Fly Catcher...

We live close to a bunch of farm fields. It is fun to watch them get plowed, planted and then see what grows. There are a few side effects though. The stinky manure, then after everything is harvested the leftovers along with manure attract flies. Along with the flies that come from the fields there are my neighbors and their dogs. We are surrounded by people who own dogs. It is hot outside and these people aren't very good at cleaning up after their dogs. Gag. It is stinky, hot and flies don't care where they came from, so they come here and bother all of us. Lucky for me I have me very own fly catcher. This kid gets his gear on and goes to work. He never really caught any or killed any until one day... He came upstairs to show me Henry. A fly he caught. Not only did he catch it but he caught it in a 2 liter bottle. He was very pleased with himself. I kept telling him that it wouldn't stay alive for long in that bottle. But that dang fly was alive in that bottle for a good 2 weeks. Now we don't catch flies, we kill them. Much more productive. 

Laine Jo loves her crib. We have transitioned her into her big girl bed and she was doing just fine. By just fine I mean she slept in it after a huge fight, loss of the oh so needed nap, and putting her back a million times at bedtime. Well we put the crib back up in her room and this is the result. She starts in the bed, on the other side of the room, then at sometime she climbs back into her crib to sleep. I know that taking the crib out would completely solve the problem but a part of me doesn't want to. She is my baby and I think I will let her feel that way for a bit longer.

Well, I guess she can be the baby until this little baby makes her grand entrance. She is already throwing her weight around as you can see. She, many times during the day, curls up in a ball and rolls to the right side. Making my belly very misshapen.

Here we are in all our glory. I am still feeling really quite good still. Defiantly waddling everywhere I go. My belly in huge and only getting bigger. On the bright side, the bigger the belly the less everywhere else looks so big. Does that make sense? I just mean that the belly is huge so maybe you don't see growth everywhere else. 31 weeks... 9 to go or less if I am lucky. Oh yeah, I cut my hair,.

Gag. I hate outside. I am sure this temp is reading a bit high but not by much. Never again, if I have any control over the situation, will I be pregnant in the summer. We do not go outside much. It honestly makes me angry to have to go out in the heat.

Oh and can I just say this? I have been reading, writing and looking at blogs for about 6 years. I think for alot of people personal blogs are going out of fashion. Not for me. This is 6 years of history for my little family and I do not see myself every stopping. But I have in the last year found my biggest blog pet peeve. I used to look at a lot of crafty, DIY blogs. Many of them started out with ladies just excited about projects they did and they wanted to share. Well over these years they have evolved and not in a good way. Now they are just money making things for people. The projects used to be new and inventive. Now I feel like they are just grasping as straws to make crafty things. Like come on! Does every little thing need to be mod podged, fabric-ed, bedazzled and flowered!?!  It it just a box of baby wipes. Who has the time and energy to make it match the nursery? And why is it necessarily? Then there are the ladies to are redoing their house on a "budget". Like I said their blogs started out with things I could to on my budget. But now their "budget" includes $75 a yard fabric. Needless to say I don't look at many craft blogs anymore. I scan the tittle to see if it is interesting but pass on 99% of them. I don't miss it. I think pining away after all the projects that were out of my reach made me jealous of what others had and not appreciative of what I have. I love my house and don't need to be comparing it to soandso@blogspot.com.

Just dance...

Laine got to start a little dance class this week. She was so very excited. I wanted her to do something small that was just for her. She is to young for preschool and this one day a week dance class was perfect. She was so excited to put on her dance clothes and kept telling us that "I go to dan class now".

This was me on my 4th birthday. I loved to wear swimmies and leotards. I remember going to dance class and having recitals. I loved it. Sadly I had 2 left feet and no rhythm.

Bode is feeling much better after sleeping and resting for a few days. He finished his antibiotics and started getting a rash. It was a new antibiotic and made me wonder it it could be a reaction to it. So we called the Dr and they want us to come in tomorrow to rule that out. It is either that or the virus he had leaving his little body. Goodness, if it isn't one thing, its another. 

Jeremiah bought a boat. Well he went half with a friend on a boat. Evidently it was just to awesome of a deal to pass up. It is a fishing boat and with a little work it should be pretty cool. He has been working out lately. He says it is for Tough Mudder, but he has his 10 year reunion in October and I think that may have influenced his new routine. Poor me though, I get to go to my husbands 10 year reunion 9 months pregnant. I might have Lee step in and pretend to be me.

I have been working really hard on watching my calories in and effort to not gain as much weight with this pregnancy that I have in the past. But is seems pregnant me gains weight the same way no matter what I do. I am still going to keep watching my calories (don't worry, I am not starving myself at all, just making sure I don't over do it) but figure I'll still gain 35 pounds, Much better than the 75 I gained with Bode, still a bit depressing though. Such a vicious cycle. The only good news it that I can still button my "fat pants".

I find myself being very short fused these days. Dang pregnancy hormones. But today ended up being a nice day. Jer and I did grocery shopping with out kids. That becomes such a luxury and so nice when we get to go alone. Then Jer took the kids to walmart for a bit so I could pick up the house. We had dinner then had family home evening. We had a lesson on the Word of Wisdom and then finished the evening off with a few rounds of hide and go seek. It was so nice to slow down and play with them today. They grow so fast! We have been working hard on making prayer and scripture study and consistent part of our daily routine. It is one of those things that can be frustrating at times. Trying to get the kids to sit down and listen. I know that  making the effort goes a long way even when things don't go exactly as planned. 

Oh dear...

Things are backing up around here.

After taking a 3 week hiatus from normal life we are slowly trying to get back to normal. The only problem is the fact that for 3 weeks I thought of all the projects that I have been wanting to get done around the house. My list is getting longer everyday, the projects are piling up and I am running out of time. So the very last thing I have been in the mood to do is pull out my camera and sit down on the computer and blog. Hopefully after I get my ginormous list of to do's done I can blog. But for now....

• I switched Bode and Laine's room. Bode had the bigger room and since he is soon to be out numbered it was necessary to make the move. His new set up looks great and he loves the change. The only problem is that made a huge mess through out the rest of the house that still has yet to be picked up.
• Laine and baby girl #2 room's room is in shambles. I never got around to decorating Laine's room so I am now taking advantage of having 2 girls to get it done. So far it is just a mess of stuff waiting to be put up, made over and cleaned up. Laine is actually sleeping in Bode's room because we haven't taken down the crib yet. She can now climb in and out of it so it just needs to be taken down. 
• Preschool starts in 18 days. I got a huge jump start while I was up in Pinetop. I found a new curriculum that I love and have printed every thing out up to spring break. It is just a matter of cutting out and laminating a ton of stuff to get everything where it needs to be. I bought new chairs and a cute little table to use this year. It should be fun! I am really excited to have one year under my belt and to be moving onto the next. So many fun new things.
• Laundry. The never ending battle of my life...
• Although I left a clean house 3 weeks ago and came home to a relatively clean house, it is in ruins now. Everything needs a good once over to get it all feeling good and lived in again. 
• Have you ever used the vacuum storage bags? They are awesome!! I cleared out a whole closet just by using a few bags. All the extra pillows, blankets and hand me down clothes were crowding both of the kids closets. Now all that stuff is taking up 1/2 of one closet. So much better! One top of clearing up the closets we had a large throwing out party in the kids's rooms. I got rid of so many toys! All the toys that the kids toss on the floor looking for the "good" toys are now gone. 5 garbage bags full of things got loaded up in the car and dropped off at Goodwill. Feels good to dejunk a bit. I am sure it would do a world of good to get rid of some more stuff. One closet at a time.

So if you happen to see me this week looking rather frumpy and frazzled it is because I have a million projects going and even more to get done floating around in my head. And as I re read this it actually sounds as though I may be "nesting" a bit. That is good. With Laine all my "nesting" consisted of me washing and folding her clothed over and over. Not to productive but that didn't make me tired.

Oh what do you do in the summertime...

when it hot as heck!?!

seriously had to refrain from using the word I really wanted to in that little phrase. 

Well the valley of the sun is once again reminding us why it is called the valley of the sun. It has been a full week of 100 degree plus weather with no end in sight. It will reach 113* on Monday and round out the week at 114* by Friday. That is our signal to hit the road and head up north to cool down for a bit. But until that blessed day I keep reminding myself why we live here. Great job, friends, city convinces and most importantly September, October, November, December, January, February, March, April and even a bit of May. In the mean time we are just trying to stay busy. 

The only way to play outside is if there is water involved. Our little pool has done the trick for now. 

We played out there all morning doing obstacle courses.

Mid week costume parties are always fun.

Bode has been one lucky kid. His preschool and her kids have been putting one weekly session of day camp. For about 3 hours a day 3 days a week Bode has been going over to her house. He has done 2 session and will do one more this month. I planned on not sending him at all but quickly changed my mind because he was getting so bored! Then I thought we would just do 2 weeks, again, I changed my mind. It is defiantly worth the $25 dollar fee to send him 2 more times in June. He came home after the first session and said he would die if he couldn't go again next week. I agree. we both might end up dead if he didn't have anything to do.

The first week they did "Exciting Eggs-periments". It was all about eggs. Bode's favorite day was the day they dropped eggs from a latter. They built safe boxes for them to be in and then dropped them. Bode says his didn't break. Looks like quite the contraption to me. 

The next week it was Magic Tricks. He came home with some fun new things he learned. He loved making a magic wand. He has been "abberbabbering" things every since.

Next week is Rockets. He is super excited to go!

They are doing one more June session and July Sessions if anyone is interested.

Desert Blooms Day Camp

It really doesn't take to much to entertain Laine. For the most part she has been following Bode around, working on potty training, learning to love the Disney princesses (especially "indoelloa" aka Cinderella") and boycotting naps. I guess she figures since she is a big girl doing her business on the potty, she no longer needs to take naps. She has figured out that this whole potty thing is a good excuse to check out every potty in the world. On Tuesday's we go to the movies. Laine had to go potty. That must have been fun because we ended up going 5 times. I am just glad there were no accidents. 

She has defiantly got #1 one down for the moment. #2 is hit and miss. I bought her some princess pull-ups this week when we ran out of diapers (yay!) and now all she wants is to wear those dang princess pull-ups. It is a bit of a fight to get her to wear the other undies I bought her. I think I may need to go buy some princess underwear for my princess. She used to diaper her dolls up in her diapers. She knows where they are under the sink. She asked me yesterday where her diapers are. I told her they are all gone, you wear big girl underwear now. She looked at me and said, "no mom I poop in my diapers." Hmmmmm. I think the whole #2 thing is going to take a bit more time because no Laine, we do not poop in our diapers, we go on the potty. I hope she doesn't get all back up and sick because she won't go unless it is nap time and she has a pull-up on. Or I guess I should be happy that the #2 is in the pull-up and not her undies.

ps: You know you are in the full on parenting portion of your life when 3 out of your last 5 posts are about potty training :)

Although she is boycotting afternoon naps, once she is strapped down for any small amount of time she passes out. Sweet girl.

Jeremiah has been working very hard the last month or so. He has been doing his regular shift and then working an extra 1-2 days a week doing off duty jobs. We did this last winter and although the extra income is great it makes for some long weeks. It makes you really enjoy the time you do get to spend together. It is so very hot outside I worry about him and call or text him to drink water. I am grateful that I married someone who is so willing to work hard for his family.

As for me I can still see my toes, but I don't think that will last long. My belly has really popped out. It always takes me until about 20 weeks to get out of the awkward "is she fat or pregnant" phase. Once that 20 weeks hits, there is no holding it back! Other than my back/hip giving me some pain every so often I feel really good. I am working hard to watch what I eat and not be a whale come October, a baby whale maybe, but not a full on beached whale. 22 weeks 5 days down.... 121 days to go.

Somehow we all managed to catch a pretty nasty cold the last few weeks. It got passed through all of us and now it is gone. I think there needs to be a rule that moms, especially pregnant mom's, can't get sick. We made the best of a cruddy situation though. By about 5:30-6:00 I was beat and ready to go to bed about 3 days last week. I would give the kids a bath and then we all hopped on my bed to snuggle up, find something on netflix and wait for bed time. They were both good sports and let me get some extra rest. Now they think watching a movie on my bed is awesome and want to do it everyday. It was a fun treat. Maybe a new Friday night tradition. 

Deja vu...

In the summer of 2006 the Rodeo-Chediski Fire burned 468,638 acres forcing the evacuation of  3 mountain towns, including my hometown of Pinetop, AZ. I pulled out my journal to see what I wrote down about the that time and in true teenage fashion my entry was short and not very detailed. I think I actually remember more now than I wrote down then.

I won't go into details of the actual fire but just a few memories I have of the week surrounding that time.

• The first time we saw the smoke it was driving down to take my little sister to a softball game. We could all see a small plume out of town.
• The fire spread really fast. There were rumors of evacuation but nothing happened until later in the week.
• Because of the evacuation rumors we had started collecting things through out the house to put in the motor home to save. And my gather things I mean frantically pulling pictures off the walls, find journal, paperwork, and nearly anything that wasn't nailed down got stuffed away in the motor home, my truck, my mom's car, dad's car and the jeep. My dad drove my truck to Snowflake to my aunt's house loaded with all his tools. I guess when you have a few days to pack away your life, the more and more stuff you can gather. We all agreed when we were allowed to come home, we took to much stuff. Stuff is replaceable. 
• We where told to leave our houses late on a Saturday night. I drove my dad's truck and the song on the radio was Garth Brooks "Standing Outside the Fire". I know the song isn't about a forest fire but listening to it and seeing the glow of red fire and breathing in the smoke actually made me laugh. Really, did that have to be the song that was on?
• We spent the night at my aunts house, then a few days with my older sister and her husband, then my parents got a hotel so we could swim in the pool.
• We watched the news constantly. Waiting for updates, hoping the fire wouldn't reach our homes.
• Through the effort of the brave men and women who fought the fire and the grace of God our homes were all spared and we were able to come home. It was such a relief to come home. 

This is Woodland lake, the park just across the street from my parent house. 

You can see the red glowing sun through the smoke.

The view of the plumes from my parents front yard.

A trail of cars leaving after getting an evacuation notice.

Now fast forward 9 years....

The Wallow Fire is burning out of control in our beautiful mountains. Luckily for the time being the fire isn't threatening my parents town, but it has forced the evacuation of a few small towns in eastern Arizona. My heart goes out to those people. It is not a good feeling knowing you have to leave and there is the possibility that you may never return to the home you knew and loved. When we got evacuated I was so sad, not for the land that was being destroyed but for all the lives that would have been ruined it the fire had gone through Show Low and Pinetop. This fire is destroying such a beautiful part of Arizona. A piece that means so much to me and my family. We spent so much time up in these areas camping, fishing, hiking and long Sunday drives. 

Please don't let it get to Big Lake...

I know that one of the hazards of living in the forest is forest fires, just wish is wasn't here.

Musings from the week...

• I watched the Royal Wedding last weekend. Not live, just a recording. Bode watched a little bit of it with me and had a friend over that morning I had it on. They were both eating lunch causally watching the wedding party in the horse drawn carriage go from the Abbey to the Palace. These two little boys did not get what all the fuss was about. They kept talking to each other trying to decide what I was watching. Bode's friend turned to Bode and said, "it must be a parade, all they do is wave and smile". Bode replied, " it can't be a parade, they aren't throwing any candy". Laine on the other hand sat with me for about 10 minutes ohhing and ahhing while the bride got out of her car and walked down the aisle. She got it.

• Bode and Laine have been playing house a lot the last few days. Laine has three baby dolls and they are each getting the best of care. Bode told Laine it was time to give them a bath. He told her she needs to make sure to "scrub all the hair real good, clean their buns and make sure there is no poop on them". Laine noticed my sister nursing her little daughter and every since then, at least once a day, you can find Laine nursing one of her babies. She is very careful to grab a blanky and cover herself all up. She then tells me her "babee hungee, she eatn' now". She then will take it up to her room lay it on her bed then turn off the light, come down stairs and tell me her "babee s sleepn, shh, be quiet, no wake her up or you get her". 

• Bode got all ready for bed himself the other night. He thought her was quite clever. He came in boasting of the Santa on his pants and the cars on his shirt. 

          He then proceeded to sing this little song to the tune of "Santa Clause is Coming to Town"

 (pointing to the pants) 

Santa Clause is coming, 

Santa Clause is coming to town.... 

(pointing to the shirt) 

in a CAR!!!!

          He thought he was really funny and just laughed and laughed.

• The first day of June we will start potty training Laine Jo. To get her used to the idea I bought a pack of underwear for her to try. She likes to take off her diaper and go toot on the potty and laugh. She will then wipe, nothing because nothing came out, and then flush the potty and say "goodbye poops". This morning she came upstairs completely naked. I asked her if she wanted a diaper and she said "no, I want unerwears". I thought yay! She wants to wear them, maybe she is more ready to potty train than I thought. I caught her about a half an hour later naked again with a pair of cut up underwear. She found a pair of scissors and showed me what she really thinks about underwear and potty training. Sheesh. It is bound to be a long summer.

• Bode is great a making messes. I have noticed a few things. On Monday's Bode goes to preschool all morning. Laine just follows me around, plays with her dolls, looks at books, snuggles her daddy or colors. She was meant to be an only child and loves that time when it is just her. The second Bode gets home it is like a bomb goes off. There are shoes everywhere. Not just his shoes, somehow all the shoes in the house magically come out to greet his shoes, papers go flying, all the stuffed animals are on the floor, all the books become race tracks and are now littering every imaginable walk way upstairs. Then when it comes to picking up the mess... his bones hurt and he has all at once lost the ability to walk, pick up toys or talk without whining. I know one day I will miss the messes, and my sweet young children. I keep telling myself that as I trip over the millionth toy or step on the tiny but painful legos. I will miss these messes.

• My dear husband has been slaving away the last week or so fixing our cars. The tahoe had an oil leak so we took it to the dealership to see what the deal was. They called us back an hour later telling us that there were a number of things wrong with it and for a measly $3,500 they could fix it up, when should they start? Lucky for me I married a man unafraid to tackle a car project. He, along with a friend who used to be mechanic, spent a couple of long days and fixed it all for a fraction of the price the dealership quoted us. After replacing the water pump, rear main seal, all the fluids, a ton of other seals, more cars words... and the car battery we are good to go! While this was going on and the tahoe was undrivable the alero decided to not work as well. Good thing that was a ten dollar fix. We have had the tahoe for almost 5 years and this is the most repair we have had to do to it. It is a good car and I am glad to have it to haul my little kids around in. Some days I want a new flashy car, but that is all it is, a want. I don't need a new car. I am very happy to have my tahoe. Now the alero on the other hand... I think its days in the Joncas driveway are numbered.  Thank you Jer for working so hard and fixing the car!

• I am 15 weeks 6 days pregnant according to my ultrasound and the size of the fetus. Officially in the 2nd trimester. I am feeling really good these days. Not so sick and grouchy. I have gotten my energy back and my husband, kids and house are grateful I am sure. We have been going back and forth on thinking this is the last baby we will have. For many reasons three could be it. That is today, that could change next week though. But for now I am thinking last pregnancy. If it is my last then I feel like I need to savor it. I have been feeling little movements. Mostly at night when I am still. Those are nice reassuring feelings. So special. I also know that I do not want to be induced at all. I was with Bode and that labor was hard. Recovery took a long time. With Laine I wasn't induced and it was a much easier labor and recovery. So I know that for sure I don't want to be induced, no pitocin (sp) or other contraction inducing medicines. I want to labor at home longer than I did with Laine. I am also even thinking I don't want an epidural.... yikes. I know my husband isn't to fond of the idea but I think it would be something I would like to do. Any thoughts?

I have not felt like blogging lately....

 I haven't felt like doing much lately. Because I've got to tell you, most of you multiple pregnancy mom's already know this, the third pregnancy is not so easy.

• I don't get horrible morning sickness. I got really sick really fast with this one. Lots of puking, nausea, headaches, and sleeping. Lucky for me my mom took a few days out of her busy schedule and came to rescue me. Between her and Lee, my laundry got done, house clean and kids taken care of.  I got zofran and that helped. I weaned myself off of that because is has some adverse effects, namely.... constipation. I was really sick for about 2 weeks then I started feeling a ton better. I am still a sicky but no throwing up and I feel the worst at night. Luckily by the time I am getting sick the kids are in bed and I can just be sick. 
• zzzzzzzz..... Yes, I am oh so sleepy. I used to lay down during nap time/quiet time for Bode and Laine. Now I have to lay down during that time. If I don't I feel useless the rest of the day. I am very grateful Laine still takes a nap and that Bode is so good to just play upstairs, watch a movie or play a computer game. I have also found myself heading upstairs to go to bed earlier and earlier. One night this week I was in bed at 8:15.
• Eating is a chore these days. Nothing sounds good until all the sudden I have to eat whatever it is I just thought of. For example a fresh fruit smoothie, Arby's curly fries, any type of mexican food smothered in cheese. I don't want these things all the time. Just once, then it is over. Right now the thought of curly fries sounds awful. But while I am eating it is so good, then 20 minutes later back to not wanting to eat anything. Even though I want to eat, all food makes me feel yucky later. Oh well. Just one of the many joys right?
• Bode is still so excited. He is always asking me questions about the baby in my belly. I don't think Laine will show any interest until there is an actually baby for her to see.
• I have gotten "thicker" much faster this time around. Jeremiah took a quick notice of this. I am sure I will be busting our the maternity clothes much faster than in the past. Only one problem there. I have only been most pregnant during the winter months so all of my clothes are for that season. Looks like I'll have a bit of shopping to do. Good thing my little sister was pregnant all summer last year and has some good things to pass. Thanks Lee :)
• I already feel like things are going by pretty fast. I am working on 12 weeks. Didn't we just find out yesterday? 

Laine has found her "sweet button" and finally turned it on. She has been really building her vocabulary and can communicate with me so much better. I think this has really eased her a lot of her frustrations. She has thrown less tantrums and has such a happier attitude because she can just tell me she wanted a orange not an apple. My favorite word she says right now isn't big or grand, in fact she has been saying it forever, but is it hello. She says "O-low". It cracks me up. She will say it to anyone that catches her eye. She copies everything Bode says. Last night we were with family and met up at a house. Bode ran in saying "Hello everybody!!! Hello!" she ran in on his tail screaming "O-low eberbodee!! O-Low!"  She and Bode have played to much better because then can talk as well. Today on the way to church Bode drilled Laine on her words. He would say one and then Laine would repeat it. She can say a lot more than I thought she could. Bode was so proud of her! What a good big brother. 

Speaking of the duder. Other than being so excited about the baby, he enjoys going to school, playing with friends, making large messes, and telling jokes. 

He has really done well the last few months at preschool. I can see his little mind just soaking up everything. We have had the hardest time with counting. He could not even get to 5 as of last January. But we are now proud to say he can count to10 and we are working on the teens. Between preschool, the leapster explorer, computer games and us counting everything possible, he finally got it! He is always asking me how to write words. He knows is letters very well and enjoys putting them together to make new words. He will find papers with words on them and copy them.

He also is quite a good little artist.  I need to scan in some of his recent works. They are really good. I don't have to pretend to see what he drew or squint to see the picture it is right there plain as day. My favorite to date is a zebra he brought home from school. 

He loves playing with his friends. He has a good little group of boys to play with and they all have fun when they are together. 

Bode loves telling jokes. None of them really make any sense and they all involve a chicken. Just ask. It will be a variation of a knock knock joke and a why did the chicken cross the road joke. He laughs every time like it was the funniest thing ever.

Parental woes...

I go upstairs, they go downstairs.

 I go downstairs, they go upstairs. 

I go to the bathroom, 

they call for me a knock on the door nonstop.

I spend an hour cleaning, dusting, vacuuming a room.

I walk out of the room come back 5 minutes later 

and you would have never known I was even in there.

The room is trashed.

We spend lots of money on toys at Christmas, birthday's and special treats

 but the most fun "toys" in the house are the cushions on the couch and the blankets from the beds.

So I have found my newest pets peeve. I absolutely hate it when my children take the cushions off of the couch. Yes, I know it must be fun to make forts and jump off the couch on to the pile of cushions, but it is ruining my couch. The back cushions are starting to be ripped off of the back and need to be repaired. I get to annoyed at telling Bode 10 times a day not to take them off, then to find that he did it anyways. Which brings me to my next thought... What am I going to do with this kid?

He is turning 5 next month. He is such a sweet kid. He is very thoughtful and aware of other people's feelings. He is a good big brother and when he wants to can be very helpful. But man he has been going through such a hard phase for me.  He is getting older and needs to be entertained and challenged more. Bode is so social and loves to be around people. I think part of the reason he and I are butting heads so much is because he is do ready to go so school. He is ready to learn and be with people. I have been doing more activities with him and it helps. We have been coloring, painting, doing puzzles, playing outside and countless other things. But it just doesn't seem to be enough. He throws fits over the smallest things. Like needing to put his shoes away, brushing his teeth, turning off the tv, not getting into the fridge. Me asking him to do anything turns into a melt down for him. Full on crying fits. It is so frustrating, for both of us. I am trying to teach him there are consequences for his actions. If you don't eat dinner you don't get desert, don't pick up your toys you don't get to play with them. Maybe I am just being to negative? I am just so stuck in the middle of our little situation that I am not sure what to do. Any suggestions?  

Around the house...

Bode has decided that saying Laine is to long. He has shortened her name to make calling, yelling and bossing  her around easier. He now calls her "Lane". He calls "Lane, come down the stairs". I know this isn't funny but you have to hear it. It sounds more like "Tina, come get your food" from Napoleon Dynamite. It sure adds a little comic relief for me throughout the day.

Laine and Bode both got Pillow Pets for Christmas. Why the heck didn't I think of Pillow pets? We would be millionaires by now. Anyway... they love them. Bode begged for one forever! We didn't actually get them for them though. Bode was disappointed that after all the presents were open there was no pillow pet under the tree.  Luckily these 2 kids are throughly spoiled by all of their many grandparents because sitting under the tree at Grandma Rena and Steve's house there were 2 pillow pets. Bode was SO excited to open it up. I thought he would be the one that couldn't live with out the pillow pet everyday. Bode loves little stuffed animals. I was wrong though. Laine is the one that has latched on to her Lady Bug pillow pet. She calls is her "Pooo-Pa" and has to sleep with it every night. She loves that "Pooo-Pa".

While my mom was here during Thanksgiving and after Lee had her baby, we happened to go to Hobby Lobby. At the front of the store by the check out counters they have all the little displays that they put there to annoy mommies with rowdy kids. You know little knick knacks, candy, cute pencils, candy, stuffed animals and anything else that little hands, not so patently waiting like to grab. Well every time we go to Hobby Lobby Bode wants one of these little stuffed dogs. I always say no. What a mean mommy I am. This time Bode was walking around with Grandma Trish. If it weren't for Grandparents my kids would have no toys :) Bode got to pick out one of the little stuffed dogs. He pick out a "foxer" aka a little boxer. He calls it "Little Stat". It breaks my heart! He misses our our dog Stat. I asked him why he named him Little Stat and he said because he wants "his Stat to be with him all the time". And let me tell you that Little Stat is with him constantly. 

Reflection Questions for 2010...

 I did this last year and decided to do it again.

1. What was the single best thing that happened this past year?
It is hard to choose the single best thing. I don't think I can think of one thing from last year. So to choose one of the many it would be Jeremiah's job. At the beginning of last year the city was facing some budget concerns (when are they not!) and were planning on laying off up to 500 officers. We would have been one of them. I am so grateful that Jeremiah kept his job.

2. What was the single most challenging thing that happened?

I know it is didn't happen, thank goodness, but the prospect of Jeremiah loosing his job was very scary. I know Jeremiah would have worked hard to keep us going but it would have been very difficult. It made me realize how much we have and how much I take for granted.


3. What was an unexpected joy this past year?
Jeremiah's new work schedule. Since he was hired he has been working Sunday's. We were doing our best to all go to sacrament meeting together. Even though that meant that we were going to a diffident ward, going home for an hour, Jer going to work, then the kids and  I going back to church for the last 2 blocks. Since Jer is a low serial number and there haven't been many new hires since her was hired, we pretty much figured that this was how it was going to be for a few years. No weekends off. But we were so lucky that when they rezoned all the precincts Jeremiah managed to get put on a squad with the weekends off. Through prayer and Jeremiah's hard work he got placed on a great squad. I am so grateful that we can all go to church together!

4. What was an unexpected obstacle?
A very unexpected obstacle was dealing with the differences between my children. I will try to make this make sense. Bode was such an easy baby and toddler. He was very easy going, a great sleeper and eater. Laine however had been tough. She has been a terrible 2 since she was 1. I have had a difficult year learning how to deal with her and all her little quirks. 


Since Bode was such an easy baby/toddler I didn't expect things to be much different this past year. He has grown and I neglected to treat him like a 4 year old and continued to treat him like a toddler. We both have learned that we need to have special time together, that he needs to be challenged, and that I need to follow through on the disciplining. 


Don't get me wrong it has been a great year and I love my kids. We are learning and growing together.

5. What were the best books you read this year?
The Help, Covenant Hearts, The 5 Love Languages of Children


6. With whom were your most valuable relationships?
I will always feel my most valuable  relationships are with my families.

7. What was your biggest physical change from January to December of this past year?
Physically we moved from one house to another. Even though circumstances make it impossible for us to buy a house right now, I am very happy with were we are. The house feels like a home not a rental.

8. In what way(s) did you grow emotionally?
Ok, I have no idea. I am not to sure I did change. Am I supposed to change every year?  Maybe I should make this a goal this year? Any suggestions?

9. In what way(s) did you grow spiritually?
I have learned that if I want to feel the spirit in our home and personally I have to invite it in. This isn't a new concept but this year I learned that when I am inviting the spirit into our home through prayer, scripture study and positive activities, we are happier as a whole.


10. In what way(s) did you grow physically?
This year I actually lost the weight. With the help of the HCG diet I lost 16 pounds and I have managed to keep 14 of it off, which is still under my original goal of 155 pounds. 

11. What was the most enjoyable area of managing your home?
We moved from one home to another this past year. I love putting together a new space and making it feel like home for my family. I love decorating new spaces.


12. What was your most challenging area of home management?
Laundry! Gosh, one of these years I will get my self into gear and figure out how to stay on top of the laundry.

13. What was your single biggest time waster in your life this past year?
The computer. One of my goals this year is to not be on here so much. To not let a 5 minute email check turn into a 30 minute blog session. 

14. What was the best way you used your time this past year?
Time spent with family. One of the best things we have done with our time is really make the effort to do the bedtime routine. My kids love getting books read to them and family prayer. This small use of time has make a big difference.

15. What was the biggest thing you learned this past year?
If I want to be happy then it is up to me. No one can change things for me. I am in control of my life. 

Homemaker...

Wall Street Journal, titled 

“The Most Creative Job in the World”:

“It involves taste, fashion, decorating, recreation, education, transportation, psychology, romance, cuisine, designing, literature, medicine, handicraft, art, horticulture, economics, government, community relations, pediatrics, geriatrics, entertainment, maintenance, purchasing, direct mail, law, accounting, religion, energy and management. Anyone who can handle all those has to be somebody special. She is. She’s a homemaker.” (3 June 1983.)

I have been thinking a lot about my tittle these days. Homemaker. What is my job worth? I know that for me, it its a priceless job. I always knew growing up that I wanted to me a mother, wife and a homemaker. Growing up in a small town I think the position of a homemaker was valued. Most of my friends, LDS or not, had mothers in the home. I never considered doing anything else. Not because I am lazy or lack motivation to do other things, but because I have always valued the importance of a mother in the home. I knew that I wanted to marry someone who knew how important is is to have our children raised by us and not by relatives, daycare workers and school teachers. I am grateful that I found someone who works hard so that I can stay at home to raise and nurture our children. I also feel very fortunate to have grown up in a home with a stay at home mother. 

As I grew up and left the comfort of home I found out that the world does not value the job of a homemaker. One semester  in college I was taking an English class. At one point we were supposed to take one of the short stories or essays we had read in our text book and write a paper. I choose an essay about working women. I can't remember what was exactly in the essay I read or exactly what was in the paper I wrote, but it was me taking a stance against working women. I made it clear in my paper that I felt that women should stay at home and raise the children. My English teacher did not like it one bit. She wrote on my paper, "your opinion isn't valid". She was a very opinionated women with 2 young children. She worked while her husband stayed home with their kids while she could as she put it, "have a career and not be defined by the title of mom." 

Please don't misunderstand what I am trying to say here. I have no problem with a woman bettering herself with an education or having to work because of personal circumstances. What I am trying to get at is the value of a mother in the home. That the position of mom and homemaker is a valid "career" choice in a world that says it isn't. 


So that is what I am. A homemaker, a wife and a mother. It isn't a glamorous job. It is a selfless job. No matter what I want to do there are always 3 people who are a head of me. It is a 24/7 job. There are late nights and early mornings. Poopy diapers and never ending laundry. You clean a kitchen just to get it dirty for dinner. Bath time, jammies, brush teeth, read stories and off to bed. I wouldn't change my career choice for anything in the world. No doctorate, masters, big paycheck or promotion could be any better than me being at home with my children.

Neglect...

my poor little blog. It has been neglected. I just have been changing priorities a bit. You see, my name is Heidi, (hi Heidi) and I have a problem. I can sit down on the computer and waste so much time. Just looking at my email turns into blog hopping then to facebook then back to email and so forth. About a month ago I decided that I needed to not be a slave to the computer. I would get annoyed that my kids wanted my attention every time I sat down at the computer. I would ignore or push them away. That isn't right. I realized that I am busy at home. Between caring for their physical needs, cleaning the house, laundry and cooking that I rarely just sit down and have face time with them. So when I sat down at the computer they weren't trying to get on the computer or annoy me they were screaming "pay attention to me!!!" So I have really been trying to not be on here as much. I am by no means perfect, I still check email, blog hop and facebook. But I try to only get on the computer twice a day and then turn it off when I don't need it. I can really feel a difference with my stress level during the day. I am not frusterated with my kids competing for my attention between me and the computer. I actually feel guilty that they even had to try to do that. Oh children, please forgive your mother :)

One big reason for me making this change was this article. For some reason my mind kept returning to this article. I would pick up a magazine to read and for some reason it was always the June 2010 Ensign. I was joking to Jeremiah about this phenomenon and he said well maybe you are supposed to learn something out of there you haven't learned it yet.  Well I did.

I also have been struggling with my relationship with Bode and Laine. They had been so whiny, clingy, hiper and trying my patients every day. I would be frusterated every night putting them to bed. 7:30 was the best time of my day. Then after they were in bed I would feel horrible because all I did all day was just go through the motions waiting for nap time and quiet time so I could have me time. Jeremiah bought me this book for my birthday. I really wanted it but put it on the back shelf and never read it. But I pick it up one day and it was like a light finally getting turn on! Sure I can change a diaper and feed them meals but what they need most is for me to show them love. I feel like I learned so much reading the book. If I fill my children's "love tank" with love then they are happy. I won't go into great detail about the 5 Love Languages because it is worth buying the book and reading for yourself. But there are 5 ways people feel love. Touch, Service, Gifts, Time and Words of Affirmation. Everyone needs these to feel secure and loved. Everyone needs these in different order. Like for Bode he needs quality time and words of affirmation. When I remember these things and try hard to make time for him and tell him positive things he is so much easier to work with and we have a better day. Laine is still a bit of a mystery for me. But I know that when I am not nagging on Bode, she can feel the difference. She can feel that there is less tension in our home and relaxes too. Taking the time during the day to play and talk with my children has really make our house feel so good these days. They also have the 5 love languages for marriage, I want to read that one next.

Another book I have been reading is Covenant Hearts. It was really hard to read at first. Kind of wordy but once I figure out the writing style I really enjoyed it. I feel like Jeremiah and I have a good marriage. We have our ups and downs. But every night I go to bed with a full heart, very grateful I married such a wonderful friend, husband and father. One thing that stuck out to me the most was a quote by Marjorie Pay Hinckley. I can't remember the exact context of the quote, but she was asked what her advise to newly married couples is and she said "Lower your expectations". My first thought was oh, how sad. It seemed so negative. But really it is so very true. Our country has such a high divorce rate. Couples live together to "test" a relationship. If it doesn't work out then no big deal, we break up, get divorced and move on. I think so many people feel like marriage should be easy. Full of romantic gestures, gourmet dinners, fancy dates, hot sex (yes I said that). But it isn't. It is hard. There is a lot of give and take, compromises, arguments, macaroni and cheese dinners but along with the hard things there are happy moments, and moments of pure contentment. Jeremiah and I often joke that we "expect nothing so when something does happen we are pleasantly surprised". I love Sister Hinckley's advise. Lower your expectations of things and just let life happen.

I have also been trying to watch less tv. My husband may laugh at this one. I do watch a lot of tv. My husband works nights. After the kids are asleep I get peace and quiet to watch my shows. But I have been so very unimpressed with so many shows that I used to love to watch. We switched cable providers when we moved. I was sure to write down all my shows so that I wouldn't miss one when the new dvr came. Well, the new shows started and slowly I have been canceling series from my oh so important dvr list. So many shows seemed to inappropriate and I was uncomfortable watching them. So they are gone. And I don't miss any of them. Ok I will admit that I was a little sad to loose Glee. But after this past weeks episode and the previews of the next weeks episode I am glad I don't watch it anymore. I am the one that chooses what kind of things we let in our home, I was letting in the wrong things. I will however still download some songs for itunes. I do love the music.

Ok, congratulations on making it this far though this journaling type post. You will be rewarded in the next week or so with fun pictures and stories of what we have been up to since the last time I blogged :)

Oh, this was my 600th post! Wow!