There's no need to fear......

...UNDERDOG is here!!!

We had a great Halloween, were supposed to go to my parents house, then to his parents house, but ended up staying at ours! It was a good decision, since we had fun seeing all of Trinity's friends in the neighborhood and really scooped up a ton of candy. Trinity wanted to be Underdog this year, so I scrambled to whip up a costume last minute...that's how we roll I guess LOL!

Tristan was a "stray puppy"....Trinity picked that one :) He was wearing a size 2T costume that was too SMALL for him...oy, I have a big boy on my hands!!! I thought the puppy was fitting though since according to Trinity "puppies like to nurse, and so does Tristan."

We also went to my parents house on the 27th for a Festival, which was SUPER fun. Trinity was WonderWoman that day, and, she won 2nd place in the costume contest!! She earned a $10 gift card to Walmart and traded it in on the way home for 2 prizes. Tristan was as happy as ever, even with the teething! Here he is signing his version of "drink". He peirces his lips together and makes a kissing sound...super cute and hard to miss.

Trin competed in her first "Pie Eating Contest"...although, she only wanted to "lick it like a puppy" and didn't really eat any of the pie (don't say I blame her!)

Shannon and I both dressed up this year, he was Otis from The Barnyard Movie, I was a Fairy / Butterfly (just a black outfit and some wings, add a little glitter...viola!)

I think this was my favorite Halloween!! We all enjoyed seeing our neighbors, walking our streets, and enjoying being so close to home...we may just have to make this our new tradition.

An End in Sight??? - LONG BLOG

If what goes up must come down, what about the opposite? Will this downward spiral that we have been in start to see an uprise soon? I mean, I understand the powers that be in the universe, but, come on now....when is enough ENOUGH? We have had a horrible string of bad luck lately, and really, it is just compiling and compounding until finally, we have had it. I am a positive thinker, I am a unusually optimistic individual, but I have to tell you...lately, well, let me say, I have been searching for the rope LOL. First, our house gets flooded....YES, flooded in Arizona. On Thursday we go downstairs to shut out all the lights and lock the doors, Shannon hears this "raining" sound, opens the door to the office and lo and behold, water water everywhere. This is in the closet that holds some of our most beloved possessions. My wedding pictures, scrapbooks of the children from birth, paintings and drawings that Trinity has been making since she could draw. To top it off, we had TONS of other things in there, Shannon's comic book collections, the ones he has had since he was a boy...SOAKED. My cameras, our video camera, surround sound speakers, Portable DVD player, PSP, laptop, framed pictures, backup discs, scrapbooking supplies, boxes to Transformers, Train set, my Painted Pony Collections....oh my , there is more. The builder is assuming responsibility by having it treated for mold etc...but, they are not going to cover our personal items....EVEN THOUGH they found a pex plumbing pipe with a staple hole in it...now, tell me, does that sound fair?

So, we head out to a hotel on Friday since they have about 12 blowers running in our house and each one is about 115 degrees of hot air circulating in our house (up and down since the water damage went through the sub floor and also flooded our bedroom). Our carpet and pad is pulled back, baseboards ripped off...there is a huge gaping hole in our bedroom wall and the ceiling is pulled out from the closet. OY, this is not fun. The hotel was nice, but, we were dislocated...wanting to be in our own space. The kids were a bit of a mess, tired, cranky and not understanding all that was taking place...to be honest, Shannon and I were feeling the same way. I think, no, I know what made it all worse is the fact that I was being told that I have to claim this under MY insurance. The idea of putting in a claim, having my deductible raise, my record tarnished because of someone elses error...it just gets me. I am a woman of principal...and this is just not cool.

So, Monday comes around, Shannon gets up to go to work, he is driving out of the hotel parking lot when a "tink" noise is heard....his caliper from his rear brakes FALLS OFF...Thank God, that he was not on the freeway, I don't know how many times I replay that in my head. He stays back and begins the new task of finding someone to fix his brakes by the end of business...FUN.

I go to meet with our insurance agent, I decide to meet with my insurance agent and he gives us some great advice. This, was a good meeting. Then, something HORRIFIC happened. The day really took a turn for the worse, I get back to the hotel and Shannon took the doggies and Trinity out to play. I am waiting in the room for Tristan to wake up when I hear a familiar scream (Trinity crying hysterically) and Shannon screaming down the hall. I open the door to find all the dogs trailing Shan except Shyanne....she is slung over his shoulders like a rag doll, my heart sinks. He brings her in and I notice that she is not using her hind legs...Christ, what else?? They were playing ball and she fell, then couldn't get up. My baby, I love this dog so much. We take her to the Animal Hospital, and they run a series of tests and xrays. Good news, no buldging discs, or apparent fractures, the bad news...they would need to do more MRIs and such to determine what is causing the paralysis. We are not in a financial position with everything else to pay for this...but, we do. Also, the kicker...she has a mass on her breast that is looking like mammary cancer. Didn't want to hear that either. We are all a mess, we are finally home, the equipment still running, my house still unsuitable for children to be in, and, my pup, my old girl, unable to move her hind legs. We are going to try the non-invasive route and do therapy with her at home, but, I just don't see her being able to walk again like a normal dog. Luckily, she does not seem to be in any pain, just pissed about not having her running legs. So, maybe we will get her a little doggy wheelchair. I am just going to hug and kiss her for now, worry about what will happen when it comes to that.....I really can't think anymore about it.

This is what it feels like to be depressed....so overwhelmed and in a state of BLAH....I want so much for this to stop, for us to be able to just get past the problems and move on to the next step....I just want to have our builder do what is right...I want my house to be a safe one, one that I feel comfortable knowing that nothing is wrong, not constantly second guessing whethere or not there is another defect that I am unaware of. I want people to do business like a gentleman's handshake...just do what you know is right....So, I understand the eb and flo of the universe, but tell me, really, when will it go back up?

WALK THIS WAY!!!!

SOOO, Tristan is taking steps....albeit a bit wobbly, and not for very long..but, you gotta give a kid some credit LOL! He gets so excited when he takes those few steps too, he wants to do it so badly, he starts to do this jumpy thing, then SPLAT, he falls...luckily, he is a toughy, so, right back up again. Watch out for updates, I am sure they will read "WE ARE WALKING" anyday now!!!!

Everybody was a NINJA fighting!

So, everyone knows, Shannon is a BIG kid...I swear, it is like I am a mom of 3 "Now, you 2 (me talking to Trinity and SHANNON) calm down, its getting late and you need to go to bed soon" EVERY NIGHT LOL. They are the terrible twosome, always have their hands in something naughty *not like, WEIRD naughty, but...you get it* They are in it...This weekend Shannon broke out some of the Halloween dress ups, and they just went at it...Tristan even got in the action, though, I think he was just worried about Daddy when he was pretending to be knocked out! I love my house, it's crazy, but SO MUCH FUN!

Cloth Diapering...Still...and LOVING IT!

Cloth diapering is going great...I AM ADDICTED..who am I trying to fool..I can't get enough of it, it is defenitely something that I was born to do...I am such a hippy. He is really looking so cute in them, and I am really liking that he has NO rashes, and, NO leaks, and I am not adding to that landfill...I know, I am hitting you all over the head with it, but really...it is an amazing feeling. It has urged us to change other things in our lives too. We are only using Environmentally friendly products / Recyclable in the house, (not like we weren't before, but now, we are going out of way to make sure of it). We are also looking into getting solar panels for the house. I can't wait to see what they cost $$$ But, the payoff is huge. For now, we are going to just stick to covering his bum with cloth though, and I URGE anyone thinking of doing it...DO IT!

August / September Updates

Man oh man....kids, they really do just grow up before your eyes! LITERALLY. Trinity has outgrown pretty much all of her clothes...WHY!!!!! She is going to be taller than me I think. I was putting pjs on her last night...no, wait SHE, was doing "BY MYSELF MAMA"...so, SHE was putting her pjs on last night, and they were so freaking short, and tight..I kept telling her "Baby, those don't really seem to be fitting all that well..." she cuts me off "No mama, this is how they are made..see" *shows me the flood style leg and the belly hanging out..."Right, that is my point exactly..." She still went to bed in them. I mean, I am not going to win that one...she was determined, and I was apparently wrong :) They are supposed to be that way, RIGHT!

Anywho...she has been SO stubborn lately, not really to a fault, just enough to still remain sweet and cute..lucky girl..lucky us! She said to me, when I asked her to go play upstairs for a bit because i needed to mop "But mama, I don't want to" Again, I ask her...she says NO...this time I tell her, "Honey, mama is telling you now, so I need you to listen, please go upstairs"...she says, with a sad look on her face "Mama, I just love you so much that I HAVE to be beside you all the time..so, sorry mama, but no, I am not going upstairs." AHHHHH, who can mop when your little one says something like that...so, needless to say, the crumbs are still on the floor LOL.

Tristan..OMG...he has been amazing us left and right! He LOVES his EI Therapist...I like her too...she is pretty amazing. She is working on walking with him, alot, and he really has taken to her. She uses a TON of play therapy, which is good, cause my kids LOVE to play. SO, UPDATE....he is taking steps!!! YAHOO! (not the email provider, but the saying YAHOO!) he is almost there. We are working on loosening up his upper body too, which we all have noticed a change. Next, he is working on strengthening his trunk to help with his balance. Here he is taking steps today...he is really growing up! Still nursing, like a champ, but we all know how I feel about that :)

What else.....Trinity is having Homeschool everyday, she LOVES it. I approach it in a way that it is not TOO terribly structured, afterall, we have the rest of our "grown up" lives for that right? We play a lot, sing, do tons of arts and crafts....she is the one who bumped it up to 5 days a week, so, following her lead here, we are schooling everyday! We have opened up one of the days for one her friends Tatum to join, Trinity really enjoys that. She is spelling and reading more now, some of her favorite words are : CANDY *really*, GOODY, CLOWN, MOM, DAD, TRINITY, TRISTAN, CAT, DOG, BOO, BOO BOO, EMILY, NANA, PAPA...she is working on a ton more, but these are her favorite so far.

We are excited about Trinity's 4th birthday, I just LOVE parties!!!! I will be blogging about that too I suppose.,...so, until then, keep smiling :)

The Kids

They are growing up so much...it has been forever since I last updated...not sure where to start.

Tristan, my gentle giant! He grew another inch and 1/2 this past month, and has graduated into 3T! HE IS HUGE! He is forward facing in his carseat now, (he is 30lbs) and he really loves it. It took a few days to get used to falling asleep in the forward position, but now he has it down to a science. He found a new word, "Nee-Nee" we finally figured out it stands for "Trinity". I can't tell you how excited she is that he is saying "her" name! He is signing "more", "all done", "eat" and "juice". Tristan has been receiving day therapy from an Early Interventionist for 3 weeks now and we are really excited about the fun stuff that she has planned. We are going to be working on his Gross Motor skills, his tone issues in his upper and lower body and Cognitive and Behavioral therapies too (coloring, obstacles, stacking, playing ball, peg boards etc.) He has started standing on his own, bending down and standing again...and he took his first steps last week! He walked about 3 steps to his big sis...it was amazing to watch. You never get sick of that "firsts" with kids...it is still so exciting to me, even with my 2nd child.

Trinity is doing GREAT at school! She is learning all the spanish words for the body, she knows eyes, mouth, head, nose, ears. We are having school everyday at home, and she LOVES it. She is counting, putting numbers in order, and even started simple addition. We are very pleased with her literacy skills too. She has been writing her name, Daddy, Mommy, Tristan, Nana, Papa, Dog, Cat, Optimus, Hot Rod, Rodimus, and is recognizing words that she sees. She loves to learn, we are so pleased, and so is she.

What else...just living I guess, enjoying every moment, trying to remember that it really does go by fast....

The Amazing Spider....GIRL?

So, as many of you know and love...Trinity has an AMAZING imagination! We just love how she dresses up, struts her stuff into a room and stays "in character" for hours. She imitates all things from Princesses and animals to Superheros and family members. She has recently shown more interest in Spiderman! So, being the somewhat overindulgers that we are...(hey, everyone deserves a costume every now and again!) we got her a dress up of Spidey. She had us cracking UP last night. As soon as she puts on the spectacular Spiderman costume she is IN CHARACTER...for and hour at least..she is jumping from her bed, hanging upside down in her closet, slinging her "web" at us...I was laughing so hard...I peed a little, but don't tell anyone..

This is the best shot I think, aside from the upside down spidey..Shannon captured it when she was jumping down from her gym ladder....it was HILARIOUS to watch.

I think the funniest part is that she believes that she is them when she is in the costume, I mean, she knows it is not real, but her imagination is so vivid that she uses a different voice, her facial expressions change, her walk changes, everything...she is amazing. It is so fun to have such an outgoing, expressive and truly hilarious little girl for our daughter!