Jadon

Over the next few posts, i'm going to center each post on one child. Its been so long since I blogged, there's a lot to catch up on!  So many things have happened, and I want to fill in the big blank area that is 4 years!
So today's post is all about my first born child, Jadon.

This boy. He's nearly as tall as me now. He's 13. How can that be??? We have a teenager?!?! Wasn't he just a stinker of a 4 year old, like, yesterday???????

So I believe in my last posts, he was already diagnosed with anxiety. Hes been on medication for it for several years. He's been seeing a therapist for years as well. We have seen such an improvement! You may recall, alot of his anxiety was centered around illness and medical, especially throwing up. I think alot of it, he is outgrowing.
A couple years ago, he was also diagnosed with ADHD. He takes medication for that as well. Its helped him so much!
He also has a condition called Premature Adrenarche. He started getting B.O. when he was 5. He had hair growing in his armpits at age 8 or 9. We see an endocrinologist twice a year to have his bone age measured and to see where he's at with puberty.
Premature Adrenarche is: Adrenarche is a lot like puberty; it’s characterized by changes in the body as your child enters her teen years. Premature adrenarche is when these changes begin early, before age 8 for girls and age 9 for boys. It’s usually nothing serious, simply your child’s body maturing in its own time.

What’s the difference between puberty and adrenarche?

It may be helpful to think of puberty and adrenarche as separate processes that your child’s body goes through, usually at the same time, but not always.

• Adrenarche means “the awakening of the adrenal gland.” The adrenal gland is responsible for making hormones including androgens—sex hormones that cause changes such as the development of pubic hair, oily skin, oily hair and body odor. There is one adrenal gland on top of each kidney.
• Puberty is the name given to the stage of life at which the body becomes capable of sexual reproduction. During puberty, the brain sends signals to glands in the testes for boys and ovaries for girls, spurring the development of sperm, eggs and other secondary sexual characteristics (such as breasts for girls and a deepening voice for boys).

So because of this, its likely he will stop growing earlier than he would if he didn't have it, therefore he will probably only be around 5 ft 9 inches tall, whereas he could have been well over 6 feet with a tall mom and a tall dad. 

The last appointment we had, his bone age had barely changed, which is a good thing!!! His bone age previously had always been 2+ years ahead. The doctor thinks he has good genes on his side though, and that since he has tall parents, he will be a bit taller. 

Once upon a time, he was afraid of swimming, but he managed to learn how to swim thanks to our private lessons teacher from years ago, and is no longer afraid, and jumps off the high dive and goes down water slides, and does all the fun things you can do when you can swim without fear. 

He had a rough time in school in 4th and 5th grade. The boys were starting to be mean to him. He struggled. He hated going. He would call home from school with a "stomach ache" sometimes. He would get off the bus crying because the kids had been mean to him. Or he have an outburst at home, and we'd find out he had a difficult day at school. It was heartbreaking. A few times I cried when he wasn't looking. It just broke my heart to see him struggling with friends. It was also the time when we were figuring out that he had ADHD. 

In 5th grade, he visited East Linn for a day. He really enjoyed it. Its a small christian school. We were worried about him going to NAMS for middle school as bad things had been happening there, and he was such a follower. But ultimately we gave him the choice to switch schools for middle school, or stay the course. He decided to switch. It was the absolute best choice. Its expensive. We have to pay a hefty tuition, but its so worth it. He changed so much that first year! He was so happy! He had friends, he was getting good grades, we had no issues whatsoever, and he never called home with a stomach ache. He actually enjoys going to school now! Thank you Lord for showing him and us where he belonged!!

He joined the soccer team, the basketball team, and the track team. He has grown in soccer, but is still very tentative. He has improved a lot as a basketball player, and he really enjoys playing. He is a really good track star. He has learned how to run properly, and he is so fast!!!  Sadly, he's missing track this year.

So lets see. That brings us to today. He's finishing up 7th grade.... from home unfortunately with Covid-19 and the closure of the schools. But he is obsessed with girls. (Insert my eyeballs rolling around in my head here.) He's a handsome kid though, and the girls all seem to like him. He is obsessed with his hair looking good, and isnt happy with the haircut I gave him while stuck in quarantine! His other obsession is airplanes, and he wants to be a pilot someday. He soaks in all the information about aviation he can like a sponge. This is the same kid who was scared to fly years ago!

He is very outgoing. Extroverted. And talks a lot. Its weird that I have a child so extroverted, but I admire his outgoing nature since i'm the opposite. He also makes a great big brother!

In just a couple years, he'll be driving, and a couple more years he'll be graduating. I am sadly and acutely aware that we are on the down slope of raising this child, and the slope feels like its getting steeper and faster. 😢 Our time with him will be over soon, and he'll be flying off to start his own life. (Quite literally he could be flying off, if he continues to want to be a pilot when he's grown.) 

7 years!

That's how long we've been in our "new" house! I was reading posts from when we first moved in. We are still working on our yard. Its been a really really long and expensive project. Its not perfect by any means, but at least we have a flat area and "grass" (clovers mostly) that the kids can run around in. We acquired my parents old play structure, and bought a trampoline a few years back. The swings get played with every day that the sun is shining. Carter loves swinging so much!
And the trampoline gets nearly daily use still! It was such a good investment!

Anyways, the yard is a mostly completed mess. The soil is thick, sticky, horrible clay so plants and grass don't always grow very well in it (but the weeds sure love it.) The weeds every spring are so overwhelming. Our neighbor next door has been building his house himself for 6 years. And its still not finished. Super nice guy, but good heavens im not sure that house will ever be completed! And since he's not done, his yard isnt done so its all weeds. He weed eats it every so often, but i think it still spreads. Doesn't help that we have a field in our backyard as well.

Looking back, we talk about things we wish we'd done differently when building our house. Like installing the granite instead of the formica. We ended up spending nearly as much as granite would have been on making it look "fancy" with fancy edging. The backsplashes are all coming off now, and Derek has has to fix both bathrooms. The kitchen and laundry are also in need of fixing, but its a long process and we cant use the counters for a week.

Our carpet is a disaster. They didn't stretch it properly when it was installed, so its getting lines of lumps all over. I just want to replace it all with Pergo, but again, lots of $$$.  This is a problem in every single room. And it frustrates me to no end.

Another thing I would have done differently, is making the kids bedrooms about a foot bigger. Their rooms are pretty small.
And I would have also added on a bonus room. The kids are getting older, they need a place they can go hang out with their friends thats not in the main living area where we all have to be. Im still holding out hope that we can make this happen, but by the time we can, the kids will be grown and moved out.
These are things we didn't think about when building.

I got tired of the paint color that was in every single room. The kids rooms have been painted a few times each, but the rest of the house color was really wearing on me. It was a yellowish color. So I finally painted the main areas- kitchen, dining, living room and hallways. I'm SOOOO glad I did! It was a lot of work, but it was well worth it!

Another thing I would have done, made the dining area just a bit bigger. Its fine how it is, but I just like more space around my chairs and the rest of the stuff around it.
And a half bath would've been nice. I didn't want to have to clean 3 bathrooms, so we didn't add that to the plan. But for some reason, we all seem to have to use the bathrooms at the same time! 😂😂

Things I LOVE about our house-
The kitchen. I still love it. Its big, its so much bigger than our old kitchen, and I have so much room to keep everything!
The laundry room. I will not take for granted having my laundry inside the house as opposed to the garage. And having a utility sink has been life changing on so many levels! ;)
Our hallway. It has soooo much storage and I LOVE that!!!! You know me, i love organizing! In the original house plans, that storage area was supposed to be a stairway to a daylight basement. We didn't need a basement so we took out the stairs from the plan, leaving a nice big hallway and wonderful storage closets in its place!
Our big living room. Looking back, our old house had such a small living room. It had toys all over too. We kept the toys out there since the kids bedrooms were upstairs and I didn't want Avery climbing the stairs and tumbling down them. Now all the kids toys are in their rooms, and the living room is wide and open.
The big lot. The kids need that room to run. Carter would have never survived in our old yard! He loves to run, kick balls, swing, spend his time out there in the sun. I'm glad we get to have a garden (although the garden beds are being used by a certain 4 year old as a construction site....) Our house faces the opposite direction as our old house, so in the summer, our afternoons and evenings we get to spend out in the backyard and on the deck where its shaded from the hot summer sun by the house.

Dont get me wrong, I dearly loved our old house, and I still think about our time in that house. So many wonderful memories. Our first home. We brought home 2 of our 3 kids to that house. The yard was easy to take care of since it was so tiny. The house was easy to clean because it was smaller. And I just thought it was a cute house, and a nice layout. It was nice and bright. And perfect for a young couple just starting out.

In the end, i'm so grateful for the house we are in now. We are so blessed to be where we are! And i'm so grateful for the house we started our life together in. Yes, we were so blessed there as well.

11 in scrabble

Today was my 40th birthday! I can't believe it came so fast! I feel like it wasn't very long ago that we were throwing my mom a surprise 40th birthday party! But that was well over 20 years ago!

The day was nice. Since the world is in quarantine, we stayed in. Derek was working (from home.) Jadon had online school. Avery and Carter went and spent a few hours at Gramma Debbies playing with the chickens. It was so quiet when they were gone!

Derek got me a brand new set of pots and pans, stainless steel!
Avery got me a beautiful hummingbird feeder. And Jadon got me a lap desk. I love them all!
I'm a little worried about using the pans, I feel there will be some trial and error with using stainless steel cookware. But they are beautiful! Our other set is a couple of cheap pans from costco that are a couple years old, and some pots that we've had since the wedding!

It was pouring down rain today. Never know what kind of weather we're gonna get for my birthday. Could be like todays was, or it could be 80 degrees and beautiful and sunny.  Derek and i did manage to take Macy for a walk this evening when there was a break in the rain.

Avery gave me a card, and in it there was a picture of scrabble pieces that spelled out "Forty"... but, she said, in scrabble i'm only 11! 😅

Overall it was a nice, quiet day. And i'm not upset to be "Over the hill" now, actually i'm a little happy in a way. My 30's were much better than my 20's, and i've heard 40's are even better than 30's.
So, here's hoping or a great decade!

And the cherry on top of the nice day was when Carter got out of bed to come give me a hug tonight and tell me happy birthday. 💓

Good heavens

I decided I wanted to start blogging again, but I forgot how quickly time passes between posts! I feel like I just started this again and its already been a week somehow since I last posted.

I'm glad I blogged though. Ive been slowly going through each post and printing them all, keeping them in a binder. Avery has started reading them. That girl loves to read anyways, but she is enjoying seeing how life was before she was born, and when she was little. And I have to say, I enjoy looking back on all of the posts as well. It brings back so many memories, and things I would have otherwise forgotten.

Life feels really good right now! We aren't crazy busy, we aren't in the car constantly, and we have lots of time together. I know it will end eventually, but for now, i'm trying to soak it all in!

We've been reading The Hunger Games books with Jadon and Avery every evening after Carter goes to bed.  We are almost through with the final book. We've watched the movies as we finished each book. The movies are not nearly as good as the books, but that typical of most movies based on books.

Last summer we dubbed  "The Summer of Harry Potter." Avery had finished all the Harry Potter books, and was obsessed with anything Harry Potter. So we were watching the movies as a family for her. But then, the rest of us got hooked on them. All summer the kids would watch the movies.

Carter told me today that he wants us to get a little pool, and fill it with water and fish so he can fish in the pool. That kid. He can make me want to lose my mind one minute, then look at me cutely the next and I melt.

Anyways, again, another post thats all over the place. Thats kindof how my thoughts are lately... all over the place! ;)

My back has been bugging me again. Its been bugging me off and on since my physical therapy back when Avery was in preschool. But usually when i'd lift things wrong or bend weird. But its been hurting me a lot lately. I've been doing my stretches more, and doing core strengthening exercises, but it still sometimes will bug me. It was bugging me at the end of last week (today is Sunday). I took it easy over the weekend,did a lot of stretching, and yesterday it was feeling really good and this morning I woke up and thought I was back to normal again. Then for some reason around lunchtime, it started hurting again.  I immediately started my stretches, but that didn't help, and now i'm in misery again. I can barely do anything. I am relying on everyone else to do everything, and it just about kills me. I was so frustrated this evening as I was doing my stretches that I was tearing up because of frustration. I'm trying to think of what I could have done to make it hurt again, but I come up with nothing. I was bending over a little, but thats life. I wasn't picking up any heavy objects, or any objects for that matter. I feel broken.

Coronavirus, Covid 19, the 'rona.....

Doesn't matter what you call it. It has completely turned everyones lifes upside down. The entire world.

We have been in "quarantine", sheltering at home, practicing social distancing, since March 12th. We are not supposed to leave the house except for essential items, like groceries. 50% of people are wearing masks or gloves or both, and all non essential stores and restaurants had to close. Some restaurants still offer take out though. There are lines outside of busy stores, as they allow one person in, as another one exits, so they don't exceed a certain number of persons in the store.
Everyone is supposed to stay at least 6 feet away from each other, except within your immediate family.
The kids are doing "distance learning." I'm amazed by their resilience and ability to adjust to an unknown situation so easily. Jadon's school was able to easily convert to online learning as the kids all had chromebooks. Avery's school wasn't so easy. They missed several weeks before they were able to send out books for the kids to work in. But its not much. Around 15 minutes a day. So we have Avery do other stuff as well. Carter is doing some small stuff at home.
They are stressing that don't worry about your child falling behind, every kid in the world is in the same boat and they will catch back up next year.

Sadly, school has been cancelled for the rest of the school year. It made me sad because Avery is missing out on so many fun field trips in 4th grade. Today we picked up all her school supplies and papers and anything else she had at school. We pulled into the parking lot, and her teacher, wearing a mask and gloves, brought everything to our car and we didn't even leave the car.

This is such a surreal time. We encouraged the kids to write down stuff in a journal because this is historical. Someday they will tell their kids all about the time that we were quarantined and school was cancelled for 6 months.

In stores, everyone had stripped the shelves of TP, flour, sugar, and rice.
Today, April 30th, there have been 1,031,659 cases of Covid 19 in the USA. And a total of 60,057 deaths.

I'm kindof all over the place with this post.
Life has definitely changed around here. We are working from home, kids are "homeschooling" and we hardly leave the house except for groceries or Rx's. We have spent 24 hours a day together for a month and a half. You'd think we would all be at each others throats. But, I think its been good for us to slow down significantly. Jadon and Avery are getting along wonderfully again. I'm teaching Avery how to cook and Grandma Debbie is teacher her how to sew. Avery and Carter and I planted a garden. Something we haven't been able to do in a few years because of time. After Carter goes to bed, we've been reading The Hunger Games with the older two kids. They've enjoyed that.
The kids have A LOT of down time, which is where they struggle, they don't know what to do, so they just want to play video games and watch YouTube, but we put a limit on that. Once they come up with something to do they are great.
I think its even been good for our marriage. Derek and I have been going for walks together with the dog, and sometimes Carter. Its nice to have that time together where neither of us is stressed out or mentally exhausted. Its definitely making me rethink continuing my job. But i'm feeling happier, less stressed, than I have in years.
And surprisingly, none of them are driving me crazy. In fact, I'm soaking in all this time I've been given with them. I'm dreading when things go back to normal again and we have to be constantly on the go. Its like a dark cloud over my head.

Sure, we are running the dishwasher every day now, and going through TP much faster. But its so been worth it.

The years flew by....

Wow, its been 4 years since my last post. I figured I was done with this blog! I had forgotten how to get into it for a long time, and I just plain haven't had an ounce of time to blog. Last summer I almost just deleted it completely. I'm glad I didn't. I'm trying to figure out how I can print the blog without spending an arm and a leg.

I decided to read back through some of my posts, and boy did that bring back memories! I'm soooo glad I had the blog to document some of these things! Most of them I remember, but some I do not. None of the pictures show up anymore, because we've since created a "photo library" and all of our pictures were moved and sorted into the library. So none of the pictures show up in the blog anymore, but I know exactly which pictures were there still.

Its amazing how fast time goes. As a kid, it went so slow. I thought the years would never pass. But now they just keep going faster and faster like a snowball rolling down a hill.

In my last post, Jadon was in 3rd grade, Avery in kindergarten, and Carter was just 8 months old. They are now 7th grade, 4th grade and preschool. Carter starts kindergarten in the fall already.

Jadon is 5ft 4in now, just a few inches shorter than me. Its so weird to be over to look at him almost eye to eye!  On top of anxiety, he has ADHD, and Premature Adrenarche. He might not get to be taller than me, but luckily he has tall genes in his family so fingers are crossed.
He plays soccer, basketball and track. He is a really fast runner! Didn't see that coming! From the boy who used to clomp and stomp his way across the basketball court, to one of the fastest kids in his grade. (Someone taught him how to properly run.)
He really likes girls too. ;) And the girls seem to like him as well. He is Mr. Socialite. He talks a lot, has no trouble making friends and being around people. Its so weird that I have a kid like him that loves to socialize since i'm such an introvert.
He wants to be a pilot someday, and aside from girls, planes and flying are about all he thinks about.

Avery, my sweet girl, she is 5 ft tall. She.'s been about a head taller than most of the kids in her class throughout elementary school. She is artsy, crafty, creative. She loves quiet things, like reading, writing and drawing. She's a TAG student (Talented and gifted) and has been labeled as TAG in math, and her teacher also thinks reading or writing, i cant remember which. I personally think she is a very talented writer. But she's always been good at reading too.
She does swim team. Yep. Reading back when Avery was in Waterkids at 18 months or so old, I had typed that she loved jumping in and loved going under water. I've always known she'd love the water. She has done several swim meets, and has won quite a few ribbons.
She's still as stubborn as ever though. Holy moley is she stubborn.
Avery and I enjoy when the boys are gone and the house is quiet and we can hear each other talk! :)
Avery wants to be a preschool teacher someday. She got to help out in carters preschool class a couple of times.

Carter. Oh my little Carter. He's mama's boy through and through! He will crawl into bed with me at night and snuggle into me. If I have my back to him, he will spoon me! 😂 Hes always picking me flowers, or i constantly hear "mom, watch this!" and he'll do something that he thinks is totally awesome and amazing. He talks CONSTANTLY. Like, it never stops.
He's probably the most headstrong of the 3 kids, he's also stubborn like his sister, but not quite as bad. He's fast. He loves to play anything that involves running or a ball or jumping.
He's very social like his brother.
He was much easier to potty train than his siblings.

Derek is still working for the hospital. He's become quite a respected, important person in his job, enough that they suggested a manager role, but he doesn't want to manage anyone (i dont blame him.)

I started working part time at our church as children's ministry director in November 2017. Since then, we've been non stop on the go. Between church and the kids extracurricular activities, we have no time to breath. I've never liked being overly busy. I enjoy being home, being able to take care of my house and my family. So its been quite an adjustment.  And lately i've been praying about even continuing the job. My kids have grown up and I feel like i missed the last 3 years of their lives. So, we will see how God answers my prayers, whether he wants me to continue, or whether that season of my life is done.

One thing is for sure. I feel old. I'm tired. I don't have the energy I used to. I was a better mom to Avery and Jadon when they were little than I am to Carter. He knows I love him, but we spend hardly any time playing on the floor together like I did with Jadon and Avery. This is why you have kids in your 20's, and not any later! 😜

Breastmilk and popcorn

I am a big supporter of breastfeeding. Its good for both baby and mama, and I have thoroughly enjoyed being able to nurse our children!
I came across this good article about breastmilk and how it changes when baby is sick. Its pretty amazing what the human body can do!
http://distractify.com/trending/2016/02/23/aimee-gross-photo-of-breast-milk-is-fascinating-the-internet?utm_content=inf_10_53_2&tse_id=INF_fda32bb0a6054434a6fcc1c87593e9c4
Take the time to read it if you can.

Well, our little guy is nearing 8 months old already, and this time has gone so much faster than our first two kids. I'm super sad that its going so quickly. I so enjoy having a little baby around! He has been such a blessing to our family. I love seeing how the kids love on him, and how he smiles excitedly when they get home from school!

Jadon just started basketball, he is really enjoying it so far! Avery is going to be doing soccer next month, and she's excited. We had to stop swimming lessons for a couple months because we were doing a training class with Macy on the day we were doing swimming. We learned a lot at the training class, however, training will take some time as we have limited time to actually work with her on the things we learned.

Its friday movie night in the Loveless Household, and i'm being beckoned to make popcorn! Someday i'll have time to blog more frequently again. ;)

First post of the year, hopefully not the last!

Been a long time since I wrote last. Life is much busier when you have a baby. And kids. And a dog. And kids that act like babies sometimes. ;) Anyways, honestly I don't have much time right now either. Carter is sleeping, he usually wakes up around this time so I expect he will be waking any minute.

I'm ready for spring. Like NOW. I was doing pretty good not letting the dreary weather get to me, until this past week. Avery got the stomach flu, and then had a relapse 2 days later, and we've been stuck inside for 5 days. I'm going stir crazy, but at the same time I don't want to be outside in the cold, wet weather. January and February are my absolute LEAST favorite months of the year. Once March hits, daylight savings comes and the evenings are getting longer, the sun comes out sometimes, the vegetation starts budding....... I feel like I can breath a little more.
However, this year I also want it to slow down, which is purely crazy talk! But Carter is almost 6 months old already, and I can't stand it..... The time is just going way to fast, I just want him to stay my little baby forever. :*(
Just for the record, I don't ever remember the time going this fast with the first 2. Yes, it went fast, but this is like lightening speed.

Anyways, i'm doing my best to soak up every minute of his babyhood. At just a few weeks old, he was already so strong, we thought for sure he'd be crawling and rolling really early. But, he's still only rolls from tummy to back, and hasn't even attempted crawling. Its ok. I'm in no rush.
He has 2 teeth... first one poked through on his 5 month "birthday", the second one a week or so later. He's eating some cereal and carrots, but isnt incredibly interested in eating. Oh he watches us eat, and tries to grab at our food, but not because he wants to eat it.... but because he wants to explore it.

Jadon is good. He's enjoying 3rd grade... but with 3rd grade comes a large increase in self management, and homework. He's getting so tall too! I don't have to bend over to hug or kiss him anymore! I just have to bend my head down. Basically what i'm saying is, he's only about a head shorter than me now!!!!!! Scary scary scary!!!!

Avery is also good..... LOVES kindergarten. Loves school and socializing with her friends. She's a great student. She is on her teachers "All Star" team, which means she follows directions, pays attention, doesn't distract the other students, etc. She's always on point.

Derek is good as well. Busy. Work is busy and stressful at times. And then he comes home and helps out with the kids and cleaning kitchen. He really is a gem. I couldn't have asked for a better husband and father to my kids.

Macy is good too. She's bored. She wants to play but its hard for me to play with her during the day. Once the weather starts clearing up, I intend to start taking her and Carter for walks. We are starting a training class with her this weekend. I have no idea how to train a dog (other than sit, shake, lay down, etc.) and we want a dog that is well behaved, so we are going to take her to a training class at the humane society. I'm looking forward to it.

Anyways, the little human has awoken, so i'll leave you with our latest family picture! (in case you forgot, every year on January 1st, we take our picture as a family. it has been so fun to see our family grow and changes over the years , and we enjoy doing it too. This was our 7th year already!)

 And here's my precious kids....  I just love them. How blessed we are! :)

Life with baby

It's been awhile! It's like they say, time flies when you're having fun! 😊

Anyways, I came across an article that I thought was fantastic and so true! People have such derogatory things to say when you have more than 2 kids, especially when your first 2 are a boy and a girl. Things like, it's perfect, you have one of each so now you can stop. My neurologist even tried to convince me to only have 2 kids, like having three was just completely nuts... Afterall, it works perfectly with 2... One kid for each parent.... You fit in the booths at restaurants.... Etc.
also, people thinks it's crazy to have another child when your oldest ones are pretty much self sufficient now. "It's like starting all over now! With diapers, sleepless nights, crying, etc"

Well I knew exactly what I was getting into. And I would not ever change it. I love having a baby in the house again. Even with the diapers and blowouts. Even with not being able to keep up with house cleaning, even with having no time for "me", even though I spend a good portion of my day in the glider feeding Carter or rocking him while he sleeps.
I love seeing my bigger kuds doting on the baby. I never figured Jadon would be very interested in a baby, but he loves holding him! He loves trying to get him to laugh and smile and play with him. Yes, Carter is one lucky kid to have 2 big siblings who absolutely adore him!  (They even want another one!)

Yes there is no doubt in my mind that Carter was meant for our family, even if he is 6 years younger than his big sister and 8.5 years younger than his big brother.

So here's that link.... I Love it.
http://mom.me/blog/24246-13-things-moms-siblings-large-age-gaps-already-know/

3 weeks

Little baby Carter is 3 weeks old today! Hard to believe! This also means that Derek went back to work today,,,, after 3 glorious weeks of him being home helping out! He makes a fantastic house husband/stay at home dad!  What a blessing it was to have him home!

 We are adjusting good to having a baby in the house again. Jadon was a little emotional the first couple days, but he absolutely adores Carter now! He wants to hold him a lot, and then doesnt want to give him up when we need to take him to eat or change him. Avery obsesses over his little body parts... especially his feet and hands. She just came down with a cold, so I told her not to touch his face or hands with her hands, since he puts his hands in his mouth. She was extremely upset about this and cried and cried (literally.... with big old tears and all!) Overall they are adjusting well, and are doing pretty good with me sitting around feeding the baby all the time.
We had problems with Macy being jealous for a couple weeks, but she's calming down now for the most part.

My labor and delivery went well! From the time i got my IV and Pitocin to start labor until the time he was born was 5 hours, which was great. I got an epidural, which I kick myself for now. It only numbed my torso, so I felt no contractions (which was nice), but I felt everything when it was time for him to be delivered! I only had it for a little while before he was born. Id say I dilated pretty quickly once I got to 4 cm. At around 7cm my water broke on its own, and it seems like after that things went quick. The epidural caused my blood pressure to drop, and because of it Carters heart-rate was dropping, so I was stuck laying very uncomfortably on my side. (You'd think they'd make those beds more comfortable!) Then suddenly I had a major urge to push! It was extremely intense!! And it was a ton of pressure on my rectum... I thought for sure I was going to poop all over! I was scared to push because I didn't want to poop,  As far as I know, I did not poop... however Carter did.... he pooped inside me, so he had to be suctioned out quickly so he didn't breath in his poop when he came out. He came out after only a few pushes.
And I fell in love right away. :)
I keep telling everyone, if I could just skip 9 months of pregnancy, I would gladly go through labor and delivery and have a million babies!  I hated pregnancy! I was blessed with 3 good labor/delivery experiences i'd say, and I could definitely do that part over again.... but pregnancy, I could not.

Its really funny, but a girl from our church who was due 3 weeks after me, was actually in the hospital at the same time, just a few doors down from us. Her water had broke. So our babies are just a few hours apart in age! And both our babies ended up with jaundice.

Derek and I had our 12th anniversary the other day! We kept it low key and just spent the day together as a family. We went to church, then to the coast for the afternoon. The wind was whipping at the coast, and sandblasting us. Carter was NOT a happy camper! But Macy LOVED it!

And apparently naptime is over now, so its time to end this.

Well hello there! :)

Ive been meaning to post for a long time, but usually when I have a free chance to do so, i'm either napping/resting, or trying to do something with the kids before i fall asleep! I decided this week I really need to make a stronger effort to do so though since baby boy will be here any day!

We are good! Avery just finished up 2 weeks of Safety Town. She loved it! She was in a group with 3 of her good friends from Preschool. I enjoyed the 2 hours every morning spent with Jadon. Because it was in Corvallis, we didn't want to drive all the way home, so we just hung out in Corvallis for the 2 hours each day. One of the preschool friends has a brother who is in Jadon's grade at school, so we did things with them a few of the days and with the other moms. Other days we grocery shopped and went for coffee together. I rarely ever get time alone with him, so it was nice to get that opportunity before baby comes.

The last week of June was spent with the kids and Derek at VBS. Derek helped out with Jadon's group. This was Avery's first year to get to go, now that she will be a kindergartener!  Of course she loved it! Who doesn't love VBS? And plus, almost all of her preschool class was at that as well!

Baby is good! He measures perfectly for where he should. My OB thinks he will be bigger than Avery, but thats not saying a whole lot since she was not incredibly huge- 7lbs 9oz. Plus, its just a guess really. No one can tell exactly how big he'll be until he is here.
I'm feeling nothing. Very few braxton hicks. The only thing is my hips and groin feel like they are splitting apart, but thats been happening for weeks now. Sometime between 36 and 37 weeks, he dropped. I can totally tell because I have to pee constantly. And I am not having the miserable indigestion at night that I had been having now that my stomach has a little more room.
I was reading back in my blog in the last few weeks of pregnancy with Avery. It sounds almost identical to this one!
So, my OB is gone all next week. However, she is not comfortable with my 1 hour labor with Avery, and wants me to be induced. So monday the 27th when she gets back, if I haven't already delivered, she will check me. If the conditions are favorable, she wants me to be induced the next day.  For awhile I was completely against being induced. But now, i'm thinking its probably best. She said Derek is a computer guy, he doesn't need to be worrying about delivering a baby. She probably would have suggested we induce sooner, however my OB will be gone.
And i'll tell you why I think its best to be induced. Yesterday when I was reading my blog about my delivery with Avery, I realized my contractions cannot be used to gauge when I need to go in. The entire day before Avery was born, i'd had extremely irregular contractions. They ranged up to 20 minutes or more apart, and they were not "unbearable" and they even quit in the afternoon for awhile. By the time I went to bed that night, they were more uncomfortable, but I was only having 2 an hour....... that is, until I woke up to my water breaking. As soon as my water broke, the contractions were suddenly 5 minutes apart exactly, and incredibly painful. Avery was born an hour later.
Since we don't know what this labor will be like, we just have to assume it could be just like it was with Avery. Which makes me nervous that we wouldn't get to the hospital in time.
So now, i'm actually HOPING I make it to the 27th so we can induce the 28th. Right now, i'm 38 weeks and 3 days. Only a week and a half to go!

We finally decided on a name! It was a name that was on my list....for years actually. Since before we knew Avery was a girl. Derek settled for it a week or so ago since he couldn't come up with anything else that he liked and I liked. I was surprised he picked that name because I always assumed it was one that he wouldn't like. I'm happy. I think it goes well with Jadon and Avery's names.

Counting down!

Tuesday will be 26 weeks! Yay! I am really ready to be done. Pregnancy has not been fun this time around. With heartburn so horrible that even water makes me burn, random nauseous days in the second trimester, tiredness that has only partially improved this trimester.... and on top of that, i've lost all physical strength that I had from laying on the couch for the first 3 months of the pregnancy due to extreme fatigue and nausea. Seriously, I have no strength anymore, which makes things difficult. One good thing, I have found that eating lunch meat gives me HORRIBLE heartburn. So if I avoid that, then I can avoid really intense heartburn! Unfortunately meat and cheese sandwiches are incredibly tasty right now....

Jadon has been so cute. We told him baby can probably hear us now, so he's been talking to my belly a lot. Tonight he read the baby one of his books, then told the baby he loved him, and he was telling him about his family and how they will get to share a room. Its funny, the child that gives us the biggest heartache and trouble sometimes can also be the sweetest. Regardless of that, I sure do love that boy!

We just got over a bout of pink eye. First Jadon, then Avery, then Derek and I woke up with it at the same time. That was our first time dealing with pink eye. 

We also just recovered from a really really awful cold! We are all still coughing occasionally. That was one of the worst colds i've had though!
I guess i cant complain too much though, we've been extremely lucky to have escaped many colds this year.... from hearing from everyone else, its been a bad year for illnesses. I think this cold was the first one id had so far this pregnancy!

About a month ago, Jadon had an anxiety episode. It lasted for a few weeks, and we were worried he wasn't going to be able to get himself out of it and we would have to increase his medication. It is heartbreaking to see him going through it. Absolutely heartbreaking. 

But he did pull through it. I'm still not sure what exactly caused it. It started when he got sick with this cold (he was the first to get it.... of course.) And for whatever reason, he just started unraveling from everything else. :*( I pray he can outgrow this someday. 

On a different note, spring is here! Which means we've been busy! Jadon's doing track again, and that takes up 2 afternoons after school, plus weekend meets. 

Avery still does tap dance once a week. 

Swimming lessons once a week for both of them. 

Wednesdays the kids go to church for a kids program.

Sunday mornings we've been going to church.... well, on days we are healthy and not hacking or with pink eyes.

Plus we've been going to alot of birthday parties lately! It appears as though most of the kids in Avery's class were born in Feb, March, April. And apparently every child in her class is having a birthday party for their 5th birthdays.... which is fine. We've been to Papa's Pizza 3 times now for birthdays in the last couple months. 

On top of that, there's the dog. Lucky for all of us, Derek installed a makeshift wire fence around the perimeter of our backyard, so now the dog has free run of the backyard. She's in heaven with this arrangement! She LOOOOOOOOOVES it outside! On nice day's, she'll spend most of the day out there, just wandering around, sniffing the cats butts, exploring the yard, eating cat food then puking it up then eating her puke..... etc. She comes inside for napping mostly. She is not a big eater.... which is extremely odd in a dog we think? However, she just got weighed at the vet, and gained a pound since her last appointment. She's nearing full growth now, so she's not going to get a whole lot bigger or gain a whole lot more. She's clearly healthy though! I guess she's too busy eating cat food and sticks outside now ;)

Well, I think i've jabbered enough for now! 

Cruisin' along!

Tomorrow i'll be 17 weeks! Now that i'm done with the terrible first trimester, things are flying by!
I've been feeling better for about a week now. I still had some random waves of nausea several times, but for the most part, i'm feeling much better!  I'm quite tired by the end of the day though.
Earlier in the week I thought I might have felt the baby move, but I couldn't be 100% certain. A couple nights later, I was laying in bed, and there was no mistaking that feeling! And i've felt it several times since. Everytime I use the doppler to find the heartbeat, the little guy is moving around like CRAZY! I hear that an active baby is a healthy one.... whether that's true or not, I don't know. I just have to wonder what he'll be like out of the womb though.... I don't recall Jadon being overly active, and with Avery i'd have times where I wouldn't feel her much for days! It would scare me to death!

Macy is doing good! She is housebroken (I think.) She rings the bell that we have tied to the front door when she needs to go out. However, she also rings it when she just wants to go out to play, so on nice days when she LOVES being outside, she'll sit at the door and ring it all day! I look forward to having some fencing in place so we can let her out freely. The only problem we've come across is, she wears her harness all day and all night. So awhile back, she was doing really well going out to potty, and it appeared she was fully trained, so we took it off since she doesn't need to go out to potty every hour anymore. I think she was confused, and she peed on the floor several times that day. Once we put the harness back on, we haven't had a problem anymore. So that stinks for her because she has to wear the harness constantly now (we call it a training bra.... and i imagine its just as annoying feeling as one too!)
Last week she got spayed and micro chipped. I'm not sure how they expect an active terrier puppy to sit all day and do nothing active, including running and jumping, for 2 weeks! Also, she's not easily tricked into taking pills. Her pain medication is 1/4th of a small pill. Its pretty tiny. We've been putting it in her treats (pill pockets) and she still figures it out and spits it out. We tried putting it in a chunk of cheese. She figured it out. We tried a chunk of hot dog, and she figured it out. I tried several times to just get the thing into the back of her throat and then blow on her nose and I failed. So after all that, I think she was suspicious of me anytime I gave her a treat. So Derek tried and he did fine for a couple days, then Macy figured out that HE was giving her the meds now. So then he struggled a bit, but not nearly as bad as me.
She's lost all her teeth now, so she's not bitey like she was. She still chews on things, but she's not constantly trying to bite us with those sharp little puppy teeth!
Overall, she's turning into a really good dog! She's smart and knows several commands now, she loves riding in the car, and she LOVES cuddling with her people.

Other news- Jadon's 8th birthday is in a few weeks. EIGHT! How the heck did that happen????? In 2 more years he'll be out of single digits forever!
And Avery isn't far behind! She'll be doing all day kindergarten in the fall, and i'll miss her dearly!:*(
She's my girl. My silly, happy, goofy girl. In a month i'll be signing her up for Safety Town. You may remember Jadon did that. Its for kids entering kindergarten, and they teach them all about safety- water safety, pedestrian safety, animal safety, stranger danger, etc. Jadon was pretty smart already and knew pretty much everything, but he still enjoyed it because it was fun. Avery on the other hand.... she needs it! She's such a space cadet! She's off in her own little world all the time. She still is required to hold my hand in parking lots because she'll just run off or around in the parking lot, meanwhile cars are backing up and whizzing by..... shes oblivious. Jadon was always very aware of what was going on around him. Avery, not so much. Jadon, being the protective big brother, when we are in public, he's always more worried about where Avery is than else.

Spring is coming soon too!!!! You all know how hard winter is for me. This year, i'm so glad i was feeling like crap in the winter instead of the summer! The days are getting longer now, soon it will be daylight savings and we'll gain and hour of sunlight!! I personally feel like the hour of sleep we lose is WELL WORTH IT!!!!  My flower bulbs are coming up, and leaves are sprouting on the some of my bushes, like my hydrangeas!  It makes me so happy to see new life again! Winter is such a struggle for me. Last winter was a freezing, snowy, icy mess! We had a very mild winter this year, with temps mostly in the 40's and 50's. Yesterday it was even in the low 60's! The only problem is, this time of year I always start getting that really really really bad itch.... you know, the itch where you're just dying to do some yard work! Dying to get your hands in the dirt! Dying to plant some color in your garden! And with soooooooo much work needing to be done on our yard, this year is no exception for the itch!!!! But, we are trying to really watch our budget right now, so any purchases will have to wait until the next month when they can go into the budget.
Patience is a virtue, right?

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!