Parenting Lessons Learned From a 2 Year Old

I think I've had a glimpse into the future. At least in regards to what it is going to be like to raise teenage daughters (and at least one son!). I've learned a lesson or at least gained a little bit of understanding that will probably prove to be very useful if I can hold onto it through the next several years.

A couple of weeks ago we were at my in-laws' home and we were quickly approaching the point of no return of Elli being able to successfully take a nap. All you mothers know what I'm talking about. There is a fine line that we sometimes walk with our children and their sleep. If you put the child to bed too early, before they are ready for a nap, they will alternate between playing and tantruming for more than an hour before finally succumbing to the Sand Man's attempts. But if you wait too long to put them down in hopes that they will then be so exhausted that their little eyes will shut the second their heads hit the pillow, then my friend you just may be in for a great surprise. It will backfire! I promise you this.

If you wait too long then your child will have caught their second wind and will not be able to go to sleep and will instead cry for more than an hour because their little bodies just can't shut down. Then you will have a very cranky, tired (but unable to settle) baby or toddler. Not a fun combination. In fact, we probably could get Kim Jong-il and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to surrender all their nuclear arms at the threat of putting them in a room of sleep deprived, way past nap time toddlers.

So anyway, this is the situation I was envisioning myself in with Elli if I didn't act quickly. So I informed everyone that I was going to try to put her down for a nap. We retired to Tio Rudy's room and she immediately started balking at my efforts to get her to lie down. Shoot, I was already too late. She started wailing and thrashing, kicking, rolling. Anything to resist my efforts to get her to lie down next to me.

So I lay there on one side of the bed while she rolled around, crying the angriest, saddest cry you've ever heard. Calling out for "daddy," "tia becky," "abuela." She wanted anyone but me. I was enemy numero uno. I was faced with either getting angry and trying to enforce my will on her or lying there patiently, waiting for her to settle down. I opted for the latter and during my patient waiting it dawned on me how I will need to hone and adopt this line of acting and thinking for when she is a teenager. I was able to clearly see the parallels between this situation and later situations, possibly much more important, life altering situations that tend to arise when you are in your teenage years.

I was able to see that while she wanted somebody other than me at this time, I was the best person for the job. Anyone else would have given in and let her get up, and thus she would not receive the much needed rest that her little body and mind needed. And that is why she wanted them, because I think instinctively she knew that mama wasn't budging but that she could probably get what she wanted with someone else. But me, well, I was in it for the long haul. I was willing to stay in there with her until she was finally calm and ready to give in to sleep.

I would reach for her and pull her close to me. Spooning her little body next to mine trying to comfort and calm her. Instead she would wrench away from me and my efforts, crying out for someone else. In my mind's eye I could picture us several years from now. She a girl of 15 maybe, and me, well, older. I can see us in some struggle that often arises during those hormone filled years. I can picture me pulling her in to me, if only emotionally, with my advice and concern, and her rejecting me and my efforts.

In the present time, after pulling away from me, I would just sit there patiently, quietly. Attempting to comfort her from a distance. Telling her it was okay, to calm down, mama loves her. When she had settled a bit, or at least the volume of her cries had decreased, I would once again pull her towards me and the scene would replay in exactness. She'd pull away and I'd wait patiently.

After a few times I stopped trying to pull her close to me and just waited and comforted her with my words and sometimes a gentle touch. Minutes passed and I could sense her resolve waining. She was no longer sobbing, just whimpering now. She would furtively glance at me and I knew she now longed to be close to me. I opened my arms and that was the signal she needed and she was instantly curled up next to me clinging to my arms. I was finally able to comfort and calm her like I had aimed to do from the beginning. But I needed to wait until she was ready for it.

Again I was able to envision how this would play out in later years. I knew there would be times when she wouldn't want me. That she'd want to go to anyone but me. I also knew that in those times I shouldn't give up because I would be the best person for the job, then as now. I was able to see that as I would try to pull her to me, that she'd resist and reject. And I was able to understand that if I would just wait, patiently, still comforting from afar, giving her my example and love, that she would eventually come to me and desire the guidance and relief I'd been offering all along.

As her little body rested next to mine, I could sense her breathing slowing, her muscles relaxing, her eyes shutting. Finally. And I know that in the future I'll have that same satisfaction of being able to help my child with something she will need, but maybe not want. That she will fight against me but eventually come to see that I had her best interest in mind all along. I hope to be able to keep this lesson learned with me as my children grow, I know it will help me keep the right perspective when dealing with the troubles that are bound to come. I look forward to that day with anticipation and a little bit of dread. Just a little, hoping that I'm up to the task. I pray that I am...

Dia de las Madres 2010

Hi. Happy late Mother's Day. Hope you had a good one. Me? I had a wonderful one. It started out with Carlos letting me sleep in, which normally would have rocked but not on a Sunday when we have 8am church. I think he has his holidays mixed up because he thought it would be hilarious to change the time on my phone to read two hours later than what it actually was. Which sent me into a panic thinking I had completely missed church. Turd.

Once he saw the anxiety rising he was quick to let me in on the joke. Uh it's Mother's Day not April Fool's. But he redeemed himself with a Nikon Coolpix L110 so we're on speaking terms once again.


The kids were great, so enthusiastic with their greetings of "Happy Mother's Day!!" and bursting with pride at the priceless works of art they scribbled in anticipation of gifting to me.

(Look at Lexi's freaky pupil in her right eye. It's a coloboma. But don't stare for too long, it'll hypnotize you and take you to a magical place filled with unicorns and butterflies and you won't want to come back.)

I didn't have to change a single diaper which in itself was gift enough.

Saturday night we enjoyed a meal of Olive Garden take out while watching a Redbox rental.

Pretty good weekend, afterall.

Vomitus Maximus: Part III

This time it's Carlos asking me to open the front door, Elli had gotten sick again and thrown up all over him and Tio Rudy's bed and they were now outside. This blows. Chunks.

Carlos and Elli come inside. She's already cleaned up, daddy had done that part at his parent's house, thank goodness. I place her in the king sized VRB and Carlos retires to Lexi's bed and as he's entering her room I hear him tell me he's not feeling so well. Greeaaaatttt.


Sunday morning comes and goes without anymore up chucking from the kids. We miss church naturally and I'm sure my ward thanks me for this. You're welcome. Carlos is now fully experiencing the wrath of whatever stomach bug has taken over our house but he's a big boy and can make it to the toilet on his own. No puke bowl for him. The kids are still pretty tired and we spend the day in bed watching Disney and Dreamworks flicks. I check on Carlos periodically and he sleeps most of the day, doesn't want to eat or drink much and starts to run a fever. I make him take some tylenol and he starts to feel better. Somewhere in the day we find out that Carlos' mom and sister have now fallen victim to our nasty little stomach assassin. I'm still holding out though, strong willed and steel stomached.

CJ and Lexi start to perk up and begin to play a little. Elli, again, has appeared like her usual self. That is until 10:30pm rolls around. CJ and Lexi are in bed asleep. Elli, Carlos, and I are lounging on our bed, no longer the VRB, stripped of it's armor, when Elli turns to me and starts to vomit. Again. This time all over me and the blankets. Dang it! I let my guard down! We were almost at the end of this sickness with relatively few messes to be cleaned and little laundry to be done. When the waves had ebbed Elli gets put in the bath and I get cleaned up. The dirty laundry gets put in the washer and new bed clothes placed on the bed. We retire to bed, this time with towels underneath and a bowl by our side.

Monday morning comes with no further incidents. CJ and Lexi are up before anyone and dressed for school. Carlos is recovered sufficiently to attend work. And me, well, now I'm feeling a bit rumbly in my tumbly.

Vomitus Maximus: Part II

I answer and sure enough Becky informs me that Lexi just made a mess of the bed she was sleeping in as well as leaving a trail down the hall. Again, lovely. I tell her I'll be right there but she offers to drive Lexi to me instead. What an angel Becky is, I truly mean this, it was 2:45 am at this point. We hang up and I go to the livingroom to wait. After about a minute I call Becky and tell her to just bring CJ as well because he'll likely be next. They arrive roughly 10 minutes later. I hug Becky and thank her sincerely and we get the kids in the house. Lexi begins retching. Luckily, I am prepared with a bowl!! Ha ha, no mess this time evil flu virus!! After this episode I get Lexi settled in the VRB and assess CJ. He tells me his stomach feels fine and I believe him. I set him up in bed with Carlos. With a towel underneath and a bowl just in case.

As the night gets closer to morning Lexi gets sick a few more times and each time disaster is averted with the trusty bowls I so carefully placed next to each sick child. After each occurance I swap a clean bowl for the dirty one and empty and thoroughly clean and dry the used bowl and place it ready for the next swap. I had 4 bowls that were being rotated, one next to each child and the spare to swap in and out. It worked beautifully and no towels were soiled in this business of being sick.

Flash forward to 6am and CJ slips into our room and wakes me with "Mommy, my tummy hurts." He then kneels down, cups his hands over his mouth, and starts to heave. I grab the nearest bowl and manage to catch, again, roughly 99% of the expelled stomach contents. The other 1% being on the wrist of his long sleeved shirt. Once he's done, he gets cleaned up, clothes changed, and set up in the VRB. So, now we have 2 five year olds, 1 two year old, and 1 very tired 28 year old in a full sized bed loaded with towels. And where is Carlos you ask? Oh comfortably sleeping in our king sized bed and blissfully unaware of the scenes that have unfolded that night. Oh so wrong, I know. I'm not bitter though, not much anyway.

At around 9am I kick Carlos out of our bed and tell him to move into Lexi's room, I'm setting up the VRB in the king bed. He obliges and I set up the room and bed. CJ and Lexi are still in the middle of the muck but Elli seems to be doing a whole lot better at this point and is very playful. Carlos decides to take Elli and go to his parents house to keep her out of my hair as I tend to the twins. Overall, it worked well. The kids slept most of the day away when they weren't experiencing tummy tsunamis and so I was able to recoup some of my lost sleep. The dvd player played a steady stream of all the Shrek movies, Little Mermaid, Cars, Up, The Jungle Book 2, etc. I could probably recite the Shrek movies from memory now, we watched them so. many. times. this. weekend. Again, no bitterness, I promise.

Towards late evening, I called Carlos and told him that he and Elli should just stay the night at his parents'. It would be easier that way. She had felt fine all day, playing and eating as normal. He agreed and we said goodnight. CJ and Lexi fall asleep early which is unusual especially with all the sleep they had that day. They were really sick. I fall asleep early, once again a semi sleep, my hyper vigilant vomit detecting mode still in full effect, although not needed that night. I get awakened by my cell phone again at 2:45am. What the heck is this?! Am I stuck in some disgusting, puke filled, Groundhog Day?!



~To Be Continued~

Vomitus Maximus: Part I

The title of this post is the perfect description of what my weekend consisted of. Shall I give you a run down of the events? Too much information? Maybe, no probably. Not interested? Oh well, here I go anyway. Misery loves company afterall and after what I've dealt with I can't not share the splendor of dealing with a family sized stomach flu epidemic...I'm apologizing up front.

So Friday evening I head off to the gym with the kids in tow. I love my gym because the gym that I frequent (yay YMCA!!) has child care that I can utilize for up to 2 hours a day whilst I try to drop the pounds and baggage that the last 6 years have bestowed upon me. My kids get to play while I sweat off Tuesday night's Cheesecake Factory dinner, can't think of a better scenario.

Flash forward to 8pm and I am done at the gym. The kids and I are now driving to my in-laws' home where Carlos is waiting for us. I park, get CJ and Lexi out of the car, unbuckle Elli and she promptly begins to regurgitate dinner. Now I, being equipped with lightning quick motherly instincts, instantly place my hands underneath the flow of my child's half digested dinner in a cupping fashion and manage to catch 99% of the nastiness.

After waiting to see if she is done I turn around and begin to look for some way to dispose of the contents of my hands. I begin pacing and weighing my options. My first instinct was to just drop it where I was on the street but then I realized I'd then be stepping in it. Not desireable. I then thought about the sidewalk. No, gross. I would hate to be taking a morning stroll and come across someone else's vomit in my path so I decided I wouldn't do that to someone else. Ooh the grass! My in-law's lawn or the neighbor's lawn? Hmm, decisions decisions. Again my conscience pricked at me and I threw that option out.

At this point CJ and Lexi come back out of the house to see why I hadn't followed them. I yell for them to get daddy and tell him Elli had thrown up and to bring a trash bag. My command was immediately followed by their running shrieking back into the house "Daaaaddddyyy Elllliiiii threeeewwww upppppp!!!" Carlos comes rushing out and gets as far as the end of the house and I see he doesn't have a bag. I yell "Go get a trash bag!" If I start to give you the impression of Kate Gosselin from Jon and Kate Plus 8 right about now, remember that I've been holding vomit in my hands for roughly 3 minutes now. A little abruptness is understandable dontcha think?

Carlos returns with the most wonderful trash bag I've ever seen and I instantly drop the muck in my hands down into the bag. Carlos, oh great husband and father that he is, has quite a weak stomach when it comes to bodily fluids especially when those bodily fluids are not where they're meant to be and he drops the bag and staggers several feet back retching and heaving. Thank goodness they were of the dry variety and none of his stomach contents were expelled because that would've just ticked me off. I mean, if he were to throw up on the sidewalk at that point it would have rendered my holding the vomit for over 5 minutes meaningless. Thankfully he was a good husband and didn't disappoint in his ability to hold back the floodgates. But not for long (oooh the foreshadowing, I need the sound effects they have on TV "dun duun duuunnnn")...

We get Elli inside and cleaned up. Not much of a mess to clean up though, remember my heroic effort at containing all the vomit in my hands! She is acting fine at this point. Her usual playful, ornery self. No fever, no lethargy. We decide that maybe she had eaten too much at dinner and played a little too hard at the gym with perhaps a little car sickness thrown in. Carlos and I had plans to go out on a late dinner date and went ahead with the plan since Elli seemed fine. We put the kids to bed at Carlos' parents leaving Elli in the care of Tia Becky and off we went to Carraba's Italian Grill. Mmmm.

We return about an hour later and find Elli alseep on the downstairs couch in different clothes than what we had left her in, being watched over by Carlos' mom and sister. She had indeed thrown up again. All over Becky's bed. Sorry Becky...

Since CJ and Lexi are asleep upstairs we make the decision to leave them for the night and just us three go home. We wrap her in a blanket and I pick her up and lay her head on my shoulder. We head out the door to the car when she starts to throw up again. This time down the front of my shirt. Lovely. We decide to just press on and clean up when we arrive home.

We arrive home and get both myself and Elli cleaned up. I set up a Vomit Ready Bed (VRB) in CJ's room for Elli and I to share. This VRB consists of towels lining the bed and pillows, a medium sized bowl within easy grasp, roll of toilet paper, and sippy cup of water. I lay Elli down on the towel covered pillow, pull the blanket over her and then place a towel over the top of the blanket so that if she does up chuck again I'll be washing towels instead of bedding. Ingenious I tell you.

We retire to bed without anymore incidents and I fall into a semi sleep, afraid to fall deeply into slumber for fear of Elli drowning me in a stream of puke. I am awakened by the sound of my cell phone ringing and once I'm able to locate it among all the towels I realize it's Becky. Oh no. One of the twins is sick.

~To Be Continued~

New Background For A New Start

Hello world,

So, how ya been? Me? I've been just peachy. Not that you'd know that, I've sorta fallen off the face of the planet as far as this blog is concerned. BUT, I've just wasted more time than I'll admit trying to get a new background up so I'm recommitted! I'm not very savvy at digital scrapbooking or html so now that I've got a pretty good headache from scrolling through 25 pages of backgrounds at cutestblogontheblock and finally did the whole eeny meeny miney moe to pick one, I'm sitting down to type up my first post in, oh I don't know, 9 months.

Yes, NINE freaking months! Long enough to grow a baby. No, I didn't grow a baby in the months since my last post, just in case you were curious. Would have been nice though to have that as a handy excuse for why I still haven't lost the weight I want to. Sigh. Or an acceptable reason for why I haven't blogged since June. Instead I can only offer the reason that I discovered Facebook and felt satisfied at leaving little snippets of my life on my status update. It was easier than the blog, but ultimately not as satisfying. What finally convinced me to start again was going through all the posts on here and seeing the pictures of my kids and reading the stories that I hadn't thought of in so long. I need this, to document for me and my kids the life we enjoy. So here we go...

I'll spare you a long, boring recap of the last nine months, just rest assured that the kids made messes, threw tantrums, discovered new things, grew several inches, wore out of most of their clothes, and made my life generally wonderful.

We are nearing the end of this school year and CJ and Lexi's last year of preschool. And with that end we will be embarking on a new chapter for our entire family - homeschooling. Yes, you read that correctly. I just might be nuts, I'll let you know for sure in a couple of months. Lunacy aside, I'm really excited about this decision. I didn't always look so favorably on homeschooling but I'll just leave the explanation short and simple, we've been led to this decision by Someone who knows a whole lot more about a whole lot more things ;-) Who am I to argue?

I've been researching curriculum and reading blogs, books, websites, forums, pretty much anything I can find on homeschooling and it just feels right. So, if you think I'm crazy and going to screw up my kids just be grateful they're my kids and not yours. Oh and remember that just because I'm choosing this for my family does not make it a judgement on what you choose for yours. A little reciprocating can go a long way. Wow, haven't even started homeschooling yet and I'm already defensive. I've just come across some rather negative and judgemental attitudes about it when, frankly, I can't for the life of me figure out how it affects the other person.

Okay, sudden topic change, I'm finding this writing thing a little difficult. I feel out of rhythm and choppy. Sorry about that, I guess it'll take me a while to get comfortable again. This place feels a little foreign, or like a childhood home you're visiting again after 20 years. I'll get the hang of it again, bear with me. So with that I'll end it here. I've missed this, and the comments people used to leave. Dang, that's another thing, I'll have to get my readers back. Baby come back, you can blame it all on me!! (I'm thinking of the Swiffer Wet Jet commercials, lol).

Translation Please...

Hangaburr

Hotgod (this one sounds a little blasphemous or irreverent)

Libble litt

Back cack

Scabetti

Any clues? No? Okay, since I have superior lingual skills I'll translate for you...

Hamburger

Hot dog

Little bit

Back pack

Spaghetti

All words that I regularly hear from my kids. Well, except for libble lit. CJ no longer says it that way, he now says it the right way and it made me so sad the first time he said it correctly.

And now for a musical bonus. What song is this?

"Harry had a little man, little man, little man"

That's right folks, Mary had a Little Lamb with a twist sung by none other Lexi!!!

Grainy eyeballs...

It is 2:30am. That means the whole world (or my world at least) is sound asleep and here I sit, staring into a computer screen until my eyes feel as if they are filled with sand. Why am I up so late you ask? Oh that's easy, because after a pretty darn wonderful stake conference in which we were privileged to hear Elder Richard G. Scott talk to us about temples, and rearing children in the gospel, how important the scriptures are, and best of all his burning testimony of Christ, we went to my in-law's home in Queen Creek. There we proceeded to eat my mother-in-law's delicious food. Rice, beans, and some dish with chicken, red chile sauce, potatoes, and nopales (it's cactus!!). With a tummy full of food and a heart filled with the spirit I retired to the master bedroom where I lay down on the bed fully intending to just watch a little tv. And then I woke up 5 hours later. So, that is why I'm up at this unholy hour of the night.

I keep telling myself "Go to bed, the morning is coming quickly enough" but I just can't get my mind to quiet down or my feet to quit twitching. And if I were to go to bed in this state it would drive Carlos crazy! He hates my twitchiness. We went camping Memorial weekend and this experience was so much better than our last camping trip, no tent set up on a hillside, no monsoon storms, no sleeping on rocks because we invested in some cots! Anyway, one morning after a somewhat cold but comfortable night Carlos complained of me keeping him up because I was either fiddling with my sleeping bag zipper (it's true I was, that dang zipper would not stay up and my hiney was cold!) or I was rhythmically moving my feet and apparently the noise was enough to keep him on the wrong side of sleep. I don't know why I twitch, it's like the babies that grow up in orphanages that you see rocking themselves to sleep (a coping mechanism?), well, I rub one foot on the other kind of like ringing your hands but with your feet and it is oddly relaxing to me.

So as I sit here coping (with what, I don't know, the price of rice in China?) writing this post was just the thing I needed because my eyes are beginning to be heavy. The Sandman has come out victorious, or will shortly anyway. I'm off to slumber and hopefully sweet dreams.

Spittle...

So I was having this very vivid dream that I was brushing my teeth. Like I seriously didn't know I was dreaming, it felt so real. Then when it came to the part where I was spitting out the toothpaste into the sink I woke up...And I was really spitting. I had slobbery spittle dripping down my chin and on my blanket at 5 am this morning. Nice one Stace. Hey, at least it wasn't a peeing dream. Gotta find the silver lining somewhere.

Please don't adjust your monitors...

No, you are not imagining things. Yes, I have finally updated my blog. I'll wait while you pick your eyeballs up off the floor...Okay, nice to see you again. A lot has happened since my last post and rather than blog in detail about all of it (can you say overwhelming?!) I'll do a quick summary:

~Elli had her first birthday, there was cake, family, food, and fun
(Yeah, she's pretty cute. And she knows it. Oh man does she know it.)



~Thanksgiving, again more food, really really yummy food
(Look it's John Smith and Pocohontas!!)


~Zoo Lights, fun at the zoo at night, with lights, duh, that's why it's called Zoo Lights
(If you look really hard in the background you can see Carlos' dad and Becky buying cotton candy and a Coke for a ridiculous amount of money)

(Lexi riding the carousel at the Zoo, oh and that is CJ and I in the background too)


~CJ and Lexi turned 4 years old, again more cake, food, family, and fun
(These are their cheesy smiles)


~Christmas, more food, family, and gifts
(Our Christmas spread. Carlos and his dad made that kitchen set for the kids, it is awesome!)

(CJ and Lexi wearing the aprons my mom and I made for them with my Christmas present, a new sewing machine!)

(Trying on their Christmas church outfits)


~I turned 27, more food, but NO cake! what a ripoff (Ha, no pics)

~Happy New Year's!!! (Again, you'll have to imagine this one in your mind)

~Carlos turned 28, yesterday actually, more food (I'm starting to see a pattern, hmm), cake (I learned how to make marshmallow fondant icing!), family and fun. I actually wish I had some pictures for this one because Carlos' coworkers got him pretty good yesterday. When he arrived at work, in his office there were life size Marachi posters and mariachi music playing,

the office was covered with hay

And there were two LIVE chickens running loose in his office!!

Yes, they did crap everywhere but thankfully the masterminds of this plot had put a tarp down under everything. I don't know how Carlos is going to top this when someone's birthday in the office comes up but he's got to. Anyone have any ideas?

And there you have it, you are all caught up :)

With Election Day Only 4 Days Away, You Should Vote For...

PEDRO!!!


They were so funny as Napoleon Dynamite and Pedro. Yeah, I dressed my little girl up as a boy, so what, she made a darn good Pedro. Oh and when we went trick or treating tonight a nice little old lady told her that she was going to make a very handsome man someday. I didn't have the heart to correct her and Lexi didn't even notice that the lady thought she was a boy, she was more concerned about the mini Snickers bar the lady had just dropped into her bag.

Then later after the kids went to bed we adults had some fun with the wigs and some pretty funny pictures resulted. I've been contemplating whether I should post them or not and decided to chance it. Carlos may kill me when he finds out but I'm sure you all will agree it is worth it. Oh and none of us are smiling because Hello! Have you seen the movie? I don't think Napoleon or Pedro smile once which makes it even funnier! It was VERY hard to get pics of us straight faced because we were laughing so hard in between pics.

(Here is Carlos as Pedro and me as Napoleon)


(Carlos' dad as Pedro and his mom as Napoleon. Aren't they such good sports for playing along!)


(The funniest picture of all! Carlos as Napoleon and Becky, my sis-in-law as Pedro although she looks more like a cross between Satan and the Red Baron dontcha think?)


(Carlos and I trying on the bug-eye glasses the kids brought home from school)


(And we'll end it on a cute pic with Elli trying on the glasses)

She's back in the saddle again...

Okay, blah. I know it's been like 5 years since I last posted. Whatever. I didn't know that it would be as hard to start blogging again as it would be to get back on a horse that's bucked you off but strangely it is. And now time for the excuses. Things got busy, blah blah blah, and as more time went on the more guilty I felt for not posting, and then more time went by and there's another helping of guilt thank you very much. And oddly enough with the guilt that I felt about not blogging (I know, it's just a blog, I'm not running the nation or anything, but forgive my dramatic nature for a moment) I felt even more guilt if I read other people's blogs because they were a reminder of what I wasn't doing so I stopped reading too. Man, I've missed you guys. So I guess that brings me to one of the reasons I've climbed back in the saddle again. I miss reading everyone's blogs and so I'm writing a rather boring catch up post so I can start reading again without the guilt gnawing at me.

Let's see where to begin? Well, August came and CJ and Lexi started preschool. We also enrolled them in a dance class once a week which has been great. They really enjoy it and do pretty darn well for uncoordinated 3 year olds.

Then we had September and not much exciting happened there. That or I can't remember anything, which is probably more likely. Oh but our ward's womens volleyball team won the stake tournament!! Yeah, I know it's just stake volleyball but man were we pumped when we beat last years winners. We were the underdogs and incidently the stake's redheaded stepchild or at least we are treated that way so it was very satisfying to win those yummy cookies and bragging rights.

And now we are in October. I love the fall and this month will be busy. The kids are starting soccer tomorrow which should be fun to watch. At least I think it will be funny to watch 12 three year olds running around chasing a ball or more likely chasing each other. Hopefully it will use up some of CJ and Lexi's unboundless energy. Wishful thinking right? Carlos and I will have our anniversary on the 23rd and then Elli will turn 1 on the 28th. Holy crap, I just missed a whole year :( I know every mom says it but I can't believe my baby is almost one. Sigh.

Oh and how could I forget Halloween?! I'm going to try really hard to get Carlos to dress up this year but I fear my efforts will be futile. He can be pretty stubborn and Halloween isn't really his thing. Oh but can you guys imagine the pictures!?! Any suggestions for us as far as costumes?

And on a sad note, my sister Whitney and her husband Bryce left yesterday to move to Idaho. I know it's not the saddest news but she was one of my best friends and I'll miss her dearly. I hope she freezes her nose hairs off up there!

Anyway, so I guess that first dreaded post back is over with and I can resume posting with some consistency. Maybe I should start taking fiber to help with my regularity.

Camping trip or better known as the Griswald Family Vacation 2008

I think I'm finally recovered enough from our camping trip last weekend to finally blog about it. Okay, so it wasn't that bad but there were enough surprises thrown in that I can't help but shake my head and laugh when I think about it. I'll give you a quick overview. Well, it may not be quick but here we go:

Thursday night - 11:00pm Should be packing the remaining stuff but am instead lounging on the couch half asleep arguing with myself about how I should be packing instead of watching, wait what was I watching, see that's bad that I can't even remember. True procastination there, I am the queen! I give up and go to bed vowing to wake up at 5:30am to get the packing done.

Friday morning - 6:30am Finally wake up to finish the packing and get everyone moving. Shut up, I know it's an hour later than I planned, I need an hour cushion time to hit the snooze button, just the way I work.

7:30am - Carlos and his dad leave to go pick up the barbeque grill from my bro-in-law, Rudy's, house. Should take them about an hour. We figure we'll be out of here between 9 and 10. I know you can see where this is going right? I'll give you a hint, we don't make it out of there even close to that time. In the meantime, I'm doing what else but PACKING.

8:30am - No sign of Carlos and his dad. Zip, zero, they've fallen off the face of the earth and we haven't heard from them either. I hop in the shower because who knows when my next one will be.

9:00am - Call Carlos for probably the 20th time and still get his voicemail. Meanwhile, I'm still packing crap. Seriously, how much junk do you need for a 2 night 3 day camping trip? Apparently 3 tons of crap, cause that's how much I packed. Oh and everyone made fun of me saying "Do we really need all that stuff? All those blankets?" I would reply with "Shut up, when you are freezing your hiney off and it is MY blanket that finally warms you and allows you to drift off into wonderful slumber, you will wake up in the morning and find me standing over your body pointing out a prime spot on my hiney to kiss." Okay, so I didn't really say that but I wanted to and that is exactly how it played out by the way.

9:45am - Still waiting, finally get a call from Carlos and don't get even a hello when I'm asked to find out where the nearest Urgent Care is in Queen Creek. Oh great. Urgent Care. That's never good. So I find it and give them the cross roads and he tells me that Rudy had cut his hand while they were lifting the grill into the back of the truck. Urgent Care won't take him because the cut was too bad so they go to the emergency room. He gets 14 stitches and was extremely close to cutting the ligament or tendon, whichever it is. The cut was on the web part between the thumb and pointer finger. Ouch for sure. But Rudy is a champ and decides to go camping anyway.

1:30pm - We finally all pull out and head on our way to Big Lake in the White Mountains. What should have taken us about 3 1/2 - 4 hours instead takes us quite a bit longer because let's face it with 9 people in two cars you are going to make a lot of pit stops. Oh and we were steadily dumped on by rain. What were we thinking going camping during Monsoon season?

6:30pm or 7:30pm (can't remember now) - Arrive at campsite, it is beautiful there. But wait, am I seeing this right? Our campsite is on the side of a hill. Yes, and that means an incline. That we have to sleep on. Oh fun. None of us had been there before but we were told by others who had been that Big Lake is a great place to camp. So we chose a campground and reserved the sites online. We just happened to pick the campsite that is on a hill.

My parents and my sister and her husband, Whitney and Bryce, were already there and had their tents set up so they helped us unload. It is beginning to rain and is getting dark quickly. We pick some sites and set up the tents. Eat dinner and everyone gets to their tents quick as it is now raining pretty steadily. Nothing is set up inside the tents so I have all three kids and I'm trying to set up sleeping bags and blankets and sleeping pads while CJ and Lexi are being the three year olds that they are and Elli is trying unsuccessfully to crawl around and is instead rolling from the top of the tent all the way to the bottom because like I said earlier, we are on a hill. I'm getting more and more frustrated, yelling at CJ and Lexi to "Please sit down in one spot and stay there!!" and Elli is screaming because she has once again rolled down the tent at a surprisingly fast speed. Carlos finally gets into the tent and is trying to help me settle the kids and it is NOT working. His patience is even less than mine if that's possible and he goes from calm to frustrated in 1.2 seconds. He then exclaims "This is going to be Hell!!" Oh great, now I have 4 screaming babies. We finally get everything situated and everyone in bed. It is pouring rain outside and there is not 1 but 3 rocks underneath the tent where I am sleeping. And no, the little half inch foam pad we have underneath us doesn't help.

It takes me forever to fall asleep. Partly because of the aforementioned rocks underneath my spot, the incessant rain, and the weird cold but hot muggy humid feeling the tent is taking on because of the rain. As I'm laying there I started reflecting on the pioneers and how this situation we were in was miserable for us but was nothing compared to what they endured while crossing the plains. It put it into nice proper perspective for me and I eventually fell asleep. It rained ALL night long. Seriously, all night. Monsoon season. Yeah, we aren't the brightest bulbs in the pack. Oh and because we are sleeping on a hill we started at the top of the tent but by morning we had slid, sleeping blankets and all, down to the bottom. Now the rock that was at my hip is now at my head. Fun times I tell ya.

Saturday morning - We wake up extremely early because that's what happens when you camp. You get up with the sun. We all get up and have a wonderful breakfast of homemade bread and gravy. Yummy, thanks mom it was great! We then find out that pretty much everyone's blankets and sleeping bags are wet from the ground up so we pack up all the wet stuff and head into Springerville which is about 30-45 minutes away to dry things. Oh and did I mention that I now have a full blown head cold making my experience that much better! Super! While in town I visit the local pharmacy to inquire which cold medicines I can take while nursing. I get the okay from the pharmacist to take Alkaseltzer Cold that my mom already has back at camp. We dry our things and head back to camp. I take my Alkaseltzer cold meds and feel much better.

Saturday afternoon - Some people are fishing, some are sleeping, others are out exploring. I'm at the campsite with my mom and Elli, just hanging out when I need to use the restroom. Which is at the top of the hill, by the way. So I make the trek up the hill, and am grateful that there is a restroom to trek to, remember the pioneers didn't even have a porta-potty. Gotta keep it all in perspective you know ;). Anyway I get to the restroom only to discover that my monthly visitor, Aunt Flo, that has been absent for over a year and a half decided that this weekend, this camping trip, would be a great time to return. Yep, that's right, my first postpartum period happened while I was camping. What are the odds? Heavenly Father has a sometimes cruel sense of humor. I don't even have any feminine hygiene products with me. So my mom and I go to the little store down on the lake to see if they have any we can buy. We walk around the store twice looking and searching and finally give in and ask the cashier at the counter. The one thing you probably don't want assistance in finding and they hide it on the shelf behind the trashcan. Anyway, so I get that all taken care of and then the cramps start.

So, let's review: We are camping on a hillside during Monsoon season. I have a full blown head cold and then Aunt Flo tracks me down all the way in the wilderness and she is wreaking havoc on my insides with lovely cramps. Why did I think this was going to be a good idea?

Saturday night - We have a yummy dinner of chicken, baked potatoes, and baked beans. Seriously, the food alone was worth the camping trip. Mom, you did good. Muchas gracias. Anyway, so we eat and because Rudy and Becky got drenched the night before in their little tent we decide to put Lexi and CJ in the tent with Carlos' parents and Rudy and Becky will sleep with us. Oh and remember all those blankets I packed? Yeah, everyone used them so PFFHHT, I was right to pack the whole house, take that! This night was much better. It didn't rain and we were all much warmer and more comfortable. We still ended up at the bottom of the tent by morning though. Kinda unavoidable.

Sunday morning - Again, wake up at the crack of dawn. Eat breakfast and start breaking camp. We get the tents down and mostly everything packed. Carlos, Rudy, Becky, and I decide to take advantage of the showers they have there, even though they were $5/person. Oh but that shower was the best shower I've taken in my life. It was wonderful. Worth every cent. After we get back to camp, lunch is almost ready. We eat and finish loading everything up and everyone heads back home.

Sunday afternoon - It is raining again and we get rained on almost the whole way home. Doesn't matter though, we don't have to sleep in it this time. We make 63 pit stops. Okay, it wasn't that many but it might as well have been for how long it took us to get home. The reason we didn't get home until 8:30pm when we left at 12:30pm? Oh it was because after we passed through Payson and were about 20 minutes down the road the traffic stopped to a standstill because of a car accident somewhere ahead. Cars were stretched out for miles and miles. I'm not sure how far but what should've taken us about 1 1/4 hours instead took 2 1/2 hours. It was crazy and frustrating but a fitting end to our camping trip.

Overall, though we had a lot of fun and we WILL be camping again. Just not during monsoon season. And not on a hill. And closer to home. Oh and preferably not during that time of month for me.

(Carlos, Becky, and Carlos' Dad)

(A scenic lookout point up in the mountains, beautiful)

(The view from our campsite. Not bad, huh.)

(A not too great pic of me, I was trying to get the background. Be nice, remember I was camping, no make up or done hair.)

(Elli in her pack n' play. That thing came in very useful.)

(CJ and Lexi with their Aunt Josie heading down to the lake to throw some rocks in.)

(Our campsite on the hill, the blue tarp thingy is the food tent)

(Carlos' Dad in front of their tent)

(Lexi peeking inside the tent)

(Rudy and his injury, he toughed it out though)

(A pit stop on the way home. They were TIRED.)

(A view from our car of the backed up line of cars on the trip home. Can you say frustrating?)

Feeling Conflicted

So, I've been in a funk for the last two days. CJ and Lexi are at my parents. Without me. For the first time ever. They are only there til Friday but the house feels so empty without them here. Don't get me wrong, it's been great to not have to get up at the butt crack of dawn because my kids have an uncanny sense of when the sun rises even with the blackout shade on their window. It's been nice to not have to clean crumbs and food up off of the floor every 30 minutes. It's been wonderful not to have to worry about potty-training and poop. Well, I still have to worry about poop because Elli is still here with me but her little poops are nothing up against two 3 year old's poop. It's been nice to not have to watch Caillou and Dora. It's been fantastic to not hear shrieking and screaming for most of the day, really my ears are in heaven.

But it's been horrible to sit through a quiet dinner. And worse to not hear my kids chattering and laughing together. It's been awful not having them fight over who gets to sit by mommy on the couch. And terrible not getting to tuck them into bed after our family prayer. I miss their smiles. I miss their singing. And most of all I miss their kisses and hugs. I can't wait for them to get home.

Minty Fresh

I know it's been forever since I last posted and I've got no excuse. So, I guess just get over it already, lol.



Anyway, we've been busy having a horribly hot summer which means we're basically stuck inside all day since it's too hot outside for the kids to play. Oh and not to mention it's Attack of the Gazillion Ants in our backyard and yes we've sprayed for bugs, didn't work. So because of our voluntary confinement inside our wonderful air conditioned, ant free bubble, I'm sure you can all imagine how stir crazy it gets and how little sanity I'm left with at the end of the day. So really y'all (going Britney again for a moment) are lucky I'm even coherent enough to even use the computer right now. I guess I'll just share a few stories from the past few weeks that have given me a chuckle.



We are still in the midst of potty-training. It isn't going too bad, some days are better than others, I'm sure you can imagine. The other day I finally got Lexi to poop on the toilet by promising to give her a sucker if she did, so she did and she got her sucker and we were both happy. Well, CJ saw it and wanted one too but I told him what he had to do to get one. Bless his little heart he sat on the toilet for almost an hour trying to poop, or at least making it seem like he was trying. I kept asking him if he was done and if he wanted to get down and he kept telling me "No, I want sucker." He was determined I tell ya. At one point he was grunting and pushing and then he stopped and said "Mommy, I can't, it stuck." Which had me giggling. Long story short, he never pooped but did pee a few times on the toilet. Did I give him a sucker? NO!! I'm a mean mommy I guess but suckers are for poop and jellybeans are for pee so he did get a few jellybeans. Broke my heart though to deny him that sucker. I really did want to give it to him but you've got to stand your ground right? Wow, funny how much I can post about pee and poop.



Moving on...So Carlos did the shopping last week and picked up some more shower wash since we were almost out. He picked up Dove Refresh liquid body wash which we haven't tried before.

Great, I love Dove. I usually get the one in the green bottle that is I think cucumber melon but this'll do. So I hop in the shower and took the new bottle with me since we were now officially out of body wash. I squirt some of the body wash on my loofah and start washing my body, being very thorough if you catch my drift. Oh and one thing that may be important to know is that our shower is possessed and likes to randomly spew out lava temperature water every couple of minutes.



Well, I finish soaping up and just as I'm about to rinse off the lava water comes forth out of the faucet. I hurry and turn the shower head away from my body so as to not get burned when I start noticing a rather peculiar feeling down in my girly region. It is like this tingling burning sensation. You know like what it feels like when you put Ben-Gay on sore muscles, only maybe a titch milder. I grab the bottle to see what exactly is in this soap and it says "clean scent of waterlily and fresh mint." MINT!! So that's why my down under is on fire!! And to to make it worse I can't rinse the soap off because the water is still the temperature of the sun's surface. The water finally returns to normal temp. and I rinse off. By then the rest of my body is all tingly and slightly burning. Wow, must be powerful stuff and my girly bits just must be more sensitive than the rest of my skin. Oh and I just went on their website and this is what the description says: "Leaves your skin with a gentle tingly, refreshing feel." Gentle my butt.

To the Best Daddy in the World Part 2

Okay, okay, I know that in the last post I said that my dad was the best dad in the world but I hope he'll be okay with sharing that title with Carlos. Babe, this post is for you. I know you'll probably be annoyed that I'm posting about you because I know you don't like this kind of attention but you'll just have to deal with it. I wanted to thank you for being such a great dad to our kids. And for also being the best husband I could ever want. I truly don't deserve you. Okay, some days I come pretty close but overall you spoil me way too much. Not that I'm saying you can stop, because that wouldn't be good. So don't stop, m'kay? I'll just have to do better at deserving it ;)

The kids and I love you so much. I love the way they wait for you to come home from work and then rush you at the door before you can even get it closed.

I love how Lexi is such a daddy's girl.

I love the way you can be so gentle with them sometimes and then play and rough house with them the next moment.

I love how you can be so much more patient with them than me at times. Usually the times when I am at my limit.

I'm grateful that you are a worthy priesthood holder and that you can give my children the blessings they need. I'm grateful for the example you are to me and the children, how you try to improve every single day. I'm thankful that you are a good example to CJ of how to be a good man.

I love how you can be silly with me and the kids.

I'm grateful that you provide for us so well and take care of things around the house, things that I could never do.

I love how you kiss and play with Elli in the morning before work. I really think she looks forward to that time as much as you do.

These are just some of the many things I love and cherish about you as the father to my children but if I were to list them all my fingers would start to bleed from all the typing. You are a great father and I'm thankful everyday that I get to navigate these wonderful, scary parenting waters with you at the helm next to me. Thank you babe and Happy Father's Day!!!

To the Best Daddy in the World

Hey Dad, since we couldn't be with you on Father's Day I thought I'd write a post for you. Everyone else, feel free to ignore this but you'll miss out on me bragging about the best dad a girl could ask for, and that would be tragic.

I was thinking today on how I could make up for not sending you a gift or being there with you today. I wanted to do more than just a phone call. It seemed insufficient to express my love and gratitude for you. And in thinking I started reminiscing on my childhood. I started to think of how you would tickle me and hold me down until I was so mad I was crying, but it's so funny to think back to it now. I remember you swinging me around by my feet and hands and how much fun it was for me but how Whitney was scared to death of it.

I remember moving to Roswell in the summer before 1st grade and how you told us of the nice tan house we were going to live in, and well, it was really pink but you thought it was tan because of your color blindness.

I think of the family trips we took, to Disney Land in the RV where we stayed at the Disney Campground. And the trip to Idaho where we camped out for two weeks and had a blast with the wave runners. Oh and do you remember seeing the moose and you got out of the truck and I totally thought you were going to get chased by the moose but you didn't, thank goodness!

I remember when I was a teenager and gave you more headaches than you or I care to remember you still supported me in my endeavors and went to nearly all my basketball games and how you came to my practices and helped me work on my shot. You know people always told me I had a shot better than most of the boys and I know it's because of your help. You gave me my love for basketball.

I remember my first car that you got me after I graduated, that teeny tiny Geo Metro. Man I loved that car and I'd sure like it now with the gas mileage it got! I remember you teaching me how to drive a stick shift in the mail truck and how easy the Geo seemed compared to that truck. I remember your advice about driving and how I need to "drive for everyone else on the road-be a defensive driver!"

I remember all the love and support you gave and continue to give me. I'm so thankful you are my daddy and even more thankful that you are the grandpa to my kids. You've changed from a loving, somewhat stern dad to a loving, complete teddybear of a grandpa and my kids love you so much. I couldn't ask for anything more. So thank you Dad and know that I love you and miss you everyday and thank Heavenly Father everyday for sending me to you. I love you Dad and Happy Father's Day!!!

Oh and I'm thoroughly annoyed that I couldn't get anymore pictures on here. I tried messing with my scanner for over an hour and a half and couldn't ever get it to work otherwise there would've been a bigger variety of pics, sorry :( I was really bummed. Love you Dad!