12 weeks!

12 Weeks today! Wasn't sure i'd make it this far, but so far so good!

I realize my last post was very whiny and complainy..... It was a bad day, I was feeling pretty horrible and down. Not feeling well for so long can really start to wear on you.

So last night was my last progesterone suppository and last baby asprin. THANK GOODNESS! Glad those suppositories are done! I'll start progesterone shots in my heiney in 4 weeks.

So some of you may have already heard the results of my blood draw 2 weeks ago. Everything came back negative (meaning no trisomy or downs) so that is good. Being "older", my chances are not much greater of having a baby with down syndrome (doctor said just a third of a percent) but I was still worried nonetheless. Also found out this little one is another boy! I'm a little disappointed because we both had lots of girl names picked that we liked.... but boy names are stupid. We can't really find anything that we like. We aren't into the weird names... not really into the uncommon names either (which are often weird)..... I don't seem to like boys names that are longer than about 6 or 7 letters..... some of the ultra popular current names are cute but are in fact ultra popular, so I wouldn't do that..... not doing family names....not doing a Jr. either...... all the names I kindof like Derek associates with something else, like a sports person that i've never heard of. ;)  Its a good thing that we have awhile to figure a name out because i'm afraid its going to take us the whole time to come up with something.
Jadon's name was easy. We decided on Jayden for a boy back before we were even married, and before it was more popular. By the time Jadon was born, it was becoming popular so we chose a spelling that would set him apart from all the other "Jaydens".... Jadon is actually in the Bible.
Avery's was easy. We met at Avery Park. :)
This time...... no idea whatsoever! Derek said he would almost just like to stick 100 names into a hat and draw a name out. I dunno, but it might end up coming to that if we can't think of something!

This may bore you

Frustrated is how I feel. Seriously frustrated. Its been 5 weeks now that i've been feeling under the weather- Tired, nauseated, extremely exhausted. I've had some good days and I am SOOOO thankful for those days! But most days its the same. And so i'm stuck laying on the couch. My house is gross, the floors haven't been mopped in at least 5 weeks, and I feel like the whole house is in disarray. My poor husband has had to take over being the housewife/mom and I can't stand it because that is MY job and he shouldn't have to start that job when he gets home from working all day. He is so amazing though and does it without complaining.
I am useless to my family right now, and that's all there is to it.
I know I was tired with the other pregnancies, but this tired is like I can't even hardly move tired. Like my body has been in a coma for years and just getting up to use the bathroom is enough to overwhelm me!
And the nausea, while its not horrible, its enough to make me not want to move around. And nothing seems to help. With Avery, i sipped lemonade constantly and that was helpful. I haven't tried lemonade this time because it sounds pretty gross. I suck on hard candy and that helps a tad, especially when I have a gross taste in my mouth. But other than that, my beloved morning cup of coffee is totally disgusting, but i'm drinking it anyways because otherwise I get a headache.
I'm 11 weeks today, and first trimester ends in a couple weeks, I'm hoping I start feeling better. I've noticed for the past week that i've had a little more energy- Thank the Lord, because I was feeling like the exhaustion was going to kill me!. The nausea improved for a couple weeks though, and then came back a week ago.  However, this past Saturday I felt amazing! A little tired, but not sick feeling, and I cleaned a bathroom and did some laundry and a few other odds and ends that have been driving me nuts for weeks. It felt sooooooooo good to do something useful!!!!!!
You forget after awhile how horrible first trimester can be. However, I wanted this, and I knew what I was getting myself into, and I am very grateful to be feeling symptoms.... even if they are less than pleasant. It means my body is working and doing what it should be.

On a less depressing note, I had an appointment a week ago. They now do a new 1st trimester screening for chromosomal abnormalities (if you want it done) that is just a blood draw. You can read more about it here.  I did the blood draw and i'll find out the results by next week sometime. Why would I do it? Well, why not? Its simple and non invasive.... I get to find out important information about the baby. It also is able to tell the gender! At 10 weeks! Isn't that crazy? So you can now find out the gender in your first trimester, rather than waiting until your 20 week ultrasound!
Also, i'm considered "high risk" for a few reasons. First of all, history of miscarriages, second, i've had a preterm birth, and third.... well, i'm getting old.... or i'm of "advanced maternal age" now, or at least I will be when the baby is born. (apparently 35 is old?) So, i'm anxious to hear the results.

Upon finding out I was pregnant, my sweet sister in law graciously let me borrow her fetal doppler! I used one with Avery that I rented. It was so reassuring to have that, and I had planned to get one again this time. The best present ever was hearing a little heart beating on Christmas morning!
I had seen the heart beating at my 7 week appointment, which in a normal pregnancy would be a good sign and after a beating heart is detected, miscarriage risk drops significantly. However, for me, at least one of my miscarriage babies had a heartbeat, and i'm willing to put money on one of the other ones having a heartbeat as well..... so the risk doesn't drop for me just because of a heartbeat. The fact that I've now made it to week 11 and the heart is still beating is a good sign though, and my chances of miscarriage are dropping every day now.

This is IT for me though! I do NOT in a million years want to go through this again. I feel like I have no control over my body and its very taxing on me! Sorry to my mom who was already trying to convince me that maybe one more would be a good idea to even it out! Sorry, but it ain't happening!!!!!!!
Everyone is asking us where we are going to put this child after its born. Well, it will be in our room for awhile. After that, we'll just play it by ear. Plenty of people have lived their lives sharing a bedroom with a sibling, so it will not kill the children to share a room. The kids are already aware that they may need to share a room, and they are perfectly fine with it. We've got a lot of open space in our house, so its not like we're going to be jammed in here like sardines. I know people who have lived in 900 sq feet with 5 children and did just fine, even thrived.

The kids are very excited, especially Jadon, which surprised me. He even talks to my belly sometimes, even though the baby cant hear yet. Its sweet :) Avery said if its a boy or a girl, she wants to name it Flower. And believe it or not, I look forward to having my body back and surprisingly i'm motivated now more than ever to get back into shape! After being so stagnant for 2 months, and already feeling uncomfortable and ill, i'm super ready to get back to feeling good.... because lets be honest, I put on a few pounds in the last year and I felt gross before I even got pregnant!

Well this may have been a super boring post.

Cats out

Well now that all next of kin have been informed and the cats out of the bag, I can blog again! ;)

I haven't had much to blog about in the last month+ anyways because I've spent most of December laying on the couch. I'm finally feeling better though, and I feel like I've had a little more energy in the past few days..... could be that I've been able to sleep in since there's no school?
Anyways, the first few weeks of December were awful. I was nauseated constantly and sometimes starving at the same time (which is a really terrible sensation.) I had zero energy, and I napped several times a day and was still ready for bed at night! The no energy thing was killing me! Its unlike me to lay on the couch all day, and the house has suffered. Luckily I have a strong support system aka my husband, and even though he'd work all day, he'd come home and take care of the house and the kids and the dog. He's pretty special and amazing! :)

Anyways, its hard to believe the year is almost over, and i'm anxious to see what next year holds. Hopefully good things!

Kids, dog and...... nathan. >:-[

Good morning ya'll! We (the kids) have the week off for Thanksgiving. I remember as a kid, we had 2 days off for Thanksgiving... not an entire week!

Macy is doing better! She is starting to understand pottying outside I think, and we are teaching her to ring a bell that we've attached to the door when she needs to go out. I can't tell you how happy I was the other day when I was sitting at the kitchen table eating lunch and I hear this jingle jingle jingle jingle jingle jingle jingle jingle jingle jingle jingle jingle. I almost peed my own pants! ;)

Last weekend she ate a needle and thread! Scared me to death! The vet told us to keep an eye on her for a few days for vomiting, loss of appetite, etc. Four or five days later she threw up a couple times, so I called the vet again and they said withhold food from her for a few hours and then slowly reintroduce and if she keeps throwing up to bring her in. Luckily she didn't throw up anymore. But I went searching through her vomit, and in the 1st one there were orange hairs from her ball, but the second one had a hard rubbery thing in it so i'm wondering if that made her stomach upset.

I signed her up for a socialization class at the humane society, but apparently they cancelled the class, and when we got there the guy at the front desk said there wasn't any class on that day, only on Saturday. I thought I must've written it down wrong, but then after checking my email confirmation, I had it right. So I emailed the lady and she said it got cancelled because of lack of interest, and she had tried to email me but the email was returned. Yeah, sure. So we still need to get her with other dogs, she gets SOOOOOO excited when she sees other dogs, and we want her to not be hostile toward other dogs when she's bigger.

We met with Jadon's teacher the other day. He's doing really well mostly. He can read like nothing else! They tested them at the beginning of the year, and he is supposed to be able to read 50 some words a minute right now, and by the end of the school year its supposed to be 80 some. Right now he reads 106 words a minute! And he is VERY good with putting emotion into his characters as he reads allowed.
Math and writing are not as good for him. Sometimes he just hurries through his work and so messes up his math. And writing has never been his strong point, he hurries through that too. I think that's pretty common in boys.
But overall, his teacher loves him. And she has noticed a change in him since he started his medication, he's more relaxed and easygoing at school.

Avery just had her yearly well-child checkup. She gained TEN POUNDS since last years appointment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I knew she'd grown a lot, but that's crazy!  Part of the problem is that since we've gotten Macy, I've been very distracted in watching the dog like a hawk that its sometimes easier to say OK to her when she asks if she can play video games or watch a show on TV. She seems to have forgotten this year how to play by herself, so when Jadon is gone, she's in my hair constantly... whining and sulking. So you can see how its easier for me to just say Fine! Play a video game!  Time to change my ways. Not only do I need the exercise, but so does Avery. And Macy. But its cooooooold out! And weeeeeeet! I hate the cold and wet!

Yesterday Nathan was over (the neighbor kid who is over here constantly) and he was driving me nuts. He's VERY VERY VERY loud, even after I tell him to be quiet. And he and Jadon get really wound up together.... moreso than when Jadon's with his other friends. Its annoying because I can't just send them outside anymore, our backyard is a sticky, muddy mess.
So yesterday I couldn't take it anymore and I said it was time for Nathan to go home, and I took the kids and the dog to the park in the freezing. The kids and dog were happy, I was happy to get out of the house, but I was freezing to death. Then on the way home, we acquired another kid- Avery's friend Avery. (I don't mind having Avery here.)

So Nathan. That situation is a cause of major stress here. He is teaching Jadon things that we are not fond of, like saying "frickin". He watches the Simpsons. He's obsessed with guns. (he wanted to play "gun tag" whatever that is!) And Jadon is very impressionable. So this has us irritated.
Nathan is over here CONSTANTLY. And I mean from the second the kids get off the school bus, before we even get back in the house, he is here. And I finally send him home when we are going to eat dinner. This goes on every night that we are home. He even comes over on holidays! His parents don't text or call or anything to see if its ok for him to come play for a bit. And after he's been here for several hours, they don't text to send him home, or see if its ok for him to be there still, o r to make sure he's still here. He was here on veterans day. Ok, fine, its not like we were doing anything, but we were leaving the house for a bit and he asked Jadon if he could come back over when we get home. I said "probably not, its a holiday."
The other day he came over and we were getting ready to leave. He said his parents weren't home and asked if he could stay at our house for a bit until they get home. WHAT?! He is 7 or 8 years old! (he supposedly had a birthday when Avery had her birthday.... not sure how true that is, he doesn't seem to know much.) He said his parents went to get his sister at school. I about lost my mind right there! I said "you shouldn't be home alone." He said, "well I can take care of myself." And I said "well I know you probably can, but you're still too young to be home by yourself." I have a feeling his parents were using me and told him to just go to our house while they were gone so I could babysit him. Either way, whether they just were using me to babysit or whether they left him home alone or not, I was very very irritated with them. I asked Nathan what school his sister went to. But he didn't know anything other than "its not very far." And then he backtracked and said he thinks his brother might be at the house.
One day when I was cooking dinner, I asked him what his family was having for dinner that night. "I don't know.... probably anything. We mostly hunt for our food."
And one day, he actually left at 5:30 on his own doing, he said his mother told him to be home at that time. I thought, holy crap! She finally grew a brain! But no, they were just going to some quad thing.

So just writing about this I can feel my blood pressure just boiling!!!!!! I'm not sure what to do anymore. But we are thinking about only allowing him to come over 1 day a week. We keep telling Jadon he needs to be a good example for Nathan, and not Nathan be a bad example for Jadon.

Sigh.

Adjusting

Macy has been with us now for over a little over a month already! Not sure how time went so fast. On one hand, it feels like we just got her, and on the other hand, it feels like we've had her for a long time!
She had her second vet visit today, she weighs a whopping 5lbs 10 oz now, which is up 2 lbs and 3 oz from her last visit a month ago. She's growing rapidly and her appetite shows it most of the time.

We are enjoying getting to know her more, and she seems to have really taken to our family, however she does run from Avery, but every morning or anytime anyone comes home from somewhere, she eagerly greets them.... even Avery.  Avery is a bit rough with her. Avery's used to big dogs, so I don't think she quite understands how to handle such a tiny dog, and doesn't realize how much more fragile Macy is compared to all the other dogs in her life.
Its no surprise though that Macy has taken a particular liking to me, since I spend the most time with her.
Her biggest issue is pottying. She doesn't seem to be "getting" the potty outside thing. This has been the most frustrating part so far because sometimes we miss her "signs" that she needs to go (apparently she can't be left out of sight.... at all... ever.....) and sometimes she has no signs at all and just stops and drops a bomb on the floor.  She has no particular "place" that she goes, its just anywhere. Every room in the house has been peed in. I'm researching carpet cleaners and told Derek that the only thing I want for Christmas this year is a carpet cleaner! We're definitely going to need it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jadon started taking anxiety medication around the time we got Macy. The particular medication he's on is supposed to take 6-8 weeks before any changes, but he's been a very different child almost since he started it! He's been much more happy, less outbursts of anger, more compliant when asked to do things. I'm not sure his anxiety has been helped much yet, but we haven't had much come up that would cause great anxiety in the last couple weeks. I went on a field trip with him last week, and he was worried I wasnt going to get to school in time (i had to stop and get gas before i got there) and they would leave without me. He was also worried about getting his lunch while there, and about the bus leaving without us on the way home. I can't imagine going through that, where everything in life is a catastrophe waiting to happen. Its so sad. So sad. I am eager to see how the medication will help in that way.
We also met with his new therapist this week. We like her so far, she's super knowledgeable, and I feel like she was not watching the clock through our whole appointment. With cognitive behavioral therapy, the whole family will be helping him, not just the therapist helping him. Our whole family will be involved. Studies show that cognitive behavioral therapy is equally as effective as medication, so I hope that with the medication, we can help him more immediately, and with the therapy we can help him in the future learn how to deal and cope with anxiety.
Jadon also started last week on melatonin to help him sleep better at night. He has the hardest time going to sleep. The melatonin is already helping him... nights when he's taken it, he has not taken more than 10 minutes to fall asleep each night. :)

Its already November, and i'm already tired of the rain, cold, short days. I keep telling myself that every day is one step closer to spring and summer and warmth and long days and SUN!

Quiet

I came across this link  the other day, and it really spoke to me.

For YEARS i've felt inferior because I am quiet. In high school, I had only a handful of friends, and now as a grownup, I have even fewer. And i'm not talking about Facebook "friends"... i'm talking about friends in real life that you actually associate with. No one wants to be around a person who doesn't have a whole lot to say. I get it. I'd be uncomfortable too. But then again, i'm already uncomfortable around most people. I'm racking my brain trying to think of something to say to the other people so they don't think I don't want to talk to them. I feel the most comfortable in groups of about 3, because then the group isn't too big that when i DO talk, I wont have a billion people watching me and I don't get lost in the group, and its not too small that i'm the only one that HAS to respond to everything someone is saying.

I've had people in my life who have poked fun at my quietness, and while they may have been joking, its not a joke to me. I cannot help that i'm quiet. And if I had a penny for every time I've heard the words "you're so quiet" then i'd seriously be a billionaire!

When I was in high school, I didn't really realize how quiet I was, I just thought I was not "pretty enough" or "nice enough" or of course "popular enough" to have people want to talk to me and be around me.... and maybe those things were true?
It wasn't until probably after Jadon was born that I realized that the problem is that i'm quiet, and people don't like to be around people who don't talk a lot. Again, I get it.
I tried joining a mom group, but that was miserably uncomfortable for me. Joining a group of women who already know each other, and having no real commonality with them? Plus, chasing after toddlers doesn't make it easy to have a conversation with someone anyways. And, when you're the only young family in the world who doesn't go out drinking.... it makes for Friday nights spent with the kiddos (which I am TOTALLY OK with!) instead of out with friends for drinks. I love spending time with my family.

I've stewed about my quietness for years.... YEARS.

It wasn't until about a year ago that I came to realize that God made me the way I am for a reason. I listen. I observe. I think. I'm quiet, and God made me beautiful that way. Yes, social situations are still tough, and some days harder than others. Some days I can easily just shrug it off, others not so much. But I have to constantly remind myself that I AM NOT FLAWED BECAUSE I'M QUIET.  I am who I am. And I am loved by the King who created me to be this quiet, reflective thinker!

Now, if only I could figure out how to help the rest of the world to understand introverts.

Birthday review

Well, the birthday is over. The parties are over. My baby girl is 5.
Avery had a wonderful week! Starting Wednesday on her birthday, she got to celebrate at school with cupcakes.
Then Friday we had no school, and 12 of her friends (and their siblings) from school came to help her celebrate at the bouncy house place. Seems like we were just there celebrating Jadon's 5th birthday, and now her's has already came and gone! She had a great time, and thankfully one of her friends at preschool has a brother in Jadon's class, so Jadon had someone to hang out with at the party. Boy, did the kids all have a blast! They bounced for an hour and a half before we stopped to do cake and presents. Everything went well! The kids were pooped by the time it was all over.
Then Saturday we had family over for ice cream. I think by then the birthday girl was a little overwhelmed by all the attention, and she was a little moody.

Plus, on Monday we got a puppy! An 8 week old miniature schnauzer :) She's a sweetie for sure, we named her Macy. Avery wanted to name her either Charlotte (after the spider on Charlotte's web) or Elsa. But the rest of the family wasn't on board with that.
Macy is pretty calm and loveable most of the time, but when she's wide awake she's a stinker, wanting to bite and chew everything. We have plenty of toys for her to chew, but she'd rather chew on your hands.... your feet.... your pants..... your robe..... the chair..... the couch..... etc. But she is doing really well crate training so far. The last 2 nights she's gone to bed at the same time as us, and not woken up until the morning when the rest of us get up! Lets keep it that way Macy!
She's had some accidents in the house. Its really just like having a newborn in the house! She has to go out to potty every hour or two!  Its been a lot of work, but I know she will be (and already is) a great family dog.  I look forward to taking her on walks. Right now we can't take her out a whole lot since she's not fully vaccinated yet. After her 3rd shot (in 2 months), she'll be free to socialize with doggie friends.

So that's what we've been up to!

Life changes

My grandparents were up visiting from Florida for the last week, and today they left, and I miss them already. :(  I wish it were cheaper to fly so we could go visit them more often, but good grief, flying is outrageous!

So i'm going to try to make some changes around here. First of all, i've gained way too much weight in the last 2 years. I did so well after I had Avery, I lost 45 pounds (not including baby weight... you can add an additional 20 or so to the total.) I was in the right frame of mind for weight loss at that time though. Now i've gained 30 of it back, yes you read that right. The first step is admittance, right? And its really really hard to admit, especially to people other than myself.
So the question is why? Why did I gain it all back? And I do not know the EXACT reason, but I do feel like its a combination of things.
#1 We moved. When we moved to the rental, it had no counter space, so I went back to using boxed goods and no menu. Quick, easy meals that required little counter space for prepping.
#2 Also during that time, I was a little depressed from moving, and especially during that time of the year (fall/winter) when i'm always hit hardest. I don't like the short days, I don't do well in the cold, and we are always sick during that time. So winters are hard on me. Add to it being sad from moving into such a depressing place.... perfect storm.
#3 Jadon. I love that boy more than life, but he can make things stressful sometimes. I feel terrible saying that, he is my son, and God made him the way he is and he is perfect in His image, but it can take its toll on our family when he's so anxious. I eat when i'm stressed. And it tastes GREAT going down, but then the guilt hits me afterwards and it just adds to it.
#4 Migraines- One of my migraine triggers is missing meals. Anytime I let myself get too hungry, or eat a meal late, I get a migraine. So i've learned over the years that I need to always have a snack readily available for me so I can eat if i'm hungry.
#5 Laziness. Part of my laziness I can blame on my back, but the other times i'm just lazy. I'm tired from not sleeping well on nights when Jadon's worried, and so I just don't move nearly as much as I should.
So changes HAVE to be made before I end up back where I started. And i've tried over the last year, but never succeed, and I realize its because i've been in the wrong frame of mind. I feel that a lot of weight loss success is due to how you're thinking. If you're not fully committed, it ain't going to happen, at least that's the case for me.  And right now I don't feel like i'm in the right mind frame, so I need to figure out how to change that and GET back into the frame of mind I was at when I lost those 45 pounds!
So i've got a billion new recipes to try, and i'm going to try to make a new one at least once a week, maybe twice.
Going to try to go with more fresh "real" ingredients as opposed to processed garbage.
And i'm going to try to keep up with my menu. I'm at about half the menu right now, where i'll make half the month then forget, or i'll forget an ingredient in a meal so we have to have something else that night instead.
Also, if we ever get a dog, that will be a GREAT excuse for me to go on daily walks with the dog! Because I hate walking by myself, even in the neighborhood, at least having a dog with me would make me feel not so alone!

Now that the kids are in school, i'm going to try to do a new pinterest project every other week or so. I've got so many ideas, and then I never do anything with them! What a waste.

Also i'm going to try to help out in Jadon's classroom. Which is stepping out of my comfort zone a little. I know, it sounds weird that helping in my child's class is stepping out of my comfort zone, but remember i'm introverted, i'd prefer to just sit as a fly on the wall, or work behind the scenes.

Other things going on here: We are gearing up for Avery's birthday party in a couple weeks! It is, of course, a Frozen theme. ;) My baby is going to be 5!!!!!!!!!! :*(

Also, per my acupuncturist recommendation, I've started taking a magnesium supplement for these migraines. And I don't know if its just coincidence or what, but I have hardly had any migraines in the last month and a half that i've been taking it! I know its not the acupuncture, because i'd stopped going before I started taking it, and I had still been getting migraines. So, we will see if this trend continues! I hope it does, but sadly getting a migraine is still always in the back of my mind all the time.

So that's where we are right now in life! Or I guess I should say, where I am. Derek's at work most of the time, Jadons at school most of the time, and Avery is in between home and school.

This is the first day in awhile that we've had nothing going on, so today Derek and I are going to pull everything out of our garage and clean it out. We've got lots of spider action going on in the garage that i'm really not fond of!

Crippled

I'm crippled right now, and it really sucks.

So y'all know my history with my back pain. Last year I had really bad back pain, went to physical therapy and that helped. (I won't mention the part where I stopped doing my back exercises like I was supposed to after my physical therapy sessions ended........) Also tried acupuncture but that didn't really seem to help much either. My back is already "sensitive" to too much stress on it, so this previous Friday, I was hunched over cleaning bathrooms, hunched over mopping the floor, hunched over working in the yard. My back doesn't like hunching. So that night, when I was hunched over embracing my dear daughter in a hug, my back screamed at me. The muscles in my lower back tightened and cramped up and now i'm back to a year ago where my back hurt so bad I could barely move. (this is where I cry and kick myself for not doing my exercises like I'm supposed to.)

So Friday night I slept terrible. My back was throbbing with pain in the middle of the night and I laid in bed and did a few small stretches which calmed its screaming enough to let me get back to sleep.
Saturday though, we had obligations. It was Jadon's last day with his psychologist, who is leaving the state to pursue a new job as a dean. I didn't get to go since I was gimping along and couldn't get ready in time. So us girls stayed home and I sat on the heating pad.
Then after that, Jadon and I had to go to the Humane Society for orientation on volunteering. Started off sitting in cold, hard, metal chairs for 15 minutes there, then we were on our feet for an hour and a half while they showed us the ropes around the new facility. Needless to say, i'm extremely grateful to have heated seats in the minivan, because although it was over 90 degrees out, I had my seat heater on high to sooth my aching back after the orientation was over. The rest of Saturday, I literally spent the entire rest of the day in this same chair i'm in right now with the heating pad on my back.

Today it feels very slightly better. At least, its not throbbing anymore. But i'll still need to take it easy. And i'll start my exercises again, and hopefully I won't stop again.

My exercises are a pain because I have to spend 30-45 minutes laying on the floor doing stretches and muscle building exercises. When my back is killing me, its easy to do it because it helps my back get better. But when my back feels fine, its hard to do it because I have a million other things I could be doing than laying on the floor stretching a back that doesn't hurt. Not to mention, laying on the floor several times a day to do exercises always makes me sleepy.
So really this whole thing is my own fault for quitting the exercises after my back got better.
But thankfully it happened on the weekend and I have an amazing husband to take care of me and the kids. :)  He won't let me lift a finger.

Yesterday evening, the kids were out back playing, I was sitting here of course, and Derek was getting ready to make some dinner. Suddenly the kids were gone. Sometimes they get out of view from the windows but they are over on the sides of the house. Or, I've found Avery all the way up the hill at her friend Avery's house knocking on their door to see if Avery is home to play with Avery. Or across the culdesac at the other neighbors house saying hi to them and their dogs, or next door at the neighbors house playing with a visiting baby. One day I even found them all the way up at the mailboxes! They told me they saw a man that they thought was a neighbor up the road that we hadn't met before and they wanted to go say hi and see if he was nice!!!!! (WHAT THE HECK???? didn't anyone ever teach these kids about stranger danger????? The short answer is YES!!!! They've been taught many many many times about strangers!!!!!! The funny thing is, when we are in town at say the checkout, and the cashier talks to them, they hide their faces and don't say anything.) So they've been informed they are not allowed to go in the front yard by themselves (we can't see them out front), and they are not to leave the backyard.
So yesterday when I was sitting on the heating pad and Derek was getting ready to make dinner, and the kids went missing, he was running around the house frantically looking around all over outside for them with no sight of them. It was about that time that the neighbor next door texts and says she has the kids.
So what did they do? They went to her backyard and went up on her deck and to her back door.

Sigh.
Sometimes I feel these children have no sense in their noggins!  They are just so social, and always want to hang out with people and animals. Thankfully we have amazing neighbors who LOVE our kids (or so they say), and gladly let them come over and pester them. I'm thankful they are social, they certainly didn't get that from me! ;)

Another funny story, the kids were going to the neighbors house up the hill to play while Derek and I went to the school for curriculum night. Now, I had told them not to ask them for food because they do that a lot- eat people out of house and home. (you'd think I never feed them.) So I told them they didn't need to eat there because we just ate dinner. So Avery asks me some scenarios- what if I need a drink. My answer, you can ask for a drink of water. What if they give me something to eat? My answer, that's fine if they offer you something then you can accept it, but you don't need to ask them for anything other than water.
Now Jadon usually doesn't ask for things, but Avery has no shame in it. So when the neighbor mom was making cookies, Avery informed her that she wasn't allowed to eat one.... unless she offered her one, then she was allowed to eat it. Subtle hint Avery! ;)
She got the cookie.

Never a dull moment with those two!

So yes, Jadon and I are now official volunteers for the humane society! He's excited, and I am as well. To start we are going to go once a week for an hour to play with the kitties. Then I think we'll add some morning time to that, which is when they do the cleaning of cages, and perhaps we'll clean some kitties cages (it'll be good for Jadon.) Then eventually we may work our way up to the dogs.

Well that's it for now!

Anxiety is no picnic

I would have thought the first day of school would have been Jadon's highest anxiety of the week. But he actually did really well on day 1. Didn't sleep well at all the night before, but he did well at school nonetheless.
Next couple days went fine and dandy without any issues.
Then today came. And he woke up and was immediately anxious. He had pain in his stomach and tried to tell us he wasn't feeling well. We know better now. He gets pains and twinges in his stomach all the time, as most of us do I imagine, (btw, we had his pediatrician check his stomach to make sure nothing was wrong with him) however he's so hyper-focused on them that he freaks out with every ache, pain, twinge with his body, especially when its in his stomach.
So today did not start off well. And then he refused to do anything and refused to go to school. We were not going to reinforce his fears and eventually got him to get dressed and ready, however he missed the bus, and was a half hour late to school.
And in case anyone thinks we are cruel for making him go, he's pulled the "i don't feel well" many times, and is always fine.  His psychologist said we can't give in to those things because it just reinforces his fears and he will never learn how to cope.  As hard as it is, we must stick to it.

Sigh.

On a different note, we had curriculm night at the school last night, where we met Jadon's teacher and heard all about what they would be doing this year in 2nd grade. LOOOOOVE his teacher so far! She's energetic and positive and upbeat. She's been teaching for 20 years. So i'm excited for his year this year, I think it will be a fun one for him! (if he can relax)
Last year he had a good teacher, but she was old (had been teaching for 43 years!), oldschool, quiet, and quite frankly a little dull. So they are completely opposite.
We heard all about the new common core learning that they are doing now. And while I hated it before, and wondered why in the world they would change the old way that wasn't broken. But, she said they were finding that kids that graduated highschool were not college ready, and so the common core seems to have higher standards and gives kids an alternate method of learning. You won't find any multiple choice questions! And while I still have my doubts, it sounds much less retarded now after she explained it to us.  We will see how well it works when the kids that start on it graduate... that'll be awhile though!
So there's 70 some 2nd graders at the school, so they now have three 2nd grade teachers to accomodate them all. Last year Jadon had 31 kids in his class, this year he has 24, so that's a better number! Unfortunately he got separated from his good buddies. But fortunately he isn't in the same class as the neighbor boy that hangs out at our house all. the. time! (That's a whole other story.... a quite annoying story!)

Avery, well, she's Avery. Goofy, silly, lovey, etc. She started second year of preschool and of course loves it! I'm so thankful that she's a good kid, and I think when she sees us struggling at any given time with Jadon, she realizes she needs to be on her best behavior because we are completely exasperated! (Thank you Jesus!!!!)  She has her moments, but its rarely at the same time Jadon's having a "moment." Next year she will start all day kindergarten and I will miss my little stinker. :*(

First day of school was weird without all the noise in the house, and I felt a little lonely and missed my kiddos. I'm already getting back into the groove though and its actually rather nice having quiet! ;)

And just like that, its over

Sunriver. Its the highlight of our summers. And we look forward to it all summer. I see it on my calendar and get excited to start planning and packing. Then the day finally comes with much anticipation!  And then I blink.... and its over.

The same holds true of summer in general. I look forward to it immensely, longing for warm, lazy days of summer. Freedom of not getting up as early in the mornings. Freedom to go do things at any time without having to worry about schedules. Then its here, and then I blink and its done.

School starts in a couple days. I'm dreading it.

Now the season is changing again. The kids will be in school again which means to bed early and up early. It means busy evenings from after school activities.
Bleck! Yes i'm complaining a little, but winter is coming and the weather affects me and I literally dread that season. The rain. The cold. Those short days. A muddy yard. Being stuck inside. The constant illnesses.

Needless to say, I'm very grateful for the time we spend each summer in Sunriver to conclude that season of life. Such a perfect ending!

So what do we do while we are in Sunriver? Well, most of it is spent riding bikes. Riding bikes to the village. At the village, we eat food and ice cream, play mini golf, bumper cars, ride the kiddy train, listen to live music. We ride our bikes out to the airport and watch the planes take off. We go to the park and play. We eat, eat, eat. We play games. We stay up late and enjoy everyone's company. Then we wake up and do it all over again!
This year on our way up, we stopped at the High Desert Museum. That was pretty interesting. The kids enjoyed the short presentation about reptiles where they brought out a lizard, a snake and a turtle and we got to see them up close and touch them.
Then we went and listened to a half hour presentation about birds of prey. The lady who did the presentation did a very good job and was very knowledgeable and held a falcon the whole time while doing the presentation, feeding it and spraying it with water to cool it down. It was really interesting.

Now that change is coming, we are making changes at home too. We are going to start eating healthier. Avery has gotten better about trying new things..... she doesn't necessarily like them, but at least she's trying them with less protest. My menu for the first 2 weeks of school is in place. Including new items like veggie omelets and stuffed green peppers.
So a few areas we are making changes is- eating more fruits and veggies. Eating healthier cereal- which means no more sugary cereals.  Eating less carbs- which is mostly just less crackers.
One thing I noticed after a 4 day binge on less healthy food and lots of soda- last night my entire abdomen was protesting to me from my neck down to my butt, and my body felt horrid. I had quit my soda addiction a long long time ago, and only drink it when we go out or are at someones house who has it. And even when we go out I have been ordering strawberry lemonade. But this week I think I had more soda than I've had in a year!

Fun times, and i'm already looking forward to next year! Thanks mom and dad!

Summers ending already???!!

This is what I hate about summer.... it goes too fast! I'm not ready for school to start again, for being sick constantly, for the short days and the rain and cold. The only positive is that I get to do my errands by myself.
Avery's going to do tap dance. She's super excited!
Jadon's not doing any sports at this point, but he and I will be volunteering at the humane society, hopefully weekly. He's excited for that. He's also signed up for a club at the humane society and will meet monthly for some fun and crafts and of course his favorite- animal socialization!

We are thinking about getting a dog. The kids just love dogs, and we think it could be good for Jadon to have a dog in the house. However with allergy sufferers in the house we need a dog that is good for allergies. It may sound odd, but i'm looking forward to having a dog to walk every day. Why? Well, i need the exercise, and I don't like walking by myself when the kids are in school and Derek's at work.

Derek and I finally watched God's Not Dead! It was a great movie! Some of the story lines were a little lame and the acting not always the best, but the message was amazing and that was far more important than the acting.

Date night

I had the honor and privilege of going on a date with my favorite little girl last night.
 She is such a good fit for our family. She's our comic relief, and our little love bug. I'm so thankful and blessed to be mommy to this little sweetie!

She's been looking forward to a date with mommy for a long time. During the school year we have more time together when Jadon's in school, but its usually spent running errands or doing daily tasks. Last night was just for us. I asked her what she wanted to do, and she said she "wanted to go get some drinks." She was talking about going for smoothies, so the initial plan was to go to Jamba Juice. But then when we got in the car I asked her again and she said again "well I thought we'd get some drinks and then food." We had just eaten dinner, so I suggested we not go out to eat, so she decided on Yogurt Extreme.
She got raspberry yogurt, and loaded it with 3 different kinds of sprinkles, sour gummy worms, circus animal cookies, those jelly ball things, and pretty much any candy. Basically she had as much candy as she did yogurt. It looked...... well to me it looked gross. Like a belly ache waiting to happen. Even the guy working there mentioned how "yummy" it looked as he had watched her pile on the candy.
Let me tell you, that girl can really put away her sugar! She ate her entire bowl of yogurt and candy!
And after that she wanted to go to the park, so I took her to the park where she met a 7 year old girl and played hide and seek with her, as well as spun on the tire swing together.
After the park she said she wanted to go to two more places, but didn't know where and wanted to drive around looking. Well, it was getting late and I wasn't going to drive around looking for something to do, so we decided to go to Home Depot and I let her pick out a few plants for another flower bed in the works. She loved the idea of being able to pick out whatever plants she wanted. I steered her towards perennials so that they would come back every year and I told her everytime we'd look at the plants we'd remember our date together. We have a couple super hot days in the forecast, so she and I will be planting them after it cools a bit. I think she picked well. She picked a hydrangea (my favorite, cant go wrong with hydrangeas!) and a couple others that I don't remember the names off the top of my head.
Starting her love of gardening early on :)

I enjoyed my time with my precious little girl. I'm so blessed to have her.

Weather

Since we've been in our house, we've had some pretty intense weather. We've had some SIGNIFICANT snowfall a couple times, we've had some torrential downpours that left us with a huge pond in our backyard, and last night we had quite a lightning and thunder storm! It rolled right over the house and left the walls shaking. The lightening continued for probably around 2 hours, and it was a spectacular sight! Power flickered on and off and left my oldest in a crying panic yet the littlest slept through the entire display!

It. Was. Amazing! :) It was like a good Florida storm and it was beautiful!

My pictures are not spectacular with my phone, but at least its something. I also got a few videos, but there's a nervous little boy talking constantly through them.

On a different note, have you seen Kid Snippets on youtube? The kids love them and us adults are pretty fond of them also. Really amusing :)
Here's a few of my favorites. Avery likes hair salon because the girl has long pretty straight hair.... and Avery likes long straight hair. ;)

Co-pilots
Hair Salon
Slushies
Wedding Jitters
Drivers Ed

I made a mistake

Ok, I made a mistake. I admit it:

I put the dumb pinterest app on my phone!!!!

And now, whenever I have a free moment.... for example when i'm waiting for my coffee in the morning, or laying in bed at night.... I open up that little pinterest app and away I start pinning!
And now I have over 1,000 things pinned. Mostly house stuff, yard stuff, organization stuff, kid stuff, recipes, etc.
And I really dont understand how life existed before there was pinterest!!!
But the funny thing is, i've only actually tried a handful of the things I've pinned.
I've tried many recipes, and some have came out good, and some not so good.
I've made a few house things. And all those came out fine.

Bottom line is, pinterest is an addiction! But a good one ;)

Life...

Its been a month since I last posted already. I've tried a couple times to write another one since then, but I'm not sure what to write about and I haven't had a lot of time.
We've been busily working on our yard, and our firepit is almost done! We won't be able to do a whole lot more this year, will have to save up for next summer. Our hope is to get the rest of the flowerbeds around our deck outlined with brick (plants will probably have to wait until next year at this point), finish the firepit, and if money allows, add a little more sod. Our neighbor redid her front yard and had some leftover sod that she gave us so we have a small patch of grass right now, but not enough to play on. Its hard to wait! We LOVE our backyard and we just want it done already! Its huge, its quiet, and I can envision its completion in my head!

My poor little guy is having anxiety again..... well, I guess it never left him, but its "flaring up" again. Since before school was even out his anxiety has been growing worse and worse. He's worrying about things that we can't even begin to dream up. He's worrying about things that would never happen. He's worrying about things that happened a year ago. This has caused many sleepless nights for all of us in the house but the little one! After discussing with Luis, Jadon's therapist, we are going to see also a child psychiatrist and consider medication for him. We aren't fond of the idea of medicating a 7 year old child, but he is not enjoying life when he's a constant bundle of nervousness. He's not eating as well, he wants to lay on the couch a lot because his stomach hurts from worrying, he doesn't sleep well. He worries about worrying. :(  Its heartbreaking. And it has to be hard for him seeing everyone else living life normally, having a sister that has no fear. In fact, he's said before several times how he wishes he were like Avery and daddy and mommy.
We ARE going to take him to see his normal doctor to look at his stomach, just to verify that there's nothing wrong with his stomach. He complains about it hurting all the time, but its always when he's worrying and all the professionals we talked to think its just anxiety, but just to be on the safe side we're going to have him looked at.

On a different note, the kids are doing very well in swimming lessons, and we will have our same teacher for at least the next year. She's a college student and this coming year will be her last year of school.

I signed Jadon up for a day camp at the humane society, and he was SUPER excited about that since the day I signed him up. He got to do that a week ago. He LOVED it! I think I mentioned it already, but I was contemplating signing him (and I since he has to have an adult with him) up for volunteering at the humane society. He really enjoys being with the animals, and I imagine it could be therapeutic for him?

Both kids are doing soccer. They both enjoy it, and we already knew this but Avery is quite good at athletic stuff. Poor Jadon got my athletic abilities.... or handicaps I guess is a better way to put it! :(

I started doing acupuncture a few weeks ago for my back pain and migraines. I haven't had any help yet, but since my headaches have been around for a very long time, it can take many many treatments to help them, and even after helping I might have to continue going every once in awhile.
Acupuncture is weird. I really hope it will help though. I like the idea of not putting more medication into my body!

First and last days

First day of school - sept. 2013

 Last day of school- june 2014

First day of school- sept. 2013

 






Last day of school- june 2014

Its amazing to me how they still change SOOO much! Yes, this is expected the first few years of life, but Jadon is 7 and he still looks like he changed so much this school year!

And Avery's first picture cracks me up now, her backpack was practically swallowing her! She grew 3 inches during the school year, and I think its pretty obvious!

I love those two!

Summer Plans

Summer doesn't officially start for us until the 18th. Thanks to the snow days we had!
On one hand i'm totally ready for summer, ready for not making lunches anymore, ready for not getting up so dang early. On the other hand, Jadon behaves better at home when he's in school because he's kept busy all day, and while I always try to plan some summer activities for the kids, its never enough.
I also try to not over schedule us during the summer because i think that down time, free time, is good for all of us!

So our plans aren't incredibly exciting. Getting the yard put in, we always go to Enchanted Forest. I'm sure we'll go swimming at the pool (although we cant go to toddler time anymore, Jadon's too old.) Derek and I have been looking into more local places to go to. And our big event is our annual Sunriver trip at the end of summer. We all look forward to that all summer!
Derek and I will have our 11th anniversary as well! :) And something crazy- we've been together for 15 years this september!!!  :)

I've got both kids enrolled in soccer for the summer, we also have swimming lessons. And the humane society has a couple day camps so I signed Jadon up for one of those, and he's really excited about it! I'd also like to get Jadon involved in some volunteer work at the humane society. I think it would be good for him. Avery would LOVE it as well, but with her pet allergies, I don't know if it would be a good idea. She'll be heartbroken if she doesn't get to do it though.
And VBS of course for Jadon, (Avery gets to go next year.) One of the perks of being a bigger kid... you get to do more fun things than the little kids. I do feel bad for Avery though, she wants to do the things Jadon's doing but she's not "of age" yet.

On a different note, with as much watermelon as the kids and I have been eating.... i'm afraid we are going to turn into watermelons! Yummy!!!! :) Pretty soon the blueberries will be ready for picking, and I can't wait!!!

What??????!!!!!

I hate cleaning the bathrooms. I do it once a week (or try to....the kids bathroom sometimes more) but it seems like once a week is every day. Once a week happens so fast. And I hate cleaning them! Why? Because it takes too long. Because of getting everything set up. Because I have to wear gloves. Because I'm down on my hands and knees on the floor. The only good part about cleaning the bathrooms is the end when they are clean and I can breath a sigh of relief because I have a week of not having to deal with them anymore. But then it seems I blink and its time to clean them again. Ugh.

So last night I was trying to think of ways I could cut corners or shorten the time it takes me to clean them. I'm pretty anal about how they are done, because its the bathroom! Bathrooms are gross. We poop, we pee, we bath our dirty bodies, we brush our dirty teeth, we wash our dirty hands in them. So i'm a little anal about how things get cleaned in the bathroom. Don't want to risk any cross contamination, and want to make sure all the germs are wiped up properly.

So to clean both bathrooms from top to bottom, showers included, takes me well over an hour.
What. A. Pain.
Now you can understand why I want to figure out how to cut some corners. So I googled how to clean a bathroom quickly. And I found some pretty useless information. I also found a video on youtube.
It is wrong on so many levels! Its a 3 minute video, so please take the time to watch and be amazingly grossed out! HERE!

One persons comment to the video was that you can't clean a bathroom in less time it takes you to take a dump.
Not only does she use plain water to "clean" some things, she uses her bare hands in the (dirty) toilet to squeeze the toilet brush, then goes and without washing her hands she starts wiping the counter area. And what about all the crap she put in the shower??? And she didn't even clean the shower! So gross. Not to mention, that bathroom was already clean, there was nothing on the counter and nothing in shower to move first. No towels or bath mats. And what in the heck is a johnny mop?!? Whats wrong with a normal toilet scrub brush? After a week, my bathrooms, especially the kids, are much dirtier than that. Is that how motels clean their bathrooms???? That scares me, from now on when I'm at a motel i'm taking my own container of disinfecting wipes and i'll be using every single one to wipe the entire room.

Totally disgusting! Were you as grossed out as me?

In case you hadn't caught on, this video bothers me to no end, i'm disgusted and appalled by it and I hope you all do a better job of cleaning your bathrooms.... at least before I visit you! ;)

Medical bills, and yard work, and babies.... oh my!!

Yard work is slowly under way! Yesterday dad and mom came over with the tractor and chopped all the tall tall grass down for us. What a difference that alone made! The grass was so tall and now we can actually see the yard again and it feels big once again. We aren't sure exactly what our next step is going to be. We've had a lot of expenses this month with lots of medical bills between Derek and Jadon. (Did I mention that Jadon sprained his wrist a couple days before we went to Florida? We didn't want to have any problems in Florida if he had fractured it at all, so Derek took him to see the doctor and was x-rayed and everything. Just a little spraining was all thank goodness and by the time we went to Florida he didn't even need the ace bandage wrapped around it anymore.) So the medical bills are flowing in now from the boys. So it will be slow going for the yard, but that's ok, it will make it just that much more sweet with each step we get accomplished. :)

My little nephew is a week old already! Jenny emailed pictures out, and he is just so dang cute!  Annnnnnd i've got baby fever now..... ok i've had it for awhile but something about cuddling a little baby makes it much stronger. ;) The kids have also been talking about wanting another sibling.
We'll see.... convincing Derek is the first hurdle. ;)

Oops

Its been 2 months since I last blogged. In my defense, we've been busy. Come on, did you really think a family with a 4 and 7 year old would NOT be busy???
March ended with track and swimming lessons, school. And recovering from illness.
April was a busy month. We finally had Jadon's birthday party that we had to cancel for 3 weeks due to his pneumonia. Derek had another trip to Wisconsin for work, where he tried to die on us. (long story that I think most of you know already and i'm not going to explain again.)  As well as school, field trips, track and swimming, and preparing for our vacation to Florida!!
April 30th, we left for Florida for the kids first "real" vacation, first time on a plane for both of them as well. To say they were excited would be an understatement.
We spent until May 8th in Florida, enjoying the sunshine and warmth, the beach, LEGOLAND, sunset cruise, etc etc etc. But mostly we enjoyed the time we got to spend with my grandparents. Two of my favorite people in the world!
We returned from Florida, expecting to come home to a new baby boy relative (Derek's sister.) However, baby Harris decided to make his grand entrance into the world 10 days late. Today we got to meet the little guy, and he's totally adorable!

Other than all that, we've been working on designing our backyard and are getting excited to finally get some of it taken care of. We already decided its just too much money to get it all done this year, so we will be doing it in phases over the next few years.

Schools getting close to the end for the year, and I have mixed feelings about it. Jadon does much better when he's kept busy at school all day in that structure with all his friends. And Avery does better when Jadon's at school as well. As soon as Jadon is home, they both start acting out and getting into trouble.
Jadons school year is ending with several field trips, a trip to the pool with his class, field day, etc. We went to his school's carnival yesterday.
The kids have to go to school for an extra week at the end of the year thanks to the week off from snow we had in February.  I'm not looking forward to an extra week of making school lunches.... i'm about burned out on making lunches. There's only so many things you can pack that dont require heating: PBJ, PBH, meat and cheese sandwiches, and cheese and crackers. Thats about it.

So that is all I have time to update right now.

Pneumonia

Poor Jadon. He ended up having pneumonia! By Monday his fever was not down, he was just getting worse, and Monday he was complaining that his side was hurting really badly. We placed a call in to the pediatrician, but they took too long to call back so we just took him to the ER. 

We all know how Jadon is when it comes to doctors and hospitals. But he was SO brave! I'm so proud of him! He had to have an IV to help hydrate him and to get a strong dose of antibiotics. They had talked about keeping him in the hospital for a few days, but didn't think he was bad enough to need to stay. I think that was a good idea, I think he would have mentally healed faster at home than he would have at the hospital. Because at home he feels comfortable. He has his video games to distract him, and his own bed to sleep in. 

Its amazing the difference a full day of antibiotics made!!! By the end of yesterday, he was up and around some. Went to his room to play legos with Avery for a short time, and they played something mild in the living room also. He ate a good dinner, requested 2nds, but then couldn't finish the seconds. After not eating for 3 days, he visibly lost weight. At home he has been weighing about 51 lbs (before illness). At the hospital he was only 49. Now I know 2 pounds doesn't seem like much, but when you only weigh 51 lbs and youre tall and skinny, 2 pounds is quite obvious. His pants are just hanging on his little butt. 

His fever finally broke last night! And this morning it is still down, so as long as he keeps the fever away and continues to progress, I think he'll be able to go back to school friday. One day back and then another week off for spring break. Lots of time for recovery. 

And Avery, i'm so proud of her too. She has been such a good girl over the last 5 days, despite getting much less attention, and not getting to play with Jadon, and being cooped up in the house. She has not given us any grief. Even at the ER, she was an angel. Despite the fact that we didn't get any lunch that day. You'd think she'd be bored at the ER and cranky from not getting lunch, but she was so good. 

I'm very proud of both of my kids.  And i'm very thankful for the wonderful doctors and nurses at the ER who were so nice and helpful, and all our family and friends who were praying for him. Its really hard to see your child be so ill. 

Sad day

Well we should've been having a birthday party right now. Should've been playing games and eating cake right about now.
Jadon came home early from school yesterday because his right mouth was hurting and he just couldn't take it any longer. Poor guy, I know it was hurting because he was crying. He rarely cries when he hurts. I called the dentist and they were stumped because he didn't have any abscess, no teeth coming in, was not hit in the face, no canker sore, no fever, etc. So I made an appointment for monday in case his mouth was still hurting after the weekend and if its better I can cancel it.
By bedtime his ear was hurting him, and middle of the night he was having trouble sleeping because his ear was hurting. By morning the fever set in and he was no better and Derek took him to urgent care with what we thought for sure was an ear infection.
But, turns out it is some virus thats going around that involves the whole body. So he's got a cough, an ear ache, a fever, and has thrown up a few times (but has no stomach ache). Derek said the doctor had already seen several cases of the same thing today.  So he was sent home with a couple prescriptions to help with the ear pain and in case he has any nausea and told to stay home for a couple days and eat a clear liquid diet.

So, instead of eating the yummy minion cupcakes that I made for the occasion, he's sipping water and 7 up and eating popsicles. Instead of playing silly games, he's laying on the couch having a movie marathon. And that just stinks. Why? because it seems like he always gets the short end of  the stick. He's been sick at Christmas-time twice, sick when Aunt Jenny was in the hospital, and now sick for his birthday party that he's been looking forward to for weeks. And that makes his mom and dad very sad. :*(

So as far as rescheduling the party, the next two weekends are during spring break, so its likely that people wont be home. We could wait until the first weekend in April, but by then his birthday is almost a month gone. And today is beautiful! Its mid to upper 60's!

Can these illnesses just please stop already? I'm tried of it. This has been a horrible winter for sicknesses.

Sad, sad day. :(

Seven!

Tomorrow my baby boy will be 7 years old. I'm going to have a 7 year old. Wow!! He is now closer to being a teenager than a baby. That is both scary and bittersweet! Love that kid!

We are having a big birthday bash on Saturday. We've never had a "big" birthday party for him because our old house was too small. Last year he really wanted a big party but we'd just moved into our house. So this is the year! We finally have a house big enough to have more people over comfortably!
So the party theme is Despicable Me. I made all the kids minion goggles, and their favor bags will be decorated like minions. The cake will be cupcakes with twinky minions on them. As far as games, I couldn't find any games that were new and exciting, everything is the same old games, for example: pin the tail on the donkey, toss the little bean bags through the holes, scavenger hunts, etc. I spent hours researching games online. I finally came across Minute To Win It games. Doesn't fit the despicable me theme, but the games should be fun for 7 year old boys. Plus we only have 2 hours with them, so the games will have to be quick anyways!
Jadon's excited, and so am I! I'm excited to do this for him.

Busy busy busy

We've been a busy clan here. Every day of the week is filled with something!
Jadon has been doing basketball, and while he likes it, he has already lost interest (thanks a lot ADD.)  So he is trying out track and field next. Not sure if he'll like that either, but he needs to burn off energy, and i'd rather he tried lots of new things now so he can decide for himself later on what he likes and doesn't like.

Avery does tumbling and she loves it! I asked her if she wanted to do something else and she said no, just tumbling. So tumbling it is!

Almost 2 weeks ago we traded in my car and got a minivan! Yeah, laugh it up, I know the rep minivans have, but I LOVE it! Not only does it smell wonderful, like a new car, but it has heated seats, a backup camera, a moon roof and many many many more things. It drives like my old civic did, and its soooooo convenient. The deciding factor between a minivan and an SUV was the fact that the kids can get into the minivan by themselves easily, and it has a ton more space than an SUV. We were quite surprised at the amount of space. And, now I like driving again.... for now. ;)

We have a birthday coming up! My baby boy is going to turn SEVEN in a couple weeks!!! SEVEN!!! When and how did this happen so quickly!?!? What a big guy he is becoming! While he can be a handful sometimes, he makes me smile every day and I love him to pieces!
So since last year was a very mellow year for celebrating birthdays, we are having big parties this year! We are inviting all the boys in his class to come over.... which means I may be just a little out of my mind. If all the boys come, then there will be 18 seven year old boys in my house at one time!!! Lord help us!!!!!!!

Snow pix!

As I promised, here are some snow pictures. These were taken this morning. When we woke up this morning this is what we had. It snowed all day long and we now have well over a foot! Looking at these pictures makes me chuckle now because it seemed like a ton of snow at the time, but now we have SOOOOOOOO much. An additional 3-5 inches is forecast for tonight as well. I'm excited to wake up and see what we have!

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Avery LOVES eating the snow for whatever reason.

The little hill in our backyard makes a good hill for the kids to tube down.  Its short and easy for them to climb up. (However for the more exciting time we use the street hills!)

Backyard. Now the snow covers most of the bottom of the deck.

During the last snow storm in December, I made the cats some beds out of old pillowcases. Here's Gina staying warm.

 I've always loved the way the trees look when covered in snow.

Derek has been working from home the last 2 days but took alot of breaks today to do some tubing.

I'm not sure why these next 2 photos are not centered. I have them set to be centered but they are not following the rules....
Anywho, Earlier today I took a picture of the cars covered in snow, And again tonight I took a picture. Shows you how much snow we got today!

Absolutely crazy!!!! NEVER seen this much snow here in the Valley, and i've lived here my whole life! We've had a couple of years where theres been significant snowfall, but i've never seen anything like THIS!
Tomorrows forecast is for snow/rain mix and/or sleet/freezing rain, followed by all rain in the afternoon, followed by snow/rain mix during tomorrow night. So, today was potentially the last of the straight white stuff. I have thoroughly enjoyed it, as I know many others have too. Its so beautiful to watch and see. Thank you Lord for this rare occurrence!

More Snow Days!

This has been the best winter ever! I had wanted a good winter this year in our new house, and i'm sure gettin' it! No school yesterday or today because of it, and there's probably close to a foot of snow out there! Its BEAUTIFUL!!! It snowed pretty much non stop yesterday.
Yes, school was cancelled again, for thursday and friday. The kids are already having to go an extra 2 days at the end of the year from the last snow storm we had, and they had to make up a day in January as well, so i'm curious what the will do to make up these days.
During the last snow we had back in December, our cheap plastic sled broke, so luckily when I saw that snow was becoming a strong possibility in the forecast, I checked Target for their snow stuff. They had it all 50% off so I got a boogie board thing (that doesn't work, at least in this kind of snow its not), a kids inner tube, and a grownups inner tube.

I'll post some pictures once I get some good ones. :) Time to go get ready to play in the snow!

Not too bad~!

So I had 8 posts last month! Not too bad, considering I had 28 for the entire year last year!

Not much to report.... We had a 6 day weekend this week. Jadon only went to school on monday and then I kept him home on tues/wed due to a bad cough. Then thursday and friday there was no school.  We still had a busy week though.

We've been playing Wii Fit lately. Its old, but we stopped playing it for a long time and recently got it back out again. It surprises me that we actually work up a sweat doing it. Things like hula hooping, boxing, running and biking really get you warmed up. I wouldn't recommend Wii Fit as an exercise regime or for weight loss, but its kinda fun and gets you off the couch at least. Being winter, we are beginning to get restless and irritable being stuck indoors. Whenever its sunny, we try to bundle up and head outside. It always feels good getting fresh air at least.

Well i'm out of things to talk about.

Oh, as some of you already know, several years ago the contractor who built our house was wrongfully accused of racketeering. He pleaded not guilty, and the last 2 weeks he's been on trial. He started a blog to write about the trial: Randy Gray Trial  Please keep him and his family in your prayers as they find out the verdict this week. He is the father of 6 kids with a 7th on the way, a good christian family, and he is a good person.

How???

So many times when I click on a Pinterest link, it takes me to someones blog. OK, that's fine, nothing wrong with blogging. ;) However, you read the "About me" piece, and these women have full time jobs AND their own business, 20 kids, a blog they write in (with lots of pictures of their projects), volunteer positions, are the room mom for their children's classes, the coach of their kids sports team, AND have miraculously spotless houses, and seemingly endless amounts of time for everything else like entertain, going to the gym, baking and cooking amazing things, making their hair and makeup perfect everyday, making their kids hair perfect every day, day trips, weekend trips, weekly trips, etc, etc, etc. Oh, and they still have time to sit at the end of the day to catch up on their favorite reality shows, and then do their yoga before they go to bed, where they then get a full 8 hours of UNINTERRUPTED sleep, and then they wake up happy and peaceful at 5am, go for a run, and are ready to start the day all over again.  I'd like to know: HOW DO THEY DO THAT? Are they being honest in that they really do all of those things... daily? Do they really have 40 hour days, or so it seems? Or perhaps they keep their kids chained up all day while they do everything, then let the kids out for the last hour or so of the day. I just don't understand how people can do that? I barely have time to blog, although i've been trying REALLY hard this month in case you hadn't noticed. 

My house will not stay clean no matter how hard I try, its messed up within 5 minutes. My kids do not behave all the time. We have extracurricular activities that take up every single evening.

So i'd like to know if these women are for real? Most of the moms I know do not have time for all those things. Their kids are not perfect angels. They have to take time out daily (multiple times daily) to discipline their kids and deal with unruliness. Their houses never stay clean. They don't have time or money to do all the things these "supermoms" do. Do the Supermom's kids never get sick??? Do THEY never get sick? (I say that now since i'm sitting here unable to breath with a pile of used kleenex next to me and a box of unused kleenex just waiting for me.) ;)

So in conclusion, I am no supermom, and I think the women who claim to be supermom's are all fakes. 

There. I'm done. 

practices

Jadon began basketball this week. He had 2 practices, and so far he really likes it. We also so a good improvement between the two practices!  Its his first time playing any "real" basketball, aside from our Little Tykes basketball hoop and ball at home. At his age, at his games, they will not be doing any stealing, fouls, or even keeping score. I'm looking forward to watching!

In this video, his coach was "blocking" him and he was supposed to move forward with the ball. Most of the other kids struggled with that a little, I was really shocked when Jadon did it so well.

Avery started a tumbling class through the parks and rec this week, and she had a lot of fun as well! 

this video is Avery doing a backwards sommersault... she is in the green polka dot shirt.

We've all had this darn cough thing that's going around. Pretty much its only a cough. Then yesterday Derek and I both came down with a head cold on top of the cough. I spent all night coughing so I feel pretty horrible today. I took a "nap" (an on and off doze) for an hour and a half and I am looking forward to going to bed tonight!

Thank you Grandmas!

Thank you to Grandmother, Grandma Debbie and Grandma Karla for all your Boxtops and Labels for Education! With the Boxtops that were turned in by all the students between Sept and early Dec, the school earned almost $600, and with the Labels for Education points earned will go towards playground equipment. Yay!
So thank you for your help and keep 'em coming! :)

Yard

Looking out at our backyard right now.... its a big huge mud pit. At least the french drain is working well! With all the rain we had over the last few days, we discovered 5 little.... springs.... or something, coming out of the side of the hill... not down the top of it, but literally out the side of it. That will have to be dealt with at some point. But the good thing is, its all draining into the french drain. My hubby did such a great job on that!
I feel overwhelmed by all the things that need to be done. If we get nothing else done this summer with the backyard, we at least need to get grass put in. Top priority.

I was just telling Derek that I laugh now at how we were overwhelmed with having to do our yard at our old house. That seems like a PIECE OF CAKE now compared to what we have now!

One things for sure.... I can't wait for spring to come, and summer, to dry out the yard so we can move forward and have a nice backyard to play in! Hurry up warmer weather! Hurry up sunshine!

Hey did you all know that the sun is setting later now? Its getting close to half an hour later than it was. Yes, i'm a weirdo and I keep track of that because I NEED to see that the days are getting longer and there's hope in the dead of this "favorite" season of mine! I'm dreaming of that sun!!

Life

Its my favorite time of year!! No its not. I hate this time of year. In fact, I'm without a doubt certain that January and February are my least favorite months of the year. I hate the weather, I hate the long days, I hate the additional pounds gained from December, I hate the illnesses, I hate that the kids are stuck inside most of the time and can't burn off extra energy.
November and December are at least filled with holiday gatherings and holiday events that help with the above. And March daylight savings starts so we get more daylight time, and Jadon's birthday is in March, as well as half of our extended family.
But i'm not here to complain and whine. Although its pretty easy to this time of year! ;)

The kids started swimming again tonight after a month off. We always take December off from all extracurricular activities because December is already a busy month without all the extras. We started on private lessons today though. Previously we'd just done normal group lessons, which we felt were not as productive. Why? Well, the classes are 30 minutes long, and with 6 kids in the class, they just weren't getting enough time with actual swimming. A good portion was always spent waiting for the teacher to work with other kids. However, the last 2 sessions we had the same teacher and we really like her, Jadon has actually showed some improvement with her, and she is really good with both the kids, and knowing when to push them. Which is exactly what Jadon needs, since he's very tentative in the water. If you push him too much, he freaks out and ends up back at square one again. So, she noticed that and slowly builds him up to do things. We lucked out and were able to get her for private lessons, so we are thrilled with that. And the kids had a LOT more actual swimming time with just the 2 of them. Not to mention, the pool was basically empty so they weren't distracted by all the other children in the pool around them. They both said they had more fun than in the normal class.

Jadon starts basketball next week. It will be his first time playing basketball. As always, he's a little tentative. For some reason, he got it in his head that he's going to be playing in a college-like coliseum with tons of people there. I explained to him that its not that way, I found YouTube videos of 1st graders playing basketball-practice and games and showed him those. But until he actually goes, his mind is set on how it will be, and there's usually no convincing him otherwise.
I'm excited for him to try this new adventure!

Avery starts a tumbling class next week also. I went to sign her up for gymnastics at the college like we do every winter, but the class was full. So we're doing a tumbling class through the parks and rec instead. Hopefully she'll participate this time!

I dont know if i mentioned that I was going to be going through ALL of our stuff this month and purging and organizing it all. Its been pretty fun.... you know me, I love organizing! I love decluttering too! So it feels good to go through all our stuff and get rid of whats collecting dust, and then organize whats left. Its also hard to get rid of things sometimes for sentimental reasons. However, I read an article that reminded me that its all just STUFF. And the more STUFF you save, the less value it actually has to you. So I try to keep that in mind when I'm going through things. The hardest things for me to get rid of are things that pertain to the kids when they were little. Their clothes, their toys, their artwork, etc. Its all so precious to me.
But regardless, our office is growing a large pile of  "Stuff" in it to give to Goodwill.
Another problem I have is thinking that I might some day use or have a need for things. Like clothes.... I have kept this little cropped cardigan thing for years. Have I worn it even one time? Nope. But I always thought that I might someday have something to wear it with, or have a use for it. Needless to say, those things are hard to get rid of too, just because i'm afraid i'm going to get rid of it, and then a week later find something I could have used it for.
Or keeping clothes that are too small for you, but you'll be able to wear again when you lose all that weight you gained. I'm not so bad at that anymore, but I used to be. Turns out when i'd finally lost all the weight and could fit into the clothes, I didn't like them anymore.  Also, if there's anything I learned from What Not To Wear, its that you dress the body you have NOW....not the body you hope to have someday.
So, i'm having a lot of fun getting organized and decluttered :)

I did pretty good controlling my portion sizes this week, most of the time. So changes are slowly happening there.... in my mind that is. I'm trying to retrain myself to that mindset that I don't need to eat so much, that food is not my best friend, and that I actually feel better when I don't stuff myself and eat slower. Eventually i'd like to start walking (outside) when both the kids are at school, but its going to have to stop raining and warm up a little for that.

Its already been almost a year since we moved into our new house! Its so hard to believe! I truly truly feel blessed here. Very rarely do I feel irritated with something about our house. Our old house I was always bent about something....... mostly not having enough storage space for anything. Here it feels like everything has a place, and we dont have 20 different storage shelves inside to hold things, or a pantry in our garage. Everyday I love my laundry room, and i'm so thankful to have it be inside now instead of in the garage, especially in the winter months! I'm so grateful to have a 4th bedroom that we can use as an office/sewing/craft room. I'm so grateful for our large living room where we can all sit and play games together, or where we can have company without everyone being crammed into the room. I'm grateful to only have 2 toilets instead of 3 to clean, even though once in awhile a 3rd toilet is sometimes needed (amazing how all 4 of us can have a need to use the bathroom at the same time!) ;)  I'm super super grateful for our huge backyard and i'm sooooooo looking forward to getting it to a usable state this spring and summer! And i'm very grateful for our neighbors. What are the odds that we'd end up with such amazing neighbors who are very tolerant of our kids and even seem to be quite fond of them.
As hard as it was to leave our old house and memories behind, God provided a new home for us in a big way. And what about the fact that Jadon's bff moved in just a few streets away? or that there's a little girl 2 houses away who is the same age as Avery, and also named Avery? Or that a house behind us lives a boy who is also a first grader where Jadon goes to school (different class though.) Or that the "older" kids in the neighborhood are super good with kids and are really good role models for Jadon and Avery. I could go on and on, but it was definitely not luck that brought us here. God had all this planned before we even knew it.

See, I told you my blog post wasn't going to be all whining and complaining ;)

Goals

What a year we just finished! The big highlights of our year were: moving into our new house, Derek and I celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary, Avery starting preschool and Jadon starting 1st grade (full day school.)
I hope you all enjoyed our picture year in review. I make those mostly for the kids because they love to look back at the pictures of themselves and what they did during the year. We go back and watch the past years occasionally, and its a great reminder of how blessed we are.

I hate new years resolutions. I think they are dumb, and no one ever keeps them. I quit setting new years resolutions a long time ago. However, I think its always good to have goals, and a fresh start. So I have plenty of goals for this year, including: lose 15 lbs before our big trip, get active again (because i've gotten lazy... thank you migraines), complete our backyard (or at least get the grass put in!), put down my ipod and instead spend that time with my kids, get back to my menu board and get back to my cleaning schedule, work on the kids manners, get rid of these migraines! etc. All of these are very doable, and if I get rid of the migraines it will make it 100% easier to do and stick with these goals. Before I get a migraine I usually get reeaaalllly tired. Its like my warning sign. And after the migraine is over, I feel very drained as well. And since I get several migraines a week, I feel tired and drained A LOT. Its hard to get anything accomplished feeling that way, not to mention having a pounding head.

We got the kids a cheap little microphone for Christmas. I knew Avery would enjoy that, and she actually said that was her favorite gift! Anyways, she gets bashful about singing in it, so I was going about my business one day and she was in the living room singing and I happened to get a video of her really getting into it. She's singing a song from her favorite cartoon show Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures....There's a character on the show named Cherry Jam who is a famous singer and so sometimes she sings on the show, so she's probably imitating Cherry Jam. Its amusing ;) Excuse the mess, it was the day after Christmas and anyone with kids will understand how much of a mess Christmas makes when you have kids!

This is the start of my 7th year blogging. I noticed that my blogging has been on a steady decline since the year I started. Every year i've blogged less and less. I can tell you exactly why! First year I had just one child..... correction, I had just one child who still NAPPED! Second year was mainly the same thing until October when Avery was born. The next year, I had a busy toddler and a demanding infant. The next year, busy preschooler and busy toddler. The same the next year. Then last year we were moving and good golly its hard to blog when the kids are trying to talk into one of my ears and i'm trying to think at the same time. Takes me over an hour to post anything at all with all the of the interruptions! And Jadon sits over my shoulder reading it out loud as i'm typing..... I finally just stopped trying to do it when the kids were up, and at night when they are sleeping i am not motivated to do it. I tried doing it on saturday mornings but like I said, distractions abound all over the place so it was taking me hours just to do 1 blog entry. On top of that, I have run out of things to talk about that might be of any interest to anyone, (other than griping about annoying irritating people in this world.)  So for those of you faithful who still read it, and are not bored to death with my ramblings about nothing, i'll try to be better this year, but I really can't make any guarantees! ;)

So Jadon is signed up for basketball, and starts that in a couple weeks, and Avery is signed up for a tumbling class and starts in a couple weeks as well. We had been trying to get them signed up for semi-private swim lessons, but our favorite instructor is not available when we are, so now i'm not sure what we will do. Because of other things going on during the week, we have limited options of when to do lessons, and the pool doesn't offer normal lessons during those times. 

So that's where we are!

Merry Christmas

Hope you all had a very merry Christmas! As always, we have so much to be thankful for!

Today is the aftermath of the chaos that having 3 Christmas' in less than 24 hours brings.... so the kids are busy with their new toys and mom and dad are overwhelmed by the giant mess that comes with opening new boxes of things, as well as the boxes and the wrapping paper, etc. Not to mention all the tiny toy pieces all over.
The day after Christmas for us is always spent at home, cleaning up, putting together new toys, and recovering! What a whirlwind of craziness it is!

Christmas and chores

Christmas is in a week and a half! Wow! And what a difference a year makes. Last year at this time we were in the rental and I had no Christmas spirit at all. None. This year I couldn't wait to get our tree, to decorate our house with lights, and I even got out some (not many, but some) decorations for inside the house.
Our tree is the biggest we have had ever, since our ceilings are 9' and vaulted, we are able to get a taller tree. So its a modest 8.5 feet, and narrow. Just because we have a large living room doesn't mean I wanted to have a fat tree take up half of the room.

Like much of the rest of the U.S., we were under snow for a week last week. It all began the Friday before last.... the snow began falling in the early morning, they cancelled school that Friday. We had a great time playing in the snow and sledding down our hills, but it was really really cold (one morning it was 4 degrees.) Since it didn't get above freezing for a week, we had snow for that long, and the only day of school the kids ended up with was this last Friday.  Unfortunately, the snow was too powdery to build snowmen or igloos or have snow ball fights.  It didn't even work well for sledding for the first day or two.  And unfortunately our sled broke halfway through the week.

Because of the snow, we were stuck home for many days. We lost precious time Christmas shopping. The kids also both missed their field trips to Storybook Land.

We've been really trying to emphasize being grateful this year with the kids. We have so much to be thankful for, and Jadon seems to miss that point. I know its nothing we've done, I know a lot of why he is the way he is is because of his mechanics. He can't control his outbursts, his fits of frustration. Its still embarrasing though when he does it because everyone always looks to the parents for their kid behaving that way.

During the summer, we had daily chores for the kids to do. Since school started, and the weeks are busy and we are home less, all the summer chores have been forgotten. They still do their chores that they've been doing for years now, but the bigger ones, like cleaning the bathroom, mopping the floors, vacuuming, etc. have been tossed out. Since there's less time during the school year, I recently revamped the daily chores list. And, in addition to the chores, they have character qualities they will need to follow too (respecting parents, being kind to siblings/friends, etc.) During the school year, their chores are minimal since we have extracurricular activities and homework in the evenings.

I saw my neurologist again a couple weeks ago. Since the meds I was on were not working, I have started a new one. I've only been on it at half dose for a couple days. I really hope this one works. I'm really tired of all this! :(