Tales From the Crypt

Okay, not really the crypt, but it does seem like I've been dead, doesn't it? I've been getting complaints about being gone too long,so I thought I'd let you all know what's up. What I forgot to tell you in my previous post is that I was going to be gone for a week, but it was going to take me a week to get ready as well. Ha ha ha. I'm sure you all understand...you know, clean the house, make sure hubby has food so he doesn't starve, pack gobs and gobs of clothing and unnecessary items for yourself and your toddlers, etc. etc. So I actually left for my vacation on last Thursday and took two days to arrive. I will be leaving to come back on Saturday and will arrive back home on Sunday. Fortunately, my sister has a computer which enables me to write this right here. I'm sorry you've all been feeling neglected...
...but I'm having fun! So far we've been to IKEA, Cirque Du Soleil, the Science Museum, several malls, and today we're going to the ZOO. This has just been one booked trip. We've also enjoyed, exploding ovaries, chairs falling on children, children falling on children, burst water lines, and a bit of sleep deprivation. I'm enjoying hanging with my sister, but I do miss my hubby a lot, and I am looking forward to coming back home. I hope to have some fun pictures for you all. I tried to take some at the Cirque Du Soleil last night, but I got busted...whoops! So that is all folks. I may check in again if I get the chance! Love, Sarah

Spring Break

I'm headed off to hang with my sister over what I used to remember as Spring Break. I guess this is a bit of a break for me. While I wont be leaving the boys behind, I'll still have a lot of help and we'll be doing a ton of fun stuff. Yippee!! So anyways...if I'm not around much for the next week and a half that is why.
Hope you are all enjoying your breaks (if you're lucky enough to get one!)

Anniversary Date

Kev and I had a fabulous sixth anniversary. We left the boys with Papa and Gramma Summer, and went snowboarding for the day. Seeing that neither of us have been working out for the last, well, six years, we were a little beat at the end of the day, but
we had a lot of fun none the less and really enjoyed our time alone together. I realized that I felt like a teenager again, following my hubby through the trees and gliding through the powder together. I also noticed that my hubby was trying to impress me flying off jumps and speeding past me. After sore calves and bruised ankles and feet (from ill-fitting boots, new ones next year!), we decided to call it a day for the boarding.
Then we headed off to one of our favorite restaurants, Juicy Lucy's. BEST.STEAKS.IN.THE.WORLD. We had the window seat and had fun watching various people walk by, and at one point were making faces at two little girls, who started it, of course!
Then we headed off to the Hot Springs Pool, to meet Gramma and Papa with the boys. A perfect cap to our perfect day. And since we were so exhausted, coupled with the soak in the pool, we slept rather nicely that night. Mmmmmmm. Good Day!

Happy Anniversary, My Love.

Six years ago, tomorrow, we got married on a clear blue day. The sun was shining, but it was still rather chilly. We chose to get married in March so we could go snowboarding on our honeymoon during my spring break from college. Consequently, I failed one of my classes that semester- I was too busy planning the wedding and swooning over my soon to be husband. We did go snowboarding on our honeymoon, four days of snowy bliss. It still remains our most memorable trip to date. Those were the days. For snowboarding, I mean. Since then, the snowboarding has declined quite a bit, (being pregnant two winters is very inconvenient) but our love has grown stronger and deeper. We appreciate and understand each other better with each passing year. We have fought for and forged so much in our marriage. We really are one. I just don't feel like myself without you. You are my supporter, my motivational speaker, my soft shoulder to cry on, my rationality, my admirer, my can-do man, my masseuse, my swift kick in the rear, my best friend, the sharer of my dreams, my dreamer, my idea guy, my fix-it man, you are my stability, my goof-ball, my rockstar, my moody musician, my sensitive manly man, my dark and handsome, more than I ever dreamed, more than I need, more than I asked for. My life is so full, so blessed, so fun, so interesting, because of you. To the end of our days, my darling, I will love you, and I can't wait to hit the slopes with you tomorrow. Love, Sarah

Jung Test Results

Some more fun with personality tests again, via the Bees Knees (I'm too lazy, link in sidebar). If you take it, let me know what your results are as well-if you want, that is.

ISFJ - "Conservator". Desires to be of service and to minister to individual needs - very loyal. 13.8% of total population.

Take Free Jung Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

ISFP - "Artist". Interested in the fine arts. Expression primarily through action or art form. The senses are keener than in other types. 8.8% of total population.

Take Free Jung Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Here is a link to further explain what these results mean.

Main type	Variant

Take Free Enneagram Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Enneagram Test Results Type 1 Perfectionism |||||||||||||| 56% Type 2 Helpfulness |||||||||||||| 60% Type 3 Image Awareness |||||||||||| 50% Type 4 Sensitivity |||| 16% Type 5 Detachment |||||||||||| 50% Type 6 Anxiety |||||||||||| 50% Type 7 Adventurousness |||||||||| 40% Type 8 Aggressiveness |||| 13% Type 9 Calmness |||||||||||| 50% Your main type is 2 Your variant is social

Take Free Enneagram Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

As far as these go, I'd say the ISFJ more accurately describes me, but the ISFP occasionally comes out, and is what I often wish I were, but anyway...

Eh.

I was about to apologize to all of my readers for not having interesting enough posts, and then I thought, "what's not interesting about a one year old diving into his birthday cake?" Then I thought, well I just don't feel like my life has been very interesting lately. I've been having a hard time coming up with things to post. But then I realized that my life isn't boring either. I've just haven't wrote about what has been going on because it's sensitive, and I don't want to sound like a whiner either. I think I just need to get some things off my chest and be done with it. Truth be told, I've been having a pretty rough two weeks or months depending on how you look at it. I've been feeling rather depressed and I'm not sure what is the main cause, or if there even is one, but I can pinpoint a bunch of little triggers. Like the fact that I had two migraines last week and several lesser headaches between. I haven't been sleeping well because I've had really active dreams, you know the kind where you wake up in a bad mood because of what happens in them. However, I can't remember what any of them was about (which is probably a good thing.) I've had a lot of mental anguish, which I probably could write a whole post about by itself. Things in my life are changing, some good, some not so much. I know that sometimes changes, even good ones, can bring about anxiety. The whether has been super crappy. After what I thought was going to be spring, we had a real snowy week. I was happy about spring coming and then I was stuck indoors without much sunlight all last week. So I've been down in the dumps a bit, but I'm feeling a little better just letting it all out. I have to say that my husband has been an incredible support through all of this-he's been letting me cry on his shoulder and letting me talk it all out which is really what I've needed. My life really is good and I have a million and one things to be thankful for and I know I just need to focus on those instead of the bad. It's just hard sometimes. So that is all. I know things are going to get better and I'm not going to stay in this place. Adapting and adjusting are just parts of life.

Dirty Laundry Day

A little about me:

I found this via The Bee's Knees. A quite accurate personality quiz. Check it out.

Global Personality Test Results

Stability (56%) moderately high which suggests you are relaxed, calm, secure, and optimistic. Orderliness (53%) medium which suggests you are moderately organized, hard working, and reliable while still remaining flexible, efficient, and fun. Extraversion (26%) low which suggests you are very reclusive, quiet, unassertive, and secretive.

Take Free Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

First Birthday Cake

Dear Beau,

Happy First birthday little dude! I cannot believe you are already one. I'm so excited to see what the future brings, but a little sad that you're technically not a baby any more. You will always be my baby though.
I think I've already told your birth story, it was basically my first entry on this blog, but here it is:

"Okay, so here goes my first blog.
First I'm going to put down my sleeping infant son, so I can type better.
Anyways, so lets start by talking about the insanity of my life at this point in time. It all started a little over a month ago, when I was two weeks overdue with my second son. I don't understand what happened- my first son was only four days late and came out all on his own. They had to induce me to get the second out. And let me just say that the second labor, though a lot shorter than the first, was lot more intense and hurt a lot more. I must have scared every yet to deliver mother on the floor, because you could hear me yelling all the way down the hall!

Funny story: During this whole ordeal- I was in the jacuzzi ( for pain management) when the contractions hit really hard and I started to basically yell to help myself deal with the pain. My sister was down the hall and looked at my mom and said, "Is that Sarah?" My mom listened closer and confirmed that yes it was me. She also happened to catch a maintenance man who was outside the jacuzzi door, he commented and said, "Sounds like someone's having some fun in there, " and my mom looked at him and said, "No, someone had some fun."

Anyways, my son came out in fine form, is perfectly healthy and kind of a chunk. He gained 2 pounds in the first two weeks!"

So that is my glimpse into the past and here's me glimpsing at my newborn with my grandma. I can't believe how much you've changed. You weren't ever that small, were you ? And you still like sleeping next to mommy best. Momma likes it when you sleep next her too, even if she is wearing dorky glasses.So wave goodbye to your infancy, as we trek forward together in this new year of milestones and beginnings. Happy Birthday little man!

Ariel at 15 Weeks

Okay, okay, now does she actually look sort of preggers? I think so...

That is AWESOME!

Exciting news! Drew completed his sticker chart, so he was able to get his big reward which was a (Gasp!) Storm Trooper gun. Needless to say, he was thrilled about it and is now very excited about going potty. And of course, much to my dismay, the Storm Trooper gun, that has lovely sound effects, comes everywhere with us. But hey, our little guy is getting it, and that is worth the constant barrage of phaser noises (I think.) However, with such knowledge, sometimes comes consequences...
Last night at about 2 in the morning, our little potty trainer came bursting into our room,
"Da," he says in a loud and excited whisper, "Da, I go poop!"
A startled and sleepy Kevin finally came to, "Wha...wha...what?" Thinking that this could possibly be a disaster.
"DA! I GO POOP! I GO POOP IN THE POTTY!"
Kevin looked down to see a bottomless Drew almost jumping up and down with excitement. He slithered out of bed and rubbed his groggy eyes as he followed Drew down the hall to the lit bathroom. Sure enough, there was a big poopy in the potty.
"See DA, I go POOP! I get a Storm Trooper!" says an exuberant Drew, no doubt expecting to jump in the car with his Dad and go right down to the store to get his toy. Poor Kevin was caught between bewilderment at being wakened this way, being proud of his advancing son and the task at hand: getting the excited three year old wiped up and calmed enough to go back to bed.

Tootin' My Horn

I am totally Wonder Woman. Today I woke up and got a migraine in about 30 minutes. I get the type of migraines that come with a twenty minute visual warning: I see this weird flashy aura and it totally messes up my vision, and twenty minutes later the headache sets in. So this morning when that happened, instead of freaking out, like I have in the past, I just calmly got as much done as I could in the next twenty minutes so I could take care of my kids and my husband wouldn't have to come home and bail me out. I finished feeding them breakfast, I ate breakfast and drank a whole glass of water, I cleaned up their trays, cleaned up my mess, put dinner in the crock pot, drew myself a bath, set the kids up with a movie and some toys, set myself up with the phone and some water and the remotes, and took two Excedrin Migraine. Then the migraine hit and I got into the tub, which was not warm enough, so I crawled into bed and toughed it out with the kids, even nursed Beau. Three hours later, I was feeling much better. So the Excedrin worked. It has caffeine in it though, so if you like to beat your headaches by sleeping, I don't recommend it. (Which is what I normally would do.) So now I feel pretty good considering... I thought about actually going to the grocery store, but I'm happy with the status of Wonder Woman I've already gained today, thank you very much.

I *SO* Called This One

With my hubby as my only witness, last night while watching the Oscars I said, "that dress is terrible, it is soooo going to be on Go Fug Yourself tomorrow". By the way, if you like laughing at celebrity fashion disasters, this is a site you should add to your bookmarks, it makes me laugh on a regular basis...

Can I Wear These?

Tryin' on momma's shoes...

Photo of the Day

...and please try to ignore the fact that I desperately need to touch up my roots...

Can You Tell What's Happened Here?

This is what happens when you let your son have free reign over the bathroom, just so you can have a sob-free moment to put on your make-up.

Potty Training Manual (or What worked fer Us)

I'm so proud of my little boy! And I hope that I'm not speaking too soon here, but Drew has made leaps and bounds in the potty training department. We've spear headed the whole issue here in the last month, meaning mommy just got tough and trained herself, and we've had a lot of progress. Today, while I was on the phone (yes, there is significance in that) he ran to the bathroom all by himself, got right up on the toilet and went pee! Yeah! Just in case your curious, this is what we've been doing. The first couple of days I let him go sans diaper or pull-up, just undies. As you might imagine, we had a lot of wet undies and pants, and he had to take them off and deal with them himself. If there was a puddle, he had to clean it up. I was getting a little wiser too, so I started setting the timer every half hour and taking himto the bathroom when it went off. In the bathroom, he was allowed to get off the potty after he went pee or poo (this seemed to be pivotal step.) Once he did go, not only was he really pleased with himself, but so was I, and I made sure he knew it! That was another important thing, I made sure I was positive and encouraging about every issue here. When he wet his pants, I was calm and just explained that he could avoid this if he'd go in the toilet. When he wanted to get off the potty (not having gone yet,) I'd just say, "You CAN get off, after you go pee." instead of "you CAN'T get off until you go pee." We also have a rewards system. He gets a sticker on his sticker chart every time he goes, and once it is full, he gets a big present. To encourage pooping, he gets a little football helmet everytime he goes on the potty. So far this method has really been working for us. Thank the Lord, because I was about to lose my mind.

He's not perfect yet, but he's getting it!