Pluggeroo..

As in a plug, advertisement, shout out, "Hey!  Go here!!"
That kind of thing.
My sister-in-law (twice) has opened her own store and is having a grand opening.
Go here to enter her give away..
There's some pretty cool stuff!

Birthday Celebrations..

Had a little Birthday breakfast yesterday with my "sisters".. I didn't post pics yesterday because.. well, I'll explain that one in a minute..
Went to Jaclyn's and Hallie had decorated, just for me!!
We had oranges, OJ, this yummy berry/waffle dish, with Cool Whip.. yum! Brooke was sweet enough to remember my aversion to blueberries, and put them in half, so I wouldn't ahve to endure them..
Second course was french toast, ala Jacks.. yummmm...
We got to sit and chat while the kids played.. and Peyton slept..
Hallie is the best niece and cousin ever!! The girls didn't quite want to come home with me when it was all over, well, nap time for Pey at least.. and Lynn begged to stay. We have been trying to teach her to not invite herself.. but Sophie soon asked Jaclyn, who said yes and granted my little girl's wish. I love how Sophie and Lynn love each other.. there was once a day when the two rarely got along, most of that was a communication breakdown, really just a bink in Lynnie-Lou's mouth :).. now they rarely want to be apart when they are together.
We gotta plan another day for Sophs to come play Jacks..
So Ashley caught wind of this plan, and immediately asked to stay too.. which they were generous enough to take on BOTH of my crazy girls.
So what was I to do with an afternoon with just one child to parent? Scrapbook? Clean? Craft? Nap? Hmmmm...
When it all came down to it, I cleaned..
That vacuum has me hooked!
I moved all the furniture in the basement, all except the TV armoire, and sucked-up all the gross stuff.. sooo fun! So clean house Monday almost was completed.. still have the upstairs to vacuum..
I got a little carried away, and before I knew it, Merrill was home with the girls.
Thanks Jaclyn, Brooke, and Hallie!! It was an awesome day yesterday!!
Thanks to everyone for birthday wishes sent via e-mail and Facebook.. phone calls too!!
More fun to come today!

Missing Christmas photos...

Thanks Brookers and Jacks! Now I have some really fun pics to post... I think I have set a new record for pictures and posts in one day ;)...
Cousins...
Girls cousin pyramid...
Our little fam... the lecture about smiling + pictures = Santa, worked!
The boy pyramid...
The kids (Clint, Merrill, and MiKell) first attempt at the traditional shoulder pic in two years... it didn't end well...
Ah! Success! See the stress on Dixon's face?
Talent show... this was Ashley's (and my :)...) talent, Lynn performed many times... others did tumbling skills... Clint did a standing back tuck... impressed us all...
My girls.. do you think someone is tired?
Yup...
And last, but not least, mom and her quilt...
Thanks girls for sharing!

Hi.. my name is chubby...

Look at this kid! She really dislikes this coat. This was a rare moment when it was silly to her, so, I had to capture it! Reminds me of what we used to say as kids... "Hi. My name is chubby..." as we squished our cheeks together to look silly and distort our voices.
We had quite a day today... I'll post about it later.
Had a really good conversation with Jacks today. It is funny how we are on the same page as far as goals and desires for our families. It's also neat to know there are others out there who have similar concerns and struggles.
Things that happen every day, further testify to me, that I have a loving, kind, caring Father in Heaven, who puts people in our paths to uplift us and reaffirm what we already know to be true.

I think my mailman is on crack... or just blame it on the snow...

I am catching up one day at a time.
I had the best of intentions to do it this weekend, until I got a stomach bug. And then, those plans got moved to last night, until Lynn got the bug, all over the basement floor, the bathroom floor, and the toilet, but most of it in the toilet. Mer and Ash are dealing with a cold... it could be worse!
Peyton is so fun! She is doing so good. She is quite the nurser. Yesterday, she was quite smiley. I got an actual grin out of her when I was talking baby talk about eating. Mom got a good shot out of her right when she woke up. Even her eyes were smiley.
I am trying to stick to the positive. So just a few short rants. Insurance. $320.00 to remove "the kernel", I am fighting that one all the way. My doc wanted me to take Peyton in for a weight check on Friday. I couldn't get an appointment in with the other doc (mine wasn't in town), and he expected me to take her into InstaCare... so speaking of people on crack... I NEVER got a wedding invitation to one of my Beehives weddings that was Saturday. She called me and told me when it was, like I could make it... I felt bad. So, I think my mailman is on crack... or maybe it got lost during all of those crazy snowstorms.
So on to the positive! There are no postpartum hormones, coming from me anyway. They have all gone to Lynn and Ash. They are wacky, but they love their sister. Ash is drawing people! I will have to post one of her pics. Tonight, she drew a pic of the family plus Jaclyn, thanks for dinner, and chocolate, by the way! We loved it ALL! I haven't taken any ibuprofen since yesterday, I feel great! I packed away all the maternity clothes last night, with the exception of the maternity jeans. I can get new my size 12s on, just not done up. I have this five month along belly still stuck to me. But this is better than I've done in the past! So I have a new wardrobe. There are still many shirts I am not able to wear. These boobs cannot be contained by many of my favorites. See, I have a GREAT nurser...
As if I didn't have enough blessings to count, I realized yet another one. I was reflecting on how fast Peyton got here. I am still amazed at how fast everything went. Then it hit me. That was another blessing. To think about how nervous and anxious Mer was, her coming as quickly as she did, cut down on that time that he would have been stressing and being uncomfortable, worrying about everything being okay. Instead, she got here, he had nothing to worry about, and could enjoy her and the moment. I am so blessed!


So the other night, when I was feeling crummy, Mer just took over and told me to take the time to go take a sitz bath, take a shower, just relax. I asked him if he was really okay with it, and he said, "For me, this is what having babies is all about... getting to do this..." This is what he was doing when he said that. I love this guy!
Who could have the "baby blues" with all of this to be so thankful for!

Jeans...

I was awaken this morning at 6 am by Ashley. Her bed is too hot, but mine isn't... She has three thick blankets on her bed, long PJ's, and her "Baaa" Harbor sheep jacket on. And she's hot??? I asked her if she wanted to take off her sheep jacket, "no". So I laid down by her her for a little while, having contractions and an achy back the whole time. It carried on throughout the day.
Jaclyn, Brooke, and I , went shopping today. I wanted to get some things taken care of before the big moment arrives. I went to Sam's early, to get some pics for my two... no three, remianing HOF projects printed off. I get there only to discover that I wasn't thinking things all the way through, the pictures weren't on the disc that I had, they were still at home, on my computer, waiting for me to load them on my memory card... see, good luck at getting this HOF entry done... I wanted to go to JoAnn's too, but another airhead act, I forgot my list... last thing you want to do is send me into JoAnn's, list-less... that just equals massive dollar amounts. And I didn't get Peyton's blessing dress found... I really didn't even begin the hunt.
So on to the successful part of the day...
Around noon, we left for Gateway. Mission: find two pairs of jeans... 1. post-partum jeans. Some that I can wear immediately, or at least until the left-over belly is gone, you know, the belly that makes you still look like you are seven months along??? The other pair, motivational jeans. I was on the hunt for the most perfect, favorite jeans I have ever owned... size 8, dark wash, curvy, perfect fit. They were $79.50, I know, but worth every red cent. My original pair got holes in the knees, of course, and then one in the crotch when we were laying the new floors. It was a sad day at our home... especially for Mer, he liked the "rear view"...
So the outcome: I found lots of jeans that I liked. I had Brooke and Jaclyn try all of them on to show me how they looked, (there was lots of giggling going on in that dressing room..) and then bought them in the appropriate sizes. I was so happy to find the "perfect" pair, again. I would have bought two a year ago, but they only had one... And I even found a cute top to boot. But things get even better (sorry Chrisite)... my blessing for the day, which may seem dumb, but it really is a blessing, I was able to find these "perfect" jeans. These size 8 motivational jeans... and the betterness (my own new word, copyrighted by me... right now...) continues... as the sales girl was ringing-up my purchases, I noticed that a pair of the jeans rang up at $24.97. I asked her which ones rang up at that price... it was my favorite jeans, my "perfect" jeans. Apparently, they are getting rid of all of them because they were last year's style. I went to look for another pair, no more, in any size... I feel blessed. I even got them less than that, I used my birthday coupon! AND I got a customer service survey, which I get 15% off my next purchase, awesome. Now, to fit into them...
Brooke and Jaclyn got me a pair for my birthday gift! Love it! We had fun, but didn't get to spend nearly as much time together as we wanted to... (we'll see you next time Heartland Paper Co.) responsibility came knocking. A couple of hours was all that we really needed. Thanks girls!

There's a first time for everything...

So my day was... well... hormonal, crazy, for lack of a better word, Christie...



It started out well enough. I woke up with a sore throat, Ashley woke up flat-out grouchy. I ended-up having one of those "once a trimester" hormonal days... it was great... I even had to cancel on Brooke for my "Ice Cream" photo shoot... you'll see that later, I hope...



I tried to get some house cleaning done. I didn't get very far. Ashley came to me inconsolable. When I finally got her calmed-down enough to speak, she told me that her ear hurt. Great. We have never had an ear-infection. NEVER. See, there is a first time for everything. So I made a doctor's appointment for later in the afternoon, the first I could get. Good thing, no instacare; guaranteed to see a doctor I liked, and less $$$. The Tylenol helped until that time...



We got there, and I love that he always asks (the whole three times we've seen him in almost two years...), if we've ever met before. He always comments how lucky I am that we don't have sick kids. So he starts in with the questions. He teased Ash and asked her if she might have put a kernel in her ear... that got a giggle. He started to ask me more questions I answer them, things about cold symptoms, her breathing, etc. He asks if I am a nurse. He says that I sure talk to him like one! Long story short, everything is fine with her, except for the infection. I got to see it too. He was even more amazed that we've never had an infection. He said that her ear was ready to rupture... see, even better. She hasn't acted the least bit uncomfortable until today. She even slept through the night.



My blessing for the day:

Jaclyn brought me whoopie pies. She didn't even know what I was going through, and she made some and brought them to me! I love it! I am so thankful when people do nice things for what they think is no reason... it totally made my day! Thank Jacks!

I've been tagged again... watch for it... maybe tomorrow... thanks Rach...

My "word" for the year is...

4 pages, 2 layouts... all for Peyton's book. Teaching my kids about where they came from is very important to me, those are great people and great stories that they need to know. These pages are about my parents and Merrill's parents. I love to have the baby pics with them, they are so much more interesting than their boring adult pics... just kidding.

Jaclyn posted her word for the year, which got me thinking, and helped to keep me awake last night, well, along with the discomfort of my growing belly... I finally came up with it...

EMBRACE

I will embrace my family, friends, and experiences that happen with them. I will not continue to dwell on what comes next, I will enjoy what is happening now, I will embrace it.

I started to think of how I want to be better this year. I started to think of the naggy wife I was as the year began... I kept nagging Merrill as to when we would "try" for this one, and I have continued to nag him about the "next one". Mom tells me to leave him alone, I am pregnant after all. But I feel like I need to "seal the deal", so this won't be it. I could happily go on to have a dozen or more children, it's Merrill's poor gray hairs that can't, or his wallet for that matter. But I now realize how many things I truly wasn't enjoying or in the moment for, looking ahead to the next event to happen. I wish that I would have enjoyed the girls at their individual stages more, not dwelling on when I could bear their next sibling.

So I will embrace every moment that Peyton has as an infant, not trying to rush it along so I can look forward to the "next one". I will embrace what I have now, two healthy, yet emotional little girls, and the awesome relationship (although there is some slight nagging...) that I have with Merrill.

This all stems from another great lesson I learned from Christie, who also brought me a yummy treat today :)... Thanks buddy!