Oh the Irony!

Ok, ok, so I know I said, more blogs that are shorter, and its been, what... 3 weeks?  Sorry. 

So Lisette is on a mission nearly every time she walks, no, runs.  She's fast, she even leans forwards as she goes, gaining momentum.  Surprisingly she doesn't seem to be getting thinner in any area, except maybe her face as she's getting older.  I've still have to dress, now 15 months old, her in size 24 month pants to fit around her very curvy figure.


Franklin is very comical, and is very aware of how to make a joke.  They aren't that funny if it was anyone older than 3 telling it, but he thinks he's very clever.  I had a pillow on the floor, a towel nearby, so he lays down on the pillow, pulls the towel over and says "Mommy, I take a nap!" and closes his eyes.  See, not that funny, but he thinks it is.  His dancing, however, is becoming even more comical.  I do laugh the hardest at him when he and his friend Curtis (Janiel's little boy who is a year older) play sword fight on Wii.  Curtis will twist, and get into it so hard, sweating a lot, while Franklin just barely makes short, controlled "hits" and will win 99% of the time.

We are so VERY happy to report that we have found babysitters.  I told some of you that I wanted college students just in case an emergency ever arose, and they are legal adults who can keep their cool, and drive (even if its our other car they have to use).  There are 2 college students, in fact, who are roommates.  We happened to make our first night (ever having an at home, paid sitter) Tuesday, August 31st, and as I'm driving Sarah home after 3 1/2 hours (pure bliss and kidless fun) she tells me the cops show up due to a domestic call.  It was for the neighbors, but people tend to show up at our place first if they don't know who the Romero's are.

The ONE night we FINALLY get a sitter, and the cops tell her to step outside.  Oh the irony; especially since we've wondered ever since we moved in when the cops would have to show up next door.  Luckily the kids were being great for Sarah, or so she tells me, and they moved on eventually.  Now I'm going to have numbers by the door the next time she comes, and our neighbors info so that she can tell the cops where they need to go and leave her alone.  I'm so glad she wasn't frightened by them.  She told me how great my kids are; Lisette was an angel, and Franklin was polite and sweet.  I so hope she's willing to come back, but no cops next time!

Warning: The dreaded poop story

Osgood will be turning back into an indoor/outdoor cat.  He has been a strictly indoor cat for nearly 3 years.  He's also been without his front claws for just as long.  Here's my horror story for the week.  If you don't like poop stories then stop reading right HERE.

Yesterday I was sewing my latest order, kids watching a movie, all is calm and quiet.  Earlier I caught Osgood with some feces stuck to him; its fresh, and was on my bed.  I rip off the bedding, and anything he possibly touched.  I remember I ran out of laundry detergent.  How did I let that happen?  I knew I was running low.  I continue sewing after I wrangle him and clean him off while he hisses and spits at me.  Lisette comes in.  She LOVES to get into my work station and pull all sorts of things out of place, and off the desk.  It still smells like Osgood so I'm paranoid Lisette will find it before I do. (you know where this is going)

Too late.  He left a portion of what I had found on him earlier on the kitchen floor and she found it.  Smeared it in a 3 foot diameter as well as her face.  I had a breakdown; who wouldn't.  My daughter has cat poop on her hands and face.  I'm sick and tired of cleaning up after, and off of, Osgood.  We switched their food to Science Diet: Weight Control 2 months ago.  Still on the same 25 pound bag, Osgood has not lost any weight.  Our solution: go outside and move his rear.  Perhaps hunting again will get him back in shape.  He used to be VERY good at it.  OK, end of gross story.

Where's the fire!

Lisette is walking like she trusts everything, and like there's a fire.  She's fast, more so than Franklin was at her age.  He didn't fully let go of things till he was a few weeks older than she is currently.  Surprisingly this doesn't mean that she's topples, and falls all the time, either.  Its cute, and makes us smile.  I am having to pay far more attention to what she has her sights set on; in case its the completely the wrong thing. 

I also have to make sure Franklin steers clear.  He likes to push her away/over if he thinks she's going to take or destroy what he's playing with.  Not that its completely unjustified.  He's having far too much trouble with sharing.  Not fun.  I just don't get it.  He's such a sweetie, but it seems that ever since we were called out of nursery back in Lehi he has had learned so many bad things and stopped being able to share, period.  It doesn't help that Lisette really can be a menace.

I have reached 200 sales 2 months earlier than my original goal.  I'm so excited.  Stephen has also been having a lot of success in the sales world with HVAC.  Stephen getting this job with Advanced Air Systems has really been the best decision we've made; probably ever. 

*My next blog will be about a poop story, so don't open in if you don't want to know

Happy Birthday Franklin

My special guy is 3, and it seems like overnight he literally did grow up.  We started potty training last Monday.  By Wednesday afternoon he had gotten it down, and been accident free ever since.  After two days of frustration and I don't know how many underwear changes, he had proved to me that he was fully potty trained.  Makes me feel like super-mom (emphasis on "feel" I know I am not).  He has so much more to say in English now; seemed like with the potty training, he was ready to grow up, so he knew that meant speaking less Franklinese.  Don't worry, he'll talk your ear off in Franklinese.  He knows you all still love it.

We had a Reed-side bowling party for Franklin on July 31st.  He LOVED bowling, I already have a blog about that.  This is just part of the cakes from that party.  He loves anything Toy Story, and hopefully we'll be taking him the newest movie today for FHE.  We had intended to take him on our last trip to SV but it was gone.

On his birthday we had Danny and his family, Travis and his family, and Guy and his family come over for pizza and cake.  I had meant to make that cake look even more awesome since it wasn't cup cakes, but ran out of time.  Besides I used awesome recipes so they tasted great and didn't need frosting.  Franklin had so much fun, talking, and being the center of attention.  Believe it or not, Lisette was asleep through the whole thing. 

We had a long weekend; Lisette didn't sleep well at all, if any, Friday night.  We traveled to Sierra Vista to attend a funeral for Saturday; yes on Franklin's birthday.  It was beautiful and I'm so glad we went.  Clayton is an amazing person, and you know he's doing great things beyond this world.  He has such an amazing family too.  That whole family had been close to the Reeds long before I was born.  Our dad's went to med school together.  Their dad was the man that delivered Franklin 3 years ago.

Is it Arizona, or is it just me?

Once upon a time I had been (mockingly) called a "doctor-bill".  Not a nice name and I would appreciate no one calling me that now.  I had seen more than my fair share of hospitals, and plenty of doctors offices.  I've had 3 hernia surgeries, 2 kidney stones and half dozen ER visits, all this aside from having 2 pregnancies, and births; none of this is bragging and if you know me, you know I HATE this kind of attention, if I want any at all.

For a several days now I've been having this pain that at first seemed gradual then it seemed like the next day I could barely do anything without doubling over.  Because I'm afraid as coming off as a wuss, or that I do things for attention, I decided I wasn't going to do anything about it, just let it run its course.  My last kidney stone, which this felt similar to, came and passed without me seeking medical attention, and no one knew I had it apart from those at home.  After a few quiet hours on Thursday while Sheila, my mother-in-law, watched the kids, I thought it could do it.  After Stephen came home, had dinner, and changed he decided we should go.  Dropped off the kids back at grandma's, at 8 in the evening, we headed for an ER visit.

First I had a CAT scan.  They told me I do have a kidney stone; its small, and "tucked away" in my kidney, but it wasn't the problem.  I had an ovarian cyst on the right side.  They needed to do another test.  Its a hemorrhagic ovarian cyst.  I was told that as far as cysts go, its pretty common.  Just check up in a few weeks to see if its gone away.  For now, stay medicated to control the pain.  Funny, since I had tried that, believing it was a stone, and wasn't able to harness the pain any.  Don't worry about me though; I'm alive and mobile.  My kids can't tell that there's anything different about mommy, and I can still cook and clean.  I just am on a more fervent search for sanity during my day.

Bittersweet

One thing I have learned from the movies "Julie & Julia" and "Motherhood" is that a blog doesn't have to be long, not even more than a paragraph, to make an entry.  Now having said that I will tell you that this blog won't be just one paragraph, but I'll try to shorten it.  Besides, shorter blogs might mean more entries.

Franklin will be turning 3 on Saturday!  I can't believe the time has gone by that quickly.  I remember, after pushing for 2 hours, the first thing he did was pee on my doctor.  When they handed him to me I was so tired, and so frustrated that it took so long that I didn't want to hold him; not till I had a breather.  Last Saturday we had a small party going bowling with Papa Reed, Heidi, Sam, Reyn and Tanyth.  Franklin LOVED bowling.  He caught on pretty quick that we all had a turn, and he was pretty good at waiting for his; most of the time.  He did not want to leave the bowling alley, but at least after 2 hours of being there, and with Grandpa Reed, he was able to leave with less crying than the day before when I went to reserve.

He's definitely becoming more his age.  Lots more English comes out of his mouth.  Just this morning, after putting Lisette down for a nap, he picks up a cat toy.  "Kitty's turn!  Kitty, where are you?  Where'd that kitty go?  Come here kitty!"  Of course Rizzo is the cat he's looking for, and his favorite place to nap is under Lisette's crib.  He's also potty training.  We are on official day 2 and he has told me 3 times now, before he has wet himself, that he needs to go.  I'm so thrilled, and I know that this isn't just a coincidence.  However, I'm not sure he's (aka: I'm) ready to tackle this when we're out and about.

You say: How can she know that he's got it?  Simple, Franklin has some obsessive compulsive behavior and has a particular way about things.  Doing routines with him is so easy and this would be one of them.  We've gone through several isolated mornings over the past 3 months that I tried and gave up.  I always had an excuse; running errands was the most common. 

Monsoons are over, pretty much.  I'm very sad about that.  I love rain and seems I can never have enough.  However, now that things are drying up, and the rain is no longer coming down, the "lakes" out front are drying up.  That mean no more screaming frogs!  I've had 3 nights of silence, and it has been bliss.  I realize that I took silence for granted.  I should say silence at night, when the kids are already sleeping.  I haven't taken silence for granted overall.  I'm a mom; lets be realistic.