THE DUNE MONKEYS

New Eating Habbits

2011-04-07T18:19:00.000-07:00

I found on the internet a diet that claims to stop and in some cases reverse heart disease. I really have no other options since this thing is progressing so fast. We are constantly increasing meds to keep up with the chest pain and keep it bearable. So after finding Calldwell Essestyn's ideas on how to fix the problem I googled some more. I found that his son Rip is an iron man, holds records swimming, and running all over. He swam from Alcatraz to the bay and won that. He came in third in a race that Lance Armstrong took first. The guy is also a fireman. He managed to win over his whole station to eating a plant based diet after a bet of who could have the lowest cholesterol. They found out that one of their fireman brothers had an almost deadly number and combined with his family history he was a walking heart attack. Long story short the guys went on this plant based diet to save one of their own and have stayed on this diet ever since. The diet is great for heart disease, cancer, diabetes and Alzheimers .

I started this plant based diet on Monday the 4th of April. So far so good, no meat, no dairy and no oil! There are two ways to doing it, one way they ease you into it eliminating something each week, cadet style. The other way is "fireman" style which I did. Its all hands on the first day out of the gate. I have had a lot of firsts during this week, Hummus (which I made) , Kale and some fake sausage patties.

First off the food I'm eating is so good! I can't believe the tastes that can come from some of these plants. I have always eaten a well balanced diet but vegetables meant peas, carrots, corn or salad. My first day out for lunch I had toasted bread with hummus spread generously on it, green onions and cilantro on top of that, thinly sliced lemons covering that. My cooked Kale came next piled high with lemon zest on top and a few slices of tomatoes. It was so good! I would never have eaten those things together let alone on a sandwich but it was the most flavorful sandwich I have ever eaten. I got the recipe from Rip's book The Engine 2 Diet. Tomorrow Phil has obliged me with an opportunity to make our main dinner dish vegan style. I think I won him over with my home fries tonight. The potatoes and onions were cooked with no oil or butter but had some of the best flavor we have ever had in home fries (breakfast potatoes), they were also topped with quartered cherry tomatoes...mmmmm.

If any of you were thinking about doing a plant based diet there is a web site that has great recipes. Even if you wanted to just change one or two meals a day that's a huge deal on starting to clean out your system. http://pcrm.org/kickstartHome/mealplan/index.cfm I got my home fry recipe from this site. Now I'm not against eating meat, I cook my husband and son meat every day. My dad is a cattle rancher, its in my blood. But I can't live for my food, I have get my food working for me to live for my son and family. If this is my best shot other than the 18 pills I have to take each day than so be it. Plus its kinda fun to say I eat vegan style. I'm not in the norm anymore...going against the grain. :)

Busy Meline's

2011-03-05T16:53:00.000-08:00

We finally got heat in this house this winter! It got below zero for a few nights in a row so we pitched a tent in the living room. Placed the space heaters to point in and camped out. Bradach loved it and it was a nice way to keep our minds off how real the situation was. Here is a pic of our new pellet stove, we got a steal on it. Its one of the best and the guy just never used it so he sold it cheap.

Bradach playing in the tent
Bradach and his best friend and sister :) Sadi, they wrestled in the tent.
Mommy and Bradach laying down for bed in the tentOur new pellet stove, Phil made the hearth, he did a great job!

We took a trip to visit my new nephew, and of course his sister and parents. We also got to visit and meet the newest member of the Meline family, Carl and LeeAnn's little girl Mallie.

We stayed the first night of our trip at the Come on Inn in MT. Forgot the swim suits (well Grandpa packed his) but for some reason I packed a swim diaper, lucked out there!

Meet Robert Morris Moldenh auer the 4th aka Bob
This is Mallie, she is adorable.

Mardi and Bradach frosted Sugar Cookie hearts for VAlentine's day....we strategically left the cookies there when we left :) I think these two stinkers ate more frosting than they got on the cookies.

Just an update since the last post was about my trip to the Mayo. I went and got home safely. It was well worth the trip. I got a diagnosis, and even though I'm not better and they can't fix it we can treat my symptoms. I'm learning to not let my chest pain get out of control or even last for more than a few minutes. Its causing my heart to starve of oxygen (ischemia). If I want the best possible outcome of a long happy life I have to stay on my meds and keep my symptoms under control. The disease is called Mircrovascular dysfunction and Prinzmetal's(which just started a few weeks ago), in a nut shell if I get over stressed or exert myself my microvessels (the smallest ones, capillaries) close off instead of open to get my heart oxygen. I'm tired most of the time, its an extreme fatigue...not just a "I didn't get that much sleep tired". Life is changing and we are adapting to my new life, it affects my husband and son as much as it does me. I'm glad Phil was already capable of many household duties ie cooking, cleaning, dishes and laundry because most days I can't do it. I'm learning some new hobbies like fly tying and knitting, we also got net flix so I'm watching some TV series that I never watched before. If one GREAT thing came out of this disease its that I have a new found patients with those around me. I'm not so quick to scold Bradach or make sure he is doing the things that are socially acceptable. I'm learning to enjoy the good days and push through the hard ones. I'm especially thankful for my love of my Heavenly Father and the love he has for me. Without it I wouldn't be functioning as well as I do now.

At the Mayo

2010-12-28T08:07:00.000-08:00

No pictures on this blog, just a quick update. Phillip, Bradach and I left for Salt Lake on Christmas day. We went to Temple square to enjoy the nativity and the lights. Bradach went nuts for the temple and Moroni. He also loved the lights and the fountains. I arrived in Rochester on Sunday, the day after Christmas.
This is my second day at the Mayo and its quite a different experience. This clinic works very well! I have appointments scheduled through the week and one on the 12th. But chances are the one on the 12th will get rescheduled this week. I have been doing the weirdest tests and yesterday I got to meet with my cardiologist. She is very smart, I spent 2 hours with her...wow that was a detailed apt. I have consults this week with a pulmonary specialist, and an electrophisiologist (heart electrical function). And another one with my cardiologist. At least she has some good ideas and I know if she runs into a dead end she has about 150 other specialists to ask.
I miss my family with a passion but know that this is the place where I need to be right now. I have great support at home for my husband and my son. Can't wait to get home!!

Holliday Season at the Melines

2010-12-21T11:47:00.000-08:00

I should start with Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for in the Meline home. We have wonderful parents that care for us. We have a home that has food. Phillip has a great job, I have a great job. Most of all we have a wonderful son that brings so much happiness to our lives. Bradach Thanksgiving day, giving me a cheeser.

I think Bradach is thankful for his new friend Sadi.

Christmas, season has been a whirlwind of emotions for me. I feel so close to the spirit and the true meaning of Christmas. Its AWESOME to know that God loved us so much that he could send his only son to earth to die for our sins. I can only imagine, I have a hard enough time leaving my son one day a week while I work. Its been fun teaching Bradach about the baby Jesus. He doesn't quite get it but he will.
Its also fun to see him get so excited and say ooo's and aaaaw's when we drive down the roads and see lights. He loves the tree all the activities we have done lately to welcome Christmas.
This year I made up a whole bunch of activities wrote them down and put them in a tin for Bradach to draw out each day. We stated out with making a paper chain with the number of days until Christmas and he has enjoyed ripping a chain off each day. We made a book of the story of the baby Jesus and a few other activities. Here are some pics of activities we have been doing.

This is our mog pog tree of love, pieces given to us from friends and an ornament that we have picked out one a year since we got married. Phil made the topper, I painted it the first year we were married, its a snowboard and ski's and poles and yes it lights up. If you look close you can see the chain...and its almost gone! Also there is Bradach's riendeer hands, one from last year and one from this year. He sure has grown! This is the Christmas book we made as a family, I know its not in order...too hard to take a pic that way :) but you get the idea. I like Phil and Bradach's colored pages the best.
These sugar cookies gave me a sugar high just looking at them. Bradach is an excellent decorator.
Ginger bread house time!

Bradach piggin out on the candy.He did get a few candies on the house.

Well that's what we have been up to! This week will include a family tradition of the Christmas Eve party filled with great family and lots of food. Christmas day Phil and I are driving to SLC to see the lights at the Temple with Bradach. Then the next morning I fly out to Rochester, MN. I will be getting some extra special attention at the Mayo Clinic there. Hopefully I will come out with an understanding of what is wrong with my body and with some luck maybe a fix it plan. If you have any extra room in your prayers this next week please add my family. Its really hard for me to leave my husband and son home. Thank you and may you all have a wonderful holiday season!

More Randomness

2010-10-09T14:04:00.000-07:00

I think with my busy life style this random blogging might become a normal thing.
First off is Mardianna's birthday party. Mardi my beautiful niece turned one on the 4th of October. Luckily the weather was nice and warm....however Bradach's birthday falls in June and its always freezing, go figure.Don't look twice you were right the first glance, these two boys are twins. Bradach and JJ.

Mardianna the birthday girl.

Bradach got to go to the fire station and enjoy an open house. Probably the only kind of open house a two year old would enjoy. While the fireman was explaining the truck you would hear Bradach very loudly say "WOW that's cool!" He enjoyed the whole experience.

All of the soldiers in our area were deployed to Iraq in September. We are blessed to know quite a few of them. They serve our country and help others around the world in need. Blackfoot held a parade, and hot dog feast to say good bye.

Can you tell this little girl has pride? Her daddy is marching, she doesn't know whats going on but she knows how much she loves her daddy. Bradach and Leah showing support during the parade.

You couldn't help but cry while they marched and did their chants.

This is Jesse, him and his family are some of our closest friends. Its hard to see him go, however duty calls.

We took a took a trip to Spokane to visit Phillips family and my brother's family. Here are some pics of our six day vacation.

This is a huge Radio Flyer wagon that the handle has been made into a slide.

Feeding the ducks with daddy at River Front Park. This park is so much fun, there are so many things to explore. Probably my favorite place in Spokane.

Grandma treated us all to a day at a rescue for big cats, we saw lions, tigers, panthers, bears and a snake. Here is Bradach and I playing on the monkey toys. I think I might have liked them a bit more than him.

This is Grandma and Papa's backyard. Bradach loved to swing, he loved it even more when Grandma or Papa would swing with him. He got to play with some cousins also, Ianna and Benny (there is no way I could spell his real name).

We have great news, we got a new addition to our family, her name is Sadi. Our last dog Nakeeta was too high strung to live in the cemetery. This dog however is a Great Dane and requires little exercise. She loves to lounge inside. She is so much fun we fell instantly in love with her. She loves to jump on the tramp with Bradach. She is very cautious and gentle with him. She is one year old and was the runt of her litter, along with getting prego at 6 months her growth is severely stunted. She still thinks she is the biggest of the big dogs though. she is very good on leash and Bradach walks her with no problem. She is perfect for our family and we love her dearly.

This is the collar Phil made for her, if you look closely you will see a purple flower with the rings. The center ring is yellow, and then there are green on the edges. Phil made one for Nakeeta but this tops all things he has made, the rings are very very light and the strongest material he could find. In all just the rings cost about $60, and with the time he put into making it it comes out to about $120. But she has a custom collar. The things you do for the ones you love.

Tornado of Randomness

2010-08-18T01:39:00.000-07:00

Every day we make a shake, usually around lunch time. If Phil makes them they usually contain: banana, strawberry, mixed berry and milk. My shake is a little healthier usually consisting of: strawberry, blueberry, apple, orange, spinach and carrot. Or my new favorite peach, mango, banana, orange, strawberry. Here are a couple of photos of Bradach enjoying the fruits of our labor :o) Nope, not a milk mustache...much much better! Sportin' the fruity mustacheSign language anyone? If you guessed pig your right! He also threw in dirty to sum up the situation.Ready to go to the beach mom! I've got my tractor and my cool dudes (sun glasses)Bradach, daddy and oldest cousin Tyler at the St. Anthony sand dunes. Swimming at the sand dunes. I think he is sagging a little bit:o) I'm a mountain, rock, tree, river type girl but this is gorgeous! One of the most beautiful places I have ever been to.Bradach on Grandma Chris' four wheeler. He's a natural! Ever since Bradach was 2 months old he has been attending softball games and practices. I'm either coaching or playing. Here is a rare pic of me and Bradach just watching a game (Uncle Scoobs game). He is so good at games, he will sit and cheer talk about it. If he ever asks to do something it usually is softball, slides or sand dunes.

Fourth of July 2010

2010-07-06T15:44:00.000-07:00

For the fourth of July we went camping again at Hebgen Lake. We left Friday and came home Monday. My parents came with us...or vise versa :o). We stayed at a camp site with my Uncle Daryl and Aunt Kandace. Most of the weekend was spent fishing, either tolling from a boat, or fly fishing from the lake or in the Madison River. Phil wanted to catch a fish so bad...and he did! they ended up catching 4 fish in all. Good job guys!
We went hiking up the Kirkwood trail head one day. It was only a few miles long, but was perfect for us since we had Bradach. Bradach was a great wildlife alerter. He let everything in the forest know we were there. And the occasional question "can I pet it?" came out of his mouth. During the hike Phil decided to take the high trail.....I told him it was a game trail, but he didn't believe me. Soon enough the trail just stopped. So we ended up bush whacking it and praying Bradach would warn anything like a skunk or badger to run off away from us. We saw some deer and lots of birds. I'm pretty glad we did not run into any grizzly bears, but my dad gave us his gun just in case. We have come upon black bears hiking in the Tetons and you just wait for those ones to pass....not sure what I would do running into the Griz though.
We also did some jet skiing. One of the days my mom and I took them out. We were across the lake and down a ways when it started to rain. It was sooooo cold!! We had to get across the lake to the marina. I couldn't see anything! We were going as fast as the pain would let us. Yes that's right, the pain. It felt like thousands of pins hitting your face at once. We didn't dare go slow and stay out, but 35 mph is pretty fast in the rain.
The night of the fire works Bradach wouldn't stay outside. He just screamed he was so scared. So he watched from the safety of the motor home. I roasted marsh mellows for him and Mamo made him s'mores. In his words "I like it!". The fire works were amazing sounding in the where we were they echoed off all the mountains and were so loud! I don't normally like loud noises but this was awesome!

The sign at the trail head. I love warnings like this!
This is the Bradach way to hike.
Hello! See the trail behind me, that was a real trail. Big diff from the game trail.Phil tending the fire he made.

Bradach and his first s'more

The reaction to the fire works.

3 posts in one

2010-06-29T14:34:00.000-07:00

Since its summer I'm a bit behind. I'll do this in groups and chronological order.
I marked something off of my bucket list by trying out for a community play at the Nuart. And lucky me I got chosen for the part of Jane in the play Men are Dogs. I had so much fun doing this play, here are a few pics from the play and cast. It was extra fun because Steven my little bro had the part of Tony.

Steven (Tony) and I (Jane) hanging out backstage.

Jane, Allison, and Madeline at group therapy.

Bob and Jane role playing, Loretta in the back ground.

Second Bradach loves trains. We live next to the tracks and he loves watching them. So when Operation Life Saver came to town and offered free tickets we jumped on it. Unfortunately there weren't enough tickets for us. Fortunately a family that new we wanted to go had extra! So we got lucky and boarded the train. Bradach I think liked the outside more than the actual ride. But he did enjoy it. Here are some pics of this day.

On our way!!

This last weekend we went to the Panter/Daley family reunion. These happen every two years and I look forward to everyone. I actually can say I do love my relatives. They are a blessing to my life, and the time I spend with them is few but cherished. This year we went to Hebgen Lake near W. Yellowstone, MT. Near Hebgen was Quake Lake, witch was created in 1959 by a huge earthquake that killed 29 and injured many. There are reminders of that day all around the area, including cabins on shore lines, skeleton trees and not to mention the mountain that is half gone.
On our way home we stopped at Mesa Falls with some of the fam. We got to watch kayakers go down the lower falls. That was totally awesome. The falls are beautiful, last time I was there there were no nature walk ways, no up kept buildings. Now it is more developed so the land will stay in tact for more and more years to come.

Hebgen Lake. One night it stormed and lots of lightning stuck, lighting up the lake and these beautiful mountains every few minutes.

Bradach and Mommy doing a little fly fishing. He wanted a fish so bad.

We had a cowboy themed dinner, complete with line dancing. It was great.
Upper Mesa Falls, it explained on the far side of the falls is a different climate so different plants grow there that wouldn't if the falls didn't keep it so moist all the time. Its called a "micro climate"
Lower Mesa Falls of to the left is where the kayakers went down.
Bradach enjoying the falls....one of the quiet moments in a two year old's life.

Bradach is TWO!!!!

2010-06-06T21:42:00.001-07:00

My little man is two! Can you believe it? We did a little birthday party at my moms today since Sunday is easier to get together on than Monday (his real Birthday). We had dinner that he chose, cake that I made, ice cream, and his cousins Andy, Emma and Gracie came over to play with the balloons, bubbles, eat and play with the cars and John Deere.
Here are some things about Bradach:

Favorite movies: the puppy show AKA 101 Dalmations, the doggy show AKA All Dogs Go to Heaven, the fishy show AKA The Little Mermaid, and Signing Time (any of them)
Favorite Food: Really the kid doesn't have one, he eats anything...just the other day Uncle Kent gave the child a Smoked Oyster and he ate it all. Need I say more?
Favorite toys/play: Trucks, balls, animals(especially horses, dogs, cats and cows),dirt, outside, tractors, driving (yes he screams to drive), reading
What he knows (and has let me know he knows it): His ABC's, counting to 10, Colors, almost 100 signs (ASL) including colors, foods, animals, my personal two favorites are when he says "eat breakfast" and "may I be excused" in sign language. He is talking in 2-5 word sentances and articulates very well for a 2 year old. He memorizes where people sit in the house, and the cars people drive.
Chores: Bradach is in charge of taking out the bathroom garbage, helping change loads of laundry, wiping up spills, putting his socks away, and putting his toys away

All in all I think my little boy is amazing but I think all moms think their children are amazing too. I'm so lucky to have him in my life and he truly is the best reason I have for taking each breath. One thing I have learned as a mom is that there are always dishes to do but my little boy might not always want to sit on my lap for a story, so take advantage of the time you have.
Here are some pics of today's birthday fun:

Uncle Scoobs and Bradach playin some tunes.

The Birthday cake I made....the animas have wheels for legs....two of Bradach's favorite things!Balloons and Bubbles!! totally awesome!!
MMMM.....cake!!! I think he licked all the frosting and left the cake.

Bear with me on this one!

2010-05-31T21:13:00.000-07:00

For Memorial Day weekend we try and get out of the house at whatever cost and go anywhere even if its just to the end of the street. If you lived in the cemetery you would too. Phil stayed our first year and found out its not worth the trouble. This year we have a touch screen and a comments box so its all taken care of. Sunday my parents took us on a road trip to Hebgen Lake. Its near W. Yellowstone just passed Island Park. So here are some highlights: When we started the day I told Bradach that we were going to the Mountains to look for bears, elk, deer, and turkeys. He looks at me and says giraffes, elephants and long neck dinosaurs too! So we set out on our journey and stopped at Bear World. This place is great, all the animals are there...except some certain ones, lol. Bradach was pointing and yelling "I found it!" the whole time. The petting zoo was great, Bradach chased everything! They had a kiddie amusement park which was great because it was clean and FREE! We went to lunch and the newspaper there had a pic of a giraffe and an elephant! Later we traveled to the lake and walked around, also we went in and found a place with brochures, again score! We found a brochure with a long neck dinosaur! On the way home we stopped at W. Yellowstone for some window shopping, home made ice cream and to play in the park. For dinner we stopped at Pond's Lodge (or something like that) and Phil and Rocky both swear up and down that those were the best ribs they have ever eaten. If you know those two you know they have been around the block with the ribs. I tasted them, they were pretty delicious. Anyways here are some pics to highlight the day.Bradach "cautiously" driving us through Bear World.Ok, it took like 10 pictures to get one of Bradach's head in the hole and noth through the hole.

Bradach was being so nice to the little goat.....no really he was this time. Just loves.
I think I liked this toy more than Bradach, it was soooo soooo fun!!!

Eating...I mean making dessert

2010-05-28T14:17:00.000-07:00

Today is the end of the year softball banquette. We just got back from a B-B-Q at a friends house and loved loved loved the dessert they served, so that is what we are making for the party tonight. They are Oreo cookies blended with cream cheese, rolled into balls, chilled and dipped in chocolate. Bradach wanted to help so here he is, and here is Phil making them. Only 153 balls were made, lazy husband, LOL. Waita go Phil, thanks for always making the desserts for all the parties we go to! This pic is gross, he has oranges and chicken along with the chocolate on his tray. Sorry. But he had it all over his hands and I wanted to capture the look.

This was the before dipping them in chocolate picture. And this was only one of the trays. They were a hit though! Thanks Shani for introducing them to us!!

Weekend trip

2010-04-29T13:38:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah its been busy in the Meline house! Besides the fact that spring is here and Phil is out doing the yard :o), Softball has been in full swing since Feb., my job at the station has bloomed into part time, Bradach has been doing swim lessons and reading time at the library in between terrorizing his mommy and daddy, lol. Instead of going way back in time I will just post some of the pics from a fun yet crazy trip we took to Ontario, OR. Our itinerary went something like this: Saturday afternoon we left for Boise to meet up with Heather. When we got there Heather bought us dinner and then bought Bradach an awesome red truck. After dinner we went to Heathers house which was being remodeled and Bradach got to meet Romeo the squirrel. He liked to look but was a little afraid to feed him. I think Bradach found a new best friend this day (thanks Heather!). That evening we traveled the rest of the way to Ontario, OR and slept in the hotel. The next morning was filled with swimming and a trip to the park. What a park! This was so cool, half of it was developed with toys the other half looked like a nature walk though these ponds with loads of ducks, geese and swans. After the park we took another drive to get to Dawn's baby shower, we had lots of fun there and Bradach especially thought the cake was good. Oh you should have seen his face when we played the game to guess the candy bar in the diaper...lol. He thought we were crazy and kept saying baby poop...ewww. After the party we drove back to Boise and had a short visit with Jess and Julie. Then we were on our way home! What a busy weekend, full of great friends though!The ONE and ONLY Heather!

Feeding Romeo a piece of apple, the closest he got was touching Heathers hand while she fed him.Climbing at the park.

I got some good pics on this bridge. I love love love the one of Bradach walking down, this by far is my fav pic of the day.

A night of shooting

2010-02-13T20:54:00.000-08:00

I've been a little stressed lately. Mostly because I hate waiting for things to happen....like softball, we have been doing open gyms, hitting and pitching for months now. However tryouts are not until the 1st of March. I hate this time I get to think about what I want to do but not do it. I need to learn to take a step back and breath. So I took a night out after hitting/pitching and went with Kane, Phillip and Bradach to go shoot. I loved it, I have shot clay pigeons and done some target shooting before but there is nothing like it when you are wound up tight. The best part was that Kane brought his 9 mm handgun.....ahh this was the best. I hit the can first shot and then hit it again while it was laying down. I know I'm that good, lol. Every time I would shoot Bradach would say "whoa" but only when I shot. Phil hit a quarter that was mounted in a board, well at least we think it was him, it coulda' been me. As soon as we started shooting the coyotes started howling, it was cool. Here are some pics of this fun night.
Phil shooting at the quarters, I think this should be considered cheating since he used the truck to stay steady. Oh and notice how he is dressed in shorts and I in snow pants...it was cold!
My little buddy Bradach with Kane. Bradach had in ear plugs, don't think we neglect him.
Thanks Kane for letting me play with this gun, it was a blast!!!
Me shooting Phil's rifle....it was getting so dark I couldn't see past the end of the gun.
Phil and Bradach watching Kane...he was so nice to go last and let me shoot and shoot and shoot.

$ Saving and other ideas for making life easier.

2010-02-03T19:31:00.000-08:00

Shave your legs with conditioner instead of shaving cream. I buy it at a regular store and not the dollar store because you can sometimes get it for as low as .67! If you are saving by not buying shaving cream try this, your legs are just about as smooth as using the cream, and it lasts longer too!
Wanna a cheap family night? We love to eat pizza but who can afford it every week?! Instead we make homemade pizza, it takes about 30 minutes to make and most kids will love to help! We use the Jiffy Pizza crust, about .30-.90 a box (usually found by the pizza/spaghetti sauces) we use two boxes for one pizza. Its just add water too, oh and we don't pre-cook it like it says in the directions. When we don't want to spend more than $2 on sauce we buy a can of already seasoned spaghetti sauce, a big can costs about .88 and you will have leftovers for something else. We usually add Italian seasoning once its on the pizza dough. The big spender on the pizza is usually the cheese. Then add the toppings! Bradach loves helping to do every step of this pizza making, and then he usually out eats us no matter what the toppings are. We usually cook ours on a cookie tray which will leave you room to make any size or shape pizza...try a heart for V-Day!
Make your own baby food. Most people have already gone on to the next bullet...lol. But I did this and I have a strong opinion that my son has a better love for his "real" food because of it. When you feed or fed your baby peas did you taste it? Would you eat that? And when I made peas they were bright green, not that dull green. Also I tell you bananas do not stay that white not even when all measures are taken naturally to keep them that color. So what do they do to the food? Who knows, but when you make your own you know exactly! For example I would go out and spend a few dollars on some apples and sweet potatoes (maybe a bit of cinnamon), steam them, use that steamed water when I blended the food and poured it into ice cube trays, covered with plastic wrap, then when frozen put into baggies dated and labeled...just under $5 and I had enough for a few weeks, and I knew exactly what the food looked like before it was prepared. That's compared to $35 at .88 cents a jar. Bradach now loves his fruits and veggies and is willing to try just about everything, and a bag of apples costs about the same as a bag of Cheetos. Feel a little shaky about doing this? Go to www.wholesomebabyfood.com this site tells you how to prepare food, when your baby is ready for the food, the nutritional value, what goes good together and some tricks on storing and traveling with....plus loads more info. Still not going to be that mom? The web site can still guide you as to when to introduce foods.
Saving Gas. Do a test drive if you commute to work on the interstate do the math. Find out your time difference when you drive 65 mph compared to 75mph. I drive about 45 minutes to my work and the 10 mph difference makes just a few minutes difference in time. But I do see a huge difference in my pocket book for gas. Try it, I hate driving slow but until gas is cheap I think I will slow down.
Coughing at night? Tis the season! I can't say this works for adults since I haven't had a cough lately, but it works like a charm for my son. Get the vapor rub and put it on the soles and heels of their feet then cover with socks. Phil thought I was nuts one night until the coughing stopped instantly. No drugs to take, no measuring and trying to force nasty medicine. Plus I hate hate hate giving my son meds if not necessary.
Diaper rash? Bradach has gotten some nasty rashes when he was first teething, nothing completely cleared it up only helped a little bit. This is one of the few products that you spend the money for it to work. Its Triple Paste and its about $8 for 2 oz. But even on the worst rashes it cleared them up within a few days. On mild everyday stuff within a diaper change or two. Try this before you go to the doc and spend a ton of money on a quick fix.
Allergies? If you know me then you know I hate putting unnecessary medication into my body, and especially my sons body(is that repetitive?). Last summer we found Bradach has bad allergies outside. We tried a few different "non" drowsy medications for children but all of them had the same effect...falling down, sleepy, glazed eyes and not a huge difference in allergy symptoms. We spent the money and will continue to pay the price for Little Noses, its just a gel that you put around the nose and somehow it keeps those allergy symptoms at bay. And the best part, its not a medication! No drowsy side effect or measuring. But be prepared for the cost compared to the little tiny tube it comes in.
Signing early. I'm not claiming this one to keep all tantrums at bay but it sure kept me sane. At about 10 months or so I started showing some signs to him for words that he would use regularly if he could talk. This helped him to not be so frustrated when he needed to communicate with me. The signs that I have found most useful and easy to learn are eat, more, up, milk, and please. You can look these up online, babies will pick these up if you use them every time you say the word. Instead of a guessing game you will know what they want. Bradach has continued his signing and now has over 20 signs that he does.
Itchy dry spots or eczema? I think those are the same thing, but Bradach was blessed with this too. The doc suggested a cream with a steroid. I know its harmless, but how do I know for sure? We found that applying Disney's Eczema cream to the dry spots after baths and at least once a day cleared it up within a week. Just keep checking for those troublesome spots daily. You don't want to use that cream on their whole bodies though...its greasy, so I use it for spots then normal lotion. But it works and there is no steroid.

Well, I hope you may have gotten some new idea from this post. Please give me feedback, and I will keep turning my little wheel and thinking of things that have made my life easier.

Trip to CA

2010-01-29T15:27:00.000-08:00

OK, this blog will have lots of Pics and vids so I won't do to much story telling. We had a great time, the weather was perfect 60-70 everyday and sunny. We went to the Discovery Cube, Children's Museum, Sea World, Huntington Beach, Knotts Berry Farm, Down Town Disney, and met some great new friends. We went because my mom had a scrap book convention to go to, and Bradach and I did all the fun stuff while she was working. Thanks mom for the wonderful time, and the great memories we created!!!
The hotel we stayed at was the Knotts Berry Farm Resort, Snoopy is the main man there.Every night Snoopy comes and tucks you into bed. Bradach was walking Snoopy to the bed.
Bradach has problems when he says "S" words the S always ends up at the end of the word so Snoopy was Noopys...its adorable.Petrified dino poop...what a good sport to sit by it.
This was all at the Discovery Cube, this place is amazing, I would love to go back.
He either drove the car or the bus almost the whole time we were at the Children's Museum.Our new friends...minus Paul, he was off flirting. And yes the big blankie lump is Bradach asleep.
This isn't a good picture of anyone but there is a story with that bird in the background. First off in the day when we fed the dolphins (prob not the same bird) a bird stole two of my fish boats, I paid $6 for each boat of fish! Then while we were eating lunch this bird swooped in and took the bun off of my hamburger. Yes that hamburger in the pic and that bird in the background. They are sneaky and mean.

The first one is me the second is my mom. Bradach was scared of them. It was a perfect day to be at sea world.
We sat in the Soak Zone during the whale show but never got wet. The show was great, the whole experience was bitter sweet. All growing up I wanted to be a marine biologist and train whales, moving to the coast to do this wasn't an option when I got older, I could never live without seasons and snow. Anyways, it was hard to see such beautiful animals penned up. It broke my heart, I know most of them were born into captivity and have no clue what could be but its still a bit saddening.

Bradach and I ate sandwiches on the beach, his had a little extra sand. The beach we went to is known for the waves and they were big that day. There was a lady on the beach with a blanket and pants and long sleeves, she thought we were crazy being in shorts and running in the water.
Last dog walk before we left to go home. Notice the crying children in the background because Snoopy is walking out without saying hi to them....my kid is mean. These are our last moments before we got in the car for the 2 day drive home. It was a fun trip, its sad that Bradach wont remember any of it though.

Bradach's First Time Skiing

2010-01-18T20:40:00.000-08:00

Bradach is spoiled and got skis for Christmas. They are rented for the season, but I told myself the first ski season after he walked he would ski. I wanted to go about a month ago but just now got around to going. Today we went to Pomerelle and bought tickets for the magic carpet. I had prepped Bradach for this by letting him wear his ski boots in the house (anyone who has walked or worn them understands this) and pushing him around the yard in his skis. Well I hauled him up the hill in his sled, poor kid had a mountain of things in his lap. When we got to the carpet, which is like a conveyor belt that you stand on to take you up, he wasn't so sure but got on. He stood up like a champ the whole way, but made me hold his arms. After that first ride up he wanted to stand alone and be a big boy. When we got to the top he was laughing because of all the skiers around him. I held him between my legs and we were off! The kid said "wee" the whole time! He laughed and smiled, and when asked if he wanted to go fast he replied "fast!" I'm so glad he liked it. When we got to Grandpa's he told Grandpa "zoom", and "fast" and "whoosh", oh also "vvrrrrrrrr" for the carpet. I think he had a good day, I sure did, it was great sharing something I love so much with someone I love so much. I started skiing when I was 4 and I thought that its great Bradach beat me. He will be on a JR ski team in no time!
This pic he was looking at a kid eating a sandwich, prob wondering when I was going to feed him
Waiting in line for tickets to the best ride in town!
The magic carpet....sure is a lot nicer than a rope tow!! Check out his tiny skis.

Short vid I know, but I can't be picky when I didn't bring a camera person. Had to get a lame snowboarder to do it! LOL, hey he was a boarder and he was laying on the ground lame.

This sums it all up! This was one of our many rides up the carpet. Tell me the smile on that face says he had a blast.
All done...in the parking lot, one last pic to capture the day. He was great, not one time did he cry. Well one time, when I popped him out of his skis and he hit his forehead on the tip of my ski.That's one satisfied customer!
My first time skiing, the magic carpet there wasn't so magic, lol its just carpet.

Speaking of sleeping (the last pic of him), here is a pic of him in his "big boy bed" the first night he slept in it. Phil made the rails...he did an amazing job they look like they came with it.

Its been a year!

2010-01-05T10:55:00.000-08:00

I started my blog a year ago at Christmas. Its been a fun thing, I must admit. I haven't posted pics of Christmas yet so here are some of them and a few others:This is Christmas Eve. Bradach was somewhat the entertainment. He ran around and the older kids followed. Finally they sat down and all took turns asking Bradach to say certain words and do funny things.

When the man of the hour showed up all the kids gathered around and took turns sitting on Santa's lap. This is as close as Bradach got to doing that. But he never cried! I think the fact that Santa's voice was familiar helped. Santa ended up handing out gifts and Bradach got a truck and a candy cane(first and last one of the season).
Christmas morning we got up around 9:30 and Phil made Crepes, we topped them with yogurt, strawberries and raspberries, powdered sugar and whipped cream. They were delicious, I think this will be a new tradition except Steven wont be so happy about that.
Christmas day was great, even more fun now that Bradach gets excited. Santa brought him a "BIG TRUCK" as he calls it. He pushes it everywhere. He also got a few other things, it was a nice Christmas and we are very very lucky to have what we have. Grandpa Rock got the gliding horse from Santa, a gift to him that he was instructed to share with all his grandchildren. We missed RJ and Amy along with Aunt Julie and EJ, TiTi and JJ. Family has always been a big part of Christmas for us and its hard when people are missing.
My dad had his knee replaced a few weeks ago (its about time). And Bradach has been a great help. Here he is raising his leg, doing the exercises with Grandpa. He takes the heat and ice packs to Mamo to put away. He helps pull Grandpa out of his chair when no one else hops up to do it, lol, and puts the slippers on his feet for him and gets the crutches for him. He is a very helpful little boy....don't let this fool you, he started a new game. First he helps Grandpa up, then gives him his crutch and hops in the chair and rocks and rocks.
Our home towns is covered in snow, so I figured the town next door with all the mountains surrounding it would have even more snow. Logical I know, but not right. We packed up the sled and headed to the hills. When we got there there wasn't much snow, but enough for a first timer. Grandpa got him this awesome sled and we had to try it out on something other than flat ground. Bradach loved the sledding, witch happened to be at the rugby field so we tramped over to the sign and took a pic for Uncle Steve.
This sure was a long blog, but its been a while, I will try to do better in the future. Hope all of your upcoming years are great.

Bradach is a year and a half today!!

2009-12-07T23:07:00.000-08:00

This entry is mostly a diary type entry for my family to see how Bradach is doing at 18 months. I use the blog to keep far away Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles updated so this might not seem so exciting to some, and its very long. But enjoy anyways!
Bradach is awesome, he is always doing something. In most of these videos he is always moving while I'm filming. It amazes me how fast he learns. I know for the most part it is mimicking but he is a professional. Bradach's favorites include: trucks, trains, balls, dogs, cats, feeding horses, fruit of any kind, "All Dogs Go To Heaven", music and reading. He is running, climbing, feeding himself, helps do chores, and is a little performer. He does some sign language and can pronounce almost every letter in the alphabet. I'm trying to teach Spanish along with his English and its pretty fun for me. Some of the Spanish words are easier so he uses them....this ment Grandpa Rocks horse's name got changed from Red to Rojo.
Here are some video's that I took over the last week. I know this is just a brag blog, but like every mom I think my little guy is the best.

The obvious Once There Was a Snowman. He also does Itsy Bitsy Spider, 5 Pumpkins, Patty Cake, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and some wacky banana song with Grandma (mamo).

Its amazing to see his mind work through his actions.

I know the film looks rigged, but I swear he picks out all the blues, no matter where they are.

Here are some of the many animal noises he does....I tried 3 times to get the second part of the animal noises on, and it wouldn't work. I'll try to get it on a post later. I love the "ck" he does on truck and Rock. He is good at articulating the words he does use, but when he is on camera its hard to get him focused.

The book is full of pictures that he loves to point out.
Well that concludes my movies. Except my favorite one, and I will see if I can get it to work when its not 1 in the morning. When I started the blog he was 18 months, now he is 18 months 1 day.

A Nasty Little Bug!

2009-12-04T13:59:00.001-08:00

Wed morning, the week before Thanksgiving, I woke up to a little boy that was vomiting. I gave him fluids and he threw it up, he was throwing up every 20 minutes or so. Bradach is a light weight to begin with so I was worried that he would dehydrate fast. And in my medical training they drill into us that hydration is a big thing. So I took him in to the clinic and they did a strep test that came back positive. Poor little guy, since he couldn't keep down fluids they started an IV, they gave him a full bag and then sent me home with a bag to give him later that night.

Here is my sweet set up. Reminded me of when I was prego and got out of staying in the hospital because I know how to run fluids and handle an IV.
Daddy and Bradach layed there and watched All Dogs Go to Heaven...well dad watched it anyways. Check out the spatchula keeping his arm straight. LOL, normally there would be a little board doing that....but I don't keep little boards handy.

The next day seemed better, Bradach kept down some fluids that morning and a couple of saltines. But by that evening he was crashing with a fever. Not to mention he started the diarrhea that day along with the vomiting. So my little guy got to go back to the clinic where they admitted him to the hospital. They tested him for Rotavirus and it was positive. 80% of kids get this thing and almost all of them go through it without even thinking it was more than a bout of the squirts and maybe some vomiting. Bradach however takes after his mom and if he gets it he goes the extreme. The nurses and everyone had to gown and glove up before coming in the room. The sign made me laugh because "stop" was in Spanish and English, now who doesn't know what red stop sign signifies? LOL.

This was after Bradach got some Tylonol to bring down his fever and got his new IV. He was like holding a fireball. His dad felt bad and kept trying to play with him, but the little bug was in no mood to play. He lost quite a bit of weight for a little guy, going from a whooping 22.8 lbs to low in the 21's. A week after all of this he weighed 21.13. A cute thing was that he kept calling the IV fluid juice. We were calling it water, but he thought juice was better. By day 2 in the hospital, day 3 in the ordeal he still hadn't eaten or drank anything. So we called in the Grandpa. Grandpa brought some of his favorite snacks, dried apples, and a banana by the time he had finished Bradachs belly looked like Grandpa's.
He still didn't feel great when we brought him home the next day but he was eating and drinking. For the next few days we just layed in bed and watched movies and read books. All is well now, we still are bleaching the toys and house everyday. The virus lives on surfaces for 10 days. Most of his toys are in quarantine. No one is contagious anymore, after I got it and Phil got it.

Fun news is that Bradach turns 18 months on the 7th so I'm going to try my hardest to get some of his cute tricks on camera.

1st place!

2009-11-15T08:50:00.000-08:00

This week I went to an EMS conference. It was a good conference except the fact that I missed my kid so much. They offered a skills competition for anyone. Now people at this conference ranged from first responders to Paramedics, I'm in the upper middle of the categories right under the Paramedics. We didn't know what we were getting into, but we did get to meet our patient the night before. He was a SIM man, now he is an earlier model but these things are cool! They talk to you, they have bowel sounds, pulses, heart and lung sounds, the chest rises when he breaths. The newer ones even sweat, throw up blink and the pupils react. So we met our victim...lol, and came back the next day to compete. We went in and it was a full code, meaning he lost his pulse and stopped breathing so we had to do CPR. My partner Darren and I did end up winning the competition, I think it was his excellent intubation. But we were graded against everyone, even the Paramedics. Our reward was some chocolate, and year memberships to St. Lukes Air, which means that I get to fly free if I get in a situation I need life flight, oh and I got a t-shirt too.

Random pics

2009-11-07T13:16:00.000-08:00

I went to my parents house and got my rocking chair from when I was a little girl. Bradach likes it and I took some pics of him in it. I couldn't help posting.

Also Grandpa and Bradach have been having fun on the tractor. Grandpa thought Bradach needed to look more like a real man while working so he got him a Carhart coat, thanks Grandpa! Here he is waving hello.

And now waving bye-bye!

Trip Up North

2009-11-07T12:45:00.000-08:00

This week Bradach and I got a special treat. Tuesday through Friday we went up to visit family in Coeur d'alene and Spokane. We stayed and Amy and R.J.'s so we could get to know their newest bundle of joy, Mardianna Maria. She is a bruiser at 1 month weighing in at 6 lbs. She is a champion sqeaker and eater. We had fun one day with Grandma Chris and Aunt Catrina. Here are some pictures of our trip.
Here Bradach is playing with Uncle RJ's belly button, this was about the first time Bradach even went around him. He was very scared of Uncle RJ the whole trip, which is new to RJ since most kids see him as a big jungle gym.
This was the funniest pic I thought of Bradach playing with the balloons.

Bradach "playing" with the baby Flic (not his cousin). I say "playing" because it was more like stealing and running. We started with one balloon, went to two, one for Bradach and one for Flic. We had to make three just because he could only fit two in his hands.
The two cousins. I think Bradach is going to be the underdawg in this relationship later. LOL.
I threw this pic in because this is kinda how it was the whole trip, Bradach is thinkin who is this? Mardi is thinkin get him away. I'm thinkin, Bradach be soft. He did help burb her, only because its a version of hitting to him. Cousinly love....

Some Artsie Fartsie Stuff

2009-10-31T13:59:00.000-07:00

I must be sick if I spend any more time in the kitchen than it takes to make mac and cheese or a peanut butter sandwich. So I guess I've caught something because I made cupcakes. Nothing special compared to Martha Stewart, or even some of my other mom friends but they were a big thing to me.
If you can't tell its a bloodshot eyeball. The red in the middle is a cherry and the pupil is a chocolate chip. If you are going to do this one don't cut up the cherries....they work better whole, or just cut off a small portion.
I also tried the melon baller on the pumpkin, if I was a crafty person I would have had a bow to tie around the pumpkin, and I would have used a taller pumpkin with a stem.

Bradaculla for short

2009-10-28T20:36:00.000-07:00

Tonight we went to the Boo Tacular at the ISU ball room. First off we went to Grandma and Grandpa's work to get all scaried up. Grandma did Bradach's makeup and hair. He thought he was getting lotion on his face and a doo, so he was super good. If you are wondering what he is, he is my offspring, lol. Since I am a vampire bat and I don't have babies I must have off spring. After a few pictures we picked up Britney and Tigger (Drake). Then we headed down to Pocatello. The carnival was fun, and if the boys couldn't do the game the "carni's" made it really simple for them to earn the prize. Bradach got a balloon, put his hand in slime, shot some hoops, won the cake walk (which we declined the cake since I didn't have that many hands) and he was a finalist in "Best costume" for ages NB-two and a finalist in "scariest costume" all ages. All in all it was a fun time! I think the only thing that would have made it better was another set of arms to hold the baby. Uncle Steven did show up toward the end of our fun, so he took a turn at holding the little offspring. It was a pretty fun night I thought, just wish Phil could have made it too. Getting all scarried up, or bootiful for the night.

What a Cheeseball!
Playing his Grandpa cards
The finished products!
Tigger and the vampire bat offspring, Bradaculla for short.

Bradach THE Man

2009-10-27T21:35:00.000-07:00

Growing up and being drug to the mall by my mom I always saw a ton of kids playing in the play area. I swore that I would never take my kid there, no way, no how. The place had to be crawling with germs, and I thought those parents are sooooo lazy! Get out with your kids! Well, the other day as my son was playing in the mall play area, don't be so judgemental, it was cold outside and I was drained of all energy. There were only a few kids in there and one of them looked to be Bradach's ability level. She was his height, blue eyes, pink top, and a great runner and climber! Anyways, I was watching Bradach pretty close to make sure he was playing nice. I looked at the other moms...they could care less, sippin their sodas talking about what ever,they were obviously more practiced at this than me. As I was following Bradach and his little friend around they went in one of the tunnels. So I'm crouched there watching Bradach just jabber on and on to this little girl while pointing to the wall of the tunnel. I'm thinking wow, this kid must have built tunnels in his past life because he knew it all! The little girl was so sweet and just sat there like she cared what he was saying then he stopped talking, I got closer thinking a hit or a shove was coming but nope! The little devil kissed her! My little turd got his first kiss in with a little girl after knowing her for a whole 5 minutes. After that they saw little of each other but the breakup was mutual. They met at the crazy mirrors stopping only briefly to say hi then running off. Oh young love....

Fall Fun!

2009-10-23T20:56:00.000-07:00

I thought since our yard is covered in leaves I would take some pics. This is Bradach's first real fall, where he can walk and really enjoy whats around him. He loves to throw the leaves, and have them thrown at him. The look on his face is so surprised, and innocent. He is totally one with nature. I haven't ever taken any special pictures with this camera but I found a feature that makes colors more vivid, which is perfect for the fall occasion. I love hanging with my little guy every day. The more he learns the more fun he is. I can't wait for Halloween to actually be here, but be prepared for lots of dress up pics, we are scheduled to dress up for three different days. Phillip promised for my birthday that he would dress up on Halloween and take me on a date....cross your fingers that he gets the day off! He has been working all the Saturdays for weeks now.
Not loving the facial expression, but I totally love the colors, I wish I knew how to enhance his baby blues!My fuzzy headed snuggle bug...man, did I ever say how much I love this kid?!!!

The other morning when we woke up it was grey and foggy all around the cemetery. When the sun broke through the grey it was so beautiful. My wonderful husband was thoughtful enough to take these pictures. And I think they speak for themselves, what a beautiful place we live in, head stones and all.
In lew of what has been going on in with our family and the whole sexton thing, thank you to all of our family and friends that have stuck up for us. The city says they are behind Phillip 100% and that he does a wonderful job. Amidst all of the stress right now we are so grateful for this opportunity that Phillip has a job, and that his job allows him to stay so close to his family.

Bradach's five little pumpkins

2009-10-13T13:04:00.000-07:00

Halloween is my favorite holiday of them all, so we start early in this house. We bought Bradach two Halloween books, one of The Five Little Pumpkins and the other one a collection of Halloween things . He has really taken a liking to pumpkins even pointing to the paper ones everywhere. So we bought him a little pumpkin to play with. I'm just waiting for him to throw it hard enough to break on the floor. Anyways, he loves his books and we read them at least a million times a day...Its really cute how Bradach picked up the actions we were doing and I thought I would show them to you.

WARNING!

2009-10-11T19:51:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it has been a long long time! In my defense, I like to look at the blogs with pics on them and I haven't had a camera that was charged. Well I found the charger to my camera and am going to purchase a dilly whapper that takes your pics from your phone and puts them onto a computer. Also thanks to a blog put up by Misty, I have had an itch to be more "domestic goddess" like, so hopefully I will have some fun creations to show off soon. Anyways, just thought I would warn you all!

A day at the ball park

2009-08-29T20:52:00.001-07:00

Today we went to the Chuckars game in Idaho Falls. I haven't been to a Chuckars game in a while. We knew we would leave early because of Bradach, but it was still fun. We saw a lot of people from Blackfoot...hmm, must have been Blackfoot night at the ball park. Bradach got to dance and see the lights and once in a while he saw the ball. That was about it for him, ohh and the hamburger he ate, and dad gave him ice cream, soda and french fries and if you know me that's a big no no. However everyone survived and Bradach is on his way to dream land. his way to dream land. I also got the last of my motocross gear in the mail the other day so I felt like posing for the cam. I love my riding pants because they zip off into shorts. I haven't got to ride this summer since my ankle has been messed up but I plan on getting out before the end of the summer.

Bradach the funny man!

2009-08-25T21:57:00.000-07:00

Bradach is getting to the age where he likes to be the center of it all. Weather that's by crying or making us laugh he doesn't care. So here are some things that have been going on around the Meline home. Today there was a spider in the corner of the room, Phil being the man (and the only one on two feet) went to kill it. Now if you know Phil you know he is a manly man, but did you know that Phil is afraid of spiders? Not to the girly point of the screaming and dancing but he does not like them. Any ways he had Bradach in his arms and told Bradach to be brave for him, when he smashed the spider Bradach broke out in crying. I don't know if he was sad that the spider was dead, or what but man that kid cried and cried!
Another thing is that when we are at Grandma and Grandpa Moldenhauer's house he always grabs grandpa's flip flops and takes them to him so they can go out side. At the Sunday dinner he always has to laugh loudest when a joke is told, we all turn and he gives the cheezy grin.
Today, since I'm on crutches, I was changing him on the floor. After it was all said and done I asked Bradach to throw the diaper away, and you know what the turd did? Walked straight in the kitchen and dumped it in the garbage. I was very proud of him.
He loves to dance, anything with a beat from commercials to radio to baby motzart. His new fav is dancing to Mario Kart Wii. He squats and bobs and twists. He also has picked up air drumming. He loves to air drum to Celtic Thunder. I really need to set up a cam and get this head banging and drumming to Celtic music. We named him an Irish name but I never thought he would take it so seriously! He can sit and listen to or watch on you tube this group for as long as you will let him. He knows the Irish anthem, and can pick it out. I don't think he could do that with the USA anthem....so sorry. Anyways, that's whats been going on. There are always those funny moments but they might not be so funny to others. So I will keep them for myself.

Some stolen pics

2009-08-18T09:42:00.000-07:00

I was cruising all of the blogs and found pics of my son on my sister-in-laws page. She gave me the ok and here they are. Bradach got this police car from Aunt Amy and Uncle RJ until their little rug rat is ready for it. He loves to sit in it and get pushed around. I think he has the right idea. Thanks for the pics Nikkei!He is sooo serious about his job...lol.A rare moment of relaxation on the job...hes thinkin about his mommie I'm sure

3 Dollar Fun

2009-08-11T16:25:00.000-07:00

We went shopping yesterday and saw the little pools on sale for $3 I couldn't pass it up. First of all we got Bradach a big blow up pool for his birthday. We spent more money than we should have on it but felt better about spending that money when we purchased some insurance on the thing. Go figure the day after we set it up the thing got popped and we never used the insurance to get it fixed. I know...we are wasteful, needless to say Bradach never stepped a foot in that pool. So after yesterday I vowed broken ankle and cast and all I would take the child to play in the pool. He is a natural water dog. He loves getting in and out, throwing and splashing. He especially liked to tease the dog with the ball. So my conclusion is no more spending oodles on something you can wait to get for 3 dollars .

A Broken Ankle And Being a Mom

2009-08-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

Well Softball season started for me and ended. A few weeks into it we were playing a team and loosing, I hate loosing. I got too aggressive and when I got up to bat I hit a good solid hit into the outfield. The aggressive part comes when I, instead of holding at third rounded to home. Now I could see the catcher getting set up to catch the ball I knew it would be close. She got the ball blocked the plate and I slid. I slid right into her, she was a lot bigger than me and even with all of my force sliding into her she did not move. I ended up breaking the dome of my talus, witch is the bone that your tibia (leg bone) sits on. Luckily I'm good on crutches from all of my experience. But no amount of experience can prepare you for a 13 month old never sit down always into something type of boy. Crutches took away my hands, I could no longer walk hand in hand with Bradach, let alone carry the boy when he needed it. One of the worst things is that if he was asleep in the car and I was alone I would have to wake him up and make him walk into the house. It was sad. But I was at the store and saw this kid whiz pass me on this contraption. He was in a cast too....I knew this thing was for me. So I went to Maag and they hooked me up. Its called a knee scooter and it has made me a mommy again. I can sit Bradach on the front when we walk, he walks to the side of me holding my hand, I can prepare and carry meals. I still am limited on a few things but it has made life so much better. Here are some pics of this scooter. I love it.

Asking for prayers

2009-06-27T15:51:00.000-07:00

One of my crew members is going through the fight of his life. His name is Dale he is my crew member witch makes him my brother. He used to have a pace maker in his chest but they took it out. Now the leads that they left in have floated down to his lung and have caused massive infection and scar tissue. The docs have put him on antibiotics for the next 4 weeks to see if that does anything, however the chance of the medicine helping is slim to none. The next step is to remove part of his lung, they are looking at taking half of it but told him chances are good that they will have to remove all of it. If they do that then he will have a 10% chance to make it through surgery. Dale is very determined to beat this thing, he said if it does get to take his life then it will have to fight him every step of the way. Dale is a great man who will give everything for a friend and has done so for me. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Come on People!

2009-06-10T18:47:00.000-07:00

This morning in the newspaper there was an article about how a lesbian couple and their kids tried to get the family rate for swimming at Lava Hot Springs. The swimming complex denied them the discount because the state does not recognize same sex couples. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!! Who cares! by law they might not be a married couple but that doesn't make them any less of a family! They live together, eat together and do all the family things. The kids do belong to the one lady since she got custody of them from her sister. At least give her and the kids the family rate. The kids were young how do you explain to them that they don't count as a family just because they have two mommies? How much money is Lava actually saving by denying them the discount? Is it really worth the negative publicity?

06/07/08

2009-06-06T21:32:00.000-07:00

06/07/08 is the day Bradach was born. Today is the day we had a party for him. I told myself I never wanted to do b-day parties but I thought using that date was a good reason to have a barbecue. I made up invitations sent them out and the people came. I wrote no presents on the invites and some of the people said that they didn't know how to follow instructions . We had a good turn out and I got to see people that we don't get to see very often. The theme was camo and water. The camo was a go but the weather was rainy and cold so we moved the party inside. We had some great food to eat and Bradach opened his gifts. Then we got pics of all the kids together it reminded me of Austins b-day party because Bradach was the only one in the pic that was crying. He finally calmed down for a pic. After pics and presents we stripped the kid down to his diaper and put the cake in front of him. It was really cute to see him taste the frosting. I made him a banana cake witch was just like banana bread except with the cake texture. He loves banana bread and loved his cake. He actually tried to bypass the frosting to get to the bread. I get alot of flack for the healthy way I feed my child so he doesn't get much refined sugar. He was bouncing off the wall after the cream cheese frosting. He was running around saying daddy (he was actually saying doggy but its hard to tell). He layed down for a nap with grandma and the rest of us went to the grove to jet ski. Call us a bit crazy but it was so much fun! The weather was rainy and some lightning but really far away. We had to even take a break to let the storm pass through. The sign said it was 47degrees but the water was warmish(60's). After you couldn't feel your shins it was great! When we came home we all hopped in the hot tub and got our body temps back up. So all in all it was a great day. One to remember.

We are so lucky!

2009-05-23T07:41:00.000-07:00

Well that time of year is here again, Memorial Day weekend, or hell week as I like to call it. For most people this is a good time, but if you live in the cemetery its not such a good time. So Friday afternoon we took off to go hiking. We are so lucky to live so close to great places! We drove 20 minutes to Pocatello and went hiking up City Creek. Now its not a hike hike but when you are still a bit out of shape and have a 19 lb baby on your back its just right! And its beautiful, you walk up the mountain in the canyon and the cross the creek numerous times. Bradach loved pointing to the trees and the creek because of the noise it made. Nakeeta our dog enjoyed the creek and chasing some of the other dogs up there. Phil enjoyed being away from the cemetery and me I enjoyed the burn I felt walking up! Here are some of the pictures we got, I really like the one with Bradach alone in his Carrier. He is such a cheeser for the camera.

Nice little rash

2009-05-23T07:33:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we were coming home from Post Falls when Bradach spiked a fever. On Tuesday this rash showed up around his ears and on his neck. Later that day it went to his trunk and face. The poor little guy. I took him to the doc and they told me that its the "after fever rash" and it will go away in a few weeks. At least it doesn't itch or anything like that. Bradach likes to poke his belly though when he sees it. Its really cute. I think the proper name for this thing is a virus exanthum (don't know if that's spelled right, but I'm no doctor either).

Growing up

2009-05-19T17:25:00.000-07:00

As I was thinking about the year and how much Bradach has grown and changed I can't help but think about whats next. So I whipped out my What to Expect in the First Year book. Which I would suggest to anyone who is expecting. Anyways In Bradach's daily routine when he is ready for his afternoon nap I give him a bottle and then I take him into my room and lay down with him until he is asleep. He usually makes noises when he wakes up and I come running in. Well the other day he didn't make his noises and crawled right off of the bed. He didn't get hurt but I was so freaked out about leaving him on my bed to sleep. So the next day I tried the bottle but I held him until he went into snooze land and then layed him in the crib. Well that lasted about ummm...until I let go of him, and then he was screaming and so that ruined that trick. So being the sappy, easy going mom I layed next to him and stayed there until he woke up. The next day I tried the crib again but it failed. Although this time I didn't lay there the whole nap but I wasn't far, I used my time to clean the bathroom witch is right across the hall. Well today I thought that he is a big boy and should be able to handle a new thing. So I fed him the bottle and we went into his room, I turned on the baby Mozart music, gave him his blankey and his new beanie puppy that he adores (thanks Aunt Amy), kissed him and layed him down. I walked out and looked at the clock, 19 minutes later the screaming and crying stopped and my little guy was dreaming of playing with the doggy. He slept for almost 3 hours!! Tomorrow I expect a shorter cry time. I hope this gets better and easier. When he woke up he was all smiles and I loved his hair so much I had to take a pic of it. Enjoy!

Bradachs First Haircut

2009-05-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

I like to spike Bradach's hair, make a foe hawk out of it, spike up the bangs only and for grandma sometimes we will do the missionary style. But one day I went to spike the hair and it curled down like a little girls. I really wanted to wait to get his hair cut but it wasn't coming in thick enough to do the surfer style. So we gathered up dad, grandpa, and Justin and went down to where the real men get their hair done. We went in and Bradach loved the fans and tv's he watched everyone get their hair done and then it was his turn. At first he didn't mind it he laughed and smiled. But when it was time to trim around his ears and in the back he started to cry. Even after it was all done he acted as if we cut off a finger. He had to call grandma and tell her all about it. The little turd. He looked like a little boy and not my baby after his haircut. And its almost time for another one.

The Update

2009-05-07T11:10:00.000-07:00

Wow! Its been a while! Well since I blogged last Bradach is walking around using furniture or a finger. After he learned that the little stink then learned how to crawl. He has been growing like a weed, weighing in last month at 18.8 LBS and 28.6 inches long. He is learning "tricks" as I call them. He loves to give high fives to all of the girls on the softball team. He flirts like mad with them too. They all like to turn on the I Pods and watch him dance. Sometimes he can be a bit distracting during the games but he does his best to keep his animal magnetism to himself. He will be a year old in exactly one month!! Yup that's right I've kept him alive for almost a year. Now as for all of the fish and plants I've killed.....
I've been coaching softball for the local high school here and its been a blast. This year I got the opportunity to coach the JV girls. What a difference between JV and varsity! I guess it didn't help that most of my girls are freshmen. They are a fun group and we dominated opponents. Our season is over and varsity just swept districts and is going in as first seed to state. Six of my JV girls got pulled up help the team, and when I was done picking them I realized all of them are freshman. That is quite a big deal! Also two of them are starting for the varsity in the out field, and they are also in the batting order witch says a lot. State is going to be in Post Falls witch is up by Washington, a few hours from the Canadian border.
Phil is getting excited for his dad to come down while I'm away. Him and his brothers and dad are going to go riding. They ride motorcycles up at the sand dunes in St. Anthony. I just hope that they all come home in one piece. I'm sure there will be a lot of eating out and guy talk. Phil is lucky his dad can get time to come down and do this kind of stuff. Phil needs it and misses it. I assure him that when Bradach gets a bit older I will join him on the bikes.
We finally sold the house. The inspector comes today to tell us if its in selling shape, and hopefully we will close this week or early next week. With the government stepping in and helping out the first time home buyers they put a lot of guidelines down for the sellers. We had a short list of things to fix before we could sell the house to this buyer since they are getting money from the government to purchase it. Its kind of a hassle on our side of the deal but I suppose its good to know that the gov. isn't just letting the money go to any house.

Fun day!!

2009-02-08T12:37:00.000-08:00

Saturday was such a fun day for the whole family. It started with Austin's first birthday party that Bradach was invited to. It was a monkey theme and we all had a great time. Austin's mom and I were friends growing up and we both hope that our sons have a fun time growing up together. After the party Bradach went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for the evening while Phil and I went on our first date since Bradach was born, the date was also for our 5th year of marriage. For those of you who don't know that is 8 months. And it is actually longer since I was on bed rest the whole last month, and I was also coaching softball before that. Anyways Phil and I went to dinner and then to the movies. We saw a 3D movie so we got to wear these "Drew Carey" glasses. It was a ton of fun. Phil was such a gentlemen, opening the car door for me and everything! He even dressed nice, which is jeans for him. All in all it was one of the best days I have had in a long time. I think we will be going on more dates in the future.I was telling Bradach we were going to Austins for a party and this is his reaction. He's not excited at all. LOL.

Austin getting caught in the act of stealing Bradach's binky, if Austin had one Bradach would have stolen his...plus we let it slide since it was Austin's BIG dayBradach crashed on the way home from the party. The monkey he has was a party favor, attached to the hand is a balloon. I think he had a lot of fun, playing with the other kids.

At the movies with our cool 3D glasses!

On our way home from our date, Phil said taking pictures in the car while driving is more dangerous than texting while driving, I think he just wanted me to put the camera away.

Passing the crud

2009-02-03T21:51:00.001-08:00

This last week was a dosi for us. It started off with my dad getting sick with some stomach thing. Then Phillip got it. That weekend I started getting sick, thinking it was the stomach crud and come to find out it was kidney stones. Yeah for me, right?! Then Bradach got sick with the stomach crud, and I don't know how but he got a cough with it. So Phil got a mutated stomach crud from Bradach, meanwhile Bradach's cough turns into a runny nose also. Oh and I got the mutated stomach crud. You would think that's enough, but nope! Now Phil has the cold and I'm starting to feel it coming on too....what a great family. We sure know how to share! We were all sick and no one wanted to take care of anyone. We called reinforcements, grandma, she got to the door and saw a green cloud of crud floating around and walked away. Come to find out grandma watched him the same weekend grandpa had the stomach crud and she had a cold. So grandma and grandpa are the source. We are still passing around this stuff. Hopefully we will all be 100% soon.

Having fun

2009-01-28T21:17:00.000-08:00

Having a baby in the house is so much fun. Brings out the kid in you. Here are some of the fun things Bradach has been into these few days.

Playing baseball! He has a killer swing already at 7 months!
First balloon, we had to take it away, we thought he would pop it with his sharp little nails.
Bradach in a box!!

This is the funniest thing too bad Bradach doesn't do what he normally does to the full extent if a camera is in his face. But when he gets excited he flails his arms and sounds like he is hyperventilating.

Playing blog catch up

2009-01-27T20:16:00.000-08:00

I recently had the opportunity to fly to Portland with my dad and the head coach of the Blackfoot Broncos softball program. We went there to go to a coaches clinic. It was so awesome, I learned so much information. The speakers that they had were phenomenal. The game has changed a ton since I played it. Everything from the swing of the bat to the running of the bases. The technology that they use to better the sport is awesome. While we were there we stayed in the hotel where the conference was. We went to the hot tub and hung out. Not one person in the pool spoke English, they all spoke Russian. We went shopping at the strip mall, and ordered cheesecake at 11PM. It was a lot of fun. I did however miss my little man. Thank heavens for technology and the phones that can send video messages. I got to see Bradach and my hubby while I was so far away. Another thing about staying in that hotel was that we were right next to the runway. I looked out my window and there was a parking lot and then the air strip. All night long we heard jets flying in and out. Good thing I live next to the train tracks and am used to loud noises all night long. Here is a picture out my window to prove how close we were.
Bradach has a thing for technology. If he gets upset and starts crying all I have to do is whip out my cell phone and he is happy. He also loves to come and sit on the computer with me. We found a fun website www.kneebouncers.com he loves to pound on the keys and see something happen. So we went out and got him his own laptop. He likes playing with the keys and watching the boxes light up and sing but most of all he likes to open and close it. Its so much fun when we get it out he starts flailing his arms and panting like a dog because he is so excited.
Bradach is growing up so fast here are some of my favorite pictures of him. Most of the time I pull out the camera he just wants to stare at it. The one with him one eyed is one of his many eye infections that make it seal shut when he wakes up from a nap. We call him our little pirate.
One last thing for this post. I really need to keep up so I don't have to put so much effort into each post. We love our dog Nakeeta. She is a lab/husky. She is very smart and so sweet to Bradach. If he has a treat for her she is so gentle until he releases it from his hands. She will lay next to him but not on his blanket. Bradach thinks she is the funniest thing, he will grab her ears and lips and she lets him. He laughs and laughs when she is close to him. I think they will get along just fine. She also has a habit of taking perch (like a bird) on the bushes and watch over the cemetery.

I come home and this is what I found

2009-01-19T12:42:00.001-08:00

I went to Portland for a softball conference this weekend. Before I left I told Bradach that he couldn't say any new words, or learn any new tricks. The conference was great I learned a ton of stuff. I could hardly wait to get home and when I did Bradach was a little show off. He learned about his fingers and now he curls them one by one until he has a fist and does it over and over again. He jibber jabbers more than ever. He also has a new cough...first its the real thing then he keeps it up so you pay attention to him. He is such a cutie. I can't say it enough, I love him to death. He also started panting like a dog when he gets excited. Its so fun to watch him grow every day.

New hat

2009-01-11T14:06:00.000-08:00

Bradach's daddy has a talent for sewing so he put it to good use and made a hat for Bradach. Well actually he made two, the first one was way too small....the second one perfect, except it kept slipping down over Bradach's eyes. He is so cute in his new hat I thought I'd share.

Pop Gun Fun

2009-01-03T16:53:00.000-08:00

When we went to Spokane this fall the family took a trip to Cabelas. There we found a bucket full of pop guns by the entrance. This video was taken after we had been popping two guns at a time and had Bradach laughing so hard he got the hiccups. Daddy decided to grab the camera and shoot Bradachs cute little laugh. The door greeter came over to catch the little kids playing with the pop guns and put a stop to it but was surprised to see adults as the culprits. He let us go only because Bradach was enjoying himself so much. We also enjoyed the animals, but most of all the pop guns and fish.

Christmas day hot tubbing

2008-12-26T21:22:00.000-08:00

The past few days its snowed and snowed. My mom decided she wanted to get in the hot tub and I decided to join her. My mom is not one to do anything crazy or out of the box, unless it has to do with scrap booking. Anyways while we were marinating in the hot tub enjoying the cold winter snow blowing all around us she thought it would be fun to run to the fence and back. Now the fence is about 30 feet from where we were sitting warm and toasty, and on that 30 feet was about a foot or more of snow. I don't know if it was the egg nog or all the sugar in the candy that got to her but she thought of something even more fun, snow angels. So we got out of the hot tub, walked across the icy cement patio, and ran to our designated snow angel area. We plopped down in our swimming suits and made perfect angels. I was being kind and let my mom do her angel closest to the hot tub, after I got up and started to run back to the tub my mom was sitting in the snow yelling "help me!! I can't get up!!". So I helped her get up, not very well, I was laughing way to hard to be much help, and then ran back to the tub. When we got back and started to get warm again, and after the stinging in our legs went away, we decided to do it again. This time she ran to the fence and I did another angel. The whole time she was yelling and whooping, it was so funny. Also the second time we got caught, the boys were in the house watching and wondering what kind of crazy people we were for doing it. Defiantly one of the more active parts of my Christmas Day.

Christmas 08

2008-12-25T16:44:00.000-08:00

Today is Christmas. The first one for our little boy. He had so much fun looking at the lights on the tree. His favorite thing though was the cellophane paper that Grandma put in his gift bags. It was shinny and made the coolest noise. Our extended family came up from Utah witch is always a plus. Phillip and I are very blessed with a great family who loves us and provides a great time. My favorite part was the snow, it hasn't stopped snowing all day long. I couldn't have asked for anything better than a white Christmas. We look forward to seeing my brother and his wife in January when they can get away from their jobs.