Application is done

I finally finished Bean's application to OES. Now I just need to send it in and keep my fingers crossed they accept him and want to give him a close to free ride. I REALLY want him to get in. I REALLY want him to get the best education possible. I love homeschooling but I had such a great experience at OES and I want him to have the same....

Anyway, I made bagels last night. It has been a while since I made them last. They look good and smell good. I plan on devouring one soon...I just need to make my eggnog latte first. God bless you, latte maker!

In other news, pre-thanksgiving thanksgiving was on Saturday. Holy cow, my turkey was amazing! I brined all 25 pounds of it over night in a mix of water, orange juice, lemon juice, salt, pepper, rosemary, and brown sugar. I then made a rub of basil, rosemary, Italian seasoning, garlic, EVO, salt and pepper. I separated the skin from the breast and stuffed some of the rub under there before massaging the remainder of it over the rest of the bird. The first few hours I cooked the turkey breast down before flipping it over and finishing it off. I can safely say that this was the best turkey I have ever made. It was flavorful and juicy. Go me!

Time for kid updates!

Bean: Bean is getting excited for thanksgiving though he does not like turkey. He doesn't like most meat. He also doesn't like potatoes unless they are fried. I love to ask him what he is thankful for because he ALWAYS says people that are important to him, especially "Airdan" (adrian). It snowed last night. I few flakes started falling before his bedtime but about 15 minutes after he went to bed, it started to come down. Husband went to wake Bean up to show him. His eyes just lit up. Husband took Sawyer outside so he could play in it a little bit. It is this type of stuff that you get to do with your kids that makes parenting so much fun. How cool is it to go play in the snow at 9:15 in your jammies?!

Monster: Oh monster...where to begin? He still keeps me on my toes and is really clingy when other people are around. I wish I could say he is sleeping through the night but we are close. He sleeps until about 5 and then I give him a boob. That buys me anywhere from another hour to 2 hours. He is getting really good at communicating. If he wants to me to do something for him, he comes over to me, grabs me, and pulls me to where we need to go. He then points and grunts. I'll ask him if blank is what he wants and if it is, he will nod his head. Soon enough he will be using words. They grow up so fast!

I am ready for my bagel now. See ya later!

a fun fact...

Monster likes to clean up spills and other messes. If he sees something that needs to be wiped up, he goes and gets a rag from the drawer and cleans it up :) Yesterday, he was running around naked when he peed. He went and got a rag and cleaned it up. Hahahaha

Almost a month has gone by...

I cannot believe it's been a month since I last updated this. Yikes! Oh man, I have some funny stories to share but I should probably start with updates as my time here is limited. Monster is due to wake up any minute.

Monster is going on 14 months now and he is even a bigger handful than before. He is a mama's boy through and through (which has its ups and downs). He loves to wrestle, climb, and get into EVERYTHING. He still never stops. Seriously, he never stops. He is like the damn energizer bunny. He is very opinionated. He will tell you of his displeasure if you don't let him have his way. He also started hitting when upset and as I am the one who spend 99% of the time with him, I get most the slaps. He is still nursing (I try to limit him to twice a day. If I never said no, that kid would be attached to me all day)

Bean is still a happy, easy going kid. He is the best big brother ever. We are so lucky. He loves to play with Monster and likes to help comfort Monster when he is upset. Yesterday when we were running errands, he told us that when we got home he wanted to give us hugs and kisses. He got distracted when we got home and after playing for a few minutes, he jumps up and says, "Oh! I forgot!" and runs over to give Husband some love. (Heart melting).

He is doing great in "school". He is learning to read! Crazy! He can read about 15 words and we started to sound out words a couple weeks ago and he is doing well with that. He loves science and math.

Husband is still loving work and things have slowed down for him a bit so he can come home earlier in the evening. SCORE! I do really enjoy him. Football season is upon us so we have spent a lot of time watching it. Yay? After being forced to watch it for a few years now I am starting to enjoy it. Well, I enjoy the first few hours of it....

Now its my turn...not much is new with me. I have more things I want to do than time to do them. Isn't that always my problem? I really want to knit a scarf with attached mittens, can, make crackers, start my quilt of the boy's baby clothes, organize the house better, take a nap....and the list goes on and on. Whenever things get incredible hectic and crazy, I remind myself that everyday things get a little easier. The boys grow up a little more each day (sob) and things will calm down...eventually :) Though in all honesty, I love it! I love the hecticness (new word!) of my days, even if they stress me out sometimes. I just remind myself to "win the day!".

Alright, Monster and Bean are still sleeping (WOOHOO!) so I should probably take these last few quiet minutes to myself and be productive. Fingers crossed I can get on here tomorrow and write about our vacation.

Lordy, its been a while...

Life is so busy these days. There are so many things that have happened...where to begin....

Monster turned one. My baby is a year old. Where did that year go? Seriously? It seems like we just brought him back from the hospital and now he is walking and climbing up things and generally being crazy.

His birthday party was a blast. There was a pinata and a doughnut game. We hung doughnuts from the ceiling fan and the kids had to eat them without using their hands. Oh my! That was amusing to watch.

Monster is sleeping though the night 90% of the time-woohoo! He is also still nursing like a champ. His new thing is to reach down my shirt and grunt when he wants a boob. It's interesting when he does that in public. Haha.

We are going on to our fifth week of homeschooling kindergarten edition and Bean is doing so well! It's amazing how quickly he picks things up. I love doing the homeschooling thing. I love being able to be the one to teach him all these things and to watch him absorb the information. I feel so lucky to be able to have the opportunity to do this.

Husband and I are counting down the days until VACATION! We cannot wait to get away. We are going to Long Beach with the kids, then ditching the kids with my parents, and flying to Vegas. While in Long Beach we are taking the kids to DisneyLand. Bean is excited to go and I think he will have a good time BUT he is terrified of people in costume (for example, Chuck E Cheese. He RUNS the opposite direction and hides when he sees Chuck E Cheese coming his way). Monster will probably just try scaling to the top of the Disney castle.

Yesterday, we went to the pumpkin patch with Nana. It was the perfect day to go. It had poured all morning but cleared in the afternoon. The morning rain seemed to scare most people off so it was not busy at all. We did the corn maize and Bean walked the whole thing. Monster wanted to walk but kept getting distracted by puddles and mud. We got one BIG pumpkin and the boys each picked out a "their size" pumpkin. I think we will carve them next weekend. We also picked up two sweet meat squashes. EEEEEEEE!! I LOVE sweet meats! I am going to make pies, cookies, pasta, bread, so many wonderful things.

One more wonderful thing has happened since I last wrote. Ms. Allie has had her baby. Hayden James was born October 8th around 1:30pm. He was 8 lbs and 2 oz and 20 inches long. He is so beautiful. Some babies are not so cute when they come out (both our boys looked like weird old men), Hayden looks like a gerber baby-so damn cute! He has some fluid in his lungs and is breathing to fast so he is in the NICU but will hopefully be leaving in the next few days. I cannot wait to be able to hold him and give him a zillion kisses.

A Fantasy

Sometimes, I just want a break. An hour or two to catch my breath. To be ME without someone needing me, asking for me, wanting something, etc. I fantasize about sitting in a quiet coffee shop with a giant pumpkin spice latte and a good book (not a doula, labor, or nursing book. Just a book I am reading for pure pleasure). When I start to think about making this fantasy a reality, I start to feel guilty. WHY do I need to do this? Isn't my job, my passion being with my family? What am I doing wrong that I need a break?

But really, I shouldn't feel guilty about wanting this time, needing this time. Everyone needs to rest and recharge. I need time for me so that I am at my best for my family. When I am grouchy and crabby, everyone else is grouching and crabby. So basically, it is in everyone's best interest to give me an hour to two to myself. Right?!? See, I am just trying to justify this so I don't feel guilty. What is wrong with me?

It is amusing how different one becomes when becoming a parent. Before kids, EVERYTHING was ME, ME, ME (maybe a little boyfriend time as well) and I never felt guilty about this. Once you have a little person dependent on you, you shift your focus and attention from yourself to your mini-you. You sacrifice, no that's not the right word, you put yourself and your needs on the back burner...

Now the boys are awake and needing me. See you later, blog

4:30 am wake up calls

Monster has been waking up to eat around 4:30 am the last few days, weeks, months. Who knows, it's all a blur. The majority of the time I am unable to fall back to sleep. I start thinking about what needs to be done, what I could be doing with this time so I eventually crawl out of bed and get my coffee. Despite being exhausted by 7:00pm, I LOVE getting up this early once I get going. The house is quiet and I get a few hours to MYSELF! No husband, no babies. Just me, my coffee, and maybe some chores.

My toast is done now, so goodbye blog, it's time for me to catch up with Teen Mom (yes, I already know I am awesome).

New shoes

It has been forever and a day since I posted last. Almost everyday, something happens and I think "I should blog about that!" but when I actually get a chance to sit down and do it, I cannot for the life of me, remember what I wanted to blog about.

Lets see...Yesterday night we went to get the boys some shoes. Bean is basically in tears if we try to put his soccer shoes on (he calls his tennis shoes soccer shoes). He only wears his purple crocs but his feet are hanging out the back. Monster needed some shoes too because he is a crazy walking fool. I am not sure how well he will do in his shoes as he rips off ANYTHING I put on his feet. I don't think this kid has worn socks since he was three months old.

We went to stride right to look at shoes first. Bean wears a 12.5 in shoes. 12.5!!! That is GIANT! Monster is a teeny tiny 5. Stride right did not have any overly priced shoes that the kids liked. Thank goodness. It feels wrong to spend 40 bucks on a pair of shoes an 11 month old will wear for a few months before out growing. Yes, I said 40!

Next, we went to the croc store. Oh crocs, I love you! They didn't have any in Bean's size. Monster looked so damn cute in crocs but of course, he ripped them off the first chance he got. So Target was next. Jackpot! Well, for monster at least. Why is it that 98% of target's kids shoes must light up and/or have cartoon characters on it? I hate that! Luckily, Bean did not argue when we said "no" to all of those. He did discover a pair of knockoff timberland boot type things. It was love at first sight. He refused to try on any other shoes after that and if we made him he just complained that they hurt. Smart kid! So he left the store wearing basketball shorts and fake timberlands. I love that kid. On the way he sang a song about his great love for his new boots. Monster just cried. He hates the car

Updates

Monster is sleeping through the night the majority of the time. PRAISE THE LORD! It is amazing how beautiful the world becomes when you get at least seven hours of uninterrupted sleep. He has also discovered phones. If he sees a phone, he will put it to his ear and start to "talk" into it. The other day, he did this and was saying, "dada, dada, dada". He will also point the remote at the tv. He does this a lot when I am watching one of my shows. Interesting....

We took the boys to the BIG TRUCK SHOW on Saturday. Monster had a mohawk. It was pretty damn awesome. Bean enjoyed looking at the trucks but did not want to go into any of them. We got tons of great pictures of Adrian riding in trucks though. I may attempt to post some of the pictures later when I have had more coffee. My favorite part of the BIG TRUCK SHOW was the firefighters. They were, hands down, the highlight of it. I love firefighters.

The kids got hand, foot, and mouth disease this weekend. This is Bean's second time with it. YUCK! It didn't seem to bother him at all. He did complain about the rash (or owies, as he calls them) hurting him a bit. Both boys are covered with it. Monster's rash is mostly on his tushie though. Sad day...

Hello, good-bye

Monster started waving yesterday. It's so cute my head wants to explode. He had a shitty night the night before and I was grouchy...really grouchy. He must have known it because he crawled over to me, raised his little arm, and waved. My heart melted like a pack of crayons left on a hot stove. That took my grouch away...for a few minutes at least.

Monster is also walking like crazy. I'm pretty sure that babies learning how to walk are way cuter than kittens. It's also ridiculously entertaining to watch, especially if you put shoes in him. If you put shoes on him, he kicks his leg out when he takes a step, almost like he is trying to shake the shoe off. This eventually throws him off balance resulting in a tumble to the ground.

We got Bean a bunk bed a few weeks ago. This child gets endless delight out of his bunk bed. He spends 75% of his time on his bed. All he wants to do is play on it. He likes that he can choose which bed to sleep on at night. He likes to jump off the top (scares the shit out of me).

When we got the new bed, we had to take him to pick out some new sheets. We showed him all these bright and bold colors-blue, green, pink, purple, orange. He wanted dark brown. WTH?! Dark brown?! What a strange three year old he is...

Mama vs. the wasps

Probably close to a month ago now, Bronwyn mentioned that she saw a bee fly into the volvo through the crack between the door and the rest of the car (I should at this point give a little back story on the volvo for those who might not know about it. The piece of shit volvo has not worked for months. MONTHS. We poured tons of money into after buying it and shit just keeps breaking and so we said, "fuck it" and now it sits in our driveway. I feel really classy). I opened the door to see what could possibly be lurking there.....

It was a wasp nest. I small one but a wasp nest nonetheless. It is located between the door and in inside of the car. When the car door is closed, they can't get into the interior of the car. I explain the situation to husband and let him know that I have passed this knowledge to him so he can deal with them. So I wait for him to deal with it....and wait....and wait...(Don't worry, reader, I nagged while waiting too). After a few weeks, husband mentions that he hasn't seen any wasps for days so they have probably moved on. I breath a sigh of relief and take getting rid of wasps off my nag husband list.

This weekend we are having a garage sale and need to move the volvo out of the way. I decide to check the volvo to insure that the wasps have indeed moved on. I open the door...

HOLY SHIT, it has tripled in size and their are like 134,233,432,123 wasps crawling around their nest. NOT OK! I inform the husband of this development. I am not pleased. Husband is afraid and does not want to deal with it. Awesome. We decide we need someone with protective "don't get your ass kicked by wasps" suit. We need Matt. Matt just laughs at us. Thanks, Matt (I'm shaking my fist at you while simultaneously shaking my head).

Lucky husband has to go out of town this week so who gets left to deal with the situation-me. Why does it seem that all the shit jobs get handed to me? It took me a few days to build up the courage to deal with the wasps. I got a GIANTLY long stick and a bucket of warm soapy water and put my running shoes on. Game on.

I slowly open the volvo door all the way up. The door crushes part of the nest. It makes a satisfying crunch sound. I take a deep breath and hold my stick a few inches from the nest. It's now or never, I tell myself. Be strong. Be brave. Take these fuckers down. Take back this piece of shit car. It doesn't belong to them. SMACK. I knock the nest to the ground. I throw the stick down, grab the purple bucket of warm soapy water and toss it on the nest that is now on the ground, slam the door shut, and RUN THE FUCK AWAY.

Once back inside, I slow my breathing down. I am having an intense adrenaline rush. I feel on top of the world. I DID IT!! A few minutes later I go back outside to insure that they are gone. Fuck! When I slammed the car door, I locked a few inside. QALIHEDKHFYA

Now a normal person would just say, "hey, they are stuck in there. They can just stay there and die". Not I. I did not want them in my car that does not move so I open the door to free them. Then I promptly shut the door again and run. What do they do now that they are free? Go right back to where there nest was! Fuck! this accomplished NOTHING.

Do not fear, dear reader. I had a plan. A wonderful plan. The next night I tapped that door shut. Yeah, take that wasp fuckers. Try penetrating my force field of masking tape. HAHAHAHAHA. Now here is the problem with this plan. It was not completely dark when I taped up the door (my junk heap looks even classier with a taped up door) so about 5 wasps had not retired for the night. They are now trying to find a way back to their nest. They are pissed and keep trying to break my barrier. Which they can't cause I am awesome. Now lets keep our fingers crossed that they don't find new nesting grounds in the volvo. That would suck

These boots are made for walking

Monster is starting to walk. It started with one step, then two steps, and just last night he walked from the fridge to the butcher block (these objects are multiple feet away). These events make my head want to explode. Wasn't it just yesterday that he was born? Now he is walking?! WTH! Stop growing up, Bean and Monster! It's happening too fast and I can't handle it.

This week's highlights (well, maybe lowlights)

It's Saturday. Thank God. Its barely 6am...on a Saturday. I'm awake while everyone else is sleeping. It was an awful night last night. Monster was up three times. THREE TIMES! I wasn't able to fall back to sleep after the last time he woke up. I need him to start sleeping through the night. I can't keep doing this. I NEED sleep. Please?

The first time Monster woke up, I noticed something interesting. It was midnight. I had only been asleep for an hour and a half. I am barely able to keep my eyes open while feeding Monster. Bean moves a little. That's strange. It seems like there is something on his head. I wonder what it could be. A few moments later, he sits up and turns to his other side. He is wearing a sun visor. IN BED! How awesome is that?! It is things like this that convince me he is the coolest three year old.

In other news, Monster got his first real injury this week. He was downstairs with Husband playing while I was able to shower (it was very much needed). I heard a thump followed by screaming. A few seconds later a screaming baby and scared Husband are in the bathroom with me. Monster had fallen off the coffee table and smacked his head on the floor molding around the fireplace. There was blood. Monster was not pleased about the fall or the resulting injury. After complaining about it for a few minutes, he then noticed my ladies and decided that crying was not as much fun as eating. Thank goodness for boobs. The next morning, he climbed out of his crib. Fuck. He never stops...

The incident

It was a bright and hot Thursday. The big boys were finishing up their lunch. Isaiah was in the walker munching on some snacks and Monster was happily playing by the kitchen. Every once in a while he would let out a squeal of pure delight.

"Meemaw, I have to go poop." Adrian said, as he licked the last of the agave off his fingers. I excused him from the table.

A few seconds later, "Meemaw! There is poop!"

I run over to see shit everywhere. EVERYWHERE.

"Adrian! What did you do?!?!" I exclaimed. It was at this moment that I see an empty diaper....and then I see a naked Monster...covered in poop. Poop on the floor...poop on toys....poop on my baby....EVERYWHERE. Monster sees me and and lets out a maniacal laugh while quickly crawling towards me.

I didn't know whether to laugh, scream, or cry. I picked up the poop covered Monster and tried to hold him in such a way as to avoid becoming covered in poop. He was like a squirming greased pig so I failed. I soon became another thing covered in shit. Another thing needing a deep, deep cleaning.

Aaaaaaah, the joys of motherhood....

I would really like to blog...

but find that task very challenging with an almost 10 month old (!) monster crawling all over me and the keyboard. Oh sweet blog, do not fear, I will return and I will rock your world...

Ina May's Guide to Childbirth

This is one of the books that DONA requires you to read before taking the doula workshop. I have read multiple books on pregnancy, labor, and birth but NONE have been as eye opening as this book. I feel like every pregnant woman should read this book because it will open her eyes to the truth about childbirth. Childbirth isn't scary, it isn't medical, and it doesn't have to be painful (and one doesn't need medicine to make it painless). Women are told over and over again horrible and scary stories about childbirth and we go into labor and birth with so much fear. Women need to erase any fear they have of childbirth and labor. When one does that, their bodies are able to do what they are supposed to do-birth a baby with little intervention and no need for medication. It might even be enjoyable and fun (there are pictures in this book of babies crowing and the mother's are smiling, laughing. It's beautiful) Birth became scary when it moved into hospitals. Unnecessary procedures started to take place, not just for the sake of the mother or baby, but for the doctor.

I wish I could go back in time and read this book before having my babies. I had both my babies in the hospital and was not able to have the birth I wanted (or my babies deserved) because of this. While laboring at home with Monster, the contractions (or surges/rushes) were tolerable. I was able to let my body find the position it needed to be in. Once we got to the hospital, I was strapped to a bed, monitors all over me, and an IV put in me for fluids (mind you, I was drinking normally and no where near dehydrated. Just wasted medical intervention). It was at this point where labor became more painful. Birth became medical, doctor's needs where put before mine. I couldn't be in the position my body needed to be in because they needed the monitors (baby was fine and not in distress-monitors were not needed). I still get so angry thinking about this. I should, however, point out that I was not intending to labor and birth at this hospital. My wonderful midwives were at another hospital but Monster decided to come when that hospital was full and I got diverted to another one.

This book is getting me even more excited to be on this journey to becoming a doula, and eventually a midwife. I cannot wait to start helping women experience the birth they want.

Snuggle monster

Last weekend, we went to Sauvie Island for the day. Oh, beautiful, wonderful, amazing Sauvie Island. I will live there one day. It is the perfect place for me. We went on Sunday. Got there really early in the morning. There was no one there. No smoking high school students. No loud drunks. It was perfect. This was monster's first time to the island and he LOVED it. He ate sand, chewed on sticks and splashed in the water.

Being the wonderful mother I am, I made sure to lather the kids with sunscreen before leaving the house and numerous times while on the island. No babies of mine will sunburn! HA! Epic failure! Both babies (as well as husband) looked like lobsters. Husband's feet were bright red and became swollen the next day. Monster has a red birthmark on his back and it blended in with his sunburn. Poor baby...It didn't seem to bother him though. Apparently, one must shake the spray on suntan lotion before application. This is why it's a good idea to read directions. Good job, Mama (pats self on back)

The sunburns are getting better. Husband's feet are back to their normal size (though still freakishly red). Monster's back has started to peel. The constantly wiggly, squirming, on the go baby now enjoys snuggling in my lap getting his back scratched. It's a beautiful thing. If only he would do this without a horrible sunburn.

*pop*

There! It is done. After wanting to start a blog for a few years, I have finally done it. My blog cherry is popped. Now I have the pleasure of thinking of fun and witty things to write about. What is this blog going to be about? Well, me of course. Me is my family-Husband, Bean (3yrs), and Monster (9.5 months). It's funny how you are no longer just you when you become a family. I sometimes like to think back to when me was really just one person. Life was so simple and much easier but, my goodness, it was boring!

Anyway, my goal is to blog everyday. Hmmm, that maybe asking to much. I rarely have time to shower everyday (to much information?). How about at least once a week? That sounds doable. Uh-oh...Monster is awake. See ya!