Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Oh... just some pictures ( are you tired of them yet???)

So... did everyone have a good weekend?? It was a hot one!! I basically did a whole lot of nothing (like usual) , so really, I don't have anything to blog about, buuuttttt..... I just L-O-V-E it soooooooooo much! And I know all of you are eagerly checking your e-mails, multiple times a day, just hoping I'll have a new post. Okay, I don't really believe that, I think the only one who is as excited as I am about the many, MANY pictures I post of my children, is their grandparents. But that's okay.. I like to go back and re-read some of my more humorous blogs and make myself laugh. Apparently, the last blog I posted ( of Emma) has started a little discussion on who she looks like. After taking the pictures, I looked at one and for some reason I thought "Payne". It's not that she looked like him, there was just something. A little while after I posted my blog, my mom called and said " do you know who these pictures look like?" Well, she didn't say Payne, but Xavier. And after I looked at them again, you know.. she was right. Xavier as a baby. Of course, I e-mailed Rachel, and she was in complete agreement. So, does this mean that Rachel and I resemble each other in some way? Because our children look more like their fathers than like us ( well, I guess out of all of our kids, Xavier and Emma look the most like us). So, anyway, just thought I'd share that and give everyone who remembers Xavier as a baby something to think about. The weird thing is, Those pictures don't really look that much like Emma, even though, obviously, it is Emma. Weird.



Okay, so I'm going to give you a little something about all of my darlings. Emma, of course, I just gave you an update about, but I can never run out of stuff to talk about when it comes to my kids!! So, we'll start with her. I'm beginning to think that she is going to be the most like myself. I mean in the not so good ways. ( I no, hard to believe, I DO have not so good things about me!!) I've been told I didn't really talk much as a baby... or toddler. But, maybe I just didn't need too?? With a brother and sister like mine around, I doubt I ever got a chance to! Seriously though.. Emma will be 5 months in about a week and other than a squeal..... we got nothin. She should be doin baby babbles by now!! I know you shouldn't compare your kids with each other ( but who doesn't??), Gavin and Lakin were both making so much more baby noises by now. Harry has a nephew who is, like, a week older than Emma, and she says she just can't believe how much more he's doing than Emma! Great.... Now days, she'll be in speech therapy by the time she's 1. Wonderful, that's all I need. I guess Jerry's going to have to give us all a course in sign language ( which is supposed to be really good for baby's who aren't able to tell you what they want yet), just so we can talk to her. I even had to do the whole "speech class" thing, but that was in 2nd grade.... the school felt sorry for my poor self:( Then it took the school to do something about it. Now, by the time I bring her in for her 6month check-up, her ped. will be referring me to a specialist! She's also going to a MAJOR antisocial moment. I think she may end up being the worst out of all my children. She's pretty much crying as soon as someone holds her or even talks to her. Wonderful! as soon as she's given back to me... she quits. Well, of course my mom couldn't stand the thought of this, and it had been like, 3 weeks since she'd seen her. So I brought her with me when I picked up Lakin on Sunday. Mom picks her up... she cries. She gives her to me, she stops. She tries again... cries. Gives her back.. stops. Talks to her.. Emma gets very agitated. This goes on for awhile then she's even crying with me ( I did stick her in the pool, though.... she didn't like that at all). My baby was just tired. I laid her down and she went right to sleep. I ran to the store and she woke up while I was gone... she was fine after that. She even let Jami hold her. Now I'm not sure if it's because I wasn't there, or if she was just in a better mood, but mom was experiencing MAJOR relief. I suppose we'll See how Christmas goes this year! We are still trying to get the cereal thing down, and she HATES it! She'll open her mouth for the first bite, after that she seals shut. You have to shove it past. She's not spitting it out as much, just doesn't want to eat it. Maybe it will be better when I can put yummy stuff in it.

Look how well she's holding her head up... finally

Different day..same poseNow... on to Lakin... Lakin, Lakin, Lakin. She's just normal little Lakin. We went to this little restaurant in Cloverdale last Sunday, and there were two little girls there who were probably between the ages of 4 and 7. We were eating outside, and the girls started doing cartwheels. Lakin's was just in awe! Her face! You could just see how bad she wanted to do one, too. I decided right then, we would have to put her in tumbling classes. I called today, now I'm just waiting for a call back. My baby WILL learn to do a cartwheel! She'll love it! I'm so excited! Lakin and Gavin were playing some sort of game the other night, and all of the sudden Gavin says " mom, Lakin just said I was stupid" or something like that. Well, I said " I wonder where she got that from" since "stupid" and "whatever" are new favorite words of my darling son since school started back up. So, he asked her " Lakin where did you get that word from?" And she said.... " from my mouth!" You just have to imagine the "well duh" tone. It was funny! But she usually is. Here are some pictures of her in a few of her dress up clothes. She's just too cute! She's dancing to her " how to dance like a princess" video, BTW.
These two are of her doing a curtsey (sp?) This picture is just so..... Lakin!awww... isn't my baby girl beautiful???A little blurry, but cute! Trying to dance with Emma



Now, Gavin. I know, I'm a bad mom... I have no new pictures of my first born, but he doesn't really do a whole lot! He gets home from school and watches T.V, has a snack, plays a game, plays bionicles, plays cars.... you get it. Not a whole lot that you want to take pictures of. We eat dinner, he and Lakin usually go outside and play until about 8:00, they come in , take baths, pick up their toys, brush teeth, we read a book then it's bed time at 9:00. He just doesn't have many photo ops. Poor Gavin!!!! So instead I took a picture of a picture he made for me yesterday... sweet Gavin. Speaking of sweet Gavin.... yesterday, he wanted a snack after school, so he got a twinkie. Apparently, he sat it down and Marley got it..whoops! So he asks for another one, I told him to keep it in the kitchen this time. A few minutes later, he's yelling at the dog again. Yes Marley got the twinkie. This time I told him he couldn't have another one because I told him to leave it in the kitchen and he chose not to listen to me. Well, he didn't like this at all! He actually laid on the kitchen floor and was kicking and screaming.... yes, my son is almost 7. This was lovely! He proceeded to act like this for at least 30 minutes, then decided it wasn't getting him anywhere and gave up. Sometimes he amazes me. I'm sure that a therapist would say it's just a cry for attention, or something like that, but he didn't get any from me acting like that! Poor Gavin.. being the oldest and the only boy... I love him so much. (Lakin just said " barnacles" because I wouldn't let her on my lap! he-he) Anyway, no pictures of sweet angel Gavin this time, but soon. Oh yeah, he informed me on saturday that you shouldn't be in a gang because those people are bad..... I said " where did you learn about gangs?" He said " school"...... Hello!!! Why is my 1st grader learning about gangs??? I mean, he probably would have made it all the way to high school without ever hearing about one. What kind of gangs do you have to worry about out here... John Deere Greens?? The Corn Rows???? Cow Tippers??? Seriously!! I of course informed him that the people weren't necessarily bad, just some of them were making bad choices. Well... I'm wrong!! If your in a gang, your EVIL!!!!!!!!! Okay, so he didn't say that, but may as well have. I guess it's good though that they are teaching him that.... I forgot about that one gang, that really big one that all the country kids are in... oh you know, that REAL bad one.... that's right, I remember... the 4-H er's!!!! Terrible, terrible people they are!!! Good thing he learned about gangs early!


Now for Marley............. I tell myself everyday I'm going to find him a new home, but then change my mind. I just love him so much! I just really wish he'd stop peeing on my floor!! I just don't understand.. This morning he pooped!! twice! He hasn't done that in a long time. Grrr!!! His pee is really starting to stink things up. Nothing better than sitting on your couch smelling dog piss. He just won't learn. He has learned how to sit, give 5's and we are working on laying down and standing up. He's gonna be like a little circus dog! If he stops peeing on my floor anyway. If not, he won't be LIKE one, he will BE one!

Look, he's smiling at you!!!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

eating one of the dangly's on her intellatainer

Well, Emma went to her 4month well child check up yesterday ( even though she's closer to five months) and she's doing great!! The doctor isn't at all concerned about her not making many noises. She said she'll get to it, as long as she's making some, she's not concerned. Poor baby, she'll probably have to take speech therapy or something! Anyway, she weighed in at a whopping 14lbs 14oz. !! Hoss! That put her around the 65th percentile, which is way up from 50th at two months! She was 24 3/4 in long, which put her right around the 70th percent. That is down from 2 months. her head was 16 1/4, which grew A LOT! At two months she was near the 20th %, now she's around 50. She may have a big head yet! Of course at her 2 month checkup, she really didn't have any head growth at all from her one month, so she was just making up for it! Basically, she's ( in the doctors words) very well proportioned. Everything fits together... of course, they didn't measure her ears:( everyone have a great day!!


cracking up!! Silently of course , maybe with a little squeal
cheese, mommy!

Sunday, August 17, 2008

ohh.... a Saturday afternoon

Spinning...........Spinning................
Spinning..............

Whoa!!!!
She's down.......


Back up again.....



and spinning all over.....
again.

How's everyone's weekend going?? It sure is beautiful outside today!! I really wish my youngest would cooperate so I could be outside with the other two ( and a little bonus sun can't hurt!), but I'm beginning to get used to it. Such a waste of a pretty day. I did get out with Emma for a little while yesterday evening, and was able to get these pictures. Lakin likes to pick a dress out of her very plentiful supply and wear it for a few days. It's off, on, off, on... you get the picture. After a day or two, she'll trade it in for another. Yesterday, she chose this one, even though I wasn't all excited about it. It still had the tags on!! But I figured I may as well get some use out of it. It was bought for the Easter-that-never-was, but obviously, was never worn. She was SOOO excited when she found out it went so far out when she spun around!! I couldn't resist taking these pictures. Who knows how long a little thing like that will make her so excited! ( Even though I still twril around to see how far out a dress will go!) Anyway, they are CUTE so I wanted to share.
Now, for a funny little story. It's about 3 a.m. I get woke up by a little girl at my door " mama, i poopdied, you need to wipe my butt". Okay. I ask " did you poop in the potty?", " uh-huh" she says. So I take her hand and lead her into my bathroom. I turn on the light, grab the wipes off of the bathtub, and turn around and look at her for the first time. Whoa..... poopdie everywhere. On her belly, down the insides of her legs, on her feet, on her hands ( including fingernails), and so much on her bottom I can't help but wonder if ANY actually got into the potty. Again, I ask her if she pooped in the potty or her panties, this time she says " in my panties", in this cute little baby voice. So my next obvious question, " did you poop in your bed?". Well, in the same voice but with an mom-your-an-idiot tone, " noooo... I poopdied in the potty". Like, duh, why would I poop in my bed??? Well, okay. I clean her all up, wipe off her hands real good ( and my own, since in holding her hand, I now have poo on my own), take her into the other bathroom with the stool to wash her hands real good... and gag on the smell. OMG!! This smell came from my beautiful, precious little girl??? This beats even her dad's odors! I check the toilet, where there is no "poopdie", just pee ( at least she did that there). But there is a very unpleasant pair of Mermaid panties lying next to the potty. How can so much poo come out of something so small?? After getting her hands nice and clean, I get a bag for the panties ( which are going in the trash!), clean up the floor, wash my hands and lead her into her bedroom. Again.... the smell. UGHHH!!!! The shirt came up over the nose. Terrible! Of course, what I find is not what I was told. There is poo on her bed. Wonderful, it just keeps getting better and better. I get her some panties and strip the bed. It looks as if her duckie blankie is poop free, but when I smell it.... bring out the salts!! Of course, this sets off a very loud tantrum, she ONLY wants her duckie blankie. She " can't see any poopdie!!!" We move to the couch, where she continues to scream over her blanket. I give her the ultimatum of the blanket I was holding or no blanket at all. Nothing but crying, so I walk away. This of course works and she wants the blanket. Finally, back in bed!! All I can say is what a night. This was a first ( and hopefully a last) for me. We've had our share of pee accidents from both kids, but the "poopdie" I can live without. FUN! FUN! FUN!
As for Gavin's first day of school conclusion..... he said " yeah, I liked it". In an I-could-care-less tone of voice. He likes his teacher, named off all of the kids who were in his class last year (including A-L-E-X, a little girl he really likes), and thinks it's very cool that there is another Gavin in his class, but his is spelled GavEn. Friday definitely went better, except for the fact that I woke up at 6:45 and the bus came at 7:03. So I had to wake up the girls and drive him to school. Which, by the way, my husband was still sitting here when I got back... we won't go there this time. Hopefully, this week will go more smoothly. Lakin starts school on the 3rd, so we are going to HAVE to get into some sort of rhythm. I have to leave here at 7:50 to get her to school, so that's going to be fun!!! We'll eventually get it all figured out. At least that's only three days a week. Anyway, hope everyone ( including mom with her broken arm) is having a great weekend, and hopefully enjoying the gorgeous weather since I can't!!

Gavin swinging
Cheese!!!!
Cheese!!


Cheese again!!
ooohhh... look at those muscles!!


swing, swing, swing.....





Thursday, August 14, 2008

First Day of 1st Grade!!! ( well, morning)


So, we did it.... Gavin is experiencing his first day of 1st grade as I blog. Not surprisingly, the day didn't go as planned. i woke up late, at 10 till 7, so I knew the morning wasn't going to go as planned. Gavin immediately started doing his weird growl/whine/yell noise as soon as I told him he had to get up. " I HATE school" is what I heard first. No "I love you mom", " good morning, mommy", nothing just growl/whine/yell. So that's great. I ignore this, like usual, and ask what he want's for breakfast, more growl/whine/yell. Fine... don't eat you little S*%!. I didn't really say that, BTW. He finally gets up and starts whining about oatmeal, which of course we don't have time for, it's 7:00 and the bus gets here at 7:20. So he's yelling, Vern gets mad, he gets told to quit, doesn't quit, Vern gets more mad, Gavin get's a spankin, I get mad because it's his first day of school, Vern and I argue( sorta, in our way), Gavin cry's very loudly, Emma wakes up, Gavin finally chooses a pop-tart, but is crying so much he's not eating. I look out the window, the bus is here... it's only 7:06, not 7:20...WTF!!! This sucks, now I'm going to have to load up the girls and drive him to school, Wonderful! Of course, he thinks now he gets to stay home, the crying stops. I inform him that he's still going, the crying re-starts. Fun! Fun! My husbands still blah, blah, blahing in the background, Emma's screaming, I am being, amazingly, very calm. I feed Emma, force Gavin to get dressed, wake up Lakin, get her dressed, get Emma in her carseat, get the kids outside... wait, no keys. can't find the damn things anywhere, call husband to ask where they are....no answer. Grrrr... now I'm loosing my calm, it's 7:40. Find them in the bathroom ( good place for them Vern) put the dog up, buckle seat belts, and pull out. Guess what???? Go ahead, guess..... I'm on E!!!! I cross my fingers and head to school. I get there and remember that Gavin doesn't know where his room is, but I'm dressed in an old t-shirt and old used-to-be-white pants, very pretty. Not to mention, both of the girls are in their P.J's, and it would be a real pain in the ass to unload them and bring them in. So, bad mom moment, I drop him off, give him a kiss, tell him I love him and to have fun and to ask one of the teachers at the front where his class is! I know, I'm horrible!! I felt so bad. I know it's fine, they know who he is, they'll figure it out, but still. On the way to get gas ( which was actually really fun, explain later), Vern calls and says Matt ( one of his employees) said school starts 10 minutes early this year. This would of course explain the early bus, huh? I called the school when I got him and asked and she ( not very nicely, I might add) said it was all in the packet I got at registration, and that was why I was supposed to read it. Oops! Anyway, I have to pick him up at 2:20 ( NOT 2:30), I'll try to blog later and tell you how his first day went. I'm sure he's having the time of his life:)

I got my new phone last night and I L-O-V-E it!!!!! It's absolutely wonderful! I get all of the T.v. channels, which the kids love, but so do I! I can watch movies for $5,but don't really want to, and I used my GPS for the first time to get to the gas station this morning!! Yes, I knew how to get there, but I looked up gas by price and it brought up the cheapest gas and then just HAD to get turn by turn directions!! Hearing that little lady say " turn left in.06 miles was GREAT!! I'll be over it soon, but for now it's super, super fun!!!!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

More Random Pictures

Shatzie
Gavin & Marley
" oh, Shatzie, I LOOK UP to you" get it??? ha haha ha
Look!!! She's holding her own bottle!!
I know the picture is blurry, but how funny is this??!! Shatzie better run faster or jump:)
awww.... poor neglected Shatzie ( who hasn't had a bath in months..phew!!)

Gavin & Emma, posing for a quick photo shoot before leaving to mema's ( this was the day she rolled over)

Don't Emma's ears look rather,um, well, protruding here? Actually, so do Gavin's.....


The frog that was in our kitchen.. it was a rather strange,orange color, tree frog

My kids and Marley (well, his rear), looking at the frog



Well..... I'm just sitting here ( actually, rocking here) and thought that I might as well do something while I am otherwise immobile. Emma and her teething is just not getting any better. About the only way to make her happy is to hold her. She is sleeping a lot, but again, better when I'm holding her. Hence, that is why I am sitting here rocking. I really need to be cleaning up my kitchen, doing some laundry.... and my bathroom, well, we won't even go there! But hey, I guess the bathroom will get stinky again, the kitchen will get sloppy again and the clothes will get dirty again, so I'll just leave it for now. Let's see, let's see.......... I'm getting a new phone tonight!!! Yes, for me that is SOOOOO exciting! I have been using a phone that for the past year only has usage to the left side of the key pad's buttons. So that means I am only able to call numbers pre-programmed in my phone or one's that don't use the 3,6, 9,#, and sometimes 7, buttons. Erasing messages on voicemail is hit and miss. Forget calling any automated numbers where you half to push numbers to get anywhere, for that I have to use the house phone. Luckily, I do have voice dial, so that has worked in a pinch. Of course if someone calls me, I can save it, but if I have to enter their name.... well, lets just say I have some pretty crazy names for some people in my phone. You use whatever works. More recently, my battery has decides to hold a charge for, oh, all of three seconds. No joke, off the charger, it lasts 5 minutes. That really truly sucks. I don't even bother to bring it into places with me when I go, it will just die. Oh, and we can't forget the appearance! I am ( with NO embarrassment) walking around talking without a cover on my battery. Very pretty! My brother apparently doesn't feel quite the same way, and seemed rather embarrassed to be walking with me while I was talking... I can't believe it! This all ends tonight! I am getting one of those ultra cool touch phones..FUN! This coming from me who " doesn't want anything cool, I don't even use the camera, I don't text..etc.". This was BEFORE sprint had a touch phone, though. When I found that out, everything changed. I've wanted an i phone forever!! This is close enough. I can't wait to use my handy GPS or Internet shop in the car. I'm SOOOO excited! Of course, I'll be over it in about a week, but for now YEAH!!



Gavin starts school tomorrow! I'm so nervous for him. He, of course, doesn't want to go at all, but I'm sure he'll be just fine. 1st grade... that's big kid school! oh, how am I ever going to survive this???? It's SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO hard!!! One part of me just wants to keep him here with me, but the other part of me can't wait for him to go back... terrible, huh? It's so much quieter here when he's gone, Lakin is so much more well behaved. One day they will all three be in school all day, what will I do with myself then?? One plus..my house will actually be clean longer than 5 minutes, I might start cooking dinner again!!! Vern will be VERY excited! Lots of homemade cookies! I guess I'll have to find a hobby, or I could just work on getting fat:)!! Anyway, I'll let everyone know how that goes, and I'm sure I'll have pictures! I'll even be able to blog from my new phone!! ( which I doubt I will, but hey)



Here are just some pictures.. kids, dogs ( I taught Marley how to sit and give 5's, by the way:), the little frog in my kitchen ( which my husband told the kids was poisonous, thanks Vern!) that was a rather strange color, but the kids were fascinated ( so was Marley). I hope everyone is having a good day, and I'll blog Gavin's first day of 1st grade soon!






" I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence, but it comes from within. It is there all the time." -anna freud






( that was for you Jami, I know how much you enjoy them!)

Monday, August 11, 2008

Emma's 1st Rice Cereal!!!

Unsuspecting Emma.... before the icky cereal..." Mommy! What did you just put in my mouth??!!?" ( this is the first bite reaction)" okay, maybe not soo bad...." "stop it...I don't want anymore!"



This morning Emma had cereal for the first time!! Her pediatrician hasn't given the go-head yet, and I know a lot of doctors are now telling you to wait until they are 6 months old before you start them on any solids, but I started the other two at 4 months, so figured what the hey. She didn't really like it much, but I didn't figure she would her first time. Of course, this was more of a " let's play with a new texture in my mouth " moment than an actual eating one, but I figured that, as well. She couldn't quite figure out how to get it to the back of her mouth and kept pushing it back out, but that's normal. She'll get the hang of it soon. Here are the pictures I was able to take, it was sort of hard taking pictures and feeding her at the same time!! We only got in a few spoonfuls before she got frustrated with it, but we'll try again tonight. Before we know it, she'll be eating cereal like a pro!