Harding Reunion

So last night we had a Family Reunion on Randy's mother's side of the family, the Harding side. It was a lot of fun, we had a talent show and then a dance it was kind of funny though because our family was pretty much the only ones dancing. We had a lot of fun though, I sang a duet with my sister-in-law LeeAnn, and Hailey and Katie sang I'm Trying to be Like Jesus. They did a really good job! I was so proud of them. I love to hear Hailey sing, it's so cute. There were a few other talents as well, and we found out that Randy's cousin was headed up to Salt Lake today for the American Idol auditions, he's good enough to make it so we'll see what happens!! We also got to watch Grandpa's flowers blossom. He has flowers that blossom at night and then they die the next morning. It was so awesome to actually get to watch the flower open up. Grandpa is an amazing gardner. So I've had some pictures I've wanted to post for a while now. These were taken a few weeks ago at a park in Payson. We went and met a friend of mine there and our kids all played together, she has two, a little girl whose a year and a boy who is almost three. They all had a lot of fun.

Camping

Ok, so we went camping this weekend, it was a lot of fun but it's so stressful with little kids. But we all had fun, and I got to see me cousin Steven who I haven't seen in eight years, so it was really awesome!! We went camping with my mom's family, it should have been my family and all my uncles and their families. However, we haven't had everyone together for about five years now. I really miss hearing my uncles and my mom talk about growing up. Sometimes I wonder how they survived to adulthood. Poor Zoe, though, she didn't have a good day Thursday because of me. I had her in her car seat to feed her, so I didn't buckle her in. Then I took her in to the trailer and put her on the bench and was trying to set up her playpen in the middle of the trailer to lay her down for a nap. All of a sudden I hear a bang and I look over and she's on the floor with her car seat on top of her. What happened ( I found this out later when I saw her do this) was she sat up and the car seat was too close to the edge of the bench, and she fell out. I felt pretty bad!! Now she has a big sore on her nose. Then later that night, we put her down to sleep and then we brought the other two in later, well Katie threw a fit and woke Zoe up. So we brought her out with us, Randy was spraying her with Off and Zoe turned her head and the mist got in her eyes. Poor thing, on top of all this, she's cutting her top two teeth right now. It was really sad. Here's the damage:




These were taken after she had a bath, this morning as we were leaving she had a face only a mother could love, she was so dirty and her nose was so red! Poor thing, I feel like such a terrible mom. Just a note, her sore looks worse then it is. It's really just a scrape, it kind of looks like a gash in the picture but it's not. It almost just looks like a bruise, just really red. Then, I almost thought we adopted black children for a while, I can't believe how dirty two little girls can get!!
They had fun, I'm just glad I put them in clothes that I'm not partial to. We did have a lot of fun, though, we ended up going to Payson Lakes and we let the girls swim, we didn't bring swimsuits so we went ghetto style! Hailey swam in her underwear and undershirt and we just took Katie's diaper off and put her onesie on and let them swim. They had fun, and we were able to get some of the dirt off. It was a ton of fun!! Really stressful but a lot of fun!

The Zoo

We were able to go to the Zoo on Tuesday, it was a lot of fun. The girls all seemed to enjoy it, the favorite part of the Zoo was the Elephants. They had a little show with them, and it was really cute to see. The girls talked about seeing the Elephant pee and poop for the next couple of days. They are so cute!!! I wanted to post a few of my favorite pictures from the afternoon.



The cutest though, was that Zoe fell asleep while I was holding her.

Then I gave her to Randy so I could take the other two to the bathroom. Randy went to the van to start it and get it cooling down. When we got to the van, this is how we found them.

It was a lot of fun, I was so glad we went. Oh, I forgot, my other favorite part was the white alligator, that was pretty cool!!

One of those days!!

So Saturday was one of those days where I would have gladly given Katie to someone else for the day. Everytime I turned around she was into something else. She came into the living room and was rubbing something into her hands, and I could see something around her mouth. Now, I don't understand this at all but she loves lotion, not only putting it on, but she eats it. I know, disgusting, hopefully this is a phase she'll grow out of. Anyway, I asked her what she had and she told me it was lotion, well, I could smell it and it only took me a minute to figure out that it was Desitin. So I quickly ran into her room and I found this:

Then after I took this into our room to clean, I found another toy covered in Desitin. The next thing she did was take the strawberry syrup lid off and was eating it, she had strawberry syrup all down her shirt and some on the floor. Then she spilled water all over the highchair tray. I was so ready for bed time that night. Oh yes, I forgot the last thing I found out she did. I found the teething tablets and we used to have three quarters of them left, and now we only have a quarter left. When I asked Hailey if she ate them she said, "No, Katie did." So I asked Katie if she ate them and she said she did. At least she was honest about it. I was so tired and frustrated. Oh well, I guess that's what you get with a two year old. I just don't remember this phase, I'm sure that Hailey when through the same phase, I just don't remember. I guess it balances itself out, because one minute you're ready to put them in a room for the rest of their lives and the next they melt your heart. I guess that's kids for you!

Our little Zoe

Nine Months Old

So today Zoe is nine months old. I can't believe how fast time goes by, it's insane!! Just a little about our little one, she loves to eat. Anytime I put her in her highchair with cheerios she just loves it! She always gives me her new little grin and she'll sit there for quite awhile as long as I keep her tray loaded with cheerios. Her favorite food is sweet potatoes, and much to the tradition of our babies, she doesn't like fruits. She's a pickier eater then our other two, Hailey and Katie ate all the veggies, but not Zoe. She's more selective on what she'll eat. She loves to have her feet by her, and she absolutely LOVES to play with Daddy!! He's about the only one who can make her laugh. She's still very selective on when she laughs, and a lot of the time it's not a full on giggle. Katie was this same way, I don't think that girl laughed until she was over a year old. But, she grinned quite easily!! Zoe is seeming to be the same way. She does laugh, and I've even captured it on camera. The other problem with Zoe is that she gets bored, so what worked one day to make her laugh doesn't work the next. Hailey and Katie love their little sister, sometimes a little too much. I have to make sure they don't try to feed her (which they have before) and I have to really watch them to make sure they are being soft with her. Zoe is definately a Momma's girl, which to tell you the truth I think I prefer to have Daddy's girls! Zoe has gotten better, but there are times when Randy gets home and I really want a break from her and she just doesn't want a break from me and cries until I hold her. Those are frustrating times, but she's gotten better. Unfortunately it's still a regular pattern for Zoe to wake up at least once in the night, but for the past two nights she has slept all night and wakes up around 6:30 but then she'll usually go back to sleep for at least another couple of hours after I nurse her. I am down to only nursing her about three to four times a day, sometimes it's more if she's fussier than normal. I am counting down the months until she's one, I can't wait to have my body back!! I'm sure that weaning her won't be as easy as I'm hoping, but maybe a miracle will occur and she won't have problems with weaning. Keep your fingers crossed!! We love our little Zoe, and I am so thankful for my girls, even on the days where sometimes I wonder, I know deep down, I don't know where I would be without my children or my wonderful husband.

Speaking of which I need to give a little shout out to my husband. For those of you that haven't heard, on the fourth of July my husband got a ticket for lighting an illegal firework. When the cop turned on his lights everyone but Randy and his mom ran into the house. Later some people asked Randy why he didn't just run into the house and Randy said it wouldn't have mattered, he was caught, and someone told him he could have just said it wasn't us, but Randy wouldn't do that. I am absolutely in love with my husband and proud of him, he is such an example to me. He is such an honest man, and he knew he had made a stupid decision and was going to face the consequences. I am so glad that he was honest when the rest of us probably wouldn't have been, what an example to our girls. I love him so much, I don't know what I would do without him!! I only hope he knows how much he means to me. Anyway, that's my little shout out to the love of my life!!

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It's been a long time

So, it's been a really long time since I've written anything, so I decided to write down some of my feelings. Things have been rough lately, I've been having a really hard time with life right now. I honestly hope I'm not depressed but I am worried that I am. I have not been finding joy in life at all right now, I don't even find joy in my children which is really sad because they deserve a mom who will enjoy them. I don't feel like a good mom, and I definately haven't felt worthy of the sweet spirits that are my children. I have such a hard time confiding in anyone, then when I finally decide to open up to someone, I'm told something that makes me feel like I shouldn't have. Why is it that when I finally decide to go out on a limb and open up, I feel like someone says "What do you think you're doing? Get back in that tree and hide yourself!!" Why is it that people have such a hard time telling people how they really feel? How many times does someone ask how you're doing and you respond, I'm fine and inside you're really saying, I'm hurting and I'm scared and lonely. I hope I'm not the only one who does this. Actually what I think I'm afraid of is that people will assume that that's how I'm always doing whenever they ask me. I have no idea if that makes any sense at all. Oh well. But things are starting to feel a little better, I was able to talk to someone who wasn't judgemental at all and didn't shove back in my face all the problems that they're going through. Sort of like a "who's going through the tougher trials" game. Now before anyone wants to rip my head off, I know I am blessed, I have been given so much, but when I'm down, that doesn't mean that my feelings aren't real, or that I shouldn't feel that way. And all I really want someone to say is "Man, that is tough, hang in there, I know it doesn't seem like it but things get better." Then maybe they could share an example of a time that maybe they went through a similar trial. I don't know, I just know I don't like to feel like I'm reaching out for help and they say, "You think that's bad, listen to what I'm going through!" NOt exactly in those words but you know what I'm saying. I also don't mind being there for someone else when they need someone to talk to and tell them that everything's going to be alright, I just want the favor returned once in a while you know?

Anyway, sorry about that, I've just been bottling that up for so long, it's nice to get it out. Now on a happier note, we had a very nice fourth of July, except the ticket Randy got for using an illegal firework, that sort of put a damper on things. Oh well, things like that are bound to happen when you make a stupid decision. I take part of the blame as well, because I was one of the people telling him to light it. I'll have to let you know what the damage is when we find out, hopefully the beginning of next week. Other than that, we had a great fourth of July weekend!! We also had a lot of fun rearranging our girls rooms about a week ago, now Hailey is in a regular bed, Katie is in the toddler bed and Zoe is now in a crib. Which she seems to like, most the time. She has been so fussy lately and it's very hard to deal with. I think she's teething, and I'm actually hoping that's what it is, so that hopefully she'll settle down soon. Well, I hope I didn't make anyone extremely upset by this post, and if I did, please know that I didn't offend on purpose. I just really needed to vent.