Ellis Family

Computer is Fixed!

2012-02-17T10:06:00.001-07:00

I contracted a virus on my computer a few days ago. A program called "Internet Security" somehow attacked it, gave me a virus, and then tried to get me to buy their antivirus software. Despite how legitimate the program looked they did not catch me in their sneaky snare!

I hired a teenage computer guru from church to take a look at it. He did a great job and returned the computer to me all cleaned up, and in a timely manner. I was glad I took it to him rather than the computer repair place that would have cost me more than double.

I asked the young computer professional if he thought I should install an antivirus on the computer since ours had long expired. His advice to me was to just not click on stuff on the internet (a little harder to do with kids!), and that an antivirus program usually just slows down your computer a lot.

What do you think? Was his advice good?

Ai-Den!

2012-02-13T14:03:00.001-07:00

I think Aiden is a little bit confused about Bryan's name. He knows how to say it, but he constantly refers to both himself and Bryan as Ai-den. I'm not worried about it. I'm sure he'll figure it out. In the mean time it makes me laugh to myself.

My computer seems to have gotten a virus, so until I get that figured out I'm using my OLD laptop, so no pictures for now!

Homeschool Update

2012-02-09T17:22:00.002-07:00

Here is my conclusion: The hardest part is starting.

I had in my mind a vision of what I wanted to do with Amy to begin our homeschooling (even though she is not technically school-age), but giving up my time to begin doing it was sooooo hard. It took me four months of seriously thinking about it (and more than a year of less seriously thinking about it) to actually schedule and DO our homeschooling.

Now we've been doing it seriously for two weeks and Amy and I are both loving it. The ideas for curriculum and activities come to me easily thanks to my kindergarten teaching experience. Putting aside MY time and making it OUR time was hard, but it only took a few days to realize how fun and meaningful it is. It's worth it and I'm glad we FINALLY got started!

I'll plan to post about our homeschooling activities and ups and downs on a regular basis.

Right now we're going through each of the letters. Amy knows the name and sound of most of them, but we're still reviewing them one-by-one. She doesn't know the lowercase letters quite as well. Writing them is hard, but I don't stress it too much since she is only three. This past two weeks we've learned about Max the Mouse who loves to munch, BoBo the bear's birthday, Silly Squinkies, and Andy who has Allergies. (While I was teaching I assisted BYU with a research project called SEEL and helped develop hundreds of playful, fun, phonics lessons. If you're interested you can view them here: http://education.byu.edu/seel. It's free and printable!)

We've also worked on numeral recognition and AB patterns. We've made pattern trains and Valentine wreaths with hearts in an AB pattern to give to our elderly neighbors.

Today when I didn't have much energy or anything planned we just did our alphabet train puzzle and played Candy Land. But at least we didn't just not do it!

Snowman Prayers

2012-02-08T07:23:00.001-07:00

We haven't had too many snow days this year, so when one came a few weeks ago Amy was ready to bundle up and make snow angels and a snowman. I didn't think she'd last more than 5 minutes because she's never really liked the cold or the snow, but I guess she's growing up because she LOVED it!

Amy's first snowman! We set it up in front of the window because I thought it would be fun for the boys to look out the window and see it. It actually ended up startling me all the time because I'd see someone looking into our house out of the corner of my eye!

As the days went by our snowman bowed further and further, but it just wouldn't fall over! This is after two days.

And this is after 5 days. It is still about 2 inches off of the ground! We had fun observing it everyday.

Dan joked that the snowman was Muslim and was praying night and day for our family. That's great! We need all the prayers we can get, even snowman prayers!

We Don't Have Any Money

2012-02-06T15:10:00.001-07:00

A funny story that I didn't want to forget. . .

Amy can be a bit of a drama queen. She can make herself cry about anything, anytime, anywhere. For months she has been asking us to buy her a horse and we always reply that we don't have money to buy a horse.

About a month ago we were at church. Dan and I were on one end of the pew and Amy was on the other end with Aiden, Bryan, both of my parents, and Aaron, and Jessica between us. All of the sudden Amy starts bawling and crying -- quite loudly for all to hear! "We don't have any money! We don't have any money!" By the time she made her way to me I realized she was making herself cry about a horse. At least now the whole congregation knows that "We don't have any money." But they have no idea that the whole ordeal was about wanting a horse.

January Wrap Up

2012-02-04T20:26:00.000-07:00

I have so many blog posts in my mind. I want to blog about the daily witty things, but always feel behind on blogging about the big events. I never seem to let myself write about the little things if I'm behind on the big things. So in an attempt to catch up so that I can move on, here's January all in one post! :)

(My parents came to visit for a few days at the end of December. I haven't uploaded the pictures onto the computer. Another big post I need to catch up on...)

First in January came Daniel's birthday. I made him a target cake with some tootsie roll bullets. A very easy and fast cake.

Jessi and the boys helped clean up the extra frosting. :) They sounded like little pigeons and kept saying, "Want more, want more, want more, want more...."

The cake looked even more like a target after the candles!

Our next big January event was a very fun weekend visit from Kim and Liz. Everyone in my family thinks these two are so much fun and so we were really grateful that they came to see us!

This one picture summarizes our weekend pretty well. Kim and Liz love playing games and so do Aaron and I. Jessi was happy to be included. We spent HOURS and HOURS playing Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride. They even played Candy Land with Amy!

Aiden and Bryan found great playmates!

That weekend was also Aaron's birthday. Here's everyone "cleaning" up some more frosting! Aaron opted for a super simple cake so that I would have more time to play board games. :) He's 14 now!

Kim and Liz brought their dog Spider. He is the calmest, most easy going dog I've ever met! All of the kids LOVED him.

Christmas

2012-02-02T15:36:00.000-07:00

Our Christmas morning started out pretty easy going since we waited until the afternoon when Aaron, Jessi, and Daniel got here to open presents. Amy slept in and then it still took her forever to notice/remember that Santa had come! (We had Santa put all the presents downstairs instead of under the tree so that the boys wouldn't get into them.) Santa brought all of the little kids bikes so they got to play with those during the morning and open their stockings. (Aiden, our bruiser, woke up with a bloody nose that morning.)

Finally time to open presents! We passed the camera around, hoping to get candid shots of everyone, but at least half of the pictures the kids took came out very blurry, and it turned out that everyone liked taking pictures of the little kids, so we have tons to those! Oh well! We WERE all there, having fun, and happy!

The kids also got a giant trampoline that took us two days to put together. I don't seem to have any pictures of the kids on it though! We really felt spoiled with gifts on this Christmas. Thanks so much to all the grandparents for helping make it wonderful for the kids!

My Christmas goals for next year:
-Make an advent calendar for the kids that has a small activity to do each day. The activities will be something that will help us remember Jesus Christ and service.
-Make or buy a nativity that is for the kids. Teach them to act out the nativity story. Read the story from the scriptures.
-Teach the kids a few Christmas hymns.
-Coordinate a service project for the whole family to do together.

Amy Reads

2012-01-20T21:38:00.000-07:00

The Best Big Brother Ever!

2012-01-17T19:58:00.000-07:00

The pictures say it all! We love Aaron!

I'll get to Christmas and all the January birthdays, etc. . .

Fall Catch Up

2012-01-07T15:09:00.005-07:00

I have lots of pictures from the last few months that I haven't posted. I'll dedicate this post to catching up with fall. Long post with LOTS of pictures!

Way Back in October: Dan and I took the little kids to Park City to walk around and have lunch. We stopped and played in the leaves for a while. So much fun! Here's a bunch of snapshots. I love them and imagine they would look even better if I knew how to photoshop them!

Halloween Cookie Disaster: I tried to chase away some rainy day blues in October by bringing everyone to the table to mix up and roll out some Halloween cookies. We used a package mix and it was a complete disaster as the dough was sooooo sticky! We scraped it off the table and ended up doing drop cookies instead. Despite the mess, we succeeded in chasing the blues away and had fun!

Dan's Birthday: For Dan's birthday cake I made a bag of gold. I wish I could have given him a real bag! Daniel gave him a big knife for his birthday so Dan used it to cut the cake.

Also on Dan's birthday I had each of the kids paint a canvas for us to hang up in our living room. I was tired of the old pictures we had on the wall and I wanted something that represented our family more. I told them they could paint anything they wanted, but I painted the background and picked the color palette so that they would all match our decor. I love the outcome. It's bold and takes up most of the wall. Modern, and still very meaningful. Light and fun. I think it makes a strong statement about what who we are. (Top row: Daniel, Aiden, Aaron. Bottom row: Jessi, Bryan, Amy (with some help!).

Thanksgiving: Dan's mother, Jan, came to visit for Thanksgiving weekend. Some of the highlights of our weekend include lots of cuddling, story reading, and napping! All of the kids (Aaron on down to Bryan) loved to hang out up in the girls bedroom with Grandma. They just laid around reading, singing songs, cuddling, and even napping together! I've never seen them all enjoy being so close for such long amounts of time! The kids also enjoyed having Grandma Jan take them shopping at the mall. :)

Grandma was an instant hit with Bryan since she was always willing to read books with him!

We also got to enjoy a brief visit from my brother Jason and Emy, Boston, and Story. The kids had so much fun playing together!

And that finishes up our fall. Later this week I'll do Christmas Break!

Grocery Shopping

2011-12-14T15:51:00.002-07:00

I have resolved my grocery shopping dilemma! I really wanted to return to shopping at Walmart for the convenience and savings. I can get all my shopping done at one place. They will price match local competitor ads, which I've found saves me a lot of money. And they do double coupons here on Tuesdays. But I wasn't shopping at Walmart because they no longer have carts with extra child seats. (They say they break too much and are too expensive to replace.) I have found that my double stroller and the grocery cart are a perfect size match. I just bungie cord the stroller very tightly to the back of the cart. I then push the cart backwards, so that the boys are going forward. It works quite well, and my grocery trips have actually been easier because the boys are so comfortable and they have their little snack holders. Everyone has their own space. No fighting. :)

Amy always sees me going through the local ads and clipping coupons so she loves to "cut coupons" too. We used the pictures she clipped to make her own picture grocery list to take to the store. All the items we put on her list matched my real grocery list. We drew pictures of things we couldn't find ads for. While we were at the store Amy knew exactly what we needed to buy (and what not to buy because it wasn't on the list!) It was a great homeschooling/educational day!

Recent Fall Pictures

2011-11-21T15:33:00.001-07:00

I found these super cute, little teeny tiny gloves at the dollar store. The boys think they're great. But it's really hard to get their fingers in all the right holes. Aren't my boys cute?

Amy really wanted to be Orphan Annie for Halloween. She loves the movie and she thinks she looks just like Annie. I found this dress for $2 at a consignment store. Just added a white sash. It's a size 6, so I had to pin it up, but now she'll have a dress to wear in a few years! I thought she was really cute. Her dog Sandy was the finishing touch!

I forgot to take a picture of Aiden and Bryan until they were pretty much done with Halloween. Aiden was a giraffe and Bryan was a lion. They loved running around in their costumes and eating lots of candy!!!!

Aaron and Jessi were at their other mom's house. We missed them!

And of course we did some learning on Halloween. We learned a lot about please and thank yous! When we got home we combined everyone's candy. First we sorted it by color. Then counted each pile. I'm sure we could have come up with a lot more learning activities to do with the candy, but that's all we did!

Amy made a Thanksgiving shirt at preschool last week. Then she and I made a turkey snack for all of us to share.

We finished up our leaf study that I wrote about a few weeks ago. It was a good starter unit for us. We did most of the activities on the list and Amy is definitely more aware of leaves and seasons.

Then this last week I've been busy building a roof/covering for our deck so that we'll have an outdoor space that's not covered in snow for the kids to play in this winter. Of course, it will be nice for summer too. But, it's kept me pretty busy so I haven't focused too much on homeschooling this week, although Amy is really interested in measuring everything with the measuring tape now!

18 Months

2011-11-03T09:56:00.001-07:00

Aiden and Bryan just turned 18 months old! I've been looking forward to this since before they were born because I remembered that Amy became really fun at about this age. I knew that I would enjoy the boys at this age, and I do!

Their vocabularies are growing every day. They enjoy eating with spoons and forks now (although I usually end up having to take them away since they misuse them!) They enjoy playing with each other more and more, and they keep an eye on each other. They are both so active and fun and I love that they are my boys! (And I do look forward to them growing even more so that they'll be even more fun.)

Aiden
-LOVES his baba and is always going to the fridge to let me know that he wants more, more, more.
-Loves wearing shoes. Anytime I say that we need to get our shoes on he is the first one to run to the shoe pile by the door and find his shoes.

Bryan
-This little guy loves reading books! Many times a day he finds a book, sits on my lap, takes my hand and puts the book in it so that I'll read to him. But he does NOT like to share my lap. He wants me all to himself.
-Bryan likes to hold my hand when we walk places. (Aiden won't.) Consequently, Bryan gets more out-of-the-stroller time when we're out and about.

Playing together. Aiden has dumped mulch all over his head, and Bryan is wiping it off. He's not hitting him (at least not this time!)

For the record

2011-11-02T08:39:00.000-07:00

A few more thoughts on homeschooling:

Just because I'm thinking about it seriously right now doesn't mean that I'll actually do it. It's still two years away. I'm just thinking about it, and am currently more motivated to "seize the day" with doing things with the kids. I also feel totally overwhelmed. I have lots of great ideas. Actually doing them is another thing! More often than not when it comes down to doing it I just don't feel like it, or the boys are tearing everything up, or Amy is having some kind of tantrum. They all love it when I read to them, but it almost always turns into a battle of what book to read and who gets to sit on my lap, and then all the kids end up crying! So I'm working on it. Trying to do a little more each day. I could not start truly homeschooling today. I'm just not that good, yet. We like watching tv, we eat processed food, and I don't do cloth diapers. So you see, we're pretty normal. :) Just because I'm thinking about homeschooling doesn't make me more granola or better than other moms. Teaching is a talent that I have and I want to open that up to my kids on a higher level than I currently am. I want to blog about the educational things I'm doing with my kids. Not to brag about it. But so that I can keep myself encouraged.

One thing that makes me feel like I might be able to pull homeschooling off is that by then my boys will be three and will hopefully be much more independent and be able to join us without tearing everything up! Plus, I'll only have to prepare lessons for two grade levels.

I've always been, and still am, skeptical of homeschoolers. I'm sure many families do it well. However, most of my experience with homeschoolers was as a teacher. Families would pull their kids out of school for whatever reason and then they almost always came back a few months or a year later and their kids would be really behind. If I find that I don't homeschool well, then I won't do it.

A Budding Idea-Homeschooling

2011-10-31T14:12:00.002-07:00

I'm not sure why, but for the past few months I've been thinking about "the little kids'" futures, especially education, a LOT. Maybe it's because Amy started pre-school this fall. (Amy's preschool is wonderful, by the way. My friend/neighbor does it in her house and there are only five kids.) Maybe it's because Aaron and Jessi switched schools again as their mom moved back to town--a very GOOD thing!

And lo and behold, I've been feeling very strongly about homeschooling my little ones. I have all kinds of mixed feelings about this. I wanted to write them out to clear my head, and to possibly get some input. Here are some of them:

This is a big flip from what I've always said to others about homeschooling. Many people have asked my opinion about it since I've been a kindergarten teacher. I've always told them that the schools here were great, and I genuinely believed that. But now, the thought of sending my kids off to a place where there's a HUGE peer influence for 7 hours a day seems ridiculous! And even the best of teachers won't be able to give my kids the individual attention that I can give them. I feel spread thin now with my five kids, but I don't have 25 kids like school teachers do! Over the years I've been frustrated with public education when it comes to Jessi who struggles in school. She's a brilliant girl, but just doesn't fit well within the academic mold that public school offers. This year with her school transfer it took over 2 months for them to get her IEP transferred so that she could receive help in math, and this only happened after I started making "annoying parent calls." What a waste of two months of school for her. She is sent home with several grammar and spelling worksheets for homework every night. I hate worksheets because most of the time they are written to be tricky. And why does she have to waste an hour every night doing this when her time would be much better spent working on math or reading? When we were all at Edgemont together things were a little better because I could hand pick her teachers and work with them frequently. Her teachers were my good friends. Now I feel like if I talk to her teacher that I will be viewed as annoying. A parent shouldn't feel that way about their kids' education. I strongly believe that if I could homeschool her for a year she could get completely caught up with her peers. Unfortunately I don't have the custodial right to make that decision. (That was a long thought!)

The thought of homeschooling is completely overwhelming because I will have to give much more of myself to the kids than I currently do. Homeschooling is such a selfless act. I want that for my kids, but I have much patience to learn! I find Amy very temperamental many days and she can frustrate me a LOT! We will have to learn to get along. :)

I asked Dan, "Why do I have to have all this on my mind so much right now? Amy doesn't start school for two more years." His reply was that maybe I need two years to get ready. I think he's right. I need two years to work on getting my parenting to the level I want it to be so that homeschooling will feel natural for us. But I don't think that I should wait until Amy officially starts kindergarten to start homeschooling. We're starting now by trying to do a lot more reading and seizing those little learning moments everyday. (Dan is very supportive of this homeschooling idea, by the way!) I think it will mean a lot more freedom for our family.

In the past week I've read a whole handful of books about homeschooling, trying to envision what I want it to look like. I even went to a K12 (free online homeschool curriculum) info session last week. I'm sure my ideas will change over time, but right now I'm leaning toward a very relaxed homeschooling environment. I don't think I want it to look like "real" school with assigned time for different subjects and textbooks, and especially not worksheets!, etc. Well, there might need to be a little of that, but not too much! Maybe as they get older. . . Right now I'm thinking that I like the integrated unit study approach. Many subjects (reading, math, art, science, history,etc.) all wrapped up in studying one topic. This week we're starting to study about leaves. Here are some things I plan to do with the kids. Don't know if we'll get to them all. Maybe it will take us longer than a week, and that's okay.
-Go to a park in the canyon and play in the leaves. Nature walk to collect leaves.
-Lots of art projects with the leaves we collect.
-Sort leaves by shape and then again by color and again by size.
-Make a leaf graph (to help count the leaves)
-Talk about why plants have leaves. What do leaves do? What are the parts of leaves?
-Put a cabbage or celery leaf in colored water and see what happens.
-Let a leaf wilt and then put it in water and see what happens.
-Point out edible leaves at the grocery store. Smell the different herbs. Point out dried leaves/herbs in the spice cupboard.
-Seasons. What seasons look like for different kinds of plants, not just your typical tree.
-Measure leaves.
-Find books at the library.
-Letter Ll. Make leaf puppets named Little Lucy Leaf and Large Lenny Leaf and have them play with things that start with the letter L like lollipops and lions. Label things with the letter L.

And my last thought, everyone seems to worry about socialization for homeschoolers. I feel really at peace about this. I'm not worried about my kids socially. They will still participate in activities that include other kids, as well as adults. Plus, I would rather them learn good socialization skills from me and Dan than from peers at school. As I think back to my childhood there are a few distinct friends that I had for many years. Yes, a few from school. . .but just as many or more from my neighborhood (that I socialized with because they were my neighbors, not because I knew them at school) and from church. I feel strongly that my kids will be just fine socially and won't grow up to be weird!

Pumpkin Land

2011-10-28T08:57:00.001-07:00

Last week the "little kids" and I went to Pumpkin Land with my friend Kristy and her kids, Davey and Gordon. Despite the crowds of school groups we had a really fun time.

There was a corn maze and lots of fun playhouse/climbing-type things to do, but that's where the crowds were and my kids weren't too interested in being clobbered by big kids. Their favorite parts were checking out the actual pumpkins (giant ones all the way to little tiny ones) and watching the animals.

There were bunnies, goats, chickens, geese, turkeys, etc.

Grand Band

2011-10-21T19:23:00.001-07:00

Another one of our rainy day activities was to take the kids to DI (local good-will type store). Sometimes I take the kids there and let them play in the toy aisle for a while. No one seems to mind as long as we pick up when we're done. I usually let them pick a cheap toy to take home. This time Amy picked a toy trumpet, which she loves (and I don't mind most of the time!) She happily played marching band for the rest of the day. She decided that we needed to make band hats (like on Caillou). Isn't she a cutie!

Oh yeah, I chopped my hair off about 2 months ago. Perhaps not my favorite look, but I love how easy it is, which works well for me right now.

Busy Boys

2011-10-19T18:31:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd share these pictures of my busy boys. (I know they didn't turn out well. Most pictures on my camera don't turn out well anymore. It's definitely time for a new camera! Any recommendations on a simple point and shoot that turns out good pictures?)

The other week we had several cold/rainy days in a row. I started to panic that winter was already on its way. Fortunately beautiful Fall weather has returned. But on this particular day, you can tell we had been busy playing inside all day. We use old diaper boxes for giant blocks. I only pull them out on rainy days. Lots of fun. By the end of the day we were all grumpy from being cooped up. The boys were NOT cooperating with letting me make dinner, so I got out their stroller, strapped them in, and put on Baby Einstein so that I could quickly throw dinner together. (I've only done this twice, and while I don't want it to be a habit, it is a HUGE help when I've really had enough!)

And here's Bryan wearing Daddy's big shoes. He loves putting on everyone's shoes. Cute guy!

I have more pictures to share, but I'll spread them out over the week. :)

Grocery Shopping

2011-10-07T13:57:00.000-07:00

Over the past two months I've run into a grocery shopping dillema. How to grocery shop with three young children?

Everyone likes to point out the obvious answer. Don't try! Go when Dan can be home with the kids. Yes, but Dan works two jobs. The only time he's home is in the evening. By then, I want to see him, and I'm too tired to go grocery shopping! So that answer doesn't work for us. I think that getting a babysitter for three is too expensive. Just tack $20-30 onto my grocery bill. No thanks.

Last school year the boys were still in carriers, so while it was still tricky, I could manage putting one carrier on the seat of the cart and the other one across the back of the cart. Amy walked. Over the summer the boys outgrew their carriers and learned to walk, but I was able to schedule grocery trips when I could bring Aaron and/or Jessi with me. We'd get two carts (then we could really stock up!) or bring the stroller. Now with school back in session along with homework and other activities it's just too much to schedule a grocery trip during the week when Aaron and Jessi are available (early evening, not a fun time to go out with the kids.)

I do not mind going shopping with Aiden, Bryan, and Amy by myself. They are good kids and love getting out. We go out right after morning nap and pack bottles and lots of snacks. The only problem is that I need to be able to buckle the boys down. The need to be comfortable (so that they'll be happy) and safely, tightly constrained.

I've done my shopping at Wal Mart forever. I'm comfortable there. I can fly through the store and easily find everything. (But the checkout line is always a huge frustration!) For whatever reason all of the Wal Marts within 30 miles of me no longer have carts that have the extra seats. (Except for one, but all the buckles are broken because the carts are so old.)

So I started shopping at smaller stores like Smith's. They have lots of carts with the car/truck on the front and two seats by the handle. The kids love it. It's so fun. And so expensive! Target seems too expensive too.

Then I heard about WinCo. I thought I'd try it. It's a little far away. I called first to check out their cart situation. They have three seaters! The buckles aren't broken! When I first walked in I was a little overwhelmed. It's a huge grocery store! Wide aisles. CHEAP prices. Both times I've been there they opened up a new checkout line just for me (the crazy lady with three squirming kids and an overloaded cart!), which I really appreciated. Drawback, they only have groceries so I'll still have to make occasional trips to other stores. But I guess this is my solution for now. Does anyone else have this problem? How do you handle shopping with your little ones?

Becoming Friends?

2011-10-03T19:47:00.000-07:00

Aiden and Bryan are finally, officially, beginning to become friends, I think! They are only friends when they are outside, probably because that is where they are happiest and the most independent. (And they do spend LOTS of time fighting or being jealous of each other.) But the cute moments when they play together are becoming more frequent.

They love playing in the yard and find all kinds of things to do together out there. They discovered these old flower pots I had stored next to the shed and had a hay day pouring, throwing, eating, and dumping the potting soil on each others' heads.

Bryan: Hey look Aiden! I found some more!

Bryan: Really, Mom, he WANTS me to put it in his hair!

Aiden: See Mom! It looks good in my hair!!!

Working together!

Summer Birthday Girls

2011-09-16T08:38:00.000-07:00

Jessica's birthday was July 19. We were in Portland, OR so we celebrated with her cousins at Uncle Dave and Aunt Carolyn's house. She picked a Hawaiin Flower theme. Unfortunately almost all the pictures we took (the kids took them) didn't turn out at all!

Here's the cake I made for her.

The cousins together. Aiden must have been inside though.

Carolyn and I took all of the cousins to the zoo. They're zoo members so they knew all the best things to show us.

We also spent a weekend with "Uncle" Ray. He's one of Dan's best friends. Aiden was named after him-Aiden Ray. Ray insisted on taking the kids on the carousel! He had such a great time with the kids.

This is at a park in Salem, OR.

While in Oregon, we stayed at Dan's mom's house. Somehow we didn't take any pictures there! Dan was attending a conference for work and so Jan and I spent the days with the kids. We took them to the park, and shopping. All of us spent an evening at Oaks Park, an amusement park. It was a really fun trip (except for the roadtrip part!) Wish we had taken more pictures.

And Amy turned 3 on August 27. She had a little princess party. She had been looking forward to her birthday and her cake for MONTHS. I think she loved every minute of it!

All the little princesses together!

Potty Princess

2011-07-04T18:37:00.002-07:00

A week and a half ago I decided to take another stab at potty training. (It didn't go so well when I tried last August.) I decided to go for it now because I wanted Amy to be potty trained for our big family reunion coming up in August. If she's potty trained she'll be able to go to the kiddy camp at the resort we're going to. But, I really didn't think she'd take to potty training right now. Any time I mentioned the potty or panties she made it clear that she did NOT want them! I decided to give it two days and if it wasn't going well then I'd put it all away and just wait however long until she told me she was ready. I figured I had a 50/50 chance of success right now.

So, I stocked up on prizes from the dollar store. They had lots of princess stuff. Perfect! Aaron and Jessica agreed to do extra baby duty to keep Aiden and Bryan out of my hair while I focused on Amy for the two days. (It was a lot of work for them, but they sure helped a TON!!!) On the day we were to begin I got ready for the day and came downstairs wearing a tiara. This immediately made Amy excited. I announced that we were princesses today. She was excited to put on her princess tiara, wear a princess shirt and princess panties and pee on her princess potty. It was a big game all day. After about three accidents she totally got it. She hasn't had an accident for several days now. She still loves to get a little candy prize every time though. :)

For the first few days we carried the potty with us from room to room. Now we have one in each bathroom and one in the yard. Still wearing diapers at night, but that's okay. Panties at nap, and no accidents ever. She still doesn't want to go on the big toilet. (Any tips on that?) I'm going to work on that this week. I bought a little fold-up portable potty that fits in my diaper bag so we use that when we go out. I like going out every day, but it would be crazy to always have to be near a bathroom and pack three kids up in a hurry in order to get to the bathroom in time. Love the portable potty! :)

My Birthday

2011-06-26T20:15:00.000-07:00

My birthday was over a month ago. . . but I still wanted to post pictures of my cake. Everyone in my family thought it was silly that I made my own birthday cake, but I really wanted to have a nice cake (not store-bought) and I wanted to practice decorating. We went out for dinner at Red Robyn and then came home for cake. It was a great evening!

Aiden & Bryan's 1st Birthday

2011-05-13T18:50:00.000-07:00

As always, I made the boys' birthday cake. We figure that at this age they don't mind sharing a cake. (They share everything!) They enjoy playing with toy cars so I decided to do a race car cake.

My cake making went soooooo much better than it did back in January for Daniel and Aaron's birthday. I bought a Wilton cake decorating guide and some Wilton "cake release" to put on the bottom of the pan. When the cake came right out of the pan, so perfect, without sticking at all, I just wanted to cry. It was a beautiful moment! I've since made some other cakes and muffins which also popped out of the pan perfectly. I highly recommend this stuff. It's much better than any spray.

Yes, the boys wear pink bibs! Yummy, yummy! Happy Birthday boys!

Bryan above, Aiden below.

And this was their great big birthday present. A Choo Choo Wagon. The kids LOVE riding in it, but it's a workout for me!

Whew! We've made it though one year. I think it gets better from here. (But I have joked that now we only have 17 more to go until they're on their own.)

Brawny Bryan

2011-04-29T20:16:00.002-07:00

We sometimes joke that Aiden is the Brains and Bryan is the Brawns of the pair. Aiden is loving the ride, making Bryan do all the work!

(Aaron keeps saying the wrong name. Aiden is in the stroller, not Bryan!)

What a strong little guy! I'm amazed that the stroller hasn't broken yet! It will any day, I'm sure! Everyone loves to play this game everyday.

If I could change one thing

2011-04-26T20:36:00.000-07:00

If I could change only one thing about my kids right now it wouldn't be the mess and clutter all over the house. It wouldn't be all the driving back and forth to SLC, or doing homework (I hate homework!) It wouldn't be the tediousness of buckling 3 kids in car seats and having to deal with double strollers everywhere we go. It wouldn't be the poopy diapers and stinky diaper pails. It wouldn't be the sleep training, the bottles, or the loads and loads of laundry. It would be to get rid of the INCESSANT whining of one certain little 2 year-old! She can be loads of fun, but she can also DRIVE ME CRAZY!!!!

But other than that, my kids, though a lot of work, are pretty great!

(Hopefully the boys won't be so whiny when they're two?!?!?!)

Finally falling in love

2011-04-14T10:02:00.002-07:00

The boys will be one in a few weeks. As they approach toddler-hood I've found myself finally falling in love with them. Okay. I'll admit, I've always loved them, because they are mine, but I haven't felt that heart-wrenching attachment that moms "should" feel for their babies. I've always done my best to enjoy them, but I'm just now really falling in love with them. I've always said that I just couldn't wait for them to grow up some, then they would be fun. Well, I guess it's finally starting to get fun. Now, several times a day I look at my little rug rats and my heart skips a beat because they are just so dang cute and I just love them!

Aiden:
Mouth full of teeth, working on molars.
Puts EVERYTHING in his mouth.
Going to be my soccer player, loves batting a ball all over the place, like a cat.
Scared of going down steps, will just wait at the top and whine until someone gets him.
Gets really mad when Bryan takes his toys away.
LOVES peek-a-boo .
My super sleeper!
Loves music and will "sing" along.
Aiden likes to wave his arms in the air with a great big smile until you smile and laugh back at him. Silly guy!

Bryan:
Cutting two front teeth.
Mr. blondy, working on a mullet.
This guy loves to play catch, never knew a baby who would throw the ball back everytime!
Fearless when it comes to exploring, climbing, trying new things,
BUT extremely shy of strangers.
Super hug-able and cuddly, always climbing into my lap.
BUT also my rough and tumble, always looking for trouble guy.
Laughs and laughs in the swing outside.
Bryan loves to clap and is always looking for food on the floor!

Photos by Aaron!

Ouch!

2011-04-07T18:44:00.002-07:00

Aaron is taking a theatre class at school and they did stage make up. It looked pretty real! I had to make him wash it off because Amy was scared of it.

A constant occurrance-breaking up the fight. Bryan is almost always on top.

Aiden and Bryan having fun playing with the ice bucket on our little Las Vegas vacation. Shame on us. We hardly took any pictures while on our vacation!

Bryan got sick one night and threw up everywhere. He enjoyed his sink bath though! I guess he's getting a little big for sink baths, huh!

Our only photo evidence that we were Las Vegas. Amy and the boys were tired and hungry so no smiles for the camera.

First Painting Project

2011-03-27T19:22:00.001-07:00

We've had a few rainy days this week so I've been looking for fun things to do inside. I found a recipe for milk paint -- paint made from powdered milk. Amy helped me mix it up and then we had fun. . . and went straight to the bath afterward. While it cleaned up easily, it was still pretty messy! I think from now on painting is actually a sunny day/outside activity rather than an inside/rainy day activity!

It was the boys' first time ever to paint. They ripped their pictures up though, so I didn't save them.

Bryan left, Aiden right.

Bryan had just finished throwing a huge fit before we started painting so that's why he's not so happy.

Trying to get that camera! I painted a heart on his chest!

Camera Happy

2011-03-01T20:58:00.000-07:00

Last night Aaron was being really cute and helpful with the little kids while I was getting the boy's room ready for bedtime. He was pushing them around in a laundry basket "boat," a game that they LOVE! So I pulled out the camera to take a quick picture. The camera got passed around to all the kids and when I went to upload photos tonight there were 96, but only about 20 of them were of anything/one distinguishable.
Obviously Amy got a little camera happy!

Bryan on left, Aiden on right

I love these ones!

And Amy is wondering why we won't let her keep on playing with the camera!

A few nice days

2011-02-20T20:29:00.001-07:00

We had a couple of nice days last week so I tried to get the kids outside a lot. Amy LOVES the playhouse that my dad built in the backyard. She made at least a dozen trips each day bringing loads of toys from inside up to the playhouse. Up and down, up and down.

The boys had fun swinging. Aiden in the red swing, Bryan in the blue.

Bryan is such a silly guy. He always has his tongue sticking out like this.

It was hard to get a smiley picture of Aiden because he was so interested in the camera. This guy does have a great, big toothy smile though!

Sleep Training Follow Up: The boys are still going to bed around 7:00/7:30. It usually takes 10-30 minutes for them to totally settle down for the night. I'm loving the free time in the evenings! They almost always sleep until about 6:00ish. But I make them stay in bed until 6:45/7:00ish. Naps are still more challenging, but we're making leeway to a more consistent schedule.

Aaron's 13th Birthday

2011-02-20T20:03:00.000-07:00

For Aaron's 13th birthday we went to Nickel City where they have arcade games and laser tag. His birthday is in January so I'm a little late! It was the weekend before everyone started getting sick and then getting sick again!

Aaron wanted a snowboard cake. We had it all planned out and it was going to be really cool. . . but the first cake stuck to the pan. . . and then so did the second. . . so at the last minute I threw together this pan of brownies and sort of made a mountain out of marshmallows. We didn't have any little action figures to put on the snowboard so Jessi added one of her Littlest Pet Shop animals! It wasn't wanted I wanted for Aaron at all. . . but he was still happy and the kids all fought over the pieces with the marshmallows. Does anyone know the secret for how to keep cakes from falling apart? I've never had this problem until recently. What am I doing wrong?

Sleep Training-Night 2

2011-02-09T13:40:00.000-07:00

Last night went very well! I hope Aiden continues to follow this trend of improvement!

Aiden went down crying at 7:47. Breathers within 3 minutes. Off and on little cries until 8:06. Stopped crying for about 10 minutes. Then cried hard again at 8:18. Went in to soothe. Cried off and on until about 8:30. At 9:05 a short cry for a few minutes. And then he was totally out for the night.

I didn't hear him again until 5:11. Bryan was also stirring. I gave both boys a 5 oz. bottle (Against my rules! But I was hoping to easily buy 2 more hours of sleep!) Aiden continued crying after the bottle. Went back in to soothe at 5:25. Then he cried off and on until about 6:00.

I got him up for the day at 7:40. He's been a happy little guy today!

Both boys are still battling me over the morning nap. But I'm not giving in right now. They must stay in bed for at least an hour. This morning they both cried off and on the whole time. (I think giving them that 5:00 bottle made them sleep in a little too late so they didn't want to go down for a nap at 9:00. I will try to stick to the plan better tonight.) Hopefully they'll sleep for a full 2 to 2.5 hour nap this afternoon!

Sleep Training-Night 1

2011-02-08T09:15:00.002-07:00

I decided to not start the training until bedtime last night. I wanted to make sure that Aiden had solid naps so that he'd be well rested and ready. I'm grateful for any prayers on my behalf! About half way through the day my mindset began to shift from dread and thinking about how hard this would be to getting excited for both of us! I attribute that mind shift to the Holy Spirit and prayers! I had a little list of things I could do to keep myself busy during all the many hours that Aiden would be crying, except I didn't have to use it at all! The night went sooooooo much better than I had imagined!

Down at 7:45. Crying. I soothed every 3-5 minutes. By 8:15 taking breathers. 8:20 stopped crying. 35 minutes total.

10:05 Started SCREAMING. Waited 4 minutes. It took 5 minutes to soothe. Started taking breathers within 3 minutes. 10:18 Stopped crying. 13 minutes total.

12:05 Started screaming. Tried to wait 5 minutes, but he stopped crying on his own after 4 minutes. Never had to go in! 4 minutes total.

1:50 Started crying. Waited 5 minutes. Gave him leftover bottle from bedtime (3 ounces?). Cried for 3 more minutes. 11 minutes total.

If he woke up again before morning I slept through it! I didn't hear from Aiden again until 7:15 when he woke up with a big smile!

I just put him down for a nap at 8:55. Cried immediately. Started taking breathers by 8:58. Wimpered for a while and completely stopped crying by 9:07. 12 minutes total.

I wonder what he'll dish out tonight.

Sleep Training

2011-02-06T18:07:00.000-07:00

I am about to begin some hardcore sleep training with Aiden. (Bryan is doing decent with putting himself to sleep, but he could use some fine tuning too.) I know it's going to be hard for both of us, which is why we've fallen into some pretty bad habits. Aiden rarely falls asleep without me by his side. I read for a half hour or so next to his crib for every nap and at bedtime. By 10:00 at night he's always in bed with me. I want him out of my bed and I need him to learn to fall asleep on his own, even when he wakes up in the middle of the night. I am currently still getting up about 3 times a night to take care of one or both of the boys!

I've read a few books that I got from the library and have put together my own little plan, taking a little bit from different books. The first thing I've worked on for the last week was to eliminate night feedings. Both boys are doing pretty well with this although I usually do give them a small bottle of water around 3:00. I've also moved their bedtime up to 7:30ish. I used to put them to bed at 8:30/9:00ish and have realized that they were way overtired. Now I'm ready to start the hard part. I plan to let Aiden cry for 3-5 minutes, then soothe him, then do it again and again, until he falls asleep. The soothing should be quick, just enough to bring the WAAAAAA down to WAA. I may lengthen the time between soothings depending on how he's doing. I know that for Bryan I need to let him cry for about 15 minutes, but he's not screaming at the top of his lungs. He's doing WAA, not WAAAAAA for those 15 minutes. I plan to work on nights and naps simultaneously.

I'm going to need lots of cheering on this week. Hopefully this won't take much longer than a week!

Please, if you have any great success stories or advice about sleeping, especially with twins, let me know about it!

Something to be grateful for

2011-01-27T17:11:00.001-07:00

Our home is an infirmary right now. I usually pride myself on getting out of the house everyday. It makes me and the kids happy. But we're in quarantine right now. (Although just going on a long drive isn't out of the question.)

But even though we've got lots of sniffles (more like floods of snot!), sneezes, and coughs going on, there is something to be grateful for. Aiden, who has been a TERRIBLE sleeper the past few weeks has suddenly decided that he will take naps again. All three little ones have been taking long naps the past two days, leaving me some time to get a few things done, like securing baby gates at the top of the stairs and disinfecting toys!

RSV

2011-01-26T10:45:00.003-07:00

So much for an easier week! Now Bryan has RSV. On Monday and Tuesday all he could do was lay there and cry. We had to take him to the "suction clinic" to get cleaned out. Today he's still a little snot-ball, but his fever is finally gone and he's crawling around and seems to be on the upside.

This week the tv (especially Caillou and Dora) are mine and Amy's life saver.

I have to change my shirt every few hours because all three snotty kids use it as their hanky.

Whew! I'm worn out. What a crazy/sick couple of weeks!

Too Many Teeth

2011-01-19T17:33:00.005-07:00

Aiden has SIX new teeth all coming in at once. That will make 8 teeth for him. That's gotta feel worse than braces! Bryan, on the other hand, has his first tooth coming in. Both Amy and Jessica have a new set of molars coming in right now. But as far as I know Aaron doesn't have any teeth coming in!

Plus Aiden has had an ear infection this week and Amy has a terrible cough. No sleep for us right now! Maybe we're just getting all the tough stuff done at once and next week will be a breeze???

Hopefully only about 2 weeks left for Aiden's helmet.

Daniel's Birthday

2011-01-17T11:58:00.001-07:00

Daniel's birthday is Jan 1. We celebrated by going out to dinner with some friends at Texas Roadhouse. Like always, I made the cake. (It was a quicky job so it's not perfect!) Daniel recently bought a Harley and can't wait to ride it. Thus the theme. . .

Dan was the photographer. That's why he didn't make the pictures.

Bryan's New Game

2011-01-11T14:13:00.000-07:00

Bryan has become mobile! He's got the army crawl down, while Aiden is still a roller and can't quite keep up. The past two days this has become Bryan's favorite pastime (that and trying to crawl all over me!). Aiden is not so thrilled!

Aiden's Hard Hat

2011-01-11T14:00:00.001-07:00

Here's Aiden sporting his not-so-new-anymore helmet. He got his helmet right before Thanksgiving so it's been almost two months now. It's supposed to help correct his very flat head which developed as a result of him having torticollis when he was born. Torticollis is when the muscles on one side of your neck are shorter than the other side thus always pulling your head to one direction. It's more common with multiples since they are so crowded in the womb. Since Aiden's head was always pulled to the right he always laid on that side and his head got flat. The helmet leaves open space on the flat parts of his head and fits snuggly on the round parts so that as his head grows it will grow into the open spaces making his head round. No, it doesn't squeeze his head like braces do! He does pretty well with it except that it makes him hot. Fortunately it's winter! He wears it 23 hours/day (basically all the time except for when we clean it and give him a bath.) Hopefully he'll only have to wear for another month or so. One of the things that Dan and I look forward to is being able to snuggle up close to him and have him feel our face next to him again. There are perks to having a helmet on your baby though! He can hit his head on almost anything and it doesn't faze him!

Christmas Pictures

2011-01-11T13:03:00.000-07:00

In no particular order. . .

Everyone excited to open presents. We wrapped a lot of things in empty diaper boxes so all the presents looked really big!

Aaron, Jessi, and Daniel were with us Christmas morning and then went to their Mom's that afternoon.

Amy and Jessi got a great big new kitchen! They love it! Amy played with it nonstop the entire day. She kept coming to Dan and I and giving us "happy hugs" because she knows that if she's not happy she has to take a nap. No nap on Christmas Day! Daniel helped me put it together with his new tool set.

I got a waffle iron so we had waffles for breakfast.

Jessi with her new Easy Bake Oven. She LOVES it!

Aaron's wearing his new running shoes, but you can't see them!

Keyboard from Grandma and Grandpa. The kids love all the lights and buttons. Amy dances to the music all the time!

Every year we watch the whole Lord of The Rings Trilogy. We set up mattresses downstairs and make a 3-day slumber party out of it! Lots of snacks and fun!

Yes, Aiden and Bryan were there too! They enjoyed all the commotion and Amy has claimed all their new toys as her own! So far they don't seem to mind!

It was a fun Christmas and we were really good about staying within a budget this year. A lot of the little kids' toys were bought second-hand. I also made some of the gifts like a felt board for Amy and Jessi.

A Yucky Snake in My Mouth

2010-11-27T13:16:00.000-07:00

The other night I gave Amy a bowl of ice cream. About 3 bites into it she starts crying and completely freaking out. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "Yucky Snake in my mouth!" She let me inspect her mouth for a yucky snake, and sure enough, she had one of her blond curly hairs in there. What an imagination.

Fast Fall

2010-11-20T12:23:00.000-07:00

It seems like the fall has flown by. It's certainly been hectic. I thought I'd just post a few pictures that I had on my camera which I finally just got around to downloading. I haven't been so great at taking pictures lately. Will try to work on that and post more often!

Here's Amy's 2nd birthday (back in August!). I made a quick, but fun and tasty Elmo cake. She really loved it! We just did a little family party.

Here's my cute class. They were really fun to be with. Do I miss them? Strangely, not really! I'm so busy that I really don't have much time to think about them. But I didn't want to forget them completely so I decided to post this photo! Don't they look like sharp little students?!!

For Halloween we had monster tacos for dinner! They didn't quite turn out like I envisioned, but it was fun. It was cold, really windy, and rainy on Halloween. We didn't have Aaron and Jessi with us this year. So we pretty much skipped Halloween. Amy was not interested in wearing her fairy princess costume or going outside to trick-or-treat. Oh well! Next year!

Here we are just enjoying a fall day outside. (Bryan left, Aiden right) We're supposed to get a big snowstorm this weekend so I guess Fall is over! I have lots of other things to post about, but this is enough for one day. :)

Fall Break 2010

2010-11-17T17:32:00.000-07:00

We took a few days for our annual Fall Break. Went through Buckhorn Draw, Stayed in the worst Motel in Green River, Went to Goblin Valley and concluded with our usual Swimming Pool Motel. Challenging trip, but fun. Didn't take many pictures, but at least Aaron is represented.

Resignation

2010-10-27T21:37:00.000-07:00

I know, I've been MIA since August, which is about the time I headed back to work. Long story short, my hands have been quite full! But my heart has too.

We were blessed in August to find out that we now have Aaron and Jessi with us every other week, something we've been fighting for for four years. However, their mom moved to Salt Lake City and is having the kids go to school there. This means that every other week we drive to and from SLC twice a day. I was able to switch my work schedule to the morning kindergarten class so that Dan took care of the morning commute and me the afternoons. I've really missed having them go to school at Edgemont with me.

I have the most delightful class this year. I LOVE teaching. But teaching, commuting, and being a patient and wonderful mommy and wife as been so very stressful. So after a lot of inner-struggle and prayer in my heart I knew what needed to be done. . . I turned in my resignation. Monday will be my last day of work.

I've cried about it because I will miss my second "home" and "family" so much. Sometimes I'm afraid of how I'm going to manage not going crazy and getting too lonely as I stay home with three small demanding children. (Strange how having 27 students is so much easier than my five!) But of course, I'm also really looking forward to all the things I'll be able to do now.

One of the things that made me know I needed to resign was when I realized that I was being a better teacher to my students at school than to my own children. I would put so much thought into my lesson planning, yet teaching my own children haphazardly. One of my goals is to do more planning and organizing to make our household run better and to teach my children to have that same love of learning that I've always tried to instill in my students. Maybe I can teach my boys to love sleeping!!!

Well, better get to bed.

Potty Training in 3 Days

2010-08-01T19:09:00.002-07:00

There's a lot of stuff out there about how you can potty train in three days. They suggest that kids as young as 22 months will be successful. I've noticed a lot of maturity in Amy when it comes to the potty and diapers and so I decided that this might be a good time to try it. (She's 23 months.) After all, it's summer and I haven't gone back to work yet. . . so we tried it Wednesday to Friday last week. And, it worked! As the end of the third day approached I didn't think Amy would get it, but she did. However, this morning I decided to put her back in diapers! Even though she understands the basics of potty training, it caused so much undue stress for me and my sweet Amy. I never forced her to sit on the potty, and I felt like I was nurturing throughout the process, but I could tell that she felt so much anxiety about having to keep her panties dry. She could hardly sleep and seemed irritable way more than usual. She would ignore me any time I talked about the potty unless she did actually need to go. After some "mommy reflection" I realized that although she is physically capable of being potty trained it will be better to wait until she has matured more emotionally and also learned some other basic skills like being able to dress and undress herself and not sleeping in a crib. And so to Amy, I apologize for having pushed you so hard. I don't think you're damaged because of it, but I hope that I will remember and learn from this experience as we approach other milestones in your childhood. You are a very smart and sweet girl who learns well, and I will always encourage you to grow and learn and be your best, but I don't want to overdo it to the point that neither of us are happy with ourselves or each other.

Busy July: Lots of Pictures

2010-07-24T21:27:00.001-07:00

I LOVE summer time! As always, July has kept us busy. Here's a little photo documentary of the month, so far!

We had Aiden and Bryan's name and blessing at church on the 11th. (Aiden left, Bryan right) Here they are getting ready for church. And here's a picture of all 8 of us at church.

Here's a few cute pictures. . .

Bryan has the best pouty face! It's so hard not to laugh at him when he gets upset!

At the same time, Bryan is a total flirt! He smiles all the time and loves cooing and talking. I've been trying to catch his charm on camera, but haven't truly succeeded yet.

Aiden is a major cutie too! I'm so happy that they smile now. It sure makes this hectic life more rewarding!

What a great helper, sometimes!

I'm going to start potty training Amy later this week while my sister, Jenny, is here to help me with the boys. I have a ton of little undies all ready for Amy in her drawer. She discovered them the other day and can't wait to wear them. Here she is with three pairs that she put on all by herself!

Here are the pictures my parents have been waiting for! Mom and Dad came to visit the first week of July. My dad and I worked all day the entire week to build a playground in the yard while my mom took care of the kids. I was so busy working that I didn't take any pictures that week, but my parents took lots so I need to get them from them. It was a lot of work, but it was really neat to work so closely with my dad -- a pretty neat daddy/daughter bonding time. He taught me a lot! I feel pretty capable of tackling lots of little home projects now! Here are some pictures of the finished product. There's a storage shed on the bottom with a playhouse on the top. All of the kids love it and it gets played on everyday! It was so incredibly generous of you to do this for us, Mom and Dad! We're very grateful! Thank you! Thank you!

Next comes Jessi's 10th birthday. She chose a sunshine cake this year. We had fun decorating it together.

Jessi and friends eating in the playhouse.

Jenny and her kids are visiting family in Utah so it was fun to be able to have them at Jessi's party. We're getting together with them again next week so I'll have to get more pictures. I love getting the cousins together.

So many more things have happened this month, but that's our busy July in a nutshell!

Happy Two Months Birthday!

2010-07-02T14:24:00.001-07:00

I won't lie. Life is not peachy fun with twin newborns. Everyday seems so hectic! However, I will say that I am trying to be positive and enjoy it as much as possible. Looking back on Amy's infant days just seems a blur, but what I remember is that I enjoyed it. In an effort to be able to do the same for Aiden and Bryan I will try to blog about good things that happen!

The past three weeks Dan and I have decided that it's time to begin our adventuring again. We buckled the boys into their car seats and hit the trails! Each week we try to do a day trip. They are content most of the time and I'm so glad that Dan has pushed me to get out of the house and have fun again! :)

Thank goodness for Amy. I spend nearly all day everyday with her and she constantly makes me laugh with the funny things she says and does. She helps Dan and I to see that one day these helpless crying boys will also be lots of fun! The infant stage is not our favorite. We look forward to having them be more responsive.

The other day I decided that Amy might think it's fun to play in a blanket fort. I loved making these when I was a kid. When I first put it up she thought that she was supposed to climb on top of it. She jumped on it, fell flat on her face, knocked the whole thing down, and cried. Once I showed her that she was supposed to play under it she thought it was the best thing ever. We read books, ate snacks, and played with the babies in our fort all day!

This purple monster is the best stroller ever! It has saved me! I call it my sanity saver! I bought it off of KSL (free online classifieds) a few weeks ago for a great deal. I quickly realized after my mom left that I had to be able to get out and about with my three kids and that the double stroller just wasn't going to do! It's huge, but it's big tires make it easy to push and gives it a smooth ride. I keep the stroller, which has tons of storage space, stocked with diapers, snacks, water, formula, extra clothes, sunscreen, and a quilt for the park at all times so whenever we want to go for a walk all I have to do is throw the kids in. Amy and I especially enjoy the walks, and we're sure the boys will learn to like walks more as they grow!

My parents arrive in town tonight and will be here for a week! We're excited! More pictures to come!

A Good Night!

2010-06-21T06:46:00.000-07:00

Putting the boys on a schedule has been wonderful. I thought it would be hard, but it is, in fact, a relief! Last night they slept from 10:00 to 3:00. I was only up with them once! Hooray! I hope it wasn't just one lucky night, but that we'll continue to see good nights.

I hope this will work!

2010-06-19T11:44:00.002-07:00

The last few weeks have had its ups and downs. I've found that a key to my happiness is getting out, at least most days. I take the kids on a walk often. A lot of my friends (mothers with young kids like mine) live in an apartment complex that is about a 15 minute walk away so we go there a lot and sit out on the lawn visiting with lots of other moms and kids.

However, we've had a lot of cool, rainy days lately and so we haven't gotten out as much. I've found myself getting kind of crazy. Aiden and Bryan were on no schedule whatsoever! It seemed like they fussed and cried all the time and that I was constantly sticking a bottle or binky in their mouth to shut them up! Yes, I actually tried taping the binky to Bryan's face! (It didn't really work and just made him scream when I pulled the tape off!)

Basically, due to my lack of planning and survival mode mentality I was creating two little monsters! Fortunately a friend of mine reminded me about the book On Becoming Babywise. She had a copy and let me borrow it. I loosely followed the Babywise guidelines with Amy for the first few months, and she was a happy baby. But amazingly, I had forgotten how to do it. I quickly read the book and have been using the Babywise guidelines (eat, waketime, naptime on a 2.5 hour cycle) for about 24 hours now. It is so nice because I know what to expect! I have a much better idea of why they're crying. They are eating full meals again instead of snacking all day long. When they're awake they're alert and fun to be with. And they are napping so much better. I am hoping that this will lead to better nights as the books says. They've been getting up 3 or 4 times a night, which is ridiculous!

I need to take more pictures! These boys are getting cuter everyday! Bryan smiles at me now, which is so fun (and makes up for his crying -- he's been given the nickname Cryin' Bryan!) Aiden loves being outside and sleeping on a blanket in the shade. Amy is so much happier lately which is so nice! She LOVES playing outside with her water and her sandbox. She's more interested everyday in being involved with the babies. We sing to them together and she actually likes to help hold bottles when they eat. Sometimes she's a good "gopher." I'm missing Aaron and Jessica this week. And I should mention that my husband is pretty awesome!

Well, time to get lunch on the table. . .

Big Sister

2010-06-07T14:42:00.000-07:00

These pictures of Amy and Aiden were taken about a month ago. . . things have been a little busy! Amy loves it when one of her little brothers gets in bed with her. She likes to hug them, kiss them, and read stories.

Somewhere in the middle

2010-06-01T12:57:00.000-07:00

Anyone who was seriously worried about me after yesterday's post need not worry. Truth is, I'm somewhere in the middle of the surviving vs. thriving spectrum. Yes, I still feel overwhelmed and yes, I was up nearly every hour with the boys last night. But things aren't all bad. I've hired a high school student who did an internship in my classroom this year to come to my house three days a week to help clean the house and give me a hand with the kids when I need it. Yesterday I took the three of them on a long walk (3 hours!) and it went mostly well. The first half of the walk I had Amy in the front seat and the boys laying down in the back seat of the stroller together. They were very cozy together! On the way home Amy insisted on sitting in the back so I put Aiden in the front seat and made a little nest in the basket for Bryan. He's too little to know to feel claustrophobic! It was hot and sunny and by the time we got home everyone was ready for a long nap. I usually manage to squeeze in an hour nap in the afternoon when all three babies are sleeping. I'm also grateful that I receive little bits of "Mommy Inspiration" now and then. For example, yesterday the thought came to mind, "Just fill up a few pots with water and cups and put it on the deck for Amy to play with." She was content playing alone for an hour. :)

Thriving? Or just Surviving?

2010-05-31T08:18:00.000-07:00

I'm ignoring my children for 5 minutes so that I can write down a few random thoughts.

Life is totally different now with two little babies. Sure, there's a lot of great things, but right now Dan and I both feel a bit overwhelmed, and well, tired! There's always someone crying, and sometimes two or three kids crying, day and night. Amy has a cold and doesn't feel well. She throws tantrum after tantrum after tantrum. She gets mad and hits me and pulls my hair and kicks or hits the babies. The only way to keep her happy is to go on walks or watch her baby shows, so we do that a lot. Aiden and Bryan are pretty good babies, but there's two of them and so twice the crying, twice the bottles, twice the spit up, twice the diapers, etc., etc. Yes, sometimes we are thriving, but today we are simply surviving. Dan and I just keep reminding ourselves that this phase of our lives will pass! The key, I've found, is to just not think about it too much, to just do what needs to be done. When I think about it I get stressed and frustrated! So I'm turning my brain off now and going upstairs to feed a crying baby.

Introducing Aiden and Bryan!!!

2010-05-07T15:31:00.001-07:00

Our whole family is excited to announce that our baby boys are finally here! I don't have the energy right now to write out all the details, but I know that family and friends are anxious to see some pictures, so enjoy these in the mean time!

Aiden Ray Ellis
7 lb, 7 oz.
19 Inches
7:57 AM, Sunday, May 2, 1010

Bryan Mac Ellis
6lb, 13 oz.
19 Inches
7:59 AM, Sunday, May 2, 2010

In all of the pictures Aiden is on the left and Bryan is on the right.

Bryan in Blue and Aiden in Green.

I'm still recovering from the cesarean, but overall, we're all doing well. The boys are completely healthy and were able to come home from the hospital with me on Wednesday.

Am I Really Ready for This???

2010-04-30T17:25:00.000-07:00

The boys are coming Sunday morning. I have a scheduled c-section at 7:30 AM. Finally the end is nearly here! I've been saying that I'm ready for the last two-plus months, but now I wonder, am I really ready for this????

The checklist seems complete:

Nursery decorated & ready

Bottles sterilized and color-coded (Amy purple, Bryan blue, Aiden green)

Double-sized layette washed & folded

Stash of disposable diapers, plus 6 dozen cloth diapers washed and ready

Extra batteries for the swings!

Schedules to help me remember who got changed, fed, etc.

Car seats (three of them) installed, with not even half an inch to spare!

And one VERY pregnant mama! These pics were taken today, at 37 weeks, 5 days.

(Notice how my shirts no longer cover the bottom of my belly! Amy thinks this is pretty funny and loves to touch it! I didn't want to buy new shirts since I figure they'll fit me again in a few days.)

So this is it! In less than 48 hours I'll have two new baby boys. I'm not sure how we'll survive the crazy days ahead of us, but I know that we will! I hope that I'm making the right decision to schedule a c-section rather than waiting to go into labor. The OB and perinatologist both think it's a good plan, but I just pray that the boys really are done "cooking." Certainly, I'm nervous about the upcoming days, but I'm also soooooo excited to not be pregnant anymore!

3:30 AM and can't sleep!

2010-04-26T02:44:00.001-07:00

It's 3:30 AM and I can't sleep at all! I laid in bed awake since 1:00 with terrible lower back pain, but no notable contractions or anything. I finally decided to get up. Now that I'm up and moving around I feel a little better.

Today makes 37 weeks! That's pretty awesome. I figure these babies have got to come soon! They are so heavy! I have an OB appointment this afternoon and an appointment with the perinatologist on Tuesday. (Did you know that they have free valet parking at the hospital? It's so helpful because the walk from the parking garage to the perinatology department is so far for me!) For the last four weeks every time I've had a non-stress test the nurses and perinatologist get all excited about how many contractions I'm having (they show up on the monitor about every 1.5-3 minutes) and even say the only reason they let me go home is because I live close to the hospital. They are always sure I'm going into labor. I always assure them that the contractions are normal and that I'm not in labor, either that or I've been in labor for over a month!!! One of these days, soon I hope, it will be real! At least I know that I don't have to go any longer than one more week. At this point I feel confident that the babies are healthy and strong and probably won't need NICU time.

My mom just left yesterday afternoon and won't be back for another week. I'm counting on lots of help and support from friends this week!

36 Weeks, 2 days

2010-04-20T20:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I made it to my goal of 36 weeks! Everything still seems to be going well. At the doctor (OB) yesterday I was dilated to 1 cm, 70% effaced. Today at my weekly non-stress test they did a quicky ultrasound to measure the babies' fluid and found that both babies are head-down now! I suppose that's good news because it means a vaginal delivery is possible (which means quicker recovery), but what I worry about is that the first baby will be delivered vaginally and then complications will come up (there's so many things that could happen between the first and second baby) and then I'll have to have an emergency c-section for the second baby. Anyway, the nurse just told me to make sure that they do an ultra-sound to confirm the babies' positions before delivering them, no matter which method! The OB told me that if I don't go into labor by May 2 then we'll deliver them (at 38 weeks). He says (and things I've read online also say) that nothing good happens after 38 weeks with twins. The mortality rate actually starts increasing at that point because of all the strain on the mother's body, or the placenta can start deteriorating, etc., etc. Anyway, I think I can survive until May 2!

About a week ago that PUPPS rash spread to both of my legs. Fortunately a few days with that pine tar soap cleared it up. Thank goodness!

Also, it is sooooo nice having my mom here to help out with things. Amy LOVES LOVES LOVES her!

Sometimes I Pretend that I Don't Know!

2010-04-17T10:12:00.002-07:00

Yesterday Amy came down with a little cold, or maybe it was allergies with the warmer weather. In any case, she didn't feel well and it was a longish day for us. I've been taking her to the babysitter where she can have fun playing outside with her little friends for a few hours everyday this week just because it's hard for me to move around and keep her entertained. But the babysitter wasn't available today. . .

This morning while I was messing around on the computer I could hear Amy playing in the cat food. She really likes helping feed the cat and as a result has learned how to open the tub of cat food. I could hear what she was doing and was sure that she was making a huge mess. I decided to pretend that I didn't know what was going on! I was just so happy that she was entertaining herself! She played for about 20 minutes before I decided that I should go check on her! This is how I found her.

No mess at all! Sometimes Amy is so good to me! I moved her out to the deck where she did get a little messier, but she played for another 15 minutes or so and it only took 10 seconds to sweep it up.

Unfortunately, things don't always turn out so well when I pretend that I don't know what's going on!

I'm so excited! My mom arrives tonight from Virginia. She'll be here for about a week just to help me out with things (and for Jason's graduation from BYU). Then she'll be back in May to help me some more. Amy will be thrilled to have someone to play with! And me too!

I'm still me

2010-04-11T19:54:00.000-07:00

With each day the simple little things in life are getting more and more difficult simply due to being so pregnant. I get tired so very quickly, it's difficult to move, stand, breath, sleep, etc. I look and act like a completely different person because of it. But underneath of this pregnant body, I'm still me. I still want to be able to get down on the floor and play with my kids, go on a walk with them, go jeeping and camping. I still want to clean my house and prepare meals for my family. I still have the same desires and feelings and intentions, but it seems so difficult, even impossible, to act on most of them. I am so looking forward to being able to act like myself again! I miss being me!

Catching Up!

2010-04-08T09:24:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures and events from January and February that I never blogged about.

Daniel's birthday is January 1. We celebrated a few days late. I made him a batman cake.

Next came Aaron's birthday on January 16. He turned the big 12 this year! He requested a football cake.

We went to the Nickelcade too. Amy and Boston had lot of fun on the carousel while everyone else played arcade games.

Part of turning 12 is being ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood. Here we are all at church before the blessing. Dan was able to ordain him.

Now that Aaron is 12 he's also really enjoying being part of the young men's program at church. He's active in boy scouts and also likes playing sports with the guys. Our ward recently won the stake basketball tournament. He thought that was pretty cool!

I think it was in February that we went to the circus. I wasn't sure if Amy would enjoy it because it was kind of late for her, but surprisingly she was glued the whole time. The rest of us had just as much fun watching her watch the circus!

Be Patient!

2010-04-05T16:09:00.002-07:00

Just got back from my OB appointment. (34 weeks today!) Things look good. No protein in my urine, good blood pressure, not dilated at all. Even though a part of me wanted to have a good reason for the doctor to say that I need to be induced today, it's good news that it looks like these boys are planning to stay in there for a bit longer. Getting to 36 weeks or longer is still the goal. The doctor said not to get too anxious over the boy's predicted size, because those measures are just that, predictions, and they are often incorrect. Aiden is still head-down, and Bryan has been head-up for a few weeks now. (Imagine having a baby's head under your ribs all the time!!!) There's a chance he'll turn, but we're most likely looking at a c-section. Right now, I don't really care!

The Wonder Soap

2010-04-05T07:22:00.001-07:00

Remember that rash? It's practically gone! I read online in many pregnancy forums about how well this soap, Grandpa's Pine Tar Soap, helps with the rash. So I ran to the natural foods store, spent $4 on a bar, and after using it twice a day for 4 days on my arms and belly, the rash is gone and my skin is so much softer. The soap stinks like a campfire, but I love the results and will continue using it throughout the rest of my pregnancy. Anyone with really dry or irritated skin (rashes, eczema, etc.) should give this a try!

I have another doctor's appointment this afternoon. I'm anxious to see if he has any suggestions about when I can deliver these little bundles of joy. I've been extremely uncomfortable (except for the rash going away) the past few days. Sleeping is a major challenge. Whenever I lay down the boys like to crawl up under my ribs. On Thursday and Friday last week I was having a lot of contractions (nearly went to the hospital, even packed my bags), but I took the terbutaline and they eventually settled down. Thank goodness Dan has been home the past few days and has helped me to take it super easy.

Today's Ultrasound

2010-03-30T10:29:00.000-07:00

I'm 33 weeks and one day now! I just got back from the perinatologist. Both babies are measuring 2 weeks ahead! Yeah! Aiden is 5 lb. 11 oz. and Bryan is 5 lb. 7 oz. They're looking great. The doctor said that if they were born today they'd be fine, but of course, each day still makes a difference. She's guessing that they'll be here within 3 weeks.

Baby Book Worm

2010-03-29T23:34:00.000-07:00

My little Amy is such a bookworm! Her number one most favorite thing is to have someone read books with her. She keeps books in her crib and reads them until she falls asleep and then reads some more when she wakes up. She carries her books everywhere and they are scattered all over the house, so there's always one handy! What a cutie!

I had never heard of this before!

2010-03-29T23:23:00.000-07:00

I few posts ago I mentioned my burning, itchy skin on my belly. I just figured this was due to the major stretch marks thanks to having twins. Well, a few days ago I developed a rash on my arm. I did some googling about pregnancy rashes and have come to realize that what I have is called PUPPP (Pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy). It occurs in about 1 out of 100 pregnancies and is more common in women who are expecting a boy, and even more common for women carrying twins. It starts on the abdomen and can spread all over your body, and it's very itchy! (I had to get a mirror to check my belly for the rash because I can't even see my belly button!) It doesn't pose any health risks to mother or baby, besides driving mom crazy! It usually resolves itself within a week or two of delivery.

This isn't my belly, but mine pretty much looks the same.

At this point the rash is annoying, but bearable. However, I read about how it can become truly terrible! I've decided to act on it right away instead of waiting for it get unbearable! It can be treated with oral steroids or steroid creams, but my doctor doesn't want to prescribe it unless it gets really bad. He says to just take benadryl and use hydrocortisone cream, which doesn't seem to be making much difference. I've read online about a few natural remedies so I started on them today. I drink dandelion root tea 3x/day, take burdock root pills 3x/day, and will begin using Grandpa's Pine Tar Soap 2 or 3x/day. Hopefully this will help dry up the rash, relieve the itching, and keep it from spreading!

I've never suffered from morning sickness, so I guess I get to deal with something else instead!

I'm lucky

2010-03-27T20:34:00.002-07:00

Tonight we went out to dinner at good ol' Chuck-a-Rama. (I know, I'm supposed to be on house rest, but sometimes I break the rules!) Half way through dinner I noticed a cute family with 5 kids sitting near us. And then I thought about how I'm about to have 5 kids. Then I pointed out to Dan, "I'm lucky! That lady had to go through 5 pregnancies to get her 5 children. I only had to have 2 pregnancies to get my 5 kids!"

A Tribute to my Best Friend

2010-03-26T09:33:00.000-07:00

A want to publicly pay tribute to Dan for all the support he gives me. He's helped me have a positive outlook on our life with twins. We're both sad to know that we'll need to let go (at least temporarily) of some of our family's favorite hobbies, like camping and days out on the jeep trails. He's been busy thinking up new hobbies (walks all over downtown, biking through the canyon. . .) It's easy to get overwhelmed about our new arrivals, and I just really appreciate his good attitude about our changing lives.

As we grow to a family of seven in our house (can you believe our family is that big?!!!) we're a little crowded as we squeeze into three bedrooms and share one bathroom. But again, I appreciate Dan being okay with the fact that I've moved the changing table and diaper pails into our bedroom because there's no room for them in the kids' rooms with all the cribs! We've bought a big dining table that will easily seat eight. It crowds our dining room, yet we're okay with it! We live in close quarters, but we're happy together!

I appreciate Dan's understanding when he comes home and the house isn't clean. He helps a lot with the dishes and other chores everyday. He rubs my back and plays with my hair (which I love!) and seems so understanding of how tired and uncomfortable I am. We're both looking forward to when I no longer feel like a beached whale! But in the mean time, thank goodness I have him to help and support me! He takes such good care of our family, working so hard to support us financially and emotionally. I love my husband!

32 weeks!

2010-03-22T14:50:00.001-07:00

Today I made it to 32 weeks. Will these babies ever be born? Time seems to be going by slowly, yet I know they'll be here before I know it! My doctor's goal is to get to at least 36 weeks. He says most 36-week twins get to go home from the hospital with mom. 32-week babies weigh around 4 lbs, so I'm carrying 8 or more lbs of baby right now. You know how you feel that last month of pregnancy, how you start getting antsy for the end to come? Well, that's how the last month has been for me. I feel and look like I'm full-term, but there's still two more months before their due date!

I've gained about 45 pounds and my belly stretch marks itch like crazy! Today my doctor suggested using hydrocortisone cream and taking Benadryl once a day. I'll give it try. I no longer fit into the pants I wore when I was full-term with Amy. Shirts are also getting small and I have to tug on them all day to keep them pulled down! At least I'm home most of the time so it's not a big deal!

I'm grateful that my pregnancy is going well without any health complications, yet, I'm still ready to be done. I'm amazed that anyone who has twins is brave enough to get pregnant again. I would be so scared of having twins again! I suppose that in a few months I will have forgotten all the discomfort I'm going through right now. I keep telling Dan, no more babies after this! He says he won't be surprised if I change my mind in a few years! We'll see!

Another use for a Moby Wrap

2010-03-16T13:34:00.002-07:00

Moby wraps seem to have become very popular, at least among my friends. I recently purchased one at half-price at Kid-to-Kid because it looks like it might be a comfortable way to carry newborn twins.

However, I have recently found another use for the Moby wrap! Some days my back hurts from carrying the weight of these babies, and some days I'm sure that the skin on my belly is going to rip open. I'm amazed that my skin can just keep on stretching, and the stretch marks hurt like a sunburn! Anyway, sometimes I just feel like I need extra support and some counter-pressure on my belly and so I wrap that Moby wrap around myself as tight as I can! I'm sure it does the same job, or maybe better, than those maternity belts they sell!

Diaper Change

2010-03-11T19:33:00.006-07:00

When I found out I was expecting twins I decided it was time to take a serious look at cloth diapering. I knew having three kids in diapers would add up quick! I wondered if we could save money with cloth diapers. I had suggested it when I was expecting Amy, but Dan pretty much flat out turned down the idea. This time he was more than willing to give it a go! I spent a week or more researching it on the internet. I wanted diapers that were very cost efficient as well as not too difficult. I was surprised to find out how easy cloth diapering is! I came to the conclusion that pre-folds were the best bang for the buck, and with the kind of covers they make these days there are no pins or snappis involved.

I find a site that sold diapers in packages and they had a twins package! Perfect! It contained all the diapers that twins would need from 7-30 lbs! (6 dozen infant pre-folds, 8 infant bummis whisper wraps, 5 dozen medium pre-folds, 8 medium whisper wraps, plus some disposable liners.) The whole package was a little less than $300 (around $2/diaper!) I figure that it will pay for itself in about 5-6 months. It works out great because Amy can wear the mediums now, while the twins will be wearing the infant size.

I bought the diapers in January, but had only used them on the weekends until two weeks ago when I stopped working. So far, it's going fine! I don't mind washing them (in fact, it's the easiest load of laundry to fold, because you don't even have to fold them!) My only complaint is that they're bulkier than disposables so Amy's bum is a little big! I still use disposables at night just because it's easier.

Amy's big diaper bum!

A lot of friends have been curious about how these diapers work and how you wash them, so I'll do a mini tutorial!

There are 3 parts to the diaper: the wrap (or cover), the cloth cotton pre-fold, and then the fleece liner. When I put the diaper on I just layer the 3 parts, fold (or twist) the pre-fold to make it the right length and velcro it up!
The fleece liner goes between the baby's skin and the cotton diaper to keep the baby feeling dry. Also the poop just falls off the liner into the toilet (most of the time) instead of sticking like it would to the cotton. (You can buy expensive fleece liners, but I just went to the thrift store and bought a big fleece blanket for $2 and cut it into strips. It works just great!)

I don't bother with rinsing the poop off the diapers. I dump what falls off into the toilet, but I don't worry about the cheap liners getting stained. (I don't worry about the diapers getting a little stained either; after all, they are diapers!) I wash a load of diapers 2x/week so that they don't get too stinky. (The cloth diaper pail doesn't smell nearly as bad as the disposable one!) I do a cold water rinse to remove any solids, then add 1/2 of the recommended amount of detergent (because that's what all the info online says to do) and run a hot wash, and then do an extra cold water rinse at the end. Apparently it's important to do an extra rinse to make sure all the detergent got washed out because the detergent can leave residue on the diapers that makes them less absorbent. Throw everything in the dryer with no fabric softener because again, it leaves residue.
I'm not normally a changing table person, but I needed a changing station in order to successfully cloth diaper! And that's my diaper change story! People shouldn't be so scared of cloth diapers. It's really not so bad!

This One's for Grandpa!

2010-03-04T10:35:00.002-07:00

This video is for my dad who bought a canoe to keep at our house for whenever he visits Utah! Although it usually doesn't get a lot use, we wanted to let you know that it does entertain us from time to time!

Babies Update

2010-03-04T10:16:00.002-07:00

On Monday I had an ultrasound appointment with the perinatologist, which by definition is an obstetrical subspecialist concerned with the care of the mother and fetus at higher-than-normal risk for complications. Anyway, things are still looking good for our little boys. Aiden is measuring a little big for his age at 3lb, 6 oz. and Bryan is right on track at 2lb, 15 oz.

Where did their names come from?

Little Aiden Ray comes from my middle name, Nadine, just with the letters mixed around (minus one n!) and Ray is Dan's life-long best friend (besides me!) Aiden means Little Fire and Ray (short for Raymond) means Advice or Protector.

Bryan Mac is named after Dan's middle name and Mac is short for McIntyre, my maiden name, so that he's named after my dad and brothers. Bryan means Noble, Strong, and Virtuous and Mac simply means Son of, so son of the McIntyre's?

Snake Mouth

2010-03-03T12:15:00.004-07:00

Dan bought us these giant jaw-breaker lolly pops while he was out on one of his jeeping adventures. We started eating them the other night. (It will take several days to consume the whole thing!)

Aaron was amazing! He could fit the whole thing in his mouth! No one else was even close! He looked just like a snake! I never realized that he had such a big mouth!Do you see the resemblance?

Don't worry. We all brushed double time that night!

Baby Shower

2010-03-01T17:24:00.003-07:00

Some of my students' parents were so generous and threw me a baby shower! We held it in my classroom on my last day of work. I had a great time visiting with my students and their parents and really appreciate all the nice gifts they gave me. Now you can sort of see what I look like now!
My last day with my class. I cleaned out some of my cupboards and gave them "gifts." They loved it! This is definitely the most fun class I've had out of all my years teaching so far. I miss them (but am glad to be home too!)

Thoughts on Parenting a Toddler

2010-02-25T19:14:00.004-07:00

Amy is such a busy body. She started walking at about 16 months. (She's 18 months now.) Honestly, I was glad that she's a late walker, and she started walking just when I needed her to because it was physically getting difficult to carry her. Walking makes her happy. She can carry things all around. . .

. . .which inevitably leads to stuff being left all around the house. I find fridge magnets in the bedroom, toy cars in the bathroom, tupper-ware and play dishes everywhere! Whenever I try to tidy up after her she's already pulled something else out by the time I finish. It's a constant battle, one that I don't know if I can win, so I've relented lately and just let her win!

Amy loves her baba and binkies (which I try to limit to bedtime only) and while I know that the longer I let her keep using them the harder it will be to wean her later, I don't see the point in weaning her when very soon we'll have babas and binkies everywhere!

On the other hand, she also has a fascination with cups, not sippy cups, regular cups. This equals lots of spills everyday. I figure it's just a phase I have to let her go through, otherwise she'll never learn, right? It's just as tedious as when we taught her how to climb down stairs.

I think that overall Amy is a pretty good little eater and I don't have any concerns. However, I think it's funny how every time we go in for a WIC appointment the nutritionist always comes up with something to tell me that I'm doing wrong. At my last appointment she told me that I give Amy too much milk everyday. Is there such a thing? And if she shouldn't have that much milk then why does WIC give me so much milk? I usually end up having to dump at least half a gallon each month because they give me so much that it goes bad before she can drink it all! (But I won't complain too much because I'm so grateful for the help we get from WIC!)

And of course, Amy's favorite word: No!

Most of the time, she's still a sweetie though. Her favorite pastime is reading books and she brings them to me all the time (and gets frustrated that there isn't room on my lap anymore) and sits beside me to read them. :) She gives me little pats on the back when she hugs me. I love being the mom of a toddler!

House Rest

2010-02-25T11:33:00.005-07:00

The past four and a half weeks have been extremely stressful, but now I finally feel like I can breath a sigh of relief. Yesterday was my last day of work and now I am officially on house rest. At my 24-week appointment my doctor informed me that it is his protocol to have me stop working at 28 weeks. I laughed and said, "You're joking, right!" He wasn't, and then he assured me that by the time 28 weeks came I would be glad to stop working. Was he ever right! He explained that in your typical singleton pregnancy the baby weighs about 2.5-3 lb at 28 weeks. With twins you have to double that, making up to 6 lb of baby, plus the extra placenta, etc. In other words, my body is worn out and I look like my due date should be in less than 3 weeks, not in 3 months! So now I'm on house rest for the rest of this pregnancy, which just means I should stay at home and rest as much as possible, but I don't necessarily need to be in bed.

Between 24 and 28 weeks I worked and stressed myself out! I honestly thought I was going to have a mental or emotional breakdown at least every few days! Here's what I was dealing with:

Work: All the sudden I had to rush to hire a long-term sub who could take my class for the remainder of the year. Fortunately I was able to find one, and she's wonderful! But I had to get my students in gear to be able to handle the transition successfully, organize my classroom, plan lots of curriculum and lesson plans. . . and the biggest stress of all was to work out my medical leave with the school district. First they informed me that they weren't going to pay me at all for the time I needed off. Stress!!!! But after combating "the district" with several emails and attending an appeal with the director of personnel, they finally decided that I am no longer a provisional employee with the district (which means I shouldn't have to worry about getting laid off again this summer) and that they could approve an up to 85-day medical leave with no deduction in pay. What a blessing! I'll be missing 63 days of work.

Prepping for babies: Lots of running around buying baby supplies. I'm a Craig's List frugal person, which also means that it takes more effort than just ordering things from BabiesRUs online! I've done a pretty good job though! I've found 2 swings, 2 bouncers, 2 matching cribs (that one was a challenge and I had to drive up to SLC to accomplish it, but I was really set on matching cribs!), a great stash of clothes, blankets, burp cloths, etc. Oh yeah, we had to get a new vehicle too as we're outgrowing my Honda Accord. Dan found a great Honda Odyssey at the auction and we've sold my car.

My body: I'm big and tired. I can't breath or sleep very well. And I enjoy many of those discomforts that usually come late in pregnancy. I'll get a picture up soon. About two weeks ago I was having a lot of contractions and lower back pain. I was pretty sure it wasn't labor pains, but knew that I would forever regret it if it was and I hadn't stopped it, so Dan and I went to the hospital to get things checked out. They were definitely contractions, but it appeared that I wasn't in active labor, so they gave me a shot of Terbutaline to stop the contractions and sent me home. I haven't had any major problems since then. I'm pretty sure that half the reason I had those contractions was due to stress!

My house: Amy's in full toddler mode and drags everything all over the house. It's a wreck, and most days I'm too tired to clean up, so it just keeps getting worse!

So what have I done so far on my first day off? Not much. Haven't bathed, haven't cleaned the house, just messed around online looking at crib bedding sets. I plan to clean the house, prep the new nursery, clean out closets, update the blog from the past two months. . . but maybe I'll start tomorrow!

Big Helper!

2010-01-11T14:57:00.005-07:00

Amy is already practicing taking care of Twins!

Today she wandered up to her room, got a diaper, brought it downstairs, laid out a blanket on the floor and proceeded to take care of her baby. Watch the video. It was so cute!

After months of walking around holding my hand, Amy finally decided to walk yesterday. Now she enjoys walking all over the place. One of her favorite ways to help me is to put things in the trash. Watch the video!

Afterward she actually got really upset that I wanted to put the diaper in the kitchen trash instead of the diaper pail upstairs. I didn't record the tantrum that followed!

Trip to Virginia

2010-01-11T14:22:00.004-07:00

We took a 10-day trip to Virginia over our Christmas break to stay with my family. Almost my whole family was there (minus Kim and Steven) so the house was full (8 kids and 10 adults). Although living in tight quarters, it was so much fun!

We left Christmas afternoon and arrived at my parents house around 2:00 AM the next day. Aaron and Jessica had so much fun playing with all their little cousins and aunts and uncles. We spent one day at an indoor water park. It was a lot of fun (well, Amy didn't think so, but everyone else had fun!) Who would have thought that we'd be riding the lazy river and doing all kinds of water slides in December!

Dan and I were able to have a little get-away one night and leave the kids with my parents. We stayed at a small Bed & Breakfast in West Virginia. It was way up in the mountains and we got to see black bears wandering around at night! It was so nice to get away and relax with my sweet hubby.

Another one of my favorite parts of the trip was our family get-away in Washington, D.C. This is where we took most of our pictures. We left Amy with my parents and took Aaron and Jessica to see all the major sites. I felt like we had gone back two years in time to before Amy was born as we all just bundled up and hiked around the city, kind of like how we used to before we had a baby. While, of course, I love Amy, I loved having a little break and just being with the big kids! It was cloudy and freezing cold the whole time, but we dressed well and stopped for hot cocoa a few times. The weather didn't get us down at all.
We stayed at the Red Roof Inn in downtown China Town. There were tons of Chinese restaurants around and Dan especially enjoyed one where they made there own fresh noodles. It was fun to watch them make the noodles! Our hotel location was great! Within walking distance of all the sights!
Aaron and I in China Town.

We also spent some time at the Smithsonian Botanical Gardens and Air and Space Museum.
We hardly took any cousin pictures, but I would say that spending time with cousins was Aaron and Jessica's favorite part of the trip! I also enjoyed getting to spend time with my parents and brothers and sisters.

Thanks Mom and Dad for making the trip possible. We had a really great time with lots of fun memories!

Twice as Nice? or Double Trouble?

2010-01-04T20:01:00.003-07:00

Dan and I received quite the surprise Christmas gift this year! I went to the doctor on December 23rd for the routine 20-week ultrasound. We were anticipating to get the news that we were expecting a little girl or boy; however, it was a shock (to say the least!) to find out that I am expecting twin boys!!!! I guess that explains why my belly popped out so soon! I still feel fine, if not overwhelmed. I haven't been sick at all with this pregnancy, I just feel like I'm about two months further along than I really am. I don't know much about twins yet and will have a few extra doctor appointments this week. Of course, we're very excited, but like I said, perhaps a bit shocked and overwhelmed!

We saved the news for Christmas day for Aaron and Jessi. They opened a gift for the new baby, which they knew would reveal whether it was a boy or girl. They were a little confused at first, but soon realized that the two boy outfits meant twin boys! Aaron rolled on the floor he was so excited. Jessi quickly let me know that she is always willing to hold and feed one of them. I'm glad they're so happy about it! I wish they could be with us everyday to help!

Naturally, all of my family and friends are so excited. I'm starting to get excited too, but foremost on my mind is trying to figure out how we're going to manage and afford everything! I know it will all work out though, just as things always somehow do. If anyone has baby boy items they want to pass along, I'm more than willing to accept! :)

Silly Amy

2009-12-12T11:02:00.004-07:00

Amy wanted to make some silly faces for the camera! A little out of focus, but still fun!
Aaron and Jessi wanted a picture with their sister too.

A few cute recent pictures

2009-12-06T20:36:00.002-07:00

Amy loves to help us with the dishes! She passes them to us so we can put them in the cupboard. She doesn't care if they're clean or dirty. :)

Boston came to visit and so the kids wanted to take this picture. We took several but this is the one with the most people looking!
We went to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving. (We hardly took any pictures, I guess because we already had our hands full with three kids and a stroller everywhere we went!) We had a great time, of course! The kids were soooo good on this trip so, of course, that made it all the more fun! We drove the camper down, then stayed two nights at Circus Circus, and then took the scenic/camping route back home, through the middle of Nevada. While in Vegas we bought bus passes and spent a day touring the strip and then we spent the next day at the Adventure Dome (indoor carnival). As soon as Aaron saw that one of the carnival game prizes was a guitar, he was determined to win! And he did! He's so excited to have a guitar.

We're pretty lucky to have such great kids!

Halloween

2009-12-06T20:29:00.003-07:00

Yes, I realize that Halloween was over a month ago. . . I dressed up as a spider, Aaron was a silly, fat tourist, Amy was a clown, and Jessi was Miss Understood. Dan didn't dress up this year. We enjoyed the ward's trunk-or-treat and then went trick or treating around the neighborhood -- a traditional Halloween, simple and fun!
Amy's makeup job was ruined before I even finished putting it on! She loved Halloween though, treats all evening long!

Fall Family Time

2009-10-25T14:07:00.009-07:00

Here are some pictures to show a few things our family has been up to over the past two weeks.
Amy was really excited about having pumpkins and kept trying to pick them up. We got the pumpkins from a guy with a pumpkin patch just a few blocks away from us. We walked there in the dark one night after dinner. It was a little tricky picking pumpkins in the pitch dark!

We invited our neighbor friends, Nicholas and Marki, to carve pumpkins with us.
Amy had the best time playing with the pumpkin guts! And yes, we forgot to take a picture of the finished products! They're outside rotting on our front sidewalk.
We recently spent a night on the west side of Utah Lake. Dan challenged what we call "Rocky's Canyon" in the jeep while Amy, Jessi, and I did some hiking. (We bailed the jeep because it's kind of a scary trail!)
This is what we call Rocky's Keyhole. It's very narrow. (We had named one of our previous jeeps Rocky, and we were in that jeep when we originally discovered this area. We like to make up our own names for memorable landmarks that we discover.)
Aaron and Daniel spent most of their time riding around and getting muddy. We also spent some time on this trip target shooting, enjoying the campfire, and caking the jeep with mud. Once, Aaron was following us in the jeep on the little three wheeler. We went through a really muddy spot and he got splattered with mud, all over his face and everything! He learned to not follow so closely!

And this is our budding computer techie. She loves this Tap & Type website.

Aaron's football schedule has also kept us really busy over the last two months, but unfortunately I never pulled the camera out for any pictures! They just finished their season this week. Dan and I are both sad and happy to see it end. It's fun to be at the games, but all the practices and games are very time consuming, lots of driving around, etc.

H1N1

2009-10-16T10:48:00.002-07:00

I'm just curious, what are your thoughts about the new vaccination? Up until a few days ago I was feeling like it wasn't really necessary and that people were making way too big of a deal about Swine Flu. However, being both a teacher and pregnant have made me rethink things. In the past week I've seen my school go from one reported case to having several classes where half of the students are absent. Faculty and staff are getting it too. I could not believe how quickly the virus spread in just one short week. I know that it's predicted that it will continue to spread rampantly for another 5 weeks or so before it peaks. That's a LOT of people getting sick.

I realize that MOST of those people are not in the hospital, but they're not having a good time either. Those that I have talked to are feeling really pretty extremely miserable. There's a lot of hype out there about the vaccine, how it came out so quickly, and how can we know how reliable it is. I guess I'm taking a leap of faith. It seems that if there is a possibility of avoiding the virus and having it spread through my family then it's worth it. I would hope that our federal government has done enough research with it to know that it's safe before passing out millions of free doses to its citizens.

So anyway, we just got back from the health department where the kids and I all got our free shot. The lines were out the door, and we had to wait for quite a while, but I'm pretty sure that we won't regret it! In the mean time, we'll continue washing our hands, disinfecting, eating wholesome foods, and getting plenty of rest so that we can stay healthy!

Two Pink Lines

2009-10-12T18:06:00.003-07:00

Yep, some people have heard the news, and some people haven't so I figured I might as well make it public knowledge, the test came out positive with two pink lines, and so Dan, Aaron, Jessica, Amy, and I are excited to announce that we're expecting a baby in May. You may think we're crazy (and sometimes we think so too), but we're actually really glad to be having the two babies close together.

We didn't get pictures because Amy destroyed the evidence, but of course we had to have a fun way to tell the kids. I printed out the message, "We are going to have another baby in May," and cut each word apart and taped them under the kids' dinner cups and plates. They noticed one of the words while drinking and then quickly found all the words except "baby" because it was under Amy's bowl suction-cupped to the table. At first they thought we were going somewhere in May, but when they saw the word "baby" they quickly put the message together. Of course, Aaron and Jessica are thrilled! They've already decided that now they'll each get to share a room with a baby, which is still funny to me that they would be so excited about that. They LOVE and ADORE Amy so I'm sure this new baby will also be very welcomed.

Amy is growing up. She loves to pretend things. She plays dishes and enjoys having her own frying pan and spatula to cook with. She also loves playing with baby dolls. She gives them kisses and feeds them bottles. We recently found a toy stroller at the thrift store for $2 and it's her favorite things to push around. She's a cute little mommy with her baby, cell phone, and purses! Still not walking on her own. She's just not interested, and that's okay with me!

NAEYC Conference in Washington D.C.

2009-10-12T17:58:00.002-07:00

I just made arrangements to attend the NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) annual conference in Washington D.C. next month. I'm really excited to be able to go! NAEYC is the biggest association that advocates quality and research-based education for young children, which, as a first grade teacher, I'm really interested in. Plus, for the past two years I've been helping BYU with a research project called SEEL (Systematic and Engaging Early Literacy) and they have been invited to present their research at the conference. I have spent hours upon hours working with this project in my classroom so it's really neat to know that other people around the whole country are interested in knowing what I've been doing in my own little classroom! Dianne, my kindergarten colleague is going with me, and Amy too, but she'll be staying at my parent's house while I attend the conference.

Visit from Grandma Jan

2009-09-20T18:45:00.005-07:00

It's been awhile since we've gotten together with Grandma Jan (Dan's mom). The last two trips we had planned something came up at the last minute (weather or work, etc.) and so we were really glad that she was able to make it!

We celebrated her birthday while she was here. Here's the whole gang, including Daniel and John, Jan's boyfriend who also came.
This was Amy and Grandma's first time to meet each other. They hit it off and had a great time together!
We already miss you and can't wait to see you again!

Amy's first word

2009-07-29T09:14:00.002-07:00

Amy said her first official word yesterday. She says things like dada, mama, and baba all the time, but it seems so random that I'm not sure if she's connected the word with its meaning. But yesterday she went to town with Izzy. Izzy is our cat and Amy loves her! Her Izzy sounds more like Iz-uh. Izzy sleeps on our deck a lot and Amy likes to look at her through the glass door. Whenever we're near the door and she can see Izzy she gets all excited and starts saying Iz-uh, Iz-uh! If we're outside and I ask where's Izzy? Amy will respond by looking around and pointing at the cat. She's a fun little baby!

Little Explorer

2009-07-04T10:25:00.005-07:00

It's kind of hard to tell, but that's actually a huge smile, in the middle of a squeal of excitement.
I am so proud of myself for grabbing the camera super fast and capturing this moment. Moments like this don't last long because the camera distracts her!

Plus a few pictures of Amy's pool. She loves it! Jessi likes to get in it too. She's in the background doing sidewalk chalk with her friend. I love simple summer days!

Baby on the Move!

2009-07-02T16:13:00.003-07:00

Here's a little clip of Amy crawling. I'm a little behind because Amy is already tired of crawling and is more interested in pulling herself up to tables, chairs, etc. and cruising around them. I haven't taken any video of that yet. But since most of my readers haven't seen her crawl, I thought I'd post the clip anyway!

Hiking in our "Back Yard"

2009-06-19T14:07:00.004-07:00

We've recently gone on a couple of little hiking outings in our "back yard," the mountain just about 3 blocks east of us. We always take little breaks, which is when we pull the camera out. I think we have some pretty cute pictures!
Everyone enjoying some candy sticks.I think this is the cutest picture of Aaron and Amy!
Dan usually carries Amy, but she was on my shoulders for a few minutes.
Our little rock eater! Yes, I let her put rocks and sticks in her mouth. How else is she going to learn that they aren't food?!!

Playing in the stream.

This happens to every mom right?

2009-06-03T20:31:00.004-07:00

A few weeks ago Amy threw up in her car seat so of course I took the seat cover off and put it in the laundry. Shortly after I needed to run to the store to grab something so I had to use the car seat without the cover. It looked a little silly, but she didn't seem to mind. I figure this has to be something that happens to every mom because it's not like you just have an extra seat cover around, right?

Fun Run

2009-06-03T20:24:00.004-07:00

Every spring our school does a 5K called the Fun Run and this year our whole family did it. Dan and Aaron ran and us girls speed walked. It was a lot of fun to do with the kids and their friends, and great exercise for us.

I need to get the camera out more

2009-06-03T20:14:00.004-07:00

I haven't posted in a while, although our family has been very busy and there are a lot of things I could post about. I need to make a renewed effort to pull the camera out more. For example, my sister Kim and my mom came to visit us for a few days and we did a lot of things together, but these are the only pictures I have!
We also just got back from a great camping trip in Moab, and I can't believe we didn't pull the camera out even once! But, as Dan points out, at least we make lots of memories. Yes, but memories seem to stay more vivid when you have pictures to go with them!

Baby-proofing the house!

2009-05-04T19:01:00.002-07:00

Aghh! Amy went from not crawling at all to crawling a little bit to crawling a lot all in one weekend! I've been working all afternoon to get things up off the floor and baby-proof the house. It's a lot of fun, but she sure gets into everything now!

Jeep Safari '09

2009-05-02T19:41:00.009-07:00

Introducing Rocky #3. This was after a day of jeeping in the rain. It's usually shiny and black. This is the third jeep we've acquired so far!

Perhaps you've wondered why I haven't posted pictures from our jeep safari vacation. We took some really great pictures, unfortunately we lost them when this happened.

Dan was driving too fast when he went around a turn on this gravel road causing the jeep to roll a few times. Don't worry. No one got hurt. (Luckily I wasn't in the jeep at the time!) Everything inside the jeep got thrown around and unfortunately we didn't realize until later that the memory card to the camera had gotten lost in the accident. Maybe that's it on the road. Guess we'll never know!
The pictures that we don't have were of Hole in the Rock, a place where the pioneers lowered wagons over a cliff to get them down to the river, where they then proceeded to cross the river and head up the mountains on the other side, a crazy venture! It was really awesome to be there. We also had pictures of us climbing the through huge gorges in an area called Egypt. We spent a day on a trail called Hell's Backbone. The rangers told us that it was impassible due to snow, but we put it to the test and conquered it. It was so fun and so beautiful.

Here are a few pictures that we took after the accident.

The kids have so much fun together.
Amy just loves to do big kid things!
We stopped in Helper, a small town that we've driven through dozens of times but have never stopped, and spent some time downtown. We actually enjoyed it a lot!
We thought it was pretty funny to have the kids standing in this guy's crotch.
Amy really likes her backpack.

My first pony

2009-05-02T19:16:00.002-07:00

Amy's hair is gradually coming in. The other day I'd thought I'd try a little ponytail. Isn't she cute!
Dan says this is her paparazzi shot! She's actually trying to grab the camera from me.This is Amy's favorite place to sit. She loves being able to watch the kitty outside. (I doubt that the cat appreciates it!) She'll usually sit there and chat with Izzy long enough for me to get the dishes done. :)Amy can crawl, a tiny bit. But she's usually not happy when she's doing it. Nice trail of drool falling out of her mouth!

I love Candy!

2009-05-02T19:10:00.003-07:00

Amy's lovin' her Easter candy. She only got this one sucker in her Easter basket. (The rest was toys.) I knew it would be a sticky mess so I took all her clothes off and had the bath ready! And, it was a sticky mess. She hardly ate any of it, but she LOVED it! (Don't worry, I brushed her teeth afterward. She has three now.)

We're off to Jeep Safari!

2009-04-02T19:36:00.002-07:00

We've been busy all week getting ready. . .the camper and jeep are all packed up and ready to go! We leave tomorrow afternoon for Southern Utah for a full week of jeeping and camping. (Okay, so we're going to stay at hotel for 2 nights in the middle of the week. We do like to bathe on occasion.) We're so excited! Aaron and Jessica (and me) are excited about missing school for a week. I hope that Amy starts feeling better soon. She's been feeling yucky all week. Anyway, it should be a fun week and I'll be sure to post some jeep shots when we get back.