July 2014

The  Last  2  Weeks  Of  July

·      The last 2 weeks has gone by in a flurry it seems.  Ryan is crazy busy at work these days.  He works on average 11 hour days.  So we don’t see him too much, but it makes us really grateful for the time we do get to spend with him.  Ryan is also doing really well at work, which I am so happy about.  His boss and the Vice President of the company have been talking to him and telling him how glad he’s there and how he’s done a great job.  Ryan has really helped the company a lot since being there and has increased their rating/standing internationally.  We are so very proud of him!

·      Ryan and Nik like to go out to the park after dinner during the week.  We all love it (for different reasons), and lately they come home with lightning bugs.  We like to watch them light up.  They are still pretty magical to us, since we’ve never been around something like that.

·      I think Nik is starting to either like baking, or he just wants to eat the baked goods.  He has been asking to make all sorts of goodies, which is rather fun and a little challenging for me sometimes.  He does really well at mixing and dumping ingredients, and he loves it.  He hasn’t really graduated to cracking eggs, but maybe I will get brave and let him do it when I’m sure we wont get little eggshell bits in the food.  We have made cinnamon rolls, cookies and cupcakes.  Mmmm.

·      Rio 2 came out on DVD and since we haven’t seen it, we decided to buy it and throw a fun movie party.  Our friends the Nemelkas came, and it was super fun.  I was crazy tired and didn’t know how I was going to host a party, but it turned out good.  We didn’t really watch the movie.  I think we all just wanted to talk and laugh and play.  The kids were so excited to be together they couldn’t hold still and only wanted to run around and pull out every single toy we own (figures).

·      We also finally decorated our house.  I have been putting it off because I wanted to get everything moved in and clean before pulling it all out.  But I went over to a friends house and she had her house so cute, it inspired me to go home and get to work.  I have to say that since doing it, it has made our home seem more ours and much more peaceful.  I love to decorate!

·      Since having Ian, I knew the day would come where my hormones would go crazy, and I would start to shed hair like an animal.  I kept waiting for this to happen, but was pleasantly surprised when it didn’t.  I was starting to feel really lucky that I still had nice thick hair.  Uggg.  What was I thinking?!  There is no escaping the ugly reality of post pregnancy hormones.  So I am shedding.  And I’m not just talking a little here people.  I am talking gobs and gobs of hair!  It’s actually a little alarming.  Every time I brush my hair, it amazes me that I even still have hair.  Hopefully it will end soon, and until then I guess the vacuum will be my BFF.

·      The missionary spirit is pretty strong out here, and we love it.  We have started to have the missionaries over to dinner every other week.  I want my kids to be surrounded and be inspired by missionary work.  I figure having the missionaries will help us in small ways to prepare them to serve missions someday, as well as help us help the missionaries in any way we can.  It’s been really fun.  The first time we did it, I forgot about the rule about needing Ryan here for the Elders to come in.  They came early and unfortunately were forced to sit outside our house until Ryan came home.

·      It really shouldn’t surprise me how quickly Nik can get into something when I turn my back, but it does.  The other day we bought some fun window markers at the store and were being artistic on our kitchen windows.  It is actually really fun.  Nik was doing a great job drawing one eyed monsters and robots on the windows.  Ian needed to be changed, so naturally I left telling Nik I would be back.  I think I was gone maybe all of 2 minutes.  I come back to find Nik hiding in the corner, like he had been punished and been forced to go to the corner.  He wouldn’t turn around, and with good reason I discovered.  When I could finally convince him to turn around (apparently my child knows my aversion to getting dirty.  Smart kid.), I discovered the reason for his evasiveness.  My child had colored his face with bright markers.  Awesome!  In that moment I asked myself if I should get upset, or take the high road and laugh about it.  So I laughed.  Nik was so surprised he just stood there looking at me like I was crazy.  Finally he joined in the fun and laughed too.  We decided to take a picture to remember it by.  I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it washed off.

·      Freshly Ironed clothes are awesome.  They are a thing of beauty, a thing of perfection.  As I stand and look at 34 freshly ironed business shirts of my husbands, I cant help but feeling proud.  I mean I can’t be the only one right?  Its not that I don’t like to iron.  Its just that in my already long list of things to do, ironing happens to land pretty far from the top.  So when I do get it done, I am proud of my achievements and love to just look at all those pretty things.  I even become a little protective of my ironing.  So when Ryan puts one on for work, I panic just a little and think to myself “what are you doing?!  You can’t wear that!  You are going to wrinkle it and I will have to fix it again!”  I think I must have some issues.

·      I don’t quite know how moms do it.  Yes I am a mom.  But I look at the moms who do things with their kids all the time.  It seems like they fill every day with activities and events.  It makes me feel like I am not being a good mom.  You see, I am not one of those people who feel the need to fill every minute of my day.  I like to be at home with those I love.  So when I witness moms and kids looking like they are crazy active and having a great time, I think gosh, I should try to do that.  So I try and do it.  Then I am reminded of why I  am not one of those moms.  It is stressful and busy and I feel unbalanced when I try it.  I don’t know about the rest of the moms out there, but I like my sanity.  For example:

I decided to take the kids shopping the other day.  We were all ready to go.  Everyone’s tummy’s were full and smiles aplenty.  I know that I only have a limited time to get us to the stores before Ian freaks on us.  He hates his car seat because it forces him to sit rather than let him be board straight.  So, I’m zipping us through traffic as best as I can, and we arrive at the store without anything bad happening.  Awesome!  Shopping wasn’t even that bad.  For the first 10 minutes that is.  Nik decides to run all over the place, and Ian decides Shopping is not his thing.  (So much for my grand idea.)  So I gather the kids and we go on a little walk.  As we are leaving I put the kids in their seats, and hurry to go, when my kids decide to freak, just minutes from departing.  We are stuck in traffic.  I’m stuck.  I can’t move forward, I can’t pull off.  I can’t help Ian and I can’t help Nik.  So Ian is screaming, and I am so worried he will stop breathing at any moment (I was totally praying the whole time), and Nik is crying and screaming too, while covering his ears and closing his eyes.  He kept yelling that he hates the sound of Ian crying.  Oh great.  What should have taken us only 15 minutes to get home, took 30 minutes.  Our trip home was filled with crying, tears, tantrums, screaming, sweat, dread, cursing and a lot of prayers.  So I probably looked like a crazed woman driving in my car, and received some weird looks.  But hey, if you were in my situation you would probably be a little crazy too.

So lets just say that I was so glad to get home, and it made me grateful to know that I don’t feel like I need to be one f those busy moms.  I like my sanity thank you very much.