Pictures from the last couple of months

 

This is the only picture we've managed to get of Katie's grumpy face - and this one isn't even that grumpy.

 

This is one of Zac's favorite driving surfaces.

 

Zac really loves to find any blankets, clothing or pillows to play pretend sleep with. He also really loves to help Diko be covered by any fabric at all.

 

Zac loves to help Kate.

 

The Blacker family bedtime book.

 

After a bit of walking on the trail, Zac decided he was done running around. He needed to dig in the dirt.

 

Our little man loves to read and I am proud!

 

This picture is blue because it was by the seals and sea lions tank - water reflection.

 

Zac LOVES feeding ducks.

 

Katie likes to steal all of her snacks from Zac.

2 months of nothing

We have lives, we really haven't experienced two months of nothing, but it's been that long since I've done a blog post.

Nathan didn't get in to UNM Med school this year. So, he's taken some classes this semester to up his GPA, he's continuing to work at his job for the DOH - except now he does chart reviews which is much less monotonous than data entry, and he's researching and applying to 14 med schools. We still hope that we will get into UNM for medical school but will be excited to get in anywhere.

I'm continuing to train for my marathon. I've hit a mental block which I didn't anticipate. When I do my long runs, I have to talk myself into them and positive self talk myself into finishing them. It's weird but, I've learned, very normal. The marathon I'm running is on June 9th in Utah and I'm excited that it's only 6ish weeks away! It will be nice to have more time to do other things (I never thought that I would feel this way about running).

Our children have recently hit new developmental stages. Today is Nathan and my 3rd year anniversary. We celebrated by "sleeping in" - interpretation: we layed in bed and tried to ignore our non-sleeping children in their bedroom. Zac celebrated by realizing he can open their bedroom door, came in to our room and threw/gave my cell phone to me. Also, we actually celebrated yesterday and it was fabulous to be alone for several hours!

Zac continues to be a very loving and caring child. A couple of stories:

• When we were running earlier this week, he put his hand on Katie's back and patted her and rubbed her back and then just left his arm around her.
  
• A couple of weeks ago, I took the kids to the zoo and then we picked up Nathan from work. Once we were home and I was making dinner, Zac ran into the kitchen and squeezed my legs tightly as if to say, "Thanks for a great day, Mom. I love you". Moments like those are always so rewarding, especially because most of the time I feel a bit emotionally ignored by my kids cause it's normal that I'm always with them.
• Two weeks ago, Zac woke up from his nap and Kate wasn't up yet. Naturally, Zac and I played build garages for the toy cars with the blocks. It's his favorite game. We got to play this game for 30-40 minutes. During the latter portion of our building and tearing down and building again, Zac would stop every minute to throw his arms around my neck to hug and kiss me. He did this so many times and it was so wonderful to feel his love and appreciation.
  
• This isn't a story about Zac's love for people, but rather, for food. Whenever Zac really enjoys a food, he puts it in his mouth and then with chipmunk cheeks, starts emphatically nodding his head up and down and his eyes get really wide and crazy. He proceeds with this until he swallows and then does it again with the next bite.

Katie has taken a couple of hands free steps. I honestly wish she'd wait a bit longer to walk because then I won't have to chase her and Zac. Kate is tiny and petite. At her 9 month appointment - which was a month ago - she was in the 3rd percentile for weight, 17th percentile for height, and 77percentile for head size :) ! My family had lost of comments to make about her head size and living up to the family intelligence.

Anyway, now that I've blogged again, I don't think I'll be away for quite so long again. And now, I'll leave you with some pictures.

I had gone to put the laundry in and Zac and Kate were hungry. Hence, Zac provided.

This is kind of the crazy face mentioned above.

\

I'm back :)

So, a couple of weeks ago, Zac and Katie were in the tub. I had put the kids in the bath because Kate was really grumpy and baths make both of them very happy. So, about 3 minutes after I had put them in, Kate was happy still and was kneeling at the edge of the tub with her arms outstretched toward me. I went toward her to pick her up and as I leaned down, she started pooping. I scooped her up and laid her on her towel and told Zac not to touch the poop, poop is yucky, eewww. I cleaned out the tub and bathed the kids and because Zac was so upset that he had a 3 minute bath, I told them the could get back in. So, after cleaning the tub and kids I put them back in the tub and started cleaning all of their toys that had been in the poopy bath water. I finished turned around and there's Zac standing up, legs spread, pooping. Unfortunately, Kate does not yet understand that poop is yucky. All she saw was floaty things - which she could eat. Yes, she got a little in her mouth. Yes, it was disgusting. Round 2 of cleaning the kids and the bath. Then I washed the kids again just to make sure they were clean. This poop clean expedition lasted an hour. Oh. My. Goodness. I was glad when it was over.

Zac is such a loving little boy. He sees babies and wants to hug them and kiss them. It is simply adorable. He loves hugging all of his friends whenever he sees them, and constantly hugs Katie, which leads to him laying on top of her on the ground. Whenever he hurts someone he immediately apologizes by giving them a big fat open mouth kiss and hugging them. So sweet. Also, whenever his kisses he makes this kind of a sound - mmmmmmmmmmmuaaaaa. We are so happy he's so caring.

Our little man loves all things boy and necklaces. He recently has decided that Katie's nap time is our time to play. If I don't immediately sit down to play with him, he finds me and whines, "ay, ay, ay." (Ay means play). The only thing he wants to play is building blocks into garages for his cars. Monotonous, yes. Hilarious, yes. He also loves to play dress up. He likes to help Katie dress up by putting hats on her. Most recently, he's started to make her laugh and when he notices that she's laughing at him, he tries harder to make her laugh. It's just so cute.

Katie started crawling 3 weeks ago and a week and half after she started crawling, she started pulling herself up to a standing position. Two days after that, she started letting go after pulling herself up. She's starting to cruise now. Baby proofing with two different age groups is interesting. Before Kate became enthralled with Zac, she was enthralled with Diko. She wants to play with both of them and is trying to do everything we do. She only wants what we're eating and generally wants to feed herself - at 8 months old with zero teeth this is difficult sometimes. This also means very little baby food. Mostly, she eats our food mashed up.

$25 Give away!

Hey, everyone, my etsy shop is doing another giveaway! This one is over at myyellowsandbox; link below. Abby runs this super cute blog and has the best ever hair e-book! I use my copy of it all of the time. Anyway, Abby is hosting a giveaway for us. The winner gets $25 in store credit! That means you can get several things you like and don't have to spend any mullah! Yeah, for giveaways - enjoy!

http://myyellowsandbox.blogspot.com/2012/02/samzis-boutique-and-spornette-brush.html

Happy Bow Love! My new favorite phrase.

So, I mentioned and friend, Sam, and I opened an Etsy shop. Well, we're doing a giveaway! go enter - the more things you do the better chance you have of winning. Yaayyy!!!

http://beckaboocrafts.blogspot.com/2012/02/samzis-boutique-bow-giveaway.html

beck-a-boo: Samzi's Boutique Bow Giveaway

beckaboocrafts.blogspot.com

Oh, we've got catching up to do

Dear everyone, it's been too long. To sum up:

-I'm opening an Etsy shop with a friend! We have a blog and the shop opens on February 1st. Check it out :)
-Nathan's doing his last semester of undergrad (only 9 credits)
-he's only working 30 hours a week
-the above two things = we see him more :)
-Zac talks and has hit the tantrum/terrible two stage
-Katie babbles, crawls, sits up by herself and tries to do everything Zac does, including walking and standing and eating things she shouldn't
-Zac loves Kate soooooo much
-Zac likes to sit on Kate
-Katie's a mama's girl. For instance, if she's happy and having fun with someone else and I walk into the room, she starts crying until I pick her up, and then she's happy again
-We all have been sick with some cold that exhausts all of us. We had our first the kids "watch" a movie while mom sleeps on the ground or couch earlier this week and that resulted in Zac jumping on me and Katie crawling to me crying. In other words, it did not work.
-to stimulate my intellectual side I'm continuing to learn languages/picking it up again.
-I'm going to try to run a marathon this summer (I've started training four times before and was stopped by mono, a concussion and bronchitis, having a baby and having another baby).
-Diko is a good dog :)

Zac colored this onesie for Katie.

My kids are normal

So, we've started giving Zac and Kate baths together sometimes. Kate has a whale bathtub that we put inside of the regular tub (in which Zac bathes) and we fill them both up with water. About a week ago I gave the kids a bath this way in the middle of the day. When bath time was over I emptied the big tub but not Kate's tub. Zac was standing up next to Katie's tub and started peeing on her. I laughed a lot. Zac's reaction was, "Oh, there's water coming out of there!". Kate's reaction was pretty non-existent.

We've all been sick this last week. Zac had croup and the rest of us have had some kind of cold thing. When babies have colds they swallow their mucous because they can't blow their noses. Kate's been doing this for a couple of days and the bowel movements from our little lady have exploded. Saturday I was burping her after nursing and She pooped. It went up the back of her diaper and shot out all over me and the rocking chair. I laughed a lot at this incident too.

Life is good.

Oh, Boy!

So, it's been a long time - with justification. Nathan started working 40 hours a week instead of 30 about 6 weeks ago (while going to school full time and having kids and me and Med school stuff to take care of). My Pap-pap (Grandpa) died 5 weeks ago and we went up to Utah for the funeral. Then both of my kids got Thrush (see previous post) and Kate didn't nap or sleep or eat. Then we came home and Nathan started his last semester of undergrad ever :) :) :) :) :). then Nathan's family had a family reunion. Then Nathan had his medical school interview at UNM. Then I had surgery to remove a ganglion cyst in my left wrist. Then Katie had her baby blessing and my family came down for that. Then just when we thought the month of going, going, going was done, Katie was hospitalized because her Thrush had gotten so bad that she had again stopped eating and sleeping. Zac was taken to different people to stay the night and Diko was left at home. He, Diko, developed some separation anxiety. Argghhhh. Oh. Boy. Now we're settling down. It's so nice to be settling down. I get to play with my kids again. Oh, yeah, and breathe.

Katie almost completely rolled over today. I put her in her pack n' play in order to change Zac's diaper. When I came to back to pic her up, she just had her little arm stuck underneath her and was on her tummy. She's been wanting to do this for a couple days now. Every time she's not restrained she tries to jump ship. Very entertaining.

Today Diko was chasing his tail and Zac thought it was entertaining, so, he started spinning in circles too. I really wish I had a camera nearby for that.

I try to go running every morning with the kids in their Cadillac of a double running stroller in one hand and Diko leashed in the other. I used to go running because I was passionate about running itself. Now I go running because it's alone time and because it helps me be kind and patient. I'm not as good of a mother, wife or friend when I don't run. Happy Note: I've lost an inch in circumference everywhere but my arms (I haven't been able to work them out because I had surgery) Also, Diko needs it; without his exercise he drives everyone crazy which is intensified by my lack of patients from having no exercised. Today when we got home and I was stretching - something I don't get to do very often cause Kate usually is hungry when we get home - Zac sat down on my lap with a book and wanted to be read to. It's been too long since we last read a book together; he's getting very independent. Also, when Zac sit on your lap, he backs up to you and then plops right down. It's so funny and characteristic of him. Zac has such an evident personality now. I wish you could all know him. He LOVES friends, making people laugh, helping his sister by shoving her binky in her mouth and "burping" her, his dog!!!, his Grandpa Blacker, raspberries and every other fruit, reading and playing in dirt and water.

We find out whether Nathan got into the UNM medical school either September 30th or October 3rd. It's getting really nerve racking for me. We moved down here in order to maintain residency and were reassured that it was what we should do. We felt like dong the early application program was the right thing to do too - it means we only applied to UNM and if we get in we have to go here. Anyway, we know it will work out. I am just having trouble being certain How it will work out.

I'm trying to be a better mom. I feel like I haven't been devoting enough energy and love to my kids. Sometimes I just can't wait for them to sleep so that I can sleep or do things I want to do. I'm trying everyday to remember that I Want to be a mom. I want to fulfill my divine purpose. It's not all about me and what I think needs to be done or what would make me most happy and comfortable. It's all about compromise; what my kids need, how close I am to losing it because the house is a disaster and I haven't eaten breakfast or lunch, how much sleep everyone has gotten, what Nathan needs, what would help others have a better day. Anyway, I'm trying. Best part is it's working. Self improvement here I am :)

I'm not sure how school's going for me. It is flat out hard. I've felt stupid for the last year about. I don't comprehend things. Yes, I've had two babies but still. That's how I feel. I have always wanted an undergrad degree and sometimes I wonder if that's just not what I need to learn right now. I know that I don't need to get my degree. But I love learning to an intense degree. I need mental stimulus. I enjoy excelling. Sometimes I wonder if I want a degree because people in the world will think better of me for having one. I don't want this to be a reason. It's so superficial. It's also hard because my family is very education oriented. Getting a degree is what you do. And I always thought it would happen in four years, not 8 years and marriage and two kids (so far) and medical school. Sometimes I feel left out because I'm the only one on both sides of the family who hasn't gotten an undergrad degree excepting Hannah (currently a junior at BYU), Shantae (17 years old), Abi (16 years old), Rachel (10 years old) and Nathan's mom, Kathren, who is working on getting into an Ultrasound tech program. I feel so lame. But then sometimes it doesn't matter. Sometimes it does.

Anyway, now that our lives are not so frantic, I'll be writing more.

Read me!

I follow a friend's blog who postedthis today. Read it. It made me feel powerful.

Owie

My babies have Thrush. It's a yeast infection that is manifest through diaper rash and a bunch of white gunk in the mouth. I've known something was wrong with Kate for about a week but I didn't realize it was this bad. She only ate 3 or 4 times two days ago and slept for about 8 hours. Miserable for the poor girl and the rest of us. Then, yesterday we got her medicine. She slept for almost 24 hours (with breaks to eat A LOT). Soooooo grateful for modern medicine. SOOOOOO grateful for sleep.

While reading the scriptures...

Last night as Nathan starting reading the scriptures for our family scripture study he said, "And the man said unto the beautiful woman-" at which point I interrupted with, "Blasphemy." My husband laughed pretty hard.

Zac is talking a bit now. He says:

Da - Dog
Dada
Mama
Oww - Out
Dow - Down or Done
Ay - I
Nathan was witness to Zac's first "Thank you" yesterday. He has all the fun.

Ironic

Nathan found a diaper in our toilet bowl last night. :)

Katie's Growing, Kinda.

So, I feel like our little girl is Huge compared to when she was born. At a week old she had only grown maybe an inch in length but had gained 2 and a half lbs.! She's still not even chubby though. Her cheeks and chin are but that's it. Anyway. She just barely grew out of newborn diapers and the only reason for that is cause we didn't want to go buy more diapers when we had number 1s lying around waiting to fit. Nate's parents bought Kate some really adorable newborn clothes which was very much appreciated because she still doesn't fit into 0-3 month outfits. She's 6 weeks old and yet is still a "newborn". I'm hoping she turns out cute and petite. Also, she's "woken up" just in the last few days and it seems that her eyes will be blue... I know they can still change color but they're very true blue right now. That's fun.

I'm at the point of wanting to go buy new clothes. None of my pregnancy clothes really fit me, like I can wear two of the shirts, and very few of my pre-pregnancy clothes fit me. I'm so in-between. The waiting game is hard. It's frustrating to want to be somewhere and not be there but know that you'll probably be there soon. Meaning, I keep thinking, why would I buy a few new shirts (I only gain weight on top, all of my pre pregnancy bottoms (except for skirts) fit me right after I had Kate) when they'll be loose to the point of un-cute in a month? Or why would I buy tight clothes? They show off my chubby parts. Anyway, I'm stale-mated.

Also, I'm running again. I can't tell anyone how much exercising effects me. Basically, if I exercise I'm patient, relaxed, happy and kind, if I don't exercise I'm irritable, easily set off, stressed and negative. Me + Running = LOVE.

I figured out why Zac hits Kate!!! It's cause he sees us burping her. I'm glad to have figured it out, but he's still too young to udnerstand why we can "hit" her and why he can't.

Nathan got an e-mail from UNM today saying that his secondary application is on it's way and so he'll fill that out when he gets it and then we'll hear about an interview! Wohoo!

The Mundane

Life as a mother can be incredibly hard. My goodness. Some days it's hard to keep your sanity. It's hard not to hand your kids off to the first willing person. Some days it's hard to be calm and playful, happy and encouraging. Some days you just want to nap, take care of yourself, take care of those things that have needed to be taken care of for weeks. When you finally give up the struggle and let yourself forget about those things and just take care of yourself instead of taking care of everyone else and not yourself then you remember. You remember that taking care of yourself IS taking care of your family. Your kids can tell when you're on edge, unhappy, moody and impatient; so can your husband. When you allow yourself to take care of yourself everyone is happy because everyone feels loved. You feel loved and you are, therefore, better able to love.

I'm teaching my son to do chores!!!

So, the title of this post is semi-true. Zac LOVES to help do chores with me. I let him do them as long as it doesn't compromise his safety - even if it means I have to clean up even more later. The reason I'm doing this is because he's learning to enjoy working! He is learning to help happily and if they start young they'll never stop :) Anyway, he helped me sweep and mop today. SOOO adorable. He loves these activities more than most others.

After we mopped I put Zac in the bath to clean him up. The litte tyke can get out of the bathtub by himself now! It was soooooo incredibly hard to not just laugh when he climbed over the side and started running away laughing hysterically naked and dripping wet. I'm proud of my son's accomplishments.

Zac's imagination has sparked recently. He's started to "talk" on the phone :) He hold it up to his ears and says "Hi" over and over and over again. I pretend that I'm talking to him and he just listens and says bye after I say bye. So cute.

A few things...

Did I mention that while I was in labor with Kate that I ripped out my IV? With my teeth? Yeah, I wasn't conscious of it until the nurses were scrambling to stop the bleeding.

This weekend Nathan got to be home with me every day! It was a very nice treat and accentuated by the fact that he watched Zac until I would wake up (around 8AM). I got to sleep in! Once I would get up, Zac would run to me with outstretched arms in order to give me a hug. It made me feel so wonderful! My little boy loves me soooo much that he misses me if I don't wake up at 6:30AM :)

I've realized I love our dog, Diko. I can actually play with him now!

Also, I've been reading Shannon Hale books. Absolutely LOVE them! They're fairy tales but not extremely generic. As I was ly6ing in bed last night I realized, "All of these books have happy endings. I'm going to have a happy ending. Wait, I have a happy ending every night I go to bed. The person whom I love most in this world adores me and lays down to sleep by my nightly. I have a happy ending every day!" Happy thoughts :)

I like to read good books

The other evening as Nathan and I were tidying up the house before we went to bed he picked up the stack of library books that I had just checked out and said, "If I didn't know better I'd think we had a teenager in the house". He was referencing the fact that every single book in the stack was of the Young Adult Fiction genre. I LOVE YA Fiction. It's happy and I don't have to worry about the content being something I don't want to read. I enjoy the ease with which I can read these books and how relaxing it is to read them. I also love the Classics - but right now - Young Adult Fiction is and probably always will be my favorite genre.