Me and My Boy

Where Have I Been

I am sure you are all asking yourselves, "Where is Becky? She hasn't written in a week." Because you all just live to read posts on my blog I am sure. Well, just when I was feeling better last week, I got sick all over again. I don't think it was a relapse because I had entirely new symptoms. I think I caught an entirely new cold which was less than fun and left me not wanting to blog... or work... or play.

My weekend holiday was spent mostly at home resting and trying to feel better and caring for sick and teething children. Luckily, Matt started feeling better on Friday and got the fun job of taking care of all of us.

I did venture out on Saturday to go to my parent's house for my Grandma Moses's big move. My Grandma Moses (my mom's mom) moved in with my mom last weekend. I think it is a little funny (because I'm still a young mom) that as a mother, you take care of your children and their every need when they are little and then, when you yourself get old, your children get to return the favor by taking care of you.

But, I sincerely hope that I am like my Nana (great grandma) who took care of herself until she died in her 80's. She was a very self sufficient woman even though she lived with us when she got old.

So, we went to my parent's on Saturday for moving stuff and then eating food and then we went back home again because I was feeling crummy.

We ventured out on Monday to Momma Kimball's for a BBQ and that was lots of fun. Alas that my camera ran out of batteries and I did not get pictures of the event. But, Nicole and Dan had a blast playing with other kids after a week of being cooped up in our house with no friends to play with. They played themselves ragged and crashed last night.

Today, I am finally back at work and feeling significantly better. I am hoping that the whole family will be cough and runny nose free by the end of the week. And I should probably charge my camera battery.

Books Books Books

So, I was inspired by my sister Sarah's post and I decided to do some reviews on books that I have read lately.

I'm rating these on a scale of 5.
5=Awesome, read now.
4= A good read
3= An average read
2= Didn't enjoy it
1= Bad book! Don't read.

The Savage Grace is the third book in the Divine Series by Bree Despain. Bree is a local Utah writer and this is her third book published.

This book is about Grace Divine, who is a werewolf. She battles the demons of the world and tries to contain her inner wolf.

Rating: 4
I really enjoyed this book. It was just as good as the first book in the series, The Dark Divine. I like how she writes Grace; she is very different from many other heroine's who are annoying and unlikable. I like how she writes the romance in the story. It is exciting and dramatic and interesting to read. If you like fantasy/teenage dramas, be sure to check it out.

This is the first book in the Glass series, but is a continuation of the Poison Study series by Maria Snyder. If you haven't read Poison Study, this book will be confusing. I read it many years ago and don't remember much of the series and I was a little lost at times.

This book is about Opal, a 20 year old glass maker who is also a magician. Her magic is centered around her glass making and she is still trying to find confidence in her work. She goes on adventures as a new magician's apprentice and solves problems for the storm catchers who harvest energy of storms within glass globes.

Rating: 4
I really enjoyed the plots and characters in this book. Snyder is really good at describing scenes and developing complicated plots and her characters are really likable. One thing I don't like about her writing, she is really bad a writing romance. It definitely falls flat if you are looking for a romance novel.

This book is the first book in a series of three sci fi books. I read all three, but I'm only going to tell you about this first one.

This book follows Thomas as he wakes up in an unknown place, with people he doesn't know and no memory of his past. He discovers he is being held captive with many other boys his age in a maze. The boys run the maze every day, hoping to find a way out someday.

Rating: 5
This book was a mystery/puzzle that is thrilling and compelling. I couldn't put it down once I got into it and I blazed through this book. The other books in the series are not as good as this first book, but they each present Thomas with a puzzle that he is challenged to solve. These books are all about the puzzles, not about the romance. If you want romance, don't read these novels.

This book is the first in a series of books that are not yet completed.

This book follows a girl who grew up in two worlds. One of her worlds is living alone in Europe and attending private school while her other world is a world of monsters, magic and wishes. She tries to discover more about the world of wishes and her own origins and doesn't like what she finds.

Rating: 4.5
I really liked this book. It was a story about angels and demons that I had never encountered before. It discussed facets of magic that I had never read in other books. It was definitely different from any fantasy book that I have read before. And it integrated our world with a world of magic really well without the typical coming of age involved. Also, it had a little romance which is always a good thing in my book. I definitely recommend this book to fantasy readers.

This book is the first in an incomplete fantasy series.

This book follows the life of Niki who sold her soul to the Everneath in a moment of weakness and only has 6 months left on earth with her family and friends before she is sucked back down to the underworld.

Rating: 4.5

This book was really interesting. It was a new twist on greek mythology and eternal life. Niki is an interesting (though somewhat depressing) character who is torn between the man she loves and the man that she sold her soul to. It is a mystery as to the details of her contract for selling her soul and I read it quickly trying to figure the whole thing out. It was riveting and an excellent read. If you like fantasy and romance, this is a good book.

Sick Weekend

Nicole woke up with a cough on Saturday morning, but we all hoped that it was just a passing thing. Then, Matt started feeling bad on Saturday night and I knew it was spreading.

This sickness was really weird. It started with a cough, then it consisted of aches, fever, and excessive tiredness. No sore throat, no head congestion... weird. Matt was so exhausted Saturday night that he went to take a nap at 6pm and then just didn't wake up until the next morning. He has never done that before. It was weird.

On Sunday, we all woke up with coughs and all hope was lost. Dan and Nicole were grumpous, Matt and I were grumpous and it was unfun. Nicole had a fever of 102.5 degrees and it got kinda scary there for a little while, but by Monday, we were feeling... betterish.

I worked from home on Monday to help out Matt with the kids since I was feeling better and he was not. Which turned out to be a good thing because the kids' coughs were breaking up and kids don't know how to handle that very well. Babies and little kids don't know how to spit or clear their throat, so... Dan and Nicole were throwing up when their coughs started breaking up. It was good to have both Matt and I there. One parent to clean the kid, one parent to clean the mess.

Hopefully, Matt and the kids are feeling a little better today and we are past the gross and the crying and the whining.

Bad Picture Babes

Usually, Dan is a really good picture taker. He usually loves to pose for the camera and get a good pic. But, lately, he has been giving me Nicoley face. Nicole is notoriously bad at taking pictures and Dan is replicated her bad camera faces.

Sigh. I would rather get good pics all the time, but it isn't to be.

Here are a couple samples of bad Dan pics.

Sun Shade

Our backyard does not have any shade. We don't have trees that shade the yard and the kids want to be outside everyday! They love being outside and playing in the yard and we are constantly slathering them up with sunblock. And, as it gets hotter, it is just blazing hot to be sitting outside in the yard.

So, Matt came up with the idea for building a sun sail just outside the back porch.

It is a pretty simple concept. Four posts, cemented into the ground and a sail that is tethered to each post.

 To posts are high and two posts are low, so when you look at the sail, it kinda looks like a triangle, but it is really a square.

 And now we finally have shade in the backyard all day long!

 It isn't waterproof, but we don't really see ourselves being outside in the rain anyway, so it just shades us from the sun. The kids love the shade, but I think that I love it a little more than the kids do.

It didn't take Matt too long to build and because we did it ourselves, it wasn't too expensive either. Much cheaper than buying a gazebo or canopy that you just assemble.

Nicole was obsessed with the ladder. She kept trying to climb the ladder and help daddy when he was putting up the sail. She is getting more adventurous all the time.

Sleepy Cookie Girl

We are trying to cut out Nicole's nap, but she is not ready for that every day, so sometimes she just passes out. And it is in weird places and weird positions. Sometimes, we feed her cookies to try and keep her awake... and then this happened.

Losing Weight

So, I've decided to venture into the world of weight loss. It isn't the funnest thing in the world... but I started a blog to track my progess. You can check it out if you feel like it.

Becky's Baby Weight

Cutest Boy Ever!

This is my cutey boy. I love him so much. Especially when he makes this face than then I want to kiss his baby cheeks.

Also, he loves climbing on Nicole's bed. It is another mountain that must be defeated! He must climb every obstacle in the house.

Mother's Day

I didn't take any pictures of Mother's day, so be disappointed up front. I wanted a low-key, not so busy mother's day this year and my husband was happy to oblige. We didn't go and visit our own mother's on mother's day, but opted to celebrate by ourselves this year since I am a mother and therefore get to choose what I do on mother's day.

We relaxed at home Sunday morning and Matt let me take a morning nap after getting up with the kids at 6:45am. Naps are so valuable, I can't even tell you how awesome it is to take a nap exactly when you feel sleepy instead of accidentally passing out on the couch while the kids are watching sesame street.

We went to church and mother's got truffle candy bars from the ward. The truffle was 27 grams of fat, and 300 calories, so I took one bite to taste and shared the rest with Matt. The kids were not awesome at church (they don't know what mother's day is) but Matt did take Dan with him to primary so that I could enjoy my classes baby free! I am usually in the hall with Dan during church because he is a walking walker and all over the place.

We came home from church and I got to play with the kids while Matt cooked us all delicious pizza. He made a pepperoni and olive, a chicken supreme and our signature zucchini pizza. They were so delicious! Pizza is definitely a treat in our house and my favorite food. I totally over ate and had like six pieces of that awesome pizza.

For my gift this year, Matt is organizing the bathroom. It is a work in progress because it is very disorganized, but he bought some drawers to put on the shelves to organize all the stuff that we have in there. I love the shelves in the bathroom that Matt made for me three years ago, but it is hard to keep a lot of little bottles and things organized on a shelf; drawers are definitely needed.

It was a good mother's day, without too much drama. I'm one happy lady.

My Stats

I have had this blog for 7 years. I have posted 1,036 posts in those 7 years. That is a lot. Here are some of my stats from those 7 years.

Most Popular Post: How to Sleep at Your Desk (3,658 views)

2nd Most Popular Post: The Giraffe Says Moo (140 views)

Blog that I get the most referrals from: Anthonmariemecham.blogspot.com (1,426 referrals)

Website that I get the most referral from: Google.com (2,245 referrals)

Search term that I get found by most often: How to sleep at your desk

Not too bad for 7 years. I don't have a popular blog, but I have a blog that I really love to write on.

This blog started out as a place to write about what I'm thinking, to write about stupid stuff and express my stuff. But, as I have become a mother, it has really become about my journey into motherhood, even though I am a working mom. Someday, when I am once again a stay at home mom, I hope that I can truly convert this to a mommy blog.

Ten Year Reunion

This year is my ten year reunion for my high school. The people planning my ten year reunion are all childless. Some are still single; some are married without children, but the whole group of them are childless. It is kinda funny that all the officers from my graduating class are still childless ten years later. You would think that one of them would have children, but no, they don't.

Anyway, they are planning the event and using a Facebook group to make announcements about the reunion, which also allows everyone in the graduating class to talk to each other. So far, it sounds like the reunion is going to be fairly lame. They are having it at the school, the entertainment is a band member from the graduating class, and the food is being ordered from Burger Supreme. Lame.

So, one of the graduating classmates suggested that we change it to a park where everyone can bring their kids and we can play outdoor games and such. This was quickly nixed with vehemence. All the people planning it insisted that people did not want kids there. (i.e. THEY don't want kids there.) People without kids have no understanding of people with kids. 

People WITH kids want to show off their children to their former classmates and old friends because parents are so stinking proud of their children. People without kids see complications. If kids are there, then they won't be able to spend time with their former classmates, which is true, it would make it a little harder to mingle, but as a parent, I would love to meet my old friend's kids. I do see the complications that kids would present at an event like this, so I'm thinking that those of us who have kids and are still in touch should just have our own sub party some time where we all gather, with kids to show them off.

I'm hoping that the people planning the reunion get their stuff together and make it better than lame. I don't know how reunions usually go because I have only been to one. I was invited as a date to a 5 year reunion of the class that graduated the year before me. It was a LOT of fun. It was at the provo library in a ballroom and there was fancy food, entertainment by the old drama students, and a slide show. It was a lot of fun, so I guess I have high expectations.

Work is Crazy

Work is crazy and frustrating and super busy. I can't really say much about work on my blog for legal reasons, but I'm just not into blogging today because I am stressed about work.

I feel like I work super hard, bend over backwards to get things done correctly on time, and then I am told that my work is wrong for reasons that are beyond my control. The underlying problem is not me, but yet I get the flack for it.

My immediate boss is awesome. I get recognition for my work and she is always there to help and make sure I have the things I need to get my work done. But, I work with a lot of people and there is a lot of pressure to do things right, do it right the first time, and force other people to do their part/job even though I have no power to do so.

I'm just frustrated and burnt out. Just when I think I am done with a project, I'm told that my work is wrong and I have to redo it. I know that that is the way work is, but it doesn't make it suck less.

So, no fun posts on kids today. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day.

Video Friday!

Here are some videos of my seriously cute kids. They crack me up!

Wordless Wednesday

Baby Basket

When I was a little girl, my Mom always called laundry baskets, "baby baskets." And, I always thought that that was a real name for the laundry basket. And this maybe was naive, but I went on believing this my whole life. Until Matt heard me call it a baby basket and corrected me. And then I learned the my Mom had made this name up and I had been led astray my whole life.

Why did she call it a baby basket? For the very reason that you are seeing here. Me and my six siblings would sit in the laundry basket, play in the laundry basket and thus, it became a "baby basket."

Dan and Nicole fight over an empty basket all the time. Once they find one, they both want to get in it, they both want to play with it and they do not like sharing. So, when Dan got in the basket, so did Nicoley and then they were actually friends for like three seconds before they started crying about not having enough room.

And since my kids play with the laundry basket, just like I did as a kid, I will continue the tradition of calling this a "baby basket."