I just realized....

Peterson Christmas 2011

Yes, I put pictures of my babies on my tree.

****

Last night I went to go help put together gifts for the Relief Society. While we were working away, we talked about our kids and our troubles with our kids. I opened up about Holynd and her struggles with potty-training. I was a little worried I would be told that I wasn't trying hard enough, not doing it right.... blah, blah, blah.... But I was pleasantly surprised when everyone told me to relax!

One thing that made me laugh about the conversation is that one lady said, "Wow! I just realized that you have three kids under three years old".

WHAT! You JUST realized that! I have eaten, showered or slept regularly in.... well, A REALLY LONG TIME! Hello! Where've you been lady!??!

I just laughed and said there are good days and bad. The good days always make it worth it.

And they do.

Today was a good day.

Today:

Holynd decided to rearrange the dining room furniture.

Sloane and Holynd got into a fight in which Sloane bit Holynd and Holynd clocked Sloane in the head with a Jack in the Box. Holynd's injury is non-existent. Sloane has a black eye.

Sloane broke a glass.

Holynd tried to get crackers out of the pantry by herself and spilled crumbs all over the pantry.

Two sippy cups were spilled, but were, thankfully, full of water. (Yay!)

Holynd threw grapes all over the kitchen because she was trying to throw them up and catch them in her mouth.

I stepped on a grape and it almost scared me to death.

G-ma bought the girls ZhuZhu pets. Probably one of the most annoying toys in the entire world, but it kept the girls totally entertained while I ordered Christmas cards. (Insert mini-celebration here)

Holynd pretended to race the ZhuZhu pets through the kitchen. During the "race" she would sing, "Go ZhuZhu pets! It's your birthday! Go ZhuZhu pets! It's your birthday!"

Pudee slept for about 5-6 hours straight the last two nights.

Pudee snores like his daddy.

I've come to terms with the fact that I can't blame my kids for all my forgetfulness. I locked myself out of the Volvo with my purse and phone inside. All I had was my cart full of groceries. I had to walk into Costco and ask to use the phone to call Matt. I didn't have a single child with me.

Holynd begged to put her panties on by herself. They're on inside-out and backwards right now.

Sloane chased Holynd around trying to kiss her on the head. Holynd loved it and would run around for a little while, then slow down and let Sloane catch her. Sloane got bored with it and Holynd picked a fight with her because Sloane wouldn't chase her anymore. Sloane pulled Holynd's hair and, therefore, won the fight.

See! Probably a more relaxed day at the Peterson household.

Hooray!

Something Came In The Mail....

See I told ya. Most beautiful babies ever.

I'm Going There Someday...

I always hate it when people have babies and then quit updating their blog... Since this is my only attempt at a journal, I'm determined to find time! So, here's what's been going on around here.

Holynd has decided to cycle around and hit a potty-training regression again. Yesterday I got really mad at her. After sending her to room, I sat on my bedroom floor and cried. Parenting sometimes makes me feel very inadequate. I tend to want to control everything and the fact that I can't make my kids obey kills me. Plus, no one likes to clean-up dirty panties. Holynd seems to have gotten that same control-freak gene because she wants to control me and she's doing a really good job!

I love listening to married couples who haven't had kids yet. They seem so sure that their kids will never act-out, disobey, throw tantrums in public etc etc.... because they have the whole parenting thing figured out! What do they think that other parents thought before they had kids???? It's not like I sat there and thought, "I'll probably screw-up and never get my first child potty-trained... It's just not something I want to worry about". Hello! Of course I thought this would never happen to me! I just assumed that everyone else was lazy and didn't discipline enough. Oh, that is so not the case... But...I'm not judging. I've been there. But I'd be lying if I didn't say that I chuckle behind those other couples' backs. My mom likes to tell me all the time, Heavenly Father was a perfect parent and he lost 1/3 of his children. The truth is, parenting is difficult, but so much more fulfilling then anything else a person can do. Plus, if you do end up with perfect kids, all other parents tend to harbor a little bit of hatred for you.

At this point, I'm at a complete loss as to what to do, so right now, I'm at the pray-and-hope-that-someone-else-will-fix-it-for-me stage. I highly doubt someone will knock on my door and tell me exactly how to fix this dilemma, but if it were to happen, I'd be eternally grateful. I know part of it has to do with the new baby because, a week or so ago, she and I had this conversation:

Holynd: Mommy, when is Maddox's mommy going to come pick him up?

Me: Holynd, I'm Maddox's mommy.

Holynd: No your not. You're Holynd and Sloanie's mommy. When is Maddox's mommy going to come get him?

Me: I'm Maddox's mommy and Holynd's mommy and Sloanie's mommy. Maddox's is staying here with us.

Holynd: But I want someone to come get him...

Lovely.

So, while I wait for someone to come and fix this for me, I've been doing the one thing I do really well... complaining. But, the truth is, if potty-training is my biggest problem right now, I'm living a very blessed life. My kids are healthy, my husband loves me and makes it extremely easy to love him, my home is warm and has space for our family to keep growing.... Potty-training seems like a huge deal right now, but Holynd playing in her poopy diaper seemed like a big deal too. Now, that poop-playing experience is just a funny story we tell other couples' to freak them out. I can't wait to read this post years from now and think, "Oh! We were so pathetic!" I'm sure we'll have a good laugh.


****

Moving on, I've been trying to bake more often. I'm really not improving all that much, but I manage to make things that actually resemble the pictures in the cookbook.

Holynd wants her own apron really bad. I haven't really been doing a good job finding her one, so I put my Grandma's apron on her and tie it up so it sort of fits. And yes, I let my kids eat chocolate chips while I bake. They're only little once, let them have chocolate chips once in a while!

****

Over the weekend, we dropped Pudee off at Grandma Kathy's and took the girls up to Temple Square. I love downtown Salt Lake. It makes me miss going to school. I used to get to ride up through downtown everyday. Now, I hardly ever go up there. As always, Temple Square was beautiful.

It was cold, so we spent a good portion of our trip in the Visitor's Center. Sloane wanted to drive the stroller and Holynd wanted to play with all the touchscreens that were at each display. We didn't care. We were there to let the girls have a good time. It's nice to let them run the show every now and then.

A night out wouldn't be complete without dinner. Sloane is at the age where she loves to eat right now... It's only a matter of time before she makes a complete 180 and gets really picky like her sister.

If you'll notice, Holynd is now sitting by Matt, as is Sloane in the above picture. When you go out with two kids, you do a lot of seat switching. Don't go out with two kids expecting to eat, especially if you have a wait before you're seated. Our kids love to play on our phones, but that only lasts about 30 minutes. We exhausted that option while we were waiting for our table.

Pudee is such a wonderful baby. He definitely suffers from Third Child Syndrome. I run around taking care of his sisters all day long. He doesn't get much attention until the girls are in bed for the night. At that point in the evening, he gets really needy because he KNOWS this is HIS time with Matt and I. Since I'm able to get everything I need to get done during the day and get to workout, I'm so, so, SO ok with him doing this.

I know you're all asking yourselves this, so I'll just answer your question. Yes, my babies are the most beautiful babies on the planet. I know. It's crazy.

Let It Be Remembered...

Let it be remembered as the Thanksgiving where:

*Maddox slept all the way through dinner and most of pie.



*Holynd called Maddox's hat "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Hat!"



*We spent Thanksgiving in Payson instead of Wallsburg. Very bittersweet. We miss Wallsburg, but Thanksgiving was delicious and fun as always. :) Thanks G-Ma and G-Pa!

*Aunt Twitch and Uncle Koy passed turkey skin across the table... Lovely.

* The Kunkles played Uno for hours and made up a whole bunch of new rules no one had ever heard of.

* Holynd didn't eat any Thanksgiving dinner and then asked for a bowl of cereal later on. What a party pooper.

* Sloane discovered stuffing and LOVES it.

* The Kunkles drank as much Sparkling Cider as they could.

* I begged my mom to make 9 Layer Salad. She made it from memory because she couldn't find the recipe. It turned out wonderful. Then, later on, we started going through my grandma's old recipes and lo and behold, the recipe for 9 Layer Salad was found. My mom didn't miss an ingredient. ;)

* Matt and I went to Wal-Mart at 10pm. Got a FANTASTIC deal on a really big gift. (Merry Christmas to us!) It was crowded, but not nearly as dramatic and crazy as we have been told. It was actually kinda fun. (However, given the fact that we haven't been out together in such a long time... Watching paint dry without our kids, would've been a fun activity.)

* Maddox went to his first movie. Breaking Dawn. He was incredibly well-behaved through the movie, despite the fact that is was a chick-flick.

* I got to take a nap! Hooray!

It is now time to prepare for Christmas. Time goes by so much faster now that I'm not pregnant.

Maddox will be 4 weeks old tomorrow. He melts my heart. He's such a wonderful baby. I've never had a baby that will just fall asleep while being held. Holynd had to be bounced in her bouncey chair to fall asleep. It would take us about an hour to get her to sleep and then she would sleep for about 30 minutes. Keep in mind that I went to school when she was a baby. A little stressful, but we laugh about it a lot now. Sloane was just so sweet from the beginning. She struggled falling asleep for the first couple of months, but once we got her to sleep, she slept for hours. Once she discovered thumb-sucking.... Oh my goodness, we could take her anywhere. :) It almost makes us forgive her for all the screaming she did while we paced the halls with her.

Holynd seems to be doing a lot better lately. She seemed to be struggling with the new baby, but thankfully, after spending some time with just mommy and having Maddox out of the house all day Saturday, she seems to be doing much better. I'm so happy to report that she has started to use the potty again without a fight.

Sloane is cutting her 8th tooth. She does not love teething. Luckily, she has no objections to taking lots of Tylenol. She's still so sweet that she could give you cavities. She knows so many words, but is so soft spoken that we hardly ever hear from her until she's mad. She is getting the hang of standing up for herself though. She shows no remorse when her sister makes her mad. I find myself breaking up fights most of the day. I'm ok with this, I expected this. I did have two sisters and, if the truth be known, we could really beat the crap out of each other. ;) I did get a few texts in regards to my post about Sloane using the potty. Let me explain. I am not actually trying to potty train Sloane. A few people thought that I was potty training her even though I was totally burned-out on potty training. No! She pleads to sit on the potty. She'd sit there all day if I let her. There's been quite a few times where she asks to sit on the potty and I just can't help her right at that minute. Right now, if she asks and we're not in the middle of something else, I'll rush her right to the potty. Sometimes she goes, sometimes she just sits until she gets bored. Either way, I'm so not taking away her diapers anytime soon! NO WAY!

At 4 weeks postpartum, I feel basically normal. I started working out 2.5 weeks ago. Obviously, my workouts in the beginning weren't more then some easy yoga and a little Pilate's. As of right now, I can get in a good workout without any troubles. I haven't started doing any abs yet, which makes my workouts really BORING. Once I feel like all my muscles are back in place, I'll definitely begin doing abs. We did a more aggressive workout the night before Thanksgiving and I ended up really sore. Good in some ways, but made me realize how far I have to go before I feel as strong as I did pre-pregnancy. Not to mention the fact that I spend 99.8% of my day on my feet taking care of my babies. :)

Only a mother would be thankful for...

In honor of the upcoming holiday, a lot of people are posting everything that they're thankful for. Almost always, I can definitely agree with most everyone else's lists. Lately, however, I've realized that there are many things I'm thankful for only because I'm a mom.

A good swaddling blanket
Children's Tylenol & Children's Benedryl
Binkies
A forgotten about bag of goldfish crackers found during an extra long wait at the pediatricians' office.
Vaseline
Cornstarch - Used to help wash-out a greasy mess from thin, straight baby hair.
Friends that are willing to help you clean up poopy messes.
Doorknob Child-Proofers
Hats - Used to hide the fact that you have no time to do your hair.
Tide Stain Release Spray
Pull-Ups - I don't care if people think it's cheating... I'm not changing wet sheets every night.
Nursing Pads
The family that shares their Play-Doe with my kids during sacrament meeting.
Nursery - Three more Sundays until Sloane goes!
Silent prayers I say to myself multiple times a day. Some full of sorrows. Most full of gratitude.
Great parents and in-laws that love being grandparents.
Hairspray - Used to get permenant marker off of walls and other surfaces.
Bleach - If you've read my past posts, you know why I'm thankful for this.
Netflix and its' old school cartoons that Holynd loves.
Smucker's Raspberry Lemonade Mix - My kids think that this is a HUGE treat. Especially when we put it in the Smoothie Maker with ice.
Paula Dean's extra creamy hot chocolate recipe - It's the only thing that would mask the disgusting taste of the prescription laxative Sloane had to go on.
A cute apron
Children's Board Books - The books with actual paper never survive. Pop-up books only last seconds in this household.
The bouncey chair
Slobbery Kisses
Flour messes after Holynd helps me bake.
Sloane's love of apples and the way she carries her apple around the house with her.
A car that fits five carseats in it so that Nicole and I can go get Cokes with all the kids.
Blogs that make me feel better when I'm having a bad day.
Cookies that turn out when I decide to bake.
Diet Pepsi

.... and finally

A husband who's willing to do most anything I ask of him. Groceries, cleaning, cooking (with detailed instructions), staying with the kids while I take some time to goof-off, etc. I have to brag... I have a husband that gets up with the kids in the every morning and let's me sleep. Sorry. Send your hate-mail if you must.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!