On the bright side...

Still hacking up a lung, but I got thinking that it really wasn't HORRIBLE to be sick this week...

here are my 10 reasons it's been OKAY to be sick this week...

1. I didn't have to take or pick up Jenna from school at all!

2. Everyone is so much more snuggly.

3. Since I didn't cook, the whole week of dinners I planned and shopped for have made their way into next week.

4. I got to take lots of warm baths and showers. I love both.

5. I caught up on sleep. (as much as possible)

6. I also caught up on every TV show I could possibly have wanted to watch.

7. We had Brandon home a little more than usual. (thanks for helping out!!)

8. I've remained incredibly hydrated.

9. We've saved gas money from not having to be anywhere or do anything.

10. We're getting the sickness out of our systems NOW instead of when Brandon is gone. (right?? please say yes. )

Cough drops and Kleenex

I have days when I don't feel like writing much...

But when I can't bring myself to check my email or get on facebook, I KNOW I must be sick.

And I have been. We all have. IT STINKS. Am finally having a few good moments and thought I would pop in to say I am still alive.

Almost ALL WEEK we have been a mass of Kleenex and cough drops, medicine, soup, and tylenol.

I haven't cooked, done laundry, or cleaned anything more than the bare minimum. I've just been keeping my head above water...so to speak.

I am pretty sure I have taken about 5 showers/baths a day...to calm my chills and break my fever. This whole sick thing has really wiped me out. Big time.

I finally went to the Doctor. Turns out I have bronchitis...like I get pretty much every year. Finally got some meds and am hoping this whole thing turns around pronto. I am SOOOO over laying around all day trying to get the energy to feel well. And I can't wait to get my hands on a can of lysol and put everything we own through the laundry...

Here's hoping you're all healthy....happy Friday.

In loving memory...

Maternit E. Jeans

March 2007 - January 2010

Maternit E. Jeans passed away on January 25, 2010 due to complications with a fatal hole to the left thigh. Born in a factory, probably somewhere in China, she was sent to a refuge in a small Idaho city just after her birth where she was soon adopted by a loving and pregnant mother. Because the adoption costs were astronomically high, her mother made sure to spend most of her time with Maternit E. Jeans, never leaving a moment for Jeans to be left in the dresser drawer or hanging in the closet. Maternit E. Jeans spent most of her life in the washer or on her mother, and did her best to make her pregnant mother feel like $999,999.

After a short vacation to the garage, Maternit E. Jeans had just been reunited with her mother and looking forward to spending another 9 months covering multiple curves and large belly. She was truly one of a kind, and will be impossible to replace such life and character.

Maternit E. Jeans will be sorely missed.

She is survived by her pregnant mother and her new sister, Cheapo Maternit E. Jeans.

Funeral services will be sometime this week...after her family decides if her organs can be donated to another project. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the "PERFECT JEANS" foundation.

WHAT A WEEK!

Seriously, I think I have been running full blast this week. Always somewhere to need to be or things to do...

And I have to say that much of the week was full of tears (not just my own), whining, and full out fits. I have felt so FRAZZLED...and frustrated with myself, the kids, and life. It's just been all sorts of stresses all at once. I hate feeling that way, and hope I can face this next week with a little more optimism...

This week was a whirlwind, and I can't remember most of the details. But I did get a few pictures to document a couple happy highlights. On Friday Jenna didn't have school, and a friend of ours happened to be having a birthday lunch for her little boy, Sawyer. So we got all ready to go, and as we were doing so Jenna came up to me and said," MOM, I want to look FABULOUS for Sawyer's birthday". So pink sunglasses on and hair all done up, she was ready to go.

Saturday we finally had a pretty low key day. No big plans. Just a little studying for Brandon and some relaxing for the rest of us. IT. WAS. WONDERFUL. This was also the day Spencer and I got to spend our one on one time. We decided on ice cream since we had a coupon.

Spencer LOVES one on one time. He was SO thrilled to get his gigantic ice cream cone. Who knew the small scoop was THAT big??? I sure didn't.

I loved being there with him. Even though we don't get much...okay, ANY conversation in, he laughed at my comments, and examined his ice cream with such curiosity.

I LOVED WATCHING HIM.

This week also was filled with me being a cookaholic. As in, dying to try all sorts of new recipes, bake daily, have company over as often as possible. I've made all sorts of stuff like roasted red pepper sauce over ravioli, tasty breadsticks, scalloped potatoes and ham, potato rolls...twice, cinnamon and caramel rolls, steak soup, banana bread...and the list could go on.

I have been LOVING all things cooking.

Also this week, I have been feeling this baby move lots...not kicking yet, but tumbling quite a bit. It's such a strange feeling...but one that I LOVE about being pregnant. There is nothing quite like feeling a baby move inside of you. I am excited for the kids to be able to feel the kicks...I think it will really make them laugh.

Here's to a new week...a great week. It's got to be. :)

Happy Sunday.

Girl or boy? Let's hear your take...

I have so much to say, and will update tomorrow (with pictures....SHOCK!)

But tonight I have to ask something that has been on my mind for a while now.

I really thought, for whatever reason, that being pregnant with a girl would be the same each time, and being pregnant with a boy, the same story as well.

At least my pregnancies with Kaden and Spencer were similar...pretty low key, some nausea and feeling icky, but in general, I felt OKAY. Slept pretty well...like ZONKED every night.

Jenna, on the other hand, was the worst! Vomiting every day for the first 15 weeks, couldn't ever sleep, restless legs CONSTANTLY, etc.

This pregnancy has completely thrown me off. I have no idea, based on the pregnancy symptoms, of what we could be having.

It's like a mix of all three. I have certain cravings from each pregnancy, feel like I did at times with each, etc.

So I am DYING to hear YOUR pregnancy stories...particularly people who have 2 or more children...

Were your pregnancies similar or different? Did gender matter? Were you able to predict what you were having based on how you felt in your pregnancy??

Come on, let's hear it. Seriously, so curious about this...

One big giant mass of hormones

I feel like I have just had a great big bawl and am now brushing out the wrinkles on my dress and standing up to move forward.

DEEP BREATH.

I laid in bed last night thinking about hormones...and why the heck they wreak havoc on people. What is it about a hormone that makes you happy one minute and sad another...or makes you absolutely ANNOYED at everyone and everything, when inside you really want to pass out candy and smile to everyone.

And what is it about hormones that make you the meanest mom around...wondering how on earth you are going to make it through the night, let alone the next few months.

I seriously do not get it...this inbalance inside the body...that has tossed me to and fro and made a disaster area in my mental wellbeing.

I mean, I get the checklist of things that causes it...

Pregnant...check
Female...check
Tired...check


But why, why, why does it have to happen?

Somewhere between the beginning and now...

Somewhere between the beginning of this blog, and now, my gears have switched...and what my blog felt like before is so different than what it feels like now.

And it's a strange caught in the middle feeling.

Caught between daily updates with loads of pictures packed with wonderful memories...and between a world where sometimes I don't even really know what to write, because it all sounds so mundane boring...as the pictures get fewer and farther in between.

I find now that I want to write so much more about feelings. But I keep having the urge to write like I used to...where our days were so full. And so I try to write about what we do now...without pictures. And for whatever reason, it just is missing the connect for me. They say a picture says a thousand words...and it feels like with a picture I can write a thousand words. But without, it feels like boring words without a story.

It's strange to look back and see how I am transforming as a person...especially when I thought that I was at a point I would stay the rest of my life. In a very real sense, I struggle with this change. I don't want to see the creativity sucked out of me like I feel it has been...and I don't want to see the recording of our life story go away.

But I feel like I just can't do it like I used to. I can't spend every night uploading and editing and posting pictures...life is different, schedules different, etc. My time with my husband while he is home is so valued. And yet something inside me of me just begging to have another glimpse at the storytelling, picture-taking, memory making person I feel I have lost.

This all sounds so silly, I am sure. But to me, it's a very real thing. A very sad thing. I feel, in a sense, like a letdown. And once you feel like that, it's a slippery slope to feeling like a lot of things are really wrong with you. Ya know? Like, there's more to fix than is put together.

And right now, that is a very sad and very lonely feeling.

A whole day to play

LOVE that there was no school today.

No rushing to get everyone ready and heading out before rush hour even begins...

No quick morning shower or frantic breakfast.

No waving to daddy as he hurries out the door.

Just a whole day to play...all of us.

I wish I could say that the day was flawless and went exactly as planned...it didn't.
But if nothing else, a change from the ordinary was just what the Dr. ordered.

We started with a nice relaxing morning...took our time and ejoyed it!

After the kids picked out a dollar store toy (backup plan from our library storytime that got cancelled), we also hit up a thrift store to browse for a bit...and when it was time, we headed over to the Hut...pizza Hut, that is. We had a coupon for Brandon and I and with the boys both being free and Jenna's meal being a reduced price, we fed everyone an unlimited buffet for $10. Am going to be sad when our really cheap eating out days are over. :(

Later in the afternoon after naps and hanging out, we went to the mall to play at the play center--do some browsing--etc.

Like I said...wishing I could say there was no fighting or whining in our day and that all our plans had gone accordingly, but it was all in all a great day. At least we were together...

And that's where I love to be!

$1.87 and a day for ME

Today was a polar opposite from yesterday.

I almost threw a party.

Highlights of the day were:

--Going to breakfast with Jenna in our pajamas on a total whim. (you can read all the details on my joy journal if you want to)

--Going to a real mall without a husband, children or a diaper bag, and not being totally overwhelmed by all the smells. In fact, I actually LOVED smelling all the different scents, minus the asian food...which is always hard for me, even when I am not pregnant.

--Parking in the Expectant Mothers parking spot, which just so happened to be directly in front of Motherhood Maternity and the ONLY spot to park on that side of the mall. TOTALLY made me smile.

--Being told by the employee of Motherhood Maternity that Sears carries their same line but under a different name and she thought I should go check their first because she just marked down the stuff there WAY lower than she could in her own store.

--Finding SEVERAL cute shirts on clearance!

--TOTALLY scoring a mismarked pair of clearance maternity jeans for a WHOPPING $1.87.

--People watching while eating some Chick-fil-a. I LOOOVE that place. ;)

--Spending the afternoon watching a movie as a family, having dinner, and then spending time with Brandon in the evening.

WAS A FANTABULOUS day.

Throwing away underwear...and other mayhem from our day.

Today, I threw away a pair of underwear.

Not my underwear.

Spencer's underwear. Poopy ones at that.

I am pretty sure that between Spencer and Kaden (who has been potty trained for....AGES now...) we changed approximately 9 pair of underwear...before noon. It was NOT a good day in the bodily fluid department.

I have to say that Spencer has done a super job at potty training. So well, in fact, that he wakes up in the middle of the night, takes off the diaper we leave him in so he doesn't have an accident, and ends up HAVING an accident trying to knock on the door and get us to take him to the bathroom. Go figure, huh?

But because sometimes a boy has to sit, his stinky stuff ends up smeared all over the toilet seat, HIS seat, legs, socks, etc. Oh so gross. The all time WORST part of potty training.

Well today, he made an attempt to get to the toilet to do his business...and didn't make it in time, so instead of coming to get me and letting me help him, he took a look at his BIG BOY status and tried to take care of the mess himself.

I walked in the bathroom to see brown stuff...all over the tub, the rug, the toilet, HIM...and a steaming hot sink full of water.

He was trying to clean out his very soiled undies by himself. And he was SO PROUD.

I think I would have hugged him and given him an A for effort, but at that point I was SO fed up with bodily excretions that I barely held him high enough to put him in a shower and clean him off.

Flustered, I glanced at the dirty underwear...and started to run water to clean them out.

And then, I decided I could not, would not, wash them again. I was already cleaning and sanitizing and washing towels and clothes, and rugs, and 9 pair of underwear. And dang it, I was through.

So I walked right over and tossed them out.

If money weren't a factor, I am pretty sure I would do that every time. :)

Aside from this, the boys didn't take naps today...which pretty much shook the world I revolve around. No naps? This is a crisis...seriously. I love...and I NEED my 2 1/2 hours of quiet time.

....napping cannot be over. It can't. I refuse to believe it...for a long, long time.

I am going to call this a fluke. And try again tomorrow.

In the evening, after running dinner to a friend, I drove way out of the way to hit up the library to pick up some reserved materials I had on hold. As I drove up, I realized they had just closed...as in, 2 minutes earlier.

So I headed over to the grocery store to pick up some essentials...where I realized that I had left my coupons at home. Annoying. REALLY annoying.

I think that after this kind of crazy day, I am going to lay on the couch and watch TV...and be all by myself.

Who ever knew I could enjoy alone time so much?

Happy Friday. (are we sure it isn't the 13th? ) jk

Grump....with a capital G

Ever have one of those days where you wake up on the wrong side of the bed...and in reality, there would have probably been no RIGHT side of the bed...you just feel plain old GRUMPY.

That was me. This morning, in fact.

Every little thing began to irritate me from the second I got up...and I found myself being really irritated at the fact that I was irritated. TOTALLY logical, right?

Honestly, it wasn't a BAD day. I just wasn't the kind of person I want to be on a regular basis.

I felt short-tempered with other drivers.

I felt judged by people who don't know me OR my situation.

I felt frustrated with the people I am closest to...for really, really silly reasons.

And I acted and responded in ways that I want to take back...or sit in a corner and cry about.

Wishing I hadn't been such a Grump...with a capital G.

And hoping tomorrow I will find the right side of the bed to crawl out of. :)

Baby stuff...

I have been thinking a lot about having this baby...

and carrying this baby...

and how different this pregnancy is from my first.

I think I have felt sort of a disconnect from what is going on. I am extremely aware that I am pregnant (thank you nausea and sleepless nights) but it's like it's not real yet.

Which is funny...

When I was pregnant with Jenna we were discussing names from day 1...and planning and talking and all sorts of stuff. I even bought a gender neutral pair of shoes before I even knew what I was having...and set them out by the door so I could look at them and laugh hysterically over how small they were.

The only real conversation I think Brandon and I have really had about this baby is where we will put him/her and whether it will be a him/her.

That, and the kids pray for "her"...

But it's just so different.

I am excited to find out what we are having...I know some people can wait, and I give kudos to them. But I just HAVE to know. :) I love knowing...planning...naming...

And a big part of me hopes that once we know what we are having, that it will become more real. We can look at names...and see what we need to get...and start including this little person in our family like we want to.

Just need to get next month here...like, now. :)

Sunday--revisited

Hmmm....

Wishing today was as wonderful as last Sunday...

Kids weren't as calm during church...

Forgot to pack lunch for on the way home, and had meetings after church, resulting in later than desired naptimes...

which we fought for.

But our Sunday was salvaged with a funny game of hide and seek, a tasty dinner, and a big bowl of popcorn.

Still loving our early time slot for church. It's made so much of a difference in the feeling of our day (regardless of how "golden" the kiddos were).

Speaking of the kiddos, I have been keeping up with my joy journal. Of course I chose to do it blogging style...because that's how I roll. I disabled the comments because I wanted it to stay true to journal form and be able to write just for the kids.

But if you want to read along, you are welcome to. I have really felt such a change since starting it, and hope that at the end of the year we will have a wonderful log of memories to print out and keep for the kids...and me.

www.joyjournal2010.blogspot.com/

Happy Sunday!

Disney on Ice!

This weekend we had the chance to go to Disney on Ice as a family. I love that the kids are getting old enough to all enjoy things together...and this definitely hit the spot for some good, fun, family entertainment!
The pictures are pretty self-explanatory. But I will say that Spencer was ESPECIALLY excited, and was SUPER funny to watch. He would yell out (as best he could) DUCK ( for Donald or Daisy), DOG (for Pluto), etc.

Princess Jasmine and Prince Aladdin...

Cinderella and Prince Charming...

Mulan

TOY STORY...oh how our kids LOVE Toy Story. Kaden asked over and over when he would get to see Buzz...and it wasn't until close to the end of the show. So the whole time I was sweating bullets that somehow Buzz and Woody wouldn't come out...

But they didn't let us down! The thrilled us with their whoopin' and hollerin' and tricks galore!

Notice the little green army guy...and the troll...and the pig. TOO CUTE!

This was from the Lilo and Stitch segment...

Good ol' Tinkerbell

And so many more skaters and princesses and Disney characters I cannot begin to name them all. It was truly enchanting! :)

If you are in the Cleveland area and would like to check out this magical night of celebration, you can get a 4 pack of tickets for only $44 to any weekday show or $4 of any ticket purchased for a weekend showing. Just use the coupon code: MOM at www.Qarena.com

Disney On Ice's Lets Celebrate will still be in Cleveland:

Tuesday January 12 @ 7PM

Wednesday January 13 @ 7PM

Thursday January 14 @ 7PM

Friday January 15 @ 7PM

Saturday January 16 @ 11 AM, 3PM, 7PM

Sunday January 17 @ 1PM, 5PM

Monday January 18 @ 1PM, 5PM

Wish List...

One day, we will live in a house that we own...

A house we can fix and decorate however we please.

And one day we will live in a place with room to grow...

And room to GO.

Yes, my friends...

Someday we will live somewhere with more than ONE bathroom.

Someday I will be able to sit on the seat without realizing

that a little person has "gone before me" and left me

a little wet present...

And someday we will have a clean bathtub,

that's toy free and available any time of the day.

And someday after I clean the dedicated parental bathroom,

no child will immediately go in a christen the floor with a "miss".

And someday we will be able to take care of business,

without fighting for a spot...

Yes, someday a 2nd bathroom...

will become a reality...instead of the top of our wishlist. :)

It was a knock down, drag out fightin' kind of day...

Clearly an ironic post to write just after my joy in motherhood post... :)

But a real one.

I do not understand the after school mood swings of a certain little female in our home. I feel like I dread the hours between 3:30 and 5:30...the grumpy attitude, mean words, picking fights with her brothers, disrespecting me...the list could go on. I honestly look at Jenna some days and wonder who she switched places with.

Because the Jenna I know is not like that. She is a model student--perfectly behaved. Teacher's helper...quiet and respectful in class...and she usually is pretty loving to her brothers and us. A snuggle bug too...

Except the afternoons...

And today was especially bad.

While in the 27th minute of being on hold with the gas company, I heard piercing screams coming from the living room. Upon entering, I saw Jenna and Kaden grabbing for throats, hair, or whatever they could get their hands on. It was like cage fighting--junior style.

After banning to bedrooms, and then releasing the short term prisoners a while later, the fighting continued...mostly due to Jenna picking on people--or tripping people--or blocking them from going somewhere.

I wanted to break down and just cry...there I was feeling completely helpless and wondering where on earth we had gone wrong with Jenna. It crossed my mind that I had a goal to achieve and I was going to have to find SOMETHING to write in my joy journal--and quite honestly I figured it would have nothing to do with children living outside the womb, but rather the one whose heartbeat I got to hear again today...

But eventually things got resolved...bath time came (which the kids consider as fun as a kiddie carnival)...Brandon came home...things got better. And as I was tucking Jenna in tonight, she looked at me and talked about how she doesn't like feeling angry.

My heart broke...

And in those few precious minutes of talking about feelings and what makes us angry and how we can handle things better, I knew what would be going in my joy journal...

I knew this change in my thought process and goal to find more joy wouldn't mean a flawless home life. I never intended this goal to change our circumstances. I just hoped this goal would help me feel more peace about being a mom, especially on really crappy days.

And today, I think that very purpose was accomplished.

JOY in motherhood...

I have thought a lot about resolutions and starting a new year off...

I decided that this year I don't want to write that long list of overzealous ambitions that will probably not ever be checked off.

Instead, I just picked one thing...

JOY in the journey of motherhood.

It isn't that I feel like I am a terrible mother or am dissatisfied with my role. But let's face it...there are "days" (you are a mom like me if you know what THOSE kind of days are without explanation) that the one thing I look forward to is putting the kids in bed. :) I get frustrated and impatient...and I lack that joy I want to feel.

Over Christmas break we watched the movie The Nativity story. There is a point in the movie where Mary and Joseph are talking about what it will be like when Christ is born...and if they will be able to teach Him anything.

I asked Brandon, "How would it feel to raise the Son of God?!"

Immediately a thought came to my mind. I may not be raising THE son of God...but I am raising A son of God...2 of them...and a sweet daughter of God. And my calling to do that is a really special thing.

That thought has lead me to reading and prayer...to seeing where I need to change and what I need to do...

And I have come to the conclusion that what we sing in church, what I tell my children, and what I want them to believe about them being a child of God is the very thing I tend to forget when life is hectic or they are misbehaving...and even on days when things are going okay...

The truth is, I have 3 beautiful children entrusted to me from Heavenly Father. And I don't always feel like I have given them my best. I don't always feel like I have remembered what a special calling I have and why it is so sacred.

As I think about Brandon leaving in the next few months for externships, I have felt the anxiety of being a single parent and not having him to lean on for a break or backup. And it is during those times that I WANT to remember the very thought I had while watching Mary and Joseph discuss their grand role as the parents of Jesus Christ...That I have been entrusted with these special spirits, Children of God...

Because knowing that, and REMEMBERING that makes me feel more joy...more fulfillment in cleaning up messes and wiping runny noses and repeating myself 20 times when they aren't listening to me. :) I want to see and speak to my children like they are a blessing, not a burden. But most of all, I want them to know me as a mother who loves them...

And so my resolution with this is to have a joy journal...that I plan on dedicating just for this purpose. The purpose of writing down at least ONE joy I found each day in being a mother...and documenting it with pictures or funny things the kids say, or simply writing why I love one of them...or all of them! :) I hope this will help me see more clearly, and more often, what an important challenge I have taken on....and how rewarding it can truly be...especially on the really hard days.

Now, all this is not to say a mother does not need breaks...or time away...or lots of chocolate sometimes...because I most certainly do! And this is not to say I think things will be perfectly smooth now or that I will dedicate my every waking moment to them, because that is just impossible. But I know and feel that FOR MYSELF, I can give more...and do more...

And these sweet kids, they deserve that. They deserve my time and love and attention. And I don't want to have another week or month or year that I look back and feel like I should have done things different.

I read this quote a few weeks ago and really loved the message:

"As a new year begins and we try to benefit from a proper view of what has gone before, I plead with you not to dwell on days now gone nor to yearn vainly for yesterdays, however good those yesterdays may have been. The past is to be learned from but not lived in. We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes. And when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead and remember that faith is always pointed toward the future. Faith always has to do with blessings and truths and events that will yet be efficacious in our lives."

Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Best Is Yet to Be,” Ensign, Jan 2010, 22–27

And so I take on this challenge...this resolution...with hope and with faith that as I do, somehow the Lord will provide these glimpses I am searching for so that He can help mold me into the mother HE wants me to be for myself, as a partner to my husband, and for my children.

Hoping for 48 more glorious Sundays

The time we go to church changed this week...instead of going from 1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m. (which is also prime nap time) we get to go from 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.

THIS. IS. GLORIOUS.

We were all up and ready before 8:30 this morning...even had some time to kill before we had to leave...the kids were pretty good during the long meeting (Sacrament meeting), then went to their separate classes (Kaden changed over to his Sunbeam class and struggled a bit...but his toy and snack withdraw are sure to fade in a few weeks. :) We brought sandwiches to feed the kids in the car on the way home so that when we got home, the boys could go straight to bed.

Jenna and I went up to my bedroom to have a read-a-thon...where we both read books together, until she fell asleep too.

A quiet afternoon. Relaxed. With time for me to read the Ensign and refuel my spiritual tank.

PURE BLISS.

After naps, we made cookies together and had some time playing games...followed by a nice dinner together where everyone was pleasant and all the food was gobbled up.

I can definitely handle Sundays like this. 48 more to be exact.

Pretty Please? :)

This week...in a nutshell

Top 10 highlights of this past week...in no particular order.

1. Went to the temple! Oh it has been so long since Brandon and I have been able to go together. This is a really important thing to us and part of our religion, and being in that special place is such a reminder to us of the things we value and where we want to be. I loved being there...feeling such peace...and having time to visit, laugh, and just enjoy time together.

The reason we were able to sneak away to the temple (which is just over 2 hours away) is because...

2. My sister, Esther, decided last minute to come visit for a couple days. So a few days of the week were filled with a Red Robin birthday meal (she just had her birthday last week!) and ice cream, shopping, and staying up late talking. I cannot express how grateful I am for her coming and watching the kids for the day--I just can't put a price on what it meant to Brandon and I.

(this is a picture of the kids with Hannah, her daughter...crowded around the little DVD player. :)

3. POTTY TRAINING! We have gone off and on with Spencer in this department. Call me a chicken, a coward, or what have you, but potty training is just not something I care to tackle alone. We have always waited until there were both Brandon and I to work on it together--so that one of us is not completely consumed with taking someone to the bathroom every 15 minutes and cleaning up any messes...which there are. :) So Christmas break presented the perfect opportunity.

Happy to report that it took a while, but Spencer is doing so much better! Not perfect...but getting there. I think I feel confident going it alone when Brandon goes back...I think. :)

Could we really be diaperless for a few months?!

4. FAMILY TIME. We have had such a wonderful break with loads of family time...movies, games, outings together...as much as we wish we could be back home with our families during the holidays, there is also a part of us that is THRILLED to SAVOR these times we are our own little family with nowhere to go and nothing big planned. I am so grateful for this break. It has been SO NEEDED...for all of us.

5. Celebrating!

We had a low key New Year's Eve celebration...which is pretty much what is has become the past several years. Kids go to bed at 7:30. We eat appetizers for dinner. Watch movies or play games...and if we happen to make it to midnight, we watch the ball drop and go right to bed.

I definitely think we are getting old.

6. SHOPPING...without children. In all honesty, I rarely take all the kids with me to the store. WAY too stressful, and quite frankly I feel that if they don't have to be there, I shouldn't bother taking them. I am good with one on one...but once you cram 3 kids in a shopping cart, there's not much room for anything else. This means I usually have to shop at night when Brandon gets home from school or in the morning...like 7 a.m. :) So daytime shopping sans children has been magnificent.

7. SLEEPING / Growing a baby. Can I just say that Brandon rocks!? He has totally stepped in when I have needed to go back to sleep after waking up in the morning...takes over when I need a nap, has done dishes, cleaned up, watched the kids, etc so I could rest when I needed. I am finally feeling to the point that I am not sick ALL DAY LONG, which is A RELIEF, but I still have moments. I just am so thankful to him...and FOR him for all he has done. It's been a good, restful couple of weeks.

8. Setting down the camera. This is part good, and part bad. The good, I haven't taken nearly the amount of pictures I like to...and in a sense, it has been a chance for me to just enjoy the moments without snapping shots every single thing. Bad in the sense that one reason I was hesitant to take pictures because my camera has been acting funky. I am trying to figure out what has gone wrong...but I am clueless as of now. And devastated if something is really wrong.

...sigh.

9. CLEANING. I started my new year by scrubbing my stove, cleaning and mopping under my oven and fridge...washing the salt and pepper shaker lids, and even scrubbing the dust pan. Perhaps it is the bursts of energy I have felt off and on through the days, but when I have them, I take advantage.

...and it feels so good.

10. Reflecting. I have taken some time to really think about life and things and what I want in the coming year (that is all for a new post...) but I am so glad I had the time to do so. I really like evaluating where I am and where I want to be...and WHO I want to be.

I have a long way to go...but I think I am getting on the right track.

...so there ya have it...in a nutshell...our busy, crazy, wonderful week.

...and because I just think my little niece Grace is too cute, I will end with a couple shots of her.