Just Kidding

My laptop died again. :( I thought it was fixed but it isn't so I still don't have my pictures. I DO have a few my mom emailed me from this weekend.

Ashlyn was mad and I wanted a quick picture despite her screaming before I changed her so I could show off her darling church dress

awww thanks for getting me out of my dress and holding me mom!

She is my sunshine! This baby makes my heart so happy. HOPEFULLY I can get my computer up so I can post about our new home, new life, adventures, pictures and all the things we have been up to like Ashlyn's blessing.

At long last

my laptop is fixed!! It's all better! I am thrilled! This means I can finally put the hundreds of pictures I have on memory cards from my camera on it. I now have access to pictures I already had on it. I have a lot of pictures to update. I mean A LOT!!

I will post sometime in the near future. yes!!!

Do I suck as a parent?

Probably not. I sure feel like it at times. I have this power struggle with my 3 going on 13 year old daughter. She is the cutest but sassiest little thing! Because she is so smart, I forget she is only 3 and I expect her to behave like an older child. I forget what is age appropriate for her. I forget she is acting and behaving as she should. Its to be expected yet I struggle finding ways to handle situations better; to the point that I question what in the world am I doing wrong.

The funny thing is... I have been to school for this. I am going to go back to school for this as I think it is not only fun and entertaining and interesting but extremely useful. I am talking about Early Childhood Education. It covers pretty much everything and as I was reading through all my workbooks tonight and found amazing and helpful articles and stories and scenarios and what not to help me understand my 23 month old and my 3.5 year old. It will help me (and be ME I mean Daniel too) a lot. I am anxious to re read my books and get clever, creative ways to approach certain situations and new activity ideas and how to keep my kids from getting the best of me when it is not even close to necessary. hmmm lots to read and think about. anyway I found an awesome story today. If you have a toddler or work with toddlers this is a must read! I liked it because I do all of these things to and with my little Lei and this helped me understand HER better!

I did not write this and I hope it is ok I am posting it here. note: as with everything I copy and paste, the font, and colors in this are all weird and jacked up. sorry!!

here it is: One morning, my then one-and-a-half-year-old son unlocked the child-safety latch of our bottom bathroom drawer. Upon finding my makeup, he began breathing heavily with excitement and staggering around. What a haul! What loot! Imagine his disappointment when, just as he was about to pry the shiny cap off a red lipstick, I picked him up and carried him out of the bathroom. I didn’t congratulate him on his discovery. I didn’t point him in the direction of the hallway’s white walls and say, “My home is your canvas. Go forth and create.” Instead, I ruined everything.

Before I had children, when I’d go to the grocery store and see a little kid in the cereal aisle screaming and crying, I’d shake my head. Why was it that every time I saw a toddler, he or she was throwing some kind of fit? What could be so difficult about spending the day playing, napping, and eating? Now, after living among their kind, I should apologize. Not to you, but to them. Here’s the sad truth: for toddlers, the world is a rough place full of squelched mysteries, restrained freedoms, and nonsensical commands. I think I’d rather be fourteen again than be a toddler.

What does an old, forgotten Goldfish cracker from the bottom of a car seat taste like? What kind of pattern does yogurt make when it splatters onto the floor? What sound do cookbook pages make as they are torn in half? These and many other great discoveries are often stopped by us, the big people in our toddlers’ lives.

How frustrating! What must it be like to get stopped by a security guard time and time again? To be constantly redirected and rerouted as you tried to go about your day, without an understanding of what you had done wrong? What if you sat down to read the newspaper and drink your coffee when suddenly — out of nowhere — some giant swooped down and plopped you in front of a pile of plastic blocks? You bet you’d protest. You’d holler your tush off.

So what’s the reward for a toddler’s natural curiosity? A little freedom and encouragement? No, just the opposite. Oppression! We pin them to furniture all day long: the stroller, the car seat, the high chair. All of the straps! All of the restraints! How maddening it must be to sit, captive, in front of a tray covered with food you can’t identify or don’t remember liking. No wonder it’s so often tossed to the floor.

And does anyone like being forced to perform for strangers? “Blow a kiss. Clap your hands. Wave ‘bye bye.’ Give Aunt Lisa a high five. Touch your nose. No, not your toes … your nose. Okay, now touch your toes. Blow another kiss. Let’s turn on some music. Dance. Dance!”

Do I need to even mention the language barrier? How much can these chubby-cheeked kids actually understand? Twenty percent? Thirty percent? Two percent? They don’t really understand us. We don’t really understand them. Every day must feel like an endless, torturous game of The $100,000 Pyramid. Anyone can see how badly toddlers want to communicate with the outside world. Does a day go by without a toddler picking up some object and holding it to his or her ear like a telephone? “Lo! Lo! Lo!” my son used to yell into a toy truck. Who was he calling? Was he trying to get help?

Of course, in the end, we parents still have to be the bad cop again and again — and again. Toddlers have to eat. They have to sleep. They can’t run into the street every time they notice an open door or scribble with indelible green marker all over the sofa. But I just want the record to reflect that I feel for them. And, in about fifty or so years, I want the toddlers of today to remember my solidarity with their cause and please treat me with care. **The author is Melissa Sher

life is good

It really is.

I have so much to update. I have so many pictures, stories, thoughts and all that good stuff. I have an unfinished post. With pictures.I just need to take the time to do it. It makes me sad, I don't want to leave anything out and since I have a TERRIBLE memory, I forget so many things and details. :( so sad. I need to get better at just recording everything on here right as it happens so I don't lose these precious memories!!

I will just do a brief run through of the latest and greatest with us.

Sweet Ashlyn is 3 weeks old. She now weighs 8 lbs 2 oz. She is now 20 inches and still has all her dark hair! Ireland had tons of blonde, which fell out then grew back curly, thick and still way blonde. Leighton was bald as bald can be and still doesn't have much but it is curly too- in the back and sides. I hope Ashlyn keeps her hair and gets curls too! If she doesn't that is ok it will just be weird to have to do her hair! My girls don't even have to comb or do anything with theirs. It is fabulous.

moving on....

I am still breastfeeding and it is a miracle I got milk for this baby. I nursed the others but can clearly tell now that I actually have milk this time. Not just the watery, non fatty part that I made a whole 2 oz a day of. This is the real deal and I couldn't be happier!!

Ashlyn is an amazing sleeper. She has a fun little personality already and I have gotten a couple smiles out of her.

She is a total momma's girl and will cry and as soon as I pick her up, she instantly is fine.. stinker! :) She also knows if someone else has her and just wants mom. I love it. Sad for others though.

We moved!! Seems the packing and moving part took FOREVER just because it was so much work. When I finished watching kids I thought I would have time to get it done, then my pregnancy turned into a nightmare and I had early labor start and stop for days and days and I was exhausted and stressed and miserable. I would be in so much pain from the work my body went through with the contractions... just to have them stop. I felt so weak and couldn't work on my house. After I had the baby, I stayed at my mom's for a week so I could rest/heal and she could spend time with my kids before we left. I got home and then had a week to finish my house. yikes! Daniel made it back home the afternoon of the day we moved so luckily I had help from family to pack that week!!

moving day was insane and I was humiliated!! My house was a disaster, there were so many things I wanted to help with but no one wanted me to lift or help or go up and down the stairs to load the truck so I sorta just stood around and I felt bad. Also embarrassed by how much stuff we had!! It was so awkward. We got a 20 foot truck from Uhaul... it wasn't enough!! ahhh. we still had to get a trailer to tow behind the truck with our stuff. gulp. I didn't realize how much CRAP we owned. Anyway my sis in law and family stayed the night to help us move and made us dinner and breakfast! We then drove the 4 plus hours to our new home where they then stayed and unpacked EVERYTHING and my kids had entertainment and food thanks to Chelsea and Matt and help unpacking from them, daniel, my father in law and my brother too

Funny story. The couch wouldn't fit in the door!! We had to bring it in through the window.... which is on the 2nd floor!! Believe it.... or not.... they put the couch ON the Uhaul, backed it up to the building and pulled it in through the window!! ha ha ha ha it was awesome. You better believe I have pictures of that!!

SO my house is trashed and we are trying to unpack and organize all this STUFF. I am a packrat and have way too many things. I plan to get rid of so much of it! Holy moly we just had a yard sale before we moved to get rid of stuff!! Also to make money for the moving truck. (by the way we made $505 at the yard sale!!! totally paid for the moving truck, trailer and GAS down here and back!!)

Anyway we LOVE it here!! It is warm/hot and there is so much to do . Walking distance from everything We went to an amazing splash park today (pics soon of that too) and are returning tomorrow. Wed. Dan is off work so it is off to the Library to get cards and get new books. Saturday we will walk to the temple and walk the grounds.

The kids are so happy and are glad to be here and we are thrilled.

Life is wonderful right now!!

oh so this wasn't short at all! hmmm...me talk a lot and go on and on?? never

:)

Dang I could have uploaded all my pictures by now.

oh well... next time~

for now it is 1:35 am and I am beat!

night