Random

Stetson had his first official sit up bath... and I don't think he was too terribly impressed. I just remember the girls loving it, and splashing and laughing. Not Mr. Stetson. He just sat there. He for sure liked it better than sitting in the bath seat thing... but it wasn't like a new, amazing life experience for him.

I bought the kids some jammies... Not that I typically blog about when I buy my kids pj's... but when I got home and took them out of the bag I was baffled as to where my brain was when I was picking them out. I got Madelynn a 3t. Payton a 12 months and Stetson an 18 months. Typically it would be 2t, 18 months, and 12 months. It was kinda retarded but I decided to go ahead and just try them on them. Surely Stetson and Madelynn would eventually just grow into them... but I would probably have to take Payton's back.

Much to my surprise my brainlessness won in the end. Everyones fit perfectly.

We had a fun 'ol time this weekend. Nat was off and I had been wanting to go to Lubbock to get a little shopping fix... Its been way to long since I've stepped foot in a Target. We also wanted to take the girls to Chuck E. Cheese. Ever since I saw they had one last time we were in Lubbock, I've had it stuck in my mind that I wanted to take them.

We had a lot of fun and the kids did soooo great! They're all 3 troopers. Not many people would brave the amount of shopping we did with 3 small kids. I've come to 2 conclusions. 1.) The only, and I mean the ONLY way we make it parenting these 3 kids is teamwork! ... and 2.) I'm married to the best, most awesomest, greatest, most fantastic man on the face of the earth. He spoils us rotten and is such a good daddy to our kids. Mmmm I just love him. Ok.. sorry bout that. Just had to spread the word.

This is Nathaniel... holding in his excitement and trying to resist playing the games before we eat. :)

So excited!

FINALLY, we let them go play.

Yes, Payton is wearing boots with her skirt.... Little Taylor Swift style goin on. That was her idea tho. She is OBSESSED with her "bootchsssss" she wants to be just like her daddy.

Nat "helping" Madelynn play a game.

even the little man got in on the fun.

we lost Payton approximately 45 times. She just wonders off, completely clueless to the dangers of that. Most of the time she was just watching/helping other kids or taking other kids tokens or tearing there tickets outta the machine. She made some kids pretty angry. It was quite funny... but then again not.

Our hotel stay was interestingly disgusting. I'm not like a HUGE germaphobe... but when you have kids, you kinda gotta somewhat be watching out for your kids well being and the potential germs out there... It wasn't by any means up to my standards in a strange place that I would wanna stay and feel comfortable... and like I said, my standards aren't huge. I don't think that we'll be visiting there again, and next time we'll pay $30 more to go stay at a higher end hotel. Wow, listen to me, I sound like a richy rich stuck up person. Well, I'm not.... Just want what's best for my kids... and this:

just aint gonna cut it.

The girls had fun playing.

.. and riding

and the little man had fun loving his mother. Don't you just see the love he has for me in those eyes?!?! :)

We finally got some good use out of our new double stroller and Oh how I love it!

and Nat got him a little escalator partner. She had so much fun going up and down.

and here is a little video of Stetson's new mode of transportation. He started doing this when he got mad... now he just does it all the time just cuz. I crack up every time!

Sometimes I won't be near him and all the sudden I'll hear a loud thump, thump, thump... and I just laugh to myself cuz I know its the little goober head gettin around.

we had a fun weekend... but we are sure glad to be home!

Denial

I pretty much can't believe what I'm about to say... its another one of those never say never type things. I always said I would never cut my girls' hair cuz it was "too much to take care of." I would always let it be long and beautiful and we would never have battles over fixing hair... nope, never. Go ahead and laugh.

I've been contemplating a haircut for Madelynn for some time now because, as I said... it was becoming a dreadful battle for the both of us. She said "owwww" before I even got the comb on her head... and she ALWAYS has severe tangling and it took a good 30 minutes just to fix her hair everyday. I have asked Nat for some time to ask on of his co-workers (whose wife is a beautician) if his wife cut kids hair. Nat, being Nat... forgot. and forgot. and forgot. I know I could have taken her anywhere else but Im just nervous to take her to someone I don't know, or that someone recommended. So then I got to brainstorming: 1.) I've always wanted to go to cosmetology school. 2.) I do a pretty decent job CUTTING Nat's hair. (Please note I said CUTTING, and not USING THE CLIPPERS. That is one thing I fail at miserably... and poor Nat walks around with a botched haircut.) 3.)How hard could it be?? Her hair is curly and isn't gonna show mistakes. So I gave it a shot. I (tried) to watch utube videos on layering hair and found nothing to what I was wanting. I finally just gave up and decided I would just do what I know. After all, I've gotten my hair layered many times before!

Before

She was really excited the whole time and she did great for a 2.5 year old. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I said "look at the picture".... "look at mama." She got pretty annoyed with me by the end.

After

It turned out sooo cute! and she loved it. She kept looking in the mirror with a huge grin on her face saying "Its butiful mama"

I sent my mom a pic and she mentioned it would look really cute with bangs. I'm really not to much of a bag person but I couldn't help but agree. So we decided to give it a shot. I'm glad I did. They turned out soo cute!

Now, hopefully hair fixing everyday isn't such a task.

P.S. I actually found myself doing double takes between her and Payton now that their hair is the same length. Is that horrible???

Were here!

We've just not been up to much, therefore- blog slacking. We got all the flooring done at "our" house. (Although its not officially ours... we call it ours.) It already feels like home to us. We've been out there a few times helping with the few projects we've needed to get done. She (home owner) has been living there for a few months without her husband (he's transferred jobs to another state. She is trying to sell the house) so we've (Nat's) been able to bless her by helping get some of the work done so that she doesn't have to pay someone to do it. After all it is almost our house. :) She has equally blessed me by taking all 3 kids under her wing while were out there (so I can help Nat) She just loves them... and they love her equally the same. She takes them outside on nature walks and shows them stuff, and teaches them about stuff. Its been a wonderful experience. I don't think God could have placed us with anyone better to buy a house from. Its been refreshing after all that we've gone through trying to buy other houses. The appraisalist (is that a word??) Will come back out tomorrow to make sure the flooring was put down and then we'll CLOSE from there. Good Lord willing. Oh my soul, I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ready! I dream about the day we move into our house. Whew... ok, I won't start... cuz I'll probably never stop talking about it. :)

Stetson, oh my sweet, handsome boy.... he just doesn't sleep anymore... and by doesn't sleep anymore, I mean I am up with him at LEAST, ten times in the night. Swaddling really doesn't do it for him anymore. He is up to eat once, and the rest of the time, he is wide awake just wanting to get up and play. Just laughing, and talking to himself.... then he gets tired of entertaining himself and he wants me to entertain him... and so begins the round and round, for hours on end. I am totally at a loss at what to do. I've tried everything I can think of! Not swaddling him, swaddling him. Warm clothes, no clothes. Feeding him 2 jars of baby food AND putting cereal in his bottle before bed. Putting my shirt in the crib with him so he has that smell near him. Paci, no paci. Tylenol and orajel before bed. Sleep on the tummy, sleep on the back, sleep in the boppy. Less napping during the day. I am clinging to the idea that once we get in our house, and he has his own dark, quite room he'll sleep better.... same thing with the girls. He wakes them up every morning (and its usually when I've finally fallen back asleep cuz Stetson has finally gone to sleep) So in turn, they're grouchy cuz they didn't get enough sleep.

Blech! Its just a big sleep MESS over here! Right now all the kids are sick with cold/cough junk so that absolutely doesn't help matters! When your 2.5 year old, and your 1.5 year old (BTW... My payton girl was 18 months yesterday!!!) ASK to go take a nap, you know there is seriously something screwed up in the sleeping dept.

In more positive news. Stetson has started eating, and loving puffs! I have given him a few solid foods and he does quite well with them. Quite the relief from giving child #2 solid foods. I was sure that she was going to die of choking she did it so much, and so horribly. He also had his 6 month check up which was great. He weighed in at 19 lbs... and as far as the other measurements... I didn't even think to look at them. Bad, bad mom.

As I've mentioned before, she loves to try to feed him stuff so she was thrilled when I actually let her feed him. She sat on the floor stuffing them in is mouth.

As I mentioned above, my P girl is 18 months! Halfway to 2. and she is a middle child if I ever seen one. She's talking soooo good. Although no one on earth can understand everything she says but me, she is indeed communicating. I walk around translating what she says to Nat. Madelynn can understand her pretty well too. I love to watch them talk and look forward to the day when they can actually talk a lot. Dr W. always told me to not worry about speech problems till she hits 2 so we'll see what happens in the next 6 months. I am aware that she can talk, but its the pronunciation that worries me. Like she says "byby" for water?? How in the heck she hears byby in water beats me. I work with her a lot on pronouncing things correctly... we'll see what happens.

Miss Priss is becoming more aware of the term "scary" we are really having to watch what we say/watch these days. (Pardon me if I repeat myself... for I can't remember anything I said 1 week ago... but I can tell you anything you wanted to know about my childhood.) She is on the monster/dinosaur kick these days. There is a dinosaur that has been biting her for months now. Its pink, lives at her nana's house and its nice and it tickles, and bites her. It is so hard not to laugh cuz she is so dead serious when she talks about this dinosaur. At first we thought it was funny, and played along with her... but now that its kinda become somewhat of a fear, were deterring her from "The Pink Dinosaur." As far as monsters go, they're everywhere! and they're scary. Ever since she was little, we have always prayed over her (all of them) and I always tell her never to be scared cuz Jesus is always with her. So the other night when she wanted to go back to her bedroom to get a book, and she saw that the light was off, she told me she was scared and that there was a monster in her room and she wanted me to go with her. I told her there was nothing to be scared of, and she proceeded to say "Jesus with me"? It caught me off guard, but it just goes to show how observant that little mind is. After that she walked back there. I did follow her to turn the light on for her. I am just so glad that we can put that "fear" at ease for her with her knowing that Jesus is always with her. I hope that never changes for her... or any of them!

Mini vaca

We had to make a trip to TX to deposit a check... (darn)... It was a great excuse to go back for another visit. :) We had a great time! The girls got to spend a lot of time with their cousins and I was soo glad! The past 2 times we have been down, either my kids have been sick, or the Dixon boys have been sick.

This was the most decent pic I have... and its horrible! I later discovered someone messed with the settings on my camera and now that we are home, and I've seen all the pics from the trip they're mostly awful!

As usual, we spent most our time visiting. Stetson got to re-unite with his GF... and she is a doll! She is a 3 months younger than him. I think that he was fascinated with someone smaller than him. We already have a pre-arranged marriage set up for these two. :)

We celebrated Valentines day. Its always a great day when you wake up to chocolate.

bed head!

Nat and I got to spend the day together which was pretty much the greatest gift ever! We really haven't been able to go out since we moved down here. So it was much needed and a great day of shopping!

... and the most exciting thing that happened while we were visiting was being able to dedicate the little man.

My beautiful girls.

The whole fam (- Liz)

Madelynn doing what she does best....

We were/are so close to closing on our house. Then we got a dreaded phone call. Everytime our loan officer calls I cringe a little knowing something not good could be on the other end. So far we had NOTHING bad on the other end. BUT, In case you don't know, you can't sell/buy a house when the flooring isn't finished. Makes sense I suppose... but it being concrete and all, we thought that would be "finished" enough.. people stain, paint and live in concrete all the time. Turns out for it to be "finished" it has to have a sealant on it. We knew that it didn't have flooring/carpet but were kinda excited about this aspect cuz we could start over fresh and put what WE want in the house right off the bat. So we are just taking a little detour and putting the flooring in before we will be able to close. I'm guessing/hoping this will only add a week or so onto the closing date. We'll see. Nat and I are going to go over and paint the concrete in the kitchen and bathrooms, and carpet will be installed sometime this week also. I'm excited to see how the painting concrete looks and how I like it. Its pretty much just a cheap route to get in the ASAP. We wanna do tile in the bathrooms and kitchen and that will be more time consuming so we'll do that at a later date. That's where were at with that. Can't wait for it all to be done!

6 months

My big'ern boy was 6 months yesterday! Half way to a year! Crazy how fast he is growing up. We have kinda made a little discovery with the little man. Know how I said he has been so fussy and we can't figure out why?? I think we figured it out!

The girls enjoyed being swaddled... but they never cried for it. When he cries, that is precisely what he wants! He wants to go to sleep, and he NEEDS to be swaddled. All I'm thinkin is -oh my, what have we created?????- Will he go to college needing his daddy to swaddle him every night??? Not really... but holy moly its amazing the 360 that has transpired in our house! I've been able to sleep much better, cuz he's sleeping better at night. Uno problemo. I can't swaddle him. No matter what, no matter how hard I try, he WILL get out of my swaddle in a matter of seconds. I don't know of I'm afraid I'm going to hurt him, or what the deal is... but he will only stay if Nat swaddles him. Therefore, day naps when daddy isn't here, he's a little more fussy. I'm just glad he's been happier with life!

Stetson at 6 months:

-18 big 'ol fat lbs!

-Size 9-12 months clothes.

-Eats baby food 2 times a day and likes most of it.

-Doesn't like bananas or sweet potatoes a whole lot.

-He is almost 100% sitting up on his own! He'll sit for a good 30 minutes at a time with no support.

(don't mind the fact that the fridge is open in the background and I'm sitting on the floor taking pictures of my baby... Pregnancy does some whacky things to you I tell ya.)

-Still just loves and adores his sisters... and they love him that much more! Madelynn loves to hold her bubba.

(look at that fat boy!!!)

-Wants (key word) to go to bed around 7:30 or 8... but we've made that mistake and let him go to sleep and he was up, ready to conquer the world at 5 am. Ya... so we put up with a tired, fussy baby for about an hour and he goes down at 9... and up at 7. Which is still entirely to early for us Roses.. but better than 5 I suppose. I've kinda had to change my whole life schedule around to be able to be up at 7 with him. I just hope this is a faze! I know I'm a wimp.. but were just not morning people. None of us!

-He completely and utterly LOVES me! I promise, I'm not making it up. If I walk outta the room, he cries of he sees me. I got me a momma's boy!!!!... and I love every second of it!

-waiting for teeth to pop out any second now!

Just a little side note... or 2 here. We got our water back yesterday!! After 5 1/2 days without water, I realize why I was born in the era God chose me to be born in. He knew I wasn't gonna be the --go down to the creek and fetch water-- type of girl. Just kiddin... in all honesty I think it would have been fantastic to grow up with Laura and Mary Ingalls. Calling your mom, ma.. and your dad, pa. I guess if you don't know about running water... then fetching water at the creek won't be so bad after all. Even tho we got our water back, the hot water heater went out... but I am by no means complaining about that! I would boil water to do the dishes any day outta the week as long as I am able to flush the toilet and soak my dishes. I think we've got it fixed today tho.. so showering in my house is soon to happen!

Also, all together, in my month of dieting, I've lost.... 15 lbs!! I feel so great about myself and my body feels so much better now that I am eating healthier. Probably one of the best things about all this is that I haven't had to take a prilosec but (maybe) once a week!!!!!!!!!! Ever since I was pg with Madelynn, I've had to take a heartburn pill every day in order to be able to sleep and function! But literally, since I've been on this diet, I might have to take one once a week! I LOVE that!!!

Also.... we are selling our stove if you, or anyone you might know are interested! Were selling it for $300. Bought it a year ago for $6oo. It is in great shape. I can get you more info and pictured just let me know!!!

Also, Nat and I have never really been big TV watchers... we've never gotten into a show that we can't ever miss or it'll rock our world. BUT, we have gotten into the show Prison Break. I'm aware this show has been out for a long time now, and that its even over but OMGosh its sooo good!! Thats what we spend our evenings doing now. After we put the kids down we start our show!

Also.... just kiddin, I'm done now.

SNOW!

Yuck! So its official. Five days with snow on the ground is DUMB!!!!!! Snow might be a little bit more exciting if my kids were a tad older and would enjoy it a little more. It has been sooooo cold! Like so cold outside, that the heaters can't keep up and its been cold in our house! All I can say is thank God that we DO have heat, blankets, warm clothes, and a roof over our head! Monday- Thursday it was in the single digits in the day time... and felt like negatives with the wind. It is so windy here almost all the time so that wind is bone chilling. Not to mention our pipes have been frozen since Tuesday. Thank God we don't live up North and this is (hopefully) a one time thing!! Yes, I am complaining just a tad. :)

We are completely out of clean dishes, (thank you Lord for paper plates!!) Nat is about out of work clothes. Laundry is piling high. The sink is overflowing with dirty dishes... dirty dishes that haven't been soaked and I dread the day the water comes on cuz its gonna take me a looong time to scrub all that food off. I am a firm believer and putting water in whatever is placed in the sink. Even if there's no food stuck to it, I still have to put water in it to be able to live straight. Maybe its a sickness... who knows.

I did however wash all of Stetson's bottles with snow and 2 bottles of water. That takes skill my friend! For about 1.8 seconds I thought about trying to wash all the dishes that way too. Then I came back to my senses. We have been able to go over to Nat's brothers house to use (cold) water to wash bottles a few times, and we went to his sisters house to take showers 2 nights ago. I HAVE to take a shower every day or I cant function. I feel gross and I don't live until I shower so it has been.... gross.... to not be able to shower but ONCE this week. Don't come to our house... it might smell bad. We are going back over to Nat's sister's house tonight to take showers and do laundry... and HOPEFULLY it will warm up enough tomorrow to thaw the pipes... but thats a pretty big hope I have.

Madelynn has been begging to walk on the snow but its just been way to cold to do that. Today its managed to get up in the 30's so I took the girls out for a bit.. and it seems that I have a little snow bunny on my hands. She LOVED it! Payton on the other hand, did not. I think a lot of it has to do with not being sure of her footing. The poor girl took after her mother and can't walk in a line to save her life... therefore walking in snow thats up to your knees isn't to appealing.

She preferred to stay on the no snow area.

daddy told her to throw a snow ball at momma....

Gettin' daddy.

Its pretty much over the top of my boot!

Snow girl!

I wasn't about to take Stetson out in the cold air with his asthma-ness. He is finally getting to where he doesn't need breathing treatments every day. So he enjoyed staying inside in the nice, warm house.

update take 2

After a loooong, quite week alone, we finally headed to TX to meet up with our 3 offspring. I don't think they missed us quite as much as we missed them, but thats alright, it was still so sweet to see their faces. We left Payton as a sweet little 1 year old, and she came back acting a bit more like a 2 year old. I could slowly see the transition coming on.. ya know, the one where they start to act out a little and testing the boundaries. She is a little feisty thing now! Hopefully she'll just experiment with the 2 year old business and go back to her sweet ways like her big sister did. One can only hope right??

Little man has been sooooooooooooooo fussy lately. I just can't figure out what his deal is. He started to get that way about 3 weeks ago and is still goin strong. I don't know what to do with him. He wants to be held 24/7, but reality is I just can't do that. If he's not sleeping or eating, he's crying. Even through the night. The 3 nights that we've had the kids back, I've been up with him just crying and crying most of the night. I'm just lost. I don't know if their is something wrong with him or what to think of it. I just wanna fast forward through this because even tho I got a 5 day break of being up in the middle of the night, that first night back with him, I was back to my normal, tired self. I really think, or maybe just hope that once he is moved out of our room (which if that were an option, he woulda been long gone outta there) and has his own room, he will sleep better. The second Nat and I get in bed at night and so much as whisper, he starts stirring. Oh well, he sure still is the cutest little man on the block!

Stetson in his new car seat!

Nat likes to call this "the $1400 car seat" cuz of everything we went through to get this seat in the first place. Its not the one I really wanted to get for him, but I settled for this one cuz sometimes finding the best and cheapest one isn't the greatest idea. :)

-One thing that we really struggle with, and that satan has a strong hold on our family with is going to church. It never ever fails. We will plan to go to church and something, anything will keep us from it. Sometimes its Nat working to the wee hours of the morning on the Sat night before, or someone wakes up not feeling well, or if its just simply the kids are actually sleeping in and we don't wanna wake them. Its been this way for awhile for us and I absolutely HATE it!! This past Sunday, we were in town and wanted to go to my parents church. So we got up and got ready, got the kids ready. Madelynn was in the kitchen eating breakfast and Nat walked in to see her experimenting with GREEN food coloring. It was everywhere... and although we were already running about 15 minutes late, we didn't let that stop us... and we showed up at church 30 mins late, with a green child, and green on ourselves. That just goes to show the little things satan will do to keep you away from God. Now if we can just always be that determined, life would be that much better for us.

believe it or not, she did NOT fall in the process.

my boys.

It was such a great, but way to short visit.

.......and the most exciting thing of all going on right now....We found a house.. and we've put an offer on it!!!!!!! I've been so hesitant to share cuz of all the bumps in the road, all the NO's and all the negative-ness that we have come across while trying to find a place to live. With the mobile home business, we found one that we absolutely loved... but because of the amount of time Nat's not been at this job, we couldn't get approved for a home only loan. We were only approved for a land/home loan and we were not wanting to go that route due to the amount of money we would be putting into it each month. So once again, we were at a fork in the road and wondering why in the heck this was happening to us AGAIN.

Well, turns out that God had other, better plans for us. Isn't it funny how that works out?? We think we have it all figured out, and that we found the perfect house and that their couldn't possibly be something out there better for us. No way!! Then God sits up their laughing and thinking to himself, If they only knew what I have for them.... Nat had seen this for sale sign about 5 miles outta town (on his way to work everyday) for a couple weeks now and for some (God) reason, his brother had also mentioned it to him the other day. Nat was off so we thought we'd swing by and check it out and oh my soul!!! We both just about peed our pants when we got there. Its on 20 acres. Tree's everywhere. Like literally, it is the most trees that I've ever seen in NM. Not even kidding you. So then were like, well it don't matter cuz there's no way in heaven we'll be able to afford a house like that. On 20 acres and all. 3 bed 2 bath. 1700 sq feet. So we took a plunge and called about it... and guess what?? Its in our price range. Its for sale by owner which is another awesome blessing cuz we don't have to deal with a realtor and pay bukoos for it! That's why they're selling it themselves is cuz of the negative experience they had with a realtor and all the money they ended up paying in the end. Its all just too good to be true. I keep telling Nat I'm not gonna get excited about it till moving day. (Can you tell im NOT excited at all?? ;) ) Everything is just falling into place so beautifully. We went out and looked at the house and the girls absolutely thrived!! Its at the dead end of a country rd with absolutely nothing for miles and miles!!! When we were looking at the outside, the girls just went googoo over all the space! They cried when we had to come inside. Can you imagine, letting them go outside and have all the space in the world to do anything with. I cannot wait!!!!!

So pray for the rest of this journey. We were approved for the loan and now were getting all the financing wrapped up and hopefully in the next few weeks we will be homeowners and be living in our new house. I can't wait. I dream about the day when we have a bigger (more than 500 sq ft) house.

-As I'm sure most everyone in the US was hit with some kind of winter storm, we hit one coming home last night! It started snowing about 70 miles from home and it was COLD!!!!! We left TX at 70 degrees, and slowly watched the temperature drop as we drove home. I was in a short sleeve shirt and shorts... so when we stopped in Andrews for a potty break, and it was snowing/raining/26 degrees, I looked pretty ridiculous walking into the convenience store holding my child who was wearing my jacket because I didn't pack her one warm enough. One things for sure, we are definitely not cut out for this kinda weather!

Their is a nice white blanket of snow covering the ground this morning. Madelynn keeps asking to go out and "wawk on da snowman"... but it is waaay to cold. When it feels in the negatives, thats just not normal. Once Nat gets home later, and it warms up a tad I think we'll take the girls out just for a sec.

Speaking of little Madelynn-ites, here is a little video of her saying my most favorite word!