My baby is a big boy :(

So last Saturday, my oldest son turned 7.  I can't believe it!  I should probably try to remember his birth story and document it on here since it was pre-blog days but...maybe it's something best forgotten!  Oh well, I'll do it anyway.  And look, I even found old pictures to go with the story!

Yikes...I put on a few lbs. during pregnancy.  

Here's the story in a nutshell.  He was induced at 38 weeks because he was huge, and my dr. was afraid if he went to 40 weeks he would be over 10 lbs.  (huge babies run in my family)  So I checked into the hospital on the 27th at about 6:30 to start the process.  Blah blah blah, had to do a lot of crap to prepare since I wasn't effaced or having contractions or anything.  Also had a really mean nurse who kept saying she didn't think I should be induced, and she shoudl send me home.  "Hey guess what, NOT your call lady!  Do you have an MD?  No, that's what I thought."  So all day I was scared I would be sent home until finally they broke my water that afternoon and started the pitocin.  Also got my epidural.  (And the mean nurse left!)  Then came the longest night of my ENTIRE life.  Lots of puking, the worst headache ever that I thought was a migraine but turned out to be a spinal headache from the epidural.  I didn't say anything about it because I was scared to death they would stop my epidural!  I hardly progressed at all the entire night.  Finally at about 4:00 in the morning, I felt crazy pressure and like I needed to push.  It's a weird feeling...

Pushed the button and called the nurse in who checked me and then did that thing that medical people do when they're freaking out but pretending everything is fine.  Turns out I went from a 3 to a 9 in about 20 minutes!  'Cause that's how I roll.  Doctor arrives, and I push for 2 hours.  Beforehand I was determined not to use any suction or anything to pull that baby out of me.  But thanks to J.J.'s GIANT HEAD, after two hours the dr. asked me and I said, "Just do whatever to GET HIM OUT!"  

Poor thing had a swollen lump on his head afterwards but I was so out of it that I missed the worst of the swelling.  He was 8 lbs. 12 oz.  He had a little difficulty breathing so they rushed him away to the nursery and I was pretty much comatose for a couple hours.  The spinal headache, being up for over 24 hours, pushing for 2 hours...it just wiped me out.  

When I finally did get to see him and hold him, well...it's indescribable holding your child for the first time.  And boy oh boy, was he CUTE!  And he just keeps getting cuter.  

Man...times flies by, that's all I can say.  I love this kid so much.  He's funny, smart, artistic, silly,  caring, and determined.  He LOVES school, especially math!  For his special day he choose to eat dinner at Costco, then go play games at Chuckee Cheese!  

 Happy 7th Birthday J.J.!

Roughing It

(warning:  VERY long post)

Well, the weekend before school started we went camping.  By "we", I mean me and the boys with my parents/siblings.  Poor Josh has to work.  :(

It was quite the adventure!  I had to buy a tent.  Then I decided I needed to set it up beforehand and seal all the seams.  Because...well...that's what the reviews said to do and I like to do my research.  Only problem was, it's over 110 degrees outside!  No way am I setting up a tent in that kind of heat.  So, we did this:Yes, that tent is huge.  It barely fit in our front room and only because we moved all the furniture to the kitchen.  I seam sealed the crap out of that bad boy.  And the fumes gave me a wicked migraine to boot!

We left Friday afternoon in order to get there, and set up camp while it was still daylight.  The drive up was faster than I expected!  Amazing you can go from 110 degree desert to 70 degree forest in only 2 hours.  My little sis Sari drove up with me and I only scared her once with my driving.  Success!  

Once at camp, I started setting things up.  The tent went up with no problem and I opened the windows because it was so hot and stuffy inside.  (remember that, windows to tent are OPEN). 

Papa sent the boys to find firewood.  A task they were VERY excited about!

It doesn't matter if you don't buy toy guns for your kids, they will find ANYTHING and think it's a "shooter"!

Samuel was having fun too.  

For some reason this kid kept laying down everywhere!  Don't believe me?  Observe:

Yup, he's a weirdo!  But he's MY weirdo.  :)

J.J. discovered many bugs.  Unlike his mother who has an insane irrational fear of bugs, J.J. LOVES bugs.  He was in bug lover's shock when he lifted this tree stump.

After we got camp set up, Papa and Aunt Nikki tried to play horseshoes but the boys kept interfering.  Samuel especially liked the game.

Then it was time for dinner.  How can you camp without roasting various food items on a stick?

And you just HAVE to drink sugary drinks that Mommy doesn't usually buy at home.  

Samuel would not sit still the entire trip until he finally found peace, sitting on Uncle Matt's lap with a Cheeto in each hand.

The whole concept of having an open fire and being able to throw things in it was VERY exciting to my boys.  They threw in plates, forks, sticks, pretty much anything they possibly could into that fire.  Samuel didn't seem all that interested until he decided to pick up Papa's flashlight that he's had FOREVER and not throw, but PLACE it into the fire.  And then keep a hold of it.  With his hands.  And arms.  IN THE FIRE.  I don't think Mommy has ever moved that fast in her life.  Luckily he just had a little redness where his arms were resting on the metal fire ring and no serious burns.  In fact, he was more uncomfortable that Mommy made him sit down and hold an ice pack on his arms than he was when his arms were in the fire.  

Mimi saved the flashlight, in case you were wondering.  And it still works, Trey made sure of that!  (sigh) They just don't make things like they used to...

Everyone kept a pretty close eye on little Sammy after that.  But then...he wanted to walk over to Papa.  I didn't know the Dutch Oven was over there and on his way over, he stopped and PICKED UP A BURNING COAL.  Yes, you read that right.  I don't think I will ever be able to forget the image of my baby's perfect little hands wrapped around the grey ash of the coal, with the burning orange showing cracking through.  I flipped out.  Papa grabbed him in about 2 seconds and I must've looked like a chicken with its head cut off.  I remember starting to run over to Samuel, then thinking I should get some ice and running the other way, then remembering I still had that ice pack and running back to my chair to grab it, then finally getting to my baby.    I grabbed his hand and shoved it into the melty bag of ice.  I had read somewhere you should do that....and let's face it, I was panicking.  Once I got home and Googled I learned you should hold it under cool running water, no ice.  Oh well.  I guess I'll know that for next time my baby decides to pick up a burning hot coal.  Once the pain set in, Samuel screamed and screamed.  We gave him some Tylenol (at least I was prepared and brought half my medicine cabinet with me).  He was very angry we were trying to hold ice on it and that I wouldn't put him down.  He kept trying to wipe his hand on my shirt as if to wipe off the hurt.  It was very sad.  

I finally got Samuel somewhat calmed down by walking around the campsite slowly and singing to him.  Then it started to sprinkle.  I hurried over to the pop-up shade and sat down, grateful that Samuel had calmed down.

 Then it started to really pour rain.  And then it hit me...THE FRONT DOOR TO THE TENT WAS TIED OPEN!!!!

I yelled to my dad for help and he ran over to put the rain flap down that was tied open to a tree.  (stupid design flaw on the tent)  I ran to my van and got an umbrella and ran over to the tent to help.  I knew it was too late to try to keep my dad dry, so I stood there trying to hold the umbrella over the open front door of the tent.  When suddenly it hit me...THE WINDOWS TO THE TENT WERE OPEN!!!

I ran around zipping them shut but it was too late.  The tent was wet, and so was most of our gear.  My sister came out and held up my lantern while I dried the tent floor with some towels I had brought.  (prepared!)  But the damage had already been done.  Most of our clothes were wet.  Luckily our sleeping bags were in the middle of the tent and I hadn't unrolled them yet.  

I decided it was time to call it a night.  The boys and I prepared for bed.  I pieced together the only dry clothes I could find for each of us, and we laid down.  J.J. and Trey fell right asleep, which was surprising since it was thundering, lightning, and raining outside.  Samuel on the other hand...was wide awake!  This was surprising considering the eventful day he had had.  He was sharing my air mattress with me and we had some cute moments together.  Every time there was thunder or lightning he would reach his hands up and say, "Wassat?"  I could see him every time the lightning would flash and he just looked so darn cute.  Plus he was so cuddly when he finally fell asleep.

I had a nice little peaceful moment there, laying in our tent with my sleeping boys.  I REALLY missed Josh right about then.  I wish he could've come with us.  We were nice and dry in our tent (the seam sealer worked like a charm once I actually CLOSED the windows and door.)  

I however, did not sleep all night.  I was kind of expecting this since I am one of the lightest sleepers known to man.  I almost brought my white noise machine and some batteries but decided that was stupid.  Turns out, not so stupid!  I kept hearing footsteps, which I later found out were freaking cows wandering around.  Don't ask me why there were random cows in the middle of the forest.  

The boys woke up at the crack of dawn, as usual.  In order to avoid waking everybody up at 5:00 A.M., we decided to go for a little nature walk.  I brought the camera along and that's when I realized another casualty of the night before.  In all the commotion of Samuel burning his hand, I left my camera on my chair.  Which in turn, got soaked in the rain before one of my siblings saw it and grabbed it.  Not sure how much damage was done but I did manage to take this cute photo.   

When we got back to camp, the boys woke everybody up and we decided to try to ride the quads.  Then it started raining.  Again.  We drove up the road a bit and the boys rode with Papa and Aunt Sari.  They got just a little bit muddy.

I opted out since I was wearing the only dry clothes I had left.  Instead I rocked out to Tom Petty in my minivan with my sister Nikki.  'Cause we're cool like that.

Mimi and I dried some of the wet clothes for the boys once we got back to camp by turning the heater up in their camper, and my van.  We also discovered that squirrels had visited our camp.  Let's play a game.  Can you find the bag of marshmallows in this picture?

At this point, the rain was not letting up and we were pretty much figuring the rest of this camping trip was a bust.  The boys were bored and getting annoyed mean Mommy wouldn't let them play in the rain since we were limited in our dry clothing supply.  

So, we decided to pack it up and head home.  The boys were NOT happy.  But, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do!  And sometimes, that means packing everything up in the rain and mud.

So anyway, the boys' first camping trip was eventful to say the least!  And we did have some good times.

So yeah...hopefully our next camping trip won't be quite so difficult!  By the way, Samuel's hand was just fine.  He had two blisters on his fingers but they are completely healed now.  What a relief!  And a nice big shout out to my sisters, I stole some of their photos off Facebook/blog.  

Sisterly Bonding!

There are big age gaps between me and my 2 sisters.  9 and 14 years to be exact.  To be honest, I felt like more of a mother figure to them when I lived at home!  Even more mind blowing to me, my baby sister doesn't even REMEMBER me living at home.  How weird is that?  I guess she was 4 years old when I left for college but still...that's pretty weird.  

So it has always been important to me to try to strengthen the sisterly bond.  With Nikki this was pretty easy.  I was her confidante while she was in high school, her sounding board, the one she could tell anything to.  This may have been hard at times because like I said, I felt like more of a mother to her growing up.  But I would have killed to have a big sister to go to for advice when I was young and reckless!  Not that Nikki was reckless, in fact she turned out pretty dang good!  But I think you know what I mean, big sisters can be a lifesaver!  

Nikki and I have stayed close, especially now that she's married and lives a few miles away.  But what about Sari?  How do I forge a bond with her since I'm so old and have 3 kids?!  (let's face it, 31 years old is ANCIENT when you're 17 and have your whole life ahead of you!)   

First, we have officially started SISTERS' NIGHT.  What do we do at SISTERS' NIGHT?  I'll tell you what.  We do this:

That's right, we have Easy Cheese fun!  Just look at this work of art by yours truly:

My name was so long I had to use a double waffle pretzel.  

Then we do fun things like watch the best movies ever.  Like this little gem:

That my friends, is one of the best movies ever made.  Don't believe me?  Watch it!  (if you can find it)

Anyway, my point is this.  Huge age gaps mean NOTHING when it comes to your sisters being your best friends!  All you need is some Easy Cheese, and a cheesy movie.

Summertime and the living is NOT easy...

In fact, it has been kind of stressful!  

sometime between 5:30-6:30: The boys wake up with a vengeance.   I long for the day when they will sleep in.  

6:30-10:00:  A lot of yelling, screaming, fighting, watching cartoons, eating as much cereal as humanly possible, and spilling as much cereal as humanly possible ALL over the place.

Sometime before 10:00: I do laundry, dishes, vacuuming, general cleaning of messes, breaking up of fights, etc.  I also run.  Oh dear sweet treadmill, how I hate you.  But running outside in AZ summer weather is not an option.

10:00: I pull my hair out while I get all 3 boys ready for swimming lessons.  Swimsuits, sunblock, towels, ear plugs, blah blah blah.

10:35-11:05: Swimming lessons.  "S" proceeds to scream and refuse to do anything he's supposed to do in our "Mommy & Me" swimming class.  But at least I'm in the water and not sweating poolside!

(Yes, I swear that giant floppy hat, and nothing less than SPF 50 at all times.  I'm anti-tanning.  I don't care if I look ridiculous!)

11:00-12:00: I take the boys to the junior high across the street from the pool to FREE LUNCH for kids under age 18!  Yes, the food is disgusting, but it's free.  The boys call it the "restaurant" and they LOVE it.  Probably because they've only been to a real restaurant a couple of times in their lives.  

12:00 - 1:00:  Rush home and I shower.  Boys get dressed.

1:00:  I take "B" to his summer camp program.

1:15:  Rush home, put "T" and "S" down for a nap.

1:30 - 3:00:  I transcribe my fingers off, and try not to fall asleep.

3:00-5:30:  "T" and "S" wake up and yell, scream, fight, watch cartoons and make messes while I try to finish my transcription work.

5:30:  Load up "T" and "S", go pick up "B" from his summer day camp program.

6:00:  Think to myself, CRAP it's dinnertime!  Throw something together and feed my family.

6:30 - 7:30:  More screaming/fighting/mess-making.

7:30:  BEDTIME!!  Oh sweet sweet bedtime.  How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways.  

I love how it's finally QUIET!  

p.s. 27 days till school starts

Halfway Mark

Well, I've had a few ideas for blog posts this summer but it's been SO nuts with the boys home, I can never remember the ideas once I'm actually at the computer!  (By the way, 42 days till school starts again.  Not that I'm counting down or anything...)

However, it is June 30th today and I know you are all dying for a mid-point status update on my New Year's resolutions!!  No?  Well, you're getting one anyway.  

1.  Even with taking a 3 month break from pretty much all physical activity (I think I ran like 3 times during that whole lazy stretch), I still am right on target for my goal of 500 miles this year!  Good thing I gave myself some leeway right?  As of today, I have run 255 miles.  Also, I did my fastest run last night.  Granted, I was trying to squeeze a quick workout in while my husband went to pick up Domino's pizza...but still!  Maybe that was even more motivation since I knew I'd soon be stuffing my face.  Anyway, I ran 3 miles in 25:45 minutes.  All of you serious runners out there can stop laughing now!!  That was good for me.  I'm no sprinter.  I ran 6 miles straight last Saturday but I won't be breaking any speed records EVER.  But I'm okay with that! 

As far as my other NYR's go, I'm plodding along.  

2.  I've read a couple more Jane Austen books and I'm about to start another, so that's moving along nicely.  

3.  Reading the Book of Mormon, I'm plodding along nicely on that also.  

4.  Writing in my blog once a week?  HAHA!  Well you guys know how that's going.  

5.  Writing in journal?  No.  I know this sounds weird but I mostly remember to write in my journal when things are going really crappy.  And honestly, I don't want to record that.  It's bad enough living it in real life, I don't need to rehash it and write it down, then be able to go back and re-live it.  But that's a bad excuse.  Plenty of good things happen in my life too and I DO want to record that!

6.  Food storage/emergency preparedness...well it's always on my mind but I have yet to do anything about it.  

7.  And lastly, spending quality time with the kids.  I'm trying on this one, I really am!  I do things with the kids but what I need to focus more on is actually ENJOYING the moment, rather than thinking of the 5,000 other things I still need to do around the house/at work.  They're growing up too fast as it is...