Can We Just Take A Second to Recognize this Man's AWESOMENESS! And other ramblings from a sleep deprived mom

When Tom and I were first married, he had woke me up sleep talking exclaiming," I'm Awesome, I got the Job!"  And the next day he did!  Unfortunately, no I am not blogging about the fact that he got a job, although we are anxiously waiting in hopes that a call does come Monday from Ernst and Young (cross your fingers for us!).  Rather, I am blogging about Tom's awesomeness in other areas of our life.  Last week on his way home from church (he had to take his own car because he was singing in Sacrament) his driver side window fell down into the door (we won't discuss that the reason his window was down was because the ac is broken, one thing at a time!)!  Well, car repairs do not have any room in an unemployed budget, but lucky for me my husband is awesome!  After viewing a few youtube videos, he ordered a part off of Amazon for $40 as opposed to the $100's we'd pay to have someone do it for us and proceeded to remove the door from his car and take it apart.  Yes, he removed his car door!  I should have taken a picture.  Well, the part came today and he has already fixed it!

I must say that in our society I think handy-men with crafting and building skills are grossly undervalued! Where would everyone live without the home builders? And what furniture would they have and, well, you get the idea.  But when there is a natural disaster and we have to make shelter and find and cook food, I know we will be taken care of (especially with that assault rifle we have)Tommy can fix or build basically ANYTHING!  From building decks, installing cabinets and wood flooring, building shelves, to fixing cars, he is a jack of all trades!

On another note, we may have found the cause for this little boy's lack of sleep: DRUM ROLL PLEASE! A children's version of Sleep Apnea.  After meeting with the ENT today, we are going to have tubes put in because even when he doesn't have an active ear infection, he has a cesspool in his ear of gross brown fluid!  Makes sense why he is super irritable all the time and why he has trouble sleeping.  But even more, he has swollen adenoids.  So what happens is he falls asleep and as soon as he reaches his REM sleep his muscles relax and his mouth closes.  Well, swollen adenoids make it so he can't breath very well through his nose, so he wakes with a start and this happens throughout the night.  I would cry all night too if this was happening to me!  And to top it off, it has caused him to have some "temporary" hearing loss too.  So sign us up for surgery!  Then hopefully this boy can get some REM sleep!  And hopefully we have finally found the ANSWER I have been searching for for the past year!

The last few nights have been really depressing for me.  Aside from the fact that so far we have no job and the anxiety and stress is building, I just felt like by now Jack would have grown out of whatever it was that was causing this problem, and that I would finally get some sleep because waking up every 2 hours is not working for me!  Sometimes I think no one realizes that when I say my baby doesn't sleep I'm exaggerating and that they can relate.  But honestly and truthfully he doesn't sleep and some how Tom and I have figured out how to function from day to day on 4 hours tops with mornings that begin at 5 am. My patience is at an all time low and I hate that I get pushed to the edge so easily with my boys!  I've been praying that we would find the answer to this and bless this doctor I think we have.  Although the surgery is another story.  Sad sad sad, is all I have to say.

Here's What Happens When You Think You Don't Need A Nap

In the past month Porter has become quite accustomed to having naps like this.  Usually he ends up laying on my diaper bag, but Tom got smart this time and brought a blanket.  I may not have been great at schedules with my kids, but it can certainly be said that they are portable sleepers!

HAPPY SUNDAY!

Jack- 15 Months

This little boy is simply scrumptious and irresistible, which is lucky because he is NAUGHTY!  He is starting to talk like crazy now.  Most of it is still gibberish, but here are his favorite words:

Shoe

NO!

Mama

Papa (for my dad)

Ma (that means bottle)

Door

Che Che (don't know what this means but he says it all the time)

Baby

His favorite activity was just discovered today.  He loves to climb up on our tall kitchen table and grab on to the chandelier and swing.  I'd have taken a picture if I hadn't feared for both his safety and my chandelier!  He is constantly climbing on everything and I honestly cannot turn my back for 1 second without him getting into something.  I about had a heart attack up at Park City when I found him on the deck having pushed a chair over to the railing and was going to attempt to climb onto the roof.  And he had only been out there for like 3 seconds.   

He loves bath time, running away from me, peek-a-boo and tormenting his older brother and his dog.  He also loves finding baby dolls and dragging them around and giving them kisses. He is crazy and cuddly, which means he stops to give you multiple hugs, but then quickly goes back to whatever he was doing.  He also loves our almost daily Taylor Swift dance party thanks to Porter's obsession with Taylor Swift songs.

His favorite food?  Dog Food and Legos!  Sick but he honestly tries to eat both on a daily basis. Actually I have yet to find something this child doesn't like but his very favorite would have to be pasta.  He loves to eat which is such a change from Porter.  Oftentimes I eat dinner with Jack and Porter and then Tom comes home from school and Jack will have a second portion with Tom.

The sleep is getting better, it is usually not until 4 am that he wakes up!  I guess I need to be grateful for this considering what it could be. We took him in about 2 weeks ago for a consult for tubes for his ears, but the doctor decided to wait.  Hopefully the last round of antibiotics which came in the form of shots because the previous two rounds that month couldn't kick the ear infections, finally relieved the child from a chronic ear infection.  

I am in love with this baby boy and can't believe how big he is.  He keeps me on my toes every day but leaves a smile on my face by the end.  

Summer So Far-In Pictures

Bear with me, but my picture procrastination sometimes leads to picture overload.  Despite some of the more unfortunate events in our life, namely no job yet, we have had quite an enjoyable summer: from Zoo visits, cousin playdates, park playtime to soccer games (more on that later) cabin campouts and family reunions.

Here's what we've been up to:

ZOO-RASSIC PARK

at Hogle Zoo with Tils

Tommy and Jack on the Carousel

T-Rex, Jack and Mana

(Jack was incredibly fascinated with this, Porter was terrified!)

WHEELER FARM

My Highschool Friends-

Love These Girls and the Friendship we Still Have

Crazy that we all have (or will soon have) kids!

Whitney, Laura, Ang, Me and Sheena

Porter Driving the Tractor in his Jessie Hat

Yep, we still love Hats!

On Our Way to 

LAGOON!

Jack and Finch driving.  

My anxiety level was high for fear this crazy 1 year old who can unlock doors and 

climb on anything would crawl right out!

Porter, Tommy and Bentley

Porter and Mommy on Dinosaur Drop

The LeBaron Cousins competing in a rousing game of Water Blaster, 

all soaked from Rattlesnake Rapids.

The LeBaron Crew at LAGOON

THE SUNDANCE CABIN

STEWART FALLS HIKE

Jess, Porter, Maddie, Evie, Luci

The Falls- Yep that's SNOW!

We didn't even make it too the top because it was slippery and icy and I couldn't help Porter without falling myself.  We did come down part of it on our bums (on purpose).  Jack didn't appreciate the spray and cold air up there!

We also spent the weekend before the 4th up in Park City with my extended family.  I didn't snag very good pictures, but here's our car on the way home!  Porter played to his hearts content:  legos, coloring, tie dying shirts, water balloons and swimming.  Jack is tired because he played and didn't sleep at all at night.

We had a lot of fun crammed into the condo playing games and eating as well an enjoying beautiful long walks along the awesome Park City trails.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

We headed to the Bouchers for a Hot Dog's Around the World BBQ

We enjoyed delicious hot dogs (yes even I who hasn't consumed a hot dog since I was 10) with unique flavor combinations from around the world: Thai, Swedish, German, American, Mexican and more.  

This little boy was in HEAVEN!

Jack enjoying his hot dog just before an unfortunate tumble down the rock stairs and a face plant leaving a nice cut on his nose and some road rash.  Still a miracle we haven't had stitches!

We then headed over to enjoy the Holladay City Fireworks.  It was a great show, but was super long.  My kids both fell asleep half way through.  We had a wonderful 4th of July and found it quite difficult to face reality the next day.