Little boys poem

Here is a cute poem I found about raising little boys.

This fits my life perfectly!

Raising Boys
I scrub the wall of fingerprints,

Pick up the mounds of clothes.

I sweep the dirt that shoes track in-

Wish I could use a hose!

Meals are served from dawn to dark,

Dirty dishes crowd the sink.

Just when they're washed and put away-

Everyone wants a drink!

The washer pulls the dirty grime

From pants worn thin and patched.

They look so very neat and clean-

Yuck, look what the pockets hatched!

Broken bones and bloody knees,

I should have been a nurse.

I take it all in shaky stride-

Just grateful it's not worse!

Screams and shouts and arguments

Test the keeping of my cool.

They left the neighbor's faucet on-

See their new front yard pool!

A soothing bath is ecstasy,

A reward at the end of my rope.

Raising boys isn't really bad-

But first I must wash the soap!

A rose can say I Love You,

Orchids can enthrall;

But a weed bouquet in a chubby fist,

Oh my, that says it all!...

Roberta I. Teague

My first experience with cloth diapering

I have always wanted to try cloth diapers. When Gavin was little I had wanted to but never tried it. When Gage came along I decided to give it a try. I tried the old fashioned

white ones where you have to fold it and use the diaper pins. I didn't like it at all. I was terrified of hurting him with the pins and every time he would pee, it would soak everything near him. I quickly decided against it and went back to disposables. After that I didn't really think about it anymore. Until I started seeing the really cute, easy to use cloth diapers. I thought, 'I could do that.' Combine that with all the wonderful mom blogs I follow that talk about how great cloth diapering is and my mind was made up.

I bought my first diaper from Monkey Snuggles it was sooo cute with little turtles on it! That same day I bought another one from Kelly's Closet. This one a blue bumGenius. I also bought another one on ebay but it hasn't come yet! So that's all I have now. I'm going to have to start small and work my way up. I can only buy a couple per week so we'll do part time for now until I can get a good stash built up!

This morning was the first time Gage wore one. He wore the bumGenius first. As soon as I put it on him he rubbed it and giggled! It is so soft on the inside he loves it! He did keep pulling it the velcro on it though. Hopefully he'll grow out of that. Or else he'll be naked most of the time! Within the first 30 minutes he pooped in it! Part of me was excited, my first poopie cloth diaper! And the other part of me thought eww... my first poopie cloth diaper! Anyway, after I changed him and put the poop in the toilet, I put the diaper and insert in a bucket of warm water with some tide in it, I thought well that wasn't bad at all. Nothing leaked out whatsoever! YAY!!! I put the second one on him and he wore it awhile and when he did wet it, it did leak a little but it didn't get on anything. It was just the outside was a little damp.

I'm already washing them and ready to go again. I can't wait to get more so I can go full time. I know it's cheaper in the long run but it is pricey to get started. I really wish I would've started with my first son on cloth diapers. It's a little late to be starting with Gage. He is already a year old but better late than never. I'm glad I at least get to experience it.

I did the same thing with breastfeeding. I regretted not breastfeeding my 1st and so when the 2nd came I said I'm going to try it no matter what or else I'll regret it for the rest of my life. Even when that meant not being able to take medication for my arthritis. I made it 6 months before I had to stop so I could take my medication but I wouldn't trade those 6 months for anything. I loved breastfeeding and wish I still could. To everyone thinking of trying something new, DO IT! You'll regret it if you don't. Try new experiences even if you don't like it and quit, at least you can say you tried. You might never get a second chance so whatever it is... go for it!

Celebrating 7 Years

On July 27th, 2002 I married my high school sweetheart. I had just turned 18 and he was 19. Seven years later here we are with 2 wonderful little monsters and still very much in love. We've had our share of tough times and there has even been times where I've thought we couldn't make it. But I wouldn't trade our time together for anything. Every trial we've been through (and there's been many) has made us stronger as a couple and I am thankful for each one.

To celebrate our 7th anniversary we decided to do something different. Every year we go out to eat, see a movie and go home. I wanted to do something fun that didn't cost a lot of money. I said I want to go on a hike somewhere and he mentioned going on the Blue Ridge Parkway. For those of
you who don't know what that is go here for
some info!http://www.blueridgeparkway.org/

He said there is a place called Graveyard Fields that I might like that had some waterfalls and was a good hike. It's amazing to me that I have lived here my entire life and I've never been to these places! I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. It is so beautiful here all year round!

I took the kids to my parents house on Friday evening so I wouldn't have to waste half the day on Saturday to take them (It takes almost an hour to get there). I was so looking forward to going out and spending a weekend without kids... that is until it came time to drop them off! I took them in, with all their bags of unnecessary stuff I thought they had to have. Which they don't, my mom has everything they need. I mean she does have 7 grand babies I think she can handle these 2! Gavin just ran off with my niece Kaylee and played but Gage kept giving me hugs and kisses. After I had been trying all week to get him to give me a kiss and he'd just tell me no (or as he says 'nuuu'!) He has just learned to pucker his lips so he'd pucker up and put his lips on my lips but then he'd make the hugging sound! Anyway, he gave me like 10 of those kiss/hugs and I didn't want to leave at all! He would wrap his little arms around my legs and squeeze. Then when I actually made myself go out the door he cried! Oh and my niece who I don't get to see very often was begging me to take her with me. Another heart breaker there. Needless to say I cried the entire way home!

When I got home of course my husband wasn't there so I was lonely in a quiet house. And instead of pampering myself a little, what do I do? I take a toothbrush and clean all the kids shoes that they had just grown out of. Ugh I'm such a mom! Then I ate a turkey sub leftover from lunch because I didn't have time to eat it.

I watched the news and they had said there had been a motorcycle accident with a fatality but they didn't have any more info at the time. And for some reason I had a weird feeling. I shrugged it off and turned the channel. At about 7:00pm my husband called with the news that a friend of his and his wife were in an accident. My heart sank. I said was it the motorcycle accident on Town Mtn road? He said 'yeah how did you know'? I said they said something about it on the news. He said his friend was killed and his wife was in critical condition. It took awhile to sink in so all I could say was man that sucks! I got off the phone and tweeted about it. That's when it sank in and I started to cry. I didn't know them real well but we all used to hang out together and they were really nice people. Really young and fun. I was so upset I actually got up, went to the store and bought a pack of cigarettes. I haven't smoked in 2 years! It did help me calm down but it made me sick at the same time. Serves me right! I thought how can we enjoy spending the weekend celebrating our anniversary when one of our friends is in the hospital and doesn't even know her husband has died?

But after my husband walked through that door I was so glad to see him and to hold him I think it actually made us both realize how much we love each other and that in a second it can all be gone. We lay in the floor and held each other while we watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (great movie by the way!). It seemed like we couldn't let go of each other. If we weren't hugging we were holding hands. We were up until 3:00am!

Which kind of killed the idea of getting up early to go hiking! We did get up and leave by noon though so
it didn't kill our entire day. We got on
the parkway and drove with the windows down enjoying the view. How many times can I say I love living here? Well I'll say it again , I love living in Western North Carolina! I think when I get so wrapped up in life I forget how lucky I am.

The more we drove the cooler the temperature got. It started out at 86 degrees and by the time we got to where we were going it was 72 degrees. But it felt cooler than that because it was a little breezy and cloudy...perfect! I was worried it would be so hot we'd overheat and be miserable.

We walked down the trail to the first waterfall
where all the kids were swimming in a swimming hole. The trail was paved and there were wooden bridges with benches on them. I was thinking well this is too easy. I'm not going to get much of a workout! I wanted a challenge.

We looked around at the waterfall and took some pictures. We went past the first fall and went down another set of steps this one a little steeper. Then the trail split. The one to the right went to the upper falls and the left one didn't really say where it went. Of course we took the left one! There was a little path there so we followed it for about 1.5 - 2 miles. It was mostly decent walking. There were a few parts that were a little steep going down hill and a few logs we had to climb over.


We could hear another waterfall so we walked down to where we could see it. We wanted to see if we could get down to the bottom of it so we went back into the woodsto find a path. Every one was a ended with a cliff. We walked all the way around a big brier patch and could see the bottom of the waterfall but it was pretty steep to get down to it. We climbed down and I was thinking 'oh man we're going to have to climb back up this thing'!

When we got to the bottom we took our shoes off and walked in water to cool off. We walked around on the rocks and relaxed in the sun for a little while.







You'll have to forgive my bad hair. I was hot and sweaty from the hike!


We stayed for a couple hours and then we had to start the climb back up! I was not looking forward to it. To get back up to the trail we had to climb... and climb... and climb! I swear in some places it was like rock climbing. It was straight up and down and we had to find foot and hand holds to pull ourselves up. I finally got the workout I was wanting and more! By the time we got back up to the trail we were drenched in sweat and out of breath. My husband was in the lead after that and we had a real good, quick pace going. I was feeling pretty good. It had started to sprinkle rain a little bit so we were cooling off. And I was thinking 'I'm pretty proud of myself. I held my own and kept up the entire time.'


Then we got back to the steps to go to the first waterfall. I almost didn't make it to the top! You wouldn't think that steps would be the hardest part of that entire trip but it was. My legs were so wobbly I didn't think I could take one more step.

After the steps, we still had a little paved trail to go up to get back to the car. And of course it was ALL uphill. I thought I was going to die! I was stinky, sweaty, and dirty. I'm glad we got out of there when we did. Right after we left it started pouring rain!

When we got to the car my husband said 'where do you want to go eat?' I said 'but I'm stinky and dirty.' and he said 'so?' So I said 'ok if you say so'. We decided to go for mexican. I couldn't eat much when I got there though, I was so exhausted!



We didn't make it to the movie we had planned on seeing. We didn't think we would be able to sit through the whole thing without falling asleep so we came home and watched tv. Well the tv was on but we both passed out in the floor!



When we woke up we took a shower, and changed clothes trying to find something to do. I had the weird urge to play Scrabble. Don't ask me why, I just did! We drove out to the theatre at 10:00pm but still didn't feel like sitting through a movie so we stopped at the store, bought Scrabble and went home and played. I beat him by the way!



I know it may not seem like the usual way to celebrate an anniversary but I thought it was the perfect day. I saw my husband smile more that day than I had seen in what feels like months. It felt really good to spend some quality time talking and having fun with him.

Happy Anniversary honey, I love you

Body after Baby

Well I didn't lose any weight after week 2 of Body after Baby challenge. Actually I gained a pound! I'm at 126.5lbs now. I didn't do to bad though. I mean I didn't go completely of the diet. I really wanted to cheat on Saturday when me and my hubby went out for our anniversary but after a pretty tough hike I was exhausted and hot so when we went out to eat, I didn't eat much at all! Last night though I don't know what happened. I made some chicken stir-fry - not bad. After Gage went to bed Gavin wanted some chips and dip & I knew I shouldn't but I layed into it man. I felt so guilty afterwards! But it was awesome while I was eating it!

I'm back on track for week 3 though.
I had some fruit for breakfast and veggies for lunch

My husband did ask for spaghetti for dinner so I'm going to make it for him but I'll load up on a salad first so I don't eat a lot of it. I'm feeling confident that I'll do good this week. Good luck mamas and daddies! Keep on truckin', it's worth it!

Body after Baby week 1

I guess I could have had a better 1st week of body after baby. I didn't do to bad, I drank quite a bit of water. I ate reasonably healthy. I did cheat a couple days... pizza, a chimichanga, probably more but I can't remember at the moment! I went for a couple walks with the boys. I pulled them in their wagon one day. It was mostly uphill too so that was a pretty good workout. Then we went to visit my mom and I took Gavin for a walk in the woods to pick raspberries. That was mostly uphill too! Gavin kept getting tired and I had to carry him part of the way. Other than that I didn't have a lot of time to workout, it's been a busy week. I'm all geared up for week 2 though. I've finally got my mind in it and I'm excited to see how I do from here on out. I started out weighing 129 lbs. I now weigh 125.5 lbs so I lost 3.5 pounds this week. Not too bad for the first week! I really don't care about the number though I just want to loose the extra baby gut. It looks like I'm still pregnant and my youngest is a year old! That's going to be the hardest part for me. Good luck to everyone else I hope you all have a great second week. You are all hot mamas (and dads!) in my book. KEEP IT UP :)

My battle with Arthritis

Since I was 16 years old, I've had back and hip problems. My hands also hurt all the time. I didn't think too much of it for a long time. I thought that it was just something I had to live with. It got a little worse every year until I almost couldn't walk in the summer of 2007. Gavin was a little over a year old and some days it was almost impossible to even get out of bed, let alone chase a toddler. It was so bad at times I would sit and cry because nothing helped. It broke my heart that I couldn't play with my little boy. Most days the only thing I could do is sit in a chair and look at him.

I finally said 'I can't live like this anymore'. I started going to a clinic close by my house because my regular doctor was an hour drive away. Big mistake in switching doctors! This particular doctor gave me a good look-over, ran a bunch of tests and sent me off for x-rays. She did the fibromyalgia test and said I had some of the signs of fibromyalgia but not enough to cause all my pain. So she sent me home with sleeping pills, pain patches, 500mg ibuprofen (which made me throw up) and fibromyalgia medication on the off-chance it would work. I went to get the x-rays done and dropped them off at her office. She didn't even look at the x-rays until right before she saw me like 2 weeks later. I know this because I called the office everyday and was told she had not had time to look at them yet. When I came back and she looked at them she said she couldn't see anything wrong with me. She said all the blood tests came back negative for rheumatoid arthritis so she wanted to send me to a rheumatologist to "double-check" but she was pretty sure they wouldn't find anything either. That when I came back we would talk about the psychological reasons I was in pain...in other words "you're crazy and making this up".

I couldn't get an appointment for 4 weeks at the rheumatologists office. About 2 weeks before the appointment I found out I was pregnant with my second child. Me and my husband had started to try for a second baby when Gavin turned 1. Since it took us 3 years to get pregnant with Gavin we thought it would take a while to have another one (but that's another post!). I had actually considered cancelling the rheumatologists appointment since they couldn't do anymore x-rays and I couldn't take any medication being pregnant, but I decided to just go and see what they could do. When I got there I met Dr. Gowin, the nicest, best doctor I had ever been to. As soon as she looked at the x-rays I had to carry around for 2 months, she said "I can't believe they wrote this off as a normal x-ray, this isn't anywhere near normal!", so I said 'so you mean I'm not crazy?' and she said "no honey you're not crazy". She said I have bone spurs up my spine and something called a straightened spine. I'm not sure what that is but she said it causes muscle spasms. She still didn't see any arthritis so she starts mashing on me saying certain places are a little warm or swollen. That's how good she is... I didn't even hurt in those places! Then she started looking at my fingernails and she said I have "nail pits". They are little pinhole size dents in my fingernails. Some people have a few but I had more than normal. She said that's consistent with something called Psoriatic Arthritis. She asked if I had psoriasis and I said I don't think so. I had dandruff for years and sometimes regular dandruff shampoo didn't work. It didn't flake like regular dandruff but it really itched. Turns out I DO have psoriasis and just didn't know it! Man she is awesome! Anyway, she diagnosed me with Psoriatic Arthritis by the nail pits and by where I hurt. Needless to say I never went back to the other doctor! Where I kept thinking my hips were hurting it was actually more toward my butt! It was really funny when she was trying to explain this. She was having to touch my butt and said is it more back here? And I would say yeah it actually is! She said it's hard to diagnose Psoriatic Arthritis because it mimics Rheumatoid Arthritis but it doesn't show up on any x-rays or blood test.

She said I couldn't take anything being pregnant (nice to know since the other Dr. had me drugged out on all kinds of stuff) but that the hormones my body would give off would put it into remission. It did and I didn't really have much problem with it the rest of my pregnancy. She monitored me closely but everything was great. She thought I would have a major flare up after I gave birth but it really never came. I guess because I was breastfeeding. I still couldn't take medication while breastfeeding. She tried one kind that wasn't supposed to harm the baby but it make him thow it up so I quit taking it. I had to stop breastfeeding at 6 months though because the pain was starting to come back and he was so big that to hold him really hurt. The arthritis had spread into my left shoulder, neck, elbow and knee.

I started on a 4 pill a day regiment and it worked for awhile but the pain came back again so she added a pain pill to replace all the Aleive and Tylenol I was taking. It worked until April of this year and then she had to double the pain pill. So right now I'm on 6 pills a day and the pain is tolerable but still there. The psoriasis is a little worse but still mild. I sometimes get it in my ears and on my eyebrows. It's not noticeable to anyone else but it's itchy. When it flares up on my scalp, my hair falls out. I don't see why I'm not bald yet! It seems to grow back quickly though so nobody else knows how bad it falls out. Plus I usually keep it pinned up so it doesn't look too thin. The arthritis and the psoriasis aren't actually the major problem. The hardest part is the extreme fatigue. I talked to the doctor about it but she said there is no way to medicate that. I am always extremely tired and it doesn't help that Gage still doesn't sleep through the night. He's done it twice and the first time Gavin was up all night! I tell everyone I'm a chronic yawner! I constantly yawn and it's really bad in church. I swear people must think I'm such a bad person. It's not that it's boring it's just that I'm sitting still! The fatigue is really hard when I want to work out or play with the boys. Sometimes I just want to sleep all day which of course I can't with 2 energetic little guys on my hands. I am trying to find different things that can naturally give me an energy boost. If anyone reading this has any ideas please let me know. I'm willing to try ALMOST anything. Maybe different kinds of food, a diet change, whatever it takes. I'm doing this Body after Baby thing so now's the best time to try to do something about it. You can leave a comment on this post, find me on twitter, or email me at tatertot2614@yahoo.com. I'm so tired of being tired! Help me please!

Body After Baby challenge Day 1

Day 1:

It's at the end of day one on the Body after Baby challenge. It didn't really get off to a good start! I started off ok but the later it got the more I wanted to eat! For lunch I had some grilled chicken left over from last night. Not too bad but I did have a small portion of mashed potatoes and gravy. But then as I was making dinner I couldn't stop eating tortilla chips and salsa! We had gorditas (not so good either) and I thought 'I'll just eat one that's not so bad', then a second because it was so good! THEN after the boys had a bath and were quietly playing in their room I ate yet another one! Granted I only put like 3-4 little chunks of chicken on each one but its the cheese and sour cream that's the killer. Oh well maybe tomorrow will be a better day! I did drink quite a bit of water today so that's an improvement. I will get my workout, my 7 year old niece is coming over to spend the night so I'll be even more busy than I already am. Hopefully all the wonderful moms and dads doing the body after baby challenge is doing better than I am on their first day! I promise I will buckle down and go for it from now on! I did find a really great workout today. I call it baby curling! Instead of using weights, use your baby! My 1 year old loved it. He was giggling and having a great time. He is a little chunky butt at 27 lbs so it didn't take long and I was defiantly feeling the burn! As for exercising with my 3 year old, he loves to turn on some music and we just go crazy dancing. I look completely ridiculous but it makes you break a sweat! It doubles the strain if I hold one of the boys while I'm doing it. Who says you need a gym? Good luck to everyone else in the challenge but GO ORANGE TEAM!!!

Books and Bugs

BOOKS

Yesterday Gage found one of his books (Thomas' ABC book). He brought it to me and said "This" wanting me to read it so I did... 5 times! Every time I would put him down he would bring it back to me and say "this book". He pointed at Thomas and said "choo choo". This morning he was still carrying it around and he would point to the pictures and act like he was reading it. The only words I understood was "bookie, bookie, bookie" but he obviously knew what he was saying! This is the first thing I've ever seen him get attached to. He's never had a certain blanket or toy he's attached to. I've even tried to get him to read another book but he won't have it! Its Thomas' ABC Book or meltdown. I'd prefer Thomas' ABC book myself! I just hope he doesn't rip it because it's all paper and not baby proof. ..or drool proof for that matter. He'll probably end up eating it sooner or later!

BUGS

So today we went out and I bought Gavin a bug playground where you catch bugs and put in it and the see-saw and the wheel in it actually turn when you turn this thing on the outside. It's really cute!!! (Gage got a plush Mickey Mouse BTW). When we got home and Gage took a nap, Me and Gavin went outside to catch bugs. Well I caught bugs and Gavin watched. Anyway, I caught 2 grasshoppers, 2 crickets and an ant. I saw a couple spiders but I refused to let Gavin put them in it ...ew *shivers*. I was a site let me tell you. Those grasshoppers are quick little guys. I was jumping around on my knees trying to get 'em! For any neighbor who saw me I'm sure I looked completely ridiculous! We brought them in the house and I was putting some grass in it when one of the grasshoppers jumped out!!! I thought ohhh nooo not again. So here I go trying to catch the stupid thing all over again, then get it back in there without the rest of them getting out. I did get it eventually and tied a string around the top so Gavin couldn't open it & let all of them out. Man that would be fun!

Fit by Labor Day Challenge

OMG. I just joined an 8 week challenge to lose some weight! It is designed by an awesome women I met on Twitter named Mama Notes. I had to take before pictures of myself and send them in... how embarrassing! Oh well this is a great motivator seeing as how I have 8 weeks before I have to send an after picture. I can't quit this time! If anyone else wants to join with me check out Mamanotes.com. This is a great opportunity for anyone who has some pregnancy weight leftover! There are some great people doing the challenge so everyone can encourage each other. Come on people we can do this! I actually weigh less now than when I got pregnant w/ my second baby but I have that stubborn baby belly hanging on. I actually look like I'm still pregnant! I've even been asked by some people @ my church if I was having another baby. Talk about an embarrassing situation!!! This is going to be really hard. I've got 3 boys to feed (2 kids and a husband!) & I usually just eat whatever they do. Like tonight we had pizza, fries, and buffalo wings. Not off to a good start! Ok here goes... Right now I am 5'4 and I weigh 129 lbs. When I got pregnant with Gage I weighed 132 lbs. So I've lost all the baby weight but my body looks completely different. I'm not really interested in the actual weight loss, I just want my body back! Wish me luck and join me if you can!

My boys

Ok about my boys... Well Gavin is 3 years old, VERY energetic, really easy going, smarter than he probably should be, and he talks nonstop! Gage is 1 year old and the complete opposite of his brother. He's calmer with a quick temper ( he has a scream that is ear peircing!) He likes to be cuddled and kissed while Gavin has never sat still long enough to do so. He's also really smart for a 1 year old. They both love to read and are very sweet. I'm a stay-at-home-mom these boys are a full time job! I am very lucky to be able to do so and I love every minute of it. Even though it's sometimes hard to stay sane! They do the caraziest, funniest things I decided to start a blog about it so other people can laugh (or sometimes cry!!!) along with me as I try not to go completely insane! :)