What A Week

My poor little baby has been sick all week! He's had a fever of between 102 and 104 since Sunday evening. I took him to the doctor Monday, but everything looked fine...ears, throat...just a virus. So we waited. I cannot tell you how many hours of sleep I got this week, but it wasn't much. Preston was in so much pain. Nothing I did helped settle him down. I was trying baths and songs and bouncing and car rides...in the middle of the night. I tossed all my routine and schedule out the window. If he would sleep 5 hours in the middle of the day, I let him. I know many parents have these type of struggles on a regular basis, but I'm not one of them. Preston is generally such a chill, happy little guy. By the time Thursday rolled around, I took him back to have him rechecked. Luckily whatever he had been dealing with had developed into an ear infection. I say luckily simply because ear infections come with medicine that quickly makes babies feel better. So two days of medicine and he's starting to act more like my little Preston. He hasn't been eating much, but he's plenty sturdy so I'm sure he'll hold up until his appetite returns.

Imagine my insanity with not only a super fussy, inconsolable baby, but an incredibly busy 3 1/2-year-old running wild from being all cooped up in the house for a week. But we survived it...and I even had a really productive day at work today!

Uboldi Thanksgiving

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Thanksgiving at Mom's House

Thanksgiving Dinner at Dad & Suzanne's

Saturday we celebrated Thanksgiving with Dad and Suzanne. We had so much fun! The food was absolutely delicious and the kids were well behaved. They played with toys, played soccer, climbed in and out of the doggie door, played in the hot tub and wound down with a movie. The big kids ate, played games and took naps. We even talked Dad into playing games with us (he's usually anti-game). We had a great time. By the end of the night, Preston was tired and fussy and I was still in the hot tub with the kids. Grandma Betty asked if she could hold him. All it took was someone holding still with lots of patience and he was asleep. She held him and sang to him for probably 20 minutes while he fell asleep holding her finger in his little baby hand. It was the sweetest thing! He took a cat nap and then was awake again. Lily was lying on the bed watching a princess movie. Preston was just staring at her so I thought I'd put him on the bed by her and see what happened. It was amazing! He sat there with her and didn't make a peep. Next thing you know, Kamyn (Mr. wiggly 2-year-old) walks in and wants up on the bed. Talk about an interesting combination of kids. The baby, 2-year-old, and 7-year-old all holding still on the bed watching a princess movie. Go figure! What a great day!

Dylan's Girl Troubles

One of the nursery leaders was telling Marcos about Dylan's day in nursery today. Dylan loves everyone and has lots of friends in nursery, but there are a few that are his favorites and one, in particular, that he refers to as his girlfriend. Her name is Kambrie. Now, before you think Dylan is growing up way too fast or anything like that, keep in mind that Marcos was the reason this all started in the first place. Since we are long past the days of pre-arranged marriages, this is his little way of having a say in who Dylan marries. He's already concerned about who Dylan's future in-laws will be so he plants little seeds of thoughts into his mind in hopes that Dylan will marry one of the girls from the ward. Anyway, so during nursery today Kambrie was telling Dylan she was going to marry him one day. She's said that before, but I guess she said it several times today. He apparently didn't pay much attention so she kept bringing it up. Finally, he turns to her and says, "No I'm not. You're too bossy." Okay, this whole story just makes me laugh. For one thing, he's not even four years old yet. Where did this come from? I didn't even know he knew what "bossy" meant. Apparently he does or at least he's heard the word. So I guess it only takes boys 3 1/2 years to decide that women are bossy and they don't want to marry them. What the heck! Seriously though, they are such cute little friends and I'm sure they're over the whole thing. But for now they're the talk of the nursery.

Kamyn's Cowboy Party

Kamyn had a fun cowboy party for his 2nd birthday. As you can see, we all had a great time. We were so excited when Angie showed up with her kids to surprise us all - what a treat to have all the cousins together. Alicia decorated everything so cute and had really fun games for the kids. We played don't get bit by the rattle snake, pin the tail on the donkey and lasso the horse. She made a cute horse cake and the boys looked like real cowboys out playing on the rocks. What a fun party! We even got to take a ride in Grandma Karen's Model T (not part of the cowboy theme, but a fun impromptu activity). It was a fun day for everyone. Happy birthday, Gator Boy...our little Kamynator!

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Wednesday Entertainment

One of our favorite Wednesday moments is when the garbage lady comes around to pick up the garbage. I think it's been this way for a year and a half now. If we are home, we make an event out of us. Dylan can hear the truck on the street behind us so he hops up from whatever he's doing and assumes his position on the front porch - just waiting to watch the truck "clop" (one of Dylan's favorite words) the cans and dump them. Our cult-a-sac is pretty ideal because he gets to watch quite a few all in a row. Today, he hopped up from eating his breakfast and ran outside. He was dressed, but had no shoes on. He runs back inside, grabs a huge old quilt we have and comes back to assume his garbage day position. Kids are so simple. This is truly one of his favorite things and I'm sure will be Preston's before long.

Sweet Dylan

We had a little lesson for FHE tonight. We read a story from the Friend...nothing fancy. The story was about a family that had no food and was blessed with food for two weeks after paying their tithing. Amazingly Dylan listened and then answered some questions when we talked about it. Some days, we just strive to get through a lesson, but today was good. Anyway, I explained to him that every time we get 10 pennies, we give one to the Bishop for tithing. He started telling me he wanted to give his tithing too. He said, "I want to give my tithing to the Prophet so he can build some temples." Holy cow, Marcos and I both got slightly misty-eyed. Dang it! I know we've taught him a lot, but the days when you realize he's actually heard you and connected the dots are such a big deal. He was so excited about the whole concept of tithing. What a cute boy.

After FHE, we had a quick, simple pasta dinner because it was the only thing I could think of at the last minute. The day was busy and then I tried to squeeze in a workout at the gym. It was all I could do to get the kid to sit at the table and eat anything, but eventually he gave in and started to eat. All of a sudden he says, "Mom, this is really yummy food. Thank you for making it for me." What? "You're welcome, sweet boy" was all I could say. Where did that come from? That kid...you never know what you're going to get. In general, he really is growing into such a fun preschooler. He's very strong-willed, but he's a good kid.

My Little Awakening

The year 2007 has been an interesting one for me...difficult experiences and lots of emotions. The early spring months were particularly challenging (right about the time I had Preston-horrible timing). So a strange thing happened to me today. I was looking back at some pictures from about a year ago, holiday pictures with my ever-expanding Preston bump. I don't even know how to describe what happened. I have heard something similar described on who knows which "feel good" talk show (Oprah, Dr. Phil, etc.) Anyway, they describe the way women see themselves and how cruel and damaging the self talk we use is to each of us. The "I'm fat, stupid, ugly..." comments that even the most diligent of women tells herself. The things I have seen say something about how we need to be nice - be a friend to ourselves. The things we tell ourselves are usually things we wouldn't tell our worst enemy. So here I am looking at these pictures from a year ago and I had the weirdest sensation. I guess the only way I know how to describe it is compassion for myself. I saw the hard-working, tired, pregnant girl who was raising a difficult 2 1/2 year old, tending 2-3 days a week, working evenings to try to save some money...doing everything she could do with a smile. A girl completely unaware that she was about to be hit on the back of the head with a baseball bat so to speak. The girl who would soon feel like her entire world was crumbling under her. I just wanted to reach out and give myself a hug - to kind of warn myself of things to come so I could prepare a little bit. I wanted to tell myself positive things and boost myself up so I would be ready to withstand it all. It was quite an amazing little moment. I didn't think any of the "you deserve a crappy life because somehow you're not good enough". Nope, I just thought that here is a person I would want as a friend. Someone who really was trying to be the best person she could be. I wish I could say I'm over the "I'm so fat" moments forever, but I'm sure I'm not. In fact, I'm not sure what it means. Is this the first step in my own maturity? I don't know, but it really is cool. I think we all need to love ourselves more and not be so hard on ourselves (or others). Most people really are giving it their all and you rarely know what's going on in someone else's world so it's best to give them the benefit of the doubt. Anyway, for now I've had a little awakening. I really do like myself. Wow, I said it. I really do. Not in an arrogant way, but in a "she's pretty cool" way. Now I just need to figure out how to continue to love myself for the little things I do. I don't know if it was a spiritual moment or just a mature moment, but I kind of did feel like I could see myself through the Lord's eyes (maybe through really big fuzzy glasses, but still through His eyes). Now if only I can continue to see myself this way. I'm afraid one of Satan's greatest tools is convincing women that we are less valuable than we really are. Women are the heart of the world and when we don't care for ourselves the way we should, the world suffers. Sorry to sound so preachy but I had to share. Nuff said!

Daylight Savings Drama

Okay, so I used to love daylight savings in the fall. You got to catch up a little on your sleep. Even though getting dark at 5 p.m. is just weird, I looked forward to that extra hour. Fast forward to my life today. Sunday I thought would be a great day. Church is early, but I would have an extra hour to sleep and still get the clan ready on time. Nope...Dylan was up by 5:45 a.m. and Preston didn't sleep much longer. I didn't bother fighting it. I got up with Dylan and tried to spend some quality time before I started getting ready. The whole week has been like that - early naps, crazy eating schedule, the baby trying to go to bed at 6:30 p.m. No wonder we are so exhausted this week. Man, will our schedule ever adapt? Probably...and then it will be April and time to readjust again. Oh well, nothing's the same after kids...NOTHING! Who knew the little guys could turn my world completely upside down like that and I'd still be smiling?

Pillow Fight

We had dinner at my Mom's today and somehow the kids all ended up in a pillow fight with Grandma. She's good at pillow fights...and wrestling... Excellent skills when you have a bunch of rough and tough grandsons. The game starts out rather innocent. The kids hide out in a pop-up tent and she throws pillows towards them. By the end, they're all tossing them at each other and tumbling around. Somehow whether you want to "play" or not, you get involved in the war. Silly Grandma...pillows are for sleeping. Not at her house! Here are a couple pictures I took.

Halloween

Halloween was pretty fun this year. Dylan definitely grasps the trick-or-treat concept now and was looking forward to it for a month. He played with his pumpkin bucket for several weeks and wanted to wear his costume every day. Of course, by the time Halloween came around, I had to bribe him to get in his costume and the pumpkin bucket was gone. I had to send Marcos to the store to get a candy container of some sort at the very last minute--literally 30 minutes before we were supposed to start trick-or-treating. Oh, and we tried several times to get our pumpkins carved and something always stood in our way....fussy, grumpy, tired. So we gave up and only had gutted pumpkins this year. What happened to our holiday spirit?

We got everything ready and went over to the church for their annual "trunk-or-treat". Dylan had a great time and loved that his friends were there to trick-or-treat with too. Plus, it's kind of nice to have the process over with in about a half hour. The good part was it was great weather and because of the later daylight savings time, it wasn't dark yet, which was a definite plus...last year was so dark and cold. If you're wondering about little Preston and his crazy Papi, yes, he loves being held upside down and yes, it's a common occurence. My kids wouldn't know what to do with themselves if we didn't treat them like monkeys. It's second nature to them. I have to say that it was kind of bitter-sweet trunk-or-treating. A lot of our friends who used to be in the ward were there and it's just so hard to think that they're not in the ward anymore. We're getting used to the changes (although it's hard to meet any of the new people being stuck in Primary) but it's just not the same yet. I guess we're in that transitional phase right now. Anyway, trunk-or-treating was fun...

After that, we went up to Mom and Barney's house for a little party. We celebrated Cori's birthday too so it was a dual party. We had some yummy tacos and then let the kids trick-or-treat to a few of our old neighbors' houses. It's become a bit of a tradition that we accidentally started one year while showing off our costumes and cute kids. The picture at the end is us at my mom's neighbor's house--the Cox family. They are so cute--the kind of neighbors you hope for when buying a home. They actually serve hot dogs to all the trick-or-treaters...crazy cats! Anyway, so that was fun. Oh, the picture of the white phantom spirit is Alicia. She LOVES to dress up and find fancy and cute things to wear. Marcos is the opposite of Alicia on Halloween and I'm somewhere in the middle. I have only been able to get Marcos to put on what slightly resembled a costume (something army-ish) one year and that was because he was the only one not completely decked out in some fancy costume. I do not know what it is, but he hates it. He thinks it's a pointless holiday and although he's not the type to get embarrassed about basically anything, he can't bare the thought of being in a costume in front of people. I have to admit, my little scrouge has made it a little more difficult for me to want to dress up and get into the Halloween spirit myself. So we were lazy and didn't dress up. Oh well, at least we found costumes for the kids. It's a step in the right direction.

How Do 2nd Children Survive?

Let me preface this by saying that Dylan really does love Preston. We've been super fortunate that there has been very little jealousy. He's very loving and quite protective of his little brother. And yet life is still not easy for baby Preston. The more I see, the more I am amazed that second children ever survive.

Preston was only a few weeks old when I realized he'd had his first survival miracle. Dylan had held him so many times before and was old enough to know how to be gentle. I had Preston lying down in a little baby gym with toys above for him to look at. I put a movie on for Dylan and went upstairs to take a quick shower. I came back to find loving little Dylan holding Preston on the couch, clear across the room from where I left him. My heart sank and I realized I had to be a little more careful about leaving the two of them together. Luckily nothing happened.

Skip to today. A much more sturdy Preston is now used to daily Dylan "experiments". He loves to lie on top of Preston and play "squish". We play that game with Dylan, but of course we don't put any weight on him. We are learning that everything we do, he will soon do. So far, Preston just giggles and tries to pull his hair so he must be pretty gentle, but still...when you walk in the room to find your 3 year old squishing your 7 month old baby, you get a little nervous.

Here's another one for the history books. One day we had just come in from a long day of errands. We were on edge and trying to get a ton of things done. All of a sudden I heard Marcos yell, "Dy-lan". Uh-oh, now what? I ran to see what the problem was. Preston was still in his carrier carseat and Dylan had tipped it all the way forward so the handle was holding it up. Preston was strapped in and must've just thought it was like a little Lagoon ride. He wasn't making a peep. Anyway, it was pretty funny, but just another danger in the life of a 2nd child.

We've been dog-sitting for Alicia. Well, kind of. We were supposed to dog sit for her and then Alicia ended up not going out of town. By then, we'd already told Dylan Belle was coming to our house so we ended up taking her anyway. So Dylan's had a leash around the house to play with for a few days. Preston was in his saucer (usually a very safe place for him) and I turn around to see Dylan almost tipping the thing over. He had hooked the leash onto the end of the saucer and was pulling Preston along. Saucers aren't exactly made to be stable on the move. I got to Preston before the saucer tipped over, but it was pretty close.

I've thought a million times about all the things Preston has to tolerate having an older brother, but I realized it's not a unique challenge for our family the other day when Angie called. She was in tears...trying to get advice and vent all at once. I guess she ran to get the laundry and left Connor and Tanner on the bed. Apparently Connor wanted to play with Tanner and ended up pushing or dropping him or something. She heard a thump and went running. He was fine, but Angie was so mad at Connor. I could so relate! It really is a miracle that second children survive their older siblings. For now, I'm going to do the best I can to love them both and keep little Preston safe from harm!

Cousin Saturday

What a fun day! Leah turned 5 and had a Halloween birthday party. It's become such a fun tradition...all the kids wear their costumes, play games and get to go trick-or-treating in the basement. It was a great day. After the party, Alicia, Angie and Justin stopped by with the kids on their way back up north. Dylan was sick of his costume by then and was just wearing his normal outfit. Angie commented how funny it was that all the kids were wearing black and red shirts. All we had to do was take Preston out of his Tigger outfit and put him in his onesie. Too bad Tony was in St. George so we're missing one cousin. This truly is a history-making picture though. Trying to get that many young cousins to hold still and not scream is nothing short of miraculous. The crazy thing was, there were actually several decent pictures that came out of this impromptu photo shoot. Who knew? So here are some of our favorite pictures from a fun Saturday full of cousins...from both sides of the family.

Crazy Busy Days...

So the last month or so has just been crazy busy. I didn't plan it that way, but somehow everything happened all at once. Here are the reasons life has been super crazy.

• I started tending Anthony three days a week instead of two days. I knew Activity Days was not going to work anymore...there is no way I can lead activites with three kids around. I've had that calling for almost 3 1/2 years anyway so I didn't feel bad needing a break. It was bad timing for the Primary President since we were about to get new ward boundaries, but I figured I'd better let her know that I couldn't do it with my schedule anymore. Well, until they found somebody else, I was trying to help out with activities and juggle the tending. So that was chaotic by itself.
• I decided one day to sign up for a six-week digital scrapbooking class at the high school. Again, I thought it would be nice to get out of the house and learn a new skill. Alicia and I have been taking that class together and enjoying it, but as things have gotten more and more busy, it's been more of a task than something I look forward to.
• I agreed to help a friend of mine with an event she was doing. It worked out perfectly because Anthony was out of town that Friday anyway. I was so excited to help with the event and get out of the house, but by the time the event rolled around, I had been out of the house a lot. It was a lot of fun and some extra money, but one more thing this month that ended up being "extra".
• I was at Primary Children's with Preston when I found out that someone from my old job at the Republican Party was quitting. She was a part-time employee who had worked there for like 11 years or something. So even though I wasn't considering looking for a job, I thought this was too good an opportunity to pass up. It was stressful to even think about working out the details, but I decided just to go interview and see what happened.
• By the time the boss called me to tell me I had a job, I figured he had decided to go with someone else. I had made my peace with it. Then I get a call saying he did want me to work there. It wasn't the position I had applied for, but is much closer to what I used to do so I would have a lot less to learn. Then he asked when I could start. Ahh... I was so excited and nervous all at once--it was a total freak-out moment.
• I now had to figure out who was going to take care of the boys. Luckily we'd talked to some family members and had thought through a babysitting plan that we hoped would work. Amy would tend the kids one day a week and Mercedes would tend the other day of the week. So it's been a week and a half and so far so good. Amy has tended twice and Mercedes once and it seems to be working out. Amy said the kids were great both days so I'm hopeful that this is a good fit. It feels really good to be back at work a couple days a week, but it's not so much that I feel guilty about leaving the kids. Plus it helps that they are with people who love them and who I trust. I think getting this job is a blessing. It will help with our tight budget and it seems to really make me appreciate the days I have with my boys.
• I'm not the only one with a crazy schedule. Marcos has been going crazy too. He works full time, is Young Men's President and works a little part-time job about 2-5 hours a week. His part-time job isn't much, but he usually ends up working in the evenings when his family misses him more.
• Marcos has a friend who does finish carpentry who asked him to help with a job last Saturday. He was gone all day--like 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. What a long day! He called him again this week and asked him to work today. Of course, he couldn't say no. It's a little extra money and it's something Marcos enjoys learning. That's the one thing about Marcos...he isn't a super skilled handyman, but he's a really good worker so he's still a great choice as a side-kick in construction-type projects.

Anyway, it's been way hectic! Most of it has just been timing though. I don't think our new schedule is going to look like this. I just think we were kind of bored and needing extra money so we both said yes to everything and now we've got to let it simmer down a little bit. I'm super excited about my job though and pray everything works out for the best. Wish me luck!

Little Ears Are Always Listening

I had a rough day teaching Primary on Sunday. I was a little negative on the drive home and told Marcos I wasn't sure I could teach this class. I forget sometimes that little ears are always listening. Out of nowhere, Dylan's little voice says, "Mom, do you not want to be a teacher?" Oops... I quickly try to back pedal by saying, "I do want to be a teacher. I just had a hard day today." Dylan then says, "No, I don't want you to be a teacher." What? That totally caught me off guard - I expected him to say okay and be fine with the whole thing. Then he says, "I want you to be a mom." It was so sweet! The negative moment was gone and my eyes welled up with tears at the thought of my beautiful, loving little boy.

A Day At The Park

I love this weather. It's a bit chilly, but the fall is so great. I took Dylan, Anthony and Preston to the park today to feed the ducks and play a little bit. They were so cute. They had so much fun feeding the ducks, but got a little nervous when the geese got too close. Dylan chased them around though...sometimes he's a little too brave. At one point, there were so many ducks, geese, and even a swan right next to us. Anthony was practically standing under me and Dylan was protecting the lid to the container we brought the seeds in. He was afraid they would eat it. I wish I could've taken a picture at that exact moment but they really were everywhere. Dylan wore his bird backpack the whole day. He loves that thing! The swan must've thought there was food in it because it was pecking at the poor backpack. Dylan just stood still, but after I chased the swan away he said, "Mom, why was that swan 'nicking' at me?" Funny kid, he just makes up words when he doesn't know what I say. Preston enjoyed the whole thing and just sat there and watched the ducks go by. We played on the playground for a bit, but it started getting cold and was close to nap time so we didn't stay long. What a great way to break up a long day with kids though. It was perfect!

Sunday Dinner

What a fun Sunday dinner. Marcos' cousin, Maria Noel, was in town and came up to dinner with her sister, Raquel. We had dinner at Mercedes' house. It was so much fun! Maria Noel has a beautiful, round pregnant belly. Amy's is starting to round out and Laura's is just barely showing. We found out that Raquel is expecting for the middle or end of May too. Holy cow! Abuela and I were the only two women not pregnant in that room...how fun! I must say I'm happy to be on the non-pregnant side of the room though. I'm feeling just perfect with my two little boys! Anyway, we had yummy food and then played for awhile. I went to check on the kids because Mason kept telling on Dylan. Although kindergarteners are known for tattling, I thought it was worth making sure nothing was going on. Somehow I ended up playing sharks with Diego and Dylan on the ground. Once I was down, there was no turning back. Someone hopped onto my back and the next thing you know, I'm hauling almost the whole gang around. Talk about a big load! It was sure fun though...those crazy kids! Later, abuela took the oldest four kids into her room and put them in their little costumes that she's been making. Man, were they excited. Gabi and Leah were posing the rest of the night and Mason and Dylan thought they were super heros. Dylan's still young enough that the super hero he thought of was Super Bunny so he ran around yelling that. Amy asked if he was talking about Max and Ruby. Sure enough, he was. I'm surprised she knew what he was referring to. So here are a few pictures from the evening.

GG Betty

GG is my grandma Betty. She has the kids call her GG because she's their Great Grandma. She fell last week and has been in the hospital for several days. We went to see her at the hospital over the weekend and luckily she's doing much better. It looks like she may be able to go back home and the physical therapist can work with her at her house. I think they're also putting in an alert type of system in case she falls again. We love you GG. Get well soon!