I have been trying hard to make this blog an interesting read lately. I have been trying to write about things that our family believes in and things that we are passionate for, as well as updating everyone on our family. I have a friend; Dionna who has been writing some amazing blog posts lately. I would like to put a plug in here for her recent post on circumcision. Take a read, it will blow you away!
On that note I bid you farewell tonight! I plan on cooking all kinds of things now that fall is upon us and I will be posting the pictures soon!
I love dressing my boys up. They have so much more clothes then I do so it is fun to get them cute outfits and go out on the town (OK, really, when have we EVER done that?) and show off the cuteness that are my boys. But, when is enough, enough? Sidney is literally swimming in clothes. He has all of his brothers hand-me-downs because we never got rid of anything, as well as other clothes that we have gotten from friends, because the boy's are slightly off in seasons. I mean seriously, I am thinking that 30+ onesies is too much. 10-15+ sleepers, probably an little excessive. 20 or so outfits, yeah that is enough. I have boxes of clothes in the basement that are waiting for him to grow into and I have loads and loads of laundry to do that is mostly Sidney's! Geez! I do think that babies need a little more clothing then the average joe would because they are always spitting up, but I think we have more then even joe does.
So if you are reading this and have cute outfits you need to get rid of, or are wanting to spend money on that adorable onesie that says "Nothing's wrong, just testing you" don't. Please! Instead think of London, poor little man has hardly any clothes, and has little to no winter clothes :-( I am not understanding why babies clothes ALWAYS fit right, but it is so hard to find good clothes for toddlers! All of the sizes are so varying. He is in size 18-24mos, and pants tend to need to be smaller because of his itty bitty waste. But, don't go crazy with getting clothes for London because they will just go down to Sidney and I cannot take all of this laundry I am having to do!!
That is all
-signed,
Seriously wondering where it all came from
Well my kiddos are waiting to turn into chickens. We exposed the boys to chicken pox the other week and now we are just waiting around for them to become chickens! That is what happens, right?
In other news, we have been busy, busy hanging out with new friends and just trying to soak up the last little bits of warm weather we can. I have really been trying to make more personal friendships instead of just hanging out at playgroups that way I have friends and London also has buddies. We plan on un-schooling London and are super excited because we are already able to do some things with him now as far as his schooling goes! Today we went to our friend's house and went on a hike. We learned about moles, and spiders. Yesterday we went to Antioch Park and went on a nature hike. We learned what poison ivy looks like, we saw turtles and talked about the difference between tortoises and turtles. We are learning about what the plants look like when the seasons are changing and even what the earth smells like through the season change! I know that London is really young still but it is just proof that you can learn from everyday encounters! We are slowly beginning to stock up on school things for him so we can have the most amazing schooling experience that he will ever want!
I think here soon we are going to try our hand at some more homemade things like baking our own bread and cookies and muffins. We really strive to be as natural as possible in our house. We do not buy anything with high fructose corn syrup we have learned that it has mercury in it and I am not sure why you would knowingly choose to feed that to your children. Although we have been finding that it is in just about EVERYTHING, including whole wheat bread and things that you would not expect it to be in. So I think we will be safer if we just bake all of that stuff ourselves! I just learned today that you can use stevia in place of sugar so I am going to try that out.
I may be posting pictures of our baking adventures soon! That reminds me, I should get the zucchini out of the freezer for zucchini bread!
I love my life. I love my husband, I love our boys. I love our laughter, our love, our consideration towards everyone's feelings no matter how ridiculous we think they may be. Bryan and I are raising our kids with unconditional love, not conditional love. We will never hit our kids, never make them feel like they cannot come to us for help with a problem. We will respect any of their choices that they make as long as they are happy. We will guide them through this earth with love and compassion, and watch them grow to be loving compassionate adults. All of this does not mean we are a quiet family. We do not yell at our kids and Bryan and I never fight, but we are just a loud family. Apparently London has felt the recent need to "fit into" the noise of the household. Remember, he cannot say to many words but he can backtalk like a rockstar.
Example:
He now says no when we offer him something he does not want, great! Now he can talk to us and tell us a little more of what he is wanting! I just wish he would say YES!
When he REALLY does not want to do something that we REALLY have to do (leave the DMV parking lot because people are coming over and we have 45 min, 30 min of which is driving, or when we have to leave our friends house because they have to go too, or when we HAVE to get into the car and go home because we just cannot stay in the grocery store parking lot)he has started to SCREAM at us. The other night Byran was at his other job and I was getting London ready for bed. I went into the bathroom and told him we needed to brush our teeth. He was screaming and freaking out so I had to close the bathroom doors and just wait until he was ready for me to brush his teeth. He stood at the door and SCREAMED through tears, GO GO GO GO, over and over again. Now, London is a very mellow guy, so this shocked me, and it made me giggle.....I giggled while he was screaming. I did not let him know that I was giggling though, I just looked up and he continued screaming at me. Then I brushed his teeth when he was ready and all was well with the world!
We do not want to punish him for having emotions, because he cannot convey them to us like we can do. So we help him cope with his feelings, comfort him through his sadness and then when all is said and done, we will have a conversation about what we were feeling when he was upset. His tantrums are few and far between and I really think that is because he feels respected and validated, but when he does have one, BOY does he!!!
Here are some pictures I finally uploaded to the computer!
Testing out to see if we can feed this to facebook...bear with me...
I am pretty darn sure that we finished unpacking our house. After a few disagreements and arguments between Bryan and I and a few cranky kiddos, I think I may be able to sit down.
I realized today that I may be a bad mom....I completely forgot to post about Sidney's surgery that he had on the 9th of this month! I am horrible.
Sidney had an inguinal hernia, which is a hernia in the groin. They went in and made a tiny incision and fixed it all up! He was also a little tongue tied so they fixed that too. We got to the hospital at 6:00 am and left at 9:30 am so it was a really fast and quick surgery. Sidney was pretty tired all that day but by the end of the day he was back to his smiley self! He didn't get any pain medication at the hospital and I only had to give him tylenol once. He is such a brave little boy. I may have been bawling like a baby and worried sick, but he was a trooper and still is.
I think that is it for now, I need to wake the toddler who is sleeping on the floor behind me and tend to the crying baby.....I told you I was a bad mother ;o)
Whew-wee, it has been quite a whirlwind here at the Epley house. After having lived at our tiny apartment for a grand total of six months, we packed and moved........a mile up the road :o). We now live in a 4 bedroom 2 bath house with a yard, and windows all over the house instead of only one side of the place. So far we love it here. We had a few financial issues but things are smoothing out quite nicely now.
There have been so many things that I have been itching to post but our computer literally shot fireballs out the back of it when we plugged it in here at the house. So we have been without internet (well the computer actually blew up while the internet was being hooked up) and a working computer, and there is only so much I can do with my phone. So here are as many updates as I can remember. Oh, BTW my future plan for this blog is to update it at least once a week. I feel like I am only writing in here every few months and it feels like a Holiday newsletter, lol!
Bryan has started a part time job cleaning out the hood vents at restaurants. He usually leaves for work around 10pm or so and gets back anytime between 2-4 am. I told him that we are fine without him getting a part time job but he wants fun money so he is choosing to do this other job.
I have started cleaning houses on the side. Well, I should say Sidney and I are cleaning houses on the side, lol. I have mainly been cleaning friend's houses and so they always enjoy playing with baby Sidney while I clean.
OK so Bryan and I have gotten fairly boring considering that is all I have to update on us! I guess that comes with being a parent, lol.
So London is growing up so fast, it is beginning to frighten me! He still is not talking all that much but he can now back talk!! He screams, MINE, and NO a few times throughout the day. Welcome to having a near two year old, I guess. He has become mister independent and that is pretty nice. In fact, I just put him to bed in his own room tonight for the first time! We will see how the night goes.
He is so good with his baby brother it is sweet to watch him with Sidney. The other day he sacrificed his bobo (pacifier) for Sidney when he was crying, SO sweet! Although, earlier today London was playing with Sidney's toys on the swing while Sidney was in it, and when Sidney would touch the toy (he still doesn't have hand control just yet) London screamed MINE at him, it was funny and sad at the same time, lol!!
Sidney is growing like a weed. He has been holding his head up from day one and he has been putting weight on his feet for awhile too. He just started to lift his feet up alternately as if he is walking....signs of an early walker?? He has been smiling and cooing at us for awhile now too, and just tonight he giggled at me!! It was the cutest little thing I have heard in awhile and I cannot wait until he does it without me having to do so much work, lol. I am so sad to see all of the clothes that he has outgrown go to new homes. I am sad that I am having to get rid of some of the things that London wore but in winter, because Sidney is too big to fit in the itty bitty winter clothes that London wore because it has been way to warm :o(
I am cherishing my little baby as much as I can, and while I do not want him to get any bigger, I cannot wait to move onto the next step of our lives and watch my two boys play and have fun together.
I think that is it for now. I have pictures but I just bought this new computer today and am unsure if we will be keeping it or not so I am debating if I should get my pictures loaded onto here.....we will see...if you see a post with pics then you will know what I decided :o)
Mason Sidney Epley's birth story
My whole pregnancy was fairly easy. I was very sick in the beginning but then it evened out. Around 36wks into the pregnancy I was getting a little bit emotional and done with being pregnant but knew I had to just tough it out. We had an appt with Fran on Wed the 10th of June and that night I was having consistent contractions but but they were not very strong. Those lasted until that fri. My pelvis started really really hurting about 5 days before I went into labor and I was beginning to not be able to walk or bend or function really. This is when I became done being pregnant.
The night of the 20th was normal, we were eating dinner, I was having a few contractions but not enough to think anything of it. Around 8:30 I decided that we needed to go on a walk because if this was not the real thing then a walk would stop them and I could rest. We only walked for a block and my contractions at this point were every two min. In the short amount of time that it took us to get home I was not able to handle them that well. In the parking lot I had to lean on Bryan and breath. I remember there were a lot of people in the parking lot and I was wondering what they were thinking. We got inside and decided to start writing down when I was having contractions. We started this at 8:57 and they were every three min. When I sat down they started to slow down so I got a little discouraged about that. These were way more intense then Braxton hicks though, so I was thinking that this better be it or it better stop because this hurts too much. We tried to watch a movie and the first one we chose was really stupid and made me really mad so I told Bryan I wanted to watch the good movie now. He didn't want to because he had a feeling we wouldn't be able to sit through the whole thing. Well at this point I could not even sit down I had to get on all fours or something every time I had a contraction. I told Bryan that we should take a shower. So we all took a shower together and the water felt really good so I was feeling a little better. When we got out of the shower I was really hurting. We decided that we should call Fran and see what she thought. I really did not want to call her because I didn't know if this was the real thing and I didn't want to bother her. We called her at 12:10 and she said that it sounded like real labor and that she would be here in about an hour and a half. I called Salena and told her to come on over. I called my mom who I had been talking to throughout this whole thing, and told her that Fran was on her way. She said that she wanted me to call her when Fran got there because she didn't want to wake the girls too early. Salena got here about 20 min later (I think). She asked if I wanted back pressure during my contractions and I said sure. That helped a lot. My contractions were still coming every 3 min and they were not that bad at all. While Salena was putting pressure on my back Bryan was filling the birth pool up. We didn't have a hose so he had to use buckets and we didn't want to run out of hot water so he was using scorching hot water at first, so I could not even get in. I really really wanted to be in that water but I couldn't and that made me mad. The kitchen was really really hot because of all the hot water that was being put in the pool and I was complaining about that. Bryan grabbed a tupperware lid and fanned me with that while Salena put pressure on me. I decided that I wanted to be in the shower so Bryan and I went upstairs and I hopped into the shower. I couldn't stand very well while I was contracting and so I kept getting on all fours in the shower. I told Bryan that I felt like I should be pushing through my contractions but I didn't know for sure because of how I had pushed for so long last time and I shouldn't have been. When we got out Salena announced that the pool was ready. I ran downstairs (OK not really, but I walked through the contraction I had while going downstairs) and got in the pool. That felt good. Salena asked if I needed water, I did. She also asked if the lights were too bright and she got some candles and sat by candle light. Bryan was sitting on a kitchen chair on the outside of the pool while I leaned over the edge. Salena asked if I needed her in the pool to put pressure on my back and I said that I didn't know because I wasn't in as much pain now. We sat around while I contracted for a while (time was lost for me at this point) I told Salena I needed her to call my mom and tell her that I needed her to come because I needed the ice that she was bringing. My mom was on her way. A few min later Fran walked in a started business. She said it was too dark and started asking for things from the birth kit. I remember it seemed that every other thing that she asked for I didn't have yet. I told her that my hands were falling asleep and she said that means I was hyperventilating and told me to put my hands over my face and breathe slow deep breaths. I began to feel so much better having someone make sure I was breathing good, the pain was not as bad now, and it really helped me to focus on giving birth. Fran checked me and said that my body was pushing the baby out. I looked up at Bryan and he looked shocked and I remember thinking that Fran was supposed to say something like that otherwise I might get discouraged so I asked her “really?, I didn't think I was that close” She reassured me that I was. She told me I was a ten and I just had a little lip but as the baby moved down that lip would go away. I felt like I had been given permission to push so I did, but not more then maybe 1 or two times. She told me to feel where my baby was and when I did I felt what seemed like a jelly packet and then the baby's head. I said that the water bag felt gross. I pushed again and then the water broke and BOOM I felt the baby move down and it started really hurting but two pushes later and his head was out. One more and his body flew out. As soon as he was born he screamed, not a cry scream, but a terrified scream “AHH” and then he went to sleep. Fran apologized to him for startling him. She handed him to me and I checked to see what he was and announced that it was a boy, and apologized for calling him a girl. Five minutes later my mom walked in.......
I was amazed at how easy everything was, I keep saying that I could and would do that again. I felt great afterwards, no pain, no extreme bleeding, I had color in my face, I was not shaking, it was all around great. He was 7lbs 1oz of perfect and all through his checks and me holding him he was just talking and talking to everyone. He would do silly high pitched noises and then it seemed as if he couldn't breathe without making a sound upon his exhales. He is amazing and fits into our family like a glove.
On June 21st the newest member of out family made an entrance to the world 2 weeks early. Weighing 7lbs 1oz of perfect, we welcome baby Mason Sidney Epley to our home. He will be called by his middle name (just like his brother) Sidney. Bryan should never complain about any future father's day gifts because I cannot top this one.
My mom and I were just joking around about how tomorrow is my due date....I am feeling great for being 9mos pregnant! ;-)
London has really started talking up a storm lately! He says hi when he enters a room, or just wakes up, he calls Daddy Gaga, he says Ella, OK, alright, bye bye, and his newest is banana. Now don't think that he says these and makes the perfect sense, but he will often times repeat right after me and it sounds pretty close. He says Ella like a-ya, he says OK like K, he says alright, righ. The funniest? He says banana with his tongue flopping out making a blelblelblel sound. It is super hard to explain but freaking adorable!!
So the other night around dusk we were strolling up and down the sidewalk in front of our building. All of a sudden London took out his pacifier, pointed at the moon and said blelblelblel!! He called the moon a banana!! It is almost too cute to correct him, but alas, I do because we don't need him growing up and forever calling the moon a banana ;-)
A few nights before that Bryan and London were blowing rasberries on my tummy as they always do, but this time was different. Right as London put his mouth on my tummy the baby made one of her huge moves. London backed away so quickly and then had the most perplexed look on his face while staring at my tummy. He would not come close to it the whole rest of the night, it was pitiful!
Ahh toddlerhood.........
The other night we were eating dinner outside as a family when Bryan and I noticed a snail was close to London. I told Bryan to point it out to London seeing as how he had never seen one before. London turns and looks at the snail (who is slowly moving towards him) and FREAKS out! It was so hard to not let him see me laugh. We tried to get him to be OK with the snail but he would not calm down until that snail was out of site. Ahh the innocence of being only one and a half, lol. Reminds me of the time that I was brought a cup of worms at a restaurant. Let's just say that I too, would not stop freaking out until it was removed from the table. Like mother like son I guess.
London is really trying hard to form words, when we say something he will immitate it pretty spot on, so that is exciting (although now we need to watch what comes out of our mouths, lol) He will be 18 months old tomorrow!! I cannot believe that! He really is growing up and it really is breaking my heart to see my baby getting so big.
I am currently 31 weeks pregnant, so time has really flown by! I am getting heartburn that will not leave even when I do take some Maalox, so that is another way I can tell I am getting close...the more miserable you get, the closer it is until you meet your baby, right? We still have no idea what the baby is and won't be finding out.. That has its ups and downs because I am realizing that all of London's clothes are winter clothes and also BOY clothes, so if we have a girl then she will be extremely hot and dressed in blue and baseball jerseys. I am sure that it will work out no matter what though. We have also realized that we really need to be talking about the fact that a new baby will be entering into London's life. I know that is common sense but it has just slipped our minds! So we are going to be getting out the baby stuff and getting the changing table all set up (which is all stuff we need to be doing anyway) so that way London can start to see that his life is going to change.
We recently moved into a pretty nice townhome/apartment in Missouri (right next to Kansas where we just were, lol) and we are loving it! Come to find out, everything is cheaper in MO, so we are living much better now. We recently acquired a puppy into our family (I am beginning to wonder why we did that) who we love, but at times I could just.....oh we won't go there. It gives Ella, the basset, a nice friend and gives her more excercise too which she was beginning to need pretty badly. I guess that is it for now!
Sorry. It seems as though I am always starting my blog posts with sorry, but really I am. I tend to think about updating this blog right as my head is hitting the pillow for a night of sleep. Oh well, I am here now, so prepare to be updated!
-I am nearly six months pregnant and that just shocks me!! I can feel her (no we do not know what we are having, I am just calling it a girl, lol!) moving like crazy, I can feel the indegestion and the heartburn like crazy too. Ahh the joys of growing a child, lol. When asked, are you ready to have that baby? The answer is no, not at all. We still live in the basement at my mom's house, and that is not where we want to bring a baby to live. We JUST got jobs FINALLY and so we do not know yet what our income is going to be so the hopes of getting a place soon may have to wait until we have a better grasp on what our income is. I have yet to look through the baby clothes, and even when I do I just know I am going to discover that all of the baby clothes that we have are for a baby born in winter! HUH! What a shocker!! It just seems like alot of work for this fat pregnant lady.
-London is crazy. I could just leave my update on London at that, but really I must explain why he is crazy. He has started babbling alot lately and he added alot more syllables which makes us believe that real words will be coming soon. He has started picking up baby sign language super fast, so now he knows quite a bit of things he can just sign. for example, he can sign eat, drink, more, all gone, dog, dad, mom, bye bye (of course, lol) I think there is more but I am not remembering. He can say dog, Ella Mae (the dog's name), go, mama, and da. So as you can see his sign language skills beat his speaking skills, lol. Hopefully he will be talking soon though, I know I will regret that. He has really started being a little comedian and it is so funny. I need to get a video up because I cannot explain the crazies that this kid does!
I know that my writing skills have begun to deteriorate but I am tired and busy all the time so cut me some slack! Hopefully I will be writing soon!