Just Cause

Did you know if you have Google + on your phone it automatically uploads your pictures online, and they are right here in Blogger to post....I didnt, till a couple weeks ago. I love it. Ok, so i more than love it. Makes me want to take more pictures of the kids. So i have. Here are a couple as of lately.
Just cause I can.
Just cause I adore my kids.
Just cause I know my mom checks the blog and im far far to lazy to have to attach pictures to emails. :)

 Brooklyn has just started her new love for dress ups. She loves hats, shoes, and pretty dresses....

 This girl is a goer just like her brother, so when there is a brief moment of relaxation you have to snap it. This is her enjoying her bff Elmo. She didnt move the whole 20 minutes. Impressive!

 Again with the dress ups...witch hat, witch glove, and sleeping beauty dress. Perfect. She even cooks!! :)

She found this basket that normally holds her diapers....she thought it was pretty funny she fit in it, she giggled and giggled while playing in it.

Kyler has taken an interest in cutting. Wish he would keep it to one place, but this night in particular he had pulled the couch apart, playing hot lava, and then all of a sudden ran got sissors and a paper and came in to practice coloring. His mind must just float thing to thing like his mommy.

While Bro cuts stuff up, she was busy posing for the camera. She has so much hair...when i leave it mostly down, i am always amazed at how pretty it can be! (that is when there isnt food and boogers stuck in it, thats really not pretty.)

Ear

That 3 letter word holds a lot of emotions and baggage in this house. How can such a small word, a small strange looking body part be such a problem? I will say very first off that i am grateful that we have the challange we have with ears. I would very much NEVER want to deal with hearing loss. I think that would be sooo difficult, but for what me and ears have been through, i am still going to compain for a brief moment.

Rewind about 29 years.....I was born. Awwww I was cute. Look i will even add a cute picture of me... :)

Now this darling little beauty, me, was blessed with a Petersen trait that could have ended before me, and that would have been ok. Its one that unfairly is passed on too easily. That blessed trait is a messed up eustachian tube in the ear. I cannot remember everything about it, but apparently its too small/lets fluid that shouldn't be in there, in. Or something along those lines. This process caused me to get ear infections very easily. The slightest bit of a runny/stuffy nose did me in and i would have an infection. I remember so many ear infections. In fact i had them so often i stopped complaining and would just deal with it, until my ear drum would burst.
I hated it. I resented it. I hated it worse when i was still getting them in college. Maybe its cause im such a kid at heart, or maybe i should say ear. :)

When I had Kyler i wont lie i prayed he wouldn't have the nasty ears i had...... 'Tis not so.

 When I had Brooklyn i prayed harder she would have better ears than Ky...

that prayer did come true, but they are still worse than most kids. I hate it. I HATE IT! I feel so bad. Especially cause I am the one that did it to them. Why couldn't it come from daddy?? That would make me feel so much better...less guilt on my shoulders.

This baby i pray the hardest that please pretty please with a cherry on top, skip one of my kids and let them have their daddy's healthy happy ears!!!

Nevertheless, these two blessings continually get ear infections. Kyler is on his 3rd set of tubes, Brooklyn is on her first. The tubes should help slow the infections down, but for us, they are more like a pain reliever, because they still get infected OFTEN, so they are just my tell tale of an infection and that its time to get meds. One nice dr we used to go to was even kind enough to give me an alternating prescription i could fill when Kyler would get infections so i wouldn't have to keep coming in. Bless that man, he saved me big bucks for about a year while the Rx's lasted.

Why am i complaining. Cause they both have them again. Kylers are so goopy and nasty. More than usual. I took him in Wed and the dr we saw just told me to use drops, i had my doubts that would work, even told him that, but bless him he is a newer dr and he doesn't know me or my kids past. So that's what we did. As i was packing up and grabbing all 5 kids i had to haul to the office (daycare kids) I thought i should have him look in Brooklyn's just cause. He was willing. I am thankful. She had an infection, and clogged tube, just like Kyler had had. Sadly my response was, "oh, so i guess she isn't just stinker throwing fits for no reason....her ears hurt." Yup, my chances at mom of the year were yet again thrown out the window. (and might I add while i am talking about my -not-mom-of-the-year-status and Brooklyn, last night while brushing her teeth she was being funny and we ended up laying down to brush....She has cut 3 of her 2 year old molars!! Poor baby!! Those are owie to cut, and most likely contributed to her bad attitude lately as well. I'm feeling quite small as a mom right now.)

So today, Friday, both kids, all 4 ears, are STILL draining. Thats 4 days of nastiness coming from their ears. Thats a record. My fear that the stupid drops weren't going to be enough have been fulfilled. So here we go to pay yet another huge co-pay for 2 little monkeys to get what i should have demanded in the first place. Good part is that we get to visit our normal dr, who knows these mean ears and how mean they can be. That helps.

So next time your irritated with those weird shaped, strange floppy skin covered cartilage on either side of your head. Know that it can always be worse. . . . I tell myself that each time they get infected and i get angry and sad for my babies. It could always be worse.

The end.

Sorry for the complaining. I have to complain somewhere. :)

baby bump

This Baby is a mover. I thought that Kyler was bad when i was pregnant. He was, especially once i was pregnant with Brooklyn who hardly moved at all. BUT this kid, oh man. At times i nicely ask it to stop. Please. Please stop moving. :) It moves all day, it moves all night. Im not sure when it sleeps. Its really low and likes jumping off my bladder and doing all sorts of maneuvers.  I read in one update thing on pregnancy that does it week by week. That the baby should be moving a little less because of limited space, and will mostly be just elbow jabs and the like. NO, no thats not true. This baby is still doing mega flips and dances. My stomach seriously moves like crazy. I love it. It makes me happy and laugh to watch it. Every night with my tighter night shirts on i can watch its whole bum slide across my stomach, followed by kick kick kick to finish flipping over. Amazing. Really. Incredible. 

Anyway, Kyler loves to feel his baby "sister" He will come lay his head on it, he asks nicely if he can push on it to feel it. He will come talk to his baby Betsy. I cant help but to love it. 

And, thanks to Brooklyns worshiping and wanting to be just like brother, its a family affair when we feel the baby. Today i snapped this picture. This happens a couple times a day. Sometimes just kyler, which is what i like cause I usually end up with a huge jab from Brooklyn trying to crawl over my tummy to be by Ky. 

Oh, little baby #3 you are soooo loved by your big brother. He cant stand waiting for you to come. He asks several times a week if we can just go to the dr and get you taken out so he can hold you. He will love you to pieces i am sure of it. I do keep warning him that you might be a baby brother, but he is 100% convinced your a girl. I asked him if he will be sad if its a boy. He paused a long pause and said no, but that its a girl so it doesn't matter. So hopefully your a girl, at least for his sake! ;) As for your sister, I pray everynight that she will love you and not treat you like she usually treats baby dolls. She has her moments of love, so there is hope for you.

My advice to you is to be good and strong when you come baby, cause you are going to have to hold up to your sisters bullying and your brothers mauling. :)

Love Day

I love these little holidays that come every so often. Fun ones that still merit a 'normal' day, but you get extra special surprises and fun. So worth the stress of figuring it all out and getting it all done. Really. So worth it. Why, I dont know, I guess cause I love extra gestures of kindness and love and sadly dont get around to it unless there is a reason. So we load up on these little special holidays to last till the next one.
Here is our day, some things not pictured... didn't think to on some of it.

* Preparations started far before Valentines. We made cards for Gma Nancy and Papa Gaylen several weeks ago, and took some pictures for a card as well. That just started all the excitement  And to make all that preparation worth it, they got the package we sent ON VALENTINES DAY, if that isn't a miracle i dont know what is.

*I decided to do a little Valentine treat for Brandon for the 10 work days before Valentines, so for 2 weeks he got a little suprise in the truck each morning to go to work with. It was hard to always remember to get out there, especially without making it noticeable  There were a couple 4am trips out in the cold in my robe to put it in. Thanks baby for the potty wake up calls that saved me a couple times in those 10 days. :)

*Day before we made hug and kiss peanut butter cookies rolled in red sugar. The kids LOVED making them, Kyler would pick the chocolate off and eat the cookie, Brooklyn would pick the chocolate off and eat it and leave the cookie. They should have worked together. :)

*Started the day out with pancakes with purple hearts in the middle. The kids just love pancakes so they were happy.

*They got a heart lunch--heart shaped grilled cheese, heart sprinkled pink applesauce, and celery cause its kinda heart shaped. :)

*Kyler FINALLY got to go to preschool and give out his fishy valentines. We made them over the weekend, and I think that was cruel to do to a 3 year old. He couldn't stand waiting that long to give them out. Every day he would ask (at least 30 times a day, if not more) "what day is it?" We would answer wither Sun, Mon, Tues, Wed... "ok, so how many more days till Thursday?" Well Ky sing your days of the week song and you will know, please just tell me, NO, sing the song. So in those 4 days he got a good lesson on what the days of the week are and the time that each of those days entail. :) Here are the Valentines we made for him to take. (can i add, look at his name!! He had to write it 13 times, great practicing for him. I am sooooo proud of how well it looks, espcially considering he couldnt do any part of his name correctly a month ago!)

*While Ky was at school, me and Brookie had a mini photoshoot....as per her request. Serious she found the camera gave it to me and started saying cheese. So i set up the garland i made and took some pictures of her. What a cheese!!!

*When he got home him and daycare kids got to play conversation heart math, i gave them all a whole cup of conversation hearts they had to sort, count, and graph. They loved it. IT took up a whole hour of the afternoon. Awesome!!

*One of the little girls i tend was not feeling well, so we passed on the other activities so she could rest on the couch and not disturb her. Poor girl.

*Dinner consisted of french bread pizza with heart shaped pepperonis mom ever so lovingly cut out. Thats love people. :) We had read heart shaped jello, and heart shaped cucumbers....next year i am buying a tiny heart cookie cutter. We topped it off with red Kool-aid.

*The kids were so beyond exhausted  the night before they were up super late. So at 7:00 we put them in jammies, brushed teeth, said prayers and by 7:30 they were both out cold.

*Me and Brandon sat on the couch and enjoyed the night of silence and a chick flick on tv.

There you have it. Thats our day. Not many pictures at all, but im not perfect.

shop-a-holic

Girly as it gets. Her arms were like this while she walked for a bit...and side note, look at her HAIR she has tons.

She had turned to make sure i saw what she was seeing. Even pointed to the ones she liked the most. 

If yesterday was a glimpse into Brooklyns future....we are in trouble. :)
I had 2 quick errands to do at the mall yesterday while i was up North. I had VERY limited time. Like run in and out and be on with it. But, Brookie, she wanted to take her time soaking this beautiful mystery of a place out. Sadly, it was her first encounter with department stores. If i go to the mall Brandon stays in the car while i run in and get what i want, or we dont even have the kids with us. Sadly I just dont get to go to the mall as much as I would want to. No $$ no time, means no Mall.
Anyway, we went into JC Penny and entered into the shoe department. She froze. Just stared at all the pretty shoes. I pulled her along to the department we needed. I tried on a couple things, found what i wanted, and had to pull her out of that awesome room with mirrors all around and a door that could open and slam with great noise.
I grabbed the bag and reached for her hand and she ripped the bag out of my hand and toddled away. One the way out she was looking about at all the colors. MY GOODNESS color is in. I have never seen so many colors (or ugly clothes in my opinion) all in the same place. What is this new style? Brookie has no expectations  Colors, sparkles, shinny stuff, OH MY!
I had to keep pulling her to reality to keep us on the move. We got to motherhood maternity. Our second and final stop. She just walked around running her hand along all the pretty clothes. Then mom took her into that room of mirrors again and she just showed off. She did momentary turn into a 2 year old and pulled all the stuff off the shelf by the checkout while i was paying. Stinker. But then she demanded to hold that new sack, i took the other one she pulled the handles up her arm and honest strutted through the mall. We took a short cut through JC Penny through the jewelry counter to get back to the car and the lights and sparkle caught her eye. She found some bracelets and necklaces with colors and she put both hands on the glass and pushed her face up to them. Priceless. Perfection. I loved it. The man behind the counter scared her a little when he came up to her, and she was done after that, thank heavens our quick trip in had gone much longer because she had to strut her stuff instead of letting mom pack her in and right back out.
We got to the car, she smiled that satisfied shopping trip smile.
Love her. She is girly. Im proud.

Our Brookie

Poor Brookie. She is the second child....already becoming the middle child. I was so good about keeping a journal on Kyler each month. Even if there were few advancements i still did it. I was pretty good about doing it for Brooklyn until i got pregnant. Now, it seems, I have not done it at all. Sorry Brookie, its not that mommy doesn't love you, or want to record these things. I just get distracted so easily. :)
So it seems like its about time. She is 20 months now, Almost 21 months acually. Where does time fly?

This little lady is great to have around. She keeps us on our toes. She is one of a kind, at least as far as I am concerned.

A little about our lady right now:

*She is finally, as in just this past week, learning new words. She is not a talker. She is a pointer and screamer  Its hard for her cause i compare her a lot to her older brother, who is so not normal on his language skills. He was talking 2-3 word sentences by now. She, she is lucky to get a word out to describe what she wants. :) BUT, with that said, she is improving quickly. Her vocabulary includes, but not limited to:
the basics...mom, dad, Ky Ky, papa, mama, and puppy, "mo" (more), door, where are you, found you, "nigh nigh" (this is her blanket), bye, go, cookie, "cacker", "bass" (bath), house, baby, car, ball, eyes, nose, ears, "teef" (teeth), meow, mine, uh oh, Deigo, and Elmo. She knows her friends names Gus, Jaewe (Jaelie), Maa-son (Madison).
And her newest this week that makes me smile "Up high" this is in reference to anything that is higher than her reach. So the door nobs when she wants to open a door she will point to it, "up high" or if she wants her gummy vitamin she points to the cabinet and says, "up high", if she wants to watch Elmo, she points to the tv "Elmo, up high", if she wants onto our bed, she will attempt to climb and say, "Up high!!"
She have never said no. Can you believe that! She shakes her head No, but it can also mean yes, you just need telepathy that me and Brandon have learned to tell the difference between the two. :)

Loves her big brother. Always sitting on his lap

*She is not good at sharing. She is either a lover or a pusher. :) Madison is a little girl i tend who is just 2 months younger than her. These two girls kill me. They are either best trouble buddys, or enemys. She will get so frustrated when Madison finds a toy that looks better than the one she has, so she will just go right over and push her over so she drops the toy and Brooke will run over and pick it up, smile and continue on her journey. Brat. She does get in trouble for this, but it doesn't seem to bother her.

Best friends at this moment, Brooklyn helping Madison put her shoes on

* She is a lover like i said. She loves to give hugs and kisses...only when its her idea. Dont ask for them. :)

*She loves water. She loves drinking water out of my mug. She loves drinking anything that i am....usually my water or my morning smoothie. Nothing is sacred in a mug with a straw. :)

* She is IN LOVE with Elmo. She has been sick with RSV this week with fevers and just plum not feeling well, so Elmo has been on a lot. Its going to be a hard habit to break. She loves it!

*She finally will take notice of babys. Maybe its from moms pushing. I wanted her to at least learn how to be nice to a baby....ya know we have one coming and she cant keep pushing/hitting them or throwing baby dolls across the room. (this is how she previously treated babys) She will hold them and even brought her nigh nigh to me and a baby to wrap it up the other day. There is hope. She started to pretend feed her baby too. Awww, this calms my fears of her killing my newborn.

This is her, through and through. Cute cute cute

*She is smart. She might not talk, but she is smart. She knows that if she poops when in sacrament meeting she gets to leave. She will poop 2 times almost every week during sacrament meeting. She will look at me and say "ewww" and point to the door and smile a hug smile. Stinker!

*She loves her brother. Love him to death. She gets frustrated with him, but overall he is her bestest buddy. At times when she gets hurt, she will run to him for a hug, not me. It melts me. She will talk for him. If he asks her to say something she will say it or at least attempt. She WILL NOT even try for us. There is defiantly a strong bond between them.

Her "im cute tilt"

*She loves her daddy. Daddy loves her. I love her, but we tend to clash on things. But daddy, he has nothing but pure spoiled daddy love for her. She knows it. :) I think its dang cute. She really is wrapped around his finger. If he thinks she might be hurt or something  i need to take care of it right now. He worry's over his little girl so much.

*She is in a big girl bed. This is something i meant to blog all on its own, but never got around to it. 2 weeks ago on Sunday night Daddy decided it was time. I was not convinced. I would rather potty train than give her freedom. :) But, like i mentioned, she is daddys girl and she got her big girl bed. We just converted her crib to a toddler bed and after not too much of a fight she went to bed that night. Well it just got bad after that. I dont think she was quite ready. I threatened her the next day at nap that if she got out again i would put her in the pack n play. I had it set up and everything. She signs, "please" and threw her blanket and puppy in. So i layed her in and she was happy as could be. Same thing that night, and the next nap, and next night. I was frustrated. She actually hated her crib, she would scream and thrash every night we put her in (this is what motivated dad to switch it) So i knew she would be furious if we converted it back. So i bucked up and layed her in her big girl bed, layed next to her, miracles of miracles i didnt break the bed, i was sure i was going to. After that she was done with the pack n play. It got put away. She now doesn't really take naps. Sad. She still has to go to her room, she still gets layed down several times, i am a big believer in nap time, especially for little ones. So she doesn't get out of it. I will fight to the bitter end. She takes short short naps....like 20-30 minutes tops. But, i still get my way and that's all that's important! :) Kyler gets frustrated with her each and every night, she gets out of her bed and jumps on his, elbows him, the other night she dropped a book in his eye and he had a nice swollen eye the next day. I keep telling him she will get better, but i dont think he believes me.

*She is Miss Independent ! I thought Ky was bad at his age, but wow. This girl is motivated and determined. She puts on her own shoes, she can almost put her own pants on. She can get herself undressed. She wants to walk and climb into the car. She will let you know just how mad she is at you if you carry her out to the car. She wants to do everything herself. Fine by me. Just takes 3 times longer to get stuff done.

*She is my helper. She loves to help sweep or hold the pan while i sweep stuff into it. She loves to be the towel putter awayer when i do laundry. She pushes all the wet clothes into the dryer and closes the door. She cleans up her own plate and gets a washcloth to wash her place off. She will get her own diaper and wipes and bring them to me when she is "ewwww, kuck"

*She loves shoes. She tried them on all day. Everyone's shoes.

*She loves to get into the pantry and get out cackers or cookies, the door is now child locked. :)

*She loves to color.

*She LOVES to brush her teeth. This is what she does every morning while i do her hair.

*She loves to play in water. Sink water, toilet water, puddles, chickens water, dog water, just water in general. Nasty, we wash hands a lot, which she loves cause water is invovled.

*She loves showers.

Sorry a little long winded, but we love our lady and she deserves a good update!! Love you Brooklee, Brookie, Brookielyn, Sisser, Sue, Sister Suzie, Missy, or whatever comes out of my mouth to get her attention. :)

These two are from before she switched to a big girl bed. Doesnt she look sooooo comfy. Thanks big brother for throwing ever stuffed animal in her crib.

"Your Killing Me!"

Let me back up to a couple of weeks ago. Kyler had a serious meltdown. You know the kind where they are so tired, so overwhelmed, so everything that a 3 year old can be and they have no control. . . . I know you all must know, and if not, borrow Kyler on a Friday night and you have a good 80% chance of experiencing such a meltdown.
Anyway, this one particular night, i dont remember what broke the camels back, so to speak, but he lost it. Not just his normal meltdown, but totally lost it. The bad part is, is that i had had it too. This is a no good combo. Daddy was gone at scouts or something like that (obviously i have blocked this memory) I was trying desperately to get him in bed before i lost control.
He was screaming, kicking, hardly breathing he was crying so hard. I couldn't get him to calm down. It was bad enough, and I was not stable enough to handle it right then, that I lost it and started crying right along with him. Serious. Mine were those desperate mother tears, "Oh my I need help" after crying for a few minutes, Kyler looks up and looked confused just long enough to stop his fit and ask "you crying too mom?"  "Yup, Ky, your killing me right now. Completely killing me." Yes, those were my words. He then started to sob a sad sob. Like he knew he had hurt me, but couldnt control himself. Poor boy. Then the fit turned better. It was an exhausted cry, i cuddled him and continued to drop a couple tears. (daddy came home right about then, and saved his wife, took Kyler for a ride in the car to calm him down and put him to sleep. Somtimes that is the only thing that still works for this kid, being strapped down and unable to move. He is his own worst enemy.)
Now, He was so out of control i doubted he could ever remember that night. But, he did. He brings it up all the time. Like, "mom, remember when i was really sad and you cried with me" or "Mom, dont cry like you did that one night" or things along those lines. But the most common saying now that comes out of him, "Mom, your killing me" Yup. Wow. He uses it correctly, and most of the time is just makes me laugh right out loud.
Well, this kid and his social understanding and large vocabulary and well he is just smart when it comes to communication...far beyond his years. I have to laugh at him correcting his little friends who have speech problems or telling them other words. He uses words that i can tell they don't quite understand. Makes me proud. Then i realize it has nothing to do with me. Its the way he came to me. I did nothing but feed him, change his bum, and love him and this unbridled crazy boy with brilliance is what resulted.

My point to all of this is that i love this kid. I love all the little saying he says. This morning he was on a roll. I got up and got dresses, actually putting maternity pants on. I was in the mood to look half-way put together. :) He comes in and sees my jeans on and says pulling on them. "mom, I dont think these are a good idea, your getting too fat of a belly for them." Gosh, thanks for the concern buddy, but these are stretchy. My belly will be ok. Then maybe 10 minutes later he comes and asks me to read a book to him. I slowly sit down, and let out a sigh as i do so, i swear this baby has grown 10 sizes in the last 3 days! :) Kyler turns to his 2 best little friends who lucky him come to play everyday :) and says, "Guys, my baby in my mommys tummy is killing her this morning! She shouldnt  have worn those pants. " If i wouldnt have been on the floor already i would have fallen out of laughter. Kid, you really do kill me.

Love you Ky, Ky. You are wise beyond your years.

Go Jazz, GO!!!

We are lucky people. We really are. :)
Brandon's work has season Jazz tickets they give to their clients, but occasionally the employees get to take them.
Because I go up to the IMC hospital for all my dr appointments, we are up there semi often, and Brandon decided the next appointment he would get tickets for us to go. Normally we would find a couple to go with us(there is 4 tickets) but this time, we decided it was time to introduce the kids to the fun. And man, did they have fun.
I wish i would have braved taking in my camera. If i had a smaller one for times like that i would. But, we don't  so i was left to my camera phone  to document a few moments. Few being because it died half way through the game. So no flash on the one picture i asked someone to take just before it died. Sad, sad, sad.

Kyler....he was a little unsure of the noise. He would cover his ears each time the crowd would cheer. But, it was a bad game, we totally lost, So the cheering calmed down, and thats when Kyler started LOVING it. He got into it and would yell "defense" and "GO, JAZZ, GO!" We are still hearing about going to the 'big' Jazz game. On the way home before the exhausted boy passed out he said he loved going to the 'big' Jazz game, there is more to see!!! Yup, he loved the Jazz Bear/cheerleaders/dancers/timeout shows....all of it.
Brooklyn....She sported sleepers for the whole game. I had her dressed so cute, but as soon as we walked into the Arena we noticed she had leaked though her diaper all down her pants. Opps too much to drink that day, so she was cute and had filthy feet on those jammies by the end of the game. Gross. She was a helper in making the noise Kyler was hating. :) She thought it was awesome she could clap and shout all she wanted. She was great to watch!! She LOVED the whole thing. Which amazed me, i was so worried she would hate it.

My attempt at lightening it up, cute picture if it would have had a flash!!

I might think this bucket of popcorn was the highlight of the night. Most expensive popcorn we will ever buy!!

Brooklyn loved that she had all access to the Sprite.