Thank you for the gift!

I finally took the time tonight to play with my going away gift. Here is what I have come up with. It is just a start! So thank you, it is both relaxing and stressful, hehe.

E

P.s. Miss you all

Oh what do you do...

Oh what do you do in the winter time when all the world is warm? You could do this...

Gum Update

We found the gum two days later. It was between J's toes! Figure that one out.

E

A little snack

I have decided that no good comes from the statement...

Hey were did my gum go?

I hope I find it before my mother. She won't be pleased if it is in her beautiful rug or on her new chairs, or really any soft suface for that matter!!
E

Well that is that

We made it here last night about 9:30. It was a really long trip. I was told to document it. I did half way. I will post some pictucures later. The camera was lost in the abyss that was considered my car for the last day and a half of the trip. I will take a picture of the desert and that will suffice for that part anyway, hehe! More to come soon...

E

The sun will come out tomorrow

I can't believe it is here. We leave tomorrow. I am so bad with goodbyes!! Please don't feel bad if I didn't say goodbye, I really am a blubbering idiot. If there is internet access on the way I will try and post again. Most likely though it will happen when I actually get to where I am going.

BTW: if you are my neighbor thank you for letting me borrow you internet service for the night!

Thank you every one who has helped us and supported us through this. I love you all so much. I am missing you already!
E

A comment...

D was working over at our friends house. He was just doing his thing when floating through the air he heard...


....You need to eat number 2 with syrup...

hmmm...

that is all the context I know.
E

*hehe, don't kill me queen

Grovers...

I just had to put this on. L did it and it is beautiful. Thanks for the tribute! It meant so much to me.

E

Superstar

Ok...the title does not fit exactly. But I really wanted to type superstar.

My friends are rock stars. There is no getting around it. We had a garage sale yesterday. It was a tinsy bit traumatic for me. Friends graciously lent there husbands the night before to help move things to the garage. Then my friend L spent the morning with me, helping me sell things for more than I would have. Thank you very much. Then the Queen took my girls in the afternoon. She kept them ALL afternoon, despite the horrors that occurred at her house she even fed them dinner. D told me some of the things he over heard while he was working. Seriously, you all rock!! I do not think I could have made it though the day with out your help. I wish I had a copy of the picture L took the other night to post! What am I going to do with out you ladies!!!

E

A new S-ism

S can be heard saying on a regular basis...To tell you...followed by what ever it is she thinks she knows!

E

A day

This would have been a much better post with pictures. If you ever have a day like this, take pictures.

The morning started out well. I got up started cleaning and packing. Dear D said he wanted to work together on everything. I knew this would slow me down but it would speed him up. You see I am out of denial and he is still standing on the fence. I got him started in our bathroom cutting tiles. I fed Jacob and put him down for a nap. Then I went into the bathroom downstairs. I guess we have a dog in the house because it smelled like pee in the very worst way. The cute little red haired puppy had peed in the bathtub. WHY???? I have no idea! I grabbed some very strong cleaner and went to clean it. I was shaking the can to spray it and it slipped right out of my hand. Needless to say it hit the edge of the bath tub just right, it chipped it about the size of three quarters next to each other. (That is not an overstatement, I wish it were)

Then I headed out to reading lessons for S. We got there and our reading teacher forgot. (this was a different day, completely not her fault) On the way there I had a flat tire. Thank goodness I always carry a tire pump in the car with me. (It comes with the territory of being married to someone who does construction) I was so impressed with the people here. With in the 10 minutes it took to fill my tire 3 people stopped to help me. I didn't even know them. Anyway with reading lessons not happening I went to get the tire fixed.

When I got there the wait was 45 minutes. It needed done so we stayed, sort of. I took the girls for a walk. That long in a tire store would have done them in. So we walked the 1/2 mile to Dairy Queen. On the way there D called to say I had the mortar for the tiles in the back of the car. We were almost to DQ I was not turning around to take it to him. (This was a small mistake since the tile are not stuck down) Let the girls play while I ordered them a hot dog. After a good amount of time, longer than 45 minutes for sure, we headed back only to discover the car had not even been taken back yet. Another 45 minutes and we were out the door, yes! (amazingly not one tire display was knocked over. Yet maybe our service would have been faster if one had been.)

We got home and I was ready to work. I started trying to take care of things and work on laundry. D made an excellent suggestion, he was going to pack up his extra clothes as they came out of the dryer. This turned into the project of the day. After about 2 hours we were all ready for a snack. Popcorn is easy to make and tasty too. (We make ours from scratch) While I popped the corn S worked on melting the butter in the microwave. I grabbed the cup that the butter was in to pour it on the popcorn and ouch!! Burned all of my pointer finger and my thumb. I threw the cup back on the counter spilling butter everywhere. D yelled put it in water. J started screaming. S started laughing. Z froze. Stress reactions from everyone. D had to take J outside to get him to stop crying. When he brought him back inside, J would not look at me and no one could make him smile. We all laughed with S at that point. Well work came to a screeching halt for about three hours.

But we did manage to get all the clothes packed up before the night was over!! It was a long day.
E

From here to there

Life is crazy sometimes right? You are always thrown for a loop when things are going good. Doesn't mean loops aren't good just unexpected.

We have lived here for the majority of our married life. I feel like there is no place as beautiful or quaint. We had recently moved into a place where I had hoped to stay and never leave. But there were other plans in store for us.

We are moving to there. There is great place with lots of family and friends that we have grown up with. But here is my home, I am comfortable and happy, really happy. But the time for change has come and I really love there (and the great relationship I have with the sun there). Life is funny that way. What's the saying...When one door closes another one opens...

E

S had a special day

On November 8th S had a special day. She was baptised a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She was very excited about this because this day was all about her. All of her grandparents were in town just to see her special day. We tried to find a beautiful dress for her to wear but there were slim picking.

My mom made her this beautiful dress. She did in two days what would have taken me a month to do!

We had a crazy day. We were running behind and had to take two cars. When we arrived at the church we had forgotten many things. From least important to most:

1. Food for afterward
2. Baptism dress
3. D's baptism jumper.

D had to leave to go get everything. Which caused everything to start late, S was not the only one getting baptised. So when he got back, I only had time to take one picture:



But the ceramony was beautiful. D holds the priesthood very well. We had many friends there, but did not take out the camera until they were gone. Sorry, we love you guys I am just completely scatterbrained! But here is a picture of all the family.



Thank you all for your support that day. S really felt so special and loved! And that was the point.
E
Thanks for all the calls from everyone who could not attend. They meant alot!

Why you should never read your childs journal

S brought home her school things last week. In them, there is a journal they kept at school. They wrote every day. Last night, I decided to look through her stuff. It was rather enlightening. To be honest, I was looking for anything horrible that she might have wrote about me. To my delight I found nothing about me personally. But I did find this:

(I am editing her spelling or you might not be able to read it)


10-17-2008


Today mom made breakfast. It was so gross. It tasted like worms and puke. When mom went to the bathroom I threw it away. I tried to brush my teeth but I was out of toothpaste. I told mom. Then I remembered breakfast and had to run to the bathroom to throw up. I was sick.





To my recollection I have not made anything disgusting in a long time so I am not sure what it was. We generally have oatmeal every morning and she never complains, so I am at a loss. My favorite part is that the teacher read that entry. Part of the grade. Nice, right?


E

Update

Quick little side note, in the middle of course. J is 6 months old today.

Time really does fly.

Movie Time

The time change is killer for all children. I had to force the baby to stay up an hour later than normal. It was not as pleasant as it sounds *grin*. Then I decided to make bread. My Mom is in town for a visit and she has yet to taste my yummy bread.

Because of the time change I have failed to keep the Sabbath as Sabbathy as usual. I let Z watch The Little Mermaid. Not quite Sunday worthy but good enough for me tonight. In the middle of my dough preparation The Little Mermaid ended. Mom said she started something like a Knights Tale. Again not great for Sunday, but as soon as I was done with the dough she was going to bed (Maybe 10 minutes). So I am working on the dough talking to Mom when I hear excruciating screaming and tearing sounds. Being very familiar with A Knights Tale, I said 'are you sure she is watching A Knights Tale, I don't remember any parts that sound like that.' Mom quickly responds that it is not that movie but a movie with knights in it. I completely forgo the dough and run to see what my 4 year is watching. I glance at the screen to confirm my suspicions. It was something on TV that looked like, at a quick glace, a giant moth beheading a group of people while ripping flesh from there bones! Nice right. Z promptly says something to the affect of 'Mom this show is really yucky.' I turned it off quickly. Z wanted to watch scooby doo. I told her it was time for bed then changed my mind. I didn't want the last images to fill her head right before sleep to be of crazy giant moths.

She watched Scooby Doo for about 20 mins. I know, if the TV had not been on she would not have seen.

E.

Late Night Talk

On our way home from our friends house we had this little chat:

S: Mom could you make the car really hot because I am freezing?
Z: But not too hot because then I can't breathe!
S: Please mom make it hot, I am so cold?
Z: No MOM, I can't breathe through my nose when it is hot.

Gma: Here S share this baby blanket with J. It is big and he won't mind.

S: Thanks Gma!
Z: (Falling Apart) I want some, that's not fair! I am so cold!!

E

One of those day

Today is one of those day. I woke up and it felt to early. I burned the oatmeal. Z woke up the baby while I was making breakfast. The sink is clogged. I am covered in dirty water from trying to unclog it. I burned the grilled cheese sandwiches. Baby spit up all over me.

On the plus side the girls have been fantastic. (And they don't even know it is trunk or treat tonight) Home schooling is going well. They are both responding beautifully. I really thought that they would not learn from me. Turns out I was wrong. I am really enjoying it.

My only problem is it is 2:30 and it feels like midnight!
E

Waiting for the fight

Turns out Z ate the M&M's S was given by her activity days leader. It did not go over well. I heard about it for a long, long time and then again this morning. I get it though because it's cholocate and I would be mad too!
E

Things that make you go hmmm...

No good ever comes of this:



Z coming out of a room where she has been playing with the door closed only leads me to question? I have no idea what she did but I am sure I will find out when S gets home from school. Hopefully it will be something I can fix. *grin*
E

Picture time

You will notice that I have new pictures on the side as well as right here. It was time for an update. I finally bought a battery charger for the camera so I could take pictures again. (I am sure it is somewhere really safe).







I hope you enjoy them!
E

S had a party

I decided that 8 is a good year for a party. It's a big deal! So last minute I talked to S and we planned a party. She said it was the best party ever. I say say she had a good time and I heard lots of noise!! (all tile house remember)

Here is some videos from the party. I know there not great but I only had a phone to make them.



We had a great time. I can't believe my baby is eight!!
E

Decision

Did you ever make a decision that you absolutely knew was the right decision? Yet you constantly worried about the mechanics of that decision? Wednesday was an interesting day for us. Lots happened-decisions were made and now I am completely fretting over the mechanics of how to make them happen.

It will be alright! More to come later...
E

Best Layed Plans

I have a GYM membership. I have not been in over a week. I have to go early in the morning or late at night. Z really isn't a trustworthy babysitter, I should expect that since she is four, hehe. So D has to be home with the kiddos when I go. Last night I decided it really is better if I go in the morning. So I set my phone alarm to go off bright and early at 5am. That way I can be back in time to sent D off to work. Well what do you know-Baby bird woke up at 4:45. I made it to the gym by 6am. I suppose 1/2 an hour is better then none at all.

Maybe tomorrow my plan will succeed!
E

Chocolate Chips to the Rescue

Last night was a chocolate chip night. Sometimes to see the sweetness in life it takes a little chocolate.

E

Superman

I was reminded of one of my favorite stories about my kiddos the other day as I was talking to some friends. They suggested I post it. I figure that is a good idea since my memory seems to be the size of a pea.

Recently (by that I mean one or two winters ago) we had a snow storm up here. We don't have snow for longer than 24 hours usually so I have no snow gear. Well we pulled out of the driveway and promptly got stuck. Big D,being the wonderful man that he is,hopped out of the car to start pushing it. After several minutes of no success my sweet girls started there little grumblings about being in the car and not going anywhere. Rather that being grumpy with them I had a magic moment! I told them they could not talk like that or daddy could not be superman. They had to be really quite so no one would notice how strong he was to push our car. A few minutes later between him pushing and me hitting the gas just right we were free. He got back in the car to me smiling smugly and the girls with there mouths open. S said, 'Dad you really are superman!' They thought he was superman for a couple of months and I didn't discourage this line of thinking. I always new my husband was superman.
E

The amazing power of onions.

I am constantly trying to find ways to bend my girls will to match my own. They are always loving, tender and thoughtful of course. I have tried gently prodding and ever so slightly elevating my voice to make sure my instructions are clear. I do it so rarely, every time I think-they will listen because they will know I am serious. Nope they gently raise there voice as well. (It has a lovely effect in our all tile house) They have tasted many food they would not choose to only to discover they actually like them, much to my chagrin. Finally I have found the onion. No matter how much they say they like it. Their voices fall on deaf ear: after they are done they drink at least 3 full glasses of water.

Onions are amazing because I do not even get upset anymore. I just pull out a spoon of chopped onions and remind the offender that if they argue with me over eating the bite they will have another. I had to add the clause yesterday that the first bite will not be followed by water.

I am also considering teaching them 'Love at home'. My friend Queen M (http://baxterbugs.blogspot.com/2008/09/beauty-is-in-eye-of-beholder.html) seemed to turn out ok. If it worked for her mom it just might work for me as well.
E

Z talk

Phone conversation with grandma (I can only hear Z side of the conversation):

Z to Grandma:
So grandma if you have anything that is going to beep in your house you should turn it off because Jacob is sleeping...

E

He finally did it

J bird has decided that for no reason does he want to have tummy time. He gives it...about 10 seconds before he wails. I was determined that it was good for him. So I put him on his tummy and went to do my dishes. He was wailing and wailing. All the sudden he was very quite. I thought smugly 'finally he is enjoying it. It really is for his own good!' When I went back into the room after the dishes were done he was on his back. I would have blamed the girls for this but they were not home at the time. So I rolled him back on to his tummy to see if you could do it again. He last 2 seconds before he rolled over. I grabbed my camera phone and this is the magic that happened about 10 short films later!
E

The Green Finger

S went to her best friends birthday party a couple of Saturdays ago. I have a very cute video of the two of them skating.

Anyway, I was talking to the mom and aunt of the birthday boy, they told me the most fascinating story. Birthday boy had a problem with picking his nose and all matter of punishments and threats were not working to stop this problem. That is when the 'Booger Man' found out about the problem. See the 'Booger Mans' job it to make sure kids stop picking there nose. He sneaks into there room at night and turns there picker finger green. The said finger says green for days allowing everyone the offender knows to see proof that he picked his nose. After this story, was told I remember seeing a green finger at school one day when I was helping out in the class. Everything makes sense now. Why, when I asked what happened to his finger, he turned bright red, ducked his head and went the other direction.

This story enlightened my mind. There are so many possibilities with this new found knowledge...enter thumb man. Thumb man has in essence,the same job. If he finds out you have been sucking your thumb he turns your finger orange or red (I started the story before I had picked a color) and makes it taste terrible. Z has had a slight problem with sucking her thumb. She has been warned now about thumb man and what his job is. I have not seen her suck her thumb in about a week. Amazing right! Now hopefully there will be follow through if I ever catch her doing it. Hopefully I will have food coloring on hand as well!

Nine is perfectly fine

Nine years ago I was knealing across the most beautiful alter in the most amazing sealing room in the Arizona Temple. I was looking into very handsomely bright blue eyes. Thinking I really am the luckiest girl in the world. And I am the luckiest girl in the world!
















Nine wonderful years have past and I am looking forward to nine more wonderful years.
E

Movie Time

I decided to have a movie afternoon with just Z today. By that I mean Z and J while S was at school. We rented speed racer. The girls had seen it already with D but I missed it. Did not matter one bit-Z didn't remember and frequently asked 'mom what's happening?' 'why are they fighting?' 'Is that the brother?' While I enjoyed this immensely I loved it even more when she jumped up at the end with her hands in the in the victory pose 'SPEED RACER IS GOING TO WIN!!!'

I really liked when I looked down to see Jake totally enthralled. I know babies are not suppose to watch TV but he loved the colors and lights. Watch the movie and you will see why. It brought me great pleasure to watch his happy little face
E

The Memo

I admit it, I missed the memo. You know the one I am talking about right. The one that goes to your children at just the right time and tells them:
Now is the time to question everything your mother tells you. Not just at home but in public and in other peoples home.
Of course at the end of this memo there is a clause about arguing. It really does go right along with questioning. I believe it says something along the lines of: Your mothers answers to these questions are insufficient and never correct. It is your responsibility to correct her by all means possible. Do not worry if other people are around you can teach them too!
Like I said, I missed it this time around. I usually catch it and shred it before little eyes can see. (the amazing thing is, even if they do not read yet they can understand this completely.) So now I am forced to extremes to remind the children I am there mother and they will do as I say with out arguing. My extremes are to avoid the necessity of beating and yelling. Going to there rooms had no effect. No snacks had no effect. Forcing them to eat onions had no effect. I then realized it was practice that was needed, so we practice. I try to not the the cuteness of the practicing deter from the importance of the message.
E

Oh, now I get it

D and I were talking one night. He mentioned that while he is working he will randomly hear 'Look Here' or a click. I thought about that for about 1/2 a second and started laughing. 'You have been taking picture of the inside of your pocket haven't you'. Sheepishly he says 'I have not checked.' I promptly asked for his phone so I could see the proof for myself. 2 videos and 24 pictures of black later I laughed for about 30 minutes straight. I sent myself the two videos so I would have proof that this was happening and of course so I could blog about it! The noise you hear it the back round of the video is D's nail gun while he is working. The real question is how did he manage to get his phone to do that. Not only take pictures/videos but save them as well. I am baffled! His phone must be magic.
E

Huh?

Any guesses at the mystery sound. There is a very funny story to go along with it. But I really wanted to hear what everyone guesses first!!

Gateway Fitness

8:00PM Last Night...Long Day...To gym...Excited...Start with walking...This is ok...5 mins later...I'm tired...5 more minutes...I'm really tired...with 5 mins left...I can't do this...finished...not so bad...to elliptical...start...2 mins in...what was I thinking!!...5 mins in...breathe...5 more mins...I'm not going to pass out...5 more mins...I have never passed out it is not happening now...5 more mins...now time to cool down...finished and stretching...what was I thinking?...tired...pain...death...am I going to be able to walk tomorrow?...

My thoughts last night as I worked out for the first time since having the baby and surgery.
E

S-Bird Chain Saw Massacre

Well I think my family is finally over the ridiculous colds they have had since we have been home. Mostly, S is still very congested but no more temps of 104! Last night was crazy. After enjoying the Hannah Montana Concert Movie with the girls we put them to bed.

D and I stayed up to watch another movie. When I went to check on the kiddos, cover them up again, S was snoring so loud!! I realized how stuffy she really is. Then I covered Z up and went to bed. Z comes in about two hours later wide awake and afraid of spiders. D goes and lays with her for about an hour. But she can't sleep, she gets a drink and goes to the bathroom, and whatever else she did I am not really sure. She comes into our room about four more times. I need my sleep to say the least. So I am a little frustrated and D, well he is really just ignoring her, pretending to be asleep. After about three hours of listening to her moving around and trying to sleep (I kept closing my door so I didn't have to listen to S snore) I put on some music for Z. Trust me when I say that I was really trying to distract her from the loud chain saw that was echoing through the house. Finally when she came in and we could not convince her that there were no spiders in her room I had a brain storm. 'Z do you want to go sleep down stairs?' 'Yeah mom, can I?' So D takes her down stairs to the guest room. They turn on the light and immediately he freezes where he is and sends her on errands to get pillows and blankets for the bed. He turns off the light and kisses her good night again, comes to our room and says 'I really hope she didn't see the spider on the wall I was trying to hide!'

E
(personally I think she could not sleep because S was making so much noise)

Cholocate Man

I always like to have my kids take there vitamins. I realized childrens vitamins are barely above candy. Yet over and over again when we miss taking them we get colds. Right now is a perfect example. During our drive I miss four days worth of vitamins and am still dealing with the consequences of that. This blog is not entirely about taking vitamins though. We always get the gummy kind and usually whatever brand is cheaper. This particular time we ended up with Flintstones. Of course it brought back many memories of Saturday morning cartoons and was more fun for me than my children I am sure (since they have absolutely no idea who the Flintstones are). Today I heard something that I have been trying to peace together for along time. My sweet daughters were fighting over whose turn it was for chocolate man. Fred has been dubbed chocolate man. I am not sure why. The vitamins are fruit flavored. They have Fred, Pebbles, and Dino. Fred is chocolate man, Pebbles is chocolate mans daughter, and Dino is chocolate monster. WE CLEARLY HAVE AN OBSESSION WITH CHOCOLATE! I now know what the kids are talking about when they refer to chocolate man though. I do wonder what they are talking about when Z asks if we are going to visit chocolate town today. *grins*

**if any of you find chocolate town I would be really interested in its location!
E

Sweats,paper,noise

We finally made it back home and let me tell you it was so good to sleep in my own bed. I was able to go see some friends last night, with my family of course. D took the kids to our friends house. I was able to have some girl time as part of a rescue party (broken down cars will do that). It was so good to see every one and start getting back into my routine.

Unfortunately D didn't have as good a night as I didn't. Baby J cried for about 3 hours straight! D thought he just wanted me cause nothing worked to sooth him. When I got there he was very calm after he ate. So I thought D was on the right track. (I'll admit that I kind of like having a mamma's boy. The girls were never that way) Then we got home and he was grumpy again. I figured that he just was ready to lay in his bed. That is what he does. We change him, give him a bink and put him down, with in minutes he is out. That happened last night.

About 1 am J woke up just screaming. D brought him to me. He didn't want to nurse (I was tired enough I would have let him). Then I noticed he was very warm. So we walked the floors last night and finally I have him some Tylenol. He went to sleep and didn't wake up again until 7:30. But he woke up screaming again which is not like him at all. That was when I realized my baby is sick! Our first cold.

So I put on my sweats this morning, held the baby while he cried and cried and cried, then started peeling wall paper from the girls room so that we can paint. The girls are enjoying helping peel, although I sent the them outside to enjoy the sun for the 5 minutes it will be out today. Lets face it, it looks like rain is in our future. S has on a long sleeve shirt, coat, and just asked for gloves. I refused to give her gloves just on principle. It is not that cold, still August for crying out loud!!

Girls woke up the baby on there way outside, NICE! Wish me luck. Hopefully I will still have a brain by the end of the night!!
E

Girl Time

I just had me second girl time with my sister in law since I have been visiting. Clearly I don't do this enough!! It is so nice and I feel a bit refreshed. It also helps because for the past couple of weeks I have had a baby sister (thanks for all the help everyone!!). So to have time without my girls, I mean kiddos is huge. We saw Journey to the Center of the Earth. It was great! I enjoyed it!

Side note: I was having a reaction to the pain medicine. I switched to different one and everything was so much better. I have not taken any pain meds for a few days now. It is a so nice, except for when it hurts(hehe). I just want to know when I am doing something that hurts.

Big D comes down to visit next week. I can't wait, this was too long to be away from him. But it has been so nice to be here (my girls are nice and brown despite there spf 50). I have had visits with family and blogger friends (Kids have played together-thank you so much Jodi). Oh but I sooo miss D!! He will be here about five days visiting family too and then we will start the super fun, super long drive home! We are going to stop for a day to visit our friends in CA on the way. I can't wait to see him and I miss my home alot!
E

Flying!!!

So..(imagine me not being able to hold my head up straight!)..I made a super quick decision to come to AZ to have my gall bladder out. I left with in 3 hours of making that decision so I could make it for my cousins wedding. One long day of driving followed by an all nighter, thank you mom for meeting me half way and helping, we made in time for the wedding. I had a few short days of catch up with the family here and then a Dr appt so I could get me surgery scheduled.

I was very surprised to have the doctor look over all my paper work and say, we need to get this done! How about tomorrow? So on Friday my gall bladder came out and I am in recovery. I have decided it is time to forgo the perecet because I am swaying to my own beat. I have not had any in almost 24 hours and still spinning. Hopefully tomorrow will make that part go away. Surprisingly I have only had one melt down when I thought j-bird was not going to nurse anymore because of all the bottles he has had. We are both cut off now. No more bottles for him and no more meds for me. I wish I knew if it affected you this way Mary Ann. I know that you just went through this. Anyway I, I mean it, has been very crazy. Hopefully I will be able to post a little more often.

I miss you all and so do my kiddos!
E

Uggg!

So somethings should not be talked about on a blog I am sure. Especially when it comes to the general cleanness of where you live. I have an amazing friend who keeps her house so clean. I love to go there because it feels so good. Clean is good. I am generally some where in the middle of messy and so clean. Most days some one could drop by out of the blue and there might be a few things I wished were put up but we live here so not a big deal. That is so not my house right now!! I would be mortified if any one saw it in it's present condition. I would say it looks like a tornado hit it but that would not do it justice. It is more like two big tornadoes, two small tornadoes and one baby tornado. I think there are some key factors to the problem here:

1. I have a two month old baby who eats every two hours during the day and wants undivided attention the rest of the time he is awake.
2. Gall bladder pain wears me out. Physically it takes a good day to recover and if the attack happens in the night it takes even longer.
3. We are painting right now. So everything gets moved from one room into another and back again. There is also the addition of paint supplies and enormous blue tarps all over the floor. (thank goodness baby is not mobile!)
4. We, in general, are messy people.

The problem lies in the fact that the only sane moment there is for me to clean comes when all children have been put to bed. Sometimes D helps, mostly he just watches. He is even more overwhelmed than I am! Back to bed time. Since school has been out bed time has shifted slightly. This is a problem on so many levels. Bedtime is generally around 7:30 which gives me adult time at night not to mention time to pick up before total exhaustion kicks in. Well I am lucky right now if the kiddos are in bed by 9:30. Did I mention total exhaustion kicks in about 8:15? Any way I have taken the time tonight to finally get the toy closet back in order. This project was started about 6:30 and I am going to bed with it almost done about midnight. I wonder if any of the toys in the two huge bags hidden in the garage will be missed. Hopefully the rest of the projects that I have planned for tomorrow with not take as long!
E

GI Joe-Unfortunately No

I had to go to the GI Doctor yesterday to discuss and figure out what my stomach pain is. My regular doctor has been telling me to eat a no fat diet with little protein in it. He figured it was my gall bladder and those two things are cause the gall bladder to work the most. (Secretly, in my warped mind at least, it was also his way to say I needed to loose some weight) I have been very careful. Lets be honest, no one would volunteer to be awaken at midnight to such intense pain in your stomach you don't know whether it would be better to throw up or pass out. Plus I don't need another night of only being able to think of swear words, I guess vocabulary becomes an issue when I am blinded by pain. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised to meet the nice doctor who was more of a marshmallow than a stick pretzel. He asked me about my symptoms and did a quick physical exam. Then went to look at some ultrasound pictures I brought in. He came back with a grave look on his face and a twinkle in his eye. Clearly he was trying to figure out how to break the news to me. He started slowly talking about the liver and what it does and moved on to the gall bladder and its function. Then it popped out "you have classic symptoms, and after looking at your film, you have gall bladder disease." Ok, then he starting trying to convince me that the best way to fix the problem is to take the gall bladder out. He goes into great detail about how my bile is to salty(I inherited that, thanks mom!) and that it crystallized in my gall bladder and will continue to do so. He goes on and on about this and why surgery would be best. I am beginning to wonder what my face looks like because as soon as he said gall bladder disease I was ready to have it out. I don't like pain and I like it even less when there is nothing I can do to relive it. So, the point is, in about 10 days I will be short one organ!
E

Z-Birds Friend

Z has a best friend from preschool. Almost from the first day of class she loved A. He is the cutest little boy. When we got class pictures we were going over them to help her remember everyones names. I accidentally missed A's and when I went back to it, asking if she plays with him she says,"Ohhh, A is so cute mommy." I didn't realizes crushes could happen so soon. But they were inseparable at school and had many play dates though out the year. Poor A, he was forced to play ponys and polly pockets when he came to our house. He did it with out complaining. He really is the sweetest boy.

His mom called us a couple of week ago and told us some very sad news. A has been diagnosed with Leukemia. It is the best kind possible and his outlook is good. But it made me cry and reminded me of my sweet nephew Ben who had Leukemia also. Well, I just wanted to post about A and ask for everyones prayers for him and his family.
E

Monday

Today we went to we went to D's old stompin' grounds. We went for a funeral of a friend that he grew up with. It was a beautiful service and we were grateful to be able to show our respect. (Even if I was in the hall with all the children through the whole service and my cell phone echoed next to D in the middle of a beautiful talk by one of the siblings, sorry) D saw alot of people that he grew up with and refreshed some acquaintances.

Later we drove through the old neighborhood up on the hill and stopped at a new park there. The kids played while I fed the baby.

S bird: Hey dad what does this say? (writing on the toy)
Mom: (thinking oh no)
Dad: Looks over-some things are better not to read
S: While dad is talking she is yelling to us S...E...X
Mom: (giggling to myself-at least she is reading right?)
S: I can read the first words they say I love, there is a heart which means love right dad, but what is S...E...X
Dad: I told you some things are better not to read(with a slight chuckle)!
Now that I am thinking about it I don't think we actually told her what it said. But we did laugh about it for a little while and I was grateful we were the only ones at the park. As we were leaving I was also grateful that she didn't see the lovely art work on the sign. (We were actually in a very nice area)
E

30

It is official. I am 30!! I have been since the fourth. I am an adult finally! You would think marriage and 3 kids would do it. But nope it is the magical number 30. By the way, thanks Lori for letting us come and do fireworks with you and for the food it was fantastic!

For any 'G' rated readers I am sorry. But I have to write this story because I thought is was really funny.

S to dad: When Jacob gets older is his penis going to change. It doesn't look like a worm.

(My first thought: Who told you it would look like a worm?)
(Dad's first thought: It will get bigger as he does)

Also in the middle of the night I had a visit from my favorite stomach pain again. I sure wish they would have given me some of those tums like things you were talking about Mary Ann. So I am thinking I will try to get to urgent care at some point today before it happens again to see if I can get some medicine. Lovely, right?
E

No Time

So just thinking about this makes my stomach knot up, my mouth go dry and really I just want to hurl!! There was absolutely no time for my brain to register to get a picture. I sent the girls out into the backyard jungle. They needed to wade through the grass to discover there hidden toys and bring them inside. Dad is going to mow at some point before the day is out. I sat to relax and start feeding the baby, not two minutes later the girls came running in. 'Mom, MOm, MOM, we found a new pet (yesterday there pet was slugs).' Z bird comes running in the room, proudly displaying her new pet, a dead rat!!! I immediately sat straight up, making the baby cry, and said in the calmest voice I could, which ended up being just under a yell, 'Get that rat out of the house now! Don't touch anything, no sucking your thumb. Put the rat by the tree and come in and wash your hands with lots of soap. (I smiled the fakest smile I could muster, I don't want them to get scared and drop the rat leaving it for me to take care of) Good job honey, next time though we don't catch rats ok.'

E

Doctor's Call

The doctor called and said that I have gallstones. I probably passed one which was causing all of my pain. I have to be really careful with what I eat for the next week. I have not had any problems for two days!!

Now's the part that makes me nervous. He said they found a spot on my liver during the ultrasound. It is probably nothing. He told me what it was called but I can't remember-basicly it is a spot that is not cancerous and will not ever turn cancerous. I need to have another ultrasound in 2 or 3 months. I also have high liver enzymes. I have to have my blood done again on the 30th. Again he said this is probably nothing to worry about. I looked it up online and gallstones can cause high liver enzymes. The point is it is probably nothing, but I will be just a little nervous until I have my blood work redone.

Other than that we are all healthy and good. Baby bird laughed for the first time when I was with my friend Cat. It was very cute. He has been on the verge of doing it again ever since but apparently we are just not that funny.
E

Pain

I have a pain in my side. It started out as a dull ache every now and then. Over the weekend that all changed. To say it is intense is to put it mildly. My sister said it best when she said it is like a bomb exploding. Luckily it comes and goes. But for the 45 minutes my stomach is being attacked it feels like I could die! I went to the doctor yesterday and they did blood work. This morning I was lucky enough to be at another doctors office at 6:45 to have an ultrasound. I don't know what is causing the excruciating pain yet but the thought so far is gall bladder. More importantly, I hope they can resolve it quickly. It is frustrating to figure out what to eat. I already can't have dairy. Now while I wait I need to stay away from protein (meats) and fats. Last night was a fat free dinner for me. It's not all bad I suppose at least it helps me get back to my pre-baby figure, hehe!! I should have results at some point today so I will give an update then.
E

The rest of the Camp Out

First off, I feel a need to explain the pictures. The first is everybody on the trampoline. Z is the big hump under the care bear blanket. Next is S in her sleeping bag ready for the camp out. She has a wand that glows green for a night light. After that Dad carrying an already asleep Z along with the machete, just in case she wakes up. Then she will know Dad took her concerns seriously. Finally, Z fell asleep waiting for Dad to finish working. She was sitting quietly at the table while he worked and being it was 10:30 (sitting quietly would have the same result anywhere at that point) she fell asleep.

Now for the night of the camp out. The baby woke up at 2:00 a.m. and woke up every 10 minutes from then until around 5:00. It was a very long night...

Dad was excited to show S & Z the stars, shooting stars and satellites. When he actually made it outside he realized this might not happen. First off, Z was asleep. Then the area of the sky that could actually be seen was not very big (They could see 10 to 15 stars at any given time). And to top it off, there is a very bright street light next to the house that gives off a lovely yellow glow making it hard to enjoy a lovely night sky. But he tried anyway and they did see a satellite. S fell asleep promptly, remember 10:30 at night.

D spent the first part of his night sweating on top of all the blanket (It was in the upper 40's). He was the middle of the sandwich but despite that said he slept well. Until about 1:30. That is when the slight bouncing woke him up as Z wandered around the trampoline. Dad says 'Z are you cold?' Z responds 'Yes Dad.' 'Why don't you come get in your blanket, it's right here.' 'Ok Dad.' She then crawls under her blankets again. Unfortuntely she had breathed in enough of the cold night air that she started coughing quite a bit. So Dad brought her inside about 15 minutes later. That ended Z's camp out.

Dad makes it back out and on to the trampoline again, under blankets this time since he lost 1/2 his heater. He is just about asleep and hears argggg!!! and feels the trampoline bouncing yet again. This time it is being violently punched by S. 'S what's the matter?' 'I can't go back to sleep!....and I am a little bit scared.' She scoots closer to Dad and they both fall back asleep. Dad wakes up again about 4:30 (the sky is just starting to get light) and his face it wet. He slowly reaches outside the sleeping bad and feels that it and all of the blankets are really wet. His brain wakes up enough for him to realize...IT'S RAINING!!! He quickly wakes S up and they work together to get all the blankets inside quickly. S looks at the sky getting light and contemplates staying awake since obviously it is morning. Dad immediately squashed that idea saying it is to early for parents or children to be awake and sends her to bed!! Thus ending the camp out for S and Dad.

So I really don't know who got more sleep. I guess the point is we were all tired and grumpy the next day!! But the camp out ended with the promise that it would happen again soon! Hopefully with better sleeping for all.
E

The Great American Camp Out

Being that today is the last day of school, Dad promised the girls if the weather was nice they could camp out on the new trampoline. S being the genius that she is remembered this comment from a few days ago. About 5:00 the preparations started. Sleeping bags were found, fought over and chosen (s has a pink one, z has scooby doo). Warm pj's were hunted down, pillows were discussed-how many would be just right, also the very important stuffed animal decision-which one would make it to the great camp out! 10 mins later all of the said objects were piled by the back door while everyone watched a movie to the constant back round noise of 'is it time to go out yet?'


At 9:00 the girls were told they could take there things outside being that it was twilight. Dad was finishing some work, so I was assigned the honor to help set up the 'beds'. This was because the girls were a little scared to go out by themselves, they were not afraid to tell me this. So beds were set up pj's put on and the girls were ready. While they waited for Dad the monster talk started, every monster imaginable now lives in the backyard. The girls have each found a flash light and have given dad his machete to scare away the monsters.


Now as they head out with Dad, they won't even look out the window by themselves, they are prepared to lay as close as possible on each side. So the real question is who do you think will get more sleep tonight, me with the baby or Dad with the girls? For the rest of the saga tune in tomorrow...

E

Early Saturday Morning

Last night we stayed up watching movies. Not always the best idea with a new baby but sometimes you just have to be a rebel. This morning came early though, unfortunately. At 6:30 baby was wide awake, having happy time, ready to be played with. D did not help the situation by encouraging this. So I dragged myself out of bed-wishing only slightly that I drank coffee-to find something to eat and entertain baby. Around 7:00 the girls woke up because there was movement in the house. D left at 7:30 to go help put a roof on a friends house. The girls are now very awake and asking for food and what games they can play. Baby is crying and cranky because usually after eating he goes back to sleep and sleeps till around 8:00. So I finally get baby to sleep, fix kids breakfast, and find toothpicks to hold my eyelids apart. Then comes the kids getting dressed to play outside along with the argument Z and I have every morning,'No you can't where your dress up shoes outside they will get ruined' 'I can't find my shoes so these are all I have' 'then you can't go outside, you need your real shoes to go outside' 'But Mom...slight wailing that is now building in pitch...I don't know where my shoes are! You find them' I am sure you can imagine the rest.

What I want to know is what happened to kids getting up early, sneaking to the TV and turning it down low enough so it can not be heard by parents ears to watch Saturday morning cartoons!
E
(I am not really complaining-I am glad my kids would rather go out and play-just extremely tired)

Morning Conversation

After dropping S at school...

Z: Mom where are we going today? Whose friend house do I get to get dropped off at to play?
Me: Your not going to a friends house today. We are going to get the oil changed in the car.
Z: Mom do we have a flat wheel?
Me: No
Z: Mom I like going to the flat wheel store!
Me: Oh, well we are going to get the oil changed not to the flat wheel store.

My 2 favorite Sarah-isms

Almost every question starts with 'did you not know...' I don't know when she will grow out of it but it is so her.

I also hear alot of 'oh grief' instead if 'good grief'

To do list 2

Go to the store for b-day party-done

Z-birds cute comment...Sarah, Sarah mom went to the store and then she came back!!!
My day must not be going as well as I thought!
E

To do list

1. Call Lili and wish her a happy b-day-done
2. Do dishes-1/2 done
3. Give baby a bath in the sink that can now be seen from the 1/2 way done dishes-done
4. Make lunch-done
5. Start laundry-done
6. Make bed-I have a bed?
7. Go to store for B-day party tonight-not even close to being done
8. Walk crying baby till he realizes he is crying because he is tired and then falls asleep-done
9. Sit and read friends blogs rather that finish to do list-DONE

E

Me Time

So I am learning very quickly that I have no time for myself or no choices that are actually my own anymore. Now I am not griping, truly, I love my J-bird and am grateful he is here every second of every day (Maybe not every second of every night if I am being completely honest. No, I am even then when I can't even think straight because I am so tired. He usually coo's at least once at me before he falls back asleep). It's just hard not choosing when I sleep, eat, cook, clean, play with the girls, visit with my husband, you know what I mean. Another body is one more persons wants and needs to be taken care of.

Anyway...Tonight I went for a walk by myself for the first time since having the baby. I was alone doing what I wanted to do. It was invigorating, even refreshing. It was nice to smell like sweat rather than sour milk. It was nice to feel my body moving again, way harder than I remembered though too!

That was my second alone time. The first my mother-in-law was kind enough to let me have. Now here will clearly show an unhealthy obsession on my part, though some of you may understand. I love the twilight series books. I won't incriminate myself completely by telling you how many times I have read them. The newest version of Eclipse (the 3rd book in the series) has the 1st chapter of the next book in it. I don't need another Eclipse book. I don't want another one. So for my me time I actually went to the book store, found one of the cozy chairs there and sat and read the first chapter. Just because I really wanted to. It was so nice to get out too (thanks mom). I suppose that doesn't sound like too big of an obsession-as long as I don't make it a weekly habit right?
E

1 Month Birthday

Things to do on my one month birthday.
by Jacob Dixon....almost

1. Stay awake as long as possible
2. Get the hiccups at least 3 times
3. Develop horrible baby acne
4. Smell really bad from spitting up all day long
5. Get the poop out I have been working on for two days
6. Ahhh...a nice warm bath makes me smell much better (followed by immediate spit up on my clean clothes)
7. Get Mom really excited by smiling big at her (1st real smile)...then follow up with lots of gas...haha gotcha mom
8. Finally must way at least 10 pounds!!!

Love you all-
E (I mean J)

Tears and Burned Meat

I have no picture tonight so you will have to use your imagination. I have had a very long day that followed an even longer night. You see are children are not on the same schedule. Baby bird slept great last night. Z-bird had bad dreams and was in our room a couple of times through out the night. Then after she was finally in bed I heard her crying out which was weird because she usually just comes in. I pushed D out of bed and of grumbled to the door to open it just enough to figure out it was not Z crying out. There was a little party going on in our back yard. Three cats were 'enjoying themselves'. We waited thinking this could not go on long. Finally D had enough and went and threw a ball at them and they scattered. Now, any cat lovers out there don't get too upset. I think if they had come back he might have used his bb gun.

So today D took the girls to church only to come home about 15 minutes later because he does not feel well. Every thing was quite for a while, but soon we had arguing between me and the girls about every decision that was being made. J-bird woke up to cry unless he was being feed or held (he had to be asleep or he was crying). Needless to say if has been stressful.

Dinner came around and I was reheating some meat from earlier in the week. D did potatoes and veggies. Well I am distracted to say the least and D looks at the meat and says that is some interesting meat, it is completely black! (This would not be a big deal if it were the first time it happened) Since J has been born I have burned everything that I have cooked. Both Mom's and my family can attest to this. In my head I am thinking "Seriously! I can't be THAT distracted" yet the meat proves otherwise. The tears flowed freely while D very kindly cut all of the black off, then they stopped and we ate our burned dinner. I suppose it takes time to adjust to having one more person to think about. Clearly this is true since I forgot to take my lactose pill with dinner (I watched D put the milk in the potatoes, we actually talked about it). Now I am in for a long night! I really hope you all can find the humor that is in this-I know I will see it once I stop burning food (hehe).
E

Dinner Conversation

Tonight we were eating dinner. Mom Dixon made an awesome meal, so tasty. S-bird blurts out (I say blurt in the kindess of ways, meaning she was having a random thought) I can spell Z-bird z-e-p-f...We told her she was close. Remember the 2 letter f(ph) 'no, I don't remember'. This started a whole conversation on different ways to spell fish. Again random I know. We were though phish and Big D says what's another way to say 'sh'(think fish still)? S-bird yells out "SHIP". WE ALL LAUGHED at the close call. She said it very loud and very slow. I thought to myself, that was a close call. I would have been mortified to have her say that in front of my in-laws and I would have had a discussion right then and there with big d about whatever language he had been using!
E

7 Things

I have been tagged and will fulfill my duty!

1. I love babies. I always have, I always will. There squishiness, smell and cuddliness..oh I can't get enough! If babies never turned into 3 year old I could have alot of kids.

2. 3 is my least favorite kid age. I don't really like it at all. I barely survive and well, my kids barely survive. But once 4 comes around it feels like smooth sailing. So anyone with 3 yr olds it gets better, just wait!

3. I love Dreyers Mint Ice Cream. I really, really enjoy it. Unfortunately I am lactose intolorent and it makes me sick. So I don't really partake that often, bummer.

4. Nothing feels as good as when you finish a run. I love to go running and I love to finish running. The actual running part is not my favorite but I am learning to have a really strong mind and convince myself that it is good (music helps alot too).

5. I love to take a bath. Relaxing in my big bath tub will solve almost any problem. I have been this way since I was a little girl.

6. In most cases, I would rather read a good book then watch a movie. My husband thinks I am a weirdo. I having stayed up all night to read too many books because the story line in my head refuses to be paused.

7. I like hot summers. This is from growing up in AZ. It does not really feel like summer till it is really hot at least for a little while. The 90's are great for that. Well, that is really hot for here.

Well there is 7 random things about me. It was fun. I will tag Melissa, Lily, and Gail, and Sean A'lee if you feel up to the "challenge". It also works if your stumped for what to blog about!!

Time to wake up

I am finding that J-bird is a pretty good alarm clock! This morning at about 5:15 we heard quite a few grunts and moans basically saying "Feed Me". He gives us a good 45 seconds to respond before he is mad and wailing, letting us know that any delay is not ok, hehe. But he did surprise me by sleeping for 6 hours straight last night. It doesn't quite make up for the 3 weeks of sleep deprivation but it is a start. A couple more nights like that and we will be good to go.



This so describes the dynamics of our family right now. J-bird crys and z-bird wants him to stop instantly or to be away from him. S-bird wants to help anyway she can. She is a huge help too. She will hold him anytime I ask and she sings him songs, tells him stories and even does puppet shows for him. She has also been fantastic with z. She has played with her constantly and has been constantly teaching her new games. S-bird is just so wonderful to have around.



Mom and Dad Dixon are now in town for a visit. They will be here through Sat. Already Mom is jumping in with both feet to help. She just went to the store to pick up things for dinners for the time she is here. Wow, how lucky am I to have more help! They kept J-bird here this morning so I could continue the car pool which is awesome.

Well I only have a few more minutes before j-bird wakes up. I should probably shower now since my next chance won't be for awhile. Have a great day.
E