Interview with Monkey Monk on his 4th birthday!

1. What is your favorite color? Blue and red and purple and green. Mostly I like red and the color of the dog. Brown on the dog.
2. What is your favorite toy? A dump truck and a balloon. (he doesn't own a dump truck by the way.)
3. What is your favorite fruit? Squash. I like apples I think. I think I like apples.
4. What is your favorite tv show? Scooby dooby where are you.
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Peanut butter and macaroni and cheese.
6. What is your favorite thing to wear? Spiderman clothes. A spiderman shirt.
7. What is your favorite game? The racecar game. (Daddy says he means Mario Kart.)
8. What is your favorite snack? Apple straws.
9. What is your favorite animal? Tigers.
10. What is your favorite song? Rudolph the red nosed reindeer had a shiny nose.
11. What is your favorite book? a tree book that can tell you all about leafs. (which he also does not own.)
12. Who is your best friend? Eli. (Who moved away.) He actually kicked me one time.
13. What is your favorite cereal? Marshmallow cereal
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play on my monkey bars.
15. What is your favorite drink? Lemon juice.(WHAT? Who let him drink lemon juice????)
16. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween.
17. What is your favorite thing to sleep with at night? Rudolph the red nosed reindeer.
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Pancakes.
19. What do you want to be when you grow up? A person. "What kind of a person?" I want to be a teenager. What’s a teenager?
20. What’s the grossest food ever? Squash.
21. What do you wish for? I wish tooth fairy to get my tooth out me. My head.
22. What is your best memory? Riding on a helicopter. “You’ve never been on a helicopter.” When I was a baby I did.

Growing Boys

So I'm terrible at posting. I think I begin every post that way... Anyway, both boys had doctor's appointments this week and both were weighed and measured so I thought I'd post on just how big my boys are!

First up is our little Bruiser! His dr appt was at his Hematologist's. Of course that was a two hour long appointment. When they asked me if I could stay longer so they could mix up his immunizations I almost cried. Then I turned her down and said next time I come they need to have it ready because I would have been there another two hours waiting with two little boys who aren't made for sitting quietly. Anyway, my baby weighs 23lbs and his 30" tall! He is really thinning out with all the running around and craziness that has become his life. He and Monk ran around in circles chasing each other for an easy 20 minutes at top speeds today.

And that brings me to Monk, whose appointment was 8 minutes in and out. I deserved that. What a sigh of relief! Dr. Beck says that Monk is brilliant and can't believe how smart he is for being three. He also says my boy is really mature in that he can hold a long conversation with a stranger and knows what he's talking about. "I'll bet he thinks he knows everything." Yup, doc, how right you are. And... my Monk weighs 34lbs! and is 40" tall. He's shot right up there too.

Monk's New Room!

When we first found out our little monk was coming I knew that I wanted to make a cool little Hawaiian nursery for him. However, we in between moving and moving and moving a house fire and the small fact that all Hawaiian crib bedding was $300+, it just didn't happen.

When we moved into our home now (almost 2 years!) my mom and I found some really cute dinosaur bedding at an amazing price so I did a dinosaur room for him. Unfortunately, I'm terrible at picking out paint colors and they were a lot darker than I wanted and I just haven't enjoyed his room. Selfishly, I decorate for me and not for my boys. Anyway, for want of a project, I shopped for months and finally found some bedding I could afford. I wanted a quilt and not a comforter because the insides bunch up when I wash it.




That was in February. Now that it is June I FINALLY painted. I found some inspiration on line and used a projector from a friend and many hours later VOILA! I am so in love with the bright colors (and an excuse to use turquoise). I may not be much of an artist, heaven knows I keep looking at it thinking of all the stuff I need to fix, but I LOVE love love his room.

Next in the plan is a white beach table for next to his bed, a beach chair with an umbrella and I need to make a grass skirt for his bed skirt and valance. Love the accessories!

I thought you were three...

OH how I love this little boy. He continually impressed me with his brilliance. Sometimes he humbles me too....

Monk: Momma, what's this on your necklace, is it teeth?
Me: Yeah, well, it's supposed to be.
Monk: What kind of teeth is it?
Me: I don't know, maybe a shark tooth?
Monk: Noooo! Shark teeth are triangles and this is not a triangle.
Me: My bad......

Cat Scan #2

Oh what's another reason to skip out on church early?? This morning my Bruiser woke up with a little knot on his forehead. I thought it looked like a glorified bug bite but since we were in a hurry as we always are on Sundays I put it on a back burner so I could focus on shoes for all and finishing my mascara.

So church. I teach my little class of adorable girls who were happy when I finished the lesson so they could draw princesses. Then in between classes and I went to pick up Bruiser from nursery and Monk from primary. On my way out the Nursery teacher told me Bruiser's bump had grown and that the husband had him so I basically walked out on her, found the family, saw the huge bump that changed my baby's profile and called the ER Hematology department at Nationwide.

A half hour later Monk is with our friends (Thank you so much for taking him. It made things so soooo much easier) and I'm at a tiny hospital. I check in as my husband drove home to get Bruiser's factor from our fridge. I liked this hospital because it was small and not busy. I was actually greeted by the ER dr who said, "Oh, umm... did Nationwide call you? I thought you might want to go to a different hospital." So I said, "Do you have a CT Scanner?" "yes". "Then let's get started." He seemed really uncertain but a lot of people, doctors included don't know much about hemophilia or the rarer Hemophilia my baby has. He seemed better when I told him how we do things.

So while they got the CT ready we did the regular temperature, ears, eyes, etc. My baby weighs 22.5 lbs by the way :) Bruiser was perfect. He giggled and played even though he was ridiculously tired and hungry. He pretended to call Daddy on my cell phone then was elated when daddy showed up with his medicine. Right after he got there we went to the CT and my Bruiser was so perfect. he didn't cry or fuss. His eyes got HUGE when the machine started though. It literally took less than a minute. The technician told me that Bruiser was the best child she'd ever had. Well of course he was!

Results took another 5-10 minutes but in the end: NO BLEEDS. Not even on the hard ginormous bump on his head. The doc had no idea what it was. Maybe a bug bite that got out of control, maybe something different. So he gave us some Benedryl just in case and gave us some papers on bug bites and head trauma because it could have been either.

I'm so grateful that we've never had to give my baby factor. It stinks that we have to go to the ER for things that we'd normally "just keep an eye on" for Monk. But we can't take any chances. This time around I was definitely more confident and knew exactly what to do. Because I had that attitude the doctor respected me and listened to me a whole lot more. We could have been there a lot longer if I had hobnobbed around. Hopefully the Lord will keep blessing us in the way that Bruiser doesn't need a factor injection. but when the time comes I know that we'll be ready and it won't be as scary.

Humbling Confession

So today Monk got into the ball pit and threw out the balls. They were all over the floor so I asked him to pick them up. He came up with excuse after excuse.

-I don't know how.
-I don't want to.
-I'm too tired.

Since he wouldn't do it I told him he could either pick up the balls or go to bed since he was so sleepy. Since he still wouldn't I followed through and picked him up and put him to bed and yelled at him to stay put. As soon as I closed the door he said he had to use the bathroom. SO frustrating! That's always what he says and irritates me so I told him he could stay put. After screaming he had to go for a couple more minutes my patience was up so I yelled at him to just go potty and come back.

He did, I made him go back to bed and a few minutes later he had calmed down enough to clean up his mess and all was well.

After lunch he told me his pants were wet and I asked him why.

"I had to pee and wasn't fast enough and you were yelling."
"Oh."

Yeah I felt bad. Not so much because I made him wait to go potty because he always uses that as an excuse when he's in time out, but more because I yelled at him and I remember in my family classes at school this quote, "Once you yell, you are the one that's wrong." So I'm going to try harder to be calmer with them.

But it's really hard sometimes...

Precious Time

"Life offers you two precious gifts--one is time, the other freedom of choice, the freedom to buy with your time what you will." - Elder Richard L. Evans

I first read this quote on one of my friends FaceBook pages and I've been thinking about it the last couple of weeks. Some might think that since I stay at home with my boys I have all kinds of time to do whatever I want. The truth is that there is always something that needs to be done or someone wanting me.

Another truth is that I have been really selfish with my time. Some mornings I've strapped my boys at the table for breakfast & would spend as much time as I could get playing stupid FB games looking for quiet. I didn't realize how much time those games could take up!

I haven't felt like I've been at my best and when Monk asked me to sit down with him for a movie I told him I was busy which is pretty inexcusable. So I decided a change was in order. I deleted all of my games.

I've always been pretty in touch with my mortality. Maybe I'm set to die young; who knows! My time has always seemed so finite to me and moments here are so precious. I've been that way since I've been with my husband. I think because at that moment I realized just how much I had to lose. Now I have my boys and there's so much in my life.

Anyway, dumb games became kind of my hobby. I thought that when I deleted them that I would miss them or feel like vegging out to play and I actually feel less stress, haha! It's all silly really but I do know that I don't want to waste my time when there is so much to enjoy right in my living room. And I've been looking forward to spending time with my boys. Especially now that there is some incredible weather! YAY for 80 degrees!

Kitty-Less

After 6 months of Cabo, Big Poppa finally came home and took his kitties back. Boy are we grateful! Let's just say we're not pet people. We're happy they're gone but we did love the little buggers. Here's a little tribute:

Discipline Issues

Last week our little Monk was sick. Nothing serious. He just had a high fever for two days which made him very cuddly and sleepy. So for two days he was this sweet sweet angel that I got to cuddle and love on. Now he's not sick anymore and it's like all the naughty he was holding back being sick is coming out in concentrated doses.

He is not listening, yelling at me, saying words that are illegal in our house (stupid, hate) and throwing temper tantrums. He's normally very polite and has taken to demanding I get him this or that. It's felt very exhausting.

This little blog is about sticking to your guns. As we all know, children can turn off the naughty switch and turn on the angel switch faster than we can blink. Monk is at the age now where he remembers his behaviors, knows better and is starting to understand consequences.

Yesterday, D had a meeting out of town and we decided to go along. I took the boys to the grocery store and took them to this little bakery/deli. Monk started out by being rude in the store and yelling. When we got to the restaurant, they had these ginormous cupcakes that Monk thought were ice cream and he really wanted one. I thought, "No big deal. They're cheap, they look good." So I told him he could have one after he ate a sandwich. Right? Because you have to eat something good for you first. Well, then came the fit and stomping of the feet and after two minutes I had enough and got our food to go.

All the rest of yesterday he wanted his cupcake so bad. D was going to give it to him but I put my Mommy foot down. I told Monk that he could not have his cupcake because when we were in the store he threw a fit by screaming and stomping his feet and not listening to Mommy. So all yesterday, he did not get that stinkin cupcake. This morning he asked to eat it for breakfast and I said, "You can have it after you eat lunch if you're a good boy." And he said, "OK Mommy." YAAAAAY! He was so sweet. I felt like he learned a lesson.

I feel like I did something right in the parenting world by sticking to my guns and not moving (daddy either). I also was pretty specific when I told him how he threw a fit. I've realized lately that Monk understands better when I take the time to explain things.

I do feel some guilt because I really yelled at him the car after the store because he was being really rude. And I know that just yelling at him did nothing except make my voice ugly. So I'm going to try telling him next time, "You do not talk to Mommy like that. When you can talk to Mommy like a nice boy, I will answer you." Then I'll just ignore him until he's polite again. What's he going to do, yell? He was already doing that.

That might seem pretty cold fish next to D who's answer was to smack him in the mouth. I'm not against spankings all together, but I felt inspired and sometimes my inspirations are answers to prayers so we're going to try this new way.

PS. The cupcakes were really dry.

Health Nuts

My husband is a member of the Chamber of Commerce in our little town, so whenever they have an event, he signs us up. This time around it's a 12 Week Health Contest. We went to one of the three gyms and got stats for our weight, BMI and fat percentage. Then we're told how much weight we have to lose to get to our ideal body fat. In the 12 weeks, we get points according to workouts, reaching our goals and spending money at local businesses.

So D and I went over to get weighed. I won't share his stats but I was a little surprised by mine. I normally weigh about 126 but since their scale is 4lbs off, it put me at 122lbs. Then they subtracted two lbs for clothes, which is pretty generous. So my starting weight is 120lbs. I feel like I should put that in "quotations". To be at my goal fat percentage for my height, gender and build (they put athletic or regular), I need to lose 3lbs so I can have 23% body fat.

Three lbs will be easy to lose in 3 months. Mostly I just wanted to be healthier. We're not much for veggies and I have a love affair with chocolate. So I decided to put us on Weight Watchers. It's a good diet because it's more about portion control and once we lose a certain amount it won't let us keep losing. Last time I weighed 117 was before I got pregnant with Cole and I got too many "you're too skinny" and "your cheeks are gaunt" comments. Apparently skinny is not a good look on me. I decided to adjust my diet so I count points during the week but don't pay much attention during the weekend. Which I really love because I love to eat.

This has caused a little stress in my marriage because D gets 35 points a day. 35! I get 20. So basically he doesn't have to do too much counting and what he has to eat at lunch is nearly my entire daily allotment. Grrr... But D and I have decided to try and do little video workouts together for the spirit of the competition. I'm hoping there are some fabulous prizes for this thing that makes all the cookies I'm giving up worth it!

Pet Peeves

So I haven't updated in a while. I seem to have lost my camera cord and I have lots of fun pictures that are stuck. One of these days I'll get around to ordering one off of ebay.

I was filling out one of those silly little questionnaires on Facebook and it asked what my pet peeves are and I simply wrote, "many". Since then, I have decided that I like the word 'peeve' and I have been trying to think of specifics. I have thought of a few, so, (ahem), here it goes:

1. Girls who wear super tiny shorts, a big hoody and uggs. Then complain that they are cold. Are you cold or aren't you? And if you're not smart enough to wear pants in winter with snow on the ground, I don't want to hear it.


2. Fanatics. People who are so obsessed and absorbed by some of their own lifestyle choices that they are no longer a credible source of information. I'm a young mom, so most this goes out to all the woman who only use cloth diapers, breastfeed for two years and thinks any food that isn't organic will kill you. Just because you breastfed longer than I did, DEFINITELY does not make your children smarter than mine. I know this, because I've seen your children. Also, I do not want to see your naked boob in public. I know that it is natural. So is pooping. But I don't want to see you do that either.

Now don't get me wrong. I believe "breast is best" and I feed my babies healthy food, etc. But some people become sycophants. They come off as though any mom who doesn't mother their way is a bad mom. That is where we have a problem. And I don't care if you breastfeed in public. But at least use a blanket.

3. If you don't agree with me you're attacking me. UGH! GEEZ! That is so ridiculous. I'm allowed to disagree. One example is that my husband and I don't drink alcohol for religious reasons. That does not mean that just because you drink I think you're a bad person and I'm better than you. It's not about you at all. It's about ME trying to do what I think is best for ME. Also, if it comes up in conversation that I don't drink, it doesn't mean I'm trying to convert you or get you to have a life style change. If you are in a disagreement, playing the martyr isn't going "win". Just accept people have a difference of opinions and it's OK


4. Wet socks and when the back of my pants get drenched when it's raining. It's uncomfortable.


5. Not using spellchecker. I'm talking resumes and professional settings. Grr... Ok, maybe I mean e-mails and Facebook a little bit. AT LEAST re-read what you write because there are times when I have no clue what your status update is. No matter HOW many times I read it. I mostly mean resumes. Whenever I was hiring, I threw out the resumes of people who didn't take the time make it legible. (On a funny side note, when I was hiring on-site night managers, I got a resume from a woman who spent more time telling me what kind of apartment she wanted than she did her qualifications. What's that sound? My shredder.)



Wow, that was really hard. I don't get mad too easily and I tend to find most stupid things people do funny. Like the other day when someone said, "I hate negative people." And spent 5 minutes elaborating. I hope you find the irony in that too and it makes you laugh. Or roll your eyes. Life is better when you just roll with the punches but the above five things I mentioned are the ones that get to me.

home sweet home

After Christmas I decided to take a trip with my dad to visit my Grandma in TN. Sans children. Christmas was so perfect and my children were such a pleasure to be around that I had a really hard time leaving. Thankfully my husband pushed me to go because he knew I needed it.

First of all, I had the best time with my grandma. She gave me baking lessons and we went out to eat and went shopping and chatted and looked through pictures and the whole time was wonderful.

Here's what I realized life would be like without my children:
1. No noise. It was so soooooo quiet.

2. No big bags. I needed a wallet and a cell phone.

3. When I went into a store all I had to do was get out of the car and go inside. No unloading carseats. (PS. Not my kid.)

4. The only person to clean up after was me!


All of this was nice but it also meant no cuddles, no hugs and kisses, no sweet baby sounds, no tiny hands to hold and my arms felt very empty. HOW I MISSED MY BABIES!

Needless to say I was very ready to be home and love on all three of my boys again. Monk ran right up to me with lots of kisses and a big "I love you" and Bruise WALKED TO ME. Yes, three steps in a row. My big men! Glad I went but there's definitely no place like my home.