I haven't been on here in forever..

I have been so busy with Zumba (and going to the Zumba Instructor Convention in FL, which I need to blog about) I haven't even looked at a blog in weeks!

I just wanted to post a quick funny story.

I asked Kaius to tickle my back, he stopped after a few seconds and touched my stretch marks on my sides and said "What happened Mommy?"

I said "It's from havin' babies."

He gasped and said, "Roe Roe scratched you?!!??"

It was funny.

The end.

Memories

Jotting all this down for the memories:

Monroe is really smart. She is much more advanced verbally than Kaius was at her age. They are about the same physically, except Kaius was really good with handling balls. She's more into dolls *heart melting*

The last couple times I've finished dinner and come sit at the table, she automatically folds her arms. We die over the cuteness. She will even stop crying (usually crying from hunger) for the prayer, and continue crying after we say amen.
When we tell her to say things, she can come really close! She can say Mommy and Daddy. Pizza (Dee-dah). she can make kiss noises. She can imitate me when I hum tunes. She loves to growl. She loves to turn off the cable box & TV. She loves to eat yogurt and graham crackers. She is a tad bit pickier than Kaius in terms of food, but she knows that I will NOT give her something else. She gets what she gets.... it might sound strict but I think if she is really hungry she will eat anything. However, Josh and my Mom are a little more lenient with her :D
1st birthday, at the park


Kaius is still pretty mean to Monroe. He hits/punches her a lot. It is very frustrating as parents to witness. We are staying consistent with time outs. But he does have his sweet moments.
The other day I was putting him into his car seat, he likes to buckle the chest buckle, but I was in a hurry. I said "No we gotta go bud" and he said very enthusiastically "Oh, next time! Next time!"

Josh came home from work and I gave him a hug and kiss, Kaius came to us, hugged each of our legs together and said "I love you guys" (pronounced "I wub you duys")
He frequently says to me "Mom, I a lil' boy." And it is a great reminder. He is a little boy. I need to remember that.

He also likes to remind me I'm the mommy. Sometimes I imitate his whining (hey, it works every time) because he realizes how silly he sounds...and one time he was saying "I'm a baby!" in a whiny voice so I repeated in the same tone "I'm a baby!"
He sat up calmly and said "No, you're a Mommy!" I explained to him I was making fun of him and he was calm after that. *shrug*

Rough Housing

This is the conversation Kaius and I just had:

Me: "Kaius what just happened to Monroe?" (She started crying as if she got hurt)
K: "I Punch her."
Me: "You do not punch your sister, what happens when you punch sister? Go to time out?"
K: "Daddy likes punch"
Me: "Yes, Daddy loves to play fight with you, and you can punch Daddy, but not Monroe, or Mommy, or anyone else. ONLY DADDY."
K: "I LOVE DADDY!" (Pronounced I WUB DADDY!)

Apartment Fire in Roy, UT

I heard about this massive fire briefly on the news, and hoped none of my Roy friends were involved.

Meet Tara, on the right.


Zumba enthusiast from the beginning. We were the only ones left for a while who didn't become instructors yet. :)

Single mom of cute Beckum. She has worked so hard for all they had.



They are OK (which is most important) but She literally lost everything but the clothes on her back. Her phone is toast. Beckum's toys. Everything. Underwear. She is still in shock right now.
UPDATE!!!! SEE BELOW

So we are doing what we do best and doing a ZUMBA fire fundraiser!! It is in Roy, UT (Northern UT) This Saturday from 9:30AM-11AM. They will be accepting donations, Clothes, toys & household items. The address is 5385 S 1950 W Roy UT, 84067.

If you can't make the fundraiser, but would like to donate some items, You can contact me and I can get them to her.

******UPDATE******

Tara and Randi were able to go into the wreckage and find that some of Tara and Beckum's belongings were salvageable!!



The proceeds from this Saturday's fundraiser will go towards other families who have lost. Thank you all!

Body by Zumba

I never thought I'd post on my blog pictures of myself in a swimsuit, but I am. Yesterday I "ran in to wal mart to grab a couple things" and stumbled upon the cutest swimsuit I have ever ever seen.

It pretty much describes my personal style to a "T". The hot pinks, the "one shoulder" I love, the animal prints, the palm trees, houndstooth, stars, stripes..just everything that is cute on one canvas. It is so pleasing to my eye. I don't know how else to describe it, but I love it so much, I wanna marry it. And it was the last one left in my size, it was meant to be. I am going to try to find another one at another wal mart so I can have it when this one wears out (it was only $20).

Also, I feel okay posting it because I HAVEN'T always looked and felt so good about my body. I like my body! I work hard on it (in disguise, partying at Zumba class) and I'm more fit than I was in high school.

It is not perfect by any means...no way I'm giving up a klondike bar on the weekends. Or two. And there are some stretch marks that show on the sides of my tummy. And I have zero makeup on and the last thing to touch my hair was my pillow... But I like myself. And that's a huge deal for me.

Meeting Michelle Money

For some reason Facebook isn't letting me upload any pictures, and I'm gunna cut its face off.

*snicker snicker*

(Remember when Monica said that about crazy Jenna the first night?)

This post is "The Bachelor" related, just so you know.

I was a fan of Michelle's after the "women tell all" episode of her season with Brad.

So I found her fan page on Facebook, and found out about her Youtube channel.

She does it with her BFF Laura, and OH my gosh they are so freakin hilarious.
Recently I have had some people tell me, "Yeah you look good since you lost weight and all, but its not just that, you're glowing. What are you doing different?"

Well, folks, its the MMandLShow. They have a video for eyebrows, a video on how to apply mascara, blush/bronzer, spray tan, etc etc etc. I never realized it, but my eyebrows always disappeared in pictures, cuz they are so light. I got a brow pencil that matches my hair and its made a big difference. They are "big on brows" :)

Anyway, a couple days ago Michelle posted about meeting and answering some questions with Laura, and Monica from the most recent Bachelor.



So last night my girl Briel and I went, it was at a nail salon in Holladay. It was so fun. I went to meet them with no expectations, but they were SO down to Earth and normal. Besides how freakin' pretty they are.

They said its very different from real life dating. They don't let you talk to anyone (outside of the house, like no talking on the phone unless you have children), read books, nothing. They said they want you to go a little bit insane. They said its pretty much "dating on crack".
Rose ceremonies last hours. They want you to be uncomfortable standing there, so they can get every facial expression and all that on camera. They hear no music, totally silent.

They are given tons of beauty products, and they get whatever food they want. The staff either goes to the store for them and gets the girls whatever they want, or they just order room service. They cannot go walk around the city or anything.

Monica was not attracted to Ben at all, but thought he was a cool guy. I think he's cool too, but a horrible actor, quite boring. Michelle was very attracted to Brad.

They said they expected tons of cattiness, but it was totally cool like meeting the other girls who were just normal like them and travel a bunch with them.

The night Monica was sent home, she actually broke her foot in 5 places running and sliding into the shower with all the girls. She drank a bottle of wine and slept til the doctor got there. She said she was crying and drunk and Ben was really sweet. She said that's when she changed her mind about him. But none of that made the show!! She said there was lots of stuff that didn't make it on that she was surprised about. We were all bored sitting at home watching, HELLO!!

They said everything is very manipulated, but that was pretty apparent. I asked if they paid money to people to acted crazy or incentivised craziness with money...nope! I was surprised with that.


If you have any questions, put them in the comments and I'll do another post. We asked a LOT of questions.

Pictures!











BFFs! I'm making an appointment with Laura soon (far left) to do my eyebrows. She is so pretty and so nice. She asked me how many kids I had and what their names were. She is so dang funny in the youtube videos. Watch her.

Diva Cup??

How have I gotten through the last 10 years without a DIVA CUP?? (if you're a dude, you won't appreciate this post. You should really stop reading)

Why has no one told me about these?!

You save money & time.

(Seriously, males, stop reading now!)

If you don't know what a Diva Cup is, it's a menstrual cup.

That's right, instead of a tampon that you have to change every 4 hours, you use a silicon cup. It can be there for up to 12 hours. So, its like putting your period on hold and then controlling when it comes out.
Someone I worked with like 5 years ago casually mentioned she heard about it, and we all thought it was a crazy idea. After having 2 kids and going without a period for 3 years (since I was breastfeeding) buying a box of tampons once a month was bugging me. So I thought there has to be a better way. Turns out lots of women love them. After using it for a couple months, it pays for itself! And no more waste in the landfills (I say, as I have paper/plastic plates/utensils in my cupboard).

I wish I'd known about these earlier. (I doubt any boys stopped reading)

Pickles

Lately, within the last month or so, whenever Kaius or I eat a pickle (in a burger or something), we haven't liked it. Normally we have an appreciation for the crisp texture, and taste of a sliced pickle. It was our favorite bites of the burger. But lately...lately we take a bite and our tastebuds are overcome with a weird perfumey taste that is overpowering and we must spit it out. Josh thinks we're weird.

Isn't that weird?

Deep Breath.

Every once in a while I am reminded in some way to come and read my old blog post when I was pregnant with Monroe. I absolutely cannot read that post without bawling my eyes out. I remember that day too well. The 10 minutes I truly believed I lost my baby I went through a bunch of emotions. Anger. Sadness. Regret. Guilt. Hate. Love. Misery. Self Pity. Then the roller coaster of emotions. The eternity it took the nurse to find the heartbeat. Then feeling relief, happiness, complete elation...slight annoyance?

I only went through it for 10 minutes before they called me back to tell me it may not be true. Which is every pregnant-woman-who's-been-told-they've-miscarried's absolute dream come true. I hear about friends and even my own sister who have had ACTUAL miscarriages, some still-born. I wish everyone had an outcome like mine. Why did I and they didn't? Its not fair.

Since that day, that doctors office really walked on egg shells with me. Only scheduled me with the doctor, I never saw that nurse practitioner again. They covered my bill for the HCG blood draw at the hospital before the roller coaster day. I wasn't mad at her, she was very young. I hope she didn't get into trouble. Then Josh was laid off and got another job an hour away and we moved. I just did a google search, she still works there, so she didnt get in THAT much trouble ;) I also found that she volunteered free OBGYN care to women in rural india. Sweet girl. Looking at her picture, I remember her face. She was emotionally invested in the situation.

Anyway. Monroe lately is showing a little bit of a diva side. If I give her food she is not in the mood for, she tears it up and throws it (graham cracker, bread, etc). Hissy fit (but still cute)! She is waking up at least twice a night and I will love it when she stops that. I still don't understand how women "miss" breastfeeding.
Everywhere we go people cannot believe how beautiful her eyes are. she has great lashes, and very blue eyes. She will wave at people, but only if she is excited to see them. Kaius beats up on her hourly, she takes it like a champ. But boy, it infuriates me.

Kaius is absolutely obsessed with Spiderman, Superman, and The Hulk. He is starting to formulate sentences and it makes me soo happy. Monroe started crying and I asked, "What happened? Did you hit her?" he said, "YEAH. PUUSSH. Push her." It was so cute, I dont think I even punished him. Well, he wouldn't say sorry, so he did go to time out.

OH! and something really funny happened this week. We were leaving to go meet Josh at his office, and as soon as we got outside Kaius bails off the porch into the vines. Me, in my new Zumba sneakers, refuse to go in after him. After pleading and working up to yelling at him...not knowing what to do...I decided to tell him I was going to see Daddy without him. I get in the car and pull out and I see Kaius start to have a FREAK OUT. He is full on panicking. He almost falls on his face, but runs out into the road in front of my car, with arms up surrendering, screaming and sobbing. I wish I had a picture of that moment. He truly thought I was going to leave him there. I got him in the car and said "Mister, you know I wouldn't REALLY leave you home, right? Mommy would never leave you, Kaius" he says "Yeah...eave you Taius" (repeating my last sentence) He is my favorite little boy!

Epiphany

My friend Sarah posted this article on Facebook: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/to-the-mother-with-only-one-child

Basically it says whether you have one or many children, being a mom is hard work. and Its HARD adjusting to being a mom.

I see and hear about those women in relief society that NEVER complain or say anything negative. You know what? They are all grown and their children are grown. They don't have babies waking them up all night anymore, and they have better perspective on life. Right now I feel like crap for complaining being a mom is hard, but you know what?? Its REALLY freakin hard, and life without sleep makes everything a chore. Even eating ice cream...that creates dirty dishes. I know my kids will grow and I will miss them as babies...but freakin A will I love sleeping through the night.

Kaius was worried...

This morning Josh was leaving for work so he gave me and Monroe a kiss (and woke her up doing so, my favorite) But right after she got her kiss, Kaius woke up and walked out of his room. He came in bed with Roe and I and Josh gave him a kiss and interacted with them a few seconds. He said bye and walked out of the room. Kaius' lip quivered. He pointed at me and cried, "Mooommmmmmmmmmmyyyy!"
He walked in after I got my goodbye kiss, so he thought his Daddy intentionally forgot to give his Mommy a kiss. And he just lost it.

When I leave at night to go teach Zumba, Kaius directs my kisses. He's always first, then directs me to kiss Daddy, or Monroe ("Roe Roe"). So..I'm pretty sure he thought we were getting a divorce. I took Kaius out and let him know I already got a goodbye kiss, but I'll gladly do it again to show him everything is ok. It was cute. He stopped crying but man, he was upSET!

I just wanted to remember that. :)

7 Tier Diaper Cake

I couldn't wait to make this cake...I've been planning it for, like, 6 months. But I didn't want to make it ALL out of diapers. It would have been really freakin' expensive. I came up with the idea all on my own...I didn't even look at pinterest!

Josh helped a ton on the construction. When I told him I was taking pictures he was like "NO, I don't want pictures of me doing something like this!" But by the end, he was getting after me for not taking a picture of EVERY step. Go figure.

And to be honest...he was more of a perfectionist on how it looked than I did. It turned out great!

I needed something to fill the inside, that was much cheaper than diapers....


Hmm....



hmm...


OH!



I got a very interesting reaction from the cashier. Another shopper stopped to ask me how many kids I have.

The top tier was the only one made of diapers only.



[in the picture I told Josh to give a look that said "The things I do for you, Cammie" I can't tell if his eyes are open. It was like pulling alligators teeth to get him to turn some sports/NFL/Broncos show off and help me.]

I went to go buy some rope, but a few years ago I got really big into knitting and made like 3 projects I never finished. So, durr. Yarn!

Once the tiers got bigger, we tied sections together to make bigger sections...so it didn't come apart in the drive to the partay.




We wrapped our legs around it to keep the diapers in place.



I went to buy some ribbon to tie around the outside, but happened to pass some really cute Duck Tape (Duck is the BRAND...yes I know its "duct" tape) And it was a LOT cheaper than ribbon.



But I got ribbon for bows still. And I knew the toilet paper would be showing, so I got some tulle to cover it up.

The final product:




I couldn't wait to I had such a fun time at Cammie's shower. She was so cute and all her students loved having the bash when they have to have a Cammie-break for a while when she has her babe. Hope everyone else had a great time too!

Slacker

I am a slacker with everything right now.

Christmas was awesome. We went to California to spend it with my Dad (& fam) and Josh's parents and all his siblings. We were crazy busy, I literally remember no down time. Always on the go, seeing someone. It was really fun and nice to see everyone, it was also exhausting.

Kaius is pretty much over Pixar movies. All he wants to watch is Spiderman or Superman (Piderman & Pooperman). He doesn't care if it is cartoon or not. Josh showed him some episodes of old school Superman at my Dad's on Netflix...he was hooked. Now every time I am carrying him to time out he holds out his arms straight up and puts his hands in fists and goes "POOPERMAAAAN!".

He also doesn't understand that Superman and Spiderman are beating up villains, not random citizens (like, oh, their mother, father, or baby sister) He uses us for punching bags frequently. (Aren't parents supposed to kind of filter what their kids see on TV? Apparently anything goes in our household)
Josh taught Kaius how to move the temperature up on the thermostat. Way to go.
Kaius is starting to form small sentences "Daddy, its Mommy!" when I get home from Zumba. or "What happened?" if we react to something. He gets especially cranky when his lil sis gets into his tool box, "No no no, Roe Roe."

Monroe...I wish I could freeze her in this stage forever and ever. She just has those cute little 2 bottom teeth. She isn't very mobile..well, she can crawl backwards only. It frustrates her. She is ALWAYS moving her feet in circles (like propellers) and lots of times her hands are doing the same, mostly when she is whining for food. She learned to wave. I can ALWAYS ALWAYS count on her to give me a huge smile and make me happy. I love her random hugs. She'll just curl into me and melt, for a few seconds.