The Mathematics of Behavior

Hunter is a great kiddo. Really. He is fun, helpful, loving and just a joy. But if any variable is tainted one bit, his behavior is off.

All week he hasnt fallen asleep until after 9 pm and waking up before 7 am. He had the biggest dark circles all week and looked like he had been punched in the face! After a week of this, he woke up a completely different child on Thursday.

We went with Grammie and Papa to Idaho Falls that day. We went to lunch, dropped Papa off at the eye doctor and went to wal mart. Hunter was VERY tired. Messed up variable + tired + Hunter = Satan. He had his hands on Gookie's neck (thank you aggressive boys in preschool) and boy howdy did I jump all over that. Then we were in an aisle and a lady in the store's motorized cart was in the same aisle. Hunter stood up in the cart, glared at her and yelled "HEY YOU!! GET OUTTA THE WAY!!" I was appalled and embarassed! I apologized to the glaring lady and took Hunter away and had a a good talk with him. Only for him to then yell at Grammie "give me that!" later. I wanted to put him in a green garbage can and roll him down the street!!

He fell asleep 15 minutes before we got home. We did some extra driving around town. That 30 minute nap worked wonders! He woke up my sweet Hunter boy again!!!

The Two's are approaching

Gookie will be 2 in April and she is acting her age! Atleast I know she is normal and doing age appropriate behavior =)

She does not want to get dressed this morning (I am only trying to because we have to go get Hunter from preschool and it is Frigid outside) She has been throwing herself on the floor cried and cried for her "pretties" (a sequins purple skirt) and right now all she is wearing IS her "pretties" and Hunter's snow boots and I cant find the camera! If it was summer I would leave her as she is and take her! She is a very strong willed little girl, but I AM MOM!! Let the wrestling match to get real clothes on begin in 5...4...3...2....1.........

President's Day

We just chilled around the house making sure everyone was feeling ok. Here are the many expressions of the kiddos.

Hunter's Valentines "Date"

Valentine's Day Hunter went out with Bethany for a "date". They went to feed the ducks and Hunter got bit and I think traumatized! Then they went to The Craze downtown. I love this picture! His face says "wait till I tell the boys tomorrow at preschool!"

WANTED: REM sleep!

Brad went to work at midnight and didnt get off until 8 am Sunday morning. Church starts at 8:30 and we were the speakers in sacrament mtg! I had asked my niece Jocelyn and dear friend Beth to sit with the kiddos while we were on the stand. They came over at 8 and helped me finish getting the kiddos ready. I couldnt have done it without them!!

Brad did a great job on his talk! He had written it 2 hours before while at work and was able to read what he had written, which is a good thing because he was sooo tired, bless his heart! Afterwards he came home and went to bed while the kiddos and I went to primary. I am glad to be in senior primary because I know what Hunter is talking about when he tells me about Junior primary. WHen I picked him up he said "Mom I sang Scripture Power all by myself!!"

When we got home we had lunch, watched Living Scripture videos about Ammon (which by the way if you have seen it, Hunter says that Lamanites say "ay yi yi yi yi!" since that is what they yell while scattering the sheep)I have a feeling he will play Cowboys and Lamanites! LOL

I took much needed 3 hour nap yesterday!!! I was dead to the world and it felt wonderful!

Brad worked last night again at midnight. I went to bed at 12:30. Hunter woke up with a scorching fever and threw up at 2:30. Threw up the medicine I gave him for the fever at 3:30 then Gookie woke up screaming at 4:30 and I didnt know if she was sick or not. And then she woke up at 5:30 screaming again! It;s like they syncrynized their watches or something. Hunter hasnt thrown up again and his fever isnt as bad, but fevers usually spike at night. We'll see.

Today will be a low key day trying to get everyone feeling better. Gookie is already down for a nap, Brad t me sleep for an hour this morning and now he is down for atleast 6 hours and Hunter and I are just chilling. Happy President's Day!!

5th Anniversary

Today is our 5 year anniversary! I am thankful for the memories and the good and bad times that have brought us to where we are today. Its all about growing and changing as we learn through life experiences.

Thanks for everything Bradley. Thanks for your love and the laughs, even though it is mostly me laughing at things you do. And thank you for our beautiful children. I love you.

What's new

This last week I got my hair cut and colored and I love it. Here are some random pictures. And yes, that is HUnter asleep with a purple hat covering his face.

Gookie time

This was taken last night after Hunter had gone to bed. She was being so funny and making crazy noises so I grabbed the camera and started recording...only she stopped what she was doing and was very determined to look at the back of the camera instead, as you can see. When Gookie is tired she gets very giggly and silly. All those who really know us know that that totally comes from Bradley!! I am composed and calm when I am tired....uh even when I am not tired as well =)



The other day when Gookie was teasing me, I looked at her and totally saw myself!! It was scary because she is teasing me at the age of nearly 2, doing things that I do to Bradley to tease him!! I think this is karma and Brad is happy because she doesnt tease him!

But other than teasing, our kiddos are the happiest, easy going kiddos and I am sooo blessed and love them LOADS!!!!

1 on 1 with Hunter

These videos were taken on a Sunday afternoon while Gookie was napping.

1 on 1 with Hunter

Brooke the Bully

This is a glimpse of Gookie tormenting Hunter. She always tries to steal his blankie, even though hers will be right there, and she pushes him all the time!! Hunter is a great big brother and rarely retaliate, which is great! But at the same time it's kind of patheticto hear "MOM, Gookie is pushing me!"

In this video Hunter was windindown for the evening and just wanted to kick back and watch How To Train a Dragon. Well aparently Gookie had different plans. And yes, I knew what was all going to happen, but I was trying to just observe and get it on camera and not really interfere, until the end. I LOVE HUnter's face at the very end.

Saturday

I wanted to go upstairs last night with my baseball bat. FINALLY at 1 am they quieted down. So I was up late last night and up early this morning with kiddos and Brad going off to work. There is no way these kiddos are truly mine. I have not EVER been a morning person. And my kiddos wake up early and HAPPY!! So they both climbed in bed with me and were laughing and happy and saying "Good Morning Mom!". It was a good way to wake up, however, I did not want to wake up. So I put in a movie and fell back asleep on the couch.

I am grateful to be with my kiddos all day today!! I miss them when I am working and I try to do something fun with them on Saturdays. So today I will clean the house, fold laundry and when Brad get's off at 4 we are planning to go to Idaho Falls and do something fun.

The last two weeks our kiddos have been bottomless pits!! They have eating days like that and non-eating days where they truly eat only 1 meal a day. They know when they are hungry and when they're not. SO as a result of them eating like teenage boys they do not fit in any of their clothes anymore!! No they have not gained weight, but height! Which truly is amazing for Gookie and for Hunter, I dont know how he can get any taller!! So Hunter's pants are tight and highwaters! And Gookie's shirts look like she is WInnie the pooh! Which is crazy because 2 weeks ago they fit fine! They are growing fast and I cant believe that in April we will have a 4 and 2 yr old!!!

And now the dishes are calling my name.

NOt a happy night owl!!

Everynight our new upstairs neighbors have friend over passed midnight. They are LOUD and sound like they are wrestling and running around as well as laughing and screaming. It wakes up Gookie and is plain irritating. It is 12:15 and I just had to tap the ceilng with a baseball bat as they have been playing the guitar for 15 minutes and every noise echoes in our whole apartment. The other neighbors may have been rude, but we NEVER heard them. Even now they are attempting to strum the guitar still!! I have never wanted to move more than I do right now!!!! I am grumpy, have a headache and want to sleep. And I also want to play my chances at the lottery right now so we could move!!!!! Hmm, now I hear Mario Cart!! Kill me.

I am feeling overwhelmed today. I just got a new client who sounds a bit more high maintenance that my other kiddos. She is also older. I also got back ALL my paperwork from the past two weeks and have to do a lot of things over because they didnt tell me little tidbits of info and therefore all that I did needs to be redone.Ugh. The other night Brad and I sat down and planned out our next 2 paychecks. Bittersweet. It is nice that we actually have the income to pay medical bills and other such bills. But it's also not so fun to see the money will be gone before you even have it. I just keep saying to Brad, what on earth would we do if I didnt have this job?!?! And atleast things will get better in time and it does feel good to finally pay things off.

So I came home from a mini meeting about my new client and just cried to Brad and asked for a blessing. It really helped and I do feel more comforted. But ask me again tonight when I get home, put the kiddos to bed and then redo all my paperwork during american idol!!