Forever in Ohio

The poor thing that is Aidan

2012-01-08T23:15:00.000-05:00

Soooo...my Aidan is special. I've already written about his numerous, although relatively minor, medical issues, ie ocular albinism, multiple ear tubes, adenoid/tonsil removal, sticking a button up his nose, etc.

Well, last Tuesday he was having some tummy trouble. Aidan made many bathroom trips and informed me he had diarrhea. Great. He went through every pair of clean underwear but he took care of everything himself so I wasn't too inconvenienced. Because, that's obviously the most important thing...

Towards the end of the day, he was in the bathroom for quite a while. He was calling my name but I kept telling him to wait a sec, cuz really, where was he gonna go? When I finally deigned him with my presence(this will get graphic, sorry but it's for posterity...)Aidan told me that he was stuck and his bowels couldn't get rid of the offending excrement.

Side note: they never tell you in the all-knowing-mother's-handbook that we have to be so intimately acquainted with our children's bowel movements. When they're babies, yes but I hadn't anticipated being up close and personal when they were in grade school.

So I looked at my skinny naked boy sitting on the pot and said the famous words, "Let me see."
Not that I really wanted to see but as the resident mommy in attendance it was my solemn duty.

What I saw next, I was not prepared for. I thought maybe he was straining for too long and had a small hemorrhoid that was bothering him. It's not common in children but it is possible. Aidan had been in the bathroom for quite a while so maybe he was having the same bowel issues as Camden.

However, what was there is almost impossible to describe but I knew it was definitely NOT a hemorrhoid. It was about the size of his fist; granted he has small hands but still... It was a deep blush color and oddly enough, looked like a closed rose. SOOOOOO not normal. As I stared in fascination, horror, and concern the monstrosity was quickly pulled back in and disappeared from view.

With all the faith that only a child can possess, Aidan said, "Thanks Mom! You helped me. It's better now. "

I had done nothing though I wanted to take credit for something but I graciously stepped aside and informed him that his own rectal muscles saved the day.

Of course it happened after the doctor's office was closed, Nathan had a church meeting to attend and so I had to wait until the next morning to get Aidan in to see the doctor. Not that there was anything to see anymore because his pretty little flower had yet to reappear.

I had done some random researching on my own on the internet to try to find a picture that I could describe to the doctor of what I saw. Now that is love in it's purest form. To look at pictures of random adult and child anuses with various forms of hemmorrhoidal issues online was beyond squirmy but I was on a mission!

And I did come up with an answer that his doctor agreed with. This poor little skinny boy of mine had been straining so hard and has such ferocious stomach muscles that he had pushed the lining of his rectum outside his body, or it's also know as a rectal prolapse.

Let that sink in a little bit....yeah, not right.
Of all the random things, this was a first for me. But Aidan has been fine ever since. He's now on Camden's juice/miralax/lots of water regimen and has been doing well ever since. Aidan's doctor called us at home two days later to check up on him, which she has never done before so that confirmed how unusual and potentially serious this had been.

Stay tuned next time because oh yes, there is more. Just two days later he visited the ENT and it involved a crayon...

silly boys

2012-01-06T09:26:00.002-05:00

As I was standing in front of the fire this morning, in my flannel pajama bottoms and loose black sleep shirt, my hair was sticking up like a rooster and, obviously, sans make up; I looked up and Camden was standing on the stairs just staring at me. I was getting Wyatt's clothes laid out so that I could get him dressed when he was finished in the shower with daddy. Camden continued to stare. As I finished with my preparations I asked him what he was doing?

"Staring at you," he said. Duh!
"Why?" I asked.
"Because I think you're beautiful." was his nonchalant reply.

Oh!!! My heart was full. What a sweet little boy. Well, not so little anymore. He was recently telling Nathan and I about some inappropriate conversations boys were having at school. Apparently, they talk about girls' boobies in the bathroom where they can't be overheard! While I wanted to laugh I was also very much reminded that he was growing up. Camden is only in 3rd grade. I don't remember talking about such things but it was probably going on. Children at that age are so curious and they imitate what adults say and what they see on t.v. Sexy was another word Camden was uncomfortable with.

I guess I need to stop being an ostrich with my head stuck in the ground and I need to be more proactive in facilitating these conversations with my son. Nathan and I want him to be comfortable around us so that he won't be afraid to discuss these things.

I don't want him to grow up!!! Whaaaaaaaaa....

Camden's letter to his grandparents

2011-12-29T14:52:00.003-05:00

Dear Grandpa and Grandma,

I'm writing this in cub scouts.

I'd like to thank you for all you done.

I appreciate how you help me get into mischeif I haven't thought of yet.

I like how you care, play with, and love me. Thanks for all that you done.

I just love all that you do. You will always be my nuber one!

Your grandson (friend is crossed out!)

Camden

I thought this was soo cute and I wanted to post it for posterity's sake. So when he's being a mean teenager I can show him this and remind him that he used to be cute and cuddly once. I need proof in case he denies it. hehehe

JUICE!

2011-11-29T15:33:00.001-05:00

My oldest son is 9 years old, which means I had him when I was pretty young. I was trying to do my best while being pretty paranoid and over protective. Camden's pediatrician had advised against giving him, or any of my kids, too much juice because of all the sugar in it. Juice was to be give only occasionally and if I watered it down then all the better. So I followed that advice and thought I was being a "good" mom because my kids weren't demanding juice all the time and were content to drink water when they were thirsty.

Camden never had an ear infection, or strep, or the flu. He was the healthiest kid I knew. He still would get colds like the other kids but never anything serious. Camden was the best eater, sleeper, snuggler, etc. You get the picture. To me, he was perfect, though a little sensitive.

Skip forward four years, Camden is....four, almost five, and we had moved from San Francisco, CA to Dayton, OH. Camden threw up for the first time in his life that winter. I figured it was because we were in Ohio and it snows a lot and he was stuck indoors where germs can breed rampantly. He had a few incidents that winter and I would have not thought much of it but whenever he threw up it was always in the early morning and he never had any other symptoms, ie fever, chills, rash, aches and pains. Well, he did have frequent loose bm's so I just thought his tummy was sick. We would feed him the BRAT diet and hoped it would solidify soon. I wasn't extremely happy in Ohio and I missed California and all of my friends so I just blamed the entire state for his condition.

Fast forward four more years, we're still in Ohio, and after three different moves, jobs, schooling, etc it looks like I'll be forever in Ohio. Camden is 8 and has been throwing up every two weeks for two months. Just like before, Camden doesn't have any symptoms but he's not bouncing back after these episodes. Usually he would throw up for a few hours, sleep a little, then be begging for food and to play with friends. But this time he was still pale and weak. He'd been doing this for years, mostly in the winter time. Every year when the weather turned colder, Camden would start these episodes and Nate and I were so annoyed because we were inconvenienced...I'm pathetic. Camden's lips were always dry and cracking and he was constantly picking at them so we nagged him to quit touching his lips and to wash his hands ALL the time. Poor kid.

I was getting really worried that something was really wrong with him. When I took him to the doctor the first time they gave him a generic diagnosis, prescribed anti nauseous medicine, liquid zantac and sent us home. Two weeks later he threw up.

On top of all the hassle of sleep deprivation, clean up, and the smell, Camden would miss school because he needed to be puke-free for 24 hours. And have I mentioned his breath? It was HORRIBLE! When I was pregnant with Wyatt I couldn't stand to be near him. (sorry sweetie, but it was true. pregnancy heightens the senses and my nose was in overdrive) So, my poor guy had been throwing up every winter for four years, had foul smelling breath and he, um, ahem, had flatulence issues. After a particularly heinous release I was teasing him to make light of it and he started to cry saying he couldn't help it and kids at school were teasing him and said he smelled. Well, I pretty much felt smaller then a gnat. I had no idea it was effecting him at school.

Back to the doctor we went and this time we saw a different pediatrician. After explaining all of Camden's symptoms, she immediately diagnosed him with constipation! We took an xray and the poor boy was completely stopped up inside. Even though he went #2 every day it wasn't enough. The Dr. referred us to a pediatric gastrointerologist and he said that severe constipation is actually very common in kids. It's easily treated. He needs to take a capful of Miralax once a day, drink lots of water, and eat at least 18 grams of fiber a day. Camden had already been doing all of that since his previous doctor appointment but this specialist said it could take up to one year for Camden's body to send his brain appropriate triggers to dispose of his waste more frequently.

And here's the kicker. Camden's special Pediatric GI doctor said that the best thing to give kids to help prevent this is?....dun! dun! dun!

JUICE!

Halloween

2011-11-14T14:53:00.001-05:00

Pretty intimidating, huh?

I know you're scared now

This is the "I'm bored" shot

Ready to take candy from strangers

Moooom? Are we done yet?!

I have no idea why Camden always pops his knee out when I tell him to pose

Wyatt was a frog instead of superman because it was warmer

He wasn't too fond of the stroller but we kept giving him suckers and he lasted for 1.5 hrs.

I definitely don't like trick or treating on a school night. When we lived in Hilliard, they always called it Beggar's Night and would move it to a Friday or Saturday. It was always simple. But this year it was on Monday night, aka Halloween. Dover Schools had an inservice that day so school was cancelled so that meant kids were home all day getting jazzed about everything and the day seemed to last for an eternity. Then Nate didn't get home until 6:15pm, which left me solo to get everyone ready, fed dinner, costumed up and out the door. Needless to say, I could have been Grumpy the Dwarf for Halloween. But it turned out all right in the end. The kids had a great time. They loaded their orange and black halloween buckets up with candy, and trekked all over the neighborhood.

Nathan bought the kids' candy last year and we repeated that this year. They could choose to keep 20-30 pieces and then he took the rest to work. It works nicely for all involved. :p

Now, Thanksgiving is almost here and then comes Christmas and I'm so not ready for that yet.

Pre-Halloween

2011-10-30T22:23:00.000-04:00

Isn't my little Superman super-cute?!

I am documenting my haircut. Not for any useful reason, just cuz.

Boys are de-gutting pumpkins. With Wyatt making a nice stink face in the background.

"EEEEWWWWWW"

"Take my picture too...!"

What a stud

The leftover gore

I'm not sure what he's doing but he's sure cute anyway

So grateful to my mother in law for finding the costume

CHEESE!!! and look at the pizza in my mouth!

What? Do I have something on my lip?

Mmmmmmm....pizza....

That is an entire cookie shoved into his mouth

This is Aidan. I've nothing else to say...

Halloween carving night. Nate's Frankestein

Aidan's Scaredy Cat

Camden designed and carved his pumpkin completely on his own this year. He's very proud.

We are well into Fall around here. The leaves are turning brilliant colors of red, yellow, and orange. Soccer is FINALLY!!!!! over and our weekly schedules have normalized. The boys are all doing well. Aidan is still loving the violin. He told me tonight, "How come I feel happy after I play?" I love it!

Camden is doing really well in school. Parent-Teacher conferences are this upcoming week so we'll see if the boys' have been on their best behavior. ;)

Wyatt is Wyatt. Gleefully mischievous, adorably sweet, and hilarious all at the same time.

Tomorrow is Halloween, so be prepared for many more pictures to clog up in the internet. It will be well documented. G'Night!

Handsome boys and one hot Gma!

2011-10-21T12:28:00.002-04:00

Boys on the bumper cars at the T-County Fair.

This is Wyatt on the day he had his hernia repaired. They have them put on these little scrubs and play while waiting their turn. It was so cute but heartwrenching at the same time to see these little baby's in hospital garb.

Aidan lost his first tooth a few weeks ago, which was closely followed by his second one. He was so scared to have his first one pulled that he wouldn't wiggle it or let me touch it. Finally, when it could lay horizontally, he bit into a cheerio and out it came! He was more confident of his abilities with the second tooth and worked on it with his tongue and pulled it out himself. We're so proud! hahaha

This picture was taken at the beginning of August when I flew home with Wyatt to attend my Gpa.'s funeral and my sister's birth of her second son. Aren't they cute together?!

Camden George Springer

2011-08-02T08:49:00.003-04:00

My Camden-man was the most perfect baby. He never had ear infections or was allergic to milk. He slept through the night at four months, would make me laugh until my cheeks hurt, and was the biggest cuddle bug in the entire world.

He is also so beautiful...but I may have a mother's bias on that one. He is so loving and helpful to me around the house. He loves connecting with Nate through sports, ie golfing, playing soccer, watching soccer on t.v., playing FIFA World Cup Soccer on the Wii, etc. He definitely shows love through service. He is always doing secretive little nice things for us. When Nate's parents come spend the night, he'll leave a chocolate on their pillows like at a hotel.

Camden is also amazing with Wyatt. He plays with him and entertains him and can get him out of his crib for me in the morning. ... He was gone for a whole week in July and I realized how much I relied on him to help me out. And he never complains about it either.

Camden loves playing with friends. He has to be doing something all the time but he's also a great reader and can sit for hours immersed in a great story. He's read all 7 Harry Potter's, almost all Roald Dahl's concoctions, and is now on the Redwall series. It's actually been a little tough finding books for him to read because while he's only going into 3rd grade; he reads at a 7th grade level but older books can contain mature elements that I don't want him exposed to yet.

I can't believe I'm the mother of a nine year old! I can't believe I'm that old and I can't believe how fast the years have flown by that my sweet first born has turned into a true blue boy.

Camden we are so proud of you for being such a good person. You taught me how to love someone so unconditionally and so fully that my heart has wanted to burst.

Happy Birthday!

Camden is 9 today!

2011-08-01T09:04:00.003-04:00

Playing catch up

2011-05-04T08:43:00.004-04:00

In the past month, I feel like every day last forever yet flies by at the same time. Since my last post about Wyatt's birthday, nothing extrordinary has happened. No fun trips or parties. Just the everyday mundane tasks of doctor appointments, trying to clean my house before Watt systematically destroys it, being a referee and a nurse.

My poor Aidan had his tonsils removed, had his adenoids removed for the second time, and had his third set of ear tubes place. He was never sick because of his adenoids or tonsils but he had sleep apnea because at night they would block his nasal passage and airway. His recovery at the surgical center was less than ideal. He just gets sick from the anesthesia and it honestly broke my heart. He would mew, "Moooommmmy! It huuuuurts!" It was all I could do from sobbing. Watching my little one in pain and confusion made me feel completely helpless and raw because I couldn't help him. I could encourage him to take his tylenol and drink sprite but I couldn't make his pain go away or make him understand that this moment was only temporary.

He kept throwing up throughout the day because of the anesthetic but he really didn't have much pain once he was home. Now we're just dealing with constipation issues from,....can you guess? The Anesthetic!! Good times. Poor guy. He's nauseous and acting puny. I'm pumping him full of apple juice, gummy fibers, miralax, and as much liquid as possible. I'm afraid he's going to explode once he does have a bowel movement, but hopefully he'll feel better afterwards.

On top of a sick boy, there's just the day to day stuff of sporting events and piano lessons for Camden, dance lessons and soccer for Cohen, and violin lessons and soccer for Aidan. Phew!

My sister has been gone for 10 days, and is coming home tonite thank goodness, so I've had four boys terrorizing my house and I am ready for a break. Nate and I go to Chicago for two days on the 13th and I am counting down the days.

Wyatt is still not walking but we are expecting it any day. He cruises along furniture and walls like a pro and crawls as fast as lightening.

Our one point of big news is that we are thiiiiiis close to putting an offer in on a house. I'll post pics and details as they are forthcoming but this time next month we could be moving!! YIKES!

Someone had a birthday...

2011-03-31T10:15:00.003-04:00

Yiippppeeee!!

He was so excited by the presents

Just waking up from a nap

Pre-birthday nap. He was so tired he didn't even wake up with all of the noise. I should have noticed the signs. He woke up the next day with a green goopy nose and eyes. Now he has a double ear infection...happy birthday Wyatt!Monkey bday cake made by Nate's mom.

Psssst!

2011-02-26T19:23:00.001-05:00

It's my burfday!

mini update

2011-02-11T07:24:00.005-05:00

Hello Blogging world! I'm tired. Sleepy really. Since January 3rd I have been dragging my saggy butt out of bed and going to work out at 5:30am EVERY morning. Good news is that my butt isn't so saggy anymore; bad news is I don't get to take naps during the day and sometimes I'm so tired I start slurring my words...should I be driving?

My sweet nephew Cohen and my favoritist sister have come for a long visit and it's been really nice. Having another adult in the house with me keeps me sane. This long, cold Ohio winter thing is for the birds and I was feeling pretty claustrophobic in my little house but adding more people to our living space has some how made it feel bigger.

Camden received straight A's on his last report card, Aidan is still loving preschool and violin, and Wyatt is just a stinker who tries to get into everything he knows he shouldn't. And while I tell him "no!" or "don't touch" he just pauses long enough to give me the sweetest, slyest smile in the world and then proceeds to turn off the computer, or pull out the dvd player, or rummage through the fridge, or unroll the toilet paper...etc. The list could go on and on. He's so cute though, he melts my heart.

Oh, and just for posterity's sake, at 10 months Wyatt weighed 22 1/4 lbs and was 31 inches long.

Nate has entered the technological age and purchased a new iphone yesterday. I however, am stuck in the dark ages with my palm centro...I kid. I'm fine with my phone. I don't really need it for anything other than making calls and texting so I'm okay.

Mommy's Little Punk

2011-01-25T09:44:00.004-05:00

Wyatt is a complicated baby. He is so beautiful and makes the best scrunchy faces, along with some pouty-lip lamaze breathing sounds...get that? He's crawling like a fiend and pulls himself up on everything...I mean e.ver.y.thing. It's actually kinda annoying. But then he smiles at me or crawls over and pulls on my pant leg wanting to be picked up and I've forgiven him. Until he does whatever thing again.

This morning I was enjoying a rare snuggle moment with him. He had his little arm wrapped around my neck and was squishing his cheek next to mine. Then he turned his cute little mouth towards me and proceeded to "kiss" (aka slobber) my cheek...or so I thought. Until I felt kinda sticky and realized that he was just using me as a human tissue to wipe the snot off of his face. awesome.

We finally found a baby gate that works at the top of the stairs so I don't feel paranoid about him tumbling to his death but now I just have to make sure he doesn't go under the computer to unplug it OR push the speakers off the entertainment center, that last one is his favorite past time. he thinks it's a game. lovely. OR licking the bottom of any shoe that he can find OR crawling into the bathroom and licking the base of the toilet. ewwww! The older boys now call the toilet Wyatt's girlfriend cuz he's always trying to kiss it. nice.

He's just a little stinker, who's become quite a handful, and has the ability to melt my heart in .2 milliseconds. Basically, he's perfect.

Christmas

2011-01-06T16:33:00.004-05:00

Camden went skiing at Snow Trails with Nate. Well, Nate skied and Camden snowboarded..ded..

Wyatt, Wyatt...always a ham in the bathtub

Camden on Christmas morning with Uncle Jeremy

Love this pic of him!

Scrunchy face!

HO! HO! HO! Merry Christmas!

Mary, did you know?

2010-12-11T22:26:00.003-05:00

I'm tired. Really tired. And maybe that's why I am about to be all sentimental and mushy but if you're still reading, at least you've been warned.

At this time of year, as a Christian, I celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. I believe that He was and is the Son of God, who came to the earth to be the Savior of the world. There are many carols and poems commemorating His birth and one person always stands out to me more than anyone.

Mary.

Being a mom. Of three boys. Having an eight month old. Knowing the trials, aches, joys, and amazingness that is being pregnant. And yes, I just made up that word ;) I think of Mary being pregnant for nine months. Of her being engaged to Joseph, becoming pregnant with the Son of God, and having to deal with all of those persecutions. I think of her riding a donkey, nine months pregnant, to Bethlehem and then being turned away from every inn because there was no room.

She gave birth in a stable, with animals as witnesses. If I may be so bold as to relate to her at all, I can imagine that she was scared but excited to be a mother. I imagine her holding her newborn son and marveling at his perfection. I imagine Mary counting all of his fingers and toes, tracing the curve of his ear, and gazing into his tiny blue eyes. I imagine she wept for joy and relief and because she just instantly fell in love with a little person that now had her heart.

Did Mary know what would happen to that baby? If she did, how, oh how, did she go on? Did she know of the trials he would face? Of the cruel things that would be said and done to him? Did she know, at that time, what horrible wickedness would influence men to crucify her son? I can't imagine how I would cope, go on, not fall into absolute despair if I knew on the day that my baby was born that he would suffer all of those things in the future.

So I pretend, because I can, that she didn't know. That she could just enjoy her child. That she could enjoy her future children and look forward to many more miracles of being pregnant and giving birth. I pretend, because we don't have any written documentation of her thoughts and feelings. I pretend because as a mother, I can't imagine knowing the fate of my baby, my heart and soul; I can't imagine knowing that.

Whether she knew or not, no one can say. I'm sure there could be speculation forever. But at Christmastime I remember Mary. I remember a young mother, like myself, who was chosen by God to be trusted with raising His son. I imagine a woman with the strength of character, the trust of God, and the love of a mother to be able to bear the joy and burden of being Christ's mother. I honor her. I remember her. And my heart aches for her.

I know her story on earth is over. She is probably not revisiting any pain as I ponder upon these thoughts. Would I be so brave as Mary?

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

2010-12-11T14:31:00.004-05:00

Wyatt loves to play with the wipe's container. Isn't he adorable?

I gave him a waffle to munch on. He had fun.
Playing dad's ipod on Saturday morning.
We were headed out to the Tuscarawas Philharmonic Concert. They had a juggler and acrobats there so now Adian associates all orchestras with the circus.
I had a hair disaster. Had it dyed three times this week. And now it's basically a bob.
Camden adores Wyatt. And Wyatt gut laughs for no one else like he does for his oldest brother.
I scored after Halloween and Aidan loves his ninja costume.

Don't bother me, I'm eating.
Me before hair disaster. What a cute little man I have!

We do still exist. My children are still alive. And here's proof. oh, and I cut my hair. Not on purpose though. I went in for a trim and the girl hacked it and I had to go back in this morning and have it re-dyed and cut. So now I basically have a bob and brown hair. It was not pretty before, trust me! But now i have to grow it out again. :( On the other note, Wyatt has a sinus infection, Camden had the flu, I wake up at least once a night STILL with Wyatt, and I have bangs...hahaha

Better late than never?

2010-11-29T09:07:00.002-05:00

November is almost gone...wow. This crazy year is almost over.

I would be very irresponsible if I didn't add my thoughts on Thanksgiving...for posterity's sake at the very least. Over the Thanksgiving holiday Nate's parents came to visit for a few days and, for me, this is akin to a vacation. The boys ask them to fix them things, play soccer in the basement, read books, etc. And they do all of this willingly. Plus, Cal is an expert dishwasher while the wonderful Marianne is a whiz in the kitchen. So, yes, I, personally, had a very good holiday week.

Oh, and we bought a used piano. Very cheap. So, my family and I have been very thankful.

We have great family who loves us, serves us, enriches our lives with laughter, babysitting, and true love.

We have a wonderful home, for another year anyway, that meets our needs and allows us the space to put a piano for the enjoyment of all.

We have Wyatt. Oh this babe has captured everyone's heart. He's started rolling all around at about 6 1/2 months, sitting up like a pro at 7 1/2 months, he loves to eat real food, though he's finding it tricky on how to get it into his mouth once he has a hold of food. Wyatt also got his first tooth in this month and he started army crawling yesterday. So big month for the little man.

Aidan started taking violin lessons and is doing very well. We went to the Tuscarawas Philharmonic Orchestra concert on Saturday night and Aidan's violin teacher was playing the cello in it, so that was fun for him to experience that. Plus they had a world-renowned juggler and acrobats there so that kept the boys' attention.

I'm also grateful for yummy food, good friends, Nate's job and his boss, who is wonderful. We really have been blessed.

I was weak

2010-11-07T17:59:00.003-05:00

When we moved into our current ward and we had the obligatory new member meeting with the Bishop, and he asked me what callings I've held in the past. I plastered on a smile and said, "I've been a sunbeam teacher for the past eight years. ...and I would really like a different calling then that."

Now, I think teaching in primary is very rewarding and a much needed calling. I dutifully served. But, after eight years and four wards, I felt that I REALLY needed a change. So on the July fourth weekend, I was called to be the YW President!

I was excited. Intimidated. So grateful. And clueless.

Growing up, I wasn't really into the whole YW/church thing. I'll just say that certain leaders and their attitudes really effected my desire to be part of that program. I didn't do personal progress. Basketball activities kept me away from mutual nights, and I was perfectly happy.

Fast forward to me being the YW president...I was innocent. I had no idea what New Beginnings was(a night every January to welcome the incoming girls in that year to young women), or what Young Women in Excellence was(a night to celebrate their personal progress achievement of the year), or how many meetings were required. ( A lot.)

My typical fast Sunday, which was today, goes like this:
Wake up around 6:30am, (after having already woken up in the night with Wyatt at least once)

Attend Ward Council at 7:30am for one hour

Church starts at 9am, and I'm usually counting the number of girls in attendance to see who is missing, who needs to be picked up, looking for visitors or new families, etc.

Most Sacrament meetings, I leave after the Sacrament has been passed to pick up some girls.

During the second hour of church, I am usually making copies for lessons/activities/announcements, etc.

Then the third hour is the golden hour. I teach every third week but open the meeting every week and make announcements and reminders. Today we met for opening exercises with the Relief Society, and then went back to our room.

Sometimes I have Wyatt but mostly I don't, which is very helpful. (Thank you sweets!)

Today, I stayed for two hours after church to set up the rooms for our YW in Excellence program on Wednesday night. I have two amazing counselors who are so dependable and helpful. Love those ladies. I must say that the rooms look amazing and I hope the girls really appreciate all that is done for them.

I came home, the last one to leave the church, and collapsed.

At church, I hardly ever feel tired. I am so focused and my mind is trying to remember so many details and relationships. I'm in the zone.

When I come home, it's like I'm a marionette and as soon as I walk into my living room, the puppeteer cuts my strings. I literally walked over to the couch, flopped down, and was out. I slept for two hours!

Then there are Wednesday night activities to plan, meetings with the YM Presidency, Stake functions to chaperon, Temple trips to organize, etc.

Not every Sunday starts with an early morning meeting, but some days I also have evening meetings with the youth and the Bishopric. But I have been recognizing the Lord's influence and power in my life.

Being able to focus and take care of everyone and everything during the church block is a blessing. Having the energy and stamina to keep up with the requirements/demands/needs of this calling and the girls' was very overwhelming at first. Wyatt is only seven months old for goodness sake!

But I love, love, love my Young Women. They are unique. They all have different strengths and weaknesses. Some have trials. But they come on Sundays willing to listen and learn and eager to be taught. I truly look forward every Sunday to being in their presence. I breathe in the essence of their youth. To be reminded of the excitement and drama of being a teenager.

I may not have the best "resume" to be a YW leader or teacher, let alone a President but this calling has taught me that with God all things are possible. He makes weak things become strong. And by loving my girls, I am reminded of His love for them and for me. How precious we women are. We are His daughters. His. That makes everyone, no matter their life circumstance, a queen. A princess. Priceless.

It's Halloween!

2010-11-05T10:21:00.003-04:00

Those pics pretty much sum up our Halloween. The boys each picked their costumes and we walked all over our neighborhood demanding candy from strangers. They made quite the haul.

My kids are a little strange and they don't go crazy over candy. They keep their little pumpkin buckets in their room and never touch the stuff, unless they ask of course. We had to throw away most of their candy from last year. So this year, Nate made them a deal. They could pick 20 pieces of their favorite candy and then he would buy the rest from them for $3 each. That way, we won't have candy sitting around year after year and then Nathan gets to eat the rest of it. ;) win, win.

Wyatt was relegated to sitting with daddy on the front steps to pass out candy in his cute pumpkin outfit.

The carved squash masterpieces are courtesy of my artistic hubby who is a master with a dull, serrated pumpkin knife....and following a paper cut-out...haha. He does them every year and the kids love it.

Where did October go?

2010-10-29T16:00:00.002-04:00

October is almost gone. Tomorrow night is trick-or-treating. I've been warned to expect mass hysteria. Apparently our neighborhood is a breeding machine and there are a lot of kids, and those kids bring their friends, and then some people come who don't even live here. ...gulp.

As I was saying, Halloween is almost here, which means October will be over. We have two pumpkins on the front porch and some ghost stickers on our front door. That's it. We didn't do Halloween this year. It just was forgotten amidst swimming, soccer, piano, soccer, church stuff, and soccer. That's sad.

For the first time I really feel like our extra-curricular activities are too much.

In other news, Wyatt is now a rolling machine and daily knocks his noggin against something hard, causing him to wail. He seems more content though. No teeth yet but he's really good at rolling his "r's". Not that he talks but he will be able to say, "Rrrrrrufffles, have rrrrrridges" really well when he's older. It's really cute. His tongue is quite talented. He's the only child who can curl his tongue and roll his r's. Though Aidan is showing a great interest in speaking spanish and he tries really hard to copy the accent. I think he'll get the whole trilling his r's thing soon enough. Wyatt just beat him to it.

Oh, and Wyatt is 7 months old today and he wears 18 month old clothes. oh help.

Aidan is enjoying school immensely. He has become a pro at coloring within the lines though he still pushes the envelope with his creativity. There will be no box containing this child. For school, he was asked to color a paper feather like a turkey feather. Well, he colored that feather with gusto, staying within the lines, but he didn't want to do a turkey. He wanted to color a peacock feather instead. So, there was a big blue dot in the middle. No box for him, no sir.

Camden is now officially a cub scout and selling popcorn as a fundraiser is right up his alley. This kid might be a salesman some day...or just really annoying....just kidding! He is so enthusiastic and fearless. He's never known fear. Shy is not a word in his dictionary.

As for me...who me? I exist? I'm not sure sometimes. I feel like a live in a small country called "my home", where I am ruled by dictators and slave drivers...and I'm the one who created this environment in the first place! sheesh. Wyatt makes me laugh everyday. Aidan is pretty helpful around the house, Camden is doing great in school and sports and piano, and Nathan is still loving his job. I really can't complain...ok, maybe a little bit. I really need to invest in some more girl time. Date nights. and just alone time. grocery shopping by myself is heaven.

Next up, November. With numerous YW activities, school conferences, lessons galore, and a national holiday coming up...it promises to be a busy month.

"There you are, Peter!"

2010-10-22T22:27:00.004-04:00

Stop. Stop. STOP!! I can't take it anymore. I can't. Time needs to, has to, stop. Stand still. Shush...sssshhhhhhh....just listen. Stop and listen. Do you hear that? Can you feel that? That. That right there. It needs to stop.

I look at Wyatt and kiss his almost 7 month old cheeks. Seven months!! It needs to stop. I kiss his cheeks and my heart grows. It envelopes him. I never could have imagined how much my heart could and would grow having children. The capacity within me to fall in love over and over with each new little boy God has given me is mind boggling. I gaze in wonder at Wyatt's perfectness.

And I remember.

I remember first being pregnant with Camden and how excited Nathan and I were. We waited. Anticipated. Prepared. Worried. And then Camden was born and I was born, as a parent. One who would forevermore put the needs of my little boy before my own. Camden was perfect. Perfect. He didn't needlessly cry. Slept through the night. Kept an impeccable nap schedule. Loved absolutely everyone. Never had stranger or separation anxiety. The love in his baby heart, which emanated from his blue eyes, was the most pure, all-encompassing love. And I knew that I could never have any more children because it wasn't conceivable to love another child as much as I loved Camden. I felt complete for the first time in my life.

That perfect, sweet, charming, cuddly little boy is no longer little. And that needs to stop. right. now.

He can't grow up. I order time to stand still. He's 8. And I think, "Eight is still little. He's still my little boy." But then I consider that 8 is only two years away from 10 and a ten year old is definitely not a little boy. Two years. That's not very far away. That's a blink. Then it's over. Then he'll be a teen and I can't think farther then that because I tear up. I want my children to stay my children. I want them to think I'm the best mom in the world because I make pizza every Friday night. I don't want to notice him start to get embarrassed at kissing scenes in the Jetsons movie we watched tonight because he should still not care. Because he's still little. And not growing. He's NOT....right?

I watched Aidan during Judy Jetsons moony-eyed boy scenes. And he doesn't blink. Five. Five is still little. Little enough to keep giving me kisses during the day. Asking to be read to every night. Five is still little. Aidan, my Aidan. We took so long to bond together. There wasn't much of an emotional connection between us until he was about 14 months old. That's an eternity to mommy hormones. There was nothing. It was blank. I couldn't cuddle with him. Read to him. Understand him. He just was fussy. Unhappy. Not connected.

And then, one day. He just was. It's like he saw me for the first time. He knew me. He claimed me and has never wanted to let go since. Aidan has the most gorgeous, brown eyelashes outlining his huge hazel eyes. He's thin and tall. He loves, loves, loves Wyatt. And transformers. I think he worships Optimus Prime.

And this needs to stop. Because my mommy heart. The one that has grown 30 times it's normal size thanks to the birth of my three boys, cannot take it when and if I'm not their hero anymore. When they realize they know more than me. That I'm not cool. That I'm not the "prettiest mama in the whole world."

They are so precious right now. At their individual ages. I don't want them to grow up. Where's Peter Pan when I need him? I need fairy dust to send my boys to Neverland. Especially Camden. We'll let Wyatt at least learn how to walk first, though he does roll like a pro.

My Camden, my heart, he needs to stay with me. Why does childhood fly by so fast? My heart can't take it. So Stop. please. please let them stay a little longer. To not have to worry. Or be scared. Or hurt. Or learn to be mean. Or be disappointed. Let's stay in a bubble. I'll protect you.

But...but if it can't be stopped. Will I at least know when to say goodbye and embrace their new steps? Will I be allowed to mourn those sacred years of innocence? When nothing mattered but soccer practice, spelling tests, and piano lessons. Oh, and Friday night Movie nights of course. Our world would definitely end without those.

So, although my soul is struggling to accept the loss of innocence while still embracing it, I will whisper stop in their little ears. To stay. To enjoy. And maybe, just maybe, they'll slow down just a little.

Ri.dic.u.lous!

2010-10-13T08:29:00.002-04:00

It's 8:29am. I've been up since 7:44am. Not long. Nate is home this morning. You would think that because my husband is home that I would have plenty of time and help to get ready, take a shower, actually do my hair, etc this morning to leave at 9:20am for Wyatt's six month appointment. You would think.

Nope. I'm sitting here. Typing at my computer because our two bathrooms have been occupied by the three males in the family who use the toilet for the past 1/2 hour. !!!! @#$#% @#$# seriously!? Camden missed the bus because of said untimeliness. Aidan is downstairs taking up that portion. And I have yet to get in the shower. For the love!!

Why is the mom always the last one to be able to get ready? I am a girl. I do have shoulder-length hair. If I don't do it then it goes back in a ponytail and I look like crap. Like I don't care. It's not that I don't care, well sometimes it is, but mostly it's because I never have time. Whether it's because of Wyatt, or Aidan or whatever.

But this morning? This morning was supposed to have enough time. Yeah right. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up.

Does this happen to anyone else? Do your children take for.EVER. to go to the bathroom. heaven forbid they be rushed. I know you just gotta go when you gotta go but Camden always, I mean, always has to go right before we have to go somewhere. Church. If we're late it's because Camden was in the bathroom or because Aidan was being pokey. To any appt. To school. On a trip. Camden's bowels just know how to annoy me.

So I sit. Writing. Watching the minutes slip away and lamenting ponytail hair again. This is not helping my impulses to chop it off instead of dealing with the torture of growing it out.

More HHI photos

2010-10-11T11:29:00.002-04:00

Just more Hilton Head photos.

At the top of the lighthouse.

Camden's foot print in the sand.

On the beach.

Camden and Aidan excavating the moat around their fortified city.

Hilton Head, S.C.

2010-10-11T08:45:00.003-04:00

We drove 11 1/2 hrs. to Hilton Head, S.C. John Denver may or may not have been played the whole way thru West Virginia. (Aidan loves him and has memorized most of the songs we have on the ipod.)
Wyatt traveled great. I love portable DVD players, especially when each boy had his own...with headphones. aaaahhhh the peace and quiet.

Nate's boss, Dr. Burns, owns a time share down there and wasn't able to use it this year so he offered it to us instead. The beach was practically empty, the sand was white and soft, the water was like a bath, and the temp. stayed between 72 and 80 degrees. Basically, it was perfect.

Nate and the kids played tennis everyday, we swam in the pool, played at the beach, ate out every night, and just r-e-l-a-x-e-d. No soccer practices or games. No piano lessons. No church activities. It was just what our hectic family needed.

Wyatt was really good and happy. Probably because he was able to take naps all day.
We went to the top of a lighthouse which housed a museum inside detailing the history of the island.
Camden went with Nathan early one morning to watch the sunrise. Isn't he handsome?
We went to the beach almost every day. Playing soccer was a favorite past time when the tide was low.
Our car was pretty packed. Aidan was waaaayyy in the back sandwiched between the window and luggage.

Farm trip and bike ride

2010-09-30T11:57:00.004-04:00

Aidan went to a farm with his preschool. Nate was able to go as a chaperon. I wish I had a cowboy hat for him to wear cuz his friend looks really cute.

Aidan hasn't had real ice cream in a very long time so this was a rare treat for him. we gave him zyrtec first. ;)

Nate takes the boys bike riding all the time. We bought a bike trailer thingy so Aidan is attached to Nate's bike. It's worked really well.

Wyatt turned 6 months old yesterday. I can't believe how much time has gone by. He's so adorable and cute and cuddly...except when he's not...hehehe.

I'm guessing he's about 19 lbs now and maybe 28-29 inches long. He was 17lbs and 27 inches two months ago so we'll see how close my prediction is when he goes for his check up.

2010-09-27T10:42:00.002-04:00

Say aaaaaaahhhhhh. Wyatt likes to eat his high chair

This is on the way to dropping Aidan off for his first day of preschool. How cute is he with the glasses?! cute

Camden's first day of school, complete with a backpack full of school supplies. I love my little man.

I know my mom strongly dislikes this pic of her but Wyatt looks too precious to not post it. He's almost impossible to get a pic of him smiling.

ramblings and musings at 3:26am

2010-09-20T03:27:00.003-04:00

So, I was sleeping. Dreaming. In la-la land. In short, I was happy. Then in a weird part of my dream I hear a tapping sound. Almost like a knock. I'm really confused, in my dream, because I can't figure out where it's coming from. On the second round of knocking my brain slowly emerges from my hibernation and, like a slow-moving, dim-witted bear, I realize that some little hand is knocking on my bedroom door and I am going to have to get up and answer it or he'll never stop.

Aidan is there. Speaking in a voice on the verge of tears. He can't find his pillow and his room is pitch black.

I've tried with my boys to get them to sleep in the dark. Worked with Camden, not so much with Aidan. He has to have a night light. In fact, he has to have a very specific bedtime ritual each and every night or he ends up screaming and crying for me until the routine is done perfectly. Weird and annoying.

Apparently Camden didn't like the light in the dark and so after Aidan was asleep, he unplugged it. So I follow Aidan down to his room, re-plug in the light. Camden wakes up and complains, Aidan is about to lose it to tears and it's freakin 2am!!

After trying various outlets I find one behind the bed that suits both boys, I say goodnight, then try to go back to bed. yeah. right.

I laid there. Tossing and turning. Listened to Nathan contentedly breathing as he sleeps and dreams. I stare at the clock. I get hot. Then too cold. Then wonder what I can do. I actually wish Wyatt would wake up because then my awakeness could be beneficial. But no. The whole house is full of sleeping males in various stages of development and growth are happily slumbering away in their beds and I'm typing a post. grrrr.

Now I'm hungry.

Overheard

2010-09-08T14:22:00.003-04:00

Aidan talking to Wyatt: "Wyatt, you're smart! AND your kmart smart!"

seriously dislike commercials on the disney channel. lol.

Wyatt has learned how to scream. Not just yell but look in your eyes, face goes red, eyes open wide, scream. Then he laughs or waits for your reaction. sheesh.

Aidan started his last year of preschool today. He just hopped out of the car without looking back. What a trooper. Love him. OH, and he has glasses now and looks so incredibly adorable. I'll have to take pics soon.

I am seriously in love with fall. The cooler weather, leaves turning, love, love, love fall! and pumpkin anything.

Rewind

2010-08-29T19:09:00.004-04:00

Happenings this month:
Wyatt is five months old today! So crazy that our little bundle of joy is so big already. He started rolling over today to mark the occasion. He loves to chew on fingers, suck/bite on his blanket, be thrown up in the air, and most of all, he loves to throw up on the person tossing him into the air. His older brothers absolutely adore him and he is always watching and smiling at them.

My parents left yesterday after visiting for a week. We went to Kirtland to visit the temple and visitor center. Besides that little trip, we pretty much vegged at home, took kids to their various sporting activities and I stressed out about Camden's baptism.

Speaking of...Camden was baptized on August 26th! I was pretty nervous about all of the organizational stuff but it turned out really well. Both grandma's were asked to speak, my father-in-law lead the music, Nate, of course, dunked the child, and all of our new friends were there witness it. I'm so proud of Camden for making this choice and being prepared. He was given his very own set of scriptures from my parents and my mom made him a blanket or "comforter" to go on his bed to represent the Holy Ghost. He loves them both.

Camden also started 2nd grade last wednesday. I'm grateful for the routine and the diversion that school brings. Aidan will start his last year of preschool in two weeks. My little boys are growing up so fast!

My big news is that I had LASIK eye surgery on August 13th. It was easy. Recovery was cake and now I can SEE!!! It's amazing. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not wearing any contacts. Love, love, love, love being able to see.

Other than that, nothing very exciting has been happening. Just adjusting to being the Young Women prez in the ward and all the organization that requires but I love my counselors and I love my girls.

Vices and Voices

2010-07-23T17:12:00.004-04:00

A few weeks ago the whole family went for a car ride through the beautiful Amish countryside. We were passing some of the cutest farms and homesteads, complete with buggies parked outside and clothes hanging from the line. At a lot of the homes, multiple families were to be seen playing volleyball, horseshoes, or just sitting around talking.

It was very picturesque and quaint. I love the Ohio countryside. I feel like I can breathe out here. We live in a small town in a cute suburban neighborhood but it only takes a few twists and turns and I find myself riding past huge open corn/soy/hay/empty fields. Nothing is crowding around, the noise is minimal, and I love to fill my lungs with the smells of grass, hay, and fresh air.

Back to the story... As we were cruising along we noticed two buggies coming towards us on the left side of the road. Which, buggies in Holmes County, Ohio is not unusual, what was unusual was that the first buggy was swaying wildly from side to side. As our two vehicles drew near to each other I noticed several things at once. The buggy was "misbehaving" because it was jammed with teenage boys who were leaning over the sides and shouting back to the rear buggy, which was also full of teenage boys in complete Amish attire. I started laughing because it struck me funny that this was the Amish equivalent of joy-riding. Two buggies packed to the gills with straw-hat and suspender wearing adolescents enjoying a Sunday afternoon ride while chugging beer. Yep, you read right folks. They were drinking and being merry with silver bullets in their hands. It was such an ironic sight.

After we started to head home(our Sunday evening family ride turned into a 2 1/2 hour excursion) we noticed that Aidan was looking very sleepy. Now, as I may have mentioned in previous posts, whenever Aidan gets really tired he starts saying really random things and asking insane questions about rocket fuel or death or some other deep thought on the universe.

As I noticed his eyes getting heavier Aidan piped up and said, "I heard a voice in my head."

Uhhhhhh, what? Nate and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows and I replied, "Oh? Um, what did the voice say?" All the while pleading in my hear, "please don't say to burn down the house, please don't say to burn down the house, etc..."

Aidan looked down and said sheepishly and a little defensively, "I don't want to tell you."

Like I've mentioned Aidan can be random so I was trying to be non-chalant, "Oh, come on Aidan, what did the voice say?"

Again, I was de-nied. I deduced that he had actually just recognized that he could hear his own thoughts. It was funny, cute, and I tried to forget how he had phrased this discovery.

Fast forward to two days ago and Camden and Aidan got into a stupid fight because Aidan kept softly sighing before he fell asleep and Camden didn't like it so he was telling him to stop and threatening with ignoring him forever and Aidan was now crying and Camden went to sleep on the couch and blah, blah, blah...I don't know why society thinks only girls are drama queens cuz my boys can give any diva a run for her money.

Finally Nate gets everyone straightened out and back to bed however one small detail bothered him. Aidan said he was sighing so he wouldn't hear the voice in his head. NOT AGAIN!! Seriously, I can see the headline now, "Five year old kills entire family because voices told him to." It's not funny. Not really. But it was kinda creepy/funny since he refused to explain his thoughts.

I was on a mission. The next morning I pleaded, and begged, and asked, and made doe-eyes at my beautiful five year old son to tell me what the voices were saying. He looked embarrassed, said he didn't remember, and then he suddenly remembered one thing.

Here it comes I thought. Do I want to know?

Aidan: it said that Jesus is my Savior.

Well. That floored me. That was the last thing I was thinking of but apparently the subject of Jesus Christ's love and role in Aidan's life was what was on his mind.

How sweet was that? And Nate was all paranoid....hehehe...yeah, it was Nate ...

GOODNIGHT!

First things First

2010-07-14T17:40:00.007-04:00

Before I try to cram some major catching up to do on my blog, I must begin with this month.

On July 2nd my now middle child turned 5!Mr. Aidan man is the cutest thing on the planet..besides my two other boys of course. :)

Aidan is:
mischievous,
adorable,
a potty mouth(it's true, he loves saying words and phrases he shouldn't),
a slave to routine,has the most kissable lips,
loves Wyatt,counts for fun,
wants to know and understand everything,
asks the most random questions when he's super tired,
would die without his blankie,
has the most beautiful hazel eyes in the world,is my best helper when Camden is at school,
he's silly, kind, thoughtful, sensitive,and he loves to shake his booty! hahahaha

This little boy is a definite challenge and has a will power stronger than steal(such as literally starving himself for 24 hrs. and making himself sick rather than eat the food I wanted him too.)

We love our Aidan man.
For his bday, we invited the Johnson family over and the kids played in the kiddie pool, went down the slip-n-slide, played soccer and badminton, and of course ate cake and ice cream(soy ice cream for Aidan). Nate's mom makes the kids' cake every year since that's one of my least creative things to do and the cake is always amazing. This year Aidan wanted a a baseball cake.
mmmmmwah! Love you A!

Aidan Craig SpringerBorn on July 2, 2005
9 lbs. 23 inches

One year

2 years
3 years

4 years

5 years
Mr. Cutey pants before he opens his presents

we're still alive!

2010-05-17T09:20:00.005-04:00

Wyatt's blessing day.

So sweet.

What a cute little monkey!

Playing outside in the rain

wow. long time, no post, huh?. Crazy, crazy, crazy this thing we call life.

We are all still alive and doing well here in Dover, Ohio. After Wyatt was born, my wonderful sister was here to help take care of me and play with the kids. She left the day before Easter, and then my in-laws came. Oh, then the real fun began!! My mother-in-law slaved away for five days while I lazily directed traffic from the rocking chair with my wee little one in my arms. I tell ya, it's the only way to move, people! haha

On Saturday, April 10th, we(okay, not me personally but Nate and friends) packed up and Nate drove off with Camden and his Dad to begin unpacking in Dover. I had some great girlfriends come over to help clean and gab and then...and then it was time to say goodbye. So hard. I loved my house. It was full of memories of Camden and Aidan growing up and playing with their friends. I loved the rooms I painted and decorated. I loved, loved, loved the neighbors, the neighborhood, the schools, etc. the only time I teared up was when I was alone in my empty house, checking all the rooms one last time for anything we may have forgotten.

I still miss it.

BUT, on arriving in Dover, Nathan had been greeted by members of the ward to help move in, a wonderful family took Camden to their house to play for the afternoon, we were brought dinner for three days and had enough food to feed an army. Our new neighborhood is beautiful and quiet and we have an empty lot right behind our house which has become our own personal soccer field. Camden gets to ride the bus to and from school everyday, which he(and I) love. we enrolled the boys in soccer and swimming lessons, which has pretty much booked our weeks but they love it.

We are settling in. Wyatt is growing bigger and cuter everyday. At birth, he was 7 lbs. 10 oz. and 20 inches long. When he was 10 days old he was 7 lbs. 13 oz. and at his one month appt. he was 9 lbs. 13 oz. and 23 inches long. He's been a great baby. Still sleeps a lot, which is wonderful. He has had some bowel issues but we finally decided to start him on soy formula and that's been great. His eczema on his face went away overnight and his little pooper is working at full capacity. haha

We finally put up his crib last night. He's been alternating sleeping in his car seat, swing, and play pen.

I feel so blessed and happy. We tried for a year to get pregnant with Wyatt and he was definitely worth the wait.

He's here!!

2010-03-30T07:34:00.003-04:00

Meet Mr. Wyatt! Cuddling with his new brother, Aidan was so excited!

I mean seriously?! Look at that face. Love him!!!

Sleeping peacefully while being held by Camden

Camden was so good and gentle with him

Aidan was excited to meet the little man he's been talking to through the walls of my uterus. :)

Wyatt David was born at 6:55am weighing 7 lbs. 11 oz. and was 20 inches long. He's a shorty compared to his brothers!! But it was nice to have a smaller, more average sized baby. Birth story was kinda crazy at the end when I went from a 5 and zero station to pushing him out in about 30 mins. but was totally worth it. He's cute. He's perfect. And he's mine!!

I have to say I was starting to really doubt my sanity. Why did I want another baby? My kids are getting older, in school, they are very independent...why was I messing this up? To trade it for sleeplessness nights, the expense of diapers and formula and starting all over...

I had completely missed the reason. Man, I honestly forgot how you instantly fall in love with him and all the rest of the "inconveniences" don't matter at all because just looking at his precious little face and his tiny, wrinkly feet, and his perfect pouty lips and I don't care about poopy diapers, or two-hour feedings. I am so completely and hopelessly in love with this little boy that nothing else matters.

And seeing Camden and Aidan with them is truly precious. Camden has a more quiet, reserved energy but you can tell he's very proud. Aidan is just full of a questions and will be a great little helper...maybe too good. haha.

Nathan and I are very blessed. We have three beautiful, perfect, amazing little boys, a real job, an upcoming move, and lots of love from family and friends. Thanks everyone for all of your support and well-wishes.

Update

2010-03-26T22:18:00.002-04:00

So today I had my last appointment before my induction date on Monday. I was only progressed to a 1, just like last week. My midwife was grateful some progression had happened but wasn't as comfortable waiting until Monday morning. So now Nate and I will be reporting for duty at 8pm on Sunday evening to start things earlier so she could make sure she delivered me before her shift ended.

As I was doing laundry today, I thought, "this is probably the last time I'll be doing laundry for about a week." As I made pizza for movie night, "this is the last time I'll be making pizza for a while." I just feel like this huge clock is hanging over my head. The final countdown before our world turns upside down...in a good way I hope. :)

I'm definitely done being restricted in my movement, having random sharp pains, swollen feet, and peeing every five minutes but I'm pretty nervous about this new adventure.

Enough about me though. I have to say congrats one more time to my amazing husband who will graduate from the Orthodontic program at OSU tomorrow night. We've been married 9 years and 7 months. We've moved from Utah to California to Ohio. Endured night clinics, on-call shifts, early morning meetings, "required" conferences which has made him miss birthdays and anniversaries, and Nate has done it all to be able to provide for us and to have a career he truly enjoys.

I know look forward to a four day work week, having Wednesdays off, no required night clinics or conferences and last but not least... a paycheck!!!! whoohoo!!

Good News

2010-03-21T08:31:00.003-04:00

Aidan watching Camden's music program in the gym. He was a little sleepy so he just chilled on the floor.
Camden was asked to participate in a mural project. He had to draw a picture of himself and paint it. Go Cougs!
Aidan standing outside Camden's classroom...and just fyi, he's about 44 inches tall. haha
And last but never least is Camden. He's so cute and such a great kid. He did awesome in his program and even had a solo. And, he's about 52 inches tall. heehee

On Friday I went for my weekly check-up and am happy to report that I have progressed to a "1" which means that my midwife feels way more comfortable scheduling me for my induction on March 29th. AAAAAHHHHHH!! That's just one week away folks!

Everyone keeps asking me if I'm excited and I have to say the feelings are a little mixed. I'm not anxious to go through labor again, especially since it's been 4 1/2 years since my last baby was born. I'm looking forward to not having constant backaches, being able to bend over, and generally being able to be more mobile. I'm not looking forward to sleepless nights. And I'm nervous that this baby will be hard like Aidan was. But I'm also in awe that I have a baby inside me that I created...with some help of course. ;) I can't wait to meet him.

Spring has arrived here in Ohio and I am loving it! The weather has been in the mid_60's, which is a little higher than normal but I'll take it. The kids have been playing kickball, riding scooters and bikes, swinging, and just generally getting dirty. When we move the duplex that we're renting doesn't really have a backyard. It's located on a corner lot so it has a side yard but not a back yard. I'll miss that. It's awesome to have my kids playing on the swing set or running around with their friends and I know they're contained. It also makes babysitting a lot simpler when I can trap the kiddos in the back. But alas, those days will end very soon.

Checklist

2010-03-16T05:04:00.002-04:00

House sold: Check

Being a renter in your old home: weird, but check

Still pregnant?: CHECK!

Vericose veins still thriving on left leg: Check (ouch!)

Baby kicking the crap out of my abdomen: Check

Baby low enough to want me to walk around naked to avoid any pressure on my pelvis: Check
(not that I do but it sure would be nice :)

Acquired all baby items needed before move: Check

Conned people into coming to help before, during, and after said baby is born: triple Check

Can't sleep because of various aches, pains, potty breaks, and baby movement: Check

Packed up house for move on April 10th: ummm...I did a lot before January...not really a check

Rented living arrangements in Dover, OH: Check

Signed Aidan up for preschool there: Check

Signed both boys up for soccer there: Check

It sounds like I have accomplished quite a bit but not really. Nathan graduates in two weeks. I have a baby in two weeks, though I am due in three. I don't think I can really wait for nature on this delivery since I'm notoriously 5 days over due and that would be on the exact day of when we move...thank goodness for midwives who'll work with my crazy schedule.

Both boys have been doing great. They really enjoyed the insanely snowy winter we endured and I have to say that it wasn't that bad. They would play after school for hours outside building snowmen(and knocking them down), having snowball fights, sledding off the back deck, and generally just enjoying themselves.

My amazing husband has completed his thesis, defended it, submitted it to the graduate school, presented it in Washington D.C., and is now going to submit it electronically to the journal it will be published in. He has worked so hard and done a very good job of trying to balance time with the kiddos and completing all projects at school.

We have been married 9 1/2 years, been going to school that whole time and in two short weeks we'll be done with that. I actually can't even fathom living and working and not going to school. I'm sure since the private loans come due the day after he graduates I'll wise up really fast to the fact that we can't/don't have to live off of loans anymore but it's a little surreal.

Speaking of surreal, did I mention it's 5:19am and I'm awake? Because of this monster baby inside of me? I can't believe that I'm going to have a newborn in the house again. My youngest is 4 1/2! It's been a loooong time in the Springer household since we've had to survive a newborn and I can't believe that he's almost here. The boys are way excited, especially Aidan. He's been asking for a baby in the family for about two years now.

And then of course I have to adjust to moving less than two weeks after he's born, and re-establish myself in a new city/town though this one will be permanent. It's a small town but very charming, great schools, and only two hours away so hopefully I'll still be able to see my amazing friends here in Columbus every now and then.

I'll have to wrap my brain around my husband having every Wednesday off, not having night clinics or surgical meetings every Monday evening, or having him home until about 8:30am instead of him leaving at 7am. Normal life. What is that?

I can't wait until I can bend over though and put socks and shoes on without cutting off my air supply. I can't wait to be able to wear comfortable clothes and have them feel comfortable instead of just enduring the pressure on my pelvis. This baby is lower than my other two and his head and body are putting great amounts of pressure in uncomfortable places.

Well, I'll wrap this novel up. And hopefully post some fun pics soon of my sweet boys in all their goofiness. But don't hold your breath it will be tomorrow because we both know I'm a little scattered when it comes to posting. ;)

the short list

2010-01-13T16:26:00.002-05:00

Some might say, "the long and the short of it." referring to a story but here will be the short and the short of it.

Nate had his knee surgery Dec. 15th and everything went really well. He has healed great, no swelling, and he is a remarkably good natured patient. On the other hand, because of said surgery he has to be waited on hand and foot because he needs to be doing a leg machine for SIX hours a day. So I've been doing it all folks and feel a little frazzled.

The week of Christmas came and up to Findlay we went where I was blissfully able to share parenting duties and patient duty with my fabulous in-laws.

then followed a quick trip home, lots of laundry, and another trip to New Philadelphia, Ohio where we will be moving in three short months. Still having to take care of everything because of Nate's knee surgery.

We came home after an overnight trip, my mother-in-law popped down for two days to do some serious deep cleaning of my house to get it ready to sell.

(have I mentioned I'm pregnant?)

A little crazy, busy, emotional end to December but we made it.

January dawns, (is it already the middle of January?!), and our house went on the market Jan. 7th. My house is spotless, SPOT.LESS!! It's amazing. And also half my house is packed up and stored at my in-laws house so that might have helped matters.

Had a showing the day after the house was for sale and then continued to counter-offer all weekend and we signed papers yesterday to sell. Not at the price we wanted. Or the closing cost we wanted. but it's done in the time frame we needed because of the little bun in the oven.

so now we wait for the home inspection on Friday, the appraisal to come through, and for the closing on Feb. 26th.

Because of all this busy-ness for the past thirty days, I haven't posted but at least now you know why. I'll get pics up soon.

And sadly folks, that really is the short version.

Thanksgiving

2009-12-03T21:45:00.004-05:00

I posted the pics in the previous post without going into detail about what we did over Thanksgiving. It might make more sense with a little more background info, so here it goes!

Nate's sister Melanie, who has lived ten minutes away from us for the past year, fell in love with a Utah boy and got married on Nov. 28th. So the day before Thanksgiving, the family and I flew out to Utah for Thanksgiving. This is the first time we've gone anywhere for that holiday in forever because we normally just stay at home. It's too short to do anything else. But we had a blast in Utah.

We stayed with Nathan's uncle Stan and aunt Lucy, whom the kids both loved immediately and talk about all the time.

Nathan and I were able to take a trip down memory lane with the boys by taking them to BYU, showing them where we used to live when we were single and married, the hospital where Camden was born, and topped off the night with In&Out.

Saturday was the wedding and the bride was Bee-U-teeful. There were some mishaps with flowers and the cake but everything was sorted out in the end.

Sunday we took the kids to Temple Square, to see their Great-great Aunt Elizabeth, and to see the hospital where Nate and his dad were born. I think it was fun for them to see the places they've always heard about or seen in pictures. They were pretty excited.

Camden and Aidan behaved amazingly well. They traveled fine, adjusted reasonably to the time change, were well-behaved on the many airplanes. It was great.

And forevermore, I will be 22 weeks pregnant in Melanie's wedding photos. nice.

My boys over Thanksgiving

2009-12-03T21:01:00.002-05:00

We visited Temple Square the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Talk about busy! That place was packed!
Nate's sister, Nicole, made these bow ties for the boys to wear for pictures. I think Aidan looks like a little waiter and Camden is such a stud!
We were beyond excited to learn that In & Out finally debuted in Utah!! It was so yummy, and reminded us of California. Aidan ate a whole meal by himself!! That was nothing for Camden nowadays but Aidan never eats that much at once. He fell into a food coma on the way home and even slept through Nathan setting off the car alarm for three minutes with Aidan inside! He didn't even twitch!
While Nate's mom and sisters and I went to get some mani's and pedi's, he took them up to Little Cottonwood Canyon and Alta. The boys loved seeing the mountains and were very impressed.
These are my handsome lads outside the family Thanksgiving/wedding luncheon on Thursday. So cute!

Mmmmmm...Jacob

2009-11-20T02:52:00.000-05:00

Just saw New Moon and LOVED it!!! Which is saying something because I HATED twilight. If you liked Twilight you'll like it. If you didn't like Twilight you'll like it. It's a win/win situation baby

Mixed blessings

2009-11-18T16:19:00.003-05:00

Today was a crazy, action-packed errand day. I was BLESSED by my friend Susan because she took Aidan all morning and then he had preschool in the afternoon so I was kid free from 10am until 3:15pm. Awesome.

While out on said errands*trying desperately to find a nice dress to wear to my sis in laws wedding in one week* I was sitting in my car getting ready to go into Steinmart when a gigantic sneeze came out of the middle of nowhere. It was a big one folks and completely caught me unawares, which means I wasn't flexing my Kegal muscles and promptly wet my pants. In the parking lot. getting ready to go into a store and try on clothes. nice.

While I was sitting in amazement at my condition I decided to be positive and got out of my car, walked inside Old Navy which was miraculously next door and bought myself some dark pink lounge pants for $10 and some cute new underwear. All because of a sneeze. I'm trying to look on the bright side. Blessing #2.

Then, I actually got ALL of my errands done! It was amazing. I feel so accomplished. AND I actually had time to take a shower before parent/teacher conferences this evening. Blessing #3.

I'm washed, dressed, primped, and ready to go so I can come home in 20 minutes, change into some comfy pink lounge pants, pull my hair back and serve hot dogs for dinner. jealous? :)

teaser for another post....Aidan asked how babies actually "grow" out of the mommy's tummy. It was classic

oh and did I mention it's a boy? no? well, hoooorraaay!! Baby Boy #3

I smell like potatoes

2009-11-02T21:09:00.005-05:00

I cooked homemade hashbrowns for dinner tonight, and as I sit here I smell like fried potatoes. I have even changed my clothes! Yet here I sit, smelling like potatoes...

On another note:
My parents came to visit for ten days and did we take any pics? nope. none. We did go to cinnabon, the zoo, got pedicures, bought some clothes, went to the library, watched movies, and resolved little boy tattlings. It was a great trip and now I have to get back to reality where I actually have to cook dinner and entertain my children.

We did take some Halloween pics and I must say, these handsome little boys were so cute and energetic. Aidan would walk up to the houses and say,"You know who I am." Not asking a question, just stating a fact. All the adults loved it of course. I can honestly say I don't think there was another Captain American in the whole neighborhood and all the adults loved seeing an old school superhero. Camden looked very cool in his venom spider man costume. I must say that the mask really made it look cool. They trucked from house to house for two hours and only came home when their pumpkins were overflowing. Good times.Aidan made an adorable Captain America, though he liked to think he was ferocious

Camden had a million poses. He was loving modeling.

My nephew, Cohen, as the incredible hulk. I thought the mask was awesome!

All of us together. This is about as dressed up as I get folks.

The three amigos. Watch out evil villains...well, Camden's character was evil, Aidan's was good, and Cohen's had some anger issues...

I have some exciting news. No, it's not my pregnancy...hahahaha. I have finally found a milk substitute that Aidan will drink.

For those not familiar with the story, basically Aidan's had eczema his whole life and has not slept well. I decided to ask for a referral to an allergist where they determined he had a slight milk allergy. So, no milk, cheese, yogurt, and ice cream. He has adapted amazingly well to the no ice cream rule. We found some soy "ice cream" sandwiches which he is happy to eat as an alternative. We also found a soy yogurt brand he likes. I'm still striking out on the cheese part, though rice cheese isn't bad. It doesn't smell or have a rubbery texture. Some different tofu cheeses we've tried have been dis.gus.ting.

And, though I don't think it's so bad, Aidan hasn't been fond of soy milk, or rice milk. Unless, of course it's chocolate soy milk; then we would guzzle the whole carton. I bought some random milk at Whole Foods on Saturday, Aidan came home, tasted it, and LIKED it!! So, now our little boy will drink ....Almond milk! Who knew? But he likes it and it has as much calcium as milk so I'm satisfied. Now, if only we could find a good cheese substitute...

Service

2009-10-18T15:22:00.002-04:00

In Church this morning/afternoon the talks given were on the subject of service and loving one another. At the end of the meeting, there was about 10 minutes left and a member of the bishopric stood up to fill in the remaining time. He challenged the primary children and youth to serve others in their family and community since they have lived their lives being served by others.

As this bishopric member spoke, I looked over at Camden and thought: I have the most perfect example of service in my son. He could teach others through his example. Camden is always thinking about others. When I had morning sickness, from the prenatals, at the end of August, Camden would draw me pictures telling me to feel better. He would play quietly and let me rest, unlike his brother. ;) Camden is always bringing candy to church without telling/asking me because he shares it with his primary class just to be nice. If I'm having a hard day with Aidan, which is often, he quietly slips into the background and entertains himself so that he's not a worry. This precious seven year old will willingly and sometimes secretly do the dishes(loading and unloading) by himself to surprise me or just because I asked. He's always wanting to share with others, especially if that person is upset.

At times, and this might sound weird, but I worry about this because I don't want him to always feel he has to be the peacemaker. That he should be overlooked because it's easier...that was kind of an awkward phrase....hmmm...

Let me explain. Growing up, I was the wall flower. My older brother had several challenges in his life that took all of my mom's time and attention. I also had three much younger siblings who required lots of attention because they were so young. I saw the stress my mother was under and made it my mission in life to be invisible. To not rock the boat, put any more stress into her life, and succeeded quite well. Too well.

I knew I was serving my mother by taking care of things without being asked, going above and beyond what was required of my age, not taking any attention on purpose, etc. But as I got older, around 11/12, I really started resenting being invisible. Never being noticed. Being taken for granted. And being constantly teased for being so perfect. But by then I couldn't stop being perfect and if I didn't anything minutely wrong, I was devastated. I was a bad person.

It has taken a long time to get over that mentality and although Camden's life is vastly different from my childhood, I still see the similarities. Aidan is a strong willed, challenging little rascal and there are days where his outbursts, temper tantrums, etc, take up all my time. I notice Camden becoming the wall flower, not wanting to rock the boat. And it's so easy to ignore the good kid. The one who serves without being asked. He gets up by himself via his alarm clock, makes his bed, eats breakfast, brushes his teeth, gets dressed, gets a snack all by himself. Camden follows the rules, tries to be fair when playing with others but if I do have to reprimand him for something, he falls apart. He'll say he's a bad person and just cries.

This completely breaks my heart in two because I understand. And despite our childhood differences, history is repeating itself and I don't want my child to get lost but it's so easy. I try to compliment him. To let him know that I see what he's doing but it seems like the praise goes in one ear and out the other. He tries so hard to be perfect and he's only 7!!

That was not what this post was supposed to be about but there you go. The point is that Camden could teach humanity a few pointers about service. I actually think children in general are far better examples then most adults.

For example, today he noticed our elderly neighbors across the street raking their leaves and pulling up their garden. So he asked, actually begged, to go over there and help them. What am I going to say, "Sorry, honey, you need to stay home today because it's Sunday?" He was so excited to go help. Then Nathan decided that he should take the cue from our little boy and went over to help as well so of course Aidan joined in the fun after his lunch was done. One person. One little boy can be such a light to others.

And not to leave out the youngest rascal, this was a question asked to Nate on the way home from church:

Aidan(wearing a bandana saying I can be honest): Hey dad?! Do you want to be eeevil with me?

hahahahaha nice.

random pictures

2009-10-17T16:11:00.004-04:00

The above picture was taken at Camden's birthday party, which we actually had in Sept. instead of Aug. because he'd just had surgery to remove a mole and then he broke his finger, people were on vacation... We took Camden and his friends to see a movie, then came home and had cupcakes. Pretty simple. He had a great birthday day at Nate's parents house so I didn't feel pressed to go all out.
This was my first attempt at making homemade bread. My friend Heidi bakes bread once a week and said it saves her tons of money, plus it's yummy. So I joined the bandwagon.
This is Aidan's "Navy" face. I love this kid.
And this was Camden on his first day of school. So cute!!

ugh

2009-10-16T16:43:00.003-04:00

No school today for the kiddos. But it all turned out well because after we went to workout, where they played with friends for over an hour, they played with the neighbor boy, who is 12 and great at entertaining them, for about four hours!! That's right, I said FOUR! It was heaven. Now Nate's on his way home and the weekend can begin!

The ugh part is that that's how I feel. I've been having some real lower abdominal pressure/aches/pain. It's been so long since I've been prego that I think my body is in shock and is refusing to cooperate. I can't run anymore, or walk fast for that matter. I can't do any knee raises or kicks in aerobics, it's pathetic and frustrating!! I feel like I'm nine months pregnant instead of 3 1/2. I think I'm just getting old. Especially since I can remember being 21 and pregnant and there's a definite difference.

But the weekend is about to start, Nate's done with his surveys for his research project and my house is a mess. AAAaaaahhhh, all is right with the world. haha

rain, rain go away

2009-10-15T13:34:00.000-04:00

It has been raining and cold and raining here since the beginning of October. We had an early spring, a mild summer, and apparently an early winter here in good 'ole O.HI.O. I want my FALL!! It's my favorite time of year and apparently mother nature decided to skip it this year.

But in good news, my mother in law and I snuck in some work for the two days it wasn't raining and she re-stained my deck while I painted and primed. It took two days and about 16 hours(but who's really counting...?) and we finally got it done. One crazy house project down and a few more t go. Like, switching rooms, organizing, knocking down a wall in the basement, getting rid of the mice in my garage...stuff like that.

In a side note, my hubby had a birthday last week and I just need to tell the world how much I love him and am proud of him. He's worked very hard in school for the past nine years of our marriage and in five short months, it's supposed to pay off. Nathan is a good father, a great soccer coach, a world class athlete at blowing his knees, and my best friend. Love you sweetie! mwah!

more "lots" :)

2009-10-03T12:29:00.004-04:00

Hi! Aren't you amazed that I have posted twice in one week? I certainly am. So yes, I am pregnant. I honestly doubted whether I would again. Aidan's labor was the worst event in my life and I swore I would never go through that again. Buuuuttt....have you ever had the feeling that your family was just not complete yet? Well, that nagged at me for a while so about 14 months ago we decided to stop birth control and see what happend. Well, we waited, and waited, and waited. When several months had come and gone without success I wasn't that worried but started getting a little apprehensive. Aidan is already four, and at this time he was three, and I didn't want my kids so far apart. I obviously had no control over this so it was very frustrating.

Then in Feb. of this year I learned I needed to have foot surgery. How was I supposed to get pregnant if I had surgery and on ibuprofen for a long time? And then Nathan had knee surgery so honestly, how were two gimpies supposed to find time, energy, and , uh, ways to continue our endeavor? I was given an answer in a sweet calming way saying that I was supposed to have the surgery first and then I was supposed to get pregnant.

Okay, I could handle that. So I had the foot surgery, Nate had his knee surgery; I weaned myself off the massive doses of anti-inflammatory drugs and thought that I would surely get pregnant. Nope. nada. nothing.

I was nearing the one whole year mark of trying monthly, calculating cycles, etc. without success. I conceived fairly quickly with the two boys so I was more than a little stumped. The end of July was to be the one year anniversary of our babymaking adventure. It also marked the date when I was going to have to make a doctor appointment to see why I wasn't getting pregnant.

Camden's birthday is Aug. 1st and Nate went to Minneapolis that weekend for a conference for school. I went to my in-laws house that weekend while he was away. The day before we left was the day I was supposed to start my cycle. I actually wanted to know what to pack, supplies, etc. or not so I called my friend Misti to see if she had an extra prego test. *(She was pregnant herself by this time so I figured she might have extras)

Sure enough, within seconds, I was positive!!! I was in shock. I couldn't believe it! I think I kept that pee stick for five days just to confirm to myself that I was in fact pregnant. Aaannnnddd, of course Nathan wasn't home and couldn't talk on the phone because he was surrounded by people and didn't want anyone to know. So he found out via text message and responded in kind. Very anti-climactic for me. Then I had to go to my in-laws and act like everything was normal. It was torture! :)

So, fast forward to now. I am almost 14 weeks pregnant. Not sick, since I remembered that prenatal vitamins poison me when I'm pregnant and as soon as I stopped taking them I was fine. My due date is April 4th, which is great but we also are supposed to be moving that week since Nate is graduating the week before...yeah. Not the best timing but I had no say in it. I'm kind of sad that this baby and Aidan will be 4 1/2 years apart but in some ways that will be easier too because the boys will be so independent and in school.

I'm still crazy scared about the delivery and would welcome any advice/suggestions/words of comfort all you mommies have. Basically my epidural didn't work, though no one believed me, there were a million different people in the room, the tail bone pressure literally drove me crazy with pain and Aidan was 9lbs. and 23 inches long. so yeah. I don't want a repeat performance.

Thanks for all of your well wishes and happiness for us. I really appreciate it!

lots

2009-09-30T21:44:00.002-04:00

How long has it been, dear blog? Too, too long. What has happened you may ask? Well, lots. Will I ever get around to sharing it all? Probably not. :)

We obviously made it through the summer, though I must say August was NOT Camden's favorite month. On August 3rd he had a mole removed by his right eye. Not a big deal but he's never had surgery before and so he was seriously nervous. Almost to the point of hyperventilating, which was kind of annoying. But he did fine and recovered like champ. But because of said surgery he couldn't go swimming for two weeks. This was the last month of summer people! And we had a pool pass to the Hilliard pool which had a lazy river, water slides, diving boards, and a POOL!! He was not happy.

To make matters worse, about ten days after the surgery, he was playing goalie against Nate after soccer practice and he dove for the ball, landed on his finger, and broke his pinky on his left hand. It was so sad. They came home and I was heading out the door to play bkb so I didn't pay much attention to it. Nate mentioned he had hurt it and maybe jammed it. Camden wasn't crying so I didn't think twice about it.

The next morning I remembered he had hurt it so I called him over to look at it. It was pretty swollen. He couldn't bend it. And, thanks to mommy-tuition it just didn't look right. So I took him to the doctor who thought it wasn't broken but gave me an x-ray form just in case it didn't get better by the weekend. (this was on a wed.) The nurse made a splint for him and we went home. The next day, Thurs., I decided to take him to get the x-ray. It wasn't bothering him but the swelling hadn't improved and it was starting to really bruise. Sure enough, it was fractured which meant he had to wear a splint for three weeks with no swimming allowed.

Yeah, Camden hated August. One facial surgery + one broken finger=no fun aka swimming for the rest of the summer. :( I was sad that he had broken a bone. It seemed sort of like a right of passage or something. He was so brave and resilient and never complained. He was faithful in wearing his splint. It about broke my heart.

That's one of the things that continues to amaze me about children; their adaptability. Whenever Aidan had his ear/hearing issues he just adapted to the situation without complaint. We just learned Aidan has a mild milk allergy so he is not allowed to have milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and pizza. How sad is that!? But he has never complained. Just accepted the condition and moved on. Camden was the same way. He never play the woe-is-me card like adults do. Just adapted and taught me valuable lessons in life.

If only we all were more like children. Able to have challenges and just accept them and look to what they can do instead of what they can't. I'm pretty proud of my two little men.

And on that note dear readers, I will close. I am convincing myself to post more often in the future. But I will leave this little tidbit until next time: another baby springer will be joining the ranks in April. ;)

update

2009-07-18T23:08:00.000-04:00

I've been complaining a lot lately, haven't I? Sorry about the pee in the bed post. I realize that was a very minor thing and I have no idea how lucky I am because there are children and parents who are having potty training nightmares. Sorry for being petty.

Just a quick update: Today was a much better day. Aidan was sweet and cute. No time-outs, threatenings, taking away of things and general feelings of dislike were involved. Just a fun day playing in a stake softball tournament, followed by a shower, nap, then a choir bbq. Niiiiiccceee.

And some my wonder, "Doesn't Emily have another child? A son? Who's almost seven?"

And yes dear readers, I do. I am just lucky enough that he isn't whine worthy because he generally behaves and just wants to play with friends all day. Camden is great. He is excited to get a keyboard for his birthday because he wants to start piano lessons and have a water park birthday party in our backyard.

So, sorry about the whining. Aidan is still alive and loved. and now I'm going to bed. The End. Finished. Finale. go to be already!! :)

The miracle that is a child

2009-07-18T17:18:00.002-04:00

You know those days when you look at your child(ren) and are amazed at their beauty, talent, intelligence, wit, style, etc.? Those days when you feel so blessed and thankful for your life, husband, and, of course, your wee tykes? I am always amazed at what we are able to create with the help of God and on those days I feel so blessed and privileged to be a mom.

Yesterday was NOT one of those days. Yesterday was a day where I questioned my sanity, patience, and desire to be a mother at all!!! Awe, the challenges that also accompany the brilliance and free will of children.

From about 11:30am to 8:30pm Aidan basically screamed, yelled, pouted, screamed, asked questions incessently, screamed, and snuck out of his room. All. Friggin. Day.

I think I might have met my match in stubbornness. He just decided that anything I asked him to do he wasn't going to do. And it didn't even matter when I confiscated his guitar, his tennis racket, his blue favorite gets-rid-of-anything-scary-teddy bear, and his most beloved (and bitten) blanket. Not even when, at four years old, I completely grounded him to his room for the rest of the day(and this was at 12pm). He continued to call me a bad mommy, a mean mommy, (which really doesn't bother me and I kind of like being mean), and yelling to the neighbors out the window that I was a bad mommy.

I couldn't figure out a way to lock him in his room so I had to stay on the main floor so he could feel the awesomeness of my presence and stay in his room because if I tried to do something downstairs he would come out and tattle on himself until I did the: "DON'T YOU MAKE ME COME UP THERE!" thing.

I baked banana bread to calm me, I cried a little, tried to call my mom to vent (who was irritatingly unavailable), called Nate to talk to the boy, and in general was taking huge deep breaths all day to prevent myself from doing him bodily harm.

Now, I know that this is typical, normal, it will pass...blah, blah, blah. Aidan is not a bad boy just stubborn and has a scream that could kill a banshee!!

And, of course, it was a day that Nate was gone ALL DAY. As in didn't come home until five minutes after Aidan was in bed for the night and actually quiet.

(read: taking a huge, shoulder raising, sinus clearing breath....................................................and letting it out.)

Today is a better day. Today I remember why I love being a mom. Why I love Aidan and all of his sweetness. Yesterday, I didn't. But, today I do.

Wait for it, wait for it....What a difference a day makes. hahahaha. C'mon now, who saw that coming? anyone? anyone?

lil' stinker

2009-06-30T08:09:00.003-04:00

HHHHEEEEELLLLPPPP! I am perplexed. mind-boggled. confused. exasperated. and tired, oh yes, I'm tired. ... all right I may be exaggerating just a wee little bit but I am really confused. On our vacation last week(which I promise to post pics of soon) Aidan, for the first time EVER, pee'd the bed!! Of course it was on a comforter that belonged to the bed and breakfast we were staying at, which was very embarassing. But he's never, ever completely wet the bed. Sometimes he has woken up with a teeny bit in his underwear but he wakes up and goes to the bathroom or else cries for me because he's not really awake yet. We have always been impressed that as a 2 1/2 year old he would wake up in the night to go pee.

Well, one night might have been a fluke. We were in a strange place, going to bed at odd hours...but then he did it AGAIN last night!!! Two times in a seven day period? C'mon!! Sooo...what's going on? Is he just sleeping too deep? He's almost four people, as in "in two days Aidan will be four!"

I don't like changing pee sheets in the middle of the night, especially full bladder ones. Why is he not waking up? Should I make him go before I go to bed each night? Is this just random and won't create a pattern? He really doesn't seem bothered by it. I mean, he doesn't like it but in the mornings he is pretty matter-of-fact about the whole thing.

Nathan: Aidan, why did you pee the bed? Why didn't you get up to go in the toilet?

Aidan: Weeeell, the first fing is I don't know. The other fing is I just didn't. And the fird fing, is I did.

I was cracking up. A rough translation is: He doesn't know why. He just didn't wake up and he just pee'd the bed.

Any advice? tips? ideas?

Oh, one more tidbit from this morning. He was in the living room/kitchen area talking to Nate and I hear:

Nathan:Your my baby, Aidan.

Aidan: I'm NOT a baby.

Nathan: Well, you're not a baby but you're MY baby.

Aidan: yeah, I guess you're right.

belated post

2009-06-28T08:41:00.003-04:00

I know an updated post is a long time in coming and I promise I'll get one up soon...but maybe not today. We missed Father's Day last week because we were on vacation to some church history sights and Niagra Falls so today is our make-up Father's Day and today my hubby is going to get spoiled.

Nathan is seriously my other half. He is thoughtful, caring, fun, athletic, dedicated to friends and family, a great breafast maker, super smart, a great orthodontist(at least that's what everyone tells me), sweet, and the best father. My two beautiful boys are clones of this amazing man and I love all three of my men.

When we were dating and engaged and my friends and family from home would ask what he was like, I would just tell them he's like me only a boy. Of course there are some personality differences, intelligence strengths different from mine but he is absolutely my best friend in every sense of the word. I feel very blessed to have found the man that completes me and keeps me on my toes.

I love you babe and I'm yours forever!

I'm Baaaaaccck

2009-06-10T07:55:00.002-04:00

You didn't even notice I was gone did you? :( Well, I was because about two months ago Google stopped working on my compter. I did something wrong evidently when I did a virus scan and deleted them so maybe it was a virus but after it was over, poof! no more google. Which meant no more blogger, or google reader, or a search engine for that matter! Have you ever thought how annoying it would be to have a compter that you can't do any searches on? Oh, the internet still worked, however, I couldn't search for AN.Y.THING! So annoying. But thanks to my patient hubby, (THANKS HONEY!) who had to reinstall windows and back everything up which took hours and hours....aaaahhhhhh, I can breathe freely again. Google is back and I can now continue to search, peruse, comment, and post as much as I want.

Seriously need a computer geek in the family to save me from myself.

What I would have missed had I been asleep

2009-05-23T06:38:00.002-04:00

I couldn't sleep this morning. Had a disturbing dream which questioned my sanity and woke up at 5:30AM and sleep had escaped me for the night/morning. I have been up for an hour perusing blogs, emails, random red carpet dresses when Aidan got up at 6:22AM. Now, I actually don't knwo if this is early for him or not since I never roll out of bed before 8AM but ...it seems early to me. So I'm standing at the counter, trying to judge the best time to get in the shower without waking Nathan up too early, while Aidan is eating breakfast...

when he says,"Mommy, I just tooted on myself."

Ummm..."Okay."

"Mooom, I just tooted on myself!"

"That's nice." (What do you say to that?!)

"Excuse me."

"Thank you."

So, how did your morning start out? Crazy dreams? random farting statements? Hopefully you all woke up feeling refreshed, had breakfast in bed and still get to take a nap later if you so choose. Amen.

Mother's Day spoiling

2009-05-11T23:14:00.003-04:00

On Mother's Day morning, at approximately 7:45am my little Cambiloni walked in, back straight, head held high, proudly bearing a lovingly prepared bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios for me to have breakfast in bed. He was so cute. After eating said Cheerios, I hopped in the shower while Nate fixed our second breakfast of the day, which was banana and blueberry pancakes. Yum!!

At church, the primary kids stood up and sang two songs to all the mommies and it was adorable because it was Aidan's first time being up there and he kept giving me cheesy grins and waving at me from the stand. awesome.

After church, Nathan again spoiled me by letting me take a nap while he kept Camden entertained. Then he made dinner...mmmm...grilled steak filets are very yummy. AND he did the dishes!! What can I say? I have the best man ever. I know your jealous! ;) haha

Camden made me several cards at school, Nate, knowing my love of forever changing my hair, gave me a gift certificate to a hair salon, and Aidan had made a card for me at preschool.

I am very blessed.

Quick foot update, for all of you who are dying! to know...It's doing well. I've been given the green light to exercise and do anything else I want. It's still sore; it still feels bruised but definitely healing. Nathan is also doing great. He's healed crazy fast and his physical therapist is pretty impressed.

Soon, I'll post pics from our Boston trip. It was really fun and it was great to see old friends.

2009-04-27T22:15:00.002-04:00

I am pretty much a wimp. I wanted a change in my hair but I didn't want to cut it because I have been trying to grow it out for months now. So, I went to my friend Stephanie, who's in beauty school, to dye it for me. I thought I wanted daring. Go red, I told her. I've never had red hair and that was a pretty drastic change. So below is a pic of my hair before.

this is a pic of my hair after. I actually loved the color. It was cute, different but for some reason, the color was brighter on the top of my head then on the end. so the top didn't quite look like this. So I went back and had her tone it down with some brown.

And this is what I have now. I actually really like it because the grow out won't be as noticeable. I probably should have tried to rock the brighter red. I guess I'm losing my nerve. But I thought she did a great job.
And to prove that I'm never content, I was looking through some honeymoon photos a week ago and noticed that I worked the blonde thing pretty well too...so maybe I've had enough years of being dark. Maybe next time, I'll make a full circle and go blonde again...now if only I could get my body back in shape the way it was when I got married...

Real Fast

2009-04-16T10:45:00.003-04:00

New post really quick!.

My foot is doing awesome!! It was annoying to be laid up for so long but that also was beneficial so that my foot didn't swell AT ALL and I've had minimal pain. Now I walk around fine and I just have to remember to do some stretching exercises so my toe doesn't develop scar tissue. I'm so glad I had it(karen that's for you). It's definitely worth doing and my scar is really small and hardly noticeable.

Nathan and I are currently on a whirlwind business trip looking at orthodontic practices in the Pacific Northwest. We've been crazy busy but also having fun seeing old friends and just hanging out a lot. Car trips are awesome! ;)

More updates to come...

Aidanisms

2009-03-29T09:13:00.003-04:00

Reading his scriptures before bed in his pajamas and, of course, soccer shin guards.

Nathan took the kids to a YM activity where they were having a "Music Appreciation" night, ie playing their respective instruments and Guitar Hero. Aidan loves all things musical. He loved the drums and is constantly asking for a real guitar or violin.

Just Aidan in a rare quiet moment.

Aidan to Nathan: "Daddy, when are you going to shabe your whispers?" (whiskers on his face)

Aidan to me: "Mom, I have a shield and a lightsaver and I'm gonna fight you!" (light saber)

Aidan begins almost every phrase with either "Weeeeelll.... or Ackchually"

He can count pretty well and recognize larger numbers but when telling his aunt Melanie what the numbers were on a page instead of saying 22 and 23, he pronounced them "tooty-two and tooty-free." Makes sense to him, the numbers do start with a two...

When the little girls in his primary class were playing with the lights, he walked over to his teacher and said in all seriousness, "don't worry, if the lights get dark I'll protect you." how sweet is that!

shut the door becomes "shutted the door."

The other day I was reclining in my bed, reading a book, and Aidan was talking my ear off, as usual. I swear, that kid can talk for hours asking question after question without waiting for an answer and hardly pausing to breathe. It gets very annoying especially when I'm trapped in my bed while elevating my foot and he knows I can't go anywhere. It's cruel, cruel I tell you!

Anyway, I was trying my best to ignore him when I felt two little hands gently touch my pinky finger, that wasn't holding on to the book and then I felt him pressing it to his face. I glanced over and he's watching me with an evil gleam in his eyes as he slowly starts lowering his left nostril over and onto my finger!!! Gross!!!!!! I, of course, yell, "sick! gross!" and bop him in the forehead. All the while he's just laughing and dancing around. Little goober.

Aidan calls our next door neighbor Brick because her name is Brooke.

There are many more funny, crazy, gross, and annoying things that he does but like on any test when I'm trying to remember certain information, I invariably come up blank.

I truly love this little boy; he keeps me laughing all day long and he tells me, at least 20 times a day that he loves me.

Hair dilemma

2009-03-27T17:12:00.003-04:00

I'm totally copying my friend Lanie's idea of asking for hair advice, except I won't have pictures to help you. I've been trying to grow my hair out and can proudly say it's about a medium length now instead of being short. When I saw my friend Lanie's hair, I was very jealous. It was long, full, and looked dang sexy. I wanted to scalp her and make a wig of her hair. I'm getting antsy to make a hair change again. I saw a pic of my hair when I cut it really short and stacked in the back and my mind started to wonder/wander...but then I slapped myself and reminded myself that I hard waited a very long time for my hair to grow out of that haircut.

I was going to type that I had worked hard to grow my hair out but really, how hard to I have to work to grow my hair? I live, provide oxygen, it grows, end of story.

Back to my main thought. So I decided I need to color my hair. It's a faded medium brown with some blond highlights. Kind of boring I think. So, what color should I change it to? A richer, chocolate brown? Blonder? Light brown? I have the most bland/boring/unexciting natural hair color so I have to do something to make it "pop!"

HELP!

A change for the better

2009-03-24T22:14:00.003-04:00

All right, I was getting grossed out just thinking of my bloody foot on my blog so I'm sure you all are too.

There. Isn't that much better? He's so much cuter than my feet.
And this what I woke up to one morning. The bathroom is just to the left of my bedroom, so I stumble out with sleepy crustiness in my eyes and I see Aidan quietly, intently, perusing the pages of his favorite book while on the commode.And this is one of my bestest friend Carey who I got to hang out with when I went home to Washington for a week. We had the best time, though it's never long enough.

And here we are being the chic divas that we are. Happy Early Birthday Salsa!!!! I love you!

Gruesome Twosome

2009-03-19T19:11:00.003-04:00

Not for the faint of heart. These are the before and after pics of my feet. Not that anyone asked to see them but it's fun to show off war wounds, battle scars, and nasty bruising. Needless to say, I didn't need to wear anything green for St. Patrick's Day, my foot already was!

Okay, so they're in the wrong order, but you get the idea. Aaawwwweee, look at that. So cute adn not scarred. At least I don't have any swelling

Happiness

2009-03-19T18:55:00.002-04:00

There is nothing in the world better than listening from the other room to your husband and two boys wrestling, playing, talking, tickling, advising, and telling stories together. Especially when the husband is lying on the couch due to a recent ACL reconstruction and he's having so much fun being with his two clones all day.

As a mom and wife, hearing their squeals of laughter while pretending to be Batman and Bad guys, while I'm sitting all comfy in my bed, away from the flailing limbs and ear-piercing screams: this is what it means to be content.

well, as content as one can be since one can only be up and mobile ten minutes of every hour...but I, er, someone did get their stitches out today. Hoooraay!! Milestone.

Happy St. Paddy's day...did you know he was really Scottish?

2009-03-17T12:19:00.003-04:00

You've missed me haven't you? Ha, ha. Tomorrow will be two weeks since I had my foot surgery. That's almost two weeks of sitting on my ever growing arse most of the day and having my sainted mother-in-law to raise my kids, clean my house, cook the meals, carpool, and be at my beck and call. Reading that doesn't sound like such a bad life but it gets really old after a while. And when I do get to stand up, five minutes and ten minutes alternating every other hour, I have just enough time to use the facilities, take my meds(just ibuprofen, nothing fun), and reposition myself back on the bed with the foot propped up. The weather's been gorgeous and I can't go outside. My stitches are ugly and now I'm just throwing a pity party so I'll stop now. :)

On a good note, Nate just finished with his knee surgery this morning. They cleaned up some damaged cartilage, repaired his torn miniscus, and took some tendon from his hamstring to replace his severed ACL. The surgery was two hours long but everything went well and he can start putting weight on it right away, though he'll have crutches for a little while. My sweet hottie of a husband is pushing the recovery limits by going back to work on Monday because he's actually in the middle of all the board testing for orthodontics. We Springers sure like to perform under pressure, I tell ya!

Oh, and Camden's been sick for two days. Just had to add that in there.

BUT! we bought the local pool pass yesterday so I'm actually looking forward to this summer because the pool is awesome. It has a lazy river, three water slides, a kiddie play area, and a lot of my friends have also joined.

Aidan was having a treat after lunch today and I asked him if he wanted to take a nap after preschool today...(hey, a mother can wish right?)

His reply? "Mom, I'll be juuust fine."

kids, gotta love 'em.

2009-03-08T18:37:00.003-04:00

I'm so bored but feel very blessed because I am being well taken care of. (stupid underline thingy that I can't get rid of..._) Most days I just lay around, switching from my bed to the couch then back to the bed. I've had hardly any pain, which is awesome, but my back gets very achy from laying in one position for so long. Because I have to have my foot elevated above my heart, it's very awkward. Hopefully my doc won't make me be this way for the weeks and weeks she originally told me so I'm trying to be really good this first week and hope you all will pray for a miracle for me.

Here are some before pictures and later today or tomorrow I'll post my after pics, of my foot all bandaged up.

It's my left foot, obviously, and that bump sticking out on the side of my foot, at the base of my big toe, is going to have a reduction. The hope is to go from about a C-cup to an A. According to the doctor, the surgery was successful and my foot should be very flat chested now.

For those of you who don't know, I've already had this surgery on my right foot when I was 21, but it was a lot more invasive. They had to shave off the bone, just like my left foot, but they also took a triangular chunk of bone out of the top joint on my big toe, put in a wire loop to close it together and then did some more breakage further down in my foot to straighten my big toe and then put a screw in my foot. Needless to say, that was a long recovery, about four months. And I now sport a lovely two-inch scar. You can kind of see it in the picture below. See how nice and straight my toe is? mmm, lovely. Now my feet will finally match. (yeah, I had a cute pedicure on both feet but the picky doctor made me take all my polish off,..something about being hygienic or something. whatever.)

Below is a picture of Camden with his best bud, Chase, after their school music program. Chase is so much bigger than Camden but they're only a few months apart!! Crazy how big they are at 6 years old.

You must check out the previous post for Camden's video of the program. He cracks me up, how focused he is.

news and updates

2009-03-05T18:57:00.005-05:00

sooo, life is good. I'm layed up in bed for four or five weeks following a bunionectomy surgery yesterday, Aidan is sick with a fever and he's afraid to come near me because my foot is the size of a football, I'm missing Camden's first school program, ...this sounds like whining and it's not. Honest! We've just had some exciting times around here, but let me back up a little bit.

We've made it through the crazy coldness that is Ohio and I'm so grateful for the jungle gym we have in our basement. Then at the end of February I flew solo aka sans family aka all by myself aka the only way to fly, to Washington state to visit with my family and friends. I had a great time shopping, eating out, visiting, and playing guitar hero. It was very relaxing not being in charge or responsible for anyone else.

I flew back in a few minutes after midnight on my birthday, didn't get much sleep that night because the next day was a regular mommy day. Nate left for MI for a conference for two days, then yesterday I had my foot surgery. The surgery went great, I was awake the whole time, which was interesting when I heard the saw cutting off my bone. But it was so nice not to be groggy afterwards. Now I just have to lay in bed with my foot propped up 24 hours a day. I am allowed to get up for five minutes of every hour but that's it. Yeah, my doc is a little psycho. But so far so good. And because of that my awesome mom-in-law has basically moved in for a few weeks to help out. AND to make her job that much better, Aidan has had a fever for two days, which is making him be pretty wimpy and won't come near me unless cartoons are on.

But I am very blessed and am lucky to have such wonderful people and opportunities in my life. Now I just have to have a super-speedy recovery so that I'll be able to take over when Nate has knee surgery on March 17th for a severed ACL, torn miniscus and some bone bruising. :)

I tell ya, for a family who really has no drama, we've taken our fair share lately.
Thanks to everyone for all their warm wishes and concerns. Nathan and I are very grateful we have such good friends.

warning: this post contains potty language

2009-01-27T19:14:00.003-05:00

I love my little boys. Camden is so grown up now, completing time-line projects and mastering his reading words. Aidan is loving preschool and looking at his flashcards...it's the simple things in life.

Because I laughed so hard at the following story and I must write it down for posterity/humiliating purposes, I am going to share with you a story involving poo/poop/excrement/sh#$ or whatever you want to call it. You've been warned.

Last Saturday Nate's parents were in town and treating us to dinner (I really love my in-laws and their generosity, that or they don't like my cooking...hmmmm). We were all killing time in Barnes and Noble reading books about Llamas in Red Pajamas and farting dogs, good times, when Aidan announced very loudly,"I need to go poop!"

Zoom into me ducking my head and shushing him while my head swivels all around looking for a restroom. I spot it at the back of the store, which is on the wall farthest from us, and we make a bee-line. Nate had gone to pull the car around and our reservation time was 10 minutes away.
As we approached the doorway, I noticed that we were leaving the clean, warm, coffee scented environment of this serene bookstore and had entered into a bathroom that was truck stop worthy. So gross.

Aidan sits down on the disgusting toilet, coat and all because I'm hoping this will be speedy and the others are waiting for us. And you all obviously know where this is going, it took for.ever! My lightning pooper failed me and he was experience stage fright or something because the process was slow. Or maybe it just felt like that to me, standing in a dirty, smelly, cramped bathroom stall with my son.

As I ask," Are you done yet? Stop talking and just go! Concentrate!"

Aidan replies that it's not coming. Then the talking ceases, his eyes became very focused on the stall door and begin to water(are you grossed out yet?) and as the fecal matter is finally expelled from his cute little body, he says, "Yyyeesss!"
I kid you not! It was like he had scored a goal. My sweet little pooper then looks up at me and finishes with: "My bum is very strong."

This statement made me snicker and giggle in a most adolescent fashion while I observed his tone of voice. He was proud and maybe a little arrogant of his accomplishment. My son was bragging about his sphincter muscles. How cool is that?

I was very glad that we were alone. I know that others have had similar experiences with their children and bathrooms and I know I have kindred spirits in my absolute love of this story. It cracked me up and made me stop to appreciate the small things in life.

So you have to ask yourself, "How strong is my bum?"

You wan a piece of me?

2009-01-14T13:17:00.003-05:00

We're slowly easing back into the school routine. I had somehow forgotten the ten million papers that Camden brings home everyday from school. Seriously, how does everyone keep it organized? And here I am complaining when Margo has 3 kiddos in the same grade to deal with, sheesh. But I do really love routine. I know what's expected, what's coming up, when I can be lazy and when I need to look half-way presentable.

I have to tell this little story before I forget. I was working out yesterday at the church with Susan and there was just us there, with our two kids, Aidan and Addie, who are the same age. They play really well together and it's so nice not to have to worry about refereeing all the time. As Susan and I were doing some complicated Pilates move...haha, I jest, but we were doing Pilates! Anyway, I hear Aidan say;

Aidan: (after making some transformation noises) I just turned into a Ninja Turtle! You wanna piece of me?!

(seriously, where does he get this stuff? Oh, right. Parker.)

And then Addie pipes up, without missing a beat in her teeny tiny voice:

Addie: You want a piece of my butt?

I kid you not, that was verbatim!! Susan and I just busted out laughing and all Pilates stretching was forgotten for a moment. These two sweet, cute three year olds come up with the darndest things.

All right, enough about butts...it's juveniley funny to write the word butt. C'mon. try it. I guarantee you'll giggle a little or at least smirk in a very irreverent manner.

I'm using my blog for my own selfish goals and pursuits, hey, I'm just following the crowd. And so I've decided to turn this into a forum. The topic for today's discussion is: the mini-van.

Yes, folks, we might actually purchase a vehicle that is NOT a Subaru...breathe, just breathe. I know that the news is shocking but it is what it is. We've been looking into the Honda Odyssey and what I would like to know from you, dear Reader, is what are your own personal experiences with mini-vans. Pros? Cons? Hate 'em? Love 'em? Does the 8th seat really matter? Leather or cloth interior?

This is a huge step for us but convenience is quickly winning the battle over our much-loved Tribeca. Not that we're getting rid of our mini-SUV but sadly our little red car will be leaving the family. He's just not carrying his own weight and it's for the good of the whole.

Oh, and before I forget. I need some good book ideas. I'm coming up blank whenever I go to the library and that is just not acceptable.

so funny

2008-12-28T23:15:00.003-05:00

I know that you all are recovering from the shock of so many posts in just a short time. Just try to breathe and the room should stop spinning.

We finally came home tonight. We love staying at the Springers: I don't have to cook, they play with my kids, I take naps everyday, I don't do dishes...what's not to love? But it always feels good to come home.

After unpacking, a little, Nate and I were relaxing on the couch and started looking at the pics we took. I L.O.V.E. this video of Aidan. Cracks me up. But first, the scene must be set.

Every year, as tradition dictates, the Springer clan goes caroling to a few families. This one sweet lady makes homemade caramels every year and upon our singing completion, we are presented with the coveted candy. They are SO GOOD! They're soft, not too sticky, and they just melt in your mouth.

We had just come home and of course Aidan wanted his candy. As his eyes rolled in the back of his head and he started drooling...we started asking him questions. Okay, so maybe it gets a little sticky and maybe we forgot to tell him what kind of candy it was since he's getting it wrong. But it still makes me laugh.

And while I'm waiting for this video to upload, I have a question. At what time do you order your Christmas cards with your family pictures on them? When do mail them out? How much do you spend, on average? And do you take a completely new family pic for the occasion or just do a random one. Well, that was more than one question but I'm curious because I totally suck at the Christmas card thing. It's like the blog posting thing. Everyone does it. Everyone's look good. I know I should do it to say hi, hugs and kisses, and miss you's to all my friends and family...but there's that expectation again. It's my own expectation but I just dig in my heels, procrastinate, and then it's too late and I'm like, "oh, oops. Christmas came so fast this year. I'll get them out next year." Cuz I like to lie and talk to myself. I need help, I'm quite aware of this.

Any places to recommend? Any tricks for making this easier? Are New Year cards lame?

This video is taking for. ev. er!!!!

Random pictures with captions

2008-12-27T22:00:00.002-05:00

This is Nathan and I at the Columbus Zoo's Wildlights. One zoo. 3 million Christmas lights.
Camden's rather pathetic mummy costume, but he liked it and we had lots of compliments, so he was happy...okay, okay, I was too. sheesh.
Aidan had over ten costumes to choose from. But of course he chose the one Camden wore last year. The zipper was broken, it had grass stains on the knees, the facemask was cracked and taped together...but my little boy was happy.

new post?

2008-12-27T21:43:00.003-05:00

what? who? wha? I have a blog? Did I know that? I'm not sure...
Okay, here's the thing...I have this weird habit that the more I should do something, the less I want to do it. It's almost like I become rebellious towards my blog. Now, it has never done anything to me. Besides some formatting glitches here and there, it's really not too demanding. But the fact that there might be some expectation that I should blog about holidays and other events...it makes me want to do it less. I'm messed up, I know.

But I just wanted everyone to know that yes, we are still alive, and living in Ohio and are just living our insanely normal, mundane lives. But since I am trying to use this blog as a semi-journal for the future since I react the same rebellious way towards my own handwritten journal...I thought I'd say hi.

Hi.

To sum up quickly but not long-windedly...

-We've had a great Christmas with the Ohio Springers.
-My parents came to visit for one week, two weeks before Christmas and it was awesome.
-Camden is doing awesome in school. He can read, write, add, subtract, draw...all the basic kindergarten stuff.
-I graduated on Dec. 12th from BYU...finally.
-Halloween will have to be a different post with pics because Camden's mummy costume was so cute and easy and we had tons-o-compliments, which made me vainly feel good.
-Nate is doing well and looking sexier than ever.
-Aidan is an adorable little bundle of trouble who loves preschool...and his blankie. and his bear.

And that's it. We're pretty boring but happy.

Happy Halloween, Hope ya had a great Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

All hallows Eve...

2008-10-23T08:00:00.003-04:00

My .3 seconds of fame.

I was shopping for a Halloween costume for Camden at a random Halloween store. I was looking for a mummy costume that was inexpensive, or at least one I could copy at home. I did happen to find one to copy, however it was also the same time a photographer from the Columbus Dispatch was wanting to take pics of customers shopping for Beggars Night. I happened to be the ONLY customer in the store. So he just followed me around and I tried to suck in my gut and think thin. Thankfully I'm hardly in this shot but it was kind of fun to see Camden's name there.

Does anyone have any advice for me on how to keep my child from waking up so incredibly early? He never was an early riser but for the past six months he gets up between 6 and 6:30am and it's killing me!! Help!!

Oh, and I'll post some more pics today but I should probably be getting my child ready for school.

funny bad words

2008-09-26T11:15:00.003-04:00

During the second week of school Camden came home and said, rather sadly, that someone had called him a bad word. I took a deep breath. This was it. His first cuss word to grace his virgin ears. We told him that he might hear inappropriate language at school but that he shouldn't repeat it and not keep talking to the person who is swearing.

Camden: Someone called me a bad name today.

Me: Oh, they did? I'm sorry. How did that make you feel?

Camden: Sad. It hurt my feelings.

Me: I'm sorry honey.

Camden: Yeah, I was just washing my hands and they kept calling me names.

Me(starting to get suspicious here): What were you doing to them?

Camden: I don't remember.

Me: You remember they called you a bad name and that you were washing your hands but you don't remember why?

Camden: Weeelll, I just don't know.

Me: CAMDEN(in that total mommy tone)

Camden(in a rather small voice): I was pushing them.

Me(I knew it!): Why were you pushing them?

Camden: Because. (Always the perfect excuse)

Me: Did they ask you to stop?

Camden: yes.

Me: So you were the one bothering them for no reason and you wouldn't stop so they started calling you names?

Camden: Yeah! And I even told my teacher but she didn't hear me. (more like ignored him.)

Me: *sigh* I'm disappointed that you made poor choices... what name did they call you?

Camden: (in a soft, indignant voice) picklebutt

Me: (trying not to laugh out loud at the words kids come up with and at the hurt feelings of the little instigator) Oh. We don't say that word,do we?

Camden: no!

Me: Maybe next time you won't push people because if you keep bother them they might do things you don't like.

Camden: okay mommy.

Lesson learned everyone? Don't push others while washing your hands because they might just call you a picklebutt and you won't like it.

Veerrry Interesting

2008-09-22T09:20:00.002-04:00

Which Disney Princess Are You?

You Are Cinderella!

Dignified and hard working. With a gentle and soft-spoken manner you have something many people don't. Patience. Even through the moments of heartbreak you're still able to hold onto all of your hopes and dreams. Bide your time; your dream will come true.

Really? Cinderella? I always thought of myself as more of a Mulan girl, but whatever.

Which Disney Princess are You?

I promise we're alive!

2008-09-11T15:06:00.003-04:00

Just had to post a few pics of my kiddos so that everyone knows that they're still alive. Camden started Kindergarten on Aug. 19th, and here's the kicker: it's ALL DAY!! Yup, that's right folks I booted my eldest son out of our home for the majority of the day. He catches the best at 8:50am and by the time I pick him and we get home, it's 4pm. Yeah, I only spend four hours a day with him. I'm in heaven!! Okay, I know that sounds bad but I've had a really bored six year old all summer and he LOVES school. His school does an integrated grade program so half the kids in his class are in K and the other half are in first grade. He'll have the same teacher for two years in a row and as a kindergartner, he'll get to do science, social studies, math, reading, music, gym, art, library, recess and lunchtime. He's so excited to go every morning and he had his first math homework assignment yesterday. How cute is that?! I don't have any pictures of him in his classroom because he wouldn't let me walk him in. Independent little twerp. doesn't he know that his helicopter mother needs to make sure that everything is okay and that he's settled and etc. ? NO? guess he didn't get the memo.

I'm lame. I just noticed that my last post which was eons ago, was actually posted ON my anniversary and I didn't even say anything about it!! Seriously, I wonder what is wrong with me sometimes. Just for the record:

I have been married now for 8 while YEARS!! Crazy, much? yeah, I thought so. My hubby and me found each other at a very young age and have been slowly growing up, and older, together every since. I adore him though. If I'm in a crummy mood, he just has to smile and my dark, brooding thoughts are magically whisked away. We've never had a perfect marriage, in more ways than I care to share, but we've always been determined to come together and work for the common goal of our eternal family. I love you babe!

I've been lazy and awol for a while trying to apply for my final for my LAST class from BYU and then I'll get my diploma in December. Can I get a WOOT! WOOT!? I'm a nerd, I know. It's been a little hectic but life is good. I have an extremely happy and well-adjusted six year old, whom I have a great name-calling post to write about later. I have a sweet three year old, who will be starting preschool on Tues/Thurs. from 1-3pm in two weeks. I have a husband who is pretty hunky and happens to love me a whole lot and it's starting to feel like fall!! yeah, what more could I ask for? hmmm...well, I could ...nevermind.

tears

2008-08-04T16:38:00.002-04:00

Oh man, maybe the writing down memories thing wasn't the greatest of ideas because now I miss my girlfriends like CRAZY!! I want to just go hang out with my old college roommates. The girls who I was hormonal with, boy-crazy with, nuts with. Who knew exactly who I was and liked me anyway. I miss connecting with so many beautiful women in such a profound way that words don't even have to be spoken to understand each other. Aimee, Red, Kristin, and all the other wonderful girls at BYU. You were my best friends. You made my college experience the best time ever, and to think I almost didn't go to BYU just cuz of all the crazy mormons there? What I would have missed out on! Red's tomato sandwich and rice diet, Aimee's bajillion boyfriends, Red's toothpaste dots and modeling in front of the hallway mirror for the next day's outfit. Having Kristin peel the skin off of my sunburn and letting her cook for me and letting me hang out with her husband who introduced me to my one semester of Capoeira. Slumber parties in our room, hammering up Christmas lights until 3am...and I'm homesick, er, friend sick? You get the picture.

Hannah's cute signs hung on my door, and the birth of my nickname, Lemonhead. ( I still have that pic, btw) Laughing at Hannah's practical jokes of faking the guys out with fake blood from her theatre makeup class. Trying to keep all of Hannah's boytoys, straightened out. Trying to like Sheila's main boy toy but not succeeding very much. Wishing I had Sheila's gorgeous hair, and waist. And most of all tlalking in thle flamous L llangulage. ah, good times.

And then there are my girls from SF. We raised our kids together, had many a girl's night talking about life, sex, movies, kids, mommyhood, discipline, school, breast implants...it takes a close knit group of women to well...nevermind. I miss SF. I miss taking walks with Ginger up Mt. Sutro, visiting with Kim until midnight on the walkway. I miss just hanging out at Em's house and begging her to make me crepes. I miss the talking and laughing with Lanie and Marissa in the courtyard. Those four years were such a bonding time for me because these marvelous women helped me to raise my two boys and understand how to be a better mother through their examples.

Thank you to everyone who commented. And feel free to keep commenting, never mind my tears. I just wish I had an endless supply of money where I could fly all of my girls and me to Hawaii for one whole week of food, pedicures, and fun. In my dreams, right?

Miss everyone!

memories

2008-07-25T09:26:00.002-04:00

I'm just copying everyone else because I thought it was fun going down memory lane, so please play along!

Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on this post, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

cuteness and happiness

2008-07-15T21:40:00.004-04:00

Nate took the boys camping last weekend for the ward's Father/Son camp-out. Notice the swords made from sticks.
During our vacation to Washington, we did manage to get to the beach for a few hours and Aidan wasn't into it very much.
Whenever I'm taking a picture of Camden, he always has to pose in weird ways. I blame all the sport pictures he's had to take where they tell him to pose.
My boys and their swords. I always tried to avoid swords and guns and such so that it wouldn't promote violence. But then when they started using baseball bats, sticks, and anything else as a sword I could tell that it was all for naught. Hence the foam swords which they are forever playing pirates with.
Here is Aidan with his "sunglasses" that his Uncle Jeremy gave to him at Christmas time because he as sad that mommy and Camden had glasses and he didn't. So funny!
Camden lost his first tooth, on his own, a few weeks ago. He had an upper one pulled because it was infected. He was so excited when Nate flossed it out and it didn't hurt. What a cute jack-o-lantern grin!
Aidan is such a cute little bug.
Why do I ever bother to buy toys? Just give 'em a box and they're good for hours!

The Month of June

2008-07-08T09:28:00.003-04:00

The month of June was a crazy one for the Springer household. I may just have to list all the catastrophes in bullet form so that I can get through it all.

Well, obviously, my grandpa passed away of a heart attack on June 7th, while we were there on vacation, which was good that we were able to be there and help out but it was also extremely stressful.
We came home very early, I'm talking 3am-ish, Sunday the 15th.
Needless to say, that following week I had a ton of laundry to do and on the following Tues. my washing machine died. I was just starting to tackle the crazy amount of post-vacation laundry and it just stopped working. It was a used one and we didn't have to pay for it but it was still an inconvenience.
Laundry continues to pile up while we research washing machines and places.
I'm calling my mom to check on her emotional health and find out she'll have surgery on Thurs. for a frozen shoulder, bone spurs on her shoulder blade, etc. nice.
Laundry is continuing to be insane.
Saturday my in -laws come to town to watch Camden's first t-ball game/practice and we go out and buy a new washer. YEAH!!!
Same night. 9:30pm, we turn our brand new Maytag washing machine on and watch as it proceeds to overfill, flooding our laundry room and basement ceiling. lovely.
Spend several hours drilling holes in the ceiling to let the water out, wiping up everything with every towel in the house.
the next day, Monday, a repairman comes, takes the stupid machine apart and we find out that two important attachments, the lid switch and pressure hose, WEREN'T EVEN ATTACHED!!! meaning, the washing machine was told to turn on and never stop filling!!!!! so stupid.
Now my new washing machine works like a dream but I have mountain of laundry to do because all of our clothes are dirty PLUS literally, every single bath towel and rag towel we own.
Spend rest of the week doing laundry. fun.
Decide it's time to cut the boys' hair because it's so hot outside and don't notice when the attachment falls off and I end up buzzing Camden's head with NO attachment on. Now he resembles a cancer patient. Or a skinhead. or something else ...but you know what? He's still so cute!!
Nate gives me a hard time about said haircut. I get to my breaking point.
I officially lose it the next day, Thurs., when I turn on the garbage disposal and hear an awful grating sound. I think it's a spoon or something...nope. it's. my. RING!!!!!!
yes, my wedding ring was eaten by the garbage disposal. I proceed to break down sobbing, blubbering, snotting and pretty much being a lame baby. It was my wedding ring for cryin out loud!
But we found the diamond that had popped out and it was totally fine! Now I have to decide what I'm going to do. Use old stones in a new setting? Get yellow gold again or go with white? Try to recreate my old ring? any suggestions?
Saturday, was pretty good. we get some good ideas on rings yet still haven't heard back from the jewelry stores with estimates. sucky jewelry store.
Sunday night, ahhh, Sunday night. All my laundry is finally done, folded and put away. My mom is recovering well from her surgery. The basement ceiling dried really well, so we shouldn't be having any mildew problems.
Sunday night, June 29th, Aidan sticks a button up his nose. While I'm making dinner for our friends to come over. It's a little light brown shirt button. I can't even imagine the thought process behind that one.
I immediately yell for Nate to get the tweezers and flashlight. We proceed to sit on our child while jabbing tweezers up his nose. He keeps sniffing it up higher and higher. We end up going to urgent care.
Urgent care has no clue what they're doing. They try jabbing instruments up his nose too, doesn't work.
Make appt. for next day at 8:30am to go to ENT clinic at hospital to remove foreign object. They can't do it either. Aidan's screaming out of sheer terror and frustration at being strapped to a papoose board.
They schedule us for the OPERATING ROOM the next morning.
Day 3 of button fiasco. We go bright and early to the OR. Wait for two hours, the put him under with gas but it's so far in his nasal cavity that they end up intubating him to do an endoscope. Yeah. so three days later, the button comes out at the hospital. sigh.

are you still with me? haven't fallen asleep yet? I wouldn't blame you.

And so the month of June ends. and hopefully with it, all the crazy drama. I've had my fill, Lord. I really don't know if I could take anymore crazy !@#.

My Grandpa

2008-06-11T12:26:00.003-04:00

"Kiss it and learn to love it!"

"Grandpa, what time is it?" - "Half past kissin time and time to kiss again!"

Painful "milk the mouse" on the pinkie finger

Crazy, tickly and sometimes a little scary, whisker rubs on the neck

And finally, my personal pet name from him, Wart.

These are phrases and memories that endear my grandpa to me. And I am so grateful for them because while we've been out here on vacation in Washington, my grandpa passed away from a sudden heart attack last Saturday night. The past few days have been crazy, emotional, busy, fun, and broken.

Family has flown in from all over. I've reunited with relatives I haven't seen in decades. That has been awesome. We spent the last three days cramming 10-13 people in a three bedroom beach house, making funeral, viewing, and program arrangements. It has been very therapeutic but also surreal. We're all gathered together and I keep waiting for him to walk in the door.

Papa Mac was only 73.

The viewing was hard. But I needed to see him lying on a table, with a quilt draped over him. He was to be cremated and that was my last chance to say goodbye. I wasn't ready. I walked in and ran to the opposite side of the room, having lost all composure. I knew I wanted to be there. I needed to be there. But seeing my grandpa laying down was like I jumped into arctic waters. All the air was sucked from my lungs. My mind refused to accept what I had witnessed. After a few minutes, I was calm enough to turn around, though I took my glasses off to ease me into it. Something about looking through blurry eyes made it more bearable.

I kneeled by my Uncle Mac; my grandpas namesake. I hadn't seen him in over 10 years. With my uncle's arm around me, I quietly sobbed, wishing my grandpa would wake up. My family was all around, each grieving in their own way but always ready to comfort others. I won't ever forget that picture in my mind.

Grandpa never wanted to be cried over, or "blubbering," as he called it. He chose to be cremated because he didn't want people to stare at him. He wanted a celebration of his life, of his family, of his legacy.

Well, Grandpa, you don't get the last say in everything and I've shed plenty of tears because you undervalued your worth to this family, especially to me.

The memorial is in a few days. I'll be speaking and singing. Although it's in the local LDS chapel, I'm wondering if I should be formal or do something that would have made Grandpa laugh, like wearing rainbow suspenders with too-big blue jeans and a white shirt. I wouldn't show my crack, but everyone would know who I was wearing them for. I'll let you know what happens.

Love you Grandpa

http://www.penttilaschapel.com/sitemaker/sites/pentti0/obit.cgi?user=mmansfield

Mother's Day

2008-05-12T11:12:00.002-04:00

I used to tell Nathan that Mother's Day wasn't such a big deal to me. It was important to be recognized but buying hundreds of dollars in jewelry seemed absurd to me...at the time. :)

However, the more kids I have, the more stressful life is, the more schooling we have to complete, the more my husband is away from me, the more I see how important it is to praise me continously for one whole day!!

My mother's day had some ups and downs and I often wonder if my expectations of a perfect mother's day without any fighting, or grumpiness, or misunderstandings is too far fetched? yeah, probably.

Being a mom is hard. Actually being a mom and doing nothing else is great and rewarding and challenging but being a mom and a wife and a taxi driver, short-order cook, babysitter, maid, gardner, and disciplinarian makes enjoyingbeing a mom a little more difficult.

However, my sweet husband bought me a gift card to get my hair cut at a fancy salon since he knows I'm addicted to changing my look every three months. Camden picked out some jewelry for me that was very pretty. And Camden drew me a picture that was so funny, I'll have to post it later.

Speaking of moms, my mom is pretty incredible. Like many other women she has had sever challenges in the workplace and home front. Despite these obstacles she continues forward, c0nstantly striving to improve her and her family's life. Love you mom.

sickies

2008-05-06T08:47:00.003-04:00

Why does someone who doesn't smoke have a smoker sounding cough? I've been hacking away for about three weeks now, waking up several times a night, having to drug myself to stay asleep. Then the full cold hit, sneezing, runny nose, sinus pressure, sore throat, lost voice. yuck.

During the day I'm much better, as long as I keep the sudafed, cough syrup,and tylenol coming every four hours. But seriously, ENOUGH already!! Nate has really been a big help, especially since this last weekend I was in bed for most of it. He was awfully excited to go back to work on Monday...hmmmm? I wonder why?

I just have to say to the world how much I love my boys. Camden and Aidan keep me humble, chastised, grateful, repentant, and laughing all the time. Aidan has really become a cuddle bug lately. he'll lay in bed with me and let me kiss him and pinch his soft little cheeks. Camden is growing up so fast. He had a tooth pulled late last week because it had been dead for a while, about three years, and was infected. He was such a trooper! The Pediatric dentist was awesome and makes me appreciate our friend Doug's job all the more.

My life is pretty normal compared to others and really boring to some but I am happy. My friend Kim just had a baby...which I must admit made me a little jealous. jealous? What is wrong with me? Why would I be jealous of going through the pain of labor and recovery, of leaking milk ducts and post baby jiggle? I must really be sick if I'm thinking of adding to this family. haha

From the mouths of babes

2008-04-22T08:19:00.003-04:00

About a week and a half ago there was an accident involving a crossing guard, a second-grader, and a dump truck. This woman noticed that the dump truck wasn't slowing down while the little boy was crossing the street and she ran out and shielded his little body from taking a direct blow. Such a heroic act of bravery and love brought tears to my eyes. Unfortunately, this amazing woman passed away a short time later from her injuries, the little boy is now in fair condition in the hospital, though he was in critical. My heart breaks for the loss of this woman's family. I'm not sure why I connected with it so emotionally. Maybe it's because I pass that school every single day to take Camden to his preschool. Maybe it's because Camden will be going to kindergarten next year and that little boy wasn't much older than he is. Maybe it's because I would have done the same thing, as I'm sure anyone would to save a child. I don't know.

Diane Sharp was her name. There is now a memorial of bears, flowers, posters, and wreaths at that crosswalk put there by the children and their families of the elementary school. I guess in a world where there is so much evil, selfishness, destruction, laziness, and indifference this shining moment of clarity and love shone like a beacon to all that there are unselfish acts of love in the world. You know that she knew she would be hit. That it would hurt. Maybe she even knew that she might die, though I'm sure it all happened so fast she just reacted with the right choice. She leaves behind a husband and a fourth-grade daughter at the same elementary school.

Because of the memorial on the road that we pass every day, Camden naturally asked what was going on. Plus, on the day of the accident the usual route to school was blocked off with several police cars, ambulances, fire trucks, etc. I thought that he was aware enough to know something bad had happened and so I told him the truth. That a mommy who helped kids cross the street had been hit by a truck while saving a little boys life. He took it pretty well and I warned him off the dangers of crossing the street without looking and that's why I have him hold my hand in parking lots, etc, etc.

The next day as we passed the crosswalk on our way to school he asked, what I thought, was such a profound question.

He asked: Until the mommy is resurrected, who'll take the little boy to school?

My heart just melted at his obvious concern for the simple tasks in life that will be interrupted and that he knows, at five, that there is a resurrection. It really made me stop and think of my example to him and my responsibility to continue to teach him about the plan of salvation and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I explained that it wasn't the boys' mommy that died but a neighbor who helped him cross the street. I was thinking to myself, the little boy still has his mommy but a little girl lost hers. I am grateful for the gospel. For the knowledge and testimony I have of forever families and the love of Christ to all.

FYI, the construction truck driver says he honestly didn't see the child crossing the street and was very upset and regretful of his actions. I pray that God helps all involved in this accident heal and forgive.

Where is spring?

2008-04-14T09:19:00.003-04:00

This winter lasting forever thing is really getting old. It's the middle of APRIL people and it's 32 degrees outside!! I want sunshine and cool breezes. Blooming tulips and bike rides. I want blue sky and green grass! Is that too much to ask? I guess so. Last week was beautiful and this week feels like January. stupid Ohio weather...grumble, grumble, whine...okay I'm done.

Last week, when we did have a few teaser days of warm weather, my friends and I went to the zoo. It was fun and Camden finally got to go on the boat ride, which was the highlight of his day.

In other news, my MOMMY is here!! I luf her. She's actually leaving today and I'm pretty bummed but we've had a blast. On Saturday evening we had a girls' night out and went out to dinner, did some serious shopping, had our toes done, and ate Cinnabon. My hips aren't thanking me but my tummy sure is! haha.

Three generations and two matching sweatshirts

Smooches!

Camden's freezing cold soccer game, which they won, fyi.

My foot is on right, mi madre's is on the left. Cute toes, huh?

And just to give my husband his time in the spotlight, while we were gone Saturday he stayed home with the boys, did all the laundry, the dishes, vacuumed. What a guy. Love you honey!

So many pictures, so little time

2008-04-09T11:53:00.004-04:00

Wow. So many things have happened, I don't even know where to begin. In retrospect, they're items of event to me but you might find them boring. For that, I apologize but you did come to MY blog so I can write/post whatever I want. Neener, neener.

Many things happened over Easter weekend. One thing of excitement was that we got our new California King memory foam bed!! I LOVE this bed. It's awesome. I sleep so much better on it, I never have to flip it, it takes away any aches and pains I may have and I never feel Nathan turn over next to me!! I'll take another picture when I have it made with my new bedspread.

We also did the traditional/obligatory easter egg dyeing. The kids had fun. Please don't judge my son by the pastiness of his skin, he only has his parents to blame.

My mom sent the boys these cute Easter outfits. It was impossible to get them to look at the camera at the same time.

These are my gorgeous boys. *sigh* life is good with these men in my life.

My friend Aimee also came to visit. I think it's been over 7 years since we last really spent time together. She was one of my first roommates at BYU and we have remained BFF's ever since. Her little girl Megan was so adorable.

Where's Megan?

There she is!

no more diapers!

2008-03-17T15:53:00.008-04:00

TA-DA!! Aidan is potty training!! He's been dry throughout the day for three days straight AND today he woke up from his nap totally dry!!! Aren't you all just so jealous? Sometimes I'm not sure who's being trained, me or him. At first I asked him every 30 minutes if he had to go and then he would go try. I'm getting a little less paranoid now and only insist that he go when he wakes up and when we leave the house. Other than that I've been trying to rely on his own cues. He loves the Spiderman underwear my mom bought for him.

Isn't he so cute?! Ignore the crazy lady in the photo.

Nathan has been having a great time playing with his facial hair. The beard went away, whittled away actually, to this glorious specimen of facial hair. I missed the handle-bar mustache that went down to his chin. It was awesome, let me tell you!

These were my gorgeous birthday flowers from mi madre. They were so beautiful and brought spring into my house for two weeks, which was a blessing in disguise because there was snow on my birthday and I'm so sick of winter!...but I digress..

And here is Camden showing us how to do his new green belt form. I'm not sure why he has his shirt off but I think it adds a little something to his concentration. And Aidan copying him?...he does that ALL THE TIME. Aidan is constantly asking me if he can hit and punch me "for pretend." And anything becomes an object to do a side block on. A book, a card, a banana...you name it and he wants to karate-chop it. good times.

Playing Catch-up

2008-03-10T23:06:00.004-04:00

The month of February was a hard one for our family. My kids were sick every single weekend. Yep, every weekend someone puked or had a fever. Camden was actually really sick, he missed a whole week of school. When I have more time I'll share my doctors visit from hell with you. That was good times, let me tell you. And I don't know why everything is underlined and I'm too tired to mess with it. sorry.

Well Valentine's Day was fun. The boys and I made cute homemade valentine's for Nathan and I made this cute little cake...don'tcha love the green sprinkles?...I didn't have any red ones. The sad part was that no one ate the cake because the boys were too sick for me to let them eat sweets and by the time they did have some, it was old and stale and Camden wouldn't even finish it. You know it has to be gross if five year old won't eat it.

A few days later, Camden wanted to do a surprise for me for Valentine's Day so the following weekend my boys rolled up their sleeves and got to work. *disclaimer: Nathan is embarrassed by this pizza. He says it's ghetto but I think it's cute!*
Here's my hunka of burnin love sporting a beard. Isn't he so cute? Even scruffy, he's yummy.

Yes, I'm sure many of you heard or lived through the amazing snowstorm of March 2008. We. got. dumped. on. 20 inches plus blizzard conditions due to wind and then some ice to top it off. nice. Here's Camden holding a piece of ice from the deck rail. He kept acting like it was a guitar. so funny.
And here is Aidan's favorite activity in the winter. eating snow. we've taught him not to eat yellow snow or dirty snow but other than that I give him free reign. Hey, you're only a kid once!

I am so ready for spring, how about you? Tomorrow my baby, Camden, is going for his kindergarten screening. We decided to hold him back a year since he has an August birthday and I know many of his friends are already in kindergarten this year but I still can't believe that I'm old enough to have a kindergartner! I'm trying to get him into an all-day kindergarten that is a K/1 program so he would be gone from 9-3:30pm. Crazy. and Aidan will start preschool two days a week next year...wow.

I wish sometimes I was more witty and playful and an amazing author to keep bringin you back for more of my hilarity...but I don't and I just made up that word and I'm tired. peace out.

Not for the faint of heart

2008-02-13T16:22:00.004-05:00

This, my friends, is what is bathing with your child when you think he is getting all nice and clean. I clean my bathroom semi-reguarly and since this bathroom is strictly the boys' and they only take a bath about twice a week(don't judge, they got skin issues :) it really doesn't get that dirty.

But Nathan was watching them play the other night and saw black, floaty thingys in the water, which can never be good. He thinks Aidan has let his bowels go but notices that they keep appearing in bursts...or squirts is more like it. Our kids have this bath toy call a Bathketball, and no we're not from Spain...hehehe
anyways, these little baby goes up in your shower and your cute little kiddies can shoot baskets in the tub. Well, the little balls can double as squirt guns if you fill them with water. Aidan was playing with said ball when Nathan noticed the black, icky floaties and noticed that every time Aidan squeezed the ball, ...well, you can see where I'm going with this.

So I decided to try and clean out the disgusting stuff by filling them with really hot water and squirting said gunk into the toilet. The above picture was the end result.

One word:Gross!

On to more pleasant topics...

This is my darling, sweet, obedient little angel who was caught, again, with his spoon in the hot chocolate powder. Notice the look of glee? Pure joy and peace that all is right with the world as long as the boy has some chocolate powder to lick off of a spoon. ...maybe he's on to something here...

Oh Mischevious One

2008-02-07T16:28:00.000-05:00

My poor, darling husband has been miserable for the last three days with a cold. Nothing horrific but definately annoying. Because his sinuses were draining last night and he couldn't sleep, Nathan decided that I didn't need to sleep either and turned on the bathroom and closet lights to pack his basketball bag for this evenings game. Yeah, probably not the best time to plop his gym bag down on the bed by my feet and start stuffing clothes into it but I was trying to be understanding, so I didn't say anything.

Needless to say that I was tired this morning from all of Nate's packing. :) I've been trying to prevent Camden from coming into my room, jumping on my bed, sticking his cute little squishy nose 1 cm away from mine and telling me in his best "outside" voice, what time it is. The night before I've been setting the table with cereal and spoons and bowls and putting cups of milk in the fridge for the boys so that I can sleep some more because I'm an awesome mom like that.

Camden did get up and take care of his own breakfast and got himself dressed and when Aidan woke up, he proceeded to pull Aidan out of his crib(how this is accomplished I really don't know, or want to), change Aidan's diaper, and got him dressed. It was the sweetest thing. Camden can be very responsible and resourceful when he wants to be. When I finally dragged my lazy arse out of bed, Camden came running up to me:

Camden: Mom, I helped Aidan all by myself!

*side note-the diaper was on backwards, but it's the thought that counts, right?*

Mom: Wow, Camden! I am proud of you! Thank you so much for helping me out.

Camden: Yeah, I'm pretty proud of myself, too.

Camden: Sooo, since I did such a good job, what should I get for a reward?

hahah, so much for altruism. Maybe we'll cover that lesson later.

On the other hand, Aidan has been less than helpful today. While I was downstairs, reading my email, Aidan was supposed to be getting me a diaper for his dirty bum. He had been upstairs a little too long and it was a little too quiet; if you know what I mean.

I go upstairs to find him washing his hands. Well, I love my kid being clean as much as the next mom but whenever he's washing his hands on his own, it usually means he's washing away evidence. Sure enough, I noticed a chocolate ring around his mouth. While I changed his diaper, Aidan then proceeded to tell me about how he had opened the hot chocolate lid, which he said was very hard to do, took a spoon, and proceeded to gorge himself on hot chocolate powder. When he was finished, he went into the bathroom to wash his hands because they were "messy."

yeah.

Then later...okay, okay, I was on the computer again...I went upstairs to find him standing on the stove!!! He had climbed onto the bar stools, then proceeded to climb onto the counter and walk along the edge until he reached the stove. He then opened the cupboards above the stove, and was looking up longingly at the crackers. *sigh* Maybe his middle name should have been George instead of Camden's!

Lessons learned today:
1. Quit checking my email and reading blogs while my children are unattended upstairs

2. Teach Camden the proper way to put on a 2 year old's diaper

The Devil made me do it!

2008-02-04T15:22:00.000-05:00

Our family has been reading the Book of Mormon every night before family prayer. That book can be quite confusing to a five year old trying to understand who exactly "the whore of all the earth" is, yeah, that brought some laughs.

The subject of Satan, aka the Devil aka The father of all lies, aka the "whore," and Camden wanted to know who that was. Nathan began explaining the Plan of Salvation and how Satan didn't want to follow Heavenly Father's plan but wanted to do things his own way and that he wants us to be miserable and make bad choices. Can you see where I'm going with this?

Last night, Camden had had a really great day being good and not whining but was having a little problem with following directions. After several failed attempts at being patient and reminding him, Camden received the two most awful words in a child's life, "TIME OUT!" He wasn't too happy about it but after his five minutes were up, Nathan sat down and talked about what happened.

Camden, with all seriousness and solemnity, said,"I think that guy up in heaven made me do it."

Nathan: Who?

Camden: You know, the guy who didn't listen to God.

Nathan: You mean the Devil?

Camden: yeah, him.

My son is only 5 and he is already blaming his mistakes on the devil!! We tried to repress our laughter and amusement while we explained that he always has a choice whether to be obedient or not.

Then, after all was forgiven and promptly forgotten, Camden was playing soccer in the basement and had been running around for about 15 minutes, when he came over to me, panting and said:

Camden: Man, mom! My leg pits hurt!! They're so tired from all the running I've been doing. Whew! I need to rest.

Me: Your leg pits?

Camden: Yeah, right here behind my knees.

hahahahahahahaha!!

Question: Do your leg pits hurt when you run around a lot?

It's been a while...

2008-01-29T21:36:00.000-05:00

But what else is knew? Just to play catch up:
Christmas was great. We stayed in Ohio and went up to Findlay, where Nathan's parents live, for four days and relaxed and ate and played and slept and ate and ate and ate...good times.

We celebrated the New Year with a bang, okay not really because my body decided to rebel and I had the flu for three days. Good thing my in-laws were visiting so I could just lay in bed, moan, and watch Monk reruns. again, good times.

Now January is coming to a close and I have no idea where the month went. Time seems to fly by faster and faster and somehow I seem to always fall farther and farther behind. Funny how that works.

One drastic event in my life took place over the weekend concerning my hair. Before I tell you exactly what I did I am going to show you the journey my hair has taken over the years.

Since I was fourteen years old I wore my hair long, as least half way down my back, blonde (usually with lighter highlights), and curly. In fact, in high school I was insane enough to diffuse my hair EVERY morning by 6am, before early morning seminary...looking back I now recognize some youthful vanity there, anyways...

This picture was taken when Camden was only a few months old. As you can see, my hair is highlighted, curly, and long.

Obviously not a pic of me but of Camden...wasn't he the cutest?!!

next slide.
In this picture Camden is seven months old and my hair isn't as blonde anymore because my highlights grew out. My natural hair color is a dark blonde but it's still curly and long.

My hair, while still darker(hey, no judging! we were poor okay?! haha) was trimmed shorter since I know had a newborn to take care of but this was the shortest it had ever been in eight years. (and yes, I know I have two chins, I just had a baby and unlike some people I know*cough, Marci, cough*, I tend to hang on to my baby fatness for awhile.)

Then came 2006. That year I had had it with my hair. I never had time to do it so I always pulled it back and then it was just kinked the rest of the day. Comparing high school pics, I looked like I was fourteen even though I was 26 and had two kids. So I decided to chop it. No holds bar, don't care if my cheeks are too chubby; chopped it!

Not bad huh? Definitely a bolder, fresher look. I was daring and crazy and so over being vain about my hair.
And then I just kept going shorter, varying levels of thickness and colors.
When we moved from San Francisco to Dayton, Ohio in June of 2006 my hair was shorter, blonder and somehow my face was as shiny as if someone had rubbed baby oil on it. Nice. FYI, that 's my good friend Emily whom I miss being able to shuffle my kids off to. I heart you Em!

As you can see, my hair had grown out a bit in 2007, was still blonder and I straightened it a lot more. As a side note, my thumb is freakishly straight! Look at that, not even the slightest curve to it. Okay, lets take a poll, who has curved thumbs and who belongs in the circus with me? C'mon now, don't be shy, 'fess up!

I promise this is going to end soon.

Then in Dec. of '07 I cut it short again but this time stacking it underneath to give my curls some volume, a cute idea really but one I had copied from my friend Susan. I still did it curly about 50% of the time and I thought, "Ah, at last, I haircut that I like, that looks good, and is easy to do.

THEN...(ah, c'mon, you knew there had to be some part about my screwed my psyche in here somewhere!)
I become obsessed with changing my hair. I wanted ease, I wanted control, I wanted compliments cuz I'm that vain, and I wanted to look not fourteen. My own lovely analysis of myself is that I cut my hair in a new style every few months because:
#1. I can
#2. I don't have control over any other aspect of my life because I'm a willing and happy slave to my husband's school schedule and my boys' demands.
#3. I can
#4. It grows back relatively quickly
#5. It's cheaper than coloring my hair
#6. Because I CAN!!!

So, there you have it. My underlying, deep need for control and acceptability is taken out on my hair, which leads me back to last Saturday's events. I went to Wal-Mart, bought the cheapest all over hair dye I could find, came home and told Nathan that he was dyeing my hair that day.

The outcome?

Revlon #47 Rich, medium brown with subtle red undertones. Oh, and I had it cut AGAIN so that the back is majorly stacked so it lays flat despite my kinky hair and is longer around my face, down to my jaw line.

And that my friends ends the saga of Emily's fantastic, though mildly boring, hair.

The Twilight Zone

2007-12-20T22:27:00.000-05:00

I grumble to myself, incoherent nothings, as I lumber out of bed and open the door. Who is knocking at my door at 4:45 in the morning?! Well, my only guess is Camden, which it was, and that he was in the bathroom and needed help or something, which it wasn't.

I open my bedroom door and, since Camden's door is just diagonal from mine, I noticed Camden's door was wide open and his bed was empty. I turn to the left, expecting to find a little boy bum needing some mommy attention; however, the bathroom was also void of life. (Well, except for what is growing around the toilet, but we won't go into that here)

What my eyes did have to adjust to was the blinding light coming from the living room/kitchen area. I stumble down the hall, seeing spots and stars as my poor iris' adjust to the sudden brightness likened to the sun.

It was the most eerie thing.
The kitchen lights are on, the living room lights are on, the Christmas tree is lit up, the curtains are open, the table has been set for breakfast, complete with Fruity Cheerios, and Camden is nowhere in sight!

Did Santa become confused and come on the wrong night? Instead of presents the jolly old man made me breakfast? I call out Camden's name, and receive no answer. My sleepy brain is still trying to process all these oddities at 5am. I'm starting to panic just a teeny weeny bit because my son is still MIA.

"CAAAMMDEN!", I whisper in urgency, trying not to wake Aidan who had already been up twice that night.

My little Gollum came out of hiding then and walked towards me with the sweetest smile on his face.

Me: Did you knock on my door?

Camden: Yes.

Me: (with my heart finally slowing down at the sight of my little one) Are you okay?

Camden: Yeah, I wanted you to see my surprise! I found the Fruity Cheerios and I got everyone's breakfast ready!

Me: (with a very confused and fuzzy look on my face) Do you think it's morning? It's the middle of the night, baby, everyone is still asleep. Even daddy isn't up yet.

Camden: Oh. I thought it was time to get up.

Me: Do you see how dark it is outside? (I start shutting lights off and closing curtains.) You need to go back to bed, honey. Thank you for getting breakfast ready but we'll have to wait a few hours to eat it.

I led the confused little munchkin back to his bed, tucked him in, chuckled to myself, and flopped back in bed. And yes, Nathan slept through the WHOLE thing. Typical.

I'm just glad that I was awake and aware enough to respond appropriately to Camden's thoughtful gesture. And it was nice having the breakfast bowls and cups all ready, especially since Aidan woke up at 7:45am and I could just pour him a bowl of cereal and, once again, crawl back in bed, curl up in the fetal position and snooze until 8:30am.

Kids, ya gotta love 'em.

Things that go bump in the night

2007-12-19T10:55:00.000-05:00

I have reached that point with my children that I get to sleep through the night without being disturbed. My kids sleep about 12 hours and I relish each and every minute.

Last night I went to bed around 11:30pm, pretty average for me, and was woken up at 1am by Aidan crying. I'm not quite sure why, but he was just sitting in his bed, whining pitifully for his mommy. So, of course my heart melted and I quickly and efficiently consoled my little one, tucked him in, and climbed back in bed.

Not 10 minutes later, Camden comes in saying that his nose is snotting and he can't sleep. A pretty legitimate complaint, so I dragged my protesting body out of bed and blew the little guy's nose, tucked him in, tripped over all the crap in my room, cursed my poor cleaning habits, and flopped back in bed.

Seriously, 10 minutes after that, which you all know is long enough for your body to relax, your brain to get that fuzzy feeling, and the joy of knowing that sleep is just two seconds away; Aidan starts crying AGAIN!! Alright, I love my boys but I also love my sleep and they were pushing it!

I sighed heavy sighs hoping to wake up my slumbering, heater of a husband from the depths of dreamland to take control; yeah, that didn't work. I almost broke my legs on unwrapped presents at the foot of my bed, stumbled bleary eyed into Aidan's room where he is in the same position as before, and proceed to do the same routine again.

Finally, as I curl my cold body up against the radiator that is my hunky husband to warm my frostbitten toes, I fall blissfully asleep...until I heard the knocking.

I have issues

2007-12-05T16:05:00.000-05:00

Have you ever gone to the grocery store for a few items on your well-documented grocery list only to end up with a cartfull of stuff you didn't know you needed? This happens to me everytime I go. I just can't be pigeon-holed into following a structured list. I guess it's my passive-aggressive way of asserting my independent thinking and sticking it to the man. ...who that man is or why he deserves it is still under review. Anyways, for some reason I have this obsession with sour cream. I know. I'm random. But I'm always afraid that I'm going to run out and then a dish I'll want to make will be ruined or won't happen at all because the secret, marvelous ingredient of sour cream will be missing!! Oh the shock! the horror! I know. I need help.

I found myself at Kroger once again and saw the generic version of fat free sour cream and I tried to remember if I had any in my fridge. I decided that I didn't remember seeing any so I grabbed one. Once I arrived at my humble abode and opened my brand new, bottom-freezer Maytag fridge, I found to my shame that I already had TWO unopened containers of the exact same sour cream.

What would happen if I didn't stockpile the one ingredient that most people don't even like? Any advice on how to stop compulsively buying this dairy product? I seriously need some help. I need to go to the store tomorrow for a few grocery items on my carefully detailed grocery list...wish me luck!

My boys

2007-12-04T09:13:00.001-05:00

I mean honestly, how cute is this little boy in all his taekwondo glory? He is now an orange belt, which means he'll be able to spar with other orange belts, which means I have to cough up a nice wad of cash to pay for the gear.
Here he is posing for pics because we're cheap and didn't order the karate pics he had taken that day because we knew we could do oh so much better than any professional photographer....okay, we totally suck at photography but I'm cheap.
Here is little Aidan, hamming it up for the camera.
We went ice skating on Saturday and it was Aidan's first time. He was pretty nervous at first, especially when he fell down for the first time and then some bigger kid fell down and kicked Aidan in the head with his skate. yeah, no blood was shed but Aidan sustained a nice bump. But he got over it pretty quick and by the second lap felt comfortable enough to skate along side us while holding his hands. Not bad for a two year old in my opinion. Isn't my husband so cute?!

Some other updates: Thanksgiving was nice and relaxing thanks to my incredible in-laws who pretty much did everything and let me take naps.
We're full on into the Christmas season, complete with our charlie brown christmas tree, I'll post pics later, it's pretty pathetic but very adorable.
Aidan keeps asking where Santa Claus is and when we can go see him. Camden thinks Santa's elves are invisible and hiding everywhere to spy on boys and girls and report back to St. Nick.

Oh, and I made 175 molasses sugar cookies for Camden's preschool fundraiser on Friday. It actually only took me a few hours and one double batch of cookie dough. Thank goodness the cookies are supposed to be the size of silver dollars so they can fit 5 dozen on one plate for those who purchase them. Anyone want to donate? I'll eat them for you!! haha, just kidding.

Aidan

2007-11-15T15:32:00.000-05:00

My little Aidan's personality varies widely. One nanosecond he'll be pouting with his head in his hands because he wasn't allowed to pour is own milk and the next he'll be playing peekaboo and then, I swear not one more nanosecond later, he'll be screaming at me, "NO!!!," for no reason at all. His multiple personalities are exhausting to keep up with.

He's also a mischevious little devil. Way more than his older brother ever was. Whenever I take a shower I have to lock up the kitchen cupboards or it is guaranteed that he will be into whatever food he can find. It's usually crackers.

But one time he came into the bathroom and yelled through the shower door, "Not come off!" He proceeded to implore me for help and I finished shaving my legs as fast as possible without losing too much blood and jumped out. The boy.smelled. of.....syrup!! I ran into the kitchen dreading what I knew I'd find. Well, I already gave it away but yes, syrup. All over my floor. Like my linoleum was a big pancake that needed some sugar lovin'.

Or on Sunday, when I was in the shower and Nate was brushing his teeth and Aidan came in smelling of peanut butter. Yup, I was the brain surgeon that had left the almost empty peanut butter container on the counter and Aidan had helped himself. The funnest part was that later that night I found a spoon placed back in the silverware tray that was completely covered in peanut butter. The little booger had gotten a spoon out to help gorge himself and then put it back to hide the evidence. yeah.

Or like today, when I came downstairs to check my email, like I do too many pathetic times during the day only to find that I don't have any...:( Anyway, there was pen all over the computer screen. And this is like his third indiscretion with this one. He just has to color, spill, gorge, or mess up anything he can. The scary part is that he does it so quietly and sneakily but never really protests when he gets caught because he KNOWS he shouldn't be doing it in the first place.

Yet, he is also the best little comedian. He copies everything Camden says and does including his karate moves which is oh so comical. He loves to sing. He LOVES babies. It's the cutest thing in the world for Aidan to come and ask me permission to, "go say hi" to a little baby.

So for today my one big thanks is to God for Aidan, who always keeps me on my toes, gives me kisses and loves his family so much.

Giving Thanks

2007-11-13T19:26:00.000-05:00

1. The National "Do Not Call" list--oh, how I love this!! To not be bothered anymore by telemarketers or hounded by stupid survey people,..okay some surveys aren't so bad...but you get my point.

2. Washers and dryers--today, while painting a hutch, hanging numerous pictures and shelves, and making stew for dinner, I had the privilege of doing 6 loads of laundry!! But it was completely doable and it's all clean and dried and put away.

3. Baby oil--nothing else, and I mean N OTIHNG else takes off my mascara at night better than this oily stuff. Granted after using it, my vision can be slightly blurry but it's awesome. And it makes my legs sexy soft when I use it after I shave.

4. Mi Madre--I miss my mom. She lives clear across the country in a land of green known as the Pacific Northwest. She loves me and makes me happy.

5. Wendy Rehl--she is the insanely crazy pregnant lady who is due next month with her fifth child and teaches a kickboxing/pilates/weight training class five days a week for FREE to girls in town at our church. Thanks to her, I get to work out five days a week, have made some great friends, have shoulders even I'm jealous of, and I have to take naprocin every night just to go to sleep. God bless Wendy.

Awesome!

2007-11-11T23:07:00.001-05:00

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!I couldn't help myself. Idle hands realy are the devil's playground. :)

Boys' rooms and thankfulness

2007-11-10T10:42:00.000-05:00

Since moving into our new house, which is a ranch with a full, finished basement, we've had to do some redecorating of the boys' rooms. My mom has been asking for pics, so here they are!

Okay, so these pics are more of the border and paint job that I did then the actual layout of the room. Which is okay because these rooms are t.iiii.ny. On Monday my awesome mother-in-law is coming over to help me paint a corner hutch I found on craigslist for $35 bucks and to do some other decorating. Once those projects are done I'll try to post some more pics of the inside of my house.

And now for my thankfulness list:

1. In-laws--mine anyway are truly awesome. My father-in-law always gets up with the kids in the morning whenever we visit or if they come here. They always let me take naps. And they are fantastic and patient with my children as they play baseball, basketball, soccer, horseshoes, etc. And then I just do absolutely nothing!!, which, of course, is fabulous.

2. craigslist--since discovering this wonderful tool in San Fran, I've found great treasures and deals on this wonderful internet helpmeet. God bless Craig and his imagination.

3. Kate--I've known Kate since college through a friend. We don't talk, write, email, or have any contact except through our blog, and while we don't have the history that she is loyally known for with our mutual friends; I love Kate because she is always the first one to comment on my blog and that makes me feel pretty darn special. And, I read her blog everyday...yeah, I pretty much secretly stalk her via blogdom. Thanks Kate for putting a smile on my face!

4. Disposable diapers--though I am feeling very guilty about using them now since I heard how long they take to decompose in the landfills. Any guesses? Now there's a new diaper on the market that has a flushable inner lining...go green!! But seriously, they make life so much more convenient and tolerable when dealing with poo. C'mon now, I can so poo on my blog 'cuz, well, it's MY blog. haha

5. My husband--my husband isn't superman. he's not perfect. he has just as many faults as I do but I love him with all my heart because he always tries his hardest to do his best. What more can a girl ask for? and one of his best traits, especially because I didn't have to train him on this one: he knows how to apologize!! Honestly, nothing calms anger, frustration, or just general annoyance then apologizing to your spouse, even over the smallest of things. I love you honey!

National Grateful Month

2007-11-09T16:55:00.000-05:00

That's what November should be called. It's the time of year when we, en mass, tell our friends and family what and who we are grateful for. So of course, I'm following in the footsteps of amazing bloggers such as Kate and Jewels by stating what I'm thankful for.

1. Bandwagons--without being able to copy others and feel empowered by stealing their ideas and suggestions, I would live a very bleak existence.

2. Pillows--nothing gives me more satisfaction at night then to lay my head down on my most favorite pillow ever, curl my arm underneath it and go to sleep. mmmmm....sleeeep.

3. Magic Erasers--I know some poor innocent children have received burns from these things when they tried to clean themselves with it but for adult cleaning purposes they are the bomb. My little Aidan likes to draw with ink pen on our computer screen and I was freaking out about what to do, when I looked on the internet and saw the suggestion to use the eraser...like MAGIC it was gone. Saved my hiney from a whoopin, let me tell you!

4. Loyal friends--I know for a fact that I would be locked up in a mental institution somewhere, in a straight jacket, rocking back and forth if it weren't for the fabulous girlfriends that I have made over the years. Old and new, my friends are my anchor in a chaotic world.

5. Ibuprofen--seriously, seriously. For inflammatory purposes of ALL kinds I am in. love. with this stuff. in. love. 'nuff said.

Okay, so those five things are very random and not connected...welcome to my brain.

And last but not least, for your viewing pleasure, I give you: SPANDEX MAN!!!

aka my son in his Power Ranger costume...why, oh WHY do they make boy costumes so tight?

Answer: for blackmail when he's older! hehehe

Forever in Ohio

The poor thing that is Aidan

silly boys

Camden's letter to his grandparents

JUICE!

Halloween

Pre-Halloween

Handsome boys and one hot Gma!

Camden George Springer

Camden is 9 today!

Playing catch up

Someone had a birthday...

Psssst!

mini update

Mommy's Little Punk

Christmas

Mary, did you know?

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

Better late than never?

I was weak

It's Halloween!

Where did October go?

"There you are, Peter!"

Ri.dic.u.lous!

More HHI photos

Hilton Head, S.C.

Farm trip and bike ride

ramblings and musings at 3:26am

Overheard

Rewind

Vices and Voices

First things First

we're still alive!

He's here!!

Update

Good News

Checklist

the short list

Thanksgiving

My boys over Thanksgiving

Mmmmmm...Jacob

Mixed blessings

I smell like potatoes

Service

random pictures

ugh

rain, rain go away

more "lots" :)

lots

*update*

The miracle that is a child

lil' stinker

belated post

I'm Baaaaaccck

What I would have missed had I been asleep

Mother's Day spoiling

Real Fast

Aidanisms

Hair dilemma

A change for the better

Gruesome Twosome

Happiness

Happy St. Paddy's day...did you know he was really Scottish?

news and updates

warning: this post contains potty language

You wan a piece of me?

so funny

Random pictures with captions

new post?

All hallows Eve...

funny bad words

Veerrry Interesting

I promise we're alive!

tears

memories

cuteness and happiness

The Month of June

My Grandpa

Mother's Day

sickies

update