My Hubby Rocks

I failed to blog on Brian's birthday, so I thought I would take today to say a few nice things about him.  Almost 2 years ago, my hubby made a conscious decision to help out more around the house.  It has been huge and very helpful.  We had an agreement when I quit working that I would take care of the house and everything in it and he would work.  Well, I am not supermom/superwife, props to those who are, but I could not do it all and stay pleasant to be around.   Plus I got pregnant with out 4th, and he saw me drowning and gave me CPR.  He continues to be quite helpful. 

Sometimes his help has negative consequences. The other night he made chili almost entirely by himself.  I say this because usually when he cooks, I am still key in the process by prepping or mixing or finishing his meal.  But this time I was cooking dinner for the night and he cooked the chili so we could let it sit for the following night. Well he took the lid off and the condensation ran down onto the stove top into the lighter controls and within minutes we had a full on electrical fire with flames shooting out of the control handles.  Poor guy was just trying to cook and instead nearly burned our kitchen to the ground.  $200 later and 2 service calls, we have new electrical components on our gas top range. 

To not inflate his ego too much, Brian can be a royal pain in the butt.  I have no problem saying that on here because most people would agree, including his boss, his employees, his family for sure, and several of our friends.  Of course we mean pain in the butt in the most loving way possible.  But this pain also has an unbelievable compassionate streak. Some I can't say on here because he does not like his good deeds recognized.  He is very private about what he gives and does for others.  I can mention one though because it shows how he does better for others than himself.  Brian occasionally takes leftovers to work, or rather he intends to take leftovers, but they rarely make it out of the house. However, a coworker has been struggling with cancer, so for several meals we would make double portions and we would pack it up to deliver to her.  Never once did he forget to take the food, and was constantly reminding me to make up extra food for them.  He cooked a couple meals himself to make sure they had a variety of food to eat.

So as much as he can be "challenging" at times, his good qualities certainly make him worth the challenge.

Pregnancy memories

Laila is growing too fast. We recently had our awesome photographer Jaidean take Laila's 7 month and sitting pictures.  She was an awesome happy model.  I will share pictures once we get them.  I already find myself missing pregnancy and missing the newborn baby stage.  No more for me, so I am trying to focus on enjoying Laila in each of her stages.  She really is a sweet easy going baby.  I would venture to call her perfect if only she would sleep through the night.  I had 2 glorious months where she did sleep through the night and then the doctor broke her.  He told me she needed to eat more since she was not gaining weight.  Well she heard him and almost immediately started waking every 2 hours to eat.  At our last appointment, when he walked in I said, "You broke her, you fix her."  He laughed and said sorry.

Well I was reading a friend's blog when she mentioned pregnancy hunger and it made me laugh because I identified 100%.  I had unreal pregnancy hunger.  When women lose weight in the first trimester because they feel sick, I am baffled because I ate nonstop and gained weight right away. I had such intense hunger that I think Brian was afraid to be alone with me in a car for fear of his life.  Before we had Shane, we shared one car and drove to and from work together.  One day on the way home from work at about 5pm, I told Brian I was hungry and we needed to stop and get food.  We lived about 15 minutes from work. Reasonably, Brian suggested I wait until we get home. I said no that I needed to eat now and once we got home I would have to prep something and there was not time for that.  You would have thought I was a ticking time bomb, oh wait, I was. In the course of the conversation progressing a few more minutes, I must have screamed or at least been very convincing because Brian pulled in to Carl's Jr.  If you know Brian, you realize I must have been very convincing or he was afraid of me, because Brian does not usually do something that you tell him to do.  He is too stubborn. So within 3 minutes, I was eating the 6 million dollar burger or whatever the name is of the biggest burger on their menu.  Thankfully the burger helped me make it the extra five minutes left in the drive home.  And an hour later at home I was eating dinner.  Shocking that I gained 55 pounds!

Another food story I will have to leave for Brian to tell, but basically it involved Brian making BLT's and me throwing a 3 year temper tantrum over him taking the "good" tomato and using turkey bacon. After my tantrum, Brian threw my sandwich in the trash.  Hell hath no fury like a hungry pregnant woman.  Thankfully my hormones must have worked themselves out in the first pregnancy because I was much calmer in the following 3 pregnancies.  Don't get me wrong, I was still crazy hungry, but I learned to carry food in the car at all times. Every time we make BLT's, Brian and I still laugh about that day. 

Myann's week in Houston

During Myann's week in Houston, Grandma Jo and Grandpa Richard hooked her up with a ride in a wagon in the procession for the opening of the rodeo.  You can not just be in any regular clothes, so Grandma Jo took her for some cowgirl shopping  Obviously, no dresses, so this is what she picked out and looks pretty darn cute.  She loves the jeans, her blinged out belt, and her real cowgirl hat.

Aunt Sunny's Musings

I am uninspired to blog tonight, so I am copying Aunt Sunny's facebook posts.  Cute memories.  Myann and Daddy flew to Texas today, and Myann gets 8 days with her grandparents alone. She will come back sufficiently spoiled. 

Aunt Sunny posted, "Today is better than Christmas! Myann has arrived. Nothing is better than having my niece run across the airport and jump into my arms. She kept holding my hand and even hugged and kissed my hand and told me, 'it's been way too long since I've seen you! I miss you!' Already melting my heart. Huge smile!!"

Another post, "I AM SO EXCITED! Brian and my sweet niece will be here in 5 1/2 hours. I can not wait to spoil her rotten. She feels like such royalty on these individual trips. She is such an absolute JOY! I love, love, love Myann...And my brother too, of course! :)"

Posts about previous trips: 
(And another from my last trip to Spokane) My first night in Spokane, I was tucking the kids in for bed and Myann asks me, "Aunt Sunny, when are you going to get married? You need to find a nice husband, live in a nice house, and have kids of your own." My response, "I don't know if I will ever get married and have kids and that is normal for some people." Myann's response, "That is okay, but you still need your girl parts for other things even if you don't use them to have kids." I am no longer shocked by what comes out of her mouth. :)

 

 

Lose a Tooth, Gain a Tooth

Big day around here for teeth. Myann lost her first tooth, and Laila's first tooth broke through.

Not sure of how it happened, but a month ago Myann came downstairs with a bloody mouth and said she was coming down her bed and a string was stuck to to something and caught on her tooth.  Sounds gruesome to me, but never quite made sense.  Soon after one of her teeth was loose and finally today she pulled it out in the parking lot of karate. She is beyond excited.  I think it makes her feel closer in age to Shane, since that boy has still only lost 2 teeth. The tooth Myann lost is her bottom left. She was giddy at the thought of putting it under her pillow.

Laila has been chewing a bit more than usual, so I should not be surprised that I felt a tooth today - bottom right.  The kids were super excited for her. They think it means she can start eating steak and everything else. I am a bit nervous.  My sweet girl has been gum biting me, so now I get the joy of an actual tooth. Lucky me.

Today, a blizzard like snowstorm blew through, and once the wind slowed, the kids ventured out.  I wanted to capture of few shots of them sledding, but was distracted by the gorgeous sunset over the snow and through the trees.  Yes, this is the view from my backyard - pretty blessed.

Front yard - love the sunset

The kids with their snowman, Tim. Tim is named after Tiny Tim from Scrooge.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was great around here.  Started with the kids waking me excited to open the cards they have been receiving in the mail, as well as the goodies we set out for them.

I got everyone, Brian included, stamped spoons with love messages.  So now they can eat their cereal or stir their coffee and see how much we love them.  I know, cheesy, but isn't that what Valentine's Day is about - cheesy expressions of love.  We also got Myann a necklace stamped in the copper pendant with loved.  I told her it was so she would always know she was loved.  She seemed to really enjoy getting "big girl" jewelry.  Shane got the Percy Jackson series, since he is becoming quite the avid reader; and Anders got a puzzle and cars. I do not think I have ever gotten them gifts for Valentine's Day, but this year it just seemed fun.  They were so appreciative of the little gesture that I may keep it up.  They also all got money from their grandparents, and were over the moon.  Laila now has her piggy bank off to a good start.

After getting them to school, I stayed for Anders' party.  So fun being in a room with 20 three year olds.  Myann's party was the same time as Shane's so I told her that next year I would do her party and miss one of the boys.  Then I met my Valentine for lunch downtown.  After lunch I went to Shane's party, which is always a treat.  I really love his age - 6 and 7 year olds are interesting to talk to and be around.

Upon coming home, Shane, my super sweet boy, wrote me a sweet card.  However, since Laila was born, she is stealing my thunder, so all my cards are now addressed to Mommy and Laila.  I should be thankful though, because Laila has bumped Brian clear out of the picture.

How did she get so grown up looking?

Love my sweet boy!

Opening her Valentine card

My girls!

Sisters!

Love this face.

Laila rolled back to belly

Finally my girl rolled from her back to her belly on Feb 10th, Friday. And since she learned, she is just rolling every chance she gets and even when I try to change her diaper, which is not so cool.

Daddy insists she is kissing now too. He told her to kiss him at church and she leaned in with open mouth to his cheek.  I told him that she is doing what she does to every object and putting it in her mouth to explore.  He insists it is a kiss.

We have been trying solids for 2 weeks, but so far Laila is not very interested.  She even shudders with some of the bites.  She is just not my eater. However, I tried sweet potatoes this week and she seemed to keep a few bites in, as opposed to spitting it back out.

Sweet potatoes on her face.

Such a pretty face!

Anders had to show his belly too.