Finally another girl!

On Jesse's side of the family we somewhat lack in girls in reference to the nieces and nephews. With that, Jesse's sister, Tammie, who is married is REALLY lacking in girls. There are only 2 children in her husband's family. His sister only has two boys, the youngest is just reaching his teenage years, and due to situations, those are the only two children she's going to have. Well, Tammie and her husband, Lisle, have three children. One girl, 7, and two boys, 5 and 3. We have Carter who is 1 1/2. So, unfortunately, our niece has been wanting a female cousin to play with for soooooo long. Well, her parents did her one better by popping out an adorable little girl yesterday afternoon. Kadri, the newborn, was born at 7 lbs 14 oz, 19 in and was not due until October 9. Poor Tammie has been popping out some fairly big children through a tiny 5'2" frame. We say it serves her right though for having all, except one, born in September. The one that was born in August was due in the middle of September though. So, still that serves her right! :D We still love them.

The Waiting Game

Last night I got a call from my sister-in-law, the one who is pregnant. This small action resulted in a minor heart attack on my part, because I'm the one who they were going to call when she would have gone into labor. The reason that this is all past tense is due to her doctors set up a time for her to be induced due to circumstances. We agreed that I would go over at 7:00 am today to watch their other 3 children. Well, it's now 11:15 am and all morning I've received nothing but, "Is the baby here yet?" "When is the baby coming?" "What are they doing?" and so on and so forth. I have now received 2 calls about the same thing. One from my younger sister-in-law, and the other from my father-on-law. The only reason that I need to blog this is because, they are asking me to keep them updated on something that I'm not there for! I'm with the kids answering their questions and trying to explain to them how this all works. I'm sure our brother-in-law will be the one to answer all of the questions, esp. since he's the one married to the pregnant woman! I'm also sure that he will call EVERYONE when the baby is born. I also know that it's only 11:20 and everyone is tired of playing this waiting game.

The Bandaid

Carter woke up from his nap and started playing here in the computer room. He went under the desk with Piston and some colored pencils. I didn't think too much of it until he just handed me the bandaid that caused so much drama not too long ago. Because he pulled off the bandaid, his finger is now bleeding, just a little though. Oy!

Sad Days

This morning Carter came running into the computer room and ran into our dog. Our dog is now wise enough to get out of the way unless there is someone around that he's playing with, like my mother-in-law. So, Piston took a gentle step out of Carter's way throwing Carter's steps off causing him to fall. He was hurt, and we knew. I took Carter who was holding his hand up for me. Looking down I saw a nice cut on him. We washed and dried it. I bandaged it and thought all would be well. Nope. Carter was more traumatized with having a bandaid on that he tried everything to get it off, including screaming. He bit part of it off too. Well, I took him to the bedroom to see if he'd relax with some cartoons. The entire time he was screaming, because I would stop him from taking it off. He got so angry and frustrated with me that for 10 minutes he tried to attack me. He came from every angle he could to bite or pinch me. After another 5-10 minutes of just screaming, he finally let me just comfort him. I turned him around after not too long, and he just sat on my lap and watched tv. His face was so sad. After 5 minutes of tv, he started to adjust himself to get more comfortable. Not too much longer, he was dozing off. He was so exhuasted from screaming that he took his nap at 10:45. He hasn't done that in a LONG time.

Car Troubles

A few weeks ago Jesse took our Lancer in to get the alignment fixed, because the car was pulling to a hard right. So, the mechanic looked at it and told Jesse it wasn't the alignment that was the problem, it was the tires. Our tires were so bad and off-centered that they messed up the alignment. Not only that but our back tires would barely pass safety/emissions for registration. Well, the estimate to have it all fixed would come close to a nice $250 (money that we don't have) to fix only the front tires and cam bolts. So, we decided that we would wait for the next pay check to come. During that time Jesse took the Explorer to work. Well, he got paid and later that next week, he planned to take the car in to get fixed. As he tried to start the car, he heard a whirring sound and then nothing. The car wouldn't start! He called me out to see if I could see anything, but there was nothing. I talked to my dad, and he gave me a few reasons as to what it could be. Then about a half hour later, nothing in the Lancer would start. The obvious reason was the battery was bad. We jumped the car, and took it to Auto Zone to have the battery tested. Our sorrows deepened as we heard that we could recharge the battery, but it most likely wouldn't last through the winter. We came home, and Jesse put a new car battery. By this time it was too late to try to fix the tires. So, he went the next day. By this time we already had spent almost a third of what we planned. When Jesse was done getting the car fixed he told me that he got all of the tires replaced. This took a full paycheck of ours, which is more than double that of the estimate. Thinking that our troubles with the cars are over for a little while, we find out that our new back tire on the Explorer is leaking. What more do we have to do?

Climbing Mountains (or at least furniture)

Carter has always been a climber. You can tell by the defined leg muscles that he already has. Well, while I was making his lunch yesterday, he thought it would be fun to see if I had put anything on his tray yet. As I looked over, I found him with his foot on the footrest and his upper body on the tray. Our high chair isn't meant to be sturdy enough for him to be on the tray. As a matter of fact, I don't think any high chair is meant to have more than a few pounds on its front, since it's NOT bolted to the floor! Aaaahhhhhh!!!!

Today in order to get him in that same high chair, I brought out a bag of fruit snacks for him to eat while I finished up his lunch. He got so excited that he climbed onto the chair that I sit on to feed him. Then, he did this bellyflop right onto the tray and grabbed right under the tray to get a grip of the high chair. For as much as he falls and gets beat up by the walls and floors in the house, you would think he would have some fear of getting hurt.

Boys!

As much as I knew boys are just genetically predetermined to be just a little rougher and more energetic than girls, I still wanted to have a boy first. Mainly, it was because I can handle being a little rougher now than being prissy and having WAY more attitude down the road. Well, Carter is now showing his boy side. He takes the dinosaurs out of their bucket and makes a deep roar for them. Yesterday and today he's been enjoying playing chase with Piston, even if Piston doesn't want to. He chases Piston with a baseball bat, one of those old ball popper push toys, and his favorite, a plastic mini-shopping cart. Each time Carter is about to ram Piston, Carter lets out a nice "AAAGHHH!" It's sort of his, "Gotchya!" Our pitbull is now terrified of our toddler. Before, Piston could just kiss Carter away. Now, that doesn't even work. It's so sad, and yet so funny.

Family dinner

Sunday dinners are ones where the whole family gets together. It's a great idea. Right now, the family is the 2 parents, 7 kids (spouses included) and 4 grand children. That's a lot for one kitchen to hold. Not to mention another grandchild is due any day now.

Well, 3 Sundays ago was my mother-in-law's birthday. When Jesse and I went to the kitchen we saw that she was making dinner for the whole family ON HER DAY!!!! I was appalled. I thought that the dad would have planned for something else, seeing as how he had Jesse, his younger brother and he do breakfast for Jesse's grandmother, mother and me. Since I knew everyone wouldn't be back down for another 2 weeks, I suggested to Jesse that we cook the next family dinner. He said fine. Then, I told his mom, we would take care of everything. She was happy to know that. She even kept asking if there was anything she could do. My reply was always no, because she already does so much for everyone.

Well, the time came to plan out the dinner. I knew it had to be diabetes friendly, because my father-in-law has type 2 and my sister-in-law has gestational. So, I went online with a plan sort of in my head. I knew there was a recipe for these yummy lasagna rolls. I saw Giada make them on the Food Network. I pulled that recipe. I knew we would have a green salad and vegetables, but that wasn't enough for me or for those who would only be able to eat one lasagna roll. Well, I kept thinking. Then, I thought what a great appetizer I saw Giada make, but I couldn't think of the name. I knew it had mozzerella and tomatoes, and that was all I knew. So, I kept searching for more ideas. Suddenly, I thought of stuffed chicken! That would be great for everyone. I also wanted a nice bread appetizer. One with grilled french bread topped with a creamy cheese, spinach and herb mixture. So, I had this great plan ahead of me. I found a nummy stuffing recipe for the chicken and an easy funnel cake recipe for dessert, also with the help of Food Network. With much searching I found that mozzerella 'salad' recipe, and it's name is mozzerella caprese.

The plan was set. We would have 1) mozzerella caprese, 2) toasted bread appetizers, 3) lasagna rolls, 4) stuffed chicken with a roasted garlic pesto, 5) green salad, 6) green beans, 7) corn, and 8) funnel cakes for dessert. What a great menu I thought. Then came the news. My father-in-law cannot only not have the refined sugars, but no pasta, no fried foods, and pretty much anything that has a lot carbs. So, limited breads, starches, etc. Then, I went searching for food deals. I got a great price on frozen spinach (thankfully before the ecoli scare), and that was about it. I was able to find a store that was having a special on chicken, only the frozen though. I can deal, but it wasn't big enough for everyone to have one whole one. Well, after all was said and done. I knocked out the bread appetizers, the funnel cakes, the corn and reduced the stuffed chicken to stuffed chicken rolls, which meant we spent $65 on food for the whole dinner. That's a WHOLE lotta money to us!

I started prep on the dinner Saturday night. I got the pesto and the filling for the lasagna rolls made. Jesse kept complaining that I was doing too much for one dinner, but I knew that if I didn't, we wouldn't have had dinner in time. Plus, I had fun. Then, came morning. Most of the chicken had thawed. I spent the morning pounding it out, filling it and rolling it up to be steamed just before dinner started. Needless to say, I got just as much help from Jesse prepping the food as I did the night before. By the time I got it all done, it was noon, which meant church was in an hour. Jesse didn't shower and Carter was still in pajamas. We got to our 1 o'clock ward late! Then we left early, because Carter didn't nap. As soon as we got home I changed and rushed back to the kitchen to finish the rest of dinner. This time Jesse was a great help! He helped with the bechemel sauce for the lasagna, and he made the green salad, cut the tomatoes for the caprese, and started the green beans. We were only a little behind schedule, but that was okay.

Dinner started soon after. Jesse's brother-in-law was so excited that he was like a child on Christmas day, and he's 33 yrs old. So, half way through dinner and after all of Jesse's complaining, I got many great compliments. The best one from the brother-in-law, which was this had to rank as his #5 top dinner he's had with the family in the past 8-9 years. That's a lot of dinners, which meant that was pretty good. I mean I can't really compete with Honey Baked Ham, but I was close enough.

Later on, I read Jesse's journal, which he lets me read. For that day he commented on it. He said how good it was, and how impressed he is with how talented I am (when I want to be). From the beginning, I thought he would be so unimpressed and stressed with it, because he knew how much work I put into it just so the family could have a nice dinner. Then I find out later that he really enjoyed himself. I was so confused and came to a conclusion: Aren't husbands funny!

Big help

Carter is so funny. To him everything has a place. It doesn't matter what it is, it just has a place. He loves to help, at least for now. I think he also loves the praise that he gets (just like any other child) when he helps put away toys.

So, yesterday started as any regular day. He woke up, and woke me by saying, "Mom! Mom! Mum! Mum!" I turned on the tv for him while I was trying to walk in my groggy transe state. I took out Piston and fed him, then got Carter's milk. I changed his morning diaper. Then Carter decided he didn't want to stay and do cuddle time with mommy, because he'd rather be playing with all of the cool, different toys that are here to play with. So, he ran around for a little bit while I tried to warm back up from being outside in 40 some degree wet weather. Not too long after I went to feed Carter breakfast. I noticed that I forgotten to close the bathroom door. Big mistake! I know Carter loves the toilet, the bathtub and the diaper pail, because it's fun to make the weight slide down on the diapers in the pail. So, I went in to see if he had gotten into anything bad. Well, his morning poopy diaper was missing! I searched the play room, the extra bedroom, our bedroom, the living room, and the cabinets in the bathroom. It was nowhere! Finally, I looked at the diaper pail. It was open, because we were airing it out and hadn't put a trash bag in it yet. So, I looked in, and right in the middle at the bottom there was the diaper. Carter knew that his STINKY ones go in there.

After breakfast, he decided to help out with some laundry. We had some dirty clothes on the floor, because we had been cleaning the others the day before. Well, the basket that I just emptied was on the floor next to his chair. So, Carter was so good to help me put all of the dirty clothes that were on the floor, or just the others that he brings out, into that basket. He did that without me asking him. It was so funny! Then he put that basket next to the closet where we keep his dirty laundry hamper.

Not only has he done all of that, but he helps me make our bed in the mornings or afternoons, depending on when he lets me. It's so funny to watch him follow me from side to side and pull his little Carter pulls with the blankets.

I love my little helper!

Mischief

Today all of us kids decided we were going to go out and have some fun together. You know, family bonding. For those of us who have our own kids, we left them with grandma and grandpa. It's not too bad right now, seeing as how there are only 4 grandchildren. All ages 7, 5, 3 and 1 1/2. It's nice to know that they can all get along for the most part, because the oldest three are siblings, and the youngest one is the easiest of them all.

Well, when we got home from our day out, I stayed in the computer room with Carter and his 3 year old cousin, Kason. Kason is a funny little character. He's just learning to really talk, and he's learned how to be a boss from his older sister and brother. So, as I was reading up on some emails and blogs, I heard this huge crash from behind me. As I turned around I saw a toy truck come flying out of the closet. Soon after, Jesse comes to the door to ask where Carter was. My simple reply was with his cousin in here. Looking back to the closet I saw Kason behind the door on top of the Barbie playhouse that is the same height as him, which meant Carter was with him. Where!?! He was behind the other door, on top of the tub that is next to the Barbie playhouse. He was also helping to find more toys to play with or just throw out of the closet.

We love our cousins!

Reflections

As we grow older, we may forget some of our past. We tend to forget those who helped us to become who we are. We never forget our family, because they would never allow us to. However, we do forget some of the great friendships we had previously. While I may still may be young, I will never forget how great some of my best friends were to me. Now that I'm able to be back on one of my instant message sites, I see how much we've all changed. I was the one who grew up too fast but in a good way. I haven't seen my friends from high school since Jesse and I got married, mainly due to our financial situation. At first I was kind of relieved to not be tied up in all of the drama that was there, because everyone was descovering their paths. Now that I see all of the drama was temporary, even if some friendships ended, I still miss my friends. I still miss how much fun we had. I will always love my friends for accepting me for who I was/am. Although, we've grown apart, esp. with a couple of thousand miles in between us, I still cherish these people. They really have meant a lot to me. I hope we can see them soon. I also hope we can catch up on our lives soon. I think I'll start that right now, by writing a few emails.

Sleepovers

So far Carter has to two sleepovers. One was at Jesse's oldest sister's apartment where she had all four of the little ones; Carter and his 3 cousins. The other was last night at Jesse's next oldest sister's house; this is the sister with the 3 and another one on the way.

Well, the first sleepover went well. He played hard and had fun. He had some issues with eating. The biggest one being that he didn't want to. He pretty much fought and screamed so that he could not eat. Other than that he did his usual, "mom! mom! mom!" when he realized I wasn't in the room anymore.

The second sleepover was apparently great! He sat down and ate dinner with the rest of the kids, and he ate more than the 2 younger boys who are 3 and 5 years old. Jesse and I expect him to eat more than them though. In the morning he ate a full pancake with syrup! My child doesn't eat anything that is close to bread, let alone a pancake. He ate something else for breakfast too. Then, he snacked on cheese and a granola bar (which he won't eat for me) before church along with some fruit snacks in sacrament. We're pretty sure he snacked in nursery, because he usually does. Then they went home and had lunch, which he ate some of, but he was pretty tired by that time. So, he napped a little bit, and then we got there just when he was getting ready to eat dinner. That's when the true Carter came out. He drank about 4-5 ounces of lemonade and ate a few bites of banana and a full yogurt. Following that came his whining to be let out of the chair. We were told that he barely made a sound, expect for during playtime when the occasional toy was taken away. As soon as I let him down from the table and started to eat my dinner, he started to whine about everything. He needed me to snuggle and love him as soon as anything went wrong; a slight bump, being held by other people, or just nothing.

Our brother and sister-in-law offered to take him anytime we want, because he does so well for them. They were surprised that he slept all the way through the night. Also, they said that he's easier than any of their children, and the oldest will be 7 in a couple of weeks. They couldn't see why we think of him as a stress. At least they couldn't tell until the 5 year old put on a costume and every other minute for a good half hour Carter came whining to me to hold and/or comfort him. The last half hour was the same, I was not allowed to put him down, and no one else was allowed to hold him. The occasional kiss goodnight was okay, but no more than that.

My boy in a nutshell: a mama's boy only when mom is around, but great for everyone else.

Life's stresses

As I was reading a friend's blog, I found myself thinking of another topic. Life. Life can be great, and life can be traumatic. How we view our lives is what is going to determine our quality of life. Jesse and I have never been very stable in our few years of marriage. We have always gotten the help we've needed from our families, including our Heavenly one. I am so grateful that we do have these blessings and continue to have them.

Unfortunately, my father-in-law cannot see the great blessings in his life, because he focuses so much on the negative outcomes and trials he has. He has type 2 diabetes and has had it for quite some time. We are scared for ourselves, because we are at a higher risk to develop it too. But now, we are more scared for Jesse's dad. He has let his diabetes get such a great hold on him that he has gone nearly blind due to hemorraging in his eyes. My father-in-law sees this not as an opportunity to show his faith or change his life so that he can overcome this nasty trial, but he sees it as something that is only here to hold him down and to stop him from living. There are so many things that Jesse and I have seen him do in the past that we've tried to warn him about because of the concern we have for his health. One of Jesse's older sisters has gestational diabetes, and she has tried to consult with their father about what needs to be done. She has seen a specialist, so that she knows how to be healthy for not only her, but her unborn child. Instead of taking all of this as his children and their concern for their father, he takes it as 'everyone thinks they know everything, and who are they to tell me what is right for me, because they don't know what i live with everyday.'

There's nothing we can do to change his mind. We can change our minds, and our lifestyles. We can encourage a better lifestyle through us living one. We can be grateful that we don't have these trials. We can work with Jesse's mom to encourage a low-carb lifestyle for the diabetic, because it's not just the refined sugars that hurt, but all of the simple sugars we eat. That's why in 2 Sundays, I hope to have a nice filling, tasty meal for the diabetics in our family. So, they know that you can still eat yummy foods while cutting out those things we love so much.

Moderation in ALL things (not just foods) is the key to life. Live it, love it, and be happy.

How Sweet!

I was at the grocery store with Carter today, and as we were leaving this older gentleman stopped us. He asked if he could give me a compliment, and I obviously said yes. He leaned over to tell me that I was pretty, and I had a very cute son too. Wouldn't the world be great if everyone were like that. It was also great to know that he sounded like an educated african american. How great the life would be if it didn't know the bounds of racism, because if I were racist, I wouldn't have stayed to hear those sweet words from an awesome person who left just a couple of footprints in my life. With great thanks, we left, but the memory will stay.

Baby Gate

The baby gate is there to help stop a child from going anywhere that the parent doesn't want to have his or her child. Well, Carter figured that out and absolutely hates that idea. It's so absurd to him that he figured out how to pull it down from the bottom of the stairwell. I didn't find this out until the other day when I was folding laundry and heard Piston trying to play with the other dogs, and Carter playing the piano upstairs.

Fruit snacks

Fruit snacks are a great snack for any child. Finally, our's has just appreciated how good they really are. He enjoys them so much that he can't bare to think that he has just devoured the whole bag. So, what does he do? He saves the last one or two to NIBBLE on (or put in his ear to save for later).

Mama's boy

Throughout this week, Jesse and I have come to find out how big of a mama's boy Carter is. Sometimes it's funny, and sometimes I feel like screaming. I've been filling out applications and running a lot of errands lately. So, I ask if my mother-in-law will watch him for the little bit that I'm out. I'm rarely out longer than an hour without him. Well, the minute I leave Carter starts signing mom while walking around saying, "mom! mom! mom!" I'll admit that's cute. He's even funny about me being his too. Like ealier this week, Jesse got home from work, and we were all in the bedroom relaxing before dinner. Jesse was laying on the bed next to me, and Carter was sitting in between my legs with his blanket watching tv. Well, Jesse put his hand on my leg, and without looking, Carter gently pushed Jesse's hand off of me. Jesse tried again, and without hesitation, Carter pushed his hand away. This went on for another good five or six tries. I thought it was funny to see Carter set claim as to whom I belong to. Then, the next day Jesse got home from work, and I asked for him to cuddle me. All was nice and happy, because Carter was on the floor with Piston having fun playing with one another. Unfortunately, that didn't last too long. Carter saw Jesse with me and instantly came over and demanded to get on the bed with us. So, we brought him up thinking he'd just play on the bed. No sooner had we put him on the bed that he wedged himself between us and pushed Jesse away from me. That is when I finally figured out that Carter has that green eyed, jealousy bug in him. I have come to find out that Carter is like that little boy on the sharpie commercial who won't let his mother put him down. I tried to unpack some more of my clothes just a couple of days ago, and he demanded that I held him for 45 min of unpacking. Given, it did take a little longer, because I held him for part of the time. I really don't mind holding Carter, it's just when he is determined that I hold him for an hour, or if every other minute he asks to be held and then gets down that I go nuts because of the other things I could be doing. Now I ask if it's ok for me to put him down, and everytime it's the same response...a sad face with a simple shake of the head, no.