Morning Workout

I have decided that I need to start working out in the mornings. I know it would improve my overall health and help with many areas of my life. (Not to mention I always feel so guilty each month when my doctor asks me what I do for exercise, and each time my reply is the same. I give him an incredulous look and ask "Um, are you serious? Did you remember I have 3 young kids?- Isn't that enough? Each time he tells me I need to do something else to build up my stamina for labor.)

So Monday I got my workout clothes on and the girl got so excited and started jumping up and down and ran to get her "workout clothes". After she got on some cute little shorts she came down to exercise with me. Then the boy decided he wanted to exercise too.

If you've ever tried to work out with two preschoolers- it isn't so effective. They are all over the room, no matter how many times I told them to stay in one place. After they finally got sick of exercising then the smallish boy started crying and holding on to my legs wanting to be picked up and comforted. Still with all this, I feel like I still got a decent workout (I'm sore enough anyway).

On to today. The girl again wanted to workout with me. Okay fine. During my workout, the boy finally decided to take off his pull-up to get dressed and discovered that he had underwear on under his pull-up. YUCK. They were soaked all over, and he had pooped in them.

Leg-lifts, and one and two and....

Then the girl loudly shouts that her bum is itchy and she needs medicine. So I told her I would help her when I was done helping the boy. So I helped thy boy pry his underwear off and rinse them in the toilet and got him in the shower (while trying to run in place).

Then realized it was real quiet and the girl was nowhere in sight. Fearing lest she had tried to vaseline her own bum I ran up to see where she was.

Up the stairs and one and two and....

Alas she had not gotten into the vaseline, but the desitin ointment. Then back downstairs ( one and two and...) the smallish boy had overturned the handsoap on the floor.

You see, I don't work out for a reason!!!!! It shouldn't be this difficult! But the kids really do keep me on my toes. So I guess I'll just count that...

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to the man (yesterday).

He is the awesomest, and I just want him to know how much I love him. The kids are crazy about him. Here are some things that I just love about him.

1. If he doesn't know the words to a song (which is most of the time) he makes them up, without skipping a beat!

2. He calls our van "the truck". I think it makes it feel more "manly" to him.

3. Since I have been pregnant, I think he has made it his mission to see that I don't have to do the dishes. He really is great about keeping up with the kitchen. (Although I still do them- we have a family of 5 they need to be done often)

4. He is great about helping out with the laundry. He can not get the whole color separation thing right, but no matter how much I complain about how he does it wrong, he still helps. I need to keep my big mouth shut, because I really like him helping out.

5. He is great to help other people when they need it. He loves helping his dad with whatever his dad is doing, mainly because he loves to be around his dad, but he is so generous to help others whenever they are in need.

6. He is so great to me, and is always looking for ways to make me smile.

7. He makes super cute babies!!! (even though we may not have planned them all)

8. He is a hard worker and believes in the value of work.

9. He is just so dang fun to be around. Most of the time.

10. He has a great listening ear and will listen to me ramble on and on (which I tend to do). This is excellent, because I really love to talk. He seems to never get bored about what I have to say. (unless there is a Jazz game on- I've just learned to not talk to him during these times.)

Happy Birthday the man, I hope it was great for you. Your family sure thinks the world of you.

Holiday

Merry Christmas

everyone!!! I have been so lazy this year. I never threw my annual holiday party. I didn't send Christmas cards. Not even a family picture. So this is your Christmas card. Sorry I didn't get them out. I have been so tired lately. And this Christmas really just crept up on me.

The boy gave me a really great early Christmas present yesterday. I had just got through cleaning the bathrooms when he came in to wash his hands. He looked left, he looked right, then stated, "Mommy, the bathroom looks nice!"

I know it doesn't sound like much, but to me it meant a lot. A non-observant 5-yr-old boy noticing that the bathroom is clean is a big deal. (Although it could have been because the bathroom was so dirty in the first place- but pretend you didn't just read that)

Oh well hope all your holidays are joyful and full of family and friends!

We will be spending Christmas here and both of the grandparents should be coming to visit. We are all excited.

Poopy dayz

I am so sick of poop. I quess I just need to vent. I am constantly cleaning up poop here. The girl just pooped her pants, which she has been doing on occasion lately.

The boy, yes the boy, is STILL not potty trained and has at least one poopy accident a day. Most likely 2 or 3. Yes, believe it or not he is over 5 and still can't make it to the toilet. He pees in his pants 5-6 times a day on top of the other accidents.

I don't know what else there is to do. I am seriously considering pysciatric help. For him. (Maybe for me too). You would think he can do this by now. I have been potty training for nearly 3 years now and I am so sick of it I could slit my wrists! I just feel like I am at the end of my rope here and I don't know what to do.

Positive reinforcement- check.

Negative reinforcement- check.

Sticker charts- check.

Prizes- check.

Money bribe- check.

Cold showers- check.

Spankin's- check.

Taking away privelidges- check.

Spending quality one on one time with him and him alone- check.

Treats- check.

Potty watch- check.

Dr. advice- check.

Timer- check.

He cleans out his own underwear- check. (I accidentally turned him into a germ-a-phobe by this one. Oh well, just like his mom I guess)

Frieking out- check.

Pulling out my hair by the roots- check.

Seriously I don't know what else to do. What if I have the baby and none of my kids can go poop in the potty??????? AAAAUUUUUUUGGGGHH!!!!

Help me.

Somebody just take him and give him back when it's done! I love my kids to death, but I am having such a hard time right now.

By the way, this morning the girl was trying to convince me to let her go to Jesus' house.

"I promise I will be good mommy. I won't have any accidents today. I will be so nice to him, because I love him."

I really had to beg her to stay with me. Don't you just want to eat her, she's so cute!

Some pics

Here: I know I am behind on adding pictures so here are a few from the summer

This is at antelope island with the man's parents. This is about as good a family picture as we get.

This one is at a cute little fish farm,also with the man's parents.







The following pics are of my sweet little birthday boy who turned 1 this summer. You're right. I am a horrible mom for not blogging about it sooner. But at least we didn't forget to celebrate the birthday. Hey I gotta set the sights a little low for a while. Just look how stinkin' cute he is!!!! I just love him.

And some more random summer pics...

ENJOY

Days like these

So let me tell you what my bliss is.

The boy is home red-eyed and fevered on the couch resting. The girl has just announced that she has peed on the floor in her bedroom (for the 3rd time today). I get a rag and the carpet cleaner and go to inspect the damage, and right about this point, a thought pops into my head,

"Gee, I think I forgot to close the bathroom door after retrieving the cleaner".

Knowing my 14-month old, I leave the urine puddle on the carpet and rush to the bathroom, just in time to see the smallish boy "dunking" his goldfish in the unflushed toilet and popping them in his mouth.

YUM YUM.

Who doesn't want some urine-soggy crackers for a snack? I wash the smallish boys hands and resume the job of the puddle in the girl's room. I'm sure that many more things happened immediately following this but I think I went brain-dead for the next hour. (And now you're all very reassured of my super parenting skills at this point.)

At any rate my bliss after a day like this is BEDTIME.

My kids sure look adorable when they sleep.

I'll be sure to put some pics on soon. They are currently not accessible and I'm too lazy right now to switch computers.

Have a good one and remember to pace yourselves on the soggy fishies!

Oh Happy Day

On the paperwork for the Nuvaring birth control, it states "The NuvaRing is 99.7% effective. This means that with perfect use, less than 1 out of every 100 women who use the ring will become pregnant"

Apparently I am in the less than one percent.

Don't worry about me, I'm already insane, so I guess I'm not going anywhere!

Warning may contain explicit material

99.7 Percent Accurate.

Bull Shit

just so

Far too busy......

Detergent

Thanks to my super sister in law, I have just made my own laundry detergent. I know, I know, you all are sooooo jealous. It is great. It is so cheap and easy. My clothes come out of the wash clean and fresh. No dyes, perfumes, or harsh chemicals. Just clean. Heres the recipe if any of you are dying to try it:

equal parts soda wash and borax

equal parts powder mixture and grated fells Naptha Bar (or Ivory soap)

for example: I used:

1 cup borax
1 cup soda wash
2 cups grated ivory soap

Use 2 Tablespoons per full load.

Ya, you're jealous.

Kids say the cutest things

So the girl comes out into the dining room where I am eating my lunch. I have been hearing the boy and the girl arguing in the bedroom, but could not hear the words. She had the saddest little expression on her face and with tears in her eye's told me:

"Mommy, the boy called me a lemontine!"

LOL




Then the other day the boy says to the man in the middle of the day,

"Daddy, when I am done with my daydream I will tell you what it's about"

About an hour later the man asks if he can tell him about it yet,

"Nope, it's not done yet"

Man they are cute.

When the boy wears shoes, but no socks, he calls it "going commando in my shoes"

When the girl doesn't want to wear shoes she says, "Mommy, I just wanted to wear my feet today."

MUTTON BUSTIN'

Here is my little boy mutton bustin'. Isn't it friekin' hilarious. Ya, he is getting so big. All it cost us was a few hundred dollars after a trip to URGENT CARE. Yes that's right. My boy got hurt mutton bustin'. Who does that?

Well as you can watch in the short clip, the sheep tried to go through the gate (that wasn't supposed to be open). Ooops little slip up on the part of the people in charge. I was a little frustrated at the way things were managed, but all in all the boy had a good experience and some pretty bruised ribs.

Way to go the boy!!!

Just Because

The boy: "Mommy I am stronger than anything on this earth"

Me: "Wow, that's pretty strong. Even stronger than an elephant?"

The boy: "Ya, mom if we could go to Africa and find an elephant I will show you how I can push it over"

He's 4.

For Me

I've never been good at doing much for myself. I used to try and have a weekday that I would go out when the man came home so that I might get a break from the kids every so often. I usually feel too guilty to go. My kids are still so small and need so much from me that they take all I've got and there is none left for me. By all means it is not my children who are to blame, it is me. I know I should take care of myself. But knowing it and doing it are different things.

So what I'm really getting at is this: I am attending a conference on writing children's books this week. It is great. I finally feel like this is something I am doing for no one else but me. Whether or not the lectures are great doesn't really matter. What does matter is that, for once since the last 4 years, I feel like more than a mom. Being a mother is important but I was somebody before I was a mom... I think.

Anyway, I'll just include a little blurb of some creative writing that I did during the conference. I know I just need to practice more and I'll get better so I am really going to try and write a little every day. Okay that is really a big goal given my circumstance and my personality. At least a few times a week.


"I startled as I saw a spider creeping up the wall. I waivered as I stood there deciding whether to leave him or take care of him. He was too close to my room to leave. I hurried to the bathroom to retrieve some toilet paper. When I came back I lost sight of him. I scoured the wall searching for any sign of him and caught him moving out of the corner of my eye. I had to do this quick or my nerve might fail me. My hand pounced and then smashed hard and in all directions to make sure there were no legs twitching when I pulled the crumpled piece of toilet paper back to look at it. There was no twitching, because he wasn't there. Dang. I looked everywhere, searching for the sly devil.

I knew two possible scenarios for what happened. Either he had jumped aside to escape his impending doom and was stealthily waiting on some part of my body or clothes, until I finally let my guard down to make his move, or he had found some crack or fissure in the doorway that I couldn't see, in which case he was waiting until I went to bed to recruit his aunts, uncles, cousins, friends and neighbors to mount a counter attack on me while I slept.

I stood there for another good minute, still, quiet and waiting. I walked back to my room. I turned the light on. Ha. That would show him. I knew that spiders are nocturnal. I went to my bed, put my right arm under my pillow, laid my head down, brought my knees up to my chest and pulled the covers tight around my shoulder. That spider won't get the best of me!

Around midnight I had to get up and turn the light off, due to the pounding headache from the light. And from the kids and lack of sleep, but mostly from the light.

But I told myself it wasn't over with the spider."

Anyway, we sure miss the man. We love you daddy! And a big thanks to my mom for watching the kids.

Mothers day

Okay so I hate to mooch off someone else, but that is exactly what I am going to do. So here is my mothers day post.

http://wardlefam.blogspot.com/2009/05/you-might-be-mom-if.html


I read this laughing. It is totally true. This is my cousin and she is super talented. Thanks for the laugh Erika.

BackPacking

The man and I recently went on a 40 mile backpacking adventure. It was difficult, although I didn't expect it to be easy. We visited a canyon called Grand Gulch down by Blanding Utah. There were loads of great anasazi ruins. It was great. We had a really good experience. Here are some photos.

On a side note: I'm in a bit of a blogging slump. Sorry. I just don't have it all together quite yet. But it's coming. Any day now...

This is the man and I and my bro and sis-in-law before

This is called "Big Man Panel"

This is the whole group of us. Thanks guys-we had a great time!

Look at those packs- Man were they heavy!

This is the path we traveled. A total of about 36.6 or something miles.

P.S. Kel, the shower when I got home was totally awesome. I got in washed, rinsed and then washed again. Then I got out, dried off, and then got back in and washed one more time. Just to make sure. Ha Ha. No joke though.

ReJeCTEd

Hey I just got my first rejection letter. Woo Hoo. It doesn't get me too down...yet.

new post

I was going to post a new one, but you can all thank my brother who kept me chatting too long and now I don't have time. We were chatting about the trip we are about to take. So when I get back from the trip I'll have lots to blog about. And hopefully lots of pics.

Question

I was wondering if I should reveal the names of my children. What's the fun in coming up with cool names for the kids if I just call the the boy, the girl, etc... But I know I have at least one major blog stalker, but it's just mongee. And only yesterday I was talking about that nice man with the red slits for eyes and the little black horns that has been an avid weirdo blog stalker who has really taken an interest in my kids, but other than those two really. What do you guys think? I have a poll going on so vote in it.

Update

Just a quick update for our families.

The boy has learned to tie knots. Great. I find knots everywhere. Knots are set-up as booby traps when I open my master bathroom door. Knots are trying to keep me from opening my drawers on my dresser. You'd think he was a boy scout. Soon enough.

The girl is totally the "POTTY PRINCESS". She has done such an awesome job being potty trained. She hasn't had an accident for almost a week and will just run in and go when she needs to. Wow is this what potty trained means? We are still struggling with they boy.

The girls favorite shoes are her sunday shoes. She wears them everywhere. She even wears them all day around the house. It's pretty cute.

The smallish boy has become a crawling vampire. On Sunday we discovered that his eye teeth have broken through. Not his top front teeth. Yep just the "vampire" teeth. I will try to get a pic of that soon. He also started crawling last sunday. He is still ever so slow and still working out the kinks, but he crawls! and he can get to where he wants to go. I really have my hands full now. Wish me luck and enjoy the pictures! PEACE.

Drawings

Here are some pictures that the girl drew of our family. She's quite the little artist. I'm not so sure why daddy has three legs here? Any wild guesses? Ha.

Not to be outdone, the boy draws a picture on the aquadoodle. Can you see the hands and feet? Not quite so adequate, but he doesn't enjoy drawing as much as the girl. He'd rather be in the mud or something like that.