Day 5 - Legoland

Sunday night Dylan and Preston slept on a twin blowup mattress in our bedroom and fell asleep watching a DVD. Oh the horrible mess I have created for myself this week. It is taking me forever to undo the damage of lax rules allowed on vacation with young children. But it was so worth it. The original plan was to go to Sea World as a group early in the week - probably Monday - because our tickets let us in twice. Then those of us going to Disneyland would go there and then eventually those going to Legoland would go. Tentatively Sea World (M), Disneyland (T), Sea World (W) and Legoland (Th). No we did not hit the lottery people. We found some 2 for 1 passes online to Legoland so Amy and I decided to send the dads with our boys. I knew Dylan would die if he didn't get to go. And I'm so glad we did. Oh, and for those who don't know, we volunteered to get our Disneyland passes and just had to purchase Preston's. It was still a big expense, but without volunteering, finding coupons and getting discount tickets from my cousin, we wouldn't have been able to pay for three parks in one trip.

This is pretty much what happened every night. One or the other kid would fall asleep first and the other would eventually drift off while watching a movie on the portable DVD player. I love how Dylan is laying on Preston's arm here. So cute!

I went in 20 minutes later and found Dylan's face plastered to the DVD player. He was completely out. Funny!

Monday morning Amy woke up feeling really sick. Kylie had a rough night as well, but wasn't in as bad of shape as her mom. Amy spent the entire day with a stomach bug that kept her close to a bucket and a bathroom. So instead of Sea World, we decided the best thing to do would be to send the men and older kids (except Gabi) to Legoland. I was feeling a bit cooped up by this point. I was really ready to get out and start the theme park part of the vacation, but it was obviously the best choice for everyone. I was probably just tired of chasing Preston though. :) I almost sent him to Legoland, but I'm so glad I decided not too. Instead I just let him be a couch potato again and run a couple errands with me. We went to Costco and to get gas - big day for us! :) It was so much better that way though. The older kids and dads, no strollers, no grumpy tired little ones. Preston would have cramped their style for sure. Plus without him they were able to squeeze into one car for the drive.

I made Marcos promise to take millions of pictures, sad I was missing my "baby's" first real amusement park experience. And that he did. He took tons of pictures of crazy kids posing and playing and getting soaked in the rain. They had a blast! Marcos lost his wallet and called to tell me about it. I was sitting in the car reading because Preston had fallen asleep when I was driving home and I didn't dare move him inside for fear he would wake up. I had a major panic moment and did the only thing I could think of - prayed. I have to say that the whole day was a bit overwhelming. The excitement of going to Sea World, the low of finding out it would be a day at home for the girls, feeling so bad for Amy and trying to figure out how to help, running errands, hitting a pole in the van while trying to get gas (everything was fine, but still), finding out Marcos had lost his wallet, finding out later that someone had found it on a ride and turned it in (cash and all)... I broke down for a minute AFTER the wallet had been found. Stupid, I know, but I was feeling so grateful and undeserving of such a blessing. And it was just a long day for those of us at home. Laura couldn't figure out why I was crying after the wallet was found and not before. Who knows? Hormones...blame everything on hormones, right?

A little later in the afternoon, I could tell Gabi was pretty bored and it had stopped raining so I decided to take Preston to the park and offered to take Gabi with me as well. It took a total of 30 seconds to tell Kylie knew what was going on and was about to be sad so I offered to take her along too. Especially with a helper like Gabi, I knew I could handle the partners in crime at the park. Milli wasn't feeling well and didn't want to be away from her mom even during mealtime preparations so I figured she probably wanted to stay home. Poor thing! Turns out she had a double ear infection - no wonder she was so miserable the first few days. Well, I didn't get lost and the kids had so much fun. We were there longer than I thought we would be. Some other mom was there with her baby and was pretty chatty so I talked to her while the kids were playing. The guys got home from Legoland and Marcos called to make sure we were fine. I'm sure he thought it was weird we were just gone at the park and assumed we were lost or had been abducted. Nope, we just needed to get out (at least I did).

We went back, had another delicious meal, said a lot of prayers for the sick people (and prayers that the rest of the group wouldn't catch anything) and put the kids to bed.

Here are some of the MANY pictures I had to choose from. Ahhh... he really DOES listen to me! :)

Legoland was Dylan's favorite place so I'm glad they went. He said it's the best because you get to drive your own car and everything.

Cute kids! Don't you love how boys are always posing with pretend swords, guns or lightsabers. Honestly!

Day 4 - Beach Pictures

Sunday afternoon, we all got dressed up in our matching outfits and headed to the beach. Apparently we were in the car when the earthquake hit Mexico and completely clueless. After looking for parking for what seemed like an eternity and finding a spot we had to do a 100 point turn in, we headed down the path towards the beach and began hearing all sorts of rumblings from strangers discussing "the" earthquake. What earthquake? We didn't feel anything since we were in a moving car. So weird to be part of something like that and not even know it. We all had mixed emotions about that, but it's probably better to be oblivious than to have the kids (and adults) paranoid.

Hair done, matching outfits, beautiful beach....great concept for a fabulous family photo. However, attempting to get nine young children to look at the camera and smile at a crowded beach on Easter afternoon with the sun in the exact wrong place was the reality of this chaotic photo session. The kids took one look at the water (especially Preston) and could not resist. It was all we could do to keep them semi-dry while Dave snapped as many pictures as possible. I brought my camera and captured a couple too, but Dave was the brilliant official photographer.

This was our reality - doing everything possible to keep the kids out of the water. Preston was grumpy and trying to pull his shirt off the entire time. That kid's part fish - I swear it!

I took this one with my camera. It's more backlit than I would like, but it's my favorite picture! I love how all the cousins are just sitting on the wall looking out at the ocean.

Abuela with the grandkids. This one was impossible to take. There were a million other people at the beach and we became quite a spectacle as we invaded the beach with our matching outfits and cameras galore. But...I still think the pictures turned out pretty decent considering we were not on a private beach.

Our family at the beach

Another shot we liked.

Preston was not cooperating at all so I'm surprised Dave

was able to portray a happy kid from that little stinker.

The three families at the beach

The happy couple

This is me at 25 weeks pregnant. I have to remind myself of that every time I think

I look less than thin in these photos. Yes, I am expecting a baby people!

Another shot of the family at a park in San Diego

Day 4 - Easter Morning

Easter morning was as it should be - completely chaotic! As I mentioned in yesterday's post, the kids got up pretty early, although surprisingly they forgot it was Easter. They wandered out to ask if they could get up and didn't even notice the goods on the table. Thank goodness because it was only 6:00 at that point. I told them to go back in the room and quietly watch TV. It was more than any of the kids were used to having so many kids opening baskets, looking at new toys and wanting to go on an Easter egg hunt at the same time. Preston and Kylie were partners in crime watching movies and climbing in and out of the playpen we had set up for Preston. Crazy mischievous little monkeys! As you can see, not only did the Easter Bunny spoil the kids a bit, but Abuela gave them a bag of goodies too.

We finally pulled Diego the bear out of hibernation so the eager kids could go on their Easter egg hunt (that kid can sleep forever). The yard was tiny so it was pretty easy for them to find their allotted 12 eggs in a hurry. They loved it though. The younger three went first and then the older 6 were unleashed after the youngest got a head start. The kids seem to always enjoy the hunting more than the candy anyway, but the whole day was filled with kids getting used to a new house, constant playtime with cousins, movies, video games....all with a major sugar high. We eventually found conference on TV, but didn't watch much of it. Marcos and I DVRed it and planned to watch it when we got home knowing it would be difficult given the circumstances. Easter was super fun for the kids, but not quite the Easter Sunday we are accustomed to - getting ready and going to church after checking out the baskets.

We did have a little family night lesson by Laura that taught us about Jesus' life, death and resurrection. The older kids were pretty good for it - Preston not so much. I finally gave up trying to get him to listen and let him wander around. Ah, 3-year-olds. It did bring in the spirit though and brought tears to my eyes (of course). I'm such a baby!

Anyway, that was Easter morning and afternoon in the house in San Diego. More to come on Easter afternoon/evening in the following post.

Checking out their loot. Notice the picture of Preston holding his basket, bag of goods from Abuela and his shovel and pale. Makes it look like major overkill, doesn't it? And there's Preston mid-climb during the playpen mischief. Dylan and Mason were funny comparing their baskets. Dylan was sad he didn't get a chocolate bunny and Mason thought Dylan's carrots with pixie dust (a.k.a. flavored sugar) sounded good so they traded. Dylan got part of a chocolate bunny head in exchange for one carrot with sugar in it. Funny kids!

Here's the Easter egg hunt. Preston LOVED it! He finally got the hang of this game of finding stuff and putting it in your basket. The kids are all in the picture above and are in birth order oldest to youngest. Here it goes for those who don't know (Gabi, Mason, Leah, Dylan, Diego, Mylo, Preston, Kylie, Milli).

Day 3 - San Diego or Bust!

We got up Saturday morning and got on the road. We met up with Amy and Esteban to drive to Vegas and meet up with Laura, Dave and abuela. Unfortunately, Amy forgot one of her bags and they had to turn back. A little more coordinating than we had anticipated trying to meet up and caravan with everyone. Next time, driving separate and meeting up when we get there might be the easiest way to go. Luckily, we made good time and were there by afternoon. Laura and Esteban headed to Costco and a couple other stores to buy our food for the week while the rest of us unpacked and got organized. We stayed in the home of some friends of abuela's. It was super nice, which made it a bit stressful with nine kids running around, but it was great to have a place to stay together. We survived kids destroying the house by pulling out every kid vice possible - DVD's, DS, Leapster, etc. It was a free for all week as far as electronics were concerned and the kids were in heaven. They keep the home stocked with everything, which was nice because we didn't have to pack a lot of extra stuff (you would never know it looking at our cars though), but meant that the room we were staying in with our family already had the closets and drawers completely full. Thankfully Amy & Esteban let us use one of their empty closets to put our clothes in so we wouldn't be so cramped. The kids ran around checking out everyone's rooms and then we ended up having the older kids sleep in our bed that night and put the youngest three in playpens to sleep. Preston had a great setup. To get him to stay in the playpen, I set up the portable DVD player for him. Talk about the life of luxury. We needed them all confined that night though so we could attempt to do Easter. Marcos and I ended up sleeping on a blow up mattress in the living room and Amy and Abuela were on the couch sleeping (Diego stole Amy's place on her bed the first night). It was hard to get the kids to go to bed because they were so excited, but we were eventually successful. I went in Easter morning to find 4 of 5 kids awake before 6:00. We knew then that we would probably need to have each set of kids sleep with his/her parents or no one would ever get any sleep. Here's what Saturday afternoon/night looked like at the house in San Diego.

Exploring and vegging...

Here are 5 of the oldest grandkids awake and then asleep (Diego ended up crashing on Amy's bed) and Preston's custom-made playpen. And yes, that's a picture of all the Easter stuff. That's what nine spoiled kids on Easter looks like crammed onto one kitchen table (the only open space available).

Spring Break 2010 - Days 1 & 2 - St. George

We got back last night from our 10 day spring break trip. Holy moly! It was an adventure. We squeezed so much into a week and a half that I have no idea how I'm even going to document it. But I'm still going to try...of course! To top it off, I came down with strep throat yesterday. Thankfully it was the final day and all we had to do was drive home. After my 101 fever all night and day, I went to the doctor this afternoon and got an antibiotic. It wouldn't be a real family trip without at least a few people catching some crud. Unfortunately every family experienced some illness on this trip - our family's timing just happened to be the best.

Thursday, April 1, we waited for Dylan to get home from his field trip at noon, fed the kids lunch and then hopped in the car to drive the first leg of the trip to St. George. The drive was perfect! Preston ended up taking an afternoon nap (perfect timing) which helped the time fly. Plus with the kids' new DVD players we bought with their birthday money from grandparents, we were definitely living the life of luxury. They would've stayed in the car all day if we let them. :) We were originally planning on leaving Friday, but decided it was worth an extra day in St. George, which would give us a day in between drive days to play. It was a good decision! We got spoiled with lots of yummy meals by my grandma and got to go on some hikes and just chill in St. George. Dylan was so excited. Right after we took off, he said, "Mom, I'm going to look for the 'Cindy' okay?" I was so confused and replied, "What?" "You know, the Cindy that's in St. George." "Oh, the Dixie. Okay, you keep your eyes open for the Dixie rock okay bud." We were still in Layton at the time. Funny boy!

Friday we met up with Esteban's kids and abuela to go for a hike on the red rock. The kids were really cute and had a great time. Marcos and Esteban played tennis, Amy got her running in (she's training for a marathon) and we were going to go swimming, but the water was ice cold. Overall a really fun day with each other and cousins.

Here are some pictures just hanging around grandma and grandpa's house. The kids LOVE all the little animals in the gardens, the golf cart and the tractors. I couldn't believe in just one day of playing, we wore Preston out enough that he crashed on the couch for an afternoon nap! Yes! It made it easy for me to rest while Marcos played tennis and Dylan played with cousins.

This is a picture of our hike Friday evening. There is a little park not far from my grandparents' house and it has several hiking trails that seem crazy, but are not that bad. They end up taking you to the TOP of the mountain very quickly. So cool! We also ran into some ducks and fed them a couple pieces of bread on the way.

Another Project

I've been going in circles. I feel like I have so much to do, but seem to be waiting for this until I can do this, etc. I finally decided I just needed to do something. So I moved the toys to the basement (with help from the kids and Marcos). I feel totally claustrophobic right now, but I'll get used to it. My sister came by and said she didn't think it felt crowded at all. I'm just used to having space in the dungeon. My plan is to move the computer and printers upstairs (I'm going to buy a computer armoire to put in the living room so I can shut the doors when I want the computer tucked away). We've been wanting to put the computer in a more central location anyway and now with kids playing downstairs, I really don't want them messing with electronics by themselves. I'm going to keep the desk and shelves so I have a craft/scrapbook area, but it won't really be an office space. So here's the toy room/craft area in our house. More pictures to come of other areas as I rearrange everything. Poor Marcos, I seriously drive him CRAZY with my need to move things and reorganize all the time. It's definitely my little OCD niche. I can go a couple weeks without dusting my furniture - things don't have to be completely clean all the time - but if there is not a place for everything I own, I go insane.

My desk & craft stuff will still be downstairs, but the computer and printers will be upstairs

Toys, toys, toys

...and more toys

Just another view of the room

Oh What a Night... (doo doo doo doo doo...)

Yesterday was insane! I spent the morning trying to prepare for the crazy afternoon. I made sure homework and reading were done and all that. I have no idea what I did, but the day flew by. I had a doctor appointment at 2:30 and was going to take the kids now that the ban of germy little ones tagging along has been lifted. It's been 6 weeks since I've been to the doctor and I knew I had to get it over with. I'd been rescheduled twice and had to cancel once. The bad news...she was 45 minutes behind. AWESOME! So now I get to entertain these boys for even longer. The good news...they did okay in the office once we were in the room. AND... we're still having a girl. I had my doubts, but now I guess I can get to setting up and painting when I can find some motivation.

After the doctor, I hosted a YW cooking class (all the leaders are taking turns hosting it). Only 2 girls came, but I figured we'd be lucky to get 4. Two more that should have been there had eye doctor appointments. DANG! Oh well. But it was fun anyway. I literally had to run from that over to the caucus meetings so I could do my civic duty and be involved in the political process. Again, we tried to wing it and take the kids. I should've found a sitter. Preston was SO MUCH WORK....and poor Marcos let me stay in the meeting while he chased him down the hall and around the drinking fountain. Marcos would've rather stayed home anyway so I feel bad for dragging him along. He's such a good sport. People are pretty ticked off right now, so it was a record turnout, which meant the meeting was extra long this time. Needless to say, the kids were quite late for bed. Thankfully I'd already taken care of reading for the day.

Whether it was being overly tired or what, poor Preston had some sort of a nightmare right as Marcos and I were climbing in bed. I asked Marcos to just go in and pat him gently to settle him down. Big mistake! He started crying so Marcos tried to get him out of bed so he wouldn't wake Dylan. This started a night of inconsolable, half-awake Preston moments. I held him for a good 20 minutes and finally decided I would go for a drive to put him back to sleep - at 12:30. The streets sure are quiet in the middle of the night. A couple cars, a dead skunk in the road, and some random jogger. Seriously, who jogs in the middle of the night? Even if you have a weird schedule you should probably go to a gym at that hour. Kind of dangerous! I got back and the attempted transfer from the car to the bed was a complete failure. I ended up putting him in my bed next to Marcos with Little Einsteins on and going down to the couch. He fell asleep, but two hours later was awake again. Marcos didn't hear him so I went upstairs to start the whole exhausting process over again. Three times that happened. I nearly had a breakdown at 4:30 this morning when I had maybe slept 30 minutes total. Of course Dylan wanders downstairs at 5:00 saying he was scared and hops on the couch with me. I cannot sleep on a couch with a child next to me. There is just not enough room so I finally got him back up to bed, which woke Preston again. Thankfully he was awake enough to slide off my bed and walk in and get in his own bed. Good! So I finally got to bed at 5:00 this morning and was up around 7:30-ish. No wonder I'm exhausted! I swear if it happens again tonight, I'm getting some children's benadryl. Yep, I'm THAT mom.

Kindergarten Drama

I can't help but laugh at all the "who wants to marry whom" drama that occurs in Kindergarten. Forever it was Dylan and Kambrie, true love forever, but when Kambrie got one look at Cameron in her class this year, she was hooked. I've heard her say, "Oh, he's just so cute!" several times. And Cameron and Dylan are friends. But Dylan got over it because Abby was in love with him and he was okay with that. I thought it was weird how loving he was to her though and tried to help him understand he could just be friends with a lot of people. Then Abby decided she was mad at Dylan. Dylan explained some of it to me. I think the boys chase the girls at recess and he didn't protect her and that made her mad. Something like that. She wouldn't talk to him so McKaitli was the middle man for the two of them. What the crap, dude? Then one day it was, "Cole hates me. Now I have no friends." Of course I felt bad and worried about the fact that Dylan was burning bridges with friends at school so we had a little talk about being nice to everyone and not choosing some friends over others, etc. The next day, Dylan had an "invitation" to go to Disneyland with Kole so apparently they worked it out. Jeez! Sometimes it's hard not to get caught up in their "drama." I wonder what the teenage years are going to hold for us. Well, the past couple months, Dylan tells me he and Abby are friends again...until today. Here's what Abby sent home in Dylan's backpack with him today. GIVE ME STRENGTH!

Clothes, clothes, clothes

I thought it was a bit early to be thinking about getting shorts out, but Preston didn't have ANY short sleeved shirts in his closet and it was really warm a couple days this week. I have to say I am super grateful for hand-me-downs, but holy cow there were a TON of clothes to sort through. So this is what my family room looked like yesterday. It's getting close to clean now and the clothes are pretty much sorted through, but man, it was a job. Sorting, washing, drying, putting outfits together, hanging, putting away, reorganizing drawers, DI piles.... You get the idea. I love and hate the changing of the clothes. It's nice to get all organized, but it really is a ginormous project. But especially with the approach of our spring break California trip, I knew we would need to trade our sweaters for shorts and short sleeves. I can't wait!

80's Night

Last month the YW had a combined 80's night activity with karaoke, rock band and dance dance revolution. I was sick and didn't end up going (which I was totally bummed about) but apparently it was a HIT! The YM were begging to join in so this month for our joint activity with the YM, we reenacted it. Once again, it was a really fun activity. And we added American Idol Wii so we would have enough stations (thanks Courtney - they LOVED it!) The kids all got into it, although the boys mainly stayed on rock band. It was hard to get them to branch out (boys are lame sometimes!) But most of the YW were involved in all the activities at one point or another and seemed to have a good time. As always, I just couldn't help myself. You give me music or dancing and I am bound to go a little crazy. With my side ponytail, double shirts with the sleeves rolled up and alternating bright socks on top of my jeans, I let loose. I seriously think I scared some of the YW with my excitement towards a singing/dancing night. We even line danced to boot scoot boogie on karaoke...I was out of breath by the end, but I danced my butt off. Of course this was followed by a definite need for a bathroom break...stupid pregnancy. Anyway, here are a couple shots of the night. I took pictures at the beginning and then had to join in the fun so I'm sure I missed quite a bit of cool shots. Oh well.

Preston's Birthday

This is my sweet baby boy...Preston Santiago

This was the day he left the hospital. He was 4 days old.

My "baby" on his 3rd birthday - as happy as ever.

Preston turned three on Monday, March 15. We decided to keep things simple for Preston's birthday and just make it a special day with the family filled with things he loves. So that's what we did. The birthday bear came again and decorated the house. Dylan was devastated when he realized we didn't leave him any honey. Silly kid! Preston was thrilled with his balloons and Diego decorations (all courtesy of past parties).

Unfortunately we had a funeral in the ward too so I spent the morning getting a sheet cake ready to take over to the funeral. I picked up Dylan from school, dropped off the dessert and then we headed to McDonald's. Preston had kind of picked Arctic Circle, but he has a persuasive older brother who helped him decide McDonald's would be more fun. Whatever! The kids had a blast. We rarely go to McDonald's so the kids were thrilled to get a happy meal and play for awhile. We headed to the park after that. I was going to take them to the Treehouse Museum, but ran out of town. I had to be to a YW meeting at 4:30 and it was after 3 before we left McDonald's. We ran to Wal-mart to get a couple extra small things for his birthday and then went back start the evening rush.

After my YW prayer/meeting, we headed home to make a quick sandwich and throw all our stuff together for swimming. That is one of Preston's FAVORITE activities so that is what we decided to do. My dad called that morning and wanted to come take the kids to dinner for their birthday. He ended up joining us for a fun swimming experience and dinner at McDonald's afterwards. Yes! Two times at McDonald's in one day. I thought I was going to die! But I sucked it up for the sake of my birthday boy who was once again thrilled to be there.

I still don't know if he understood it was actually his birthday we were celebrating. I kept asking him how old he was and he just said, "Good." Now how are you, how OLD are you. So if you ask and he doesn't respond, that's why. Anyway, I love my sweet Preston! We have been through a lot with that kid, but I couldn't have asked for a better kid. He has the sweetest, kindest disposition and we are truly blessed to have him be a part of our family.

The kids playing at McDonald's

Playing at the park

Swimming

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. :)