Joy at 4:15 a.m.

Yea!

I'm an aunt again.
I had the honor and privilege of being in the room when my nephew was born.
I was suppose to help my sister through natural childbirth.
When she got to the hospital at about ten something she wasn't having consistent contractions, but her water had broken.
I told her to call me as soon as her contractions were consistent and painful or when and if they decided to give her pitocin to start labor.
I got the call at 3:41 a.m. from my brother-in-law beckoning me to come to the hospital.
When I got there my sister was in the bathroom and when she came out she felt like she needed to push.
The baby was out after one long push.
The midwife almost didn't make it.
I thought the nurse was going to have to deliver the baby.
I wasn't much help was I?
At least I got there just in time.
A few minutes later and I would have missed everything.
It was amazing to be there.
I'm so happy for her.
After having four miscarriages and trying for six years she was finally blessed with a
baby.
I love my little nephew, but when I hold him I don't get baby hungry.
Does that mean I'm done having kids?

Ten Steps on How to Get your Husband to Clean the House

One -
wait until it's football season

Two -
save all your housecleaning for Saturday

Three-
make sure that your husband's favorite college football team (BYU) has a game that night

Four-
do a happy dance when one of your husband's friends calls offering him a free ticket and a night out with the boys

Five-
quickly write out a "honey" do list

Six-
kindly ask your husband to do the things on the list before he leaves you with four kids for the next eight hours

Seven-
sit back and read some blogs while you listen to the sound of the vacuum cleaner in the distance

Eight-
pitch in here and there so he doesn't notice you reading blogs

Nine-
after he leaves take the kids out for dinner and to the park

Ten-
go home and enjoy your clean house
(at least your husband's definition of clean)

Tricks to get Kids to eat Healthy

This sandwich may look like a typical peanut butter and jelly sandwich on white bread, but it is not. One side is white and one side is wheat. My kids refuse to eat a sandwich with all wheat bread so I had to get creative. At least there is some nutrition to the sandwich this way.

Instead of fruit roll-ups or fruit snacks I get those fruit leathers at Costco that have nothing added to them. They are pure fruit.

My brother-in-law taught me to mix an original instant oatmeal with a fruit instant oatmeal so there isn't as much sugar. My kids don't know the difference.

A friend taught me when making rice, mix one cup of white rice with one cup of brown rice since brown rice is more nutritious.

What tricks do you use to make your food healthier?

Live Long and Prosper

Things are changing for this nine year old boy of mine. First off, he got contacts and loves them.
I really thought I would have to help him put them in and take them out daily, but I haven't had to help him once. He can do it all on his own. I am so proud of him.

There is something about 4th grade because all of a sudden he has started taking responsibility for doing his homework without me nagging him. It's like something clicked all of a sudden. Now he is telling me how busy he is when he gets home and how much he has to do. Where had this child been hiding? It really takes a load off me. Hallelujah!

All summer he has been watching old Star Trek episodes with his dad. Nerdy I know. While leaving piano lessons recently, in a very serious tone he said to his teacher (and 80+ year old lady), "Live Long and Prosper." She snickered. I laughed.

His teacher at school is a total trekkie. She has met Captain Kirk (William Shatner) in person. "T" loves that she loves Star Trek and I'm just glad they found something in common.

He is getting more hugs from me lately. I had gotten out of the habit of giving him affection everyday, other than a kiss at bedtime. It's easy to forget to give affection to the kids that don't demand it, at least for me. I am making an extra effort to give him hugs randomly each day. When I give him a hug I don't let go until he does. I'm usually surprised at how long he hangs on. It has brought us closer.

My little boy is growing up and I hope he lives long and prospers!

New Locale

Welcome to my new blog location. I had some complaints that it was hard to post comments on my other blog and that would make some people's computers wacky when they were at my blog site, so I decided to move my blog. The only hard part is that my ninety posts on my mac blog will be lost in the wind, sorta. Does anyone know how to put those entries in blogger somehow? I will put a link on here to take you to the old blog if you want to see my archives. Bear with me through this transition since I still need to finish the graphics and learn a new blogging program. Thanks for stopping by.