STRESS and EXCITEMENT

So I thought I would have time to do all this, but apparently I was wrong. Things have been very hectic around here. First things first. Morgan is FINALLY potty trained!!! Horray!!! It's been so nice and alot less expensive. Porter has gotten his first 2 molars in the last week, so alot of cranky has finally stopped. We are now trying to coax the walking problem. Is it common for kids not to walk at this age? He is almost 16 months and I know he can do it, he will if I hold just his one hand, but as soon as I let go, he sits down and crawls. I was trying not to rush it, but I seriously didn't think it would go on this long. DJ is doing great in school and has come so far in his reading and spelling. I am so proud of him. He actually read a whole book to me the other day and I was truly impressed!! Way to go boy!! Darron is plugging away at work, waiting for his last day, which is June 12. We are then driving down to SL to have my parents watch Morgan and DJ while Darron and I and Porter head out for NC to look for a house. This will be the first time I have left my kids overnight.........boy this is already becoming very hard for me. They will have fun no doubt, but it will just kill me. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for taking the kids. This last Friday I laid sod in our front yard to hopefully sell it faster. Please pray for it to sell soon. I am very stressed that we are going to be financially strained if we have 2 house payments. Guitar Hero on PS3 has become our outlet after the kids go to bed at night. I have posted a picture for you to see how serious Darron is...quite the seen. He will probably kill me for this picture but I promised I wouldn't put it on facebook. I didn't say anything about our blog. So here is the picture of the day!! Enjoy your memorial weekend

Where is Spring?

Okay, so it's been awhile...I have been up with Porter since 4:30am so I hope all this makes sense. Isn't spring supposed to come in March? Well, I guess that doesn't apply to Montana. We seem to only have 2 seasons here, Winter and Summer. This week it has been SO VERY COLD!! Our highs have been in the teens and with the wind chill, 3-15 below zero. Why does that degree even exist? I was looking forward to getting our yard started this month and getting our swingset up....haha!!

We had family portraits done last week and I got the proofs back yesterday. They turned out SO good of the kids...can't say so much for the family pictures but the kids ones are awesome. The photographer was so great and actually reasonably priced too. I was glad that we can actually afford to get an 8x10 of the kids (only $8.25). I really miss Kiddie Kandids, but this was good.

DJ is doing great in school, we have been working with him at home reading and he is really starting to take off. He is loving to read to Morgan at night, which seems to boost his excitement to read, which I am VERY glad. He still seems to be struggling in spelling but we are working on it...I hate to push him too much since he spends 6 hours a day at school. His teacher assures me that he will get it, it just takes time....haha....I am not the most patient person. So I have decided to just let it go and relax a little. (I hope I can).

Morgan is such a little turkey. She is so very protective of Porter, it's driving me nuts. We went to the doctor today for Porter and she just started shaking and crying when he was trying to check Porters ears. My drama queen. She held his hand and was trying to tell him that it was okay, but you couldn't quite get the feeling that she thought he was going to be okay. We started our first Gymnastics class last week and she is doing great. She goes all by herself just like a big girl, and constantly checking to see is mom is still on the sidelines watching. I am so proud of her, and she loves it. We also got into the preschool that we were hoping for. So she will start at the Our Redeemers preschool in the fall attending 2 days a week for 2 1/2 hours. She is SO excited and she gets to go with her friend Ryan. She is also trying to teach Porter to go up and down the stairs so mom doesn't have to buy another couple of gates and is doing great with him. He has mastered going up, it's going down that still makes me a little shakey. Morgan is Still not potty trained....oh...man, if she wasn't so cute when she tells me that she went "poopy" in her pants, I would be going crazy right now. Why is it so difficult?

Porter....well, were to start. He is now walking with his push walker and walking along furniture and like I said earlier is now going up the stairs and sometimes, when I am watching, will attempt to go down. He is doing very well. He also now says baba (bottle), which he shouldn't be having anymore, but since I have had no sleep lately, I am not even touching that subject. It is fun to have him start talking and be able to communicate a little with us. The funnest is to watch him "dance". He has picked up quite the rhythm. We have been having problems with him throwing up at night over the last 2 months. We had a blood test done to see if there were any allergies to be causing this....he is allergic to milk, but I wasn't sure that was the reason for his throwing up spuraticly, so this morning I went and got a second opinion, and he thinks that it's reflux so we put him on some medication and hopefully it will help. I pray it will help....changing sheets in the middle of the night is not fun and it makes his room stink...yuck. He is a healthly little boy at 21lbs 9oz and 30 1/2 inches long as of this morning. Our little tank.

I am still trying to get caught up in scrapbooking......I think this is going to be a repeated sentence.

Darron is off to Denver next week, the spring brings lots of travel for him every year. I think he looks forward to it so he can sleep without interuption and get at least some time to himself other than going to the gym.

We have our date night this weekend.....I am very excited.

Sleepless Nights

So, I haven't done this in awhile, mainly because of lack of sleep and nothing really to write other than Porter has been sick with croup and an ear infection and a high fever, oh yea, and throwing up......and teething. Oh how I dislike very much having sick little ones that can't tell you what's wrong. It's so frustrating for both of us. Last week was just another week....Porter started climbing up 1 step....then over the last 2 days has started to take little steps along the couch. Have I mentioned that I am having a hard time with him getting older?....

Morgan, well, morgan is morgan and always filled with new funny things, just like DJ did when he was her age. Last week she was watching a movie with Darron and started saying, "holy crap" over and over and over. Ya know, I have really tried to watch my language around my kids, however, I didn't think this was really that bad...it's better than other words right? Darron got mad at me and her and told me I had to change my language, once again. What can I say? So I have started saying "poop stain" or "holy poo". I have been x'd on everything else. It was quite funny though and frankly I couldn't stop laughing while I was listening to her in the other room.

So, then there's DJ, well took him to get a haircut on Friday afternoon and the hairdresser, Elizabeth, talked DJ into getting a buzz, mainly because he HATES getting his hair cut and it grows so fast that we are there at least once a month if not 2 times. Anyway she happened to start on the top side of his head and once he saw it gone, he FREAKED out and started crying saying he didn't like it....so what do I do now? We had to finish shaving it, but he cried for a long time and said how much he looked like a goof and has worn a hat now for 3 days and won't take it off. I feel bad for him, but it looks so cute!! I love it..Darron hates it and says its trashy looking. I said that if he is not going to comb his hair and "do" it when it's long then he will have it short. That's the deal, because I said so, and I can do that because now I am the mom. My other area of concern is DJ's school. I am now thinking that I should have held him back a year when we started Kindergarten. He is struggling in a "group" setting. So, what do I do? The options.....private school where there is more one on one time, Sylvan learning center, or a tutor.....I am very much struggling with this decision. These I believe are the most difficult decisions to make as a parent. Trying to make the right choice for my children that may effect the rest of their lives....

Darron and I got a date night last night and it was great. We went and saw Taken. Very good and very intense movie. Then we came home and watched "Fireproof". I shouldn't comment on this movie, but I will anyway. HORRIBLE acting, my opinion, but a great story and I loved it. Made me realize that I need to compliment my husband more and probably quit whining about having to rub his shoulder 4 times a night cause it's hurting him, and realize what a blessing he has been and continues to be in my life. I love him to death and wouldn't trade him for the world. He is an awesome dad, and most the time a great husband. I love you Darron!!

Oh yea, and we have decided to go to Baltimore over spring break. DJ is very excited!!

Happy 1st Birthday Porter

So here's the story. I decided enough of being pregnant and on Super bowl Sunday 2008 I decided to drink Caster Oil. BAD IDEA!! Don't ever do it. I had the hardest, worst labor ever! I started in labor during the 4th quarter and drove myself to the hospital about 1am. I called everyone I knew to come and watch the kids so Darron could join me at the hospital for my c-section. After MANY phone calls, I finally got my friend Janina to come over and Darron barely made it into the operating room about 10 minutes before Porter was born. It was so fast and so painful, holy cow!! He was born at 2:45am weighing 7 lbs. He was so peaceful and a great kid. Still is! He is so easy going and loves to play with his brother and sister. I am very sad that he is already 1. Where did the year go? Many sleepness nights, long days, pumped for 8 months cause he wouldn't nurse on one side, but hey, I lasted longer pumping on this one than I did on the other 2. I will pat myself on the back. I just wish I lost the weight that I was supposed to while I was pumping...does your body know your pumping therefore, not allowing you to loose the weight cause your taking the easy way out? Maybe that's why I didn't loose the weight. I was cheating. Well, pumping was the best way to go for me, and hurray for Medela pumps!! Anyway, Porter started crawling about Christmas time and last week started pulling himself up and constantly tries to get up that first stair...I am dreading that time. Anyway, Happy Birthday baby!! Loves and kisses!

Happy Day!

Today was Porter's 1 year appointment at the doctors office. I was sad. I can't believe my baby is one year old tomorrow. Anyway, he weighed in at a big 21 lbs. 3 oz. I am having a really hard time....agh!!

DJ had a great day at school and thought the best present for Porter would be a Star Wars light saber, (the one that DJ wants). Silly boy!

Morgan drew a picture tonight and said, "momma, it's a big giant like you!" Cool!!

Superbowl Party

So the rest of my week was pretty easy going, spending as much time as I could in bed and relaxing and trying to get better, but as most of you know, as mothers, we can't really relax in bed and sleep all day when we are sick, so I did get to spend 15 minutes here and there and slowly moving around the house and picking up and spent alot of time sitting on the floor playing with the kids. We did get our TV installed on Friday just in time for our superbowl party with some of our friends. We had TONS of food and a great time. In the last 2 days Porter has learned to pull himself up on things and stand...I guess I finally have to accept the fact that he is getting older. He will be 1 in 3 days. How crazy is that? I am having this problem with not being able to have anymore kids, not that I want anymore, but just the fact that I CAN"T have anymore. Maybe it's just a me thing, but it's making me feel really old and I am having a REALLY hard time with my kids growing up so fast. AGGGHH!! Darron is finally going to the doctor again this week for his shoulder. It is killing him and me too (my hand that is), from having to rub his shoulder all the time. He is going to ask him about his shoulder replacement, but I am thinking now would be better than later hoping that the recovery time would be easier and better now. Well, kids are screeming....time for bed. I am so glad that Porter is such a good kid, otherwise I would be going crazy!! I have attached a picture that we took during superbowl right before the 3D commercials. Cool picture!!

Crazy Days

So my week so far.....Morgan and DJ are sick and need some medication, so I called the doctor and, of course, they have to see them before prescribing anything, so $120 later I get the 1 prescription that I wanted for both of them, and, of course, instead of just giving me one bottle, since its the EXACT same thing for both of them, I have to pay for 2 prescriptions. AGGHHH!!! I was very frustrated. What happened to the good old days where if you called the doctor and told them the symptoms they could call you in what you wanted? My mom used to do that all the time and now I realize how great that must have been for her. Saves time and money. You would think that my doctor would know me well enough by now, since I am a paranoid mom and I am in there at least once a week. Guess that doesnt' make a difference anymore, they are all out for the money.

DJ and I had eye appointments yesterday and we did great. Well, DJ did. He has perfect eyes. Whew!! Then it was my turn. I got the drops, the eye numb thing, and then a huge headache to follow. It was really funny though cause I took the camera to take pictures of DJ's first eye exam to scrapbook and so when it was my turn he wanted to take pictures of me. The doctor finally had to tell him to stop cause he was in the way. He would get close up, then far away, then underneath the equipment to try and get me at "good angles". I tried to tell him there were no good spots and he had to stop now. It was funny. So at the end I was told that I should consider contacts since I don't like wearing glasses because I now have to wear them all the time. hah!! You should see me try to put in contacts, and then once I get them in? Can't get them out. I am what you call, not gifted in that catagory. So I ordered a new pair of glasses and now I get to look like a librarian all the time instead of just when I feel like it. sucks!!

Today was interesting....Morgan decided that the potty thing should only happen when she wants it too. She came down the stairs just as we were loading up in the car and says to me with a big smile, "poopy"! and continues with the big smile as my smile quickly turns to a frown and my body fills with complete anger and frustration! I had to count to 10 in my mind and then say as calmly as I can, "why didn't you tell me and go in the potty?" and she just smiles and says, "poopy" again. Then we get to the gym and she turns to me and says, "peed". Now I definately was going to loose it. She had somehow managed to pee out her pull-up and down her leg. How does that happen? I then get a call from the school as I am arriving at the gym saying that DJ is not feeling well, his stomach hurts and is in so much pain he can hardly stand it. First thought? How long has it been since he has pooped? Since I am already thinking potty....I can't remember when the last time I saw him go....so I go show up at the school and talk to him, I tell him that if he comes home he can't have his friend come over later, so then he thinks he can make it through until the end of school and will call me if the pain gets unbearable again. Oh boy! What a "poopy" day!! Please let Porter be easier than Morgan to potty train. I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

Trip to Missoula

So it's been awhile, boy I am not starting out on a good foot. Yesterday we decided all of a sudden to take an overnight trip to Missoula, so in 45 minutes we packed, loaded up all the kids, food, bottles and blankets, and hitched up a trailer to haul a couch back with us. It was very exciting for the kids, they couldn't wait until we got there. DJ was asking us every 5 minutes how long it was going to be until we got there. It was a LONG 2 hour drive. We hit a snow storm at the top of the mountain and was a little worried about pulling a trailer but it ended up good. The snow stopped when we reached the highway. When we arrived, we couldn't get to the hotel fast enough. This hotel that we chose had indoor pools and waterslides for the kids. They were very patient (shocking since they take after me). We picked up our couch, at sushi for dinner and headed for the hotel and had a good 2 hours to swim and the kids just LOVED it!! DJ thanked me all morning before we left for bringing them to this great place and asked if we could go back next weekend. We had a great time. It was our 1st official family "vacation" where we stayed in a hotel and it was just us with no family or friends. I hope we do it more often.

Today was a very tiring day. Morgan and Porter decided to keep me up all night so I was tired to begin with, but on the bright side, we were on time to school Again!! Yea. My kids got McDonalds after I went and worked out today, and I was good, I only got a 1 cheeseburger and a Large Diet Dr Pepper. I forgot to mention earlier that Morgan is Potty training. I was told that girls were easier to potty train than boys, but I am finding that to be false. I have been trying since the beginning of December to get this right, and man she is tough!! One day I think we actually have it good and she tells me and we only have 1 accident in our pull-ups all day, then the next day we are pooping on the floor, in our pants, peeing on the floor in the bathroom instead of the toilet, holy cow, where have I gone wrong??? Any suggestions? Then she finds it funny, so what exactly do I do? She definately has me confused. I almost think she does it to get more attention, but I haven't quite figured it out yet, cause I know she can control it. On a brighter and more exciting note, I got my gymbucks order today from Gymboree, and boy it's like Christmas all over again. I got such great deals that I stocked up for next winter for Morgan and the boys. My local furnace guy finally came over today and fixed our furnace. We have been without heat for 5 days and 20 degree weather outside. I am sure glad we have a good fireplace, cause it saved us. We just moved into this house last May, brand new house, just built, and our furnace circuit board overheated, melted the motor and just about caught our house on fire. It's a good thing we are late night people, cause if we would have been asleep we would have had a fire. Darron came out about 1am and I was on the computer and he smelled something burning. It took us about 15 minutes to find where it was coming from and that's because the furnace started making really loud noises. Is this common that brand new furnaces have problems like this? I don't have a picture today, since my boys have been throwing up and kept me on my toes. DJ decided to throw up in the sink at a restaurant tonight, gross. and Porter threw up all over in his bed, his hair, and himself. Even more gross to clean up. Hopefully they will be feeling better tomorrow and I can have a good night sleep tonight!

So Here We Go!

Okay, so I see that alot of my friends have started this blog thing, so I figure that I should start one too. I am hoping to make this my kind of journal thing that my kids can turn back on as they grow older and learn of all the funny things that happened on a day to day basis that I never have written down. I have fallen behind on all their scrapbooks because I don't have alot of time to spend on them so what the heck, lets just add one more thing to my plate. We will see how this goes so bear with me.

So to start I guess I should tell you about my family. I have 3 wonderful, glorious, cute
(like anyone would say their kids were ugly) children. DJ (named after my husband) is 6 and in 1st grade. He loves school, depending on the day; Likes to play as many video games and he can get his hands on (I swore to myself we would never have any of those stupid things in our house and here we are now with the Wii, PS3. DS, PSP, and Nintendo 64. I am a sucker, and I acutally enjoy playing some of them. shhh). DJ also loves to play sports as long as he only has to play in games and doesn't have to go to practice and likes to spend time with mom and dad "cuddling".

Morgan is next and will be 3 in March. She is our little terror. She can't wait to go to school with DJ and gets very excited when we get to pick him up every day. She recently learned to bowl on the Wii and now her and DJ love to play it together, when they get along. They play great together when they want to, I just wish it was more often. Morgan is our little "princess" as she calls herself. She is getting a new "princess room" which my mom and I painted pink in October and she is now getting "big girl" furniture in the next 2 weeks. She is very excited for her new "princess" bed. She has taken to posing for every picture I take of her and can't get enough of looking at herself on my camera and always wants me to take more and more of her. She reminds me of me when I was little.

Porter is the last of the bunch and will be 1 February 4, which is the day after the Superbowl last year. I was stupid enough to drink castor oil and put myself into labor during the 4th quarter. I finally went to the hospital at midnight and had him via c-section at 2:45am. I would never recommend to anyone to drink that nasty stuff, it was the worst and most painful labor I have ever had. DON'T DO IT. He is such a sweet and easy going kid. He just started crawling over Christmas break when we were in Utah at my parents house. I am so thankful that he waited that long, now I hope he waits until he's 2 to walk. He loves to be chased on the floor by mom but is DEFINATELY a daddy's boy. He cries when Darron leaves the room.

I am a stay at home mom, which I love. I am very thankful to my husband for making enough money so I can stay home and watch my kids grow up. I try to scrapbook in my spare time, haha, which is the reason why I am a year behind on all of them. I make one for each of them, which is the second reason why I am so far behind. I try to go to the gym everyday but most days procrastinate or think of some other reason why I can't go. I try to watch Biggest Loser to motivate me. They should put that show on in the morning so I can watch it while I run so I can actually loose weight. So when I do make it to the gym, I am usually there for about an hour or so then when I am leaving, my kids get hungry, so hey, there's a Mickey D's almost right across the street and so convenient. So after I have done my workout and I am starving myself, nothing sounds better than a 2 cheeseburger combo meal with a Large Diet Dr Pepper. What a way to blow my workout..so why did I workout in the first place? If I wouldnt have gone to the gym then I wouldn't have gone to McDonalds right? I am very pathetic.. But at least I am trying to loose weight. I also work 6 hours a week at the nursery in the gym, which is great for the kids to get out and spend time with the other kids during the chilly winter months, October through July.

Darron works at Qwest Communications and is over the State of Montana, which is the reason why we live in Helena. We moved to Helena about 2 1/2 years ago and we're finally starting to like it here. His love is they gym. (He actually succeeds there). He loves to come home and play with the kids and if he could he would see a movie at the theatre everyday of the week. DJ has become his movie partner and they go to as many as DJ is able to see. He also loves to golf and ski in his spare time, which isn't much. He also is a great cook, which I am so glad for!! He loves to make new things and experiment and most the time it turns out wonderful. His love is for the Baltimore Ravens and NFL football which he has successfully taught all of our kids to love as well. We spend Sunday's in our PJ's in front of the TV with snacks and friends. It's a tradition that will last forever, I hope.


Okay, so that's my family. Oh yea, forgot our cat, Baxter. We've had him for 8 years and he's huge!! The kids love to cuddle with him and Porter loves to pull his hair.

I am hoping to post every day with a "picture of the day". Today is my boy Porter, 11 months old, learning to play the Wii. He loves to watch the other kids play so yesterday he attemped it, and it worked out quite well. Morgan got mad at him because he kept sitting on the positive button which puts options up on the screen and kept her from playing. She got very upset with him, which was quite amuzing. It was fun to watch.

Today was also Morgans first day at Art class. She was very independant and wouldn't let me help her at all. She tore up pieces of paper and glued them on a jar. It turned out very cute and she couldn't wait to get home to show dad how "awesome" it was. This is her new word. "Awesome". I think she is starting to grow out of naps. Today she took a 2 hour nap and then I couldn't get her to bed until 10 tonight. I started at 8, layed by her for an hour, then got up and went downstairs thinking she was asleep. Then I hear little footsteps, and I ask her what she is doing. She says, "sneaking"! I couldn't help but laugh. She went in the bedroom where Darron was watching the inauguration and asked what he was doing, so he told her and she gets excited and replies, "he can come to our house and bring me presents!". I don't know if she was thinking he was Santa or what, cause earlier today I was taking down the Christmas tree, finally, and she was looking out the window for Santa.

DJ had a great day at school today. We are working together, very hard to be on time this week. I got a call from the principal last week saying that DJ has been tardy to school 10 times this year. I thought that was great, cause last year it was around 30 by now. He wanted to know if something was going on at home that he needed to know about, or how to help us get to school on time. I told him we just have a hard time in the mornings. We are definately NOT morning people. So today DJ got up at 8:15, I dressed him in his sleep, fed him 2 pieces of toast and had him to school right at 8:30. WOW!! we were on time!! We gave each other a high 5 and he went into class. Hopefully we can do it again tomorrow, we will try to wake up a little earlier, myself included. I am spoiled with kids that like to sleep and even Porter will sleep until 8 or 8:30 now and that's putting him to bed at 7pm. cool!

Porter had a hard day today. He had a fever and was a little cranky all day, just wanted to be held. I gave him some Advil and that definately made him feel better as long as I kept giving to him every 6 hours. I could tell when the 6 hours were almost up.

I filed our taxes today, which is awesome! We are benefiting this year from owning a new home, and boy it is GREAT!! We will be able to put in our yard as soon as they can start, and man I am SO excited!! I am done having mud and rocks on my hardwood floors.

I tried to go to the gym tonight but then remembered that American Idol was on, so Dang it, I had to stay home and watch (even though we have TIVO).