February

Life just keep getting faster and crazier. February started out with an eye opener. We watched Timbers puppy Basset Hound "Lady". I am so glad that we are no longer in the puppy stage. She was fun but a ton of work. Our saying for Duke was what goes around comes around. Lady drove Duke nuts always wanting to play. Now he knows how Pistol always felt.

I started working out again. I hate it so much but it really does make the darkness go away and I have so much more energy. I am hoping that if I put it in my blog I will have to keep doing it in case someone ask about it. (fingers are crossed).

Other thing I hate are mice, I think we finally got rid of all of them Thank Heaven!  We did kill one why Greg was at work. It took me 45min (talking to Greg who laughed at me, and my mom who was empathic to me) to finally get the guts to dump the mouse in the trap. I had Denali help, he thought it was cool and wanted to play with it, that totally freaked me out. Just typing this is giving me the creeps!!

We took the boys to the zoo and of course something had to happen. We have really enjoyed our year membership. Denali feel asleep about 15min before we got to the zoo. We let him sleep for about 30 but then wake him up, never a good idea. For the first 45 min I was ready to give him to the zoo. Colvin was happy as long are we were right by animals that he could see, like the Gorilla, or on the move. The cats were really cool to see this time of year since they are more active in the cold. Funny fact and story: Giraffes only sleep between 10min and 2 hours in a 24hour time period. Denali had a meltdown (I am not even sure what started it). We walked about 5 step away, only 1 person stopped to see if he needed help. I was right there to reassure them he was fine. All other parents look at him, saw me, and then looked at their none screaming child with love and appreciation.  After that Greg took the kids and I ran for some selfies, and alone time (10 steps away). Denali wanted to ride the train all day. It started to run as soon as we got out of the park. We went back in to let him ride it, it was the highlight of his whole day. MEMORIES!

Valentines week was big for us. First Denali got a cat. I was not so happy about it but mom reminded me that I was not raising cats I was raising kids. Denali loves his cat he named her, "bubbles". She is a good cat, kind of lazy and can hold her own with Duke. Denali and Colvin got a valentines from Grandma (the dinosaurs) and Ivy (a little friend) I cannot find Denali's card, he packed it around for 2 days. (he loves frozen). I got them balloons at Wal-Mart. When Denali got in the van he was hugging his balloon and said thank you mom thank you so much. Best $0.99 ever. I got Greg Jerky and Corn nuts, I made a sign with a cheese saying I made up, “There is no "Jerking" around I am "nuts" about you. Sorry this is so "Corny"” I love you. He got me flowers with a love note, (see below). To top it all off I kind of surprised him with a date night. A friend watched the boys and we went out to eat alone for the first time in 6+ months. Then we went shopping alone. FUN TIMES!

Leaving Colvin started a chain reaction. He had started nursing less and less and when I picked him up after our date night he would not nurse at all. He would only nurse once that night, not his normal 2-3 times. The next day was a fight to get him to nurse. On Sunday he turned his head and was done.  Mom reminded me I had done the same thing. I had a hard time mentally but I was in so much pain physically that it helped the mental.  Long rant after a week of water diet and fasting my milk was gone. Colvin was not doing great at all formula. Crazy mom kicked in, I make up my own baby formula recipe by combining 2 recipes. After just one night I knew I made the right decision for Colvin. It took me a day or two to tweak it how I wanted it but it works wonderful, better than I ever hoped.

Homemade Goats Milk formula

One Pint

2 cup water

2T (heaping) goat milk powder

2t coconut oil

2t raw sugar

1T blackstrap molasses

1/4t kids probiotics

1/2t (or one ML liquid) baby vitamin power **

2tcod liver oil

2t (heaping) colostrum powder***

1t nutritional yeast

1t miralax^

**Make sure it has Vitamin D.  This daily dose, if your baby does not drink a whole pint in a day add vitamins every other time.

***daily dose. Again if your baby does not drink a whole pint a day add every other time.

^ I added this in the begging to get my babies regular. Once they are regular I only add as needed not every time.

Add all ingredients in a blender and blend. Pour in glass jar and keep refrigerated.

TIP: Boling water works best.

Markus and Danielle had their baby. Olin Degraw Cueva. I was going to go to the hospital but she had tons of family and he came really fast. I did go the very next day.  Sonya watched the boys and since Colvin was not attached, and is doing great on a bottle, he did not cry the whole time.

I took Drexal for an afternoon and having 3 was not as hard as I thought it would be.

I needed a 3^rd hand getting in and out of the van, but Denali and Drex were good about holding each other hands.

 Having kids makes life fun. On the way home with all the boys we got stopped by a train, A really slow train. The first thought I has was I need to get home and get the boys down. Then the boys saw the train; you would have thought Santa showed up, they laughed (all 3 of them) the whole time. They were sad when it left, and talked about it the rest of the way home. Stop and watch the train this might be the last train you ever ever see (quote McCarty).

Blessing come very unexpectedly and if you are not looking you might just wright them off as good timing but not blessing. Timber called and asked if we wanted to do a temple babysitting swap, I told her that would be fine. The day before the swap Greg reminded me that he had a work dinner we got to go to (the only one of the year spouses are invited to). Called Timber and it worked out perfect, I watched her kids then she watched mine for the dinner. Without her I would not of been able to go. I also got to dress up which was really fun. Thanks Again!!!

We love the park and we love friends at the park. Throwing rocks is Denali favorite thing. (or dance see video below). When Dad goes to the park or when there are swings life is wonderful. Greg is so good to play with the boys at the park. Playing with the kids is a major workout, no wonder kids are in great shape.  

Denali can climb just about everything at the park. Sometimes I just turn my head and remind myself he is getting big.  My favorite thing at the park is to sit Denali on a spinner and then watch him run. I almost pee my pants laughing every time. Denali is so thoughtful he wants to make sure that Colvin has a good time too. He goes down the slide with him, he tries to push him in the swing and give him under doggies (see video below) and he makes sure he has enough wood chips to play with.   I am not sure who has more fun Colvin or Denali.  I hope my boys can always be friends. The Weather has been so nice we have been outside a lot.

You take the small victories when you are a parent. As a mom there are some days I just want to look good. If nothing in the day goes right after that I can look in the mirror and know I look good. I usually capture it with a pictures so I can look back on really bad days and think there are times I look good. Denali usually goes and hides with a phone why I am in the bathroom. Talking about the no so good days, I took a wooden pull train outside. It was a massive test of patients. It came apart every 10 steps, and I had to bend over and reconnect them. A 10 min walk took about 30.  Just a few last memories. Denali loves to help drive, brings back so many childhood memories for me. Colvin does not love his car see, can you tell by the glare on his face.  Denali showed me a pictures of Nephi and said look mom daddy. I said it that daddy because he is so big and strong. Denali replayed with a YESSS! Greg is the boy’s whole world. Denali calls him most morning to say hi. When Colvin hears his voice he starts flapping his arms and screaming. I AM IN LOVE WITH 2 BOYS AND A MAN!!!!