impetigo

elizabeth has a rash-like thing around her nose and lips. it occurred to me the other day that i should find out what it is. there was the possibility that it was related to the abuse from last year. so, i made an appointment for her to see the doctor. hindsight being 20/20, i had taken the babies in the day before for sinus infections. as we saw the dr that was going to see elizabeth and he's very familiar with everything that's happened, i was able to talk to him about it then, and let him know what my concerns were. that way, when she saw him this morning, there was no need to talk about them, he already knew.
good news is the dr doesn't think it's related to the abuse at all. he says it looks like impetigo. he gave us prescription for some cream to apply to it, and said to let him know if it doesn't start looking better in a few weeks.

giggles

i was playing with ashley this evening. i started blowing puffs of air into her face.    


she GIGGLED!!!

sick

so, elizabeth didn't have strep. she had a 24-hour bug of some sort. by dinnertime yesterday, she was fine. she even made it to school today.

first day of school

ok, i forgot to take a picture of taylor before he left for school this morning. i didn't sleep all that well. so, i wasn't quite all with it this morning. i'll make sure i get one this afternoon when he gets home.

back to school night was last night. it was kind of weird having it before school actually started. we got to see the kids classrooms, and meet the teachers. elizabeth complained the whole way to the school. it wasn't until we were there that i discovered that she was running a fever. she said her tummy hurt, but i think that might have been due to the fact that she didn't eat much before we left. when we got home, i took her temperature and it was 100.5! gave her some tylenol, and she was instantly asleep. nothing else is going on. she says her throat doesn't hurt, her tummy doesn't hurt, her head doesn't hurt, she doesn't have a runny nose. it's weird.
this morning, she's still running a fever, so i called to make an appointment with the doctor. we'll find out what's going on, i hope.

last minute parties

we had a sleepover last night. normally, we don't let the kids do that on a sunday night, but school starts on wednesday. and we wanted to be able to let the kids have one last sleepover before the weeks started to get hectic. the plan was that taylor and dominick would spend the night across the street, and elizabeth and jessica would spend the night here. about 8 that evening, jessica was already scared and missing her mom, so the girls switched houses. unfortunately, even that didn't last too long. by 12, elizabeth was back over here. she woke up crying, and jen couldn't get her talk, so she walked her home. just as elizabeth got in the door, she wet her pants. jen felt bad that she didn't know what the problem was. i explained to her that it took us a while to figure out what it was too, so she shouldn't feel too bad. now that she knows what happens, next time will be better. i got her pants changed, and put her bed. she didn't remember anything this morning.

right now, the taylor and elizabeth are on their way to green canyon to go swimming. grandma williams and nana told the kids early this summer that they would do something fun like that this summer. the kids didn't remember, but grandmas did. so, this afternoon, it's just me and the two babies. strange.

tomorrow night is back to school night. and the kids get to meet their new teachers and see their classrooms. taylor and jessica got the same teacher. they are excited. it wasn't the teacher that shaun had, but her twin sister. that's also cool though. and she's in our ward, even better. elizabeth ended up being in afternoon kindergarten. which is fine, and thankfully, she didn't get the naughty neighbor boy in her class. i would have requested a switch if she did.

bleh!

i spent most of yesterday sick in bed. i came home from church about halfway through, and went back to bed. shaun walked me and ashley home, and then went back. i havent' been feeling great for a few days, and yesterday when i almost threw up while nursing ashley, i decided i'd had enough.

i drank a half a gallon of cranberry apple juice in about an hour. i think i was thirsty, and i feel a little bit better today.

life-savers

my mother-in-laws, have been lifesavers.
a couple of weeks ago, when shannon was being treated for her uti, we ran out of diapers. when i mentioned to them that i was going to pull out the cloth ones, they went and bought a bag. last week i did have to pull out the cloth diapers, cause we only had a few disposable ones left, and no money to go buy more. i had to wash them on thursday. this afternoon, they showed up with a bag each.
thank you, mom and des!

stinky mess

taylor stuck the end of his nerf sword:

only his isn't as nice looking anymore. it's a little worn. basically, it's just a stick now.

in the hole of a toothbrush holder, similar to this:

except ours had a fish inside it instead of flowers, and the liquid was blue, and it only had one hole.


in trying to remove said sword, he started banging it on the floor. the bottom broke open and it expunged its contents onto my living room floor.

i pulled out the carpet shampooer, and proceeded to clean it up. i thought i had it all and cleaned out the containers, and went to do a load of laundry. when i came back into the room, i could smell the chemicals from the liquid. so, i filled the container in the shampooer again, and went over it again. the room still smells, but not quite as bad as it did earlier.

whoa, nellie

what a day....

i read a book.

i folded and put away clothes.

washed some sheets & put clean ones on all the beds

found out my phone wasn't receiving calls. - i tried to go to the store to see if they could fix it for me or tell me what needed to be done. they closed 5 min before i got there.

we got partially paid by a former client. enough so that we could go pay rent.

i lost my son. was bathing the girls, and he was out playing. when i went to find him, he was no where to be found. he'd walked down to the park cause he saw his girlfriend there.

doesn't sound like much now that it's all written down, but i sure feel like i tried to run a marathon.

sleep "walking"

he he. ashley can turn herself around. i've walked in and found her laying sideways in the cradle. this time, she ended up sliding her legs thru the rungs and going back to sleep. such a cutie!

smiling

i have tried multiple times to catch ashley smiling on camera. it's difficult. she's just started to smile socially. this is the best i could do. but she sure is cute!

tiger lily

so, in front of my house, i have this little flower garden.one day as i was walking past it, i noticed this flower. apparently, amidst all the weeds, i had a couple of tiget lily plants. i only saw 2 flowers, but they sure were pretty while they lasted.

what is this?

took this pic this spring, couldn't figure out what was growing in the corner.
turns out it was a rhubarb patch. haven't done anything with any of the rhubarb, but i have 3 plants!

sewing

my neighbor, who has become a GREAT friend, wanted me to make her a dress. ok, no problem. she had seen one in a catalog, and wasn't able to get it when she saw it. we found the catalog online, and looked at it. unfortunately, she can buy the dress for less than she can purchase the fabric for.
ok, back to plan a, buying the dress!

fabric

ok, for the time being, my fabric is organized. i have all my cotton in one spot, all my denim in totes, all my knits in one place, all my sheers, flannel, fleece, . . . . . . .
you get the idea. they are all seperated, and put away. i even have a tote full of scraps. and it didn't take ma as long as i thought it was going to. i was afraid that will all the fabric i have, it was going to take me days. it only took me about 4 hours. now, i can find the fabric i want to make things out of. next step is to clean out my sewing corner. that's a project for tomorrow.

now to make dinner!

whoops

so, today i decided that if i'm going to make anything for this baby shower on tuesday, i need to semi organize my fabric. i took the baby monitor, my phone, and myself out to the garage. unfortunately, the monitors batteries died, and i forgot i was in the middle of making bread.
the kids came out and told me ashley was crying, and then i remembered the bread dough that's rising. i came in & fed ashley, now to wash my hands and roll the bread into the pans.

ps. i have A LOT of fabric

street safety

i went across the street this evening to see what my neighbor was doing. shannon came with me. when we got to the edge of the sidewalk, she stopped. she had noticed 2 trucks coming, and stopped to wait for them to pass. she even waved them along.

i was impressed and very pleased that she would stop and wait. she is only 20 months old. but, it's never too early to teach them.

nice lawn

yesterday, i mowed the lawn. two weeks in a row. not bad.

on the plus side, it took me an hour less yesterday to mow it. it did have a weeks LESS of growth that needed to be mowed. the lawn looks great, but my hands hurt and are swollen again. oh, let's not mention that i tried to pass out a couple of times while doing it.

SLAKCER

ok, i'm not a slacker, i just don't have a card reader on my computer. ok, on the tower that sucks, and can't keep an internet connection.

i have pictures to post, but no access to them.
i have pictures of ashley, family pictures, pictures of my 3 kids all missing teeth. i have to figure out a way to get to them. when i figure that out, i'll get them posted

chivalry, feminism, or politically correct?

While i was watering the lawn, The kids were playing "dead man" with the neighbors. As elizabeth was the "dead man," i hear taylor insist that they call her "dead woman," or "dead girl." i wasn't sure whether to laugh or not.
Now the real question is do i call it political correctness, feminism, or chivalry?

sicko

Shannon has been running a high fever for about 2 days now.  This morning when she woke up, all she could do was cry & scream. I decided i was going to take her in to the urgent care & find out what was wrong. They did a strep test, it came back negative. Then they decided they wanted to do a uti test. Glad they did, her urine was full of white blood cells, & blood. They gave an antibiotic and her a shot to help start the healing process. She was not happy about the shot, & her leg hurt the rest of the day.

good times

So, this morning i got a call from some good friends of ours. They were in town for a family reunion, & wanted us to come out & visit. This is a family that shaun met in high school, & he spent a lot of time with. We spent a good amount of social time with them after we go married as well.

Well, we also had a baby blessing we were supposed to go to. Since we spent a good 2 hours at the doctor, we didn't make it to our church or the blessing. But we did head out to spend some time with old friends.

The kids made some new friends, we ate some great food, and had a lot of fun. The kids learned how to "play" water balloon volleyball, they didn't quite get it. They also learned how to play cat & mouse, & flag team tag.

As the family has 9 kids, & most of them have kids of their own it was quite the adventure.

monster!

Shannon has discovered that she has the strength to open the fridge door. We have found her playing with the eggs, eating the cookie dough, trying to get some milk. This evening after the kids are in bed, i'm going to have to go buy a lock for it.

water balloons

The kids have been playing on the trampoline with water balloons this evening. we have kept shannon's balloon pretty small. i glanced over as she decided to put it in her diaper! funny child! the she screamed and laughed about it!

camping

just got back from our first ever camping trip without more seasoned campers. had a blast! because we were only going to be there one night, we didn't take the air mattress, but we were so tired, it didn't matter. we slept like logs!

another first, was cooking over an open fire. that was actually fun. i thought i would need to wait until the fire died down, and i had coals. but it turns out, that it's very similar to cooking on a gas stove. you need the actual flame to do much. as i was cooking the bacon, our friends, who we were with, informed me that you could put the bacon in tin foil, and cook it right over the fire, or in the coals. since i was halfway done with it, we didn't do it, but we did try the sausage that way. it worked really well.
i did take stuff for pancakes, but they didn't work real well. i had put everything in a ziploc bag, and was going to mash everything together, like you do for amish friendship bread. great idea, my method was slightly flawed though. i tried to put 3 cups of mix, the eggs, oil, and water in a quart bag. a quart only holds 4 cups. there was no room to moosh it and get the lumps out.
however, we did have fabulous eggs, and bacon and sausage!

i think i could do it again sometime!

crickets

i was sitting in my bedroom about an hour ago, feeding ashley, when taylor came in. he had caught a cricket, and had to show me! it was cute.

then, he informed me later that he had let the neighbor boys take it. that had me a little concerned, cause i know those boys are not very nice to animals. (case in point, they dug up another neighbors dead kitty, just to look at it. and on another occasion, they threw same kitty against the deck.) i hope he gave it to them, and then left. cause i know what happened after they got it. no more cricket.

savings

we dropped our bills this month by $40!

what? only $40? . . . . . .well, yeah. that's all we've been able to figure out so far.

how? . . . . . .we got rid of our storage unit. a lot of what was in it was junk anyway, but now that it's all here, i can start going thru it a little at a time, and get rid of some it. (i hope)

milestone surprise

shannon, our 19-month-old, has lost her first tooth.
here's the story behind this momentous event:

we had a block party on monday. it was fun. there was lots of good food, and good people to talk to.
elizabeth, while running around, tripped and fell, and scraped herself up. shaun took her home, and then came back to get the rest of us.
he went to catch shannon, who likes to run away from you. he ran up behind her, caught her and promptly tripped. shannon went flying right into the concrete driveway. she ended up breaking one of her teeth. shaun hauled her home, and i rounded up taylor and the baby, and we headed home as well.
i tried calling the dentist, but couldn't get an answer on the emergency phone. so, we got her cleaned up as best we could, gave her some tylenol, and put everyone to bed.
i got a hold of the dentist in the morning, and took her in. we wanted to try and save it, but that required a root canal, and their next surgery date wasn't for another 5 weeks. too long to wait. he could have done it in the office, but she would have been awake, and it would have taken close to 40 minutes. and we would have had to physically hold her down, and the dentist would have ended up being a bad guy. not something i wanted to do to my little girl. so, we decided to pull it. once that was done, he said that if 1/2 a millimeter less had broken off, we wouldn't have had to pull it, it would have been fine.

with her missing tooth, shannon looks like a little imp!

stripper/streaker

shannon, who is 19 months, has found a new hobby. she loves to take her diaper off, especially when she's just peed in it, and run around with nothing on. it's become quite the challenge to keep it on her. the only thing that stops her from taking it off is if she has a onesie on. and the other day, she actually got elizabeth to take the onesie off for her so she could get the diaper off. i know she's ready to potty train, but she can't tell me when she needs to go. i need to teach her the signs for peepee and poop.

obedience

Taylor, the other day, asked me if he could go to the park with a friend. I told him he had to have an adult with them. He went anyway. When i found out, i sent shaun after him. They missed each other. Taylor came home first. I informed him he was in trouble, and that he was grounded for two days because he had done something even after he was told he couldn't.
as the days went on, i discovered that it would have been easier if i hadn't grounded him. At the same time, he wouldn't have learned anything. I'm still not sure he learned anything.


especially since he did it again a few days later. what am i going to do with that boy?

macaroni

The other day, elizabeth decided she wanted macaroni & cheese for lunch, after i was done making lunch. She put it on the stove and made it herself. A few months ago i had taught taylor how to use the stove to make ramen. I'm sure he's been helping her out.
She forgot to drain the macaroni after it was cooked. It was very soupy.

goodbye perry's

well, the perry's were here and now, they are gone. seeing my family is always a little bittersweet. there comes a time when we have to say goodbye. it's always nice to see them, but i dont' like having to say goodbye to them.
while they were here we went to the parade on saturday, blessed the baby, had a lot of laughs and enjoyed each others company. we didn't do a whole lot cause everyone was always tired (they did drive all night to get here), and no one had any money. but in my family, we always manage to have fun whatever we do.
i was able to send them away with a little bit of food storage. i know it wasn't much, but it is the only way i can help anyone right now. food, i have plenty of, anything else we have to scrape for.

blessing reminder

just a reminder, we are blessing ashley on sunday for anyone interested in coming. it's at the grey church on main street in sugar city at 11am. after the 3 block, there will be food in my backyard. if you would like to bring something, you can bring a dessert

ashley news

The other night, i tucked ashley in bed next to me. She slept for 7 hours!
Last night, i put her on her belly to sleep. she slept for a solid 4 hours each time!  (i don't normally do that. Usually, i put them on their sides. But her belly button hernia causes a lot of pain sometimes. She fell asleep on my chest, & i just put her in bed on her belly.)

As for the hernia, it's not getting smaller, it's actually gotten bigger. i'm going to talk to the dr about it & tell him that we don't want to wait for a year before we do something about it. It needs to be fixed now.

greasy!

Shannon yesterday, was quite the little monster. I found her in my bathroom at one point, with a soaked roll of toilet paper sitting on the floor, 2 big towels and a hand towel stuffed in the toilet bowl, and playing in the drawers. I kicked her out into the hall, & proceeded to clean that up.

Later that evening, i found her covered in grease. When i went to investigate a little more, i found my grease can half empty. Normally she wouldn't be able to get into it, but i had just put fresh pan drippings in it, & the salmon grease never hardened.

Boy, was i ever ready for bedtime!

animal?

This evening, shaun comes storming into the house pushing a very upset taylor. Apparently, he had just caught taylor pooping outside in the rhubarb patch.
We had discussed the appropriate place for bathroom needs when we learned he and elizabeth had done the same thing on the front lawn. Apparently, the lesson didn't sink in.
Taylor is grounded for the remainder of the night. And he's not a very happy camper. Although, he should be grateful that shaun had me take care of it.

blessing day

Little miss ashley nicole will be blessed on july 4, for those of you who would like to come. It will be at 11 am, in sugar city. If you need directions, be sure to email or call me for them.

wow.

i sat here yesterday trying to catch up on blogs. i think i was at it for 2 hours. that's what happens when the only thing you have to access the internet is the itouch. don't get me wrong, i love my itouch, but when the screen is only 4 inches wide, it's kinda hard to get everything in.

everyone is alive, so far, and healthy, i think.

not much to write about apparently. i will try to find things.

pink eye, update

elizabeth came down with it yesterday. so i started her on the drops as well, and called in today for another prescription.
hopefully, this is the last one that gets it!

pink eye!

Taylor has had eye problems for the last 3 days. Last night, he woke up and both eyes were covered in mucusy goop. So, i took him in this afternoon.

Diagnosis. . . Pink eye! Ahhhhhhh!

The doc told me to watch the rest of the family, & if any one else started showing symptoms to start them on the eye drops, & call in & he'll get me more meds.

ashley

I am so grateful to be blessed with easy babies. The lord must have known that i would not have much outside help when i had my kids, & so he sent me easy babies.

Ashley is an absolute angel. She rarely cries, & when she does it's cause she's been fussing for awhile and not been heard. She doesn't spit up! It's amazing. In the week that she's been on earth, i've only gone thru 4 burp rags. And those only cause i can't stand to use one for more than a day or two. She nurses like a pro, she sleeps like, well, a baby.

Some interesting features about her...
She has a lock of hair that has no pigment in it. It's white.
She has 2 conflicting cowlicks in back.
She has a birthmark the size of a quarter on her right leg.
she has the long perry fingers, and the long perry feet!

We're not sure who she looks like right now.

As for the bily, we'll see how the numbers are tomorrow. At her 1 week well-baby today, the doc didn't seem too concerned about it. He thinks she's either holding stable or going down. Here's hoping!

Wheeee

So, tonight I was being beat on by Shannon. Any time I am on the floor, it is open season to maul daddy. Shannon is our tumbler too. Tonight I picked her up by her feet and twirled a few times. (safely...I promise, not wildly) Then I started down towards the hallway with her following. I looked back and noticed her weaving a little, but at full speed. I was amazed how she put her hands out before nailing the wall as she missed the hallway. Nadia and I chuckled a bit. Then she goes down the hallway further...and nails the closed doorway into the hall bathroom the same way as before, although falling down lightly this time. We cracked up...it was so funny. And Shannon was having a great time...in her little wound up-don't put me to bed- I'm having fun way. Taylor and Elizabeth do their best not to 'run her over' but often fail miserably. So Shannon is quite a tough little girl. Well, anyway, it was good to laugh a bit. You just had to be there. We love her a lot, through all of her 'messiness'. Because she takes the cake on being messy. And I take the cake on gabbing, so have a good night everyone! :D

oh crap!

shannon has had a particularly bad week. she's had diarrhea for days, and it's not getting any better. i think it's mostly due to teething.

she cries when she has a messy diaper, and when she has a wet one.

tonight, i sat down to add posts that have piled up since having the baby. shannon started crying and screaming. i finally sent taylor to see what the problem was. he comes back and says, "momma, you better go see."

i walked down the hall to her bedroom, and find her crouched on top of the dresser in a spread of poop. the entire top of the dresser was covered. i think she tried to change her own bum. she had even put the messy one in the can. i wonder if it's time to potty train? probably a little early for that, but this is a step.

i had elizabeth go get shaun, taylor had ashley, and i started to get shannon cleaned up.

what a mess!!!!

crazy!

What a week it's been!

Last thursday i went in for my dr appt, & was told that they were going to induce me. He was concerned that i'd been at a 5 for 3 weeks. He was going to try for friday, but they were full. They could take me that day though. So, i came home, we got some things wrapped up, mom came over and away we went. (labor story later)

Came home saturday afternoon, mom had finished up all my laundry, Done all my dishes, & thankfully, didn't have any problems with shannon. The RS brought dinner just after we got home, and then we went to bed.

Sunday, shannon started having diarrhea. At first we thought it was something that mom had fed her. But, i think it's actually teething. She has an incisor that's trying to come thru.  We had to take ashley into the hospital to have her bily checked. It's elevated, & they want to keep an eye on it. The RS was supposed to bring dinner again, but no one ever came. It was a night of leftovers, thank heavens we had some.
Monday, we checked her bily again, still elevated. Shannons bum started turning bright red.

Tuesday, back to check the bily again, still elevated. Shannons bum started to blister. I changed her after her nap, put some stuf on it, & she kept crying. She cried for an hour while shaun held her.

Today, we go back and check the bily again. Hopefully, we don't have to put her back in the hospital for treatment.

stop thief!

My children are criminals!
They rode down to the corner store, which is only a block away.  Apparently, they opened a package of gum, & started eating it. One of the neighbors was there and sent them home. Shaun then took them back down so they could explain what they'd done, & pay for the gum. They are now grounded to the house until further notice. In other words, i'm not sure how long.

She's Here!!! Ashley Nicole Williams!

Please welcome Ashley Nicole Williams! :D Yes, we know some of you know her by Sarah Ashley....but on the way home, we thought of Ashley Nicole... and it felt much better. She's been a tough one to name.So, I'll leave the details to Momma. I'll only say this, Momma had an epidural and nearly slept till the time the nurse came in and checked her only to exclaim: "oh, you're there! If you feel like pushing don't push ok?". Doctor came in, we were all in place...and baby was here in 5 minutes or less...2 pushes I think. Daddy was in shock. The good kind, but what a surprise! Oh, and she was born 2 days before Daddy's birthday, so they will have to share. ;)

why?!

Another false alarm, we think. We'll see how the rest of the day goes.

So frustrating. It's like when we take the cars to dad to have him look at them cause there's a problem, they work just fine. He can't find a problem with them.
We get up to the hospital, and things either slow down, or they stop altogether.

drama

I just told shannon that she couldn't climb up on my lap. She started crying, ran down the hall, and threw herself on her bed.
Funny girl!

saturday is a special day . . .

Have started having the kids clean saturday morning. That way the house is clean and ready for sunday. After the kids are done cleaning, shaun usually vacuums. Today, when taylor told him his room was ready to vacuum, shaun told him to go do it. My kids vacuumed their own bedrooms today! And they thought it was cool!

baby update

Had my appointment on thursday. Still haven't done much. I was a 5-6, and 90% effaced. So frustrated and confused.

dentist

Taylor and elizabeth had dental appointments today. They went well. Taylors was actually to fill a cavity. He had a filling that partially broke off, and that's where the cavity was. Elizabeths was her routine check-up. Both kids did well. Taylor had a slight issue with the needle, but the dr didn't warn him first. Elizabeth took a lot of coaxing. At her last appointment in november, she wouldn't let them take x-rays, or let the dr in her mouth. This time, she still wouldn't let them take x-rays. It did take a lot of coaxing and convincing to let the nurse brush her teeth. But, she let the dr do his looking. That was a step. We'll work on the x-rays. As they aren't essential, it hasn't been a huge concern.

whoa, pay attention!

I had an interesting morning. Wish it had been less interesting. Much less.
I'm on my way home from taking elizabeth to school. Driving down highway 33. I'm going 55, which is the speed limit. I'm less than 500 ft away from an intersection, and a car pulls out in front of me onto the highway. I went from 55 to 0 in less than 300 ft. I didn't even have time to lay on the horn. Wish i had.
I don't think the driver even saw me until i was suddenly parked next to them on the side of the road. They paused for a minute and then drove off.
I was so shaken up that all i could do was sit there and cry. It scared the crap out of me.
As i think about it now, i should have gotten their license plate number. I considered that maybe i should have just hit them, but, the car would have been totaled, and it certainly would have put me into labor, & broken a few ribs. None of those was i interested in having happen. (labor, yes. But not under those circumstances)

more frustration!

So, we were told about 4 months ago, that shaun would be getting on board with a local company on salary pay. Not the most desirable compensation plan, but it's better than nothing and would mean benefits as well.
We knew it wasn't going to be immediately, that it would take a little time. However, now it looks like it's not going to happen.
Our lease runs out the end of june. And we're not sure if the landlords are going to extend it or not. If they don't, we have no ideas what to do. We were hoping to be able to tell them that we had an income, & would not have any problems making rent. That doesn't seem to be an option now.

growing up

The other day, i realized that within 6 months, we were going to need the crib for the baby, Shannon is still using it. So, whether i was ready or not, it was time to transition to a toddler bed. We took the bars off the crib, and put up the toddler bed rails. In about 3 to 5 months, we'll trade it for the toddler bed, or put the bunk bed together for the girls, and put the baby in the crib.

oh, the wait!

At my doctors appointment on thursday, i was dilated to a 5, 50% effaced and baby was sitting at -2. I was sure i would be going into labor anytime soon. Her it is sunday, 3 days later, and we're still waiting for something to happen.
 I've gone into false labor at least twice this last week, maybe more. I called everyone and let them know we were close. A friend came from boise for the sole purpose of being here when the baby was born. And yet, i sit here with occasional contractions, but no progress.
Friday night, i thought it was time. The contractions went from 12 minutes apart to 2 minutes apart almost instantly. Got up to the hospital, and everything stopped. I hadn't progressed any further.
The anticipation is killing me!

knock, knock!

When i put shannon down for her naps, i have to close the door tightly. If i only pull it shut and not latch it, it swings open. I put her down this morning, and got the laundry started. While i was working i heard this knocking. I thought it was elizabeth, until i found her quietly playing in the toy room. I then realized that the knocking was coming from the girls bedroom. Shannon decided she wasn't going to take a nap, & was knocking on the door cause she wanted out.

updates

The girls had their well-checks yesterday. Both are doing well.
Elizabeth weighs almost 50 pounds. Shes in the 90th percentile for weight and height. Shes not fat by any means, just solid.
Shannon weighs about 24 pounds. Shes in about the 25th percentile for height and weight.

baby, get ready

Had my dr appointment today. The test that tracks your average blood sugars over the last 3 months came back normal. He looked at my log of numbers for the last 2 weeks and had to give me a hug. When he checked me, i was at a 5!  He was a little surprised, but i'd already told them a couple of times that his baby wasn't waiting until 37 weeks like the others had. She was coming sooner than that.

Based on a 5, i'd say in the next 24 to 48 hours.

whoops!

Was sitting her playing solitaire after the kids went to grandmas for their play day, and realized that it's laundry day for the kids. It was 3:30!  I hope it gets done, cause i'm not sure i'll be able to do it tomorrow.

is it time yet?

So, i recently remembered that the day before i had shannon, i didn't feel well. As the other 2 were awhile ago, i can't remember that well. Now, every time i have a day when i don't feel well, i wonder if the next day i'm going to go into labor and have this baby.

little mommy

Shannon had a little doll she was playing with. She went into her bedroom and got a diaper. She then tried to put the diaper on the doll. When she "accomplished" that, she hugged it tight, and went on playing.

ouch!

Today, i got the lawn mowed. It took me 2 hours. It's a big yard, but i also took a couple of breaks. One for lunch, and one for hydration. Now i'm extremely sore, & tired.

dinner?

The other day when i asked shaun what he wanted for dinner, he answered steak. It was too cold outside to grill, & they just don't taste the same when braised. I also don't have a broiler pan. But, i figured out how to "fake" one.
I have a half size cookie sheet, and my cooling racks fit inside it. I lined the pan with tin foil, put a cooling rack in it, and had a makeshift broiling pan. It worked like a charm! And the steaks tasted GREAT!

biting

Shannon has become quite the little girl. Lately, she has started biting. Ok, this is phase 2. Now when she gets upset, she bites. Last night she bit both of the kids. So, to try and teach her, i bit her back. (she didn't like that much) today, instead of biting the kids, i watched her bite herself. Then, i think she realized how much that really hurts, she started biting toy food.
What a character!

more computer

I took an old external hard drive in and i'm having the shop transfer my files from my computer onto it. Then we're selling it for parts. I don't have $400 to fix it, and i'm not sure it's worth it. It's $40 to transfer the files. When shaun heard that, he wasn't happy. Since he works for the shop, as a contractor, that's something he could do. He told me it was like charging the owners wife for a job that she should get for free. I'm not as important as the owners wife, and not as visible. I'm willing to pay the money. Especially since he is so busy right now.

busy, busy, busy

Oh the month of may! Why are you always so busy!
This week alone, elizabeth goes to see the new counselor, we've got a male involvement night with head start, and all of shauns late or unfinished assignments are due this week
Next week, taylor has a dentist appointment, i have a doctors appointment, a head start home visit, elizabeth will have another visit with the counselor, and the ward is doing a day of service.
The following week, elizabeh has a dentist appointment, another visit with the counselor, and i'll have another dr appointment. And this is the week that i'm expecting this baby girl to show up.

Even when we aren't having a baby, may is busy!

solution . . . won't work

We told the kids earlier this year that we would try to get them into an activity. Elizabeth, of course, chose dance. Taylor chose karate. So far, we haven't been able to find the funds to do it.
Yesterday, i figured out a way! Unfortunately, it's not going to happen. (What?! You know how to make it happen and you're not going to?) don't get me wrong, i WANT to put them in these lessons. But my solution won't work.
IF i could donate plasma, i could pay for the kids lessons and more.  But, they won't let me donate. Even if i wanted to.

more computer woes

So, we've come to the conclusion that we cannot afford to replace my laptop (i can't even pay the bills i have right now). The one that shaun wants to get me is $750, and that's on sale. Even the bottom end one is $500. Even with the $120 that i will get for parts for the old one isn't going to help a whole lot.
I thought i was ok with it, but i'm having a hard time. Not having a laptop means losing some freedom. That's hard to deal with.
I have to type up blog entries on my itouch and mail them to myself. That's why some of spelling is off, and there are actual capital letters  The computer we set Up in the front room, the internet is finicky.
No more scrapbooking, which i really enjoyed. The computer in the front room is not powerful enuf to support photoshop. Let alone enuf room to store the photos.
No more games. The internet is finicky, and not enuf power to handle them.
I had everything i frequently visited bookmarked, and passwords saved for them. I do have a document that has a listing of all my usernames and passwords on it, but it's on the dead laptop.
I suppose i could lose something worse, like the itouch that has the calendar on it. I wouldn't know what was going on if i lost that. Or, the phone that has all my contacts on it. But still, the lose of freedom is hard to take.

confusing?

so, it occurred to me today, that some of you might be confused as to why i have all the baby stuff ready so early.
i can just hear it now, "but, nadia, you're only 34 weeks. isn't it a bit early to have a bag packed?"
normally, i would say, "yes, it is a bit early."
but, you have to understand that my babies come at 37 weeks.
and with this one, i have the feeling that it's going to be more like 36 weeks.
so, based on the fact, that they typically come at 37 weeks, i have 3 weeks left. if you go by the feelings that i've been having, i have about 2 weeks left. and when i say about here, i mean it could even be earlier than that.

productive days!

yesterday i washed all the baby clothes, the blankets, and the car seat stuff.

today i folded the clothes and blankets, and put the car seat back together. i got the cradle washed, and the matress sanitized. i also finished packing a bag of clothes for all 3 of us (that includes shaun). i also got the other kids' clothes washed.

tomorrow, i need to get my clothes washed, and the kids clothes put away. figure out where to store the babies clothes (we have another dresser, but nowhere to put it at this point).

i think we're physically ready for baby to come. as for mentally, and emotionally, that is yet to be seen!

laptop update

Well, heard back from the repair shop about my laptop. Apparently, the problem is the motherboard. Which is where the jack is located. To fix it would cost around $400. For parts, if we chose not to fix it, they could give me about $120.
We do need to go in and get my files off it, though.

some help (we hope!)

So, yesterday we went to see counselor for elizabeth. We were very concerned about taking her into anyone. She's been doing so well, and we hate to see her regress again. This counselor helped me understand that it's extremely important that this be done now. Children at this age have no ability to categorize and shelve adult sexual behavior. At this age they (the counselors) focus on putting it all in a box and labeling it. They label it wrong touch. They also work on getting the child to understand that it wasn't their fault, and that they have a voice. It's their body, they have a right to tell someone no.
She told me that for girls, the recovery process is multi-step. There's this first part. The second step comes when they hit puberty. This is the time that girls who were abused earlier in life become promiscuous. They now understand what happened to them, and they need the reassurance that it was not their fault. They need their "wrong touch" box reorganized and relabeled. The next step comes when they get married, or have their first significant sexual relationship. The last step comes when they have kids.
I feel really good about her. She did warn me that elizabeth will regress a little bit in the beginning. That's because she's ripping the scab off. But, as they work thru some of the issues, she'll get better, and she'll start to heal correctly.

checklist

spotlights done. . . .check
laundry folded. . . .check
laundry put away . . .  half check
babies clothes washed. . . .
cradle cleaned . . . .
house clean . . . .
eat . . . .check
bags packed . . ..

i think my list of things to do is . . . i don't know. CRAZY!
not only that, but the second two on the list have to be done again in 2 days! WHY ME?!?!

spotlight

taylor and elizabeth both have spotlights this week taylors was this morning, and elizabeths is tomorrow. in trying to get some info to do them, i starting asking some questions.

taylor, wants to be a fireman when he grows up. his favorite colors are blue and green, his favorite food is pizza, his favorite animal is dogs (we don't have one and never have. so i'm not quite sure where that came from).

elizabeth, wants to be a mermaid when she grows up (not sure how she's going to manage that), her favorite color is pink, her favorite food is macaroni and cheese (she tried to tell me tacos, but i know better), and her favorite animal is cats (not sure how that one works either, and we've never had one, and never will. i'm very allergic)

computer less

so, i went to use my laptop the other day, and discovered that the battery was nearly dead. i was a little confused, as it had been plugged in all night. then to my dismay, i discover that it won't charge. checked the battery, it's not the problem. checked the power supply, it's not the problem. then shaun looked at it for a minute, and discovered that when the power supply was plugged into the laptop, the light on the power supply turned off.
we talked to some friends and the guys at a local repair shop, and they all concur that it's the jack in the laptop. looks like to fix the jack is going to be around $200, and they can't promise that it will work. the other options are getting my files off the laptop and just going without, or getting a new one. the local repair shop also sells computers, and they informed me that they could buy the laptop off me for parts, and i could then use that to get a new one from them. they have new and refurbished ones.
i need to take it in and see what they could give me for it. if they can give me $300, and a refurbished unit is $300, we're not out anything. even if they can't give me enough to fully cover a replacement, a partial payment from the "trade-in" is worth it. we would just have to figure out how to get the rest of the money.

bananas

had a guy from church come up to me afterwards. he said they had just bought some bananas to make banana bread with. then they ended up leaving for 4 days for a funeral, and his wife was gone again. he wanted to know if he could bring some by. i said sure.

there were a couple of years when i was growing up that we made and sold cookies, breads, and rolls to earn money to go to girls camp. we would take a couple of days and all we did was bake. regular bread, banana bread, chocolate zucchini bread, poppyseed bread, chocolate cookies, peanut butter cookies, oatmeal chocolate chip, double chocolate chip. i think we may have even made cinnamon rolls as well.

i mashed up previously said bananas, and got 4 1/2 cups! holy cow! so, i made 4 loaves of banana bread. it reminded me of the baking days to earn money for camp.

cloud images

i'm sitting here in my front room, looking out the window at the clouds. trying to see what they make.

earlier i saw a snail, and the face of a muppet. now i see a sleeping baby with the face of a pig.

i love spring!

scrapbooking

i've been doing some scrapbooking lately. it's all digital.

as most of my family is not near, they cannot be here for the majority of these events. so i've decided to post them here so they can at least see part of what happened.

you have been warned, there are a lot of them.

sledding

moving clothes

christmas program 2009

summer owies

taylor #5

haircut 2009

elizabeth turns 4

distractions

so, i went into false labor last night. nothing to be too concerned about, but definitely not fun either. shaun and i had been working in the garage during the afternoon, and then i put shannon in the stroller and we walked down to the store to get s few things for dinner. on the way there i started having contractions. they went on for about 3 hours. they were very sporadic, and not really painful, just annoying.
after i got back from the store and had gotten dinner started, i let shaun know about them so he could be prepared if need be. then i came back inside to finish dinner. taylor came in and said, "mama! daddy told me to tell you to call grandma about . . . . . .um . . . . . the distractions!" i laughed! taylor said, "i can't remember what he said, the distractions." i laughed some more! so i called my mother-in-law, and let her know about my distractions. she told me that if i needed any help to just give her a call. (i REALLY love that she lives just down the block. it's been so nice!)

so, the "distractions" ended around 8 that night. i went to go get shannon ready for bed, and shaun jumped in the room trying to scare her. he didn't scare her, but he did me. not only that, i was sore from all the contractions, and that only made me hurt even more. laughing hurt too.

all in all, it was an interesting night!

clumsy

toddlers go thru a clumsy stage, right? i'm not sure, but mine sure is.

she's been walking for over 7 months. started out in a house that didn't have level floors, and moved to a house that did. we claim that she had sea legs in the first house, and had to get her land legs in the second.

in the last week, she's had a bloody mouth at least twice, fell off the trike and scraped her nose, and tumbled down the back stairs scraping her head and cheek.

it's been a fun week!!

new member?

i think i have an additional child.

my children keep referring to "it wasn't me" when we ask them who did something.

wish he would leave

oh, rexburg spring

got up this morning to take elizabeth to school, and had about 4 inches of snow on the ground. spring! gah!

on my way to take her to school, i lost one of my wipers twice. it wasn't staying on the arm very well to begin with, and was not going to stay any longer. i was able to put it back on, but decided that it was past time to replace it. so, i drove the 3 blocks to kmart, and lost it again on the way into the parking lot. this time, there was no putting it back, it got broke. when i pulled into the parking lot, the snow that was on top of the car fell down onto the front windshield, burying the wipers. when i got back out, they wouldn't work. so i took 5 minutes, and dug the snow out of the window well. my hands were freezing, and tingling when i got done.
kmart didn't have the size i needed, so i had to drive down the street to the parts service store. they had the size i needed and they replaced them for me.

look harder update

i know know why i didn't look any harder for someone that had a gun.

i was talking with a friend about it, and he reminded me that if i took care of it myself, i would be the one in jail, and then where would my kids be? i couldn't do that to my kids.

justice may not always be served here on earth, but it will be in heaven. i am content with that.

grounded

just as i was heading out the door this morning to go pick elizabeth up from school, taylor walked in. not normally a problem. i had decided to take shannon with me this morning, so i told taylor that dad was in bed, and i was taking shannon. he asked me if he could play outside, i said no. he asked if he could play the wii, i said no. he asked if he could put a puzzle together, i said yes. then shannon and i got in the car and left.


when i got home, taylors bike was no longer in the yard where it had been when i left. i was not happy. when shaun got up a little later, we found him at one of the neighbors. since he had gone after he was told he couldn't, he got grounded for 3 days.

this afternoon, i sent the kids to grandmas, like usual. (they go there twice a week for a few hours. grandma has projects for them to do, and they get to spend some time with some cousins. they always have a ball.) as i had heard them call to friends when they opened the door, i thought i would call and see if they made it there. they hadn't yet, and this was 10 to 15 minutes later. so, we started looking. they hadn't gone far, they were riding bikes out front with the neighbor kids. but, since they knew they were supposed to be going to grandmas and not playing with the neighbors, they both got grounded. taylor got another 3 days, and elizabeth got 3.

taylor is grounded for 6 days, and elizabeth is grounded for 3.

it's going to be a long week.

bathroom, please!

saturday, i went out to bring the kids in for something, probably dinner, and discovered a pile of poop on the lawn. i got upset cause i hadn't seen any dogs around. that doesn't mean they weren't there.

sunday on the way to church, elizabeth informed me that she and taylor had done the deed. (AHHHHH!) when shaun saw it he had the same impression i did, that a dog had left it. when i told him that the kids had, he was even more upset than i was.
when we got back from church, i handed the kids sandwich bags, and sent them out to clean up their crap. thankfully, they didn't fight me too much.

look harder

i was informed last night, by the father of a friend that i didn't look hard enough for someone who had a gun.

hole in the head

shannon fell off a chair in the kitchen this afternoon.
landed on her head somehow.
her barrette punched a hole in her head.
has a nice little bump with a dark brown scab.

poor baby!

no insanity

we met with the prosecuting attorney this morning. the newest development is that he's pleading dementia (cause in idaho, you can't plead insanity), and they may try to put the blame on a friend that we moved in with us for a few months earlier last year.

preliminary trial is set for next friday, and trial sometime mid may. as we have the right to get specialists to examine him and prove that he's faking dementia, those dates will be moved back.  (when i say we, i mean the state, they are the ones that are pursuing the case, not us.)
going to be an interesting summer.

hungry

i think this diet may kill me. it didn't use to bother me, but now it does.

as of right now, it's been less than two hours since i ate dinner, and i am STARVING! that and there's still all this easter candy lying around.

tasks started

i mentioned to shaun the other day that we needed to get some stuff out of storage for this baby. (since we only have about 7-8 weeks until she comes. if she holds true to the standard.) namely the cradle. i also wanted the bouncer and the swing.

yesterday, shaun wanted to go get said stuff from storage. we didn't make it. so we went today. we got the cradle, the swing, the bouncer, and the tote with the 18 month clothes in. (it has REALLY bothered me to have to buy clothes for shannon cause i have some. i just couldn't get to them without some help.)
next project is to go thru those 18 month clothes, and get them washed and in drawers. then i need to get the other stuff cleaned up and ready for baby to use.

birthday

my sister sent me flowers for my birthday. they were fresh lilies and tulips. so beautiful, and very welcome as the next day it started snowing again.

we didn't do much for my birthday, especially since i wasn't feeling well that day. we did have cupcakes and ice cream that evening, though.

putting my foot down

i have recently tried something that finally seems to have worked. my four year old has a serious problem making it to the bathroom in time. typically, just in time to pee on the rug in front of the toilet. there were some weeks that she would easliy go through all her pants by tuesday, and laundry day isn't until thursday. we've threatened with putting her back in diapers, she doesn't care. we've yelled, and spanked, and nothing seems to work. finally, i told her that if she runs out of pants between laundry days, she's out of luck. i'm not going to do an extra load just for her. she'll stay home from school and not go anywhere, cause she can't leave the house without pants on. since i told her that, she's only wet her pants once.

HALLELUJAH, a solution that's working!