Picture post

     Well, this week was interesting. Various ups and downs. Nathaniel had an MRI done on Friday, so hopefully we'll soon know the results from that. Otherwise, to keep from complaining the whole time (since today is one of the downs) I'm just going to keep it to a picture post.

The 2nd birthday cake. We had a party on Monday as well. Technically for friends/McBrides...literally for friend. LOL. The cake didn't get cooked quite as long as it should have, hence the falling in in the center.

Let's try this again.

This is weird stuff on my hand mom.

He does this a lot, though he usually doesn't have frosting on his hands first.

Sugar drunk.

And, yesterdayJacob learned how to pull himself up onto the couch, and it is his new favorite pastime.

Looking over the edge of the couch.

Jacob's One!

     This week was actually really rough.  Thursday was my Dad's birthday, so I think I was dealing with that all week.  So, Nathaniel and I celebrated Valentine's Day by going out to eat on Wednesday. It was good but it was marred because earlier in the day I'd tried to fix something for Nathaniel for his gift, and seemed to have broken it further.
Tuesday was Jacob's first birthday, but I keep forgetting to set up his doctor appointment, or his 1 year portraits, so no stats or portraits. We did have a Hiatt family party on Saturday though.  Part of was just to have a family get-together, but I brought gifts and a cake to make it his birthday party.

coloring/cutting for the kids, as well as their current activity, frosting cookies.

Opening gifts. Very intently.

This actually seemed like it may have been Jacob's favorite, though, he got a lot of clothes, so I guess that's not terribly surprising.  We brought it to church to day, and he LOVED carting it around with him. The arms of the bear are just the right size for his little fist.

And his 1 other toy, also homemade, a ball, though you can't tell as well from this angle. He doesn't seem quite so sure on this one though.

 That in and of itself made for a bit of stress. This was actually my first time making a cake from scratch (I know, right) and so I just found some recipes online. Well, the recipe I found added extra water to make it so the cake was extra moist. It said the batter should be really runny, so I didn't think anything of it. I followed the directions exactly.... and it boiled over in the oven. Oh, that was fun. So now I had a wasted cake, and I needed to clean my cake pan and oven. All sorts of fun. So, I found a DIFFERENT recipe, that didn't call for extra water, and made that (after everything was clean again). And it turned out well, except that I opened the oven too soon, so the middle fell in. Oh well. Cosmetic damage isn't quite so bad. ;)  Frosting worked well (thank heavens) and the party was fun too. It was good seeing family. 

Jacob's 1st year birthday cake. (for the Hiatt party) Yes, that is a slight (or not so slight maybe) not to my Daddy on the bear's shirt.

Not sure at first what he's supposed to do with this.

After a little demonstration that he could put it in his mouth, he started to go for it.

Unfortunately, either he got cold, or he wasn't a fan of the straps/buckles on his bare skin. He didn't enjoy everything all that much.

    And one last thing this week. Nathaniel has been on short-term disability, and on Tuesday he went to an orthopedic(?) doctor to see what was wrong with his shoulders and knees. The shoulders were a simple fix. The most likely scenario is that he has over developed chest muscles,  and under-developed back muscles, and so every time he's moving his arms, they get pulled out of socket. (Ouch) The fix is just some specific exercises. 
     The knees were not quite so easy a fix. The doctor he went to, thinks, based on symptoms, and ways that relieve Nathaniel's pain, that he may have a torn meniscus. (MRI scheduled for this week) Kinda hoping he's wrong (though then we'd still not know what's going on) because if that is the case, Nathaniel will need surgery. So... yeah. That was our week in a (very small) nutshell.
     

CRAZY!!!

   That's how I feel right now. Crazy. I don't know much to write in here, so maybe I'll just write a little and we'll see what comes out. Unfortunately I've not been very good at writing down things I should write, or taking pictures, :( so that's not working too well, and there probably won't be any pictures. But Jacob woke me up early this morning, so Jessica is still asleep (and Jacob is back asleep) and I had the epiphany that now would probably be the best time to actually write a blog post, and be able to think while doing so.
     I am crazy-busy these days with my school, (and the work I'm doing to pay for it) but I am LOVING my schoolwork. I love being able to heal myself emotionally a little bit every day, and also to assist others with healing themselves emotionally. This is something I could really see myself doing, not just finishing the school because it's also a good "self-improvement" class. I just feel bad for my husband and kids right now, because I am so crazy busy its hard to be (what I'd consider) a good wife/mom. This last week was particularly hard. I felt like I had a million things to do every day, and I wasn't even keeping at a level amount behind, I just felt like I kept getting further and further behind. (Lo and behold, I'd been forgetting to take my Frankincense oil until Friday. Hmm, that would explain the overwhelmed feelings.) Finally, yesterday, I got basically caught up, and I'm caught up on my school, except for the books I'm supposed to read, but really, that shouldn't be too hard for me, as long as I can find/make time.
     The hardest thing however, has been Jessica (as always). I had a realization on Friday night that basically sums it all up. Nathaniel and I were out to dinner, and there was a little girl outside her family's car, playing (instead of getting right in). It was funny and cute, and Nathaniel and I had a good laugh about it. It also shone a harsh light on my interaction with Jessica, because I can almost guarantee that had it been her and me out there, I would have been yelling at her, because she wasn't getting in the car like I wanted her to. I hate the way I treat my daughter, I hate that I cannot seem to control myself, and I wish I knew how to make it better quickly. (I am working on making it better with school and processing, but its slow going.) I feel so bad for her, my automatic response to everything seems to be anger. She does seem to be a lot more rebellious/out of control when she's around just Nathaniel and I, and even more so than I would think is normal for her age (though all the things she does are normal, just not in the amount she does them) so we're trying to figure out how to get her evaluated to see if there is something going on there.
       And one last thing, Nathaniel is currently on short-term disability. He had something happen to his shoulder/neck (we don't know what) that is making it so that doing his job is extremely painful because of the way they have their desks set up (and he can't change it). Plus, the medicine he takes for the pain is making him dizzy/light-headed, and since he works on multi-million dollar computer systems, he feels like his mind isn't clear enough for it. So we're hoping and praying that we'll be able to figure this out in the next month, so that he can then go back to work.
      Okay, one last little story, (I mean it this time). Last week, in church, I leaned over to Jacob and said "Braains", just to try to get him to smile and giggle a bit. (It's an ongoing joke in our little family, "what does a zombie say? Brains". "Brains" was Jessica's 5th word. Well, he did smile and giggle, but first he said. "Bwaaaii" (close enough for a 1-year-old). Jacob said his first word! and it was "Brains"!!! Hilarious! Nathaniel and I were trying so hard to stay quiet in our church meeting, but we were cracking up. I wanted to check to see if it was a fluke, but nope, he again repeated it when I said "brains" at him. "Bwaaaii". Though, of course, now he won't repeat it again.
     This week is Jacob's birthday, so I should have some pictures to post next Sunday. (Here's hoping, right?)

Nothing going...

     Yeah, I'm having a hard time coming up with a blog post. My life seems to have been nothing really much to write about for the past little while. Last weekend (a week ago) we did get the chance to drive up to Boise to visit Nathaniel's Dad and Step-Mom. It was nice to see them, and spend time with them. (And actually get to know Robin a little). Jessica and Jacob LOVED spending time with Grandpa McBride and Nana Robin. Jessica kept asking if we were going to Nana Robin's house for the next few days after we got home.
      Other than that though, I've just been struggling with trying to be a good parent, and with trying to not overextend myself doing too many different things, as I'm going to school. I keep having to remind myself that school is about all I get to do aside from taking care of my family. Its just been kinda hard to not get distracted in everyday household "duties" and so either not do my schoolwork, or not spend time with my kids. They spend far more time than I would like (and probably even more than is healthy) sitting in front of the TV watching movies. I'm working on that. Also working on actually playing with Jessica and Jacob instead of working on everything else and demanding that they play by themselves. As I said, trying to be a good parent, and doing better than I used to.  
     School is going pretty well though. I'm loving every minute of it. Learning all sorts of fun things, and details about why certain things work. Plus I'm loving being to help people overcome some of their emotional block. It is truly amazing and humbling to be a part of that.