Converting to Geekism and other fun stuff

Scott has been trying to get me to try and solve the rubik's cube for months. I always refused saying, "I can't do it, I'm not smart enough." Well, I finally caved and this past weekend he taught me how to do it. I guess I am smart enough, because I've got it down! Who knew? I'm not super fast like him, but I can do it in about 3 minutes. Not bad for my first week.

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I put Ivy in the bath with the boys for the first time this Saturday. Can you believe that? She's 15 months old and I never bathed them all together. I think it's due to paranoia, the boys are wild and I'm afraid that she'll get hurt. But they did great with her and she had a blast. Plus it made my day a little easier by doing one kid bath time instead of two.

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Corbin is sick. He hasn't been sick in months. He had to miss school today, and it was his day to share a snack. He was a little disappointed, but we're hoping he'll be better by Thursday to be able to attend the Valentines Day party.

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Dexter has a little bit of the obsessive gene that comes from the Brunson side of the family. For the last week or two he has wanted to wear the same pajama's to bed every night. "I want star jammies!" He screams, and he even wants to wear them in the day too. Its funny, but hard when we have places to go where he needs to wear clothes. He's also obsessed with a hat that we bought in Mazatlan two years ago. He wears it all day long. He wore it to church on sunday, and wears it bed every night! I have to go in at night and take it off while he's asleep so the string doesn't strangle him. He runs around all day with his jammies and hat and says, "I woody, you buzz!" to Corbin, and "To woody and BEYOND!" (apparently he hears "woody" instead of "infinity" when buzz says it.) He's crazy.

(not pictured in the "star jammies". I have to do laundry once in a while.)

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One of Ivy's favorite things to do these days is walk around the house and point at pictures. Her favorite is the collage of Auntie Stacy in the family room. We say to her, "Where's Stacy?" and she can pick her out. (yes, I realize how easy it is, since all the pictures are Stacy, but its cute). Its especially sweet because Ivy never had a chance to meet Stacy since she passed away before Ivy was released from the hospital last December. It seems like she knows her anyway. I like to think that maybe after Stacy died she would go sit with Ivy in her hospital room when no one else could be there, so Ivy wouldn't be alone. I think they will always be connected in my mind.

Dare I say it....

BEST. BOOK. EVER.

It's books like this that make me wonder why I waste time on movies.

February Review:

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

genre: um...young adult, WWII, I guess

Fellow blogger Rachel recently raved about this book, so I made it my first February selection, and let me tell you, it didn't disappoint. I was devastated, but not disappointed.

This book is about a young girl who is living with foster parents in Nazi Germany during world war II. She has a love of books and usually has to steal to get her hands on one. After her foster family decides to hide a young Jewish man in their basement, life becomes more difficult for them.

I don't want to give a lot of details and give this book away, so take my word for it. Its phenomenal. Its beautifully written, and gives amazing visualizations. I felt like I was there while it was all happening. I would dream about and couldn't wait to keep reading. I laughed, I cried, and enjoyed every word.

When I say "cried", I really mean, wept like a baby. I'm glad I read the last 100 pages while Scott was at work, because I literally sobbed for the majority of the last 50 pages. The kids looked at me like I was crazy, and I'm just glad Scott didn't have to witness my uncontrollable blubbering as well.

You simply MUST read this book, READ IT NOW!

Ps. I totally neglected my family, my housework, my make-up and hair, and pretty much everything else in my life to read this, so I'm taking a week or two off from reading, so I can catch back up on life.

My next book selection (in a week or two) will be from one of you, so stay posted.

Haven't posted pics in a while

I thought now seemed like as good a time as any to post some pics of the kids.

This is why we have to hide the wipes

Ivy engaged in her favorite past-time, taking off her shoes

More shoe removal

I know you can't see Corbin's face very well, but don't the clouds look awesome!

Dex hanging out at the playground

Ivy LOVES to put on daddy's glasses

First taste of licorice

Corbin sent this to scott as part of an email story. Translation: "Thats you driving to work" He tried to sound it out and spell it by himself. I almost cried because I thought it was so adorable.

Random thoughts

Today is groundhog day......does anyone really celebrate such a lame and pointless holiday? I don't. Have you seen the movie with Bill Murray? I love the part when he kidnaps the groundhog and drives off a cliff. Then the camera man says, "maybe he's okay." just in time for the truck to explode in a ball of fire. So funny.

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Tonight the final season of Lost premieres on ABC. I'm so excited. I can't wait to put the kids to bed and get "lost" in 3 full hours of confusing islandy goodness.

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Speaking of Lost. Do you ever wonder why they all want to get off the island in the first place? Its like a permanent Hawaiian(ish) vacation without the costs or tourists. Sounds heavenly. I mean you might have to deal with an occasional terrifying encounter with the smoke monster, but other than that, its like retirement on the beach!

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I have a meeting with Ivy's service coordinator today......I hate these meetings. She makes me set goals of what I want Ivy to do this year. Can I say, "Getting to the point where I no longer have to deal with all of you people coming over to our house to bug us all the time!" Because that's really my only goal right now.

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Is it possible to get lazy eye at 28 years old? Last night I woke up at 4 am when Ivy started to whimper, and it felt like my right eye was involuntarily moving toward the center. Maybe it was my imagination.

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That's all for today, Happy Groundhogs Day! Heres to seeing his shadow, or do I want him to not see his shadow. I don't know, I don't care. See ya!

ANOTHER ONE! January Book 2: Tuesdays with Morrie

Two books in the first month! I'm on a roll!

As I thought about picking out a book to read for February, I was like its a short month, I'll pick a short book. I bought Tuesdays with Morrie at Savers several months ago because it was just 99 cents, and seemed like a great deal. I thought its one of those books that most people have read, but I haven't so its a perfect opportunity to catch up with the rest of the world. It's been sitting on the shelf in my hallway since July.

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

Non-fiction heartwarming, and life changing

This book is truly a quick read. At less than 200 pages it seemed perfect for February. I picked it up late Friday afternoon and read about thirty pages while I was making dinner, and finished the remaining 150 pages after the kids went to bed tonight. Its still January.

Its a book about a man (Author, Mitch) who promises to keep in touch with his favorite professor, Morrie Schwartz, after graduating college, but doesn't. Only to hear his name years later on Nightline, doing a story about him dying. He gets back in touch with him, and soon begins visiting every Tuesday, learning life's most important lessons, until Morrie's death.

I knew what I was getting into when I picked up this book. I knew it would end with a death (it did), and that I would cry (I did, and not just at the end), and yet I read it anyway. Scott made fun of me for this a little bit saying, "If you knew he was going to die, you had time to prepare for it, and you still cried? I don't get it." and I was like, "Whatever babe, just because I see something coming, doesn't necessarily mean I can avoid it." and besides, everyone needs a good cry once in a while, its therapeutic.

I loved this book! It was easy to read, easy to understand, and really makes you think about life. Incredible. If you haven't read, you should. I give it a 10 out of 10.

January Book Review: The Face

That's right, I read! As 2009 came to a close and 2010 opened up, I told myself I was going to read more this year. My goal is to read at least 1 book per month, so just 12 books a year, and then write a review for all to see. Hopefully this will make me feel a little more pressure to be victorious. How sad is it that last year I think I only read 1 or 2 books. That brings us to why I set this very low, pathetic goal, its because I have a lot going on, and it defeats the purpose if I set one too high and just end up disappointed in myself. If I read more, then great, if not, no big deal. Anyway, here goes.
Book One:
The Face by Dean Koontz
I received this book as a gift from my sister, kind of as a joke because of my hatred for the Twilight phenomena. Since it was immediately on hand it seemed like the perfect book to start with. I finally began reading it approximately 10 days ago, and finished just an hour ago. I don't know what genre you would consider it, but I'd say fiction-crime-drama.

I liked the book okay. It starts out a little slow, but picks up the pace as you go along. By the end of the book I almost couldn't put it down. I read the last half in probably 3 days.
****spoiler alert****
It is about an ex-cop named Ethan Truman who, after the death of his wife, took a job as security guard at the home of the most famous actor in the world. After receiving several suspicious and threatening packages addressed to the star at his estate, Ethan tries to track down the sender before its too late. Things get weird when his estranged friend, Dunny, dies in a local hospital and then winds up missing when he's supposed to be dead. He starts thinking that perhaps Dunny isn't dead and is somehow involved in threats on the star. He soon solicits the help of his former partner to try and crack the case, and quickly comes to realize that it may be bigger than he thought. A little bit of sci-fi flare is added when its revealed that Dunny is in fact dead, but remains on earth as a guardian angel. He steps in when he is needed to help protect the main characters, and pretty much save their butts when there is no way out. In the end, the day is saved, of course, and with no significant deaths or plot twists, other than guardian angel Dunny.

I enjoyed the book for the most part. It was interesting, and adventurous, but not really original. I had the tendency to get a little bored here and there when maybe there was a little too much detail. Also, the sci-fi elements were not my favorite, and quite honestly a little ridiculous. They felt like a cop-out when the author had written himself into a corner. I enjoyed the end most of all when the ultimate match between good and evil occurred, but then hated the elevator to hell and heaven for Dunny which seemed like a pointless and stupid chapter.

On a scale from 1 to 10, I'd give this book a 6 1/2.

So there you have it, my first book review....hopefully I'll get better at this in the coming months.

Confessions of a Sleep Deprived Mom

It has now been 13 months exactly since we first brought our little Ivy home from the hospital. 15 months and 25 days since she was born, and therefore, 15 months and 25 days of my getting up every three hours to feed our little girl. Technically for the first 7 weeks I didn't feed her every three hours, I pumped for breast milk every three hours (which was worse, it was uncomfortable, freezing cold, and took forever!). Of course there are a few exemptions to the 15 months and 25 days, such as, she's been hospitalized twice since then, and during each of those times I got one night of uninterrupted slumber. That's it.

Now it's no secret that this isn't exactly my favorite part of being this special girls mom. Mostly because I complain about it to any and everyone who will listen. Any mom knows what I am talking about, getting up to feed your baby at night is hard, but at least most babies begin to sleep through the night between about 6 months to a year of age. Mine did too, except, I was forbidden to allow it. On doctor's orders I still had to wake up every three hours to feed her, whether she was awake or not. Not fun, for either one of us.

Recently, Sweet Ivy started to crawl (well...scoot, whatever). She's adventurous and excited to check out all the corners of the house and explores on a regular basis. This is all great news except that, now she doesn't want to sleep anymore. She fights bedtime and naptime. FIGHTS IT!! She used to lay down for both easily. We'd put her down while she was still awake, give her the paci, pull up her blankets, and she'd snuggle down and go to sleep. Not anymore. Now we lay her down, she refuses the paci, kicks the blanket away, and cries herself to sleep. EVERY TIME. This isn't even the worst part. I still have to get up with her in the night, when I do, she drinks her bottle and then throws a fit instead of going back to sleep. So I rock her in the rocking chair, and she sleeps. I try to put her back in the crib, she wakes up and throws a fit all over again. Its frustrating.

Last night I had had enough. When she woke up for her 12:45 am feeding, I gave her the bottle and she refused it. I tried to give her the paci, again she refused it. She kicked her blanket off and cried....and cried....and cried. I picked her up and rocked her, for 20 minutes and she slept. I try to lay her down, she wakes up and again throws a fit. I walked away, closed the door behind me, went back to my room, turned off the baby monitor, and went back to sleep. I don't know how long she cried, or if she cried again. I slept. I slept until 7:30 am.

Now I feel guilty, but I've come to a decision. I don't care what the doctor says. I am going to ween her from needing to eat at night. I've already got one rough night behind me! She's gaining good weight now and I don't feel she needs it anymore...and I just can't take it anymore! I think I'll keep this a secret from the doctor and nurse until its already done, so they don't try to talk me out of it. I bet her weight gain will still be fine and they won't even notice.

Ivy has survived night one, and doesn't seem food deprived or angry...on to night two!

Ps...HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!