They grow like weeds!

I can't believe how fast they grow. This morning I was surprised to find that Timothy has TWO teeth now on the bottom. He's not even 5 months old yet... is this possible? He's been super drooly... but I thought it was just part of who he was... not because he had teeth coming in. Life is about to get more interesting. The Dr. said to wait as long as possible to introduce him to "real food", but I think we may be doing that sooner than later.

It seems like they grow to fast. Alexis has become a real little person. She brought me her baby doll the other day and said that I needed to take care of her baby, and she would watch my baby. She then proceeded to run to Timothy and hug him and play with him. Such a sweet big sister. She also decided he needed to learn to pray. She had folded his arms and was teaching him what to say. Then she came running to me excitedly saying, "He said amen!" I don't think I could ask for cuter or more wonderful kids. I am truly blessed. Need I say more.

Empathy

I always find words fall short when trying to tell a loved one you are sorry. How do you truly express to them that your heart hurts for them and you wish you could make it all better. With my daughter I can just kiss it and make it all better, but I find that is really isn't that easy. Words seem so inadequate in expressing feelings sometimes. What can one do to truly show they are hurting for another when they are so far away. Hugs don't transfer so well over the internet or phone line. It is times like these when my heart hurts for another that I am so grateful for loving arms of one greater than myself. My only fear is that the person who needs the loving arms of their Lord so dearly, may not reach for that all extending hand of love. I pray that we all know we are never alone when the world seems to suffocate us. I am grateful for the one who has the truest empathy of all... without Him I'd be lost.

Photo Tag

My old roommate tagged me. The rules are you have to take ten pictures of the following things. And you have to do it right away. No straightening, cleaning or wiping your child's nose. Then you tag five others. So here it goes:
1. The sink. I don't think this will ever be empty... unless we get a live in housecleaner.

2. The toilet. Our bathroom is partially clean... right?
3. The laundry room.

4. Inside of the fridge. Another task to yet be finished...

5. What are your kids/spouse doing right now? Sleeping and playing computer games

6. Favorite shoes. Love Reefs!

7. Favorite room. family/living room that always looks like the play room... oh wait that is how every room in the house looks. :)

8. Your closet. Poorly designed... note to self for future homes...

9. Dream vacation. Anywhere... but i'd love to go to Hawaii.

10. Self-portrait. Oye... does this count?
I tag Kathy C., Allison M., Allison A., Brittany C., Eevi

Tagged By Allison

here is how it works: post these rules on your blog. list 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. at the end, tag 3 people by posting their names.

Joys:
1. My kids. They always make me smile and no matter how frustrated and tired I get, they can do a small little thing like smile and then I have JOY.
2. Ice cream. Need I say more.
3. A husband who respects me and treats me well. I couldn't have asked for more or better.

Fears:
1. All my teeth falling out. I have had several nighmares about this recently too. I hate that I don't have strait teeth, but at least I have them.
2. Debt. We have lots of it, but once out of school that is going to be the first thing on our to-do list... get out of debt.
3. The safety and well being of my family. I've become a paranoid parent with all that has happened where we live. I also worry about them getting sick and hurt.

Goals:
1. Write and submit a book for publishing. Already started... just have to finish.
2. Lose 60 lbs. ugh! EXERCISE
3. Get house cleaned and de-cluttered

Obsessions/collections:
1. Stamp/scrapbooking stuff... Oye!
2. Children's books
3. Blogging

Random Facts:
1. Love design, art, photography
2. never had a dog or cat as a pet
3. don't know how to drive stick shift

Now tagging Lara D, Kathy C., and Allison A. Have fun!

Habits

It seems so hard sometimes to keep something going when life throws things in there... like work, kids, husband, cleaning, and other such things.  Before you know it, weeks have passed by and you have a hard time recalling all that has happened. 

This past Tuesday I took Timothy to his four month well visit.  He is doing good and is officially 16 lbs and doesn't show signs of slowing down his rapid growth.  I guess that is how it works though... you have kids and they grow.  He smiles like crazy, rolls, is starting to "tri-pod" sit and kicks his feet like crazy.  Such a good, well behaved and pretty content kid.

Alexis is learning so much every day.  Her artistic abilities surprise us all.  Her drawings now truly represent things and when you ask her what she has drawn you actually see it.  The other day she asked me to "draw daddy" and before I had finished she was teaching me how to draw his eyes and hair, and hands and so on.  I guess my drawing was too primitive for her liking.  She also is proud to show you where her larynx is and how to shake her gluteus maximus.  The things David teaches her.  She'll be the most "pc" kindergartner they have ever seen... and we still have 2 1/2 years to teach her so much more.  She soaks it up like a sponge so I guess it is best to drench her with things now.

My little, teeny, tiny garden is also doing incredible things.  I planted many seeds but only the cucumber plants took off.  Yesterday I went digging through the leaves and found another SEVEN huge cucumbers.  Not having a clue of what to do with so many I gave some to the neighbors and David will give some to co-workers.  I never thought I could grow something from seed and actually get produce, but now I am happy to say that I can.  HOORAY.  If anyone wants cucumbers let me know and I'll save you some.

David continues with his rotations.  He went to patients homes and one day his visits were with a social service worker.  Part of their check up on the patient is to make sure their mind is still working properly so they ask the patient to write a sentence.  One ornery patient wrote:  "You half hearted, ice melted."  Say it really fast and you'll understand why this patient was just fine.  We are already looking at places to move and so far Spokane, Wa. is pretty high on my list.  Oregon also looks beautiful, but I don't know much about the area so I don't know where to even start looking.  We are also getting ready to sell our house.  I've begun to pack away the stuff and fluff that we don't need.  I hope to get the house clean and de-cluttered.  A big task when the kids pull things out of boxes as quickly as you add them.  Oh well.  So here is my question... if you could move anywhere and money wasn't an issue... where would you move and why?  Any ideas or suggestions would be great. 

4th of July Weekend Recap

(My brother with his new daughter Claire)

Last Thursday (July 3rd) we took the wonderful trip to Yuma. My sister and I were able to leave a bit early and were able to arrive before sunset. It was a nice and surprisingly uneventful drive. It was a fun weekend. My grandma Harris was able to see Timothy for the first time and we got to see our new neice Claire for the first time. She is such a cutie.

On the 4th my dad Barbequed Carne asada and it was mighty tasty. We stayed at my parents house and watched fireworks. When we heard the booms from the first of the fireworks my first instinct was to duck and cover. Pretty sad what a paranoid person i've become. Alexis and I went in the pool but the water was so warm. Crazy how that happens. Alexis also played hard with her aunts Rebekah and Michaela. They had a mini parade with wagons and had a grand time.

On Saturday my sister Michaela built a "cookie shop" out of cardboard boxes and all the girls sold cookies out of it. I think they made some pretty good cash. Alexis enjoyed that so much that she fell asleep in it at nap time. We also went to play at the one and only Yuma splash park. It was pretty sad looking and we didn't stay long.

The best part of the visit though was BINGO. We are starting a new family tradition of playing bingo when we get together. We play blackout and every time you get a bingo you pick a prize from the prizes. It is lots of fun. Our prizes range from food storage to little toys. Everyone loves to play and it can get competetive. One of the prizes was a little hummingbird feeder that attached to the window. My sister Mindy won that prize and said she was going to place it on her second story appartment window. My grandma remarked, "Can birds fly that high?" We all laughed so hard. My grandma says some pretty random things. Another prize was some almost expired "beans and weenies". My mom then says, "I wonder what expires first.... the beans or weenies?" She was laughing so hard she couldn't breathe. I think it is fair to say "Fun times had by all".

We also played water balloon volleyball... filling some full sized water balloons. It was like trying to toss and catch a bowling ball. Note for future games... bad idea.

In more recent news, Timothy rolled from his tummy to his back yesterday. He also seems to be getting teeth already. Yeah for me. He is also sitting on his own pretty well. Sure growing fast. He is already 4 months old. Time flies.

Alexis is testing her limits, and frustrating me in the process. She also is making sure that Timothy is getting his share of discipline. She'll put her face right in his face and being a baby, he'll grab her hair. She then screams and says to me, "Mom, Timothy pulled my hair. Tell him no and to tell me sorry." She doesn't get that he is just a baby still and learning to control his hands. Funny how they don't understand what seem to be such simple concepts. I guess one concept at a time.

Duck Tape fixes all things?

Once again the monsoons rolled in just in time to close the pool. I've been pretty irritated with this as I have finally become motivated to exercise. So I tried option two... tae bo with "Billy Blanks". At least I think that is what it is called. The warm up was simple and I felt so proud of my progress until we started into the hard core cardio.
I've never considered myself to be "big busted" until tonight. When they started with the jumping jacks and "hip hop" type moves I suddenly became well aware of the importance of a sports bra. Time truly does do something to the body... but then again, so do kids. Needless to say I only made it through about 10 minutes of cardio before I had to turn off the DVD. David came to see why I had stop and I must say it was pretty depressing.
They say to use WD-40 to get something to become unstuck and duck tape to get things to stay put... so I guess I'll go to Home Depot tomorrow and try again. Boy am I feeling old... and so not cute.... dang it! Any suggestions (other than lipo)?

Summer Days

Summer is officially here. It is HOT! We now are spending most our time indoors or in a pool. We tried Quincy Douglas Pool on Saturday and had a blast. We met our friends Darren, Sarah, and Maci over there and enjoyed the cool water. Alexis didn't want to leave. I can't say that I blame her, but needless to say we all had fun. We even made it down the water slide a few times. I carried Timothy for most of the time because David said he wanted to play with the fun kid (Alexis). Not to say that Timothy isn't fun, he just isn't to that level where he interacts yet. So then I switched kids with David and in the first five minutes David had Timothy, he had dunked the poor kid. Luckily it didn't even phase him (Timothy).
David finished his first rotation last week and had a nice long weekend. I think it was nice, but I think he would have rather been working. I guess you could say we have a long "to-do" list and whenever David is available we work on that list. On Friday we worked in the garage getting food storage arranged and organized. I must say that it is much more accessible now and we know what is out there. It is such a good feeling to accomplish such a big task.
Not much else happening. Timothy has been super cranky the past few days. He won't sleep and only wants to be held. This has taken a nice toll on my back. I'm hoping this is only a phase and that it will end in the near future.
Today is packing day. We are heading to Yuma for the 4th and look forward to a fun visit. I just talked to my mom and she said that last night at 9pm it was still 104 degrees. Sounds fun huh? At least in Tucson we get the monsoons... which by the way interrupted lap swim yesterday. My friend Eevi and I were finally getting over there only to see a sign posted, "Pool Closed due to lightening". I'll have to try again tonight. I love monsoons, but sometimes they are bothersome. Anyway... time to switch the laundry. Oh, and here is a picture of Alexis taking a nap in her blocks box. She has this thing with boxes and bins... Funny kid.