Beary Bee

Common sense

2012-01-17T20:06:00.001-07:00

Growing up in a houseful of young women was sometimes a little difficult. So my dad started quoting from the movie Bambi. He told us:

"If you can't say something nice, don't say ANYTHING at all."

Another popular expression was:

"Think first, speak second."

Now, I know that I personally need to work on this more and I have been doing a LOT better. But I must tell you. I didn't expect to make a LOT of friends when we moved. I knew that we would be busy getting settled into a new house, new ward, new job and lots of those other things people do daily. However, the Lord had a different plan. I was blessed to be in a section of the housing area where a lot of my neighbors are LDS. It makes such a difference to live near people with the same beliefs and morals as you. Some of our other neighbors are devout Christians and I firmly believe we all get along so well not only because of other commonalities such as our jobs, children and favorite extracurricular activities, but also that we all have very similar faiths and beliefs.

Over the years I have said my fair share of stupid things, just ask my parents how I pronounce Conoco. They will both start giggling. What makes me sad though is that nowadays with so many social networking sites and the younger generation being obsessed with voicing every single thought , feelings are being hurt and lies, rumors and slander is being spread much more easily. Sites such as Twitter and Facebook are aimed directly at our generation allowing our thoughts to be spread out across the whole internet for just about anyone to read. And, in recent years, this has led to cyber-bullying which has led to devastating tragedies occurring. I try often to think about what I will blog about because I don't know how many people will read this. I do the same practice with my own Facebook account and have scaled back greatly about what I say.

You might ask what brought this on. A dear friend of mine who lives nearby had a few friends over and we played some games. Some silly games. Everyone was going out of their way to provide outrageous answers and we were all laughing. Little did we know that one person there decided that instead of people laughing at the game we were laughing at THEM. So this person went home after our fun was had and decided to post on Facebook about how it was very difficult for them to be with new people because they had all laughed and made fun. Thankfully someone left a comment and suggested that maybe this person who had "been hurt" had taken things too seriously and that the others in attendance didn't know that what they had said would have been taken negatively. But the person who had been hurt denied this and insisted that everyone was picking on them and that they needed to choose better friends.

I can understand having feelings of angst and being insecure. I mean, who isn't?! But to openly voice such negative opinions of others that you had just met and only spent time playing games with, then to deny a plausible explanation and therefore call out or make the others who were there look like terrible people is a serious thing. I was at that gathering. I never in any way felt that anyone was having comments directed at them personally. To me, the person who got hurt, decided to take offense at a game and lash out hurting many others in the process.

I have also heard of other stories about young girls being bullied or picked on due to differences. Well let me share something with you. Being young is HARD. There are many life lessons to learn. No one has an overly easy time during their junior and senior high school years. You can NOT control what people will say to you. You CAN however decide how you will react to what is said to or about you. And, if something someone says bothers you, you must tell them how it made you feel. That person might not even know that they were upsetting or hurting you. SO, with that said I would like to share something else:

MY "NEW YOU" resolutions. I think that this time of year is great to reflect on what you would like to do differently but not just for a new year. For a new and better you. Here are some of mine:

1. Think before I speak.

sometimes just even things I say daily to myself, my husband or my family are things that I should watch more closely. You can't un-say things. However you can pause and think things through before opening your mouth!

2. Scale back on the social networking.

I admit, I love me some FaceBook, but I think everyone could scale back and would benefit greatly from that.

3. Think about OTHERS before I talk about something that happened.

For instance, if the person who got their feelings hurt would have thought about how badly they would be hurting all the other people who were there, the whole FaceBook blast would not have happened and lots of feelings and friendships could have been spared or salvaged.

4. Apologize.

In my marriage these last 3 years one of the most humbling things to happen to me is my apologies. I might not be able to un-say things but I can give a heartfelt sincere apology.

5. Forgive and Forget.

This goes hand in hand with the apology. Just because you or someone else apologizes doesn't always mean things well get resolved. However, if you make an effort to truly forgive, friendships can be salvaged. And you can never have too many friends.

6. Put myself in that persons position.

I think if *everyone* stopped and took an extra minute to think about trying to put themselves in another persons shoes there would be a lot less fighting. I don't know what it's like to be married at 19 because I was 23 when I got married. So I have to remember what I was like at 19 and think about that. I have a son with Down syndrome. If people stopped to think about that combined with that fact that he is 2 AND I have a 1 year old they would say certain things to me!

7. Make a decision to NOT be offended.

Do you know how many ignorant and stupid things are said to me on a weekly basis?! I could write a joke book. That many. Ha ha. But guess what?! I can let those things go. I might not forget them all right away (like the donut lady-but that is just classic) but I CAN choose to not be offended and try to laugh it off until I am ready to move on.

This is just me and my opinion but I am resolving this year to be a better version of myself. I am going to be the best me I know how to. I am sure I will make mistakes and slip up on the way but guess what?! To err is human. And I know that I will learn from my mistakes.

That is enough preaching out of me. I'm out to go get some baby snuggles. WOOHOO!

Irony at its finest, or something like that.

2012-01-05T19:32:00.000-07:00

So about a month ago I broke my foot. Yep. Falling down the stairs. And not all the way down the stairs. NOOOOO. Just the last one. I misplaced my foot and *snap* broken foot. Anyway, today I went back to the orthopedist for my follow-up to see how things were healing.

Now, before I go any further here is a little (giant) back story so you will see the comedy in this.

In elementary school and junior high I was a SHRIMP. Like, skin and bones. And I remember a few of my friends were curvy and some were plain overweight. No big deal. BUT my favorite thing was when these bigger girls would tell me that they weighed more than me because they had BIG BONES. OK?! Got that? Big bones, not the 4 slices of pizza they ate at lunch.

Back to present day. Today Dr. Robert had 3 x-rays taken of my foot. Then when he was looking at them he made the greatest remark.

"Bee, this break is already healed. You still need to take it easy and no running for another month but feel free to wear tennis shoes on BOTH feet now. You have BIG, STRONG, HEALTHY BONES."

So, to all you girls out there who used that excuse on me..... I say HAH!

*p.s. The doctor also mentioned that I must be awesome at falling to break such awesome bones. Can I sign up for a coordination transplant now?!

The End.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-28T11:07:00.003-07:00

This Christmas was our best yet. The whole family got our very first White Christmas. It was beautiful. The boys got spoiled rotten by all the grandparents. They are definitely in the stage where the wrapping paper is the main event but we fully intend to properly use all our toys, books and stuffed animals in the next year.

Here is Curtis opening his first Christmas present! He was pretty excited.

Curtis and Clay staring in awe at the fancy new toy they got. It lights up AND makes sounds.

See this boy?! See that sneaky look on his face?! He is such a ninja lately. Very sneaky and quiet and stealthy. I just had to post his sneaky face. I think it's awesome.

Here is Curtis again. Let me tell you, although he greatly appreciates all the toys he has been favoring the gift Mr. and Mrs. Clause got him the most. His VERY OWN CHAIR. And his brother got his own too. They both feel very grown up sitting down in a chair to watch cartoons. Love it.

And of course we have ole' blue eyes here, Mr. Clay Babe himself. He just wanted what was in his hands and for everyone to leave him alone. Unless there was candy involved. Then you can be best friends. I can hardly believe he will be 1 in just a couple of weeks! Crazy!

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, now we are getting ready for New Year's! Woohoo!

oh, and i finally found the cable for my camera and computer to hookup. Beware there is a picture overload on its way!

It's beginning to look a lot like Winter...

2011-12-12T08:57:00.002-07:00

So we have been in Co for over 2 months now. It has snowed lots and let me tell you, my boys LOVE it. Whenever it snows we HAVE to go outside so they can see the snow flakes falling. It is the cutest thing ever. I love those boys.

We have been doing so good here! We love living on base and our new ward family and military family are so nice. We have several neighbors who we have made friends with and we love it. It's so fun to see the different mix here. We have members from all military branches so it's especially nice.

Joshua is really enjoying having a *real* winter! He has tried to make an igloo a couple of different times and is loving this cold, thin mountain air.

Curtis and Clay are doing awesome as well! They both got really bad ear infections right when we got here and are just getting over a terrible bug but they are such little troopers. Clay is getting ready to walk which is just crazy to think about. He is also quite the talker and has taught Curtis how to make a few new sounds! He makes such a good speech therapist! Ha ha. Curtis got to take a very big boy step recently. For Christmas we had been talking about getting him a "big boy bed" and were trying to decide if we thought he would do ok. Then out of nowhere someone near us was selling one and it was too good a deal to pass up. So Curtis is now sleeping happily in his toddler bed. He loves being able to climb in and out. He also is loving sharing a room with Clay! We decided to try it out and both boys are so much happier in the morning knowing a brother is nearby to entertain!

We got to have our first house guests when my parents came to visit! It was such a blast. It snowed while they were here, but we had so much fun visiting them. I think that Curtie and Clay especially enjoyed seeing their GramE and GrandDad considering we lived with them this time last year. It was so wonderful to have them with us and we already miss them lots. Don't worry! We are planning a trip home to visit! We can't wait!

As for me, something VERY exciting happened last week! I broke my first bone! Ha ha ha! Anyone who knows me will know that this is very long overdue considering how klutzy I can be. I fell down the stairs after putting the boys down for nap time. I literally skipped 1 stinking step and landed just write so that I broke a bone. I have an appointment with an Orthopedist this week to hear about if I will need a cast or surgery or just to keep my temporary boot on. Hopefully we can just stick to the boot! Ha ha ha! Me breaking my foot is also part of the reason we have to postpone a trip back home because I can't really drive with my right foot broken!

We love CO and our new friends and ward so much. We feel so blessed to be so close to our family. We can't wait for Spring to come so we can have some more outdoor adventures!

spoiled but confused...I

2011-10-18T09:18:00.002-06:00

So we got a "new" computer. It's a Mac. And let me tell you. I am so grateful for this blessing but I have NO idea how to use it when it comes to certain things. Pathetic, I know. Oh AND I lost the cords to my camera to upload any pics since my SD card seems to not fit in this new thing.

Anyway, my little family made it safely to CO. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous until 2 weekends ago when the HIGH was 39*. Ewwww. Needless to say lots of soup and hot chocolate was consumed. Our new ward is great so far. We meet new people every week and since we got here 4 other families moved in as well!

The boys are loving that they can play outside without sweating, in fact, they actually have to wear long sleeves and pants. But it's fine with them! A lot of our neighbors have younger kids so it's really awesome to have friends nearby.

Hubby is still sitting around doing paperwork (his words, not mine) and being bored out of his mind. He love it here though. We go on walks and spend lots of time outside.

I love it here too. I don't necessarily like when the low for the evening is 32* but I'm getting more used to it I guess. Ha ha ha. I miss AZ very much though and when I get really homesick we end up eating Mexican food. It makes everything much better. We are all making new friends and really enjoying everything CO has to offer! We really like living on base and being close to so many people.

well that is it for now. Pictures will be coming as soon as I can find my stupid cords!! Hooray!!

guess who's back back back, back again...?!

2011-10-14T19:59:00.001-06:00

Our internet has *finally* been taken care of..... updates to come!!

Birthday Boy

2011-09-13T08:09:00.003-06:00

The birthday boy is unable to be with us for a couple more days. And I thought it would be fun to have a belated bash in honor of the 2 most recent birthday boys. Look how cute they are together:

Today hubby turns 25 years old so here are 25 random things about him:

1. A while before we met, hubby tore some ligaments in his knee doing.... SUMO WRESTLING. In one of those fat suit things. Yep. Crazy guy.

2. Hubby is a die-hard FSU fan. This can be attributed to the fact that his mom likes the Florida Gators and we all know that as a teenager you can NOT have the same likes as your mom hence the rival began.

3. When we met (at a speed-dating FHE activity nonetheless) he was wearing a NECKLACE. A pookah shell necklace. And I *still* gave him my phone number. My real one. Don't worry, after it was clear things might be going somewhere serious, the necklace went into early retirement.

4. He blushed more than I did when he proposed. Mainly because he sang me a song AT THE BEACH, and he had an audience of 4 teenage girls laying out on towels directly behind us. Heaven forbid it be made public knowledge that he's kinda romantic.

5. Speaking of romantic... Our first Valentine's Day together he got my sister Meredith and our friend Michaela to get me out of the apartment so he could "decorate". This involved lots of red and pink things and CANDY. Needless to say I forgave him of the offense of putting red/pink things around our place because he picked my fave candies- Sour Patch Kids. Yum.

6. He rode his longboard 4 miles to work every day at 3 a.m. so I could take the car to work. I worked graveyard shifts and would pick him up on my way home. This tidbit is EXTRA special because he did this with his hurt knee.

7. He used to be a "runt" so to speak. In high school he didn't really have a growth spurt until the summer between his junior and senior years. Good thing he filled out on his mission. I don't like scrawny. Ha ha ha.

8. He blames ME for his gaining 35 lbs during our first year of marriage. I can't help it that I can cook and he knows how to eat.

9. When he took me around to meet his family he was MOST worried about getting the approval of one lady... His grandma. He told me he could handle it if his mom didn't like me but, if his grandma Rita didn't he was going to have to thoroughly consider things. Silly boy. She LOVES me.

10. Hubby has a GREAT smile. Many thanks go to his mom for paying for all that dentistry and orthodontia work. It was money well spent.

11. Hubby has a weak stomach. Sorry to spill the beans honey but it's true. When I was pregnant with Curtis and had "morning sickness" for 6 months, if he heard me get up in the night he would stay as far away from me as possible. Poor guy. Thankfully after 2 years of babies he's getting better at handling such things.

12. He has a sensitivity to medicines. Not just prescription strength ones either. Over the counter things. We found this out when we realized that I have some kind of immunity to such things... example: it takes 4 unisom sleep tablets to even make me YAWN let alone drowsy while it takes him HALF of one melatonin. This is hilarious to me.

13. He is a hard core nerd on the inside. He will call/text/email me if he finds some new gadget/toy he sees that he likes and wants us to take a field trip to check it out. It's cute.

14. He is NOT a very good cook. While this is sad ,but true, it must be explained. Hubby was VERY proud of the fact that he is of Italian descent. To prove this he offered to make spaghetti sauce one night for my family. His recipe consisted mainly of canned tomato sauces and pastes. There were NO vegetables in it and very little spices. We all ate it but he will never live this down. Never.

15. Hubby is very appreciative. Of everything. He gets very happy when I make him lunches. Hooray that I get to do that again in a couple of days!!

16. Hubby is very patient. He has been away from us for almost 11 months and during that time has spent a total of 21 days with us since he left. He is VERY excited to be reunited with his family. So are we!!

17. His favorite colors are blue, green and brown.

18. One of his ALL-TIME favorite meals is.... the Cafe Rio pulled pork that my mom makes.

19. He loves his baby boys soooooo much. He loves to talk to them on the phone. Which boils down to, me holding the phone while it's on speaker and not letting them lick it while they babble to their dad. It's so stinkin cute.

20. He is a silly goose. On our dates around DownTown Disney he would always request to stop by the Lego store. I would always request to stop by Earl of Sandwich. My choice was definitely better. Duh.

21. He is very enthusiastic. Especially when it comes to our Curtis and his therapies and meeting milestones.

22. He loves Jamba Juice and was quite pleased to discover that AZ has several locations. He served his mission in California so he was introduced to the amazing-ness that is Jamba.

23. He is very generous. Last Christmas he let me get a super fancy, totally awesome double stroller.

24. He is my very best friend.

25. He is the guy I'm lucky enough to spend the next several eternities with and I can't wait!!

I love you Joshua and can't wait to be together again!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

My life is hilarious...

2011-09-05T20:38:00.005-06:00

So, I was trying to think of something I should blog about that didn't involve moving since that's all I can think about right now. And guess what....? I realized I have a hilarious story for you.

SO... I am 26. Which means that a DECADE (that's 10 years people) ago, I had just turned 16. In my family the year you turned 16 meant that you got to go to BYU for a little thing known as Especially For Youth or EFY. I was pretty excited to be able to go and be on my own for a whole week. This was a big deal because I was at the age where I could now date.

When we got sorted into our groups I was way happy to find out that 5 people were from Arizona and 2 even went to nearby high schools! I had high hopes that we were going to remain friends and see each other at football games and all those silly things that pass through the mind of a 16 year old girl. Anyway, one of the kids was an 18 year old boy who told me that once we all got back home he would call and ask me on a date. I was quite flustered because this would be my first date. WHOA.

Well time went by and EFY ended and sure enough he called me. I couldn't go when he originally wanted to because I had girls camp that week. Then the week after he called again and suggested a different night. I asked my mom and dad if I HAD to go and they said yes, because it takes a lot of courage to ask someone out. My mom did not see what was going to be so hard and said something along the lines of "just get it over with". Little did she know...

The specified day finally rolled around and I was really nervous. I kept thinking about how awkward it was going to be based on the fact that we only spent a few hours altogether throughout our week at EFY. Finally the doorbell rang, and I ran and hid in my room. I heard my mom answer the door, look at the boy and say "Meredith, Verity! One of your friends is here". This was the first bad sign. You see, I was at least 3 inches taller than this kid. So my mom automatically assumed by his stature that he was here for my younger siblings. He introduced himself and said he was actually looking for ME. She invited him in and came to retrieve me from my shamed and hidden state of mind. She gave me a pep talk and said "it's just one date. Then you never have to go out again". I wish it had been that easy.

I briefly introduced him and then we left. We walked out to his car and to my HORROR, discovered that his dad had driven him to my house. Oh no... Then his dad goes on to explain that my date had been worried he would get lost and so, he volunteered to pick me up. The entire way back to his house we talked a little about school and church events and I just felt sick to my stomach. But I figured that the worst was over and I became determined to have a good first date. Too bad fate had other, more "interesting" plans.

We arrived at his house where I learned that we would be attending a concert. But now just ANY concert. A concert where one of those acapella boy bands would be performing. You know, InsideOut, 259... that kind of thing. I didn't know who the band was but tried to maintain a smile and be polite. Then our double date couple arrived and my heart sank... His cousin and HIS girlfriend would be accompanying us and not only were they all older than me, but also significantly shorter. To say that I looked like the jolly green giant would NOT be an understatement (except for the green skin thing).

We arrive at said concert and it turns out that the boy band sings some songs I know! I was so excited I that I completely forgot my surroundings and gave in to temptation... I began to sing along! The trio of other people I was with whipped their heads around to look at me and I knew by the looks on their faces that they were shocked I had done such a thing. In my defense, we are a very musically inclined family. I sing out loud all the time. Plus, other people in the audience were doing it so I just thought I would too.

I slunk back into my seat (yes, I stood up AND belted along) mortified that I had even accepted the offer to this date. After the concert they decided that an activity would not be enough and we would need to stop for some sort of nourishment. Enter Jamba Juice. A magical place I had never been that would make you a fruit smoothie of your choosing and you didn't even have to clean it up. AWESOME. By far, my favorite moment of the evening. However, fate decided to toy with my already disastrous date even more by allowing my date and the other couple to bring up my mid-show karaoke performance. I quickly excused myself for the restroom and pretended to vomit as a sure-fire exit strategy to end the date of doom. On our way back home I made sure to moan and groan as much as possible so my cover would not be blown and said a hurried goodbye without a hug because let's face it, what guy wants to hug a girl that sounded like she was going to empty the contents of her stomach all over him. Yeah.

I ran in my house told my parents I was back and that I would NEVER go on a date with someone shorter than me ever again. Then my dad laughed because my mom mentioned her first encounter with my date and explained how she thought he was here for my sisters. They laughed, while I was embarrassed.

This is in my top 10 worst dates of all time and only gets the ranking of #1 because it was my first date so, I thought it more appropriate. And have no fear because the rest of the top 10 will also be getting a post. Oh and here's a picture of me from 10 years ago so you can see just HOW not tall I am and how awkward I used to be.

Enjoy.

Long time comin'...

2011-08-29T17:38:00.002-06:00

Oh. My. Goodness. I am so excited. After more than 10 months apart, hubby's homecoming is just around the corner. It is crazy how slow it has gone by, but, also how quickly!! We are counting down the days to when we get to be reunited and also how many days until we move!! We will only be going to our ward for 3 more sundays. Weird. Guess what else? We will be going from 110+ degree weather during the day to an average HIGH of 90!! And a LOW in the mid-to-low 60's. Oh wow! I can't wait.

In other news the boys had some big milestones this week...

*Curtie turned 2 (but he has a whole post coming dedicated just to him)

*He figured out that he can climb on almost every piece of furniture in this house (scary thought)

*Finally realized that he can go down the stairs the right way= turn around and down. Much better than before when he would go down face first on his belly

*Clay has mastered his hand/knee crawl

*He has sprouted 2 new teeth on his top gums

*He pulled himself up to stand - this freaks me out since he is still so wobbly. And young.

That's about it for us!! More excitement to come...

You've had a birthday shout hooray...

2011-08-21T08:00:00.000-06:00

Dear Curtis,

2 years ago today you made your grand appearance. It was wonderful, scary, life-changing, and the best thing that has happened to me.

You have been such a blessing in my life. I love you more and more with each day. I love how much you laugh and talk and truly enjoy life. I love how you play with your brother. I love that the doggy door is your sole gateway to get from inside the house to the backyard. You are a wonderful little guy and I am so happy to have you and very excited to keep learning new things from you!

You capture the hearts of all those who meet you. Your smile lights up the whole room and your giggles are contagious!! You love with no boundaries and I can't imagine life without you!

I love you so much!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

I would NEVER have paid for THAT...

2011-08-18T13:01:00.002-06:00

Can I just say how glad I am to have insurance? Because I am. I know I am blessed to have it. With that said I would like to recommend that the money that my insurance company will pay to the doctor I saw 2 days ago, instead be given to ME. Why, might you ask...? I'll tell you:

A couple of weeks ago I noticed a bump on my left forearm just right before where my hand is connected to my forearm. I didn't know what it was, so, me being the weirdo I am decided I would see if it was a pimple and try to squeeze and pop it. Nope. Not that. So then I decided to see if it would rip off if I tugged on it. Blame this on the fact that deep down I am actually still 9 years old. Duh. Still didn't work. So I called my best friend of over 20+ years to come over during nap time so I could go to the doctor to see if THEY could remove it or at least tell me what it is. I honestly thought it was a skin tag or something. Turns out... it's a WART.

No big deal. So I ask the nice doctor if they can remove it. She tells me: No. We don't have to cryogenic stuff to do it here. But you can buy it over the counter at most pharmacies. *say whaaaaaat?* So not only is my insurance going to pay her for my "medical exam" but I have to fork out money to get rid of this thing myself? I almost asked if I could borrow a scalpel. But, alas, I did not. Instead I hightailed it right to the closest store and bought a DIY freeze-you-wart thing AND in case that didn't work I also got a liquid application to put on. It's totally not a big deal. Like at all. But I honestly think that instead of the insurance company paying Dr. Get-out-of-doing-my-job-because-we-don't-conveniently-have-the-right-tools, to do NOTHING that I should get whatever amount of money that they send to her for her "diagnosis". Seriously people. When I checked out I didn't even get any papers or ANYTHING.

So here I sit typing this staring at the ugly almost-hopefullydeaderthanitwas-wart that is left wondering why I am enduring the stupid task of wart removal.

*facepalm*

the. end.

100, 1 month and an honorary degree...

2011-08-15T20:51:00.002-06:00

Hooray! This is my 100th post! Too bad there's no fireworks or anything... Oh well! I am so excited! Because, today means I am only one whole month away from getting my little family all back together again! WOOHOO! Seriously, this is beyond exciting.

Enough of that. So, the other day I decided that as a mother of a special needs child I should totally get an honorary certificate or something similar that qualifies me to work in the medical field. I know so much more about the human body than I thought I would. Last week Curtis had an appointment with an Orthopedic Surgeon. We went because, our Physical Therapist, Roxanne Small (here's some info on her) http://www.buildingbabiesbetter.com/ has been keeping an eye on Curtie's hips and elbows. She decided that since we are moving soon we should get it checked out just to put our minds at ease. Little did we know what we would find... We were thinking that we would find that some ligaments or tendons were really tight which is why Curtis has some limited rotation throughout his forearms. WRONG! 20 minutes, 4 x-rays and 1 crying shortling later we found out the real problem. Congenital Radioulnar Synostosis. Basically, in his little forearm instead of his bones being side-by-side so one can move on top of the other when you turn your arm different ways, Curtie's bones are fused together near his elbow. It's actually not that bad. He does very well considering how much more this should limit his abilities to self feed. Our lovely doctor pointed out how lucky we were to find this out so young as most children with Down syndrome typically aren't diagnosed until they are around 8 years old. We will need to get it surgically corrected in a few years but not until his dominant hand is established and we can see and decide which position would be most beneficial to have his bones set in. Plus there is a lot or cartilage around the bones so we would need to wait till his bones have grown more. I am just thankful he doesn't need heart surgery. It's still a scary thought but much less so knowing that we won't need to do anything for quite some time! Other than that the boys are doing awesome and both have doctor visits coming up soon when they will have to get shots! Poor guys. Oh well!

I am on a ROLL...

2011-08-09T11:28:00.003-06:00

Sometimes I worry about what my babes will do in the time it takes me to run upstairs for something. I always say a quick prayer that no one will crush anyone else, no one will fall backwards and bonk their head, no one will get bitten either by their brother or a dog who is getting his hair pulled and last, but not least that no blood will be shed or bones protruding by the time I grab a silky. With that said... Curtis decided to put his new ability (climbing) to the test and see if the chair I sit in with his brother is really as comfy as it looks:

The answer would be... YES. Plus so much roomier without a mom and baby Clay in the way. Cartoons are so much more enjoyable when you don't have to worry about your baby brother doing something offensive, like touching you.

Say whaaaaaaat?!

2011-08-07T22:38:00.003-06:00

Can I just say how much I loved everyones comments on my last post? Seriously. I cracked up. I really must tell you that when people ask questions to me about Ds it never occurs to me to take offense. Instead I MARVEL at the things people say. Honestly, in the almost 2 years since I've had Curtis a majority of these questions have never flitted across my mind. That could be because I have medical professionals left and right who tell me all about Ds, but, I like to think it's due to the fact that I have a little thing called common sense. With that said, I am going to start blog documenting my all-time favorite nuggets that people have said to me regarding my children.

Here's a prime example:

**back story** I have a beautiful wedding band. However, it has not fit due to my silly self getting it sized SMALLER before I was pregnant with Clay. So, I rarely wear it. Most people who know me or my kids though, KNOW THAT I AM MARRIED. My hubby has been gone a little over 9 months for military training which means that I cart my kids around primarily by my lonesome self. No big deal.... OR SO I THOUGHT

**side back story** I have been attending my current ward (church meeting for those readers who are not LDS) for 2 and a half years. Since moving back in with my parents (so I am not alone with my babes all the time) I occasionally attend THEIR ward meeting when said babes prevent me from getting ready in time to drive the 15 minutes to my building. No big deal... WRONG.

***real story (finally)***

A few weeks back I was attending my home ward. Lots of people know me, and I know them! But sometimes I forget peoples names. And sometimes I just don't recognize people because, with 2 babies it's difficult to stay for all 3 hours. Whatever. Anyway, on with the story, I was sitting in the foyer holding Clay while Curtis ran around like a zoo animal who had finally been set free. Curtis wears himself out and comes back over to the chair I'm sitting in and wants a cuddle. I pick him up. I do this all the time. It's no problem for me to keep an extra 40+ pounds of cuteness in my lap, I quite enjoy it! Well, an older woman (probably in her late 50's, so not OLD, just oldER than me) walked by on her way out the doors with an elderly woman. She looked over at me and smiled so I returned her smile. 10 minutes later she walks back in and goes past me back to the chapel. I continue cuddling my studs. She walks BACK out 5 minutes later and stands in front of me and stops. The following conversation occurs:

Church Lady (CL): Your boys are cute!

Me: Thanks. I think so too. Good thing that their past their return dates! (I inwardly laugh at my awesome spur of the moment joke)

CL: **looks me over before saying anything. Like, specifically looks at my left ring finger which is currently bare** So, are you new in the ward?

Me:**raise my eyebrows** ummm no. I've been here for over 2 years.

CL:**stares at me up and down** Well I don't think I've met you! My name is blah blah blah ( I don't remember what she said)

Me: Oh hi. I'm so and so (protecting my identity on the blog. I gave her my real name. Don't worry). And these are my sons Curtis and Clay.

CL: Well they look very nice. **she stops talking abruptly as if she was going to say something inappropriate and/or rude but then not only remembered her manners but also that she is in the Lord's house** Are you here with anyone?

Me: Umm. Do my babies count?! Ha ha ha. (I'm hilarious. Can you tell?) No, my husband isn't here at the moment and won't be able to come to church with us for a few more months till he gets home.

CL: **flash of surprise, then possible shock followed closely by embarrassment** Oh? You have a husband? Where is he?

Me: In Texas for training. He's in the military.

CL: **HUGE LOOK OF RELIEF** OOOOOH! Well how wonderful of him to serve the country and of you to take care of your boys by yourself.

Me: hmmm. Thanks. Well I need to go clean some spit up off of myself. But it was great meeting you! Have a good day!

Let me tell you, it was hilarious to see this woman's face. She was obviously under the impression that I was a single mom with 2 little babies. And then when I told her that hubby was away I think that she thought that I was trying to discreetly say he might be in prison or something. AWESOME. I have plenty more where that little jewel of a story came from so don't worry. You shall be thoroughly entertained.

And this is what they were wearing that day. Because matching prevents short people from getting lost AND lets people know that we're together.

awkward conversation

2011-08-06T08:54:00.002-06:00

One of the grocery stores nearby does this wonderful thing called "Donut Day" on Fridays. It's basically an incentive to have people buy THEIR donuts because if you buy a dozen you get 6 free. Woohoo. Anyway, in case you didn't know I have 2 babies. So some stores are easier for me to just bring my stroller to (plus Curtis FAILED shopping carts- but that's another story) carry the boys around. So we walk up to the beautiful glass case where all the donuts are and start picking out our treats (don't worry- I freeze most of the donuts- I don't eat all 18 by myself) and we finally finish. The donut lady asks if we want to pay with her there and I say yes so we can just be on our way when, she finally LOOKS at the boys. The following conversation occurs:

Donut Lady (DL): OH! How cute! Are they twins?!

Me: No. This one *points to Curtis* will actually be 2 later this month. He does have Down syndrome though. He grows slower and so they are around the same size. This one *point to Clay* is only 6 months old.

DL: Oh NO! *gasps in shock or something- I don't know* Are you worried that your youngest one is going to catch it?

Me: ummmm. No. It's genetic.

DL: Oh. So the little one might not catch it until he's older then?

Me: ***looooong awkward pause while I stared at her*** ummmm. No. It's genetic. It's in his blood. There is no way the other one could "catch it".

DL: Oh. Ok. So did you pass it to him? Are your other children going to have it?

ME:***loooooooonger awkward pause*** Actually no. For women MY AGE, about every 1 in 750 births will result with the child having Down syndrome. It's a genetic fluke.

DL: hmmm. *looks thoughtful* Well here's your donuts! Have a good weekend!

Me: .....? Ok. Thanks.

Ba ha ha. I laughed really hard about this. Seriously. I know genetics don't make much sense sometimes, especially to those who don't visit an actual Geneticist Dr. twice a year but obviously this woman didn't pay attention in 8th grade science.

Dog doors...?

2011-08-02T18:35:00.003-06:00

So as many of my readers will know, kids will be kids. DUH. It's a fact of life. But without a theme song. Anyway, Curtis has been using the dog door as his portal from the family room to the backyard. Mainly because, I am a stingy mom who refuses to open the back door unless a big person goes outside(it is HOT outside and it costs money to run that AC. Let's not be wasting it). If you can fit through the dog door then mad props to you and I encourage you to do it. This was no big deal because Clay was still just chilling and getting used to belly crawling around, until... *dun dun dun* he noticed that he can FOLLOW PEOPLES AROUND. Big peoples. He will follow me to the kitchen and the living room AND the laundry room. No biggie. But THEN he noticed that Curtis is kind of a big peoples and he will follow HIM around. Well, Curtis being obsessed with the dogs, spends a LOT of his day by the dog door. If the dogs go out, so does he. And he usually won't come back in until both dogs are inside. Well on Saturday Clay decided to check out the dog door with Curtis (or is being trained by Curtis on how to be a scout and lookout for the dogs and or mommy) and this is the end result. Adorable. Now let's just hope Clay doesn't attempt to go THROUGH the dog door until he's more aware about depth perception and all. Otherwise I predict an EPIC FAIL in his near future.

Birthday Shoutouts....

2011-07-27T11:14:00.001-06:00

This week 3 special ladies I know have had birthdays.

This lovely young lady right here ^^? That's one of my best friends. Her name is Mary. She and I have known each other for roughly 21 years. She got married in Arpil (the same day as my little sister) and I am so happy she and I are still friends to this day. Even though she's stuck out doing some work study for school, she and I talk as often as we can. I appreciate her so much and cherish the fact that we have remained friends for the majority of our lives! Happy Birthday Mary!

THIS lovely young lady ^^^ joined up with our family almost 10 years ago. This is my sister-in-law Maria. Maria is awesome for many reasons. #1. She is CANADIAN. Seriously. She celebrates Canada Day by making all her favorite traditional things to eat including poutine which is by far one of MY favorites now too. #2. She has 2 amazing little girls. Megan (in the picture) and little Kaitlyn. They are such cute little girls and part of that is due to the fact that they have Maria's awesome big blue eyes. Love it. Happy Birthday Maria!

And last, but not least, we have Cathy ^^! Cathy is Joshua's mom and is an incredible woman. I met her 3 and a half years ago and she has been a blessing in my life ever since. She did such a good job raising Joshua. I am very thankful to have her in my life. Happy Birthday Cathy!!

Happy Birthday to these incredible women who have been such an influence in my life! I hope you have a wonderful day and don't forget to go get your free Krispy Kreme dozen donuts and all those other yummy freebies!

3 and counting....

2011-07-15T15:56:00.003-06:00

Today I have been married for 3 years! Sometimes it seems like a lot longer and other times it feels brand new. I am so grateful to have the life I do and my children and my marriage and my husband. So for our anniversary I'm giving a brief synopsis of our first 3 years together... ENJOY.

This was 3 years ago today at about this same time. And let me tell ya. Gettin' married in July in AZ is brutal. I think we were only laughing because of the sheer ridiculousness of ourselves in the summer heat! Our first year of marriage involved a cross country move during HURRICANE season, a new car, a wonderful ward that I still attend to this day and many little happy moments.

Our 2nd year of marriage brought us our sweet baby Curtis. He was not what we expected but, so much more. This year brought therapies to go along with our new baby, a bigger apartment, visits to Florida to see some family members and more joy than we ever thought imaginable.

Our 3rd year of marriage brought us a new job courtesy of the U.S. army, moving back in with my parents, having a baby by MYSELF (which means getting a spinal tap ALONE. I do NOT recommend this), and learning to be a family of 4. It has been a bumpy ride but I am so happy and would do it all again in a heartbeat.

I love you so much Joshua and am so thankful for the family you've given me! I look forward to all the years to come!!

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:

*****p.s. I have a special announcement! After weeks of knowing I can finally tell you all the good news! We got our first duty station and will be moving to Colorado in September! We could not be more excited or freaked out at spending our first winter in SNOOOOOOOOOW! I would have mentioned this weeks ago when I first found out but we had to hammer out some details! But hooray!!*****

I told you there'd be pictures....

2011-07-06T10:45:00.000-06:00

I just didn't say what quality they would be. But what they lack in looks from a professional standpoint they more than make up for in cuteness.

Curtis and Cowboy have an understanding. Curtis may pull, pinch, bite, kiss and cuddle Cowboy as much as he wants in exchange for Cowboy getting all of the Goldfish crackers that miss Curtis' mouth during snack time. All in all it is a win-win situation for both parties involved.

This. Is. Awesome. This was Sunday after church and we were watching Music and the Spoken Word when Clay rolled right over to Curtis. As you can tell Curtis has MUCH more important things to do than pay attention to his brother, like watch tv. But it's all good because Clay is having a blast.

These boys are HAMS. I tried to "pose" them and this was the end result. They both look happy and Curtis looks quite determined to escape my feet holding him in place. Heaven forbid they just lay next to each other for funsies.

I just have to say AGAIN how much I LOVE matching clothes. I think they are AWESOME. It makes the boys look more dressed up and people can tell they're both mine since we all match. Ha ha ha!! I did get 4th of July pictures as well but that post is for another day!! Woohoo!! Happy Summer!

p.s. those little boys totally have baby Speedo swimsuit tan lines on their bums. It. ROCKS.

Summer time blues....

2011-06-24T18:45:00.000-06:00

SWIMMING LESSONS!!

This is what we've been doing the last 2 weeks since it finally got hot! And I have to say that there are not many things cuter than a baby wearing a speedo and trying to swim!! Yes, I just admitted to putting my kidlets in speedos because 1. it's adorable when they're that little and 2. I love me those tan lines on their baby booties!! Pics to come!!

Fat and Happy = my boys

2011-06-18T21:24:00.004-06:00

So we irrigated the other morning and Curtis who, normally must be convinced to go on the grass plopped RIGHT ON DOWN when he saw the gushing water. This kid had a grin on his face the entire time. And by the time I dragged him inside he was a *wee* bit stinky! But still cute so it's all good.

And Baby Clay here got to get all dressed up and have his picture taken. Babies in white = adorable. I LOVE the fat rolls on his thighs. They are pretty dang awesome. Love these boys so much and I love that they know they are brothers and friends. They are inseparable (Clay doesn't really have a choice in that though) and Curtis always likes to know where his baby is. It's so funny. They love being in the stroller together and are always engaged in some form of staring contest. They interact so well together and soon Clay is going to give Curtis a run for his money! I can't wait!!

justified....

2011-05-21T22:17:00.002-06:00

So. Sometimes I can be a *wee* bit of a hypochondriac. Then I had kids and I mellowed out about ME being sick. Well all week long my throat has been killing me. I thought it was allergies and started drowning myself with orange juice. Today I woke up though and couldn't even swallow it hurt so bad. It practically brought tears to my eyes. I purposely became a mouth breather so I wouldn't have to swallow. Then I decided to run over to the doctor and just see if maybe something was wrong after all. Well folks, I have strep throat. I feel totally justified for acting like a pansy now. HA. Now I just have to make it through the next 10 days on my antibiotics without kissing any cute babies. Dang it.

Let's just clear a few things up...

2011-05-09T21:28:00.003-06:00

I don't take kindly to people who critique my parenting skills/abilities. Case in point:

You have or had 2 small children close in age to my own. Congratulations. Guess what though? Unless you have a child with special needs I don't need you telling me what you can do and how you do everything and how I must not be very good at multi-tasking or parenting in general if I can't do the same things you do. Because WE ARE IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS. I don't have a husband that comes home after work to help me with our daily routines. He's in the military, in TX, training and we won't be able to get back together again until probably September. I have 2 babies still in diapers and still taking bottles. I do therapy with Curtis for 15 minutes at least every 2 hours. I feed Clay every 3 hours. We have 3 hours of therapy a week! Then we have the doctor's appointments. Most kids go to the doctor occasionally for well visits or only if they're sick. We visit the doctor a LOT more than that. I'm lucky if it's every other week. Eye doctors, ENT doctors for Curtis' tubes, pediatric cardiologists for his heart and so on. I don't have the luxury to just hop on a plane BY MYSELF with 2 BABIES to go see Josh. I'd have to buy a totally separate plane ticket for my almost-toddler. Curtis has a heart condition which makes car rides difficult enough and I can't imagine taking him on a plane alone. I can not and will not drive what is supposed to be only 12 hours to see Josh because it would turn into an 18 hour drive. BY MYSELF. I load and unload my kids from their car seats BY MYSELF. Curtis still doesn't walk which means I get to carry around 50+ pounds of children and their essentials. Curtis doesn't know how to communicate like other almost 2 year olds who can tell you when they are hungry or thirsty. I get to guess. If I want to go do some errands it takes me at LEAST an hour just to get the boys and their stuff ready/packed up to go. I don't get to go on dates with my husband every week. I'm lucky if I get to sleep before 11 p.m. and get to "sleep in" until 6 a.m. I got to see a movie the other day and you know what? It was my first movie in OVER 6 MONTHS PEOPLE. You might assume that since I "get to stay home" I must have all the time in the world on my hands. I don't. I do laundry for 3 people, 2 of which require multiple outfit changes a day. I'm lucky if I get to shower every day before 10 a.m. I'm also lucky if I can time it right so both boys have a nap around the same time so I can sneak an hour of alone time in. I work hard every day and I do NOT need you or anyone else telling me that, since YOU were able to something when you had 2 kids about the same age apart as mine, if I can't do that same thing then I must not be trying hard enough. Yes I am lucky enough to live with my parents for the time being and you know what? They help as much as they can. But they both work full time and since they are kind enough to let me live here as their guest I try and at least have dinner ready for when they get home. But they have their own lives. These are MY children and I am responsible for them. I don't get a lunch break. I don't have the luxury of just going out to eat dinner with some friends because I feel like it.

AND YOU KNOW WHAT?!?! That is all okay with me. I love my kids and I love my life with them. I chose to have these kids this close and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

However, if you EVER try to make me feel insignificant because I am unable to do ONE THING that you achieved, think again. Because I may not have showered yet and my hair might be dirty and I probably don't have any make-up on but I know my kids are clean, well fed, dressed and I know that they love me despite what I didn't do that day. So there. On a lighter note....

I love Costco and that they have outfits available in sizes 0-3 month up to 5T. Because I think it's super cute that my boys match.

Dude. I love little jumpers. They are so nice for the summer and provide me easy access to change diapers!

So this is from a few weeks ago when our Bingham cousins were in town for my sister's wedding. Curtis loved that they were so willing to share their popcorn with him! Aren't their sunburns awesome and sad all at the same time? Poor kids got stripped down to their skivvies so my dad could rub their burns with aloe vera. They got popcorn AND popsicles. Lucky!

p.s. I totally bought them those adorable jumpers ONLY because husband is from Florida originally. He might not choose the Gators as his team but that gator totally represents his roots. So yeah! hahaha

making faces.....

2011-04-03T20:30:00.002-06:00

So CTR1 has been pulling the most random awesome faces as of late and I captured the MOST totally, incredibly STUPENDOUS baby face. Without further ado I give you....

Blue Steel:

Seriously. I crack up everytime I see this. EVERYTIME. Note the sassy hand on his hip?! Yeah. He was totally lecturing me during his bath. Love it.

CTR2 has discovered the art of smiling! And here is my proof:

He was our "supervisor" while picking up our room last week and let me tell you, that smile totally makes my sleep deprivation worth it. And he knows who we all are now. He will just BEAM at his brother with such adoration it melts your insides! He will give away his smiles pretty freely unless he is not happy with you. I am the victim of this more often than not. Ha ha. But it's ok! Now I just have to train him to smile on command in time for my sister's wedding!

random ramblings of my life....

2011-03-24T15:40:00.003-06:00

So. Remember how I mentioned I was going to start working out? Well I actually did it! And before I did I weighed myself and had my mom take my measurements. With the boys being in the hospital for a week I totally slacked off and have been trying to make up for it. I weighed myself for the 1st time in about 3 weeks and was so SO disappointed to see that I lost ZERO weight. Seriously. Nothing. So then I had my sweet little sister take my measurements and guess what?! I have lost 6 inches so far. Go me! It's definitely hard fitting in exercise time for me with 2 short people taking up most of my day but I'm so happy it is working!! And while I am busy losing the boys are gaining! CTR 1 now weighs 21 pounds! Woohoo! And CTR 2 weighs almost 14. Let me tell ya, CTR 1 doesn't walk. So I have to carry him EVERYWHERE. No big deal. But then on my other arm I have a 14lb baby who is starting to hold his head up very well! In addition to those I have a diaper bag AND a purse. And no. Not all of MY stuff and all of THEIR stuff can fit together. Not unless I wanted to carry around a hefty trash bag instead. And I don't. So added all up I carry about 40 pounds of extra weight with me EVERY time I go somewhere. And when I go running....? I have 35 pounds of kids, 35 pounds of stroller and 3 pounds of carseat to push along. Ha ha ha!! Now I know why just walking I have lost some inches. Also I got a perm and let me tell you. I still haven't mastered combing/brushing through my new curls. BUT with all of that volume it makes up for it so I don't mind. I also have stopped eating ** as much** candy as I normally do. For those of you that personally know me, this is a HUGE deal. Seriously. I used to carry like 4 bags of candy with me at all times. Now I buy those little mini candy bars and put them in the freezer so if I do need something sweet it hurts my sensitive teeth to eat it, therefore preventing me from gorging myself. OOOH! And CTR 2 has started recognizing people!! He knows who his brother is and gives him great big smiles. So cute. And when his GrandDad comes home he knows his voice and will start trying to look for him. It's very impressive. And CTR 1 is catching onto the concept of being soft with his baby brother. He gives him hugs and kisses like there is NO tomorrow. I love it! It is also getting warmer so we will get to learn how to swim in the next few weeks!! hooray for summer on its way!!

A for effort.....

2011-03-09T13:32:00.003-07:00

So ya know how we were all sickos last week and we are still recovering? WELL. My nose is still regaining its super smell abilities and today it seems like my boys are trying to take advantage of that. We went to Wal-Mart earlier to get some essentials (Goldfish crackers!) and Clay decided to mess his pants there. No big deal but I decided to wait until we got home to change him. Well we get home and he is asleep so Curtis and I decide to eat our lunch. We finish that up and then I let Curtis watch a show while I start putting away our groceries. I walk across the family room to put away some little munchies and crunchies when I pause.... **sniff sniff** hmmm. I decide that Clay must REALLY need a pant change because I can smell him from 2 rooms away. Then I decide that I will change Curtis' pants while I'm at it before nap time. EPIC FAIL. Due to antibiotics and the beans he had for dinner Curtis messed his pants like only a mom would understand. And him being the sweet darling that he is **insert sarcastic tone here** decided to reach down and attempt to help clean up. I love my boys but I swear they are out to get me... scheduling bodily functions at the same time is just mean.

The end.

p.s. I LOVE NAP TIME. And clean diaper pants

real life mathematics....

2011-03-05T15:11:00.003-07:00

RSV + Pneumonia + Influenza type A =

He had to wear a mask if we wanted to go on walks so he wouldn't give anyone the flu. Poor baby. He was such a good sport about it though!!

This is right after he got his IV in at the ER. He was on oxygen because his levels were in the high 70's low 80's. What a little trooper!

RSV + Influenza type A + Influenza type B =

The nurses made me strip him down so they could watch him breathe. It was so sad!!

This is after he got his IV in too. It was pretty upsetting.

Is that not just pitiful? I took the boys to the doctor on Monday because they had been coughing and my mom noticed that Clay had been having a hard time breathing. The doctor suggested breathing treatments and told me to take Clay to the urgent care for a "deep suction" of his nose. Tuesday they both sounded worse and Clay had been running a fever in the middle of the night so we went BACK to the doctor. She told us to take the boys to the ER. So off we went. The boys were admitted that night and given breathing treatments and antibiotics round the clock. And THEN I decided that since I too was having some breathing issues to run down to the adult ER to see how I was doing and it turns out I have bronchitis that is on the verge of becoming pneumonia. Thankfully I got put on some antibiotics as well and now we are all back home resting and recovering. We are such extremists. We are either really boring or really exciting. I told both boys that since they were both admitted to the hospital that this is the ONLY time all year that they are allowed to be sick. We'll see how that goes! More updates and pictures when we are all feeling better and have gotten more sleep. Being sick is hard work!

these are a few of my favorite things....

2011-02-27T15:30:00.002-07:00

As of right now both my boys have horrible colds, runny booger noses, chest congestion and awful coughs. It's kind of sad but with that said here are some of our favorite things from this weekend:

I love this medicine. I know it says it's not for people under 4 but I don't care. It makes people feel better so THERE.

Since we are sick bums we have been watching this ^^! I love it because of the wonderful music and the great art! Woohoo! Plus I totally have a crush on Leo. So CUTE!

See the yellow hippo? ^^ her name is Tasha and pretty much Curtis loves her. I do too but not like him. He will be in the front of the house playing and if he hears this theme song or his Tasha start singing, we will hear the pit-pat of his chubby hands steering him in her direction as quickly as possible! Love it.

That's what we've been up to this weekend and also enjoying the rain! YES!

ouch

2011-02-22T22:50:00.002-07:00

See that lady right there ^^^ ? Yeah, she looks so NICE right? I have a couple of friends who have had kids and swear by her fitness workout videos so today I decided to give it a whirl and see what they were talking about.

See her body ^^^^^ ? See how defined her muscles are and how it is kinda scary to think that a real person can look like that? Ummmmm, so I found out just HOW she gets her body to stay like that and let me tell you. SHE. IS. CRAZY. And a little twisted. And kind of brilliant. I did a level 1 workout today after going on what I thought was only a mile run. I was wrong. It was a 3 mile run/jog/walk/collapse (in that order). OUCH. I did have a break in between to feed the boys but I was thinking to my crazy self "well since I just did all that cardio it will be even BETTER for my body now that my heart rate is up so I will forgo a nap in favor of the lady with the rockin' body". EPIC FAIL. I just put the littlest CTR boy to bed **upstairs**and lemme tell ya- OUCH. Yep. During her "level 1" workout I did things that I haven't done since I played tennis in high school people. I have been out of there for 8 years now. I just took a prescription strength ibuprofen and I can't wait for it to kick in. Hopefully it does before I have to move myself from this glorious sitting position I am writing this post in. I also hope that I will once again have abs after doing her workouts on a regular basis. One of my New Year's resolutions was to get back into shape after having another baby! This would probably be easier if my kids weren't practically back to back but I will do it. And I even have a time limit and a goal set! You see my sister gets married in a couple of months and I am hoping to have met my goals by then. I am NOT revealing those goals because I am chubby and pretty embarrassed at the amounts I have written down in notebook. So **maybe** after my 30 then 60 days are up (that is the ONE and only number I will give you. mwuah ha ha.) and I have come close enough to said goals I will share with you but most likely not. Anyway, I am off to take advantage of the miracle that is 2 sleeping babies at 1 time at a reasonable hour. So peace out!

ding ding ding

2011-02-16T23:00:00.000-07:00

I maybe should have labeled this post DING-DONG but I am trying to not be too hard on myself. Sooooo. Remember how in my last post I mentioned that I have had a hard time remembering things lately?! It's still true. Yeah. I was talking to my lovely Grandma C. earlier this evening when me and the boys went to pay her a visit (our last one didn't go so well because it was bedtime and people were MAD.) and we were just chatting away having a blast. Well the HunnyBee (I renamed people again. Keep up. This is CTR #1's nickname just btw) let us know that he had had enough and was ready to get home and have a bath and go to bed. So I start packing up aaaaaaaaaaall of our stuff- diaper bag, purse, sippy cups, BabyBee in his car seat- when my Grandma pointed out that my arms sure must be getting stronger to be able to lug all that stuff around. I completely agreed that I was getting quite the workout when..... it clicked!! The little light bulb in my head finally turned on!! I didn't realize that I had been carrying around an additional 30-45 pounds of weight!! It is such a relief to finally know what has been causing such pain. Seriously, I was still taking my pain meds from my c-section once a day because I was hurting so dang bad! With that said....

Dear Grandma C.- thank you so much for your insight. You have no idea how nice it feels to know that I am NOT crazy in thinking that my body is extremely sore for some inexplicable reason.

Dear Bee boys.... I love that you are chunky and healthy BUT HunnyBee you need to be brave and take some steps so I don't have to carry you AND the 11+ pound BabyBee in a 6+ pound car seat around everywhere. Walking is awesome and I know you will soon see that it has endless benefits.

Love, the QueenBee. Oh. And here are some recent pics of my boys!! They are getting so BIG!

My HunnyBee sure loves bathtime. Look how cute his crazy hair is. LOVE IT! And you gotta love those fat rolls on his arms.

^^^^^^^

This is what 2 hours of back to back therapy will do to a short person. Poor thing!

Do you see the look of concern on his face?!?! Seriously. Those eyebrows say it all. He looks concerned, a little mad and a tad bit confused.

Ok. BabyBee totally looks like he is ready to punch someone. I love the facial expressions babies pick up on and choose to mimic. Oh and for those of you wondering YES. He is wearing a nightgown. Nightgowns are awesome because:

1. They have mittens. 'nuff said.

2. They provide easy access to diapers, therefore making changing time that much easier and quicker.

3. If the baby gets to warm I can just pull up the nightgown past his legs and his has an instant breeze.

I heart nightgowns.

Hi! My name is.... what? My name is.... Who? My name is... Wait, what was the question?

2011-02-12T14:10:00.000-07:00

Remember that Eminem song? Yeah me too. Remember anything else.....? NEITHER DO I. Seriously. One of the "side effects" of going through pregnancy and then having a baby is what is referred to as "Mommy brain". My experience with Mb seems to have it's ups and downs though. I still retain a lot of information that I knew before, I have everyone's vital information memorized -SSN's, DOB, emergency telephone numbers (seriously, how many of you actually know people's phone numbers by heart? I have about 40 memorized. Scary) medical information- you get the picture. But minute details seem to be slipping my mind. For instance, this month is VALENTINE'S DAY. It is on the same day every year. But I keep forgetting what day that is. "the correct answer would be.... What is the 14th day of February, Alex!" ***ding ding ding ding ding*** Um yeah. And I keep forgetting other things too. Next example- I keep forgetting to schedule an eye exam. Wanna know how I know I keep forgetting? I find myself squinting at things that are only 10 feet away. Or a family member will point out that I look like I have been crying. My vision is getting WORSE people. Worse. For me worse means possibly legally blind (the only good thing about that would be the disability pay! HA) and it's pretty sad when you can't see the shorties that belong to you or the expressions on their faces. In the last week I have forgotten the following "small details" that mean a lot to me and other people but no matter how much super/gorilla glue I use, I just can't seem to get them to stick in my mind.

1. When my NewBee was born. Ummmm, FAIL. I need his DOB to schedule appointments and it's hard for the doctors office when the momma doesn't remember that small but very significant date.

2. Therapy times. I keep forgetting who is coming over for what and have pretty much just stopped trying to guess and now we play "who's behind door number 1?" to determine what we are doing that day! Yes. I remember the days just not times or who all is coming.

3. Sizes. Why does this matter?? Well, let me tell you! After you have a baby and you get to start wearing normal sized clothes again it helps to know what size to wear. I went to Wal-Mart recently and kept returning to the stupid maternity section before an associate asked how far along I was. I practically screamed "I JUST HAD A BABY" but then realized that from her point of view I must be pregnant or else I wouldn't keep circling that section like a Great White shark waiting for a baby seal to get lost. **shakesmyhead**

4. My address. Sooooooo, this is also a pretty important piece of info. When WorkerBee left for basic training we got a P.O. box so if/when I moved we could still just have all of our mail in one spot. Lately when I need to give my address out my mouth gives some mushed up version of parts of both addresses. And let me tell you, the address it gives out does NOT exist. Awkward.

5. Lyrics. This is really not a big deal to anyone but myself but I still feel like a fool. I will be singing a song and totally know ALL the words (somewhere in the back of my mind) and suddenly I am singing all new lyrics to a different song but to the same melody as song 1. Epic fail. Plus I have done this at church too. Which makes all the people I happen to be sitting within earshot of turn and stare at me like I either don't know how to read or I have 3 arms or something. Awesome.

6. Phone calls/texts. I will completely forget who I was talking to, what we were talking about, when we last spoke, and why they even called in the first place.

7. Where I was going. Not in a big way like if I was driving or anything. But I will find myself wandering aimlessly throughout the house trying to remember what room I was going into and what I was going to do/grab while in there. Example- I kept forgetting I needed to change a wet diaper and kept forgetting why I was going into my room and then to the library. I kept looking at books and sitting down to pick things up and then when I went to where the babies were and saw some seriously saggy pants it clicked.

Hopefully this will go away like it did after I had the BabyBee but until then let's hope I don't forget anything else TOO important!!

Sometimes my brain functions properly....

2011-02-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

After I had the CTR #1 and I learned that he had Down syndrome my schedule became full of appointments. Doctors, therapies, lab work, EKG's.... you name it we've done it. Thankfully as he's gotten older (almost 18 months!!) the appointments have slowed down and we were starting to get on a wonderful schedule. Then CTR #2 came along. I am so glad I have 2 happy and healthy little boys but I completely forgot how many doctors appointments having a newborn requires. The other day I got a random phone call at 7 p.m. and was listening to my voicemail. You know what I discovered...? That my ChubBee (hahaha. I renamed him. LOVE IT) had an appointment with a geneticist the next morning. GREAT. In Phoenix! Super great. *** insert sarcastic tone of voice HERE *** Going to that doctor is a big deal. It consists of a normal "physical" type appointment plus him asking me 2-3 pages of questions to make sure my little ChubBee is doing ok. Add to that a new insurance plan (thank you U.S. government for wonderful insurance coverage) plus a NewBee whose only outings include HIS own doctor's appointments equals a visit that should have only taken 30 minutes taking 90. I am perfectly capable of taking care of my boys at home by myself (most of the time) but going to a big appointment like this required some back-up. Thankfully my lovely Aunt Barbara let me borrow her so that way I had the proper adult-to-small naughty, with a tendency to crawl away-child ratio. It has been unusually cold for AZ for this time of year so we all got bundled up and headed out for our big adventure.

How cute is this dude ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^? Let me tell you, he HATES having that beanie on his head. A lot. That is why we added the hoodie so that way his clumsy, fat little fingers have no chance at getting it off. He was not very pleased with my strategic move and had no problem making his feelings known.

Then we have this guy ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ who slept *almost* the entire time. See his attire? He was also not too happy about being bundled up just to get in the car, drive to Phoenix, sit in a doctors office for almost 2 hours and get BACK in that car. Too bad NewBee. I am bigger than you. I win. One of these days once everyone is a little bigger we will have a normal schedule again but until then my brain seems to have malfunctions daily. However I did find out that it is NOT my fault I didn't know about this stupid appointment in the first place. Before we left the hell-hole known as the doctors office, I was informed that my ChubBee would need to be seen again in about a year but not to worry because the office staff would just schedule my appointment for me since the geneticist is only available at that hospital on Thursdays. ***facepalm*** THAT IS WHY I COULDN'T RECALL DOING THIS HORRIBLE SCHEDULING. Because I didn't. Maybe someday my mind will regain full capacity but until then let's hope I get more notice than the night before.

In other news the ChubBee is such a good big brother. He is especially good at the following:

1. patting NewBee on the back to help get out gas bubbles.

2. taking out that horrible binky. Because if the ChubBee doesn't like it then of course the NewBee won't either.

3. talking to the NewBee while I get a bottle ready.

4. showing the NewBee that not only do his chub-chub fingers fit perfectly inside his OWN nostrils but that they can fit up NewBee's as well.

ChubBee is so sweet and really does love on his baby brother. It is one of the most sincere things I have ever seen and I love watching them interact. I can't wait until my NewBee is bigger and can engage more in their playtime. He is starting to really wake up more and be more attentive to what is going on around him. The ChubBee learned 2 new tricks this week! He learned how to clap and will now applaud himself (it is so cute!) for doing something good! And he also learned how to lay on his belly in the bathtub and is starting to learn to swim like a fish! I can't wait for summer to come so we can practice in the pool! Other than being colicky the NewBee is such a sweetheart all the time and very relaxed. I love having mellow kiddos and am trying to enjoy it while it lasts!

Well that is the latest update on the boys. I am doing pretty good. Getting better at making it through the day on not much sleep but they make it worth it! The WorkerBee is doing good and still adjusting to his strict army schedule! That's it for now!

And the winner is...

2011-01-24T00:26:00.002-07:00

Um. So this lovely lady that I kind of just swoon over is having a photo session give-away before she moves and if I blog about it I get an extra entry. Plus why wouldn't I want to promote her business?! She takes beautiful pictures and has real talent! Plus super cute kids. So yeah. Connie, I hope I win!! Everyone go take a look at her work right over HERE: http://conniebphotography.blogspot.com/

real life mathematics...

2011-01-20T11:31:00.003-07:00

spending 4 hours at the nearest military base to enroll the NewBee in my plan so I can get him to the doctor + a BabyBee who was trying his hardest to be nice + some sassy lady at the medical building + a Dr. Pepper + a nursing infant =

a QueenBee who was up until 2 a.m. last night with a very VERY hyper NewBee. Seriously. It took me until this morning to figure out that equation. He was awake until 2, woke BACK UP at 5 then again at 7, again at 9 and is now sleeping. ***note to self*** after drinking caffeine maybe I should follow up with a pain pill chaser to even things out. And just for the record he normally sleeps 4 hour stretches at night. So the whole random 2-3 hour interval thing made this mama a wee bit grumpy this morning. Yeah. On a happier note, since having the NewBee I have lost almost all the weight I gained with him! I am NOT putting up numbers (because I got to be very chubby at the end) and I have a long way to go still BUT I am pretty dang excited. Pre-BabyBee pregnancy weight HERE I COME!!!

No more teasing...

2011-01-16T20:43:00.003-07:00

Ok. So I did promise pictures of the NewBee and here he is in his chunkalicious glory:

Do you see those cheeks?? ^^ Yeah. And there is a double chin hiding underneath his little outfit as well. Super chunk.

I LOVE THIS. He has fat rolls. On his arms AND his legs. It is awesome. The BabyBee loves his new little brother. He will give him kisses and every time the NewBee makes a sound the BabyBee goes over to investigate. Ya know, in case I'm not doing my job right or something. Ha ha ha. Love these boys! NewBee's nickname is chubbs. I think it fits him.... RIGHT?!

Announcing.....

2011-01-10T12:51:00.002-07:00

Baby Clayton Timothy Roller was born on 01/10/11. Stats are as follows:

Weight: 9 lbs 7 oz - the hospital staff mentioned that if he would have waited until our SCHEDULED delivery date he would have been well over 11 lbs. WOW.

Length: 21 1/4 inches - he is long AND chubby. Quite an interesting combination!

Time of arrival: 12:51 p.m.

The QueenBee and the NewBee are back home now and in recovery mode. We are doing fine!

You might be 9 months pregnant if....

2011-01-09T22:38:00.002-07:00

Your ankles swell up THIS BIG within minutes of putting on actual shoes.
People at church see you drop something and pick it up for you because they would feel bad about front row seats to *that* show.
Getting up from any sitting position literally takes your breath away.
You find yourself wishing that everywhere you went offered "Expectant Mothers Only" parking.
You try really hard to not laugh at jokes/stories/anything that would wake up that baby in your belly, prompting him/her to kick you in the ribs, therefore giving new meaning to the term "laugh till your ribs hurt".
Rolling over from side to side while sleeping could be compared to a teenager attempting a 5 point turn in a cul-de-sac while driving a semi-truck.
You freak out non-pregnant people sitting near you when they look over and can see your tummy moving with activity. (however this generally leads to the person leaving, giving me a better seat on occasion)
When you start breathing heavily, people wait on you hand and foot. After all NO ONE wants to mess with a pregnant lady who appears to be in labor.
When you see someone with some kind of pain being inflicted upon them, whether it be their own doing or an accident, you start smiling on the inside and think HA HA *suck-aaaaa*.
You can tell when certain friends or family members are approaching due to your heightened sense of smell.
It takes you an unusually extended amount of time to fall asleep only to be awoken by an extremely full bladder.
10 minutes after emptying said bladder it is full yet again. *grrrrrr*
You get to see random acts of kindness from strangers who would go out of their way to assist you rather than watch you take 4 times longer than anyone in the world to perform a simple task. Example- at the grocery store (with the BabyBee in tow) people will let me cut them in line. I LOVE this one. It is very helpful. Especially considering that BabyBee can be quite the handful. Ha ha ha.

I know there are lots of other things we could add to this list so what are YOUR thoughts and opinions on the matter?

Epic FAIL...

2011-01-05T21:26:00.002-07:00

I am probably going to get some interesting feedback on this but I feel it must be said. See that pretty picture up there ^^^^^ ? I have some friends who could pretty much tell you till they were blue in the face that these Sprinkles Cupcakes are the best ever. Well, I decided that I would give them a try this week. I was SOOOOOO excited driving to the store with my sister and we were talking all about the flavors that were available that day and how pretty they are. So we get to the store and some nice young man starts telling us ALL about the cupcakes and totally talking them up. I'm amazed we weren't drooling by the time we finished picking out our flavors. Well, we get back to our homes and I leave Mrs. VKAED with hers and BabyBee and I keep the ones we wanted. I am beyond stoked to try out these cupcakes that are supposed to be so amazing and delicious and make other cupcakes not even comparable. So I grab my Vanilla cupcake. Yes. Vanilla. I unfolded the wrapper and broke out my fork and took my frist bite and...................................

BLEH. My actual CAKE part of cupcake was very dry. This was so sad to me! The flavor also wasn't as intense or incredible as I thought it would be. So later that day when my MME sister was home we decided to give the Red Velvet a shot. It definitely and completely made up for that Vanilla's pathetic-ness. That was yesterday. Today I was really excited to try the Lemon Cocnut one. So I put it on a plate and cut it into quarters in case other family members wanted to try it. Alas, that cupcake CAKE was Vanilla. FAIL. The icing was Lemon Coconut. I wish I could say that the icing made up for the cake part but I honestly don't think it did. Maybe my expectations were too high or maybe the cupcakes had an off day. Either way I am NOT a Sprinkles convert and still much prefer my own family's cupcakes to theirs. Feel free to hate but it must be said. Epic fail Sprinkles......... **hangsmyheadinmyhands**

Almost but not quite

2010-12-25T21:35:00.002-07:00

So... a couple of nights ago I started having some contractions. Based on my history I didn't think too much of it. But they were pretty persistent so WorkerBee and I decided that since it was so late and the BabyBee was already asleep we would just go to the hospital, get me a shot of Terbutaline and head on home! Epic FAIL. My body decided to try going into labor early again- I was 35 weeks exactly the night we went in. I honestly don't know how some ladies can make it all the way to their due dates. I applaud you ALL. For me at 28 weeks my body starts saying OK! Let's do this! Which makes the doctors nervous. Anyhow. Long story short, I got put on MORE magnesium sulfate to try and stop my labor, got an "emergency" amniocentesis and prayed really hard to NOT have a baby before Christmas and to be discharged before then. Thankfully I am home now with my Bee boys and we were able to share a wonderful Christmas together! This is our last time we will have a Christmas with just the 3 of us so it was pretty special and important to be able to be there! Hooray for Christmas miracles and modern medicine AND steroid shots. Which by the way HURT. A lot. I will be posting pics from my awesome hospital stay- most of which involve the 5 incredible bruises I got from the nurses attempting to get my IV in. Yeah. I hate needles. And there will be pics from Christmas as well! Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and that we can remember the real reason for the season.

Let the countdown begin...

2010-12-07T09:47:00.003-07:00

I normally don't do countdowns. Mainly because then I am VERY aware of how much time is left in whatever it is I'm counting down. Like this pregnancy when I didn't tell anyone until I was 6 months or so and now I only have 7 weeks left. It's pretty exciting. But that is NOT what I am counting down. Oh no. You see, in 10 days my husband will be HOME! I am pretty dang excited about this. He always has the funniest stories about the other guys in his platoon. I try and keep up by telling him what the BabyBee is doing but that BabyBee is not very aware that they are competing and our stories always end up being overshadowed by WorkerBee's. Dang it all! BabyBee had a hearing test and got his tubes checked out by his doctor and it turns out that he has excellent hearing. He also is extremely gifted at ignoring people! The nice lady doing our hearing test pointed out that BabyBee got distracted and although he wouldn't turn his whole head to where the sound was coming from he would briefly glance over with just his eyes and then decide it was too boring to be involved with. Pretty silly. BabyBee has also just entered into that phase of "I don't care if you think I might hurt myself I will do it anyways". And let me tell you, he already has some battle scars. A couple of days ago he was using a laundry basket as his walker and it got stuck so I, being the concerned and nice mama that I am, decided to reach down and un-stick him. Bad idea. He thought I was bending over to pick him up and moved his arms away and started to try to lift his feet which resulted in him face planting onto the floor. He now has a lovely scratch across the entire right side of his nose. Then yesterday morning I had to wake him up early to get ready for his hearing test. I think he was just a little disoriented and still groggy from being woken up because when I reached around him to grab a diaper he lunged off my bed onto the floor. He didn't cry. Just sat up and looked dazed and confused as to how he had gotten there in the first place. Poor kid. As for ME things are going good. I am getting more and more swollen as the days go by but only in my ankles. Which makes it a little difficult to pivot to see if BabyBee is being naughty. Oh well! 10 more days till my guys are reunited!!

Thankful month!

2010-11-29T09:59:00.004-07:00

This is NOT a typical Thanksgiving post. Thanksgiving for us was wonderful. We had family over and BabyBee had so much fun playing with his cousins. He was in awe over people that were closer in size to him than I am so it was pretty funny to watch. BabyBee got his tubes in last Tuesday and let's just say that he was a trooper! He came out of surgery pretty ok (still hopped up on drugs ) and then he quickly realized that something just wasn't right. Plus the other crying kids in the room didn't help matters much. It was pretty sad to see him so upset but hopefully we will see a reduction in the number of ear infections this little boy gets. **cross my fingers**

WorkerBee is doing great. He did let me know he is quite chilly and got teased about that until people realized he is a southern boy and is used to his winters being in the 80 degree range. Ha ha ha. Poor guy. We are especially thankful that he gets to come home for Christmas and be with his family! It will be our last Christmas before we become a family of 4! It is pretty crazy but we are both very excited.

I am doing pretty good myself! I only have about 9 weeks left until the new little Bee arrives. It's kind of scary to think it will be here that soon but I can't wait to meet the NewBee. Ha ha. My little family has so much to be thankful for this year and I can not wait until we are all together again.

What are YOU thankful for?!

p.s..... I am also thankful for how cute my BabyBee is. Look at these pictures!!

shenanigans.... and other happenings

2010-11-06T17:00:00.003-06:00

First off.... I LOVE the word shenanigan. It is fun to say, type, read and imagine about. Yep. Anyhow. A miracle happened that I felt I needed to share....

I can't see. Not very well anyway. I started wearing glasses in 2nd grade or so and became so visually impaired that I STILL. TO. THIS. DAY have premanent indentations in the cartilage of my nose from wearing such heavy "coke-bottle" glasses for years. This was before those lovely lightweight lenses were readily available. Yeah. So I was finally old enough and my vision stabilized enough that my eye doctor felt comfortable letting me wear contact lens starting at age 15. Best birthday present EVER. Those of you who have ever worn glasses/lenses totally know what I am talking about. At this time in my life I can see CLEARLY for about 6 inches in front of my face with no aids. 6 inches. My prescription is -7.75 and a couple of years ago when I was brave enough to ask, to be considered legally blind you need to be -8.50. That means I am 3/4 of a point away (they measure your vision in quarters) from being legally blind. When the BabyBee came along and we found out that he for sure had Down syndrome, the WorkerBee and I talked about how desperately we hoped he had good vision or at least better vision than I do. And on Friday the BabyBee and I (along with my dad) got to go to the eye doctor to get his cute blue eyes checked out. The doctor dilated his pupils and explained that for children they use a different drop so they can check to see if the child is near/far sighted and to check the muscles and how well they are working in the eyes. The entire time we waited all I could think about was how much I prayed and wanted and hoped my BabyBee's eyes wouldn't need glasses just yet and it turns out......

He has PERFECT vision! If I didn't love him so much I'd probably be really jealous. Well. I am a little jealous but mostly just super happy that his eyes are doing so well! This week we also got to schedule that BabyBee for his tube surgery so that should be interesting. He is very against people looking into his ears. When we talked to the ear doctor he wasn't surprised that BabyBee STILL had fluid in his ears from his ear infections 2 weeks ago. Poor litte man. Then when he tried to LOOK into his ears BabyBee let out a ferocious growl. And then just beamed at the guy after he was done. It was pretty entertaining. So that is pretty much our happenings at the moment.

WorkerBee was able to call a couple of times from the reception battalion earlier this week but let me know that Friday would be his first real day of basic training. He sounded nervous but excited all at the same time. I am just waiting for a letter with his address so I can start writing to him.

As for ME, just hanging in there waiting to do my lovely glucose blood draw. I don't honestly know why everyone complains about the drink. They are really not THAT bad in my opinion but maybe my tastebuds are insane. Probably. Ha ha! So that's what we are up to in a nutshell. In case you didn't catch it I will re-cap:

BabyBee- perfect vision, terrible ears, hates doctors but is stinking cute.
WorkerBee- at Basic Training for the U.S. army and no other updates available at the moment
QueenBee- pregnant and loving the curly hair that comes with my hormone changes!

What are you guys up to?!?!

Comparing.......

2010-10-25T23:13:00.002-06:00

In life when things happen you often reflect on similar experiences in your past and compare. I have been doing this a LOT more as of late. When I was expecting my BabyBee I was practically DYING some days. Very, very much so. This pregnancy around could not be more different. I got sick 1 day and it was the same day that all my sisters who were in town got sick too. We voted it was food related. This is a nice improvement let me tell ya. I am NOT complaining. Ha ha. Other things I have noticed is this time around I am way more thirsty. I am constantly needing a drink. With lots and lots of ice. I heart ice. However there have been harder parts too. With the BabyBee having Down syndrome, I have been "advised" to get lots more testing than before. More blood draws, more blood DRAWN during blood draws and last but not least AMNIO. Bleeeeeeh. Amnio is when a needle gets inserted into your uterus through your abdomen and a sample of amniotic fluid is drawn so the doctors can look at the babies genetic make-up. My mom and older sister let me know that the earlier it gets done the less painful it is. But that does NOT mean that it doesn't hurt. I am a big fat baby and am proud to say that I didn't cry (a miracle for certain) but I may have squeezed hubby's hand a wee bit harder than he would have liked. Besides that pain and the fact that I spent 3 hours at the stupid doctor's office it was a relief to get it over with. It also made me nervous though. You see this baby is "normal". It doesn't have any genetic abnormalities or extra chromosomes. And let me tell you. After 14 months with the BabyBee as an example I am apprehensive towards a "normal" baby. I like that my BabyBee is mellow and chill and goes with the flow. I LOVE IT. And I have this feeling that because he is so nice this new kid is going to be extra crazy just to make up for his sweetness. SCARY.

Enough about me though. That nice little BabyBee had a bad day last week so we took him to the doctor and woudn't you know he has a double ear infection?!?! Poor kid. That makes 5 infections in less than 7 months. So next week we get to have a consult with the ENT specialist to make an appointment to get some tubes. Super fun. He has also started cruising along our couches and wants to be walked everywhere. It is his favorite activity. He learned another new trick that has already shortened my life by probably 10 years. THE STAIRS. I have yet to get a picture but this naughty baby of mine has started mastering the climbing of stairs. This would probably not be as big of a deal for a baby who is further ahead developmentally but the BabyBee doesn't make a connection between falling and pain as quickly as I would like. Hence my panic attacks when I hear him grunting and panting and turn to see his little chubby legs trying desperately to push his body to that next step.

That's pretty much our lives in a nutshell for now. You're welcome for the update. And I DO have pictures but am being way too lazy to search through them so there.

p.s. BabyBee is going as a pumpkin for Halloween! toooooo cute. Also yes. I am pregnant and waited until AFTER getting my amnio to announce it on the internet. I am now 27 weeks. How's that for keeping a secret?! HA

You never know when it's going to hit you....

2010-08-30T22:02:00.002-06:00

This weekend, for the first time since I turned 21, I felt significantly older. Perhaps you are wondering why....? Well let me explain. You see, I graduated from HS in 2003. Yep. That does NOT make me feel old. HOWEVER, I have not taken a math class since 2002. You are now thinking "why would math make QueenBee feel older?" Because this past weekend folks I took my first math class in almost a decade. And it's not an algebra class or geometry. Nope. It is basic mathematic skills. This entails learning about adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing whole numbers. Sounds simple enough, yes? Well apparently my brain no longer knows how to even read and translate a word problem. I was doing homework today that should have taken me less than 30 minutes and I spent 90 staring at the computer. WorkerBee came home from his morning class to me sitting at the computer saying the word problem out loud. He asked if I needed help. So I showed him what I was up against. Wrong idea. Because both of us had no idea what on earth this question actually meant. I take it upon myself to be humble and "view the tutorial" about this particular question and you know what happened...? I got mad. Because when the test told me to "simplify the problem" I took that to mean to re-write the problem in a more simplified way. But the test meant it wanted me to SOLVE this problem. Not simplify. SOLVE. To me, there is a big difference between the meaning of those words. Maybe it's just me being out of school for so long but my brain is no longer conditioned the way it once was. I did GREAT on my other assignments but I have a feeling that math and I are not going to get along well after the start we got off to. Oh and all my classes are online so I have to stare at the computer all day which may or may not have affected my performance. Basically....

Dear Math,

Even after an 8 year break I still hate you. You better start being nice to me soon or I will burn my book.

Love, me!

p.s. school is hard. Oh. And in addition to belly/army crawling BabyBee has also realized he can pull his chubby little self to a standing position. It is too cute. Pics will be coming next post. I promise

365 days and counting...

2010-08-21T21:45:00.002-06:00

One year ago TODAY, the BabyBee made his grand appearance. It was a very emotional day for us and we had no idea how things were going to turn out. Let me tell you...... They are better than we ever could have imagined. Our BabyBee is making great strides with all of his therapists and going above and beyond our expectations. I would post some stats but our official appointment isn't until Monday. So for now here is what our little man has done in the past year:

1. Won us over completely.

2. Visited more national parks than his dad. Ha ha ha

3. Sprouted 7 teeth. And they are sharp litle suckers.

4. Learned to sit up all by himself!

5. Learned to crawl! (this is in large part due to his amazing cousins who felt it their duty to show him how a "real" baby is supposed to act.) Good job cousins.

6. Flown in an airplane.

7. Seen the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

8. Tripled his birth weight. We love his chubby little body.

9. Gotten 3 haircuts. (thanks again MomBabe. He looks like a STUD muffin)

10. BabyBee has gotten cuter and bigger and smarter in every way.

We love you BabyBee! We look forward to lots more birthdays in the future!!

Electronic Devices + Me = shouting

2010-08-19T14:34:00.003-06:00

Let me start by saying I am normally NOT electronically challenged. However, after becoming a mom and having to learn a bunch of medical jargon in regards to the BabyBee and what not my brain seems to not function at full capacity anymore. We got a new remote (a nice universale one so I don't have to use 3) and I set about programming it while WorkerBee is at his student orientation. I read the instruction manual 3 times before looking for my TV's code. I read the programming part an additional 2 times and once out loud to make sure I knew what I was doing. EPIC FAIL. I tried programming it for 30 minutes before even grumbling about it. I made it another 15 before I started raising my voice. The BabyBee had no idea why his momma was so upset so he quietly crawled onto the tile to entertain himself. Good boy. I tried for another 20 minutes before deciding that I am remote-challenged and will have WorkerBee do it when he gets home. Betcha he gets it set up on the first try.

Dear technology....

We can no longer be "friends" and you have been demoted to "acquaintance" and will remain that way until further notice.

The QueenBee

p.s. did you catch my mention that my BabyBee is now crawling?! Yep. He is a little rockstar. Take THAT.

Pudding and Custard are NOT the same thing....

2010-08-13T15:23:00.002-06:00

I apparently do NOT know how to read. I don't know if I recently suffered an accident or something or what but now I don't know how to read my cookbooks. Sad day since they are such a great go-to book if I have no new library books to read. Anyhow... I bought some pudding. BabyBee loved it. It was squishy and cold between his fingers AND it tasted pretty good. Well, I decided it would be way cheaper for me to just make it so I whip out my handy dandy Betty Crocker cookbook and proceed to look up Pudding. Find the general section where the recipes are located and pick the one with the fewest ingredients. This is where the whole reading ability would come in and be useful. But no.... because the BabyBee can sense that I am doing something in the kitchen and he is out of eyesight he starts doing naughty baby things. Ya know... hitting all the buttons he can reach, pulling on wires and sticking them in his mouth. The usual. Well I have the stovetop on and a sauce pot on medium and am whisking eggs like a mad woman. I finally have a break to get that BabyBee and stick him with some highly distracting toys and I go back to the kitchen to make his snack. I transfer the goo-like substance to another bowl in cool water. Then I check the cookbook again to make sure how long to let it cool down so I can set the kitchen timer. This is when I notice something I didn't see before. I just made Whipped Custard which is an appropriate topping for pie or cobbler and other desserts of that sort. So I flip a couple of pages to see if there is THAT BIG of a difference. And yes there is. I blame this mistake on the mischievous nature of my BabyBee who had no idea that I put so much effort into his stupid snack. I am not even going to post pictures because 1. this confession is embarassing enough. and 2. The custard turned a not very pretty color after adding vanilla.

What have you been up to?!?!

I forget to take pictures....

2010-08-09T10:35:00.005-06:00

Last week we were able to make a quick trip over to Southern California where WorkerBee served his mission! It was pretty fun. We didn't take too many pictures mainly because I always forget that I need to be the one to take them. Ha ha ha. Anyhow.... these are some of the highlights of our trip!

This was WorkerBee's #2 top moment of the trip! A Big Mike's Burger. That burger is as tall as the BabyBee's sippy cup. It was HUUUUUUUUGE. That burger had to be like 3 pounds with all of the fixings on it. It comes with a hot link and all the other good burger stuffs and was so thick that it took almost 20 minutes to cook all the way through. Also.... those french fries were pretty dang amazing.

This is me and the BabyBee at the Newport Beach Temple. Yes I know this picture is taken of the backside of the temple BUT the temple grounds were closed. It was sad. Plus... the BabyBee smiling in a picture just makes it awesome.

So there is a story behind these two pictures. After we left Big Mike's Burgers we started driving towards a family the WorkerBee really wanted to see. We're going down the road and all of a sudden I think out loud "hey. That baby who was really mad about being in the car earlier is awfully quiet. I'll check if he's asleep!" HE WAS NOT. He was propped up like in the above picture. We had him half buckled so he could eat at Big Mike's too and we forgot to make sure he was harnassed all the way in so he was in heaven being able to sit up like a big boy and do naughty things. So we pulled off the road and went back to strap him in and this is what happened.... ^ I know you can't see his eyes but that is the grin of an extremely happy BabyBee. And this one below us is when we started laughing at him. Seriously. How could you not?

Pretty much the BabyBee is stinkin cute. Oh. And the BabyBee learned to sit up 2 weeks ago all by himself which he is so excited about. I have videos of that coming later but for now just some cute smiles!!

EPIC FAIL...

2010-08-03T21:07:00.002-06:00

Today during NAPTIME our power went out. And not just OUR power. The power for 2 miles in all directions. Yup. Talk about craptastic. So ya know what we did? Got in the car and for an hour and a half walked up and down the grocery store freezer isles stopping occasionally to open a door and really cool off.

2 years, 1 baby and still going strong!

2010-07-15T11:15:00.004-06:00

I am so blessed to have been able to get married 2 years ago to an amazing guy. He is a great husband and a wonderful father!

And *almost* 1 year ago the BabyBee came into the family! We are so lucky to have him and he teaches us so much and is such a joy to have in our home.

I love these boys!!

Duuuuuh.

2010-07-09T18:17:00.003-06:00

Half off ice cream with purchase of a regular dinner item? You know I'll be there. You should too. So tell all your friends and find a babysitter. Do it!

Things I LOVE vs. Things I loathe

2010-07-05T21:37:00.003-06:00

Things I loathe:

1. Car Accidents and people who can't drive. Seriously. The guy who CUTS ME OFF to turn less than a quarter of a mile away when there is a gap behind me that is THIS BIG really makes me mad. Also road construction makes me mad when I can't turn the way I need to, to get wherever it is I might be going. Dear ADOT.... you suck.

Things I love:

1. Driving! I like road trips, trips to the grocery store. I just like driving. Yep.

Things I love:

2. Grapes. I think they are quite fun to eat and they are pretty and delicious. Yup.

Things I loathe:

2. Grape juice and/or soda. YUCKY. For real people. Neither grape juice nor grape soda actually taste like a grape. Therefore they are tainting that wonderful grapes name. Shame on you....

Things I loathe:

3. Orange Soda. Groooooooooooooooooooooooooooooss. I honestly want to know who decided to market this. Orange juice is AMAZING. Orange juice makes lots of things taste better. Like berry syrup (it's true... try it), pancakes, waffles, smoothies. Just makes it better. Orange soda? Makes me weep for those poor little oranges who are having their identity stolen.

Things I love:

3. Oranges. Hellooooooooo? Oranges are amazing. Growing up in AZ we were always surrounded by the orchards and every Christmas, Santa would give us a nice juicy little navel orange that he found on a neighbors tree. Oranges rock. Correction- citrus rocks.

I am random. I know. But you like it. I also hate (oops! I meant loathe, disdain) celebrities but I love watching Access Hollywood. I am so pathetic. I love pistachios. I hate hate HATE that there are pistachio flavored puddings and ice cream. It makes me tummy rumble. And not in the hungry way.

I absolutely love reading a good book. I will get the bath water nice and hot and soak my toes and just read till the water is cold with a wonderful book that makes you use your imagination and paints such a beautiful story with elegant words. I love getting to know the characters and siding with them. However... I very much so dislike when a movie is made and adapted after a book that I find fascinating and the movie makes me want to erase that part of my memory that saw said movie because it has now and forever tarnished the book in a minor way. Yep. At my house growing up if a movie came out based on a book one of the conditions of seeing said movie was that you had to read the book first. We went to Franklin Elementary and were used to reading so fear not- this was not a punishment. So imagine my horror when all of the books that I have read and love have crap-tastic movie versions floating around. Oh well.

I love old musicals. Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Doris Day, Petula Clark, Tommy Steele, Julie Andrews, Dick van Dyke, Walter Brennan and lots more. I am not a fan of the new "musicals" some studios are coming up with. Maybe I will have to work in Hollywood and either be the casting director person or the person who vetos all the crappy ideas. I just don't know. Since I am on this movie tangent I do love the majority of movies but I definitely don't love that in most of the PG-13 movies there is always some sex scene of sorts. Really people? It most likely has nothing to do with the story line and is probably not relevant at all the plot or anything yet you have to throw some random cleavage or bedroom scene in there? No thanks.

Anyway.... I think that's all of the random stuff on my mind today! Oh and I made tamales today! Woohoo!

Things I miss from being a kid...

2010-07-02T12:02:00.003-06:00

Remember when you were little and your parents didn't have to worry about monitoring what you watched on TV? I do! I remember and I miss watching shows that were specifically designed for little kids and there were no naughty parts and no worries that your child/children were watching SMUT. Yep.... Smut. Now that I have a little kiddo myself it makes me worry when I see certain shows marketed towards kids. Thankfully I am a die hard Disney fan and the majority of their shows I would feel more than comfortable watching. I am seriously considering not telling my kids what shows are actually on and just letting them watch copies of the shows I watched as a little kid. Such as.........

My Little Pony Tales were great! Boys had Transformers and us girls had this!

CareBears are seriously one of my all-time favorite cartoon characters. EVER! I loved that they were friends with the little stars and eventually with the movie they got CareBear cousins and had the BabyBears. So stinkin cute.

Rainbow Brite I don't remember too well but I know I loved her awesome outfit (who wouldn't want to wear every color of the rainbow ALL THE TIME?)

Oh Strawberry Shortcake. I loved your pets and the fact that you make me hungry. Yummm

Fraggle Rock is rad. Seriously. It's from Jim Henson people. JIM HENSON. My sister the MomBabe found Fraggle Rock on DVD and I won't lie... I'm super jealous.

Eureeka's Castle was one of the ONLY good shows (in my opinion) that Nickelodeon ever made. Good job guys! You got one right!

Smurfs. I already loved the color blue and after watching the Smurfs and seeing that their whole bodies were blue I was pretty sad I couldn't be a Smurf too.

Tale Spin! Hello..... A cartoon that was a spin-of from Jungle Book?!?!? How could it NOT be amazing? I remember doing a synchro routine to the theme song and totally winning. AWESOME.

What do you miss most from YOUR childhood?!?!

Shameful....

2010-06-28T15:18:00.002-06:00

As a stay-at-home mom I knew I was bound to pick up some habits. But you see, I was hoping that they would be good habits. Like staying on top of our therapies and making sure the BabyBee did his exercises an hour a day, or sorting through our things and getting rid of stuff we no longer need or have room for. But nooooooooooo. You know what awful, horrible, disgraceful habit I have picked up.....................................................................?

I now watch a soap opera. I am not lying. This is seriously so so embarassing for me. I am normally addicted to game shows. But with basic cable there is nothing on from 12-2 when Let's Make a Deal finally comes on. So in the mean time I started casually watching All My Children. I would just watch a few minutes in between feeding my BabyBee and doing loads of laundry but something happened one day and now I am glued to the tv from 12-1 every day with the exceptions of Wednesday because our Developmental Therapist comes over during that hour. It has gotten to the point where if the WorkerBee is home he will also glance over occasionally and ask a question. I HAVE DRAGGED MY HUSBAND INTO IT AS WELL. ***gasp*** He can't help it when I am sitting there yelling at the tv. I honestly don't know what to do to break this viscious cycle that has started. First I tried playing on the internet but that gives me a headache and makes me kind of dizzy. Then I decided that BabyBee and I would just have to have playtime but it is so close to his nap time that he just gets upset with me. I have tried turning the tv off and having a nap but with no luck. The tv has this pull on me and I end up watching it and getting mad that I missed a few minutes. Today I had to go to the bathroom and had to wait until commercial to do it. Pretty sad when you can't even tend to your bladder because a SHOW is on. So now you know my dirty little secret. Please don't tease me too badly. I already feel like a total goober for admitting this.

Well now that you know one of my weaknesses what is one of YOURS?

Trees have fiber..... Right?

2010-06-21T21:04:00.002-06:00

With the BabyBee having some developmental&physical delays I have not had to really "baby proof" anything yet. I mean all he does is roll around. Well the other day I checked the mail and of course all of the wonderful ads had come. I didn't have time to read them all yet and see if any were worth my time and money. But, today BabyBee decided HE would be in charge of that for me. He is just so thoughtful! I was in the kitchen getting myself a snack and I heard him over by my pile of papers but didn't think anything of it because in all honesty BabyBee doesn't have very good hand/eye coordination! He can grab onto something but it rarely makes it near his mouth unless it's my hair or his silky! Apparently he has been working out in his spare time and decided that not only did the Arby's ad have some good deals but also, that the pictures were AMAZING. So he tried to see if it was a scratch 'n' taste kinda deal and learned that it definitely was not. But he got his fiber for the day! Maybe by the time we do get a speech therapist he/she will be super impressed with BabyBee not being afraid to have new textures on his little taste palate. lol. In other news I went to the farmers market today and fell in love.....

2 bunches of asparagus- $2.14
3 packages of blackberries- $1.00
1 bag of Mt. Rainier cherries- $1.00

so amazing! I called my mom and told her that whatever she plans on doing for Sunday dinner now HAS to include my beautiful asparagus because I can. Yummmmmmm

10 random stores/products/things I would endorse if I were a celebrity...

2010-06-19T10:25:00.002-06:00

I was having some random thoughts in my head the other day (but let's be honest- when do I NOT) and I thought of some random things/places I would totally endorse if I were a celebrity.

1. A jewelry store. Why you might ask? Well my birthstone is a Diamond plus maybe they would give me a discount I could pass along to family and friends!

2. The Food Network. DUH. I am a certified FOODIE. Plus I think it would be so SOOO fun to do a show with Guy Fieri and drive around to all those wonderful places!

3. Papa Murphy's!! They make SUCH delicious pizzas it's ridiculous. My family loves their vegeterian one with the spinach, artichoke hearts and other glorious veggies. Plus their cheesy garlic bread and cinnamon wheel are THE most AMAZING treats. Love them. End of story.

4. That is correct, I would endorse the Target. I like their baby clothes and think they are way cute. And they have really nice carts. Which I know the BabyBee is very appreciative of.

5. QuikTrip. Let me tell you. When I lived in FL I asked the WorkerBee if they had QT's and he had NO idea what I was talking about. But don't worry, I educated him in the ways of cheap drinks and a plethora of candy when we moved back to AZ.

6. Fresh and Easy. I love their Grill Packs. They make dinner/lunch/spontaneous barbeques so much better. I also love that they marinade their meat in some tasty flavors. Oh yeah. AND they have samples!

7. Earl of Sandwich. I discovered this amazing place when I worked at The Walt Disney World Resort with my little sister M. It is amazing. Everytime WorkerBee and I go back to FL to visit his family I make sure we take a trip there. My favorite sandwich is their All American. Roasted Turkey with buttermilk ranch, cranberries, sharp cheddar cheese, lettuce and tomatoes!! Another winner is The Full Montagu- roasted beef, turkey, swiss and cheddar, lettuce, roma tomatoes and Earl's mustard. And let's not forget The Earl's Club- Roasted turkey, smoked bacon, swiss cheese, lettuce, roma tomato and sandwich sauce. They serve all of their sandwiches on the best bread and toast them! If you are ever in Las Vegas, San Antonio, Orlando, Boston, Detroit or SugarLand I highly suggest that you make the trip. Your mouth and taste buds will thank you. And if you bring me back a sandwich I will thank you too!

8. Costco. I love shopping in bulk. Plus if I'm hungry and can't decide what to eat it's fun to walk around and eat samples. They have some of my favorite things at Costco. Hot dog and a drink for $1.50? Heck yes.

9. Down East Basics. I love their clothes. In fact a couple of my favorite maternity shirts came from them!! I love their swim suits and their cute undershirts and their skirts and pretty much the whole store.

10. Dr. Pepper. Need I say more other than the fact that I'm pretty sure ANYONE who I know and love would appreciate all the free soda.

So.... there is my list of products/stores whatnot that I would choose. Now how about you?!?! Tell me your favorites!

And the countdown begins......

2010-06-12T12:03:00.002-06:00

My family will all be here in a matter of DAYS. Days people. I have been trying to get things all ready to go and looking good and, well, you see today we had a setback. BabyBee had to go to the doctor yesterday because he just wasn't being himself. Turns out he STILL has an ear infection in his left ear. No big deal though right? We got more and BETTER medicine and started doing that. Then today happened..... You see I was awoken quite suddenly from a terrible, horrbile, awful dream and I couldn't see out of my left eye. Having very poor vision I often think about what I would do if I were actually blind. This has affected my everyday life for years. WorkerBee didn't notice it right away but I count how many steps it takes me to get certain places. For real. I have my entire parent's house memorized- how many steps to the upstairs bathroom, the downstairs bathroom, the kitchen and blah blah blah. So this morning when I woke up from a bad dream and was greeted by a fuzzy eye I kind of freaked out a little bit. I rushed into the bathroom and started messing with contacts and solution and eyedrops. You name it. Turns out....I HAVE PINK EYE. I don't think I've ever been so relieved to have goopy crap dribbling out of my eyeball but I was. Too bad that now I'm fuzzy I still need to do laundry, dishes, deep clean 2 bathrooms and loads of other chores because all motivation has flown out the window. BabyBee is lucky he is fed and has a nice clean diaper on him. I am not even planning on having a shower until like 5 tonight because of all the nasty things I need to do today. There really is no point in cleaning myself when I'm going to end up covered in Comet(the best bathroom cleaner EVER just btw), 409, Windex, nasty dishwater and who knows what else. So yeah. You know that primary song..... "Saturday is a special day it's the day we get ready for Sunday!" I was so SOOOO excited to have a super duper cleaning day today. And here's hoping it turns out that way! What are YOU doing this weekend?!?!?

3 hours doing whaaaaaaaaaaat.......?

2010-06-08T22:12:00.003-06:00

So my littleST sister (she doesn't like it when I call her my BABY sister) is getting married next week. Pretty exciting. Well.... seeing as how I have 3 years of baking experience in a professional school setting my mom dubbed ME the official cookie-baker for her bridal shower. So this afternoon at about 4, I started cranking out these bad boys:

That's right folks. I spent 3 hours baking which, amounts to 10 dozen cookies. Yep. That is 120 cookies that I rolled and cut out. And tomorrow I get the honor of icing them. And if ANYONE who resides at the house where I baked them ate A N Y they will be in big trouble. Yeah. In other news... Oh wait. We are lame homebody's that have NO other news. At all. I keep thinking I will have something exciting to write about but no. well maybe.... Let me think. Oh yeah! BabyBee has an appointment for a hearing test. The reason WHY is this mock conversation that happened between one of his doctors and ME the last time we were there:

Dr: So does BabyBee turn towards you when you call his name?

QueenBee(QB): Ummm. Well when he wants to I guess.

Dr: What do you mean? Does he turn to you when he hears you call his name?

QB: If we haven't made him mad then YES.

Dr: Could you explain?

QB: Well I am home all day with him and I'm pretty sure he gets sick of my voice. I get sick of me too. So sometimes when I call his name he IGNORES me. But I don't think it's because he's deaf or anything. He just has selective hearing! Like a teenager.

Dr: Hmmmmm. Well why don't we get his ears checked out just to make sure.

QB: GRRRRRRRRREAT. **insert sarcasm here**

Seriously. Am I the only mom who gets ignored by her infant? Has that doctor honestly never seen a baby so intrigued by his own creative genius/toys/beautiful hands that he won't acknowledge his parents?! Please tell me I am not alone in this. Because my heart might die a little on the inside. Also BabyBee has found his own voice this week. He finally realizes that it is HIM making those growling sounds at his momma. Yes. BabyBee growls. Like a monster. He will look you straight in the eye, GLARE and then yell at me. He's not as bad as my nephew the Tad-pole who, as an infant, could be heard swearing his mom blue in the face. But, it's enough to make you stop what you are doing at that moment and give the growl right back. In fact he LOVES when you do it. I am trying to get this on video but the BabyBee is a wee bit camera-shy. Well... that's all for now.

NO WAIT! I need your opinions.... I am thinking of starting a cooking/baking blog. If I do will you read it? I'll consider doing "give-a-ways" of stuff you really like and/or want to eat. Tell ME!

BabyBee starts a new workout routine.....

2010-06-04T13:00:00.002-06:00

That's right folks. BabyBee has OFFICIALLY gotten approved for almost all of his therapies. He can't get a speech therapist until after he's 1 but that's ok. So now we get to hang out with Ms. Roxanne on Tuesdays from 3:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m., Wednesdays with Ms. Jamie from 12:00 p.m. until 1:00 p.m. We are currently in the process of selecting an Occupational Therapist so that should be fun!! I am pretty excited about both of our new therapies. BabyBee has no idea what's going on though so that might be a little interesting. Ha ha. He recently had his 9 month check up so here are his stats:

Weight: 18 1/2 pounds- DS chart- 75th-90th percentile
Height: 27 inches- 50th-75th percentile

Things that the BabyBee can do at 9 months old:

- rolls around EVERYWHERE
- tries to put all his weight on his legs and gets upset when he goes BOOM
- can almost hold his neck/head up on his own
- smiles and flirts with family members, friends and people at church
- still hates bathtime, but I think it's because he can't sit up on his own yet
- is now cutting his top 2 teeth and is miserable
- can entertain himself with his toys! this is super exciting
- is at the stage where he cries if the Queen or Worker Bee leave his eyesight (I personally find this very flattering!)
- has learned to pull hair- NOT FUN. He is strong
- is learning that his teeth can bite. also not fun
- loves being read to

The Queen and Worker Bee have also been busy. We are both enrolled in school now which is pretty exciting. WorkerBee has never gone to college so he's a bit nervous too but it's all good! Pluse BabyBee is a great cheerleader. That's all for now so have a good weekend!

I am a SNOB......?

2010-05-30T08:30:00.001-06:00

It has come to my attention (thanks in large part to my hubby's brilliant observation) that I am a snob. When this statement was made I was quite offended. I asked him to specify in which WAYS I am a snob and give me some examples. So with no further ado:

1. I will only drink 1 brand of milk.

I have a reason for this. While the Mermaid sister and I were doing our internship at Walt Disney World, we were under the impression that their would be grocery stores there similar to what we have here in the good ole' AZ. WRONG. You see in AZ we have Fry's, Basha's, Safeway, Albertson's and the list goes on and on. In Florida they have Publix. Mermaid and I assumed that it would be similar to Fry's and boy were we in for a rude awakening. Publix is extremely expensive (to us) and does NOT have a good layout for a grocery store. Plus they don't carry 1 of the best kinds of Dorito's chips- Salsa Verde. Yeah. Anywho.... The Mermaid and I like cereal and breakfast foods and bagels and all that good stuff. And nothing goes better with that than a nice cold glass of milk. Well at the Publix they have THEIR brand of milk and then Shamrock farms which is like MUCHO expensive. So we attempt to try the Publix brand of milk. It did not go as planned. Needless to say we drank very little milk for the 6 months we were there. Apparently we are spoiled and used to the flavor of AZ milk. And I presonally will only drink Fry's brand since there is no longer a Basha's near me. Sad day to the MAX.

2. I only like chicken that has been THOROUGHLY de-veined, de-grissled and cooked.

This I blame on 3 years of culinary training (and my mom's awesome cooking skills). Yep. You better believe that chicken meat I helped prepare was squeaky clean. And delicious. DUUUUUH.

3. If the food doesn't tast right after I spent time making it I have NO problem throwing it out. And I RARELY keep leftovers.

My mother is at fault for this as well. (p.s. I love you mom!) She taught me that certain food items just do NOT refigerate well so what was the point in wasting fridge space and tupperware when you weren't going to eat it anyway? Ya know? Plus if you make something and it just doesn't taste right then you are most likely NOT going to eat the reheated version of said entree.

4. I only like to eat French Toast that is made with Texas Toast.

Ummmmm. This is my dad's fault. Growing up he was always in charge of Sunday breakfast and French Toast is one of his favorite's plus it's pretty easy to just dip bread in whipped eggs and throw it on a griddle. WorkerBee learned the "Texas Toast" rule early on. Fact: french toast is just better with thick bread that gets all nice and crusty. I just made you salivate a little... Huh?

5. SEASONING IS ***KEY*** TO A GOOD DISH.

I know I'm going to get an earful for writing about this later BUT.... The first year of our marriage while we lived with my family WorkerBee offered to make his "Italian family's super amazing spaghetti sauce". At first this SOUNDED promising. You see when I think of homemade spaghetti sauce I think of chopping up fresh tomatoes, basil, onions, garlic, mushrooms and all the other things that make spaghetti sauce tasty. Then WorkerBee produced the grocery list. I recall that the ingridients were- tomato PASTE, tomato SAUCE, some dried bay leaves and that was pretty much it. He put all of this in the crock pot and informed us "it tastes so good after simmering all day".... Valid point except there were a few KEY ingridients missing. Such as actual TOMATOES. Needless to say this particular dish did not make it to the "leftover" podium. Sorry hun but it's true. Thankfully he's gotten much better. ***phew***

6. Homemade Mac 'n' Cheese beats anything that comes out of a box.

WorkerBee can testify of this truth. My momma whips up the BEST mac and cheese ever. She makes this beautiful creamy cheese sauce with REAL cheese (not that powdered orange crap) and it is just sheer perfection. She gave us a pie plate full last time she made it and would you like to know how much of that glorious pasta I got to eat? None. WorkerBee polished the whole thing off in less than 3 days. Yeah. I was pretty sad about that.

Well now that you all know what I am a foodie snob about.... what are YOU picky/snobbish about when it comes down to food?

Tulips....

2010-05-27T09:00:00.001-06:00

Anyone who has a child with a disability knows all about the story: Welcome to Holland. For those of you that don't you can read it here . I normally don't blog TOO much about BabyBee having Down syndrome but a very good internet friend of ours had a rough week last week and I stumbled across this story again. The paragraphs at the end really get to me and explain a lot of how she is/was feeling:

"But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things... about Holland."

I know our friend wasn't looking for sympathy and neither am I. She was simply explaining that some days are harder than others and was very worried about feeling so sad about what her baby could and could not do. I worry about those things too. On Tuesday we met with a very blunt Physical Therapist who let us know exactly what the BabyBee was doing wrong and I am very glad that she was honest. I am. But at the same time it's like hearing that announcement all over again "Welcome to Holland!" It's not a bad thing. It's just very very different and it takes some time to adjust. But just like you did before you take a deep breath and look around at the beautiful things that "different" has to offer and you realize how simple and charming life can be.

What are YOU grateful for?

Shenanigans..... Or something like that

2010-05-21T12:05:00.000-06:00

Lately, (the past 7 days. 7 days people.) my BabyBee has been pulling what MY mom would call "stunts". And let me tell you.... they are NOT nice. So before I continue this story you need the background. The WorkerBee works 6 a.m. till 2 p.m. 3 days a week and then 2 p.m. until 10p.m. 2 days a week. Last Friday the BabyBee slept in until about 8. I hear him so I get my lazy self out of bed to go get him. Lo and behold I walk into his room to the WORST smell pretty much in the history OF the BabyBee. That is correct. BabyBee had woken himself up by messing his pants. I figure, it's not big deal. I'm his momma. I love him and therefore do not mind changing his stinks. This pattern continues the next 2 days while the WorkerBee has the early shift. So come Monday on his late day I am really excited to not have to wake up to stinkies. I tell the WorkerBee about the messy pants situation and he agrees to do diaper duty. Too bad for us BabyBee had been devising a plan of his own. All morning long we kept waiting for him to do his business. But noooooooooo. BabyBee waited until 15 minutes after WorkerBee had left for work before "messing around". I was pretty disappointed to say the least. Then the BabyBee decided to mess himself again DURING NAPS. And again while I was trying to make dinner. He just exploded!! And then he did that exact same thing 2 days in a ROW! So now it is Wednesday, WorkerBee's day off and I told him that no matter what HE had to deal with it today. He agreed. Well..... Would you like to guess what happened that day? BabyBee didn't mess his pants. AT ALL. Thursday rolls around and he does his dirty business twice. HA! WorkerBee had to clean it up both times. Today is Friday, again, and BabyBee has started his cycle ALL over again. With that said:

Dear BabyBee,

I LOVE YOU. But making me your primary choice of diaper changers is starting to get old. Fast. Please consider letting your dad help out. He will not oppose. Much. I promise.

p.s. If you stop singling me out I ***might*** consider not embarassing you with this story.

p.p.s Or with these pictures from me trying to clean you up.

Love, Mom.

pictures

2010-05-06T11:35:00.006-06:00

Instead of a teething ring this is the BabyBee's preferred method of dealing with the pain the accompanies growing teeth. How pitiful.

And now that the BabyBee is drugged on some wonderful teething tablets he can grace us with his smile! YEAH!

A good friend of Cathy's (my mother-in-law) lent us this fun exersaucer and BabyBee had so much fun playing in it. I love how he is wistfully looking on because he doesn't get to be in it right then! Silly boy

Hello ocean! You were kinda cold but it felt nice on my warm chubby feet!

This is BabyBee being absolutely disguisted that we would put sunscreen in his hair. And then take a picture of it. Oh the horror!

Worker and BabyBee before they got to the water. Note BabyBee's totaly and complete lack of interest.

BabyBee got some nice new teeth!! He had already cut one before we left and while we were there decided he needed another one. So we, of course, took pictures of it.

This is how tiresome it is to be on vacation AND adjust to being 3 hours ahead AND get new teeth AND be cute all the time AND withstand hours of traveling. Pure exhaustion!!

Vacation!!

2010-05-03T19:32:00.002-06:00

Since last Wednesday we have been in............................................

the homeland of BOTH of these animals otherwise known as FLORIDA!! We came to visit Josh's family and show off the BabyBee since he had yet to meet a lot of them!! Our trip went as follows:

Day 1- Wednesday- wake at at 4:30 am to go get a ride to the airport. Spend *about* 12 hours traveling. WITH A BABY.

Day 2- Thursday- went to the temple and discovered it was super busy. Then went to see the Ingalls! Josh worked for Dr. Ingalls before and after his mission! That was a blast. Visited some more family friends.

Day 3- Friday- Went to The Magic Kingdom!! We got to go on the new Space Mountain and it was AMAZING! After we went on the rides we wanted to, we got us some Earl of Sandwich. YUM. If you go to Walt Disney World you MUST go there. It's as good as the attractions!

Day 4- Saturday- BUSY BUSY day. Thankfully we got to start off by sleeping in. We had a family party in the early afternoon with some of Josh's FAVORITE bar-b-que. Then we had a good friend of Cathy's (my mother-in-law) take some family pictures since ALL of her kids were here! Then we had an evening party at our friend Garla's house and BabyBee got dipped into the cold pool. It was intense.

Day 5- Sunday- church!! I always forget how big our wards out West seem compared to the ones out here. Crazy. Then Mike and Roxanne Ingalls made a lovely Sunday dinner for us and we got to visit with their family.

Day 6- Saturday- Monday!! We hung out with Cathy and Angela in the morning and afternoon. Then we got to eat dinner at Josh's favorite Italian place ANTHONY'S. And come home and relax/do laundry/pack!

Tomorrow we return home to AZ land of the dry heat. All in all a very good week! How was YOUR weekend?!?!

My mowf hoots

2010-04-27T03:06:00.003-06:00

Soooooo. BabyBee was pretty miserable the last week and since he is normally so very pleasant I couldn't figure out what was wrong. Thankfully I am surrounded by lots of wise women who pointed out that said Baby's gums were looking swollen. Turns out that BabyBee cut his very first tooth 4 days ago and made it very well known that IT HURT. SO I took the liberty of making it known to him that I too had been through said tooth-cutting process. He did not take the news well. But he did inform me that he is very excited to retaliate in the form of no longer gumming my so-called "soothing finger rubs" but BITING. He also informed me that he dislikes fruits in favor of mixed vegetables. Hooray.

p.s. I found out the hard way that BabyBee is against my trying to capture the teething process and will not let his humiliation be documented. Sad day

Getting ready...

2010-04-17T14:32:00.002-06:00

Today I started deep cleaning our place before we go on vacation. BabyBee was awake so I stuck him in his car seat and let him watch me clean up our guest bathroom. MISTAKE. Let me explain something first. BabyBee grows slower than regular babies. Physically, developmentally you name it. Normally this is fine! (just means he will stay my baby longer!) But when he can't see where I am it's *kind of* a BIG DEAL. So into the car seat he goes and I start cleaning. This is where the problem begins. BabyBee is usually asleep when I clean but since he was all up in the action I didn't think at all about using all my cleaning products! As soon as the Comet got shaken onto the sink and into the tub ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE. Sneezing was just the beginning. Then came the crying. So then I had to wash my hands.... Oh I don't know. 6 times? People who use Comet totally know what I mean. So I finally go pick this little guy up who is still SO angry at me. Sad day. All I can think of is "maybe he's hungry?" I proceed to whip up some peas and rice (a new favorite) and not even 5 minutes into eating you know what happens?! He falls asleep mid-bite. Poor kid. I will post pictures after I get batteries.... Promise.

Tally:

QueenBee cleaning the house- 0
BabyBee falling asleep (therefore disrupting QB's cleaning)- 2

EPIC FAIL

The BabyBee...

2010-04-16T12:51:00.005-06:00

As I am writing this it is after 12:00 PM. And the BabyBee is still sleeping. Yeah. It's weird. I know. This morning he did something that he's only done a couple of times before and it always freaks me out! He talks in his sleep! He'll start cooing and saying Aaaah aah so I assume he is awake and go in to get his silly little self but NO. That little Bee is tricky! He has his eyes closed and the silky on his face and is just telling me all about his awesome dream. While he's still in it nonetheless. So now here I am hours later waiting to play with him and go on a walk or SOMETHING and he's still sleeping. Yes this is a blessing and I'm grateful he sleeps so well but, at the same time I can't do ANYTHING till he wakes up. I can do stuff around the house but not our usual walk around the complex, walk to get the mail, walk around the swimming pool while I debate internally if I should dip his poor little toes in. That is my dilemma. My wise momma always told me to never wake a sleeping baby but I am seriously consider going in and waking him up.... WHAT TO DO?!

p.s. this ^ is an OLD pic of the BabyBee. Remember my camera is still dead. Fun times!

the 4-1-1

2010-04-11T11:49:00.002-06:00

That's right.... Today is my BIRTHDAY! Woo-hoo! This is what the QueenBee had for breakfast! Get it....? Honeycomb cereal! Ha ha. I'm silly I know.

And this is the birthday number I am celebrating! So exciting!

The Arizona native is turning a quarter of a century old so that ^ is the most fitting picture I could find. It has a cactus on it and everything! Well that's it for today! Hope you all have a great Sunday!

It's ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE.

2010-04-09T11:37:00.002-06:00

Dear blog....I am so sorry about neglecting you, but you see the computer died a few weeks ago and I didn't know what to do. Well thankfully WorkerBee knows some computer-savy people and you're alive again. Then something AWFUL happened. Right after we got computer back my TV bit the dust. Keep in mind this tv is about the same age as the BabyBee. Sad day TO THE MAX. And you know what the WORST part is?

^ See that?!?! Glee season 2 starts NEXT WEEK. And the Queen and BabyBee were super excited to watch it and make snacks and sing and laugh. Ya know... all that good stuff. But my TV isn't getting repaired until *dun dun dun* the day AFTER Glee starts. See my dilemma? I know you're probably thinking that it's sad my life revolves around my TV but it doesn't! But I do have a serious addiction to Glee and now I'm in a pickle about what to do. I could wait until the next day and then just hulu it. But I don't feel like it. I want to watch it that night! BabyBee does too. He told me. HA. SO you know what that means?! Mom.... I'm coming over to watch tv at your house. Yep. But I will bring my own snacks and try to not be too TOO loud whilst watching my beloved Puck. Mmmmmmm. He makes a mohawk look uh-MAY-zing. In other news....

BabyBee is doing great! We had another doctor's appointment yesterday and the doctor was very impressed! He is in the 50th percentile for length and weight! I would post pictures of him but as I mentioned earlier the computer died taking with it ALL the recent pictures I had of him. But there will be more to come. YEAH! Well that's it for now! Happy Weekend everyone! p.s. my birthday is on Sunday! I'll be a quarter of a century old. hooray!

Sunggle Bums

2010-03-12T15:48:00.002-07:00

Being a "true child of the 80's"... I hate that term. Just by the way. Anyhow. I was remembering all of the old toys my family used to have and guess what came to mind?

That's RIGHT! SnuggleBums! I was thinking about these mainly because BabyBee is apparently 1/4 SnuggleBum! He has lots of hair and absolutley loves to be cuddled at *almost* any time during the day! There are some major difference too though. BabyBee is NOT neon. Although sometimes I think about a family in a previous ward who used to dye their dog using Kool-Aid. This thought has crossed my mind several times. Especially with Easter coming up. Can't you just see this kid with Neon Hot Pink in his hair?!?! He would totally match all of the Easter eggs. Maybe I'll just get some of that temporary dye.... Probably not. Anyhow. The other difference is that unlike the REAL SnuggleBums BabyBee does not have a hard belly so you can throw him. So in a way I guess he is more like.... Snuffleupagus! See.....:

Now Sunffleupagus looks a *wee* bit depressed. BabyBee does not. Only sometimes whenhe's really tired and refuses to fall asleep and the little baggies under his eyes happen to be very prominent that day! Anyhow. I just thought I would describe BabyBee using toys. Super fun.

It's official...

2010-03-07T01:56:00.003-07:00

I have an announcement.... and it's NOT what you are thinking.

The BabyBee has finally learned to live up to his last name! For our internet identity protection that last name shall not be revealed (but if we are friends you probably already know it. If not feel free to email me and based on our friendship I might tell you our secret. HA). BabyBee learned a new trick and can now successfully roll from his back to his belly and his belly to his back! Our Physical Therapist Jamie said this is so good! We are very excited for him to have made such a wonderful milestone so early on! (babies with Down syndrome are typically delayed with developmental milestones. just fyi) He has also started BEAMING at us. I know in the primary song they talk about Sunbeams and I think the BabyBee has a head start on that. Ha ha! He will look at you and make eye contact and then, as Emeril Lagasse would put it, *BAM* biggest toothless smile ever. Pictures will be coming to document said happenings. But BabyBee is asleep so not anytime soon.

Progress Reports

2010-03-05T17:57:00.004-07:00

Do you remember getting progress reports in school? I DO! And you know what....? I think that is why elementary school was so much easier than junior and high school (plus the work was easier But you get my drift). Anyhow... I have decided to get back into shape. I am NOT a fan of "go on a diet and lose weight" even though essentially that is what I am doing. But, to me DIET is one of the most awful words out there. I'm a firm believer in portion control. Plus where would the fun be in life if you couldn't eat what you wanted to even occasionally? I bring this up because I keep seeing that stupid Alli commercial. It starts off with showing these curvy ladies and then the narrator says "you eat when you're happy, you eat when you're sad. Sometimes you don't know why you're eating at all." Well. I would like to clear something up- I EAT BECAUSE FOOD TASTES GOOD. Yep. I am a curvy girl and most of the time pretty proud of that. But after having the BabyBee my curves went from being an hourglass to.... I don't even KNOW! Ha ha. So starting today I am going on a "back in shape" regimen! I know you're probably saying "that's nice. Just work out and do your thing" but I decided that I need to keep a progress report of how I'm doing so I can see how far I've come when I reach my goals. I am NOT going to chronicle this regulary, probably only once a month but I'm doing it because that's what works for me! And also because our stake's goal for this year is to get in shape! Awesome! So that is what is going on in the Bee house right now. Oh and we FINALLY get to have our follow-up appointment with the caridologist on Monday about BabyBee's EKG results! It only took them 3 and a half weeks and numerous rescheduled appointments to get here but HOORAY! That is our progress report for the week!

what have YOU been up to?!

Sick... AGAIN

2010-02-28T20:33:00.006-07:00

Dear Winter,

Let me start by saying that I LOVE YOU! Being an Arizona native I simply relish the few weeks/months a year that you grace us with your presence. I Love it especially when you send storm clouds my way. BUT... (dun, dun, DUN!) That was all before I had a BabyBee. You see his immune system is kinda pathetic and due to that he has come down with the following-

1. A cold. No big deal right? WRONG. Apparently children under the age of 4 aren't supposed to get cough medicine. Did I know this before I gave him cough medicine? No. Do I care? No. If it helps him sleep at night and breathe through his nose then so be it!

2. A diaper rash. Ummmm. Ouch.

3. Pink-eye! I would like to make it clear that BabyBee has officially got my genes when it comes to eyeballs. Poor kid.

4. Croup. Yep. To top that ^ all off my BabyBee has the infant equivalent of a very sore throat/horrible barky cough. Sad day at the Bee house.

However, there are some silver linings in spite of these problems! BabyBee is more cuddly than ever and for those that know him know how AWESOME this truly is. And thanks to all of the antibiotics he's on, sleeps about 12 hours a night. SWEET! Here is how CTR sleeps while heavily medicated:

*** Note how my BabyBee sleeps with not 1 eye but BOTH eyes open. It is kinda creepy sometimes. ***

In other news we have started trying to eat solid foods. Most people might become frustrated with the lack of progress babies make but seeing as how developmentally BabyBee is only about 3 months old I think he's doing GREAT!! This is the little man trying out some rice cereal and prunes for the first time.

His eyes are screaming "this is HUMILIATING MOM" but I don't care. He's all chubbed out and messy and I'm the boss so THERE. These are a couple days before Winter attacked his immune system. FYI- trying to get the BabyBee to smile with a camera nearby is h a r d.

Both attempts failed miserably at getting a smile but definitely succeeded in capturing his cute-ness!! Oh yeah!! Can't forget to post these:

6 MONTH STATS:

Weight- 15lbs. 1oz. - between the 50th and 75th percentile

Length- 26in. - 90th percentile!

BabyBee was a champ at his appointments and didn't even cry when he got his shots. He just made his sad face until he realized it was over. GOOD JOB Munchkin! Oh also... In the food shots you can totally see his little growing fat rolls! Hooray!

Life is HARD.... Sometimes.

2010-02-19T22:16:00.002-07:00

So.... Time for an update! BabyBee is doing great! He had an EKG recently and an Ultrasound to check on the ASD/VSD holes in his heart. We *STILL* have not had our follow-up cardiac appointment to go over the test results for the EKG. However after the Ultrasound the doctor came out and let us know what was going on. Turns out the BabyBee's ASD (a hole in the upper atrium chambers of his heart) has gotten a wee bit bigger. BUT his VSD has gotten a wee bit smaller. Thankfully the doctor said that *if* he needed surgery to correct this it wouldn't be until he was at least 3 years old. Which is great news. In other great news the Bee family is going to go to Florida in April! Hooray! We are very excited to see WorkerBees family and friends and introduce them to the BabyBee properly. Internet is great but just doesn't do him justice. Ha ha. Also, my favorite youngest sister has gotten engaged and will be getting married this summer! This is super exciting and I can hardly wait! I have recently been watching a friend's kiddo on occasion. She is a subsitute teacher. AND LET ME TELL YOU.... I have a new respect for any woman with multiple children! G-Baby is a pretty easy-going kid but feeding 2 kids at once is HARD. Especially when 1 needs to be bottle fed and if you don't directly supervise the other, some form of food gets rubbed into my carpet. NICE. On the plus side I can make him clean himself up, he is practically potty-trained AND he can watch an entire movie while I take care of the BabyBee. Awesome. And more great news! I got to attend the first meeting for my new calling! I LOVE IT. I'm on the Enrichment Meeting Committee. Coming up in March for our activity we are doing a BIG BIRTHDAY BASH! And I get to make a display cake *GASP*! WOOT WOOT! I got all of my cake stuff and just need to start practicing. After 7 years of NOT decorating cakes methinks I might need some fine-tuning. Part of our theme is polka-dots so at least I won't have to do anything too tricky. This is pretty much what I have in mind for our cake. So Bev if you're reading this I hope you like it! p.s. It will probably be different colors.

Oh. And it will not be this pink. Or this tall. But it will be stinkin cute. So yeah! Let's see.... Oh! I discovered that I have a skin *sensitivity* (not an allergy seeing as how a doctor has to diagnose that) to certain ingridients in lotion. My skin was all dry because we live in the AZ and it's winter time so I thought I'd be smart and put some lotion on. Well! The only lotion around at the time was some of BabyBee's lotion. So I start rubbing it in. Not even 5 minutes later my skin is burning and red and puffy and my fat little hand looked even more swollen then when the ER nurse messed up my IV! Genius that I am decide to wash it off which makes my hand more dry. I of course, seeing my hand in its weakened state did what I thought was the right thing and put MORE lotion on it. Worst idea ever. My hand resembled a little somethin' somethin' like this:

Yes I realize that this is a man hand. But you get the idea. The entire time this is happening I am texting WorkerBee in a panic because HELLO! My hand looks awful. Then my hand got too fat to text. Very few things can make you feel fatter than that. Thankfully it is all better now. Courtesy of Bag Balm. Which I love. Anyhow I will be updating this thing more now. I promise. And I will also be posting my pics of the display cakes I'm practicing! HOORAY!

Explanations....

2010-01-21T22:12:00.005-07:00

SO! I have gotten a few questions as to why I am "BearyBee". First of all the correct spelling is BeriBee. Like my name but with the "T" taken out. I am named after my lovely Aunt Berit who was named by my wonderful Grandfather C. You see, he served a mission in Norway in his youth and when he was there he discovered that Berit meant Sunshine. Well he came home and married my beautiful Grandmother C. and their first daughter came and joined the family and Grandpa C. decided to name her Berit! Then they had a few other daughters before their baby (my momma) came along to finish up their family. So my mom grows up and meets my awesome Dad and they have a few kiddos too. Well then MY turn comes along....Now you see I was NOT supposed to be a Berit but when I decided to make my grand entrance I, just like my Aunt, came out with a head full of BLACK HAIR. My Mom's family is quite blonde so Aunt Berit and I are quite literally the "black sheep" ha ha! So Berit I was named! YEAH!! Anywho... growing up in the AZ near my Grandparents C. it was kind of confusing when I would call and introduce myself as Berit since they already had their own! To determine which Berit they were talking to my Mom came up with the brilliant idea of calling my Aunt Berit the QUEEN BEE. And I was the BabyBee. Well this was all great until I grew up. So Mom and I decided that I should be dubbed BeriBee. Or BearyBee. Yup. And since this is MY blog I am the QueenBee. So there. And with Curtis being the baby he just naturally had to be the BabyBee! Speaking of Curtis.... Josh and I borrowed "Bee Movie" from Stu and Angie. We were watching it and noticed some similarities between OUR BabyBee and one of the bees from the movie. I, however, will allow you to be the judge!

Curtis has recently taken to sleeping starting on his back and somehow scooting to the side of the crib where he will hurl himself so he is on his belly.

Here he is in position 1. See how cute and restful he is?!

Now here... he has rolled himself over. Keep in mind he can ONLY do this while sleeping. It's hilarious.

And now (drumroll please) here is the proof that my BabyBee is truly a BabyBee. This is from the part in Bee Movie when Adam gets introduced to Cinnabon. Yummmmm. Curtis is not all cracked out from the icing though. Just from his night time bottle with rice cereal in it.

Do you see this?!?! Their little bums are up in the air and it just cracks me up! Here are a couple of other pictures we've taken recently too. In the 1st one Curtis is wearing a onesie from his Grandma Cathy in Florida! He actually kind of fits in it! Well.... after he's eaten and his belly is all full. And the second one is him just chilling out. His new hobby is staring at us like we're crazy when he sees the camera nearby. So until next time ENJOY!

It's the end of the YEAR as we know it....

2009-12-31T00:37:00.002-07:00

Ha ha ha. I am being clever and using song titles as my blog update titles. Or maybe that's considered lazy. Either way it's true. So I thought I would copy everyone else and do an end of the year summary! I have *some* pictures but don't feel like putting them up. (not a bad thing though) so let's get started!

JANUARY:
Hmmmm. Not much happened this month. Josh and I took a random trip to the snow with some friends and I laughed histerically at the fact that my poor at/below-sea level altitude challenged husband could not BREATHE for about 20 minutes. Just picture it and YOU will laugh too. *I hope*

FEBRUARY:
Again.... not much happened this month. Yes it was Valentine's Day and we went on a fancy date. But apart from that, not much happening. Oh. Wait. I would discover that what I thought was a terrible virus was in fact A PREGNANCY. *oh joy*

MARCH:
My Grandpa C. passes on. Terribly sad time. I am hormonal and now very sad. I decide that it is too early to tell people that I am "with child" and proceed to lose 13 pounds in about 10 days. Conclusion: morning sickness= great diet. Yep. Also decide to tell me doctor about my sick little self and am told "it's just normal" ok. I'll wait it out.

APRIL:
My birthday rolls around and I hit the 3-month mark and decide I'll announce that I am prego to friends and family! OH YEAH! And I'm still sick. (and people wonder as to why I'm a hypochondriac)

MAY:
Josh decides we need to work for different employers and starts looking for a new job. I continue being ill and the doctors decide to put me on a Zofran pump. Hmmmm... let's make the nauesous HORMONAL girl poke herself with a sharp piece of plastic that stays inserted into her legs to pump medicine into her bloodstream. End result: took it out after 4 days (cried) and was bruised for the next 2 weeks. AWESOME.

JUNE:
Josh gets a job working as a Security Officer and we are blessed enough to fly out to Florida to attend his sister Elizabeth's wedding! Wonderful, except for the fac that not even a week before the wedding I was hopistalized with early (not FALSE *thankyouverymuch*) labor. I am given Terbutaline to prevent any contractions and am told to keep my feet elevated as much as possible. HA.

JULY:
Our 1 year wedding anniversary! We were so excited.... and then I got to go BACK to the hospital for early labor. This is when we find out that I am legitimately starting to go into labor. Already 2cm dilated. JOY! Get put on a few days of bed rest and go back to work. AGAIN. Where I proceed to get written up for "excessive bathroom usage". Hi. My name is Berit and I am pregnant and have a FETUS sitting on my bladder that is full from the 3 liters minimum of water I drink every day. Have we met?!

AUGUST:
Fetus aka the Curtis, decides to try to make yet another early appearance around the 7th and I am put on bed rest for 2 weeks. I decide that bedrest SUCKS. And I am not very entertaining to myself. The night before I am supposed to go back to work I start to have some contractions again. We call the doctor and tell him we're going to the hospital seeing as how they'll probably just kick me out again based on the fact that I am not due for 5 weeks. I get admitted after progressing from a 3cm to a 5cm in under an hour. FUN. So later that day CTR makes his grand appearance! We are informed about his DS.

SEPTEMBER:
We start getting used to this new little person in our lives and are getting ready to start physical therapy. And Josh turns 23!! He got a BABY for his birthday! SOOOO exciting.

OCTOBER:
General Conference! I go back to work for 3 weeks then quit because of the therapy sessions we'll need to schedule for Curtis so he is delayed as little as possible.

NOVEMBER:
We bless the Curtis! Josh's mom and sister fly out from Florida to spend time with us and Curtis gets to meet some of his cousins for the first time! AMAZING!! Also Thanksgiving. We are so thankful that despite his early appearance and heart condition Curtis is in great health. Just kind of shrimpy. HA! We get to move into a 2 bedroom apartment as well and stay in our wonderful ward.

DECEMBER:
We celebrate out first Christmas as a little family with our wonderful son who has NO IDEA what is going on. Curtis flunks being Baby Jesus at Grandma C.'s on Christmas Eve because he is tired and grumpy! Oh well. Now we're embarking on a new year and a new adventure as a little famiy!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

**disclaimer** If you thought this post was all about me... You guessed right. Seeing as how I was pregnant for a majority of the year I thought it was fair. So there. PLUS. It is MY blog. And I can be self absorbed now and again if I feel like it. (do I sound like a 7 year old or WHAT!?! ha ha ha ha ha)

It's that time of year....

2009-12-16T18:16:00.003-07:00

I LOVE the holiday season! At the Ellsworth family house we have a few traditions that Josh, Curtis and I are going to implement into our new family!

1. WASSAIL! Not only is this amazing beverage so good we have it once a week. Oh no. There is a SONG about it. For those of you who *unfortunately* don't know what you're missing out on Wassail AKA Spiced Cider is made with the following (hence it's wonderful effect on our taste buds):
A. Apple CIDER. NOT juice. Bleh. Apple CIDER.
B. Orange Juice Concentrate- 'nuff said
C. 1 can of water for said OJ
D. Pineapple Chunks/Tidbits/Rings.... basically whatever floats your boat. But after experimenting we have found that just Pineapple Juice is NOT THE SAME. Not by a long shot.
E. 3 Cinnamon Sticks.

I like to throw everything in the crock pot AFTER I've let it come to a rolling boil. It tastes the best after it's been cooking a few hours. Try it. You shall LOVE it. And me for sharing. And my mom for concocting such a delicious holiday treat.

2. Mesa, AZ Temple Lights. Check out this beautiful display of lights. There is a wonderful nativity on the grounds as well. GORGEOUS.

3. Christmas Music. I have been very involved in music my whole LIFE. And I love it. I love listening to Michael Buble sing ANY version of a Christmas song. Mainly because his voice gives me goosebumps due to it's amazing quality. Yup. He is my music man crush.

4. Christmas Movies. White Christmas. Hmmmmm. In my humble opinion quite possibly THE greatest Christmas musical EVER. Bing Crosby+Danny Kaye+Rosemary Clooney= An amazing team. Plus. I have decided that I want my own lodge like the General's. Try and tell me that that property is not amazing. I will WIN. Plus.... Seeing the beautiful Mrs. Clause' dresses kinda inspires me to want to learn how to make my own. Cuz I would totally ROCK your SOCKS off with my ability to pull off that dress even in the good ole AZ. Yep. No lie. Also.... This year we will be watching Elf. Josh has never seen it. Which is shameful. But come Christmas morning he will have watched it.

So...... what are YOUR Christmas Family Traditions?!

Catch Up!

2009-11-28T17:57:00.003-07:00

So as I promised in my last post I have pictures! YEAH! Curtis was blessed earlier this month and a couple of weeks ago I finally remembered to throw him in his blessing outfit for some pics. So here are the best ones that I took. Keep in mind I can NOT take a good picture to save my life. So don't judge the craptastic-ness of the pics but just see how cute my bubba is getting.

1. LOOK! He is *kinda* smiling!! YEAH!

2. He is looking at me like I am crazy. Which I am! I was trying to get a good picture. Duh Baby Bee!!

3. He looks kind of upset and his fist makes it look like if he had better coordination he would take a swing at me. Silly Baby!!

4. Now, as you can see he has singled me out as the bad guy. This looks says "MOM. That is ENOUGH."

That's all the pics I have for now. I am gonna have my lovely friend Angie take some waaaaaay better pics soon. So this is it for now!

Thanksgiving!!

2009-11-25T09:25:00.002-07:00

Hooray! I love this time of year. In other states this time is known as fall but here in the good ole AZ we natives just call it a break from the sweltering heat! hahaha. Anyhow.... I figured I would copy everyone else and say some of the things I am grateful for this year:

1. Worker Bee. He is so great and is working so hard to take care of our family.
2. Baby Bee! He is doing such a good job of keeping on track with his milestones and has been exceptionally healthy for someone who is supposed to have a weak immune system.
3. Family. I am so thankful for the family that we have here and far away. They have been so wonderful and we love them for all that they do!
4. Ward family! Our ward has been amazing this past year. They turned out to be a wonderfl resource to me when the Baby Bee came along and have helped so much.
5. AZ. Yes I am grateful that I live here. Where else could the Baby Bee where onesies ALL YEAR LONG?!?! And I don't have to turn on the heater. After I am done making dinner I can just leave the oven door open and my whole apartment is nice and toasty. (and smells like yummy foooooood!)
6. Friends! I am soooo grateful for the friends we have made this year! As well as old friends that I'll keep forever!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

P.S. There WILL be pics on the next post! Promise

Fall!

2009-10-29T09:40:00.005-06:00

Sorry for taking so long to update this thing! Quick update on the Bee family: Queen Bee is no longer working full time! WHOA! However I will be making/selling cupcakes for the holiday season so please let me know if you want some! You can choose the flavor you want and I will decorate them according to the theme of your choosing!! I will post prices and pictures of examples in a few days. The Worker Bee got transferred to a different site and likes it a LOT more! As for the Baby Bee, he is doing AMAZING! He started rolling over 2 weeks ago and will not stop. Silly boy. He is also starting to talk and coo to us. It is pretty fun stuff! I am pretty excited about this semi-fall weather we have been blessed with! Today when I woke up it was 43 degrees outside. That's dang impressive for Arizona! Also we MOVED! We're in our same apartment complex but in a bigger 2 bedroom unit. We L O V E it. Let's see what else..... OH! The Baby Bee got blessed in church on 11-01-09. Worker Bee did a wonderful job and we were so lucky to have our family there with us. Here are some more recent pictures of our family. These are Curtis trying to be all cool. ENJOY!!

September Update

2009-09-19T15:09:00.002-06:00

Due to some technical issues, Queen Bee has been unable to post! Thank heavens for family members who also own computers! YEAH! So.... Happy Birthday to the Worker Bee! Want to know what he got for his birthday.....?! A BABY! YEAH! I did get him a present too. He got some nice new tennis shoes so now he can play sports when the guys in the ward ask him to! What else is new? Baby Bee had his appointment with the cardiologist and it went very well! He has grown 2 inches and gained a whole pound. What an awesome growth spurt right?! Anyhow... His heart is doing good. His VSD hole *should* close up on its own because it is located where his heart is more muscle. So as he continues to grow and work out (aka EAT) his heart should take care of the rest. His other hole located in the top atria of his heart is so small that the doctor couldn't tell if it was an ASD or a PSO. We took that to be a good thing. Baby Bee will go back to said doctor when he is 4 months old to be re-evaluated to see how the holes are doing and *possibly* discuss surgery. Baby Bee also just celebrated his 4th week of life! YEAH! Queen Bee is doing well also.... just very tired because Baby Bee is eating more and more and more. I keep telling myself that this is a good thing! I just wish he didn't feel compelled to eat every 3 hours instead of every 4. Oh well! That is all the news we have going on right now and I will do better at keeping everyone updated! Oh and a new post will soon be coming to detail the amazing similarities between the Baby Bee and the Derek Zoolander. My baby has mastered the look of Blue Steel! WOOHOO!!

CT + Blankies = Worst Enemies

2009-09-05T23:44:00.005-06:00

Baby Bee(CT) has 2 holes in his heart which makes it harder for his blood to circulate and to get to his little hands and feet so, the Worker Bee and I try to keep him covered up as much as possible. WELL! Baby Bee and the blankie are apparently having some kind of quarrel and Blankie is losing HORRIBLY. This is how we put Baby Bee to bed:

Doesn't he look so comfortable all snuggled up? Why yes, yes he does. However.... Baby Bee doesn't share the same feelings about the blankie that I do. And within 5 minutes of getting put down for bed after some grunting, groaning and MAJOR kicking(like a NINJA!),has gone from the above picture to this:

I know, I know... It doesn't seem like that big of a deal. But when I go to wake him up to eat at 2 a.m. I am greeted by ice cold little hands and feet that are almost purple! Oh my goodness! I know we live in AZ but it is NOT that warm at night and our AC isn't turned down THAT much, hence the need for Blankie. Plus he is a baby! They are supposed to L O V E being all snuggled up. Oh well... the fight continues. P.S. don't you all LOOOOOOOOOVE how I am making the Baby Bee's bed be MY favorite colors?! muwah ha ha ha ha ha!

Conjunctivits....AKA Pink Eye

2009-09-02T21:14:00.003-06:00

Yesterday on Worker Bee's day off we noticed that the CT had some eye boogies. We didn't think TOO much of it because our pediatrician had let us know that infants have to get used to their tear ducts. WELL! Today after CT was fed and changed and the Queen Bee was about to have a shower, the Worker Bee showed me CT's eye while it was open and here's what we saw:

This is with his eye closed. It looks like MomBabe's eye when she got African Sumac in it (but my memory is fuzzy. MomBabe's was probably way WAY worse!) :

So sad.... we know!! Then I called the dr. and lo and behold it is PINK EYE! CT is not even 2 weeks old yet.... Poor little guy. Thankfully we got some eye drops and everything should clear up within 4-5 days! Just in time for our appointment with the cardiologist! Hooray!

The results are in.....

2009-08-31T10:15:00.002-06:00

As you might notice in the title on this post the test results are IN! We now know for sure 100% that our baby CTR does have Down's Syndrome. We don't know all the details yet and will be finding out more from our pediatrician at our next appointment. We are just very happy that the wait is over! Now the next biggest step is going to the cardiologist to find out more about the 2 holes in his heart. I personally think that they must be doing better because CT is eating more and is awake alot more now. But I don't have a nice little machine at home to confirm all of this so yeah! Thank you so much to everyone for all the prayers. We know that they have really helped us out so much! In other family news.... the Worker Bee got switched to a new "job site"!! He works by himself now out in Scottsdale and basically just has to make sure that the construction workers are signing in and out of the job site like they should. Worker Bee gets a raise for doing this and hopefully only has to do it until October, which is when 2 new bank branches will be opening up and he can get transferred to one of those and have a NORMAL SCHEDULE!! Monday- Friday from 7-4! He just has to tough it out until then! Hooray! His working nights is difficult but is very helpful when he comes home and can help with the baby CT.

Back to the baby! (he is new! OF COURSE we are gonna talk all about him!) We have all had quite a fun/interesting time getting adjusted to one another. CT is quite a calm baby.... He does like to let us know that he needs some attention in a funny way. He likes to softly whimper just long enough for us to check on him. Then when we peek in the bassinet to see what's going on he is back asleep! I have concluded that he likes us to know he needs us but that he is too tired to make much of an effort! He has also started sleeping in the most AWESOME positions ever.... Here's my proof:

This first one is CT in the bassinet with his head back as far as it will go. This position really made the Worker Bee scared and he had to check to make sure CT hadn't snapped his neck to get it that way!

The next one is CT dancing and smiling because I changed his diaper. He hates the diaper changing process but LOVES the end result so much that he poses like this:

This is how CT likes to stretch out... First he gets ALL scrunched up and then *poof* he is stretched out to the MAX:

And those are all the tricks CT has learned so far! More updates to come!

The True Identity of Baby Bee Roller

2009-08-25T19:29:00.008-06:00

Announcing the arrival of........

CURTIS TYLER ROLLER

Stats: Weight- 6lbs. 15oz. Length- 18.5in

Curtis was born on Friday August 21st at 10:25 a.m. He came very early and due to some health problems had to be delivered via emergency C-Section. Curtis most likely has Down's Syndrome according to his doctor's, but we are not 100% sure until his test results come back. He has 2 small holes in his heart which makes it difficult for his oxygen to circulate and he is still being observed at the hospital. We love him very much and feel very blessed that the Lord trusts us with Curtis and we are very proud of the progress he keeps making! He is getting so much stronger every day and we can't wait to bring him home! He is the new star of the family.... CTR!

Happy Birthday!

2009-08-16T21:23:00.004-06:00

Today is my FAVORITE (I can say this because he is also my ONLY) brother's birthday! Morgan and his wife Maria and their beautiful daughter Megan moved to Utah recently and since I couldn't spend any time with them I thought I would wish him a Happy Birthday via the internets! Here is a pic of their happy little family:

Happy Birthday Morgan! I love you and miss you lots!

These are a few of my favorite things....

2009-08-08T22:10:00.011-06:00

Just like the title of my post says I thought I would mention what a few of my favorite things are! These are some of my FAVORITE things during this crazy pregnancy (plus I felt bad about complaining and decided that I can be nice too!) and if and when you comment I want to know what YOURS are too!

1. Favorite Drink (besides water) :
you can buy this stuff at Wal-Mart and it is AWESOME!

2. Favorite Medicine:
This is what I take every 4 hours to ensure that I don't go BACK into labor before 36 weeks! It makes me and the Baby Bee very hyper!

3. Favorite acid-reflux/heartburn remedy:
Yummmmmm..... Note the Pepermint Flavor. It makes everything taste better!

4. Favorite Snack (look Mom! It's NOT candy!) :
Oh's! are the greatest cereal EVER. And I need something salty to balance them out so we add the sourdough pretzel bits! Tasty!

5. Favorite place to chill out (especially now that I'm on bed rest) :
My recliner is similar but NOT leather... duh we live in AZ folks.

6. Favorite things to do WHILE sitting in the recliner:
watch movies! and read!

Yes that is "That thing you Do" and if you TRY and say you don't like it we shall watch it together and I shall mock you mercilessly when you sing along!

That is all the favorites me brain could think of for now (blame the hormones!) but I shall extend this post at a later time!

Bruises

2009-08-07T22:04:00.006-06:00

Of course I know that by getting an IV in my hand I am also going to have a bruise to go along with it. HOWEVER... I got an IV in the top of my right hand. So imagine my *surprise* (sarcasm inserted) when I was in the shower and I went to wash myself up and discovered on the inside of my wrist what looked like the biggest dirt smudge EVER. So I being the wise person I am decide to scrub harder. Which didn't hurt until once I got out of said shower and was drying off and realized, much to my dismay, that it was a 1x3 inch bruise. Hmmmmmm? Super fun right? WRONG! Because approxiamtely 1 inch away from that bruise I have 3 more bruises. Now these I can explain. They were the original spot for my blood draw. So of course my poor veins being poked and prodded were bound to retaliate with what little dignity they had left. So now my hand/wrist looks like this:

These ones might be hard to see but there are 3 little bruises that start at the base of my thumb and go down about 1 inch apart from each other!

Now that I'm done complaining.... This whole bedrest thing has made me appreciate all the things that my hubby the Worker Bee does for me. 1. He goes to work every night and will call me on his breaks to make sure that I am ok by myself. 2. He is really good at keeping the kitchen clean. 3. He is very good at listening to me tell him what other parts of our place I would like cleaned. Also my family has been wonderful. My mom can't do much seeing as how she has shingles AGAIN and has been instructed to stay far far away from me. But she is nice enough to give me her old recliner (which I LOVE) and, let me stay with HER mom my Grandma C. who is so accomadating and so kind and fun to be around. I got to hang out with Grandma C. on Tuesday night while the Worker Bee went to his graveyard shift and Grandma and I watched Touched by an Angel (her favorite) and the Food Network (my favorite) and we ate fudge bars and it was GREAT! I also have an awesome ward family who has been so helpful and caring. Stu and Angie Milne who live in our comlex and are my visiting teaching companion and our ward's Elder Quorum Pres. have been bringing us dinner this week which I really appreciate! Especially because they are amazing cooks and the food is super yummy. Jim and Nelly Stock who are our neighbors have been nice enough to let me ransack their movie collection so I have something to do while the Worker Bee sleeps during the day. Nelly also lent me some books (thanks!) which have been saving my eyes when I can no longer stare at the TV. Other than that.... No more updates till later!!

Baby Bee Roller

2009-08-04T15:42:00.002-06:00

It seems like every 2-3 posts I do are about the hospital! This Babay just wants to get out it seems. So I thought I should update and give you all the inside scoop! So on Saturday around 3:30 I started having contractions, so the Worker Bee and I started timing them. We have learned that every time we go to the hospital they routinley give me a shot of Terbutaline and then send me home. So we decided to wait until I'd been having MORE contractions. Well 2 hours later we checked into the hospital. In 2 hours I had had 47 contractions so while I got checked out they discovered that I was 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced. Turns out we would NOT be leaving after all! I got a shot of Terbutaline (after all we have a routine to stick to *insert sarcastic tone here*) and an IV for some Magnesium Sulfate.

Since I am 34 weeks they also decided to give me some Penicillin to help protect the baby from infection in case they couldn't stop the contractions. So I spent Saturday and Sunday night in the hospital under very close watch to make sure that I did NOT go into early labor. On Monday, I got a visit from Dr. Mikel who checked me out and let me know that I was still dilated to a 2 and that my bag was bulging and ordered an UltraSound. We found out that Baby Bee is est. at 5lbs. 4oz. but no amnio was done to check on its lung development. I was ordered to stay one more night so they could ween me off of the Magnesium. On Tuesday Dr. Mikel checked me out again and gave me some specific instructions before he would discharged me. So for the next 11 days (until I'm 36 weeks) I am on strict bed rest. After that, Dr. Mikel said I can do whatever I want and if I go into labor again then he would let me deliver the baby. I got discharged at about 12:30 and have to take oral Terbutaline every 4 hours or else I am in trouble! haha. So that is our most recent update! We are all healthy and great some of us just feel like joining the family sooner than the rest of us want!

Complaint Box:

2009-07-31T23:48:00.002-06:00

I have decided that I have been pretty good about not complaining about my pregnancy. And as a reward to myself, all of the complaints I have been holding in are having a COMING OUT PARTY.

1. Dear Headaches, for other pregnant people you are no big deal! However.... for those of us who were fortunate enough to get Hepatitis as children, Tylenol is not a friend but rather a FOE. I have been told by my wise mother over the years that I was never to partake of Tylenol and I, being a good daughter who is also a pansy, listened. UNTIL... I had a headache at work about a month ago and a co-worker was kind enough to offer some relief which I, in my desperate condition, did not question. Well, 20 minutes later my heart was pounding out of my chest and I had to walk around trying to get it to calm down. Why do I bring this up you might ask....? Because I have had a headache for 3 days now. Excedrin, old friend, you are starting to look like an optical illusion. Maybe I should take you to make sure you are not a mirage.

2. Dear clothes of any sort that go on my lower half... Why must you be so difficult to put on? I know my feet are not THAT far away because last year we were a pretty good team lookin all cute with a pedicure and some cute-sy shoes. NOW that I am 34 weeks pregnant getting dressed has become a hazard to my health. I have woken up the Worker Bee on several occasions because I have fallen over trying to get some bottoms on so I can go out in public without being criticized. Which leads me to....

3. Dear sense of balance/equilibrium.... I used to be quite graceful in my opinion. I was no prima ballerina mind you, but I was not Bella Swan either. In other words I was a happy medium. Now I fall, stumble, slip and plunge into places I can't see as well as I'd like. Take, for example, my shower this evening. I just wanted to relax but NOOOOOO. I slid almost the whole length of the bathtub and had to grasp around for something to help me regain some sort of balance. If I was NOT pregnant and saw said event on America's Funniest Home Videos, I would have voted that that person get the $10,000 grand prize. But seeing as how I am pregnant and hormonal I started crying. Crying= no winnings on that show. Especially from a grown-up woman.

4. Dear public population, unless I am related to you or you are my medical professional team or we are married DON'T TOUCH ME. 'nuf said.

5. Dear public population.... we meet again. I would like to request that you NOT ask me IF I am pregnant. In case you couldn't tell, I am proud to say I do still have a waist and traditionally people who are overweight do NOT have bellies that look/pop out like mine OBVIOUSLY does. Soooo, if you continue to ask the "IF" question I will make you severely uncomfortable by replying *obnoxiously loudly* that I am NOT pregnant. And you will therefore be shamed. HA.

6. Dear store/restaurant/anywhere I visit in my car, I vote that you, like Basha's the grocery store, designate parking for people in my condtion. Especially in Arizona. I also vote that while you are putting up that "Expectant Mom's Parking Only" sign that you also plant 2 trees. So not only do I not have to waddle so far to KEEP YOU IN BUSINESS but, I do not start to sweat profusely as a combination of my raging hormones and my car being in the sunlight in 100+ degrees.

7. Dear body 'o' mine, I used to be somewhat athletic and do a pretty good job of taking care of you. I went on a walk around my apartment building because I was having contractions and I know that a baby is squishing some pretty vital organs but for goodness sake. It was like a BLOCK! Cut me some slack here and stop trying to make my look pathetic aka winded after my "exercise" and maybe once Baby Bee is out we shall be good friends again!!

Growing Up

2009-07-26T15:00:00.000-06:00

As many of you know the Worker Bee and I act like little kids. Which until recently was not too big of a deal. But we decided that since we have a baby on the way we should *PROBABLY* (sarcasm) buy some baby stuff so the people at the hospital don't think we are psychotic. So.... we bought a car seat for the Baby Bee!! Since we don't know what we are having it was kind of tricky to find something we BOTH liked that didn't look too girly or boyish. So we settled on something very similar to this:

It is a neutral green and has lots of animals and we thought it was a good choice for either sex. In other recent news.... The Worker Bee had some visitors he was very excited about. A family that he knew on his mission was in town visiting one of their family members and we were lucky enough that we got to meet up with them and go to dinner! It was so fun and Worker Bee and the fam got to catch up with stories about his mission AKA his "glory days"!! Ha ha!

In another recent story.... the Queen Bee got to take the Worker Bee to the river yesterday for his FIRST TIME! He didn't quite know what to expect and the water was lots colder than anything else he's been swimming in recently. We were pretty popular too due to the huge bulge that is my baby bump. People there were either shocked or impressed that we were braving the water. It was definitely a good workout and Baby Bee was pretty chill which we took to mean that it liked the cold water.

And to re-cap some birthdays for friends and family have come up so I would like to say Happy Birthday to Mary who turned 24 today and has been my best friend since the age of 5ish. Happy Birthday to Maria my sister-in-law whom I am very jealous of because she gets to live in beautiful Utah where it is NOT 100+ degrees every day. And Happy Birthday to Cathy, Worker Bee's mom! She is going to Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom for her birthday so I am a little jealous of that but, NOT of the humidity!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Hospital + Me = BEST FRIENDS

2009-07-11T21:06:00.003-06:00

So, I know my last post was about the hospital BUT Baby Bee decided that we needed to make yet ANOTHER trip to Banner this week. The day after I got released Queen and Baby Bee decided that we don't like mixing sleep narcotics with HYPER pills. So...I proceeded to start being very vomit-ous and nauseous. Well I didn't feel like going to the hospital again so I settled for calling the doctor who told me that if I was still not able to keep anything down that I would need to go BACK to the hospital. I have NOW voted that I should get frequent flyer miles or something of that sort for being such a good, repeat patient. Or they could ya know.... FEED ME while I'm there for 6+ hours. Anyhow.... I get admitted to OB and they let me know that since this is not directly related to my pregnancy (DUH) that I need to be admitted through the ER. Off we go to the ER where the first thing the receptionist says to me is "you're pregnant?" NO WAY?!?! I totally didn't KNOW! After we got my paperwork figured all out I got to go to my lovely room where I was told that I had severe nausea and dehydration. Then I got to be drugged up again and when I asked for some water and crackers was told NO by the ER nurse even though I wasn't in labor which is not nice to do to ANYONE who hasn't eaten in 24 hours. So after that I finished up all my yummy IV fluids and got to be released yet again. Then at my doctor's appointment on Friday, Dr. Mikel was nice enough to give me my very own prescription for oral Terbutaline in case I decide to have any more contractions. But so far, so good! Baby Bee has been behaving her/himself for the last couple of days almost enough for me to catch up on my sleep!

In other news, my (favorite) oldeST sister is coming into town this next week which is very exciting seeing as how I have not seen her for oh.... about 2 months I believe? It has been so long I can't even remember. Sad day. But very exciting that she AND all her 4 childrens will be visiting almost the entire week. ALSO.... it is my 1 year anniversay next week! HOORAY! Worker Bee and I have already started celebrating! Today he bought me this lovely creature at D.I. We have been using my mom's bookcase to previously host our t.v. and our movies and whatnot but we found this bad boy for $25 and thought it was a good investment seeing as how it matches my other furniture!! So there is my present now we just have to work on what to get for the Worker Bee. So please post any and all suggestions.... but keep in mind we are being kinda cheap seeing as how there is Baby Bee to factor in!

July Update

2009-07-07T21:24:00.002-06:00

Hooray! I am getting better at posting! So..... in recent news. Worker Bee and I got to go to the hospital again last night because Baby Bee has decided that it needs to make its debut NOW! I will be 31 weeks on Friday the 10th so the doctors and nurses voted against this and gave me yet another shot of Terbutaline. Now.... Normally this would be fine and dandy but Dr. Mikel was also kind enough to advise the nurse to let me have an Ambien since my contractions had been going on for 2 days. Of course sleep is ALWAYS welcome so I gladly accepted. Well we get discharged at about 1:30 a.m.and I decide that I should probably eat something since I had dinner at 5:30. Well I take the pill come home and make/eat a breakfast sandwich. And then I feel the drugs actually kicking in and poor Worker Bee just sat there not really knowing what to do with/for me to make it better. Now for those of you who don't know Terbutaline makes your heart rate increase by about 30-40 BPM. So not only was Baby Bee getting hyper so was the Queen Bee =) So I tell Josh how I need to go on a walk to feel better and proceed to just get up and walk to bed where I felt AWESOME *sarcasm* and decided that a walk was out of the question. Long story short, I babbled on for about 2 hours while Worker Bee watched Iron Man and I didn't even doze off till 4 a.m. Ah the miracles of modern medicine. BUT I am doing ok as is the whole Bee family and Baby Bee has finally settled down. Hopefully this round lasts longer that 3 weeks which is that last time we went to the hospital for the same thing!

Baby Bump/Uniform Pics

2009-06-28T15:04:00.005-06:00

So.... I have been getting a few requests that I show my ever-growing baby bump. So, to those of you asking, this had better keep you happy. Also I got a picture of the Worker Bee in his cute new work uniform!! Kind of exciting!! This is me at 29 weeks, which is 7 months and 1 week. The Worker Bee has been at his new job for almost 1 whole week now and he is slowly adjusting to the change in his schedule. Hooray! Well more updates to come later on!!

New Jobs/Crazy Hours

2009-06-24T10:53:00.002-06:00

Sorry again about not posting! I will get better at this stuff! Quick recap.... This past weekend we got to go to Orlando to see Worker Bees sister get married. It was so exciting and special and we were so lucky to be able to go! A week before that the Queen Bee had what I thought was cramps for 3 days so we went to Urgent Care. Well that doctor decided that since my pain was in one area I probably had appendicitis. BAD IDEA! So we get told that since they don't have the machines to do a detailed ultrasound that we should go to ER. Well we did and from there we found out that it was NOT my appendix. It was Baby Bee trying to escape early. I was having contractions. I am almost 30 weeks now so the nurses didn't like that and gave me a nice shot and sent me home. Now for the update on the Worker Bee.... We got home Sunday from Florida and on Monday night he got to do his first graveyard shift! He left at 9 p.m. and returned home at 5 a.m. on Tuesday which was harder than he thought. Last night he did a LOT better. It's weird not seeing each other as much since we had the same work schedule for the last 7 months but we know that this is a good opportunity for him and where he is meant to be right now! Well more to come later on and sorry agian for the delay!

Baby Roller

2009-05-01T23:58:00.004-06:00

So... again I have been slacking at this blogging stuff. Oops. However it was not entirely my fault. I had a doctor's appointment and they mentioned some things in that medical way that doctors do and it scared me a LOT. So much that I called my wonderful momma and started bawling but, her being the amazing person she is shared her own personal experiences with me and it made me feel much better. And then I also got to talk to my sister the MomBabe who let me know that sometimes when doctors say things it's more of a pre-caution so they don't get sued. So to both of you THANKS! I got all my crying out and feel much better and just blessed that we have a baby on the way. So I figured with that I would post some pics of said child.... However if anyone reading is expecting its gender to be revealed you will be sorely disappointed as that fact is a surprise to us all! HA! The top one is a profile pic of Baby Bee, who appears to be punching me. The next is Baby Bee scolding us with its pointer finger. BB is saying "I caught you looking at me".... Little does Baby Bee know that we monitor it all the time. Just not with such advanced technology. I will post more later when my brain is fully awake. Goodbye till then! p.s. thanks again MomBabe for making my blog very cute XOXOXOXOXO

Birthday/Easter Recap!

2009-04-17T13:34:00.003-06:00

So I figured that since both of these events happened last week I should stop slacking and post about them already! Last Friday was my 24th birthday! My little sisters, Mermaid, Lamb-y Pie Lady and I decided to go to some garage and yard sales to look for some cheap furniture! Well I woke up to it drizzling RAIN. Now for some people this might have put a damper *ha ha* on their day but here in AZ we looooooove the rain! So instead we decided to go birthday shopping at IKEA. I got 2 nightstands which I was so excited about but then Worker Bee got a little confused as to why I bought myself a gift that wasn't already assembled to which I responded that HIS present to me would be putting them together! The sisters and I also went to buy me some maternity clothes which by now are greatly appreciated by my ever-growing belly. There are no pictures of said clothes because when I put them on I look.... well pregnant. And since I am new at this whole getting bigger thing, it makes me feel a little chunky. So next post there will be some pics! That evening Worker Bee and Queen Bee got all dolled up and after dinner, met up with my mom to see the Easter Pageant. We are very blessed to have my dad and 2 little sisters in the pageant again, and it was the Worker Bee's very first time seeing it.
The Sunday following was Easter and as I have previously said it is my favorite holiday! Easter is such a wonderful holiday because we get to celebrate the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ and all of the wonderful blessings that are in store for us! I got to teach my primary kids this lesson and remind them all that the bunnies, chickens and Easter Eggs are all symbols of new birth! After church the Bee family got to go to my mom's for Easter Sunday Dinner which was fabulous, thanks again mom!! I know that Easter is about rebirth but I would like to let all my friends and family that I love being reminded at holidays how blessed I am to have you all!

Sick.... what else?!

2009-04-16T11:39:00.002-06:00

So.... As some of you know I have been extremely sick during my pregnancy! Well, I am finally feeling good enough to make a new post thanks in part to my new friend called a Reglan/Zofran pump. A nurse came over to my place yesterday, gave me a shot and then asked me to poke myself in the leg with a small needle that would leave a tiny piece of plastic tubing through which my medicine is emitted in low doses throughout the day. This is a very big deal because I am not god with needles AT ALL! But it's going great! I already feel way better so I will be posting again in the next couple days with a better story than my random illness!

2009-04-07T12:05:00.000-06:00

Real First Post

2009-04-07T11:39:00.001-06:00

I thought that since Easter is right around the corner that now would be a good time to make my first official POST! YEAH! Easter is my all-time favorite holiday and NOT just because my birthday always happens to be near-by. Last year I spent mine and Mermaid's birthday in Orlando, Florida when we were working at Walt Disney World! It was pretty fun (and free) to be able to go to the parks on our birthdays! We got special pins that let everyone know it was all about us. This year I am married now and back in good old AZ and I, the Queen Bee and my hubby the Worker Bee are expecting a BABY BEE! So..... this year we will have to do things a wee bit differently. Since my favorite b-day eatery Matta's is now closed we are still debating where to have my birthday dinner and the choices are becoming slim, so, I am open to suggestions feel free to comment!