Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Goodbye 2008...

I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. And a very busy year at that. The arrival of Bekah, Erin graduating from the academy, Gavin starting preschool (with a new haircut!), buying a new house...2008 was an awesome year. I can't wait to see what is in store for us in 2009!

Happy New Year!!!























Friday, December 19, 2008

Goodies for the teacher (and aides)!!







Since Gavin is now in preschool, this was my first year of giving the teacher goodies for Christmas. I had fun making these gift bags out of brown lunch bags and paper scraps. (Thanks for the idea, Linda!!) Inside I filled them with "White Trash", a yummy mix of Chex mix, cheerios, popcorn, M&Ms, and pretzels all covered in white chocolate. Yum!!

A project for a class maybe...?







I put these together the other day in hopes of doing a class for the Craftgarden. Well, after they were on the counter for MAYBE a half an hour, a customer came in and ordered ten kits!!! And it used up all the paper we had left in the store!!! So now I have to make new ones, with different paper, in hopes of doing a class. That's okay...hopefully this means I will have a good turn out for the class!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Hectic.

That's how my life has been lately. Hectic. I've been so busy with finishing my Christmas projects that I haven't really gotten a chance to blog much. I finally got my Christmas cards all done and mailed off. Yay! I'm halfway done (I think!) with my Christmas gifts. I still need to finish my baking, though. I can't believe that Christmas is next week! It has totally crept up on me this year.

I did manage to take the kiddos to see Santa. The day before we went, I prepared Gavin for the big day. Last year he didn't sit on Santa's lap, just looked at him from a distance. I was really hoping that he would overcome his shyness towards the big guy this year so I could get a picture of the two of them together. Anyway, I told Gavin all about how Santa brings presents, yadda, yadda, yadda...Well, it seemed to work. He was pretty excited. And the morning of the visit he was all ready to go before Bekah even made it out of bed! I was thinking, yeah! I'll get a good shot this year.

Wrong.

When we got over to the plaza that Santa was at, Gavin didn't want anything to do with him. He didn't even want to LOOK at him. Great. I finally coaxed him into peeking at him, but that was as good as it got. So I took Bekah over to Santa. That worked for about 2 seconds and then she was crying all over the poor guy. At least I was able to get a picture of them together. (even if she is crying all over the place!)




After we took pictures, we walked over to pet Santa's reindeer Rudolph. Once again Gavin decided not to participate. ARGG! Sure does make it hard for mommy to scrapbook properly! Well, I guess there is always next year.
Anyway, I NEED to go get some sleep. I keep dozing off and on while typing this. I'm just so exhausted. I'll get some sleep and then (hopefully) type more tomorrow!
Nite!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Discipline without yelling.

Three easy words. But why is it so hard to do? I've never wanted to be the mommy who yells. But it seems that lately its been happening more than often.
I read an article in the most recent Parents magazine. It's about a mommy like myself, who hates yelling, but feels that its the only way to get the point across. Now, don't missunderstand, I don't ALWAYS yell. There are times, being a mommy of a tenacious three year old, that I just feel like exploding. So I yell. After telling Gavin ten times (I'm not kidding, really TEN times) not to hit, not to wake up his sister, not to stand too close to the tv, not to do this, not to do that...yelling seems like the only (effective?) alternative. I hate doing it. But what am I supposed to do?
The article follows the mommy over a short period of time as she tries to not yell. Does it prove to be effective? Yep.

So I've been trying it for the past two days.

Have I yelled?

Just once.

Does it seem to be working?

Hmmm...amazingly yes it does. It may be too early to tell, but so far it seems to be working. Gavin has been quite tenacious lately and there are many, many times where I would just like to yell and scream, I realize that by doing that it'll just make the situation worse. And by holding back and talking calmly to him about the situation, he seems to be *gasp* actually... listening...to...me. Wow. And I feel more in control of the situation. Hmmm...I think daddy is going to have to try this method, too. I know it'll be a challenge for him, being as he is a corrections officer and yelling at the inmates actually IS effective. :0)

So although I haven't yelled today, its still early, and even if I do slip and yell, at least I am TRYING and THAT is good.
I CAN DO THIS.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Thanksgiving and "Bunny Ears"

Thanksgiving came early for our family this year. Since Erin had to work we celebrated on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. We had a very low-key day as all four of us were sick. I always hate being sick, but I hate it even more when its during the holiday season. I mean, how in the world am I supposed to even taste all the yummy food when my nose is stuffed up?! Thankfully, I was still able to taste the yummy turkey, taters, rolls and stuffing. It was soooo goooood. Gavin looooved the turkey. Hooray! Poor Bex had to eat rice cereal, though. Next year she can have the goodies.

Gavin got his "bunny ears" this last Wednesday. These are his special ears that will help him hear better...aka hearing aids. We haven't been lucky this year with getting him to wear them so we thought we'd try a new tactic. Or, I should say his doctor thought we'd try something new. He has been given a completely different set of hearing aids. They are ALOT smaller than his regular hearing aids and they do not require ear molds. He always hated getting molds made, so the doctor thought that maybe we should try something completely different and work our way to his regular hearing aids. He even got to pick out the colors (orange and green) for his new bunny ears! And guess what, he is really excited about them. He only wears them for 20 minute spurts, but it is a start. I'm just thankful that he is excited about them. Maybe it's because they came with a Mickey Mouse book (he loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) or maybe its because he has a green one like Ben 10 (another favorite), who knows. All I know is that this seems to be working right now and I pray that this will be the beginning of something good.

Monday, November 24, 2008

a new post...finally!!

I know it has been FOREVER since my last post. A million things have happened since then...the most important being that I am a mommy to a beautiful baby girl. Rebekah Jordana was born June 10,2008, at 9:09 in the morning. She was a whopping 9lbs .5oz and 20 3/4 inches long. She is perfect.

I really, REALLY want to be good and start blogging more often. I decided that maybe it would help if I spruced up my page a bit. So now I have music {yes, I DO like the New Kids} and I also have a link to my scrapbook creations. I plan on adding more pictures here soon...

Anyway, its WAYYYY past my bedtime, so I probably should get tucked in. {Especially since Gavin loves to wake up at 6 am!}

Be sure and visit my page again...I promise I won't have such a long stretch between postings!

Goodnight! :o)

Monday, March 10, 2008

Future boxer?...Maybe a soccer player?...

Last week I had my 23 week checkup. I was really dreading this checkup since my last "real" checkup was almost 2 months ago. Last month my checkup was basically just a thorough ultrasound with a high risk doctor. No blood pressure check, no weight check, no blood samples...nothing. I was really worried that since my last checkup with my doctor I had put on some major pounds. Boy was I surprised when I found out that I had only gained 2 pounds in two months! Woohoo!! And I've only gained 5 pounds throughout the whole pregnancy so far! I'm stoked! :) Now if only I can make sure I don't gain a ton during the last trimester, as I've just been so darn hungry lately...
Baby's heartbeat sounded good, nice and strong. I've really been short winded lately, so she put me on some asthma medication. It seems to be helping. I've been ordered to have blood tests and an ultrasound at each appointment, just to make sure everything is still going well since I am a high risk pregnancy. We were able to see litte Rebekah at the ultrasound and this time we took Gavin. He loved watching his baby sister. And he was so proud of his picture that he got to take home of her. Evidently, the baby is measuring big. At the time, she should have only been 23 weeks, but with measuring tape and ultrasound, she was measuring around 26-29 weeks. Yikes! So, either she is just a big baby, or....I may have gestational diabetes. :( I won't find out until my next appointment which is at the end of this month. I'm praying that she is just a big girl...having GD will make me more likely to get preeclampsia. And that is what I was starting to get with Gavin. I'd really like to be able to carry to 38 weeks, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see!
In the meantime, I have a vicious little girl in my belly! :) She's a kicker and a puncher...I swear she is sitting right on my bladder and many nights do I wake up having to make a mad dash to the potty because of her.
I think Gavin might be meeting his match here really soon. :)

Monday, February 25, 2008

The Screw.

A couple of weeks ago, I realized that even when you think your home is kid proof, a child always has to prove otherwise...
Gavin and I were in the living room watching Spongebob, and I noticed that he was next to the tv trays. The tv trays that we have are on a wooden stand and he was sitting on the floor just banging the trays together to make a nice clanking sound. At one point I happened to look closer at what he was doing and noticed that a screw in the base of the holder was missing. So I asked him where it was at, thinking maybe he put it somewhere. Yeah, he put it somewhere...his mouth. At least thats what he was telling me...

Me: "Gavin, where is the screw?"
Gavin: (opens his mouth and points inside)
Me: "You swallowed it???!"
Gavin: "Yep"

Now, this conversation repeated itself numerous times. Each time I got the same reply, sometimes with a little laugh, like "Duh, ma, what did I tell you before?" I was really trying not to believe that he swallowed a screw. I looked all over the living room and could not find it. Finally, I decided to unscrew the other screw to see just what it was that he "swallowed". Holy cow! That screw was an inch long and a half inch wide! No exaggeration...I measured it!
Okay, so at this point I was starting to worry. So I called the doctors office and the nurse said that the good news was that he wasn't having any difficulty breathing. The bad news was that I needed to take him to ER for some x-rays. Great. Last time he had x-rays was when he choked on something and I wanted to make sure he didn't swallow anything. And he screamed the whole time.
On the way to the hospital, I made some phone calls to the family to let everyone know what was going on. Amber, my mother in law, offered to meet me at the hospital so I wouldn't have to be alone. (Erin was at work.) I took her up on it. And I was so happy and thankful for her being there. She was great with Gavin, entertaining him, holding him, pinning him down for the x-ray (that broke my heart) and consoling him (I wanted to do that but he didn't want me...probably thought it was my fault he was there!)
Turned out that the little monkey was telling me the truth the whole time. He DID swallow the screw. The doctor wasn't too concerned as it was in his stomach and not lodged somewhere. He said that we would just have to wait for it to pass. If Gavin showed any signs of fever, tummy ache, etc., then we would have to take him back in to ER.
Well, it took a couple days, but the screw did turn up. And no, I didn't show Gavin what was in his diaper. I didn't want him to get any other ideas about swallowing something just to see it turn up in his diaper. :) For about a week after the incident, he reminded me each day, several times a day, that he swallowed that screw. Bless his little heart...I guess I need to make sure I believe him from now on.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

21 weeks...



Here I am at 21 weeks...and boy do I feel huge!! Seems like this time around I just popped...It is an amazing feeling being pregnant. This pregnancy has been so different from my first, though. More tired, more aches, more forgetfulness and morning sickness. Thank goodness the morning sickness is gone...but I was right about my suspicions...We are having a girl! Yay! We found out a few weeks ago, but I've been so darn lazy about blogging, I'm just now making the announcement on here. (Sorry!) We are really excited about the arrival of our little Rebekah Jordana...we really can't wait.

I have many more pictures to show and stories to tell (Gavin swallowed a screw!)...keep watching my blog for updates :) I'll be posting more within the next few days. :)

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Lesson Number 74 in parenting...

Note to self: DO NOT leave open containers of scrapbook paint in the trash where Gavin can reach, even if I DO think that it is completely dried out...

You can only imagine what happened today when I did just that. Of course, he waited until I was busy (on the potty) before he decided to be a painter. He painted the hallway carpet in about five different areas (big areas, too) and of course the hallway wall. Wish I would've taken a picture of it so I could scrap about it, but I was more concerned in getting it cleaned up before it dried. After spending most of the afternoon using different techniques to clean it up, I think its safe to say that I got about 98% of it off.
Let's just say that I really learned my leasson.


I haven't blogged in a bit, feeling a tad lazy, but I do have some news. I am officially feeling the baby move! I think I started feeling the movements around 14 weeks or so. At the time I thought it was too soon, but now that I have been feeling the movements more frequently now, I believe I really was feeling them all that time. I had forgotten what a wonderful feeling it is to feel the baby move.

My next appointment is February 6, in Anchorage this time. I will be seeing a doctor who specializes in high risk pregnancies. My doctor just wants to make sure that everything is good and that she hasn't missed anything. I will have another ultrasound at that time, too, so hopefully we'll get to find out if it's a boy or a girl! I'm really excited to find out!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...