Ghetto Van Window

Two weeks ago, my van window started wiggin' out. Marcos prayed really hard (that's what he told me at least) and it started working again. I should've known though. The motor really was going out. And it got stuck down several inches and would not go back up the week it rained REALLY hard around here. Last Wednesday was a super busy day. I had music class for Preston in the morning, was on carpool duty, had music class for Dylan in the afternoon, ran to the grocery store and then had to drop the kids at my mom's house so she could watch them while I went to the temple for YW. And of course it rained all day. So I had to improvise...with very little time and resources. This is what my car window looked like for a good 5 days until we could get it into the dealer to have it fixed. It was super loud on the freeway, but I didn't get wet so I guess it served its purpose.

Thankfully the van was covered under warranty still...kind of. I'll give you the short version (if that's even possible for me). I took it in and showed the guy the warranty. He glanced at it and said it would be no problem because it was a Ford warranty. After waiting FOREVER with Preston in the waiting room trying to entertain him (no easy task) we finally got a ride home from their shuttle guy. I received several calls from the guy who helped me telling me the warranty was under the old people's name (oops, I didn't know you had to change it...I just knew it was still under warranty). He asked a million questions, called me back, kept me on hold and finally told me it would be no problem. We just had to pay the $50 to transfer it to our name. And we could do that the next day when we came back. So we went ahead with the repair. Thank heavens I brought Marcos the next day thinking it might be chaotic trying to talk to them, pay, get the warranty transfered and all that with Preston in tow. Marcos went to give them the info for the warranty, paid the $50 and then went to get the car. That's when the guy told him the amount would be $288 plus tax. What? It's covered under warranty. We're just paying the deductible. Well, no. You transfered the warranty today, but we did the repair yesterday so we can't use the warranty. This is when I went a little crazy on the poor kid. I spoke to you HOW MANY TIMES? You knew I was getting this fixed because it was under warranty. Otherwise I would've waited. Hello! I even told him we knew the old owners and could have them just come sign for it if it was just a stupid technicality. "Well, that wouldn't be honest." What part of this whole ordeal is honest to you, you incompetent freak? (I did not say that, but was definitely thinking it). We ended up talking to two managers who gave us the run around and went back and forth talking to us and the kid and finally said they would just charge us $100 plus tax even though they use the warranty because it wasn't changed before the repair was done. Boo freaking hoo people! I asked the right questions, but was given the wrong answers. What part of that is my problem? I get that I should be smarter, but that's why I asked about all of this. I've never needed to use a warranty for a repair before. Marcos said, "Customer service, right?" I wanted to laugh out loud. I've never had WORSE customer service in my life. Anyway, whatever. At least we came out of the whole thing fine. Well, a little scarred, but without having to finance our future. :)

Lovable Dylan...And Soliciting Ideas

This motherhood thing is such a roller coaster. Seriously, one day child #1 is making you crazy and butting heads with you and you think there is no hope and child #2 makes you smile constantly. The next day, you are super concerned about child #2 and child #1 has gone into super sweet, loving mode. What people with more than two children do, I will never know? Heaven help us when I have to juggle the needs, personalities, and ups and downs of three children simultaneously.

The past few days, Preston has really been pushing my buttons. With everything...but especially bedtime. Dylan is an expert in stalling, but Preston is usually happy to hop in bed and go right to sleep, occasionally talking or giggling for a minute. But the last few days Preston has been getting in and out of bed, teasing Dylan, climbing on his bed, the dresser and changing table and just thinking it is a perfect time for him to play. This is the part where I solicit advice. If anyone has any bright ideas, let me know. The problem is, then Dylan thinks it's fine for him to stay up and play too. One being naughty usually becomes both being naughty. The only thing I could think of was to give Preston a timeout. So I take him out of bed (or his bedroom since wasn't really IN bed) and put him in the booster chair strapped in facing the front door. I was trying to make it dramatic but not have to check on him to see if he was leaving timeout or not. That way when he acts up at night, I can give him the choice between the timeout chair and his bed. Let me know if you have any better ideas.

But that's beside the point. I only mention it because this nonsense was going on when I got home from Relief Society tonight so I went to give the ultimatum to the children (or the choices so I was still following my newfound "Love and Logic" form of discipline) and Dylan said he needed me to lay by him for a minute. I knew he didn't need me to, but some part of me loves to be loved that much so I couldn't help myself. He usually just likes a little snuggle and then he's good. And truly it's easier snuggling up next to him in his twin bed than it is snuggling up next to Preston in the toddler bed. You should see how I have to fold myself up to get in there with him. :) Dylan was the sweetest thing in the world though so I couldn't help but blog about it. I know I will need to read this one day in either the near or distant future and remember how much I love this kid. So here's the way I remember our conversation.

D: Mommy, I love you! I missed you so much when you were gone. I'm not going to let you leave. I'm going to wrap my tape arms around your neck.

M: What are tape arms?

D: You know. Like tape holds things together. My arms are tape arms so you can't get away. (wrapping me in the tightest skinny-armed bear hug ever!)

M: Okay. I love you too, buddy. I always miss you when I'm gone.

D: I need you, Mommy. You are the best Mommy in the world (plastering my cheeks and forehead with hundreds of kisses while still bear hugging me-seriously a mother's DREAM!)

M: No, you're the best!

D: I love you the most.

M: I love you the mostest hostest patostest!

D: (Giggle) My love for you could fill 10 whole pots all the way to the top.

M: My love for you could fill 100 pots.

D: My love for you could fill 50,000 pots.

M: My love could fill a million pots.

D: Mom, what comes after a million?

M: A billion.

D: Oh yeah. My love for you could fill a billion pots.

M: Mine could fill a million billion trillion gazillion!

D: Mom, (staring at my eyes) I really like your eye makeup.

M: Thanks, bud.

D: (Feeling my eyelashes). I like how your eyelashes feel. They're fluffy.

M: Thanks, buddy.

D: What are these called again? (rubbing his finger along my eyebrow)

M: Eyebrows

D: Oh yeah. I remember. Eyebrows. Why do you have eyebrows?

M: Um, I don't know. I guess for decoration.

D: (Giggle) Why don't I have eyebrows? (feeling above his eye). Oh, I do, but they're just really little. I think maybe they're to block the sun. See how they poke out from your eyes a little.

M: Yeah, maybe that's it bud.

Now this moment of pure bliss and entertainment for me was interrupted yet again by Mr. Preston who then had to go to the booster facing the front door for a few minutes. It worked though. When I went to get him down I asked if he was ready to sleep in his bed or if he wanted to sit in the chair some more he said, "No, I stuck, Mommy." I replied, "So you want to go to bed." "Yes, bed, Mommy." It still feels counterproductive to take a kid from his bed to go to timeout, but it seems to be the only thing that works. I'll keep you posted though.

Halfway There...20 Weeks and Counting!

I'll be honest, the first trimester plus seemed to drag on forever this time around. Even though we didn't tell anyone until I was over ten weeks along, it was still a really long and not very fun trimester. I think I was sick and miserable for 16-17 weeks. But the last three weeks have been great - minus the colds and strep throat we keep getting around here. I'm trying to really enjoy the second trimester now that the nausea has finally subsided and the weight gain has come on full swing (DANG IT!) I'm working on being positive and focusing on the cool stuff - the little kicks and thoughts of the baby before the "I'm so big and can't even bend over" trimester hits me. How am I going to tie Preston's shoes when I can't even tie my own? I haven't gotten that far yet, but that's going to be a challenge. Dylan was so much more independent at this age. I guess he'll have to sit on the counter and I'll put his shoes on there. For now, I'm feeling great! I'm trying not to LOVE all the food that used to make me sick so I don't end up gaining a million pounds, but I probably will anyway. Oh well. I'll worry about it later I guess. And I'm trying to enjoy feeling good for now. Not too big, not sick, hormones working FOR me. It's still a little weird that people don't really notice I'm pregnant, but my body is just weird. It seems to be the trend for me. My body conceals the pregnancy for quite some time and then out of nowhere, I'm HUGE and seem like I'm ready to pop. There is no in between, cute little pregnant lady baby bump for me. It's just how my body works. But here are a couple pictures of me at 20 weeks. I think I just look thicker and wider, but I'm documenting so here you go. :)

This picture really didn't turn out great. I'm holding my stomach too high on top so you can't really tell where the "bump" is. Oh well. I'll get a better one in a few weeks.

It's a little easier to see the little hill that is my lower stomach when I'm lying down. It's there and hard as a rock. It's just not super obvious yet. My sisters seems to have similar pregnancies so I guess it runs in the family. We were talking about it and thought maybe it's the hips. I'm a curvy girl, even at my thinnest. Thankfully Marcos likes me that way! :) We decided if we're a bit wider at the hips, maybe the uterus grows sideways before it grows out. Who knows? But this is me at 20 weeks with child #3 - baby girl!

The Best Day of Dylan's Life!!!

Happy 6th birthday, Dylan!

Dylan may just be the luckiest kid alive - and he knows it! We decided to do a small party with just a few friends this year so we could enjoy it a little bit more. We're trying to gradually downscale the HUGE parties we started a few years ago. So here's how his day went.

I got the idea from a friend who makes a big deal out of birthdays in their family, but doesn't do parties. Every year, the "Birthday Bear" comes the night before your birthday. I don't have too many details on the Birthday Bear, but he comes and decorates to wish you a happy birthday on your special day. I thought it was a cool idea and that way no matter what you do for a party, they get to look forward to some decorations and feeling special first thing in the morning. What was I thinking adding more fairy tale creatures to the mix? Dylan gets WAY too excited about random creatures wandering the house and it makes it really hard for him to sleep. Last night, he asked me what bears ate. I thought nothing of it and said, "berries, nuts, honey, bugs..." He proceeded to get out a bowl and dump some honey in it for the Birthday Bear. I should've known. And he woke up at 4:00 and had a hard time going back to sleep. He was so excited the Birthday Bear had already been to the house, but bummed he had missed him. He kept telling me he wanted to give him a great big hug. Marcos ended up going in to sleep in Dylan's bed to get him to settle down from all the middle-of-the-night excitement.

After he went downstairs in the morning, he came running up to my room and yelled out in the most excited voice EVER, "Mom, the Birthday Bear even knows I like Star Wars. He put up a Happy Birthday sign with Obi-Wan Kenobi on it and everything. Isn't that cool? This is the best day of my life!" So cute! The school happened to have their "Dads and Donuts" day today too, which was perfect. Marcos got to take Dylan to school on his birthday, eat donuts for breakfast with him, and then read to him for a little bit in his classroom. And of course Dylan was super stoked about the blow pops he had picked out to bring for his birthday treat. The kid is so enthusiastic! When he's having a bad day, it can be really frightening, but when things are looking up, you can't help but smile watching the happiness oozing from every inch of his body.

After school, we brought Kambrie to our house since the party was less than an hour away. The kids played in the backyard for a bit and then we picked up Sam (another neighbor) and headed over to Hungry Bear Pizza. It's not my favorite place in the world, but the kids love it. They get to eat pizza and play games, but it's not so big that they get lost. It's perfect for something like this and wasn't crowded at all, which was even better. For most of the party, we had the entire place to ourselves. It was as if we had rented out the whole place. AWESOME! I cannot tell you how priceless it was for me to watch the kids at the party. It definitely is easier having fewer kids so you can really appreciate the interaction between them. The party consisted of Kambrie, Sam, Anthony, Mylo and Diego. Three friends and two cousins...and of course a crazy little brother named Preston. :) We gathered up the excited kids and had them eat some pizza. Then we turned them loose at the arcade. They each got ten quarters to spend on the machines, but I ended up caving and giving them each a few more. They had tons of fun and when the money was gone, they just pretended to play. After the arcade fun seemed to simmer down a bit, we came back to the table, sang to Dylan, had a cupcake and then opened presents. They were all so polite and generous and took turns the whole time. The kids were excited for Dylan and what he received and he was so cute to share and let everyone try his new stuff. He ended up with some pretty awesome presents: a BYU jacket, molding clay, a light saber, two Legos Star Wars sets (different ones - he was so excited), an Anakin figure (his favorite!) and a cool Legos Shark kit from Abuela.

After the party, I dropped off the kids, but the cousins came back to the house for a bit to play. I decided I would drop them off a little later so their parents wouldn't have to come so far to pick them up again. They were SO cute! They played with light sabers and opened the other gifts with Star Wars playing in the background. I don't think they watched much of it - just enough to keep them in Star Wars mode for the entire play date. They were DARLING!

I met up with Amy and Laura (my sisters-in-law) at a school in Kaysville to drop off the kids. It was fun for the cousins to all get to play together for a little bit. After that, we headed back home to pick up Papi and go to dinner. We tried Olive Garden, but the wait was so long so we ended up at Fiesta Guadalajara (kids eat free on Monday and Tuesday so SCORE for us!) Preston had just about given up for the day and fell asleep on the way there so it took a minute to get everyone happy again, but the food was great and the kids had a great time. Dylan got two presents from us and could hardly wait to get to open them. He got a fossil egg with tools that you dig to find the dinosaur and two Star Wars transformers. Can you tell what he's into right now? I have to say it really was a GREAT day! I still can't believe my baby just turned six though!

A few decorations brought by the Birthday Bear

The party guests

Hungry Bear Pizza

The arcade

PRESENTS!

Look how cute they were

Dinner with the fam

Flutters

I think it takes me longer than some women to get used to the idea of a new baby. I guess when it's so abstract and seemingly unreal, it makes it difficult for me to focus on the baby coming and not just the miserable pregnancy. Sorry people, but it's true. I'm not the biggest fan of being pregnant. I'm grateful for it and all, but it's a lot of hard stuff mixed with a few very cool moments. But still I'm grateful for the miracle itself.

Anyway, around week 16 - right before we found out we were having a girl - I felt what I was pretty sure was the first kick. It was so soft and if I hadn't been pregnant before, I might have ignored it all together. But it happened a few times in a row so I figured that was it. With both of my boys, I felt them for the first time and then didn't for a few days and then felt them again. So for me the last few weeks have been torture. I think I maybe felt her move/kick 2-3 more times and that's it. It makes you a little crazy wondering if the baby's okay. I'm hoping it means she might be a little smaller and not quite as strong as my boys, but I doubt it - we seem to produce pretty sturdy kids! Dylan and Preston's kicks were PAINFUL by the end. :) Anyway, this past week has finally been the payoff I've been waiting for. I feel soft little drumming several times a day now. The reality that there is a little baby growing inside me getting stronger every day who moves around and kicks is amazing! So I guess it finally hit me. We're having a baby! If only we could bundle up such wonderful moments to save them for the rough times that we know lie ahead. But for now, I'm going to enjoy the gentle movements of my baby girl. Stay tuned, I'll let you know for sure next week if she still looks like a girl. :)

Strep and Vomit and Flooding...Oh My!

Everyone I know has been sick or is struggling with being cooped up in the house and just ready for spring. I have to admit, that's exactly where I am. I am so sick and tired of bad news and illnesses and all the CRAP (literally) that has come our way the last few weeks. I am trying to keep my chin up and stay optimistic, but I swear, there is only so much one mom can take. I keep thinking there must be something I am supposed to learn here but still haven't because it seems like the same cycle repeating itself over and over again. Grr...

Yesterday Dylan started complaining that his ear hurt. Well, a week after his cold symptoms set in, I thought for sure it was an ear infection. I had Anthony over so I scheduled an appointment that afternoon when Anthony would be gone. I've done that before....three kids at the doctor's office is OVERWHELMING when you're alone. About an hour before Anthony left, Dylan came running down the stairs, "Mom, something just happened to my ear. Something is coming out of it. It hurts, Mom. It sounds like I'm talking out of my ear instead of my mouth." I like the way he describes things. I looked and couldn't see anything, but I assumed his ear had ruptured and was glad I'd scheduled the appointment. Thankfully Marcos got home in time and was able to come with me. I was completely SHOCKED when he didn't have an ear infection but tested positive for strep. CRAP! No wonder my stupid throat hurts. I assumed I was just so worn down from so many hard days in a row and this cold that doesn't seem to go away, but that made WAY more sense. At least the timing worked out and I was able to call in before my clinic closed and get an antibiotic for me too. Wa-hoo!

After dinner, Dylan went up to the bathroom and a couple minutes later started screaming. The toilet in the boys' room has been running nonstop. I don't know how else to explain it. You know, the water keeps kind of trying to flush and you have to jiggle the handle to stop it. We've been meaning to call someone, but right now, we are trying to make due. Things are tight and we still have no idea what the tax return is going to look like. It's been a rough year! Anyway, the toilet was overflowing and water was EVERYWHERE! It took all the towels in the linen closet, some plunging (I don't know if he used too much toilet paper or if this was a disaster waiting to happen) and a bunch of messing around with the parts in the tank to get the water to stop flowing and clean that mess up. HONESTLY!

By the end of the day, I was feeling really sick. You know the feeling - tired, achy, like you swallowed a golf ball. And of course it was Thursday so Marcos had a soccer game. Timing always seems to suck. He helped with baths and then I started reading to the kids when he left for his game. I tucked them in on time and decided to ignore the talking and giggles since I couldn't send Dylan to school in the morning. As long as they didn't get out of bed, I was going to go relax and ignore it. Well, Preston's giggling soon turned into a coughing spell, which ended in his losing his entire dinner - all over the bed, sheets, and carpet. Gross! Pregnant, strep throat me did not want to deal with vomit, but what was the choice. I stripped Preston down, put both kids in my room with a movie and started the clean-up process. Seriously, it took a good 45 minutes to clean everything up and then I had to let the room air out. It was a disgusting combination of vomit, lysol and carpet cleaner - a little too strong of a smell to let linger.

Thankfully both kids eventually drifted off in my bed and I just carried them to their beds after everything was settled. I was so grateful to just rest after that. I had to wash all the towels (we literally used them all to clean up the plumbing mess) and then wash Preston's bedding an hour later. It was all I could do to get that much done. Tylenol really doesn't touch a sore throat so the only relief I could get was possibly sleeping it off. Dang it! Anyway, thanks for reading. I just wanted to document another crappy day. Some day I'm sure my kids will appreciate knowing life wasn't all dreamy and perfect. This is real life, baby!

The Bread-Making Incident

You'd think I make these stories up, but nope. They seem to be a regular part of motherhood. Today I decided to be productive. I got up, got Dylan off to school and was all set to make a double batch of delicious homemade wheat bread. The plan was to keep two loaves and give a couple away. We have a couple WONDERFUL neighbors who have been giving Dylan a ride in the morning and my heart-felt thank you is LONG overdue. Anyway, I was going to be super mom. I was ready to get my bread going, play with my darling Preston, clean bathrooms (it's Tuesday and so far I was still on my "cleaning" schedule for the week) get dressed and then head down to my grandma's house for a much needed visit. I had Preston next to me helping count the measurements and dump in ingredients. If you missed the post a few months ago, my mom gave me her old school bread maker that still works like a charm. So occasionally I bust out the machine and make some homemade bread. Anyway, I don't know much about making bread, but our recipe calls for mixing all the ingredients except the flour and then adding the flour one cup at a time until it is the right "stickiness." So we mixed all the ingredients and then turned the machine on low while I scooped up each cup of flour to add to the mixture. A few cups into the process, I dropped the stupid measuring cup in the bowl and the disaster began. First, a big blob of flour and goo jumped out of the machine and hit me right in the eyeball. With one eye shut tight, I reached for the switch to turn the machine off. Even though I got the switch, the hook still rotated around several times and each time it hit the measuring cup, it kind of jumped out of the bowl a little spewing gobs of liquid bread goo everywhere. I kid you not, it was like a geyser.

I ran over to the sink to take care of my eye that now felt like it was glued shut. Once I could see again, I stepped back to assess the situation. Let me just say it was NOT pretty! There is no possible way to do justice to this story. It was the biggest mess ever! Thankfully it was bread though (right, Lau? :) My sister-in-law had a poop incident recently that makes me want to die!) I should've been mad, but I could only laugh at the whole thing. I mean, really, are you kidding me? By that time, Preston had his stubby little fingers in the flour and was shaking the powder off his hands making an even bigger mess. I guess after witnessing this he figured throwing flour was a completely acceptable activity. But he had the biggest smile ever! I couldn't help but laugh at the sight of both of us in this gooey kitchen. I was going to dump everything, try to clean up and give up on the bread, but decided I'd finish the batch and see how it turned out. I had no way of knowing how much "stuff" had been lost so I really had to judge the amount of flour by feeling the dough. But the good news is, I did end up with four pretty good loaves of bread.

Let's just say that bread goop with only a few cups of flour in it is REALLY sticky. And then it hardens just like a loaf of bread if you leave it out. The stuff was EVERYWHERE! It leaped across the room to the refrigerator, covered the counters, walls, pantry door and floor and even managed to make its way to the ceiling. My utinsil holder was covered so every wooden spoon, spatula and spaghetti scoop I own needed to be washed. I finished the bread, set it out to rise and started at the top of the kitchen. I figured everything was a big mess so I just let Preston pretend to "do the dishes" while I was cleaning so he would feel helpful. Kids love playing in water and his making a mess was the least of my concerns. :) I guess I should feel grateful. I don't think my cabinets and walls have been washed so well in years. By the time I got to the floor, Dylan was home from school. It took me 2 1/2 + hours to make bread and clean up the big fat mess I made.

I tell you, this stay-at-home mom business is not for sissies. Give me an office job any day and I will be fine - I can go in early, stay late, work hard and tackle any project, all while helping build office comradery. But put me in a kitchen with children standing by and you never know what you'll get. Sorry Marcos, I'm doing the best I can! :) Actually, I will NOT apologize to him today. I tried to get some sort of empathy from him for that many hours of what I consider to be HARD LABOR and he said something about not feeling bad for me for cleaning up a mess that I made throwing flour all over the place. Oh no, you did not just say that! He is so on my list! :)

These pictures do not do it justice, but they were all I could manage to get with sticky hands and no place to set a camera, not to mention attempting to keep Preston away from the mess while I cleaned.

You gotta LOVE this kid! He thought the whole ordeal was a fun adventure.

The flour on my face after I washed most of it out of my eye

Goo and flour all down my pants (thankfully I was still in pajama pants)

My shirt

Yep, that is really how I looked for a good three hours today

You can kind of see how the goo is everywhere - the counters, cabinets, utinsils, microwave, etc

I know it blends into the tile, but it was EVERYWHERE!

I had to scrub the grout with a scrub brush to get the stuff loose

It really was such a mess! I can't believe I didn't manage to get a picture of the pantry door. It was covered from top to bottom. That door alone probably took me 45 minutes to clean!

Stroke of Genius...

...(a.k.a. spiritual guidance). If you read my previous post, you know we had a bit of a rough week. So sick kids didn't help, but relatively speaking, sick kids was not a big deal. We had croup one week, which was caused by some virus that both the kids ended up getting and by the end of this next week, Preston had developed an ear infection and Dylan had an eye infection. Thankfully very easy to fix with an oral antibiotic for Preston and antibiotic eye drops for Dylan. Here's the bad news. Dylan is quite strong and really determined and the idea of eye drops makes him a little crazy. The first attempt was less than pretty. Marcos even came downstairs asking what was going on during the ordeal. I ended up having to straddle him with my legs tight to his body so his arms couldn't move and holding his head/prying his eye open with my left hand while I put drops in his eyes with my right hand. And he is a pro at stalling so I'd get close to giving him a drop and he'd turn his head quickly and yell, "Mommy, mommy, can I tell you something? I just have one question." Poor kid.

For some reason Dylan has recently become completely obsessed with Star Wars. Why? I don't know. Don't mock, but I can honestly say I missed that whole Star Wars thing growing up so I know it wasn't from me. I'm fine with Star Wars, but I'm just saying, there was no coercion from the parents. I'm guessing it was older cousins and friends who like Star Wars that peeked his interest. Anyway, we borrowed the old VHS tapes and have started watching them together the past week. With Preston being sick, he took a couple naps this week so I'll be honest, I ended up dosing off during most of the movie, knowing Preston was sleeping and Dylan would be totally occupied.

I was trying to figure out a better method for the eye drops, other than possibly needing this to be a two-person job when it hit me. I know it sounds lame, but I really think it was some type of spiritual guidance. I stopped suddenly and said, "Dylan, what was the name of the bad guys on Star Wars again?" His gigantic fit came to a screeching halt when he looked at me with his answer, "battle droids?" "Yeah, that's it. Battle droids," I said. (I really didn't care what they were, I just wanted him thinking about the bad guys.) Here's how the rest of the conversation went. ME: There are battle droids inside your eyes right now and we HAVE to get rid of them. Anakin is in there too trying to fight them, but he needs his light saber. And the light saber is inside these drops. DYLAN: Mom, Anakin already has his light saber. He just needs the force. ME: Oh yeah. Well, we need to get the force to be with him. See this bottle with the force? DYLAN (with much more enthusiasm than I expected): Yeah, I do mom. Okay, we'd better send in the force. He laid down on the ground and put his hands behind his head while I quickly and gently lifted his eyelid and dropped in the eye drop. He kept his eye shut tight for a minute while he talked about killing those battle droids and then opened the other eye for his second drop. He shut that one tight for a minute and then hopped up, thanked me for giving Anakin the force and proceeded to do some killer fighting moves with his pretend light saber.

Marcos walked down the stairs halfway through the procedure and could honestly not believe his eyes. Could this really be the same person who had physically fought me just hours before? It's amazing what a little creativity will do for this child. Not all children would respond this way, but for a kid like Dylan, it was MAGIC. Never underestimate the power of imagination. It really works wonders!

Peace

I couldn't figure out what to call this post. I hate whining and complaining all the time, although I never tire of reading other people's "hard day" posts. I guess it makes me feel more normal. But, although not an optimist by nature, I try hard to make lemonade out of my lemons, especially now that I'm a little more mature. But sometimes things can hit like a ton of bricks. And let's be honest...that is never a good thing when you're pregnant and hormonal.

Wednesday I had a really chaotic day. It was basically one of those days where so much was scheduled that I literally did not have time to do one extra thing. I even had to have Marcos pick Dylan and Kambrie up from school because one of my "meetings" could not be rescheduled. I won't go into detail here but let me just say it was a humbling day full of eye opening experiences. Not fun, but probably necessary. And then of course after the crazy day, it was still Wednesday so I had to squeeze in YW that night. Actually the YM had a really fun combined activity of human foosball. Although I took a crazy hard hit a few times, including one right in the eyeball, I survived the night and even enjoyed the experience. But at the time, it really was all I could do to get my butt there and not be teary-eyed the whole time. It was what I thought was a pretty hard, kind of bad day. You know the kind, phone call to my sisters complaining about my hard life. Nothing big, just a bad day.

That was until Thursday hit. Then I realized how truly grateful I was for Wednesday and wished I had taken advantage of it. It was another way too scheduled day. Not on purpose, just stuff I'd scheduled way forever ago, forgotten about and scheduled something else on top of it. I ended up having two meetings and some assessments/tests for Preston that didn't go quite the way I'd hoped. It's pointless to talk about right now because more than anything the whole day just brought up more questions than answers. I don't know if you've followed our little saga with Preston, but the kid has had a million things we've had to check up on - ever since he was born. We've been to quite a few specialists, but thankfully everything has been pretty mild and manageable. But still, just a pain. It's really an emotional process to hear that you need to take your kid to a specialist for this, that or the other. Maybe I just handle things with my kids poorly and get WAY too emotional. It's very possible that again that's what we are facing. I guess the problem is knowing something is probably wrong (although I'm still hopeful) but not really knowing what. And knowing that the range of possibilities is so wide and varied that it could be quite manageable or it could be more on the scary side. Again, I won't go into detail because right now everything is speculation and truly is UNKNOWN but it was a super hard day. I dare say one of the hardest days I've had in close to three years. I literally cried for 7 hours at the thought of what we MIGHT be dealing with. Holy crap! I promise I will talk about it more when we know more, but I am having a difficult enough time wrapping my brain around all the of possibilities that were given to me.

I ended up talking to a couple friends and a few family members about my day. More than anything, I just had to talk about it. Yet I couldn't really deal with it so talking just made me cry more. It was HORRIBLE! One of the people I talked to was Lisa, my best friend since clear back in high school. She has been through some trials with infertility and is facing her own set of unknowns. It's not my story to share, but it's on her blog here if you want to read more. Anyway, she was telling me about how she was able to go to the temple twice this month while they were in LA and how much it helped her. Her husband was on call the next day so she suggested we try to meet halfway (she lives in Spanish Fork) and go to a temple session together. Marcos agreed to watch Preston and Anthony's dad was taking Dylan for the night so it was set.

We ended up meeting at the Draper temple and hitting the 7:00 session. I tried not to think too much about the trial before me and just concentrate on the temple itself. It was honestly so great! I guess it helps when you go to the temple with an actual purpose. It wasn't one of those "this is what you should do" or some other direct inspiration that I received, but it was complete peace. The "now I'm crying because I feel so at peace not because I'm scared" type of feeling. Obviously I've had the gift of the Holy Ghost for quite some time now (8 years old was a long time ago), but it never ceases to amaze me how powerful that gift really is. I mean, to go from a state of complete stress to overwhelming peace during the relatively short amount of time in the temple is nothing short of miraculous. Am I still really nervous? Yes. Do I worry and think about it way more than I should? Probably. But it doesn't change the fact that I know the Lord knows who I am and how I feel. And for whatever reason, this is something we are going to have to pass through. Whether it's super serious, mildly serious, or (fingers crossed) not as bad as we think.

It was a great "girls' night out" if you call it that. We had our temple experience and then went to grab some yummy soup and paninis at Zupa's. They closed and we ended up chatting in the car until 1:00 a.m. Whoops! We had a lot to catch up on though. ;) Anyway, for what it's worth, I am eternally grateful for great friends and family who are understanding and know what I need and for the peace that being close to our Heavenly Father brings. If only I could ALWAYS remember that...

Adventures in Motherhood...Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm warning you ahead of time, this is not for the faint of heart. There will probably be way more details in this post than you want to read. Then again, since I was so sick the past few months and pretty much all but neglected this poor blog, there aren't that many people following closely anyway. I am going to get it up and going again though. Because I read a friend's Valentine's blog post about how much she loves her blog and it made me really miss mine. Sad, but true. It somehow makes my day to share my life and think others care enough to read and comment about it. Even when the thought of what I'm sharing scares me a bit. So I'm on a quest to get my readers back, private blog or not. :)

So Preston caught some bug. I don't know what it is...cold related I think. The whole congested, coughing bit. He went to bed fine and woke up in the middle of the night with the worst case of croup he's ever had (and that's saying a lot). I had a steroid pill left from our last croup experience that I gave to him in a bite of ice cream and put on a movie hoping to distract him until it worked. In the meantime, we took him outside all wrapped up in the freezing cold air to help open his windpipe and then I ran hot water in the bathroom until it was slightly steamy in there. Oh man, we are good at the whole croup drill! Even with all my so-called croup expertise, I ended up spending a good couple hours at the doctor's office. He just couldn't breathe well enough. Turns out, he needed more steroids to open up his airway. He's a big boy, it was really closed off, and we only had one pill left. Middle of the night adventures with the pregnant lady are not fun. I was a complete mess the next day.

Which brings us to part 2 of this brilliant adventure. I'm guessing the steroids were the cause of the next part. Poor Preston was so constipated and I just didn't know how to help him. He was in such pain and crying for me to help him. We tried 2 suppositories that evening/night and nothing. We ended up just putting him to bed. The next day, we had another couch potato day. Can I tell you how guilty days like that make me feel? But I could feel a cold coming on as well so I was not at my best: tired from missing part of a night's sleep, completely stiff with horrible knots in my back (I don't know if I need a new pillow or what) and well, just a mess. So, I let the kid watch TV hoping he was getting over whatever he had caught a few days before. He seemed FINE! Dylan, Marcos and I were watching a movie together that didn't interest him so I put "Go Rocket Ship" (a.k.a. Little Einsteins) on for him in my bedroom. That stupid TV has been a big source of debate in our house, but I have to admit, when I have sick kids, it's nice to have a TV in there and just let them lay in there and not be completely in the way. Part way through our movie I hear him coming down the stairs, "Mommy, I pooing. I need to go uuhhh (think of a grunt-that's how he describes it) Can you change a bum?" That means he's already pooped. So good. Let's go change him. I sent Marcos since I was still feeling lazy and tired, but ended up running when I heard screams.

So here's what we think happened. (Here's the part you may want to avoid reading if you're feeling at all squeamish). The kid pooped, but the first little bit was pretty hard. A few hard marbles (again, we think probably because of the steroid pill/shot because he doesn't tend to have this problem). He was laying on the bed and they must've bothered him because he reached in his diaper and pulled them out. We found three marble/golf ball-sized poops on our bedroom floor. Okay, pick them up, get out the carpet cleaning stuff and clean it up. Marcos took Preston in the bathroom and pulled his pants off and put him in the tub, which is when he realized both hands were covered in poop. EW!! I went back to the bedroom to do some cleanup, but with my cold settling in my sinuses, I don't currently have the keen pregnant sense of smell that I have had lately. I couldn't tell what I was looking for, but soon looked up to realize the true disaster. After he pulled out the source of his discomfort and threw the "crap balls" on the ground, he was grossed out that there was poop on his hand and he wiped it all over our dry clean only bedspread. NICE! So I switched Marcos jobs and went to clean up Preston while he and Dylan took the comforter over to the dry cleaner.

I know this is super long, but these are the stories I have to remember some day. Here's the part that makes me remember why I LOVE being a mommy. Dylan rushed into the bathroom, curious as ever, to figure out what was going on. When Marcos pulled Preston's pants off and started to clean him up, Dylan grabbed his pants. Marcos quickly reacted thinking he was going to get all dirty, but Dylan was calm and sure of himself. He took the pants, put them in the sink, turned on the cold water and started rinsing off the pants. Oh my word! He replied to Marcos' slight freak-out simply by saying, "I'm just helping, Papi." I went in to take over bath duty and Dylan ran to get a black garbage sack from under the kitchen sink and helped Marcos put the bedspread inside. Then he put on his shoes and went to the dry cleaners with Marcos. Marcos said he ran in ahead of him and said, "We need some help here with our bedspread." So dang cute! When they got back, I had washed all the poop off of Preston and then ran new clean water for him to bathe and play in. I was just watching him while he splashed around just happy to be alive. When Dylan got back in, he walked into the bathroom, realized Preston wasn't washed yet (his hair wasn't wet). He stepped onto the side of the tub so he could reach the shelf with the soap, got a squirt of baby shampoo and proceeded to bathe Preston. I didn't say one word. I just watched in awe. When that kid wants to be helpful, he's a super star! He finished bathing him and rinsed him off without a word so I decided to push him a bit more. "Do you want to help get Preston ready for bed?" He replied with an enthusiastic, "Sure." He got him out of the tub, dried him off, helped put on his diaper and put his pajamas on. All with very little help from me. Hmm...this could be really good timing. His helpfulness might peak at the perfect time for a new baby to join our family. :)

Of course this story is mainly about disasters so I'll finish with the rest of what happened this week. We ended up taking him to my niece's birthday party. He had been fine for two days (minus the constipation problem) and didn't seem sick at all. No fever, no cough, nothing. So of course we were shocked when we got home that night and he came down with a fever. SERIOUSLY! I hate that so bad. When you think your kid is fine and they really aren't. Sorry to expose people at the party to whatever crap Preston just caught. Grrrr... So we ended up needing to deal with the "Sunday swap" again. Marcos had meetings in the morning and had to take care of stake releasing and sustainings in our sacrament meeting so he took Dylan to sacrament meeting and came home during Sunday School so I could go back for YW to teach my lesson. Holy cow! Sick kids just throw everything off. So the couch potato moments continue. I think he's just got a really bad cold coming on (I'm guessing that because of my sinus pressure that is quickly becoming major congestion but who knows).

So that was our week. That is why very little took place this year for Valentine's Day. We ended up letting Dylan deliver a couple of valentines in an attempt to help Preston fall asleep in the car and just drove around little neighborhoods quietly talking while he slept. But I guess that's the comforting part to me. I have a husband who tries to be helpful (it doesn't always happen, but his heart is in the right place). One who will go up to change the poopy diaper. Yes, he screams when he realizes there's a disaster, but at least he was willing to change the diaper in the first place. Now that's true love! And even though it's a lame, romantic holiday meant to get people to spend money on pointless things, I still wanted to give a shout out to my Valentine. I don't know where I'd be without you, Marcos. You really are the love of my life! I love you from here to Argentina and back again...till I die and forever more!

This is BEAUTIFUL!

I loved this too much not to share it. I have watched it over and over and it makes me cry every time. It really is powerful and touching. I saw it on my friend's blog, who saw it on another blog. It was made by Katherine Center.

It's a . . . .

...GIRL!

Yesterday was a long, crazy day. I got Dylan off to school, super excited that he was getting new crayons and then he remembered we were going to the doctor. He said, "Oh, I really hope it's a girl!" For some reason he just really wants a sister. For his sake, so did I. And I didn't dare hope for a girl because honestly having a girl scares me a little now that I feel like I'm a pretty good boy mom, but part of me definitely thought it was a girl. It's just been a WAY different pregnancy than my other two, which makes you wonder if that could be why. My body does NOT like any extra amounts of estrogen apparently. :) Anyway, I dropped off Preston to my sister-in-law, thinking I'd be back in 1 1/2-2 hours max. Nope! It took 2 hours just for us to be seen. Sorry Amy! Too many crazy doctor emergencies that morning. And I would've rescheduled, but we'd built ourselves up so much to thinking we might find out that I couldn't do it. Marcos and I sat there in the waiting room working on Sudoku puzzles. Thank goodness I brought something to entertain us! Anyway, my midwife finally came in our room to see us and busted out the ultrasound machine. What a roller coaster. First she thought it might be a girl, but she didn't have a good view. She measured the head and a bunch of other things and then went back to it. Both Marcos and I were sure we saw boy parts. And so was she. She said, "Actually, I think that might be a boy." But let me look to make sure. I just can't seem to get a good view. The baby's head was facing my spine so there was a lot we couldn't see. We had more of a view of the back and side than the front. AND the baby had its feet and legs folded up right by the bum. So the position was weird and the baby was not cooperating. Anyway, she finally went all the way to the back as far as she could (clear over by my left hip) and could get a decent view. To me it still looked like nothing. I was as confused as can be. I just kept saying, "So should we not tell people yet because if we really don't know, I don't want to be telling people that we think we know what it is." She finally stopped, looked at me and smiled. I was confused as ever and said, "What?" "It's a girl." Still the skeptic, I said, "Are you sure? I really don't want to be making stuff up if you can't see very well." She looked 2-3 more times and said, "Yep, it's a girl." "Really? Are you sure?" My midwife is so cute. She finally said, "Well, if it's not a girl, I owe you one year's worth of diapers." Oh man, talk about changing my mind. Now I secretly hope it's a boy. I mean, a year's worth of diapers. That would be awesome. I was totally teasing and said, "Can I get that in writing?" Sure enough she wrote on one of her prescription pads that if it's a boy, she owes me a year's worth of diapers. So either way, I am thrilled. We're either having a girl or we're getting free diapers. Both are great! I'm still in shock and trying to digest what it really means to have a girl, but I'm sure at some point it will be like anything else. I won't know any different and won't remember what it was like not to have a baby girl. I am super nervous though. Marcos is a pushover. And for a little girl! We are in SUCH big trouble. That girl is going to have him wrapped around her finger before she's even born. :)

Feel Free To Skip This Stupid Whiny Poor Me Post...

I apologize in advance for my complete negativity today. And I'm sorry to post it out there for all to read, but I want to remember (and my kids to know) that everything in life isn't fun and joy and loving and playing with your kids. Some things are difficult inner battles that we all must face - like it or not.

I think I've got my needs and wants mixed up. Okay, not really, but my "want" list somehow keeps growing. I don't know if I'm struggling with the whole "Thou shalt not covet" commandment or what, but sometimes it's hard to watch everybody around you get new nice things all the time and just wonder when you will be in a position to do so. I guess depending on your point of view, people could say that about us. Have you ever gone to dinner with someone and had them pick up the tab for you? Even when you were expecting to pay for yourself. As generous and helpful as that is, I guess it hurts my pride a bit. I always pictured being the one able to offer to pick up the tab for the entire table and I hate that we aren't that family. It's probably for a reason. I'm sure the Lord knows me better than I think I know myself and maybe money really would go to my head, but I like to think that I would be such a giving, generous responsible person with my money that no one would begrudge me for even having it.

Even as I write this, I seriously am considering not publishing it. I sound like the biggest ungrateful, whiny person ever. But it's true. It bugs me. I hate living paycheck to paycheck. I hate that things never seem to add up no matter how careful I try to be. I hate watching how hard my husband works and knowing how valuable he is to his company (and boss and coworkers) and yet realizing that he has chosen a field that will always undervalue and underpay him for what I consider to be not only a good work ethic, but his God-given talent. I hate the internal battle that I have with myself every day trying to decide when and how to go back to work so that we won't always feel so strapped. It makes me crazy! We are still trying to catch up from all the unexpected "August disasters" that we were "blessed" with. AND...we have a swamp cooler that is literally falling apart. Two of the four legs are completely rusted through and every year Marcos has to baby that thing to get it going again. Our hope was that we could put in either a new swamp cooler or central air this year (my secret desire, but I was trying to be okay with whatever we could afford). Truly we can't afford either, but we're hoping the tax return is decent enough to give us some leeway.

Marcos' family is going to California for spring break. We are fortunate enough to have a house to stay in (courtesy of some friends of Marcos' mom) and are trying to get a good deal on a couple tickets. Plus, we're all eating together and splitting the cost of meals, so all in all, it is going to be a really great trip that is quite affordable. But being affordable and even being in our budget at all are two different things. We didn't feel like we could pass up an opportunity to take a trip together when so much of the vacation is going to be taken care of for us, but still. It's not like we've got that money sitting in the bank. Like I said, we're still trying to catch up from expenses that caught us off guard 6 months ago. So between the payments we HAVE to take care of and the upcoming trip, I'm pretty sure there will be no tax return left. Hmm...anybody have any great hookups on air conditioners?

Maybe I'll play the pregnancy card now. I'm sure I'm feeling much more negative because my stupid hormones are making me even more emotional than normal (heaven help us all!) And even though my nausea is getting a bit better, I have these crazy hormonal headaches that never end. I go to bed with one and wake up and it's still there. GRR... Or maybe it's a combination of everything. Money seriously stresses me out. I like to know there's plenty in the bank. I'm a saver and a frugal conservative type by nature so just getting by is definitely not my style.

Maybe I'm just overwhelmed in general. This Young Women's calling has been a blessing to me. It really has. I have gotten to know some amazing women working in the YW organization and am really enjoying my time getting to know the girls better. BUT...YW is a dang busy, kind of hard calling to have. Instead of being able to just love and teach the girls, there is always a "to do" list that never seems to get smaller. That's how a lot of callings are I suppose. Marcos feels the same way about his. He had to finish scheduling all the stake baptisms for the month and send out an email to all the bishops and Primary presidents last night and was asking me to help him. SERIOUSLY! No, I have my own calling that I need to do. Yeah, I was not a happy, nice wife last night once the headache set in. Marcos said I was completely pale when I walked down to the computer to help him. Um, yeah, because I feel like I'm going to die right now! Back to my calling... I have to teach the combined lesson this month (which wasn't on my radar but another member of the presidency had to trade me - normally no big deal and totally fine, but my December and January was very busy and I was just looking forward to being able to breathe for a minute). Oh well, probably better to have less time to stress out about it. Something about teaching a big group like that stresses me out more than it should.

Well, enough. That's my whining for the morning. I guess I'll go play with Preston for awhile and try to remember why it's all worth it. I need to remind myself why it matters - why I stay home and sacrifice things so my kids will hopefully learn and grow and develop the way we hope they do and not the way some daycare administration hopes they will. I know it's worth it. I really do. But some days I just want to scream!

Preston, Preston, Preston

Ah, three year olds. I can already feel the age sneaking up on us. Preston will be 3 on March 15 and I can hardly believe it. In some ways, he still feels so much younger than that to me. He has been so content to let people help him and very much the type to do things at his own pace. But in other ways, I feel it approaching more quickly than I would like. I don't know about the rest of you, but three was hard for me with Dylan. He turned 3 right before Preston was born and I was going through a really rough time in my life. I never knew whether or not to blame the age or our circumstances on that difficult year, but after talking to many moms, I think three can be rough. I have a major love/hate relationship with it though. I LOVE the things kids start to say as they figure out how better to express themselves and I love the fact that they are starting to be able to do some things for themselves and trying to be a bit more independent. What I could live without is the stubbornness that seems to come with the age and the increased mischief. With Dylan, mischief started at 14 months or so and is just barely getting to a bearable stage. Preston, however, has not been the type of child to test every child-proof door or push my buttons until I thought they would burst. He has just been content to go with the flow. Unfortunately I feel that may all be coming to an end. I'm going to miss you, my sweet little 2-year-old Preson!

Yesterday was laundry day. That's right, I try to have days so I don't get too behind with anything. It doesn't always happen, but I try to follow a basic schedule. I went downstairs to get the laundry and bring it upstairs to fold. And there was nothing specific entertaining Prestonian. I came up the stairs to see my brand new roll of paper towels completely unravelled. Preston had a huge grin on his face and was clapping. Apparently he was pretty proud of his accomplishment. GRR.... I grabbed the camera, snapped a shot and put him on timeout. Kind of counter-productive, but I have to document these moments.

It could not have been 30 minutes later and 5 minutes until Dylan came home from school that he took my 1000 piece puzzle I'd been working on (which I had made a pretty good dent in the past two days) and swept it off onto the floor. I was even in the same room. Are you kidding me? I'm not sure if he needed more attention or what. I'll tell you what though. I have never been more excited for Dylan to come home from school before. Preston needed his brother.

I put Preston in his room to think about the puzzle. I didn't know if I could actually handle the off and on that comes with the naughty mat so I just put him in his room. I could hear him crying and then he settled down. I left him there for a few minutes and went up to talk to him. And here's what I found this time. The basket with all of the "baby" stuff like lotion, diaper rash cream, little bags for dirty diapers, etc. was EVERYWHERE! Seriously, child! I don't know how much more of this I can take. And it all took place before lunch. It's no wonder I'm so exhausted and feel like nothing ever gets accomplished. I worked all day long just to get the house looking like it did before the day started. Ahhh...deep breath. This too shall pass.

As a quick update, today got started off rough too. The kid LOVES the kitchen sink. I turn around and he's got a bar stool over there with the scrub brush and water saying, "I scwub it out." He is also obsessed with his little Nemo underwear. No, we are nowhere near potty training, but I got out the underwear to use when the time is right. He LOVES the Nemo ones and figured out how to get them out of his drawer today. Unfortunately, he thought Nemo needed a swim. This is what I found, as well as soaking wet sleeves halfway up his arms. Honestly, child. We have got to find some balance here.

Musical Beds

Dylan is going through a crazy "everything is scary" phase and Preston is going through a clingy "I want mommy" phase. AWESOME! Dylan won't even go upstairs to the bathroom unless he knows he can see me. Sheesh! It keeps me busy for sure. One night, I walked in to check on them after things quieted down and found both of them in Dylan's bed. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I'm guessing Preston was sad and Dylan told him he could lay in his bed. Nighttime can be very frustrating for a very tired mommy at our house. I never know what to expect. I often find one kid or the other next to me in the middle of the night needing a drink or a snuggle. And I have woken up to find Preston's toddler bed empty a number of times. I panic and then do a room sweep and usually find him somewhere on Dylan's bed, on the floor or under Dylan's bed. Crazy kid! One night, Dylan let Preston sleep next to him, but when he started rolling and kicking, Dylan got uncomfortable so he just flipped around. I found one kid's head at the top of the bed and the other kid's head at the bottom. Another day, I found Dylan in the toddler bed and Preston in the big bed in the morning. Who knows? If Dylan is really tired and falls right to sleep, Preston will get sad without his buddy to talk to and calm him down. I knew Dylan was already asleep one night and left Preston in his bed to fall asleep. I could hear him talking to Dylan and and when Dylan didn't respond, he got really sad. He was sobbing uncontrollably. I went to check on him and found him on the floor next to his bed. I asked him what was wrong and through his tears he told me, "Mommy, I so sad." Well that was obvious. All I have to say is I'm sure glad they have each other. They are such cute brothers and it helps to know that they comfort each other. I sure love those boys - bad sleep habits and all!

Dylanisms

Here are just a few funny things Dylan has said the last several months. It is so hard to keep track of them, but I want to remember the stages they go through so much.

• We were on our way from somewhere on the freeway and Dylan got to go directly to a playdate. He was having such a hard time waiting so I had told him he had five minutes left. When he realized we were off the freeway he said, "Oh five. Okay mom, here comes my sprinkle sand" (referring to a sand timer).
• Last fall, Dylan was devastated when he got to school and realized he could tie his shoes but not whistle or snap like some of the kids. He immediately started working on snapping and had it down before long. After that, he conquered whistling. During his "practice period" for learning to snap, we were driving in the car and I had a song turned up for us to listen to. He said, "Excuse me, Mom. Can you turn this down? I can't hear myself snapping."
• Dylan was telling me he loves nerds. He said he loved the blue ones because blue is always his favorite color, he loved the purple ones because they were grape flavor. Then he said, "And white...well, white tastes kind of like the fruit that Lehi had."
• My nephew, Kamyn, was calling binoculars, "nockiers." Dylan said, "No, Kamyn. They're not nockiers, they're bee-knock-clee-ers."
• Dylan was asking me about video games and telling me he understood the ratings on the games and that he would never play M or T. Then he said, "Yeah, video games have ratings but shows don't." I told him TV and movies did have ratings and tried to explain G and PG to him. He looked at me and said, "I guess my troodon brain was upside down." (Troodon's are thought to be the smartest dinosaurs for those who don't follow extinct reptiles the way we do and he always refers to himself as a troodon when he is feeling smart).
• I went downstairs for ribbon and got side-tracked. I went back upstairs and remembered I went downstairs for ribbon. I think that happened 2-3 times. I finally said something to Dylan about losing my mind. He told me I could borrow his troodon brain, but that I needed to make sure I gave it back.
• We were making cake with a can of soda instead of eggs and oil and decided to use Sprite. Dylan said, "Yeah Mom, Sprite is our baking soda, isn't it?"
• During the Thanksgiving break, Dylan was super excited about the Indian name he was given at his school pow-wow. He started referring to himself as White Thunder. I soon became Red Fox, Marcos was Quick Wolf and Preston was Big Buffalo.
• One afternoon the kids were playing quietly outside, taking advantage of the nice weather. I was excited to have a moment of peace. I really should have paid attention when Dylan said he was making a recipe for disaster. It really was! Sand, water, soap and three children in a big tote was not a good mixture. They were all soaking wet, dirty and covered in suds and poor Preston ended up tipping over onto the cement while his stubby little legs were stuck in the wet sand. He had a great big bump on the back of his noggin! Dylan is super creative and a leader by nature, but he can create havoc and make a huge mess so fast it's ridiculous!
• At the beginning of the school year, my friend, Courtney, told me about a conversation that took place between Kambrie and Dylan on the drive home from school. It went something like this. K: Dylan, I decided I'm going to marry Cameron now. D: But you're MY girlfriend. K: I will always be your girlfriend because we're going to be friends forever, but I'm going to marry Cameron. D: (scowl). K: (Deep breath) Maybe we should wait and discuss this tomorrow with Cameron. D: Fine! Meet at the tree!
• That conversation was the beginning of a very long chain of girlfriend moments that makes me very nervous. Now there are at least 5 girls in Kindergarten and several in Primary who want to marry Dylan. Crazy 5-year-olds! I volunteered in Dylan's class for the Halloween party and was smiling when he answered a question. One of the other moms noticed and asked if I was Dylan's mom. When I said yes, she introduced herself as Dylan's future mother-in-law. It took me off guard a bit because I had no idea Abby even liked Dylan. Go figure!
• Dylan is really good at school. Kindergarten really is just a social experience for him. He is getting pretty good at reading and has gotten much better at drawing (one of his weaker areas). He is great at puzzles and really enjoys figuring out ways things can fit together.

Dylan is the same old Dylan he has always been. I wish I could tape record him all the time because I forget his funny sayings by the time I try to write it down. His favorite thing is still playing with animals and dinosaurs and he loves anything that has to do with science. He keeps me on my toes (still) but makes me laugh more than anyone. His highs are high and his lows are low, but we've learned to love the roller coaster! :)

Preston Update

I know. These are probably boring posts for everyone else, but this is my way of journaling and scrapbooking for my kids since apparently I'm not very good at keeping up with that on my own. :) To be honest, I haven't been good at anything the last several months, but oh well. I did manage to write down a few things Preston has been doing and saying the last six months.

• My kids have quite a few nick names. Why? I don't know. Just because we are weird I guess and change their names all the time. One of the nick names Dylan ended up with was Dill-y-bob. I think that one came from my sister. When Dylan first went off to school, Preston would walk around the house looking for him and calling him. "Dee-dee-bob." It was really cute. Then he would come to me and ask "Where's Dy-wan?" I'd tell him he was at school and then the sequence would repeat again. That kid is really used to having an older brother around.
• One day when we had the cousins over for a sleep over, I decided to let Preston watch a movie in my bedroom to fall asleep. He asked me for a piece a bread so I brought it to him, but he wasn't really hungry and was too into his movie. He set the piece of bread next to him and said, "I sit by you pee-sh a bwead? Go na-night." He was tucking his piece of bread in. So cute!
• At some point, he decided it would be more efficient to combine the words want and need (don't we all feel like that sometime) and started saying "I weed-a..." for everything.
• Preston started talking about Bridgette over and over again. I tried to put it into context to figure out who Bridgette was. M: Where's Bridgette? P: Is white dear? M: Do you love Bridgette? P: I love Bridgette. It took me probably a month to figure out he was talking about Big Jet from Little Einstein's.
• Preston would bring me random things and say, "Here Mommy. It's fah you."
• I am such a lame-o. I don't know why but that stupid song from years ago that says, "I love you period. Do you love me? Please please! I want to hold you (in parenthesis)" is still stuck in my head. I randomly start singing that blasted song. One day it hit me and I started singing it and Preston knew all the words. Oh man, kids catch onto everything!
• Preston notices stop signs everywhere we go. "Look mommy, dear's a stop stine."
• He loves the octopus Dylan has in his ocean animals collection. He calls it "o-pa-pus."
• He really is a couch potato. I have to limit his TV or he would watch cartoons all day. But he gets a lot of his phrases from TV. One day we had a balloon and he said, "Did you see my balloon?" M: Yes P: You did? Where? I later heard a similar phrase on the Annie's birthday episode of Little Einstein's.
• Preston loves standing at the top of the stairs and throwing stuff down (usually balls or soft blocks) and yelling "bombs away." I have no idea where he even learned that phrase but it's pretty amusing.
• He calls fruit snacks "snoot snacks."
• Several months ago, Preston bit me when I was picking him up and stopping him from doing something naughty. He hasn't been a biter at all so it caught me off guard and I said, "Did you just bite me? No, no. Time out." and then took him to the naughty mat. After that, every time he was put on the naughty mat, he would cry out in a slow, sad, pathetic voice, "Mommy. Did you just bite me?"
• We had an orangutan outfit for him at Halloween. I thought it was perfect: roomy, warm, easy to put on. He did not agree. He hated it and tried to get it off the entire time. He kept crying out to me in his most pathetic voice, "Help, Mommy. I stuck da monkey." It took some major distraction just to get him to leave it on long enough to go around the church at the trunk or treat.
• Preston has become obsessed with letters. He kind of knows them, but not really. Most of the time he just guesses what letter it is. But he loves playing letter games on Starfall (with Mommy or Dylan) and loves the movie "Letter Factory."
• He always says, "I not weave it." For the longest time I thought he was announcing he was not leaving, but it was usually not in the right context. I finally realized that once again he was quoting Little Einstein's saying, "I cannot believe it!"
• He loves to pretend play and will pretend to be a kitty, a puppy or even a dinosaur. His dinosaur roar is hilarious! He sounds like he's trying to clear his throat.
• Whenever he was sad he would say, "Hey mom-may" or "hey pop-pay". He had quite the southern accent going for awhile. :)
• During Christmas, I was trying to get a million things done on the computer. He was "helping" me and kept clicking all the keys. I asked him several times to stop and finally said, "Preston, do you need a spanking?" He replied politely, "No tanks, Mom."
• He used to ask for a peanut jelly shamich and has recently changed it to be a peanut bu-wee (buttery) shamich. He LOVES peanut butter sandwiches and would eat them for every meal if I let him.
• One day he asked me, "Mommy, did you break it branches?" A few small branches had fallen off the tree and I guess he assumed I'd done it.
• One morning he came downstairs so sad. I thought something was really wrong with him until he said, "Mommy, I break it shirt." His pajama shirt had come unbuttoned while he was sleeping and he thought it was broken. It's his favorite pair so he was pretty distraught.
• He says "E-wishes" for delicious. He also uses the word "tasty" a lot when referring to food. "Um, that's tasty, Mommy!"
• When he was sick with a fever, I took him downstairs to give him some medicine in the middle of the night since his fever had spiked again. I set him on the counter while I got the medicine ready and he said, "I want me" (really slowly and in his sad voice). I said, "What?" You want me?" "Yesh, I want me." Later that night when I tried to take him to bed, he said, "I wanna sweep wiff me." The next day, he said, "I want you to hold you." So cute!
• He loves the word yes, but calls is "yesh." He answers with a firm "yesh" when you ask him a question.
• Sometimes he sounds so grown up. He'll say "Ack-sha-wee" (actually) as part of his sentence.
• He has started asking me questions and not waiting for a response. He answers himself in front of me and says, "A course you can."
• He's started talking a lot like me. He says, "You bet," "Wet's take a wook," and "Wook ut I found!"
• Preston was playing with a dragon kite and running with it around the room. He said, "Wook at my dwa-gon fwy (fly) Mommy." Dragon fly. Funny!
• He is so polite. He says, "Oh tanks, Mommy" and then waits for me to say you're welcome and then says, "Oh tanks, Mommy" again. If he doesn't want something he says, "No tanks, Mommy."
• He says, "Exmuse me" or will tell one of us, "You're exmused. You're da be exmused."
• He's started saying "That's credible, Mommy!" meaning that's incredible.
• For whatever reason, Preston is obsessed with the letter H with Q being a close second.
• Every morning he tells me he wants the green shirt, no matter what we end up picking. He seems to know what green is, but if there isn't a green shirt, he usually picks orange.
• The triangle is his favorite shape by far. Why? I have no idea, but even though he knows most of his shapes, he always talks about triangles.
• His favorite treat is pirouette cookies (which Anthony's dad brings). He calls them poco pucks. Actually anything with chocolate can be referred to as poco puck. He'll say, "Mommy, can I have a piece a poco puck?"
• He loves climbing, jumping and galloping. If he's galloping around the house, you can pretty much assume he's in a good mood.

Preston really is such an easy kid. He follows me around the house and is fairly low maintenance (for a toddler). He does love spilling water though and can make a mess like there's no tomorrow, but relatively speaking, he's just a mellow little fellow with a heart of gold. For the most part if he has one toy to play with, he is good for a really long time. But he really has a difficult time transitioning from one activity to another. If he wants to play with his toy and you tell him it's time to leave, he throws his weight and the biggest toddler tantrum begins. He's my sweet, silly, loving, often hard to figure out monkey and I love him to pieces!

I Love Dylan

I seriously love watching kids grow. Some of their stages drive me crazy, but watching children learn and become who they are going to be is so much fun for me. This Kindergarten stage has been fun. I think 1st grade is going to be really hard though. Dylan gets to go to school for a few hours-I get a break and alone time with Preston and he gets to socialize and learn to listen-and then I get him back again. Yes, it's a big fat pain to coordinate, but I'm glad he's not gone all day yet. And I love the way kids start to sound out words and create letters without any help at all. This is what Dylan brought me today. The first one is obviously pretty self-explanatory. He loves me! What else can I say. :) The second one he decided we should put up on our door so the robbers would know they couldn't come in our house. Only people who live here can come inside at night. He asked me to add the part at the bottom of the letter. My aunt had her house broken into in the middle of the night a few months ago and I think it's been on his mind a lot. Poor kid! Anyway, here's to Dylan who makes me absolutely crazy one minute and then makes me laugh, smile and get all teary-eyed the next.

The best letter a mom could hope to receive :)

Christmas Surprise

Christmas

I am the biggest blog slacker lately. Christmas just put me over the edge this year and it was all I could do to get through my normal stuff. And no, I haven't read any blogs for awhile either. I promise to catch up soon.

We did have a really good Christmas though. Christmas Eve we ended up just hanging out at our house with the fam, which was a nice, quiet change. We usually spend Christmas Eve with Marcos' family, but his mom had to work so we took advantage of no plans and kept it simple. That day, Anthony and David came over and we exchanged gifts. Anthony got the kids plasma cars (wiggle skate cars) and they were thrilled. Dylan picked out a gorilla for Anthony that goes with the wholly mammoth he has and I made a movie for David about our year with Anthony. That night, we got a take 'n bake pizza, watched a Disney Christmas movie together and then read a few stories about the birth of Christ. We had the kids in bed by 8:30 and I was finished with Christmas and in bed by 9:30. And it's a good thing too since I had the world's most excited child who could not sleep at all most of the night. At 1:30, Dylan came in to tell me he thought he heard hoof prints on the roof. I told him he'd better go back to bed then so he did, but he was back in my room by 2:00 telling me he was sure he had just heard jingle bells outside his window. Again I cautioned him to go back to bed, but he had already looked down the stairs and realized Santa had been here already. I reminded him we weren't opening presents and sent him back to bed again...only to find his eager little face pressed against mine moments later. I caved and decided to let him sleep in our bed. It didn't help though. He talked and asked questions about Christmas and Santa for another hour until I gave up and headed down to the family room to sleep on the couch and let him watch Polar Express. Luckily Santa wraps his gifts since we had to pass the living room on the way.

We opened presents in the morning and Dylan was excited as usual. One of the best things about that kid is his excitement towards life. And then there is Preston who was content to have a mouth full of candy and a ball or light in his hand the whole time. Couldn't have cared less. He was just happy to be alive - as always! Dylan got snow pants, gloves, books, a magna doodle and a nerf gun and got a knight castle from Santa. Preston got socks, gloves, books, a magna doodle and a cash register and got a rocket (from Little Einstein's from Santa). Dylan made me a plate at school, which was my absolute favorite gift. He drew our family on it. It took me a minute to figure out what he had done. He drew Anthony and his stuffed animal dog, Ethan on their too. For a minute, I thought he had the wrong family. :) Just kidding. It was so cute and sweet. He really does think of Anthony as his brother. We ate our little breakfast casserole and then got ready for the day.

We went to lunch at my mom's and it was definitely a crowd. We had 6 of 8 kids there (3 of my mom's and 3 of my step dad's), spouses, kids, and even invited David, Anthony and Leona (Anthony's grandma). It was a delicious meal and great company. Everyone loved their gifts and had a great time. The boys (old and young) headed off for a spontaneous sledding trip, which left the moms and younger kids to chat and play. GREAT! The kids were not prepared with boots or gloves, but at least had coats. They came back pretty frozen but had a great time.

After that, we left the party to head to Laura's house for the party with Marcos' family. Preston took a nap on the way, which was perfect. We had pizza and appetizers for dinner. We watched a Christmas story on TV, opened presents and visited for awhile. The kids had a great time and did not want to leave, even though it was late!

The day after Christmas, we went to my dad & Suzanne's house. We had a good dinner, the kids played, we opened a couple presents and had a good time. The boys even made a bonfire, although it was freezing even bundled up by the fire! What a great Christmas!

For those who care about the details of our Christmas, you can find pictures here.