Madsen Kiddos: Kiddos

Greetings from the blogging world.

Well I don't update very much anymore. Mostly because really there are some things you shouldn't really
put on a blog and a lot of them have happened in my life. Basically everyone should know that getting divorced sucks and having a husband who - whatever.. whatever. but you know that doesn't suck? My kids who are still really innocent about the world and are so honest about their feelings and hopes.

Since I lived through my worst nightmare this last year I learned a few things.
1. I had no idea what life was like for a lot of people. and I'm a little ashamed that I didn't do more for others.
2. There are no take backs.
3. I think people are valuable. You should treat them that way.
4. Stuff is just stuff.
5. There is nothing that will make you crazier than not knowing if you can feed your kids.
6. I've learned who my enemies were.
7. I've learned that there are some good people in the world.
8. I've learned that sometimes when you don't want to do anything or ever get out of bed you should just make a checklist of what you think a good mom/person would do and then check off a few things every day. Someday you will actually just get out of bed because you are excited to do them... I think.
9. I've learned that my feelings heal slower than I expected.
10. I've learned how tempting deflection is.

My kiddos are so wonderful. They all share a room right now and Andrew sleeps on a mattress on the floor. All those Montessori blogs I used to love to read would be so proud of me. OK actually Danielle has been sleeping on my floor. I love the picture of the first night they were together because Andrew climbed in with Danielle and cuddled up. Then the other night Mark slept right next to Andrew and they were totally adorable.

And Mark got potty trained. so that's awesome.
and I have a job.
and I got in to school.
and I ran a half marathon.
and I love being in Utah because there are so many things to do outside with kiddos for free.

Friday

Well today was a good day. So I'm exhausted. I'm grateful for lots of things today.

I'm grateful for cuddling with the kiddos.
I'm grateful for dancing time with Mark. He loves to dance and he is good at it.
I'm grateful for people being friendly. I feel like even people I wouldn't expect to be friendly really try and I appreciate it. People can do amazing things.
I'm grateful to learn the hard way never to use your nice paintbrush with the epoxy counter top paint. Oh wait- that's not grateful that's whining.
I'm grateful to my friend Bree coming to help me clean out the bedroom to get the house ready for sale. Danielle asked her to bring some more macaroni and cheese. Not going to lie- that's some amazing mac and cheese there.
I'm grateful Andrew is such a patient baby. He's starting to teethe so he isn't sleeping quite as well but he's still just so mellow it amazes me.
I'm grateful for the internet. I swear google knows everything. every thing.
Grateful for this idea: "Oh you left a voice message? Why didn't you just tape a post it note to the door of the apartment I moved out of six years ago." nice.
Grateful that some handy tape healed my phone screen for a little while longer.
Grateful to be alive and well.

Saturday

Today is chore and cuddle day.

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Wednesday

Now these are some cute kiddos.

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Wednesday

Now that makes waking up happy.

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Quiet time.

I love me some quiet time. Every day we have quiet time and Mark takes a nap. My grandma Sharp told me she made her kids have quiet time and took a nap every day. I decided that was a parenting idea I could believe in with all my heart.
So far quiet time is pretty awesome. It doesn't always happen and I don't always get to nap but I am happy with my little time.

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Cast number three

Andrew was born with a positional club foot. They are treating him using the ponsetti method which involves serial casting and sometimes a surgical heel release. He is making great progress.
I hate it. He screams the whole time they are putting the cast on. I feel guilty and sorry for the doctor and my baby.
Please ask me how fun it was to take all three kids to the specialist today, which is over an hour and a half away. I felt a little like a super mom and I only pulled the car over twice because Mark loves screaming.
I'm not sure if I want to feel good for hanging in there and surviving that trip ever again.
I'm really glad I'm not a single mom, because they don't have sympathetic husbands to let them take naps. I'm hoping to take a nap now...

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Three more weeks.

Three more weeks.
Until I'm due to have the baby.
Well I was worried it would never happen, but I think I know what false labor is now...
and I just have to hide from people and not get mad at them for a few more weeks.

although I have started to delete facebook comments that bother me. or unsubscribe to feeds of the super right wing people who like to post every five minutes. also known as my family.
Limit it to one per day people. Or better yet one per week.

I think it might be time for me to get somewhere for this baby to sleep ready.
Or maybe I should start with putting my laundry away.

it's time to take more photos of the kiddos.

I missed church Sunday because I didn't feel good but I didn't know how to say sorry I was up all night feeling crampy and yucky but I'm OK now because that's how it is with your third kid I guess. How would someone respond to that? That's for sure a no win situation, so I just avoided it and pretended nothing happened. Maybe I'll just start my maternity leave early. Except some ladies seem to skip that whole part.

My Children really like sock monkies. They try to steal them all from the etsy stash so I've gotten creative with my sock monkey hiding. and by creative I mean I just put them in a bag under a bunch of other stuff so they couldn't see it. I'm grateful for Etsy because we've been making more money which is good and it allows me to not just sit around and wait to have the baby, because I've got to get some custom orders made before I have this baby. I totally thought about starting a "registry" part in my shop- and I could stock it with stuff my kids try to steal or stuff for my baby- but then I realized other people might think they can't buy it (you know, the people who pay for this stuff) so that's not the best idea- but then moms could come and say what they want which would be pretty neat.

If your children claim they will be good and want to share a room, they are probably lying.
Definitely lying.

Top 5 of the week.
1. Getting a package in the mail from Rivkah's mom for Danielle. It was thrilling and such a surprise! It has some sweaters and pants in it. She wore the sparkly one today.
2. Thanksgiving with Mark and Sara rocked my turkey loving world.
3. I made money on Etsy.
4. I successfully braided Danielle's hair.
5. I ate lots of pie.

Christmas Pictures.

Apparently the formatting of this post is not working. at all. I'm not surprised Yesterday I thought I could get some quick photos of the kiddos with Christmas shirts on. This turned out to be pretty cold and I think I got one good photo. OK I got a few of Mark and realized Danielle is very fussy after Preschool. She kept wanting to go to different places and get Mark to run around rather than standing still. I don't know how many people want to see blurry photos of my children running away, but that might capture motherhood at times better than them just smiling. The kiddos are pretty cute sometimes, and Mark is finally not hating every moment of getting his picture taken, which I like.

I love this picture in black and white. Did I mention that I made their shirts? I did. They were actually being my little etsy models.

Danielle wanted to Model the banner. She also wanted to wear striped purple pants that didn't really match with the Christmas Shirts. Oh well.

Mark has decided that he really likes getting his photo taken. He doesn't always like to smile and I think he just wants to play with all the buttons on the camera, but I'll take what I can get.

I was hoping to capture the rats nest that Mark makes with his hair in the car. I'm not sure when you grow out the rub the heck out of your hair in the car seat phase, but it seems like Danielle is over it and Mark is not. Who knew the boy would have worse snarls than Danielle?


I'm not sure why Mark was obsessed with sticking out his tongue, but I thought it was pretty funny.

Yardwork

Mark was quite happy to help with our yard project today. I was sick of austin digging up my flowers so we buried chicken wire in some of the beds. We also moved a four foot box. The kids filled their wheelbarrow with the small amount of dirt left in the box (austin and his digging again) and hauled it over to help me bury the wire. I had so much fun with them and Mark was thrilled to dig in the dirt. We also buried the free bulbs I got in the mail. And picked up poo but that was only me so it isn't as fun. I love how much the kiddos want to help in the yard its adorable. Also thrilled about: not replanting the flower bed every time austin is outside longer than ten minutes.

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Sunday Thoughts

I've reached that beautiful point where I am really sick of being pregnant but still have a depressingly long time left. Luckily two people have asked me why I haven't had my baby yet which is so stupid of them I don't know how to respond. Seriously, when you get around pregnant people I think people forget to hold back on the stupid.
It makes me want to take a nap. Danielle tells me that she has scripture power running through her whole body, and that's why she has the energy to run all over all day. I guess I am low on scripture power these days.
Here are some great names that we can't use for various reasons-
Some of these names I probably would never pick on my own anyway...
Henry- taken by John's brother
Edward- Mark and Sara took it
Barrack- the president. Now everyone would think our child was Muslim.
Stephen- the inevitable fight between Stephen and Steven. He would have an uncle Steve and my friend Jen will have an ex husband Stephen. and I have an ex uncle Steve of unknown spelling. Stephen Colbert is really cool though.
Brennan- I liked this name a lot but three of my family members said they hate it and I felt a little bad. especially since two of them are the family members who send my kids most of their clothing.
Erik or Roger- two sets of divorced parents here.
Finnegan- John likes it and everyone says it is "cool" when I mention it. I don't like it. Sorry Dana, but we aren't Irish like you are.
Daniel- already used it in female form
Jacob- thanks for ruining that for me, twilight... I think I would want to spell it Jakob. it's just cool.

I still like the name Tristan a lot.
We finally made it through the name book. now we get to compile all the names and discover which were highlighted in an overexposed state of desperation.

Mark loves cookie monster and Elmo. and his shark shirt.

Danielle loves the bento boxes at aunt Sara's house.

Also loves- her butterfly dress, which she always wears if it is clean.

Mark and Danielle played outside with uncle Jim, but failed to look normal in any pictures with him. Mark wants that rocker Elmo for Christmas.

two days this week I cried. from feelings. so many feelings.
I miss visiting my Grandma and Mark and Sara.

End Of Summer

Summer seems to be ending soon. It's been raining all over. So Mark has actually stopped trying to exclusively eat Popsicles. He likes them. All. The. Time.

Today is the first Thursday that we didn't go to the Farmer's Market. I was a little sad because I love going with the kiddos. Mark walks over to Paul Plum and picks which fruit he wants and starts eating it. Somehow Danielle always seems to get free stuff. She picks the fruit and gives them money and they give her extra stuff. then Mark starts throwing rocks.

On Wednesday Danielle asked me if I thought a stegosaurus or a triceratops would win in a fight. I said triceratops. Also I thought a brontosaurus would win against a stegosaurus. Danielle told me that a brontosaurus was purple. then she said- see I did learn things before preschool.
I died a little.
Where did Danielle learn the color of Dinosaurs? Dino Dan. I was grateful that she didn't learn it from Dinosaur train. sometimes I wonder if I should be watching these kid shows a little closer- because honestly was that on the show? Danielle started school and her first day she had sports. She was so excited to go.
Then when I went to pick her up she cried because she didn't get to go to the daycare after preschool. Some of the kids go to daycare after the classes. It also took me a while to convince her that she would be able to swim eventually, even though it didn't happen the first day.
I totally have one of these children that wants me to work so she can go be with all the other kids in daycare. At least Mark likes being with me.

For the second day of preschool Danielle at least didn't wake up two hours early. but she did get dressed before I woke up and took extra care to wear tights and socks. She told me she wanted to look really pretty. And she asked to wear my necklace from John so she could look extra pretty. She found an orange flower for her hair but had to be convinced to let me comb her hair.

Sunday Thoughts

Yesterday at church Danielle told everyone in Primary her mom did drugs. I guess they were having a lesson about what to put in your body. I'm glad I could help with the lesson. I'm still not sure if Danielle knows the different between illegal "drugs" and "medicine" from your doctor, even though the teacher tried to explain it. Probably my fault there... At least she didn't come home and tell me how bad I was for taking drugs.
This is not to be confused with her offer to show other people her boobs. This was the second time this week, so I decided I should tell her you normally don't show people your boobs. She seemed disappointed that boobs weren't something to share. I'm disappointed that I taught my child to say "boobs" so strongly. Maybe I should have used some odd euphemism so people would just be confused and think the silly child is trying to take her clothes off for no reason. Also I have no idea where she would come up with this stuff. She complimented someone's boobs the other day. I don't think any small child has ever told me I had nice boobs before. This can't be a common practice.

I'm pretty sure it's normal to let your kids dress up in ballet outfits at home though. mark decided he also wanted a pretty dress so we put it on over his clothes. Then got him a hair thing for him to throw on the floor over and over again. After throwing it he had the decency to bring it to me to put back. Over and over and over again.
It was actually adorable, which is good since his dance routing was accompanied by a lot or yelling. as is much of Mark's monster lifestyle.

Take a Picture

Danielle is usually photo averse, but lately she's changed her mind. Maybe because I told used to tell her when she was making horrible faces. I've since decided the horrible sneer is a beautiful part of growing up.
The best photo place- in the washer.
2nd best photo location- in the toy bin.

best time for a photo: when mom is in the middle of getting a meal ready.

Sunday Thoughts: father's day

Today is father's day. Or as I like to think of it- second string mother's day. Since I've decided I can't go to church today I'll never know if the dads get flowers for pens with flowers on them like we did. When I was growing up sometimes they would get candy. No moms ever got candy though. When I was younger the candy seemed cooler but now I want the flowers. I love putting flowers in my yard. I imagine some years it was like my birthday when they went to church thinking they were getting a prize from the prize jar in primary but they weren't. Mother's day was always ruining my birthday- even when it wasn't on my birthday it was ruining my at church prizes.
anyway I like my dad in all his crazy advice giving glory. I liked working at his law firm when I was growing up.
and I like my husband. He likes his kids and always spends lots of time with them. Everyone in his family seems like they are super involved parents. I think that is rare for Mormon men- it seems like culturally they practice ignorance about child rearing and don't know their children. I seem to be in the minority that doesn't worry about leaving their children with "their father." ANYWAY that's a separate post but I was always worried my husband wouldn't love our kids and I'm super glad he does. He has always helped take care of their physical needs and played with them and talked to them. He taught Danielle how to write her numbers the other day.
I'm glad he wants to take care of his family and wants to make a good living to support them financially. It's fun that Danielle wants to be a doctor someday- and a mom. We have two kiddos and they both love their dad.

I like to take pictures of John eating I guess.

Happy Father's Day!

Evolution of My Garden Lettuce.

Step One. plant enough lettuce for about 10 families to eat solid for a month. I thought about what we were eating and we really ate a lot of Salad so it seemed smart to plant it. I got lots of varieties. I like spinach and John likes mixed greens. I think I had over one flat of salad.

Step Two. Put it in your plant greenhouse. I built a little indoor greenhouse with wire shelves and plant lights. It lived by the window. I watered them. Danielle watered them. we loved our plants. Except the 20 that died because I guess they didn't like the peat pots I put them in.

Step Three. Mark.
seriously. some days at least four plants died before I caught him. The fist is faster than the running mommy.

Step Four. Mark again.

Step Five. And again.

Step Six. Move your garden outside. some of the few remaining plants didn't make the transplant. I guess the Mizuna thrived in the move because it suddenly is on steroids. Should I be skeptical about a plant that bugs and bunnies avoid? I don't know.

Step Seven. go the the local Nursery and buy some more lettuce. Plant it. I had to pull out all the clover from the BRAND NEW bed. Since then I've weeded more clover. Sometimes I wish clover tasted like lettuce. I'm really good at growing it in my grass and if it was lettuce I could get my daily salad EASY.

Step Eight. Mark. He helped in the garden while I was transplanting plants.

Step Nine. Bunnies. It seems as though even though I try to water every day and get rid of weeds I forgot to bunny proof my backyard. I realized this the other day when our secret bunny deterrent named Austin went flying after them. I don't think Austin would ever be fast enough to actually catch a bunny. and what would he do with it if he did? Lick it probably. He just wants to catch them to say hello. He must really feel unloved that all his potential yard best friends run away from him.

Original Plant Count: 75
Final Plant Count: 5 Mizuna and Hopefully 1 spinach, 1 organic lettuce and four leaf from the nursery. I say hopefully because at this point they are only feeding the bunnies.

You are probably thinking- wow she is a fantastic gardener I wish I could be like she is.
I think it's cheaper to buy lettuce at the store.

Burger king

Please tell me I'm not the only one who wants to order mcnuggets at burger king.

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