We're Going To The Zoo, Zoo, Zoo...

Friday was our field trip day. Not that every Friday will necessarily end up being a field trip, but I am going to try to take the kids out to have hands' on experiences more often. The kids were thrilled to find out we were going to the zoo. I packed a lunch, loaded the kids and headed to Salt Lake as soon as I could get us out the door. I talked to my friend who had been wanting to go so we met up for a minute. She was almost finished when we got there so we rode the train together before they left. Her son, Soren, LOVES trains and so does Preston. Both of them were so sad to get off the train, although Preston took it a little better than Soren. He was crying and crying when they made him get off. So cute! It was good to see her, even if it was a short visit. The boys had such a good time at the zoo and Marissa was an angel! She was probably happy to be out in the fresh air. We ended up staying 4 1/2 hours...unheard of for us, but it's a place that the boys love. I was pretty tired by the end of the day though. After our visit to the zoo, I decided it would be good to go see my grandma since we were in Salt Lake already. Marcos ended up going to the temple by himself that night. Oh well. Anyway, it was good to see grandma and spend some time with her as well. It's hard to fit everything in that you feel like you should be doing. I don't know if everyone feels that way, but it's all I can do to sort of keep my house clean, keep the kids fed, make sure we read scriptures, have FHE and learn stuff for "school," plan church lessons, go to activities, visiting teaching, attempt to schedule in time to go to the temple, doctor and dentist appointments, keeping up the garden, visiting family, service... How do people have time for everything? And those are just the basics. Forget penciling in time for reading, blogging, scrapbooking (or any other hobby I would like to learn or have time to do) or the occasional girls' night out. Man, life is busy! I know I have a young family, but it's insane. Both Marcos and I feel a little swamped right now. Hopefully we can find a way to balance everything! Anyway, here are some pictures from the zoo.

Cute kids playing at the zoo

Baby faces crack me up. Marissa started smiling about a week before these were taken, but I could not capture a smile on camera to save my life. I love all the funny faces infants make though. Marissa turned 6 weeks old the day of our big outing. Here are a few pictures of her that day.

First Day of School

I've had a lot of people ask me how the first week of school went. Surprisingly well, actually. My biggest challenge right now is just finding a routine that works for our family (which is almost always the challenge for me - I'm always trying to tweak it and make it make more sense). That and trying to get used to how different learning at home is from learning at school. I've read a lot about this stuff the last few months and it's amazing the range of home school philosophies that exist - from super structured, tons of curriculum to no structure at all. I'm shooting for somewhere in the middle, keeping in mind that younger children should be focused more on developing core values still. I need the structure and routine and so do my kids, but part of the reason for home schooling is so the kids can learn naturally and through play so just giving Dylan worksheet after worksheet isn't going to be my approach.

I'm sure I'll adjust it a million times before I feel like it's fine tuned, but for now, we start our mornings reading scriptures with Marcos before he leaves for work, have breakfast and do whatever chores need to be done that day (minimal, but something every day), do a devotional (which for now consists of song, prayer, pledge, scripture, Article of Faith, chapter out of the illustrated Book of Mormon and a story out of the friend). The rest of the morning is fairly structured learning, although with more games and classic books than textbooks and worksheets. I usually teach one main thing that interests me (from the unit I've chosen - for now I'm working in units...we'll see how I end up liking that), then we do lunch and the afternoon is much less structured, allowing the kids to learn what they love and explore on their own. I actually might have required quiet time for an hour or so every afternoon where the kids are banished to their rooms with books (Preston in the boys' room and Dylan probably in my bedroom). I'm hoping that coordinates well with an afternoon nap for Marissa and some sanity/study time for me. Again, we'll just have to see how it goes.

I started with a mountain man unit. I found a bunch of unit ideas here and liked the way this lady teaches her kids so I decided to copy her a bit until I felt comfortable doing my own thing. I soon realized, you have to adjust the learning a ton to your own family even if you do get the original idea from someone else, but a lot of my mountain men unit is similar to hers.

The first day Tony was at our house and joined most of our school day (when he wasn't doing his own reading). I gave a basic history of mountain men (it really is fascinating...I didn't know a lot of it) and talked about possibles bags. I already had bags picked out that we owned that the kids could use as their possibles bags when we went on hikes during the unit. We looked at maps, read books about grizzly bears and mountain lions and also learned about several well-known mountain men like Jedediah Smith and Kit Carson. We took a walk not in the mountains, but to the bird preserve because Dylan requested it. We also plan to go to the zoo and the mountain men rendezvous in Ogden next week. Oh and I'll probably try to get Davy Crockett for the kids to watch for movie night at some point.

There is so much information in my brain right now from reading and studying and pondering that it's a bit overwhelming, but I'm sure I'll get into the grove at some point and not worry so much about how and what to teach. Anyway, not the typical "first day of school" post, but I thought I'd post it anyway. The pictures I have are from the bird preserve. You can see the possibles bags the kids carried with them. They LOVED them! Dylan has a plastic knife from the dollar store he's been toting around all week too. It was actually a really good day/week for all of us.

Surf 'n Swim

Last Friday, we headed over to Surf 'n Swim with a bunch of people from the ward. I thought it would be super crowded what with school starting the next week, but it wasn't bad at all. My mom called to see what we were doing and ended up joining us with Tony, Kamyn and Kenya in tow. The kids had a blast and as usual, we couldn't get Preston out of the water. That kid is a total fish! I've decided to try to use swimming lessons as an incentive for potty training. I'm working on getting a routine down first and then we're going to give it another try. I'll let you know how it goes. :) That kid does things on his own time and I've learned to at least try to respect that (which is quite tough for an over-achiever, goal-oriented type like me). My mom brought a picnic and we had some lunch and then swam some more. It was a really fun afternoon!

Midnight Bowling

Last week, a family in our ward invited us to have a "midnight bowl" so after Marcos' soccer game, we headed to Bountiful. Jon manages a bowling alley in Bountiful and sometimes they go hang out and play as a family after closing the place down. Let me just tell you, it was awesome! We brought the kids (most in pajamas) some pillows and blankets and hung out for three games, some spontaneous late-night McDonald's food (for Marcos and the kids) and plenty of fun! I think we stayed until around 1-ish. Preston fell asleep on the way there and slept through the whole thing...until Dylan decided he wanted him to go with him somewhere and woke him up. Honestly! At midnight, Preston was fresh from his 10 p.m. nap and ready to go, hopping around the bowling alley with his blanket over his head. He's such a nut! Thankfully he did end up going back to sleep when we got home. There were three families that ended up going - 6 adults and 13 kids! Crazy! The men bowled on one lane, the women on another and then the kids were on a couple lanes bowling off and on. We turned off the lights and set the "mood" with neon lights and music blaring. Now, for those who don't know, I'm a pretty crappy bowler, average on a good day, but for some reason that 13 lb, neon yellow ball was working for me that day. I bowled a 109 the first game (on the high side for me), 150 on the second and somewhere in between on the 3rd (like 124 or something). I was shocked! I either had a lucky ball or have miraculously gained some sort of bowling skill. Not that I'm league-ready or anything, but it was a good night for me. :)

Unfortunately I was having too much fun to remember to take many pictures. I managed to grab one of Preston sleeping, one of the men, one of the women and a blurry one of Dylan, but that was it. Oh well, my story will have to be sufficient for a memory this time. It was super fun...and after we bowled, we even got to go in the back and see how the pins are moved around in the machine and set back up. SO COOL! I LOVE learning about new things that you've never really understood before.

I felt pretty good to have 2 out of 3 kids asleep before we even got there...but then Preston decided to join in on the fun! ;)

4 Weeks Old

Now that Marissa is almost 5 weeks, I'm finally getting around to posting these pictures I took last week. I have a feeling I'm not going to be the most avid blogger anymore. Between a new baby, YW stuff and preparing myself for this home schooling adventure, I feel like I'm always helping someone, refereeing kid fights, cleaning something, nursing, feeding kids or reading. I'm excited to get into a schedule though. I think routine is going to be good for everyone in our family, which is why I decided to wait until the neighborhood kids were in school to "officially" start school. It's hard to have more of a routine in the summer when everyone is cramming in everything and going everywhere. Too many "fun" activities to be super structured.

Anyway, Marissa is doing great! She stopped breathing again the other night, which is good and bad. Good because now I recognize a bit of a pattern. Both times she'd been screaming and really fussy for quite awhile, both times I fed her and then she fell asleep in my arms and her breathing slowed and then stopped. So whether she was just completely exhausted or what, at least I recognize when and why it might happen. It's bad because now it's even scarier and harder to know how long we should monitor her (especially at night). It's also good because even though she seems to stop and not start again, if you can startle her enough, she wakes up and starts crying. I pinched her pretty hard a few times and that finally did the trick. It still scared me quite a bit, but I was much more prepared to deal with it I suppose.

I don't have any stats to post because she hasn't been to the doctor since she was 2 weeks. At 2 weeks, she was just barely over her birth weight at 9 lbs 2 oz, but her doctor told me she was long and lean. Funny! My baby who was bot at 9 lbs is long and lean. It's just because we seem to make such tall children. She is a really good baby though. It's weird how you just feel like they're a part of your family and were meant to be - even when you're getting used to having another child around. She has started sleeping more at night and will go 5-6 hours the first span of the night and then 4 the next. It's been nice not to have to get up 3 times a night anymore. Usually just 1-2 depending on when she starts her "night." She eats and goes right back to sleep too, which is great. I've been lazier with her than I was with the boys though and find myself waking up next to her wondering how long she ate and if I fed her on both sides or not. Then I realize I started feeding her over an hour before so both of us must have dozed off. Oh well. When you're tired, you're tired. :) Here are a few pictures I took the day she turned 4 weeks (last Friday).

Raft River

Last Monday, I was brave and took five kids up to Raft River in Idaho all by myself. I brought my nephew, Tony, and Anthony (the little boy I used to babysit) with me. It was hilarious though. Tony brought his DVD player, Anthony brought one and I had the dual portable DVD players for my kids. Four DVD players in one minivan. That has got to be a record! It kept them entertained for the drive though. Thankfully I wasn't alone when I got there. I had plenty of offers to "help" with the baby! ;) Unfortunately, it was FREEZING so I didn't even put my swimming suit on, but the kids were brave and slid on the slides anyway. Poor Preston is such a die-hard with water. He came to me after he was completely frozen and simply said, "I code (cold), mom." Funny kid! Of course I didn't even have jackets for the kids, but I found a huge sweatshirt in the lost and found and decided to use it to warm poor Preston up. He was happy again in no time. The candy canon was a hit (as always). Preston was as happy as could be with his bag of candy and sweatshirt bouncing around on a toy ball in the garage (where it was a bit warmer). Anyway, it was definitely an adventure with a bunch of kids in the freezing cold, but we survived and made some good memories for sure.

Scary Night

Yesterday I took five kids up to Raft River (more to come on that). The day was fine, but Marissa got progressively more fussy throughout the day. I finally figured it was probably thrush because her mouth had quite a bit of white around it and she was showing signs of struggling to latch on and being in more pain. No big deal, right? We made her an appointment for that night. I pumped a bottle and tried to get her to eat it. I didn't even pump 3 ounces. No wonder she had been eating so often again - her mouth was so sore that she didn't want to eat more than she had to. Poor baby! She ate most of her bottle and then soon after started looking and acting very weird. Her coloring was getting worse and when I pulled off her clothes to watch her breathing, it was very shallow with many long periods of not taking a breath at all. I know an infant's breathing can have many off and on periods of breathing, but this was different. She was not doing well. Marcos said he thought he should go in with me to the appointment in case we needed to take her to the hospital.

We called our neighbor to see if their son could come sit with the boys (who were in bed, but not asleep yet) so we could go together. They all rushed over. The dad, who is an anesthesiologist, said she didn't look great and was pretty floppy and lethargic (which is what I had thought) and that we should probably take her straight into the E.R. Oh man. Inside my stomach dropped, but I did my best to hold it together. I knew it would be best if I could stay calm and just figure out why her breathing was all of a sudden so shallow and her coloring was so off. Marcos drove like a maniac, which about made my heart stop. I was sitting in the back next to her and just kept pushing on her chest to remind her to breathe. It was like she just kept forgetting to breathe. Not just once in awhile, but often. Her eyes started looking glossy and she closed them so I told Marcos to pull the car over. It's hard to keep an infant from falling asleep, but again, this was different. She went from bad to worse and she rarely took a breath without my putting slight pressure on her chest. I told Marcos she wasn't doing well and to pull the car over. He told me to call 9-1-1, which I did and then out of nowhere it hit me and I just yelled to him to give her a blessing. I didn't hear most of it because I got on the phone with 9-1-1, but I have to say, I am so grateful that he was with me and that he holds the priesthood. Why we didn't think of that before we went to the hospital, I will never know. Marcos pulled her out of the car so I could lay her on my lap and monitor her better. But she was not responsive to any movement at all. She was so limp. It was the scariest thing ever! While we were waiting for the ambulance, I ended up lying her on the seat and propping her head back to try to get her to breathe a little deeper (that's what 9-1-1- told me to do). All I remember is listening to her and saying, "Breathe, baby, breathe. Please breathe." When the ambulance got there, they asked a couple of questions and then took her from the seat into the ambulance. I followed them in there and in no time they had her crying like crazy. I'm not sure what that guy did to her, but it worked. And it was the best sound I've ever heard! I felt bad for my baby, but I was so grateful to hear her cry. They monitored her vitals on the way to the hospital and for a few hours in the hospital, but she was fine after that. They sent us home with a monitor to use at home and she did fine last night and so far this morning. We will probably only need to monitor her when she is sleeping or when we are worried about her, but she is doing awesome. In some ways it makes me feel like the crazy mom that everyone talks about whose baby was fine when they took her to the E.R. Marcos thinks I'm dumb for worrying about stuff like that, but I do (not to mention the big bill we will be adding to the ever-growing stack of medical bills). But truly I am just grateful that she is okay now. I think it must have been the blessing. She was so unresponsive and minutes later able to come to and cry and start breathing regularly again. I can't imagine our lives without that precious child and I feel so thankful she is doing great!

Our Big News

I've been putting off this post for awhile now. I'm not sure why. I guess it's the insecure part of me that lingers even into adulthood - the deep place in my soul that still has this slight need to fit in with the rest of the world. It must still be there to some degree or I wouldn't be so hesitant to share the news with ya'all.

With the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year approaching quickly, it's bound to come up in conversation so I figured I'd better break it to you now. Ya ready for this? Marcos and I have decided to home school our kids. What the ... ? That's right. I'll give you a moment to pick your jaw off the floor. I'm probably the last person you'd ever think would choose to home school her kids. Actually, I'm pretty shocked myself. You know, the ambitious, career-woman, I'm-going-to-conquer-the-world Maria that many of you probably knew. But if there's one thing I've learned, it's that I don't know as much as I thought I knew and I'm not all that great at predicting my own future. What I think is best for me and what really turns out to be best for me are rarely the same thing. Over the years, I've gradually been able to put as much of the decision-making in the Lord's hands, even though it scares the crud out of me at first. Anyway, a few of my close friends and family know I've actually considered this for years (since before Dylan went to preschool really) but was too chicken to really deal with the nagging feeling I kept having. Well, by the end of the school year last year, I simply couldn't ignore the nagging sensation anymore. It was definitely not an easy decision and it still scares me to death in many ways, but after reading, researching and praying a WHOLE LOT, Marcos and I both feel that it's what's right for our family right now. Life already seems so chaotic, but I trust that the Lord will help us figure it out as we go.

Anyway, I figured I may as well throw it out for all my readers to discover since I know gossip travels quickly. Half of you have probably heard rumor already. :) So, wish me luck and feel free to send some prayers up on my behalf. Heaven knows I'm going to need some major help with my levels of sanity and patience during this journey.

Random Pictures

Life's been crazy! I would say I'm adjusting just fine to three kids except it's obvious with the amount of housework I have to do and my lack of time to do anything extra (like blog) that we're still in the transitional phase. The kids LOVE their sister, but have been fighting more amongst themselves. We're getting there though. A week and a half ago, I got pretty sick. I had a fever that came out of nowhere and felt horrible! I thought I was going to die! (Okay, not really, but it was bad). I finally called the midwife on call (mine was out of town). We ruled out mastitis, but are pretty sure it was some sort of infection. Thankfully a few days on the antibiotic and I was feeling decent again. Thanks to all the people who have brought meals, taken the boys for play dates and just been there to let me vent when I was having a moment. It really does take a village to raise a child! :) Here are some of the pictures I've managed to take the last week or so.

Dylan and Preston have been playing rodeo lately. Preston calls it "ruckin' ronko" instead of buckin' bronko. Preston gets on Dylan's back and Dylan goes around in circles on his hands and knees jumping and twisting like crazy until Preston falls off. Anyway, Dylan decided it would be safer if he had his gear on first so he put boots, kneepads and a helmet on him before starting the "8 second ride".

The boys picked a few of my flowers and decided Marissa needed one to wear in her hair. Here's the proof!

Our four generation picture. I should've gotten dressed. :) We went to see my grandma's house the Sunday after Marissa was born. I knew she felt bad that she couldn't drive up to see the baby so we went to her. A little crazy since I had just given birth two days before, but whatever. I know she was so happy to see her great granddaughter.

Marissa LOVES the warm bath water

All wrapped up after her first bath

I LOVE our backyard. One day I was able to send the kids out back so I could relax while I watched them play. They played forever in the pool until Preston decided to drain it (little stink!) Look at him flying through the air! He loved jumping into the water over and over again.

Another shot of the boys playing in the pool

This is pretty much how I feel all the time! I haven't gotten used to being up a few times every night yet and of course it's pretty tough to get a nap in with energetic little boys who want to play with mommy. Plus I'm horrible at going to bed early - it's something I really need to learn though!

A random funny infant face caught on camera

Dylan has seriously been the BEST helper ever! He loves this little girl and is very comfortable holding her and carrying her around everywhere. Marissa's very lucky to have a big brother like Dylan!

Marcos playing with Preston. We've been trying to give the kids one on one time when possible to help with the adjustment. Preston LOVES Marissa so much, but is clearly struggling to find his place in our new family. We're working on it though...baby steps!

Marcos feeding Marissa a bottle - we are trying to give her a bottle once every day or so to make sure we can leave her here and there and she won't starve.

I think this was the night I came down with the fever. I was MISERABLE and completely exhausted!

My sister-in-law, Amy, took the boys to play one day (Thanks again, Amy!) Preston came home and Dylan stayed for a sleep over. Preston was a little weirded out having Dylan gone that night and just wanted to hold Marissa. He says over and over in his sweet 3-year-old voice, "I want to hold Marissa. I want to lay by Marissa." I finally swaddled her and laid her next to him and he was out in no time.

Play time

Preston loving his little sister

So sweet!

This little girl gets more kisses in a day than anyone I've ever met!

Comfy in the swing

One night Preston fell asleep in Dylan's bed. Dylan's been in a "scared" phase lately so he lets Preston sleep in his bed with him. I guess he figures if something scary is going to happen, he'd rather have some company. Anyway, I think Preston fell off the bed at some point. This is how I found him later that night when I checked on them...lying on the floor next to Dylan's bed.

I LOVE summer storms. We decided to go out in the rain the other day when it was pouring. The kids put on boots and jackets and went for it. Preston couldn't decide which boots to put on so he wore one pair on his hands and one pair on his feet. :)

Marcos decided to join in the fun...they were all drenched!

Ramona and Beezus

I LOVE my sisters! Sometimes I get all nostalgic remembering the "good old days" when it was just us four girls...and my mom. We don't always see eye to eye and we've definitely all changed a lot since we were kids, but my sisters are still my dearest friends. Monday was my sister, Angie's, 30th birthday. She was in town, but alone since her husband was working on a project for a relative of his (the same brother-in-law who always ends up getting roped into helping with our projects...poor man!) Anyway, we all felt kind of bad that we didn't have anything planned. We had dinner at my mom's on Sunday, but this was her 30th birthday and she was actually here in town for it. Alicia (the youngest) decided she would make brownies and take them over to my mom's house to surprise her. Unfortunately, my mom had decided to take her out to lunch for her birthday and then ended up taking her kids to Classic to let them play while they visited. We just couldn't seem to coordinate anything that day. I finally got a call about 8:30 Monday night saying they'd decided to go to a movie at 9:40 in Ogden. Perfect! I was just feeding the baby so it should work out that I could go to the movie and be back before she even needed to eat again (there was milk here just in case, but still the timing was good).

So yeah... there's not exactly a lot playing right now. We wanted to go to a movie, but didn't know what to see. That's why we put off making plans all day. Well, we decided to go see "Ramona and Beezus." It was the only thing that sounded good that no one had seen and that was playing at the right time. Let me just tell you how funny we looked. Four grown women going to see Ramona and Beezus in the middle of the night without any kids. We were laughing so hard at ourselves. Of course we had to get popcorn and drinks too since it was a special occasion. So we spent WAY too much money on a kids' movie and treats for Angie's birthday. We got in the theater and it was the four of us and one other group of teenaged girls (I'm assuming they snuck in after another movie, but what do I know). Anyway, all I have to say is it was a blast...a memory I will always treasure. First of all, we couldn't help but laugh because Ramona seriously reminds us of Dylan. He would do ALL of the things she did and more. I never made that connection before, but we will definitely be reading those books together. I think he will LOVE them! Then, even though it was a cute little kids movie, we were all tearing up at the same parts, then looking over at each other and laughing. Seriously! Four grown women crying during Ramona and Beezus! Give me a break! We couldn't figure out if the girls behind us were mocking us for crying or mocking each other, but one of the girls was talking so loud and being obnoxious during part of the movie. She kept saying, "It's a movie, okay? I mean, of course I'm not crying. It's a freaking cat." I won't go into detail for those anxiously awaiting the movie. I wouldn't want to spoil it for you. ;) Anyway, they would not shut up. I finally said, "Sh" half joking and half really hoping they would just stop talking. It's the obnoxious teenager in me coming out again, I suppose (do not leave me alone with my sisters...I obviously regressed quite a bit in my level of maturity). Anyway, after the movie we were joking about whether or not we should hurry and leave BEFORE them or wait until after. We were also talking about how we had to wait for the crowd to die down so we could leave the theater. Sounds lame now that I'm saying it, but we had a really good time. We just get all silly and giggly like school girls when we're all together. The other group ended up leaving before us. Alicia said as they walked by they "shushed" us back. I didn't hear, but it's kind of funny. I know, I'm not the most mature person, but really...who talks for 10 minutes in a loud voice during a movie?

Happy 30th Birthday, Angie! We'll always remember our night at Ramona and Beezus! :)