Hawaii 2011

I am finally getting around to posting on this! If we are friends on facebook, you may have seen some of these.

First of all Kauai was AMAZING!! This trip was everything we wanted and more! Ireland cried when we had to come home. It was sad but we knew she had a good time. Leighton says: "Hawaii, water, roosters, and beach" still so I know she still sorta remembers. I have had several people ask about the hotel, prices, traveling with kids- especially flying, the activities we did, etc. I will get to that soon and lots more pictures but for now just pictures.

Here is the view from our hotel room balcony. It was raining though

At one of the beaches. Getting water and sea shells for her castle

me a little bit pregnant at the pool :)

ha ha. Dan always took pictures of me and I never knew until later. Man, I sure was enjoying the lighthouse and view I guess :)

one of the waterfalls we saw

view near the lighthouse

we found a park

Leighton showing how to really play!

loves at the pool. I love how Ireland is waiting for one too!

oh sorry, out of order. Our one and only family shot. Thanks random dude for offering!!

sea shell hunt

two days in a row at this specific beach, a sea turtle came to the shore and let everyone take pics and snorkel around him. Daniel captured this incredible shot of him coming up for air. He was huge! He came swimming right up to my shins!

goodness this girl loved that sand!!

fish pond at our hotel by the pools

one of 4 pools at the hotel. This one is the kid one

Ireland being cute. Her poor hair didn't stand a chance with the rain and humidity! I never even tried to do it. I never sprayed or combed it. The weather took care of business :)
anyway... that's a few for now. Seriously, seriously, best vacation ever!!!

belly pics and video of my baby counting

Here I was at 8 weeks then me now at 31 weeks:

also, just because, here is Leighton counting to 13. She skips 10 but that's ok! Not bad for 20 months :) sorry- she is quiet and I am loud. Hope you can hear her

because I don't want to clean anymore right now...

yes I JUST did a post but I was sick of cleaning and totally deserved a break (maybe not) and decided to blog stalk people. Ran across blogs I have never seen and found some random game/survey type thing. love it or hate you know you will still read it. ha ha just kidding. but seriously. It might be lame.

just so you are warned

ps how do I get the font to not look like that or cut off at my pictures?? sigh

My ABC's

A. Age: 26. Wow I honestly had to think about it. sheesh. I will be 27 on the 14th of April. (Just so you all know. Also know I like clothes, gift cards and movies) :)

B. Bed size: I have no idea. I am pretty sure it's a queen. yeah it is I just remembered

C. Chore you dislike: dishes. ugh. 'dislike' is not quite strong enough for this

D. Dogs: none. My child is allergic.

E. Essential start to your day: Dr. Pepper and HUGE hugs from my 2 darling monkeys

F. Favorite color: I am pretty girly. I have 2 favorites: yellow and pink. Bright yellow and pink is even better

G. Gold or silver: Silver.

H. Height: 5'3" I think. Maybe I am 5'4. never mind, I think I am shrinking some how

I. Instruments you play(ed): none :( I REALLY want to play the piano. I kind of need to own one first though

J. Job title: mother/wife

K. Kids: 3 girls- Ireland, Leighton and due in May is Ashlyn

L. Live: Utah

M. Mom’s name: Janalyn

N. Nicknames: kinz, mommy, sweety, mandala, panda, mand

O. Overnight hospital stays: both times I had a kid I stayed over night twice. Also I spent 3 nights for something else right before I got pregnant with munchkin #1

*update: I can't believe I forgot the other ones. When I was 3, I almost drown in a swimming pool. Was in the icu with water in my lungs. Not sure how long I was there. Then the very next year I was mauled-on my face- by a German Shepherd and had to have surgeries, staples, recovery, etc.

P. Pet peeves: don't even get me started. ok I will put one: when people can't say "thank you" like to a waiter or when you hold a door open for someone. It is so easy!!

Q. Quote from a movie: "Don't forget to breathe. In and out" ha ha ha funny I tell you. I giggle every time I say it or think it

R. Righty or lefty: Righty

S. Siblings: 1 sister and 2 brother

T. Time you wake up: 8 am. because I watch kids. If I wake up with just my kids I usually get to sleep in until 9 am or so. I LOVE how they love to sleep!

U. Underwear: white. always

V. Vegetables you don’t like: I love veggies but there are still so many I don't like. I don't want to list them though

W.What makes you run late: myself. I am always late. For everything. I hate it and need to change it

X. X-rays you’ve had:teeth and pretty much everything else. Being clumsy and getting injured for some but most were from several car accidents (not my fault just so you know)

Y. Yummy food you make: Sunday roast (have only done once but it was fabulous) I make a great bowl of cereal, tv dinners, anything quick but I actually make a good steak! Oh and this rice & chicken casserole thing my friend showed me.

Z. Zoo animal favorites: too many to pick

curious

I have some questions. Humor me and tell me what you think... anyone??

ok So I have a thing that shows me if anyone makes any of the pictures on my blog big (not who sees it just what picture it was) well somehow and for some reason, someone in another country (I am assuming because I can't read the language) took some of my pictures and put it on their blog/site. They were ones of Leighton from our family photo shoot last summer. I couldn't read it but in the url it said in English "beautiful blue eye child"

my question: do I be completely freaked out or flattered?? My blog WAS private-twice- but I had family members who couldn't log on, couldn't see it, I had friends who couldn't access me blog. It became a huge mess. No one's blogs showed when I updated so everyone thought I stopped blogging.

my question: do I still keep it public and let people love on my daughter's blue eyes?? While taking my pictures?

Does it even matter? Its not like I post my address, city, what days of the week we are home, and pics of my kids naked. so should I worry or no?

moving on...

I am 31 weeks pregnant and I am just NOW getting over morning sickness. Just now having energy. Just now caring to start packing up my house, just now wanting to be semi social. I have 12 messages in my facebook inbox that I have yet to respond to. I feel like a jerk but I have either forgotten or been scared to talk to anyone. Besides comments through fb and occasional texts to friends I have avoided all contact with people for fear they may see how crazy, boring or sick I have become this last 30 or so weeks. But 98% of it is I just forget. honestly.

my question- do I apologize and respond, do I even worry about it? Do I stop using fb? ha ha just kidding

My dear sweet grandma saw me the other day. She made a comment that I don't look very big. Not sure if that was a compliment or insult. With my last 2 pregnancies I was always pretty small (in the belly anyway) and my gma as well as others always made comments on how I was too little, too small, not gaining enough weight, I need to eat more, etc.

Are you kidding me?! for one I was sick for 32 weeks with Ireland. That sorta means I won't get big. Yet I still managed to gain 23 pounds total. That's good I think. I ate so much with both pregnancies. Like obscene amounts of food. I tried to get bigger. With Lei I was only sick 14 weeks but only gained 18 lbs. So what I am saying is these comments I get put me in panic mode that I WAS too little, my babies were starving, that my kids were not getting enough. Then I would spend the end of my pregnancies paranoid, stressed and pigging out like 8 times a day. My ob always told me I was just fine. told me not to worry. Told me the girls were 100% fine.

my question: why do comments from family and friends effect me like that? My ob says one thing but all I think about is the comments that I "should be bigger by now" it is frustrating. So of course my grandma's comment made me panic. She may have not meant anything by it (this time) but I still worry. All my books say I should have gained about 20 lbs by now. I have gained 11. my ob told me that was awesome.

question: how do you not let dumb, petty, pointless things like that get to you?

I am very tired. This post was sorta pointless but I needed to get it out.

I feel better already :)

This may take a while

Since I suck at updating and actually blogging this will be pretty much update, story and picture over load. oh well. I want to and I can :)

Where to even begin?? goodness this will be long

Let's start with the husband:

just kidding there isn't anything new with him. He is handsome, a hard worker, super sweet, above and beyond helpful, I have nothing to complain about with him. Nothing new though to report

Now with me: um... oh right I am 30 weeks pregnant (well tomorrow I will be but pretty much same thing right?) I know my doc will induce a week early so the very latest baby Ashlyn will be here is 9 weeks, yikes! So soon! hooray! I , however, do not believe she will stay in there that long. My kids come early, my labors are very quick. I know every pregnancy is different so she may stay in there, but I highly doubt it. I personally keep feeling like the 1st or 2nd week in May. Who knows.

SO I made it to the Ear Nose and Throat Dr. today. so the never ending stuffiness in my left nostril that leads everyone to think I have a cold, and the constant sinus infections, and how I can't breathe out of the left side= deviated septum. Now I am quite sure you will laugh at me, but I didn't even know what that meant until I came home and looked it up. They want to do a sinus cat scan but will wait until after baby comes first. The second reason I went in today is my voice has always just disappeared randomly sometimes each month but 2 years ago it never returned- well not fully anyway. It sounds gravely, I sound sick, my voice gets hoarse and tired easily. Well apparently I have "knots" or scar tissue on my vocal cords. yippee. :( So they can either take them out with a laser (uh.... no thanks!!) or try for 2 weeks to keep my voice rested. no talking for 2 weeks. yeah this should be fun....

anyway boring but that's the latest with me. Now onto my girlies:

Ireland: oh my goodness this kid is a ball of energy, fun, cuteness, wild, silly and super smart. She amazes me with what she knows and how loving she is to her sister and how stinkin excited she is for a new baby sister!! Ireland can write her name, she now is learning to read (her idea ) She has known for a while all the sounds the letters make and now her fave thing is to sound out words. Like she will say "tuh, tuh, table, T." I think the only letters she has a hard time with is Q. Also the c and k because they can sound the same. Like she thinks Cake starts with a K. It is adorable. She can recognize all her #'s up to like 14 I think.

This kid sings and dances all day long!! She has a dance concert the end of this month, a dance competition in April and one last concert in May. She LOVES dance class. She is in my Primary class at church. I only had 4 kids in my class. two just moved, one comes every other week so sometimes it will just be Ireland. She doesn't want to be in primary. She wants nursery with her sister. :( oh well she will come to like it. maybe.

Ireland has an amazing memory and can retell an entire conversation from days and days ago and even remembers hand gestures used and facial expressions from the person she was talking to and what not. It is CRAZY!!!

she is almost 3 and a half and pretends often she is only 2. No idea why.

She loves to play house, pretend, and LOOOOVES to play dress ups. every single day she wears dress ups.

She and Leighton know what the traffic lights mean so when we drive and a light turns red both girls yell "stop!" then when it turns green, they both simultaneously yell "go!" also Ireland's new fascination is with the blinker. She informs us " that car is turning left" or "that car is turning right bc it's clinker is on the right" she is hilarious.

anyway I have lot's to say about that cute girl but can't remember what other new things she is learning.

Ok now Leighton: She is 20 months and I have been wanting to update on her since 16 months. SO I am kind of behind on her accomplishments.

This poor kid is always sick. Her pediatrician says she has gone ALMOST 2 months at a time since birth without being brought in with some infection. She does NOT respond to antibiotics. You would never know how much this kid has been through though by watching her she is so happy. Like unbelievably happy. Every little thing excites her and she is always bouncing or jumping or spinning, running, laughing, singing. She is one who KNOWS how to make you laugh. She KNOWS she is funny. It's cute. She never used to be shy until she was hospitalized with RSV now she is way shy and doesn't trust strangers. I personally think she is getting better and more social now.

Ok onto new things with Leighton. She knows the entire alphabet and can now say each letter quite well. She knows all the words to: I am a child of God, itsy bitsy spider, twinkle twinkle little star, turtle song, the witch song, all the songs in nursery, and she can now do as many signs in sign language as I can. She signs almost anything she says and does them pretty well. She even makes up her own! Like she made up a sign for baby powder. Leighton knows all her shapes and her favorites are ovals and stars. She points out shapes everywhere we go! she will be like "circle mommy, circle!" and she gets so proud of herself. She knows the color yellow and pink.

Leighton loves to be read to. She asks about 15 times a day to be read to.

She knows all her animals and what sounds they make. Her horse is hilarious!

This kid can talk so well! I actually get comments when I go anywhere about her speech. She says at least 4 word sentences all the time. Her longest sentence is "no thank you, I don't want it". She speaks clearly so people, even strangers can communicate with her (if she isn't being super shy) she LOVES to talk on the phone and will just talk and talk and answer questions and tell stories on the phone.

She says things all the time that crack me up. Like tonight I gave her a hug and squeezed her super tight. She pulls away faking being out of breath and slowly and dramatically goes: "oh. my. gosh!" ha ha it's awesome. When I tell her to do something she says "I am" like I told her to be nice. She says "I am be nice mommy" its cute. She knows these words that I swear she is too young to know. Of course I can't think of any right now. She is too big :( she should be my tiny little new born!

I have a whole list of words and sentences she knows but it literally is too long to type up right now. I will just say I cannot think of a single word she DOESN'T know. everything around the house she knows its name, what it does. I think it's all because she asks what everything is, what it does and if she doesn't know she asks why. You explain it and she says "oh" then repeats it back to you.

She can count to 4. Leighton also knows every body part. She knew them all by 16 months- including tongue, elbow, shoulder and back! I have a video of her doing it at 16 months but not sure how to change the settings so blogger accepts it. I will ask Daniel.

Anyway..

She is such a sweet, loving kid. She has the biggest heart. one last thing about her: one of the kids I watch ALWAYS takes Leighton's treats from her (even if the kid has her own) I usually usher the girl away so Lei can just eat. Well one day it happened and I stand back and watch thinking to myself "defend yourself Leighton!" I am waiting for leighton to get mad or whatever else. She watches the girl take her crackers and looks at me so excited and exclaims " I sharing mommy!!" as she was doing the sign for "share."

I kid you not.

She is so calm with most situations, so mellow and sooo friendly, loving and generous. This kid is amazing

anyway I think that's it about Leighton for now

As far as Ashlyn I think she is doing alright in there :) She is very active and is measuring where she should. At my last ob appt. when I was 28 weeks I had gained 11 lbs total so far and doc says that is perfect so looks like baby is getting what she needs!! :)

I have lots to post on our Hawaii trip and will do that soon. My back is killing me so it won't happen now. I will just say it was AMAZING!!! :)

ahhh feels good to be semi caught up. got my rambling done with and hopefully my family can be caught up on the Romney latest.

I have some videos of the girls singing and or dancing or telling stories too :)

here some pics:

just a random but cute one of Leighton

A couple of months ago we went to the living Planet Aquarium with my brother and sister in law Jon and Amber and my niece Haley. I just found the pics so here are a few: