So, I am doing okay and I am still alive. Jaxon has apparently developed some colic, upset stomach, a Reagan or all of the above and cries way too much for me to handle. I have tried every trick in the book to no avail. People tell me it will improve but I see no end in sight or hearing. The parade oh homes is over and went well. It has been really busy but it is slowing down for a minute. We are however going to attempt to finish up on our own house. I have some new pictures and some funny stories.

One day I was helping Reagan say the prayer before bed and this is how it went:

Mom: Say Heavenly Father
R: Father
M: thanks for this day
R: Day
M: help us sleep good
R: sleep good
M: bless us to be patient and kind
R: bless mom be patient

I stopped and had to laugh a little before i finished. I thought wow, I must be really bad.

I cut Reagans hair the other day. It is a little uneven but oh well. So the pictures are of Reagan's thigh highs aka my socks, and one day I had finished sewing a outfit for Reagan and she wanted to put it on. So she did and sat on the piano marilyn style. Sorry for the punctuation, this is a one hand typed blog.

I am still Here!

So I am still alive. And I think I might even make it. I am getting exceptionally good at typing, making a bottle, and eating all with one hand. I make several trips to the bathroom daily while holding a baby (for Reagan that is), and can manage to rock two kids at the same time and get them into bed still while holding both of them.

We are incredibly busy right now doing children and Parade of Homes. That starts this week so we are getting everything wrapped up. I still have decorating to do and it will be done on Wednesday or before 10 am on Thursday. It will be nice to have it all done and then maybe we can relax and go to a few Boise State games or at least Brian can go.

Yesterday, Jaxon got blessed. I thought he was going to scream through the entire thing but he didn't. He had been screaming all week long, that is why I thought that. It is hard to find a blessing outfit for a boy and then one that fits. Well the fitting was the hard part. Everything was so huge on the sparrow boy so on Saturday at 10 pm I was taking it in on the shirt and vest and shortening the sleeves. I got to the pants and didn't have any energy to do it so I rolled the top down and the bottom up. It still looked big but it worked and that is all that matters. We had dinner at our house afterwards. I am surprised that he doesn't really cry more for all the things that Reagan does to him he just takes it. Every so often he will let out a wail when she tries to shove the binky in his mouth as she squeezes his head. "She yikes him" she says.

So I am managing and will still probably be managing in 20 years when they are out of the house. Now if only I could get some more sleep I might even do better than manage.

Here are some new pictures.

He is a long boy if you are wondering why I posted that picture of him stretched out.

5 minutes PEACE!

So I have 2 children now and I am out of my mind. I don't get anything done all day long. Sometimes I am lucky enough to get a shower in. I try to every now and again so I don't smell too bad. It seems like just as one kid stops bawling the other starts and that is how my days go now and probably for the rest of my life. I probably should read my previous post on Why we become mothers a few times a day to get through the day. My sister took new pictures of Jaxon of I have yet to have time to look at them let alone to post them on my blog. Someday soon when I have a semblance of normalcy I will. Don't wait though, I am not sure when that will come.

Reagan has been a stinker since the baby came. She has to be in the middle of everything. She rides him like a horse, tips the carseat over with him in it, pokes his head, squeezes his feet you name it, she does it. The poor boy doesn't seem to mind too much. Every now and again he will let out a wail. She sure does like him though. The other day as I was helping her say prayers at night, I said say "please help us to be patient" she said "please mom be patient". It makes me feel like such a great mom when your 2 yr old prays for you to be patient. She has been waking up for like 2 hours at night and won't go back to sleep, so last night Brian told her that if she stayed in her bed all night long and didn't get out he would get her a snow cone. Today she woke up and ran into the living room and said "snowcone"! She was excited. We are also learning she has an excellent memory.

Since I haven't posted pictures and you would like to see some go to the side of my blog and click on Petunia that will take you to my sisters blog and you can view some there. I will try to get it done in the next week or two when I have 5 minutes peace. That is also a book 5 minutes peace. Read it if you have children, it will all make sense.

He is Here!

Jaxon Clegg Crandall is here. Yeah! I know that everyone wants to see pictures so here are a few. I will post more and really post soon.

Why We Become Mothers

We become mothers for a variety of reasons I guess. Sometimes as I go throughout my day and have a zillion things go wrong or worse think I am crazy, I wonder why I signed up for this thing called motherhood.

You find out you are pregnant and you and your husband are elated. It is exciting to have a baby. The moment you first feel it kick or that you find out if you are having a boy or girl. What is there not to be excited about. Nothing. You didn't think about how the baby was actually going to get out of the womb and then nobody tells you anything about the after effects of having the baby. You know what I am talking about, the weight gain, trying to shed the weight gain, breastfeeding, getting no sleep, trying to figure out if the baby is hungry or just exactly why it is crying and don't even let me get started on the hormone changes your body decides to go through at this time too. It is pure bliss.

As months go by you think you have the hang of this baby thing. You pride yourself on being able to get 6 hours of sleep or even better go throughout the day with less sleep and try not to be too ornery. That is just when it begins. No one tells you will become the person that takes away their bottle, their precious and most loved binky, their blanket if they happen to have one, change them from a crib to a bed, and yes potty train them. The bottle, I could do. It seemed to be a fairly easy transition to deal with, even the bed wasn't that bad, the binky on the other hand it is a little bit harder. They get so attached to it. It is the equivalent to mountain dew for some people or perhaps a cigarette for others. I mean, we all have our vices, we just don't realize what they are to us until we have to give them up.

I decided to potty train today so we left somewhere and came back and took a nap and after that we put panties on which was about 4pm. Well, at 8 pm we had already gone through 4 additional pairs of panties and it doesn't seems to phase her too much. I have kept my patience though. Tomorrow is another day and we will start again. Motherhood.

So anyway, my point in all of this is that we didn't sign up for all of these other things that we have to do along the way. But at the end of the day, I get to look at the most beautiful thing as I put her to bed 2 hours late because she won't stay in bed. And the minute they hand you your newborn baby in the hospital that moment is a moment you will never forget how you felt. Just like Heavenly Father said, I never said it would be easy, it will be worth. Jesus Christ gave his life for us and it was worth it to him to make that sacrifice for me. Motherhood may not be easy, but is always worth it. It is so pleasing to me every time my daughter does something that I know I have taught her or when she turns around and has two binkies stuffed in her mouth, or when she really does want to hold your hand to walk across the street, or when she says please and thank you. Even though several times a day I think it will just be a few more days before they admit me to the nut house I become a mother because that is my divine role, because these are the moments that I have waited for, and because I love it.

Pictures

I will write later but here are some pictures.

Are we Crazy?

I wonder that same question several times a day I think. Sometimes I think that we are more than crazy, just plain insane. I was just watching out our front window at the concrete spilling into the forms and can hear the nail guns shooting nails to hang the trusses on the garage. This morning I got everything submitted for entry to a Parade of Homes that will be in September. As if having a baby is not enough we have to add into the mix some remodeling, a parade of homes that needs decorating, a new garage, yard work and whatever other great and fabulous idea I have. Sometimes I think it would have been easier to just build a new house. And we will someday anyway. But whatever pain it causes, mostly mental, I am very grateful that we are capable of doing these things.

Since Reagan has been in a big bed I have decided that it is a similar transition to having a new baby. It takes a while for them to go to sleep and just when you yourself have drifted into sleep you hear crying or falling off the bed. You sleep for a few hours only to hear crying again, except this time it is 5:30 in the morning and she is awake for the day. So instead of pregnancy waking me up to go to the bathroom I can just rely on Reagan to adjust my sleeping schedule for a new baby. How delightful. This morning at 5:30 when she was sneaking into our bedroom, Brian went to pick her up and she started laughing thinking it was a game. She had her shoes on was ready to play. Yesterday is was 3:30 am that she had her shoes on. So Brian went to get in bed with her and I think he fell asleep but she didn't. So I think I need to pay a visit to the fabric store to make some blackout shades and something else for her toys and shoes maybe to go in outside of her room. What a goof!

Yesterday, Reagan was lovey dovey more than usual. Sometimes I whisper in her ear, I love Reagan and yesterday she was shoving her ear to my mouth and saying I love Reagy. That is what she calls herself. We are not sure where she got that from, but if she sees a picture of herself she points and says Reagy. At some time in the near future I will get some new pictures up of our house, my headboard that I made, and of course Reagan.