better week... :)

last week was horrible. the kids are feeling much better and mike caught whatever was going around, but feels better as well. mike started his softball leagues again last week, thurs and fri nights. we're aggressively working out again, and i am tremendously sore...but it's good!

the boys are sleeping through the night, completely! and bella is pooping on the potty...yeah! jorden's loving gymnastics and gearing up for cheer tryouts in march!

shannon (my sis) passed her test and is officially an RN...go shan!!

mike took jorden and her bff to lunch today. they won a subway g/c at a school auction, and they've been wanting to use it. i guess the g/c machine was down today, so mike bought them lunch AND let them keep the card...(what a schmuck) score girls!

the wedding we were supp. to attend in march, in vegas, is postponed...pending new date! bummer!

i'll stop playing favorites and add a new header pic of just the girls, soon...ha!

ok, break time over...back to cleaning!! blah! btw, wendy's mandarin chicken salad is the best thing ever!!

bummer :(

kids sick again:

jorden- strep throat and ear infection (missing school)

bella- cough and runny nose (also can't poop)

crew- runny nose, diarrhea & teething (so lots of drooling)

cooper- runny nose, diarrhea & teething (drooling a little less)

FUN WEEK AHEAD!!!

clarification time

so i'm trying to find a cute pic for my header and i realized that nobody got to see any pics of the boys for halloween. it was so post-halloween, but mike and i waited for a really cold night and dressed the boys in what would have been there halloween costumes, had they been able to trick-or-treat this year. i don't know if any of you remember me saying it was blistering hot that night, so my kids couldn't go out. crew is the lion, and his suit kept riding up on him, hence, the tail on his back and not his butt! cooper was a monkey and i had to cut the feet out because he couldn't walk in it. oh, the joys of catering to your kids!

i have some more cute pics of their painted faces which i'll post. they wouldn't cooperate (imagine that) and all sit down together, so this is the closest one that i could snap of them together. i thought it was pretty classic with the xmas tree in the background and all...ha! *note* no ornaments on bottom of tree, more catering to kids.

update on bella: 3 wks bottle free...yeah! no nap during day and going to bed at decent hour every night, in her own bed...double yeah! she does sneak in our room most nights around 2am, but we'll take it!

update on boys: bottle free for them as well, however, they could care less because they are actually NORMAL children! crew walks around all day yelling "bella" and cooper just carries on conversations that only the baby whisperer would understand!

update on jorden: 8 more mos. to go for braces. 3 more mos. to go for 8th grade graduation. 6 more mos. to go for high school at marcos de niza.

update on animals: america is banned from the house at the moment for clawing up bella's arms. floyd is still retarded and frankie still doesn't wipe his butt!

update on us: going to vegas this wknd and then again in march for a wedding. very excited and should be a good time. we're hoping to visit hell's kitchen while we're there.

that's it for now...

Will I ever sleep again?

So Bella is completely off the bottle, which is embarrassing to even talk about, really. Mike had to go to Vegas for the weekend and mommy threw the bottles in the garbage! I should've just done this a year ago, but mommy had to let daddy (first- time parent) learn from his mistakes. Nobody's perfect, but we as parents need to do what's in the best interest of our children. We are supposed to make the right decisions on their behalves until they are able to do so. Some parents are weaker than others, i guess, which is why there is usually one disciplinarian in the family and one parent that is a little more lenient. It works well in the grand scheme of things, but certain situations muster up the opinions of each parent. This isn't always good!

Long story short...we bagged up all of her and the boys' "babas" and she threw them away. She did well the first three days. Mike returns from Vegas and she asks him that night for a bottle. He sticks to his guns and we fight with her for over and hour to go to bed. She finally does and we take her to Chuck E. Cheese's the next night to celebrate her being a BIG GIRL now! We tell Chuck E. Cheese all about how she drinks from a sippy cup only now, and he nods his head and gives her the thumbs up (obviously he doesn't talk). We proceed to Wal-Mart to let her pick out a new sippy cup that she can take to bed (containing only water, is the plan). All is well so far.

She sleeps through the night, in her own room...score! We're making strides, as this would be day five "bottle free." Hit a road block last night when she decided she wanted to wake up in the middle of the night and not drink the sippy cup. She tossed and turned, whined, etc, etc. She has to program herself to fall asleep on her own, which is something she never learned to do because she always relied on the sucking of the bottle to soothe her back to sleep. So dad gets up and sleeps on the couch, which is the best thing for him to do when she starts up because he has the weak heart when it comes to this. I on the other hand, am the "bad guy." Which doesn't bother me in the least, whatever needs to be done. So i fight with her 'til 1:30am and she finally falls asleep.

Tomorrow will mark one full week without a bottle. I don't imagine this can go on much longer. I have to remind Mike (and myself) how resilient children are and that this will all be a thing of the past before we know it...sigh!!

"Gone away is the Bluebird, here to stay is a new bird"

Hello 2009! Every year I say "this year will be the best year ever!" Somehow, I really believe that this time. 2008 brought many blessings, yet also some grief. I am truly hoping to witness many triumphs this upcoming year with my family (parents, brothers and sisters) and my own family (me, hubby, kids). Mike is hoping the worst is behind us (I did say hoping) and business will pick up. He can go back to the five year plan of selling the biz and retiring. I will go back to school this fall and finish up my BA in Education. I'm not in too much of a hurry since I can't actually teach until the kids start school. So that is a relief to know I can take my time. Shouldn't take long though, because I was pretty far along and from the looks of it, pretty much all of my creds. from ASU will transfer to Ottawa. Pretty stoked about that! I will also continue to write. My book will probably never be finished, but I'll keep at in anyway...very therapeutic for me.

Jorden will graduate the eighth grade, start high school and get her braces off. ALL of which she's excited for! As for me....not so much! :(

Bella will hopefully learn a new vocabulary that consists of more than just "no", "leave me alone" and "I don't want to"...oh yah, and she'll all of the sudden LIKE her mother...ha!

Crew & Cooper will continue to grow and I will love watching them run (which they will be doing very soon) around and play. I can't wait for Bella to want to play with them and keep them occupied during the day, as I'll need my "study" time. Hopefully the never-ending feud between Bella and Cooper over any and every toy, will come to an end VERY SOON!

I am excited to look back at this and say "yeah, it WAS the best year ever!!"

few pics from up north...

Life....

Had a nice trip up north last wknd, wish I was still there.

Ate leftover turkey all week!

Cleaning all weekend so we can put up Xmas lights!

Kids have runny noses again...

Enjoying our new HD TV!!

All of which I am very grateful for...

Praying for Susan Turley!!!