Yea! Our 200th post!

So I wanted to mark this milestone with one announcement:

Ella got her ears pierced.

Yes, she cried, but as soon as she was finished she looked in the mirror, stopped crying completely, and said:

"Mom, I love my new ears!"

The dilemma of the "clean" clothes

I know there are moms out there that have this problem.

Oh, Ella. My sweet little, independent Ella, changes her clothes at least 5 times a day.
Are they dirty? No.
Are they put back in the closet on hangers? Of course not.
They're all over the floor, on the bed, on the bookshelf, and anywhere else they're not supposed to be.

Because Taylor's birthday party is this weekend and I'd LIKE to have the house clean, I've started early (Hooray for no procrastinating like I usually do!). Yesterday was our bedroom and the living room. Today: Ella's room and the kitchen.

One down, one to go. I picked up all the "clean" clothes on the floor - I say "clean" because they've usually been walked all over by people and the dog - and threw them in the hamper. When I realized it would be an ADDITIONAL load, I was done. Finished. Terminé. Done.

Out came the power tools (and I mean Taylor's cordless drill/screwdriver).

I switched the closet doorknob for one that locks and put the lock on the inside. Ella can no longer get in her closet to change clothes 1000 times a day.

Oh, yes. I did. I locked her clothes/dress up/barbies all in the closet to wait permission to get into.

I'm a mean mom that is tired of washing her clean clothes over and over and over again.

This is why my house isn't clean.

I'm spending way too much time reading these blogs. I'll post them to my list eventually.

The Meanest Mom

MomtrolFreak

Mommy Wants Vodka (even though I don't drink, I understand why women want a glass of wine or other adult beverage to unwind at the end of the day)

CakeWrecks

Cloth Diaper Whisperer

I just wish I could fold the laundry and read blogs. Oh, and Facebook.

Now we know what this mom does all day. So, now when my hubby gets home, I'll give him the run down (feeding Owen, making Ella food, laundry, facebook, and blogging. Duh.).

I love my husband...

so I thought I'd share this. He sent this to me (unprovoked BTW) via e-mail this morning.

"You sure have impressed me how well you have supported me through my transition, the economy, and the two kid's development. I want you to know that i do notice all your effort and love that you instill in our happy home! You're truly wonderful!! Keep up the great work sweetheart. I love you."

He loves me. And that makes me really happy.

New Pictures

We're purple.

So I posted below that I really dislike thrush. I didn't want to pay for another doc appointment to do a 2 week treatment that may not work. So I did what most desperate moms would do to get rid of thrush between three of us: I got gentian violet.

Man, that stuff is SERIOUSLY purple. It's violet (hence, the name).

Owen's mouth is covered in the stuff, Ella's mouth, thumb, and part of her face (she fought me last night when I was trying to coat her mouth with the stuff and I missed), and my "pillows" (as Ella calls them) are purple too.

But I feel better already, so I know the stuff is working.

Yea Owen!

He rolled over yesterday from back to front! He did it twice when I wasn't watching, but Taylor caught the second one.

I'm still not sleeping due to Ella being in pain. I don't know if it's too much to ask, but I'd really, really, really enjoy a house that is illness/pain free for more than a day.

I hate thrush.

Thankfully, this has nothing to do with me or Owen.

And Ella brought it on herself.

Ella has thrush. She got it because she "borrowed" Owen's pacifiers while he as going through thrush.

Oh well.

The good news (can you sense the sarcasm?!) is that Owen is sleeping through the night. Does Ella? No. Because the thrush (and an awful cavity) wake her up every 30 minutes to an hour ALL night long.

I love my life. I love my children. I love being a mom. I just want some sleep.

Mmmmm...

We're trying to eat healthier as we (well, Taylor really. He's got more motivation than I do.) try to get into shape.

Taylor has lost 35 lbs so far. He's smaller than he was in high school. He's gone from a size 36 (I think it was 38 at his largest) to a size 32. I think he could almost fit in a 30...

Anyway, back to what I was talking about. I made turkey zucchini lagasna tonight.

See this link. I am really excited because if its good, I'm going to make it more often. I made pesto turkey meatballs and those were AMAZING. We had them on pasta one night, a meatball sandwich the next night, and meatball pockets. So I am pretty excited regardless.

I changed up the recipe slightly by adding a can of diced tomatoes into the tomato sauce as well as 2 tablespoons of pesto in it also. I cut some of the fat and salt by just limiting the parmesan cheese to just the pesto sauce. I also added fresh basil and parsley (I love my garden!!).

I have control.

To add to the story below, I very sternly talked to the lifeguard after the incident.

I think he should have seen flames shooting from my mouth and ears.

Now the kind of funny part.

I almost dropped the F-bomb. I was so mad (more like FURIOUS), it almost came out. I don't get mad like that very often and anyone who knows me, knows how mad I must have been to even consider saying it.

But I controlled it, and just yelled at him. (And then talked to his boss and said he needed to be fired if he couldn't uphold his responsibilities). It wouldn't have helped to use it with all the kids and parents around. No one wants to hear that.

I'm kind of proud of myself for not letting it fly...

If you go to the Springdale Aquatic Center,

and you have young children that CAN'T swim, put a life jacket on them. Apparently, the lifeguards there are completely incompetent.

If they do their jobs correctly (which they didn't today) then someone else wouldn't have had to go in and save a three-year-old completely submerged and no longer fighting to get above the surface.

I will forever have those brown eyes burned into my memory (as they peered up from under the water with a look of 'someone, please save me. I need help.' ) .

I'm waiting to breakdown. Really. I've been so calm, but I am eternally grateful that I was able to give my friend more time with her son on this earth. I'm positive that he would have had 15 seconds left (or less) before he ran out of breath and gone unconscious.

He's fine by the way.

It's beautiful...

Can you imagine a house constantly filled with beautiful songs, simple and sweet, that tell of Jesus Christ and his atonement?
I can, because my house rings with them all day long.
Before you think I'm being self-righteous, it's as far from it as possible.
It is just that Ella never, ever stops singing (as long as she's awake) primary songs, ALL DAY LONG.
She plays "primary/church" and I am required to play along. (Who can play church with just one person?)
She loves Sis. Bills (the primary chorister) and really pays attention. So much that she sings the songs she learns constantly. But I'm more impressed that she realizes the meaning in the songs. She truly is learning from them. She knows about Jesus and John the Baptist, the 5th article of Faith, along with many other principles of the Gospel. It's pretty amazing.

I just wish she could be a little more on key. Some notes just accentuate headaches from exhaustion.

Our Garden

I can GARDEN! Hooray! It's such a relief to know I don't kill all plants. I swear. Apparently, I cannot keep anything alive in a pot, but I can keep things alive in a box.

My photos aren't uploading, so I'll post them later.

Cool opportunity

I love to take pictures of my kiddos. I especially like the photojournalist/artsy type of photos.

So, some friends (who took the amazing preggie photos) are offering us parents a way to sharpen our photo taking skills.

See the link at Benfield Photography.

Also, because you came to my blog to click thru and you want to take advantage of this opportunity, then you can get $20 off! Hooray! Here's the info:

20 dollars off code:

SYK_JILL20
ends July 15