Sweet things the kids say...

I should be writing a paper right now, but it is really boring so I thought I'd take a few minutes to wrtie down some of the sweet things my kids say. I really wish I did this more often... J: "Lyla are you being a pain in the butt?" L: "Yeah!" C (without missing a beat): "I told you so!" C: "Mom, now that I'm 4 and a HALF can you still carry me?" K: "Yes, baby I can." C: "But, can DAD?" One of the funniest sounding things L says: "Whach you sha?" (what did you say) Another: "Shit dog shit!" (Sit dog) C: "Mom, do you know EVERYTHING?" K: "HA! No honey, I WISH." C: "I know, only GOD knows EVERYTHING. God and real big people..." C: "I got crabs all by myself!" Either my dad or my brother, I can't remember: "Huh Carson, I don't think you'd be that proud of that if you were grown..." MAN! There are like a million more, but I can't remember. I REALLY need to do this more often!

Family Camp 2012

We returned to Dwight Mission again this Memorial Day for Family Camp 2012. It was a great time as usual. There is just something about being at camp, the place you met those closest to you, including your husband and watching your kids play with their kids. It is really just great. Lyla was up and about this year which was WAY better than her crawling in the dirt like last year, however, it didn't help her stay any cleaner. She looked homeless most of the time, which was fine with me. More dirt = more fun! Carson had a BLAST playing with his buddy John and as many counselors as possible. We of course LOVED catching up with good friends and playing with our babies!

Update on our spring...

Well, since we are going to the lake for the first time this summer today, I thought I should catch up on our spring! I can't figure out the new blogger, but I'm pretty sure I haven't even blogged about anything at all! Not even C's soccer season. Just in case, I'll start there. J and I decided to coach C's soccer team together this year. We really love working together, and can't, so we thought coaching together would be just as fun. And it WAS!!! We spent every Thursday night and Saturday morning for 8 weeks with little soccer stars. And one of the brightest little stars was our very own. Carson started off slow this season, pretty much picking up where he left off last year, crying on the bench... But by game two, he had it figured out. He scored 2 goals that game, 7 another game and the last game of the season 8! Seriously! We are pretty happy when kids score 1 or 2 per game, but 8? WOW! He just did so great. They all did! We were very proud!!! C also did a couple of sessions of gymnastics this spring AND even had his first art show!!! It was quiet eventful there for awhile! We had planned on that being the end of the activities this year, but ended up on a wee ball team as well. And we are coaching. Then we realized that Hinson (Js office) had a ball field behind it, so we worked on that a little and ended up with a pretty cute little field all to ourselves. Our little sluggers are really looking good too! We don’t keep score or have outs yet, but they are consistently getting real legit outs, like 1, 2, 3, outs! It's super cute!!! Other than being active, Carson has been LOVING playing with his friends. His favorite past time other than that is to tell me how many he loves me. Like this, "Mom, I love you 154 thousand million!" It's super sweet. I have really really loved four. (After the first few months, as usual) He also got to finish up his year at Mothers Day Out. I think he did pretty darn good. He would report daily that he got "ZERO" timeouts. And most days "wasn't lying". We spent most Thursdays at Pink Swirl with our friends, tried to have a play date once a week, started golfing, well swinging a golf club, he got to meet the Thunder players and be on the court during the intro and sit court side, which was my favorite experience I have had with Carson. Seeing his little face light up when Westbrook "looked at us" was just priceless. So thankful to Kelli Ann for having her son such a rocking bday party and for inviting us! Carson is also getting responsible. He dresses himself most days, even somewhat matching, he brushes his own teeth without me asking, even cleans his room, makes his bed, OH, and the best part, he cleans the UPSTAIRS. I REALLY REALLY encourage this behavior, because I think so many guys grow up to not take initiative and I really really want him to learn to. Lyla is just growing growing growing. Well, not really. I have been putting her in 6-12 month onsies lately... But she is getting older! :) And she's getting a lot more personality. She is just as sweet as ever and loves going bye bye to where ever we are running to next. She still sleeps on her floor. We PUT her in her bed, but she moves to the floor, watches us all walk by, reads a little to herself, and then goes to sleep. We move her back to her bed and she stays there till morning. She's so strange. She isn't into eating much other than "snacks". Full meals are a waste. She ADORES her "bubba" and her dog. She also loves teasing you with her kisses! She will lean in to kiss you then cover her little mouth and say “NOOO" in the sweetest little voice ever. She talks up a storm, but I am still having troubles understanding her. Although it's getting better, and if I know the context, I normally get it. She IS good at telling me I'm wrong if I didn't understand which is helpful. Other than that, bless her heart, she is just along for the ride while somehow being the center of our universe all at the same time. It's strange. But she is simply precious. Josh has been doing FAN-freaking-tastic at work. He really likes it. The ball is really rolling. AND, Josh ran his first race ever this spring- the Memorial HALF marathon. I know, most start at a 5K, but we just go big or go home, ya know. He did really well and beat his goal time. I couldn't be more proud. Well, I take that back. I COULD be more proud if he was STILL running regularly... I made a big decision to go back to school and started May 1st. I have always planned on getting my LPC and decided that it was at least time to get my classes done. After seeing how busy life is with just ONE kid involved, I knew it was now or never! So far it is going great! I love it and finding that it's true what they say, the third time at college is the charm....maybe it doesn't go EXACTLY like that... Either way, I'm excited about that. I also have made a goal to run one race per month for my 32nd year (may have addressed that on here as well, who knows). Anyway, so far April and May were both half’s. Think I'm gonna let me off a little easier this month. That second half was the worst thing ever! CRAZY heavy winds, with NO protection because it was around a lake. CRAZY! We have also gotten a little running group together and we are running three mornings a week. I just love it and it really helps me get up and going. Well, Carson just rolled his packed suitcase in to tell me he and Lyla are packed and ready to go to the lake, so I guess I had better make sure J and I are packed too.

My Lil Bit will be TWO...

For the last three years of my life, I have basically given up my birthday. Not because I am getting so old, but because I have been so blessed to share my birthday with my sweet sweet Lyla. On my 30th birthday, I spent the day having contractions- even went to the hospital because I was sure you were coming. Last year, I was so excited about you turning one that I barely remember what I did for my birthday, and this year, we even shared a celebration with my dad’s side of the family. We also shared with Easter. Two birthdays and Easter. That’s almost as tough as Christmas and a birthday…

Either way, I have never felt so content to have my birthday in the shadows. Because it is in the shadows of the sweetest, most loving little girl I could ever imagine. The last two years have gone SOOO SOOO fast. I really just can’t believe that it has already been TWO years. It took me a long time this year to get into “birthday mode” partially because I think I felt if I ignored it that you would stay one. But that’s not how things work I guess. Tomorrow you will turn two, rather I ignore it or not, and today we celebrate that fact.


I can’t even believe how different you are at this age compared to your brother. You are still more interested in cuddling in my lap than most anything else. You always want me to be holding you. You are always so concerned with the well being of our family. You regularly as “Mama, you ok? Daddy, you ok? Bubba, you ok? “ You LOVE Wow Wow Wubzy. You want you dog and Bubba first thing in the morning. You want to be fed as soon as your feet hit the floor. You love your babies and sing, “rock, rock, rock my babies”. You really love dancing and singing songs. You love to jump, although you don’t get very far off the ground. You are still my cautious child. While your brother was climbing the climbing wall on his Little Tikes play set at your age, you are still hesitant to go up the stairs. You don’t EVEN try the big one. You don’t like to walk over the gaps on wooden decks, or the metal things on the sidewalk at the zoo. You are just careful. I like that. In fact, you didn’t really even fall much when you started walking… you just waited until you were steady. Well, let’s be honest, if you had your way, I would just carry you everywhere. Seriously. Everywhere. It’s kind of surprising you every learned to walk!

You LOVE “tootsies” aka shoes. Its’ the cutest thing ever. You pick out your shoes every day. And nothing makes you happier than getting “new tootsies”. It’s looking like you are going to have little feet too, and so I am so excited for the day we can justify buying really great shoes to your dad by explaining that they are for BOTH of us. And if things go for you like they did for me, that’ll be in 5th grade. Yessss.


I have thought of a million things I want to put in this blog the last week and of course, now that I sit down to do it all I can think is- “Man, I can’t believe you are going to be TWO, but MAN, am I excited to see who you are going to become.” You are beautiful, kind, loving, and one TOUGH cookie when sick.


However, you sometimes you will cry if we say “don’t” too loud at you”. You have your daddy wrapped around his finger, and despite his thoughts, you ARE gonna have to start getting disciplined. Your sweet shaking hand that you place over your mouth when you cry has GOT to stop getting you out of time outs or we are gonna be in TROUBLE. You KNOW how cute you can look when you get in trouble and you KNOW that batting your big blue eyes will get you scooped up by anyone you bat them at… While this will work great when you get pulled over for speeding someday…;)


You are simply the center of our world. Mine, your dad’s, and your brothers. Heck, even your dogs… We all adore you. We all can’t get enough of your hugs or your sweet kisses. We all think you are the most beautiful little girl we have ever laid eyes on. We are so thankful for you and your love. I can’t wait to see who you are going to become this next year. I look forward to you making me laugh, making me proud, making me happy and making me feel oh so blessed. And no matter how big you may get, I promise, I will carry you around as long as you need me to.

6 year anniversary

Josh and I recently celebrated our 6th year anniversary and it was SO blog-worthy but I am just now sitting down to write about it. You see, Josh did it up right after a pretty darn stressful year, sometimes you just gotta celebrate, right?

The most amazing thing about this is Josh surprised me. Which he NEVER does. Not that he doesn't try, I just normally figure it out. I had made plans for the kids to stay with my mom thinking that we could at least go to dinner and a movie and sleep in (woohoo!). I had told J that all I wanted for my anniversary was to not have to make a decision. And man, I sure didn't! We dropped the kids off at my moms and we were free. I was told to dress cozy/cute so I was thinking maybe a sporting event or something. Anyway, we took off to OKC. We passed the south side, Bass Pro, Bricktown and finally exited on NW 63rd. I'm still thinking dinner when we pulled into the Waterford Marriott, where we spent our wedding night. I was told by J on the way there that there were two rules, one, I have to do whatever is planned with no concerns about money/time or whatever and two, no talking about the kids. DONE!

SO, back to the hotel. We pulled in and just walked into the hotel. With my purse. That's it. J checked in and we headed up to our suite. When we got there I saw white gift sacks and our luggage. J said that I had about an hour to get ready and handed me a sack. Inside was a new black dress for dinner. He said he had all my toiletries and make up and jewelry options and even shoes waiting. SERIOUSLY?

So I got ready, yes, the dress fit, J knew that b/c he had compared it with another dress of mine... wo.. and we got in the car for dinner. J dropped me off at the door of my most favorite restaurant in the whole wide world- The Melting Pot. We were there before our reservations so of course, we hung out in the bar and enjoyed some wine...Until my mother called- Lyla was having diarrhea every where. Great. So much for rule number 2...Despite a sick baby dinner was awesome and even though they are no longer serving my most favorite dessert ever we had a wonderful time!

After dinner we went back to the hotel where there was a jazz band and champagne. We tried real hard to not worry about L and just sit back and have a relaxing time. Until we got tired. Of COURSE. We get time alone and fall asleep!

The next morning J brought me breakfast in bed and handed me another sack. This sack had cozy clothes in it. We had gone on an 8 mile run the day before so I was like, are we running again? No... We packed up and went to check out but not before a detour in the hotel's spa for a much needed couples massage. Remember, 8 mile run the day before. Perfect timing!

Our time was up after that, but it was SUCH a perfect night I told J we can just do that every year!

Somethings a little wrong with me...

Ever since I became pregnant with Carson I have realized that I am a little...uh...slower...mentally. During pregnancy everyone referred to it as "pregnancy brain", after pregnancy "exhaustion", 18 months later I was pregnant again, then exhausted, but now, almost TWO YEARS since having my last baby, I find myself still...slower...metally.

I constantly lose words. Which is tough and sometimes embarrassing for a college professor. I mean words I JUST said, I go to repeat them and POOF they are gone from my brain. I lose track of my thoughts during a story. I forget things like CRAZY before leaving the house in the morning. Names are just a lost cause. Getting everything off my grocery list is a thing of the past. Feeling mentally stable in general, is well done for.

Since I can not longer blame it on "pregnancy brain" or even "exhaustion" thanks to my wonderful sleepers, I started thinking elsewhere. And I have come up with "Multi-tasking Overload" as my official diagnosis. What the *$%# is that? Well, here's my explanation and there are two main parts...

The minute a mom becomes pregnant she no longer EVER loses her child from her thoughts. EVER. We become very egocentric and feel everything is about us, and that everyone know we are pregnant, even if we don't look it a bit. We NEVER EVER EVER stop thinking about that baby. Ever. Then when the baby is actually born, it goes into over drive. Now not only do we think about the baby, we worry about their safety, replay their morning behavior in our mind all day, wonder what they are doing if we are away from them, think about what we are going to do after school, we plan birthdays 6 months in advance, fret about scrapbooks, or new clothes, or extra curricular activities. We worry about our sick kids if we have to leave them behind, we wonder if our kids are having fun at school. We think about our love for them. They NEVER. EVER. LEAVE. OUR. MINDS. even if we ARE focusing on something that is OURS. Our job, our friends, our spouse, shopping. We always have them in the corner of our mind.

Then on top of that, since having Carson, Facebook and Iphones have taken over our lives. We now know more about our friends lives than we EVER have. Hear more news than EVER, work can always track us down, we have access to our emails on our phones, our phones are most always in our hands, it has become normal to have a conversation with a girlfriend while emailing, texting, checking facebook. Two girls, carrying on a conversation with our faces in our phones due to one of the many things the phone allows us to do. And we of course also parent while looking over an Iphone or Ipad... We feel productive. We feel efficient. We feel like we can do it all. We multi-task like MAD!

But how is that interfering with our ability to just focus? Between kids on my brain at all times, wondering if anyone commented on my super cute pic of my kids, or replied to my text about babysitting for me tonight, or to the email I sent to co-workers, trying to remember to blog about the funny thing the kids did that morning or to upload pics for family to see, my brain NEVER focuses on just one thing. Cognitive overload the books would call it, but that applies to so much more. I feel MY problem is just due to doing SO DARN MANY THINGS AT ONCE thanks to technology and having children.

Am I saying that I don't WANT my Facebook or email on my phone? HECK NO!!! This is the world we live in. I teach online, I work at home, I need to be reached. I am just simply wondering when my brain is going catch up to me. Or if there is a way to learn to focus again, or if that was lost when I became a mom... I mean even while typing this, I am talking with C, disciplining L and checking emails from work. Seriously- multi-tasking overload.

Realizations

I had to take a minute to blog this morning before diving in to essays from my online class (yikes!) not because I'm feeling overwhelmed and frusterated by my kids but because I am having one of those days that I just feel thankful, and for strange things. I realized this morning that there are some things my kids do that on most days annoy me, or GET annoying, but that real soon won't happen and I'll be lonely.

For example, SOMEDAY, I will be lonely when I take a bath. All by myself. With no little heads peeping over the top or asking if they can wash my back or get in. I'll be wastful when I don't "recycle" my bath water b/c Carson wants to get in THAT water to take HIS bath. I'll be super lonely and bored on those days J goes to work early and I get up on a day off and don't have to make two breakfasts, two drinks, two hot chocolates, change diapers or have TWO sweet babies fighting to sit on my lap.

I am going to be so lonely driving around town running my errands without answering 100 quetions from the backseat. I'll be lonely going to the gym all by myself, grocery shopping alone,or having a meal. It'll be so strange to listen to my music, watch my shows, be out of the house after dark. I won't get compliments every morning about my shoes, or my sweater, or my hair. I won't get to wake up in the morning to an additional person in my bed. And what will I do when I have to go to the BATHROOM by myself?!?!?!

So today, rather than being frusterated because I have NO alone time. I choose to realize that someday I will miss it, I will be lonely, and that I need to soak it up right now.