oh man

I really don't even know where to start...February seems so far away, and yet general conference is just next week.  Enid and I went to my brother Aaron's house to watch their kids while they went on a cruise.  We had a really good time, and their kids were great.  We left on a Friday and came back on Wednesday.  Riley loved playing with his cousins, but he did not like sharing cars with Landon, even though they were Landon's cars.  The only part I was not looking forward to was the getting up and getting then ready for school, I am not a morning person.  I don't know what i'm going to do when Riley starts school.  Luckily though Enid volunteered to do that part since she was always already up with Lindsey.  Also sharing a bed with my two little ones for 5 nights was not the best...I was very glad to come home to our individual beds.  The timing of it was great though, because Stephen was gone to Boise at the same time trying to get a job as an ISP officer.  Then when he got back he was doing the outdoor program with work for two nights, so we never would have seen him anyway.  As for the ISP...he passed the fitness part, he passed the first interview, and then we got the results from the panel interview a couple of weeks later, and he scored a 75, he needed to score a 76.  One lousy point was the only thing standing in his way from the job offer.  One stinken point.  Oh well, I guess it wasn't meant to be, and they are hopefully hiring again in June.  Timing is everything.  Stephen also applied to the Madison Sheriff's office.  A new family in church today introduced themselves, and he said he had just gotten hired at the Madison Sheriff's office, and since there was only one opening I texted Stephen to tell him he didn't get the job.  He said I know, they hired the Sheriff's nephew...hmmmmm do you think Stephen's application even got looked at, I'm guessing no.  We through a surprise birthday party for Stephen's mom.  She turned 50.  We actually had 50 candles on the cake...in the pictures you can't even see the cake, it just looks like a ball of flames.  We bought a van the other day.  It was not on the list of things to do that day, but it happened.  Stephen always said we will never buy a van, then my sister Enid bought one, and he got Riley out of it one day, and was like that is so much better than a car, we need to get one, and it was me that was dragging my feet.  We drove by a dealership last week and saw one that we liked and called about it, and he told us how much it was.  We looked it up and it was a really good deal, so we went down to test drive it, and when we decided to get it, and he came back from talking to his boss and said sorry guys for some reason there are two listings on my paper for vans, but we only have the one, but I quoted you the wrong one.  After a lot of going back and forth we decided we weren't going to do it, he said he had gone as low as he could, and we didn't want to go that high.  We got in the van to go, and I said go back in one more time and offer $150 less than what he had last said and we will do it because we won't find as good a deal, since they messed up they were cutting the listing price already by $4000.  End result, we got the van.  I absolutely love it.  The only bad part is it has too many buttons for Riley to push, hopefully the novelty will wear off soon.  We got Riley a new booster chair, and Bailey has taken over his chair, and she is so much happier with a forward facing carseat.  Stephen starts school up again in a few weeks, and the stupid history101 class is only offered at 4:30, and it's the same way every semester, and for that reason he has put it off as long as possible, but it is a prerequisite for pretty much the rest of his history classes.  The teacher does it to weed out the people who aren't serious about history as a major.  Anyway, we really don't want Stephen to do midnights anymore cuz they just plain suck, and he doesn't get the rest he needs, so his boss approved a set schedule for him which is awsome, and we are excited about it.  Even though he'll have to do his homework at home now, at least now when he is home and awake with us he won't be a zombie, and we won't have to tiptoe around the house.  The weather was amazing this week.  We had fun out side.  We went to the nature park to feed the ducks, and Bailey loves to swing.  We were outside the other night til 8:30 just playing, and we didn't even need our coats.  I treated myself to get my nails done last week, and I"m really liking it, I think I might keep it up for a while...they are fun.  The lady who hosted bunco this month, her daughter was there and she sells $5 jewelry, so I went to her house to check it out and got some cute things, and now I am debating whether or not I"m going to give it a shot.  I don't think I'll make a ton from it, but any extra money helps.  The stomache flew hit our family last week.  We all got it, and it was miserable.  All of Stephen's family had it too.  I don't remember ever being in that much while throwing up, it was bad. 

We have a potty trained little boy in the works.  We went to sam's club and bought a huge box of diapers then two days later we started potty training.  We weren't planning on it, it just happened.  Stephen was changing a poopy diaper and said man Riley you really need to start using the potty, and of course he said no.  But we just starting picking at him calling him a baby, only babies wear diapers, he's not a big boy, and that he CAN'T wear underwear, we even put his underwear on Bailey to make him jealous.  Stephen took him into the bathroom for like an hour and just sat with him while he sat on the potty, and he finally went  a little bit.  There has been a few accidents along the way, one of which was on the kitchen counter, but he is doing really good.  We have given him the carz cars as a reward, which he is obsessed with.  He spends more time hiding them from Bailey so she can't get them than he does playing with them I think though.  When he does have an accident we take a car away as punishment and he can earn it back by going potty.  We ask him do we just need to put a diaper back on you, NO, I a big kid, I not a baby, I wear underwears, I sorry, I never do it again.  We were in the pet store a couple of weeks ago getting Riley some more fish, and all of a sudden Riley comes screaming.  I have never seen him so scared, his arms and legs were wrapped around me so tight.  Come to find out he was walking down the isle of fish, and then all of a sudden it turns into cat cages, and I guess it caught him off gaurd, but yes he was scared of the cats.  Then were looking at birds, and I said look at that tiny one, oh yeah that's cute mom, oh Riley look at that fat one...I don't like fat birds mom.  Then all the way home he was telling us all the animals he likes, and how he doesn't like fat birds.  It was pretty funny.  Riley got new nursery leaders, and now screams to go to nursery, but I make him just go, and he calms down and ends up having fun.  He is very excited that the easter bunny is coming and is going to give him candy.  I love how "kissing it better" makes everything ok.  Penny was watching the kids the other night and she was rocking Riley to sleep and singing to him and he puts his had over her mouth and said don't sing it Nana.  Any toy that Bailey has Riley wants, it doesn't matter what it is.  He is really into shooting and killing monsters, spiders, and snakes.  All day we make believe that I am one of the three, and he shoots them.  I don't particularly like the game, but I"m partially to blame for making him scared of spiders and snakes. Riley can sing his ABC's.  I mean it's not perfect, but pretty darn good for a two year old.  Every where we go people always think he's so much older because of how smart he is and how well he can talk. 

Captain, we have lift off...we have a crawler.  She started crawling about the third week of February.  She does it funny though.  She only crawls on one leg and drags the other one.  She needs to be a part of everything, and gets into everything.  Of course she loves the stairs, and can crawl up them pretty good.  She is cruising along furniture and can stand on her own for a few seconds.  When she gives hugs, she likes to pat you on the back, which makes  you feel so good and loved.  She loves to walk holding your fingers and would do it all day long if you were willing.  She adores Riley, and he can make her laugh so hard even with the tiniest bit of attention.  She has such an attitude and is very stuborn.  While we were at Aaron's, Enid forgot to turn the curling iron off and Bailey pulled it down and burned her arm.  It has healed pretty good.  She is always getting hurt though, she's going to be a little tom boy.  She's tough too though cuz she cries for like two seconds then she's over it.  She hates me doing her hair, and does her darndest to fight it.  She has a game where she fake laughs, and we do it back and forth.  She likes to head bonk.  Two nights ago she slept for 12 hours.  It was pretty amazing.  Now only if that could happen every night.  She will pretty much eat anything you put in front of her.  She got so much attention today at church.  Everyone was like "she's the happiest baby I've ever seen, she is so cute".  Bailey just loves life, and wants to learn all about it, and is loving the new things outside.  She is good at helping put her arms through while getting dressed.  She said mom the other day, unfortunately it was scolding me...MOM, MOM, MOM, MOM, MOM.  She has started biting me, and thinking it is funny, so we shall see how much longer breast feeding goes.  If she's tired enough she won't do it.  She likes to pinch, and then twist it.  She is just so layed back and easy going, she just makes me so happy. 

These last couple of weeks have gone by really fast.  Let's see...where to start.  Well Stephen did make the cut, so on the 23rd he is going to Boise to do the physical test which he will pass with flying colors.  We looked up the requirements and some of them are pretty low, so no worries there.  Then after that the next day is the interview.  So we have our fingers crossed because right now it seems like the best thing for us to do.  However there is a group leader position opening up out where he already works, and his boss has encouraged him to apply, and everyone is telling him that they will be surprised if he doesn't get it.  We are just hoping one of them will pan out.  We will find out about the same time for both of them.  I have been able to go to the gym on a pretty regular basis these last few weeks, and I haven't lost any weight, but I tried on some clothes yesterday that I haven't been able to fit in, and I was able to.  So that was some good motivation to keep going.  So can I just say how amazing my niece Nikki is.  She babysat for me on Friday night.  She was nervous to do it by herself because my other niece Jelly usually comes to, but she didn't this time, but when I got home my dishes were done, counters cleaned, laundry folded, toys picked up, and the kids were bathed. I was very impressed and grateful.

So my cute little Bailey girl is still refusing to crawl.  She is so close though.  The other day Stephen was with Bailey and she was so close to crawling, and then she just dove after the toy she was trying to get.  She did however get her first tooth on the first of Feb.  It was the bottom right one, and the bottom left one followed a day or two later.  She had her nine month apt the other day, no shots needed luckily, but she definately did not like the doc checking her out.  This was a first, in the past she never cared.  She is a fiesty little girl, and when Riley tries to take toys from her she pitches the biggest fits, and pulls back, and then if he wins she looks over at me like what are you going to do about this mom.  I got her a jumperoo, and she has a blast in it.  I babysat for Enid the other day and and I was feeding Lindsey a bottle, and Bailey was right beside me, and Bailey just grabbed on to Lindsey's hair and pulled.  I felt so bad...I'm sure with them being so close it won't be the last cousin attack, and I'm sure there will be paybacks.  She loves to discover...  She loves to empty out the diaper bag, and toy buckets.  She just pulls things out one at a time.  The only time I minded was when we were at here ped apt and I went chasing after Riley and I came back from around the corner and she had just dumped the diaper bag and my cash I had just in a pocket was flailed over the floor. 

We were riding in the car the other night and Riley said the sun went out, it's time for us to go to bed.  He got mad at me the other day, and in his madness and his bink in his mouth I couldn't understand his lecture but I did make out "spanking" and he followed me in a circle trying to spank me.  It was funny the first time, but then he tried that a second time in porters, not as funny in public.  He wanted one of my tater tots the other day, so I went to put it in his mouth, and he accidentally bit my finger, and I have a little blood blister now.  We were at walmart and the guy in front of us asked if we wanted to go first, and I told him no, but thank you, and Riley pipes in and says "thank you, thank you grandpa".  The guy thought it was pretty funny, and said oh good now I have five grandkids instead of four.  So the new pull ups that have a the "cool alert" on them, yeah they don't work, he doesn't even notice.  Riley is very sweet, and well manored, but he does not listen.  You tell him no, or not to do something, and it's like you were invisible, he just keeps on doing it.  Something he say a lot is "I'm on my way to save the day".  He likes to act like he's flying a lot.  The other night he was refusing to eat dinner, and I told him he couldn't leave the table until he took one bite.  It only took about ten minutes, but he did take a bite, and not only did he take a bite, he decided he liked it, and he ate it all.  I hope it's always that easy.  I know there was more that i wanted to write, but I can't think of the stories anymore, but hopefully I'll remember them later. 

Wooohooo, this will be two posts two weeks in a row.  However, there is not much to report about.  It was a pretty basic week.  We did actually get snow that is staying on the ground for like the first time this week.  The deadline for the ISP applications was this last week...did I mention that I hate waiting to hear about things like this.  My mind just plays all these what if's.  But what Stephen didn't tell me until just the other day is that they pick who they are going to interview based on test results.  He had to take 2 tests, each containing 100 questions, and he had 45 minutes to complete each of them, and he got a 100% on each one, so there is no reason why he should not be selected for an interview which makes it all the more nerve racking.  I am so grateful for family though, so it would be so hard to move if that is what we are faced with.  We live around the best family.  Just the other night last second my nieces and Enid agreed to babysit for me on a Friday night, and they were at my house til after 1am, and there were no complaints.  And Stephen's mom is always there for us when we need her, I just don't know if we could leave that behind.  Anyway, I guess we will burn that bridge when we get there. 

Riley is such a stinker.  He has started blaming things on other people for things he did.  When I tell him that I just saw him do it, he still denies it.  "I didn't do it mom, daddy did".  Or he's even blamed things on me when he just got done doing something I saw him do, "you did this mom, you made this mess"  Then when we try to get him to clean it up he says really sweetly "i sorry, I didn't mean to"..."that's ok buddy, but you still need to help clean it up..."I love you" and he gives us a hug..."i love you too but you still need to help clean up..."i sorry, I love you"...Man what a manipulator he is, any thing to get out of cleaning up a mess.  But it is pretty sweet at the same time.  I bought him toy story 3 this week for my own sanity of watching the same shows over and over again, and I'm already ready to buy another movie.  I made cookies the other night for the girls while they were here babysitting and I think they might have gotten a couple of them, Riley ate pretty much all of them before they got here. 

Bailey sure has developed quite the personality, she definately lets you know what she wants and does not want.  She is cutting teeth , and is always chewing on things to try and find relief.  Any day now and we'll have little white teeth popping up.  It's really cute, she knows the word "kisses".  I say it and then go to give her kisses and she will stick her tongue out to try and give you kisses.  She can eat her weight in mac and cheese or alfredo noodles.  She hasn't been into her baby food the last few weeks, she just wants the real deal.  I took them to arctic circle the other night so Riley could play, and they give complementary ice cream cones, and Bailey ate all of hers including the cone, and Riley only eats the ice cream on top, and so she almost finished his too.  No one has to worry about this girl not eating.  She loves to clap, and play patty cake.  She loves peak a boo, and can do it by herself with a blanket.  She pulls it in front of her face, and pulls it down really quick.  It is so fun to see them learn and grow, and develop. 

Well, as usual, I'm playing catch up for a month.  But to start off with we had a great Christmas.  The week of Christmas not so great.  I had  a mile long list of things to do, and I was scheduled to work everyday that week, and then Riley started throwing up, then I got it the next day and had to call into work, and then Stephen got it the next day, and then there I was Christmas Eve with hardly anything marked off of my list, and my house a disaster.  We were able to celebrate Christmas healthy though so that was good.  We went to Stephen's brothers house on Christmas Eve and celebrated with his family.  We had a yummy breakfast, and exchanged presents.  Then that night Stephen went to Clayton's and played video games while Alyssa helped me wrap all of the presents from Santa.  In the morning we opened presents and Stephen's parents came over to watch the kids open their presents.  They really did get spoiled.  Some of the things Riley got was a bike from nana and papa, coloring books and a cute church pouch for crayons that Val made him, a sit and spin from Enid, from santa he got Cars 2, car racing set, an indoor tent, and a dual screen tv for the car.  Bailey got well lots of baby toys that light up, a walker type thing for when she starts walking, a teddy bear, cute accessories for her hair and a bracelet from Enid.  We had dinner with Enid, and exchanged presents, and my brother Jeff came and stayed with us for a week and a half which was fun to have him around.  Then for new years my sisters Dalene and Ingrid came with their families to drop the girls off for college.  It's always a packed house, but we enjoy it.  We just wish we had more room to accomodate everyone better.  We just did a lot of eating, and visiting, and playing games/puzzles.  Not much by the way of excitement has happened recently.
I started the gym last week with Enid.  I went to bunco with her the other week and one of the ladies that plays works for world's gym and I asked her what kind of deal she can get us and she said she cold waive the enrollment fee, so we signed up.  I was able to workout five days this last week, and now I don't have to feel guilty this week while I watch the biggest loser.  I've had to go to the chiropractor several times this last month, and it is feeling much better, I'm actually able to play with my kids, and pick them up without cringing with pain.  I have a goal to lose 48lbs by the end of July.  It's gonna be hard, but very doable. We are looking to refinance, and are in the process of putting all the paper work together to get that done here in the next couple of weeks.  The frustrating part is that out loan isn't backed up by Frannie Mae or Freddie Mac, so we don't qualify for the great deals that are out there right now, but we do have a couple of options, so that's good.
It is nice to have Stephen out of school for a little break, but now his shifts are always changing which sucks, but we do see him a little more these days.  He applied to the ISP, and the position closes here in three days.  I hate waiting to find things out. He put his application in about a month ago, but we should find out here in a couple of weeks if he goes in for an interview and physical test, so Stephen has been working out trying to prepare for that.  The hard thing about this is that you don't get to decide where you work, they just place you where they need you.  I've always said I don't want to stay in Rexburg, and I don't want to raise my kids here in the mormonville bubble, but thinking about possibly moving away really scares me, and I don't want to do it.  Stephen would still go to school, just transfer somewhere else, and he would make enough that I wouldn't have to work, but we shall see, I just don't like waiting to find out.
Oh my goodness, my little boy.  I don't even know how to begin.  All he wants to do is play with cars.  He is starting to have good imagination, and he makes believe with his cars.  Normally there is a mommy and a daddy car.  And one of them is always "on his way to save the day".  He'll say that several times a day, and I ask him if he is going to save the day, and he responds no mom, this car is.  Stephen asked him "what is my name" and he replied "Stephen", and he asked him what is mommy's name and he replied "sweetheart".  He has called me cowboy mom several times recently though.  We got his fishtank all set up again, and he's got a tv in his room now that he watches while I'm putting Bailey to bed which works out great, and we put space and rocket ship decals on his wall, so he is loving his room right now, and has slept in it by himself through the night for several weeks now which is amazing.  Riley's answer to everything is "I don't know" even if he knows.  We got him to use the potty and wear underwear for a day, and he wants nothing to do with it again.  He told me yesterday "do not put underwears on my body". Riley absolutely loves nursery, and he loves to sing the songs at home.  He is still obsessed with hide and go seek.  He likes to decide which toys Bailey gets to play with.  He always wants to get her a different toy than the one she's got.  Every week when Bailey gets in her Sunday dress, Riley says "she's a princess".  Another phrase he uses a lot is "I fink so mom"  One of his OCD things is whenever he watches team umizumi he wants to eat a popcicle.  He has started not asking for help, but rather manipulating the furniture so he can climb and get what he needs.  Riley loves to take baths, and now showers...he says it's like a water park.  He seriously takes like three a day.  He would spend all day in the bath with his cars if we let him.   It was Enid's Birthday the other day and he had so much fun practicing and singing happy birthday for her.  He is such a sweet, polite little boy, and I love him so much.
Little miss Bailey girl, my little princess.  Everyone at church just adores her, she is such the flirt with the little head tilt getting everyones attention.  The other day at church she was on the floor with another little boy her age, and she kept stealing all his toys, and trying to take his socks off.  I just kept thinking oh no my little girl is going to be the bully.  Hopefully she grow out of it.  She's so funny, she doesn't just grab or reach for things, she attacks them.  It's like one second she is still, and then next bam she attacks.  She started giving kisses today.  She has started trying to share her treats and binkie with others...she tries putting them in our mouths.  I started the cry it out a few weeks ago, and it has worked like a charm.  She puts herself to bed now most nights within seconds.  She's still up a couple of times a night and I put her in bed with me in the morning, but it is a whole lot better than where we were a month ago.  She also loves baths.  I come out of it as wet as she is, but she loves splashing and sitting up and scooting around the tub.  She still isn't crawling, but I'm not complaining.  She loves music and loves to bounce to the beat which is so cute.  She's just my sweet little angel who I love.