month clothes (kind of.... his pants still tend to fall of quite often). The fact that he is 14 1/2 months old and I just put away the 6-9 month clothes I guess proves the hard time he had growing. He is doing really good the last few months. But it was all those months of barely gaining weight last fall that has kept him little. Seems like his metabolism is finally working right now, he's on the right track to catching up weight-wise. It's a bit bittersweet though... being grateful he's growing and being a little tearful that my mini baby isn't quite so mini anymore.

Delayed Dreams

2011-05-24T17:04:00.002-06:00

Ever have a situation where you KNOW you could do something and do it WELL, but no matter how hard you strive and work and put your mind and effort into it.... it just doesn't come together?

That's a bit how I'm feeling at the moment. I was offered a good job last September. I was pretty excited to finally find something. Turns out the job they offered me they already gave to someone else. (What?!?... I know... *sigh*) Then I had a great job opportunity offered to me about 6 months ago. I was INSANELY excited. I put so much effort into trying to make it work. But due to issues on the other person's side... it didn't work out. So then I was all gung-ho and decided I was not giving up. I wanted to teach again and be in charge and make decisions and make a center truly AMAZING. I knew I could do it. I did my research. I knew all the in's and out's of getting started. I already had most of my supplies. I had some funding. I was ready. I even had an awesome person to be 2nd in command. But it's pretty hard to open a business if you don't have a building, right? Right. Yup. A building is a pretty major part of a work establishment. If you don't have a where, there really can't be a how, what, or who.

So basically all the work I put into all three of these adventures (most of the work in jobs 2 and 3) has pretty much been thrown out the window, into a sludge puddle in the middle of the rocky, unpaved road and ran over repeatedly by the garbage truck.

What to do, what to do...

Well, fortunately or unfortunately (not really sure at this point), giving up is not my style. I will have the job I want. It just may not be tomorrow. I'm tucking my plans away in a close place. I'll keep adding to them. And you can be sure I'll be doing the fairly regular google search for commercial spaces in the area. Little by little I'll add to my stash of supplies. I plan on gathering a few kidlets from around the neighborhood for a little preschool class from home this fall (I simply refuse to not teach this fall. Zack needs preschool, and I really need to teach.).

I've had a taste of what it feels like to be close to achieving something really incredible, and I refuse to give up that dream. Who knows why it's not meant to be right now? And I have to believe that that's the case. That it's not 'meant to be', because you better believe it certainly wasn't lack of work or effort!

But after all you can do, when things don't work out, sometimes you just have to stick with 'Plan B' for awhile. Plan A isn't gone. Just slightly delayed.

The End of the Tunnel

2011-05-17T21:22:00.002-06:00

Oh sad little blog... how I neglect thee... *sigh*

I know that I should update this... but I really just am not sure what to post about. I go through spurts. I'll have a week where I'll want to post more than once a day, and then for the next couple weeks I have nothing to type. And... thus... a random post such as this gets posted to force myself to get back on the ball (the blog ball that is). Haha. Yeah, you're right, that wasn't really funny.

So the end is near for my college experience... til I decide to be all ambitious and go for my master's... which I could definitely see happening in the future. It's been a long 7 1/2 years. That's right. SEVEN and a HALF years and I'm not done with my bachelors. It's ridiculous is what it is. Well... let's say 7 years, since the one semester i defered halfway through thanks to little child #1 that made me puke for 9 months straight. (love you Kadan... but I enjoy you more OUT of my belly) Once I had the little hooligan I dropped down to part time. And when your only taking 6-9 credits at a time... college takes a long... long... time. But, in the end progress is progress, I suppose. And FINALLY I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I could have graduated this fall, but I just wasn't QUITE brave enough to go full time. So I will have a couple classes next spring, and I'll graduate in APRIL! woah. It's gonna be pretty wierd not being a student anymore. It's such a normal part of my life and has been for so long. Put the kids to sleep... laundry... clean up dinner... homework. For the last 7 years that's what I've done. Think of the possibilities if I don't have to dedicate 12-18 hours of my week to studying!!!! wooowwwwww...... *dreamy faraway look*.... I may even get caught up on my scrapbooking! (I'm only 3 years behind.... psh) I truly do miss having hobbies. That will be nice. AND... MAYBE... (I'm dreaming big here folks... but stay with me... let's visualize possibilities here...) my house will stay clean ALL the time!!!!! Is such a think possible?!?! 12-18 extra hours a week I could get MANY more a thing done around the house. Thing of the cupboards and closets to be organized... the labeling possibilities... everything in its rightful place at the end of the day, not hastily set aside because that exam has to take priority....

Mmmmmm.... I'm thinking life may be pretty grand with my college days behind me.... Pretty grand indeed....

Bonding over Breakfast

2011-05-03T08:49:00.002-06:00

Zackery is eating a pop-tart at the table with baby Cameron in his highchair with some dry cereal and a sippy cup of milk.

Zack, "Ohhhh, I think baby do want my pop tart, Mom. Him do want it."

Me, "Its okay, baby has his cereal."

Zack, "I just give him a wittle tiny bit." breaks off a small chunk and puts it on baby's tray

Zack, "Here you go baby! It's rrrrriiiight there! A Pop-tart!" points to the pop tart

Cameron, "Ah! Ooohahhda da da" points to his cereal

Zack, "No THAT'S not a pop tart! Right HERE." points to it again

Cameron, "Ya ya da?" points to pop tart

Zack, "YEAH! You GOT it! Good job, baby! Eat it up!"

Cameron, "Ah ya da ya?" points to pop tart again

Zack, "Yeah. EAT it, baby. EAT it!"

Cameron, "YA ya da!!! ahhhyahhhh...."

Zack, "(frustrated growl) babyyyy! Eat your pop tart!"

Cameron, "(growls) da da"

Zack, leans close to baby with grumpy look on face, "(growls again) Eat. it."

Cameron, leans forward in high chair and scrunches up face, "(growls) WA!"

Zack, sighs, "O--ohhhhhh!"

Cameron, "A--ahhhhhh!" scrunches up nose and sniffs in and out repeatedly

Zack, "AHHHHH! Baby CAMERON! That is a booger!!! I don't LIKE boogers!"

Cameron, smiles, giggles, and squeals happily

Zack, gives another big exasperated sigh...

A moment that needed be preserved... : )

2011-04-26T22:01:00.002-06:00

Zack had taken one of his rare naps today, so he wasn't even close to ready to sleep at bedtime. So I stuck him in my bed with a movie while I sat with Kadan til he fell asleep. Then I came in to snuggle with Zack a bit til he was ready for bedtime.

Zack sits up and smacks my pillows repeatedly, "Oh! It's TOO hard, mom! Gotta get 'em soft!"

Just when it looks like he's decided the pillows are about ready I evilly lay down on the pillows myself, "Ahhhh! Soooo comfy!!! Thanks for getting them ready for me, goodnight!" I close my eyes and pretend to be asleep.

"MOMMY!" He says, totally appalled. Then his voice changes to how mine is when explaining consequences, "Hey. If you lay on my pillows... then I will lay on you head!"

I still pretend to be asleep. He lays his head on mine for about 10 seconds, then I feel him move his head so he's looking right into my face and after about 10 more seconds he says, "Mommy.... you super cute."

Of course I can't help it so I laugh out loud, "I think you're super cute."

He giggles, "Yeah! And you're super cute, too. I gonna go to sleep now."

He lays down on the pillows and fake snores. He cracks one eye open, "Shhh! Be quiet." And fake snores some more.

"Zackery... you're snoring," I whisper.

He whispers, too, while giggling, "I like it. When I do snore, I go speed fast to sleep. When I don't snore, I don't go speed fast to sleep."

"Okay. Well, I'm pretty sure you're a little crazy. Are you crazy."

With a tired sigh, "Yeah... I is."

Then he blows on his legs. When I give him an odd look he says, "It makes my legs feel better."

"Yup... pretty crazy. Where did you come from anyway?"

"I don't know!... I was at home, then I went to Disneyland, then I just come home. That's where I came from. When you are 4, like I is 4, then you come to Disneyland with me, okay?"

"But you're not 4, not yet. You didnt' have a birthday yet."

"But you say I DID have a birthday. You say that!"

"Today? Today was Grandpa's birthday."

"Ohhhhh. Mommy you didn't tell me that. I thought it was my birthday. We have to bring Grandpa a cake."

"No, Grandpa already had cake, and he is far away right now."

"Yeah. Him is at the beach. Under the water at the beach. Him doesn't know how to get back yet. We need a boat to go get him. You know?! We DO need a boat."

"Well, how is he going to get home then?"

"He has to drive. For this (holds up fingers and toes) minutes, him has to drive. You know that? You know?!"

"Wow, I didn't know that."

The conversation went on, but it was really even more random than what I already wrote about. LOL But I just had to share how odd some of the moments I have with my middle child are. : )

He is the oddest little goofball I've ever met. He already comes up with some crazy comments and stories and explanations for things. I can't imagine what it's going to be like when he's older! LOL

His favorite word right now is Bac-a-roni. He is convinced it rhymes with everything. Everything. Actually... the phrase he uses is "BAC-uh-WOHNEEEEEEE?!?!?!? Dat rhymes!!!!!!!!!!!!!" This phrase can follow anything anybody else says. I... just do not know where this child comes up with 90% of the things that come out of his mouth. LOL He is the comic relief in our family, that is for sure!

P.S. He is sitting here jabbering next to me. I turn and say "Bac-a-roni!!! does that rhyme?"

He says, with a deeply contemplating and kind of confused look, "Um..... maybe?" : )

Disneyland Here We Come!

2011-04-08T12:31:00.003-06:00

It's official! Hotel Reservations have been made and paid for... Disneyland Parkhopper tickets have been purchased, as well as tickets to Universal Studios and SeaWorld. Only thing left is Medieval Times Tickets (which you can't buy this far in advance yet). Then just bringing the money along for food, gas, souvenirs, parking, etc.

I'm getting all my printouts for my 'Vacation Binder'. When it gets closer I'll print out a list of the showtimes for entertainment. I know you can get a list at the park, but having it beforehand, we can plan our day the night before instead of wasting time at the park. I even have a list of the restaurants that are in the "under $15 per meal" category. I want to make this vacation money go as far as possible! : )

I've been planning this trip for so many years (since Zackery was a baby) that it's hard to believe it's only 6 months away! We're going to make a paper chain with all the classic disney movies (there are 344 TOTAL Disney movies... it would take a year to watch them all!!!) listed on the links and each day we'll take a link off and watch that movie. It will be our Disney countdown. : ) And I want to make sure the boys know all the characters! : )

I've been a few times, but not since I was 18. Blaine and the boys have never gone. There are only 3 rides Zack wont be able to go on (yup, I have a list of ride height restrictions as well!).

Hopefully all my insane planning will result in a wonderful vacation with as little stress as possible and as much fun as we can possibly have! I'm so excited to have a whole week to just play with the kids and be together as a family! And Disneyland is seriously one of my favorite places ever! I don't care how old you are, you can still feel the magic at Disneyland. : )

I'm so excited that it's official!!! All the big stuff bought and paid for and ready to go! October better come quick!!! (Well.. not TOO quick... I still have planning to do!) : )

The Baker (aka... the Husband... aka... the Non-Baker)

2011-04-05T06:26:00.004-06:00

Once upon a time, a wife came home in the evening to find her husband had made dessert. Aww, how nice of him! She thought. She came over to see the yummy treat he had made and was... well... a little speechless. "What... is it, honey?" she tried to ask nicely. For it simply looked like a gooey sugary mess. "Peanut butter bars," the husband said. "I followed the recipe, I don't know why it didn't work." (Please note: a couple months ago said husband tried to make no bake cookies with NO recipe... figured just using the right(ish) ingredients what could go wrong?... MUCH went wrong...) "You followed a recipe?" the wife asked, trying not to sound too skeptical. "Yes! It's right here. I called my, mom. I followed it EXACTLY. It's the same one she used all the time." The wife still had an unsure feeling... "I DID follow the recipe. It should have worked! I followed it EXACTLY." Pauses... "well, I just made some frosting for the top, since we didn't have chocolate chips. But the bottom part is my mom's recipe exactly!" "Well..." trying to keep skepticism from her voice... "then... I don't know why it didn't work. If you followed the recipe exactly. We had all the ingredients?" Husband pauses, "Well, we didn't have baking soda, so I just used baking powder." There we go. "Honey, those aren't the same thing. They do different things in baking, they're not substitutable." Husbands turn to look skeptical, "Are you sure? They look the same." One look at what's in the pan tells you who is likely to be right. : ) The wife tries a bite of the gooey sugariness. "It... tastes like I'm biting into a pile of peanut butter flavored sugar." Complete with the crunch of sugar crystals and all. Definitely not your typical peanut butter bar... "Are you sure you didn't put extra sugar in it? That is um... really... sugary..." the wife asks, trying to figure out what else went wrong in this dessert making process. "No! I only added what it said. See (points to recipe) it calls for (X amount) sugar. That's what I added, exactly!," the husband says in his defense. At this point the wife looks on the counter to see the wrappers from packets of maple and brown sugar instant oatmeal. Ahhh... and THERE would be the extra sugar component right there. sigh... Oh, yes. Followed the recipe "EXACTLY".... except for the substituting of baking powder for baking soda... and the using oatmeal loaded with extra sugar instead of plain oatmeal. Yup... "exactly"... : ) The wife gives a little smile to her husband, "Well... thanks for... making dessert, honey." She pats the husband on the back and walks out of the kitchen, shaking her head slightly and giving a little sigh... Well... "A" for effort I suppose. : ) Please Note #1: The wife DOES acknowledge that the husband is, in fact, a truly good cook (most of the time, if he doesn't experiment TOO much). But cooking is different than baking. You can 'throw things together' in cooking. Baking requires more precise measurements and ONLY substituting ingredients that truly are substitutable. There is much less ability to 'wing it' in baking. Please note #2: The wife states that she also acknowledges that she is not a very good baker. A pretty decent cook yes... but a baker she is not. However... the wife is not in denial as the husband obviously seems to be and she admits to this fault and therefore follows recipes when baking. And she follows those recipes EXACTLY. (Please see an official dictionary for the definition of "exactly". For she means the actual definition... not the 'other' kind of "exactly" the husband used earlier... which means "kind of the same with a few changes".) [Honey, though you don't read my blog often... so I doubt you'll read this... if you DO read this... thank you for being a good sport and letting me post it and I love you *muah* LOL] : )

Spring Judo Tournament! A First Place Winner and... well... an "A" for Effort!!! : )

2011-04-03T14:41:00.006-06:00

With a bag full of snacks, the portable DVD player, my book, a few little toys, a little travel game, and the camera... we were prepared for our role as "family of the Judo competitors" this tournament. We claimed our spot that morning and alternated between the kids playing on the practice mats while I read a book to watching a movie and having a snack. When it was Kadan or Blaine's turn we were ready to cheer and take pictures and videos galore! Though I am far from a sports fanatic... I must admit I do enjoy watching my husband and son compete!

This was Kadan's FIRST Judo Tournament! We weren't going to let him compete this time, since he's really only been doing Judo for a few months, but his Sensei said he thought he was ready to try it, so we said, "Okay!" He was SO excited. We prepped him a lot on trying his best and having fun and it would be really cool if he won but even if he didn't win it would be okay, etc, etc. We were much more worried about his attitude toward it all and not whether he won or lose. We just wanted him to have a good learning experience and to have fun and try his best.
Here's Kadan with Daddy waiting his turn...

Kadan's First Match... He was pinned pretty quick! The kid was a 7 year old and you could tell Kadan just wasn't sure exactly how to handle his first ever match and wasn't prepared to either get back up or not go down in the first place. He was such a good sport about it though! He had a good attitude, he didn't cry, he gave a bow like he was supposed to and he was ready for his next turn!

Kadan's Second Match... He did SO much better this time! Even though the kid (a 6 year old) still got him down pretty quick, Kadan held his own much better and wouldn't quit arching his back and twisting just enough so that his shoulder's weren't technically 'pinned'. He just wasn't quite strong enough to get back up though, and the other kid won, be I was so proud of his effort! : )

Kadan's Third Match... this kid was another 7 year old, and Kadan went down pretty quick again. I was still super proud of him! Three losses and he still came out of it insisting that it was fun and he was ready for another turn! : ) Being his first match, we really didn't expect him to win, we just hoped it would be a good experience and that he would have fun anyways and that he would try hard and have a good attitude about it all.

Afterwards he was bummed he wouldn't get a trophy, but mostly disappointed he wouldn't get another turn. Blaine gave him a little pep talk and all was well. He was excited to keep practicing and get better for the next tournament though, and he still said it was really fun, even though he didn't win. (P.S. Look how cute he is in his little Judo Gee!)

Little Zackery enjoying his sucker and watching Kung Fu Panda on the portable DVD player while we wait for Daddy's match. (Appropriate movie for a Judo tournament I thought!)
Baby slept through good portion of the tournament. He woke up just after Daddy's match. Surprised he could sleep through all the noise, but this kid can pretty much sleep anywhere. LOL

Blaine getting ready to conquer!!! ; )

Blaine's First Match of the Tournament (He won!)

Blaine's Second Match (Part 1)

Blaine's Second Match (Part 2) (He Won!)

My adorable hubby with his First Place Trophy! : ) Kadan was a little bummed that he didn't get a trophy, but his excitement that his daddy got a FIRST PLACE trophy ("Oh my gosh! Dad! You won! You WON! I can't believe it! Dad! You get a TROPHY! Good job, Dad! You won!!!") was enough to overrule the disappointment of his own loss. Please note the tissue up the left guys' nose. Yeah... that would be Blaine's fault (the cause of the blood, not the putting of the tissue up the guys nose, haha!).
It wasn't nearly as long of a day as the last tournament we went to. I was much more prepared and it ended up being a much more enjoyable day because of it! Maybe by this fall my man will be ready to take on the brown and black belts and he'll be the one with the tissue up in his nose. LOL! I mean... he'll still totally dominate and win first place even at that level. ; )

New Diapers!!!!

2011-03-08T18:56:00.003-07:00

Look how cute!!! With our tax return I was able to splurge and buy a few more cloth diapers. : ) This is my favorite brand 'Kawaii' and amazingly, they are cheaper by FAR than many other brands of diapers and regardless of the price, they really are my favorite! They are super soft on the outside and inside, I like the fit better than many other brands and the colors and prints are so bright and fun! A diaper in a cute print like these can be around $30 in another brand!!! What did I pay? A whopping $7.25, only 25 cents more than the plain color diapers. : )

A deal? Oh, yes, I'd say so! I have now spent about $150 on cloth diapers total. And they will last til Cameron is potty trained. $150 only goes 3 maybe 4 months for disposables! I know it's not for everyone, but I'm still hooked on it! I love saving the money, and I really do just LIKE them better. Who knew? Disposables pretty much gross me out now. All papery and squishy and nasty when wet or soiled... *shudder*... to each his or her own, I say. But even if you choose not to use cloth... scroll down and admire the cute purchases I made anyways. : )

Soccer

Red Starry

Green Starry

Retro

Jeans (Okay, you know how huggies came out with 'jeans' diapers? this is SOOO much cuter!!!)

Cow (Blaine picked out this one, lol)

Blue Starry

Royal White Tiger (I super love this one)

purchased from www.theluvyourbaby.com

Ambition

2011-03-02T11:50:00.004-07:00

Why can't I just be content being a stay at home mom? I could learn to cook better. I could find a system so my house actually stays immaculately clean for more than 1 waking hour. I could sew and such.

Please note and remember: I LOVE being a mom. #1 best job EVER. And I would never trade that for anything. And whatever else I do in life, it will be something I can do while STILL being a mom to my children. I know that not everyone has that luxury. But I have vowed that if at all possible, I will never pay someone else to raise my children. I was blessed to be given that job, and I will do it myself (well, with the help of my husband and occassional care from grandparents and babysitters, but you understand my meaning).

But there is this part of me that CRAVES doing something amazing. To create something wonderful using a combination of my education and past experiences. Two of my dreams would be to start a daycare/preschool and most especially a children's museum (that would of course include preschool type classes). Words cannot express how much I want to do BOTH of these. I have so many ideas!

Why not just work at one? Well because I don't want to. It's not enough. Well I mean, I would for now. Especially since I'm not quite ready to start one of these centers on my own. So working at one as like assitant director or manager or something would be good experience for me while I was finishing my degrees. (more explanation on that plural later). And I'd be somewhat content during those years, because I'd know that experience was preparing me for something bigger. But I've learned I don't do good as a little peon employee. I have too many ideas that I itch to put into action. I want to start something from scratch and make it AMAZING.

But it's sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much work. Work that I don't even fully understand yet. Actually I know I could start a preschool on my own, and I'm fairly certain I could start a daycare/preschool on my own as well (I'm referring to a big center, not just out of my own home). Problem there is funding. But I'm nowhere NEAR ready to start a children's museum. Though the dreams and ideas are there... the background knowledge is NOT yet. BUT... I found several exceptional websites and books I will be purchasing to help me learn about it. I have no idea when... but that will be a reality someday in my life. I want it too bad.

I also have a few other little mini ideas that have been floating around in my head, some ever since high school. And I have to think.... SOMEBODY once had an idea for every business from Aunt Marie's little Cookie Shoppe to Walmart to Geico to Microsoft to Macy's. SOMEBODY once thought up an idea that sounded cool. And maybe they thought... man. That sounds like a lot of work.... I don't know if I could pull it off. But they DID pull it off and it worked! Sometimes it works really REALLY well and mulitple sites open up all across the country! Just from somebody's idea.

So WHY NOT?! Why not try to bring at least a couple of these ideas to life? Yeah its going to be hard. But somebody once turned their dream into each and every business in the world. So why can't I be one of those somebodies? I'm not content just working wherever. I can't be just some company's 'employee'. I need to do more. I know I'll never be satisfied settling, so that leads me with one option. Find out how to bring these ideas to life.

So today I created (surprise surprise) a new excel spreadsheet with some steps I feel will help me reach two of my main goals. New daycare/preschool center. New Children's Museum. Obviously finishing my current bachelor's degree is one of the steps. But I've also decided I need some business/entreprenural classes. Maybe a whole degree... maybe some 'certificate'... or maybe I'd just buy some of the textbooks for the classes and learn on my own! LOL (If you haven't gathered by now... I'm kind of a do-it-yourself kind of gal. =) LOL) A new daycare/preschool center is actually also a step towards the New Children's Museum. I know more about a daycare/preschool, but I'd still learn SO much starting one, and I think that would help me with the Children's Museum project. HOPEFULLY.... I can be an Assitant Director at a center for the next few years until Blaine gets an Administrator job somewhere after he graduates. Then wherever we go... I'll open my own. If after a few years there Blaine gets a better job somewhere else... I'll either sell it or still own it and just promote my assistant director and she/he can run it (assuming I super duper trust them and I feel like it would be a good idea at the time). Who knows. But THEN... wherever we move.... which will likely be where we'll settle for the majority of our lifetime, somewhere in this part of the west... the Children's Museum project will emerge.

Yes. Yes. I realize I'm making my life extremely complicated. Why not just get a job wherever and work my way up? Settle for manager or something in the end. (stamps foot) I just don't want to! I don't know why! I'm crazy. I must always have a project to be working on and I can't help it. I LOVE trying something new and the bigger that 'something' is the more I usually love it. Whether it fails or succeeds I love the process! I love the work and planning of it. I love taking pieces and adding creativity and putting it together in the end to create something new and whole.

So... there you are. I have resigned myself to a life of hard work and in depth projects that lead to bigger more in depth projects. I can't get out of it. I can't run away from it. I can't forget about it. It's who I am. I must accept it and surge forward! Step by step til I SOMEDAY make these little dreams and ideas come to life.

Anybody else have crazy dreams you've thought of? Do you plan to make them a reality?

moneeeeyyyyy MONEEEYYYYY!.... MONEY HONEY!!! -(Bay City Rollers)

2011-03-01T12:20:00.003-07:00

So this semester I am taking a finances class that I was a little hesitant about at first but turns out I really LOVE LOVE LLLLOOOVVVEEE it!!!

I'm learned TONS and TONS of useful stuff everyday! It's awesome! As most ridiculous newlyweds.... me and Blaine were not too smart with our money 'back in the day'. We learned pretty quick though and have spend the last 5 years working hard to improve things. It's hard when sometimes you don't know the best way to arrange things, though. You kind of just have to wing it and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't and you have to remind yourself not to bang your head on the wall for your stupidity.

Well. This class has given us SO many great ideas! I feel much more enlightened and intelligent than I did previously. Now I have all these ideas for a better budget, tips on how to STICK to the budget, ways to save smartly, do my taxes better, paying off debt easier, buying and paying off a home easier, even ways to save for retirement!!!! That's right. We are saving for our retirement right now. And I'm kind of pissed at myself for not starting when I was first out of high school... or even when I was IN high school! Ah... if I could add up all the money i've made since my first job at age 13.... eesh... I seriously have no idea where it all went sometimes.

One of the texts we've used for this class is called "The Automatic Millionaire". No no, this is no quick rich scheme. This is a takes-work-and-effort-and-discipline-and-knowledge-and-planning-and-a-long-long-time scheme. : ) It really has some great ideas. We're not going to implement EVERYTHING from it, but a good portion. I'm actually really excited to get started! I just finished to book (and my report on it) last night. I loved pretty much every single page of the book. I love my other textbook, too, entitled "Personal Finances". But that one is a legit textbook. Long. Not quite so enjoyable a read... but still full of loads of good information! The Automatic Millionaire is not too long and is a seriously good read.

Apparently he has other books out, too, and has a website and all such things. His name is David Bach, and I guess he was on Oprah awhile back, too. Here's his site: (www.finishrich.com) It's worth checking out I think. Here's another guy we really like listening, too and browsing through his website: (www.daveramsey.com)

Anyways... here's to learning how to create a better life for ourselves, financial security, and a happy retirement 40 years down the road! : )

So easy even a child can do it...

2011-02-28T21:50:00.004-07:00

So when I was in high school nobody but our parents had cell phones. I didn't even have one til I married Blaine (at 19).

Nowadays even kids as young as 8 years old have a cell phone! People think it's crazy, but I could see the benefits of it. You can always get ahold of your child, if they're at a friends house or playing outside across the street or they missed the bus or at school they can easily get ahold of you if something is wrong (though obviously if they're at school they'd have to keep it off in their bags or something). Or what if you're in a store and you lose track of them for a minute? Whip out the phone!

But... is an 8 year old really ready to be responsible enough to take care of a fairly expensive (guess it depends on the phone or if there was a rebate) electronic devise? Even I have been known to damage many more than one phone in the 7 years I've had one.

Well, my son Kadan... not even 6 yet... has decided he is ready for a phone. More specifically... he feels he is ready to start texting.

Text sent to my Dad at 2:15 today... (bolded words are just to point them out in the blog)

kadanharrijskjuoskdeeidekdudefuhhhhhhiedkdioekldeolikwszxbnoedlwisksowedlikrfioderfkltrufgjikreodflwserodflleriodfloedrtiofgopsdt347ri8oeo12389rrte2t4eropdf23467eodlrf2389tklbniogrfoligolerofgkjtuiowesdolfrioklep129fr1ei378rofklrpfrtkliofg3478lpppllp
Well obviously I am proud that he ALMOST got his name all typed right at the beginning.The rest I have no clue about... except somehow he managed to type 'dude' in there.

If anyone else gets a random text from my son... well... i guess feel free to text him back, and I'll make sure he gets it. LOL

Happy Birthday to Me... Happy Birthday to Me....

2011-02-28T00:00:00.000-07:00

In celebration of myself (he he... it's my birthday, I get to do that) I shall post 100 facts about moi. Enjoy!!!

I was born on February 28, 1985
When I was born I was said to look like a little eskimo baby
I had white blonde hair when I was little
But it slowly changed back to brown
I am quite fond of my eye color which is green with some blue and a little brown in the middle
I find it ridiculous that in 5th grade I was the 3rd tallest person in the class...
...and now I am stuck at a measly 5'2"
I have spent the last 11 months working my butt off (literally... ha ha) to lose 25 pounds...
and I'm not done yet! : )
I met the love of my life right before my 19th birthday
I took it as a huge accomplishment when I finally got him to say more to me than just, "Um. Hi.... You look nice today." He was ridiculously shy around me.
We have been married for almost 7 years!!!
My best friends are still the same ones I had in high school... yup... 8-10 years later... : )
I somehow lost what little 'outgoing-ness' I had as I got older
Scrapbooking is my all time favorite activity to do in my spare time
It has been since I was about 12
I enjoy all things crafty as well... jewelry making... home decorations making... and such and such and such.
Dark purple (plum as I preferred to call it) was my favorite color throughout most of my life.
Slowly my favorite color changed to Burgundy.
Now it is a rich deep red color.
My living room, kitchen, downstairs bathroom, and bedroom are all decorated mostly in this color of red. Something about it... I don't know... it's energizing for me I guess.
My first son was born in 2005.
He has SO much of my personality... not always a good thing. : )
We named him Kadan which was my favorite boy name since high school...
...and gave him his Daddy's name (Blaine) for a middle name.
My second son was born in 2007.
We named him Zackery, because once we were in the hospital we couldn't come with anything else we liked. : )
He is SUCH a little practical joker, he definitely took after his (middle)namesake, my Grandpa. (Both have middle names of 'George').
My third son was born in 2010.
He was in SUCH a hurry to get here, as I got pregant WAY faster than we were ever expecting and he came rushing into the world at 31 1/2 weeks.
Luckily... he obviously had a reason to come here early because the Lord sure made sure he was safe and he had no problems.
When named this baby Cameron F. (Middle name for my maiden name, Foy, [Blaine's middle initial is the first letter of his mother's maiden name, too... and my dad only has a middle initial]... AND it's also for Blaine's grandfather 'Fay'.... yup...WHOLE lotta meaning in his middle initial! : )
If I ever get a daughter her name will be something containing "ann" "anne" or "anna"
Though I'm not holding my breathe that I'll get one! : )
Regardless.... I love LOVE having 3 sons! Boys are AWESOME!!!
I love love LOVE to sing and wish I would have gotten into choir sooner so I could have been in the jazz/show choir in high school for two years.
And I deeply regret not doing choir in college.
I dream about starting up a jazz group and perform live at various events and clubs. It's likely to never happen... but that doesn't stop me from imagining. : )
I also love love LOVE to dance
I will forever be bitter that I didn't get to go to a high school that had a ballroom dance team, for that is my favorite style.
The little bit I did in college just wasn't enough to curb my appetite for it.
My husband has promised that in the near future we will attend the BYU adult dance camp together. : )
You better believe I'll be holding him to it!
I was baptized into the LDS church when I was 15
I didn't talk to ANYONE about it while I was considering it. I wanted it to be completely my own decision.
I only told others once I had done my research and decided to go ahead with becoming a member.
To this day I still am grateful for that decision
My temple day was one of the 4 happiest days of my life (the others were my children's births).
I have learned that there is nothing you can't make it through in a marriage so long as both individuals are willing to work hard together.
I believe date nights are SUPER important in a marriage.
I also believe family 'date' nights are important
This is the first year I have really understood the value of Family Home Evening.
We've had it every week in the year 2011 and it is WONDERFUL!
My only significant calling in church I've had was Relief Society Teacher once a month...
...and I SUCKED at it. I was HORRIBLE. I'm not kidding. It was a hard time in my life and I was incredibly unreliable. Thank heavens we moved.
I am about to start a new calling of Cub Scouts Leader (for the wolves, 8 yr olds)...
...which I vow to make sure I am AMAZING at. I must redeem myself.
I hate being terrible at something.
I truly enjoy school.
I even really like... tests. Yeah. I'm a freak.
I had always planning on going to college for something music related.
I have no idea how or when that choice actually changed.
...but I'm glad it did.
I LOVE being a preschool teacher and working with little kids!!!
I think 3 and 4 year olds are the BESTTTT!!!!
I especially love studying child development/psychology/education/behavior.
I think little ones are just fascinating! and SO much fun!
It is my lifetime goal to start a children's museum with TONS of hands on activities.
I WILL accomplish this goal at some point in my life.
Chubby baby feet and cheeks are quite possibly my favorite thing in the world
As hard as the baby stage can be, there is SOOOO much to love about it!!! Nothing beats snuggling with a teeny sleeping baby. : )
I went ziplining once and HATED it.
I'm a HUGE chicken.
I can't watch any type of scary movie.
Most suspenseful movies are out, too.
I am a total sci-fi geek which I blame first on my dad for passing along the genes and then on my husband for bringing that side out of me.
My favorite type of books are those that have a little fantasy, a little historical feel to it, a little bit of romance, a little bit of drama, a little bit of comedy, and excellently written characters.
I love ALL types of music. I can find songs I like in every genre.
My favorite music to listen to right now is songs from Glee, the movie Burlesque, the movie Hairspray, music by Gloriana and Little Big Town, and several amazing jazz songs that I enjoy belting out loud while doing housework or getting ready. : )
I love movies with a little bit of everything.
I also love movies with excellent complex characters.
I ALSO love movies that are... MUSICALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : )
It absolutely totally stresses me out when my house is not perfectly clean and organized.
My house is NEVER perfectly clean and organized.
I am stressed a lot. : )
I am obsessed with Microsoft Excel. I'm sure I have about a hundred spreadsheet pages I use on a fairly regular basis.
No. I'm very much not kidding.
I also really enjoy my label maker. : ) She is one of my best friends.
I have yet to come up with a name for her. Don't worry, though... I will.
It pisses me off when my rugs in my bathroom or kitchen are messed up.
Or when the towls aren't hung juuuust right on the bar.
My husband has learned this over the years. : )
I am ridiculously addicted to several of the stupid games on facebook. Good thing I get sick of them after a few weeks.... though I always seem to find another one...
After the cruise we went on for my 5th anniversary I have decided it is my FAVORITE type of vacation second only to the magic of Disneyland (it is VERY close second).
I get super car sick.
Especially while pregnant.
But strangely I do not get seasick.... hmmm.
I love board games and various party games.
I have recently become obsessed with cloth diapers. They are so cute and wonderful and I will NEVER go back to disposables!
Despite the struggles and chaos and stress and problems and trials and hard times and mistakes, I have to admit that my life is incredibly absolutely wonderful. : )

Happy Birthday to me! I plan on having a great day. : )

A Friend For All Seasons...

2011-02-26T22:20:00.003-07:00

I would say I have 4 really close girlfriends right now. And then there others who are good friends, but not the type I call up on a whim or hang out with often. And they are all SO different.

It's odd to say that they are all a lot like me but not much like each other. How could they be so much similar to myself... but so different from each other? That doesn't make sense. Yet it's true.

I think if you took parts of them all and squished them all together they'd be a replica of myself. I'm not going to put names... but you'll probably know who you are if you read this. (note: order is not in 'favorites', just in how long I've know you.) : )

#1: Family/OCD/Esteem Friend.... this friend is the one I talk to about family matters. the kids. cousins. siblings. grandparents. parents. etc. If the kids do something cute or funny she is the first friend I let know. Family means so much to both of us. We both love learning about our heritage and having keepsakes that have transcended the years. I love her SOOO much. We can talk for hours about a range of topics and I'm sad I don't to see enough of her. She also shares many of my crazy OCD quirks that we can discuss and totally understand each other on. Makes me not feel so insane that I'm not alone. : ) And most every time I talk to her, I feel like I'm the most important person in someone's life. I know I'm loved SO much and I gain confidence and motivation to be better.

#2: Spiritual/Crafty/Youthful Friend... his is the friend who I can get into deep conversations about enlightening or truly important things. She has been my inspiration so many times. AND... we could talk forever about all things D.I.Y. for she shares my passion for projects and craftiness. Heaven only knows how much time we'd spend together at Porter's/Michael's/Sierra's if we lived closer! (time we'd spend AND $$$$ we'd spend!!!!) We both love creating new things and oohing and ahhing over the things the other has created. I don't know how to describe the 'youthful part' other than if I say something or do something that makes me seem like a silly 5 year old.... I know she won't judge. and vice versa. Everyone needs a friend they can be silly with! : )

#3: Girl's Night Friend... this was the best word to describe someone who I can sit around, do girly things like nails and facials, watch a chic flic, giggle about random issues, and gab about the mundane and also the important things of life together. If I had a sucky day and need to vent, I call her. If I have a dilemma about what to wear on my date... I'd probably call her for that, too. : ) If my husband is being a crazy boy, I call to her talk about that, too, cuz her husband has probably done the same and we can take consolation to know we're in this thing call "life" together. I love that I get to be a crazy girl with her, but I also know she's totally got my back if ever I need her! : )

#4: New friend... I'm not sure what name I could give this one... 'Laughy' friend could be accurate... but it's more than that. From early on when we met I felt like we just kind of clicked and we could laugh together over so many things. She's amazingly fun and outgoing and I love having a friend who I can consider a "light" to liven up any event. We've been able to talk about family life... home life... school... spiritual matters... crafty things... and we've even had some super fun girl's nights. But only time will tell which one really stands out. For now I think I shall dub her my "Lively" Friend because that's what she does. Every situation is just a bit more fun with her there.

Odd still that I think I'm different with each of them. Not "not-myself", for I am not a person who ever attempts to act fake. For one... I'm a sucky actor. LOL For two... that is not something I view as a good quality in people. I'm still myself with each of them... it's just a different part of myself comes out with each of them. The part that relates to them comes out and we are able to have a stupendously wonderful time. And then when I'm with the next one then THAT part of me comes out more and we have a stupendously wonderful time. They are all important to me and I need all of them. Although it's been almost 10 years since I've had a close group of friends I did everything with.... I'm grateful to still have girlfriends I can spend time with, whether its one-on-one or occassionally in a group.

Thank you to all of you who make my life fun, enjoyable, and memorable. All of you and each of your unique qualities is important to me! : )

"I Enjoyyyy Beeeing A Girl!" (by... someone... wasn't this song on a movie? maybe? i don't know...)

2011-02-22T23:12:00.002-07:00

I remember going with my mom to get her nails done (acrylic nails). I remember the smell (yuck) and how BEAUTIFUL they were (oooh ahhhh) and how she'd sit and girl talk with the lady who did them.

I remember when my mom would sit on the couch with her little nail tools and push back her cuticles, file, and paint her toes the perfect shade of pink. I remember her doing my nails (dang that cuticle pusher backer hurt the first time or two! lol) and how special I felt. And I REALLY felt special when she'd let me put some of her pretty little nail stickers on my nails.

When I was a little older, I always had my nails painted. And being me... who must always take a project a little too far.... I spent several hours decorating my nails with various colors (using toothpicks to apply) in various designs according to each holiday. There were no nail stickers involved here. It was a seriously in depth art project! LOL

And as I got older and busier in high school the intense nail art faded away. For prom in high school I asked my mom if she'd do my nails (acrylic, by that point she had her own materials to do them herself). I'd never had acrylic nails before and I wanted them sooo bad! She agreed. And later... disagreed. Only to tell me that she decided she'd pay to let me have them done professionally! I was so excited! I loved the whole process! It was so fun having them done!

As an adult... I still really love having fake nails... but... DANG they're pricey! I just can't bring myself to pay the money. I have bought several kits and done them myself and I think I manage pretty good for an amateur! But I don't do them often.... since I have found it difficult to type fast, do up itty bitty zippers and buttons and snaps on my babes clothes, and other little tasts a mommy does. I still don't have time to go all out with crazy intricate designs either.

So what have I resorted back to? The beauty and wonder of my childhood days. Stickers. : )

I found a fabulous brand of nail polish called "Pure Ice" that is $2 a bottle and lasts every bit as long as any other 'fancy' brand of polish I've ever used. PLUS they have super fun names for the different colors. (Is this important? Why, yes it is!) And I purchased a few packs of little stick on designs and 'jewels' to top it off. I put one on my ring fingers in the lower outside corner and one on my thumbs on the lower outside corner... just like mommy taught me back in the day. : )

Though I don't keep my fingernails painted ALL the time (though recently I have been more often)... my toenails are painted 99% of the time. I can't stand not having my toes painted. (Toes are gross with out some 'pizazz'... let's just face facts here.)

So here I am, sitting with my lovely lavender painted nails with pretty white and purple flowers... my toes are a dark greyish silver with colored sparklies... and I must say I find myself enjoying being a girl. : )

Blessings

2011-02-20T13:39:00.002-07:00

There are many different categories of blessings.

There are blessings you get from working hard. I have been taught by wonderful parents to work hard. The blessings you get from working hard give you satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment, and motivation to work hard in the future.

There are blessings that could be referred to as luck. When you do nothing right and somehow you still end up with something great. These are nice... but sometimes they leave you feeling a little guilty. Which, hopefully leads you to think about being good enough in the future to actually deserve those blessings.

Then there are blessings that you have no control over, so you must ask for. These are the blessings that humble our hearts and realize the good hearts of others. Hopefully along with these blessings come love for one another and for the Lord who undoubtedly had a hand in the situation. And.... hopefully... the spirit of service inspires us to pass along the blessings to others in the future and keep the chain of love moving along.

And then there are blessings that seem to come out of nowhere that you never asked for nor ever expected. Things that leave you speechless and in awe of the life and the people in your life. These are the things that usually don't seem real for a day... or a week... and you have to think - Did that really happen?! Woah.....

I am grateful for all my blessings. I've had some from each category and each I am grateful for in a different way and each affects me differently. Don't forget to count your blessings. Life is wonderful, so long as you look at all the wonderful moments and people and little things you've been blessed with. : )

Yummy.... cardboard?

2011-02-15T21:33:00.002-07:00

As Blaine grabs a snack out of the cupboard... "I know these are for Cameron, but I'm eating 'em. I love 'em.... kinda taste like cardboard."

Uh... yum? What a weirdo I'm married to! LOL

A Little Valentine's Love!

2011-02-14T12:01:00.002-07:00

Top Things I Love About My Family:

Blaine

His laugh that shakes his whole body
His great big smile that is contagious
How he is so great with people, completely my opposite
His amazing fatherhood skills
That he likes to cook! (cuz sometimes I don't lol)
That he is strong, so I feel safe
That he knows exactly the things I like and the things that will make me happy
That we have so many of the same interests so we have FUN together
That he laughs when I'm being dumb instead of being annoyed
That I know without a doubt that he loves me unconditionally

Kadan

His strong independent personality
His AWESOME caring big brother-ness (I'm so glad he is my first child, he is so good with his little brothers!)
The way we can laugh together because we find the same things funny
His thoughtful questions that let me know how smart and caring he is
The funny way he analyzes things

Zackery

His insane goofball-ness
His huge grin with dimples a mile deep
His crazy adorable contagious giggle
His dramatic facial expressions (especially when he's teasing people)
His SUPER tender heart

Cameron

His life makes me count my blessings every single day
His incredible snuggle-able-ness (ssh... its a word)
The way he tries to copy sounds we make
His big goofy grin every time you talk to him
His amazingly adorable squishy baby feet

My Mommy

She is my inspiration to be a better housekeeper and organizer
That we have SO much fun together
That she raised me to listen to awesome music whenever I clean or do projects
That she is such a great model of hard work and finding a way to make things work
That I always know how much she loves me and my children and she'd do anything for us

My Baby Brother

His crazy goofball-ness
That he has introduces me to many a wonderful thing in the world (GLEE!)
He is so fun to hang out
We can laugh and be wackos when together
He has such an awesome caring heart

Of course there are many many more wonderful people in my life... tons of friends who have and will continue to forever change my life... more family members who I have so many great memories with... but for the sake of not making this insanely long (and something that takes me 12 hours to write...).... I'm going to leave it at these few members of my family I'm closest with.

I love you all! Happy Valentine's Day. : )

Blog Visitors

2011-02-14T01:37:00.002-07:00

Alright, folks. I can count on one hand the number of comments I get during a typical week. And that's fine, most of my posts are just blabbing and jabbering and if I read them somewhere else I probably wouldn't comment either. haha!

BUT... on my little sidebar that tells me when people visit (and the city about where they visit from) each day I have between 10-20 people view my blog and about half are from places that i know I know NO one from. I can only think of like 5-6 people who would view my blog on occassion... so who are all these individuals?... Who are all of YOU? Lots of people I know have gone private with their blogs. For me... I just don't feel like I write anything that personal that I would care if some random person in Perkasnistan (it could be a country... don't judge...) reads. Go ahead and know about my recent karaoke party and that I lost a few pounds and that my kid said something random and funny. No biggy. When I start blogging about my phone number, address, credit scores, and my family's medical history.... wellllll... then I'll probably cut you off, strangers-who-read-my-blog. Until then... read on! But I'd kind of be interested to know who you are and how in the world you found my blog and what would posess you to read such randomness that is my little online journal.

If you read this.... post a comment. It'll be such a fun little game! Come on! Do it! If I already know you, then just say something random... like "skinny jeans".... or "peanut butter"... or I guess you could be boring and say "Hi, it's me." whatever you want. LOL. If I DON'T know you... post where you're from (at least the state) and how you found me and why you read this. Do you enjoy laughing at my randomness? (cuz that's okay) or do you find the pictures of my children so super adorable that you have to come back to see their smiling faces? (that's okay, too... I'm pretty smitten with them myself) Whatever it is... indulge me for a minute and say hi! : )

Karaoke!!!!

2011-02-13T02:53:00.002-07:00

Aww man. I LOVE karaoke. Like. TONS. It is second only to being able to belt out a great tune on stage for a real performance.

Sadly... our karaoke machine is not functioning currently. This makes me very depressed. BUT... I sing enough in the car and around that house that it's okay. Because singing karaoke by yourself at home really isn't that cool anyway.

Singing karaoke on a stage at a Mexican beach resort.... now THAT'S cool. (Am I right?! Am I right?! There's gotta be at least one of you reading this that went on that high school trip and sang a little tune up on that stage, too!)

I was severely disappointed that I never sang karaoke on our cruise... I really really wanted to... but on karaoke nights you had to sign your name up early because there were only 15 spots... so I never did, much to my regret.

I have yet to visit a karaoke bar as well. I don't know why. I LOVE karaoke. We've just never gone. So I have sadly been limited to little random karaoke events with family or friends. And it's certainly fun, but tonight... : )... TONIGHT:

One of my lovely friends turned 30 and we went to her surprise b-day bash which happened to be an 80's Rockstar/Karaoke Party!!!!! Holy moly it was fun! Lots of great people and TONS of GREAT songs that we all jammed out, too. There were a few solos, but mostly about 15 of us just sat around belting out those tunes together. There were some 80's... lots of 90's (we were reliving our high school days... good times... good times... and some crazy songs we used to listen to! haha!)... and some newer stuff as well. All the girls danced around belting out "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun". "Whoomp There it is" was enjoyed as well as "Baby Got Back". The girls also enjoyed a nice rendition of "Goodbye Earl" and the boys vs. girls enjoyed "Summer Lovin'" from Grease. "Gettin' Jiggy With It", "Man I Feel Like a Woman", "You're So Vain", and about 4 hours more great hits were enjoyed. The night ended for me with "Moulin Rouge" in which I surprised myself by being able to whip out my mad rapping skills during that part of the song. I had no idea I knew it quite so well. LOL

Ah, man. I do love karaoke. Good times, good times.... The hard part is you have to have a group of people who are in the mood for karaoke in order for it to be a success. Tonight... it was an excellent success. BUT... I've also had times when we broke out the karaoke machine and the group juuuust wasn't feelin' it.

So here is the message to all (and it's super important to listen): #1-If ever you are presented with a karaoke party, GO!!!! Go and SING my friends....You may never know if it could be the super awesomest karaoke time you've ever had!!!.... #2-If you ever go to a karaoke bash and it's not that great.... start the gang of with a nice rendition of "You're So Vain", complete with dance moves and a sweeeeet blow-up-guitar solo. Thanks to Steph, that's what got our party going tonight!... #3-When in doubt, belt it out! Who cares if you're off tune, it's not American Idol! It's a karaoke party! so party, my friends. Go... and party.

Feel the Burn... Love the Burn!

2011-02-10T00:41:00.002-07:00

: )

Yes, yes... I know it's a little crazy, but I truly enjoy that painful, sore, achey feeling you get after exercising. I more than enjoy it, I THRIVE on it.

And I kind of forgot how much I loved and needed it. The last couple months I haven't done quite as good at exercising as I previously had. I blame the holidays. Then I blame the bad habit that came from not exercising over the holidays that carried over throughout January. After a couple months it was hard to get back into the swing of things.

I had high intentions of starting strong for February... but Mother Nature paid me a visit and wore me down for about 5 days. BUT... this week... oh, yes... this week:

The burn is back!!! And I LOVE it!!!

I forgot how GOOD it feels to ache and feel sore and stiff. MMM! I'm tellin' ya, I LOVE this kind of pain. : ) It's the kind of pain that reminds me how GOOD I'm doing and even when I look in the mirror and it's not really what I'm hoping to see... I feel my sore muscles all over and have that physical reminder that I'm making progress! Along with those sore muscles comes sweet heavenly blessings called endorphins. Do you realize what you can DO with endorphins?!?!?! It's insane!!! I can exercise.... clean my house... do endless loads of laundry... organize a closet... play with my babies... and be juuust tired enough by the end of the day that I sink into my wonderful bed and doze off easily. For those of you who know me you know that I do NOT EVER sleep easily.... but when I exercise regulary this almost completely corrects itself.

Here's what happens when I DON'T exercise. I want to sleep in. I'm not truly hungry... but I'm munchy, so I eat horribly. I don't have enough energy to play with my kiddos, let alone get all the housework done that needs to be done. I don't have motivation to do all those extra little things that need to be done. And I sleep TERRIBLE. It's terrible. Plus.... I don't get that mega boost of confidence and satisfaction that comes from knowing I am taking control over something that has been a long time enemy of mine... my body.

Tonight, as I'm lying in bed, I feel the urge to chuckle evil-ly... (MWAH HA HA HA HAAAAA....) because I know the secret that will help me totally beat all my foes (housework, homework, projects, self-esteem, weight, eating habits, sleeping habits...)... it's all about the burn, baby. It's all about the burn.

: )

Girl

2011-02-07T14:41:00.004-07:00

Alright, Alright! First of all... stop right there. Don't even think any further until you keep reading.

Zackery needs a nap. REALLY bad, today. Usually I will just lay him down in my bed with a quiet cartoon and he'll either rest (if he's not tired enough for a nap that day) or instantly fall asleep. But today is not 'usually' and he is a grump so I'm sitting by him so he'll fall asleep and not play.

Since I do not like to just sit and stare at the wall... I decided to play on the computer. Me and Blaine are always talking about baby names (stop it... I told you not to think further until you're done reading) and we've never been able to pick a girl name we both really love (guess its a good thing we've only had boys haha) so I decided to browse around for girl names. We are NOT pregnant, nor will we be within the next 3+ years. This is for entertainment purposes only. Thank you for reading this disclaimer... continue reading and you may also resume thinking.

So I have a few criteria for my future hypothetical daughter's name:

She will not have a middle name (I didn't, my mom didn't, and my Grandma didn't. Kind of a family tradition to just have your maiden name as a middle name. I actually didn't even know girls COULD have middle names until I was like 10. haha)
It cannot start with the same initial as any of my other kids, so no "K" "C" or "Z".
It MUST contain "ann" somewhere in the name. I have wanted this since I was little and I will not waiver.

Many of these names I know I probably wouldn't end up considering, but you never know what my taste will be in 3+ years time, so I searched through baby names websites and wrote down all that I thought were maybe possibly a possibility. All spellings are still optional. Nicknames are in " "s. At first I was only looking up words ending with -ann, -anne, or -anna. Then I realized that was a little limiting, so I started looking up any names that contained 'ann' somewhere in the name (beginning, middle, or end). Here you go folks. Feel free to comment on your favorites:

Abianne "Abbi"
Aubrianna "Aubrie"
Adanna "Addi"
Adreanna "Addi"
Adrianne (Ay-dree-uhn) "Addi"
Adrianna "Addi"
Aiyanna
Ayanna
Alanna
Alexanne "Ali" "Alexa" "Lexi"
Alexanna "Ali" "Alexa" "Lexi"
Alisanne "Alisa" "Ali"
Alyanna "Aly"
Annalee
Annalyn
Annyka/Annika (This one is odd... but its kind of growing on me cuz it's like the reverse of my name kind of... Karrianne... Annika... hmm... I don't know...)
Annyssa
Arianna
Arianne
Audrianne "Audri"
Elanna
Ellianna "Ellie" (I don't know about the whole name... but I have always liked the nickname Ellie)
Evanna "Evie?"
Gianna (Jee- aw-nuh)
Jianna (jee-aw-nuh)
Jilianna "Jili"? (my mom might like this... her granddaughter kind of named after her hero... Jillian Michaels LOL)
Julianna "Julia"
Leighanna (lee-aww-nuh) "Leigha" (lee-uh)
Lianna (lee-aww-nuh) "Lia" (lee-uh)
Lexanne "Lexi)
Lilianna "Lili" (Lillies are my FAVORITE flower so I was really stuck on this name for awhile, but I just can't decide if I like it enough...)
Melanna "Mellie" (this is another one that I couldn't stop going back to it once I read it. Different... never heard it... but it's kind of mine and Blaine's moms' names combined "melinda" and "leann" and that would be pretty neat. And ever since I saw gone with the wind I've liked the nickname "Mellie"... I don't know though... hmmm)
Shayanne
Tianna (tee-aww-nuh)

Tough huh? I don't want to go with Breanne or Marianne because I know too many of those. there are more options than I initially though, I was surprised at how many uses of 'ann' the search engines pulled up. But I still don't LOVE any of them. I guess its a good thing I've got at least 3 years huh? LOL

success! Zackery George is asleep! : )

Separation Anxiety

2011-02-07T11:37:00.002-07:00

Usually this is a term referring to young children who get anxious and nervous when they know their parents will be leaving them (@babysitters, etc). None of my children really had much of this. Zack a teeny bit more than the other kiddos, but still not much.

Me on the other hand.... I get HORRIBLE separation anxiety everytime my kids leave me. LOL

I still remember the first time I put baby Kadan to bed in his own room, instead of the bassinet in my room. I probably didn't sleep more than an hour that whole night, and it wasn't because the baby kept waking up.

I remember being in the hospital with Zack as a baby and the nurses asking if they could take him by the nurses station so I could get some sleep. After a considerable amount of hesitation, I finally agreed.... I was tired... but it still made my heart ache just to have him leave the room away from me.

I only got to see Cameron for a tiny moment when they wheeled me from the surgery recovery room up to my own room. And I barely remember it from the blood loss and drugs they had me on. Then I had to wait about 12 hours before I could see him again. Worst. 12. hours. of. my. life. Every single chance I had to slip away down to the NICU to see him I did. The NICU nurses kept telling me to go back and get some rest.

It's hard though, having your little one constantly right next to you for 9 months (or... 7 months in Cameron's case) and then all of a sudden they're not there anymore. Even though you know they're fine... it's still an uncomfortable feeling not having them in your arms for the first little while.

When we had to leave the hospital, of course I cried. My heart was just breaking having to leave him behind. And my heart broke each and every time we had to leave the hospital after a visit after that. I remember holding him and snuggling, trying my hardest not to watch the clock and trying to savor those last few minutes of each visit. It made my heart ache to put him back in the isolette and leave. If I could have lived in the NICU that month I would have.

Zack started Primary at church this year... my little Sunbeam. He's still been a little nervous, as it's a new class with lots of kids and lots of big kids, too. The first minute or two he always wants us to stay. And part of me wants to scoop him up and stay with him or bring him to Relief Society with me... but I don't. And when I pick him up at his class after its over he always has a big grin on his face and I know he had fun with his little friends.

Each school morning me and Kadan get up together and get dressed and have breakfast. The little ones are still sleeping so we chat while we get his school stuff together, and laugh and giggle at funny expressions on little Zack's sleeping face. : ) I bundle him up and watch from the porch as he walked to the end of the complex where the bus picks the kids up. I thought it would get easier now that it's already February... but it doesn't. I still feel my heart tense up every time he walks to the bus... looking too grown up. He's not nervous at all. And for about an hour I worry about him and if he got to school okay and if he's having fun and if other kids are being nice... and when he comes home all excited about his day and I take a bit breath and my heart eases.

I finally understand why my mom cried for the first 5+ years after I graduated when I'd leave her house after a visit. Almost the first year of their existence they are a PART of you. That feeling and instinct to want them close does not go away at birth, not for me at least. I'm sure my paranoid-ness doesn't help my condition of mommy separation anxiety either. LOL If there is something to worry about, I'm going to worry about it! : )

I'm SO glad my children have all felt secure enough to want to experience new things and not need to be attached to my hip at all times. I love that they've gained a sense of indepence. And even though it's hard, I will not let my own issues of wanting to keep them close affect their opportunities for experiences. I want my kids to be social and have fun new experiences and try new things, I never want to coop them up at home just because I'm worried for them. I'm ALWAYS going to worry about them. But I love them enough to want them to experience their own life, whether that means sleeping in their own room... going to there primary class down the hall from my class, or walking down the road to ride the bus to kindergarten a mile away.

A Woman in Need... of Chocolate...

2011-02-03T22:32:00.003-07:00

Hello folks. Now... there's something that I discovered today, it truly is a marvelous wonder. And it saved my life today... well... maybe saved my husband's life is more like it... since it put me in such a good mood that I didn't freak out and go crazy mad wifey over anything dumb.

For about 5 days a month I am in DESPERATE need of chocolate. And I cannot get enough of it. Thanks to my recent change in eating habits, I RARELY have chocolate in the house. Thanks to my wonderful son... we splurged and purchased a pack of pillsbury brownie cookie dough pieces (the kind in little squares). We also (thanks to some friends who came up for the weekend) had ice cream in the house. Now the pack of cookie dough clearly states "Do not consume raw brownie dough". HAH! Are they serious?!?! Five days of the month that little label means NOTHING to me. Oh, yes. I consumed. A beautiful... delicious... bowl of ice cream topped with chunks of brownie cookie dough. Ohhh.... and my oh my did it taste good as I was lying in bed with a heating pad strapped to my lower belly. (you understand ladies...)

Sometimes it really sucks to be a girl.... and sometimes.... when you find solutions like my best friend the heating pad and the heaven that is my ice cream and brownie cookie dough... you realize life is full of all kinds of sweet mercies...

Together

2011-01-31T08:23:00.004-07:00

I have been married for about 7 years. Now, for those seasoned veterans of you out there.... that's probably nothing. We're still newlyweds in your eyes. But 3/4 of a decade seems like along time to me, when it feels like just yesterday we got hitched.

And a lot has happened in those 7 years. And I'm not just talking about the 3 little hooligans that are running around my house. When I look at where we were back then, compared to where we are now... our home, our jobs, our education, our attitudes, our housekeeping abilities, our ability to manage finances, how we dealt with stress and conflict.... we've came a looong way in those 7 years. Back then we were idiots who were playing house. haha! But now... I think we've molded ourselves into a very nice happy family, who (despite many mistakes that still occur) generally do a pretty good job.

I know without a doubt that I married the right person. Because he's perfect? Absolutely not. haha! (love you anyway honey! LOL!) It's because I've never met anyone else in the world who I thought even might be as compatible with me as he is.

We have so many of the same weaknesses, which means in certain situations we fail miserably. It's true and it really sucks. But we also have so many of the same strengths, which means in other situations we are totally this crazy amazing force that can get incredible things done in insanely small amounts of time, and we're able to avoid many of the issues other married couples have to deal with. Over the years we've talked a lot about these times and how awesome and accomplished it makes us feel when we work as a team and things fall into place... which has this nice snowball effect and makes us want to work as a team even more and then more great things happen!

In other situations, we are opposites. Some of my strengths are his weaknesses and some of his strengths are my weaknesses. I am grateful each and every single time I feel like I'm going to fall to pieces and he steps in and seems to fix it in the blink of an eye. And I love moments when I feel like I can help him as well. I'm constantly thinking, "What in the world did we ever do when we didn't have each other?!"

Sometimes we fall behind together, sometimes we make leaps and bounds together, sometimes we guide each other along. Our life is a mix of all of these. But overall in our life I never feel like one of us is in front or behind the other. Everything always evens out so that we walk through life hand in hand side by side.

I feel very blessed and lucky to have found my love so early in life. I know 19 is definitely on the young side for getting married, and we both agree we were INSANE for getting married so early.
Do we regret getting married? Heck no! We just both admit our insanity with regards to the timing. : ) But I am glad I get to spend the young years of my adulthood with my wonderful husband building our life together; I'd take that over single college party days anytime! : )

Happy Valentine's month everyone. : )

2011 is TOTALLY the year for great movies!!!!!!! YES!!!

2011-01-28T10:20:00.006-07:00

Holy buttered popcorn!!!!! Look at all these AMAZING movies that will be coming out in 2011! I'm so excited!!! Granted.... a few I will not be able to see until the beginning of 2012... cuz I almost always wait to go to the cheap theatre.... haha! But I do love going to the movies or renting a movie and settling down with some popcorn. (Date Nights, Honey!!! Woot woot!) There were TONS of good ones, but here are some I'm REALLY excited to go see this year...

Zookeeper:
Who doesn't love Kevin James?! This is destined to be super funny.

Footloose:
That's RIGHT! FOOTLOOSE! Oh, man! I cannot contain my excitement for this one!!! ahhh! I think I'm making my mommy come over for a visit and we'll go see it, she's gonna love it, too.

Three Musketeers:
One for all and all for one! I love musketeer movies!

Pirates of the Caribbean:
Another one you say? Yup, this time they search for the fountain of youth. And i don't care how many they make, they're all awesome. : )

And For the Cartoons....

Cars 2:
Aww.... back to Radiator Springs? Yes, please! The first was super cute, and this will be a fun family date
Puss in Boots:
Aww! Who doesn't love this guy?!?! I'm excited to see how Puss got his beginning before he met up with Shrek and Donkey.
Alvin & The Chipmunks 3:
I haven't even seen the second one, but I'm excited for the third one anyways! haha! I LOVED the first one, its was amazing and funny and soooo cute! Way too many wonderful lines to quote!
Gnomeo & Juliet:
I KNOW!!!! How cute is THIS going to be?!?!?!?! SUPER cute, that's how cute!!! I'm so excited for it!!! They're lawn gnomes on opposite sides of the fence who fall in love despite their warring families.... : ) : ) : )
Smurfs:
I KNOW!!!!! SEE?!?!?! SO many cute movies coming out! It's about time they made this fabulous cartoon from my childhood into a new movie.

Movies from Books/Fairytales:

Harry Potter:
Dun dun dunnnnnn....... the last one folks! Though the books were infinitely better than the movies.... I shall still be going to see this one. : )

Twilight: Breaking Dawn (part 1)
Once again..... LOVE LOVE LOVED the books (though I did not join the "in love with Edward" fan club).... but I'm just not an incredible fan of the movies. I have some issues with the casting. BUT.... I'm still excited to see it.Especially because look who's playing their daughter in this movie: McKenzie Foy! My cousin!!!!! How awesome is that?!?!?! I'm related to Edward and Bella's daughter!!!!!
Alright.... alright.... it's a distant relation... and I can't tell you exactly how we're connected, but there isn't that many Foy's in this country so I'm SURE we're related somehow. Isn't she such a cutie?! I'm sure we're related.... ; )
Beastly:
A modern retelling of the Beauty and the Beast story. This one looks so good!
Red Riding Hood:
Oooooh! I really want to see this one!!! And I'm super excited Amanda Seyfried will be playing the lead.

And...last but not least...
for the Sci-Fi Geek Within Me....
(I blame my dad for passing it along genetically... and my husband for encouraging it. haha!)

X-Men:
This one is about the old friendship between Professor X and Magneto when they were young, who ended up severe rivals. YES, I really AM excited. : )

Transformers 3:
Now, I was SUPER hesitant to see the first one. I REALLY didn't want to. But it ended up being so good! So I'm excited to see this one.

Thor:
A marvel comics superhero character (in a house full of boys... I know ALL the main superheroes... lol) and he is supercool and I'm excited to see his story.

Green Lantern:
Another superhero movie! Love this guy, and am super excited to see his story, too!!!!

Captain America:
AND!!!!! ANOTHER superhero movie! Superman, Spiderman, & Batman are SO overdone, I'm excited to see some of the others getting movies! My boys' have the Captain America dress up costume. Don't be confused.... this may just look like a war movie... but its REALLY a movie based on Captain America, a Marvel Comics superhero.... a really cool one. : )
So that's it folks.... I'm super excited for all of them! It's going to be a wonderful year! Yes!!! Happy movie-ing all! Enjoy the popcorn!!!

Question to Mothers...

2011-01-25T18:49:00.002-07:00

I follow on facebook "The Cloth Diaper Whisperer", its a blog with lots of good articles (especially since I've started using cloth, but other good non-diaper related posts too). On facebook on their status it was mentioned that many people decide to not have children, and a question was posted...

"What are your reasons for having children?"

Here were a few of my favorite answers that were posted in response... : )

"They're hysterical even when they don't mean to be."

"Because life is about what we leave behind."

"I wanted to have no extra time for myself, no extra money, and endless amounts of laundry and cleaning. But the pay's not bad...lots of hugs and being told I'm their favorite Mom"

"LOVE"

"Birth control kept failing. Repeatedly. Let's see what happens when we both get spayed. If I get pregnant around my tubes being tied and my husband's tubes being snipped, I'll look for a star in the east."

"I'm a baby freak! Love em!"

and my very most favorite...

"Because sanity is for the weak! Bring on the madness!!"

ain't it the truth? : ) I love my children, I'm glad I started my family young, and despite the occassional (ahem.... frequent) headaches, I truly treasure every minute of the chaos and laughter my baby boys bring me! : )

Holy Snow!!!

2011-01-25T18:35:00.002-07:00

It's insane! Last year, when we were BEGGING and PLEADING with the weather to give us enough snow to take the kids sledding, we ended up having two days with juuuuuust BARELY enough snow (we're talking about an inch) to go sledding IF we went right after it snowed, because it usually melted after a few hours of hitting the ground. It was a terrible winter. If I have to suffer through cold, you better give me some snow to play in.

THIS year.... holy moly.... We just keep getting hit! Every time it melts and I think.... "Awww, that was probably the last of it, Man! We had a good year of getting snow-play-time in!".... THEN.... give it a few days and we get dumped on again! It's awesome! Blaine, Kadan, Zackery, and half the neighborhood's little kids plus a couple parents had this big snowfight outside and built a big snowfort where the snowplow had piled up the parking lots snow. They had SOOO much fun! I totally would have loved to join in with the snow fort (that's my favorite snow activity) BUT... it was too cold for baby to be outside, so mama stayed in with him. But it was so fun just watching them out the window and seeing all the little kids just totally LOVING all the snow.

Thank you Mother Nature and Mr. Weatherman, you TOTALLY made up for last year's sucky winter! I forgive you and you are once again in my good books. : )

Random Update...

2011-01-21T21:55:00.002-07:00

I keep logging into my blog with the intent to write a post... but bloggers-block has certainly been plagueing me because I end up just logging back out again. Therefore... I am forcing myself to write this post... even though I do not have anything profound to say. So, enjoy! : ) Here's a little update on everyone...

BLAINE: He is pushing hard through school. I am unbelievably proud of him. It used to be me nagging him to do his homework... now it's me feeling guilty because he's always getting his done and I keep procrastinating. LOL He'll be done with his Associate's this fall, and he's hoping for either a little promotion or a new job where he can gains more knowledge and experience while he finishes his Bachelors (Healthcare Administration). He is, as always, such a wonderful dad and I'm so grateful I have him around when I go all crazy and get stressed over the silliest little things (which... uh... happens.... well... we wont say "a lot".... we'll just say.... "sort of often" LOL).

ME: I have been using my free time in between jobs (by choice, no I didn't get fired, LOL) to do extra stuff around the house. I've been able to organize better and get lots of things done that were in need. I've also been able to scratch that crafty-itch I've been having for the past... well... long long time and my house is sufficiently cute I must say. Lots of little touches here and there have gone a long way (pictures to come! because I'm excited about it all!).

KADAN: He's been doing MUCH better in school. He had a rough time there for awhile. I think he inherited a bit of mommies anxiety along with the independence... OCD... perfectionism... ahem... we wont go on. Let's just call it "very Type A". LOL Anyways... he LOVES learning and he gets along good with other kids, it was just the adjusting to having his whole day (kindergarten is all day here) scheduled and planned out and not much of free-choice time in between all those structured activities. Mostly he just wasn't too fond of having someone tell him what to do for 7 hours straight in a day. ; ) Yup.... pretty sure he's mine! : ) He's finally adjusting and finally showing all that he knows (for awhile he was playing the 'dumb' card because he was bored and annoyed with it all, little stinker).

ZACKERY: Oh, man... he certainly inherited the joker personality from his namesake! (My Grandpa Jones) He is such a little goofball and what a tease! The other day in the parking lot of Big Lots he shouts to this college-student-Big-Lots-worker, "Hey, Mom! Is that my dad?"... "No, he's not your dad silly."... (giggles) "Maybe him is my dad! Hey, are you my dad!?"... guy looks towards him confused and embarrassed and keeps walking... (zack giggles) "Maybe you is my dad, maybe! Bye dad!" I put him in the car and say, "You think you're pretty funny don't you?"... (zack cracks up laughing, obviously very pleased with himself) "Yeah. I is pretty funny mom. I is." His other new favorite thing is to sing his "ABCD's", which is a more liberal version of your typical "ABC's" song in which various pieces of the alphabet are rearranged (and some repeated) in the song. It is QUITE excellent, and I certainly will be posting a video of it soon.... "now I knows my ABCD's, next time maybe you sing wiff Zacky..."

CAMERON: He is doing so good and we're so proud of the little baby dragon. We can't even believe how fast this kid is growing up! Well... aging... LOL He's a little slow with the actual 'growing' part. : ) With as much as he eats, we're really not sure what he does with it all, but he's been having a little bit of a hard time gaining weight. He's gaining... just very slowly. So their having us add all sorts of fatty things to his food: butter, avocado, etc. Anything we can do to add extra fat and calories, we are doing. The other little issue we've been working on is his hearing. At this point we're not sure if there is an issue with his middle ear or if it's just fluid in his ears preventing him from hearing as good as he should be. We've been meeting back and forth between the Audiologist, Pediatrician, and Development Specialist about the issue. Right now we know there IS some fluid in his ears, but we don't know how long its been there so we're waiting to see if it will clear on it's own. Come his first birthday, if it's not significantly lessened, we will probably decided to go ahead and put tubes in. Hopefully that will take care of the hearing issue, if not, we'll figure out what to do next. Every other area he is very quickly catching up in. He's always been advanced for a preemie in his motor skills. This kid is EVERYWHERE now. He's been crawling for awhile and he can pull himself up like it's nothing. If he had a little more weight on him to make him a little sturdier I daresay he'd be pretty dang close to walking by now. He's such a happy little guy and loves any and all attention he gets from his big brothers (who are absolutely wonderful with him!). He especially loves the puppies, Isabelle (who lets him use her ears like a chew toy) and Sasha (who is his constant companion during meal time as she patiently awaits him to drop a cheerio or two for her to clean up). He's started to try to bark back at them, which just comes out as, "ah! ah! ah! ah!" But it IS pretty cute despite its inaccuracy. : )

Well, I suppose that is all our family's news. Nothing tremendously exciting, but sometimes no (or little) news is good news I think. Our hearts are with Blaine's brother Landon and his wife Shauna who just lost their newborn baby girl, Brylee. It makes me grateful for my three little ones and all that we have. You never know what life has in store for you, so make the best of what you've got and appreciate every little tiny blessing you are given. I know that sweet baby girl is going to be up in heaven watching over her wonderful parents and waiting patiently for the day when she can be with her mama and daddy again.

The "MaMa" first vs. "DaDa" first contest...

2011-01-04T12:10:00.004-07:00

Me, "Ready? Mamamamama! You say it!"

Cameron, "Yah ya ya.... (squeal)... dada... dadadada..."

Me, "MAmamamama"

Cameron, "dada! ahhhhh ooooohhhh uhhhhh.... dadadadada..."

Me, "Awww... come on! Mamamamama!"

Cameron, "...... Dadadada!"

Me, "No no no, Ma ma ma ma ma ma"

Cameron, "Dadadada! (squeal) Da...da...da...da..."

sigh....

pretty sure I lost this contest with baby #3 as well. LOL

My 9 Children...

2011-01-03T10:56:00.005-07:00

Kadan is almost 6 years old. He inherited Blaine's looks and my personality. Which means he is SUPER cute, a perfectionist, and too dang independent for his own good! LOL He is such a good big brother, always wanting to help his little brothers, and he has always been SO good around his brothers as babies.

Zackery is 3 1/2. sigh.... He, is a handful. LOL He has wonderful dimples and knows how to use his smile to get admiration from anyone around! When you first meet him you'll think he's shy. But don't be fooled. He is such a little goofball and is forever getting in to mischief, simply because he thinks it's funny.

Cameron is 10 months old. He is our little one. He is also amazingly good natured! Unless you're with him 24/7 it is unlikely you will see him unhappy more than a handful of times. He's so easy and I find myself wanting him to be a baby forever I'm enjoying it so much!

Alright... now here's the rest.

Blaine has a double personality. Half the time he is a 10 year old boy, loving cartoons and tackling with his 'brothers' and dogs, and needing reminding to pick up after himself. The other half of the time, he is my wonderful amazing super-husband who helps me take care of our children and the house without asking. : ) (love you honey LOL)

Zoe is teenager #1. Though some may call her a ferret... it's pretty much like having another kid to take care of. Really she's like the just graduated teenager who still lives at home. LOL She is very sweet tempered, but mostly likes to just hang out in her room and sleep whenever. She'll come out and join the family from time to time when she's in the mood. And although she's pretty independent and does her own thing, she still expects us to clean her room for her.... typical.... ; )

Aslan (cat) is teenager #2. He's our wild one. He stays out late, trying to pick up feline chicks no doubt. When he's not roaming about the neighborhood at all hours of the night he pretty much just hangs out in the garage (working on his cat car? I don't know LOL) though he'll come inside to visit with the family from time to time.

Isabelle (dog). She's about 8 years old (human years). She's a spoiled little thing who totally thinks she's the boss and should be the princess of the household. She gets annoyed when her little sister Sasha tries to take her food, but will usually play nicely with her. She loves her brothers though and any attention they give her, even little Cameron!

Sasha (dog) is the toddler of the family. And a mighty big toddler she is already! Though she walks very well, she still tumbles and is clumsy when she runs. We're still working on teaching her not to chew on stuff and climb on stuff. In typical toddler form, everything goes straight to the mouth! We're also in the potty training stage. Every parents joy, right?

Nalunani is teenager #3 (beta fish). He is kind of a wild one as well. He insists on wearing his hair in long bright blue dreadlocks. He just hangs out in his pool all day waiting for me to bring him food. Maybe he'd shape up a little and join the family more and help around the house more if I upped my discipline strategies... but sadly I just indulge in his lazy teenage boy behavior.... sigh...

So there you have it. It's a crazy household we run.... with 9 children. Though I didn't give birth to them all... I care for them all dearly, but I must admit the 4 boys at the top of the list are my favorites. (I know I know... parents shouldn't pick favorites of the children).... ; )

We've had a few losses in the past: Linny, Tuck, Ming Ming, and String Cheese (gerbils) , and Butch, Rhonda, & Tank (beta fish). We loved them dearly and will always keep them in our hearts. ; )

Plans for Dating... from my 5 year old...

2010-12-30T21:53:00.003-07:00

I was having a little snuggle with Kadan at bedtime tonight after we read stories.

Me, as I put my hand on his face, "You are the most beautiful boy I've ever seen, you know that? You're going to make such a handsome young man one day."

Kadan, "What if all the girls chase me?! That'd be so crazy."

Me, "Yeah, you tell them, 'Sorry, girls... can't date til I'm older.' "

Kadan, "Yeah.... I think.... I'm gonna date like SIXTY girls."

Me, "Well, you need to date them one at a time, not all on the same date! But it's good to go on dates with lots of girls, that's how you decide who you want to marry."

Kadan, very thoughtful, he was very seriously contemplating during this conversation, "Ohhh, THAT'S why you date.... Okay. I'll just take lots of different girls on dates... but.... maybe I wont marry any of them. I'll just date them."

Me, "Well, okay. (LOL) But someday you might want to have a wife."

Kadan, "Hmmm... yeah... I think I DO want a wife. Okay. I'll just date lots of girls... and I'll see which one I like the best... IF she's pretty... then I'll have her marry me. But not yet! Not when I'm a teenager. When I'm big like a Daddy."

Me, "Yeah that's a good plan. You can go on dates when you're a teenager, but better wait til you're all grown up to get married."

Kadan, "But, Mom. Sometimes girls just don't want to play with me at school. Cuz I like to play rough (punches one fist into his other hand). Not like fight! Mom. Just like... rough playing."

Me, "Like.... tackling and pretend kung fu and stuff?"

Kadan, "Yea! I like to play rough. But girls and little little kids just don't really like to play rough. So they don't ever really want to play with me at school. Girls just like to... like talk and stuff."

Me, "Yea, girls like to play different than boys when your little. That's okay. When you get bigger you'll like having friends that are girls more."

Kadan, "Yea, when I'm bigger. Then we can go on dates. That'll be a good idea." Lays back down on his pillow and puts his hands behind his head, ready for sleep. "Then I'll get a girlfriend, AND... if I REALLY like her.... I'll let her be my wife."

Me, "Good thinking. Goodnight, buddy. Love you."

I will never ever ever get tired of having these 'in depth' conversations with this kid! LOL! He is seriously always wanting to talk about the future and why things happen and 'what if' this and that. He has the funniest little point of view on things I never would have thought he'd be thinking about. : )

"As Tiiiiiime.... Goes Byyyyy..... Sooo Slowwwly...." (Unchained Melody)

2010-12-17T17:23:00.003-07:00

Screeeeech-uh-zirrrmmm (record scratches and stops)

Um, who the heck came up with those lyrics. Anyways, that's far from MY life! LOL!

I can't BELIEVE how fast time goes by! I think with each child I have, the speed of my life seems to double. Which means my life right now is 6x faster than it was 6 years ago. Sheesh!

Kadan is halfway through his first year of KINDERGARTEN!
I've finally broken down and realized Zack really isn't a baby anymore, he's talking so good and getting too dang smart for his own good! : )
Cameron is 2 1/2 months away from being ONE YEAR OLD!!!!! How in the?!?!

This last thing has hit me the hardest. I could swear I just got pregnant with him, and here he is, crawling and starting to stand up and getting ready for his first birthday! I'm SO not ready for him to grow up! I learned after the first two that they just grow up so incredibly fast, and I've made an effort to savor Cameron's babyhood. I've been enjoying every minute of it and I'm so sad for this stage of his infancy to end. The next stage always has so many fun things to enjoy as well, as I'm so excited to see him grow. But at the same time I'm enjoying having my little baby so much - seeing his big gummy grin, hearing his funny babbling and tiny giggle, watching him start to crawl and pull himself up, and squishing and cuddle his cute baby self.

I'm going to miss Zackery's adorable 3 year old voice and giggle, and his cute baby fat that he's losing more and more everyday...

I'm going to miss Kadan's wonderful 5 year old point of view and the funny ideas and conclusions he comes up with...

I have been making an effort to not wish the years away. Despite the hard times and frustrations of having little children.... I know it will not last forever and I want to enjoy every second, now matter how fast those seconds go by.

Puppy Playdates

2010-12-04T12:16:00.003-07:00

Our next door neighbors (we live in a townhouse, so there back door is like 15 feet from ours) have 4 big dogs, a great dane puppy (which is enormous), a black lab mix, and 2 golden labs. They are 4 college kids and are super nice. Isabelle (our mini dachsund puppy) thinks these big dogs are the greatest thing ever!

When they first moved in she totally let these dogs know she was the 'big dog on campus'. She'd bark at them a few times, til they cowered (yes.... a great dane and 3 grown labs cowered to our little tiny weiner dog), then she'd wag her tail and bark excitedly to let them know she wanted to play and they'd come over to her. Everytime she knows they're outside she wants to go out and play. And several times she's followed them back into their house to play for a bit. She has also been known to go outside and sit on their back porch and bark once and paw at their door. To which we can hear their dogs barking to go outside and play with her.

We're not worried about her, because we know the people are very nice, but obviously we don't want her to bug them. But every time we talk to them they say, "No! We love her! She's so cute and she loves playing with our dogs!" So Isabelle will go play with her friends, sometimes in the backyard, sometimes she'll go over to her friends house for a puppy playdate, and they'll let her out whenever she's done playing and wants to come home. : )

I just think it's so funny that she knows where her friends live and that she can go over to visit when she wants to play. It's pretty much like having a fourth child. LOL

"Natural" Mommy? What....? Who, Me?

2010-11-30T21:41:00.002-07:00

Hmmm....

I'm all for taking care of our environment, "don't be a litter bug", and all that jazz, though I don't know if I could really be called and Environmentalist (aka Tree Hugger). I eat unorganic foods and preservatives and (gasp) I bag my groceries in plastic. However.... it seems as though I'm kind of turning into what is called a "natural mommy." Although I'm not an extreme natural mommy like some I've encountered recently... I definitely share some of their characteristics.

I've always been big on breastfeeding. I always knew I wanted to try it with my firstborn. I loved it. Did it with baby#2, loved it, but didn't get the chance to nurse past 6 months with Zack. And now, with baby #3 at 9 months, I still am really loving it and am grateful I am able to. It's such a wonderful bonding experience, not to mention the health and cost benefits. (Yes, yes, spare the lecture on how formula is made better than ever now. I know it's still very healthy, I just don't think something man-made can ever really be better than the original, though it may come very very close.) And why should I pay and arm and a leg (and an ear and a foot, really) for something I can get for completely free? Just common sense I think. I'm perfectly able to nurse, so why not? Plus, and most importantly for me, I really do enjoy it.

Second. My new found love.... cloth diapering. Now changing diapers is never really fully enjoyable. It's poop for heavens sakes! But I must say I enjoy it infinitely more now than I did with disposables. I don't know... I guess it's just more fun having the cute soft fun prints and colors.... or maybe it's just more fun being able to spend that money on something other than a piece of paper that's going to be soiled and thrown in the trash! LOL Probably a little of both. And although I can't say one of my main reasons for cloth diapering is because I'm concerned about the environment.... (sorry, just being honest)... I suppose it is kind of nice to know I am doing a little thing to help out the Earth. I still use disposable sometimes. (Last week when Cameron had diarrhea being Example "A".... eesh.) The other "natural" mommies out there are cringing as they read this.... but it's the truth and I'm certainly not ashamed.

I suppose I must be a hybrid mommy. LOL I take a little of both worlds and make it work for me. My laundry detergent and cleaners are probably mostly not "green". I don't practice "delayed flushing" (only flushing the toilet when there is #2 in it.... when its just #1 you leave it.... yeah, ew.) But things like breastfeeding and cloth diapers are things I'm happy to do.

I've also found myself craving a good baby wrap/sling. "Babywearing" is pretty 'in' with the "natural mamas" I've learned. : ) There's just SO many cool ones out there! And I love holding my baby, and I'm gettin' pretty good at the one-handed thing, but it would be so nice to have a cute, comfortable way to keep him close....

Next on my wish list.... Amber teething necklaces!!! No one ever TOLD me about such things!!!! The baby doesn't chew on them.... not like a teething toy. No, something in the amber gets released when next to and warmed by body heat and it's supposed to relieve pain. Crazy, eh? But a lot of moms swear by them. None I know personally.... but thats the beauty of online communities I suppose.

So the regular mommies in the world get to call me crazy and give me funny looks for things I do. Although breastfeeding is common, most moms I know call it quits before 6 months. And cloth diapering is WAY not common in the area I live. But the natural mommies of the world would probably give me dirty looks as well, since I'm not as 'green' as the rest of 'em.

And I'm okay with that. : ) Like I said.... call me a hybrid mommy, I'll stay somewhere in between.

"Back... Streets... Back... ALL RIGHT!!! (dun da na na na na... dun da na na..."

2010-11-10T21:54:00.003-07:00

That's right. I totally was singing (typing the lyrics to) the 90's heartthrob boy band.... the Backstreet Boys. Ha Ha!

Don't deny it. If you were a pre-teen/teen during the 90's you listened to them. You danced around your bedroom singing in your hairbrush swinging your head around to the beat so your pony tail flipped around. And if you DIDN'T do this... it is only because you prefered one of the others of this era.... N-Sync or 98 degrees anyone? : )

And no.... I didn't spy on you through your window when you were 12 years old.... I know this because I too participated in this pre-teen act of dancing around imagining I was in the music videos of one of these 'dreamy' boys.

Today, the staff of Learning Zone Daycare/Preschool relived our youth through none other than the music stars mentioned above. A little Britney Spears (old school version) and a little Enrique Iglesias was thrown in here and there, but the effect was the same. Seven women in their 20's were dancing around the center jamming out to these tunes, singing the lyrics and (attempting) to follow the dancing moves to the ol' music videos.

Ahhh.... All in a day's work, my friends.... All in a day's work.

Good times.... good times.... : )

'Twas Halloween, My Liege!!!

2010-11-01T21:50:00.013-06:00

We had quite a wonderful Halloween this year! our kids were super fun ages for all the festivities and we enjoyed going to our ward Halloween party with all our neighbors with a yummy dinner and trunk or treating.... going to the Halloween party (well.... we kind of celebrated it all week) at the daycare/preschool I work at with MANY yummy Halloween goodies, fun Halloween cartoons & songs, and a costume parade through Gold's Gym.... and going to our traditional Halloween activity (drumroll please...) "BOO AT THE ZOO!" We LOVE Boo at the Zoo and this year it was the best we've ever been!!! SO fun! Here are some (HA! a TON) of pictures to commemorate how we spent the start of the holiday season! : )

Kadan's pumpkin. He did a good portion of his pumpkin himself this year, though I did help on the face, he just showed me what he wanted and where to finish making the lines. Below is what he showed me when I asked him "what kind of face does your pumpkin have?" What a goof! LOL!

Mr. Zack said, "AWESOME!" (his favorite word pretty much) when he opened his pumpkin. He needed help on the face of course so he just told me what he wanted "twiangle eyes.... eyebwows... some wittle tiny teeth." He was quite proud of his creation this year.

Of course we got baby Cameron a pumpkin!!!! We pretty much just opened it and let him feel the guts a bit, then I carved a simple face, and of course some dragon wings and a tail on the sides and back. (Nope.... I could not resist. Had to.) Sorry babe, that nickname is stickin'! : )
The funniest part, he didn't want to be done playing with the guts and seeds. After this I took him upstairs to change him for bed and when I was washing his hand I found 2 seeds inside his tightly closed fist. Baby liked his pumpkin! Wanted to bring a bit to bed with him!

The finished Jack-o-lantern family on our front porch. Blaine's is the big daddy one in the back. Mine is the girly one with lips, eyelashes, and curls on the sides, Kadan's is the medium sized one on the right, Zack's is the little on on the left, and baby's is the little one on the right.

Some of 'the gang' at the Learning Zone:

My Little Jester (and yes.... I did make his costume.... with no pattern. That's right. I'm bragging. He he he.... ) I loved how he jingled everywhere he walked.Check out the super cute Juggling Jester Gloves I made! (Well... I BOUGHT the gloves... I just attached the clear elastic and the pom poms so he could 'juggle'.) Turned out SO freakin' cute!!!! LOVED it!!!

Here's a little video of him juggling. I didn't tie the knots to hold on the pom poms very good at first and... well.... you'll see in the video. But I fixed them and he was juggling like crazy the rest of the day and all through trick or treating and they stayed on. Oh, yeah.... and he's making some goofy noise in this video... he's just kind of wacko like that. ; ) That would be why he got to be the Jester. ha ha! : )

Sir Kadan the Knight and his trusty side kick..... Iron Man!

Here is how we decked out the stroller so it was fit to house our baby dragon.

Here are the pictures of "Boo at the Zoo":
All sugar-ed up

For the Kingdom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (p.s.... check out that sexy King I'm married to! Love you hon!) : )

The whole royal family:
Me= Princess from the distant land come to marry the handsome King
Blaine= Previously mentioned handsome King
Kadan= Sir Knight, bound to protect the castle, court, and his liege!
Zackery= Wildly talented juggling jester of the court
Cameron= ferocious atrocious (and dang cute) fire breathing dragon who guards the castle's treasury

Here's a video of the kiddos at the zoo playing on a lion statue. Kadan keeps trying to pull a "sword in the stone" moment and Zack shows off his awesome Jester Juggling skills.
They have TONS of jackolanterns and pumpkins and lights and big Halloween decorations all over the zoo. This year the decor was extra good too!
Throughout the zoo there are little games for kids to play and haybale mazes and 'haunted houses' to go through. (Everything is super super kid friendly, which is why we LOVE to go here for Halloween.)

This one was lit up with black lights so it looked all neat, but my flash effectly ruined the coolness of it. I love Kadan's face in it though! : )

The primate/reptile building was all decked out like a castle (which we loved, because it matched our costumes this year.... he he he). Each cage was decorated for a different piece of the castle.

Chimps: Witches
Big Monkeys I don't remember their name: The Court
Small Monkeys: Peasants
Tiny Monkeys: Leprachauns
Lemurs: Knights
Snakes: DUNGEON! dun dun dun!

Little Jester forgot his rank in the court I guess because the King pretty much pushed him around the whole time. LOL

Dragon gaurded castle, I actually had a couple people take a pic of him in it on the cell phones. Kinda cool. : )
He went back and forth between 'blowing' the fire' and playing with it. Good thing dragons have good strong flame resistant scales right?! ; )

I was also quite proud of the whole "attaching the 'fire' to the binky" idea... though this idea I can't fully claim as my own. Got the inspiration of the internet (the juggling gloves WAS my idea, though) : )

Sir Kadan.... knight of Chubbuckalot

The princess from a 'distant land' (who mostly fit into her high school homecoming dress... LOL) It was super fun to wear it again, though! I forgot how much I loved this one.

I LOVED how Cameron's wings turned out!!! I wanted them to be big and soft enough that he could lay on them and stuff but still be able to hold their 'wing' shape. Goal accomplished! And I found super awesome fabric for it too! I love that it had the swirly veiny print.

Dragon kept dropping his fire so princess had to hold it for the photo. ; )

Awww... cutey patootey baby dragon....

His majesty.... the powerful studly King.... : ) (we made his tunic, cape, wrist thing-ies)

Kadan also won FIRST place in the dance contest they had for the kids! He got up there on the little haybale stage and was totally working it. Ha ha! So super cute! I wish I would have got the beginning on camera because he was REALLY getting into it, but it took me a minute to stop laughing long enough to pull out the camera and he had calmed down a bit, but still cute, I think. : ) He was pretty surprised (and excited) to win first place! He got a little goodie bag with some coupons for free stuff at the zoo and at a restaurant.

And that concludes our Halloween awesome-ness. Such a fun year. TONS of candy... lots of fun... and I'm SO happy with how our costumes turned out this year (my favorite part of Halloween)!!!

And yes.... I've already started to ponder next years costumes.... because.... well... that's what I do. He he he! : )

School Pictures

2010-10-19T19:30:00.002-06:00

Yes. Yes. I know I'm SO overdue for blogging. My house is staying cleaner, though, and although those topics may SEEM unrelated.... really it means that I'm finally getting better at cramming all of my life INTO my life. LOL So blogging will start back up again, just a little at a time! : )

But I had to post this, because it was too funny and me and Blaine were laughing about it all last night.

So today was Kadan's picture day at school. (Ahhh, school pictures right? a 'joyously' stressful occasion for any teen/pre-teen girl) But boys and elementary kids its just like, "eh, pictures. cool." I had to send back the little form with Kadan if we wanted to order any. We debated about it quite a bit and ended up picking this teeny mini package that just gave us some wallets for grandparents and a 3x5 for his scrapbook. We're getting family pictures soon so I didn't want an 8x10 or anything.

So on the paper I'm filling out it says you have all these options like paying an extra $5 for more wallets, paying a little extra to upgrade your 8x10 to a 11x 13.... and..... like.... (drumroll)...

Paying an extra $8 to have your child's photo's 'retouched'.

Yup. JUST in case you feel that your kindergarten isn't cute enough just the way they are.... you can pay $8 to have them airbrushed! LOL! Me and Blaine are like JEEZ! What kind of message are we sending to our children? LOL! We were laughing pretty hard joking around, "Well, honey.... you're kind of awkward looking so we paid extra to have your photos airbrushed so we could remember you as cuter than you actually are! HA HA!

And no. I did NOT pay that extra $8. I make my babies pretty dang cute just as they are. : )
A

Proud Mama Moment

2010-09-28T18:45:00.002-06:00

Kadan has been playing with some girls of a different ethnicity around the neighborhood lately. Here is our conversation in the car today:

Kadan, "Mom, some people have dark skin."

Me, "Yup. And that's okay. Everybody's different."

Kadan, "Yea, I know. Cuz my friend has brown skin." (shrugs nonchalantly) "I like it. I think it looks good."

And here was the conversation we had as we were leaving my work (where there is a child with a disability, name changed for privacy):

Kadan, "Mom... John's just... kind of mean to me."

Me, "Well, honey, John has a disability" (I told him the name of the disability) "That means that even though he's a big kid, he doesn't know how to do all the things a big kid does. He doesn't know how to talk like you and he doesn't understand how to play like a big kid. He's not trying to be mean, he just doesn't know better."

We talked a little more about specific things "John" did.

Kadan, sounding a little worried, "Umm... mom.... will I get [that disability]?"

Me, "No, sweetie. It's not like being sick. You can't get it. Some people are just born that way. Everybody's born different."

Kadan, still a little worried, "Mom.... What if one of my new baby brothers or sisters is born that way?"

Me, "Then we would just love them anyways and we'd just help them learn as best we can."

Kadan, face brightens, "I can help! I can help them learn, Mom! That's what big brothers do. I can help teach him stuff."

Me, "I think that would be a very very nice thing for you to do!"

Kadan, "Yup. It would be okay. Everybody's different."

I could consider Kadan my hardest child in many ways.... but in moments like these I feel so lucky to be blessed to raise him and be his mother. I am in awe of how observant he is and what a good heart he has. I love you, buddy! I'm so proud of your kind heart and acceptance of people who are different!!! *MUAH!*

Proooooooooooogresssssssssss!!!!!!!

2010-09-16T21:09:00.002-06:00

I am HALF a POUND away from being my "Pre-Zackery" weight people!!!!

HOLLLLLAAAAAAAA!!!!

(P.S. I NEVER use that word. LOL I feel... I don't know.... too 'old' for it, I guess. LOL But I felt it was appropriate for the occassion.) ; )

Next Tuesday. Next Tuesday is my goal to be at Pre-Zackery weight. Let it be known far and across the land. This is a freaking huge milestone for me. : )

after that.... 7 more pounds til "Pre-Kadan" weight. I'm working my way back to high school weight!!! (Except with MUCH better muscle tone than in high school.... I may have weighed a lot less back then, but I think I'm stronger and more 'fit' than I was back then.)

Lack of Blogging

2010-09-15T22:15:00.002-06:00

I SO want to blog.... and I really do have a lot to blog about! I could go on... and on... but I lack the energy at the moment. And I will probably lack the energy tomorrow.... and probably the next day too! Maybe Sunday I can write a nice long post...

For now.... here are some little highlights:

I have taken up the hobby of jewelry making. : ) SUPER fun. (yeah.... how do I have time for a new hobby and not for blogging? yeah, I don't. I should say I STARTED a new hobby of jewelry making, but it has been put on hold the last couple weeks)

Kadan likes school but apparently has a hard time being quiet occassionally. : ) He LOVES the bus. Has a 'new best friend' everyday and is always SUPER excited for the desert I put in his lunchbox.

Zackery is enjoying having friends at preschool, too. Though he is (as we all suspected) a little class clown and loves ANYTHING to get other kids/teachers to laugh, smile, giggle, or tell him how dang cute he is. He's such a goof.

Cameron has been having a developmental specialist come out from time to time to help monitor his development and get him caught up to his 'actual age'. He is 6 months old, but looks and acts like a 3 or 4 month old because of his prematurity. She is WONDERFUL and I LOVE her and am SO excited to have her as a resource!!! : )

Blaine is chugging away at school and is the most amazing husband ever to help around the house and with the kids more now that I'm gone more. (I LOVE you honey.... TONS!!!) : )

I am.... liking.... my new job. LOL Some days I really love it. Others I'm frustrated that I'm not in a position where I could make all the positive changes and follow through with all the good ideas I have to make the place better. It's quite chaotic right now. I'm doing my best to improve what I can. I have high hopes for the new director and whatever the outcome, it's been a good learning experience for me to help me when I start my own again.

Okay.... I SO need to get to bed. This took 10 minutes of my day that I just don't have. : )

More to come. Maybe this Sunday... or maybe later than that. ha! : )

Prayer, Bedtime, & Who Can Read

2010-09-13T20:43:00.002-06:00

Tonight we followed our usual bedtime routine...

Bath.
Pjs.
Brush Teeth.
Each pick out a book.

We all piled on the boys' bottom bunk to say prayers, read a scripture story, and read the books the boys picked out.

We all folded our arms and it was Kadan's turn to say his prayer and he has his book open in his lap and as he's starting to pray he mumbles and I see his eyes open a crack and he's looking at the pages of his book.

So I took the book out of his hands and put it in my lap and he got mad.

I said, "Kadan you can't say your prayer and read your book at the same time."

He said, "But mom -"

I said, "You can't."

He said, "I wasn't!"

I said, "Yes you were I saw you!"

He said, "No, Mom-"

I said, "Kadan, you can't read while you're praying, it doesn't work."

He said, "MOM!"

I said, "What?!"

He said, "Mom! I wasn't cuz I CAN'T read!!!"

Oh. Oh yeah. And then we both started laughing. : )

Job Evaluation: "mediocre"... with "potential"...

2010-08-31T22:10:00.005-06:00

Just to clarify... this is my evaluation of my job... not their evaluation of me. : )

My first day went.... okay. Which is a lot better than I was expecting! I really think it could end up being good. A good portion of the staff kind of stood around a lot just talking to the kids, like they didn't really know exactly what to do. Everyone says they want good activities and a good schedule but no one was doing it!

So.... being the me that I am.... I was not about to stand around all day watching kids play. I jumped right in there and was pulling activities out of my bag of 'ammo' left and right and the kids loved it and the other teachers just went along with whatever I did. : )

I wouldn't consider it a GREAT day as far as the activities and schedule of course... but one teacher told me she was SO glad they have me and that it was by far the least chaotic day they've had in a long time! : )

SO, for now.... I'm going to be excited about my job as much as I can and try and help pull things together there and we'll see what happens after that! More updates later.... gotta get to bed! : )

"I feel like pound sign question mark star exclamation point..."

2010-08-30T21:04:00.002-06:00

Anybody heard this new country song? I heard it on the radio for the first time today. It took me a minute before I got it. And at the time I found it humorous and clever.

Now I'm repeating it to myself over and over, because that is how I feel: #?*!

I'm trying really really really really really really REALLY REALLY really hard not to be bitter about the situation with my new job. I haven't even started yet!!! And I still just feel so PISSED about it. UGH! At first I was like, okay... there was a little mix up... Monica (the old director) said I got the job, but apparently they hired someone else. Assistant director apologized for the mix up and said the other person must have just had more experience.

A whopping year and a half with the preschool age kids at a daycare. My degree is preschool education... I taught for a year... RAN the classrooms and trained other teachers for a year... and then ran one all by myself at home for a year? How in the freak did she get the job over me?!?!?

So I thought... okay she's just got to be super amazing and charismatic or something. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe I can learn a few things from her. Met her today. NOPE. No stinking way she could be better than me. YES... I admit... I sound a little cocky right now. But you know what? It's my blog and I want to vent. I know I'm not the best preschool teacher in the world... but I DO know that I am pretty dang good!

So then I'm thinking.... if Monica told us both we got the job... and then quit without clarifying things to people... who the heck's to say *I* wasn't the one who was SUPPOSED to get the job and SHE was hired as the extra? HUH????? SHE has the daycare experience!!! Put her butt on the daycare side!!! RRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Thus.... this job will be my lesson in humility towards my fellow man. Because at the meeting tonight all I could think about was wanting to scream at my bosses "WHY HER? WHAT are you people thinking!!!! You have NO idea what I can bring to the table!!!!"

I didn't scream that, of course. I sat there and smiled and gave my input on a few things trying to be supportive. Though I may be frustrated and FURIOUS on the inside... I'm really just not one for confrontation. Praise the internet for the invention of blogs, though, cuz this is where I get to let it all out.

I REALLY don't want to hate my job. I'm just so MAD. I don't WANT to go to work everyday and look at her and hope she quits or gets fired, but I know that's what I'm going to do. I just keep thinking PLEASSSSEEE PLEASE suck at this job so they'll put me in your place!!!!

UGHHHHH. I know I need to be nice. I'm working it on. Starting now... after I've ranted and raved about how I'm better than her. LOL Okay... being nice.... righhhhhht.... now.

She's a lovely girl and I hope she does well and if she ever needs assistance I'd be happy to give her ideas from my binders and binders and binders of brilliant lesson plans I've created and pass on any skills from the training I've received. And... if... in the even that she can no longer work in the position she may or may not have been intentionally hired for... I will be willing to sacrifice my own mediocre position to take her place.

#?*!

Fitness for Fall...

2010-08-29T23:13:00.002-06:00

This summer has been SO good for me and Blaine! When Cameron hit 2 months, I started exercising and watching what I ate. Me and Blaine counted calories strictly for a month and it was AWESOME. Now we aren't so strict about it, but we are very aware of it BECAUSE of the one super strict month we had. It was good for us! Our grocery list is very different than it was 6 years ago when we first got married. It's actually fun for us to find new foods and healthier substitutes for old favorites.

We have also been hitting the gym hard. We haven't been going quite as often as we'd like. We always get in at least one good workout, usually 2. Though there have been weeks we've been so busy with summer stuff that we haven't gone at all (dang!). Now that summer fun has slowed down and we're falling into our regular fall routine, we have set aside specific times on specific days (4 days a week) to go. We've also learned some new workout routines we've just started to change it up and get our metabolism going again! : ) It's been tough... I've been super sore after each workout lately, but it's a good sore! Progress!

We really LOVE going to the gym together and we will love it even more now that I get a free membership and Blaine gets a super-discounted membership (because of my new job at the gym daycare/preschool). Mwah ha ha ha.... I love a good deal. : ) It's kind of our 'alone' time together... date night really. LOL It's something we're both interested in and have fun doing and we enjoy being able to cheer each other on and push each other when we're feeling wimpy on a particular day. It's fun to learn more about different fitness and exercise tips and try them out together. I KNOW I couldn't have done as good as I have this summer without my hubby by my side as I'm sweatin' away on the eliptical and weight machines! : ) (thanks honey!)

When Cameron was 5 months old... I officially hit "pre-Cameron" weight, which was a HUGE deal for me because I have NEVER reached "pre-Kadan" weight since I had him and I just BARELY reached "pre-Zackery" weight when he was almost 2 year old!... and I got pregnant again soon after that, so I didn't have much time to enjoy it! : ) I am only a couple pounds from being "pre-Zackery" weight again. (haaaaaaaaaaaalelujah!) My tummy is still not as skinny as it was last time I was at this weight... (still some extra baby weight skin to tone up) but I feel like on average my whole body is more toned than ever. I'm not at my skinniest in my adult years... but I do think I'm at my strongest and healthiest, which is important to me, too.

I wish I could learn to like veggies and salad more... I pretty much only like potatoes, carrots, corn, and OCCASSIONALLY green beans, and sometimes I like peas (but only raw straight from the garden). So.... that's not really giving me much to work with in that area...

Ugh. It's been forever since I've blogged. I'm not going to lie... I get very unmotivated for blogging when I NEVER get comments. People say they read it... but no one ever comments... so I've been resorting to facebook posts mostly lately, where I can get a little feedback for the mundane random things I feel I need to share with the world. ; )

A Whole New World...

2010-08-02T23:17:00.002-06:00

Where was all this stuff when I had my first two kids?!?!

With Kadan, I just used whatever someone gave me as a shower gift and whatever I saw on the Walmart shelf in the baby aisle. I didn't look around for hardly anything!

With Zack... well, it worked for Kadan, okay! We'll get use it for Zack. There were a few new kinds of things I got. I learned a little more what baby things I really liked and what things I rarely used (if ever at all).

With Cameron... I started browsing about cloth diapers... and cloth wipes... and things like "amber/hazelwood teething necklaces" and all these SUPER neat kinds of babywraps and slings! and TONS more stuff I'd never even heard of for all your daily use mommy stuff. Forums where moms talk about CDing and AIOs and "babywearing"... things I'd never even heard of!

There's like a MILLION websites with all this cool baby stuff that I never even knew existed! I walk down the baby aisle now at Walmart and think, "Well, I'm not buying THAT.... That ones dumb, too! That one online was WAY cooler." Not that Walmart is bad... I am a frequent Wally-World shopper. But it's pretty limited to your basic baby items. And it's totally not about 'being cool and trendy' and buying the more expensive stuff. No, no. These moms are all about value and what's more economical and how to get the most from your money. Most of all these websites I've been finding are all started by moms who couldn't find exactly what they wanted on the market so they... (drumroll)... decided 'heck with that! I'll make it myself!' and now they offer all these cool things to others. (I'm big into DIY stuff so these women are everyday superheroes in my eyes.)

I officially start cloth diapering tomorrow for Cameron (I've been using cloth pullups on the big boys for nightime for a few weeks now). I'm going to take a pic of Cameron in each of his new diapers (I bought a few different brands and styles to try). Really, I think I'm going to love it. Weird... never thought I'd say that... But I really do. Moms on forums keep talking about how they got 'addicted' to cloth diapering (CDing) and how fun it is.

Fun?... diapers?... it's FUN to diaper your baby?!? What?!?!? How can you be 'addicted' to diapering your baby?! It sounds so crazy. But that's seriously kind of how it is! There are so many cute colors and styles and soft fabrics. It's this whole other world and it really is... FUN! And... yeah, addicting! LOL! Now come on... how many of you can say you actually get excited to buy that package of Huggies and get excited to 'pick out' what diaper your baby will wear next? Yeeeeaaaahhhh, that's what I thought. ; )

Dinner & Entertainment

2010-07-26T22:05:00.003-06:00

Tonight I got to enjoy a night of entertainment with my dinner. Me and the three boys (Blaine was at work) sat around the table telling jokes while we ate our dinner. Yup. Me... the five year old... and the three year old... (the 5 month old just sat on my lap... didn't really participate... lol). I'm sure you can imagine how clever the jokes we told truly were. : )

Here's is the 'gist' of the conversation...

Kadan, "MOM! Here's a joke. Ready? Why did the snake... cross the river?"
Me, "Umm.... I don't know."
Kadan, "Okay... here are your choices: a boat... a house... a tree... a bridge..."
Me, "He crossed it... because... of a boat?"
Kadan, "NO... HOW did he cross the river."
Me, "Oh, okay. He used the... boat."
Kadan, "Yup! You got it!... wait... no you didn't. That's not it, guess again."
Me, "Uhhh... (lol)... the bridge?"
Kadan, "Yup! Now you got it!"

Me, "Okay... I have a joke. You know how to do Knock Knock Jokes?"
Kadan, "Yeah!!! I do! I do!"
Me, "Okay... knock knock."
Kadan, "Whose there?"
Me, "Banana."
Kadan, "Ha ha ha ha!"
Me, "No you have to say 'banana who'"
Kadan, "Banana who?"
Me, "knock knock"
Kadan, "Whose there?"
Me, "banana"
Kadan, "whose there?"
Me, "no say 'banana who'"
Kadan, "banana who?"
Me, "knock knock"
Kadan, "whose there?"
Me, "orange"
Kadan, "banana who?"
Me, "no, say 'orange who'"
Kadan, "orange who?"
Me, "orange ya glad i didn't say banana?"
yeah... he didn't get it. but he laughed anyways. LOL

Kadan, "Okay my turn. Knock knock."
Me, "Whose there?"
K "carrot"
M "carrot who"
K "just... carrot, Mom."
M "umm... well, okay!" LOL!

Zack, "My turn My turn! Knock knock to me!"
M, "knock knock"
Z, "knock knock"
M, "no I say knock knock... knock knock..."
Z, "banana! ha ha ha ha ha!"
M, "no, say 'whose there'... knock knock..."
Z, "BANANA! ha ha ha! Knock knock"
M, "whose there?"
Z, "CARROT and banana! HA HA! That's SO funny joke, Mom!"

K, "Now do this joke mom. Why did the rabbit cross the river?"
M, "To get to the other side."
K, "What? no! Why did he cross the river and SINK."
M, "Ohhhh. Because he couldn't swim."
K, "nope. try again."
Me, "ummm... because he didn't have a boat."
K, "yup! good job mom!!!"
M, "Yes... I am quite good at jokes." ; )

after about 30 minutes of these non-stop 'jokes'....

M, "My turn. Why... do you have such a cute face?"
K, "Uh. I don't know."
M, "Because Heavenly Father knew I would need to look at it during tiring times like these...(LOL)" ; )
K, "Mo-om... that's not funny. Do a FUNNY joke. Like I do. With animals."

Z, "knock kno-ock..."
K, "whose there?!?!?!"
Z, "BANANA!!!!!!! HA HA HA HA!!!"

And that's about when I decided dinner was over and we went outside for a walk! LOL! : )

I did it! I can't back out now! Cloth Diapers will arrive in 7-10 days!!!

2010-07-25T21:31:00.008-06:00

(Scary suspenseful music)... da na na na da na na na da na na na. That's a little how I feel right now... like I'm really just not sure what to expect. I gotta go through with it now, though. I paid 2 months worth of money for disposables for my starter 'stash' of cloth diapers. Meaning... I HAVE to use them for 2 months to get my money's worth out of them, and then if I decide it's not for me I can go back to disposables.

I purchased 4 different diapers, and I get one free (because of a 'deal' going on at this website... kellyscloset.com). These 5 diapers should last me about a day and half (two of them are covers that you can reuse a couple times with different inserts before washing them). So I will do laundry every other day, which I do anyways. But I'll only need to do a small load and then I plan to hang them to dry because I learned that the UV rays from the sun naturally bleach them white and also kind of 'sanitize' them. (neat eh? I thought so!) If I like cloth diapers after those two months, then I'll order a couple more of my favorites. Now here is the cool money side of it... For about $200 (or less depending on the brands and styles I buy more of) Cameron will be diapered clear until he's potty trained!!!! TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS. Yup. Sit there and add up all the money you spend on disposables... I'll wait...

................
................
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SEE?!?!?!?! Even if you buy the cheapest diapers around, you are still paying WAY more than $200 over those 3 1/2 years!!!

Yes, I am excited about the money part. Other pros for me? They are SO soft! Really! And they make so many cute styles and colors and fabrics! And... though I admit I've never been very dedicated to any environmental causes... I do like the fact that I'm doing something 'green'. I like the fact that instead of having thousands of dollars of my baby's poop filled paper diapers lying somewhere in the world... I get cute, SOFT, reusable diapers that I'm saving LOTS of money on.

I COMPLETELY realize this choice is not for everyone. I never thought I'd consider it myself. But the more I looked into it the more excited I got to try it!

Here are my purchases to start out with:

#1... Flip diaper cover in "twilight"

This is a diaper 'cover' so I only have to replace the insert each time, unless it's a really full/messy diaper and cover gets messy. It is more economical, though I have yet to decide if it will be easier... we shall see. This is what the inside of the Flip looks like:

the white part is the insert it comes with. I have also heard people like using it with prefolds, so I ordered some of those too (pictures below on this blog post). The Flip only comes with snaps, not velcro, which I'm not sure if I'll like yet. We'll see.

#2: BumGenius 4.0 One Size pocket diaper in "Butternut"
This is by the same makers of the Flip. If you get this with the snap closure instead of velcro, it looks identical. But this is a pocket diaper, you have to stuff it with an insert, instead of laying the insert on top. Pros: if I stuff them with the inserts after they're washed so they're all ready for use... it would be just like using a disposable. Cons: you use an entire new diaper ever time you change the diaper. You can't reuse this cover without washing it. Here's the inside of the BumGenius:

#3: Kawaii One Size pocket diaper in "olive"
... this is pretty much basically an off brand of the BumGenius. It's not as well known, but I've read good reviews on it, and it is a lot cheaper so I'm trying it. Not that this next fact is important... but I think it's neat: this diaper color coordinates with Cameron's room. : ) He'll match. : ) LOL

#4: Thirsties Duo Diaper Cover in "cool stripes"... CUTE HUH?!?!? Some brands you can get way cute prints in! So this one is another 'cover' like the Flip (the first diaper on this post). It is a little bit cheaper brand. Velcro is an option with this one, so I opted for that, since it's more like a disposable I thought it might be easier. This one I'll use with the prefolds I got.

Here's the inside of the Thirsties cover:... see the inside is kind of slick plastic-y but the outside of the cover is a soft fabric. I was worried these weren't really soft, but my cousin has one and I felt it and it's much softer than it looks in photos. And the inside of the cover doesn't touch baby's bum so it doesn't matter.

Here are the chinese prefolds I got to use with the covers. I bought 8 of them. They come flat and after you wash them a few times they puff up and get soft and 'quilty'. they you just fold them into thirds along the lines, or there are a couple of fancy ways to fold them that I've heard about and seen some pictures of. I might try a few of them.

I also got these... Bummis brand Flushable Liners. They come in a roll like toilet paper and you just take one and lay it on top of the diaper and it catches the "#2" so you can just flush it in the toilet. Makes messes easier. I've heard some people prefer to use liners and some say it's not a big deal and they're fine cloth diapering without them. Some say it's good for newborns and other only like it with older babies. But they're pretty cheap for a roll so I bought some to try. And Cameron's bowel movements are pretty much like clockwork so I wouldn't even need to use them with every diaper change.

And this cute little number below... the one in 'blue'. I also ordered. It's a Bummis brand wet bag. It will be good for when we go places, I can stick the cloth diapers in here until I get back home. If we go on a long trip where I wont have access to a washer... I can see myself still using disposables... especially since I wont have enough diapers at first to go more than a couple days without doing laundry, but for overnight trips or a short weekend I could still go cloth.

And that is my little cloth diaper journey for the time being. : ) I think I ordered a good variety to start out with. I can see whether I like pocket diapers or covers... snap closure or velcro closure... and I can see if the cheaper brands work just as good as the more well-known brand.

I've thoroughly picked the brain of my cousin, who has started using cloth diapers, as well as MANY moms on cloth diaper discussion boards. I think I have a good grasp of what I'm in for. Will it be a little more work? Yup. But will it be a LOT more work? NO. Definitely not. About 10-15 minutes of my time every other day is all. Not a big deal I don't think. Really... that's the only con I can think of to this plan... just a little bit more time to put them in the wash and hang them up to dry. If I'm in a hurry I can throw them in the dryer. Lots of pros though I think. BLAINE has even agreed to still change diapers. That was kind of a shocker to me... although he has always been GREAT at changing diapers without putting up a fuss (even with our first baby)... I didn't expect him to be so "okay" with cloth diapers. His only request was that I do the laundry... which I do anyways. LOL

If anyone else is feeling brave... let me know & we can chat. I can share all my new-found cloth diaper knowledge. ; )

Kid Updates

2010-07-17T23:25:00.001-06:00

All 3 kids have had new posts in the last little bit. Couple funny stories on the big boys' blogs. Some photos and an 4 months old update for baby Cameron.

Click on their pictures at the top of the right sidebar for their blogs.

The Little Moment of Sunshine During the Storm...

2010-07-13T14:25:00.002-06:00

Last night I got approximately 4 hours of sleep.

Yup. Fun, right?

All kids went to sleep perfectly in the evening, but starting at about midnight Zack and Cameron decided to tag team and keep me up until about 4 am!!! Then they woke up off and on the rest of the night too!

Super... super... fun.

At some point (I don't recall the exact time... I was that tired) after taking care of Cameron I went to my room to find Zack in my bed. And I was just done caring. Blaine was working a night shift so I let Zack stay.

As I laid down next to him he snuggled up next to me, shoulder to shoulder.

Me, "You're gonna cuddle with mommy, huh?"

Zack, nods.

Me, "You give me a goodnight kiss?"

Zack, shakes head 'no'.

Me, "Do I get a goodnight huh?"

Zack, shakes head 'no'.

Me, "Awwww... Daddy gives me a hug and kiss goodnight. He's not here. So will you give me a hug and kiss goodnight?"

Zack, shakes head 'no'.

Me, "Okay. You just want to cuddle, huh?"

Zack, nods.

Me, "Okay. You keep mommy safe, k?"

Zack, hesitates... then grabs my arm and holds it close to him in both his hands and pats my hand, saying reassuringly, "I got ya, Mommy... I got ya."

Me, "Thanks buddy." (trying not to laugh)

Zack, turns towards me and holds his arm out for me to hold, "You keep me safe, too, k, mommy?"

Me, "Okay, I'll keep you safe, too." and I hold his arm tucked under mine.

A minute goes by... Zack moves my arm off his and pats my arm, saying matter-of-factly, "That's it, mommy. That's 'nough."

LOL "Love you, Zacky. Night night."

"Love you, too, Mommy. na-night."

SO hard to be frustrated when he's being SO dang CUTE!!! Man I love that kid! : )

HOLY?!?!?... WHAT the?!?!?!... Bedtime with NO whining?!?!?!??!?

2010-07-11T23:29:00.003-06:00

SERIOUSLY folks... I'm quite baffled myself! It's a little eerie at my house this evening... little twilight zone-y... (da na na na da na na na)...

Half of me is just sitting here in shock... silently pondering the wonder that has been my evening.... I can't even fully comprehend the thought of getting the kids to bed without the fighting and whining and crazy... and to have EXPERIENCED it?... whoah...

And the other half of me is like...

WAH HOO!!!! Victory dance~~~ Victory dance~~~ oh yeah!... uh huh!... I am the mom who's the BOMB! HECK ya!! Baby!!!!

Seriously. THAT is how freaking exciting this moment is for me. Possibly rivals the day my children were each born. THAT good. Bedtime has been a NIGHTMARE at our house for the last few months. It literally drains me of any energy and sanity I have at the end of the day.

ahhh (*big relaxing sigh*).... And do you realize what a bedtime with no whining fully entails? It has this INCREDIBLE domino effect on my life. Yeah! Like... if I don't have to spend 2 hours listening to whining and screaming while I fight with the kids to get them to PLEASE go to sleep... I keep my patience. I don't have a headache. I don't need my 'mommy down time' which usually must occur immediately after bedtime because I'm so frazzled. If I don't need my 'mommy down time'.... THAT means I actually have ENERGY at the end of the day. ENERGY!! folks. It is a beautiful thing. Truly. and since I actually have a shred of energy and sanity at the end of my day... THAT means I got a few more things done before I go to bed!!! YEA-AHHH! and THAT means that I have less to do tomorrow which means I can do other things tomorrow and by TOMORROW night I will have accomplished WAY more than planned... the possibilities are endless my friends.

And that is what happens when you are blessed with a bedtime with no whining... all your dreams come true. ; )

(Well... some of them anyways.... ) : )

Ambition

2010-07-09T16:29:00.002-06:00

Two years ago we got our gym passes. It was AWESOME. We loved going together and loved the feeling of exercising regularly. However, we weren't very educated on eating well and how much to exercise and where to keep your heart rate... etc, etc. We got a little more in shape... lost a few pounds, but nothing big. Mostly it improved our moods and helped us to have more energy throughout the day.

Last year we knew more about fitness and we worked hard and lost a little more weight and were definitely building some muscle. I was stronger probably than I've ever been. BUT... then I got pregnant and me and blaine BOTH gained baby weight. ; ) And neither of us had much time to get to the gym often and get a good workout in.

This summer we've really been motivated. Exactly two months after Cameron was born we started counting calories and researching different fitness tips. We worked out at home together and now we're back going to the gym 3-4 times every week for a HARD workout and we also do little things at home too. Our grocery bags are filled with a lot of things we never used to buy and there are many things you would have found in our cupboards last year that aren't there now.

We've been feeling really good since we've been eating healthier and exercising. So much so that if we have a day where we splurge and eat out or eat more sugar that usual, we really feel it!

We are determined to be at our goal weights by the end of 2010 and the last couple months we've been making some good progress!

With each baby I kept on a few extra pounds, so I'll be working towards my weight loss goal is stages:

Stage 1: reach pre-Cameron weight
Stage 2: reach pre-Zackery weight
Stage 3: reach pre-Kadan weight

and finally...

Stage 4: reach pre-Blaine weight (LOL when I met Blaine he took me [starving college student] out to eat a lot and I gained about 10 pounds after meeting him!!!)

I'm starting to see my arms gettnig more toned and my baby weight belly is going down little by little every week too. (My belly button is NORMAL looking again! score!) ; )

I also really like that when I'm motivated to exercise, with that regular exercise comes motivation to do other things in my life... like go crazy and DEEP clean everything... mega organize the garage FINALLY (pictures of this lovely garage project I just finished to be posted soon)... sort through all my craft and preschool stuff (seriously an ENOURMOUS project)... and more!

We have also joined with members of my family (cousins, aunts, uncles, etc) to compete in.... THE BIGGEST LOSER: JONES FAMILY EDITION!!!!!!!!!!!! woooohoooooooo!!! We all pitched in $15 to play and at the Fourth of July Family Reunion we weighed and measured ourselves. Each week someone can suggest a challenge for everyone to do (cut out sugar... try an new vegetable... run so many miles... etc) and at the Family Christmas Party in December we'll weigh and measure ourselves again! We're having 6 prizes: Most percentage of weight loss (1st and 2nd place), Most percentage of fat loss (1st and 2nd place), Most percentage of waist size loss (1st and 2nd place). I'm way excited! It's going to be fun to have so many of us to motivate each other. Competition is a good motivator... especially when there are going to be cash prizes! : )

Best of luck to all the Jones Losers!!! ; ) We're all going to be smokin' at the Christmas party this year!!! : )

Cloth Diapers

2010-07-06T15:33:00.005-06:00

I know... I know!... It sounds crazy. But yup. I'm going to do it. My cousin tried it and REALLY loved it and every time I read something she posted about it I'd think, "Could I do that?... Nah... I don't think so." But despite all the many times I told myself "no", I'd still find myself looking up various brands and reviews time and time again.

Especially when I added up how much it costs to diaper a child in disposables for 3 years!!! EEESH! And cloth diapers have come a LONG long way from the image I had in my mind. I'm not saying they'd be right for everyone, but I'm pretty excited to try them out.

I think I'm going to try the "Flip" covers first (above, comes in various colors) (cottonbabies.com). (Below is a diagram of the "Flip" cover)I'm still on the fence about what kind of inserts to get. There are SOOOO many different covers and inserts to choose from. You can have covers or pocket diapers or all in ones. You can have snaps or velro. You can have suede or cotton or microfiber or microfleece and on and one and so forth and so forth.

I still have a ginormous box of diapers, so I will not be purchasing my cloth ones til August, which gives me some time to browse around and decide what to try.

I honestly never thought I would consider this, but each time I change Cameron's diaper I find myself thinking about those cloth diapers again and wanting to give it a try. I'm going to start out with just a few cloth ones, enough to get me through a day and a half before I would have to wash them (though I plan to wash them everyday, just seems easier to get into the routine). It will cost me the equivalent of about a month of disposables. So basically, I will try them for about 6 weeks. If I don't like them, I can go back to disposables and I will not be out any money. If I like them, I'll buy a few more, maybe try a different brand or style.

My biggest fear was the dreaded #2. However I found these nifty little flushable diaper liners. Some people report they don't like them. But I wouldn't have to use them every time. Cameron poops almost like clockwork every other day. So on the day he's supposed to poop I'd just lay a flushable liner on top of the diaper and then just flush it down. Ta da! problem solved. Most moms say the poop is not a big deal at all to just dump in the toilet, but for newborn poop (pretty much impossible to 'dump') I think I might like them. And to use those would cost me about $1.50 per month.

I also purchased 3 cloth pullups with nighttime inserts for Zack and Kadan. Zack NEVER wakes up dry. Kadan still wets the bed about 3 times per week. I am SO sick of buying pullups but I do not want to wash two sets of sheets/blankets everyday. So this is my solution and I am WAY excited to get these in the mail. I researched various brands a lot and opted to go with "Antsy Pants" brand (getantsy.com)By not having to buy diapers or pullups I will be saving about $80 a month! I can think of SO many other ways I'd like to spend $80 than something that gets thrown in the trash after 3 hours of use.

Other brands I've liked for cloth diapers are BumGenius (cottonbabies.com) and Thirsties (cottonbabies.com). I THINK I like covers better than pocket style or all in ones. I like that there is no 'stuffing' the diapers involved, its quicker. I like that I can replace the inserts if needed without having to replace the whole diaper (like an all in one). I also like the kind that are 'one size' with snaps to adjust with your growing baby. I can't decide if I will prefer a snap closure or velcro closure. BumGenius and Thirsties each have both options available. Flip only comes in a snap closure. But Flip is like a Thirsties cover that fits and looks like a BumGenius, so it kind of has the best of what I liked about each of those other two brands, which is why I'm trying it first.

Wish me luck on this adventure! And if anyone else feels brave enough to try them, : ) I will be happy to share any other details of what I've found with you and other good websites with cloth diaper info.

Happy 28th To My Honey!!!

2010-06-24T19:35:00.004-06:00

For Blaine's birthday, we went out to dinner as a family. This was quite a big deal, because we very VERY rarely take the kids out to eat with us. We don't eat out much anyways, but when we do, it's usually just the two of us. They were pretty good up until the end, when they were just full and getting tired. It was enough of a treat for them (since they never get to go) that they were pretty good. We went to Texas Roadhouse (probably our favorite restaurant). Blaine opened his father's day presents (since his birthday present was late coming in the mail... so he got that on Father's Day. lol). He got a book (its the sequel to one he has) and a couple little dragon statues. It's possible the boys enjoyed the bread with cinnamon butter better than even their actual dinner. lol I love that they have the same funny grin on their face and neither are looking at the camera. lolAnd here is the cake that I experimented with fondant on. It didn't quite turn out how I was hoping. I messed up on my fondant recipe and it was kinda hard to work with. Thus, you only get far away pictures. LOL The 'roof' of the castle is crumbled oreo cookies, which turned out tasting EXCELLENT on the cake. : ) The little wizard I molded out of gum paste turned out okay... not great... but okay. I liked that I could make him pointing his little wand, and his beard turned out kind of neat. The dragons however.... well... uh... that's another story! The one on the right (the darker one) I made first and it was SO freaking hard. Finally I just gave up and set him on the cake, even though he looked like crap. The one on the left I made the next morning, when I had more patience! It turned out significantly better... but still not great. I added little edible glitter flakes to the dragons to hide their imperfections a bit. The good news is... I improved enough from dragon #1 to dragon #2 that I think if I were to do it again I could make it even better. I also wonder if I should have molded them out of fondant, not gum paste. Hmm... maybe that would have been easier? I vowed to never touch fondant again after this... but my perfectionist personality simply wont allow it. Even now, I'm itching to make another batch of fondant and mold it over a block or something just to practice until I can do it good. LOL I also got another recipe for fondant from a friend, so I'm going to see if that one works better.This is how Blaine's birthday song went (p.s. he had to finish lighting his cake cuz I burned myself super bad on the lighter! ouch!):

Me & Kadan, "Happy Birthday to you... "
Zack, "To you..."
Me & Kadan, "Happy Birthday to you..."
Zack, "To you..."
Me & Kadan, "Happy Birthday dear Daddy..."
Zack, "Birfday a Daaaaa-ddyyyyyy...."
Me & Kadan, "Happy Birthday to you!"
Zack, "TO YOUUUUUUUUU!"

He'd chime in the with last line right after we sang it. Funny thing was it sounded like he meant to do it, he was just chiming in as a backup singer or something. LOL

Happy Birthday, honey! Hope you had a good day! : )

Our "Yay! It's Summer!" Project: A Birdhouse...

2010-06-24T19:20:00.003-06:00

We decided to do a fun summer project for family home evening one night the beginning of June. So we constructed a birdhouse out of craft sticks and hot glue, then we let the kids paint it however they wanted (as you can see... it is quite colorful!) and then we got out the craft bins and let the kids dig through it and add whatever decorations they wanted. It was SUPER fun, and yes... it was quite messy, but not too bad to clean up really.They had a BLAST painting it! Pretty sure that was their favorite part.
We hung it out buy our back porch. Our front porch is too noisy with lots of people and cars, so we thought birdies might prefer the quiet of the backyard more. As you can see, we added some little bird feeders on the side. This was also a hit with the boys, to dip the sticks in peanut butter and then in the bird seed. This way, we can refill the little flower pots with more feeder sticks when these ones are gone.They were quite proud of there creation. On the other side is a little shell bird bath we made. Kadan helped put the water in. He filled it to the top since he was sure the birdies would like a "big bath" he said.On the front are three little silver colored decorations the boys wanted to add. Blaine wanted to put the gun pointing at the bird (ha ha) but I put the gun in the birds hand and the boots next to him. This house is apparently for a rough and tough cowboy bird! : )Unfortunately... I must report that although some of the bird seed is gone... no bird has found need to set up residence in our beautiful creation. I'm not sure why. Free food... free bedding... free roof over their head and a little birdy jacuzzi... AND, thanks to my very thoughtful boys, the bird who gets to live here gets to have its very own gaurd dog!!! (see the little purple dog on the front porch?) Serious, it just doesn't get any better than that, Chubbuck birds must be crazy not to want to live here! ; )

Despite its vacancy... it's fun to see it hanging by the back porch and remember the fun we had making it together!

Check Ups

2010-06-18T19:00:00.004-06:00

This month both older boys had checkups at the pediatrician's office.

Kadan:

5 years 2 months old
43 inches
43 pounds (yeah, how did he manage that one? lol, funny!)

He's doing good, growing well. We talked a little bit about his possible asthma. He's been off singular for at least 6 months and doing fine. Doctor said he probably has mostly grown out of having the symptoms (if he does have asthma). Various things can trigger it again (like... if he decides to be like his dad and mix drain chemicals together and gets a chemical burn on his lungs... THAT would make asthma flare up again... lol... yes, Blaine did that.) and if we do start noticing it again he'll get an inhaler for occasional use. He still wears a pull-up to bed, some nights he wakes up dry, others he's wet. Doc said its fairly normal for 5 year olds to still not be able to wake themselves up to go, so we don't really need to worry about it yet. In a year or so if he's still having problems, then the Doc said at that point you can try some other things to get it taken care of, but at 5, he said we don't have to worry about it. He said if we wanted to go without the pullups, we can wake him up in the middle of the night and have him go. But we JUST got him to a point a few month ago where he'll stay asleep all night and not wake up and climb into our bed, so I'd really rather not wake him up if we don't have to. So we're going to just wait. He got his kindergarten shots and had his eyes and ears checked. We're going to take him to an eye doc before school starts. Poor kid just has HORRIBLE eye-genes. All four grandparents have glasses and me and Blaine both have AWEFUL eyes and had glasses really young (about 1st grade). But he is ready for kindergarten! My little baby... : ( Not too sure how I feel about that yet!

Zackery:

2 years 11 months old
29 pounds (25th percentile)
35 inches tall (3rd percentile, lil' shorty got mama's genes!!! lol)
head circumfrence is 20 inches (78th percentile! nurse said he's the biggest she's measured on a kid his age, but he's always had a kind of big head so we're not worried, doc checked him out and just seems like he got big head genes!) : )

So, our monkey is a regular healthy weight... super short... with a great big noggin. LOL He also got his immunizations today, just a few to get him all caught up, we were a little behind.

I must say, I REALLY love our pediatrician office! I love ALL the doctors, we have a regular doctor we see, but we've met a few of the others for various reasons. They are all SO good with kids and will spend as much time with you as you want answering every and any possible question you can think of. And I like how they work together getting second opinions from each other and such. I think every doctor has a little bit different experience and its good to feel like I have a team of awesome doctors working together to make sure my children benefit from all their expertise.

And that is the update for the big boys!

Cameron gets his 4 month checkup in a couple weeks. He's growing like a little weed though. Getting nice and plump, just how we like our lil babies! : ) He's far from 'fat' I guess, but he's a heck of a lot rounder and 'fuller' than when he was born! I have officially put away all the newborn clothes. It was sad... they were all so tiny and cute! But its nice to know he's growing strong. So at 3 1/2 months he's in 0-3 month clothes, with some room to grow in them too. We're guessing he's about 9 1/2 pounds, but I guess we'll see in a couple weeks.

A new friend...

2010-06-18T13:00:00.002-06:00

I peek out the front door...

"Kadan..."

"Right here, Mom. Just playing with a girl." Then he reassures me, "It's okay, she's cool."

I guess as opposed to the rest of the girls who are apparently 'not' cool.

: )

Projects...

2010-06-18T12:44:00.003-06:00

Soooo.... why didn't anyone ever tell me that once you're an adult the projects NEVER end? I think this should be like part of school curriculum or something because your to-do list pretty much becomes a very main part of your life. I keep thinking... "Oh! I'm SO close to being done with all my projects! I'm ALMOST caught up." Only to realize that I have about 15 more things to add to the list.

I keep a list on my fridge of all my daily tasks... my weekly tasks... and then a list with all the miscellaneous projects that need to be done sometime.

Currently this list includes:

finish organizing photos on computer
go through filing cabinet
organize craft cabinet
organize scrapbook stuff
go through preschool stuff
organize miscellanous garage items
put up shelves in garage
put up hat hooks in boy's room
organize bins under our bed
finish painting table and chairs
go through recipe box
make binders for the kids artwork

and that's pretty much just the tip of the iceberg. I can get about 1 or 2 of these projects done in a day. But some days I'm too busy and its all I can do just to get my daily stuff done. So the list sits on my fridge, and slowly gets smaller and then builds back up again when I come up with new stuff I need to add to it. My consolation is when I see lots of checkmarks on the page, and I can see that even though the list never really got smaller, I really did get lots accomplished over time.

And so I have given up on the saying, "Oh I'm SOO close to having my WHOLE house organized." Because really... lets be honest. There will never be a time in my life where everything will be 'done'. It's just not going to happen. So I will settle for constantly being 'so close'. I value my sleep and sanity too much to spend every waking hour trying to cram as much work into one day as I possibly can. Besides... I can't spend ALL my time cleaning/organizing. I also have those super important other tasks to take care of everyday... things like:

playing superheroes...
building a colorful tower...
trying to get through the gingerbread forest to the Kandy King's Castle...
going for a walk...
reading stories with two monkeys on my lap...
and making funny faces and noises simply so I can see a 2 second grin on a little baby face

: )

Ahhh... a child after my own heart... : )

2010-06-14T10:38:00.002-06:00

Zackery has learned his colors pretty well for his age, and if you ask him to tell you what color things are, here is what he'll tell you:

bwue
wed
ojanj
yewo
geen
pink
puhpoh

and.... drumroll please...

chocate (chocolate without the 'ol' sound)

Nothing is ever brown... it is chocolate he informs us. lol

Ahh, that's my boy. That's my boy. Remember the good things in life. ; )

HA!

2010-06-14T10:30:00.001-06:00

So apparently there are quite a few people mad about what happened to Blaine at work and they're mad that the other guy got put back in charge instead of Blaine.

And, here's what I have to say about it.

HA! Serves you RIGHT you crazy people. Now you've just pissed off a bunch of your employees. Should have recognized a good thing when you had it! Hmph!

And....... nevermind!

2010-06-13T17:48:00.003-06:00

About a month ago I posted about Blaine getting a new position with his work. It wasn't really a promotion I guess, since he didn't get a raise, but it was a little more of a step in the direction he wants to head with his career.

Unfortunately, with the company being bought out, there have been a lot of problems. To go along with that there have been lots of miscommunication and disagreements between the various departments. And... even more unfortunately... this has led to Blaine going back to just working the floor as a CNA.

It started off okay, they showed him a few things he was supposed to do, and he was feeling confident. He had lots of the CNAs tell him they were glad he got the job and that he was good at it and that they liked talking to him about work issues more than some of the other 'in charge' people. He got things done and he cared about what was going on. But he still knew he was struggling with a few things, so he went to ask for help and clarification, and they told him, "No, your doing just fine. Just work on it." So he tried harder. Then there kept being problems with the schedule. Come to find out, other 'in charge' people were changing around the schedule after Blaine had finished it. Well, obviously this created a lot of confusion. Blaine has to bring home a staffing phone and people were calling all the time "So and so never showed up.... well, I wasn't supposed to be working... that's not my shift..." etc... etc... etc... Blaine was so frustrated, but he always did his best to get it all sorted out, even if that meant him going in himself to work the shift they were short staffed on. Funny thing is... he would ask his boss to look over the schedule to see if it was okay and ask if there was anything else he could do better (since OBVIOUSLY there were SOME kind of problems or they wouldn't be changing the schedule behind his back) and they'd just say "Nope, looks good!"

???!!! yeah... frustrating....

When he asked to know specifically what his job responsibilities entailed... they told him to "just focus on scheduling for now, we'll worry about the rest later." And then they'd get mad when other things weren't getting done that were apparently his responsibility as well. Smart people aren't they?

There were lots of other issues as well. I suppose I'll try and be adult about this and not whine about every little issue. Blaine's doing better than me. He's trying to look at it as a learning experience. He didn't lose any money by switching back and forth between positions. And he DID feel like he learned a lot. He says he'll just keep at his school and keep his eyes open for another opportunity to come along. I'm just mad I guess because I saw how hard he was working. I thought he did better in many ways than the guy in that position before him. I'm mad the few bosses that had issues with him couldn't pull their heads out and give him proper training and feedback when he was trying so hard and asking for advice and feedback. Nothing they did made sense. It was ridiculous.

So, anyways... back to square one I suppose. School is still going really good for Blaine. He's really liking University of Phoenix and is getting through classes much faster than when he was attending ISU. So we're still moving forward, gotta keep that in mind.

It's hard when you try your best and in the end no matter what you do or how hard you work it's up to someone else how your life goes (in that certain situation). But that's life I suppose, some things just aren't fair and there's nothing you can do about it but keep pushing forward, try harder, and hope for some better luck next time!

FOUND: motivation, self-control, and a few new loves...

2010-06-11T11:39:00.002-06:00

These past several weeks have taught me quite a bit about myself. It has been the most (by FAR) dedicated I have ever been to a diet. Little by little the last couple years we have made some good healthy choices in our lives, but this last month we've really hit it hard. May was kind of our 'beginning' month. We were still trying to figure things out and learn about how many calories we should be consuming and other nutrition and exercise tricks. June has been our real 'gung-ho' month. We keep to a pretty strict calorie intake, and those calories are spread apart into how many calories we can have for each meal and snack. By paying attention to calories an other nutrition content, we've stopped buying a few different foods and are picky about the foods we have for our snacks and meals. We didn't completely go nuts and cut out every fattening thing in our house, we allow ourselves a few of our old favorites and indulgences, but we only eat them in small bits according to what our calorie-plan allows us to have, instead of (our old way) just eating however the heck much we felt like! : )

I can feel how much better my body is working and feeling just from regulating my food intake. It's made a huge difference. I'm so much more motivated this time around. I'm just sick of being so much bigger than I used to be. After Kadan I never really exercised, I waiting until Zack was 18 months before I really did anything, and I still never felt like I really got into it as much as I could have. And I have more self control than I thought possible! lol I do not allow myself to go over my calories. If I'm extra hungry, I eat foods that are low calories so I can eat more of them to fill up. If I want a food that is high in calories, I eat a small portion of it and then fill up on other low calorie items. And the fact that I am avoiding chocolate and ice cream as much as I have been is a phenomenon in itself! (They are my true weaknesses...)

We've also both gotten into exercising more again. We did really good last summer, and then I got pregnant and we both slacked off. It feels good to get back into it though. We still like going to the gym, but we have things we've been doing at home too. We LOVE the Wii Fit "Active" and "Cardio" games. We've been doing boxing and basketball and inline skating and upper body training and lower body training and lots lots more! Those two games totally kick your butt! The regular Wii Fit games are fun, but don't really make you sweat much. These two are definitely a REAL workout! But it's fun, too. Which brings me to my two new favorite loves...

Boxing and Yoga.
Few things have worked my arms like boxing does. And it's such a stress reliever! My arms just burn afterwards, and I love it! My arms are something I'm really working on toning, so boxing (on the Wii Fit "Active" game) has been my new best friend.
I never thought I'd be a person to enjoy yoga, but I truly do. I love the stretching and how its relaxing but also a challenge and its invigorating, too. I like it in the morning to get me ready for the day and I like it in the evening to help me relax and get rid of stress before I fall asleep. I also like doing this on the Wii Fit because it shows me if I'm holding steady and distributing my weight evenly for that particular pose.

So there you have it... one of our big projects in our life. I'm glad Blaine is doing it, too, it's nice to have someone to work out with and someone to help you stay motivated. It's good for us both and we're having fun while getting fit.

Your Blogs...

2010-06-09T12:40:00.002-06:00

All the blogs I was following got randomly deleted from my list. I'm super bummed about it, because now I have to go find them all again! grrr.

So, if you read this, and you have a blog... comment and tell me the blogsite address for me to add to my 'followers' list again. If you don't want other random people to know what it is, you can send me an email (harrisfamof4@gmail.com) or send me a message on facebook.

Thanks all! : )

Baby Cameron is a quarter of a year old! : )

2010-06-08T00:08:00.002-06:00

That little munchkin has grown so dang fast we can't hardly believe it!

He's gotten SO big it seems... though he's still so tiny! He's as big now as Kadan and Zack were when they were born! He's just growing out of his 'newborn' size clothes and starting to fit into 0-3 month outfits.

Lots of pictures and a more detailed update on his blog (click here) or click on Cameron's picture on the right side of this blog.

A Lesson In the Costco Bathroom... thank you Zackery.

2010-06-02T15:41:00.003-06:00

So, there we are. In the Costco restrooms. I had Zack in the stall with me so he wouldn't run off. He went first, then it was my turn. Here was the conversation (Zack talking very loudly, me trying to talk softly and get him to be quieter):

"Mommy, gotta push HARDER."

"What? I'm just peeing."

(More people are heard at the sink and in other stalls.)

"Push HARD, mommy. Push HARDER to poop. Like this... (grunts loudly)!"

"No- Zack, mommy's not pooping, I just have to pee."

"No, you poop, Mommy. Gotta POOP in the POTTY. Push HARDER Mommy. (grunts loudly to demonstrate again, fists clenched, eyes squeezed shut)"

"Zacky, no, it's okay. Shh, mommy's not going poop." and I stand up.

"No! Mommy! Sit down! Gotta push HARDER! You can do it! Mommy poop! Push HARDER! (grunts some more to 'show me how')"

"Zackery, shhh! (as I'm really trying to be quiet and not laugh) I don't need to. It's okay. I'm all done. We're done. Let's go. It's okay."

Zackery looks into the toilet, "Mommy... you no poop. See? Have. to. Poop. in. the. POTTY!"

By then I'm hearing multiple snickers from other stalls and by the sink. Pretty sure I'm making Blaine take him to the toilet next time we're at the store. LOL

The Diet...

2010-06-02T15:28:00.002-06:00

So, me and Blaine are going all gung-ho into losing weight. It's going to be good, we're super excited!

I've been researching good healthy meals and snack and such and we went grocery shopping yesterday and got lots of good stuff! :)

We each have a set amount of calories to eat for each meal and snack, so that we are eating small meals/snacks every 3 hours-ish and it will add up to our calorie limit for the day. We also picked lots of food that were low in fat and high in protein and 'good' carbs (not just sugar). Our fridge is stocked with fruits and veggies and we didn't buy hardly ANY boxed foods or frozen foods that you just stick in the oven. This is tricky because its certainly a lot easier to just make a box of mac and cheese or stick a frozen pizza or corn dogs in the oven. But sheesh the calories add up when you eat stuff like that! LOL

I have a list of a bunch of different breakfast ideas that add up to our total calories for breakfast, and a list of a bunch of lunch ideas, etc. It took me a long time to plan all the little meal ideas and make them come out to the right number of calories, but now we can just pick something off the list and we know its the right amount of calories and we don't have to add up every little ingredient. Blaine's on a 2500 calorie diet, I'm on 1600. If I have a really hard workout then I'll go up to 1700. I had to do some research into how much was safe to lose while nursing. I need to make sure I have enough calories a day to make enough milk for baby Cam. What I read said stay between 1500-1800, and don't lose more than about 1.75 lbs a week. So, there's my plan.

If all goes as planned, and we stick with it, we should both reach our goal (me losing 30 lbs and Blaine losing 40 lbs) by the end of 2010. (Just in time to plump back up with all the holiday meal goodies, right? lol. just kidding)

This is by far the most dedicated we have been. We've learned a lot just reading out of different nutrition books and websites. I'm ALMOST brave enough to try salad finally... but... maybe next week. I don't know... its a texture thing. I can't chew leaves. Ick.

Wish us luck! : )

Goals for the boys...

2010-06-02T01:20:00.003-06:00

So awhile back we tried something with Kadan. We set some goals with him (we actually did let him help choose his own goals). Then we made up a little chart with a picture to represent each goal (there were 7). For each goal, he got a penny, and if he got all his goals in one day he got an extra dime. His goals were simple: sleep in own bed all night, be nice to brother, clean up toys before bed, help mommy clean up after meals (basically, put his plate in the sink, napkin in garbage, and pick up anything he spilled)... etc. Just simple things that we felt he was old enough to do but we were tired of yelling at him to do. He really is soooooo like me. And I am a very chart/goal oriented person. I think I have an excel spreadsheet for just about every aspect of my life and I truly do live by my to-do lists. So, we thought maybe it would work for Kadan, since he has so much of my personality. AND... it really really REALLY worked! He LOVED it. He reminded me every evening that we had to 'do his goals' (meaning, go over the chart together and put a sticker on all the goals he accomplished that day). The money part really wasn't even the big motivating factor. It was worth it just to be able to put a sticker on the chart (see? he really is SO my child. I get complete satisfaction just by putting a check mark on my 'list' for the day!). But when I was sick and pregnant and then we were moving and the baby came we kind of got out of the habit.

We've been having some issues with Kadan listening and being nice to Zack and helping clean up toys and such, so after me and Blaine talked about it we decided bringing back his 'goals' might be a good idea. I switched it around a bit, added a few new ones. Now he will get one penny for each job, but the last two he gets two pennies (because we feel these are 2 things he really needs to work on lately). We chose the amount he'll get because a penny is 1 cent and therefore easier for him to count them all up and know how much money he has. Also... if he does all his goals every day for a week, then at the end of the week he'll have the exact amount he needs to buy an ice cream cone from the little restaurant just down the street (something he's really been wanting). Here's his goals now:

sleep in own bed all night
help clean up meals
have a good afternoon rest
do homework (that's what he calls it when me and him play preschool games during Zack's nap and practice letters and such)
help with dinner (this is something me and Blaine have talked about for a long time, we really want dinner to be a family event, everyone helps make it and everyone helps clean up, and I think he's certainly old enough to help with a few little things, and he likes helping anyways, so it's a good new goal)
help clean up toys before bed
be nice to brothers
be nice to pets
listen to mom and dad
don't yell

We also decided to give Zack a few little goals. He'll be 3 next month and he LOVES to do anything Kadan gets to do, so I think he might benefit a bit from it, too, though probably not as much as Kadan (just because he's younger). Here's what we chose for him:

help clean up meals
have a good nap
help with dinner
help clean up toys before bed
be nice to brothers
be nice to animals
pee/poop in the potty all day

I don't think any of them are too hard, sometimes I think it just helps to have that reminder of what's expected of you each day. These are all things I have expected of them for quite awhile (with the exception of helping with dinner, that hasn't been a regular thing yet), so it's not like I'm springing a lot of new and big expectations on them. Hopefully it will just make doing the 'regular' things a little more fun.

Preschool Withdrawals

2010-05-31T16:06:00.004-06:00

Okay... so I'm going through some major withdrawals. Preschool withdrawals. I'm just ITCHING to write lesson plans and prepare fun little learning activities. I miss it so much!

I don't really want to work out of the home unless I can bring both Zackery and Cameron with me. And really I'd have to bring Kadan with me, too, on the days he wouldn't have kindergarten. Also, there is really not much in Pocatello in the way of good preschools that I could work at. I could probably find a job at a daycare, and maybe get to plan a couple preschool activities... but that's not really what I want to do.

So... I had this thought... I know I can't go all out and have a big preschool in my home right now. We just don't have the space and I don't have the resources to make it good. However... here it comes... what if... I just did... like... a little mini-preschool class? We have SO many little kids between our complex and the apartment complex right next to us. What if... I just had 4 spots for an hour and half class (so there would be 5 kids in a class including Zack). I'd charge $30 a month (it would average out to be $2.50 an hour, which is average childcare costs for our area) per child. It would be twice a week, Monday and Wednesday or Tuesday and Thursday. I'd start out just offering one class, then if more people were interested I'd do 2 classes a week.

Here would be the schedule: (times are just an estimate, it would vary a bit from day to day)

30 min: Circle Time (stories, songs, movement activities, games to learn literacy, math, science, and social skills)

15 min: Arts/Crafts (sometimes it would be an open-ended/freestyle art activity, sometimes it would be a craft to match our theme)

15 min: Science (sometimes it would be a little experiment, sometimes just a chance to see something new... a birds nest, etc, sometimes it would be cooking a snack)

15 min: Snack Time (children help prepare it, count out their crackers, etc, maybe a little mini discussion with a picture about where that food comes from)

30 min: Free Time/ One-on-one instruction (I'll have out a few puzzles and other little preschool learning games they can do by themselves or in pairs and I can sit and work with them each a little bit on various skills)

Circle Time and Free Time would just be in the living room, I have space for 5 kids to sit in a circle for the circle time and to play a few little games for free time.

I have enough room for 5 kids at our table in the kitchen (connected to our living room) where we'd have snack, art, & the science activity.

It's not how I envision myself having my own preschool one day... but I can't have my dream preschool right now and I think it could be just enough to satisfy my preschool craving but not so much that I would feel overwhelmed. Also, only having a couple kids would put me in the 'babysitting' category basically and I wouldn't have to pay to have all my daycare licenses and inspections again (although I would renew my CPR/First Aid certification). (Our city doesn't count preschools as different from daycare so I had to license myself as a daycare before. And it was a PAIN in the BUTT.)

Hmmm... I need some feedback. I know a lot of parents want to do the whole 'big' preschool thing with longer class times and in a place that is actually set up as a preschool (that would be my ideal setup too), but don't you think there might be some parents who don't want to pay the extra money for a big preschool, but still want a learning experience for their child? or maybe just want something extra for their child to do on the days they don't have preschool? or maybe just want something fun and educational for their kid to go to while they run errands (or maybe just have 'me' time or get some housework done) for a bit a couple times a week? Hmmm... what do you think?

15th Anniversary Vacation

2010-05-23T23:15:00.002-06:00

oooooooooooooooh.....

I've decided what we're doing for our 15th Anniversary. Yes. Our 15th. Because it's pricey and we will certainly have to save up!!! lol! : )

I randomly found this website:

www.europeancastletours.com

and had TONS of fun browsing through all the tours available! We may not necessarily go with this exact company, but we've talked about wanting to go to Europe and tour the castles for an anniversary vacation at some point in the future (not near future of course). It would be so fun to go on one of these tours and have it all planned for you. I think the one along the river would be really neat. Well, they all would be really neat. : )

Lucky for me, my husband would be WAY into this too, so we'd both have a ton of fun. Well, for now, I will simply dream about my 15th anniversary... 9 years away... and all the beautiful historical castles we shall tour... : )

Kindergarten Uneasiness

2010-05-23T17:23:00.005-06:00

So... I found out some interesting news today. And I'm not quite sure how I feel about it.

They are changing kindergarten at Kadan's elementary school next year. Instead of going 5 half days a week (morning or afternoon), they will go to a full day of kindergarten 2 or 3 days a week. One class goes Monday, Tuesday, and every other Friday. The other class goes Wednesday, Thursday, and every other Friday.

I'm really not sure I like that. I don't think 5 year olds are ready for all day school. Supposedly they will have a rest time, not a nap, just quiet time. I guess that helps. I just think that's a little overwhelming for kindergarteners, to be thrown into school for 7 hours right in the beginning. 7 hours is an awfully long time for a little kid. And then he's going to have to have lunch there. Well, do they help the kindergarteners? What if big kids pick on them at lunch? What if he doesn't know where to put his stuff? What if he gets lost in the hall at lunchtime and can't find his class again?

Yes... in answer to your question... I have some anxiety over the whole kindergarten situation, and I REALLY have anxiety over the full day kindergarten situation.

He is excited to go, and I think he'll really do good there. All day long away from home I think may be a little rough for him at first (not to mention a LOT rough for me)... so long as they are good teachers who don't push the kids too hard I think it'll be fine.

Kadan doesn't really have any problems being in other people's care. He loves his classes at the gym and at the library. He knows how to listen to his teachers. He's had babysitters. But he's never been away from me ALL day except with family.

I'm going into his school this week to get him registered, and though I will try not to be the ultra paranoid mom... I will be asking quite a few questions.

Especially after last summer at the fair when we lost Kadan... I am nervous about him being in a public place like that without me or Blaine or someone I SUPER trust. I just think 5 is a little too young to be wandering around the school by themselves trying to find the lunchroom and going out to recess with the big kids and then coming back in and knowing where to find their class. And what if he gets on the wrong bus to come home? Does somebody help them find their right bus? How will he know what stop to get off? What if he gets off the wrong stop? What if he misses his stop? Does the bus driver know better than to let the little kids off wherever? What if he runs in front of the bus playing, do the teachers stand out there and supervise while kids are getting on the bus? And what if the big kids are mean to him on the bus? What if someone is mean to him in the hall and takes his lunch or something?

I never want to be the parent to keep my kids at home all the time just because I'm a worry-wart. I want them to have lots of wonderful experiences. We try and get out to do something fun everyday whether its walks, the park, the library for various group activities, kid classes at the gym, holding and learning about the animals at the pet store and petting zoo, etc, etc. But I'm always there. I don't just let him off by himself. He's only 5!

Now that he's going to kindergarten I get taken out of the equation a bit. Someone else gets to decide what he's going to do for the day and someone else gets to decide exactly how much he will be supervised. Not to mention that it's somebody I don't even get to pick! I can 'request' someone, but either way I don't personally know any of the teachers so it doesn't really matter.

Ugh... I'm so not ready for this.

Feel free to offer any first-time-kindgergarten-mom advice... apparently I'm in need of it.

Blaine's Work Phone Ring Tone... for your amusement... : )

2010-05-22T15:17:00.003-06:00

Every other week Blaine has a work cell phone he brings home. If anyone calls off work or if there are various staffing issues, they call him. This is the ring tone that I hear everytime he gets a call on the phone...

"Hello, and welcome to the mental health hotline.
If you are obsessive compulsive, press 1 repeatedly.
If you are codependent, ask someone to press 2 for you.
If you have multiple personalities, press 3, 4, 5 and 6.
If you are paranoid, we know who you are and what you want. Stay on the line and we'll trace your call."

And without fail... I laugh every single time I hear this. lol

Hmmm....

2010-05-21T11:05:00.003-06:00

So, I've been wanting to blog... but I just don't really know what to say lately. I have blogger's block (ha ha).

I suppose I'll just give an update for everybody. Probably nice and boring... but maybe I'll get some inspiration and end up writing something worth reading! ; )

Blaine:
He has been enjoying his new and stressful job. He's pretty sick of being 'whined' to. I think he's pretty much ready to put all the CNAs in a Time Out until they start growing up and acting like adults. LOL He's pretty busy, but I think it's a nice change for him. He gets to go to all the big meetings and give his opinions more.

He's doing good with his new school stuff. It is working out SOOOO well!!! For anyone interested, University of Phoenix is AWESOME! They are SO good to work with. I've never had or heard of college counselors being so good to work with. They are always available and work hard to make sure Blaine knows exactly what's going on and anything and everything that may help him. Usually you have to talk to a million different departments and always get mixed up information. U. of Phoenix has been so perfect. It's so nice to really feel like we're moving forward! If I wasn't almost done with my degree I'd totally transfer, because USU has been a PAIN. I hate my counselor there. She refuses to give me any answers, suggestions, or help. But, back to Blaine... he is liking and doing very well with his new school program. : )

Karrianne:
Now that Cameron is past his 2 month mark... I have decided to kick it in the butt and start trying to lose weight. I did some research as to what was healthy for me (and for Cameron) while I'm nursing. I keep track of all the calories I eat in a day and all the calories I burn through various activities, then I add up the difference for each day throughout the week. And it's actually worked really well! Each week I've lost almost exactly how much my calorie configurations suggested I would. I've only been doing it for a couple weeks, but I've lost 2 pounds each week and this last week I lost 2.25 inches total (I measure: chest, upper waist, lower waist, hips, upper arm, and upper thigh). It's slow progress, but that's good, it means it's healthy weight loss and will stay off.

I feel like I'm getting the hang of 3 kids finally. Some days are better than others, but overall I can get all the kids taken care of, get housework done, have a little "me" time and still have dinner on the table for Blaine when he gets home from work. : )

I've been into cooking more lately. It's been kind of fun. We have a good kitchen for making meals now. I hated cooking in the apartment. I had NO counter space. So I've been making old favorites and trying out new stuff. With my dieting I've been really trying to not cook so much stuff from a box. I must say I'm a million times better at cooking good food than I was when we first got married! : )

Kadan:
He will start kindergarten this fall! He's so excited. I'm excited and sad at the same time. I know he will just love it, but it feels so strange to think he is that big. I'm nervous for him to ride the bus, but I know he'll like that part too. There's TONS of little kids in our complex! And lots that are going to kindergarten this fall. Next door we have a 5 year old little boy and a 3 year old little girl that have quickly become Kadan and Zack's best friends. It's nice they can just walk into the backyard and have instant friends to play with. : )

Zackery:
He is fully potty trained now! He goes all on his own. It is SOOO nice. Well, he does still wear a diaper to bed... but I don't count making it through the night dry as part of potty training. That's something that usually takes a lot longer. All I really worry about is going throughout the day for now.

He is talking so much, too! These last 6 months his language has just exploded! He is truly a little boy now, he doesn't really feel like much of a toddler... except that he's still a little chubby and short. LOL Poor kid got mom's legs. : )

Bedtime has been better with the boys. It was really an excruciating ordeal there for awhile! One of us has to sit up there with the boys until one of them falls asleep though. I wish we could just put them in bed after a few stories and they'd lay down and go to sleep. Doesn't quite work that way though... I tried just leaving them in there, but they'd just come out and play. Nothing worked. Literally. Nothing. We tried every suggestion given to us. We tried being consistent. It just got worse, so we had to change our tactics. After our bedtime routine, one of us sits on their bed with Zack on one end of the bed and Kadan on the other and we read a book (to ourselves, so that we don't go insane) and completely ignore them as they try to play or scream (except for making them lay back down if they start to get up). The ignoring thing works pretty good. One of them eventually gives up and falls asleep and then we can leave because the other one doesn't want to play by themselves.

Cameron:
He is growing so big! He is maybe just a bit over 8 lbs right now (I'm estimating from his last weight check). He is still able to wear his newborn clothes but is finally able to start wearing his 0-3 months clothes, too! : )

He's got a little double chin and his arms and legs are getting nice and chubby! He is almost 3 months old now. He loves watching his mobile on his swing or in his crib. And he really likes it when the other boys talk to him and make funny noises. We've only gotten spontaneous smiles so far... the doctor said he'll probably smile in response within a couple weeks. It's a little confusing at times... he does some things like a 4 week old baby... and other things like a 8 week old baby would... and other things like a 12 week old baby would... so I never really know what milestones he'll be hitting when. He's healthy and developing good considering being born early though, according to the doc, so that's all that matters.

And that is our family in a nutshell right now. Nothing major... but lots of little good things. Lots of little hard things, too, of course, but that's how life goes, right? You just keep pushing forward and looking on the bright side.

Above Cameron's crib is vinyl lettering that says, "Count your many blessings" (we figured it fitting for our surprise preemie's room!). I love reading it each time I get him out of his crib. No matter what's going on in life, it always helps to remember all the good things you've been blessed with.

There was a WEE-OOH outside our house today!!!

2010-05-18T16:43:00.003-06:00

That's right, folks. A real live WEE-OOh. Right outside! ; )

Zack runs up to me, "Mommy! Mommy! A (goes high pitched) WEE-OOH-WEE-OOH-WEE-OOH!"

Me, "Uh... what?"

Zack, points out the window, "A WEE-OOH-WEE-OOH-WEE-OOH!"

wait... listen...

Me, "Yes! There is a fire truck going past. You heard the fire truck?"

Zack, "YEAH! A wee-ooh-wee-ooh. Went past."

: )

The Joys and Sorrows

2010-05-16T18:18:00.002-06:00

I can't seem to make up my mind on my favorite age/stage of childhood. Each one seems so different and has both its hardships and wonderful moments. It seems like right when you're in the middle of the specific chaos for that age/stage, you can't wait til they're just a little bit older... but once that age/stage passes, you find yourself missing it. What parent hasn't said, "Ugh! I can't wait til he's out of his terrible twos!!!"... but if you're like me, you find yourself looking back at the photos wishing you could have that chubby little toddler to squish again and hear all the funny things he has to say as he is expanding his vocabulary and learning to have conversations.

As for other people's kids... age 2-5 is by far my favorite, thus my career choice. But for my own children? I don't think I could pick a favorite. There are too many wonderful things about each stage and an equal number of trials for each as well. I haven't experienced the school years, young teen, older teen, or young adult stages yet for my own children... but I think I'll probably feel the same about those.

Here are some of the highlights (and lowlights) for me...

Newborn

Sorrows

Sleepless nights
Fussing right when you're in the middle of some project
Lots of diapers!
Realizing you have (another) spit-up stain on your shirt as you're in a rush to get out the door

Joys

Cuddle time
Little squeaks
The way they seem to still be able to roll up in a ball
The 'wake up' stretch (arch their back and curl their little arms and legs up)
When they start to open their eyes more and focus on your face like you are the most interesting thing in the entire world

Older Infant

Sorrows

Messy meal times
Making sure everything is babyproofed and little things never reach baby's mouth
Crying when you leave the room

Joys

Babbling
Getting more sleep at nights!
First Words
Crawling
First Steps
The beginning of reciprocal hugs and kisses

Toddler

Sorrows

Tantrums!
"I do it!"
"Mine!"
Making messes
Getting into mischief
Beginning potty training

Joys

Lots to laugh about!
Funny words and phrases
Watching them try to imitate mom/dad/siblings
Their amazement everytime they accomplish something

Preschool Age

Sorrows

when they DON'T want to play with younger siblings...
when they learn how to be more sneaky about getting into trouble
"why"... "why"... "why"... "why"... over, and over... and over...
trying to find appropriate consequences that actually work to get them to listen on days when they are especially defiant

Joys

having real conversations with them, and laughing at the funny things they come up with
watching them learn and discover new things everyday
seeing them act like a big brother (or sister), helping younger siblings
finished potty training!!! : )
having them able to do things for themselves
having a helper around the house
being able to play little board games together

What do ya think? What did I miss that were your favorites or what you thought was the hardest about each age? (feel free to add older age groups too)

My Business Man... well... kind of... : )

2010-04-16T10:44:00.004-06:00

For the last 6 years of our marriage (ha ha, that would be our ENTIRE marriage) Blaine has worked as a CNA and/or Therapy Tech. He started out considering going into nursing, then once he got a little more into the health field found a love for physical/occupational therapy (when he started working as a therapy tech). So he started to go to school for that. He has recently made a change (due to many factors) to a degree in Healthcare Administration and has been very excited about it. We've finally found an option that works the best with his skills, his interests, and the schooling fits perfectly with his work schedule (he's doing everything online now). No matter how we've looked at this option, it continues to feel like a really great fit.

AND... Blaine has now been promoted to the CNA manager (I'm still not quite sure about his specific title) at his work! How cool is that? He's in charge of all the CNAs and of scheduling and interviews for new employees and various other 'in charge' tasks. Downside is it's more responsibility and (for now) not a pay raise. The company just got bought out by new owners, so they're still working out a lot of kinks. But even still its SUCH a great opportunity for him to gain experience in a management position. It will look great on his resume and help him to gain more skills in this area. He's on his way up the 'ladder'!

He's a little nervous, but everyone at work keeps telling him they think he's going to do awesome, and I agree. He's always had good people skills and I think that will help him a lot here. Congratulations, honey! I'm proud of you, you are going to be great!

Very VERY excited for the things going on in our life right now! I feel like we've made some huge steps forward towards our goals lately. It feels SO good to be moving forward in life. I'm so excited for so many things right now! Life is good. : )

Names for the Kittens

2010-04-15T15:01:00.003-06:00

As an amendment to my last post... we have decided on the kittens names.

Black one: Bagheera (from Jungle Book)
Orange one: Orion (from Men in Black)

We wanted more cat names from movies to go with our other cat Aslan (from Chronicles of Narnia). Still not sure if we'll keep all three, now that we have Aslan back we may try and give away one of the kittens. But the boys are really pushing for us to just keep them all. So far they're not driving me crazy yet, so for now we're keeping them.

Bagheera and Orion are starting to get along better with Aslan. He didn't like them too much at first, but he mostly just ignored him and glared if they came to close. But now they're all starting to play a bit more together.

The Great Harris Family Pet Story...

2010-04-14T11:56:00.004-06:00

So we’ve had the quite the month with our pets. Lots of crazy changes!!!

In January we bought our little puppy, Max. We loved this little guy! But when Cameron was born so early and we were up at the hospital most of everyday and had no idea how long that was going to last, we decided that we just didn’t have the time to care for a puppy. We felt so bad having him locked in his kennel all the time, but we weren’t home enough to give him the attention he needed and we didn’t know when that would change. Plus, we knew bringing home a preemie would have stresses in itself so the chaos wouldn’t end when we DID get to bring Cameron home. So we put an ad on Craigslist for Max and within 12 hours we found a him an excellent home with little kids and another dog friend to play with. It was sad to see him go, but I would say we weren’t incredibly attached yet, so it was okay. Puppies take a lot of work and attention and we just didn’t have any extra time to give him. So it was better for him.

(Max the schauzer/pug/boston terrier puppy)

Well… then when we were moving… THIS happened…

Friday night we were in a hurry to get out of the house. We were hauling out laundry to the car (the dryer in the complex was broke so I had to go to a Laundromat) and Blaine needed to get to work. At some point Aslan (our cat) got out and we didn’t seem him before we locked the door and left. I got home late from laundry and the hospital and went straight to bed without thinking that I hadn’t seen Aslan around.

(Aslan our big fluffly cat)

Saturday morning we moved and as we were emptying the apartment we realized Aslan was nowhere to be found. We were DEVASTATED as we were WAY attached to him. We’d had him for a year and he was the BEST cat you could want. We looked EVERYWHERE throughout the building and the neighborhood MANY times over the next week. We let all our neighbors know to look out for him and left our phone number and a description with the cat for all the them, but we had no luck.

So we finally admitted to ourselves that we were not going to find him and we couldn’t keep going back to our old neighborhood. We felt AWEFUL that we had to tell our kids that we sold the dog and then a week later had to explain that now their cat was gone too!!! Plus we had just moved and we were dealing with all the chaos of Cameron coming early and having to be at the hospital and the kids having to stay with Gma for so long (which they definitely had fun, but it was still hard for them to be away so long). So, to up the moral at our house we got two new little kittens (because we were not going to replace Max with another dog at this point, cats are SUPER SUPER easier than a puppy). One was all black with blue eyes (he actually looks like he’s black with black stripes, not black and grey or black and brown, just two different shades of black, its neat!), the other was orange with green eyes. Their names have changed back and forth a bit, still haven’t decided on certain ones.

(Kadan and Zack reading with the two kittens. Black one: Felix (from the cartoon)/Binx (Hocus Pocus)/Bagheera (Jungle Book) & Orange one: Tiger (American Tail)/Orion (Men in Black)/Oliver (Oliver and Company)/Cringer (He-Man)... as you can see we have yet to decide on names for sure... LOL... but we've started a little tradition of naming our cats after cats from movies/tv)

We like them… they’re fun to watch play with each other. And they’ve been a piece of cake to care for. Definitely not hard at all. Cats are nice low maintenance pets. I never considered myself a cat person, I always preferred dogs, but dogs take SO much work, and cats take virtually none, so I find myself leaning towards being a cat person lately.

BUT… neither of them have taken Aslan’s place in our hearts. And I’ve felt SO guilty about locking him out (on accident, but still…). He just doesn’t really have street smarts and has never had to live outside, so we hoped instinct would kick in… but we just kept thinking about how scared he must be feeling. : (

WELL… yesterday morning our old neighbor called and said she FOUND him!!!!!!!!!!!!! We went and picked him up and he was SOOO scared and freaked out, but after a few minutes he realized who we were and purred practically nonstop for hours and followed us around the house and wanted nothing more to nuzzle against our hands so we’d hold and pet him. He was definitely glad to be home and we were SOOO glad to have him back!!!!

However… now we have THREE cats!!! THREE CATS!!!! Yes we now have a bigger place… but it’s not huge. Not big enough for 3 cats in my mind. They are all easy… all know how to use a litter box… no problems with scratching up furniture or anything so far… all are super easy pets… but 3 cats just seems like so many to me. Sigh… We’ve considered getting rid of one of the kittens. But we don’t know yet. I think we’ll wait a week and see how life is with 3 cats (woah…) and then make a decision. The kittens are still tiny enough that I think we could probably fairly easily find one of them a good home. But with our luck, what if something happens to Alsan or one of the kittens and then we’d be left with 1 cat? Not a big deal I guess… we could have one cat… but I do like having two. It’s nice for them to play together and they’re fun to watch when there’s two.

We got the garage cleaning out and put food and a litter box and a cat tree out there, too, so they can be inside or in the garage (this is nice for when I scrapbook, since little pieces of paper and ribbon GREATLY appeal to kitties! LOL), so maybe 3 wont be such a big deal.

Anyways that is the big Harris family pet story. : )

"Buddy"

2010-04-09T12:57:00.003-06:00

We are all now lovingly referred to as "Buddy" by Zackery. LOL

While giving Daddy a car to play with, "Here ya go buddy!"

While helping Mommy with the dishes, "Here ya go buddy!"

While putting the kitty to bed, "Here ya go buddy!"

While bringing the baby his binky, "Here ya go buddy!"

While sharing a candy with Kadan, "Here ya go buddy!"

And he says it in the sweetest nicest condescending voice you can imagine. : ) Like he's the adult and we're the little kid he's so generously helping out.

Gotta love little kids, right? : ) He's always making us laugh!

Happy Easter!!!

2010-04-07T01:44:00.004-06:00

The day before Easter the boys were looking through our Peter Cottontail Look-&-Find book, and our 2 new kittens (explanation in a later post about our pet exchange) were quite intrigued and decided to join them. The four of them cuddled in the chair looking at the book for quite awhile this morning!
We spent a wonderful Saturday afternoon dying eggs and hanging out with our friends & their little girl. The boys LOVED doing the eggs this year! They were both way into it and probably could have gone forever if more eggs were available!
The next morning they woke up to baskets from the Easter Bunny filled with candy, baseball gloves & ball, squirt guns, and 2 superhero squad action figures. And they hunted all over the living room for plastic eggs filled with MORE candy, they were happy boys!
Cameron didn't get an easter basket... but he sure looked cute all snuggled inside one! : )

Toddler Talk and Big Brother Interpretations...

2010-04-03T11:28:00.002-06:00

While sitting at the table for breakfast...

Zack, points to his bowl, "Mommy! Mommy!" (something that sounded like): "Hih Moh... Hih Moh"

Me, "what?"

Zack repeats.

Me, "It's... more? You want more?"

Zack, "No, no. Hih Moh."

A few more tries of me guessing... to no success.

Me, "Zack, I don't know what you're saying. What do you want?"

Kadan, "He's saying: Hit (puts fist to forhead) Moe (extends arm and fist like hitting the air with a hammer). Yeah, that's what he's saying, Mom."

Me, chuckling, "Kadan, I don't think that's what he's saying, that doesn't really make sense."

Kadan, "He is, Mom. I know it."

Me, "Tell me again, Zack. What do you want?"

Zack, "Hih moh.... HIH... MOH.... Mommy. Hih moh."

Me, sighing.... "Zack, I don't understand. Can you show me?"

Zack, very frustrated, but very determined to make me understand. He sighs and says, annunciated VERY slowly and clearly... "Mommy!... HIT! (fist to forehead).... MOE! (fist out front like hitting air with hammer)."

Kadan, "See mom. Told ya."

Well..... okay. LOL

: )

Big Cameron News!!!

2010-03-29T22:31:00.002-06:00

Our little man decided if his brothers were finally joining us in our new home, then he wanted to be home too!

The last few days he has shocked us all with just AMAZING progress!!! Today they surprised us by moving him to an open crib and saying if he does good (he hasn't had any food through his tube in 36ish hours, he has to keep eating well and keep his temperature up) he will be coming home tomorrow!!!

I'm completely shocked, but SOOO excited!!!!

ALL my boys home in our NEW place!!!

P.S. Thank you a MILLION times to everyone who came to help! We appreciated it SO much! We are loving our new place!!! Still got stuff to unpack, but the majority is done.

Dear Snow...

2010-03-26T22:12:00.003-06:00

WHAT the HECK are you DOING!?!?!??!??!?!?

Don't you know it's my moving day in 8 1/2 hours!!!!!!! That's RIGHT!!!! You are RUINING my moving day!!!!! Stop it!!! Stop it RIGHT NOW!!!!

This. is. ridiculous. Easter is almost here. You have seriously got your seasons mixed up pal. You tell your little cloud buddies up there that if they absolutely HAD to drop some snow at the end of March they could have at least had the decency to wait a few days! Sheesh...

I thought we were friends?!?! I thought we were pals!!! Don't you remember last winter when everybody was complaining about you and how you were so cold and they wanted you to go away, and I -your FRIEND- was supporting you in your endeavors to fall so beautifully to the ground so we could play in you and go sledding?? Let me tell you, buddy, you do not have much support in this town. But I was THERE for you. I WANTED it to snow ALL winter!!! And just LOOK at how you've let me down. 25 years of friendship and this is what I get.

Don't you know how well I have this moving day planned?!?! HOURS have been spent over excel spreadsheets making lists and charts and floorplans... I have COLOR CODED labels for crying out loud. I've been counting down the hours for this day!!! And there you go, on one of your 'whims', falling to the ground... all around... covering my car in 2 inches of snow during the 1 hour I was in the hospital feeding Cameron... and continuing on in your pursuit to RUIN my moving day.

I can't believe this.

This is not very nice... Not... nice... at... all.

WOAHH!!! neat!!!

2010-03-25T12:22:00.004-06:00

SOOO....

I have just discovered something SUPER cool that I am SUPER excited about! Therefore... I must blog...

Our church building and the library are LESS than a mile away from our new home!! Neat, huh?!?! AND... you get there through the back roads through the subdivision, so in the summer we could walk to church (we used to do this when we lived in Rexburg and I really loved it!) and we could go for a walk to the library!

AND!!! AND!!! (yup there's more!!!!!) We live within a mile of TWO (not one...but TWO!) parks!!! One of those parks is across a busy road, and I don't know if there is a cross walk, so we'll see about that one, but the other park is right next to the library and our church so we could push Cameron in the stroller and the boys could ride their bikes to the park! How fun is THAT?!?!?! (p.s. this library has WAAAYYYY more kids activities, storytimes/music times/etc, than our old library!!!)

I simply cannot contain my excitement of how great a find we found in our new townhouse! : ) We are also close to the pet store/petting zoo that we like taking the boys to just to browse and pet the animals, and we are close to the mall, which sounds silly since we really do not shop much at the mall, but they have a little play area that is fun to go to when it's not so great weather, so it's been kind of a fun thing for us to go play at the mall and get a pretzel (I have a serious obsession with the Pretzelmaker pretzels).

So that is my glorious news. : ) This summer is going to be so fun, I can't wait! : )

P.S. an amendment to my previous post, boy #1 and boy #2 are coming home on Sunday instead of Tuesday! That means only 3 more days!!! I miss you so much Kadan and Zack! I'm so excited for you to come home and see your new cool Superhero room!!!

And the countdown begins...

2010-03-25T10:28:00.003-06:00

44 hours until we MOVE!!!! wah hoo!!!!

Living Room: check (everything but the tv, dvd player, and surround sound... cuz we need something to watch as we pack... and the computer stuff, cuz I need it for a bit more homework and to type lovely blog posts such as this to you, p.s. 3 week photos and an update for Cameron will be posted tomorrow)

Kitchen: check (everything but a few boxes of food, a few dishes, and stuff in the fridge/freezer)

Bathroom: check (everything but the few essentials)

Boy's room: VERY check (it is filled to capacity with all the boxes from other rooms! you can't even walk inside!)

Our room: check (everything but the few clothes we'll be wearing the next couple days and our alarm clock)

What's left? Some scattered miscellaneous items here and there that need to be gathered, sorted, and packed... I've got some laundry to do... some homework so that I don't have to worry about it during the few days we wont have internet... and tomorrow I will pack up all the essential (the few dishes, the few bathroom items, etc) items we left out.

Saturday morning bright and early we'll pack up the computer stuff and the pet's stuff and the fridge/freezer stuff before the truck and trailer gets here (about 7am) and then we'll haul it all over!!! Blaine gets off work at 6am, he's just going to stay awake until it's all unloaded in the right rooms. Then he'll take a nap and I'll start unpacking. We'll have Sunday and Monday to unpack and put together the new place... and Tuesday to clean the old place... and Tuesday night we will relax on the couch with a movie and popcorn all snuggled up with 2 of our 3 boys, who will finally once again be home to STAY! And we will celebrate and relish in the fact that the nightmare of moving will be over! Woohoo!

Hopefully Mr. Cameron will join us soon in our new home, but until he does I will simply have to divide my time between playing with Kadan and Zack at home (taking them over to the playground our complex has!) and taking my time snuggling and feeding Cameron at the hospital. A MUCH better way to spend my time then the last few weeks... hurrying up to feed Cameron every few hours and rushing back home to get stuffed packed.

I am SO ready to get back to a normal life routine!!! And I want to be a MOM again! As much as I VERY VERY much appreciate my family for caring for the boys and the nurses for caring for baby Cameron... I am pretty sick of having other people care for my babies 24/7. I did not have kids simply to have other people raise them. I LIKE that part of my life. I LOVE it! It's hard and frustrating and tiring and I feel like I'm going crazy most every night by the time it's bedtime, but I LOVE it! I love my mommy job and everything that comes with it. And I SO miss all those little mundane tasks that being a mom entails. And I hate that this month we had no other options than to let other people take this burden that I love.

Every once in awhile it's of course nice to go out alone with Blaine for a couple hours on a date, or to have a little bit of 'me time'. But I definitely do NOT think I would enjoy a full time nanny! Nope, not for me. I am going to be perfectly happy having the chaos of 3 children at home, the potty training, the picky eaters, the tantrums, the diaper changing, the bedtime routine, cleaning up toys, and everything else that comes with it. I am actually very much looking forward to it!!! : ) No more quiet house for me! Bring back the noise! I am very VERY ready! : )

The Packing Fairies...

2010-03-22T22:25:00.003-06:00

Karrie, "Can't the packing fairies just come and pack up all our stuff? I'm tired... I don't want to pack anymore."

Blaine, "Packing fairies?"

Karrie, "Yeah, packing fairies. They exist."

Blaine, "Oh yeah, the packing fairies. Yeah, we can't call them. They started charging money for their services."

Karrie, "Dang packing fairies... can't they just be satisfied with a home in the trees and living off berries?"

Blaine, "Yeah, they decided to up their lifestyle."

Karrie, "Now they wear little uniforms with name tags and come with u-hauls and prelabeled boxes... dang fairies..."

Me & Cameron update...

2010-03-20T00:51:00.003-06:00

New pictures, a video, and big long update are on Cameron's blog. Click on his picture (on the right of this blog) or go to www.cfh2010.blogspot.com

I'm doing pretty good. Had my 2 week check up. I'm healing well. I'm off the heavy painkillers now. Now I'm just taking ibuprofen or tylenol when I start hurting a bit. I'm definitely moving around a lot more, which is nice. I can finally get in and out of bed on my own. (It is a pain in the butt to wake up your husband at 7:30 am to help you out of bed when he's only gotten home from work and fallen asleep at about 6:30 am! Not that he complained, but I did feel bad!)

I've gotten most of my energy back this week, apparently the combination of vitamins they've had me on is helping restore whatever was lost from all the blood loss. I'm feeling way better as far as this goes.

Moving is going to be tricky, but we have a lot of people helping us, so hopefully it will go smoothly. I'm not going to be a whole lot of help with the actual moving part. I'll be packing up what I can in between hospital visits and Blaine will take care of the heavy stuff when he isn't working. Then next Saturday morning we're moving everything over. We'll have a couple days to unpack it all and set up our new home, one day to clean our old apartment, and then hopefully life can fall back into it's somewhat normal routine. We'll get Kadan and Zackery back home, and we're really REALLY hoping Cameron will be able to come home as soon as possible after that. He's making SO much progress it's really hard not to get my hopes up too much. We'll just have to see, I guess! : )

Moving: Strategies...

2010-03-17T01:59:00.003-06:00

See??? See!!!! I am not crazy!!!

So I've concocted the following plan over the last week and I was quite proud of it:

*I bought a bunch of colored (BRIGHT colored) post its.
*Each box I pack will get a post it (taped on, so it wont fall off) and on that post it I will write the room it goes in and what is in the box (example... "Boys Room: Toys")
*Each room gets assigned a different color of post its. (example... kitchen=yellow, boy's room=blue, living room=orange, etc)
*A post it will be placed on each door indicating the color of box labels that go inside.
*Inside the room I'll place post it notes indicating where things should go.

Now... some may call this crazy... BUT... while looking online tonight for 'moving tips' I found the following idea:

"Color coordinate.
Designate a color for each room in the new home, such as yellow for kitchen, orange for dining room, etc. Apply colored stickers on the box near the box number. In your new home. Put a matching sticker on the door to each room. The movers will know where to put everything when they arrive at the destination. It's also helpful to post a big sign on the wall in the room where you want boxes stacked, ("Boxes here please") to keep them out of furniture and traffic areas."

That's Right!!! It's MY idea!!! SEE!?!? I'm NOT crazy! I'm a GENIUS! Yes, it's true.

I have also made up a floor plan of where items in each room will go, thus making the labeling process easier, and thus in turn making the moving in part much easier. Since I will only have the ability to place small items in boxes and label them, then take the items out of the boxes to put away... (I will not be able to actually carry or move anything... dang surgery... well, at least I got a cute baby out of it all, a nice consolation prize for the pain and inconvenience, definitely.)... we have quite a few people coming to help get things packed into and out of the truck. I obviously don't want to have to watch where every box goes and this way every box should end up in the right room and then I will be able to unpack things instead of waiting for Blaine to move things all to the right places. And THEN, just tonight I found THIS on another moving tip site....

"If you have a floor plan, draw how you want each room to be set up and put it on the door of that room, so you can be free to do other things than direct traffic. Labels bedroom furniture room 1, 2 and so on."

SEE?!?!? I am just on a ROLL with this move!!! I may need to write my own 'moving tips' website!

Crazy over-organizer... maybe... insanely detailed... possibly... OCD perfectionist... well, that's probably a given... but I will be in my new townhouse after a smooth and quick (well, as quick as possible) with everything nicely put away in less than two weeks and THEN, my friends... all my color coding and labeling will prove to be worthwhile.

My Phone Conversation With the "Automated System"...

2010-03-15T19:00:00.002-06:00

What a wonderful age we live in that we can have the convenience of the telephone automated system! Don't you agree? Heaven forbid we have to talk to an actual person.

So I called to report Cameron's birth to the insurance and I listened to the extensive menu (cuz I needed to "please listen carefully to the entire menu, as their menu options had changed" of course...), pushed my selection... listened to the next menu... pushed my selection... listened to the next menu... pushed my selection... listened to the next menu... well, you get the idea. Then for the next hour (no I am NOT exaggerating) I had the following conversation with the automated system...

"Your call is very important to us, please continue to hold."
"Well, thank you. It's important to me to. I will hold."
music...

"Please continue to hold, we are experiencing increased call volumes."
"Alright. Understandable."
music...

"Someone will be with you soon. Thank you for holding."
"Soon... okay."
music...

"Your call will be answered momentarily."
"Hmmm...."
music...

"Please continue to hold, your call is very important to us."
"Really? Cuz I'm just not sure I'm really feeling very important."
music...

"Thank you for your patience."
"Patience?"
music...

"Please continue to hold."
"Well, of course I'm going to continue to hold. If I hang up and call back I'll have to start all over with this process. How much time do you people think I have?"
music...

as I'm starting to doze off... "Your call will be answered momentarily."
"What?... oh, okay... Momentarily..."
music...

"Your call is very important to us."
"Yes... Yes, I can see that. Thank you for placing me at the top of your priorities. Much appreciated."
music...

"Please continue to hold."
"Uggggghhhhhhh...."
music...

"Someone will be with you soon."
"Uh huh... riiiiiiggggghhhht."
music...

"Your call will be answered momentarily."
" 'Momentarily'... hmmm. What exactly do you people consider momentarily?"
music...

Blaine, from the next room, "Are you still on hold?"
Me, "Yup... but it's okay. Shouldn't be too much longer. Cuz I'm 'important' to them, so it will be 'soon'."
music...

"Thank you for your patience."
"WHAT PATIENCE?!?!?!"

"We are experiences high call volumes. Someone will be with you soon."
"That word again, eh? Please explain your definition of... 'soon'."
music...

There is a high probability this call will end in the following manner:

"Thank you for holding, what can I do for you?"
"I need to report the birth of my baby."
"Okay, I can help you with that. When was your baby born?"
"He turns 15 years old this year, on March 5th."
"Oh... well.... you do know you're supposed to call within a couple weeks after he's born?"
"Oh, yes. I did call then. I've just been on hold... that long."

Follow-up to this post:
Thought you'd like to know how the call did end up. I handed the phone to Blaine while I went to use the bathroom. Approximately 2 minutes after he got on the phone the person answered. 2 1/2 minutes after that, everything was taken care of and he hung up. Jeez.

My randomly OCD husband...

2010-03-14T04:58:00.003-06:00

So, we get back from seeing Cameron and it's like 10:00pm-ish. I'm practically falling over I'm so tired from those dang pills (scratch that... they really are heavenly, very grateful for modern day medicine). So I hop into bed (scratch that too... even with the dang/heavenly pills still probably wont be doing much hopping for a bit!)... so I get into bed, but my hubby does not follow me.

"What are you doing?" I say as I hear him moving around in the kitchen.

"I'll be in in a bit, I'm just picking up the kitchen before bed."

Aww.... what a nice boy I have. : )

I doze in and out for a little while and at 1:00am I hear him STILL in the kitchen. I get out of bed (ps, today is the first day since surgery I can get in and out of bed without help, progress!) and walk into the kitchen to find all the furniture moved out of the way, including fridge and stove, and he is sweeping and scrubbing the floor and washing walls and baseboards!!! I thought 'picking up the kitchen' meant making sure the table and counters were cleared and wiped off. Not mega DEEP cleaning! LOL!

"Honey?! You can come to bed!" I say.

In a very chipper and upbeat voice he responds, "No, I'm good. I figured I might as well just do it now, then we don't have to do so much when we move. Now it's all done and ready, we'll just have to do a quick sweep with the mop when we get all our stuff out."

I do not know why events like this occur at random moments. Overall, I am the one who is the crazy perfectionist in the family. Blaine really is an awesome husband at helping to clean up, especially when I'm not feeling good or when I'm extra stressed with homework or the kids. But for the most part I can expect to have to refold a few of the towels or adjust the clothes in the drawer so they actually fit. : )

But every once in awhile it's like this crazy switch gets turned on and he's suddenly SUPERHUSBAND!, deep cleaning & organizing to absolute perfection and don't bother telling him it's good enough, cuz he will not stop til it's completely done to his satisfaction (and his standards when in this mood are high enough to rival my mothers... and that is high!, p.s. that is a compliment, Mommy). : )

He told me I was not allowed to blog about this. But how can I not brag about something like this? After 6 years of marriage... I am still not used to these random perfectionist moods he is prone, too. Don't get me wrong... I definitely like it and I TOTALLY appreciate it, especially when I feel like such an invalid as I usually do a week after a c-section.

Anyone else's husbands still surprise them with random behaviors after years of marriage?

Thank you to my wonderful husband. I may not understand your random OCD moments, but I appreciate you more than words can express! You are the best! Love you! : )

Wide Awake...

2010-03-14T04:51:00.002-06:00

Ugh... I really want to be sleeping right now. But I've been wide awake the past few hours. These pain killers I'm on make me SOOOO tired, I can't wait to be off them. However, I tried to start weaning myself off them today, and I could only go about 5 1/2 hours (I take them every 4 hours usually) before I was hurting too much to move around. So... I'll work up to it I guess.

I seriously just can't hardly keep my eyes open for more than about 5 hours and I'm exhausted. I'll sit on the couch to rest for a minute and next thing I know I'm waking up from a nap. My body is kind of picky with the usual pain killers they give you for after a c-section, so I don' t have a lot of options for what to take. And the one they have me on causes drowsiness. LOTS of drowsiness. No wonder the label on the bottle says "do not operate any motor vehicles".

Yeah, this post is random. But what else am I supposed to do at this time of day?

33 weeks... Or negetive 6 days...

2010-03-11T10:29:00.002-07:00

Today I got in my email my regular weekly pregnancy update from babygaga.com (I really enjoyed these for anyone who is pregnant or who will be in the future. There's some funny stuff and some informative stuff.).

Yup. Today I hit 33 weeks pregnant, so my email came letting me know all the info about what's happening to my body and my baby this week. Phew! Isn't it nice to know what to expect? I am able to see the baby kick really well from the outside, my back is probably aching a bit more, the baby weighs almost 5 lbs and measures about 17 inches and is beginning to 'pile on the cute baby fat'. It was also suggested that I write out a birthing plan and start getting things ready (like my hospital bag) for the big day.... yes... so they tell me.

Instead... I am negetive 6 days pregnant. I actually miss the movement and little kicks I'd feel and see. As uncomfortable as it sometimes could be, I took for granted the joy and peace that came with having my baby close to me 27/7. Today I will see him move and kick OUTSIDE my belly for a total of about 4 or 5 hours. Then I will place him back in his little makeshift womb so he stays warm, and I will blow him a kiss and tell him goodbye until 11:30am tomorrow, when I can go see him again. My arms and heart ache for wanting to hold him so bad, instead of my back. My baby weighs 4 lbs 1 oz and is 17 1/2 inches long and though I hope to see those 'piles of baby fat' starting to come soon... he is not even eating enough to maintain his birthweight, let alone gain any weight. And a 'plan'? What the heck is a plan? I have not heard of this word. Wait... women actually get to have a say in how their hospital experience goes?? Why did no one ever tell me of this. Alright... lets see... we'll go ahead and put the baby back inside... and on April 22nd I will get up and shower and do my hair and have my husband carry my carefully packed back to the car. We'll get to the hospital and check in for my scheduled c-section. I'll wait patiently and comfortably while they get me prepped for surgery and an hour or so later I'll hold my next 9 lb baby and have the nurses once again tell me my little guy looks like a little football player next to all the other newborns. In 3 or 4 days I'll bring my sweet little angel home to our new townhouse which we've had plenty of time to get perfectly ready for his arrival. I will sit in the rocking chair and rock him any time I want. I will feed him via breast, not tube, and dress him in 0-3 month clothes because like his brothers he came out too big for newborn size clothes. There. That's a pretty good birthing plan I'd say.

Or... I will spend my days trying to look on the bright side. Knowing my baby is stable and on a good path forwards. Knowing that eventually, just not now, I will have him home in my arms. Knowing that eventually, just not now, I will have my other two children home to hug and hold again. I will spend any and all time I can at the hospital holding my baby and trying to feel like his mom even though I get to do very little compared with the normal motherhood duties for a newborn. I will call my children in Star Valley and listen to their sweet voices and try to be happy that they are having so much fun with Gma and Gpa, because I know it's better for them if they are too busy and having too much fun to miss us enough to want to come home yet. I will spend my time at home browsing through the pictures/videos of my baby and trying to get caught up on homework in between to get my mind off things. And I will impatiently wait to heal a bit more so I can start feeling productive and cleaning and packing our apartment for the move.

I know I have SOOO much to be grateful for. And those first few days at the hospital all I could really think about was how happy I was to have my baby arrive as safely as possible. After 6 days, the shock is beginning to wear off and the emotional stress is beginning to wear on me. Buck up Karrie... remember the good and count your blessings. You've got about 3-7 more weeks of this. Screw the birthing plan... just gotta deal with it one day at a time.

Welcoming New Baby Cameron!

2010-03-10T00:54:00.003-07:00

Cameron F Harris was born March 5, 2010 at 6:33am, weighing 4 lbs 6 oz and measuring 17 1/2 inches long. He was born 2 months before his due date.

He is doing well, though still in the NICU. More details and plenty of pictures can be found on his blog: www.cfh2010.blogspot.com

You can click on his picture on the right sidebar and it will take you to his blog.

Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers and the congrats we've gotten! So many people have been such a big help whether it's caring for our older boys, bringing us dinners, offering to help us move, or just letting us know they're there for us if we need anything. It means so much to us to have so many wonderful friends and family around! Thanks everyone, for everything, we love you all!

I will regularly post updates about Cameron on his blog and more updates on what's happening with our family on this blog.

Baby #3 Update...

2010-03-03T17:48:00.002-07:00

Having bouts of contractions that have gotten as close as 4 minutes apart. In the last few days I have had MANY contractions that I cannot talk through and cause intense pain in my lower back, hips (maybe pelvis is a more accurate discription, not really my hips...), and lower abdomen underneath my previous c-section scars. The pain under my scars always lingers after the contraction is over.

I am drinking water like crazy to stay hydrated. I am not hardly engaged in ANY physical activity the last couple days. I am constantly sitting down to rest to wait for contractions to pass. And I have taken many many warm baths to try and get rid of these contractions. The baths do help ease my pain, and sometimes will make the contractions go away for a couple hours.

I called my doctor's office today, my doctor was not in so they sent me up to labor/delivery at the hospital to get checked. The nurses were nice, but the doctor I saw was a complete moron. He found traces of things that "might indicate a possible urinary tract infection" (although I have absolutely no symptoms of such, except maybe the back pain... but I've had a UTI before and that back pain was NOTHING like I am feeling) so he sent me home with a prescription for a UTI. The entire time he seemed unsure about anything he told me. After monitoring my contractions for awhile (which weren't measuring as much since I had taken a warm back shortly before going to the hospital, although the few big ones I had there the monitor wasn't picking up too well though it was obvious I was having a big one, so the nurse had me mark for her every time I had a contraction) he finally turned to the nurse and said, "Well... I think... I guess I'll just check her... ?... I think just to see if she is dilated at all?" and he said it like he was waiting for her approval and the nurse looked at him like, "uh, why are you looking at me? you're the doctor." It was ridiculous. I was not dilated at all. However I never dilated more than a 1 with either of my other children, even after like 8 hours of very regular, very big contractions that were pretty much right on top of another. I do not dilate.

As far as my back cramps and the pain beneath my scar he said, "Well... I think it's just one of those things that just happens..." ??? Are you kidding me? THAT is your conclusion doc? You are an idiot. It's not like I'm a first time mom who freaks out about every little pain. I remember very well what pains are normal. I know what braxton hicks feel like. I know my back is going to hurt as I grow bigger. The last few days is DIFFERENT and the only time I felt this way was when I was in LABOR... AT the hospital... with my other kids. I was seconds away from asking Blaine to punch him. Funny thing is with Zack I went to the hospital knowing I was having contractions every 5 minutes and they said the monitor wasn't really picking anything up (just like this time). They sent me back home saying there was no way I was in real labor. After 4 hours, they were 2 1/2 minutes apart and I was ready to scream through each of them and I went back to the hospital only to have them say "Oh, wow, guess you ARE having contractions," and they called my doc to come do the c-section.

So apparently my body is weird and doesn't dilate and doesn't register it's contractions on the monitor until they are WAY bad. So... it pretty much makes me look like some psycho lady to the doctors and nurses who are like "Sorry, you're not in labor." Then I come home and sit in more pain. I am not looking forward to the next 7 weeks if I have to keep having a bath every 5 hours just to be able function properly without doubling over in pain every 4 minutes.

I don't know what to do. I guess I'll just keep taking warm baths to try and ease these contractions and if it gets to a point where the baths stop helping I'll go back to the hospital. If it's still bad tomorrow I will be calling my OWN doctor for sure though and get her opinion.

Okay... that was my ranting and raving for the day. Any advice feel free to let me know.

Moving: We wont be homeless!!!

2010-03-03T17:47:00.003-07:00

Hurray! We got into the townhouse we liked! The duplex would have been our number one choice... but sometimes you have to live with choice #2, right? We're just excited to have found a place! We move in 3 1/2 weeks!!!

Moving: Where to?

2010-03-02T14:53:00.003-07:00

So for those who don't know... last year the basement flooded of the house we were renting when some pipes broke. It was quite the pain in the butt and after hearing the landlord's plans to fix it by simply replacing the one little piece of pipe and putting in new carpet (there were underlying issues the inspector/repair guy told her about... I was there when he was telling her on the phone... that needed to be taken care of or it would just happen again) we gave our 30 day notice and quickly found a temporary small two bedroom apartment to live in.

This last year has been a little squishy, but it was a good move financially... as we saved a lot of money being in a cheap place. But now that we have 2 kids, not a kid and a little baby, that need more space plus little #3 on the way... we are ready to move on from this little temporary apartment. We'll still be renting, as we really don't know where life will take us when Blaine graduates.

Options in Pocatello have pretty much sucked lately, we've looked at every rental listing we could find online plus called on every apartment complex and every 'for rent' sign we could find while driving around Pocatello (with the exception of the REALLY creepy junky looking places we saw). We had in mind a price range we were going for, and we know we wanted 3 bedroom, but other than that we were pretty much open for anything. We can handle old, we can handle small, so long as it's kept up so it's safe and sanitary and not in a neighborhood where I'm pretty sure I'll be getting shot. : )

We filled out applications for 2 places, one was a duplex that was not too old but not brand new. This was our first choice. However... just got a call today that someone else got it. : ( I was trying not to get my hopes up, we knew many other people had already looked at it and filled out applications. But still... it was a little sad.

The other place was a newer townhouse, but even though it had 3 bedrooms it was still a little small (though big enough) so it was still within our budget. There's lots of closet space and it opens into a shared backyard and there is even a playground for the complex. There is lots to be excited about this place, too, even though it was technically our second choice, so cross your fingers everyone and say lots of prayers for us!!! Cuz I seriously have no idea where we'll move if we don't get it!!! : (

Baby #3 Update...

2010-03-02T14:42:00.002-07:00

Went to another doctor appointment today. All is well. I've gained 23 pounds and I am 31 1/2 weeks along. Baby's heartbeat and my blood pressure is all good. His head is down (following after big brother Zack instead of stubborn big brother Kadan, who was breech) so that is good.

We talked a little bit more about all the contractions I'm having. Since it really is so much more than with either of the other boys, and they're getting more and more frequent, regular, and strong, she checked my cervix. All still looked well, though she said I should still be cautious since with the other boys I didn't ever really dilate even when I really was in labor. So I'm supposed to call if they are regular contractions closer than 10 minutes apart for at least 2 hours. I was also told to take it easy (ugh... I have too much to do... I didn't like that advice much) and feel free to make my hubby do all the work (lol, see Blaine? Doc's orders. : ) just kidding, I love you sweetie and you do already do SO much of all the work and I am very grateful!).

We also scheduled the c-section. April 22nd, which is 9 days before my due date. I'm still betting that I'll go into labor the 21st (10 days before my due date, which is when I went into labor with both of the boys), but even if that happens he'll probably actually arrive on the morning of the 22nd anyways (as did both the boys). I guess we'll see what happens, eh? : )

Top Five Things I Never Realized Would Be Such a Pain to Deal With As a Mother/Wife...

2010-02-10T20:31:00.004-07:00

1. Figuring out what to make for meals. It's like every 3 hours I have to figure out yet again what to make for everyone to eat. Who knew food could be such a hassle? Remember back in the day when you just sat down at the table to eat the readily prepared delicious food? Sigh...

2. Keeping Track of EVERYONE'S schedules. "Okay, Blaine works this day this day and this day for these hours... Oh, honey can you do this on this day and pick up this on this day? Thanks. Oh, wait... I'll need the car cuz Kadan has this... so how about we change that to this day... Okay that works better. I have to be here then, and Zack needs to be there... oh, wait, that overlaps, okay you take him and I'll take Kadan." Family secretary? Yup. Right on top of that Rose! (p.s. that last line was a joke probably only my brother and mommy will understand... so don't be confused.)

3. Having to know where EVERYTHING in the house is. Including everyone else's clothes, toys, and personal belongings. "Honey, where are my keys?" "Mom, where's my batman car?" Hmmm... "Let's see... I believe they would be wherever you left them."

4. Inventory duty, including product replacement (or designating replacement of a product, I don't do ALL the shopping, but I do make the lists). "Mom! There's no more toilet paper!" Right in the middle of dinner... "Blaine can you get me 2 eggs and the milk out?" "Nope. We're out."

5. Poop. Moms... think back to your days of raising infants and most especially toddlers... I think you'll agree nothing else needs to be explained on this subject.

Responding Appropriately to Kids' Emotions...

2010-02-08T10:28:00.002-07:00

I consider myself a good mother... but I know I get stressed out (very easily in my current state) and I know I certainly don't always say the right things or respond the right way to them. Looking back, when I know I've been to harsh, I try and sit down and talk with them and apologize.

My conclusion?.... (drumroll please... cuz I'm sure this is BIG news to the world... please note sarcasm)... being a parent is HARD!!! And I'm learning that it's really hard with multiple kids. Every child is SO unique and you can't always respond to the same behavior from a different child in the same way. Things that worked with Kadan absolutely backfire when we try them with Zack, and vice versa. Things my neighbor tells me worked with her kid have absolutely no effect on either of mine. Things I consider GOLDEN strategies that never cease to fail don't work a bit with someone else's child and sometimes after a year or two stop working with my own child. Every new stage my child enters I feel like we have to completely rework our parenting plan and how we deal with things. Just when we got how to deal with Kadan as an infant, he hit terrible twos and we were lost. When we finally felt we were doing good with that... he hit his three's which came with a whole new different batch of issues, and AGAIN we had to re-figure things out. It happened again once he got a little older and now I feel like as he's getting closer to 'school-age' we're having to re-figure it out all again.

Being a parent is CERTAINLY a work in progress. I don't think it's possible to work out all the kinks and just be a 'good parent' who knows what to do. Somedays I consider myself a good parent who made good choices for helping my children... other days I feel like a random person who had kids dropped off at her house and she is more lost and hopeless than she realizes. I suppose you just have to take it one day at a time and make sure you're trying to take everything into perspective... always trying a little harder each day to do the right thing for your children, to help them grow to be good, happy, responsible people.

I think one reason I love the study of child development/education is not that it gives me that GOLDEN advice that works like a charm every time, but that it gives me a few guidelines and leads that I can follow to find out what works best with my children in a certain situation. It helps me to find a good perspective on where my child is coming from and explains typical child behavior in a way that us clueless parents can understand. : )

Here is a quote I liked from my lecture notes in my child guidance class this week (the one of course that got me on this little pondering streak and led to this post):

It is easy to make inappropriate responses to children's emotions especially when we are stressed ourselves, but it is so much better to try to understand the child's perspective and respond supportively and appropriately.