Something that Makes Me Happy

Just 70 days left.
And yes, I'm TOTALLY counting down :)

Manic Monday!

Around 5 pm yesterday, our day was looking pretty good. The kids had taken extra long naps, Chyler hadn't been in time-out all day, the laundry was moving along, I scheduled my visiting teaching visits, I made a few healthy snacks, I was able to work on a St. Patrick's Day card, and a few other things. Things were looking up!

Around 5pm, Jackson woke up from his nap. While Chyler played with her tea set, I decided to feed him. Things were going great until I heard Chyler drop one of the plates. I was two feet away from her and immediately said, "Uh oh. Don't pick it up!" What did she do? She picked it up. Before I knew it, her hands were all bloody and she was crying. I quickly put Jackson down and ran her to the sink to rinse it off. I realized her thumb was cut bad and it was really bleeding. I grabbed a nearby napkin and wrapped it around her thumb. I could tell that wasn't going to do the trick, so I took her to the bathroom and grabbed a clean rag to wrap around her thumb. At this point, I couldn't tell how bad it was because she wouldn't let me look at it. While still holding Chyler and her thumb, I grabbed my phone and called Brian. I knew I'd need help with a crying toddler and a hungry baby. In less than 30 seconds, I quickly conveyed to him that he needed to come home now! I put on a 30 minute Leapfrog Letter video, held Chyler in my lap while applying pressure on her thumb and holding it above her head. Thankfully, Jackson was content watching the movie while laying on the floor. During the course of the video, I was able to stop her thumb from bleeding. It looked deep, but I didn't think it needed stitches. Chyler was distracted by the video and calmed down enough so I could clean up some of the blood, put away the broken pieces of the tea set, and get our first aid kid. I decided to wait to put anything on it until Brian got home so I could have a second opinion. Soon after the video ended, Brian walked in. He didn't think it needed stitches either. He took over and bandaged up Chyler's finger while I took care of Jackson. We knew her finger would be sore, but we thought she'd be ok.

After everything calmed down, Brian made dinner for us all. He was making his version of fettucini chicken alfredo. While cooking the pasta though, one of the burners caught on fire. He handled it well by grabbing some baking powder and pouring it all over the burner until the fire went out. Before he put the fire out though, little black specks floated throughout the apartment. Oh fun. Brian went ahead and continued cooking dinner so we could eat. It was getting late and I knew I'd have to wait to clean up until the kids were in bed.

Over the next hour or two, we bathed the kids, put away the toys, had a mini FHE, and put the kids to bed. I then tackled the blood that dripped onto the carpet, scrubbed blood out of Chyler's clothes, and started cleaning up black specks all over my kitchen. At one point, I reached under our kitchen sink to grab the dishwasher detergent to start a cycle. When I did, I noticed the bottom of the box was wet. After further inspection, I realized everything was wet. Urrr! I had to take everything out from under the sink, throw boxes away and find new storage for SOS pads, dishwasher detergent, and magic erasers. We were able to figure out that the sink leaked when the garbage disposal ran. After getting the sink mess cleaned up, I went back to cleaning everything else up. With Brian's help, I was able to get everything done a little after 10 pm.

So.... what seemed like a magnifiscent day turned into a not so good day. However, I am thankful for a few things:
1) The kids were as amazing as they were in the day. It wasn't a total loss.
2) Chyler's thumb is ok. (Although, she won't keep a band-aid on it, no matter how much I tape it down.)
3) The stain came out of Chyler's shirt.
4) We caught the leak before it got too bad.
5) Today is a new day :)

My College Experience

Brian here

This past week I went to Oklahoma State’s graduation fair.  Before we could go in they would check our records to make sure we are actually graduating.  When I handed my college ID to the lady she looked at it and said it was old and it was about time that I got out of here.  So I started thinking about my college experience and how it started several years ago.  So here I thought I could go down memory lane and detail my college experience.

In the fall of 2004 I was a senior in high school and was suffering from a severe case of senioritis.  In my High school if you were a senior and earned good grades the school let you take release time and take OSU classes for free.  I took advantage of this and took my first college class, American History.  I loved the college format and was even more desperate to get out of high school and into college.  The next semester I enrolled in 3 OSU classes and only had basketball at the high school.  I joked that I was a college student who played on the high school basketball team.  I was loving life because I still had early morning seminary at the institute, which was right next to campus, and I could take early morning classes.  I was often done around 9-10 o-clock every morning and could go home a take a nap before basketball practice.  Life was great.

 After graduating high school I enrolled at OSU for the fall.  It was a very typical freshman experience.  I lived in the dorms, took entry level classes and got involved in too many things.  I only did one semester and then left to serve my mission in Colorado Springs.  Two years later I was back on campus to finish up my “freshman” year.  I was two years older and took school a little more seriously at this point.  I picked a major, and set my course for the next several years, or so I thought.

My mission had thrown a few curveballs at me and forced me to change a few of my plans.  First my mission president had sent me home a few weeks early so I could get back in school.  I had planned on working for a few months then restarting school in the summer with a little more money in my pocket.  When I got home early to enroll in the spring of 08 it took a toll on the savings account.  On top of that I lost of few scholarships because OSU thought I dropped out of school instead of serving a mission. (I will not go into detail because I still get frustrated thinking about it.) So to solve the money issue I got a full time job at a local bank.  I worked full time and went to school full time during the 08-09 school year.  I was pretty busy but at least I did not go into debt to pay for school.     

When the 09-10 school year got here a few major developments had occurred.  The biggest one was that I married my sweetheart, Kyla.  Then shortly thereafter she got pregnant with our daughter Chyler.  Kyla was working and commuting down to Oklahoma City.  Since Kyla was working so hard and had solved the money problem (aka Sugar Mama) I focused on school.  Over the fall, spring, and summer I completed 59 hours.  I also got accepted into the Accounting Master’s program at OSU

The start of the 10-11 school year was pretty nice for several reasons.  I started Master level classes while also taking a few undergrad classes and was enjoying my time at school.  Kyla had quit work and stayed home with Chyler.  We worked as apartment managers and with careful budgeting were able to get by.  I got an internship in the spring and commuted to Enid to work and then  I would come back in the evenings to take a few classes.   I was one semester from graduating with my B.S and my M.S. and things were looking good. 

Our plans changed suddenly when we found out that Kyla was pregnant again with our son Jackson.  I took a full time job in Oklahoma City as a state auditor so we could have maternity insurance.   It delayed my graduation by one more semester.   The auditor’s office was very kind and allowed me to have a flexible schedule and leave work early on Wednesdays last fall so I could go and finish up some of my classes.  This last semester I have one online class left then I will have officially graduated with my Master’s in Accounting. 

It has been eight years in the making and a lot of hard work.  I am very grateful for my family, experiences, and the opportunity to gain an education.  I am excited to graduate and move on to bigger and better things but I will always cherish the memories that came from my college experience.   

Saving Money

Something that people might not know about me is that I am frugal. My mom trained me well to always look for a good deal and now it's become a part of me. I thought I'd share a little tip that my Mom has been doing as long as I can remember, but most people don't know about.

Did you know that Wal-mart will match any other competitor's ad? With a toddler and a nursing baby, I don't have time to run around town trying to find the best deals, nor do I want to. Instead, I look through the ads that come in the mail, I mark the best deals, then I do ALL my shopping at Wal-mart. When I get to the check-out, I just show them the ad and they give the product to me for the ad price. What a deal, huh?!

Wal-mart also accepts other competitor's coupons. I don't use this as much, but I should!

Just in case you want to read up on it:
Click to read Wal-mart's price match policy
Click to read Wal-mart's coupon policy

It saves a bundle, especially on produce!

2 Months!

That's right, my little man is 2 months old already! (Well, he's actually been 2 months for a few weeks, but time escaped me.)

2 Month Stats:

Weight: 10 lbs. 12 oz. (25%ile)

Height: 23 inches (50%ile)

Well, it's official: I'm in love with this little guy!
I mean, look at that face, how could I not?

Disposition: Besides being extremely good looking, he is also a great little baby. He's always ready to give you a smile and has recently started giggling. Talk about fun! It's always exciting when I find a new way to make him giggle. Jackson is also pretty chill. He's fine being placed on a blanket or the bouncer so I can make dinner, take care of big sister, or whatever else. The only things that cause Jackson to be fussy are acid reflux and gas. Thankfully, since going on an acid reflux medicine, he doesn't appear to have any more problems with that. As for gas though, let's just say colic calm is a life saver.
  

Sleep Habits: The first month Jackson woke up every 2 hours wanting to be fed. Talk about hard! Chyler was always an excellent sleeper, so I didn't know babies really did that. Thankfully, every few weeks got a little bit better. Now that Jackson is 2 1/2 months old, he now goes to bed every night at 8 pm, usually wakes up around 3 am for a feeding and then goes right back to sleep, and then wakes up again at 7 am. Not bad, huh? (Although, every once in a while, he teases me and sleeps the entire night. I welcome these as often as Jackson wants :)

Jackson was sleeping in a bassinet when he was first born. But, over Christmas, I spent a few weeks at my parent's house. Jackson wouldn't sleep in the crib, so I started putting him in the car seat every night. When Christmas was over and we returned home, he wouldn't sleep in the bassinet anymore. He's getting better, but we're still working on getting him out of the car seat.

We're still working on getting him to fall asleep on his own. Sometimes he does really well (e.g., he fell asleep at library time yesterday with all the kids running around and playing musical instruments), but then other times... not so well.

Siblings: Chyler is still adjusting to little Jackson. Despite a little jealousy, I think she likes having him around :) She recently started trying to pick him up and it's so funny to watch. Good thing she's too weak to do any real damage. Chyler still calls Jackson "baby" and says "hi" to him regularly. If I lay him down on a blanket, she goes and grabs a blanket to lay next to him. She also likes to share her toys, which really means she puts all her toys on top of him. (I have to intervene sometimes.)

One thing is for sure,

we LOVE having Jackson in our family!

House Update!

I drove by our soon-to-be house this week and saw this beauty! I am way beyond excited! Now that it's framed, it's starting to look like a real house. This week they're going to roof and wrap it. It will be fun to see what it looks like then. If only May would come faster!

The Love Box

I made what I call "The Love Box" this week. I bought a heart-shaped box from Hobby Lobby and decorated it with scrapbook paper and paint. I then cut out little hearts so Brian and I could write down things we love about our family. After we write something down, we put the hearts in the box. The plan is then to read all the notes on Valentine's Day!