Took Care of my kids? check. Took care of my friend? check. Served the Lord? Check. Do I really deserve this?

My day started earlier than normal. 6:35 am actually, but only because the alarm didn't go off so it was a mad rush as soon as I got out of bed. I had to be ready, kids ready and fed, and out of the house by 7 am. Somehow, time slowed (and I didn't shower), and we were out by 7:02, making a mental note that garbage smelled pretty bad in the kitchen....got to get it out today! I thought I was pretty cool at that point. Dropped Emma off at Jenni's so she could take her to school. Picked up Monica, dropped off Jackson at Afton's (where I fell out of my car and flat on my back as a VERY pregnant woman) (I felt bad only Monica was witness to that), and we were on our way for an exciting day. My friend, Monica, does not have dental insurance and needed all four wisdom teeth taken out. She asked about Jack, we set it up, and I was on my way to see my husband in action for the first time! I was very excited! We made it to the hospital only five minutes later than planned and got a GREAT taste of what socialized medicine would be like (stupid Hillary...we should send her to LA county hospital next time she has a cold). Anyhow, I loved watching the surgery and being at work with Jack, it was totally fun! He sedated Monica and took out all four while I rubbed her legs because of how her body was still jerking. I wasn't used to that. She doesn't remember a thing, fortunate for her. So that part of my day was over. Went to Target, got her drugs for the next few days, dropped her off at home to sleep with her mom and dad watching the kids, and promised I'd be by to pick up Dillon to swim in two hours.
On to my kids, picked up Emma where I had the opportunity to see before and after pics of a girl who just had a breast reduction. I was a little jealous! Got Jackson from Afton, and went to my 2:00 prego appt. Only five weeks left...happy day. Kids are fighting to make me crazy and I'm starving from still not having lunch. Stop at KFC and remember why I haven't been there since I was pregnant with Emma. On to get Dillon. This is the part (finally) that makes me cry. I walked in the door remembering earlier mental note cause it stunk BAD!!! Take lid off the garbage and something cold lands on my foot. Gross! Then it moves (everyone scream like a little girl at this part)....I did. How I missed this, I'm not sure, but I have NEVER experienced anything like it! Hundreds of MAGGOTS are toppling from out of my garbage can every couple of seconds. They were all aroud my feet and along my baseboard of my kitchen and I about lost the before said lunch!
At this point, I sprint to get my Dyson (quick thank you note to my old neighbors, Jon and Mandy, for introducing us to that wonderful piece of art), whip out that wand, and start sucking up those suckers all the while calming the three children in my house who are pretty freaked out by the shrieking going on in the kitchen. It was AWFUL!!! I had to get it to the point where I could take the whole garbage outside to dump it because I didn't want to take the risk of my garbage sack breaking while trying to pull it out. Those things started at the very BOTTOM of the sack and filled the entire can! Am I really this dirty? My kitchen isn't dirty. My house is clean, for the most part. What went wrong here? It has only been three days since I last took out the garbage. I called my husband an absolute wreck because I am so tired and my legs and feet are so hot and swollen from water retention, and I have to get ready because I'm in charge of Young Women tonight. AND I still have to make dinner in a kitchen that has had maggots all over it. I spent the next hour sanitizing that place before I was going to cook anything.
Dinner's done, on to YW, back by 9:00, put kids to bed, go potty, and look down to see my first ant farm in my bathroom. I am so tired! I just want to (blog) sleep. Compared to those maggots, it is a cake walk. They will have to wait to die until tomorrow.

President Monson's Ear Wiggle

Jack told me how funny this was and I'm so glad I got to see it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTmft6wkNa4

Jackson

I had Jackson on my lap today and he was holding a doll baby and he was totally rocking back and forth and patting her back like he knew just what to do. I thought it was so sweet. I've been a tadbit worried that this upcoming little girl would have to be oh so closely watched for the safety of her life, but my fears have been calming the last little while as he has shown so much interest in holding and kissing on babies lately. I'm so proud of him. He is a dang sweet kid. I'm realizing he just needs structure and instruction and he stays out of trouble and is such a blast to be around.
He had so much fun camping with Jack last weekend. He has been talking about "tamping" ever since. We're going over Memorial Day Weekend and I'm so excited. We haven't been camping in over a year so it is definitely time. It seems like the time our family is happiest is when we are outdoors like that together. We'll see howthe comfort level is at 35 wks sleeping on an air mattress next to my snoring husband! Hopefully, all will be okay!

Computer Problems

I've been waiting to post because I have a bunch of pictures/videos I wanted to post as well as a mother's day tribute (or just a pic, actually) to my mommy and mommy in law! My computer is pretty much out of commission because we have had it for so long and the memory is completely full (-1 Gig). So it is EXTREMELY full and doesn't want to download anymore. In spite of the problems we've had with this computer, I'm grateful we had it! It's been so great to have a laptop. I love that it serves so many purposes. That being said, this is one of a few posts that will have pictures on it later!

Pedicures and Tipping

Last weekend was the Father and Son outing. Jack and Jackson went for their first time and had a blast. I was so excited for me and Emma to hang out. on Friday night we met up with some other moms and girls and went out to dinner at Chili's. Then we packed us all up and went to my house to watch Enchanted where the girls fell asleep and the moms stayed up to 1am chatting. Could havegone longer, but I kicked them out on the tooshies! I haven't stayed up that late in a long time, and quite frankly, I'm okay with that. They are the best of women and friends anyway so it wasn't awkward to tell them to get out of my house!
Saturday morning Em's and I woke up and went to the nail salon. She was so stinkin cute. When we got there she told me she was nervous and wanted me to go first. Of course, they did us both at the same time. She chose purple with purple glitter on top. I LOVED watching her be pampered for the first time. The lady working on her thought she was so sweet. I had originally told them we only wanted pedicures simply because manicures never last unless you never use your hands and what mom can get away with that? Anyway, I looked over and they had already started a manicure on this girl, too. She was loving it. Once when her lady walked away she whispered "Mom, she put flowers on my toes! Quick! Tell her to put some on yours, too! Hurry!" So cute! So we had a blast! When we got to the car, though, she said, "Mom, when we got in there I was really afraid, but that lady was so nice! I just talked to her about school and my friends." The best part is that I know the lady couldn't understand a thing she was saying! She just smiled a lot and giggled at the things Em's was saying and that was good enough for her!
It was so fun and relaxing to be able to hang out with just Emma. I kept saying to her how peaceful it felt to just be with her and spend some time together and it really did. She is the best four yr old girl and so dang sweet and fun to be with. I enjoyed spoiling her cause she really has deserved something like that for a long time. I give her a whole lot of responsibility and she takes it better than most adults would. I love her so much!
So for the tipping part...for Emma's mani/pedi and my pedicure it came to $33. I didn't think that was bad. But what about tipping? This is my third pedicure in my life. My first was four years ago (we were dirt poor and I don'thave a clue how much I tipped) and the last was at graduation which my sister in law paid for cause she is awesome and recognized I went through dental school, too, and needed a little present! So this was my first time. I gave them $42. I want some honesty here. If I overdid it, please tell me. If I was so cheap, PLEASE tell me! They put flowers on Emma's two big toes and EVERY FINGER! That seems like a bit of effort so I wanted her to feel like I appreciated that...even if I told her not even to do a manicure! I just need to know what the guidelines are for tipping in salons! Same as restaurant? Let me know!

Sad, But Sweet

We have been having a difficult time with Jackson and family prayers, lately. He likes to be in the room, but will not voluntarily join us on our knees. We have tried putting him on his knees and holding his hands while he screams and flails all around...very conducive to the spirit. So tonight I stood up in the middle of the prayer and took him to his crib and informed him that he lost the privilege of being a part of family prayers and hugs and kisses afterward because of the choice he made. He instantly started folding his arms and telling me he was ready to pray, and I just told him that it was too late, but he was welcome to try again tomorrow. It broke his little heart. He cried (and not a fake cry, either) for the next 20 minutes and then Jack went in to tell him goodnight and I'm sure get hismind off the crying, but as soon as he got in there Jackson began signing and saying "please, pray" and folding his arms. How can you say no to that? So he told him he was too late for family prayer, but could have a prayer with dad. Thinking about it, it almost seems like he got special treatment getting a special Dad prayer, but hopefully, he just recognizes mercy and has still learned a lesson. We'll see tomorrow, I guess. I think he just doesn't like knowing that bedtime is after prayer because he never fights morning prayers. Anyway, he's such a sweet little boy! And he's been so tired the last two days. Yesterday we were in the pool for 4 1/2 hours. Different friends came over at different times to swim, and we're always out there anyway, so hemissed a nap and swam for five hours. He was pretty tuckered out and he fell asleep at six and didn't wake up til 7:30 this morning. It was awesome!

Blowing out the Candles!

MY BABY IS 2

His birthday tricycle.
Birthday dinner. (This is a more unflattering picture of my gut). Jackson asked for hot dogs, fries, chin-chin (chicken), pineapple, pickles, carrot with cream cheese dip. Many of his favorite things. Made for a great meal, as you can imagine.
His by-pie-pie (spiderman) towel. His face looked like this with every present he opened. He was so excited!
Kissing spiderman. He was so excited. He also got matching swim trunks that he instantly put on and asked to go directly to the pool.

I can't believe my little man is TWO!!! Time is flying by! I feel like I don't blog as much about Jackson because I'm afraid my stories might make him come across as a little monster. He is the sweetest little mama's boy with as independent of a mind as he can have. I LOVE THIS KID!!! Monster stories...a couple of weeks ago (actually twice in one week), I was in doing my hair and he camein crying about milk and all I said was I would help him get some in a minute, but he was being SO persistent so I followed him. My little man got his own sippy cup, opened the door of the fridge, got the milk, carried it into the playroom, unscrewed the top and began to pour into him sippy. Of course, he missed. The first time it was 3-4 cups left in the carton. The second time it was the WHOLE gallon! I have carpet in my playroom and cannot tell you how grateful I was that we purchased a carpet cleaner our last month in Louisville even though I knew we would only have this ONE room with carpet. It has saved my nose from a very sour smell. He did the same thing tonight with the apple juice, but he happened to be in the dining room where it's hardwood floor. I'm so grateful.

He very consistently takes off his diaper in any random place in the house and goes outside in the back to do either number 1 or 2. At least it's outside, I tell myself.

He sings so fabulous already. This is a part of my mothering that I think i am grateful for. My kids LOVE to sing and they do it very well. If there was something to take pride in in my motherhood, I would say I'm proud that I have the music background that I do. I love that my kids are having that love intilled in them. Jackson's favorites right now are Hannah Montana, the Hairspray soundtrack, and Josh Groban. His nursery teacher consistently comments on how he leads the singing in his class. I think it's so great!

I love that he is ALL BOY. I also love that he has an all girl older sister. If he didn't have her to calm down that male side just a little by dressing him up and getting him excited over princesses, I think I would honestly bedealing with catastrophe daily.

He melts my little heart. He has the best puppy dog eyes and face that can make it really challenging to say no. The other night I went into his room to cover him up and realized he had taked off his diaper and his bed was totally wet. Jack held him while I changed the sheets really quick and we changed him and he gave Jack an hug and then me a big hug and kept kissing me over and over. I just know this boy loves me!

He adores his father and sister. I cannot describe sufficiently how excited he gets when dad comes home. He gets such a fantastic welcome everyday (I get jealous every once in a while!). He loves how Jack wrestles him and throws him in the air and tickles him. He also loves his sister playing with him. Some of my favorites are walking in on them cuddled up on her bed "reading" a story that she has memorized and she is telling Jackson. I also love them playing princess because it is supposed to be her falling to the ground and he comes to give her true love's kiss. As soon as she wakes up, Jackson usually faints with the understanding that it is his turn for the kiss. They do this ALL THE TIME!!!

He is such a helper. I can't be in the kitchen without a chair by my side and a little boy begging to be a part of it. And he's so self sufficient. If I change countertops, it doesn't even phase him. He gets down and pushes his chair where it needs to go and is back up tl help my in no time. He has also, to my dismay, gotten very good at cracking eggs. Better than Emma, actually. Not so cool to me, though.

I need to be better at sharing stories about him. I love him so much. I'm a little nervous about this baby coming in and him being not so soft, but I see how excited he gets with babies and says "I wahn hole ye" (of course, I want to hold you) over and over again and cuddles up to babies and just loves on them so I at least find comfort in the knowledge that this new little girl will be loved. He's a sweetie!

My first pregnancy pic and some

So I am pretty prideful. I haven't posted any pictures because I don't have the best self image right now. However, putting my pride aside and not worrying about the size of my arms and chest...here is my stomach. Also, Jack and I took the kids back to that pony place the other day and it was so fun sharing that with their dad. I am due in 6 or 7 weeks (Whatever June 25 is, but I'm obviously hoping to go early). Anyhow, this is short, but just a quick update! Signing off!