Jasmine's "Gradulate" is Tomorrow

Today, Jasmine had her last day of pre-school. It was also her last day of riding the special needs "short bus", which is kinda nice, cuz they're almost always 10-15 minutes LATE. I'm hoping that, once she starts Kindergarten and a regular bus route has been established with the "big kid bus," we won't be waiting on the curb as long in the mornings. ANYway, tomorrow morning is Jasmine's graduation, or as she pronounces, her "gradulation" or "gradulate." Daddy has arranged to have the morning off from work, and we'll all go as a family. We received a letter from her teacher a few weeks ago, letting us know about the whole ordeal. The kids are going to be wearing hats, and the ceremony will last for about an hour, with refreshments to follow. This will be a fun family event, and my hubby has never been to this prescool or met Jasmine's teacher before. It's always great to see Jasmine's classmates and teacher, and to "see her in action" while she's in her preschool environment with her peers. We'll be taking pictures, and I'll be sure to post them asap.

There's a toy that Jasmine has been wanting for the past four or five months. I think we're going to get it for her as a graduation gift. We try to have her save up her money for toys, but this is kind of a special occasion.... she's been in a preschool of some sort for three years now, and a large chapter of her 5-year-old life is about to come to a close. Daddy has a padnug event tonight, and if he gets out early enough, he may take a quick trip to the store on the way home to pick up the toy. If not, it will have to wait till morning. I wanna be able to wrap the gift, but I don't know how possible that will be. Whatever the case is, Jasmine is gonna be surprised. She doesn't even know that she's getting a gift, and she won't know until right before she gets it. I love surprising her, and I know she won't bug me about her present if she doesn't know she's getting one. She's a sweetie, but she sure knows how to get under your skin at times!

I'd better go get Jasmine out of the tub now. She's been getting to bed kina late for the past few nights, and I want to fix that. I've already got Ty in bed and asleep, so it shouldn't be much of a problem getting her down. I've just got to get off my fat butt and be more consistent in early bedtimes. We were doing so well there for a while, then it went all to pots for some reason. Well, goodnight.

Anothr blah day....

Today was another one of those blah days. We missed church again today, but for an entirely different reason. I woke up early this morning with really bad cramps. We decided it would be best for me to just stay home and rest. So, I stayed home and did basically absolutely nothing. My hubby decided to stay home and help me with the kids. It would have been difficult for him to take them to church by himself, and he didn't want to leave them home with me... cuz then I wouldn't be able to rest. He was a big help calming fights and tantrums, as well as taking care of their basic needs. Man, it's amazing how many tantrums Tyler now throws during the day. When he's mad, he lets everybody know it. He has already entered the Terrible Two stage, and he'll only be 17 months old tomorrow. He sure is a little pill!

Anyway, I called several people this morning to see if they could play the piano for me in primary today, and I couldn't get ahold of anybody. I'm thinking it was because this is Memorial Day weekend. After my third failed attempt, I ended up calling someone in the presidency to let them know what was up. I was almost in tears by that time (I don't know why... call it pregnancy hormones). She said that she would find someone to do the job for me. Actually, I think she was gonna first call the woman who was SUPPOSED to do it for me last week (and FORGOT about it).

For the rest of the day, I just relaxed. My husband spent several hours in the kitchen... cleaning and making banana bread. I had to help him a little with the bread, cuz he had never made that recipe before... but he did most of the work. I pulled up a chair and parked my keester in it, watching him and answering any questions he had. The cleaning he did was a major under-taking. He re-arranged cupboards to make our little itty-bitty space more efficient, got rid of junk, and loaded (and unloaded)the dishwasher a few times. And he gladly let me stay off my feet. Even though I was doing what I know I needed to do (dr's orders), I still felt like a big ol' lazy blob.

Well, I'm almost asleep now, which is a sign that I'd better get off the computer and go to bed. I'm even having a hard time typing this out.... I keep having to hit the !@#$@# backspace key. Goodnight, everybody!

Tyler is a Pill!

Thanks to Dawnyel for giving me a website to go to and get Thursday Thirteen templates. Today, I would like to list thirteen reasons why my son, Tyler, is a little pill. Keep in mind, he's not quite 17 months old. Here goes.




Thirteen Reasons Why Tyler is a Pill He opened the fridge today and rummaged through it. He opened the dishwasher today and started pulling out dirty butter knives. Every time I change a poopy diaper, he reaches down to scratch his bum... you can guess what happens when he does that! If he can reach it, he'll slam his toys onto my laptop keyboard while I am using it. He has already mastered the art of tantrum-throwing. If you take a toy away from him, beware.... He pulled an empty toilet bowl cleaner bottle out of the garbage today and tried to suck on it. He will climb into the tub in a heartbeat if a) the water is running, or b)someone else is in it.... even with his clothes on. He likes to throw his toys into the bathroom sink. And then he gets mad because he can't reach to pull them out. Number 5 then ensues. He likes to scoop swimming pool water into his mouth. He'll take off with things that don't belong to him, then stash them in hard-to-find places. He has some weird obsession with finger nail clippers. He likes to play with them, then do #10 to them.... we're now missing most of our clippers. (And we had like half a dozen!) He likes to pull things out of the kitchen drawers and throw them into the icky garbage can. He'll also chuck his toys into the trash. He's just a really cute, sweet little boy. We are very blessed to have him as part of the family. He brings a smile to everyone's faces. We love you, Tyler! Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)




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Just to Clean Things Up a Bit...

In not so many words, I have been asked to post something else so that formidable "P" word isn't the first thing seen when my blog is visited. OK, Dawnyel.... I'm doing you a favor now. Hmmm....... what in the heck am I going to write about? Well, Sunday, we didn't go to church. We ended up having a big ol' family gathering thingy down in Albany with all of my Oregon family instead. A few of my cousins weren't there, but most were. While we were there, we shared the baby news with everybody. We also had an "-o's party". Everybody in the family that turns 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, or so on, this year, was in a big picture. After dinner, we sang happy birthday and had cake and ice cream. No presents were handed out, but we had lots of fun anyway.

The past few days have been rather "blah" to me. I thought I was done with the whole morning sickness throwing up thing, but nope. It came back with a vengence this morning. I have felt like crap all day, and I'm still in my pj's. It's almost 1:00 now. Jasmine is fairly understanding over the whole thing. She realizes that I don't feel good, and she constantly reminds me that I have a baby in my belly. I did receive a bit of good news this moring, though. The doctor's office called me to give me my lab results concerning my progesterone. Because of my past history with miscarriages, the doctor was concerned about my progesterone level. If it was lower than 20, I would have to take progesterone twice a day (and I've been doing that since Thursday evening). However, it was actually 22.8....which, according to the nurse, is a very good number. So, after having the ultrasound and confirmation of a healthy progesterone level, my fear of miscarriage has been significantly reduced. I have another appointment with the doctor tomorrow afternoon, to do the complete first-time pregnancy checkup (I just had the ultrasound and blood work last week). Now I'm just throwing up and feeling like crap. Let the good times roll!

My hubby bought a bunch of cute maternity clothes for me the other day. JCPenney was having an awesome sale, so we took advantage of it. I already had a bunch of maternity clothes from my previous pregnancies, but most of them are either hand-me-downs or just worn out. Plus, they're hidden who-knows-where in a box up in the rafters of our garage. Since I'm already showing (I'm 10 weeks today), now I can look like I'm pregnant instead of like I'm just gaining weight. I had been wearing lots of my hubby's shirts lately. I didn' show this early with Jasmine or Tyler, but I've heard that, the more kids you have, the earlier you start to show with each subsequent pregnancy. So true!

Well, I don't know what else to ramble on about. This ought to be enough to clean things up a bit on my blog. If its a few days before my next entry, I'm still alive! I just haven't been getting on the computer as much lately. I'd much rather sleep or just lie down on the couch, watching the kids play with all the toys they've dragged out of their bedroom.

BIG P... little p... What begins with P?

Well, I agreed to let Dawnyel go ahead and give me a letter so I could try to list ten words that start with that letter. And, of course, I need to tell y'all why I picked those words. She just HAD to give me the letter P. I think that's because of the vagina comment that I left on her V blog. So, here goes!

1. Penis. Yes, Dawnyel, that word is for you. I'm sure you were just DYING for me to list that word. After all, that IS why you gave me P, isn't it? It's a word we're all uncomfortable saying, yet it's a very necessary thing. A necessary thing that played a VERY important part in #2.

2. Pregnant. I am now 9 1/2 weeks pregnant, thanks to #1.

3. Puke. I've been doing a lot of that lately with morning sickness. Ha! More like all-day sickness! Jasmine saw me puke the other day and wanted Daddy to give me a blessing. I thought that was sweet.

4. Pepperoccini peppers. Them things are really good. I've eaten like half a big jar in the past three days. Yum. I think I'll go grab another.

5. Primary. That is where I serve my calling in church. I love it, even though I haven't been able to meet many adults in my ward because of it.

6. Piano. That's what I do in the primary... play the piano.

7. Pug. I had one for one brief, bittersweet day back in April. We had to return him since Tyler was deathly afraid of him. For a while, I was pretty bummed that it didn't work out, but now I see that things turned out for the best. Having three kids in our small apartment is going to be crowded and tiring enough. A dog can wait.

8. Poopy. Right now, Tyler smells like he has a poopy diaper. I keep checking him, but no poop. He's being a pill, so maybe the poop is on its way. I sure hope not. Maybe I'll get lucky and it'll just be a phantom poopy.

9.......

Um, this is getting difficult now. I can't think of what else to put down. Hmmmmmm.....

9. Period. Well, I won't be having one of those for a while.

10. Prayers. I have so much to be thankful for. Many of my prayers have been answered lately. I have a firm testimony in the power of prayer.

Well, there ya go. My ten P words. Some were goofy, some were serious. But the most important thing is that they all started with P. This was kinda fun. I may do it again with another letter someday.

I'm Roasting in an Oven Here...

I think that time of year has officially hit me now. Ya know, when the kids' bedtimes get all screwed up... when I don't get much done around the house... when going to the swimming pool is the highlight of the day (although I dread walking up the hill to get to it). The time of year I am talking about is SUMMER. Okay, so the calendar says that summer isn't officially for another month or so, but as far as I am concerned, it's arrived early, at least for the next few days. After all, it reached 92 degrees here today, and in the humidity here, that's like very VERY uncomfortable. That shattered the previous May 15th record of 86 degrees set back in 1970. Youch! Tomorrow, it's supposed to be in the mid-80's, but back in the 90's on Wednesday. I'm just glad that, by the end of the week, we'll be seeing temperatures back down in the 70's.... much more comfortable. The normal temperature for northwest Oregon this time of year is the mid-60's. There's the evidence of global warming for ya! And the thing that really ticked me off today was when we went to the pool, the management hadn't completely cooled down yet, so it was WARM. EW! It isn't fun to swim in warm water when it's like 90 degrees outside. I can't get mad at the management for that one, though... they've been pretty good about fluctuating the temperature of the pool to coordinate with the crazy weather we've had lately. It's been cold in the hot weather and hot in the cooler weather. Just a few days ago, it was pretty cool outside, so a warm pool would have been welcoming then. It must take a lot of electricity and time to cool and heat that pool, even though, as pools go, it's pretty small. They're trying. I only hope that the pool will be at a more agreeable temperature tomorrow.

Everyone in my family is asleep right now except for me. I can't sleep because it's so blasted hot. Instead, I'm sitting out on our balcony with my laptop, typing up this blog. Even though a bug just landed on my screen (that was weird), it's a much more agreeable temperature out here. I just wish the cool air could be shoved into our apartment. All of the windows are open, but it isn't doing any good. That's what we get for living in a poorly insulated apartment. It's difficult (and expensive) to heat in the winter time, and impossible to cool down in the summer time. I suppose if we got one of those window air conditioning units, things would be better. But the good ones are expensive, and then our electricity bill would probably be just as high as it is in the winter. Lots of people around here do have them, though. Something to think about... well, probably more like DREAM about. Oh, well. Looks like we'll have to pull out our window fans (they're hiding somewhere up in the rafters of the garage) and maybe get another standing fan. At least we don't have to worry about pets in this heat... last summer, with the chinchillas, it was a nightmare trying to keep the temperature cool enough for them. I'm sure they were on death's door more than once because of the heat. I sure hope they have a good home now.

Hmm. What else can I write about. I'm just sort of rambling here. Oh, yeah... here's a story of the day for everyone. One of those "Facts of life" stories. It actually happened on Friday, but who cares! We were at the zoo. I rode in on the MAX with the kids, and we all met Daddy at the front gates. It was a beautiful day with a gentle breeze-- not too hot, not too cold. After passing the napping sea lions and the otters, we went over to take a peak at the polar bears. The zoo has two of them. We could only see one, and it was taking a snooze by the big viewing window. One other family was looking at it, and disappointed that the bear wasn't up and moving around, they walked away. Right after they left, the bear decided to get up and take a poo poo and pee pee break right in front of us. Jasmine about freaked out over the whole thing, commenting on how disgusting it was. Of course, that's about all she could talk about for the next five minutes or so (she still talks about seeing the giraffe go poop like two months ago, so I'm sure we'll hear more about this)! I think all little kids, in one way or another, are fascinated by that gross stuff. We explained to her that every animal goes potty. It's inevitable... every time we go to the zoo, we're bound to see at least one animal relieve itself in one way or another. This time was no exception... in fact, we got a double dose. The polar bear and an elephant. Note: Elephant pee smells REEEEEEAAAAAAAAALLLLLLY gross, even from like 100 feet away when the breeze is just right. Enough said!

So I think I'm tired enough now to go inside and go to sleep. It's almost midnight, so I'd better give it a try.

We're going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo... How About You, You, You?

Jasmine has a few Little People CD's with songs on them. One of them is about going to the zoo, and that's exactly what we're gonna do today, so I thought it would serve as an appropriate title for this blog entry. We also went to the zoo last Friday after Jazz's orientation, but I failed to mention it in that blog.

Since my hubby drove the car into work today, he left me his Trimet transportation pass so we could get to the zoo. The kids can ride free until they're like 7 years old... so that's nice. I'm so glad that we live right by a bus stop. ANYway, I'll hop on the bus with the kids, and we'll go straight to the MAX station. The MAX will take us right to the zoo. I plan on meeting my husband there at around 5:30 or so.... the front gates close at 6:00 (and the zoo closes at 7:00). We'll be able to put in an hour or so of fun family zoo time. That is a good-sized zoo, so I know we won't be able to see the whole thing in that amount of time. I was there with the kids for two hours last week, and we still missed some exhibits. As long as we get the essentials, ya know, the hippos, the giraffes, and the zebras-- aka the Gloria's, the Melman's, and the Marty's, we'll be okay.

If any of my friends out there are wondering why I haven't written in a while, it's because I've been a lazy blob all week. I was getting over a nasty doozy of a headcold (I still haven't quite kicked it), and I didn't do much at all. I found motivation to read and respond to other blogs, but not to keep up my own. Honestly, I will try harder to at least make my presence known on this blog a little more often from now on.

Te Pro's and Con's of Insurance!

Health insurance is a great thing. It's a magnificent, marvelous, stupendously awesome. Except, of course, when it isn't. Like today. Today, I wanted to scream and rant at it. You see, I didn't realize, until today, that my lovely health insurance had a 12 month waiting period for all pregnancy-related matters. Um, I've only been on the insurance for 5 months now. Woops. And even if I add the credit I get for being on Oregon Health Plan from June 2nd till Dec 1 of last year, it only adds up to a little over 11 months. I can't get any medical care for my pregnancy until June. That means that I had to reschedule the labwork I was gonna have done today, the ultrasound I was gonna have on Friday morning, and Dr. appointment I was gonna have next Tuesday. I'm sooooo glad that the class appointment I went to today was a free class. FREE! I found out all this other information AFTER that class, right after I got the ultrasound and labwork scheduled for this week. This sucks. I was really looking forward to getting that ultrasound and knowing that everything would be okay. I'm just thankful that I found out all of this information beforehand... it would have been awful had I not realized till after the fact. Whew. So, as much as it sucks, it really IS a blessing that I found out when I did. So, what's another three weeks? Everything's been basically pushed back for three weeks. That's okay. I'll survive. I have a feeling that everything's going to be alright with this baby, so I'm not too worried. Meanwhile, though, I'll be darn impatient. And I'm still glad I have insurance, cuz there's NO way I'd be able to afford having a baby if I wasn't covered.

I'm Pregnant!

So right now, I'm just posting this entry as a draft. I really don't want people to know, just yet, what it is that I'm gonna be writing about. You see, as of tomorrow, I will be 8 weeks pregnant. The only people that know this right now are: me, my hubby, my Relief Society president (because I asked her for a doc's recommendation since she's a lactation consultant), my visiting teaching partner, and one of my visiting teachers... oh, and the scheduling people at the dr's ofice. My visiting teacher will be watching the kids for me in the morning so I can attend my first dr. appointment. Actually, it's an appointment with a nurse, and it's going to be in a group with like 5 pregnant ladies. We have to submit our paper work, get the whole rundown, plus get our welcome-to-pregnancy gift packs. Although this is a free appointment, it is required that I attend one before seeing the doc for the first time. I'll go in to see the actual doctor on next Tuesday. I've basically resigned myself to the fact that I'll be taking my kids to all of my other apointments with me. That way, I won't have to fight the whole babysitter thing. I'd take them with me tomorrow, but they specifically asked that no kids or hubby come with me to this first appointment. Probably since there'll be like 4 other women in the room. Anyway, I got some neat suggestions from people on ivillage as to what I can do to to make the whole bringing-kids-with-me experience easier and more pleasant on everyone.

I am feeling pretty nauseous today. I've thrown up a few times in the past week, and today was no exception. I am so dang tired, and I have been ever since shortly before I found out I was pregnant. I've been taking prenatal vitamins for the past two months or so, but still don't think I'm getting enough iron. I had pretty bad anemia when I was pregnant with both Jazz and Ty, so I don't expect this time to be any different. I took an iron supplelment for a little while, but MAN, that caused constipation! So, I'll just hold off on it and talk to the doc... see what he thinks.

The reason I haven't told anyone yet is because of my past problems in this department. When I got preggo with Jasmine, that was my first pregnancy. I had no difficulties getting pregnant, and no complications during the pregnancy. When she was a year old, we decided to try for another baby. Well, two and a half years of disapointment and heartbreak followed. During that space of time, I had five miscarriages. I got sick of telling people I was pregnant, only to have it backfire on me. I know that people meant well, but I got sick of their comments and questions. I finally found myself in the hospital getting a surgical procedure called a laporoscopy done. The purpose of which was to try to find out what was wrong..... endometriosis was suspected. Fortunately, it turned out that the only problem they could find was a severly prolapsed uterus. They pulled it up and tied it back into its proper place. Less than five months later, I got pregnant with Ty. I didn't tell my family I was pregnant with him until I was 16 1/2 weeks along. Less than a week later, I found out it was a boy.... and that's when I told my friends.

Concealing it this time around, at least from family and friends back in Idaho, will be pretty easy, simply because I live over 700 miles away. The next time I see my parents or siblings will be in July when they come out here for a family reunion. Almost the whole side of my mom's family lives here in Oregon, and they're the ones throwing the reunion. It'll be lots of fun, and I'm greatly looking forward to it. I don't know how I'm going to tell them, yet, but we think we're gonna make them try to figure it out on their own. I'll be about 19 weeks along by then, so there's a pretty good chance they'll notice something. :)

I need to get dinner for the kids. I still feel like crud. I have all day. In fact, when I woke up this morning, I just knew today was gonna be a rough day. BLEH! I think I'm just gonna make toasted cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. There's some gourmet cooking for ya! I really don't care, though. And hubby had better just deal with it. I'm in no mood to do any fancy schmancy meal tonight. And I'm pooped.

I think I'll post this in about two or three months. Maybe I'll just link to this entry when I finally decide it's time to tell people. Who knows! Till then, it's getting safed as a draft! G'bye for now.

Three Down, Two to Go!

My husband took the third of five Microsoft certification tests today. He didn't study at all for this one, but we weren't too concerned since it was half off (instead of being $125, it was like $62.50), plus he would have had a free re-take if needed. He mainly wanted to go into the testing center and take the test to find out what he'd need to study for in order to pass the second time around. Much to our surprise, he passed! He needed a score of at least 700 to pass, and he got an 824. Wow-- that's pretty amazing. I could never pull off something like that. So, out of the three exams that he has taken, he only studied for the first one. That wasn't pleasant, cuz it was an all-nighter. He plans on taking the last two exams within the next few weeks, and once he does, he will be fully certifed. Once he is done taking these exams, he will have to periodically update his certification, but that will only take a test or two each time. This whole thing will be a great resume builder for him. I am very proud (in a good way) for him, and blessed to have such a smart and talented hubby.

Growing Up So FAST!

Jasmine is growing up so fast. It's hard for me to believe that she'll be in Kindergarten next year. This morning, the school she'll be attending next year had the orientation for the incoming Kindergarteners. Since my hubby had to take the car to work this morning, we ended up walking to the school. I measured it on the odometer a while back, and it's like .7 miles away from the entrance of our apartment complex. So, we left about a half an hour before it started and got there with a few minutes to spare. Everyone met in the cafeteria. They had the parents stay behind while all the little kids got to go check out the Kindergarten classrooms. They got to plant a seed, make a picture, and ride the bus, among other things. Meanwhile, the parents were given information about bussing and school saftey, etc. We were given the chance to address any questions we may have. While the kids took their bus ride, parents had a choice of either going on the bus with them, or taking a tour of the school. Since Jasmine has been riding a bus for almost three years now, I figured I'd take the tour. I really like the layout of that school, and I've never seen anything like it. The library is centrally located, surrounded by all of the classrooms. There are groups of four classrooms, called "pods". Each pod has a central area for activities that can be used by students in all the classrooms of that pod. The four classrooms branch off of that pod. Another thing that I really like is that the two Kindergarten classrooms each have their own ameneties like restrooms.

Before going to the orientation, I was a little afraid of how Jasmine would take to the transition. Now, after going, I can rest my nerves. I realize that everything will be taken care of. The faculty at the school will do everything to accomodate and help these little Kindergarteners transition smoothly into the routines of a big school. As I've said before, it's just so hard to believe that Jasmine is growing up so fast.... that she'll be in grade school, not preschool, next fall. Wow. I think I need stop and catch my breath.

A "Dream Patient" with a Fat Lip

Well, Jasmine's dentist appointment to get her two cavities filled was yesterday. I must admit, leading up to it, I was a little apprehensive about the whole ordeal. I was worried that she would have a miserable experience and lose her excitement over going to the dentist in the future. Fortunately, I was completely wrong. Right before she went in to see the dentist, I told her that they were going to give her a shot in her mouth so she wouldn't feel any pain. Instead of worrying her, I think that made her even more excited. Weird, I know... but a blessing. After she got settled into her chair, she got shot up with some novicane. She didn't budge. While waiting for it to kick in, Jasmine was commenting on how funny it felt. When the dentist came back in to check on her, she said "Thankyou for getting my teeth shot!" That got a chuckle out of the dentist, and he said "That's the first time I've ever been thanked by a 5-year old for that, and it will probably be the last." Jasmine did everything that the dentist asked her to do, and everything went quickly and smoothly. The dentist told me that Jasmine was a "dream patient," wishing that every child... or patient in general.... behaved as well as she did while in the chair.

The fat lip came after. The dentist told me that kids tend to chew on their lips when they're still numb, and that I should watch her to make shure she didn't do this. All the way home (well, first to McD's to get some free yogurt parfaits that they gave us coupons for), I kept telling her not to chew on her lip. Within five minutes of getting home, though, she came up to me and told me she had an owie on her lip. And there you have it... a big fat lip with some chew marks on the inside. I don't know if she did it in the car or waited till we got home, but it sure looked icky. I tok the picture today, and it doesn't look QUITE as bad as it did yesterday. I still have to remind her now and then not to chew or suck on it, though. I'm hoping that after a few good nights of sleep with no chewing, along with minimal chewing during the day, it will heal soon. Meanwhile, she still loves the dentist and is already looking forward to her next visit in the fall.

Queen of the Twerps!

Sometimes, I feel like I'm the queen of Twerpdom... with Jasmine and Tyler as being the loyal subjects. Like right now, for instance. I'm trying to put them to bed at the same time. Bad idea. Usually I put Ty to bed first, then Jazz... it's just easier that way. Tonight, though, I put Ty to bed a wee bit too early (he was really grouchy). Like an hour later, he woke up. So now, he won't go back to sleep. But it's already 9:19, and Jasmine has school tomorrow morning, so she NEEDS to go to bed. Tyler is banging on the wall and trying to grab anything he can reach from his bed. Jasmine keeps asking what Ty is doing. And of course, she's giggling, causing him to giggle. And the cycle goes round and round again. THIS IS WHY PUTTING THEM TO BED AT THE SAME TIME DOES NOT WORK! It takes forever for them to fall asleep, cuz their "twerpness" is keeping each other to wake. (*SQUEAL* Shh Ty!)

Meanwhile, I'm sitting in my chair in their bedroom, in the dark.... to police things. This is a habit I hope to break soon. However, if it gets Jasmine to fall asleep (*babble babble* SHHH TY!) in her own bed rather than to crawl into bed with us, then I'm all for it. For the longest time, she would never fall asleep in her own bed. This went on for years.... while I was working late nights. Or, if she DID go to sleep in her own bed, she would wake up and come into our bedroom. She still wakes up once in a while and comes into our bedroom (like last night), but not very often. Usually it's because of a bad dream, or, like last night, because Ty woke her up. I just usher her back to her own bed and sit in my chair for a few minutes until she's asleep again. Last night, Ty was a little TWERP. He kept crying if he heard me leave the room. (I finally succeeded in sneaking out, but his crying woke up Jasmine, so she crawled out of bed, causing Ty's (*doo doo doo YAWN * SHHH TY!) crying to start up once again. Occasionally, I have to drag our big ol' beanbag into their bedroom and fall asleep on it. I did that at about 2:15 this morning, after being up with Ty -and then Jasmine- for almost an hour! Yup, they're twerps alright. And, sharing a bedroom just brings it out in them more, I suppose. (*Ga ga ya ya* SHH TY!)