Me And My Big Mouth

There are so many times in my life when I should'a stuck my foot in it. SO, MANY, TIMES. I think I've learned my lesson, and then I do it again. Wha?!! I had a few occasions when I was in college that a good girlfriend of mine would ask my opinion about a guy. I would give her my honest assessment without even thinking twice...many times not such a good opinion...in turn, she marries him!! "Foot in Mouth!" Now who's the schmuck? How shallow of me. Anyway, I'm sure I've done it without even noticing. I'm sorry if its happened to you. Ok, so onto my point. Maybe not such a Dramatic event, but all the same..."foot in mouth". I'm sitting there in Church today. Sitting in Relief Society with all the ladies, doing some kind of group discussion. My prego stomach remembers the yummy cookies it had at Sister-in-Law Mitzi's just two days earlier. It growls, and I blurt out "oooh.....I want hot fresh baked Chocolate Chip Cookies!!" Of course I had to be sitting a row just behind Bishop's wife, who happens to be the Blue Ribbon cook of the ward! She turns and looks at me funny and says, "Right Now?". I'm like "oh, yah." Two seconds later I'm thinking, "why did I say that? Now she's going to go home and bake me cookies". Church is over. I come home and start stuffing my big mouth full of Totino's Pepperoni Pizza Rolls and Chocolate Kisses and Hugs. In my fattened stupor I fall asleep and wake up just to stuff that same mouth a Quarter of a bag of Cheetos Puffs! The next thing I know there is a ring at the door...and who do you suppose it is. Of Course!! Bishop's wife! With a Big Plate of Hot Chocolate Chip cookies all for my little ol' self, and my big ol' mouth! Maybe if I did put my foot in it, I'd have a better chance at not gaining a Thousand pounds this pregnancy. By the way Kathy....thankyou so much for the cookies :) They were BLUE RIBBON!

My Girl is Three Today!

Saturday Swim

I married an Aqua-Man. He loves water recreation, and loves to take the kids swimming whenever he can. Our pool of choice tends to be the YMCA, about a 1/2 hour from here. The pool temp. is good, and they have a really fun kids pool with slide and fountains. I chose not to swim, but here are some pictures of the kids and Alex having some fun.

Logan...sporting his new swim trunks.

Dejah, showing me her loose tooth.

Alex, smothering Logan with some love.

Monkeys!

Nights

So I think I mentioned on an earlier post, something about Logan wetting through at nights. He is 8 months old, and I put him in a size 4 diaper to combat the problem. I think it worked for maybe...ummm....one night! From then on, I have had a very soaked boy every single morning at 7 am! I remembered a comment from my dear cousin Shelly regarding Overnight diapers. Saturday morning was it for me! I bought some. Hallelujah! Magic! Well worth the cost since he will only be using one a night. Thank you to all you readers for your helpful comments. You really help me out. This really has remedied one of my stresses!

Now....how to prevent him from pooping before 7am...

Some Random Thoughts

Some of you may think I am coming off a bit depressing on my blog. I know Alex does. If I do, I'm so sorry for that. I'm not feeling sad or anything big deal, I am pretty sure that my "gloominess" is directly because of the lack of sunshine we are having around here. I know I mentioned it a couple posts ago, but it really has sucked the life out of me. I'm generally happy, but my energy level and desire to do anything productive is lacking. I'm considering going to a tanning bed, but truly I am waiting for the sun to make a visit. Maybe I'll take a drive up to Bogus Basin.....which sits directly above the inversion and right in the sun. Ok, so enough of the gloom.

I am currently 14 weeks pregnant! Yay! Second trimester! I don't feel the constant nausea. I've just started taking my prenatals again. For the most part, I feel pretty normal. Too early for feeling the baby, but I'm in no real hurry for that. So I guess the baby is about the size of my fist right now, which is giving me a reason to start showing. I am not quite ready to sport my baby bump around, so sweatshirts are what I'll be wearing until then. My face is breaking out like I'm a teenager...whats up with that? My varicose veins haven't exploded into their painful state yet. All in all...I'm at a really great stage.

Home life is about the usual. Logan is getting his first tooth. Dejah has her first loose tooth. Mycah will be having her 3rd birthday next week. My kids are growing like weeds. Alex is busy busy busy. School, work and church are requiring alot of his time, but I don't really feel like we've been missing out on him. He is really good at setting time aside for all of us.

Lately I've been thinking alot of some of my random favorite things right now. So here they are in no particular order:

1. I LOVE my boy!! I hope I get another one because he is so fun! He is at that stage that is hugely predictable and fun. Eat, sleep, diaper, play. Happy, Happy, Happy.

2. I love that Mycah and I are getting some "together" time everyday. She loves to help me with whatever I'm doing....chores...she loves it!

3. I am watching a T.V. show called Vampire Diaries. Call me a typical vampire fan, I'm loving it. Its about the only show I get to watch, so I take in all the drama and mystery and enjoy.

4. I've decided I'm ok with living in a small starter home for now. My kids have puked on my carpet. Drawn on the furniture, the walls, the kitchen floor, and other odd places. Nail polished the walls and windows. Gotten food and crumbs everywhere. Poo and Pee in places it shouldn't be. When you think about how awful that is, it makes you grateful that this is the place to do it, before you live in the bigger fancier home that would probably take twice as long to clean.

5. What to do with my hair? It is long, stringy, and way too grey on top. I don't think I'm ready to whack it short yet. It has taken me a long time to get it here. So I'm thinkin layers? Dark or highlighted? Not sure. I also need a really good hair stylest. Any ideas?

Well that's about it for now.

Several Years Ago Today...Alex Almost Died

Many of you probably already know of Alex's "near-death-experience". But I'm sure there are plenty of you who do not know his story. So I thought I could take the time today, since it is the same day it all began....President's day.


I say several years ago, because I don't know exactly what year it was, and Alex isn't here to tell me the details. I do know he was a student at Boise State, attending the LDS Institute and Student Wards. This is before I ever knew him, but I do remember hearing the story when it happened.


On President's Day weekend...Saturday, a bunch of "students" were getting together to go "caving/spelunking" to Smith's Crack Cave near Mountain Home. He'd never been, but was an adventuress person and was excited to go. They went, they had a blast, and Alex was wanting some more. On Sunday, he announced in Church that he was getting a group together to go again the following day....President's Day. The day came, and only one guy showed up. Not quite the turn out expected, none the less, Alex was excited to go again.


They drove out to the Mountain Home exit and down the dirt road that lead to the opening of the cave, which is pretty much a "hole in the ground". They were dressed lightly, had one candy bar, and one small flashlight with extra batteries. They entered the cave and began the descent into the dark hole. If you've never been in this cave before its not too difficult figuring out where to go, because the way has been spray painted with arrows. It is narrow, dark, cold, and very dirty. It requires the ability to climb and keep a stable foot. Sometimes you might even want a hard hat. There are a few difficult areas to get through, the hardest is a long drop that required "shimmying" down with your back against one wall and feet against the other. Shortly after that is what is called "the birth canal". You basically have to get on your back and stick your head into a small opening and work your way to the other side.


Ok, so back to Alex. They got to the drop. The one guy held the flashlight while Alex made his way down. When Alex got to the bottom he needed the guy to somehow get the flashlight to him without breaking it. Alex told him to clip it onto his shoe and pass it down with his foot. As he did so the light slipped from his shoe and when crashing down to the ground....SHATTER! Darkness. So dark you can't see ANYTHING! Not a glimmer of light anywhere, your eyes will never adjust.


Somehow he got the other guy safely down the drop. Meanwhile Alex spent what seemed like hours feeling along the dirty ground for the pieces of the flashlight. Somehow he managed to get enough pieces together, added his spare batteries, and got a faint light from the flashlight. As he held the thing together, they made their way a little farther to the birth canal. They both squeezed through then came to some flat ground just before the assent up when the light gave up completely. So there they were. Stuck at the bottom of a Dark Cold Cave.


Surely, someone would come through behind them and find them there. At worse, wouldn't someone from home notice you were gone? Well, if you are a single student, living with roommates who are constantly coming and going, what are the changes anyone would notice your absence before it was too late? That day ended. No One came through the cave. No one at home noticed their absence. Tuesday comes, and Alex never arrived at work....which NEVER happens. Somehow they just figured Alex missed for some good reason, and didn't concern themselves with it.


In the mean time....they only person that noticed anything ODD was happening was a train operator. You see, there happens to be some tracks that run fairly close to the opening of the cave. Sometime on Monday (?) he noticed Alex's car, he must have made a mental note, because on Tuesday as he was headed the other direction, he noticed it was still there. Supposedly he got a sinking feeling that he needed to make a call. He did, then Search and Rescue found Alex and this other guy, stuck inside. They helped them make their way out and gave them water and called Alex's family. His brother and wife took off to Mountain Home to pick them up. They went about 35 hours with no water, no heat, and one candy bar. They were freezing and starving. If it hadn't been for the train operator heeding that feeling to make a phone call, My beloved Alex probably would have died. I am so grateful he is here. Since then, Alex has learned a valuable lesson about life and is grateful for his "second chance"

Several years later, my brother-in-law wanted to go to the cave, so we all made a trip of it.

Here are the train tracks.

Here is the Exit hole, its a bit of a climb up to get to this point. My Brother's friend is sticking his head out.

Inside the cave you can see it requires some climbing.

Me, going through the "birth canal".

Here is the "drop" now equiped with rope to help.

More climbing.

Be Mine

I am IN-LOVE...

With EVERY SINGLE ONE of them!

Happy Valentines Day!

Are You S.A.D.?

Apparently there is some kind of depression you can get in the winter called "S.A.D.", Seasonal Affective Disorder. I was watching the news this morning thinking "I have that". I'm not so sure how bad, but the symptoms vary, and you don't have to have all of them to have it. The symptoms of Winter SAD are as follows:

A change in appetite, especially a craving for sweet or starchy foods
Weight gain
A drop in energy level
Fatigue
A tendency to oversleep
Difficulty concentrating
Irritability and anxiety
Increased sensitivity to social rejection
Avoidance of social situations and a loss of interest in the activities you used to enjoy

I have quite a few of these (not all), but I guess it comes back every year, and goes away around the same time...let me guess....SPRING?? Or, when the sun comes out. I guess it is the Melatonin you get from the sun that fixes this problem. See this picture below? Does it look familiar? I feel like this winter in Boise has been EXTRA gloomy. Dead grass, Dead trees....brown, muddy, cold, cloudy...and NO sun. I'm pretty sure I have S.A.D. I really need a "pick me up". C'Mon Spring! I'm ready.

A Special Time

Today while Dejah was at school, I was spending some "quality time" with my little Mycah. And during that time I realized that every day except on weekends, it is just Mycah and Me...from 9am to 11am. Dejah is at school, and Logan takes a nap. Every day the same. Only today, she wanted to "get ready" with me. She jumped in my shower and LOVED it, then she wanted her hair blow dried. It was so funny to listen to her talk to me. I asked her how old she was. She replied, "I Two!" Then I asked what age she was going to be on her Birthday, which is coming up. I had to tell her it was Three. She said, "I don't want to be Three." I said, "I don't want you to be three either. I want you to stay little, and not grow up." She said "I'm going to grow big so I can go to school, and stay Two." It was really funny. It made me think of how fast the time goes. I don't really remember her being a baby. I looked through some of my old pictures. She has grown up so fast. I am so glad that we get that time every day. I really is so special.

They Broke Me

So yesterday at church, I was briefly mentioning to some friends how I hardly cry anymore. We had gone to a movie on Friday night that was supposedly a "cryer". Did I cry? Not even close. Anyway after I mentioned my "non cry status" it got me thinking. I cried ALOT during my first year or so of marriage. I wouldn't even say it was anything Alex did or didn't do either. Maybe its just an emotional time, and kids toughen you up. I don't know. Either way, I've realized I'm not as much of an emotional mess as I used to be. Now, when I get upset I tend to get irritable, which is probably not a good exchange. Well, I should have knocked on wood, cuz yesterday just about did me in. It started off ok. It seems my kids have had this stupid cruddy cold for weeks, despite that I decided we all needed to go to church. We got ready and we all went. We were all doing fine except Alex, so I sent him home with the baby. After Church, we came home to a clean house. So I made Alex something nice to eat. Since he wasn't feeling good, after dinner, I turned a movie on for the kids and we went in our room to lay down. I couldn't sleep, so I got up and came in the living room which my kids pretty much destroyed. I decided not to blow up on them while Alex was trying to get a nap. When he got up, he was the one in a bad mood. It all escalated from there. I was not happy at my kids for making such a mess. On top of that they were all being super needy and super fussy. By 7:30 last night I was on my last string. Mycah was having a tantrum and dug her little sharp nails into my hand. It hurt so bad, she got a spank and I left Alex to finish because who knows what else I would have done. I broke down completely. My kids did it. They broke me yesterday. I cried so hard I couldn't hold my stomach. Yesterday was not a good one. It carried with me into the night. I was annoyed while I slept. How does that happen? Alex was so sick with this dumb cold, he couldn't sleep. Finally at 2:30 in the morning he got up and showered then left for work. CRAZY! So here's to a better day.

Some Randomness

So not a ton of "New" things going on here. We are probably like most families, just living the day-to-day life. Alex is super slammed with homework. I feel really bad for him. Sometimes I wish I could just do some of it for him. On top of that, he is getting sick again. Just over a week ago he lost his voice, and struggled sleeping due to plugged up sinuses. That lasted for about a week. Then he seemed to be better until Friday it started up again. I hope it passes fast. He really has so much to do.

Here are some pictures of my girls. They helped me make a chocolate cake for Alex's birthday. Of course the fun part was eating the batter.

This next picture has a little story. It is a picture of my girls' room. Notice how nice and clean? Well, while I was pretty sick and "out of it". I needed to figure out how to keep the messes to a minimum. I realize what my girls do the most is Dress UP! Only, in their every day clothes! They pull them out. Put them on. Take them off. Pull out more. Etc... So I decided they have "lost" the privilege of having clothes in their room. I moved their dresser into Logan's room and hung all their dresses in his closet. PROBLEM SOLVED. No clothing in their room! Notta one! Considering Logan spends a pretty good chunk of every day napping, and they aren't allowed in there, messes are MUCH smaller. Nice huh? Now the messes that ARE made, are contained to toys and bedding. Much easier.

As far as this pregnancy goes. All is well. The sickness has died down. Still a bit tired, but I'm not dragging every day. I have tried "mini goals" (suggested by my Sister-in-Law). 1- Shower every day. 2.- Wash my hair every-other day. 3.- Clean my house no more than twice a day. 4.- Take it easy. I still have moments when I want to pull all my hair out and drop kick the kids all the way to who cares, but that is easily remedied when I see their innocent smiles. I am "starting" to show, if you really wanna call it that. I never really stopped showing from the last one. I have a doughnut that wraps around my whole waist. I am trying to hide it under hoodies until it has defined itself to baby bump status. No feeling of life yet. More to come.

My Baby Is Crawling

I swear, the more kids I have, the faster time goes by. Just last week Logan turned 8 months old. Yesterday, he finally figured out how to put one hand in front of the other and started crawling! I thought my house was "baby proof"? Ummm, not as good as I thought. Just yesterday evening, he discovered the chords coming out of the computer. He figured out its not so easy going after toys in the kitchen because the floor is slippery. He made his way into my bathroom. And he figured out that his sisters leave "goodies" all over the place. This morning he went after Mycah's toast. Lets just be glad I don't let my girls have any toys that are potential "choke-ables". At least that I'm aware of. All I have to say is, this boy is going to keep me on my toes.

He is now eating baby food like a pro. He is starting with some finger foods and loves it. This morning he had some chunks of blueberry muffin. He is on a pretty strict schedule. If he gets off of it, he's grumpy, if he stays on it, he's happy. The nights are improving, he didn't wake up once last night. I've got him sleeping in bigger diapers and warmer clothing. I think it also helped that I fed him a big bowl of cereal before bed.

Here is some video of him crawling this morning.

Dear Dejah,

Dear Dejah,

I am sitting here today, feeling the way I have lately. A little tired, and a little worn out. Right now you are cleaning my house so diligently. I didn't even have to ask. I am so proud of you. Its really hard for me to even write this without tears. But I want you to know how much I love and appreciate you. Here you are, cleaning up your room and the rest of the house. Organizing and putting things where they go. You were so excited to show me your room, and you did such a good job. I can't believe you are already 5 1/2 years old. It seems like not too long ago when it was just you and me. I cried before your sister was born, because I knew that your time as my one and only was coming to an end. But you never seemed to mind. You've welcomed every sibling with complete love and joy. You've always had such a vibrant personality. Always so "grown up". So sweet and so obedient. I'm sorry for the times I've yelled at you. You have been such a help to me with your little siblings. I know you will make a wonderful mom someday. I hope to be a good example and teacher to you. I love you. Thank you for all you do for me, and for all that you teach me every day.

Love Your Mom

Cry It Out: Update

Ok, so its been about a week and a half since I took Logan's nuk away, and started making him "Cry it out" at night. He has actually done just fine without his pacifier. Naps are good, although he tends to sleep for 45m to and hour then he calls it good. Sometimes when I know he needs a longer nap I'll just leave him in bed crying until he goes back to sleep. Now for the nights. Believe it or not, he continues to wake up throughout the nights. My only remedy for that has been to have his door shut, and my door shut with the bathroom fan running. I just can't sleep when I hear him screaming. Sometimes he'll cry for an hour before going back to sleep. I feel bad because sometimes in the morning when I go get him he has a poopy diaper on, or all blankets are kicked off. This morning he was SOAKED all the way through AND poopy. I even checked him last night when he woke up crying at 1:30 in the AM. So my goal now is to put my little 8mo old into size 4 diapers at night. Maybe that will remedy the night overflows and also have him wear a One-see under his P.J.s so he won't get cold when he kicks off his blankets. Lets see if things improve.