I Spoke Too Soon.

I have thrown up 3 times since my last post. Darn it.

Life on Hold

The word is out that I am PREGNANT.

I'm just shy of 10 weeks along. For the past 3 weeks I have cancelled every appointment, meeting, playdate, and obligation in my life to lie on my couch, trying not to vomit. My poor kids eat Cheeto's for the majority of their meals lately (the all-natural ones at least). Devin does the housework and is being such a help to me.

Last night something weird happened. I noticed that I was sitting up, not lying on the couch. Then I analyzed the feeling in my stomach and realized that nausea was absent! Today was another good day. I still had to do typical things like make emergency runs to the pantry when I got that nasty feeling, or take a break and lie down for a minute and let my head stop spinning, but I actually did things today. I took the kids to the park. I stopped by Selena's house and went to the store. I even went to walking group.


I hope the tide is turning!

Good to Know.

We found out today that Mollie is allergic to liquid amoxicillin. Poor girl.

The Kindness of Strangers

On Friday we were walking into Trader Joe's when I pointed out a big truck to Sam. Since he's a boy he was very interested. As I was buckling Mollie into the cart, Sam walked over to the truck (which was right next to us on the sidewalk) and started walking up the loading ramp, with his favorite Transformer car in hand. Before I had a chance to get him down, of course the driver of the truck had to walk up. Before he gave me the "get-your-kid-away-from-my-stuff" look, he motioned for Sam to give him the Transformer.

The sweet man took the toy car and told Sam to wait at the bottom of the ramp.

Suddenly the ramp turned into a race course as the truck driver made car sounds and pushed the toy from the top of the ramp to my little boy waiting at the bottom. Sam was doing his high-pitched Barry giggle and could hardly wait to catch his car.




I love that his happened. Thank you to the man who took 30 seconds out of his day to make my little Sam happy.

Sam's 3 Year Video

I'm finally finished with Sam's 3 year movie! Happy Birthday, little Sam.

Our Thankful Weekend

We had a busy and laaaazy long weekend. We hung around the house mostly, watching movies (Becky and I watched 3 movies together last night). Brooklynn spent Wednesday-Friday night with us. I always love when she sleeps over because she is my late night buddy. We like to eat and watch TV and do nothing. It's the best.


To start off the holiday weekend we spent all day Wednesday at Dr. Doxey's office getting Sam's cavities fixed.


Mollie and I hung out in the waiting room. She was pretty entertained by the sock on her arm.
Sam now has a mouth full of silver (just like Russ Sorensen used to). I'm so glad to have Sam's teeth all healthy again. The only problem is now I found a cavity in MY OWN mouth!!! AHH the plight of the uninsured!



We had Thanksgiving dinner at Brian and Scottee's. It was a lot of fun even though 1/3 of the family was missing.

This was also my first Thanksgiving without my parents minus the year I was away in Mississippi. They were so depressed that year they had to leave town and go to a resort just to get their minds off missing me. Kind of like the time they got a dog to "fill the void" of me leaving for college. They have a funny way of coping with things. This year they were so depressed they arranged for Whitney to have a baby.I love this baby. His name is Harrison King Neier. Good job, Whitney! He is precious!!



On Black Friday we made shopping a family affair and bought a new toilet at Home Depot (Sam broke our old one by lifting the top lid and dropping it, cracking the toilet from top to bottom).It's times like these I'm so glad I'm not the man.



Tonight after church we went to the Mesa Temple to enjoy the Christmas lights.




Hallelujah they both fell asleep on the way home.




Happy Thanksgiving EVERYBODY! (That was for you, Don).

Look Who Has to Go!

Since my post about Sam's bathroom issues, things have improved slightly.

We went to Desert Ridge today with Selena and brand-new Brynn. We posed for some Christmas pictures (even though it didn't feel very Christmassy. Selena and I were both sweating in our long sleeves). I'm so happy to see Sam feeling the urge (thank you, Capri Suns)!


Still feeling it



We headed to the bathroom shortly after, but not before Sam bonded with his future wife.
Love that Brynn.

Family Night Family Night We Get a Treat!

Today was tiresome.

This morning we headed to the mall to let the kids play and to browse Christmas toys. Our first stop was the Disney store (Sam was our guide). The last time we were in this store, he walked straight to a toy he wanted. He kept saying, "Can I get this for Chrissmis, PWEASE?!" It was a box set of Toy Story toys, some of which he already has. This box set costs $70.

Today when we walked into the store, Sam walked straight to his desired toy again. He wouldn't leave the box's side. He kept repeating his same phrase about how he wants this for Christmas. I don't know where he learned to beg, but he is a pro.

After the Disney store we went to the indoor playground. Sam was roaring at all the other kids (per usual) while Mollie crawled cautiously around the bases of the slides. Sam found a playmate, a little boy with blonde curly hair, probably about 2 years old. He and Sam were running laps around the play area. If Sam would trip, the boy would copy him and fall to the ground also. They were having a great time until Sam turned to his friend and roared as loudly as he could right into his face. The poor blonde boy stood there for a few seconds before the tears starting pouring out. His parents tried to calm him down while I told them my usual, "I'm sorry, he thinks he's a dinosaur..." After a minute or two the parents scooped up their crying boy and left.


For family night tonight our lesson was about missionaries. (Maybe it should have been about not roaring at your friends). Sam loves family night because he knows when the prayers and the song and the lesson are through, we get a treat. In fact, we have a family cheer: FAMILY NIGHT! FAMILY NIGHT! WE GET A TREAT!

Tonight we had Jello. It was Mollie's first time eating it. She was a fan.


It is currently 6:50 p.m. and both kids are sound asleep.

Happy Monday.

How Often Do You Pee?

Lately Sam has only been going #1 twice each day. Friday he only peed once, and today he didn't go at all until noon.

We took him to the doctor last week. She said it could be a number of things; that he could be acting out for some reason (my theory would be that Devin is MIA a lot because of work), that he could have a buildup of poo that is muting his urge to urinate, or that he simply needs more fluids. She suggested doubling his fluid intake and giving him a laxative to test the poo theory.


Devin and I have been liquid nazis ever since Sam's appointment last Friday. Sam went 4 times yesterday, which also happened to be a day when Devin wasn't working (that acting out theory might be valid after all). Today, however, Sam was back at only going twice, refusing to use the bathroom before bed (even though it had been 3+ hours since he last went, plus he had had 2 popsicles. I know there was liquid in that bladder).


I don't know what to do with this boy. Him not peeing might be his version of a hunger strike.

Any ideas to get him to go?







Devin gave Sam a priesthood blessing because of his pee issues. Sam felt the need to return the favor.

Three.

Sam Barry turned 3 years old today.

Here he is before the sun came up this morning opening presents.


We thought it would be a good idea to sugar him up all day. He's got 5 cavities already, what's a few more? (Does anyone know a dentist that would trade dental work for having their carpets cleaned, by the way?)
Notice Sam's very cool landscaper's hat. He insisted on wearing it inside Dunkin Donuts.



We rode the train at the mall.



Sam even had a lunch/shopping date with Grandpa and Gogo. While he was away, Mollie played with Sam's new toys. That's my girl.


Sam is my love. Sam is a sweet boy and also a spitfire. This is my motherly way of saying he can be a bully. He sometimes gets kicked out of nursery at church for being violent, but then again he usually always apologizes and hugs his victims. Oh man there is no way to make that sound good, is there...

Sam is compassionate and energetic. He loves to snuggle with me and Devin, although he's not too keen on Mollie getting in on the action. Sam loves Cars and anything boyish. He loves dirt, loves boogers, and loves making people laugh.

Sam is the greatest boy in the history of boys. I can't wait to see what the future holds. Happy birthday, little Samothy!

Negligent Mom

This morning Sam wanted to take a bath. I ran the water, undressed him and Mollie, and let them play. After they had been in there for a while, I walked from the bathtub to our bedroom computer (our bedroom and our bathroom are connected). I needed to check the time since we were expecting our neighbor to come over very soon. I was gone probably 4 seconds. I heard splashing and Sam laughing. I came back in to find Mollie completely underwater, and the splashing sound was the sound of her struggling to get up. Sam was laughing because he thought she was playing. I immediately grabbed Mollie out of the water and waited for her to take a breath. She was completely shaken up and so was I.

I am so mad at myself that I left the bathtub. I guess I figured that if Mollie fell down or something that Sam would let me know. I know not to leave children alone in the bath and I hate that I did it anyway.

I am so SO grateful to my Heavenly Father that he preserved my little Mollie's life and taught me this lesson without a tragedy occurring.

I don't know what I'd do without my girl.

Tell Me a Story About a Bat!

My parents visited this weekend from Florida. On Thursday night we were all sitting around talking. My mom started telling the story about the time a bat flew into our house when my sisters and I were little.




The grandkids loved that story. The whole drive home, Sam made me tell him the story of the bat. The whole next day, Sam made me tell the story. I finally got the bat story condensed into a 15 second sentence:

"Once upon a time, when Mommy and Becca and Whitney were all little, Mama D was downstairs doing the dishes when all of the sudden she saw something fly by her so she yelled, 'JAPPA, JAPPA! (my dad's grandpa name),'THERE'S A BIRD IN THE HOUSE!' so Jappa ran downstairs and said, 'THAT'S NOT A BIRD, THAT'S A BAT!!!' and the bat flew upstairs then downstairs then upstairs then downstairs until finally it flew outside and went home to it's mommy. The End."

(I skip the parts where my parents hurriedly stuffed towels under our bedroom doors so the bat wouldn't attack us, or that my dad chased it around with a broom for a while, or that he called his neighbor for help but he wasn't interested in coming over)

Sam loves his Mama D and his Jappa. And also bats.

For the First Time in My Life

I hate smoking. I hate the way it looks and especially the way it smells.

When we first moved into our current house back in February we spent a lot of time out in the back yard since the weather was so nice. I love our back yard. We have 4 huge trees that shade the whole thing, and the kids love to run (and in Mollie's case crawl) up and down the length of the sidewalk. One day while we were playing back there, I noticed it. Cigarette smoke. It was very strong. I had discovered that our next door neighbor was a smoker.

Over the next few weeks I noticed it more and more. Our next door neighbor was a HEAVY smoker.

It wasn't until a few weeks later when I met her. Her name was Joan. She was a nice lady in her early 60's. As time passed, Devin and I would see her occasionally in the front yard. I began to bring her cookies whenever I would make a batch, and she brought Sam and Mollie books when she took a trip to Barnes and Noble.

I found out that she was a widow. She raised 2 kids and loved to talk about them. She told me stories over and over about her crazy little boy, since I am raising one of my own. She said she loved to hear Sam and Mollie playing outside. She told me I was doing a good job raising them. A mom needs to hear that sometimes.


Tonight Joan passed away. For the first time in my life, I think am going to miss the smell of cigarette smoke.

Halloween Is Taking Over.

Our Nephew, John, at Yesterday's Barry Halloween Bash




Is it just me or is Halloween becoming more and more popular every year?

When I was little, I remember going trick-or-treating, and then Halloween was over. Now, it seems that the whole month of October is filled with parties, junk food, and zombie babies. It seems like more houses decorate their homes for Halloween now than ever. Is it just because I'm old now and am noticing all of these things, or is Halloween getting to be a bigger deal than it used to be?

Congrats to Selenas!

6 Years ago we posed for this picture during a hike in Sedona . After the shutter snapped, I'm sure the conversation was something like, "Just think, a few years from now you'll be having a real human come out of your..."







Today, that very thing happened.





Congrats, Selena and Russ. She is perfect.

Nesting

Most mothers-to-be are crazy right before their baby comes. They fill their homes with all things soft and good-smelling. Selena, on the other hand, fills her home with zombie babies.



















T minus 2 days. I think she's ready.

Hot Yoga

For Mother's Day, Leigh Ann's husband got her a gift certificate for 20 hot yoga sessions. Since he knows it's no fun to do that kind of thing alone, he got me one too. Last night we finally used our first one.

As we walked into the studio Leigh Ann said, " I hope I don't mess up anybody's Zen!"

My commments:
1) It really was hot. They had the heater running between 100-105 degrees.
2) I looked at myself in the huge mirror we were facing a few times and thought, "Wow, I look like a complete idiot." About twice I looked at myself and thought, "You're looking good!!!" haha. The instructor even told me once that my pose was "beautiful." I was pretty happy about that.
3) I think I like yoga.
4) I don't like that it's all the way on 16th Street and Bethany Home rd. Or that the sessions are 90 minutes long.
5) We have 19 more sessions to use before November 7. Can you tell we waited until the last minute to use our gift certificates?

Mollie's roommate

Last night I got to watch my sweet nephew, Vaughn, while Becca and Adam were out of town. I had the idea to put he and Mollie both to sleep in her room. I just thought it would be cute, plus I wanted to designate only one area of the house as the "quiet zone," so that Devin and I could go about our night without being banned from our bedroom.

Mollie goes to bed earlier than Vaughn, so I crept in the room while she was sleeping and tried to get Vaughn to sleep without disturbing her. Vaughn must not have liked the vibe Mollie's room was giving out, because he started to cry as soon as I brought him in there. A few seconds later, Mollie was crying too. Long story short, they kept each other company with their cries until they both eventually gave up.



Just shy of 5 a.m. this morning, I heard Mollie's cry from over the monitor. I rushed in there in hopes to quiet her before Vaughn woke up, but I was too late. Their blaring cries woke Sam, too.



Next time I'll gladly forfeit our bedroom.

Al the Lawnmower

Yesterday I mowed the lawn for the first time in my life.

I have been fighting with my darn lawn for months now, just trying to get it to grow. As you know, Devin is MIA a lot of the time since he is working hard at cleaning carpets. I have been responsible for keeping up the yard work. Yeah it looks awful.

Anyway, I am proud of myself that I figured out how to turn on the lawnmower and actually use it! I did not have a good attitude about it though. I was grumpy that I had to mow the lawn in the first place. I was grumpy that it was so stinking hot outside (it is mid-October!!!). I was grumpy that I could hear Mollie crying from her bedroom window, refusing to take her morning nap (this was before I turned on the noisy mower). I was grumpy that my too-big glasses kept sliding down my sweaty face.


After wallowing in the grumps for a bit, I couldn't help but think about The Family: A Proclamation to The World.. In this proclamation, we are told of the responsibilities of husbands and wives in respect to taking care of their families. We are also told that if circumstances change, husbands and wives should help each other out in any way possible.

Of course these are all things most of us know and believe, but sometimes it's easy to forget. Especially when you are grumpy and outside doing man work.

I'm glad that I have Devin who is willing to work 12+ hour days to provide for us, and I know Devin is glad that he has a wife that has mad landscaping skills. Even if outside does make me grumpy.

Desperate Housewives

Today I hosted a waffle-fest at my house. A dance party followed. We had to make a video with pregnant Selena in it. We all got tired about 15 minutes into it, so I kind of had to scrounge for footage.

I Shop at Goodwill

My friend/neighbor Shauna told me about half-off days at Goodwill. I went yesterday and found this little number:



Shirt: $2.50
Skirt: $2.50

Not bad for $5.

Blah

Has this week really been so boring that I haven't posted once?

Looking back on this week all I can remember is that the weather has been beautiful. We spent almost every day at the park. I also did a juice fast for 2 1/2 days hoping to shed my last 6 or so lbs. I lost maybe 2. I think I am just destined to be 6 lbs. heavier with each child I bear. So that means if we have 6 or so kids like I really want I'll be a big gal. Something to look forward to! (I think I used the number 6 like 6 times in this paragraph).


Swinging at the park on Monday



Eating dinner outside with our cute neighbors on Tuesday. It was cool enough (in my opinion and Sam's too) for sweatshirts!



Another park date on Thursday with my girls.


The End.

To All The Mac Users Out There

Do you ever find yourself using Photobooth as a mirror?

The Good Life

I wasn't able to attend our church's annual women's broadcast this past Saturday. I was watching excerpts of it tonight while I was on the treadmill. President Uchtdorf's talk seemed to be directed at me, especially the part about waiting for your "golden ticket." He was talking about how a lot of us say things like, "I'll be happy when. I am definitely guilty of this. After listening to the inspired words of President Uchtdorf, I'm going to try and work on this. Because I really do have a beautiful life.

I've Got to Stop Hanging Around in My Undies.

It is still hot here in Arizona. So hot that I generally rip off my clothes as soon as the kids and I return from our morning errands. I did just that the other day, and was walking around in just my shirt and undies when Sam asked that I go to the car to rescue his Buzz Lightyear toy that he had left in there.

As soon as I had shut the door from the house to the garage I heard a little click and knew that Sam had just locked me out of the house. After trying to explain to him how to unlock it (why is it that kids can never grasp the concept that they can just do what they just did to unlock the darn door?!), I said a prayer and tried to figure out how I was going to get out of this one. I was trapped in the garage in just my shirt and underwear.

I looked around and thankfully found a blanket to wrap myself in. I opened the garage and very coolly ran over to my neighbor Shauna's house. How amazing is this: I had just given her a spare key the day before just in case I ever ran into a situation like this. Yep, Heavenly Father loves me.

Thanks be to God, Shauna, and my now favorite blanket.

Mollie's 1 Year Video

One.

Our girl turned a year old today.

How happy I am that Mollie is ours. Mollie is sweet. She is sensitive and dramatic. She loves snacks. When she's naked, she loves to crawl as fast as her chubby legs can take her. She loves her brother unconditionally. I am happy to report that they are becoming friends!

Mollie loves me and only me. Though this is hard, I secretly love it. With Devin's constant work schedule and Sam's constant activity, Mollie and I need each other. We don't necessarily have to be interacting, but we like to know what each other is doing and just be in the same room.

She's a great gal.



Here's how we spent her special day:



At the doctor. I told Sam to comfort Mollie because she was about to get "bad owies." Mollie was more upset over the doctor touching her rather than getting her shots.






Getting her ears pierced. Becca gave Mollie ear piercing as her birthday gift! I was a little on the fence about whether or not to do it, but now that it's done I am so happy. She looks so precious with them, and like with the doctor, Mollie was more mad about being touched rather than the actual piercing.





Happy Meal.The good thing about having small kids is that they can share one Happy Meal.





You are loved, dear Mollie. Happy Birthday.

Workaholic

Devin on Saturday night after a long week at work



Devin is a machine. He is working so hard to be able to earn enough money to support us. We are blessed to have him.



P.S.
Mollie's 1st birthday is tomorrow. I'm pretty excited to help her eat her cake.

Stubborn

Behold Mollie.

She is the most easy-going baby on the face of the planet. Until bedtime. She only likes me to put her to bed. If Devin tries to, she freaks out and arches her back and refuses to take her bottle. As you can imagine the scene is much worse when a babysitter tries to put her down.

Last month Scottee watched Mollie and Sam for us while Devin and I went to the temple. Mollie cried for hours on end. Even sweet Gogo came to help (which is a huge deal...Scottee is the baby whisperer), and still made no progress. Mollie was unhappy until Devin and I walked in the door to pick her up.

Tonight we had our beloved babysitter, Rachel, over to watch the kids. I warned her that Mollie would act like she is dying around bedtime. I told her she wouldn't give in. Brave Rachel accepted the challenge and sent us on our way.

When we arrived home an hour ago, we came to find Rachel and her mom here, trying so hard to coax Mollie into sleeping. That baby cried for over 3 hours, refusing to take her bottle and refusing to give in to sleep. Just as Rachel and her mom were about to go home, Gina (R's mom), decided to give Mollie one more try. Lo and behold, Mollie finally took her bottle and quieted down.


What can I say...she loves me.

Getting a Feel For It

I hate trying to figure out new haircuts and getting used to them. Today I tried the curling-under method for my new short hair.


I ended up feeling like I had "stewardess hair."


Or even worse, early 90's Hillary Clinton hair.



Hopefully I will be figuring out a cute way to do it soon.

I Cut My Hair.

Becca cut my hair for my birthday present (Are you tired of hearing about my birthday yet?).




Me taking one last picture of my long hair in all its beastly glory





That's about 5 lbs. of hair right there







Becky came too. All we could talk her into was getting a trim.




I tried about 5 pictures and this one shows the haircut best.




How blessed am I to have a sister who does hair? Well, I actually have 3 sisters (Treslee and Mindy) who do hair. Somehow we manage to look presentable in the end with their help.