Please help!

I truly think I'm insane.

Or maybe I just like to torture myself.

I need to potty train Brock. Oh, it's beyond time to start doing this.

It took about 6 months until Jakob was good and trained with all the functions. I started him when he was about 2 1/2. And now Troy is almost 2. So if it takes Brock just as long, then by the time he's trained Troy will be 2 1/2, and it will be time to start him. So, the other day I was thinking, why not do him and Brock at the same time.

So...am I crazy?

BUT, if any of you have potty trained your child(ren), could you please let me know what worked for you, or didn't work for you?

We tried everything, EVERYTHING, on Jakob: chocolate bribery, toy bribery, sticker charts, the potty making a celebratory noise, calling Daddy or Grandma to tell them...and nothing worked until we told him that only babies pee and poo in their diapers, so he must be a baby still. His response was, "I'm NOT a baby! I'm a big boy!" And from then on out he was good to go. We've tried the same lines on Brock, and he gives a look of, "And why would I care about that?" And we haven't even mentioned anything to Troy yet about trying to go in the toilet.

I'm going to start trying after the baby blessing (July 6). We don't have any plans to go anywhere anytime soon. Cross your fingers for me and my sanity!

Welcome to OCD land!

So, I got tagged about my quirks. And I have a lot of them. A LOT. But because we're limited to only listing 6, you get to hear the six that I want to share so that you don't think I'm too psycho. But maybe you think that anyway, and so here are six more reasons to confirm my craziness.

1. I'm a minimalist. I love to get rid of stuff, so much that I even fantasize about getting rid of other people's stuff. If I got a call from a pack rat telling me that they want to have me help them organize and dejunk, I think I would do the "Ford leap" and drive to their house that second. (It's Ford, right? I can't remember for sure...) And I can't wait until Ivy is older, because then I can get rid of the bassinet, and the high chair, and the saucer toy, etc., and I won't have to store them anymore. The Clean Sweep professional organizers are my heroes.

2. I have a conundrum about water. I can totally stick my face in the shower water, but I have a really hard time doing it in the swimming pool. I can't turn somersaults underwater to save my life-I come up sputtering and with a weird feeling in my ears. It took me forever to learn to breathe right while swimming the front crawl. Yet the full-powered spray of the shower doesn't bother me.

3. I hate toilets. HATE them. Well, I guess I should say I hate cleaning them. To clean the outside I use about 4 rolls of paper towels, because using a washcloth would be sick and wrong to me. The flushing chain thingy broke in Jakob's bathroom a few months ago, and for the few days he used our bathroom until it was fixed just totally grossed me out. Little boy pee-ew ew ewww!! If I'm downstairs and I have to go, I will go up to my bathroom (instead of using the downstairs bathroom), because it's cleaner, in my mind. My toilets currently have hard water buildup on the inside, and I bought some rubber gloves and a pumice stone thingy to try and scrub it off. And have I done it? No, because that would mean I would have to put my hand inside the toilet bowl! EWWW! Even with the gloves on I can barely stomach sticking my hand in there.

4. When I'm preparing food, I use the least amount of dishes possible. At lunchtime, I will use the same knife to cut hot dogs, slice cheese and apples, then also spread mayonnaise and mustard on a sandwich. I will use the same measuring cup or spoon as much as I can; if I need 1/4 cup of one thing and 1 cup of another, I will only get out the 1/4 cup and dip it 4 times for the 1 cup ingredient. I make a homemade pizza, and I will mix the extra spices into the tomato sauce in the can the sauce came in instead of putting it in a new bowl, just so I don't dirty a clean bowl.

5. Numbers. I can memorize phone numbers after dialing them only a couple of times. I still remember the S family's phone number that lived down the street, and I think I called them twice ever. I will remember birthdays of really random people. I love it when I look at the clock and it's 3:33, or 12:34, or 5:43, for example. My checkbook has to balance. I've heard of people rounding up or down in their checkbook for kind of a mindless savings; I tried it for a day and it totally drove me crazy that it wasn't exact.

6. Another contradiction quirk: food. Ham sandwiches are my favorite, but I hate cooked ham, like at Christmas or whatever. Maybe it's the slice thickness, but I would choose deli ham over cooked ham any time. I love corn, but I hate corn on the cob-I hate shucking it, and getting it in my teeth. I won't eat watermelon unless it's with a fork. I love tomato-based things (tomato soup, tomato sauce) but hate tomatoes. This quirk goes on and on.

There ya go. And because it takes one to know one, I tag...anyone that's on my list under Sweet Sites to list your six crazy quirks!

Miss Piggy

Here's our little Ivy. There's not much to say because, well, she's a newborn still. But oh, she's dang cute, and we all love her to bits and pieces! She has started smiling, and as soon as I can catch it on film we'll post a picture or two. Or ten.

And boy, does she love to eat! And eat, and eat... Which is fine by me, because that means she'll pack on the chub faster, and who doesn't love to squeeze baby fat? She's getting a double chin, which rocks! She does what we've dubbed "sleeting"-which is sleeping while eating. She starts on the bottle and usually at least dozes off, if not fall asleep all the way. But try and take the bottle away, and she's all, "Hey, I was eating that!"

She's been going longer during the last few nights between feedings, roughly 7 hours. Which would totally rock for me if I went to bed at the same time, but I'm stupid and stay up later, so my sleep still gets interrupted at about 6 a.m. Live and learn, I guess.

Six!

Once upon a time, there was a young man named Pete. He was a super awesome college student at Utah State University way back in 2000. He met a fabulous woman that year (yep, that would be me), and they hung out with all their roommates and friends. After a long time full of girlfriends, stupid missionaries, and instant messaging, they finally got their act together and got married June 21, 2002. They married in the Logan temple, and continue to live happily ever after!

Yep, it's been 6 years since Pete and I got sealed. We celebrated this fine milestone by doing all these totally romantic things together, like Pete mowing the lawn and me going to the store.

But actually, we got to go to the temple on Friday. Neither of us had been there for a LONG LONG time, sad to say. It was really refreshing, as always, and so wonderful to be there with my awesome hubby.

Then Saturday we went to "Get Smart" (super funny!) and ate an early dinner at Texas Roadhouse (I love their Ranch dressing!). Then that night we watched "Somewhere in Time". Pete said, "That movie SUCKED!" And of course I loved it, because I'm a sappy chick that way.

Pete, you're a wonderful guy, and once again, I'm glad you're mine! Thanks for six wonderful years!

Tag

P.S. I don't know these girls. I just haven't put a picture on a post for a while, so I thought random people would be a good option. What, had you forgotten that I'm a winner?

For the first half, put an X next to the things you have done in your life so far, and leave it blank for the things you have never done. You know the drill for the second half. Have you ever...

(X) Gone on a blind date?

(X) Skipped school?

(X) Watched someone die? (if my dog counts)

(X) Been to Canada?

( ) Been to Mexico?

(X) Been to Florida?

(X) Been on a plane?

(X) Been lost?

(X) Been on the opposite side of the country?

(X) Gone to Washington, D.C.?

(X) Swam in the ocean?

(X) Cried yourself to sleep?

( ) Played cops and robbers?

(X) Recently colored with crayons?

(X) Sang Karaoke?

( ) Paid for a meal with coins only? (I did pay for a car boot removal with all coins once-$50, baby!)

(X) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't?

(X) Made prank phone calls?

(X) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose?

(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue?

(X) Danced in the rain?

(X) Written a letter to Santa Claus?

(X) Been kissed under the mistletoe? (on the cheek)

(X) Watched the sunrise with someone you care about?

(X) Blown bubbles?

(X) Gone ice-skating?

( ) Been skinny dipping outdoors?

1. Any nicknames? Nat, Nattles, Nat Scat
2. Mother's name? Mom!

3. Favorite Drink? Coke!
4. Tattoo? Nope
5. Body Piercing? Not anymore (just ears previously)
6. How much do you love your job? Love it, though sometimes I wish it had vacation and sick days.
7. Birthplace? Idaho Falls, ID
8. Favorite vacation spot? Grand Cayman, in the Caribbean
9. Ever been to Africa? Nope, and if I ever go I think I’d only want to visit Egypt.
10. Ever eaten cookies for dinner? Uh, did I go to college??
11. Ever been on TV? Like, in crowd shots for two seconds-at the zoo in elementary, and in high school for Multicultural Week. Actually, Pete and I got interviewed right after we moved here, about Friday the 13th or something like that-luck and whatnot.
12. Ever steal any traffic signs? Nope
13. Ever been in a car accident? Several, most of which are not my fault!
14. Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle? 4
15. Favorite salad dressing? Ranch.
16. Favorite pie? Pie.

17. Favorite number? 7. Because I’m super holy. And prime.
18. Favorite movie? Yikes! Um…probably “The Princess Bride”-it’s the one I know the most.
19. Favorite holiday? Christmas.
20. Favorite dessert? Dessert.

21. Favorite food? Food. (This is like the 5th question about food! Maybe the questionnaire creator was hungry.)

22. Favorite day of the week? Friday
23. Favorite brand of body wash? When I spring for it, which is never, Bath and Body Works. I use Dial soap.
24. Favorite toothpaste? Colgate brand.
25. Favorite smell? Lilacs.
26. What do you do to relax? Sleep, play Sudoku, take a long shower.
27. How do you see yourself in 10 years? Hopefully I’ll be one of those “cool” moms, but most likely I’ll be the embarrassing mom. And hopefully I’ll also be working out of my home as a financial consultant/planner.
28. Who are you tagging? Arin, Heidi, Kristine, Zoe. But only if they want to. But I’m going to double tag Pete because he hasn’t blogged in forever.

Daddy-O

Yesterday was Father's Day, and because I'm a winner I'm posting about it today. I'm also a winner in the fact that I have a huge pile of laundry about as high as my waist waiting to be folded. But I'm gonna blog instead. Because of the whole winner thing.

ANYWAY...my awesome Grandpa had a barbecue at his house with his kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids. And because I'm still a winner, I did not remember my camera to take pictures. But the event was fun, and even better was the fact that there were a lot of cool dads there: my grandpa, my dad, cousin Shane, Uncle Kurt, Ben, and Pete.

Grandpa, you rule, end of story. You are an amazing man. You've overcome many personal obstacles to become active in the LDS church again. I'm so glad to have known you, and MAN I wish I could have inherited your tanning abilities. You continue to amaze me as you remain physically active in spite of surgeries and other ailments.

Dad, you also rule. I wrote about you in this post, but just want to tell you I love you and am so glad that you are my dad.

My cousin Shane just became a dad again about 7 weeks ago. It was so sweet to see him with his new little girl. He's the perfect dad for girls-he let us dress him up with makeup and tiaras at Thanksgiving dinners at my Grandparents' house growing up.

Uncle Kurt has patience galore, and with his little family of ALL BOYS he's definitely an example to me when I have days like the one I had the other day. His boys are such sweethearts and are so good to play with my little boys at gatherings.

Ben is always willing to pitch in with his little family. He was all about helping at my nephew Dylan's birthday party. He was my first in-law.

And my sweet Pete. Even though it was Father's Day, he totally still got the kids ready for church (I guess he wanted to be on time, because if it was left to me to do, we'd show up oh-so-late). He takes my hormones (which have gone into overdrive lately) in stride, and doesn't laugh at me (to my face, which I totally appreciate) when I'm freaking out over a poopy diaper or something. Last night at 2 a.m. when I was ready to murder Ivy he got up with her and got her to calm down and go to sleep. Then he came back to bed and hugged me until I calmed down as well. This is the guy that gets up at 5:30 a.m. every day for work. Pete, I'm glad you're mine!

I'm just glad to have such incredible men in my life. Thanks a bazillion for just being who you are!

A Two-Coke Day

Otherwise titled: It's My Blog, and I'll Cry if I Want To
or titled: Sometimes the Non-Squeaky Wheel Needs a Little Oiling, Too

I have this recurring dream, where people are in danger, and I have to tell them, and I'm yelling and screaming at the top of my lungs, but it only comes out in a whisper. Once it was a tornado, and I saw it coming, and no one else did, and I was trying to tell everyone to get below ground, and no one could hear me, and then when they finally did they didn't believe me.

Maybe I have issues. But that's for another day. Today I just want to vent. And don't you dare attribute my rant to hormones. For some reason whenever I feel like speaking my mind, people dismiss it as PMS, or wonder if I need anti-depressants. Um, neither. I just want to speak my mind, is that so bad? Why can other people speak their minds or yell and scream, and people "poor baby" them, but I get the "sheesh, what's her problem?" No fair.

Sometimes being a parent sucks. Don't get me wrong, overall it's super awesome, otherwise I wouldn't have 4 kids. But today I wish I didn't have those 4 kids. For instance, Troy decided to climb on our bouncer. I was hoping it would last through this last child of ours, but alas. He totally broke it. Like, gotta throw it in the garbage, can't glue it or duck tape it together broken. Why is it that my kids have to play with all the things that aren't THEIRS to play with? Yesterday Troy got out my eyeshadow and dug little holes into the colors, so now when I want to wear eyeshadow I have to dab at it and try not to get too much on the brush but a lot is going to get on the brush because it's crumbling apart. Thanks, dude. They have a room full, I mean an entire room FULL of toys, yet they decide that using spatulas in the flour is way more fun.

Which leads me to my next whine. Messes. My walls downstairs are completely dinged up because of the kids (read Jakob) throwing their toys at other toys, which then bounce up and hit the walls. So cool. If we end up ever moving we'll have to completely redo some walls with spackling and texturing and paint, and hope the buyers don't look too closely.

And once again it's Troy that thinks it's totally cool to dump his drink onto his tray, clothes, hair, and floor when I'm not in the kitchen with him at meal times. While he was eating lunch today, I was downstairs feeding Ivy, and by the time I came back up (about 15 minutes later) he and the floor were a complete mess. Good gravy!

Oh, and did I mention I have the runs today? Which can be fun when my children insist on being in the bathroom with me, even when I tell them to let me be alone, and even when I close the door they have to be right outside the door asking me what I'm doing. Uh, what do you think I'm doing? Take a wild guess!

Though maybe they really don't know. I am SO SICK of changing Brock's poopy diapers. He tells me he wants to wear big boy undies, and recently is very interested in getting himself dressed. He's even tried to change his own diaper. But will he go pee in the toilet? Nope, not even for chocolate. Will he tell me he has to go? Nope. We tried a while back to potty train, and put him in big boy undies. He pooped three times-three times!-that day, and didn't give a rat's about it being in undies. I have three kids in diapers, and between buying those and formula we're going to be super poor for the next little while.

I wish I could just go on an all-expense paid vacation, where I don't have to talk to anyone, or do anything for anyone. My back is killing me right now-what I wouldn't do for a massage. And the hormones! I freaking can not get warm to save my life. Sure, I wake up completely covered in sweat when I get up to feed Ivy, which makes you think I'm too warm. But it then dries and freezes me out, and then I come back to bed and shiver until I fall asleep.

And for some reason Ivy thinks she needs to get up two or three times during the night, but only wants to eat 1 ounce, but wants to spend 45 minutes doing that. Why did you even bother waking up, dude?

And do I have to look at the same robot Jakob built, over and over and over, because for some reason in his mind it looks totally different, even though I know it's exactly the same?

I'm so tired of getting less and less for my money. Filling up my little Neon yesterday cost me $40. And in a week, we'll have to fill it up again! Groceries? Yeah, a can of Similac formula used to be $20 (this is a year ago, people), and now it's $25. And just when we get through a bunch of things (kidney stones, baby), and I start to think "Okay, we're doing okay, and now we can start catching up" (not getting ahead, but catching up), something else happens or comes up. For instance, we got a computer virus Friday, and luckily Pete rocks at computers and managed to get things worked out. But there was the possibility of having to get a new computer for at least $800. I mean, come on! Sometimes I just want to write to some famous person who gets millions of dollars, and say, could you spare $50,000? That's hardly a drop in their humongous bucket, yet would be such a windfall for me.

Okay, I think I'm done ranting now. I'm gonna get a Coke.

Ladies and Gentlemen...

HADES has frozen over!!

Ironman has surpassed Spiderman in the COOL SCALE!!!

Let's Face It

I'm a member of the extraordinary league of super cool people that have joined...Facebook.

When I was looking for people for my class reunion last year, I joined MySpace for a while, but I couldn't search for people using their names; instead it was listed by what that person had put for their name. Then I had to guess by the picture, then ask to be their friend or whatever. And after trying in vain to find a few people, I gave up that route of stalking.

Then recently I got a few emails saying I had been invited to join Facebook by a couple of people, and I thought, "Why not?" But honestly, I don't know how I feel about it. I guess if I put forth more effort into it, and added all the different applications and whatnot, then maybe it would be more awesome for me. But I don't know if I really want to do it all. I like my blog. I can add pictures, rearrange things at will, and it's easy enough. Facebook...all I really think about it right now is hmmm.

So what do you think? Has your experience been good, bad, or ugly? Have you really kept in contact or found people that way, or is it more like a chore, just one more thing to check and spend time on? Do tell!

The Writing's on the Wall

Well! That will teach ME to do something as selfish as use the bathroom and check the mail!!

Usually my boys are pretty good about coloring on paper, so I really don't know what possessed Brock to color the ENTIRE wall. (Hmm, I'm tired of looking at white. Let's do some turquoise here, some brown there...Perfect!)

But at least he was a really good sport about cleaning it up. Even when I told him that he was done, he said, "No, I'm cleaning!" Our wall still kind of has a bluish tint to it-maybe that was the effect he was going for in the first place.

Singing Time in Brockese

Brock loves to sing.

In nursery he'll request songs when the music lady comes in. And when he's done singing a song he'll praise himself with an ultra high-pitched "GOOD JOOOOOB!" But like his older brother, he won't perform. We tried to videotape him once, and the whole time he said, "NO! No singing! Leave my lone!" So yesterday, after he sang "I am a Child of God" for the hundredth time (his other favorites are "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam"), I wrote down the lyrics according to him:

I meen a chi-owd uh God

An' dee has sen' me here

As gee ben me uh earfy home

Wee pear wents kind n' dear

Leave me, guy me, walk me side me

Heh me fine da way

Teach me all dat I muss do

To wiv wit Him somedaaaay!

So Bee It

Today we had our first T-ball game.

What, no pictures of this milestone? What kind of mom ARE you?

Um, yeah, I was one of the ones running around trying to get the kids going in the right direction. Oh, and I was carrying Troy and holding Brock's hand while doing it.

Oh. So, you're the coach?

Well, no, I'm not. I'm the unofficial assistant coach. I have a cool T-shirt; does that count?

Kind of. Only if it looks good on you.

Uh, not really. It's yellow. Because we're the Busy Bees. Cute for the kids, not the best color on a strawberry blonde, super fair-skinned person. And it's really long and baggy, because apparently the city people think that all the mom coaches are the same size as sumo wrestlers. I'm going to have to do a little choppity-chop sewing job on it.

And how does that help your skin tone? I've seen your legs, and nearly got blinded.

How about I wear jeans the whole time.

I guess that helps. Are you a good coach?

Unofficial assistant coach. Um, I know about 5 kids' names. Um... and I didn't trip over any of them while carrying my 22-month old.

Wait, I thought you just had a baby. Why weren't you carrying her around?

She slept in her seat the whole time on the sidelines. And Brock cried the whole time. And Troy thought he was super important, like always, and kept running to hit the ball too, hence the carrying.

So, it was a normal fiasco event for you. That's all you had to say. How did Jakob do?

Sad to say, he had more fun going to the dentist this last Friday than he had playing T-ball. How does that work?

Don't ask me. He's your kid.

Well, I think it will just get easier and more fun as the season goes on.

Yeah, we'll talk again when you have an 8:30 game.

Oh yeah...