bored time = fort time

last week i made the mistake of remarking to ben that i was grateful that our kids hadn't been legitimately sick in quite a long time.... cut to caleb barfing his guts out starting at 7am this morning.

so while i clean up, disinfect and console the poor lad i thought i'd showcase some pictures that ben took of the kiddos last week when we built yet another fort in our apartment.

why so many forts, you ask?

well it's hotter than the devil's eardrum here, so no playing outside....even if we wanted to play outside, we don't have a yard and i'm tired of having to take on the role of "poop patrol" so my kids don't step in our neighbors' dogs poop....we took a break from swimming lessons for two weeks....we're watching a whole lot less of t.v. here to bring in more family interaction and avoid the temper tantrums that erupt whenever we have to turn it off....we can only do so many art projects...


and we're BORED, um 'kay?


{this is where our family/friends in UT can feel happy that their indoor days are over & ours have just begun. enjoy it, friends. you've earned it!}

let the wild rumpus start!

reading time at our house is usually quiet and peaceful.


unless ben is in charge of reading time.


he likes to add different words in that get more ridiculous as the book goes on.



their favorite book to read together has led to an emergency bathroom break on more than one occasion for poor caleb.
he has his mother's bladder {which normally holds together just fine until the uncontrollable giggles start}.
this was where ben busted out the word "underpants" which gets caleb every time and we had to pause so he could calm down before things got out of control.



but my favorite part of reading time?
is when ben reads the words
"and Max the king of all wild things was lonely
and wanted to be where where someone loved him best of all"
and caleb always snuggles down close
and says,
"just like my dad loves me."


i hope our King of the wild things
always comes back
to where his supper will be waiting for him...and it will still be hot.

peek-a-boo

happy weekend!

in order to throw an elephant across the room.

a couple of weeks ago, mr. caleb had a physical therapy evaluation.

this was at the request of ben and myself, who have felt for a while now that even though he is out of the woods with his seizures, his physical strength is not up to par with where his peers are.

we've signed him up for tumbling and soccer, hoping that these activities would help strengthen him, but the more he got into these activities the more we felt like something extra was needed. during each soccer game he ran his heart out, and on more than one occasion he came up to me after the games and said, "mom, i'm so tired. i just can't run as fast as these kids."

it was hard to hear him say that, even though ben and i could see that he was struggling to keep up. he ran as fast as he could and would come home exhausted.

ben and i are really careful what we say around him when it comes to these concerns because we don't want him thinking that he doesn't have the potential to be just as fast or as strong as his friends. we try to just encourage his efforts and work with him at home, under the guise of "fun" like wrestling and obstacle courses and racing and getting "big muscles like dad."

as caleb and i walked into the physical therapy building, i began to second-guess myself. we were walking behind a girl who was probably just around caleb's age and had to hold her mother's hand as she steadied herself to take each step. her legs were bent in angles they weren't supposed to be and wiggled back and forth as she balanced on her tip toes.

i looked down at my little boy who was walking perfectly fine and worried that i would be looked at by the physical therapists as an overprotective mom, or that i was hyper-sensitive because of caleb's past.

well, we were already there, so we went ahead with the appointment and i decided that i could let the therapist make the decision.

it was an hour long appointment, and as we got to the end of that hour i was grateful that i listened to my intuition. caleb tested physically much lower than he should have, and qualified for weekly appointments.

the therapist remarked that she felt he was probably lacking strength due to the fact that he never crawled. he bum scooted {which was hilarious to watch, especially when he went really fast...we called it "warp speed scooting"} and so he lacked the strength that most kids acquire during crawling, pulling up to cruising, etc.

so anyway, he'll start next week and i'm excited for him to start. he's excited too, when i explained to him that he gets to go and do a bunch of fun things and get even BIGGER muscles than he already has {i love what motivates a 5 year old}.

as we walked out of the doors and were talking about all of the things he would be able to do with his huge muscles he said,

"i can't wait for my huge muscles! then i'm going to be strong enough to throw an elephant across the room!"

and i laughed, but didn't correct him. because who knows?

maybe someday he will.

the girl who hates tutus.

traditional father's day picture 2010

if you're thinking to yourself  

"yikes, are these the best she could get?"

just wait until i post the outtakes.

{except for the nose-picking picture, i just couldn't resist.}

how do you know? {a father's day tribute}

 

because when you're with him,

and watching him with them,

you realize that through his actions

the laughter and the games and the wrestling

the teaching and the inspiring and the listening

he is causing you want to dig deeper in your own role

to try harder, talk softer, be more patient, more grateful

enjoy it all just a bit more

that through his actions as a father, 

you are becoming a better mom.

that's how you know he's a good dad to your children.

{this is my attempt at not re-posting my favorite father's day post....for the 3rd year in a row. }

happy father's day to all of you amazing fathers out there!!

on the edge

we have been busy lately.

well, that's not entirely true.

it's funny though, with the days that are completely interrupted in the middle by swim lessons, then baths, lunch, nap/quiet times, while i try to get myself ready for the day {at 2pm} and somewhere fit my exercise in all of it, it has felt busier than normal.

i have a lot rumbling around in this brain of mine and just want to write write write it all out.  but i won't, yet.  i have to wait until i'm really ready, or it all comes out mixed up and confusing. 

i feel like if there were ever an award for a random blog handed out, i might just win.  sometimes i feel like i'm all over the place.  yes, this is where i write about my children, and my husband.  our daily life and what we are up to.

but that's not all there is to me.  there is depth that goes beyond what's cooking {or most likely not cooking} for dinner, and laundry and looking for a new place to put down roots and checking the grammar on my husband's 15 page papers. there is curiosity, and joy and sadness and wondering and opinions and insight.

some of it is extremely personal and i'm not sure how much i will share or how open i will be, but i feel like it's coming.  i feel like i've got to get it out.  and see if there's anyone else who agrees, disagrees or can relate to any of it.

and if not, that's okay too.  though i think the hope through blogging is that we put a piece of ourselves out to others with a desire for more connections sometimes.  but if that's not there at the end of it all, i will still write.  because it's good for me and i love it.

so while i'm sitting here on the edge of almost,

here are some fun bath time pictures to enjoy.  my two fair-skinned kids have become brown babies all within a couple of weeks.  

i seriously adore these two.

queen of hearts

i don't' know what's been going on with this gal lately, but she's been refusing to sleep.

she normally goes to bed anytime between 7-7:30 and wakes up around 8am.  naps for about two hours during the middle of the day.  

for the past week she has been up in her crib until about 11:00 each night.  11!  that makes for 4 hours of play time in the crib.  and i don't go in there because once i do, it sets off the wailing and gnashing of teeth, but i sure feel like a negligent mom leaving her in there.  she has books and stuffed animals to play with and she sounds like she's having a great time....

but why isn't she sleeping??

i looked up how much sleep a lady her age should be getting each night and before these past few days of dabbling in the night owl life she was right on target.  i tried keeping her up later, having her nap earlier in the day....nothing is working.

anyone have any idea what's going on?  anyone else have their 15 month old do the same thing?

on becoming proactiv.

i wasn't going to do this.  i didn't want to, really.  

i'm not her:

or her:

 

or her:

 

or her:

but,

i am me.

{i know what you're thinking and you're absolutely right!  those ladies don't hold a candle to my beauty.}

and i'm not sure if i ever struggled with "adult acne" per se, but speaking quite honestly here...i can't remember a day when i didn't have at least one pimple.  and speaking even more honestly, i usually would have about 3-5 pimples on my face at any given time.  sometimes more, sometimes less.

for the past 8 years, poor ben has endured many of my rants, vents and more often than not--whines regarding this problem.

they often sounded something like this,

{enter whiny voice here. if you need an impression, call ben.  he will be happy to oblige.  his phone number is:  920-378-likeiwouldputhisnumberonthisblog}

"oohhhhhhhhhhh, life is sooooooooo unnnnnfaaaaairrrrrrrr.  wwwwwhhhhhhheeeennnn am  i not going to have any zzzzzzziiiiiiittttttssssssss?"

 

about 3 years ago, when ben was only 5 years into the 8 years of my whining, he said that women at his {then} workplace all swore by proactiv.  but being the stubborn fool that i was, i thought that my situation wasn't "extreme" enough to need proactive.  

cut to 3 years later, i'm online signing up for my new proactiv account.  i was skeptical, but was willing to give it a try.  i wanted to use it for at least a full month, to make sure i was using it through that lovely week.....where hormones....are more present....than the other 3 weeks of the month.

and what did i think?  

well here i am 6 weeks later, and just ordered my second set.  {i actually only wash my face with it once a day, so it lasted longer than the normal.}

and i LOVE it.  i go to swim lessons with the kids, i've gone to the store, and out & about completely make-up free.  and completely pimple free. 

am i getting anything from writing this?

{ummmm, did i mention that i'm not any of those above girls?}  

no i'm not.  no compensation, no referral discounts.  nothing.  i just wanted to share it with any of you out there who have struggled with the same thing that i have.  occasional pimples, occasional break-outs.  nothing extreme, but enough to be completely annoying.  

sometimes i just need someone i know personally to tell me that a product works in order for me to take the plunge, so that's what i'm doing. 

and as a side note:  yes i have had to tell ben {repeatedly} that he was right, and i should have listened sooner.  and quite honestly i'm more than happy to do it to make up for all of the unnecessary whining. 

so to have it in writing....  

dear ben, my darling husband, 

you were right.  i was wrong.  and i should have listened sooner.  and i will listen better the next time you suggest something.  {unless it's about how to do my hair, or decorate our apartment, or dress our children.  because come on, let's be rational.}

love, your clear-skinned-whine-free {about this anyway :)} wife




***p.s. just in case you're worried about trying it & then having to commit to it being sent to you every month, i bought mine first off of amazon.com, from an individual one-time seller.  it didn't have all of the amazing perks that come from ordering straight from the website {a travel-size kit or an extra moisturizer}, and would recommend doing it that way for first-time users. 

swimming part 2: action shots