New Blog

So I knew this was going to happen at some point...I've run out of space! Years of blogging have taken their toll. So I'm going to be blogging at a new place...just one blog (I'll be combining all my different entries), not private, not connected to our last name so it is ok if you drop the kids names. Feel free to use the new blog on your side bars. Crys

www.mommidiary.blogspot.com

Law of Nature

There is law in Nature that says that children's happiness is directly related to how messy a house is. The irony of course is that parent's happiness is inversely related to how messy it is.

My Dope Ride

I'll admit I totally stole this from my friend Melissa. It made me laugh so hard...but mainly because I love my Sienna. It fits all the kids, is comfy, a smooth drive, love the dual doors, especially the automatic one, the fold down seats, the fact that I can buy whatever I want at a garage sale and cart it home, the fact that it is paid off. I LOVE THIS CAR! I was driving with Dr. J a couple of days ago and said, "You know honey, even if you were graduated and we had tons of money rolling in (all relative right ;)) this is the car I would want to own. This is my dream car." I ask you folks, what does that say about me?

Co Sleeper

Co sleeping is never something that has been comfortable for me. Oh I enjoy the occasional nap with my children but when it comes to having my kids sleep in my bed for a full night I'm not interested. When they are newborns it is hard for me to sleep with them next to me. I can't shake the feeling I'm going to fall deeply asleep and crush the poor child. As my kids get older they become more of a physical annoyance. My son Big E was a hot sleeper. As soon as he would actual fall asleep his body temperature would raise five degrees. Sweaty sleep is just not for me. G bear on the other hand was restless sleeper. She would toss and turn, pushing her way into a perpendicular position. She'd put her feet on us and squirm her head into our sides. At 3 she'd wake and hit us or pull on our noses. Her restless sleep became our restless sleep. For the most part it hasn't been a problem. From a young age our kids were champion sleepers. We'd put them in their cribs at seven and they would be out. They took good naps in the middle of the day. When we moved them out of their cribs into big kid beds they'd stay in bed and go to sleep. Some mornings we'd cuddle with them for fun, but it wasn't a necessity. I didn't understand people who had problems with their kids going to bed. Then we had Peach. Peach started out a good sleeper and at two months was sleeping through the night. The last few months though her sleeping has become erratic. She does not like to nap. She doesn't self comfort. She doesn't even want to sleep at night. Her nighttime nurse at seven she does a nurse nap and then finishes wide awake wanting hours of play. She giggles and slaps. She plays and cries. She jumps on the couch and balances on the arm. She climbs the steps and crawls back down. She is tired but won't sleep. When I got to nurse her at nine she resists. When I nurse her at ten she still doesn't want to sleep. Finally Jason and I will give in and bring her in our bed to sleep. Even then she will shake her legs every time she starts to doze, but when finally she realizes she is not going anywhere she will settle down...well that is as long as she is next to me. So here we are...co sleeping. I guess you should never say never as a parent. When it comes to getting your zzz you never know what you will be willing to do.

Better Than Average

Did you know the average marriage last 7.2 years? As of today Dr. J and I are better than average.! Eight years ago today I married the love of my life and started the family better than I could have imagined. We are thick and thin :)...Jack Sprat and Wife. I love my hubby. He is my best friend, the love of my life. To commemorate the date we are going to be up to business as usual. Dr. J had to be up early, early to drive an hour away where he will be doing the last four weeks of his 12 week internal medicine rotation. I took kids to school and am now playing beauty parlor with the under four crowd. Later tonight I think we might meet at a Turkish restaurant in town after Tae Kwon Do...for busy parents with three young kids I think we are pretty romantic :) Gifts have been bought and hopefully dinner will be good! Here is to better than average!!! Honey I love you!

My Gym Membership

A year and half ago I got a gym membership. It was wonderful at the time. My hubby was leaving the country and with two small children and winter quickly approaching I didn't know how I'd find the time to exercise. There was free babysitting and classes and for many months I enjoyed it. Today I'm contemplating cancelling it for eight months. It is grossly underutilized and the coffin was nailed down by a glorious temperate day. Because of the time I have to drop my son off I miss my favorite classes, so I'm mainly just running on the tread mill and doing weights. Today I was all ready to go and couldn't find my ipod. The thought of running on the hamster wheel without it was more then I could bare. I looked at the good weather and decided what the heck. Twenty minutes later I had the girls in the double jogger and we were on our way to a park, one we normal would drive to. It was awesome. I did squat jumps and arm presses in the park while daughter 1 played. Daughter 2 was amused to be out. I think I'm hooked. Summer is coming, the pool will be open. Son number 1 will be out of school. Soon the bike trailer will be back together and attached to the bike. For these good months I'm going to take advantage of the natural family time exercise and activity. It will probably make me appreciate the gym more when I return next November!

Pictures to die for...literally!

In high school I had to best friends Leslie and Pamela Jane. We did everything together, school, church dances, slumber parties almost every weekend. They were my favorite part about going to church. When we were older we started taking trips. We went camping in Southern and Northern Arizona. We went to California. We took trips to Utah. One time we decided to go to Sedona, this great little town sort of in central Arizona known worldwide for it's red rock formations. This particular time we decided to get out of the car and wade into the water. The river was fairly shallow and cold but fast moving the way most snow run off rivers are. At one point Leslie found this fairly large rock toward the middle of the river that you could rock hop over to. Her and Pamela scaled it. I stayed off to side always one to avoid heights. Leslie figured out that she could stand at one place over this little waterfall and it looked like she was hanging off of a massive cliff. She asked Pamela to take a picture. I think she got one shot off and then Leslie slipped and went into the river, under the waterfall. Pamela and I were screaming. I came running from the side where I'd been looking at rocks, Pamela got down off rock and we both started frantically running up and down the river trying to see her. Then suddenly she popped up, coughing and chocking. Though the river wasn't particularly deep it was deep enough and the force of the waterfall and slipper rocks had kept her trapped under. Somehow she got to the side and we grabbed her and hurried her off to the car. If I remember correctly she ended up wearing flip flops, gym pants and a ratty shirt for the rest of the day. Yes we stayed in Sedona even after that...not wanting to waste any fun time together. Later when she got her film printed that one shot was amazing! I don't know that it was necessarily worth it though. People die in that river all the time. I'm just glad she made it out alive. I'm pretty sure that would have been the most tramatic thing to happen in my life ever had she not...and I realize this is totally selfish but I would have missed out on tons of great memories in the years to follow.

Leslie, Me, Pam

Me and Pam right before the actual event. I don't have the picture of Leslie but I sure wished I had a copy! I'll post more pictures of these girls if I continue to feel reminiscent which I might...I've been listening to a lot of Sarah McLaughlin :)