Operation "No More Binky" = FAILED

When it comes to my kids, I'm usually the one in charge.

(Ask me how that's going when I have 3 raging teenage girls)

I took away both Taylor's and Ginny's binky's at 9 months. We had a rough couple of nights, but we survived. With Reese I let her have it longer. She's almost 16 months, so last week we decided it was time for her to give it up. She only uses to fall asleep, how hard can it be?

Boy were we wrong!

Day 1: First nap, she cried for over an hour before falling asleep. Second nap, she cried for about 20 minutes. Bedtime, only about 30 minutes.

Day 2: First nap, 5 minutes of crying. Second nap, no crying. Bedtime, 20 minutes.

Day 3: All hell breaks loose. She's sick of not having her binky. First nap, she cries for over an hour. Second nap, cried for over an hour until I finally let her out of her crib. We attempted 45 minutes later and she cried for 35 minutes. By then it was dinner time, so I got her out of her crib. Bedtime, cried for 45 minutes.

Finally that night, just as I'm falling asleep, she starts crying. She cried off and on for over an hour. I finally decided to let her have some milk. She guzzles it down, and when I try to take away her sippy, she pitches a WICKED fit! She had discovered that sucking on her sippy cup was similar to her binky. By now it's 2 in the morning and I haven't gotten any sleep. I went to her closet , got out her binky's and said,"I hope your happy you little stinker."

She had won the battle!

Although I'm sad that I was beaten out by a 15 month old, I must say that she does not take her binky for granted. When it's time to go to sleep, she grabs that thing and we don't hear a peep from her until morning.

I guess that we will have to wait until she understands giving it to another baby or something.

On the positive side, that kid is hilarious. She is so determined to be like her big sisters. She LOVES to brush her teeth, has to eat her food like we do (not cut up), loves to take showers, and loves putting on hats, gloves, tutu's, you name it. At any given time of the day you will usually find her wearing either gloves, or a hat. She has figured out how to play while still wearing the mittens that her aunt bought her for Christmas.

Gotta love the kid!

The Calm After The Storm...

Yay, it's over!

Here is a quick update on the last couple weeks...

1. Went to Temple Square, had a blast, no batteries in camera.
2. Discovered Taylor has Mom's eyes, not Dad's = 4 eyes.
3. Saw Santa several times, Reese actually doesn't mind him.
4. Camera broke, DJ won one at his work party (I wanted him to win an Ipod), lucky us.
5. Lots of parties, lots of fun.
6. DJ's baby brother left for the MTC yesterday. He will be serving in Melbourne, Australia... lucky.
7. DJ's baby sister leaves for the MTC next Wednesday. She will be serving in Anaheim, California... Disneyland, lucky.
8. Reese got the stomache flu for the first time 3 days before Christmas... not lucky.
9. Thought she was better, went to Christmas Eve party at my Mom's, had a blast.
10. Woke up Christmas morning when there arose such a clatter, not the reindeer, but Ginny running to the bathroom to barf... not lucky
11. She made it in time... lucky.
12. Opened up our sweet presents in between barf sessions.
13. After opening presents, Reese got sick again... not lucky.
14. Missed Christmas day festivities to run laps to the bathroom with kids all day... not lucky.
15. Thought we were all better by Saturday, Reese barfed again, I started to not feel so well.
16. I ended up getting the flu, lost a few pounds... kinda lucky.
17. Missed DJ's bro and sis speaking in church... sad.
18. DJ had a week off, someone was sick the whole time.... lucky me I didn't have to go it alone, crappy for DJ.
19. Reese basically didn't eat for a week, she got down to 19 pounds... poor thing.
20. Yay, she officially has her appetite back today.
21. Got all of my Christmas crap put away... lucky DJ, he was at work.
22. Oh yah, got Mario Kart from my Mom.... SO FUN!!
23. Taught my Sunbeams for the last time and got a little teary eyed. I have to laugh because they can be the biggest pains, but we have really gotten attached to them.
24. We get a new batch of 3 year olds next Sunday, I hope we don't have 11 again... pray for us.

I love January.

9 Years Fly By Fast

My Taylor is halfway to 18!!!

I sure can't believe it! I may be halfway to her time living at home. Crazy thought.

I know that I posted a million pictures, but how can you choose just a few when it's your first born?

Taylor has been such a joy to have around. She is SO stinkin smart, and kind. She has a desire to know EVERYTHING! That means constant questions, and the older she's getting, the less answers I have for her. I get to the point where I have to tell her to go ask her Dad.

Taylor is so much like her Dad. Her mind never shuts down, and is always thinking of a million things at once. Add that to a girl, and that means that alot of those thoughts get shared nonstop. It can be tiring at times, but it's always entertaining.

She is also very mature, and sincere. She loves everyone. At school she has made friends with some of the special needs kids, and makes it a point to eat lunch with them, even though one of them helps herself to Tay's food. She also plays with them at recess, and will push them on the swings. I guess living with her Dad has made her sensitive to those with special needs (Heheeeheee)!

Taylor makes me proud on a daily basis. She wants to be a Pediatrician, go on a mission, and be a Mom. She has it all planned out... she's going to get her associates through BYU while still in high school (our friends boys did this, that's where she got the idea). Then go on to get a medical degree, and fit a mission in there somewhere. I told her that she better start saving her money, and get some serious scholarships.

She sure makes our life enjoyable... we absolutely adore her!!

McGruff Meets Dog The Bounty Hunter

We had a very interesting morning today!

Let me set the scene for you... we stayed up until 12:30 watching "The Dark Knight" last night (BEST movie EVER). As we were going to bed, I noticed that the neighbors across the street had left both of their garage doors open. It was too late to call them, so we just went to bed.

Well, ever since Reese started walking, she has been waking up for milk in the middle of the night. Totally annoying, but I think it's because she has been burning so many extra calories.... anyway, she woke up at 2:45, and I ignored her until she went back to bed. At 3:45, she woke up again, but would not go back to sleep. I gave in, gave her some milk, but she didn't want me to put her back in her crib. I held her for a few minutes, then put her back to bed.

As I was going back to my room, I decided to check and see if the neighbors garage doors were still open. I have a perfect view of their house from the top of my stairs, so I look across the street and see some movement in their garage.

I didn't know who it was, so I just stood there for a minute and watched. The next thing I know, a 20 something girl walks into their driveway and starts checking the doors on their daughters car. I quickly ran downstairs to get a better view, then called for DJ. The next thing I know, she goes into their garage, then goes INTO THEIR HOUSE!!!

I was so shocked, that I just stood there and watched. She came back out after a minute, so I quickly called the neighbor. They didn't answer, so I left some crazy message telling them that a lady had gone into their house, and was now going through a bag on their lawn.

Next I hung up and called the police. While I was on the phone with them, the girl goes back into their car to load up her bag. While doing this, she accidentaly leaned on the horn. This panicked her, so she quickly left with a backpack, hopped on a bike, and starts off down the street... all while talking to someone on her cell phone.

We couldn't let her get away, so Dog (aka DJ) decides to follow her in his car. As he was leaving he told me that he was going to hunt her down and tackle her.

In the mean time, the police verified that no one was in danger, and hung up. I quickly called the neighbor back and got a hold of her this time. She had just listened to my crazy message and didn't know what to think. We all met outside, and waited for Dog and the police to arrive. After a few minutes Dog came back and informed us that she had hid in someones yard, and he decided not to chase her on foot. Still no police, so he decided to drive around again. This time he encountered 3 police cars, and a girl being handcuffed.

Apparently this lady was intoxicated. The bike she was on had 2 flat tires, and they think she had stolen it from someone else. As the police were questioning me, they didn't seem to believe that she had actually gone into their house. When they found the backpack, they were able to verify that she did take some things from inside their house.

Smart one lady... you just went from a misdemeanor, to a 2nd degree felony!

The stupid thing is that all she was able to steal were some CD's, a GPS unit, and a little droor from their house that had makeup in it!!

To top it all off, it was 20 degrees outside, and all she had on was a hoodie and jeans.

After all of that excitement, I didn't fall back asleep until almost 7... which is when my alarm goes off. I am one sleepy girl today. I just find it strange that I happened to look out the window just as this idiot decides to rob the neighbors. The police were even shocked that I just happened to catch her in the act. I just told them that they can thank my hungry baby.

Pretty scary to think that some stranger would just walk into your house while you sleep. I always tease the neighbors that I know everything that goes on at their house beause I spy on them... they probably think it's true now!

How The Heck?

I love this picture of Ginny, it totally cracks me up. In fact Ginny cracks me up on a daily basis. Occasionally, she does things that are NOT very funny.

Before I share her story, let me remind you that Ginny has been potty trained for over 2 years now. In fact she potty trained herself while we were on vacation. She just decided that she wanted to go potty at Disneyland, so we let her. She has only peed her pants about 3 times, and never pooped her pants..... until the other day. She was sitting by me, and I kept smelling something funny. I told her to go brush her teeth, so she did. When she came back, I still kept smelling something bad. I thought that maybe she had decided to wipe herself, so I thought that I better check her pants.

I took a peek down the back of her pants, and about died. She had totally pooped her pants! I'm not talking about a little "Sh-art", this was a full on dump. I asked why she hadn't bothered to tell me, and she told me that she didn't know that she had gone. She said that it "must have just snuck out".

I wasn't about to clean out her beloved Cinderella underwear, so they of course went into the garbage. When Ginny found out that I had thrown them away, she said, "Maybe the garbage man will clean them for me and bring them back."

I sure hope not.

Anyway, I'm not sure how you would not know that you had pooped your pants, but apparently it's possible. Maybe I should make her start wearing some "Ooops, I Crapped My Pants" underwear (an old SNL skit)

Sorry if I grossed you out (okay, not really), and I apologize if any one was eating while reading this.

New Pictures

I had my neighbor take some pitures of the girls a couple of weeks ago, and they turned out so GREAT!!! I just got the disk today, and I am so pleased with all of them.

Reese was a bit tricky, but we were still able to get some cute ones of her. The top picture was Reese's reaction to seeing a dog run by. I am so glad that we got some shots of that... Reese LOVES dogs.

Aside from the new pictures, we have had a fun filled week. I got together with some of my childhood friends and some siblings, and had dinner at Tepanyaki. It was so good to see everyone. My sister was in town with her 4 month old baby (who I got to meet for the first time), so she came along. Then my family decided to have our Thanksgiving feast early. We ended up having it at our church, and we had a BLAST!!! The kids just ran around and played, and we ate tons of yummy food.

Finally, the best news of all..... I'm pregnant!!

Okay, I'm totally kidding! I would DIE if I was. Actually, Reese is now walking. She started taking a few steps here and there 2 weeks ago, but really started cruising at my Mom's house last Thursday. By Saturday, she was following all of the kids around at Thanksgiving dinner. It is the CUTEST thing ever!! She can actually stand up in the middle of the floor, without even using her hands. I have never seen such a little kid do that. Most kids push off with their hands. (Yes, I'm bragging. My kids are the cutest, smartest, and most talented kids ever).

Anyway, I will post some pictures of her in action later.

Happy Thanksgiving!

What The........?

Some of you may know that I LOVE Little Debbie Snack Cakes. (It's cake, who doesn't right?) When I worked at Ream's as a kid,
I used to always buy a box for like a dollar, eat the whole thing, and wash it down with a Coke. That would be my dinner.

As an adult, I like to buy them when I go grocery shopping. Half of the box gets eaten in the car on the way home, and the other half gets hidden for later. I do let Ginny eat one in the car, so I'm not a HUGE pig.

Anyway, I bought a box at Walmart yesterday. I decided to wait until I got home to eat them, since my Coke was waiting for me in the fridge, and not in the car with me. I got home, ripped open the box, and found only 5 cakes inside!! I was sure that a mistake had been made, so I looked on the box and discovered that they now only have 5 inside.

Can you believe it? I swear they used to contain about 10. I guess I have to give up the Little Debbie's and just stick with the bakery donuts. 1 large maple bar will have to be my treat for getting the shopping done.

I'm going to draft up a complaint and send it to Debbie directly.

On a side note.... why do my clothes just keep shrinking?