And So It Goes...

This Little Piggy...

2010-04-23T12:04:00.000-07:00

I'll do just about anything for a free something. Make that free something a pedicure and I'm sold! Check out the contest happening over at EdenCrest Day Spa. These people will make your feet pretty! (And seriously... who doesn't want pretty toes?!?)

Just Kickin' It

2010-04-09T14:31:00.000-07:00

Life is awesome. Totally worth dancing about. And then you trip and fall. And seriously... you're already down there, so why not take a nap? My kid totally gets me.

Here We Go

2010-03-30T19:12:00.000-07:00

Well it's done. No turning back now, right? I mean, you can't just put down money to hold a lot, and then actually go and order a house to be built (putting MORE money down on that) and then change your mind, can you? No, I suppose not. Not that I want to change my mind. Still, sometimes I have to remind myself that it's not even an option anymore. Not without losing a lot of money and sleep over it. (Both of which I happen to hold quite dear, and would really hate to lose).

What's that you say? We're building a house? Oh yeah... hadn't I mentioned that? Maybe not. Well, since you asked... yes, Rick and I decided that we've put our due time in. We've rented for our entire lives together (7 years!) and it's (FINALLY) time to get into our own home. After over a year of watching the market and looking at both existing homes and builders galore, we decided to build. So, for those of you who live/know the area and want the details, here ya go:

We're building with Olin Homes. We looked at almost all the builders and decided that they would give us the most house for our dollar. Our floor plan is a two-story and has 1947 Sq.Ft. They are located back behind the Trac, pretty close to where they are building the new chapel. (We're thinking it's 1st Ward, but don't quote me on that). They guaranteed closing no later than June 30th, so we're pretty stoked.

Excuse me while I go hyperventilate for a minute... something about blogging about it makes it very... REAL. Alright well... you can all consider yourself warned. If every post between now and then is oozing with boring house details, you can't say I didn't try to warn you.

Help!

2010-03-10T20:29:00.000-08:00

Alright, I'm reaching out to my fellow Tri-Cities bloggers. I'm in the market for two doctors. First, I need a good pediatrician for the boys. Anybody you can recommend? Anybody you would definitely stay away from? We've got one now, but he doesn't really give me the warm fuzzies I'm looking for. And alright... I'll admit it. When looking up some info on our insurance website the other day... I noticed that our current pediatrician is 70 years old. Would that bother anyone else? I mean, wowza... I love grandpas as much as the next gal, but seriously, as a pediatrician? It just bugs me for some reason. And don't go picturing some sweet little grandpa that loves kids and plays all cute with them. Our pediatrician has more of the "grumpy old man" personality. When I found out he was 70, well, lets just say that totally explained a lot. Anyhow, now you can see why I'm in need of some recommendations.

So, the second Dr. I need is a good OB-GYN. No, we're not pregnant, but it's about that time of year when I have to face the music (or that cold metal thingy, as the case may be) and bite the bullet. I could avoid this forever, but lets face it... what wouldn't I do for a good solid hour without my kids? So I need the goods, ladies. Don't be shy. And again, I'll take the bad with the good. Even if you don't know who I should see... don't hesitate to tell me who I shouldn't see.

Help a sister out and I promise that the next boring post wont be so, er... boring. :-)

I Hate to Admit...

2010-03-02T22:06:00.000-08:00

I'm totally stealing this idea. I read about it first here, and then of course read the additional sister versions here and here. That lead to my own sister's edition, which of course meant that I couldn't resist.

I hate to admit...

That I'm addicted to anything fizzy. No, scratch that... because that wouldn't even be so bad. I'm actually addicted to anything NOT DIET that's fizzy. Trust me people, I've tried to like the other stuff. It's just wrong. When I hear people say they can't live without their DIET COKE (or any diet soda, for that matter) I experience extreme feelings of negativity... usually directed at them. (Sorry, Shayla... I still love you)

That I will try in the very near future to, yet AGAIN, make myself like diet soda. What was that definition of insanity I once heard?

That I really dislike visiting teaching. That, my friends, is putting it mildly. I hate that I have to do it (or rather, should do it). I hate that other people (aka women I don't know) have to come visit me when I would rather them NOT. I realize it's infinite potential for both giving and receiving blessings, but seriously... do we have to bring my social anxiety into my home?

That I'm starting Weight Watchers (AGAIN) tomorrow. Need I say more?

That my bathrooms have gone months at a time without seeing any Clorox and most of the time I just really don't care.

That I'm glad the original owners of this house had such terrible taste in kitchen flooring. I can now go ~~months~~ weeks without mopping and nobody can even tell.

That I just had to do a google search to figure out how to use strikethrough in blogger.

That I have a sister who does oober-cool designs for many-a-person's blog, but I haven't even asked her to do mine. Am I a loser for using pre-made templates?

That I secretly like Hamburger Helper and make it for my family.

That it only just occurred to me that there are apparently A LOT of people who think that Hamburger Helper is disgusting and I might need to be embarrassed by my last admission.

I kind of wish they'd call me to some really high-ranked calling, but every time I get ANY calling I always end up wishing I didn't have to do so much work. (Okay, any work, but still...)

That my sister thinks that she's a loser and that I'm cool. I happen to think that I'm a loser and that she's cool. Does that make both of us cool or both of us losers?

That I'm a total blog-stalker. If you're not sure who's out there secretly reading your blog, don't worry... it's just me.

That I'm more addicted to my child's pacifier than he is. Can you say plug, anyone?

That I wish it were socially acceptable for my 4 (almost 5) year old to have a pacifier. I can't get that kid to shut up sometimes. What's worse is that the 10% that is sooooo adorable, almost makes up for the 90% that makes me want to blow my brains out.

That it's after 11 o'clock and I'm seriously considering eating something more. (After all... if I'm starting WW tomorrow, then this is kind of my "last night".)

That I compare the way I feel about starting Weight Watchers tomorrow to the way a criminal would feel the day before heading to the electric chair. (See above... last meal, anyone?)

That I've spent an hour on this post and we haven't even hit the tip of this iceberg!

Plan A

2010-01-23T20:14:00.000-08:00

I'm grumpy today. I'm all snappy and sarcastic and my poor boys have had to put up with me all day. I don't even have any good excuses for it. Well... maybe a few.

Oh, hadn't you heard? I'm suddenly single. Yeah, my husband up and disappeared again. Okay, well... it wasn't really all that sudden.... and he didn't exactly "disappear" either. (See what I mean about the sarcasm?) He's back to Oklahoma for the next month. More training in the world of Air Traffic Control. He left me all alone here in the world of peanut butter and stinky diapers.

In an attempt to put an end to this mood I'm in, I'm going to take a walk on the bright side of things. Just so you know, if this doesn't work, my "plan B" is to plop down on the couch, watch some mind numbing TV, and eat everything that isn't good for me. Hmmm... now that I think about it... Plan B sounds WAY better than that bright side crap. ... But since I'm already here...

- A month is a long time without your spouse. Having said that... it is WAY shorter than the three months he was gone last time. Plus... we're in our own house this time. Plus... I'm not 8 months pregnant. Plus... I don't have to move us in or out by myself.

-A month in training means one majorly awesome thing: We have a job. Rick is progressing in this job and really likes it. This will be the last time he'll have to go back to OK for any extended amount of time. A month without my husband is so worth the sacrifice if it equals a lifetime in a great career.

-This time a month in training means a month of regular salary PLUS any per diem that Rick doesn't spend while there. Last time he went through training we had no income. It was a little scary.

-For the next month I don't get to sleep in even ONCE. I now have not only "mommy brain" but weirdly enough, I also have "daddy brain". No girls night out, no impromptu trips to the store (or anywhere, for that matter). If I need something after the boys are in bed, that's just too bad because it'll have to wait until morning, when I'll have the joy of loading them into the car and taking them with me. Having said all that, for the next month I get to wake up to sweet hugs and kisses. I get constant reminders of how simply wonderful life can be. I get to spend my days with the 2 greatest kids on earth. I get to see this every day:

and this:

-This month may be a rough one, but there is one major thing that's going to make it absolutely awesome. For over 2 weeks of it, I'll be taking the boys back to Albuquerque. Lots of aunts and uncles and cousins and Grandpa and Grandma time! We are so excited! Every day Noah goes to the calender and we count how many days are left until we go.

-I tease Rick a lot about all the freedom he'll have and "livin' the bachelor life again", but in all seriousness, it's not exactly a vacation for him, either. Being away from family can be really hard and I know that you can't be the awesome dad that Rick is, without really missing your kids when you're gone.

-A month is a long time to be separated. But speaking from last years' experience, distance really does make the heart grow fonder! There's nothing like keeping a family apart to make them appreciate how much they love being together.

Alright. I'll admit it. I'm feeling much better. But just to really solidify things... I think I'm going to have to follow through with Plan B. I mean, really... it would be irresponsible of me not to, right? I have my children to think of, after all. If I don't do EVERYTHING in my power to make sure I'm not so grumpy tomorrow, then I haven't really done my job as a mother, don't you think? Yes. It would be down right WRONG of me not to sit and veg and eat. I'm glad we agree.

What Was I Saying?

2009-09-20T21:56:00.000-07:00

I am sucking on a grape jolly rancher right now while staring at my computer screen. It's already September (in fact it's almost October!), and I haven't blogged since June. Will my diligent blog followers eventually give up and stop following? It suddenly doesn't seem so important because my grape jolly rancher has dwindled down to nothing and I have to grab another, only this one is cherry. And I'm wondering why I ate the grape one first... because anyone who knows me knows that I always save the best for last, and anybody who's anybody knows that grape is better than cherry.

And what in the world made me think that only 2 jolly ranchers would be enough? Rick and I went exploring model homes the other day. One very brilliant builder must have known we were coming. Their model home had a plethora of toys set up in the corner for my boys. (How thoughtful!) And then on the counter there was a whole jar filled with colorful jolly ranchers. I gave Noah one. (Grape, of course... I am a very generous mother, if nothing else) Cade glanced in our direction looking utterly betrayed. Had the jolly ranchers come on a stick, I would have caved and given him one, too. As it were, I'm pretty sure there weren't any. (I was secretly relieved because Cade can make a disaster out of a sucker. The child has more saliva than a full-grown St. Bernard.) And then, feeling more than a little proud of myself for thinking ahead, I quietly poked 2 more jolly ranchers into my pocket in case the next builder didn't like giving children candy.

I took a grape one, and then a red one. (Because everyone knows that you're almost always safe with red). Well, by the time we left that builder, all of the other's had closed. So we went home. And I didn't have to appease my oldest with more candy, after all. And I could keep it all for myself. (I've never denied having a very demanding sweet tooth). I hid them in the cupboard where Noah couldn't reach them, and Rick wouldn't notice them. (His teeth are not nearly as demanding as mine, but sometimes he gets the urge... and then my teeth get mad because they were saving that sweet for a very specific time!)

So tonight I sat down at the computer and began the essentials. (There was a lot of reading, clicking, scanning, and scrolling). You know how it is... Then I decided it was definitely time for some uploading. And out came the camera. And then, amongst all the technology, my teeth started quietly requesting something sweet. Or was that my stomach? Sometimes it's hard to tell. It really could have been my tongue, too. That happens from time to time. Well, whatever it was, it didn't have to ask me twice. (My head, after all, knows how to pick it's fights... and there was no winning this one.)

And then the oddest thing happened. I reached into my little hiding spot and, without thinking, simply grabbed whichever one came first and plopped it into my mouth! How careless! How utterly lackadaisical of me! (By the way... I have to confess that I looked in a thesaurus and found that word... do you love me more or less because I'm just that weird?) So... I sat down in front of my computer. I clicked my way onto my blog. I clicked to start a New Post. And then... the grapeness was gone. And everyone knows you can't write anything worth while if you're teeth (or stomach or tongue) are too loud. So I went back for the second one. And it was red. But instead of a strawberry red (which everyone ALSO knows is the best of all the reds), it was a cherry red. Which, okay, let's be honest here. It's alright. I mean... it's definitely not green apple (eewww) or that new blue one (what's that all about?!). So it could be way worse. But cherry? Left for last? What was a I thinking?!?

And now it's gone, too. My sweet tooth is satisfied. My stomach is appeased. But my tongue? Well.. my tongue is not at all happy. And I realize that perhaps it was my tongue all along. And I blew it. Now I'm going to have to go find something else to officially leave for last. And suddenly... I remember there might just be a few M & M's left hiding in the cupboard...

Let Me Count the Ways...

2009-06-09T20:52:00.000-07:00

I love my blog.

You would not be able to guess this sweet little nugget of information from actually reading my blog, however. You see, when it comes to blogging, I've got my directional compass all skeewamped*. I don't have any problems coming UP with something to write about. There are many times throughout the day that I find myself mind blogging a really great post. It's narrowing it DOWN that really gets me in the end. (Do you see how I cleverly inserted directions just then? Get it? Up? Down? This is what I mean by really great posts.)

So, here we are, months since my last post and I've got oodles of ideas floating in my head. I could write about how it finally stopped raining (only I'd use lots of those cleverly inserted word games to try to trick you into thinking that my telling you about the weather was super mind blowing.)

I considered granting an entire post to our trip to Seattle over Memorial Day weekend. My cousin-in-law (is that real?) reminded me of how long it had really been since I'd graced everyone with my literary talents. That one would include lots of pictures of my adorable boys. And lets face it... any posts that include those cuties are even more mind blowing than the weather.

I seriously considered doing another "100 About Me" post. I did one back when I first started my blog (over 2 years ago?!?). Then, after thinking of less than 10 things, I remembered how HARD it is to come up with that much stuff! (And seriously... a "9 Things About Me" post just doesn't quite have the same ring to it.)

I could give updates about our daily lives... Rick's job, the kids, the Russian lady across the street... but then I'd have to come up with some way to make it seem like our lives were... I don't know... interesting... or something like that. (Rick's job is great, by the way. He just checked out on Ground Control today. If you don't know what that is, just trust me... it's awesome. Also, Cade still isn't walking but that full red head of hair just keeps on coming. Noah is currently OBSESSED with Transformers. Ask him to make the noise that they make when they transform. There are no words to describe. Oh, and the Russian lady? She has officially removed her fake flowers and replaced them with real ones. Not a day goes by that you can't find her in her yard. I invite any of you to come over to sit and watch her with me. There is no better way to pass the time, people. I kid you not. I've got some seriously awesome theories about this lady.)

I've got a great post brewing about therapy and hypnotic weight loss, but it's not quite ready yet. We'll see if I can fix my blogging compass enough to actually get that one written.

So do you see my problem here? My literary genius just cannot be controlled. If I let loose, you're all going to end up trying to comprehend endless pages of word vomit.

So there you have it. I have blogged. I have loved.

The End.

*Skeewamped, is in fact, a word. I know this because I have very fond memories of my mother using it to frequently describe such things as the Christmas tree or perhaps a hanging on the wall. And while you may not find it in a dictionary, (although I can't be sure... I've never actually checked), I'm pretty sure if it were there, Mr. Webster would have spelled it wrong. The correct spelling is, most definitely, the way I spelled it above.

Green Thumbs And Plastic Produce

2009-04-01T14:09:00.000-07:00

It's raining.

Again.

I'm fairly certain that the grass is actually getting greener as I type this. Did I mention how much grass there is up here? We have a fantastic backyard that's all fenced in with more grass than I'm sure Noah could have ever conjured up in his own little imagination. And the front yard? Yep... more grass. We even have a little plot all ready and waiting for us to plant a garden. I think about it almost every day. I've never grown anything in a garden before. I'm fairly good at growing babies, but vegetables? This frightens me a little. My green thumb isn't nearly as green as our grass. I have a rough time keeping my poor little house plants alive.

Our neighbor that lives directly across the street from us is Russian. Rick said he overheard her talking, and it was later confirmed from another neighbor that she barely speaks a lick of English. She's this cute little old lady and she obviously believes that flowers should grow year round. She's got one of those cute little white picket fences that borders her entire front yard. And then along her walkway, she has planted (yes, I mean actually put in the dirt) dozens of little plastic flowers. I kid you not. It's a very colorful introduction to her front door. I'm told that once the weather is nice enough to grow real flowers, she will dig up the plastic ones and replace them with their living counterparts.

She is out there everyday tending to her yard. I'm not quite sure what kind of maintenance plastic flowers require, but it must be very demanding. She is quite devoted. And then I wonder if perhaps she has a little vegetable garden in her back yard. Maybe she could teach me a thing or two about keeping things alive. Or maybe I should go plant some plastic zucchini or tomatoes in my garden. This lady might really be on to something here. I might be able to keep plastic produce alive, after all. Hmmm...

Does anyone know how to say pumpkin in Russian?

Still In One Piece...

2009-03-31T22:21:00.000-07:00

Well, we've arrived. And by that I mean, we got here about 3 weeks ago but I've just barely been able to wade through the boxes and find my way to a computer. More specifically my blog. But we're here. And now the moving part is over and the settling part can begin. The ward has been great so far. We live within walking distance from my sister and that has been SUPER FANTASTIC. The drivers are nicer up here. The weather leaves something to be desired, but we left during the perfect season in Albuquerque and people keep promising me that it'll get much better . I didn't realize how dependent I was on getting that sunshine everyday.

Rick started his job and so far everything is going just fine. He says the people are really very nice and the training up here isn't quite as intense. He's still enduring a lot of studying and memorizing before he really gets started so we'll see how things go in the future.

The boys are starting to get adjusted. Cade has been crawling since he was 6 months old, but only finally submitted to that when he realized that it was the fastest way to get himself over to something that he could pull himself up on. He's 8 months now and pulling himself up to everything. He cruises like a pro and is determined to walk before much longer.

Noah is doing really well with all the changes. He talks a lot about missing his Grandma & Grandpa Reed and all his cousins, but really enjoys his 2 cousins (Natalie & Kenzie) up here. We've had to endure a few more tantrums here and there, but overall, he's doing okay adjusting.

I'm just not so sure what to make of all of this. I've inherited a lot of my Dad's genes... he would always get this "itch" to move... to have another adventure, and I totally get that from him. Our entire marriage I'm always looking for a new place to live, ready to take a leap into the unknown. Most of the time I have to settle for rearranging the furniture to ease the urge. But now? Now that we actually up and left and "took that leap into the unknown"? My goodness, people! Why didn't anybody tell me how much moving sucks?!? Changing banks, and re-registering your car (which costs a FORTUNE by the way), and always feeling lost because you just threw the dumb map out the window and now you REALLY don't know where you are. This is soooo not an adventure! Someone who has done this before, puh-lease tell me how long this will last.?. How long does it take for a "new" place to become "home"?

Whew! Now that I got that off my chest, have I mentioned just how totally awesome it is that I get to live so close to my sister? Seriously. If your sister isn't your best friend, and you don't live only a few blocks away, then you all should majorly consider a) getting a sister, if you don't have one, b) becoming best friends, and then c) move down the street already!

And suddenly... moving doesn't seem so bad.

For Real This Time

2009-03-01T20:44:00.000-08:00

I've had a lot on my mind this week. Mostly because this whole moving thing (while not all that simple to begin with) turned out to be a lot more complicated than we were originally led to believe. If you've read any of my past posts from the previous year, I sure wish you would have reminded me how long it takes the government to do anything. Needless to say, today is March 1st, and we are still here in Albuquerque. That, however, is going to change within the next week. Rick's starting date up in Pasco has been changed to the 15th, and this time the paperwork has all been completed and there's no more delays. Yay. I think.?.

It's funny how you worry about something soooo much, and then, once the problem has resolved itself, you don't really get to stop worrying. Instead, you just start worrying about something new. At least that's how it's been for us the past few weeks.

So today was my last Sunday here in Albuquerque. Sundays have traditionally been "family" days. Whether Rick's family or mine, we've had very few lonely Sundays throughout the whole of our marriage. Today Rick had to work, so I loaded up the boys and headed out to my brother's house. It wasn't much different from most, but I kept finding myself pausing every now and then. There are a few things that are going to be VERY hard to say goodbye to. So, in my own little way, here is my tribute to Albuquerque and all it contains:

-Somehow, this place that I hated in the beginning, managed to allure 4 out of the 8 siblings in my family. And while this list might contain many other things, family is by far the #1 thing that I am going to miss the most. While families together almost always tend to equal drama, I suppose it's that drama that creates some of the best memories.

-Dry, windy, desert? Yes. The best word to describe this place? UGLY. Having said that, I have to admit that Albuquerque has some of the best sunsets known to man.

-I've said it before and I'll say it again: this place might not be the #1 vacation spot in the world, but if you haven't come to see the Balloon Fiesta in the fall, then you really ought to. Hundreds of hot air balloons in the sky all at once? 'Nough said.

-The "war" between the Eastside and the Westside will never end. I've lived on both sides and since I still have family occupying them both, I remain silent on my opinion as to which is "better". Now that Rio Rancho has decided to join in the battle, there will never be peace between our families.

-While I still can't speak a lick of Spanish, I feel pretty comfortable translating the street names around here. Elm Street? Main Street? Numbered streets?!? NEVER!

-I'm a little nervous about transitioning back over to siding. Siding DOES NOT exist down here. It's stucco. EVERYWHERE. Washingtonians probably don't even know what an adobe home is. (There will, most assuredly, be more posts about this once we've moved)

-Some say we'll end up back here in a few years. Others say we'll never come back for more than a visit. No matter what happens, after 5 different homes, 2 babies, 6 anniversaries, and countless memories, Albuquerque will always be "home" to us.

While this list could go on and on, these boxes are staring at me from across the room. It's time to get movin'. Literally. As they say, this story is to be continued...

Moving? Again? Really?!?

2009-02-10T13:24:00.000-08:00

Life is funny. And I don't really mean haha funny. But more like the kind of funny that happens when you stub your toe while on your way to the bathroom in the middle of the night. The kind of funny that really hurts when you're the one it happens to, but makes your husband laugh right out loud when he wakes up and finds you hopping around on one foot cursing under your breath all while glaring at him from across the room. The kind of funny that you can't really appreciate until you're looking back at it in the light of day.

That has been my life over the past 6 weeks. Funny. Unfortunately, I'm still kind of stuck in that hopping around on one foot part of it, and haven't really gotten to the actual funny part yet. In an attempt to keep things fairly short and sweet, I'll just give you the Cliffs Notes:

After Christmas, Rick started having a pretty rough time at work. There's about a million reasons that contributed to that, which I wont go into, but we found ourselves in a pretty tight situation. Rick's training was put on hold and after getting a lot of great advise from some coworkers of his, we decided that it was time to try and transfer out of Albuquerque. There are technically rules that say you're not allowed to transfer until you're checked out on all the positions, but we pushed a little harder and were able to get the ball rolling. So yesterday, after about a month (and LOTS of government red tape), we just found out that our transfer has been approved. It looks like our days here in the land of enchantment are coming to an end. Actually... they are coming to a screeching halt if you really want to know. They are asking for Rick to start up in Pasco, Washington on March 1st. Yep, it looks like I'm headed back up north. That leaves things here in Albuquerque pretty crazy right now. After trying to get out of here for the past 6 years, now that it's finally happening I've got some seriously mixed emotions. The good news, is that I don't even have 2 seconds to stop and let myself actually FEEL them. Somehow, we've got to find a way out of our lease (which isn't up until June), pack up our entire lives, find a home up in Washington, and actually get ourselves up to Washington... all before March 1st.

So if you don't see another post from me for a while, you'll know why. Wish us luck and I'll update you with new contact info as soon as we have it.

Deja Vu

2009-01-06T09:59:00.000-08:00

You know it's really sad when you sign on to update your blog and you realize that your background is back from THANKSGIVING! Ah, well... ti's the season, right? I've changed it in the hopes that nobody has noticed.

So, it's 2009, and it's a little odd to look back and realize that I came completely full circle over the past 365 days. Just to really drive home the craziness that was 2008, I'm going to take a moment to recap:

I rang in 2008 on my knees. Literally. Praying to the porcelain gods to please just make it stop. Smack dab in the middle of those first dreaded 16 weeks of my pregnancy (this time it was more like 18 weeks, but who's counting?). I remember looking at the clock just long enough to realize that the new year had commenced, and then swiftly got back to the much more pressing matter at hand.

After over 8 months of waiting and wondering, we finally confirmed that Rick had been offered a job with the FAA. (Little did we know it would be almost another 4 months before things actually began happening).

By the time April rolled around, we found ourselves moving out of our home and waving goodbye to a husband and father.

We moved into Rick's parents' home for 6 weeks.

Then we moved to Utah to be with my parents for 6 weeks.

One quick trip to visit Daddy in Oklahoma for a week.

And then we moved BACK in with Rick's parents to bring it all home.

Eight months pregnant and I started the house search by myself. It was June and HOT and I remember waddling from house to house trying to find one that would fit our needs. It was about this time when I realized that I might be just a little bit CRAZY for agreeing to do this. I found a house, and minus a husband that usually takes care of the moving part, I begged any breathing male within the city limits to take pity on me and help me get moved in. The next thing I know, I'm alone with my 3 year old son, surrounded by boxes, and the air conditioning in our new home doesn't work! After getting it fixed, we settled in to survive the last week before Rick would come home and make everything right again.

Cue Knight in Shining Armour. My husband came home just in time to welcome Mr. Kermy into the world and start his new job working as an air traffic controller here in Albuquerque.

The last 6 months of 2008 flew by in a flash. Rick has been buried neck deep in training that seems to never end. Noah is going to be four soon and hopefully starting preschool next fall. Cade is forever a beacon of light in our house. The boy almost never stops smiling. And I... well..

New Year's Eve came faster than ever and, wouldn't you believe it, that afternoon I started to feel not so great. By dinner time I was passing on any festivities and heading for my bed. Ironic, but I ended up closing 2008 exactly the way it started. There I found myself, once again, on the cold tile floor of my bathroom down on my knees. With only a flu bug to blame this time (don't get any crazy ideas), midnight rolled around and I took a moment to glance up at the clock. What a ride it's been. Happy Freakin' New Year.

Laziness

2008-11-10T15:18:00.000-08:00

So, I know I could do a google search. I realize that I could find out this information for myself. Having said that, I would like to fully admit that I'm just too darn lazy for all that and so I've decided to post about it and I'm sure that one of you can help me.

Please someone tell me where/how I can get one of those cute little things that you can put as your picture? Like down were you can "follow my blog", there's these cute little squares that represent who you are. I know how I can make that my own picture, but seriously... pictures of myself are the bane of my existence right now, so I need something cute and fun. Shayla and Heather, you both have something different, so share the love! Where can I get one?

Thank you. That is all.

Need I Say More?

2008-11-07T09:10:00.000-08:00

True to my word, my last post was not about the boys. Having pointed that out, I just cannot possibly wait any longer to share these adorable photos of Mr. Kermy. He's just so completely edible!

My child is a genius. He has already set tremendous goals for himself and practices every day to achieve them. The above picture, for instance, is him practicing to fit his ENTIRE fist into his mouth. Yes, people... the whole thing. Now wait... you say that's not enough to get him into Harvard? Well, we'll see... you can all just wait 18 years and then eat your words. Kind of like the way he's eating his hand...

And this is Mr. Kermy smiling after filling out his application to Harvard...

And this is Mr. Kermy laughing because he got accepted into Harvard all while everyone thought that eating your own fist doesn't make you a genius.

Really, need I say more?

Spreadin' the Joy

2008-11-03T20:54:00.000-08:00

I was sitting in Olive Garden the other night (my birthday dinner with the Reed family) and was having the hardest time not eavesdropping on the table next to ours. (I had chicken fettuccine, by the way... yummm) Okay, so I wasn't really trying very hard not to listen, but don't judge me... they were talking super loud. Anyways, at first they were talking politics, and I immediately got nauseous and tuned them out. (It was so nice to receive those 8 million messages on my machine yesterday asking me to vote for every politician with a pulse, but I am SOOOO ready for this election to be over!) Well, then their conversation turned to Halloween and Trick or Treating (it was that night) and I couldn't help but tilt my head back in their direction. You know what this chick said?!? She said that someone very important that lived somewhere very renowned did a very famous study that concluded that there are roughly 8000 calories in one of those little orange pumpkins that all the kids collect their candy in. Seriously? Must people go and ruin a perfectly good holiday by attaching statistics to it like that?!? I was JUST FINE, thank you very much, without having an actual number associated with how terrible I was/still am/will continue to eat after this wretched holiday has passed. Well, you all know me, I can't possibly hear something so upsetting without passing along the joy to anyone who will listen. So there you go, people. Happy Freakin' Halloween! Enjoy your candy.

P.S. I was eating a mini twix bar while I typed this. It was soooo worth it!

This is Your Brain After Babies...

2008-10-29T20:46:00.000-07:00

I've been working from home on my computer for the past 2 hours and found the blogging world calling my name. How can you be on the computer and not check out everything waiting for you on your google reader? It took all of my willpower to actually do the work first, rather than put off the boring Quickbooks stuff in order to read about everyone else's night that is most definitely funner than mine right now. (Is "funner" a word? Well, if it wasn't, then it is now.)

As it is, Mr. Kermy is fast asleep in his swing. I should put him to bed, but he needs to eat once more before officially calling it quits. I know, I know... never wake a sleeping baby. But these are my choices: a. Wake him now (while I'm still awake), feed him, and then effortlessly toss him in the crib with the hopes that he'll sleep until 6 am. (Worst case scenario he'll wake up once around 3 am) -OR- b. Toss him in the crib, make a mad dash for my bed, lay there awake because I KNOW the minute my eyes close he'll start squirming for some milk (since technically he hasn't eaten since 6 pm), finally fall asleep, wake up @ 1 am to feed him, put him back to bed (while risking the chance that he'll be wide awake and want to play for an hour), crawl back into bed only to wake up at 6 am to feed again. Don't ask me why, but topping him off right before I go to bed almost always guarantees a good solid chunk of shut-eye for me. Wow... I cannot believe I just gave you a running commentary of Kermy's night schedule. Even as I'm typing it, I'm thinking how totally boring this must be... but I just can't stop myself. THIS is what happens when you have a baby! Word vomit... all the time. I'm warning all of you now (I know, it's a little late). This post was merely an attempt to get away from doing more work. I should have put a disclaimer up there at the top. WARNING: ONLY READ THIS POST IF YOU ARE CATASTROPHICALLY BORED AND ARE TRYING TO PROCRASTINATE DOING YOUR WORK. THAT IS WHAT PROVOKED THIS POST, AND THAT IS TRULY THE ONLY REASON WHY YOU SHOULD ALLOW YOURSELF TO KEEP READING IT. IF IN FACT YOUR CURRENT SITUATION APPLIES TO THE ABOVE STATEMENT, BE AWARE THAT THERE WILL BE POINTLESS BABY-TALK INVOLVED. CONSIDER YOURSELF FOREWARNED.

Well, I seriously considered cutting and pasting that little warning up at the top, but suddenly I find it very funny that you are all still here reading this. You know you can't stop reading now. And I digress.

P.S. I promise that my next post will have nothing to do with babies... more specifically... my babies.

P.S.S. (Or is it P.P.S...will someone please tell me?) That previous comment is probably a lie. Just so you know.

P.S.S.S (Seriously... it's going to bug me all night now) No, really... no babies. I think I mean it this time...

The Good, the Bad, and the Impossible

2008-10-26T21:51:00.001-07:00

So one thing that you kind of know happens when you have kids, but totally don't understand the extent of, is all the growing that occurs. It starts at the very beginning when you first notice that little "baby bump" that is just "so darn cute." You're excited. You can't wait to start wearing those maternity clothes and for people to notice that "you're showing". It's proof that you are, indeed, doing the one thing on earth that NEVER gets old. You are making something amazing, therefore, you are amazing. And then, suddenly, your little "baby bump" starts getting a little bigger. And then it starts getting a lot bigger. But you stay cool... it's okay. You knew you were going to get big. And then it just keeps on growing! And suddenly, you're in your 8th month (okay, okay... you're 7th month) and you are starting to wonder how in the world things could possibly grow any more. And then... they do. They just KEEP GETTING BIGGER. Oh, and by "they", I mean EVERYTHING. Not just the belly. There are certain things that nobody warned you about, or if they did, you sure as heck either didn't listen (women who are pre-baby have a tendency to do that) or you just down right didn't believe that that would ever happen to you.

And then the baby comes. And in an attempt to keep things from getting too graphic, I'll just say that the growing doesn't exactly stop there. And while the belly sort of went away, it didn't really go away. And you patiently (or not so patiently, if you're at all a human female) wait for your body to return to "normal". As a side note, I want you all to know that I started laughing out loud after typing that last sentence. It took a LONG time after Noah was born for me to figure out a very key part of becoming a mom. NORMAL DOES NOT NOW AND NEVER WILL AGAIN EXIST. That applies to everything. Time, control, emotions, and most definitely your body. Being a mom, for me at least, means attempting to recreate normal every second of every day. But anyways, getting back to all that growing...

So there's all the physical stuff. And everyone hears about all that emotional growing that does indeed occur pretty much every day. But many people don't know that there is such a thing as the "impossible growth". Yesterday I was faced with the challenge of growing in such a way that no science or earthly power could explain. I was rocking Mr. Kermy in his room, hoping he'd fall asleep quickly so I could get Noah off to his own dream world. Noah, in turn, was in his room, and I figured he was probably enjoying the extra few minutes of play before bedtime. The next thing I know, I see Noah quietly walk up beside Mr. Kermy and I, with such a look in his eyes that could break a mothers heart. He reached up his hands and motioned for me to hold him and rock him the way I was rocking little Kermy. Here was the dilemma. And I'm sure many mothers have faced this and thought the same thing. Surely there wasn't enough room on my lap for both children. One would wake the other and there would most definitely be crying involved. I reached for Noah and the most miraculous thing occurred. I'm telling you, people, you had to see it to believe it. Right before my eyes, I watched my lap grow. Suddenly there was all of the room in the world for my boys and I knew without a doubt that there always would be.

Okay, Okay... I guess some of that growing isn't all bad...

Look What I Made!!!

2008-10-23T13:40:00.000-07:00

I have absolutely no excuse. I mean, except for moving into our new home (by myself and 9 months pregnant), finally welcoming my husband back home, giving birth to a beautiful little boy, and recreating our own definition of what we call our family… yeah… except that stuff, I have absolutely no excuse for taking so long to blog. In fact, you’d think that with so much going on, I’d have oodles of stuff to say! I bet all of you thought I had quit blogging for good. Well, I’m back and ready to catch up. Without further ado, let me introduce you to our new little one:

Caden James Reed

Born: July 22, 2008
7lbs, 12oz
19"

I make some pretty cute babies, huh? For those of you wondering, Cade was in the NICU after he was born. He had some breathing difficulty, but got to come home with us at the normal time. He's totally fine now. It’s been an incredible experience this time around. It’s so fun to watch and see how similar Cade is to Noah, and so TOTALLY different all at the same time. Lots of people tell us that they look a lot alike, but Cade definitely has more Ivey in him. Plus, I’m sure you can’t really tell, but Mr. Kermy (that’s his nickname since when you hold him up, he curls his legs up like a little frog) is working on growing a beautiful head of red hair. (He gets that from his Great Grandma Ivey). He also completely escaped the curse that is Noah’s hair. (Noah has what we call “The Perfect Storm” occurring on his poor little head. I’m not kidding people… all of the cowlicks look like a bunch of converging hurricanes.) Cade has the most bubbly personality and is ready with a laugh and a smile at any given moment. We fortunately also escaped that terrible colic that Noah was plagued with so badly. It’s a rare moment to see Mr. Kermy really upset. And he’s only 3 months old but definitely knows his big brother and loves him to death. Noah, in turn, is a great big brother and (knock on wood) hasn’t had even 1 jealous outburst. I love that they are already getting to be the best of friends, but I fear that Mommy is in for a real ride once they get older. We’ve got some real double trouble coming our way, I think.

Noah just woke up from his nap. That's my cue to wrap things up. Oh, and by the way, do you know where the word "cowlick" came from? Yeah, some guy thought it up because if you've got a cowlick, it looks like some cow came up and licked your head, leaving the hair going in every direction. How funny is that? I think cowlick is my new favorite word...

Bliss

2008-06-12T20:03:00.000-07:00

I slowly closed my eyes as I felt my fingers curl themselves ever so slightly around the bar in front of me. Even with them closed, I could sense the bright red color that, for tonight at least, signified my freedom. It had been forever, it seemed. I allowed myself one small step forward as I listened for the tiny squeak that I knew would inevitably accompany the turn of the wheels. Most of the time that noise would annoy me along with a million other aspects of this errand, but tonight... no... tonight I would allow that noise to be my background music. I would allow it to lull me into a false sense of time, allow it to carry me senselessly up and down the isles. I knew by heart that my first stop would be that beloved dollar section. Oh, how many times had I urged myself to pass by, knowing that my small shopping partner would never allow me to exit without something in stow? But this errand was different. I was alone this time. Blessedly child-free. When was the last time I'd been able to visit this wonderful world of red and white without dodging the toy section and hurrying through the rows of bliss only to grab and get through the check-out lane without any tantrums or mishaps? How long had it been? As I aimlessly wandered up and down every isle in the store I knew that my time here would be ending soon. I knew that I must return, and I knew then, just as I know now, that tomorrow I will surely awake and wonder if it was all just a dream...

Happy Birthday Noah!!!

2008-06-11T21:09:00.000-07:00

It's way past due, but we're back in Albuquerque now and I realized that (along with just about everything else) I haven't posted any pictures of Noah's birthday. I've got to make one quick shout-out to my sister-in-law, Stephanie, who at the very last minute made Noah what will most likely be the coolest cake he will probably ever have. Seriously people, I'm not sure what's cuter: the cake that looks so freakin' real that Noah actually cried when we "broke his truck", or this kid of mine that is so dang adorable! You decide:

How totally appropriate is this shirt?

The wheels were rice crispies covered in fondant. Noah was okay with eating those, but freaked out so bad when we cut into the actual cake that I couldn't even get any photos. He is still talking about that cake today. Life could not possibly be any more clear than when looking at it through the eyes of a 3 year old. Happy Birthday Noah!!!

Pushing Through

2008-04-24T19:08:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure that we're existing in some sort of parallel universe. Things are as I knew they would be, as they probably should be, but distorted... blurred around the edges. We arrived here in Cedar Hills, Utah a little over a week ago. Time tends to fly by and yet it just crawls all at the same time. Does that make any sense? It's almost as if I know on some level that to stop and consider what day it, what time it is, would most assuredly send me over some unseen edge. So, we just keep moving. I'm pretty sure that I'm handling this exceptionally well. Either that, or I'm not handling it at all, and it's actually just handling me. Alright, even as I type the words, the second option sounds a little more likely.

Tomorrow will be 4 weeks since Rick left. We're roughly 1/3 of the way through this ordeal, and sometimes I find myself still holding my breath, waiting for it to begin. I'm almost 7 months pregnant and Noah turns 3 in exactly a week. He's been adjusting quite well to all the changes. Definitely a little more clingy, definitely a little more testy, and definitely a lot more challenging, but I'm starting to think that maybe he might just survive this ordeal unscathed. He loves getting to live with all the grandpa's and grandma's. And while he's still completely confused as to what happened to mommy's house, and why we can't go "home", he seems to have accepted the fact that, for now, that's just how things are.

So, I have this new found respect for single mothers everywhere. Seriously? People do this alone?!? The worst part is having to be everyone. The bad guy, the good guy, the fun guy, the lay-down-the-law guy. I never realized how much tag-teaming Rick and I actually did. Speaking of Rick, lots of you are wondering and asking how he's doing. School is going great for him. There's an overwhelming amount of information pushed at him every day, and lots of tests and memorizing, but he's getting along just fine. He misses Noah like crazy, and I'm pretty sure he's doing the same thing we are... looking forward and pushing through. This little voice in the back of my head keeps whispering that this experience is going to do wonders for our family. Not just the job and the money and all that, but being apart is turning out to be a HUGE reminder of why we love being together.

Alright, so how about some random stuff that's been floating through my head lately? Here goes:

1. There are pregnant women everywhere here in Utah. Seriously... if you're not pregnant here, then you're almost in the minority. How totally un-fun is that?

2. Drivers in Utah are just like drivers in New Mexico. Stupid and reckless. Having said that, I would take Utah over NM any day if only because Utah drivers do it on purpose and are aware of their surroundings. NM drivers just don't pay attention to anybody else on the road and are completely unaware of the stupid and reckless things they do. It's scary, trust me.

3. The weather has been so wrong up here. Sunny one minute, snowing the next. I never thought I'd say this, but I miss Albuquerque. At least there I could be enjoying the sun.

4. I caught the stomach flu just a few days after we got here, and after a day of re-enacting my first trimester, I have indeed confirmed that there is a HUGE difference between "pregnant throwing up" and "flu bug throwing up". Sorry if that's too much information, but I would take a flu bug ANY day compared to that first 4 months.

5. Is it weird that I'm terribly jealous of Rick getting to be in Oklahoma, if only because he'll be there during tornado season? How cool would that be?!?

Alright, enough. I put my kid to bed over an hour ago and my "mommy time" is slowing dwindling away. I must go find something wonderfully "child-free" to do.

Where Am I?

2008-04-02T20:10:00.001-07:00

So, it's done. In a matter of weeks my life has somehow managed to get turned upside down and has become almost unrecognizable. Last week we moved our entire house into storage, moved Noah and I in with my in-laws, moved Rick out to Oklahoma, and left us all a little dazed and confused. Rick hasn't even been gone a week and already we're wishing it were over. We knew it would be hard. Really hard. But seriously... this sucks. I'm not going to go into a whole lot of detail about how it is living with my in-laws, mostly because no matter what I say, it's going to sound negative, and that's not at all how I want to come across. The truth is, I'm pregnant, I'm suddenly a single mother of a 2 year old, and we've been smooshed together into one tiny room in a house that is smaller than the one we just moved out of. Add a father-in-law, a mother-in-law, and a sister-in-law to the mix and no matter how great everyone is, it's bound to get a little crazy. Seriously though, they've been so wonderful about opening up their home to us, and no matter how tough I think it might be, this is such a HUGE blessing for us. My parent will be getting here in about a week, and shortly thereafter, we'll be moving once again. This, and knowing my sister, Shayla, will be here in only a few short days has been my saving grace. To make the last week even more enjoyable (sarcasm intended), Noah came down with a nasty bought of bronchitis. Two days later, I followed suit. There's nothing quite like being sick at someone else's house. At home, I'd plop my hacking, coughing, self down on the couch and not move until absolutely necessary. Noah would watch as much TV as could be tolerated, and in a few days, I'd drag us both back to civilization. Being in someone else's home, however, puts a whole different pressure on us both. Oh, well. Noah woke up today feeling/acting almost normal again and I'm hoping I'll be following in his tracks shortly. On the bright side, I'm completely relieved that we both got our sicknesses out of the way. This will hopefully allow for fever-free days for the remainder of Rick's time away.

I'm reading over this and realizing that it's not real exciting and kind of a downer post, but trust me when I say that a huge part of that may be the medicine that's got me kind of foggy. This may be the shortest post in the history of my blog, but I'm actually going to end things here. There will be lots more to come, I'm sure.

Rejoining the Human Race

2008-03-11T20:25:00.000-07:00

I have a tendency to let myself get a little carried away when it comes to the length of my blog posts, this I know. And because it has been literally months since I last updated anyone of the craziness that is my life, I began to stress about how freakin' long this one would have to be just to squeeze in all the updates of late. So, in an attempt to keep at least some of you reading and not sleeping, I'm going to shake this one up tag style.

1. For the first time in my life, I absolutely hated Christmas this last year. You know it's a bad one when your pregnancy has you so sick that your only Christmas wish is to die.

2. Those great drugs that I once called my friends in the last post? I have since de-friended them and still have anger issues resulting from the fact that they worked for my first pregnancy and for some reason did not for this one.

3. Just so not everything I say about the last few months is negative, here's a silver lining: I am over 5 months pregnant and have still not gotten back up to my pre-pregnancy weight. (Not to say that you could tell that from looking at me... I look at least 6 months pregnant already).

4. If anyone asked me to describe the first 4 months of my pregnancy with Noah, I would have honestly and totally seriously said that I thought I was going to die. If you asked me today to describe the first 4 months of this pregnancy, I could only honestly tell you that the worst part was knowing that I wouldn't die. No kidding- nobody should ever have to live through that.

5. The good news? At around 17-18 weeks, it started to lift and since then (I'm currently 21 weeks) I have decided that I am, in fact, human once again. I feel great now and am currently loving life.

6. Last week we finally heard from the FAA. On March 4, Rick received a phone call from them requesting that he report to school in Oklahoma starting on March 31. (No, they weren't kidding) In less than two weeks my husband will be leaving a very pregnant wife and our 3 year old boy to begin what will be the craziest roller coaster I could ever have imagined.

7. Noah and I will be staying with Rick's parents for the first 3 weeks. Then, on or around April 14th, we will head up to Utah for about 6 weeks to stay with my parents. At the end of May, Noah and I will move back down to Albuquerque and stay once again with Rick's parents for the remaining 3 weeks, at which time Rick will come home to us!

8. We are scared and excited and nervous, but if any of you know me at all, you must know that I am totally psyched about all of this! I live for change, I love to move, and one day I know for sure that we will look back on this and know that it was TOTALLY WORTH IT!

9. My official due date is July 23. Rick is due to come home on June 23. At my last doctor's appt. both the ultrasound and the doctor found that I very well may be 1-2 weeks further along than my due date predicts. They aren't going to change my due date, but my doctor said not to be surprised if/when the baby comes a few weeks early. The timing could not have worked out better, but seriously... God sure does have a sense of humor. (Cutting things a little close, don't you think?)

10. Drum roll please... Noah has been saying for months that the baby was going to be a boy, and although I 'm fairly certain that he doesn't really understand what he's predicting, it turns out that he was right all along. According to the ultrasound, we will soon be welcoming a little bubba #2!

So, while it may not have cut down on the length, how's that for wrapping up your life in 10 items or less? Stay tuned, though. There will undoubtedly be more coming and after months of being in bed, I've got lots of posts swimming around in my head waiting to be written. How much have I missed this!?!

The Ugly Truth

2007-12-13T16:43:00.000-08:00

You've heard the stories. They all begin with a beautiful tale about a young girl with exceptional potential and a bright future ahead. Then the story turns tragic and something terrible happens. She might have been a dancer or a runner or something along those lines, and then in the form of a car accident or some mysterious disease, she ends up losing both her legs. It's terrible. I cry every time. But the amazing thing is her attitude after it all. Somehow, she remains upbeat and positive in the face of adversity. She doesn't whine or complain. She doesn't turn bitter or blame anyone else. She rises above and becomes the shining example of how we should all be when faced with terrible hardships. And every time I hear a story like this I try to remind myself of how grateful I should be that I'm healthy and whole and truly blessed to have lived such a wonderful and (relatively) pain-free existence.

And then... I go and get myself pregnant. And once again, I have to face the ugly truth that I am NOT one of those girls. A couple of weeks ago pregnancy hit with a vengeance and I have not exactly been that shining example of how to overcome adversity with grace and style. Trust me, people, it hasn't been pretty. For those of you reading this who have gone through pregnancy without all the nausea and vomiting, I just want you to know that I forgive you. No, I'm only kidding, but seriously... why me? Can I just get that out of my system? I know, I know, it could be soooo much worse, and perhaps I should just hold off blogging until after I hit that magical week 16 (most people get over the morning sickness by week 12, by the way) because I worry that all of you will have to put up with nauseating amounts of complaining, but that's only fair right? If I have to be nauseated, I really think that everyone else should be too! Okay, I'm only kidding again... kind of. Oh, and that reminds me, who ever came up with the term "morning sickness?" A man, probably. Every time someone uses that term it just kills me. Morning? Really? What would I give for just morning sickness. Oh no, if I'm alive and breathing, then I'm sick.

Alright, I'm done. Thanks for putting up with that. I'll try to keep the complaints to a minimum from here on out. So here's the juice on the past couple of weeks. It's been kinda crazy. We had a little scare when I started spotting and they brought me in to do an ultrasound. Everything turned out okay. I'll spare you all the details but we saw the heartbeat and everything is fine. I had my first OB appointment a couple of days ago and I'm about 8 weeks along. My due date is July 23, and you'll all be proud to know that I didn't deck the nurse when she said that my "morning sickness" was a good thing. She said "a sick mommy is a healthy baby!!!" in a tone of voice that would have made me vomit even if I wasn't pregnant. The good news is that I love my doctor and, although I came prepared to beg, he happily handed over that magical prescription for Zofran. My maternity insurance doesn't kick in for another week or two, so I can't fill it yet (a 20 day supply costs about $400 without the insurance), but hopefully my posts will take on a much happier tone soon. My little friend, Zofran, has magical powers and can effectively take the edge off of that "morning sickness" I've come to love so much. Sometimes, when I'm feeling especially bad, I like to just hold the prescription in my hand and pretend that it's a pill bottle filled with lots of my little friends all arguing over who gets to be eaten first. How's that for insight into my soul?

Okay, enough of that. Wanna hear some good news? Rick has officially been offered a position with the FAA. Yep, a big packet came in the mail with all sorts of paperwork and instructions that will inevitably lead to another 3-6 months of waiting. They call it a tentative offer, which becomes firm after he passes extensive medical, security, and background checks. Unfortunately, this big packet contained no information about dates or what to expect in the future. That only comes after they scour our lives for anything illegal or generally unacceptable. Rick has been frantically filling out paperwork, peeing in little cups, and getting EKG's for the past week or so. They gave him a deadline of 10 days to complete just about everything and once again, we find ourselves wondering why they ask us to HURRY so dang much when they move at roughly the rate of cold molasses. Meanwhile, I continue to dwell in the land of denial, and thoughts of how this is going to play out are effectively set aside.

Well, that's about it for now. Hopefully the next time I write I'll be feeling much better, whether induced by drug or God's pity, it matters not. I hope everyone out there is having a super fantastic Christmas Season!

Search & Rescue

2007-11-25T09:22:00.001-08:00

I've figured it out. The one thing that annoys me the absolute worst about having children. Believe it or not, it's not the runny noses, constant 2 year old tantrums, throwing up in the middle of the night or even the incessant whining. Those are all, at best, tolerable. There is just one little thing that may, in the end, be the one thing that sends me over the edge.

So, I've been sick for almost 3 days now. I've felt it coming on for the past 2 weeks and have been warding it off with mega doses of vitamins and fizzy wonder drinks. (Thank goodness for Emer'gen-C) Of course, it really hit hard on Thanksgiving and by that night, I was ready to give in. All of Friday and Saturday were spent on the couch in that half comatose state where you're awake because you've got a two year old to take care of, but the entire time you're wishing you were dead. In Noah's defense, he really was about as good as you could expect a little boy to be. In my defense, I didn't kill him so I think I was about as good as you could expect me to be.

It was early on Friday morning when Noah discovered some batteries that he'd left hidden some weeks ago in our closet. (He's a little like a dog burying a bone in that way. He'll find little knickknacks that he'll play with for a few days and then lose interest, leaving them in totally random spots around the house. It may be months before he'll go back and find them, at which time he'll pick up where he left off, playing with them as if it was his favorite thing to do all along.) He's been having a real love affair with these batteries on and off for the past year, it seems. He doesn't really do anything with them. He just likes to carry them around. So, anyways, he reunited (once again) with these batteries on Friday morning while I lay dying on the couch. He promptly brought them over to me so that I could appreciate his discovery. It really was perfect timing because he was starting to tire of playing with my salad spinner. But wait a second... you could almost see the wheels turning in his little brain. Batteries plus salad spinner. Oh, this could be good!

I kid you not, people. This kid of mine played with those stupid batteries and that dang spinner for hours! Take off the lid... put batteries in...put lid back on...pound frantically on the top to make those batteries spin spin spin spin spin...stop the spinning...take batteries out...put lid back on...aaaannnddd repeat. It was like manna from above. The perfect toy to keep a sick mother's child entertained for hours on end. That night I dreamt of ways to market the whole thing and sell it at Toys R Us.

Saturday morning arrived and, still sick, I resumed my position on the couch and Noah resumed playing with the batteries and the salad spinner. Only today, Noah threw in a little extra something and started adding cars and trucks into the mix. Man that thing can spin! It was about mid afternoon when it all began to lose its excitement. Noah finally quit spinning and went back to just holding the batteries in his hand. We watched some Curious George and read lots of books. I know, I know, you're all wondering what happened to the most annoying thing about having kids, right? Cue conversation:

Noah: Mama? Baah-yees? (That's "batteries" in 2 year old tongue)

Mama: Did you lose your batteries?

Noah: Uh-huh.

Mama: Uh-oh, you better go find them.

Noah: Uh-huh. (Said with blank, very expectant look in his eyes)

Mama: Noah, you can go look for your batteries. Go check in the kitchen.

Noah: (Walks into the kitchen, pauses, turns around and comes back) Mama? Baah-yees?

Mama: You checked the kitchen? Maybe they are over there by the computer.

Noah: (Walks over to the computer, pauses, turns around and comes back) Mama? Baah-yees?

We do this for every possible place that Noah could have left his batteries. Noah patiently pretends that he's actually looking for them, and I patiently (okay maybe not so patiently) keep suggesting more places to search. Finally, I get up, resigning myself to what I already knew from the moment he told me he lost them. I would have to go find this kid his stupid batteries. Guess where they were? For those of you who are mothers reading this right now, I'll bet you knew from the very beginning where those batteries were. Yup, that's right. They were in the kitchen, the first place I told him to check, on the floor, in plain sight, probably touching Noah's foot when he first went in there to "look" for them.

Well, the child is only 2, you kind of have to cut him a little slack. But, I am annoyed, not because this is happening now, but because I KNOW that this will continue to occur throughout his life. It is a male disease, I'm sure we are all aware. Oh, sure, it doesn't differentiate between males and females until a little later in life, but don't be deceived.

Case in point: I was watching my four nieces and nephews for about a week while my brother and his wife went out of town. (Sorry Heather, I only justify this because truly, my heart does go out to you). They have got 2 girls and 2 boys, and for the purposes of this post, I'll tell you that the younger boy, Ethan, is 4 and the older boy, Jared, is 8. I'm not kidding even a little when I tell you that Ethan lost his shoes at least a dozen times a day, every day. Mind you, these were the same shoes he had been wearing all day, the ones he had on not 5 minutes ago. We would do the whole search and rescue scenario that I just did with Noah, with exactly the same results. But again, he is only 4, so I would cut him a break. Jared, although not losing his shoes, would lose random things throughout the week, and inevitably I would end up finding them myself, as his own search results would turn up nothing.

Unfortunately, this disease does not cure itself over time. In fact, I'm fairly certain, although I haven't run any official studies, that no matter how early in life you start, no matter how hard you try to teach them, even grown men cannot escape this terrible ailment. Men do, however, learn better coping tools over time. And women have also learned to adapt. My husband, for example, has learned that it is a total waste of time to play the whole search and rescue game. And thankfully, my husband can communicate much more effectively than my 2 year old can. Rick has learned that 98.9% of the time, I can tell him exactly where something is located, without even having to enter the room. And at some point around the time I got married and had a child, my spidey mommy senses have become much more acute, and probably 73% of the time, I can even tell Rick what he's looking for and where it is before he ever asks.

So, while it annoys me to no end that my kid can't find his own stuff that is lying directly in his line of sight, I suppose that I can find some peace in the fact that someday, he'll just stop pretending to search, he'll marry a sweet girl who's spidey senses will develop quite rapidly, and all will fall into place exactly the way it was meant to be. If someone could just be so kind to remind me of that the next time Noah loses something? Thanks so much.

Hurry Up and Wait

2007-11-19T12:52:00.000-08:00

It's done. Rick went for the interview, and once again, I find that all my stressing and worry was premature. Just a little background on a few things before I really go into it:

When Rick set up the interview, the man set it up to take place at the actual tower, which happens to be located at the air force base here in Albuquerque. This is unusual, we learned, because we originally thought that all interviewing took place at the actual FAA building that is located no where near the airport and/or the tower. Just so you know, there are a couple different jobs that a flight control specialist does. One is obviously the guy sitting up there in the tower giving clearance for the planes to take off and land. The other, which by the way is what we thought was what Rick would solely be doing, is the guy sitting behind that dark computer screen with those little green airplanes flashing and going in every which direction. (Think all those 911 movies you saw- it really does look like that). So okay, back on track, Rick was set up to interview at the tower, and we weren't really sure why. Well, once he got there, he asked the receptionist to explain. She went on to tell him that he was being interviewed at the tower because "the stars were aligned." In other words, Rick is one lucky dude. Apparently, most people get slated to work at the FAA building, and many of them are always trying to get over to the tower. Sometimes, people from the tower will move over to the FAA site, and then spend who knows how long trying to get back to the tower. The tower is, according to several people Rick talked to, the cool place to be. Not only do you get to do more jobs, but there is one other VERY great thing about it. Okay wait, one more piece of background:

Once Rick completes the training in Oklahoma, he gets back and starts working at a very base level of pay. Nothing to scream about really. Then, he spends the next forever and a day taking various certification courses, test, etc. to up his rank and therefore up his pay. He learned today at the interview that, if you're at the FAA site, some of these courses can take a VERY long time to get into. The majority of the people work at the FAA building, so therefore you're competing with a lot more people to work your way up. There are only a handful of people at the tower, and therefore, it is much easier and much quicker to make your way up.

The good news is that Rick found out today, that should he get the job, he is actually slated to work there at the tower. It sounded like a pretty rare thing, but apparently there were a number of people that had either retired or moved and it just so happened that they have 4 positions to fill over there. What a blessing... Rick will hopefully fill one of them.

There's more. I know, this is taking forever. Sorry. So, he did the whole interview thing in front of 3 men. Here's the bad news. These guys told Rick that they actually aren't the ones to make the final decision. According to them, they send back their "recommendation" to Oklahoma, and they (whoever they are) make the final say. So, pretty much, as long as Rick didn't make a total idiot out of himself, then they'll send over a positive recommendation and Oklahoma will then contact Rick with a tentative job offer. I say tentative, because this is when Rick has to go through a pretty extensive health check and security clearance. Since we all know that he has excellent eye sight, is not dying from cancer and/or a mental illness, has never held up a drug store, and has never been in jail, I feel pretty confident that he'll pass this portion of the ride. For those of you who have either gone through this yourself or have spouses that have, please feel free to let me know if I should begin the worrying process over this. (Insert nervous laughter now).

Ready for some more good news? The men told Rick that the training out in Oklahoma differs depending on which classes you get put in. This explains why the FAA website (where Rick initially applied) officially states that the training program is "several weeks" long. Then we heard from another source that it was actually 4 months long. Recently, we were informed through the grape vine that someone in our stake had just completed the training and he was gone for SIX months. Needless to say, I was starting to worry a little. Well, they finally cleared it up for me by adding it to the list of variables that are yet to be answered. We learned today that the shortest training session is only 11 weeks long. Can you believe it? There is a chance, cross your fingers everyone, that Rick may only have to go for less than 3 months! Once again, we are trying not to get excited too early, but we are DEFINITELY hoping.

Alright, so they took him on a whole tour of the tower and told him that they had heard that some people were receiving replies from Oklahoma in as little as two days. Their exact words were: You're dealing with the government. You better hurry up and wait. (That one's for you, Nate & Shayla!) So... for those of you hoping to hear today that we got the job, get in line people! Once again, I'll keep you posted...

The Winds of Change

2007-11-17T18:24:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking all week about writing this blog. And since it's been almost a month since I last posted anything, I've got some serious blogger brain going on. (You know what I'm talking about... the longer you go without a post the more you tend to start writing them in your head and then leaving them half finished, only to start a completely new one the next time you have more than half a second to think your own thoughts. No? Just me? That doesn't happen to everyone? Okay, never mind then.)

So, it has been my intention to do an "update" post for more than a few weeks now. I got a phone call (quite a while ago, might I add) from my sister-in-law, Stephanie, who was convinced that my lack of an update on the pregnancy endeavor was for sure a sign that I was pregnant and holding out on everyone. I had to reassure her that that wasn't the case, and I became aware that perhaps there might be others out there thinking the same thing. Well, time kept passing and my well-intentioned "update post" kept getting pushed back, and now I find that my updates have changed.

Okay, just to keep everyone in total suspense, I'm going to start with the job stuff. Seriously... you all remember my total craziness that has accompanied me throughout this job opportunity with the FAA. Well, we finally heard from the them. We knew he had passed the test, and we knew that he might get contacted for an interview. The next thing we got was an e-mail telling us that he will get contacted for an interview, but keep waiting until further notice. Then we got another e-mail saying pretty much the same thing, but from another department. This happened about three more times, until finally we got a phone call from someone who, heaven help us, is actually located here in Albuquerque. After a week of trying to actually make contact with this guy, it has finally been set. Rick has an interview on Monday, and now my anxiety over the unknown has started to turn into anxiety over what I do know. We've heard from a few people that have gone through this process before that if you make it to the interview stage, it's pretty much done. The interview isn't so much an interview, but a meeting to make the job offer. So, while trying not to get too prematurely excited, we are definitely feeling blessed. I'm not even going to go into how totally freaked I am about the fact that if Rick gets this job, then that means 6 months of training out in Oklahoma City. Six months that may or may not take Noah and I with him. What was the distant future is starting to hit a little closer to home. I choose to remain in complete denial about this aspect of the job.

So, in total Jennifer style and just to mix things up a little bit, there is one more tiny bit of update that makes things kinda crazy. Like I said, my every intention was to let you all know that there wasn't any news on the baby front, and up until very recently, that remained unchanged. Yep, your eyes are not deceiving you, just last week I found out that I am pregnant. It's kind of a funny story, with lots of details that would probably be too much information, but suffice to say that somehow I managed to be "trying" for 5 months and still be completely shocked when it actually happened. I'm not very far along at all, and probably would never have made the announcement so soon, but I get the distinct feeling that the timing of all of this was soooo out of my hands. I was deathly ill thus far into my pregnancy with Noah, and seriously thought I was going to die throughout the entire first 4 months, but so far this pregnancy has been kind. In fact, there are moments when I even wonder if I'm really pregnant at all. I pray that it remains that way. I fear that Rick will get this job and have to leave his sick, pregnant wife and 2 year old for the majority of my pregnancy. I fear even more that he'll get this job and things will continue to move in the snails pace that they have been all along, and he'll have to leave his not so sick but VERY pregnant wife with a 2 year old and a looming delivery without him. Okay... and that's my cue to embrace my denial and stop thinking about it. At least for now. In the mean time, Yay! I'm pregnant! We're very excited and although I haven't been to the doctor for an official date, the baby will probably be here sometime in mid-July.

Well, that's enough update for now. I'm sure I'll have oodles more to talk about after Rick's interview on Monday. Stay tuned...

International Balloon Fiesta

2007-10-22T20:45:00.001-07:00

It may be our only real claim to fame, but seriously... check out some of these photos! The International Balloon Fiesta that happens every year here in Albuquerque certainly is quite a site to behold. These first couple of pictures were taken at the Saturday Morning Mass Ascension. Literally thousands of balloons from all over the world gather for this event and the crowds are unbelievable. Rick had to work, but Noah and I took the "park and ride" down to the park. (This was Noah's first time on a bus and that practically deserves a whole post all to itself. Seriously... the boy almost had a coronary, he was so excited...) This year was the first time I've made it out for a Mass Ascension... waking up and getting down to the park by 6:30 am was almost too much to ask... but after getting down there, it was sooooo worth it.

As you can see from that last picture, there are lots of fun shapes to be seen up in the air during the week of Balloon Fiesta. By far the best event takes place later on in the week. It's called the Special Shapes Glowdeo, and although none of the balloons actually take flight, it's a blast to see them all lit up at night. Just before sundown all the balloons start taking shape. There are speakers set up throughout the whole park and they start counting down to the "all glow." All of the balloons simultaneously light up and the whole park comes alive with crazy shapes. The pictures aren't the best (mainly because I spent 3/4 of the times trying to figure out what setting would be best on my camera), but you get the idea.

Darth Vader was a new addition this year... honestly, it was a little creepy to see his head just floating around in the sky every morning.

And just because my boys are so super cute, I had to throw in this one last picture. To give you a little background, Noah has recently started to appreciate the novelty of saying "cheese" during the whole picture taking process. Well, every time a balloon would light up, he would look at it and say "cheese!!!" with his eyes all scrunched up. How cute is that?

Early Release Due to Sneaky Behavior

2007-10-11T20:45:00.001-07:00

There was nothing unusual about this day to make me think that my life was about to change. My morning had been spent frantically trying to catch up on things that should have been done yesterday. (Alright, alright... a week ago... but who's counting, right?) After deciding, yet again, what lunch to feed my ever increasingly picky eater, I finally reached my favorite time of day... nap time. My heart skipped a beat at the thought of a whole hour (or hopefully two) ALL TO MYSELF. I dreamt of sitting and watching something very non-animated... maybe even taking a nap. That made me chuckle a little as I settled for a few minutes to balance the checkbook in peace. Time flew by and I knew that things would be coming to a close very shortly. I heard him stirring in the next room... I said a silent prayer that today would be that lucky day that he would roll over and go back to sleep for another 10 minutes. Allowing myself to slip a little deeper into that mommy selective hearing mode, I suddenly jumped when he appeared out of the corner of my eye...

Wait... what?!? How in the...?... Nooooo!!!! The time had come. My dear sweet boy... the one who keeps me running from morning 'til night. The overactive 2 year old that just wont stop. The one who had NEVER shown even an ounce of interest in finding his own way out of that wonderful invention, the crib. Suddenly, my one last haven... was gone. First, he learned to crawl. Then, he learned to walk. Even when he learned how to open and close doors. Through it all, I could always count on the crib. The one thing that would always keep things exactly where and how I wanted them. Safe, happy, LOCKED UP. In the blink of an eye, it was gone.

And that is what it's like to have children, isn't it? The moment that you think you've finally nailed down a good routine, and things are flowing kind of smoothly... wham! Your world flips upside down and you have to start from scratch. New plan. New routine.

So, now we've got the "big boy bed." (We received a great toddler bed from my sister here in Albuquerque). And you all know how that plays out. Days, weeks, even months of convincing your child that after over 2 years of being behind bars, they should actually choose to stay in bed on their own. Right.

So that has been my life for the past week. I know all parent have to go through it, in some form or another. But seriously... sometimes you have to stop and wonder about it all. But here I sit. My husband is in bed, and yes, even the boy is finally fast asleep in his non-crib. We'll just pretend for now that things will stay that way all night...

Just Sleep On It

2007-09-22T22:02:00.000-07:00

So you're all going to think me a little crazy, and I wasn't even planning on blogging about this, but I've just got to talk a little about one of the greatest shows on TV right now. Well, technically, the new season of 24 doesn't begin until January, but I am at this very moment sitting on my couch watching a rerun from season 4 while typing this post. And might I add that although it's been said before (Heather you were so right), if the world were ending at this very moment I would seriously want Kiefer Sutherland by my side. I know, I know... only a mere actor... but any of you who have watched (and therefore most assuredly loved) this show, would have to admit that Kiefer Sutherland will forever more be known as Jack Bauer. Rick and I had never even seen an episode of 24 until earlier this year when we finally caved and rented season one. After dropping off the face of the earth to watch seasons 1-5 over the space of a few weeks, it all came to a screeching halt when we were informed that season 6 would not be released on DVD until December. Since then we've been anxiously counting down the days until we can be officially caught up and then start season 7 with everyone else. Is it wrong that my excitement for Christmas comes in 2nd place to the season 6 DVD release?

Okay, so on with the real stuff... Let me just preface this by letting you know that I have re-learned a very valuable lesson over the past week. In case any of you out there are feeling like you should be accomplishing more in your lives... like perhaps your endless hours of work just aren't enough... like maybe you need to try to take on just one more thing... take my word for it... just wait!

As I mentioned in my last post, about a month ago I started working 1 day a week down at my brother's podiatry practice. It was going quite well and I was really starting to enjoy my "adult time" while also helping out in the financial department at home. After talking it over with Rick, and since I was so obviously handling my supermom role with ease (sarcasm intended), it was decided that I would bump things up to work 2 days a week. Things continued to flow quite smoothly until Sunday came and we got a call to come into church early to meet with a member of the bishopric. (Yeah, we all know what that means...) Wouldn't you know it, I was called to be the 1st Counselor of the Primary Presidency. I was totally psyched about it. I've never been in a presidency before and although I have no clue what I'm doing, I am super excited about it. There are a few things that make this calling a little more stressful than I had anticipated, though. Turns out that our primary is a big one. I mean, I knew it was big... but whoa... We have 4 nursery's, 3 sunbeam classes, and 2 of almost all the other classes. Our nurseries have over 50 kids in them alone. The entire primary consists of over 150 kids. Many of the classes have over 15 kids in them, but we can't split them because there's simply no more room in the building. (Our building houses 4 wards each Sunday). It has been confirmed that a new building will be added in our neighborhood, but they haven't even broken ground yet. Even so, I think this is going to be so much fun! So, this last week we had two presidency meetings in order to get things transitioned over from the old presidency. As it happens... they were smack dab in the middle of preparing for the primary program which is scheduled for next month. After the meeting ended the previous presidency looked decidedly relieved... and all of us in the new presidency had a few new gray hairs.

So, I have to admit, I'm kind of starting to wonder about my decision to take on another day at work. Having said that, I realize that this week was a little more crazy than normal, and I'm not giving in quite yet. For future reference though... the next time I think I need to take on something more, I think I'll give it a little more time... wait for life to catch up... it always does.

On a side note, we still haven't heard anything from the FAA. Part of me is not surprised at all, while the other part of me is starting to wonder. It took 2 months for them to contact us the first time, so I suppose we might be right on track. Seriously, though... if Rick doesn't end up getting an interview... couldn't they at least let us know that we were out of the running?!?

Well, it's after midnight and my rerun of 24 is over... I guess it's time for bed. Tomorrow is my first Sunday in primary and it's my month to conduct. Wish me luck!

Silly Superstitions

2007-08-30T13:12:00.000-07:00

Alright, I have a confession to make. I am by nature a very superstitious person, which is odd, in that the very idea of fate, destiny and/or serendipity, etc. actually go against what my logical core beliefs are. I know quite certainly that there is a God, and that he indeed wants me to be happy. I know that the good things that happen in life are blessings, not "luck". I know that if something doesn't workout the way I think it should, it's not because I walked under a ladder or opened that umbrella inside the house and simply fated myself to "7 years of bad luck." You see, I KNOW these things... but I have to admit that I've been avoiding my blog over the past few weeks because my silly superstitious nature has gotten the best of me!

Some of you are aware of our never-ending search for a better job, and hopefully the answer to the still unanswered school question that's been hanging over our heads. Well, a lot of you probably know that a couple of months ago, Rick applied for an air traffic control position with the FAA. It being a government position, we knew not to hold our breath since, A. It was a long shot, and B. Even if they did consider him, the government officially moves at roughly the speed of cold molasses. Well as it turned out, two months after applying, we received a phone call saying that Rick's application made it through the first "weed-out" and that he was asked to move onto the next step which was a long (and rather stupid, might I add) test. It turned out to be horrible timing, since the test was being given on the day that Rick had a very important district-wide manager meeting. It was beginning to look like we either had to throw out the FAA job (and the possibility of a future career) or Rick would simply have to skip work and pray that they wouldn't fire him. (For those of you who know Rick, this second option was almost not an option for the poor boy. He is about the hardest worker you'll ever know, rarely misses work even when sick, and would NEVER leave an employer in a lurch. If you need evidence of that, ask me about the time he tried to go to work with over 14" of snow on the ground and got stuck in the driveway... it's a funny story) Anyways, since neither of us wanted to make that decision, we decided to pray about it and then avoid it until the very last second. :-) We knelt down to pray before Rick left for work that morning and I'm not kidding you... Rick called me within 2 hours and told me that he'd gotten a message that his meeting had suddenly been cancelled and he would now be free to take that day off and go take the test. Talk about your not-so-everyday lightning bolt. At this point I'm fairly certain that this whole experience may just kill me. I am NOT a patient person. I like to be in control of things, and when I decide on something, I like to act upon it immediately. I'm not dead yet, but I've informed Rick to add a post to my blog informing all of you when I finally die from the unknown. :-)

So, back on Aug. 21st, Rick took the test. He was nervous, I was nervous, it was bad. Once again, we were told to WAIT. They said that within 7-10 days we'd get a letter in the mail letting us know if he passed or not. Lucky for me and my total impatience, I remembered that when he applied online, there was a place to check the status of your application and the whole process. A couple of days ago it was updated to show that Rick PASSED the test!!! I thought after knowing whether he passed or not that I would be able to relax. WRONG. Now, they tell us that his application, resume, and test results were sent off to the office here in Albuquerque to be reviewed. It's waiting time again. The website officially says: you may or may not be contacted for an interview. Are these people freakin' kidding me?!?

The first thing I wanted to do after hearing he'd gotten accepted to take the test, was come write about it on my blog. And THEN... the superstitions crept in... What if I jinxed it? What if, by telling people how excited I was, I caused the fates to step in and put me back in my place? Isn't the universe just that cruel?!? I know, it sounds stupid. But I kept my itching fingers away from the keyboard and daydreamed about the future blog I would write. And then the Lord really answered our prayers by opening up that door for us and allowing Rick to test. I thought for sure that meant something, right? The Lord wouldn't go to all that trouble if He didn't think that this job was a good thing, right? I put those thoughts aside pretty quickly. I know better than to pretend to know what God is thinking. :-) Sometimes an entire experience can merely be for the benefit of learning. Tough as it may be. So, I definitely couldn't write in my blog before we knew whether Rick had passed. I promised myself that once I got the results, if they were good, I would then allow myself to get excited. When I got the results I was all ready to share the great news. But once again I started to fear that possibility of "jinxing" it. I've been stalling for the past 3 days. But today I decided that I couldn't stand it anymore, and although this whole thing may completely fall through, I am just too excited about the possibility to stay quiet. That, and I desperately need all of you to start praying for us!!!! :-)

Okay, that's enough about the job stuff. That took way longer than I thought it would. But before I go, I need to make a little shout-out in honor of my in-laws. They have recently agreed to start watching Noah 1 day a week to allow me to work a little more. Noah adores them and it's such a blessing not to worry about leaving him with people he isn't totally comfortable with. He is the first and only grandchild for them and he loves all the attention. And, because people keep telling me that I need to put pictures on my blog, I thought I would start out with one of the boy playing with his new "Mac Truck" that grandma and grandpa bought him.

Can I just say that I've got the cutest little boy EVER?!?

Broken Binkies!!!

2007-08-14T08:55:00.000-07:00

I finally did it. After weeks of deliberating over it and stalling for as long as possible, I finally caved and decided it was time to say good-bye to the binkies. I am aware that such a topic might not exactly qualify as a super entertaining read, but seriously, I just have to get this off my chest.

So, after spending yesterday morning gathering all of the many displaced binkies throughout the house, I carefully snipped the tip of one of them and placed it in an obvious location where Noah would surely come looking. Surprisingly enough, he suddenly became quite content without his one true love and it took a couple of hours before he realized he wanted one. Let me just tell you, folks, that it is indeed possible to break the heart of a two year old, and I'm fairly certain that I just did it. The poor boy popped that pacifier right into his mouth without even noticing the lack of silicone on the tip! And if you could only have seen his face!!! Immediately his forehead crumpled and he pulled it out to investigate what could possible have occurred. He appeared so confused that I went to kneel by his side and explain that his binky must have "broken" and that it was time to throw it away. He finally noticed the little stub that had been lying there, and picked it up, trying to reattach it to the binky. He looked up at me with these imploring eyes, and asked me to "fits it!" I contemplated getting the tape out just to really drive the point home and merely for the entertainment of watching him try to suck on a binky that was all taped up, but didn't think I could manage it without laughing, so I opted not to. For the next hour or so, I tried to convince Noah that it was time to throw the binky away. He would slowly set it in the trash can, take two careful steps back, and then come rushing back only to yank it back up and stare at it longingly in his hands. After a few episodes of this, he finally threw it away once and for all and promptly forgot about everything. You'd think that would be a good thing, but as it turns out, it wasn't so great. When I said "forgot about everything" I mean literally... he forgot about the entire incident. Every 30 minutes or so, he'd come asking for a binky as if expecting me to reach into my pocket and hand him one. I'd have to replay the whole thing for him. "Don't you remember, Noah? The binky broke. You had to put it in the garbage. Remember?" Insert crumpling forehead and confused, betrayed look now. ALL AFTERNOON!!! We must have done this a dozen times!

Well, as it turned out, bedtime wasn't nearly as hard as I expected it to be. He went to bed really well without the binky and so far today hasn't been too bad either. He still comes asking for a binky every once in a while, but he doesn't act real surprised when I remind him that there are no more binkies to be had. All-in-all, I'm glad I did it the way I did. If you've ever heard Shayla's binky story, it's very similar to this one and she's actually the one who gave me the idea. Although, from what I remember, she actually did grab the tape, which totally cracks me up, by the way.

Alright, enough about my binky ordeal! One more time, though... can somebody please remind me why we have children? And why I'm actually trying to have more?!?

Tag! I'm it!

2007-08-10T08:49:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged!!! This is all about me, given in one word answers. Can you believe it? Two blogs, two days in a row!

Yourself: enduring

Your partner: committed

Your hair: frustrating

Your mother: astonishing

Your father: solid

Your dream last night: none

Your favorite drink: Dr. Pepper

Your dream car: bigger

Your home: owned

The room you are in: office

Your fear: inadequacy

Where you want to be in 10 years: confident

Who you hung out with last night: family

You're not: quitter

One of your wish list items: house

The last thing you did: telephone

You are wearing: pajamas

Your favorite weather: sunshine

Your favorite book: many

Last thing you ate: milk

Your life: blessed

Your mood: anxious

Your best friend: Rick

What you are thinking about right now: Lists

Your car: Honda

What are you doing at the moment: blogging

Relationship status: eternity

What is on your TV: Cars

When is the last time you laughed: today

I'm tagging you, Becky! You're it!

The Return From Neverland

2007-08-09T14:13:00.000-07:00

Last night we finally got back home from our family reunion down in eastern AZ. It's Rick's side of the family, and since we didn't get to go last year, we were both really excited about it this year. It's been a family tradition (since the beginning of time, it seems) for everybody to congregate up in the mountains of eastern AZ for a week long camping trip every summer. This year, we were lucky enough to have an awesome brother and sister-in-law let us borrow some serious camping toys to make life LOTS of fun up there. We loaded up the truck, trailer, and quad last Friday and headed out of town. We had a great time up there and now I'm back home facing LOADS of laundry, dirt caked on just about every possible thing that accompanied us, and a huge trailer parked outside our house that needs to be cleaned before we return it. To make matters worse, the trailer we borrowed has only been used by the actual owners a handful of times, and I'm fairly certain that we managed to break it in quite effectively since it rained nearly every day we were up there. Hopefully my family wont ban us from using any of their toys in the future. Obviously, my plan is to spend the day cleaning every last inch of it.

Just as an update for those of you who are wondering about our baby issue, still nothing to report. Oddly enough, I spent a few hours feeling really bummed out, but wasn't as upset as I thought I would be. I know that Heavenly Father can see soooooo much more than I can, and am pretty sure that it'll happen when/if he wants it to. (Wow... that sounded so much more confident than I actually feel like 90% of the time)

So, I just made the mistake of pausing for a moment and turning around to look at the huge pile of bags that still need to be unpacked. Guilt got the best of me... I guess I'll get back to work...

Weight Watcher Woes...

2007-07-11T12:27:00.000-07:00

So, Rick and I have decided to try and get pregnant again. Technically, we went off the pill about a month ago and I have been curiously waiting to see if it would happen as quickly as it did the first time. Alas, it wasn't meant to be, as I found out yesterday that I wasn't pregnant yet. A part of me was disappointed, but I found myself strangely relieved in a way. Not that I don't want to have another baby, but I'd really like to be a LITTLE closer to my goal weight before I pack it all back on. So, I'm thinking to myself that now I've got another month to do the whole Weight Watcher's thing, but jumping back into it has proven to be WAY harder than expected.

My sister, Shayla, came down to visit for about 3 weeks, and at the time I decided to not worry about the whole diet thing. After all, we don't get to see each other all that often and frankly, eating is like the best thing you could possibly do while doing nothing! Well, to make things even worse, I've been having a lot of problems with my elliptical lately, and since it's been like pulling teeth to get it fixed, my whole exercise regimen also got put aside. Alright, so I've gained 4 pounds since Shayla arrived, and she left almost a week ago. Last Thursday, to be exact. And I thought that once she left, I'd just pick up where I left off and get back on track. Well, I don't feel bad about the weight gain, I expected that would occur. And it was totally worth the 4 extra pounds! But like I said, she left last Thursday and I woke up Friday morning feeling totally deflated. I mean, seriously, I just crashed all day. I felt like I was the one coming home from vacation and having to face reality again! I need my sister here permanently! So I chucked Friday and determined to start again on Saturday. But when I woke up on Saturday morning I found myself justifying. I mean, really, who starts fresh on a Saturday? I should just enjoy the weekend and start new on Monday. Haha.... Cue Monday morning... I did it! I got on the elliptical and did my thing (almost killing myself in the process, might I add.) I ate a good healthy breakfast and lunch, counting my points like a good girl, and following the weight watcher plan. But then Rick called to let me know he was getting off early and wanted to go see the new Transformers movie and since we still had a gift card to Olive Garden, we'd go there for dinner. Just so you know, it IS possible to stay on plan and still go out to eat. That fact, however, must have slipped my mind since I ended up TOTALLY blowing the rest of the day. Then, yesterday was Tuesday and I found out I wasn't pregnant. That kind of news certainly deserved at least a burger and fries, and oooohhhh.... the cherry Dr. Pepper. Tuesday went down the drain. Okay, so now it's Wednesday, and so far I think I'm doing a little better. Ask me again in 5 minutes and I might say something else, though. I did work out today, but then Amanda and I went out to lunch at Chili's. I only got the soup and salad and I nixed the soda. So, technically, I haven't gone over on points today, but at any given moment I may be reaching for that pan of brownies that Rick had me make him last week...

Enough about my weight woes! I just needed to vent my craziness. Wish me luck!!

100 Things About Me

2007-04-23T12:25:00.000-07:00

Here it is... the list of 100 things about me. Enjoy!

I am 24 years old, married, and have an (almost) 2 year old son named Noah.

I have lived in Albuquerque for about 4 ½ years, and in that time have come to only slightly dislike it. (Seeing as how I really hated it when I first arrived, that’s really saying something.)

I lived in Washington State my entire life until I graduated from high school, at which time I ran as far away from Longview as I possibly could (Florida, see #4).

I lived in 4 different states in the period of just over 1 year. Washington, Florida, Idaho and then finally New Mexico.

Although a west coaster by birth, I’m totally an east coaster at heart.

I joined Weight Watchers 5 weeks ago and have established a real love/hate relationship with the program.

My husband finally caved and bought me an elliptical about a year ago. I harbor no hatred for my beloved elliptical, however. I workout like a mad woman 6 days a week, and that machine is what keeps me sane.

I have 5 older brothers and 2 older sisters.

I’m terrible at long distance relationships. I’m constantly trying to improve my e-mailing, phone calling, and just any contacting in general, really. If you know me, then you know this terrible trait of mine already.

I consider myself to be a very loyal friend. I may be terrible at keeping in touch, and it may have been months since we last talked, but say only one word and I will literally drop everything and come running.

My favorite color is sage green.

I’ve had asthma since birth.

I could live off carbonated drinks, but have had to seriously curb my addiction since it’s so totally terrible for you.

I finished over a year of college by the time I graduated high school.

I was majoring in nursing when I met Rick and stopped going to school so he could. I don’t regret it at all, but still dream of getting my degree someday.

I would love to work as a labor/delivery nurse or as a nurse in the NICU.

My husband calls me “Monica Gellar” because I’m so freakishly organized and clean all the time.

I work on an as needed basis for my brother (he’s a podiatrist), doing credentialing work for all the insurance companies.

I have 22 nieces and nephews, have had LOTS of babysitting experience, thought I was as prepared as I could be to have children of my own, and was TOTALLY blown away when I got pregnant and had my own son. I now know that there is NO SUCH THING as being prepared for children.

There are two things I’d like to do before I die. One, I’d like to visit Australia. Two, I’d love to go sky diving. (Rick says, “no way” to #2… so we’ll see…)

I love to scrapbook and make cards, but never spend enough time with it.

I miss the water more than anything. I’ve always lived near the ocean and would give anything to live closer.

I’m SUPER critical of myself and wish I could stop caring so much what people think of me.

My biggest fear in life is not being “enough.”

My best friend here in Albuquerque is Amanda. She’s almost as quirky and crazy as I am.

Two weeks ago we got Dish, and I think my life has changed FOREVER! It’s not the extra channels… it’s the DVR!!!

My husband and I both agree that we wouldn’t have liked each other had we known each other in high school.

I LOVE food. I have a very emotional relationship with it and find much comfort in cooking, smelling and especially eating it.

I love to read and have to be careful when I start a new book. It has to be timed right or whatever else I’m doing at the time gets totally forgotten and neglected.

I love to sing and wish I could start voice lessons again.

I compare myself to everyone and everything. It’s a terrible habit and I never measure up!

I HATE speaking in public, but can actually fake it pretty well.

33. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I’m only 24.

My husband is totally mechanically minded. If it can be done with your hands, than he can do it. He has an understanding of cars that I will NEVER get, but totally adore. I love that he can fix almost anything in the house that breaks, and if he doesn’t know how to fix it, he totally digs learning how. And I am the kind of woman that LOVES that about my man!

I breastfed my baby for the first two weeks until we both got an infection, and then we got it again, and again and again… I finally quit and wish I didn’t have to.

I want to breastfeed my future babies, but am scared that I have been too spoiled with Noah on a bottle. It was so easy!!!

I thought I was going to die the first 4 months of my pregnancy. I lost 10 pounds and was sick all day, every day. It amazes me that someday I am going to actually choose to do it all over again!

I love to light two candles in my living room and sit on my couch after I’ve cleaned the whole house. There is something so calming about a clean home… Is that totally demented?

I have to consciously tell myself to let go of the control. It’s an anxiety issue of mine.

40. I LOVE Mexican food.

I would take humid heat over dry heat any day.

I’m sitting here wondering why I thought I could ever come up with 100 things about me…

I’m a total impulse buyer… Rick is NOT. It’s been a real learning experience.

I do all the finances in our family. I love Quicken.

I wish I had a piano. It’s very therapeutic.

I love mail. Snail mail, e-mail, you name it. Even if it’s a bill with my name on it, it makes me feel special.

My son hasn’t figured out how to climb out of his crib yet, and so far doesn’t show any interest. I’m wondering if it’s okay for me to keep him in there until he’s at least 12?

I love to drive. I’d take a stick shift over an automatic any day. I know it’s bad, but the faster the better.

I’m one of the few wives out there that doesn’t tell my husband to slow down the car… don’t ask me how many tickets he’s gotten since we met.

I’ve never gotten a speeding ticket.

I love doing abs workouts. I love the pain that comes the next day even more.

I love my room right after I’ve made my bed.

I HATE that my husband always tries to sit on the bed after I’ve made it. He wrinkles it!!!

I’m a creature of habit. I love schedules and plans, almost to a fault.

Noah is a first grandchild on Rick’s parents’ side. I love how much they love him!

I daydream about all the clothes I want to wear after I lose the weight!

I absolutely abhor running, but secretly wish I loved it.

My son became utterly obsessed with trucks before the age of 1. I’m starting to crave a baby girl.

I love my hair with highlights, and only wish I had the money to do it and keep it up.

My husband bought me a Mogu pillow (they feel like they are filled with sand) when I was pregnant, and now I can’t sleep without it.

Now that we’ve got so much family living so close to us, I’m secretly scared that we’ll never leave Albuquerque.

I really don’t like water but drink oodles of it every day.

I wish I had a truck.

We’d like to have 4 kids, but just thinking about it makes my heart skip a little. I’m totally overwhelmed with just one some days.

I love making grocery lists. I love crossing them off even more.

I always like to have a blanket on me. If I’m hot, then I’ll take off some clothes so I can have the blanket.

I think I have cute feet.

I’m secretly having a love affair with potatoes. I love them. Any way, shape, or form.

I love birthdays. I make a huge deal out of them and want the same in return for mine.

I have tiny ears. Seriously, if you know me but haven’t noticed, just look next time you see me. You’ll see.

I HATE being video taped.

I can’t roll my R’s. My husband laughs and calls me a “gringo”.

I went to New York City for Thanksgiving right after 9/11. It was amazing and I dream of going back.

I love when my husband tells corny, stupid jokes.

I’m a glass half full type of person most days.

I’m terrible at taking pictures and always wish I had more of my family.

Rick and I want to serve multiple missions after we retire.

Blogging is totally new to me but I hope it sticks.

I’ve got what our family refers to as an “Ivey nose”, which pretty much means BIG. Having said that, my sisters tell me that mine isn’t so bad, and my wonderful husband denies that I have a big nose at all, bless his heart.

I hated P.E. in school.

I love to sew.

My sister and I once made up a song about the BK Hershey Sundae Pies they sell at Burger King. They are wonderful creations.

Now that I think about it, the song actually included a few verses about their French fries, the Whopper Jr., and I believe it was sung to the tune of “Oh, Christmas Tree”.

My husband laughs at me because I was born in the 80’s.

My first job was at a tiny little café. I was awesome at making any kind of coffee drink, latte, etc. but never tasted any of them.

I hate the smell of coffee.

I once received roses from 3 different guys on Valentines Day.

There’s an ice cream man that drives through our neighborhood every day. His music annoys me.

I was born in Walla Walla, Washington, and my husband laughs every time I say that.

I wish I was more creative with my hair.

I’m addicted to my son’s pacifier. It can make him stop crying instantly!

I’m scared to even THINK about potty training Noah. He shows absolutely NO interest in it.

I love to take kick boxing classes.

I once tried a spinning class and thought I was going to die.

The best class I ever took at college was an Intercultural Communications course.

I used to collect the tabs from pop cans.

I’m a cowgirl at heart.

My son is addicted to The Backyardigans and I have seen EVERY episode at least a hundred times.

I actually kind of enjoy doing laundry, although I hate folding it.

100. I can’t believe I actually came up with 100 things, but realize that the minute I post this blog, I’ll come up with at least a hundred more!

Alright... I cave!

2007-04-11T14:07:00.000-07:00

So, I'm giving in. After months and months of hearing about and reading other blogs, I'm finally caving. I have to admit, however, that for some odd reason this is a lot harder than I expected it to be. I actually set up my account on blogger like a month ago, and from time to time I come to look at my very empty blog and try to convince myself to get started. But, even with all of the millions of things that I would like to talk about, I find myself totally speechless. So here I am, on a day that is absolutely no different from any other day, and I'm totally caving.

It all began with my sister who lives up in Washington. (I know you're reading this right now, Shayla... Hi!) I really owe it all to her. Both my desire to start blogging and my absurd fear of it. I love reading her blogs and hearing about her days and it got me all excited to start my own, and then I'd think a little harder and realized that the reason I loved her blogs was because she was so freakin' good at it! She never fails to me make me laugh, if only because I can relate so ridiculously to half the things she says. She's an amazing writer and it suddenly occurred to me that perhaps my blogs wouldn't be nearly as much fun as hers. And then, back to the other hand, I think of how much I miss her and with life being so crazy and things getting in the way, her blog in many ways makes me feel like the gap between states isn't quite as large. So here I am, trying to close the gap a little more... between her and perhaps anybody else who stumbles upon my craziness.

Shayla was telling me that a good way to begin blogging is by doing the whole "100 Things About Me" post. Which, by the way, when I really start thinking about it too hard, I can come up with, like... 3. Don't laugh... it's a work in progress. So, that's my goal for now. We'll see how that goes!