To: The Office

Dear Office,

I've missed you, and I'm so glad you're back. Thursday night was wonderful, and I look forward to our regular Thursday night dates. I've been waiting for this day all summer (It's marked on my calendar) and I was not disappointed.

And it is....

We got the ultrasound for the baby today. We are excited to share that we are having a baby...... GIRL!!! I guess the popular vote won over the parental vote. We weren't actually wanting one over the other, we just thought for SURE it was a boy. I've slipped so many times and called it a him when I was talking about it. I just had it in my mind that it was a boy. Hayden was positive it was a boy too. Even though we thought it was a boy we are very excited that she is a girl. I'm happy that Rebecca will have a sister, and Hayden will have another sister. Now we start the difficult task of finding a name. It took us FOREVER to find a name for Rebecca. (Until after she was born.) Any good ideas? We still like a lot of the names that we liked for Rebecca, but they just didn't fit her. Our top couple names are Paige and Samantha. (There is still the whole issue of Samantha going by Sam, then with our last name it sounds odd. Think about it, Sam Ewell.) But we might still go with it. I guess we have a while to think about it. So there is our happy news. Hooray!!

New Rooms!

Her Side
His Side
Their new room
Playing blocks together in their new room
I love it when they play like this together.

Last week I got to go with my good friend, Heather to the Baby Expo downtown. That is where several "baby" companies come to show and sell their stuff. She has an online baby company (My Designer Baby - see my links to the side.) so she was able to go and check out all the vendors. They sell a lot of their items, especially the sample items at wholesale, or below wholesale. I went on the last day so I figured most of the stuff I'd want would already be claimed by others, and I was there as some of the companies were starting to take their display down. Luckilly towards the end we were passing some bunk beds that had signs on them that the samples were for sale. That was exactly what I was wanting and looking for. We were able to get a beautiful bunk bed for the kids (since I'm already "nesting" and all about consolidating space in our tiny house lately). It retails at around $800, and we were able to get it for $250. Much better quality and only about $25 more than the beds we were looking at at Walmart. Plus he gave us the mattresses for a steal as well. The only problem was that when we put the beds up in the bedroom Hayden was a little nervous to climb up, and Rebecca, of course, had no fear. In addition the ceiling fan in Hayden's bedroom (now their room) isn't a "kid's" ceiling fan. If it had been on it could have easily hit Hayden or Rebecca's head while they were on the top bunk, standing. So for now the beds are separated, but I actually love the way the room turned out. Now we have a play room for the next 5 months, until the baby comes. Here are the pictures of the finished project that kept me busy last week. (That's why my room ect. was such a mess, I'd rather make curtains than clean my room.) The kids love their new beds. Every time Hayden gets in bed he says, "It's so comfy." Rebecca just loves the added freedom. Now she can easily reach the light switch, and go get in Hayden's bed with him as he's trying to get to sleep. But overall it hasn't been too difficult of a transition.

My Day So Far.

I guess I should have learned when my dad told me over and over again when I was growing up, that your day starts the night before. I stayed up WAY too late reading a good book, and finally dragged myself to bed when I realized morning was coming too soon.
My morning started by moaning and groaning "WHY" when both kids came into the room and got in bed at 6:20AM! This is unfortunately too close to the time they usually wake up anyway, but I keep having hope that it's just a phase they're going through, eventually they'll like to sleep in, like me. Even though this phase has lasted 3 1/2 years for Hayden and almost 2 years for Rebecca I still have hope because every once in a while they will sleep in and those are wonderful mornings.
Going on with the list of my day, so far.
Turn on the tv and hope they follow Jerry as he starts getting ready for work. Hooray! They do.
Catch a little bit more sleep while he gets ready.
Wake up as he leaves and the kids come to jump on the bed.
Wake up again as I hear Hayden yelling for me to come downstairs, he wants to play Lego StarWars, but doesn't want to be downstairs alone.
Change the channel so I don't have to listen to that annoying, "Johnny and the Sprites." on Disney Channel.
See my humongous mess of a room that has been the "catch all" for the last two weeks. Promise myself again that I will clean it today.
Go downstairs, see that we are out of milk.
See that the two eggs we have left expired two weeks ago.
Hayden wants a PBJ for breakfast - see my previous post about breakfasts. - But we used the last of the peanut butter yesterday.
Ugh, I have to go shopping, but that's the last thing I want to do right now.
Yogurt and water for breakfast it is.
Change Rebecca's diaper.
Go outside and water my budding grass! (It's coming in!)
Tell Hayden his time is up for Star Wars. Listen to a three year old yell and give me the evil eye. Turn off the tv and game.
Go upstairs to work on my horrible room.
Find Rebecca sitting on the nightstand next to my bed, soaking wet after trying to drink from the cup of water that was left on the nightstand the previous night.
Start stripping the bed to clean the sheets, but as Hayden (who has quickly forgiven me for turning off the game, and just walked in the room with his huge Star Wars ship) and Rebecca see this they think it would be fun to jump on those sheets as I'm trying to take them off.
Finally get the sheets in the laundry and start sorting the rest of the clothes for laundry.
Remind Hayden that we don't have any peanut butter when he asks for a PBJ again.
Start folding the laundry that is clean and has been sitting for a couple days.
Yank the previously folded laundry out of Rebecca's hands and tell her it isn't funny, and she can't take my folded laundry. (Yes, my room is a real mess right now.)
Tell Hayden again that we don't have any peanut butter and that we'll go to the store when I get my laundry going.
Repeat the last sentence three more times.
Get the kids dressed.
Go downstairs to get Hayden a hot dog when he realized that we had hot dogs and when I realized he must be extremely hungry since he fell asleep at 6:00 last night and didn't want to wake up to eat, he slept through the night.
Make his hot dog and start cleaning up the kitchen a bit. Give him his hot dog with ranch dressing. (He thinks ranch goes on everything.)
Listen to him whine when I get a fork from the drawer because he wanted to get the fork.
Put the fork back in the drawer and let him take it out.
Watch him as he turns around and the hot dog rolls off his plate and the plate falls on the floor leaving ranch dressing all over the floor and his toes.
Listen to him whine and cry again.
Wash his toes.
Clean the floor.
Wipe off his hot dog and give it to him. (Shh, don't tell, 10 second rule.)
Next the door bell rings and it's the pest control guy.
Start writing him a check as he's spraying.
Tell Hayden to come inside because he's spraying bug poison outside.
Hear Rebecca playing in the bathroom upstairs.
Tell Hayden to go check on Rebecca.
Hear Hayden say, "Oh No, Becca daddys going to give you a spanking on your bum."
Give Bug guy his check and try not to let him see that I'm not loving today.
As soon as the door closes I run upstairs to see Rebecca unloading everything from under the bathroom sink and begging to open the first aid kit.
Finally, with no makeup, and looking ugh, load the kids in the double stroller to go on a walk to the grocery store. (When I only need to get a couple things it's so much easier than loading the car, driving 1/2 block, unloading them, Put them in a cart....you get the picture.) Anyway.
Make our way to the store.
Smile at how the weather is starting to cool down a bit.
I'm starting to get a little happier because the kids seem to be happy for the moment.
Start shopping, and the whole "kids seem to be happy for the moment" is done.
Rebecca starts screaming and reaching for everything, and tries to climb out of her stroller.
Hayden keeps reminding me that we need peanut butter and he now wants cookies.
When Rebecca can't escape she starts kicking the back of Hayden's chair, which makes him scream and cry.
I decide to only get 1/2 of the things on my list to just get out of there.
Check out, as Rebecca is screaming and crying the whole time.
Chuckle and tell the cashier "we're ALL having a bad day?" When she politely asks Rebecca, "Are you having a bad day?" (I didn't snap at her, I'm not that mean.)
Give Rebecca and Hayden some crackers that we just bought for the ride home.
Got home and fed the kids and decided to prolong cleaning a bit longer just to vent and write this post.
As you can imagine I've had to stop several times, but things are looking up. The kids are happier because they actually have food in their system. It's amazing what that can do. Not all days are like this, but so far this has been one of those days. Please tell me I'm not the only one. Now it is time to keep my promise to myself and get my room cleaned!

Any Guesses?

One week from today is our ultrasound for the baby. Any guesses on what it is. (We know it's a baby, so don't try that one.) Let me clarify - boy or girl. We keep thinking it's a boy, but that's based on nothing, other than what we think, but we have been right both times so far. Hayden says it's a brother because he already has a sister. Do you have a guess?

Baby Button

Hayden likes to talk to the baby a lot. I've recently noticed that when he talks to the baby he points to my belly button and says, "It's your baby button." What a funny boy.

Fun on the Strip!

yuck, not my favorite picture of myself AT ALL, but it's proof we were there.

Last Thursday Jerry and I stayed at the Excalibur and had a great time playing tourists. We went to the Comedy Stop at the Tropicana. It was very fun. When they seated us they took us to a table right up front and center. We were so close. It was great until the first comic started his act. It was a little too dirty for our taste. It made it awkward being so close and they looked right at us for our reaction to the dirty joke. Luckilly the second guy was amazing. He made me laugh so hard I had tears streaming. It was something fun, and out of the ordinary. It was a fun playing tourist, and having Jerry all to myself.

Hot Dogs??? For Breakfast???

Do most kids ask for hot dogs at 9:00 am?
Do most mom's actually give them hot dogs at 9:00 am?
Most moms probably steer their kids into a healthy breakfast.
Not this one. The only breakfast food my kids really eat well is french toast. Some mornings I just don't feel like making french toast.
Some day I'll be a healthy, smart, mom. For now, if it's food, and they're going to actually eat it, sure go ahead.

Who needs a bed anyway? (No it's not a dirty post!)

We moved Rebecca into a toddler bed about a month ago. I had a little bit of an issue with the fact that it is a "Car bed" that Hayden used. Not very femine, but since we're planning to put Hayden and Rebecca in bunk beds when the baby comes I couldn't justify buying a new toddler bed to be used for only a matter of months. As it turns out, we didn't even need to get the toddler bed out anyway. That girl will not stay in her bed for anything. I think it is just that she loves the freedom to be able to get out of the bed, so she gets out, plays, and falls asleep. I have yet to see her stay in her bed throughout the night, and she never sleeps in it during her naps. Today I found her sleeping in her closet during her nap. She took her pillow and two blankets in there and surrounded her toys with her makeshift bed. Here are a couple pictures that were taken during her nap times. She is such a funny girl.

This one did scare me a little bit. I had to put her in her bed when I found her like this.

What a sleeping beauty.

Fun little questions

What's the best thing to do when you have to give the lesson in Relief Society tomorrow? Waste time on the internet..
So this was a fun little question and answer game I saw. So here are my answers for anyone that wants to read forever and listen to my fun, new, downloaded songs.

1. What is his name? Jerry Wayne Ewell
2. Who eats more? I think ultimately he does, but it is probably way too close.
3. Who said, "I love you" first? He did. It was so cute. We were at my apartment and he said, "I'm falling head over heels in love with you." Doesn't that just make your heart melt?
4. Who is taller? Definitely Jerry. That was a pre-requisite for any guy I dated. I am tall, and I love to wear heels. I love Jerry's height.
5. Who is smarter? Am I smarter by saying he is smarter? I think I'm smart, but I can be kind of airheaded at times, so he probably is smarter.
6. Who is more sensitive? No question there - ME! The stupidest things make me cry.
7. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Looking at the bed Jerry does. But that changes probably every year. We get bored and switch sides. I think we even tried sleeping upside down in the bed (like head at the foot of the bed) for a few nights just to see the difference. Yes, we are pretty lame.
8. Who pays the bills? Jerry makes the money to pay the bills, but I do the bill paying.
9. Who cooks more? I do, but it's not by much. I depends on if I'm on a good cooking streak.
10. Who is more stubborn? JERRY! I think half the time he acts more stubborn than he actually is just to tease me, to see me get high strung.
11. Who is first to admit they are wrong? Probably me because I'm a Roylance, and I'm constantly saying "I'm sorry" (and if you see question #10, it makes sense that I'm the first.) But, Jerry isn't usually too far behind to sheepishly admit that he's wrong.
12. Who has more siblings? I do. But we both come from very big families. There are 10 kids in my family, and 7 in his. Our mothers are amazing.
13. Who wears the pants in the relationship? I guess he does, but I feel like we're pretty equal and he doesn't make decisions we don't both agree on, and vice versa.
14. What do you like to do together? Go on vacations. Go to movies. Go shopping and dream. And this probably sounds pathetic, but we love to watch our tv shows together. ("The Office" is our regular Thursday night date. And "The Soup" is part of our Friday night date.)
15. Who eats more sweets? No Question - ME! I have the sweet tooth, and he has the salty tooth.
16. Guilty Pleasures? For him, Cheetos, Pringles, and Sopranos (The edited version on A&E). For me, ice cream, M&M's, Sweedish Fish, Days of our Lives, and Sex and the City (The editied verson on TBS).
17. How did you meet? At church, at a Family Home Evening activity. He was my Home Teacher.
18. Who asked whom out first? He asked me out first.
19. Who kissed who first? He kissed me at my apartment on Halloween, under the mistletoe (The mistletoe was up year round.)
20. Who proposed? He did. Up at the temple outside the locked gates - He'd planned to do it by the waterfall, but we got there too late. It was still very romantic.
21. His best features and qualities? I love his smile and laugh, and his sense of humor. I also love his strong, broad chest. I love how he gets excited about cute things, his boyish fun innocent side. I also love that he is very knowledgable about politics and what's going on in the world- it helps me to feel smart. I love what a wonderful dad he is. Hayden and Rebecca love him so much. He and Hayden are little buddies that have a standing appointment to play Lego StarWars as soon as Jerry gets home from work. It is very cute to watch. And I love how he loves me, and lets me be me, and makes me feel wonderful. I'm a lucky girl.

So there you go. If you made it though all 21 congratulations. Boy, Jerry owes me big time for gushing all about him. Hopefully I didn't make anyone too sick. OK, on to the next thing to avoid getting my lesson ready. We're going to the park for a work party.

Happy Labrador Day!

Years ago I tutored a sweet little girl from the deep south. She was sweet, but not too bright. The Friday before Labor Day she reminded me, "We don't got no school Monday, 'cause it's Labrador Day." I wasn't sure if I heard her right, so I corrected her and said, "Yeah, Monday is Labor Day, so we don't have any school." She replied, "No, it's Labrador Day." She was pretty determined, and she knew she was right. So I want to wish you all a Happy Labrador Day!