Little Princess Spiderman Did It!

Owen is almost two now. I forgot how cute and completely insane two year old boys are. One minute he is ferociously roaring like a dinosaur, and the next minute he is cross dressing in Lily's sparkly princess gowns and hot pink fairy wings (complete with gaudy, poorly applied make-up).

He is talking up a storm and is obsessed with Spider-Man. At church on Sunday, his nursery school teacher sat all the children in a circle so they could  introduce themselves. When it was Owen's turn, the teacher asked him his name. Owen looked at the teacher and in his deepest, darkest, most sinister two year old voice said, "I'm Spider-Man!"

He keeps me on my toes by constantly unrolling the toilet paper, throwing things in the toilet, dumping cups of juice onto the floor, climbing on the table to forage after every meal, and attacking his baby sister when my back is turned. He is very bright and is learning a lot from his older siblings. For example, when I ask him questions like, "Owen, did you take my cell phone and hide it in the sugar bowl?" His answer is usually, "Uh, no, no, Mom. Drew did it!"

Lucky for him, he's really cute. I think I'll keep him for at least another year...

Should we stay or should we go.... to California?

Well, I had another baby! Yay!

You're probably thinking, "Didn't she just have a baby?"

Yes. Yes I did. Oh my gosh, I know. It's crazy. I have four kids. We are officially a big family!

Anyway, the day we brought baby Lucy home from the birthing center, our house became incredibly teeny and our lives became ridiculously busy. I started to think, "Why am I trying to raise four kids in this tiny house?" and my husband started to think, "Why is my wife trying to raise four kids without her mother? She needs help!"

So, we've been taking about moving our family to California. We certainly couldn't get a bigger house there... but the kids could play OUTSIDE which is just as good as having a bigger house in my book. And we would be closer to my parents.

The crazy thing is my husband REALLY, REALLY wants to move there. He says he's been thinking about it for a while and it feels right. And he wants to go NOW! (These are very unusual statements coming from a man who said he would never, EVER move outside of Utah.)

So now he is looking for jobs and I am looking for houses to rent (or buy).

But my question is... Are we crazy?

I mean, I know we are crazy but... are we crazy to want to move to one of the most expensive and liberal states in the nation? It seems like everyone my age left California to come to Utah for a better life. It's cheaper to live here, the job market is pretty good, and there are more conservative Mormon families.

Who knows if we'll really go. This might just be winter talking.

A Sister

The older I get, the more I need the people in my life; especially my family. I used to be very independent (or so I thought) but now I can't get through the day without a call from my husband. And if I don't see my siblings or my parents for a few weeks I start to get depressed and lonely. I have some amazing friends who make life away from my California home so much better, but they are still no replacement for my family.

There are two special gals in my family who make my life complete; who I love talking to all the time; who just understand me; and who I always feel good and comfortable around. Those gals are my sisters and I just don't know what I'd do without them.

Sarah is my little mother here in Utah. She takes good care of me. I really don't know what I'd do without her here. She brings me food all the time, just because. She watches my kids when I need a break. She cleans my house. She makes my problems seems small when she tells me about all the drama in her life:) I love her.

Emily is so easy to love. She always makes time to see me when I'm in California. She is such a fun auntie and plans activities with my kids when they visit. I admire her outlook on life. She is so easy to get along with and has always been so patient with her bossy and overbearing big sister.

After I had my daughter I realized she needed a sister too. And when I got pregnant with Owen I thought he was going to be the sister. When I found out Owen was a boy I thought I would have to have ten more boys before I got another girl. (There are a lot of boys in my husband's family. Jacobsons make boys.) Thank goodness I was wrong. I didn't have to get pregnant with ten boys first. We're having another girl and Lily will have a sister!

Some times things do work out.

The neighbor kids are driving me crazy. For the first time in my life I want to move to a cabin in the wilderness where my only neighbors are ferocious bears. I'm happy the neighbor kids are in school now, but school just isn't long enough. It should last until 9 pm. Then maybe the kids wouldn't be ringing my doorbell and pounding on my door every day during Owen's nap. That is all.

Sometimes they're really cute and funny and I have nothing to complain about. (Owen eating ice cream in the park.) Aaaand sometimes they're not cute and funny. (See post below.)

Sometimes I wonder why I am so stressed out... or why I look and feel like a zombie all the time. And then I have nights like tonight and I remember. It's only 3 am and I'm up for the day thanks to my psycho five year-old. Usually my kids will take turns waking me up through the night. Sometimes they wet the bed then wake up, other times it's a nightmare, and sometimes they're just hungry or thirsty. The nights that they wake up wet or are hungry/thirsty are the easy nights. I change them or get what they need and then they're back to bed. But it's nights like tonight that drive me completely crazy. Tonight Drew woke up at 2 am and for no apparent reason was furious at me. Furious. I must have done something horrible in my sleep (maybe I snored too loud?) because he's huffing and puffing, walking in and out of his room, turning the lights on and off in the house, slamming doors, crying, moving the furniture around, making messes, and (oh yeah) waking up the other children (and my poor husband who has worked 14 hour days for the past three days). Awesome, right? I can't get mad at him when he's like this because this only infuriates him more. And there's no reasoning with him. So... I wait it out. (And complain about it on my blog.) Sometimes he'll go back to bed on his own in an hour. Sometimes it takes longer. Either way the other kids are usually wide awake and I get to do our one to two hour bedtime routine all over again. I know other people's kids sleep through the night. I wonder how I got so lucky with these non-sleepers. Maybe I should get an Ambien prescription so I just sleep through all of it? Or maybe I should just lock the kids in their rooms at night and get some of those earplugs they use on airport runways? Well, either way it got me back on my blog. Hello world! It's me! Leah! I'm back on my blog! I'm still alive! (Sort of.) Someday when my kids stop acting so crazy I'll tell you more about my lovely life. It's actually not that bad. The kids are really funny during the day. Maybe it's all that non-sleeping that makes them hilarious? So... yeah. Thanks for listening. And now I've gotta go get Lily back to sleep... Hope you're all enjoying your night. XOXO Leah

Be Careful What You Wish For...

Because you just might get it!

A few weeks after my last sad post, Garrit, Owen and I spent the weekend in Northern California WITHOUT our other kids. YAY!

We had such a fun time and it was so nice to spend time together without our other two little monsters!

Here's a picture of my cute baby, husband, and I at the Oakland LDS Temple.



More pics to come :)