Avoidance

There's just a lot going on so it's hard to pick just the few important things to blog about :)

Caelan has been a big handful lately with tantrums and screaming and I'm just struggling with her.

Ainsley is reading EVERYTHING she can get her hands on, street signs, building, books, my t-shirts, the computer screen when I'm typing :), but I love it. She's so stinking smart.

Jim's been working a lot but they are mandating he take at least three vacation days before the end of the year so we're trying to think of something fun/cheap to do.

I've been working extra so that we can spend money on Christmas without it stressing us out.

Pretty much that's the craziness of it.

Here are some pictures I got of Jo this week, she's beautiful!

Procedure was a success! No surgery for me!

Horribly painful and traumatizing but avoiding surgery is good so I guess that's the trade off you get.

Getting ready for Thanksgiving by baking 10 pumpkin pies today and tomorrow...maybe more, haven't decided.

KK is still sick. She has croup plus the asthma, fun stuff.

Other than that, we're all doing great!

As soon as I photoshop, I'll get some pictures up.

Minor update

Cae is a big ball of crabby and driving me crazy these days.

Had my yearly visit and due to stupid complications, I now have to have my IUD surgically removed.

My house is really messy and I'm too lazy to clean it.

Getting sick so I'm exhausted.

Where is the cooler weather!

Young Women in Excellence

Shout out to my half baby Jorden.

She did AMAZING at Young Women in Excellence. She talked about her baptism and faith. She used her daddy's favorite scripture and one of my favorite primary songs and it was just perfect.

We love you Jorden and you never cease to amaze us!

Scanning

Hanna scanned a bunch of old pictures in for us, yay for girls' night!

The deal

So here's what happened with Ainsley....She's been wetting her pants involuntarily for well over a year. I kept thinking it was an attention thing or a lazy thing so I just kept ignoring it or punishing her or getting mad, etc. We were finally convinced to go see a doctor which revealed that the poor kid couldn't control it (and here I was getting mad at her). The x-rays showed that she has a chronic constipation problems (which we had no clue about as she never said anything about a tummy ache). But I guess it's been so bad for so long that it's desensitized all her abilities to go to the bathroom on her own, she has no signal even going to her brain anymore. So anyway, we're working on problem 1. getting her regular consistently and 2. we basically have to completely re-potty train her.

But today I'm happy because at least they had an answer for us. There was a solution and not just "Your kid is lazy."

So anyway, that's our "medical" problem that we've been dealing with with her. It will take us a few months but we should be able to get her back to normal after that.

too much

For once my absence is because of things that are going on and not because of lack of interest. I'm the Webelo's leader now, the girls started ballet class, so that combined with gymnastics and preschool and I'm a little flustered.

I also worked a little extra last week so Hanna could take it a bit easy. Kyle will be here this week though so hopefully things calm down a little bit for her.

I've been reading a lot and that seems to take up blogging time as well.

Ainsley's still having her little problem but we got in to see a specialist next week and hopefully we can get some answers.

Caelan can't seem to get over this allergy/asthma thing so her cough is terrible :(.

And now it's off to gymnastics.

Jorden went to her first 14+ stake dance on Saturday and had a BLAST!

P.S.

I still haven't gotten the pictures off the external, I promise I'll try to do that this week.

kids make us worriers

I thought Caelan's flare up of bronchiolitis a few months back was just a fluke and that the doctor was kind of premature in saying she had asthma like Ainsley but she's having another flare. :(

What's funny is that when Ainsley was younger and had all her breathing problems, I have actually had someone tell me that it was partly my fault because breastfed babies don't get asthma....well poo on you because Caelan was breastfed well past a year and here we are again!

Okay, really I don't care that much. Having her first flare up at age 3 is better than Ainsley's first which was at 4 MONTHS!!!!

Ainsley, by the way, does not seem to be growing out of it like her doctor had hoped.

Okay, enough parent rambling...

Hanna's is up north at her in-laws cabin and my mom is in Mexico (without me!!) so it's been a quiet weekend. I read three books yesterday (yes, full novels) and did some cooking and cleaning today with Caelan home from church with her horrible cough.

I suppose there isn't much else going on. I'm just working like crazy (trying to take on a little extra because of missing a lot of last week while on vacation).

Getting ready to do the hcg again so make a little more headway.

Ainsley's doing well in school but we're having a sort of personal/behavioral/medical problem that could possibly indicate ADHD and yet, she's doing well in school so I'm kind of stumped. We have a doctor's appointment Wednesday to begin the process. Hopefully it's the simple medical fix and not the behavioral that would start us on a whole path of testing (blah). She's my genius child so I'm sure whatever's going on, she will overcome.

Jim's crabby and moody. I think he's stressed with work and I'm at a loss as to how to help so we just stand back and let him figure things out.

And now it's time to take my poor coughing baby to bed :(

No baked beans for me please

We're back from our trip. Overall I think it was a success. It was a little stressful and a little obnoxious with Patty not having a house anymore but we had fun I think.

Ainsley is reading like crazy. She started her first Junie B. Jones book which almost made me cry (almost, I'm not one of those sappy parents).

Caelan's a turd.

I'll put some pictures up later as they're on the external that I think hasn't been unpacked yet.

Photography class was AWESOME!

I learned more in 2 hours than I did my whole life about photography. It was seriously fun!

I can't wait to start taking the kind of pictures I KNOW my camera is capable of. Just have to practice now :)

and by the way, my baby turned 6! Happy birthday Miss Ainsley!

She had a great time at Peter Piper for her birthday and got spoiled by everyone as usual.

Which dress do you prefer?

The dress is for a wedding. They both fit nicely and they both cost roughly the same. August wedding.

The black and gray is only slightly more flattering, but they both looked pretty dang good I thought.

First day of school

First day of school for Ainsley and first day of gymnastics for Sully and Caelan. They LOVED it! Pictures aren't great because we were behind the glass watching but it was awesome. They were so happy to be jumping around doing all kinds of new fun stuff.

Ainsley was a little nervous about school because it was different than all the kindergarten stuff she was used to but she did great. Tomorrow will be drop off in the drive through lane so hopefully she's okay with that.

And then tomorrow Ainsley and Addie have their first gymnastics class.

Got a new calling at church....Webelos. Seriously? Scouts??? I'm a little thrown here so wish me luck.

Internet drama: we signed up with Elevate, a company my brothers were selling for. It was cheaper than my previous service so I figured why not? Save the money right? So things were okay. Jim was a little frustrated because the authentication was causing our service to cut out a couple times a day but we were dealing. They do this whole billing change drama and my service gets cancelled in the process. I spent a WEEK trying to get it back on. Elevate says it's Qwest's fault and Qwest says it's Elevate's fault. Elevate barely answers their phones. Takes two days just to get the losers on the phone, let alone get them to fix a problem! Finally we get Qwest ready to turn us back on only to say that they can only do it until after we get our bill current, the bill for which we were being automatically charged for each month. Elevate took our money for three months and never paid Qwest putting us in default! Um hello? Can you say fraud?

I've been a week and a half without internet at my house. My computer is set up at Hanna's so I can work and Jim's been working from my mom's dining room table for over a week. It's a disaster and we're still waiting today for Orbitel so we can switch our service back. The FCC and the BBB will be getting an earful from us.

Jim decided that I'm going to learn how to play tennis. For anyone that was in young women's with me as a teenager and remembers me in church softball, you may laugh hysterically now.

Nicoles wedding is in a few weeks. We booked our flights on Saturday and can't wait to go see everyone.

Patty sold her house on the cape so that will be different. I know she was ready to be done with that house but we're definitely going to miss it.

Found a photography class being offered out here in Maricopa, including a lesson on photoshop so I can learn to use my awesome software finally. That starts Saturday.

Same day as Ainsley's birthday party! She turns 6 on Sunday. Gonna hang and have fun at Peter Piper, nothing big.

Tomorrow is my 8th wedding anniversary. Is it still considered an accomplishment to make it through the 7 year itch?

I lost 23 pounds on the hcg diet and I'll be doing another three weeks next month. Hopefully I can shed another 15. I definitely feel better and it was not nearly as torturous to go dress shopping as it has been in the past (dress for Nicole's wedding).

Okay, I'm coming back

School starts Monday and I decided to quit being a blog slacker. I do have a lot of pictures to upload as well.

This summer seemed to fly by and drag all at the same time. Definitely ready for school and schedules and routines and structure though.

Ainsley starts school on Monday and Caelan starts preschool on Tuesday so at least two days of the week I might actually have some alone time, go me!

Internet has been out for a week so I'm here at Hanna's again trying to get some work done (though clearly I'm not trying as hard as I should).

same ol'

Hmm....where to start

I got the girls' flower girl dresses ordered for Nicole's wedding, they are SO cute. They are floor length and the sash will be blue of course.

I'm horribly anxious for school to start. Ainsley is bored and acting out and she just needs to have something else fill her day that does not consist of fighting and screaming.

Been working a lot. Made a little more this month than I did last month, every little bit helps right?

REALLY looking forward to the wedding next month. It will be fun to have a change of scenery for a short week.

I've lost 20 pounds on the diet. I wish it had been more but I cheated a couple weekends so it's my own fault. But still, 20 pounds definitely made a difference. At least I have clothes I can wear now. I'll probably do another 3 weeks in the fall.

Jorden has been busy with cheer and Caelan is doing great in swimming lessons...contemplating putthing Ainsley in dance for a month, maybe.

mundane

So usually I have nothing to report, but since it's been so long I suppose I have a few.

First of all, my sister-in-law is getting married in August so that means BOSTON BABY!

We are so excited to be heading back and can't wait to see our friends again.

Today I got a new vacuum. It's not my dream Dyson but it will do. A while back one of Ainsley's friends came over and she dumped all of Ainsley's jewelry beads on the floor. I'm happy to report that my vacuum can definitely handle thousands or tiny beads on the floor.

Diet is going very well. I just finished my bowl of chili that consisted of only 160 calories. Yay me!

I've been having fun this last week mixing it up a bit with the food. I was bored so I figured I would try. By pureeing our tomatoes (fresh from our own garden mind you) we can make a broth by adding some yummy spices and such. My favorite is chili powder and cumin and then adding some ground turkey. A little cilantro and pepper sauce make it even better. Today I made soup for my parents too and I think they liked it as well. My broccoli soup leaves something to be desired, but there are only so many options for broccoli soup when you can't use cheese. It was good though and it's definitely less boring than plain old broccoli. It's been good for me to do these things though because I'm learning to enjoy foods that aren't drowning in butter and cream but still taste rich and flavorful, things that I can enjoy in the future, just slightly larger portions of course.

My kids have had growth spurts of course, but I haven't done a weigh and measure lately (no, we don't see doctors anymore, haha).

Ainsley's birthday is coming up next month and I think she has settled on Peter Piper and her favorite family members. Works for me!

"Get Healthy" updates

http://dothesepantsmakemybuttlookbig.blogspot.com/

do these pants make my butt look big?

I wasn't going to make it public because I know it's a little extreme, but I'm on day 5 of the hcg diet. It's going well. Shots are no big deal. I'm creating good habits of drinking more water, enjoying organics, and learning how to do daily tasks without a brownie in my hand. I figure I'll come out the other end with a better ability to control what I eat and to be healthier for my kids.

And I won't be 30 pounds overweight anymore...

It's a huge lesson in self control that I never thought I would have the ability to do so it's also giving me more confidence in myself to do the things that are going to make our family stronger (insert long list of must do's here).

Jorden started cheer practice this week and it sounds like she is enjoying it.

All three girls have dance recital this weekend.

Swimming lessons started this week and Caelan is not taking to it well....screaming bloody murder.

Summer has been mild so far so I'm bracing myself for the nasty heat to come.

There is too much going on at the moment so I'm stressed which means my face has broken out horribly. I'm confident that after this week things will get better and I'll get more sleep.

I do have pictures so I'll try to upload this weekend.

fun stuff

Happy anniversary!

No, not you Shanda...

Today is the one year anniversary of the day we got our house keys. Happy anniversary to us!!!!!

Now if only I could clean it.

the death of me

This morning while I was working Caelan sprayed half a bottle of 409 all over various parts of my kitchen.

Then she changed her clothes.

Then she peed her pants.

Then she changed her clothes.

Then she put a diaper and pajamas on.

Then she pooped in said diaper.

Cleaned her up. Clean panties and dress.

Then she found my craft scissors and proceeded to remove chunks of hair from her head.

Then I stripped her naked.

Hanna tried to fix the chop job.

Dress back on.

Decided to go to dinner with the family.

Caelan drank her chocolate milk, then Jim's coke, then Ainsley's lemonade, refused to eat her macaroni and cheese, then drank the ranch, and danced to the music coming from the bar.

Is she asleep yet?

Not much blogging

because there is not much to report.

I'm working a LOT, sleeping a little, trying to stay alive.

All my free time is spent crafting, making jam, sewing, sometimes sleeping.

I need a swimming pool.

The things we learn at church

While sparing you the messy details, we'll just leave it at, I'm going through something right now that is testing me to the point that I've never been tested before and I'm having a hard time keeping my head above water so as not to drown.

So during Relief Society today I caught a smidge of an analogy and I'll probably butcher it, but here goes:

Basically the comparison was to things that get dirty and how instead of sitting there and trying to pick up every tiny little piece of dirt to make it clean again, it's easier to just wash the dirt away with water and to keep doing that until it was clean again.

And the analogy is that when our life gets dirty like this, it's pointless to sit there and try to pull out all the tiny little things that are making it a mess, but if we instead flush our life out with something pure and clean (this being God of course) that it becomes much easier to clean the mess.

So instead of making myself crazy with trying to fix all the little tiny things that I can't seem to fix, EVER, the same things I've been trying to fix and clean up for years and that have been dragging me down for just as long, it's time to start flushing my life with things are good and then maybe I can finally clean it all up.

My talented children

Jorden just made cheerleader for Marcos De Niza High School for next year.

We are SO excited and proud of her! She worked insanely hard these past couple of months to get ready for these tryouts.

Hooray Jorden!

Picture perfect

Caelan's birthday, Easter, and random

Message from the middle-aged make-out queen

I got fabric this week to make sundresses for the girls, I'm super excited. Plus I got ribbon to make matching bows for them all.

Ainsley's a fantastic reader. I've been really frustrated with her school and her not being challenged enough to learn so I bought her some early readers and two weeks later she can read, um, hello! Why wasn't she learning that at school?! At least it's the school that's a dud and not my kid though right?

Still debating on which school to put her in for next year. I'm 100% confident that the curriculum is better at the charter but I've been spoiled by the structure and closeness of the public school so I need to figure out what's better for her.

Caelan really wants to go to school and Ainsley was 3 when she started preschool so I think I might find her something a few days a week. If any of my Rancho friends know of a preschool right here that would be awesome.

Pictures coming soon.

Let me tell you a story

This story has four characters, two couples.

A man and woman decide to go the movies on this fine Tuesday night. They park the car and were talking for a minute before they headed in to the movies. Out of nowhere they hear a bang on the side of their car. Startled, they turn around to see what it was...gross! Two geeky looking middle aged people are totally making out on the side of their car! (this would be couple #2)

I'll give you one guess as to which character I played in this story.

Let me tell you about rain

When you live in Arizona, rain is probably one of the most beautiful things...EVER.

When you go four months without it and for one day it rains, it's heaven.

Today was beautiful.

And tomorrow will be even better, no rain, but celebrating Easter will make it good even without the rain.

Jorden and I stayed up last night making hairbows, it was very fun plus we ended up with lots of cute hair things. It's a good thing I don't have a boy, he would be very confused by the pink ruffles and flowers in his hair.

Stay tuned for Easter pictures.

Why, thank you Caelan!

Caelan says to me yesterday in the bathroom "Mommy, your bum is huge."

Isn't she sweet.

A runner I am not

I just started week 3.

At least the music for this week's podcast is better, last week stunk.

Gorda

I'm on week 2 of the couch to 5k and I'm tired, blah.

Have I ever mentioned how much I HATE working out? As is evident by my huge butt I'm sure.

I'm in a funk right now and I'm sure it has something to do with how unhealthy I have become. I could possibly be a little stressed about job insecurity too.

I had to start a new medication a few weeks ago and it's WIPING me out. I'm having to take a nap in the afternoons which ends up feeling like a waste of my day when there is so much housework to do.

I'm thinking I should buy myself a new pair of shoes to make me feel better. :)

home sweet home

Obviously I'm home now. I missed my girls like crazy and I'm so glad to be back to the chaos of life (okay, so I miss my Mexican vacation a *little*)

I had a great time in Mexico and being there to witness the greatest homebirth EVER!!!

I'm not exaggerating when I say that it was one of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed. I can't thank Hanna enough for letting me be a part of it.

Truman is beautiful and we were very sad to leave him because he will be two months old the next time we see him!

Life at home is same as usual. Jim kept my house clean all week so he's a saint for that.

And now I'm baby hungry!

awake

The baby arrived

He's here and he's beautiful.

I'm now convinced that homebirth is the way to go!

Leaving on a jet plane

Sitting in Sky Harbor airport, ticket in hand, using my passport for the very first time.

We're off to Mexico!

How do I love thee, let me count the ways

As I'm getting ready to leave for Mexico I'm filled with all this overwhelming affection for my girls. I can't stop watching them play and admiring their smiles and right now at 9:30 at night I just sit there and watch them sleep peacefully, Ainsley snuggled up in her blanket and Caelan sprawled in all directions.

I can't believe how absolutely beautiful my children are and how much I love them.

I'm going to miss them like crazy this week.

Bedtime

As I'm having a conversation with my aunt the other day she was trying to tell me she has more time because her kids go to bed at 7:00....my response? So do mine.

And she seriously was SHOCKED!

And in church the other day as one of the counselors was trying to have us schedule a meeting with the bishop we mentioned again that our children go to bed at 7:00 and he kind of laughed and said "Yeah, we all like to send our kids to bed at 7:00 but that doesn't mean it ever happens." And Jim and I both had to explain that it really does.

And certainly I'm not saying there aren't kids out there that are truly NOT ready for bed at 7:00 but I also don't see why this is such a huge jump?

For any parent that thinks I'm completely anal and mean to my kids for early bed time, I recommend

They mentioned a study where children with ADHD were given the chance to get an appropriate amount of sleep and their ADHD tendencies completely disappeared. (I am not disputing the truth of ADHD as a real problem, I just think it might not be as rampant as we are made to believe)

Sleep is good for kids. Sleep is BETTER for kids than having 45 extra-curricular activities week.

I am now stepping down off my soapbox.

Jorden's brothers and sister

Caelanism

"Mommy, I like Ainsley. She's my sister friend."

I forgot to take pictures

So here's a picture of my newest piece of "furniture"

Okay okay, my blog sucks

And I decided it's because I haven't posted nearly enough pictures recently.

I think I'll get the camera out this weekend and have some fun.

Nothing much going on around here.

Caelanism:

As many of you know my youngest child has a strange fascination with my hair...she strokes it and any chance she gets she'll take a small handful and smell it and run it under her nose (yes, issues, I know)

Yesterday we were sitting in the waiting of the Dr.'s office I think when she did such a thing and then said...

Mommy, your hair is delicious.

Old people say the darndest things

Jim's grandmother came over yesterday.

Here is our conversation.

Nana: When did you cut your hair?

Me: A couple weeks ago.

Nana: Hmmm......(silence).....you should grow it out.

End of conversation.

avoiding the inevitable?

I haven't posted this week because really it's kind of been a downer week for us.

We went up north for the weekend to see Macey and the baby shower and to grandpa's reception so that was fun, but other than that, definitely a downer.

My diaper regressed baby was just about back in panties again when she got ANOTHER stomach bag and we're back in diapers. She's seriously so horribly traumatized by poop at this point that I'm ready to start shopping around for kindergartener sized diapers, I feel awful for her :(

Ainsley's been out of the school the last two days because of burning a fever, but thankfully that was her only symptom.

Jim has the stomach bug too so he's been a big lump, no help with cleaning up vomit or diapers.

I'm tired and in dire need of some chocolate.

Here's to hoping for a non-downer rest of the week!

Happy Birthday to me!

We had a fun day. I went to lunch with my mom, Cessa, Robin, and Shanda. After running errands with Jorden we escaped to the mall to try on some dresses. We found her a couple super cute ones, and she really loves them too, so that made it even better.

Caelan was insanely crabby today, very grateful she's snoring right now.

Just getting some work done now.

Got the rest of my tax paperwork in the mail today so I'll be filing that soon. I thought we were breaking even but it looks like we'll get a little back and Jim said we can finally get the body work done on my car, yippee!

Back to finished my work and then I'll be heading to bed.

Oh yeah

I cut all my hair off

Vegas baby!

We had an amazing time! We stayed at Mandalay Bay, saw a show (my first non-freebie vegas show!), watched the game, did a little shopping, and got some well-deserved rest. :)

Ainsley has her first loose tooth! She was so excited to show me when I got home.

I can't believe how much I missed them, I was seriously fighting back tears before we even left. I'm such a baby!

Back to reality, and reality means a house that has weeks of neglected housework because I've been all over the place the last few weeks, gotta straighten out my priorities I suppose.

Things we have coming up:

Father Daughter dance for Ainsley this Friday.
Father Daughter dance for Jorden next Thursday.
Wedding reception and baby shower up north this Saturday.
Still deciding on the sweetheart ball our church is doing for couples on V day.
Gymnastics and cheer for Jorden.
Soccer for Ainsley.
Finish painting my living room (must rent scaffolding)

Phew.

cross dresser

At Target yesterday we were shopping the insane sales and they had some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse little boys underwear for $1 (for a package of 3!) and Caelan really really wanted them so I let her.

She came home and put them on and she thinks it's the funniest thing ever that she is wearing boys underwear. She ran around flashing everyone last night.

I'm teaching her so well, am I not?

She also tells me she wants a puppy for her birthday.

Ainsley came up to me the other day and said "Mommy, I want a baby brother." I kind of just sat there speechless for a minute and then I said "How about a puppy instead?"

She thought for a second and said "Yep, that sounds better."

The sickies

I seriously can't seem to get my family healthy. Caelan is full of mucus again, Jim has a sore throat and my throat is feeling the tickle now too along with a cough.

I feel like we JUST got over 2 months of breathing treatments with Ainsley and perpetual diahrea with Caelan and now we're at it again. And of course it always seems to hit on the weekends meaning we've been missing church and I think everyone's starting to think we're apostates.

I'm thinking I might need to take Shanda's advice on the echinacea because seriously, I have no idea what else to do, blah!

weird kids

So I hate admitting this but Caelan has completely regressed back to diapers due mostly to a stomach bug that we can't seem to get rid of. As soon as we think it's gone, she's blowing out again, yummy.

So anyway, in a diaper today she popped of course and she puts her hands up in the air and says "aah, not again! I just pooped 80 times!" Yes my dear, you did.

Ainsley has learned to whistle. Totally cute and seriously annoying.

Jim will be home tomorrow night.

Night terrors

I went to my favorite generic-answer-to-your-problem website www.babycenter.com and was reading about nightmares because of Caelan's screaming lately only to realize she isn't having nightmares at all, she's having night terrors...it's seriously weird and scares the crap out of me.

Not because it's so scary when she does it but it's just so abrupt that the house will be totally silent and then all of a sudden she is screaming bloody murder in the other room and the insane mom that I am has a thousand ridiculous scenerios going through my head as I run to her room (think intruder, black widow spider, head caught between the bed rails, you know, usually mommy fears)

The other night she came into my room in the middle of the night and laid down next to my bed on the floor to sleep and somewhere around 1am she screams like someone is breaking her legs in half, I about had a heart attack! And then she just goes back to sleep...crazy weird.

phew

So I'm totally loving my bodybugg...you wouldn't believe how many calories you burn when you paint! (yes, I'm painting my living room)

And when I upload my calories for the day and realize I'm going to be short, I'll go downstairs and clean for an hour to burn some extra, so I think Jim totally loves the thing too! I should have gotten this a year ago :)

But now I want a bike. Ainsley got a bike for Christmas and she's smoking fast on it, Cae got new training wheels for Ainsley's old bike, and now all that's missing is one for me! I'm trying to think of which organs I could sell to get me a snazzy cruiser...you only need one kidney right?

I'm spoiled...

Say hello to my early birthday present...

www.bodybugg.com

So excited!

With a little help from my friends...

I'm in a dinner rut.

Can all my friends please offer up some of their favorites? Easy or involved, quickies and all day meals, I want them all please!