Our B Family

Wow, something crawled out of the woodworks

2009-11-16T13:33:00.002-07:00

And that would be me. I know, I've disappeared, three kids keeps me sort of busy. I need to start posting again more often. I plan to try!
Seeing that this is sort of a journal I wanted to post a blog about my Aubrie...

I have made many comments about my Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad AUBRIE. She was lovingly nicknamed Diablo for quite some time. I am very enthralled to announce that she has relinquished that title. Aubrie has turned into a sweet, loving, caring, obeying, and most of all HAPPY little girl. Before, she threw at LEAST 4 tantrums a day. And when I say tantrum, I mean laying on the ground kicking, screaming, and hitting herself. They would easily last 20 minutes, only for another thing to set her off 2 hours later and begin again. Over the past 4 weeks, she has thrown probably 5 of those tantrums TOTAL. I have had multiple people comment on how different of a child she is. She was never horrible for other people, but she was also, not social, and very distant. She now is happy and chats everyone's heads off.
Why you ask? What caused this sudden change in personality? One can only speculate. BUT here is my speculation...
On October 2oth I noticed a very large bump on her gums above her tooth. It seriously looked as if a pea was stuck underneath. It was swollen and looked awful. Rewind back to July 2008. Aubrie fell off of a picnic table and knocked her tooth at our family reunion. She chipped both front teeth, mostly her left one though. We immediately took her to a dentist in the middle of no where Utah. The dentist told us there was no emergency and to just make an apt with our dentist in Idaho. When we returned to Idaho we took her in to a pediatric dentist. He said that none of the nerve was exposed and sent us on our way. He said she didn't need to be seen again until she was 3. Fast forward 8 months later. Aubrie is now 2 and a big fat pain in the butt. I blame it on terrible 2's. 1 month later I noticed the inside of the tooth turning a green color. I take her back to said Dentist and he takes a 15 second look at it and says that she must have ate something green and dyed her tooth. No x-rays, nothing. Sent me on my way again. Aubrie now earns her nickname, Diablo. She was horrible! Chances are if you called me at any given time of the day, she was screaming in the background. I even had to quit nursing Brooklyn because it stressed me out too much because Aubrie would lay on the ground and scream bloody murder the entire time. We then moved to Arizona, Aubrie remained the same. I continued to blame it on the big changes in her life, a new baby, moving to a different place, living with grandma, etc..
Back to Oct 20th. I noticed this mass in her mouth and immediately call a local pediatric dentist. He says that she MUST be seen that day. We get in for a 3 o clock apt. I drop my other two off at my cousins house and off we go. Dentist takes one look at it and says, that tooth needs out NOW. It had become infected and was so bad that he said if we had waited much longer (like 2 days) she could have gone blind. We took x-rays to make sure no other tooth was infected. We waited until Michael got there and as soon as he did we held her down best we could, he numbed her up and yanked that tooth out. Long story short, he said that he has never seen a tooth that infected and his guess was that it has been infected since I went in in April. The dentist put her on antibiotics for 10 days and said that she should feel much better soon. Well lets just say that was definitely an understatement. She has become a different child.
I have finally gotten over my guilt of not noticing the infection sooner and getting something figured out. There was really no way I could have known and I am just glad that I DID catch it when I did.
Let's just pray I didn't jinx myself and Aubrie stays the happy little girl she has become!

Yogurt Bandit

2009-06-10T10:00:00.008-06:00

I rolled out of bed this morning around 8:45, sort of wondering why neither girl had woken me up yet.
And this my friends, is what I found...

Yogurt #1
#2
#3
More #3#4
#'s 5, 6, 7 & 8
And now, the culprit...I suppose I should go clean.

Easter Festivities

2009-04-11T19:17:00.005-06:00

Today I let the girls color Easter eggs. I really didn't wanna deal with the mess by myself, since Michael is at work all day, but when I went to the store a few days ago I found this cool set that lets you dye them by shaking them in a cup. So no messy blue/pink/yellow/green/purple water that will inevitably be knocked over and turn my kitchen into an Easter egg. They very much enjoyed themselves and wanted to do even more. Now they're just counting down the minutes until the Easter bunny comes and hides them, and as Hailey let me know, leaves them candy, eggs, and toys.

I also braved the cold with all three girls this morning and took them to the Annual Kuna Easter Egg Hunt at the local high school. They LOVED it. Hailey took off right away and started grabbing them. She would shake them first to make sure something was in them, lol, and if she threw them back on the ground, it means she didn't hear anything in them, so I quickly picked it back up and threw it in her basket, knowing that it meant there was a prize. Silly girl! Aubrie on the other hand didn't want to pick up all the eggs. She only wanted pink ones. It took her a few minutes but she finally started getting whatever was closest. I forgot my diaper bag, which had my camera in it, so I have no pictures of that. Bummer! Hailey's little friend Shad won first prize and got a new BSU bronco bike. Yay Shad!

Just a cute girl...

2009-04-11T19:10:00.005-06:00

To answer a few questions, yes, I found my camera. Lol, it was in the coffee table. There is a little slot underneath where we keep the laptop and a few other random things (read- crap). Aubrie pulled it out of there one day and I was like, Oh Duh! I guess it was just too obvious of a place to even think to look. So I've been trying to be better at taking pictures. These are of Brooklyn a few days before she turned 2 months. I managed to catch a smile in one of them even. She smiles here and there, but never when a camera is around.

Tubby Time

2009-04-11T18:53:00.005-06:00

These pictures are of Brooklyn's first (or 3rd) time in the big bath. She doesn't LOVE it, but she doesn't cry at all either. The other two girls love to help me bathe her. Each time I start the tub for her they take off their pants so they can stand in the tub and help clean her. I'm sure they can't wait until she can sit up and join them in their fun tubs!

She rolls!

2009-04-11T18:43:00.003-06:00

I tried to get Brooklyn rolling on camera the other day. But each time I stopped recording she would roll, or she would roll before I got the camera recording, so this is the best I could do! I kind of just caught her mid-roll.

100th Post!

2009-04-11T18:39:00.001-06:00

Yay me!!! As a tribute to my blog, and myself being such an awesome Author, I'll post a picture of myself for my 1ooth post (yes people, the song, You're So Vain, is playing in my head too).Of course, you getta see cute Brooklyn too. Unlike my sister Heidi, I don't generally take pictures of myself at arms length from my camera... so this'll do!

The Reason I don't buy Marshmallow Cereal

2009-04-11T18:04:00.004-06:00

So a few weeks ago while Hailey was at preschool, and Brooklyn was sleeping, I thought it would be safe to take a quick shower. So I left Aubrie in front of the TV and hopped in. Normally she comes in the bathroom 10 times while I'm showering to just bug me. Well after about 5 minutes I still hadn't seen her, so I got a bit nervous. Hopped out real quick to find her. And this is what she was doing...
Those were Marshmallow Mateys that my mom bought while she was in town, but if you look closely, there are almost NO marshmallows left. Silly girl!

Aubrie's Birthday

2009-03-28T11:50:00.003-06:00

So I'm not feeling wonderful today, and don't feel like doing anything productive so I figured I would update my blog a little.

We kept Aubrie's birthday pretty low key, no party with friends or anything, just small family get together. She got to spend the night at Nana's house the night before, which is her favorite thing ever.

For her present she got a "My First Doll House". She LOVES it. They both do actually. It provides HOURS of entertainment. Definitely a hit!

Wow! A picture!

2009-03-12T17:13:00.002-06:00

So... my camera is MIA, seriously, I can't find it ANYWHERE. And my house was cleaned top to bottom recently, so who knows! Anyway, here is a picture from my phone that I took today of my baby Brooklyn. She's getting so big already, I can't believe it.
Hopefully I can find my camera soon and take some more pictures of her. I'll come back later and post pictures of Aubrie's birthday, since I was able to use my mother in laws camera.

Birth Story

2009-02-08T14:07:00.006-07:00

February 2nd:

Alarm went off at 6:00 so I could get up and get ready. Called the Charge Nurse at the hospital first thing to make sure it wasn't busy, she said to come on in.
Michael dropped me off at the front door at 7:05 told me to go get checked in.
I went upstairs and filled out a few papers and waited for the nurse.
The nurse came out to the waiting room and called my name. Being the overly judgmental people we are, we both kind of sighed thinking, by the looks of our nurse it was going to be a long day.
Went in got my IV hooked up and fluid pumping.
Realized that I shouldn't judge people by their looks, my nurse was AMAZING.
I started getting some anxiety and felt really nauseous.
At 7:35 Dr. Hodges came in, told the nurse to give me some Zofran, and broke my water. I was at 1.5 to 2 cms dilated.
7:45 the nurse started my pitocin drip.
8:00 sent Michael to the gas station to get me some candy to suck on.
While he was gone the nurse offered to give me (TMI ALERT) an enema. She told me the biggest reason women get one is so that they don't have to worry about it the next day while recovering. I opted to get one. Woooow, feels not so wonderful. But it definitely worked :).
8:30 started feeling good contractions 2 minutes apart.
9:00 decided to start pumping me with more fluid and call the epidural man.
9:15, after squeezing the crap out of the nurses arm, the epidural is in place. Maybe I can nap now. Still only at 3 cms dilated. Getting prepared for a long day.
10:00 starting to feel sick again, threw up whatever was in my stomach
11:00 I tried to nap, wasn't happening. Just laid there and rested. Since only Michael and I were there, it was nice and quiet, which was PERFECT.
12:00 I'm starving and want some ice chips or something, nurse suggests a popsicle. Not 5 minutes after I finish is, it comes right back up. Nurse checks me again, at a 4. Gives me some oxygen for the nausea.
12:35 Mom makes it there.
12:45 Nurse says, "I keep hoping I'm gonna check you and you'll be at a 7". I say, "You and me both". She checks... "You ARE at a 7!".
She scrambles around to finish getting things ready.
12:50 checks me again, 9 and crowning. Pages Dr. 911
Once the dr. got there (out of breath from running) he told me I could start pushing. First contraction comes and I push, her head is out with her hand by her face, so he tells me to stop pushing. I guess he was trying to push her elbow around in a way so I wont tear as bad. I ask if I can push again, he tells me no. Then tells me to give 1 LITTLE push. So I do. 1 more little push, and out she comes.

She was born at 1:08. Her face was very bruised from coming out so fast and having her hand up against her face.Hanging out while the dr. stiches me up, 3 total.

She looks like she has her daddys asain looking eyes in this picture.

Brooklyn Jade

2009-02-04T12:00:00.002-07:00

February 2, 2009
1:08 pm
7lbs 9 oz
20 1/2 inches
Birth story to follow, when I'm not falling asleep sitting on the couch.

My cute brother and my cute kiddos!

2009-01-24T22:14:00.001-07:00

I haven't posted a picture of my kids in FOREVER. Honestly, I haven't taken any in a while. I think I took some in the snow the other day, but haven't put them on the computer yet. That will be tomorrows chore. So for an updated picture, I stole one off of Jessica's blog. This is one of my favorite pictures! You can NEVER get Aubrie to smile like that for the camera. But she LOVED Uncle George (both the girls do!), so she smiled.
Thanks for all the votes on my poll. It's actually kinda funny how it's panning out because the order of favorites is exactly opposite of my order of favorites. We'll see if it sways my decision. Time will tell.

Blog Funk and Poll

2009-01-21T22:07:00.001-07:00

So... I have totally not been in the mood to blog. I really haven't even had anything to blog about lately. Life is just monotonous. Wake, eat, play, laundry, pick up toys, eat, nap, play, pick up toys, eat, put girls to bed, watch tv, pick up toys, sleep. Rinse and repeat. Although I bet in 12 days I will look back on this normalcy with fondness, because I'm pretty sure a newborn is going to throw us all for a loop.
Which brings me to my poll. I didn't really care to throw any names out there because, quite honestly, I don't care for some peoples rude, uncalled for opinions. So you hate the name? I don't care, just tell me you like one of the other options better. You think I should name her Petunia? Well honey, it's my kid, not your garden, let it go.
But I'm down to the wire and can't decide which I like best. I like all three fairly equally, but none feel quite right. I suppose when I see her I may just know, but I seriously doubt it. I couldn't decide with Aubrie so my three-year-old niece made the final decision.
So go vote... Her middle name will most likely be Anne, with the possibility of Jade.

Home Again

2009-01-01T09:21:00.002-07:00

Well we've finally made it back. Alive and well for the most part. And excited to be back home where we can resume a semblance of normalcy.
We had loads of fun, and I took zero pictures on my camera. I was too lazy to find where I packed it so most the time I just grabbed whatever camera was close by. So I'm sure there are pictures on Jess and Davids camera, my moms, and my sisters. Soooo if you're reading this, send them this way so I can post them! Thanks! Until then, I will just post the highlights (and possibly low lights) of the trip.

4 hours on the road, already 2 chips in our brand new windshield. Sweeeet.
Made it to Vegas with great weather and a happy Hailey. (Aubrie left earlier that day to California with Nana- hallelujah).
Stayed up way too late with my good friend Nikki playing Dr. Mario (and politely kicking her butt). Lol, love ya Nik!
Enjoyed In-n-Out in Barstow {yum yum}
Made it to Dana Point and got to see Aubrie, who only cared that Hailey -Shisshy- was there.
Enjoyed a few days with LeeAnn, Jack, and Nana. Was politely handed a butt kicking in a game of Hand and Foot. For once ;-).
Realized my stupidity (I'm a desert rat, give me a break) of turning the heat COMPLETELY off at our house.
Denver breaking into our house and turning it back on, letting us know our house was 38 degrees. Niiiice.
Drove to the desert in time for Holly's annual Christmas party. Enjoyed a fun night with friends!
Slept on a decent bed for once this trip (thanks again Jeanny!!).
Enjoyed a swiss donut, after sending my husband BACK to get me the right donut, and YES there is a difference between a cake donut and a regular one. Ugh! No one goes to Swiss Donut to get a cake sprinkle donut, might as well go to the gas station!
Complained about high gas prices. It was 1.35 in Boise, and we were paying 1.80. But we should keep our mouths shut because last year we paid 4 dollars some places during this same trip. {locking it up}
Got to spend time with all our Desert friends and family. Amy and Steve, Holly and Chad, Ninny and Poppy, Joe, Jeanny, and others.
Surprised Mom by getting to Arizona early, yay!
Got to see Brittany and her new baby Bostyn, who looks a lot like my Aubrie. And people often say our husbands look a lot alike (no relation).
Enjoyed yummy Melanesia for Christmas eve.
Got to spend time (as little as it was) with the whole family Christmas Eve, playing games, opening presents and eating.
Slept in until almost 9 Christmas morning (much to Jessica's dismay ;-))
Enjoyed the pleasure of watching our children open presents and play all day.
Michael scoring a perfect 555 on the WiiFit soccer game. Him and David played for HOURS one night just trying to out do the other.
Snacking on Sonic Ice.
Hung out with Aunt Lorna, Bradley, Jamee, Fressia, and Tibbs.
Attempting to walk around the Mall with my Mom and Jessica, and realizing I am huge and slow. Thankfully Jess walked with me.
Forgetting that I can't walk for very long and attempting the outdoor mall the very next day, my other sisters weren't so nice, and left me in the dust.
Took Hailey bowling for the first time. Mom kicked all our butts. I didn't do too badly for a huge pregnant woman.
Hailey decided since Aubrie found and brought to her, some hair cutting scissors, she should take that for a hint and give herself a haircut. We were finding random tufts of hair for the next few hours. Thankfully she has loads of hair and you can hardly see the sporadic chops.
2 hours into the 16 hour drive home and Aubrie is throwing up, poor baby!

5 hours into the 16 hour drive (after leaving at 2:30 am) and I STILL CAN'T SLEEP!
17 hours later, HOME!

I'm sure I missed lots of things, and I'm also sure NO one has read this all, but I must document for myself. As soon as I receive some pictures, I will post them. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and enjoys this New Year!

When can I relax!?

2008-12-17T10:07:00.002-07:00

I have been so busy this past week that I am getting VERY worn out!
I had to finish a photobook for a friend in like 4 days. It was 35 pages. Crazy!! At least it's now done and off my list.
We leave town Thursday afternoon, and I still have 1000 things to do.
Here is just some of what needs done-
Ultrasound for placenta check (I have a low lie)- today
Chiropractor- today
Bank- today
Get stamps, finish sending out x-mas cards- today
2 loads of laundry and pack- today
Clean out car- today
Clean the house- today/tomorrow
Get together a gift basket for a mom in our ward- today
Take my MIL and Aubrie to the airport- tomorrow
Hailey's christmas party- tomorrow
Dr. Apt- tomorrow
Pack Car- tomorrow
Be out of house by 12:30/pick up M from work- tomorrow
Drive to Vegas- tomorrow.

Ugh, Maybe when we finally get to Arizona sometime next week, I'll be able to relax. If I were any closer to my due date, I think this week would put me into labor. 47 more days!

God Made them Sisters....

2008-12-15T22:09:00.002-07:00

Life made them Best Friends...

While we were putting the girls down for bed tonight they were both having their own separate issues. Aubrie just wanted to be cranky and be rocked. And Hailey wanted to sleep on the ground. Michael told her that he wouldn't let her sleep on the ground, and she said, but Aubrie is!! So in an attempt to show her that Aubs was NOT sleeping on the ground, he took her to her room. When they walked in Aubrie popped her head up and said, Hi! Michael turned to walk out with Hailey and Aubs starts crying, "Haaaaaysss!". So Hailey looks at Michael and says, I wanna sleep with Aubrie.
Me... I would have laughed at her, and carried her back to bed. But I was in my room working on my computer, so Michael tells her, Sure, hop in her crib.

He then comes into our room laughing. Tells me, the girls are both happy, I have it taken care of. But he is still laughing, so I know something is up. I go to peek in on them, and sure enough they are both in the crib, talking and laughing with each other. So I decide I will give them a few minutes, either they will get sick of each other or they'll fall asleep. 20 minutes later, they are still talking. I go in and find Aubrie's pacifier in Hailey's mouth (probably why she wanted to sleep with her). So I give it to Aubrie and tell Hailey if she keeps talking she has to go back to her room. I leave again.

Silence...

Or so I think...

Nope, they just got smart and started whispering.

So I come out and tell Michael that since he allowed this he has to be the bad guy and go break them up. I go get in the tub.

So he goes back in.

M: Hailey, you need to get out and go back in your room because you are not closing your eyes and sleeping.

H: Noooo... Aubrie keeps talking and touching me.

M: That's because you're in her tiny crib. Aubrie, do you want Hailey to go to her own room?

A: No, night! (covers her eyes with her hands)

M: If you girls don't stop talking and sleep, Hailey has to go to her room.

5 minutes later I get out of the tub...

Silence. For real this time.

We'll see how the whole night goes, and if they wake up at their usual time. This will be interesting. I think we're gonna move Aubries crib into Hailey's room when we get back into town. We're going to have to do it eventually anyway, so why not when they are excited about it?

My question... what on earth do a 3 year old and a 21 month old talk about for an hour? Do they understand each other?? Silly girls!

My kit is up!

2008-11-30T14:04:00.001-07:00

Click Here to go check it out!

Introducing...

2008-11-23T22:55:00.003-07:00

I decided to create digital scrapbook kits and give them away to YOU for free. So head on over and check out my new blog. My first kit should be up within the next day!! Let me know what you think! Thanks!!!

Funny Toes

2008-11-21T08:48:00.002-07:00

If you take a look at the bottom of Aubrie's feet, it looks like she only has 4 toes... Seriously. And this is why-
Look closely and you'll see that her second toe sits on top of her first and third toe. I used to think it was because her toes were too fat to fit all of them in a row, now I just think it's funky genetics. I guess we'll see over the next few years where they line up!

A nice welcome home...

2008-11-14T20:27:00.002-07:00

Sick children.

The second Michael picked me up from the airport, I could hear my children's snotty noses just by the way they talked. Oh well, little colds, no big deal.
2 hours later, I already had their "little cold".
1 day later, Hailey feels perfectly fine, her nose gets a little runny when she whines, but nothing more.
Me, still have a stinkin cold.
Aubrie, she now has croup. That's nice huh? I took her to her pediatrician this morning, they gave her an oral steroid and just said to keep an eye on her and push fluids. And reassured me that its contagious only as a common cold, which pretty much everyone has right now anyway, and if they don't they are bound to pick it up soon. Thankfully, she hasn't been acting worse then usual. A little more clingy, but I'm used to that, she's my sit on my lap child as it is, so nothing different. And she is sleeping fine, so that's great. Although, now that I write that, she'll probably be up all night.
All sickness aside, my trip was great. I flew down on Sunday morning for my Grandpa's 80th birthday party. We surprised them by showing up at church, and they were so excited. Then I drove out to the desert and stayed with Holly for 2 nights, and Amy for 1. It was so much fun to get a break and see my best friends. We decided to do a girls night, sans kiddos. We started it out at In n' Out (yum), then went bowling. The last time I went bowling was the night before Amy got married, 2 1/2 years ago. We concluded the night by getting ice cream. It was a fun, calorie filled, night! Holly has some pictures on her blog, so if you feel so inclined to check them out, here ya go.
Anyway, it is nice to be home. And to actually have some fall weather (the desert is still stinkin HOT). I just wish everyone were healthy!! All in good time I suppose.

We have a new family member...

2008-11-05T12:50:00.002-07:00

OUR MINIVAN!!
Yes, I am now a minivan driving typical mom. Weird. But I am so excited. It's a 2008 Silver Kia Sedona with 12 miles on it. The girls aren't too sure about it, they think that the guy that came and dropped it off is gonna come back and pick it up. It'll help when we get their carseats in it, but Michael so kindly took them to work with him this morning.
This is the first time in 2 years we have been a 2 car family... it's going to be different. Although, Michael says, what's the point of having two cars, now that we have 2 car payments, you wont have money to go anywhere in your second car. Lol, this is true. But a drive 1.5 miles down the street to a friends for a playdate costs next to nothing, but offers me an ounce of sanity... Well worth it.

8:37

2008-11-03T20:38:00.001-07:00

And everyone but me is asleep. Michael fell asleep on the ground watching TV. Aubrie finally gave in after 30 minutes of whining, and Hailey is asleep after reading the same book 5 times. And now I have nothing to do... BORING.
I guess I could fold some laundry, or go clean the playroom... But I'd rather not. So I suppose I will just dink around on the internet until I can fall asleep, in 2 hours. Any suggestions on fun, mindless, entertaining websites?

Same Blog as everyone else this week...

2008-11-03T13:23:00.004-07:00

Trick or Treat!

So Halloween was a busy but fun day! The girls so excited to dress up that they were in their costumes by 10:30 am. Aunt Hayden came and picked us up so the girls could go to her parents Adult Daycare that they own and do some activities with the elderly. Michael then picked us up from there, and took me to the hospital so I could see my friend Kendra and her new baby. Then we came home for a 45 minutes and Aubrie and Michael took a quick nap before we headed up to church for trunk or treat. After that we headed back to our neighborhood and took the girls trick or treating for a while. Hailey loved it! Aubrie just wanted to eat each piece of candy that was handed to her, right then and there. So most the time she walked around with a sucker in her mouth. We didn't get any really good pictures, but here are a few for your viewing pleasure...

Aubrie in her very fitting costume...

Hailey as Ariel... She really wanted red hair, but she didn't mention that until Halloween day, and we couldn't find any red spray, just orange. And she fell walking to school the day before, so that's why the beautiful beauty marks!
The girls at Trunk or Treat with their good friend KatelynTrick or Treating

Yay! A mini-vaca!

2008-11-01T13:03:00.001-06:00

I get to go to California for a few days next month! I am totally excited and can't wait! Best part, NO KIDDOS! Woohoo! Michael gets to have them Sun-Wed all to himself. Oh the joys.

Family Pictures

2008-10-28T20:37:00.006-06:00

Yeah, definitely not wonderful. Lol. Aubrie smiled in ZERO. I didn't realize that pregnancy was affecting the fatness of my face already. But it was quite the wake up call. I guess those 8 cookies I ate today will just blend in my already overly round face.
On a better note, we did get one decent one. And a few great ones of Hailey. Enjoy!

Sponge Curlers

2008-10-27T19:27:00.008-06:00

I was talking to my friend Kendra about cutting Hailey's hair because it is out of control. She suggested trying sponge curlers for our family pictures, and she happened to have some. So I gave it a shot. I really didn't think she'd sleep in them though. When I first showed them to her, she was totally excited. But I figured by the time she had to lay down in them, she'd want them out. But I was wrong. She didn't complain once. She thought she was just Ms. Thang. Her hair turned out really cute! When I took the curlers out around 10, it was really curly, but I knew by the time pictures rolled around it would lose enough oomph and look good. And it did!
Anyway, here are pictures of her sporting her cute new hair!
And of course Aubrie wanted in on the fun so the next morning I put them in her hair. They lasted all of 2 minutes before she yanked them out.

By the way, Aubrie has no ear infection, it was confirmed today that she is just a brat. Oh well, now I wont feel like an awful mom listening to her scream. She was better today though.

I need a break

2008-10-26T20:56:00.002-06:00

from being a mom.

This week has been quite a trying one. Aubrie has been on this be a complete brat kick. No joke. She is generally a very happy girl and quite compliant. She sleeps great, wakes up cheerful, eats breakfast happy, watches a few shows, plays, takes a nap with no complaints and basically throws maybe 1 fit a day. Night time rolls around, she gives us all kisses, sings a song and goes down without a fuss.

Well this week, that is definitely not the case. While she has been sleeping ok, she has NOT been happy at any other point in the day. Everything turns into a full blown, throw herself on the ground, kick and screaming fit.

Example 1: Mom leaving to the gas station
The gas station is 2 minutes away. She knew where I was going, and knew I'd be right back. Dad put a show on for her and I tried to slip out the door. She cried the entire 15 minutes I was gone. It took her another 15 minutes after I got home to calm down.

Example 2: Target
I had a few returns to make the other day. Quick easy trip. I wasn't even planning on walking around at all. So I didn't put the girls in a cart, it was just customer service, and I thought it would be quick and painless. Wrong. The girl wanted me to go get another one of the curling iron that I was returning. Fine, whatever. So I get a cart and try to put the girls in it. Hailey went in the back fine, Aubrie... oh dear. You'd think I was trying to amputate her leg. She screamed the whole way to the cosmetics and back. I ended up having to hold her so she didn't throw herself out of the cart. Imagine that, 6 months pregnant, pushing a cart, holding a screaming 19 month old while she's flailing all around. People probably thought I was a HORRIBLE mother. I couldn't care less.

Example 3: The carseat
Now, she's never LOVED riding in the car, but shes also never thrown a fit getting into the car. On 4 different occasions this week (every time I put her in the car this week) she threw a HUGE tantrum. Arching her back so that you can't get her straps on. I basically had to sit on her to strap her in. And then she proceeds to slide the clip part down (screaming all the while) and try and get her arms out. So I raise it back up and tighten it even more, which of course doesn't help the screaming and kicking.

Example 4: Dinnertime
If you know my girls at all, you know that they LOVE to eat. Well Aubrie has basically taken an eating hiatus. I put her in her high chair for dinner, she eats 2 bites and wants down. But that's not it, she then wants up on my lap and to eat my food. If I try and give her a bite of the SAME EXACT food off of her plate, she'll throw the fork. But will eat mine if offered to her. At lunch, she'll throw her plate on the ground and not eat anything. Whatever kid, starve.

Example 5: Pictures
Today we tried to go take family pictures at the park. Michael's friend from work is trying to start up a photography business (who isn't?) so offered to do ours. Sure, I'm huge and pregnant, but oh well, we haven't taken family pictures since Aubs was born. We were supposed to meet her at 1:30 at the park. Well we decided our best chances at having a happy Aubrie was to skip church and put her down for an early nap. Because going straight from church to pictures would be self destruction. Well, we sinned for no reason, she was less then cooperative anyway. Would NOT smile, didn't want Michael to touch her, hold her, or even look at her. I think we took like 15 pictures total. It was pretty much pointless.

Example 6: Bedtime
Aubrie LOVES to sleep (I wonder where she got that). Since she was 3 months old, we've laid her in bed, and walked away. The most she has ever fussed would be like 2 minutes. And that was out of the norm. Well lately it's a good 30 minutes. And it's not that she isn't tired, because believe me, she is. Tonight Michael said, "You know how I can tell she's really mad in there? Because she's calling for me". But of course the second he goes in there to give her some water or something she says, "I want Mommy!". No thanks. So I sit here and listen to her whining, "waaaaaannnt doooooooowwwwwwwwwnnnnnn". But I've learned if I get her up now, and try to put her down in 15 minutes, I've just delayed the 30 minute scream session.

So, as I stated, I need a break.
Michael has worked 20 hours of overtime for the past two weeks. And he's scheduled another 20 this week too. He's come home and fallen asleep by 7 at least a quarter of those days. I can't complain, he's working his tail off. I really should call a babysitter and go out for a few hours on my own, but there are 2 problems with that, first, I have no money to pay a babysitter for those few hours (or go anywhere) and secondly, I wouldn't want to put ANYONE else through what I've been through the past week of Aubrie. UGH.

As for now, I'm gonna scrounge up some change, go to the gas station and get myself some cheesy nachos and drown my sorrows away.

It could be worse...

P.S. I have finally decided, that with no teeth showing, or swollen gums, I am just going to give in and take Aubrie to the dr. tomorrow. HOPEFULLY she has an ear infection that would explain the non-stop crankiness. I've been putting it off though because she has no fever, and just a runny nose, and who doesn't feel stupid when they take their baby in, thinking something is wrong, just for the Dr. to smile and say, it's just a little virus, it'll go away on its own. Well I'm now past feeling dumb for that, I need to know. I need ANY excuse for this behaviour. Even a little virus. Heaven help us...

7 Weird Facts

2008-10-21T19:03:00.002-06:00

So I've been tagged by a few people, and I don't remember who exactly. Holly and Nathaly for sure though. I've procrastinated for a while because I didn't know what to write, but I'll figure things out.

1. I have to sleep with the fan on. No matter if it's 30 degrees outside, I have to have the fan. I think its because I like to use my blankets but hate to be hot.

2. When driving with other people, I don't care to have music on. I hate turning it down to talk or see what the girls need, I'd rather it just be quiet. Most of the time if I'm alone, its not even turned on unless I'm either in a really grumpy mood and need the distraction, or in a really good mood and wanna sing.

3. When I'm pregnant, I want to eat laundry soap. Lol, no not really. I just LOVE the smell of it (mostly the powder) and would open the container every time I walk by and my mouth would water.

4. I always have to finish off whatever I eat with something sweet. I can eat a whole meal and be completely stuffed, but still crave something sugar.

5. When I wake up from anethesia, I wake up crying. Not because I hurt, or anything, I just do, everytime. Which has been 5 or 6 times.

6. I don't care for chocolate. Sure I'll crave a caramello every now and again, but I could definitely live without it.

7. I have a VERY weak bladder. Lol, I pee when I laugh, I pee when I sneeze, and I especially pee when I'm throwing up. Nothing holds it in, so during morning sickness times, whilst running to the bathroom, I grab a towel, strip my bottoms off, and throw the towel under me because it will come a-flowin!

I'm not tagging anyone because everyone has probably been tagged by now. So if you haven't been tagged and feel like doing it, go right ahead.

24 weeks

2008-10-19T21:31:00.002-06:00

I've had a few requests for a belly shot. While I still think its mostly just fat, I'll humor you all anyway.

And here is another one I tried to get of me and Aubrie, but Michael thought it would be funny to jump in the picture and distract Aubs.

Happy Birthday Hailey

2008-10-19T21:11:00.003-06:00

So I figured I'd do a birthday post as a tribute to my new 3 year old! Here's just a little bit of information about my Hailey.

Hailey LOVES puzzles. Her cousins J.D. and Zephyr bought her a new puzzle today for her birthday, it's 48 pieces and she has already amost got it down. She definitely has her daddy's puzzle doing brain.
She is still ridiculously afraid of dogs.
Hailey's favorite drink is water. If you ask her juice, milk, or water 9 times out of 1o she'll pick water. Now if you throw soda in the mix, she'd probably pick that, but we'll just refrain from offering that.
She is wonderful at entertaining herself. If I need a nap all I have to do is go ask her to go play upstairs quietly for a little while and she gladly will.
She loves The Little Mermaid.
Her favorite song is Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam.
Hailey is a social butterfly. She can make friends ANYWHERE.
She loves nature. Always picking up leaves and flowers and anything else outside.
Her favorite cereal is Pops.
She is still scared of the vacuum too. She hates that Aubrie isn't scared of it and always tells her to sit on the couch with her while I vacuum, while Aubs would rather chase it around.
Hailey can be very sensitive. She really hates getting in trouble and she'll get a huge pouty lip and cry if you yell at her.
She is a total Mom. Always making sure Aubrie or any other baby around is happy.
She uses her hands to talk (much like her father).
And she scowls like her mother.
If she wakes up on her own in the morning, she is very pleasant. But if you wake her up, WATCH OUT!

Hailey has always been such a joy in our household! Sure she can be a brat, but she makes up for it in her happy moments. I can't believe she is 3 already!! Before we know it, she'll be in kindergarten. Here are a few pictures from tonights family party we had for her.

Hailey's Party

2008-10-13T14:21:00.005-06:00

Hailey wanted to have a little birthday party this year with her church/neighborhood friends. I decided that I would do it while Amy was out here visiting from California, to make it less stressful on me. So we had it on friday, just a week early. She knew that it was her party, but she also knows that she's still 2 for a few more days. If you ask her, she'll say, I 2, but I be 3 in just a couple days, October 17! Or if you ask her if she's almost 3, she'll say, uh huh! My birthday is almost up!!
Anyway, we had a little halloween party with 5 of her little girlfriends. Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment!!

The food: Spider web cupcakes, spider oreos
ghost sandwiches, ghost nutter butters,
and mummy mini hot dogs... YUM!

Her friends and their mommies hanging out!
Payton the bear, Hailey the mermaid, and Taylen the Cow
Hailey opening presents. She totally didn't understand the concept. She would open them, I'd say, Hailey that's from Ashlee and so she'd open it and then hand it back to whoever it was from. She thought it was FOR them, but she was just opening them.
Blowing out her candles
Aubrie thoroughly enjoyed her cupcake! "What do you mean I'm a mess Mom!?"All the girls jumping on the trampoline. I wasn't gonna open the door to outside because it was 40 degrees out there, but they all REALLY wanted to jump. We figured most of their costumes were warm enough
All the costumes were so cute! Payton and her little sister Hadlee were bears. Ashlee was a flower and her little sister Brooklyn was a chicken. Kaitlyn was a Boise State cheerleader. Taylin was a cow (her little sister was sleeping the whole time, no need for a costume). Adalyn had an adorable halloween outfit on . Hailey was ariel and Aubrie was a fairy. Between friends and siblings we had a total of 10 girls and 4 pregnant mommies! WOW!
Thanks to all the mommies, Kendra, Heidi, Tawsha, Carolyn, and Heather for bringing your kiddos and being great friends! Hailey had a blast and loved her presents!
Thanks Amy for being such a great help! Love you!

BSU Game

2008-10-03T16:37:00.004-06:00

Michael and I got the opportunity to go see a Boise State Football game on Wednesday. His friend Denver had extra tickets and invited us. We really wanted to go this season, but most games were already sold out, or way too expensive. Anyway, it was a really fun game. We kicked booty, 38-3 Seats weren't bad. It was hot at first, like almost 90, but as soon as the sun tucked around the corner it was perfect weather. It's crazy how loud the stadium is, and how great the fans are! Here are some pictures for your enjoyment. I tried to get one without my double chin, but I guess it's impossible, when you HAVE one. Michaels comment: "Nothing photoshop can't fix honey". Gee thanks.

The Goods were Shown...

2008-09-22T18:03:00.001-06:00

And Michael is now outnumbered 4 to 1...

Photoshoot

2008-09-19T13:10:00.005-06:00

Aubrie needs her 18 month pictures done, so I decided to play around and see if I could take them myself. She wasn't very cooperative so they didn't turn out wonderful. I'll probably take her to portrait innovations next week to get some better ones. Plus do her hair differently so she doesn't look bald, and find a cute black bow. Hailey decided that she wanted to take pictures too, and while she wouldn't stop moving, she was still more cooperative then Aubrie. Here are a few of them.

It's a....

2008-09-09T10:16:00.002-06:00

MYSTERY.

So I went in, went to the back, got all ready and got up on the table. The tech asks me my due date, I tell her. When she puts it into her computer it popped up 17 weeks 5 days. So she refused to do it. No joke. Got all mad at me for coming in before I am 18 weeks. First of all, my dr. scheduled me, second of all, 2 days early?? Are you kidding. She was totally rude about it and told me she would be doing a disservice to everyone if she did it. Tried to give me a hard time by saying, so you mean, you want me to do this and miss something vital and then something is wrong with your baby and you don't know. Thanks for trying to make me feel guilty. No, I want you to look and find a gender and then do the full scan in a few weeks. She wouldn't.
So they rescheduled me in 2 weeks. Monday the 22nd.

Cast your vote!

2008-09-06T10:30:00.003-06:00

2 more days until we find out if we're having another girl, or a boy! I added a poll on the right for you guys to vote. So let me know what you think! The apt is at 2:30 on monday. I was reading the paper they gave me and it said to drink 16 oz before the apt. I swear when I had Hailey it was like 40 oz. Then with Aubs it was like 24. Maybe it's all bogus! Oh well, I'll comply.

Hailey has been determined since day 1 that it is a baby brother in my tummy. Yet this morning was one of the FEW times she told me girl. But by this afternoon I'm sure she'll say boy again.

Aubrie doesn't know or care.

Michael says he doesn't think either way, but he says girl all the time. And he's only thrown out girls names. I think he just wants all Daddy's Girls.

Me... ehh, at the beginning I really thought boy, but now I'm wavering. I *think* I want another girl. But then I see boy stuff and want change. So either way, I'll be more then happy.

So cross your finger that this child will not be modest like it's oldest sister. Hailey REFUSED to uncross her legs at her big ultrasound. We tried everything and were in the room for over an hour. I ate some candy that I had in my purse, went on a fast walk around the building, went to the bathroom, and jumped around. She didn't even budge. I went home in tears and Michael just didn't understand why I was so upset. Luckily at my next apt the dr. pulled out his machine and gave it another try and she was more cooperative that time. With Aubrie, 3 minutes after the lady turned on the machine I said, it's a girl huh? She laughed and said, you caught it already too? Michael on the other hand thought we were still looking at a blob.

Sooooo... Boy or Girl?

And we're back!

2008-08-27T16:27:00.010-06:00

My charger cord for my laptop stopped working. The power supply was completely depleted. It wouldn't even get power from the wall. Lame! And it only took me two weeks to have Michael get on Dell Chat and ask for a new one. Lol. They overnighted it and now I have a computer again. I probably could have done it myself 2 weeks ago, but I was too lazy. Plus it was kind of nice to not have the computer so easily accessible. Our desktop is in our room and Aubrie had a major fit if I ever tried to sit down in there for longer then 2 minutes. But the house was kept relatively clean these two weeks. So that was a plus. I definitely will start limiting my laptop time now that I see a difference, as do my girls.

And now for a picture overload from our summer.

Having fun with cousins

Hailey at the waterpark, sliding head first

Aubrie playing at the water park

At the park

I'm mostly posting this one so you can see Aubrie's major under bite!
At the BBQ we organized for Denver
Hailey's first day of preschool!

Personalities...

2008-07-28T16:53:00.002-06:00

It's funny to me to watch my children and see their different personalities come to life. I think it's neat that they are the way they are, some traits taught, others learned (whether we want them to be or not) and others just come naturally.

Hailey is a firecracker. Seriously, thats how you describe her. At one moment she's calm, slightly boring, but you know she has a lot of potential. Then you light her. She is FULL of life, colorful, exciting, bright, dangerous :), and beautiful... but watch out, she will inevitably blow up. She is a lot like her father in this way. Except, I think his cycles last longer then hers. She seriously loves life, but you have to engage her. Otherwise she's just as happy sitting on the couch watching Pocohantas. But if you give her something to do, and show her how to play with it, she'll do it for hours, like playdoh, or puzzles, or coloring. Hailey has zero patience (hmm wonder where she got that from). When her sister takes a toy from her, or anything else of the sort, she is quick to yell and hit to get her back. And she is not nice about it. We're working on it. But she is over the top loving. She gives hugs and kisses without warrant. She is also a born leader. She loves to be in charge, but doesn't necessarily have to be the center of attention. She loves to help, get diapers, clean up lunch, help Aubs take diapers to the trash, get her jammies on, anything... if she knows it'll make you happy, she does it. And this last personality trait, we know she just was blessed with, because she definitely didn't get it from either of us... she is a social butterfly. She can and will make friends where ever she goes. She asks daily to go to church so she can play with friends. If we take her to the park she'll have a swarm of kids following her by the time we leave. She also is VERY adaptable. She does good everywhere we go, no matter what. Change doesn't bother her one bit. Like I said, all in all, she is definitely a firecracker.

Aubrie is a lot different then her sister. And a lot more like me. I knew I'd be cursed with a me-like child one day. The best word to describe her is unpredictable (only because it's a nicer word then temperamental). She can be up up up one minute, happy as can be, to screaming her head off, to laughing uncontrollably, all in the matter of less then a minute. This is actually happening as we "type" shes throwing a fit because she wants to wear Hailey's shoes, climbs up on me to continue her fit, sees a piece of thread on my shirt, stops her fit to intently get it off, smiles when she does, climbs down because she forgot about her fit, runs off happily, only to find another reason unbeknown to me, to start crying again. I guess the good in this is that she gets over things very easily. She does NOT hold a grudge over anything. She is also very daring. Likes to climb on anything she can to get a reaction out of me, and then jump off of it. She LOVES to be the center of attention. She'll do anything to get us to watch her instead of Hailey, even if that means whacking her upside the head. She is also very independent. Wants to do things herself. Brush her teeth herself, get dressed, eat herself, sleep by herself, no help, ever. She is also a cuddlebug though. She'll just randomly come up to you, and lay her head down on you. Or plop herself on the couch next to you and just cuddle. Aubrie is also a routine girl. She does no do well with any sort of change. She likes the familiarity of everyday life. Everyday with my baby is bound to be an adventure with her ever changing moods :).

Sorry if I totally bored everyone to tears, but I think it'll be nice to have things like this written down, so they can read it in the future and so I can see the ways they change over the years. I think it'll be interesting and fun at the same time (and possibly challenging) to see a third personality be born... what will this baby be like?

What time is bedtime?

2008-07-26T22:10:00.000-06:00

The true life story of putting Hailey down to bed Thursday night after she took a nap that afternoon…

9:15- Me: Alright Hailey, it’s time to get in bed!

Hailey: 2 minutes Mom!

9:30 (a very long 2 minutes)-

Me: Let’s get in bed now Hailey.

H: I wanna read my Barbie books first! Leave the light on please.

I decide that its fine since I knew she took a nap today so was gonna have a hard time going to sleep. I let her have her 3 Barbie books and I leave the lights on.

9:45- after picking up the kitchen and front room, I am about ready for bed.

Me: Lights off Hailey…

H: Noooooooo! Sing songs mom!

Me: Sing them to yourself for now, I’m gonna get in the shower. If you’re still up when I get out,

I’ll sing to you.

H: Ok, Mom.

10:15- I took a LONG shower hoping she’d be asleep when I got out. No such luck. I go towards her room to see if she’s out, and I can hear her singing. So I decide to do a few other things before I lay down. She hears me

H: Mooooom, all done showerin? Sing songs!

Me: Ok, 1 song. What song do you want to sing.

H: Church songs

Me: Which one?

H: Water one…

Me: I don’t know that one, sing it to me.

H: Waaatteerr Chuuuurrrch sooooonnng (in a sing songy voice)

Me: Pick something else, I don’t know what you’re talking about.

H: Temple song

So we sing I love to see the Temple, she knows all the words and sings right along. Of course I give in when she asks and sing a few more songs. I tell her she needs to go to sleep now. I turn off all the house lights and get in bed. It’s now rounding 11.

11:10- I hear footsteps…

Me: Hailey, get in bed.

H: I’m thirsty Mom, just a wittle dwink of water please!! (she knows that I always have water on my nightstand) Back in bed she goes.

11:30- I am finally almost asleep, footsteps again, this time I hear her dragging her blanket and pillow.

H: Mom, choo choo scare me. I sleep on Mommy’s ground.

M: Fine, lay down, I don’t want to hear you.

11:40- Tapping on my blanket

H: Just a wittle dwink Mom?

Me: LAST ONE! GO TO SLEEP.

H: I gotta go pee (runs off to the bathroom)

From then till about midnight she is laying there talking to herself, humming, and tossing and turning. Finally around 12:05, all is calm. RELIEF! Only 3 hours later.

Moral of the story, No more naps for Hailey.

HERE I AM!!

2008-07-24T19:14:00.000-06:00

I’ve finally come back to the living… for the most part.

We have had QUITE the summer, let me tell you! I’ll just summarize…

June 2nd-went to Arizona for my brothers wedding
June 5th- found out I was knocked up, whoops!
June 18^th- Broke my foot, cracked my tail bone
End of June- started the unfortunate morning-afternoon-night sickness
July 6^th- drove to Utah for Gleason Family reunion.
July 6^th- Aubrie fell off a picnic table chipped her front right tooth, cracked her front left in half
July 7^th- Took Aubs to a dentist in the middle of no where Utah to get it checked out and make sure nothing needed done ASAP
July 8^th- Drove to Pleasant Grove Utah and hung out with old roommate and good friend Dana. Got to meet her DARLING little boy Julien.
July 9^th- Michael finds out one of his best friends has cancer, awaiting results.
July 10^th- Michael had surgery on his knee to take out his hardware since it was bothering him
Proceeding days- Michael and I fighting over crutches, me still sick as a dog, finally coming to terms with the fact that I was stupid and got pregnant.
July 15^th- Had and U/S to make sure everything is good, and that there was only one (thank goodness)!!
July 16^th- Took Aubrie to the dentist out here. He wont do anything because it would involve putting her in the hospital and putting her under… so she’ll have nice pretty teeth until she looses them around 7-8.
July 17^th- Michael returns to work, some semblance of normal life returns.
July 22^nd- I got FAT. This baby has decided that I can no longer feel decent about my body and it is already making its way into clear view… sad day.
July 24^th- I think I’m getting over the tail end of this bloody pukey feeling, FINALLY.
July 24^th- Michael’s friend finds out the cancer has spread and will start undergoing full chemo and radiation. He’s 28… and just pulled up in my driveway so I should probably stop writing about him J

Welcome to the summer from Hades.
Pictures to follow.

It's been a while...

2008-06-23T10:16:00.000-06:00

Since I've sat down to post anything. It has not been a while though since I sat down, because that is ALL I have done the past 5 days. Sit on my rear end, sleep, or lay on the couch. My house is a mess, my children are cranky, and my butt is SORE from sitting. It's nice to be lazy every once in a while. but this is extreme.
So, why am I being so lazy? I have no choice. I broke my foot. I was simply walking out of my neighbors house, carrying Aubrie, and shutting the door behind me. Well I guess that was too much for me to handle. I tripped and must have landed wrong. I cracked the bone above my pinky toe, in two places. Nice huh!
So here I sit. I have to say, I am very lucky to have great family and friends. Hayden rushed to my house on Thursday to drop me off at the E.R. and take Hailey off my hands for a while. While the neighbor girl stayed here while Aubrie slept. My neighbor and friend Jill, took Aubs as soon as she woke up and had her the rest of the day. The next day Hayden brought us over tons of food! My MIL took the girls over night, even though they are such brats! Jill was here by 8:30 every morning to make sure I wouldn't have to attempt getting Aubrie out of her crib or the girls breakfast. She has had my girls more hours then I care to count. And I'll be surprised if we haven't eaten her out of house and home yet with how much food she sends this way or gives my girls. My other neighbor Heather made me a nice sandwich one day because I couldn't get the stuff out of the fridge, then she brought me over her wonderful ice machine. She also took Hailey for a while. My OTHER neighbor and relief society president brought me dinner. And my OTHER neighbor took Aubs for a while. Wow, I have some good neighbors! Even ANOTHER neighbor is coming to get both the girls to play today for a while.
And of course Michael has been a big help. I feel so helpless while I watch him clean, do dishes, get up in the night for the girls, get them fed, bathed, put to bed and everything else. Hopefully in a few days I'll at least be able to put some pressure on this foot and get rid of the crutches at some parts of the day.
My mom is coming tomorrow to help out, which will be a HUGE relief. Plus it'll give my neighbors a break.
The biggest bummer about this... I missed out on trying out for Wheel of Fortune. The wheelmobile came to Boise Saturday an Sunday, and I was SO excited to be able to go and try out. But I just was not up to it. I couldn't imagine trying to stay on my crutches for who knows how long. Hopefully someday I'll get my chance!
Well I've babbled on for long enough. I'm gonna do the one thing I can do, fold laundry.
Yes I know, I am a dork with brittle bones.

Coming Soon

2008-05-31T20:53:00.000-06:00

Per the request of many, I have decided to start my own Bargain Blog. I know there are many other ones out there, but I think it would be fun to do my own. To make it as diverse as possible, Holly, will be my Co-Blogger. We plan to include deals from many different stores, CVS, Walgreens, Safeway/Vons, Target, Albertsons, Wal-Mart and anything else that comes our way…

So be on the lookout…

TheBigDealiO

COMING SOON!

Pizza Saturday

2008-05-31T17:32:00.000-06:00

The girls and I are home alone on a Saturday night, what fun! Michael went off with some friends to the horse races for a G rated bachelor party. Hmm, at least thats where he says he is...
So, I ordered pizza! We haven't had pizza delivered to our house in who knows how long, maybe since we moved to Idaho. But I feel lazy and tired and my knee is beyond swollen, so lazy pizza Saturday it is! Not to mention I had a coupon from Dominos wishing me "best success in my new home" for a free medium pizza.
What should I do with my 30 minutes?

Yay for Baby Blake!!

2008-05-31T00:00:00.002-06:00

My sister Kristy had her baby tonight at 9:30ish. Blake Kyle arrived after 8 hours of labor (2 epidurals and 4 IVs)(lucky Kristy) weighing 8lbs 6oz and 21 inches long. Congrats Kristy and Brian! I can't wait to see him! 4 more days! woohoo! Love you guys!

So. Cal Bargaineers

2008-05-29T10:39:00.002-06:00

Need some laundry detergent? I do not, but for your sake, I'll help ya out. Right now the All Small and Mighty is on sale for 2.99 at Ralphs. There is an internet printable that I linked on this blog for 1 dollar off. Well lucky for you, Ralphs doubles coupons, so 1 dollar becomes 2 and your All Small and Mighty becomes 99 cents. You really can't beat that.
So go stock up on laundry detergent. You can also do this deal with the fabric softener, the coupon for that was in the sunday paper, 2 weeks ago. I have a TON left. So if you let me know today that you want some of those coupons, I will gladly drop them in the mail, they should get there by tuesday.

CALIFORNIA CRV

2008-05-23T14:27:00.002-06:00

CA has a stupid law (ok, maybe it's not that stupid) where you have to pay a deposit on any recyclable items. So if you do the vons deal, it will cost around 10 dollars. BUT if you take your cans to a recycling place after you drink them they will refund your deposit. So, I just wanted to let anyone that wants to do this deal in CA they will end up paying a little more, but you will get it back if you actually put the cans and bottles in your car, drive to a recycle place, and hand them over, lame... I guess putting them in the blue bin on your drive way for the recycle man to pick up isn't good enough anymore!

Thanks for the heads up Holly!

Blog Posting Crazy!

2008-05-22T23:26:00.002-06:00

This is like my 4th post this week... impressive for me. I guess I just have a lot to vent about this week, lol.

First, my mom did the deal at her safeway in AZ. and it worked! And it is linked to your card, so if you try to do it again, you wont get the water for free. but you'll still get all the soda.

Second, Aubrie had a nice surprise waiting for me when she woke up from her nap today. She was wearing a dress today, which allowed for easy access to her diaper. So she decided that she would go to the bathroom, then proceed to take her diaper off and smear the evidence. Sick, I know. So I spent my afternoon cleaning up her room, bumper, sheets, blankets, clothes, hands, feet, sippy, pacis... They need to make diaper locks. No more dresses for nap time.

Thirdly, I walked into Hailey's room to check on her tonight because Michael just kind of threw her in bed, clothes and all because she was being such a brat. Well I take a peek at her and she has a pacifier in her mouth! I told Michael to come look (she's been off of them for MONTHS), and he just kind of got this sly, guilty look on his face. HE GAVE IT TO HER! He said that she was being so obnoxious throwing a fit so he put her in bed, threw it at her and told her to be quiet! Lets just hope she doesn't think she gets it all the time now.

So I had a soccer game tonight. We lost 8-3. Pathetic. I don't know why 45 year old women insist on playing in an intermediate league when they can't even kick a soccer ball. Ugh. don't get me wrong, I don't mind playing with older women, but if you're playing in our league, be sure you know how to play! I'm thinking of starting my own team. Pyper, hurry and get that baby out so we can branch off!

I really should go to bed. It's 11:30 and I was contemplating taking Michael to work tomorrow. A friend of mine invited me over for a playdate at 10am. I really wanted to go so I said yes. I feel like if I say no, which would have been so much easier, given the day and time, then she'll just think I'm not interested in the future, therefore not invite me. And I need to make friends! So I figured I'd just take Michael to work, but I really am dreading not only my waking up, but waking the girls up at 4:45 to bring him. So I figured I would ride my bike and bring the girls in the trailer, but the weather is supposed to get to like 50 at that time, AND RAINING. Ugh, I really don't know what to do.

So the other day I rented Hailey a Dora movie at the redbox. Well I can't find it anywhere. It's not in the car, I didn't ever even bring it in the house. I have torn my house and car apart looking for it. It's missing. So now I'm thinking I'm gonna have to pay 28 dollars for a stinkin movie she never even got to see. BUT... normally when you rent at the redbox it shows pending in your bank account until it is returned, allowing them to charge you for the correct number of days. Well it showed pending day 1 (which was free because I used a code). Then the next day, it cleared my bank for 1.06... Hmm... do you think that maybe someone found it and returned it for me??? I can only hope! If you saw a redbox movie on the ground somewhere, like it had obviously fallen out of a car or something, wouldn't you pick it up and return it? I'd like to think so. I guess we'll see in another few weeks if I suddenly have a redbox charge for 28 dollars.

Well its late and I still wanna read a little bit... Goodnight friends and blog stalkers.

Those of you with Safeways (also Vons)

2008-05-22T12:38:00.004-06:00

Safeway is having a pretty good deal right now on soda/water. If you have a safeway, please go do this deal for me :), we don't have one out here for me to take advantage of, so go get cheap soda!

Here is the breakdown...

Walk into Safeway
Go to the card section
Pick out 6 hallmark cards (get the 99cents ones)
Walk to the Soda section Get 4 12 packs of Soda (of the ones pictured below)
Then grab a 24 pack of .5 liter water (dasani or auqafina)
Go to checkout. Give the cashier your safeway/vons card (or phone number)
Make sure she rings the cards up first (it may work if she doesn't- but who wants to take the chance)
In the end it should take off everything BUT the cards.
So 5.94 for 6 hallmark cards, 4 12 pack sodas, and 1 24 pack of water

WHY THIS WORKS:

Right now there is a promo, buy any 3 hallmark cards, get a 12 pack of soda free. So when you buy 6, you get two free. Then there is this promo:

I believe the deal is linked to your card so don't try it twice with the same card, it probably wont work.

This sale goes through the 27th.

PLEASE READ:
I KNOW THE PICTURE SHOWS PEPSI PRODUCTS, BUT THIS DEAL HAS ONLY BEEN CONFIRMED WITH COKE PRODUCTS. SO IF YOU DO IT, ONLY GET COKE BRAND. THANKS!

It's after midnight...

2008-05-22T00:06:00.002-06:00

And I am still wide awake.

Why? You may wonder... Because every 15 minutes Aubrie wakes up (that is if she was ever asleep) and starts crying. She doesn't want to be rocked, if I take her out she just wants to play. If she does this a few more times, in go the ear plugs.
And please, don't feel bad for my husband that wakes up for work at 4:20... because he sleeps through EVERYTHING! Trying to wake him up for any reason is near impossible. Like last night, I needed to know what time to set the alarm for him to wake up... He kept muttering something about chow and west wing movement. Then he told me to set his alarm for 1:30 am... uhhh no. I finally got irritated after the 10th time of asking that I pried his eyelids open and said, JUST WAKE UP FOR 1 MINUTE AND TELL ME WHAT TIME YOU NEED THE ALARM SET FOR! It worked, he muttered 4:23. In the morning, he had no recollection of the aforementioned conversation at all.
She's quiet right now. I give it 4 more minutes and she'll be whining again. Isn't being a mom just great sometimes. Just for a few days (or maybe just 9 hours at night) I would love to be the dad.

The Great Outdoors

2008-05-20T23:18:00.006-06:00

So we decided Sunday afternoon to take a spur of the moment camping trip. We loaded the girls up in the car and took off. Spontaneity is truly the spice of life. The girls had an absolute blast. Aubrie was happier then she EVER is. She just wanted to walk all around the WHOLE time. And Hailey was having so much fun just hanging out. We went on a few hikes, made a campfire, had smores, and just enjoyed our time as a family. Enjoy the picture upload. And sorry for my messy children, we WERE camping. Michael kept making fun of me for trying to clean their faces or whatever every time I wanted to take a picture.
We went on a hike and started to walk back to camp because it was getting late. The girls and I were ahead of Michael quite a bit and he called us back to show us something (I really don't even remember what) well right as we got back to him here come these two deer about 40 feet away from us. It was really neat to see, and we were really glad we turned back around, for whatever it was.

Today is a sad day...

2008-05-17T17:02:00.000-06:00

I had to turn my air conditioning on.

I am not looking forward to next months power bill. I've been loving how low they are. Oh well, at least the gas bill will go down.

I'm curious though, what do you keep your A/C at?

Thanks Jessica!!

2008-05-17T08:52:00.003-06:00

Blog hopping pays off :). Holly's neighbor, Jessica, who is a darling, sweet friend, read my blog and happens to have an extra phone collecting dust. Now I can stop wondering if Michael is on his way home from work, or if something happened while at work.

And we'll have no more "incidents" like yesterday. I laid Aubrie down for bed, grabbed a monitor (which I haven't used in MONTHS) threw some batteries in it, and ran across the street to get Hailey from the neighbors house. Well I could hear Aubs fine (she was asleep anyway) so I turned the monitor down to eliminate the loud static while chatting for a few short minutes with my neighbor. I turned the monitor up every few minutes and even ran across the street 2 times to make SURE she was asleep still. Well I was there for 20 minutes (I know I know, I'm an awful mom). I get a call on my cell phone from Michaels S.O.R.T phone, which he is only supposed to use in emergencies. Well he deemed this an emergency because he came home, closed the garage, walked into what he thought was an empty house, called out my name, the girls names, etc. Went into Aubs room to find her asleep. Confused and sort of worried, he called me. I told him I had a monitor and he laughed and said, yeah a lot of good that did since you NEVER heard me walk into our house! Whoops! He said next time he's gonna load Aubs up and leave, just to scare the bageezies outa me. Soooo, I have learned my lesson, and in the future I'll leave the monitor turned up, or watch the lights better, and I will lock all the doors if I am leaving my child for the shortest time. BUT it will still be nice to have a heads up phone call from him, so I know he is on his way.

So yes, now you all know that I am not nearly as perfect as you once thought ;).

THANKS AGAIN JESSICA!

Albertons NW Region Deals

2008-05-14T22:42:00.003-06:00

I have had a few requests for sharing my deals. So as they come I will post them if I feel they are worthy enough :).
So this one if for people in Utah, Colorado, Washington, Idaho and Oregon. Albertsons right now has their All Free & Clear Laundry Detergent on sale 5 for 15. When you buy 5 it takes off 5 dollars, so 5 for 10. Two dollars a bottle is pretty good. BUT there is a 1 dollar off coupon HERE making it a dollar a piece. This normally sells for 4-5 dollars. Today I bought 15, paid a little over 15 dollars and will be able to do 480 loads. 3.2 cents a load. Generally when you print coupons online you can only print 2 but this website let me print as many as I wanted. I just kept going back and it starting the print again.
So those of you in this region, stock up! This should last quite some time! Does laundry soap expire??

Aubrie decided

2008-05-14T20:20:00.001-06:00

to throw Michael's cell phone in the toilet.

It's been one of those weeks.

If anyone has an old Verizon phone, I'd love you forever. I'll pay for it. We don't get upgrades until August.

Fabulous. Week.

Things we're into...

2008-05-07T14:30:00.014-06:00

I just feel like blogging about our most recent interests...

AUBRIE-
Her interests have not wavered. She is still extremely into MOM. Fun...
She also loves the park now a days. Swings and slides are her favorite!

HAILEY-

She loves jumping on her new "jumperine" we bought her. She thinks its so much fun to put all her dolls or animals (or sister) on it and jump around!
Another thing she is into lately, is wearing Aubs clothes. Every morning she goes to Aubrie's closest and puts on her clothes, she insists on wearing them. She's a pretty petite little girl and Aubrie's clothes are 18 months so they fit fine, but it's just funny.

Just like Aubs, she loves the park too. The other day when we were getting ready to go, I was loading Aubrie in and told her to go tell dad we were ready and lets go. So she proceeds to go into our room, where he was on the computer, and screamed at the TOP of her lungs, DAAAAAAD GET IN THE CAR RIGHT NOOOOOOOOW! She's never been so demanding, it was kind of funny!

Michael loves working out! He has these push up bars that he uses all the time and loves! He can crank out over 300 push ups in one sitting. Crazy guy!
They recently came out with a product called The Perfect Pull Up, that he has been eying. Maybe I'll have to get him it for Fathers day.
He's also into work, as usual. He got Employee of the Month for April. We're really proud of him!

SABRINA-
Hmm, I have a lot of interests right now. I've been making bows like CRAZY. Mostly clips, and some bows. Here is Aubrie sporting one of my clippies!

I also am enjoying the Bachelor this season. I wanted to boycott it after last season where the idiot sent both girls home. But this season has been good. My favorite is Shayne. At first I didn't like her because she seemed snotty and high maintenance. But she actually seems very real. And yes, she is high maintenance, but she knows it and is proud of it! I'm excited for the season finale on Monday.

NBA playoff have been fun too. I am a Phoenix Sun fan, by default (lived there), plus I love their players. But my next favorite team is the San Antonio Spurs. And since they knocked the Suns out, I am rooting for them. Their last two games they got creamed, but tonight they played AMAZING. Love it! And no, I don't only watch basketball because I have a crush on Raja Bell and Tony Parker :).

My last obsession... ur, interest... is bargain shopping. Lol, I wont get into this, Lets just say that for this following picture, I paid 38 dollars total, I have 80 on a walgreens gift card now and 85 dollars in coupons towards my next purchase (that I will eventually put on a gift card). So they paid me over 125 dollars to take this out of their store.
27 toothpastes
12 razors (one in my shower)
7 candy bars
8 popcorns
82 covergirl items
12 zantacs
5 body washes

Will I use all this? Probably not, but how can I resist when they are PAYING ME to take it. I also used those coupons they gave me to get cereal at albertsons, I have 20 boxes and paid 3 dollars. Can't beat that!

Growing up...

2008-05-01T10:59:00.000-06:00

That is exactly what my children are doing. It's inevitable. Sometimes you just don't want them to change at all, stay their sweet innocent childlike selves. But some changes are welcome... These changes were more then welcome in our home.

Hailey is now 100% potty trained. She did it herself one day. She has had maybe 2 accidents in 3 weeks. She even stays dry all night long. She loves wearing her big girl undies and would change them 5x a day if I let her. She adores the "wittle" potty at church that is just her size. She tries to leave sacrament constantly saying she has to pee, just so she can go use that toilet. Silly girl!

Aubrie is now (at nearly 14 months) a walker! She still crawls here and there, but she is now starting to chose walking over crawling. We knew she could do it, she just didn't care to. Shes much happier now too. And she's sleeping better at night again, could there be a connection?

While seeing my children grow and become their own little people can be heart wrenching at times, seeing them accomplish milestones like these make it all worth it.

Park Fun

2008-04-18T23:40:00.005-06:00

So my neighbor Jill and I took our girls down to the park today. It was a nice day, mid sixties. Hailey was a brat the whole time. It was more then obvious she didn't have a nap today. But that is a complete lose lose situation. If I put her down for a nap she stays up until practically midnight. If I don't put her down for a nap she is cranky as can be. Oh well, I deal, and Jill is a true blue friend, she deals with my girls crankiness and doesn't mind one bit (I hope).

Hopefully in the near (you hear that girls, NEAR) future, park dates will be more fun because our 1 year olds will be walking. Ha! -Amelia and Aubrie-

The girls riding in the wagon to the park! Hailey refused to go in my stroller be the wagon is
SO MUCH COOLER!

Hailey will hardly EVER turn at look at the camera for me, so this is a LUCKY shot!

Aubers playing in the bars!

It's so fun to have neighbors that are friends! Thanks for playing will us Jill!!

p.s. The high tomorrow is 52, then in the 40s the next day. Can it just warm up and STAY warm?

It's been a while...

2008-04-15T09:38:00.001-06:00

Just thought I would post a quick update on where we've been. My best friend Holly, and her adorable son come into town last Wednesday. We had tons of fun, went shopping and ate way too much! I seriously gained 2 lbs while she was here. We stayed up until 3 in the morning doing puzzles and talking. Hailey was absolutely in love with Tyler and did NOT want to send him home. We didn't let her go to the airport with us to take Holly home because we knew she would have a major meltdown. Anyway, thanks so much Holly for coming out here!! We love you and miss you already! -Oh and as usual, we took no pictures of us, or any of the kids together... we're dorks-

Other then that we've just been keeping busy around the house. I'm working on getting my 13 1/2 month old to walk. Crazy girl can do it, she often walks to me from the couch or whatever else she is holding onto, 9+ steps. But she's too lazy to do it all the time. And Hailey is working on something big right now too, and doing WONDERFULLY but I don't wanna talk about it too much or I'll jinx it!

The weather has been BEAUTIFUL around here lately. We hit the high 70s on saturday, sunday and Monday. But it was just a mean joke. Today it is 35 and WINDY. It's freezing! The high is like 45, not my idea of a funny joke. We loved the few days we had though. The girls played outside a lot and went to the park. We were soaking the sun up! Too bad it didn't last. Bummer. A few more weeks maybe.

Well I'll come back later and post some pictures...

Wow... April

2008-03-31T20:04:00.002-06:00

It's April tomorrow, can you believe it!? To me, it seriously feels like it was just Christmas. Here is a list of things and important dates coming up in April, I'm excited for most of them!!

1st- MRI (and too many birthdays, Carly, Brad, Bobby, to name a few)
5th-6th- General Conference. While I didn't used to look forward to this day, I do now.
8th- Fressia's Birthday
9-12 Holly and Tyler coming to visit!!!!!!!!!!
17th- David Georges B-day & Hailey is 2 1/2
18th- Dad's Birthday
21st- Sara's Birthday (costa vida again?)
23-25th- Michael has work off for fun!
24th- My Birthday! It's Golden!
27th- Heidi Birthday (Golden too!)

And hopefully sometime this month the sun will come and and it'll be WARM!

Hope everyone had a fun March and has an even better April!

Easter

2008-03-25T23:17:00.004-06:00

Just wanted to post a few of our easter pictures. Sorry about the red eye. I spend all day in Photoshop working. I just closed the program and quite frankly am too tired to open it and edit these.
Easter was nice. We went over to Michaels moms house (she was out of town) so Kevin could have a nice Easter dinner with us. It was yum! Hailey loved her basket, Aubrie loved sucking on the eggs, lol.

Just waiting..........

2008-03-21T16:33:00.001-06:00

Michaels plane was supposed to get in at 5:00. Well the silly boys got to the gate about 25 minutes before it was supposed to take off and they had switched gates. By the time they got to the next gate, 15 minutes before doors closed, they had already given there seats away. So now they're waiting, just waiting. As are we. Hailey keeps asking me when we're going to go see Daddy. Now he doesn't get in until 8:30. We're all pretty anxious.

But for now, just waiting...

Hailey's Prayer

2008-03-20T23:16:00.001-06:00

Heavenly Father
Thank you for the day.
Bless daddy airplane.
Make daddy safe.
Bless Aubrie sleeping.
Bless Mommy.
Bless Hailey.
Thanks for TV.
Bless Hailey be happy.
Bless Hailey room, and Aubrie room, and Mommy room.
Bless Hailey's tummy.
Thank you medicine.
Bless medicine.
Bless Mommy's computer.
Jesus- AMEN

All out of her mouth with no encouragement from me. I just tried to keep my eyes closed and not laugh.

Overload

2008-03-19T10:00:00.001-06:00

I'm just gonna post a bunch of pictures I've take over the past few weeks.
This first few are from when Aubrie wasn't feeling well last week. She crawled over to the side of the couch, and just fell asleep. That's when I knew for sure she was sick. Hailey saw her laying there and so she brought her a blanket and covered her.

Here is me and my sister Emily last weekend when they came out to visit, perfect timing for my daughters to get everyone sick!

Since we didn't get to have a birthday party for Aubs, my brother Joey went and got her a cake. We tried writing her name on it, but it was HARD. The frosting wouldn't come out of the tip, you seriously had to use ALL your strength to get any to come out. She hated when we sang happy birthday to her. She just wanted to grab the candle. So she screamed instead. She did enjoy the cSince we didn't get to do a birthday party for Aubrie my brother just went to the store and gotake after a little while, but she ESPECIALLY enjoyed taking a bath in the sink afterwards.

It was a fun afternoon, thank you Joey and Hayden for dinner and cake. Thanks Mom, Dad, Emmy, and Sandra for coming and visiting us. We had tons of fun and miss you all already.

My adorable girls...

2008-03-14T20:06:00.001-06:00

Just wanted to share a few pictures of the girls. They are getting so big. I took these the other day when they were playing outside with Aubs new car.

The last two are of Aubrie's makeshift birthday party at Fridays. She was supposed to have another birthday party tomorrow with friends and family, but she's not been feeling well for the past 3 days. And this morning Hailey woke up and threw up, in my bed, on my sheets, thank you very much lovely daughter of mine. So to avoid getting other people sick, I decided to forgo her party. I still plan on making a little smash cake so she can have at it, but probably not until she is feeling up to it. Pictures to come...

Ahhh... Sleep

2008-03-07T08:52:00.000-07:00

So for Christmas Michael got me these ear plugs. I use them mostly when we're traveling or when he lets me sleep in a few extra hours. But last week when we were all feeling sick, my wonderful husband told me to put them in, shut my door and wake up in the morning. He slept on the floor in Hailey's room with her. So I went to bed around 11 and didn't wake up from children until Hailey came in around 8. To which, I promptly sent her back out and to Daddy and slept for another 1.5 hours. I woke up a few times in the night just because, but it was nice to not wake up to crying children. And with ear plugs in, you hear next to NOTHING! Pure bliss! Thank you Honey!!! I love you!

*Oh and to top it off, the next day he sent me out to run errands with JUST Hailey, and when I came home he had cleaned the kitchen, swept and mopped! So even though they tend to always think they are sicker then us at times, they can still be wonderful husbands!!

(Michael, was that good enough?)

Happy Birthday Aubrie Lynn!

2008-03-06T18:48:00.000-07:00

Happy 1st Birthday Aubs!

That's right, my baby girl is 1 today! She had a fun day. She went and played at her Nana's house in the morning then went home with Mom and Dad and got her big present. Its a car to push her around in. Then we took her to Fridays for dinner. They sang Happy Birthday to her and everything, she loved it!
Here are a few things about our sweet little Aubs!

She LOVES baths. She'll splash around forever
Lately she's been into just cuddling. She'll sit with Michael on the couch and watch TV in the nook of his arm.
She is always saying "more". Especially when it comes to food. The second she finishes her bite she says, "More! More!"
Her favorite foods are fruits & vegetables. Tomatoes, broccoli, lettuce, pickles, bananas, avocados, strawberries, apples, nectarines, you name it, she loves it!
She thinks that it is the funniest thing to pick on Hailey. When Hailey walks by she often just hits her for fun.
She's a big ol' wussy! She can walk, and has taken steps, but the second she notices that you let go of her, she slowly crouches down and sits.
She is a GREAT sleeper. We put her down at 7:30 and she wakes up at like 8 (sleeps MUCH better then her big sister).
She'll dance all day long if you'll just turn the music on for her.
When she's mad, wants your attention, or just plain feels like it, she'll scream at the top of her lungs for as loud and long as she can.
She has a blue blankey (thank you very much Melissa) that she is overly attached to. She has to have it to sleep and nothing else will work.
She is just an all around lovable kid!

Happy Birthday Aubrie, we love you!

Wrath of Sickness

2008-03-02T23:08:00.000-07:00

So it has consumed us, completely and entirely. Started with me last Sunday, I got a slight cough, thought nothing of it. Turned into a sore throat. Which then turned into Michael having a sore throat. And you know what irritates me the most about that. When I was the only one feeling sick, it was no big deal, he probably didn't even believe me. The days went on as normal, Mom did everything, no changes. But the second he got sick, you better believe (because he sure did) that his sore throat and cough was 100x worse then mine. Men=babies. Enough said.
Well Thursday Hailey got it bad. She wouldn't eat anything. The poor girl wouldn't even swallow her own saliva. She cried all night. Forced me to sleep on the couch because she wanted in my bed, and I don't do well with 2 year old feet on me all night.
2 doctors appointments, 2 prescription medicines, 3 LOOOOOONG nights, 8 crazy tantrums, 10 dripping Popsicles, and 2 MAJOR headaches (belonging to me) later, she is finally feeling a little better. Phew. Just in time for Aubrie to break out with a fever. Will it ever end? At least the bossman finally manned up and stepped in. He is sleeping on her bedroom floor tonight so I can try and rest. I just pray Aubrie lets that happen.
Here's to a better week!

And if anyone knows why men get so much sicker then women, please, enlighten me.

Life of a Correctional Officer

2008-02-28T16:24:00.000-07:00

This post is for the big bad Bossman!
Congrats to him, he made the Special Operations Response Team (S.O.R.T) at the prison. He will be flying to Oklahoma in a couple of weeks for training. He is very excited and I think he's kind of nervous for training (although he wont admit it). They pretty much spray you with OC (100x or so stronger then pepper spray) the whole time and make you run, do sit ups, etc, whilst your eyes are burning like hell itself. So congrats to Michael!

Also, the other day he had to take a "shank" off the prison premises because the "hot" trash (which no inmate EVER has contact with) had already been emptied for the night. Well he showed it to me and I insisted on taking a picture of it so I could blog about it. He didn't want me to, I don't know why, maybe because he thought I was being retarded, or silly (which I probably am) but frankly, I don't care. So here is the shank he brought home.

It's amazing what they think to do with everyday objects. I mean seriously, when was the last time you tweezed your eyebrows, looked at your tweezers and thought, ya know what, if I bend the sides out and sharpen it edges, I could really hurt someone with this. It's no wonder they're in prison.

Well off to try and clean my house. It is a wreck, as we all have been feeling like garbage lately. I cursed us the other day by saying, everyone I know is sick, I can't believe none of us have gotten anything. 2 days later... cough, cold, sore throat, fever, and everything else. Dang it you stinkin airborne illnesses!

Happy Birthday Michael!

2008-02-23T14:18:00.000-07:00

Yes, his birthday was yesterday, but I was too busy, baking, cooking, cleaning, changing diapers, forcing my daughter to nap, and doing everything else a mom of 2 does!

As a Birthday tribute to him, I just wanted to post a few of the many reasons I love him!

He's one good looking guy!
The way he interacts with the girls is amazing. I love him even more when I see how much they love and adore him.
He does an amazing job at work and is praised by many.
He is a hard working which in turn, gives me the opportunity to stay home with the girls.
Because I can talk to him about anything, he is my best friend.
When he smiles you can't see his eyes, and I think it'd adorable. I swear he is an Asian man stuck in a white mans body.
Supports me in ALL of my endeavors.
Helps with chores.
Makes me laugh when I need it most.
Forgives me for my lack of patience and my many other downfalls.
Makes me feel beautiful.
He always calls on his way home from work and asks me how my day was.
Hardy ever complains!

There are SO many more reasons I love him, I could go on and on, but I wont (because Aubrie just woke up from her, WAY to short nap).

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Yay for Holly!

2008-02-18T13:13:00.001-07:00

So Holly showed me where I could change my blog URL so I can keep all my posts. Now I just have to change the header and all that fun stuff. Hopefully I can get to that when my girls go down for a nap.

Thanks Holly!!

2008-02-16T18:35:00.000-07:00

Just some cute pictures

2008-02-14T14:01:00.000-07:00

Hailey loves to eat. So where better to shove herself into then the fridge. Weeeeirdo! I like this other one too, even though it is over exposed. I just think she looks so grown up in these.
And for the record Hayden, I do get Hailey dressed and out of those stinkin monkey jammies EVERYDAY! But she insists on putting them back on every nap time. ugh! Sorry about the the drool on Aubs chin, she's teething.
This last picture of Aubrie is one of my favorite yet! I just think she looks like a doll! But of course, I'm a bit biased.

A few snow days!

2008-02-14T13:35:00.001-07:00

This first day she just went outside by herself for a half an hour. AubrieIt got really snowy for about a week. More snow then there has been since I lived here. Hailey LOVED playing in in. and I watched from the window.

If you make these next two pictures bigger you can see it snowing. The flakes were HUGE. And they were blowing completely horizontal. We had the biggest snow drifts everywhere.

A few days later I went outside with her and made snow balls and snow men. She loved throwing the snowballs and kicking them over. She even laid down in the snow and made snow angels. We too Aubs out with us for a while too but she wanted NOTHING to do with it. So instead, she sat inside and ate a rice cake while she watched us play. Silly girl!

While we enjoyed the snow while it lasted, I am glad to say that snow days are fewer and farther in between. I can't WAIT until spring! It actually hit the 50s the other day so we took the girls to the park and let them play. So nice to get out of the house! And yes you Arizonans, 50 was nice park weather for now! lol!

Tubby Time

2008-02-13T13:15:00.000-07:00

Hailey got these music bath toys for Christmas, and Aubrie *LOVES* them. She just blows the whistle the whole time she's in the tub. I love the second picture because you can see her cheeks all puffed up from blowing. You can hear her playing it in the video. And I also thought it was funny when she fell over, who cares about videoing anymore! Hailey always pushes her down in the tub or tries to wash her hair. I have to keep a constant eye on them! {please excuse the fact that I so rudely told Hailey to not splash, I understand that is what a bath is for, but I am stingy about my camera!}

Finally, Pictures!

2008-02-13T12:46:00.001-07:00

I finally uploaded all my 364 pictures onto my computer. Woohoo! So I'll do a separate thread for each set...

These first few are from when we went to California and visited with my other family, the Knees.

2008-02-06T23:16:00.001-07:00

So, I really am NOT a paranoid person. I could careless if the world knows my name and the city I live in. But I've come to the realization that my husband works in a field that has evil evil people in it. He could say one wrong word, or gesture or face, and an inmate can have it out for him. And I'll admit it, it wouldn't be hard to find us. You just type my last name into google and it pops my blog up. I guess that's what I get for marrying someone with such a lame last name.
So because of all the murderers, child molesters, sex offenders in general, and assaulter's (what a weird word) that my husband will inevitably tick off (yes, my husband can be a jerk) I am changing my blog name.
This is where I need you. Yes, you. Please, help me come up with something to title my blog. My friends all have cute titles!! The Fab Five, Team Awesome, The Ing-Family, Our Bloggity-Blog, Adventures in the Land of LouLou (which by the way, has a CUTE new header, courtesy of yours truly). And I have Bollenberg. Blah Blah Blah. I mean, it's not even a cute last name. It's a Jewish last name! Not that there is anything wrong with being Jewish, but let's face it, I'm obviously not. My nose is completely normal sized. Lol, that was kind of mean. I dated a Jewish guy in high school, he was a cute guy, albeit his big nose.
Sooooo... creative people, HELP ME OUT PLEEEEEEASE.

Oh and for the record, I know that if wanted, the ex-convicts would find us, no matter. But I am just trying to make it a little harder for them. Come on, living a life of crime is just too easy, why not make them work a little?

Tag I'm it...

2008-02-06T10:54:00.000-07:00

My friend Kara tagged me- thanks for the comment to tell me Kara :)

Quick Rules:
A: Each player answers the questions about themselves.
B: At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

10 Years Ago:
Ten years ago ... I was in 8th grade... weird. My "boyfriend" was Aaron Rucker, whom I hardly saw except at school, and would hide so I didn't have to talk to him. My best friend were Amanda Stanger and KC Port. I spent my weekends babysitting for my neighbor Joan. I really don't remember much about that year... I could tell you 9 years ago.

5 Things on My "To-Do" list for today:
1. Get off the computer
2. Make dinner
3. Throw another load of laundry in and fold the one on the floor
4. Go to sports authority with Michael and girls
5. Do some strength training

3 Of My Bad Habits

1.) Not getting out of bed until the absolute LAST minute, which likely results in a messy house from a roaming 2 year old.
2.) Not making my bed. Although I admit I have gotten MUCH better since we moved. I think I've made it more here in the 3 weeks we've been here, then I did for the 2 years in our old house.
3.) I get on the computer too much out of habit.

I Enjoy:
I enjoy just getting out of the house. No matter what I'm doing OUT of the house, as long as I'm not it in. Having one car makes you loathe your house. So any chance we get, I'm gone!

Snacks I Enjoy:

1.) 100 calorie recees snack pack from costco, yum!
2.) Churros... oh I miss them
3.) Dry sugary cereal

If I Were a Billionarie:
I'd be dreaming.

5 Places I've Lived:

1.) Indian Wells, CA
2.) Rexburg, ID
3.) Las Vegas, NV
4.) Mesa, AZ
5.) Kuna, ID

5 Jobs that I Have Had:

1. Employee at Gap
2. Nanny
3. Teacher at My Gym
4. Call Center
5. Day Care Worker

5 Things People Don't Know About Me:

1. I get embarrassed easily.
2. I get anxiety when talking to people about serious things.
3. I LOVE to check the mail. Even though its normally only bills
4. If I had finished college it would have been with an accounting degree
5. I don't care for the beach, I hate the sand!

5 People I Tag:
1. Alisa
2. Kate
3. Holly
4. Amanda
5. Heidi

More snow....

2008-02-06T10:16:00.001-07:00

Ugh. We woke up to another 2 or so inches. Yuck. I'm so ready for spring. It's cold, ugly, and depressing. Being cooped up in this house is so not fun. I think we've gotten over 10 inches in the past 2 weeks. Hailey loves it though. She tells me its raining snowmen. Lol. I have pictures of her playing in it, but I'm not sure where my camera cord is... I'll look today. I have TONS of pictures to post.

Michael started weapons training today. He has class today, then tomorrow is practice shooting, then Friday he has to hit the target to get certified. He is trying out for S.O.R.T., Special Operations Response Team, at the prison. So when there is riots and such he gets called. It's a pretty tedious process, first he had to get his application approved by the warden (done) then get weapons certified (in process). Then is the physical test. 20 push ups in an allotted time, 35 sit ups in 2 minutes, 1.5 mile in hills in 15 minutes. After he passes that he will have a bunch of interviews and see if he is mentally able (eek, thats the step I'm worried about ;)). Then if he get gets accepted they send him to Oklahoma for a week for training. They are only accepting 6 applicants, so wish him luck!

Oh, I almost forgot to update on my weight loss. I lost 2 lbs this week. I only worked out once last week, so I was pleased. This week I have already worked out twice so hoping for a good week!! I'm hoping I'll be in the 130s by the end of this week!

Whoops

2008-02-01T17:41:00.001-07:00

It was brought to my attention that my comments were turned off, so no one could comment on my blog. Sorry!!!
Thanks Joey, I look forward to that quote!

Stupid Plant Shelves!

2008-01-31T13:38:00.000-07:00

I have plant shelves in my new house. One kind of lining the kitchen and one along the wall of the kitchen/family room. Welp, I don't know what the heck to do with them! I know that if I put stuff up there it's pretty high maintenance and has to be dusted like weekly or else it just looks gross. But it just looks boring with nothing up there! So anyone out there with plant shelves, SPEAK UP! I wanna see pictures! Lurkers and all, come out, come out! Do I do the typical ivy looking plants that just lay across the whole thing, or do I do some sort of art, maybe lights? Candle holders? I want any and all ideas. I'll look for my camera cord so I can post pictures, then maybe it'll be a little easier to help. Thanks!!!

My journey of losing weight...

2008-01-29T09:41:00.000-07:00

So I finally decided it was time to lose these extra baby pounds, yes, my baby is almost a year old, shh! For once in my life I actually looked in the mirror and felt fat. Putting my jeans on was depressing because they were so tight in my thighs (which has NEVER been a problem for me) and I always had a "Muffin-top". So I racked my brain as to how I wanted to go about dropping the weight. I had 20 lbs total I wanted gone. I would be ok with just losing 15, for now, but my goal really is 20. Anyway, I've never had to diet in my life. After I had Hailey the weight just fell off. I was wearing my pre-pregnancy jeans at 6 weeks post-partum. With Aubrie, they still don't fit. Sad story.
So I explored my options, eating healthy and exercising makes the most sense, and is generally the easiest. But I have a hard time eating healthy because I don't like vegetables. So I signed up for weight watchers. It is pretty much the same as counting calories, but instead they turn calories into "points". Which essentially is just a plot to scheme customers and make money, because I guess counting calories is too hard and no one wants to look at the box and figure it out. But if they can sit down and type in the food they ate and the computer spits out a point value, it just seems to much easier. And it is.
So I started the free online trial. I was hungry for the first few days because really its just taking what I used to eat, and cutting it in half. I never realized how much I overate. After I got used to the smaller portions, it became easier. After my first week, I dropped 3.5 lbs. And most importantly, I feel better. Don't get me wrong, I'm still no where close to my goal, and my thighs still disgust me, as does my baby belly, but I am 3.5 lbs closer to my goal then I was last week. So that's enough to keep me truckin! My free trial ended on Saturday, but I decided with the info my mom sent me (thanks mom!) and what I learned the first week, I can do it on my own. I guess if I don't drop at least 2 lbs this week, I'll actually pay for it, but I'm gonna see what I can do.
So besides eating less, and better, I have been trying to go to the gym a few times a week. I think Michael has been my biggest motivation, he'll take an hour and blow out 600 (no lie) or more push ups. Ha, I can do maybe 2. Plus on top of that, when we were in Arizona he put on a pair of jeans and looked at me and goes, "are these mine!?". Haha, no, they weren't. They were mine and looked SOOO much better on him. Now that's sad hey? I can already tell though, in just a week of working out, how much better shape I am in. Last night I ran 2 miles in 21 minutes and wasn't even dying. My goal is 3 miles in less then 30 minutes. I think its very attainable. A group of my friends are all trying to get in shape for a 5k in the coming months, so I figured I'd try also. Yeah, their times will all probably cream mine, but I just wanna finish it!
So everyone, keep me motivated! Make me accountable. I WANT THIS FATTY GONE! I'll update on sunday when I weigh myself again.

Amy and Steve are having a baby!!

2008-01-25T10:06:00.000-07:00

I got a phone call this morning at like 7:50, so of course, I ignore it. I didn't even look to see who it was. Then 2 minutes later I got a text message. It was my best friend Amy telling me to check my voice mail (she knows that I never do) because her water broke. So instead I just called her. Sure enough she's on her way to the hospital.
I'm just going to update on my blog as she calls and gives me updates. I know there are a few people that wanna know what's going on. Plus I guarantee that she isn't writing it down and so this will probably come in handy later.

UPDATE:
At 9:00 she was dilated 2 cm.

She just got her epidural and is feeling MUCH better.

Talked to her around 11 (her time of course) and she is still at a 2 but 90% effaced. She said she is in heaven from her epidural and didn't know how she ever thought she could do it without one, lol... They bumped up her pitocin drip and she is now going to try to take a nap.

Update:
Theres been some great progress. Around 1:30 she was at a 6, and the last message I got she was at a 7-8. So before she knows it she'll be pushing her baby boy into the world!

Just talked to her. She said it should be soon now. She was at a solid 8 last time they checked.

BABY JUSTICE IS HERE!!
he entered the world around 7pm, weighing 7lbs 13oz and is 19 inches long. He has fuzzy black hair!

The picture I got wasn't wonderful, so I'll post one when I get a better one. But he's a cutie, take my word for it!

CONGRATS AMY AND STEVE!

Life finally slowing down...

2008-01-16T14:36:00.000-07:00

We've had a whirlwind of a couple of weeks, but finally things are getting back to normal.

We left for Arizona on Sunday the 30th. We weren't supposed to leave for a few more days, so when we found out that Michael could get Wednesday covered, we rushed to pack and get ready. Therefore we didn't get out of town until after 3. Well we realized that driving after dark on the Utah/Idaho border wasn't the smartest thing. It was snowing and icy. At one point I was turned around trying to calm Aubrie and Michael says to me, You need to turn around and put your seatbelt on. I brattily (quite the word huh), responded with, I was just getting Aubrie her paci, I'll put it back on... Fast forward literally 1 minute later... Round and round we go, spinning on ice. Thankfully Michael was able to control the car and keep us on the road. That's more then the other 4 cars we saw can say. I'll admit it, I was pretty scared, and Michael did admit that after the fact he was sort of nervous and thought we'd be off the road. We ended up stopping in Pleasant Grove and staying with my old roommate Dana. It was great to see her and her family.
The next morning we woke up at 5 am and hit the road. We made a few stops before reaching Gilbert, AZ. We stopped in flagstaff for a couple of hours to give the girls a break and get our oil changed. We finally reached our destination around 6.
It was great seeing our family. We had tons of fun.

One of the best parts of the trip was going out quading with Heidi's family. Hailey wanted to ride with Kylee the whole time!

My mom, Sandra, Michael and I went to a Phoenix Suns game. We watched them CREAM the Denver Nuggets.

Then we drove to California and stayed at Holly's house. We had way too much fun there! We played games, went shopping, hung out with friends, and went out to dinner. Thanks again Holly and Chad for being the greatest! I also got to see Amy while I was out there. I can't wait till her baby gets here!

For the last leg of our trip we drove to Las Vegas. We spent a few hours with my good friend Nikki, her husband John, and their almost 2 year old, Karli.

Well you'd think since we already had one bad experience driving after dark through the border of Utah/Idaho, we'd have learned our lesson... Well, I had. I told Michael we should probably stay in Utah, but he was insistent that we make it home. Well I woke up at one point and couldn't see the road. All I could see were HUGE snowflakes pounding our windshield. He told me to go back to sleep. So I gladly did. Come to find out later, that he was practically driving in a blizzard and his estimate was that it got up to 4 inches before got out of it. Thank goodness I was sound asleep, I would have had a heart attack I'm sure. He said he contemplated once or twice on turning around, but couldn't ever see an exit even, eek. But obviously, we made it home safely.

Now that we've been home, we're moving homes! It's been a crazy busy week, loading, unloading, unpacking and putting away. For the most part the house is put together, so that's nice. The girls are doing really well with the adjustment. Hailey loves her new house, new room, and new kitchen. Aubrie, I think, is just relieved to be back in her own bed, no matter where it is!

Anyway, I'll do a new post in a few days when the house is completely done, with pictures.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-21T23:00:00.000-07:00

I attempted to get out Christmas cards, I really did. I even went through the effort of taking the girls pictures and making them. But I have yet to print them and mail them, so it's not happening. So in a lame attempt to wish you all a Merry Christmas, I will post my card here!

Recent Happenings

2007-12-21T22:20:00.000-07:00

We're mooooooooving. We have a place as of the 1st of January. It's a nice house, about the same size as this one, but it's SO much closer to Michael's work. He is the most excited I think. For me, it's bittersweet. I am excited for change, I enjoy change. New ward, hopefully new friends, new neighbors, etc etc. But I am finally beginning to feel at home here in Nampa (26 months later). I have a few good friends, ok maybe not a few, maybe one. I am starting to enjoy my ward, but at the same time, I find it kind of pathetic when people say hi and ask me how long I've been in this ward. Uhhhh, twice as long as you honey! Plus I am so not looking forward to packing, so anyone in the near vicinity, feel free to come pack your hearts out! I have a picture of the house, but it's on my cell phone and I haven't sent it to the computer. On Sunday we're gonna go measure and stuff so I'll take some then.
My little baby is growing up. She is such a big girl now. Totally has her own personality and spunk. It's kinda different because at this age is when Hailey started becoming the biggest brat. Aubrie seems to get sweeter everyday. She's walking along furniture now, and even standing on her own for a few seconds. I wouldn't be surprised if she started walking in the next little while, but I am TOTALLY not ready for that.
My mother in law headed to California for Christmas on Wednesday. So we decided to exchange gifts before she left. Kev was super excited because we got him a new guitar for his guitar hero. If Michael weren't his only brother, he'd still be his favorite. The girls had fun opening presents. Aubrie actually tore at the paper. I guess it helps that she LOVES to eat it. The girls got a few outfits, some tub toys, and books. Hailey is now chomping at the bit to open the presents under our tree. She grabs one, comes up to me and says, " Go Nana's house and open present?". She's going to have so much fun Christmas morning.
We're going on a vacation!!! Much needed I might add. We're leaving on the 3rd of January. Our first stop will just be for the afternoon in Utah. We'll see my favorite roommate from college, Dana, and her big belly (shes due in March!), and hopefully a few other friends if I can plan it. Then that night we'll head to Vegas, woohoo! I plan to gamble all of our hefty Christmas bonus away. Oooooh wait, I don't gamble. Not to mention there was NO Christmas bonus, besides sloppy kisses and tight squeezes. Which I supposes is much better then anything monetary. Wow, nice tangent. In Vegas we'll stay the night at Nikkis and hang out for a day probably. Hopefully we'll see my friend Alisa too. Then we'll head down to AZ to see my family. My grandparents will also be there! We'll be there from the 5th to the 9th or 10th, so mark your calenders and plan something fun! Then we'll head to Palm Desert. We'll be there until the 14th. I am way excited cause I get to see Holly and her new baby, Tyler! Yippee! And I also get to see Amy and her big belly. 2 more weeks.....
Nothing else really going on. Just getting ready for Christmas. Today Hailey and I made sugar cookies and decorated them. Hailey is getting into the Christmas spirit by watching Polar Express, 20x a day. I'm not quite sure what I am doing for Christmas dinner. I lack culinary skills... I told Michael that we may be having Ramen Noodles. Yum! So if anyone has an idea for a somewhat easy meal that would be perfect for the Holiday. Please, share!- Kate and Sara, I'm talking to you. I am always up to trying new things. I just need detailed instructions. The thing I am looking forward to most is Michael having a good chunk of time off. He gets Sunday-Wednesday off. I am just so pleased that the Holidays fell on those days so he could be home with us. It wouldn't be Christmas without him.

Back to the drawing board...

2007-12-15T09:36:00.000-07:00

Ugh. They decided to go with another family. I had a feeling I shouldn't get my hopes up. It was too good to be true. I'm going out with my friend Jill today to look at a few more (thanks Jill!!). Crossing my fingers!

So last night Daddy had brilliant idea to help Hailey go to sleep easier. I don't know if I mentioned it, but she takes almost 2 hours to go to bed for naps and nighttime. And it's not that she's not tired, because believe me, she is! She just wants one of us to rub her back. So we're at Costco and Michael sees this huge Elmo body pillow. No joke, its bigger then Hailey, AND her bed. So he thinks that he can bribe her with it. He asks her if she wants it, and of course she says, "Buy Momo, bring Momo home, peeeeeease Daddy". So we get home and give her the ginormous pillow... Slooooowly walk out of the room, shut the door.... breathe.... ... sigh of relief.

"MOOOOOOMMY"
Ugh!- I ignore her for a few minutes.
"DAAAAAAAADDY"
So I go back in.
"Mommy, back"
"No Hailey, I am not going to rub your back, go to sleep"
"Daddy, back"
"Hailey, you need to go to sleep. If you don't go to sleep I'm taking Elmo away"
"Momo go backa Caco!" (Costco)
"You don't want to sleep with Elmo?"
"No, Momo backa Caco."
"Alright"

I then take Elmo out of her room and shut the door. She proceeded to scream and cry for another hour or so. If I went in and asked if she wanted Elmo back, she was adamant that he was going back to Costco.

Back to the drawing board...

Busy Busy

2007-12-13T10:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of updates... Things have been kind of hectic around here. Michael is working his butt off like usual. He's averaging like 20 hours of overtime a week. Makes for decent mula, but sometimes the girls don't see their daddy for like 48 hours. Which also means, Mommy doesn't get a break.
Both the girls are teething. Loads of fun. Aubrie's two top teeth are almost through, and Hailey's incisors are FINALLY starting to come, she has 1 of 4. Most kids get those WAY before now. Needless to say nights have not been so much fun. We took Hailey's pacifier away (yes, AGAIN) but this time for good. We took her to build-a-bear and let her build a Shrek. They were have a great deal! 20 dollars for the doll, an outfit, shoes, and sound. Normally over 40 dollars. We told her that if she wanted Shrek she had to throw all her yucky pacis in the trash. Which she gladly did. Sometimes I'll see her sneak one of Aubrie's but as soon as she knows that I noticed she says, "yucky paci!!" and throws it across the room. Little stinker!
We took Aubs to the dr. for her 9 month well check. She is 29 inches (95%) ,and 17 lbs (25%). It was the first time Michael was there for shots. Somehow he dodged all shot apts with both the girls until now. So as a loving wife, I let him leave the room while I held her to get poked, NOT! He had the pleasure of holding Aubrie while she got a flu shot and a finger prick. She didn't hardly make a peep. I'll be sure to send him to the next apt when she gets like 4 shots.
So we're in the process of looking for a rental. We found one that we LOVE. It is so much closer to Michaels work. Right now he is 26 miles from work and it takes about 35 minutes each way. This house is 7 miles from work and should take no more then 10 minutes. That'll save almost an hour a day for him! And so much gas money. We put an application in on Tuesday. There were a few other families that put in apps also, so we'll just have to wait and see. Pray for us! We would LOVE LOVE LOVE to be in this house and so much closer to Michaels work.
It snowed the other day. Hailey loved playing in the snow. I'm on my desktop and the usbs don't work, so when I get on my laptop and get connect to the internet (the wireless is VERY shotty, at best), I'll post some snow pictures and other recent ones.
Hope everyone is enjoying their holidays!!

To nurse or not to nurse...

2007-12-04T22:03:00.001-07:00

That is the question.

So here's the deal, Aubrie is going to be 9 months on Thursday. Which is precisely what my goal was when it came to nursing her. I nursed Hailey until she was 9 months (and found out I was pregnant) so I wanted to at least make it that far. And now that I have, I am trying to decide whether or not to continue.

I have pretty strong opinions when it comes to nursing. For the most part, I am a very easy going person and accepting to anything and everything. But when it comes to breastfeeding your child, I think it is the best thing a Mom can do for them. Whether it be for a year, or even for a month. I think every mom should try. Yes this is a very debatable subject, and touchy for some, so I'll try to keep my opinions and thoughts as kindly as I can. Let me first say this, I respect any choice a person makes. I don't know their situation, and I would NEVER think less of a Mother for choosing formula. But I do think that they should at first give it a try. Like take for example my sister Heidi (I hope you don't mind heids). She tried and tried to nurse Zadi. She even tried pumping. But Zadi wasn't gaining any weight. So she then turned to formula. She had no other choice, Zadi needed to grow and it was the best for their situation. I guess Heidi is just too skinny and produces skim milk (wink wink). But I have so much respect for her for being so selfless and trying so hard to nurse Zadi.

Anyway, here are some of the reasons I choose to breastfeed.

It is the most complete and perfect (hello its God made, what can go wrong there) nutrition for your child to have. Also said to be easier to digest.

Breastfed babies generally have lower rates of ear infections, illnesses, rashes and allergies. Although I don't think that one is working out too well for me, lol, my girls have had it ALL. Eczema, Chicken Pox, Rotovirus, RSV, and NUMEROUS ear infections.

The ease of nursing. I don't have to clean bottles. I don't have to prepare bottles at 2 am. I don't have to worry about packing bottles, formula, water, etc, whenever we got out.

Breastfeeding lowers the risk of SIDS. Although there's no conclusive evidence of this per se. Some studies have found a link between lowered rates of SIDS while others have not. What's clear is that breastfeeding can help prevent respiratory and gastrointestinal infections that may be related to SIDS.

Helps protect me against ovarian and breast cancer.

And one of the most important reasons (for me at least) it's FREE. The cost of basic formula for the 1st year of a babies life costs around 1,500 dollars. And when you don't make very much money, that's a big amount! Heck, I just us lots of money, maybe I deserve to go buy something nice :).

Anyway, I should get off my soapbox. But for the record, I hate nursing. Lol. It makes my PPD worse, and I just don't enjoy it like some mothers do. I don't feel like I'm bonding with Aubrie as I nurse. And I am not one of those women who say it's so "beautiful" to nurse their child. Lol, it's kind of ugly actually, and my saggy boobs would probably agree! But for my baby I'll sacrifice.

So... back to the original question, to nurse of not to nurse. I guess I'll just play it day by day. She's really only nursing 4 times a day, MAYBE 5. So it's not very time consuming. But I kind of want my body back :). I've got 2o lbs that need to LEAVE! They are no longer welcome. Well, I'll nurse tomorrow... and if I wake up the next day and feel like nursing, I'll do it again, until I just don't feel like it anymore... we shall see, time will tell.

Things I am Thankful for

2007-11-29T22:01:00.000-07:00

A little late for Thanksgiving, but things around here have been kind of hectic, and Thanksgiving wasn't a very "thankful" day, so to speak. So I figured I'd take the time to write down some things I am grateful for, trivial or not.

* First and foremost, my family. All of them, children, husband, sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, nieces and nephews.

* Fast food. As gross as it is, and fattening, there are just some days where I am pooped! I am so thankful I can call Michael on his way home from work and ask him to pick me up some love handles with a side of grease at Panda Express.

* Modern medicine. Tylenol, Immodium, Exedrine Migraine, Anti-depressants, Dulcolax, Infant gas drops, origel, jet alert, Advil and much much more. No, I am not a druggy, and actually I don't even like to take medicine, but sometimes you just have to be grateful for the presence of it in your life, whether it effects you directly or indirectly.

* Criminals. Yes the world would be a much happier place, and carefree without druggies, murderers, drug dealers, rapists, chomos, tax evaders, fraudulent people, but then my husband would be out of a job.

* Naptimes. And the fact that my daughters simultaneously take naps, which then allows mom to grab her pillows and blanket, lay on the couch and fall fast asleep.

*Vacuums. Aubrie puts EVERYTHING in her mouth. I vacuum 2 times a day and she still finds the crumbs on the floor. But can you imagine how much crap she would have consumed had their been no vacuums invented?

*Charmin Toilet Paper. Nothing else is soft enough. I hate going to other peoples homes and needing to use the restroom only to find gas station toilet paper (I use the term toilet lightly, as it really feels like paper).

*Clorox wipes. Oh the ease.

*Good Friends. Be it friends you see daily, friends you "type" with daily, friends you talk on the phone with daily, or even just friends that you haven't seen in years, good friends are hard to come by, so I'm grateful for the ones I have.

*E-bay. Whatever you do, buy or sell, its a good place to make money and save money.

*Good TV. Mindless, drama filled, slutty, ridiculous, moral less television makes for good tv and something to do when everyone else is sleeping. Tila Tequila, come on, how much trashier does it get, but I love it!

*Churros and a sprite at costco. My guiltiest pleasure of them all.

Messy Children

2007-11-16T15:31:00.000-07:00

So I suppose I should start keeping a closer eye on my children. We've had a few messy incidents the last few days.

First I was in the bathroom getting ready for the day (yes it was already 5 pm, but thats beside the point) and Hailey decided to put some blush on her face. No big deal, cleaned it off and left the room. 5 minutes later I realized she never followed me out of the bathroom. So I called her name and she came running. This is what she looked like.

I'm quite impressed that she mostly only got it on and around her eyes.

Fast forward to today. I'm on the phone dealing with the fact that I now have a suspended license (thats a story for another post). Well Hailey comes to me and says, Mamma, Aubrie cookie! So I turn around and look at Aubrie and sure enough, Hailey decided to share the cookies with her.

So like I said, I guess it's time to start paying a little more attention to my girls. Hailey just loves to be so helpful. She'll share anything with her sisiter, her milk, water, peanut butter sandwich, pretzels, toys, moms cell phone, Kevs Xbox controllers, cereal, pacifiers, and now cookies. Oh the joys!

New Camera

2007-11-09T09:12:00.000-07:00

My camera came in the mail yesterday. I was so excited. It's a Canon PowerShot S3IS. In the past 3 years I have had my fair share of digital cameras. Trying to find one that I just love and does exactly what I want it to do. Which is:
Take good looking pictures
Not instantly blur when my subject moves (seeing that my subjects are normally a 2 year old and 8 month old, this is very important)
Quick processing. It must be able to take a picture and turn around and focus again for another picture rather quickly. I always tend to miss perfect moments when its processing.
Durable (I have a 2 year old, enough said)
Good Zoom- sometimes I'm really far away and want to take a picture unnoticed.

Not too much to ask right? Yeah that's what I thought. First I had a Casio. At the time it was ok for what I needed. I didn't have kids and it was more of a "fun" camera. It crapped out rather quickly though. About a year ago we lost it when we were in vegas. It wasn't too much of a disappointment seeing as we were already looking for a new one. Then I bought a Sony Cybershot. Hated it! The picture were dark and grainy. They would look ok on the LCD screen, but once loaded on the computer, they were awful. So that was quickly returned to Costco. Next I had a Kodak Z something or other. It was great! The turnaround time on the pictures wasn't the best, but everything else was good that I let that slide. Well after 10 months of having it, something went wrong. The pictures were all over exposed and had lines through them. Heidi had the same exact problem with her camera ( same model ). So as sad as it was, I returned it. I bought another Kodak and HATED it. I returned it within a week. So for a while I was cameraless. I finally found one and decided to give it a try. The reviews were great. And I LOVE IT! The processing time is great, best I've had. I think this camera is going to last me a while. Which is such a relief since I am so sick of dealing with camera issues! Anyway, I'm done with my ranting. Here are some pictures from my new camera...
This is Aubs enjoying her pizza crust at Costco.

Hailey being a cheese ball- nothing new.

Aubrie just being cute.

Hard Days + Long Nights =

2007-11-06T22:36:00.001-07:00

That's right, Aubs finally got a tooth through. She's actually been relatively good. But on top of it she has an ear infection, so she was given antibiotics and now she has a yeast infection. Poor girl wakes up 3 times a night just screaming. All she wants is to be held. Which is different for us because normally she just wants to be laid down and left alone.
Today Aubrie is 8 months. She has been such a good baby. She had a rough start but now she's just happy to be herself! She loves her big sister more then anything! She can just watch Hailey forever and laugh. She is not quite crawling yet. She scoots, but gets so frustrated when she can't get where she wants. She started pulling herself onto her knees a few weeks ago and just likes to look around. I've been pretty slow with giving her solids, mostly out of sheer laziness, but today I gave her toast and she LOVED it. Then at dinner I gave her some noodles and she loved those too. I guess I should start feeding her more, lol. Well thats my update on my toothy girl!

Happy Halloween!!

2007-11-01T19:03:00.001-06:00

I now have a computer, wooofreakinghoo! So now I can update my blog (no promises to how often that will be). Next step is to get a new camera. I'm trying to decide between two, and once I decide I will start taking more pictures. So please excuse the utter crappiness of the quality of these following pictures. They were taken with my Mother in Laws camera, and lets just say it is definitely not top of the line.

So Halloween was a blast. Hailey couldn't be more excited. She LOVED running up to the doors and yelling, "Twick Tweet". And she was overly adamant that whenever she was given candy, Aubrie needed some too. So after grabbing 5 pieces out of the bowl for herself, yes, GRABBING, not kindly waiting for the other person to hand it to her (now what 2 year old would do that?) she would look at the person and say, "Aubrie canny?". I think she was secretly scheming to get more candy for herself, because lets face it, Aubrie isn't going to eat Reeces Peanut Butter Cups and Butterfingers, as much as she would LOVE to.

Anyway, here are some pictures of my kiddos!!
I like this first one because I think it looks like both my bugs are gonna fly away, but Michael seems to think that Hailey looks like she's trying to fill her diaper.

Well I have a few more to post, but Blogger is being lame and keeps giving me errors. So I will come back and post those pictures.

New Digital Pages

2007-09-04T23:48:00.000-06:00

I cant figure out how to get them side by side. But this is a page I did for aubrie today.

Ugh, The things my family does to make me update!

2007-09-01T00:28:00.000-06:00

I've been tagged...(way to go fressia)
4 jobs I've had
1. Preschool teacher
2. Secretary to an Attorney
3. My Gym teacher
4. Gap

4 movies I can watch over and over
1. Green Mile
2. American History X (ONLY THE EDITED VERSION)
3. Raising Helen
4.

4 places I have lived
1. Mesa, AZ
2. Indian Wells, CA
3. Las Vegas, NV
4. Nampa, ID

4 Guilty Pleasures
1. ben and jerry's fish food ice cream
2. Digi Scrapping
3. Napping
4. Spending money (that I don't have)

4 places I have been on Vacation
1. Argentina
2. Italy
3. Rochester New York
4. Schnecksville, PA

4 favorite foods
1. Sonic Grilled Cheese wacky pack with tots
2. chocodiles!!
3. Italian Chicken
4. nice big juicy steak from outback

4 websites I visit
1. Gmail
2. babycenter
3. facebook
4. Msn Groups- The Real Hottie mamas (a group of my friends that I chat with)

4 places I'd rather be right now
1. in bed
2. on a boat in a lake
3. with my AZ family
4. camping

4 books I love
1. Twilight - stephanie meyers
2. notebook- nicholas sparks
3. Wicked- Gregory Maguire
4. All anita stansfields books

4 things I would like to know how to do
1. keep my house clean
2. speak another language
3. how to put the laundry away after I wash and fold it.
4. drive a boat

4 things I worry about
1. my family (near and far)
2. my weight (such a trivial thing)
3. being pregnant again :)
4. Michael at the prison

4 happy moments
1. seeing my girls smile
2. getting sealed
3. seeing amy get sealed
4. when my family come to visit, or I go see them

4 things I want to do in the future
1. go back to school
2. have a boy (Faaaaaar future)
3. go on a nice vacation (sans kiddos)
4. find something I am passionate about

4 people I am tagging
1. Hayden Mazzarelli (alright everyone, laugh with me now- pigs will fly when hayden fills this out)
2. Nancy Eagan
3. Carolyn Detro
4. Amanda Hornibrook

Zoo Time!

2007-08-31T14:12:00.000-06:00

Yeah, I'm doing real good at this Blog crap. My excuse, Hailey dropped my camera and now all my pictures look "over exposed". I need to take it into Idaho Camera and get an estimate as to how much it will cost! Urgh!

Anyway, we went to the zoo on monday with some friends of ours. They all had a blast. Although I will admit, Hailey seemed more intrigued by the trucks and planes that passed. Every time she heard one or the other she would say, "truck! truck!" or "plane plane!" whilst pointing. Aubrie was as good as she always is. She LOVED riding in my new double stroller. I don't think she made a peep the whole time and eventually she was fast asleep.

Happy Memorial Day

2007-05-28T19:44:00.001-06:00

A very uneventful holiday weekend for us. Friday we played some games and Micheles house, Saturday we went and saw Pirates (which was unnecessarily long), Sunday we had dinner and played games at Micheles house again. Today Michael had to work (but its time and a half so thats nice) so the girls and I are just chillin at home. I'm actually still in my pajamas. As are both the girls. Anyway, thats our weekend update! I hope everyone else had more fun then we did!!

Camping

2007-05-24T23:44:00.001-06:00

We went camping a few weekends ago. Hailey had so much fun by the campfire. She kept on saying "hot, hot". We roasted marshmallows and made smores. I was super bummed because my camera died early the next morning. Therefore we got no pictures of Hailey playing in the river. Next time I will be sure to charge my camera before we leave! While we were there there was a snake coming towards our campsite so Michael got some tent poles and "shooed" it the other direction. Pretty brave of my husband who hates anything creepy crawly!

Just Testing

2007-05-24T23:30:00.000-06:00

So, Heidi told me I had to join the blogging club to keep the family updated on our lives out here in good ol' Idaho... So I suppose I will. Who knows if I'll be able to keep it up, but we shall see. So Here is my first BLOG. WOOHOO! Pretty uneventful day. I jokingly combed Michaels hair in a part before he left for work, and he thought it would be funny to go gel it down like that. And on top of it wear a dorky outfit. All kidding aside, he went to work like this... What a dork! He even sent me a picture message on my cell phone while at work to show me that he still looked like that. I don't know where I found him. Oh well. Anyway, it's extremely late and I really should be in bed seeing that my daughter thinks it's fun to wake up at 7:30. Night Everyone!!