Feeling dumb

Sometimes when I read others blogs I feel dumb. For example my wonderful husband Dan, just put up a video up which received many rather long and detailed comments. As I was reading through some I fell asleep. J/K
I didn't but I have to admit that the time it would take me to watch the video, read the comments and then leave one would be entirely too long. In the time it has taken me to write this much, Sofia and Zeke got into a pushing fight, Sofia was carrying around some white out upside, and honking this annoying horn that almost made me lose my mind. How in the world could I form a complete thought that would be smart and witty to add to someones blog!
As I type this Zeke is asking me the same question 100 times, and telling me I hurt his feelings and he never wants to play with me again.
These are my daily conversations, not unfortunately politics and discussions on grace. I probably need to get out more.

Things I miss

I absolutely love being pregnant, it has been a desire for really my whole life, I remember being young and thinking pregnant women were so beautiful, and I couldn't wait until it was my turn. So after 7 years of praying for it I am thrilled it has finally happened to me.
But there are a few things I miss and can't wait to do when I have the baby.

Like sleeping on my stomach! Oh how I miss sleeping on my back and stomach, I have always slept on my stomach and it is an adjustment not being able to do that!

Stretching! That morning stretch when you are laying in bed on your back before you get out of bed. For some reason I can't stretch, maybe because you use your stomach muscles and they are all stretched out with a baby pushing on them. And you can't point and stretch your feet because it hurts and then you have those crazy charlie horses!

Being able to see below my belly, and do things like reach your feet! We had a girls night last weekend and I realized I can't paint my toenails anymore! I couldn't breathe, so Erica kindly painted them for me! Thanks Erica

Drink a big fat Cherry coke. I hardly have soda, but every once in awhile I crave a cherry coke with my friend Karen(miss you girl).

Having a glass of wine. Also something I don't do that often but there are those great nights when the kids are in bed and we go sit outside and it would be perfect to sip a glass of wine with my husband!

Sleep longer than 3 hours without having to get up to go pee! Not that this is going to change anytime soon, but I look forward to this day!

Eating hummus and not getting indigestion! I get indigestion when I drink water! I love hummus and Trav & Annette brought us some from Trader joes when they came up and every time I eat it it stays with me all day!! But I still do it because I love it so much!

Those are just a few things lately I have been missing, but to counter those there are a million things I love about being pregnant and I feel so thankful to be able to experience this crazy thing that God designed our bodies for!

I miss my trash man

It seems like every week I miss the trash guy.
We hardly have any trash because we recycle absolutely everything, but we have been using these biodegradable diapers called nature baby and so these are in our trash can. There are not too many in a weeks time because I am still using gdiapers/ cloth diapers alongside of them, but the few that are in there are horr-ib-leee! (said with a spanish accent)!!
When Sofia is teething it is a crazy mess in the diapers! And when that happens in a cloth it equals some major gagging. I think it is heightened with my pregnancy, smells are soo much stronger!
Luckily Sofia gets into a routine and I know when she might do some business so I put on the throw away biodegradable ones!
Anyway my point is today is trash day and again I missed it. our trash can smells like something died in it and I am not kidding no matter how fast you open and close it, the smell could literally knock you out!
So I have to keep this smell in our garage for another week, that is the only place for our trash cans!
I know I should put them out the night before but we never remember because we have our life group, and Dan leaves really early in the morning for his prayer time, so that leaves it up to me to remember. Not good, since I forget every week!
I was going to run across the street with my trash can and just wait for him to take it, but every house had their can out so it was a no go.
oh well, we will try again next week

endurance

So last week Dan and I were discussing giving birth and planning out how we wanted it to look, hopefully! When Dan commented on my lack of working out. It is true I have not worked out in months! Granted I go up and down stairs 50 times a day with 20 more pounds than I used to have , sometime 40 if I am carrying Sofia. Plus just keeping up with the kids all day. So I am not sitting on my butt all day, but I have not been purposeful about it either.
Dan was like don't you think you might want to work out more so you will have some endurance for childbirth?
huh? Interesting question which makes perfect sense and I had not thought of!!!
I really want a natural childbirth and I pray I will be strong enough for it, so I have been exercising every other day this week.
You may be thinking um isn't it a little late to start now, aren't you due soon?
Yes, yes I am, in two months actually!
But better late than never right!

Things to ponder from Zeke

You gotta love the photo booth on imac it is hours of fun for Zeke!

Some thoughts by Zeke:

Two of these thoughts/memories were said to me in the car on the way to Mom's group this morning. The other one was yesterday in the car on the way home from the aquatic center.

We got on the 44 and Zeke said "hey mama this one time Grammy and Grampy had to drive so super very fast on the freeway because I had to poop and it was hurting me real real bad. So Grampy was driving way too fast and we made it home and I pooped."

What is funny is this was like a year ago, I don't know what brought the memory up again?

Next we were listening to some worship music and I was singing along, Zeke says,
"hey mama, please stop singing, you just need to listen and hear the words, not sing them to us, ok."
Ouch, I know my voice is not that great, but he usually doesn't mind when I sing, it must have been especially off key today!

The other funny one happened yesterday when our whole family was driving home from the pool.
" Hey daddy and Mama, um my teeth are really tight I need to just take them out of my mouth like Grandpa Oyler does with his"
What is funny is he has not seen my Grandpa who I guess can take his teeth out of his mouth, for over a year. They live in Indiana and we have not seen them since they visited last spring!

I love Zeke's memory he always brings up things from so long ago, it is funny what stays with them or what impresses them! I guess someone being able to remove their teeth completely was pretty important!

9 years (a couple of weeks ago)

Last night Dan got someone to watch the kids and surprised me by taking me out!
It was kind of for our anniversary that was a couple of weeks ago, we were a little busy when it came around.
We were going to go to dinner and a movie, but I am cheap and I said lets just do dinner since we have to pay for a sitter too! It is funny how much you take family for granted when you live around the corner and they can watch your kids almost anytime you need! (we miss you family!)
Anyway we went to Outback and tried something other than Steak since we are kind of going off red meat. I have never had anything other than steak there, but I got some chicken and rice with grilled vegetables that was delicious!!
And then Dan asked what I wanted to do and I said can we run some errands since we don't have the kids! I know what a date, but it is so much easier without the kids. The good thing is we can have fun anywhere together! We cruised around Kohls after returning some things and we each got a little something with the store credit!
As I write this I am realizing how old and married we are sounding! We have been married for 9 years, but Dan still makes me laugh more than anyone in the world and I love that he knows what I am going to say before it leaves my mouth. I love that we can laugh at each other and life, I love that we can still sit for hours and talk. I love the way he leads our family and pushes us all toward Jesus and loving like Jesus.
The funny thing is we have been together for almost half of my life, we dated for 5 years before we got married, so it has been 14 years with him!
I think that is amazing, I am so thankful for what a gift our marriage is.
Happy 9 years Dan, love you

Random Thought Process

Sometimes I let my thoughts run away when I am doing something mindless. Dan always is amazed how I can be talking about one thing and 2 minutes later be on some completely other random subject.
This morning I was cleaning out Zeke's art supply shelf and my thoughts were jumping all over the place.
Here they are:

It was so nice that my Uncle and Aunt came to visit...
They live in Indiana and are on a long road trip, they went out of their way to visit us, took us to lunch, shopping for the kids and to dinner. It was so nice to see them since we only see them every few years! They are on their way to Reno for a car club meeting, they love old classic cars.
This led me to my next thought as I remembered my dream

Weird that when your pregnant you have such crazy dreams...
In my dream I was hanging out with Beyonce! We were at a fancy party and the paparazzi were chasing us and we hopped in our classic car and drove off to the next party. I found it strange that she was in my dream, I have never listened to her music or been a big fan, not that I don't like her she seems great, it was just weird.
This lead me to thinking about how I was not pregnant in the dream

Crazy that I only have a little over 2 months left until the baby comes...
Dan's blog has the creepy floating baby and it says 67 days left! Oh man I still have nothing done and ready for the baby! I really should get on that! This lead me to wondering how Zeke and Sof would do sharing a room

I wonder if Sofia will ever take a nap again...
I just keep thinking that once they are in the same room they will play constantly and never sleep again. This made me realize how tired I am right now

Oh man I am so tired and it is only 8:45 am this could be a long day...
I need to have the kids run around and get some energy out so we could all take a nap this afternoon!!

There you have it my random thought process, nothing really exciting I know.

Top 10 Things I love about camping

Our family went on our annual camping trip with our close friends. This was our 7th year camping together with these 5 families. We had a blast here are some highlights

10. Sleeping in a tent in 40 degree weather, not showering for 3 days

9. The tree swing that Adam made for the kids to play on, they loved it! Watching Zeke play with his friends that he misses so much.

8. Doing dishes with the girls(although I didn't do much) and I agree Annette, we could totally live in community!
7. Sitting around the campfire when the kids are in bed, freezing our butts off and laughing together, just being with friends who know you so well.
6. Listening to the guys play their guitars and ukuleles, it would not be a camping trip without the sound of them playing music together.
5. Listening to the song Zeke and Jonah made up about Cheese nips, they sang it for 2 days straight. This was after they added it to everyones name. "Hi Davey Cheese nip." Davey didn't appreciate that name.
4. Going to the tide pools with kids, just watching them learn and explore
3. Watching Zeke learn how to play baseball for the first time ever

2. Just having meals together and living for a short time as a family
1. Being with these people that are family to us, being known and loved by them. Miss you all already

3rd trimester!

FYI This picture makes me look bigger than I am, I think...
I was realizing today that I am just starting my 3rd trimester, I can't believe how fast it has gone by! I was reading about this time and it said that my baby is a little over 2 pounds. I thought of Zeke and how he was born at 26 weeks and how that was 2 weeks ago for me, how crazy is that!

It also said I will gain about 11 pounds this last trimester and I am already up more than I thought I would be at this time! But it is all well worth it!
Zeke is getting so excited about the baby he tells me everyday something new he is going to teach Moses. Today he said when Moses comes out "I will teach him to change a light bulb and I will get him milk when he is thirsty". Yesterday he said he would teach him to fix the blades on his fan.
We just had a talk with him about being a big brother and helping us out more, we can only hope that it will really happen!
Sofia is always lifting my shirt and pointing at my belly then lifting her own shirt and pointing, I don't think she gets it but she is really intrigued with the size of my stomach!
We have been putting off getting ready, I am not sure why, I guess busyness??? But we still have to move the kids into the same room, get Sofia a bed and move and fit all of her stuff into Zeke's room. Sometimes I don't think it has sunk in that we are having a baby!
Amazing that we are having a baby!

Sofia the vaccum

Sofia is in this stage where she puts everything in her mouth! Zeke was never into so much stuff the way she is, she makes a mess just by walking by something! So in the last 2 days here is a list of the things she has put into her mouth!
Yesterday at the Dr. office her nasty bloody band-aid (at least it was hers right!)
The dog bone, she and Scarlet were playing fetch and she was carrying it around in her mouth!
Every book she picks up
Her wooden chair (she is teething so it must feel good)
A paper clip (that was scary)
Zeke's drum stick
50 rocks from outside (for some reason she is always trying to eat these)
a cracker that she gave to Scarlet then took back
Daddy's wrench (zeke is always playing with Dan's tools and he left them out for her)

What is funny is who knows what else I have not seen go into her mouth, let's hope we get through this phase quickly. It freaks me out and grosses me out!

It's getting hot in here...

Today the temp is 105!!!!
I am not ready for this heat yet!
Zeke had western day today and they got to ride a pony!
I had no idea how it would go, I thought for sure he would refuse, but he surprised me and jumped right on with a smile!
In the fall at his old preschool they had western day and a fake wooden horse he would not get on, now look at him riding a real horse! What a difference a year makes!

It was out in the middle of the field and it was at noon. The sun was blazing down on us and Sofia gets so hot and sweaty. I have a feeling she is going to be a bit moody this summer, as you can see from the picture.
We might head to the pool later today but right now it is way too hot!
I am just praying it cools down again for a few weeks, note to self don't buy a 2 story in Redding!

oh what a night!

Dan posted about how the kids were so out of it last evening from 4 shots each, well the fun had only just begun!
8:00pm put the kids to bed
12:30am Dan gets home from poker with the guys
1:00am Zeke wakes up crying with a fever
Dan takes him downstairs so he is not alone
1:30 I come down to check out the situation and find our thermometer is saying his temp is anywhere from 101 to 105!!!!!
I freak out, but Dan reassures me the thermometer is unreliable
1:45 give him tylenol
1:50 Dan heads out to Walgreens to get a new thermometer
2:15 he returns and Zeke has finally fallen asleep and is not burning up as much
2:30 Dan and I go to sleep
3:15 Sofia wakes up crying with a fever
I rock her and sing she calms down
4:00am we give her some tylenol
we lay her down to sleep
4:30 she is crying again Dan rocks her for awhile and puts her down again
5:00 she is awake again I bring her to bed with me where she moans and rolls around for an hour
6:15am I go downstairs with her where Dan and Zeke are awake and watching a video
we sit with the kids while they sip gatorade and eat 5 cheerios
Sofia gulps her gatorade and clams down to a nap
7am I go back to bed, Dan does not
9am Dan went off to work exhausted and the day is only beginning!
Luckily Zeke seems completely over it and is loud and playing again!
Nights like these make me so thankful for healthy kids, God has blessed us and they rarely get sick. Let me think about wether or not I am going to do that many shots again... ah NO!

weird emotions

Since being pregnant I have had ridiculously weird emotions. there have been a few occasions where something will strike me as hilarious and I literally can't stop laughing. It is usually something my husband says, he makes me laugh more than anyone I know. But there have been a couple of occasions where something will just rock me and I can't stop crying. I very much dislike this. The first was while watching a movie where a dog died. I do not know why but I was uncontrollably crying. Not just a little bit, but balling couldn't talk crying so hard. Dan laughed at first then was not sure what to do with me.
So early this morning at around 4:45am I woke up crying from a weird dream.
In the dream I was at pinkberry ( a frozen yogurt place) and I ordered a cake. They don't have cake there and I don't even really like cake. Anyway I turn around to get something and when I turn back a friend had licked all of the icing off of my cake and was laughing about it. For some reason this made me really sad. Then I was at my house (that was not really my house, you know how dreams are weird that way). And I was trying to describe how sad and lonely I was feeling because my friend had licked the frosting off of my cake.
Then I woke up crying and I realized I was really sad to be leaving Riverside tomorrow.
So I got up to get some kleenex and get my cry out without waking Dan. I have been up ever since and I am bummed that i am missing out on my last day to sleep in!
I am hoping with this ridiculous emotional outburst out of my system I won't loose it when I have to say goodbye to my family!
Anyway it is almost 6am maybe I could still sleep for an hour or so.
This post is random

These are a few of my favorite things(about vacation)

Sleeping in! We have been sleeping in until 9 or 9:30 everyday!!!!! It has been amazing

Alone time with Dan. It's like we are dating again, just the two of us having conversations uniterrupted!

Going to the movies! with kids we never get to go out to the movies we have seen 2 in the last 2 days!

Trader Joes! My mom gave us a gift card to TJ and we stocked up on favorites for our little kitchen. Yummy things like pesto bowls, and hummus and pita chips, dark chocolate bars, Lingon berry scones! Oh how i miss TJ!

Laying in the sun reading. This has not happened yet as the weather has been overcast and cold. But I have hope that tomorrow will be sunny and I can lay on the beach and read my book while tanning my super pasty white legs!

Just doing nothing. Having no plans. I always have a plan and it is nice to not think about it.

Reading a huge book without someone asking me a million questions! I have not sat down to read a book since January so it has been awesome!

Taking naps!

Eating out, we have spent like $30 so far! We eat breakfast and lunch at our time share then treat ourselves to dinner. But we have some gift cards that have been burning a whole in our pockets since CHristmas! So we are treating ourselves to fun places like Yard House and PF. Changs!

It is going by fast so I am trying my best to soak it all up!

ahh vacation!

This is our view from our hotel balcony. We are Newport and staying at an awesome time share! We have the kids so the relaxing part of vacation has not officially kicked off yet. Zeke thought it would be cool to wake up at 6am again today. He has been so excited to be with grandparents that he is ready to start the day early!
No big plans today, take the kids to the beach and play. I can't wait it will be fun!
We have had a few bumps in the road, Dan couldn't find his atm card yesterday and so we thought through all the places he had been in the last 2 days. I called 411 5 times getting numbers of business where we used our card, thanks Erica for searching for the taco bell number in Redding!
We finally found it in Williams CA, where we stopped for breakfast on the way to Sac!
So we are relieved it is found, that would have been a great way to start vacation, with our card being lost!
I am sure we will have fun pics of the kids at the beach soon, it is beautiful today!

My baby is 5!

Zeke turned 5 today and he woke up and said "yesterday I was 4 now I am 5, how come I am 5 now?" I love his questions, they are almost always unanswerable. Like why is fire hot?
I don't know it just is!
Dan wrote an amazing blog for Zeke, check it out I cried just thinking about his little lifeand how special he is.
I feel so blessed to be Zeke's mom and I am grateful everyday that I get to learn from him and love him.
We went to round table pizza with a few friends for his birthday, not because he loves pizza actually he hates it, but they had fans and games so of course he chose it!
Anyway today we are taking cupcakes to class and tomorrow he gets to fly on a plane and see all of his favorite people so I think this is going to be a great birthday!

counting down

Vacation is in 5 days and I am starting to get a little crazy as I wait for it. As I write the house is in shambles, literally, Zeke won't stop asking me the same 3 questions about a flashlight, a fan and when we get to go over to the nieghbors house and Sofia is crying because I won't let her rip the paper out of the printer and I keep giving her chicken instead of animal crackers.
The count down began months ago for vacation but I am now counting the minutes... as Dan says "don't worry babe when the baby comes things will get much easier!!"
The photo was just taken and I just picked up half the stuff that was on the floor, good times!

Can you please hold?

I am sitting on hold with my bank...again. It seems like every week I sit on hold for something that I need to fix or change, my Dr office, my health insurance, the bank, the phone company, the credit card company, and the list goes on. Since moving it seems like there is always something I have to switch or a wrong charge etc. Seriously our phone bill has never been this high, we only have our cell phones so it is adding up! I feel like i need to get one of those really cool ear piece phones that important people have, so I won't have a neck ache. Can't you just see me wandering around the house doing housework while wearing an ear piece! I am pretty sure it won't happen but it is a funny picture.
I am trying to have patience but the bank girl just came back for the 3rd time without an answer to my question. Aghhh!
Anyway I have no patience or organization for this part of my housewife duties! Luckily my kids are happily playing, usually when I am on the phone it is some kind of hidden cue to act like animals and go running and screaming through the house! Yay for those rare moments when they are content and don't need my attention for longer than 2 minutes!
This blog has no point except to complain about being on the phone!

lather, rinse repeat

That title doesn't really make sense but I like the sound of it.
So I was realizing lately that as a mom I repeat myself a ridiculous amount of times during the day. It starts to drive a person insane when you say the same thing over and over again with no real results, but I guess that is the joy of motherhood and teaching your children how to behave!
But on any certain day I find that these few phrases come out of my mouth over and over again:
To Zeke:
Stop hitting your sister
Stop picking your nose
Wash your hands
eat your dinner
stop yelling
turn your volume down
stop hitting your sister
don't kick the dog
no you can't have the fan on
did you wash your hands with soap
don't talk back
don't push your sister
stop talking like a baby
don't sass me
turn off the fan please
did you hear what I said
be gentle with your sister or the dog(whichever fits best in the circumstance)

To Sofia
Don't hit mama
are you hungry
don't eat the dog food
no, no Sof don't touch
don't hit mama
don't eat the dog food
are you hungry
no don't open the toilet
don't hit brother
be gentle with the dog
don't eat the dog food

I know one day I will miss the way I constantly said the same things 100 plus times a day, so I will cherish it now! But there are definitely days when you want to yell is anyone listening to what I am saying!!!
There are many good things that I repeat as well, like reading books, both of the kids LOVE to read books and I read the same ones 25 times a day but it is so worth it when they both cuddle up on each side of me and we read Quick as a cricket for the 13th time today!
Being a mom tests your patience, makes you humble, exhausts you and brings you some of the greatest joy. I am so thankful I get to be a mom, what a crazy responsibility, raising these kids to love God and love others. So tomorrow when I wake up saying the same thing to Zeke I will be grateful for my life of lather rinse repeat!

Jesus plays basketball

I just love the mind of my almost 5 year old. This morning I was talking with him about what he learned at church last night, he told me there were some people who didn't have food so some other people gave them some. They were talking about Acts, I was glad he had soaked some of the lesson up, then he went on to say that he also learned Jesus played basketball and that in the summer when Jesus comes to the park downtown he will turn on the fans for us.
Thanks Nate!
On Saturday night we went to Pizza with the Edwardsons and then went to a grassy area where they do Marketfest on Thursday nights in the summer. There were these huge tall industrial Fans and Zeke really REALLY wanted to turn them on. We kept telling him that only people who work at the city can turn them on when it is really hot. But Nate decided to say that Jesus had to power to turn them on and to ask him! So of course Zeke has been talking about how this summer Jesus will come to this park and turn them on!
As far as Jesus playing basketball, the only thing I can come up with for that thought is that on the front cover of his little story a man is holding a basket of food that kind of looks like a basketball??? So of course he assumed Jesus feeds the hungry and plays a little b-ball as well!
I love how it all comes back to fans, even the Bible story and Jesus, everything comes back to his beloved fans!