Headaches

You know you get alot of headaches, when during the dinnertime prayer, your 4 year old son prays that mommy's headache will feel better, even on days when you dont have a headache.

Yes, this happened several weeks ago. Jadon said "...and please help mommy's headache to feel better..." only that night I actually didnt have a headache! It was cute, and very sweet.

Its been an entire week- yes, 7 days- since my last migraine. I've had little tiny headaches that have come and then gone as fast as they came on, barely noticeable. I have not had to take any OTC's in 7 days. I have not had to take any triptans to treat migraines in 7 days. Dare I say that maybe the medication is starting to have a bit of an effect? Or have I just had a really lucky week? I'm not quite to the full dose yet, i'm at 75%. Of course, now that I open my big mouth and say all that I'll probably wake up with a doozy of a migraine in the morning! Never fails. Derek will read this and he'll undoubtedly chastise me for even thinking it.

Oh well, its not like i'm not used to having migraines. ;) Thank goodness for triptans!

Shhhhh!!!

Its quiet!!!!! Derek and Avery are still in bed, Jadon's upstairs playing and I don't think he's realized that i'm up yet. So here I am downstairs in the quiet of the house with only the gentle hum of my laptop, and the muffled sounds of Jadon talking as he plays in his room............................................................... annnnnd there goes that moment of peace, Avery is now awake. At that exact same moment, Jadon comes looking for me. Let the day begin!

Anyways, I just wanted to post come pictures!

So the first two pictures are of the cupcakes that I made for Jadon's Preschool Valentines Day Party. I was very pleased how they turned out! Usually when I make goodies for... well... ANY event, I always dream too big and try to make bigger and better than I know how or have the time for, so this time I finally nailed it on the head! I even made the little chocolate heart molds on top and they were a big hit with the kids I was told.

Here's Jadon riding his "motorcycle." Avery got this bouncy horse? thing for christmas

from Gramma Debbie and Grampa Byron, however I think Jadon has equally enjoyed it! ;) He decided to use it as his motorcycle one day. It made me laugh how he was sitting on it..... the picture really does not do it justice!. And we finally convinced Jadon to get his hair cut at the barber shop! It was his first time getting his hair cut from anyone other than daddy (or mommy in his babyhood.) He was not thrilled to be going, but once he sat down in the chair, you could tell he thought he was one cool dude. Now he has announced that he no longer wants daddy cutting his hair because daddy is "too slow."
I took a before and after picture, but I apparently forgot to take it off the camera.

So whats the agenda for the week? Dereks car got maintenanced for $400+ earlier this week, and sometime this coming week he ordered new tires to replace the bald ones he is currently driving around on, so those will arrive this week at Costco and will cost another $400+ . And I'd like to order a new sewing machine. And thats how we spent our tax return, howd you spend yours?

I know you're wondering why I want a new sewing machine, arent you?! Well, I want one for several reasons. I've found that I really really enjoy sewing! I've found a ton of things online that I really want to sew! AND, i've found something for my business that I want to do that will require sewing, but I will not tell you here and not until after I've completed it and introduced it .... I dont want the "competition" to find out and try to steal my idea!!!

So why do I need a new sewing machine for this? Its easy. The sewing machine I have is a beginners one. VERY basic. VERY slow, only 1 speed. I do have problems with it alot, like the bobbin getting tangled, and if I dont feed the fabric through constantly it will get stuck and stitch in one spot and turn into a big knot of thread down below (sorry, i dont know how to explain it any better.) This happens alot and is quite annoying. Anyways, I just need a "grown up" sewing machine so I can do more grown up work. I'll keep my little one, it might come in handy. The machine i'm eyeballing comes with 10 presser feet, 100 built in stitches, automatic needle threader!, etc. Its a step up from what I have, but certainly not the top of the line with all the bells and whistles!

My current project though- preparing for a little boys (or is it a big boy?) 5th birthday party in just a couple weeks!!!!! I cant remember if I mentioned it or not, but I booked Jadon's birthday party at the bouncy house place, and we invited his entire preschool class last week. Yesterday we had our first rsvp, and hopefully the rest will come too!

I made his invitations, and we're going a bit with a lego theme. So a while back we looked at cakes online, and we saw lots of legos cakes, and the cake he decided he wanted was very simple (thank goodness!!!) and i'll make a little cake for him, and cupcakes for his guests. And I bought some silicone molds of lego pieces and lego people, and i'm making candy molds out of them, and i'll put those on his cake and the cupcakes. Very easy peasy! Thank goodness! As I mentioned earlier, I tend to dream too big with these things and they never turn out, so I think I might be able to handle this one! :)

Ok, so another post that has taken me over an hour to type!

ZZZZzzzzzzzzz

It seems like its been a lot longer since my last post, but i'm pleased that its only been a week! :)

So far I havent really had any relief from the medication, and after researching, I found out that I wont notice any difference for a month- which makes sense since that is when I will finally have the full dosage in my system. And, I wont notice the FULL effects for several months.

Life seems like it just continues to get crazier. How can that be???? I continue to feel like I never have enough time in a day, or a week, or a month..... so is the life of a mom I guess! I feel like i've got a million thoughts, ideas and projects, as well as chores, to-do lists, and worries rolling around in my head, but when I go to write it all down I can never remember more than 2 things even though I know theres at least 10 times that much!

I feel like my ears are constantly being talked off. Take now for instance. Sitting here typing this, the kids are sitting here with me painting with watercolors, and every 5 seconds at least I hear "mommy...." "mommy...." "mommy...." and someone is needing something or wants to tell me something. Its taken me 3o minutes to write this. I have to keep re-reading what I wrote.
And about every 10 seconds I have to get up for something, whether its something the kids need, or something I need, or food is cooking and needs stirred... whatever it is, i'm up every 10 seconds. Then I look over at Jadon who's just gotten down, and he's playing with- no wait, let me rephrase- trying to break- the vacuum (that we just got less than 3 months ago.) "JADON!! LEAVE THE VACUUM ALONE!" He knows he's not supposed to play with the vacuum but does it anyways and has an excuse for why but its been 5 minutes now and has already slipped my mind.

Before they sat down to paint, I had to wipe the table off (they had just drank smoothies and Avery had made a mess), Jadon was being impatient and saying he wanted something, so I had to explain to him that I have 2 hands but one body and my 2 hands are connected to just my one body so i cant possibly be in 2 different places at one time, therefore he's going to have to wait for me to finish what I started before I can move on to the next thing.

And earlier today, I asked the kids to help me clean up the living room so I can vacuum it. Jadon helps me, but his little sister is a bit more stubborn and refuses. Outright refuses. So what does she do? Attempts to hit me so she can go to timeout instead!! Then sits and BEGS to go into timeout! Obviously going to timeout will not be punishment, so I tell her she does not get her binky for her nap today. She does not seem phased. She does not believe me. Nothing makes me more irritated than when they think that i'm not going to carry through with a consequence, so i'm sure she was more than surprised when she got thrown into nap without her beloved binky. She screamed in my face and I said ok I love you and walked out. She was asleep within 15 minutes though. Phew. She never did help pick up toys.

So that is how my last 3 hours have gone- Cleaned kitchen after lunch, made some candy molds for Jadon's birthday party, cleaned living room, fought with daughter over cleaning toys, won the battle of the binky, vacuumed, played a bit with son, woke daughter, made strawberry smoothies, painted and started writing this. Its no wonder i'm exhausted all the time!

One thing I also forgot to mention.... Once upon a time we worried about Jadon and being creative and using his imagination..... Today he took a pile (4) of Avery's wet diapers (they were wrapped up, but I had been too lazy to take them into the garage to put them into the diaper pail yet.... [see above paragraph]), then he and Avery took some blankets out of Averys room and I heard Jadon saying they were planting plants. When I went upstairs, there was a trail of blanket piles with diapers wrapped in them.

Apparently they planted diapers.

Parenting is such an exhausting job, and even though they talk my ears off, wont let me pee in privacy, and basically wont ever leave me alone all day long, its definitely got to be the best job ever. I get paid whenever they hug me and say "I love you mommy"

So there ya go, an hour long post that will take you 2 minutes to read! You had better enjoy it!!!! ;)

Migraines

I get migraines. A lot. A LOT of migraines. I've gotten migraines for as long as I can remember. I remember getting them as a child, not very often, but once in awhile. As a teen, i'd get them more frequently and it continued that way into my early adult years.

Despite what everyone says that pregnancy often cures migraines, at least during pregnancy....didnt happen for me, in fact pregnancy aggravated my migraines. I'd get them every other week, and they'd last for 3-4 days, and unfortunately I couldnt take medication to help them, so I had to suffer. Fortunately with Jadon, the migraines DID stop during my 2nd and 3rd trimester, but UNfortunately with Avery they continued throughout the pregnancy.

Obviously hormones are a trigger for my migraines. As well as pretty much everything else in life- sleeping too much, sleeping too little, stress, nerves, illness, skipping meals, eating meals late or out of schedule, squinting (from sunlight for example), bad posture, neck tension, hormones, etc, etc, etc...... I havent found any foods to be a trigger yet, but I haven't closely followed that either. I really dont think that any foods are a trigger for me though. I do however think that stress is a large trigger for me, and since I am a worrier, I'm always stressed.

Anyways, since about a month after I quit nursing Avery, my migraines have gradually became more frequent. In the last half a year, they've became so frequent that i've been almost running out of my migraine medicine each month. I take Imitrex whenever I get a migraine. I basically have 18 pills a month (9 pills that I cut in half), which means I can have as many as 18 migraines, however, sometimes a migraine will require more than 1 pill. EIGHTEEN migraines! That is alot of migraines!

Derek has been pestering me for years, even before the kids were born, to talk to the doctor about being on some kind of preventive medicine for these migraines. I hate going to the doctor. But I finally had enough. I saw my doctor last friday and she started me on a preventive medication. Unfortunately I have to start it slow. 25 mg for 1 week. The next week 50 mg. The 3rd week, 75mg, and finally the 4th week the full dosage of 100mg. She said you have to start slow because of some side effects. I've been taking the 25mg for 6 days now with no problems; on saturday I get to up my dosage. I've never wanted time to go by so fast!! I pray pray pray that this will help. I'm tired of migraines.

Ooopsy

Soooooorrrrryyyyyy! I know its been a long time since I posted last. We havent had much going on, and to be honest, whenever I sit down at the computer, i'm distracted by spider solitaire. :)
Anyways, we've been pretty good! Jadon's birthday is next month, and so i've been thinking alot about that. He wants to invite his whole preschool class, and we're doing a lego theme, and we'll probably be going to Wacky Bounce for his party. We certainly do not have enough room for all those kids in our house unfortunately.

To make up for the fact that I havent blogged in a couple weeks, i've got lots of pictures for you. :) Here are pix of Avery potty training her toys- her My Little Pony, and her favorite stuffed animal that she sleeps with- an Easter Lamb that we've named Wilbur.
And i'm sure you're probably wondering if we are training Avery right now as well. The answer is no, not really. We are pretty much letting her call the shots. She's at that age where everything is a power struggle (and she is one heck of a stubborn little girl), so things will go much smoother if we let her call the shots rather than "forcing" her to train. Right now, she has been asking to go pee in the potty several times a day, and almost always goes. We ask her alot if she'd like to go on the potty and sometimes she says yes, sometimes no. Last week i asked her if she'd like to try wearing big girl undies for a couple hours while Jadon was at preschool, and she said yes. She LOVED wearing them, but in 2 hours she had 3 accidents and zero pees in the potty. Then she threw a fit when I told her we were putting the diaper back on so we could pick Jadon up for school. I'm pleased with her progress, and i'm in no hurry. There's no point in forcing it and getting into a power struggle with her, as long as she's trained by the time she goes to preschool, which is in a year and a half!
She is much more responsive to praise than Jadon was though, so anytime she goes in the potty and we cheer her on, she gets really excited.


Know what that is???? Its a parking ticket. The first one for us. How did we get a parking ticket??? Well, on saturdays Avery has gymnastics in Corvallis. So this past saturday after her class, we had several errands to run in Corvallis so we stopped at a sandwich shop in downtown for lunch then were going to run our errands. We parked in a metered area, however there were no signs that said what the hours were for the meters, and since it was the weekend, we were pretty sure that we didnt have to put money in the meters. Fast forward 45 minutes when we were going back to the car, and we were welcomed with a $10.00 parking fee! Derek later found out that only on Sundays in Corvallis you dont have to put money in the meters. Nice. Wish they would have had a sign showing that little bit of information!

Here's my almost-5-year-old doing his most favorite activity- Playing mario cart.

Ok, I broke down and did it! I straightened Avery's hair last week! Why???? Well, her hair is so tightly curled that its not getting any longer. We've been curious how long her hair actually is, and she's always wanting me to use my flat iron on her hair. So here are some pictures. She looks so much older!

She's such a pretty little girl :)