Banging my head on a wall.

Now after my nice Father's Day post... what is really going on lately.

Isn’t insanity described as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? I’m going insane.

Last week we moved Carter into Jenna’s room, into a big bed, which he LOVES!

We then moved Logan out of the bassinet and into the crib.

It’s been a move I’ve been anticipating for awhile, and we finally got around to it.

Now I want things back the way they were!!!!

Do you know how many times I have said, “GO TO SLEEP!!!”

Or “GET BACK IN YOUR BED!”

Or “NO MORE PLAYING!”

Or “IF YOU DON’T DO ANY OF THOSE THINGS YOU WILL GET A TIME OUT!”

About a thousand. At least. Okay maybe not but it feels like it.

And guess what??? Does anything change? Do they listen? That’s a big fat NO.

The thing is, it is totally cute. They are like the bestest of friends sharing their room together. They play so well, they have a BALL! One problem though, they're supposed to be sleeping! I’m okay if they want to play for a little while, and then go to sleep. But after repeated warnings and time-outs and they still act deaf, it drives me crazy. Their room is a complete disaster, every book is off the shelf, all the clothes are on the floor, all the toys are out of the toy box. I almost twist my ankle every time I walk in there. And yet I have no energy to clean it (or make them clean it) because it is kind of a nice feeling as I listen to them out of their beds, playing happily, that the room could not get any worse.

After a couple days I finally put Carter in the crib during nap-time. Jenna and Carter in the same room for NAPS! What world was I living in!

Anyway I hope the novelty wears off soon. Cause them going to sleep at 10:30 to 11 every night and waking up early every morning makes them a bit testy. ME TOO.

Oh and did I mention Logan hates the crib??

He’s getting better but he fell asleep so well in his bassinet... but ever since the switch to the crib he cries and cries. It’s exhausting. He stopped sleeping through the night, too. However, I tell myself it will get better cause last night, out of the blue, he slept from 9:30 p.m. until 8 this morning!! That was totally sweet, Logan.

Anyway. Enough complaining. It’s just harder than I thought. How do other people’s kids share rooms I’d like to know.

Okay I tried posting Logan laughing again. There's a better one but it's kinda noisy so hard to hear him laugh, so I just did this one. Plus at the end of this one Jenna runs right into Grandpa's leg.

Happy Father's Day

Nate is an awesome daddy, the best daddy. Watching him with our kids makes my heart melt. He always tells me "THIS is what it's all about" referring to our kids. Happy Father's Day!

And what an awesome daddy I have, too.


And father-in-law, who made Logan giggle for the first time! I already tried to post the clip but it wouldn't work, I'll try again later!

Hungry Mama

Today I was heading to the redbox to pick up a chick flick and it was around lunchtime and I saw the McDonald’s and I thought, why NOT. So I was getting ready to go through the drive-thru when Jenna and Carter started going at it AGAIN they had been squabbling like the whole time we’d been in the car and were driving me CRAZY! I’d already gotten mad at them a few times so in a fit of exasperation I said, “That’s IT we are NOT going to McDonald’s!” Except I really was hungry so I thought dang why did I say that, and they were crying in the back, and I was debating what I should do and suddenly THIS comes out of my mouth,

“OKAY we will get food at McDonald’s but if you guys fight ONE MORE TIME I am going to EAT ALL YOUR FOOD!”

I couldn’t believe I just said that! Suddenly I get these images in my head of Jenna and Carter staring at me with their mouths hanging open in shock as I stuff their food in my face, French fries dangling out of my mouth with fistfuls of chicken nuggets in my ketchup-smeared fingers and I could not keep a straight face. I sat there, trying to hide my laughter, while Jenna and Carter are probably thinking WHAT is going on with mom is she mad, is she happy? Seriously though, they were angels all through the drive-thru, I guess it was a good enough threat.

And when they're NOT fighting, Jenna and Carter...

Try on swimsuits.


Play in "tunnels." (I put the blanket up like that and they thought it was like the coolest.)


Bend themselves in half.


And dote on their brother.



Wish they could treat each other as nicely as they treat the baby!

Check out these cheeks.


And here's a video clip, Logan kept sliding himself down the couch, and Carter thought it was the funniest thing ever!

I'm like a little slug.

I’m just really frustrated. I don’t know why I thought I could just pick up where I left off months ago when I stopped running cause fatigue overtook me when I was a couple months pregnant with Logan.

It’s been HARD getting back into running again.

I’m not gonna lie I am way slower at this point than I thought I would be. And my "fast" running is actually pretty slow, too, so you know I am talking SLOW.

That said, I have been running 3 miles a day, 5 days a week for the last month or so. I even ran 5 miles a couple Saturdays ago, and I really enjoyed it.

But I am SO SLOW!!!!!!!!!! These runs are not easy for me. I’m so tempted to just walk several times all throughout. The couple times I’ve been able to run outside though, I’ve loved it and go faster, so maybe it’s just the treadmill. Still. I am 95% sure I’m doing the Top of Utah half. Only 95% cause I haven’t signed up yet!! So why haven’t I signed up?

I’m positive I’ll be able to do a half marathon by then, and by “do” I mean “finish” but as much as I tell myself I’m doing it just to “finish” it is NOT TRUE. If it were my first ever half, maybe, but I’ve done a couple before plus 4 marathons, I’m NOT doing it just to do it, I’m doing it to get a good time! But from the way things are going that may not happen... and I'm afraid to sign up because I don't want to do a half if I'm going to get a horrible time, yaknow? I guess I’m just impatient, I want to be able to run how I did pre-baby. I don’t think I’m giving myself enough time to build up from almost nothing. Maybe running a half 5 months after having a baby is just impractical for my body. Anyway I’m venting today because I couldn’t even get myself to go 3 miles on the treadmill today. I only did 2, and that was walking the last little bit. I was so mad at myself.

I’m NOT doing this to torture myself, believe it or not I love running and the way it makes me feel. I’m not doing this to lose those last 10 lbs that are STUCK to me (I tell myself it must be the nursing that is clinging to those fat stores okay and maybe the chocolate) but all right that’s a lie, of course it’s about weight a little... less than you’d think though, running is for my psychological health mostly. Something about it makes me so happy, sorta giddy. "Runner's high" is a true phenomenon.

Okay I still have what, 12 or 13 weeks, some training schedules don’t even start until 12 weeks prior. I think I need to bite the bullet though and get up early so I can run outside, I do ten times better outside. The only thing is, I would prefer, no, I MUST nurse right before I run and that’s hard to plan.

All right enough frustrated talk I’m gonna be positive from now on and just do what I can do and be happy about it, right? Yeah. I get so excited about running and then let my limitations depress me, well I will just stay excited about running no matter what. I’ve got to remember it takes me awhile to build up, and consistency is definitely the key, so I will just KEEP GOING. I will do the half marathon and enjoy doing it no matter my time. I can always do other ones later. Besides from experience I know there are definitely good days and bad days in running and today was just a bad one. Okay are you bored yet, don’t worry I’m done!

I'm bored, so here's some pictures!

The other day Carter wanted me to help him pull down his pants. I was thinking he just wanted to take his clothes off, like he does every day, (that's why most pictures of him he's in his diaper) until he says, "Mama I go potty." But he doesn't go to the bathroom, he walks to the Halloween bucket. Yeah I grabbed my camera.




His diaper IS on, just so you know. So then he stands up and goes "I flush it." And pushes an imaginary lever.

Interesting.

So today I actually put him in underwear just to see what would happen. He peed in them and went right on playing without saying anything, he could have cared less. I don't think he's ready!

Here's Logan enjoying some tummy time, and his fingers.


Picnicking in the backyard.



Carter needed a haircut. This is the before picture.


Halfway done!


By the way, those pictures do NOT accurately portray Carter's attitude during his haircut. He HATES them. The second I turn on the clippers he cries "OW OW OW OW!" before I even TOUCH his hair.

The after. He's ready to take a bath!


Right before bedtime the kids wanted to eat cereal. Nothing like Marshmallow Matey's in the evening. Outside. Do you like how they're eating out of tupperware.




So while we're outside Carter goes, "Mommy, I go touch the garbage man." He thinks the neighbor's camper is the garbage truck. So I told them they could go touch it and hurry and come back!


Then I tried to get all three kids for a nice picture. It was tough.




Jenna draws people now, it makes me laugh every time. She doesn't ever connect the circle, she draws a little squiggle on top for hair, and they all look sad. What would psychologists say about that??


This is my brother Kenny, he just graduated high school yesterday. YEAH KENNY! WE DIDN'T THINK YOU COULD DO IT- uh, i mean we always knew you would do it!!! :) :) just kiddin, bro.


We went out to eat to celebrate.





And just when we were done eating, Jenna pooped in her underwear.

Miss you Nate!!!!!

3-year-olds say the darndest things

I’ve been writing down funny/cute things Jenna says for the last little while and I thought it'd be fun to share. Whenever people would post funny things their kid said on their blog, I would think no WAY a little kid ACTUALLY talks like that??? I am now a believer because I swear to you these are almost exact quotes.

Driving in the car:

“Mom, the clouds are like ‘tatoes!” (as in potatoes.)

“Huh! Yeah, they are!” (I was impressed by her comparison!)

“We need to get the clouds, mom.”

“We do?”

“Yeah. But they’re too tall. We need a ladder. We need to get a ladder at our home.”

“Okay.” (Hey I’d cross that bridge when I got there.)

Then she goes, “Mom, we need a string to get the clouds. Cause I need to climb the string, and you can climb the ladder.”

Well I certainly appreciated she was giving ME the ladder!


Different day, driving in the car:

"Mom, the sunshine is following me! He likes me!”

The best part is, she sounded just absolutely flattered.


Pushing Jenna in the swing:

“Mom, we eat breakfast.”

Not sure where that came from, I said, “Yes we do.”

“But we don’t eat poo-poo. Just breakfast.”

REALLY not sure where that came from!


Jenna giving the prayer at lunchtime:

“Please bless the food, and please bless the monsters outside.”

And I haven’t even taught her to love her enemies yet.


Driving in the car again. There’s a red truck in front of us:

“Mom watch out for that red car!!!!! MOM, watch OUT!!”

Isn’t she a little young to be telling me how to drive?


Jenna running around the house with a shoelace dangling from her hand:

“Come back here, puppy!! Come back!”

Good to know her imagination is working well!


With a blanket around her neck like a cape:

“Look mom, I’m the Great Super-Jenna!”

I will tell you again I am not making this stuff up. She comes up with it on her own.


Passing the Bountiful temple while driving in the car AGAIN! (I guess she has a lot of time to think while in the car!)

I said, “Look Jenna that’s where daddy and mommy got married!”

Jenna says, “I want to get married in the temple!"

Then in her sweetest voice, "Carter, you want to get married with me?”

THEN she says, like an afterthought,

“I need to get some glass slippers.”


Today, at lunch:

Jenna asked for another hot dog. So I gave her some of mine. Her response?

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

And she says this with a straight face like it’s not even supposed to be funny!!!!

She kills me!

Alllll by myyyyself! (if only you could see my celine impersonation)

I promised Nate I'd do a post tonight, and seeing as it's midnight in Ohio, I better HURRY!!!

Yeah Nate's gone for work again I HATE IT! It's just me and 3 little kids for 2 weeks and it really stinks. I miss him so much. But I'd much rather have the kids with me then be ALL by myself. They're my little buddies.

I'm really gonna throw this together cause I just put Logan down and he's crying, dangit. Sometimes this bedtime thing works and sometimes it doesn't!! He slept through the night for like a week, then stopped for a few days, and then last night was an 8 hour night, wahoo!! He's still in the bassinet though I think things will be better once he's in the crib. Just putting off getting Carter's big boy bed together... yeah I'm anxious to get Logan in his own room, but the thought of Jenna and Carter sharing a room together???? It's gonna be an adventure.

ANYWAY here's some pictures for ya Nate.

I was going through some hand-me-downs for the kids from my sister-in-law (THANK YOU KELLIE!!!) and found Jenna and Carter like this.


Jenna then begged Carter for the rest of her outfit. That's better!


This is the cute outfit Logan wore today.



Saying good-night to daddy.



While I was talking to Nate, Jenna started "reading scriptures." Carter's listening intently.



Since you left on Monday, Nate, Carter's puzzle skills have really taken off.



Just kiddin' the kids wanted me to do this puzzle today, those are MY skills. But Carter's working on it, too.

Okay I'm gonna try to post EVERY DAY while Nate's gone. After all, what else will I do with my evenings? Besides crash in bed cause the kids wore me out?? No I'm doing just fine cause my in-laws and parents aren't far. Thanks again, Grandma Pam for giving me lots of free time today! Yeah I just might survive without my hubby. Barely.