He sure loves those toes!

Sometimes he chews on them... wish I was the flexable!!!! At least he now has something else to chew on... just started him on eating rice... and he loves it. Hopefully bland food won't be his only culinary joy in life!

Reverse Stalking???

So I know that there are proper safety precautions to take to keep your family safe on the good ol' net. Hence this blog not being included on search sites, not having our real last name, and not using my children's real first names ... I know, some of you may think.... sheesh she is a little narcissistic! YES I AM! The paparazzi are out to get me!

No but really, I'm a little paranoid! Just watch me when any of my children get near a window well. HOLY CRAP do I get jumpy! If G so much as runs past the window well at closer that 2 feet away ... BAM! All Nerves.. he could fall into that thing and break his neck. SO what is the odds of that happening are less than him having a career in professional gymnastics??? I'm the same way with stairs BTW.

My poor children are going to be neurotic if I have anything to do with it!

Soooooo.... Back to the topic. If any of you noticed, one of my favorite bloggers commented on the site yesterday. I had no idea how she found my blog... apparently I'm a newb! I did leave a comment on her site the other day (I think) but I never comment with my blogger user name on sites of people I don't know personally. I don't want to advertise to people that might be browsing their blogs that I am here by doing that and giving them an easy link to this here little site. I have no CLUE who may be scanning the sites... know what I mean?

So I emailed her... and she was kind enough to respond and let me know how she found me. Apparently you can do searches of websites who have certain links. For instance she searched her own websites address (hollywoodflakes.blogspot.com) and it came up that I had linked to her site. So she checked it out. Which is fine by me... she is a hilarious Mormon mom who seams to be pretty straight forward, I just wanted to make sure I hadn't put a link in accidentally... KWIM?? (Know What I Mean).

So, Just for in formations sake... if you love a website and link to it, there are ways for BIG BROTHER TO FIND YOU!!! ;)

PS Some such websites are www.technorati.com and www.statcounter.com

If you want to make a comment but don't know how!

Do you see under this post where it says "0 comments" or some other insanely low number? If you click on those specific words the site will take you to a comment area. On the top right hand side of that page there is a spot for you to type... leave something random .... ie "Yes, Mary Poppins must have been a Wiccan" then if you don't have a google account put in your name or something people would know you by .... ie "Smohn Jith" or be snarky and put a dot next to "anonymus" and then click the orange button that says "Publish Your Comment". TADA!!! Fabulously done young jedi!

Now LEAVE MORE COMMENTS DANGIT! Yes that means you!

New Favorite Blog

This Mormon mom TOTALLY CRACKS ME UP!!!

http://www.hollywoodflakes.blogspot.com/

Gordon B. Hinckley

Last night at about 7:30 one of histories truely great men passed on to meet his maker and help watch over us all. He was a great example of love and grand at inspiring others to strive to live life better. He will be sorely missed.

(picture from www.ldsmag.com)

Feeling Better Already!

Wow, a little exercise can do a lot!

I never have been one to exercise on a regular basis... I did a little as a teen and in college but life would get in the way and I wouldn't "make" time to do it so I would always fall off the horse (figuratively speaking).

Well, people are right, it does feel good! Why is it that I dreaded it so much? It helps my whole day go smoother! That and suddenly I have all this energy.

For instance, after a day full of moving furniture all around the house to make room for Gavin to have his own room downstairs, Jer and I took the kids to Wal-Mart (aka Voldemort) to get a couple of last minute things. What we wanted was out so out the door we went with our 2 carts and 3 kids (boys in one girls in the other)... before I knew it Jer and I were racing carts, running full speed to the truck. The kids thought it was a blast and I actually wasn't winded afterwords.

The whole racing thing doesn't happen very often because I used to find that even after a short run I was so winded I would cough and cough especially if the air outside was cold. NOT LAST NIGHT THOUGH! Hooray! I thought it was fun... even afterwords when I usually would have been huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf! Yay for exercise and not feeling like a slightly deflated basketball that someone is trying to bounce but that they have to throw extra hard just to get it to do what it is supposed to do with no problem.

Now I'm starting to feel like the perky cheerleader on speed.... YIPPEE, GO US!

Good Night Sleep Tight

ROFL!!!

recently brought to my attention by another blogger....

Go Google "French Military Victories"

then instead of searching hit the "I'm Feeling Lucky" Button....

LOL... hit the alternate answer! ROFL

Poor little Frenchies.

Mother Sacrifices Her Life For Her Son

It's not often that the media focuses on a story of love (that doesn't involve some kind affair or other horrid crime), well here is a wonderful example of the love a mother has for a child. Wow, I would like to think that if the same happened to me, I would have the courage to do exactly what she did.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/womenfamily.html?in_article_id=510308&in_page_id=1799

"A mother made the ultimate sacrfice by refusing cancer treatment to give birth to a healthy baby boy.
Lorraine Allard was told four months into the pregnancy the devastating news that she was in the advanced stages of cancer.
A further blow came when doctors advised her to terminate the foetus, which was 23 weeks old, and start chemotherapy straight away.
Instead, she insisted on waiting long enough to give her unborn son a chance to survive, telling her husband, Martyn: 'If I am going to die, my baby is going to live.' "

I'm thankful for...

G & M being happy with cold cereal for breakfast.
Gavin putting his dishes in the dishwasher.
G being ok with letting me excersise instead of letting him play Lego StarWars.
M sleeping in
G & M letting me get a shower without me having to get out to tears
L being happy to play on my bed with toys while I shower
M Loving to play with her little brother
G actually playing Lego StarWars instead of just killing the characters repeatedly just for the fun of it.
G wanting to help me get M to do what he wants her to, his intentions are good.
M being ok with Transformers rather than Dora
M's ability to climb well, even if it is to the top of the couch
M not screaming all the way through time out
L's happy smiles
The fact that my kids would die for Mac and Cheese
Nerds and the fine motor skills they inprove while eating
L's good naps
M's nap today (yeah time for mom to read Sunday lesson!)
G's love of baths
G's love of sponges and the splashes that they make while keeping said splashes in the tub.
G's love of Spiderman
M's love of Charlottes Web
G's willingness to let his sister watch Charlottes Web before Spiderman after finding out mom wasn't going to make that decision and the TV would be turned off if they could not come to an agreement
M's love of hearing mom read her a story
They fact that they play pretty well with each other.
L's laughs
M finally being able to tell us exactly what she wants when she chooses
The fact that G listens to her even if it continues to make him upset
The fact that G doesn't always let M get her way (she needs to learn compromise)
G & M's love of blanket forts
G's curiosity about food
G & M's desire to set the table.
G's love of bananas (even if he asks for them right before dinner is done)
G & M BOTH eating ALL of the dinner (HORRAY!)
M's FINALLY FIGURED OUT WHEN TO RUN TO THE POTTY TO PEE!!! HORRAY... now all I have to do is try to reinforce that without "forcing" her to go!
M's love of baths
G never wanting to miss anything
G & M's desire to say family prayers every night :)
Their love of new books even if they came out of a box of diapers
The fact that they went to bed REALLY well tonight. No fussing

Needless to say. TODAY WAS WONDERFUL. M only got 2 time outs all day and G got only 1!!! That and G was way cute saying "P is for Please Pass the P-P-P-Popcorn!" whenever he went close to the fridge (there are a bunch of letter magnets and a fun game thingy on it... meaning the fridge!)

Being Grateful

Lately I've had a hard time. Mostly with tolerating my children. What a horrid thing to say, that I tolerate them. Most days I have moments where I just want to scream (though I try very hard not to!). I often look around at the other mom's around me and think "what is wrong with me? why don't I have as much fun with my kids as they do?" or sometimes in frustrated moments I slip into the whole "what is wrong with my kids?" thinking that is so desperately unfair to them. I expect too much.
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There is a saying somewhere that I once heard about putting someone on a pedestal. That when you put people on a pedestal the only thing for them to do is fall. I believe I do this with my own children.
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I need a vacation, that goes without saying, but I realized something today...

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I need to change my perspective. Instead of trying so hard to make them conform and be what I want them to be (which I myself would TOTALLY rebel against). I have been totally oblivious to the fact that Heavenly Father doesn't force us to do anything. I need to figure out a way to lead my children to do what is needed.

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But before I can do that I need to learn to truly appreciate them. How do I go about doing this without having to have something horrible or truly dramatic and painful happen? I am bound and determined to change my attitude. I recognize now that the problem is not with motherhood, the world around me, or my children.
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The problem is ME!
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So tonight I'm going to start by writing on my mirror in my bathroom in big dry erase marker letters "How would I feel without Them" to remind me that many mothers would give anything to have their children around to whine, to fight, to talk back, and be generally disagreeable. Mothers who have lost children to accidents, or to a spouse who was unwilling to "work things out". Mothers who have disabled children who will never be able to have the ability to hit their little sister or scream at their older brother. Women who are unable to have there own children and who simple cherish the thought of being called "Mommy" even if it is yelled through a closed door at 3 am in the morning.
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Even though I have a difficult time being grateful for my kids on a day to day basis, I realize when put to it that I love them with all that I am. All my life I have always wanted to be a mother. And I never regret that decision. I cannot see myself ever choosing a career over raising my children. In my mind it is equivalent to handing them over for someone else to raise. Given the choice I would gladly step in front of a Mac truck for any one of them, and I'm not just talking about to save their lives, I mean even just to better their lives. If my dieing would in return give them a fulfilling existence I'd do it. I would be devastated if I were to loose a child, have one of my children permanently injured in some way, or even have them make ghasty mistakes that would cause them pain in the future. So before the time comes that they can make those errors I WILL do all I can to change myself to be the best mother that I can be.
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So tomorrow is the day. It's going to be the first day that I truly try not only to have patience with my kids. not only to tolerate them, but to be grateful for them. To realize that after doing all I can do, I need to trust them, and I need to trust in Him that it will be enough.

Single-handedly Keeping Huggies in Business!

Yeah, can we say Pull-ups at night for G, 4's for Missy, and 3's for the little guy. Sheesh that is three boxes from Sam's and equates to almost $100 ... I think Diapers should be the new currency, what do you say!? ... ummm, except having children would eat them up... oh wait! that's already what happens with money! :D

Of all the Things to be Allergic to!

So Missy had a nasty diaper rash recently... poor girl! We also found out she is allergic to diaper rash cream... double whammy! Owey

Hoody and the Blowfish

Tagged By Stephanie!

My Husband...

What is his name? Jeremy Michael
How long have you been together? wow...um, Jer? He says 6years 5 months and 20 days :)
How long did you date? 2 months and 22 days
How old is he? 28
Who eats more? Me
Who said I love you first? Jer
Who is taller? Jer
Who can sing better? Um... we both used to be pretty good, I haven't heard him sing except in church for a while. I don't know!
Who is smarter? That's like asking someone if I look fat in these pants! no comment!
Who does the laundry? Moi ... but I make him put away his own clothes... I figure mine and kids are enough for one person.
Who pays the bills? Depends... writing checks or making the money to pay them? I write them.
Who mows the lawn? Depends on the summer! Last year he did it mostly, the year before I did
Who sleeps on the right side? the bed? Looking at it or laying on it? LOL looking at it = me
Who cooks dinner? last couple of nights me, but he actually cooks a lot
Who drives? He does mostly... he drives me NUTS! :)
Who is more stubborn? Debatable ... in fact we'll debate all night
Who kissed who first? Well I wouldn't have let him kiss me if it wasn't mutual!
Who asked who out first? Well, depends on what you call "asking out"! We met each other and saw each other every day after till Big G was 4 months old. But as far as literal dates, he asked me
Who proposed? Jeremy... 3 times informally and once officially :)
Who has more friends? Ummm do people keep track of that!?
Who is more sensitive? I'm more emotional, but aren't all females???
Who has more siblings? Me by one
Who wears the pants? Both of us, it's too cold outside for shorts ... this is IDAHO!

I tag Angie!

Lifestyle Adjustment

So, apparently Jer and I have even more reason to get all hyper and super peppy (aka do aerobic excersise). We have both needed it for a while but just couldn't bring ourselves to have the drive to actually do it. Well, the doctor has spoken ... it's either that or high blood pressure at a pretty young age. Then again this doesn't come as a surprise, high blood pressure runs in Jer's family. Time to change the excersise level and the diet.

.

Why is it that whenever I think of aerobic excersise I think of Cheerleaders on speed? LOL The videos always have these irratatingly chipper little twerps leading them! Then they expect you to get the move in .00005 of a sec worth of instruction... even if I were coordinated (which I'M NOT) I don't see how people get these down so quickly. Thank goodness for the pause and rewind buttons!

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Anyways, hopefully we can revamp our lives loose some weight and be good examples of a healthy lifestyle for the kids... that's if I can figure out that whole cooking healthy thing without force feeding my family cardboard! :)

I'm not trying to have a bad attitude... it's just a really daunting task! wish us luck!

Worries

I hate this time when my babies are between 4-7 months old. Not the babies themselves. They are wonderful. But because of my fear of them not getting enough to eat.

If you don't know we had a real scare with Gavin when he went to his 6 month "well baby" checkup at the pediatrician. He had lost a full 2 pounds and me being the naive and ignorant new mom that I was, I had thought that he was just getting longer/"taller". Well, after countless wonderfully fun medical tests (everything from a chest x-ray and MRI to blood work) on a 6 month old no real reason was really found... besides of course the fact that my milk may have come up short.

With Myranda I didn't even really try to nurse past 4 months old due to the fear that she would go hungry... after the first signs that my milk may be going out I instantly switched her to formula.

Well, with Liam I'm doing my best to do all I can to continue nursing... but I still have this nagging fear that I will be naive and stupid again and not realize what is going on until the poor kid has suffered.

So, instead of just loving the heck out of this age of my children, I spend the whole time with a nagging fear in the back of my head that something will go wrong and they will be hurt because I wasn't intelligent enough to see what was going on. And in my opinion this is the age that babies are the cutest DARN IT!!!

*sigh*

Hmmm. Maybe this is the reason behind my paranoia about my childrens safety... ie stairs/windowells

Baby Boys

Here pretty soon these two will be 6 months old! Crazy. Time flies so FAST!

Little Li's Christmas Money

So, The kids great grandma sent them some money for Christmas this year and we just now got to spending it! This Gym is what Little Li got (the bumbo chair was Missy My's when she was a baby). Big G got a couple of Tansformers that he LOVES and Missy My got some My Little Ponies. Thanks Grandma!

The Many Faces of Missy My

I should add some pictures....

but I'm being lazy... tomorrow maybe :)

Wow...Politics

BEWARE BLATANT OPINIONS AHEAD

OK, up front, I'm a conservative ... so if you have an issue with that please stop reading now. If I thought the Democrats had a candidate with better solutions for our countries issues i would vote for them (and I am keeping an eye on them too, but already know who I would support for the DNC candidate between the three main already).

Anyways, I just finished watching the debates that were held last night for the GOP. I think that most of the runners were pretty level headed about how they would fix things... but I have to say...

RON PAUL IS LOONY

I understand that our country shouldn't be borrowing from China, but should we really turn our backs on the Mideast when most of them don't like us and probably wouldn't have any issues with attacking us if we were going to sit back and take it? At least get us on better terms with them before you do that. It was obvious that the man has no understanding of how our military works. I personally couldn't trust someone with no common sense (as far as foreign policy) to be our Commander and Chief. That he somehow believes that keeping all of our assets here at home would miraculously make the middle east love us and not WANT to bomb the bejeebers out of us. BTW being that isolationist is what helped cause and aggravated the world wars. If only we had jumped in sooner maybe such things as creating Iraq would not have been seen as necessary. The rest of the world would think we were a joke if we elected someone like Ron Paul.

The rest of the Candidates seamed to be mostly on the same page with minor differences on how to go about getting the same results (for the most part).

This Makes Me Giggle...

If you don't like stupid humor, don't click on the link!

http://askaninja.com/node/2613

First Photos of the New Year

A rare "real" smile! Azlee had to tickle him to get it!

I actually caught a smile! Tricky when she pulls crazy faces when you say "smile!

Sweet picture of Li!

Their only cousin on Jeremy's side of the family... just thought I would throw him in :)

Horray!

Baby in bed without the nursefest! 2 times in one day! I am beginning to feel a little less like a human vending machine!

Napping WITHOUT nursing. Ugh

Little Li seams to HATE his bed and bedroom. He does not and will not go to sleep on his own when in his bed. UGH. Almost always he has to nurse to fall to sleep, unless of course he is in the car.

Last night I had a MONSTEROUS headache. I just wanted to go to sleep because with me that is the best way to get rid of a headache... though lately I've been having more and more of them :P But back to the topic. So I would nurse Li to get him to fall alseep, but no sooner than when I put him into his bed would he wake up and start crying. I tried letting him cry a little, to no avail. He just worked himself up to screaming. At any other time of day I would have been tempted to make him a doctors apointment because he is usually such a good natured baby! He rarely cries unless something is wrong. But the last several nights he has been refusing to go to sleep (and stay that way) till late. Last night it was 11:30 before he finally konked out. Too late by my clock on any day, but the ironic thing was that Jer and I were trying to talk through how to get him to go to sleep without me nursing him.... and meanwhile Jer had him sitting on his lap and he calmed right down and BAM... out like a light.

So this morning I decided to try to get him to go down for his nap without nursing him first (he didn't need it he had eaten an hour earlier)... so into the crib he went and as soon as I lay him down... you guessed it. Tada! Screamfest. With me going in every 5 - 10 minutes or so to let him know he hadn't been abandoned and making sure he wasn't poopy or hurting in some way... he cried for about an hour to an hour and a half... about the time he would have gotten hungry. UGH! So I fed him... and he fell asleep... even though I was trying to annoy him into staying awake till he was done eating. No Can Do.

Any Ideas?

This ones for you Phyllis!

This was on New Years Eve. My nephew Little J and son Little Li