What Am I Supposed To Do With This?

Apparently, Logan no longer feels like I should keep my Tampons under my bathroom sink.

He thinks I should store them here.....

Thanks Bud!

For the Record....

I am NOT PREGNANT!!!

Evidently when you joke about pregnancy people suddenly think you are pregnant.

Lesson Learned.

Things They Should've Told You.....

I went to breakfast recently with two friends and we were talking about things people never tell you before you have kids. That got me thinking so I compiled a list of those things. And then because I am nice like that, I am giving you a trick that I figured out about one of those "things." Let's get started shall we!

1) Pregnancy is circular. The first 3 months are hard, the next 4 I LOVED, and then the final 2 you once again can't sleep, aren't hungry ( and even if you are, there is no room to eat), did I say you can't sleep? I think this is God's way of getting us to want to go into labor, because trust me, there needs to be an incentive.

2) Nursing hurts. At least the first couple of weeks. It takes patience, practice, and nipple calluses before you really get the hang of it. But, it shouldn't hurt super bad. Like if you are crying or screaming while latching on, or you have a fever- there is possibly a bigger problem- go get it checked out.

3) If someone tells you a story of how their baby slept through the night from 2 weeks on. Slap them, delete their name from your directory on your phone, and find a new friend. Then, tell yourself this will not happen to you, because odds are on it won't. Remember those last few months of sleepless nights, yeah, those were a warm up for the real thing. If you get one of those babies- don't tell me, I despise you ALL!

4) A 12 X 12 receiving blanket is not big enough to "receive" any size baby into it. If you can, beg, bribe or kidnap someone and ask them to make you some receiving blankets that are BIG. There are exceptions that I have found. I really like Gymboree blankets but they are heavier, and more expensive. If I remember correctly some of the Amy Cole at Target were bigger and reasonable.

5) It is not the terrible 2's! All 2 year olds should picket in protest of such a mean smear campaign. It is really the terrible 18 months to around 3 1/2. I'm currently in the thick of mine- although we have turned a corner and are now into the throwing and slamming of doors. It's progress in my eyes people. Sierra began throwing, and slamming doors in assertion of her independence towards the end of her fits. I hold onto what hope I can find!

6) You will totally and completely forget all of this as soon as it is time to have another one. It is the craziest, most unfair tactic of them all. For a while you have a built in protection mechanism. It allows you to ooh!, and aah! at all your friends babies and then give them back- so happy that your child is done with that stage. But, then it starts to slowly go away. Next thing you know, you see a baby, and you think -they are so cute, it's not that much work.....When those words cross your mind- you'll know...

Now, for the remedy..

'Cus, really I got one! That's it!

If you plan on nursing go to the hospital with this:

Earth Mama, Angel Baby Nipple Butter.

It is now a staple gift I give to all nursing mom's I know. I have not used it yet, although I plan on it next time, ( I still remember people- I'm in the clear.)

I received this tip from my Earth Mama, my sis-in-law Jacquie who just nursed twins for 9 months, she is amazing and I call her for all my nursing questions. I have given this stuff to friends and they swear by it! You can find it in Austin, well Round Rock, at Tiny Bird's Organic, or they say they have it at Babies R' Us ( but I would call)

Also take a pair of PJ's. We were pretty poor when we had Sierra, so I didn't do that, but with Logan I did. It made all the difference. I went shopping-Pregnant- tried them on Pregnant, and made sure they would fit. It was so nice to have a cute pair of PJ's on when people came to visit. I didn't feel so horrible, and they were much more comfortable then the hospital gown, and ten times more flattering!

If you have tips, tricks, or any other "things they never told us," let us know! I would love the advice, or a heads up!

P.S. I have no idea why I decided to blog about this. I tried to come up with something different- but this was it. So, it was either, have the same thing on my blog for the umpteenth day, or this. You get this!

I know, you're welcome! :)

BIG NEWS!!!

We have BIG NEWS, well we think it's big!

And NO!, it's not that for all of you that immediately jumped here:

and that's because I still have 2 of these:

(That's Wisdom teeth, and that is for another post.)

Nor is it this:

Because I KNOW how you people's minds work!

It is this:

Paul informed me today, that out of the 100 stores in the Carmax family, his Austin store was just named April's #1 performing store out of the whole company by the CEO of Carmax. That is HUGE!! For Austin to beat out heavy hitting stores like, Richmond, VA and Southwest Freeway in Houston, or believe it or not, any store in California is incredible. The management team, including Paul, work so hard at their store. They really deserve the recognition.

So, WAY TO GO AUSTIN NORTH!!!

YOU GUYS ROCK!!!

AND, We also have other fantastic news!

Sierra got her TAKS scores back! And, for those of you that don't live in the great state of Texas, I'm sorry!

I'm kidding!

TAKS is the name of the State's standardized testing. The first year they take it is in 3rd grade. You all know what a great state I think Texas is, but if there was a mole on Texas's hypothetical rear- it IS the TAKS, TAPPS, or whatever they are calling it. But, since she has to take it to pass 3rd grade- now do you see the idiotic mole i'm talking about- here are her amazingly, incredible results. ( and as much fear, panic, and angst they pack into these kids, not to mention that they decided to announce to the kids that 39% of them were going to a NEW school next year, a week before they took the math portion!- I think she ROCKED IT)

Reading: -1 or 98%

Math: -4 or 90%

WHAT!!!

I know I am raising a GENIUS!!!

I am so proud of ya baby!

See, Mom told you there was nothing to worry about and they were making it all up!

YOU ROCK!!

Can't We All Just...

When I was in High School I was a P.A.L. This stood for Peer Assistance and Leadership. It was a small group of juniors and seniors who had passed interviews and teacher evaluations, and were found suitable to be peer leaders. ( I know, what kind of High School let me loose on others)

In this program we were trained in mediation and Conflict resolution. As part of this training we learned the conflict resolution option to "agree to disagree." I remember the late, great Mr. Beam saying, "this is, believe it or not, the highest achievement in conflict resolution. It shows the greatest maturity from the two parties."

I think about this option often. I use it frequently. I use it in my friendships, my marriage, parenting, church callings, politics, religion.... the list goes on and on. But, what I have found more interesting is how many do not, or can not use this principle. The thing that brought it to my mind was watching parts of the Miss California news conference where she said, " could you imagine what our world would be like if we could agree to disagree."

Yes! I could!

As a person who admittedly LOVES to be right- all the time- ( I think it's called Pride), agreeing to disagree is the HARDEST thing I sometimes have to do. Walking away from a debate or an argument where I think I AM RIGHT, is sometimes painful. But more importantly, most of the time, it is the RIGHT thing to do.

I have to remember that everyone doesn't think like me. They are entitled to their beliefs and their opinions, no matter how polar opposite they may be. I also have to remember how much I don't want everyone to think like me, or agree with me. Not to mention that if I chose to limit my interactions with only those that believed just like me, I think I would go nuts. I love the debate, I love to hear others opinions. I welcome them. What I don't understand is why we as a society ask others for their opinions and then balk at their response, or then try to bully them into compliance with our ideas and ideals.

In my opinion, (that you never asked for), I think it would be better for us to listen to each others points of view and reasoning, and then when/if a compromise can not be reached we agree to disagree. We can then, both parties, walk away feeling heard, loved, and respected.

So, I ask, What's your opinion?

Is agreeing to disagree an ideal, or is it a practical probability?

Happy Mother's Day!

To the Most Amazing Women I know:

My Mom

because I am the fruit of her loins, and the by-product of her countless hours of love, and devotion With out her I wouldn't be here, and more importantly I wouldn't be the amazing mother, wife, and daughter that I am. I LOVE YOU MOMMY!!

My Ostler Mom!

because, Mom Ostler has accepted all of us Daughter in laws with open arms from the beginning. She finds humor in my bad jokes, and patience in my loud mouthed, determined, tenacious spirit. (That, or she pretends that she does, and frankly if this is the case the women deserves an Oscar! :) ) I love you!

I also want to wish my Sister, Erin, and my Sister's in Law- Jacquie, Emily, Brooke, Rachael, and Elyse ( although you better not be a mother any time soon) a HAPPY MOTHER'S Day!

Erin, is my sister and my bestest friend. She knows me better than ANYONE! I can be with her and feel no judgement. I can talk to her about anything. She is also a FANTASTIC Mom. I hope that I can incorrperate 1/2 of the Mom that she is into my Mom routine. I would be a better Mom if I did!

My Sister-in-laws are also amazing ladies. I truly think of them as my Sister's! I have known them for so long, I truly love them, and they are some of my favorite people. I miss you all terribly- mostly because I have so much fun on our "Girl's Nights" and you all laugh at my ridiculous personality! They are also all amazing Mom's themselves. We have a lucky set of Ostler off-spring running around up in the Ut, ID, CO area.

AND to all you wonderfully adorable, absolutely astounding ladies who read this ditty of a blog-

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO YOU TOO!!! I wish that I could name you all, because you all have impacted my life personally. I love each of you. You all make my days a little sunnier, and I know that you also do that for your kids!

So,

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

The Most MAGICAL Place on Earth!

Paul and I got back last night. Our trip was magical. We loved every moment of it.

Unfortunately, we didn't take our camera so we bought "old school" one time use cameras. What we didn't remember is that it also takes the "old school" way to get them printed so... I have no pictures to share....yet! But, I am working on it. It will just take longer than the 24 hours I have been home. Oh! How I love the digital age.

I would also like to thank my Mommy, and Daddy and Brother Nate for taking such great, sweet care of my kiddos while we were away. I can not express my gratefulness enough times, or in a way sincere enough to convey what that meant to us! I can not tell you what a peace it was to know that my kids were safe, and loved the same- if not more- while I was away! It truly allowed us to relax and enjoy, so Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

AND, if going to the "MOST MAGICAL PLACE ON EARTH", and having your kids tended, and the house clean when you got home wasn't enough...I walked into my home and found this on my wall.... my Goddess of a friend, Gina, her husband Jamie ( who is also my friend), and my Mom, conspired and surprised me with a complete photo wall. For my birthday Gina gave me a coupon for prints of my kids for a photo wall I have been wanting to do, and since she has a phenomenal eye she also told me that she would organize how they would go on my wall. Gina is the MOST AMAZING photographer and she has taken countless numbers of pictures of my kids, so it is a wall of some of my most favorite shots she has taken. But, this wall also included pictures I had not seen of Logan and Sierra AND she asked my Mom to write words that described each of the kids. She then worked those word into the prints of them. It is PHENOMENAL. It literally took my breath away! I am in love with it!

I know it sounds corny, but it turned out that the most Magical Place was home! It has literally been one of those weeks where I am almost unable to take in all the love that is being thrown at me. I have felt nothing but joy for the last 7 days. I am BURSTING! What a gift!

Getting Ready!

The last week has been crazy! I have been getting ready to go out of town.

"Getting ready to go out of town" is crazy when you are taking your whole family, but "getting ready to go out of town" without the kids is even crazier! That's right, for the first time in 6 years Paul and I are going on a little vay-ka sans kiddos! My Mommy and my Daddy are coming to stay with the kids, which really translates into "spoiling them rotten while your Parents are gone! " The kids LOVE when Grandma and Grandpa come, thus lessoning the blow that Paul and I are going to Orlando and Disney World without our children. {gasp} I know, but it's our 10 year, and the honeymoon we never really had- well, that's the rationalization I am telling myself, AND what I will tell Sierra's and Logan's therapist when he/she asks.

So, to get ready I decided that I had to get my Master Bedroom redecorated. Really, I have had it on my "list" for a while now, but this was the perfect motivation.

These were the steps involved:

#1 Paint Dresser. This was working out great, right until I needed to put newspaper under it because I was getting black paint on my garage floor, causing a leg to give out, thus requiring a repair that I did not have time for!

It would have been so cute

Missing leg,. Well, torn wood where leg was! Front corner!

Imagine my shock and awe when I called Paul and told him of the dresser debacle and he told me to, "go get a new one!" What? I know! I cleaned out my ears and asked him to repeat himself. So, he said it again, " go and get a new one!" Well, if I have learned ANYTHING in 10 years of marriage to Paul, it is this: If Paul tells you out of the blue to go buy furniture, you do it- no questions asked, and I had just the one in mind. Ikea is my friend!

#2 Make Headboard.

That's right! I made my own headboard. I purchased 24x24 pieces of plywood, wrapped them in batting and then in faux-suede fabric. I did 6 squares and affixed them to the wall with heavy duty Velcro! I think it turned out way better than I hoped! We also raised the bed with some bed risers.

#3 Put on new comforter set and enjoy!

I love where the new room is at so far, I still have some pictures to hang and some odds and ends, but I didn't have time to get all of that done!

I will get back to it after a much needed vacation with my spectacular Hubby!