Sick

Phoenix has been getting up in the night (before we had him sleeping from 7pm-5am) more and has been acting crazy and throwing tantrums and so I figured he was teething really bad. We're not sure though and think he could also have ear infections so I need to call the doctor tomorrow to see if there's an opening. He has an appointment Friday for turning 12 months but we're going to see if we can bump it up because it's been a while already and it's really hard on me sleeping wise. He is weaned during the day and still breastfeeds right before bed and then at about 5 am in the morning. More about that later...
Anyway, this whole ordeal has been hard on me and I have been drained in the morning and can't get up to work out! Marce has had swim lessons at 10 am everyday. That's Phoenix

Marce woke up with a high fever a few days ago, after Phoenix started with his fever (either from teething or ear infections we suppose) and he's continued to be feverish but is now on the mend. Saturday I had planned on going to the Temple. I wasn't able to go though because of the boys being sick. Turns out that yesterday and today my boob is hurting and I start to feel the beginnings of Mastitis. For those of you who haven't experienced that, you do NOT want to go down that road. You are supposed to nurse a lot and relieve with a heat pad. The problem is I am in the process of weaning and not about to nurse more although when I do nurse I can do it from a different position which should help. Also, Sharrid blew up my heat pad in the microwave accidentally nearly a year ago. Today is when it started going down hill. It's one thing to have a sore boob...with the boys on the mend, we decided we would go to Sacrament meeting and then drive over to the Temple grounds since I couldn't actually go to the Temple yesterday. We didn't want Marce in Nursery because he was still borderline. I started feeling really weak and tired in Sacrament meeting and told Shar I needed to go home and we would not be going to the Temple grounds. At this point Marce hadn't had high fever all morning and was back to his old self (again...more on this later) so Shar dropped him off in Nursery and took me home then went back with Phoenix for a combined Priesthood/RS lesson from the Bishop. I'm mad I missed it but couldn't help it. I immediately went to bed after coming home and slept deeply until the time I heard them get home. I tried to get up then but fell asleep again not long after they got home. Shar was great and played and took care of the boys while I slept pretty much all day. I am now up and feeling more energy here at 6pm. I am still very achy but I hope I'm better tomorrow. Like I said we need to get Phoenix into the doctor and Marce has swim this week til Thursday. I need to make bread right now so I hope I'm good enough to do that. I'm going out of town this weekend and will be gone for quite a while so I have packing and gathering to do to prepare for that. I wanted to work on my Video Diary today but I don't see that happening. It will have to wait.

I have taught Marcelus to take the Sacrament since probably about a year ago to teach him reverence and relevance in Sacrament meeting but today he picked up a piece of bread and attempted to put it back because it had crust on it. I tried to get the one he originally touched and passed the tray on. I had to tell him that he needed to take the first one he touched and if he didn't want crust to take one without it in the first place. I then pulled off the crust and gave it to him. Then when the water came he took one, drank it and then gave a fake burp to try and be funny I suppose. Not funny. I talked to him briefly about it and hope he never does it again. I know it wasn't very loud. Sharrid sitting 3 seats down from us didn't hear it. (good thing). Marcelus is your typical 3 year old boy...

He is talking so much now and people always ask how old he is and what his name is. He's really good at saying his name but they always ask twice anyway. He always introduces Phoenix to them too. "I'm Marcelus, and this is Phoenix!", it's super cute. We had to renew our Temple recommends last weekend and a guy in the waiting area was talking to him. He asked "Are you going to go on a mission?" Marce then got all excited and said "Yeah! I'm going to get Mission To Mars at the store!" Mission to Mars is a Backyardigans DVD that we don't have...I guess we're still trying to teach him about Jesus and other things that come before mission. I don't think he would understand what a mission is right now. I was a little embarrassed and wanted to prove that we did teach him of spiritual things so I then asked Marce "Are you going to be baptized?" Marce then said "Yes! I'm going to be baptized in the water. I'm a fish. Mommy, you're a dolphin. Daddy, you're a shark! I guess he has kind of a short attention span.

Marcelus' First Swimming Lessons

Marcelus wanted to put these Thomas stickers around his arms yesterday. He even wore his Thomas shirt yesterday!

Here are a few pictures from Marcelus' swim lessons today!

Giving the kids high 5's

Marcelus walking back to the wall

Marce walking out to his teacher

Phoenix trying to keep cool with some juice

Marce trying to find the toy his teacher has

These two had a little time out on the step because they tried venturing off down the wall too far

Marce paddling and kicking

Gilbert Parks and Rec has a lot of great programs to get your kids into. After swim, we'll be heading to Logandale for a while and after that Sharrid is going to take swimming lessons but after that I wouldn't mind putting Marce into another program of some sorts. They have all kinds of things to get your kids involved in and it would be great for Marcelus.

We have always taken Marcelus into the water since he was born and he's always been comfortable in the water, also in the tub and the shower. Thank goodness I don't have a kid (yet) that freaks around water. Marcelus is 3 now and ready to learn how to swim so I put him in swimming lessons through our Parks and Rec. He goes this week and next, 8 sessions in all for 30 minutes a session/day. He loves it and it's been fun (and hot) to watch him answer to a "teacher" and be able to get out and be challenged. Every day directly after swim lessons, Marce and I go swimming in our complex pool and practice the things he's learning in lessons for about another half hour before Shar has to leave for work. He is great at kicking when I push his bum to the wall but his paddling is terrible. He doesn't hardly move his arms at all and kicks like crazy to keep his head above water. I'm trying to get him to concentrate on his arms and really paddle! He tries to float on his back but I can tell he's uncomfortable and tense. I'm also trying to teach him to blow bubbles through his nose. He does okay at that but sometimes blows bubbles through his mouth instead. It's great to see your kids learn knew things and Marce is lucky because I get to see him learn everything first, and that's special. I must say that with Phoenix it's just as fun watching him learn new things too because it's been so long that Marce learned it that as parents we're ready to see the next one learn it.

Pixar Disney Movies Ranked

There are 9 Pixar Disney movies now, and soon to be 10. I am excited to see the new one called "Up" because Christopher Plummer is the voice of the old man. I still have not see Wall-E. My Netflix has been on hold now for months. I hope to renew it soon though. Here is my ranking of the Pixars without Wall-E.

8. Ratatouille - I saw this once and I thought it just didn't make sense to me so I asked my sister about some confusing parts. She said I pretty much had it right. The concept was really lame. I pretty much didn't like anything about it.

7. Finding Nemo - I can't stand to watch this movie because of the voice of the dad, Marvin or Marlon or whatever his name is. It's really a shame. I do like the parts where they aren't underwater, like on the dock or in the dentists' office and stuff. I don't mind when they're underwater but it's a nice change of scenery during those parts. I just hate his voice so bad, it's so annoying that I don't bother to watch it.

6. Toy Story 2 - This movie was super annoying. Great story and plot, with some very annoying voices/characters. Even Tom Hanks is a little more annoying in this one, but Jesse and the Prospector are 10 times worse. I love Joan Cusack but seriously. I do like the song that Sarah McLachlan sings in the middle of the movie.

5. The Incredibles - I love the girl, Violet. She's the best.

4. A Bug's Life - I like the story and the concept of this one but there always has to be at least one really annoying character. Why is that? Princess Adda or however you spell her name is annoying and actually Flik himself is pretty annoying too. One of the reason I like this is before when I said I liked things either from a really little perspective or from a big perspective.

3. Toy Story - I've seen this movie so many times...really. I had a brother and a sister born right around the time it was first out and it was such a Buzz (no pun intended) because it was the first Pixar movie, but no matter how many times I see it and even though I have every line memorized and nothing is ever a surprise anymore...I still have to admit that it is a great story, great characters, and a very well done job on it.

2. Monsters Inc. - When I saw this in the theatres when it came out, I had no idea what it was supposed to be about and to be honest I didn't get the concept the first time. I thought it was weird. It's still pretty different but this movie is really hilarious. I love Sully and Mike. This is probably the only Pixar that won't ever get too annoying for me, except for maybe one other...my number one pick is...

1. Cars - So far, this is my favorite Pixar movie. Great story and great morals that are really profound for today. I love James Taylor's "Our Town". It nearly makes me cry listening to it because it makes me think of my own hometown so much and I just think it's a really well written song. It's also refreshing to hear a song that isn't about the same old stuff. The only other song that comes to mind that relates to it is "Small Town" by John Mellencamp, also a great song I like. I love Radiator Springs and the diverse population ha ha, I love this movie because I feel like I relate so well to it and that's the main reason it's my number one!

By the way, I saw online that Toy Story 3 and Cars 2 are in production...don't know how I feel about that.

Happy Birthday Phoenix!

Phoenix is one year old today on Memorial Day. Dad had to work of course so it's been a regular old day for us. Here's some pictures of the birthday boy and our day.


Grandma got him a stuffed animal. It's a lion and he's not real sure of it. Testing the waters... Figuring out that it won't hurt him...
Having fun now...
Nurturing side takes over. This was adorable. He tried to give his new "baby" his pacifier...kind of like the time Marce tried to breastfeed his Doggie... "Okay, I'll keep him grandma." "Yay for my first birthday!"

Weekend Update

On Saturday, we had a million errands and we made good time, thank goodness. Shar and I had a date that night (shopping at Goodwill & Golden Spoon Frozen Yogurt) and our Bishop's daughter watched the boys at their house. When we went to pick them up Bishop gave us a bag of his home grown veggies including this huge onion (pictured below). I love onions and use them a lot in my cooking. Bishop plants A LOT of onions and told us not to buy them at the store anymore. (I had bought 3 that very day for my menu that week). One of my errands on Saturday was to my favorite store for the kids Once Upon A Child, except now that we've moved we go to a different one and it is more than twice the size of our old store, so it was great! I was looking for Church shirts and tanks for Marce and found exactly what I wanted. Marce even got an ABC's train floor puzzle! I thought Marce looked so smashing in one of his new church shirts, I had to take pictures on Sunday. The color looked even better on him in real life.

I am trying to collect puzzles and games here and there for Marcelus and I to do together during the day, especially when Phoenix is napping so I can try and keep Marcelus quiet and spend some quality time with just he and I. He really needs more of that and I'm realizing he behaves very good when he gets that attention. While grocery shopping yesterday I got him Chutes and Ladders for a whopping $6. We tried to play last night but I was juggling dinner, baking bread, and dishes so we didn't get very far because of all the commotion but I think we'll get it done in the next couple days. I was trying to teach him about moving his person so many spaces and everything. Next time I go to the store I'll get Candy Land. He left his Backyardigans Memory game at grandma's and asks about it all the time! But we'll be back late June so we'll be able to get it then. I love to see him learn when we play these games. At first it's a little frustrating but when he gets the hang of it, it's priceless. More pictures soon to come, and Yay for Marce's swimming lessons which start tomorrow!

Top 12 Disney Classics

Okay, I tried. I don't know if it's perfectly accurate but I did my best and here is what I think are my top 12 Disney Classics. They were hard to rank because I like them for different reasons, so rather than rank them as movies, it'd be easier to rank them as best story/concept, and best villain, and so forth but here goes...

12. Hercules - I love the song Meg sings "I Won't Say I'm In Love", and I do like "Go The Distance" too that Michael Bolton sings. If you watch this too much it can get pretty annoying though, esp. Hercules and Danny Devito's character...and all the stupid Gospel Choir music...

11. The Little Mermaid - I remember when my mom bought this movie. I distinctively remember her sitting me down to watch it. I didn't make it past the concert at the beginning. My attention span has improved though and I've now seen it a million times. I love what Pat Carrol does as the voice of Ursula, she's amazing! Also I love the voice of King Triton, which is Kenneth Mars (Hugh in "What's Up Doc"). Other than that, my favorite part of the movie is the very beginning with the water and the really beautiful music and all the Merpeople swimming to what looks like a Temple. I could listen to that music forever!

10. Snow White - First off, I hate Snow White herself for obvious reasons. She is probably the most annoying animated character to date. She has a terrible singing voice too. I feel bad for the guy who has to try and kill her. My favorite parts of the movie are the Dwarfs. My favorites are Doc and Happy. Happy always has reminded me of my mom. Doc always reminded me of my grandpa. The dancing part in the movie always reminded me of family night for some reason, maybe cause they played instruments...

9. The Rescuers - okay it's been a while but I love the stupid bad guys in this movie, "Madam Medusa's pawn shop boutique?" and her stupid sidekick who keeps me laughing just with his voice. To me, those two make the whole movie. Other than that I like it because I'm fascinated with everything being so huge because the characters are mice and it's all from their perspective. (like in "Honey I Shrunk The Kids")

8. Ichabod And Mr. Toad's Wild Adventure - I have only seen this recently within the last couple years but it is funny, especially the barn dancing with the big ugly fat girl! I love the narration by Bing Crosby...and the singing, HELLO!

7. Sword In The Stone - "Quiet Wart........Shut Up!". If it weren't for this movie I would have no knowledge or understanding about what witchcraft is, so I have to give a shout out because I've taken it to the next level with the Harry Potter books and movies, so thank you Sword In The Stone. We used to love the showdown between Merlin and Madam Mim.

6. Peter Pan - Although Neverland and Peter Pan might be one of my favorite concepts, it isn't my favorite Disney movie. I've read the book and although Disney's version makes more sense and more of a story out of the concept than the book itself, my favorite version of the book is the movie "Hook". It's one of my favorite movies of all time that's not a musical. I separate those lists: favorite musicals, favorite movies (non musical). If you haven't seen "Hook", I suggest you Netflix it! It's timeless.

5. Sleeping Beauty - Maleficent is tied with Ursula as my favorite Disney villains. I love her voice, it's awesome! I like the score of the movie, the music when the fairies are flying around and stuff.

4. Emperor's New Groove - Before this movie Disney hadn't really done anything this funny not counting Pixar movies. I loved that about it and how quirky it was. I love John Goodman and David Spade anyway so it was easy to love this one. Yzma is the best though! This movie has way too many funny quotes! I love it!

3. Fantasia - The OLD one. My sisters and I used to watch this on Sunday afternoons and couldn't wait for certain songs and parts to come on. We'd always choose which half horse person we'd want to be or which ones were the best looking. We also likened the little flying ponies to ourselves, we were all a different color. My mom probably loved this movie because we would sit there for hours completely entertained by it.

2. Robin Hood - The very first scene after the song in Robin Hood makes me laugh out loud every time because Robin reminds me so much of my grandpa. Everybody reminds me of grandpa, I swear! When he says "Prince John and his whole posse couldn't lift you off the ground...On Guard!". His voice and his confidence and everything, that's grandpa. My favorite part of the movie is when they so rudely interrupt Robin and Maid Marion's quite moment and then they have this big ho-down and dance and play instruments. I love the dance sequence between Little John and Kluckie. I imagine them together after everything settles down at the end of the movie, ha ha. I want to learn that dance, ha ha.

1. Pinocchio - I love the concept of this movie I guess. There's a lot to learn from it and a lot to think about, like Peter Pan. I guess that's why I like it so much. I love the whole conscious thing, and the underlying spirituality of choosing the right over wrong and having integrity even when peer pressure is there.

Side Note: If Mary Poppins was animated I would have chosen it number one hands down. A whole post on the movie to come...

Disney Classics I have NEVER seen: Bambi, Lady and the Tramp, The Jungle Book, The Black Cauldron, Great Mouse Detective, Fantasia 2000, Bolt.

Marcelus and Mother

While I snapped some pictures today, Marce wanted to take one of me. He has shown more interest in the camera lately, of course being the mechanical man! Here's the picture he snapped of me today. None of the rest turned out......he's got a lot of work to do. It's a weird angle, I'm shiny, and I'm due for a brow wax but what you gonna do?

Why can't I be as good looking as my boys? Seriously. They make me look so bad! They must have got all the goods from Shar because although they are SO demanding and taxing on me every day, I often think about how beautiful they are. I love to see them grow up and change and turn into boys. I love Phoenix' big dimpled cheeks and his adorable teeth smile. I love Marcelus' eyebrows and his lips, his dynamite smile! I love their dark hair and black eyes and their mocha colored smooth skin. They truly are so beautiful and I'm so blessed to look at their faces every day. If my boys are so beautiful to me, I can't imagine what my girl will look like. These pictures would have been great sidebar pictures if he didn't have Cream Of Wheta crumbs on his chin...

Candids Of The Kids

Marcelus eating a bowl of Cream Of Wheat at his little table while he watched The Little Mermaid today. I love the he loves all the Disney Classics, even the Princess ones! He still has a big crush on Cinderella.


He's so funny. This was taken right before he left on an errand with dad. He loves to wear his sunglasses (which are now broken thanks to Phoenix) and he loves to wear MY hat! He always asks me if he can wear it. It IS a sweet hat...

Phoenix found Marce's smoothie lying around and helped himself!

"Don't mind if I do!"

Marce is turning into such a little boy. I am loving it!

Curling With Black

Right now in my workouts I'm trying new things at least on upper body days because my arms are getting somewhat used to the routine I've been doing, so I'm trying to change it up a bit doing some different lifts and different routines. I'm getting stronger though so I need to change it up to be able to keep growing. I am doing good but not where I want to be right now. I want people to know that I workout and lift when my arms are just down at my sides and I'm not flexing anything. I can tell right now is the time I need to graduate myself to the heavier weights and the harder toners (resistances). So today I did the Black toner for my bicep curls! I was doing grey but I knew that I could probably do Black so I needed to step it up. Black is the hardest toner. I do sets of 12 reps, sometimes 15, and sometimes even 20 depending on the lift. I did 3 sets of 12 reps for the bicep curls. I yelled....and groaned, and it hurt....but I did it. So, Yay for me! Curling with the Black toner! Yeah baby! I'm all ready for lower body tomorrow! Oh Yeah, I still need to post some pictures, so hopefully in the next couple days!

My Husband Is A Genius!

So instead of having to replace our MagicJack that the kids broke ($40), Shar went down to AutoZone and bought some kind of glue or something ($10) and totally fixed it. To me, it looked like a hopeless waste of time. The USB was snapped right off of the little MagicJack. It's fixed though, and it works again! Yay! Thank you Sharrid for knowing how to fix everything!

What Do You Know

Fellow Arizonans, I was wondering if anyone knew of a Half Marathon/Marathon race that is NOT held on a Sunday here in the Phoenix suburb area. I was thinking of training for one while I am in between babies. This will probably be my biggest space until I'm done all together so I thought I might go for a half marathon in the next 6 months or so and then do a full marathon sometime after I'm dona having kids. I don't think a half marathon would be too difficult for me if I trained...a full marathon on the other hand would definitely be a challenge and a big accomplishment for me, runner or no. Anyway, I know that some of you out there have run community races and stuff, so if you know anything, comment below. I googled but didn't really see anything promising that wasn't on a Sunday.

Also, our home phone is not working right now. Our MagicJack sticks out from the computer a little bit and has been hit/bumped a few too many times by the kids,(not on purpose) so we'll get that replaced as soon as we can. Call our cell phone if you want to talk to us. We're going to have to move our computer around a bit so the kids can't bump it anymore after we get a new one.

Far Behind

I'm sorry I have not been blogging lately. I am way behind on the news of our little family. I will do my best to try and simply tell you what we're up to:

Marcelus is going to start swimming lessons for the first time here in a week or so. This will be so great for him and his problems...(more to come about that in a different post). We went swimming as a family last Saturday. Marcelus is NOT afraid of the water. He practiced kicking and paddling with me holding his bum, he tried floating on his back with my help, he spent most of the time jumping in off the side of the pool into my arms. He was so fast and jumped so much I had to really watch him so I'd be ready. Sharrid will also be taking adult swimming lessons a little later this summer with a personal instructor. Yay! I will prove him wrong on his theory: his bones are to dense and heavy to swim...WHAT?!

I didn't see game 7 of Boston/Orlando, but now that the Celtics are out I hope the Nuggets win it all.

I'm still working out and getting super buff, maybe I'll take some pictures so I don't forget what I did......not like I'm going to quit or anything but eventually I will get pregnant and I'm not going to be pumpin' the iron like I am now.

Biggest Loser is over and I'm so sad. I pretty much cried every episode. It's such a cool thing to see that before a season is over, these people that you get to know, these huge obese people transform their bodies and their insides through really hard work, challenges, and temptations to become healthy and happy. Before a season is over, they go from barely able to walk on a treadmill to being able to run a full marathon. I really loved this last season because it was new. The biggest contestant ever, the sickest ever, the oldest ever, and the youngest ever. Helen, a 48 year old won this year. She reminded me a bit like my mom because of her platinum blonde hair....and her age, ha ha. She is now so far the oldest Biggest Loser winner.

To make a long story short I have decided to go back to the Doctors about my eyesight. Sharrid and I have been praying for a long time to know how to go about this problem and there wasn't any bling bling surprise answer. When I moved into my new ward I talked with the RS presidency about it and that discussion is what motivated me to go to the Doctors. I have recently seen a Optometrist for a routine eye exam. Turns out my Doctor back home shredded my file since I hadn't had an appointment since '98 (when they discovered it was not an eye problem, rather a brain problem). I got copies of the new records and sent them to a Neuro Opthamologist here in Gilbert to see if he'd be able to treat me. I haven't heard back yet but when I do, either he will treat me (for now) or I will have to go to Phoenix to the Doctor that my new Optometrist refers to, which would make it a little more difficult on us but we would make it work. I have decided to do a video diary of the progress and also the history of my problem. I'm planning on starting that this Sunday. Footage is my favorite form of family history and journaling, such as with home videos. I decided what better way to journal this part of my life than with a video diary. I don't want to forget anything and I want all of my thoughts and feelings put into it. I want it to also be an inspiration and education (about me and this problem if anything) to my family members and my children.

Anyone remember playing this? Yeah well, me and my sisters do! This game was the bomb and I found it on Amazon and bought it so we can relive the good old days! Connie and I were talking and thought of it again last time she was over with the kids. She bought one too! I can't wait! By the way, I never read the books, I was too young. Connie said she read the Sweet Valley Jr. High books though.

I am in the process of weaning Phoenix right now. He will be 12 months on the 25th. I am feeding him early in the mornings still and before bed, and then probably once throughout the day. I'm trying to get him used to real milk. He's still working on that but it's coming along. I hope to have him completely weaned by the end of June when we go to my parents house for vacation.

The other day Marcelus wanted to give Phoenix a kiss better on his privates because Phoenix had a diaper rash! He had been having the runs from teething. Marcelus is at that age where he gives kisses better probably because I do for him on the spot where it hurts...every mother does that, but Shar and I quickly told him that it was not okay to give Phoenix a kiss there! Shar and I both laughed and thought that even at age 3, you'd think you would know that you don't want to kiss a poopy bottom, but it was sweet anyway that he wanted him to feel better.

I have been eyeing pianos on Craigslist and have seen a couple for as low as $100.00. I'm dying to get one but I know it will have to wait a few more months. Maybe Shar will agree to get one for my birthday in October.