Time (okay, PAST time) for an update!

Wow, it's been nearly a year! And a lot has happened. As my only excuse, I've been pregnant (again) and sick as a dog, so blogging has been the LAST thing on my mind.
And, as usual, the girls are running rampant in the living room, so I'd better make this quick.
Jeff-still working at the same place, except it's not exactly the same place anymore. They bought another company, more than doubling their staff and their geographical coverage, so things are...well...downright INSANE. He is working his tail off, often has projects to finish when he gets home, so we're having to kind of ride the tsunami for the time being. Because of my pregnancy issues, he is back on dish duty...and the dishwasher died. Not a good time for this to happen!
Heather-pregnant and grumpy most of the time, sad to say. Jeff's Honda died at the beginning of the year, then Jeff totalled the van, then his sister lent us one, then we bought another cheap used van, then found out it had tranny problems and had to be rebuilt, then...mrrr. Yeah, this has been a difficult year. Still teaching jewelry classes, kind of gave up on Roberts for now because no one was interested. Going to approach that again after I have the baby and get some strength back.
Esther-getting so friggen' BIG! Kindergarten now, doing excellent, has good friends in class and a good teacher, and her speech is progressing wonderfully! Still has her long ringlets but her hair is getting darker. I don't think she'll maintain the light Calkin hair, I think she's going to be brunette like most of my family. Either way, she is drop-dead gorgeous...and knows it.
Taemarin-feisty, spunky, stubborn, willful...you know, all the things a self-respecting four year old should be! She is growing bigger too, though not as long and lanky as her sister. I think she's going to be our stocky athletic one. She is in preschool and doing well, I will have to miss her parent-teacher this week because of reports of pertussis in the school. I'm pregnant and paranoid!
Rebecca-our little Bekkers, nearly two and just as stubborn and independent minded as the rest! She wants SOOOO much to be like them, and be able to play with them, and it tends to get her in trouble when she gets involved and messes things up. We've moved her into a big girl bed, and so far, so good, she is still taking naps and does reasonably well at bedtime. Hope it lasts!
Number 4-Baby Debby, as she will be known, is kicking the crud out of me! She's due mid-Jan, and from all indications, she will be just as feisty as the others. Can't wait to see if we'll finally have a little carrot top!
Don't know how long it will be before I have time to post again, so I'll say it now. Happy Holidays to all y'all out there, and stay safe in this crazy, messed up world!

It's a New Year

It's a new year, and it's time to get back on the wagon. I fell off, gained back all the weight and then some (darn Christmas candy!), so now I need to get back to losing the weight.
I'm still using Calorie Count, they've updated their site with a bunch of new food items so I don't have to hand enter everything. It's a great tool, so all I have to do is get used to my diet again, then ease into a workout routine.
That, along with my jewelry classes, my calling (we have a funeral this week to prepare for. Fun, huh?), taking care of the kids, the house, and attempting to work on the second draft of my trilogy. I think I need an extra 12 hours a day!
Well, time to get at it! I am also trying to limit the time I spend on the computer, I've had blurry vision lately, I think I need a break! So gonna break out the beads now and work on another project. This is gonna be fun!

Faster....and slower

Phew! I don't have much time, I have mischief loose in the living room. But I just thought I'd lay out a quick review of how much is going on right now!
Jeff-busy as heck at work, and contemplating how long he can get away with driving on regular tires before snow flies. Oh yeah, that's this afternoon! Hope he makes it okay. He's a little under the weather these days, but I'm hoping to fix that with some chicken soup and green tea.
Esther-loving preschool, growing like a weed, and gorgeous as always! Her curly hair always attracts attention, and YES, it is totally natural! No curlers involved!
Taemarin-Turns THREE today!!! Yup, she's actually three years old! We had her party on Saturday, so I don't plan to confuse the issue by bringing it up to her today, but it just boggles my mind. We have her signed up to be tested for preschool, we're just waiting for them to call us for an appointment. I'm hoping to get her into the same place as Esther, then they can ride the bus together.
Becky-OH SO CLOSE!! She is so close to walking now, it's crazy! She can stand independently, but she is just a little too nervous to take that first step. Her blue eyes are so pretty, just like her sisters, and in daylight they just draw you in and melt you into a little puddle!
Heather-holy cow, where do I begin?? Farmer's Market is over for the season. The weather is just too nasty to even think about continuing! However, I have replaced it with two new loves. Etsy, and a teaching gig at Robert's Arts and Crafts in Provo. Yup, I'm a bona fide instructor now! Friday nights, you can sign up on my other blog. I'm actually doing a demo today in-store to show off what projects we'll be working on this month. I have a fall one, and a Christmas one. Mom is coming to watch the kids for me so I don't have them tearing the store apart. (Thanks Mom!) In February, I will have another teaching job as a UVU community education instructor, again, teaching Jewelry. That will be on Tuesday nights.
Every day is a new surprise for us. It's astonishing to me how time seems to just drag during the long, dark, cold days. (I have seasonal depression issues). But then the end of the week comes, when Jeff is home, and I look back and ask "where has the time gone???" Time flies when you're having fun, and if I'm not careful, it will all fly away, my kids will be grown, and I'll be wondering what the heck I did with my life!

The Garden...on the other end of the Year

Wow. Y'know, I outta set my browser to auto-sign in my blog. Then maybe I'd update once in a while!
So much has happened. I don't have much time, but here's a few things. I started a diet, fell off the wagon for a couple months during summer when it was too hot to work out, now I'm trying to get back on. Becky is getting so freakin' big, I can't believe she used to be this teeny newborn, now she's crawling all over and just barely starting to pull herself up on stuff!
The garden is, well, doing okay, I guess. I'm having a hard time actually eating all the stuff that comes out of it, I planted a bit too much, I guess! My peas are doing well, Esther's pumpkin plants are doing freakin' AWESOME, and the tomatoes are kinda touch and go. Funnily enough, the romas are larger than the slicing tomatoes. I think someone must have swapped the tags in the store! The one plant that is doing the best is our cherry tomato. I have no problem with endorsing this time, BONNIE ROCKS! The other tomatoes were your basic six pack with no brand on them, the cherry was a single Bonnie plant, and it is HAPPEEEEEEE.
Well, other than that, we've actually started the process of sorting and cleaning out the bins in the garage. Not just rearranging them, we're actually getting rid of stuff now! I went through probably fifteen or so bins and boxes, and by the time I was done, I had consolidated or eliminated enough stuff to have eight empty bins, and that includes one of the big ones.
Let's see...Esther starts school in a couple of weeks, later than everyone else. I don't know why they hold the preschool back, but oh well. It's not soon enough for either of us, she asks me to go to school every freakin' day! Taea will be tested after her third birthday, I think I'll pay for it if she doesn't qualify, she could use some interaction with qualified instructors who have more patience than me!
Jeff is a manager at work now, and they are busier than ever. They lost two of their guys to school and a move to Texas, so he's going crazy trying to keep stuff running. Hopefully things will smooth out in a few weeks so he doesn't have a friggen' heart attack.
Well, other than that, just waiting for fall so I can get outside more without getting fried and get stuff done. I'm looking forward to all the holidays that I can do stuff with the girls on, Esther is old enough to do some crafts independently, and I think she'll love it. I will honestly try to update more often, especially as I go back on this darn diet. Venting once in a while will help, I'm sure!

Being Sick Sucks

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Being sick sucks.
It's especially hard to keep a good attitude. This time around, I was attacked on multiple fronts, and was taking Tamiflu, Amoxicillin, Cipro ear drops, eye drops, and copious amounts of Dayquil all at once.
Yeah. I hate being sick.
Well, now I'm down to the Amox and ear drops, I have infections in both ears, and the left one actually ruptured. I have new appreciation for Esther's difficulties now that I know what she has gone through being mostly deaf in one ear. It wasn't fun in the slightest. I still have partial hearing loss, and it's hard because I sound loud to me, but everyone else says I talk too quiet, and I can't hear them either. It's frustrating, and aggravating, and exasperating and......well, you get the point.
Anyway, I am looking forward to spring. I already have some bulbs popping up in the backyard. Iris, mostly, and I know there are some peonies in that area. I neglected to rake up all the leaves off the iris last fall, so some of the rhizomes have risen to the surface, I'll have to replant them, but at least they survived!
Then there is my veggie garden. Now that I'm not pregnant, I am really looking forward to some quality time with peas, tomatoes, potatoes, spinach, pumpkin......mmmmmmmmmm. The girls especially love peas and cucumbers, most of my peas last year went straight to them!
I have rosebushes to rescue, vines to train around the front yard, a lattice to bolt to the front porch, and lots of other stuff to do. Now if the weather would just make up its mind, I might get some of this done!
Then there's the stuff inside. We have taken serious looks at moving to Eagle Mountain, right down to picking the house style we like best. It's just barely out of our reach, loan-qual wise, but we're so close. If we could just get this place sold without taking a loss, we could get the house we want. Unfortunately, with the kitchen being a 40s-style nightmare, and the bathroom not much better, we're going to have a hard time selling.
Well, so now you know what my spring looks like. Assuming I stop being sick.
Sigh. I hate being sick.

Good Riddance 2009!

Well, the year is over. THANK GOODNESS! Yes, there were some good things about the year, such as a new addition to our family, but there was a lot of not-so-good. 2009 decided to take a parting shot at us in the last week. Taea was in the hospital.
Yup. My little snuggle bug caught some kind of horrid virus that dehydrated her in about 24 hours, so we ended up in the emergency room, where the doctor decided to keep her overnight. Thank goodness Jeff had a couple days of PTO left, he took the first night, and I took the second. Thankfully, she is much better now, though she is wont to be fussy and argumentative. I guess after having life turned upside-down for a while, she is trying to reestablish her boundaries.
Becky is doing well, she regained her birth weight and then some by her two-week checkup. Whee! She is developing so well, already tracking objects with her eyes, and being VERY clingy.
Esther is going back to school after the holiday today. I'm sure she'll be happy about it, but I pity her poor teacher. Trying to get kids settled down after a long holiday is never an easy task!
Sigh. So on to a new year. I have so many goals, so many things I want to accomplish, but I don't know if I will have time for it all. Prioritize, I know, but so many of the things are worthy goals, it's hard to decide what is most important.
Well, I guess the only thing to do is dig in and hope it works out for the best. And hope I survive the melee!

The End...and The Beginning

Well, the pregnancy is finally over! All the puking, the waddling, the loose, sore hips, screaming bladder...it's all done.
It was a good ending. About 3 and 1/2 hours, culminating in three sets of three pushes, and there she was.
Yup. It's a girl.
A new beginning. So far, her sisters just seem a little perplexed. Only mildly curious. But then, little Rebecca has been a pretty quiet, content baby. Sleeps well, eats well, except she utterly refuses to even try to nurse. Not a big deal, I have no supply anyway. I tried a professional hospital pump, I worked with a nurse and the baby for half an hour...nothing. Baby wouldn't latch, not even to a plastic shaper. Nada.
Stress isn't good for anyone. Especially when you're recovering from childbirth. So...I gave up. It's not the first time, and I'm sure it won't be the last. Formulas are good these days, and the thing about kids getting sick more easily if they aren't breastfed isn't always true. My kids have been anything BUT sickly! They are growing well, and except for Esther's speech problem, they're developing fine. My mom had the same issue, her kids grew up fine...so I am not going to fret about it. There is no point. I have no choice.
Anyway, all that aside, our new little bundle is cute as a button. She has slightly more hair than the others, and it looks like it will probably be blond or slightly strawberry, just like the rest of us. I'm wondering if any of our kids will be redheads like their grandma, but if not, that's okay.
She was seven pounds fifteen, nineteen and a half inches. Right there in the middle size-wise with her sisters. Baby gray-blue eyes, no idea what color they will be in the future. She is a little love-bug, likes to snuggle. It will be so fun to see what her personality will be like as she matures, if she is strong willed like Esther, or REALLY strong willed like Taea!
I am glad to have my body back (sorta). Now, let the fun begin!