From Then, Until Now.

I like blogging. But lately there has been no time for it.
The kids have spent a super-duper amount of time chillin' while Mommy frantically tries to stay organized.

To name just a few events that have been on my plate lately:
After what seemed like an eternity (but was actually six months), we refinanced the house. Hello to an awesome interest rate, and shorter amortization, and goodbye to PMI!

I cleaned, organized, and de-junked the entire basement so that Nate and Karen (Nick's little brother, and sister-in-law) could move in while they looked for an apartment.

I had a professional carpet cleaning company come out to clean the carpet in our family room. I was hoping their heavy-duty machine could get the stains out, that my own machine was failing at. No such luck. I guess I'll stick to my own machine from now on.

I was planning a vacation to California. And in preparation of said vacay; I had glitter toes done, my blue hair extensions put back in, and got eyelash extensions (which I love!).

Maybe it doesn't sound like much, but I have felt overwhelmed. Most days I don't know how it is possible for so many hours to pass, and for me to get so little done?

Reagan is good about entertaining herself. Elsa is not. I spend the better part of my day either holding/carrying one of my two babies.

I am sure things will get better once we get our backyard fence fixed, and I can send the kids outside to play.

It's pretty obvious that Cohen has two sisters. I have yet to dress him in any girl clothing, and I doubt I ever will. But I have had to wrap him in a pink towel after bathtime, on the days when all of the "boy towels" are in the laundry. And the other day Elsa was playing Barbies with him. He didn't seem to mind.


Here's a picture of him in a Duke Onsie, for good/masculine measure.


Last week we went to a park to celebrate a birthday. Reagan's friend, Connor, turned 4. It was also a sort of, farewell party, as Connor's family is moving next week.
Connor's Mom, Emily, has become such a good friend to me, and I am very sad to see her go!

The picture of Emily, Connor, Reagan, and Me; is not the best- I was editing my pictures, and I meant to delete it (because I had a better one)- but I accidentally deleted the good one. So, I HAD to post this one instead.

We also took the kids to the new City Creek shopping center in downtown SLC. It's a pretty cool place; but Nick and I spent the majority of our time keeping the kids out of the water features. When we go back, it will probably be sans children.
The girls did have a good time playing on the indoor playground.


Finally, I had a birthday. I turned 32. My birthday gift came from Home Depot. I asked Nick to install a door at the bottom of the basement stairs. Since Nick has sworn off of DIY home projects he bought the materials, and is having my little brother install the door. It's fine with me.
Nick made me brownie-batter pancakes as my birthday meal.
I also got a card.

Reagan wrote the word "MOM" all by herself. I was impressed!

I Love This Man.

Nick and I were married on March 5, 2005.

Seven years ago.
For our most recent anniversary we went to dinner.
It's the first time that we haven't been able to have a night away, to celebrate. And it may not be the last. That's OK though.
Initially, Nick made reservations for us to go to Bambara for dinner. But the day of, I was in more of a Sushi mood. So, we went to Takashi instead.
Nick has learned a lot about me since we got married. Especially that I change my mind, a lot. Fortunately, he is easy-going; and rolls with all of my punches.

I don't know who is more handsome in this picture?! Love it!


I still remember how goofy he was in Junior High and High School.
When we were teenagers would tell me that I was, "either the meanest of the nice, or the nicest of the mean".
I guess neither of us have changed that much.
I'm still crushing on him, the same way I was at age 17.

Only now, my appreciation for him runs deeper than just his looks and sense of humor.

He is eternally patient, with me and our children. He works hard. He makes me smile, and gives me reason to laugh.
He does a lot to help make my life easier.
The day he learns to clean up after himself is the day he will achieve perfection.

Lost Control.

There are 7 children in my Dad's family. My Grandma Imlay (his Mom) once told me that she lost control after baby #4, and never got it back.
Well Grandma, you are a better woman than I am; because I've lost control after #3. Or at least, I've lost the illusion of it. Because who knows if I ever really had it in the first place?

Funk

I feel like Cohen's 3 days in the hospital have put my life in to a 3 week (and counting) tailspin.
I haven't been able to get back in to the groove. And then, daylight savings came along and made things worse.

The past few days have been a bit better for me. I believe it is due to the weather improving; and because I know I have caring friends (thank you, Jacki, Emily, Kelli, Mom and Heather).

Sometimes life is hard. When you have 3 kids, ages 3 and under, more often, than not; life is hard. I had a stretch of 24 hours that nearly made me crazy. Elsa spilled a berry smoothie from Costco on to several areas of carpet in our family room. Reagan had an "accident" on the carpet runner in my hallway. Elsa pulled a decorative shelf out of the wall on top of herself. And literally, 2 seconds after I rushed in to help her Cohen tumbled off of the couch. I put the girls in my bedroom to watch a movie while I fed Cohen; and Elsa fell off the bed. And top top it off, that night I had a dream that I was at Nordstrom, and my little brother was pulling me around in a wagon because I had gotten too fat to walk. Yep. It's enough to make this Mom cuckoo.

Not to mention the fact that I feel as if my blog has been suffering. I don't feel like my writing is nearly as witty as it used to be. In the past I was fastidious about going back and correcting grammar and spelling errors on my posts. These days, not so much.Right now I'm still cringing at the thought of the way I spelled "fattest" in a past blog post, but have I changed it? No.

I'm hoping that things get better/return to normal when I start getting sleep at night.

All of that being said... I have a bit of catching up to do. I'll try to sum up as best as I can remember.

Reagan and I went in for haircuts. She was so well-behaved!

Cohen had his 4 month well-child appointment. He's had a major growth-spurt and is now in the 75th percentile for height, 25th for weight, and 10th for head circumference.

We had and enjoyable dinner with Tierney (her husband, Andrew), Spencer & Korie, and Damon & Jodi.

Nick made fried chicken. It's the first time I've ever had it homemade. I don't know if I can ever go back to KFC! Nick's was delicious, and a lot less fattening than the fast-food-dunked-in-grease version.

March madness was over in our house, before it could even begin. The first BYU basketball game was super-duper exciting! But it was all downhill from there. Nick didn't even have a chance to hang up the Duke flag before they were knocked out of the tournament. Nick says he will now spend the rest of the tournament cheering against teams, since he doesn't have a team to cheer for.

And now, a few pictures. All taken with my iphone; because it's been ages since I charged the batteries in my camera.

Elsa loves hats.


And getting in to mischief. ie- climbing in to a running shower, fully-clothed.


And being completely adorable.

Reagan took Cohen for a ride in her doll stroller.


I have done my best to cultivate my kids' appreciation for good music. They love Elton John, and the Beatles. They beg to listen to Crocodile Rock, Yellow Submarine, and Ob-la-di-ob-la-da. They like to dance too.


The last thing I want to mention is that Nick and I had our 7th wedding anniversary on March 5th. I'm writing about it last, not because it was an afterthought. But because, I really want to do an entire blog post dedicated entirely to gushing about my wonderful husband.

Already?!

Cohen is finally feeling better. The pediatrician told me that Cohen would "plateau", and stay in a state of sickness for about a week, but that his condition would't worsen. My pediatrician was correct. But yesterday, I think my handsome baby boy "turned the corner" and is on the road to recovery!
So, physically he's feeling better; but he's worse in the sleeping department. I feel like I'm repeating what my life was like after I had Reagan. She was an awful sleeper too.
At least this time around I KNOW that it gets better. Eventually. Not a great consolation prize when you're sleep deprived. Bygones.

If you read my long-winded post about Las Vegas, you'd know that I got a whiff of Lady Luck. I won $300, and came home with $200. I was debating about what frivolous purchase I could use it for.
Then.... Elsa spilled a waterbottle on the keyboard of our laptop. Fortunately, my awesome friend, Spencer, bailed us out (yet again), and fixed the computer. I still had to buy parts for it, and I used my Vegas money.
Then (part II).... Nick was doing more cleanup in our backyard (from the windstorm that we had back in December); and loaded a piece of fence in to the back of the truck a little too forecefully. It shattered out the back window of the truck. There went the remainder of my cash. Easy come, easy go. I guess.

Finally, (yes, I'm about to rant. Get ready). I had an issue to deal with, that I didn't expect to address for many more years yet.
Reagan has been attending pre-school. I really love Reagan's pre-school teacher. None of Reagan's neighborhood friends go to this preschool. And all of the kids she goes with will actually go to a different elementary school than she will.
I was having a difficult time trying to decide whether to send her back to that preschool next year. Mostly, because I wanted her to go with some of her friends from the neighborhood.
But in the end, my preference for her stellar teacher won out. And I signed her up to go next year too.

Here's her preschool picture from this year. Cute, no?


Anyway, when I drop Reagan off in the morning, she always sits in the same place. Next to the 3 boys in her class.
When I pick her up from pre-school there have been occaisions where one of the boys will say, "bye Reagan". It's really cute.

I always ask Reagan who she plays with during free play.
Two weeks ago she told me, "Not so-and-so. She pushed me down".
I didn't love hearing that.

Then, last week, while I was at the hospital with Cohen; Nick told me that when he picked Reagan up from pre-school, the following occured:
Three little girls from her class that car-pool together were walking along the path. Reagan came out of the classroom and yelled (to the girls). "Hey guys, wait up!".
Nick said that two of the girls turned around and looked at Reagan, and then one of the girls said, "come on, let's go". And they completely ignored my baby Reagan.

Now, I will be the first to acknowledge that Reagan can be a handful. But the child isn't mean-spirited in the least bit. The word "Cruel" is not in her vocabulary.

After Nick recounted this incident my blood was BOILING!

Does girly pettiness really start this early?

It's been a few days, and I'm still angry about it.

I don't think it phased Reagan in the least. She tells me that she likes pre-school. That she likes Miss Jolynne. And that she still plays with the boys at free-play.
But what happened made me second-guess whether I ought to send Reagan there next year?
Not to mention all of the memories it brought to the surface, of the inadequacies I felt when I was a little girl. Fourth grade was a emotionally scarring year for me.

I will say that I got on the phone and called two of my girlfriends that live nearby, with kids Reagan's age. And BEGGED them to send their kids to pre-school with Reagan in the fall!

I want so badly for Reagan (and all of my kids) to have good friends.
I'm not naive enough to think that they'll never experience drama with their friends. But I'd like to spare them as much pain as I possibly can.

Now I'm left to wonder whether these girls are blatantly mean to Reagan all of the time?
I don't want that.

I know that what happened wasn't a huge disaster. Like I said, I don't think Reagan even noticed.

But what do I do now?
Seasoned parents, this is where I'd like your input.

Best Of Times, Worst Of Times.

It's been less than a week since things got extermely eventful for me, and I'm not sure I will be able to even remember it all.
To begin with what I do remember, the best of the past week:

My sweet neighbor, Kelli, vounteered to become my new walking partner! We've had some good walks.
Elsa has willingly accompanied us (in the stoller, of course).


We paid off Nick's Mini Cooper! This means that we now own all 3 of our vehicles, free and clear. Our "debt snowball" is really rolling now.

Two of my best girlfriend's are named: Kris. When I talk to Nick about them I have to distinguish them by referring to them as. "Seattle-Kris", or "New Zealand-Kris". Using their current home as a descriptor.

So, Seattle-Kris and I made a plan to meet up in Las Vegas for the Elton John Concert.
The entire trip was divine!
At first, Kris was disappointed that she could only get us a free room at the New York, New York hotel. To use her words. "we'd be 'slumin'-it'". I'd hardly call the NY, NY a low-class establishment. But Kris certainly didn't hear any complaint from me when she called to tell me that her husband had graciously gifted us with his comp'd room at the Palazzo!

Our suite there was just that. Sweet! It was gorgeous! Sunken-living room, and the most comfortable beds. Thanks Phil!

Before the concert we ate at Olives. I had lobster carbonara.
For breakfast the next morning we went to Bouchon. I had french toast, and a side of bacon. When I ordered the side of bacon I was expecting 2 pieces. Instead, they brought me a bowl of bacon. Literally. It was a bowl with about 20 slices of bacon. I didn't eat it all. But I sort of wanted to.
For lunch, we stopped at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant. I ordered a BLT. Minus the "T". I'm not a fan of tomatoes. The Bacon, was actually pork belly, and the sandwich had some sort of yummy Aoli, and sliced avacado's. It has to be one of the most memorably delicious things I have ever eaten!

The concert. Also, very memorable.
I love, love, love Sir Elton.

He played: The Bitch is Back (my personal fave!), Benny & The Jets, Rocket Man, Levon, Tiny Dancer, Your Song, Mona Lisa's and Mad Hatter's, Better Off Dead, Indian Sunset, Blue Eyes, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues, Philidelphia Freedom, Hey Ahab, Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me, I'm Still Standing, Crocodile Rock, Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting, Circle of Life.

I can't remember if it was before, or after the concert??? But I won $300 at the penny slots. Not too shabby.

Kris made me pose for this picture, because I mentioned that the kids would have loved to meet the Toy Story characters.

In the morning, we packed up our stuff. We had decided to get pedicures. I put my comfy shoes in my luggage, and checked my luggage at the hotel. The Palazzo has a service where they will check your luggage for you, and print your boarding pass.
I was wearing some new Coach flip-flops around.
They were brand-new. Which means: not broken in.
Kris and I walked the strip looking for a pedicure place. The cute shoes- SHREDDED my feet.
I don't know if I'll ever be able to wear them again without remembering the pain. I couldn't change back in to my comfy shoes, because they were on their way to the airport.
And, we didn't find an affordable place to get pedicures. So, we decided to head to the airport early to see if we could find an express mani/pedi place in the terminals.
Kris and I had to separate at security, because she was going to a different terminal than I was. We said we'd meet up on the other side of security.
Come to find out... Different terminals meant different parts of the airport, that were not connected!
We couldn't meet back up.
Kris went to her gate to fly Alaskan Air, and I took the tram out to my gate to fly Southwest.
Kris found an express mani place. I did not. Southwest's terminal was kind of ghetto.
I turned on my iPod, and started reading my Glamour magazine.
An elderly lady came and sat down next to me.
A few moments later I was hit by an intense odor. It was not good.
I did a sideways glance and saw that old lady was slathering herself in essential oils.
Oh boy, did it stink!
But I couldn't move, because the terminal was packed and there were no other open seats at my gate.
Then, geriatric seat-mate starts talking to me.
Keep in mind, that I had my ear buds in.
It didn't seem to phase her.
I pulled out an ear bud, and she pulled out her iPad and started showing me pictures of her grandson.
I sort of wanted to be like, "this is my weekend away from children, kindly find another unsuspecting victim". But I didn't.
Fortunately, I was only subjected to this for a few minutes before they started boarding my flight.

Despite that hiccup, I still had a great time!

Thanks, Seattle-Kris, for an amazing weekend!

Now, the worst of times...
In the week leading up to the concert, Elsa had been sick with a cold.
Cohen started having a little cough on Friday, before I left.
I felt very guilty leaving Nick with sick children.
When I got back on Sunday night Elsa was better, and Cohen was worse.

Monday morning Elsa had her 18 month well-child appointment. Sidenote: Elsa is in the 95th percentile for height, and the 25th for weight. It makes me smile.
I called my pediatrician and asked if I could bring Cohen along to have him checked out at Elsa's appointment.
The pediatrician diagnosed Cohen with RSV, and gave me a prescription to take Cohen to the RSV clinic to have a respiratory therapist work on him.
We meandered up to the clinic at about 4PM. The respiratory therapist commented that Coehn seemed very dry.
It was at that point that I realized that Cohen's last wet diaper had been at 9:15AM, and that every time he ate, he would have a coughing fit and would gag up everything he just ate.
The therapist said that I should try to feed Cohen after his treatment.
I took him home, and tried to get him to eat, but he wouldn't.
Nick called Josh (Kelli's husband), and asked him to come over to help Nick administer a priesthood blessing.
Josh and Kelli both came over.
I ordered pizza.
J&K stayed for pizza. At this point I wasn't too concerned.

But all during dinner, I kept looking at Cohen and thinking that he didn't look good.
Nick and I decided to take him to the ER.

My sweet neighbor (don't I just live in the best area?!) Bev, came over to watch the girls, and put them to bed so that Nick could go with me to the hospital.

I was expecting them to give Cohen an IV of fluids, and send us home.
I was surprised when they said they were admitting him to the pediactric care unit of the hospital.

We took him upstairs, and Nick left me to go relieve Bev of baby-sitting duty.
The minutes (that seemed like HOURS) it took the nurses (three of them) to get Cohen's IV inserted were some of the worst of my life.
He screamed, and I cried.
It was awful.

That night was also bad news. I got next to no sleep.
Cohen wasn't getting enough oxygen, so they put him on O2.
I "slept" in my clothes.

At first, it was hard to figure out how to hold my baby, with all of the tubes attached to him. By the 3rd day, I had it down-pat.

Nick came up to sit with Cohen the second day, and I went home to get a shower. It was Valentine's day, but I didn't really think too much about it.
I picked Reagan up from pre-school after my shower, and her teacher told me that Reagan had been an emotional mess that morning.
I thought it might have been because I had been gone all weekend in Las Vegas, and then I had nearly gone straight to the hospital with Cohen, so her usual schedule had been very interrupted.
But that night when I went back to the hospital to spend night #2 with my baby, Nick called and told me that Reagan had a fever of 101 degrees.
When it rains, it pours, right?!

So, the second night; my dear friend, Emily came to the hospital to visit us and she brought me delicious treats.
Spencer and Korie also came up, with more sustenence (if chocolate counts as sustenence?) and a balloon.
Korie grabbed my camera and started taking pictures.
I would have preferred to use her professional services under different circumstances. Ha ha.
The visits definitely buyoed my spirits.



I was also grateful for the outpouring of concern that everyone expressed. Via: Facebook (Nick's account), Text messages, and phone calls. Oh, and to Nick's work scheduler that found someone to cover his shifts for two days.
Thank you, everyone!

To top it off, Cohen got an ear infection while he was in the hospital.

He has a follow-up appointment with the pediatrician this afternoon. Here's hoping that we are all on the "up and up".

Confessions.

• Cohen is 3 months old and I have yet to cut his finger nails. Trimming baby nails is not a favorite activity for me. I dread it. But I am going to have to break down and do it some time soon because his nails are long and he has started scratching his face.


• Until recently, I could count on one hand, the number of times we ate a meal at our table. Mostly, the kids ate in the car (a place I swore my kids would never eat, before I had them) and on the carpet in our family room. The family room carpet has the many stains from spills by little children. Now that we've made a conscious effort to dine at the table my dinette set has started to fall apart. Up until now I had thought the table and chairs were in great shape. Turns out they weren't really hearty, they were just holding up well due to lack of use. When, yet another, chair leg broke Nick told me that I couldn't just buy a new (or used) set. No, instead he said he'd just fix the chair leg with duct tape and gorilla glue. Fellow wives, can I just tell you how excited I am at that prospect?!


• I'm the fat-est I've ever been, in a non-pregnant state. But I really don't want to change my eating habits. And I've only really been thinking about (not actually doing) working out. My best option is the 5:30AM workout class that my good friend teaches at the meetinghouse just up the street from my house. But that will cut in to my already-too-short sleep time. I may get serious about this once Cohen starts sleeping better? But for right now I really wish that #1- Nick worked a normal schedule, so that I could have a dedicated daily time to work out, and #2- that I had a neighborhood friend to walk/run with me to keep me motivated.


• The neighbors behind us are selling their house. I really want someone I know to move in there. Not just because it means that we wouldn't have to fix the fence that blew down in the windstorm... But because it'd be great to have backyard neighbors that I could love! Is anyone in the market for a new house in a great neighborhood?


• Elsa's nickname should be: "Recessive Child". Elsa has blue eyes (Nick has brown eyes and I have green eyes). Elsa's hair (the little she has) is blonde/strawberry blonde (Nick and I are both naturally very dark brunettes). And Elsa eats with her left hand (Nick and I are both right-handers). I guarantee that Elsa is not adopted, but sometimes I wonder how she managed to get all of the recessive genes?
  


• PS- Nick's the one who let her eat chocolate pudding with her church dress on. Obviously, he is also not the one who does the laundry in our house. But my biggest confession of all is that I still love the guy anyway.

Probably Not Funny... But It Is To Me.

So, Reagan has been watching the Disney movie, Cinderella a lot lately. One of the days earlier this week she ran at Nick hissing, and with her claws (hands) barred. She told Nick, "I'm Lucifer!".
Of course, she meant she was pretending to be the cat from the movie. But Nick had a little talk with her about how it probably wasn't good to pretend to be that particular character. Both Nick and I were looking to the future, and both of us could ultimately see Reagan pretending to be Lucifer in her class at church, or something equally embarassing.

Shortly after this occurence, Reagan was watching my nephew, Lance, play the Wii. He was playing a Star Wars game. When we got home that night I heard Reagan come stomping down the hall singing: "duhn, duhn, duhn... duhn, duhn, duhn... duhn, duhn duhn". Darth Vader's theme song.
What more can I say?

To say that I am NOT a whiz in the kitchen is an understatement, as those of you that know me well would all agree. I'm getting better, but let's just say that I won't be posting any of my own terrific idea recipes on Pintrest any time soon. That is, if I ever get an invitation to ever come through...
Anyway, I had to laugh at myself this afternoon. I was making a meatloaf recipe that told you to put cubes of cheddar cheese in the middle. I had to thaw the ground hamburger in the microwave because it was frozen. It worked just fine. So, I thought it'd probably work on my frozen hunk of cheese too. Wrong. Cheese does not defrost well.
Rookie mistake, I guess. But I don't think I'll ever progress past the Rookie stage. It's a good thing Nick can cook. Otherwise, we'd never have a decent meal.

Finally, something that isn't really funny... But that I wanted to remember.
I'm not one of those people that live with no regrets.
In fact, I probably have more regrets about things I have done in my past than the normal person.
So, when Reagan was only a few weeks old my Mom and I took her to visit Nick at the University of Washington hospital, where he was working. I wanted to show her off to his coworkers.
As we stepped in to an elevator, a young man who was obviously a "special needs" individual made his way toward us from the back of the elevator. I realized that he wanted to look at/touch Reagan, and I FREAKED out! I pulled her baby carrier away from him and shouted, "No!".
I could tell that my actions left him completely crestfallen.
When we got out of the elevator my Mom made the comment that this gentleman's face had lit up when he first saw Reagan. After all, who doesn't love new babies?

Here it is 3+ years later and this incident still haunts me. I wish I would have reacted differently that day. He meant no harm. I should have let him look at my baby.

I may have had a chance at redemption today. As I was walking around with Cohen at church a young woman that I don't know approached me. It became apparent to me that she also had special needs. She asked if she could look at my baby.
This time I said, "of course", and I put Cohen in a better position for her to see.
She walked right over to Cohen and kissed him on the mouth. It shocked me for a second; and it took a lot of willpower not to yank him away. But I didn't.
You should have seen the elation this girl experienced. She started proclaining (loudly) that everyone needed to come meet this cute baby.
It almost made me blush. The way this girl was talking, it was like I was holding the cutest baby on the planet. Maybe to her, I was. :)

I wiped Cohen's little mouth with a wetwipe (he's had his immunizations, but you can't be too careful, right?) and smiled inside and out. No regrets this time.

Flying By The Seat Of My Pants.

No pictures in this post. Just a rundown of what is turning out to be a typical week for me.

Monday- I called the pediatrician's office to see if I could bring Cohen in to have his immunizations (he couldn't get all of them at his 2 month appt. because he was sick). They ask me to be there in 45 minutes. Miraculously, I get all of the kids ready, and make it from Fruit Heights, to Salt Lake City just in time.
I had just enough time to go from that visit to the Acura dealership, where I had an appointment to get my oil changed.
In the short time that I was in their waiting room; Elsa and Cohen both had dirty diapers. I think the employee assisting me could see my desperation. Either that, or he didn't want his waiting area destroyed by my kids before my car was ready... So, he offered us a loaner car. Done, and done.
We took the brand new MDX (that I immediately fell in love with!) over to Caputo's Deli to pick up ingredients for Italian dishes we were going to make later in the week.
Pulled in to our driveway just in time to get this kids fed and down for naps.
And then, the dealership called to say that my car was done.
I travelled back to SLC to get it, and on my way home I stopped and did my grocery shopping for the week.
When the kids were up from their naps we went to my parent's house and celebrate Christmas. We did it on that particular day because both of my parents were in town.
Nick made some pancetta risotto that was divine.
We came home, bathed the kids, put them to bed, and cuddled up on the couch where we caught up on the latest episodes of The Office.

Tuesday- I ran Reagan to preschool, and then took Elsa and Cohen with me to do my Visiting Teaching. I picked Reagan up from preschool, and went to the post office to next day air paperwork to Wells Fargo (our mortgage company); so that I could FINALLY get the property claim we filed for the wind damage, put to bed.
I did Dairy Queen drive-thru for lunch; and put the kids down for naps when I got home.
I hurried to get laundry done while they were sleeping.
When they woke up I switched up the carseats in my car, and picked up my Mom and Nick. We met my Dad at Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Twice, in a week. I know. But their salmon is just that good.
Kids bathed and in bed. Nick and I watched Hoarders (I started watching it while I was pregnant with Cohen, and now I'm hooked). It's a great motivator to keep my house clean, and to get rid of junk.

Wednesday- I got a phone call from an appraiser. We are currently trying to refinance our house. He wanted to know if he could stop by our house in a few hours to do the appraisal.
I didn't love the short notice. But I wanted to be accommodating. So, I kicked things in to high-gear and cleaned the house like a mad woman.
Nick and I both wanted to cook a nice meal for lunch. But when it came down to it, I was too tired. So we did Little Caesars pizza instead.
Kids napped. Nick went to work.
I went to the shoe repair store (for the 4th time in less than two weeks- the guy kept having problems and could never get my shoes done) to pick up a pair of boots I had left.
The kids and I had apples and sandwiches for dinner.
Bedtime.

Thursday- Reagan went to pre-school. My visiting Teachers came over. They left just in time for us to go pick Reagan up from pre-school. We went to McDonald's for lunch, and my brother met us there.
Kids nap. Me laundry.
When the kids woke up I had to run a few errands around the neighborhood. We finished the night off by watching Sesame Street and eating Mac & Cheese.

Friday- Elsa woke up sick with a cold. I did some cleaning, and at 10:45AM my friend Kelli came over to check out Cohen's nursery set-up. Kelli's having a baby in April, and I wanted her to see how I utilized a small nursery space.
Nick watched the kids while Kelli and I went to Kneaders for lunch.
I got home and my Mom came over to help me start a large batch of my Grandma's spaghetti sauce.
Nick went to work, and I ran out to the door to a doctor's appointment. I had an endometrial ablation done at the end of December. So, this was my follow-up, and also my "yearly". They drew my blood to check my thyroid levels (I'll never get over hating that, and needles in general).
On my way home I popped in to the grocery store to pick up a few things for the spaghetti sauce.
My Mom watched the kids while I was gone. Elsa, was naughty and refused to stay in her bed for a nap. Funny because she was the one who needed sleep the most.
My Mom left when I got home, and I finished up the spaghetti sauce.
I got the cooking mess cleaned up just in time to head out the door, with kids in tow.
We went to my parent's house for a pizza party. I stopped at a Redbox on the way and got A Dolphin Tale. I think the adults enjoyed the movie more than the kids. But overall, the party was a hit! All of my children were up past their bedtime, but I think it's OK, every once in a while.
My parents flew back back to NYC this morning, and we were all sad to see them go.

Saturday- Since I didn't get the kids bathed the night before, I woke up and put them all in the tub. Nick took Reagan with him and went to his parent's house to work on his car.
I played with Elsa, and had a somewhat low-key morning.
I have errands to run later in the day. And Sunday I am hoping that things will be relaxing.
Mostly because next week looks like more of the same.

A Little Of This, A Little Of That.

There are two things that have eluded me on a regular basis lately. Sleep, and time to blog.
All I can say is, "oh well".
I'm getting some blog time in now, and Cohen won't wake up multiple times during the night for the rest of his life.
I hope.

A few weeks ago Nick and I went to dinner with our old friend, Katie, and her husband, Mike. They introduced us to Indian food at Taste of Punjab. Yum!
Last week Reagan was playing that she was on a pretend fishing trip, and she caught me a pretend salmon. It made me realize that it has been a few months since I had some good salmon; so we went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner, for their herb crusted salmon.

A few days ago, Nick and I went to dinner at Faustina with Kelli and Josh (friends from our neighborhood). I had lamb chops and they were very tasty!

It's been a good couple of "food weeks".
And not just for Nick and me.
We call Elsa "our little garbage disposal". She will eat anything. And lots of it.

In the first picture, Reagan left her cereal on the kitchen table, and Elsa climbed up on to the chair (after Reagan had wandered away) and finished the bowl in no time flat.
The second picture is one that Reagan took. It just happens to be of Elsa eating more cereal.

Reagan has really been in to playing "pretend" lately. Sometimes she goes pretend fishing (as mentioned above), sometimes she saves the day with her pretend pet, (the only kind she will ever have) Bolt- the dog from the Disney movie.
Sometimes she and Elsa "horse around" with Dad, and pretend that he is their mighty steed.

They don't have to pretend that he is a great Dad, however. What a fun, attentive parent!

At the beginning of January I was amazed at how warm the weather had been in our area. The girls could go outside and play in just their jackets.
After a few days of unseasonably warm bliss... It snowed.

Nick was at work, so I took the girls outside to play.
I put Cohen in his carseat, and stationed him near our front door. Every few minutes I'd peek my head in the house to see how he was doing.

What a handsome little bundle!

It only took a few days for things to warm up again and the snow melted.

So, we had another week of warm weather. And then it dumped on us again last night.
Nick took the girls out to play in the snow, but the sun had already gone down and it was too dark for me to take pictures.
Both girls were upset when playtime was over. They could have happily stayed out there all night.
It's supposed to warm up again this week.
For my part, to date, this has been one of the better Utah winters I have experienced.
I wouldn't mind living here, if every winter were this mild.

New Year 2012

I need to mention some of the pre-Christmas festivities that our family participated in.
There were two family parties (Imlay side, and Jansen side).
A church party, with a theme of: A Cajun Christmas.
A party with friends. Jon and Heather West hosted it this year. We ate a great meal and played Apples to Apples with the Nye's, Oate's, and West's.
We decorated Christmas cookies with my friend Michele, and her family.
We drove through Latyon park, and saw the lights, twice!

Fortunately, Reagan met Santa at Seaworld, when we were in Orlando. Otherwise, she wouldn't have had a chance to visit with the jolly fellow. We didn't run in to him anywhere else during the rest of the season! I actually feel pretty sad that I wasn't able to get a picture of him with Elsa. Those pictures of the kids crying on Santa's lap are always classic! Next year.

Reagan entertained everyone at her pre-school Christmas program.
She didn't sing any of the first three songs, even though she knew them.
She did well when it was her turn to use the mic, to tell everyone her name and what she wanted for Christmas, though.
Reagan: "Hi, my name is Reagan, and I want a bike".
They sang some more songs, and I guess Reagan thought it was a race, because she performed all of the actions one step ahead of the other kids.


They finished up with a little play. Each kid took a turn reciting their line.
Reagan walked up to the microphone and said:
"Hi. My name is Reagan, and I want a bike".
Then, she turned around and started walking back to her seat.
Her teacher reminded her that she needed to say her part. So, Reagan, with fake exasperation; went back to the mic and said her line.
All of the parents chuckled. It was the cutest part of the program.


On to the new year!

Reagan currently feels the need to wear a princess dress over her clothes, all of the time. She also changes which princess she wants to be all day long.
This morning was typical.
When she first woke up she wanted to wear her Rapunzel dress. A short time later, she changed in to her Snow White dress.
She put the Rapunzel dress on Elsa.


Elsa kept tripping on the dress, so Reagan brought up the Tinkerbell dress for Elsa instead.

Reagan is still smart as a whip.
She still has the occasional temper tantrum, but I have found that I am finally able to reason with her, which is nice.
When she gets frustrated she says: "Come On!"- she got that from Nick, I'm sure.
She loves to pretend with her Barbies.
She can sing so many songs, and I love to hear her sing! The most amazing thing is that she can sing on pitch. I need to upload a video of her singing Joy to the World. It is exciting to me, that #1- she knows all of the words. And #2 that she can carry a tune.
She continues to hate having her hair done. But she is more tolerable of it (sometimes).
Her Daddy remains her best sweetheart. And I can manage to convince her to cuddle on my lap occasionally.
I can't believe my child will be 4 years old in the summer of 2012!

Elsa is ever an easy, happy child.
She is so observant. And lately she has been a little copy cat. She imitates everybody and everything. Nick and I laugh at her antics on a daily basis.
Reagan was at preschool earlier this week, when I took Cohen in for his 2 month well-child appointment. I took Elsa with me too. I sat Elsa on a chair in the examining room and gave her my iPhone to play with.
The nurse didn't even realize that Elsa was in the room until halfway through the appointment! And for the first time in my parenting career I had someone say to me: "your children are so well behaved.".
No offense to Reagan, but I wouldn't have garnered this comment if she had been with me. She can't help it, she just has too much energy to ever sit still.
I was at Arctic Circle yesterday for lunch. The girls were playing on the playplace. Since Elsa can walk now she has been tickled pink that she can play with the other kids. When we go to fast food restaurants that have a play ground Reagan's MO is to grab a bite of food from me and then run off to play. She comes back for another bite, after she has finished the first. This is the way she eats her meal. I'm not in love with the way it all goes down, but it gets her to eat.
Anyway, Elsa ran off to play at Arctic Circle. When she came back to the me she started to climb up the high-chair that the patrons before us had left at the table.
I put her in the high chair, and she was content to sit there and eat her lunch.

She speaks/communicates better than Reagan did at this age. She is starting to use small sentences. She says "I Love you" very clearly. She calls Reagan "sister", and Cohen "baby".
She is such a joy.

Cohen is my handsome boy.
Although, I have been thinking that Elsa should have been my last child; because my expectations were set too high, after having her.
Elsa was (and is) an amazing sleeper.
Cohen is a typical newborn. He doesn't sleep as well as Elsa did. I know it will get better, but it was still a shock to my system to deal with a newborn that wakes up twice during the night to eat.
That being said...
He is a very non-demanding infant. He rarely cries. Usually, it's only when he is undressed. The kid doesn't like being naked.
He has started smiling, this past week and it is SO rewarding! I enjoy holding him and talking to him, and getting him to grin at me.

Here are some of his little smiles.

Both of his tear ducts are clogged, so I am repeatedly cleaning his eyes during the day. Reagan had a clogged tear duct when she was born, and it took about 9 months for her to grow out of it. So this time around, I know it is just going to take a little while before it goes away.

I was less than thrilled when I learned I was pregnant with Cohen. But when I look in to his little face nowadays, I can't imagine my life without him.

I'm excited for 2012, and the fun experiences I will get to have with my three charming children, and my funny and handsome husband.
Happy New Year.

Christmas Time.

The home stretch, leading up to Christmas found me very behind in preparations.
The only decoration I put up was our Christmas Tree.
I barely managed to get all of my shopping done.

And before I knew it, it was Christmas Eve Day.
I had planned to go out to Grantsville that morning to visit with my Cousin Julie, who was in town.
I scrambled to get everyone ready (Nick was at work), and as I started to do Reagan's hair she started crying and told me she was going to throw up. I ushered her to the bathroom, but for some reason she kept backing away from the toilet?
She barfed on the bathroom floor and shower rug.

Needless to say, I didn't make it out to visit my family.
Reagan threw up several more times that day, and only once made it to the potty to do so.

But it did turn out to be a slight blessing in disguise.
Reagan spent the rest of the day lounging around in my bed, watching movies. This allowed me to find time to wrap presents, and clean the house.

Sidenote: looking back, the longest stretch Reagan has ever gone without vomitting (since she started eating grown-up-food) has been three months. Why? Why?! did I get a child that's bodily function problem happens to be the one thing I loathe the most? Anyway... this time it wasn't just her "usual" throw up incident. She actually had a stomach bug. I know this because both Elsa, and Nick ended up with it too.
Reagan didn't throw up on Christmas day. Maybe this was another gift from Santa?
But as soon as 12:30AM hit, on December the 26th, Reagan's tummy troubles resumed. Sigh. Once again, I'm so glad I have the carpet cleaner.

Christmas Eve the girls had a "sleepover". Reagan slept on the trundle in Elsa's bedroom.


Christmas morning. My kids slept until 8AM. Since Reagan wasn't feeling well she was pretty mellow.
Santa left Cohen a wagon, Elsa a Barbie VW Bug power wheels, and Reagan an XBOX Kinect.
Cohen also got some new bottles, and a glow worm.
Elsa received several new baby dolls.
And Reagan got Disney Princess Bath toys. And a Fisher Price Camera, Blue Nail Polish, and a Harmonica (all things she asked for).



It was a great day. Nick made pancakes for breakfast. And we spent most of our time enjoying each other's company.

In the evening we went to Nick's parents house for dinner. Nick made the most amazing mashed potatoes! He boiled the potatoes in chicken stock. When they were done, to make them creamy; he added: cream, marscapone cheese, and Parmesan cheese. While the potatoes were boiling he cooked diced bacon in a pan with minced garlic. He added the bacon to the mashed potatoes, and drizzled the bacon drippings over the mashed potatoes.
You could probably get fat just looking at finished product, but it was Christmas so we all indulged and had several helpings. YUM!

Nick's gifts consisted of: a new XBOX controller, season 7 of The Office, a BYU lunch bag (for work), and some Duke sandals.
Nick bought me lotion from Victoria's Secret, and also arranged for us to have a nice date night.

For our date, we went to the Log Haven restaurant. It was nice to have a night to ourselves, but the food was nothing to write home about.

It was a Grand Christmas! And we get to do it again in a few weeks when my Dad and Mom are in town. It certainly won't be too much of a good thing.