The Motherload!

First of all, yes, we are still alive and I have LOTS to say. I'm sure this will be another novel. But hey, if it didn't turn out to be 20 pages it wouldn't be a post from me, right?! Welcome to the MOTHERLOAD of posts! hehe

Shann-o: What's new with Shan? Well, I think he's gotten even better lookin'. Is that even possible!? Well, must be. Just look!

Shan entered into the Las Vegas Cross Fit Wars a couple of weeks ago. I was so proud of him. Everyone's face read, "I'd rather die." It was actually quite inspiring to watch him push his limits for each exercise. He felt like laying down in the middle of the field for one of the work outs and to complete it he had to run a short distance at the very end. Instead of lightly running like most everyone else did because they were so dead, he sprinted! I was screaming my head off cheering him on. I was SO proud.

He's had a pretty rough past couple of weeks. He lost his wallet AND his wedding ring. I told him that I really believe he's trying to forget who he is and that our whole wedding day even happened! lol. You know- the whole wedding dress story and all. Or maybe you don't. :) Shannon likes to keep that under wraps. The wallet was a little of a bummer because he had $100 cash inside. But, luckily that's all it was. Darn that Dave Ramsey and his advice to only use cash! lol. Just kidding. Gotta love the Total Money Makeover. It works!

Sorry to burst your bubble, ladies, but I really do have THE best husband in the entire world. I mean, day after day, he is constantly proving that he is one of the most thoughtful men ever. Just yesterday, I went and grabbed a friend to take her to get some yogurt after lunch and I came home and all of the laundry was folded, put away, and bathrooms were completely clean! I was so grateful. You know the most attractive thing about Shannon though? It's hard to choose just one thing, but it would definitely be his love for our Savior. He never stops caring about other people in our neighborhood and community. He serves so diligently and he does it all because it is what the Savior would do if he were on the earth today. Shannon really does melt my butter.

A couple of Shannon's finest moments the past couple of days...

I overhear him telling Keshlyn who is whining, "There are only 2 people in the house who are allowed to whine: Kyden and your mom. So stop being whiny!" HAHAHA

I was complaining that I have nothing to wear because of my last 10 lbs from the baby. I apologized for wearing the same few pieces of frumpy clothing I can fit into over and over (as if he cares anyway.) But, this is his reply: "Babe, you look great in anything you put on." A sweet moment passes which is then interrupted by his words, "Except deep purple." Lol. I would have to agree that deep purple is not my color!

Explaining to Keshlyn the David and Goliath story from the Bible. He says, "And David slew Goliath. Well, it wasn't so much of a slaying, but rather a rocking. You see, David used his sling and some pebbles or rocks to defend himself. The rock was slung over and killed Goliath. So, Goliath was rocked (similar to being stoned)." Looking at my -"you gotta be kidding me" -face, he asks, "Do you think this is where the phrase, "We will rock you," got it's origin?" At that moment, I slapped myself in the head and thought I was dumber having heard that story! lol

Shannon speaking to me: "You're sexy dude." A brief pause and then clarification from him, "You're not a sexy dude. I meant you're sexy comma dude." Oh my sweet Shannon. He makes me smile!

Kyden: He's here!!!!

(And yes, that is my leg still in position!)

Just look at how much he's grown and changed so far!

I can't believe he JUST turned 3 months! AHHHH. Where does time go? I'm not
gonna lie to ya: having him has kicked my trash. Not the actual birth, nor recovery, but just the exhaustion with getting into the groove! Finally a few nights ago, he dropped his 10:00pm feeding and I went to bed at 9:30pm! WOOOHOOO. So now both of my children sleep from 7:30pm to 7:00am!

This kid can EAT. He is a chubaroosky. And he grins with his mouth open wide. It. Is. Adorable. He is discovering his voice and so he vibrates his lips which causes spit bubbles. He is always soaked becaue of it. I was tickling Ky last night and he laughed for the first time. My heart melted and I thanked God for that tender moment. I've never seen a kid kick as much as he does either. All day long, he pumps his legs. This boy has some serious leg muscles by now under all of those rolls! :)

 He is such a good baby. I actually left him on his play mat in one room today while I walked from room to room cleaning doors and door knobs. He was totally content. It is a rarity for this kid to cry about anything. He is perfect. Keshlyn was an angel baby too. I owe a lot of it to Baby Wise. That sleep book saves Mothers!

I am weaning from nursing. I was very sad and have been through lots of tears. But, I've tried a little bit of everything. Trust me when I say, I'm done. It's sad because I hated nursing Keshlyn. Many reasons contributed, but lack of supply was not one of them. This time, I actually enjoyed nursing Ky and I just have struggled from the beginning with supply. Talked to Lactation Consultants, tried many things, and now I've come to terms that I'm done and look forward to the next time. ;) It was taking about 45 minutes to an hour for each feeding doing breast and bottle and after a while, I had to ask myself, "Is it worth it?" Especially with a crazy 2 year old running around. He's past the 3 month mark and I feel peace with my decision which speaks volumes! It took me a while to get to that decision. I am very indecisive fyi, in case you don't know me very well...

I am so behind on pictures with him. I wanted to send out a birth announcement but he just hit 3 months. Do you think  I've missed the boat? That thought makes me sad. Just seems like there's always something else that trumps my time. Oh well. I am going to send one anyway to my closest family. Better late than never, right? Well...it's the way I roll anyway!

We cannot quite figure out who our little Ky man looks like... definitely Shannon's ears and my eyes. But the rest is a mystery. He just looks like himself I guess. Chubby cheeks and balding! :)


Keshlyn:

Oh my...I could write a book on this child. She is a CRACK UP! She talks my head off every day and tells me, "Mommy, I wuv you" every few minutes. Makes me smile every time.

We're always working on manners with our sassy 2 year old. Keshlyn now wants to be alone when she's using the bathroom. So, she would say, "Go away!" I finally explained to her that she can't talk to mommy or daddy that way. She would need to be more polite and say, "Mommy, I need privacy please." From that day on, she always says, "Mommy I need primaricy please!" Shannon says he hopes she never stops saying "primaricy" because it is so darling.

She is always saying the darndest things. I actually have this goal of jotting down all of the cute things she says now and even as she gets older; and when she's grown, I want to give her a book of her "childhood chatter." I hope to do this for all of my children. Here's some of her recent quotes:

In the backseat Keshlyn said, "No, no, no," in a very low voice. She kept repeating it.
Me:  "Who do you keep telling, "no" to?"
Kesh: "My fingers!" (as she's putting them toward my face) So cute!

Kesh: "Oh no. I broke my crayon. Dad will fix it!" (She thinks daddy is the strongest person ever and can fix anything!)

Keshlyn : "Daddy, I want to go to park."
Shannon: "Tomorrow"
Kesh: "No! To-Now!

Kesh: "I make you happy mommy. I clean up! I did  it. I'm amazing!" lol. ("Amazing" is her new word.)

When it comes to food, I'm training Keshlyn right!
Me: "Do you want a sandwhich?
Kesh: "No. I want peas."

Keshlyn expressed that she wanted a snack...

Me: "Would you like a halloween cookie that you made with grammy?"
Kesh: "No. I want carrots and hummus."

In Jcpenney wanting a disney princess backpack.
Kesh: "Daddy. I want this."
Shan: "No. We don't need that. You have a backpack at home."
Kesh: "I need it!"
Shan: "Well you need money to buy it. Where is your money?"
Kesh: "In your pocket!"

Kesh came up to me with something in her panties so I asked her, "what's in your undies?"
Kesh: "I wear a pantyliner!" I am curious if she actually got one of mine so I pull down her undies to find a tinkerbell sock! Seriously funny.

Bathing her and Ky at the same time is currently the way to go. Saves time, right? Well, of course she's a little bit curious about Kyden's parts looking different from hers. So while getting a bath and pointing at Ky's boy parts, she asks Shannon, "What's that?" Shannon draws a blank as to what to say. Then he eloquently says (ha), "That's his junk." Seconds later as I'm trying to bathe Keshlyn right along side Ky she squeals out, "Don't wash my junk, Mom! Don't wash my junk!" :)

And the best for last... Shannon had taken Keshlyn to the park. She made a couple of little friends and they were all sliding down the big kid slides having a blast.
They climb to the top and Shan overhears Keshlyn saying to one of the little girls excitedly,
"Slide down on your 'gina!" Unlike Shannon, I use correct terms which has made for some funny quotes!

I am starting a new tradition with my children to take pictures of them on their birthday holding the number of their new age and I will ask them the same questions and a few extra each year to document and keep in a book. Since Keshlyn's birthday is already past, I just did hers. It's going to be so fun to go back and read. I, of course, stole this idea from pinterest. If you do NOT know what Pinterest is, quick! Get off of my blog and go to pinterest.com and become an addict, or don't EVER go there because you'll daydream of it every single day! You'll also find lots of projects you want to try and start scheming how you can get them done and when. As if I needed anything else to add to my "To do" list. *Sigh. Anyways...here's Keshlyn's answers.

2 Year Old Questionnaire

What is your favorite thing to do, Keshlyn?
Her Answer: "Church!" (BAHAHAHAH. This made me laugh!)

What is your favorite song?
Her Answer: "Twinkle" (This kid knows lyrics to TONS of songs. It's quite impressive actually.)

What is your favorite color?
Her Answer: "Yellow"

What is your favorite book?
Her Answer: "Cooties Book" (It's really called, Nit Pickin')

What is your favorite movie?
Her Answer: "Aladdin." (This suprised me. She just recently started branching out. We were watching a little of Tangled EVERY SINGLE DAY for weeks.)

What do you want to do when you grow up?
Her Answer: "Play"

What is your favorite food?
Her Answer: "Ice Cream" (This cracked me up too since we eat this very seldom)

Me:

I'll try not to complain too much during this post. I mean...I could go on about how I'm exercising 5 days a week and I haven't seen the scale move in 6 weeks. Not ONE MEASLY LITTLE POUND! BLAH! I have 10 pounds left to go. Is it tragic? Yes! No. Should I expect to be back pre-baby weight only 3 months after baby like some "freak of nature" girls? Yes! No. But I still hate the fact that I'm not seeing results. Even 1 pound is motivating. I'm doing the same program I did to get my weight off with Keshlyn. I know it works. I've personally seen it happen on my own body. I lost 5 pounds within the first 2 weeks when I started exercising right at the 6 week mark after Ky. But haven't seen improvement in quite a while. I'm toning up. I look better than I did. But "better" isn't good enough! I need to look in tip top shape except you know, a couple stretch marks. What can you do? Darn those cute, totally worth-it, babies! So I could complain about that stuff. But, I won't! :o)

Finding balance in life has been a mess! Figuring out the flow of throwing another child's schedule in there hasn't been too bad. Grocery shopping, naps, lunch, snack times, learning time, family time, story time, relaxing time, date time...and the list goes on. I didn't even get to the cleaning part, hobbies, or church responsibilities. It's been hard to figure out what absolutely needs to be done first in each day. At least for cleaning, I have this bad boy! (Thanks Chels for the template). I would be lost without this!



And then, you might think I'm crazy, but I was having such a difficult time figuring out how to fit everything necessary into my day that I wrote out our family's day and tasks to visually see where things could
"fit" into our schedule. I call it my "Time Budget" because just like our family's $ Budget that allows us to plan for expenditures each month and see where our money is going, a Time Budget lets me plan for things that need to get done in a day and see where all of my time has been spent. Of course each day varies, but all in all, on an average day, the Phillipenas household functions according to the chart below. Shannon helps with all of the chores and such when he's off. So, again, there is variance. Chores/projects could be anything on my chore chart or my project list. It could also be errands or appointments or even library or park time if all of our chores are done! I'm still tweaking the chart but it's pretty close. Having this chart, allows me to stay on track and really feel accomplished that way I'm not running in circles during the day wondering what to do next.

I have done a lot of reflecting lately on my role as a Mother and thinking about what exactly is the most important thing each day to complete. I've been very grateful that I've been able to stay at home with my children and witness their growth every day. Keshlyn is growing at such a fast pace that it's a little saddening. I keep thinking that time is passing me by and I wonder if what I did that day were the things that will matter most in her life. I hope that I am spending my time wisely and embracing these brief tender moments of her young life. I have definitely gotten better. I don't want to think back in several years and wish that I would have spent more fun time with her. So, I'm trying to let go of the "small stuff" and focus on true treasures of each day.

I remember when I was first married and worked as a Physical Therapist Tech, there was a girl in her mid twenties that had just gotten married herself. We were talking about differen things as I assisted her with her therapy and I asked her if she planned to have children someday. Her answer shocked me and I have often thought about her comment. She said she would never have children.She thought bringing a child into this world was one of the most selfish things a person could do. She believed that anyone who willingly brought a child into this "wicked and crazy" world was doing it for their own pleasure and was selfish. I remember really thinking about her response for days because I had alwasy planned to have children and a family. Years later, now I'm the one in my mid twenties and I can't disagree more with that young lady. Having a child is THE MOST selfless thing I have ever done or proabably will ever do. It's a sacrifice unlike any other. Aside from obvious physical sacrifice, your needs and wants are put on hold as you bring another human being into the world and nurture them, care for them, and raise them up unto the Lord- raise them to be good people and great citizens. Do you know how hard that is? Do you know how un-selfish that is? I want to have children so that I can indeed raise them in a wicked world and contribute to the addition of honest, hard working, genuinely good people to the earth. Being a mother is THE HARDEST thing I have ever done. I don't know if other mothers feel this way or not. But, I have never been tested greater than I have as a mother. I have never had to truly set myself aside the way that I have as a mother. I have never seen some of my worst qualities as strongly as I have as a mother. My patience and character have really been tried! I'm slowly working on the things that I don't like about myself (mainly impatience right now) and I get to try over and over to be better because of my role as a parent. Trust me, it is anything but selfish. Being a mother is highly unpopular these days, but it is refining and will stretch and strengthen your heart and soul if you let it.
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I have lots of projects I'm into right now. My main project right now is creating a "Learning Time" Schedule for Kesh. I've done "learning time" with her since she was about 5 months. Started with alphabet flash cards. After a little while, she would look at the correct card out of a few cards held up when prompted to find a specific letter. Then, she could grab the right card every time. It just kept developing from there. She is a smart girl. I spend a lot of time teaching her in fun ways. We do lots of learning games and other activities around the house. I have found some amazing resources online through preschool blogs. We did a lot of fun learning activities themed around Halloween and we are continuing to learn words. We do a weekly sight word or 2. Keshlyn currently can read about 25 words. She is getting better at sounding words out and is so excited when she can read the words she knows in her story books! I'm so proud of her.

My discoveries lately:

I hate peeing! It takes up too much time and I hate stopping what I'm doing to go potty. Once I get engrossed in a chore or project, I want to power through  until it's done! I know. I'm ridiculous.

The world would be a boring place without peanut butter and dark chocolate. I don't eat chocolate very often but if  I do, I want it dark! And Peanut Butter is my snack buddy.

I could never be a fitness instructor for a class because I look and act like I'm dying during all of my work outs! haha

I have also come to the conclusion that I am my own worst enemy. I compare myself to others way too often and wonder why I'm not "as good as them." And then I watch this inspiring, uplifting message and feel that maybe I'm not so bad afterall. Take the time to watch it. It will lift your day!

http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/forget-me-not?lang=eng&format=general-conference&view=sessions&media=