Thursday, October 29, 2009

I Will Survive


I've been feeling EXACTLY like this lately!
So this is MY version of Survivor!
Six married men will be dropped on an island with one car and 3 kids (age 5 and under) for six weeks.
Each kid will have individual schedules to keep.
He will need to load and unload all three kids in the car at least four times a day to transport the oldest to and from school.
The baby needs feed every 3-4 hours.
The Toddler needs potty trained.
Diapers need changed.
There is no fast food.
Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner must be prepared and served before children start having fits that they are starving!
He must not forget to nap the baby.
Each man must take care of his 3 kids;
keep his assigned house clean,
help with and correct all homework,
complete science projects,
cook,
do dishes,
do laundry,
and pay a list of 'pretend' bills with not enough money.
In addition, each man will have to budget in money for groceries each week.
Grocery shopping must be done with all three children without making a scene.
Each man must also take each child to a doctor's appointment, a dentist appointment and a haircut appointment.
He must make one unscheduled and inconvenient visit per child to the Urgent Care.
He must also make cookies or cupcakes for a social function.
Each man will be responsible for decorating his own assigned house, planting flowers outside, and keeping it presentable at all times.
The men will only have access to television when the kids are asleep and all chores are done.
The men must shave their legs, wear makeup daily, adorn themselves with jewelry, wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes, keep fingernails polished, and eyebrows groomed.
During one of the six weeks, the men will have to endure severe abdominal cramps, back aches, have extreme, unexplained mood swings but never once complain or slow down from other duties.
They must attend weekly school meetings and church, and find time at least once to spend the afternoon at the park or a similar setting.
Dinner will be ready and on the Table by 6pm, followed by clean up, baths, and p.j.'s.
They will need to read a book to the kids each night .
He must be prepared to wake up in the middle of the night with the baby at least once and the toddler at least once.
And in the morning, feed them, dress them, brush their teeth and comb their hair by 7:30 am.
A test will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each father will be required to know all of the following information:
each child's birthday,
height,
weight,
shoe size,
clothes size,
doctor's name,
the child's weight at birth,
length,
time of birth,
and length of labor,
each child's favorite color,
middle name,
favorite snack,
favorite song,
favorite drink,
favorite toy,
biggest fear,
and what they want to be when they grow up.
The kids vote them off the island based on performance.
The last man wins ONLY IF..he still has enough energy to be intimate with his spouse at a moment's notice.

If the last man does win, he can play the game over and over and over again for the next 18-25 years, eventually earning the right to be called

Mother!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Five Months Old

Logan is FIVE months old today!! I can't believe it. How the time flies.

So here are a few things about Logan:

-He is a MaMa's boy! He'll be totally content hanging out, but if I walk into the room...he'll start whimpering. I must admit. It works, cause I end up giving him lots of love :)

-He is so big, he is now in 9 MONTH clothing! AGHH. I can't keep up.

-He is starting to roll over...he doesn't realize it though.

-He's not quite eating solids, he wasn't a fan of the rice cereal at 4 months, so we gave up for a while.

-He is a spitter!!!..and I LOVE it!...(maybe not the constant soaking of his shirts)

-He's not giving me a full night sleep yet...so I am currently going on 8 Months of getting up in the night. (I had to count the last couple months of pregnancy)

-Logan is starting to discover. He reaches for your face. He'll reach for a toy. Its so cute.

-He likes to hear himself "talk". He'll squawk and squeal. He'll do it at night. So I've had to shut his door.

-He loves to kick and splash in the bath!

-If he's fussy, he'll usually calm down when you throw a blanket over his face.

-Here is my boy!! I could seriously kiss those fat cheeks all day!


Sunday, October 25, 2009

Falling Leaves

My Mom and Dad have a HUGE Maple Tree in their front yard. Every year it has the most beautiful yellow and orange leaves. As all the grand kids get older, they have found how much fun this tree is. Yesterday they all had a blast jumping in the huge piles of leaves!







Halloween Party!

Here they are! All Dressed up for the Halloween Party! They had a great time!





Friday, October 23, 2009

Teacher Teacher...I declare....

I see someones UNDERWEAR!! Oh the silliness. These two monkey's crack me up!

We are kind of in "dress-up mode" these days. But, aren't we always? Of course Dejah is the instigator, and Mycah just does whatever her big sister does. They were having a good time yesterday evening.

Today my sister is throwing a Halloween party for all the kiddos. So they'll be dressing up "for real". I bought some "princess hair" for little Mycah, but she won't even put the wig on. So Dejah has decided to be a princess! Hallelujah! Now I don't have to keep hunting for a pink wig. I have found every color BUT pink. How annoying. More pictures to come.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Swine Flu, did we already have it???

The other day, we were at the church with several other families to clean the building. I had an interesting discussion about the Swine flu with a couple of Ladies. We were discussing the vaccination, and reasons on both sides why and why not we were going to vaccinate. One of the ladies said..."your family may have already had it, and Not know it." I had heard that so many times before, but this time something in me clicked. I really feel like we "already had it"!! No seriously...

So here is why. Lets start with the symptoms.

According to the CDC, like seasonal flu, symptoms of swine flu infections can include:

Fever, which is usually high, but unlike seasonal flu, is sometimes absent
Cough
Runny nose or stuffy nose
Sore throat
Body aches
Headache
Chills
Fatigue or tiredness
, which can be extreme

(Diarrhea and vomiting, sometimes, but more commonly seen than with seasonal flu
Signs of a more serious swine flu infection might include pneumonia and respiratory failure.)


By June of 2009, there were around 29 CONFIRMED cases of the swine flu in Idaho. Now lets remember...this is a number based on PEOPLE TESTED. How many of you who get sick, actually get a "test" done??

So right at the end of May, Logan was born. Our kids were off to my Mom's, and we were at the Hospital. While we were there my Mom let me know that our 2 year old was getting a really bad runny nose and cough. That night it turned into a high fever. When we got home my Mom thought we should take her to the Dr. So before we brought her home we had her checked out. They really had no conclusions other than she "had a virus". No meds were prescribed, no tests were done. We brought our sick two year old home to "fight it off". I just figured it was a bad cold. But now that I think about it...what "cold" do you know of that comes with High Fever, Fatigue, Cough, Runny Nose, Body aches, and lack of appetite?? She was very tired. She wouldn't eat. I don't recall diarrhea (I don't remember). I remember setting up the recliner in my room, because all she wanted was for Mommy or Daddy to hold her. She would fall asleep while we rocked her. We gave her Tylenol, which reduced her fever to a low grade one rather than High. It took her a week to get better. I knew Dejah was next. Wouldn't you know it...she was. Same EXACT symptoms. Dejah (4 at the time) was not hit as bad. The Tylenol really helped the fever, and a couple days of resting was all it took for her. She was back to normal in a few days. The new baby also got a little sick. His nose was yucky, and his voice was a bit hoarse. I don't remember a fever. There was just three weeks of BLURR. Shortly after all this, I got Mastitis...which by the way feels like the worst flu you've ever had!! I got Fever, body aches, chills, nausea....etc... Maybe I had a combo with the flu...who knows. It was HORRIBLE! I thought it would never end. Well it did. Now in Hindsight I think we got the swine flu.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Mycah

I just love my kids. And I love being a Mom! There is no job in the world like it. I haven't posted much about my kids lately, so I'll do one on Mycah today. She is 2 1/2. Extremely independent and quite the fire cracker. She was blessed with a big cheesy grin with big teeth. I have no doubt this one will need braces in the future. She is teeny tiny. Yesterday she weighed 24 lbs and measured 33 1/2 inches. Which puts her at the 10% and lower mark. She got her big brown eyes from me. Her hair? Ok...what hair? I'm waiting for that to happen. I rarely trim it in hopes it will start to grow. It always looks messy! Even if I just combed it. She may be doomed to wear hats for the rest of her life. Her vocabulary is improving quite a bit. She is still hard to understand sometimes, but she's getting better. Too shy to talk around strangers though. Today we got her a "new" winter coat at Kit to Kid. Love that store. And I love used! So cheap, so wonderful. She wanted to wear it, so here she is...wearing her new coat. We've been "practicing" the potty lately. Only most of the time she just doesn't want to try. Here is a video of the task. I'm being pretty lazy with it though. I feel like if I push her too hard she will just get frustrated with the whole process. So for now, we are just practicing. She will do it when she's ready. I thought this was pretty funny.

Monday, October 19, 2009

What are Your Halloween Costumes?

Ok, every year has been "easy" when it comes to Halloween Costumes. We have a Plethera of princess outfits! So naturally, every year my girls are princesses!! This year, Dejah is 5. Meaning she is very aware that she can choose what she wants to be. Leaving me, to figure out how. This year she wants to be Stephanie from "Lazy Town". If anyone has cheap ideas, I am all ears. Mycah will probably be a princess or fairy. Logan will be a dragon. Me? Not much into dressing up. What will you be???

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Creating a Schedule?

I've decided that I need to get myself on a schedule. With all this drama of Logan not giving me a good nights rest, I think it may help. The only problem is...HOW? I have never created a schedule...or stuck to one in my life. I'm kind of a last minute do-er. I've got a 5 yr old in school every day, who also buses to another school twice a week for additional schooling. My 2 year old hasn't been getting naps, but since she's been getting up early to get her sister off to school...she is more tired and crabby in the day and has been falling asleep on the couch in the late evening. Logan just gets shuffled around whatever is going on, so he has NO schedule or structure. I don't even time his sleep and eating patterns. The weekends are crazy because Alex is home. So my daily schedule is all over the place. If you are a "scheduled person"...any advice is welcomed. Wish me luck.

Friday, October 16, 2009

FIVE MONTHS OF SLEEPLESS NIGHTS

How can a Mother Love their baby so much one moment, and "hate" their baby almost equally another moment? I'll tell you how. It only has two words to describe it. DAY and NIGHT. Pretty much a Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde effect. My baby is now inching toward Five months old and I am MORE than ready for him to give me a good night sleep! Everyone says its the "parents job" to determine their baby's sleep schedule, but that is NOT the case in this house. My girls were sleepers! They loved it! They loved their binkies, and they were sleeping 12 hour nights by 6 months. Logan on the other hand, loves to eat more than sleeping. I've tried the "rice cereal thing" before bed....oh no....he can't stand the stuff! I've put it in is bottle, and the second he realizes what it is, he makes a sour face and spits it out. Not to mention, it did NOT help him sleep longer. He loves his binkie, but when he wants to eat, it does not pacify. I'm trying to be a trooper and just be tough. I know this won't go on forever, but when you haven't had a good night sleep in 5months (not including the last couple months of pregnancy), it begins to wear on you. I end up getting up with him at least Three times a night. I was taking Tylenol PM before I go to bed, so that when he woke me up, I could go back to sleep. I quit doing that because the Tylenol could have bad effects on your liver. Anyway, last night I broke! He won't go to sleep till 9:30. So Alex and I went to bed around 10. Logan was fussing around 12:30am. I gave him his Nuk and went back to bed. At 1:40...again... the nuk. At 2...I gave up and fed him while dreaming of "drop kicking him". (Sorry but true). Then after bawling to Alex on how tired I was, I think I finally fell back asleep around 3. 5:30ish, Alex is up for work. 6:20ish, Logan is fussing again. I give him the nuk and crawl back in bed. By this time I am exhausted. 7:15, alarm clock, time to get Dejah ready for school. The day is officially started. 8:00, off to school then back to feed Logan (again), and get Mycah breakfast. After that I either Blog or shower. Etc...etc... Oh, the pain. I just needed to complain a bit. If you have any Magic recipe on getting baby's to sleep, I am all ears. Also I need a vote. Do I take his Nuk away now and make him learn how to self soothe at night by making him cry, or do I keep doing the Nuk thing until he learns how to put it back in his own mouth?

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Painting Results #2

Yesterday I took on painting another wall. Here is a recap of what I did Friday. This is the Before....














This is the After. Probably the best picture of the actual "color". The other pictures have some crazy lighting, but here they are anyway.













Before....
















Before again...... (very poor lighting)




















After! (very Poor lighting)....















Before....















After....















After again....






Monday, October 12, 2009

Painting!

I've decided, since my house will Never sell in the near future, and I get to live in it for quite some time, I am going to paint! In six years of marriage, we have lived in 4 apartments, and two houses, and we've never painted, with the exception of our girls' room last year. I borrowed a color fan from my beautiful cousin Shelly, and debated and debated over color. I picked two different colors for two different walls. This 1st wall was painted...and the color looked awful!! So I took my other color (intended for another wall) and used it instead.






















I didn't realize that the color would be so green..but I love it! So now I'm still going to paint that other wall the same color. Now the debate...This wall that is attached to my newly "green" wall (where the archway is), what shade of chocolate brown. Anyway, it took me most of Friday to tape, paint, and repaint this wall. But I love it, and I'm ready for some more.









Saturday, I decided to paint my icky Oak hutch. I went to home depot, and at the paint desk, asked the lady.. "What paint do most people use to paint over Oak furniture?"...and "what lustre do would typically be used?". She looked at me in disbelief and said.." Well, MOST people do not paint over OAK because of its beautiful wood look." I'm thinking... "ok, so you are obviously no help at all and don't want to make a sell", I asked her where I find the black shades. She said "You'll have to decided which shade of black to use, because there are a lot of different shades of black." OK..so then I ask which lustre to use..."shiny" I ask. Oh no, not too shiny, it will show every finger mark.



Lets just say, the Home Depot lady was not much help at all. Who cares if most people like OAK!! I don't. It doesn't match my living room furnishings, and I want it black! I walked around the paint section and found a wall full of paint cans made just for painting over furniture!! Yay! So I picked two cans of Semi-Gloss Black paint. Problem solved! I spent all day Saturday sanding down the Hutch with my Dad's electric sander, then hand sanded the cracks. When I began applying the first coat...I was very fearful that it would look Awful. Nope! I love it!







It took two coats of paint. It turned out awesome! Sunday I spent almost all day re-wiring all the units together...and let me tell you...that is NOT and easy task. Today I am giving the painting a break so that I can get back to my neglected house and family. Tomorrow.....paint a very large wall. Wish me luck..and you're all welcome to join me :)







Thursday, October 8, 2009

My Dirty Little Political Secret

First off, I don't really know how to start this. I am NOT eloquent in any way. I don't think I am powerful in speech and knowledge. But I do know this. We are living in troubled times. I see it all around me. I have been thinking a lot about the state of our economy. I have friends and family that are losing their jobs and their homes. Inflation is at an all time high...and on the same note...our incomes cannot keep up. I feel like a stay-at-home mom who sits on the side lines watching our Government spend our hard earned tax dollars into the greatest deficit our country has ever seen. I feel like I have no voice, so this is my voice today.

Listen to Barak Obama preach about cutting the deficit in 1/2! All I have to say is...what a hypocrite!

After he was put in office, the big "change" he so publicly preached about began. And that "cutting the deficit in 1/2 crap", became a thing of the past.

The next video is the reason I wanted to blog about this.

Look at the History of our country's spending.

A wise man once said......

With all of that being said. I love our country! I Believe in the Constitution and our rights. This last video is a must see.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

"Lead me, Guide me"

Today I was thinking about how Alex and I got to where we are at now. This may be boring to some of you, but I wanted to write about it while it was on my mind.

We were married March of 03. We lived in Boise. Alex was pursuing his Bachelor degree and I was working full time as a Dental assistant. Eight months into our marriage we were pregnant with our first baby. I was scared and nervous. Alex wasn't quite done with his degree, and was also unemployed. We didn't make much, and we knew that when that baby came, our roles would be switched. He needed to find a "sustainable" job because I would be quitting to stay home with our baby.


A few months into the pregnancy, Alex and I were busy looking for job opportunities. I searched the Internet and Alex did many "walk-ins". One day while I was searching I thought of all of his qualifications. I thought, " He has a degree in Diesel Mechanics....what about those who teach Diesel Mechanics?" So I googled Diesel Mechanic Instructor. Instantly I saw a job available in Laramie Wyoming for a Diesel Mechanic Instructor. I pulled up the the info and printed it. Alex and I looked it over and found he had just barely meet all the requirements for the job. He was a bit reluctant because he had just found a sales job that he was sure to land. We decided he should apply anyway. Soon after, we were contacted by WyoTech. They flew us both to Laramie, put us up in a hotel, provided a car rental, and took us out to eat. Alex was interviewed, and they even wanted me to sit in. It was awesome! The pay was good. Best of all, it was a great start to a career in teaching. I was sad to leave Boise, but I knew this was where we needed to be.
When I was 7 months pregnant we made the move to Laramie. We arrived with no where to live. We knew NO ONE. The Lord made it possible for us to find someone to take our Boise Lease. He also made it possible for us to find an apartment in Laramie. We found one our first day there that was "move in" ready and within our budget. I won't go into the details of Laramie Living. I will say this, I made some really good friends that will be my friends forever. The job was great for Alex. It paid well, and had many opportunities for growth. They really liked Alex. He was a great instructor and leader. We were on our way up. We had our daughter Dejah there, and bought our first house there. We had been there for almost two years when I was beginning to feel "unsettled". My friends were coming and going. I had no family at all. Our vacation time was spent driving to visit family. I was becoming and UN-Happy person.

I woke up one morning feeling a motivation to find Alex a job closer to home. I just knew he would not do this on his own. Why would he? He loved his job, and didn't mind being away from the family. We did not have the Internet at home, so I packed up Dejah and drove to the Library. I went to the kids section, got on the Internet and began my research. It didn't take long and I found two job openings for Diesel Instructors in Idaho. One at ISU and the other at BSU! The window to apply was closing in just a couple days. That evening I begged Alex to please apply. I told him, he didn't have to accept any offers, just apply and see. He did just that. He applied.

ISU was filled. BSU was doing interviews the very week we were going to visit Boise. We made our trip to Boise, and his interview was set up. They said they would let us know before we headed home. I remember the call. We were in the car driving somewhere. They were excited to offer Alex the job, then they told him the pay. My heart SANK. It was $10,000 less than what we were currently making in Laramie. And that income (although good) was tough to live on. I knew there was NO WAY we could accept the job. I was pregnant with my second child, and was so sad that I would have to go back to Laramie to have her. My Mom and I hugged and just sobbed for what seemed like Forever. Soon after, when we were getting ready to go back, my loving Husband came to me and told me he accepted the job. He couldn't bear to see me so sad and just knew he needed to make it happen. I was hesitant but so ecstatic! The job was going to start in two months. He needed to put in his notice, and we needed to sell our house...quick!

On our drive to Laramie, we talked about how we would sell our house. We thought of a friend who had been looking for homes within a certain price range. When we got to Laramie, we went to his apartment first thing to offer him our house. It was within his price range, and he said he'd talk to his wife. They came by to see it, and wanted it. They went trough the process and qualified. We closed the day we moved! We moved into my parents home. And our life here continued.

Since then, we have bought a house (at the market peak), began pursuing a Masters degree, and had two more kids. Our income is probably $20,000 less Now than what it would be if we had stayed. But guess what, I love my husband more than anything! He works hard. We have adorable children that are growing like weeds. Though times are hard economically, I promise to you that it is NOT money that makes us happy. I am grateful to be close to family. I have such a large support group around me. I Love My Savior. He has guided our life in every way. I know he will continue to guide Alex and I as we strive to do the things he asks of us.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Soups & Sweaters

Lets just remind you all how much I dislike cooking. Yes, its true, but due to "house wife" circumstances, and the fact that I did not marry a chef, I kind of have to. So Friday Night we were invited to Alex's brothers house for a "soup and sweaters" party. It was going to be outside by a fire. I had this big idea to make this soup that is to DIE for! Chicken and Gnocchi soup. They serve it at Olive Garden...and I love it. Thanks to Google, I found the recipe. I went to the grocery store to buy all the yummy ingredients, and of course could not find Gnocchi anywhere. So I decided I would make these yummy balls of Gnocchi by scratch. I get home, back to Google, and I soon learned that my time had disappeared. So, I would not be making soup that day (sorry Christy). The party was fun. We left our kiddos home with my Brother and his wife. The soups were delish. Ok, Saturday I decided to make the soup. I went to my Mom's and she helped me a little. The Gnocchi was new to me and I messed up half of them, but all in all the soup was FANTASTIC! I had to blog about it, because its a bit out of character for me to want to make something. I just have to say...I love Google. I have gotten recipes for any restaurant food that I crave. Its awesome!