A little STUCK

Yesterday Angie started fussing while I was making dinner.  I thought Caleb was bugging her or something.  She wasn't all-out crying, but I thought I kept hearing a "Hewwp meee!" in there as well.  Finally I went to find the kids and separate them.  Only Caleb was in his room, and Angie wasn't.  I heard her fuss again.  I went into the computer room to find this:

We have some totes stacked on the left side of the closet.  She'd used them as a ladder and I DON'T KNOW HOW but she'd managed to climb onto the top shelf of the closet!  "Tiggers only bounce up", well apparently it's the same for Angies.  ;)

Crazy girl!  Stay out of the closet!

Fathers and Sons

This last weekend was the Father's and Son's campout for our ward.  They went to Balanced Rock (which is only about 15 miles from my house).  Caleb had asked if Grandpa Harris could come, and so he made a special trip from Boise to be there.  Grandpa also brought Caleb's cousins, Chase and Tyler, because their dad has been having some health problems and was not able to take them to THEIR father's and son's campout this year.  This was GREAT news for Caleb.  He loves nothing more than playing with his cousins.  

 Now obviously, I wasn't there, so I can't give you exact details....but apparently they had a blast!  The boys spent a lot of time in the dirt, and came home covered in grime and smelling like campfire smoke.  They roasted marshmallows, and hiked up to balanced rock (which is no easy task for little boys, but they did quite well).  I'm told that the hike DOWN from balanced rock was a little bit scary for the little boys, especially Tyler, but Parker and Grandpa were helping them and they did pretty well.

They had some kind of "milk can stew" for dinner and Parker tells me that Caleb ate it VERY well.  Grandpa fed the other 2 boys before arriving to camp so that he wouldn't have to worry about convincing them to eat.  They did a big pancake and sausage breakfast the follwing morning, and I heard that Parker had a bunch of that.  They were back home before noon the following day, but the boys were just happy to get to play together.

They spent the rest of the day running around the house while Parker and my parents worked on getting our garden ready in the back yard.  I'll make a post about that later.



I'm so glad Caleb got to go camping with his daddy.  They actually slept in the Explorer, and didn't even set up the tent (which turned out to be a good idea because it was pretty windy Friday evening).  And we're really glad that Grandpa and Chase and Tyler came too.

Pain

I'm 29 weeks pregnant.  That means I'm only 10 weeks away from delivery.  Last weekend I really wanted to get our garden planted.  I helped Parker screw together all the boxes (since we're having a raised garden) and then he decided it was too nice of a day to not be golfing.  So he left, and I was still wanting to get things done.  But I'm only one person, and since that one person is ME and not a man, there's only so much that I can do.  As soon as he left I mowed the lawn.  No problems there, I do that all the time.  It's not that he won't.  I just always have more time....and lets face it, much more motivation.  Anyway.  I had some flowers and a couple rose bushes that I'd bought to put along the new flower beds on the side of the house in our new back yard.  I decided I needed to get them in the ground before they all die.  Except those flower beds were a HUGE tangled mess of weeds.  I got out my gloves, the shovel, and a trash bag and started to weed the flower beds.  Moving very slowly on my hands and knees, I occupied myself with (although it did not feel like it at the time) some rather strenuous hands-on labor for the next 5 hours.  The kids played in the new backyard behind me, and I got so much done.  I trimmed back my lilac bush, and then pulled the weeds around it.  I drank lots of water,  and applied generous amounts of sunscreen to any exposed areas.....but even so, when I finally stopped working at 7:00 (children STARVING and SCREAMING for my attention).....my arms and legs were SO SORE that I could barely move.  I spent the rest of the evening in agony. 

The following day wasn't any better.  (as far as pain goes).  But it was mother's day.  And thank goodness the kids slept in, and Parker fed the kids breakfast.  But this week my body has felt worse and worse each day.  Monday was actually pretty good.  Then yesterday afternoon I started getting this pain in my right leg.  Actually it's more like my inner thigh where it meets my pelvis.  Nothing too bad.  I am pregnant after all.  And aches and pains just come with the territory.  I didn't even mention it to Parker.  This morning the pain in my leg was still there, but not unbearable.  Then I got to work and sat in that awful operator chair.  It's true that I sit a lot at work.  I'm a hygienist.  But while I sit, I am constantly rolling my chair to this position or that position.  And pushing petals, and shifting my weight.  During my first patient, the pain became so bad that when I finally sat him up and left the room, I was on the verge of tears.  It's a kind of sharp pain just inside my upper thigh, and EVERYTHING makes it hurt.  Shifting my weight while standing, shifting my weight while sitting, using the foot-petals, walking up stairs, walking down stairs, standing up, lifting my leg, walking.  It all hurts.  I seriously considered going home, I must have looked rediculous.  I was grabbing onto walls, and chairs, and countertops for support as I walked so I wouldn't have to put any weight on that leg.  But I decided to call my doctor's office instead.  Of course they're no help.  "Just take some tylenol and try to relax."  ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?  I'm at work for pete's sake!There is no 'try to relax' at work.  And Tylenol (sorry for any believers out there) is the biggest joke of a drug EVER.  It's useless.  At least for me.  I NEVER experience relief when I take that stuff. (I'm sure this is why it's ok to take while you're pregnant). The worst part about it is that the pain got worse with each patient.  Like sitting in that position for 45 minutes at a time was the worst thing I could do....and it was the one thing that I HAD to do.  Yes walking hurt, but sitting and working was EXCRUCIATING.  When I finally left work at 5:30, I got into my car (lifting my leg to get into the seat also painful), I just sat and cried.  What a long day.  I called Parker.  I wanted to tell him that I really needed his help tonight because I'd been in so much pain all day.  He then told me that he had a late interview tonight for work at 11:00 PM.  Yes people, ELEVEN.  With the 1 hour commute, he wouldn't even be home till after midnight.  Just as well.  Everything else has gone wrong today anyway.  I got off the phone with him and cried some more, only by now I'd arrived to pick up my kids.  So now I get to walk in with a red face and puffy eyes and everyone can ask me, "What's wrong?"  Are we making a checklist of meltdowns yet?

At home things weren't too bad.  The kids felt sorry for me, and (for the most part) behaved quite well.  As I was putting the kids in bed, I picked up Angie (who was crying hysterically at the time....obviously upset that I'd locked her in her room while I spent 30 minutes helping Caleb with his homework).  Only as I took a step with her sitting on my hip, the pain shot through my leg again and I almost dropped her.  I laid next to her on her bed (the act of kneeling and then lying down being so painful I could barely move) and cried some more while she dozed off.

How am I supposed to carry on another 10 weeks like this?  If this pain doesn't go away, am I going to have to go to work EVERY DAY and just grit my teeth?  That was the REAL reason I didn't just call it quits and go home today.  There's no way of knowing if it WILL go away.  And if it doesn't, I might as well start getting used to it. 

I just don't understand where it's coming from.  A few pepole have suggested it may be a pinched nerve.  Ok.  Whatever it is, there doesn't seem to be anything to do for it except "take some tylenol and try to relax."  I really don't want this to be a pity page.  I just need to document how I feel today.  And lets face it.....it hasn't been good.  I sure hope tomorrow is better.

A little bit awesome

I just HAD to throw this onto the blog, cuz it's so neat.  For the month of April, Parker and I made a resolution to NOT EAT OUT at all (with the exception of our one date-night we had this month and honestly it should hardly count cuz we went to Applebee's and ordered 2 for $20).   I'm happy to report that we did it.  We only slipped up ONCE and it was last week when Parker was working late most days or going to class, and I had 3 separate church activities plus visiting teaching.  He was actually sick too.  Parker had a fever Tuesday night and Wednesday night last week.  Anyway, we were both so busy and he felt so miserable I told him to pick himself up some food on his way home from school Wednesday night.  That was it.  The purpose was to see how much money we'd save and honestly I don't know if he's done the actual tally for that yet, but I know it's a lot.  But here's something that we DIDN'T expect to happen.  Parker has lost 10 lbs this month.  Hah!  Who knew?  I was noticing just last night that he seems to have lost some "roundness" around his face.  He mentioned that he'd thought so too, but then we asked eachother......why?  At first I thought maybe he's just eating less at lunch, or maybe that he's golfing more.  But then it hit me, we haven't had any fast food this month!  What a nice little perk!  I must say, it was only hard for about the first week and then I started to get used to it.  Now it doesn't even cross my mind anymore.  And I think it's a trend that we're going to be able to maintain.  How nice.  I don't even want to know how much money we could have saved if we could have kept this discipline for the past several months, or even year or two!  But here's to the future and future savings!

A Back Yard.....FINALLY!

Saturday it happened!!!  After 2 and 1/2 years in this house, we FINALLY got grass in our back yard.  I can't even tell you how excited I was!  It seems like we've prepped the ground SO MANY TIMES (which really isn't even the case, the ground has NEVER been completely ready for grass until last week....but we've killed the weeds and used the rota-tiller on the back yard 2 or 3 times thinking we'd do grass just after that.....and then it never happened).  Anyway.  With the back yard, it always felt like SOMETHING would stand in the way and make it so it wouldn't happen.  THEN this week it RAINED.  When Parker called and ordered the sod on Thursday, they told him there was a chance they wouldn't be able to cut it because the ground would be too wet from all the rain this week.  When he told me this, I was pretty down.  I thought for sure, this would be "the thing" that would happen this time to keep me from getting my yard.  But I kept my hopes up (trying at the same time to keep them from getting TOO high, just incase they get dashed to pieces for the ump-teenth time)....and wouldn't you know, the sun was out all day Friday to dry up all that moisture and then when Saturday came, so did the delivery of our grass.  :)

I have to give credit where it's due.  This would have NEVER happened if it weren't for the help of Parker's parents, Paul and Claudia.  They were here last week with the rota-tiller, and 4-wheelers digging up weeds, and pushing around dirt, and fixing sprinkler lines so that the ground would be ready in time.  And last week IT WAS HOT.  I think the high reached 84 that day, and they were outside with Parker the entire time.  Everyone got sunburnt and was exhausted, but if it hadn't been for them we would have never been able to get this done so quickly.

 Thank goodness the temperature was much more moderate this weekend.  I think the high on Saturday was 62....so it was perfect.  We had lots of people come out and help too.  Travis Turner, one of our very good friends was there to help as well as the Missionaries who are assigned to our stake.  And even our neighbor who is just on the other side of the fence from us, saw us working and walked over to help us out for a while.  I deeply regret that we don't even know his name.  A silly mistake to make, but will soon be rectified when we walk over to their place to deliver a thank-you card.  With all the helping hands it only took about an hour and a half.

 Caleb had been suffering from a stomach-ache all day.  Friday night at the ward auction, he threw up his dinner and made a lovely mess for Parker and I to clean up.  He threw up a couple more times that evening and then Saturday I was sure it would continue, but he just had lots of stomach cramps and burps.  Anyway, he was pretty excited about the grass too, and even mustered up enough strength to un-roll some grass on his own.  I thought it was adorable.  He tried to move it around a bit too, to make it fit nicely like a puzzle.....but it was too heavy.  All-in-all I think the sweetest moment was getting to take a picture of him sitting on that grass.  Oh the joy!

 

We still have other work to be done.  We left space for flower beds all along the side of the house, and so, naturally, they're still nothing more than beds of weeds that will need attention.  And the east side of the yard (where Travis's boat is parked) is also full of weeds.  We intend to cover the ground with gravel and put in a double-gate so we'll have extra parking space behind the fence incase a time ever comes that we need to park something (like Travis's boat) or maybe a trailer or a couple 4-wheelers, or whatever.  And then the WEST side of the yard is also missing grass because it's the future home of our garden.  We want to have raised beds, and we'll be trying to get THAT put in before too long as well. 

Can I just tell you how much I love that picture of Parker?  For some reason, I feel like it captures "the essence of Parker" and I just love it.  Below is a photo I took after all of our work LAST WEEKEND, and then below that is the finished product.  It's so surreal!  I actually like to open my back windows now because there's a pleasant view!  And there's a tiny bit of excitement every time the sprinklers come on to water that grass.  We won't be able to go out and walk on it for 10-14 days, during which time it's to be watered HEAVILY...but I still get excited just seeing it there.

Once the 2 weeks are over, Parker and Caleb are going to have a campout in the back yard.  We're REALLY looking forward to that day.

Money

Yesterday, I got after Caleb for talking back to me.  I said, "Caleb- it makes me upset when you talk to me that way."  Then he said something that TOTALLY threw me off guard.  He said, "Well MOM, it makes ME upset when you go to work!" 
silence.
That is so unfair.  I thought for a moment.  "Caleb, I want you to know that I don't LIKE leaving you to go to work.  I would much rather stay home with you.  But if I don't work, we don't have enough money to buy our food, or all the things that we need."  He considered this for a second, and then said,
"Well I have money.  You can have my money mom.  I have seven dollars."
Seven dollars.  How I wished that it was enough.  What a complete sweetheart! 
"Caleb, that is very kind to offer me your money, but I want you to keep your money.  Seven dollars just isn't enough.  But you can save your money and use it to buy yourself something special ok?" 
I didn't cry at the moment, but thinking about the conversation later just about brings me to tears.  What a special boy.  He deserves to have his mommy home with him every day.  I wish his seven dollars could buy that for me.  But it's not even a tiny fraction, bless his heart.  But just earlier that day I was also reminded how LUCKY my kids are that I have the job that I do.  With the flexible hours that I get.  And that I only work 4 days a week instead of five.
There's another little boy at Tresa's daycare, who's in kindergarten with Caleb.  That little boy's mom works Monday through Friday 8-5.  And she never gets off early.  I am so lucky with my job.  When my patients are finished, I get to go home.  If somebody cancels or no-shows at the end of the day, I get to go home.  And I actually get off early A LOT.  And lets not forget I have Fridays off.  When I pick up Caleb from school on Fridays, this other little boy always asks Tresa, "How come MY mom can't pick me up on Fridays?"  And then yesterday I had a 3 hour lunch break, so I went over to Tresa's while Angie was sleeping and I helped Caleb work on his homework.  This turned out to be a big blessing because I have a VERY busy week this week.  Yesterday I had to go visiting teaching after work, and then Wednesday I have mutual after work, and Thursday after work is a Relief Society activity, and Friday after work is our ward auction. And Parker's approaching finals week, and end-of-quarter stuff at work, and he will be working late or going to class every day this week.  Which means I have to take the kids to all of those church activities.  Anyway.  The long lunch was so great yesterday because Caleb was able to completely finish his weekly homework.  And I was so worried we weren't gonna have time to get it done because there was just too much going on.  But since I came over during lunch, the other little boy asked Tresa, "Can MY mom come for lunch sometime?"  Oooh, I felt bad.  But it made me so  grateful for the time that I DO get to spend with my children.  I'm so lucky compared to so many other parents. 
I AM grateful for my job.  And most especially my children.  They are so special.

Happenings

I'm 25 weeks and 2 days today. The baby is very active. I feel him move several times each hour of the day (or so it seems). And there are times when it's allready starting to get uncomfortable. At times I just don't know how I'll make it another 3 1/2 months. And lets not forget that those 3 1/2 months will be SUMMER months. Augh.....it's going to be a long summer. There are times when I look in the mirror and I just don't know how I can continue to grow for all that time. I feel so big allready.

I get some pretty bad pain in my lower back (pelvis more like it) when I lie down on my back. I get it every pregnancy, and so, naturally, there's nothing that can be done about it. Just sleep with a pillow behind my back to make sure I don't roll flat on my back in the middle of the night. Parker doesn't get much space when I'm pregnant. Oh well.

For Easter, I got the kids some new church clothes. I found a BEAUTIFUL yellow dress at Fred Meyer for Angie, and some new black pants for Caleb (I didn't realize how tight or short his old ones were until I got the new ones that actually fit him!!) I also got new shoes for both of them. Angie- Is- Obsessed. She spends SOOO much time every day changing her shoes. She just loves them! She really likes to do it herself too, and if you try to help her she gets mad. "No! My do it!" or "I do it myschelf!" She is well familiar with the words "wrong foot" or "turn it around" and responds to correct the problem. This goes for dressing herself too. She changes her clothes several times a day as well. Often we deal with inside-out or backwards outfits, but she gets it on...and sometimes that surprises me considering the long sleeves, or tightness of some things that she decides to put on. She's getting pretty good.

On Easter morning, I asked Caleb if the Easter Bunny had brought him a basket. He walked up to his blue bucket, and said, "Mom! The Easter Bunny got it down from the pantry!" It's true. The easter buckets are the same as last year. And I kept them in the pantry all year long. Plus the buckets were filled with candy that I'd kept in the pantry for the past couple of days. Thankfully, this didn't seem to be a reason for him to doubt the actual existance of the easter bunny....just a lack of creativity. Or MOM'S lack of tricky-ness. Oh well. I REALLY don't care if he doesn't believe in the easter bunny. It's not what Easter is about anyway.

Angie is starting to take herself potty. Without telling me. So far it hasn't resulted in anything icky or messy......I still worry about her wiping herself. She has a little fascination with toilet paper, and doesn't always realize that once it's touched her bum......it GOES IN THE TOILET. But she does pretty good. For the most part- potty training has really improved as of last week. On Easter....she had 3 accidents. All of which were poopy. After she'd gone the first time, I put her in underwear because she usually only poops once a day. Not on Easter. TWO MORE poopy accidents! And both were LARGE and messy, and stinky. I truly don't mind the extra laundry, if I didn't have to clean up poopy underwear. Augh. By the end of the day I was so frustrated. Then to top it off, (while we were at Grandma's house) Caleb comes in and tells me that HE had an accident. He NEVER has accidents!! And I didn't bring a spare change of clothes for him. I said "Caleb- you can't DO that! You have to go potty BEFORE you have an accident. You can't wait so long." He replied to me, "Mom! I DID go potty! But my pee-pee wouldn't come out fast enough!" Ok. So now I'M about to wet myself. The anger went away and I just had to laugh. Lucily grandma bought him new jammies for easter, and so he went home commando in those. And I had PLENTY of laundry when we got home.

In other news, I haven't been up to much lately except work. I feel so guilty sometimes. I spend all my time at work just wishing I could be home with my kids. And then the second I get home, I want NOTHING MORE than to put them in bed. About 3 weeks ago, I DID do something different. I read "The Hunger Games" series, and finished the first book the night the movie came out. I must say I really enjoyed it. I love to read, but don't do it very much because it's so time-consuming for me. I read all 3 of these books in about one week.

I finished the first book on Friday night, and then I made Parker come with me to the movies on Saturday so that I could see it. I was glad to hear that he enjoyed it, and even wants to read the books himself, maybe when school's out this summer. Parker actually likes to read too, but he doesn't ever have time. He's working more hours than me, and he has school. Plus he has to fit in time for golf and shooting his guns ;).

Anyway. We have also started working on the back yard again. The current plan is to lay sod. THis was a decision Parker made last fall. I think he felt bad about the emotional break-down I had when I found out we'd put off planting the grass for too long, and that it was too late to do it before winter hit. He told me when spring comes, we'll lay sod so that we can have an instant yard. But there's still prep-work. And spring means weeds. It's been a battle. We're getting so close. This weekend Parker's dad is coming over to help get the ground ready. Then the week after that we're supposed to lay the sod. I sure hope it happens. This is the ONE thing that I've REALLY EVER WANTED since we've moved into this house. And this will be our 3rd summer. Everybody cross your fingers! I don't know if I can handle any more disappointment.

Last week I also cut Angie's hair. It was getting long in the back. She had a bit of a "mullet", so I just took the scissors to it and cut the long stuff off the back. Mostly I followed her around the house with the scissors until I just couldn't chase her anymore. But she did hold still for the beginning, and I think I did pretty well. I must say, she looks much more girly now. I like it a lot.