First Haircut

My sweet little boy got his very first haircut last week. I decided that his super-long locks in the back, although adorable, were getting just a little bit frazzled, and he had one patch of hair that was growing down the front and nearly into his eye. He handled the haircut so well! I kept taking pictures of him and then showing him the pictures on the camera, so that kept him reasonable entertained and still, which worked well for the stylist! She didn't take off a lot of length, other than on the top, but it turned out very cute, and he still has his beautiful curls.

Pineapple

The Macey's in our area closed down in order to move to a newly built location a couple of
weeks ago, and as I so wisely was shopping their last day in business, I was able to find a pineapple for the low, unbelievably low price of 49 cents a pound. I couldn't believe my luck, and immediately bought one. Once it traveled to my house, I placed it on the floor of the closet I use as a pantry, and promptly forgot about it. By the time I remembered it was there, a little over a week later, part of it had gotten overly soft and rotten, but most of the pineapple was still wonderful. I sliced it up, and proceeded to give my children their very first taste of the exotic fruit. After much wincing with the first bite, they both loved the flavor! They gobbled, munched, and chomped their way through the majority of the fruit. It wasn't until later, when Kadon developed a sore mouth from the acid of the pineapple, that we really had problems. I have experienced this problem in the past and wondered whether or not it was an allergic reaction, so I wonder if Kadon inherited my inability to digest pineapple. At any rate, he spent the rest of the evening in tears, and kept sticking his fingers in his mouth and saying 'owie'. I felt bad for the poor kid, but at least he enjoyed the offending fruit.

Jeremy Birthday

Okay, I know I'm COMPLETELY belated in posting this, but I have been really lazy about downloading pictures from my digital camera. Also, I have been trying desperately to cut back on my computer time, so blogging has taken a back seat to other, more important and time-consuming tasks. (IE: being a mother) Anyway, Jeremy had a fabulous birthday. We celebrated with a small group of family members on Saturday. We had a nice dinner of baked manicotti (NOT on the diet) and salad, then enjoyed opening gifts and playing with his new toys. Jeremy received two new robots, and I am not sure who enjoyed playing with them more, Jeremy or his father. It was rather cute. On Monday, his actual birthday, the fun continued with his very first friend party. We invited about 6 other 4 year olds over, and they played with balloons, decorated party hats, decorated and ate cupcakes and ice cream, and then helped Jeremy open his presents. After that, they had a few minutes to play freely in the toy room before their parents showed up to collect them. It was a hugely successful party, and Jeremy is already talking about what he wants to do next year. As for his parents....we're just thrilled that it's over, and now we're looking forward to quietly celebrating Kadon's birthday in a couple of months.

Dentally Challenged

I am truly sick of going to the dentist. Does everybody remembered when I first started posting about my silly toothache? For those of you paying fabulous attention, it was November. The first part of November, actually, was when my dumb tooth started bothering me. Here we are, closing down on January, and I am STILL visiting the dentist on a regular basis. I am very tired of his office, his dental assistants, and tired of finding parking out on the busy street where he is located. His aides are very nice, he's actually a perfectly amiable man, but I am tired of seeing him! I have found numerous sitters for various appointments (at last count: approximately 6) and have even had Ammon stay home once or twice, to save me the hassle of once again finding somebody to stay with my children. I am due for one last appointment the third week in February, and I have scheduled it for President's day, as I'm hoping that it will be a school holiday, and Ammon can therefore stay home with the kids. What, you may ask, has this 4 month ordeal taught me? To get my sorry tuckus to the dentist more often! The several weeks that I suffered with the broken tooth and subsequent infection were not worth avoiding the dentist, and a regular 6 month checkup with the necessary cleanings and fillings would have saved me even that! So yes, I am becoming a dental advocate. Get your teeth cleaned! Brush and floss! And for heaven's sake, locate a dentist with pretty eyes and a nice hairline, because you're going to be seeing it a lot.

Illness Reigns

Kadon is sick. Once again. We had a lovely month with no major illnesses or suffering, not even any major asthma problems. Today, Kadon woke up with a runny nose, a cough, and a low-grade fever. I got him to eat some breakfast, and then I gave him some Robitussin and some cough medicine with Codeine to take care of the fever. My poor baby spent nearly the entire day curled up in my arms with his head laid on my chest. I have to admit, I don't mind when he's ill like this. Any day I get to spend snuggling with my son is a successful day in my book, and today was up there in the hierarchy of greatness. Tonight, he dozed off in my arms at about 7 pm, and barely awoke while I went through the routine of changing his diaper, changing his clothes into pajamas, and then gave him a breathing treatment. He barely woke up long enough to swallow some ice cream that had his powdered medicine mixed into it, and he was sound asleep in his bed about five minutes later. I hate it when he is sick, but I love the extra snuggle time I get. Does that make me a bad mom?

Jeremy's Birthday

Monday was my baby boys birthday. My first born, my eldest, my son. He turned 4 years old, which I am still having a really hard time digesting. I can't believe that he has been part of our life for four years. Sometimes, it seems like those years have been achingly, painfully drawn out, but most of the time those years have flown by with a speed that makes my head spin. I can recall with great clarity the day I took the pregnancy test, and saw the two lines. I wasn't expecting to be pregnant, we hadn't been trying to get pregnant, but nonetheless, I loved him instantly. I was also certain that first day that I would be having a boy. Two months into my pregnancy, I went to the store and couldn't resist buying a blue hat and bootie set that said "I love Daddy". Everybody made fun of me, said I was jinxing myself buying blue clothes before I had an ultrasound. I, however, didn't care. We never even discussed the possibility of choosing a girls name, and the ultrasound that I finally had in August at 20 weeks only proved what I knew from conception. I remember every day that I went overdue with him. 8 long, painful, horrifying days I carried him past his due date. I remember crying in my doctors office on the 7th day overdue, begging him to put me out of my misery. Little did I know what was in store for me: 12 hours with a vaginal suppository meant to stimulate contractions, and another 12 hours on pitocin, all of which caused me to dilate a mere 1 1/2 centimeters. When the decision was finally made to bring him into the world via cesarean section, I cared little for the method of delivery, and simply wanted to hold my son in my arms. When they placed him on my chest in the operating room for the first time, I could barely speak for the tears in my eyes and in my throat. He looked up at me with his enormous blue eyes, and a connection was made, a connection that has altered over the years, but only grown stronger. I am so grateful that he was sent to be part of my life, and will spend the rest of my life trying to nurture him into the man I know he can be. Some blessings simply can't be measured in words.

New Montage

My Montage

It moved!

Yes, that's right, my ticker moved! I am quite proud of myself. I couldn't bring myself to add extra pounds after the holidays, so even though I gained 3, I left the ticker where it was. Now, not only have I lost the three I gained over Christmas, but I've since lost two more, bringing my grand total to 23 more to go! Yea! It's been hard crawling back on the wagon since the year started, but knowing you all are watching that ticker slide ever so slowly toward the end is all worth it. Sorry I haven't been posting more often, but at least I warned everybody that this was going to be a busy week. I'll be better next week, I promise! I hope everybody has a great weekend.

Moving On

Yesterday was our semi-annual stake conference. We had a member of the presidency of the 70th with us, and they reorganized our stake presidency. It didn't mean a whole lot to me, as I didn't know the old presidency, and I don't know the new group either, but it was still a neat meeting to attend. It was a nice way to start a week that is starting to look more and more crazy as the days pass. Today is my only day to stay home and do housework, so I'm going to do a load of laundry, organize my bedroom, do the dishes, and a number of other household tasks. Tomorrow, the Institute class that I so enjoyed in the fall starts again, picking up where we left off in November. I'm greatly looking forward to this class, as it serves to edify me in ways that simply aren't possible when I study on my own. Then, Tuesday evening I will drop the kids off at a friends house, and head into town to pick up Ammon from work, and then we will grab something fast for dinner and attempt to finish the shopping necessary for Jeremy's birthday party next week. Now, on Wednesday, the real adventure begins. Ammon is staying home with the kids in the morning so that I can go to the dentist first thing. Then, Ammon will take the car, go to work, and I will feed the kids lunch and put Kadon down for a nap. After Kadon's nap, it will be time for Jeremy to get ready for a birthday party that is at 4 o'clock. After he gets home, we'll have a late dinner, bathe the kids, put them to bed. Then, finally, I will head over to my friend Laura's house for a book club meeting. Let's see...on Thursday, there's not much planned, other than my weekly TV addiction-which is returning to the lineup after the Christmas break with a two hour episode. By Friday, I'm sure I'm going to have some errands to run, and probably grocery shopping to do.
Anyway, my point in telling you all this is simple. I'm probably not going to have a lot of time to update this week. I'll try to get it in when I can, but I probably won't be as diligent as I should. That said, I hope you all have a great week!

Slipping Away

I was on such a good posting streak....and then this week slipped by without nary a thought to blogging. So sorry I've been absent, I have no excuses to offer. Yesterday we got together with our quartet, and have started choosing music for a new show to do this spring. We've decided to put together a show of folk songs, so I'm really thrilled. The music that we have chosen so far is fairly difficult, but beautiful, and I'm excited to sing it. Today Jeremy had a play date with Laura's son, Josh. They came over this morning to make sugar cookies. I got the dough ready last night, and when they got here this morning the kids helped cut some out, and then after they were cooked we frosted them and decorated them, and then each of the kids ate two cookies. It was a lot of fun,and I especially appreciated Laura's decorating advice! As she was walking around my apartment, she made a few suggestions about alternate art placement. After she left I implemented most of the changes she had thought of, and then a few more of my own! My living room now looks very put together and lovely, and if I could just figure out what to do with my kitchen then I would be happy. I dearly wish that I could paint the walls in the living room, I even know exactly what color I would do it...but alas, it will have to wait until that mythical occasion when we actually become homeowners.

Stomach Bug

Well, my two older boys have apparently been struck down with a stomach bug. Poor Ammon was sick starting last night, but suffered through work and school today. Jeremy seemed fine until this evening. He came home from his friend's house, proclaimed that he was tired and his tummy hurt, and laid down on the couch where he has been ever since. For my little boy to actually take a break and lay on the couch of his own accord, this illness must be serious! I hope he's feeling better by tomorrow, as I have every intention of driving into town in order to go shopping for some birthday supplies. Jeremy is turning the big 4 in a little less than two weeks, and we have quite a shindig planned, I'm very excited! It will be his first 'friend' party, and I managed to talk him into a castle theme. I have lots of ideas for decorations and activities, and I can't wait to get started!

Welcome, 2007!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! To all my normal readers (and those just stopping in) I hope this year makes all your dreams come true, and finds you in perfect health and happiness.