ZOO

A few weeks ago Brigitte and I took the kids down to the Zoo. It was an adventure with 4 kids in tow, but they all enjoyed it. All Boston wanted was to ride on the train and get cotton candy. Lincoln and Brooklyn enjoyed the scenic route in the double stroller.

Happy Birthday Lincoln

Our little man is now one years old. Time has flown by and the days of getting up every two hours to feed have quickly turned into a full nights sleep and tons of memories. I think it is amazing how quickly a baby grows, this past year has been filled with milestones and achievements for Lincoln. While I do remember the days of being a newly married couple, I would never change the life that we have made for ourselves. Children are a blessing and forever change your life, as our children grow and learn new things Ben and I also grow and learn.

Happy Birthday Lincoln, we love you and are so happy you are a part of our family.

Love Mom, Dad, and big sister

Get me out!

I am sad to say that the times of putting Lincoln in his bouncer are now over. All he wants to do is crawl around in get into things. Besides if I do put him in the bouncer this (pictures) happens. I guess this is why it says "never leave child unattended".

Bath Time

This has to be my favorite time of day! Boston and Lincoln are such water babies I have a hard time pulling them out of the tub. I also have to say that Boston really enjoys taking a bath with Lincoln only for the fact that she gets to hold him and "be in charge." Oh and just a side note, isn't a baby bum too cute. The only time when it is okay to have dimples on the lower cheeks:)

Back Seat Driver

Boston loves to take Lincoln for rides on her 4-wheeler. I think this is one of Lincoln's favorite things to do outside. If Boston gets on the 4-wheeler without him he will crawl all over the yard trying to chase after her.

Don't BEE Scared

A few Saturday's ago we walked to the park to register Boston for AYSO soccer and as we were walking by we noticed a beehive chained to a tree. Not so unusual I know, but the thing that made me really look twice was the fact the kids were playing in the swarm and not getting stung. So naturally Boston wanted in on the action. She got right up to the hive and let the bees land on her, in fact she was even going to open the lid to look inside the box.

I have to tell you I was really nervous at first, but after a seconds of them flying by buzzing your face you kind of get used to it. It was one of the best experiences that Boston and I could of had. After all, it isn't everyday that you get to hold bees and play in their swarm for fun.

Sleep Over

While Ben was in Moab having his fun Boston and I had a sleep over in the front room. She was in charge of making the bed (her choice of pillows to sleep on) and then we made chocolate covered strawberries. Surprisingly she made it all the way to 11:30 pm and then crashed. It was fun to spend the night with just the two of us.

MY Wild Night

upper left hand corner is my 7mm kidney stone
lower left hand corner is what was left of it for me to pass

For about eight months I have been having problems with the right side of my back. The pain was unbearable (I was sick to my stomach and could not function) and would last for a few hours each time it happened. I finally got so sick of it and went to the North Ogden Clinic only to have the doctor tell me it was a muscle spasm in my back because there was no trace of blood in my urine. Although I knew better I trusted him and left for home. Well, the back "spasm" episodes kept occurring closer and closer together. Then Tuesday night at about 6 pm I felt the back pain coming on again, but this time it did not go away it just kept getting worse. At about 1:30 am on Wednesday I had finally had enough and went to the ER. Again they tested my urine and surprise surprise there was not any blood.

Meanwhile I am sitting in an ER room feeling like my right kidney was being ripped out and begging for more medication. 10mg of morphine-still no relief, 1 mg of dilaudid-still no relief, another 1 mg of dilaudid-went from 20 out of 10 pain to a 7 out of 10, and finally a few mg's of toradol-the pain finally subsided. Then as I am trying not to pull my hair out my oxygen level went down to 78 %, so they put oxygen on me. Meanwhile Ben is trying to entertain the kids, which might I mention were so good for being woke up at 1:30 in the morning, and was trying to get the nurse and doctor to give us an update.

Needless to say 2 X-rays, 1 CT scan, 7 hours in the ER, 4 hours in a room upstairs, and 1 one and a half hour surgery later my 7mm (size of a marble) kidney stone was removed all after trying to pass it over an 8 month period.

This was the most painful thing I have ever had. I would take all natural labor and birth times 10 any day. I am feeling a whole lot better, still really sore and taking some meds. for it, but am happy it was taken out. However, the only bad thing about feeling better was that all of the medication that they gave me made not be able to walk very well and made me throw up, but was a good trade in the end.

Living Planet Aquarium

On Tuesday Ben decided to take the day off work to spend some much needed quality time with the family. He surprised Boston by taking her to school, which was the highlight of her day, and then going to the aquarium in Sandy. Boston and Lincoln loved all of the exhibits, although she was a little scared of the octopus. It was so nice to spend a whole day with just Daddy, no phones, no work, just the four of us.

Pictures

We finally got new pictures taken of the kids, thanks mom!

A Little White Trash

Shelly the truck, Ben, and Boston



Artist at work

Poor Ben, those of you who know him can pick his truck out from a million miles away, but for some reason this truck (otherwise known as Shelly) is Boston's favorite. Boston will opt for Shelly over my nice, new, un-stinky, and might I add much safer car; maybe it is because Ben lets her shift for him. Boston talks to Shelly and tells her what a good truck she is and that she can't wait to drive her when she gets big. Little does she know now Shelly probaly won't even be alive at that point.

SO I guess you are wondering about the pictures. Well, this was Ben's idea of keeping Boston at bay while he worked on Shelly and I cleaned out my car. I know not the best idea on Ben's part, but Boston sure did enjoy it. So now instead of Shelly being a tri-color mutt, she has the new addition of reflective green, which moves her into the 80's era.

Way to go Dad -- at least that is what I said when the over spray painted his tires green and the dribbles of Boston spraying too close to the truck stained her skin for a week and ruined a pair of shoes. Hey, but it was fun for Boston -- we aim to please:)

Yum Yum

Lincoln has a new favorite food, Rice Krispies. He goes to town on these little things and would eat them all day if he could. The best part is when you first put them in his little holder, he dives in with the majority sticking to his face.

Carpet Burn

A few weeks ago Lincoln made his first attempts at crawling. Well, I don't know if I would call it "really" crawling, but he sure is making a good effort and keeping me on my toes. For some reason he is okay with army crawling all over the house and believe me he can drag himself just as fast. He loves to get up on all fours, but the second he attempts moving his arms in legs in coordination he face plants and continues on dragging himself. I love the fact that he is mobile, but am forced to quickly remember that everything is now within his reach, goodbye nice things for a few more years.

Score one for MOM

Yea....Not to toot my own horn, but toot toot! Lincoln's first words were Mama. Poor Ben is a little concerned because he does not want him to be too much of a mama's boy and I am already Lincoln's favorite. I just have this to say to him, "Boston said Dada first and has always had you wrapped around her little finger and I am pretty sure you will never be able to say no to her." He leaves all the dirty work up to me. Anyways I just had to bask in my glory that my little baby said Mama first.

Working Woman

So after all that school I have finally gotten a job. I am so excited to be working and the best part is that I get to stay home with my kids all day and work at night. This is really a great job, kick me if I ever complain, I work Monday and Wednesday nights for about 3 1/2 each and might take on two more nights if they make them available. The classes are for 16-99 year old's that are working to earn their diploma. I do not have to make any lesson plans or take home student work with me, which is the best reward in its self.

Dog Food

First, let me start off by saying that what I am writing is personal opinion and there is no "certified" evidence that this is true.

When Ben and I first were married we had two dogs (who were 6 weeks old) that we adopted from the pound named Daisey and Bo. They were both very healthy until Bo (who was almost 2 at the time) developed a limp. We took him into the vet and less than two weeks later he was diagnosed with bone cancer and was put to sleep. Really we thought nothing of it until Daisey develop epilepsy about a year later. We thought maybe it could be a genetic issue and left it at that. Fast forward a few years Ben's brother, mom, step-brother, and step-dad's dog's died of cancer. We then started talking about what could have caused this many dogs in such a short amount of time to all get cancer. The only common link was the dog food that all of us had been feeding them, so my father-in-law started asking around. After he talked to the vet a few times he started to discover that it may not be the brand of the dog food, but the ingredients (MEAT MEAL) in the food.

The problem with this ingredient is that MEAT MEAL is any kind of meat that is ground down into meal, this includes: dog, horses, cow, etc. and is not regulated by the FDA. Which may not seem so bad, but most of the time these animals are "put to sleep" or killed by way of an injection. The major concern with this is that the injection contains phenobarbital, which does not break down during the "mealing" process. Which also means that the drug phenobarbital is what is staying the the food and is being ingested by the dogs.

Our solution was to switch our dogs' food to something that did not contain any meat meal. I really can't say if this is the main cause of our dogs getting cancer or other health diseases, but Daisey has not had any seizures since we switched their dog food.

Bad Hair Day

So, let's just say that Lincoln is a little "hair challenged!" The first picture is just a small example of how bad his hair is when he wakes up. I do not know how he manages, but he ends up making a big knot in the little hair he has left. Then the second picture, this has to be the best look yet! He scoots himself into the corner of his crib until his head is wedged and then falls asleep and when he wakes up he resembles Don King.

The "5" tag
5 things I was doing 5 years ago*
*Working, Working, and Working
*Deciding if I wanted to go back to school
*Putting in a new sprinkling system and sod

5 things I did today
*Took Boston to Preschool
*Convert Word documents to PDF documents
*Apply for a job
*Pick Boston up from Preschool
*Visited my mom at work

5 things I would do with a million dollars
*Pay of Debt and invest
*Pay off our Parent's houses
*Have Ben quite his job
*Start a business
*Enjoy life a little more (I know money does not buy happiness, but it sure makes life a little easier. Besides it was probably a rich person that said that.)
*Extra-put money aside for each of our kids

5 places I've lived
*Ogden on Polk Ave (when I was little)
*North Ogden (where my parents still live)
*Ogden in our first house
*North Ogden (yes back at my parents while we were remodeling our house)
*Ogden on Marilyn Drive

5 jobs I've had
*Nordstrom's
*Ogden City
*Shrimp Boat Cafe
*Weber State (student) for eight years
*Slave to Boston, Lincoln, and Ben

5 things I want to be doing in 5 years
*Working (part-time if possible)
*Own a business
*Would love to have our house paid for
*Live in a different house
*Have "O" bills

5 people I tag
*Anyone who reads this

First Taste

This is Lincoln's first taste of applesauce the video it a little long, but is worth it for the faces that he pulls. Oh yeah, do not mind the bad manicure it was done by a 4 year old.

First

This is Lincoln's first taste of baby food (rice cereal). I do not think that he is buying the whole eating thing just yet.

Be Careful

Daddy's favorite thing to do with Lincoln and Lincoln's favorite thing to do with daddy.

Ben puts Lincoln's feet in his hand and balances him up in the air. It is really amazing! Lincoln will stand so still while Ben lifts him in the air, is swear it is the only time that I can get him to stay in one place. Amazingly Lincoln never falls, his legs never bend, and his body stays straight as a board.

My Little Artist

This is another of Boston's Christmas gifts (from Santa). She loves to paint and draw so we decided to get her a easel for Christmas. It has not been that much of a mess so far (moon sand takes the cake on that one) just a few paint splatters here and there, but we were smart and got the washable paint. See we are learning!

Poor Dog!

Our poor dog Daisey! She has to be the most tortured dog (next to our other dog Rosco) in the world. Anytime Boston gets the chance to dress her up she will seize the moment. For her couture line in this picture she dressed Daisey in a wizard cape and a pink skirt, she tried putting leggings on her but they just would not fit, imagine that! All I can say is that I am glad that we do not have a little dog that would actually fit into her clothes.