Out of the mouths of babes

Some kids are totally and completely random and bust-your-gut funny, my niece being one of them. Isaac has given me a few great laughs too.

This morning I had him sitting on the potty when totally out of the blue he tells me, in his manner of speaking, that he'll have hair on his elbows and his penis when he gets big like mom and dad. How do you NOT start laughing at that, and how do you respond? I'm not a huge prude, but still...

And my dad's favorite: A couple of years ago Isaac was realizing that someone has made everything, including the toys and movies he enjoys. When he'd ask me who made an item, I'd tell him, and then he'd ask, "Hard work?" asking if it was hard work to make that particular thing. So one day Isaac comes up to me and asks me who made him? I told him Mommy and Daddy made him. He looks at me and asks, "Hard work?" I remember laughing and thinking to myself, it wasn't hard work at the time!

This was a funny that came from Dan this past fall, and not Isaac, but I've still gotta share: When I found out I was pregnant, I was shocked! It was a total surprise, and I had taken the test while Dan was at work because I knew it would be negative. WRONG! So I called Dan up at work and told him that when he got home, I had a surprise for him. Dan, thinking of the arts and crafts I'd been working on at the time, asked me, "Is it homemade?" My response: "Um, yaaaaah." We sure aren't exhibitionists!

Meet Tom & Jerry

I just have to include these pics because so many people think it's weird/disgusting that our son has two pet rats. Please meet Tom and Jerry! Tom is black and white, and Jerry is completely white. Dan decided to give them a bath in the kitchen sink (totally scrubbed and sanitized before and after bathtime) and the rats did not appreciate the gesture! They do keep themselves clean, but I had to admit they looked extra fresh after their sudsy dip. We've had them for a year now.

He's a super reader

A couple of weeks ago Isaac brought home a Reading Award certificate that allowed him to get a free personal size pizza! We were able to go last Monday, and Isaac had a great time. He enjoyed his cheese pizza and a couple of mini toys from the quarter machine there. We're so proud of how well he's doing in school! We have a meeting with his teacher on Tuesday and I'd like to find out exactly how he earned this certificate since he's not actually reading yet. But we're still proud of how great he's doing! The pizza place pics are from Dan's cell camera, and is proof of why I've asked him to practice with the camera(s) before Brooke arrives so we can get clear pictures on her birth day.

Welcome Spring!

Spring has arrived. I know this because ants have started creeping into my home.

Let me tell you something about ants: I hate them. I'm not afraid of them, they just gross me out. I've been in homes where ants freely run through the house and the home owner obviously does nothing to 1) prevent them (ie. keeping their house clean) and 2) kill them. Not in my home! At the sight of the first ant searching for a free meal, I've got ant traps out all. over. the. house. I keep a clean home so I usually see just one lone ant, the traps come out, then I'll see maybe 6 more as they gobble up the poison and I stand there laughing wickedly like the witch and the poisoned apple. Eat up my pretties! Can you believe when we moved into this place the worst room in the house for ants was our upstairs bathroom?! Since being here and the spraying and traps I've done, I've been pleased to see very very few of them in our house at all.

Spring also means protecting our yard/flowers from the neighborhood cats and dogs that like to use it as a litter box. I need to get more moth balls to deal with the cats, and I need to make more "doggy-bombs" for the dogs. A doggy-bomb is something I made when I was at my whit's end dealing with the neighbor's dog constantly crapping in our yard: I bought some chocolate-flavored Ex-lax and then wrapped those individual pieces around pieces of bread (crusts removed). I keep them in a bag in the freezer, and either after the dog poops in our yard or after I see he's eaten the one I've tossed out in the grass already, I toss another one out there. My way of thinking: If the dog craps in their house enough, maybe they'll get a clue that their dog is eating something they shouldn't when they let them run wild in the neighborhood. By the way, these are pit-bulls so there's no way I'm dealing with them like a civilized human being, and even though I suspect what house they're from I'm not even honestly sure.

A much more pleasant side of Spring is the flowers. I love flowers! My daffodils have finally started to bloom, my lone hyacinth bloomed, my small lilac bush has green buds, and my tulips will soon be up. I look forward to after Brooke is born and being able to go outside and kneel and dig in the dirt again! If we ever own our own home, I hope it has a huge space for a beautiful flower garden, just because flowers make me happy.

Church

I made it to church today, I was totally patting myself on the back! I stayed just for Sacrament meeting and then came home to ice my back, but I made it there for the most important meeting. Last Sunday I had a case of morning sickness that was so bad it gave me contractions and broke the capillaries under my eyes and cheeks. Before that I've just been in so much pain that I couldn't go, so today was my first time in a month or so.

*pat, pat*

Rubber cement & Lillies

Isaac's Spring Break is half way over, I can hardly believe it. And it is by far the BEST school break he's had yet! I remember last year's Spring Break he had such a difficult time with the transition that there was alot of screaming and yelling in our home, and only 1/4 of it was from me (ya, I am one of the mean mommies who occasionally yells at her child when the need/desire arises). Since we live in a duplex, after last year's Spring Break was over I made a huge batch of treats and took them over to our neighbors with a note of apology as a peace offering... I hated listening to it in my own home, and I'm sure it wasn't pleasant for them either!

This year has been much, much easier and our "fun" thing for this Spring Break has been to redecorate Isaac's room with Speed Racer pictures. So today I got out the rubber cement and spent a good hour or so pasting and cutting these pictures to get them ready to go on the wall. And as I'm inhaling these fumes, the smell reminded me of the first time I ever smelled rubber cement. I was in the 3rd grade and everyone in our class had made these little books (I don't remember what was in them) but I remember the teacher using rubber cement to paste the pages and the SMELL! Our books were covered with sticky shelf lining paper, and I remember mine was a small blue & white print of some kind. But I remember that was the first time I'd smelled that odor.

So I started thinking about other smells and how funny it is that a smell can trigger an automatic memory of something.

I love day-lillies. They're so beautiful and cheerful! Many years ago I was in the hospital and I was horribly sick, and I was there for a week. My Grandma cut me some beautiful lillies from her garden and brought them in a vase and I had them put in a spot in my room where I could admire them. Unfortunately, in such a small room, the scent became so over-powering that I had to ask my sister to take them home, and so today lillies remind me of the hospital and lillies became one of my sister's favorite flowers. That sucked.

I love the smell of the beach, that fishy-salty smell in the air. It reminds me of all the happy family day trips we'd take as kids, having fun in the water, looking for shells, and finding cool things hiding in the tide pools.

I love my nose.

Brooke's coming home outfit

A few weeks ago we went to Fred Meyer while they were having this huge baby sale, and found this coming-home outfit for Brooke... Isn't it the cutest?! We had a really hard time deciding between a few outfits, mainly because Dan wanted to go with the pink frilly kinds of dresses and the pink frilly kinds of dresses make me gag a little. We agreed on this one and I'm pleased with it. We bought her some of those elastic stretchy bows that go around the baby's head... I've never actually put one on a baby before, so we'll see how it all works. Since I know this dress will be too long for her little feet to show much, rather than getting cute shoes to go with it I'm just going to find some pretty white socks, and I'm sure to Dan's pleasure, they may even have some frilly on them.

Gifts from Hawaii

My mom and her husband spent a week in Hawaii, and brought back some neat things for us. Isaac got this red shirt, and it's hard to see but has monster trucks and things all over it. He also got a Hot Wheels convertible because "that's what they drive in Hawaii". He loves it!

For Brooke, they bought her a little swimsuit that she can wear next year. Isn't it adorable?!

And last, they bought Dan and I a bag of dark chocolate covered macadamia nuts. I've got to tell you, these were soooooooooo good and not at all sicky-sweet. Somehow we managed to make this one bag last 2 whole weeks!

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!

Sex leads to minivans

Has anyone else stopped and pondered the reason minivans were even made? I think very few people out there would drive a minivan if they didn't have kids, and the only way to have kids is sex, so thus sex leads to minivans.

Our red lemon has been up and running for about 2 weeks now. We have kept detailed records of what we've done on it, and I'd like to share that with you here. I should write for those Mastercard commercials, except none of this was put on any credit card (OUCH)...

One 11 year old van: $1500.00
Unknown necessary repairs about to kick us in the you-know-where:
New serpentine belt and pulley: $74.99

Four new tires: $421.28

New air filter: $16.99

Six new spark plugs & installation: $100.94

New A/C compressor: $555.92

New shocks & alignment & front inner tie rod: $364.00

New plug wires & fuel filter: $105.00

Right front axle seal: $148.82

Total cost for our $1500.00 van: $3,287.94

Surviving the 3 weeks it took to do all this and the headache of being 1 vehicle short and the lesson learned that even little old couples will rip off young, unsuspecting victims all while avoiding bloodshed to each other's spouses: Priceless

Surprisingly, I like the van now. The love-hate relationship I had with it in the beginning is more lovey, even if it is a Ford. By the way, Grandma informed me that stands for Found On Road Dead and I couldn't agree more. But it's grown on me now. I like that the steering wheel is adjustable so it's not rubbing on my baby belly. And it doesn't feel like I'm driving a school bus so much anymore. One of the best perks? Isaac can't kick his muddy shoes against the back of my seat anymore *BIG SMILE*

If you haven't seen this video yet, you've gotta check it out!



Since our van is a 7-passenger instead of 8, does that make us slightly cooler than this?

Sisterhood Award

A special thanks to Allanna for the nomination... It was a pleasant surprise since I'm so new to blogger!

The rules for accepting the award are as follows:


Put the logo on your blog or post. Nominate at least 10 blogs with great attitude and/or gratitude. Be sure to link to your nominees in your post. Let your nominees know they have received the award by leaving them a comment on their blog. Be sure to link this post to the person who nominated you for the award.

Okay, here's the thing... since I'm so new to blogger I don't even have 10 blogs that I subscribe to (yet). So I'm going to bend the rules here and just say if you're reading this, I give you this award to pass on to others! Share the love!

MIA

I've been wanting to blog regularly like I would a real journal, but I haven't been feeling well and just didn't feel up to sitting at the computer. With this pregnancy I've had chronic pain with a pinched nerve in my neck (from an ancient injury) that causes severe headaches, and last week I had to get a morphine shot for it. I'm ready for this baby to come just to stop being in pain! Even I know that 5 bottles of Tylenol within 7 months of pregnancy isn't a good idea.

I have a lot of posts to do with things that have been going on, and I'll try to get those up tonight and tomorrow!

Our new library

The new library is open after a month of being closed for the big move, and today we went to check it out.

It's nice to be back on our regular Friday-is-library-day routine! I've been taking Isaac to the library (Salem at that time) since he was a baby and I was doing childcare for my niece. Every Friday we'd walk down to the small library location near our apartment and I'd let the kids play and pick out some books, and that's how it all started. I'm proud of myself for starting Isaac on books early... I loved books growing up! And I know it's because of our own huge library collection of kids books at home, and our weekly library trips for almost the last 6 years, that has led to Isaac's love of books. I hope Brooke develops a love for books that Isaac and I have (Dan's the black sheep of the family... he doesn't read much).

The new library is nice when you overlook that new building smell. I'm glad they passed out maps so we could find our way around. We even used their new bathrooms (Isaac used the potty in a public place!!!! WOW!!!!) and of course had to ride the elevators. I was especially grateful for their large number of places to park my preggo butt while Dan and Isaac searched and searched for Lego books. Isaac loved all the huge windows ("I can see our van!") and loved looking at people below us from the second floor. We used their new self-checkout which was super fast, and even learned how to open the DVD cases ourselves... sure saves time from standing in line! Then it was time to head home with our treasures and I had the pleasure and relief of icing my Sciatica.

It was a nice way to spend a Friday afternoon, and I'm hoping the library gets loads and loads of new books to fill all that new empty space!

Hiccups!

Yesterday morning I felt Brooke hiccup for the first time! I'm sure she's had them before and I didn't feel them, but yesterday was the first time I've felt them. At first I was thinking, "What in the world...?!" before I realized and remembered what it was :)

That got me thinking: Guys are pretty lucky because they get to do the cool stuff like peeing standing up. But with this pregnancy I've felt sorry for Dan and other guys because a man will never, ever know what it feels like to feel a baby tumble and stretch and even hiccup inside you. Pregnancy isn't pretty, but feeling that baby move is the most awesome thing in the world! Dan likes to hear how much Brooke moves during the day, and at night he'll put his hand on my belly and feel her kick, and that thrills him. But he'll never know what it really feels like and that makes me sad for him.

In other news, Isaac attended the birthday party of a friend from church and had a great time. So I hear. I stayed home for some R&R and I had Dan go with to keep an eye on him. It was a Pirates and Pixies theme, and there were supposed to be about 20 kids there! We got his little friend a Princess coloring book and a box of new crayons, and I hear that she opened Isaac's present very first. Isaac did a great job tracing over the letters for her birthday card too.

Here's our Isaac on the right, enjoying his cake, and sitting next to him is his other friend from church, also named Isaac.



Isaac brought home a goody bag from the party, and one of the items in there was a pirate earring! ARRRRRGH! It didn't fit very well on mommy or daddy's ear, and Isaac didn't want to wear it, but he found that it was a perfect fit for Teddy Bear!

If you can't tell, this bear is OLD. Mom made him for me when I was little, like Isaac's age or younger? She made one for each of us kids and stitched up a note inside of it. At some point years ago Isaac got attached to him, so I opened the bear up, found and removed the note, and stitched him back up. He's very well loved!