Boys will be boys...

Well I know I haven't been taking pictures daily. So the thought crossed my mind yesterday to get my camera and capture the moment. Jacob was at school and Jaron and Jonah were just being themselves. This is a daily occurrence at our house. Jonah is almost as big as Jaron and he's only 2, but Jaron will be 5 in June. It is pretty funny to see Jonah tackle Jaron to the ground.

Now I'm trying to teach them that the girls I babysit (1 yr olds) don't want to be tackled.

The Mother In Me

I have basically always wanted children. Wanted to be a mother. I thought mothering would be so wonderful, so magical, and so lovely. Naming, dressing and playing with many small children all day long? What could be better!?

And, even though, back then, I was a bit hazy on some of the finer details associated with parenting (you know, like dying llama hissy fits, sippy cups full of mold behind the couch, stretch marks and time outs), I still think I hit the nail on the head. There is very little that is better than mothering. But not exactly for the reasons I first thought.

Sure, there are wonderful moments in mothering, magical memories created with our offspring, lovely late-night snuggles with heavy-lidded babies. But parenting is also hard work. And it's not glamorous. We don't often get the support we need, we struggle with mother's guilt and sometimes feel we need to keep up with the Jones'. Our children sass back and our best-laid plans are trampled on. We must often face our own shortcomings, because they are revealed to us so readily as we make attempts, but fail, at being perfect parents.

But there is good that can be brought forth from the hurt that parenting sometimes brings. Moments of revelation to be found even amidst the clamor of many small children. Beauty to be derived out of the ashes of mother failure. Joy that can only be discovered in helping God create another human being. There is meaning in the mundane, a purpose beyond potty-training, and a peace that can only be gained when one has learned to calmly deal with a tantruming toddler at Target. Having children is worth it. And, although I was inspired to start my family for one reason, My husband and I have continued for another. I love making our family.

But I don't love it for the dirty diapers, the sleepless nights, the cracked nipples or the endless whining. I don't love it for the dings in our walls, the screeching down the halls or the midnight calls.I love it in spite of all that. And I love mothering for how wading through all the difficulties that mothering brings transforms me for the better. Mothering is one of the toughest, most beautiful things I have ever done.And it's totally worth it.I desire to be an encouragement to others about starting their own family. And, to those who already have, I long to be a support, and never a hindrance, in their journey to discover exactly how wonderful parenting is.

I read this on McKMama's Blog and I agree with every word. I did ask her permission to copy it and she didn't mind at all. I love the way she words things I could never say it all like this but it is really how I feel.

I have learned...

-not to give my 2 year old a bag of cheez its or I will be vacuuming that day.
-towel racks do not hold 4 year old little boys (we have a hole in the wall to prove it)
-freaking out when coffee is accidently spilled on you is not going to clean up the mess....(I hate the smell of coffee but atleast it wasn't hot)
-kicking toys under the coffee table is a quick way to clean up if you have a visitor :-)
-cleaning up at bedtime would be easier if I had a snow shovel
-not to let my boys squeeze out their own toothpaste
-never leave the bathroom door open with a 2 year old in the house, you might just find a hair brush or two in the toilet!!!
-oh and night lights and plug-ins don't work after being in the toilet either.
-keeping extra toothbrushes in the house is a must because they have to go in the trash after touching the toilet water
-that little boys love to wrestle and someone will come to me crying usually in the first 3 minutes
-that chapstick is a good toy in church but will no longer be usuable
-not to panic when my kids spill drinks because they all drink water, it will dry and it's not sticky!!!
-potty training takes time and lots of changes of clothes.
-when your kids knock their tv on the floor upside down it ruines the dvd player built in
-if your son puts your cell phone in a glass of water you can take it apart and dry it with a hairdryer and it will be fine
-stepping on a lego will make you mad
-but stepping on a toy fighter jet will make you scream!
-little boys love caterpillers and would love to bring them inside....NOT my house!
-going to bed earlier makes the next day a little easier....goodnight! :-)

It's not been easy....

....but I am still alive. I might have spoke too soon about having less headaches. I got one saturday and could NOT get rid of it SO I went to bed with it and woke up with a full blown migraine! Not fun...I am used to functioning with a regular headache but a migraine is a whole other story. I couldn't barely move my head and would have rather kept my eyes closed. Because I am pregnant I can only take Tylenol and it usually doesn't help at all. But I said a prayer and took 3 tylenol before getting in the shower this morning. Blow drying my hair was like TORTURE but had to be done. Chris suggested I stay home from church but I didn't want to let the devil steal my joy. I kept telling myself it's going to get better so I got dressed and ironed the boys clothes and sat down to rest on the couch for a few minutes. When I got up, 2 hours after taking the tylenol, the headache was gone! I was so thankful and now just needed a boost of energy to get to church. So I drank a coke and we went to church. I took the boys to the park saturday but forgot to bring the camera. (can't think straight when my head hurts) It was pouring rain when we got out of church tonight but I am thankful for the rain. We are still on a water restriction in our county and maybe they lift it soon. My boys love to play in the sprinkler. Anyway...I feel like that was just one big run sentence. I need to go to bed.

Videos!!!

Well I finally broke down and contacted Kodak last night about my camera clicking when I'm trying to record. They told me how to fix the settings and VIOLA! We have videos...these are only the beginning people...trust me there will be lots more to come. I just need to buy a memory card that will hold more than 49 seconds now.




Me interviewing Jacob...






Asking Jaron a few questions too.







Jonah saying his ABC's kinda..at the end he even said "now I know my abc's next time won't you sing with me" (very fast and muffled though)...notice he stops halfway through saying "Me see" he wants to see on the camera...

Sweet Brotherly Love

Jacob has been so sweet lately....he plays with Jonah and loves to make him laugh. He'll say "I just laugh his little voice" and then he'll say things like "I love this baby". He loves to read books to Jonah too.

I'm not even showing yet but Jonah has been doing this a lot lately and saying "Baby belly"

Jaron's ball fell out right as I took the picture....they are so silly!

My boys on Mother's Day. Jacob gave me a flower he planted at school in a cup and Jaron traced his hand on paper and wrote his name for me. Chris made me breakfast and did the nursery at church to give all the moms a break that day.

The boys enjoyed some time outside on the trampoline at my aunts house for Mother's Day

No headache today and I do need to mention for those of you who know me well...you know that I suffer from frequent headaches. But it seems to me since my sinus surgery in Nov. and since I started taking prenatals trying to concieve, my headaches have decreased a lot...I might get 2 a week....Before that I was getting them almost daily. THANK GOD!

Headaches...

Well I don't want to make this a negative post. I am trying to focus on the positive things in my life a lot more these days. I just have to tell you about this headache I got yesterday. It started in the morning and on the way to church I was putting on my make up in the car...yes because that's where I always put it on. And the music was playing and the boys were all trying to talk to me so I told Chris I need to turn it off it was just too much noise and my head was starting to hurt. He said "Did you take something?" And I said I can't take just anything because I'm pregnant...just tylenol and it doens't really help me. So Jacob in the very back seat of the van said "Mommy why don't you take Neosporin?" I busted out laughing....we use neosporin for a lot of things from sores on fingers, knee scrapes and chapped lips. He thought it was a cure-all I guess. He was serious and just wanted to help me.

PS. As the day progressed the headache got worse and I took Tylenol with no relief. Sleep did the trick and I woke up feeling pretty good.

Maybe tomorrow I will get some pictures, but right now it's time for me to go to bed.....goodnight.

Silly Saturdays....

Well it's no suprise the things we find around our house.....I guess this cow was getting worried about her weight...this is where I found her.

And this is my jewelry box that is always on my dresser in my room Jaron's favorite little box....He puts anything and everything in it....Jonah wanted some cheez its so Jaron was only sharing.... :-D

Then I drank a coke and was on the floor with some serious stomach cramps but just had to capture this moment...He has found better things to do with the baskeball goal....this is an EVERY DAY occurence.

Jonah would rather hold my camera....

Jaron brings me the base of the goal with something to show me...

Look inside mommy...

It's MICKEY MOUSE!!!

Jonah is fighting me for the camera....

Jaron is just laughing.....and my stomach is still hurting....

Dinner is done (Freschetta Pizza) and baths are finished...time to relax on the couch and calm down before bedtime....Jaron said "take a picture mommy" and he tried to fake like he's sleeping...

Laundry

Well I just went on a laundry spree and folded 3 loads that have been waiting for about 3 days to be touched. Jacob even noticed when Chris walked out of the bedroom wearing his white undershirt....."Whoa daddy your shirt is very wrinkly". He washed all the clothes and puts them in the dryer but then I have to find time to fold them. If he didn't wash any I would let them pile up all week. I like to make sure my children have enough outfits for atleast 6 days and 6 pairs of socks and underwear so if we don't to do laundry all week they still have something to wear. And me well I have 4 drawers full of PJ's cause that's all I wear. I babysit in them and stay in them and usually never go in my closet until time to go to church. Right now all my maternity clothes are hanging in the laundry room pitifully wrinkled from being in the attic for 2 years. Not sure if an iron will fix it might need to rewash them all. Anyway...I have a couple cell phone pictures not the best quality but they are too cute not to post.

Hormonal

Well I am obviously getting hormonal...I don't want to do anything...checkbook, laundry, dishes, dinner...nothing....Not sure why only possible cause would be pregnancy hormones. I didn't even want to write this but I am doing it for YOU. I need to go to bed after I brush my teeth but I really don't want to do either of those. I am bored and speechless. I must be going crazy....nope....just pregnant. :-) I love the feeling I get after drinking a coke...my only source of caffiene and it's not much but it gives me a boost of energy and I clean a little and get some stuff done. I am thankful for a husband who does laundry almost daily without complaining and never complains about dinner or the lack thereof. Tonight was grilled cheese.

I do have some sad news to report...I looked in Jonah's baby book at my first ultrasounds of him at 13 weeks and 5 days pregnant. That is when they told me it was a boy. I was so curious I also found a website online showing IN DETAILS the fetal genetalia as it changes. Girls and boys look very similar until about 14 weeks. Guess what....I will only be 12 weeks at my ultrasound....I could have sworn I was 12 weeks with Jonah but I was wrong (pregnancy brain). So because of my history they will be looking for a cleft or any other birth defects but it will most likely be too early to tell the gender. I will most likely be scheduled to come back for more ultrasounds about 4 weeks later. MAN...I was so excited but I guess it will be worth it to make sure they are accurate....don't want to be planning for one and get the other ya know.

Seriously....gotta brush my teeth! GOODNIGHT!

Why?

Why do I stay up so late even when I know I'll be exhausted the next day?
Why can't I resist those candy bars at the register?
Why do I crave coke? (maybe because I stayed up too late)
Why do I watch tv instead of doing something more productive at night? (sleeping)
Why doesn't time out work for my boys?
Why do I care if the toothbrushes are lined up in "age order"? (obsessive compulsive)
Why did I ever start coloring my hair?
Why does my camera click when I try to make videos?
Why haven't I read the book for my camera? (instead of watching TLC)
Why don't I take more pictures?
Why do people put SO many self portraits on facebook?
Why do women feel the need to show their boobs to the world?
Why did I just type that? :-D kinda annoys me I guess
Why can't I homeschool? I want to but not sure I could keep it all together.
Why haven't you left a comment on my blog? (I know you're out there)
Why am I still typing? goodnight.....zzzzzzzzz

After Dinner...

Well Jaron is usually the last one to finish eating at dinner time. He takes a little longer to chew and swallow his food so he ends up there most nights for about an hour. Jonah has learned to crawl in the bar stools so he wanted to sit with his "bubby". And Jacob saw me grab the camera so he jumped in the picture just in time. They are all bathed and fed.  We had chicken, corn & creamy chicken flavored noodles.

They love to play on the computer at http://www.starfall.com/ Jacob uses this website at school. Or they also like to go to http://www.pbskids.org/ Jaron has learned to read by doing all of this and with zero effort on my part. There are several shows on PBS teaching them how to sound out words I love it! I can't wait to see how quickly Jonah learns to read. God has blessed us with very smart boys....I must say :-D

PS. How do you like my new pregnancy ticker up top? Would love to hear some comments from all my readers....click below to leave some feedback.

My First Appointment

I went to the doctor for my first pregnancy check up. She gave me a due date of Dec. 8th. I also was able to schedule the ultrasound with the specialists for May 27th. We are going primarily to look for any birth defects but I hope to see the gender of the baby. I will be 12 weeks pregnant and that's kinda early to predict the gender but they guessed it right for Jonah that early so I trust them. It is after midnight and right now my priority is sleep....I'll try to take some pictures of something or someone tomorrow and maybe that post will be more interesting... :-D

Guess WHAT!?!?!

We are having another baby! We were trying and we hope God gives us a baby girl. Of course if it's a boy we'll be happy too. I am about 8 weeks right now. I go for my first doctor visit Thursday. I am pretty sure they will schedule me for an ultrasound near the end of May. We need to check for a cleft lip since Jaron had one. There's only a 5% chance. I really hope we can see the gender of the baby then. I am not having any symptoms really. The boys are very excited!

Jacob had pictures made at school and they are adorable.

And before I forget I have to tell this story. At school Jacob gets rewarded if he goes 20 days straight without getting in trouble. He did it last week he got to pick a prize from the prize box and he came home with a bracelet for me. I cried. I can't believe my little boy picked something for me instead of himself. He is so sweet.

Jaron loves Woody from the Toy Story movie. I went in their room the other day and found him like this. I guess he's in trouble not sure why he did this. But I thought it was funny!

Good night I'm sleepy and now you know why. :-D

Wet weekend....

Well we had a TON of rain Saturday so the park was out of the question. We stayed inside an watched movies. We had a youth service at church Saturday night and then church this morning. Chris was invited to preach under an old fashioned tent so we went to that service tonight. The boys behaved suprisingly well, it could have been the possibility of getting to play on the playground at the church when the service was over. Jonah was quiet which never happens THANK GOD. We had a little bit of a drive home so they all went straight to bed. Jonah is talking more and I am so glad because I was getting worried there for a little while.

Oh I do have something to write about....Jacob got in trouble at school Friday. This was his first time every going to the principles office. He was on the playground playing and some girls asked him to chase them. Then they told another boy to protect them from Jacob. So the boy twisted Jacob's arm an wouldn't let go so Jacob punched him and then got on top of him and kept punching him. I first read the note in his book from the teacher then asked him to tell me his story. He did and I asked him why didnt' he run from the boy and he said "Mommy I couldn't he wouldn't let go of my arm!" Then I asked him did he feel bad about what he did and he started crying and said "yes but he thinks the girls were trying to get him in trouble". He is not a fighter and even begs Jaron to stop wrestling with him. I am shocked at his behavior but also glad he defended himself. Punishment was 2 days to sit out of recess.

I cannot even begin to imagine what kind of trouble Jaron might get into in kindergarten....he LOVES to wrestle and fight and jump and tackle...next year should be very interesting...goodnight...I'm tired.

Skater & Skateboarder

So the boys wanted to playoutside again today and they dug out their skates & skateboards from last summer. Jacob was not in the mood to wear his pads so I just hoped for the best....

WOO HOO~ that was a close on he almost hit the ground!

Jaron LOVES getting all geared up and boy did he need it!

He fell atleast 10 times in these skates and never cried...he was actually laughing!!!

They had fun out there and I was sorry I couldn't go out I was babysitting and there is no way I could keep an eye on all of them....Jonah always runs to the road!!! Maybe we'll go to the park saturday...

Dinner Time!!!

Can you guess what we had for dinner? Jonah loved it!!!

Weight & Worries

Well I am worried about Jaron's weight because he does NOT like to eat. So I weigh him every day at bedtime. (I know another obsessive compulsive thing that I do) But he has always been between 32-35 lbs. depending on if he's sick or whatever. But the last few days he's been 36 LBS!!! I am so happy my baby is finally gaining weight. He'll be 5 in June and he's so tiny but he does seem to be getting taller. His feet aren't growing that fast though either. I am thankful my children are not obese but I just want him to be normal size. Jonah just turned 2 and he's 31 lbs!!! Won't be long and they'll weigh the same. I am praying for something to change for Jaron. I've talk to so many doctors and therapists and dentists about his eating habits. No one seems to really be able to help me. I am hoping our trip to Boston in June and meeting with the specialists up there might uncover some new information. He's starting kindergarten in August and I am worried he will lose weight because he won't eat as much. It takes him twice as long to eat the same thing as Jacob. Will the battle of the cleft ever end?

Daddy's Boys

Well we got the boys all dressed for church and I HAD to get a picture of my 4 handsome men. Jacob of course was miserable because I made him wear a tie. I took two pictures and he didn't smile for either one. He's not choking I always make sure I can fit 2 fingers in the top of his shirt. To tell you the truth I think he is embarrassed by all the attention he gets with it on. So many people at church comment on how handsome they look when we dress them up. Jaron loves it and so does Jonah. Jacob is just getting more aware of his appearance lately. He tells me how to cut his hair and he must pick out his school clothes. I can't imagine if I had a 3 girls how getting ready for church might be. :-D

And I got this other picture of Jaron and Chris...he said "same white shirt daddy" He loves dressing up like daddy...