Genetics: Aren't They Great!

Who Says Being a Stay at Home Mom isn't Exciting!!!

2009-06-17T20:46:00.000-07:00

Today was a normal Wednesday. The kids had appointments at the dentist and then we were going to go to the gym and run a few errands. I get the kids in the car only to find out my little dude had turned on one of the lights in the back. It had to have been on for at least a day and a half. The battery was dead and I only had 15 minutes to get the kids to the dentist that is a 15 minute freeway drive away. I called my hubby who tells me that the jumper cables are in his car 25 miles away. I start running to the few apartments that have someone who hasn't left for the day trying to find out if someone has jumper cables and if they could help me. Well, two of the four apartments that I could try were unable to help. As I'm walking up to the one where I know people are there, I find out that they don't speak english! Thankfully, the woman who helped them get this apartment had jumper cables with her and she spoke fluent spanish! With her car and cables, the father of that family was able to jump the car. As we were driving up, I realized that our radio won't work because it has an anit-theft device that needs a code that isn't in the car. The previous owner didn't leave that in the owner's pack, but he did leave the instruction manual to a portable dvd player! And yes, my little dude wanted to listen to music, because the drive is boring. We made it to the dentist late, but were still able to get in. Plus, my kids don't have any cavities! The day is only looking better.

After we leave the dentist's office, I pick up lunch for the kids. My baby doll had a shortened nap, and then it was off to the gym where I had a lazy day of bike riding for an hour. It took an extra 10 minutes to get out of the parking lot because my little dude didn't want to leave. He tried so hard not to leave that he grabbed the bike rack and wouldn't let go. It was HI-larious! We then went to our credit union where he didn't realize that the drive thru there is the same as the drive thru at a fast food restaurant. He took off his seat belt, after many times of me telling him no, and climbed up front to see the canister shoot up. After a bit of a scolding, he got back in his seat and tried so hard to get his seat belt on. When we were done there, I drove to the nearest pharmacy to pick up his flouride prescription. It took probably a good five minutes of me explaining to him that he doesn't need to unbuckle himself, because we weren't getting out. It's not that he didn't understand that we weren't getting out, but that he didn't understand why we wouldn't WANT to get out to go to another 'store.'

Our last stop was my bank, where I needed to cash my bonds. We go in, because I just know that it's going to take FORever, and I didn't want to be in a car with a 4 yr old who keeps asking what we're doing and a 1 yr old who would be screaming because we aren't going anywhere. Well, when we finally get up to an available teller, he has to ask 2 others how to cash bonds, since they aren't seeing too many of them. They finally figure out that it's about a 10 minute process for 3 bonds. If they were for a LARGE amount of money I probably would have been more jovial. However, I was an exhausted mom who just got done exercising and running errands with a 4 yr old who tried using the bank as a jungle gym and an infant/toddler who just wants to crawl everywhere and not be told she isn't allowed to go where she wants. They finished up and I figured that while I was actually in the bank and had a copy of our marriage liscence on me, I would change my name after only 6 1/2 years of marriage. I looked at the tax copy of of my bond deposit, and it read that I deposited 3-$50 bonds. I was shocked! One of those was a $100 bond. Not that it's much of a difference, but still I know I didn't get the correct face value of it. That meant that I had to get back into line and get to the teller who helped me and get everything straightened out. By this time, my little dude had already finished off his sucker and my baby doll wasn't doing well without a bottle and freedom. About 1/4 of the through fixing the mishap, my little dude was using the door as a swing. I guess it's good that he doesn't weigh too much, that way he won't break anything, right? Oy! He's so bored inside, that he's running in and out of the two doors and holding them open for people. He was holding open the outside door trying to get me to come out to go home. One of the women that was originally helping me and the teller tried to play with my little dude, and that was the one thing that got him running and staying by my side. Finally I lifted him up onto the ledge where the teller was. He finished his time up playing with the pen while I finished throwing my baby doll up for about the 30th time to keep her happy and not screaming. With many apologies and thank yous, we left the bank after being there for a 1/2 hr that felt like about 3 hrs and went home. You know, I surprised myself today. While there were moments where I just wanted to scream and cry, I pushed out smiles and enjoyed that my kids are healthy, happy, energetic, normal kids who do what kids do. Now here I sit typing out what could have been a bad experience all because of the way I perceived and reacted to the events of today. I'm finishing my day off with a bowl filled with a banana, chocolate ice cream and marshmallows. A sweet ending to an exciting day.

Funny things they do

2009-06-12T08:02:00.000-07:00

My little baby doll still just as tiny as ever is starting to be told no. As we tell her no, we give stern looks and shake our heads so that she will know what we mean. Now, everytime she goes to the dog dish to play with the water, she shakes her head and then starts the fun splashing. She overgeneralized it to playing with our shoes. She crawled into our closet, shook her head and proceeded to pull out shoes one by one and throwing them behind her.

Then there's the little dude who is 4 now. Last night before bed, my hubby told the little dude that he could finish the bag of M&Ms later today. While I was toasting a waffle for him, I went to the bathroom and put my contacts in. In that short time, my little dude climbed up onto the counter and grabbed the bag of M&Ms out of the candy bowl that's on top of the fridge, poured them into a cup and threw away the bag. When I came out of the bathroom he showed me he got them all by himself.

I still can't stop laughing about my funny little ones.

My Petite One

2009-03-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

So, my little baby doll is quite the eater for being so tiny. At 9 months she's barely getting bigger no matter how much she eats. She is such a little scavanger. I just caught her digging through things until she found her canister of baby stars. Since those are so expensive I made her a little baby trail mix, kix and cheerios. They are in one of those cute and smart Snacktraps. She sits there and just knows what's inside! I love it! She's so cute and now that she's a little more independent, she's just that much cuter.

I can't tell if she's just really hungry all of the time or if she just likes having things in her mouth. I have found her trying to bite a step stool, my arm, one of those toys where little wooden shapes go around the wires that are attached to a wooden board, and everything that's made of cloth. I have started feeding her pastas along with all of her fruits, veggies and baby cereals. I have found that she really enjoys all types of breads too. Going from a picky 4 year old to a baby that is demanding to try everything is really refreshing.

Two of a Kind

2009-02-23T09:12:00.001-08:00

We've always known that our little ones have looked alike, grown at fairly the same rate (extremely small), and have some of the same habits. Everyone can tell that they are brother and sister, even though they have slight color differences in their hair and eyes. When I say slight, I mean that his blue eyes are a little light than her blue eyes and his hair is platinum and hers is progressively getting blonder, but her hair hasn't grown out too much yet to see how blond she will be. Well, as I was holding her yesterday during church, she fell asleep on me because it was nap time and the only time she will snuggle me or anyone else. I had looked down once to see if I could pull her fingers out of her mouth, but thankfully, they had slowly fallen out and her hand rested on her chest. It was at that moment that I saw it! She looked EXACTLY the same as her brother! If I had dressed her in his clothes or had put a dress on him at this age, it would have been like a weird time travelling story. If they were ever to be twins the only way I would have known at that point who was who, would be by checking their gender. As amazed as I will ever be, that moment seemed to last quite a long time and will forever be etched into my memory.

New Milestones

2009-02-16T12:50:00.001-08:00

My little dude is now 4 and he is crazy active like usual. He can successfully count and read to 39. He loves his numbers. He reads his abcs. He still knows his numbers 1-10 in French and Spanish. He's learning to fine tune his drawing and willingly starting to write. While still scrawny, he has moved up to 4T only because of length. I don't think he'll ever fit into clothing properly. Not only does he tell us that he's hungry now, but he surprises us with asking for things like tacos! For one of the pickiest eaters, that's a huge step. He very much loves his sister.

My baby doll is almost 8 months and it has gone by too fast. I'm happy that she's not trying to crawl right now. She started rolling at around 3 1/2 months. Now she's spinning on her stomach and rolling to get to where she wants to be. She has quite the attitude. She loves to grab at things, especially hair, which she doesn't have much of still. She will sit up willingly after only a few weeks of fighting against. She's learning to fine tune her pincer grasp. She has been finding the smallest pieces of lint on the carpet. I don't know why the lint is more exciting than toys that surround her, but it is. She's just as small as ever. I'm trying to giver her high calorie foods...or at least extra formula, but those don't seem to be working too well. We'll see in a month what she really is. I have one more month to get her up another pound and a half. That was the goal the doctor set for us. However, everyone is in agreement that we just have genetically small children, and now I don't need to worry about how skinny they are.

Milestones

2008-12-16T10:05:00.000-08:00

My little peanut is almost 6 months old now and she is amazing me. In no time flat, she has just rolled her way off of her play mat and onto the carpet. She has been rolling for a couple of months now. Last night she surprised us by looking like she was getting ready to crawl. She pushed up her but and had her arms out. Thankfully, she was just trying to eat the carpet. Nevertheless, it was quite the scare. These past few months seem to have just flown by. She has been testing her voice, which comes in 2 settings, extremely loud and possessed baby growl. Everything that she can grab immediately goes straight to her mouth, which happens to be sufficiently different from what her brother used to be. All of this while still being a happy mama's girl.

Personalities

2008-11-25T20:51:00.000-08:00

I absolutely love how big of personalities babies have and how different each one is. My little peanut is not only a happy baby like her big brother, but she's a little more adventerous than he is. She likes to be thrown in the air and fall, knowing that someone is there to catch her. Our boy was always a little anxious when we tossed him. (Given, he is fearless when he's in control of what's happening to him.) While he has a high tolerance for pain and she has a really low one, their personalities for adventure are completely different. At 5 months old, she is getting ready to crawl. She has been rolling for some time now. She even sleeps on her stomach even though I lay her on her back. She seems to be taking her milestones in step. Whereas her brother rushed from one to the next as soon as he got ahold of what he was doing. Even if she turns out to be just a tiny little thing that has slow and small growth spurts, she will always be our big spirited babe.

Remembering

2008-10-07T10:53:00.000-07:00

As I was reading some of my previous posts, I couldn't help but think how long it's been since I blogged. It was a year and a half ago that I had an actual informative blog. That year and a half was so busy. I pushed myself and worked hard to finish the last of school, which ended in me graduating this past August. That was quite a relief. We moved to a cute LITTLE apartment a little over a year ago. Which was followed by four deaths of friends and family of mine; 3 we had been waiting for and one was such a shock. We decided that our family needed to grow, so we had a little girl a few months ago. Immediately after she was born, our son got the croup. That was the hardest week that I think I have ever had. Trying to keep an older sibling from seeing the newborn baby is so physically and emotionally hard. We searched hard for another place that would take our little family with our dog. Luckily we were able to renew a contract with this apartment. We went on a family vacation to California, which ended up like most vacations, wishing we had done things, but didn't because we were so tired. Now, my husband's back in school and still working full time. I'm a stay at home mom, who will end up having to get a job in a few months. I know I'm not quite ready to leave just yet. And to round it all off, these next 3 months have some major holidays that just seem to make life just a little bit more hectic. All in all, we're a happy little family making the most of life.

It's been another long while...

2008-10-07T10:28:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I last blogged. So much has happened. We have a new little angel with big smiles and a LOT of attitude. Her older brother loves her. In fact he loves her so much that he tries to play with her as if she's his age. While she can't stand that he tries to play hide and seek with her, she loves him too. Some of her biggest smiles are reserved just for him. She started out so little and has grown so much, relatively speaking. It's hard to believe she's 3 1/2 months old and getting ready to start teething. All of the signs are there; the runny nose, the irritability, the masses of drool, and the fact that her brother showed these signs that young too. Her personality is also showing so much. While she may look just like her brother, her likes and dislikes are completely different. Those few things they share in common are few, like sucking their fingers, hating tummy time, loving their blankies and being happy. I have a feeling that she's going to be my fearless child. While her brother is a daredevil, he is also very timid and does things on his own terms. She doesn't seem to have a problem letting people know when she's upset or how she likes to be held. She's loves being tossed in the air and swinging in her chair. She takes in the scenery wherever she may be and fixates herself in knowing where she is. I have a feeling that she may end up just like me with blue eyes and light hair and skin. Heaven help us all.

It's Been Awhile

2008-02-12T20:46:00.000-08:00

So, it's been quite some time since I've written in the blog. My husband talked to me about getting started again. So, here I am, writing and hopefully we will have friends reading and commenting soon. More updates will be coming later.

Small Boy

2007-02-16T10:38:00.000-08:00

We just took Carter in for his two year appointment. We, along with most of everyone who knows Carter, know he's skinny. Well, his weight gain has been a little under a pound every check up since he was around 9 months. He did have one where we were surprised that he gained 3 pounds, but that was short lived. This appointment was no exception. He is now 22 lbs 9 oz (still under 5%). Jesse's looking at the bright side that he's over 22 1/2 lbs. Yeah, by a whole whopping 1 oz! With that we found out that he's also 35 inches long! That put him in the 75%. Yes, my boy is tall and skinny. The doctor even commented on how tall he had gotten since he last saw him. This was before he had seen his measurements. So, now when people ask how big Carter is, we put it in a gentle way by saying that he's like Andrae Kirelinko (don't know exact spelling) on a diet. He's tall and skinny and plays basketball for the Utah Jazz. That does give us even more reason to have Carter play basketball in the future. Not that wasn't our plan before. :D

First of the Year

2007-02-09T10:07:00.000-08:00

It's natural that Carter would have the first birthday of the year, seeing as how he was born in February. The thing is we can't believe he's turning 2! These past 2 years have flown by so fast. I can't believe that I've been out of school for those 2 years!

People always say, "Uh-oh! Here come the 'terrible twos.'" Wrong! He's been a terrible toddler. He was an angel baby. Now he's this crazed child who climbs everything. If you want confirmation, just ask his nursery leaders and my former coworkers. He tries to climb up doors! He's throwing more fits than ever, and still won't talk. His baby gate is broken, along with some of his rather large toys. As parents, we're so frustrated by it. But what can you do? Maybe we'll buy him a spiderman outfit and some suction cup gloves and kneepads. It may not solve the fit throwing problem, but it might help with his obsession to climb everything. If not at least it could help wear him out faster. :D

The Apperance of Evil

2007-01-24T20:43:00.000-08:00

Well, as I've stated before, my store is closing. We sell a lot of home furnishing items such as wine cabinets and drinking glasses. Not too long ago (a few months) the store put out some cute wine goblets, champagne flutes and martini glasses. I thought they were gorgeous. Living in Utah, people just pass by them without any notice. Honestly, what LDS person is going to have a need for them or even a wine cabinet? ME of course! I have successfully talked Jesse into getting all of the glasses for when we have parties when we get our own place. I'm not talking drinking parties. I'm thinking dessert parties. How fun would that be! Also, if we are having a holiday party, what are we going to serve? Martinelli's or Welch's sparkling ciders. Tell me, where would a better place to store them in than a wine cabinet??? We can stock up on them when they are on sale, then throw them in the fridge the day before or day of! Either way, I really think they would be nice decorative things to have anyway. And getting them for SUPER cheap doesn't hurt either.

So Close

2007-01-16T22:19:00.000-08:00

A couple of weekends ago, Jesse's brother-in-law confronted me with some news. He told me of how he and Jesse's sister had been doing so many things for the family and taking everyone on vacations. He let me know how that next week they were taking the oldest sister to Disneyland with them to be the 'nanny.' Having 4 kids and only 2 adults is kinda hard there (esp. with a newborn). So, he proceded to tell me how they were going to feel bad if they didn't do something like that for us. Jesse and I wouldn't have cared, heck we didn't even notice!

Well, they figured that since Jesse's brother-in-law's parents keep inviting us to go out to Missouri, where they are from, that's where we're going to go this summer. We're going to take a week long vacation back to the midwest. I'm so excited to actually stay in Missouri, but still, I'm a little disheartened to know that I'm not going back home. I grew up 1/2 hour outside of Chicago, so not too far from where we'll be. The real heartbreaker for me is knowing that we will most likely be going to Nauvoo for a day. That's only a 5 hour drive from my old house! I am really looking forward to going on vacation, but I'm so depressed knowing that I will be so close to home and won't even see it.

Routine

2007-01-16T21:33:00.000-08:00

Ever since the day he was born, our little genetic wonder has always had a strict routine. Even when he was teething or our home was being torn apart, his routine was pretty stable. With me there for almost every waking moment of his, he was living the life (as far as newborns and toddlers go).

Now the routine has changed. He was okay knowing that mommy wasn't there some nights, but at least he had daddy. He did give daddy a hard time when it came to eating, but he was still a happy little boy. Unfortunately, mommy has taken on some other priorities, like school. She has decided to stick it out for the next week and a half at work to help close the doors to the store. That means for the full month of January, our little boy has only and will only see me from the time I get home from class to the time he has to nap. On those really lucky nights, he gets to see me right before dinner time when I have to go back to class. He does get me on the weekends, which he takes to his full advantage. Still, this is a really big shock to him.

My actions have shown their consequences. He is now, more than ever, moodier, crankier, and all around unhappy. I knew this was going to be a big stress on him, seeing as how he is such a mama's boy. Never had I thought his measures to letting me know how unhappy he was be this extreme. He will out of nowhere throw a tantrum for no reason at all. He attacks the dog, which our dog thankfully has no negative reaction to. His attacks and tantrums can last a good 10-15 minutes. Now, that may not seem like a lot of time, but when you are trying to calm down a child that just won't, it seems like forever. Sadly enough, daddy has been through all of this worse than mommy. He gets so frustrated, because there's no rhyme or reason to the tantrums. This frustration only leads to the little one being more irritable. The only advice that I can give to my husband is to let him cry. Let him get out all of his anger without hurting anyone or anything. I know there's not much that will change until I can start being at home with him a little longer in the evenings.

School

2007-01-09T13:27:00.000-08:00

YAY!!!! Yesterday was my first day back at school in 2 years! I was so excited. My first and only class for the day was my child development class. I have been waiting to take this class for some time now. It's a relatively small class. I think a lot of that has to do with it starts at 8 am. For those who know me, I don't function too well until after 10 am, and even then I still haven't showered. Yes, the time killed me along with the trek that I made to get there. But it was all worth it. My teacher is one of those dorky people who tells jokes, realizes no one's laughing, then explaims, "That was a joke people." It's so funny. I think a lot of us not laughing is due to the earliness of the class. I think he understands that too.

When I got home, Carter had just woken up 15 minutes pervious to my arrival and was sitting on my bed watching some tv with his grandma. He was not a happy camper. Not only does he not get to say good night to me every night, but now he won't wake up to me 5 days a week. This is pretty traumatic to such a mama's boy. I think it's good though. He needs to know that mommy's going to have to leave him alone with a babysitter sometimes. I will say this though, I rush home immediately after classes to see him.

Almost done!

2007-01-06T22:16:00.000-08:00

I'm on the road to finishing things. I start back at school on Monday, and I'm so excited! I've got 3 REALLY interesting psychology classes that I can't wait for: child development, lds perspective and psychology, and intro to social psychology. I understand this takes time away from my little genetic freak, but he's dealing well with me working.

Which brings to mind that I'm almost done working. Our store closes at the end of the month. That means we won't deal with the crazies anymore! There are the people we love to help who call themselves crazy, but they've never met the real crazies. There was a woman who was getting ready to cry because we wouldn't give her the information of another woman whose name she saw on some of the merchandise. She thinks she might have graduated with this other woman but isn't for sure about it. Sorry, but there's no need to freak out in the middle of a store because you want a phone number to someone that might not be the right person. Seriously, I was ready to tell her to leave when she leaned over the register and started pulling our notes out about what to do for our closing. Can people really be this possessed or stupid?

I know there are a lot of people out there who don't have a whole lot of common sense. Still, I can't wait to get away from the ones who try to come in the store 20 min. after the doors have been locked, because they just saw our store closing sign. Or the people who try to claim that they didn't know our store was closing, even though we say "ALL SALES ARE FINAL. NO REFUNDS, RETURNS OR EXCHANGES." Yet, they come back the next day to return it saying that it didn't match like they thought it would. Then they get mad at us when we refuse them. Did they not see it on the reciept 'ALL SALES FINAL'!?! Honestly, what more do they want us to do? We can't bend the rules due to the customer's stupidity!

I know Jesse will be happy when I'm done working too. We haven't had a date night in a long time. We've planned nights to go out, but due to the unpredictable schedule for my work I haven't had many weedend nights off. I had last night off, but our babysitters went out. My next weekend night off is the Friday after our anniversary which is in a couple of weeks. We don't know why I can't get more Saturday nights off when I can go in those mornings. We'll both be happy when things settle down a little more.

Holidays

2007-01-02T13:06:00.000-08:00

The end of the year came so fast! Christmas was good. We woke up at 7:45 to open gifts. Carter was kind of skiddish about the gifts Santa brought for him. It took him him awhile to realize they were for him. It was so cute. He got a little trike rider that he rode through everyone's gifts. We realized that he was getting too many gifts. So, we had him open two at a time. Jesse's family opens gifts by going one person opens a gift, then another person opens a gift, and so on and so forth. That means for 6 people and a toddler, it can take a good couple of HOURS to get through all of the gifts. Carter was so excited to play with all of his toys that half way through opening gifts, he refused to open any more. I think I kind of like that. If only he could keep that mentality for the rest of his life.

Jesse and I feel bad, because after we were done opening gifts, we put most of Carter's toys away. We didn't want his cousins fighting over them. Plus, he had another toy coming his way. Jesse's sister and her family came down for breakfast, followed by the family gift draw. Yeah, all of the gifts that were opened in the morning were from the parents to the kids & grandchild, from the kids to parents and then from spouse to spouse. The children and grandchildren all do a name draw and then get a gift for that person. That took another hour. Then for the rest of the day it was guitar hero. I was so sick of hearing it. Then, there comes the people, esp. those younger, fighting over who's been on there and they haven't had a turn since an "hour" ago(actual time: 1 or 2 songs). This is why I NEVER want video games in our house. Then there's my little brother-in-law who gets so defensive about how the family absolutely NEEDS to have it. After Christmas, that's all I heard from him....''Do you think you could donate $20 to get it?'' "$10 or $15 is fine too." I was going out of my mind about that.

Then work was another story. We put our store closing signs out the day after Christmas. Yeah that was another brilliant idea by corporate. Not only was it crazy for the day after Christmas sales, but it was crazy, because people see a bigger sale! We haven't had a sane week of work since 2 weeks before Christmas. People are now starting to get ruder, because we can't accomodate them the way they want. We can't order things for them. We can't hold items for them anymore. We can't take any further discounts off, all because we are in liquidation mode. Then people start getting defensive about what's theirs, and how it's not fair that they didn't get there sooner to buy these things. Apparently, we need to call people about when things go on further discount. I'm sorry, I don't wear a sign on my forehead saying "will only accommodate mr. or ms. so and so." I actually had a person with enough gall to ask me how long until after a person pays for an item do they have to pick it up. All because he wanted a mirror that was already sold. He asked if there was anyway we could refund the money to the person so he could have it. The best part was that I bought that mirror he was wanting. There were so many things I could have told him to embarrass him, but I was kind enough not too. Honestly, are we going to sell the same item to 2 different people!?! I just don't understand how people think the world works.

Well, then came New Year's eve. I worked that afternoon. After getting off work, Jesse and I went to a BYU basketball game with his sister and brother-in-law. Not too long after getting there, we get a call saying that our dog was let out and took off. I was so angry and worried. He's never done that before! He's always been a good dog. He was missing for 3 1/2 hours. Thankfully, my mother-in-law and brother-in-law found him. We had basically called off the search about 10 minutes before they found him. I was so stressed out that I didn't eat anything. I hadn't eaten anything since lunch. So, when I woke up Sunday morning, I had all of the flu symptoms, the aches, the pains, nausea and a super high fever with the chills. It was awful. I slept most of the day. Luckily, Jesse let me do that. The thing that woke me up around noon was Carter dumping Piston's water dish on the floor of our room. I was able to get better gradually with me eating the little that I could. That night my body felt like I needed to gorge. I wish I could have with all of the good stuff that was around.

That was pretty much our holiday season. Over all it was pretty good. Happy New Year!

Snow

2006-12-22T12:42:00.000-08:00

The snow is covering the ground and all of the houses and buildings. This brings the biggest smile to my face, because when all the trees are barren and the plants are dead, there is something new and refreshing to see and cover all of that up. This means a white Christmas for us.

Unfortunately, with all of this snow comes the accidents. People forget how to drive, and the road rage starts. Too cautious of drivers take up all of the lanes, while people who think they are invincible are trying to pass them. All of which ends up in the inevidible. The black ice covers some of the freeways.

I turned on the news this morning to see a few cars who had this happen to them. How ironic. The one time that I'm able to see the news durning the day, it ends up being something that scares the living daylights out of me. I'm worried that one of those cars is Jesse. He is the courrier for a small yet growing financial company here. That's all he does is drive. I so desperately want to call him to see if everything's alright. I don't in fear that I will be the cause of an accident.

So, later when the light came out in the skies (the sun is hiding its face right now), I texted him. About an hour later he calls me to let me know how bad the drivers around him are. People are skidding and fishtailing everywhere, and others aren't slowing down when the person in front of them starts. People are trying to rush to where they are going. During this 10 minute call, Jesse passed by 2 accidents! The first involving 6 cars and a semi, and the second with 5 cars and a 6th that had just hit as he passed it. I tell him I love him and to be safe. Then we hang up and I got in the shower. Right after I got in the shower, Jesse had called again. I didn't notice until about an hour after he called. So, I return his call only to hear he had been rearended! He's fine. The company car isn't. He feels bad for the offices he was supposed to go to.

You would think that people would be a little smarter than that, esp around here. If you pass by 2 consecutive accidents, you MIGHT want to slow down a little! You might want to give the person in front of you a little more room! Forgive me for using that little thing I like to call common sense, but people please! There's nothing I can do for those drivers out there, but at least I know what I'm doing.

I still have yet to hear back more from Jesse, since our last conversation lasted under 2 minutes. That was due to the tow truck arriving for the company car. I hope that didn't get in a wreck too.

Closing Time

2006-12-22T12:31:00.000-08:00

We got the word a couple of weeks ago that all of us at the two Bombay Companies in Utah are going to be out of jobs. We were okay with that for a time while they tried to work out what incentives they were going to give us so we would stick around and finish with the closing of the store. Well, we just got more word that we should be satisified with the company and how generous they were being with us. We don't get any special discounts. We can either buy at the employee discount or buy at the customer discount. Yes, 50 % off for employees is great! However, we as employees would like a little more off due to the fact that we won't be making anymore money for a time. Therefore, we wouldn't be able to afford the items that we would want. We also shouldn't expect for them to give us any other special things, esp. one of our assistant managers. She was hired on expecting a long term job and was told that it would be. Now, with her hours and busy life, she has had no time to go job searching and the company isn't trying too hard to help her with job placement. As a matter of fact, the way they act, it seems to all of us that they don't care. Which might be true. All of us have given up on our morale. We are still as pleasant to customers as ever, but there is no reason that we should be happy about working at one of the funnest jobs. As much as we would love to all just walk out at one time, our store manager might be looking for a transfer to another state, and we can't just do that to her. So, what are we to do?

Falling

2006-12-14T13:29:00.000-08:00

Carter, as much as I love him, is so unstable. His nursery leader named him as a "constant faller." That much is true. We think it could be that he gets so excited to do things, because he's never gone slow, that he runs head first, which makes him a little disproportioned. Well, none of that is the cause for what happened yesterday. During reading time, he decided he didn't want to be in the room listening to me anymore. So, I tried to be a good example by continuing to read aloud to him. I had the baby gate locked at the bottom of the stairwell and all of the other doors were closed. Unfortunately, he has learned how to open the doors by himself. He got in the bathroom which I got him out of not too much later. A few minutes later it sounded like he was in there again doing something on the floor. Quickly, I got out to find the door still closed, and one of the 4 corners of the baby gate pried out. As I looked up the stairs, I saw him. He was sitting on the riding dumptruck scooting it towards the edge of the stairs! I yelled to him no, but then he just scooted himself right on down. Because the gate wasn't the way it was supposed to be, it got stuck when I tried to unlock it to get to him. Luckily, Carter was either smart enough or shocked enough to let go of the truck by the 3rd or 4th stair. He stopped around the 6th, and the truck went all the way down. It's a good thing that my child is indestructable, because he didn't even cry when this happened. He looked a little worried, but to him, nothing too bad as he regained his thoughts. After a little talking to with him, he gave me a hug and kiss and then went right back to playing.

Doing the Best with what We Have

2006-12-10T21:13:00.000-08:00

Jesse and I try to be good parents with how crazy our boy can make us. We just found out tonight that Carter's one of the most well behaved children in nursery. Don't get me wrong. He does play hard when it's time to play. But when we were told how great he is to have in nursery, we wonder who this child is that they know. We don't know why he's two totally different 'little people,' but we do know that getting good reports like that gives us a great comfort in knowing that we're on the right track to raising him properly. Even though he's completely rambunctious and 'free spirited' (I use that very loosely) at home, we take pleasure in knowing that Carter isn't biting other children like he bites me (or his cousin). I feel this justifies me in getting him those loud obnoxious toys that make unbareable noise for Christmas. We ended up buying one of those bounce-n-spin zebras. The main reason that we did was due to the joy and fun he had when he saw the commercial for it. When he saw it at the store it was the same lit up face. As much as I hate hearing the piano and hate the fact that there is no volume control for his microphone, I decided we can make this Christmas extra special for him. So, now most of his toys that he will get will make me want to plug my ears shut, but it's all in the name of love. I think I can live with that.

Updates

2006-12-05T17:34:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I've last blogged. Well, work has been crazy busy. We just found out that both stores in Utah are being closed at the end of January. My parents came in this past weekend. My mom was so happy to see Carter. She bought a TON of stuff for him. His favorite gift so far is the keyboard on a stand with microphone. He hasn't stopped playing that. My mom was worried because it's for ages 3+, and he'll be 2 in Feb. The only reason that's the age limit is because of the stability of the child. Our child, however, may never be stable enough for this toy, but he sure likes it.

Tonight I went to my first meeting as an activities day leader for the girls in our ward. It was chaos. Our overall leader just had a baby, who by the way the baby is sick. Another 2 leaders weren't there. That left us with 3 adults to about 15 girls, ages 8-11. It was kinda hard since I was new there, and another leader seems a little lost with people skills, which is good for her to be with girls this age. Thankfully we had one leader who had an idea as to how she wanted things to be organized. She was just handed all of this maybe a week ago. Overall, I think these girls will be fun. Actually, I know so. I used to teach some of them.

Football

2006-11-24T22:42:00.000-08:00

Go Cougars! Mountain West Champs 2006 with 1 conference game left to play. Sweeeeeet! Then it's VIVA LAS VEGAS!

Thanksgiving

2006-11-24T22:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a great day. It's also one of the most looked over holidays. I was happy that I got to help my mother-in-law cook some of the dinner, although I didn't get to help with everything that I wanted to. It was so nice just to know that she didn't have to do it all herself this year. I wanted her to relax. I don't really know if she did or not, because I had Carter that made me take a 3 hour timeout with him. He got into somethings that drove me to "punishing" him with putting toys away (he has fun helping to be a big boy though.) Then, some of us helped get everything else set up for those who don't live here. I felt bad for making Carter wait for a really late lunch and nap. He made it through a package of fruit snacks and 5 bites of real food before he did the 'I'm too tired to be awake' cry. But that was the only bad part about it. We all relaxed, enjoyed one another and had a good time. We played a couple of games. Everyone ate the bad for you snacks I made. We all got plump and felt soooo good! I'm grateful for having a good time.

Black Friday!

2006-11-24T22:18:00.000-08:00

After a not too pleasant black Friday the year I was pregnant, I swore off shopping on it again. Well, as it turns out I not only had to work black Friday, but I had to open on it! At the Bombay Company though, it's not too bad. The store was slow for the first couple of hours. Then the crowds came. One lady was almost ready to put up a fight because she wanted to be the one to have the last of a certain nutcracker. Our computers crashed, so all transactions had to be done by hand. I didn't eat anything all day, but I did have a large Dr. Pepper to keep me awake. (For those of you who know me, I need caffeine pumped into my veins if I'm to be awake before 8:00 am.) I also stayed an extra hour, making my shift an 8 hour one. The best part was seeing a friend that I haven't seen in a couple of years. Really, it wasn't too bad. I like this job, and I have fun doing it. Afterwards, I went to another store to see what they had, but the crowds were so big that I went directly home. Then, we went out and spent more time with the family. When we were done, we actually did more shopping! I'm actually glad we did though. We got the Little Mermaid on dvd for only $8.88! Yeah, I said I didn't want to do it, but who couldn't resist getting a movie for more than 1/2 off! :D

Shopping

2006-11-21T23:48:00.000-08:00

Jesse and I went to Ross at 8:30 pm. We were going to get a pair of shoes that Carter was going to get from us for Christmas. Well, we got to the registers where there was one lady helping a guy who was purchasing a full shopping cart of nothing but clothes. Well, there was a lady with her daughter and then two girls who were ahead of us. So, another girl opened a register where the two girls in front of us went to. Since there are no designated lines, we waited where we were standing figuring the one cashier would politely ask for the next person in line, the woman with her girl. Amazingly NO! She let people just come up to her even though there were others lining up behind us to form one line. It was kind of hard to make two lines because of the table that was in front of the registers. Finally, Jesse and I got sick of it after she rang up another 6 people who hadn't been waiting. (These are the people who just walked up to her as soon as the person got their receipt.) Jesse got the car, and I put the shoes back. I was so flabberghasted that on my way out, I went to the cashier who was so oblivious to others and told her, "Either you tell us where the line is, or you take the customers who have been waiting." Then I stormed out the doors. The look on her face was one of 'why are you so angry?', 'what did I do wrong?' It was just rediculous that we waited in line and got passed up for more than 10 minutes just for people to be not getting customer service at the customer service desk! If I were her, I would be so embarrassed about not doing my job properly.

Doctor's visit

2006-11-21T12:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Carter had his first doctor's visit since he turned one. We found out that his head is 46 cm round, finally back on the 5%, he's 32 3/4 in, which is more than 25%, and his weight is only 21 lbs 3 oz, still off the charts. He's almost 2 and just barely over 20 lbs! There's no wonder as to why though. While waiting for the doctor, Carter figured out how to open the door and escape. That sent his aunt, our nurse, running all over the office with Carter in nothing but his diaper. It was actually quite funny. After that, he got the doctor's stool, pushed it to the table where he's supposed to wait patiently, and started doing his laps of mini sprints. I got him down right before the doctor came in. As soon as I put Carter back on the floor, he was climbing the stool to the table. The only thing the doctor said when he saw that was, " Wow! He's quite the climber." I've always known this. I've also known that he's quite the helper. Throughout the entire time of me talking to the doctor, Carter was helping me get his clothes and paperwork 'organized'. The doctor was impressed. Later the doctor asked if he was born early. I wish that were the case, but no. I just have a child who is perfectly healthy, and very much active, who grows at the same rate a premature baby does.

One of those days

2006-11-18T18:13:00.000-08:00

Last night we left Carter home with his cousins and grandparents while we double dated with Jesse's older sister and brother-in-law. When we got home, we found Carter's cousins playing with him when he was supposed to be sleeping. Not only that, but we also found a mass of crayons laying around our bedroom door. Carter and Kason had been feeding Piston crayons. Thankfully they are nontoxic. That's all that Piston was excreting today.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tonight we came home from watching another great BYU game to find our son just as rambunctious as ever. Well, someone left the bathroom door open downstairs where Carter plays. In the bathroom there is a basket where the extra toilet paper rolls go. He loves playing with the basket. Apparently, he loves playing with the toilet paper too. He pulled the basket to the door of the bathroom and took each roll one-by-one down to the end of this long hallway. That is where he took one roll out of the wrapper and ran it back to the bathroom. He unrolled it until it was half way down the hall. That's when he started running his "red carpet." It was hilarious! There was no way that Jesse and I could keep our composure to discipline him for it, because he kept running from end to end and laughing his little head off. I think Jesse may have gotten a picture of it just to show his dates in 15 years what kind of trouble we had to go through. :D

The odd things in life

2006-11-17T22:33:00.000-08:00

As we know, Carter has quite the personality. Sometimes I refer to him as my genetically improbable child or my nonhuman child, due to him wanting to take bathes over eating candy and cookies. Well, now I just call him my weird child.

Today, started out as any normal day. I fed Carter breakfast, cleaned up, put Carter and Piston in the bedroom with cartoons, and took my shower. When I got out, Carter was wanting me to hold him. No big deal, because he sometimes does when I leave him alone, even for 10 minutes. Well, I was still in my robe when I laid down with him. After a few minutes of just laying there, I sat up and Carter wiped his fingers on my knee. On those fingers was a nice layer of goober from him sucking on them. So, I did what any other parent would do. I went, "Eeeewwww!" and wiped it off my knee. Not more than 5 sec. had gone by when he proceeded to finish putting the rest of the goober on my knee. So, I wiped his fingers off and tried to pull my knee length robe down over my knee. Carter wasn't going to leave it at that. He threw my robe away from my knee and pulled the goober on his face and put it on my knee. By this time it was a super fun game we were playing according to him. I wiped his face and told him that was enough. Instead of doing the smart thing in getting up and putting on clothes right away, I decided to let him know he's not supposed to do that. So, as funny as it was to him, he curled up on my lap and LICKED my knee! He didn't just do this once, he did it twice! The second one was done while I was picking him up off my lap. To him that was the funny retaliation he had on mommy. According to Jesse, his sister, and her husband that was hilarious. Why is that sooooo funny??? It's just plain gross!

Tis the season

2006-11-16T14:37:00.000-08:00

Awhile ago I was reading a comic where a little girl was in school and was asked to name the four seasons. Her reply was simple, "Cold season, flu season..." The teacher stood in astonishment while above read, "how to tell the children of doctors."

This is the season of sickness. Our family is not immuned. We've got the humidifier out with the vicks vapor liquid to go in it. That way we don't smell like it, our room does. Poor Carter was hit the worst though. His first day of sickness was last Thursday. He ran a high fever which had turned into a runny nose and massive congestion in his chest that is getting better. Thankfully, we have all hit our worst (I'm pretty sure we have.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, at the Bombay Company, we have had all of our Christmas items out for quite some time. Our nutcrackers were put out when I had my interview in September. Everything else came out around Halloween. Well, we've started our Christmas shopping. We've gotten Carter a couple of things. Last night I got some ornaments for the family and a most precious teddy bear that is extremely soft for Carter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So, I'm on my way to finishing school! YAY!!! I have officially registered for classes. I'm taking 5 classes for 14 credit hours. Take that into account with the 20 hours a week I will work and my calling as an activites leader, I will never see Jesse. These are the sacrafices of life they always talk about. :(

The Weekend (super long story)

2006-11-11T22:35:00.000-08:00

I know the weekend isn't over, but I thought I needed to just write about it. It's been a pretty good one for me, which means that it wasn't that great for Jesse. That's a whole other story. I'll start with the worst part, Carter got sick this week. Not just the sniffles or a little fever, but the full out, 102 degrees with congestion in his chest and sinuses. As I type he is awake and coughing in the bedroom across the way. He's been like this since Wednesday night.

Thursday night was a BYU football game. We left Carter with his grandparents, which they enjoy spending time with him. Well, we got to see BYU womp Wyoming trash sitting from our 12th row seats.

Well, I decided Friday that I've done my time. Carter is quite the mama's boy, and worse when he's sick. So, I went out with Jesse's older sisters that night, and we had dinner and went to one's friend's house where we made holiday cards. It was so nice to just go have a girl's night out. I didn't worry about Carter, because I know he's in capable hands. After we were done making cards, we went back to that sister's house and just hung out for a little bit. I felt bad and left a little early, because I didn't want to get the kids sick, esp. now that they have a newborn! I know it's odd that I would feel that way, but if I'm around Carter all day and he's clinging to me, I don't want to spread those germs around to a family with kids.

Today, Jesse cleaned while I cuddled Carter. Then, I went to work. Let me just say, yes, I'm underemployed, but I love this job. I stand and talk to people all day. Yes, I'm a 'sales associate,' but I don't really have to "sell." I don't have to be a pushy person trying to get others to buy our products. I just have to greet the people and tell them about our sales. If they want to talk, we can talk! I'm not at a sit down job where I'm going to eat and get an even bigger butt! I climb up and down ladders getting stuff, I walk, and if it's really slow, I can read a magazine while doing some leg excerises behind the register! How great of a job is that!?! Yeah, I deal with dumb people, but who doesn't??? I was having so much fun talking tonight that I didn't even know what time it was. I got home late, but then again I sort of wanted to stay to close.

When I got home, our niece and nephews were over. It shouldn't be that bad, but when they step foot in the doors here, all hell breaks loose. At grandma and grandpa's they just go crazy. Well, it's nice to know that Carter can play with his cousins and not end up with brain damage or worse. They play pretty well, or one or two will go and watch tv. So, it's not too bad. Then, Jesse and I went out to dinner, where we were seated as soon as we asked how long a wait for 2 would be. No more than 10 minutes after we ordered, our food was sitting in front of us! What a great weekend this has been for me!

Jesse's weekend

He's super excited about BYU's record and ability to play this year that he loses his voice for almost every home game we go to. Thursday was no different.

Well, like I've said, Carter's sick and a SUPER clingy mama's boy. Not too good for Jess. I left, and Carter screamed. Friday, Carter didn't want to eat dinner with Jesse. That's not too unusual though. However, he also didn't want to take his medicine. That's pretty unusual, because he loves the sweet flavors we have. So, Jess dealt with a sick, screaming toddler Friday night. He wasn't too excited for that.

Today was no different. Carter was just as honary as all get up. He threw fits, bit, hit, and screamed until his little voice couldn't take it anymore. So, he snuggled up to me, until he was ready to let me go. Then, I left for work. Not too long after I left Carter's cousins came over. Jesse can handle them, but he's not a very patient person when it comes to the same rules being disobeyed multiple times in less than an hour. He's not too big of a fan of trying to keep some peace when no one else that is around will help. Don't get me wrong, we love our neice and nephews, it's just that when you live in a house that's not childproof, it's hard to keep 4 kids, ages 2-7 occupied without them getting into something they're not supposed to. (To me, it's too many rules for children that young to obey, esp. if they can't go outstide.) Also, if the kids are around, Carter doesn't eat, unless it's something small and can be taken on the go. So, yet again, Carter fought eating dinner with Jesse. So, Jesse was at his wits end.

Then, we went out, just the two of us. He relaxed and enjoyed himself. He was able to escape the perils that come with a sick child.

Exercise

2006-11-07T19:39:00.000-08:00

I bought a pilates set back in the summer. I finally decided to workout with that pilates dvd yesterday while Carter was awake. I locked the two of us in our room, because that way I would know he wouldn't be getting into any trouble. Dumb me! It's not that he got into trouble. It's just that I had to double the work. It was only a 20 min workout but it felt like an hour! The worst part about it was when you're supposed to lift your shoulders and head off the ground while lying down. That part doesn't bother me. It's when Carter sat on my face for 2 of the exercises that I had to do like that. He would also turn, look at me and laugh! Not too long after that I was using my resistance circle between my knees. It started off with Carter jumping through it, like you see acrobats at a circus. Then, he followed that by sitting on my stomach trying to pull it out from my legs. I don't know whether to be frustrated by it or grateful that he helped me work a little harder.

Cousins

2006-11-06T13:37:00.000-08:00

Carter loves his cousins! He absolutely adores the one who is a year and a half older than him, Kason. They are two peas in a pod. They are constantly falling and running into things. They look like they could be brothers, and they both are finding ways to get into mischief with one another. We are all scared to see how they grow up, mainly due to last night. That is when we found the two of them with Jesse's cake next to the edge of the table. Carter was on a chair and Kason was next to him. Both had frosting on their fingers that had just come out of their mouths. It was adorable to see them like that, but as parents, we are terrified to see what else they'll be getting into together.

My thoughts for the day

2006-11-05T21:54:00.000-08:00

In Relief Society today, we had a lesson on "what makes a home." When asked that question, people gave those cliche answers. The only thought I had in my head was a quote from Pumbaa in the Lion King. "Home is where your rump rests."

On that note, I hope we can all make everywhere we go a little piece of home no matter where we originated from.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The holiday season has snuck up on Jesse and I quite fast this year. We remember trying to figure out all sorts of things to get for Carter last year. Now a full year has quickly come and gone. With all of the Christmas music that is playing, I get a feeling of sadness. All because Carter's a year older and has so much personality. And yet with this great blessing of a child, we as parents don't fully enjoy him as much, esp. in his 'terrible toddler' stage, and we feel that we can't provide for him (and hopefully some siblings soon). I know we're young, but time goes by way too fast.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What do you get for someone who has everything? My sister-in-law and her husband were out shopping for his family. They were able to get most of the family presents. The biggest troubles they have are for the dad, brother-in-law, and one nephew. This nephew is 14 going on 30. He has his own cell phone, plays in his own band with his half brother, and has 3 bedrooms all his own. He has two sets of parents, who both do EXTREMELY well, and his 3rd bedroom is at the lake house the grandparents own. Everything is top of the line and meant to be in a museum of some sort. She has no idea what to do, because he's not a true kid. Unfortunately, we can relate. What do we get for my sister and her husband??? They don't have kids, and both are making way more than Jesse and I ever made the whole time we've been married. The same goes for that sister-in-law. We are the ones who drew her husband's name for the Christmas swap. His hobby is his career, and he's in need of nothing. What does one do in a situation like this?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

YAY! GO BYU!

Birthday!

2006-11-04T14:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a day that I had been waiting a long time for. Jesse's birthday! I was so excited to buy him things that he wanted this year. I got him our generic gift of picture frames (we get them for each other every year), because who couldn't use more picture frames!?! Then, I picked up X-men, Happy Gilmore and Ocean's 11. Fun dvds, and he really wanted X-men. Since he's obsessed with Halloween, I got him quite a few decorations from the Bombay Co: a mummy statue, a spiderweb table runner (it's pretty kewl), candles, and a couple of tealight lanterns.

Since he made my birthday this year really special, I wanted to do the same for him. I planned on getting him a Giordano's pizza, because that's his fave, then picking up a couple of Chicago dogs from this new place that opened up down the street, and finishing off the night with dessert from the melting pot.

Unfortunately, I spent so much on his birthday gifts and extra Halloween decorations that I had to cut out the $60 pizza. I had worked myself up so much about how great this night was going to be, that I blew it (at least the money). It doesn't help that the night I went to order it was the night that I started my monthly visit from a good friend, mother nature. So, I was so bummed that all I could do was cry, because in my mind it was going to be this big surprise that he would love and remember forever.

Well, last night came, and we did 2 of the 3 things originally planned. We left about 1/2 hour late, which was fine. We got to the Hot Dog King and ordered. Well, we waited. It took almost 1/2 hour to make the hot dogs and then eat them. The price was good, and the length wasn't that long. All in all, it wasn't too bad, except that there was only one person working. ON A FRIDAY NIGHT!!!! That's why it took so long to make and eat. We then headed up to Salt Lake. As we were leaving Utah County, The freeway boards read "Crash, Left Lanes Closed at 10600 S." So, instead of only taking 30-45 min to get there it took over an hour. Everything was not going as planned (at least time wise.) It wouldn't have been so bad if we had reservations. I figured there would be a wait, but if we got there early enough, it wouldn't be too bad. Well, we got to the melting pot, but it was at 8:15 on a Friday night. What more can I say? The wait was supposed to be 2 1/2 hours. Actually, it was 1 1/2. I know we're crazy for waiting, but Jesse said it would be okay. So, we got seated around 10 pm. Good thing we were only there for dessert. It was so good though. I'd wait again!

For what it's worth, Jesse had a good time, and it was nice to go out and do something just for ourselves.

Halloween

2006-10-31T22:50:00.000-08:00

Halloween is the most favorite time of the year for Jesse. He loves everything about it. Now he finally got to enjoy his first trick-or-treating experience as a daddy. Last year Carter missed out due to an untimely cold. So, this year we dressed him up in his cute little Chinaman outfit, gave him a plastic pumpkin, and took off after dinner.

Carter was so funny. All of these new experiences, like people opening their doors and putting out bowls and platters of candy just for the taking! He was so proud to be such a big boy that no matter how cold he was, he HAD to hold his own pumpkin, and walk himself to each door. I of course would ring the bell. Although, he did catch on after a few houses that he could knock on the door too. Then he had to make sure he put the candy in his pail himself. We had only lasted about a half hour trick-or-treating when we as parents decided it was too cold out for Carter. On our way to the car, I carried him. We tried to let him have one of us carry the pumpkin for him, but he wouldn't have it. That was his pail of goodies that he earned himself, and no one was going to take that away.

We drove to Jesse's oldest sister's apartment where we stayed for almost an hour. On our way there, we heard a wrapper crunching. When we got to the apartment we found Carter helping himself to one of the richest chocolate candies that was given out. Later, in the apartment Carter showed off his goodies to anyone who would watch. He would so proudly sign "pumpkin" and then point to his half filled pail.

Then we headed off to our lame ward party. Where Carter once more helped himself to more candy. Then it was home, where he found the candy bowl for the trick-or-treaters. So proud he was of his little pumpkin that he wanted to take it with him everywhere. Sadly, it was too heavy for him by the time we left the party. So, at home he followed who had the pumpkin. I pulled out his candy that he opened, and no sooner that he heard it, he ran to me. He didn't care much about talking to his grammy tonight. Tonight he wanted that candy he earned.

Aftermath: Carter ate a bon bon that was a dark chocolate filling wrapped in wafer dipped in chocolate, gummy lifesavers, some of my almond joy. Not too bad for a first timer.

Hiding

2006-10-30T10:02:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, we were getting ready for church like we always do on Sundays. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Carter ate. We got ready. I put out Carter's outfit, so that Jesse could dress him while I did my hair and makeup. Carter's always the last to be dressed, because we are scared of him getting his clothes dirty.

So, Jesse got his clothes and called for Carter. The minute that Carter saw the clothes, he came running into the bathroom, pulled the shower curtain back and hid behind it. All you could see were these 2 little feet popping out next to the tub. Jesse came and pulled the curtain back, which led to the next part of the chase. How he knew how to hide there, we will never know. Kids are so clever.

Daddy Time

2006-10-26T14:00:00.000-07:00

Last night was my first day/night on the job. We knew I was closing, which meant Jesse was going to take care of Carter all by himself for the night. It's not that Jesse's an unfit father who would burn the place down when it's the two of them left alone together. It's just that Carter has certain people who he lets take care of him. Pretty much only me, my mom and one of Jesse's older sisters is allowed to feed him. He's not a man's boy in any way. You can ask Jesse's brothers and father that one. He's also very smart in what he can get away with from each person he knows (like not eating at all when Jesse's mom and oldest sister try to feed him).

Well, hearing about last night made me very proud of my boys. Piston, the dog, of course did excellent. Jesse wasn't frustrated, and Carter was asleep and tucked in. I asked Jesse how things went. He told me Carter ate, and they played. He even told me that Carter signed his first prayer. Jesse was so excited for that. Jesse misses out on a lot of Carter firsts, mainly because Carter won't let him see. This little act of copying daddy made Jesse a happy man, which makes me a happy mommy.

Bath time

2006-10-21T20:00:00.000-07:00

After we were done bribing him, Carter got his bath. He loves his baths, and what he does in them. He waited until it was bath time and his diaper was off to pee. He had a full half hour before to go in his diaper! Not only that, he went to the back edge of the tub, held onto the side, bent over and watched himself! He thought that was the funniest thing in the world!

I think we can start potty training now.

NOT EATING!!!

2006-10-21T19:56:00.000-07:00

Tonight was so funny, because as usual, Carter didn't want to eat. Although that's not the funny part, it was what we had to do to get him to eat. We figured that since he loves chocolate we'd give him pudding for dessert. He didn't even eat half of a pudding cup when we had to bribe him. What did we bribe him with??? A BATH!!!!! We had to tell him, "If you want a bath tonight, you have to finish your pudding!" It was CHOCOLATE PUDDING!!!! What is wrong with this!?!?!

Laziness

2006-10-17T23:10:00.000-07:00

Let me just start with " Carter, thine name be lazy!" He really is a great kid, who does do a lot of great things, but only when he wants to. I know that doesn't sound too different than that of most other kids, but he takes it to a whole new level. Carter's too lazy to eat. If he can't just swallow it, then forget it. If it's something like meat, he will chipmunk it for quite sometime (sometimes 20 min.) that he gets a huge cheek full then sick of eating!

Last night he took it over the top with us. We were over at a couple's who are our age and in the ward. We were having a small FHE there. Well, when we were getting ready to leave, we tried to get Carter to say 'thank you for the pie.' Well, he was sucking his fingers on his left hand. So, with the right hand he signed 'thank you.' We encouraged him to continue with 'pie.' Needless to say, he couldn't figure out how to sign with both hands while he was sucking some fingers. His solution: bring the right hand up to his left hand and sign with fingers still inserted! Not only does this bring a round of confusion to those interpretting (me & Jesse), but it also shows how lazy of a son we really have. Still many laughs were and are had at that.

Training

2006-10-17T23:07:00.000-07:00

I was talking on the phone with my sister-in-law tonight, and we got on the subject of training dogs. I kind of veered off onto "while I'm training my dog, I'm training my child to train my dog. Which is great, because that means I'm training my child for chores that he will later have." I feel like a sneeky mom. :D But it's great having a boy who loves his dog and wants to help take him out to the bathroom and then feed him his meals and snacks, even if he's telling the dog dish to stay instead of the dog. It's the fact that he's learning!

Work!

2006-10-17T23:05:00.000-07:00

YAY!!!! I'm a working mom! :/ I start my new job next week at the Bombay Company! It has some nice perks, like not being a customer complaint phone operator who sits on their butt all day long! Plus, employee discounts are great!

Punishment is a Learning Time

2006-10-14T22:24:00.000-07:00

Carter, like most kids, has a hard time when he's told not to do something. Every child is different in their reactions to this simple command. Carter's reaction is usually to attack me in one way or another, like biting, hitting, pinching, etc. Well, I finally had enough of it today. So, I put him in his crib to cry it off and then closed the door behind me. It had been about a good minute or two when I was getting ready to go back and talk to him. He was still crying. As I started to take my first step towards the door, Jesse and I heard the crying start to get louder. We looked at each other and wonder why. Well, a second later out popped Carter, screaming. He climbed over his crib rails, fell onto all of the toys he threw next to the crib, and opened the partially cracked door to come running into my arms. He ended up with a few scratches and a really sore ego. This was the first time he has ever climbed out of his crib and hopefully his last.

Naked!

2006-10-13T14:23:00.000-07:00

So, Carter was having a difficult time this morning trying to understand why he needed a diaper change, esp. since he had one only 2 1/2 hours earlier. Well, let's just say he looked like he had just gone swimming with that diaper on. Since he fought the entire diaper change, the diaper didn't look to pretty on him. As a matter of fact, it looked like it was on him only half way. Needless to say, he would not let me fix it. Less than an hour later, he came running into the bedroom diaper in hand and still fully tabbed. He literally walked right out of that diaper. The funniest part was that he knew he needed a new diaper on. So, he laid down and let me put a new on him.

Missing home

2006-10-05T21:34:00.000-07:00

When I was filling out my applications, I had to look up my high school's address. Well, I got online and found the website. When I graduated, construction was just beggining on the school. It has been finished for quite some time now. It looks nothing like the school I attended. As a matter of fact, half of the teachers that are there weren't there when I left. I really miss my home. Jesse is "sort of jokingly but not really" upset about my family moving to L.A. Right now, I'm really upset because of the homesickness that I have. I miss the railroads everywhere, even though at the time I HATED them. I miss the extreme seasons, the comforting feel I got when I would fly in and see the Chicago skyscrapers and knew I was only a half hour away from home. There were those small town quirks, like knowing everyone (literally) in your school by name and them knowing you. I really miss the fairs and the thunder and lightning storms. I miss living in a town with a 7 square mile area, that has approx. 60 miles of streets (that's total). I just miss the familiarity of everything. It wasn't as bad as I thought. It's the people that made it bad, but then again it was other people who made it great and crazy fun! I can't wait to go back to visit my friends, and maybe see an aunt that I haven't seen in a LONG time!

Work History

2006-10-05T21:11:00.000-07:00

Right now I'm filling out job applications, which all of ask for work history. Everytime it says start with current employer, I think to myself:

Employer: Carter Woodhouse Childcare, Inc.
Address: Where ever we land
Phone: He loves them
Supervisor: Carter J. Woodhouse
Position: Childcare Specialist
Salary: Hugs and Kisses
Dates of Employment: From: 2/05 To: Present
Duties and Training: On call nurse, chef, therapist, obedience trainer, playmate, protecter of monsters (or other bratty children) and bad dreams, cuddle specialist, waste management, swim director, pet trainer, seamstress, manual television blocker, damage control, interpreter, teacher, chauffer, banker, personal purchaser, clothing advisor, taste tester, gift giver, personal street crossing guard, stroller control, vitamin distribution, travel agent

That's where I'll end. I'm pretty sure I could continue with duties and training, but I've run out of what else there is to this job. As demanding as it looks, it's a pretty good job and worth the pay. Do you think other employers would buy that??? :D

Cleaning

2006-10-02T22:43:00.000-07:00

I know, I've posted about this before, but it's so great that I have to keep telling it every time it happens. While watching the BYU-TCU game at my in-laws house, Carter had a bucket of toys to play with. He took the bucket behind the couch and started to pull out each toy one-by-one and playing with them individually. Maybe ten minutes later, I turned back around to see where he was, because I heard him running. What I saw was his toys back in the bucket with him running off to find something else to do.

Last night after dinner, he saw the broom in the kitchen and proceeded to sweep the floor. That led to chasing the dog that was in there, but went straight back to just sweeping until we decided to take it away.

This morning, after he was done drinking his milk and relaxing with me, he decided to play with the toys in a little dump truck. Not too much later, he ran up to me, grabbed his blanket and started to put each toy back into the truck. Then he ran out of the room, but still his toys were put away.

I love my little cleaner!

Detoxing

2006-10-02T22:31:00.000-07:00

This past week Carter and I spent most of it with his cousins. As much as we love them, there's only so much one can handle, esp. if that one is an only child, a toddler and has a strict schedule, like Carter. We were with them all day Tuesday and most of Wednesday, then most of Friday, all day Saturday and Sunday. We were supposed to be with them today too, but things worked out that we didn't have to go. Poor Carter is used to having the house to himself with only where the dog is that he has to worry about. So, with all of in mind, you can only imagine what he was feeling like this week. His cousins are older and have so much more energy than he does, but he so desperately wants to be as big and rambunctious as them. It was so sad watching him try to have the same energy in such a small body. Because he needs so much sleep, and he didn't get a lot of it, he was so cranky that it weighed heavily on me and Jesse, at least when Jesse was around. The poor kids didn't know what was going on. With all of the bumps and bruises everyone endured, we all made it through the week in one piece. Now Carter and everyone can go back to their regular schedules. (Not that this week wasn't fun.)

Finally another girl!

2006-09-27T20:30:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-26T10:13:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-25T11:45:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-25T11:21:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-25T09:17:00.000-07:00

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)

2006-09-21T13:20:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-09-21T13:10:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-19T21:34:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-19T21:18:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-16T23:26:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-14T22:05:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-11T09:50:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-08T20:37:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-09-08T20:29:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-08T19:39:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-08T19:35:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-03T00:40:00.000-07:00

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.

Seasons Change

2006-08-31T09:28:00.000-07:00

As football season fast approaches, I think, where did summer go? Don't get me wrong. I did enjoy walking to the park with our friends and going to the playgroup dates in LA. It's just that Jesse and I usually spend our summers going to a waterpark and a theme park at least once. This year we did our theme park days in the winter, which did mean shorter lines for Disneyland, and the closest I got to a waterpark was a wading pool for Carter. Now that I'm back in Utah, I have Jesse reminding me everyday how many days until BYU's first game is (sometimes the hours and minutes too.) Things are getting busy here preparing for the rush of students. We know this, because we live down the street from a state college, a smaller college that is across the street from that one and 10 minutes from BYU. So, like I asked before, where did summer go? I guess my answer is going to be our living in LA, since it feels like summer for most of the year.

Blogging!

2006-08-29T18:51:00.000-07:00

As I was trying to type my first post for today, Carter didn't like the idea. He wanted all of my attention, even though he's had it all day long. He even had it while he was sleeping, because he didn't want to sleep without me being right next to him. So, as I typed my first sentence, he came running and screaming at me. Then he hit my dinner. There was food everywhere! It was on me, on him and all over the carpet. Thankfully, we have a great vacuum called Piston!

Nursery

2006-08-29T18:44:00.000-07:00

For church, we have a class for children 18 months to 3 years old. That way the adults can go to their classes in peace. Well, Carter doesn't have too hard of a time playing with the other kids in nursery. The only thing that scared me this past Sunday was that we moved, which means all new people for him. So, I stayed in there for the first 15- minutes, just to make sure he would be okay. I left, and he stayed. As church was ending I was doing alright with knowing that he wasn't having any problems. When Jesse and I went to pick him up, most of the other kids were still there, and all of the teachers were too. I walked in the doorway and saw him trying to open another door. Two of the teachers and I tried to call him so he could come to us. When he saw me, even from the other door, he screamed and cried! He did that all the way to my arms. The teachers had no idea why, because the whole time he was so good. He played and did what everyone else was doing. Talk about a mama's boy!

Wrong Size

2006-08-29T18:31:00.000-07:00

For those of you who know Carter really well, you know how skinny he is. For those of you who don't know how skinny he is, well, he's so tiny that at 18 months, he wears 12 month pants comfortably as long as it's 9-12 mo. or just 12 mo. Unfortunately, length wise, he's at 18 months. That means he either wears pants and shorts that are too short but fit in the waist, or he wears pants and shorts that are the right length and too big in the waist. Well, for church we let him wear a size 12-18 mo. pair of pants, because we don't want to look like we're too poor too buy him clothes that fit. :) While walking home from church, Carter wanted to walk himself home. So, half way home, during his run, I watched his pants just drop to his knees. It was so funny that all I could do was laugh. Jesse could not for the life of him figure out what was so funny to both me and Carter. So, I pointed it out to Jesse, who thankfully wasn't as amused as I was.

New Changes

2006-08-23T22:48:00.000-07:00

We have a dog, Piston, who is a 70 lb pitbull that is a couple of inches taller than Carter who we are hoping is at least 21 lbs. Well, Piston has loved Carter since the day we brought him home from the hospital. In fact, Piston loves everyone and everything. Carter and Piston are PERFECT for each other! While driving back to Utah, Carter made a MESS with a small bag of Cheetos, and Piston helped him to clean up. For awhile, I couldn't understand why Carter was laughing so much until I looked back to see Piston very generously cleaning Carter's hands, because mommy couldn't do it.

Now that Carter is what I like to call a 'terrible toddler,' Piston is quite unsure of his boundaries. Before Carter couldn't do too much in the way of hurting anyone, and now he's into everything and loving playtime with his dog. Carter just found a plastic, child's baseball bat that is taller than him and i'm pretty sure wider than him. Well, he loves that thing and thinks it's THE best toy to play with, especially during doggy playtime. Let's just say that even though Carter is not the most stable child on the planet, he gives Piston a good run for his dogbones. We've seen Piston run under the crib to hide from his 'brother,' but Carter won't have that, since Carter and the bat fit there too. This is one of the funniest things I've seen between the two, because Piston is such a gentle giant and Carter is a tiny terror. But after all is said and done, Piston still gives Carter goodnight kisses, and Carter gives great big hugs to his 'brother.'

How he's grown!

2006-08-23T22:42:00.000-07:00

Now that we've moved back to Utah, Carter, Jesse and I are a full family again. It's amazing to see how Carter's grown! It's not that I don't think he's growing. It's just that I didn't realize how much Jesse has missed. I try everyday to have our genetically improbable child showoff for his daddy, but there's only so much I can do. Today was a great surprise. For the first time, Carter signed 'flower.' The best part was that he signed it for Jesse when I wasn't around! I had been trying for weeks to get him to sign it, but I'd like to think that he saved it especially for Jesse.