just some updates

maggie has had constant ear infections for quite some time now. i think i have given her about 5 bottles of infant tylenol (and motrin) in the past few months. awful! i have also put her on antibiotics (which i am not a HUGE fan of, but not opposed to) about 3 times. and guess what? they don't work for her! ugh! so basically, i am desperate. i want her to feel better so darn bad. i am exhausted and out of ideas. i decided to (kind of) jump the gun and go ahead and get tubes in her ears. i have done little to NO research on them and for some reason, i feel okay about it. i am ready for her to feel better and sleep better and let's face it...i'm crazy exhausted. in fact, i feel like i am having somewhat of a mental breakdown. no good. this feels like nolan all over again but this time i have one extra child and not much help or relief from the day to day.

she really is a sweetheart though and tons of fun. she has a really slow way about her, unlike the boy's. she moves carefully around my house and just does every little thing at her own pace. i doubt she will be walking at 10 months and a few weeks like the boy's were. she can barely pull herself up to a standing posistion and when she does, she is very wobbly!

she is starting to say little words and it's been so fun for us! hopefully she will end up being even more fun when her ears get some relief.

griffin is awesome lately. getting so smart and so helpful. he is full of questions about life and church stuff and i love answering his questions and teaching him things. i LOVE this age so much! he is funny and fun and my constant buddy. he does fight with nolan a bit and we are working on that. he is also getting scared a lot at night of monsters and other things. we are going to dedicate our house this weekend and make a big to-do about it. he is really excited! the other night he told me that his brain gets "all halloweeny" at night and it scares him. oh dear! he just learned how to ride his bike with no training wheels and we couldn't be more excited! it literally took him a couple of minutes. i guess he was ready!

nolan is a sweetheart. he is testing his boundaries for sure so he has been a bit of a handful lately. he's all about doing things you tell him not to do. there's this driving force in him that makes him do it, i swear. it's very interesting to watch! a few weeks ago while we were playing outside, i noticed a dog had pooped in our yard. i said don't touch or step in the poop you guy's, watch out for it. nolan went right up to the pile, squatted down and said "i'm touching it". and he did. he is still very loving and tender. he still loves fondling hair and it's hilarious. he is so gentle and soft about it and I LOVE IT. it feels so dang good. i laid down with him a few weeks ago and he said "mom, hair" and that means i have to flip all my hair toward him so he can go to town. he then said "mom, all of it" (because sometimes it's in a pony or caught up under my head) and i said "nolan, you do have all of it." to which he said "you not have a bunch, mom? you not have a bunch?" oh nolan, no. i not have a bunch. i have always hated having fine hair :) so this made me laugh!

so happy to get to celebrate mother's day tomorrow. got both mom's in my life the new book by stephanie neilson (nieniedialogues.com) i may need to borrow it back from one of them because i am dying to read it! i haven't had an ounce of time to read it but i have stared at it a few times. it is such a pretty book!

motherhood is so hard. like HARD hard. but so fulfilling and rewarding all in one little package (or several little packages, really!) i am sure after reading this book it will seem MUCH less hard to me. had to sit down and watch some sweet mormon messages today about motherhood and i feel a tad bit more rejuvenated now. hopefully tomorrow will be a great day!