Fun with the Miskins!

Welcome to the New Year!

2012-01-18T22:12:00.003-07:00

So much for keeping my one resolution I made...to blog at least once each week with the start of the year. But I guess I've had a busy year already so maybe I have an excuse??? I did think about it several times, but usually I was dealing with so many other things it wasn't an option at the time.

So let's do a recap of how my year started...and I don't mean NYE. That was fun. We had friends from Jon's work over and had fireworks. Fun...Then Sunday we went to church and I had a Sunbeam and a CTR4 and boy were they sooo excited! Monday Jon and I went out to dinner and a movie and had fun. We went to Manny's Mexican Restaurant (from Restaurant.com) and then saw Sherlock Holmes at the theater. It was a great night and the last night that we've had a break. :(

The next day (Tuesday Jan 3) Skyler started coughing like he had croup again. I was so not thrilled...especially since they were sick last month (I think)...the next day (Wednesday Jan 4) Skyler's coughing a ton and worse, and Caleb starts getting sick. Thursday, Jan 5, we go to the pediatrician and they both have ear infections. We did breathing treatments from day one and kept doing them for both boys. Still sick...still sick...then Sunday Jan 8, Caleb, was coughing so bad. He coughed for about 6 hours straight either nearly vomiting or actually vomiting from the cough. So finally we took him to Good Night Peds when they opened. (And no we did not make it to church.) They did a chest x-ray and found out that he had Bronchiolitis. This is different from Bronchitis because it affects the smaller Bronchiol tubes, not the main airway like in Bronchitis. At least that's what I understood...so anyway, because of that we added to our medicine. We were already doing Amoxycyllin (sp?) for both boys' ear infections, still on iron supplement for Skyler, and saline breathing treatments...so we end up getting more prescriptions for actual Albuterol for Caleb's breathing treatments, a cough steroid, and a nasal spray decongestant. So you combine all those meds, we were definitely a pharmacy and had an off-the-wall kid. The urgent care doc also said he was coughing like an asthmatic and she thought he should see an allergist.

We had to follow up with the pediatrician the next day and we talked to him about seeing an allergist. He was thinking a pulmonologist...so it'll be both, for both boys. So much fun coming our way!

We keep going each day, doing meds, keeping track of times, finally got the boys a blessing and I start getting sick too. (I got a blessing too.) So I was sick for about 4-5 days, but nothing like the boys, thankfully! Thursday, Jan 12, Carolee went to Good Night Peds (sick for 2 days) only to find out she had an ear infection and started the meds for her the next morning. And yes, Amoxycyllin again. Saturday Jan 14, the boys are done with their antibiotics! Yay!!! And the steroid was already gone, and no more coughing. So happy...

Then Sunday, Carolee still sick, I'm sick, Jon was sick, and we stayed home...then at 10 am Skyler starts getting red circle dots all over his body. So yes I freak and figure he's the small % that gets chicken pox. Get him into Good Night Peds and find out he's allergic to Penicillin products, and the reaction didn't start until after 9 days of it. So Monday morning he woke up like this... It was also on his tummy. That is the only picture I've taken because that's mild compared to the rest of this week. Carolee's still sick, but getting much better. Skyler looked the best on Sunday and Monday. Tuesday his hives were spread and were HUGE circles on his belly, and his back was getting better. Today (Wednesday Jan 18) he woke up with a clear back, a semi-clear belly, red on his bum,, arms, legs, and all over his face. His face was swollen and could barely see or smile. It didn't bother him but I felt so bad for him.

Jon and I are mostly better...if I take a deep breath or do too much I cough, but it's not that bad thankfully! So now I just want Carolee to be better (by the way she's teething again) and Skyler to stop itching. Oh I forgot...he's been on Benadryl since Sunday.

So since the start of the year...3 visits to the pediatrician (2 at once on one day), 3 separate visits to Good Night Peds (one for each kid), and 3 antibiotics, and 4 other prescriptions. Really?

At least Jon and I signed up at Lifetime Fitness and are making some serious changes in our fitness level. Today was our first day there and we had a great time.

Time to Learn about Food Allergies

2011-12-31T00:21:00.004-07:00

So I'm not sure if everyone can see the color, because while I'm posting this I can't see anything...but in my photo album I can see it clearly.

Needless to say my boy has a lot of red areas on him. His cheeks, near his eyes, his shoulders, his belly, and spots on his back. This was 1 1/2 hours after lunch. He woke up from his nap and came downstairs without a shirt on. Yep, this is what I saw and I freaked out!

My mom had allergies, but not food allergies, and I didn't think I had any allergies, so I was terrified. I called the doctor to see if they wanted to see him (I was pretty sure it was hives) but they said to come in to make sure.

So the 3 of us went to the pediatrician's office. Mind you, we just went in for Skyler's 3 year check up in November, Carolee's 6 month mid December, the boys took the doc goodies, and I saw the family doc there last Friday. So we went in and were greeted as their favorite family. Really??? Who wants to be that at the pediatrician's office? Granted, this year alone we have been there at least 4 times with severe croup for Skyler, 1 sick time for Caleb, 1 well check for each boy, and not to mention all of Carolee's well checks...so that's 1 wk, 2 wk, follow up for belly button (the nitrate stuff), 2 months, 4 months, and 6 months. Grr...

So when the doctor walked into the room he had this look...I promised him I would not be coming back until Carolee's 9 month well check and he said "Yeah, good luck with that!" Anyway, yes it's hives. He said it was a food allergy because it spread throughout his body. If it were something from touch, it would have stayed local. Side note: he may just be allergic to Tuesdays. :) The Tuesday prior I got a call from his preschool that he came in from outside, his ears were bright red with white bumps and he was itching like crazy. By the time I got there to check it out they were back to normal. So I jokingly thought it might just be Tuesdays. :)

Anyway...the doc gave him a scrip for Benadryl to take for 3 days because guess what? The food would stay in his blood stream that long and he would probably have hives most of that time. And ya know what? He did...They finally stopped last night/this morning.

Now what is he allergic to? Great question. For lunch that day we had steak, Idahoan brand mashed potatoes (Roasted Garlic and Parmesan) and carrots. Now, Jon used 2 new seasonings on the steak with lots of ingredients...and of course the mashed potatoes have a list too! Potatoes, maltodextrin, parmesan cheese blend, sodium phosphate, coconut oil...and like 30 other ingredients.

Grrr...so before giving him Benadryl later that day, I checked him. His hives were nearly gone so I decided to give him some more potatoes since I apparently have to narrow this down. They came back again (but apparently they would have anyway since they were here for 3 days.) So I decided it's something in the potatoes. And the only odd thing on the list that he hasn't had is coconut oil. I know kids can develop allergies at any time, even after having the food a ton, but I was hoping coconuts were it because I don't like them anyway.

Tonight we tried a little (after he'd been hive free all day) and he got a few small hives, but I didn't give him a lot because I didn't want him to be uncomfortable. The only other thing I don't think he's had is parmesan cheese, but not sure if that's a problem. Carrot and coconut allergies are both very rare, but we will be eating these things soon to make sure. I'd rather know exactly what it is than avoid every ingredient on the menu that day!

If you have any ideas or suggestions...feel free to share! I'm in new territory.

Oh, and side note...did you know that if your throat kinda clogs up when you eat something that means you're allergic to it? I didn't...I just thought that happened to everybody when they eat strawberries. Apparently not! But apparently that happens to Jon when he eats avacados or guacamole. So I guess I'm slightly allergic to strawberries and Jon to avacados.

What else will I be learning soon?

Christmas 2011

2011-12-30T14:07:00.005-07:00

The week leading up to Christmas I had a couple orders to get out, but once that was done, I was able to get myself ready for Christmas. I did have a bathrobe to make for a friend (which I didn’t finish until Friday night) but other than that I got everything ready for the family in need and for our Christmas. But then, Christmas Eve day I was looking on Etsy at different style robes and came across one that was called a cuddle robe. It was reversible with cotton and mink fabric, with hoods. Now, I knew I couldn’t tackle a hood the night before Christmas since I’ve never done that before, but I was sure I could get two robes made…ah, never again will I decide that the night before Christmas. The story to follow…maybe not…suffice it to say I went to bed at 4 am and they still weren’t done. At least they are done now and the boys love them!

We were supposed to have a family over for Christmas Eve dinner, but Caleb started getting really sick on Thursday night. We didn’t know what it was but decided to cancel dinner just in case. It was bad enough that we took him to Urgent Care at 1 am thinking he had strep, which he didn’t. But it was still bad.

Before we went to bed, we opened our Christmas Eve presents, which were jammies. They weren’t matching or homemade, but I promise next year they will be one of the two, if not both! But nevertheless, we got in our jammies, decided to read some of the new Christmas books we got from the Scholastic order, including A Pirate’s Night Before Christmas. I don’t think the boys really got it, but Jon and I laughed quite a bit! We read Luke 2 and went to bed. Surprisingly, the boys went to bed really easily and didn’t make a peep. The picture below is Caleb reading Snowball Soup, which he LOVES!

That might be because we told them Santa wouldn’t come if they didn’t go to sleep, so they were out fast! I should also mention, the boys watched Santa on the Norad tracker online so much- we hooked the laptop up to the TV and they just sat there watching. The first time Santa went down to make a delivery, Caleb was so scared because “Santa crashed”. Every other time he was so excited to see the deliveries. And in case you’ve never watched the tracker, at times Santa makes deliveries in the ocean as well. So I had to explain that mermaids needed gifts too. Then Caleb decided that the fish and turtles were getting them too! It was so much fun this year with Caleb really getting the Santa concept…and man was he into gifts also!

It was so special having Christmas on Sunday this year. The boys woke up at 730, but Carolee was still sleeping so we didn’t get downstairs to do stockings until 830. We did stockings, had breakfast, and then had church at 10 am. It was a musical performance and the numbers were very inspiring and uplifting. The last number was Silent Night. They had a hole group of people stand up and sign it while the rest of the congregation was singing and the spirit was so strong at church. It was such a great church service and I was grateful for it. The Spirit was strong and carried with us the rest of the day.

After church we took a few quick family pictures with the matching ties and skirts, and then came home. We didn’t even start opening presents until around noon. It was a wonderful morning.

They boys in the matching ties. For some reason I didn't get one with just Carolee and I.
Before church I was given my present from the kids; a baby necklace with 3 individual charms with their birthstones. It was such a sweet present and Jon said the boys even picked it out themselves. My other presents were the Dominion and Dominion: Intrigue games, which we had already opened and started playing before Christmas.

Jon got a couple books, a Superman monster truck, and Cabela’s Survival Game for the Wii. I have never seen him so surprised since we’ve been married. I sure did good on that one. I actually gave the boys a choice between that game and a few other things, but I was pretty sure the boys would pick that. And they did! He also got some homemade Superman bookmarks and he loves them!

Now for the kids…I can’t even begin to go over what they got. They got cars and trucks and planes, radio control cars, laptops, games, their robes, and so much more. Carolee got lots of toys and really had a great time. She was really overwhelmed towards the end, but she still had fun. Caleb was immediately ready to open presents and ripped them up in no time. It took Skyler a little longer, but after seeing Caleb he quickly got the idea. Carolee actually started going for the paper towards the end too. All in all, it was a great day. Wonderful to see the joy and excitement in their eyes!

The boys waiting to see the tree!
Carolee with presents.
Love this picture!
Gifts from Uncle Mike and Aunt Rachelle.
Jon with his Cabela's Survival game.
Socks from Great Grandma Fay (Mark's mom.)
The boys in their bathrobes. They are reversible so you can see what each side looks like. And yes that's me in the background.

Later for dinner we went over to Brenda’s for dinner and exchanged gifts with them as well. I had Bryan for my secret gift and gave him a mug that says “Only my cat understands me.” Anyone who knows Bryan knows that’s perfect. That and hot chocolate for the coldest person in the history of the world was great! :) Dinner was yummy and we had a good time. Then we came home and spent some time playing. We have played with toys now for 2 ½ days and it’s been fun. (This was originally typed on Wednesday.)

Beginning of Christmas...

2011-12-28T00:17:00.004-07:00

Now I guess it’s time for the big one…Christmas! We have had a very busy Christmas season. After the family left, we still stayed busy around here. This year I didn’t feel very service-y so we didn’t do any goodie plates like we normally do. I just didn’t feel up to it and was a little down. But shortly before Christmas we did find out that a co-worker of Jon’s was in need of some help (they didn’t have a tree, decorations, presents…) so we decided to help. Another co-worker brought them a tree with some ornaments, and Jon and I decided to get them a Christmas. So we had people that wanted to donate a gift for the 2 boys and they really had a great Christmas. I also made sure my boys participated; they helped me wrap all the presents that were given and I even had them pick out a small toy for each of the two kids, so they could think about someone other than themselves! I do have to say; that was very difficult. Taking the boys shopping for toys for someone other than themselves, but we made it through. We also did that with the boys for their cousins’ gifts, and that was also a nightmare. But hopefully if we do it each year they will be better and better.

We went to Glendale Glitters Saturday December 17^th, and it was so much fun. It’s a town square type thing which has all the trees lit up with tons of Christmas lights. They also have vendor booths set up as well as rides and bounce houses for the kids.

It wasn’t at all what I expected, but we still had fun. Jon had to work but I had already planned on taking the boys. Brenda, Mark, and Bryan ended up coming too so it was great! Bryan was a great help taking the boys to the bathroom for me and Brenda and Mark were great watching Carolee while we were waiting in the lines. Even though it rained, it was a beautiful night.

Their favorite thing to do...they got to go in the plastic balls and walk to push them. Well, Caleb actually walked/ran in his, and Skyler just crawled while the guy pushed him. But they had so much fun!

Caleb's on your right and Skyler's on your left.
Then Uncle Bryan took both boys on the spinning barrel!
My silly boys acting like ghosts!
My sweet girl and I! And yes we are wearing matching beanies and flowers!
Love my family and wish Jon could have been there with us!

Family Visit from Jeff, Lilly, Greg, and Britt

2011-12-27T23:40:00.007-07:00

This has been such a fun holiday season. We have had several things go on. First, Jeff, Lilly, and their 4 kids, as well as Greg and Brittany came down for almost a week. Jeff, Lilly, and the kids stayed with us and Greg and Brittany stayed at Brenda’s. It was a lot of fun getting to know them, and especially my sister in laws. The cousins had a great time together. The first night was pretty hectic with trying to get them to sleep, but after that they were always so tired it wasn’t really an issue.

While they were down here we got to spend a little time with Grandma Brenda, Great Grandma Melanie and Great Grandpa Wes. We had dinner a few times over here and played our new game Dominion, which I’m officially hooked on.

The kids had a lot of fun playing, and played Hungry Hungry Hippo. Do you think that’s the board game? Nope! They took the hippo push toy, and played hungry hippo by attempting to eat the other kids with it. Nice huh?

They came down Tuesday night 12/6 and left Saturday 12/10; Greg and Brit left on Sunday 12/11. The first night everyone came over for dinner, except Jon who was working nights that week. We had soup and just hung out. After everyone went home, Jeff, Lilly, and I put the kids down, and Caleb was the last one to fall asleep, and that was at 1030 pm. Wow!

Wednesday we just hung out and got to see Great Grandma and Grandpa for a bit.

Thursday all the cousins, Jeff and Lilly, me, and Greg and Brittany went to see Santa at the mall and had their pictures taken with him. They had a very awesome set up; they had a station to write their postcard to Santa, then scan it, insert it into the mailbox and push a button to send it. It was actually pretty cool. Then all 7 of the cousins that were here sat with Santa for a picture, and they did surprisingly well. Addison (8 months old) cried a little, and Carolee (6 mos old) cried after all the pictures were done when I went to pick her up. Too funny!

While we were at the mall we went to eat at Johnny Rockets. We love eating at that place, and especially love the shakes and love it when the waiters dance. So sure enough they danced for us and the kids loved it. It also helps that they often have deals where kids eat free and so that always saves us money. It reminds me of a sock hop and is fun!

After that we went to see Zoo Lights at the Phoenix Zoo. It’s such a different experience and the kids really had a good time. And the adults enjoyed seeing the cool lights too! They put so many lights up and they’re all in the shapes of animals. Seriously so much fun! Everyone except Carolee, Addison, and I got to touch the stingrays at stingray bay. I figure I’ve done it before…everyone else should get to! :)

Friday we went to the park and the cousins got to play and then that night was the ward Christmas party. My boys were in the play as shepherds and everyone but Jon was there to spend time with the family. Jon was working each night but at least he got to spend a little time with them in the mornings.

My two shepherds with Aaron Maxwell! Not too bad for a sheet right?

Saturday morning Jeff, Lilly, and the kids left and later we got to play some games with Greg and Brittany. They left the next day. It was such a fun week and I can’t wait to get together with them all again. We decided to draw names for Christmas gifts; so the cousins all drew each others’ names and the siblings drew each others. We’re hoping we can make it so even though we live far away, the cousins can grow up knowing each other and get to spend time together.

Thanksgiving

2011-12-27T23:32:00.002-07:00

Thanksgiving eve we were invited over to Melisa Maxwell’s house for pie night, which was such a fun night and a great tradition. Every year they have friends over, have soup potluck and everyone brings a pie; then they play games for hours, and I have to say I had a blast! They got me slightly hooked on the game Dominion, to the point that was what I wanted for Christmas! So much fun.

For Thanksgiving we didn’t do much this year. My mom’s 65^th birthday would have been November 13^th and it was a hard month in general for me. I have been missing her a lot and especially around the holidays. Since she always loved the holidays so much, I knew the day would be hard. I also knew that nothing could live up to what I remember without her. Brenda invited us over but instead we just spent the day at home and didn’t make a big deal out of the day. We thought about her and went to visit her grave that weekend, but decided to just have some quality family time.

Speaking of my mom’s grave; we go there usually a couple times a month, usually after church on Sundays. The boys really enjoy it and I have a picture of the first time we went after her funeral.

The boys love going and we always talk about things that they remember and miss about Grandma Lee.

Jon's been so supportive since my mom died and I am so grateful he not only helps me, but he encourages the kids to remember her as well!

Halloween Adventures

2011-12-27T22:38:00.007-07:00

The boys both went as spiderman (red and black) and Carolee went as a candy corn! So much fun to make hers. I also made her a spidergirl tutu so she could be dressed up one night to match but the boys were mildly sick the actual night of Halloween so we didn’t go out trick or treating. Instead we just went to the trunk-or-treat at the ward building. It was a lot of fun. There was chili and cornbread with dessert, a pie eating contest (which Jon almost won) and of course the trunk-or-treating. Caleb invited his friend Noah from preschool and they had a great time together.

The first pictures are of the kids in their ties and skirts I made to match for Halloween. Too bad they were sick so they didn't get to wear them all at the same time, and not in time for Halloween. But you can still enjoy them! :)

These were the first ties I'd made and the first skirt I'd ever made. Turned out pretty cute though!

One night we took the kiddos to Fry's for their annual celebration...they had a coloring table, face painting, trick or treating, and the kids had a lot of fun!
Carolee posing in her Halloween costume before the day.
The boys at Fry's.

Carolee our little candy corn!
The next pictures are from the ward trunk-or-treat party. Below is a picture of Caleb and his friend Noah from preschool. They also had preschool together last year as well.Skyler at the dinner table.
Grandpa Mark with the 3 kiddos. And if you're wondering, she's wearing baby legs leg warmers and I love them!
Aunt Kendra (wearing the witch hat I made) with her niece Carolee!
Grandma Brenda with Carolee.
Eating the goodies after finishing the rounds...
Jon got to be part of the pie-eating contest, and was 2nd place.
Noah with his mom Megan!
We sure had a great time and were glad to have family and friends with us!

Dinner for Skyler's bday

2011-12-27T22:03:00.004-07:00

I totally forgot to post about Skyler’s birthday dinners. We went to both Red Robin and Johnny Rockets on two different days for his birthday. He had a great time at both and we got a couple pictures.

Wanna know something funny? Our boy doesn't like ice cream because it's cold. So he got all excited that he got a sundae or a shake...then he had one bite and said he was done. So Caleb got two great desserts for free, and both boys were as happy as can be!

We are so lucky to have Skyler in our family. He brings such a great spirit into our home and is so much fun. He has his downsides of course, like the fact that he HAS to copy everything Caleb does, even if it lands him in a time out as well, but he is truly a blessing to our home.

BTW...this Johnny Rockets was at the mall and we got the fire truck stroller for free! I love it when that happens!

What a great time and very happy kiddos!

Carolee...my big 6 month old! :)

2011-12-27T21:00:00.005-07:00

Now she’s 6 ½ months old. Wow, where did the time go? So here are a few updates for you.

At her 4 month check up she weighed 14 lbs 2 ozs, and was rolling over very easily by that time; she was trying to sit up but was still very wobbly. She was a big talker and especially liked to talk after she was done nursing. I am pretty sure she was saying thank you because it was always the same every time she finished eating. Such a great experience and always made me smile. She was still sleeping through the night, and I was even being asked for advice from others how to get their kids to sleep through the night. Honestly, the only things I can say are 1. we have always been very blessed with babies who sleep all night, 2. she just has a very calm and peaceful personality so she’s easy going, and 3. we used a rice bag around her from armpit to armpit for the first 5 months of life. With this she always felt comforted and never moved during the night. So nice! She always loved tummy time and several times she fell asleep right there on the floor. She was definitely my first to do that regularly.

At the appointment I asked the doctor “That’s all?” when he told me the weight and I will always remember his response: “She’s a girl. She’s supposed to be smaller, calmer, and smarter. We can already see she’s calmer and smaller…” Then I said “I can’t imagine smarter than Caleb right now” and he said “You’ll see, she’ll be even smarter.”

In August/September my whole house got sick again, and surprisingly started with Skyler getting croup. Carolee got it as well and it was pretty bad. She had it for over a week but finally got over it. We had a few scary nights but we made it through. One night we took her to the new emergency center here in Buckeye; they said she wasn’t sick enough for the steroid even though she could barely breathe. They even did a chest x-ray in a horrible contraption that reminds me of a human stretch machine, and yet still wouldn’t give her a steroid. One of my children will need to be bleeding to death for me to take them there again. Even the pediatrician told us not to go there; our choices from now on will either be Banner Estrella, Goodnight Pediatrics, or Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

She started sitting up officially at 5 months and is now trying to crawl. She has magically moved a few times, and yesterday we caught her do a partial army crawl to move. She likes to move in circles to reach her goal; every time she goes in a circle she moves forward and she loves doing it.

At her 6 month check up she was 16 lbs 15 ozs, and is very healthy. She got her shots that day and had a slightly bad reaction to them. One leg had a huge bump in it and turned bright red. She ran a fever (which I know is normal); I massaged her leg every once in a while and the bump finally went down a week later. I was sure scared at first though. She’s now wearing 12 mos clothes and is a nice chubby girl. We found out that her girly parts are closing up for some reason so we’re now using an estrogen cream daily to make sure her body knows that’s not the way it’s supposed to work, and it’s working!

She’s a very happy baby and still sleeps great! We can even put her down in her crib for her nap without any effort, and have been able to for months. We lay her in bed, wrap her up, she rolls to the side and sticks her thumb in her mouth; we leave the room, and she goes to sleep! You know how nice that is?

She started eating food at the very end of November. She was completely breastfed until then, and is still nursing but eating very well. She loves her food and gets so excited when she gets in her high chair. She got two teeth within 3 days around Thanksgiving. She was so great about that; I didn’t even know they were coming in. I happened to put my finger in to check and sure enough there was a very sharp tooth on the bottom. 3 days later its neighbor showed up and she still has just the two. I’m actually very grateful for that though because I normally stop nursing a couple months after they come in. She got hers at 5 ½ months, Skyler got his around 7 months, and Caleb around 7 ½ months. She has definitely been the earliest.

She’s now sitting up in the tub and enjoying her baths. For the first couple months she would scream and cry every time, but she loves them now and has a great time. She loves to stand and is trying to walk holding our hands. She gets so excited and happy when she gets to stand. She blows bubbles every time she gets baby food and eats a lot.

She loves getting hugs and kisses from her brothers, and loves getting raspberries on her belly too. She actually loves anything with them, and they love her to pieces. The first and last thing before and after nap and bed time is a hug and kiss for her from Caleb. He helps me all day with her and loves sitting with her, holding her, helping her stand, and picking her up. She currently takes a 2-3 hour nap every morning around 10 and another 1-2 hour nap in the afternoon around 1. Then she sleeps from 730-8 or so in the morning. What an easy baby and I love her to pieces.

She’s also the perfect model for me. She’s been modeling my products since she was a couple months old and now loves the camera. She smiles and gets excited when I whip out the camera. What a great girl!

Monday December 26, Daddy finally convinced Mama to get Carolee’s ears pierced. I cried when she cried, but her bad cry still isn’t anywhere near normal cries. She’s such a mellow baby that even when something hurts she’s not that bad. Instead of crying when she wakes up in the morning, instead all I hear is a “hoo, hoo” and then about 5 minutes later another one. Anyway, so she got her ears pierced and here are pictures of our beautiful baby girl with earrings!

The last photo was just taken today. you can see how much she's changed in just a few months through the blog post. I hope to be better about taking pictures and updating on here from here on out.

Fishing Fun!

2011-12-27T20:26:00.006-07:00

Jon took the boys fishing in September and the boys had a great time. They didn’t catch anything, but still loved it. I was there with Carolee also, but it was mostly so I could watch the boys for the first time. A guy in the ward had invited Jon to go fishing with him; so Jon got a pole, a license, and went out with the guy and had fun. He caught a couple fish but thankfully it was a catch and release day because I can’t stand cooked fish. But then he took the boys out and they had a great time.

Jon got them both Spiderman fishing poles and first took them to the park to practice casting the line. Man, they are seriously dangerous! Many times the hooks almost got hooked in hair, on clothes, and all over actually. Jon spent quite a bit of time untangling their lines since they kept getting them tangled up.

They had a great time though and Jon's planning on taking them out again this week hopefully!

The next two pictures are of both boys watching the small fish when they jumped out of the water to the grass.

Skyler scares me sometimes...he had no fear of falling at all and walked on that ledge repeatedly. The one below is him chasing birds around when he got tired of fishing! :)

We were out there for a couple hours until Carolee got super cranky and the boys were pretty much tired of fishing. But it was a lot of fun and hopefully we can do it more often!

At the Zoo

2011-12-27T19:27:00.007-07:00

We had a family trip to the zoo October 30^th and really enjoyed it. The boys always love the zoo, and we have a membership so thought we should use it again. It was great because this time we decided to pay for a camel ride, and the boys had a great time on it!

As for the picture to the left, I have no idea who that girl is in the picture, but she seems to think she belongs! :)

We went for the feeding of the animals. The zoo gives some of the animals pumpkins filled with meat and visitors can watch them rip apart the pumpkin. We ended up watching the komodo dragon attack the pumpkin to get to his fish inside. It was actually a lot of fun. The kids also got to go through the straw maze. It was pretty simple but they had a great time.

The boys and daddy on the camel.

My 3 beautiful children on the Komodo dragon at the zoo...and yes it is fake, considering these are highly dangerous creatures! Carolee was 4 1/2 months old in this picture! I love her smile!
Here's the real dragon...it had a sister in the next pen. I didn't know this but they are too dangerous to be kept together.
The straw maze...
Yes, I did post a pic of Caleb's bum...but not for that reason. This is one of those spiderweb rope things at the park area, and this was the first time he climbed to the very middle. He was so proud of himself. It was hard but he did it and had so much fun! He's very coordinated for his age and is doing great!
Yep, my boys in the pouch!
Even though every time we go to the zoo we see different things...the carousel is always a MUST! They love going on it and thankfully we get tickets to it and stingray bay with our membership! :)
Love going to the zoo. My boys have learned so much about animals there and they really do have such a great time!

The Kids...

2011-12-27T17:02:00.006-07:00

So I have to say a few things about both boys. They both saw the dentist in October/November and did great! I only took pictures on my phone, but it is truly a cool dentist office. It is a shipwrecked on an dinosaur island theme. Seriously a great dentist and my boys loved it! Caleb had one small cavity, but Skyler had none. I have to admit I’m not that great at remembering to brush their teeth, but we’re trying to get better. When I do remember we get it done, but it may not be twice a day every day.

I also love the fact that they explained things to me. Did you know that x-rays are getting more advanced so as long as they go in every 6 months they should be able to catch any small cavities early enough and not need a numbing shot to fill a cavity? Yep, that’s what happened to Caleb and it was so nice. I also found out why they switched from the silver fillings to the white fillings. With the silver they had to drill a huge hole in the tooth to pack it in but with the white they don’t need to do that much at all. That way, it preserves the rest of the tooth making them stronger. Pretty cool huh?

Ok, what else? The boys love their sister and have so much fun with her. They also love all the hair bows I’ve made for Carolee and for my business. Here are a few random pictures of them and all 3 kids over the last few months.

We also had a bunny living in our backyard for a few months from August- October. Our yard hadn't been mowed for a long time and it was a forest! So here's a picture of the bunny that kept my boys occupied for hours watching him and looking for him. Then one day Jon mowed the yard, and we haven't seen him since.

A couple other things: we finally started doing FHE again and the boys have decided that the regular FHE activity is Pictionary on the white board. It is so much fun and they really enjoy using it.

The boys have really started drawing more and more recognizable pictures since we started doing this. Skyler's favorite thing to draw now is a cocoon. :) More to come...

Skyler's 3!

2011-12-27T13:42:00.008-07:00

Skyler is now 3! His birthday was November 25^th and I can’t believe how much he’s growing up all the time. It’s absolutely crazy how much he’s changed in the last few months. He’s now wearing 4t clothes and is just about out of them. He isn’t really putting on weight, but he is growing taller. It’s amazing how different siblings can be.

He’s great at counting, is learning to sing along with songs, loves shapes, colors, and absolutely loves coloring! Hence we have markers and crayons on almost every wall downstairs. I’ve found he doesn’t really listen well, but I’m trying a couple things to help. For some reason when we call his name, he completely ignores us and I fell like I’m yelling all the time to get him to respond. I’ve considered hearing issues, but I highly doubt that since he hears when he wants to hear.

I’ve also found with him I can’t say “You need to listen” because he responds “I am listening.” So I’ve started saying “You need to do what I ask” and he usually responds “OK” and then does what I ask. It’s so nice when it works out like that!

He was potty trained in less than a month, including overnight. Once he finally started, he just went for it. He never used pull-ups and even wore underwear overnight after just a couple days. He only had a couple overnight accidents and that was it! But he did go through a week long phase where he decided to pee his pants all day long. Now keep in mind, this was after he had been accident free for nearly 2 weeks. So after a few days I told him if he wanted to wear shorts again (he hates pants) he had to start using the toilet again because he keeps peeing in his shorts and all that was left were pants! That was the key and he started using the potty again and has been doing great since. He has a couple accidents when he’s not paying attention, but overall he’s been great, and a very easy trainer! So that makes 2 potty trained by around 2 ½…hoping for another easy round with Carolee! J

This year we had his birthday part on Saturday December 2^nd, even though his bday was the week before. Why? Because I was trying to get ready for a boutique, had a ton of orders come in, and then totally forgot until it was too late. Really? I was not on my game this year. Plus, Jon didn’t get his first paycheck until right about that time so I couldn’t really do much to get ready for a party.

But we had an art party and they kids had a great time. We ended up inviting people from his nursery class because it was pretty last minute and I didn’t think about inviting the other kids he knows his age. Ooops! But at the party we had pizza for dinner which the kids decorated themselves, had a fruit loop station, let them color with markers, paint, and glitter glue, and even used a paint and spin machine where they got to create their own designs. It was a lot of fun! And for the record, Kendra made the cake and I sewed the crayon felt decorations. Pretty cute.

The kids with their pizza...
Skyler decorating his pizza...he didn't actually eat it, but it was his birthday so we let him skip it. :)
Austin and Jon were both helping at the fruit loop table while Susan and I cleared the table after eating. And if you're wondering, those display boards in the background are from Sage here in Buckeye! I absolutely love them!
The kids painting, using glitter glue, and coloring with crayons and markers.

The final product at the paint n' spin station.

Jon using the paint n' spin.
The retake of Skyler blowing out the candles since the first one was blurry. :)
Skyler opening his gifts. For some reason we were busy the entire time so he opened gifts after everyone left. The same thing happened at Caleb's 3 year old party.

He loved all the gifts he was given and had a great time!

The way we decorated one wall in the living room. We just displayed a ton of artwork and it looked great!
We made a crayon painting and it's much harder work than you would think. Basically, you unwrap crayons, and glue them onto a canvas with a hot glue gun. Then you melt them using a blow dryer and it's supposed to look good when it's done. Hmmm...it certainly wasn't as fun as I thought it would be, but it served its purpose for the party. Jon actually hung it up upside down (as shown below) because he thought it looked cooler like it was defying gravity!
The kids also made their own crayons in the silicone molds while they were here. Johnny Rockets had given us a ton of their crayons, so I didn't have to buy these ones.
Overall, the party was a success and Skyler still keeps talking to us about his birthday party. I love that we wait until they're 3 to have their first actual party. It's the first time they can really remember and appreciate it! Skyler is such a sweet boy and we love him!

More of Caleb

2011-12-27T13:13:00.006-07:00

A few more things about Caleb:

He loves using the camera and even had his first photo shoot in October. I had been taking pictures of Carolee in a tutu for my business, and after I was done he asked to use the camera. He went out and took pictures of a stuffed animal, the gas can and other things. Not too bad right? He even did all the posing himself.

He’s growing so much and is now wearing size 6/7 or 8 clothes, and is growing up emotionally too. He’s a big help around the house. He can also throw a mean tantrum, but we’re working on that. He’s starting to realize he’s not in control of his emotions so we’re working on that. He has a bit of a temper but hopefully we can help him get that under control.

He really loves using the camera and I'm amazed at some of the pictures he takes. These may not all be the greatest, but he was so proud of his photo shoot he came right in and told me all about them and wanted to share. I love that he finds accomplishment in what he does and try to encourage what he loves doing!

Caleb and Preschool

2011-12-26T00:45:00.006-07:00

He’s been in the Pre-K class with Mrs. Rusch at The Iliad Academy since August and loves it. He got to go on his first fieldtrip in October to a farm out here in the valley and loved it. He got to have a pajama day last week, loves getting his book orders through school, and had a great concert through his school for Christmas. He does such a good job learning songs and remembering them. What a blessing.

In October they had the Primary Program at church and I was so proud of him; he memorized his part “Reverence is love and respect for God” and said it at the pulpit without any hesitation. He sang all the songs, I was so proud, and of course I cried. Right after the program he had the scripture in Sharing Time. He read James 1:5, and when I say he read it, I mean it. He read all the words and I just stood there in case he needed help.

He has been reading more and more, and I think a big part of it is the Bob books. He has now finished the first 5 sets of Bob books and is now reading the Little Critter “I can read” books, and even read me “Snowy Day” the other day. I was so surprised and so proud at the same time.

At his parent teacher conference I found out he prefers going to the math center at preschool and loves doing sequencing and reading. He also plays in the kitchen a lot but rarely goes to art. However, at home he loves doing art and has a great time.

So in this post are pictures of Caleb at his preschool concert. He's wearing his peppermint tie I made him and standing next to his good friend Emma in the top one. And below are pictures of his class and the bottom one is a video of one of the songs. In the class pictures he's in the back row right behind the microphone. Caleb had such a great time and had such fun singing. Jon had to work so it was just Skyler and I there, but Caleb did a great job.

2011-12-25T23:43:00.010-07:00

Caleb was in T-ball this fall season. He had practice every M and W at 6 pm and a game every Saturday for a couple months. He had such a great time and got better all the time. He had great strength behind the bat and loved hitting “home runs”. Granted, they all got to hit them during practice so they could run the bases, but he couldn’t understand why he didn’t hit any during the games. He had a hard time with catching and stopping grounders at first, but towards the end he was doing great and really loved playing.

In the spring he'll be doing either soccer or flag football and is excited about all sports. He has also asked to start piano lessons again so we'll see what happens.

The first picture is Caleb showing off his medal he earned for completing the season, and the next pictures are of the opening ceremony and his first t-ball game ever. He was #7 and usually had the big hat covering his face. :)

Carolee wearing her t-ball bow to support her brother and the red angels.

At the opening ceremonies they also had a couple bounce houses up for them to play with. The boys had such a great time.

And yes at the end of the day we got a picture of the pink breast cancer fire truck. Jon was so excited that it as here at the local fire station that he had to get a picture of it!
There will be more updates of Caleb coming so look back for more.

Carolee's Baby Blessing July 2011

2011-12-25T22:55:00.007-07:00

Here's my sweet baby girl on the day of her baby blessing. In the LDS church, when a baby is blessed, she is given a name and a blessing through the priesthood. This is done by priesthood holders.

Carolee Rose Miskin was blessed at our church here in Buckeye, AZ on Sunday July 17, 2011. She was blessed by Jon and her name was put on the records of the church. Jon was the speaker for the blessing and the others in the circle were: Bryan Miskin (Jon’s youngest brother who had just gotten home from his mission in Mexico), Mark Ottesen (Step Dad), Weslin Spurgeon (Jon’s grandpa), Jeff Miskin (Jon’s dad who was visiting from WA), Dave Johnson and Freeman Carney (friends here in Buckeye).

The dress was made by Jon’s cousin Tricia Lowe, and it was beautiful, and long. But it was so pretty and we are so grateful for Trish! She made both boys’ blessing outfits too so it’s very nice having those keepsakes.

During the blessing I wrote down a few things that were said:

Carolee was blessed to come to a wonderful family that would watch over here and protect her.

She is blessed with the strength to help support the family and will help bring peace to the home.

All that she pursues in life will work out as long as they’re right choices and decisions.

After church we didn’t do any get together, but it was very great having family and friends there to be a part of this wonderful event. She was a little over a month in these pictures. We did get some family pictures taken by Jon's dad, but we're still waiting to get those so I don't have those to post yet! :(

Love her pursing lips face! Such a cutie. Man, I can't believe how small she was!

I have so many pictures of Carolee winking. She did it all the time in the first 4 months of her life.
Check out that dress! I couldn't even get it all in the camera because of the length. But it was absolutely gorgeous. My mom was supposed to be at the blessing but wasn't feeling well. The next Monday (July 25) was the day she went to the hospital never to come home again. Even though she missed the blessing, she did get to spend quite a bit of time with the kids and Carolee during that last week.

Carolee was given her name because of Carol and Lee. Carol is my aunt's name who passed away in her early 40s of cancer, and I was very close to her. It was very hard for me and my mom when she passed; it was the December before I turned 11 and I remember the necklace and earring set she had picked out to give me for my 11th birthday. I will always remember her. (My baby shower for Carolee was even the same day as my aunt's birthday.)

And Lee; that's my middle name, my father's middle name, and my mom's nick name and most commonly used name. I originally put Lee in her name because during college I wished my name was Amberlee, but now every time I am emotional and think about my baby girl or say her name, I get teary eyed thinking about where she got her name from.

I love her and I will always love them!

General Updates

2011-12-25T21:11:00.002-07:00

So I'm starting my New Year's Resolution today, so I can actually keep it next year. My goal is to blog at least once a week again to stay caught up. I love using the blog as my journal and recording the things (minor and big) that happen in our lives. I've gotten out of the habit so I'm going to play catchup and hopefully be caught up so I can start the New Year off right!

So first I'll go over some basic updates and then do specific blogs about events after that.

Jon still has one semester left in school. He was enrolled in enough classes to finish this semester but since he was unemployed through mid November, he had to drop a couple classes because we couldn't afford it at the time. He was denied financial aid for some reason, but then in December he was awarded financial aid...confusing, but that also means he still has one more semester. But thankfully he's finished the last one for his certification. He is now a certified H.V.A.C. technician, and in 2 more classes he will finally have his A.A.S. It's been a long time, but he's really working hard.

He finally started working out at the Gila Bend Solar Plant in November. He had originally gotten a temp contract job at the nuclear power plant out here but due to some complications with his old boss false information was provided about him and they decided not to hire him. He had already turned down the other job because he was on at the power plant, so it took another month before he finally started working. However, it was definitely a blessing when he started. His first day he was promoted to team lead and crane operator and now is making enough $$ to bring us back out of the hole we were in. He is now working swing shift, from 230-11, and they bus him to and from work so he doesn't need to pay for gas which is great! He enjoys his job and is grateful to have one, and that his unemployment period wasn't longer. (As am I!)

It was really hard getting by during our unemployment period; when my mom passed away she had life insurance which helped us through a few months. We didn't really spend much and the church helped us out with some bills for a couple months. Now we are grateful to be able to help others. I was really worried and kind of upset when Jon came home in June because I didn't know how things were going to work out. Sometimes we just need to remember that it's not always going to be easy, but the Lord has a plan and we need to trust him. If Jon hadn't come home when he did, he wouldn't have been here for me while I was having c-section complications, and wouldn't have been there for me, my mom, or the kids, while my mom was sick and when she passed away. Times were rough financially but it would have been much worse dealing with all the other stuff without Jon around to help support all of us. He is such a great husband and father and we are very lucky to have him.

Want another good example of why he's so great? He really dislikes peanut butter and chocolate together. This week I made some chocolate PB cookies and asked him to try one to make sure they tasted good...I totally forgot that he didn't like them; he looked at me and hesitated for about 30 seconds. I didn't respond so he took a bite, and said "Good, considering it's PB and chocolate!" "Oh yeah!" But he was willing to try it even though he really doesn't like it at all.

Before Jon started working swing, he had a calling with the 11 year old scouts at church. I know he really enjoyed it and was kind of bummed when he got released. But considering they met Tuesday nights at 7 and he was at work then, it wasn't going to work out. That was the second time he's been asked to do scouts since we've been married, and he was excited he could finally do it. Hopefully he can do it another time! :)

My business is doing very well, and I actually got kind of overwhelmed when Jon started working. We didn't have much notice when he started working, so I had a huge sale over the weekend and he started working on Monday. Yikes! So after that the only time I had to work was nap time or bed time, and I was having a hard time keeping up and figuring things out. I actually closed mostly down for the month of December since we had family down here part of the time and I wanted to enjoy the family time and the holiday; starting Jan 1 I will be implementing a new business plan (not sure exactly how yet) but am hoping it will work well. If I didn't mention before, I officially opened my etsy shop under Miskin Makings in August, and now also have a facebook page. I'm still trying to figure out what I enjoy most, so I have done some aprons, fabric hair accessories, coordinating ties/hair items/skirts for the holidays, Halloween accessories and costumes, and a few party items. These are just a few but it's been fun. A year ago I never would have thought I'd be here sewing for my own business, but it's fun. I actually took an entrepreneurship class in my last semester at BYU and decided it wasn't right for me; however, now with shops on Etsy or facebook, it's easy to control your growth and to control how much you can and need to spend to get going. It's been nice to go at my own pace. In a matter of a few days though I jumped from 50 fans to 200 fans on my facebook page and I was very nervous. But it was definitely great! I was busy during October and sold a lot of mini witch hats, and a couple of candy corn tutus. It's fun being creative and I love seeing my creations. I actually made my boys reversible cuddle robes for Christmas with a Marvel comic print on one side and a ultra cuddle fabric on the other; the whole time I was making them I felt like I was sewing for a fancy resort and felt so important! :) I think I also enjoy the sense of accomplishment knowing I created something so beautiful and fun. I signed up for a few boutiques during the holiday season but didn't get to attend; one I couldn't go because I would have been alone with a nursing baby (not going to work for 5 hours at a booth) since Jon was sick, and the second I was so busy I ran out of my inventory. What? I definitely didn't plan for that one. But hopefully I've learned from this and will be better next year.

Jon's birthday was in October, but I don't have any pictures of it because we didn't really do anything. He was let go from the power plant on his birthday (the same day he was supposed to get his first paycheck with them) so we didn't have any money to do anything and weren't in high spirits. But Brenda gave us money so we could go see the movie "Real Steel" with Hugh Jackman, which he'd been wanting to see for months. Jon and I have both gotten good about spending wisely (or not at all) in tight times, but it was still hard not really doing anything for his birthday. Maybe I should give him a late present huh? :)

I guess that's about all now for the overall update. Now I'll start adding individual updates with pictures and fun topics. I'm sure I'll miss some but at least I'll be getting caught up.

Playing Catch Up

2011-09-08T16:09:00.002-07:00

Wow, it's been a month since I've posted, and I was behind then too! Yikes! I've got a lot of catching up to do.

First of all, I have to say that Carolee is now 3 months old and just rolled over for the first time this morning...actually 3 times in a row. But apparently that wore her out because she couldn't do it again! :) That's ok...I'm excited!

I don't really know what to say about this last little while. It seems like it's just been a blur. In the aftermath of helping my mom and her funeral, things were very busy and hard to get through. I had my first BAD day about a week after she passed. It was shortly after Michael left, things started to settle down, and I had time to think for the first time. I just lost it and was soooo emotional. I was also upset because I didn't know how to control it. But thankfully it was Sunday and Monday only, and I think that was what I needed to grieve. I still cry every once in a while (like when I see a flower vase on a corner of a street where someone probably died in an accident) but I'm doing much better. We've started a tradition of going to her grave once a month right after church, even though Caleb has asked to go more often. He seems to think we should go every Sunday after church. But he cries every time we talk about her and really misses her; but he also understands very clearly where she is and even surprised me when it all clicked and he asked "So there are two parts to Grandma? One here and one in heaven? And one day they'll be put back together again?" Wow! I wasn't sure how much he'd understand at this age, but he definitely understood that part which I thought was great!

Carolee is a great baby still. She's so peaceful and wonderful. At her 2 month appointment she was 11 lbs 5 ozs, and we think 22 inches long. I need to do better about blogging same day. She's definitely growing a lot and this last week she started sleeping 13 1/2 hours a night without waking up at all! Wonderful! She found her thumb and now I've been waking her up at 830 or 9 am and she always has her thumb in her mouth. It's definitely cute! And I'm so grateful we have such a wonderful little one. Her neck is very strong and obviously now she's going to be a rollin girl! She smiles and talks all the time. She's very ticklish and loves it. She recently stopped taking her binky during the day as much and would rather take a nap without it. She's still nursing really well and I have to say I'm still having a wonderful time with this nursing round. She's obviously eating plenty since she's growing so much. She's in 3-6 months and has been for about a month or so now.

Skyler is talking so much. You would think he was almost 4 with how much he's talking and his long sentences he uses. It's amazing. And the other day he surprised us with 2 things; first he identified his colors while playing CandyLand without any problem and second he said his name willingly. He's been so careful not to say his name and now we've gotten him to say his name multiple times and he finally seems to be proud of it! He's been potty training and has been in underwear for about 3-4 weeks now. For the first couple weeks we hardly had any accidents, but now he's not really caring about using the potty at home. He's great in public usually, but at home he doesn't seem to care. So we'll have to see how this goes.

Caleb started Pre-K August 23rd and goes twice a week. He really enjoys it. It's different than last year, but he seems to be enjoying it a lot! He's reading more and more and surprises us every day with the words he's been reading...and so easily I might add. He's definitely going to be ahead when he starts kindergarten. And he starts his T-ball practices tomorrow. I didn't really want to do T-ball but they don't have a city soccer team for his age and I wanted him to do something. But it should be fun.

Now, why has it been so busy you might be wondering? Because I decided to take the plunge and start my own business. So Miskin Makings is officially up and running. It's been 2 weeks now since I listed items on my Etsy shop and opened my FB page and I've already had several orders, both local and on Etsy. I'm pretty excited. I'm trying to get enough items made so I can have a real "grand opening" sale next weekend. Let's hope I make it in time!

Jon started school again and is in his last semester. This December he should have his degree. I'm so excited for him. He's been unemployed since he got home, but in reality that was really necessary during the time. But he was just given a job offer this past Friday and is excited about it. It'll be a temp job at the power plant starting the end of this month, but the great thing is that this is where he really wants to work at. So hopefully this will help him get a job out there permanently.

Well, I guess that's about all for now, but I'll try and do better about catching up from here on out.

Carolee 1 month old

2011-08-08T10:27:00.005-07:00

So here are pictures of Carolee at 1 month old. We could not get a happy picture of her all day...maybe it's because it was her first time wearing a headband and a bow and she didn't really like it? Or because she was tired...who knows.

Here's a picture of the bow I made her too...I thought it turned out pretty fun and cute!

I wish I remembered anything specific at the time, but we were so busy with my mom that I don't really remember much. I do know she was waking up on average twice a night and was sleeping really well during the day still. She was starting to stay awake a little longer each day and was still a great snuggler!
Yep, here she is screaming!
And still, not very happy!!!

Goodbye Hazen Brown

2011-08-08T10:25:00.005-07:00

One of Caleb's first, and best friends, when we moved to Buckeye was Hazen Brown. I also became good friends with Cindy and Jon with Grant (his parents). Both Hazen and Caleb are mild mannered kids and really played well together. They spent a lot of time together at first because Cindy offered to watch Caleb while I took my mom to counseling every week. She did that for at least 4 months and they got to be very close. Last year our ward split and they ended up in different wards, but anytime they were together at the park or a friend's house they always played with each other. Caleb asked to play with Hazen a lot and really liked him.

They got to play together more when Cindy took the boys for me near the end of this last pregnancy. Again they had a really great time. Then we found out a few weeks ago that they were moving. We had Hazen over to play before he left (we did a few other times too! :) and got a couple pictures before he went home.
It was hard getting them because Caleb didn't want his best friend to leave, and he still even reminds us that Hazen forgot his pencil at our house and that we need to save it for when he comes back! :)
Hazen is such a great little boy. Hazen is only 3 months older than Caleb, they are both very kind, gentle, and smart, and they both even finished potty training at the same time. In face, the only place Caleb ever had routine accidents was on Cindy's couch. For some reason he could make it through all of church while potty training, but at her house he would always pee! Kind of funny actually...

We really miss those guys, and I know Caleb really misses his friend Hazen.

Swimming Lessons

2011-08-08T10:20:00.008-07:00

So this summer Caleb got one round of swim lessons in. If it weren't for Jon being gone, my c-section, etc... he would have had 4 rounds and would probably be swimming without help by now. But at least he got some time in.

Here is a picture of Caleb and his friend Cadon. (I can't remember how to spell his name.) Jon used to work with Tanya, his mom, and they both ended up in the same swimming class. It was the beginning class for preschool age kids.

He went Monday thru Thursday for 2 weeks, and the classes ended the week my mom went into the hospital. At least that helped because it was a distraction from what was going on. We always had Skyler with us on the bleachers and he had a great time just watching.

Below are a few pictures of Caleb's last swim class...

Caleb's the one going under the water!
For the first week of swim lessons, my 3 guys went to my mom's pool so Skyler could have a chance to swim too, while I stayed inside and helped my mom or just kept her company. It was really great for the boys to get more used to the water, and they even got to the point where they were constantly doing tricks, holding their breath, and starting to swim. Skyler is a natural swimmer...Caleb, not so much! :) But he's getting there.

Caleb getting ready to do one of his tricks for me!

4th of July 2011 (part 2)

2011-08-08T10:16:00.006-07:00

I had to do this in 2 different posts because I posted my pictures out of order! :)

Here is a picture of the lanterns the boys made. We made many more, but these ones they actually cut out themselves (following my lines) and glued together. They did a great job and we had a lot of fun getting them all ready.

The next picture is of Carolee in her onesie I decorated for the 4th. Did you know it's really difficult to sew fabric on tiny little onesies??? Sheesh! Next time I'll be using under wonder first to keep the fabric in place. She wore this onesie on the 3rd of July!
We had leftover cake after it was all made, so I crumbled it up and made cake balls...inside they were white with red and blue speckles! :)
After we did our own fireworks we made up with our friends the Carneys and Toones and watched the Buckeye fireworks. They weren't that great this year, but the kids sure had a lot of fun.
I didn't get a picture with the Carney boys, but here the kids are with Abby and Justin Toone. Abby and Caleb are just a few months apart in age and are in the same class at church!
Overall it was a wonderful holiday this year!

4th of July 2011 (part 1)

2011-08-08T10:10:00.008-07:00

So to start off, how do you like the cake Jon and I made? So technically, I found the idea online, Jon baked the cakes while I held Carolee, then we both frosted it...

It was a very yummy cake and looked great in the middle!

We had a lot of fun for this holiday. We stamped our own shirts, as you can see below, and in the next post you'll see that we even made paper lanterns to hang up.

On the 4th we had family come over for a BBQ. My mom was supposed to come over but she had a really bad day that day so we took her dinner instead. We missed her, but at least she at least got some yummy food out of it!

Here's a picture of all of us with our shirts. It was a lot of fun stamping them and the boys had a great time. This may become a yearly tradition. Sadly, we took about 5 family pictures that day, and this one is the best, which isn't really saying much!
Brenda and Mark...
After the BBQ we went out front and did fireworks in the street since they are now legal down here in AZ in many areas. The boys in the bed of the truck...
Jon even helped the boys light some fireworks and the boys had a great time.

Here's Grandpa Wes with Carolee...
Kendra and the boys doing sparklers. (I'm technically in the picture although you can barely see me.)
The boys had a great time with the sparklers, smoke bombs, and some other ones. Next year will be even better!

Random Fun

2011-08-07T23:10:00.009-07:00

So here are a few pictures of the boys during the month of June. The first ones are of their colored hair.

My mom had bought these hair colors, but I didn't really want to use them. She was having a really bad day in June sometime, so Jon dyed the boys hair as well as his own. (His was gold though and didn't really show up!)

So here are pictures of the boys showing off their hair...and btw, Grandma Lee loved seeing their hair and the boys had a great time that day!

Skyler looks like an old man! :)

Here the boys are after a bath. All their normal towels were dirty, so Jon used whatever he could find. And yep, Skyler is wearing a hand towel! :)
And since we took a picture of Skyler in a hand towel, Caleb wanted to be in one too...
Have you ever seen a mouth that big??? :)

Pictures of Carolee

2011-08-07T22:52:00.014-07:00

So it's been a while since I updated about the kids at all, so now that Carolee is almost 2 months old (Yikes!) I thought I'd post more pictures. Last time I posted she was 2 1/2 weeks old, so these new pictures are from that time through July 2nd. Then I'll do a 4th of July post and go from there...

Can you believe how skinny she was? She's not so little anymore...but you'll have to wait til I get those pictures updated to see that.

Her updates recently: she can hold her head up really well and has the cutest smile. It's also pretty identical to Caleb's smile...but she smiles all the time for us now, so our goal for tomorrow is to get pictures. :)

She's hardly been on the floor at all so she hasn't started rolling yet, but hopefully things will start calming down and that will change.

Here's a picture of proud big brother Skyler with his baby sister...
Can you say fascination???
Look at them maul her...actually she has probably been kissed more than any other baby...EVER!!!

Her classic face for the first 1 1/2 months. :)
Love daddy/baby pictures.
Such a great little sleeper...and yes those are boy blankets!
She was in the process of smiling but we missed the smile...
Our little monkey girl...out of NB clothes and into 0-3. This is about 3 1/2 weeks old here.

Check out that yawn! Yep, she's definitely related to Jon and Caleb. Never seen anyone else with mouths like theirs!
He was supposed to be putting her to sleep...but I'm pretty sure she was still awake in that picture!
She's such a sweet little girl. I love her to pieces!

A Tribute to Lee

2011-08-07T21:34:00.003-07:00

This is the picture that was used on the program at her service. It's one of her glamor shots from a few years ago that I had to scan into the computer, but she looks great!

So this post is about the actual service, including the comments made by me and others (as well as those I wanted to say but forgot!)

First, my friend Tania Winn sang "Amazing Grace" which my brother requested because mom always loved hearing that song and always made her very emotional.

I started off the comments about my mom, then opened it up to others to share their memories.

I talked about her history a little; she was born Nov 13 1946 in Hollywood, CA. She had a younger sister, Carol, who died of cancer in the early 90s, and has an older brother, Ricky, who is still living in CA. He beat lung cancer last year and is doing well. She went to a couple years of college, but was never able to finish. She spent most of her life in billing and collections. She joined the church a couple years after marrying my dad, and then was sealed in the temple to him before getting pregnant with me. She always said the only 2 good things she got from her marriage to him was me and the church.

She has 2 kids, me and Michael; Mike is almost 3 years younger than I am. She also has 3 grand kids, Caleb, Skyler, and Carolee. Thankfully she was able to see Carolee quite a bit before she passed. She spent her life as a single mom, and worked very hard to provide for us and take care of us. It wasn't always easy, but she was able to put a roof over our head all the time and a meal on the table.

She was very dedicated to her family and friends, and would do anything for any of them. In 1994 she sold nearly everything she owned to move from Southern California to Spokane, WA to take care of our adoptive Gramma who wasn't able to live alone any longer. She lived in Spokane until she moved down here 2 1/2 years ago where the tables were turned, and she needed help.

A couple things most people don't know about my mom:

She loved to accessorize. Until a few years ago, she always had her hair and makeup done before leaving the house. She would always wear earrings and other accessories, and couldn't understand why her daughter didn't like to accessorize as much. There was a time in her life that she had a pair of shoes to match every purse she owned; and she had a lot of purses.

She loved collecting banks, and I don't know why. At one point during her life she had enough banks to fill a big china hutch full of them. She also loved Elvis, and collected a lot of Elvis memorabilia during her life. She recently gave a collection of 4 matchbox cars (replicas of Elvis' cars) to the boys, which as a big thing for her. She never got rid of Elvis.

She was an avid reader throughout her life and loved reading Danielle Steel books. Every year for her birthday she got a new one from Michael and I because she loved them so much.

Some things you probably already know:

She loved her family very much, especially her grandchildren. They brought her the greatest joy during these last few years. Not only did she love them, but she was a wonderful grandma. She would play any games that the boys wanted, and was an expert at playing Go Fish. She was even found several times on the floor of the toy room, which was not very easy for her.

A week after I had Carolee, and I was still stuck at home because of my c-section, my mom decided she wanted to come see the baby. She had Jon come pick her up and bring her over. Even though she fell twice that morning, scraped her legs up pretty bad, slightly bent her walker, and they had to call 911 to get her off the floor, she still came because she wanted to see her granddaughter. Thankfully I have a picture of that day as well.

She had a strong testimony; her activity level varied throughout her life, but I can tell you that in this last year, she has had such a strong desire to attend church and has done so much better. She had a lot of physical and emotional demons to face during her life, but she was finally able to start facing her emotional ones which helped her in so many ways. I know we all love her and will miss her.

Then I opened it up for others to share:

Melisa Maxwell (friend): "Amber accessorized today for Lee, and I wore my purple shirt for her." She talked about how for the longest time my mom couldn't remember her name, but referred to her as the lady in the purple shirt. She said she had a great time getting to know my mom, and knew that she loved her family and the gospel. She referenced the song "Each Life that Touches our for Good", and said that each of the people there had had their lives touched for good because they had the privilege to know Lee Johnson.

Tea Robinson (friend): She summed it up by saying "strength and a smile." She talked about how my mom had to face so many struggles and was very strong to be able to face what she did. (My mom had to come to terms with her Dissociative Identity Disorder and face what happened in her past.) And even though she had so much to face, she was able to still smile. That's what she remembered; that she always had them both together.

Iris Kelley (mom's VT): She said that now she knew why my mom always complimented her jewelry and accessories when she would visit all done up. :) She didn't know my mom loved to accessorize so much. She said she loved getting the chance to serve my mom and get to know her (and I know my mom really appreciated it and grew close to Iris and her husband Evans.) She shared a story how she asked my mom who her visiting teacher was (because she and her husband were my mom's home teachers) and my mom said "You are!" "No, I'm your home teacher. Let me make sure your visiting teachers come over. Anyone in here Lee's visiting teachers? Little did I know, I was her visiting teacher." She talked about how that made my mom laugh so much and she thought it was the funniest thing. She also talked about seeing my mom at the hospital just a week prior and shared a story about it. The Kelleys had brought my mom watermelon and my mom said she was the only one who had done that. So at the hospital Iris told her she had to get better so she could get some more watermelon and how that had made her smile.

Brenda Otteson (my MIL): She talked about how my mom always reminded her of the importance of being like a child. She talked about how she was asked to babysit my mom when Jon and I were dating; at first she thought it was the strangest thing seeing an adult act like a child, but then she realized how we all need to be more like children and learned to really appreciate that about my mom, and that she was also more like a kid, even when she wasn't the 6 year old.

Kendra Miskin (my SIL): She talked about how her family kind of sucks in people, so when Jon and I started dating, her family kind of sucked my mom, Michael, and I in. She talked about the time she came to visit at Thanksgiving and had the chance to spend a whole day with just she and my mom. Jon and I were unable to take my mom Black Friday shopping, which she loved to do, so Kendra offered to take her shopping. At first she was worried that Leone would come out and she didn't know what to do; but she had a great time and really got to know my mom better.

Sister Hoopes (Bishop's wife): She talked about having the opportunity to serve my mom a lot while I was recovering from my surgery, and how she admired my mom's strength. She talked about a time they took her to an oncologist appointment; my mom had them come in with her to help think of questions she might forget to ask, and Sister Hoopes said that as the doctor told her all of this information and the results of her biopsy, my mom sat there with strength as she listened and absorbed the severity of her cancer. She said after they dropped my mom off she started crying because she hoped she could be that strong if she had to face something like that one day.

Shantil Randolph (friend): She talked about how thoughtful my mom is, even of people she didn't know very well. She talked about how when I went to Shantil's baby shower, my mom made sure to give Shantil a gift as well, even though she wasn't that close to her.

Jon Miskin (with Caleb): Jon got up and talked about how when we were dating my mom's DID made things interesting; at the time we didn't know what it was, and we never knew if we would get to finish our dates or not. Then he talked about how it was easier once we knew what her condition was and talked about getting to know Eva and Leone both better. He said also that we would be doing something special at the cemetery in honor of Leone (the balloons.)

Jeremy Medford (her ward clerk): He said he had the chance of serving my mom a little while she was in the ward, and also had the chance to talk to her. He knew of her problems and was always amazed and happy when she was able to make it to church. He would ask her how she was doing and she would always make light of her situation. It really touched him how hard she tried to be there and how much he appreciated her efforts.

Closing Remarks by the Bishop: He talked about the plan of salvation and specifically also talked about my mom; he spoke of her renewing her temple recommend just a few months ago, even though she knew she wouldn't be able to make it to the temple for a long time because of her health. But she knew what was important and wanted to make sure she was worthy at all times. He really appreciated that.

The closing hymn was "God Be With You Til We Meet Again."

This is the best I can remember from the service, but it was a very sweet time and the Spirit was definitely there. I am so thankful for those who supported us during this time, and will still be supporting us for some time to come I'm sure.

Funeral Pictures

2011-08-07T21:06:00.009-07:00

I already posted these pictures (plus more) on facebook, but wanted to share them with the story on here also.

Mom's funeral was Thursday August 4, 2011 at the Buckeye Stake Center on Eason in downtown Buckeye. Because my mom didn't know a lot of people down here, it was just a small service with people that were close to either she or I...or both.

First, her ward provided a luncheon for our family, so we got to the church at 1130. We waited for a few minutes outside in the HOT heat...we were so grateful when the door was unlocked! But it gave us a chance to take our family pictures.

Michael was down for a full week with us. Here he is with the boys...the boys loved playing with Uncle Mike and spending time with him. He's surprisingly very good with kids! :)
Here is a pictures of Michael and I. I really miss being able to wear heels, especially standing next to Jon or Mike. Sheesh! And flat shoes make me look less slim! Oh well!
All of us...the immediate family.
After the luncheon, we had the service in the Relief Society Room at 1 pm. It was a nice service with guest participation as well sharing stories or things they admired about my mom. For these specifics, see the next post A Tribute to Lee. It was a beautiful service.

It was hard on Caleb; we had talked to him a few different times and he seemed to understand, but then when he saw the open casket he started crying, and cried hard for a long while. I took him out in the hall to console him before it started but he had a really hard time with it. But Skyler kept saying "See Grandma Lee" and refused to sit down. So our good friend Melisa Maxwell took him for us and surprisingly he went to sleep in her arms. I couldn't believe it! He hasn't done that in well over a year, but it sure made that hour a lot easier and more peaceful. She is definitely very special to me, my mom, and my boys. There were about 25 people in attendance at the service.

After the service, a few people came with us to the Louis B Hazelton cemetery on Broadway to help us prepare the grave. Here is a picture of the pall bearers, and the honorary pall bearer also! Caleb did a great job but Bishop Hoopes (behind him) kept accidentally stepping on his shoes...and the sweat was bothering him on his face so he kept wiping it off. :) When they set her down he kept saying "Don't drop her"...such a great help! The pall bearers were Jon, Caleb, Bishop Hoopes, a guy from the funeral home, Michael, Grandpa Weslin Spurgeon, and Bryan Miskin.
The casket after they got to set it down. After this point Jon gave a dedicatory prayer that asked that the grave not be disturbed until the resurrection, and in the prayer he also asked that the family be blessed with peace and strength during this time. I love having the priesthood in my home and having a worthy priesthood holder to exercise it.
BTW...those flowers are the ones we purchased from the florist, but we received others also that were beautiful! Just not before we ordered these. :) the florist did a great job though...we just told her mom loved bright colors and she made these beautiful arrangements.

Then, in honor of Leone, mom's 6 year old self, we released balloons into the sky. My friend Kaci Perkins offered to bring them for us (I think her mom does this for a side business) and we thought it was a great tribute. Both Leone and Lee (my mom) loved balloons...and the kids had a great time too!
Here they are after we let them go...
Then we all went home and cooled off from the wicked heat! It was a very peaceful day and we felt the Spirit very strongly. I am so grateful to know about the plan of salvation and to know that because of Jesus Christ we all will live again. Also, I am grateful to know that families can be eternal and that I will see my mom again, and that my kids will see their grandma again one day. After my Aunt Carol passed away in the early 90s I didn't have this testimony to hold on to and it was a hard thing for me; once I learned of the plan of salvation it was so much easier to handle and be ok with her death. With my mom I think it's easier because of my testimony and faith; it's still hard and I miss her, but I know that my testimony of the gospel and the priesthood have helped me through this time.

Her Last Week

2011-08-05T21:22:00.004-07:00

So it's been a while since I've posted on here because we've been a little busy with my mom. Once I recovered more we were taking her to all her doctor's appointments, going to her apartment every day about 2-3 hours + a day, etc... to help her out. Things started getting worse and this past Sunday, August 31, 2011 at 330am she passed away. So this post is a little about what has happened in the past few weeks.

4 weeks ago Jon and I took her to the ER because her backside was bleeding. It turns out she had open sores from being wheelchair bound and they needed changed every day. So I started to do that since she still didn't have insurance. She had a medical assessment, had all the financial paperwork submitted for long term care through the state, and even had a medical assessment for free Meals on Wheels. They were to start on Wednesday July 27. So here's the rundown of the last week of her life.

The weekend prior my family and I all got sick again, so I went over on Saturday with just a mild sore throat, but on Sunday we were all really bad so we didn't go over. A lady from my ward, Cari Mausling, used to be a medical assistant and offered to go help my mom on Sunday. She and Jennifer Timmons went and took her dinner, cared for her wounds, changed her sock on a foot that was getting a little beat up by her wheelchair, and helped her out. I talked to her and she sounded good. Then Monday we were still sick so we couldn't go, but the social worker for Meals on Wheels visited with her and she was doing pretty good. Lots of people talked to her and she seemed great. Then Tuesday morning came, July 26, and Jon went to take her to her radiation that morning. She could barely move her legs and couldn't get into the car herself like normal. She was talking a little slower, but not too bad since she had bad days on her chemo so he just thought this was one of them. He had to come back home to get us for Caleb's swim lesson that day (I was still sick) but we were going to go over because she wasn't quite herself. I got a call from the social worker from my mom's house and she was almost completely unresponsive. So I went right over and Jon followed.

He had gotten her food in the morning that she asked for, but when I got there she hadn't eaten anything. I gave her some water but had to hold her glass. I had to spoon feed her fruit, and by this time she still wasn't responding. So about 1130 am we called 911 and the firemen came over. They couldn't find a BP or a pulse so they took her to West Valley because they didn't think she could make it any farther than that. (Her oncologist does rounds at Banner Estrella which is about another 15 mins away.) So even though I was sick, I spent the day in the ER with her. Bryan (Jon's brother) had the boys, and Jon shopped nearby with Carolee so he could bring her to the cafeteria for me to feed her. The whole time we were there she wasn't very responsive but she did talk a little to my brother on the phone. That was the first day I was pretty sure she wasn't coming home this time...they checked her into the hospital and told me she had kidney failure.

The next day I couldn't come because she was in the ICU and both Jon and I were sick. (He seemed better the day before) so we tried to rest as much as possible so I could be there the following day. I called and talked to the nurse throughout the day and even talked to the doctor. They were worried there was a clot in her lung, but after doing another scan they found out there was no clot so that wasn't a concern. She still had kidney failure but that day I was told she was in septic shock because she had 3 organs failing, her kidney, her heart a little, and that's all they said. I asked the doctor that day "Is she going to get better?" He told me that with all of her complications, she had about a 60 % chance she wouldn't make it. I talked to Michael and he booked a flight to come down the next day.

Thursday she still wasn't any better. I went to the hospital around 1030 while Jon went to the airport to pick up Michael. I got there and found out she had an infection in her leg. When she came in on Tuesday her right foot was kinda kool-aid green, but it was all better. But the right leg had a really bad infection and they explained to us that it was most likely an infection in the deep tissue that didn't show up externally until it hit the blood stream. And it was bad...she had blisters, bruising, and even a very open gash on her leg. After Michael got there we talked to the doctor and found out this was most likely the source of the infection that led to her kidneys failing. Then we also found out she had pneumonia in both lungs and was on 3 antibiotics and 2 different blood pressure medicines. Michael stayed all day with her and I did the same thing as before...stay until I needed to feed Carolee until we had to take the kids home. Before we left though she was put on a bi-pap, which is a mask to help patients breathe easier. It's not life support, it just eases the burden. But my mom didn't want it on. We knew she didn't want life support and had a DNR, but we thought that would be fine, but she didn't want it. So before I went home we made sure the DR had it in the notes that she would not have a bi-pap or a breathing tube, or anything else.

I went back Friday morning and talked to the cardiologist who explained that the right side of her heart was enlarged and failing. He also said her liver was failing. He explained also that even if her kidneys recovered, he didn't think they could treat the heart because of her condition. We also talked to her primary doctor who was concerned because she still wasn't off her BP medicine. Because of her wishes he said there were only 2 options: try and treat the septic shock (which could make her worse) or just take a passive approach and consider hospice. He had told us the day prior that without the BP medicine she would not be able to live. So we talked to Hospice of the Valley and made the decision to take her out of the hospital and off all her medicine and take her to the location in Surprise, AZ which had a bed available. So Michael went home, showered, and came back. By 6 pm that day the ambulance was there, she was given a bag of IV fluid, and taken off her medicine. I talked to her earlier in the day to let her know and she was in agreement. Then when I went with her to the ambulance she had no idea where we were going so I talked to her again. I was so afraid she would die in the ambulance with me by myself, but thankfully she made it to hospice. But I did have a scare...her pulse line went blank on the ride and I freaked out...but she was still breathing so I was confused. Apparently they were taking her BP and it cut it out. Phew! :)

Before we left, her bishop and Jon gave her a blessing of comfort, and in that blessing she was blessed that both she and her family would know this was the right decision. That really helped me a lot because I knew it was what she wanted, but it helped having the Spirit help me feel it as well. So they got her all settled in at hospice and I stayed with her til about 11 pm. Michael stayed there both nights until she passed. I was able to talk to her that night and she was able to talk a little to Russ Fotheringham, her HT she had in Spokane. He was such a great friend to her and they really became close friends. He called her about 2 months ago for no reason at all and got to talk to her before she passed. Before I forget...I had also called her brother the day before and he said if she wanted to see him (they hadn't talked in years) that he'd come. Then Friday I told him she wanted to see him and he said "I don't know if I can make it sweetheart." It made me so sad because he wasn't there for either my aunt or my mom. Anyway...

I showed up Saturday and found out she hadn't woken up at all since midnight and stayed that way the entire day I was there. During the day I started taking care of some calls, shredding some paper, and getting organized. I was able to have Carolee with me in hospice, so it was very nice to just stay with her. Before Jon and I left to pick up the boys at 7, I told my mom goodbye and told her it was ok to go. We were ok and loved her very much. She taught us everything she could and did a great job with us. And we left...

At 330 am I got a call from Mike and she was gone. He had fallen asleep an hour before, and right before going to sleep he told her that it was ok to leave and that he'd be sleeping right next to her. Then the nurse woke him up at 330 and she had passed. He said about 130 they took her BP and it was pretty low, but the nurse said that she could stay like that for a few days so he didn't call. But that was fine because I was busy feeding at that time anyway. :) I started crying a little and got dressed while Jon called his mom over. Jon and Mark gave me a blessing of comfort letting me know that she was better off and that my mom wanted me to know she appreciated everything I was able to do for her and everything I tried to do to help her. That really meant a lot because it's hard to do a lot when you a. have a newborn, b. are nursing, and c. are recovering from a major surgery.

During the ride I started crying more and more because I wasn't ready to see her. But I got there and even though I cried was there with Jon and Mike over my mom. We stayed until Ganley's Funeral Home came and got her, and then we went home. We got back around 630, I went to sleep until 9 and got up for church. A few people kept asking me why I was there after they found out what happened, and my answer was always "Where else would I be?" I wanted my boys to go to have a somewhat normal routine that day and I didn't want to be alone; and also, the gospel is what makes this easier to bear. I have felt so much peace throughout this process because of it, because of my testimony, and knowledge of the plan of salvation that I will see her again. So really, where else would I be? After church we spent some time at a friend's house (Johnsons) who invited us over for dinner and company. Then around 7 we went to my mom's and started going through her papers and packing up her food. I had to get all her papers in order so I could start making the phone calls I needed to.

So the rest of the week has been a blur...crazy for all of us and especially our kids. I am so thankful for friends and family who helped us by helping us pack her stuff, watching our kiddos, bringing us dinner, and even praying for us and thinking about us. It really helped a lot...we all really miss her a lot but I am so grateful to know she is happy and healthy, and is finally at peace. She fought a lot of emotional and physical demons during her life and I am so glad she no longer has to.

Next will be a post about her funeral.

Sleeping Change for the Boys

2011-06-29T10:46:00.002-07:00

Now that Jon's home, the boys are sleeping better, things are getting back to normal. However, I had already bought this sleep clock here at One Step Ahead so Jon finally got it set up for the boys to use, and it seems to be making even more of a difference. No matter if the boys go to bed on time or later they are now sleeping in past 7 (at least Caleb is) every morning.

You set the alarm for a specific time (ours is at 7 am and 7 pm) and that's when the lights change. So at 7 pm the bed time bunny comes on and at 7 am the awake bunny comes on. Caleb has woken up a few times, saw the sleep bunny was still on, and even though the sun is awake outside, he has gone back to sleep! Yay! And because of that, Skyler is also sleeping in more often too, since big brother isn't waking him up! :) I love it and am so glad we got it. I just wish I had tried it sooner!

Carolee 2 1/2 weeks

2011-06-29T10:06:00.009-07:00

So I realized I haven't blogged much since the hospital stay about our actual little baby...other things yes, but not our sweet little girl! So if you're not on Facebook, then you haven't seen these pictures yet, so here are some pictures of Carolee since we came home.

Because of everything that's been happening I'm still living downstairs, but I think tonight we all get to move back upstairs so she'll be sleeping in her crib again...so hopefully she doesn't have any problems.

She's a great baby all around. She sleeps well, eats well, and definitely poops too well! :) These last few days she's started staying awake every morning for about an hour after her first feeding, and yesterday even stayed up for another hour in the afternoon which was fun. When she's awake, she's very interested in looking around and likes to watch. She especially likes the clock that's right above my current bed, since that's what she's sees all the time while she's eating! :)

Below are 2 pictures of her first bath...they uploaded out of order, but you get the idea!
Look at that, she edited the picture herself! :)
I love Jon with our babies...he has such a great touch with them! It probably has something to do with being a heater himself, so they immediately snuggle up on him and crash!
I took this picture on Monday which is when she went in to the Dr for her PKU test (where they draw blood from her foot) and for her belly button follow up. Her belly button closed up great, and that day she weighed 7 lbs 6 ozs without clothes on. So she has gained exactly 1 pound since she left the hospital 2 weeks prior. She's definitely doing great! And if you're looking at the blankets in our pack n' play...yes they are boy blankets...Superman and monkey to be exact. All of the girl blankets are upstairs and since we've been downstairs for a week and a half, Jon used what was down here.
Carolee really does sleep great! The only thing I'm concerned about is that she sleeps so well with noise (loud or background) that I'm concerned she'll have a hard time in her room again. We'll see what happens. She's even already learning to self soothe and has gone to sleep quite a few times completely on her own in the pack n' play! Woo-hoo...Right now, her normal pattern is wake up at 8/9 am, eat, stay up for an hour, sleep til 11/12, eat, sleep til 2, sleep til /5, eat, sleep til 7/8, eat, sleep til 12/1, eat, sleep til 4/5, eat, sleep til 8/9...not too bad huh? And since Jon's still taking care of the boys most of the time, I go to bed around midnight, so I really only get up once a night right now, and he tries to let me sleep until she wakes up. And for some reason I can sleep even though the boys come down about 7'ish...which reminds me I need to do another blog about that!
The picture above was taken this past Monday also and even though the lighting isn't great, you can see her smile. She loves smiling and does it pretty often...it's just hard to get in a picture!

Since I have been recovering and having issues, tummy time hasn't been a priority, but I'm feeling tons better now...so here we go! :) This morning while Jon and the boys took my mom to her dr appt, I got to stay with Carolee. So she had some tummy time. She lifted her head up 3 times, but didn't get that in a picture either!
I love this little outfit! I was so excited when I saw it at Kohl's! Why? It's not pink, still girly, and not a dress! :) She's getting so long the newborn clothes are getting tight/short on her legs so we're moving her up to 0/3 now. Pretty excited because we have some very cute clothes for that size!
Another update here...nursing is going great so far...definitely super easy. I'm hoping and praying it stays this way. :) Yes I nursed both boys, but that doesn't mean it was easy by any means. So I am praying this keeps up! I guess that's about all the updates for now...I'll try and be better about this.

Carolee's Belly Button

2011-06-22T21:31:00.004-07:00

So no there is not a picture of her belly button...but maybe I should have taken one. It was kind of gross though! Her cord fell off on Monday, which was pretty early for a cord to fall off, and we noticed that it was bleeding a little on her clothes. I read online that a little blood or discharge is normal, so I wasn't worried. But then we noticed that her belly button was open and I could see a white circle inside and blood on the side; so I got a little worried. Then it seemed like it would be open, closed, open, etc... We just checked it every time we changed her diaper.

Then this morning it was open almost all morning, so I called the doctor and got an appointment for this afternoon. I had been trying to find something about it online, but apparently couldn't get the right wording. I finally found it by searching this question "what to do if a belly button opens up?" Nice huh? So anyway, before I got to the doctor I had concluded it was most likely an Umbilical Granuloma, which it is! Basically it didn't finish drying up.

So the pediatrician put silver nitrate on the belly button with a Q tip and before I left the office it had already started drying up and healing! I'm sure it would have been fine had I waited for her 2 week appointment on Monday, but there's always a chance of infection so I didn't want to risk it. He said it should heal up completely in a few days so I'm excited! If you're curious about this, you can check out this link at Wiki Parenting.

While we there also they weighed Carolee; since it wasn't a well check she got to keep her clothes on, but NB summer clothes don't weigh very much. She weighed in at 7 lbs 6 ozs, so I'm guessing she's probably about 7 lbs or so now which is awesome. She was 6 lbs 6 ozs when we left the hospital Monday 6/13, 6 lbs 9 ozs the next day, and today about 7 lbs. The pediatrician asked me how feeding was going; my response was look at her weight! :) "What are you feeding her? Crisco and mayonnaise?" :)

On a side note, after the silver nitrate was added, the pediatrician told me I could tell Jon it was horribly gruesome (because I don't do blood well) and maybe I'd get an ice cream. I told him Jon would get me one if I wanted one no matter what. He said he though we were a very cute couple and that both he and I were great parents; and he specifically said that Jon was a great father and me a great mother. Earlier he had also asked me if Jon was home for good now, and I said I didn't know because he's still looking at a few options. He asked me what I want and I just said to be able to feed my family and for him to be happy. He just smiled and said I was such a good wife. I'm guessing he doesn't see a lot of parents/couples/families like ours so it's refreshing when he does. Dr Patel only sees us when we come in, but he remembers us and remembers things about us and really makes us all feel important. And it really made my day to know that he went out of his way with unsolicited compliments for us, just because he wanted us to know we were doing a great job!

Back from the Hospital...Again

2011-06-18T10:12:00.002-07:00

So yesterday afternoon was rather eventful for us...actually all day was! In the morning Jon went to pick up my mom (who still has no strength in her legs from the cancer...which I realized I haven't blogged about yet!) and she fell out of her walker onto the floor and couldn't get up. This happened twice, so Jon had to call 911 to get help picking her up. The boys were with him so at least they got to see a fire truck and see firemen help grandma off the ground. So she came over so she could see her granddaughter...she was over at our house for about 4 hours. Jon was going to take her home with the boys in tow, so I got up to go to the bathroom, and what happened?

RIP... and a lot of blood/liquid combo filled my pants and dribbled down my leg! I ran to Jon, yelled "I opened" and went to the bathroom. Nice huh? So he called to have someone watch the boys, but I'm still standing there in shock. Then I realize we can't leave my mom there because she can't drive, get in a car by herself, etc... So I finally think to call her Bishop (he's on my cell since she was diagnosed) so he and his wife were going to come pick her up for us. So we're ready to go and Jon says, "Let's go..." while I have to remind him we need to bring the baby who's still in the family room. "Oh yeah!" I also call the doctor to make sure this is considered an emergency (duh!) because I didn't want any problems with the insurance. (from not getting a referral). So we got to the ER and find out that I had some kind of cyst that developed on the inside under the incision. Jon describes it grossly as a blood zit that popped. And basically it exploded out between two stitches like Mt Vesuvius. Because it's not very deep and it wasn't an actual tear, all they did was send me home with dressing pads and antibiotics to help prevent an infection. They also said the ER was there for me until Sunday in case I do develop an infection, and then I'll get an overnight stay at the hospital, but Monday I have to go back to see my OBGYN. Lovely huh?

I have noticed though that now I'm in less pain since it burst. I was having a lot of extra pain this time around and couldn't figure out why. Now I'm taking a lot less pain medicine. Oh and my OB had taken out my staples on Thursday, which is why it didn't happen earlier in the week.

So back to my mom's diagnosis...3 weeks ago she was hospitalized because her legs wouldn't allow her to walk, take a shower, basically anything. They discovered that she has multiple myeloma, which is cancer of the bone marrow. The biopsy showed it is 100% throughout the bone marrow, and is in both legs and her skull. She has a wheelchair and is having meals brought in by ward members because she can't usually make it into the kitchen to cook. Her bishop and visiting and home teachers have been great and are taking good care of her since obviously the timing of this all couldn't be worse. I haven't been able to help her at all; she also couldn't even come see Carolee at the hospital because she already started some chemo and her immune system is shot now.

She also is supposed to take another chemo medicine that costs about $5k a month, and she was able to get a grant for it so now she can take her medicine. She doesn't have insurance until November when her Medicare kicks in, so thankfully things are working out with this. Now we just have to figure out radiation!

So that's the update there...

Hospital Stay

2011-06-14T17:09:00.005-07:00

So the laptop got plugged in so I can keep updating! :) So Friday night they kept Carolee in the nursery getting her bathed for about 2 hours which was nice for me to sleep a little bit since the anesthesia makes me really drowsy.

Once she came in I started nursing her and she latched on immediately. She's never had any issues latching on and is a great nurser.

Friday night I was in a lot of pain so they gave me Morphine. I threw up 4 times that night (each time multiple times) which made it harder for me to have ice chips or anything to eat/drink. The nurse was positive it was because I wasn't ready for them but I was sure it was something else. I finally convinced them I'd be ok with ice chips and by breakfast I was on a liquid diet. Saturday, either morning or noon, I was given more morphine for the pain, and I immediately got nauseous and probably would have thrown up if it weren't for the liquids in me by then. So apparently the morphine was making me super nauseous and making me throw up! Thankfully we figured it out though so I didn't get any more morphine.Saturday the boys came to visit and had a great time holding baby sister.

Caleb took the picture of daddy, Skyler, and Carolee...
It was a good visit, but it was really nice when they left and it was quiet again. They didn't come back the rest of the weekend so they could just play, but it was fun the first time. My first day being home I realized how much I really enjoyed the hospital; yes it may be boring especially without visitors, but it was peaceful and quiet.

Saturday she had lost weight down to 6 lbs 9 ozs, and by Sunday she was down to 6 lbs 6 ozs. However, today we took her in to see the pediatrician (he doesn't do rounds at the hospital) and she's already gaining back her weight, and is back to 6 lbs 9 ozs. She really is a great nurser and is also sleeping stretches of 4 hours at night, which is nice. And since she's gaining back her weight, she can sleep the extra amount of time.

I've been very blessed so far and it's nice. My milk came in a day earlier than normal and thankfully I haven't gotten engorged which is really nice. And since she's eating so well we aren't having any problems with nursing at all. It may change, but as of right now everything's going great!

I was really worried about going to West Valley, but I think I really like the hospital now. The ER still isn't very good from my experience, but the Labor and Delivery Unit is great. I love the extra attention since it's so small and there were very few patients there with me. Some nurses were better than others (of course) but overall I loved the help and service we received there. I also felt really special when the nurse brought Carolee in with her bow hat; she said it was her first attempt and I just loved it!

Carolee Rose Miskin

2011-06-14T16:43:00.005-07:00

So in case you don't know, Carolee Rose Miskin was born Friday June 10, 2011 at 645 pm. Since I didn't know when Jon was coming home I scheduled my c-section for that day at 5 pm, and was just praying he'd make it home. And yay, he did! He got home Thursday night at 11 pm and spent the next morning with the boys and I before going to the hospital.

The boys spent the weekend with friends who were so nice to have them come over for sleepovers, and we spent the weekend in the hospital with this beautiful girl. However...getting her here was a literal pain for me.

I had a blessing on Friday by Jon and Freeman Carney and I knew the surgery would be fine. I have a friend who had this Dr mess up a c-section for her so I was very worried; but after the blessing I knew the surgery would be fine and I'd have a great time with my baby girl. However, the blessing obviously didn't cover anybody at the hospital who works with needles.

I got to the hospital at 3 pm (and was already dehydrated because I wasn't supposed to eat or drink for 8 hours). They tried to draw my blood and failed. So then they tried the other arm and succeeded. That doesn't mean the guy didn't hurt me the first time when he got the needle in and just kept trying to draw blood from a needle that wasn't working right...

Then they tried to get the IV in...both hands failed. So the anesthesiologist was called in to put my IV in, which he did on the first try. Yay...but he put it in my forearm, which made it kind of difficult for nursing later that night.

Anyway, so I got ready to go into the OR (an hour late) and Jon waited in the hall while I got my spinal. So the anesthesiologist nailed the IV right? Too bad 20 minutes later I finally had a successful spinal block done...and man did those failed attempts hurt. I contemplated walking out and saying I'd be back in 2 weeks I was so tired of it all.

But of course I didn't, and instead had my c-section and had this beautiful little girl. She was 6 lbs 14 ozs and 19.5" long. She can scream, but so far hasn't done too much of it. Since she was born at 38 weeks and 2 days she was pretty white when she came out, but once she was cleaned off she was a cutie. Any guesses who she looks like? :)
Yeah, I love that wink! :) And I love the bow they did at the hospital (the top picture!)
I have to admit, I had a hard time calling her a girl over the weekend. In my head I knew she was a girl, and she even had a name. But since she looked so close to one of her brothers, and since all I've ever known is boys and boys nicknames (like bud) I had to think really hard over the weekend. Jon caught me several times; apparently he slipped a few times too, but I never heard him...he just fessed up to make me feel better!

Another thing...I can't remember when this happened, but I was talking to the nurse about a SIL whose baby had died at 30 weeks, and they weren't exactly sure what happened; she was born with her cord around her neck, but was also having high blood pressure and other problems. So I told the nurse that and said it most likely wasn't the cord that caused it since so many babies are born healthy even if they have the cord around the neck. You know what she said? "Yep, yours was!" What??? I had no idea. Apparently the cord was around her neck twice, but it was very loose and no problem at all. But that kind of scared me a bit...evidently the cord was plenty long thankfully!

Now she's 4 days old and she's looking more and more like a girl! I'll update more later since the laptop is about to die, but at least I have her birth post up so you can all see!

Preschool Ice Cream Party

2011-06-14T16:30:00.003-07:00

So Friday June 10 was Caleb's last day of preschool for the year and they had an ice cream party; parents and siblings were welcome and they had a great time!

Here's a picture of Caleb and Skyler sitting next to each other, with Caleb doing his new silly face. Not sure where he got that, but oh well!

I seriously love the Iliad Academy and am so glad we put Caleb in there. The plan is for him to go next year also for 3 days a week. He loves going and asks to go almost every single day. He loves playing with his friends and has learned so much.

According to his parent teacher conference, he's really excelling in a lot of areas, and has recently started enjoying play time/interactive play more and more. He's always been a big brain, but hasn't enjoyed play time or art time as much. But thanks to preschool he's starting to really enjoy all those things. Here are a few more pictures from that day...
Caleb and Skyler sitting by Caleb's "best friend" Emma. I'm surprised Caleb actually let Skyler sit next to her. Every day they walk out of school holding hands and always hang out!
Here's a closer pic...
Caleb has made some fun friends and it's been really exciting seeing him together with them.

Piano and Reading

2011-05-25T08:49:00.006-07:00

So I thought I'd post an update about what Caleb has been doing at home recently.

PIANO
We have a keyboard in our Living Room and he'd been asking me to teach him how to play for 3 months; I honestly thought he'd just forget about it, but he didn't. So I called my friend Diana from the ward and asked for suggestions for teaching preschoolers. The book she has used and really likes is more for kindergartners, but she said if Caleb can identify his fingers as 1,2,3,4,5 he could do it since that's where the series starts from. So I followed her suggestion and purchased the Alfred's Prep Course (lesson book, theory book, notespeller book, flash cards, and solo book) and we love it!

Not only is he learning at a reasonable pace, it actually includes a lot of other activities which keeps his interest peaked; not only does he get to play the keyboard, but he also gets to color, practice writing letters, clapping/counting, and other things. It is such a great program and he's already on to playing little 1-2 line pieces and is learning which keys go to which letters already. It's a lot of fun and he's very interested in it. This is the basic level, so when we finish this we'll probably move up to the next level. And in case you're wondering, you can buy these on Amazon or I found one of the books I needed at Sheet Music Plus online. It's really great!

READING
Next Caleb has been reading a lot of the 2-letter words and some 3-letter words, but it was getting kind of difficult "reading" books with him because I'd read most of the words and have to point out the words he could probably read. It got kind of boring for him and definitely not very fun for me. So a couple friends really recommended these books so I thought I'd give them a try. I'd read some reviews that left me a little worried (because the books are pretty simple) but I still decided to buy them. I bought a set for Skyler (where I read to him about shapes/colors, etc...) and the first 2 sets for Caleb to start reading. He's gotten through about 6 or 7 of the books so far and loves it. If he could he would read all day, but he doesn't quite understand yet that his brain needs a break and he can't just do piano, reading, and learning all day. So when I can tell he's getting tired, we put them away and just play. He really loves being able to read books by himself and is doing great. The first couple books he read without any help, and now he needs help every once in a while, but mostly he reads by himself to me. It's great!

I've also noticed he's doing more sight reading than phonetics already. He first figures out the words phonetically, but then he mostly just recognizes the words. I think that's mostly because each book is dedicated to using words that sound and look the same, so it's really helping. And these can also be bought from Amazon, or I got mine at Barnes and Noble! (That's because I got swagbucks for buying them online though!) :)

Just thought I'd let you know his recent interests. We have also been spending time doing coloring and other things, but these two things are occupying his mind a lot right now.

Jon's Coming Home

2011-05-24T14:43:00.002-07:00

So if you don't use FB or just missed it, Jon's being discharged for medical reasons from the army. He only has 3 weeks left until graduation from basic training, but will not be able to complete it. He broke his collar bone on his mission and it never healed correctly. They didn't think it would be an issue since it didn't stop him from doing push ups, etc... but every time he carries his 60 lb ruck he loses feeling in his arm. He went to the doctor and they ran some nerve tests on him. Each ruck march his arm has been getting worse, and last Friday the doctor told him he could either stay in and see if it gets better, or probably lose use of his arm. So he opted for keeping his functioning arm (which I understand) and they started the medical discharge paperwork yesterday. I just found out he will probably be discharged and home in 3 weeks.

So what does this mean for us? I have no idea...I know our insurance runs out the day he's discharged so I'm working on Operation Evacuate Baby (thanks Casey) before the insurance ends. But Jon apparently wants me to wait for him to come home before having the baby. Thankfully I don't think that decision will be very tough; he comes home in 3 weeks which is about 39 weeks and neither my OB or I actually think I can make it that far.

I saw my OB yesterday and he just kept saying how tired and miserable I looked...isn't that nice? So he's willing to do my c-section whenever I need it because I'm not doing so well. Now I just have to decide by Tuesday. He also said he thought the baby was already 7 lbs + (which he has to be wrong) so he ordered an ultrasound for next Tuesday and we'll go from there. I'm honestly giving myself 2 weeks before I die!

So what else does his discharge mean? I still don't know...his AIT (tech school) was going to cover his remaining credits to get his AAS and was going to give us steady income and insurance through September. When he got home he would have a much easier chance of finding a good job that could support the family. So we'll have to see what happens. I know somehow Heavenly Father will help us through this and hopefully we can figure things out quickly.

Baby Projects

2011-05-19T15:28:00.006-07:00

So I've been having fun getting ready for little Carolee to come...but since I don't really like pink, I'm making a lot of things myself.

So first, here are 4 burp cloths I made following the instructions on this blog: http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/2008/01/burp-cloth-tutorial.html

Mine are a little smaller, but they're fun. They have the clipped edge (like rag tie quilts) and I love the colors. I'll be making more in different fabrics, but I thought I'd post them here...Then I wanted a diaper pouch/keeper and decided to make this one from this site: http://www.noodle-head.com/2010/05/diaper-pouch-tutorial.html

Of course, hers looks better than mine, but oh well! I love it and it's perfect. I use bigger wipe cases so thought this would be perfect...
Here's the inside. It has 3 size 5 diapers and a big bag of wipes. But there's also extra room to spare. I actually made mine a tad bit bigger than the blog dimensions so I could have the extra space! :)
The diaper pouch was harder than I thought, but definitely worth it! :)

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T19:41:00.003-07:00

Anyone else have bad Mother's Days? I tend to have either bad ones or almost non-existent ones. Either because Jon has been gone the entire day in the past or because I end up dealing with screaming/sick kids by myself...my first 2 Mother's Days weren't that great, and then finally Jon started figuring it out. But then things kept happening like he'd be at work all day or something would happen that was out of his control and I'd be alone with a horrid day for whatever reason.

This year I wasn't expecting any better, and the first half the day fit tradition. Except it was even worse than normal. Normally at church the women are given flowers/chocolates, etc... just something to show appreciation. But today for some reason we weren't; instead there was a talk where the husbands were encouraged to help out their wives more, especially this week, and to find a way to help them get to the temple this week. Normally this wouldn't have been too big of a deal, but I went to church expecting a little something, but instead all I get is...husbands help your wives. That's just great isn't it? I'm sure Jon would love to help me find time to get to the temple this week and would love to help me and spoil me...but that's just not going to happen!

Then all of us wives/moms of soldiers at Ft Jackson were hoping for a call today. So during Sunday School my phone rang and it was the sister missionary from the branch there with a message from Jon. In case he couldn't call he wanted me to know how much he appreciated all the letters and pictures I've been sending him, and wanted to wish me a Happy Mother's Day. So he didn't think he'd be calling so at least he did that. But still hard when I was hoping to hear from him. Then I picked Caleb up from Sunbeams where he gave me his picture and a sucker for me...but he was upset because his teacher only gave him one sucker which was for me...not one for him too. So he was overly pouty; I told him he could just have it back, "But its for you mom." "But I don't want it if you're that upset over it." Finally he stopped whining and had me keep it, but isn't that just great?

Then I get home and get a message from a fellow army wife who lives in Gilbert, AZ saying her husband had written her and said they weren't getting to call this weekend due to behavior during the week. She just wanted to let me know in case Jon hadn't told me. So talk about being bummed...

So I laid down with both boys to take a nap...and yes that was a very sweet moment, but not when I had to hold Skyler down because he wouldn't stop getting up and spitting, or when Caleb kept goofing around instead of napping. Finally 30 minutes later, we all fall asleep. 10 minutes after that, my phone vibrates, I wake up, and find out it's Jon and he has 2 hours to talk! YAY! The very best Mother's Day present I have ever gotten...and to top it off, the boys stayed asleep when I got up and I got to talk to him for almost an hour uninterrupted!

Then he talked to Skyler for a minute, and since Caleb was still sleeping, called his mom for about 15 minutes, then called me back. I woke Caleb up to talk to daddy and then Jon and I talked for another 45 minutes or so. It was absolutely great! He sounds good and can't wait to sleep on our bed again, or even the floor with the boys. He misses us and hopes for a leave to come see us when Carolee comes...that would be very nice for all of us!

Then the boys and I had pancakes for dinner, and went for a walk to get the mail since I couldn't do it yesterday. Walks to the mailbox seem to be very painful these days; both physically and mentally. The boys take forever, and Skyler wants to be carried half the time. Today was the same going there; I thought it was going to take us an hour. But on the way home, I heard the sweetest thing. Caleb asked every kid he saw "How old are you?" and wanted to talk to them. One boy said he was 8 and Caleb said "When I turn 8 I'm going to be baptized!" That was absolutely great to hear...wanna know why? Because we talked about baptism a few weeks ago and for some reason he thought that he would die like Jesus died when daddy (Jon) baptized him. Really? Not sure where that came from...but glad he got over it and isn't afraid anymore! :)

Then when we got home I had 2 screaming, yelling, fighting kids; but nothing could ruin my day at that point because I got to have such a great conversation with Jon. He really is part of me and it's wonderful to be able to talk to him again. He even sent me a pic of him to my phone, and man is he smaller. Mostly he looks more fit, but he's lost 16 lbs and it is very obvious in the picture. I'm going to feel like such a blob when he gets home; but at least I'll have baby and pregnancy as excuses! :)

Well, hope everyone had a great Mother's Day and know that I am truly grateful for the mothers who have influenced my life!

Easter Week

2011-04-25T22:03:00.007-07:00

So last Tuesday, Grandma Brenda and Grandpa Mark came over to help us dye Easter eggs. The boys had never done it because Jon and I were going to have this year be the first year. I wasn't really ready to do it myself, so Grandpa was happy to help!
I also hadn't done it since I was about 5 so I actually had to read the directions. I also had to read directions how to hard boil eggs because I don't do it enough. They weren't quite done, but done enough to work! :) Here the boys are watching the "bubbles" as the tablets dissolve.
Skyler watching the egg!Caleb hard at work coloring...
The end result...after a few that cracked (and kinda leaked), a few shed tears because of that, this is what we ended up with. I sent this pic to daddy so he could see the middle egg! :) Surprisingly, this is actually kind of fun!Not quite Easter related, but the boys painting popsicle sticks for a project for daddy...it's not done so I'll post those another time. Shirts off so I didn't have to wash them to get the paint out! :)Easter baskets...the Easter bunny almost didn't come this year. I told Caleb it was up to him if he came or not, and man was he a little pill on Saturday, but finally the Easter bunny got a last minute call from this mama to show up for the boys! So here are the baskets...

The boys on our dead, beat up couch with their baskets...(we ordered a new couch which was supposed to be here before Jon left, and it's not!) The got wand bubbles, balls, their own watercolors, chalk eggs, play-doh filled eggs, and of course candy. They were a big hit this year!Caleb and Skyler Easter Sunday using their watercolors for the first time. I know most other kids have already been doing this stuff forever, but Caleb has never been into art, but now with his preschool he's really enjoying it! So these are their paintings for daddy.Playing with bubble wands today...Caleb was disappointed because it wasn't working as well as originally so he's not really smiling...All in all these activities have been fun and Easter was fun. We had a great time at church, and had a relaxing afternoon over here with my mom. I didn't want any dishes or a big meal cooked at my house, so she just brought over croissant platters for dinner and we just spent time with the boys. She also gave them Mitts and Balls for Easter presents...Skyler's doesn't fit yet, but Caleb is loving playing with his. Most likely tomorrow morning we will be painting something else so it should be fun. Maybe we'll finish working with the popsicle sticks tomorrow too! :)

Update From AZ

2011-04-25T20:49:00.003-07:00

So I guess it's time I finally sat down and updated my blog. Since I've been doing a lot of sitting, not sure why it's taken me so long.

So 2 weeks ago I saw my OB; my BP was high and they took it 3 times just to get a decent reading. They checked for protein and drew my blood. They ruled out pre-eclampsia and toxemia, and just said they wanted me to try resting to avoid it getting worse and avoid being put on bed rest. I even asked the doc how that would even be possible, and he assured me he could. He even talked about bringing Jon home from BCT. So I decided to take the whole rest thing seriously. I started farming my kids out to friends for a couple hours a few days a week, and decided if it got worse, I would up the # of days a week. It's actually been really nice and seems to be helping. My BP was kind of high at home for a few days, so I called the office to find out what point I should actually worry. They eased my concerns and had me monitor my BP 3 times a day for 2 days and follow up. The numbers were slightly elevated, but not too bad. Then thankfully today my BP was absolutely great! So apparently this whole resting thing really works...maybe we should try it more often as moms! :)

I've gotten 5 letters from Jon so far. He's doing fairly well, but there are some guys in his platoon who are making problems for everyone in the platoon; they either aren't listening well or are taking forever on their tasks. So often times Jon is one of the first ones done, and ends up having to do push ups waiting for the others. Since the guard does RSP (Recruit Sustainment Program) before they ship to BCT (basic combat training), and Jon did it one weekend a month for 7 months, he knows all about how to ready his weapon, and many of the other things they are supposed to do. He also is most likely going to pass his tests and qualifications the first time around since he's had practice in almost everything. So far they've gotten to do a lot of fun things, but he did not enjoy the gas chamber. He was really bummed he didn't get to do that at RSP, but really didn't like it when he finally got to do it. He should be finishing red phase this weekendish and I'm hoping for a call sometime then!

Until then, the boys and I have been having a great time sending him letters and doing crafts. Oh and the missionary couple where he goes to church allow spouses/parents, etc... of SITs (soldiers in training) to email them letters and pictures, and then each Sunday they print them out and give them to the SITs. It's such a great blessing to be members in this church and have so many services and blessings given to us. It was really great...so I've been e-mailing him almost every day, as well as sending letters/pictures as postcards/artwork/packages when he needs something. Every time he gets a letter he has to do 20 push ups for it, but he loves doing it and says it's worth it for the letters. So if you want to write him (even if you don't know him that well) encouragement letters or anything, here is his address:

PFC Miskin, Jonathan D.
D Co. 1st BN, 13th Inf Reg
1st Plt
193rd Brigade
11000 Dixie Rd
Ft Jackson, SC 29207-5021

And if you do, put a big "1" on the back to help it get sorted easier. I'm sure he'll appreciate the push ups! :) Especially if he does know you well. Just don't send any after early June since he probably won't get them while still there.

The boys have so far used glitter glue to make pictures, made Easter cards with stamps/stickers/markers/and grass, did regular drawings, sent pictures and a letter on star shaped paper that are folded into triangles (when he opens them they will be a star), used their new watercolors for him, and today Caleb even wrote him a letter. He told me what he wanted to say, I wrote the letters on another paper, and he copied them. Of course I'm including my copy as well, since even though his letters are fairly clear, he doesn't quite understand the concept of putting a space between words! :) It's been a lot of fun. I also decided on sending him a paper bag scrapbook for Father's Day because it won't take too much space.

Let's see...today I had another ultrasound. Still a girl...and she's measuring normal size. 32 weeks and 3 lbs 11 ozs. They gave me a free 3D image too, so that was fun. She looks like she has my nose. :) I am being scheduled for c-section June 15th at Banner Estrella Hospital, which is the same day Jon is supposed to graduate from BCT. His drill sgt is trying to arrange leave for him though to come home for a couple days between the end of BCT and beginning of AIT the next week. So we'll see what happens. If he does get to come home, I'll have her a few days earlier at West Valley Hospital so he can be around for it. We'll just see what happens.

My boys have been cranky beyond belief, but today was a great day, and they even got to go to bed at the normal time. I think we're all starting to finally adjust, and if nothing else, when Carolee gets here I know I'll have my lil' angels back. Because they really are great kids, so either now or in 7 weeks they'll be back again! :) I'll do another post soon about Easter and other pics I have, but this is about it for now.

First Meltdown

2011-04-10T21:00:00.003-07:00

So today was a rough day. The boys woke up very cranky and were cranky most of the day...at least with me. So the morning started rough, not to mention that I was exhausted because I was up with Skyler 5 times last night. Anyway...I got to church and the first thing I have to do is take Caleb in the hall and give him a time out and talking to. A nice lady behind me took Skyler and Caleb and I had a talk. I started crying...that really should have been a great sign for me...

So during sacrament the lady behind me ended up taking my boys for me and I told her I think they are just tired of mama...they want anyone else. So she asked if daddy was away for business and I told her he was at basic and she asked how long and I got all teary eyed. Then Caleb told me he was done with me, and I started crying a little more. So I periodically cried during sacrament, but was doing ok. But since Caleb especially was being a little punk to me, and is normally very active in Sunbeams, I thought I'd tell his teacher about Jon leaving and that Caleb might be a little different. Turns out I started bawling and had a heck of a time. Then people saw me crying and came to check on me.

Needless to say, an hour later I still had not stopped crying. I tried...I really tried, but I just couldn't do it. Every time I looked at the couples that were teachers in the room I started to cry. (Jon and I co teach primary). Every time I looked at Caleb I cried because I know he misses his dad. And because I felt bad because even though he was being sooo reverent, he didn't get picked to participate. And I knew that was killing him. And because my emotions aren't in my control anyway.

So during the remainder of sharing time I went to the bathroom and hall to try and stop crying, and the waterworks never stopped. Finally, a friend, Spencer, just happened to be coming back in. He asked how I was and I told him if he didn't ask I might be able to stop crying in time to teach my primary class. He offered to teach my class, and he did! I still didn't really stop crying for another 20 minutes, and then even in Relief Society I got teary eyed on and off.

I came home and had two really crabby boys again...nap time was horrible for all of us, and I have to say I've done so much crying today. Then I finally fell asleep for a nap, but my racing heart woke me up. I'm supposed to be monitoring my blood pressure, so after walking to the store (yes I know it's Sunday) to buy 4 AAA batteries since the ones my mom brought didn't work, I checked it and it was borderline low, but at least not high. I cried more after dinner, and especially when my boys were so hyper I honestly thought they'd just fall asleep mid playing because they were so wired.

I don't know if this is going to keep going or if I'm honestly not as strong as I should be. This is the first time I've really cried extensively since Jon left, but I'm afraid it's going to last for a while. Currently I can't think about Jon or the baby or the boys without getting teary eyed, and that can't be good. I also am so ready for this baby to be here. I'm only 30 weeks so I know it's still early, but I want her to come as soon as she can while still being a perfect, healthy baby. Jon being gone is hard enough...do I really need extra hormones and emotions along with it?

Sorry, this post really isn't that well thought out, but maybe it'll help me get some of it out. My plan was to work on cleaning up my bathroom a little tonight...but instead I think I'm just going to head to bed so hopefully we'll have a better day tomorrow!

This Week

2011-04-09T13:35:00.003-07:00

So I thought I'd finally get around to posting...Jon left for basic at Fort Jackson, SC this past Monday. Sunday night I had a big meltdown worrying about how I could do this, especially since I had been feeling so bad. I honestly know Heavenly Father has heard my prayers and knows how much I can handle...this week I've been very blessed to make it through each day with energy and strength. My problems seem to be minimal, and when I do have problems it's usually after the boys are already in bed so I can rest and deal with whatever happens. I am so thankful for that because I didn't know how I could do it all.

So about the week...he left Monday, got taped at 39" waist, 24% body fat (2% LESS than required) and got to SC at 1000 pm that night. They hadn't taken the phones away so I got a couple short calls from him and texts during the week which helped a bit. I was able to know he was ok and talk a bit. He even got to talk to the boys...now Caleb thinks it's cool that daddy sleeps on a bunk bed just like he does. However, he couldn't figure out why daddy has a new bed when he already has one. A couple days this week Caleb kept saying things like "When daddy gets home we can...play the Wii, go to Abby's house, play in the pool..." It was so hard for me to hear that and try and help him understand daddy wouldn't be home for a while. I think that's probably when I cried the most this week, was knowing that Caleb really didn't understand why daddy was gone and not home with us.

The boys thankfully have been fairly good this week. The mornings have been busy and afternoons slow. Caleb had his follow up x-ray for his finger, and on Tuesday he was 90% healed, so the splint came off and he can officially play on the playground equipment again. On Wednesday I had my cardiologist appointment; there's nothing wrong with my heart. It's just my hormones causing the dizziness and near fainting, but the doc said he doesn't want me driving until the baby comes. So I guess I still get to rely on others for rides right now. My MIL is driving Caleb to and from preschool for me on Mondays and Fridays, and people from the ward are driving me to doctor appointments. I know I need help so I'm not afraid to ask, but I still worry about being a burden to others.

I have to say the day Jon left if anyone asked how I was doing, I started crying and told them not to ask. I'm much better now, but if I'm left alone to my own thoughts too much, I have a hard time. Amazingly, I've also been able to sleep each night, which I usually can't do when Jon's home. I'm guessing it's because I'm so physically and emotionally drained that I'm sleeping about 8 hours a night now before the boys wake me up...which is a great improvement!

I'm finding it's the littlest things that make me miss him more and start to cry...a friend suggested I dye easter eggs for entertainment. The funny thing is, we've never done that, because last year Skyler would have made the process very difficult, so the boys have never dyed eggs. This was going to be our first year doing it, and when she suggested it, I started crying remembering that if I do it, Jon won't be here. I also started crying when I realized that Jon won't be here to help the boys make me something or do something for me for Mother's Day. And it just doesn't work having me make myself something! :)

I know I can make it through this time, but I also know it's going to be hard, for all of us. Jon finished reception (or week 0) and started basic on Friday, which is when they would take the cell phones away. So now I'm just waiting for his address so I can start sending him letters and the pictures from the boys. And once I get a graduation date, I'm going to have the boys help me put up a countdown chain! I'm guessing we should probably do one for the baby too, since Caleb keeps asking me when the baby's coming. He already put a teether in the fridge for her so it'll be nice and cold when she comes... :)

"Skyler's Talking" more...

2011-04-01T08:36:00.005-07:00

So it's been a while since I've been able to see any drastic changes or growth in either Caleb or Skyler, mainly because they are way past the "milestone" age. But this last week Skyler has caught us completely off guard in his talking. He's been great at learning new words and adding to his vocabulary. He's even been saying a handful of two letter phrases since before November. But he's also very great at shortening his words and only saying the parts he wants. He also could say "Wolverine", with almost all three syllables. Well, to our surprise, he has picked up so much more in the last week.

In this week, he has now started using two-word phrases consistently and even did a three-word one this morning. So he started understanding possessives earlier this week and has finally been walking around saying "my/mine car" "my/mine gun" "my/mine giraffe" etc. He also started saying "Caleb's bunny" "mommy's phone" "daddy's watch". These are just a few of them, since he's been doing it with just about everything. Prior to this it was always either "mine" or "car" not together.

He's also started putting words together to make his own sentences. This morning's examples are the only ones I can think of, but he started saying "sit you" meaning "sit with you" and he's said that to both Jon and I. He's done others too but I can't seem to remember at all. He also said "Love you Daddy" this morning after Jon said "Love you Buddy". It's so amazing to hear the growth and excitement every day he learns something new. He wasn't behind at all, but it's just fun to see his continued development. Skyler really loves talking and is doing a great job!

Potty Training Update

2011-03-16T20:16:00.003-07:00

So we have been very lenient with potty training Skyler. The main reason is because he is such an independent little boy, that if we push too hard he'll stop dead in his tracks!

So he has worn underwear a couple times, and then after a little bit insisted on having his diapers back on. We realized the other day that the main reason is because diapers are "mine" and not anything related to Caleb.

So today around 330 pm when it was time for a diaper change we emphasized that he could wear Skyler's underwear. He still didn't want to, but we managed to distract him long enough to have him run around naked. So we had a naked boy for about 3 hours, including dinner and pool time, and no accidents. If he started to go, he stopped himself, pointed it out, and then got excited to go use the "big one." So he actually used the toilet tonight about 6 times, outside twice, and never once had an issue. :) After playing in the pool, he even wore his underwear under his jammies for an hour while watching a movie, without an accident. Then when it was bedtime he wasn't so thrilled to be back in a diaper.

So yay! I'm excited...however, who knows what tomorrow will hold. He may be back to wanting diapers, and if that happens, then we'll just keep trying. But if he wants underwear or naked time, I'm all for it!

And the funny thing? Yesterday at the pediatrician's office for Caleb's appt, the doc suggested I not worry about potty training until the baby comes...but when they're ready, they're ready. As long as I can still walk and help him, I'll let him go all he wants! :)

Caleb's 4 Today

2011-03-15T16:26:00.004-07:00

I can't believe Caleb is officially 4! Where has the time gone? I know I already posted this pic, but this is the best pic I have to show how grown up he is...He had his check up this morning, and we found out he weighs in at 49 lbs, and is still 42" tall. I only know that because he's still right at the line for rides! :)

Today at the doc they checked his hearing and eyesight. If I'd known that was coming, I would have prepared him a bit. But instead, he was confused as to what was going on, and didn't do that great. But the doc isn't worried at all, and told the nurse that next year he'd be better! :) He also got his kindergarten shots. I took Skyler out of the room for them, and Jon told me later that after the first shot, Caleb said "That kind of hurt." And after the second, he was a tad bit more whiny, but still did really well!

This morning I wished him a happy birthday, and he asked me "It's my birthday again?" Apparently he got confused with his party on Saturday, being sung to in church on Sunday, having a preschool party yesterday, and now today being the real deal! :) We even went to Toys R' Us for his free toy.

So now for facts about my boy...and that he really is. He all of a sudden grew up, and I'm not really sure when it all happened! After his party on Saturday, he played with all his big boy toys independently for about an hour...he plays, talks, and interacts with his toys. He tells stories. He's starting to read and can make out quite a few words when he wants to. According to him, his favorite food is cake, donuts, cookies, and pizza...although he never actually eats pizza when we offer it to him, so not really sure about that. His favorite color changes almost everyday...depending on what color he's wearing that day!

He loves sports, and has a lot of fun throwing balls to Mars and trying to hit them! (Usually they end up in our neighbor's yard!) He loves going to his new preschool, and is a great big brother. He helps Skyler a lot and teaches him so many things. He's one smart cookie, and is really growing with school in the art department. He's never been big into coloring/painting, etc... but now he's really growing. He loves playing the Wii, especially Swordfighting. I guarantee he could beat just about anyone in that game...

Most of the time he's such a reliable boy, and helps me with so much. He does have his moments, but overall is such a great boy! I'm proud to have him as my son and proud of all he is and is doing. He's such a great example, and really reminds me how special little ones are. He helps us remember to have scripture study if we forget, and always wants to say the prayer. So much, that all we have to do is say pray, and he is already saying it. He loves his Sunbeam class and loves being called on during sharing time at church! (If I forgot anything, I'll add it when I remember!)

Caleb's 4th Bday Party - Superheros

2011-03-15T16:04:00.006-07:00

So I have to say I'm pretty proud of how the party turned out...and yes the cake too! After the busy week, I didn't think I'd have a steady enough hand to do the logos on the cake, so Jon freehanded them (and the strips of color) and did a great job! I did the spiderweb on top, but you don't need a very steady hand for that! :)
And those are the delish cake balls I made also...if you can't tell, the red ones have spiderwebs on them, and they yellow have three blue slashes, which are supposed to be for Wolverine.

I know I posted these pics on facebook, but since this is my main journal, I'm putting some here as well! Even though his bday is technically today (3/15) we had his party on Saturday so Grandpa Mark could come and be a part of it!

The first thing we did is have all the kids paint their superhero masks with glitter glue. Now I'll have you know, I did a test run the night before, and they should have dried in an hour...however, I did not test massive globs of glitter glue, which easily took 24 to dry...specifically Caleb's. So the kids decorated them, and the parents took them home on a plate with the elastic for when they dried! :)
Then we played a game where they had to work as teams...they had to go find the triangle amidst the shapes for Ironman, the S amidst the letters for superman, and the green amidst the superhero pics for the Hulk. When they were done working as a team, the super creepy bad guy (Jon) came out and dropped blue bombs on them that they all had to pop. They went to town and had a great time!
And if you're looking at our "grass"...we stopped watering a few months ago because of a leak, and never turned it back on! :)

Then the kids all got to use silly string and shoot webs like Spiderman. They sure had a great time with that...as you can see there was a lot of silly string flying. Granted, it all started with the super creepy bad guy coming and getting them...so they were all suppose to get him. Then they turned on each other and had a blast!
Shortly after it was over, I realized I like doing messy things at my parties...not sure why, but it sure is a lot of fun! Below...Caleb getting sprayed one last time...he was pretty done by that time!
Took a little snack and play break...
Here are the kids showing off their capes! Skyler wasn't in the pic...but the kids had a pretty good time. Even the little kids liked their capes.
Then it was cake time...
Completely second nature for my hubs to walk around with a cake and knife...isn't it?
I thought it was hilarious how close all the kids got during presents opening time! Caleb got some great gifts and has been playing with all of them so much! Binoculars, puzzles, superhero gifts, books, etc... He is truly a happy boy!
Here he is with his Spiderman punching bag...
His two cool Iron Man toys he got...
...and really so many more that I just don't have pictures of!

A couple great things from the party...Laif told Caleb he was glad he had a party so he could play with the silly string...I made a kid cry by taking his paper away too soon...and some of the kids can't stop wearing their capes and masks around at home. Mine, not so much yet...others yes! Granted, mine wore them as I was making them, so they weren't quite as new to them!

San Diego (part 1)

2011-03-15T15:25:00.008-07:00

So here is the beginning of our family mini vaca that we took to San Diego. First off, we decided on a mini one because I've been having such a rough pregnancy, Caleb has preschool on Monday and Friday, and because I didn't think we could handle multiple nights in the same room with the boys. And I was sure right! But we did have a great time.

We took off Monday March 7, right after preschool was over at noon. We hit the road and headed for SD. We thought it was the perfect time because the boys would sleep...right? WRONG! I think they maybe slept 20 minutes of the over 5 hour drive. And it was only that long because of the wind factor as well as 15 miles before getting to the Days Inn we stayed at, Caleb started crying because his legs hurt. So we spent at least 15-20 minutes trying to get him to walk around...finally he saw a big rock and ran to climb on it! At least his legs didn't hurt anymore.

We stayed at the Days Inn, mainly because it was only 5 mins from Sea World and they had a shuttle. If we had stayed any longer, we would have definitely gotten a suite. And if we'd known we'd get our tickets free for Sea World, we probably would have stayed at the Best Western or something.

Anyway...the boys were so excited that they had a rough night the first night. They wouldn't go to sleep, so I slept with Caleb and Jon slept with Skyler. That was a rough night all around. Caleb moves, but not quite as much as Skyler. Caleb enjoyed kicking pregnant mama in his sleep, and apparently I snore when I'm prego, so Caleb woke me up a few times saying he couldn't sleep when I did that! So after a rough night, we got up, ate breakfast in the cafeteria (which was a full breakfast of pancakes, eggs, hash browns, as well as the full continental breakfast!) We took the shuttle and went to Sea World at 10 am.

We got there and found out with Jon being in the military, we get free "Hero tickets" once a year, so all of us got in free! It was very nice, and saved almost $200 on entrance. During the day we saw a lot of animals, Jon and Caleb went on a couple rides, and saw several shows. Here are a few pictures from the day.

First, here are Skyler and I. We were going to see the Polar Bear/Beluga Whale/Walrus exhibit. Jon and Caleb went on a helicopter simulation ride, but Skyler and I couldn't, so we just met them in the exhibit. In the picture I was trying to show Skyler where Daddy was...
Caleb really excited for the day!
Skyler looking at the whale from the inside...he was mesmerized watching them. He also kept going back and forth calling them whales and fishies.
Obviously, this is a polar bear! They really are magnificent to watch!
The Beluga Whale from underneath...absolutely beautiful! BTW...if you don't know, I've always loved whales, and my favorite animal by far is the orca.
Here we are waiting for the Sea Lion show to start...we were so close to the top, and I thought for sure I'd die going up the stairs! The boys had a great time and laughed so hard watching it!
After the show, we went to view and feed the sea lions...
Can I just say "Yuck?" And yes Jon offered me one, and I politely declined! :)
Caleb throwing the fish...
Skyler throwing the fish...
They were so eager that some of them almost reached the top of the glass trying to get the fish!
We also got to see the dolphin show...our batteries died right after this picture, but that's ok because we were in the soak zone, and got very wet. The dolphin show was very cool though. It had birds, dolphins, acrobats, and even pilot whales whose sole job was to drench us! And it worked!
After the dolphin show, we went to the Pet's Rule show, which include dogs, animals, a pig, and even a kangaroo. I have to admit, I even stole a handicapped bench because I couldn't fathom walking another stair! (And in case anyone is wondering, I left my heart monitor at home so I wouldn't get electrocuted again!)

We also saw several other animals during the day, but the favorite was seeing Shamu, or "Shampoo" as Caleb continually called the whale show. We were once again in the soak zone, and were very close to the front, so we only took a couple pictures...
I seriously love this animal. I tried calling it an orca whale to Caleb, and someone behind us said it was a killer whale. So I had to explain that it's also called that...towards the end Caleb was disappointed and said he wanted to see the whale kill someone. Seriously??? That would be why I was avoiding that name in the first place!
So Shamu really enjoys wetting people...we got it from both sides, so here are the boys and I after the show. We really enjoyed it...but the boys were just a little cold!
After the show, daddy and Caleb went on the rapids ride...
and got so drenched that they used a $5.00 dryer. It was all for Caleb's sake, so I guess it was ok!
Before closing, we found this neat shop at the back of the store, where they take all the special event items and items from the grounds and sell it in there for $10 or less. So yep you guessed it, these 2 massive animals were only $9.99, and the boys fell in love instantly. They even sleep with them in their new bunk beds (which I still haven't posted pics of!) They are majorly in love with them...and they normally run around $35 so I love them too!
After taking the shuttle back to "San Diego Home" as Caleb called it, we at dinner and then laid down for the night. Here are the boys...almost asleep. They got a 2nd wind, which only lasted about 5 minutes, and then readjusted...
...to this. Skyler was out by 730, and Caleb by 815...and that was it for the night. They laid almost perfectly still, except for the one time Skyler almost fell off the bed.
Speaking of those animals, they even carried them on their laps the whole way home, and used them as pillows in the truck! Seriously the best buy in the world.

San Diego (part 2)

2011-03-15T14:38:00.005-07:00

So Wednesday was a fun-filled day, and very packed. We had our breakfast in the Inn's cafeteria, had Skyler whack his eye on a chair and get a black eye, and checked out all by about 830 am. We had a 930 am reservation on the Hornblower whale watching tour, which we almost missed. Apparently I typed in the address wrong to Mapquest the night before, and so we almost didn't make it. Actually, we got parked by 922 am, and literally had to run. Jon ran to the ticket booth (taking off his flip flops on the way) and I took the boys to the boat. Jon got several strange looks also! :)

Thankfully the boat hadn't left, so the ticket office called the boat and had them let us on. We got on at 930 am on the dot, and just in time! The boys had a great time being on the boat, and loved looking at the water, the boat, the animals, the buoys, the planes, the ships, and the helicopters! I'm pretty sure Caleb asked me about every single buoy he saw in the first hour, and man that was a lot!

So here's a picture of the boys on the boat......not sure what's up with Caleb's new pose, but oh well!

Then here's a picture of San Diego as we were leaving the harbor.
On our way out to the ocean, we passed by these California Sea Lions. They were actually quite close and so much fun to watch. Here I have to tell a little story and vent...Jon had left our spot thinking the sea lions were on the other side. When I realized where they were, I called him back. As we walked back to our old spot, a mom in her 30s/40s told her mom to make it wide so that we wouldn't be able to get back in. I couldn't believe it! It wasn't a big deal if I couldn't see, but I wanted the boys to see. What kind of example is she setting for her kids? Sheesh! Thankfully we did get a good view, but I was very frustrated with her!
So now for the next picture...I made it about an hour, but after looking for whales in the ocean, the choppy weather, not eating regularly, being pregnant, and partially prone to motion sickness anyway, I almost officially lost it! This picture is while I was still somewhat ok and Skyler was trying to get me to look up for the camera. He was so cute that I almost did too!
While resting on the table and waiting for our food, the captain spotted a pod of white dolphins...so Jon took the boys to the deck to see them and I stayed inside looking out the window. They weren't very close so these were the best pictures we got.
So after the dolphins, we ate, and I ended up laying down on the bottom floor of the boat, literally on the floor in the corner, and slept to keep from throwing up. Jon and the boys ended up seeing more dolphins and a group of 3 gray whales who were very friendly...and apparently even demonstrated where the name "quickie" came from (according to the Captain). But since Jon was juggling both boys, he wasn't able to get any pictures. But they did get stickers that said "I saw a whale!"

Now you may be wondering why there is a picture of a helicopter here...I'm pretty sure that since last week, "helicopter" is my least favorite word in the entire world! Skyler has said it sooo much that I am seriously tired of it!
The kids were invited to sit in the captain's chair, and had a great time!
So anyway, as we were about 20 minutes from the dock, the boys came and got me and by then the water was a lot less choppy so I was up on deck until we docked! If nothing else, I'm glad the boys had a great time!

San Diego (part 3)

2011-03-15T14:24:00.004-07:00

So even though we were only there 2 full days, I thought I'd break down the posts into 3 so they wouldn't be as big. After whale watching, we went to Mission Beach which is a great family beach. We had a blast enjoying the clean beach, and it was nice not having to worry when we walked across the bike "road" barefoot to get to the bathrooms.

So we had a great time, just not in the water. The water was obviously sooo cold. Jon was fine with it, but Skyler fell in it and screamed bloody murder because it was so cold. Caleb walked in it and I think may have been helped into the water, but mostly they just stayed on the sand. But they enjoyed their new sand toys and playing around.
Caleb and daddy were both buried, and thoroughly enjoyed it! Skyler, not so much...he did get buried but not by choice.
They loved flying their new kites though, and I have to admit it's not something we do all too often! But the wind was perfect so they had a great time with it. Caleb picked Star Wars and Skyler picked Batman.
Caleb was such a big boy and was holding on super tight so he wouldn't let it go.
Skyler had a little help, since his idea of holding on tight is holding it, throwing it on the ground, and holding it again! Little did he know, it would have flown away if we weren't "secretly" helping him.
At the end of our beach day, Jon literally picked the boys up on his shoulders and ran through the water with them. Then the 3 of them walked, but it was a struggle...
...but I have to say the biggest struggle was getting them to rinse off in the ice cold showers there! Brr...

After the beach, we got McD's for dinner, and headed home. The drive home was much better, and the boys slept almost the entire way. The mini vaca was also about all the boys or I could handle...but I'm so glad we did it!

Freak Out Post

2011-03-15T14:14:00.002-07:00

So I have a few fun posts to put up later, but right now I feel like doing a pity post. Yesterday I was looking online at c-section restrictions, and realized it's not going to be as easy as I remember. I was talking to a friend yesterday online and she was surprised how calm I seemed about Jon leaving April 4th and having the baby without him. I admitted I was a little worried about the first week, but that was all...

So then I started talking to Jon and he was telling me it's going to be a lot longer than a week! So apparently you really don't remember everything about being pregnant/delivery, etc... because I don't remember recovery taking this long.

But I looked it up online and realized I'm not supposed to lift anything heavier than the newborn, drive, or use stairs...all of which I knew. But apparently I forgot that those things are usually recommended for the first 6 weeks! What? How did I forget that?

Also, you're supposed to rest and get minimal walking/stretching, and that last one is just to slowly adjust your body. So yesterday I started bawling because I thought I had it all figured out...I could have help for that first week (including hospital stay) and I should be good, right?? Well, apparently I was so wrong!

My current plan was to have the boys go have sleepovers for a week, considering all our bedrooms are upstairs! I was going to have the queen bed and pack n' play set up in the family room so I could take care of baby and rest without any problems. But now I have to do that for 3 weeks at least? I can't even tuck my boys into bed either.

So don't mind me...I'm sure everything will work out and I know I have tons of people who will be happy to help! I'm just having a freak out/pity moment....or I should say a few of them right now. And it's not even about Jon leaving.

I'm honestly ok with that at this point; I was a little worried in November, but I think that's because it wasn't the right time for him to go. Because if he had left then, I would have been in a lot of trouble these last few months. But now we both feel like it's the right time, and I'm ok with that part...I'm just freaking out about June!

Bday Prep!

2011-03-06T23:01:00.004-07:00

So Caleb's birthday party is coming up this Saturday, so I've been getting things ready for his superhero party. I finished sewing the capes last night and finished the logos today...so here are a few pictures of them. The yellow ones with hearts are for the girls, the short ones are for toddlers, and the rest are for the "big" boys. Of course I'll post pictures of the party, but I am pretty darn proud of these.
Here are the invites we made...Caleb helped glue them on! He invited 3 girls, so I made sure to find a superhero girl picture just for them!
This is the picture Caleb took of his invites! He sure loves them!
I realized that no matter how much work goes into a party, it's all about making it important, fun, and memorable for the bday boy. I'm so excited for Caleb to have a great time!

Handsome Miskin Boys

2011-03-06T20:04:00.003-07:00

So I have got one handsome family! Yesterday my friend April Myers from our ward brought over our 3 matching ties, and Caleb was sooo excited to wear his. Skyler not so much, but after 20 minutes of crying over it, he finally stopped and focused on his new watch instead. So we had a happy camper the rest of church. His nursery teachers even told me he was showing it off and so proud of his new tie to all of them!

Anyway, I absolutely love the ties and love how the pictures turned out. Each one has such a different personality, as you can see in the pictures. Caleb already had his blue shirt, so last night at 7 pm we went to Target to get Skyler a blue shirt to match. It was close...too bad Jon only has an orange and white. Maybe some day we'll get him another one!

After getting these, I'm considering learning how to sew ties myself, because I think they'd be so much fun and it'd be great to have a lot of matching ties for the guys. Now to find out if it's hard to do?Anyway...just wanted to share my handsome Miskin boys...all 3 of them!

Bowling

2011-03-05T13:32:00.005-07:00

So since Jon has been home, we've been doing some fun things around here. I forgot to mention before the cardiologist also said no driving for me until he says so...so Jon gets to drive us everywhere!

So far we've gone to the zoo with some friends, to the "big movie" as Caleb calls it and watched "Gnomeo and Juliet" (which was hilarious by the way!), a few shopping trips to the mall, gone to Cabela's, and now we've gone bowling! I should add Jon had his first ride along with Freeman Carney and loved it! He keeps mentioning it and really enjoyed it. My only condition for him to go was to make sure he had life insurance though the guard...which thankfully he does! I also made Freeman promise not to get Jon shot, so Jon wore the extra bullet proof vest all day!

Yesterday we took the boys bowling after preschool was out, and it was their first time. I am so glad we went to Tri-City Bowl in Avondale. First, we had free tickets, and second because they have very cool ramps to help the boys bowl. Their shoes go down to a toddler size 7 (Skyler's size) and they have a 6 lb bowling ball! Great!

So here are a few pictures of us at the alley...we really had a great time.
Grandma Lee came to watch the boys bowl...
I didn't think about it until I got there, but not really sure if bowling is ideal for pregnant women. So I just took it easy and tried not to hurt myself. I also bowled about as poorly as normal, so I wasn't handicapped at all! :)
Skyler was obsessed with the ball machine, and even had his fingers smashed a few times because he wouldn't listen. He insisted on picking up the 15 lb ball, which is a tad bit heavy for him. Also, the boys (especially Skyler) had a difficult time taking turns. But in the end, it was still fun!
Caleb took the next pictures, and did a great job!
Skyler learning to keep his hands behind his back...
I loved this! Jon teaching Caleb to granny bowl, and right before I took the picture, Skyler was trying too! Way too cute!
A perfect end picture for a great time!
And a picture of the boys' shoes...I actually asked Jon for a pic of the boys' shoes because they were so small, but I apparently have all three now! :)
We really had a great time and can't wait to do it again soon!

Preschool for Caleb

2011-03-05T13:20:00.003-07:00

So I was hesitant about putting Caleb into preschool last fall, because I didn't want him to get too smart and bored in kindergarten. Well, I guess that didn't work. He's been learning so much just from being at home, and I realized he was getting very bored at home. Thankfully the Iliad Preschool (which feeds into Odyssey charter school) decided to start a class mid year on February 28th for Caleb's age group. There was a group of kids on the waiting list, so they started a new class. With the new baby coming, I decided it was perfect timing; Caleb could start going to school, do more artsy things (which we don't do much because of Skyler), Skyler can get some one on one time with daddy and I, and mama can get a small break from Caleb for a bit!

Above is Caleb on his first day of preschool. His teacher is Sally Aston (not sure what she has them call her) and he is so excited to go! We even let him pick out new preschool shoes and his own water bottle he needed to take! He goes on Monday and Friday and he seriously loves it! In just two days, he has done more crafts and projects than at home in a long time, so I'm very glad we're doing this. I think this will be very beneficial for him since he doesn't sit and do things like color/paint very long. So far he's already colored his animal of choice for his cubby, painted a letter C, used glue and glitter on CDs, made a fruit loop necklace, cut out pictures, gone on a nature walk, and so much more. It's hard to believe how much they can do in such a short time!
Here is a picture of him with his fruit loop necklace. His teacher is also sharing the class photos on Snapfish so I'm going to figure out what I want to do with them. Very excited and very grateful I put him in this school!

Random Info

2011-03-05T13:10:00.002-07:00

So I thought I'd just update on a few things that have been going on. First off, I'm finally feeling overall better, which would explain why I've hardly taken any pictures in the last month. These two are about it!
This was just too cute! The boys were both lying on the floor, "fighting" and kicking, while sticking out their tongues. And for the record, Caleb had severely chapped lips and wouldn't use chapstick so he has giant red lips...but he's back to normal now.

This next one is kind of obvious...are boys never fall asleep on the couch, so when Skyler did I had to take a pic!
So what else have we been doing recently? Jon got his new ship date, and leaves for basic April 4th, which means he will be back first part of September, when Carolee will be a little over 2 months old. He quit Fry's to help me more, spend more time with the boys, finish his honey-do list, and finish his classes early before he leaves. So we've been having fun, but keeping really busy!

I finally got in with the cardiologist. He said he sees quite a few pregnant women with racing heart/palpitations, shortness of breath, and dizziness. I never realized it was that common. Anyway, so now I have a lovely little companion with me at all times...a heart monitor. I even get to sleep with it. But trust me, I'm not showering with it because then I'd probably end up back at the ER! :) The stickers are getting really irritating though since I have major red circles in 3 overall areas, and my skin is getting overly sensitive. Another thing the doc told me was that my BP was too low so he wanted me to increase my salt intake. What? Why would a cardiologist ever say that? Well, so I took his advice and slightly increased my salt intake. Saw the OB a week later, and magically put on 12 lbs! What? Eating habits, exercise, etc... all the same. The only difference, salt. I had only gained 6 lbs up until this last month, and then 12? So my OB trumps cardiologist, so no more salt once again! We'll see what happens next month.

We've been redecorating lately and doing stuff around the house. I should post pictures when we finally get things finalized. We got a new couch, painted the family room, got an entertainment center, reorganized our food storage, and a few other things. Oh and Jon bought a gun! He's now a happy hubs!

Crying Experiences of this Pregnant Lady

2011-02-13T00:30:00.003-07:00

This Thursday we had a Relief Society event at the church building, and it focused on strengthening Christlike attributes. A lady in the ward spoke, and told some stories from her life how her testimony of Christ was strengthened, when he felt his presence, and how her relationship with him changed. And I bawled! Not just because I was pregnant either.

There were two instances during her talk that I cried: the first one she talked about how she had 3 kids at home and her husband was overseas for a year for work. She didn't know how she would ever make it, and talked about how every day she was on her knees at least 3 times before noon. But He helped her through each and every day. Then she told how she was comforted when she found out her almost 16 year old daughter had been killed in an accident. How normally she freaks out at so many things, but especially during this time she was very comforted and strengthened by our Savior. Both of these stories hit a little too close to home for me, and I genuinely lost it!

First off, Jon goes down to get a new ship date this Tuesday, and the odds are he'll be shipping soon for basic training. I don't know what I would have done these last couple months if he had actually left when he was supposed to. He has helped me so much through this pregnancy, and I can't imagine what would have happened without him here. I'm starting to feel better (I think) and am hoping that it will stay that way. After all, the Lord only gives you what you can handle right? So I'm thinking bad pregnancy + no hubby won't really work out very well!

Next, I completely lost it thinking about this last week and the scares we had! First of all, it was just a bad week! No exaggeration. Boys woke up sick last Saturday morning, and by Sunday Skyler couldn't breathe most of the day. It's really scary when he has breathing issues, and so we took him into the ER. I was torn all day trying to decide whether to take him in that day or wait until Monday. I'm so glad we went that day because he got his steroid meds and was breathing a ton better by the next day. But it's terrifying when you're child can't breathe, and there's very little you can do about it!

So Tuesday morning we went to the pediatrician for a check up and came home with a nebulizer for home breathing treatments. That was after we had to attempt to give him a breathing treatment in the office, and man was it horrible! We completely got our butts kicked by a 2 year old. So we had the great idea that maybe Grandpa Mark (a respiratory therapist) could make it easier for Skyler. So long story short, we tried that the next night, and it wasn't quite as bad, as in we still got our butts kicked, but he at least got a treatment in.

So anyway...on the way home from the pediatrician, I found out from my mom that my dad passed away a month ago. We only found out because she finally stopped receiving her back child support, which could mean only one thing. My dad and I were never really close; we started talking and communicating in college, and I even had a chance to visit him before I left on the mission, but as a missionary you can only write to someone so much without any response before you quit! I probably could have been better, but I didn't need that constant heartache again. So anyway, I at least let him know that I was getting married, but never heard back. So even though we weren't really close, I find it interesting how much this bothers me. He's still my dad and he's gone. I did get a chance to know him a bit, and there are things I liked and disliked about him, but I realized when I visited with he and Marilyn that I had actually come to love him. So I guess it's hitting me a little harder (probably also because I'm pregnant) finding out about his death, and then finding out that nobody bothered to tell any of us. Long story, but my brother and I have different dads, but both dads interacted regularly. If you don't know the story, be thankful! :) Anyway, so at least Michael's dad could have let us know. Anyway...

After we find this out (this is still Tuesday) Jon goes to work. He was 2 hours late because I still don't trust myself driving because I was still pretty dizzy early this week, but they had approved the time for the appointment. So he lasted 45 mins at work when he had to come to take this pregnant mama to the ER. While putting the boys down for nap, I managed to electrocute myself turning on the humidifier. I was terrified, probably too scared to be mad that Caleb only cared that I "broke" his humidifier, and not that mama hurt herself!

While I was on hold for the OBs office (of course it was lunch time) to find out if this was an issue for the baby, I was searching "electrocution during pregnancy" online and only found a few articles that said it was kind of a 50/50 shot. Great! So now I was in major tears because if something happened, it was completely my fault. And I was almost 21 weeks so it was far enough along that I would have had a hard time. The OB said to go to the ER, so I called Jon-no answer. I texted Jon-no answer. I called Brenda-no answer. I was about to resort to my other list (my mom was still really sick), when my phone rings and it was Brenda. Apparently she and her mom were at Fry's and Jon threw his phone to Brenda and asked her to call me since he couldn't talk. After a 45 second conversation, all 3 of them were on their way to the house. Jon took me to the ER while Brenda and Melanie helped at the house.

We got to the ER and I was still freaking. I had said a couple prayers that everything would be ok, but by this time my heart was racing so bad that I was having a hard time. Not to mention feeling sooo stupid. They checked me out first saying that "without you, there's no baby anyway!" But all I wanted to know was that the baby was fine and that I didn't hurt her. 2 hours later at the ER, they told me I was fine (minus some finger pain from the shock) and that it was finally time to check out the baby. So a nurse comes down from Labor & Deliver to check the baby's heartbeat. She was using a ridiculous doppler and it took her 5 minutes to find the heartbeat. She even said that she hated using this one, and at one point said that 20 weekers were always hard to find because they're so active. Yet my OB never has any trouble...but at least the heartbeat was there and strong. But I promise you the last 2 1/2 minutes laying on my back waiting for her to find the heartbeat I was in tears, and the paper on the ER bed was getting soaked. Finally she found it, had me listen to it so I could feel better, and we got to go home.

So that's why everything she said hit me so hard, and thankfully that was the last bad event that happened this past week, and I can officially say that since it's now Sunday morning of the next week! :) I am so grateful to be here, that everyone is ok, and that I have such a loving and supportive husband who has helped me through so much.

Our Little One!

2011-02-07T12:40:00.003-07:00

So I guess it's time I got around to my official post! I was waiting until we had scanned our ultrasound images, but that still hasn't happened, so here's the post, without fun pictures!

So on Friday January 28 we found out we are having a little girl! At first she was very, very shy. The tech just assumed we wanted a girl since we had the two boys, and so he kept saying things like "Well, the good news is I haven't seen any boy parts...but I also haven't seen any girl ones either." :)

After 20 minutes in the room, she still had her legs completely crossed and wasn't opening them! So of course, Jon poked my belly a few times and she opened her legs right up! So yes we are having a girl... I love watching the baby's positions and movements during the ultrasound...she was lounging exactly as I was and it was quite funny to watch! As of right now, she's breech, but that doesn't really matter with it being a c-section and all, so he was reassuring me for no reason. He explained she was breech, and immediately started explaining there was still plenty of time to have her adjust. Once he found out it'd be another c-section he was completely at ease!

Before I go further, I have to say I loved this tech. Why you might ask? He let me use the restroom BEFORE I went in! Shocking right? But I was so much more comfortable and he still got everything he needed.

Now about the girl...we've decided her name will be Carolee Rose Miskin. The middle name still might change, but that's where we're at right now. In case you don't know, her first name is a combination of my Aunt Carol's name and my middle name. (It was also my dad's middle name, his mom's middle name, and I think one more generation beyond.) My aunt died around 42 due to cancer (which started as breast cancer and then spread to her entire body.) I remember being very close to her and for the longest time was going to use her name for my first girl. So there you have it! :)

So a few things to note about this pregnancy: we're very excited to be having a girl, but really wish this pregnancy was as easy as others.

Apparently, my body doesn't like a lot of estrogen!

I don't want any fresh fruit, especially bananas! (BTW, that is one of my fav fruits) Now I have a hard time getting past the first bite!

Chocolate??? Pretty nasty these days! I do still like my OREOs, but mostly enjoy Skittles and Laffy Taffy!

I've found I am really craving meat now...Jon has gotten me so many Western Bacon Cheeseburgers from Carl's Jr (or the yellow star as Caleb calls it) that I probably could have reserved a nice room at a fancy resort for our anniversary! :)

Anything else??? Oh yeah, I never feel her move, unless I decide it's time to readjust myself. She's quite content until I sit up or adjust my position, then she lets me know that she's unhappy! :)

Caleb is sooo excited to be having a baby sister. We told my mom and Brenda and Mark on my birthday. Everyone came over for cake and ice cream. Jon made my cake pink and purple swirl with orange frosting. He even put the candles (all 30 of them) in the shape of XX.
Then I opened presents and on the top of Jon's present, he wrote, "To my girls for Amber's birthday" and of course I read it aloud. Both moms said "Oh I get it!" "Really? That's great! So yeah, we're having a girl!" "Wait, what? You're really having a girl?" Apparently they thought it was just wishful thinking on Jon's part! Of course it didn't help that my appointment was originally on the 31st but moved it up due to work conflicts, but didn't tell them! :)

Proud of myself

2011-01-18T10:20:00.002-07:00

I am seriously proud of myself...now that Caleb is almost 4, I thought I'd finally finish his 1st year scrapbook! I realized I got a little out of hand with it, but they're only babies once right??? And I had such a great time doing it, but am so glad to have it over with. In my defense, I did move twice and have a new baby between his birth and now, but still! Oh and we had some live-in family for a while, eliminating my craft room...but I still could have gotten it done.

So now I'm very motivated to get Skyler's going, especially since I can't do much physical, but unless it requires too much concentrating, I've been able to scrapbook fine. So while I wait for pictures to work with for Skyler, I've already started making some basic layouts to add to his scrapbook-so hopefully it'll be easier to get it going. I realized how much I missed scrapbooking and feel so happy when I'm doing it! And hopefully once I get caught up on all 3 1st year books, I'll be able to move on to toddler year ones, then school year ones. I think those will be so much easier!

I also found a couple unfinished file folders that I started forever ago, and since they don't require much effort, I'm working on finishing those too!

And here's just a fun story...yesterday my mom drove me to Target with the boys to get a box of diapers. While we were there the boys were a big obnoxious, so I told Caleb since he wanted a baby sister, to show me clothes he thought she would like! So he walked around and yanked a purple/black/pink plaid skirt off clearance and said "she would think this is sooo cute!" He then walked around and kept bringing me more outfits, saying the same thing-until we finally left the store.

Later during the day we were talking to him about how it might be a baby brother, and he said "or a baby sister!" He really really would like a sister, and I'm not sure how he'll take it if it's a boy...we'll see I guess!

No shoes, No shirt = Tons of fun!

2011-01-18T10:12:00.005-07:00

So a couple weeks ago it was freezing here in AZ...but it quickly turned around. These pictures are from last Saturday, 1/15/11 and it was a beautiful day at about 75 degrees. So only in AZ in January would you find this picture...and they were so happy to be out there and were completely soaked when they came inside!Skyler getting rained on...he really doesn't like this, but at least I got a picture!
So really, for us, no shoes, no shirt = so much fun!!!

Lovin' the Kitchen

2011-01-18T10:04:00.003-07:00

The boys sure love playing in the kitchen, and even solicited daddy's help! Caleb loves the apron too...Skyler not so much, but once we got it on him the one time he wore it for about 4 hours and wouldn't take it off...but he won't let us put it on again at all! So glad they got this for Christmas...
And of course Skyler would get my new tongs...not any of the old ones to play with!
So just having a lot of fun...these pictures were taken the last week in December but they still play with it a ton!

Pregnancy Update and Potty Training Day 1

2011-01-10T22:04:00.002-07:00

So just a few updates before I forget them...and the odds are, I probably already forgot a lot because my memory is soo bad these days!

Last week I went in to the doc for my 16 week appointment. Everything looks good and I made my appointment for the 31st to find out what we're having. Now that the appointment is made, I don't want to wait and just want to know right away! And I have to say, my doc is still new to me, but I love that his office takes an unofficial ultrasound pic every week for you to take home. I love it! With my last doctor I saw the baby in the beginning, for the big ultrasound, another one if necessary, and then when they came out. With this one, I see it every month! :) I haven't really posted any because 1. I've been tired and exhausted and haven't felt like it, and 2. there's not much to see yet, especially since my uterus is still heavily in the back.

Now for another update, I guess we're potty training again. I've been trying to see if Skyler was interested in potty training for a while now, and had decided the answer was no. He refused to run around without pants on, without a diaper on, to sit on his potty without a diaper on, and he really doesn't follow directions all that well...so with all of that, I decided we'd probably wait til summer to start him on the potty. However, he has been letting us know when he needs a diaper change when he's poopy and is very eager to bring us the diapers and wipes when needed. So this morning, within 5 hours he had asked for a diaper change 4 times. That's a little excessive to me and would be VERY excessive on the bank account if I changed him that often for just a little pee.

So now we're potty training. After the last time, I took off his diaper and just didn't put another one on. He ran around naked for about an hour and used the potty twice...so he got a jelly bean each time! :) Then nap time came and we put him back in a diaper (we have to finish them) and I went and bought training pants and pull-ups. Later in the afternoon we put him in his new underwear and he used the potty two more times before bed. Granted we had to ask him if he needed to go, but when we did he was thrilled and went in! And no he wasn't in underwear all day, but while he was either naked or in underwear we had NO accidents! I'm not sure this is going to be this easy, but at least we have an advantage...he's not a frequent pee-er, so hopefully we can avoid frequent accidents...so we'll see!

Oh and I guess the other thing to mention...we tried putting him on the little potty chair, but he refused to put his pee cup on to protect the room. He just really didn't want to sit on it I guess since big brother uses the big potty...so now he will only sit if it's on the big potty like brother! Gotta love having an older one who's already completely potty trained...I think that's going to help a lot!

Dating Divas Giveaway Week

2011-01-05T13:09:00.004-07:00

I absolutely love this site, and love their wonderful date ideas. I'm hoping soon I can be a dating diva myself and be able to use some of their ideas!

They just created a new site, filled with all their ideas, and are doing a major giveaway week, so I want to share!

Their website can be found here, and I highly recommend you check it out. Great ideas for birthdays, date nights, anniversaries, and everything you can think of.
The official website is http://www.thedatingdivas.com/ and above is just a glimpse of what they are giving away! Love this site!