Cowboy Up

Yesterday my parents brought back my camera, which I fogotten (SD card-less) in Pueblo, just in time to get some shots of Halloween.  We missed pictures of the pumpkin patch, carving pumpkins, the first big snow, etc etc, but we GOT HALLOWEEN.  So Here's my first pics for a while, sorry about all the yapping I did trying to replace pictures.  After all, a picture's worth 1,000 words, so now I can shaddup.

Eli's costume was my personal favorite, comprised of cowboy boots he wears everywhere anyway (thanks, grandma/pa Jacobs!), an old cowboy hat from Laramie that's 1/8" too small for my head, a red plaid shirt we already had, toy guns we already had, and a toddler who already moseys everywhere he goes.  It was too perfect, yet I was still surprised at how many compliments we got as other trick-or-treat groups passed (moseyin' is slooooow business). 

Patrick's and Caroline's costumes were re-runs from last year, but this time around Patrick wore his head and people actually knew what he was; definitely a step up from last time. He wanted to be a dinosaur again, so I figured this was the best (read: affordable) way to do it, and he was great with that until today, when he freaked out that this is a T-REX costume and he wanted to be an ALLOSAURUS (a meat-eater almost identical to T-Rex). Fortunately, he got over it.

And a big thanks to the Moses/Henneuse clan for letting us crash their T-or-T walk!  It was nice to have company. And WOW, I really didn't shut up, did I?

Thanks :)

I'll take being weird as a compliment any day!

My ceilings are done (well, excep the high corner that requires Joe's orangutan arms to reach) and I DID have fun.  WILL have fun looking at them, because enjoying the finished project is more fun than climbing up and down the ladder and hauling my sprayer and scraper all over the place, then vaccuming for 2 hours to get all the junk (I had to vaccum my fireplace and the walls, not to mention the floor and stairs and nooks and crannies associated with all that - it's a serious vaccuming process). So yeah, sitting on my couch and looking will be fun.  Now, on to scrapbooking, which is how I thought I was going to spend my entire weekend.

White boogers

Your read that right.  I'm all alone in my house now, so I have the right to pick a little shnozz, and when I do those boogers are SOLID WHITE, my friends. WEIRD.  In reality, this post isn't about white snot, it's about WHY I've got why snot: it's because I am a MOTIVATED RENOVATOR (albeit one who could use a kleenex and a social filter).

I've been scraping the ceilings like I said I would!  That's huge.  Walking the walk, guys, it's a Big Deal. What's even more huge is that they are almost DONE being scraped, I only having my dining room left!  I think it's about 200 square feet, but that's probably a bad estimate, I'm bad at estimating square footage.  In my head each room is about 50 square feet and but my house is 2,500 square feet.  In reality, my rooms are lots bigger than bathrooms and my home's only 1,700. But I digress.  So my main floor is a MESS, I just move everything around in an attempt not to get popcorn drywall crap all over it, and cover the rest with dropcloths, but me? No such luck, I'm covered in dust from head to toe.  I don't think it would work well to wrap myself in a plastic dropcloth, that's just asking for suffocation, and I'd have to uncover my nose and mouth to breathe, so I would STILL get drywall dust up my nose.  And there you have it, the cause of my weird troubles: drywall dust up the nose. But it's all for a good cause, so after this weekend feel free to visit me popcorn-free home, to wonder at the motivation it took to do it while I could be relaxing with a netflix, and to wonder why you're friends with me after I write such silly posts.

New plans

You: Hey, Kirsta, how's the time without the kids? Are you lonely? Bored? Do you need me to come over?
Me: No way, I have, if anything, too much to do! They'll all be back before I can get it all done.
You (TOTALLY interested, I can tell): Oh, REALLY? Like what?

Well, let me tell you what.  I had heaps of plans and people to do them with and things have gone a little topsy-turvy, but I'm still keeping busy! (Can't you tell? I'm blogging in my bathrobe at 10:30 in the morning). My plans WERE to have lunch group at my house on Thursday with some friend, then set up my scrapbooking stuff because some girls from work were coming over at 5:00 to scrapbook with me until 8 or 9 p.m., at which time I'd have to kick them out to go to book group, which lasts way into the night.  Friday morning I was going to get up bright and early and go to the temple with my Visiting Teachers to do a couple sessions (making the most of my time without paying a babysitter), scrapbook in the afternoon, and work from 5-10 pm.  Lunch group went according to plan, although Kathy informed me that book group was not that night, so I figured I would just scrapbook until I fell asleep on my piles of pens and pictures. Then things went a bit topsy-turvy at 3:00 when my dad called to say he was coming up from Grand Junction and would I mind him staying at my house? No, of course not! So I cleaned up from lunch and called the scrapbook girls to postpone our date and waited for my dad. While I was waiting, my Visiting Teacher called and had to cancel on the temple, so I figured, once again, that I'd go alone. When my dad got here we went out to dinner (Olive Garden is remarkably busy on a Thursday night, I must say) and stayed up chatting until 10:00, no scrapbooking to be done.  I invited him along on my temple excursion but as I got out my recommend, just to make sure I knew where it was and that it was current, it turns out it's EXPIRED!  Drat! No temple trip with my Visiting Teachers OR by myself OR with my dad!  So this morning we had breakfast, chatted some more, I checked my email and posted this very blog you're reading, and now I am off to scrape some popcorn off my ceiling and possibly do a couple more pages of scrapbooking.

So, while it's not what I had planned, I'm still plenty busy, and don't come over unless you want to see my in my bathrobe and help me scrape my ceilings (which you are, of course, welcome to do).

Also, I reloaded the video of the "un-cute cuties," hopefully it works again.

True, true...

All those comments about being crazy to even be thinking about more kids are true... kind of. 

First off, it's only that - THINKING about more kids.  We're not trying.  Not even "not trying, but not preventing" trying.  13 months apart was a shock to the system and we agreed to wait until Caroline was 1 year old to even CONSIDER "not trying, but not preventing."  The fact that she is closing the gap on 1 year old is what brought this thought to the surface.

Secondly, Caroline is nearly a year old!  Pregnancy lasting 10 months and all, she would be nearly 2 year old IF we concieved right off the bat.  And 2 years is a nice gap - they're moving towards potty training, toddler beds, don't use bottles, don't wake up at night, etc etc.  People don't think you're crazy when you have a 2 year gap; the kids are friends but you have a respectible break for yourself.

Third, there's a good chance we won't concieve right off the bat.  Yeah, it happened decently fast with the first, and VERY fast with the second and third, but I've talked to plenty of people with mutltiple kids where one was concieved by the end of the night, another was concieved barely before the end of the year.  Just 'cause it happened quickly before doesn't mean it will necessarily happen that way again.  In case it does, though, that's why we waited until Caroline's 1st birthday (nice 2 year gap, remember?).

Fourth, you can never afford children.  Couldn't afford them then, can't afford them now.  Having children makes no financial sense unless you live on a farm and they will milk the cows for you so you don't have to hire farmhands.  We don't have a farm, or even a single dairy cow, so we might as well have kids sooner than later (we won't be able to afford them later, you know).  We lived in apartments for years, then bought a foreclosure, we drive used cars, I shop with coupons and price-matches but NOT with food stamps or WIC (and I'm not hatin' on anybody who does or has, life can throw you curveballs sometimes!), my husband has a steady job with good insurance (not Medicaid, but life threw US a curveball once) and I work part-time to help out the family financially while still allowing me to be a full-time SAHM (I work at night).  We are, by no means, living the high life, and there's a good chance we never will since we've decided to have a "large" family. Growing up with friends in families of 10, 12, or more children it boggles my mind that people think 4 kids is a lot!  But looking into the future I can only see happiness in gathering my children around me.  Nope, I won't be able to gather a time-share and a new Audi around me (probably not even an old, used Audi), but I also won't be able to visit them when it's all ashes to ashes and dust to dust. So no, we can't afford any more children, but somehow it always works out.  It's weird like that. 

"Lots" of kids might not be for everyone, and SERIOUSLY lots of kids (10, 12, or more) probably isn't for me, so I get where people think that.  I also know that having only 1 or 2 kids isn't for me (if you couldn't tell by now). Sometimes people with lots of kids also have lots of money, sometimes people with 1 or 2 kids are barely scraping by with extra assistance, and sometimes it's all vice versa.  It's a mad, mad, mad, mad, mad, mad world out there, and I'm just happy I have the opportunity to have my family, whatever our income or size.  And some day, but not some day 9 months from now, I look forward to greeting whoever chooses to come to our family next.  I know they'll be loved, adored, and smothered with kisses by mom, dad, and all their crazy siblings.

I'm out.

un-cute cuties

The boys have been doing some funny stuff lately, so I go bust out the camera... and all of a sudden their cutesy play turns not so cute.  Like hitting each other with the horses they were riding. What the heck? Not cute, not cute at all.  But I'm posting it anyway, I really liked both their outfits :)

Ready or not...

...we're potty training Eli!

I feel like potty training is a big step for a toddler, of course, but an ever bigger commitment for mom.  It means more laundry, more cleaning, more staying home so you're near that potty and accidents don't require an announced "clean up in isle 3," timing your entire day (because you forget otherwise and find puddles), and lots of patience and encouragement when you might not feel like it (see: rolling pin*). We're trying naked training because it worked so quickly and easily for Patrick.  Here's a little of how it's going:

Failure: Pee on the step stool while washing hands, right next to the potty. So close, and yet so far...
Success: Pee in the potty because mom timed it. 
*Failure: Pee while watching mom cook.  Pee went straight down the oven door and into the drawer.  Who knew potty training would mean washing pot lids and my rolling pin?
Success: Un-timed pee in the potty!  SO proud, high-fives all around.
SUCCESS: Woke up this morning, DRY diaper, WAITED to get out of bed and went potty BY HIMSELF.  I'm not saying this is anything permanent, but that's about the most optimistic way to start potty training EVER.
Failure: None so far on day 2, but THREE (wait... he's going while I write this....) FOUR unprompted potty successes.  Needless to say, LOTS of high-fives.

I think we may have picked the perfect timing.

Carrying the torch

While still generally in love with dinosaurs, Patrick is no longer OBSESSED with them.  It doesn't necessarily entice him to get dressed if I'm holding a Tyrannosaurus t-shirt.  He doesn't only want to read a book if it's about dinosaurs.  He plays with toys besides his Wal-Mart $1 dinos.  He watches Netflix shows besides Dinosaur Train, Kung Fu Dino Posse, Dino Squad, Walking with Dinosaurs, Chased by Dinosaurs with Nigel, etc etc ETC AD NAUSEUM (I'd take the nausea back if he'd quit watching Power rangers, though - laaaaaame!).  And, sadly, the dinosaur costume rarely gets worn anymore - not even to the store :(

But Eli has started to carry that torch!  He doesn't (and I imagine never could) obsess quite like Patrick obsessed; however, it makes me smile that he enjoys wearing the costume and, like Patrick, he rides his bike dressed like a dino.

Three blind mice

Just listen, you'll know what's up with the title.

Caroline is doing well - 10 months old now!  And it's clear that we need to have another baby because she is NOT a baby and she drives me crazy.  That seems like an argument for NOT having another one, I suppose, but I just don't think I'm done lovin' on the wee ones. Now that I'm pretty comfortable with newborns (terrified with the first, a little sketchy on the second, pretty comfortable with the third)  I realize just how AWESOME they are and how much I really need to enjoy those first 6 months.  Because then they turn into non-stop jumping beans, grab-your-face-with-razor-fingernails-Wolverine-style monsters, cry-if-you-don't-carry-me-24/7 (while I grab your face!) crybabies, and all sorts of other nonsense.  She's getting really mobile, which is great, and she's got outrageously chubby thighs, which is fun to poke fun at, but definitely, DEFINITELY not a baby in my eyes.  We love her.  But she's not a baby.  Then again, go ask any child who can say "baby" and they'll tell you otherwise.  Am I right?

You're joking me

Patrick loves to tell jokes.  Did I say loves? I mean LOVES in all its bold, italicized, underlined glory.  He pretty much has one joke that he re-invents to make a million jokes.  Here's the original, followed by some of his personal creations....

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Interrupting cow.
Interrupting co...
MOOOOOOO!

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Interrupting dinosaur
Interrupting dino....
RRRROOOOAAAAARRRR!

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Interrupting fish
Interrupting fi....
BLUB BLUB BLUB!

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Interrupting doctor
Interrupting docto....
YOU HAVE THE FLU!

Here's where they veer a little off course....

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Interrupting microwave
Interrupting micro...
WARM UP!

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Interrupting house
Interrupting hous....
YOU LIVE IN HIM!
(Why is my house a he? And if he's interrupting, should it be "me"?)

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Interrupting door
Interrupting doo...
YOU OPEN AND SHUT ME!

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Interrupting mustache
Interrupting mustache wh....
HOT DOG HAMBURGER!

Mom, dad, Elsha, and Kari all know where that last joke stemmed from, and it warms my heart that a generation later that un-funny knock knock joke has gotten a facelift and is STILL FUNNY. Here's the original, made by my sisters and I (not sure who wins the glory for it, but I always thought it was hilarious, so perhaps I'm the culprit)

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Mustache
Mustache who?
MUSTACHE HOTDOG HAMBURGER!

48-hour week

Well, I'm back in Thornton from Pueblo.  That "week" visit turned out to be only 48 hours!  Here's where things went wrong...

Last week Joe came home with a cold, a "man cold" where he needed a 2-pack of NyQuil and plenty of extra rest. He seemed pretty much better by the time we left town.  Tuesday morning I packed up the kids (including breaking down and hauling a crib through the house and loading it on top of the car by myself - whew!) and during the 2-hour drive my throat started getting scratchy.  Once we were at Kari's house hanging out, my nose started to run and the scratchiness increased.  Her friend invited us over to dinner for spicy green chili to help induce labor, and by dinner time I had a nasty headache and was completely hoarse - ridiculous how fast everything progressed! 

Wednesday in the wee hours Kari went into labor, and the whole time I was coaching her in this in-and-out, husky voice that was like yelling in a whisper. Poor girl, what an obnoxious voice for a labor coach!  Well, at least it wasn't high-pitched and whiny or something... so from then on all day my voice was gone.  Laryngitis!  I haven't had laryngitis for YEARS, and I get it the day I visit my sister goes into labor and we begin our long visit. 

This morning, very early (much earlier than I would have liked, I was still very tired since I didn't get a real nap in on Wednesday or good sleep that night), Caroline woke up throwing up.  One of those where they have mucous in their throat that they gag on, then they throw up nasty mucous. I thought "that was gross, but she got it out of her system.  We'll see how the morning goes and maybe we can stay..."  I only thought this because Kari and Addilyn are in the hospital a few days, possibly getting released on Friday, giving Caroline time to get over the mucous nastiness.  If they were coming home today the possibility of staying wouldn't have been a possibility!  So an hour went by, Caroline took a bath, got dressed... and mucous puked again. "CRAP," I thought, "now we HAVE to go home." So I got the boys dressed, made breakfast, began picking up the toys around the house, and during this time (another hour or so) Caroline seemed like she'd finally gotten it all clear - no runny nose, no yuckiness, nothing except smiles and good spirits - maybe we could stay!  Still had at least 24 hours before Kari and baby would be back, so we could re-assess leaving tomorrow morning!  Good thoughts until, randomly, she threw up AGAIN.  3 times in 1 morning was a sign straight from heaven that we needed to skedaddle, so I tearfully packed up our car (this is true, I SO did not want to go, which is why I worked so hard deluding myself that maybe we could stay), located all (most of) the sippy cups we brought, and broke down the crib and hauled it upstairs and loaded it on top of the car all by myself again (whew, x2!).  Old-school girl that I am, I have no phone (I am willing to dish out money left and right for scrapbooking supplies, but don't ask me to foot a cell phone bill.  I have my limits), so I had to go to the hospital to inform my sis and BIL (who slept at the hospital that night) that I'd be on my way with my laryngitis cold and my sick kids.  They, not-so-tearfully, wished us goodbye.  Nobody wants sick kiddos around their newer-than-new newborn. Weird.

So by 11:00 we were on the road, Wendy's cheeseburgers in hand, and by 1:00 we were home.  I am SO BUMMED OUT that I didn't even get to hold the little doll... she's so dang cute! And tiny! (Can you tell by all the pictures I've posted?  OH YEAH, I brought my camera but forgot my SD card - the mark from my forehead slap is still visible).  But maybe my mom can do all the holding for me when she gets there in a week.  And she can take all the pictures I was supposed to take, cook the meals I was supposed to cook, clean the house I was supposed to clean, and be generally helpful and good company, like I was supposed to be :(  Go get 'em, mom! Just DON'T GET A COLD.

Busy morning

Busy morning this morning!  Not typically what I do at 2:30 a.m....

I'm here in Pueblo for the week, came down yesterday so I would be ready to help my sister during labor when the time came.  The time came this morning!  We were to the hospital by 3:00, waited for an epidural FOREVER (I fully blame the nurse, I think she didn't believe Kari that it was getting REALLY intense) and at 4:30, with no epidural in sight, Addilyn was making her way into the world and Kari was really ticked that there was no hope for pain meds.  She braved through it, SO amazing (totally made me look like a wuss with how in-control she was!) and my sweet new neice was born at 4:48 a.m., 7 lb 5 oz, 20" long, SO DANG CUTE. 

I'm super grateful I could be here.  For one, it's such an amazing thing to see and experience!  They're so big and so tiny all at once. For another, I think I might have done a little bit of good with my presence - labor is scary, and to go without drugs when you really WANTED them? Terrifying.  So I'm glad I could be there to help talk her down from the ledge you get to when there's no turning back but you reallyreallyREALLY don't want to go forward. What an amazing day :)  Now I need a nap!

So jealous

Grandma and Grandpa Jacobs found this Kettler car for Patrick at an auction.. It's awesomely red, it's got a brake (pictured on this side), you can disengage the chain to coast, and it's awesomely red (or did I mention that?).  This is one of those moments in life when I am totally jealous that I'm not 3 years old because DANG I want to ride around on that car!

A paucity of posts

I used to post all the time, right?  And it was way more fun to check in on me when I wrote frequently, right? Because then I had random stuff like yesterday instead of catch-up-on-the-kids (unlike lunch, which is ketchup on the kids).  The trouble is Netflix, my friends, I blame them for my lack.  Not because I watch them, but because Patrick does, so then the computer is occupied during my prime blogging: nap time.

I love Netflix, absolutely adore it (especially since The Office Season 7 is now available for streaming - hooray! I'm doing an awkward white-girl dance that you're all glad you're missing) and it's one of those things that now that we have it I can hardly understand how we got along without it.  Well, lots of Blockbuster trips and Redbox runs and failed attempts at finding a movie we truly wanted to watch is how, but it was a sad way to live.  So now I feel conflicted - I love Netflix, but I also love to blog, and they're getting in the way of each other!  Cripes!  What's s stay-at-home mom to do? 

(I know, aren't my problems SO SERIOUS?)

No rest for the weary

I've heard a few friends reminesce that they didn't give their moms any rest when they were young and did their best to squeeze into her personal time.  Two people confided they would sit outside the bathroom door while their mom took a bath and stick their fingers under the door, just to be as close to her as possible for as long as possible.  Cute, right?  A little weird, too, right?

So I was in the shower yesterday morning, enjoying my personal time while the kids ran wild with dad and the bunny in the house. As I got out and dried off a noticed something come sneaking under the door, and I immediately thought of those little fingers.  As it wiggled in further I saw... a carrot. Cute, right? Weird, right?

Right.

Headaches in Paradise

I've spent the last 3 days in California for my grandma Smiley's funeral;; she passed away last weekend after complications from a car accident.  Her name embodied her attitude: smiley.  Sweetest grandma the world has ever seen, and I am ridiculously lucky that she was mine.

Now, car accidents are (obviously) unexpected, and complications from an unexpected accident are unexpected, so I was extremely blessed by my husband to be able to be here for these few days while he stays home with the kids.  He drove me to the airport Thursday afternoon and has been manning the home front ever since, and I am SO THANKFUL (thanks Joey!).  It is obviously not a happy occasion to be visiting, but it has been a vacation to be away from the kids!  I am relaxed to the MAX, often to the point of getting a headache.  Seriously, isn't that terrible?  I never get headaches, but apparently working puzzles and watching movies for hours on end triggers these little nuts of misery.  Fortunately, nothing a little Advil can't cure, and now I'm taking a rest from my restful activities and the headache is on the mend.  I might be more annoyed at "rest" being a trigger, but I suppose it's a good thing; it's quite the motivation to get going and working on something!  And I know I will be home tomorrow, through with resting for another year or so, dying for a nap break in the middle of a random Thursday, and having no headaches because I'm back to running on all cylinders.