THE TERRIBLE TWOS

Well we may be starting a little early, but we have hit the terrible twos big time! I don't know what to do with my little naughty boy. Every time I turn around, he is getting into something else. And the worst part is, it isn't like he is just being busy, he knows he is naughty!! Currently his favorite naughty things are scissors, plastic bags that he loves to try to put on his head, throwing everything in every drawer all over the floor, throwing all of the magnets off of Nanny's fridge off the floor, pulling dogs tails, and well biting his mommy when she tries to get him to stop! I love him and the times that he is sweet and innocent almost make me cry. I love watching him entertain himself and start to use his imagination at play, but honestly I am at my wits end to know what to do to change this behavior. I'm sure that daylights savings didn't help my frustration any since according to Porter's internal alarm, you should wake up at four every morning! Not to mention he is a masterful manipulator! We put him to bed tonight and he started bawling (usually he goes right to sleep, seriously)Tom went in to rock him to sleep and he kept asking for his Mommy, wanting his mommy to cuddle him and hold him. So the sucker that Tom is brought him into our room and handed him to me. Well, Porter didn't want to cuddle me, he just wanted to get out of his room and going to bed!

On a separate note, this whole H1N1 epidemic is killing me! I have never been one to be paranoid about stuff like this, but when things hit closer to home it makes it even scarier! My grandma died of the basic flu suddenly and unexpectedly and so the flu has always been a scary thing to me. However, I must admit, this was the first year that I even got vaccinated for the seasonal flu as I'm not usually the one to jump on board and believe those things actually protect you I finally got an appointment for myself since I am a high risk being pregnant. For the life of me, I had the hardest time finding vaccines for my little one! Apparently one year olds aren't high risk. Seriously? I had to take him to my grandpa's office because my pediatrician ran out of the seasonal flu vaccine but I couldn't find anywhere to get my little guy vaccinated for the H1N1 and with the terrible twos in full force I couldn't wait 3 hours in a line for it. Did you know that only like 3 pediatrician's offices in Utah even got the vaccine to give to their patients so far? I am having a hard time understanding how that is fair! Not to mention, loved the story about Wall Street getting the vaccines over the hospital in New York who had to turn a lot of high risk groups away! But honestly guys this isn't Obama's fault! It was President Bush's fault 4 years ago when the flu vaccine was gone, but Obama is still blameless when they knew this was going to happen! For a man who basically wants Socialism, its funny how money talks! Like I said before, I am not usually paranoid about vaccinations for the flu, but it is one of those things I guess that you could never forgive yourself for if you didn't get it for them and then they got seriously sick. ( I don't need a repeat of RSV!) Although I feel guilty about it, I did call in a favor from two wonderful kind hearted people that are helping me get an appointment at one of the Pediatricians offices that did get it! So after a wild goose chase, Porter and I will be vaccinated.

October

The craziness of October never seemed to end, but we've made it through and are looking forward to the Holidays! Porter hated most of the Halloween festivities and never used the original costume I had intended for him. (Tigger) His favorite part was probably the "Hunkin Catch" (translation: Pumpkin Patch)He was in heaven! Winnie the Pooh cartoons have taught him that pumpkins can be used as drums and this was a whole field of them! For the first three Halloween parties he attended, no real costume was evident as he would throw temper tantrums whenever he saw the tigger costumer or the name was even mentioned. At my family Halloween party, we managed to get him to wear a hat if papa did too, however, he morphed his costume into that of a hick missionary as he has become obsessed with Scriptures which is what he is carrying in the picture. This obsession with scriptures has continued. Ruth Ann bought me a new set of scriptures for my birthday. (Miko ate my old set, nice huh?) Porter got his own little Book of Mormon with his name engraved on it and cannot be separated from it. We left it at my mom's house and church was a disaster without them today.Finally, on Halloween, we managed to get him to dress up as a full blown Cowboy with daddy, cowboy boots and all. he even did a little trick or treating and actually liked it!Back tracking a little more, my Birthday was great. Tom spoiled me with a wonderful breakfast in bed, my mom took me and Porter to lunch and my parents watched Porter while I went out to dinner with my friends. (tommy had school) We celebrated a couple of other days that week and Tom and I got to go to a hotel over night while Justin and my parents watched Porter.

Life in Survival Mode

Well, I am barely feeling like I am getting a hold on my life again. It all started two weeks ago. I started feeling sick on Friday right after my ultrasound. Drum roll, we are having another boy!! (it is going to take a lot of convincing for Porter since he thinks its a girl) I felt like I was maybe getting the flu. By Saturday, it had morphed into a horrible cold, sinus, something or other. I thought I would tough it out over the weekend and then go to the doctor on Monday. But by Sunday I couldn't stop coughing and felt like I was going to die! My grandpa put diagnosed me with Bronchitis and put me on antibiotics. (thank goodness for immediate medical care!) Sunday night I was supposed to make the trek down to Provo to watch Jenny's kids for the week. But that wasn't happenin'. Thanks to Becky, who jumped in and went to Provo. I thought by Monday I would feel ok, but still a no go. She sent the kids off to school and brought the twins up here for me to watch. (the twins who are just potty trained and have to go potty 29 times a day) Come Tuesday I had to tough it out and head down to Provo. We survived the next 24hours and then i was able to bring all the kids up to my mom again to wait for their mom. Thursday was another fun day since I had to make up for a weeks worth of missed work and prepare a lesson for my mom's enrichment. But we survived. I went to the doctor yesterday and everything looks fine with the baby. I lost a bit of weight while I was sick but I think it won't be too much of a problem putting it back on. Crazy how a little nausea can turn on you fast. Crazy how life can get out of control so fast. Crazy that people can deal with so many kids at one time. Life can get crazy, but we survived. Thank goodness for my mom who was there to help! Hopefully after my Young Women's program I'll get my life back to "normal" and post pictures and be ready for my birthday and Halloween!

Jumping in with Both Feet

Well, here we go jumping in with both feet. We bought a business franchise called Mr. Sandless that does wood floor refinishing. Tom, Justin, and Trent went to training last week in Pennsylvania and we are getting ready to open our doors. It's a really cool process that refinishes wood floors without causing all the mess from regular sanding. I won't bore with the statistics, but it is pretty cool so if you are at all interested, check it out. But here we go, wish us luck!

"Sunny Papa"

Amazing how time flies and how hard it is to get back to blogging. Last week Tom was out of town for the entire week so Porter and I were left to entertain ourselves. My parents had pity on us and took us out to dinner on Friday night. He was being very naughty so my dad threatened that he wouldn't take Porter to see the chickens and bunnies if he didn't behave. Porter stopped for a second and turned to my mom and asked her if she would take him. She gave him the same reply. He looked down with his chin quivering ready to cry and then stopped. He looked up with a smile and said, "Sunny Papa!" and started to laugh. Translation: Funny Papa, I know you could never say no to me. (And he's right!) A side note, Porter doesn't pronounce his F's and replaces them with S's. Does anyone else think that is an odd speech impediment?

The Prize Doesn't Always Go to the Most Deserving

Call me sentimental, my hormones are out of control and everything makes me cry. Oh the joys of pregnancy! This one really hit me!The Prize Doesn't Always Go to the Most Deserving

There recently was a death of a 98 year-old lady named Irena. During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist. She had an 'ulterior motive' ... She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews, (being German.) Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and she carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack, (for larger kids..) She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises... During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants. She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely. Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard. After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunited the family. Most had been gassed. Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted.

Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize ... She was not selected.
Al Gore won, for a slide show on Global Warming.

It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended. This story was sent to me in memory of the six million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians and 1,900 Catholic priests who were murdered, massacred, raped, burned, starved and humiliated!

Now, more than ever, with Iraq , Iran , and others, claiming the Holocaust to be 'a myth,' it's imperative to make sure the world never forgets, because there are others who would like to do it again.

These Little Wonders. . .

Forgive me for being sentimental, blame it on the pregnancy hormones, but this is what I have been thinking about lately. My mom has been talking to me about the lesson she is writing for Sunday about hope. We found this quote President Hinckley shared (not his own) in one of his talks:

“Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he’s been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just ordinary people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise…Life is life an old-time rail journey—delays, sidetracks, smoke , dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.”

Porter loves to watch this very odd but strangely hilarious movie in my mom's car called "Meet the Robinsons". There is a Rob Thomas song at the end that goes like this:
"let it go, let it roll right off your shoulder don't you know, the hardest part is over let it in, let your clarity define you in the end we will only just remember how it feels, our lives are made in these small hours these little wonders, these twists & turns of fate, time falls away, but these small hours still remain. "
Last night, as I was sitting on my bed feeling completely naucious watching Tom and Porter play on the floor, I found myself coming back to these thoughts. (sorry for the lack of pictures, Tom seems to always manage to have the cutest moments with Porter in his garments) Porter was beside himself with happiness finally getting to spend time with his daddy that he literally never sees. Life is hard and there are tons of things that you don't think you can make it through. (not really referring to my present situation because I have nothing to complain about) But it appears that for everyone, when it rains, it pours! I am grateful for those moments that may seem small and insignificant but that make life worth living. And I hope I never forget those moments.Can anyone say Grandpa Neil?