TGIF

It's been one of those weeks for me.

Titan started getting a stuffy nose this last week and went from sleeping really well to sleeping really irregular again. I'd been spoiled and I struggled adjusting back to the sleepless nights. He's doing much better and has been getting back to a more normal schedule now, although he must be going through a growth spurt cuz all that boy ever wants to do is eat! Now that I've transferred back to the Hurricane office I only work 2 1/2 miles from my house so I have been driving home to feed him so I wouldn't have to pump. With him wanting to eat so much, that's become an inconvenience so I finally broke down and took my pump with me to the office this week.

McKinlee is MISS INDEPENDENT. She doesn't want you to help her do ANYTHING!!! We're trying to potty train her and she always manages to let you know she "needs to go potty" after she's already gone potty in her princess panties. Grrr. We have made some breakthroughs this week and she has been telling us she "doesn't need to go potty" right before she goes potty a few times. Still lots of accidents, but she's making progress. The independence goes to dressing herself, "helping" me around the house, setting the table, getting her own juice, etc. I know it's important for her to learn and she's obviously expressing the desire, but I've been frustrated at all the clean up/extra time it takes to allow her to do it herself.

Tucker...PHEW...this kid has pushed my buttons this week and you can ask Yates about the power struggles that we get in sometimes. He is in his defiant stage and if he really doesn't want to do something you're going to be hard pressed to convince him otherwise. I sent him and McKinlee to bed early (around 7:45 pm...bedtime is usually 9:30 or so) this last week and they threw the biggest tantrums you would ever have believed small children could possibly throw! They got out of bed a half dozen times and got spanked twice. They finally stayed in their beds and SCREAMED at the top of their lungs off/on for at least 2 hours. When they calmed down, I went in and talked to them about why they were in there and that I was sorry it had been such a bad day. Tucker mentioned, "When you do this it makes me feel like you're a bad mom." That about did me in, but I stuck to my guns and told them we were going to have a better day the next morning. They wore out about 10:30 and I was surely frazzled. I hit the sack and we really did have a better day the next day.

Fast forward to yesterday...Yates has had Wednesdays and Thursdays off because he's not in the schools anymore, but back out on patrol and back to rotating shifts. ICK! Knowing Yates was going to be home on Thursday (yesterday) I scheduled Tucker's SEP testing, a Dr. Appt for myself, I was supposed to work and I had a volleyball game that night. Yates let me know Wednesday night that because of a marijuana grove that was found this week he was going to have to go help them take the grove apart on his day off (Thursday). He was excited to go, but it completely ruined all the stuff I'd planned. Yvonne had yesterday off thankfully and spent the day taking care of my kiddos while I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off. Tucker did AWESOME at his testing and will begin with word books instead of picture books. He did his adding/take aways well and has minor things to work on. I was so proud of him! He was proud of himself as well and it showed in his behavior. He'd worked so hard practicing his reading words I told him he deserved to go out to lunch. He chose McDonald's (shock and awe). On our way, he made sure he opened his sister's door (complete with, "Here you go ma'am.") and then ran around the car to open my door and then his own. He was an amazingly well behaved boy ALL DAY LONG! I praised him up and down, called Yates and left him a message about how good Tucker had been and he ate it up. He kept giving me hugs and telling me how much he loved me and made sure he pointed out that he'd done everything I'd asked him to do the first time asked. A picture perfect day (minus Yates being gone and Yvonne having to hold down the fort while I ran around).
Then today, Tucker's been naughty again. Just this afternoon. I was trying to be VERY patient because he'd been so good yesterday. I finally asked, "You were such a good boy yesterday. Why are you not minding today?" He very matter of fact answered, "I know! It's supposed to be like this...good day, bad day, good day, bad day. Tomorrow will be good." Phew, something to look forward to!

I got to play volleyball last night and I haven't played since I was a couple months along with Titan and I LOVE IT! It's just church ball, but so much fun. I stayed after with a few people and we scrimmaged against a team that needed to practice for a tournament they're in this weekend. I hyperextended my right elbow about 3 weeks ago while trying to catch myself as I tripped backward. :( It was healing pretty good, but it's tender again after playing last night. Also, after my Dr. Appt it's looking like I'm going to have to have my gallbladder removed. I have an ultrasound scheduled for Tuesday, but I've had about 8-9 gallbladder attacks since Titan was born (almost 1 a week) and the Dr. says that's too many in such a short amount of time. He said it's fairly common after giving birth and during pregnancy to start having problems. We'll see what happens!

Yates is working night shift right now. He likes being out at night, but it's been an adjustment for sleeping. There's going to be an opening on the Drug Task Force and he's hoping to have a decent shot at getting in, but you never know. He was gone all day yesterday and the kids always miss him when he's gone.

With weeks that are crazy like this one has been, I'm always glad for a new week and a husband who is so supportive at home! He loves our kids so much and is so involved that it makes it easy for me to get other things done around the house. It is so much fun to watch him wrestle with them, jump on the trampoline or play ball and then turn right around and play cards, read stories, cuddle with and love on them. I really do have a beautiful family...one that I DO realize I'm very fortunate to have! I could never have imagined how much work goes into raising children, but with that work comes so much joy! I'm making a goal to live in the moment more with my kids...play more, teach more, love more and let everything else go.

BUSY BUSY Summer! Catch UP Time!

Alrighty, here comes the long awaited catch up post. We have been so busy this summer and lots has happened. Here we go:

Tucker took swimming lessons again this year. We had signed him up for Level 3 and 4, but he ended up doing Level 3 twice. How was I supposed to know that Level 4 was swimming laps in the deep end with very little instructor supervision? LOL. Tucker always does really well in swimming lessons and LOVES the water!! The picture where it looks like he's doing a backflop off the diving board...well, that one is him doing a FLIP off the diving board. He did indeed land on his back, but he didn't care. I asked him why he did a flip and he said, "Well, the kid in front of me did it." Tucker has NO FEAR of the water, and if someone else does something, he automatically decides that he can do it too.Next came a trip to Cedar Mountain with our friends Sean & Lesley and their girls. Lots of open space, good food, 4-wheeler rides and fun with some good friends. The kids found the HUGEST horny toad EVER! Tucker wouldn't touch the poor thing and ran away into the woods screaming, but cute McKinlee at least touched the thing. Look at the picture of Tucker and Ellie...ah the cuteness of those two!Then a trip to Kanab was in order and you should have seen the crazy brothers and sisters! What fun we all have when we get together! From L to R: Roxi, Nicole, Yates and JD. Just an FYI--Roxi is due to have her baby any day now and we're so excited to meet him! Jeri (JD's wife) isn't far behind and she's having a little girl. It rained while we were out there and the kids had a blast outside playing in the rain. McKinlee didn't get her nap and this is what happened when we finally got her inside and wrapped up in a towel!

Just a couple random pictures of McKinlee:

Titan is 2 months old! I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. We finally have a baby that sleeps through the night without much fuss (he eats about 8:30 or 9 pm and heads off to dreamland and doesn't usually wake up again until sometime between 5 - 6 am to eat!) Simply amazing and it's been such a lifesaver for me! He weighed 12 lbs. 7 oz and was 25 in. long. That puts him in the 100% bracket for his height and 80% for his weight. I was curious how big he was in relation to Tucker and so I got out his baby book. Tucker actually weighed 3 oz. more, but was 2 inches shorter than Titan.

We blessed Titan on 8/3/08 and we had lots of family and friends come for the blessing and luncheon afterward. It was beautiful! Titan looked SO HANDSOME in his blessing outfit and Yates did an amazing job on his blessing! I always love to see the more tender side of Yates. I truly have been blessed with the most amazing eternal family!!

Tucker, McKinlee and Titan have really become bestest buds. I haven't snapped too many pictures of McKinlee with him, but she is ALWAYS there cooing at him and trying to make him smile at her. Tucker, as you can see is a BIG help and will help watch him while I fold laundry or throw in a batch of dishes.

And last, but definitely NOT least...Tucker started Kindergarten! I can't believe that he's that old already. It really doesn't seem that long ago that I was snuggling him in my arms and giving him kisses. He's such a big help around the house and so much fun to be around. He likes his teacher so far and is so excited to learn. His Preschool teachers told us to make sure we told his new Kindergarten teacher that he was reading. I told her the first day of school when we went in to meet her and she sort of acted like she didn't believe us. She said he'd be tested and they'd place him in levels after that testing. There's nothing like a challenge to fire me up, so we're practicing all his reading papers that he has left over from preschool. Go TUCKER! When I dropped him off at the bus today I told him to give me a kiss. He acted like he didn't want to, so I told him he better hurry before everybody got there and had to see him kiss his mom. He laughed and said, "I want them to see me kiss you. I'll tell them you're my girlfriend!" I got all warm and fuzzy and told him I better be his ONLY girlfriend. Sure enough, when the bus rounded the corner, he got out of the car and stood up and said, "Hurry Mom, my bus driver's watching." He gave me a big kiss and ran off to get on the bus. I can imagine that's going to end in a hurry so I better enjoy it while it lasts!

PHEW, I'm done! Enjoy the update! Now I can finally check "Update my blog" off my list and go take a nap! LOL