Store All the Food! Save All the Bottles!

At the beginning of the year, one of my goals was to start doing food storage and 72 hour kits. As LDSs, we hear it all the time: Have a year supply of food, have a water supply... But when you are in college, move around a lot, or even just single, it seems like it just wasn't that big of deal. Then we had kids :)... I thought, how in the world would we feed them and take care of them in the event of a Zombie Apocalypse?!?! So, I decided to start.

I'm also taking a First Aid class this semester, and my awesome teacher is very adamant about having a food and water storage, a first aid kit, a 72 hour kit, water and a sleeping bag in the car... just things like that. That class has been a great motivation!

First Aid Kits for the house and car

Water Storage (so far)

72 Hour Kits not yet finished

Food Storage so far

And on another note: Via can swim

5 Years After High School...

And I'm changing my major! I think I'm a little bit behind the rest of my graduating class haha!

Story time:

High School wore me out! I moved from St. Anthony (about 10 min from Rexburg) to San Antonio after my Sophomore year. Let's just say that high schools in Texas are a little more rigorous than small town Idaho ones are. I also attended Health Careers High School, which was even more rigorous, and since I was a little "behind" all 8 classes for the next two years were all required, hard core study classes i.e. I didn't take "easy" things like band or choir for two years. I also had seminary as an actual class in Idaho, so that put me further behind in classes as well. And, of course, I attended early morning seminary in Texas, which just wore me out a little more. Throw in an open-heart double valve replacement and you've got me crying on the floor in the morning with my mom begging me to stay home from school! I didn't. I had a test that day :)

Anyway, I took a few years off after that and just worked up here in Rexburg (while living in St. Anthony with my awesome grandparents!). I became a manager at Wendy's, which is where I met Levi. He turned his application in to me, and I turned around and said to a few of the girls working that night, "We should hire him!" And they did.

So, obviously, we got married. I applied for BYU-I soon after that, and I got pregnant right before starting my first semester of college! I have to say, the hardest semesters for me were when I was pregnant. No motivation whatsoever! I have gotten the best grades when I just have kids at home. And this has been my best semester BY FAR! Weird, I know.

Levi was already half-way through school by the time we got married. I didn't want him to have to stick around here (working at Wendy's probably ha!) for me to finish school (I was a Biology major at the time). I switched to an Applied Associates degree (2 years) in Medical Assisting. But NOW, they have added a bunch of online Bachelor's degrees, so I'm switching over to Marriage and Family Studies (clinical emphasis) with my minor in MA, which I'm almost done with yay!

So, it's been 5 years after high school graduation, I'm in my 5th semester of college, and I'm changing my major! The weirdest thing is that it's having almost a reverse effect: I'm not getting worn out thinking about being in college for so long; I'm super excited about school right now! This semester has just gone so well, that I'm really looking forward to next semester and a new major! Levi, however, is just worn out. Poor guy :( We are totally the opposite when it comes to school right now.

Maybe it's really not so much that I'm behind everyone my age in school. I've got two up on most of them! These cuties...

To the Doctor's... Again

Oh, goodness I just hate going to the doctor's when there's nothing really wrong. That sounds weird... I just feel stupid when I take them in as an "emergency," and it really isn't an emergency. Ugh. I guess I think that because I'm going into the medical field I should know what is normal and what's not. And what constitutes and emergency!

Via was up every two hours last night fussing and burning up, but every time I took her temperature she was no hotter than 99 degrees. When Levi and I checked her this morning (after I came home from class before it even started) she was at 101. So I called and got her in. Worried mother + preemie baby + RSV + shots last week = get baby in NOW! Of course, she was only 99 there. The doctor said Tylenol every 4 hours (which I actually didn't know I could give her this young), and call back in the morning. As a friend encouraged this morning, it's better to be safe than sorry!

On a less embarrassing note, apparently Lucas is learning to read!

Monday Morning

This is what our morning looks like :)

No pants, keys, his (broken) headphones, and a frozen waffle. It's a Monday.

And somehow he got part of the waffle stuck inside the headphone. I dunno.

I was thinking on the way to school this morning (as it was snowing in March!) that I don't mind Mondays too much. I have kids. School *is* my break! Getting back on track every Monday morning is actually kind of nice for me, it's just the "getting back on track" part that takes a bit of work, obviously ;)

Ten minutes later...

4 Years Later

I'm not sure I'm equipped for pulling all-nighters anymore... I figured with sleeping in yesterday, getting a nap after church, daylight savings, and registration this morning, why not?? We will see how this day goes haha! Definitely napping with the kids today.

I did get all of the tedious homework for one of my classes done for the rest of the semester, though! And I'm about as caught up on all my other classes as I can be for now.

Levi asked me how many credits I plan on taking next semester. I told him 14. He thought I was crazy. I said, "12 just wasn't challenging enough this semester!" ;) Sad thing is I wasn't kidding. I registered for 11 this morning and am waiting to be added to 7 more for the rest of my medical assisting. No, I'm not going to take 18 credits! I just like to add a few more credits than needed and drop whatever doesn't work out with my schedule.

Last semester on campus... Levi is graduating, we are moving on. But to what?? Not sure yet. We'll figure it out, though. Life is coming at us so fast. These kids are growing up way too quickly. I have no idea where the time is going.

We started dating in Levi's first semester up here at BYU-I. That was over 4 years ago, but sometimes it barely seems like 4 months. We're now the "old couple" on campus and at church. *That* couple with the two kids ;) Oh, the loud child running around with a mouth full of food? Yep, he's mine. Oh, the woman chasing that loud child while holding another kid in her arms? Yep, that's me. Campus can be awkward now! Yes, I think it's time to move on to play dates at 11 am and online classes. I just didn't think we would be moving on this soon...

My House Is A Mess

Most of the time. And this is why...

But, yes. We don't stop him; we just take pictures :)

I will add to this post as he makes more messes! That little man is quick, I tell ya!...

Seriously, like 2 minutes is all it took him to pull the cupcakes off the counter and get into two of them.

He was covered in Red Velvet Cream Cheese cupcakes! Face, hands, legs...

And as I was cleaning up that mess, afterward I found him sitting in a bucket :)

I Said I Would Never...

... Be that mom whose kids are always sick and is always taking them to the doctor! I was the perfect parent before I had kids :) These kids have been sick for weeks now. I took Lucas in a few weeks ago for a 103 degree fever. I took Via in last week and it turned out she has RSV (or something like it). And even if I know what's wrong I will have to take them in for a prescription - like this morning for Via's pink eye. The funny thing, though, is this semester in my Medical Assisting Lab we have learned how to *correctly* use and care for a nebulizer, administer eye medication, and irrigate ears - I have done all three outside of class so far. Via has a nebulizer, with a cute little dinosaur mask, for bronchiolitis; Levi had me irrigate his ears, and I am now doing drops for pink eye. (When giving eye drops before, I had always had the person close their eyes and I put it in the corner by their nose and then blink. Well, if you do that, a bunch of the medication just drains down the nasolacrimal canal. Duh, Shaeli.)

I also said I would never co-sleep. Well, that worked with Lucas, but Princess Via falls asleep in our bed most nights. And she has to be held and snuggled up just right on her side with my arm around her and her head on my shoulder :) Silly girl!

I said I would never let my kids sleep on their tummies. Yeah. They don't sleep on their backs. I think they got so used to it and liked it so much in the NICU (where they slept on their tummies because they were hooked up to monitors), they just refuse to sleep much on their backs. Personally, I don't think tummy sleeping really does much to reduce the risk of SIDS, but that's another post in itself ;)

I said I would *try* to never let my kids frustrate me to the point of yelling... or swear in front of them. Ha! Let's just say that Levi asked me the other day what I'm gonna do when Lucas swears for the first time. Oops.

It is so very true how much you think you know about parenting until you become one! Even Levi gets comments from this guy at work about us maybe only having two kids. "What kind of a Mormon are you?" "Why don't you just adopt?" Really?? Do you have kids? No, you don't. Why don't you take mine for a few days AND keep up on homework and housework at the same time. Then you can make comments about our childrearing decisions. Okie dokie?

Alright, apparently I needed to vent :) Sorry. People are always surprised when they find out we have two kids already and are in school. But then they make some joke about poppin' out a basketball team and we reply, "No. I think we're actually done." Then they get all surprised that a Mormon family would dare think of only having two kids. Oh, brother. Such is life, I suppose...