Not a great day!

We didn't get our car back yet so Jaed and Josie missed school today. I didn't even tell them that it was a school day so they didn't know any different. It is getting extremely hot here. The humidity is HORRIBLE. I don't know if we'll ever get use to it. I miss the dry weather in Utah.

Indi is telling on her siblings when they do something wrong. If Jaed or Josie take something from her she says, "Mommy its mine" and points to them. She is so dang cute. Today, I got after Jaed for throwing a toy. She marched right over to him and slapped his leg and said "naughty". Jaed yelled in her face, "I'm not naughty, Indi, you are". It was quite a scene. Indi and Josie are getting along a lot better lately. They are hugging each other and playing great together. I hope it continues. I'm excited to have our "girls weekend" this weekend in Kentucky. We are going to go to the Zoo, and the science museum, the library for some story time classes, and swim at the hotel a lot.

I had a scare this morning. My heart started beating really fast again and it wasn't stopping. I called Thayne and told him. He was a little nervous as well. I thought for sure I was going to have to call 911 again, because I was feeling faint and starting to have a hard time breathing. Then I remember that the Doctor gave me a sheet that lasted some things I could do, at home, to try and stop my heart from beating so fast. One of the things was to splash my face with really cold water. So, I let the cold water run for a bit and then splashed my face several times. It didn't work at first, but then my heart stopped all of a sudden and started beating normal. It was the weirdest thing ever. I guess the cold water kinda shocks your body which affects your heart. Whatever it is, it worked and I was relieved and so was Thayne.

Couch potato(e)s for parents

Thayne and I were complete couch potatoes today. We laid around while the kids played and watched T.V.. We haven't done that in a long time and it was great. We did do the dishes together and a "ten-minute tidy" in the living room, but other than that we relaxed.

Thayne's brother, James, and his wife had their baby last month. A little baby boy name Benjamin. Thayne and Jaed are flying to Virginia this weekend for the blessing of little Benjamin. Jaed is so excited. He loves his Uncle James so much. He's been counting down the days until he goes. They're flying out of the Louisville, Kentucky airport. It's about two and half hours away. I was nervous about taking them and then driving all the way home and then back out to get them, so Thayne and I decided that I should just get a hotel room for time they're in Virgina (two nights). So the girls and I are going to stay at the airport Holiday Inn. I have an old mission companion that lives in Lexington, Kentucky (about an hour away from Louisville) who is going to come spend the weekend with me in the hotel. I'm so excited to see her. It will be nice to spend some time with her.

We took our car into the mechanic today. We haven't heard anything yet. I'm a little nervous about the bill :). Mechanic bills can really put a dent in your bank account. We'll see, I guess!

Relaxing the holiday away!

We had no big plans for this holiday weekend. My brother, Scott, invited us to come to his house in St. Louis (4 hours away), but with our car acting up we thought we better stay around here. We're hoping to get it looked at tomorrow.

I got a little upset at Thayne yesterday. I snapped at him a couple of time because of it. Jaed could tell I was mad. He said "Mom, daddy is in our family, right?" I agreed with him and then he told me, "Well you can't treat him like that cuz he's in our family". I didn't respond but did feel a little guilty. I was upset about something stupid that I could have let slide but I didn't. Thayne leaned down and kissed me. Jaed asked me if I was still mad and I told him "no". What does that mean when you're child puts you in your place? What happens when I snap at him? Does he think he's not a part of the family because I got mad? Wow, parenting is hard. Really hard!

We took the kids swimming last night at the community pool. They were so excited. Josie and Indi were playing and swimming together so well. It gave me a bit of hope that they would be good friends. There was a slide over in the deep pool that Thayne tried to get Jaed to go down. He went up the ladder but as soon as he looked down he turned around and climbed down. The slide went straight down about 10 feet and then into the water. It was a little scary looking. I told Thayne to take Josie on it. He was hesitant at first but I persisted. She walked up the ladder sat down on the slide and flew down into the water. Thayne was in the pool already to help her come up. She did have arm floaties on as well. When they got out of the pool she was ready to do it again. She kept saying "again daddy, again". Thayne and I both laughed. Unfortunately, the life-guard said the kids couldn't go down the slide with the arm floaties on, and we weren't going to let her take them off. She is truly our dare devil. She doesn't seem to be scared of anything.

Stressed but still functioning!

I'm feeling a little stressed today. Our car is giving us trouble. The brakes need changed and we think the spark plugs need replaced. And the car sometimes won't shift into second gear, which is probably a transmission problem. Car problems stink especially when you're poor college students. There is a mechanic in our church that we've been using but Thayne isn't convinced that he's trustworthy, but I'll probably end up calling him anyways.

I was taking the kids to the park yesterday and got out the door and remembered that I didn't have my keys. I didn't think it was a big deal because Thayne was going to be home within the hour so we could just play at the park until then. Well as we were walking to the park it started to get cloudy and by the time we actually got tot he park there were thunder clouds. The park is surrounded by trees so I didn't think it would be very safe for us but here we were locked out of house about to get rained on. Thank goodness I have such good friends from my church that live right in our same complex. I showed up on one of their doorsteps with three kids asking if we could hang out for a bit. She didn't even hesitate. I felt like a dork, but she was very kind and made us feel at home. Thayne finally got home and came and got us in the rain.

I've been think lately what a wonderful husband I have. I don't think I tell him enough, though. He has made such great sacrifices for me and the kids, but hardly complains. I know school and family life is hard but he is quite a trooper. He's constantly checking on me to make sure I'm okay and if I'm not he does what he can to make things better. He really is my best friend!

Jaed has been trying to scare his sisters lately. He gets a blanket and puts it over his head and "boos" like a ghost. At first the girls screamed and ran around and he would laugh and chase them. But now they find their own blankets and follow him around "boo-ing" like a ghost as well. Jaed would get frustrated and say "No girls, I'm the ghost and you're scared" but they didn't want to play that anymore. They wanted to be ghosts as well. I heard Jaed say "I'm not going to play with you if you're not scared". The girls just ignored him and after he realized they weren't going to play his way he joined in the ghost parade. Their interaction makes me laugh.

Rambling about life

I work with the cub scouts in our church and last night was a scout meeting. I don't think it's the funnest thing I've ever done, but I do feel like I'm contributing to something good. My eyes have been opened to the wonderful scouting program and I'm excited for Jaed to become old enough to participate. They teach them so many important and essential things that will help them through their journey to
manhood. It's funny to me that I can joke around with the scouts and we laugh and have fun but on Sunday when I say "hi" to them they practically ignore me. It makes me chuckle every time I make an effort to say "hi". I even keep saying "hi" until they say it back loud enough for me to hear.

I'm the vice president of a MOMS Club (www.momsclub.org) here in Bloomington. It's a club for stay at home moms. We get together 1-3 times a week for activities or play dates and chat while our kids play. I have really enjoyed it. I've gotten to know so many other moms. It's nice to be in a diverse group of culture and religion and still be able to have similar interests and hobbies. It has made my move here a lot easier.

Jaed goes to a catholic preschool here. I was a little apprehensive about it at first, but I think it was a good choice for him. I have to say though, the other day when I went to pick him up there was a necklace with a cross on it in his cubie. Since we don't where such things I gave it back to the teacher and didn't think of it again. Well several days past and out of no where Jaed said "Mommy, when I want to pray, I hold my necklace and think of a prayer and rub my necklace." I was speechless. It's a good thing that Thayne was right by me. He spoke up right away and told Jaed that we don't pray with a necklace. He went through the steps that we use to pray and explained that we think of Jesus and Heavenly Father when we say our prayers. We had him repeat what we said back to us and he seemed content with it. I was freaking out. I was ready to pull him out of the school, but Thayne calmed me down and reassured me that he would not remember these things as he got older. We agreed that we need to make sure that we pray with him and talk with him often. I trust Thayne's judgment and feel like Jaed will be fine.

We got a summer swim pass for the kids. They have two great pools in town with superb toddler areas. I can't wait to start taking them. I'm hoping to spend a lot of time at the pools. I signed them up for swimming lessons. This will be their first time taking swimming lessons. I also signed Jaed and Josie up for a soccer camp. They will be in the same class. I'm excited to see how that's going to work. Hopefully Jaed doesn't try to boss Josie around but I won't hold my breathe. He tries to boss her all the time and she'll ignore him for a while and then she'll get tired of it and just smack him. I have to say, that I have heard Jaed yell "Stop bossing me Josie", but I'm not sure she really is :).

I went in to Josie's room to pick it up yesterday and she said "Mom, I'm playing..get out". I told her no, and that I was picking it up and she said "mom this my room, get out". What do you say to a three year old? If she was older I would have sat her down and explained who's house and room it really was but...she's three. I chose to ignore her and picked up the stuff around her.

Indi has learned the word "quiet". We were driving the kids to school this morning and Josie was singing and Jaed was talking to Thayne and Indi started yelling "QUIET, QUIET". She yelled it several times and then gave up. Thayne and I laughed. When she has gotten in trouble and I pick her up to scold her she will put her hand on my mouth and say "quiet, quiet". I can hardly scold her when I'm laughing or smiling.

Keeping up!

I feel like I clean the house and do laundry CONSTANTLY. Which I do. I try not to be negative about it...BUT...I'm feeling...hmm...I don't know. When Thayne comes home and tells me what a great day he had and how he interacted with so many different people, and etc.. I am truly envious. I do miss the work field...BUT, I know I'd do it for one day and would want to be back with my children. Unfortunately the house duties come along with the children. I think the bathroom disgusts me the most. Sometimes I wait as long as I can to clean it, hoping Thayne will get tired of it and clean it. That has only happened a few times :). No matter what I do or say, Jaed can not hit the toilet when he goes to the bathroom. I've decided that it is a loosing battle.

Jaed and Josie had a good day at school yesterday. I have adopted the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. I have stopped asking how they did, and just assume that they did great if the teacher doesn't pull me aside. It's so nice to spend some one on one time with Indi while the other two are in school. She is truly a delight. This last week when I cleaned the house I found about 10 pacifiers and put them in a bucket for Indi to carry around. She dumped them on the floor and sprawled out on top of them. She stayed there for several minutes and then got up and put them in her bucket and off she went. She loves her pacifiers. I have taught her that she has to leave them in the car when we go places.
Thayne's parents came to visit this last weekend. They took Thayne and I out to dinner for Thayne's birthday. Thayne said the restaurant was a old person's place since he an I were the only young ones there, but I thought it was nice. His parents spent several hours with the kids on Saturday. The kids enjoyed every minute of it. We went swimming at their hotel Saturday night. Josie is so fearless in the water. She was swimming everywhere with arm floaties on. Jaed thought he was drowning every other minute. And Indi didn't want anything to do with the water at first. After a while she eased into it and then loved it. His parents left the next morning after church. Jaed and Josie had a hard time with them leaving. Jaed especially. I wish they would stay a little longer when they come, for the kids sake. Oh well!

Well we had two parakeets that died this weekend. We didn't tell the kids. We thought we'd wait until they brought it up. Today, Jaed asked me where our birdies were. I told him that they died and they went to heaven with Heavenly Father and Jesus. He asked me "Will they make them better and send them back to us?". He was so cute. I explained to him that when we die, we don't come back. He seemed upset and I held him for about 2 or 3 minutes. Then he put his head up and said "Can I have sandwich", so I guess that was the end of it.

It's been toooooo long!

WOW, I can't believe it's been a whole month. It's been a rather intense month, for sure. I've been having heart palputations for about 4 years now but they have been happening more frequent within the last 6 months. I brought it up to my physician and she scheduled a EKG but the only result was that I have slightly enlarged heart. A week after the EKG, I went to play soccer at church with some other moms and started having palputations. Normally they would go away after about 30 seconds, but these were not going away. I drove home and collapsed on the couch. I told Thayne that I couldn't breathe and I felt like I was going to pass out. He immediately called 911 and the paramedics showed up promptly. My heart was beating 240 bpm, and my blood pressure was 70/40. They quickly stuck an IV in my arm and gave me some medicine that went directly to my heart to shock it. Within 15 seconds my heart was back to a normal speed. I was taken to the ER and a Cardiologist was called. He set me up with several different tests (stress test, etc.) to find out what was going on with my heart. At one point, the Cardiologist thougth I might be at risk of Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD). That clouded our minds for two days. The thought of death scared me. What would Thayne do? Who would help him with the kids? How would the kids react?
Well, after TWO LONG DAYS, the results came back negaitve (I was not at risk)and we could breathe with relief. The Cardiologist finally diagnosed me with Superaventricular Tachydcardia (SVT). Basically, the upper chamber of the heart sends electrical waves to the bottom chamber through a passage between the chambers. Well, I have two passages ways, so the waves go down on passage way and then up the other one and down again (etc.). I'm going to have surgery to remove (or block) one of the passage ways. Once that is done, I should have no palputations again. YIPPPEEEE!!
I'm having surgery on June 9th. My mom is coming in the day before to help me and Thayne with the kids. It's great to have a mom that you can ask for help and know that she would do it no matter what.
Finals were during this last month as well. I really did feel bad for Thayne. He had to try to focus on his studies while also be there for me mentally and physically. He was a great support and kept me from thinking the worst all the time. He's glad that finals are over but now is the waiting period to see how he did.
Thayne started his internship at the Public Defenders Office as well. He has thoroughly enjoyed it so far. He works 35 hours a week and is home everyday at 4:30 p.m.. That's the part that I love :).
Jaedon is doing well in school still. We recieved confirmation from his school that he will be in the 5 day a week preschool next year. He'll go from 12:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.. He will have the same preschool teacher that he had this year, which will make an easy transition.
We met with Josie's preschool teachers and discussed her speech progress. I felt that she had not progressed as much as I had hoped and was worried about putting her in a mainstream preschool. Thankfully, her teacher agreed with me and we decided that she would benefit from the speech therapy preschool next year. She is talking so much more now, but it's hard for those around her to understand her. She is such a special little girl. Thayne and I are way over protective of her, but we just can't help it. She truly is our little princess.
Indi is growing so fast. I can't believe she'll be two next month. She is loves to cuddle still and talks tons as well. If she falls she tells us that the floor hit her or the table hit her. She teases Josie all the time. She loves to grab a toy that Josie has and then she runs. Of course, Josie chases her and screams the whole way. I have even seen Josie dive in the air and land on Indi to get her toy back.
Here are some pictures of the kids at easter. My sister Becki sent the hats and gloves for Josie and Indi. They were so excited to wear them. They loved their easter baskets. It was a great day for all of us.