Jeff and Amy

This is Jeff, Pete's brother, and his wife, Amy. I have always really liked Amy. They came up, like, maybe six weeks ago, to visit Nat and Pete. Amy and I are getting to know each other better via blog, and she suggested we come over and play one evening, so we did. Her kids are really great, and they are all three years apart, which I'm starting to think is a good plan. Maybe Micah and the next one should be three years apart. Not that I'm necessarily having a fourth kid, but if I am, it's something I'm thinking about... Dylan and Sadie are two years apart, and I don't know if that was a big enough space for me to handle very well. Micah and Sadie are almost three years apart, and it's been much nicer. So we'll see. Luckily, I don't have to think about kid spacing for a long, long time. If ever.

Nat and Pete have a lock on their fridge, because their kids are big-time fridge raiders (and kool-aid spillers), and Ben didn't realize for the longest time why he couldn't get the fridge door to open. It was funny:

And here's a leetle slide show. The weather was still nice and warm when they were here, so we banished the kids to the backyard. Nat's next door neighbor, Erin, also came over with her cute kids, so I have pics of them, too:

Alley

Hm. That was an interesting experience. I typed "alley" into Google Images, and it pulled up all kinds of things - pictures of Kirstie Alley, nasty, soft-porn pictures of girls named Alley, an alley cat, and maps of Tornado Alley. Interesting.

Anyways, we have an alley behind our house, and it looks nothing like the alley above. The alley above is apparently in Verona, Italy. Ours is very ugly and dry and gravelley. And my nasty neighbors have thrown a bunch of stuff in the alley, because they are too lazy to put it into the dumpster we share. But the garbagemen won't take it away, because it's not in the dumpster. So they're having a little battle. Ah, the neighbors. How I love them. :(

If you go from my backyard into the alley and walk for about two houses, you will reach a park. This is the park where Dylan gets dropped off by the bus after school. I have tried several times to meet him there and walk home with him, but the dang bus is either way too early or way too late. And Dylan changes the way he walks home every day. Sometimes he takes the road to the east of us, sometimes the road to the west of us, and sometimes he takes the alley. So I'll go at the appointed time, and I'll just have missed him, but not know it, and we'll miss each other, because he'll be walking home one of his skewompus ways. Or I'll go, like, 30 seconds too late, but not know it, and I will have missed him again. It's so frustrating.

Micah and Sadie are usually napping when Dylan gets home from school, and since it's two houses away, I feel okay getting Dylan at the park and leaving the kids in their beds for five minutes. Maybe that's wrong of me, but I don't think it's worth waking them up out of a sound sleep to stand in the cold for five minutes. But if I've missed Dylan somehow - if his bus is early or late - he'll walk in the house and get all scared and confused that I'm not there and start screaming at the top of his lungs and crying, which of course wakes up Sadie and Micah. I've finally stopped trying to meet him at the park. I've only managed to catch him there once. So Dylan now knows to walk straight home. He has a couple of friends who walk home with him from the bus, which makes me feel a little bit better about it.

Anyways, back when I was still trying to syncronize the bus and myself, Sadie happened to be awake, and I said, "Hey, do you want to go get Dylan from the bus with me?" And of course, she said yes.

So we're walking through the backyard to our back gate, and Sadie says, "Where we doh-ing?" [She has a very bad short-term memory.]

I say, "We're getting Dylan."

"Why we doh-ing dis way?"

"It's faster if we go through the alley."

Sadie stops dead in her tracks, her eyes wide with fear. "We are doh-ing to det an owie??

Alley... owie... You can see the mixup there. So I hugged her and told her that the alley is where our garbage can is, that we are not going to get any type of owies, I promise. So she went with me. And we missed Dylan by like a minute. Sigh.

Shower Interruptions

That dang Dylan. He is so high-maintenance!! Whenever I take a shower (how dare I take ten minutes for myself???), he interrupts me about half a dozen times to ask for help or ask questions or to inform me about things. I've told him, um, every single day for about three years, to leave me alone when I'm showering; that I'll help him when I'm done. But he continues to pester me. Yes, we have a lock on our bathroom door, but Dylan uses his fingernail to unlock it. We really need to get a new doorknob with a lock he can't so easily pick.

I decided, a couple of days ago, to mentally keep track of the things he interrupted my shower for:

Interruption #1: "Mom, can you tie my Superman blanket around me so it looks like a cape?"
Interruption #2: "Mom, Sadie told me I'm stupid..."
Interruption #3: "Hey, Mom, I'm playing with my Legos, and I have one dragon and three weapons. Which one do you think will win the battle, the dragon, or the weapons?"
Interuption #4: "You were wrong, Mom. The weapons lost."
Interruption #5: "Hey, Mom, which one do you think will win now - the dragon, or the weapons?"
Interruption #6: "You were right, Mom. The dragon won."
Interruption #7: Sadie comes in, crying, followed by Dylan, saying, "Mom, Sadie punched me." (Sadie punched him and then spontaneously started crying? I think not.)
Interruption #8: "Mom, my pants are too loose. I need you to tighten the thingeys."
Interruption #9: "Mom, Bambi is done, so it's my turn to pick a movie, but Sadie thinks it's her turn still."
Interruption #10: "Mom, can you find cartoonnetwork.com for me? I want to play my games."
Interruption #11: "Mom, I need a drink."
Interruption #12: "I need to go potty."

Obviously, my answer to all of these interruptions was, "I'll help you when I'm done with my shower," except the last one, which was, "Thanks for the announcement, Dylan." Yeah, a new doorknob is going on my Christmas wish list. :)

Fall Rituals

I really should clean my windows every spring and every fall, but I usually only get to it in the fall. I wanted to get 'em done before the snow came. It was really warm when we did this, which was maybe a month ago. I let Dylan help me spray, which he adored, of course:

Windows, check. Now I need to cut off the tops of my irises and dianthas, and I will be completely winterized. :) I'm not looking forward to the snow. We had soooooo much of it last year. Sigh.

Hooray for Hollywood!

I mentioned the Young Women in Excellence that Patty and I were planning, and I'm finally posting about it (sorry, Patters!). Like I said, it was an Oscar-themed party, and we worked really hard to make it a special event. I took some pre-party pictures of the decorations. I didn't use my flash, because I wanted to catch the ambience of the room. My sweet, sweet mom lent us the decorations she had used for my sister, Brianna's, wedding - they have turned out to be the best investment. Mom has used them over and over again:

The big, round mirrors, the glass vases, and the pebbles are my mom's. Patty provided the candles (which we aren't allowed to light in the church. Sad...) and the star garland stuff. Here's a far-away shot, with our beautiful white Christmas lights in the background:

You can see the champagne glasses - filled with apple juice and sprite, of course! Before the program started, I kept draining my champagne glass and getting more, and one of my girl's moms was like, "Dude, you look like a lush!" It was funny. I was just so thirsty and hungry! I hadn't had time to eat. Luckily, we had hors d'ouvres on each table to snack on, so I wolfed on those when I could.

We borrowed a bunch of fake trees from people we knew and had the girls wrap lights around them. This is Noelle, one of my Laurels:

She came early to help decorate, and I'm so glad, because she also staggered the lights along the woodwork, which added more light. Here's a shot of Whitney, one of my other Laurels, with the pretty lighting in the background:

We asked all the girls to dress in formals for this. As you can see from the shot of Noelle, not all girls decided to do it, but most did, as you can see above, with Whitney(another Laurel), and below, with my third Laurel, Aubrey:

A few of the girls wore tennis shoes and flip-flops under their dresses. I don't know how anyone can stand to wear flip-flops in this weather!! I was planning to wear this dress (this picture was taken at Brianna's wedding in the summer of 2006):

Wow! Chubba-wubba! Anyways, my mom had donated my pretty bridesmaid dress to the girls in her ward for their camp fundraiser. I was so sad! Because I love purple, and that dress actually would have fit me. As you can see, it didn't fit so well in 2006, but I'd like to think I've lost a few pounds since then, and it actually might have fit me this time. Sigh. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. My friend, Cat, had some dresses from her proms in high school that could fit me, but Karlene, the Beehive advisor, called dibs on the prettiest one of all. Here she is, in blue, with the 1st counselor, Diane:

Cat had another dress that looked much like the one I wore to my sister's wedding - short sleeved, light purple - and Noelle called dibs on that one, but then she didn't wear it! If I had known she wouldn't wear it, I would have swiped it for myself! So I got Cat's Chinese dress, which is pretty in and of itself, but it made me look like I was a pregnant football player:

Patty brought over some dresses for me to try on a few days before the program, and as I was trying them on, I was like, "Wow, these remind me of the eighties. Maybe people in Pittsburgh have a different sense of style..." One dress had a cape, even!! It reminded me of those SuperNanny capes. But then I came to find out that those were Patty's mom's dresses, not Patty's dresses! Phew! Those all made me look pregnant, too. Sad. Patty wore her mom's awesome gold pants-and-shirt outfit, plus a fur coat and a wig:

So awesome!! If I had known dressing silly was an option, I would have worn the cape getup. When I was trying it on, Dylan said, "Mom, you look like a superhero!" By the way, note the pretty silver and gold stars hanging from the ceiling. A nice touch.

First, we had a speaker, and then Patty and I gave each girl an award for her YW in Excellence project. Here are the awards:

Then, instead of an acceptance speech, each girl gave a little speech on what her project was. We gave awards like, "most likely to use in the future," "most colorful," etc., depending on what each girl's project was. When we were presenting each girl with her award, we said some cute things about her, while Colette, the YW president:

and her husband, Lynn, did a slideshow thingey:

Then we did this "lifetime achievement" award for Noelle, because she got her Young Womahood Recognition award. So it's like those lifetime achievement awards they give at the Oscars. So that was really cute. And then a member of the bishopric spoke, and we were done! Here I am, taking down all those dang stars:

The girls stuck around to help clean up, and of course, they found the helium balloons and had a good time sucking on them and talking. Shannon, our sole Mia Maid, kept sucking the balloons, and then saying in a chipmunk voice, "Edward Cullen is sooooo dreamy..." Patty was having a bit too much fun with the balloons, as well:

Karlene let me take the rest of the balloons home for my kids to play with, and Dylan desperately wanted to decorate his room with them. He arranged them on his bunkbed, and then he made a bunch of stars by tracing around the stars I had taken down (I saved them for Nat, who is doing the same theme for her YW in Excellence in a week or so) and coloring them. Then he arranged those on his bunkbed, as well. The result:

The kid is so creative. He even staggered the balloons. A very artistic touch.

The night turned out to be so special and fun, and I'm glad we worked hard on it, because I think the girls feel more loved when you put work into their activities. I'm glad it's done, because I had like four days of dishes piled up in the sink - I had been so busy! But you know, I always have four days of dishes piled up in my sink, anyways. Not too big of a difference, really.

Post-Nap Depression

Last month, my friend, Anjie, wrote this post. It is hilarious. Her son, Reagan, had woken up from a nap in a majorly bad mood. My other friend, Angela, commented that her daughter sometimes wakes up grumpily from a really restful nap, and that she calls it "post-nap depression." I chuckled at that, because my kids suffer the same problem from time to time. Here is Dylan, who actually took a nap one Sunday (It's getting harder and harder to get the kid to take naps. That's how I was as a kid. I did not want to miss out on anything):

As you can see, he was experiencing some post-nap depression.

Here's Sadie, suffering from the same problem:

She was not happy about the spontaneous photo shoot. :) She cried for, like, an hour, and I had had enough, so I did something very, very naughty...

Let me back up. When Sadie turned three, I told her she was too old for her sippy cups; that she had to drink from normal cups, like Dylan. I washed them all and put them on my ledge by my stairs, for me to pack away for Micah to use when he turns one:

I took sippy cups away from Dylan at age three, as well, but we have a few sport bottles hanging around, and if they're clean, I let the kids use them to drink their drinks from. Dylan calls them "White Big Boy Sippy Cups." I know; quite a mouthful. We have a couple of white ones, and I just inherited this one from my first 5K a couple of months ago:

The thing about White Big Boy Sippy Cups is that they leak if you don't plug the tops well, and the tops are kind of stiff - hard for small kids to pop down and up. Dylan does okay, but Sadie does not. After a couple of weeks of near-constant spills from Sadie's use of these... well, I'll shorten it for you - WBBSC's, I was like, no. You can just drink from normal cups. No WBBSC's for you, Sade. Which made her sad, because when you have a WBBSC, you can sit on the couch and watch Bambi, cuddling your favorite stuffed animal, Saw, and wrap yourself up in a blanket, drinking away. When you have a cup, you aren't allowed in the living room with it. Not very pleasurable.

Alright, now to the naughty part. Sadie was inconsolable after her nap, and I desperately needed to cook dinner. So...... I gave her a sippy cup and turned on Bambi:

Bad, bad, bad. And I've continued letting her use them, because they really are kind of an emotional crutch for her. When I wake her up in the morning for preschool, she is a beastmaster, but if I wake her up with a fresh sippy cup full of chocolate milk, she can cope better. It's like some peoples' early morning cup of coffee. Or my lunchtime Coke. It just makes life a little bit easier to cope with. So just call me Enabler.

Celeb Crushes

My cute little sisters are such tag originators. They always come up with tags, and as you know, I love my tags... Nat started this one today - you're supposed to name the celeb, in your opinion, who is the handsomest/sexiest/prettiest per each of the following categories, plus one runner-up: TV Actor, Movie Actor, Classic Actor, Musical Artist, and Actress.

TV Actor - Jeff Goldblum:

A lot of people think this is weird, because he's, like, maybe in his mid- to late forties by now, but I think he just keeps getting better-looking with age. I put him as a TV actor, because I haven't seen him in any movies lately, and he was on a short-lived TV show either last year or the year before where he's a detective whose imagination conjures up the people who have been murdered, and he walks around, talking with them and trying to figure out who killed them. I was really sad when the show ended, though now I can't remember the name of it. Hmmm. Anyways, I just love the way he carries himself and the way he talks. I think that he would be a really charming guy to know. My sister, Beads, says he looks "greasy," but whatever. I was always attracted to tannish, dark-haired guys. (And I married a white-skinned blonde! Who knew?)

Runner-Up: Milo Ventimiglia, who now plays Peter on Heroes. But I fell in love with him when he played Jesse on Gilmore Girls. I was really, really hoping Rory would end up with him, but alas, she didn't. Even though he seems really short, I just think he's super-duper cute.

Movie Actor - Shia LaBoeuf:

You shouldn't be surprised by this. Like I said before, he's really goofy, and for some reason, that's appealing to me. I like the way he talks, too. He's just a cutie. I have a total crush on him.

Runner Up: Viggo Mortensen. I think he is sooooooo handsome in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He is the only guy I've ever seen with a full beard and greasy, shaggy hair who looks good. I hated seeing him without said beard and hair for awhile, but now I'm attracted to his voice and his gentle manner.

Classic Actor - Steve McQueen:

Sorry about the ciggy. But remember, this was in the sixties. Everyone smoked. And it was the only picture that showed his craggy face up close. I love his face. It just is wrinkley and craggy and rugged and lived-in. Once, my mom, my sisters, and I took a road trip sans Dad (I think it was tax season), and Mom rented The Great Escape to watch in the car on the way home. We pulled into the driveway with half an hour left in the movie, and we totally sat in the driveway and finished it. Steve is so handsome.

Runner-Up: Paul Newman. He was so adorable in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. So fun and goofy and playful. I thought the girl in that should have been in love with him, instead of with the Robert Redford character. And in real life, he was such a generous man. Think of the millions his salad dressings made, and he gave every bit of it to charity.

Musical Artist - I'm with Nat on this one - Justin Timberlake:

He's a fantastic dancer, which is always a big draw for me, and he is also a total ham. He is always doing crazy, funny stuff. He doesn't take himself too seriously.

Runner Up: Scott Weiland. I know he is so messed up and a total druggie, but when he sings, he looks so dang good. In all of his emaciated, drugged-up glory.

Prettiest Actress - Anna Friel:

She's on Pushing Daisies. Which I just found out has been canceled. What is it about every show I love being canceled??? Sigh. I think she has a fantastic smile and mouth shape, and great cheekbones. Her hair is retarded in the show, but that's okay, because she's always smiling. That reminds me. I really need to whiten my teeth tonight...

Runner Up - Sandra Bullock. I've always thought she is really, really pretty. I thought she was so gorgeous in Practical Magic. And she seems nice. Ben says that she always just acts like her own personality in all of the movies she is in, and there may be a measure of truth to that, but if that's true, then I think she and I would be good friends. You know; if we knew each other.

Alright, you know the drill. If you wanna do it, do it. :)

What You Git

I can't remember where I heard this phrase, but it's my favorite to use on Dylan: "You git what you git, and you don't throw a fit!!" It's up there on my list of favorite phrases to use. Like, I never get sick of saying, "Dial Whine-One-One!" or "Call the Waaaaahmbulance!" These are just classic phrases to use on one's kids. And it's better than swearing at them, right?

One day, Dylan wanted something outlandish, so I, of course, said no. So he starts whining. I go, "Dylan, you git what you git, and you don't throw a fit!" He screamed, ran into his room, and slammed the door hard. I don't even blink when he does this anymore. He is such a hard kid. Sigh. Anyways, about thirty seconds after he had slammed himself into his room, he abruptly opened the door and yelled, "I GIT WHAT I GIT AND YES THROW A FIT!!!"

Patches

I love Cat Stevens - I used to have his Greatest Hits CD, but it, and all my others, got stolen several years ago. Why not download him onto my iPod, you ask? Um, because I don't have an iPod yet. I know; I'm so out of it. I think almost every single person I know owns an iPod, but when it comes down to it, my choices are usually, "Do I get my kids a Christmas present from Santa, or do I buy myself an iPod?" And you know what the answer to that question is.

Anyways, one of his songs, "Oh Very Young," reminds me of what I'm writing today's post on:

And though your dreams may toss and turn you now

They will vanish away like your daddy's best jeans

Denim Blue fading up to the sky

And though you want them to last forever

You know they never will

You know they never will

And the patches make the goodbye harder still

So, poor Dylan has been running around with holes in all of his knees. He's just really hard on the knees of his pants. He's always kneeling (like his daddy). Those two, instead of sitting cross-legged on the floor, always kneel. I think it's so weird. I hate kneeling. It kills me. We had a kneeboard when we were teenagers, and I tried it a few times, but I couldn't stand it, because it required kneeling for longer than, like, 30 seconds. None of us really loved the kneeboard, and when my cousin, Ryan, got his face cut open on it, we tossed it. Waterskiing is better, anyways.

I digress. Dylan is hard on his knees. I decided one Sunday to patch them, plus Ben's nasty jeans, but I only got as far as patching the holes on each corner of Ben's back pockets before I got really sick of it:

I had decided that, as far as corners of a pocket are concerned, I should just put the patches inside of the jeans. But now I'm wondering if that was the best choice. It doesn't look much better than his garmie bottoms peeking out of the holes. I don't know. I'm so bad at sewing. With the pocket corner patches, I was able to use my ne'er-do-well sewing machine, but I couldn't get it to work for the knees of Ben's pants, so I started hand-sewing a patch on them. Um, that lasted only one of the four sides. Then I looked at Dylan's, like, six pairs of jeans I needed to patch by hand, and I was like, no. Not gonna do this. It would take me a thousand years. Time is of the essence to me. I don't have time to do my hair and makeup every day. I hardly have time to shower! I don't have time to even trim my flippin' fingernails half the time. So do I have time to patch a million pairs of pants by hand? No. So I abruptly stopped Ben's knee patch.

Ben was convinced that he could use my sewing machine to do knee patches, and I was like, knock yourself out, dude. So this is what he did:

He just sewed back and forth, back and forth. It looks retarded. And he still wears them all the time. I'm so embarrassed.

And I was embarrassed about Dylan's jeans, but I was like, he's just going to have to suffer. The jeans are too small, anyways. So I figured that, as I slowly, pair by pair (only as I could afford it), bought jeans in his correct size, I could box his old, small jeans, pair by pair. Then I could fix them when Micah is five and ready to wear them. Maybe I would feel ready to fix them in five years. :)

Mom felt bad for me, so she took pity on me:

She has a really nice machine that isn't a brat about small, cramped, legs of pants. Here is Dylan, happily modeling a pair of patched pants:

Mom did a great job. I think it took her awhile, and I'm so grateful. And I'm tickled with the results. I should have handed over Ben's pair of jeans to have her fix, as well. (And I may still do that.)

Ben just loves those jeans so much that he doesn't want to get rid of them. (And he only has one other pair of jeans. Seriously.) It reminds me of a pair of jeans that I wore my first two years of college that my roommates and I named "The Fabled Ones":

Ignore my caterpillar eyebrows. Ew. Anyways, I loved those jeans so much that they faded and got thinner and thinner and started to get holes in the butt and the knees. So, instead of using plain denim patches, I thought it would be fun to put on colorful patches - hearts, flowers, butterflies, stars, etc. I know, I was weird. And a little bit of a hippie wannabe.

Here are some more shots of The Fabled Ones in action. This is me and my friend Matt. We, and a bunch of others, went up to Jackson for a day. You can see the patches on my right knee:

Lots of plaid involved in that picture. It was 1996, after all. Sing along with me: "Iiiiii, ohhhhhh, I'm still alive...yeahhhhhhh, Iiiiiii, ohhhhhhh, I'm still alive..." Hooray for Pearl Jam and for the grunge era.

My sis, Nat, also patched her jeans. Here we are, circa December, 1996:

My sophomore year, my roommates and I had a bunch of guy friends who we hung out with, and one of them was Cornelio. He was soooo teeny and skinny, and we bet that he could fit into my jeans (this was back when I was teeny and skinny, too), so he tried them on, and behold:

Hahaha!

The Fab Five

When I was an EFY counselor, we worked in "travel groups" of five people. I always traveled with four of the same girls - we did all the same sessions. They were really great girls. There was this travel group of boys that we went to Buena Vista, Virginia with, and they called their travel group The Fab Five. They had this hand sign like they were going to high-five you, but then they would clench their fist and pump it down. It was funny.

10 years ago . . . Nov. 22, 1998.
1. I was an English Teaching major at BYU.
2. I was probably traveling home for Thanksgiving.
3. I was taking a ballet class three times a week - very challenging and rewarding. Different muscles hurt every day.
4. I mentioned this before, but it's worth mentioning again - I had to get braces again. And I was 21.
5. I had sudden, horrible acne and had to go on Accutane.

5 things on my "To-Do" list . . .
1. laundry
2. jog
3. shower
4. work on my Christmas cards
5. do dishes

5 snacks I enjoy . . .
1. skittles
2. gardetto's pretzel mix
3. Coke
4. Reese's pieces
5. those Cinnamon almond things you get in the mall during Christmastime.

5 things I'd do if I were a millionaire . . .
1. pay off our medical bills
2. buy tons of clothes
3. buy tons of scrapbooking supplies
4. hire a maid
5. add on to our house

5 places I've lived . . .
1.Idaho Falls, Idaho
2. San Diego, California
3. West Jordan, UT
4. Salt Lake City, UT
5. Provo, UT

5 jobs I've had . . .
1. Mom
2. Scanner
3. teacher
4. cashier at a bakery
5. cashier at Bath and Body Works

First Child Tag

1. Were you married at the time of the birth? Yes
2. What were your reactions when you found out you were pregnant? I was really excited. We had absolutely been trying to get prego and felt ready.
3. How old were you? When I first got pregnant, I was 25. I had Dylan when I was 26.
4. How did you find out you were pregnant? I was alone at our apartment and peed on a stick.
5. Who did you tell first? I took my dogs out to go potty and saw my neighbor out there and told him. I was just so excited to tell anyone!
6. Did you want to find out the sex? Absolutely.
7. Due date: I think it was June...30th, maybe? I had Dylan... 2 1/2 weeks early.
8. Did you deliver child early or late? Oh, whoops. Already answered this one. I had him on the 12th.
9. Did you have morning sickness? More like All Day Sickness. For the full nine months.
10. What did you crave? Bland sandwiches.
11. Who irritated you the most? My students.
12. What was your first child's sex? boy
13. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy? 30
14. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? Nope.
15. Where did you give birth to your child? The LDS hospital in Salt Lake City.
16. How many hours were you in labor? Um, I think 12 hours.
17. Who drove you to the hospital? Ben
18. Who watched? Ben, the doctor, the nurse, and some pre-med student, I think.
19. Did you take medicine to ease the pain? Oh yes. I am such a chicken. I love epidurals.
20. How much did your child weigh? 8 pounds, three ounces.
21. Why did you name him/her? The name you picked? I named him Dylan. Ben had been wanting Xavier, but I just wasn't brave enough to do that. And his middle name is Timothy, after Ben's dad.

Twilight Premiere

My occupational therapist is the best:

Well, she's not my occupational therapist, though maybe I could use someone to help me cope with my occupation, which is being a mom. A therapist who could, I don't know, work with me on not clenching my jaw when I'm angry at the kids, or something. Anyways, she is Micah's occupational therapist, officially. And she is fantastic at what she does. I'm going to post a picture of her on here when I'm at my home computer. I don't have any pictures from my camera on my work computer. She has figured out what Micah's eating issue is - he has poor muscle tone in his cheeks. So he gets tired sometimes and doesn't want to eat anymore. He's still hungry, but he's too tired to suck. So he cries and yells when I try to give him more of his bottle, but then he cries and yells when I don't, because he's still hungry. It's frustrating. So what we're experimenting with right now is giving him breaks. And it seems to be helping him in his milk intake. During his meals where he's supposed to have veggies and/or cereal along with his bottle, we feed him the cereal and/or veggies, and then let him rest for an hour, and then give him his bottle. And he's taking in much more milk. Or sometimes, when it's just a milk meal, and he starts rejecting the bottle after only three ounces, I put it in the fridge for an hour, let him rest, and try again, and he usually will finish it up. It's frustrating, because I always work so hard to put my babies on a set schedule to teach them that they are supposed to eat when it's time to eat, but if this is what I need to do to improve his weight, then I'll do it. He's got a checkup on Monday - it will be interesting to see how much he weighs. I haven't taken him in since his three-month checkup. He certainly feels heavier and looks a little chubbier, so we shall see.

So, I love Micah's occupational therapist not only because she has helped us solve the Mystery of Micah, but also because she is just so cool. I love chatting with her. She and I both are crazy about the Twilight series, and this last Wednesday, she asked me if I was going to the movie on the 21st. I said, "Naw, I can't afford the tickets. I'll have to wait until next paycheck, maybe." Later that night, she shows up on my doorstep with two movie ticket vouchers. I guess her hubby gets a lot of free movie vouchers from the Edwards Cinema from his work. Can you believe how sweet that was? So Ben went and got us tickets. I thought he'd get us tickets to go to it last night, but he got tickets for the 12:30 showing on Thursday night/Friday morning!!

And it was a BLAST. (Thanks, Mom, for giving up your sleep and comfort to come baby-sit/sleep uncomfortably on our couch for a couple of hours.) There is just something about die-hards getting together at these kinds of things. We were all laughing so hard at the part where Edward first catches a whiff of Bella. When we first caught a glimpse of Jacob Black, there was an audible gasp from everyone in the audience (he is CUTE). We all growled at Jessica. I could hear several squeals when Edward and Bella first kissed. Tons of people came in t-shirts they had bought or made, and I even saw a teenaged dude dressed as Rosalie. Not kidding!!

I was at work for a couple of hours on Thursday evening, and while I scanned, I was looking at Twilight t-shirts online and fantasizing about which t-shirt I would have worn to the premiere, if I could have afforded one.

And Blogger is being a brat and not uploading the pictures of the shirts correctly, but really, they're shirts with words on them, so I'm going to tell you my favorites:

Forks, Wa. It Sprinkles so You Don't Sparkle.

Jacob Black, I Want to La Push You Off a Cliff! [That one made me think of Nat and Pete. They have had many conversations about how they hate Jacob, which has brought some confusion into their house, as their listening son, Jakob, thought they were talking about him!]

Yes, I'm a Mom. Yes, I've Read Twilight. Yes, I Love Edward. (Don't Tell My Husband.)

A Sparkly Man From Forks Told Me I Smell Good. [A bunch of my co-workers ordered those and wore them to the midnight premiere.]

Meanwhile, in a Town Named Spoons...

Cedward: So, Aveda Kedavra Just Turns You Into a Really Hot Vampire? Great Plan, Voldy.

So funny. I thought my fellow Twi-Hards would appreciate those. As my friend Patty would say, as far as the movie goes, I "la-hoved it." I'm wanting to see it again and again. I am such an addict. This is why I need to stay away from the books for awhile. I get so wrapped up in stuff like this, and then normal life seems really depressing. I'm such a weirdo.

Amen!

I read to Sadie before her nap every day, and then I read to the kids every night before bed. Some books say, "the end," at... well... the end, so if the book says it, I say it. And whenever I say, "The end," Sadie always says after me, "Amen!" Cute girl.

Tag from Julie

1. What is your occupation right now? Mommy and scanner


2. What color are your socks right now? I'm not wearing any, of course!!


3. What are you listening to right now? The Land Before Time - Sadie's watching it.


4. What was the last thing that you ate? cereal


5. Can you drive a stick shift? Yep! It took me about ten thousand years to learn! I think I ruined my parents' Honda learning.


6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My mom. We were making arrangements for her to come baby-sit/sleep while Ben and I went to the midnight premiere of Twilight.


7. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Very much!


8. How old are you today? 31-derful years old.


9. What is your favorite sport to watch on TV? basketball


10. What is your favorite drink? Cokeity-Coke


11. Have you ever dyed your hair? Yeah, I used to highlight it in college. Looking back, I think it washed me out pretty badly.


12. Favorite food? bean burritos, although the last one I had gave me some major problems for a few days! Maybe I'm getting too old for bean burritos...


13. What is the last movie you watched? Twilight, baby!


14. Favorite day of the year? My birthday, or maybe Christmas Eve. Christmas day is always kind of a bummer for me.


15. How do you vent anger? I express, not repress (quote from one of my favorite movies - French Kiss)


16. What was your favorite toy as a child? Flat Bear. I still have him. I make my oldest son sleep with him, because I just can't let him go. He was my cuddle buddy for, like, 20 years.


17. What is your favorite season? fall


18. Cherries or Blueberries? Hmmm. Fresh, cherries. In pie filling, blueberries.


19. Do you want your friends to do this tag? Sure!


20. Who is the most likely to do this tag? Um... Suz.


21. Who is least likely to do this tag? Um, most of the people on my blogroll! :)


22. Living arrangements? I like how my step-aunt-in-law, who sent this to me, put it: "I'm in a house with a spouse." Cute. I'm in a house with a spouse, plus three leetle kids.


23. When was the last time you cried? I'm pretty sure it was when I finished the Twilight series. That was a few months ago!! I'm on anti-depressants, which really dry up the well, if you know what I mean.


24. What is on the floor of your closet? Ben's ten thousand pairs of shoes. Ben is the male version of Carrie Bradshaw.


25. Who is the friend you have had the longest that reads your blog? Pooh, although I have to remind her to read it!


26. What did you do last night? Midnight premiere of Twilight. It was a total blast.


27. What are you most afraid of? I always say, "tornadoes," but I'm also afraid of something bad happening to anyone in my family.


28. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers? Cheese.


29. Favorite dog breed? I think American Bulldogs are gorgeous and have really easygoing personalities.


30. Favorite day of the week? Friday.


31. How many states have you lived in? three


32. Diamonds or pearls? Um, probably pearls.


33. What is your favorite flower? lilacs

One Word

TYPE ONLY 1 WORD.


1. Where is your cell phone? basket


2. Your significant other? work


3. Your hair? down


4. Your mother? home


5. Your father? work


6. Your favorite thing? food


7. Your dream last night? none


8. Your favorite drink? Coke


9. Your dream/goal? comfortable


10. The room you're in? living


11. Your fear? tornadoes


12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? comfortable


13. Where were you last night? home


14. What you're not? patient


15. Muffins? blueberry


16. One of your wish list items? clothes


17. Where you grew up? Idaho


18. The last thing you did? makeup


19. What are you wearing? turtleneck


20. Your TV? off


21. Your pet? none.


22. Your computer? lifeline


23. Your life? busy


24. Your mood? calm


25. Missing someone? Beads/Lex


26. Your car? cold


27. Something you're not wearing? shoes


28. Favorite Store? Gap


29. Your summer? short


30. Your favorite color? purple


31. When is the last time you laughed? Dylan


32. Last time you cried? book

FOUR PLACES I GO OVER AND OVER: preschool, speech, Mom's, church


FOUR PEOPLE WHO E-MAIL ME: Julie, Greg, Jenny, Clint

FOUR OF MY FAVORITE FOODS: burritos, pasta, bread, pie


FOUR PEOPLE I THINK WILL DO THIS TAG: anyone who is like me - I do tags that I'm not necessarily invited to do! So whoever wants to will do this one.

Coke Masks

For my kids, anything can be made into a toy. Anything. Real toys? Fuggedaboutit. They are excited about a toy for about one day, and then they don't care anymore. Which is why I don't buy my kids toys.

I love Sadie's eyes in this picture.

She's Eating What???

I posted about this last March - how my daughter loves to eat things that I totally hate/used to hate as a kid. I continue to be flabbergasted by the things she asks to eat. The other day, I was chopping up tomatoes. And she asked for a slice. I figured she'd take one bite and spit it out, but she gobbled it up and asked for more! I'm not a huge tomato fan, and as a kid, I would rather have died than eat any type of tomato, so this surprises me so much.


In this picture, she is eating raw, chopped up jalapeno peppers:

Argh! Those things are killer hot. I can only stand a few teeny morsels in my burritos. I can't believe she ate a whole ton of them! Weird, weird, weird.