A Pep Talk

I have spent a good part of this week giving myself a pep talk about how this is supposed to be one of my favorite times of the year and to get over the things that are out of my control that are also making me grumpy. So I am feeling a little better and more of the Christmas spirit is coming into my heart and my home. These three make it easier to forget about the things that have been bothering me. We have done some fun things together as a family like the wagon ride at Thanksgiving Point (twice), Festival of Trees, parties, and there's still more to do. I have also spent some time this past week thinking about my little brother (on his mission) since I took 4 trips to the post office in the past week to mail stuff to him. What a great opportunity he has right now to be cocooned from the commercialism of the season and to just focus on our Savior. I think we all try our best to make Christ the center of the holiday, but it's hard to fully do that with all the hustle and bustle of everyday life. I hope he has an unforgettable holiday season even though he is away from home. I'm excited to see these little ones' faces light up a few more times this month!

Not feelin it

the Christmas spirit that is. I just want to take my little family far away on a really cool vacation until January 2. If only my funds were unlimited. I will settle for a little trip so if anyone knows how I can get a good deal on a place in Jackson or Bear Lake or St George or Moab during the holidays please let me know!!!

She turned 2

Mya turned two years old on October 28, and I don't want to forget things about her at this age. She's got quite the personality, and she makes us laugh every single day. I've been told multiple times by my mom that she looks like me but does not have the same interests as me at this age. Mya is all about the bling. It is rare to see her without some sort of accessory whether it's a necklace, bracelet, tiara, dress up shoes, purse, etc. She loves it all. She loves to play with her dolls, and I have caught her more than once trying to nurse one of them or wrapping them up in a blanket or trying to burp them. She's particular about what she wears even down to her shoes. If I don't already have her clothes out ready for her to put on there is no way I can get her dressed without her saying, "me pick." The same with pajamas. She's gone to bed with two pair of pajamas on at the same time. Or with leggings under some shorts. She doesn't love getting her hair done unless I tell her I will curl it. Once it's curled she stands in front of the mirror saying, "I pretty." She has a few family favorites and I spend a lot of my day saying we will see Natalie or Aly or Papa another time. One day she wandered around the house with my phone saying, "Hello Papa. Hello. Oh no! Hello? Where'd he go? Hello Papa? Oh no." We finally had to call him when I knew he would be home from work. She loves her Grandpa. Grandma too, but for some reason she likes to tease her and won't say her name. They took her and Jacob to a little Christmas party last week, and she spent the whole day saying, "Ready go Papa's party. Ready go!" When she came home she has been telling us nonstop that she sat on Santa's lap and cried. But then she giggles. She is a sweetheart too and it's not unusual for her to climb in my lap and say, "Hold Mama." I'm glad she still lets me hold her and cuddle her. She loves to help me with Adalyn and to tease Jacob. One of the best things about bringing Adalyn home has been watching Jacob & Mya learn to play together. He can make her giggle and giggle then send her running away screaming her head off the next minute. Ah, that's what big brothers are for, right? I do love the moments of everyday when they play and laugh together. It's the best. Mya brings so much to our family, and I am grateful for her everyday.

She's Here

Miss Adalyn Taylor was born October 18, 2011 just after 3:00 pm. She weighed in at 7 lbs 11 oz and was our first baby to cry coming out. It was music to our ears. She was perfectly healthy and as beautiful as her big brother and sister. She's also our first redhead. We've been wondering when we would be blessed with one. She has certainly blessed our family immensely and we couldn't have asked for more. She hardly ever cries and is a good sleeper and eater. She doesn't scream bloody murder in her carseat which both of the other two did for the first 3 months or so of their lives. In fact, she goes right to sleep in the car. Jarom & I can hardly believe that we have been blessed with our first expert traveler. My recovery has been a bit more difficult and longer than the other two were or maybe I just have a very short term memory when it comes to that aspect of having a baby. Today I have been thinking a lot about how fast our little ones grow up and especially about how much they change in the first year. It makes me want to stop time. I don't want Adalyn to grow up so fast. I have probably enjoyed the newborn stage the most with her so far, and I want it to last a little longer. Jacob and Mya have been so good with her for the most part. Mya likes to hug a little too much at times, but she adores Adalyn. And Jacob is so good to help me when I need an extra pair of arms to hold her for a couple minutes. I feel very blessed with my little family, and I am especially grateful for Jarom. He's been so patient with me the past couple months. I was not a fun pregnant woman the last two months of my pregnancy, and he never complained. I suppose he deserves the ski passes we bought this week!!

Change

In 5 days we get to finally meet baby #3!! I feel like I'm on this never ending roller coaster with no end in sight. First, this pregnancy has kicked my butt in every way possible. It has been by far the hardest one. I guess that is what you could expect when you're 30, chasing 2 very busy kids, and life just seems to get busier everyday. I do like to be busy but sometimes wish we could slow down just a little. Our lazy, go with the flow days are infrequent at best. Emotionally, I feel all over the place about adding to our family. Blame it on the hormones, I guess. We definitely knew over a year ago that we needed to add to our family. We didn't expect to be adding quite this quickly since it took us so long to get Mya here. But I can't help but feel sometimes that our family life feels full, not complete, just full. I guess the incomplete feeling is what drives us to have more children, right? I am excited to see and meet this little girl, but I am sad to be leaving behind this chapter of being a family of four. I'm anxious about delivering her. I have yet to be able to just bring a baby home without them needing something extra as far as care goes. I really really want to be able to do that this time. No lights, no NICU, no antibiotics, no oxygen, nothing. Just a perfectly healthy baby girl. That is what I pray for EVERY night. I'm anxious about being away from Jacob and Mya. I know they will be in good hands, and I desperately need this little vacation from them. But I will miss them!! CHANGE-so hard but so important for us to move forward in life. Hopefully next post will include a picture of our newest addition:)

Things that Matter Most

There are so many things I have wanted to rant and rave about lately, but I decided not to do that since it's giving too much energy to things that don't matter.

Jarom and I celebrated our 7th anniversary last week. I feel so blessed everyday to have him in my life. I hope the next 7 years are just as great and better than the last!

Last year of PreK

Jacob started his last year of preschool last week. He's going to Ms. Martha's who is just around the corner from us, and she is the one he went to for his first year. He was so excited to finally start while a few of his other friends had started kindergarten earlier. It's three days a week for 2 1/2 hours which has been perfect so far!! He loves going and comes home excited to tell me all about what they learned. He is writing his letters fairly well. Mostly needs to work on his small letters. He's also reading which makes me so excited!! Granted we still have a ways to go with the reading such as teaching him all the tricks of the English language, but he does great with words that make the sounds they are supposed to make. Who made up our language anyways? Never realized how difficult it is until I started trying to teach Jacob all the rules.

Labor Day

Jarom had planned a few months ago to go on a little trip with his brothers over labor day weekend, but as the summer went by and he was gone way too much for my liking with young men stuff that I asked him not to go. So I felt like we needed to do some fun things that weekend to make up for it. We went camping in the Uintas just for one night. We contemplated staying the whole weekend but the first night was rough so we called it good. I forgot to get a sleeping bag for Mya so she got a little cold with just some blankets which meant lots of crying throughout the night. The only time she slept soundly was when Jarom put her inside his sleeping bag with him, and he didn't get much sleep. We went to Provo River Falls and up to Mirror Lake before heading home. It is so pretty up there but definitely crowded.

On Labor Day we went hiking and swimming and to the skate park. The swimming part was a fail because it was too cold. The kids lasted about a half hour before they were in tears from shivering and being cold. The skate park was a hit with Jacob. He had so much fun riding his bike around in it. We were a little nervous he would get creamed by the bigger kids, but they seemed to watch for him pretty good. I have taken him back but during the day when it's less crowded.

Jacob is 5

I am still in denial that Jacob turned 5 this year. It has helped that he was so excited about this birthday. He had a really fun time celebrating. We went to the zoo a week before his birthday as has been our tradition for the past five years. Only my sweet animal loving boy can get me to the zoo on a hot Saturday in August. Plus if you missed it they had zoo-rassic this summer so he was super excited to see all the dinosaurs too. On his birthday we had a little friend party. He wanted to slip and slide and eat chocolate cupcakes so that is exactly what we did. It was the easiest party ever!! He also played his first t-ball game that night, and we had pizza with Grandma & Grandpa & Aunt Liz & Ellie. We also had some yummy chocolate dinosaur cake with ice cream.
Jacob's favorites at 5 years old:
Food: chicken nuggets, cereal, bagels with cream cheese, fruit, pizza, chili, red bell peppers, broccoli, artichokes, BROWNIES.
Toys: dinosaurs, dragons, trio pieces
Things to do: play with friends, go to school, play games on pbskids.org, play on his dad's phone, ride his bike, anything outside

Breaking Point

I reached it yesterday with running errands with my kids. I hear a lot of moms say how easy their kids are to take shopping, and I envy them. Jacob hates, hates, hates to go to the store. It doesn't matter which one or why we are going there, he will fight me tooth and nail. Mya used to be pretty easy going especially if it was just her. Well, lately, she doesn't want to ride in the cart. She wants to walk everywhere which means running and me constantly telling her to stay put. Or if we have a car cart at the grocer store she is in and out up and down every aisle. An errand that should take 20 minutes ends up taking an hour. Then there's them asking for treats and toys and me telling them no over and over and over. So I have a game plan: once a month shopping. That is my goal to do one major trip once a month with smaller trips in between for produce, milk, etc. Things that won't stay good for a month. The one thing I dread every week is making a menu, creating a grocery list, and shopping. I HATE it. I hated it before I got married and before I had kids so that is not new. But trying to do these things with them is making it worse. So I will be making a master meal list with a master grocery list. bonus: the less time I spend doing these things means more time doing things with my kids instead of around them. We are all much happier when we spend the day playing and even cleaning up the house than trying to run errands.

Summer Time

This summer has flown by so fast. I know most kids are heading back to school next week so today is their last day of summer. Luckily for me, Jacob still has two and half weeks before preschool starts so we have some time to work on getting him out of bed before 9:00 a.m :) I never thought I would see the day when he would sleep that late. Now he plays so hard that I'm lucky to see him much earlier than 8 or 8:30 each morning. I'm so glad he's not starting kindergarten this year. I really feel like we made the right decision. I just can't wrap my head around sending him off to the big school on the day he turns 5.

Anyways, this summer has been a roller coaster for sure. Lots of things have contributed to that, and I am looking forward to fall with a lot of mixed emotions but mostly with a hope that things will settle down and that all the people I care about who have struggled this summer can overcome their trials.

Bear Lake

This has been one of my most favorite things that we do with Jarom's family. And it is probably going to be a few years before we can go up during the best time of the year to be at Bear Lake. August is prime time up there! The kids had a blast and were so worn out by the end of the weekend. We played in the lake, went swimming, launched rockets, rode bikes, etc. When we left Jacob kept saying, "Grandma is sooo lucky she gets to stay til Friday." I put pictures of Bear Lake up on facebook but will try to add some here later when blogger is cooperating better.

Seven Peaks-SLC

One of our summer fun destinations this year. The kids love it!! I love that at the SL park he can go on most of the tube slides with an adult. I got fired from taking him after we flipped out of the tube at the top of one of the slides. It was hard enough to get him to try again with his dad let alone me. Mya loves the kiddie area since it's so shallow. She can go wherever she wants and she does! They have a few little slides in that area, but she's not a fan even when her dad takes her down. Her eyes get really big and she says no, no, no. She's heading into that "do everything myself" phase so taking her into the wave pool or lazy river can be frustrating because she doesn't want to be held, but she can't touch throughout the wave pool or in the river at all. It's mind boggling because at home she wants me to carry her up and down the stairs. I tried to add pictures here, but blogger is not cooperating with me today.

Stuff

I feel horrible. A couple days ago I was looking through my archives and realized I used to be a lot better at blogging and how grateful I am that I have those posts with pictures included. Things I had already forgotten. I feel sick at all the photo worthy moments I have missed the past 4-5 months because I lost our camera and the backup wasn't working. Luckily, we have a few pictures from Jarom's phone, but they aren't the best quality and there are still a lot of times where I'm wishing I had a camera to reach for. So we finally ordered a new one, and I am anxious to get some summer time pictures of my kids and start blogging/journaling again. Hopefully I will be able to get some of our fun things posted on here before they are long past.

Things kids say

I used to be really good at writing down the funny things Jacob says. I have not done that in so long, and I regret it. Here are a couple of goodies from the past week or so:

His little buddy Drew was here playing one day and the two boys had this conversation (side note: Drew's dad is one of the BIGGEST BYU fans I have ever met in my life):
D: I want a blue cup because I really like BYU blue.
a few second later...
J: Mom, Drew says the Utah Utes are stinky. (All I could do was chuckle because Jacob was so concerned and didn't know what to say in return).
D: The Utah Utes are stinky.
J: No, they're not.
Back and forth a few times then...
D: Well, we, me & my dad, say they're stinky because we just don't like them.
J: The Utah Utes are not stinky.
D: Well, it's ok. We're still best friends!!
J: Yeah, let's play.

Hilarious!! I was laughing so hard.

Then a few nights ago, Jacob came in our room about 3:00 am upset because he'd had a nightmare. He told us that wolves were trying to kill him in his dream. So Jarom told him that next time he just needs to get his gun out to kill them first. Jacob's response: "But my gun's in timeout."

Speaking of nightmares, Jacob has consistently been having bad dreams and is a little nervous to go to sleep at night. I don't know what to do. We talk about happy things and what he should think about while he falls asleep. And we always say a prayer too. A few nights ago he said, "Mom, I have a feeling." Me: "What kind of feeling?" J: "just a feeling." I finally realized he was scared to go to sleep so I told him everything's ok and that we are safe in our house. He said, "Well, the problem is that those clothes in my closet look like monsters." I shut the closet doors, and he slept fine that night.

Disclaimer!

I got some laundry soap today so I am now getting my laundry done. And I made a new batch of dish detergent yesterday too so my dishes are done :)

I just have to say that although the past two months have been hard, and things are not always taken care of the way I like, there is one person who has made it easier to bear. Jarom is my rock. He has come home from work every night and taken care of the kids. That means playing with them, feeding them, putting them to bed. EVERY night for that past couple months. My kids adore their dad and their little faces light up as bright as the sun when he gets home everyday. So I don't ask more from him. He is doing what is most important to me. When we were in California, he took Jacob out to play during Mya's naps to keep him happy and busy. This meant I got 3 or more hours to just sit and read. EVERYDAY that we were there! Besides taking care of the kids at night, he has been doing the dishes, vacuuming,going on runs to the store for cheesecake along with working overtime, taking care of the yard, & doing YM stuff. So yeah, maybe I could give him my list and send him to get my soap when I run out, but I am not very good at asking for help when he is already doing so much. Plus, he bought me a steam cleaner for Mother's Day/Birthday. It's like magic :)

Almost There

These past two months have been incredibly busy. And I have been sick & tired for two months I feel like I'm barely hanging on most days. I admit, it's been rough! I can't get to the store so I have not done laundry in over a week. I have stacks of dishes and a full dishwasher full of dishes because I ran out of dish detergent. My fridge and cupboards are bare. The Easter bunny didn't even make it to our house this year :(. Not to mention my house is a disaster. And did I mention I have laundry coming out my ears? I think we have too many clothes though. If we can all go almost two weeks without me doing laundry and still have clean stuff to wear, it's time to clean out!! BUT...there is a light at the end of the tunnel. No traveling on weekends til the 21st. I finish up school TONIGHT-yahoo! Only one more time teaching preschool. And minus feeling a little sick around bedtime, I am finally feeling better and can actually cook dinner for my family without running to the bathroom. Yes, we are expecting #3. I have been more sick than I ever was with the others and when you have two other kids to take care of, it's hard. I got really really sick in February. Couldn't get out of bed, I haven't been that sick in years kind of sick and I never quite got back to the grind of everyday life when I finally got over the flu or whatever it was I had. Sadly, the morning sickness didn't go away but it did ease off a little around 14 weeks. We went on vacation to California, and I only took pictures on one day. I didn't even take the camera on our camping trip. But I am finally feeling more normal and will be able to catch up on everything that has been neglected the past two months. I have big plans though so I don't see the blog jumping to the top of my list of priorities. But I guess I need to blog about all the fun stuff we do since I haven't done that in months.

It's Time

For my annual winter blues post. I am pretty sure that about this same time every year all I want to do is complain about winter. So if you don't want to read I don't blame you. I am tired of it. Somebody in my house has been sick at one time or another the whole month of February. We went from colds to the stomach flu and now back to colds. Luckily, Jacob is the only one with a cold this time, but who knows if it will stay that way. Jarom is gone a lot. He's been shopping for a new car, and that has taken up a lot of his free time. Then there's his church responsibilities and his job. Not to mention skiing when he gets a chance. I love that he is so passionate about something, but I am ready for ski season to be done for this year. My kids have cabin fever. Mya will get her jacket and shoes and stand by the door crying to go outside. She hates getting in her carseat because she just wants to run and play. Poor girl!! We enjoyed the nice, warm, sunny weather a little too much a few weeks ago. Jacob wants to play with his friends EVERYDAY, but they have all been sick this month too. He hasn't played with his best buddy in almost 2 months because of sickness :( I am tired of trying to juggle school work, my calling which I am doing solo now, teaching preschool, the house, cooking, laundry, etc. I want summer to be here so I can relax more and just play with my kids. On the bright side, we have lots of fun things planned for spring!! Oceanside in March. Biking trip and hiking in April. St. George in May. Now to get my motivation back to get through the next couple of weeks!!!

This week

What can I say about the past week? Not much really. We are boring. Jarom and I went on a date last weekend. We went hiking. In the dark. In the snow. It was so much fun!! I got to try out my new snowshoes while Jarom telemarked (skiing that's sort of a cross between x-country and alpine). We finally started fixing our mess of a basement. We painted, and wow! It makes such a huge difference. The kids are cute and fun and busy as always. Except Jacob is pushing my limits sometimes. Good thing I love him.

Bedtime

Those of you who know Jacob well know that he has a little OCD. I don't know how else to describe it other than that. The best example is his bedtime routine. It is exactly the same every night. He has about 5 different things he absolutely has to say or he can't go to sleep. If he forgets, I have to go back in his room every time. It is to the point where I prompt him to get everything out the first time so that I am not in and out all evening. Here is a rundown of how the things that have to be said:
"Love you!" Cannot be I love you. Just love you
"Goodnight!"
"Mom, everytime I wake I up, I look out my window and if it's still dark then I lay back down in my bed, pull my covers back up and go back to sleep. But if it's day then I will get out of my bed and get ready to have breakfast." He says this EVERY night in the same order.
I usually tell him I have to do a few things like the dishes or laundry or get ready for bed. His response is always the same. "Mom, when you are done will you come back and snuggle with me again? Will you snuggle with me for 100 seconds? Cause that's only 100, uh?"
And last but not least. "Mom, I am the momma tiger, and this is my baby tiger." In reference to his stuffed tiger that he likes to sleep with. He used to have a baby bear too, but he has since decided that Mya can sleep with the bear.

He really cannot go to sleep without saying all of these things. I love him!!!!!!

This Blog & a New Year

I have been mulling over the blog for awhile. I haven't posted anything very meaningful for months. I missed important events such as Mya's first birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, December (the whole month), Christmas....I have zero patience and not enough time to try to post all the backlog. I have thought about just deleting the whole thing, but I decided against that because it has some things that aren't in my regular journal. So I am going to go back to this being about our family and what's going on with us. My plan is to update at least weekly with fun things we have been doing, funny things the kids say and do, etc.

A new year. 2010 was a good year for us. But I am really excited about 2011. I am not sure what it is exactly, but I have not felt this hopeful and excited about a new year in a long time. A couple months ago, I had this whole plan for our family and when I went to discuss it with Jarom not one thing came out right. It just sounded so completely absurd. It was a reality check or a wakeup call rather that Someone else has a plan for our family. And who am I to question it?? Should be a really fun year for us!!!