Under Construction

So this is the closet that is in Madison's bedroom:

And this is what it looks like when you OPEN her closet door now:

Welcome, my friends, to the starting phase of my new master bedroom. Walking up the stairs:

Inside the bedroom:

Brian in the "master bath":

Storage area on the "upper half" of the roof - we'll access this from the stairway leading up to our bedroom. More storage... :drool:

So much for keeping the rest of the house clean. I think it's impossible in a construction zone.

Oh, and NO, we won't be walking up the stairs through the closet door forever. Eventually a wall will be removed and another wall put in where her closet is. But "for now", this is the way it goes. *winks*

Someone want to send me some sanity???

It warms my heart

My boys are in all honesty the BEST ever.

Taylor has been so nurturing the past 2 weeks when Jordan started Kindergarten. They love each other to pieces!

The highlight of their school day is being able to play together once at recess. How many 3rd graders would WANT to play with their 5 yr old brother at recess every day?

They wake up in the morning and help each other get ready for school. They wear matching clothes EVERY DAY, and it's totally THEIR CHOICE. They want to match each other.

And it warms my heart when almost every morning this is the view from my front door.

Man I love those boys.

Reagan Update!

Oh my, Oh my where to begin!

Reagan is doing WONDERFUL this week!

She had her EEG last week and we got results on Friday. Everything is PERFECT. This means that her seizures are from her anemia, not from some other brain issue. She has had a very hard 11 months at life! All starting from being stubborn and not coming the way we planned! One "issue" has just lead to another. From loosing one pound her first week of life. From there we had blood tests which showed nothing wrong, so the only thing we could do was pump and feed through the SNS every hour and a half at night and 3 times a day. It took us months to get off that program and to finally have her start gaining weight!

Then she ended up with RSV. Then ear infections. And the list could get long from this point. ;)

At 6 months she started her new thing (and probably the worst of all...) not being able to catch her breath when crying. Every time she started really crying, you could bet she'd turn this awful color blue/grey/purple, her eyes would start twitching and she would pass out. It started out only every once in awhile, but ended up coming on strong and being several times a week. We would average her passing out 5 times a week, but sometimes it was more.

At this point, her iron was really low, so we tried everything to get it up. Our Dr told us that her passing out was most likely due to the anemia. It was most likely the culprit of her not gaining weight her first 6 months as well.

When her iron levels just wouldn't go up, we were told she would grow out of the breath holding (by age 2 or 3) and to just "keep her happy". (And this kid, while feeling icky, is NOT easy to keep happy!!!)

But when she passed out and started having seizures, we decided we better do something else. (Because frankly, I don't want to live with passing out 5 times a week, AND seizures until she's THREE!)

We scheduled the EEG to rule out that maybe it wasn't the iron, and at the same visit we gave her an Iron shot. (Nasty nasty nasty shot that has to be given in the muscle. She of course passed out during it.) !

Well, I'm terribly happy to report that the nasty iron shot has mad a HUGE difference! She has only passed out TWICE since the shot. The shot was given 2 weeks ago. This is HUGE! This is wonderful! She's even been better in the car recently!

We have a few "trained" habits we need to start working on getting rid of. The most challenging is that she still wakes up every 1-2 hours to breastfeed at night. It's something she's trained to do from her time nursing as an infant with the SNS. We won't be giving up nursing anytime soon I'm sure - In fact, I'm sure she'll be my longest breastfed baby which is just fine if that's what she needs. She's still ultra clingy to me, but it'll go away in time.

She is starting to show a lot more personality, and she's getting ready to walk. She'll stand on her own for little spurts at a time.

We're just feeling so HAPPY to be in the beginning stages of "normal" with her!

Look at my happy, healthy baby!

Madison started Preschool!

I think she's been waiting a year for this day. When Jordan was in preschool, she asked when she could start going. I told her that she couldn't go until she started going on the potty... so she trained herself that week. I had to keep my promise and send her as soon as preschool started!

This child is terribly confident. She wasn't shy the first day at all. She sat down at a table for snack next to another little girl. Madison turns to her and says "Hi! What's your name?" The little girl stares at her for a minute and terrified replies "Ashlie". Madison sits there for a minute and finally says "Well HI Ashlie! Did you know that my name is Madison?"

The first day was an open house for parents to stay. Brian and I were both there and I honestly think she would have liked it better if we both had left. She was terribly busy and there was a lot to do in a short amount of time.

She did start crying while we were there. Oh, it was when we were LEAVING. She was crying and saying "But Mom! Preschool isn't long enough!"

It's going to be a long year since she only goes twice a week. *winks*

Her teacher is Miss Karen. I know Karen from Jordan's preschool - her daughter was in Jordan's class, so we co-oped together a few times. She's very creative and just sweet as can be.

Madison also started dance this week. I don't have any photos because Brian seems to always have the camera. Maybe next week. She LOVES it. She was a really good listener and followed her teacher pretty well. (Until she had to keep watching herself in the mirrors...) She's excited to be going to dance with Lauryn, and I think it will be great for them to see each other at least once a week. :)

Jordan's First Day of Kindergarten!

The day finally arrived!

It was terrible for Jordan to watch Taylor leave for school every day for a week before he could start kindergarten.

There are 2 other little boys from our neighborhood that he is in class and rides the bus home with. The bus is the most exciting part of Kindergarten for him.

His teacher is so fun. We totally lucked out getting Mrs. Lyons, she's just great! She has a very large classroom right now, but it looks like they're going to add another class so the class size won't be 29. (EEKS! That's a bunch of 5 yr olds!!!) Out of those kids, 18 of them are BOYS. Props to Mrs. Lyons and her sanity!

Yippee for Kindergarten! I'm so glad Jordan is loving it!

Taylor's First Day of 3rd Grade

This is terribly late as Taylor is several weeks into 3rd grade. Better late then never!

Brian and I are keeping close tabs on 3rd grade this year as they are now the only grade in the school not"grouping" according to learning levels. We are pretty concerned about this because we don't want Taylor to become bored with school. The principal is keeping us informed and there is a chance that they will switch over to grouping in the next few weeks if staying with their same teacher all day just isn't working out. What are they thinking though??? Every child does NOT learn on the same level - breaking into "groups" based on knowledge is a GOOD thing! It gives the more advanced kids a chance to excel, and it gives the struggling children the help they need. Staying with the same teacher and learning all at the same level is only good for "average" students. For parents with children in the extremes, average just doesn't make sense.

Taylor likes his teacher, Mrs. Barnes, just fine. He is confused as to why kids in his class are disruptive and don't want to learn. He thinks it's just awful when someone says "I don't like school". He just can't fathom! I found out yesterday that he's already told his teacher that he needs more advanced spelling words because "hatbox" and "path" just don't cut it. He told her that he would get a note from his Mom saying that he needed harder words. (Oh my!)

I was thrilled when he asked me to pack his lunch every day. He said "I just don't think it's healthy to have pizza 2 times a week at school". HOORAY!!! I've made the lunch thing really easy on myself by making several loaves of sandwiches and freezing them. For the meat sandwiches, I add a packet of mayo and mustard so he can put those on himself at school. All I do is grab a frozen sandwich (which then is nice and thawed by lunch plus it keeps his drink and fruit cold too) piece of fruit, snack, drink and some chips or crackers. Jordan and Madison have lunchboxes too, so I make all the kids lunch first thing in the morning. SO EASY!

We'll be glad to find out what's going to happen with this grouping thing though. We're not opposed to pulling him out and homeschooling for this grade if something doesn't change, but we're pretty confident that it will.

what a month!

Oh my! Has it really been THAT long since I last "blogged"??? *hangs head in shame*

I have more than a million things to share, but most all need to wait until after tomorrow. Reagan is scheduled for an EEG tomorrow morning to make sure that her passing out and her seizure the other day is from her low iron, not from some "brain" issue. Our dr. is pretty confident that it's the iron that caused it rather than something a little more serious, so we're not too worried. There's always that little "what if" in the back of your mind though, so I'm holding my breath until tomorrow.

Taylor started 3rd grade last week and Jordan will start kindergarten this Wednesday. Madison is starting preschool too.

And just so you know my life isn't dull:

Today I bottled 8 quarts of spaghetti sauce AND
Yesterday Jordan's Sunday school teacher told us that he wouldn't stop singing
"I'm too Sexy" in class.

LOVELY.

24th of July

Wow, we were so non-traditional celebrating Pioneer Day yesterday. We didn't even watch the parade on TV.

Woke up, had breakfast and headed outside to clean the van.

Then, we decided to take the kids to see Ratatouille. The kids LOVED it. I was happy to see a movie the whole way through as Reagan decided to fall asleep and slept the entire time. (Hooray!!!)

Brian decided to create a picture of the kids last night. The final outcome is pretty swell. *winks*

Jordan stars as "Shrek", Madison is "Fiona" Taylor is "Donkey" and Reagan is "Puss in Boots". The kids have a copy of the picture and they're still talking about it this morning.

Took a few cute pictures of Reagan yesterday, but as usual, Brian took the camera to work... I think I need my OWN camera...

Dear Children:

There are just a few things that I would like you four kids to know. Well, there's A LOT I'd like you to know, but here are some of the highlights.

#1: I wanted you all TERRIBLY.

Because I wanted you so badly, your dad and I couldn't stand the thought of "someone else" raising you. It was so important for me to stay home with each of you - I didn't care if we ate mac and cheese the rest of our days, and could totally be content with never taking a family vacation again. Every little financial struggle has been worth it to wake up each morning and have my "job" be all of you. *I* heard your first words. *I* saw you take your first steps. *I* got to watch your sleepy little eyes and the tired little yawns. All those moments are MINE, and I take them all selfishly.

#2: I WANTED you sleeping next to me.

It was *my* decision to have my sweet little babes in bed with me. I was told by many people that I should let each one of you learn to sleep on your own - in a crib, in another room - and that after 3 days of you screaming, you all would stop and start sleeping soundly. I can't stand the sound of my babies crying. I do, however, love your cuddly little bodies against me - safe in "our" bed. Again, it was MY choice. I didn't want you to leave my side until you were ready. And I still quite enjoy weekends when you older kids come and join us for a few minutes all snuggled under the covers. (The king size bed was a GREAT investment.)

#3: I kept you away from bottles.

I wanted to breastfeed you. It started out hard with all of you. It would have been more than easy to quit. In fact, in our society, it seems to be a "do what makes you comfortable" vs a "do what's good for your baby" mindset. I knew it was the best thing for each of you, and I reminded myself of that when I sat on the couch sobbing in pain. I knew that it wouldn't last forever (even though at the moment it seemed like it would).

I tolerated the ill comments from others who found out that I nursed most of you beyond the age of one. Maybe it was their guilt talking. I questioned myself once about it, but soon got over it and decided I didn't care what anyone else thought - I was responsible for you. I am your mother. I had your best interest at heart the entire time.

#4: The messy house doesn't bother me much.

A spotless house sounds like heaven - but our "clutter" reminds me that my children live here, they're comfortable with their surroundings, and they really feel like they can be themselves. I was going to paint over the scribbles in the tv room long ago when Madison first put them there. But as I've let them sit, they remind me of a time when she was so little - she's growing so fast and soon those scribbles will be a treasure and reminder of my little girl.

I have a million others but one of you is crying, we have a birthday present to wrap for a party in 15 minutes and lunch is long past due. But I love you and I'm so glad you chose ME to be your Mother. :)

MOM

Okay then...

Obviously I'm a lazy blogger this summer... to much going on!

I feel like I need to post pictures whenever I create a new posting... Brian keeps taking the camera with him though, so I haven't taken ANY of the kids in the past month. Bad mommy.

Reagan is crawling, pulling herself up on things, and watching the other kids too close. I'm afraid she's going to pick up all of their bad habits. ;)

Madison wants her *beautiful* long curly hair cut "like the boys". She's begged and begged. I cut about 2 inches off on Sunday just to make her happy. We keep telling her that "princesses" have long beautiful hair, NOT hair like their brothers. It would be tragic to loose her curls!!!

Jordan lost ANOTHER tooth... a molar. The poor kid hardly has any teeth left. I can hardly wait until his permanent teeth come in. I won't recognize him though - he's had teeth missing since he was just under two years old!

Taylor has enjoyed swimming this summer. That and riding bikes. He's been a great help around the house while out of school, and a HUGE help with Reagan. She likes him and it's nice to have a "break" for a minute or two here and there.

Pictures next time! I'll work harder on having Brian leave the camera within my reach! :)

Another update on everyone

I realize I'm ultra slow keeping up this blog recently...

For a much needed update:

Reagan is over her ear infections and she's back on iron for her anemia. She held her breath and passed out 3 times last week. The third time I just couldn't handle it and gave her to Brian to take care of. I love her, I love her, I love her... but she exhausts me. This week on the iron supplement she seems to not hold her breath for quite as long, making her able to catch her breath, not pass out, and just continue on crying. I'm grateful for that! Getting her to actually TAKE the medicine this week has been rough though. She knows what it is and just plain doesn't want it.


Picture of her is from the boys martial arts ceremony. She can be so fun... On her terms and when she wants to be... *winks*



Madison has been totally funny recently. Last night, she woke up at 4:00 AM and said "Dad, you missed my bed". Missed your bed??? "Yes, you missed my bed and you're in here on this one" pointing to our bed. "You're supposed to be in my bed. You missed it." That and she'll say (again at night time...) "ummm... I need a DAD in my bed..." She and Brian have a really cute relationship. She's loving the pool this summer and wants to go in it every day.



The boys had their martial arts awards a few weeks ago. Jordan went up a degree in yellow belt 3rd degree now? I'm pretty sure next testing he'll get his orange belt...)
























And Taylor graduated from purple belt to blue belt. Jordan doesn't take it quite as seriously as Taylor does, but he really enjoys it. I think we might take a break this summer, but start up in fall again. Taylor really wants to advance further.











Kids all had a great time up at the cabin a couple of weeks ago, and with it getting hot here in the valley, I'm sure we'll try and spend more time up there!



Busy, busy busy around here! :)

Pinewood Derby 2007

Taylor had his first pinewood derby last week. Brian spent HOURS making 10 trophy's for the event and they turned out AWESOME. He used old "car parts" (or lawnmower parts...), sprayed them a beautiful gold color and mounted them on cub scout blue trophy stands. He had a place for the boy's car to "Velcro" to the trophy stand too.

They were a HIT. The boys thought they were totally cool.

Taylor and Brian spent time working on a great car for Taylor to race. He ended up taking 3rd place and he was totally happy about that!

I'm still new to the whole cub scout thing, but Taylor and I are learning together and we love it so far!

Baptism Quilt

Taylor's Baptism is this Saturday and I've been working like a mad woman on his quilt. (Thanks to MIL last night for helping me finish it up! Reagan was just not feeling good and she would NOT let my tie the darn thing... )

Anyway, it's done and I'm really happy with how it turned out. It's in RED which is Taylor's favorite color.

Life is..... CRAZY

I'm feeling the guilt of not blogging for awhile... ;)

It's been BUSY around here!!! I had hopes of having recent photos and everything up, but no such luck.

I've been trying to get a little more *under control* around here. (Kind of hard with the mountain of laundry that seems to grow by the second...)

Had a bit of "stress" recently, and started working out again in the mornings. It's been awhile since I've done that... stopped when I found out that Reagan was on the way.

Speaking of Reagan... she's 6.5 months now, she's been sitting for a LONG time and is actually trying to balance on her knees and hands. No teeth yet which is totally weird for my kids... but hey... whatever.

Taylor turned EIGHT on the 19th and I can hardly believe it. We've started cub scouts now and he loves it.

Adding to the chaos, Madison started dance class. This point deserves a whole entry of it's own though, so more on that another day.

Jordan is still loving preschool and can't wait for kindergarten. He asks me EVERY DAY if "today" is the day he starts. It's going to be a long summer... ;)

Easter was great. Taylor got his first "suit". (My baby is all grown up!!!)

We poured a new front porch. Details of the disaster later.

I've been working like a mad woman on Taylor's baptism quilt. Hopefully it'll be done this week.

Just wanted to *check in*!

More later (but not *too* late I hope!) :)

In need of some diversity.

I realized yesterday that we don't live in a diverse neighborhood. I know this because of a conversation I had with my 5 year old yesterday.

We were out in the front yard - the weather has been so nice, we've taken advantage and pretty much stayed outside the past few days.

An older man comes walking down our street. Jordan yells "hi" to the man. The man obviously doesn't hear Jordan, so doesn't respond.

Jordan asks if I know his name - I tell him I don't. Madison says "he looks like a grandpa, so that's his name". Okay... fine.

Jordan says (as the older man is still walking off) "maybe he doesn't speak our language. Maybe he speaks Spanish. I know how to say 'hi' in Spanish"... HOLA!!!" (in a very loud YELL down the street at said older man....)

Jordan turning back to me when there was no response: "Nope... doesn't speak Spanish either".

Same little boy just asked me today if for St. Patrick's Day we're having "Leprechaun Meat" like we did last year.
My poor kids think we catch leprechauns to EAT them!!!! I've tried to tell Jordan that leprechauns are "little people" that leave and do silly things on St. Patty's day, but he still thinks that come our evening meal of corned beef and cabbage, that we're actually eating leprechauns.

Would someone like to tell me where I've gone wrong???

"While You Were Out", Heidi style!

So what do I do when Brian leaves town for 5 days?



CREATE MORE CHAOS of course!!!



Brian left for a convention in Las Vegas last Wednesday. He was gone over his birthday, so I figured a *nice* birthday present for him would be to SURPRISE him with a remodel of our bedroom!!!



I have NO before pictures which I'm totally sad about. But trust me, the room was UGLY. And the fact that I have no pictures of that room sort of proves it, right? We spent no time in that room because it just wasn't "us".



So, thanks to my sister in law (aka *toot sweets*), we spent 3 days doing a total room makeover.



In the middle of it all, the kitchen sink clogged. I made several really good attempts at fixing the plumbing, but it didn't work out. I was mighty pleased that when Brian got home he couldn't fix it either. I thought for sure he'd just "tweak" a few things and it would work again, but it's more of an *involved* problem, and I'm glad that he's back to take care of it. (Don't get me wrong, I'd like my kitchen sink back... but the fact that it wasn't an easy fix makes me feel better that I couldn't fix it on my own... I'm a stinker that way... *winks*)

"Toot Sweets" and I also decided to install new blinds in my living room window. (I've been wanting them for over a year now. We went by the motto of "it's better better to ask for forgiveness than permission with that one, and while Brian doesn't seem too thrilled about our choice, I'm happy to not be living in a "fish bowl" anymore. Besides... he likes the new curtains we made for that window, so liking *half* of that project is good, right?)



Anyway...



After a day of scraping UGLY wallpaper off the walls, and then long nights and into the wee morning hours scraping that same wallpaper off the floor, we were able to patch holes, paint, buy some new decor and turn my ugly little bedroom into a CUTE little bedroom!

Here are the photos!




The kids and I wrapped the bedroom door with "happy birthday" paper so that Brian had something to "open" for his gift.

This is what you see when you open the door! (okay, our bedroom furniture is HUGE in this tiny room, but there's no way you're getting me back on a queen size bed after moving to my totally comfy king size.... *winks*)

Found some totally cute picture frames that are just packed with photos of our *darling* kiddos.

Put up a new mirror... (thanks to our neighbor for saving me a trip to home depot for drywall screws. I wonder if he's still shocked that I know what drywall screws are, plus the fact that I actually know how to use them.... *giggle*)

Found the "big key" at Home Goods and thought it would look nice in the room. Jordan had the BEST comment about it though... The kids were showing Brian all around the room and Jordan said: "And DAD! This key came all the way from CHINA!!!!" Note to self: Remove the "made in China" stickers from inexpensive merchandise...

Brian was surprised by all the "updating"... I think he might be a little hesitant going out of town again and leaving me behind... He's worried what room I might tackle next.

I'm so TIRED!!! I'm so glad it's DONE!!! And I'm totally thrilled that I was able to do a project and surprise Brian with it!