"...Pancakes Real Quick..."

I just wanted to post some T.V./movie reviews...cuz I'm bored. :) I went to go see 17 Again last Friday night with the girls (Christa, Becky, Destiny, and Ashley) and it was a ton of fun! Even though I had the baby, it was so nice to get out and have girl time. We all agreed that we definitely need to do it more often! That was the 2nd movie Joshua has been to with me and he did EXCELLENT! He either nurses or sleeps the whole time...so nice.

Anyway, the movie was so cute and good! I absolutely LOVED it! Some parts irked me a little, like when the 17-year-old version of himself would get a little too "comfy" with his normal aged wife...just thinking about a woman thinking that way about a 17-year-old boy was creepy (even though he was really her husband in a 17-year-old's body...). And then when his daughter tried kissing the 17-year-old version of himself....again, creepy. But I loved it! And I was so glad Zac Efron did such a good job! He was great at doing the same mannerisms as Matthew Perry would do...and talking like him. You could picture Matthew Perry acting or saying things he was saying. And of course, it wouldn't be a movie review if I didn't mention that Zac Efron was such a HOTTIE in it! Was that a little juvenile for me to say? :) I know, I never would have thought that before, but he was just a adorable in that movie.

That was the only movie I have seen in the theater lately, but we have watched a few we've rented. We recently watched Seven Pounds and I cried. Such a great movie, and evokes so many different thoughts and emotions...it's literally heart-wrenching. Besides little minor things that I think could have been done better, I absolutely loved it.

We also watched Slumdog Millionaire and thought it was great! It had gotten so much hype from the Oscars, so we rented it and it was definitely as good as they made it out to be!

We also just rented Doubt, but haven't taken the time to watch it yet. That's another one that got a lot of hype. And I love Meryl Streep and Amy Adams, so I'm sure it'll be good.

We watched The Day the Earth Stood Still last night and it was...okay. Keanu Reeves is one of those actors that just rubs me the wrong way. He's so dull and can't act, in my opinion. But I guess that's why he was good in that role because he had no personality. I just can't help but picture him, in his surfer dude, Keanu voice, saying "I know kung-fu..." or in his Bill and Ted's role. The worst part of the movie was when he was talking in Japanese...HORRIBLE. Anyway, the movie was pretty good and entertaining, but only a one-timer for me.

Speaking of weird movies, about a month ago Dave and I saw Knowing, with Nicholas Cage, and it was nothing like I expected. I was thinking it was going to be about something totally different, and that it'd be better, but it was just...eh.

Last night I was flipping channels and the Holiday was on. I know that movie is old news now, but it is absolutely one of my most favorite romantic movies. It's so cute and I love it! Just had to mention that.

There was also a preview when I saw 17 Again for a movie coming out called My Sister's Keeper (based off of a novel), and I cried just from the preview. I recommend looking up the extended trailer...it looks so good and so moving! Definitely a tear-jerker. For me anyway. And maybe it was because I have experienced a little sister going through chemotherapy and cancer, and it hit home a little more, but I think anyone would agree it looks great!

May is going to be a good month too...there are three movies in particular that I am way excited to see when they come out: Star Trek (I am usually not a Star Trek fan AT ALL, but this one actually looks pretty awesome), Angels and Demons, and X-Men Origins.

Now on to T.V. shows...because of our beloved DVR, we watch WAY too many shows...because we can. :) I'll start with the best...this season of 24 has been awesome! I've loved it so far. And I am very excited because I found out that there will be a season 8 (or a "Day 8"), which means Jack won't be dying from the bio weapon he got exposed to! Yay!


Another show that has been awesome this season is Heroes! That is one show that just gets better every season! That and House...LOVE House! The writers to that show are brilliant, in my opinion. We also love Fringe...not much to say about it, other than we love it. I love the characters and it's another one of J. J. Abrams excellent shows!

And speaking of J. J. Abrams...I have to mention Lost. Now, don't get me wrong...I'm a huge fan of the show and will always watch it, but come on...when are they going to start answering some questions! Yes, they have started to explain a little more this season, but along with it, they have created more questions! So you're always wondering about something! They have one more season to go, so hopefully they'll answer everything by the end.

A new show we started watching that we absolutely LOVE is Lie to Me. It's right up there with the rest of them. And we started watching Southland (we've only seen 1 episode so far) and that seems to be pretty good too.

Of course I love my American Idol too. I have loved this season. My favorites were in the top 3 last week so I was happy! I LOVE Danny Goky and Allison (whatever her last name is), and even though he's weird, I LOVE Adam as well!

And then we have our funnies...The Office is always our favorite. And we started watching that show, Parks and Recreation. It's way too much like the Office and Amy Poeller is too much like Michael Scott. It's not the funniest, but there was a REALLY funny part on the first episode..."If you're going in the kitchen can you make me some pancakes real quick?" Haha...those of you who saw it know what I'm talking about. Dave and I still laugh about it...

I have been extremely disappointed in Scrubs now. I think it's kind of lost it's magic. There are still some funny parts, but overall, I think they've ran out ideas.

A new show we absolutely love is Better off Ted, and sadly, I found out it's going to be cancelled, which totally bums me out, because it's hilarious!! We loved the "operation white shadow" episode...again, those of you who have seen it know what I'm talking about...

Those are the main shows we watch, a few others here and there. I also just finished reading The Giver for the little Bagdad Ward Book Club we have. I loved it, and it was very creatively written, but I guess I was just anticipating a more climatic ending. It just sort of ended, and I was hoping for it to explain more and wrap things up better. It didn't have a bad ending per se, but it just didn't give me closure. But it was a really great book and well written!

Random...

A few pics of my cuties....


Sam came to the back door like this one day...you gotta love little boys...how they can somehow find mud even when the backyard is dry.


Sam with his new Spiderman "gear" on so he can ride in the bike seat with daddy!





Isn't he just the cutest thing??!!

Love/Hate Relationship with Doctors

Well, it's been a little more stressful at our house than normal because Sam has been sick the last few days, which just means 2 needy kids. But other than that, and Joshua's appointment, nothing new in our lives. Joshua had his 2 month checkup on Monday and weighs 12 lbs. 1 oz., exactly 1 lb. heavier than Sam at his age, and is 24 inches long, 2 inches longer than Sam was. He is thriving and doing extremely well, except his doctor did say he's a sensetive baby. He said that you can just tell sometimes...with Joshua's sensetive skin (which we are now thinking breaks out when I eat strawberries) and his tummy issues. He said I need to be careful down the road when I start to intruduce solids because he could develop food allergies.

And then we have the issue of his reflux. I'm 100% sure that's what the problem is now. It's literally getting worse every single day, and where he wasn't really spitting up or anything before, he is now. He threw up all over me in the middle of the night while he was sleeping on my chest and it reeked like stomache acid. Poor thing. I feel so bad for him because he wants to eat so bad and as soon as he starts, he has to pull off because it's coming back up. He is miserable, I can tell. And the thing that makes me mad is that his dr. seems to make his problem seem less than what it really is. He isn't with him all day and night, seeing the way he is and how bad it is.

I didn't want to let it go on any longer on Monday, so I was hoping that the dr. would prescribe some Zantac for him, because as his mother, using my motherly instincts (which I think are more acurrate than a dr. at times), I felt strongly that that's what he needs. But of course, the dr. didn't want to do that. He wanted me to try disolving rice cereal in liquid and giving that to him after he eats every time. Now, I appreciate the fact that he wanted to try less "harsh" measures before he just prescribed the "drugs," but I researched all this stuff before the appointment, and each point I brought up to him he tried denying or ignored. I know my baby and how he eats, and I knew the whole rice cereal thing wouldn't work.

First of all, Josh only eats for about 2-5 minutes each time, making it so that he eats every 45 mins to an hour, which would mean I would constantly have to be pumping and then topping him off with the rice cereal ALL day. He doesn't have normal set feedings like most babies. Also, he is a breatfed baby, therefor, trying to get him the rice cereal in the first place is a challenge. He wont take a bottle - I tried for like 15 minutes, 4 times a day, for two days, and he asolutely refuses.

Then if I try giving it to him on a spoon or in a suringe, he just spits it back out because (1) he's already eaten and could barely keep it down, so he doesn't want anymore, and (2) it's too thick for him. I can see how this method might work for a baby that's solely bottle fed because you can just mix the cereal in with the bottle. But it's pretty much impossible for Josh.

Also, from researching online, that method hasn't even proven to be ffective, and most of the time worsens it for babies, because they spit up anyway, and the thicker it is when it's coming back up, the worse pain they're in. You also have the risk of the rice cereal replacing some of the calories in the milk they need.

But of course, he is the dr. and I'm just the "concerned mom," so my points and concerns didn't matter. He told me to try it for a week and then call him if it isn't working and we'd go from there. Well, I left that office very aggitated because I want my baby to have relief and I knew what the outcome would be already. And I was right. He is still getting worse and throwing up worse, so as of last night, I stopped even battling with the rice cereal thing all together. So tomorrow (4 days is good enough to wait, right?) I am calling the dr. and hoppefully he will be willing to just call in the prescription for me. We'll see.

And I'm not even one for medicines in babies. Sam actually got prescribed the same thing when he was a baby (along with Reglan, which is horrible....don't even get me started of everything I have learned about that...) but, as his mother, I felt bad about it then - that he didn't really need it. So I trusted my instincts and didn't give it to him. I didn't want to pump him full of medication he didn't even necessarilly need. And I was right...he hadn't even really had a problem. I'm glad I listened to my gut then, especially because his dr. prescribed him the Reglan along with the Zantac. The funny thing is, I remember Sam's dr. at that time was so mad at me and treated me like crap when I brought these concerns up, and flat out told me that if I don't give it to him, he will suffer long-term side effects. Ha! The other way around! Especially because Sam's reflux problem wasn't even a real problem...they even said it was very minor! Seriously, why should it be so difficult to find a pediatrician who actually cares what the mother thinks??

Anyway, my point is, I feel differently this time because I know that Josh actually needs it! And I strongly feel that it will help him and do him some good. Especially because it's only getting worse. So we'll see what he says when I call him...

Another thing that upset me about the dr. appointment (and the reason I have finally taken the push to get another pediatrician) is how he made me feel about the way I want to immunize. I have been doing research, and of all the research I have done, the thing that seems to fit and feel the most right, is to do an Alternate Vaccine Schedule, created by Dr. Bob Sears. Dr. Sears has been researching Vaccines for 15 years, he presents the research and lets parents decide what they feel is best. He provides information on each vaccine, when the child should really need to get it (due to what diseases are the most high-risk at certain ages), and what chemicles are in each one. It scares me to be pumping in, sometimes, 6 different strains at a time, especially with the high aluminum levels. Anyway, so he created a different schedule which allows for the child to get all the required immunizations,but they are spread out more, only getting about 2 at a time, at the times they should be getting them. If anyone is interested in info about it, you can read this article I read on the La Leche League website, which is what introduced me to this concept in the first case. Lots of good info!

Anyway, I feel very strongly about it, and it's the way I want to vaccinate my kids, but when it came time for Josh's imunizations at his appointment, and I brought it up, the dr. interrupted me, immediately silencing me, saying "We don't do that here." He then went on to say (in a round about way) that he thinks Dr. Sears is a quack. He is not willing to split up the vaccines at all and when I asked him how other people did it (because I know people that do that), he said they go somewhere else. So that's what I'm doing. It was either going to be all or nothing with him, and how can I have a dr. for my kids that thinks the way I want to go about their health is ridiculous?

So anyway, I found another dr. that breaks them up and actually does that alternate schedule all the time, and when other people recommended her to me, they all said she was excellent. So I made an appt. with her and Josh in 3 weeks for his immunizations and we will no longer be going to our current dr. We'll see how it goes. I hope she works out!!

Happy Easter!

Our boys on Easter... I forgot to get a picture of them in their church outfits. So, this is them in their jammies this morning.


Church was great. In sacrament meeting, the talks were focused, of course, on the atonement and the resurrection and I'm so grateful for the spirit I felt and that I could be reminded today of those things! Sunday school was really good also, though we didn;t really have an Easter message, per se. We talked about missionary work, and I have to admit that most of the time in Sunday school I don't pay that close attention, but for some reason today it was different and the spirit was so strong! It was such a good and powerful message! A quote that was read from President Eyering, and also some comments made, really opened my eyes to how crucial it is that we are doing member missionary work! There is so much work that still needs to be done! The field is white...there are people waiting for the gospel. Are we actively enough searching those people out?

Easter Message

This was a beautiful message from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, given at the Sunday morning session of Conference, and I was filled with the spirit then and now, as I saw this on Karyn's blog. I think it's a wonderful Easter message we all need to hear! I hope we can all remember the real reason of this holiday - to remember the resurrection and sacrifice of our beloved Savior, Jesus Christ! Happy Easter everyone!

Me and Edward

Haha I thought this was pretty funny... I look like I might just eat HIM!


Create your own FACEinHOLE

Like Nails on a Chalkboard...

Yes...it's that time again. Sorry to all of you who don't want to hear complaining, but I was in the mood to list off some more of the most annoying things to me lately... :)

1. People that are way too judgemental about other people's mothering...moms always know what's best for their own kids, in my opinion. Just because something worked for someone else's kids, doesn't mean it works for all!
2. Doctors who feel it isn't necessary to give you detailed information about you or your own children and what's going on with them.
3. The king on Dora the Explorer...there's just something about a king who's obviously old enough to sport a huge mustache, but clearly still a child because he acts like a dumb 3 year old, that rubs me the wrong way...
4. Steven Baldwin....enough said.
5. Political correctness.
6. The Runzheimer program at Dave's work (the program that requires you to go into debt to buy a new truck...which they are now getting rid of....now that we are stuck with a truck we didn't want, of course).
7. When cartoons get men to talk for women. Example...Dora's grandmother (I know...a lot of things about this show bother me). :)
8. Moths, Moquito Eaters (also known as Mosquito Hawks...), and all other big bugs that seem to love this time of year in AZ.
9. When both your kids are screaming their heads off at the same time...both poopy at the same time...both wanting to eat at the same time...both waking up crying at the same time...ah...the joys of motherhood.
10. When people can't admit they're wrong...even when they've been proved wrong.
11. Waking up in the middle of the night with "I'm a grumpy old troll, who lives under the bridge..." in your head.
12. Donald Trump's dead animal on his head.
13. Colic.
14. The high school phase...drama drama drama...
15. And lastly, I know I have mentioned this before, but even venting about it doesn't take away it's annoyingness. :) The Kidz Bop commercials that play every commercial break on Nick!!

Ah...okay...now that I have that out... :) I'm really not a negative person, I promise. And I also promise that I am happy and love my life. I just felt like bringing these to attention... :)

Conference and Nursing

I am a little disappointed because I couldn't get as much out of conference as I normally do. I usually watch every session, but this time I only was able to watch 2, and I only really heard about 3 talks total. It's really hard to pay attention when you're taking care of a fussy infant and a needy two year old...

But anyway, it was really good...the parts I did hear. My favorite was Elder Holland's talk about the Savior and the Atonement on Sunday morning. It was so good! I love conference and I look forward to reading the talks in the Ensign next month!

So, I decided that since I have been off dairy for about a month now, collectively, and I'm noticing no change in Josh (if anything, he is worse!), I'd try eating it again and seeing what happens. So I ate ice cream last night (yay! so good!) and had actual milk with my cereal this morning...so far there is no difference, so I'm thinking he probably doesn't have a problem with dairy. It's just so hard to tell because his fussy spells are so sporadic, that when I think they were brought on by a certain thing, the next time it's something else. So it's hard to tell. Unfortunately, I think it's going to just be something he has to outgrow.

The only thing I can pin it to now is my overabundant milk supply, or overactive letdown. The way he is acting fits every symptom to the T. If it is that, there are things I can do to try and manage it, which I've been doing, but it doesn't really get under control until usually by the end of the third month...so I just have to be patient and accept the fact that until then, he's just going to want to eat for only about 5-10 minutes at a time, every hour or two! The La Leche League website has been such a tremendous help to me! That site is amazing and is sooo full of information...anything you wanted to know about nursing, or babies and mothers nursing habits, issues, etc., is on that website....and MUCH more! It has totally helped just to be more educated on the way things work and what you can do about certain things. It even puts some of the old breastfeeding myths to rest and explains the why behind a lot of stuff. I highly recommend it to anyone who has questions or issues they need help with. It has cleared up a LOT of unknowns for me! Anyway, I am going to a LLL meeting in Prescott on Monday too, and hoping that will help with stuff too!

Everything else!

Okay...the last post of the many many pictures from over the last month! Here's some pics from when the Lindsays were here...

Sam and Aaron watching some shows together... Aaron looks like he's going to be a gymnast... :)



Sam giving Aaron kisses...



Chillaxin'...



Dave took Brax and Cin on a tour of the mine...yeah...they're pretty dorky.



And other random and cute pictures of Joshua...



Isn't he so cute?? He already started rolling over at like 4 weeks and does it almost every time I put him on his tummy.




My little Edward Cullen...

I don't know why this one is sideways...I can't figure out why its not showing right...but its cute so I had to put it on.

More tummy time...






This one's doing the whole sideways thing too...


I look tired....hum....


Random/cute pictures of Sam...

Finally, mommy and Sammy time...

In his big boy bed, or "boy bed," as he calls it.

All three of my guys asleep!

Helping daddy make pancakes when the Bartons were here.


Another sideways one...Sam and his cousin, Bridger,

Haha...we had to get a picture of this. Sam was playing in the laundry basket and got his foot stuck!

In his favorite Spongebob shirt...

Cottage cheese in the hair...

Macaroni and cheese...dipped in sour cream. He loves everything in sour cream. Aunt Jessica fixed his hair...

Saying "cheese" in his Thomas the Train P.J.s


And lastly, my two handsome boys in their cute church outfits...



Sam's new outfit is a little big, but he'll grow into it...

Sam wore this same outfit when he was 3-4 months old...