"I haf go outside and wook for Jezis.  He not talking to me in da howse"

Two months

I'm not going to say that "I can't believe he's already two months old", not because it is so beyond cliche that it's coming back in style, but because I honestly can't believe this kids isn't 6 months old already.  These past 2 months have gone by much slower than I had expected and I can't even remember what pre-Ryder life was like, besides, he is such a little chunk and looks like he should be 6 months old :).  He weighed in at 13 lbs 14 oz (75%) and was just shy of 25 inches (90%) at his appointment.  He really is a dream baby, he slept 11 1/2 hours the night of my birthday, his gift to me, and has been going 9-12 hours strong ever since.  He is so content to just sit all day, rotating between the swing, bumbo, bed and bouncy chair (that Maddox sat in and broke and is now jimmy-rigged with duck tape), and he has a flat head to prove it. I really do feel guilty about that one. He has the cutest smile and melts my heart right into a puddle, I couldn't ask for a better baby.  I don't know what I would do, or what mental facility I would be located in right now, if he was difficult.  I won't lie, it was hard.  I never really thought I had the baby blues that bad, but looking back I was a mess.  He's almost 3 months old as I'm writing this and I've come such a long way.  It's nice to finally be able to say that I enjoy being a mom again, there were days when I really struggled with that.  I remember hearing a celebrity say one time that the only thing she wants in life is for her kids to know that every day she loved being a mother.  Of course she had a live-in nanny, full time house cleaner and personal chef, but that's beyond the point.  I really do hope that despite the hard days and the times that I lose my mind, my kids will know that more than anything I really do love being their mom and am so grateful for each one of my four blessings that make my crazy world complete!

Birthday interview

Favorite...

food: Ramen noodles and Veggie Straws
TV show: Scooby doo
game: UNO
toy: Pirates of the Carribean Wii game, legos and Monkey Quest on the computer
thing to do with the family: go to the movies
thing about being 6: going on mommy and daddy dates
thing about being 7: not being the youngest in my class
book: Star wars
best friends: Jax, Tanner Y., Tanner M., Reed, Kosty, Josh, Ethan, Sam, Alizain and Landon ("do I have to say my family?" "yes" "okay, my family too")
what you want to be when you grow up: a policeman, but not an astronaut because I might shoot past the moon and get lost in space forever

A few of my favorites about Jayden is that he never steps on a crack because he doesn't want to break my back. He has strategies for everything, like only picking girls during heads up 7up, because he knows they won't guess him.  He makes friends by showing them his white eyes. He can build anything with legos. He thinks breadsticks are better than ice cream. He has gotten 100% on every spelling and phonogram test in the past 2 years. He loves leftover night because he can pick anything he wants for dinner. He learned to tie his shoes. He is so responsible with his homework, bedtime and getting ready in the mornings. He would do anything for a bribe. He can be such a sweet gentleman to me. He plays so cute with Maddox and Kylie (when he wants too :). You are such a special boy, Jayden and we're so happy you're in our family! Happy 7th birthday!

Just another day

I loved this idea on iheartfaces.com to document your day with photographs (which would have been a heck of a lot easier if I had an iphone, whipping out the Cannon in the middle of Wal-mart isn't exactly discreet). Birthdays and vacations are great memories but so are those insignificant moments that make up our daily lives.  Like Ryder's smile when I get him out of bed in the morning; or how Fridays are Kylie and Jayden's favorite day of the week because they get to buy a lunch instead of making one and because it means ice-cream truck day for all 9 of the kids crammed in our carpool; or how Jayden obsesses over the gas gage everytime he gets in the car; or how Ryder's peppermint lotion is my favorite smell in the world; or my morning ritual of checking my email while eating breakfast and losing my appetite when people post about bodily functions on their fb status; or Maddox watching morning cartoons with his "new snuggles", cup of milk, bag of cereal and entourage of treasures (baby Thomas, 2 quarters, giraff, blue bus, purple ball and the now one-legged "Big Red"); or how Maddox can't go to Wal-mart without getting his free cookie; or how it made me sad to donate all Ryder's newborn clothes before weighing him in at almost 14lbs at his 2 month visit; or how during naptime Maddox sneaks into Kylie's room, dumps out her garbage can then uses it as a stool to raid her piggy bank; or how I look forward to after school snack time and hearing about their day, or how Kylie eats, drinks and sleeps dance and I love hearing her sing Selena Gomez in the shower; or Jayden busting out his homework the minute he walks in the door (anything for more computer and tv time), but Kylie is a different story; or how Jayden prefers watching tv upside down; or how Maddox asks to "pet baby Ryder's head" atleast 15 times a day; or how it has become a tradition to get Papa Johns every time that Jason comes home from a business trip; or how Maddox asks for "just one" juice box about 5 times throughout the day and uses the stool to get it after I tell him no; or how I love snuggling up reading bedtime stories and Jayden thinks it's such a treat to read in my bed so he doesn't keep Maddox up; or how I love "talk time" with Kylie and Jayden and how I equally love finally kicking my feet up at the end of the night. I couldn't believe how many pictures I had of us doing nothing, but some of these pictures are my new favorites. Here is how our random, insignificant Tuesday went down...

The suite life of Kylie and Jayden (and Maddox. and Ryder. and Mom. and Dad)

I have a love/hate relationship with Jason's job. I feel like PWC is the other woman in Jason's life, we are both constantly competing for his attention.  His mistress whisks him away to exotic locations like New York, Boston, San Francisco and Provo, Utah.  She wines and dines him at Ruth's Chris while all I have to offer is a casserole served on Ikea plates. She's his sugar mama, but I can't complain too much when she funds my Target and Costa Vida habit.  She does make him work hard for her affection, though, and between you and me I think he's just using her for her money. Throughout this ongoing relationshhip she's treated us to some pretty nice hotels, but this one takes the cake, it's the bee's knees, the cream of the crop.  We stay here everytime we come to Tucson, but this time they hooked us up with a huge suite.  We're talking huge like 5 balconies-a bed for each kid-2 baths-4 thermostats-a kitchen and 8 person dining table-and four seperate entrances-huge.  The 9 pillow beds and chocolates wrapped up like little pats of butter were a nice touch too.  The kids were ready to pack up and move in for good.  After their failed attempt to convince us of that, Jayden said, "well, the good news is, this is just the beginning!" And it was.  It was the beginning of a perfectly relaxed and perfectly needed getaway.  After back to back to back parties (didn't plan that one too good, did I?), we were all ready to just chill so when Jason had to go to Tucson for the week I didn't hesistate to yank the kids out of school and tag along for a few days (darn CTA and their academic excellence, I wish we could have stayed the whole week).  Usually there's nothing to do but watch TV in hotels, but with so much space the kids played games involving forts, 5 star restraunts, mansions and Maddox calling everyone "sweetheart" and "your highness".  And then we watched lots of TV. We also spent much of the day (and night) in the pools and went on an outing to our favorite zoo.

The private rooftop balcony the size of half our back yard was my favorite part.  We ate every meal out there while watching the sunset and pretending we were at a fancy restraunt.

those lips are quite the phenomenon...

I only let them jump on the beds for a picture (wink, wink)