SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!

i ♥ sunday. it's our lazy day to hang around the house, do a little cleaning and a lot of relaxing. today was unseasonably cool; we're talking like 72 degrees in kansas. in august? hello global warming, welcome! it was hotter in june than august?! backwards but I'll take it! we spent a good chunk of the afternoon at the park near our house. the boys pretended they were monkeys in the zoo, played in a fort, practiced swinging, and ran wild.

bubba loved climbing to the top, pooks however is apparently afraid of heights

peanut enjoyed a (rather slow) merry-go-round

pooks enjoyed ''flying" with his leaf

peanut enjoyed the swing s for the first time (usually he could care less)

pooks living it up in the cool Kansas air

a quick family pic
(only bubba understood the concept of looking at the camera perched on the fort)

now we're at home, boys are playing outside, peanut is watching from his playyard and i am blogging from my new pink piece of dell love. (which by the way seems to no way be effected by the beer spill)!

seriously.

this is peanut and I, taken 2 days ago

this is pooks and I, taken almost 2 years ago

seriously, if I didn't know better, i would think that these were pictures of the same kid.

and i'm their mom.

again:
the oddest part of all of this? i didn't even notice until today.

yeah, i'm a quick one.

señor bubba...

...and his mean face:he was pretending to be B (with a mustache that was purchased out of a .50 cent machine at the grocery store) but he reminds more of my high school spanish teacher. we also purchased mustaches for pooks and peanut, however pooks was terrified and would not put it on his face & peanut attempted to eat his.

pretty cheap entertainment though! here are a few other takes:

i ♥ this one!

peanut's mustache promptly fell off after this pic...too much slobber. bubba's however was not so easy to remove. imagine ripping a sticky band-aid off of your face. yeah, he didn't like that but he loves the pictures! thanks nanaw :)

one of those days...

warning: this post is long, and is primarily just me journaling. no cute stories or pictures, just me coming to terms with my kids growing up. it is informative and you are more than welcome to read and comment (obviously) but it's not a "FUN!" post, it's a "shannon is rambling, again!" post.

i've learned finally after being a mom of 3 years that a lot of times, the things that we think will be so hard for our little ones, are actually harder on us. i'm going through this right now with breastfeeding peanut.

i have endometriosis. if you really want to read about it you can but basically it's a reproductive disorder that causes a ton of issues; the biggest issue for me, is pelvic pain. it used to be just during certain times in my cycles but lately, it's damn near constant.

i'm not talking menstrual cramps or gastrointestinal issues, ahem. i'm talking about something that feels like someone is sticking a 10 inch long knife through your abdomen and into your ovary. i've had ovarian cysts. (hell i have one now!) i've had 5 surgeries because of endometriosis and ovarian cysts, the last resulting in the removal of my left ovary and tube (a salpingo-oophorectomy if you wanted to know) shortly after i had pooks.

the usual ''solution'' to endometriosis in otherwise healthy, young patients is to manage the pain. there is no treatment. because it is caused by your period, and you get a period every month--every month the tissue builds up, thus causing more pain. so to manage this pain you are put on birth control pills. you take the pills continuously for 4-9 months at a time, without a week off. thus reducing the amount of periods you have and theoretically your pain.

i've been on said pills since i was 16 for this reason and yet, i've still had 5 surgeries. figure that one out, huh?

other solutions are hormone injections, hysterectomies, menopause, and tada!: pregnancy. i've been virtually pain free for three years because i've been pregnant or nursing for over 3 years. nursing pauses your periods so yep, it can help with the pain too.

but peanut is on solids now. he's nursing less and less now and as a result, i'm in pain again. i've been managing since may without any BCP and only using Motrin for pain. but i can't anymore. it's just now working and i have to be able to function without crying, to raise three boys.

so Dr. P and i have had many a talks and for right now, we've decided to put me back on birth control pills. there really isn't any other options right now. i can't have a hysterectomy because a) we're not sure we're totally done having kids, b) i would have to be on hormones for the rest of my life, c) i would have to quit nursing peanut, and d) it's like a 6 week long recovery period with a weight restriction.

i've already (unsuccessfully) tried injections (it caused ovarian cysts for me), i've already had five surgeries to go in and cut out/burn off the tissue...every surgery also causes scar tissue build up so it's getting to be counter-productive.

last option is birth control pills. again. i hate BCPs. the hormones, the headaches, the acne and sometimes weight gain. but my biggest reason for HATING birth control pills right now? the reason i haven't already gone back on them since giving birth 9 months ago?

they DRASTICALLY effect milk supply. they pretty much dry up breastmilk. peanut is my third baby but he is my first good nurser. he really enjoys nursing and cuddling and for the longest time, he wouldn't even take a bottle or sippy cup.

so naturally i was extremely hesitant to go on something knowing that it would jeopardize that. well the pain is unbearable i just want to curl up and cry. i went back on the pill last week. at first, i thought we could fight it. he didn't seem bothered by it. i've upped my water intake, i'm eating oatmeal and nursing whenever he wants. anything to keep my supply up. over the week i gradually started "topping him off" with formula after we finished nursing. he would nurse but fuss and cry afterward but give the kid 4oz of formula and he was happy as a clam. okay, i can supplement. he seems okay with it. and we were still nursing at night.

today, he's had more formula than breastmilk. when he shows his "i'm starving" clues, i try to nurse. but after about 1 minute he's had enough. or rather, not enough.

i keep trying to tell myself that peanut is fine. he's happy, he's healthy, he likes the bottle...okay, okay he kind of loves his bottle. he's doing great. as hard as i thought peanut would take it, he's doing great. better than great. he's sleeping better at night, he's in a better mood during the day and he's doing great at night. honestly, i think he's even gained weight since last week! the kid is heavy!!

i however, am a mess.

i know that a good majority of it is because of the pill. it makes me a hormonal biatch, and i'll be the first to admit that. but i didn't think i'd take it this hard. i feel like my baby is growing up way too fast. he ate spaghetti the other day. his 1st birthday is less than 3 months away. and now, he doesn't want to nurse anymore. that was our thing, the one thing that B couldn't do. each night i get to retreat upstairs and snuggle and cuddle while he nurses at bedtime. but i know that's going to go soon. while (so far) he still likes/wants his nighttime snuggle i can imagine it won't be the same if we're not nursing.it's a lot to handle! i'm tired, still in pain, and emotional. i'm just having one of those days.

random thoughts

Ok, so I first read this on another blog and I laughed out loud. Seriously, some of these seem like there was something in my head typing up my thoughts.

So I decided to put it here for you....in case you hadn't seen it yet. I have no clue who actually wrote it, but whoever it is needs a blog!

Random Thoughts From People Our Age

-I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

-More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can
think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

-Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you
realize you're wrong.

-I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?

-Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're
going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

-That's enough, Nickelback.

-I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

-Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the "people you may know" feature on Facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends with?

-Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

-There is a great need for sarcasm font.

-Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and
suddenly realize I had no idea what the f was going on when I first
saw it.

-I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually
becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting
90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's
laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little
bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the
only one who really, really gets it.

-How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

-I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

- I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear
your computer history if you die.

-The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to
finish a text.

- A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the
spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.

- LOL has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

- I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

- Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

- Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart",
all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

- How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

- I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

- Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in'
examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete
idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and
said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"

-What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

- While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and
instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

- MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

- Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

- I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the
shower first and THEN turn on the water.

-Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty,and you can wear them forever.

- I would like to officially coin the phrase 'catching the swine flu' to be used as a way to make fun of a friend for hooking up with an overweight woman. Example: "Dave caught the swine flu last night."

-I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

- Bad decisions make good stories

-Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their
profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

- Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?

-If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring
would probably just be completely invisible.

-Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go
around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....

-You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything else productive for the rest of the day.

-Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't
want to have to restart my collection.

-There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are
going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

-I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

- "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

-I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people
watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will
they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't
watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and
leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'

-I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello?
Dammit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and
goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

- I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not
seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

-When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she
hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light
internet stalking.

-I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle,
then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

-Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising
speed for pedophiles...

- As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

-Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still
not know what time it is.

-It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.

-I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

-Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

-Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car
keys in a pocket, hitting the G-spot, and Pinning the Tail on the
Donkey - but I’d bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze
button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...

-My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would
happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that?

-It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and
the link takes me to a video instead of text.

-I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they
drive behind obeys the speed limit.

-I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

-I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or
Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

-The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words,someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimated that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There's nothing like being made to feel like a fat bastard before dinner.

from one blogger mommy to another

we all know that recently i celebrated my 400th post. and while it is a milestone, i didn't really celebrate it. but i am friends with a mama who is way better at blog celebrations. check out heather's blog: Sweet Peas & Sassafras for an awesome giveaway. heather is celebrating her one year blogiversary, you should check it out!

fun-filled weekend

whew! i feel like i haven't posted in forever. we had SUCH a fun weekend. we returned to our old stomping ground to visit auntie michelle, aunt debbie, and the in-laws. of course we did fun stuff like go to the zoo, eat at red robin, visit a farmers market, and so forth. the boys did great, no major meltdowns despite sleeping in a new place and spending so much time in the car. thanks for letting us crash at your place auntie M---it worked out perfectly!

here are a ton of pictures from the zoo. now keep in mind that this is a good sized zoo; not San Diego big but MUCH larger than the dinky one here. we spent almost 6 hours at the zoo on saturday. six hours! it was a lot of fun, especially now that the boys are old enough to really get into it. bubba said his favorite was the tiger, pooks said his was the elephants. i think they both really liked the turtles best. these are not all the pictures i planned on sharing,;i actually have more but i'm using B's computer right now and this is all i can post from here.

so in no real order, here they are:

B, pooks and bubba watching the turtles

myself, bubba, pooks and auntie michelle

pooks and bubba looking at vampire bats (you can see one by bubba's hand)

pooks feeding the giraffe a branch of leaves (he dropped it he was so nervous/scared!)

bubba's turn, he liked it! despite the fact that the giraffe licked him

peanut (actually awake) with B in the tiger exhibit. well by the tiger exhibit

B acting like the tiger is eating him

auntie michelle, bubba and pooks watching the gorillas

b and peanut watching the gorillas from a distance

bubba giving the gorilla a high five

kind of a scary looking gorilla!

pooks was petting him

pooks and me admiring this blue parrot. he was just walking the fence next to us in the south america exhibit

pooks and bubba trying hard to find the iguana hiding

and lastly a short (dark) video of peanut dancing while at red robin. he was acting hysterical-dancing, hollering, eating handfuls of broccoli and then shrieking. he had a blast apparently!

$1

we have always been a fairly crafty household, we like to make things. blankets, aprons, cinnamon rolls, cookies. okay i like to make things and the boys have learned to like to help. well lately i've been planning peanut's 1st birthday party. yes i know, i have 3 months until he turns one but in my defense i have 3 kids and his birthday is a week before thanksgiving. for both my sanity and our finances, i have to split it up so i don't get overwhelmed. plus, we all know that i just ♥ planning parties. and yes, i tend to go a little overboard with the decorations, (special ordering pig-shaped balloons? yeah I did that.) making my own invitations, and making sure there is always a home-made cake.

anyways, i digress.

so recently when surfing the internet for fun and cheap craft projects (i was looking for playdoh recipes) i stumbled across a mom who made chunky crayon melts using broken crayons. except unlike the one's i think we melted in 4th grade in a microwave--these were cute! and i thought to myself "wow, these would be perfect for toddlers just learning to color." i bookmarked the site and didn't think much more about it.

until i went to target and as part of the back to school sale, they had a 24 pack of Crayola crayons for $.25 a box. twenty-five cents people! this is when i had my light bulb moment and realized i could make the melts and use them as party favors for peanut's birthday. i mean yes he's turning one, but his brothers, cousins and playgroup friends are all a little older. well after realizing that target was completely sold out, we went to wal-mart (they price match, yo) and bought 16 boxes of crayons. that's 384 crayons for $4.

so after the kiddos went to bed i painstakingly peeled the wrappers off of 4 boxs of crayons. (and FYI, those things have adhesive on them now...i had to use a box cutter exacto knife thingy, to help). then when the kids woke up we started our project.
first we took the bag of naked crayons and broke them into small pieces, about 1/2 inch-1inch in length. the kids loved this! then we dropped these into a non-stick mini muffin pan, matching colors. sorta matching colors. they are 2 and 3, and i just went with it. i preheated the oven to 265 degrees.after each little tin was about halfway full, i popped the pan in the oven. you want to ''cook'' the crayons just until they are mostly melted, you don't want them too soupy. for us, this took about 8 minutes. remove them from the oven and let cool another 8 minutes or so, then place (the now cooled) pan into the freezer. freeze for about 20 minutes

turn your pan over and they should fall right out. viola!
4 boxes of 24 crayons, made 24 melts. total cost? one dollar.

we made 2 batches so each little party guest will get 5 melts and a small memo notepad. i think that the kids will love it and mom can keep it in the diaper bag to whip out anywhere where a bit of distraction may be needed. i plan on buying the notepads in another week or two (when they will be on clearance), jazzing them up with a few robot stickers and we should have goody bags for about a $1 each!

geesh mom!

"hmmm...what did mom want me to do again??"

open my mouth?? that's odd but, alright...

"what?? that's not it either? okay fine, fine, fine...geesh woman!"

"happy now?"

peanut is now 9 months old. nine months! can you even believe it? he is a whopping 17lbs 8 oz and is 27.5 inches long. he now has FOUR teeth. he eats table food with us now, most of the time you cannot convince him to eat that pureed stuff---he's way to cool for that. give him cheerios, cooked peas or pieces of carrot and he'll eat you out of house and home. and if you decide to give him crumbles of cheese make sure you have a TON on hand or he will promptly throw a fit. oh did i mention he can throw fits? like nobodies business!

he is sitting independently and occasionally pulls himself up, though still not crawling. he says ''da-da'' to B and babbles all day. he loves to watch his brother's play, and gets a kick out of playing pat-a-cake. he has started waving hi and bye and loves riding in shopping carts. he's a flirt and stubborn, a great napper but a horrible sleeper. and out of all three boys he's my only mama's boy, which i've learned is a blessing and a curse :)

saturdays and sno cones

we have had a very fun weekend full of several new things, all of which were fun and the kiddos really enjoyed.

i spent friday evening blissfully alone. (ok,technically the kids were here but they were asleep. B was out winning a poker game) it was wonderful. the silence is amazing! seriously. i watched tv for 2 hours and i was able to watch shows that I wanted to see. i ate potato chips out of the bag and i did not have to share. i sat out on the back deck and enjoyed an adult beverage while catching up on facebook. i read a book without pictures and took a long, hot shower without be interrupted. i deep conditioned my hair and even shaved my legs! i even fell asleep before midnight and still managed to get 5 straight hours of sleep before peanut woke to nurse at 5am.

those readers that are not yet parents to small children are silently thinking "what a loser; who spends a friday night alone AND brags about it?" those that are parents to a younger crowd are probably thinking ''damn, i could use a night like that!"

saturday morning we went out to breakfast at my absolutely favorite breakfast place (IHOP eat your heart out) then headed over to the farmer's market. this has become our weekend ritual and not only is it fun, it's so much cheaper and the quality of the food is amazing! seriously, totally worth it! the boys love it and this week they picked out watermelon. last week was peaches and they inhaled them!

after the market we headed over to city park to attend a birthday party that the boys were invited too. little R is a friend from our playgroup and he was turning one. his parents really outdid themselves, we all had so much fun! they managed to snag the area between the play equipment and the splash park which the kids loved. we munched on grilled hotdogs and hamburgers, cake and even sno cones! who even knew that you could rent a sno cone machine? the boys loved it and little R seemed to be enjoying all the guests as well. we took a ton of pics, especially considering that it wasn't our kids birthday but the boys were in great moods, they were doing/trying so many new things that we just couldn't resist.

the boys and I with little R and his mommy

pooks decided on a blue sno-cone

while bubba patiently waited for his purple one

they apparently ♥ sno cones! even though pooks thought it was cold, it didn't stop him

bubba did not want to share with his daddy

after sno cones and cake, the boys played on the playground for a bit. just as we thought the party was winding down they brought out a pinata. again, another first for bubba and pooks. B and I discovered that while our boys know how to do a lot of things, swinging a bat isn't one of them. guess we need to work on that, lol. they were hysterical to watch though!

and finally after a few whacks by some of the grown ups, the pinata spilled candy everywhere. the boys each filled their cup and pooks promptly ate a starburst. with the wrapper still on it. *sigh* i guess he REALLY likes the pink ones.thanks for inviting us, and happy birthday little R!