DISNEYLAND

we're going to disneyland! tomorrow (sunday) we're headed up to disneyland for my birthday. we got the socal 2fer tickets so we're going to disney tomorrow and then california adventure on monday (my actual bday). i'm sooo excited to take the boys, and jade, but well she won't really notice much. ronan is at the great age where everything is so new and exciting and he loves mickey mouse. zander has been carrying around his mouse ears from the last time he went. its cute. he's telling everyone that we're going to disney and that he doesn't have to take a nap. ahhh the things he's excited for. we'll update you later!

a day in the life of ronan

me - ronan don't hit your brother
ronan hits zander again
me- ronan don't hit your brother
ronan hits zander again
me - ronan don't hit your brother
ronan hits zander again
me - ronan don't hit anyone
ronan hits zander, jade, and me.
grrrr.....

cute picture

ronan, crazy but smart

yes, ronan drives me crazy on a regular basis...but man that child is smart. i really think he hears what i say, and honestly thinks "yea, she doesn't know very much, i'm going to do what i want cause i'm smarter than her." and yes, i truly believe that he thinks that. and did i mention he's not even two yet and he's counting to ten?! i think zander was three....he's a scary smart little child. tonight he wanted to crawl up the top of his bed and i said no. so he threw his pacifier to the top of his bed and said, "where's paci?" thinking i'd let him go get it and go where i had already said no for. smart little devil! but on an adorable note, he has started singing with ben which is really really cute. he sings "goodnight sweetheart" and "eieio aka old mcdonald". he just only sings the eieio part. ben is making fun of me for calling the song eieio instead of old mcdonald.
so ben and i are still on our dumb diet and i swear i'm grumpy because of it. so not fun. grumpy me. wanting carbs....BLAH!

Today's Installment of the crap

well today was another not so fun day. we went to the zoo this morning with some friends. that was fine and all but when it was time to leave zander had an absolute mental meltown. he started sobbing and sobbing cause i wouldn't buy him a toy. he was crying so ridiculously that i couldn't help but laugh. the boy must have been really tired. on the way home, ronan fell asleep. good job ro. so we went thru a drive thru and jade started screaming cause she was starving. so i was rushing home! we got home and i got the boys out of the car and everyone to the front door. so the boys went inside, i went inside and then shut the front door. in the process, the bottom of the front door sliced thru the slide of my foot. i just about passed out. blood started spewing every where and i thought i was going to just die. i can handle your blood, but NOT MY BLOOD! ugh!!!! and mind you, jade is still screaming from hunger. i put her car seat down and tried to get a piece of toliet paper stuck to my foot to stop the bleeding. that didn't work so well, but i was trying! i quickly threw the boys at the table and gave them their food, jade was still screaming cause apparently ronan put his dog on her face to calm her down, and i was getting painfully lightheaded from my blood and lack of food. finally i got a bottle for jade, sat down and called my mom to please get over asap! so yea, that was not so good. my mom came over and took control of fixing my foot and getting me fed. thank you mom! then it was time for naps. i got everyone to bed and then for the next hour and a half i spent walking down the hall to put ronan back into his bed. i'd put him down, go lay down on the couch, and i'd hear him turn his fan off and start playing with his toys. SEVEN times i put that child back down along with some other disciplinary efforts....and nothing. finally he fell asleep. but by this point my poor foot was oozing blood out of the bandaid from walking on it. and it was THROBBING! but on a positive note, it was the first time jade slept solid through her nap without waking up so that helped me deal with ronan. but eventually the stubborn mule of a child went to sleep. the funny thing was that when he did finally wake up, he ran out screaming "i sleep! i sleep!" he was proud of himself. zander did sleep for 2 1/2 hours too so that was much better! but oh man my foot was still hurting by after dinner. and of course, today is wednesday so ben went off to worship practice at 8. :( it's always on wednesday that i have a bad day and off he goes. ok, i'm going to bed. goodnight all!

zander has gone crazy

yup, absolutely crazy. i am about to lose it with him. he has been sick, so i'll give him that. but all day he's been whiney as all get out and everything ronan did sent him into an absolute tizzy! so i thought he was going to take a great long nap cause he sure acted like he needed it. but NO!!!! every five minutes for three hours the child got up and came out and said "i slept mom". i tried everything. i even laid down with him and held his hands and legs so he'd stop moving. nope...didn't work. i finally gave up at 4:30 and let him stay up. all the while, i had been walking around with jade trying to get her to sleep so i was definitely a raw nerve. and if you're that person thinking, "oh zander's 4 1/2 and should be giving up naps soon", well his eyes were almost swollen shut because he was so tired. they had giant red rings around them. he was just being STUBBORN! grr...i blame ben for those genes. the rest of the evening was not much better. so i called ben and told him to he was going to stay home with the boys while i went to small group. there was no way i was going to stay home another moment with them. so like a wonderful husband he agreed! and when i got home from small group he had put the laundry away, taken the recycling out, put the dishes away, and done homework! what a good man. i guess i should have a breakdown more often!

Jade pics

diaper drop

a few weeks ago it was reported to me that zander decided to pee on a tree in the courtyard at our church. yup, just dropped his pants and peed. mind you the bathroom is right there. and he uses it every week. but i take full responsiblity for this one, i let him pee at parks on trees. but not ever in front of people...so that was all him!
then today, we were tearing down chairs, a job ronan and zander LOVe to do, when i look over at people snickering. ronan has somehow managed to undo his diaper and pull it out of one of his short's leg and dropped it in the middle of the cafeteria. oh for the love!!!! my kids are ridiculous! but i do promise that ronan has NEVEr done this before. nope, he just saved that one for church!
gotta love them!

Girls night

there is nothing like a girls night to remind you that you are normal (well, relatively), you can still make jokes, and on occasion, your brain can communicate with adults! saturday night we had a girls night with our small group girls at the tepfers house. ann's dear husband grilled steak for us and made homemade mac-n-cheese. it was wonderful! even better cause i didn't have to cook it! we played pit which seems to be becoming our tradition. but i pretty much am the worse pit player ever born. i think i just can't concentrate enough! every time we play i never win more than one hand! it's ridiculous! but i do laugh and make a inappropriate comments just like a middle school boy. but i love my girls, and i love spending time with them just laughing. i never really thought i needed girl friends and quick honestly, most of them annoyed me with their pettiness and weird neediness. but having this group of friends has changed all that for me. they are like my sisters. i love them immensely and find myself needing them and wondering what they would say about a certain situation and whatnot. God truly brought us together and i can't imagine my life without them now! and that is soooo weird for me!
on the kid front, ronan has been extremely cuddly and sweet to me the last couple of days. i have truly enjoyed it! he's been my little buddy and doesn't want me to leave ever! usually he's just 'bubeye mommy!" and off he goes when i leave. but saturday he was pouting saying "no bubeye mommy! no bubeye! stay here!" aww...he does love me! :)
zander is sick i think....which means its going to be a long week! hopefully he'll bounce back soon!
jade is still miss jade and absolutely adorable. i am so in love with that little girl! she is laughing out loud now and has started coo-ing/singing. i love it!!!!

Jade's 2 month stats

I took Jade to the doctor on Tuesday for her 2 month appointment. the little darling is 12 lbs 12 ozs and 23 1/2 inches long. her percentages are 92% for weight and 89% for height. i have never had a child under 95% for height! i have a shorty! :)
now, let me just get this out there now. when i say i have a short daughter, please do not respond with, "oh that's good, you don't really want the height in a girl". SERIOUSLY (now mind you, someone has already said this)?! cause having a tall girl, who's taller than her brothers, or heaven forbid, over six feet tall, would be the WORST thing in the world! cause she'd be like her 6'0" mother (who's also taller than her brothers)!!!!! i have come to realize that people just do not think when they are talking. nope, the world is full of non thinkers. so i'm sparing you the embarressment of what would be my brutal comments in response to your dumbness. so when you hear her stats, just smile and say, aww that's great!

pictures

coupon thief

dear coupon thief,
you are a bad, bad person. i have spent many hours cutting coupons and placing them in that nice, little accordian folder. it saves my family lots of money on groceries, money we really need. last night i was shopping with a screaming baby and two grocery carts full of food. while trying to stressfully, load my car alone, i left my precious folder in the cart. when you found it, you should have turned it in. what kind of person cuts coupons, sorts them into a folder? me -- a crazy, patehtic, desperately trying to save money, kind of person. why on earth would you steal from me? shame on you bad person! after searching every shopping cart and calling the store three times, i've admitted defeat. but i send many bad thoughts your way. however, i'm sure you will save money and perhaps learn an amazing system of coupons sorting from me.
BLAH on you!
sincerely,
a stressed out, couponless, mother of three.

parenting problems

i don't know how much more i can take of ronan's insane amounts of disobedience. the child stresses me out to no end. every day from the time i wake up till he goes to sleep it's a non stop "ronan stop, ronan no, ronan leave zander alone, ronan can you hear me?! ronan i'm going to freak out on you!" then today he bit me on my shoulder and i swear in that moment i could have thrown him! mind you, i say this, but of course, let's just clear up i would not throw him. but it was just a breaking point for me. he's exhausting me both mentally and physically. i can't pay attention to my other two kids cause of constantly watching out for ronan. and he was this way long before the baby was born so it's not necessarily acting out. it started around 17 months and has NOT gotten better. i love that little boy and when he smiles up at you it melts your heart. but he's just got this temper. i feel like i'm constantly yelling and short tempered because of how he makes me feel. so the other kids are starting to feel it...it just sucks. i'm tired, wore out, and frustrated. i've tried spanking, time outs, taking toys away, removing him from the situation, and just recently just sitting him on my lap and holding him tight. nothing works. nothing. i am just praying and praying for him.
on a positive, jade is starting to smile tons more and that is just the sweetest thing. she has started to grow out of the 'old man' stage and is looking more like a sweet chunky baby. she's adorable and truly has my heart. zander is the sweetest big brother around her. she smiles whenever he comes near. he cuddles her and says funny things like "who's my little baby, where's my little chubby baby". it's adorable.
ok that's all for now

Awesome Diaper Deal!

This is a great deal from diapers.com. thank you lacey rumley for the inside scoop!
Here’s the deal…Put at least $49 worth of merchandise (I did diapers) in your shopping cart. This will qualify you for free shipping. Then enter the referral code LARI9103 to get $10 off your order. (This also gives me a credit toward my next purchase.) Then, send in this http://www.diapers.com/HelpCenter/Parenting.htm to get another $14.95 back. (If you can’t get that page to load, I can email you a pdf of the form.)
There are MANY scenarios you can do, but here’s what I ended up with:Pampers Baby Dry Extra Large Case with 216 size 2 diapers (with an automatic $1 coupon from diapers.com) ANDLuvs Ultra Leakguard Jumbo Pack with 30 size 5 diapers
I paid $41.22, with free shipping, and will get back $14.95 in a rebate check. That means I got a lot of diapers for not a lot of money!

if you don't have kids, this makes a great gift!
thanks again lacey for the heads up!