Because I am the Most Un-Fun

Because our summer is filled with many hours at home, I knew I needed to keep the kids occupied, and what's better to occupy their time with than worksheets and activities. They each have some workbook pages to complete daily, Spencer reads out loud and then we have some music time and an activity. Goals to accomplish is both to fill some time that they can't complain about how bored they are, promote togetherness and give me some time (or Drew some time) to work just with them, and also learn.

I got some great summer bridge books for Conner, here's his assignment from today. hopefully you can read it (handwriting is not one of his strong points, but it isn't his father's either so I'm wondering how much time we should devote to that...).

P at 3 months.

P turned 3 months today, and I woke-up to thoughts of what I should have her wear. I love these little jumpers, we have a couple of them and they look dressy and comfy at the same time. Plus, she can pull her dress over her head, and what could be more fun than that? Below is her "month" pictures -- you don't see much difference month to month, but from the beginning until now it's a change, and by month 12, I figure she'll be throwing the duck at me. All part of the fun, my friends.

At 3 months she's pretty well sleeping from about 8:30 pm til' 7:30 am, and is in her crib (just about ready to give the basinette back -- which is good because she's almost out-grown it). She eats 4 times a day, about 4-6 oz/feeding. She loves to be under her baby gym, her bouncer, the swing -- anywhere she gets a bit of action. She still loves to be swaddled for naps and loves her daddy best. She's a gem, and I think I'm finally to the point I'm aware I have 3 kids. Seems like a takes a while to realize this is a new reality. kwim?

The Mormon Woman

During my lesson on Sunday we kind of got onto the tangent of the Mormon woman and how we feel pressured to live-up to a certain standard.

I really don't feel that pressure here. And perhaps this is why:

1. It's a Utah thing. I think because you all live in the same neighborhood and your kids go to the same school you hear a lot more about what everyone else is doing, etc. I had SO many people say, "oh, you work." while I was there. I worked EIGHT hours a week people, and it was doing HOSPICE. Can you get much more Christlike than that?

2. I work with a bunch of woman who work full time, and hence the idea that you could be the BEST MOM EVER is set aside, for the best mom certainly can't work. We're over that (plus, we have a lot of contenders for the worst mom ever at the hospital, so that always makes us feel better knowing we're not at the bottom of the pile). Perhaps, also, the fact that I have a lot of friends who aren't LDS I don't feel it. Maybe I'm missing out.

3. Maybe the church is letting go of it in general. No longer do we have "homemaking" we have "enrichment" and it's not about keeping your sink clean, it's about enjoying life and having some sanity. Some, being the important word.


Sidenote: Some Mormon women feel that their lives need to live up to a certain standard. Since a lot of us come from pioneer heritage sometimes that standard includes grinding wheat to make bread, being the PTA president, quilting any excess fabric we have, perfect children, a perfect home (sans holy couch)... it's enough to make a woman take prozac.

Here she is!

Well, first off here's P. I've found her the past 3 Am's just suckin' away when I get in there. It's funny, she doesn't find it at other times, only in the morning (possibly during the night, but I'm not gonna wake-up to find-out). Her jammies get all wet from her goin' to town on it. Oh well, at least she's happy and I rarely hear peeps from her during the night any more {crossing fingers}. She's so alert and awake anymore, I can't get enough of her. We've slowly made the transition to eating every 4 hours, with the last one around 8 pm. My little girl's growing up.

Here's the new lady of the house. I'm pretty sure it's a female because she just works so hard. I made bananna bread with her yesterday and while she is a bit louder than my last mixer she is a WORKHORSE, I'm excited to try bread sometime soon. This bowl will easily accomodate a few loaves. Horray. Oh, for those of you wondering, it's a 6 qt mixer, I got it for 309 on Amazon and there's a 40 dollar mail-in rebate going for the next couple of months. I've seen it cheaper one other time, but we didn't have the funds then, so I waited a bit. The one VERY annoying thing is that the tools can't be washed in the dishwaser, so I'll be finding a new beater and a new dough hook (word on the street, this one doesn't allow climbing). Has anyone ever tried the sideswipe or the beater blade? I'm thinking about getting one of those, instead of just the regular beater. Thoughts?

The Magic Bandaid

So funny the mixed reviews on P sleeping through the night. Truth be told, I'm thrilled. Last night was the first night, I think, without a single peep and she slept past 7 am. Of course, I didn't set an alarm because up until today we've had our little P alarm that gets-up before 7 every day... so we were a little behind on our trip to the Academy of Science today. More about that later.
I'm fine with her sucking her thumb. Spencer did it well into his 3's and I finally stopped him cold with the "magic bandaid". We'll see if this continues to be a long-term thing, but for now I'm a fan...
I may regret that statement at a later date.

Full Force

Paige still seems to feel the need for the binky once during the night, and I am no longer cool with that. So, it's time to cry it out around here. Last night it was about 25 minutes. Of course, I couldn't get back to sleep and that brings me to my next paragraph...

As I laid in bed wishing I was asleep and just not getting there, after an hour my thoughts turned to working out. I've pretty-well stopped since I'm working so much, dealing with 3 kids and still trying to be an uber-fun mom on my days off (we're trying to do weekly day trips on my day off, but honestly I just want to sit around or clean)... but lately I've been tight and I'm noticing that it's taking an affect on me, but I laid in my bed just thinking about how much I don't want to do the Jillian workout and how hard it is, and it makes my belly bounce.... {sigh} Sometimes you just think you have to do the FULL thing. For the longest time, as a mom, I felt extreme guilt because I just couldn't make it through 30 minutes of scripture study each day. Finally I came to the conclusion that the guilt and just not doing it because I couldn't do it for 30 minutes weren't working -- so now I do 10. For now it will have to be the same thing for workouts. It's great that I'm doing them -- I don't have to want to die when it's done -- after all I always have a full day ahead of me. So, today I did an easier post-natal workout. My heart rate still rose, I only did it for 20 minutes for then I had a little mouth to feed (a little mouth who is slowly growing out of all her 0-3 month clothes... who let this little girl grow I ask you?)
Anyway, I was just thinking how many of us get in the mind frame that we have to do it ALL when in actuality we just have to take a tiny piece and hope that somewhere down the line perhaps we can take more.

Thanks for all the mixer love, I am very excited for it to come. I wish super saver shipping was faster.

Oh yeah, and guess who's found her thumb? I will give you a hint, it's not me and she lives at this house.

On other little random tidbit -- I just bought some glasses online. 39 dollar glasses has a special where you can get 20 bucks off each pair -- so Drew and I were each able to get a pair for 38.00 total. My prescription is just at the cut-off where you need the thinner lenses, so since I was getting a larger plastic frame I thought I'd just go cheap. Either way it might be kind of fun to have another pair. I follow the blog http://www.glassyeyes.com/ because I think that online opticals are the way to go (although I did just go to the eye doctor a week ago and bought some there through my insurance, they were about 50 dollars and had the thinner lenses). I will try and do a post on how it all works out.

I Know These Truths

to be self-evident.
1. 16 year olds shouldn't have babies.
2. Their moms shoudln't encourage it, or talk about their "next one".
3. I am very excited for my nickle pearl mixer to come -- ordered it this fine AM.
And that is all.

A Week in Pictures

Last Sunday, Conner turned 9. Here you can see his delicious-looking cake {deisnged by Conner} and some of his presents. I must admit the biggest hit was the little "grow in water" capsules got for him by the Magallanes family. Kept the kids busy for hours (horray!). I need to do a photo shoot with Mr. Nine, but his hair is too long right now. I can't remember him at nine as a little homeless child...

Yesterday was spent putting up our new Ikea furniture. Drew and I have been loving this kind for quite a long time, and Ikea just so happened to have it all 50% off yesterday. Drew hauled himself out of bed bright and early to go stand in line (which was, apparently fairly non-existant, but at least we got it) and get the items you see here. Sum total for all 4 pieces and a basket for the shelves, and a CD binder was just over 500 dollars, so we were pretty happy about that, considering just last week we thought we'd be spending 1k on it. Of course, our TV looks kind of sad (although not as sad as I thought it would look) and let's not even go over the couch, but it is all starting to come together. Our friend Roddy came over and helped build the pieces in record time. It took almost as long to find studs to anchor it all on. :)
Ok, how do I make that picture bigger? You can obviously click on it but I hoped to make it better without clicking on it. When I expand it within the post it just gets fuzzy... dang blogger.

Let's pretend

You're getting a new kitchenaid mixer. Perhaps even a very fancy 6 qt. one?
What color would you get (let's imagine your current kitchen has no particular color scheme other than faux wood countertops -- classy, I know)?
I'm all about class.
ETA: My "future" color scheme is one that doesn't involve faux wood countertops. However, we do like darker cabinets (but that might not be so smart in our teeny-tiny little kitchen).

Bothered...

Last night I came home from work. I worked 3-11pm -- honestly, how did I ever work that shift? It's like the antithesis of all I am.... up so late. Anyway, it's what I'll be working come the fall so I'd better grow some big girl panties. Of course, it's 6:30 and I'm awake even without help from P.... Stupid internal clock.
I usually check email just to help me unwind after work (and because I am addicted to it).
There was one from someone at church asking for money for what he thought was a worthy cause.
I was bugged.
Could've been that it was 12 am... but does anyone ever read that ward directories are ONLY for church use, and that includes the email addresses.
And nights are for sleeping. Seriously.

Decision, decisions

I hate my living room. I mean, I don't hate it -- but it does look like DI threw-up in my living room and that's what we have. A used piano, a couch that's falling apart, an entertainment center we got from my parents neighbor's garbage, some Downeast Home saves... Seriously, it's bad. Currently, we have a bit of "wiggle room" so we've been trying to figure out what our priorities were. We took the van in for a check-up because a car is a need, and of course Disneyland seems to top the list (I tend to be a person who picks "experiences" over things).
Then, Ikea sends out notice that the furniture we've been wanting for about 5 years is 50% off this weekend, so we're planning on making that purchase.
I start to think how ugly our giant TV is going to look on our fancy new furniture, and how much I hate my couch, so we go to Costco today. We look, and we love the flatscreen TV's...
But then it hits. Do you save, or do you spend?
Make it do, or do without.
How do you make-up your mind to buy, even if you could live with what's still there (our couch literally has about 20 holes in it, I've glued and sewed it together, but it keeps falling apart).
In the end we're deciding to make do until we find great deals like we're getting Ikea, and realizing that it doesn't all have to happen NOW, that it can happen in stages as the money comes available.
It's just not as fun this way.
I've thought about Craigs list, but Drew seems nervous about the whole used thing.
{sigh}

Hey, Moms... that's right, YOU!

Hey, I was hoping to get more comments on my "sticking up for others" post that is about 3 posts below.... still trying to figure out how to juggle friend visits better...
Although, now I'm totally confused about the JW's after the weirdo posted.... :)

Diaper Deal

While I still have plenty of diapers from the Walgreens deal I did a long time ago, there's a new deal at Rite Aid that I couldn't pass-up. PLUS, I have a ton of huggies coupons burning a hole in my coupon binder that I needed to use.
Anywho, I found this site explains it pretty well:
http://www.dealseekingmom.com/rite-aid-deals-week-of-71209/
Basically, you do 2 transactions
#1 -- 3 jumbo huggies packs minus a 5 off 25 dollar Rite Aid Coupon (also minus any MFC's you have) (total was around 26 bucks)
#2 -- 2 jumbo huggies packs, plus some filler to reach 25 (I bought a thing of wipes to go in the diaper bag that they were clearancing) minus a 5 off 25 RA coupon (total was around 20 bucks)
THEN, submit for the rite aid rebates, there are a couple that apply:
buy 50 bucks worth of Kimberly Clark items, get a 25$ rite aid gift card
buy 5 jumbo huggies packages, get a free package
SO... it'll be around 20 bucks for 6 jumbos of huggies, that makes them about 3.33 each. That makes the diapers 10 cents or less each. Target price on 1's is 14 cents (that's the Costco price).
Sa-weet. Oh, and I can submit the receipts for 75 cents back for each package at Caregivers Marketplace... making them 2.89 per package. :D

Quality Time, not Quality Cake

Some of my LONG time blog readers might remember this post about Conner's cake one year. I'd stress so much over his cakes because they were NOT turning out and I figured I'd had a lot of nice YW leaders teach me how to frost, not to mention working in a bakery during college... I really thought I should have it more together.

And then I read my mom's comment -- that it's about the birthday, the boy, and not the cake. And now we have a new tradition. We make the cake together.

It starts with taking the child to get some candy (they have a 3 dollar limit -- but honestly, 3 bucks can buy a LOT of candy -- and yes, this is an excruciatingly long experience for the parent). They can pretty well pick out anything they want. Then, we picked out a recipe this AM together (My mom used to bake mine from scratch, so I thought I'd try it today), and made it all together. I even took a picture in my jammies making it with him. Later we'll make frosting together and decorate it with his candy. The child gets to do all the licking and Conner did most of the making this AM (except anything with the boiling water, he's "not a big fan of heat"). I'll let you know how it turns out, but I'm trying to remain calm and remember it's the CHILD's birthday, not a day about cake. :)

Sticking Up for Others

Yesterday Conner had a playdate. Now, honestly I'm not a super fun mom. My children rarely have playdates with "their" friends -- I do a fair amount of babysitting as trades for friends but those kids aren't really one child's friend or another's so it's a rarity that "their" friend will come over. Does that make sense?

Well ,this particular friend wasn't in for letting Spencer play with and Conner quickly realized that and went along. Finally, just to keep the peace, Drew took Spencer in and played our fake wii with him in our bedroom. Apparently, Spencer beat Drew in golf. Anyway, how do you deal with it when your kids have friends over? I'm trying to be that cool mom a bit more this summer and it's easier since I'm friends with a few of their moms on facebook... but I was baffled on how to do it (in honestly, I was a girl and my brother was a boy and we had VERY separate friends and things we wanted to do, so I don't particularly remember this being an issue at our house). I get how he might not want to include him, but I knew that the way they were treating him was OK either. I was hoping for suggestions....

At work the other day we had a Jehovah's Witness patient. Our anesthesiologist kept going on and ON about how STUPID she was for not wanting blood. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I rationally explained that some people have beliefs which are rooted in them even further than all of her medical knowledge and how this patient literally believes she will go to hell if she gets blood so SHUT IT. I asked the doctor if there were things she would rather die doing than go to hell -- I'm pretty sure she's atheist because she basically just said I was stupid. But, I do believe that religion in most forms is good and we need to stand-up for people who have beliefs, even if we don't agree with them. Now, I once had a patient who didn't say she had a religion (we ask as part of our intake) but she did say she didn't want to get blood because her family was JW's. I did question her on if she was willing to die for something she didn't even accept as her own. I found that a little weird.

BUT, the whole day was just a reminder that we need to support the people around us on what is good. Learning to have empathy for those around us is one of the most important things we can learn. I hope to work on instilling it in my kids.

Work

I have a job that is not normally particularly depressing. Stressful, yes... depressing, not usually. But lately we've just had some awful stuff... which isn't so great for a mom with a new baby, but it does make you thankful for every little thing.
Every.
little.
thing.
Especially little ones named P, because there are plenty out there without a P and I am one of the lucky ones.
Ok, and has anyone ever worked with someone, or perhaps had them as their manager, who you think hates you? I just feel like a particular person detests me and I am having issues with it. Most people adore me....

My Love/Hat Relationship with the Binky

I love that all my kids have loved the binky (Spencer soon loved his thumb more than the binky, but it was nice while it lasted). P loves it too, but now I fear she loves it so much she's waking up in the middle of the night to caress it gently with her tongue, only to find it MIA, hence she calling for assistance. Frankly, during the middle of the night I give it to her.

However, during the day we're doin' some sleep training with our little friend, no binky to get to sleep, it's my new motto, at least for today. Have you guys had similar issues with your kids, and how do you deal with it?

And guess who's off -- well, at least til' the afternoon. Might get some grocery shopping done.

Time Changes Everything

I was just sitting here making a movie of P's birth. I was thinking of all those countless hours I'd made movies for other people's babies, wondering if I'd ever have another of my own. Thought about how last year at this time I was looking for "real" jobs to get now that my little ones were fleeing the coop.
And now look at me this year.
And I remember how things change, and how it's for the better and how things that I think are so pressing now might not be in the whole scheme of things.
I love movies of births...
I love my baby....

*We've had some pretty tough stuff at work lately, and I think that's making me a little emotional about my precious wee one too.

Sweet.

The best part of working?
Payday, by far.
I honestly haven't had a check this large in like 2 years.
Awh, the savings accounts are growing.
Feel the joy.
Just waiting with anticipation to see what breaks first around here...

No Idea

How to moms work full time?
I thought I'd get cancelled this AM. I didn't. Again, I jut remind myself that every shift I work now is one I don't have to worry about come the fall.
But really, I feel like everything else is falling apart.
Ashes, ashes, we all fall down.

Whazup?

What's up around here?
Well, let me tell you!
1. We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and in fact we bought a memership because it's so darn expensive to take us anyway, it was only like 20 bucks more to get benefits for a whole year (plus two months because they sent us a promo thing). They have a new exhibit on seahorses that is REALLY cool. I highly recommend. I'd never seen so many, very cool. Also the regular trip to Bubba Gump's. Yum.



2. We went to the Alameda County Fair. We'd been to our own county's fair a few years ago and it was a HUGE loser. This one was pretty neat, and we had a nice time. We even went with D's cousins and it's nice to hang out with family. I know, no one knows we have family here... but we do. And frankly, we need to hang with them more often. S and their daughter have a great time together. They even have free horse racing. I'd never been to the horse races before and it was pretty fun, even though we didn't bet. I know, you were all worried.



P is pretty good at being dragged around to all this stuff. She is now sleeping through the night more nights than she's not sleeping through. So many people at the aquarium were all over how cute she is. She really is getting to be an alert little thing, although you can't tell in this fine photo. Still on the docket is the Academy of Sciences, I think we'll go in a couple of weeks. I'm still working a lot. Today was a pretty heavy shift, I am glad, glad, glad to be home.

Hilary's TV viewing on a Monday Night

Watched some TV tonight, I haven't been watching much TV at all -- which has been kinda weird after the giant amounts of TV I was watching with P for so long.

Watched a 30 days where a pro-choice person goes to live with pro life people. I realized that I identify with neither of them. I never would protest a clinic, I think the pictures they often use are awful. I do believe abortion should be illegal but to yell at those people is horrifying to me. I don't think a woman should be able to choose though (except the choice to keep her legs closed). I wish people would grow brains and keep their legs closed. By the way, after 28 weeks there's NO reason for an abortion. Just get the baby out and hope for the best, but if the mom's life is in jeopardy you can just deliver. Third term aboritons are un-necessary, except for women who "forgot about their appointment".

Also watched some So You Think You Can Dance... that piece with the "Artwork" was weird.

Caught a snippet of that old Michael Jackson interview. The guy was a weirdo. I'm glad he's released from this earth though. He's just a normal guy in heaven. :)

Sarah Palin is also a weirdo. I would put her on the same lines as MJ at this point. Billy Jean is not my lover, by the way.

Sometimes you realize what a window on life TV is. And sometimes you realize just how tired you are....

Sweet Times

It's times when every single child in your home is bawling that you have to remember the sweet times.
Yesterday at church P was staring SO hard at S -- just trying to get his attention through staring at him. Finally I poked him and told him that Paige was lookin' at him. When he looked up and looked at her, her eyes got all big and she got the biggest grin. It was quite frankly one of the cutest moments I've ever witnessed. Frankly, P isn't a giant fan of S. He tends to be kinda rough with her and while she doesn't hate it, she's just not in love with it.
So, to see that happen was extra special.
And, it kept me awake.
Which was needed at church.

It was "THAT" night

Last night was the night, happy 4th to me indeed. Hopefully it doesn't require fireworks every time, but GUESS WHO slept from 10 pm to 7 am! That's right, our sweet little P. Now, I've spent some sleepless hours analyzing what it was gonna take to get her to sleep through. Here are my thoughts, based pretty much entirely on my 3 kids.
1. They need to be eating close to 4 oz each feeding.
2. They need to be awake for just about an hour and a half between each feeding.
3. The shedule has to be fairly strict.
It has taken a while for her to make it up to about 3.5 oz each feeding. Sometimes it's still only 3 but she does 4 a fair amount of the time. She's a sleepyhead during the day though. I think if I'd worked harder on keeping her awake during the day this time might have come sooner, but frankly... with 3 kids... and her having a cold. I'm just glad it came now.
I'm not planning on this being a regular thing for another week but I do think we're on the right path.
That's right the yellow brick road to the Emerald City, I might be a normal person again! I would stress "might be." Also, as she's gone longer at night I see more of her personality coming through. She was pretty-well the life of the party last night giving everyone smiles.

In other news, we had a great 4th. I worked all day with some of my favorite co-workers and then it was BBQ'ing with friends and fireworks. I'm so happy our city still puts on fireworks. It makes me feel kinda small town and builds community. Kids loved it. To quote Conner,
"The fourth of July is the BEST day! A picnic, party and FIREWORKS!!!!" Pretty much dude, pretty much.

Some Days the Lightbulb is Given to you

Got a call from OCH today -- I'm cancelled, for the WHOLE EIGHT HOURS. What to do, what to do? Well, first I tried to work out but just lacked the will to do that, so instead now I've cleaned, checked a couple of blogs. I see a trip to J's in my future (notions are 50% off right now) and then perhaps going to the pool. Oh, and I put a tuck in Miss P's pants (I'm awfully good at those now -- Miss P is following in her brothers small-waisted footsteps).

Obviously, excitement is coming from ever corner. But it is nice to have a "free" day -- I think it's just what I needed (even if I'll be poor, happy is better than rich -- right?).

The Broken Lightbulb

Last night I got through 1/2 of a conference talk (seriously, that's as good as I can do lately) but I really liked it, and I even finished the rest of it this fine AM. It was from Elder Uchdorf's talk in the priesthood session, but very applicable to everyone's life.

In it he shares this story:

The Story of the Lightbulb, or Losing Sight of What Matters Most
On a dark December night 36 years ago, a Lockheed 1011 jumbo jet crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing over 100 people. This terrible accident was one of the deadliest crashes in the history of the United States.
A curious thing about this accident is that all vital parts and systems of the airplane were functioning perfectly—the plane could have easily landed safely at its destination in Miami, only 20 miles (32 km) away.
During the final approach, however, the crew noticed that one green light had failed to illuminate—a light that indicates whether or not the nose landing gear has extended successfully. The pilots discontinued the approach, set the aircraft into a circling holding pattern over the pitch-black Everglades, and turned their attention toward investigating the problem.
They became so preoccupied with their search that they failed to realize the plane was gradually descending closer and closer toward the dark swamp below. By the time someone noticed what was happening, it was too late to avoid the disaster.
After the accident, investigators tried to determine the cause. The landing gear had indeed lowered properly. The plane was in perfect mechanical condition. Everything was working properly—all except one thing: a single burned-out lightbulb. That tiny bulb—worth about 20 cents—started the chain of events that ultimately led to the tragic deaths of over 100 people.
Of course, the malfunctioning lightbulb didn't cause the accident; it happened because the crew placed its focus on something that seemed to matter at the moment while losing sight of what mattered most.

This really "turned on a lightbulb" for me -- in many ways.

1. I still get overwhelming anxiety sometimes. I will just think I've kicked the whole postpartum thing and whamo it'll come back and I'll wish I had a Xanax. It tends to be when I'm really focused on one thing, and then the anxiety makes me focus even more on that one thing. I need to remember the light bulb and try and pry myself back to look at the whole situation. Thankfully, I don't get it at work and I'm there most often lately.... which brings me to #2.

2. I'm taking everyone's shifts this summer. It started out that I wanted to work a lot so I won't have to work in the fall and perhaps a Disneyland trip for our family in the spring (kids are very bummed we didn't go this year, but honestly I don't know if we, monetarily, could've done it). However, I'm taking it to the extremes. I am again working 4 shifts next week and perhaps that's now the best for our family. I'm too focused on saving up so that I don't have to work in the fall that I'm gonna work myself into the ground in the meantime. I'm basically gonna go down in the everglades if you know what I mean. :)

3. In the meantime while I'm taking all those shifts I'm also trying to keep all my "balls" in the air -- checking ads, making plans to go to a couple of stores on my day off, etc. Drew is doing an AMAZING job at keeping up with my "cleaning schedule" around here. Really, I'm impressed by him -- but let's face it -- most people can't do shopping like I do, and I have certain things I clean that no one else would think to. In my head I'm wondering how on earth people with 3 kids work this often, but in my heart I know they have a housekeeper, and they don't stick to this kind of a budget, etc. and many of them have family around to help with kids even when they're off. I can't keep up the facade of a woman who stays at home when I'm actually not here all that much.

Anyway, the story really brought it all home for me that I need to stop looking for the problems that perhaps aren't even there and focus on what's really important, my family, the gospel and taking care of myself.

In other news, P is 9 weeks today! Just 2 months ago we were coming home from the hospital. In my head I feel like she's been in our lives forever though. At nine weeks is the magical time that Mr Ezzo says they'll sleep through the night. And here I am on almost 8 full hours of sleep. She woke-up at 5:30 making a few peeps but I wasn't gonna get her until I think she's actually awake. So, now I've been awake since 5:30 and I can't work-out because keep thinking I need to get her. But, instead I've had time to write an entire insightful blog. This is the second time she's done this, which is by far the longest of all my kids. However, she's had a cold this week and she has reflux so we're handling it OK. Plus, when it's your 3rd, getting up and feeding her and going back to bed just doesn't seem as bad as it did with #1. I do hope we're on the track to good night's rest though. I think she can use it just as much as we can.

Guess who's off today. Party it up peeps. Also off to see the urologist. Wouldn't it be a dream if I was stone-free?