Zane

My life has not been the same since the day I met this man.  In case you don't know our story, I'm going to briefly tell you how we met.  I worked at a radio station on campus at BYU-I.  After a few rough months of being engaged to a guy and then us calling it off, deciding I was going on a mission, doing the paperwork, etc.  I finally received my mission call May 5, 2003 and ran into the station to announce where I was going.  There was Zane (the new guy) and I didn't care one bit when introduced - in fact I brushed it off and continued my squealing to everyone else, "ya, hi!  ANYWAYS guess where I'm going?!?!":)  Needless to say, I didn't go on a mission - he's pretty persistent when he wants to be, and we were married later that year.  It's been the craziest 7 years, and definitely not easy.  There were many times I didn't think we'd make it another day together, but I'm so glad we've trudged through all the muck.  I honestly love this man and I'm grateful he's my partner now and forever.  He may not be perfect, but he's mine and honestly, who is?  We compliment each other's weaknesses and strengths and I think we both are better people because of it.  He is the best father I could ever hope for my kids - they know without a doubt how much he loves them and he is always willing to take the time to play - no matter how tired he is at the end of the day.  Happy birthday to my sweet husband!!  I love you forever.  Here are some pictures of Zane over the years.

Love this man!!

Princess is my hero

She found the camera!!!  It was in her hair basket under the kids' bathroom sink.  I'm pregnant - that's my only excuse.  :)

If you haven't already been...

watching the world cup, today's game should convince you of the intense AWESOMENESS of it!!!

GO USA!!!!!


And you really should start watching - it's the American thing to do.  :)

Picture free

I've lost our camera.  The playback button was broken anyway, but at least I could still take pictures.  It's gone gone gone.  Thank goodness I had already pulled off all the pictures before misplacing it!  Meanwhile many picture worthy activities have been going on that I guess I'll just have to describe.  *sigh*

We went back to Rexburg this last weekend to see our new nephew and Zane's mom before they all went to California for the summer.  Baby J is so cute - and I realized that I am NOT ready to have such a tiny FRAGILE thing in our lives again.  You forget how little they are - definitely sweet and cuddly, but I think I'll be grateful when we can get past the non-supportive head stage with our new baby.  :)  I was glad to see some old friends at the complex and we went to our old ward on Sunday.  I'll just add here that I wish we could just transport our baby-sitter wherever we move she is the greatest ever!  It was great to see everyone and I think it's crazy how much things can change even in just a 5 month period of time.  Wish we had more time to get in a "good" visit, but we had a lot of fun.

Speaking of fun - Cowboy did something pretty awesome and picture worthy.  One of the car dealerships was having a classic car show so we stopped by to see all the awesome restorations.  The fire department was there doing a fundraiser and had their ladder extended up all the way for people to climb.  Crazy high! Cowboy really wanted to climb up, so we asked and they fashioned a small harness for him and off he went!  I should tell you that he had not only a harness and rope, but one of the firefighters climbed right behind him in case he needed help since the rungs were pretty big steps for such a little guy.  Cowboy did AWESOME!  He didn't climb all the way (which is about 70 feet up) but they estimated he climbed at least 55 feet before coming down.  Not bad at all for a four year old!  :)  We were so surprised and proud of him.  Next stop - airborne school!  Princess would have tried it as well, but she had decided to wear a dress that day and we didn't think it would be appropriate for her to climb up showing off her undies to the world.  Drat that modesty!  :)

The kids are starting another round of swimming lessons and all are very excited.  Brother Bear will hardly let me hold him in the pool - he just wants to do it all himself and quite frequently dives out of my arms to kick and glide.  *Sigh* It makes for tiring lessons for mommy sometimes!  The other two are just as fearless and would stay in the water all day if it were possible, or if the weather would cooperate and they weren't shaking like leaves by the end of the lessons.

Princess is reading like crazy and loves to get new reading books at the library.  I'm so amazed with how well she does - she hardly has to ask me what words are anymore!  She got some eye shadow make up and lip gloss for her birthday and loves to play with it and feel like such a big girl.  She actually does a pretty good job with it too.  I love having her home all day this summer and am dreading the start of school already - I hate the idea of her being gone from home so long in the day!  She is super excited though, so I can't say anything.

I'm supposed to sign Brother Bear up for speech therapy, but am putting it off a little because of his explosion of words.  The only question is whether or not other people can understand his words like I can.  :)  We'll see.  I think I'm going to wait until after the baby is born to start taking him...maybe.

So that's our picture free update.  For all my photography guru friends, what camera would you recommend if we were going to save and get a digital SLR?

Professional clarification

I went to my PA today and got some clarification on things said at the hospital last Monday:  I'm fine, nothing to worry about at all, and basically whoever said anything else at the hospital was dumb.  :o)

Back to normal life and no more worrying!  Yay for me!

Oh and by the way, GO USA!!!  I haven't been able to watch much, but the parts I've seen are super great - love the World Cup.  :)

Gross praise

Odd title, I know.  You'll understand after reading.  Oh, and a warning: this post is graphic and not for people who get grossed out too easily.

I've said this so many times, but once again I have to sing the praises of a great husband.  I NEED to go grocery shopping in a bad way, so last night we went out to eat at a local bakery/sandwich shop we've never tried before.  Well apparently, I got a touch of food poisoning from the chicken salad sandwich (I'm hoping this throwing up isn't an every Monday trend).  I woke up at midnight put my hands over my mouth and RAN to the bathroom - but didn't make it before another wave hit me so fast I was stunned.  Seriously, I stood there in the doorway completely shocked that I had just sprayed such a huge amount of puke ALL OVER me (covering my entire face, hair, down my front, not to mention my hands), the carpet, the doorway, the guitar case, mirror, walls, bathroom floor.  You get the idea.  I was totally dumbfounded!  Zane was still awake and I just called out, "Zane?" as I went to the tub to wash off some of my face and then lost it again.  Literally this stuff was unreal!  I was COMPLETELY emptied of everything in my stomach and down to the dry heaving in less than 10 minutes.  And the unbelievable sour smell was something special.  So while I got in the shower to try and clean off my sweet husband cleaned up the entire mess, got out the carpet cleaner (which, just let me interject a note here: carpet steam cleaners are one of the best investments we have ever made and I would highly recommend one for every household with children/pets/people who puke  (o:), and he didn't even complain - just asked if I was okay and set to work.  Granted after all that, he came out and slept in the living room.  :)  Poor guy - I can't say I blame him one bit!

SO that is what I mean by gross praise.  The situation was disgusting, but the praise is real and deserved!

Summer days

Two for one on posting today!  :)  Just wanted to post some pictures of the first day of summer.  :)  It's the first time it's been close to 80 in quite a while, so the kids and I had fun in our backyard after swim lessons.

Princess turns 6

Modeling her new dress and sandals

Cowboy's present to Princess

She wanted a My Little Pony sugar cookie cake

Happy birthday big girl!!

The fun and no-so-fun

I decided Saturday morning since the older two kids had been on antibiotics long enough and BB didn't show any sign of strep we could go down and see Zane's family for his sister's baby's blessing.  The kids did great with the trip in spite of the super quick turn around and it was fun to see everyone.  Unfortunately poor Zane was the only one of the whole family NOT there.  Oh well, I'm sure there will be more get togethers and lately it seems there is always one more baby to add to the bunch so the family pictures are never quite complete.  

All the cousins - the boys are taking over!

BB & his cousin G are 3 wks apart - Cowboy sure loves them!

BB thinks he should close his eyes when someone says "Look at me!"

Princess helping him open his eyes for the picture - so funny!

We were also able to visit with my sister and her family for a little bit.  I wish it could have been longer as planned before sickness, but it was nice for the amount of time we were there.  It turns out it was a blessing in disguise we weren't there for very long anyway.  We thought one of the nephews had food poisoning, but it turns out it was a stomach bug that I caught as well.   So Monday morning I woke up SICK - out both ends.  It was AWFUL.  I was incompetent of taking care of the kids at all so I called Zane and he came home from work to take care of us for the day.  By the end of the day I wasn't keeping any fluid down at all but I still didn't want to go into the hospital for iv fluids thinking I could make it to the next morning and just go in for an office visit.  However after my contractions kept coming every 3 minutes I figured I needed to get hydrated before the contractions actually progressed to something more so I had Zane drop me off (yay for living 5 minutes from the hospital).  However, I was really dumb and decided to go ahead and let them give me the cheaper Phenegren for the nausea in the iv instead of Zofran.  Such a bad idea!  I react to that so bad - it can cause restlessness, anxiety, etc.  So I had to sit through another bag of iv fluid unable to sleep or stay still or relax and starting to freak out that I was strapped to the monitors and iv.  Serves me right for thinking of saving money on the bill.  :)  The poor nurses had a hard time getting my iv started anyway - they had to poke me 5 times to try and get a vein that wouldn't burst or collapse.  My arms look fabulous!  :)  But I'm glad I went in then instead of the morning - I'd hate to think how hard it would have been to get one started after another 12 hrs without any fluid!  Yuck.

I did feel better about my ability to recognize the contractions after actually seeing that not only was i having them, but they were big enough to actually register high numbers on the monitor.  It made me feel like it wasn't just in my head.  :)  Because of all the contractions they went ahead and checked my cervix to make sure they hadn't made me progress before I left the hospital.  I was very happy that I wasn't dilated, but not so happy to find out that my cervix is super soft/thin which from what I understand from them means there isn't any more barrier to the contractions actually making me efface and dilate.  No one wants to hear a doctor say "well, at least try and keep that baby in there another month."  ?????  What are you supposed to think with that?  I've been pretty good at ignoring all these contractions up to this point - with the exception of those that made me have to stop walking or take my breath away.  But seriously, now how can I not become paranoid about these obnoxious contractions that I inevitably have 24 hrs a day?  *sigh*  Ignorance is bliss I tell ya!

So Zane picked me up from the hospital about 2 am and I was still super weak yesterday so he worked from home again.  I just have to say, I really have an amazing husband.  He took care of us all without a complaint that he was having to use some of the few vacation days he gets, I didn't even have to ask him to stay another day yesterday - he told me he was going to stay because I needed to get better.  He's wonderful.  There are times in a marriage when you question how much you love your spouse, or even if you still love them.  I can honestly it's true - love grows and changes over time.  I can't imagine life without him - he's truly my match and I love him so much more today than I did when we were married. I think our differences challenge each other - but in a good and growing way.  Love that man!  :)

Fevers

I'm all for immunizations - I just have this big huge reservation with the safety of injecting 7 + diseases in a poor kid at a time.  So I generally stagger my kids' shots.  Well, I've gotten so far behind on Brother Bear that I allowed them to poke him 4 times yesterday with a total of I think 8 different diseases.  Ugh.  Needless to say, I expected him to have a fever, etc last night.  Meanwhile, Cowboy was missing one of his Hib shots and even though the doctor just said he had strep, she thought it would be fine for him to have the immunization on top of it.  Against my better judgement I agreed.  POOR COWBOY.  Last night was terrible for the poor kid.  He was limping around because his leg hurt, his throat already hurt from the strep, and he had such a high fever - it was so hard to watch!  Zane was fuming when he read the immunization hand out and it said to NOT give a child who could be moderately ill this shot until they are healthy.  Nice!  Thank goodness for the priesthood!  We don't have any home teachers yet, so thankfully one of the guys we know in the ward was willing to come over and help Zane administer.  I'm so grateful!  Cowboy slept pretty peacefully the rest of the night and woke up with no fever, and no bad side effects.  Whew!

Brother Bear woke up in the middle of the night with a high fever, but thankfully his went down with some ibuprofen and stripping him of his clothes.

We are so blessed!  Both boys are up and relatively happy (although our bouncy Cowboy is quite subdued laying on the couch).  If I could just convince them that drinking is the way to get better faster!  :)  Princess healed so fast this time because she was able to understand that if she ate the popsicles and drank lots of juice and water that her throat would feel better.  Love that girl!  :)  She's a smarty.

Mommy and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

Today is Mommy's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.  Well, maybe not that bad, but it's not a good Mommy day.  We've all had them, or will have them at some point, some of us more than others.  I am feeling overwhelmed and frustrated and very short tempered.  I feel like the perfume of my life right now is a mixture of pee and poop - on the bright side, at least no one is vomiting to add to that lovely mixture.  :P  I know it sounds stupid, but I swear I can clean the bathroom every day and it still smells bad!  I have a hard time not feeling angry when my 6 yr old still has some kind of potty accident almost daily.  I'm frustrated that I am now washing 2 sets of sheets that were all soaked in pee.  I won't even bother explaining this story right now, but Brother Bear peed all over the house yesterday and I can't find all the spots to wash them.  He wants to potty train, but I just don't think I can handle the extra mess right now.  Of course, I also hate changing his messy diapers that reek to high heaven.  *sigh*

Brother Bear has been at the receiving end of my yelling a few times today.  Last night he put a huge gash in Cowboys head swinging around a flashlight instead of cleaning up (he could have used stitches, but it's under the hairline, so we aren't too worried about a scar).  Today BB whacked Cowboy again in the head in the bath with a toy.  Needless to say, he may not speak much, but he is definitely a 2 yr old. He's been refusing to listen and hitting a lot lately.

I'm blogging this in an attempt to get out my feelings so I stop yelling at the kids today.   Really, it's not their fault that I am feeling frustrated.  I'm hormonally imbalanced, and already not sleeping at night due to the pregnancy.  I'm starting to think Zane is right.  He thinks this should be our last one - I'm not sure my family, or I can go through the mood swings and exhaustion again.  I just want my house to be completely clean today - all of it, and I want the energy to do it.  I'm not just talking regular cleaning - like washing all the stains out of the couch, shampooing the carpets, pulling out the fridge and stove, cleaning all the blinds and window sills, the outside windows, every little nook and cranny.  Yes, I am being completely unrealistic, I know it.  But these little things are influencing the whole irritation.

I'm not on the verge of a breakdown, just having a no good Mommy day.  This too shall pass, and I do love my kids, and I am grateful for being able to stay at home with them, but I think I'll actually be feeling more grateful another day.  :)

Jumping on the bandwagon

I refused to read the Twilight series almost until Breaking Dawn came out and I finally gave in and read them.  I liked them - they were different and I appreciate easy read books that don't have a lot of swearing or over-the-top love scenes, etc.  But the deal is,  I have this thing against following the "fads" of the reading/entertainment world.  I really don't like when the books I love are turned into movies because for the most part they are severe disappointments.  I don't like when everyone and their dog reads the same book.  Weird?  Yes, I know.

That being said, I've joined another bandwagon, and I really hope they NEVER turn these books into movies and Barbies like they have Twilight.  If you haven't already read the Hunger Games series, I'd truly recommend it.  They are totally unique and thought provoking.  So if you are a hold out like me, come and join in - I thought they were worth it.  But you should know the third and final book doesn't come out until August, so you may want to wait a couple months.  :oD