I'm So MEAN

Yesterday, when we were leaving Grandma's house, Kosty FREAKED out and started screaming and arching his back so I couldn't get him in the carseat, in 112 degrees! I was ANGRY! So I said, "two is too many, I'm gonna send one of you back!" and Brayden said, "back to where?" I said, "don't worry Brayden, it WONT be you!" I know, I know. I am MEAN. :(

Brayden Goes to the Dentist

Yesterday I finally took Brayden in for his first official dentist appointment. I got a postcard in the mail for a pediatric dentist right behind my house and it had a coupon for a free power toothbrush, so when I told Brayden that he would get an awesome toothbrush if he was a good boy, his face just lit up and he carried that postcard around EVERYWHERE for 2 days! Yes, he was excited! The morning of, he climbed in my bed at 7:45 and said, "mama, I want to get dressed & go to the dentist now." Yikes, but our appt. wasn't even until 11:30. When we got there we checked in and yes, he posed for me (doesn't he look just like the girl on the postcard!?) and then he was in pure rebel heaven with Spongebob (he's not allowed to watch that one) on the flat screen and an X-Box. When it was his turn, he walked back very confidently and took his x-rays, and then all of a sudden when he got into the exam chair he transformed into a MUTE right before my eyes! In all his life, I have never seen him react so strangely. He straight up IGNORED anyone and everyone. What a strange way to cope with his nerves! Poor guy. But I couldn't stop laughing at his bizarre silence. (Notice him still clinching that postcard during the exam) I wonder if his past obsession with "Finding Nemo" had anything to do with his fear(remember the dentist office scenes with that clumsy Australian dentist) So I learned that his front tooth is already loose, and "Dr. Happy" (no, really) kept asking me if he had bumped it and I couldn't recall, so she took some more x-rays and then came back and told me there had been "several traumas" to the tooth. I'm not a negligent mom, I think I would remember him hitting his front teeth, especially if it were "several" times! Well now looking back I can VAGUELY recall ONE time he was over at his Grandmas. Anyway, long story short she said he will probably loose that tooth early :( and when he was done, he got a sticker, some sweet sunglasses, and the grand prize, a green Power Rangers power toothbrush. But most importantly, he was back to NORMAL! Phew!

I know you couldn't either...

Wake up this sweet face! Our church is at 2:40 and Kosty is always blissfully snoozing away when its time to go! There is nothing worse for me than waking a sleeping baby. So I sent Jer & Brayden off to church, meanwhile I was standing over his crib just staring at him, dreading the inevitable. Finally a few blinding flashes of the camera, and still no budging, I picked up my sweet boy and my heart broke :( I am such a wuss.

Oh and I was eavesdropping the other day when Brayden was saying his "personal" prayers and this is what he said:

Dear Heavenly Father,

Please bless me to not play video games anymore.

And to be super nice.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

(how sad! I am not that MEAN! I never said he couldn't play video games, I just said not ALL day!)

We celebrated Father's Day with my Dad this weekend instead of last because he was sick, anyways we went to Pei Wei and then we were supposed to go to the clubhouse to swim but my dad made a detour in the plans and decided we all needed to go see "Evan Almighty" together. I have to admit, I was not happy about it! I had seen the previews & I thought it looked so DUMB! so after grumbling about it the whole way there, I found myself CRACKING up out loud through most of the movie! Hilarious! I can't remember laughing that hard through a movie in a LONG time! Then we went to the clubhouse and played at the beach. Here's Kosty and his auntie Erika playing in the sand.

Ballet, anyone?

My performance was this past weekend and I am so glad to be done, but I was happy that for ONCE I really wasn't even nervous. I guess its because I am 25 and I am by FAR the OLDEST girl in a recital that I know of! Ha! It has been a humbling experience, swallowing my pride often, feeling so DUMB about my age. The girls in my class kind of treat me like a mother hen, and I feel so silly sometimes, so I am still looking for recruitments! Somebody!! This one lady (well she was at least older than me) came in a few weeks ago to try out the class and I recognized her from a previous ward, anyways she told the teacher she would be back after the recital, and you should've seen me, I was so pathetic, practically running after her, begging her to stay! :( But I absolutely LOVE it! And I'm not givin it up now, especially since I have FINALLY earned my Pointe shoes (a goal since I was little). Ballet is great exercise and so challenging and of course I LOVE my teacher, Michelle. She dances for Ballet Arizona and she is SPECTACULAR and AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL!


Oh-- and I'm so excited my tomato plant finally came through for me! We check on it every day and there was nothin but about 10 green tomaters until just the other day I poked my head out and hello! one cute little red one, finally! And my basil is still here, but just not as hearty as I was hoping! if I used it for one meal it would all be gone, so I keep on buying it... what a waste! that was the whole point to grow it myself! Eventually I want a REAL garden, full of fresh herbs and veggies, but for now I am proud of my lil tomater plant and my basil, at least its a start. Planting a garden is on my mile long list of things I want to accomplish someday, that seems to just keep growing. BIG Sigh.

Like mother like son

Here's proof that Koston really does have some of my qualities, not all Daddy's. He found my stash of Dove dark chocolate, and he is as in love as I am! He grabbed it and wouldn't let go! He made such a mess, but I was happy to see that someone else appreciates a fine piece of delectable DARK chocolate as much as I do! Yum.

Oh and he loves Target. In fact his all time FAVORITE thing to read right now is the Target catalog. He just sits and flips through it, he brings it everywhere. In the car, to church, he even lays down and flips through it while he is going #2. Hilarious!

Good things

So back to the good life... Brayden had a sleepover at his Grandmas house and his Aunt Cede was complaining about making her bed, that's where Brayden was going to sleep. She was begging her mom to make her bed for her. Brayden said, "Cede, I used to tell my mom to make my bed, but now I can do it all by myself, its easy. You just take all the pillows off, then you pull up your sheet, and then pull up your warm bedspread." I especially love how he calls it his "warm" bedspread. So then he came up behind me and whispered in my ear, "Hey mama, I'm gonna do SERVICE." So he ran upstairs to make her bed, so I thought. A couple seconds later he peeked his little head over the banister and said, "uh, mama. I'm breaking my service." Well I went up there to see why he changed his mind, and the mattress was bare with all the clean stuff on the floor. Now I see why he was overwhelmed! He is such a crack-up! I am so proud of him that he was thinking of service at all. He has such a sweet heart. He is such a good example to me!

This is what I got for sneaking into my bedroom to watch the last 20 min of Oprah the other day. Kosty was being unusually quiet, so I had a slight feeling he was up to no good. But I ignored it because frankly I was happy to watch my show and be left alone! About 10 minutes later, he walks in my room with a clinched fist, climbs up on my bed and dumps a handful of white powder right in my face, and then he runs off. AH! So after I dusted myself off, I followed him and discovered him playing in a box of cake mix that he had gnawed open with his teeth. He was giggling and scooping it up with his hands, saying "mmmmmm!" Luckily his nice brother came in with the broom and helped clean it up, because I was too busy taking pics. Now that's priority!

Can I quit?

I know, I know that sounds so horrible to say, but you would say it too if you were me this past week! Where do I begin. First Brayden was sick, despite all of my crazy tactics, Kosty ended up getting sick, but of course with something far worse, croup. Now why couldn't have been the same thing Brayden had? Well because that would be far too easy for me. So croup and a years supply of albuterol for his breathing machine later, (seriously when I picked up the prescription I laughed at the pharmacist when she hoisted over the counter a GIANT paper grocery bag full of albuterol boxes. And I didn't even use 1 full box) So croup got better, and then whaddya know, that was too easy, so I got sick. I never get sick. But of course, this is the week from HELL so hey, why not. I felt so awful I couldn't even get out of bed pretty much for the first 3 days with a fever, chills, cough, sore throat, nasty voice (sorry to everyone that was forced to listen to it) all symptoms available? yes please. Although I did peel myself out of bed to make the kids meals, Brayden still kept coming in and asking, "mama who is gonna take care of us?" and "darn that voice!" So mom is incapacitated and Kosty was fine and then all of a sudden he started acting like a CRAZY LUNATIC at bed and nap and not sleeping at all. (just what I needed, thanks sweetie.) so I took him back in and he had double ear infections, one of which was about to rupture. So got the antibiotics and started those. Then he amazingly started sleeping better and it seemed life was headed up. No. I was still on my deathbed and then he got a rash all over his body, they think he is all of a sudden allergic to amoxicillin. Sweet. Perfect. Since that's basically the most commonly used and mild one out there. Awesome. I was so thrilled to hear. So then they switched his meds and now he has this itchy rash so he still cant sleep unless I literally scratch him to sleep. Well after 5 days of my mysterious illness not improving, my ear started hurting so I took myself to the doc (haven't been there in about 10 yrs!) and the doctor says, pharyngitis, its viral so there's nothing we can do. Great, I figured. But I wanted him to check my ear and no that wasn't easy either. He said it needed to be "irrigated" so he gets this sharp metal turkey baster thing and shoots it in my ear (high pressure, cold water) about 100 times. Then he comes over to my other ear and does the same thing. It made me so dizzy I was about to faint so I told him, No more. Anyways, I guess there is a bright side, the kids were very patient. I have very nice friends that offered help. Jer braved the Mount Rushmore laundry pile all by himself. I just cant wait to get my life semi back to normal. I feel like I am coming back from the dead. Sorry to sound so blah. I guess I am worn out. I never realized that I would actually be grateful to physically be able to do dishes and laundry. Well not entirely, but wow, I hope this never happens again!!!