Daddy time-outs

The other day while in the waiting room of my doctor's office, I was pretending to be involved with reading one of those lame magazines they have on the table. But I was really eavesdropping on the family across from me. (People-watching is probably one of my most favorite things to do.) The mom was with her little 2 year old boy for quite a while before the husband showed up. The little boy had been running up and down this hallway and playing around, having a good time. It's hard for 2 year olds to wait for doctors, you know. The mom was fine with it, and would watch him and occasionally call him back over by her to settle down a bit. No big deal. Then the dad showed up and within a couple minutes, the boy was off his lap, running up and down the hall again. The dad told him to come back and sit down. He didn't immediately obey him, probably because he had been doing it for a long time before dad showed up. So the dad declared a time-out and held him firmly on his lap. The mom was kindly trying to explain how she had been letting him do that and didn't think it was a big deal. The dad says, "well he should have at least listened to me". I wanted to laugh right out loud, but I was pretending not to notice anything. I just thought it was so ironic how sometimes that's exactly what happens in our family. I guess moms can't really demand perfection from their kids because first of all, it's unrealistic. Second of all, they would all probably spend the entire day in time-out. Nor do we have the energy and time to be constantly disciplining them. I always feel like dads should have an ample amount of patience for the kids when they come home, and sort of help relieve the mom. But it rarely turns out that way. I'm not putting Kenny down by any means, he is a fabulous father. I just have to laugh when dads think little kids should be perfectly obedient, submissive, and reverent at all times. Or maybe I'm wrong, and should expect perfection from kids. Let it be said that I do indeed put my kids in time-out, and they do have bad consequences for bad actions. I guess I just pick my battles, instead of trying to fight every single one. So is it just me and the lady at the doctor's office? Or does this scenario happen to anyone else??

Where is August going?

I just saw that the last time I blogged was 10 days ago. What is happening to this month? The days just keep going by, and I'm glad about that. I am looking forward to feeling well and energetic again. But life hasn't slowed down too much, let's be honest. The past two weeks have been full. There's this Tae Kwon Do place nearby where Ty did the free trial class (actually we smuggled 2 free classes out of them because he hated the first one so much). Then he was in love with it and so we signed up for the great deal they have right now, 2 weeks worth of classes for $30. So they have classes for his age group Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, and Saturday, but we didn't go to that either week. Now we are trying to decide if he will stay in it or not. It's pretty expensive each month, and the times of classes are the worst! They're at 4:30 on T, Th or 6:00 p.m. on M, W. So I doubt it. But he loves it so much and he looks so stinkin cute in the little uniform. I hope we get to keep it. I think it would be a really good thing for him to do, just maybe not this year. We did sign him up for soccer though, which starts in Sep. and he's very excited about that.

I also had Young Womens on Tuesdays, which is fun. Last Saturday I went to the YM/YW Stake Activity. And this past Thursday I got to sit in on a missionary lesson with a family that's being re-activated, and they're adopting a Mia Maid so that's why I went. It was a neat experience, the first time I've been to one like that. Bummer that I missed out on my friend Amy's baby shower that night.

Playgroups are on Thursday mornings, and we had dinner at the O'Neil's house a couple Sundays ago. I just love Loni. Friday was a ward family game night. We made cupcakes and everything and had our games all planned out. But my head hurt so bad I couldn't hardly sit up, and the girls were ornery so we stayed home. Today we went swimming with the Critchlow's again. Kenny and Mark work together, Amy and I are good friends, and our kids play well together. They're also in our ward. I love having a pool. I still can't believe how cool it is here. It's pretty cold when you get out of the water, really not swimming weather but we keep going anyway.

But this past Wednesday was a big day!! WE GOT A TRAMPOLINE! (see above) It has been fabulous already. I think Tyler is the most excited about it, and I think it is the best thing for him anyway. We were debating between a playground/swing set thing or a trampoline, but a tramp is much easier to move. Plus I think it gets used more. So that's been a lot of fun for the kids (and therefore for me too :). ) Also on Wednesday, MADI STARTED CRAWLING!!! I absolutely love that I am home to witness all those first things. Kenny got to (sort of) witness it via cell phone, cuz I was talking to him when she did it haha. Hopefully this will help her lose a few rolls :).

My parents are in Prague right now picking up my brother Jeff from his mission. My dad already set him apart in the hotel (isn't it handy to be a member of the Stake Presidency in times like those?). They're just enjoying touring around and I think Jeff loves showing off the area and people he loves so much even more. We got to Skype with them today and it was so fun to see him! He can't believe how grown up my kids are, and he saw Madi for the first time. I do love technology :).

Friday I went to my first doctor's appointment. Kenny got off work early to come because he loves to see the ultrasounds. Which meant he brought all the kids in that little office with him. Which equals craziness. But Ty and Bryn liked seeing the little baby in there and everything looks great! Measuring exactly on with how far along I am, and good strong heartbeat. I didn't love my doctor, and am thinking about switching. It's just so foreign for such a young couple to have so many kids, and the usual response is that we must not know what we're doing. Her comments after Kenny and the kids left about her wanting to "help inform me about all the various forms of birth control and contraceptives, maybe even something permanent..." Yeah I know we're crazy. I can understand it from her eyes. She looks at my chart, I'm 24, and this is my 4th child. Surely I just don't know how to stop getting pregnant. If I had any guts I would have said something to her about how I'm not just ignorant, but we actually do love kids and want them in our home. It's hard for other people to understand, and I have a hard time dealing with their reactions/opinions.

After I had Madison, I kept getting the impression that another child would be joining our family soon. I would bring it up to Kenny often and say, maybe I feel that way because Madi is such a good baby, or because I'm not nursing her, or some other reason. But then I got pregnant, and yes it caught us off guard. But I have had some powerful confirmations that this is right. This is what is supposed to happen and this baby is meant to come to our family at this time. I am grateful that the Spirit has given me that reassurance, because it's not easy now, and it's certainly not going to be easy later. And what I probably struggle with even more than just handling the kids, is that I know what other people think, and I see how they judge me. I know that's silly, and other people's opinions should be my last concern. But it's something I struggle with every day.

Okay so I wasn't meaning to just write that all down. But things are going well here in the Weston household. I'll try to take more pictures for the next post and not ramble so much.

Car Wash

Today was gorgeous. Who's ever heard of August having 70-75 degree weather? We're not complaining. We spent the morning eating french toast, dancing to music, going on a walk, and vacuuming (and scrubbing) out the atrocious van. Then we decided to give all the toy cars a wash. So I filled up some bowls and a bucket with water and dish soap--because you can never go wrong with water and bubbles. I think the kids ended up getting more wet than the cars. But it was a hit.

The morning completely did me in and I'm sorry to say that this afternoon has not been much fun at all. Darn pregnancy sucking out all my energy. But back to the happy parts of the day... :) Obviously the kids loved it. And I think those cars needed a little soaking too. Perhaps tomorrow we'll do the plastic animals?

Videos

The one above was for our 5-year anniversary (I made it back in April) but I couldn't figure out how to put the music on. Kenny showed me yesterday so I was able to finish it. That, and we finally have our own computer back. The one below is of our pictures when I went to California with my sister, Steph and her 3 kids. Once again, I was waiting on having our computer, and figuring out music. Good thing Kenny knows more than me or all my projects would be halfway done.

Our 5 Lives

This is our cute little house. I think it's about 1700 sq. ft. It's amazing how long it is taking us to get totally settled. I'm still working on getting things up on the walls, etc. Saturday was once again spent just "getting things done", other than the couple hours Kenny was gone helping a guy from work (and the ward) move. It pretty much takes up all our time. But we're getting there.

I just had to throw this picture in. Brynlee sharing her apple with Madi (who finished it off for her). Don't mind the bag of frozen veggies on the walker. I was trying to make dinner, and she is teething and especially ornery so the noisy, cold bag was fun for her to chew on.

Our sweet little Michelin baby. Madison is 8 months old now and as cute and rolly as can be. She just won't stop teething, it's ridiculous. She's got two more on the top coming in, which will make 8. She's about to crawl any day now. She pushes up real well onto her hands and knees, but only rocks or goes backwards so far. She rolls and scoots and squirms to get around, it's pretty cute. She has figured out to scream and/or growl really loud if her siblings are bugging her. If she's not noisy, it probably goes unnoticed.

Our beautiful Brynlee is always dressing up. This morning she was sporting her snow white dress, rain boots and a pirate hat. Right now she's in a skeleton costume. Every morning she says, "I wanna wear a princess", which is a dress. She loves to be a "pretty princess" and I'm pretty sure she's aware of how cute she is. I love hearing her talk in complete sentences. Although, unless you really pay attention you might not have any idea what she's saying. She loves to ride her little bike, carry around teeny tiny toys and stuffed animals all day long, and keeps us on our toes with her big attitude. She can also be an absolute angel, it just depends :).

Tyler is still very into animals and always spouting off facts about various animals throughout the day. He's very inquisitive and loves to learn. The picture below is of his shoe-tying "skills". He insists on doing it himself sometimes. Luckily only his church shoes have laces. The funniest part is how it stayed put the whole day. Somehow all is looping and knotting worked and it didn't come undone. I hear really good feedback about how reverent he is during primary, and that makes me glad. He has recently started taking Tae Kwon Do classes, and I think it's going to be a really good thing for him. We're still trying to find solutions to his flapping. I've been reading different books and what not, but I don't think it's anything that will go away anytime soon. And that's okay. He has the most thoughtful prayers, it's so sweet to hear him. He always thinks about other people.

Kenny and I are doing well also. I'm still feeling awful the majority of the day. I like night because at least I'm not aware of how I feel when I'm asleep. I got called as the 1st counselor in Young Womens yesterday. I think that's going to be a huge time commitment for not just me, but my family too. Kenny's going to have to fill in a lot for me at home, but he's very willing and able so it'll be fine. He just got called yesterday as the sunday school teacher for the 12 and 13 years olds. He's glad to be interacting again with the youth, as he misses that. His job is going well. Not his dream job by any means, but it does provide for our family and he always does a great job at whatever's asked of him.

Our June Surprise

There's no sense messing around so I'm just going to drop this bomb.

I'm pregnant.

No, I'm not kidding. First we were shocked, then extremely scared and worried, and now we're very excited, but still kind of nervous. I'm 9 weeks along, and the due date is about March 7th. I have yet to find a doctor here, but I'll get on that in the next few weeks. So Madi and this next little one (which Tyler swears is a boy) will be barely 15 months apart, depending on what day this one comes. Madi was born on Dec. 5th, so we'll see.

It has definitley been that extra challenge over the last couple months. Moving is hard, with little kids and a baby it's even harder, and being sick and pregnant on top of that makes it my limit. But I will say that I haven't been nearly as sick this time as I have been with my previous pregnancies, and I know that is a blessing from the Lord. I have no doubt that I have been strengthened and sustained. Not only that, but Kenny has been amazing and I've grown to love and appreciate him even more.

So 4 kids in 5 years...ready or not here we go!