Labor Day

Last week my sister Amy and my niece Madison came down and we went to Farm Country. The kiddies loved it.

Hayden loved the little chicks, well they might have been Turkeys, I couldn't figure out what they were. Anyways, they loved the baby poultry.

Hayden actually tried to feed the baby cow, but then pulled back as fast as he could. At least he was laughing, unlike Jackson, who basically told me I had to be kidding if I thought he was going to feed a cow.

Of course they loved playing in the jail. Jackson actually asked me yesterday, "Mom, where do we live?" Me: "We live in our house." Jackson: "No! We live in jail!" uhhhh, whatever dude.

This picture was the cutest one of all of the kids together. I should have cropped myself out.

And then of course we had to ride the horses. Hayden laughed and cried at the same time when I put him on the tiny horse. We made it one time around and then he literally jumped off, but Jackson did great all by himself.

It was pretty cute to watch them. I was glad we attempted to do something fun over labor day. The rest of the time we basically cleaned the house, which is now already a complete disaster. What a waste.

Bill Cosby - Natural Child Birth Pt. 1

Bill Cosby himself. This is one of my favorite things to watch, especially if my children are driving me crazy. It has also inspired me to develop a special skill which helps Jackson poop. That's right, poop. Let me explain. (Warning: Don't read any further if you are already thoroughly disgusted.)

Jackson goes through stages where he holds in his poop for days. This is usually when his bum gets sore and then he refuses to push because it hurts. Well, he thinks this Bill Cosby segment (above) where Bill Cosby does his breathing and says, "Puuuush, Puuuush!" is hilarious and any time I do it it makes him laugh. Strange, I know. The breathing technique Bill Cosby's developed along with the way he says "push" has almost completely solved Jackson's pooping problems. I am now his poop doula. When he's struggling and skid marking his pants, we sit on the potty and I seriously have to start doing Bill Cosby's "push." (Along with the breathing of course.) So that's how it starts out. It relaxes him and makes him laugh, important in childbirth, or birthing a turd, don't you think? Then it goes something like this:

Jackson "I can't ! It hurts!"

Me: "I know Jackson, it's ok. Push."

Jackson: "It's stuck!"

Me: "You can do it! Start pushing! I see it."

Jackson: "Oh it hurts!" Me, "I know. Just push, you'll feel better."

Jackson: "Ugggg."

Me: "Good Good! I see it's coming. One more push! One more push! One more and you'll be all done! Puuuuush! Puuuuush! (in Bill Cosby's voice of course.) Yeah! It's out! "

Jackson: "I did it Mom! Look at my poop. Now I won't be sore!"

So that's right, my new special skill is becoming a poop doula. Thanks Bill Cosby. We owe all our success to you.

Bill Cosby - Natural Child Birth Pt. 2

Just in case you're interested in seeing the end. It's also hilarious.

Oh Wow

HAHAHAHA, Jackson likes his daddy's Church socks, which he has to wear all the time now, since he started his administration internship. It is crazy to see him dressed in professional looking clothes instead of P.E. teacher clothes. He visited his old school of South Jordan Middle all dressed up and most people did a double take when they saw him. Oh yeah - he also has to shave too, so that changes his appearance - drastically in my opinion. It's almost more shocking than the clothes.

C

Hey, This is post # 100. It feels important somehow. So here's some more about my cute kids.

Last Saturday I tried to take my kids to the Children's museum. They had just woken up from their naps and on a whim I decided to go. Did anyone else know that they close at 6:00 around here? Guess what time I got there? 5:55. So guess where we ended up? That's right. The public bidet. (Notice the kids in the background.) Of course they loved the fountains. They weren't too into getting wet. They would run up to it and then when the fountains came on they would run away. But Jackson gradually got braver and braver.

And I made them leave once he looked like this:

They had a great time though.

Oh, my cute boys. Look how much they've changed.

Anyways, next time I'll check the schedule.

Why am I so stupid?

I hate salesman! I hate salespeople! I hate that I've lost all of my assertiveness, and then if I am assertive I am extremely rude. Why am I so dumb?

Yesterday I was sitting in the park, minding my own business and watching my boys play on the playground when this nice looking lady starts talking to me about my cute boys and her cute boys and I was thinking, "Why is she being so friendly, and why won't she stop talking to me? I mean, we're at a park. Is she new here? Does she not have any friends? huh. She seems normal enough. Anyways then as most of my conversations go I get immediately distracted by my kids and walk off. Then as I'm getting ready to leave, she says to me, "You've been so nice and so friendly. I am working on getting my car for Mary Kay. If I give you a gift certificate for free product, would you let me give you a facial or a makeover or something?" Ohhhhhhhhh. It all makes sense now, and of course I pause for a second and because I can't say no without being extremely rude, I say, "Uh, ok." which is followed by,

"Let me get your phone number."

"Uhhhh, ok."

And then I gave her my phone number! I gave a complete stranger who could be a lunatic my phone number and now she can google me and find my address and everything. And then she calls today to invite me to a Mary Kay girls night out. I am a pushover. (But I do like makeup, so..... :)

AND THEN

Today this man knocks on my door, and I knew he was a salesman, but I opened it anyway. It's usually very easy to say no to people who knock on my door. You know, I feel strong in my own home, my own domain, or something like that, but he was doing something that tempted me. He asked if he could clean one the carpet in one room of my house....for free. I'm like,

"What? For free? What do you get out of it?"

"Well," he says, "Have you heard of a Kirby?"

"No."

"Well, all I ask is that if you like what our Kirby does you tell all your friends and family and give us word of mouth advertising. It will help me with my scholarship."

"That's it? How does that help you?"

"Well if you agree to make an appointment with me I get 25 dollars, and because I've made 12 appointments today I'll get 50."

"And you'll clean my carpet?"

"Yes."

"Ok."

So the guy comes back with this fabulous Kirby and proceeds to give me an hour presentation about how ineffective my vacuum is and how amazing his is (and it was actually) and how dust mites live in my mattresses and they're pooping everywhere and we're breathing it all in, which is much worse then putting their poop in water and drinking it. Then he asks, "Do you have pets?"

"No."

"Oh. Well do you have asthma?

"No."

"Do you or your kids have allergies?

"No."

"Well have your kids ever woke up with a runny nose?"

"Uhhh, well yeah."

"Well they have allergies to the dust mites and all their poop. You need this. It will vacuum it out of 6 inches of your mattress, blah blah blah."

I'm just sitting there like, are you kidding me? My kids wake up occasionally with a runny nose when they have a cold! And that is occasionally! Uggh, get out of my house.

And then he proceeds to talk about the price and how it can be as little as 3 dollars a day. The thing costs about 2500 dollars, but if I get it today, the first time I've heard about it, they can lower it to 1500. 1500! For a freakin vacuum/carpet shampooer/about 10 other things actually, but how can someone knock on my door and just because they offer to do something for free and demonstrate something for me, they feel they can come into my house and make me feel guilty for not spending 1500 dollars on a vacuum so my kids don't inhale dust mite poo? How do people live with themselves? How can you really feel comfortable doing that? Especially after I explain to them my financial situation. (Which I should not have to do! Who are these people?!) My husband is in school full time, we are living off our savings and student loans, FOR A YEAR, I have no extra money and have no desire to have any extra debt.

"But why would you let your kids inhale dust mite poo?" They cry. "It pays for itself! If you think about the cost of replacing your torn up dirty carpet, carpet cleaning, the cost of replacing your burnt out vacuums, the cost of getting new mattresses, it's so much more expensive."

But I don't think about that cost. Those are things I expect to pay for and I feel I can afford. I cannot afford a 1500-2500 dollar vacuum. Geez people! And all the dust mite poo I'm going to inhale tonight when I sleep isn't going to affect me at all, just like it hasn't for the past 27 years.

(Just to make it perfectly clear, I did not buy the vacuum. I did make the guys clean my living room carpets for free. I felt good about that because they seriously made me feel guilty for not buying their stupid Kirby! You better believe a no soliciting sign is going on my door TOMORROW.)

Oh yeah, they have a cousin, and he's a boy.

Lincoln came last week. He is Jackson and Hayden's only boy cousin. The rest are all girls, which is not a bad thing, they are the cutest girls in the world, but it's fun for them to have another boy around. And they love him. Poor Lincoln is getting mauled by Hayden in every picture. We just wish we could see them more often.

Ahhh, the Olympics

Is anybody else watching the olympics? Just to let you know, I am. I LOVE them. It makes me want to be an athlete. Notice, the key word "want." When Michael Phelps and the rest of the relay team were winning their gold last night I was sitting in bed eating popcorn thinking about how I should be watching this while on the treadmill. Anyways, they are amazing and it makes me so proud to be from the U.S. Know what else makes me so proud? Jason Lezak, swimming the fastest 100 meters in history, beat the trash talking frenchies (namely Bernard) in the 400
meter relay.

I mean look at this! The guy had 15 meters to go, and he was behind, and he won.

That was sweeeeeet. And he kept Phelp's dream of winning eight gold's alive. Im' sure that's why he looked like this:



Is it true that each gold medal is worth a million dollars?

Why? Tell Me Please.

Luckily Jackson hasn't entered into the why phase of life. Well, maybe that's lucky, should he be doing that by now? Anyways, I am in the why phase of life. For example:

Why do I even bother making dinner when my kids don't eat it?
Why? Why? Why?

Hayden, why in the world do you choose the time when I'm deailing with Jackson the drama king and his screaming/crying over his scrape on his knee, to poop in the tub and play with it?

Hayden why have you thrown up in your crib the past two nights, but you've been fine during the day, running around, eating, playing, sleeping. Are you gagging yourself?

Hayden why don't you cry or something when you throw up in your crib? Why do you roll around in it and let it crust on your face and hair?

Why does it take three washings to get to puke smell to come out of Hayden's hair, plus baby powder to try to cover up the nasty smell?

Why won't Jackson take a nap, even though he's yawning and rubbing his eyes? Why does he have to yell and scream and kick and cry and wake up his sleeping brother?

Jackson, why won't you go after the ball during your soccer game, even when it hits you in the legs? Why do you have to stand there and pick your nose? I should just have Hayden go out there and try to kick it. Then you would be all over that blasted soccer ball and nobody but you would be able to touch it.

Why can't I resist the urge to go eat the cookie dough in my fridge?

Hayden, why would you do this?

So many questions with no logical answers.
(Sorry if I'm grossing anyone out. I've been grossed out lately and I want you all to feel my pain.)

I Frustrate Myself

This is how I celebrate losing three more pounds:

I am sitting at the computer eating chocolate chip cookies.

UGG! I think my pants are going to be too tight forever.

This Week

So this week was crazy busy and so fun. It was a week of birthdays. Last Saturday we celebrated my sister Lisa's Birthday by going to see Little Women. It was surprisingly good, I thought, especially for a local production. It was fun to go see a play about 4 sisters and their mom with my 3 sisters and my mom. We always compare ourselves with Little Women. I'm the oldest - the one who marries a tutor for love and has twins. Kind of similar, I married a teacher and have two boys. Anyways, Lisa, the birthday girl, made it a point to let everyone know that she is Beth, #3, and she dies. We aslo saw Kung Fu Panda, celebrated my dad's birthday, went swimming 3 times, I went rock climbing, and I got to see a 24th of July celebration concert thing. I have loved my life of liesure this week.

This Saturday Ty came home with surprises for the boys. I wanted to get Jackson a real bike for his half birthday. (I feel bad he wasn't blessed with the 6 month payment plan that Ty and I have with our birthdays in June.) Ty got them both new bikes of their own. It's so cute and Jackson is pretty good riding his around, except when he starts going downhill. He forgets how to brake. We'll have to work on that.

Ok, just to warn you, this is really gross, but Ty wanted me to post this. Ty is proud of his injuries. We have pictures of all his really bad sprained ankles, and now we have a picture of the most disgusting blister I have ever seen. Ty has started running these past 2 weeks, and when he decides to do something, he goes all out. Apparently he needs new shoes, so this is what happened when he ran like 6 1/2 miles:

What's even more disgusting is that it got even bigger before he drained it.

We tried to go Camping

We finally took our kids camping. Besides the fact that I couldn't sleep with 16 people in the same cabin, (3 of them 3 and under) we had a good time. We went to the Heber Valley Camp on Friday and Saturday for our annual Baugh Family reunion. Jackson was so excited to go camping and he was so frustrated that he had to wait for his Daddy to finish his homework. Once we got there Jackson and Hayden got to go on their very first paddleboat ride. This was Hayden's face the entire time - when he wasn't trying to get out of the boat and into the water.

And this was basically Jackson's reaction: He loved leaning over the side and trying to splash everyone.

Ty and Jackson went on a walk to find deer:

And they did. Too bad Ty still doesn't know how to turn a nob so that camera is in auto mode instead of manual. He would have had some mighty fine pictures of deer. (He loves taking pictures of deer and we have 20 blurry ones from this trip alone.)

The next day we went on the "Challenge Course" and I finally went on a zipline for the first time ever. That was fun. Yeah family togetherness. See how thrilled Ty was about the whole thing?

Just kidding, he loved it. :)Oh wait, here's me doing what I do best.And Hayden doing what he does best, well he's really good at it.
And Jackson, we love you Jackson, especially since you've taken a nap 3 days in a row.

Jackson, My Love

Oh Jackson, OH Jackson, Jackson, Jackson. Look at this picture:When I look at this picture I remember that really you do love your mommy. We've been having it rough this week and so I've been looking at pictures that remind me of how cute Jackson is and how much I love him too. Like this one when he was a week old:

And this one where he was cute and oh so chunky: And this one when we went on a picnic on Labor Day.

And the cute way he would say "OH!" at the top of his lungs.

And just the funny things he would do. He is so cute and so random. It helps me forget about how badly he hates to sleep and how badly he needs naps. It helps me forget about how he hasn't taken a nap in four days, and how he wakes up and 6:30 and won't take a nap, and then won't go to bed until 9:00. It helps me forget about how since he's so tired he screamed his ear piercing scream all day today. It helps me forget a lot of other things too like:

* How today we read stories for an hour. I kept hoping he would just fall asleep like he usually does, but he didn't. I thought I was going to kill curious George.

* how when I tried to rock him to sleep this week he screamed in my ear and hit me in the face repeatedly. He usually lets me rock him to sleep (when he takes a nap.) He would put his head on my shoulder and snuggle and peacefully drift off.

*how he spent an hour in his room tonight because I couldn't handle him and he wouldn't stop screaming and torturing his brother.

*how he has been potty training for six months and has yet to go a day where he doesn't leak pee out into his underwear before announcing he has to go potty, therefore he hasn't gone a whole day being completely dry.

*how he goes through 6 pairs of underwear a day, and lately, out of laziness (I think) he'll just pee his pants, such as he did today at the park, and then proceeded to scream and cry his head off all the way home wondering why in the world we would think of leaving the park, just because he peed his pants.

*how he repeatedly says all day long, "I don't love you anymore mommy!"

*how he rips any and every toy Hayden touches out of his hands and how because of that I can't leave them alone for two seconds.

But then I look at these cute pictures and now that he has been asleep for an hour I remember how sweet he really is. He's just going through a transitional phase and tomorrow we'll try again, and hopefully I'll pass all the tests he gives me and not become "scary" as he calls it. I remember how he has to give me and kiss and a hug before he goes to bed. How he always say "Sankyou," and when we're not angry anymore he says, "I love you now Mommy," How he gets excited to watch a show with me. How he is ecstatic that he pooped in the potty and that his "snake poo" is swimming in "pee pee water". How he loves to tickle and how he thinks he can make Heavenly Father and Jesus happy by tickling them. How he'll say his prayers all by himself now and always ask to bless our Prophet, President Monson, even when he's blessing the food. And the list goes on. Hopefully things will be better tomorrow.