A busy but uneventful week

Sorry I haven't posted for almost a week and a half. I'm horrible. There just hasn't really been a whole lot going on here lately. We've had a full schedule with all of the normal busy days and nights (airsoft, Cub Scouts, Church, school, American Idol ;) etc, etc.), but nothing exciting is happening.

Logan was sick at the beginning of the week again. Now he's got a little raw spot under one side of his nose from wiping it too much. And then today he was laying on the floor watching Blue's Clues before school and the dog ran by him, or I should say ON him, and gave him a big scratch across his cheek. So his face looks all kinds of banged up. Poor kid.

Oh yeah, we finally got a replacement for Logan's dead fish. This one is all black, the same type of fish that Lemonhead is, and Logan named him Mr. Bean because his belly looks like a big jellybean. I'm glad to say that he is still alive after a week.

I've had a couple of people ask about the layoffs at Microsoft and the security of Chris' job. We are very happy to say that (for at least the next year) his job is not in any kind of jeopardy. Praise God! I spent a little while yesterday morning crying and praying like a mad woman until he called me and let me know it was all going to be okay. They are unfortunately going to cut raises after reviews this year though to help with costs. But we'll take a raise cut over a job loss any day!

Tonight Chris is attending an event at a friend's church in Seattle, so he won't be home until pretty late. So it's just me and my boys tonight with a pizza and a copy of Kung Fu Panda (Logan picked it out even though they've seen it a million times before, how can kids do that?!). We've got a pretty relaxing weekend planned: a lot of sitting at home doing nothing!!

We hope everybody has a great weekend and I promise to try and update this more often. Try being the operative word there.

What I've Learned.......

I couple of years ago I was involved with a scrapbook group and was assigned a page titled "What I've Learned.....". I decided to focus on what I've learned as a mom. I came across the typed out text that I wrote for the page and thought it was cute so I'm posting it here to share.



1. Band-aids and a kiss really DO make it feel better.



2. The words "no" and "stop" are foreign to a child. Unless of course they're the ones screaming them at you.



3. The human body can function just fine on 3 hours of sleep a night.



4. You can watch Blue's Clues 863 times before going clinically insane, but the Doodle-Bops only takes 7.



5. The box that the $75 toy came in will see more playtime than the actual toy itself.



6. The best way to get crayon off of the wall is with a Mr Clean Magic Eraser.



7. A shower is a privilage, not a right.



8. A child's favorite game is tag, especially when it's played in the grocery store parking lot and you're "it".



9. Always bring your own magazine to the emergency room. Their selection is never that good.



10. "I love you, Mommy" will make your heart ache everytime you hear it.

My THREE Boys

The boys did a little photoshoot with me tonight. We set up a little studio in the master bathroom, put the camera on self timer and took way too many pictures. Here are a few of the better ones. Oh yeah, and I'm just a couple days shy of 28 weeks. I'm HUGE!!! And my fingers are too swollen to wear my wedding ring anymore :(

Photography

Just in case anybody wants to check out some of my VERY amateur photography, you can go to my Flickr account and see some of it. Here is the link http://www.flickr.com/photos/25522162@N03/ Or you can click the link on the right hand side of this blog.

I've always loved taking pictures and finally got my dream camera last April thanks to my amazing husband. Family and friends always ask me to do their photos and I always try to fit it in. I wish I had more time. There were actually 3 weddings that I had the opportunity to shoot this spring, but ALL of them are taking place around the time Sawyer will be arriving. So I'll just have to settle for attending them as a guest.

It always seems like as soon as I get back into my photography, another addition to our growing family comes along and puts it on hold again. Which really is OK with me, because it's just another subject to take million photos of.

Our new fishy friends

For Christmas Chris and I got the boys a fish tank for their bedroom. So on Friday we went to Petco and they finally got to pick out 2 fish each. It killed them having to wait the full 2 days to let the tank adjust before we could add the fish. Unfortunatly, one of the fish didn't make it through the first night. Right when we got the bag home we saw what was wrong: when the guy at the store was putting the fish into the bag, he squished the poor little thing's fin and it was all crunched up. It was one of Logan's fish, he was all black with light marbley white patterns. Logan named him Batman. We are going to get a replacement Batman soon. We just want the other fish to have a week or so to get fully adjusted before we add another. So here are the fish! Well, the remaining ones anyway.

This is Lemonhead, one of Brandon's fish. He's bright yellow but it's hard to tell in this pic. He was picked because of his cool "mohawk" fin.

The spotty fish on the left is Logan's other fish, Sheldon. The white fish with the red head is Brandon's 2nd fish, Robin.

Pukie Update

It's now a little after 7am. Logan finally went to sleep at almost 6am, Brandon has since thrown up twice, and the dog has the runs and is pooping all over the house. The smell is wonderful in this place. I can barely keep my eyes open and I have a strong feeling it's just gonna be one of those days. Thank God school starts back up on Monday!!

Just one of those nights...

At about 3:50am we had a knock on our bedroom door and a big brother yelling "Logan puked!!". So up I jump (well, as much as a pregnant lady can jump) out of bed. When I went into their room, Logan was sitting up on his bed with his little hands open, a smear of puke down his chin, crying in a pool of vomit. So I pulled him up, got him to the bathroom and into the shower. While he cleaned up in there, I took the carpet cleaner and a towel and washed his bed, threw the blankets into the washing machine, and took the dead fish out of the tank and flushed him (and no, the dead fish has nothing to do with the puking, just thought I'd throw that in). We got him all scrubbed up, teeth brushed, and now he's sitting on the couch watching Blue's Clues. Hopefully he'll feel like going back to bed before 5am, because I can barely keep my eyes open.

I asked him why he didn't get out of bed to puke in the toilet. Our boys are welled trained in running to the bathroom before they let loose. He said he wanted me to take him this time. He remarked with little droopy eyes "Mommy, didn't you hear me when I yelled for you?" I had to explain that it's a little hard to hear when I'm asleep on the other side of the house between two closed doors. Apparently his throat was itchy and it just came out. Now Brandon is saying he doesn't feel good, but I think he just wants to sit out here and watch TV with us. And of course I'm letting him. I really hope this is the end of the throwing up for now. I hate when my babies are miserable.

I want to try and include pictures with every post, so here are a couple of Logan sick in the past. My poor little guy :(

Brandon trying to make his little brother feel better. 11/05

We had to take Logan to the emergency room for breathing treatments. I ended up staying for 2 nights with him in the hospital. It was so sad. 3/06

Auntie came to visit and snuggled with Logan. He didn't like his hospital "cage" crib. 3/06

When he doesn't feel good, he can drop into a deep sleep where ever he is. This time it was watching TV with Chester. 4/07

Good Behavior Rewarded

Brandon and Grandma Shellie have an agreement: for every full month that he is good at school and home (that means EVERYDAY), Brandon gets a special treat from Grandma. So finally, after a lot of hard work, he did it! Brandon filled up a full month on his sticker calender, and Grandma made good with her promise. So we all spent an afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese's, courtesy of Grandma.

The boys had a lot of fun playing with Grandma, Grandpa Harold, and Daddy. And I spent a lot of time sitting at the table with a sore pregnant back and chowing down on pizza.

Grandma loves her boys!!

Brandon's hardwork finally paying off. Way to go B!!

Logan winning the Kentucky Derby.

Grandpa conquering the popcorn catcher game.

Brandon teaching Logan the best way to cheat the basket game. I'm so proud :S

Chris and his little cup of tokens.

Feeding the ticket monster.

Brandon collected over 300 tickets!

Christmas Pictures (a little late)

I just wanted to post a few pictures from our Christmas morning. The boys loved all their gifts and we didn't hear one complaint from Brandon like we have in the past. Last year he opened a travel Magna Doodle and said "Lame" as he tossed it aside. But this year, it was all a hit.

Bright and early on Christmas morning

About to open their gifts from each other.

Chris thought it was funny that they got each other weapons.

He was very excited to get Lego Batman for his DS from Grandma.

Grandma got Logan his very own DS!

Chester loved his new tiger toy.