Does this count?

Em and I had a discussion this last week. We were talking about how it really seems difficult for this generation to keep a journal.

I can't think of very many of my friends that keep one on a regular basis. I'm always hearing someone say how hard it is to keep going and they always seem to need to catch up. The only person I've ever known to keep one on a consistent basis is my father-in-law. I really am amazed how diligent he's been at it for what, 40 plus years? Whenever I go into his office I look at the volumes he has on his bookshelves.

This made me think of something. Does writing a blog count as keeping a journal? I know a journal is supposed to contain your innermost thoughts and feelings but in a day and age where most people seem to be incapable of "inside thoughts", let alone writing something down in an actual pen and paper form, it seems that blogs just might be the next best thing.

I can count myself as a person who, for some reason, just can't seem to write things down in a journal. I tried for the first couple months of my mission, but fizzled out in spectacular fashion. Even until fairly recently I vowed never to keep a blog because I felt that they were a waste of time. Especially after talking to Em about it this week, my mind has changed a bit.

What do you think?

"S" is for...

It seems to me that these last couple of weeks have been dedicated to things that start with "S".

School (Yay for finals soon!),

Siblings (We went to ABQ to visit my family for Thanksgiving),

Sickness (for me momma and Audrey) and

Snow (Welcome to Utah, buddy) all begin with "S".

The end of the school semester is next week and I've been ready for it since sometime in September. I wish I could say that I've done exceptionally well, but the last few months have been ones of change and a good measure of uncertainty in our household (Loads of fun, I tell ya...).

As for siblings, We had a really good time in Albuquerque visiting with my family. It'd been five months since we left for Utah and it was amazing to see what had changed and what had stayed the same. Audrey had SO much fun with her cousins that when we got home she kept asking to go play with them and she STILL asks to go see her nanny, grandfather, grandpa T and gramma Linda.

On a side note, if you find yourselves flying a fairly short distance, make sure to check what type of plane you're going to be in. We got a Delta Connection CRJ200 Operated by SkyWest Airlines. I don't know for sure, but it seems the longer the name, the smaller the plane. Luckily it wasn't a Turbo-Prop like someone I know that flew from Denver to ABQ.

Ours only had 52 seats with 2 seats on each side, one (1) flight attendant and not enough room inside to change your mind let alone room to change a dirty diaper mid-air BOTH trips..... Oh yeah, we had to check one of our carry-on bags because the overhead compartments weren't the standard size. The plane must've been built with elves in mind. I guess the "S" for this part could stand for SMALL!!!!!

Unfortunately, during our trip Audrey got some sort of 24 hour bug and gave it to momma who gave it to me. Ick. There is ALOT of detail that I could go into, but I won't. Suffice it to say having to run to the bathroom for reasons other than the normal ones isn't one I'd like to experience again anytime soon.

Lastly, we got SNOW this week!! Yay! I like Pudding cups! Er, I mean Snow is fun to play in. Momma and I took the kids to the park to go sliding down the hill and I took Audrey with some of her cousins later in the day as well. I think we've gotten about 8 inches total in our area with more expected later this week. Looks like winter is here to stay.

I'm looking forward to one more "S" over winter break. It stands for SLEEP!!!

Pain in the Neck

Disclaimer: I know this isn't Monday and I've already posted this week, but I feel wordy today. Sorry it's so long.

So, ya.

A couple of weeks ago, I was walking from class toward the bus when I passed by a bunch of tables/ booths that were showcasing different companies that work hand-in-hand with UVU. This is a fairly frequent thing since there are plenty of companies that like to pander to college students. Most of the time I ignore them and head on my merry way, but sometimes I like to stroll and look for free junk (mainly pens).

On this particular day, for some reason, I resisted my urge to bulldoze my way through the crowded hallway casting my usual furtive glances that, if someone caught me checking out their booth, might have the look of "Don't talk to me!!".

I decided to stroll in a non-hurriedly type of pace and actually check some if this crap out. Maybe some of it won't actually be crap. It seemed unlikely since the first unsuspecting fellow to attempt to gain my attention was from Wells Fargo. Poor guy never saw it coming. As soon as he asked if I had a checking account I spun around, grabbed him by the coattails of his suit, pulled them over his head, sucker-punched him a couple times and stomped his foot for good measure! Not really, but I did tell him of the last experience I had with his company which could have felt like that to him if I hadn't been in a decent mood.

After I left the poor sap in a bloody heap (figuratively) on the floor, I walked further on and saw a weird contraption of two poles with a couple of strings going between them and a guy standing there looking like he needed something to do. It looked strange enough for someone like me to actually be interested in it so I decided to stop and talk for a moment.

It turned out that the guy was from

"The Official Chiropractor of the UVU Athletic Department!!!!"

Uh, ok... Anyway, his little contraption has you stand as straight as you can and it measures the alignment of your hips and shoulders. I always knew I was crooked as a question mark, but I figured I'd see if my body was as well. Turns out that my left hip was about half an inch higher than my right, and my left shoulder was a full inch LOWER than my right. Yup, I figured as much. I was nice to the guy and wrote down my contact info just for the fun of it and proceeded to now RUN to the bus since I lolligagged too long.

Well, about a week later I got a phone call from the chiro place and as luck would have it, I won the little drawing they had from their little expo. (I entered into a drawing?) The lady on the phone said I won about $200 worth of chiro tests and such, no strings attached and wanted to set up an appointment.

About a week after that phone call I went to my appointment and filled out the usual new patient paperwork while asking A COUPLE of times to make sure this was really free. Then I get in to see the chiropractor and tell him my aches and pains and whines and cries (or that's what it felt like cuz hey, I've never been to a place like this for myself before...). So, after the pity party, the Doc fondled my head and neck, took some x-rays and told me that was all he could do that day and he'd see me at the follow-up appointment. (A-HA! That's where I'm gonna have to pay!)So, I set the appointment and ask AGAIN what it was going to cost me, and again the answer was "Nothing." Nice!

So, I got to my next free date with the bone dancer yesterday. We exchanged pleasantries and he told me that it looked like someone tried to screw my head on the wrong way. My atlas bone was about 1/2 inch to the right of center and my C5 and C6 vertebrae were compressed giving my neck only 15 degrees of bend when it should have 35 to 45. I always knew I was stiff-necked.

Since it happened a couple times and I never got them fixed, (Car wreck 5 years ago and falling out of a tree about 15 years ago), I've done some semi-permanent damage and he wasn't sure how much he could do. We'd have to bone dance to find out. Well, I get to the chiro table and he does the usual once over to make sure there isn't anything else wrong with my back, hips and such. (Ok, not too bad.. I could get to like this..)

Then he gets to my neck.

A little wiggle to make sure I'm good and loose and the next thing I think of is that someone just crushed a soda can right next to my ear, and WOW that felt weird! Then he does it again the other direction. Same thing. The lady in the hallway calls out, "Wow! I heard that out here!"

Glad I could provide some entertainment for the place.

Long story short, The doc says he can work things out and I should be a bit sore for a bit. We'll see. I have my next appointment with the bone dancer today.

Time Flies!

On Wednesday our little family flies back to Albuquerque for the holiday. We get to spend almost a week visiting with family and friends that we haven't seen in almost 6 months. It really seems weird to me that it's already been that long. In some respects, it seems like we only left a few weeks ago and in others it feels like it's been years.

I've been looking forward to seeing everyone again, finding out what's changed (probably not much) and what's stayed the same (most everything). When we left, Henry was barely a month old and was just a little baloney loaf. Now he has quite the personality and is starting to feed himself Cheerios!

Audrey has really learned how to express herself (and be defiantly independent as well), and is completely daytime potty trained! How wonderful the joys of only changing diapers for one child again.

As for momma and me, I might be a bit more bald and Em claims to be growing white hairs by the day, thanks to the kids. Other than that, it'll just be good to see everyone we've missed for the last while. Man, time flies.

I'm Thankful For Heroes

I like heroes. I don't care too much for the comic book type stuff. I prefer the real ones.

I know he says he was only doing his job, but there are 154 other people on-board US Airways flight 1549 who owe Capt Sullenberger their lives.

I can also say that there is a distinct possibility that the situation could have turned out much worse for people on the ground if the plane were in the hands of a pilot with lesser talents.

For those who are into real-life heroes or just have a morbid curiosity, I found a site that has a video reconstruction of the flight from take-off to splash down.

As we reach the height of the travel season, I plan on doing my best to say thank you to those who see to it that we get to our destinations in a safe and preferably mundane manner.

http://www.exosphere3d.com/pubwww/pages/project_gallery/cactus_1549_hudson_river.html

By the way, there is no sound for the first minute or so, but it really is fascinating to get to see the inner workings of an airplane crash without having to actually GO THROUGH the experience.

Ahh... Sleeee....zzzz....

This last week was a decent week.

First, Buttons' potty training is going pretty well. She's only had one(?) accident in the week and at times has done an ok job at letting us know when she needs to go. Other times we have to ask and she'll still fight us tooth and nail because she doesn't want to stop what she's doing or playing. In other words, it's still a work in progress, but progress none the less.

In other news, The H-bomb let momma and me off the hook for a few days. For three (3) straight nights he slept completely through the night! It was kind of nerve wracking the first night. I thought something might be wrong when I got up at about 6am and there was NO sound at all from the other bedroom. I even had to sneak a peek just to make sure he was still there. I crept in as quietly as I could and saw him with his head in the far corner of his crib as tight as it would go. (Oh good. He's still breathing.)

The next night we were a bit more relaxed and on the third night, oh, it was HEAVEN. Then came last nights crash back to reality. Ten minutes after 1 in the morning, (We had gone to bed after 11pm thinking we might get to sleep through again) we wake to an almost blood curdling scream. Oh yeah. He's teething and we forgot to give him his tylenol before bed. He screamaed for 2 solid minutes while momma got herself ready to feed him. Ok, good. back to sleep by 1:30.

Then at 5am, up again and shows no sign of going back to sleep. *sigh* Luckily he goes back after being fed again. Of course I have to be up by 6:45 to get ready for school. We'll see how tonight goe.........zzz...zzz...zzz...

Sass-a-fras

I find it interesting as to what a child picks up on and who they get it from.

Our little A-bomb has learned how to sass. And she does it alot. Part of it is, I think, just going through the terrible-two's. But I also think that a portion of it has been picked up from observation of those she interacts with. The main thing she does is like any typical toddler exerting her independence, meaning that whenever we ask her to do ANYTHING, the answer is always, "Waant to!". In other words, Thanks, but no thanks. Then comes the more stern call, again with resistance. Finally, we get to the "NOW!!" yell that parents are accustomed to. That has worked up until recently.

Lately, she has started to yell back at us with whatever she's doing, or if we tell her to do something like eating her food, we get the response of "eat YOUR food!" Since this we've had to introduce the intimidating threat of a spank on the bottom which may or may not work depending on her mood.

Now, she has introduced to us the whine. Grr... Don't get me started on the whine. It feels like we have to tell her not to do something more than we have to tell her TO do something. I know she's just being inquisitive and trying to test boundaries, but it grates a bit when you tell a two-year-old NOT to do something you get the whine, "I NEEEED TOOO"

On a better front, the potty training is going well, aside from when we ask her if she needs to go potty she says no. But, when we get her to the toilet she likes to hear the sound. It's like she gets a kick out of "going on command".

Oh well. Could be worse.

Let The Fountain of Joy Begin

Ok.

We decided that it's finally time to attempt to potty train our daughter. Again. We tried briefly before we moved. We decided to strip her down to her naked butt, let her feel the pee dribble down her legs and she won't like it, right? Um... not quite. It didn't work too well, mainly because we felt she was too young to grasp the idea yet. WE got the clue that she wasn't ready when, right after sitting on the potty to try unsuccessfully to use it, she ran down the hallway toward her room and proceeded to squat and drop a smelly load of joy on the carpet.

Since then we've gotten various ideas on what has worked for other parents and I'm still open to suggestions, but I feel the best one is still to let her uncomfortably spread the warmth down her legs. So, starting Sunday afternoon, we put her in big girl undies and let her run around. We dutifully asked her if she needed to "go potty", and invariably she'd say no, and we'd drag her to the toilet. At first she thought it was a novel idea, but more and more she has begun to resist. We DID manage to get her to use the toilet 4 times with NO accidents!

Today was almost the exact opposite. Almost. Momma got her up and asked her if she needed to go, and with the usual answer momma put her on anyway, just to be sure. No dice. kept checking, nothing. Then, just before I got home from school, someone flooded her pants. "Wet... WET!" came the cry. Momma put her on the pot, but she had already created the dark butterfly pattern in her pants. (*$^&*!!!) Oh well.

So, on through the morning we kept trying to get her to go without ANY progress. We put her in Pull-ups for her nap (which she pee'd in OF COURSE), and refused the bathroom after getting up. Then while we were cleaning up after dinner she was playing behind the chairs, and then came the cry, "WET! WET!" again. So I immediately grabbed her and got her to the bathroom as quickly as possible where she let a small tinkle in the toilet and gave a big, bright, happy "I DID IT!" type smile. Unfortunately, she did pee her pants a bit, but she ALSO knew to hold the rest of it til we got to the toilet.

Maybe there's hope for this potty business yet.....

Hello Me, It's Me Again...

Things look a bit different around here.

Not only am I referring to the layout to my online persona(s), but my physical locale as well. It has now in fact been 5 months since I've even LOOKED at this page and I've finally decided to do something about it. This is not only at the behest of the Mouse in my life but also because, at times, I might actually have things to say once in a while.

I said this in the former life of this space, but this time I mean it...

I hope.

It's been... (ahem)... a while...

I think I have to agree with Jen A. that time definitely seems to have been speeding past like a subway train missing a stop. Em has been saying how I should start blogging again, but I just haven't been motivated to because I've been a little busy getting this "life" thing taken care of a bit.


So, we'll see how it goes.


Happy fun times til later.

Hooray! Last year is over!!

I know it's been a few days (ahem... weeks) since I last blogged but hey, I've been busy... had alot on my plate... had better things to do... er, OTHER things to do...

Anyway, anyone who knows how the latter half of last year went for me, especially with school, will understand just how abysmal it was. One of the things I kept sayng was that with everything that happened, I could write a country song. That is, I could if I cared for country music at all. Most people are aware of what happened to Scott and how much time and effort that took out of life, let alone the time it took from school work.

Aside from that, some of the distractions from school included finding out about a new bun in the oven,





getting my bike stolen,




getting my car sabotaged



and getting hit by a car among other things.....



But enough about me, how are you?

Anyway, let's just say I got a new perspective on things and I'm now ready to head in a new direction. It's hard not to dwell on things past, but I'm trying to look forward to this year and the exciting events to come. Unfortunately, that no longer includes trying to get into nursing school at this point, but I'm happy with the choice I've made and that's what matters. Plus, I get a present at the end of this semester...



...A SON!!!

Maybe I'll post more frequently in the future... we'll have to see.