first smiles/the rest of october

october was an eventful month around our house.

i had my 2 week postpartum checkup as well as my 6 week.

c had his 2 week checkup where everything looked great.

i went in for weekly INR checks - boy were my numbers all over the place.  i don't think we once got them normal.  i had to keep switching my dose every week.  the gal at the front desk and i are on a first name basis.  the pharmacy may or may not recognize my car when i pull up to it.  thank goodness for drive through pharmacies when you have three kids.  whoever thought of that needs an award.

 the mister has been having some right side abdominal pain that won't go away.  it's not his appendix, which is what they all (this isn't our first go around with this) start to come too at first - "well, that sounds like your appendix.  it's too late in the day for us to do any tests here, so you should probably go to the emergency room.  you don't want that to rupture, because then you're going to have bigger problems."

after the last time we heard something similar (it could be your appendix - if it gets worse, you should go to the er), we opted to skip the er because we were fairly certain at this point that if it was his appendix it would get worse and we could face the hospital then.

so he went back to a different doctor after the weekend was over to see if they could figure anything else out.  so far, all they've come up with is that it is inflamed lymph nodes.   (like the last time)  thankfully, after another trip or two to the doctor because the pain won't go away, they've referred him to a specialist.  he had a colonoscopy done and we're just waiting to hear results at this point.  let me tell you though, the mister is hilarious coming off of those drugs.  i had a great laugh driving him back home.

little man loves to sleep on the mister's or my chest.  love that little guy.

it snowed and dumped about 8 inches of snow the other day.

this is what my backyard looked like:

the girls couldn't wait to get out there and play in it.

while they played out in the snow, this is what little man did for me.

and the winner is...

January 2011

me!

well at least for the dullest crayon in the box award.

yeah, i probably shouldn't be bragging about that, huh?

now you want to know the story, don't you?

i'll share, but just because *maybe*, just maybe, in the long run, i'll be able to laugh about it.

i used to always get after the mr. for leaving/putting dish towels on the stove.

i still occasionally have to.

i tell him that one day, he's going to put one on the stove and a burner is going to be hot and he's going to start it on fire.

the girls wanted ramen noodles for lunch.

i wasn't in the mood to try to get them to eat something more nutritious, so i just went with it.

i put a pot of water on the stove to boil.

only i turned on the wrong burner.

i've turned on the wrong burner my fair share of times before.

but never with a plastic bowl on it.

and then i went into the other room.

but not before the bowl already started to melt.

long story short, i started the bowl on fire.

it wasn't the only casualty though.

unfortunately, a glass bowl, two measuring cups and my pampered chef spatula went with it.

yeah, not my best moment.

now i'm the one that is getting nagged for leaving things on the stove.
perhaps soon i'll hear the end of it.
well, maybe in the next year or so.

January 2011

we went into town today for a doctor's apointment and then to grab some groceries.

we met up with the mr. between his appointments to grab some lunch.

he left to go to his other appointment and the girls and i finished up.

as i was cleaning up, the girls got down and started playing - no big deal.

then m started getting farther away.

and b, trying to be helpful, went after her.  that only makes m go farther though.

she wouldn't listen, and was almost out the door, so i had to run and grab her.

i came back to where our stuff was and made her put her nose on the wall right there in public.

i really hate punishing my children in public because of what it seems that most other parents seem to think anymore.

you know, the stares that you get (maybe its just me that gets these) of "i can't believe you're punishing your child like that" or "i can't believe you're punishing your child at all."
however, when the safety of my girls is at hand, i feel that's a time when i shouldn't put off teaching them what they did wrong.  if i try to recreate the situation later, it won't be as effective (if at all).

there was this sweet old lady that was sitting in the booth next to us that made my day though.

after i got m to put her nose on the wall, she looked at me and said, "good job mom."

some days, i just need that - someone else to reinforce that i am, indeed, being a good mommy to my babies.

even though some days, i really don't feel like i'm making any progress with them.

January 2011

two years ago, i was here.

feeling a little extra grateful today for modern medicine.

sick

January 2011

m started the week out monday evening being sick.
she just threw up once, then was fine.

fast forward to this morning.

the mr. and b were supposed to go fishing this morning.

everything was ready for them to go - until about 5 am.

the mr. and i both woke up at the same time.

sick.  of course.

the mr. was bound and determined that he was still going fishing.

until it was time to go and he was still sick.

you know the only thing worse than being sick?

being sick with your spouse and still having kids to take care of.

the good news is that b is a huge help and they mostly just played in their room all day.

tender mercy i tell you.

and after about 12 hours, we're both starting to feel better.

except that now b is sick too.
at least we all got it out of the way, right?

jumpstart

my battery was dead this morning.

it's been acting up this last week, and the mr. already had to jumpstart it for me once.

we should've used that as our sign that we needed a new battery, but of course, didn't.

no one was around to jumpstart my car for me.  ahh!

so i got to do it myself - the problem was that the nearest vehicle that i could get close enough to my car to jumpstart it was at the shop.

so i hightailed it over to my bil's house to swipe his car to go to the shop to swipe his pickup so that i could get my car started.

the good news:  after a refresher lesson on the phone with the mr., i got the car started and the other vehicles returned.

and then i promptly went to les schwab so they could replace my battery.

lesson learned.

rain

October 10, 2011

it's been raining here for the last few days.

i don't like the rain.  it's always so gloomy.

and the rain hasn't been a welcome reprieve for the farm either.

they're right in the middle of onion harvest, so rain equals no harvest until it dries out.

which i do like, because that means that the mr. is home more since they can't do anything.

should i feel guilty about that?

my gut tells me my dad and father-in-law wouldn't like it if they knew i was praying for rain.

(don't worry, i'm not :)

but i do like having my hubby home more often!

twenty-seven

september 20, 2011

it's my birthday.

and i'm twenty-seven.

ugh.

when did i get so old?

we recently taught b how old we were, and now she'll ask me "mom, are you twenty-nine?"

nope, that's your dad.

"are you twenty-seven?"

yep, unfortunately i am.

but get used to that twenty-nine number, b.

that's as old as i'll ever get.

it's my [birthday] and i can cry if i want to.

right?

vicks and salt

it's 6:30 in the morning and i'm wide awake.

i don't get up this early unless one of the girls is awake.

we went to the dam a couple nights ago where i got eaten alive by mosquitoes.

i guess that b and i taste yummy.

our legs are both covered in bites.

m and the mr. don't taste so good.

they've got like 3 between the 2 of them.

jealous?  why yes, i am.

so i'm wide awake googling witch  home remedies to take the itch away.

okay, that's not quite what my search was.  but that's what i'm looking for!

so right now, my legs are covered in vicks vapor rub and salt.

don't. ask.

if that doesn't work, next up:  toothpaste and deodorant.

that mom

i was that mom today.
you know, the one that you see in the store and think "ooooh, i hope i never have to be her."

i walked out of target and left my cart (with things in it) in the middle of the store.

shall i explain?

the day started off a bit early for the girls.  i had to be in downtown boise at 9:30 this morning.
plus i had a flat tire which i was trying to get fixed before i had to be in boise.
aaand was picking some things up from my dr. in town before leaving for boise.

so we were out the door by about 7:40.  too early for us.
the flat didn't get fixed before leaving town.
the one day i need it fixed (i'm talking flat as flat can get), and they were swamped before they opened.

so the mr. came to the rescue and put one of my snow tires on for me so that i didn't have to drive an hour on a spare that's only meant to go 55 mph.  yes, i'm aware it's the middle of august.  shh, don't tell the cops.

then, my sister was in town so i got to spend a couple hours visiting with her.
it. was. fabulous.
i don't see her near often enough.

after that, we got some lunch and then stopped by les schwab to get the tire fixed.
there was a hour wait just until they would be able to get to it.
there was a park down the street, so we decided to go play while we waited.

after almost an hour, i decided that we'd go back and finish our wait at les schwab - since they should have been almost done.  after waiting in their waiting room for almost another hour, they finally finished.
talk about a long wait to fix a flat.

by this time, it's well into nap time.
the girls slept for all of the ten minutes it took to get to target.
we go in and go to the cheap aisle.  i pick up a couple of the dollar stories and go back to the toddler clothes.

and that's when the fun began.
b wouldn't share the stories with m, so i took them away.
she, of course, started to cry.
i told her to quit crying or we would go put the stories back.
that totally backfired on me.
instead of stopping, she started screaming and crying louder.

and that is when i left my cart and walked out of target with a toddler under each arm - both of them crying at this point.

i hope i never have to do that again.
talk about embarassing.
but i'm sure it won't be the last time.

brownlee

since the mr. wasn't going to get the fourth of july off, he got yesterday off instead.

the original plan was for the whole family to get together and go play on the desert/river.

but that plan was foiled by a wedding that the rest of the family went to.

so our little family + justin and kristen went fishing instead.

the new plan was to go up to brownlee reservior to go fishing on the snake river below the dam.

the mr. caught the first fish of the day.

he was one happy camper.

he had a bet going with our sister-in-law - whoever lost had to buy the other a slurpee.

by the way k, he's still waiting for that slurpee.

not thrilled about wearing her life jacket

right after these pictures, the boys managed to get us out of a sticky situation.

we had decided to go up right under the dam because it's supposed to be good fishing up there.

no one else was fishing up there though.

that's because they were smarter than us.

you see, they had the spillway on the dam open.

which made for some bumpy conditions, and the water running super fast.

which was fine - until the boat decided to die on us and the boys were having a hard time getting the motor going again.

but they did a good job hiding their panic from us - which was probably a good thing, since we were already in panic mode.

after fishing for a while, we decided it was getting too hot, so we drove the boat up to the park to have lunch and let the girls run around a bit.

the mr.'s solution to keeping m from falling in the water.

yes, he tied a rope to her.  and she actually didn't mind.

then, he let the girls get in the river with him.

they played for a few minutes until we all decided that we were going to get in, so we found a better area to play with more sand and less rocks.

the water was super cold, but felt so good in the hot sun.

after we played in the river, i stayed with m while she slept in the pickup and the rest of the gang went to fish some more.

the best fishing of the day was right off of the dock which was where we spent the rest of the day.

the sister-in-law with one of her fish.

she also caught the smallest fish of the day - like the size they put in sardine cans.

that takes talent you know ;)

and by the way, i think you look cute.

b got to fish with her daddy, which she absolutely loves to do.

m got to play with mom on the boat.

b's fish that she caught with the mr.

we had a great time playing and fishing together - hopefully we can do it again soon!

swimming

we've been trying to have a girl's day/night.

kristen and mish decided that we needed to go swimming so they could get us to go off the high dive.

so, we left the kiddos with babysitters and went swimming.

i know - left the kiddos and went swimming without them?  rude, huh?

but it was nice having a few hours kid free - and not having to worry about them in the water.

i had a blast.

i had so much fun that i forgot to put sunscreen on after a little while and ended up getting fried - but it was worth it.

thanks girls!

dishes

let me backtrack a little bit.

in college, i had some corelle.

why corelle?  because they're chip and break resistant.

i don't know about you, but i have butter fingers some days.

there was one plate in particular that i dropped.

all. the. time.

it finally gave up the ghost and shattered.

most plates wouldn't have lasted that long.

so when we got married, i had my dishes picked out and bought.

they were corelle too.

we've had those dishes for the entire 6 1/2 years we've been married.

until two weeks ago.  when i dropped a plate (again) and it finally shattered.

and now today, b dropped one and it shattered.

obviously, my plates are on their last leg.

between me and the girls, they're doomed.

guess it's time to start shopping for more dishes.

i'll probably go with more corelle.

what are you're favorite dishes?

purse

my purse has been an absolute wreck lately.
like, you dig for 15 minutes to find what you want.
so it was time - past time - to clean it out.

while i was cleaning it out, i came upon a pacifier.
m hasn't taken a pacifier for 4 months.
i still may or may not wanted to cry as i finally decided that it was time to take it out of my purse.
because the realization finally had to hit - my baby isn't a baby anymore.
and i'm not loving that.

but while she isn't a baby anymore, she's becoming quite the little girl.
and i am loving that.
just don't grow up too fast please.

so.

remember this?

well i'm finally getting around to doing the blood tests that my doctor wants because i finally have insurance.

getting insurance after a lovely episode like that - not easy.

that however is another post in and of itself.

so i call my doctor's office to find out how much it's going to cost me because i still have a deductible to meet.  the billing office wanted more specific information so they could give me a better idea on how much it would cost.

the nurse just called me back to tell me which tests they want to run.

i was prepared for a couple tests.

nope.

not 2.

not 5.

not 10.

1-1.

yes, eleven.

i'm not quite sure how much blood they need to take to do the tests.

at this point, i'm a little scared.

my max on how many vials they've taken at one time was i think 8.

anyone want to volunteer to do this for me?

oh, and pay to meet the deductible?  i just called and those tests are ex.pen.sive!

i almost died

okay, not really.

actually not at all.

i went to circuit training yesterday.

i was thinking (for the most part) i can do this.

this isn't too bad.

i was feeling good afterwards.

not too sore.

and then i woke up today.

and i. was. sore.

my quads especially.

have you ever tried to kneel down on the floor to change a diaper with sore quads?

i don't recommend it.

it's only gotta get better from here.

right?

right?

zumba

i did it.

i went to zumba.

and i was horrible at it.

but i'm going again.

i think i could have fun doing it if i can ever figure out the moves.

and yes. i still have two left feet.

laundry disaster

last night, i threw a load of laundry in the washer.

this particular load happened to be light colors.

in the load, there were four new shirts for b & m.

do they really have to keep growing?

i checked everything for stains, pre-treated, and threw in a color catcher for the new pink shirts.

(love those things.  they've saved my clothes more than once.)

i'll usually throw one in any time i have anything red or pink, especially with new clothes.

when the wash was done, i checked the shirts that had stains to make sure they came out.

i checked the color catcher sheet to make sure it was still white.

it was.

so i threw everything in the dryer.

all seemed good.

until this morning.

i grabbed everything out of the dryer and started laying things out on my bed.

as i'm pulling the clothes out of the dryer, i notice pink stains on one of the brand new cream colored shirts.

great.

then there's pink stains on one of m's green shirts that i had pre-treated and checked after it was done washing to make sure the stains came out.

um, i know they came out.

then i find another pink stain on one of my white shirts.

what is going on?

then, as i notice the pink stains on b's brand new green shirt, i found the culprit.

somehow, a fruit snack had made it's way into the washing machine, and then into the dryer.

it was fine in the washing machine as i used cold water to wash the load.

which is why there were no stains when those clothes went into the dryer.

and the heat from the dryer melted the fruit snack, and made stains on the clothes.

fantastic.

so i hoped against hope that the stains would come out and threw them back in the washing machine.

i was pretty sure they weren't coming out though.

you should have seen the nasty stain where the fruit snack had been melted to.

it must be my lucky day.

they all came out.

now if i could only get the spot of blood off of the mr.'s white tie.

date night

last night was date night.

date night around here doesn't happen as often as i would like.

i guess that comes with being married to a farmer.

first, we headed to a&w with the girls and justin & kristen.

a reeses polar swirl?

why, yes please.

we picked kaley up on the way home to watch the girls while we went four-wheeling with j&k.

i haven't been four-wheeling for a long time.

it. was. a. blast.

we scoped out where we are going to someday build a house.

we just have to figure out who owns the property first.

not a huge hurdle.

right?

then, the mr. decided he needed to find some good jumps.

i almost died.

okay, not really.  but i did almost fall off once.

he claims i let go.

i claim the four-wheeler went back farther than normal and made me lose my grip.

either way, i may or may not have held on just a little bit tighter the rest of the night.

just call me mrs. fix-it

the caulking on our bathroom sinks was horrible.

it was coming off and on the mr.'s side of the vanity, leaking everytime i would clean.

and then i'd have to clean up the mess under the sink.

so today, i finally had had enough and took matters into my own hands.

that's right, i caulked the bathroom sink.

i started on my side and after a couple days if my side still looks okay, it's on to the mr.'s side.

i guess if it doesn't look okay, i better get the mr. to fix it for me.

but i'm sure it's still going to look great.

that's right, just call me mrs. fix-it.

watch out, mr.
i just might fix under the kitchen sink too.