The Harrison Clan

um...

2011-10-17T02:54:00.000-07:00

WOW. woweeee... I've been neglecting this poor little pet blog for far too long! It's not like I have anything else to do {guffah}. I'm hoping to get this little slice of me up and running again. And I might reach that goal. Now that the latest facebook update is pretty lame, I may just meet this particular goal! :)

Quick update (most of this might be old news, but it's still new news) :

Blessing has some spinal issues and we'll find out more this week (she just keeps on surprising us!)
Curly started preschool and loves it!
Einstein is in Kindergarten and is thriving and growing in education!
Bryan graduated with his BS in graphic and web design!
Sarah survived it all with flying colors!

And that's it for now :)

hard work

2011-04-26T09:35:00.001-07:00

Eating was just too much for little blessing this morning!

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Future Missionary

2011-03-15T16:50:00.001-07:00

Falling asleep on his knees. :) only 16 years until "curly" becomes known as "Elder Harrison"!

Moments

2011-03-15T16:45:00.001-07:00

I love secretly capturing little moments in time like this one! It makes me feel truly blessed. Einstein is SOOO good with his baby sister!

robbed!

2011-02-28T17:59:00.001-08:00

No wonder my pantry is always empty! I have Superman and Iron Man against me!

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Her story

2011-01-10T03:12:00.001-08:00

Number of days Blessing spent at NICU - 246 days
Number of miles driven to and from Children's Hospital - 15,060
Money spent on gas - $3,012
Money spent on car accident - $1,000
Hours spent in hospital with blessing - 1,225
Money spent on food on the road - $1,968
Having our daughter home, under the same roof - PRICELESS

This post has been a long time coming... partly because I've been SO incredibly busy since Blessing was discharged from Children's Hospital on 10/13/10, and partly because re-visiting all the emotional events since February 2010 has been too much to go through a second time. So I plan on writing this over a period of a few days, maybe to soften the blow. And also because three kids 4 and under is no picnic! :)
To keep all my lovely readers on the same page, here's a little history on babe #3. Here's more... a little more... And here's more. And this is the last one... What you're reading now is about filling in the blanks.

I don't think any mother can really understand what it feels like to be separated from your helpless newborn until you've had to suffer through it. And I don't think any mother can understand the magnitude of the roller coaster ride of the NICU life until they've lived it. Of course, before Blessing was born, I was very empathetic of finding a family in this situation. But I didn't realize how CONSUMING it is. I remember thinking on several different occasions, "this must have been how Jewish moms felt when they were separated from their children in concentration camps". That may sound a bit dramatic, but that was what I had kept coming back to.
I remember being SO out of it after surgery. I remember crying my eyes out that first night I was no longer pregnant and she was gone, already safe in the NICU. I was physically alone in an uncomfortable hospital bed in a strange room, immobile and in pain, both my heart and my body. (I'd sent Bryan home to get some REAL sleep since he would need it in the coming days) I was so frustrated that I couldn't instantly fix everything and make it all go away. I wanted my baby girl, whole and healthy, sleeping peacefully beside me, as my other 2 kids had done after birth. But that was not her mission in life, and it was not meant to be for quite some time.

I still recall being in a daze, wanting to be angry but knowing that it was useless to feel that way. I remember being in complete denial about how serious her condition was; I did as much "homework" as I could before she was born. FYI, there is little to no useful information on esophageal atresia in the internet, and NONE of it talks about how much time is invested in this condition. I was under the impression that she would have surgery to connect her esophagus to her stomach within the week, she'd be recovering for a few more days, and that would be that. How blissfully ignorant I was of the whole thing!

{There are different types of esophageal atresia; some babies are born with long enough esophagus muscle but it never fused in utero, others have a short esophagus, others have an esophagus that connected wrong to the trachea, etc. Each 'type' of atresia have other associated problems, and each type have different procedures to follow in order for repair. Even more confusing is that the atresia medical community (and there IS a specific
community if you can believe it!) have different ways to go about repairing the esophagus.
Some are extremely invasive and not very effective, others are still up in the air, and
doctors are coming up with new, untested ideas quite frequently. This was a world that I
never wanted to be a part of!}

When it had already felt like Blessing was in the NICU for years (though it was only a week at best), and she had already gone through her 1st surgery (exploratory and to insert her feeding tube directly to her stomach), I got the shock of my life. I was told, very matter-of-factly, that my beautiful, tiny baby girl would spend the first year of her life in that NICU.

I felt like I was punched in the gut.

I instantly cried hot tears. I wanted to run away. I wanted that annoying doctor to get out of my sight so I could be with my baby and husband, as alone as we could be in a busy hospital floor, mourning over our loss. But she didn't leave... she just stood there, as if her presence somehow validated that we were completely at the mercy of modern medicine.

An entire year! How is that possible??? Why on earth would I need to go through this? Why would my innocent child need to live such a difficult life? How is this going to affect our future plans, our hopes for what is to come, our entire lives?

It took me a long time to wrap my brain around that news. At first, I was so hopeful that all the doctors were wrong, that somehow, the measurements that were taken were faulty and she really did have enough esophageal muscle to connect right away. I just KNEW that Heavenly Father loved me enough to give me this miracle, I KNEW that He was going to instantly heal her and she would be a miracle baby!

I fasted and prayed. Bryan fasted and prayed. Our families fasted and prayed. And yet, Heavenly Father knew that the best lessons of our lives would come from her being away from us. He wanted us to understand compassion, forgiveness, love, and accepting service from others.

Even though we learned these amazing lessons over time, it was nowhere near easy to travel to and from Children's hospital every day to spend a few hours with your new little one. It was taxing, both on my body and soul, and it was very emotional to leave each and every night. It was horrible to have to farm out my two boys every day. It was maddening to never get enough sleep, and to be on an exclusive fast food grab-and-go diet. As part of her congenital defect, blessing had to undergo a procedure called "bougienage" (bOO-djen-aadsh), several times a day. Basically, she gets a weighted tube shoved down her throat to help open and lengthen her esophagus. I'm sure it's extremely uncomfortable, it's not pretty to watch, and even more horrifyingly, it's not easy to hold your baby girl down when this gets done. In my head I knew that this was helping her, but it didn't make it any easier for me to be a part of. She had to get this done FOUR times daily. For over 230 days.

Every six weeks, Blessing would undergo a "study" to see how long her esophagus grew within that time frame. Each test day left me in a wreck, wondering how much longer she would have to be there without her family, how much longer she would have to endure those awful bougienage dialations.

There were some really heartbreaking things that we had to go through as a family; Einstein and Curly couldn't meet her for a very long time since the hospital was on Swine Flu lockdown. No one except Bryan and myself could even get a peek at her until she was 4 months old because of that damned swine flu! It was unfair. It was maddening!

The NICU, in my mind, had some pretty ridiculous "policies" as far as visiting, even after the swine flu restriction was lifted. Now, I know that they aren't necessarily equipped for the long term babies (most babies are out of "prison" from 10 days to 2 months), and I realize that they are there to keep the babies safe, but you'd think there could have been some exceptions. EVERYBODY knew who we were. Every single staff member on the night shift knew us by name, and over half of the day shift. It's not like we could have been impersonated! Even so, we still had to freaking call in every.single.TIME we wanted to visit. That annoyed me to no end!!! I jokingly told several nurses that I was expecting to be on the payroll since I was there so often!
We had met some amazing families who were there during our stay, and every single one of them had left before we did. Every one. It was a very long and lonely road to be on!

Some of the minor annoyances were that Blessing developed RSV. Full hospital RSV!!! That made me really mad. I KNEW she wouldn't have gotten RSV if she wasn't there, but where was she to go? I was just so frustrated and tired of no baby, no sleep, and a mile long list of "no's" standing in front of us. I think that was the only day that I actually yelled at a poor nurse! Looking back, I feel bad. But I suppose I had reached the end of my fuse. Ya think? :)

There were also, on two separate occasions, MERSA breakouts (a virus that is harmful to babies), which required all visitors to wear gloves and hospital gowns when in the NICU facility. Are you kidding me??? Not only do I make the 60 mile round trip to see my baby, but now I have to wear all this hospital crap! Those were not happy days either!

The worst part was that Blessing never looked sick! She was a plump (very plump, haha), cheerful, gorgeous little baby, ready to give you a beaming smile and a kiss to go with it. She never looked like she belonged there. But take her off of her suction, and she was a goner. So we had nothing but time. And we didn't have a "time frame", because the time frame was up to Blessing's esophagus! Sometimes it grew a lot, and sometimes not at all. I remember so many times eating at their cafeteria, striking up a conversation with the janitors, trying to get comfortable in their awfully UNcomfortable seating, walking down the LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG
hallways to get to the NICU, which bathrooms were best to use, what to say to quickly get through security, those horrible, yucky green wrist bands that you HAD to wear (even though they weren't waterproof and got super nasty after taking a shower)... we eventually got smart about those and had the nurses put them on us very loosely(since they were supposed to do it and not us, for security verification), so we could slip them on and off without them knowing. That saved a TON of hassle. Any shred of personal vanity had gone out the window; I went makeup-less and in pajamas to the NICU countless times. I fell asleep in those awfully uncomfortable chairs too many times to count. I spent the better part of a year going on 3-4 hours of sleep a night, because, as difficult as it was, my other two kids still needed me. They still needed a mom and dad, and some sort of STABILITY. So they had me during the day and Blessing had me at night. Of course, I felt nothing but guilt when it came to my boys and quality time: I had nothing to give. I was completely burned out. So I definitely over-compensated. Trips to the Zoo and Wild Animal Park, no matter how tired or haggard I felt. Park days, feeding ducks, Balboa, a jam packed summer with nothing but activity after activity that I would somehow magically conjure from nothing...

And when I thought that we should just move to El Cajon and take up residence across the street from Children's... I got a phone call.

It was the NICU! They had news! Blessing FINALLY had a long enough esophagus to be connected. I was so excited! But at the same time, after much prayer and reflection, I had already felt that THIS was going to be the study where she would have a long enough esophagus.

The nanosecond after I hung up, I called Bryan. I just couldn't even get out the words, I was so happy and grateful and exhausted and excited! I managed to articulate, amidst tears and a runny nose, that our baby could have her surgery! I was so relieved, I felt so much peace and joy... we could be a FAMILY! Together!

Putting these events into words confirms to me over and over again how incredibly LIFTED and CARRIED my whole family was during this year.
Miracles came from left and right. Money came from out of nowhere to support us. Very large chunks of money that I would love to see now! :) A dear friend and old neighbor set up a babysitting schedule so Bryan and I could have time with Blessing. She did that for months! Meal after meal was dropped off for a solid month and a half. Prayers and good thoughts and fasting was given and performed in little Blessing's behalf, our family had a wonderful, spiritually uniting "prayer calendar", where we each had a little calendar that we would mark off each day with a sticker when we prayed for Blessing's quick recovery.

And you know what?

It may have seemed long to us(eternally long!), but Blessing recovered fast. very fast. She left the NICU, recovered from surgery, four months before schedule. She came out of surgery rosy cheeked and still healthy looking. She has absolutely NO ORAL AVERSION!!!! (This would be expected since she spent so long having "bad" things put in her mouth. Most babies in a long term NICU situation have some sort of aversion to oral stimulation. As in, unwillingness to eat, not wanting people close to their faces, won't kiss or let people near their mouths, etc. Blessing has N.O.N.E. of that. at all. What a miracle!) She has no developmental delay. She is happy and completely willing to eat and discover new foods. She is a strong little girl who knows how to get what she wants (wonder where that came from? hahaha). She has a healthy immune system, and is at a healthy weight after slimming down a bit once coming home. She is not short on people loving her. Her brothers adore her; absolutely NO sibling rivalry. She has a very calming influence in our home. She has left an impression in the hearts of many!

There were many, many miracles surrounding her hospital stay. Many of which I haven't even seen. Heavenly Father truly knew what He was doing when He sent her to us. And HE is a God of miracles!

Even after revisiting these long, endless days, I'm still so grateful that Blessing got the care that she did. Her nurses were incredibly amazing! They are truly WONDERFUL people! I know that Blessing got such love when we couldn't be there. She even got love when we WERE there! Everybody loved that girl!

I got the honor of cultivating so many wonderful relationships with some amazing women; some mothers, others hospital staff. I can honestly say that I love them!

Happy 4th!

2010-11-02T01:18:00.000-07:00

***UPDATING LIFE AFTER A SHORT HIATUS***

Einstein, you are 4! I seriously can't believe it! How did an innocent, spry baby turn from Mr. Inquisitive to Tornado Extrordinaire, to loving, responsible you, in 4 short years?

Mom and dad love you SO much! And so do Curly and Blessing! I know that this year your birthday was overshadowed by your little sister's homecoming, but it doesn't make your special day any less special.

I love {and hate} your confidence; how easy it is for you to talk to ANYONE. It's so cool {and terrifying} that you go up to anyone at all and strike up a conversation!

It's so sweet how much you idolize daddy. Even though it's SO annoying that you ALWAYS get into his tools and always want to 'clean our carpets', it's pretty endearing. I know there will eventually be a day when we will miss that.

You've always been so good to your little bro. You've always had a big heart when it comes to him, and you always include him in everything you do, be it helpful things, or naughty things!And I have to say that I really LOVE that you eat your vegetables! Your favorite vegetable is raw broccoli, just like dad. I've never had to fight with you to finish your greens; in fact, that's usually the first thing to go from your plate. That in and of itself is worth it's weight in gold! :)
So happy birthday, my incredible Einstein! Here's to many more years of adventure without abandon!

A day in the life...

2010-11-01T23:46:00.000-07:00

I LOVE having all three munchkins at home! It makes life so much fun! Blessing has really just slipped right in to daily life with us, and it's so perfect. Einstein and Curly just love her so much, and really, what's not to love? :) Besides the sometimes scary exorcist-type coughing and spitting up (her reflux is showcased at the end of the video) she is such a dream to have around!

We've been having an excellent time both in and out of the tub:

We've been having a good time meeting family:

trick or treating,

going for long car rides,

and melting everyone's heart!

blessing at her finest at OneTrueMedia.com

2010-11-01T14:18:00.001-07:00

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

can you hear what i hear???

2010-07-20T03:34:00.001-07:00

Over the weekend, Einstein was complaining that he couldn't hear in one ear. Correction: he woke up at 3am Saturday morning, ~~upset~~ ~~in tears~~ SCREAMING BLOODY MURDER that he couldn't hear out of his left ear.

woah. This kid has slept through the night since he was 6 months old. Something was definitely up!

Like any good momma, I thought it was maybe earwax or water (we've been swimming a LOT) stuck in his ear canal. So I got a q-tip and cleaned out his ear, which came back squeaky clean. I was too tired at 3am to do anything more. Sorry kids, mom's working hours are from sun-up to sun-down. I quite enjoy my night hours without kids, thankyouveryMUCH! :) So, I proceeded to tell him that we would see a doctor later that day, and they would flush his ear out. I explained what it was, that it would tickle lots, but he would be able to hear very well afterwards. And you know what? He was actually excited!

But don't you know it? Kids always end up having a mini emergency in one form or another on the weekends. Or maybe it's just my kids? I LOATHE weekend emergency room visits! It's worse than a Saturday afternoon shopping trip at walmart! So he and I both agreed that we would wait until Monday to do the ear flush, as he had no fever and his ear didn't hurt. He just couldn't hear very well, that's it (I say sarcastically). But poor Einstein didn't let me get off that easily. He reminded me almost every hour of every day that we would be getting an ear flush for him on Monday. Like I could forget!

So Monday came! I called first thing in the morning, and thankfully for us we live in supercloseproximity to our pediatrician's office. Like, I could throw a rock and hit their parking lot. Well, maybe a bouncy ball! I was able to get an appointment for him in the next 30 minutes! Yay! And off we went...

The actual procedure of checking his ears was pretty standard, I suppose. I'd never encountered a plugged up orifice before. He got to use the hearing test machine and practice his hearing test for kindergarten next year (and believe me, I hyperventilate when I think of the idea that my little guy will start school in the coming year!). Judging on it's condition, I'm sure it was the same machine that I used to go to kindergarten myself. It was a relic!

Moving on... we went back to one of the rooms and played with the chalkboard, I blew up a glove to make a balloon, and the doc came in. He checked his ears, and what did he find???

A BEAD!!! In his ear! what? and it was white. so in an ear canal, that would be impossible to see unless you had one of those ear-scope light up thingies. Good thing we went to a doctor who had one :)

The first thing he tried to do is pop it out with a little plastic tool, but it was a no-go. This little 'bead' was just the perfect size for his ear hole. The doctor couldn't get behind it to gain leverage and pop it out. At this point I was getting a bit worried, since the pediatrician mentioned having to go to a specialist if he couldn't get it out. So we did in fact, try to flush it out.

The nurse came in with some absorbency papers, a diaper, a syringe with a special ear flushing tip, and a warm water peroxide mix. She had me sit on the papers and hold Einstein. Then she taped the diaper around his neck so it would catch whatever was in his ear. (I thought that was pretty funny and genius at the same time. Diapers... the latest earwax catcher!) And it took just 30 ml's of water to flush the offending "bead" out of his ear! Hooray!

Turns out the pesky little bead was an airsoft gun pellet. And why he chose the white colored pellet to stick in his ear is beyond me. I would have much preferred the neon orange one; then I would have seen it right away for what it was!

Einstein was such a good boy throughout the whole thing. He was so brave! He didn't squirm AT ALL, and as long as he knew what was going on, he was cool with everything that was happening. On another note, his brother Curly was extra good! He wasn't clingy, he didn't get in the way, and he was content with just playing with the chalkboard and getting chalk dust all over his clothes. Which I didn't mind at all!

For a reward, they got to spend almost 2 full hours on their scooters, riding with daddy. All in all, it was a pretty good ending to a crazy beginning.

Sorry the picture is super tiny. But that little speck in the middle of my hand is the airsoft pellet. Slightly covered in ear wax. Kinda gross, but pretty amazing that his ears are so on top of things, lol

Moral of the story: the pellet is out. We are happy! Life goes on without crabby, non-hearing kids. AND DON'T STICK THINGS IN YOUR EARS!!!

hip: a pontification

2010-07-12T00:58:00.000-07:00

You know those people who are just "cool"? That just have a vibe about them? I totally want to be a mom like that.

A mom that has everything put together, has time to creatively craft little clothes and toys and books for their little ones, puts hot food on the table every night, shops exclusively at farmer's markets and whole food stores, weighs the perfect weight for her body frame, always looks fabulous in her trendy clothes, and is just happy with her life.

I'm lucky if I'm dressed and showered in the morning. I have wonderful ideas of clothes and toys and books for my little ones, though they don't quite ever come to fruition. Food is at least put on the table and my family isn't starving. I find that while visiting the farmer's market every now and again is a fun experience (halfway fun, halfway exhausting) going to Ralph's or Costco is MUCH easier on my wallet and patience. I so don't weigh my target weight. And let's be honest, right now it's not a priority for me. I have other goals that mean much more to me. I am NOT a fashionista. I'm lucky if my clothes aren't pj's until noon. Not for lack of trying, just that it's go-go-go until quiet time after lunch. But you know what???

I am still happy.

How can you not be happy with these cute, cuddly, incredibly dirty babies?!

My life may not be polished by any means, but I know my time will come. Eventually I will not have a sick child, my husband will not be a full time business owner by day and a full time student by night, and we will have a very pedestrian, somewhat normal lifestyle. Granted, my boys will still be incredibly active, my girl will still be dealing with her congenital defect, and I will probably be pregnant again (NOT AN ANNOUNCEMENT, just looking to the future!). There will still be crud under the kitchen table to sweep up, toys to avoid stepping on, and I will still have a utilitarian way of viewing things. My home will not be featured on Simply Living or Better Homes and Gardens, but it will be full of love and acceptance.
I don't really know where I'm going with this post; I'm just writing what's coming out of my brain. I see other people's lives and read blogs and wonder if every other person feels the same way. What I see as cool and a model to strive for is laborious and boring for others? I'm sure it is.
I don't give off any pretense as to who I am. I don't hide the fact that I'm just me; a country-ish girl living in the suburbs. Someone who LOVES traveling to big cities and events where I can visit all the lights and glamour, but never wanting to be stuck in the middle of it forever. I enjoy my privacy, but not too much. I like to be the center of attention for about 30 minutes, then I'm over myself. I have many MANY people who I'm acquainted with, but aside from my family, I have few close friends. Does that mean I have a hard time making friends? I don't think so. Though I do think I have a hard time cultivating friendships. There are honestly about 4 people whom I've met in my life that I wouldn't want to be friends with. And believe me, if you're reading this, you're not one of them! :)
AND... I have a confession to make. My kids don't wear helmets. I find it ridiculous that kids wear helmets while riding a bike on the sidewalk, nowhere near cars, while they have training wheels on. Sorry. It's just silly. Why don't you just wrap them up in bubble wrap and sedate them for the rest of their lives too? That way, they're sure to never get hurt. I just find it really unnecessary. Around cars, on a busy street, of course! But in one's driveway? Not necessary. That's it. I'm done offending people! :)

love this cute little site!

2010-07-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

I know a lot of people with new babies. And first-time babies. And young kids. And expecting families.
So I recently found this super cute website called Project Nursery. It gives you tons of ideas! And they are also doing a silhouette giveaway, which I am pretty stoked about. Go check it out!

RANT OF THE CENTURY!

2010-06-25T18:25:00.000-07:00

I have a lot to catch up on. But I'm not going to catch up for this post (do you notice I always do that? I say I'm going to 'catch up' on posts but then I never do. Anyway...). This is a pity party complaining there IS NO SILVER LINING post. Comment if you want to. In fact, just don't. I'm really not in the mood to hear "things will get better if you pray harder/wait for the storm to pass/be more positive/do some service/have more faith" etc etc etc. I am just mad and need to PURGE for a good long 20 minutes. Or 20 hours. Probably 20 minutes though.
In light of recent events ('Blessing' being in the hospital for so.excruciatingly.LONG), it's no secret that I've been going down to the hospital every night. I've been doing this for over 4 months. 136 days today, to be exact. Beside the fact that I'm totally and completely sleep deprived, despite the fact that I don't think that I have enough help (even though people ask all the time, I'm always at a loss at the moment, or sometimes they can't help me in the way that I need help. I'm not blaming anyone... this is a rant. Not a blame game.), and regardless of the sad sad reality that I have never been so overweight and stretched for time, I knew that the odds were in our favor. EVENTUALLY, I would get in a car accident.
And I did. And it was SOOOOO stupid! And due to the conditions I don't think it was my fault, though every insurance company and police department would say otherwise.So, there is a section on the 15N that is closed for repairs (or something), and I always remember when I get to two exits before the closure. So I thought "I'm going to be smart this time and not get stuck in the back up traffic" since all the vehicles are siphoned into one lane and off the freeway for a detour. I thought I would take a different street (a widely known alternate detour) and bypass all the traffic to boot.
UGH. So this street I took curves slightly. And it was foggy. And there were dim street lights (it was past midnight) along ONE area of the road. And there were NO reflectors for the center divide. And you probably guessed by now, I clipped the center divide. My two driver's side tires are blown, both rims are bent and need to be replaced, and hope that both axles are untouched.
So I'm MAD. I'm angry that I didn't get home until after 2am, my cell phone was dying when I called for a tow and died right after I texted Bryan about it. And of course the tow wasn't covered under our car insurance. I haven't even had a speeding ticket since 1999, so we both decided it wasn't worth having a low deductible and all the extra stuff since we both have squeaky clean driving records. So this will be expensive. And I'm just beat. Seriously??? I don't have trivial things to complain about any more??? I would LOVE to complain about cranky teething babies in place of this. I would love to be annoyed that Bryan didn't take out the trash or he left the toilet seat up or something.
Just right now I feel the need to purge. I don't want to 'suck it up' anymore. I'm still upset that my ward for whatever reason doesn't feel the need to help with babysitting so I can be with my daughter (again, this is a general complaint. I know there are people in my ward who have helped, and people are continuing to pray for her). I'm trying to get over my feelings of resentment for a few conversations I had been forced to have, with no solution at the end.
I want to be a wonderful mom to ALL my children, but I am so torn. Literally, I want to spend all day with Blessing and be there when she has tummy time, when she eats, when she interacts and has baths and play time and reading time. But I want to be with my boys, too. I just want us to be TOGETHER as a family! Can you imagine how heart wrenching it would be to have a nurse (who you don't know from Adam) tell you what your only daughter learned to do that day? I'm so incredibly grateful for their loving care to my daughter, yet at the same time I'm just angry that it can't be me. Ya know???
I wasn't there for her first smile or coo. I wasn't ever able to feed her from me (and let me tell you, pumping is the worst thing ever. It's a bazillion times for painful than nursing, and your body doesn't get used to it. A pumping session is always a practice in self inflicted pain). I wasn't there for her sitting up, and I probably won't be there for her rolling over or standing up. I am not her primary care giver. It's a handful of someone's who are doing it primarily for a paycheck.
And now I have this car issue to deal with. An insurance adjuster won't be here until sometime next week. We are waiting for an adjuster to come out rather than taking it to a repair shop in the hopes that the fix will be less expensive than our deductible. Unlikely, but I'm still hopeful. So I'm out a vehicle the next few weeks at least. And Bryan starts school again at the end of July. At this point, I really don't want him to go back right now. But our hands are tied as far as financing since we already extended for the last six months. Unless we want to start paying our student loans right now and formally take out another loan. I don't know how any of this is going to work right now. And I'm super stressed about it.
I need a good cry. And a few (like 100) thousand dollars so the loan or the car wouldn't be an issue. And a miracle so my baby can come home!

Wedded Bliss

2010-04-19T01:13:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to
Josh & Meredith McBride,
the loveliest newlyweds ever!

(Photos courtesy of Jennie McBride)

Aren't they just so cute?

A great time was had by all! Great food,

young cousins running around,

and I got to visit with ALL my siblings,
especially my lovely sisters!

Poor Curly (and all the kids, for that matter) suffered from an intense sugar coma. Notice his joker mouth? Good ol' chocolate fountain!

Photography was in the bag with my SIL Jennie's mad shooting skills

And now I have another gorgeous SIL!

We all had such a blast at the intimate ceremony and reception. The guest list was primarily made up of family, with a sprinkling of a few close friends. It was so nice!
Welcome to this crazy family, Meredith!

For sale or rent...

2010-04-17T09:34:00.000-07:00

My wonderful, lovely, imaginative 3 year old.

Always a smart fellow, he opened the MAGNETICALLY LOCKED cupboard at the ripe hour of 5am.

He's so helpful, this morning he cleaned the kitchen for me.

With bug spray.

Then he thought to take out his vitamins.

Which may or may not have been vitamins.

And surmised that they needed a little cleaning, too.

With a FULL BOTTLE of Windex.

Then decided that the carpet needed some cleaning, too.

With Greased Lightning de-greaser.

He knew today was going to be a busy day, so he wanted to be so helpful with all these chores.

You did it because today is your Uncle Josh's wedding day.

Obviously, you didn't want all the attention to go just to him and Meredith!

Thanks, little buddy.

For sale or rent:

FOR FREEEEEEE!

Has it really only been two weeks???

2010-02-26T01:58:00.001-08:00

It's already seemed like a month at least!

What I'm feeling right now:

I miss my baby girl.

She is a doll. With red hair (it is officially official!). Who looks killer good in green! :)

I am ~~tired~~ exhausted. All day with energetic boys, then a few hours with Blessing, holding and loving her. Pumping in between all of this, then sleep for a few hours...It wears me out!

I have good days and bad days.

The good days I can get through in a chaotic/semi-zombie sort of way, and the bad days I just want to sleep and maybe whine a little bit.

I am SO happy for the moms I see who have their babies discharged, but at the same time I am also upset that it's not our baby.

EA is very deceiving. Blessing looks incredibly healthy, strong, as perfect as can be. She doesn't look physically sick so it makes me crazy to know that we're going to be spending many more nights at the NICU.

Another maddening aspect is just having to W A I T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . until we can actually get to the point for the study that will give us an estimated time frame for when Blessing can come home with us!

Part of me doesn't know what to feel. Anger? At what? The fact that EA can't be controlled by anything? I'm in the 'why did this happen' phase. I follow the Word of Wisdom, I have a healthy diet, somewhat of a healthy lifestyle, I don't drink, I don't smoke, don't do drugs, I live a relatively low-stress life. So lucky me, my daughter is the winner out of 4600 babies who gets to deal with EA. Lucky, lucky us.

At the same time, we are SO blessed! I can't forget about the dozens of people who are praying for us, giving us meals, babysitting, doing our laundry, calling, facebooking, checking in on us, and just being there for us. Every day I'm amazed at how I need something and all I have to do is call someone and they will help me!

So many emotions to go through.

At least I don't have to worry about PPD, which is a HUGE blessing in and of itself! I feel like we kind of skipped over that part, for which I'm grateful!

But I do feel guilty that I haven't been able to give great mommy attention to my boys right now. Einstein has been an absolute trooper! I thought he would become defiant, but he's really begun to fill his big brother shoes very well. He's getting so grown up! Poor Curly, though, is super clingy and sad most of the time. He's regressed in the areas of talking and potty usage. He basically just whines all day unless he's being held. I'm still not technically supposed to be lifting/holding heavy things yet (hello, 30lb 2 year old!), but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do! I can only handle so much whining!

I still stay up way too late.

I hope the rest of my 30's won't be this stressful.

I think it might get easier??? I hope!

I'm going to bed.

LOVE

2010-02-21T03:22:00.000-08:00

Love this video. Love her tons! This is totally anti-climactic, but it's my baby, and she's AWAKE! She's only been awake when we've been with her one time before. So all this awake time was heaven!

Anya hit 6 pounds. Barely! But it's a wonderful sign that she's growing like a champ. We're told that she eats like crazy (that's my girl!) and is pooping like a newborn should. I've never been so excited about poop before! I got to change her tiny little diaper today {3 days ago. Each day kind of melts into another these days}, which actually was a treat. Like I said, I've never been so excited about poop before. An extended commute to a hospital will do some strange things to your brain! :)I can't wait to bring her home. Here's to hoping and praying that her stay WON'T be a full year... I mean, I'm so grateful for the NICU and all the staff, but I hope I never have to see any of them again! :)

scatter sunshine

2010-02-16T11:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a long day. Not particularly bad, just long. I over-did it with physical exertion and now my incision site hurts. Bummer.
Anyway, after going to see our boys and tucking them in for the night at Grandma & Grandpa Harrison's house (can I tell you how GRATEFUL I am that both sets of grandparents live about 15 minutes away?????), we were just exhausted and emotionally worn out. So what did we do??? We went to make returns at Target, of course!

I know, totally random.
The weekend before Blessing was born, I went to get a Valentine's Day dress & shoes, which looked incredibly hideous on me (I don't try on clothes at stores any more. My boys could NEVER handle staying put in such a small space for that long!), so I had been planning on returning it for a while.
Anyway, we did that last night.

On our way home, we were taking an accounting of the day, and Bryan said, "That's it. We are now officially on a date! Do you want a little surprise, or a big one?" Needless to say, I was simply surprised at the outburst alone! Bryan truly is a romantic at heart, he's just not a very good planner of events. So all of his grand (awesome) ideas for love and mushiness usually end up on the cutting room floor. So it was a fun surprise!Yep, we look tired for sure!

Since it was so late (a little after 10. Man, I'm getting old when I say after 10 is late!), pretty much nothing was open. He drove to three different ice cream shops to find closed doors. It was super cute! :) So we ended up at Applebee's for appetizers and dessert.I know, we're total dorks. But that's okay.

It was nice to know that my sweetie is still in love with me,

{ love is... looking really really ridiculously ridiculous on camera together}

and it was especially nice that we had that little moment to release the tension of the past week and just be ourselves for a little while.

We had a nice time just talking about nothing! It truly felt like we were dating again :)Bryan's spontaneous visual representation of HTML coding, which, oddly enough, made complete sense to me. Can you see the divs and the relative spacing? It's like a family tree... um, maybe I should build websites!

It's all about the little things, don't you think? :) Bryan, I love you! You've been such a GREAT chauffer, support, companion, and daddy. I wouldn't want to go through this with anyone else but you!

Happy Birthing, Anya!

2010-02-15T00:03:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't use Facebook (which unfortunately has taken a front seat to my Blogging for the past 8 weeks...), I just wanted to announce:

We have a baby girl!!!

Anastasia Sophia Harrison

February 9, 2010
5 pounds, 1 ounce
18 inches

Because of pre-existing conditions, she is happily recuperating at the Children's Hospital NICU in San Diego. Yes, I miss her like crazy. No, we don't know yet how long she will need to be there. Yes, we are sad, and yes, it is unfair. Yes, it's only been 5 days, but it's already felt like an eternity. There are good days, and there are really bad days for me. I've gotten to hold my precious little girl three times, for maybe a total of two hours all together.
Why is she in the NICU, you may ask? Well, two main reasons:
1. Esophageal Atresia. The good thing (if there really is anything 'good' about this) is that she was diagnosed with this condition well before birth, so we were somewhat mentally prepared for a NICU stay. The first surgery to connect a feeding tube directly into her stomach happened on her first 24 hours of life. We still don't know how long her NICU stay will be; the doctors don't have a good enough idea of how close the separation of esophagus to her stomach is, and they want her feeding tube site to heal well before they do more studies to find out. They gave us an expected NICU stay of between 1 month to 1 year. So right now, we wait. And wait. And wait.............And it's hard waiting when you are still recovering from an emergency c-section and can't drive yourself the 30 mile one-way trip to see your baby.
It's hard waiting when all you can do is pump instead of hold your baby to feed them (and might I add, pumping really sucks, and it's not like the real thing at all. Especially when it's all you get to do).It's hard not being able to spend the entire day with her, or even be able to hold her when I want to.It's hard to see her be in an environment where the nurses get to touch her and hold her more than I can.
It's hard to see how difficult it is for Bryan, who is supposed to 'suck it up' and be our rock right now.And it's especially hard when you have that oh-so-awesome hormone release after having a baby, and everything seems a bazillion times more stressful/crazy/sad.
2. After birth, she was also diagnosed with anal displacement. Basically, that means your plumbing isn't where it should be. Thankfully, the doctors have found her anus and it barely missed the mark of where it should be. Surgery to correct and move this into proper position can be put off until she's about a year old.So rightfully so, I am sad. I'm sad that she's not here, sad that her extended family and even her older brothers can't meet her yet (curse you, overly sensationalized swine flu!). I'm so sad that we've been talking about her and my boys have only seen pictures and videos, and won't see her for a very long time. I'm also sad that I don't have the ability to care for my two little ones at home. I'm sad that their routine has been thrown completely off for the past week, and will continue to be wonky until further notice. I'm sad that because of this, my 2 year old won't let me snuggle him or show him affection whatsoever. That breaks my heart!
Don't get me wrong... we have SO many people praying for us right now! For that, I am so incredibly grateful. I am grateful for all the meals, the babysitting, the well-wishes, the hugs, and everything in between. I'm not unaware of these acts of service and I am so humbled! I'm not very good at accepting help; I've always been self-sufficient and never really 'needed' help like this before. I've never been in a situation where I feel nothing but helplessness, and at the mercy of others' goodness. I've always been able to get through whatever life has thrown at me. I've always been able to put on a brave face, and for the most part be able to muddle through whatever.
But this time, I really do feel helpless. I'm still healing after surgery myself; the house is too quiet because my boys have been gone at various homes for the past week. There is too much time in the day to sit and do nothing (can you tell I'm also not very good at sitting around?).
I know I need to rest. But my mind does NOT rest. My body might need it, but I lay awake at night, thinking too much and coming up with a million different scenarios.
Like I wrote earlier, I shouldn't complain. Anya's prognosis is really actually VERY good. She is very strong, and she did incredibly well in her first surgery. She has no genetic disorders (which was a concern for the doctors so much so that I had an amniocentesis done the week before she was born), and she is a gorgeous little girl. She is super well-behaved (hardly cries, and when she does, she fusses for a few minutes then goes back to sleep), she's passing stool through her intestines all on her own (meaning her plumbing actually works, yay!) and she's responding well to larger feedings. All of these things are great signs of thriving. But I'm sure you can understand how difficult it is to have her so far away from me. Especially since I was diagnosed with hydramnios while carrying her; it was literally as if a huge part of me was left at the hospital. (and huge it was! Normal measurements for amniotic fluid range from 8cm to 25cm. My last measurement was nearly 60cm!) I lost over 4 gallons of JUST amniotic fluid alone!

Please excuse my belly shot; I'm illustrating how incredibly huge I was, and I couldn't do a thing about it. This isn't even a very good representation of my tummy mass, but it's the first picture I could find!

So, I'm ending this on a good note:
I am grateful for the Priesthood of God, and grateful that I have a whole slew of men in my family to go to if ever I am in need of that power.
I am especially grateful that my husband is a worthy Priesthood holder!
I am grateful that Anya is my miracle baby.
I am grateful for Children's Hospital, and all the wonderful Doctors, RN's, nurse Practitioners, Volunteers, and staff for all the hard work they do.
I am grateful that each time I can visit, Anya has been gifted another crocheted hat and booties, or been given a cute little Valentine's Day balloon for her bedside, or just loved on all day.
I am grateful that my boys are doing pretty well, considering the crazy upset this week has been.
I am grateful that there are so many people coming out of the woodwork to help us! So grateful!
I am grateful that Anya is only 30 miles away and not 60!
I am grateful that we ended up getting our family car literally hours before she decided to make her grand entrance! (On a totally unrelated subject, I am in love with our Kia van! I'll have to write more about that in a different post)
I am grateful I have the support I need at this crazy time in my life.
And......... I'm SO grateful for painkillers! :) Go, vicodin, GO!

Happy Birthday!

2010-01-26T12:18:00.000-08:00

Curly is 2 today!

Happy Birthday Cutie Pie!!!

You have brought so much joy into our lives! You've always been the sweet one, the cuddly one, the happy-no-matter-what one. And you are a perfect partner in crime with your brother! I understand how hard it is sometimes to be the younger sibling, but you take it all in stride. Not a lot of things get to you, and it's so fun to see you grow and progress.You are completely into sports. ANY sport having to do with a ball in your hands or at your feet! And you are very very coordinated for a 2 year old. You're already catching balls that are tossed at you.Like your brother, you are quite the talker! Though you much prefer making us guess what it is you want, you are a very capable orator. You've been stringing sentences together since you were 18 months old.I love that you are so stinking cuddly! I love that when you need some love, you just shadow me or daddy (or anyone else you know who has a pair of free arms) until we pick you up. I love how you lay your head down on my shoulder. I love your little kisses, and I love your crazy fluffy CURLY hair! :)Happy birthday, big boy! I'm sorry that we didn't have a party for you. But you sure had fun eating your red velvet molten cupcake! And I sure had a lot of fun making them.

52 weeks project- Week 3

2010-01-19T01:50:00.000-08:00

I'm grateful for medical technology.

Now, before you start humming Kip's wedding song, let me 'splain:

As much as I admire those who came before me, I just know that I was meant to be living during this time. I'm amazed at how much technology we have at our fingertips!

Could you imagine a life without modern dental technology? Back in the day (not too long ago, either), if you lost a tooth, well bummer, sorry about that. But today there are options! Wow, you can have your crowns done in one day. ONE DAY... that's so amazing! Oh, and if you lose your teeth for one reason or another (car accident, disease, hereditary issues), you can have a PERMANENT REPLACEMENT. You can have a tooth IMPLANT. That's such a miracle! :)

Or other health-related situations: Digital X-Rays, EKG machines, MRI's, sonograms, defibrillation machines... incredible! I can't even imagine how many lives have been saved over the years because of those wonder paddles alone.

I know, I'm kinda weird. Medical technology fascinates me. I grew up being both terrified and intrigued at watching open heart surgery (some insane video that my dad had from dental school way back in the day). I find medical education empowering. Yet, there is no way I would go into the field myself. I know, weird! :)

Getting back to the subject:

I'm grateful that I was born in a time where there are antibiotics readily available, where I don't have to die from cholera or dysentery, and that I live in a country where we have so much technology at our fingertips. I'm not turning this into a political rant about the exorbitant cost of health care or whether socialized health care is a good idea or not; those who know me well already know how I feel about all that. I'm just grateful that we have the innovation and foresight to have invented all the wonderful and incredible tools that we have today, to save lives, to prolong health, and to prevent sickness.

This may be boring to some, but to me it's pretty incredible. Nowhere else in the world, in any other time could you have found what we have today. And that is just pretty darn cool. And for that, I'm grateful!

My cuties

2010-01-13T15:37:00.001-08:00

My friend Crystal needed some subjects for her photo class (about a month ago?), and I graciously offered my kids up. Recently I got the proofs and they turned out SO great! She NEEDS to be a professional! Her demeanor with the kids was so great, and she got some really awesome action shots. My kids warmed right up to her and were literally eating out of her hands! Never underestimate the power of the fruit snack :)
I loved all of them. Truly. Their personalities came alive with these!
I didn't even post half of them; Blogger is being dumb again, so these will have to do. I thought is was hilarious that it took all of 5 minutes for Curly to find a water source to jump into! He was dirty the whole photo shoot, but that's what made it so fun! :)

52 weeks project- Week 2

2010-01-11T03:18:00.000-08:00

I'm grateful for Anya

Today we had an amazing lesson in Relief Society, about the nature of God. (and I know these last two posts have been religiously heavy. It's just been on my mind.) The main focus was about His love for us as His children. The teacher was talking about all the little things in nature that Heavenly Father has given to us for our benefit and delight, like flowers, mountains, trees, etc., and she played a song for us called "My Heavenly Father Loves Me". It's a simple children's song, though profound in it's message. Here are the lyrics:

Whenever I hear the song of a bird
Or look at the blue, blue sky,
Whenever I feel the rain on my face
Or the wind as it rushes by,
Whenever I touch a velvet rose
Or walk by our lilac tree,
I’m glad that I live in this beautiful world
Heavenly Father created for me.

He gave me my eyes that I might see
The color of butterfly wings.
He gave me my ears that I might hear
The magical sound of things.
He gave me my life, my mind, my heart:
I thank him reverently
For all his creations, of which I’m a part.
Yes, I know Heavenly Father loves me.

The version she played was a beautiful piano version, and it was a time of reflection during the meeting (of course everyone was emotional!). During this time, thoughts of baby Anya came into my mind. And I felt so grateful that I am given this time with her! She may not be born yet. I do not know what the future holds for her. But I felt so much reassurance and love and protection in that tiny moment. I had such a quick glimpse of what an amazing spirit she is. And I know she's going to be such a powerful presence in our family.

I am grateful for her. I am grateful that I can carry her in my body, and give her what I can. Even among the aches and pains and worry and stress and everything else. I am grateful she is mine. And she always will be.

During the course of this pregnancy, I've had a roller coaster of emotions. For the most part, I can get through the day just fine and not worry too much. But there are some days when everything seems unbearable and way too scary for me to handle and foreign and terrifying. I'm really not one to freak out about stuff, so this experience has been completely out of my comfort zone.

I can't 'fix' it. I can't arm myself with knowledge because there are too many unknowns at every point. It's not in my nature to cry on someone's shoulder about it. I really just can't 'do' anything except wait. "I hate wait" (name that movie)

But today, I am so grateful for this little baby. I am grateful for every roll and kick and movement. I am grateful to know that Heavenly Father is in charge, and He's already promised me a few things. I am grateful that she seems strong physically, regardless of what the ultrasounds show. I am grateful that she is mine and Bryan's. I am grateful that she is in our family. I am grateful that soon she will be with us, and hopefully prove every specialist wrong. I am grateful that she is stubborn (one of the very DOMINANT traits of a McBride Scottish Lass!) in her own way, though I may not be grateful for that in the coming years. :) I am grateful for precious, precious life.

52 weeks project- Week 1

2010-01-11T02:45:00.000-08:00

I'm sure you've seen this go around blog-ville a few times; Counting your blessings for each week of the year. Basically, the point is to realize how blessed you are, even when you feel like you're not. So I'm excited to participate this year!
It's pretty simple; for each week of the year, you write about one thing you are grateful for. Hence, 52 'gratefuls', 52, weeks project. And for week one:

Tithing

I am glad that we are commanded to live the law of tithing. This consists of giving ten percent of your income to the church (our family gives to the LDS church, which we are members), which in turn uses it for church growth and maintenance. Namely, Temple construction, church building maintenance, the Missionary fund, etc.

I am also grateful for the blessings that come with paying a faithful tithe. It is not always easy, and I am by no means a perfect tithe-payer, but we have been pulled out of the fire so many times, because Heavenly Father is a loving Father and He knows what we need versus what we want. It's impossible to not see the correlation between paying our tithing and seeing countless blessings in our lives.

I have always had a testimony (belief) in tithing, and some years are harder than others, but 2009 has given me more than a few opportunities to test my faith.

I don't have an amazing story to tell you, but I do recall a conversation I had with a sister in law a while ago. The subject of tithing came up in conversation, and the well-known bible scripture in Malachi was mentioned:

..."Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." (Malachi 3:10)

She mentioned a day trip she and her family took to Thanksgiving Point in Utah. There are beautiful gardens and waterfalls there, among other cool, family oriented things to do. She talked about a specific water feature, where there is a plaque of that scripture next to a large waterfall. She said she always thought that the 'pouring of blessings' was maybe a trickle from a pitcher in her mind. But she saw in front of her a waterfall of blessings! What a stunning visual representation of what Heavenly Father is capable of!

So I'm grateful for tithing. And I'm also grateful that Heavenly Father is always willing to bless us, in so many ways.

49 days

2010-01-09T23:33:00.000-08:00

And I am freaking out. Probably more than I should! There is still so much to be done before bebecita comes! :)

Overwhelmed

2010-01-07T22:49:00.000-08:00

So much has happened in the last three months. SO MUCH! So if I backtrack and catalog EVERYTHING that I want to, I will be so completely overwhelmed. At this time in my life, less stress is definitely best! I have enough to deal with on a daily basis, and isn't this my blog anyway???
Continuing on... this blog has become really boring since I've been exhausted and no fun to be around. So here's a list of the really fun things that happened in the tail end of 2009

Halloween- So much fun! We were once again a Pirate family since I am preggo and ~~too cheap~~ ~~too lazy~~ too thrifty to go out and look for another 'theme' for a family of four. (We're milking the theme idea for as long as we can. I think it's adorable, and the boys still go along with it!) Einstein really got into it this year, and Curly just ate everything in sight. We were at our ward's trunk or treat for about an hour, then on actual Halloween we went to Maga & Paga McBride's neighborhood and trick or treated with Nate & Lisa and their two kiddos. It was a lot of fun!
Disneyland- We decided to take advantage of our season passes and go for possibly the last time before we have addition #3. Wow, what a fun day! We left at about 11am, Bryan ditched a school day (completely impromptu) and we stayed until about 5ish. Perfect. The boys LOVED the teacups! We kind of did an 'all about the kids' day since once again, I couldn't ride any cool rides. We spent an exorbitant amount of money on food in the park (I'm never doing that again!), being that our stay was longer than I had been planning for. Even so, we got our traditional Disneyland churro. And the boys even got to share one. YUM!
Thanksgiving
Christmas
New Year's

Randoms

2009-12-24T15:36:00.000-08:00

Bryan is the hardest person to Christmas shop for. He's very big on 'magical' gifts (yes, that's the phrase he uses), and I am much more of a boring, practical gift-giver. Maybe it has to do with the fact that everything on his 'magical' list is out of our price range, and there are no substitutes. So this year, instead of a 42" HDTV I made him this. I know, totally not a substitute. But it's practical, considering he still has back problems stemming from his car accident. And it was reeeeeaally easy to make. And I think I'm gonna steal it a few times myself. Love it.

It's the cutest thing ever when your 3-year-old recognizes "Jingle Bells" on the radio and sings along. So cute!

I recently found out that my shampoo is 100% vegan. I found that really hilarious.
Does that mean it's made out of vegans?

Even though my last post was shocking and depressing, both Bryan and I are in good spirits and I only have maybe one sad day for every 10. And I know we're in capable hands, so everything will be fine. People say I'm an inspiration, but believe me, I really don't feel that way! :)

Due to the copious amounts of candy purchases and even more candy consumption during October, I bought NO CANDY for Christmas! With the exception of candy canes to make peppermint bark. And I really don't miss any of it.

Bryan just started his Christmas shopping. Today. At 12 noon. He is both crazy and brave.

It's my goal to finish 2009 business taxes by December 31st. Call me insane. But I'm so close! :)

I can't wait to decorate Christmas cookies and leave some out for Santa this year! :) And don't forget carrots for his reindeer!

I also can't wait to move into a bigger apartment. With NON-smoking neighbors. Can't wait. But I'm still waiting...

I love that my kiddos eat their fruits and veggies. They're snacking on grapes while watching a Toy Trains DVD right now. And they're bopping their heads to the music. Adorable!

I totally wish it were appropriate to do a Nacho Libre and make your appearance at every event wearing stretchy pants. Especially right now!

My kids already love Anime. Still not sure how I feel about that.

I am oh so ready to get back into the musical swing of things. I miss being a part of music in general, especially in the creative process! It's been quite a sacrifice to not be able to participate since Bryan has been in school.

Less than a year and he is DONE!!!!!!!!!!!

It just dawned on me (again) today how awesome San Diego is. But I'm not in love with it enough to stay here for the rest of my life.

Christmas Eve is going to be busy and I really just wanted a nice relaxing evening with my hubby and the kiddos, but it's not looking like it's going to be like that. Hooray for large families! :)

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Really, I'm not avoiding you.

2009-12-21T14:22:00.000-08:00

People may or may not have been wondering what I've been up to, and why in the heck I've dropped off the face of Blogland. Well...... lots of reasons. And I kind of already explained them through Facebook, then I realized that there are some people who don't get their updates that way. So this may be repeat news for some people, but just consider this news for the rest of you! :) And bear in mind, it's a detailed explanation of the last 10-15 weeks of my life, so it's quite long!

(copied from Facebook)
I'm only going to write this one time...
Okay, so people have been asking what's up with little Anastasia and what's the latest. So I'll start from the beginning, and update this as I go along so everyone can know without me having to tell the same story 5000000000 times! :) That can get a little daunting; I'm sure you understand.

WOOT! We find out we're pregnant with our third baby in mid-June. Everyone is elated.

1st ultrasound. It took seriously over an hour! The technician was very thorough, and good thing! She discovered that the right kidney appeared to not be dialating (emptying out), and she couldn't locate the stomach. She did tell us we were going to be having a girl (yet another WOOT!), and everything else looked absolutely perfect.

Following OB appointment. My doctor tells me that I have a condition called Velamentous Cord Insertion (VCI), which in layman's terms basically means that instead of the umbilical cord implanting into the center of the placenta (which is what happens normally), mine implanted on the side of the placenta. This can pretty much lead to insanely scary side effects, like the cord growing into membranes and blood vessels, which could cause your baby to bleed to death once your water breaks. I obviously wasn't too happy to hear that, and my imagination went haywire. HOWEVER, once I had a bit of time/common sense to do some research, I learned that my particular case wasn't life threatening to me or baby. Big sigh of relief! Though in the same breath, my doctor referred me to a perinatologist (baby doctor specialist) to have monthly ultrasounds done to chart progress and watch for anything else crazy.

2nd/3rd ustrasound. 2 Ultrasounds in one appointment! This was my huge, emotionally stunting day. I went in for a 'routine' checkup, and they did another ultrasound. I told this doctor & U/S tech what the first tech found in U/S #1. They confirmed everything, only to say that the non-dialating kidney was actually multiple cysts. This in and of itself wasn't too much of a scare for me, as it sort of runs in the family with that darn right kidney! The thing that really bothered me was that they once again could not find the stomach. The few reasons a stomach wouldn't show up on an U'S would be because it's not actually there, or it's not filling up like it normally should. Soooo......... the doc explained that his main concern was about the stomach not inflating, and he suspected that it was esophageal atresia. That pretty much means that the esophagus (the tube that carries food down to your stomach) didn't develop properly, and is not connected to the stomach. (It sounds way scary, but surgery is an option right after birth, and it's been done for about 30 years, so I'm not super concerned about that.) It could be that, or a genetic malfunction. Sooo...... off to the genetic counselor I go! (Keep in mind, Bryan is at home with kidlets # 1 & 2, so I'm hearing all this solo and relaying it to him via cell phone 45 minutes later, amidst a breakdown!)
Let me tell you, their job must be the WORST job ever. Because all they do is give you bad news. And not just bad news, but the worst possible scenario. He was telling me that our little girl could possibly have Trisomy 13 or 18 (which basically means that one's head & brain hasn't grown properly and have a death rate of 100% within one year). YIKES!!! And that the best option for me at that point was to do an amniocentesis. Let me tell you, that didn't sound like fun at all! The worst part was that he didn't even tell me all the major risks that would be; he really downplayed it and I wished he hadn't. It would have been nice to know everything ahead of time. Anyway, he asked me how my week looked, and for the most part it was empty. So he scheduled me for THE NEXT DAY!!!!!!

Amnio. I had to scramble to move around my schedule because he chose the ONLY day of the week that I had stuff going on. The nerve! :) Anyway, that morning I had to travel down to Children's Hospital for that amnio. There's nothing like a long drive down a congested freeway to get your nerves going! Once I got there, they did yet another ultrasound to find a good pocket of amniotic fluid, to take some measurements and to double check everyone else's findings. And guess what they found??? A STOMACH!!! It wasn't very inflated, but it was there! That's what I refer to as miracle #1.
The doctor came in to see me, he walked me through the amnio procedure a bit, telling me they wanted to keep me there for observation in case I went into labor, and to ask that stupid question: "what are you going to do with this information?" Meaning "are you going to terminate this pregnancy?" ummmm, heck no! So, once he knew that that was out of the question, he recommended that I wait to do an amnio if I still wanted one, due to the risks of pre-term labor (which that dumb genetic counselor didn't even mention!) and my gestation period (24 weeks). The only reason I even went to do it was because the counselor pretty much advised me to do so. Anyway, one disaster averted!

Ultrasound #4. Back to my normal OB. He took another ultrasound and found nothing that everyone else didn't see already. He also told me that my VCI was doing fine, no complications in that regard. Hallelujah, some GOOD news for a change! He said everything else was fine and that he would let the perinatologists handle the monthly ultrasounds and updates, and in the meantime, come back in two weeks.

U/S #5. Wow, I'm getting drained just writing all this! :) No new news, which is good news to my ears! The only tweak this time is that our little sassy pants isn't swallowing amniotic fluid, which at this point she definitely should be. That led the specialist to believe that it was in fact, esophageal atresia. And because of that, I have way more amniotic fluid in my little tummy than I should at this point! And it's all making sense to me... THAT'S why I feel so huge. I mean, I am literally a house. Already. And as of today (12/20) I have another 10 weeks to go. But it looks like I'm going to have a baby any day just by my size! And I thought girls were supposed to be smaller? :)
Anyway, due to all this extra amnio, the specialist recommended that I come back in 2 weeks for yet ANOTHER U/S, and at that point determine if I need to do an amnio reduction or not. A reduction is just like an amniocentesis (where they stick a long thin needle into your stomach and take out amniotic fluid), and the risks are the same. The only major difference is that I'll be 31 weeks rather than 24 weeks. Makes a huge difference in fetal development! The ultimate goal is to have me go full term, but as of today, it's not looking 100% that I will be doing that. But that's the goal. And another thing; I more than likely will deliver at a different hospital (Mary Birch) to accommodate for newborn surgery.

OB Appt. SO sad!!! My awesome OB told me that he would be indefinitely referring me to a specialist colleague friend of his through Mary Birch Hospital. I'm so sad, but happy too. Because my OB is totally awesome. I MAY have to go on bed rest (like that's possible, with a hubby in school and two boys under 3??? HA!). But I am definitely now delivering at Mary Birch, across the street from Children's Hospital. And I am super tired and sluggish already. And as huge as a house. And stressed all the time that I have LESS time than originally anticipated. UGH. But otherwise, in good spirits. Christmas does that to a person! :)

So, that's the scoop. I'm hoping I can keep updating this as I know more, but if anyone has any questions, you can always email me!

Happy Birthday Einstein!

2009-12-12T13:29:00.000-08:00

my newborn

UPSET about being 1! :)

EXCITED about two! (and the scooter really helped!)

THRILLED to be 3!

You are 3. I can't believe it! And you have grown up so fast. I'm still amazed at how smart you really are; people laugh when I endearingly call you an evil genius, but it's true!
You are beginning to show your willingness to be helpful. Sometimes you surprise me by helping me carry bags of groceries into the house, or helping Curly with something. Not to say that you aren't a rascal at times... you definitely still are the ringleader for trouble! :) You keep me and daddy on our toes most of the time.
You have the role of big brother, and you are a good one! I can't wait to see you interact with Baby when she comes; you love tiny babies. You are gentle and kind when you put your mind to it, and you can run circles around any other kid your age in the endless energy factor. You are a super fast runner! Another thing I'm excited about is soccer season. You can be on a league this year! I have a feeling you're going to really love it :)
Einstein, you're really good at remembering things. You have the memory of an Elephant. It's so funny to realize what you remember weeks, even months later. I love seeing your mind work, and your artistic flair isn't too bad, either. You definitely got that from dad. :) I love how you remember words to songs that I've taught you: "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", "Little Bunny Foo-Foo", "I Am A Child of God", and the ever-random "Tractor song" (John Deere theme song? who knows, I still haven't figured it out!) are among your favorites.
It's awesome that you have mastered your ABC's and numbers to 20 ages ago, as well as most shapes and colors. I think it's really cute that you prefer the color red over any other, and pink was the first color that you verbally recognized.
I love it (and hate it) that you are incredibly personable; you will say 'hi' to anyone. ANYONE. Even the scary people! :) And then you will tell them "I have a baby sister", as if she's already here. So cute!
You have such a driven personality. When you want to do something, neither hell nor high water will stop you. That will definitely come in handy throughout your life, though it's more than a bit frustrating for me right now.
I can tell that you already have a small testimony of Jesus Christ. It's awesome to see you interested in the paintings in the church halls, and how you always want me to come with you to tell you the stories of each one. I also get a kick out of you wanting to know about Moroni and Nephi. They were some pretty awesome dudes, if I do say so myself! :)
So Happy Birthday, Linky-dink. You made it to 3! Hopefully you won't do me in before 4! Love you tons baby!

Our Summer Adventures in 15picturesormore!

2009-12-11T15:00:00.000-08:00

So I am waaaaaaaaaaaay behind on blogging. And the more I think about it, the harder it is to just do something about it, darn it! I'm biting the bullet on this one. I'll thank myself later. For posterity, you know... :)

PS I was going to get all caught up right here and now, but the kiddos just woke up so it will have to wait until they are asleep later tonight. Since all of you are waiting for an update so badly, hahaha! :)

Einstein's PARTY!

2009-11-12T14:05:00.000-08:00

This year, we had a pirate party for Einstein. It worked out perfectly since he's had pirates on the brain for months (his birthday is 8 days before Halloween).

Now, I am NOT a good cake decorator. The professional result always turns out tons better than my attempts! I'm sure that if I had a teensy bit of training, then I could totally become Cheff Duff (Ace of Cakes. Check out the viking wedding cake, holy crazy)! Anyway, I tried my best. I made a pirate treasure chest, and I realized at midnight the night before, I failed to buy 'treasure', so I had to make do with what I had. So I suppose it was an already-pillaged treasure chest! :)

We also had a pinata, which is always a hit. No pun intended! (I must be in a silly mood) There was so much candy in there; at least 12 pounds! I was really happy to see it go, and there were no leftovers! A ton of kids, you know. Awesome!

Fun was had by all, and I was happy it was over at the end! October is always a crazy month for us :)

Giveaway!

2009-10-30T16:30:00.001-07:00

I know I've been such a SLACKER. I totally know that, and I embrace it! :) I haven't even blogged about summer yet. But it's my blog, and I'll blog if I want to? :) Yeah, that's it!

Anyway, there's a blog I follow that does frequent giveaways. I just couldn't pass this one up! Go HERE to enter a chance to win the cutest flower clips! They are simple, adorable, with a touch of bling. Just how I like them (I think. As you all know I'm still so new to this whole 'baby girl' thing. So I'm collecting my stash now!).

Go enter! :) And I promise that I'm going to have really good posts from the past coming soon!

I totally get it now

2009-10-23T22:35:00.000-07:00

To all of you who have girls... I get it now!

I understand why everyone 'oohs' and 'awes' over baby shopping. I understand why you just can't help yourself 'just looking' at the baby clothes, and snagging a great find or two. Every shopping trip. I now understand why it's so easy to get in trouble at the checkout counter!
90% of everything is super cute! I mean, adorable! It's such a different experience! With boy gear, about 30% of it is really dorky. Like, 'if I put my kid in this they will get beat up' dorky. Not to mention, the selection of clothing/shoes is slim to none compared to the smorgasbord of girl items. Really.
I have sooooo much less of that while perusing for girl items. I don't have to scrutinize each and every purchase for the dorkiness factor. AND... there are actually cute shoes that I have several kids' sizes to choose from. It's so refreshing! And really scary that I can blow so much money on an infant who won't be born until late February.
There is a flipside, however. Modesty is already an issue??? Wow. I mean, holy WOW. Baby string bikinis? I'm just worried about sunburn! :) Who on earth thought it was a good idea to make g-string underwear for a 3 year old? I can see this being a potential lifelong battle. So maybe having to worry about the dorkiness factor isn't so bad. :) But it's still way fun to shop for all things delicate, girly, and feminine!

In case you haven't heard...

2009-10-05T00:00:00.000-07:00

I'm over the moon! And Bryan won't have to get into any trouble (haha, inside joke). And this is really the only appropriate time to show private parts and not blush about it, or be reported as a slimeball, so here goes:

Those are definitely girly parts!

This girl was pretty much rockin' and rollin' in there; she didn't stop moving for a second! It was really cute to see her strike so many poses and wiggle around, like she KNEW she was on camera or something. That's totally the McBride side of her; no fear with the camera rolling!
We saw her kicking and twisting, and even opening her mouth a few times. It was too precious.
The boys came with us in their PJ's (it was a super early morning appointment), and they were also mesmerized. So cute! Now Einstein says "I have a baby sister!" Curly is indifferent. I think he's still a bit young to care until he actually sees her for real.
I thought this one was pretty funny, so I had to add it. She's looking so dramatic, like she can't bear to hold her arms up for another second!
So, there you have it folks! We are finally evening out the score here. A little more estrogen in the family is definitely a good thing. So now I have to re-learn all the girly-girl stuff! Hopefully it will all come back in a hurry. :)

Best. Week. EVER.

2009-09-05T00:22:00.000-07:00

***Pictures to come***
(that is, if I remember)

This week was SO awesome! Despite the yucky heat and humidity, I had such an awesome time with my husband and boys!
Bryan had basically the whole week off, so we spent most of it goofing off and just spending TIME together. How I love doing that! I wasn't worried about money (which hardly ever happens to anyone, really), and I wasn't stressed about his work. I was just content, and that is a gooooood feeling!
Wednesday was our 4 year anniversary, so we whooped it up by heading down to Ikea to replace our dilapidated, mismatched bedroom furniture! Actually, all the furniture we own (except our bed, that would give me the heebie-jeebies) has been bought/gleaned from the wonderful world of Craigslist, all acquired at different times. So none of our stuff matches or coordinates!
Anyway, going to Ikea was great because two things happened: we got matching his/hers dressers, and I FINALLY convinced Bryan that Ikea makes good quality furniture from actual wood and not particle board. And it's relatively cheap. I like that, too! :) He had never been to Ikea before, so it was fun to see him enjoy most of the showrooms and get his take on furniture items. I'm not a fan of all their stuff, so it was interesting to see what he liked and hated versus my likes and hates!
After Ikea and lunch, we dropped the boys off @ my bro & SIL so we could have some grown-up fun! We spent the rest of the afternoon at Disneyland. It was hot hot HOT! And super humid! But it was still so fun; not having the kids there (dare I say it) made it even more fun. Just the fact that we were there together. alone. able to talk about adult things and not worry about lost/hungry kids was a major plus. Since it was later in the afternoon, all the lines had died down quite a bit. It also helped that most kids were already back in school!
We ended up walking around Downtown Disney, which was pretty cool, too. We ate on Main Street and walked wherever we wanted to; no stroller to maneuver! :) Thanks again to Lisa and Nate for watching our kiddos for us! :)
This week would have been just as awesome with just our anniversary. But we found out some GREAT news this week, too! Bryan got a letter in the mail, congratulating him on his recent 'Alan and Ruth Stein' scholarship award. HELLO!!! It was a huge undertaking to get all that paperwork filled out! And it ended up to be a substantial amount of money, which we are so incredibly grateful for! He was one of ten recipients, out of thousands entered. I couldn't be more proud of him!
As if our week couldn't get better, it actually did. Our great friends Eric & Katie Harding offered to watch our kids so we could go to the temple this week. Wow, what alternate universe am I on this week; TWO dates in three days??? And we had a great time!

I love weeks like this. I've always been a strong believer in opposition, and how everything has an EQUAL opposition. I know that's not written anywhere exactly that way (I've looked!), but I think that's how it works. Anyway, that belief kept me going through our many many hard times last year (I could list them out for you, but believe me, I don't want to depress you). Things have been building up for the better for us, and this week has reaffirmed that to me!

So Bryan, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! I love you so much and I'm so glad that you convinced me that it would be okay to date you, even with the funky familial connection. You know as well as I do that we've had our fair share (or more) of downs, but we've pulled each other up by the bootstraps and relied on one another. And of course, Heavenly Father.
I'm so proud of you and what you have accomplished! You are a great man; hard working, full of integrity, a wonderful Patriarch to our family, and an amazing example to our children! I am aware of the sacrifices you make, they do not go unnoticed. I love you! Your boys love you. Can't wait to spend the rest of eternity with you. Starting today...

Te amo!

Need a meal???

2009-07-27T21:29:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I have this lasagna recipe that is easy, delicious, and award winning(I once won a Relief Society lasagna cook-off. I was stoked!). And I opened my big mouth on Facebook and told the world! So now I've promised to post the recipe online. But I'm more than happy to share!
It originated from a family recipe from Bryan's side(Bryan's mom got it from a ward that they were in, so actually, it's technically not even a 'family' recipe.). I tweaked it to my liking/laziness factor, and as it turns out, everyone around me really likes it, too! It's not a secret, so I don't feel bad in divulging it to anyone. Just know that if you are sick or have recently given birth/ I visit teach you or you need a meal for whatever reason, this is the meal I give to people. It.Is.FABULOUS! It's quite cheesy and melt in your mouth. I want some just thinking about it!
Also note that I'm not that organized and I never think to actually take pictures of the food I make (I don't have pretty enough serving dishes anyway), so this picture isn't MY lasagna. This picture looks kinda gross to me. It seriously does not even compare to how a lasagna could look and taste! :) I think this is actually a picture of enchiladas posing as a lasagna. Anyway...
Another great thing about this dish is that there aren't any soft cheeses in it, so it's safe for pregnant women. I really hope you enjoy this; we love it!

Best Lasagna Ever

You will need:
Meat Sauce
Cheese Mixture
1 lb grated mozzarella
Lasagna noodles (I use Barilla No Boil Flat Noodles. I swear by them. Not to mention that it makes this recipe much MUCH faster to make! You can find them in all grocery stores, but not Target or WalMart. Go figure.)

Preparation:
Meat Sauce:
1 lb ground turkey
1Tb minced garlic
drizzle olive oil- for fewer calories, substitute a few sprays of Pam cooking spray (to keep meat from burning in pan)
1 tsp salt
1tsp Basil
SMALL DASH cinnamon (seriously, just a dash. This is the secret ingredient; If you put in too much it will make your lasagna too sweet and pretty much be ruined)
32 oz (2 lb) Spaghetti Sauce (I prefer Classico, but it doesn't make much of a difference)

Brown ground turkey in the olive oil & garlic; drain fat. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Cheese Mixture:
3 1/2 cups cottage cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 lb (yes, 1 pound) grated mozzarella cheese
2 eggs (original recipe says to beat them first, but let's get real. This isn't souffle. It doesn't make a difference)
2 Tb dried parsley flakes
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Mix all ingredients together well. It's easiest to get a good mix if you put half the cottage cheese on the bottom, the other ingredients, then the other half of the cottage cheese on top. A little bit of a pain, but the rest of the recipe is so darn easy it's not too bad.
In 13X9 buttered pan, layer in this order: lasagna noodles, cheese mixture, meat mixture, mozzarella cheese. Layer until you have nothing left to layer. I can get about 3 good layers. (you might have a few lasagna noodles left over, no worries) Top with remaining Mozzarella.
Bake @375 for 30 minutes. Let sit for 10 minutes before cutting (super important! I know you just want to cut into that thing, but it needs a little time to cool and set. If you cut right away, you have a huge gelatinous mess on your hands!)
Best served with a crunchy garden salad & garlic bread.
ENJOY!

This bugs me

2009-07-23T02:14:00.000-07:00

You know what really irritates me???

Analog clocks

that 'tick'

too loudly.

Like the one in my kitchen.

ticking
away

right now.

It's really annoying.

Almost as annoying as a blog that hasn't had a new post for weeks.

Like mine.

More {interesting/funny/consistent} posts to come.

After someone stops that incessant ticking! :)

What we've "Been Up To..."

2009-07-10T00:01:00.000-07:00

Arriving February 2010

Yes, I am nauseated. Not throwing up, but smelling everything disgusting within a 5 mile radius. And even stuff that wouldn't normally be disgusting. Fruit snacks? Soap??? They are on my disgusting list. Don't even get me started on dirty diapers!
Yes, it was planned this time. Surprise, I know! haha. Call us crazy.
No, it's not twins. I made double sure. :)
Yes, we are hoping for a girl this round. Third time's a charm.
Yes, we now need a bigger {fill in the blank}
Yes, still in the first trimester, but we have a feeling this one's gonna stick around. If not, I'm sure everyone will be notified accordingly.
Yes, I am extremely exhausted, irritated, and hungry all.the.TIME. and wondering how long I will still hack it in the ward nursery without biting the heads off of anyone -child or adult- that comes withing a 5 mile radius of me (see bullet point #1). Not that I'm hinting, or anything...
Yes, we are thrilled, and even though not everything is perfect about the timing (actually, nothing is), Heavenly Father said it was time, and our spiritual experience could not be ignored any longer. So we went for it. And it's already been a blessing.

P.S. Actual due date is still TBD, due to some crazy measurements and a few unknowns at this point. So we will know within a few weeks when we can expect this bundle of joy.

YAY FOR BABIES!!!

Bloglist

2009-06-25T14:30:00.000-07:00

I have been so lazy and unmotivated to do anything for this poor blog! And all of my recent posts have been really boooooring. So in an effort to simplify, I'll just make a list for now and get to the details when I can:

~~Mother's Day gift for Father's Day (we were both a little worried about other things)~~
~~Museum of Photographic Art~~
~~flowers from Einstein~~
are we ready to settle with the insurance??? I really hope so!
upcoming vacation!
Patio Picnics

So, this post will be the first one you see until I'm done with these bullet points. Hopefully it won't take 6 months, haha!

Flowers from Einstein

2009-06-25T14:19:00.000-07:00

Einstein is already a ladies man. He picked me flowers last week. It was the sweetest thing! He went outside, picked a single flower that he spent several moments deliberating about, came inside, put it in the bowl, repeat. Having those flowers reminded me of how conscientious of a little boy he is. They surprisingly lasted for several days!

Museum of Photographic Art

2009-06-20T14:45:00.000-07:00

So Bryan comes up to me one night and says "Oh yeah, I have a mandatory class field trip to Balboa Park, and you and the boys are coming". The field trip was the next night. Ummmm, ok. A *little* fair warning (like more than 12 hours) would have been acceptable, too!
Off we headed to the Museum of Photographic Arts, where there was an Ansel Adams exhibit.
We had so much fun on an actual family day! Those are few and far in between these days, and I relish every moment of them.
Einstein & Curly had so much fun running around and hamming it up. Einstein hijacked the stroller and rode over 'the bumps' as many times as he could (I think he does this because when we make trips to Target, I make a big fun deal about riding over the yellow safety bumps while they're in the cart, kind of like a mini-roller coaster. So that's why I think he tries to ride over any 'bump' he can find). Curly found a little sewer pipe cover-thingy and tried to pick it up, even though it was bolted to the ground; it was so funny to see how focused he was in trying to pick it up!Einstein couldn't stop talking about the 'spikey lamps' (pictured above). We had to repeatedly explain that the spikes were so birds wouldn't poop on them, or us!
We loitered around the Japanese Friendship Garden, and searched for the coy fish in the huge reflecting pond, until Bryans class went into the exhibit. Einstein had such a ball 'feeding' the fish grass, 'because they like to eat grass', he said. Haha! We had a hard time keeping Curly from jumping INTO the pond. That would have definitely been a bad moment if it happened. But luckily we persuaded him not to, and everything turned out great.

Einstein was pumped that we were so close to real live airplanes in the sky! Every time one would pas (like, every 15 minutes) he would stop whatever he was doing and announce that a plane was coming. So cute!
Of course, we weren't allowed to take any pictures inside the exhibit. It's always like that! In all honesty, the exhibit itself was really boring. And I can appreciate art *almost* like an art history buff. The cool parts were finding out about how Ansel Adams was such a stud/nature man/musician/philanthropist/all-around cool dude who just happened to contribute a lot of sweet stuff to further photography to its modern status. The actual pictures features truly seemed like Ansel Adams cast-offs and experiments gone awry. I'm not sure why those particular portraits were chosen, but oh well! We still had fun going to the park together as a family!
It's funny how I get so excited about the intricate details of Balboa Park. Like, every single time I go, I am in awe of the landscaping, the architecture, and the history of the park. I love that we were together as a family having a play day, too!

Mother's Day gift for Father's Day

2009-06-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

Since I wasn't in the best mood/physical capacity to even enjoy Mother's Day, we decided to
fore go celebrating. And of course, that made me even more emotional to think of what would have been, had I not been having a miscarriage. ANYWAY, my gift came this week:

Powershot SX110 IS, 9.0 mpx, 10x optical zoom 3" lcd screen

I love this camera. I L.O.V.E. it!!! I was really hesitant to give the OK for another Canon Powershot because of a mishap with a previously owned one, but I am so in love with this one! Funny, though; the idea of a nice camera is still new to me. I always forget to bring it wherever I go! I'm still so used to our ancient (in digi-camera years) 6-year-old Nikon that I forget to remember that, oh yes! I can take great shots, too!
The best part? Bryan found it for dirt cheap online, and took it to Best Buy for their price-matching policy. So not only did we buy it for *almost* half off, we got a sweet warranty to boot. Gotta love his magic frugal-buying powers! We both HATE paying full price for pretty much anything, so our union with this delectable camera has been a wonderful match! Coming soon: beautiful quality pictures!

Itsy Bitsy Freezer

2009-06-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

Every time I come back from a Costco trip, I feel like I'm playing freezer-Tetris! I LOVE their bulk items. My freezer does not! I suppose it's a good thing it's only a once-a-month trip for the time being.

Remembering Memorial Day 2009

2009-06-09T17:08:00.001-07:00

* This is going to be a lame post because Blogger is being retarded and not letting me post pictures correctly. So unfortunately, what little pictures I have are all you're gonna get!*

So wasn't Memorial Day just last week? Oh...

Anyway, time flies when you're having fun!

We spent the morning at Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery in Point Loma, taking pictures and letting the boys run run R U N ! ! ! It was so funny to see them use all of that square footage! (Grandma & Grandpa Harrison decided to come with us, which we loved. It was great to hang out with them and get extra help with kids!)

They were into the gravestones, the grass, and Einstein especially loved the water in the flower vases. ??? I have no idea, but it was the coolest thing to him! The view of the bay was absolutely gorgeous, and Grandpa Harrison (I always have to refer to him as that around my kids since both Bryan's and my dad are named "Michael". We couldn't have planned it any more confusing for our and Nate & Lisa's kids. What? Double cousins? WHAT? Two Grandpa Mike's??? Crazy!) didn't dissappoint with his stories of jets zooming overhead when he worked in San Diego.

After puttering around for a bit longer, we decided we wanted to go to Cabrillo National Monument. We didn't really end up doing too much there; we went to tour a lighthouse, but that ended up being really boring and the kids were getting tired, so we didn't stay longer than half an hour. It was funny to see Einstein so excited to get up there (he walked everywhere all by himself; no stroller for him!), then once we went in, he lost total interest. He was way more interested in the wildlife! Curly was just happy to be around people, and flash his million dollar baby smile to everyone that would give him an opportunity. Kid celebrity, anyone? :)
It was a great day to get our kids' wiggles out, and for daddy to be around. Did I mention I LOVE holidays from school? It was SO great having Bryan for the ENTIRE day! I really look forward to future weekends, when he doesn't have to work, when he's not doing homework, and we can go do FUN things together!
(On that good note, however, I think it's best to not take his advice on the subject of whether or not to take strollers. On this little trip, we opted (he suggested) to not take our stroller. Granted, we wouldn't have used it at some places, but it sure would have come in handy on some of those long trails! We were lucky to have his parents with us, or my arms would have been totally shot by the end of the day!)

It finally happened.

2009-05-27T10:43:00.000-07:00

Original Post: 5/3/09

I finally allowed Curly's hair to be cut.

It really was getting ratty and poofy, and I stalled as much as I could. But Bryan finally got his wish, and buzz cut my baby's hair! He's been wanting to shave (yes, SHAVE) his head for months. ??? It must be some weird rite of passage thingy with boys and their daddies. Or maybe it's just my pseudo-eccentric-at-times husband. At any rate, it was the chopping block for those luscious curls! :(
It got to the point where I could put Curly's hair into a little pig tail, so I knew the time was coming for a trim. But who can ever trim a baby's hair??? They are so wiggly it's almost impossible. So... out came the hair clippers, and Au revoir beautiful hair! Now he looks like a mini-businessman to me. But he's still so cute, I could kiss him all day!

I sure got the stink-eye for putting his loooong hair in barrettes!

Einstein has informed me that ponytails are called "hair-tails'. So funny!

Sheesh, kid! You have some long locks!

For months, I had put my foot down that "Absolutely NOT" Curly's hair was going to get cut, let alone buzzed! So we came to a happy compromise and he got a short trim. I was silently hoping and praying that Bryan wouldn't 'slip' and be 'forced' to cut all of Curly's adorable hair.

But Curly did exceptionally well with his first haircut! He hardly squirmed at all, and wasn't afraid of the buzzing noise from the clippers. Kudos to you, little man. Even with the ticklish, wispy baby hair, he did really well. That also meant no bald baby. Only a few spots needed to be touched up, and Bryan didn't 'mess up' with a baby's head trying to make a quick getaway (you all know what I'm talking about), so he was able to keep a little length.

Did you notice Einstein sitting so quietly in the background? I think he was in awe that someone else gets their hair cut around here!

Look at all that hair... GONE!

Gone (with the trim) are the reddish highlights he once had. Now he is a fully BLONDE kid. He looks like a mini-surfer with intensely blue eyes and very beach-blonde hair! People were so shocked to not even recognize him for a minute. I just hope that his curls eventually do come back... I hope, I hope!

Isn't he such a cute little kid? I love it! :)

UPDATE: It's been a few weeks since his haircut, and his curls are in fact growing back. Big sigh of relief for me on that one! :)

I'm a big kid now

2009-05-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

*Original Post: 5/5/09*

Today Einstein got a real BIG BOY BED!!! I've been waiting for this day for quite some time, probably more excited than him! He's been sleeping on a crib mattress on the floor ever since he could climb out of the crib (over a year, people! I'm really on top of things...). My brother Jared and his awesome bride Jennie donated the bed and frame and sheets! Thanks guys! It's seriously the comfiest bed a big kid could ever hope for!

Anyway, J&J live in St. George, so they hauled all this stuff with them in their little Element (tight fit!) for about 6 hours. Talk about family love! :) When they came to set it up, Einstein was SOOOO excited and talking a mile a minute. JRAD was so awesome to set up the frame and even put the sheets on while Jennie and I got caught up a wee bit and entertained Einstein for a few minutes. And once the bed was up, the jumping commenced! He wanted everyone to jump with him, especially Jared (who is 6'4"ish)! It was super cute to see the pure joy on his face.

Thanks again Jared & Jennie! You two are awesome! The sheets even matched perfectly the boys' room colors... I guess great minds think alike! :) You know now that every time you two visit, Einstein will force you to jump on his bed!

Feeling lazy?

2009-05-22T17:27:00.001-07:00

I just posted something really cool on my exercise blog, Svelte. Go check it out!

Just wanted to say...

2009-05-19T18:29:00.000-07:00

Thank you for all of your prayers, thoughts and well wishes. I felt so much strength from all of you during my not-so-great week. I felt incredibly uplifted through my grief. Now it's back to the daily grind, and I am so fortunate to share it with friends like you! Thank you!

Cookies - back from the dead

2009-05-19T18:20:00.000-07:00

Kellogg's have resurrected the Mother's cookies brand for good. Apparently, the rights were bought months ago, and they were back just in time for Mother's Day. How cute.

So I can have these babies any time now?

Well, life just got a bit easier!

2009-05-18T15:48:00.000-07:00

Einstein has been asleep since 11:30am. Growth spurt, anyone? And even with all the 'extra' time, I still feel like I haven't got anything done. huh. :)

P.S. He just woke up and it's 4:01pm. Wow.

I lack...

2009-05-17T17:47:00.000-07:00

The abiliy to post pictures at the moment. I have so much to post, too! It's something about updating drivers, and that's about where I fall asleep and let Bryan handle all the techi stuff. But he's been hard at work, building web sites and such. He had a HUGE final he's been working on, and has been working (at work) like crazy, so I haven't seen him much this last week, not to mention he hasn't been able to do anything on my very long and detailed "honey-do" list lately. I will be SO glad when this class is over!

Anyway, if you want to see what he's been working on to get his "A" in the class (which is hardly ever given on the final project, according to the professor), go to his latest website, game art nerds. This latest creation is why my husband has been MIA for the past few weeks! It still has a few tiny glitches (it runs slow from internet explorer), but he has until Monday night to put on the finishing touches. What do you think? I know the content is not up a lot of people's alley (at least people that read my blog), but what do you think of the artwork/placement/graphics/etc? I think it's genius, but then again, I am pretty biased. So that's where you come in. What do you think?

2009-05-17T17:07:00.000-07:00

I love Battlestar Galactica.

Yes, I am a nerd.

But President Roslin, you're my kind of woman. Apollo, you are so hot, and you have such a good heart (and being hot doesn't hurt at all either). Admiral Adama? You kick butt. Starbuck? Too bad you are so brilliant and you keep messing everything up. Gaius? You know you're batting for the wrong team. Boomer? I'm SO glad you've defected! Helo? Keep loving her, and take care of Hera! Tyrol? Please stay with Cally and forget about Boomer! Six? You're so bad! Colonel Tigh? I'm really sorry about Ellen, but she was never good for you. Gaeta? You're a genius.

Oh, wait... you don't know who these characters are???????? You seriously don't know what you're missing. It's the most un-sci-fi show that's ever been on sci-fi. It's sooo good. Dare I say, better than Firefly. I'm not kidding. Who else is a closet Battlestar Galactica fan? If not, you should really become one. Bry and I stayed up waaaay too late on a number of nights, watching episodes back to back to back. It's that good. I can't wait for the final season to come out on DVD. And those of you who have seen it, don't spoil it for me!
Here are the last 3 seasons in a nutshell:

Numb

2009-05-12T17:21:00.000-07:00

I had a miscarriage.

Crazy to write that.

I am unsure what to feel.

No, strike that.

I have a LOT of feelings going on.

My logical side is just fine --- the timing is not right, no matter how much I wanted it to be. I know that, Bryan knows that, and Heavenly Father knows that. Even though we both had an amazing spiritual confirmation to expand our family, only Heavenly Father knows what timing is exactly right for us.

My physical well-being is just fine --- other than being extremely tired and a little crampy, physically I am well. I am healthy, and other than a little more sleep and a little time to baby myself, no other procedures are (thank goodness) necessary. I can carry on as normally as before, and I think being physically busy will help with healing as well.

While I know and believe all this, try relaying that to my CRAZY hormones! I am weepy. I am empty. And though I in no way feel *responsible* for losing this child, I still feel upset about it. Even though I am at peace with this logically and spiritually, emotionally I am still a major train wreck.

The (not so detailed) details:
I really wasn't too far along. No announcements were made; the only people who knew sort of guessed that I was expecting.
Two weeks after I found out I was pregnent, the dreaded spotting came. And it never went away.
Bryan and I went to the doctor today (SO glad he was there!), who confirmed to us that I was no longer pregnant.

So, if I was able to give this spirit at least a glimpse of a physical body, I am happy. I am still happy right now, just a little sad, too.

I would also like to add that I am so extremely grateful that Bryan is my husband. He is so inspired, and he is a wonderful Patriarch to have in my home. I love you, honey!

Kennabootique

2009-04-30T13:23:00.000-07:00

The cutest binky clips and wipes cases are at Kennabootique. Also coming soon: blankets, tutus, snugglies, you name it. Buy lots! They are great gifts, great for your own girlies, and oh so stylish! Each item is easy on the pocketbook but not short on quality. Not to mention, Carli (the owner) is having a GIVEAWAY... how cool is that??? Enter the giveaway, darlings. You won't regret it! :)

Here's a small sampling:

Paranoia

2009-04-27T14:47:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been extremely paranoid about...

and...

missing out on an innocent childhood, and being forced to grow up too fast. With the Internet being so pervasive in modern day society, I worry about crazy people who like to snatch little boys. BUT, I don't want to go to private blog status. That's totally not my style. So, I've decided to meet somewhere in the middle and give my cuties some cute/manly nicknames.

The name of my oldest (at least on this blog) will be Einstein.
And second in line will be known as Curly.

Please join in the fun! It would be greatly appreciated if you could let them keep their anonymity, and refer to them as "Einstein" and "Curly". I'll do my part by doing the same.

Thanks! Hugs and kisses to all :)

no baby

2009-04-23T23:42:00.000-07:00

Ode to my baby boy...

Little climber (taking after his uncle J-RAD, rock/ice/anything climber!)

He's climbing, running, jumping... Curly is not a baby anymore!

Guy Smiley, eat your heart out!

I can't believe how fast he has grown up! I suppose it helped that he practically grew up in our wards Nursery... Time flew by for me so quickly, I almost wish it went by a second time. His personality is so cute and coming out more and more every day. This is the kid who wakes up happy, goes to bed happy, and sleeps peacefully. That is, until one older brother wakes him up by jumping on him! :)

Helping daddy clean our carpets

He currently has a crazy obsession with balls. He refuses to say easy words like 'toast' or 'more', but he pronounces very articulately "soccer ball" and "basket ball". Apparently there are priorities!

Jumping for joy!
All tuckered out...

You can count on him to bonk his head at least 5 times a day, and he has the bruises/goose eggs to show for all of them. He is a chunker at 25 lbs (can you say mom's back hurts???) He idolizes Lincoln. He still gives his mama great snuggles. He can't wait to play soccer with daddy every day. He loves being tickled. He lets you know (and the rest of the world) when he doesn't like something. He is a VERY driven and determined little fellow, and he never forgets. Translation: I can not distract this kiddo. He has an infectious laughter. He has NO FEAR. He loves water play. He's a great dancer. He is into moms shoes. And he's so cute he can almost get away with being a rascal!

So manly!

We sure love you, little man! You add so much joy to our lives.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T00:32:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter to everyone! Hopefully no one gets injured from a self-induced sugar rush! :)

What I've been up to

2009-04-08T14:57:00.000-07:00

I've been a little busy... but we're still around!

Lately, with all the doom and gloom of the economy, the work force, and higher taxes/bad politics in general, I've decided to get really serious about food storage. Now, I've always thought it was important, and we've always had a mini-food storage pantry thing goin' on(ie, Sarah likes to stock up because going grocery shopping every week just 'aint happening with 2 toddlers), but now I feel the weight of responsibility on my shoulders to take care of my family and perhaps a few others that couldn't get as far as I could with food storage.

A few things I know:

We have been commanded to have a year supply of food, for any catastrophe.

Okay, maybe commandment is a strong word, but how many latter-day prophets have warned us of future calamity to come, and told us to be prepared? How many? I can count at least, oh, well all of them! Food storage specific, I can count 4

If we have been commanded to have a year's supply of food storage on hand, the Lord will provide a way

"And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save He shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which He commandeth them." -1st Nephi 3:7, Book of Mormon, emphasis added

I know that this is probably the most used scripture in all of LDS-dom. But... HELLO! Do you realize how powerful this statement is? Not to mention the truth of it all? Basically, we've been commanded to gather our food storage. Simply put, the Lord will provide a way for us to follow Him!

The Lord will provide a way once we have made some space (physical and spiritual) for it.

This has been the hardest part for me. We don't live in a very big space, there are hardly any places that I haven't used to the gills already, I can't let anything go, there is nowhere else I can store anything, the excuses (albeit how sincere and factual they truly are) can go on and on and on and on. Bottom line, if we have been commanded, and Heavenly Father will provide a way, we need to make room for His miracles.

We can organize better, use all the vertical space we have, go through our stored stuff and give sell/donate/trash things (you know we all need to do this!), get creative with this! I'm getting there, even using food storage bins as tabletops... okay, I'm not getting that crazy, but you get the idea!

We can no longer afford to be cavalier with this commandment

I think those days are over; when we were able to get away with just doing it half way. I don't want anyone to be scared stiff into doing nothing at all, but I really think this is so paramount! I'm not anyone to spew forth heresay or anything revelatory, but I think it's time to really get our houses in order.

Even if we don't have a lot of income, we can still do this!

Food storage is a piece-by-piece endeavor, as I have come to realize. And it can be budgeted into your life quite easily!

It doesn't have to be hard or overwhelming. You can take it baby-step by baby-step (with some really funny out-take videos along the way!), then you can go to teenage and adult steps. Just remember that I'm still on the baby-steps stuff too! I'm sure there are some of you out there that are way ahead of me in this department, so I'm not saying anything like I am the one to go to for hard and fast food storage rules... I'm not. But I want to be!

Who's with me? Recently I made a really cool spreadsheet that helps rotate your every day items and to know *for sure* what you need to buy on your next shopping trip. I guess I should post it here. I laminated it, then I mark the boxes (with a dry erase marker) when I come back from a shopping trip. Every time I take an item out of my cupboards, I erase a mark. It's really easy because the list is taped up on the inside cupboard door, so when I open up my pantry, my list is staring me in the face. I know exactly what I have, and I know what I need to buy more of. That's just one idea. I took pictures, but Bryan has the laptop right now so I'll have to add the visuals a bit later.

I suppose I should break this down a bit: Food Storage is do-able. Food Storage is necessary. We all know that the end of the world (or injury, or job loss, or natural disaster, or what-have-you) is on it's way, and if we're prepared for it we have nothing to worry about. So I am re-committing myself to this! Do it with me! I'll keep you posted on my progress and hopefully you can too!

2009-03-31T00:06:00.000-07:00

So... I took most of every one's advice about Einstein's sleeping habits, and dropped the nap all together. It sucked! But it was really necessary. I just picked myself up by my bootstraps and went full throttle. And it worked! At least, it did for about three days. You see, he really does still need a nap, but he thinks he doesn't. He becomes demon-kid at about 4pm if he doesn't get a good two hours of rest.
Anyway, like I mentioned, it took him three days before he was practically begging me for a nap again. Which led me to believe that the no-nap boycott thing has always been about the struggle for power. And I end up winning most of the time. There are still impossibly painful/frustrating/I'm-ready-to-serve-a-corporal-punishment-sentence-on-this-kid days, but they are ~~manageable~~ ~~getting easier~~ at least not as often.
Sad to say, but I often look at my friends who have little girls, and sigh with longing. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE MY BOYS! It would just be nice to be able to go into a store (or anywhere, really) without looking completely frazzled because your 2 year old is so fiercely independent that he insists on unbuckling his own seat belt, then darts away from you, INTO parking lot traffic (stupid college kids with no kids of their own... sheesh!) and just about gives you a heart attack. Note that this is happening while you are running after him whilst hefting another child the weight of a 5-gallon water jug and trying to not freak out in front of onlookers. And the whole time you are in said store, he either touches everything, complains, or throws himself to the floor and cries so it looks like you abuse your child. Or even better, does a lovely combination of all three. Yes, frazzled, people! I don't hear stories like this from my friends with little girls. Either they don't do it, or my friends are too embarrassed to share! :) Something tells me it's not the latter.
Really, I'm not trying to be negative. It's been one of those days. You know, the corporal punishment days? Yes, that was very much today.
I know that I was blessed with Einstein because Heavenly Father has entrusted me to cultivate and direct his fiery spirit for good. Einstein is a natural born leader, a trend-setter, and for better or worse, a very smart cookie! Heavenly Father has trusted little ol' me to take care of him, to guide him and nurture his talents and personality. But sometimes I feel like it's quite an undertaking! I've been given such an important job, but am I up for it? Can I do it? Some days I feel like I'm ready to throw in the towel. I'm sure I'm not the only mom who feels this way at times. But I sure think I got the raw end of this deal. I don't remember being this crazy when I was a kid, and Bryan was most certainly not. So there must be a crazy streak in our families somewhere. Remind me to go back in time to amend that, will you? :)
Ending on a good note about my smarty pants, he is potty trained! We had a deal that if he stayed dry for 7 days, we would take him to Disneyland (we changed it from a bike, since D-land would be free). And he did it! Yay!

Sleep...

2009-03-13T15:35:00.000-07:00

OR THE LACK THEREOF...

Einstein has never been a willing sleeper. With the exception of being a newborn, he has always been way too distracted/hyper/stubborn to just relax and allow sleep to commence. As soon as he could (six months), he stood himself up in his crib and bounced up and down. Constantly. At nine months he would jump and scream just to get picked up out of his crib. At 16 months, he climbed out and never looked back.

I would do everything I knew how to calm his little body down; rock him, hum, sing, speak to him, put on quiet music, run a fan for white noise, keep his room super dark, use a nightlight, use no nightlight, NO DISTRACTIONS ANYWHERE (i.e. toys), play hard and wear him out before naps, no sugar diet, chamomile tea, and any/all combinations of these. Sometimes it works, most times it just leaves me extremely frustrated and not in a "I love my kids" mood. We've tried to make his bed as comfortable/inviting as possible, we have a strict bedtime routine which he is fully aware of and participates in, and I don't know what else to do! I have even resorted to death threats if he's not asleep in f.i.v.e. m.i.n.u.t.e.s. Okay, not real death threats, but definitely some heated discussions and red bums. (Don't judge until you've tried to be his sleep enforcer.) It gets reeeeaaaaally old day in-day out twice a day (nap & bed).

Einstein does not fall asleep until after 4pm most days (this is after putting him down for a nap at 12 or 1), and does not fall asleep at night until after 10pm (with a bedtime of 7-7:30). TEN PM!!! He has since ripped out the curtain rods from the walls (it was only screwed into drywall, but still. Come on, kid! Why do you destroy everything you touch?), shredded one of the window screens, and made countless destructive messes during naptime because he has been using this time to build bombs instead (at least it feels that way, lest we forget his lovely artwork. That's happened more. than. once.) In a few words, he is so totally bored during nap time (when he should be sleeping, mind you) that he just finds trouble and continues escalating. I am going out of my mind. Let me tell you, he is becoming the best form of Birth Control ever. I DO NOT want to put myself through this with another kid! :) Or at least I would like girls from here on out, please. (only sort of kidding)

When, oh when will he figure out that sleep is a lovely, wonderful luxury???

This is W A R.

And I need better ammunition.

I need your help! What do you do to get your kids to bed? I need out of the ordinary, creative ideas to get your toddler to go to SLEEP!!!

I keep thinking, 'is this just some sort of motherly rite of passage? Do all of us have to go through this at one point? Or is it just me???' Try as I may, I just can not get his brain to unwind! And his actions are seriously driving me to the brink of insanity!

Give me your tips and tricks. I AM BEGGING you!!!

I want my firstborn to get from this...

(yes, that's formula. And him on the counter. I still don't know how he heaved himself up there; there were no signs of chairs anywhere!)

Back to this! Satisfied with sleep!

(10/23/06)

I love that Einstein is so intelligent and brave and adventurous, but is this the price I have to pay to have such an amazing handful??? Please give me your secrets for a happy boy and a happy mom!

Disneyand!!!

2009-03-08T00:30:00.000-08:00

I. L O V E Disneyland. And since I've been married, Disneyland has taken a quick backseat to pregnancies, kids, life, jobs, and everything else! So when some good friends of ours gave us tickets to go with them, I made Bryan clear his schedule; we were going! And we went for a fun day on the 21st (yes, I am totally behind on our fun days!)

the parking garage... our kids don't even know what's gonna hit them! :)

Boy am I ever glad we did! Our boys had SO much fun, and it was so cute to see Lincoln's face light up when he saw Lightning McQueen in "real life". Too cute. The boys had never been to Disneyland before and they were both on excellent behavior. (for the most part. It doesn't matter where it is or what Lincoln is waiting for; he physically can't keep still for more than 1 nanosecond!). It IS the Happiest Place on Earth, after all. Lincoln was so excited to be there, he was just burning energy at the entrance while we were waiting to meet up with everyone! He was twirling in circles and kept saying "Disneyland, Disneyland!"

You can see how excited he is here... His feet aren't even on the ground!

And our friends did the nicest thing EVER... they decided to gift us with season passes of our own. I'm still floored and in shock! We can't thank them enough! So we just need to plan some more D-land days with them! :)

A couple of my cuties

Bryan had never been to California Adventure before (I was surprised about that, I thought he had!), so we spent most of our time there. Which worked out just fine, since there are so many areas geared for younger kids, and we had a few in our group that don't like the roller coasters. We went to the splash pad (in the Bug's Life area), where Orion got pegged by a stream of water right away. He was still loving it! So cute!

Water pegging caught on tape!

The Splash Pad was a hit

Since we had a large-ish group (six adults, three under-threes), we spent a some time rotating kids so everyone who wanted to could ride 'big-kid' rides. I went on California Screamin' (loved it; it's been years since I've been on a really good coaster, and this one squeezed tears out of my eyes, it was so fast!), but felt bad that I snuck off without Bry (he was in the bathroom and another hubby told him I left) so I came back and watched him ride the bumper cars with Lincoln while Orion was with the rest of the group.

These bumper cars seriously went .5 mph!

We rode mostly kiddie rides, then had lunch. It was a cooler day and our kids were cold from the splash pad, so we dressed them in their PJ's pretty early. Yes, I had their PJ's with me. And sunscreen, and enough snacks and water to feed an army, and chapstick, and kid necessities, and jackets, and extra socks, and blankets... I like to be prepared, that's just me! :)
After lunch, we stayed in line to see the Aladdin show. There was a family group behind us in line that Bryan was talking to, and they became so in love with Orion! He of course was pulling out all the stops; cooing, flirting, being all cute and sweet. They ended up sitting in the row behind us in the theatre, and Bryan offered to have them hold O in their laps. He was passed around amongst their little group, made up of grandparents, moms, and a young girl. Orion ate it up! The girl (I think she was around 12) was totally salivating over my baby, she wanted to take him home with her. It was super cute, but kind of weird-funny to watch. When the show started, he was so good for her, he just sat on her lap and became totally entranced by the show. The show was cancelled about 10 minutes into it because of technical difficulties, and she cried when she gave Orion back to me! She said he was the sweetest baby she had ever held. It was really cute. If only he would do that for me on a regular basis! :)
(I have pictures of the family, but they're on Bryan's phone, so when I get a chance, I'll get them from him)

Bry and I got to go (by ourselves) on Pirates and the Haunted Mansion at the end of the night. It was great not having the kids around for a precious 30 minutes! I mean, I love my kids like crazy, but you know how it feels to have a little bit of that kid-less freedom. Priceless!
After our alone time, we met up with the rest of the group to watch Fantasmic. Lincoln really liked most of it, and the volume kind of scared Orion. I don't blame him, it was really loud!

I have to write this before I forget:
There's a part of the show where some Disney Princesses are waving from a few boats. Lincoln was completely enamoured by them. I was pointing them out to him, telling him each of their names, and then I said "One day, you will marry your own princess!". He looked at them, thought for a few seconds, then got this HUGE grin on his face and said "yeaaaaaaahhh!" It was sooo adorable!

After Fantasmic, our friends wanted to take us out to dinner, but we were walking zombies at this point, so we had to decline even though we wanted to stay. We had a great time, and we can't wait to go back!

Sickening

2009-03-05T22:01:00.000-08:00

We are all ~~on vacation~~ sick to our stomaches. I won't resume potty training until everyone gets better, especially me. Nothing like cleaning up messes from both ends, YUCK! :)

Monster Jam '09!

2009-03-04T01:42:00.000-08:00

I totally forgot to blog about this amongst the January rush!

We went to Monster Jam with the Hardings this year and had a blast! There's nothing like a little adult time to make you a better parent to your kids. :)

Bryan and I have been going to Monster Jam since 2005, only missing last year, since it was so close to Curly's due date. I guess possible labor and delivery should take precedence. haha

Can I tell you that I love Monster Jam? I love it! The first year we went, we were invited last minute by a friend of ours, then asked the Raadgeps (they were still dating back then) to join us. It was good that we asked them to come with us, since we never met up with our other friend. He was sitting on the other side of the stadium! Anyway, since then I've loved seeing the trucks smash up and race each other and do wheelies and other cool tricks! It's cool to see them obliterate their trucks at the end of the night!

This year, my favorite was El Toro Loco. He did a 'bang-up' job of riding the course! And of course Gravedigger, the family favorite, was there. He ended up trashing his truck, and he had to get towed out of the course!

To this day, I still don't know how the points are given or how someone wins in these competitions. But it's still hecka cool to see it live! And yes, I said 'hecka'. No, I'm not from Utah, I'm just in a weird mood. You should go to their show next year! It's awesome!

It's a miracle!

2009-02-23T04:08:00.000-08:00

Since Einstein is seriously ahead of the learning curve for his age, I have always been under the impression that he has been ready for potty training for a while now. I've been dragging my feet for a number of reasons, (because I like to think I have a life outside of motherhood) and I wanted to devote my full attention to this dirty task once the time came.
Apparently, Einstein thought I was taking too long to train him correctly, so following his usual M.O., he did it himself.
I'm not kidding! After bath time one night, he got out of the tub, sat on his little potty for a while, and was SO excited that he left a non-liquid deposit for all to see. But I think I was more excited than he was! Wow, the pressure is off of me to be supermom! I have a super kid!
So this last week on top of all the normal routine, we had a SUPER busy week full of appointments galore with loooooong stretches of no bathroom, and even through all that, Lincoln had VERY few accidents. WAY TO GO!!! The deal is that if he keeps his Elmo's (big boy underwear) dry with no accidents for a week, he gets a bike. Let's all cross our fingers that he succeeds!
Great job so far, smarty pants! Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you!

It's a sad day in blogland.

2009-02-17T00:38:00.000-08:00

I lost ALL my bloglists!
If you don't see your blog to your right ----->
then please let me know.

I will add you. ...No matter what occurs... (sorry, that was my nerdy movie-quoting self coming out in full force, haha)

I can't tell you how frustrating it is to lose your bloglists... DO NOT attempt to change your blog to three columns through 'Cutest Blog on the Block'! It's a great resource for blog backgrounds, but anything technical and it gets a little dicey. Follow these instructions (link supplied by the awesome Katie, thank you!). They are much more user friendly.

Love

2009-02-15T00:12:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Valentine's day a day early. Friday the 13th is a perfect day to celebrate a holiday for lovers... :)
Bryan decided that it was high time for a real car (with four doors and all working windows), so he got me one for Valentines Day.

I love it! At first (when we were researching these cars), I thought the styling was really ugly, but it apparently grew on me (Ford Focus Wagon). The best part is that our tax return allowed us to pay for our new (to us) car in full. Yes, I am one of those crazy people who have taxes DONE by January 10. I don't want the IRS to hold onto our hard earned money any longer than necessary. But I digress...

I love that I can stretch out and not be cramped into a tiny little car anymore! I love that I can put our kids into their seats without killing my back because I'm driving a coupe and have to contort my body in weird positions just to clip them in! I love that the sound system rocks. I love that the tranny is SMOOOOOTH. I love that it's an automatic. I love that we got such a great deal on it. I love that we bought it from someone who seemed very honest and fair. I love that the gas mileage is better than our little Honda, believe it or not!

The above photo is a stock photo, since I can't take a decent picture these days. Ours is white. We are so blessed to have this car! Everything honestly fell into place so easily that we knew this particular one was the car for us!
After a LONG day of over-exhausted kids and test driving several different models (we bought the first one we looked at. You know it always happens that way), we got our car, then headed back home, where we diapered/fed/bathed the kids, then hit the road again (sans kiddos) to have some much-needed adult time. My brother and sister in law came from St. George just to babysit for us for a few hours. Actually, that's not why, but I would like to think that! :) We love you guys! Thank you for taking our crazy kids and wearing them out for bed!
We ended up going to Red Robin for dinner (our favorite restaraunt), then to check out some new cameras. If you know Bryan then you know he does his research on electronics very well. I think the real reason we went to a store to check them out was so we could spend some more time together and not go back so soon to kids (only an hour for dinner!).
The next day, the boys got rice crispy 'kisses' from Grandma & Grandpa McBride, which they gobbled up so fast they both ended up with a delirious sugar high and tummy aches! But what's one day in the whole year? They also got (from mommy & daddy) Spiderman heart boxes with spiderman chocolate/peanut butter candies in them. Who says V-Day isn't for little boys? They loved it, and they had a great time playing all day. The boys also love our new car and wanted to go for a ride several times!
Bryan, I love you! Thank you for making this day fun and special. We don't have much right now, but we do have each other. So I guess that means we are rich beyond measure!
Te amo, meu amor. Beijos e beijos e beijos...

1st word

2009-02-12T02:37:00.000-08:00

***I tried for several days -unsuccessfully- to post this video.***

This happened almost a month ago! I FINALLY got this video to upload correctly. Blogger and I have a healthy love/HATE relationship. Just when I think I'm in charge, he acts up to remind me who really is the boss. Anyway... read on for the original content!

Earlier this week, Curly started forming the same sound over and over. So I actually decided to stop blog stalking and pay attention, and came to realize that he was saying his first word! The video is long-ish and anti-climactic, but it's still cute. Enjoy!

***UPDATE***Since this video was taken, Curly has gone on to bigger and better things. He has enlarged his vocab to include "dada", "mama", "cracker", "chocolate", "stinky", "NO", "yeah", "thank you", and a lot more incoherent babbling. It's apparent that he can't wait to come up with a dissertation!

So.

2009-02-07T16:18:00.000-08:00

{AHEM}

A total of two nap-boycotting days after I posted the last post, my little closet sleeper went and broke my camera. And since I got a cheap new phone with a crappy camera and no video, I'm not sure when I'll be able to post new pictures.
Couldn't have come at a better time, no? Curly is starting to talk up a storm (Katie is my witness; he said 'cracker' at her house the other day), and I have no way to document that. I suppose it wouldn't really matter anyway, since he is the ONLY ONE who is slightly camera shy after a long illustrious genealogy line of camera hams. (Don't believe me? Case in point: Nate, Josh, Jared, Dad, all of which are NOT afraid of a little camera action. Nate is the most overt, and no, that is not a real cigarette.)

Anyway... no new pictures for a while. Sorry to put all of you out, lol!

I'll post about that later...

2009-02-04T23:19:00.000-08:00

Okay, I have a million things to post about, from Monster jam to Curly's 1st word (movie malfunction with that one. Oh blogger, how I loathe thy lack of attaching media with ease!), to my B-day, but that stuff will have to wait...

Einstein has been boycotting the naps BIGTIME lately. As in, he will be in his room for literally H O U R S before he passes out with exhaustion, and that's if I'm lucky. I'm not sure what else to do at this point, other than lock him in and hope for the best???
Well, today Curly has been cranky, too. But his situation is different; he just wants to sleep! So when I went to put Orion down at around 2pm for his third nap that day, I was greeted by this:

An empty bed.

My first reaction was "Oh man! He's escaped yet again!", and for a full two seconds I started freaking out. But then I remembered that we secured both windows and have a lock on his door, so it is more secure than Fort Knox. Seriously, there is NO way out; I learned that the hard way (another story. It was very similar to this, except it was in his room and Curly was on the other side of the door. SO not fun!).

The second place I checked was in Curly's crib... empty!

So, really... where could he be? There was only one place left to look:

The closet!

And yes, the door was closed. Einstein even nested his pillow in there with him! I was laughing so hard, I was afraid that I would wake him up! The best part is that he slept in the closet for FOUR HOURS!!! Maybe he'll try it again tomorrow? I don't want to push my luck...

It's moments like these that help me realize how much I love motherhood. And even though Einstein is a true handful, he is also so very sweet and quite resourceful!
Motherhood is hard and relentless. Every mom knows that! :) But isn't it so great to experience those tender mercies that make it all worth it? I do!

Me me me!

2009-01-31T13:03:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to me!

Here's to 29 years of life!

(Can you see why I want a girl??? I was so dang cute!)

STROLLER GIVEAWAY!

2009-01-30T14:18:00.000-08:00

Want a nice, new, FREE stroller??? Ashley, I know you do! :)

Go to I Never Grew Up; they are doing a giveaway for a Bumbleride double stroller. If I had income like Exxon Mobile, I would get his stroller.

Hurry! Giveaway ends 7pm MST!

It's a sickness

2009-01-28T15:30:00.000-08:00

***WARNING***

This post contains graphic information. If you have a weak stomach, just skip it alltogether.

Yuck. The 24 hour flu has come and gone for our family. And make that right AFTER I just finished all the laundry! {still not sure if that's a blessing or a curse... maybe both?}

It all started Tuesday morning, when I got the boys out of their rooms, and found Einstein's delicious-looking and smelling vomit on the floor. Sweet. I was so thrilled, considering that last night's dinner included, red sphagetti sauce, red strawberries, and blue blueberries. Thus, our carpet became those colors in uneven lumps and splotches by his bedside. Gotta love it.

Good to know that I just so happen to know a great carpet cleaner (go check out Phoenix Industries, you won't regret it!), so I wasn't too terribly worried. A little FYI, though; red stains eventually do come out, but with extreme difficulty!

Anyway, seeing as Einstein had already dumped the contents of his stomach onto our floor and he was acting fine, I figured that he was okay. No fever, no lethargy, no other signs of lingering sickness. So we go about our day, and I promptly file the event to the back of my mind. Until I get barfed on THREE TIMES by Curly! (If you've read the previous post, you will note that Curly just had a Birthday. This also notes the first time that he has ever been sick. The funny thing is that the same thing happened to Einstein on his 1st Birthday as well. I hope this doesn't become a weird family tradition!) Same gross red/pink tint and marvelous smell. Except it's on me now. What I've always wanted for Christmas; thanks Santa Claus!

So Curly gets to bed early, for obvious reasons. He had an upset tummy, and me being the genious I am deduced that he got sick from his brother. I'm a fast one, I am.

I figure, disaster averted, we are all okay now. Ahem, not so!

Bryan and I had a million things to finish up that night. He got home way late (almost midnight) from school, and we had some business follow-ups to attend to. I was tired, and all I wanted to do was go to bed! At around 1:45, I got my wish. Until I heard a baby crying in the boys' room... oh no, here we go!

Bry and I both go in there just in time to find Einstein throwing up again. We both rush over, and me being the supermom-I-laugh-in-the-face-of-germs girl that I am, decide the best decision to make -in .0000021 seconds- is to catch his barf in my hand while Bryan grabs a barf bowl. And boy, we needed that barf bowl! My poor little guy had a HARD night; we camped out in the bathroom for hours of ~~joyous merrymaking~~ barfing.

It was SO not a fun night.

Happy Birthday Curly!

2009-01-26T14:07:00.000-08:00

A year ago, you looked like this.

All wrinkly and exhausted and severely put out that we decided to wake you up to be born. How rude of us!

Then you decided to grow up on us, little by little, so your Birthday would catch us by surprise:

(4 months, 1st solid food)

(6 1/2 months, like father like son!)

(9 months, you and Lincoln up to no good)

(11 months, cooing with mommy)

Today, you looked like this.

Messy from Birthday cake, eager for more and matting it all over your gorgeous curls.

I can NOT believe that you are 1 today!

Happy birthday, little man! We love that you snuck your way into our family. You were not expected, but it is apparent that heavenly Father had a different plan than we did. Loving and accepting you was not hard at all. We love that you are sooooo happy and good natured. We love that you are the quintessential Gerber baby, and everybody tells us how adorable you are. I must admit, that even though I'm severely biased, I totally agree. We love that you love your brother and totally idolize him! We love that you are so quick and smart and super easy-going and into EVERYTHING! {Okay, maybe we're not too happy about that one.}

We love you!!!

Happy 1st, baby-cakes!

Love, Dad & Mom & Einstein

Hello, I've missed you!

2009-01-25T16:19:00.000-08:00

Those of you who have absolutey NO spare time know how difficult it is to find time to attend the Temple. Our desire is there, but it is SO hard to get ourselves to this wonderful place! Not being able to go *whenever I wanted* has always been a struggle for me. Ever since I was able to go, I made an effort to attend once a week. Then as it always does, life happened. After the mission, life got even busier. You know, the whole marriage and kids for eternity thing. Yeah, I jumped on the bandwagon! :)

Bryan and I have made a goal this year to attend the temple at least once a month. We both were temple workers, so it holds a very big place in our hearts. We wish we could live there! Anyway, since we've made this goal, it has been pretty easy to keep! The heavens have literally opened as far as who would babysit our kids gladly, (I know a lot of people would, but I also know how tiring Lincoln can be, especially with people he doesn't know very well. He gets shy around his grandparents for goodness sake!) and for an extended amount of time. Traffic isn't heavy. It's been awesome.

We were able to go to the temple last Friday (yeah, I'm a little slow to post this. Like I said; LIFE!). It was perfect! Oh Temple, how I've missed you! I am so glad that we were blessed to attend last week. There's nothing like a JAM-PACKED session. It was so cool. There was seriously NO EMPTY SEAT in the entire room. I love the feeling of peace and comfort you recieve, the inspiration, the answers to prayers, all of that yummy spiritual goodness. I'm excited to keep this goal alive! In fact, I challenge all of you to do the same! It is totally worth it. Really, if Bryan and I can go together (who has two day jobs and goes to school full time at night, and I have all day and night with kiddos/bills/keeping the fort down. Talk about a busy schedule these days!), you can go too. I DARE you! :)

Thank you

2009-01-17T01:02:00.000-08:00

Brooke, for taking the time out of your day to give me some great advice. I'm so glad that we are friends and can relate to one another! You are wise beyond your years, and you really are a great mom! :) thankyouthankyouthankyou for our little cry-fest. It was great therapy.

For Anyone Interested

2009-01-16T01:10:00.000-08:00

SVELTE

I've started a new blog all about my personal fitness goals. If you want to follow along and get fit with me this year, please feel free! Go here (or click above), and leave comments, get excited about taking care of yourself, and maybe I can inspire a few people while I get healthier.

Ummm... Christmas Cards???

2009-01-14T23:01:00.000-08:00

Yeah, so you remember when I said our Christmas Cards would be New Years cards? Well, that's not happening either. So I'm going to stop beating myself up over it and just say that 2008 wasn't a stellar year anyway (for reals), so why send a card about it? I'll break it down:

January- Orion was born, best labor EVER. Seriously.
February- Fuzzy. PPD in a major way.
March- Still feeling out of whack. Our business partner skips out on us.
April- Taxes, BLECH! Business partner's wife thinks I did taxes wrong and accuses me of some not very nice things. (We went to a CPA specializing in partnerships, and I did them perfectly thankyouverymuch!)
May- Crap, still crazy with baby weirdness. I get called to nursery.
June- Crap. I feel normal now. Busy cleaning carpets, more crap.
July- Yet more crap. I think there was a Legoland trip in there somewhere.
August- I convince Bryan to go back to school, I found a school for him to go to, and we tour the campus. AWESOME.
September- Bryan starts school; LOVES it.
October- Lincoln turns 2.
November- Residual crap from being crapped on back in March. Oh, the drama! (Honestly, how much could one little family be crapped on in one year???)
December- Bryan turns 28, Christmas.

2009- Hopefully less crap, hopefully more fun stuff, and hopefully much less stress!

I did learn about hope and prayer and trust and faith a whole lot last year. I thought I knew about those things, but when Heavenly Father truly puts you through the refiners fire, you begin to realize what you are truly made of. Bryan and I have weathered the storm of 2008 together. We've been able to rely and lean on one another. There of course were times when we didn't rely on each other. Those times really seemed dismal. But we are getting through everything together, and we are just a little stronger now because of past experiences.

I didn't mean for this post to be a bummer, but that's honestly how 2008 was! We didn't want it to be, but that's life. So to lighten things up a bit, here's a cute family photo:

New year, New way of life

2009-01-09T13:48:00.001-08:00

I'm losing 30 pounds.

There. I've said it, and written it for the world to see.

Now I am responsible for it.

In six months you will see a slimmer, healthier me.

If Bryan works at YMCA, why have I not taken advantage of their FREE membership, which includes a FREE Personal Trainer Program???

Because I am lazy, and that's that.

No. More. Excuses.

WEIGHT LOSS GOALS:

drop 2 pant sizes
get awesome Madonna-like toned arms
lose 30 lbs in six months
strengthen and tone down my core

I'm losing 30 pounds.

And if I end up losing 40, or even 50, poor me.

It's time to put myself on my list of priorities.

(And it would be cool if you supported me by NOT posting nice but enabling comments like "you are perfect the way you are" or "you don't need to lose weight", etc. Because I do. And I would like it to be gone { buh bye } this year. Thanks!)

In the classified's

2009-01-03T11:10:00.000-08:00

WANTED:

New best friend to take the place of previous best friend (who is moving to Japan!)

Must be fun, outgoing, silly, and must like {love} my crazy kids.

Must live within a 2-7 mile radius of my home.

Must be able to make and share funny inside jokes, create a meaningful history, and not move away, dangit!

Must be willing to come run mundane errands, laugh a lot, cry some, have great conversation, and go dumpster diving when necessary (not kidding).

Must be willing to accept the occasional phone call at 2am.

Must be okay with my lazy habits, and overlook minor flaws.

Having a husband that gets along with my own is a plus.

Must be willing to go to Monster Jam (yes, so white trash, but awesome) every January.

Must be okay with coming over 'just because'.

Time and effort will be compensated through reciprocation.

I will be accepting applications as early as January 8, 2009.

(Pictures aren't in any order)

Remember how that waiter was totally hitting on us? lol, good times!

My best friend is moving to JAPAN! Her husband has (Navy) orders to be stationed in Misawa Japan. They will be leaving in a few days! I've known about this for quite some time, but I haven't really thought about it too much because it is just so hard! I really don't know what I will do without her around. I feel like I am at a great loss. I will miss her dearly.

Monster Jam rocks! I look mad, but really I was super cold! (Bryan took the picture, that's why he's missing)

So Sam, here's to our fun Vegas trips (remember the Walmart in Pahrump drained my car battery? HA!), ranting on and on about you-know-who, the laughs, the tears, the crazy in-laws, the loooong walks on Twin Oaks, the babies, the migraines, the husbands, "Just let yourself be loved", "I swear he wasn't gay", "I see my phone on the bottom of the dumpster!", the boys we've loved, the men we married, the women we've become. I'm so happy that you are having this amazing experience, and that you and Mikey-poo will grow so much closer together, even closer than you are now. The selfish part of me is very sad to see you go. You will be gone for a while! I don't want to make you cry. Well, maybe I do, because crying is okay. You know I'm gonna cry. If I cry over commercials these days, you know I'm gonna shed a few over you moving to the East!

Aren't those you-know-who's glasses? When you-know-who came to visit you? And conveniently 'left these sunglasses'? hahahahahahaha!

Hollywood trip; my first away from kids! Do you remember how mad Bryan was? He thought we would be gone for and hour or something? I was like HELLO! I need a break! Lincoln's all yours! I think I was preggo here with O and we didn't know yet. Ah, the memories!

Yeah, bad pic of your wedding. Oh well! And oh my, my dress was so TIGHT, I would only wear a corset while being almost 4 months pregnant for YOU, babe! :)

New Years Eve party 2005- was it here that we were avoiding Randy and Colin? Anyway, I remember it being a blast! Remember the Ice Skating?

And you can't forget our little daycare endeavor! Wow, that was interesting... but we survived!

O did not like you very much for a few days after this. But then again, he is my little drama king!

Going away party, the 'unzipped' version. LOL! What a fun night!

buh-donk-a-donk player piece

(And for everyone's enjoyment, I obviously can't set my camera to take pictures on a timer after 1 in the morning, it's just too much for my brain!)

There are so many memories that one little blog won't list everything. You know I love you, girl. You can not be replaced. Enjoy your 3 years in Japan, and you know I'm only a phone call away, even if it's at 2am!

A Blue Christmas

2008-12-30T00:17:00.000-08:00

Yeah, yeah, so I've been TOTALLY uninspired, and overwhelmed with TOO MUCH to post about (is it possible to be both at the same time? If your name is Sarah Harrison, then I guess so!), so I've chosen the 'present' option (ala president-elect Obama), and decided to not post anything at all!
Once I get my rear in gear, There will be much to post about. But for now, just a little tidbit for you all:

The week of Christmas, the hinges on my cell phone broke. I was so sad! I totally love my phone! But there was so much to do and so little time, so I just decided to baby it until I could do something about it. Well, this evening, all I heard was a little 2-year-old voice in the bathroom saying "uh-oh!" And you know that's never good.

Turn's out I left my phone in the bathroom counter (so I could hear it ring when Bryan called during kids' bathtime). Lincoln decided my phone wasn't broken enough and that I obviously didn't need to focus my energy on folding laundry, so he put the poor electronic device out of it's misery. My sorry little Tiny Tim of a phone is now snapped in half. Whomever sent me that text message around 8pm tonight, sorry, I didn't get it. I'm sure you can see why:

(In all seriousness, I know it truly wasn't his fault. My phone was on it's last legs anyway. If you opened it the wrong way, it was gonna bust apart like that. But I sure was pretty sad regardless!)
So now, I am using an old Blackberry Phone that's probably older than me (Bryan got it from some guy back east a few years back). And did you know that if you have a Blackberry you HAVE to have an internet package on your cell phone plan? Okay, maybe I'm the last person to know about that. But Hello? An extra 30 bucks a MONTH for features I wouldn't use anyway??? Geesh! That's like an extra tank of gas for Bryan's truck! Can you tell that I wouldn't have an I-phone? I am way too cheap.

So, just pure sadness. Not only do I have to pay for extra goodies that I won't use, I'm paying for extra goodies on an outdated phone. But the good part is that it's only a temporary fix until we figure out if we really are switching cell phone carriers or not. And yes, I am that trivial. :)
On a good note, {cross your fingers and toes} it seems that our Christmas Miracle just may happen! We are selling our car! But just in case our buyer doesn't come through, if anyone knows of anyone else looking to buy a Honda, let us know; we have one to sell! You can email me for details.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas Cards...

2008-12-20T23:47:00.000-08:00

Are now becoming Happy New Year cards this year! I don't know why I thought I had more time... haha there is never more time.

Anyway, if you want one (and you totally do; don't be shy!), please email me your address at bah_gaucha {at} yahoo {dot} com.

If I don't hear from anyone I will be sad and whip out the tear-stained cheeks. No one wants to see the ugly cry. So send me your addys! :)

we all learned something today!

2008-12-17T14:43:00.000-08:00

I love the rain.
I hate that my kids stay inside all day because of the rain.

This afternoon after lunch, I put on the DVD Robots for Lincoln so I can straighten up and get other things done. I am in the bathroom for something like 6 nanoseconds, and while I'm exiting the facilities, I hear this:

"scribble scribble scribble"

Yeah, that can't be good.

I come into the kitchen, and find Lincoln with a black sharpie pen in hands, decorating the refrigerator door in black. That was AFTER he already did it in red.

What did we learn from this, class?

Mommy learned that Nail polish remover takes red sharpie pen scribble off of your refrigerator door! It does not, however, take off black sharpie pen scribbles. Rubbing alcohol only lightens both. (Geeze, they weren't kidding about the permanent part)

Lincoln learned that sharpie pen awards him with a swat on the butt and early nap time.

Orion learned to just lay low and keep eating your fishie crackers in these types of situations.

Daddy learned to not bring it up after the fact. Or, at least he will when he sees the scribble marks...

We have a little walker!

2008-12-16T00:42:00.001-08:00

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Last weekend he really got the idea of walking and has been practicing ever since. He's doing great!

Letters and shapes

2008-12-15T23:41:00.000-08:00

Lincoln with my bro Jared (J-RAD)

Have I mentioned to anyone before that Lincoln is an evil genius? He is. Really. Okay, less on the evil, more on the genius. I'm not saying that because I'm his mommy and I'm supposed to. I really think that he's uber smart!
We have been working on shapes and letters for a little while, seriously not long at all. I used to
sing him the ABC's song when he was really little, so he knows how to recite his letters (the whole song, actually. It's really cute; he sings at the end: 'Now I know my A, B, C, D's...'), but I haven't gotten to the point yet of matching the letter shapes to the letter sounds, let alone upper and lower case.
But last night, he really surprised me. We were reading his bedtime story, 'The Story of Christmas'. After we were done, I was tucking him into bed, the usual routine, then he grabs the book, points at the cover, and says, "That's a 'H' "..... um, what was that? How do you know what an 'H' looks like??? Then he proceeds to name practically every letter on the book cover!
So I'm thinking, "This kid is the next Einstein", and I'm asking him what that letter is, what that letter is, etc. I wanted him to spell out 'story', so I asked, in procession, what each letter was. And this was the outcome:

mom- what's that letter? (I asked this before he recited each letter)

S - T - Circle - R - Y

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
So much for being Einstein! :)

Too Adorable

2008-12-10T22:05:00.000-08:00

We must be cruel, or my boys must be adventurous. At any rate, I found these older videos and I couldn't help but post them!

Lincoln at 1 year

Orion at 9 months (this was taken on a phone so the sound is pretty bad. But you get the idea.)

I love my boys!

a man of the cloth

2008-12-10T22:01:00.000-08:00

We finally jumped over the edge and did it:

Orion has had a never-ending rash since around six months of age (he's a year next month, can you believe it???). I talking about a come-and-go-but-never-really-gone,-gets-to-open-sores kinda rash. It was so frustrating! I switched diaper brands several times, used every diaper rash cream on the market, and even mixed and matched the combinations of diaper rash cream to diaper brand. I used the hairdryer trick, let him crawl around without a diaper at all (gotta love my carpet cleaning awesome husband!), gave him long soothing baths, changed his diaper every hour... to. no. avail!
We figured he is alergic to the chemicals in the absorbent materials used in disposable diapers.
So, we switched to cloth. And even better, it was free!
My sister Nikki used cloth diapers for her first two (for the same reason. Darn those sensitive McBride hineys!), so she gave me all of her cloth diapers! THANK YOU! They were all in excellent condition, and well, she wasn't using them for anything, so there you go.
Can I just say that I really LOVE cloth diapers? And seriously, I NEVER thought I would hear myself even thinking that statement. I love them for the mere fact that it took only half an hour for little O's rash to be gone. completely. After months and months of endless rashies.
I love that they are much easier than I had origionally anticipated. I'm not going to say they are as easy as disposable, but using them is a far cry from churning your own butter or chopping firewood! Really, it's not like having to trek across the Rockies or something! :)
One of the best parts is that O no longer fights his diaper changes. He now loves to be changed, because I'm sure he can feel the difference between wet and dry. And Lincoln is really into them, too.(we still do disposable for him since he's on the horizon of being out of diapers anyway) He gets to wear a cloth diaper every so often, and he totally digs it, it's SO funny!
You definitely need to have a system, or cloth diapers will not work for you. Better yet, you need to have a system, or having KIDS will not work for you. :) But once you get in your own groove, it's nothing at all. I didn't think I would be able to do it effectively without our own washer/dryer. But I've found that it's really not too much trouble since it's one tiny load twice a week, and they can air dry if need be.
Cloth diapers obviously do need to be changed more often (every 2 hours; you wait 3 and you have have major leakage issues), and that can get a little tricky sometimes. But the key is preparedness. Go Boy Scouts.
We've actually gone a hybrid route, where O wears disposables for nap and bedtime. That seems to work the best for us, so I don't have to worry about leaks, or prolonged exposure to disposables.
So, I think I might do cloth for all our subsequent kids {GASP!}. We'll see. But I am really pleased with how much easier it is than 25-30 years ago when I was wearing them!

Christmas Picture Outtakes

2008-12-10T21:19:00.000-08:00

I am not embarrassed... I know everyone goes through this. You have to take about 1 million pictures to get 'the one' that you will send to your friends and family. These three are not 'the one'. But they are funny:

Geez, how "not engaged in the photo" could a family get? I love that Orion is teething on my necklace; that would be #8 that has been broken/gnawed on. I should stop wearing jewelry! :)

Orion is spawn of Satan, Lincoln is staring off into who knows where (but with a nice smile, good for you, kid!), and I am slightly blurry. Bryan looks good, though.

And my personal favorite:

I can just see the tagline now:

"Happy Holidays from the Haggard Harrisons"

Too funny! This picture pretty much sums up 2008 for us! Maybe we actually should send this one out... ha ha, not really... :)

Back seat driver

2008-12-09T19:33:00.000-08:00

I need to write this post today. WHAT A DAY!!! Not only am I getting over some sort of nasty winter cold, Lincoln is being more of a terror than usual. When I say more of a terror, I mean over-tired horrific tantrumed hitting screaming throwing TERROR!!! Hello, terrible two's; I was wondering when you'd rear your ugliness.

So here are some sweet memories of my little back seat driver to warm my spirits:

Diet Coke is my all-time favorite. You can just skip over the part about how the caffeine will rob my bones of calcium, make me more prone to migraines and muscle spasms, not to mention the unnecessary calories from a sugary soda drink, despite the label of "Diet". I love the stuff! And since I only drink the fountain version (it tastes different, yes it does), I only get it when we eat out, which is not that often.
Anyway, one day when I had a huge list of errands to run, I decided to stop by a fast food restaurant to get a bite for me and the kids (you can shoot me now... shameless!). And before I even got up to the window to order anything, Lincoln speaks up: "Ummmm, Diet Coke." I guess I should cut back my intake just a wee bit... I just about died laughing!

When I have to load the kids in the car, I let Lincoln get in the front seat and 'drive' for a little while until I have Orion clipped in. This has become my saving grace since we have a coupe and will not be getting a different car any time soon (so sad, another post). There was a stretch of time where he discovered the horn and would honk it like crazy. Every time after, when I would see him go for the horn, he would be warned with a 'no honking' or he would not get to drive. This little warning went on for a few days until the novelty of the horn wore off.
Weeks after that, I was cut off by someone pretty badly and dangerously, so I was leaning on my horn to show my, ahem, road rage. It may have been a bit excessive, but my babies were in the car and the mother bear in me rose up! There was nothing but quiet in the car for 10 seconds, then Lincoln says, in a really serious voice (copying my serious voice) "No honking!" He even wagged his finger, for shame... I got served! :)

I hope you got a laugh out of those! And thankfully, writing them down convinced me to keep him for a few more days... :)

*Just in case anyone was wondering, I am planning on keeping my son... it's just been a little stressful with Bryan gone A LOT. Every mom with a husband owning a business and schooling full time simultaneously totally understands my frustration when your kid redecorates your entire bathroom with pee and toilet water. The ENTIRE bathroom. But I will not dewll on that too much...

Backpedaling

2008-11-27T23:25:00.000-08:00

So we are not, I repeat, NOT moving! And this is where I start backpedaling... I need to rescind our 30-day notice, unpack packed boxes, resubmit our names for an apartment change, blah blah blah. But I suppose it's a good thing:

I got rid of unnecessary junk that we've been holding on to for years
I GET TO DECORATE FOR CHRISTMAS! YAY YAY YAY!!! :)
We get to stay in our ward (sorry WP ward, no Harrisons for you, sad clown face)
We get the entire (tiny) place to ourselves instead of sharing it with someone else
We will still qualify for Bridge Housing Scholarships, woot
Our not-so-great neighbors are in the process of moving themselves, so we will have (hopefully) better neighbors to stare at (our patios face one another)
We get the entire (tiny) place to ourselves instead of sharing it with someone else
In any event, we won't be here longer than 18 months anyway (once Bryan is done with school, we'll more than likely be in Washington or the East Coast)
We get the entire (tiny) place to ourselves instead of sharing it with someone else (gee, do I sound like I was worried about that one?)

In all honesty, the closer we got to moving, the closer I got to dreading it. This is coming from the girl that before she moved to Cali, she would move once every two years, give or take. I'm not a newbie to moving at all, and I'm always up for adventure. I just... was dreading it. So now I suppose I don't have to dread any more! And I can finally paint these white walls, ack! :)

David Bowie & Mick Jagger= BFF

2008-11-27T20:30:00.000-08:00

If you can't watch all 3 minutes of this horror, get in line. This physically pains me, down to my own pair of 1985 banana yellow sneakers. The worst part (as if there is even a good part)? It's a cover song. WHAT are these guys doing a cover song for??? How two of the greatest rock legends since rock was invented came together like THIS...

the world may never know.

Want a good book?

2008-11-25T03:12:00.000-08:00

I found a blog that I am totally in love with! My Super Hopeless Romance. Talk about unrequited love! Oh man, I'm totally rooting for this girl! It reads like a great book, and I'm not sure if it's really a true life thing (though pretty much every girl has gone through this in one fashion or another), but it's just so addicting! I've been up all night reading it! Get your fill, ladies. Twilight was SO last year! :)

It was cute the first ten times...

2008-11-25T01:39:00.000-08:00

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

But after 20 times? Believe me, it gets cumbersome. Lincoln LOVES this song! I am over it. Sorry Doogie, we can still be friends, though. :)

The secret's out...

2008-11-20T22:05:00.000-08:00

Three posts in one night... I am good!

I have been trying so hard to keep this hush-hush (haven't been too good at that) because we weren't sure if it really would happen, but we are moving! Into a house! Well, not OUR house, but a house nonetheless! We (more like I) are so excited to have a washer/dryer! It's not the perfect move, but it is pretty sweet. We are moving to Escondido with Bryan's parents, and I must say that the pros definitely outweigh the cons. We'll be there for 18 months tops, then it's off to who knows where next. Despite having to live with another family after myself being the queen bee, I think it's a good move all around. Wish us luck! We'll more than likely be in San Marcos until the week after Thanksgiving. But we will still be in the same Stake. Oh, how I love the Escondido South Stake!

This is a panoramic view of where we will live. It's actually 2 pics photoshopped together; the house is atop a hill, not flat like it looks (the driveway slopes).

The best part? We spent the better part of two months renovating the inside (remodeled bathrooms, refinished cabinets in kitchen & hall, new paint, new blinds, flooring, etc) because we were planning to rent it out. Circumstances just made it so that we would be the renters! YAY!

Orion update

2008-11-20T21:47:00.000-08:00

Orion J. Harrison - 1/26/08

My beautiful sweet little boy is growing up so fast! He's still such a pudgy baby, I love it! This precious little one just keeps getting more and more rolls, it's so so cute.

He is starting to hold his own with Lincoln; his defense is grabbing hair.

He loves the bath and would spend all day splashing if he could.

He is standing up now! The longest he's stood up by himself is about 10 seconds, and he's getting braver by the day.

He is super fast in crawling mode.

He is a total flirt with the ladies, but he gets away with it because he really is such a beautiful little boy.

Orion is huge. He's just about 23 pounds and 9.5 months. Mr. Chunk. He wears the same size diapers as Lincoln (5). Between my two kids, I heft an extra 50+ pounds each day!

Orion has a naturally happy disposition. The only time he isn't happy or content is when he is tired, hungry, or needing attention. Seriously, everyone loves this kid! He is now in the 'talking' phase... oh wait, he's always been in the talking phase! He's quite vocal. His G-ma Patty says that he's going to be a singer like his mama. Hmmm, we'll see. That would be really fun!

(Orion with Aunt Chrissy)

Orion is my little snuggler. Lincoln wasn't too much of a snuggly baby, so I am loving this. His bedtime ritual? Dinner. Bath. Bottle. Throw him in his crib and put his blanket next to his face (okay, not really throw, you know what I mean). Walk away. Seriously. It's that awesome.

Bryan and I are so blessed to have this boy in our family!

Thanks again Aunt Jennie for the pictures, they turned out great!

Lincoln-isms

2008-11-20T21:14:00.000-08:00

Lincoln is such a blur of energy, hence the blurry picture! He is so communicative now, it's hard to keep up sometimes. Here are a few things he has done/said recently that have just made me laugh:

One morning, all four of us were playing on the bed, Lincoln pats Bryan's head, and says "I like daddy's spiky hair!" -Bryan shaves his head because he's going bald, there is no "spiky"!

I was laying on the floor, Lincoln snuggles up beside me, pokes my tummy a few times, and says "squishy". Yeah, nothing like a 2 year old to make any semblance of your self-esteem take a nose dive... :)

Every time he sees a candle (burning or not), he goes to 'blow it out', and starts singing Happy Birthday. He does it with our stove burners, too. SO funny!

He constantly climbs on the bathroom counter to get to his toothbrush/paste. His G-pa would be so proud!

We are potty training right now, and he INSISTS on doing it "like daddy". Exactly. The same stance and everything. Hilarious.

At least once per day, he grabs my purse, slings it on his shoulder as I would do, and yells "let's go bye-bye!"

He knows he's not allowed outside without shoes, so when the door is open he grabs the closest shoes he can find, whether or not they are his.

He puts coins in his pockets and keeps them there the entire day. And he gets REALLY sad if he loses them!

When he sees keys, he MUST try them out on a doorknob.

This morning he was jumping towards the bathroom fan (from the floor), and said "I can't reach it!"

If he is climbing on something that he knows is not allowed, he looks at me and says exactly the way I would "Don't fall"; same voice inflection and everything.

Today he was 'helping' me with Orion's diaper rash, and without my knowledge was smearing the floor and all of the toys in the room with TriplePaste. He even put it on Orion's face, probably thinking that cortizone (Lincoln has a rash on his chin) and diaper rash cream are one in the same. Poision Control said Orion would be fine.

If we are outside he reminds me "Stay on the sidewalk" (not in the street) or "get the mail". So cute!

In the car he almost always asks "Where's the music?"

When Orion is screaming, he says "ssshhhhhhh, QUIET", in a shushing voice. haha!

He has this fascination with eggs. I don't know where he gets it from. Today he got into the fridge -again- and grabbed the carton of eggs, put three in a bowl (that he also got from the cupboard), took a spoon from the drawer, then started stirring. Too bad they were still in their shells. When he realized this, he used his hand to squish one open. He was very surprised at the outcome!

Where does he get this stuff? He cracks me up!

the 4th

2008-11-19T20:41:00.001-08:00

I've seen this tag go around for a while and I'm probably one of the later ones to participate, but here goes nothin':

This is our first place, Maple St, Escondido. Super cute, huh? I WISH we had the whole place to ourselves! Bryan and I rented the top half from our landladyfromhell, sort of like a granny flat. Once you enter the front door, there is a small parlor with an entrance to the first floor, then a grand(ish) staircase to your right with another locked entrance to the 2nd level. It's one of the historical homes in Escondido, and it was so beautiful and quaint and perfect! Besides the landlady. She was AWFUL.
Bryan moved all of our stuff in about a week before we were married, and things were so awesome. Until Ms. EVIL (names have been changed) called, on our wedding day, to tell us she was removing the front door to our flat. HELLO! I was so outraged! And if you know me, if I am truly fired up about something there is no one standing after my rant is over! :)
It turns out that unbeknownst to us, she was subletting (which means that she was renting herself, then making extra money by renting to us), which is #1 a HUGE no-no if you want to keep your Historical Home status w/ the Historical Society in Escondido, and #2, she was already in trouble with the city for doing it previously. That's why she wanted to take our front door away; so it wouldn't look like it was rented out. Oh, and I forgot to mention that our bedroom had no door on it (it wasn't built to be an official bedroom, so the original builders in 18something never equipped the opening to hang a door). So we thought that we were pretty much screwed.
Until the following Monday, when Terra Cotta called us and said we were approved to move in! So we spent our Honeymoon $$ on the deposit/rent, and our Honeymoon moving. What a way to start a marriage!
Anyway, that's what the picture is all about. Ahhh, the memories! :)

one of THOSE days...

2008-11-19T19:00:00.000-08:00

Orion. All. DAY.

It only took one minute...

And about 30 seconds...

The balls were dirty? (another one of Lincoln's artwork pieces)

Soap. Everywhere.

BOY, am I glad they fell asleep early!

2008-11-17T22:46:00.000-08:00

Yay, I got tagged by Melody! And Tiffany, I will eventually get to your purse tag (from about a million years ago), I just want to get a new purse first! :) K, here we go:

Favorite Person (outside of family)? Hmmm, I would have to say it's Sam. We just really get each other. And we have a really funny story about how we met and became friends that you seriously can NOT beat!

Favorite Food? Can't decide... oh the choices! Right now I'm really into pizzas. Like, gourmet make-your-own.

Quirks about you? I fall asleep while reading in bed. Not like I read to fall asleep, but I fall asleep with the book still in the reading position, and it will stay like that all night if Bryan doesn't see me! I have to have my drinking water SUPER cold. If it isn't cold, I won't drink it.

Any regrets in life? Nothing too major.

Favorite Charity/Cause? LDS church (tithing, fast offerings)

Favorite Blog recently? Embrace The Chaos, by far! I don't even know her (I found the link on Katie's blog), but when I've had a particularly bad "lincoln escaped/broke another irreplaceable item/had waaaaay too many tantrums" day, it always cheers me up. She has a really funny way of posting about every day catastrophies. I have stalked her blog more than a few times, and I've laughed out loud for 5 minutes straight before! Her kids are just like mine! :)

Something you can't get enough of? My babies (Bryan, Link, Little O)

Worst Job you've ever had? I haven't had too many bad jobs... I would have to say the worst was my last branch position at WAMU (Del Mar Operations Supervisor), not because of the position, but because of the other management. I loved my position, my tellers, my branch, but my management team... phew! They made my life very difficult (too much drama between them, and I got sucked in and forced to choose sides because I was the new girl in town). Good thing pretty much everyone has now gone their separate ways; they were a walking accident waiting to happen! Other than that, I LOVED working at WAMU, and would do it again in two seconds if circumstances allowed me to.

What job would you pay not to have? Mike Rowe's job (host of 'Dirty Jobs'). He literally gets the worst of EVERY job!

Guilty Pleasure? Bryan would say that I'm an ice cream fiend, but since the price has gone UP and the quantity has gone DOWN, I've given it up for the most part. Since then, it's been astro-pops (Big Stick popsicles... YUM!)

Got any confessions? I don't like chocolate. I'm a woman and I don't like chocolate, what's wrong with me? :) I don't even crave it during those few days every month... crazy, I know.

If you had $1000 dollars to spend on yourself how would you spend it? Oh my, a spa trip weekend. Let's go THIS weekend! Who's forking over the dough? :)

Favorite thing about your house? That it's not permanent.

Least favorite thing about your house? Itty-Bitty living space (name that Disney Animated Feature!)

One thing you are bad at? Fashion

One thing you are good at? Empathy/Compassion

If you could change one thing about your circumstances, what would it be? Mo' money! And a paid off house next to a lake, (but not next to the Mississippi, which floods every year anyway)!

Who would you like to meet someday? Sarah Palin; maybe she could give me some fashion tips while I'm meeting her, LOL

What makes you feel sexy? When my hubby... ummm, never mind!

Who is your real life hero? My husband. He is so awesome and forgiving and self-sacrificing, and funny and spiritual and a great daddy!

What is the hardest part of your job? Endurance, consistency, and PATIENCE

When are you most relaxed? When the kids are asleep!

What can you not live without? Spontaneity

Do you agree or disagree with the recent article that reported that blogs are authored by narcissists? Never read the article, but probably disagree to a point. There probably are people out there that just love to write about themselves/their adventures. But most of us use a blog to share with others that we can't see on a regular basis. But let's be honest here... doesn't everyone love to get comments? It motivates us to keep writing more!

Why do you blog? For the comments... LOL! Really, it's so I will remember what went on a few weeks prior. My memory has become that splotchy. Hopefully it will come back soon.

Who are you tagging? Sam, Rebecca, Brooke B (both of you), Katie, Tiffany, and YOU! :)

Random thoughts

2008-11-14T15:07:00.001-08:00

I know all of you are dying to get into my fabulous brain, so here is a snippet of what I think about during any given day. Any responses (or answers to my musings) would be greatly appreciated!
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Google Reader is a great tool but I am too lazy to put in all the addresses. It would be nice if they joined the 21st century and allowed an easy transfer/cut and paste option. Or maybe I'm doing it wrong??? Sheesh!

If Lincoln escapes one more time today, I swear I will chain him to a DOOR.

I wonder what it would be like to be a surrogate mother? I bet the husband would absolutely HATE that. All those hormones, then no baby at the end. wow.

Should I try to sell my diaper clutches and baby blankets? Would it even be worth the hassle? I know how much PAPERWORK and TAXES are involved even in a small business. Could I really handle it on top of all that stuff I do now?

I HAVE TO GET A REFRIGERATOR LOCK. One that works. None of this 'stick on and clasp' crap. Don't people know my boy is an evil genius?

What should we do (for free) tomorrow? Bryan is getting the dent in his truck fixed and it's going to take the whole day in San Diego. I'm thinking Presidio Park, Balboa Park, then... maybe Seaport Village? Oh boy, I'm gonna be loving the two boys with no naps situation tomorrow!

I really hope we can sell our car and get a bigger one SOON. Then again, not really. I need four doors, but as bad as a coupe is, a coupe is better than no car at all.

Global Warming is both a myth and a reality. It's seriously overkill. Al Gore, get over it. And you DIDN'T invent the Internet, sorry.

Wow, I thought Prop 8 passed? What's up with the GLBT community trying to spread "tolerance" after it passed? And I really wish they wouldn't compare this to the Civil Rights movement. That is so LAME.

Speaking of, why oh WHY are Bisexuals lumped in with the gays/lesbians/bisexual/transgender community? If your attraction to the same sex is something you are born with (which is what they claim), and bisexuals have sex with BOTH men and women...? I don't get it. To me, regardless of a bazillion studies, that is a choice. A pretty strange one at that.

I'm so sad that Michael Jackson is a weirdo. His music is (was) awesome.

I've come to realize that my kids love rocking out to 80's music. Orion prefers Robert Palmer (you're addicted to love), while Lincoln loves Bon Jovi. Who knew?

I CAN'T WAIT FOR JANUARY 2010!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bryan will graduate with a BA in Graphic Design emphasizing in 3D Animation. I will finally have my husband AND my nights back! I can handle being a single mom for one year and three months...

Santa is poor this year, so I won't be getting a new digital camera. So sad. Maybe after our tax return?

I keep forgetting to borrow mom's water bath (canning). Maybe on Saturday!

Should I grow my hair out again, or keep it short? I like it long, but Bryan like it short. The problem with short hair is that it has to be 'done' all the time. That is not possible for me right now. Not when Lincoln wakes up with the sun. I can barely get in a shower!

The battery on our laptop started failing exactly 10 days after our warranty expired. Huh. How clever.

Making your own baby food really isn't as terrible as I thought it would be. I'd been meaning to do it for months now, and now that Orion is almost done with it... well, I suppose I'll do it indefinitely for our next ones (No announcements, I'd better not be pregnant!).

I now have a lot of stage 2 & 3 baby food coupons up for grabs...

I'm LOVING that Lincoln is so into carrots right now! I can tell him that sweet potatoes (cut up) are carrots and he eats them. Now if I could only get Bryan to do the same... the only veggies he eats are the lettuce and tomato on a burger!

Why do I still submit my Pamper Points if I pretty much know I'm never going to use them? All their prizes are dumb now. They no longer offer the Kelty Kids Bike I had my eye on... hmmm.

How on earth can a two year old have this much ENERGY?

I'm so glad Orion is pretty darn easy going. At least for now. For all I know he could spend the rest of his life catching up to Lincoln.

I love that my boys are so close in age, but it's still pretty funny that there are some out there who think they are twins. Yeah... one of my 'twins' has dwarfism. No, they are not twins, birth control just doesn't work correctly for the Harrison's!

I haven't had a nice compliment from a male in a long time (besides Bryan). Do I really look that Matronly? Gotta work on that. Not that I'm fishing for compliments or anything, but you know how it is... it's nice to know that you've still got it.

If we don't end up in California, we are more than likely going to settle in the Seattle area. I can safely say that I am so stoked at that prospect! Considering that I'm not too big of a beach person, and it costs two arms and a leg to buy a house here, I'm not all that choked up. But that's a long way off anyway. And it's ultimately which video game company Bryan is going to be working for. I know he wants to open his own studio... but I really don't want to! Not after our own business endeavor. I want my job to be the mommy and that's it. (No more paperwork/accounting that keeps me up) Everyone knows how much of a full time job that is in itself. And I think I'm pretty good at it, too! Just please, no more small business owner stress attached!

I really need to be better at eating during the day. I get so busy with whatever that I don't realize how ravenous my body is, then I overeat and start the vicious cycle all over again. I won't be able to get away with that for forever.

I wonder how newspapers are still in business? How has the Internet affected their revenues?

The problem with our financially lacking status isn't our overspending, it's our lack of anything coming in! Good thing it's not for forever.

Wouldn't it be awesome to be COMPLETELY out of debt? We're getting there! This year we started by not using ANY of our credit cards. It's been tough, but amazing to not owe any more than we already do.

I found out today that we owe less that I originally thought for Bryan's truck; YAY!!!

I need to find a sweepstakes that I can enter for free and win a car/suv/van/anything bigger than we have now that gets decent gas mileage. Then I need to win it. :)

Our next baby needs to be a girl. I've paid my dues. :)

I REALLY need more space than we have. A homeofficekitchenlivingdining room isn't cutting it. I am constantly in a state of clutter and that's really getting to me. I would love to be where I once was: uber organized. Methinks I will never get there!

SO bummed that the Nutmeg house probably won't work out. Chalk it up to just ANOTHER Harrison (extended) family miscommunication (hate those).

I am so close to going out and getting ANY paint color for the walls. I am so done with no personality stark white walls!

Wow, even though my kids are crazy, I am SO glad they don't act like the neighbor kids. Lincoln really is a thoughtful, sweet boy. He's just so full of energy and inquisitiveness, too!

So, if we're having Thanksgiving a week early (McBride side), does that mean I can decorate for Christmas a week early? :)

I am really looking forward to the day when we will have a back yard. Can't wait. So excited. Hoping it's sooner rather than later.

It bugs me when people just look at my blog and don't comment. I don't care if I don't know you. But the funny thing is, I totally do the same thing!

I need to get Bryan's heart and glucose levels checked out. There is diabetes in his family and I think he's a pretty high risk. He doesn't seem to think it's all that important. HELLO, it is!

I need new frames and glasses. Gotta wait for the tax return! :)

To go for cloth diapers or not...? If I had my own washer, definitely. But, seeing as I don't, no way.

Who do I know that wants a Costco sized jar of pickles with about 5 pickles missing? Yes, I still have it! Pickles don't go bad for years anyway, and I value the fridge space more than the pickles!

I've never been a girly girl, but I'm not a sporty girl either. Where do I fit in? Not too sure. Does that mean I'm having an identity crisis?

I'm glad Lincoln is getting over the 'break everything in sight just to see if it really holds up' phase. Really glad.

How are we going to put up or tree this year with TWO sets of sticky fingers?

The Twilight movie? Sure, I want to see it. But I'm not totally into it. Maybe I'll ask Lisa to go and make the hubbies watch the kids. No video games, just play with the kids!

I want to lose 40 pounds in 6 months. That's about 6.6 pounds each month. Less than 2 pounds per week. I can totally do that.

What to make for dinner? Leftovers, yay! :)
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Thanks for taking a peek into my psyche! Come back anytime!

Adventures in feces

2008-11-12T00:11:00.000-08:00

Yeah, scary title! Our story begins on a lovely blustery Sunday afternoon. The Harrison family has a long standing tradition of the Sunday nap. All four of us take a nice nap on Sunday after church. It's great to be able to do it (no after church meetings for us anymore/yet), so we take advantage where we can.
HOWEVER...

Lincoln has been boycotting the naps lately. This doesn't bother us too much, as his doorknob has a lock on it facing outward (Honestly, if you think this is cruel, you need to spend an entire day with him and try to make him take a nap/go to sleep at night. After you do that, then you can bring on the protesting, lol!), for his safety, and my sanity!
Anyway, it takes him a while to settle down as it is, so when I hear him banging around in his room, I'm not overly concerned.
I took a nice long nap. Orion snoozed peacefully. Bryan slept great. Lincoln did not sleep. At. ALL. I remember waking up during my nap, and Bryan telling me that he wasn't asleep yet. I was enjoying my nap too much to do anything about it, so I hurridly went back to sleepy-land.
Hours have passed. We are all up, and refreshed from our siestas. Orion is in my arms, waiting to be changed. Bryan is up, more than likely on the computer. Then I hear a very sleepy moaning in Lincoln's room. It's the sound where your kids just got woken up unintentionally, they are still sleepy, and getting louder by the minute. So I did what I normally do, and opened his door.

SURPRISE!!!

Lincoln decorated his room in POOP!

When I say his room, I mean his ROOM! The walls, his toys, his sheets, his blankets, his hands, Orion's crib (which has been set up since day 1 but has never been able to sleep in because apparently Lincoln doesn't like to share a room), the carpet, even the doorknob is covered in the stuff! Wow, I must have a budding artist, because he even textured the walls in a Jackson Pollock-like manner. Lucky me.

I was so stunned, I had no words! Then Bryan got a whiff... wow! Lincoln was awarded with a not-so-warm bath, and a stern talking to. He was visibly upset and sorry. (I restrained myself quite well and didn't freak out too much) And Bryan got the very best award... he got to clean the carpets, protein spotter and all!

Don't worry, I got my little prize, too. I got to clean the walls. Yummy. And by the time we got to Lincoln (we don't really know what time the prepetrator defaced the walls), his poop was already dried up in little drywall-like clumps on the walls. Oh, goody. He even took special care to get it on the baseboards. If anything, he is thorough. I went through an entire cylinder of clorox wipes, then Lysol to boot.

One great thing came out of this ordeal. It obviously left a huge impression on Lincoln that this was the WRONG thing to do. That very night, he woke up around midnight (what a surprise, we were still up), knocked on his door (remember, the locked one!), and said he needed the potty. And did he ever! He filled up that potty pretty well, even though he could have used his diaper to pee in. Yay for Lincoln! Since the poopy incident, he has been awesome in the potty department. So I'm happy (???) for his artistic poop. And let it be a lesson to me that he's actually ready to be potty trained; I shouldn't be so lazy about it!