We Believe

I'm not sure who was more excited for primary this week, Camden or Dan and I.

Camden was asked to help in primary for the very first time by reading the first and second articles of faith.  I'm always grateful for situations that are perfect timing and topics for our family home evening.

We started Monday night and had him practice saying it several times a day. He memorized it right off the bat but just in case he got nervous we made a little cheat sheet for him to "read".

He did a great job and we are proud of him and his eagerness to learn.

Baby Cakes

Dear ASU teeny bopper who stood in line behind me at Ulta,

I heard you talking to "baby cakes" on the phone when you said it would be easier for all of us if I would have just left my screaming kids in the car.  That was definitely a valid point you had to offer.  But let me offer you a few others that would be easier for all of us as well.

1.  If you thought about what you said before actually letting it come out of your mouth.

2.  If these dishes piled high on my counter would wash themselves.

3.  If I wasn't up more than 7 times a night with my boys for the past (almost) two weeks.

4.  If the aforementioned boys were not up at 5:30 this morning.

5.  If Jace hadn't decided to play in the dog food right after Camden (without being asked-good job sweet thing) filled the bowl.

6.  If the 8 loads of laundry sitting on my couch would put themselves away.

7.  If the drugs my doctor gave me for so called bronchitis started working.

8.  If I never had to go back to Ulta in the first place to get a refund on the shampoo I was double charged for.

Thank you for the reminder about how much easier life could be, if only.

Sincerely,

The mom ahead of you in line with the screaming kids. 

Deja vu

With a lot of time and attention focused on Jace, Camden is feeling rather neglected.  He wants to be snuggled, he needs medicine, he needs a sippy cup.  Couple all those NEEDS with a lot of popsicles, Italian ice, pudding, jello, ice cream, juice, and staying home more than usual..you've got yourself a 3yr old monster(or Tiger if your friends mom is cooler than yours and paints faces).

Camden:  Mom I'm not tired.

Me: I'm sorry but it's 5am and you should be asleep.

Camden: But Mom, I'm not tired.

Me: It is too early to be talking to me.  You either go downstairs and sit by yourself, or go lay in your bed.

*********************

Me:(on the phone) Yes I'd like to....

Camden: (tugging on my pants) MOM MOM MOM MOM MOM

Me: (on the phone)make an appointment for my son....

Camden: (hitting me) MOM MOM MOM

Me: (on the phone) I'm sorry can you excuse me for one second?

Me: Camden is the house on fire?

Camden: But Mom

Me: Camden is the house on fire?

Camden: But Mom

Me: Camden, when I am on the phone I don't want you talking to me unless the house is on fire.

************************

Camden: Mom I need a Buzz Lightyear for only me, not Jace.

Me: I'm pretty sure you don't need anything you don't already have.

Camden: Ya huh.

Me: I'm not going to buy another Buzz today.

Camden: Then I will buy it with some little monies in my pink a pank(piggy bank).

Me: After we get home and count your money we will talk about it.

Camden: You never want to talk to me. I can't talk to you in the morning.  I can't talk to you on the phone.  And now I can't talk to you in the car about Buzz.  You don't love me.  You only love Jace man and Daddy.  You never love me!

You were right mom, I did have kids that are just like me.  Dang!

Surgery

***This post was originally titled "T&A" meaning, "Tonsils and Adenoids" but Dan was quick to inform me that abbreviation meant something totally different***

We dropped Camden off at the sitter(Jace was hysterically crying for his "brudda") and made our way to the hospital by 8am.

Even though Dan was disgusted by the hospitals color choice for gowns, he kept Jace occupied by explaining everything included in his new attire. 

 

Jace did really well and only asked for food 15 minutes before heading back to the operating room.  We spoke with the surgeon one last time, met the anesthesiologist, and handed Jace to his new friend and nurse Dale.  I thought for sure he would hysterically cry because as of late I can barely make it to the bathroom alone, but he didn't make a peep.   Off he went with his bubbles and blanket in tow.

It wasn't long before he was in recovery and as we walked down the hall to see him, we could hear his new  funny voice screaming from his room.  The anesthesiologist said he had a ton of mucous and crap which had to be suctioned out before extubating him.  Other than that everything went great. 

Good bye tonsils and adenoids, hello narcotics!

Post operative he has been rather stubborn, ripping out two different IV's and refusing to swallow anything.  My favorite part of the day is when Dan brought Camden to see his brother.  The minute Camden walked in holding a Buzz balloon, Jace lit up.  He got a huge grin on his face and wanted Camden in bed with him. 

It has been challenging to say the least, to keep such a young guy hydrated when his throat hurts like the dickens.  Because he had gone more than 12 hours without any wet diapers the fun had to begin.  I basically get to pin him down and squirt 10cc of fluid in his mouth several times an hour.  I really think he wants to eat and drink(when Camden is doing it), but because it hurts he just puts it in his mouth and drools it all over himself.

Today is post op day 3 and things are still tough, but looking better.  He is in a Lortab trance because I'm giving it to him around the clock in order to stay on top of his pain.  But it is nice to be home and sleeping in our own bed.  We are anxious to have our rambunctious little guy feeling better and back to his normal good eating self.

Update Part 2

Jace Man keeps us on our toes and always smiling.  He is such a ham and a snuggle bug.  Most kids cause trouble behind the scenes hoping they won't get caught; to Jace, the more of an audience the better.  Stinker.

 If there are shoes lying around, Jace is the first one to try them on and walk off.  He could definitely teach me a thing or two about the right way to walk in heels.

All of a sudden his vocabulary has expanded.  He will still use the sign for "thank you", but is really starting to talk and piece together sentences.  He is yet to say Camden's name, but it's enough to melt your heart when he calls him "brudder".  Any words starting with "ch" like Chewie Dog or choo choo train are said with a make shift sound that comes from the back of his throat and out his nose(it's the most hilarious, throat clearing sound, ever). 

For the longest time Jace was a Mama's boy, lucky for all of us he has started sharing more of that love with his Dad.  He hates saying goodbye; dropping him off at Kathy's is a tragedy.  Nursery is a nightmare. And walking down the stairs without him can be disastrous. When he and I left for our sleep over on Sunday, he dropped to the ground in tears when he noticed Camden wasn't following.  Speaking of dropping to the ground, he has mastered the art of throwing tantrums and is quickly learning about time out. 

He loves trucks and trains or anything with wheels.  Dan says he has a natural ability to swing the golf club and is mesmerized when he sees it on TV.  He loves to snuggle with his "beede"(blanket) and give Chewie kisses.

His goal for this year is to be potty trained.  With his strong will and energy directed in the right path it's bound to happen. The last 21 months of our lives have been filled with more joy than we thought possible.  Our family wouldn't be complete without Mr. Jace, we sure love him.

Update Part 1

I find it easy to complain about motherhood and the difficulties that come with raising children.  But truth be told I am beyond grateful for the opportunity I have to be a mom and especially to my boys.

Camden is a sensitive little guy.  He wants nothing more than making his Dad proud and being a big helper for Mom.  He talks about having season tickets to BYU football, growing up and playing basketball and golf.  He loves to help cook in "Lee Lee's Cafe"(my kitchen), and washing windows is definitely his forte.

Lately he has been saying that Jace Man is his best friend; they do everything together.  He tries hard to let Jace be a part of all his adventures.  He has been a big helper when Jace cries at the babysitters house and during nursery.  He is such a nurturer and cares about other peoples feelings.

Last week I took Camden with me on a special trip to the dollar store, just he and I.  On the way over I had given him a Swedish fish from my purse.  I'll be darned if he didn't save it in his sweaty hand the entire trip in order to share it with Jace when we returned.  For a 3.5 year old, boy he sure is thoughtful.

Camden is is very observant and doesn't let things get past him.  He loves to "work" on the computer and use his art kit he got from Santa.  This year's goal is learning how to write his name and I'm confident he will reach it.

This month marks a big one for Camden as he moved up into Primary.  He is now a Sunbeam and takes it very serious.  I may or may not have peeked in the window several times just to see him sitting reverently with his arms folded on the front row.  The pressure is on, family home evening here we come.

We sure expect a lot from him and he has definitely made us proud.  He is a vital part of our family and we love him more everyday.

Sleep Issues

Jace has always had big tonsils.  He has been to the doctor several times because his big tonsils were infected.  His pediatrician suggested we try and wait as long as we could before doing anything about it.

The last 6 months I started noticing his tonsils were causing trouble.  He wasn't sleeping well.  And when he would wake up during the night we was dying for a drink of water.  He wasn't eating like he used to, but wanted to drink constantly.  He always had a runny nose.  His breathing was heavy.  I could just tell he wasn't a happy camper.  So I finally threw in the towel and asked for an ENT consult.

Because we had done this once before with Camden, I was aware what the ENT would say.  Too bad I still had to pay for an office visit just to be referred to the sleep center.  But I obliged and went through their hoops.  Luckily I have the worlds best ENT who refers us to the worlds greatest sleep center.

We saw the ENT Friday and had the sleep study Sunday.  It was a long day(no nap), and long night(nobody sleeps well at a sleep center).  But he/we made it through and went home and crashed.  He took a 4.5 hour nap and I went to bed at 8pm after he fell asleep for the night.

Today we made our way back to the ENT for his results.  It showed he had both central and obstructive sleep apnea.  So tomorrow we will schedule surgery and hope all of the obstructive will clear up.  As for the central sleep apnea...don't even get me started.

My Word

I've been thinking lately about my word for the year.  I have come up with several words and I'm yet to write any of them down.  Because you know, once you write it down it becomes official.  

I think it's about time I commit to a word.  This years word was not my first choice, or my second(because those two were easy), but because I know this word is what I need.  And my family needs me to have it too.  My word is:

POSITIVE.

I always tell myself that I'm a realist, not a pessimist(wink wink).  But the truth sunk in when Dan couldn't take it anymore.  I had been in a rotten mood all day.  Everyone was driving me crazy.  I was anxious, exhausted, and mean. We were heading to the mall and Dan challenged me to not say anything else negative the rest of the trip.  Which I could totally do by not saying anything at all.  But he took it a step further when he said I needed to say 5 positive things before we arrived to our destination.  This should have been easy, but I knew I had a problem when the only nice thing I could think to say was in regards to the color of a car.  And the closer we got to that car, the more thoughts swirled around in my head about not really liking it anyway.  Wow that is ridiculous.

It's easy for me to get caught up in the thick of thins things, and be negative.  So I'm gonna try harder to be better.

Hi my name is Lissa and I have a problem.  But not for long(deep breath).  Here's to the new year, a new word, a new outlook, and a new me.

New Obsession

Disclaimer:  I'm weird and well aware, there is no need to remind me.

I have been talking about making a bunch of freezer meals for quite some time now, but the task seemed daunting.  There was just something not fun about grocery shopping for several meals, preparing them, packaging them, cleaning up the mess, all while entertaining my children.  So one night, on a whim, I bought a package of disposable tins while at the store.  This created a monster in me.

As I prepared dinner that night I couldn't help but notice I made enough to feed an army.  Knowing darn well I would be the only one eating leftovers, I packaged them up for the freezer.  And the next day I did the same thing.  And again the next. And soon my freezer was full of meals almost effortlessly.

Dan mentioned how many times he has seen me looking in the freezer beaming with pride.  It's true.  It feels good.  And it feels really good on those nights when I don't want to cook, or go grocery shopping, or when I work and Dan is home.  And it feels even better when there is practically no mess to clean up after.

So not only does my freezer have the usual stuff like chicken breast, ground beef, fruit, spaghetti sauce, etc.  It is full of complete meals like chicken spaghetti bake, spinach stuffed shells, chicken pillows, alfredo penne pasta, chili, pot pie, fajitas, broccoli cheese soup, poppy seed chicken, enchilada sauce, and even sugar cookies.

And the best part is that they have all tasted great so far.  I just added an hour to the bake time(of the casserole type dishes), no need to thaw anything, just throw it in the oven.

I'm dying for some more items to package up, any suggestions?

Who needs heat in Arizona

We have had some bad luck with our heating and air conditioning in this house.  I dread turning it on each season for fear of it breaking.  Just about every season change something breaks, we spend several hundred dollars to fix it, and then start all over.  Of course it always happens during record breaking temps, on the weekend, or over a holiday.  This holiday weekend it was in the 20's at night and 40's during the day.

I have been using the oven an awful lot, and finding ways to make things work(like when my rolls wouldn't rise, I stuck them is front of the space heater).  Fortunately we had a space heater in every room, and the repair guy came today instead of tomorrow.  Unfortunately we had to replace the same part we already had because the last company didn't install it properly, and it was expensive!

Instead of telling the repair man goodbye I said, "See ya in 6 months".  He laughed but knows it's true.