Ennie-mennie-minnie-mo

Ennie-mennie-minnie-mo catch a tiger by its toe....you know that game, right? We all played it when we were younger. The other day Jeff was trying to get the boys ready for the day and Cooper didn't want to pick out clothes to wear. In an effort to get Cooper to pick out something to wear, he taught Cooper this game as a fun way to pick out his clothes. Now, every day he plays this game while picking out his clothes. This has become a very long process, as Cooper has to play it while picking out his underwear, socks, shirt, and pants. Umm thanks Jeff for trying to be creative, but you have created an ennie-mennie-minnie-mo monster!

Sunbeam!

Cooper is now a Sunbeam! Where has the time gone? I have two in Primary now? I can't believe it. I remember when I blogged about Mason's first day in Primary and Cooper's first day in nursery. Cooper did really well, which is not not a surprise to me. He has been asking for about 6 months now if he can go to Primary, so when I told him he now gets to go AND that he gets to sing, he made a face kinda like this one:

Once he made that face I knew he would be great. Cooper's Grandma Meador is in Primary with him and she said that he helped out during one of songs/activities. I saw him in the hall on his way to class and he was doing great then too.

Christmas on New Years

On New Years day we celebrated Christmas with my family. Jeff had to work, so he was not able to be there, but me and the kids had a good time without him.

Mason and Cooper about to open their present.

They both got some new church shoes. I'm sure I was more excited then they were to get church shoes, because now I don't have to spend the money on some new ones.

Chunky...

is another nickname Shiloh is earning for herself. Her cheeks and thighs are filling out very nicely. I love love love chunky babies. Nothing better or cuter than a chunky baby to me. You can't see how chunky her cheeks are in these pictures, but Jeff thought her outfit was really cute on this day, so he got some pictures of her. I weighed her the day before these pictures were taken and she weighed 10 lbs 14ozs.

Resolutions

I am not one to make new years resolutions. I never have been. You would think I would be because I am a list maker and once I make a list, I commit myself to getting everything on my list done, and usually I do. I like to have a plan for everything, and I am not one to just do something on a whim. I also have a very practical side. I guess that is why I don't make new years resolutions because I know that most likely I will not stick with the resolution for an entire year, so why make one in the first place.

I am not against bettering ones self, I just know that saying, "My new years resolution is to run every day of the year" is not realistic for me. Maybe for some, but not me.

I do find myself contemplating my life every so often and thinking about how I can better myself. Here are a few things I am working on to better my self:

Before I got pregnant with Shiloh, I started to eat healthier and I also started to jog 3 days a week. I was doing really well with both the eating and jogging. Then the morning sickness kicked in and lasted 9 weeks. By the time the sickness was gone, I wasn't motivated to start jogging again, but I did continue to eat better. Right now I have 5 pounds left to loose to be back at my pre-pregnancy weight and some unsightly flab in the stomach area to firm up. I am going to start jogging again, and now that the holidays are over, I am going to try to eat better. I do really well with my meals, but I choose less than healthy snacks between meals, so healthier snacks it is.

Then there is my parenting....sometimes I feel like such a bad parent. I loose my patience and and raise my voice at my kids. I know what you are thinking, Crystyne...yell at her kids? Shocking right? Lately I have felt like a bad parent when Cooper has said to me, "Mom, you're a good mom, but sometimes you yell at us". Talk about feeling a foot tall. After Cooper said that to both me and Jeff a few times, it really hit home. About a month ago, Jeff and I were up late with Shiloh and we were talking about Cooper's less than flattering compliment. We both decided that we were going to try to be better parents, to not "loose our cool", to be more patient, and to spend more quality time with each of our kids. How are we doing? Well, Cooper now says, "Mom you are a good mom". That's it. No "but sometimes you yell at us"attached to the end. That truly is the best compliment he could give me. You know what they always say....out of the mouth of babes.

Last, I want to continue my education. I've wanted to do this for a long time, but it's never really felt like the right time. Our church just introduced a new program called the Pathway Program. It is for people just like me, between 18-30 years of age who have between 0 and 30 college credits completed. The program is designed to ease the student back into the learning environment by taking just 5 credits, each quarter, for the first year. Then after the first year, the student can apply to BYU-Idaho online and go on to receive their AA and then if they choose, their Bachelors. While keeping the cost of school low. Each credit only costs $65. If you know anything about the cost of college, you know that each credit usually costs twice as much, or much, much, more, if you do online schooling. Plus, there are no books to buy, since it is all online, no application fee, basically no other fees besides the $65 per credit. Well, I was accepted to the program and I start school this Thursday. I will have class every Thursday night, which will include a religion class and a group discussion for the online class. I am really excited to begin my college education! I just hope I will be able to focus on my school work. I've had a really hard time getting back in the grove of things after giving birth to Shiloh.

So I guess, in a way, depending on how you look at it, I have made new years resolutions, I just haven't put specific expectations on myself like "I will run for 30 minutes every day of the year". I just want to be a healthier person, a better parent to my kids, and well on my way to having a college education at the end of 2011.

People these days

The other day while at Lowes, a lady in her 70's came up to our cart, where Shiloh was in her car seat sleeping. The lady looked at Shiloh, then got right in Shiloh's face and said to Shiloh, "Oh little baby you want to wake up, don't you? Come on wake up". Jeff looked over at me to see what was going on and lost track of where the boys, who were running around in the kitchen design area. Realizing that the boys were no where in sight and wanting to get away from the lady, I then said to the lady, "No, no she doesn't, she likes her sleep". REALLY annoyed, I started to walk away. As I did, I heard the lady say, "Look at that little baby's ears, they are so small AND they area really close to her head, they don't stick out at all!" Was that meant to be a compliment?

I don't understand people.

Why do people think that just because you have a baby they have the right to stop you from doing what you are doing, just to gawk at your baby? Get in your baby's face. Touch your baby's face and/or hands?

I don't mind if people want to look at the baby, but PLEASE don't hold me up! I have two other children, who if I don't keep a close eye on could easily just keep on walking, thinking I am right behind them. Or in our case at Lowes, think it is fun to run around the different kitchen models.

I can think of several different occasions with all three of my children when I have had to ask people to not touch my baby's face/hands, or to back up out of the baby's face. I can think of a few time when someone has given me the creeps so bad that I have had to deliberately and very noticeably turn away from the person trying to touch my baby.

Maybe I am just way over sensitive. Does anyone else think people can be really insensitive? And to touching and in your baby's face?

Nicknames

Shiloh has several nicknames, here are the ones I can think of right now:

Shi girl
Shi -shi
Lo-lo
little miss
miss miss
missy miss
Shiloh Diloh (Cooper's nickname for her)
Chunky (because she is starting to chunk up)

Christmas Festivities

Christmas Eve Mason and Cooper helped me make cookies for Santa. Santa himself told me that his favorite cookies are my chocolate chip cookies.

Mason pouring the brown sugar in.

Cooper pouring the butter in.

Stirring in the flour.

One dozen ready for the oven.

We also made fudge for Santa, but I didn't get a photo of that.


After we made the cookies it was off to Great Grandpa and Grandma Long's house. Jeff had to work, so I took the kids by myself.

They each got a pillow pet from Great Grandpa and Grandma Long. Mason and Cooper couldn't have been happier. Shiloh was also so excited, can you tell? I was so happy Christmas Eve was finally here and they finally got their pillow pets. I knew that they were getting pillow pets and I am glad I did because every time we saw them in the stores Mason would ask for the bee and I would have to drag him away, telling him to wait to see if he got one for Christmas. If I hadn't known they were getting one for Christmas, I probably would have bought him one, just to make him happy. Once Mason had his pillow pet he went around the rest of the evening stinging anyone who was not smiling. I always made sure I was smiling when he saw me and so I never got stung. Most everyone else were not so lucky.


Once we got home from Grandpa and Grandma Long's house, we set out cookies and fudge for Santa and the boys were off to bed and asleep within minutes.
(Insert photo of cookies and fudge here....ok use your imagination...I forgot to take one...with all the craziness that normally comes with the Christmas season, add in a newborn, and sick kids, I am surprised I even got the cookies and fudge made.)


Christmas morning Mason and Cooper didn't wake up until 7:45. Shiloh was still asleep, so we let the boys open their presents without her. I was so impressed by our boys on Christmas morning. They were so polite and thankful. They thanked us for each present after they opened it. Cooper was epically cute. He would say, with tons of enthusiasm "WOW thanks! This just what I always wanted".

With their Santa presents.

Scooters!

Opening their stockings.

Cooper's Iron Man

Mason and Cooper both got nerf guns. I wasn't so sure about these...having darts all over the house, nerf wars all the time, being shot at for no reason. The boys love them and have had tons of fun with them already. I guess I'll have to get used to with having boys.

Our Secret Santa, or maybe a different Secret Santa, struck again. The day before Christmas Eve someone we go to church with called and said someone had dropped something off at her house for us and she wondered if she could come drop it off. When she got to our house she had tons of presents for us. Again I was shocked and speechless. Our Secret Santa REALLY must love us! They did way too much again. But they did great getting things our boys are 'in to". Mason and Cooper loved everything they got them!

Mason opening a present from our Secret Santa.

They both got another nerf gun. That was perfect because now Jeff and I can join them in their nerf gun wars!

Merry Christmas miss Shiloh!

When Shiloh woke up, both boys helped her open her presents.

She got an outfit from Santa.

And this play mate and an outfit from us.

She also got two outfits and a toy from our Secret Santa.


After we opened our presents, Jeff's parents and Grandpa and Grandma Long came over for breakfast and more presents from Jeff's parents.

Cooper with his Great Grandpa and Grandma Long.

Jeff and I got a new set of silverware from his parents. I am so happy they got us this! Our old set, I have had since I graduated high school and it was only an 8 place setting set, so we constantly ran out of silverware. Mason, Cooper and Shiloh with their Papa and Grandma Borders.


A little later in the day on Christmas we went to Jeff's Grandma Borders house. Here is Shiloh with her Great Grandma Borders. This was the first time Shiloh met her Great Grandma Borders.

Blessings

Mason and Cooper both had to go into the ER on Thursday, they both have upper respiratory infections. Mason has an ear infection and was slightly dehydrated. They both seem to be getting better each day. Shiloh as developed a cough. Thankfully no fever yet and she is still eating well. Lets pray she will not get any sicker. Then there's me... I must have pulled a muscle in my lower back. It's hard to move, epically in the evenings. Jeff? Well, he is OK for now, (knock on wood), lets pray nothing does happen to him!

One side effect of being sick for Mason is being very grumpy, rude, mean, and disrespectful. Last night you would have thought WW III was breaking out in our home. Mason was.....In. A. Mood. He threw a HUGE fit that lasted for a few hours. Disagreeing with anything and everything I did, said, or asked him to do. He yelled. He screamed. He hit. He kicked. He thrashed the toy room. Throwing toys. Kicking toys. Dumping everything on the floor. Fun times let me tell you. All while Jeff was out with Santa and the rest of the firefighters.

Today was a little bit of the same.

Even with all this craziness going on, we sure have been blessed.

6:15 tonight while finishing up dinner this is the conversation that happened between Mason and me.

Mason: Mom?
Me: Yeah Mason
Mason: I'm really tired, can I please go to bed?
Me: Sure Mason, finish your dinner, clear your plate from the table, then go get your pjs on.

By 6:50 both Mason and Cooper were in bed and falling fast asleep. (Hopefully the extra sleep with help them get over their infections.)

So I'm thinking early bed time for me too! Could my night get any better? Could I be more blessed right now? Nope.

Until... a few minutes after 7:00. I was in the kitchen, on the phone with Jeff telling him about the boys already being in bed. The door bell rings. I then told Jeff that someone was at the door. I went to the front door, looked out the peep hole, nobody there. So I went to the window to look from there, thinking maybe it's a little kid, nobody there. I told Jeff that no one was at the door, but that I was going to open it anyway....maybe someone was doing a "secret Santa" kinda thing. When I openyh the door, I found a red envelope that said "Merry Christmas". I picked it up, opened it, opened the card, and found a large sum of cash inside. I then told Jeff what was inside. His response was "What? Are you serious?"

I don't think it has hit me yet....I can't believe someone would care that much about us, to want to, AND to actually help us out like that. I really don't know what to say. I am still so shocked. I don't know if the person who did this read my blog, but if you do, THANK YOU! You truly are an amazing person. I hope that if you are ever in need that someone will care enough about you to do the same as you have done for us.

I now know how those people who go through hard times and get up during Fast and Testimony meetings and talk about how blessed they have been, in ways they would have never expected, but in ways they needed none the less. How they just got unexpected amounts of money. Checks in the mail.....money dropped off anonymously.....insurance money they were not expecting....and the list goes on. I have always thought about how wonderful it must have been for "those" people to receive blessings like that. But I've never thought something like that would ever happen to me. I guess I never thought I was worthy enough to receive blessings like that, or that my Father in Heaven was that aware of my needs. I have been reminded by my Father in Heaven this week that I am worthy to receive blessings from him, that he loves me, and is aware of my needs and does everything in his power to take care of me. Not only were we blessed by someones unselfish act tonight, but earlier this week we got a check from our mortgage company because we had more money than is allowed in our escrow account and Jeff's work gave him a gift certificate to Rosauers. I am so grateful for that reminder from my Father. Thank you again who ever did this for us tonight.

And our biggest blessing of all:Funny how the biggest blessing of all can come in the smallest packages! Can I just say that I love this little girl so much?! OK I did.

Santa

Last night Jeff (and the other firefighters) got to go out with Santa to see the kids in the neighborhood. Mason, Cooper, and Shiloh got to see him before they left.

Family

We sure are going to miss these guys!

This is Jeff's one and only brother Steve, his wife Tricia, and their girls Ashley, Megan, and Hannah. Steve joined the Army back in June. In June he left for boot camp. Straight from boot camp he went to tech school. He graduated tech school a month ago, and after almost a month of delays, he FINALLY came home late Thursday night. Yesterday we got together with Steve and family and Jeff's parents before they leave for Georgia on Tuesday morning. While we were all together, we took some pictures. I believe the last picture we have of all of us together is from our wedding almost 8 years ago!

Jeff's parents, Curtis and TeresaThe "original" Borders family

Brothers

See! Jeff gets his craziness from his side of the family. He tries to say he wasn't cray until he met me. I've never believed him, and now I have proof!
The "original" Borders family, with the two better parts, the daughter-in-laws.
Now with the six grand kids! Can you tell that the Borders' genes are very strong?

Grand kids with their Papa and Grandma


And of course we all had time to love on the newest addition....and to play....I think if they were not moving so far away, Megan would have moved in with us, just to hold Shiloh all the time. She would have soon realized that I don't share my baby well (never have with any of them). Just ask Mason. He is constantly asking to hold her. I tell him "in a minute", with not much intention of really giving her up. I'm sure Jeff would side with Mason on this one.
Shiloh with her Uncle Steve
Hannah the Knight
Slam dunk Coop!
Dr. Ashley with her patient, Cooper

What if....

I just love this picture of Cooper with Jeff's dad Curtis. What I don't love is what Cooper was asking him. I don't remember exactly what he was asking, but I do know it was a question that started with "What if". This is all we hear from these boys lately! What if a peanut butter ate a peanut butter? What if we were peanut butter? What if we ate this? What if we did that? What if, what if what if...
I would be one happy mommy if I never heard a "what if" question again. I know that will never happen though, so I guess I better get over it and be happy anyway.

Shiloh's quilt

Shiloh's quilt is done! If you remember, I picked out the material I wanted for Shiloh's bedding and asked my sister DeAnne if she would help me. She agreed. We, well, she got the skirt and the quilt pieces done before Shiloh was born. She took the quilt with her to the Tri-Cities to finish it. Someone she knows down there offered to quilt it for her for free. DeAnne came up to Spokane this week and brought the quilt with her. I love it. It is just what I wanted for my little miss Shiloh!

What I love about newborns

WOW! Shiloh is already one month old! Can you believe it? Yeah me neither. I really don't have anything "new" Shiloh is doing so I thought I'd post the things I love about newborns. Someone else posted the things they love about babies and I thought it was a great idea. Please comment and add the things you love too.

-The way they stretch when they wake up, arching their back and stretching their arms WAY out.
-The glazed over, almost drunk look they get one their face after nursing.
-The milk mustache/beard.
-Getting a good burp out of them after feedings.
-The noises they make while sleeping. Shiloh makes more noise while sleeping then she does when awake. No joke.
-The way they smell, esp after a bath.
-That they know their mom's voice from day one and will turn their head in the direction for their mom's voice.
-Their tiny toes.
-Their tiny hands.
-Well their tiny everything.
-They way they snuggle up on your chest and fall asleep.
-Their helpless little cry when they are hungry.
-Their soft skin.
-The first time they smile. And every smile after that too.
-Snuggling them.
-I love how perfect they are.
-I love thinking about how they just came to earth, just leaving the presence of our Father in Heaven.
-I love how much closer I feel to my Father in Heaven just after having a baby.

What do you get...

when you spend a whole day downtown with your kindergartner?

One tired Daddy and a little girl who missed him.