This Blog is Having Technical Difficulties

Sorry for being a little MIA recently. Not only have I been trying to figure out this 3-kid thing, but something is wrong with my blog. Everytime I upload a picture, instead of giving me the picture, it gives the full text of the html, blah, blah, blah. Whatever that is...it just looks foreign. And then by the time my computer-savvy husband gets home, I'm in the middle of cooking dinner, homework, a cranky baby, etc., etc., etc. You all know how it is. And I just don't feel like talking about it. :) And then I crash in bed at 9:00 to get as much sleep as I can while my husband does the midnight feed and I get to sleep til 2:00 a.m. Nice huh? I'm gonna be SOOOOOO bummed when he leaves for Germany next week. Luckily it's only for a few days. Anywho (there's that word again. :P ), hopefully we'll be up and running soon. Maybe I'll send brian an email that says, "check the blog" and then he can read about it here rather than me having to actually communicate with my own husband......

On another note, I'm on about 3 hours of sleep because we had three major hour-long blackouts last night. The whole town. Lightning storms. Which on any normal night, at a reasonable hour, I would have loved watching the lightning cuz it really is cool. But of course my baby slept right through it, but my nine year olds woke up every time, scared as can be. So, on the night when Spencer actually slept for four hours, I was awake. On his floor. Next to his crib. I call that the Wicked Irony.

WHEW!!!!

This 3-kid-thing is really hard...Props to all of you!

WE LOVE YOGABBAGABBA!

So, YoGabbaGabba's target audience is for kids ages 1-7. Is it weird that my kids, age 9, and baby, age 2 months LOVE it? Maybe YGG should be able to expand their claim for a target audience!




Anyway, one day, I thought that Spencer needed something fun to look at. I didn't have Baby Einstein so I thought he would like the fun colors of YGG. I did the same thing with the girls before they came out with Baby Einstein. I put them in front of Blues Clues so their mind could be stimulated by all the bright colors. Check out how Spencer liked it! (And ignore the mess. Brian was taking apart a ceiling fan whilst this was going on).



He was getting all excited and kicking his legs and throwing his arms all over the place. He loved it!

Spencer's 2 MONTHS!

Some things about Spencer you should know:

1. He's fat... He weighs about 15 1/2 pounds. The doctor says he's off the charts with his weight. He's in the 95th percentile with his height (he grew 2.5 inches since birth), and his head circumference and chest circumference both went up by 4 centimeters. I can't even fit a baby hat on him.

2. He smiles all the time, even when you're talking to someone else.

3. He is in 3-6 month clothes. It was pretty sad when I was trying to squeeze him into 0-3 month clothes. I would sing "Fat Guy in a Little Coat" everytime I was dressing him.

4. He LOVES his bath now. I give him one every night, even if I don't wash him, during his fussy time (which only lasts about 30 minutes at most). It's like a drug. He just zonks out the minute I'm finished getting him dressed.

5. He loves sitting in the crook of daddy's arm to look around.

6. Oh, did I mention he's FAT! :) hehehe. I have to use two arms to hold him while I breastfeed.

7. He's totally cool just kickin it by himself in the swing, on a blanket or in his carseat.

8. BUT I hate letting him be by himself and have to force myself to not want to hold him all the time. I also hate hearing him cry. Mostly I feel bad for him cuz he hardly ever cries so I feel like when he does, there has to be something wrong. I have to force myself to let him cry sometimes.
9. I swear I birthed my brother, Harrison. (Sorry, did that sound weird. You know what I mean. He looks EXACTLY like him, to me at least).

10. He loves his pacifier.

11. Still loves socks or mitts on his hands. I try taking them off during the day but when I know he's really fussy, or when it's time for bed, I'll put them on him and he calms down. It's a security thing, not cuz he scratches his face. Weird, but cute. :)

12. We just moved him into his crib in his own room last night. I had a hard time falling asleep or getting a good sleep at all.

(And what's up with this blogger formatting? It looks fine when I'm editing it, but when I post, all these funky things happen to the spacing..)


So, here are some random pictures of Spencer I thought you'd get a kick out of. We call this one "Cooooool, Cool, Cool Tricks...Yaaaaaaa" (I sang THAT one in my head too. Thanks YoGabba...)

On a side note and as long as I'm going with the Cool Tricks theme...and so I won't have to do another post for this...this is how the girls fill their time when they're SUPER bored...
So, I'm back from my tangent...where were we? Oh ya, RANDOM SPENCER PICS

First day of "Baby Boot Camp". Spencer LOVED being walked around for an hour and a half straight. Can you SEE though, how big he is! Remember? He's 2 Months...Good heavens. I just really can't get over it. hahahaha
This one's for Brett & Johanna! They gave them this outfit! Woohoo! Of COURSE Brett picked out the baseball theme. :) And yes, it's 3-6 months.

At the public swimming pool...He slept the WHOLE time. Lovely... With Xanthe....

Happy Birthday Ruthy Lou!

Lots of August birthdays in my family. And I haven't even done Brian's family! :) I'm sure you all would be so bummed if I was doing birthday posts all the time. But i LOVE them cuz I get to post about some of my favorite people.

Ruth Louise Schultz

Some Stats:

1. She's my oldest brother, Scott's wife.

Murder Mystery Dinner

2. She and I are only a few months apart in age.

3. She has 3 of the most amazing boys I know. My girls are attached at the hip to them.

4. We were going to have a double wedding.

5. She talked me into my first major haircut. She was wise enough to tell me that my hair was basically like "corn husks" (not her words, but they should have been) and that I had the worst dye job (again, not her words, but she SHOULD have and COULD have said it cuz that's how bad my hair was)...She introduced me to James at Salon Unity, helped me pick out what I was going to do, and eased my fears when I told her I had been up all night scared that I was going to look like Billy Ray Cyrus (pre-Hannah Montana...mullet days)

My Favorite Picture...This has always been my favorite picture of the two of us together. Too much of a favorite that it has been ruined, but I can never get rid of it.

6. She has been my personal stylist for years. She brings "coolness" to my life...cuz let's face it...I'm just not that "cool" when it comes to style, fashion and everything else.

The Modeling Pictures...I think this was at Heather Powers' house. For some odd reason, we took modeling pictures all around her house, mostly cuz I think we wanted pictures of Heather's house, but didn't want there to NOT be a person in them. Random....hahahah

7. Her main wish used to be that I would at least just see ONE movie with the rest of the family. I always used to come up with some excuse. And now that I don't live near her, I go to like three movies a weekend sometimes.

8. When I was sick with bronchitis during the twins' pregnancy, she made me get out of the house to go with her up north to visit her sisters, and was so understanding when I was just NOT feeling well. She even walked a few blocks to get me cold medicine. I felt so bad, but she reassured me that she was happy I was there. She even went as far as to tell me that if I didn't go, she wouldn't go...and I knew how much she wanted to go. She knew the right tricks.

9. She is an amazing artist. I wish you could see the art that she did way-back-when in high school. You'd wish that she would continue.

10. She used to be a model. One day, Ruth, I'd love to see you post your old modeling pictures. She also used to be an actress. Her big debut was the cheshire cat in Alice In Wonderland. PLEASE tell me you have pictures.

11. We met and hung out on a motorcycle trip when we were teenagers and didn't even remember it til she was almost married to my brother. We got scared watching the Stephen King clown movie "It". I'll never be the same after that weekend.

12. She ALSO never judges me (see her post on my birthday)...not only about my messy house, but on every aspect of my life.

13. She is an amazing photographer. Check her blog and my family pictures (my July post called "My Little Family") and you'll see what i mean.

14. She has pleasantly surprised me by enjoying Judith McNaught's period romance novels, Moulin Rouge and Xanadu.

15. She really know how to get her "craft" on.

16. She's always so helpful when any of us are in need. Like rushing Katie to the hospital, helping do the flowers, hair, shopping, invitations, photography, etc., etc. for all our weddings, and bringing me a Subway sandwich as a gesture of hope while i sat with colicky screaming twins.

The White Trash Birthday Party

17. She's a great gift-giver. You can always count on ruth to give you an amazing gift.

18. She used to be like a walking bank cuz she always had a wallet full of cash from her clients on her at all times. You could always count on her to break change for you.

19. She's a total party person and will rally everyone together to have fun!

The Dan Band for My Birthday...How did Heather get let in? Can you say fake I.D.? Don't admit to it.

20. She's a great personal cheerleader. No matter what it is, she'll totally make you feel good about it, help you plan it and be one of the first to see it through.

21. She won't write or address anything for anyone cuz she thinks she has the handwriting of a "4-year-old boy."

22. She'll sing at the top of her lungs for the annual Schultz Family Christmas caroling...well, I don't know if she'll sing, but she'll ALWAYS go. Even if everyone else doesn't want to. :)

23. I love that she's let me get to know her family. I love hanging out with them and I love when they all know me when I go to their family get togethers. I get shy thinking they won't remember me.

24. And lastly, she's a GREAT mother to Max, Ollie & Harper and the best person for my brother to be married to. She has so much patience and love for them, and she has supported Scott through all his endeavors.

I'm so freakin happy Ruth is in our family! It's been a great ride, hasn't it!

Getting Rid of the Baby Fat

I started Baby Boot Camp yesterday! It's 4 days a week and I can bring little Spencer! I have lots of baby fat to lose and I'm ready! Baby Boot Camp is all over the place. Look it up to see if there's one by you. There are women there with babies and toddlers. So, you can do it at any stage of postpartum AND prenatal. Needless to say, my muscles are sore but my spirit is high. There's nothing like a little exercise to get those endorphins going and make me feel just a tad bit skinnier. :) Now, it's just the motivation to get there that's the hard part...Good thing I have Brian to answer to, and a coach who will call me if I'm not there!

DAY 1

The Whiting Reunion

August 1, 2 & 3

Northern Arizona

At the last minute, Brian surprised me by taking our family to join the rest of my extended family...and I'm talking EXTENDED...a few generations back...to make a few hours detour to my family reunion for the Whiting family. The Whiting family is my mom's great-grandma's family and every other year they throw a HUGE reuion that takes place near Flagstaff (Northern) Arizona where there is a big area of land we lovingly call The Homestead. This is land that my great-great grandpa Whiting claimed back when the government plotted out pieces of land and gave it to you if you lived on it for a year. They've had it ever since. They raised cattle, had a sawmill, made honey, etc., etc. for money. My mom tells me they were very wealthy people. It's a very large family and even though there are ten times more relatives than were there, about 1,200 showed up, which is amazing. I can't even fathom how we can keep doing it after all these years. I wonder if there will ever be a day when we don't. It's hard to imagine.

This year was so amazingly organized and fun. I've posted on Day 2 below about my favorite part of how they recreated the olden days, but they also had dances, climbing Sierra Trigo (the volcanic ash of a hill right next to the Homestead...it's actually a very beautiful mountain and view if you ever go to the top..but if you've ever climbed it once, you never do it again), a program and a caterer to do all our food. Amazing. I think mine and Katie's favorite part was the handwashing machines and another one of mine is always the shower rooms. I still remember when our bathrooms were outhouses and if you wanted to shower, you had to go to this wooden community shower room. Ya, there were peepholes. Not fun...

For Day 1, I'm posting mostly pictures of our immediate family. However, I'm SO bummed I didn't get a picture of Porter's MANY reunion faces...definition-"covered completely with dirt"...To Amber's dismay, he inevitably would fall headfirst into the dirt within minutes after showering him. hahaha. REUNIONS!

Warning!...LOTS of pictures to follow...

Xanthe & Heather...I REALLY wish I had a picture of Collette who purposely saw Heather in her purple and green, and continued to dress in the same outfit. Heather, please post one on your blog.Yay for girl cousins.......Xoe, Xanthe, Eliza & Ainsley
Piper..........Porter engaging in our adult conversation night gnawin on one LARGE bag of trail mix.What are you doing Katie? Oh that was when we inhaled the Swiss Rolls. Who eats those? Us...yes, us...that's who. What we call NURSING A DR. PEPPER...aka "Addicted"

Grandpa & Porter (aka "Grandpa's Mini-Me"...He follows him everywhere)
Woooooooooooooow......
Ruby.......
" Lizey" (Eliza)
The hottie........
Porter & Heather
Woooooowwwww again...........Xanthe getting her groove on............

DAY 2

WHITING VILLAGE

This was the most amazing thing....The Whiting Village. All throughout the Homestead, they recreated life how it was in the olden days and things that represented the Whitings. I've posted a few pictures below, but it is only a small portion of what they had. I'm so bummed I didn't get a picture of the real dairy cow that the kids got to milk, and the tiny pony they got to ride. There was a bee station, where they learned all about making honey (Anna Maria Whiting used to make honey to save money to send her boys on missions) and they got to make honeycomb candles. The kids learned how to use old fashioned sewing machines, how they make hats, how to use a slingshot ("flipper"), ride a small train around the Homestead, get a "shave" from the barbershop, go to jail and sing a song to get out, attend a "live" play, etc. It was the funnest dang thing I've ever been to. I was so amazed. So, here are pictures of the things I didn't mention above.

The Whiting Cash Store...I wish I would have gotten a picture of the inside. They had a penny candy counter and homemade fudge, yo-yos and an old-fashioned soda machine. They sold all the heritage books there, a bedtime story book (of all the stories we've heard through the years as kids), heritage "Go Fish" playing cards (with all the ancestors on them), doll clothes you could make, t-shirts, etc. It was decorated so cute with old fashioned dolls, real food (carrots with the green stems on them, barrels of potatoes, freshly laid eggs, and a big milk container), old fashioned sewing spools and material and fun old fashioned toys. This was my favorite of the whole "Village".

Laundry Station...The Startup Family (of which I belong to) was in charge of the Laundry station. Everyone that came learned about how they did laundry in the olden days. How rad do Nan and Katie look? hahaha

Beauty Shop...they put the kids' hair in braids and "wraps". Whiting Sawmill Demo...The cool thing about this was that Ben and Myles got stuck there telling everyone about it...they ended up switching off because they got so bored.
Chair Factory...Xoe wittled a spear that was a bit dangerous. We had to hide it so one of the kids didn't impale someone with it.

Cattle Herding...Here's Xoe learning how to crack a whip. Yes, they had to wear helmets cuz they became quite dangerous. What you also don't see is the chicken coop, which I thought was so fun.Ice Cream Parlor...
The Post Office...you could write letters to other people who were there and they could come pick them up and write you back...The Hat Shop and Quilting also...School...The children got to write with feather quills and pots of ink...