Edelweiss and Godzilla

We Are Fam-i-ly...

2011-11-19T09:49:00.001-06:00

Look, I finally posted a picture that has me in it too - not just kids... I love our family (and I am fairly fond of the pictures we got done last night too), there are roughly a million more pictures, but I'm going to spread them out over several posts instead of doing them all at once... and maybe (someday) I'll even update my header and my sidebar shots (and include Thundar in them)... hmmm, anyone know how to make cute headers?

5k... take two

2011-11-17T07:54:00.003-06:00

So, back when I did my last 5k, I looked ahead to doing another one (weird, I know)... and I knew there was one at our zoo in November - so that was sort of the one I had my eye on.

Since I did the last 5k on my own (aka I didn't know anyone else running it), my running mentor had convinced me it'd be more fun with friends - although unfortunately she lives super far away. But that's okay. So I somehow convinced my mother-in-law and two of my sister-in-laws to try doing a 5k with me instead, really.

I just have to say, out of all of us, my mother-in-law deserves the most props, since she totally trained for it most and worked hardest to do this... SO impressive!

The day BEFORE the 5k I found out that BOTH of my sister-in-laws wimped out. Okay, so one was sick and the other had a friend unexpectedly come visit from out of town (maybe out of state, I'm not sure)... so they had semi-legitimate excuses. Also, people at our house were sick - including me. But, let's face it, I already paid for the 5k, so OF COURSE I was going to do it.

But.

I was sick.

So I started thinking I probably would not get my best time ever (and yes, I know this was only my second one)... and that made me start thinking about the two already-paid spots we had reserved, that weren't going to be used.

Long story short - I decided to ask Edelweiss if she would like to run with me. When we did a two-mile race back in October she kept being frustrated by the fact that we had to stay together, and with Godzilla being slower than her, we kept having to slow down for him. So I thought if I took JUST HER, that it'd give her a chance to really try and do her best.

Um, too bad I thought of this the DAY BEFORE the race. Oh well. So maybe she wouldn't do as well as she COULD have, if she had more time to prepare - but it'd give her a chance to try doing a 5k anyways, without having to constantly be told to 'slow down'.

So, that was my plan. And yes, I knew there was a good chance that taking an eight year old would mean I'd have to deal with a kid who didn't want to run the entire way... or who got tired before we were done... or whatever.

So, I asked her - yes she wanted to do this - and we got all ready on race day.

Dun, dun, dun.

She did SO GOOD!!!

I think it surprised her that I really COULD run faster than her (muhahaha, at one point she was telling me she was so much faster, so I full-on sprinted past her... just for a minute... she told me I had to slow down)... and sometimes she'd want to 'slow down' for a break when I could have kept running/jogging for longer... but she really did a lot better than I expected. I had a harder time with the slow down - speed up again thing than she did, I think... like I could have KEPT jogging/running more of it, but to slow down and then speed up so often was tougher for me.

We started out jogging, with the huge crowd of people 'starting' off the race... and we'd slow down to a brisk walk sometimes... then go back to jogging... and running, off and on. I expected her to be able to keep that up for maybe half or a third of the race, but she did better than that - she basically was able to do it the entire race. Towards the end (the last 1/4 maybe) I had to be the one to suggest we 'run again' every time, and she'd want to 'slow down' more often - but I talked to her about, when you're tired, finding a spot ahead and to keep pushing until then (like okay, when we pass that tree, THEN we'll slow down)... and she did really well at pushing through things like that, when we had a goal. AND she didn't complain or whine AT ALL. Not once! She also spent probably the first half of the race with a constant chatter about how running was going to be her new hobby and she was going to do it all of the time, and we could run together, and it was so much fun, and she was going to be the best runner ever. It was cute.

We even finished the race (which totally ended with a HILL... uphill... right before the finish line) running together - in just under 43 minutes. Slower than my last time, yes, but I still think it was worth it to include Edelweiss with me.

Also, on a fun note - I was 'number 1' - really! My race 'bib' (the number you wear) was ONE... like other people had '276' or 538' or whatever, and when we got my packet my number said '1'... awesome!

Nighty-Night

2011-11-10T09:04:00.003-06:00

So our bedtime routine usually goes something like this...

Send all kids to brush teeth and floss... and mouthwash for Edelweiss (it says age six and up... Godzilla is actually really excited about turning six and using it too)... and yes, I brush Thundar's teeth (although he LOVES teeth brushing and would happily do it all himself, but yeah, he's only one...)... and have them all get into pajamas... you know all of that regular 'getting ready for bed' stuff.

Then after that's done, Edelweiss usually runs off to read in bed before 'lights out'. I read a story to Thundar (he'll pick out a book for us) and then I deposit him into his crib with several 'board books' (thicker pages) that he looks through - light still on in his room. After Thundar is in bed with his books -- Godzilla reads me a book, then I read him one. When we're done reading together, he gets sent to bed... that's when the light turns off in the boys' room (although he takes a couple of books to bed with him and uses his (very bright) nightlight to look at them for a little bit longer before he falls asleep).

See, nice plan - right? Sometimes Edelweiss will decide she wants to read with us - and she comes and joins us for reading, or asks me to read her a story too... it's all fine and dandy and happy... bedtime usually rather easy around here.

Um, but not so much last night.

Thundar has figured out how to climb out of his crib. He even CLIMBS down the outside, not just dropping to the floor when he gets over the edge...

So last night, I read him a story and put him to bed with his books.

Godzilla reads me a story, I'm reading a book to Godzilla... and Thundar comes out.

I figure it won't hurt for him to join us, so he sits with us as we finish the book. Godzilla thinks we need to RE-read the book, so that Thundar can hear the entire thing. Um, okay... they are all cute and cuddly and bedtime-ish, so we read it again... sort of... Thundar keeps flipping pages too fast. Oh well, send the boys to bed.

Thundar gets back up.

Put him back to bed.

Thundar gets back up.

Ask him if he wants to sleep with Godzilla (who thinks this is a FANTASTIC plan)... so both boys are now on Godzilla's bed.

Thundar gets back up.

Also, he is keeping Godzilla up and awake.

Put Thundar in the playpen in Edelweiss' room (she's already asleep, for some reason she fell asleep super-fast last night, and it was already set up from when I'd watched a friend's kid not too long ago).

Thundar gets back up (apparently he can climb out of the playpen too).

Put him back in the crib.

He gets back up.

Put him back in the crib.

He gets back up.

Um, I think you get the idea... right?

It was almost 11pm before we got the little stinker to STAY in bed (well, the playpen in his sisters' room) and go to sleep!

I am sooooooooooooooooo tired, and will apparently never be able to shower again (since I usually sneak that in during nap time)... *sigh*

Happy Halloween!!!

2011-10-31T09:47:00.005-05:00

Last year we really didn't do any dressing up (lame, I know!)... even if we did make 'pumpkin stew'... this year Godzilla REALLY wanted to be a jedi -- like he started talking about how much he wanted to be a jedi back in June and has never ever asked about anything so consistently in his entire life. So despite the cost, I figured we should let the kid be a jedi, and we'd just go less-expensive with the costumes for the other two (Edelweiss was totally into the idea of a punk fairy princess costume we sort of put together ourselves with things we had, Thundar couldn't care less, so some skeleton pjs made life easy for him), since as much fun as it would have been to coordinate all of their costumes (seriously, Thundar as a darth vader to Godzilla's jedi?! It'd be hilarious! Edelweiss could be Padamae or some cute girlie jedi (she was less interested in Leia or being 'Queen Amadala')) it would have ended up costing WAY to much -- then I found a jedi costume at a consignment shop (score!), so that made it even better.

He has worn his jedi costume all over town at this point - grocery shopping, pta meeting, running errands... and everywhere we go it makes people smile (even if he does NOT get to take his light saber everywhere we go)... it's been really fun... they didn't especially mind NOT doing any dressing up last year, but it's been fun to have them SO excited about their costumes and dressing up - five year olds SHOULD be thrilled to pretend, and live out their fantasy, of being a jedi, I think.

Anyways, we are excited about fun halloween plans here (we already did 'trunk or treat' at church, and a 'party' at home so that DH could be involved (since he has to work during all of the other fun halloween times - we decorated cookies and watched halloween movies together as a family last night)) and we're going to a 'zoo boo' tonight... we hope your halloween is super-fun too!

Saddest Baby in the World

2011-10-12T11:52:00.002-05:00

Thundar is crying like his little life is over.

And I ran over his favorite puppy.

Twice.

And, on top of everything else, maybe there are no more crackers or bananas in the world...

Yup, he is THAT sad.

He really (really, really, really) wanted to put a mickey mouse sock and a pair of plaid shorts in the dirty clothes... unfortunately he was taking them OUT of the laundry basket I JUST unloaded from the dryer. Um, I don't like doing laundry enough to do the same laundry over and over all day long (and yes, I know it feels an awful lot like I do that anyways - but LITERALLY over and over again was a little too much to ask).

So now he is sad.

Oh so very, very sad.

I think it's nap time.

Vegetarian

2011-10-05T13:53:00.004-05:00

Edelweiss has decided that she is going to be a vegetarian, except for holidays or special occasions (really, that's what she said).

Is it just me, or doesn't she seem sort of young for that?

I'm not really super-surprised she'd want to try it, but I would have expected it in a couple of years... not at 8.

Oh well.

So I talked to her about how to get vegetarian meals at school, and what things are/are not meat (she wanted to know which things she should/shouldn't eat).

I am pretty sure it is very much related to her love of 'eragon' and 'eldest' (the dragon rider becomes a vegetarian, I think specifically except for holidays and special occasions - although I haven't read them in years, so I may be remembering wrong)... but I figure if she wants to do that, that she can try it out for herself.

She told me I can just make her something else to eat, if the rest of us are having meat - and that I told her "um, no"... but I did point out that there were things at our meals she COULD eat - even if she didn't eat the meat. Like if we had a salad and some sort of meat, she could just have more salad... or whatever. She seemed to think that was a good idea.

Honestly, we don't eat meat all that often anyways, so we haven't even run into anything like that yet (um, although this is a fairly new pronouncement of hers).

I'm curious how long she'll stay with it.

barf...

2011-10-05T13:47:00.004-05:00

Thundar has been SOOOO grumpy lately.

I was trying to decide if he is just getting frustrated because he doesn't have all of the communication skills he'd like to (although he IS totally snowballing in the new-word-department lately - so many new words!)... or what his problem was.

Until he woke up sad last night, and when I went in to see what was wrong - he barfed all over.

Ew.

My poor baby.

I got him all cleaned up, stuff in the washing machine... cuddling with a sad baby... and he barfed again, all over me.

Double-ew.

It takes special skills to be barfed on by a little one, since you can't freak out - it'll only make them more upset.

*sigh*

Now, today, I am trying to keep his 'diet' fairly easy on his poor tummy - and he doesn't understand why he can't eat whatever he likes/wants... and that makes him sad... my poor baby, life is so hard.

whistle while you work...

2011-10-02T13:50:00.000-05:00

You know those scenes in Disney movies where children sweetly sing songs as they clean up their rooms?

That is TOTALLY what is happening at my house -- RIGHT NOW!

Really!

I can hear the sweetest little five year old voice softly singing, as Godzilla picks up his toys.

Um, 'cept in Disney movies the children aren't usually singing "mamma doesn't love me, she wants me to die..."

*snicker*

Really.

I am pretty sure he expects/wants me to come rushing in and claim OF COURSE I love him (which I do) so he doesn't REALLY need to clean his room anymore (fat chance kiddo)... I spend a LOT of time and effort making sure that my kids know, and hear often, that I love them no matter what -- so I am pretty sure this is the WORST thing he could think of to say... but instead of making me terribly upset, it makes me want to giggle.

He's singing it so nicely too!

baby steps...

2011-09-30T10:41:00.002-05:00

Drats. I only made it two days in a row with posting...

Oh well, maybe I can work up to doing better?

Anyways - it's Edelweiss' turn for an update.

Ah, good ol' Edelweiss.

She is 8 now (insane right, I do NOT feel 'old' enough to have an 8 year old!)... and her favorite thing to do is still, currently, reading. But, to interest her, it mostly has to have a dragon in it at the moment.

She is very proud of herself for having read Eragon this summer... and she finished Eldest in about 3 days, when she got it from the library. I need to check out Brisinger for her - and that kid (um the author) needs to get cracking on publishing the 4th one of those too. She also loves the 'dragon slippers' 'dragon flight' 'dragon spear' ones by Jessica Day George (new author alert! Okay, so I don't know how 'new' she really is - but we just discovered her -- super awesome, same sort of genre as Gail Carson Levine or Shannon Hale, fun stuff!).

She is also in a cooking club at school, and working on running to do a kids' marathon... cheer starts up again soon... and she goes to a church-activity-thing twice a month with other girls around her age. I am starting to feel overwhelmed already - even though they don't much overlap (cooking club will be over by the time cheer starts, etc). It makes me miss the days though, when we would spend 24-7 together... but it's good for her to be interested in other things too (probably).

She wants to be a botanist when she grows up, and live with me forever (she said so... Dean plans to live next-door, but I can babysit his kids sometimes).

She's way too grown up, but still loves stuffed animals and isn't always ready to be quite as grown up as all of that...

Maybe soon I'll actually post pictures!

Godzilla

2011-09-27T08:55:00.002-05:00

Since yesterday we reviewed how Thundar is doing, I figured today we'd talk about Godzilla (look at me, posting two days in a row!).

Godzilla is now 5, and in kindergarten.

I think, in my totally unbiased opinion, that he's about the sweetest kid in the entire universe. He regularly has friends of ours 'threatening' to steal him - since they just want to take them home with him (the first time someone said something along those lines he looked soooooooooooo worried)... because he is just that adorable.

He's also very very bright. He got moved into a first grade combo class (that has like 6 kindergarteners and the rest of the kids are first graders), which has him doing more advanced work than I expected him to run into (I thought he'd just have to be able to work on his own while the teacher did other stuff with first graders, but it seems more 'combined' than that).

He still jumps.

He is obsessed with 'star wars' (which is funnier because he's only seen episode one and part of some of the older ones, but he LOVES them).

He's still doing speech therapy (and I can't tell you how well he does with that, because I understood him before... but I would guess it's going well because I think everyone else can mostly understand him now too).

He still likes to build things, color, do puzzles... he still has a crazy-long attention span.

Hmmm, but his little brother does not - and apparently I need to be paying more attention to him right this very second... so that'll have to do for now ;o)

Catching Up

2011-09-26T09:54:00.002-05:00

I keep thinking sometime I'll come on here and 'catch up' with everything that's been going on since I posted last... or since I stopped posting semi-regularly... but it's rather overwhelming to think about doing - since I haven't posted in a long time (um, a very long time) and I haven't posted with any sort of regularity in even longer.

So then, I don't post at all.

It's much easier.

But it does have the issue of never 'updating' anything/anyone through here, and that is sad (ESPECIALLY since I promised my friend who moved away that I WOULD blog)... so here I am!

But there's way too much to 'catch up' on, to do it all at once.

So. I'm not going to, at least not all at once - but I will try to 'update' more often on here - even if it takes me a while to get things back to where you (sort of) know what is going on with us...

For today --

My favorite things about Thundar (you know, our 'baby' who is now 18 months old and isn't even included on the header or the side bars yet) are.... everything.

When we walk over to the school, sometimes people ask me if he is walking yet - that always makes me want to laugh.

He walks.

He runs.

He climbs (I caught him on top of the piano the other day... Godzilla used to do that).

He colors.

He loves to clean (pick up toys, throw trash away, wipe down tables, load and unload the dishwasher or help with laundry).

He says "tank ou" (thank you) more often than just about anything else - except possibly making doggy noises (that boy loves doggies) or 'mama'.

He is awesome.

Date Night

2011-05-12T09:24:00.000-05:00

So we are firm believers that date night is super important, so we make sure that (without fail) we have one every single... year and a half...

We actually figured it out, when our last date without kids along had been, when I said something about it not having been THAT long... but apparently, it really had been that long, since December 2009 sounds like sort of a while ago... I was pregnant with Thundar still, at that point.

So for our date we decided to go do one of the 'black diamond' hiking trails (we have to stay on easier ones when we have a gaggle of kiddos along), and then we were going to go have dinner someplace, and see a movie. See, it's even like a LONG 'real' date (so we should be totally set for the next year and a half, right?).

So we went and hiked (forgot water bottles, oops)... and that was sort of fun. At first I was thinking "hmm, black diamond trails make crummy dates" since you have to like climb and navigate more, and you can't walk side-by-side or anything and it's harder to talk while you do it - but it still ended up being fun, we spent maybe an hour or so hiking, but DH was hungry and we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to actually eat before the movie started, so it wasn't a really long hike. But that's okay, I was really happy that we did something more interesting/unusual than just a dinner and a movie (um, and yes, I know that snuck into the date too)... we EVEN saw a thing about kayaking classes, so then we were talking about how we should do that for a date sometime - since it'd be fun, but I am not sure I want my kiddos out on the water like that, yet.

So then, dinner. I, honestly, wanted Subway... but even I know that seems very lame in the date-ish category. But I never go out to eat, like at all... and Subway sounded good and I liked the idea of being able to make a really good healthy choice I'd be happy about that. BUT. DH did not want to go to Subway (and HE totally goes like once a week), and really, it's not so date-y, so that was okay. But he wanted to go to an all-you-can-eat place?! Which ALSO does not seem date-y AND would be on the not-healthy side of things... and just seemed lame. But he really did want to go there, and he said he'd been there before, so I figured if that's what he really wanted to do, it'd be fine.

HAHAHAHA... it was so lame. Like, really... really really lame. Picture of macaroni on the wall near us lame. Even DH noticed (and admitted) how lame it was, that it was a whole lot like sitting in a cafeteria. I told him it got -10 points for ambiance... but we were already there (already paid) so, oh well. It was hilarious how lame it was date-wise, but since I was trying to be nice to go where I really didn't want to go anyways, it just struck me as really really funny.

So I got lots of fresh pineapple (YUM, I love fresh pineapple) and did a decent job of not getting food that'd be loaded with tons of fat or whatnot for dinner... And it was good pineapple, so that was nice. They had good strawberries too. And I got some steak, which I haven't had in forever, but was pretty good too. DH got more variety in his dinner than I did, but I felt okay about not eating a bunch of junk anyways, so I was happy.

'Cept I hadn't gone to the dessert table yet. Oh yeah, that is where it is harder for me to not get (tasty) things. So I actually looked hugely piggy and got like EVERY dessert that struck me as tasty-looking... maybe like 6 things? Not the ice cream though (although some of that looked good too)... but it would have been harder to fit on a plate. Yup. I totally felt self-conscious about my plate piled with so much dessert, BUT when I went back to the table I just tried a bite of everything. It's an all you can eat place, that's okay to do! So I got to try everything that looked good, and if I didn't think it was AWESOME than I didn't eat any more of it than that. I thought this was an awesome plan (even if I did look like I was going to eat a huge plate of dessert as I walked back to the table)... and it was totally not deprived-feeling, but still not going all crazy too much, since I didn't do more than taste most of the things (the banana pudding, I totally ate though) I shared with DH too.

Yeah, then we were full. And our movie wasn't starting for an hour... and we couldn't really see sitting there soaking in the non-ambiance of the cafeteria atmosphere as it got more and more crowded... so we went to Michael's, so I could see what they had on the sidewalk sale stuff in front of the store, and I could see if they had any good things to keep kids entertained in airports... DH didn't mind, too much, because he walked around the store reading "the encyclopedia of immaturity" (really) while I debated about various treasures. I got two new coloring books and some lacing cards (you know you wanted to know)... and by then it was about time to go over for our movie.

So we went to the (two) dollar theater (really... it's $2 now, weird, huh?...eh, it's still a cheaper movie) and saw "I am Number 4" which had more HS-Romance-Drama and less action than I think either of us expected, but was okay still.

Then I got to go back home to my babies (yay!)... I think it's funny that this far into it - like 3 kids, almost 8 years into having kids - I still sort of want to go back home when we're out. Apparently SOME people think we shouldn't drive by and see if we could see them walking to their picnic by the river (best babysitter ever) when we were finished with our hiking... but they were fine, and even had lots of fun... picnic-ing, reading stories, playing 'the pizza game'... so it's probably good that we went out - and now we're set until November 2012!

Happy Anniversary

2011-05-03T19:10:00.003-05:00

I have a house full of sick kids - all of the loveliness of vomit and diarrhea and fever... and DH is working lots of hours (which is SOOOOOOOOOO good, really) while they need people to fill in for various reasons... so I am getting to deal with most of it on my own.

Happy Anniversary to me!

Hahaha, this is probably not what I was hoping the future'd hold 9 years ago, huh? (although, really - I can't complain, I do have super-sweet children, even if they happened to be sick today... and I love our family... things are just somewhat smellier than I might have imagined)

Run

2011-05-03T08:47:00.003-05:00

Since SOMEONE (*cough, cough*...Shari... *cough, cough*) thought my blog was incomplete without information about my doing a 5k on it, I suppose I will post about it really quickly while it's nap time.

So a while ago (maybe about a month? 6 weeks? something...) I decided, with the help of my AWESOME encouraging race-mentor friend, to do a 5k. In all honesty I walk more than 3 miles a day (that's about how far it is to get my kids from school, round trip)... but I wanted to actually run it. So I signed up, got a babysitter, found a training program - and decided I was going to try.

'Cept then the training didn't happen as well/regularly as would have been ideal. DH has been able to get more hours lately (yay), but that means that (boo) I basically only ever got to run with kiddos. Now I DO have a jogging stroller (yay), so Thundar and I would work on running to get kiddos from school... and I'd work with the treadmill and so forth - but I mostly wasn't as prepared as I would have liked to be. But I knew I wanted to do this anyways, so I did what I could with training and just decided I'd do my best. I'd never done a 5k before, so this was going to be my first time ever anyways - and it's not like I know enough about it to know what is a good (or a horrible) time anyways.

So, Saturday was the day. My AWESOME friend came over to watch kids in the morning, thank you, thank you awesome friend... and I walked over to the race. When I got there, it was just sort of crazy (at least to me?). There were seriously SO many people, it was like the worst sort of 'at capacity' day at Disneyland, with people milling around - but trying to get anywhere, you had to like weave through the crowds. Also, it had an almost fair-type of atmosphere... booths/tents giving away free stuff? I saw people with like bags from walmart or grocery stores and things and thought "seriously, wouldn't having bags of free stuff make it harder to run?". There was also a stage where a chick-fil-a cow and a bunch of girls were leading everyone in Zumba for a warm-up... which actually, Zumba looked fun, but there was NO WAY anyone had any room to actually try doing it ('cept maybe the people on stage).

Since it wasn't starting yet, I did some stretches and then wandered around and got a free yogurt, a banana and water (I passed on the donuts and most everything else that people were handing out - but I DID get a bag from the ford tent thing, since their bag had a cute scarf that I knew Edelweiss would like... so I got the bag, tied the scarf on my wrist, and threw the bag away - later I was glad I had, since it was all humid and I got so nasty sweaty, so it was handy to wipe sweat off my face... which is maybe why they were giving it out in the first place?).

Anyways, after a bit they started announcing it was time for the 'runners' to line up. But I know NOTHING about any of this, and didn't know if that was like a specific special group or what... since the whole event was for a 5k thing... so like 90% of the people were just on either side, waiting... I wasn't sure if I was supposed to go with a specific group, but I decided since I wanted to run, I'd go line up with the first group... so I got down there before it started (towards the very back of that group, since I'd taken some time deciding what the heck I was supposed to be doing in this crazy mass of people)... and then the race started.

And I ran.

Um, sort of. At first there were just SO many people that the fastest I could go was an extreemley awkward almost-run (um, but I could just walk that fast - but it felt silly to WALK when I was in the running group)... but then it sort of spread out better, so I could start to really run/jog. And I ran most of it - periodically I'd slow down and then (every time!) this random pregnant lady (with a shirt that said "if you see a trail of water, call my OBGYN"... she was probably like 5 months pregnant? like you could tell she was pg, but not HUGE) would pass me! Seriously! So then I'd speed up again... lol... and I totally beat her! HA! Okay, not that impressive - but I was SERIOUSLY impressed with her, since I swear she kept up the same speed the entire time -- I wasn't diciplined enough (experienced enough?) for that... so I'd run, jog, fast walk... run... etc.

But I did okay, I guess? I ran most of it. It was super humid the entire time and actually rained a little for just a few minutes (maybe 5 or so?). My time was about 38 minutes, which according to Shari (who was so my 'race mentor') was faster than her first race's time... um, by like 50 seconds, but I am going to take it... she thought, when I told her specifics about it, that my 'real' time was probably even a little faster - because of the crowd and just using my phone to get my time and so forth... but she's probably just being nice.

I finished, grabbed a vitamin water (and a regular water)... totally drank the vitamin water in like 2 seconds and then drank the other water as I walked back home to relieve my babysitter.

Then after a shower and so forth, the kids and I walked to the library...

Which was maybe a mistake, since after that I was feeling sort of drained and maybe headache-y... but all in all, it was a decent experience.

The End.

'cept maybe I'll do it again sometime... there's one that's a benefit for our zoo in November...

Resolution

2011-04-29T07:41:00.002-05:00

Yesterday someone pointed out that not EVERYONE has stopped blogging (um, like I mostly have) which led me to blog-hop for an hour or so... looking at friends' and families' blogs... which also led me to think "hmm, maybe I don't need to be doing this".

Don't get me wrong - I really like seeing what my friends and family are up to, but I also could have been washing dishes or something that needed to be done... and I didn't do those things at all.

Which led me to a third conclusion - which is my resolution for today. I am going to try NOT being on the computer when my kids are home/up/around. Okay, the blog-hopping last night was after they were in bed, but sometimes I check email or a family site while they are around (doing homework, coloring pictures, whatever)... and I think I want to try and see if I don't do that - what difference it makes in our lives, with our family.

So I am going to try it for a week. I'll probably still check email... I may even blog about it... but I am only going to be doing it when kids are in bed (or a baby is napping and kids are at school) - the rest of the time, my laptop will be turned off.

That's all =o)

2011-03-18T12:53:00.002-05:00

Thundar's fever is gone, but now he is covered in spots... lovely.

Psudeo-Camping

2011-03-07T17:01:00.008-06:00

So both Edelweiss and Godzilla have super latched onto the idea of 'camping'. I have NO idea why, but since it is spring break we thought it'd be nice to fufill their little (inexpensive) fantasy.

Only, too bad, we found out that DH had NO days off this week... and I am just not ambitious enough to go camping, for real, with three small children by myself.

So. We came up with a 'camping' compromise that the kids LOVED.

Lucky for us, we still have a not-yet-gone house that we don't live in... no furniture (electricity off, although if we'd wanted to we could have turned it on (breaker in the garage))... and there's a fireplace!

So, we went camping. The kids had their tents set up (which wouldn't have realisticaly worked as well with REAL camping), and we roasted marshmellows for Smores (I am pretty sure Godzilla's all ended up burned and Edelweiss' were all still compleatley uncooked) and played games (LPS Go Fish, and Toy Story Uno), and then when it was time to sleep they climbed into their tents and I read 'The Tale of Desperaux' for an hour or so.

Sooo nice!

Of course, when I stopped reading they needed to get up... were starving... needed to use the bathroom... were thirsty... eventually Edelweiss went to sleep (and Thundar, although I swear he was like the LAST one to finally lay down - he was chillin' in his playpen)... Godzilla got up and came and slept next to me, instead of in his tent...

But hey! We went camping!

And we survived!

Now they want to do it again...

Mr. Reader

2011-03-01T19:26:00.002-06:00

Godzilla can read!

Okay, so we don't need to pull out Shakespeare for him yet... but he read, by himself, a story.

My favorite part about the whole thing is how excited HE was. Seriously. He like glowed and when he was done jumped around the room. I called him Mr. Reader afterwards and he told me "that's good Mom, you should call me that now". He cracks me up, I don't remember Edelweiss being THAT excited about reading (even though she loves it now)...

Makes me think of how neat it is to be here for milestones, and the fact that I already have one kid who can read does not detract at all from HIS special moment. It was AWESOME.

Kids are priceless.

Thundar claps now... sort of the same thing. I am SURE that both Edelweiss and Godzilla can clap, and have been able to for a long time (obviously) but there is something magical about watching a little one figure out a new skill. He is so proud. Maybe not as proud as Godzilla being able to read (seriously, I don't know if I have seen anyone THAT excited and happy in a long time), but still obviously immensley pleased with himself.

I love my kids.

Done.

2011-02-25T19:15:00.003-06:00

I keep thinking of a million things I 'need' to update on here, and then it's so much stuff I (usually) just end up posting... nothing...

Which, admittedly, is probably not the best plan. SO. I am going to post!

Thundar is still arguably a baby, but he no longer looks like this...

you can probably figure that out, since I posted more recent pictures of him.

One thing I'd been looking forward to, with him turning one, was being 'done' with nursing.

I have a semi-unique perspective on nursing, as far as I can tell. There are a lot of pro-nursing people out there. There are a lot of anti-nursing people out there. I'm not really either. Edelweiss was NOT interested in nursing, and ultimatley, she didn't. I tried for a couple of weeks, since I knew it was good for her - but I was really okay with her wanting bottles instead. Between Godzilla and Thundar, I've nursed babies for two years. Yeah. TWO YEARS.

Over the course of that two years... I still am not ridgidly pro-nursing.

I know, you'd think I'd be it's biggest advocate or something, but really... I never was. It's good for babies, so I could do it... but still not my favorite way to spend time.

Then, a week or so ago - when Thundar was fussing, I tried giving him a bottle... and it was... I dunno. Weird. He seemed really far away, and I felt less involved. Later he wanted to nurse, and I let him - and that was maybe the first time I really LIKED being able to nurse. With my baby curled around me, snuggled against me... I thought "ohhhh, this is why people want to nurse"

I guess I am a slow learner.

Now, at a year old. He's done. I am not super-ridgid, I wouldn't have 'fired' him that immediatley... but we'd been working on cutting down to once a day, and for the last few days he hasn't really wanted to nurse.

On the plus side this means I can now FINALLY (hopefully) lose weight... since I don't have to worry about losing my milk supply. And, I can take medicine! There are some things that will be soooo nice.

But at the same time, I just started to appreciate the closeness of being able to nurse... and now we are apparently done.

Luckily, he's been ubber-clingy and freaks if I leave the room (and sometimes if I put him down...) for the last day or two too... so I still get to spend a good deal of time with my baby.

I am still glad I got that appreciation of being able to nurse my baby, because it helps me appreciate those two years in an new way...

(and yes, I know this is nothing like what I normally post, but I wanted to share it, so there)

Happy Birthday Thundar

2011-02-22T15:59:00.002-06:00

Crazy, huh? He's a year old tomorrow... lately he even looks less like a 'baby'. Sad day.

It doesn't seem like we've only had him for a year though - a year ago I was thinking he'd NEVER come... birthdays always bring up so many memories. A L&D nurse telling me to 'come back ANYTIME' (really, random, huh?)when he was born... my sweet brother asking me if I needed anything (to which I automatically wanted to respond 'no, I'm good', when - just minutes away from having a baby - 'good' is not REALLY how I was feeling)... having both of my parents with me to welcome my newest little one.

Hard to imagine our life WITHOUT him... he's blonde like Edelweiss, a climber like Godzilla... he likes to get into EVERYTHING - but he is also a total sweetie who is often content to be held... he's got 5 teeth, hazel eyes... he's almost ready to walk (we're not pushing it... we know better)... and now he needs some more attention...

Edelweiss

2011-02-17T11:17:00.003-06:00

The pictures I have on my sidebar, here on my blog, are more and more noticably out of date, aren't they?

I mean, not ONLY is Thundar not even up there... but... the other two are growing up (no matter how often I try and get them to stop).

But, before I finish all of my to-do-lists and make everything awesome and up to date again, I figured I should just start with some general updates.

This, is Edelweiss (although she isn't always side-ways).
She is 7.5 now, and tells anyone she meets how she is ALMOST 8... of course she has maybe been telling them she is almost 8 for the last 4 or 5 months... and she still has another 5 months to go...
She is a cheerleader, a scientist, a constant reader... she reads encyclopedias on a pretty daily basis (along with novels - disney fairies, 'the Mistmantle Chronicles', 'Narnia', and 'Ivy and Bean' being her favorites.. she reads a LOT).
She HATES to see anything she percieves as injustice, and wearing school uniforms.
She still loves stuffed animals and cuddly blankets.
She is (too) smart... gets pulled out of class for their 'gifted' program, and switches to a higher class for reading - but still can dissolve to tears over the idea of too many math problems. She loves her brothers, and wishes she didn't have to have brothers so she could be left alone (usually to read).
She loves having glasses (which she now needs full-time... the cheer pictures were taken BEFORE she got that new prescription/diagnosis) and is not at all interested in the contacts her doctor told her we may switch her to if her eyes keep getting worse quickly.
She can be bossy, and moody, and tempermental.
She can also be sweet, and thoughtful, and perceptive.
And she still answers (to me) if I call her 'Edelweiss'.
She's my little contradiction.

2011-02-16T20:59:00.002-06:00

argh, I turned all of these photos and now none of them are turned... driving me nuts. So I won't post all of the pictures I had planned on, but I WILL post this one.

THIS is my now-five-year-old. Crazy, huh? I mean, to YOU he may just look like a five-year-old, and I can undestand that... but to me, he is a combination of my only baby who didn't especially want to cuddle (since my other two never want to leave my arms at all, that was very different), and my little boy who DOES like to cuddle... my only kid who has eyes that match mine... the baby who took apart a baby gate when he was one (he wanted to go up those stairs), who would climb to the top of the piano to play with a chess set... he's the boy who will sit and do mazes or copy words out into 'his book' for hours, and who wants to be a scientist, a garbage truck man, and a Dad, when he grows up.

Godzilla isn't like any other five year olds, because he is MINE and because five seems way too old, and also like way too short of a period of time for all of the life he's already crammed in.

I loved everything about his birthday - because HE loved everything about it. I swear he just sort of glowed for the entire thing... so delighted with each gift he was given, so thrilled to have a party for HIM, just so happy to be turning five (although, he has assured me that does NOT mean he is going to go off to college, just yet...)

Happy Birthday Godzilla.

for Mom...

2011-02-09T09:37:00.002-06:00

so, I know it's Godzilla's birthday (Happy Birthday Godzilla! Yikes... he is FIVE now...) BUT Thundar was soooooooooo cute laughing while playing on Godzilla's new present, and I had my camera handy, and I thought "my Mom would LOVE to see a video of this"... so I took one! (or... you know, like 5...)

I have internet again (yay) and need to start blogging... including a blog about my INCREADABLE five-year-old birthday boy -- but first I just wanted to share these videos!

It's Begining to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

2010-12-08T12:43:00.002-06:00

Goodness, I love babies at Christmas (okay, okay... I love my baby all of the time) - something about the joy as they 'discover' each new thing is magical though. Thundar loves to sneak over and just barely touch the lights on the tree and then crawl away as fast as he can. Adorable.

So, I stink at blogging lately - but kids are growing up, life is moving on... same ol', same ol'... right?

Maybe someday I'll have internet access again, and then put up pictures and blog regularly again... that'd be cool...

Until then - have a very Merry Christmas!

Whine

2010-11-12T11:10:00.002-06:00

So, some days, my kids are whiney.

Shocking, I know. None of you have kids that whine at all - ever! But my kids, sadly, do whine (at least some days).

Yesterday was one of those days.

A LONG LONG day, where no matter WHAT happened - one of them would find something to whine about.

"He's not sharing any of the cars with me." (then) "He is only letting me use a YELLOW car!" (the horror!)

And lest you think that little Edelweiss was the only whiney one (she was not), Godzilla was just as bad... probably worse... but he was just whining about everything so much that I am not even sure if there was ever a specific thing he found to whine about - it was just general EVERYTHING was terrible and horrible and cause for high-pitched misery.

So, eventually, awesome parent that I am - I switched from 'please stop whining' type of requests (which was doing NO good anyways) to...

"oooh, I LOVE to hear children whine! Please, oh please, whine more - you are just too quiet and nice today, I would just love to hear MORE whining... what do people do who don't have children to whine for them?! Those poor poor people..."

Then it struck me. I AM lucky to have these children (even when they are sooo whiney... so so so whiney) and there are people who would be so so greatful for a chance to have their own kids, even if they whined sometimes.

Really. I am SO fortunate to have them... I need to remember that.

(also, I needed to send them to bed early - since SHEESH... those were some whiney kids)

The Bestest Mommy in the Whole Wide World

2010-10-20T11:50:00.003-05:00

So yesterday, as I tucked him in at bedtime, Godzilla asked for a bedtime story.

Instead of READING him a story though, I told him a story that went something like this...

"Once upon a time there was a little boy with DARK circles under his eyes who needed to go to sleep right now instead of having another story.

Do you know WHY he had such dark circles under his eyes?

Last night, this little boy woke up in the middle of the night. He was scared because he heard a kitty, so he called his Mommy.

His Mommy, the bestest Mommy in the whole entire world... who is so nice and loves her little boy so much, came right away - even though she had been sleeping peacefully.

The Mommy, the nicest Mommy ever, came and talked to her little boy... and they listened for sounds in the room. And they talked about kitties. And they talked about sounds. And they (sadly) woke up the baby... who then wanted to be fed before he would go back to sleep.

But the little boy was still scared, and even after all of this - did not want his Mommy (the best, nicest Mommy in the whole entire world) to leave him alone.

So, this bestest nicest Mommy in the entire world found a stuffed dinosaur to use as a pillow... and laid down next to the scared little boy because she loved him SOOO much, and wanted him to feel safe... and she slept on his floor next to him all night long - so he wouldn't be scared.

And that is why, not only is the little BOY super tired tonight... but so is his Mommy.

So it is time for bed. Goodnight."

You'll never guess where I got the inspiration for this lovely story... also, in case you were wondering - sleeping on the floor with a dinosaur for a pillow (and only a baby blanket to try and stay warm under) is NOT as comfortable as it sounds.

Every time I said something about this 'best Mommy in the whole wide world who loved her little boy so much' it made him smile though... and LAST night, everyone slept all night at least...

And... not-so-blessed...

2010-09-30T12:11:00.003-05:00

Hahahahahaha... okay, I am probably STILL blessed... just some days I feel it less.

Actually, I feel fine today - but I know there have definatley been days when I was NOT feeling it, and maybe that's important to adknowledge too - since it's not like the circumstances always change for the feelings to.

Like one day Edelweiss was grumping about... something (sorry, I don't remember what)... and she had decided that I only love her little brother and he gets all of everything and she gets nothing - so I told her to look around her room. She has her OWN bedroom, unlike the boys who have to share. And it is filled with her things, things that she has been given because we love her and her grandparents love her. I told her that sometimes she WILL feel like he gets everything, but all she has to do - to know that isn't true - is simply look around.

I think ALL of us are probably like that, more than we'd like to admit. We can be surrounded by blessings and not SEE them... because of some problem or injustice that we think trumps them all. But it doesn't. And we (haha, maybe just I) need to simply look around.

And THAT is my inspirational thought for the day (I have plenty of less inspirational thoughts too, but since I can't blog very often anymore... sadly... you are only struck with things that seem significant enough to say).

Funny, this is TOTALLY not what I had sat down to write/blog. ((shrug)) Go figure, huh?

Blessed.

2010-08-25T14:12:00.002-05:00

Latley, I have been feeling blessed.

It's weird to tell people about out 'situation'... I feel like it just sounds like a 'sob story' - job lay off a few days before finding out we were expecting, spending almost a year apart from DH, losing our houses (including our 'home' we had finally been able to come back to), and moving into an apartment (where we couldn't keep pets, so we had to find new homes for them)... it just SOUNDS depressing.

But that's not how it feels - right now I am just feeling increadably blessed.

I am so thankful for friends who came to help us move... the men who literally carried our furniture and boxes, as well as women who helped with packing and then a new friend who came over and helped me clean up the old house when I was NOT feeling like caring enough to do that... friends who offered to watch kids (and who watched kids) so I could get some more work done. Friends who listened. A thoughtful mother-in-law who ordered us pizza after a LONG day of moving (who knew you could even do that from far away?!)...

I'm thankful for family, their love and support and listening and understanding.

I'm also thankful for our new home - again 'low income housing' SOUNDS depressing, but we really have a nice apartment and it's a good home for us for now, the ammount of space is nice, the apartment itself is nice, and the set-up of the building and area is even just different and cool. It's a restored older building, super-cool, and I love it.

I also have been rather impressed with the kids' school, which I'd worried about. That is a HUGE blessing... the kids can also get free breakfast there and we applied for the free lunch stuff too, which will help our grocery budget (my kids eat a LOT... seriously... you should see them). The idea of Godzilla being in ALL DAY school killed (kills?) me but that may be a blessing too - he LOVES it and it could be good for him (even if I miss him like crazy).

WIC is a blessing, they help with some food too AND I even got a really nice pump from them when I talked to them about having milk supply issues.

Family is a blessing. Friends are a blessing. Our country and the programs they have to help people are a blessing...

Blessings, Blessings, everywhere.

I told you, we're just blessed.

life...

2010-07-16T12:24:00.004-05:00

Our life has been crazy lately - we're home, with DH again, but we need to move... losing our last house... and so we've been trying to find a place we can afford to stay together (and trying to find one NOT in a super-scary area - which is harder) - we had different 'favorites', but finally turned the question to God and decided on the place we feel like we should be... it's still hard, I am not sure if the schools in the area are ones I am comfortable sending Edelweiss (or Godzilla, when he is old enough) to... but we're trying to do what is right and follow the spirit, however scary it is... and if I don't find a place we can get them in that I am comfortable with, then I can home school.

So we're just home after almost a year, and getting ready to move, and trying to downsize (we're going to an apartment... one that doesn't allow pets, so our beloved animals needed new homes)... and it's just been crazy - stressful, busy, hard - everything rolled into one.

So, sorry, but blogging hasn't quite made the list of things to keep up on - I WILL try to do better when we're more 'settled', but until then I (honestly) can't even be bothered to feel bad about not doing it more -- but a QUICK update (and even some pictures) to tide you over...

Edelweiss turned 7.

Godzilla is getting more independent and less shy all of the time.

Thundar is even growing up...

That's life here -- also -- if you have a blog, I was SOOOOO excited to come back and find all of my blogs I used to follow again - friends, roommates, family - but then I discovered the computer had been f-disked so all of my 'favorites' (where they were saved) are GONE, and I have no idea how to get to anyone's blog... so you can give me a link to yours, if you want ;o) ...and someday I'll get a chance to catch up.

The Last Day...

2010-05-26T14:26:00.003-05:00

And obviously she is HEARTBROKEN that first grade will be over after today...

I am glad she got to go today though, yesterday she was sick and I thought there was a chance she'd miss her chance to say 'goodbye' and all of that if she was still too sick to go today, and that'd be really sad... luckily she was feeling better so she got to go (and bring her 'fairy game' to share), but after today she won't really be a first grader. DANG. A 'second grader' sounds WAY too old...

2010-05-21T17:38:00.003-05:00

My first thought, when my alarm clock went off this morning was "I am SOOO glad it's Saturday and I can just turn that off"

My second thought was "oh crap, it's NOT Saturday..."

*sigh* sad, huh?

Who would have thought that taking a bunch of little kids to see one of Shakespeare's plays on a school night could possibly make the next morning somewhat difficult? Actually, Edelweiss seemed fine with getting up, and since SHE was the one that had to stay at school - that's probably more important. Also, it was a shakespearian play, how can anyone NOT think that's a great idea? Shakespeare is always awesome, I totally think 6 year old... 4 year old... and even 2.5 month old children can appreciate that.

I am not compleatley insane though, (really) we skipped 'Hamlet' and went for 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'... it has fairies. That's why we went on a thursday... also, Shakespeare festivals with free plays are super-cool, I so want to go back and see 'Hamlet' and 'Romeo and Juliet' (even though R&J is pretty much my least favorite of his works) since the one we saw was SO GOOD - very well done and the seats at the outdoor ampitheater it was at weren't even particularly uncomfortable. Somewhat annoying though, NEXT YEAR's plays include two of my favorites... which makes me want to come back for them (although the 'free' aspect may be somewhat skewed by a trip across the country).

Now Edelweiss wants to be 'PeaseBlossom' for Halloween... awesome.

2010-05-17T10:27:00.000-05:00

I LOVE pictures of the kids all together!

Kids

2010-05-13T13:16:00.001-05:00

they look like such nice little children...

(this was taken at the end of a VERY long day -- although, even then, I love these guys)

siblings

2010-05-01T10:49:00.003-05:00

So, I just realized I haven't shared a single picture on here that wasn't a 'newborn' one of Thundar... And now he's 2 months old (and 14 pounds, 4 ounces - the boy STILL wants to eat pretty much 20 or so times a day... also, he is still allergic to the floor (or being put down at all)... but oh-so-cute and sweet).

Anyways, these are old pictures (thanks to Aunt T who put them online somewhere else and I stole them from there) but at least they're MORE recent than the other ones on here?

Edelweiss and Godzilla love their little brother.

four-eyes

2010-04-16T14:03:00.002-05:00

I have ALWAYS thought glasses were super-cute, and wanted some. Unfortunatley for ME, my vision is fine... okay, even I know if I NEEDED them, they'd get old fast - but I still think they are cute.

Now though, Edelweiss is the lucky one - she came home from school last week and told me that a)they tested her vision and b)she didn't do very well... but there was no paper or anything? So I wondered what was going on. On the way to school the next morning I talked to her about how I'd always wanted glasses. I was going to ask her teacher when I picked her up that day, but lo and behold - there was a note thing saying they tested her vision and it stunk and we needed to get her in for a full eye exam as soon as possible... there's even a note for the eye doctor to fill out and you bring it back?

So when we got home, we loaded everyone up and went to the local walmart vision center - I didn't have their phone number, but I knew they sometimes could do the exams there, and the very nice doctor guy got us in after about a half hour (which was good, considering there wasn't anything about walk-ins and we were supposed to have an appointment... but it wasn't busy so they squeezed us in).

He was SO nice doing her test, and really good - but WOW - her vision stinks. Watching her do the test was so interesting - even the 'big' lines of letters that she thought she could tell him were pretty much all wrong (like she'd say "okay, I can tell that one is an 'F'... 'cept it was a 'P' or whatever). I also thought it was interesting that her vision's been tested before and come back fine?! I asked him about that too, and he said it's just one of those things - and it'll probably get worse as she gets older.

He also seemed to want to reassure ME that her glasses wouldn't be all thick or anything and she'd only have to wear them for like doing board work at school... hah, if only he knew how I'd been wanting glasses for the last 20+ years...

So then we walked over with our prescription and ordered her glasses - purple frames (of course)... they were supposed to be ready in about a week, but two days later (we ordered them thursday afternoon, they called saturday morning) they were in and ready to be picked up.

I LOVE them, I think they are so cute - but I can't get over how different she looks with them on. Fun stuff. I want to go do pictures again. She also loves them and spent all of this week wearing pants/shorts to school (very unusual for her) instead of dresses because she thought no one would recognize her. She keeps wanting to wear them even when she doesn't need to, but I think part of it is how much they help her see everything far away - and I was surprised how she does NOT mess with them all of the time (I thought she would)... just leaves them on and sort of seems to forget about them.

Then the other night when she said the bedtime prayer she was asking God to let me be able to get glasses too, so I could be special like her... hmmmm, thanks... I think?

Classic.

2010-03-24T15:32:00.002-05:00

Godzilla ran over to me this morning, so excited.

"Mommy, I got dressed ALL BY MYSELF!"

He was so proud.

Also, his t-shirt was on backwards...and so were his shorts.

Priceless.

Details

2010-03-01T14:52:00.004-06:00

Soooo... since apparently some people want more information than 'he's here' I am going to attempt to fill in some other details while Thundar sleeps (fingers crossed, he hasn't noticed that I put him down yet).

First of all - his stats - 8lbs 5.1oz, 19 & 1/4 inches long... so he was TOTALLY not as ginormous as I was thinking he was going to be, although since he's a few inches shorter than either of his siblings were, when they made their debut, he still seems a little more 'solid' than they did at birth.

He was born at (wait for it) 23:23pm on 2/23/10. Seriously, you know I planned that. Okay, so maybe not - but still - sort of funny, right? It also gives him the same birthday as my Gramma, who was born on 2/23/23 (which is also cool).

Okay... NOW... you are free to stop reading if you don't want to know more about the birth. Seriously, I won't mind (really, how would I know?)... but since some people have asked, I am going to put more info on that here too.

You were warned...
I started having contractions on Friday, actually (like the 19th)... and at my doctor's appointment that morning I was 50% effaced and 2 or 3 cm dilated. That sort of freaked me out, actually, I've never been either dilated or effaced before checking into the hospital (like even if they checked me the day the others were born, there was nothing going on).

So I spent pretty much all of friday thinking "I wonder if this is labor... those were 9 minutes apart... when do people go to the hospital to have a baby?" See, even though Thundar is my third, I've never actually 'gone into labor' WITHOUT my water breaking first.

I have decided having my water break first is WAY better - it's like earthquakes vs tornados. Where I grew up, we had earthquakes. Earthquakes don't bother me AT ALL. By the time you know about them, they're pretty much over. Yes, they can cause damage... but then it's done, and you work on picking up the pieces. Then I moved somewhere that didn't have earthquakes, but they DO have tornados. Man, I do not like tornados. First you have 'tornado watches' then 'tornado warnings' (or maybe it's the other way around, I could never remember)... and you sit around waiting for something bad to (maybe) happen. MAYBE your house will explode, or your car will blow away or whatever... you just have to wait and see. LAME.

Yup. So that's labor without your water breaking - you sit around FOREVER wondering if you are really in labor. All day Friday. All day Saturday. Sometime on Sunday you decide this baby is never going to get here. Monday confirms that you will be pregnant forever, and just having contractions for the rest of your life. Tuesday is more of the same... Contractions would start, then stop. Do nothing. Come back.

Seriously, what is up with that? Lame.

Tuesday night though, while watching 'LEVERAGE' or something with my Dad... they started again, but more painfully. Also, they were about 3 minutes apart. Even I know that 3 minutes apart, painful contractions sounds like I should think about going to the hospital -- but I also wondered if they were REALLY contractions (still no breaking water, after all, how am I supposed to know what to do?)... so I went to take a shower and see if they went away.

Then, while taking a shower, I thought "what in the world am I doing in the shower? I should call someone to watch kiddos and stuff. This is really a terrible plan."

Lucky for me, everyone (well, not kiddos) was still up - so I should be able to stick my head out and tell someone I need to go to the hospital, right?

'Cept that in the last two minutes aparently everyone went to bed. And the house is all dark. Doh.

So, since I did not want to walk up the stairs - I called my Dad's cell phone (yes, I know, since he was in the same house and all that is sort of lame... but oh well) and told him I needed to go to the hospital. Like, right now, probably.

Apparently my Mom had just finished putting curlers in her hair. Oops. So my Dad called my brother, to see if he and his wife would come stay with kids... and my Mom worked on taking curlers OUT of her hair.

Then Mom and I went to the hospital, and my Dad was going to come over after my brother & his wife (Uncle M2 and Aunt S)came over (or my other brother got home from work... when there was someone there to leave with Edelweiss and Godzilla (who were sleeping already)).

At the hospital we got right to admissions... where they had us sit and wait to double check paperwork. Seriously. ((shrug)). It seemed sort of odd, but I guess sort of makes sense.

Then I got a wheelchair ride to the labor and delivery room, where they put us in a room... and no one came over for a while. I don't think it was a LONG while, but I was sort of surprised since usually they seem more hurried to check things out? Apparently I seemed 'too calm'... since when they DID check, they sort of freaked out a little bit about the fact that I was already at a 7.

So I got moved to another room, and told if I wanted an epidural I'd have to tell them right now.

Now I've never actually HAD the option before - of having an epidural. I go too fast. And the nurse did admit there was a chance it wouldn't get there in time and/or I'd be nice and numb right AFTER I delivered. Um... and the idea of someone sticking a giant needle into my spinal cord is sort of freaky... and I've DONE childbirth before with no drugs at all... so I decided maybe I didn't want to deal with the giant needle in my back. Wimpy, I know.

So, after we told her that she asked if I didn't want ANY meds. HAH. I told her I was okay with having something for pain (seriously, I am so not anti-pain meds) because, let's face it, all of this hurts.

So when they got my IV in (only two or three people had to try, and I only got stuck a couple of times... joy) I got some meds that she said might make me drowsy and/or dizzy
Yup. They did. I kept drifting off and then wondering if things I THOUGHT were happening were really happening. Like my Mom telling me a story about when she had one of my brothers. Then I'd have to ask if she REALLY told me that. Drifting back and forth between being aware of what was going on was okay. It still hurt, but let's face it - it didn't matter as much somehow. The contractions got stronger and closer together (as contractions are wont to do) and I didn't really care. Actually, I wasn't entirley aware of what I was there for anymore. I had these random stream-of-conciousness-thoughts that didn't make a lot of sense... somehow there was a video game involved?

'If I could just make it past level ten. Hmm, I feel like I should push. Hmm, pushing. That seems familiar. I wonder if I need to tell someone that I want to push. It seems like I should...' at which point I sort of opened my eyes to see my Mom still there, and I told HER "am I supposed to tell someone, if I want to push"... before closing my eyes and thinking 'phew, I told someone. She can figure it out now...'

SHE seemed sort of excited about it. Or worried. Or whatever. She called in a nurse to tell her too, while I drifted off again.

Sadly, as things got closer and MORE painful... I couldn't drift off anymore. When I realized that I was no longer going back and forth between reality/la la land I TRIED to go back to la la land (seriously, who wants to be in reality at this point?!)... but it didn't work. Crap.

Then I was just stuck in reality. Stupid painful reality. This is also about the time that I think "WHY DIDN'T I GET AN EPIDURAL?"... seriously? If someone asks you "would you like to do this the way that you feel nothing... or would you like to be in increadable ammounts of pain?"... WHY, oh WHY, would you say "hmm, I am thinking pain's not so bad..." Dumbest plan ever.

About then my Dad and Uncle M2 came in. Well, mostly my Dad came in... M2 stuck his head in and said 'hi' and asked if there was anything he could get me. I think I said 'I'm good' which struck me as funny since - seriously - I was so not good. But it's not like I needed to have him bring me a milkshake or something, and it was nice of him to ask. He'd just given my Dad a ride (while Aunt S stayed with sleeping children), so then he was off.

They were already getting things ready for the 'delivery' part of labor/delivery by now, and the nurse asked if my Dad was staying or going. Now like a WEEK ago I hadn't thought he was going to be there, but on Friday (or one of those days) when I was in labor-limbo he mentioned that he was comming to the hospital. At first I thought that was sort of weird... but then thinking about it, I decided I didn't care. Really ((shrug)) I don't know if it'd matter if like the entire Mormon Tabernacle Chior showed up at this point, but I love my Dad and if he WANTED to be there I didn't mind. I think originally he was thinking more the 'father's waiting room' sort of a situation, where he'd just be at the hospital... but I told him I didn't care - he was welcome to be there for whatever he was comfortable for, and he ended up staying for the birth too.

Giving birth sucks. In case you didn't know (or forgot). It sucks more when the baby is 'sunny side up'... it hurts more AND is harder to push the stinkin' kid out. This is when you REALLY wish that the meds to help you drift out of reality would be working. But they weren't. Sad. Also, at THIS point... someone came in to take my blood? Yeah. I totally wondered if that really happened later, but my Mom confirmed it did... like TWO minutes before I pushed a baby out was a GREAT time to come and poke my arm with another needle...

So anyways, gripping my Dad's hand (my Mom held my hand too, but her hands are softer and she totally has nice nails and I didn't want to hurt her hand or mess up her nails... yup, THAT'S what I was thinking about)... I pushed out a baby. And apparently like a tidal wave of amniotic fluid (according to my Mom, that part doesn't hurt and it's not like I was watching what was going on).

They asked who was going to cut the cord, and my Mom did that part (I am assuming my Dad's done it before, so it was nice for her to be able to do it). I was mostly thinking 'ow' about then.

Then I needed, as far as I can tell, about 238907328897 stitches. And the shot of whatever to make it not hurt while I got stitches... yeah, that didn't work at all. So I felt the needle and everything. THAT'S what I needed at that point, right? Actually, I think she said I got 10 stitches... but when you're that sore and can feel ALL of the sewing, it feels like a lot more.

Then I got to cuddle with my baby. Aw. .

And now, Thundar is awake... so I should scoot. He is a very nice baby and pretty much happy all of the time - unless I put him down, he doesn't like that.

2010-02-26T23:17:00.000-06:00

Thundar made it here safely.

7.5 pounds

2010-02-05T17:45:00.001-06:00

I had my ultrasound today, and the ultrasound tech is guessing that Thundar is currently about 7.5lbs... so if he gains a pound a week for the rest of my pregnancy he'll only be 12.5lbs.

Ouch.

40 weeks

2010-01-28T17:56:00.000-06:00

Hah! I KNEW I was seriously ginormous... today at my doctor's appointment they said I am measuring 40 weeks, which (for those of you who don't know) is how big you'd measure if you got to your due date, normally.

So now I have an ultrasound scheduled to see if Thundar is just the size of a teenager or what... crazy baby.

2010-01-26T22:16:00.001-06:00

Edelweiss lost her first tooth today... how do I have a kid old enough to lose a tooth?

2010-01-18T11:48:00.002-06:00

"...and I dreamed I was sleeping on billowy-billows,
of soft silk and satin, marshmellow-stuffed pillows.
I dreamed I was sleeping in Solla Sollew,
on the banks of the beautiful river Wha-hoo.

But then I woke up, and it just wasn't true."

-Dr.Seuss (from I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew)

So last night I dreamed that I totally slept WELL, through the entire night... and then I woke up and it was PAST 8 o'clock - maybe almost even 9 - and my kids were still sleeping peacefully.

But when I woke up to use the bathroom for the 219853678432th time, at 3am, Godzilla started sobbing. When I went to check on him I found out he was super-duper upset because he was sleeping and Edelweiss poked him. 'Cept she is (although next to him) obviously being woken up by his crying right at that moment... and has NO IDEA what he is talking about or why he is waking her up. I can't decide if he DREAMED that she poked him? Or if she rolled over or something and somehow bumped him? But she didn't really DO anything.

When he got his story across he was about back to sleep again... but then Edelweiss couldn't stop coughing. She was having trouble breathing she was coughing so much... poor kiddo, and then touching her forehead, she was burning up. So I got her (eventually) settled, sang Godzilla a lullaby... and eventually got to go back to sleep... and wish my dream was something that might someday happen.

best worker of the day...

2010-01-16T13:10:00.002-06:00

I am trying to blog more again, so you're going to have to deal with more 'random' posts... um, or not read them. That works too...

Anyways - my best worker of the day today is... (dun, dun, dun)... GODZILLA!

I was so impressed with him. Last week the kiddos took FOREVER to 'clean' their room and didn't really get it done until someone was standing there telling them "keep working" every two seconds - so THIS week Edelweiss wanted to work up there by herself and have Godzilla clean downstairs (toys, books, trash, dirty clothes, shoes... all of those things they are capiable of putting away so those are 'their' job).

Anyways - I figured that was okay, but put in an disclaimer that when she was done she needed to come down and help (since downstairs was a lot worse than their bedroom)... but he BEAT her?! He cleaned EVERYTHING and did a totally good job without ANY reminders at all. He did it quickly too, probably faster than I would have expected them to get done if both of them were picking up downstairs. I was so impressed, then when he was done with that he helped me with some other odds and ends.

Edelweiss' nose is all out of joint now because I said he was my best worker of the day, but their room STILL isn't done. And it wasn't as messy... and he finished the downstairs stuff like over an hour ago? She gets hung up on the 'detail' stuff (aka taking an hour to set up all of the furniture in her dollhouse just right is TOTALLY still cleaning? Which it sort of is, and I arange things when I clean so I 'get' that... but it still means she is taking forever AND things like 'put all of the toys in the toybox' isn't done yet). I tried sending my super-good-worker to help, but sticking them together meant NEITHER of them were working anymore... so he gets to do his 'quiet time' (it's not a nap! Really! Since we were out super-late last night at an amusement park (without a stroller, they had to walk their little selves around the entire time, I was feeling mean about that last night when we were all exausted... but oh well... I think he'll probably fall asleep) while she finishes the bedroom on her own.

So, eventually, she should get it done. And it will look VERY nice when she does (including how the stuffed animals are arranged on the bed... the doll furniture will be super cute and nicely set up... etc) - but mostly today I was feeling impressed with how well Godzilla worked. Yay for good workers!

weird.

2010-01-13T12:54:00.002-06:00

Today, Edelweiss is going to go to a friend's house for a (much-needed) playdate. She hasn't been able to hang out with girl friends as much since we've been out here, between her brother and her cousin(s)... it's just a bunch of boys. So she is, of course, SUPER excited about all of this. She needs to be able to see friends outside of school, and we've seriously dropped the ball on that since we've been out here since we don't/didn't know anyone and this school doesn't have 'room moms' so I haven't been more involved with school (to get to know classmates/parents and stuff)... so she way needs girlie-interaction, and has really been missing that.

Anyways, after school she is going to go to her friend's house (that Mom is just taking E home with them). It's a friend we know from church (so I know the friend too, her school friends I never get a chance to meet/know at all), AND I know her Mom, AND I've been over to their house before - so I am comfortable with her playing over there... but it's still... weird. I've never had someone else just pick Edelweiss up from school before and not seen her for a couple of hours LONGER...

It's just going to be weird, when it's 'time' to pick her up for school, and I won't go pick her up. I am excited for her, and she is SO SO excited (and so is her friend)... but I am still... anxious... about it too.

(and yes, I know I am a big nerd)

Things NEVER to Say to a Pregnant Woman...

2010-01-12T18:50:00.002-06:00

1) "How long do you have left... wait, you have HOW LONG...?"
-seriously, in what world is this helpful? Do you REALLY think they are making up a further away due date for some reason? I think not.

2) "Haven't you had that baby yet?"
-obviously, if I am still pregnant... no. Also, if I have two months left (pregnancy is 10 months, not 9, weirdo '40 week' calender you find out when you're pregnant) this is REALLY also not especially nice to hear.

If everyone knew that, the world would just be a nicer place... at least for pregnant women.

Also, to all of my friends who want to shop for baby stuff - Target currently (as of last night) had a TON of super-cute baby things on clearance... I now have some clothes and blankets and stuff I need (yay) and even felt good about how much they cost (double-yay)... so if you need baby stuff too, seriously, go to Target.

2010-01-10T12:53:00.001-06:00

So... I stink at updating.

Anyways. I am now about 8 months pregnant - and starting to freak out, because I have pretty much... nothing. Logic tells me this is NOT a great plan for bringing home a new baby, but I am also (still) broke.

Pffft.

Oh well. On other news, Edelweiss is six-and-a-half today... we baked cupcakes. Godzilla asks on a daily basis how much longer it is until his birthday (he's got less than a month to go now) and then tries to negotiate a shorter wait-time... it cracks me up when I tell him how many days he has left before he turns four, and he thinks about it and then tells me 'how 'bout... THREE days?'... fun stuff. Crazy kids, both of them growing up too fast.

'Thundar'

2009-12-18T11:21:00.002-06:00

Soooo... since some people have been harassing me about not 'posting' about some particular news...

We're expecting baby #3 towards the begining/middle of March (or the end of February, if he's a very nice little boy)...

The ultrasounds all seem to think that he is a little boy, and for here, I am thinking his name will be 'Thundar' in honor of all siblings that want to give their siblings crazy names (my two oldest brothers soooo wanted to name my third (also older) brother 'Thundar the Barbarian'... weird, my parents veto-ed that one).

Everything is going well for him at this point, he's VERY active (and was cracking the doctor up yesterday because he kept jumping around and trying to get away from the doppler thing while she was trying to listen to his heartbeat), and everything seems alright for me too (glucose levels, iron, etc... all good...).

The other kiddos are excited. Godzilla, especially, was way voting for a little brother and runs over to hug my growing belly on a regular basis (and tells me those hugs are for Thundar NOT for me?!). Edelweiss liked the idea of being like 'Wendy' (from 'Peter Pan') and having two little brothers - but I think a part of her is still holding out hope that we'll discover we REALLY get a baby sister when the baby's born, since she's heard stories of 'wrong' ultrasounds. She wants more girls around, since all of her cousins (at least the ones around here, my brother's kids) are boys...

So, fun stuff.

Slacking...

2009-10-28T22:17:00.002-05:00

Wow, I am like SERIOUSLY slacking on the whole blogging thing.

I have about a billion pictures to post too - I keep thinking I'll wait until I download those onto a computer, then I'd have something to share! But somehow it just ends up that I share nothing instead.

Oops.

So, update.

We're still chillin' at my parent's for the time being. Kids are good. Edelweiss got 'student of the month' at her school, and guessing from parent-teacher-conferences her teacher thinks she is the most awesome kid ever. So funny, she was all gushing? Go figure. She is reading really well right now, and I guess that's unusual for first graders out here, so she's the only one in her class who is allowed to go get library books out of the chapter book section (I am not sure that it matters, but she told me that and it's nice for US that she gets them there, since we don't have as many of those here with us). Godzilla is in speech theraphy, which he loves to pieces. He also loves that one of his cousins gets to spend a couple of days a week playing with us while his Dad is at work. So the two of them (both boys, close to the same age - his cousin is something like 7 months younger than him) have a ball playing all day. We have a new addition too - a sweet little guinea pig named 'Beau' (which was what Godzilla wanted to name the puppy, and Edelweiss sweetly let him name the guinea pig that, when she found out it was a boy guinea pig).

And yes, I have pictures of all of that (and more... seriously, I think there's about 400 pictures on my camera on the moment - I am sort of wondering how many fit on it before it will be full?)... so hopefully soon I'll figure out how to get those OFF of the camrea and share -- ESPECIALLY because (best news of all) we also were able to welcome a new nephew/cousin into the family, and we got to meet him when he was only a few days old. Awww... such a sweetie. Godzilla always asks me to show him pictures of ****** (he needs a nickname, Aunt T) on the computer. So sweet...

Anyways, that's what's new! Thanks for those of you who've been asking, and sorry it took me so long to update!

Lincoln-Lincoln-Bo-Bincoln...

2009-09-01T14:46:00.003-05:00

*sigh*

The renters for our 'real home' fell through, which means now we have to find A)a different renter(s), and B)a (temporary) home for Lincoln. Funny (okay, not like 'ha ha funny', but you know what I mean) the dog issue bothers me a LOT more than the money/house problems (although we still have our share of those, obviously).

It's just that... with everything else that is going on and being 'lost', with all of this mess - I REALLY do not want the kids to lose their dog too... especially considering that they haven't seen him in a month and they STILL talk about him (to strangers, me, family, etc) at least a couple of times everyday. Yes, everyday.

So, um, does anyone want to puppy-sit... for maybe several months?

Photo Shoot

2009-08-26T12:32:00.011-05:00

this was Edelweiss' first-day-of-school outfit... I love pictures.

2009-08-26T12:11:00.002-05:00

If we were still at 'our real home' (as Godzilla refers to it), today would be Edelweiss' first day back at school.

As it is, she started back about two weeks ago.

Since I haven't updated here in ages, I suppose I should.

The kids and I are staying with my parents for now, DH found a job but it is a mostly-commission thing that is going to take a while to be able to support having us together. We're renting out our house (we have a renter lined up now, yay), hoping we won't lose it until we can afford the morgage on our own again - and hopefully everything will go well and we'll be back there around the end of the school year.

So, life goes on... thanks for the thoughts and prayers (and I'll try to be better about updating, but I don't get on a computer as much here).

2009-08-24T12:39:00.002-05:00

I know just how she feels...

(my brother sent me this and it made me laugh, so I had to share)

Depressing...

2009-07-15T08:01:00.003-05:00

So I was told I needed to update my blog, because it's depressing... and it totally is. I don't even come on here, since it's just sad.

I DO need to update too. Edelweiss' birthday has come and gone (she is SIX now, how unbelievable is that?!)... so... soon... look for updates soon.

2009-06-30T22:43:00.002-05:00

DH got laid off this morning

2009-06-25T10:46:00.002-05:00

So last night Godzilla woke up in the middle of the night SOBBING.

I waited for a few moments to see if he'd go back to sleep, but (of course) he didn't.

So I went over to his room, and quietly opened the door - well, as far as I could open it because (like all toddlers?) he was laying right in front of the door, still sobbing.

When he saw me he stopped sobbing long enough to say "I want out!"

Yeah, at midnight... being in his room was apparently unbearable.

I picked him up, and he snuggled right into me, but continued sobbing. It's a good thing that Edelweiss could sleep through anything.

I tried to put him back on his bed, but that led to arm-hugging-clinging like there was no tomorrow. When I sucessfully deposited him on his bed he REALLY started sobbing (apparently the OTHER sobbing wasn't as dramatic as it could have been).

After I filled up his bottle, which he rejected immediatley (along with his 'kitty'... his favorite toy in the universe, which he flung across the room in a show of rejection which made me wonder if maybe someday he WILL show some athletic prowess like his amazingly-athletic-cousin (who is also 3)).

So I picked him back up and rocked him. I knew better than to sing to him (any lullabies make this kid get madder than anything, I think because they make him start to drift off, and that is NOT what he wants? So now if he even hears me START his lullaby it will immediatley set him off, even if he's NOT already going). He sobbed anyways. Nothing made much difference. He even woke Edelweiss up at one point, she woke up enough to tell him to be quiet already, and then immediatley was asleep again.

Finally, I brought him out of the room... I laid down with him on my bed. After he'd gotten 'out' (which WAS his goal all along) he settled down some. Drained his bottle. He asked for more water but I told him if I got him more water I was putting him back in bed, so he just set the bottle aside and cuddled into me. I asked him if he wanted to go to HIS bed. He ignored that idea, until I pointed out that Gramma made his sheets and pillowcase for him, because she loves him. He agreed that Gramma loved him to make them, and then cuddled into me and closed his eyes.

Not sobbing, he fell asleep. For like a minute. When he woke up, he looked around to figure out where he was. When he saw me, I asked him if he wanted to sleep in his bed. He didn't answer, but scooched down towards the foot of the bed. I thought he was just looking for a better 'spot' to sleep, since it is hot and NOT cuddling weather.

Instead, he hopped off of the bed, and silently wandered out of my room... and into his. Closed the door behind him, and went to bed. Really, I checked. I gave him back his kitty, and his blanket and bottle... and he went to back to sleep.

2009-06-23T19:46:00.003-05:00

Today, my darling sweet children (whom I love more than life itself) were driving me nuts.

It probably has something to do with being under house-arrest for the last week or so (Godzilla was sick Friday-Saturday-Sunday-Monday... Tuesday was a wonderful day when we left the house, and Wednesday morning too... then Wednesday-Thursday-Friday-Saturday I was sick, and just to round things out Friday-Saturday-Sunday Edeweiss was sick too...)

Yeah, THAT doesn't lead to people who are a little bit stir-crazy...

Today I was wishing someone lived nearby that I could just call and say "HELP, I need to get away from my children" so I could go to the movies (fifty cent tuesday at the dollar theater, whoo-hoo!). Or somewhere. Anywhere?

Sadly, probably mostly because I would feel weird saying that to most people and trying to get a super-last-minute sitter... and we've lived here less than a year, so I didn't call anyone.

It DID make me think of all of the wonderful people we've been blessed to have in our life though - we've lived a lot of places in the last 5 years, and really I HAVE had friends I could call with that sort of a 'need' in places we've been (and really, probably friends here too... but one of my best friends just moved, one is on vacation in Utah, and then it's enrichment tonight... none of that helped the plan).

So... wish me luck for tomorrow... ;o)

2009-06-19T19:18:00.001-05:00

Now that Godzilla is better, of course, Edelweiss is sick... um, and so am I. Blech.

Tagged

2009-06-18T09:35:00.003-05:00

I totally thought, for once, I was NOT going to get tagged... when Mash didn't tag me, so (of course), Tania did.

Oh well - I haven't done a tag in ages, so I can do this really quickly, right?

8 things I did yesterday:
1. Yogakids workout with the kiddos - Godzilla even tried to do some of the poses this time (usually he just watches and/or climbs all over me)
2. Took the kids to Library A, to see a magician (and get books... and turn in their first reading logs, which were already full)
3. Took the kids to McD's for Happy Meals (complements of the library reading program - they each got a free Happy Meal from the reading program, since they'd turned in their logs)
4. Took the kids to Library B, to see a storyteller (and get more books)
5. Read 12809438923720 books to the kids
6. Got totally sick (and I didn't even eat any nasty McD's food!)
7. Tried to keep kids happy/entertained until bedtime, while running to the bathroom every three seconds
8. Put kids to bed (so I could be sick in peace...)

8 Favorite TV shows
1. Uhhh.
2. I really don't watch any tv
3. Seriously.
4. The last time I watched a tv show was probably at least a month or two ago
5. BUT... I used to like some shows.
6. "The Office"
7. "Biggest Loser" (although I've heard the newer episodes are all more 'competitive' and mean... I liked it when they were supportive and happy for each other's weight loss, and you could see the people change and 'grow' as they lost weight
8. Oh, I was way impressed when I discovered 'Word World' (for the kids)... although they don't watch tv either... so we never actually watch it.

8 Favorite Eats
1. Olive Garden
2. California Pizza Kitchen
3. Applebees
4. Subway
5. Hmmm...
6. I haven't gone to any of those places in probably 6 months
7. sorry, we don't get out much, so I can't think of 8 places that are my 'favorite'
8. Usually we eat at home, at the table? That's nice too.

8 Things I am looking forward to:
1. Visiting my family this summer!!! Yay for seeing family!!!
2. 'Old MacDonald's Musical Farm' (at the library today! I am sort of worried about going 'out' since I've been sick, but this is the ONLY day it is going to be preformed... so I think I'll try anyways)
3. Edelweiss' birthday (although I may have to go into denial about the idea of her being SIX)
4. Edelweiss' birthday party (we've never done a 'friend' party before, it should be interesting... although I am sort of nervous about it too)
5. The births of my new niece and nephew (different parents for each kiddo, lol, the way I wrote it sort of made it sound like twins or something, but they're not... niece's due in July, nephew in October)
6. The zoo's new exhibit opening - komodo dragons and orangutans! (whatever, I can look forward to it if I want to... that does NOT make me a total dork)
7. Next month begining, so we can be on a new 'budget' sheet... lol... this month's budget is almost out of all of the money in any fun categories (um, and in some other categories it'd be nice to have more money in too)
8. DH not being out of town so much (um, I can hope, right?)

8 Things on my Wish List:
1. wind chimes
2. a new 'welcome mat'
3. bunkbeds for the kids
4. a doghouse
5. one of those really cool wooden swingset/playsets
6. a new wardrobe
7. a family vacation (including extended family) to Disneyworld or a cruise or something super-cool
8. A bigger house (um, a gorgous one... with 'land' around it for DH... hey, it's a wish list, right?)

8 Things I am Thankful For:
1. My family (DH, Edelweiss and Godzilla)
2. My 'extended' family (parents, siblings & their families, in-laws)
3. the Gospel
4. good friends
5. libraries
6. the zoo/museum/parks
7. our home
8. DH's job (even when it takes him away from us sometimes)

8 People I Tag:
YOU!!! (there, you can feel like you should do the tag too, if you want to... but if you don't want to - then you can pretend I was talking to someone else - even though, really, I am talking to you)

p.s. - this was NOT quick... why in the world was this so HARD to think of things for?!

Shocking!

2009-06-17T07:13:00.001-05:00

Only two more days of 'everyday with pictures' posting, and my month is DONE!

I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike...

2009-06-16T09:06:00.000-05:00

(has anyone ever heard that song? No? ...okay, must just be me...)
Anyways - there's not really a lot of 'story' here - but the kids do like to ride their bikes... I think it's one of the 'oh what do you do in the summer-time' type of activities, right? And yes, they are wearing helmets while they ride around our teensy patio.

Splish, Splash

2009-06-15T20:54:00.005-05:00

So we got this pool AGES ago (literally, like two years ago, maybe?)... it cost $2, so I totally HAD to get it... um, but apparently I did not have to USE it - at least not quickly.

BUT, now we have used it! And the kids thought it was so fun... although Godzilla had to be convinced it was safe (really, the pool that is like ankle deep, even for him, we had to convince him was okay to play in) - but once he was convinced, there was no stopping them!

They used leaves they found, to pretend there were stingrays swimming around with them... they splashed... they pretended that the leaves were boats... and just had a good time in general.

Fun stuff, we should use our super-fun pool more often!

It's back!

2009-06-14T19:47:00.002-05:00

Godzilla got his bounce back...

Okay, in THIS picture - he doesn't look especially bouncy, but today when he brought me his cup from dinner, he was bouncing.

His fever is under 100 degrees now (yay) and maybe even back to normal.

Today we just had an 'easy' day - we declared it a 'pajama day' and after everyone bathed, we put on (clean) pajamas and wore pajamas all day. Edelweiss thought this was halarious. Godzilla thought it was weird (although he DID want to wear his 'wall-e' jammies)... but since we weren't going anywhere today, it seemed like a good day for it.

And yup, that's about it for today.

Two-Timing...

2009-06-13T20:42:00.003-05:00

Soooo... maybe I should start out by explaining that I love libraries. Really, I LOVE them. They are so fun. I could spend all of my time at the library, I would so be okay with that... I've been REALLY lucky in libaries in the last two places we lived. The first place we lived, after we had Ash and moved off and away on our own (literally, like thousands of miles from anyone we knew) had this adorable 'main street' and a teensy library crammed in with the city hall. I LOVED the librarian there, seriously, she was like my best friend in that city... and Edelweiss and I probably went to the library just about everyday. You think I am exagerating, but seriously, I'm not. I love libararies, remember? And we lived right off of this adorable main street, so it was like two blocks from my house to go there. So we went to the library all of the time and got tons of books... Also, they got newly released DVDs all of the time - like 3 a month? So you never had to actually 'rent' movies, you could just get all of the cool new ones from the library. Sweet, huh? WheI would have been super sad to leave my library there, when we moved... except that the library board screwed over the librarian (bunch of jerkfaces... excluding my Dad's nice cousin on the board who resigned because of the whole mess) - so with the NEW librarian (um, who used to be on the board... job stealing anyone?) I wasn't really comfortable going to the library there. I knew we were moving by the time it all happened, and we had a new baby (Godzilla, obviously)... but I was still sad for my friend there.

Anyways, we moved and about two blocks from our new house (in a new city) was a BRAND NEW library. Whoo-hoo. Seriously, I think it opened within a month of when we moved there... nice timing, huh? It was a gorgous library too, large and spacious and designed to be calming and serene... it was just a fantastic specimin of what a library should be.

Anyways, where we live now - the closest library to us is actually in another city than the city we 'live' in. Okay, so the city line (boundry?) is like a block away from our house... but yeah. So. This closest library is NOT really walking distance (sad!) - but since there's no sidewalks anywhere here (a big pet peeve... maybe my only real pet peeve, about where we live) anyways - oh well. We can drive. The library there, we'll call it library A. I actually didn't go over there and get a library card and all of that jazz until we'd lived here for maybe 6 months. I honestly don't think I have EVER gone that long without visiting a library... at least not after I was 4 years old and had my own library card (I think I had to be able to write my own (first) name) - and before that I probably went more often than every 6 months too - since my Mom also loves books and libraries... anyways, moving on...

Library A impressed me with their selection of 'early readers' for kids who are learning to read... we started getting those for Edelweiss so that everynight she'd read me a book, and then I'd read her a book (she could choose what she wanted me to read her) and that helped a LOT with her reading confidence... but... can I confess that the library snob in me just isn't that impressed with the library overall? Yes, they have books. That is nice. I really like books. But there isn't anywhere that I can just look up a book and whether they have it, or where it is, myself. And, um, it's ugly. It doesn't LOOK like a libarary so much, from the outside... it's smaller and cramped and the building just isn't very nice. I know, I know, I am a libary snob... sorry... but this is the library closest to us, so that's where we go. We'd done storytime there for a while (with Godzilla, who would run over to me and lean against me everytime they did a song, and then go back to his spot on the carpet to listen to the stories... and then insist that he loves storytime and we have to go...) and I'd gotten somewhat used to finding books there, and so I liked the library okay. It IS a library, and that is a big plus in it's favor.

THEN... I heard that the library (libraries) for OUR city were having summer reading programs. Library A is having them too - but Library B (um, we'll just lump all 4 of the libraries in our city, none of which is close to us, as Library B, okay?) is having them at EACH of their branches, every week, all summer... at two times, usually. Musicans and plays and puppeters and all sorts of fun things. And we ARE going to Library A's events (they are having things too) but I want to go to some of the Library B things TOO... since they look fun as well... AND - Library B's summer reading program, the kids can each earn a BOOK. Not just the ice cream coupons and things, but a book?! And each kid can get one. So. We practically HAD to sign them up for that summer reading program. Reading 20 hours over the summer is NOT going to be a problem for them (especially since my reading TO them counts, and we often read for a couple of hours a day)... so now, we're signed up for TWO summer reading programs (library A's we just keep track of what books they've read), at two different libraries. And we're planning on going to events at all of these different libraries... (seriously, on Wednesday we went to Library A - saw a show with juggling and trained animals and so forth, then signed up for their reading program... went home and had lunch... then went to Library B - saw a ventriloquist who the kids LOVED, and then signed up for THEIR reading program...)

But worse than that - when we WENT to Library B... it FEELS like a library! (actually, funny story, it's like in a strip mall? You know, like surrounded by clothing stores and whatnot - and Godzilla was ALL mad when we parked, since we'd told him we were going to the library... tee hee...) It's still weird to me, when they have libraries at malls and shopping centers and stuff, but after you get inside that door - it just FEELS like a library (um, like 'home' and 'peace' and all sorts of wonderful things, if you're a weirdo like me). It's bigger and nicer than Library A... It had this great 'dragon' that you go under to get to the children's area - and just shelves and shelves and shelves of books that I want to read (seriously, walking through a library, I want to read everything!)

AND... they had the Mercy Watson book we're missing! We still want to buy it sometime, to complete our 'collection'... but Edelweiss got to READ it. So, I love this library so much more than library A now. And I want to go back (I got my card in the mail today too, so I CAN... and check out more things... whoo-hoo!)... but I feel vaugley like I am 'cheating' on 'our' library - since that's the one that we found first, and it is closer to us, and all of that. Also, I want to go find the 'central' library now, since if this random branch is that nice - the central library must be awesome, right?

*sigh* I think it's a disease. I told you I love libraries.

2009-06-12T19:03:00.002-05:00

Godzilla's lost his bounce.

Okay, it's probably not LOST... but he's feverish and not feeling well today, so very sad.

When my baby is sick I retain the right to post short posts on my blog, with only one old (and blurry) picture, so there.

Pool Party!

2009-06-11T08:17:00.013-05:00

There was a pool party last weekend at our Bishop's house... for the primary kids to get in, they had to memorize the 4th Article of Faith (if you don't know what the articles of faith are, they just sort of tell you the basic beliefs of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints... if you want to know more, let me know and we can sic some missionaries on you).

Anyways, Edelweiss had totally worked hard to get it memorized all perfectly - and the weekend before the party I even knew she needed a new swimsuit (her old one was too small) so we went and got one a week in advance and everything!

Of course, as we were getting ready for the party I realized that Godzilla's swimsuit was just as old as Edelweiss' had been - and it was a 2T. There wasn't really time to go hunt up a new one at the store, so I decided to try it. Lucky us, Godzilla is pretty narrow, so it worked okay. Phew.

We also didn't have any sunscreen?! Or I couldn't find any... I would have sworn I had a bottle of it! Seriously though, I need to work on planning better (before it is time to go?). But we went anyways, and just didn't plan on staying for a long time.
So we got there, Edelweiss told the Bishop her carefully practiced Article of Faith, and we were in! The Bishop very nicely went to look for some more life vests that the kids could wear - and I realized that the pool had NO SHALLOW END?!
There was a spa too though, besides the pool, and a really cool inflatable slide thing that you could climb up, and then slide down into like a foot of water? So cute.
The kids played on that until the Bishop came back with life vests, that I promptly made my kids put on like the paranoid mother that I am. Then they ran over to play in the spa... walking around the 'seat' part (you know it's in the water but for people to sit on so it's fairly 'shallow' water) mostly. All was well and happy. I was standing next to the spa watching them splash (and taking pictures, duh).

Then they decided to get out of the spa and head back to the slide thing. Um, 'cept Godzilla wasn't paying enough attention - and he stepped off the edge of the spa thing (the lip around the top?) INTO the pool. Yeah, directly into it. Of course in the 0.2 seconds it took, I was freaking out. The life vest made it so although he went under (momentum from falling) he popped RIGHT back up. And he was close enough to the edge I could grab his arm and pull him out. Then I got to cuddle with a SOGGY kid... who wasn't crying, but he wasn't happy either.

After that he didn't want to play in the water. Or eat pizza. Or get a drink. Or anything. He was staying GLUED to my side (which was fine with me!), but he also wanted the life vest OFF, right now. Doesn't that seem like a BAD idea?! I wanted it to stay ON!

I didn't want to leave with him upset (and we'd only been there maybe ten or fifteen minutes at that point, and poor Edelweiss had been looking forward to this party for ages)... so he stayed with me and didn't do much for probably twenty minutes... then... eventually (um, maybe after I took the vest off of him, since he was staying attached to me anyways and was miserably begging me to take it off)... he decided he could still eat pizza. Get a drink. Eat more pizza. And some more pizza. A little more pizza. Seriously, that kid can eat a LOT of pizza. But I was glad he was happy again.
Edelweiss played happily (mostly in the spa and the slide-y thing, although she didn't want to go ON the slide? just splash around in the water...?). She had fun, but when she cut her toe on the side/bottom somehow (not major trauma, mostly I just figured it was about time to leave anyways and going home to get a bandaid seemed as good a reason as anything else) and before we burned, we headed out.

We weren't even there that long - but hey, we got pizza and drinks and 'swam'... Godzilla got dunked in the pool, Edelweiss cut her toe... so it was long enough. I figured no sunburns and getting everyone out mostly unharmed meant it was like the most sucessful pool party ever!

(and in case you're wondering - you know who you are!!! - I was NOT taking pictures when Godzilla went under, those pictures just happen to look like the moments leading right up to it (and right after)... when it actually happened, I was standing RIGHT next to him, and JUST paying attention to kiddos... sort of crazy how quickly things like that can happen!!! Thank goodness for those life vests!)

After Graduation...

2009-06-10T19:02:00.009-05:00

So AFTER Edelweiss' graduation, we went to the zoo (yay!).

We love the zoo.

We were lucky to have 'Bubbles and Granny' (DH's parents) join us too - they came for graduation and then were able to share our zoo with us. Super fun stuff!
Granny was even brave enough to play in the little splash area with Edelweiss. I was NOT going to go in there, or I'd have been walking around in wet jeans all day (um, like Edelweiss...).

Godzilla was more interested in sliding and whatnot first (there's a play area at the zoo)... but then eventually Edelweiss and Granny made the water look too fun to resist - by the time the kids were done with that area and ready to go find more animals, they were SOAKED.

We spent most of the day wandering through our zoo... seeing all of our 'favorite' animals and showing them to grandparents. We actually ran into one of Edelweiss' friends from school (that was in her class, and graduated with her that morning)... they acted like they hadn't seen each other in AGES, it was hilarious.

Mostly though, it was just us and the grandparents - enjoying the zoo. We were so glad they could come with us!

More Graduation...

2009-06-09T17:53:00.005-05:00

Mash commented on her blog how she posts everyday and is still 'behind'. Yeah, I am right there with her - so these are pictures from Edelweiss' graduation (the other photo was one I took like a week or two before when lifetouch was there to take pictures of the kids in their caps and gowns... I am so sneaky)...

Anyways - Kindergarten Graduation, in all of it's glory!

It was so cute. They had a ton of little songs and some kids had speaking parts and it was just adorable. The kids obviously had fun, and had put a lot of work into it.

I thought being an HOUR early would put me in like the front row - but yeah - there was only the back two rows left when we got there?! Luckily a friend scooted over to give us a teensy bit of space by them (thanks!!!) so we got a decent seat still.

My friend was filming with her camcorder (hopefully I'll get to get a copy) so I helped keep her little daughter entertained through some of the preformance. She (the two year old) took a lot of pictures with my camera... but she was also super-nice about giving it back so that I could take pictures of Edelweiss too.

Anyways - it was adorable and then we got to go collect Edelweiss from her classroom. Fun stuff. We'll miss her teacher and her school and her friends there, next year she'll be at a different school (boundries are changing because of a new elementry school opening)... oh yeah, and they DID wear a cute little cap and gown... only that was just for two seconds so they could walk in to 'graduation' music - then they closed the curtains and took it off to uncover the clothes they are wearing in all of these pictures.

2009-06-08T20:49:00.002-05:00

Stupid plan to blog everyday.

Stupider lack of chocolate in the house.

It is possible that I am slightly PMS-y. Or that everyone around me is just REALLY freakin' annoying today.

Probably the second one.

(and no, this isn't me - I just feel that way... even if it is a way old picture of Edelweiss)

Train Museum

2009-06-07T19:17:00.005-05:00

So, this was a while ago... but I never blogged about it.

Back when Edelweiss was still in school, Godzilla and I joined some friends of ours and their homeschool group on a 'field trip' to a train museum.

I thought about taking Edelweiss out of school, but I figured that since trains are more of Godzilla's thing - he'd be the one who'd really be interested, and it was something I could (should?) do with just him this time.

Anyways - I don't really have any special story from the day or anything... but we had fun. We looked at trains (which are really very big) and walked through and saw the museum stuff... and then went and played at this train themed park that was very cute.

Fun stuff.

2009-06-06T20:33:00.002-05:00

I love LOVE love having this little girl home all day again.

She is just so much fun.

Memorial Day

2009-06-05T13:17:00.005-05:00

I know, I know... Memorial Day was a long time ago - but I never posted anything about it (besides my sad friend 'Gingie'... because I wasn't going to be home in time to blog on Monday)...

Mash invited us to spend Sunday night at their house, and then be there for their super-fun Memorial Day BBQ.

Like any good host, she let my children come too - as long as they hid under the table and no one had to see them. Just kidding. For some reason that is just where my kids decided to eat their dinner... it was actually (besides being rather odd) really convienent since it left them on the tile AND not 'underfoot' from all of the guests.

There was TONS of yummy food, lots of nice people to meet/see, and then people played 'rock band' or badmitton or croquet or just hung out. I got to hold their cute baby too, because he was crying and sad (he'd woken up, or didn't want to go to sleep or something) and his parents were both outside. I let them be host/hostess and just let him hang out with me for a while. Even DH had lots of fun, which is why we ended up staying way late - Godzilla finally conked out on the floor, WHILE they were still playing 'rock band'... yeah, like that is peaceful.

It was really super fun though, we had a great time!

Heart Attack.

2009-06-04T16:53:00.003-05:00

Sooo... since some whiney people don't think my beautiful water lilly picture counts as a good post (even though it TOTALLY does)... I can add a story from today, since kiddos are happy and being good at the moment.

So. This morning we went to the park for like 3 hours. Yes, that is sort of a long time to be at the park. Yay for getting energy out and having fun with friends. Ew though, they only had a porta-potty (so so gross)... and also maybe worth noting we used our first 'water' from the car today, as Edelweiss was just DYING of thirst at the park (no water fountain too?! What was this park thinking?)... so she shared a water with her brother.

Anyways - after the park, everyone was worn out... so after lunch I decided to see if I could convince my short people to take a nap. Godzilla thought it was a great plan, as long as Edelweiss stayed in the room with him (which would guarantee he would NOT nap at all)... but instead I put him down on his bed, and then put Edelweiss in the family room. I didn't really think she'd fall asleep (she hasn't really napped in a while) but it was a long morning and she was acting worn out too. So I gave her a nice big stack of books (ones she could read herself) and figured she could 'try' to rest too.

Then I wandered into my room to do something. Hmm, fold laundry maybe. I don't remember. But I DO remember waking up because Aunt T texted me... lol... oops. 'Cept I felt like I'd heard it go off lots of times, and I only had one message. Go figure. I'd also heard Edelweiss get up and use the bathroom at one point, I think... and then go back into the family room. I'd been 'asleep' for maybe 20 minutes.

The house was super-quiet, so I went to go check on Edelweiss. I figured she'd be reading.

She wasn't.

Um, she also wasn't in the family room at all.

Or the living room.

Or the dining room, or kitchen.

Or the bathroom, or her bedroom.

Or the garage.

By this point, as you can imagine, I was REALLY starting to freak out. She's way old enough to go outside or something on her own, if she wanted to... and I THINK she'd know better than to wander off, but... I had no idea where she was.

Heart attack times a billion.

After looking EVERYWHERE, I went back into the family room... hoping maybe somehow I'd missed her in there.

She was curled up into this teensy space under the desk, fast asleep.

After she woke up (and she and Godzilla both slept for a good couple of hours), she told me she'd hidden under there so that when I went to sit at the desk she could tickle my feet.

Silly girl.

Summertime...

2009-06-04T10:02:00.004-05:00

And life is beautiful!

GRADUATION DAY!!!

2009-06-03T07:47:00.002-05:00

She did it!

Okay, I know, it's Kindergarten graduation... and not like a HUGE acomplishment or anything - BUT - she is going to preform little songs and dances and things, so I am excited about it anyways. And it's the last day of school, so now I'll get my little girl back full-time, I am SO excited about that!

Whoo-hoo!

Track Day

2009-06-02T16:33:00.002-05:00

This was actually a while ago, but I never posted any of the pictures - probably partly because the name of her school is on her shirt so there's a LOT of pictures that I took that I really can't share here.But it was a fun day - E's class got first place, it's all relay-style. There were some kids who were seriously booking it, but my favorite part was how there were so many different 'styles' of racing - they bounced on giant balls, ran with a fake fish balanced on a plate, with an octapus on their head... just all sorts of crazy things. The kids loved it, and it was just really fun. Godzilla and I had a great time cheering E. and her friends on.

Changes

2009-06-01T19:19:00.001-05:00

With it being Edelweiss' last week of school (last two days, really... wednesday is just 'graduation')... I am realizing that I won't be able to spend as much one-on-one time with Godzilla.We've had a lot of that, this school year. We've been able to do fun things like train museums and zoo trips and playgroup together. We'll still have fun, just with Edelweiss along too. We're excited for the summer - but it will mean changes for everyone too. Wish us luck!

Stunning

2009-05-31T09:07:00.001-05:00

Sometimes Edelweiss just strikes me as so ridiculously beautiful... it's crazy. I could seriously just stare at this kid for ages.

Godzilla's Lawnmower

2009-05-30T11:53:00.001-05:00

So, at the store the other day I saw that they sold lawnmowers for Godzillas... and of course, I immediatley fell in love with the idea. For some reason mowing the lawn is SO COOL in that little boy's head (probably because he absolutley adores his Daddy and wants to do anything that Daddy does)... so I caved and got him one.
He LOVES it. Thinks it is the coolest thing ever.
And I have to admit, I think it is about the cutest thing ever too... watching my little boy mowing the lawn with his puppy trailing behind him... mowing with his Daddy. Seriously, adorable.Of course, AFTER they'd done this... I noticed that the instructions have a big huge warning about not letting him use his mower anywhere near where someone is actually mowing the lawn. Oops.

Lovin' the Museum

2009-05-29T20:11:00.018-05:00

So, we have this super-cool museum near us - and we have a family pass to it, so we can get in whenever we want to go. If that wasn't cool enough (and that is pretty darn cool, there's SO many interactive exhibits for kids and fun things to do and see there)... the museum has 'additional' things going on, like ALL THE TIME. Okay, maybe they only do one big-special-extra sort of thing once or twice a month, but STILL. So cool.
We've gone to two in the last while (um, since I posted pictures from there)... one was like the 'national day of puppetry' and they had puppet shows, the kids could make puppets, there was a puppet display, a science (chemistry?)'magic show', etc. The second cool day was the grand opening of their new exhibit - where they have these cool wooden display models of all sorts of Leanardo DaVinci's ideas, his mechanical stuff. So we went to that, and saw the exhibit - and the kids got face painting and crafts and to bounce in inflatables, watch juggling, etc. There was a TON of stuff - and, except for the food at the concession stands they had, everything was free. So Edelweiss got a cool flowery hair thing (crown?) that she LOVES... Godzilla got to bounce to his little heart's content (often plowing into, or being plowed into by, these adorable twin boys that are possibly his best friends here). It was SO FUN. I love how many cool things they do - and I love that we can go to them without having to worry about money. The family pass is seriously SO COOL. And they send me emails about fun things that are going on, to boot. So I don't miss anything cool (unless I want to).

So, we are loving the museum.

(and p.s. - E's ear seems to be doing much better, I am happy to report, thanks for the concern)

Aw, crap.

2009-05-29T08:16:00.003-05:00

So last night I woke up, in the middle of the night, with a HORRIBLE realization.

Yesterday, I did not blog.

Yeah. At 4am, this was painfully obvious (and then I was like WIDE AWAKE for an hour... so annoying) - and yet, it was no longer Thursday.

*Sigh* There goes my record.

When I pointed this out to DH, he said I HAD blogged... since I did things on two other blogs (and he saw me) but those were for church and this other group, not THIS blog, so I think that doesn't count.

So, let me explain what happened...

After the kids were in bed, DH and I were playing 'Scatergories' (best game ever)... when Edelweiss came out of her room VERY upset. Sobbing-ish and trying to find me without opening her eyes all of the way - she climbed into my lap and told me (in a very forlorn voice, obviously worried) "I just don't think going to sleep on the sand is a good idea, Mommy"

Uh huh. Of course. I agreed with her, sometimes going to sleep on the sand ISN'T a good idea. DH, meanwhile, was busy trying to hide the fact that he was laughing, very hard, at our sweet little girl. He didn't hide it very well, his entire body was shaking, he was laughing THAT hard.

So after cuddling with Edelweiss for a little bit, I worked on putting her back to bed. Except her nightlight is having issues right now (I need to find a better sort of 'light' for her room) and that makes her hysterical. Seriously, you should hear this kid freak out at the IDEA of not having a light at night... like, even if it is not dark yet and the light on the hall is on, and her door is open - she is already hysterical and practically hyperventalating. BUT while she was hysterically sobbing to me, I noticed her ear.

Now, Edelweiss got her ears pierced months ago - they'd healed fine. She can change earrings and not have to clean/turn them several times a day and all of that now - but her ear (piercing) looked AWFUL. Her left ear. Apparently she'd somehow gotten hair tangled in it yesterday at school, and when she yanked it out (or something)... it got 'hurt'. Then I think she pressed the earring and the back together to make sure the earring didn't fall off. But she pressed it too tightly together, so her ear looked purplish-red, and was bleedy and gross. Yeah. I don't know how we didn't catch THAT earlier. Okay, it wasn't THAT noticable, but after you DO notice it - you can't NOT notice it... but more importantly, it needed to be dealt with. So, we got out medically stuff, washed it out carefully with hydrogen peroxide and soaked her earrings in the stuff before putting them back in. It bled, more than they ever have before (more than I've ever seen a piercing bleed - but that's not really saying much, since I don't know that I've ever seen one bleed at all before). Poor little Edelweiss, it hurt too. And, since Lincoln had been playing insdide all night while we were playing Scatergories - so the back door was open so he could go back out if he needed to - we had bugs come to visit that were feasting on Edelweiss and me. Uck.

After her ear was all cleaned up, we got her some children's tylernol... put benadril cream stuff on her bites... and then worked on putting her back to bed.

She got up again, roughly two seconds later, because she was afraid her light (LED lantern thing) was going out. Um, it wasn't. We put her BACK in bed, tried to tell her not to lay on the side with the owie ear (she was trying to lay on her stomach after that, in an increadably awkward and uncomfortable looking position - because apparently just laying on her OTHER side wasn't going to work for her)...

And then DH and I went to bed too, and I fell asleep.

Until 4am, when I realized I hadn't blogged.

Yum

2009-05-27T19:31:00.002-05:00

Sometimes life just seems nicer when it starts out on a happy note.

On that note, gel icing makes oatmeal look more happy - although, to be honest, you sometimes needs practice (our first attempt didn't look as good).

Ugh.

2009-05-26T18:42:00.004-05:00

Today started out with such an aura of possibility... even excitement. It was a LATE night yesteday, we got home right around midnight last night - but today I started a new 'challenge' with some friends, and I was just really excited about it... about getting to work on some goals and just feeling all sorts of motivated to do good things.

Until Godzilla screamed for ages.

And Edelweiss threw (several) fits.

*sigh* Why can't everyone just feed off of my positive energy, and we could all be humming with this wonderful electricity? We could ALL get tons done and be happy!

But no. A couple of hours of that, and (kids in bed early) I am feeling drained and like going to bed myself.

This is not a good start.

2009-05-25T21:39:00.001-05:00

I am not going to get home in time to blog tonight... BUT... hah, here's a picture, and a post.

So for the challenge, we're still legit!

Happy Sunday!

2009-05-24T12:33:00.003-05:00

I really need to RUN out the door to church... right now... but I know today is going to be busy and I probably won't get to blogging if I don't do it right now... so...

HA! I still have my 'everyday' thing going! (AND with pictures, to boot!)

And that's all... ;o) ...have a great day!

2009-05-23T21:19:00.004-05:00

Today I was thinking about birthday parties... Edelweiss has never had a 'friend' party... and last year I was thinking I could do one, but we ended up being in California (and going to Disneyland) on her birthday instead. But this year, we are going to be here. She has friends that she could invite. I want to let her have a party. Maybe even more so, because she has gone to several friend's parties here.

But with this birthday-party thoughts... I've been thinking about her BIRTHDAY comming up. Edelweiss is going to be SIX. She really doesn't look like this anymore.

Instead she is a full-fledged KID - there's no escaping it. She's not a toddler, a preschooler, none of that. She's growing up. Sometimes it seems sad, most of the time it's rather amazing (all of the things she's learned, who she is becomming)... and then sometimes it's like she's still that teensy girl, stretched out into her long-limbed almost-six-year-old body - like tonight, as she raced out of her bedroom because the combination of thunderstorm and missing nightlight was simply too much.

No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

2009-05-22T18:36:00.002-05:00

Today I was just struck by how MUCH fun Godzilla is.

Yes, I know that sounds sort of silly. But that's what I thought anyways. After Edelweiss was at school, and DH was off at work, Godzilla and I were just hanging out this morning.

First we sang a lot of songs. He LOVES ones that have 'actions' right now ('Five Little Monkeys', 'Eensie Weensie Spider', 'Wheels on the Bus', etc)... and he always cracks me up when he does the actions and sings along. He usually picks what song he wants to sing and is just too cute for words. Then we were talking about colors (the color of the day, today, is green) and he ran to find me various green things from his room - like his 'monkey blanket' and this giant stuffed frog he has. The frog makes him laugh, so he decided that we were froggies, so we had to pretend to eat fies (ew) and watch out for alligators and sharks (that were trying to eat us). We were also at Disneyland, at one point in this. Oh, also, the frog was his 'baby brother'... ever since I told him that his cousin is going to have a baby brother he's claimed he wants one (and his sister insists she wants a baby sister... sheesh).

It wasn't really anything 'special' that we were doing - it's really just the sort of scenarios that play out all day, everyday, for us... but it was just so fun. His enthusiasm and imagination for these different projects. His giggles. The whole thing - it was just fun. So, I've decided. Godzilla is really super-fun, and I am terribly lucky to have him.

Mercy Watson to the Rescue!

2009-05-21T20:38:00.002-05:00

Edelweiss can read, I am not sure how many of you know that. She doesn't always WANT to read... she'd really rather be read to most of the time (she's always loved books and stories)... but she can read.

So, for a long time I've wanted to get these 'Mercy Watson' books for her, since I knew she would like them and they are a LITTLE bit out of her 'comfort zone' for what she can read - but I thought if she tried, she could read these.

She wanted me to read to her, so I read her the title and then told her SHE got to read them... we could just do one chapter a night, but I knew she could read them. So, she started to read.

And didn't stop until she'd read SEVEN chapters. 44 pages. AND she was CRACKING UP the entire time... obviously totally delighted with the entire experience of this book.

It was so so so fun, to sit and read 'with her' as she fell in love with this book, with the reading she was doing herself.

I love Mercy Watson (and Kate DiCamillo, who wrote them). I love reading books about this ridiculous pig with my little girl... and I also love that I (finally) found these books for sale - and they were at a Scholastic warehouse place that had almost everything half off (although, SAD, they did NOT have the 4th book... so no "Mercy Watson, Princess in Disguise" for us... yet... unless we find it somewhere else).

Second-Day-in-a-Row...

2009-05-20T21:35:00.004-05:00

I have a million thoughts buzzing around in my head tonight, and I could expound on all of them here - BUT - Shari totally challenged me to post everyday WITH PHOTOS... and I just don't really have pictures to go along with all of the metaphysical and introspective jumble of thoughts that float around in my brain at any given moment... but I DO have these pictures of the kids playing with Lincoln that I haven't posted yet.

So yeah, sorry, no enlightenment tonight - but you do get to see a very cute puppy...

He is still adorable, still adored... I think he believes that Godzilla is another puppy to play with. Sometimes Godzilla LOVES that, and sometimes he doesn't want to be chewed on and wrestle quite as much. Even when he's upset with Lincoln it wears off in about a minute, and if I ever get upset with Lincoln for anything (heaven forbid), then it is Godzilla who is first to point out "Mommy, he's just a baby... Lincoln is just a baby" (that's what I get for making sure that G. knew to be gentle with the puppy...)

Also - Shari - I still want to know what I get for blogging WITH PICTURES everyday ;o) ...and Mash you're totally going to have to visit if I make the blog-everyday-for-a-month thing happen too!

slacker

2009-05-19T22:41:00.002-05:00

I know, I know. I am a slacker. Also, you hear that from me a LOT lately. Sorry. I do have like a billion pictures to download and post - I've been working more on this contest thing with some friends here, but that 'finished' tonight (and I totally won, lol), so maybe I'll be better about posting again? I apparently like to rise to things I am challenged to do - maybe someone just needs to challenge me to blog everyday for a month or something... ;o)

Seven Years

2009-05-03T19:02:00.003-05:00

That seems like a LONG time, if you say it (write it)... but at the same time it hasn't FELT long... which is probably a good thing, right?

Happy Anniversary DH!

2009-04-26T20:29:00.001-05:00

So, you may have noticed I haven't been entirley faithful with my blogging... BUT... I do have this cute picture to share, so that should make up for it, right?

I thought so. Oh, and the puppy's name is Lincoln... in case you hadn't heard.

Puppy

2009-04-16T17:43:00.002-05:00

This super-adorable guy we got for 'Easter' too... okay, so my cousin told me to 'stall' when we were on our way - so we stopped at the humane society. Honest though, we'd been talking about getting a puppy for Easter anyways, since it's been 6 months since our other one died. Isn't he the cutest puppy you've ever seen though? But, he really needs a name... we haven't gotten one that we've agreed on yet.

Any suggestions?

Happy Easter!

2009-04-16T17:24:00.008-05:00

...and yes, I know Easter was several days ago...
We went to see my cousin and her family for Easter and had a blast spending a few days with them.

We also ran over and spent some time at the zoo, for a quick chance to see Granny and Aunt H.

After staying up late and getting all of the fun Easter things 'ready' for the kids... I spent most of the night/morning totally sick, so I didn't even come WATCH all of the egg-hunting and whatnot. Oh well, I am sure the kids were super-cute durring it, and I am even MORE sure that they ate way too much candy and had a blast.
It was still a super weekend, we had a lot of fun... you'll have to wait to see the kids in their new 'easter clothes' though, since I was WAY too sick to take them to church, and DH was sick too (otherwise he probably would have taken them)... maybe we SHOULD have listened to my cousin's husband's advice - the idea to 'never eat chicken at mexican resturaunt'... at least THIS time, that would have been a better plan, I am thinking, since he's the only one who didn't get totally sick.

Oh well - Happy Easter!

Spring Has Sprung...

2009-04-16T17:14:00.006-05:00

I know, you just want to see pictures of the kiddlets... but I can't help but be amazed at the beauty all around us this time of year - I can understand why people pick 'spring' as their favorite season. The lush green and new growth all around is breath-taking.

Pants

2009-04-03T15:39:00.003-05:00

...today, for the FOURTH day in a row... Edelweiss choose to wear pants.

I am pretty sure that is a record, since before this her record of wanting-to-wear-something-besides-a-dress-or-skirt was... one... day. I was surprised the second day, but FOUR days?!

Crazy.

Maybe she won't wear only dresses all of the time forever?

Piano

2009-03-25T13:04:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was Edelweiss' first piano lesson.

I was SO excited.

Yeah, so I always wanted to take piano lessons and never did - so she gets to take them instead. And yes, I was WAY more excited about it than she was... BUT... her teacher is AWESOME - I was so so impressed with her lesson, and Edelweiss loved it too (see, so I am not totally mean for making her take the lessons just because I always wanted them!).

BUT... I totally forgot my camera. *sigh* I'll have to bring it next week.

A Million-dy-Billion Pictures...

2009-03-20T12:56:00.056-05:00

...As promised!

...so there you have it - making silly faces, sick days, playing at home, Valentine's Day, playing with presents from Aunt S & Uncle M2, Gramma's super-fun visit, more random 'around the house' pictures, a teddy bear Edelweiss sewed herself (seriously, she had so much fun making it), Godzilla's birthday party, Edelweiss' "50's Day" outfit for school, her ballet/tap lesson, the museum with friends, etc - a million-dy-billion pictures, definatley. I told you I was still TAKING pictures, even if I wasn't posting them. So now all you whiners (you know who you are), should be satisfied!

Yay for Decorating!

2009-03-20T12:27:00.012-05:00

When my Mom was visiting (and I know, I still need to post more/other pictures from that) she was a FANTASTIC help with decorating ideas - to get some 'finishing touches' thought of and decided on... for some reason DH is never that into sitting around and discussing what we should hang on our walls, go figure, huh?

But I finally got a drill borrowed and could hang things (yay) and I LOVE how my room and bathroom look now (and the cool flower arrangement thing we found for my living room too, but that's the only 'difference' in that room - the bedroom bathroom needed all sorts of work, so they get more pictures!). If you don't want to see my room/bathroom, feel free to skip this post...

So, the walls in the bedroom all say "I love you" but in different languages (in case you wondered what it was that they said)... I got letters at Lowes to put up and do that with, and I like how it turned out.

Seriously, my room feels super-duper peaceful and tranquil now - I LOVE how it all came together, so fun. I want to go hang out in there and just soak in the serenity now!

The bathroom got to 'steal' a lot of the things we had for our last bedroom decorations (since those colors didn't go with the bedroom set - but I love them and wanted to use them somewhere...

so, nice, I got to keep using a lot of the same decorations for this - but it definatley needed the new curtains/shower curtain/rugs/towels... the ones in here before, you did NOT want to see...)

And the colors are maybe hard to see for the bathroom in these pictures - but there's dark browns and red/burgandys, and I love how it works... yay for decorated bathrooms/bedrooms. Now I want to do something fun with the kids bathroom... hmmmmmm...

2009-03-19T21:00:00.001-05:00

This is my new favorite picture of Godzilla, hands down.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

2009-03-17T21:38:00.003-05:00

We just wanted to wish you all a great day! There has been so much going on, we've stunk at blogging (I know), but before we're ever going to catch up, we have to start somewhere, right?

So today, since it was a holiday, I decided I was tired of being boring - so I really wanted to DO something. So we did.

We decorated cookies. Okay, not like a HUGE breakthrough, but it seems like with Edelweiss in school all day - things like that don't happen as much. So we did it. We decorated cookies.

Maybe tomorrow we'll be ready to tackle world peace.