Tripping Over Cobblestone

Mixed emotions. School Starts today.

August 29, 2008 – 6:57 am

    This day is hard. I am conflicted between excitement for Thing 1 and selfish feelings of loss. I miss him and his sister. They are both in school today. I have the Fish still with me. I want to spend some good quality time with just him. We are going to have some fun.

    Thing 1 was so thrilled to be there in his class. Sitting on his number he picked out. I am really amazed at how much I stressed about this day for him. I am tickled he is so totally pumped. His teacher is so nice and man it was so hard for him to hear his name as soon as he walked into the class. It will take him sometime to get into the "routine" but I think we’ll have it down in the next couple of weeks. He is so adorable! He has slept three nights with out his Binki. I am so proud and yet my heart is aching for the newborn, toddler, and little man stage he has now graduated from.

   His little smile says everything! You are growing up Thing 1 and I love to be apart of watching you become this amazing little person!

 

Posted in Thing 1, Parent | 2 Comments »

Fourth of JULY!

July 8, 2008 – 7:03 am

    We had so much fun I can’t believe it is already over.

We saw sky divers, bands, and some good KFC chicken. We were in heaven!

Fireworks were the most amazing thing for the FISH.

I was worried he be scared but he love every minute of it. 

Posted in Parent | 1 Comment »

Listing and more listing…

July 3, 2008 – 4:49 am

    Wed. July 2nd, 2008

1. Take out thrift clothes

2. Bread run

3. Hang Ikea Calendar (pictures to follow…but if you read this blog you probably know that I promise pictures and don’t follow through

:)

4. Move Thing 1’s room. At least set up his bed:)

5. Crepes for Breakfast.

 

I will try to post tonight to report.  

Posted in JD, Parent | No Comments »

Pen Came out??

June 29, 2008 – 9:37 am

    We are going to continue working on that part. It seems that thing 2’s pair of white shorts are going to take only a couple of washes more. The white/kaki colored shorts of the fish however maybe a loss.

     I am looking for an new area rug I rolled up the old one. Ikea seems to have a nice selection. I am just excited for one that is stain free. Even if it is just for one day- or half day. (One rug can only handle so many accidents, this has been 2years worth) and now I feel like my poor carpet in the family room is too exposed! Just waiting for orange juice, urine, popcorn, fish sticks, ketsup, chocolate milk, and rasberries to come and disrupt the happy, little clean living room.

    I would love to move thing 1 today into his own room. He wakes up at the insane hour of 6:00am  on a regular basis. So much for being my child. My husband can’t claim him either. We just know he is some sort of hilarious alien with a toothless grin.

    With him starting school this fall getting up won’t be a problem. I am not sure I am ready for him to grow up and leave the house yet. Even if this milestone is for only three hours a day. I know he will love school esp. if there are toys and things to learn and PAINTING. He is so funny I just don’t know if school is ready for him. He is a bit distracted. And sitting and staying still for any amount of time results in the common phrase escaping his lips.

    "Oh come on, this is taking way too long!", something about his small attention span makes me nervous for long school days.

   That is just thing 1. Next week, Thing 2 is starting three hours worth of preschool 5 days a week this year. I am excited to have her go. She is so ready. We are going to start a little morning funtime routine. We are all up at 6am anywho! That is two hours of morning funtime before she has to go to school. We can play games, eat breakfast, exercise, and maybe even read some scriptures. I am going to love having the time with the fish and Thing 1. It will only be a couple of months before it is just the fish and I.

   
 

     

Posted in Parent | 1 Comment »

Today’s challenges…..

June 28, 2008 – 6:27 am

    So my completely potty trained boy. Stands and takes a pee on the living room rug. I am only ok with this because for months I have wanted to toss the rug and replace it. There are only so many Poooo and pee stains one rug can handle. I am looking for a large area rug today that is Challenge 1

    No. two is really rough. Band leaves black pen in shorts pocket. All new kid’s clothes…..dramatically spotted. Someone suggested oxy so we will try that. We will do a photo journal of the progress…..maybe.

 

Update. 

    —–Sky is still orangey orange. Not safe for kids to play still out side. I am going to the DYM archives for some indoor ideas.
 

Posted in Parent | 1 Comment »

Heat, Hot, and Super Heros

June 19, 2008 – 11:13 am

   

    The past couple of days have been unbearably hot we are going swimming today for sure. I am loving these bathing suit options.

this is the top pick

close second 

Posted in Uncategorized, Parent | 2 Comments »

Some are Straight up KEEPERS!

May 3, 2008 – 5:31 am

   Some you know you just keep……

 

 

And SOME…. well yeah you know…..

 

Posted in Parent | 4 Comments »

Buddy Day…

April 28, 2008 – 5:54 pm

    So the neighbor asked if thing 1 and thing 2 would like to go to Buddie day at her son’s karate lessons. I like getting out and having the kids do some fun stuff and so we went. I can’t tell you how they loved yelling, kicking, hitting, and did I mention the yelling. I think they would learn a lot if we could afford regular lessons but buddie day was so much fun.

    They played a game where the kids had to kick a balloon with their feet until it touched the floor. Thing 1 loved this as well as thing 2.

Any thoughts on the martial arts for the tiny tots?

 

Posted in JD, Parent | No Comments »

Part three….

April 25, 2008 – 9:43 am

    There are a couple of things that my children saw that had never been seen before "to them"

 One was snow. That is a new concept. They kept looking out side and saying "lOOOK it’s Christmas TOWN!"

So I had to let them go play in the fun five inches or so that they got that week.

Here is our Cally version of FROSTY.

He looks pretty warm and physically impaired! But he is ours!

Posted in Thing 1, Thing 2, Parent | No Comments »

Silence and Solitude…

April 13, 2008 – 6:54 am

    Man I am in my house right now with no TV. and no children awake. It is 7:14pm. I have been trying to set up some form of accounting record, bead, and prep for the local exciting meeting with the shop. It is unusually quiet and peaceful.

    Lately I have started to notice how much I need to get OUT. Of the house of the city and of the country. I have a scheduled trip to a cooler place that is fond of Potatoes. I will also be visiting a state where the Olympics were held in 2002. We are going for a short stay but it just maybe the escape I am looking for.

    My kids are growing so fast lately. Thing 1 is testing his pedaling skillz out, and Thing 2 is really having a blast riding a big wheel trike thingy. When did they grow up so fast? This fall will be my first experience with school. We registered him a couple of weeks ago. I am going to miss him. I thought it would be great to get him out of here for a good chunk of the day, but we have so much fun and are doing things that we all like to do. It is almost painful to think I have mere months left to hang out with him. Thank goodness for summers!

    Thing 2 is so chatty. She is finally getting into her big girl unds. (hopefully that will not attract the search engines here LOL)
And it’s going relatively well. We watched some of the old home videos of her and she was saying some pretty funny stuff when she was little. Like 15-18 months little. My little fish is trying to talk but no dice. He totally understands though what I am saying.

Maybe I should not talk that much    
 

         

Posted in Parent | 2 Comments »

List o’ Quotes: Warning Dry heaving possible!

April 3, 2008 – 11:14 pm

    1. "Is Santa Bigger than Jesus?" Thing 1

    2. "I need to talk on the phone to somebody! JUST TRUST ME!!!" Thing 1

    3. "Stop chewing the kitty." ME

    4. "NO NO NO! We don’t pee Down Slides!" ME

    5. "I hate Hyenas." Thing 1

   

    Being a mom I thought somethings would never come out of my mouth. I have learned to stop underestimating the things I do, say and think.

    Today I had one of those I-did-not-just-do-that. Momments. 

Imagine big…..Store.

Long line in the checkout area…..Costco.  I am there innocently feeding my children some instant oatmeal (I had mistaken it for the easy mac’n cheese sample lady.)   

Then it happened. Really fast acctually. I went to put a heaping spoonful into the Fishes mouth…….. rejected……  

SCOOP and I ate it!!!!!

   My body was on complete auto pilot. Instantly a huge smile comes over my face which started to burn bright scarlet. I am "THAT" mom. I just turned into that mom that eats off the face of her children. The ancient voices of the past come into my head "Well you couldn’t let good oatmeal go to waste now could you?" My smile broadens and I chuckle to myself. And I quickly scan the crowded checkout area. Only to meet the gaze of a 25ish young man buying grilling supplies and beer. He is laughing and smiling to himself.

I say out loud to him. "Only Mom’s can do that!" He nodds and turns to dry heave (I am sure.) I swore to myself I would NEVER and now I can say that I have. I would like to publicly appologize to myself and my selfesteme. You are so fragile and delicate at this time I never meant harm you. Hopefully it isn’t permenant.
 

 

Posted in JD, Parent, The Fish | 2 Comments »

Need I say More?

March 12, 2008 – 6:48 am

    The season is upon us! This is our toy bin closet know as the "cubby"

 

 

That is 18 eggs carefully placed in a "hiding place" 

Posted in Parent | 3 Comments »

Art Time Bliss

February 28, 2008 – 6:11 pm

Some of this….

 

Mixed with this (Red contact paper sticky side out Masking taped to the wall)

    Usually at our house we are looking for ways to get messy. I found a cool website that helps mix things up around here without the true mess of everything.

 You get this….

 

It was extreamly fun times.

The site I found this one at is www.familyfun.com 

Posted in Thing 1, Thing 2, Parent, GET IT TOGETHER | No Comments »

Starting with some pantry makeover!

February 22, 2008 – 11:53 am

    My pantry make over is inspired by a fellow warrior. She has some intensly excellent skillz! Good Job!

I went to Sam’s and found those can organizers. I can barely wait to get all fourty cans in one compact and flowing organized spot. YEAH!

Then there are the containers that hold the cereal, and other things I have hanging out in my pantry. We’ll see if I can reduce some space in there. I would do Before and after pictures but I think I am just going to do some WORK.  (ok maybe pictures will follow)

Posted in Parent, GET IT TOGETHER | 3 Comments »

Well I am taking a step back.

February 21, 2008 – 8:05 pm

    In the world of technology there is something called an UPGRADE. The momment that you walk out of the cellular store the designers of the new phone you have is comming out with another in less than six months. I watched a guy who had a "dinasour" head set that used to be called "hands Free".

    So where is my Brain Upgrade. I heard a funny thing. That women who have babies have a "12 percent" reduction in mental capacity. I totally agree. I have never been so "out of it" since the fish came along. It is probably the whole balance thing and how it usually takes me a good long while to adjust to another baby. This one hasn’t been so easy.

    Don’t get me wrong I love being a mom of three beautiful, intelligent and adorable children. I am just having a hard time finding the balance. I need to simplify. I started thinking about "Fly Lady" once again. I have tried to do her system in the past and I will be making another attempt.

 
 

Posted in JD, Parent | 1 Comment »

So stressed it isn’t even funny.

February 20, 2008 – 6:03 pm

    Today ended in an our first ER visit for any of the kids. It wasn’t serious. I have to get some order in my life. but we just have been not doing so hot around here. I need some sleep.

 

Posted in Parent | 2 Comments »

I am hitting a stage….

February 8, 2008 – 7:47 pm

    With Thing 2 it is different. It takes such a short period of time for her to find the cinamon and sugar bowl. She dumped it all in the frount room where she was eating it. This beats the exhaustive day of Desitin (all over the wall), Toothpaste (Floor and wall), and baby formula. I believe there was some laundry spray as well but I have sufficiently repressed that memory inorder to tell myself I am still an ok option for a parent. I try.

    Some days are better than others. She is two and I should respect that. I whole heartily accept she has mastered the english language which gets her into more trouble. I think she understands like "a big girl". She doesn’t and that makes straight up angry sometimes. I have anger issues and I try to not take out my high expectations on my sweet innocent little girl. But she knows how to push the buttons. 

    She truly is adorable. She loves helping in the kitchen. I have her mix things and she calls it "bate bate". This is from the song that Dora sings as she mixes the chocolate. We have fun. She and I made peanut butter cookies last week. She wouldn’t touch one after they were done (not a fan of cookies). She was so proud though and told our neighbors that she made them herself. I just can’t believe how lucky I am to be home with these wonderful munchkins.

    Today thing 1 said one of the most random things I have ever heard. 

(standing in the position to fly on the arm of the couch)

Thing1: "I am MARY JOHNSON!"

JD: "What did you say?"

Thing 1: I am Mary Johnson! To Infinity and Beyond! (Jumps off the couch)

    I think I laughed pretty hard. Laughing hard like I did when my friend emailed me this.

   
 

Posted in Parent | 4 Comments »

Today

December 13, 2007 – 7:41 pm

    Today I am finding….

    Little socks, finger prints, and smudges of unknown substances. I see little pants wadded into a heap forming two perfect circles where their little legs left them. Small treasures inserted carefully into the VCR opening. Shoes separated and haphazardly scattered. Bath tubs that are littered with toys. Kitchen rugs sprinkled with "Rich Chocolatey Ovaltine" so they can fill up the flat bed of the tractor with "DiRT". I see hersey kisses wrappers along side fishy crackers that have been ground into the carpet. One giant green bulb suringe, perfect for sucking out the noses of sick kids. I see the stack of diapers that have yet to be taken to the back porch for morning removal. Small doodles of things they want for Christmas on their letters to Santa.

   Today I am hearing…..

     "Stop Talking back there! Mommy is lost and she needs to think!" Me (driving in the car)

     "Oh no If you are lost Mom that means I am lost too!! OH NOOOO! Don’t go the wrong way anymore OK?" Thing 1
 

    "Mom, Santa has a strange voice. He says, "HO HO HO!" Thing 1 (In his deepest Santa-esk voice)

    "You just gotta stop kissin me Mom you’re givin me the Hiccups" Thing 1 (For him Mom Kisses means you’ll get the hiccups. Thanks Higgley Town heros, for that one!)

    "ABC DEFG HI JK TUV Now I know My BBCs Next Time won’t you sing with MEEEE!" Thing 2

    Giggling finally from the Fish! He has been so bogged down with the winter plague he has lost all his little funny personality.

   The other day I ran dead into a wall of reality. Just a small fleeting thought passed through my mind. "This is temporary." I won’t be doing this everyday?? This changes. Instantly I started sucking in those precious little hugs with tiny arms that only reach to my shoulder blades. Or the ones that squeeze the ever living love out of your neck. I want those everyday! Like I get them now. So now it is different, the focus, I mean. Now I am not staying up late to just remind myself what silence sounds like. I am resting so I can hear what my children’s cries, laughs, and conversations are like. Instead of reading my books I am listening to the kids read me their books. Sucking down every last bit of them while they are this little. And hopefully recording all the funny things they

     Who knows the answer to "Mom just can’t I stay awake all night?" Maybe a resounding "You go right ahead!"

 

 
 

Posted in Thing 1, Thing 2, Parent, The Fish | No Comments »

Halloween Drama…

November 1, 2007 – 8:05 pm

    Ok so Thing 1 easy for Halloween. Doesn’t care what he goes as long as he can go around and get candy. Thing 2 TOTALLY DIFFERENT story.

    Let’s set the scene….

One Day Ago

6:34 am JD enters store to make costume purchases.

8:00 am JD Begins donning said costumes.

8:45 am The battle stills rages Thing 2 refuses to wear her Cinderella costume. Won’t remove Crown and earings.

8:59 am JD throws two year old Cinderella into car to drop off at Preschool Halloween Party.

9:03 am Thing 2 sees fellow preschooler dressed as Belle. All hatred for costume dies and life is grande.

Seven Hours Ago

    I refused to battle the same dress battle.

4pm a fight between Thing 1 and Thing 2 breaks out over spectacles. I was at my wits end. What do you want to be? Small girl big glasses. Here is what we came up with. Last minute mind you.

In my head This was to be this….

  this was to be this 

Posted in Thing 2, Parent | No Comments »

The Things

September 15, 2007 – 10:25 am

Some days are easy. Some days are hard. Everyday is full.

 I walked to the mail box with Thing 1 and on the way back in he said.

"Mom, I love being in this world. It is such a nice sunny day."  

That cancelled out the Urine, desitin, and one enitre bottle of lotion in the carpet day. Funny how the small things tend to make the big difference.  

Posted in Thing 1, Parent | 1 Comment »

Punishment: something done to you. It has nothing to do with what just occured….

September 5, 2007 – 7:12 pm

    That was one pretty long title. Ok so THiNG 1 is such an innocent child generally. But man does he crack my lip once and a while.

JD: You just hit your sister please go to time out!

Thing 1: NO! I don’t like timeout.

JD: Thing 1 you just hit your sister and we don’t hit. Please go sit on time out for a couple of minutes and calm yourself down.

Thing 1: (sarcastic biting tone added here) "YOU have GOT to be JOKING ME!"

JD: (Biting lower lip to not laugh profusely, and to keep the "authoratative tone" in my voice) Just sit yourself down on time out, Sir.

   He knows he is in trouble if I start calling him "Sir". In fact he has tried to use the same tone and calls me "Sir" while being serious with me. I try and tell him I am a "Mam". To which he replies "MAN?" With a throughly confused look on his face. Then says, "No you are my MOM."

   

Posted in Parent | 3 Comments »

Downside of Breastfeeding?

August 31, 2007 – 5:45 pm

Before

 

After

 

After again

Posted in Parent | 3 Comments »

The Land of the MINIs

August 24, 2007 – 5:09 pm

    Oh the day has arrived that we now are owners of a mini van. This is a pretty big step for many reasons. I swore I would never drive a mini van. And, I love driving my van. We have been out of town and all around town. I am loving driving a mini van.

    No longer are there three banbinos smashed together in the back seat of a civic. There are some small children in a wonderful place where they can hear the radio. Why can they hear the radio? Because I shut the windows when we drive. Why do I shut the windows when we drive? BECAUSE WE HAVE A/C B@TCH!!  Please excuse my I’m-so-excited-I-am-going-to-puke-swearing. 

    Our van is red. So we call it the catch-up van. It’s official name being "Saucy Susie". I know where was that one when I was dreaming up Blogger aliases 1 year and eight months ago?? HUMMMMMM.

   

 
 

 

Posted in Nutty, Parent | 4 Comments »

Stunned speachless.

April 17, 2007 – 8:33 am

    Ok, so I am tired. So I have time at 3 in the morning to watch Grey’s anatomy Season Two. So I have a life outside of my three kids that includes church……I can handle it right?

    Yesterday was church and I am still recovering. I teach the 6-7 year olds in primary( AKA Sunday School). We had to combine with the 3-5 year olds. UHHHHGGG! Doing the math there were fourteen children in the classroom. One of these children was my own sweet, gentle, kind, Thing 1. Who hadn’t had a nap. And was trying to sit in his seat for more than three minutes.

    Midway through the lesson he started yelling "NO!" in a freakishly loud high pitched scream. I looked at him and asked him to kindly stop. Followed by "That hurts the kid’s ears". His response was to scream louder and more frequent. I pulled him from the room (exactly what he wanted) and had a firm talk with him. Pulling him back into the class room I started teaching again. He started screaming again.

    Here come the threats.

JD:Scream again, and I am going to find your father.

Thing 1: Yeah, I want DADDY!

JD: Scream again, and I will have to put your trains away.

Thing 1: Ok, you can do that. 

JD: That is it sit on my lap I have to hold your mouth for you.

The children in the class room: Just ground him for three weeks!!

    And then he screamed again………..

     That is when I had had it. I just looked at him and I said absolutley nothing. I was dumb founded.  I couldn’t even pull out the "I am serious" arrow out of my bag. I had nothing more. He had won fair and square. Exhaustion had conqued his reason, obedience, and logic. For me it conquered rage, warfare, and I didn’t even have the energy to get upset. I just chuckled and kept on teaching.

    He didn’t have trains when we got home. I told him he could try again next church day to get those back. I guess I will be exploring the theme of public discipline of tired children until then.

 

Posted in JD, Parent | 4 Comments »

What three means to me.

April 1, 2007 – 2:58 am

    I have not been blogging lately like I would like. I am realizing it is because I am still in the adjustment period. This period may take an extra long time. I am looking at my now three week -old little fish. It feels like ages ago that we were in the hospital, the pediatrician’s office. I am shocked that it has only been three weeks. I am trying so hard not to think about this being the last baby for us.

    My mind and body are exhausted but I am driven. Driven to suck every burp, grunt, gassy smile, eye cross, body twitch as I pat his back, and look into those sweet blue/grey eyes. Just in case he is our last sweet child.

    Thing 1 and 2 love their little brother. Watching me breastfeed the baby has spurred on some great questions like….

    "So you just push the button and the milk comes out?"

and yesterday at preschool we had an Easter egg hunt. The baby started to fuss and one of the mom’s in our co-op group asked Thing 1, "Is your baby brother is crying?"

To which his response was.

    "Yes. Moooommm! The baby just needs one b@@bie, not three, not four, just one." 

    My friend was shocked into fits of laughter. I was thankful she was the only one in hearing range. Thing 1 has definately got the breastfeeding technicalities down. 

    Thing 2 is just facinated by how thirsty he is all the time.

 

Posted in Parent | 4 Comments »

ONE WEEK…..

March 14, 2007 – 7:46 pm

March 06, 2007

    I can’t believe it has been a week already. Last week I looked something like this…Yes it says on the date 2-28-07 and yes those are still Christmas lights in the window. The odd thing about this was that I thought I had picked a clean background. I did consider the living room floor where half of all the belongings of the house were strewn about until family reinforcements came. Thanks Sister in Law, Sister, and Mother in law!! In the second picture you can see from my backside that some one had been telling me how wonderful I had looked being pregnant. That is the residual sunshine trying to be blown up my bum.

    Then I started to feel some things that felt like things were moving. Monday at noon I felt like I was getting labor contractions. So I waited.

    3:45 pm I had a OB appointment and had a pelvic exam.  I forgot to get undressed from the waist down so the doc comes in confused and says "you’re not undressed. I am good, but I am not that good." I was dialated to an encouraging 2 (not really that sucked when we found that out). The doc told me that if I continued to contract I would probably see him later that evening in the hospital. That was encouraging.

    Around 7:13pm I get to a point where I am scared of the next contraction. Off to the hospital we went. As we entered the hospital I made a quick stop at the gift shop for See’s Candy. I was going to throw up durring labor. I wanted to throw up something that was most excellent going down.  Up stairs we go to check in with the controban in the "over night bag". Then I was checked, and was a 3.

    All I kept asking was when could I get the epidural, and if my favorite anethesiologist was there or not. I found out I needed to be at least a 4, and that was to get admitted as well. 

   An hour later they came into check me and I made it!!    

     The rejoicing began. And my favorite person Dr. Numbmybumm MD, came and administered the epidural. That all occured about 10:30 pm.

    Then I labored in complete comfort. With my sister, husband and Mother in Law all there to cheer me on!

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

    So fast forward to 6:50am …… Only dialated to a 5-6. Water broken by seven. Started to push at nine.They used the vacume on The fish’s head. And thought he was gonna make it out. Emergency C-section by 10:20 am. 11:13am Baby removed from the womb.

Weighing in at…. 10lbs. 1 oz.

    The doc says as he pulls forth the child from my belly. "Woah, there is no way that would have fit!"

Warning the next couple of pics are graphic….The vacume left it’s mark.

 

 

Because of the brusing we had to stay a couple of days extra at the hospital so they could watch his jondice. He was trying to clear up and get better. But the pediatrician said he had to go under the lights.

I love that he got the tanning glasses. If they were that cute on adults I know that I would volentarily wear them in the tanning booth. And finally Sunday we got to come home.
 

 Each day he looks better and better. The kids are full of a gillion questions. But the fish is doing sooooo well!!

 

Posted in Parent | 14 Comments »

Disclaimer….

February 10, 2007 – 7:42 am

  I am not the one who picked the pictures under each heading!!

  I wouldn’t say that Potty training has been easy. But "Trish" suggested trying the above idea. He has been responsive thus far. As soon as he runs out of stickers he gets a reward. The flowers disappeared quickly and then I started diggin into my old scrapbooking stickers for more fun. The camping ones haven’t ever been used cause we never camp these days. So Thing 1 Has been picking out stickers from a rather large selection. This morning he added curly hair girl to the ‘Poop’ side. I am still trying to figure out the pure genius of my child. Poop= Log sicker. Amazing! His dad must have taught him that one.

   Thanks Trish it’s working!!  

Posted in Parent | 1 Comment »