Done and done

31 days. I did it. Crazy. I thought I'd make it to like day 12 and be out but here I am. Maybe I can be a journal writer. However, I don't think I can keep it up through February. I think once a week is good but I'm not going to kill myself.

Today I really, really wanted to take a nap. We've been way stressed and a little lacking in sleep around my home so I planned on catching up today. Of course, I get everyone down for their naps, eat lunch and then O woke up. Great. So, I was holding him and he was reaching for my face and smiling and I was thinking about the "evolution of a baby".

I love the newborn stage. I love how a new baby is so cuddly and delicate. They're 100% dependant on you and it's very sweet.

I love when a baby is a few months old. Watching them begin to see things, begin to smile, get a little chubby, and sleep a little longer at night.

I love the stage O is in right now. 6 months old and getting a personality. He is incredibly HAPPY. I don't remember his brothers being so smiley and happy. He loves to hold things and study the toys. He wants to know whats going on and turns and rolls to be able to see who's talking and what his crazy brothers are up to.

I love looking forward to whats ahead for my little boy. I can't wait to see him sitting by himself, crawling everywhere, climbing stairs, pulling himself up to stand, everything. My mom always said that she never had a "favorite" stage cause every one was so great. I totally get that. Being a mom is the best. How lucky and honored I feel that I get to have my wonderful boys. They are so sweet, cute, funny, kind, and just the best. I'll say it every day. I can't help it. Love them. They are my world.

Hungry?

When you're Oliver, this is how dinner goes...sometimes fingers & toes are better than peas. Sometimes I don't blame him. I wouldn't want to eat the peas.

Photo shoot

Last night we attempted a photo shoot of Oliver to get some good 6 month pictures. We couldn't do it until late afternoon and it was an over-cast crappy afternoon so the lighting was horrible in my living room. We tried to be creative but it just wan't cooperating. Even with that issue, we still got some cute ones. I cannot believe that I have two 2 1/2 year olds and a 6 month old. Seriously, how did I get here? Those three little ones and my other big one are my rock, my sanity, and the reason I make it through each day. They are the best things in my life and I am eternally grateful for all of them. I love, love, love my boys. Thanks Wendi...see, they're cute.

Adios

Today we bid adeu to most of the cabinetry for Brandt's dad's house. They took it up to store it until it is ready to be installed. Only a few more items remain in our garage getting finished up and then "wha-la" we get our garage back (at least until the next project comes up). I get to park in the garage again. Can't wait. It's only been about 2 months since I've been able to have that luxury. The worst part of it, it is the middle of winter. Couldn't we of had these few jobs come up in the summer time when it's no big deal? Naaa - that's not the Jensen way. The tougher we make it, the better. Before they took off, there were a couple stow-aways. (I know, I think I misspelled about every other word in this post. Don't care enough to look things up.)

Sun,glorious sun!

My friend the sun and I met today for lunch. It was amazing. I was able to go to the store today in my t-shirt...no coat or jacket. It was wonderful. It was just what I needed. It was about freakin' time!!!

Again?

Believe it or not, I have nothing to write today. My mind is incapable of thinking the past couple days. I am usually a cool and collected person but I feel my bucket filling up again. That happens sometimes. I'm on the verge of shutting down. It's a good thing the hubby is close to finishing his project. I need things to go a little back to normal so I can function again. It's either that or spring and I think the job will be done before the warm weather appears. I'll take my sanity any way I can get it. The end.

Random-ness

"Look Ma, no hands (or feet)"

Cupcakes...think they liked them!

I found this this morning. Someone thought the elephant and tiger needed a nap.

Genius

Last night our little family was down in the living room. The boys were playing and dad was watching the game. All of a sudden we could hear a buzz. A buzz like you sometimes get in your ear. Just a faint noise. Enough to bug. We were looking at each other each wondering what the crap it was. We turned off the TV. Nothing. We turned off the receiver to see if it was in the speakers. Nothing. We stood under the can lights. Nothing. We went to the other parts of the basement and it went away. We went upstairs and couldn't hear it. We got out a stool and stood under the air vents. Nothing. We put our ear up to the outlets. Nothing. Brandt went up and turned off and on EVERY switch in the circut box. Nothing. WHAT IN THE HECK IS MAKING THAT ANNOYING NOISE???????? I have a lot of confidence in my husband and his knowledge of how things work and what could possibly cause such a nuisance. We were about of ideas. Brandt was about to call his buddy who knows about the speaker system in our home to see if that was the issue. Dylan picked up our dumb 20 Question game. I grabbed it from his hand. It was buzzing. Brandt came over, picked it up, went upstairs, opened the back door, and threw it out the door onto the driveway. It's still there.

Funny boys

I mentioned earlier that the twins call each other "Na". They'll refer to themselves as "Na" and call the other one "Na" if you ask them what their brother's name is. I got a good laugh the other day when I called Brandt at work and said to Charlie, "want to say hi to dad?" So he came over and I put the phone to his ear and said, "say hi charlie." He said "Hi, Na." I did the same to Dylan and he also said "Hi, Na." Funny, funny.

Have you tried the new Peanut Butter Snickers? Oh my gosh, you really should. They are really, really yummy. Then again, maybe you shouldn't. I know I shouldn't have.

fingers

I love Oliver's fingers. When I nurse him he brings up his free hand and covers his eyes. I love it because babies keep their fingers in a fist for so long and O is now keeping his hands open so I get to actually see those little, tiny fingers. Tonight when I was holding him I just admired those little hands. I tried to take a mental note of what it looked like so that one day when he is a big, tall, handsome man I can look at his hands then...after living his life a little...and reflect back to when I held him in my arms and admired his chubby fingers. They grow up too quick. Everyone says that, but it is true. I love my little babe. Slow down little guy, I'm not ready for you to be big yet.

Advice please

Throughout Brandt and my relationship when it comes to money it has been either feast or famine. It seems like we'll be doing pretty well, then we are the poorest of poor without much explanation. I blame Brandt for this because he fessed up and said it's been that way his whole life. This issue, bad service when going out, and bad drivers. All of these are clearly evident if you spend much time with him. When we were blessed to have two babies at once it forced me to stay home from work. I sort of think that my Heavenly Father knew that if he didn't send me two babies I would have kept working. Things worked out with Brandt getting his job with the Post Office right before us getting pregnant and with a few adjustments we've made our ends meet. Occasionally though, we go into freak-out mode and wonder how we are going to keep it up. To put it mildly, we're freaking out. It drives me bonkers because I'm the one at home not pulling my "income" weight (I know, I do a lot here on the home front raising 3 little ones, you know what I mean). I need to just gather it all back together and re-focus and cut corners a little sharper. That's where I want some advice. We're pretty good about little things and I try to be smart about purchases but you can always improve. I guess it mostly is a matter of what we're willing to sacrifice. What are your secrets for this? Today my job is to look into a cheaper cable plan (we justify having cable since it is pretty much our form of entertainment once our babes are in bed and we have a moment to sit and do nothing) and I need to call the phone company to see if we can lessen our bill at all (I have issues with getting rid of my home phone completely). We need to watch our grocery spending again (is it me or has the price of food gone WAY up?). Really, I never buy clothes or frivilous stuff (look at me, haha) and I cut coupons and use them as much as I can. I hate the idea of starting up working a little bit, even if it is just a little bit. There is something knawing in my tummy when I think about it and I think that is a sign. That being said, I guess we just need to tighten the reigns again and regain a sense of priority and necessity. Please share (pending there is anyone what reads my rambling blog) any of the things you do to save a penny here and there.

It's inevitable...

One day, and one day soon, Oliver is going to start crawling. Once this happens, we will have more times like this:

I finally broke down and mopped the floor the other day. The twins hopped up on their table so that their feet wouldn't get wet and I wouldn't keep screaming at them to stay in the other room. I don't want to admit how long it had been since I had given my kitchen floor a once-over.

I was quite consistent mopping every other day or so when the twins were crawling because you end up with those filthy shirts and pants to remind you how disgusting your floor is. I've slacked. I need to get back in that habit. I hate mopping the floor, almost as much as cleaning our monster tub downstairs. I saw one of these in an ad the other day. It looks fantastic. It may even save my knees from crawling around with a rag. One can dream. In the meantime, some old fashioned elbow-grease will have to do.

O's 6 month checkup

We went to the doctor today. See proof:

Can you see the sad little bandaid on O's leg? The sad part of it is that there is one on the other leg, too. 4 shots today and a clean bill of health and progression. He's doing what he's supposed to and growing just the same. Have I mentioned that I love this kid?

Weight: 17lb 2oz - 43%

Height: 27.5 - 84%

Head: 43cm - 29%

A very merry un-birthday to you!

6 months old. I am in awe that my little O is 6 months old today. 6 months ago right now I was anticipating a long night with my new baby that had just joined us 3 hours prior. Little did I know that little guy would sleep non-stop all night long. I was worried all night because he would not wake up. They finally checked his blood to check the levels at 5 am only to find out they were more than ok and said "let him sleep". He is my angel. He is my sweet, sweet boy. I love him so incredibly much and feel so blessed that I get to see his smiling face each day. Truly, he is such a wonderful soul with a happy, curious spirit. His brothers love him just as much as does his daddy. There is an emmense amount of love in our home right now because of this little guy. Here's to these past 6 wonderful months and a lifetime ahead with our sweet little Oliver!

Worries

The older I get the more I worry. I don't think that I was ever that much of a worrier growing up but as the time goes by I find more and more that worries me. Maybe it is the fact that I'm a mother. Maybe it's because I'm older and possibly know more about things. Whatever it is...I hate it. I don't want to worry. I wish I was a little more care-free. Especially when it comes to raising my boys, I wish I wasn't so concerned with trivial things. Having two babies at once is a struggle. I wouldn't wish it on anyone (and my boys were AWESOME babies). They have grown up together and have had to be compared since day one. It's not like we intentionally compare but you can't help it. For a long time we worried about Dylan being so skinny and small. I think we were only worried because Charlie was bigger than him. Both boys were "normal" but you had the other to compare to. We're dealing with learning our words right now. Charlie is my talker, therefore, I worry that Dylan isn't smart enough. The boys will be 3 in August. I really want them to go to school right after they turn 5 and not wait the whole year. They're boys, though. I've been told boys are slower to develop, slower to learn, etc. So then I go into super-freakout-mommy-mode and worry that my boys aren't going to be ready and will struggle and it will be awful for both them AND me. But seriously, what will be wrong if I hold them back a year? The boys have cousins their same age and I fall into the comparison problem with them, too. My kids don't count. My kids don't know their ABC's. My kids aren't potty-trained. My kids don't recognize their names written down. BUT my kids are happy. My kids are well-behaved. My kids are friendly. My kids play well with each other and other kids. My kids are silly. My kids are imaginative. All children will learn things when they're ready to learn them. I need to take a "chill-pill" (I know, how long has it been since you've said that!) and just let them be little boys. If we don't go to pre-school next year (or ever) they'll be fine. If we don't quickly learn how to do all those things I mentioned, they'll be fine. It's ok. Take a deep breath. Lets just play. That's what kids are supposed to do anyway, right?? I'm a good mommy. I need to remind me of that every so often.

The best

Last night checking on the boys we found this:

Danger is my middle name

My Dylan is quite curious. He is a boy that L.O.V.E.S. electronic things, sharp things, tools, and anything I don't want him to have. He has had a fascination with plugs since day one. He loves to put things in things, therefore, a plug is the best thing ever. The question is, do I embrace his loves or try and get him to avoid those things. He loves to cut things so I really need to sit down with him and practice cutting with scissors. He always wants to cut his food with a knife, not have me do it, so I guess I need to teach him how to cut with a knife, too. Anytime there is a plug out, he plugs it in. If there is a button, he wants to push it. I can give Charlie a car and he is entertained for hours but my Dylan wanders all around the house looking for something to interest him, usually settling with something he's not supposed to touch. This is the plug for my laptop. I didn't plug it in. On either end. Clever little one.

Meaning and purpose

Lately I have been pondering going back to work. Just a couple mornings each week. I'm sure I could find sitters for a few hours in the morning. It would give us a little extra cash flow and it would give me some association with someone other than a 2 year old. I said this to my mom the other day and she said "if you go back you know that more and more work will sneak in so you'd have to be careful". It reminded me of an Ensign article probably last year. There was a story of a woman who had to go back to work to fix one of her and her husband's businesses. As the time went on, she got sucked into work and didn't want to come home to her children. She'd find things to do at work to stay longer and sit in her car before coming in each day. She had to make an effort to enjoy being a mom again once she wasn't needed at the company. Find joy in finding the missing shoe. I need to remember these things. If there's any way that I can stay home and raise our babies I need to do that. Whether it is cutting costs here, or finding an "out" for me somehwere else, it's worth it to our Father in Heaven. Soon enough my kiddos will be in school and I can maybe explore the options then. However, that being said, if something came around that I could do at home, I would do it. Decisions, decisions. I hate the big question mark in life sometimes. Wouldn't it be nice to have the book that just told you what you needed to do and what was going to happen? Maybe then it would take out all the fun and surprise. I'm sure this ramble doesn't make much sense but there it is out in the open.

Besides, if I was away from the home I'd miss this. And being able to clean up this.

Charlie's cute words

Charlie is my little talker. I'm sure one day Dylan is going to start talking and won't ever shut up. Some cute things Charlie is saying right now:

"ga-ga, ga-ga, choo, choo"

"Na, na-na": pointing out Dylan's banana

"nua-nua": elephant, followed by a noise that an elephant would make

"ga": giraffe

"la-loe": Love you (dylan says this, too)

"O, nigh, nigh, nigh": O went to sleep

Pig is something interesting, too. I'll have to ask him again to pronounce it so I can try to write it out phonic-wise.

A lot of his words are just darn cute. He had a moose shirt on today and would tell you about it. I love when he says "mouse".

this morning

What a fun morning! We were very busy this morning but I think we had a lot of fun. We started the morning by everyone having baths. Love bath days...did you catch the sarcasm?? It's ok, it just takes a lot of time to get everyone clean and dealing with the screams once I tell them the bath is over. Apparently I make the bath too fun so we don't want it to end. I then loaded everyone up and drove into SLC to exchange some door hinges for daddy, drove home, threw the roasts in the crockpot (making dinner for a family in the ward), ran to 3 Little Monkeys for story time with Jen & Cole, ran to Costco for a few things, sat in the food court and had a hot dog with our buddies, ran home, took a nap (the boys, not me), did 3 loads of laundry, and now it's time to finish up our dinner to deliver in an hour. It was good to get out with the kids. I keep them home a lot cause it is a lot of stress for me keeping them well behaved and safe when we're out. They are busy boys and it's just me and when I'm trying to keep tabs on the 3 it is sometimes a little overwhelming. It makes me mighty proud when we do go out and it is a success, though. It also was a win-win cause the boys ask for their cousins quite often so I'm glad they got to see Cole.
Another cute thing that happened is that I told the boys when we left that we were going to see Cole and Jen today. We ran the errand and when I turned up our street before we went to story time Charlie started whimpering and said "Nin? Cole? Nin? Cole?" I had to tell him we were just stopping home for one minute and then we'd see them. Funny little boys.

Headache, shmeadache

My head has hurt all day long. I'm pretty sure it's cause I haven't slept enough. I'm a girl who needs her sleep. I cannot stay up as late as I have been and I need to nap occasionally with the boys. It was Brandt's day off today. He spent the majority of it in the garage. I was a crappy mom today since I didn't feel that great. Needless to say, I did get a bunch done (considering) and I did sleep for about an hour before O woke up. So, I'm working on it. Tomorrow I may try to sleep again. Hopefully we'll go all night without having to sooth my little one back to sleep. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Brilliance

I had something brilliant I was going to write about today and now that I have a moment to put my thoughts down, it's left my mind. Surprise, surprise. I do have a couple random thoughts though.

1- Oliver rolled from his tummy back to his back today.

2- Oliver now opens his hands and loves to reach for things and hold things. My baby is slipping away.

3- We've offended the deer.

(View out my front door)

I think it's due to us putting up a fence this summer so they can't get into our backyard to eat any leftover apples, not to mention that it was a slow year for the apples this year. It looks as though the deer were sending us a message.

4- Dylan & Charlie are crazy, again...surprise, surprise.

5- Back to Oliver. According to Brandt I have not kept O on a schedule like I did the twins. It's a lot harder to be super strict with O when I am pulled so many directions. I'm sure that is a common occurance the more kids you have. I'm getting a little frusterated because O used to be such a good sleeper and would go all through the night. He got sick and cannot get back in the rhythm. Brandt believes that if I stick to a schedule better O will get on track. Everything I read says that the opportune time to "teach" your baby to sleep on his own is between 4-6 months. I'm a few days away from 6 months (excuse me a minute while I freak out...where in the blankety-blank did the time go???) so the window is closing. Last night O woke up at 3. If I just quickly feed him he goes right back to sleep. I tried to do the check on the baby and tell him to sleep, leave, wait 5 minutes, go back and do it again, leave, wait 15 minutes, give up cause I'm NOT doing this all night, feed, everyone back to bed. I suppose if he does it again tonight we'll do the same routine and see if it will change after a few days. I'm not quite ready for the cold turkey approach. I am loving my snuggling and rocking with him too much to give it up yet. Like I said, my baby is slipping away. I was very diligent and our naps were on time today and that part went well. The motherhood mystery. LOVE IT!!! Literally, I do.

Naps

Naps are glorious, naps are a must. I dread the day the naps are gone. The boys had their nap today. It's amazing how much better a child will feel once they have good sleep. After the fiasco on Saturday, late church on Sunday = NO NAPS, I was sure the boys would take advantage of their nap time today. I was not disappointed. Unfotunately for me, O was a little off on his schedule today so he was awake when the twins were down, but just to not have the twins grumpy and whiney was oh so wonderful. I was looking on my external hard-drive for a cute picture of the twins sleeping when they were tiny but apparently my pictures on it don't go back that far so I instead am posting a picture of them one year, five days ago. The difference a year makes in the life of a child. So much change. Notice Dylan with his no teeth. So cute.

Storytime

So here's what went down yesterday. I put my boys down somewhere around the 1 o'clock range for a nap each day. Not every day they sleep, but I lock them in their room so they'll at least attempt to sleep. Yesterday I put them down. I fed O and put him down. Brandt is still building cabinets and I went out about 2 to do some work in the garage since the bambinos were asleep (or at least safe in their room). I worked for an hour and was going to go for one more hour but wanted to check on the kids to make sure O wasn't awake and screaming. I opened the door to listen and heard noise in the basement. Charlie came around the corner at the bottom of the stairs. Apparently I forgot to lock their door and the boys got curious and tried the knob. I went downstair all upset. That was just the beginning. Charlie had chocolate and nuts shmeared on his chin. Dylan was sitting on the couch where Brandt normally sits and in front of him was my opened laptop, an opened container of english toffee Brandt's mom gave him for Christmas, and the tv remote in his hand. On the tv it was to the screen where you just have to push a button to rent a movie. Are you kidding me? I don't know what I was more mad about. I sent them both to the corner and spent the next few minutes trying to get my computer to turn on and remove the chocolate and nuts on it. Dylan kept turning around in the corner and smiling at me so I drug him back upstairs and threw him in his room, only to see that apparently I didn't lock the closet door, either, and all their toys were strewn about. I was too mad to do anything and just left him there and shut the door. Charlie was still standing in the corner. What do you do in a situation like that? They are so little that you really can't convey the severity of what they did, but you need to at least try to let them know it was wrong. It's hard being a mom sometime. Needless to say, I was fed up. My wonderful husband came home and took my bundled up kids out to the garage with him so I could have a moment of sanity inside. I was able to make dinner without my "helpers" and it was much appreciated. I sure do love my little guys. They are a handful and they will keep me on my toes I'm sure for the rest of my life.

PS - I swear I feed my kids but occasionally they need a snack. Sick.

Frustration

My twins almost died today. It is too late for me to go into the whole story but I will share tomorrow. My patience was again tried. I think I came out ok and they're asleep in their beds so they did, too.

Crafty-schmafty

Lookie, lookie what I made for a certain niece of mine having a birthday soon. Think I could sell these? The flower is on a clip that can just be used as a clip instead of on the headband. Now I just need a little girl to model it on...no, that's not an announcement. For now, D will have to do.

Keeping up with the goal

If you haven't noticed, I'm trying to post every day for the month of January. I know people who have done a post every single day for a whole year and I'm going to give it a go for one month. That being said, it is January 6th and I am drawing a blank today and I am super tired and didn't want to post today. We had a good day. I was able to sleep in a little bit, we went to Costco and wandered around, stopped by and saw daddy at work, the boys fell asleep right away for their nap, I got a killer deal on ebay, worked in the garage for a bit, got a visit from my mom & dad, and went out to dinner with them and the fam, and did some billing for Brandt. Phew. When I write it all out I guess I was quite productive. The boys played outside a couple times today (limited amount of time since it is freakin cold outside) and they sported their new $1 sunglasses we picked up at Target. They were such clowns. I took a picture of them - guess only Dylan was wearing his glasses when I snapped the picture. As Charlie would say...Nigh-nigh-nigh. O, Dadda, Naa, nigh-nigh-nigh.

Moment of reflection...

Today I thought a lot of my youth. I had a friend from high school text me a picture of myself from my junior high year book. What was the picture for you ask? It was in there because I was the President of the National Honor Society. Nerd-alert. Man oh man. I think I was put into that cause I had decent grades my 9th grade year and I was "in" with the teachers being that my dad was a teacher there. I know it's not always cool to be "in" with the teachers, but it totally paid off. Me and my friends were able to get away with EVERYTHING. One of my favorite memories is of me getting an excuse note from my dad and my best friend getting an excuse note from her mom (who also worked there) and her taking us to breakfast at Dee's. Nothin' like ditching school in junior high. Even tho I know some people who did it in elementary school...you know who you are.
I helped Brandt with cabinets in the garage today. I was watching him move some sheets and sort of chuckled to myself that here I am knowing exactly how to build cabinets from start to finish. Wierd. I never in a million years would have thought this is where I would be at at this stage of my life. There are a few things I would maybe alter about my life, but only if certain things would still come my way. I know that one event leads to another and so on so technically I couldn't change too much. It's funny how things work out. I like my little bubble I live in. I have much to be grateful for. I found this picture today. It is surreal to me that I have twin boys. They are fantastic. I love them so much. Oliver is so great, too. How lucky I am that I was sent such wonderful little boys...and one big boy, too. What a lucky gal I am.

I need a break...

Have you ever just needed a break from, well, everything?!? I have such a hankering for just a bunch of nothing. I want to sleep, I want to bum around, I want to have no obligations or expectations. I went out shopping the other day and left Brandt home with the kids. I knew I was gone for awhile, but it has been so so long since I've just wandered and I needed it. How is it that you get to a point in your life that you're always hurrying. I'm hurrying to run to the store and back home. I'm hurrying to get everyone dressed and out the door to church. I'm hurrying to get everything checked off my list. Ugghhhh. It gets old I tell you. I need to lay on the beach and have no place to be, no sense of time.

I have a motto for this year and it's not going to help my predicament. "Procrastination breeds clutter." This is soooo me. That is my one resolution and thing that I'm going to work to improve.

Mia. Cole.

I was putting the twins down for the night and we were reading our new counting book. For the #2 there was a picture of a red car and a green car. I told the boys to count the cars. Charlie proceeded to point to the green car and kept saying "Mia" over and over. I said, "ok, that car is Mia's." After I acknowledged that the green car was her car he promptly pointed to the red car and said "Cole." Guess our cousins have cars....who knew?

Super helpers

A few days ago I was emptying the dishwasher. Charlie came over and pulled out the silverware holder to help Momma. He put all the silverware away. I can't complain. I'll take any help that I can get.

Oh, and Oliver is cute.

Twin-isms

The other day I was changing the boys's diapers. I had just finished Charlie and was holloring to Dylan to come get his bum changed. Charlie hopped up and went around the corner to Dylan and said "Momma...NOW". That's what Brandt will say when I'm trying to change the boys or get them to go somewhere and they aren't listening. It was hilarious.

My babies are starting to morph into little boys. There isn't much "baby" to them any more. The words are finally starting to be said and they're learning new tricks each day. It's nice that they're such great helpers but I will miss my little guys. Guess that's just part of it all. Love 'em.

P.S. Oliver had his first rice cereal today. Not such a big fan. Ended up crying cause he wanted the usual on the menu. Like I said...where are my babies going???