Catch Up Through Pictures

All the events below are deserving of their own post, but I don't have that much spare time. Life just seems to speed by. With illness, we've had both the stomach flu (read gross throw up messes), and the other type of cold-like flu, things have been chaotic around here.

Parker

Kate

Will

Maggie

Christmas Morning

December 25, 2010

Christmas PJ's

December 24, 2010

Live Nativity

December 24, 2011

Disneyland

December 23, 2010

(see the evidence of miserable Will from my previous post)

Maggie's first dance recital.

December 17, 2010

Will's first haircut.

December 13, 2010

Gingerbread houses at Aunt Jennifer's. And welcoming home Honey & Papa from their mission.

December 11 & 12, 2011

Decorating the Christmas tree.

November 30, 2010

Picking out our Christmas tree.

November 29, 2010

Birthday breakfast on the special plate.

Happy 4th Birthday, Maggie!

November 26, 2010

Happy Again

William is finally back to his normal smiley, feisty self.

It started at the end of November. He wasn't sleeping well, he cried/screamed/hit me/threw things at me all of the time. And he ONLY wanted to be with his Dad. No joke, he would yell if Matt even tried to hand him off to me. I took him to the Dr., hoping he would give me some diagnosis that could be cured with medicine. He didn't. He basically told me that Will was just teething, going through a phase and would probably snap out of it. I wasn't exactly thrilled. To be honest I wanted them to tell me something was wrong other than he was just bratty. Maybe an easily medicated ear infection....? I didn't think that was too much to ask.

So we went through all of last month with a very unhappy William. Christmas in California was great, other than Will. It was on the verge of being embarrassing with how awful he was. I wasn't able to get a whole lot done in December other than Christmas, working and holding Will. And I didn't do anything well. William and my semi-sanity was priority.

On December 30 I decided to take him back to the Dr. He was coughing by then and I thought, what the heck, at least if I take him in and there is nothing wrong with him I can let him scream through the night and not feel horribly guilty. I was relieved to be told that the Dr. thought he had the flu, a bad viral ear infection and was on his way to having croup. But because he didn't have any fevers he was pretty sure he didn't have anything bacterial to give him antibiotic for. I happily bought the $60 tamiflu and $10 steroid. After 5 days of the expensive medication he was still not better. So I called the Dr. Apparently the flu tests they took came back negative and he prescribed an antibiotic. One day later we were blessed with a smiling William.

I'm at so happy to have him back. I was convinced that he was just a horrible child and I was not looking forward to the next couple of years. He no longer follows me around yelling at me, he will actually sit next to me or let me hold him if his Dad is in the room, (although he definitely prefers Matt) and he isn't hitting me as often. Which what exactly am I supposed to do about the hitting? We've never had this problem before.

I feel bad that he was in pain that long. Poor kid.

So now I might find time to catch up on this blog.

Maggie's B'day Theme

Last night we were talking with Margaret about her upcoming birthday party. We were trying to come up with a theme for her friend birthday party and Maggie says, "Well, I think I'll have an ass party." Matt said, "What?" And she responded, "Well, it's kind of like a donkey."

We have no idea where this came from, but I have found myself laughing throughout the day as I have thought about it. She's a funny kid.

I think we have decided on a Toy Story 3 party instead. I'm not sure if any of her little friends would enjoy an "ass" party. Whatever that is.

Halloween 2010

We had a great Halloween weekend. We started it in St. George on Saturday night with trick or treating with all the grandkids on my side of the family. The little girls, Maggie, Anna, Paige, Juliette, Claire and Kate were mermaids, (compliments of Chelsea's superb sewing skills) Parker was the headless horseman, Cami was a butterfly and Andrew was a pirate (but if you ask Paige, he was her Prince Eric). The baby boy's were lobsters. Jen's neighborhood is like a movie set when it comes to Halloween. One street was blocked off, their was kettle corn being freshly popped, complimentary water bottles, fresh donuts and the houses were decorated fantastically. It was a lot of fun. Kate and Parker went off on their own with cousins and the rest of us trick or treated with the littler ones. Three year olds are the perfect age for trick or treating. They love it, but they don't mind if they don't stay out for hours. It's great. The three little mermaids were funny with each other. Pretending they were under the sea. And having conversations about their sea friend, Fish and Chips. Hilarious. William understood the concept of trick or treating pretty soon after we started. He was in his stroller the entire time, but Matt would take him up to the door, the person would give him candy and he would promptly dig it out of his bucket. He had a sucker in his mouth the entire night.

On Halloween night we went to Melinda and Peter's for dinner and trick or treating in a neighborhood near their house. Our weekend was busy, but lots of fun for the kids.

The GAP, cont.

I sent GAP the post I wrote the other day and I guess I created a stir.

First off, I know the entire situation was partly my fault. I knew that the stroller was a display item and I wasn't supposed to use it. I was just trying to to make the best out of a very chaotic situation.

So here is what happened. Yesterday I got an email from corporate apologizing for the employee's rudeness. Today I received an email from the store manager asking if he could call and talk about what happened. I emailed him my number and he quickly responded with a phone call. He had actually witnessed what happened with the sales associate and asked me if I was a woman with two children who was wearing glasses. I guess after she yelled at me in front of all the customers in line, he went up to her and told her that her response was inappropriate and shouldn't have occurred the way it did. We chatted for awhile, he asked if they could compensate me somehow and I told him I was fine and would continue to shop at GAP. They didn't need to give me any type of gift card or coupon to make it up to me. Like I said, it was partly my fault for not being prepared. He said that it was only his third day as the store manager at that store and mine wasn't the only instance of an employee being rude to a customer. And that they were having a special employee meeting today to address the situation. I sure hope he didn't get in trouble for my complaint, he didn't do it. He was very nice. About 10 minutes ago I got an email from the district manager making sure that I was happy with how things were handled. I assured him that I am perfectly fine, do not hold a grudge and that I would continue to spend my money at their store.

Moral of this story...the Gap takes complaints seriously and tries to make amends in any way possible. I am impressed.

The GAP

I like to shop at the GAP. It's not too fancy, but not downright cheap either...although today it was downright cheap. If you used your GAP silver card, you got 45% off your entire purchase. Deal, right? And if you paid with cash you got 40% off. So Maggie, Will and I went after art class today. Wow was it crowded. I didn't have a stroller and William screamed at me most of the time because I wouldn't let him down to destroy all the displays. So while I was in baby gap I saw their stroller on display and decided it needed a test ride. I put Will in it, the stuff I was going to purchase on top and my bag of stuff that I needed to exchange on the handle bar (they wouldn't hold it for me behind the counter while I shopped because of "liability" issues). I start pushing the stroller (thinking that I am so smart to use theirs) and the lady behind the counter yells at me, "mam, mam you can't use that, it is for sale." I quickly looked back at her and said, "Yes, I know, I'm trying it out to see if I like it." She rolled her eyes and continued helping the 12 people that were in line. I used the stroller for a few more minutes, not nearly as long as I would have liked to, and then got Will out and hefted him and the clothes around for the remainder of my shopping trip.

I was pretty annoyed. This is the lady who is always working when I shop. She knows my kids names (sad, I know) and also knows that I actually buy things there at the regular prices. I am not a sale only kind of gal. It's not like I was going to walk out of the store with the stroller, I simply wanted to borrow it. And I'm pretty sure that I spend enough money there to justify the loan of a stroller for 15 minutes, so I could spend even more money at their store.

Moral of the story, sometimes a discount isn't worth the hassle. Be prepared. Why was my stroller not in my car? (another story for another time) And the GAP needs to work on their customer service a little bit.

LOVE Him

will 14 months

he says:

hi

mama

dada

puppy

pumpkin (pupin)

ball

kay

ba ba

go

(he says this a lot, especially when we are in the car)

he loves:

throwing balls (and lots of other things)

his blanket

peek-a-boo

to point, either with his own finger or the pointer stick he is holding above

dad

mom

grandpa bruce

i love that:

he squeezes between the cabinets and me and stretches out his arms so i will pick him up

he sleeps all night and until about 8:30 every morning

he likes the car

he loves to wrestle

his personality:

he's stubborn

but happy

he throws tantrums, throws things and yells when he doesn't get his way

he doesn't cry when he wakes up in the morning or from his naps,

mostly just yells for someone to come and get him

when he gets excited he stomps his feet like he is marching.

he likes to dance, which also includes stomping his feet