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There has been a lot going on around here. I’m doing online school and just put in for a different major. So that’s exciting. I am going from IT related studies to Psychology. It was just approved this past week, so I was looking at my new schedule of classes and giving myself a “you can do this!” pep-talk.

Shirley moved to Minnesota. Miss her. But I’m always sending good vibes her way and I know she’s so Okay.

Edgar was just informed that his next scheduled deployment is changing from leaving in November of this year for Afghanistan -to- leaving in February (2010) for Iraq. It’s good news, trust me. Not only because he’ll be here a bit longer but because it’s said that Afghanistan is not the place to be right now.

What else is going on…

Little Ethan’s birthday is coming up. I can’t believe he’ll be 5! He told me today that he doesn’t want to be 5 years old. I looked at him and said “Are you kidding! 5 is soooo fun!” and he just crossed his arms and said, “No.” And I’m realizing that I don’t want him to be 5 either. He needs a couple more years to be prepared for the responsibilities of a 5 year old. Oh gosh…or maybe I do. 

I watched Marley and Me. It’s a great movie. I don’t really sit down to an entire movie so that is one that I really enjoyed giving myself to for 2 hours. 

Oh, and something weird. You know that saying that goes, “There’s plenty of fish in the sea.”? …Well come to find out, (I wrote a paper on this today) There is actually not. We are depleting this resource of bigger fish at a more rapid rate than the sea is producing. 

Just a little tid bit of info. 

Here’s just one related story if you’re interested.

Random, I know. Off to bed now.

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This is my youngest, Mia. She is totally the princess of the house. She has 2 older brothers who adore and protect her. They’ve just naturally taken on that role. It’s very cute to me. She hears me sayin’ all day how “cute” she is. She has her daddy, who is SO wrapped around her little finger. This was obvious from day 1.

The complexity of my role as a parent has just taken a new twist and turn. Daddy is a softy. I never knew that. This is our 3rd kid and I never knew that. All daddy had to do with the boys is give them “the look”. But this is different. Girls are so different. 

So I said already that she is the princess, right. So getting back to the awareness part. She totally knows it! So here we have a 18-month-old-princess that knows it. 2 brothers that protect her. A softy Daddy who jumps up at her cute call for him. And a mommy who thinks she’s the cutest little thing ever. Not to mention, of course, grandparents, godparents and tios and tias on both sides who adore her miniature hugs and kisses. 

We have a problem here. 

Mommy and Daddy tried “the look” when she was about 9 months and quickly learned that “the look” and “NO!” will cause a heartbreaking, pouty bottom lip to plump out. That is too much to endure. 

My now-18-month old is testing me to see just how much she can get away with. She knows of her powers! I recently figured out that this girl sees me put her brothers on timeout daily for somethin-r-other. She watches as they do whatever it was they weren’t supposed to do and watches as I or Daddy say “go put your face in the corner”. She will sometimes watch them for awhile as their faces are in the corner. She knows what’s going on here.

So getting back to my explanation of Peter’s inquiry. One day I was watching Mia as she was pulling out wipes from the wipes container. This is a common practice for her. Here’s her doing it at 10 months old.

That time I just took the picture, then proceeded to clean up the mess. Anyway, this time I begin with, “No Mia.” She stopped. “Put it back, Mia”, and I gestured. She understands. She puts the wipes back in. Good. She gets it. But then she starts again. And she looks at me while doing it. She’s testing me. I tell her no, and she KEEPS doing it while looking at me. “No, Mia. Put it back.” I’m running out of options here. So I try something for the first time, I say, “Go put your face in the corner.” Just like I tell the boys. And what do you know. She closes the wipes container, gets her little body up and walks to the corner. 

It really happened like that. I’m more experienced than to believe that it’s going to always be this easy. This girl is the princess. It was very obvious that she was looking for a punishment to her disobedience. And I know that the normal 2minute timeout is not going to work with her just yet. This one lasted about 3 seconds. Mommy’s skilled enough with the camera phone to whip it out and take the picture before she notices. And then I just changed my face from “wow, you are So cute!” back to “come here, you are in trouble.” …haha. I crack myself up…Who’s playing who, Mia?

…Yeah, I know, she’s still the Princess. 

2 Comments | In: Family, parenting | | #

As cute as they are, they need to be put in their place. And since where their place is should be determined by the parents, my role as a parent has always seemed so complex to me. I should laugh and play with them, but when they get bratty, I’m supposed to get stern and discipline them. Discipline has always been sort of a priority. You see, they are SO smart! I cannot begin to explain how aware they are from day 1 at the hospital. I have watched that awareness grow and by the time they are 3 or 4 months old, they already have a little personality to call their own.

I’ve been called out! Ha ha! My Mia girl gets punished and has to put her face in the corner. Of course mommy just HAD to take a picture. 

It’s a long story, Peter! It can be best described with more pictures which led up to this “timeout” experience of hers. I’m gathering those pics now, and I’m sure you’ll understand. More to come on this.

1 Comment | In: Family, parenting | | #

So I am going through my pictures on my (spectacular!) macbook, which is now exactly 1 month old. (Had to throw that in there!) One of the features on iPhoto is that I can make a book. VEry easy. Just drag the pictures I like onto the layout of my choice.. So I made one. I could purchase it if I wanted for only $9.99. Nice. I might just do that. While making said book, I realized that I outlined a pretty story about the visit from my parents and bro’s last week.

We did all kinds of cool things. We hung out at the beach…

                                       of course!

A visit from Minnesota in early February… the beach was a must!

We were all together for my 2 sister’s birthdays…

…so we celebrated that together.

Shirley managed to find a table she liked and danced on it. We drank plenty of beer  and played poker.

Went to Boomers and played a round of miniature golf with Peter…

a couple of hours of video games later I can’t find my keys!

…Found them!

In the ignition of my Durango. (goof!)

And the ignition switch was turned to the accessories position…(Gaaa!)

So the battery was drained…But the car wasn’t stolen…probably because the battery was drained.No biggy. Hung out. Used it all as a photo opportunity.

1 Comment | In: Family, Recreation, technology | tags: book, iPhoto, Macbook. | #

These people are the best. I had an amazing visit from my parents and all us siblings were together except for my Jonny & Jennie & Wes. I have pics from the past few years of my parents and siblings and there’s always 1 bro or sis missing…sucks! With one of us missing it feels kinda bittersweet. booo to that. But yay to family, I really enjoyed the visit. 

My little babies loved seeing grandma and grandpa and Tios and Tias. They keep talking about events when the see the pictures on the computer. Makes me so happy that they will have these memories. 

But Sigh…the house is way too quiet now. 

What a beautiful visit.

1 Comment | In: Family, Recreation, blogging | tags: parents, reunion, visits. | #

Here are 3 of the funnest people I know. They are kinda loud at times and super messy, so they drive me nuts and make me work..but their little personalities and daily growth and changes are one of the major things I’m very thankful for experiencing with them. My favorite is experiencing something that’s new to them; with them. Their curiosity and innocence makes the learning process they go through so intriguing, there are no words. 

Edgar Gabriel, 6

Ethan Thor, 4

Mia Isabel, 1

No Comments | In: Family | tags: learning process, parenting. | #

I haven’t worked out consistently since August 2008, when school started. And it shows in the way I look and feel. I feel so sluggish. I know my body needs to be more active. I started a Body for Life challenge last year around this time. Most people have heard of the challenge…12 weeks is all it takes to have that body and the knowledge gained is what is “supposed” to be the remedy to Keep it “for life”. I went on a little run yesterday with Edgar. It was a walk/talk/run. We walked and talked until we reached the other side of this neighborhood and looked over the hills at the nice view of the city lights and cars passing by. I don’t really enjoy the beauty of this area as much as I could. It’s a nice view from over there. Then jogged back to the house. It was a steady slow pace. It was nothing for him, but I was struggling. So I’m committing to making that trip to that nice view every night. It’s very mental. I was completely focused on my breathing, because that’s what I’ve learned to do. I know that if I hadn’t been focused on my breathing, my mind would have been aware of how much my body did not want to run and I would not have made it all the way home. For sure, my mind would have told me to stop because I hate it and it was way too uncomfortable. So I just ignore that…or rather, don’t think about it. Focus on breathing in for a count of 3 and out for a count of 3. In. Out.  So I’ll do that for a week. That’s what I’m committing to right now.

No Comments | In: Family, Health and Fitness, Recreation | tags: Body for Life, challenge, staying active. | #

how come they call brain freeze…brain freeze. Why don’t they call writer’s block, brain freeze. And they can just call brain freeze something else. Whenever I get brain freeze…um, the one that happens after drinking something cold too fast…It doesn’t feel like my brain gets cold..my throat is annoyingly cold and back of my throat hurts, but not my brain. That’s why I’m so confused & every time I hear the term, and the person saying it, squints their eyes in pain…I actually think of them as having writer’s block. So the person is saying…ooooh brain freeze, and i’m like, it’s cool, you don’t have to say anything right now…it’s ok.. I want to reach my arm out to comfort them, do you need a hug?

Did I totally stretch this post out…lose anyone? My point is that I need to get this ball rolling with my posts. Also another point to consider right now is that Shirley is going to be beyond mad when she finds out I’m doing this and not showering. I’m giggling to myself and kinda excited. I like getting her all mad sometimes…

1 Comment | In: blogging | tags: brain freeze, writer's block. | #

Intro: Ethan, though distracted, tells a story about his nightmare.

And it goes like this:

Ethan: I.. I was night ..My nightmare was about pumpkins, then he was, then the pumpkin was alive, too, he just was stronger, then he was walking to find me….

Mommy: & then what happenned?

Ethan: He find me in daddy’s car then he broke it, then he ate meeeee!

Mommy: Did you taste good?

Ethan: He think he was look like I’m food.

Mommy: He thought you were food?

Ethan: Yeah, then I punched his belly, then he explode!!!

Mommy: You punched his belly, and he exploded????

1 Comment | In: Family | tags: nightmare, video. | #

This is my first post for the new year. 2009 is here! I want to start this thing off by putting up a cute picture of my Ethan. He’s 4. He’s so daring. He’s handsome. He’s emotional; I don’t know who he gets that from at all He loves going to the beach and running from the waves with his older brother. I’m only a 5 minute drive from the ocean, but I don’t really go often. I have to confess, I can only handle the beach in small doses. It’s beautiful and relaxing, yes, but I don’t like that it gets complicated when I take the kids. I’m never prepared enough and there’s sand everywhere for days. They LoVe it, though, so I will take them more this year!

1 Comment | In: Family, Recreation | tags: beach, ocean, relaxing. | #