Hello Blog world

No I did not drop off the face of the earth. Yes, I am much too far behind on my blogging. And maybe I will catch up ;)

Merry Christmas to all!

Thanksgivings

Last year I did a week of gratitude posts for Thanksgiving. I thought maybe I would do them again this year. I have two obstacles..first my free time is precious and my computer is slow...second, I am running out of time before Thanksgiving.

So today I am grateful for the word of wisdom. I know that sounds kind of random, but I have struggled since Matthew was born to have very much energy. I am grateful that we have been given some basic counsel that helps me in this area. Conner and I discussed it today. And for us it is basically broken down into 3 parts.

1. Eat well.
2. Exercise regularly
3. Get enough sleep.

So this day I am grateful for those words of counsel from Elder Perry and that is our goal for Conner and I this week.

What do you do?

What do you do when you are disappointed in something you can't change? Granted I was not an ardent supporter of either candidate, however, I did experience a bit of let down with the presidential election results.
It made me wonder if this is how people felt when George Bush was elected. I read an interesting blog post with the following quote. I will preface this by saying I did not check the source, just assumed it was corrected.

"We engage in the election the same as in any other principle: you are to vote for good men...Choose the good and refuse the evil... Don't fear man or devil; electioneer with all people, male and female, and exhort them to do the thing that is right. We want a President of the U. S., not a party President, but a President of the whole people; for a party President disfranchises the opposite party. Have a President who will maintain every man in his rights." (History of the Church, Vol.6, Ch.15, p.323)

I, particularly, was moved by the part about a President of the whole people, rather than a "party" president, for it does leave people feeling disfranchised. Our nation is great because of our predecessors. And by this, I do not mean merely our presidents, rather all those good people who stood up for what was right and then went out and supported leaders who did the same.

So whether I think Obama will be good or bad for our country is, for the time being, irrelevant. For I can only continue to do what I believe is right and be an example to others to do the same.

Halloween

For those of you who might not possess the power to decide what we dressed up as, just call upon 'the force'.



Yep, in the picture you should find, Darth Vader, Yoda, Luke and Leia. Bet you can't guess who is who!?!

I must say I used some sewing skills, bartering skills and trading skills to gather all of our costumes (oh, and half a card of bobby pins).

Teething and Rice cereal

oh...and baby prunes.

Yes, I am sorry to say that I subjected my almost five month old to baby prunes. But I did it with his best interest at heart. Truly!

We had been feeding rice cereal for about 2 weeks. (which incidentally, he LOVED). I swore we would wait longer for real food because once you start you can't stop and for me it is so much easier to just nurse... but he would have none of it. However, his bowels did not love it so much. It could have been anything. Needed to be a little older, mom needed to make it thinner instead of thickening it up, not letting him eat so much...etc. etc.

But for whatever reason, prunes became a NECESSITY. Thankfully the prunes did their job and both mom and baby were happier. And mom learned her lesson...

In other less (or more) noteworthy news, Matthew is the proud owner of two bottom teeth. Yes, this was early and yes they are pretty much all the way in.

We are hoping that they are like my teeth and not Steve's, because his have a bad habit of trying to rot out of his head....and he has better dental hygiene...go figure!

Another Show

Hey all...Steve is in another show. And being a supportive wife, I decided to post it on my blog. But it snuck up on me so this is a little short notice.

It is THE MUSIC MAN and Steve is 'the Music Man' himself, Harold Hill.

I know it is short notice but he would love to see whoever could come.

It runs Oct 23, 24, 25 at 7:30 pm. NEXT WEEK It is FREE---that might just be the best part!

Fun stuff

So I have totally splurged on baby products lately. Here is my most recent acquisition. Not all for me...a few gifts got thrown in...please excuse the camera, it needs some help:)

This stack includes:
3 Bundlemes - two originals and one Euro-these are especially great for us cold weather folks and they work on car seats or strollers

2 Premaxx carriers

3 Diaper/Wipes pods
1 Diaper caddy
2 Bundleme Hats

1 Logic bag

TOTAL RETAIL VALUE: aprox $365

Thankfully I didn't spend that much. I am a bargain shopper at heart. Anyone want to venture a guess what I did spend? Maybe I could share a little something with the closest guesser...or at least share my secret

Graco owes me a Thank you...

Almost all of our baby gear is Graco. Not on purpose, just because that is what I liked either for safety ratings (infant car seat), pattern (stroller), price (pack n play), surprise gift (high chair), high enough weight limits (the captains chair)...
But in the past couple of weeks I think I have gone a little overboard...

Captain's chair approx $150


a regular booster (approx $20) for Steve's car....


And a pack n play (usually $100ish-a steal at $38)....


Value of having a sleeping baby, safe child and happy mommy? PRICELESS

So maybe I owe them a Thank you too...

Connerisms

My mom was watching Conner while Steve and I went to a mission reunion. He had quite a few "funnies"

The first:
My sister and mom were tired of being in the kitchen canning all day and everyone else had left for the BYU game so they decided to go out to eat. They told Conner they were going to go to a restaurant for dinner. Conner got pretty excited to go out of the house for dinner. Then they asked him, if he wanted to go to Texas Road House or Lonestar Stake House.
COnner: "But I don't want to go to a 'house'."

My Favorite:
Apparently they saw a picture or poster or something of Ironman. In case you think I let my little guy watch that, I didn't. But he has seen the previews. His comment to grandma?

"Grandma, he (Ironman) is a really good man. I just don't think he has the gospel yet."

To Grandma's embarassment:
My mom had just been telling me all the cute things he had said and we had been laughing about it. I left the kitchen and went upstairs for a minute.

Conner said, "But grandma, you forgot the funniest part"

Grandma: "What's that?"

Conner: "When you tooted."

At the risk of offending someone...

I would just like to say that I dislike music playlists on people's blogs.

(With few exceptions)

Alas, their blogs are not my blog so I guess I really don't have much say...

But if I did, I would prohibit them for the following reasons:

1. I typically blog/lurk at night and I don't like the sudden noise that could wake the dead (or my children) emanating from my machine. Said children are often the culprits at having turned the sound up in the first place. In the event they are still awake, I have an instant lap buddy who wants to "hear that song again."

2. Very rarely do I like and/or know the songs that begin playing on my machine. In the rare case that I do know the song, I really don't want it stuck in my head. We all know that music tastes vary greatly. Why should I have to listen to your stuff?

3. Lastly, I suspect that a large majority of people are like me, in that they are on their own blog for much less time than they are lurking/reading other people's blogs. That being said, odds are pretty good that they aren't really getting a chance to listen to their favorite songs anyway.

Your take?

New Car seat

Conner got a new car seat. We call it the CAPTAIN'S CHAIR because it is so big. I finally broke down and decided to pay the big bucks for it. I have been wanting it for awhile. He technically has room for 1 more pound in his old one :) Lest you get all excited, like my dad, thinking it is a booster and therefore easier to move from car to car...

alas, it is not. It is still a five point harness. Supposedly that is a much safer bet than moving them to a booster seat. But in our case, it was also about keeping him still. He gets so anxious/excited to squirm around in a regular belt. It also converts to a high back booster once they hit 65 lbs (at Conner's rate, that should take a while) and a regular no-back booster after that.

Here's a few darling pics of Matthew that also show how big it really is!

Case Lot craziness

So I decided since we have a bit of cash flow right now and all the grocery stores have case lot sales going on...it was time to update and increase our food storage.

Maybe I should be a better canner (like Jess) but that would require me to have a garden or the very least find fresh produce....and then I either have to get all the canning supplies (or go to my moms). As you can see this is a little bit difficult, so for my first year of canning I have done peaches. That wasn't too hard but without a great mom (thanks Mom), it would have been sheer madness with the little kiddos.

I think we might try to can chicken and maybe salsa, that is if my mom and I can make it through them...and call me crazy, but I think I will just go buy the rest.

Wonders

So did any of you know that sunshine takes the yellow out of breastfed baby explosions?

Well it does...and this week that little fact saved at least three BRAND NEW baby outfits from the trash can.

Shame on you if you knew and didn't tell me.

Flowers

Somewhere in my house is a big pack of batteries. But until I find them, I can't post a pic of the beautiful flowers Steve brought me yesterday. Nice and bright. Lots of colors and kinds.

And since I know he reads my blog and is an occasionally contributor I just wanted to tell him

Thank you!

Cause he is great and I love him

Nana these are for you...

Evie likes eyes...watch out Matthew.



They are almost the same size.

Family fun

Our latest (and only) family summer adventure has been a trip to the beach. With a new babe around, we didn't take much time to have any family adventures. Then we realized the end of summer was just days away so off we went.


Steve and Conner mostly played in the water/sand.
Matthew mostly ate and slept. What a good baby.

And the three of them pulled faces at the camera.

Facebook addiction

I have a new computer addiction. Its called Facebook.

If you haven't joined, you should and then look me up. If you have and we aren't friends, well we should be!

Hope to see you there!

Connerisms

Today we had FRESH salmon from Alaska. To read about how we got "FRESH" salmon, go here. Conner was very disappointed that he didn't get to go and proceeded to tell me so every day they were gone. He wanted to catch a BIG fish.

We usually have the not-as-fresh grocery-store-fare. At any rate, Conner LOVES salmon. And today's salmon had a little something "extra"

BONES. So I was showing Conner what the bones looked like so he wouldn't try to eat one and choke or gag. And then I picked them all out for him. He asked me how come the salmon had bones. And I said, thats kind of what happens when you get the fish yourself instead of buying it at the grocery story.

FAST FORWARD TO THE END OF DINNER AFER I SPENT MUCH OF IT PICKING OUT BONES:

Conner: Mom, when I get growed up, I am going to get grocery store salmon and not try to get it myself.

Me (a little surprised given his previous desire to catch some salmon): Why is that?

Conner: Because I REALLY don't want to pick out all my kids' bones.

NOTE TO GRANDPA: If you want Conner to go fishing with you, you better do it now, because once he has kids he doesn't want to pick out their bones.

That Famous Preston Night Rodeo

For the record, we are not "rodeo regulars"


But we do manage to attend "That Famous Preston Night Rodeo" at least once each year, along with the parade.

For the record, its true name really is "That Famous..."


Maybe it is called "That famous Preston night Rodeo," because it manages to get so many of us "non-rodeo-ers" there EVERY SINGLE YEAR. I mean, don't we look just thrilled?Especially my mom (check her face), the most non-rodeo-er of them all...she has been there hugely pregnant, with newborns, with all five children and bulls jumping the fence. And she keeps going every year.


For the record, I am not my mom. Matthew and I stayed at grandmas.

Links Explanation

Rachel wants to know why I don't have her link on my sidebar.

Well, to be honest, I don't have even half the links on my sidebar that I browse.(please don't calculate that, I don't really want to admit how much time blogging takes up in my world).

I stopped adding them to my sidebar. Now I use Google reader....so much easier. So if anyone wants my links, let me know.

P.S. Rachel, I added you to my sidebar. Hope you feel loved.

Trauma Solved?

Thanks to Nikkala and Ashley who suggested I check eBay for my outfit. I found it, but even with my I.T. background I have never bought anything there...I cant handle the wait and bidding, drives me bonkers. So Nikkala talked me through it and my mom lent me her username since I can't remember how to log in to my own.

I then proceeded to bid and win on two of the outfits (there were 3 listed). One is used and one is NWT (if you are an eBayer you probably know that acronym). They are both the same size though, the third item is a different size. I about bid on the third one too, but I decided that was excessive. So if they don't fit, I have one I can experimentally shrink...it is cable knit after all.

Wish us luck.

Matthews Blessing - The story of 2 traumas

I have two traumas...one obviously more pressing than the other.

TRAUMA ONE

Well all, we are finally going to bless Matthew. It will be August 24 at 9 am. Everyone is welcome, but I would love to know who thinks they can make it. If you need directions to the church, leave me a comment with your email and I will send it to you.

It was such a trauma to decide. We had originally planned to do it that weekend even before he was born. We waited so long because for the past 6 years of our marriage Steve's parents have been here the weekend before college starts every year. This year they are coming a week early for Dave's graduation. No big deal right? Move it a week? But my whole family will be in Alaska that weekend. So when we realized all of that we decided to do it the traditional fast Sunday in August....but alas, Dave and Kristin would be gone to CA. So after all the hoopla, we decided just to leave it as originally planned.

So now we are just hoping for the best for Aug 24. Hope to see you all there.

TRAUMA TWO
THIS is the outfit I wanted to steal the idea for, for Matthew. It is kind of a trick finding an outfit that is not a tux or two satiny (read hispanic) for my taste. I hemmed and hawed about buying it because I didn't know for sure how big Matthew would be or what size he would need. Now (read when he was born) it is too late. Gap was sold out of them. So my second trauma is what to dress Matthew in, and I am open to any suggestions.

First day in shoes

Matthew had his first day in shoes in this pic. Our old bishop would be proud. He always used to tease us about getting us an order to go to DI to get Conner shoes because we would never put shoes on Conner. I didn't see the point. Babies don't need shoes.

But these were too cute to resist.

Thanks to Conner for being our fabulous photographer.

Oh and Matthew, he now weighs a whopping 12 lbs...I vaguely remember it took Conner forever to get big...but they are both apparently destined to be long and skinny.

Thats ok by me!

Where in the world is...

Some of you may know this mutual friend of ours:



But I will grant that this next photo was not taken in Denmark:


And actually, he's more Steve's friend than mine:


But at any rate, check out Jacques new entry into the blogging world at

http://usuadonis.blogspot.com
I know in particular he would love to hear from New Horizons friends or any one who knows him. Go leave him a comment and say hi if you remember this crazy guy from Denmark.

My ABCs

I figured if a new mom with twins can post this, then I can. And if you actually make it to the end, consider yourself tagged....

A is for age: 27 which is older than I feel, but I guess I won’t be a 20 year old college co-ed forever and it matches better when I consider I am married to a 31 year old

B is for burger of choice: the thinner and faker the burger the better…for that reason, I guess I would choose Wendy’s Jr Bacon Cheeseburger…but I do like a mean chicken and fish sandwich


C is for the car I drive: A Toyota Sequoia a.k.a. the TANK aptly named because as much as I love it, it is rather larger and it likes to empty its tank faster than I feel is necessary

D is for your dog's name: No dog, but with my boys I probably won’t be able to say NEVER

E is for essential item you use every day: Diapers

F is for favorite TV show at the moment: No shows but I love movies as long as I can feel comfortable with their content, and they make me happy (not scared or worked up or sad), ok, so I am a chick-flick junky

G is for favorite game: Since I don’t have a favorite, I will go with what I am called to play the most Spiderman Yahtzee or Lego Star Wars (PS2)

H is for home state: Military brat that I am, I still think I would say Idaho

I is for instruments you play: Flute, Piano

J is for favorite juice: Currently it is PowerAde, helped me when I was prego sick, now Apple Juice tastes great while I am nursing

K is for whose bum you'd like to kick: As if I have ‘discretionary’ energy to waste kicking someone’s bum

L is for last restaurant at which you ate: Does ordering Pizza count?

M is for your favorite Muppet: I can honestly say that I only know the names of two muppets, Kermit and Miss Piggy.

N is for number of piercings: 2 ears only, but for some reason I thought it was cool to say I wanted my belly button pierced in like 8th grade. I think because a friend had it done. Thankfully, it wasn’t a true desire.

O is for overnight hospital stays: 3, one to two nights for each of my kiddos

P is for people you were with today: Steve, Conner, Matthew, Alisa and unless someone makes a rare home appearance, I don’t expect that to change I the next few hours

Q is for what you do with your quiet time: Reading….books, blogs

R is for biggest regret: Almost anything I have ever felt regret for, might have drastically or not so drastically changed where my life would be today (i.e. Med school, not working for the man, etc) I wouldn’t trade where I am for any of those experiences so I guess I live a regret free life

S is for status: Married for almost 6 years to a fabulous guy who I love intellectually, spiritually and physically

T is for time you woke up today: which time? I think we finally dragged ourselves out of bed at 9:30

U is for what you consider unique about yourself: Unfortunately, I am a conformist. Maybe what is unique about that is that I like being a conformist but if possible, I am a conformist with some pretty strong opinions that I don’t mind vocalizing even when people disagree….so maybe I am not so much of a conformist as I think,

V is for vegetable you love: All, except brussel sprouts. I love mushrooms, and asparagus and fresh steamed broccoli or cauliflower. And salad greens of all kinds (except those ones that look like a weed), onions, garlic, spaghetti squash, zucchini, peppers…..etc.

s for worst habit: Letting my messes pile up until they are no longer messes but chaotic disasters

X is for x-rays you've had: Elbow

Y is for yummy food you ate today: Banana bread

Z is for zodiac: um, I am not sure. I think Aquarius or whatever that one is.

Fun times with Grandma

Babies and Cookies

Here is a sample conversation I overheard between Steve and Conner.

"So Conner, what do you think of your little brother? Is he neat?"

"Yeah."

"How come?"

"'Cause he looks like me."

"And he is kinda peaceful huh?"

"Yeah, and he smells good. Like cookies. Smell him."

What Nana wants...Nana gets

I had a request from Nana for more pics of the babe.

Since Nana is far away...I guess Nana gets what she wants!

Connerisms

Matthew is jaundiced and we had to go to the hospital to check his bili levels. My aunt works there so we decided to stop and visit her since she hadn't seen Matthew yet. I said, we will just "peek our heads in" or something to that effect and Conner said,

"Mom, why not our whole bodies?"

Yes indeed, why not!

New Arrival

Welcome to the world.

Matthew Coey is here.

He was 7 lbs 10 oz.

Mom is doing good.

Dad is doing good.


And big brother is great!

Procrastination Queen

Every time I check my blog I think about all these posts that I need to do. Not for anyone's reading pleasure but to keep up with our lives since I don't scrap or journal like I should!

Pics of Steves play
Conner's soccer
A belly pic of me
Conners preschool graduation
Father and Sons campout
Preschool cowboy day
Furniture and cleaning (too bad I didn't take better before and after pics)
Etc. etc.

And I think oh, I will do it tomorrow.

I have one problem...only one tomorrow left until baby day so I guess I better finally do it today!

Preschool graduation

It was an exciting day to watch my baby have a "preschool graduation". I was a little sad because we didn't get very good pics inside.

But it was quite darling. They sang songs about everything they had learned that year. One for letters. One for numbers. One for manners. One for opposites...etc. etc.

Conner made a new best little friend too...his name is Nicholas.

Steve and Conner first

Here it is...a first for both my boys...and a first for me...and a first for our christmas gift.
My dad invited Conner to go to his father and sons campout. So away they went.

They took our new Christmas tent because bompa, nate and Jordan were going too...and thanks to Bompa and Bomma in the first place...ours was the biggest tent. I heard that Conner was really excited to sleep in the tent. And best of all he told me "Mom, the sleeping bags have pillows." Don't ask me...but at any rate he thought it was great.

Conner had been begging Bompa to take him fishing. The only thing Conner caught was a tick!


Mom thankfully survived the worry of who was going to fall in the creek (Conner) or burn themselves with scout water (Steve)...
Thanks grandpa for the invite!

Cowboy day

At preschool they had a cowboy day. Conner said, "But mom, I want to be darth vader." I said, "at halloween"....

He was excited after we found this getup.

Conners Soccer

Conner played soccer again this year and loved it!


He also loved having dad as coach. Here is a pic of part of the team.

Play visitors

We had a lot of people come and support Steve in the play.

I wish we could have gotten pics of everyone with him. Because this was kind of fun.

Conner went twice, once with Bomma and bompa and once with Benji's family and Hadley and Hunter and Rozy and Gma Dorothy.

I went three times. Once with my family, once with Steve's family and then the last night with Conner.

Here's a few pics assembled together!

Counting down..

I should post a pic of my belly. But I don't know if I am brave enough. Maybe if we cut off my head so I don't have to admit it was me at some later date!
With less than two weeks to go until my due date...I am beginning to feel pregnant.

But that could be because my internal furnace decided to kick in on the hottest days of the year so far...causing sleep to be most elusive especially since I was feeling too cheap to turn on the A/C. I did change my mind about that last night though and slept much improved with my A/C blasting.

Or maybe it is because none of my pants want to stay up. It is very exhausting to keep pulling my pants up...all day long. Yesterday I wore a pair of Steve's basketball shorts and a big t-shirt---all day--it was quite a relief just in the energy required to keep ones pants up. I think he has 5 or 6 pairs so I could probably get away with not washing AND being comfortable for another week or two. As long as I didn't care too much how I looked.

Then again, it could be the frequent, but alas not regular contractions. Or the constant trips to the bathroom, yet again.

At any rate, if I am lucky and keep dilating a little on my own, the doctor said he would start me a couple of days early. That would mean next week (ahhh, don't know if I am ready) I would know at my appt tomorrow but he was totally full so I have to wait until Friday to decide about induction. Silly doctors that only work 3 days a week.

I have had inductions with both my other kids. One was a breeze...the other, not so much. So the induction part doesn't make me nervous. However, I would rather wait a couple of days if it makes a difference between repeating the first scenario or the second.

Wish us luck!

Happy Endings

We (and I use that term most generously even though Steve was the only "official" participant) are done with the play.

I have now regained my role as Steve's "feather duster."

Conner is happy to have daddy home, preferably without his French accent.

And I am grateful to not have a dilemma every night about whether or not I should go to bed so I am not a cranky wife or stay up and be a more supportive wife ...

Hopefully there will be pics to come! Thanks to all of you who came and supported us (there's that plural term again)!

Connerisms and Steve's play

Well, we are down to the last show of Steve's play. It is tomorrow night.
Steve's family came and went to it on Friday night. We had a fun time and Conner was proud of himself for taking care of baby Evie and I was proud of him for staying home to do it!

We had more adventures into the "frankness" of young children and I think I am safe to tell the following story because I don't think the person in it has the internet and everyone else who does is smart enough to just read and giggle and then not pass it along.
Steve's grandparents came earlier in the day and played with Conner. We they got out of the car. There was the traditional rumblings coming from Grandma. After a few minutes of this, Conner came over and not so quietly whispered, "Mom, I think she has gas." I quickly tried to quietly explain that that happens sometimes and that he should just go play.

At this point, we had quite a few people at our house, including my two brothers, sister and dad who were there to help my sister move home for the summer. Apparently, Conner and my little brother were close when again the rumblings started. He told my brother, "Don't worry. I just don't think she knows how to say 'excuse me'."

Finished product

So Steve starts the show with a wig, instead of a candle head and ends the show the same way, so thankfully someone took some pics of him with his candle head while he was backstage.

I am sure everyone is just dying to see them :)

Latex and goop

So Steve got the lovely privilege of having his face entirely covered by latex so they could make a plaster of paris mold to make him a melting candle head.


Sounds slightly claustrophobic to me. Ok so I wouldn't have been able to go through with it. He didn't seem to mind at all...so he says!

But here are some pics. I will take a finished picture of him, once he actually gets to put it on.

Most of my comments should be posts

Is there a way to get all the essays I pass off as comments on other blogs to just turn into posts on my own?

Usually I read someone else's blog and it sparks something I want to remember or something I feel strongly about or want to respond to...but rather than stealing their idea and posting it myself, I just turn my comment into a big long wanna-be post.

I don't mean to when I start commenting...but by the time I am done, well, let's just say that I wouldn't be offended if they told me they hadn't finished reading it.

This happened to me twice today, hence the following two posts....they are mostly so I can remember these things about myself...my slightly pious mother to one child-rearing tactics and my thoughts about my wedding ring.
In fact, one is an exact copy of something I left on a friend's blog in her "quest" to find ideas for discipling...and yes, I actually posted all of that as if I knew what I was talking about or something :)

My wedding ring

In response to a friend's blog about how she didn't really baby her wedding ring


I am with you, or at least I think I would be if I ever wore mine. Sad huh?

I babied it when we were first married, and I still don't like to make bread in it, mostly because mine has obvious crevices which are a pain to get the dough out of and very obvious if I don't.

I also took it off to baby my firstborn, not the ring, but because I was so terrified to scratch him. But just while he was little.

In fact, I almost lost my diamond into a poopy diaper once. I really should have lost it. My prongs were completely bent away and I just happened to glance at my hand in time to quickly pull my hand away from the mess. I striped the ring right then and finished changing the diaper. Thankfully Conner didn't run away in the process.

After I got it fixed, (it had to have a completely new head and this time we went for the thicker prongs instead of the ones that went with the design of the ring), it was gorgeous again. It is amazing what happens to a knife edged platinum band that has been polished after being abused for a couple of years. The pic above shows it with the tiny, skinny, faux double prongs, which because I don't baby my ring, I no longer have on mine.

Thankfully, I have never had to remove it during pregnancy because of swelling or anything.

I have had it cleaned a few times, but nothing regular.

I absolutely love my ring. Steve picked it out entirely by himself. He only asked which diamond cuts I preferred. It was elegantly simple, or at least I thought so. He even knew to get me a solitaire setting. And then he surprised me in the temple with the matching band, which I didn't think I needed/wanted, until he surpised me with it and I knew it was perfect.

So why don't I wear it so often? I am not sure. I got out of the habit when it bugged me while I was sleeping during this pregnancy and then I would forget to put it back on. So now I run around wearing no ring at least half the time. Least you worry that I might have some dude try to hit on me, you needn't....because currently I am a bulbous, large as a barge pregnant lady and for the last couple of weeks at least, wearing no contacts and no makeup, looking most days like I have been run through the wash...

Maybe I will remind myself to put it back on when I feel a little more worthy of its "simple elegance".

Childrearing soap box

IN RESPONSE TO ANOTHER MOM'S PLEA FOR HELP....here I come with my "supermom" soapbox!


I think you would be surprised what they understand and don't understand, even if it is just on their level.
A couple of tricks that seemed to work for us ....at the risk of sounding like I am up on some soapbox....

1. Try distraction first because often they are just really curious. But there were times when I knew that Conner knew he wasn't supposed to do something and thats when we had to look for other tactics.
2. Be consistent (I am totally perfect at that! haha!) If it is not ok right now to climb on chairs and there is a consequence involved, then it is not ok tomorrow or in five minutes either.
3. Remove them from the situation. I wasn't a huge fan of timeouts in their rooms, especially because that is supposed to be their space and it is supposed to be peaceful. But it did work to remove him from the situation and just hold Conner as still as possible in my lap. After saying "No, we don't do this..." then I didn't say anything else and we had to be still. There is nothing worse than to make a little boy be still. When he got big enough to understand, we switched to a time out stool. And only if he wouldn't stay on the stool, then we took him to a confined space.

3. Pick your battles. Is it dangerous? Or will they ruin or break something important? If not, decide if you want to deal with it every day because it sometimes takes a while for it to sink in that mom is serious about something.

4. Use agency. Even when they are small, they can be taught that every action has a consequence, good or bad and often they don't get to choose the consequence. In fact, I think that is a large reason that children do what they do. They are trying to figure out how things or people or their bodies or whatever respond to what they do....climbing, pushing buttons, tantrums, dumping stuff out, all of those usually have immediate consequences.

I hope I can teach Conner to make good decisions, and then know that he is responsible for what happens afterward. I think that is the best thing I can do when "discipling" so I also try to remember to say sorry if I was too harsh or loud or abrupt or whatever (happens more when they start thinking and then verbalizing their distaste)

5. Teach them coping tactics to calm themselves (deep breaths, whatever...) or to use their words. Teach them it is ok to cry and be sad when necessary, but that pitching a fit just because your angry doesn't work and won't get them any more or less attention.

Yikes, I hope I can come back and read these again and all the other comments in a little while when we have a second "experiment" at our house...but I hope the principles are at least the same, even if the methods change a little! :)

Good luck! Just do it with love and you can't really go wrong, or at least not for long ;)

My Beloved

I spend so much time blogging about Conner this or that or me this or that...Steve should just get his own blog to keep you all updated.

Since he hasn't, I guess it is my job.

Don't know much about him right now because he currently spends at least 3 hrs 3 nights a week at practice. But at least I know what he is doing at those practices, because Conner insists on going as often as possible.

What is he practicing?
1. His french accent
2. Holding his arms up
3. Pretending to be a candlestick

He is slated to be Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast opening next week.

We are all excited to go watch him. It starts April 25 (Friday) and runs Friday, Saturday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday (night and matinee) and then Monday again.

Then we get him back for the short while until church or work or something calls to him again! :)

Anyone near us should come check out the show. I think it should be pretty good!

Conners favorite love

Soccer...

We started soccer again this week. The first game Conner didn't score any goals. He then told us that he didn't in the car on the way home. He also mentioned that the other team scored more goals than his team. Considering they are 3 and 4 year olds, most of the goals were probably accidental and I am fairly certain no one was counting besides him. We asked him if he blocked any goals and he brightened up to tell us about those.

The next game was "better" He scored two goals and blocked a whole bunch. And the other team accidentally gave him some of their treats (kind of hard to keep them separate when one team is wearing dark navy and the other black) but when I told him to take them back, they said he could keep them. So in his mind that was probably another score.

They are so fun to watch. Some of the kids get what is going on...some would pick dandelions if they grew out of the gym floor and some just chase all the other kids, oblivious to the ball.

But Conner loves it!

I feel yucky...sing to the "I feel pretty song"

from West Side Story

I feel yucky
Oh so yucky
I feel yucky and gucky and gray

Ok, so maybe I better stop trying to be a lyricist.

7 weeks and counting.
But if I felt like moving my "yucky" self off the couch to take a pic I would show you that from shoulders down I feel totally fine. Strange considering I am pregnant.

But from shoulders up...well, that is the yucky part!

Diagnosis: Ear infection (really painful), pink eye (gucky), swollen tonsils, a minor headache (compared to the earache) - gray.....overall....quite yucky!

Treatment: 4 horse pills a day, eye drops 4x a day, tylenol as often as pregnant ladies are allowed, Popsicles, movies for Conner, dishes/dinner/etc. etc. etc. for Steve, and some blogging to hopefully distract and be able to whine a little

Conners Palate

My son had the following choices for dinner last night...he just had to chose which vegetable he wanted. The choices are as follows including their alternate Conner-ese names:

Broccoli - trees
Cauliflower - tiny treats
Zucchini - zucchini
Asparagus - sticks

He chose: sticks.

Today, as I was on the computer, he went about his usual business of trying to find something to eat. It usually is something that he knows I will say no to, but since I am on the computer he tends to think I am a push-over or something. So he wanted a
toaster struddle - aka froodle. I said, no, those were for breakfast, yeah I know, they are "great" nutritionally . But next thing I know he is in the freezer and he pulls out something even more nutritionally sound. Cheese cake bites. You know the ones you buy at Sam's that come with like 60 little bits and 3 different flavors...and they make them small so you don't feel guilty eating them.

"Mom, what are these?" he says innocently. Like his little 4 year old mind can't recognize them as treats or something.

"Those are cheesecake bits" Hesitating, I have an internal mommy debate...these aren't any better or worse than froodles, but at least I wouldn't have to toast and frost it for him. "Would you like one?" I break down and say.

He of course brightens immediately and proceeds to eat two. His preference? The plain New York cheesecake ones.

He also tends to ask for/like (in a relative order of preference) salmon, strawberries, grapefruit (every morning for breakfast), steak, prime rib, other fish, fried shrimp, broccoli, cauliflower, grapes, crepes, baby carrots, mashed/baked potatoes, perfect cooked chicken, rice and in general any adult foods that are not mixed.

So my four year old has an adult palate you think?

Well, until you ask him what his favorite food is: Wendy's chicken nuggets, honey mustard, fries and ketchup...in that order.