Snowman...Finally

Yeah!!!! The news is in and Mike got a very good, 10%, raise and promotion again this year. We weren't expecting it but we were, it is along story.

Now time for the picture of this post. For the longest time Emily has been talking about building a snowman. I of course keep putting it off because I don't want to go out where it is cold, and I keep telling her that Daddy will build one with her...but by the time he gets home from work it is to dark and by the time the weekend comes there isn't enough or any snow left to do anything with. So yesterday while Mordecai was taking a nap she and I took a walk to the mail box and got the mail. When we got back she asked if she could "shovel" the snow in the backyard with her plastic hoe, and shovel. I told her yes but that she had to have her coat, hat, and gloves on. I left the back door open and I kept peeking out to make sure she was safe. She kept knocking on the door and telling me that she was "shoveling" and having fun, then she said she was going to build a snowman. I felt a tug at my heart telling me that she needed a little bit one on one time and so I decided that I was going to go out and build a snowman with her. She was so excited and so once I got my snow boots and coat on we started. She kept running around picking up snow and patting it on the snowman, and saying, "there now it's perfect, isn't it mommy?" After we finished we came inside for a snack and then we e-mailed the picture to daddy at work so he could see it too. We made sure we built him in the shade so he wouldn't melt to soon, and this morning she came downstairs for breakfast and looked out the dinning room window to see if he was still there, boy was she excited cause he was. I don't have the heart to tell her that he melted a little today and that his nose and eyes fell off.

Mordecai has been sleeping better. He only got up once after we went to bed, and I shouldn't complain because the first time we put him to bed he will lay down and go right to sleep. He doesn't need to nurse, or have a bottle. This weekend if we are feeling up to it we are going to make him cry it out once he wakes up, so that means Mike, Emily, and I are going to have a camp out in the basement since our little one doesn't give up easily. Oh- I almost forgot. Mordecai said his first real word yesterday. He says uh-oh when he drops something or throws something. He has been saying "dad" but not constantly, and I think he says it on purpose cause its when Mike walks into the room, or leaves the room. I can't be sure like I am about uh-oh or sure like I was when it was Emily but I think so.

I have a follow up urology appointment tomorrow to see what my 24 hour urine collection and stone analysis say, and after that it is laundry day. Yeah!!!!

Throw Up

*NOTE* Those of you with weak stomachs should not read this post.

*Double NOTE* I am so glad we own a steam cleaner, and those of you with kids who don't have one yet, you should get one.

This weekend was the longest ever!!! I should be excited because that means I get to have a long weekend with Mike, and I did, but we didn't do anything fun. Beginning Thursday night Mordecai threw up all down Mikes back and all over the Family room floor, so we were up late steam cleaning carpets. Friday night Emily ate well, which isn't unusual for those who know her. The girl loves fruits and veggies, and no I am not complaining. I put Mordecai down, I am starting a routine with him in hopes he will learn to sleep better *HA*, and Emily played with Mike for a bit in the basement with her train table. She went down about 8:00. Mike and I sat down on the couch in hopes to watch something we DVR'd but didn't work out cause I was falling asleep. I think the lack of sleep is finally catching up to me. So about 9:00 Mike nudges me and says lets go to bed. So I am in bed and asleep by 9:15, I wasn't asleep long when I heard the kids bathrooms tub turn on and Emily whimpering. I went to see what was going on and was blasted with a whiff of vomit. Apparently Emily threw up all of her dinner and the whole package of blueberries she ate for dinner. Her bed was covered including her pillow and soft blanket. Mike being such a sweetheart was trying to take care of her and let me sleep. So I rinsed Emily off, TWICE, washed her hair, TWICE, and got her in some clean pajamas while Mike took care of the bedding, room, and clothes. I sat on the couch with Emily while we watched a movie, "David & Goliath", and spurts of her throwing up. Unfortunately her pillow didn't survive the stain of blueberries, but everything else did. Around 11:30 Mordecai decides to wake up, as usual, and stay awake since he can hear all the commotion happening downstairs. Emily fell asleep about 1:00 in the morning on the family room floor, and after she had been asleep for a half an hour with out vomiting Mike carried her up to our room so he and I could go to sleep. Emily got up once after everyone was asleep,but slept the rest of the night. Saturday we spent deep cleaning the house, and doing errands. Man I just love a spic and span house!! This morning was long as usual since I have to get myself and 2 kids ready and out the door by 8:30 for church, I can't imagine how I will feel when we finally add more to the mix, not to mention that I couldn't get Emily out of bed until 8:00, and then when I finally did she kept telling me she had to throw up again and that she wanted milk, great combo huh? So after I got her dressed we went downstairs for quick breakfast and milk for her. I put a bib on her even though she hasn't needed one for a while, and I am so glad I did. She nixed the cereal and downed 2 glasses of milk and then threw up all over the table since she had nothing else in her stomach. Gosh!!!! Writing about this makes me frustrated all over again. We made it to Church on time with a bowl in the backseat just in case I was wrong about it just being milk on an empty stomach, which turns out I was right since she was back to her normal self when I picked her up from nursery. I think I done writing for tonight. Goodnight!

AAHH! Early Morning

Well it is 6:00 in the morning and I am posting cause there is absolutely nothing better to do. I am struggling with Mordecai lately. He wakes up at least 3 times a night, and I still can't figure out why. I am still pretty sure that it is habit from when we went to Utah in July...why you ask cause it has been happening since then and Mike and especially me have been to lazy to let him cry it out like we did with Emily. The kid cries for 2 hours or more and it is so much easier for me to go in, pop my boob in his mouth, he doesn't even nurse he just holds it in there, and he will be asleep within 2-5 minutes. Only to do this 2 more times during the night. I am up so early now cause Emily came into our room crying. She said that someone was chasing her up the stairs. We pulled her in bed but she was to wiggly so I brought her downstairs so Mike could sleep, what a nice wife I am. ;)

Today I have a follow up O.B. appointment about the cyst on my right ovary. After that I am taking the kids with me to do my visiting teaching. I finally hit my pre-pregnancy weight before Emily, yes I never got back before getting prego with Mordecai, and I have been feeling hungry like 10-20 minutes after I eat a meal. I keep thinking that if this is what it is like being little again I want some weight back on. Mike keeps saying that now I know how he feels, and maybe my metabolism is working better. All I have to say is WHATEVER! It has always worked, just not like his.

So Mike and Seth gave Michael his blessing on Sunday. We went to Children's Hospital and to the Oncology floor. It was so hard for all of us to see him in that bed. The blessing went well. Mike said afterwards that he wanted to say he would be healed but the words weren't there...so we will see what that means. I did however check the Internet on hid type of cancer and it said that 9 out 10 kids survive this type of kidney cancer, his type is Wilms, so hopefully he does well.

I need to go help whiny (Emily) with her puzzle, this is what we get for her being up so early, so goodbye for now.

Blessings and Sadness

I haven't posted in a while, probably cause I feel like we have nothing to share,but I know that's not the case. So thinking back I on the last week and a half I have a story to share about the blessings you receive from paying your tithing and fast offerings. So everyone should first know that when we purchase big items we put them on our discover card and then when we get the bill we pay it off completely, we do this for the cash back. Well so I paid our discover bill of $3233.93 on December 8 like it was due. We then received a bill for $3337.04 due on January 8th. I paid it on Discovers web site on time. So a couple of days later I was going out with some friends so I decided to check the checking account and see how much cash we had. Well, I was completely shocked when I checked cause the money I allotted for the discover card wasn't taken out. I then called discover and talked with an operator. I told them that I had tried to pay my bill on their website, but it didn't get paid, so I wanted to pay it. The operator asked how much I wanted to pay and I said the bill amount of $3337.04. He then told me that we didn't owe that amount, and that all he could see was a $1000.00, give or take some cash, due on February 8th. I literally argued with him, politely though, telling him that we owed more than that amount. He said no so I finally hung up. I went and got Mike and told him what was happening. He checked discovers website, and he couldn't figure it out either. To make a long story short we don't and didn't have to pay. Mike said he wished we would of purchased more stuff for the home!!!! Really though the only thing we can think of was that the Lord blessed us cause he knew we had medical bills coming. So with that said I am eternally grateful.

Yesterday we got some exciting, but expecting phone call that Wanda and Robert (my oldest sister and brother in-law) are expecting baby # 9 on September 20th. We are now expecting 4 new nieces and nephews this year. Keith & Kim's, Phil & Hannah's, Cherstin & Dan's, and Robert & Wanda's. My dad called me early in the morning to find out when we are due so he can pencil us in too. I had to laugh. Mordecai is only 10 months, so I told him we probably wont have an announcement until the beginning of the summer at the earliest. I also got some sad/bad news yesterday as well. My friends Janine from down the street from our old house called to tell me that her son, Michael that is 2 1/2, was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor on his right kidney on Tuesday this past week. They operated Thursday morning and removed the tumor which was the size of an orange and his kidney. They also left a port hole for chemo during the surgery. I have been so sick for them so I called the Albuquerque Temple and put their names on the prayer roll. I have talked to her a little about church these last 2 years, so we offered a blessing. I didn't think they would accept but I got a call from her this morning saying they would love it if Mike would do that for them so that is scheduled for Sunday afternoon. I will post more as I know.

This morning I went shopping for me and the kids. Old Navy had an additional 50% off their clearance clothes so we found some great deals. I also need to post that I can finally french braid Emily's hair. So here are some pictures.

The Last Week

I need to back up a couple of days and tell you all about our night out at Red Robin. So Saturday night we decided that we would go out to eat for dinner since we had all the hustle and bustle of Christmas. Well we almost always go to Red Robin because of their fries, so on the way there we kept asking Emily what she wanted for dinner and she said "a hangerber." So when we got there I asked her again what she wanted, knowing that she usually picks the pizza or chicken nuggets, well she picked the "hangerber" again, so we ordered it for her. Well once the food got to our table we were shocked that she picked it up to eat it. She fought with Mike about the paper they wrap around the bottom half of the bun because Mike wanted her to keep it on to keep her hands clean and she didn't want it on. After eating all of her "hangerber" and fries we thought she was stuffed. Well at the end of our meals Mordecai decided to vomit up all the fries he ate and I as usual caught it in my hand. He did this 3 times because of his wonderful gag reflex, it is amazing the things we do for our kids, so I decided to dump it in the empty trays and go to the bathroom to wash my hands. Since Emily is potty trained now, and we were leaving I asked her if she needed to go, she said yes so we went. While we were in there Emily didn't lean forward enough to keep the spray in the toilet, so needless to say I caught her urine so it wouldn't get all over her clothes or mine. So I guess you could say that that was a night of catching bodily fluids for me. After dinner we went to Target and as soon as we got home Emily told us she was hungry again, and that she wanted a snack. Amazing! She must be growing.Monday - we had such wonderful weather that Felicia and I packed the kids up and went to Jack 'n the Box. Yummy!! Afterwards we came home and played in the park with kids. Mordecai and Emily were so great that day. I just love days like we had.

New Years Eve - We had some friends over to have dinner and play some games. One of the hits was the game that mom and dad gave us called "Would you rather...?" We had a blast with the Ludwigs, Wittes and Aunt Felicia

This is Felicia playing the game with a spoon in her mouth. Love Ya!

Mike and I with "the Bridge" I just won a challenge!!!

The dads watching Toy Story 2 with the kids while the wives chatted.

Lucas, Emily, & Hannah