1 Cat, 2 Codys, 3 Girls

More Lil Cody Quotes

2012-01-22T18:32:00.000-08:00

When hearing a sound (any sound, cats fighting, an exercise ball bouncing on the ground, etc...)

"What's that wonderful sound?"

One night he had a mild fever. We took his temperature and then gave him some medicine. The next day...

"Mommy, I have the hiccups. I am sick I need my temperature and some medicine." With this he raised his arm for the thermometer and also pointed at his mouth and then for effect he faked a hiccup. Haha.

After playing at his new friend from churches house he just met....

"Now, I have 2 friends, mommy."
Me: Oh, yah and who are they?

"Noemi & Jacob." (Jacob the new friend, Noemi is one of his friends from our old ward.)

When helping him brush his teeth tonight...

"I do it now, mommy. You brush yours."

When watching the movie Up for the 15th time he still asks

"What happened?" all through it 1/2 the time.

When I looked at the screen and saw Carl at the funeral in Up and told him that his wife died he said...

"That is so sad."

I heard him telling this to a girl in his class at daycare when she sat down for breakfast.

"Isabella, your hair is so beautiful."

Me: "Isabella, did you hear him, Cody said he likes your hair, say thank you."

Isabella: Nothing

Cody: "It is the most beautiful hair I have ever seen."

When his 17 year old sister Stephanie was asking him to watch Monsters Inc. he told her....

"No, we can't. It is too scary for you. Let's watch this one." (He points to the movie Up.)

After the bath when daddy wraps him in his towel he comes to me and says...

"I'm a burrito momma, I'm a burrito." That is courtesy of daddy. :)

Oh, the things he says....

2012-01-09T15:58:00.000-08:00

Recent Lil Cody Quotes:

While praying....

"....please bless daddy have good night work. Please bless I get to play Angry Birds now..."

"...please bless mommy and the baby in mommy's tummy and Wal-mart."

While sitting on the potty...

"Get away Mommy! You're makin' me nuts!!"

While learning a how to work the switch on the lamp....

"I'm learning here, momma."

When he sees me at his school where I am currently working...

"Momma... You're back!"

When the cat comes into the house...

"Lady Girl! You're back!" He says this with so much excitement!
When he does not want to do something like go potty or eat....

"no, I'm fine."

When he was playing with daddy and daddy was getting excited (haha)...

"Calm your face, daddy!"

When trying to be gross and funny....

"I am going to burp the ABC's." then he proceeds to burp the ABC's.

This kid is so funny. He cracks me up. What 3 year old asks in his prayer to play Angry Birds or tells his mom she is makin him nuts? Seriously love this boy so much!! Some of it he totally comes up with on his own. Some I know is because he is a parrot. Yikes!

My 3 year old is halirous

2011-11-29T17:54:00.000-08:00

Ok, he will be 4 in 2 months but honestly this kid cracks me up. For example, yesterday I was trying to bargain with him. I had been trying to get him to write his name. He was about at the end of the "play time" with the writing and learning games so I told him if he wrote his name for me he could have an ice cream sandwich. He stopped trying to ignore me and looked at me and laughed as he said, "Ice cream sandwich? That's funny. That is silly, ice cream Sandwich!" I told him not really it was good he would like it and he said, "Ew gross." He finally wrote out his name for me as best he could and as a result got the (mini) ice cream sandwich, which he did not in fact think was gross at all. Ha.

At Six Flags dancing to a Bugs Bunny Show

You thought that was sort of cute, how about this one? I have some glass glasses that I bring out some time for fun. The other morning I poured some egg nog in these "fancy" glasses (they look like champagne glasses.) Cody wanted to try some so I handed him a glass. He was facing away from me and toward the girls. I told him, "be careful. That glass can break easily." I wish I would have caught his response on video. He was holding the stem of the glass in both hands. He shuffled his feet first to the right and then the left pretending to tip the glass each way as he moved back and forth saying, "Woah, woah..." I was so surprise. I asked the girls if he really just did what I thought he did. I repeated the movement I say and sure enough this kid was messing with me with his sarcastic humor. What 3 year old do you know that is so silly? It was so stinkin funny!!

He is learning a lot. He can almost write his name. He gets sort of stuck on the Y and tries to make the D a capital letter then adds the straight line part. He is still working on talking more clearly. He knows the colors. He knows letters and numbers. He is learning to write them out. He is currently in the fridge (oh make that freezer) helping himself to a snack. It was an ice cream sandwich. Mommy had to say no to that one tonight as he has already had one.

When he doesn't want to do some thing he says, "Daddy, says no." As in daddy does not want him to do what I am telling him to do. It is pretty funny. When he realizes daddy does agree with me he then says, "miss Liz says no." (His daycare lady.) That is what I get for telling him Miss Liz or daddy would want him to do what ever it is I am asking him to do.

His most special talent is burping the ABC's. He is channeling some old friends of mine with that one. He can burp on command and thinks it is pretty funny. My husband and my grandma disagree. I dislike it when he wont stop but I have to admit sometimes it is funny. Gross but funny.

He defiantly has a personality. And I love it!

Now if only I could get him to sleep in his own bed again when daddy is working nights.

This video was a month ago or so...

I like the Fro Big Cody said No!

2011-11-09T19:23:00.000-08:00

Before

During

After

Our pet's can teach lotsa life lessons.

2011-11-09T19:04:00.000-08:00

Sad sad day. Little Mousey went away. I though he'd come back another day, but it seems he was away to stay. So sad.

So we moved into our new house last month. (Still renting for now.) When we moved in the dog smell in the carpet was so bad we asked to have it replaced. The day they changed the carpet I was at work. The carpet guys let the cat named Mouse out. He never found his way home. I think maybe he couldn't find us. The whole smell of the place changed. Cody thought maybe he went to try to find his was the 20 miles to our old house. Aww. Little Cody knows Mouse is gone and probably not coming back. Big Cody felt so bad he kept telling me to go to the pound and let a new one pick to live with us. I wasn't sure I was ready for that.

About 3 weeks later we saw a sign in our neighborhood with a picture of a cat and a message that said, "Am I yours?" This picture looked so much like Mouse. I called right away and left a message. We waited 15 minutes and called from Cody's number since mine is long distance. Still no answer and no call back. Until... we were in bed at like 10 on a Thursday and got a call. It was the lady who had the cat! Yippie! After a big discussion about this cat we decided I just needed to come see. As I was making plans to meet her after work on Friday Big Cody says, "Go now. You will be stressing out all day if you don't go now. She just got home so she's up. Just go. And take your phone so she can see a picture of Mouse so she doesn't think you are some crazy lady trying to steal a cat." Ha. he is so eloquent. So I went. At 10:15pm. In my jammies. When I got to the house and she opened the door I took one look at this cat and knew it was not our missing kitty. I let her know. She said she didn't think it would be (Based on our conversation and the fact she was thinking this cat she has was a girl.) But she told me the cat she rescued needed a new home. No one else had called and she couldn't keep her much longer. So that is how Lady Girl came to be the newest member of Team Mantor. It is also the reason she looks like Bella and Mouse. (You may remember we found Mouse when we were on the look out for Bella one night when she was stuck in a closet. I miss her so much.) You can't tell from the picture below but Lady Girl is huge. The girls say she looks like she ate Mouse. Or she is what it would look like if Mouse and Bella had a baby. Only she is older. Ha.

We still have hopes that Mouse will find his way back, but honestly he is such a good loving house cat that I think he probably found himself a new loving family.

In other pet news, we gave Adam Baldwin to a Baldwin family. Seriously. One of Mariana's friends brothers. Then a few weeks later the girls took their snakes "home" to their mothers. Two days after that the snakes got out of their cage and are still at large. After many hours looking to no avail the snakes are still hidden.

For those counting this left us here at our house with John Casey. The big one. He was in a temporary cage in the garage. He got out of that so Big Cody put him in a pillow case over night. The next day I got home from work and the case was empty in the living room floor. I assumed big Cody had put him back in a cage outside. I found out the next day I was wrong. This large snake is also at large. He is a Colombian Boa. He is friendly so far but waaay strong. So grandma & grandpa, you can rest at ease. We have no snakes here any more. At least that we know where are. Maybe that isn't more relaxing than knowing where he was in his cage, locked in and outside. hoe hum....

Mariana's Birthday

2011-11-09T18:44:00.000-08:00

September 2011

We got all pretty'd up and went to the Riverwalk for Mariana's 15th birthday. She got to be an alligator in public. Her dream come true!

It's official

2011-10-07T08:51:00.001-07:00

It is official. My camera is gone. I need a new one. All of my recent pictures are coming from my phone. Sup, sup, with that? There were 900+ memories on there that are gone forever. Tear! (I have a suspicion as to who may have gotten themselves a new camera a few months back. But it is waaaay gone and outta state now if that suspicion is correct.

It’s official. We are out of our house. We are still living out of storage and staying at a family from churches house. It has been so nice of them to let us stay there. But, hopefully we will get our keys today. We need to be in our own place. All 4 of us are feeling so displaced. Me, Cody, Lil Cody and Mouse. Our snakes are staying at a different home for these days. The family who has them is not all happy they are there. So they are also displaced. I hope our house is ready today!

It’s official. Little Cody is a-maze-za-zing! He knows the alphabet, the sounds, he can figure out what letter words start with and just last week he started showing me the alphabet in sign language. He loves to quiz me. When I get the answer right he usually tells me, “Good job, Momma.” I love it. Yesterday we were eating grapes and he tells me, “Mmmm. I love grapes! These are good. Everyone loves grapes.” Haha.

Boo hiss

2011-09-15T17:24:00.000-07:00

That is what I have to say about my recent blogging. I have been awful. But since my camera left and all I have is my phone for pictures it has been hard and I am a bum!

Here are some cute ones of my cute ones....

Friends and foot eating

2011-08-17T06:34:00.001-07:00

Cody's new bestie Emma

So cute!!

2011-08-13T05:22:00.001-07:00

Love this kid!!

A buncha of Pictures with captions

2011-08-01T19:36:00.000-07:00

This man is at a Regal movie theather wearing his "free" popcorn shirt for a different chain. Ha!

Mommy & her friends watch SYTYCD and daddy and the kids do this!

I thought putting the cheese on the top shelf would keep him out of it.

Another fun summer day at day care. (She took him to an indoor playplace that was waaay better than McDonalds!!)

Spaghetti for breakfast. In the car. It was the only thing that got him to stop crying that morning. Ha!

Oh no! I guess using the back seat as my shoe closet has caught up with me.

The Ring Leader

2011-08-01T19:29:00.000-07:00

So, as I mentioned we like to go to the McAirConditioned Playplace so our monkey can run around and we can enjoy some free A/C. We go to this one near our house that has this big open area under the climbing tubes. Well, the last 2 times we were there random children were playing with lil C. The weird thing is these different kids basically played the same game. They play a version of tag where Cody is always pretty much "it." They run and he chases. Since he is not allowed to push or hit and he is not upset he basically doesn't touch the other kids so eventually they run into him and say that he "tagged" them. This last time if he touched them they would fall to the ground pretty much because every time Cody would run in two circles he would fall to the ground. They other kids would help him up and they would do it all over again. Probably a boring story for you and the bloggy blog, here but it was so funny to watch.

Day 30 of 30 ... 30 days all about and for my Cody boy

2011-06-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

My dear sweet silly boy,

You are my joy. Babies and kids almost always change a mommies life. You saved mine. I waited for so long for you to join me here on Earth. I have always know more than any thing else I wanted to be a mom. When I started making wrong choices and then wasn't able to have kids and start my family like I'd always wanted I changed. My priorities changed and who I was and thought I wanted to be changed. I even thought I had started to convince myself I didn't really want kids. Then one day all that changed. I found out, "Surprise!" I was pregnant. To me this in it's self was a miracle. I was resigned to the fact I might never get to be your mom. Imagine my joy. That day I changed. With in a few weeks my whole world changed. I left California and moved to Arizona to be closer to my sister and brothers. I started going back to church. I started following the guidelines & standards the church out lines for us to live by for happy lives.

It was not always easy. But I kept telling myself, Heavenly Father answered a 10 year old prayer of mine, so I needed to keep my end of the bargain. I aways knew I wanted to raise my family to know the truthfulness of the gospel and the church. So, I started going. It took time to get comfortable with being there. But with time and perseverance I got comfortable. And I became active again. And I got where I liked who I was and who I was becoming. I was more calm and collected as a mother of a 6 1/2 week early preemie than I has been in years. I made new friends and when you were just under 1 year old I, as you already know, met your daddy. We moved to Texas to be with him and the girls.

Every day of my life you make me smile. There are plenty of moments where you make me want to pull out my hair, too, but the little moments full of love make it worth it. The past 30 days tell about you and your little blooming personality. You have a stubborn streak. You are so smart and good at problem solving; which includes finding a way to get what you want. You are a lover. You love to hug and cuddle me. You like kissing people and asking them if they are, "all better." You have a chore and you are really good about doing it. You feed the cat. The cat named Mouse who you just call Cat. (Too smart, I say.) You know all your colors. You know shapes and numbers. You can spell your name and recite 2 of the 13 articles of faith. You know who you are.

Cody I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for bringing you into my life. I don't know where I would be if you hadn't decided it was finally your time to come to this world. Thank you for choosing me to be your mommy. I promise to do my best to teach you and love you and help you in this life. I can't wait to see all the other things you will do over the next 70 years.

Love,

Your Mommy

Day 29 of 30 . . .Growing up : Big Boy

2011-06-29T16:30:00.000-07:00

Another step forward in Cody's progress to becoming a big boy. A new Big Boy Bed. Bigger than before. 1st night = success! He stayed in bed all night and didn't even try to come out of his room! Yay! (Nights two and 3...um... we are still working on it.)

A growing up sign. Literally growing. Cody seems to have grown like 4 inches in the last few weeks. I couldn't help but notice how long he seemed when he was laying in the bath tub. He almost stretched the whole length!!

Daddy encourages Cody to be more self aware and be a big boy. He got him this little red wagon so we can work on saying Bye-bye baby stroller!

Day 28 of 30 . . . A new favorite

2011-06-28T16:19:00.000-07:00

As Quincy from Little Einsteins would say, "I can not believe it!" you have a new favorite. Sorry Buzz, sorry Woody, sorry Leo & Rocket and the gang, sorry Bruster and the Chuggington crew, sorry Phineas & Ferb. There is a new favorite toon in town and mommy is not sure she likes it. Gone is the learning about friendship and treating your toys good from Toy Story, gone is the classical music and problem solving of the Little Einsteins, gone is the learning to follow directions and do things right from Chuggington, and gone is the using your imagination and invention and crime fighting from Phineas & Ferb. (alright, that last one is a stretch, but...) And in comes learning to whine and cry and produce tears.

Lately every time you see this specific yellow sponge you go nuts! SpongeBob! SpongeBob! You shout and point. Oh no, I say.

Yesterday you did not want to put underwear on. I asked if you wanted Woody or Buzz or Thomas the Train or Lightening McQueen. "SpongeBob!" you demanded and cried who I could not locate that one single pair of SpongeBob undies you own. This habit really got started rolling at Miss Liz's house where you currently go for daycare. She told me that Spongebob is your favorite and you even know the song. When they try to redirect you away from it you get maaad!

You definitely know what you like.

But drop the

whine or

we will

have

Ban

SpongeBob

Day 27 of 30 . . . Warm Milk

2011-06-27T04:32:00.000-07:00

This kiddo cracks me up. It is fun to see the world a different way. I love seeing how his mind works. Take this little life moment for example: I was trying to get him to drink his warm milk the other night (in hopes of it aiding his journey in to dream land and bed time) and I told him, “drink your milk.” He drank a little bit then handed the cup back to me. I wanted him to drink more so I told him, “Come on, put it in your belly.” He looked at me and then in all seriousness he lifted up his shirt so I could “put the milk in his belly.” Hahahaha! What a funny guy! Then I told him to show daddy how he puts the milk in his belly. He did it again. So silly. As I am typing this 5 days later I just realized that I forgot to tell him how you really “put the milk in your belly.” Oops. My bad.

Day 26 of 30.... movie seat.

2011-06-26T18:56:00.000-07:00

Ever since Cody was like 3 weeks old he has gone to the movies and brought thus seat. Yep, his stroller.96% of the time he sits in it, too. And we sit next to him. Right below the stadium seating. Next to the place you park if you are sitting in your chair you brought that has wheels. Over 101 movies in the theater for this lil guy so far.

Day 25 of 30... Haircut time

2011-06-25T20:14:00.001-07:00

Cody has had 4 professional hair cuts.2 by my old friend Lindsey, one at Supercuts and this one. He was so good. When it was all done he told me, "Again!" And, "my turn." But he had no more hair to cut!!

Day 24 of 30 . . . what about your feet?

2011-06-24T12:53:00.000-07:00

My little man loves to take off his shoes in the car. I guess I get it. My shoes typically live in the car. But he does not realize that it is a pain in the reet-root when I am driving 5 minutes to the store and we get there and I have to reshoe the kid in the 170 thousand degree weather just to run into the stinkin store. I mean come on kiddo! Of course I could always leave hime shoeless (which I white trashy do some times) but then I have to carry him in so his footsies don't burn.

Shoeless at Sea World

His feet are growing fast all of the sudden. We had to buy new socks and new sandals the other day. He seems to do better with those because of the heat, I guess. He is sure funny with the shoes in the car. More often than not he get taken to his day care lady's house with no feet coverings at all. Then sometimes we will be home for hours and I have to remind him to take his shoes off. He just forgets inside. Ah, well. That is my silly shoeless boy.

Day 23 of 30 . . . The A says Ah

2011-06-23T20:52:00.001-07:00

Day 22 of 30...... can I get some sleep?

2011-06-22T05:10:00.001-07:00

Really for mommy the answer is no. little Cody does not like to go to bed at night. We have not found any magical trick that work. and believe me we've tried them all. Wearing him down, no naps, short naps, sleeping with him , letting him sleep in our bed , letting him stay up to lee falls asleep , ..... none of these things work for me ..... so I have a toddler with insomnia.... but once he's out. Oh boy.

he fell asleep in the bath this morning. or maybe he wasnt quite awake. Noe he's sleeping in his towels on my bed. I gotta finish getting ready and were off to work and school.... have a great day

Day 21 out of 30 .... Camping in the house

2011-06-21T19:00:00.000-07:00

Mommy won some points from work. She used them to get a little tent. Daddy set the tent up in the front room and wha-la! instant fun. Cody thinks this is his new play place and his new room. He likes zipping the door and pretending we are sleeping in there. It is so hot here in San Antonio, and humid, too that camping outside is something we have not done yet. But this tent just came today, so we are really thinking about it. There are a lot of little river areas near by, so we might go to one of those places and take Cody for his first camping adventure. Even though this means we will probably be up and outta there by 6 am due to the ugly heat!

Day 20 of 30 . . . Nom nom nom

2011-06-20T12:08:00.000-07:00

Changing anger to humor. That is what my 3 year old does. He has quite a little temper on him some times. He get frustrated and started to act out. We have really been working with him to not hit or push or throw things or bite and to use words. But he still has a hard time.

When he gets mad at me he squeezes my arm, so I give him "the look." And then he pretends to eat the part of my arm he just grabbed by putting his hand up to his mouth and saying. Yum, yum. He also holds his hand up like he might hit me but pretends to eat it instead. He then thinks he is funny. I often find this amusing myself and it keeps him from getting in trouble. I have to try to hide my smile.

Man, this kid has got my number.

Day 19 out of 30....Fathers Day

2011-06-19T14:05:00.001-07:00

Daddy and me.

Day 18 of 30 ..... Seesters!

2011-06-18T19:54:00.000-07:00

Big sisters & little brother:

So, Cody my boy,

As mentioned before you've been a "little brother" your whole life. Before your dad and I met and got married your "older sister" was a cat named Bella. Grandma Karen even brought your proud big sister Bella to the hospital after you were born but she didn't bring her inside. (I guess she wanted to stay on the good side of your nurses in the NICU.)

Bella and Grandma at the hospital

When you came home from the hospital you met Bella for the first time. You were buddies.

Bella was 7lbs heavier than you

You loved her and kissed her and first crawled for her. And she loved (tolerated) you right back!

Sadly she passed away just after you turned 3 years old. I hope you are able to have some type of memory of her even though you were so young. She was, after all your first "sister" and pet.

2010: New year; New family; 2 new (human) Sisters!!

As you know Jan 2, 2010 your daddy Cody and I got married. Along with daddy came your 2 older sisters, Stephanie and Mariana. You were just under 2 when you met yer seesters. They loved you right away. You loved them right back. You know who they are. You talk to me about Stephanie all the time. You even seem to ask when she is coming again. Stephanie has a great time taking care of you. She loved helping you learn and takes great joy and pride in the progress you make. She is always telling her friends about you and all the totally cute things you do.

Mariana @ your 3rd birthday

With Stephanie @ Seaworld June 2011

Mariana likes laughing at your silliness. Some times you like to call both of you sisters the same name. You think you are so funny. You know both of their names, you are just silly.

In Arizona 2011

So, my sweet Cody, remember in life : Friends may come and go, but our family is forever!

Love, Mommy

Day 17 of 30 ... Food...Yumm

2011-06-16T22:03:00.000-07:00

What does this kid eat? Besides his foot and sock?

Sweets! Much like hi mommy he has a massive sweet tooth. He loves donuts and cookies. He gets majorly excited about "birthday cake" which includes all cakes and cupcakes, birthday or other wise. If we go to the gas station that has donuts in the morning I know I have to be prepared to buy one for him or brace myself for a 5 minute temper tantrum back in the car. He loves his donuts!

He also is a pretty good fruit eater. Peaches, pears, strawberries, oranges and most recently apples are amongst his favorites now.

Cody took another favorite food habit from his mommy. He loves popcorn. He knows how to make the microwave popcorn. he just can reach the microwave by himself.

For dinner he has 2 all time favorites. More than any thing else and no matter what I have made Cody likes to show his Independence. He likes to choose to eat "his" foods. He opens the fridge and pulls out his "B-loney" or his "hot gogs." This kid will hardly eat any thing else for dinner.

Some other foods he seems to really like are:

Cheese

O's (as in Cherrios of the generic honey nut variety)

any candy his can convince us to give him

and meat.

Miss Liz at day care says he eat pretty much what ever is on his plate at daycare, so I am glad he gets more nutrition that what is listed above. About ever other day he surprises me and eats something different. So that is good, too!

day 16 of 30... bye bye beddy by

2011-06-15T21:10:00.001-07:00

Bed time is so hard. I want so desperately to sleep. He is in his room screaming his head off. I feel horrible. I am so whimpy. I always want to let him out. It is harder with big Cody working nights. It breaks my heart. My nights are easiest when he falls asleep sitting next to me and I lovingly put him in his bed. One day.... it will all be so very different. I know.

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day 15 of 30.... short on words today.

2011-06-14T20:02:00.001-07:00

Lots of energy. Still going strong at 10:01 pm.

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Day 14 of 30 . . . Kid, you changed my life

2011-06-13T20:51:00.000-07:00

Dear Cody,

The day I found out about you my life started to change. It is so very different now than it was. I am so happy for you and all the joy you bring to me. I am so lucky to be your mom. At times I want to pull my hair out because you are so busy and adventurous and fearless all the time. But you always love me and let me hold you close. You are a really smart kid. You are great at figuring out how to get things and maneuver things so they do what you want. You love to see how things work and make it happen. (That light switch is no match for you!) At the present time you are in the bath. You figured out how to turn the water off and on. You think you are so super smart. I agree.

I love you so much. Thank you for joining me here. I will keep trying to be the best mom for you I can be. You are amazing.

Love,

Mommy

Day 13 of 30.... I love this face

2011-06-12T21:11:00.000-07:00

June 2011

April 2011

March 2011

February 2011

January 2011

May 2011

Day 12 of 30 …. Church: The 41 page on going Saga condensed to One page

2011-06-11T05:23:00.000-07:00

A 3 year old with the wiggles. We’ve all been there. Or seen some one else’s monster child in the store or at church or a restaurant. Temper tantrums, fits, hitting, biting, bouncing off the walls, throwing things. So, we leave sacrament meeting. I try to keep him in my arms on the couch, but that doesn't work. More screaming, then he gets free and dances, then he runs. He thinks the church building is his gymnasium. The halls are a perfect U shaped track for him to run around. The chairs provide a nice weight for him to push around. The tables are perfect for pushing a chair up to it and climbing off or jumping off (he is getting to be a bit more of a dare devil, too.) If we go in a room I can hear sacrament meeting from (ie the primary room or relief society room) the piano becomes a great way to express him little self. Aaaaarrrrggggg!!!! This is a typical Sunday in my current world. And it is not easy.

I have gotten all sorts of advise and knowing looks from people who have been there, too. (Or just know what they think might help.) And I appreciate every bit of it. Each week we are trying something. I think I am going to try for consistency now. We might be up and down a bit more but we will be in sacrament meeting more than out. Nursery is a hard thing for me. His teachers are amazing, but for the first 5 minutes he cries and screams. I feel so bad. But he usually calms down. the last 2 weeks I didn't even subject his sweet teachers to that. We just left. Yay, church. 49 minutes in the hall. 5 minutes passing out the primary roll and then home.

It will get better, I know. {insert huge sigh here.}

Day 11 of 30 …. Momma’s boy from day one to approximately day 1151

2011-06-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

That is the day he became a little daddy’s man.

Ok it actually was a bit earlier that he became a mini me to big Cody. Maybe day 895 of his life. Daddy took him into the garage. And they worked on projects. And building, and hammering. Big Cody built a work bench for himself and set up little Cody’s work bench and train next to it. They have a grand ole time out there doing “man” stuff for hours at a time. It is the Codys bonding time. In this man cave where I only dwell to add stuff to my yard sell pile, big Cody has been holding/fixing a motorcycle for his friend for a loooong time now. Little Cody sees it. He sees daddy working on it, talking about it and so on. It doesn’t run right now so there it sits. But "they" work on it and discuss it.

Approximately day 1151 Big Cody finished an oil change on another friends bike. He had been asking to take me for a ride the whole time he was fixing it. So the day it was done I dug out my ten-e shoes and dusted off the cob webs put them on and we went for a ride quick 10 minute ride. It was awesome and scary for me at the same time. When we got back I ran to the neighbors to collect Lil C. Daddy ran in to the house. When he came back out Lil C was sitting on the bike with the helmet on. (The same helmet I wore.) Cody sat him in front of him on the motorcycle and they went for a quick ride around the neighborhood. 2 more rides later and a true motorcycle fan (monster) had been created. “Again, again!” he cried. Once inside we had to bribe him with the TV to distract and calm him from wanting to ride. He was so happy and loved it so super de duper much!

I will tell you I was more scared on his ride than my own. But Big Cody knows what he is doing. He is a great daddy! When the time came to give the bike back to its owner a coupla days later, the boys were in the garage. When the owner rode off on his ride tears once again flowed.

Big Cody said, “Welp, you can sure tell he’s my son.” Awwww. Melted my heart.

Day 10 of 30 …. Cody and Krystina sitting in a tree

2011-06-09T20:45:00.000-07:00

Not quite k-i-s-s-i-n-g. And not in a tree. In a pool, in a chair, with snakes, on a concrete slab, in the snow, finding Easter eggs, throwing stuffed animals around Cody's room, jumping on the bed and so on.

Cody’s favorite friend is our little neighbor girl. He has friends at day care and church, but Krystina, or Kah-teena as Cody calls her, is his favorite. He has really taken to her. She is the first friend that he asks for and asks to play with. He gets so excited when I ask him if he wants to play with Krystina he gets so excited and literally jumps up and down and repeats her name over and over.

She is 4 days younger than him & really gets excited to see him, too. She is a bit more articulate than him so often times she is leading the way and he is ok with that. When he wants to change the course of action he lets her know.

I love seeing him play with her and bond with her. They went to Toy Story 3 On Ice together and had a blast. That is where they hung out on a slab. He fell asleep in the car on the way there when we got out I asked her if she wanted to hold him. She said yes. Awww, isn’t that sweet?

Day 9 of 30 .... Oh, the Fun we Have

2011-06-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

And the adventures we go on.

Little Cody,

There are so many fun things we do as a family and to entertain you and tire you out. We lived in Arizona when you were born. When you were 3 months old I took you to Disneyland for the first time. (If you go back far enough in this blog you will see some of that adventure.) Then later to the Grand Canyon, it was my first time and yours, too. We also took a trip to Lake Tahoe. We went to San Diego for Aunt Melissa's wedding. We also went to Disneyland like 2 more times. You also went to the movies a lot with mommy from the time you were about 15 days old until you were 2 years old.

Then a few months before you turned 2 we took our grandest adventure of all. We (well, me, my family, and the great people of my ward) packed up all of our stuff and loaded it in a giant U-haul and we moved to Texas.

Now we have family fun time adventures. This summer we got passes to Sea World since we are so close to it. You have so much fun running in the water areas and playing. They have a water park there. You love splashing around. You are into exploring and learning about every thing. You know the names of the animals and love to point them out to me.

We have visited some of San Antonio's best land marks. A few weeks ago for Linda's last weekend with us we went to the riverwalk and Hemisfair park. We've been there lots of times.

Last summer grandma Karen bought us season passes to the zoo. We love going there, too. (Usually when it is not so hot outside.)

Day 8 of 30 . . . That's Music to my Ears

2011-06-06T12:00:00.000-07:00

Oh, the songs this one loves to sing.

I already mention how he sings. These are some of the things he likes to sing:
He can sing the whole theme song to Little Einsteins.
He loves singing the ABC's
The 4th Article of Faith Song
Popcorn Popping
Old McDonald Had a farm
The A says Ah

We had a CD made that had his name in the 8 songs 102 times, but is sprouted legs and walked away. Cody loved that CD. He also likes the songs I make up for him. "Soapin up the Boy" for bath time. "We come here to Brush our Teeth," "The Potty Song," and many more I am sure.

I have been having hard time getting my videos to post from my phone to the computer. They lose sound. I have not had the energy or time to figure it out. Sinking fancy phone!

Day 7 of 30 . . . Oh the tele

2011-06-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

Television that is. We are seriously thinking of cancelling the cable. But at the present time we are in a contract with a great deal that is tied to our Internet. But, oh the tell E vision. Quite an impression it is leaving on my lil guy. I already reviewed some of what he says that is tied to the TV he watches, but it also is the only way I get any kind of "real" break or relaxation when daddy is working nights and it is just me and Lil C.

I get to relax to the sounds of
~The Little Einsteins
~Chuggington
~Phineas & Ferb
~Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
These 4 are usually recorded. We have "einsteins" on DVD so we have those on often.
He also loves the Toy Story. So much. Lately it has been mostly Einsteins, tho.

The other day I said, "uno" he said dos, I said "tres" he said "cinco!" Close enough. I had no idea he knew how to count to any thing in Spanish. What the? this leads me to believe he may be watching a little too much TV at the daycare lady's house. Does Dora count to 5 in elspanole? Hahaha.

Day 6 of 30 - Words with Meaning

2011-06-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

Before Cody could talk at all I remember some one telling me that when he could talk I would start to wish he wouldn't. Let me tell you, maybe it is because of his speech delay or maybe it is just because I take such joy in him and the small things, but I love love love it when he starts a new phrase or saying. He is still behind in speech quite a bit. We are working with him, but I wanted to share some of the cute and / or funny things he is saying these days.

Whatcha doing? = He will ask me this all the time. I tell him and ask him what he is doing. He rarely answers what he is actually doing. Most kids about this age start the whole "Why?" thing, but not my guy. It is "whatcha doin?" (Thanks Isabella, from Phineas & Ferb)
Hey, what's the big idea? = I think this came from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I love that he totally uses this in the right context. I told him I forgot his blanket one morning after we were already in the car and he replied with a, "Hey, Whats the big idea?" He also used that line when I told him he couldn't have any more juice.
I can't reach it. = This is amusing because it is usually when he is referring to something we have intentionally placed out of his reach.
I'm stuck! = He started saying this during our trip to AZ last March. He said it when I was holding him so he wouldn't run in front of the people playing the Wii. Nowadays he says it when he is in his car seat and the car has stopped. Or when he gets his foot between the couch cushions. Usually in that case the funny man is not stuck at all, just wanting attention.
Water all gone now = he has been saying this one for a while. When the bath water is out or draining.
See you later! = He talls this to people every time we leave. Leave the house and Cody or the cat are there, leave the day care, leave church, leave the store. It is so cute to hear him say.

He has a whole slew of things he randomly blurts out that I know are from the TV. Like:

Mishka Moushka Mickey Mouse
Oh, toodles!
Chugg uh chugg uh chugg us chugg uh chuggington
Zooming through the sky little einstiens

He is always telling me, "Mommy's car!" When he sees my car. Every day when I pick him as we are walking to the car he says it. He also points out daddy's car. None of his words are 100% all the time but these all of these phrases everyone seems to understand.

Day 5 of 30 . . . Mmmm McAir Conditioner Play

2011-06-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

Where can you take your kiddo when it is 100 degrees (ok fine, 97) outside and it is too hot for fat mommy to sit at the park? McDonald's! Yay! It can be free, too. My husband says he feels it is loitering if we don't at least by a soda for a buck. I say who cares? Maybe Big Cody just wants an excuse for some unlimited refills for a while. Any how... back to Lil' Cody.

So we take our bundle of energy to McDonald's. There a several I pass on the way home from work. One that we have gone to is right next to the Harley Davidson store. Every time we take Cody there the same thing happens. He is playing and he doesn't want to leave. That is not unique to this Mickey D's that is every one, buy what happens here is I am usually on the way home from work and wearing a dress. He climbs up in the play place and -brace yourself, this is not wonderful- poops his pants. We are still at only about 57% of making in the potty for the numero dos, but when he is playing he does not want to stop. Every time we have taken him to this play place this has happened. So I end up trying to clean him and his nasty undies in the bathroom off to the side and we make a quick dash outta there.

You thought that was TMI, (too much info) then consider this your warning to stop reading.

Well, this latest time we went he was wearing his super awesome Harley Davidson underwear that I had a bidding war for on eBay and won at the grand ole price of $3 for 2 pair of brand new underpants. There I was in that lil bathroom, dunking and cleaning. I got the good enough to wrap in the shorts to take home. I finished cleaning him while he was standing barefoot in the sink and threw the wipey in the potty and flushed. I saw those underwear start to go. "Noooooo," I cried leaning to try to grab them, but that super toilet was too fast for me. Those underwear are now a part of the San Antonio sewage system.

So what did we learn from all of this? Little Cody creates a bio hazard at the McDonald every 6 weeks or so. We have to go to the other play place long enough for me to feel like the workers don't remember us. But we still love Mc Air Conditioned Play Places!

A super cute Cody side note here. There we these 2 little girls there and Cody was charming the socks off them. He was performing for them with all his minght. He was getting them to twirl with him and fall over. He tried to get them to climb up the slide with him but when they didn't he stood on his head for them instead. He was as his daddy put is, "over there panhandling for attention." Ha. See, I love this kid.

Day 4 of 30 . . .Wild wild man

2011-06-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

Wild man at age 3 = well behaved teenager through the teen years?

I sure hope so.

My sweet little Cody,

These days you have been a wild man. A super duper wild man. Every one says it is your age. Some say it is your delayed speech. Some one said changing your diet would help. Grandma Karen said maybe mommy needs a time out some times. (Mommy agrees.) We are not sure, but what ever the reason you are super hyper these days. You get super excited about wanting something and then forget how to tell me. Often you are still asking for things by pointing and pulling to get me to get you what you want. But, when prompted you will use the words. You are improving in your speech, but still delayed. We took you to a therapist and she said to wait 7 months and come back. I am thinking about trying to get you into the school speech program.

Regardless of the reason you are my hyper lil man. From the moment you wake up until the moment you fall asleep crying at your bedroom door you are going non stop. You have so much energy. I love your excitement for life and the energy you have. We have been doing lotsa things to channel the energy for good. Daddy & I take you to the park. We go on walks. You have a little pool in the back yard. Mommy got some big posters from work you draw on with markers. they are bigger than you. You have a fun time coloring all over those papers. One day I didn't think you needed to draw. I put the marker up and gave you another toy. You found the marker and drew all over the nearest canvass you could find. Your self. (Hey, it was better than the walls!)

Day 3 of 30. Some silly sil ness as promised.

2011-06-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

5 quick n silly things lil Cody does.

5. He loves to sing. He starts with words and says again again, until you can't hear the words he is saying and he turns it into total screeching. He seriously thinks he is so funny. He starts out with words and by the end he is just making sounds to the tune.

4. When he hears a song with a beat or a tune he likes he jumps right off the couch and starts dancing. If we are eating popcorn he will hand me his popcorn so he has his hand free to dance.

3. He likes to throw things. Everything. We are working on this because it is not safe. He seems to like the cause and effect and he possibly does it for attention, too. But it sure is silly. I see beads flying, Buzz Lightyear, blocks, forks, stuffed animals, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, popcorn, shoes, chairs, anything he can lift and gets tired of holding.

2. He loves looking at himself in the mirror. He likes to kiss the mirror and give himself high 5's. He also loves watching himself jump. And he likes watching videos of himself, but he screams when I turn it off to make a new one.

1. The number 1 silly thing he does for this silly day post is... He loves to jump. He will jump off or on anything possible. He loves to come up and cuddle with me and lay down with me or sit on me then get up and jump. He uses my fat roll like a trampoline. Brawhahah! But it is true he does.

Day 2 of 30 of LB

2011-05-31T18:17:00.000-07:00

A name a name, what is with this kids name? Ha!

So, dear Cody, you have many a nick names. I will start with the one above. I think this may have been mentioned in blogs past, but here goes: Your nickname LB basically started when you got home from the hospital. You had an older "adopted" sister Bella. She was your older sister so you became Little Brother a.k.a LB. Yes, yes, Bella was a cat. A great one, too. (May she rest in peace.)

Then just before you turned 2 you got two new older sisters, Stephanie & Mariana. So the nickname, LB stuck.

Mommy also calls you Lil' C. This is mostly for differentiating between you and your daddy when writing about you on facebook or something. But also I like Lil' C because I watched/started watching the show "So You Think You Can Dance" when I was nursing you. They have a crazy hip hop / krump judge / choreographer on there called Lil' C. When I knew I was going to marry your daddy Big Cody I as trying to think of other names to call you so we didn't get confused. (He gets confused, your silly daddy.) So Lil C was something my friend Angela and I joked about. It kind of stuck, too.

Lil C from SYTYCD

Lil C & Mouse the Cat

Since daddy & you share the same name we usually call you Little Cody or Cody little when you are both around. You respond to it as much as you respond to any thing. Ha. You are so silly.

We also call you, Coders, Code Man, Code, Cody bodey, your grandma Tina calls you little Man.

I call you pint size pip squeek because it is funny. Lately I have been calling you a Silly sil. Because you are so silly. Tune in tomorrow for some more of that silly sil ness.

Lil Cody 30 days.... Day 1

2011-05-30T19:30:00.000-07:00

Dear Lil Cody,
Every day in a million little ways you impress me and make me happy. I want to do a blog a day about the cuteness that is you. Since you are also super crazy and some nights I don’t even get five minutes to myself I am going to do this. 30 blogs/letters to you about your cuteness between now and 06/30/2011. I think that gives me leeway to miss 1 day. Ha.

So today I begin. You crack me up. A few months ago I told you daddy was sleeping and you said, “daddy sleep’en? Then you make this crazy hilarious snoring sound. You were “doing daddy sleeping.” After that any time I say, Do daddy sleeping you would do a fake snore. It is so funny.

Now you fake sleep. When I tell you it is time to go to sleep, you start snoring. The other day I told you I knew were faking because your eyes were open. So you closed your eyes and tried to look at me so your eye lids were fluttering and not closed at all. It was pretty funny. So we did the whole thing again a few days later. You got a little better looking at me through half massed eyes. I love it!

Love,

Your mom!

One last day with Linda-la

2011-05-23T14:33:00.000-07:00

Linda came back for one last weekend before she heads home in a few short weeks. I am so thankful for the chance I had to be her host mom and to get to know her. She is an amazing girl and we will truly miss her.

Ouch my teeth, my face.

2011-05-21T13:53:00.001-07:00

My teeth hurt my face. Use my cautionary tale. If you get a root canal get that permanent filling they recommend. I had 2 teeth pulled. Emergency surgery. Geeze. I tell you, I am a mess.
Picture one (of me) gauze mouth.picture two : broken smile. The paralysis lasted over 6 hours on that side.
Picture three : cubby cheeks smile
Picture four : more cubby broken non smile cheeks
Picture five : bruise cheek (day 3)

Healing, but, it hurts so bad today, got food in the gummy area, I think. Follow up appointment monday.

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Boys

2011-05-08T19:20:00.001-07:00

little cody did not want to get off...Like father like son! He loved it. 3 rides and then 15 minutes of tears when it was over.

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Fun in the San Antonio sun

2011-04-11T17:11:00.001-07:00

I say it all the time.. I love this kid!

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Slide time

2011-04-11T17:10:00.001-07:00

It is a hot afternoon here in san antonio.

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Gonna be a great day

2011-04-11T07:58:00.000-07:00

Today's gonna be great, got the world on a plate,

Can't wait to start the day.

Bells are ringing and birds are singing, and

you can hear the whole world say, Hooray!

Wake up its a wonderful morning

Wake up its a wonderful day

Good Morning, and Good Morning Mickey

Its gonna be a great, yes indeed a great,

Its gonna be a great DAY!

I know it is missing a verse. I get this song stuck in my head a lot. 95% of you have probably never heard it, or don't remember it. (From a Mickey Mouse show on Disney channel when I was in I think junior high or high school.) Any who... It is gonna be a great, got the world on a plate kind of day because I say so and I believe it.

I am so excited. The last, I dunno, like 3 days or so Cody little has been talking to me in whole sentences, and I can understand him!! I read friends blogs on here and know that I can't wait until I can understand him like you can your 1 and 2 year olds. He is so amazing. I am so proud to be his mom,

People of Walmart

2011-04-04T05:04:00.001-07:00

Little Cody was really fitting in at walmart. Check it out.... No shoes. Swim shorts that do not match his dirty shirt. He even has ketchup on his lil face. Oh and he is chilling and standing in the back of the cart. What kind of parents does this kid have!?!?

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Geeze scale

2011-04-02T05:00:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to share my scale has gone crazy with a capital K. As in Ka-ra-zee. It was as if it were a man just throwing answers out there. "what do you want me to tell you?" It seemed to be saying. It gave me weights in a 12 pound spread. Finally I told it, "Quit with the good friend answers, I need the truth!" The truth sucks but, I think the crazy weighing machine shaped up and gave me the fat ugly truth of it.

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Did it work?

2011-03-31T18:31:00.001-07:00

Did this viedo load

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Sunshine and rainbows and crap

2011-03-29T18:40:00.000-07:00

I know you want to hear about how wonderful my life is on this blog and you want to think my life is perfect based on what you read here, but I am going to let you in on a secret. Some times life is just poopy. Like today for instance. This little guy....

He peed through 2 of his outfits before daddy got to daycare to pick him up. Then, when Cody got there he was told how bad our kid has been behaving for the next 10 minutes. He got a behavior report and was told if the kid doesn't stop he will be asked to leave the school! My kid is on the verge of being kicked out of school and I don't know what I can do about it. How is that for not perfect?

I mean, he needs or could probably benefit from therapy, but when? I would rather be taking him to appointments and teaching him and working with him than going to work any day, but that is just not in the cards for us right now. To put it honestly, we just cant afford it right now. And then even if my work was willing to work with my schedule, which they my be, I can't really afford the $15 or $25 a week co-pay. He pees his pants, (He wasn't in trouble for that.) He hits other kids who tell their parents and then the school feels they have to do something. (I wish he could tell me what was going on, but he still cant talk so clearly.) He runs out of his class room and is almost out the front door just when the teacher turns her back. (It doesn't help there are no doors on his room so he only has to open one door to get to the lobby.) He cries and kicks and scream when I drop him off but they tell me he is fine in five minutes. (Not in trouble for that.) He takes his shoes off too much. That was the other thing. What ever.

So dealing with that. We have decided to do more active things with him at home to get the energy out. So after dinner we went to a McDonald's play place. He was alone up in there and I could not see him for maybe 60 seconds. Big Cody walked up. I was like, he just peed. Cody asked, "how do you know?" I replied, "I could not see or hear him for the last 30 seconds." Sure enough, his little gray pants were peed. Well he stayed up there. After a few minutes of debating I climbed up to get him and found that he had also pooped in his pants. Ugh! Bleck and crapola! (Mickey -dees place place potty bafroom got some new undies.) How do I get this to stop. how do I get him to tell me when he has to go? How do I stay calm. How do we discipline our 3 year old when time out doesn't work and he thinks it is a joke and we cant spank because he is already being labeled as a hitter?

Seriously? this kid? He is so lovable. He likes to hug and kiss and hold hands and cuddle. He likes to sing and dance. He knows the beat. He has rhythm. He kisses the kitty. He loves to play in the water. He likes animals and loves Buzz Lightgear!! (As he calls him.) He really is amazing. I love him more every day. I just feel like I need mommy classes. I am sure there is something out there, but see the above paragraph for my struggles with that. Bee boop.

Life is not perfect.

I am lucky I have this man to hold my hand and help me through. He is amazing.

Life is not perfect, but these 2 make is seem like it sometimes!

I love my Codys'

If I had an extra extra 13 bucks a week afte the therapy for Lil C I would send myself to weight watchers. Ha. But really, maybe.

Cody

2011-03-28T08:37:00.001-07:00

I love this kid.

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My birthday

2011-03-21T11:48:00.001-07:00

I am officially old. Yay! 34. And feeling every minute of it. Blah. But my birthday was great.

Sea World was having a buy a day get a 2011 free special, so little Cody got our family Sra Worlds passes. We have gone like 3 times for a few hours each time. It has ben so fun.

Cody's mom, Alice took us to dinner at a fancy place called the Vineyards. It was so nice. All in all a great birthday. I sure knowe I am loved. :)

New droid blogger.

2011-03-16T07:43:00.001-07:00

Test two. Seeing which app I like better.

Sea World Adventures!

2011-03-15T22:33:00.001-07:00

Our Sea World adventures. Yesterday and the night before. Yay. Maybe we will get to go for a whole day soon

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Saying by to my Bella

2011-03-13T21:27:00.001-07:00

As you may have heard from my face book bella, the awesome kitty girl often mentioned in these posts got killed when I was out of town a few weeks ago. I was reading some of these posts and I miss her so. She was a great cat. I collected a bunch (like 128) pictures of her thru the years. Was going to make a video montage of pictures set to her song, but I havent had a chance. Her song is, "I can go the Distance" from Hercules. This song has been her song since 2006. Yep, the girl wore clothes, did tricks, opened doors, had a song, climbed screens, provided hours of love and cuddles and friendship to me and my lil man. I know she was sent to me for a purpose. She was awesome. Mouse, our cat we saved last year is really being so sweet and awesome. He is missing her too.

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BFF's

We both have wiskers here. Hahahaha!

She's a cowgirl... baybeee!

First time meeting.. First time home. from the hospital. Love at first family squish!

She was Minnie Mouse. He was a Kangaroo. (With a baby. Ha)

Missionary Bella?

Buddies!

Posing as Mariana

Bella was a baby once, too.

And a pretty pretty princess.

"Let this kid roll off the bed?!! Not on my watch!!" said Bella

Vacation!! Finally!

2011-03-13T06:11:00.000-07:00

Remember just click on a picture to make it bigger!

Finally a blog with some pictures from my trip to AZ. And finally I got to go there. I miss it. I miss my family and being a part of the monthly family dinners. It was so much fun. I got to take the girls and Lil' C. Hopefully next time Cody will be able to come, too.

Fun with the cousins!

Cody was really sad he didn't get to come. He asked we take him with us when possible. Ha!

I can not get these pictures in oder! Blah!

Ghetto swim

2011-03-12T19:31:00.001-08:00

Got my son this awesome pool. Needed to wash my car. 2 birds, 1 ghetto afternoon. Plastic play pool in the front yard. yah, that just happened. And I loved it. And so did little Cody man.

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Temple

2011-03-11T10:50:00.001-08:00

Last night Cody and I got to go to the temple. I love it. It is so pretty. I am tr ying this blogging from my phone thing, which equals typos and smaller but more frequent posts. Yay me and lucky you.

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Test

2011-03-09T20:11:00.001-08:00

Test blog. Straight from my phone. Did it work...

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Birthday boys!

2011-02-14T23:51:00.000-08:00

If you follow the facebook of mine you already know that both of my Codys celebrated their birthdays this month. Yippie! So fun. For Big Cody's birthday we went and had family pictures and lil Cody's 3rd birthday pictures done. (They are not back yet.) Then Grandma Alice took us to dinner. It was so much fun.

Fun, but not a lot of pictures at dinner.

For Little Cody's birthday, me and the boys started the day at the zoo. They had a free breakfast for zoo members. (Yay!)

He loves the elephant.

All animals really.

After the zoo we picked up our girls and went to Walmart. I got one picture there, because it was part of our birthday adventure.

As you can see, he was getting sleepy already. But there was still fun to be had. After an hour of the Wally world fun we went to Mr. Gatti's. (for those of you who are not familiar, it is like a Peter Piper Pizza but a buffet with better games, like bumper cars.) It was awesome. We had a blast!

And can I tell you how much I adore the dollar store. Wowzers! A whole party decorated and a huge bag of gifts that he loves plus six balloons for under 25 bucks! Sweet!

Presents!!

It's Party Time Woody!

This last set of pictures is after we dropped the girls off. He fell asleep in the car but when ever I attempted to take the cupcake he would groan at me then take a bite. Or try to, but since he was asleep he was having a hard time. He mostly just licked the frosting off. But it was so so very cute and funny. Man, I think this boy developed my sweet tooth and love for cake with butter cream icing.

Car(pool) Adventures

2011-02-14T23:09:00.000-08:00

I love my little Cody car pool buddie!

The family carpooling to take the girls home. We got a flat on the freeway. Further adventure happened when Stephanie leaned in the car to get her bag and it rolled off the jack. Little Cody and our cat named Mouse were inside. Luckily it stopped pretty quickly. I had a mini panic moment. Yipes. We were near an off ramp but I was afraid we would ruin the whole rim and everything so Cody stopped on the freeway. This gave me and the girls a chance to slide down a large concrete slab. It was not as fun or scary as we thought it might be. Geeze! Who lets their kids play on the freeway?!? (not me, really it was a slab going away from the freeway, not on it. Ha.) Cody fixed the tire and we were on the road again in no time.

It is nice to have a big strong man around.

When I flip the camera so I can see the picture it makes a mirror image. Weird. Yes, I was driving in these pictures. As you can see it was perfectly safe. We were stopped.

Long hair. Short Hair Crazy Texas crazy hair!

2011-01-24T21:29:00.000-08:00

My husband aka hubby lover man, is such a trooper. He poses for all sorts of pictures I am sure he would rather not. It is because he loves me and knows I love taking the pictures. This one was to admire my hair do. See? ...

Here are some more....

Haha. Extensions?

Crazy curls.

straighty straight in the car.

Bubble fro, covering real fro.

Pig tails. I swore I wasn't gonna do it after 30. I guess I was wrong.
(P.S. if any of you who knew me when I made that rule were wondering, some times when I go out with my girls (as in teenage daughters) I put the glimmery glittery type stuff on, too. Ha! Yah, glitter after thirty should be a no go, but what evs. Some times it is just fun. Just like saying what evs is.)

I am a song writer

2011-01-19T20:46:00.000-08:00

Some of my best:

"Poop poo in the potty and you'll have a great day. Poop poo in the potty and you'll have a great day."

"Soaping up my boy, soaping up the boy, getting clean's a joy, soaping up the boy."

"Gimme a C-O-D-Y what's that spell? Cody! What's your name? Cody!"

"We come here to brush our teeth, brush our teeth, brush our teeth. We come here to brush our teeth each morning and each night..."

These are songs all my kids know and love. Hahaha. But what evs. They work. I'd love to let you hear the tune but I am not singing here on the computer. Maybe I will record and album of these short functional songs with my girls singing them. Ha! Team Mantor video coming soon. Hahaha. Yours for only $4.99. Order today and I will take one dollar off. Hahahahahaha!!

For you Jay-dawg

2011-01-18T16:13:00.000-08:00

Some holiday hoopla-la pictures!

Monster Truck Jam!!!

2011-01-18T06:55:00.000-08:00

For Christmas Cody got Monster Truck Jam tickets. We had a blast. Husband has been talking about going since I met him. It was an awesome surprise for him. It was also the most "totally American" thing Linda has seen/been to /experienced to date.

It was nice and cold (rainy & wet, too) and we had to walk a bit. But once we got inside it was nice. Cody Little pulled down every one's chairs. He was loving it. The excitement, the crowd, even the noise. I could not for the life of me get him to keep ear plugs in!

I don't know how many of you have ever been, but it is loud!! And super fun!!

I know we all had fun! Then my poor little man got sick. A fever took over his little body. And he fell asleep.

It was almost over so we stayed. You can see from above I finally did get that ear plug in but he had to be asleep first. Ha.

I hope you all enjoyed your holidays and the New Year so far! We love you!

Christmas Morning!

2010-12-28T11:16:00.000-08:00

Aren't we Sexy?!?
The kids had a blast!

Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas tree...

2010-12-22T22:54:00.000-08:00

Your saggy branches depress me...

We last had the girls here on December 3rd. We picked up our tree on December 2nd so the family could decorate it together. We had some massive tree drama. It fell over at least 3 times. Cat, Cody, crooked base. Ugh! We finally used flag stones to help it at the base and anchored it to the wall with twine and a screw.
We got it up and got it decorated. Oh so pretty. It was full and lovely. And had a random assortment of ornaments from my childhood and beyond. Some donated to me, some I bought, and the most random ones came from the left over stuff (no one else wanted) of Grandma Graves' holiday things. We had fun choosing what to put on the tree and making it pretty.
Slowly over the next few weeks the branches began to sag. The weight of the decorations and lights coupled with little Cody and the Cat effects have been proving to be too much for the tree. I am pretty sure the cat named Mouse thinks this is a huge new toy for him. Bella thinks it is a place to hide from Mouse. And best of all, it seems little Cody thinks the tree is a place to try and hang or throw your toys. (Which I think is cute, funny and clever, but sad for the tree.) 2 days ago he threw is jacket at it. That was all our poor tree could seem to handle. The front lower half was flat. Totally saggy with a huge hole and flat. Yesterday Big Cody and I tried to turn it. This did not work as we soon found out. The side that had been facing the window was even worse! Not flat just totally almost bald. (Thanks Cats, for that, ugh!) So after Cody left I had to do some serious tree fixing. I called one of my friends from church and was so close to borrowing a small table top tree and dumping old ugly 4 days before Christmas. But as I sat and stared at my sad dead saggy newly naked except the lights Christmas tree, I decided to see what I could do to let her last 4 more days. I did some major tree repair and revamping. I think she turned out ok. Here is to hoping she will stay together for 2 1/2 more days.
Oh Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, your repaired redecorated look pleases me...Sigh.

Oh it is awful

2010-12-22T21:48:00.000-08:00

This terrible two's bed time routine. It is killing me. Geeze! Ok. Here we are midnight and he is asleep. Maybe. He stopped crying when Linda and I were outside his door whispering. Maybe he just needs to hear the noise to know he is not alone in the house. Perhaps I will invest in a cheap CD player and he can listen to sounds of nature or sounds of the oceans to sleep.

Big Boy Bed!

2010-12-11T18:36:00.000-08:00

We did it! Being the planner I am I got a crib that converted. Some people were worried about roll outs in his sleep. We will see. Tonight is the night. (Starting with a pile of pillows on the floor next to him. Just in case.) Wish us luck!

Little Cody...2, Kidney Stone, like 17... Mommy...Zero

2010-12-10T13:49:00.000-08:00

Oh, it's one of those days. Home sick from work. Made the mistake of not taking Cody to school. I love being with him. I don't get to be with him enough working full time and all, but today, not a good day to keep him home. I slept like 2 hours this morning while he watched t.v. (terrible parenting, I know.) And suddenly when it was his nap time he mastered (totally mastered with his 1st successful attempt) to climb out of his crib. I know being that he will be 3 in 2 months that he has stayed in that sucker a lot longer than most kids do, but that being said now I have to figure out how to get him to stay in bed. I will take any mommy tips you have on this. Please!!
But isn't he just so cute? In case you couldn't tell from that picture here is another one.
And while we are on the subject of terrible parenting, the other night when our fridge was looking pretty barren and the kid was whining for dinner and we were are scrambling for some thing to eat, I handed him a hot dog wrapped in bologna. Yep, folks, you read that right. For dinner I gave my son a hot dog wrapped in bologna. Not my proudest mom moment, but, eh, you make due, right? Normally in a pinch (and pretty much for breakfast every day) the kiddo gets a bologna, cheese tortilla roll up which he loves. We were out of tortillas and cheese (and just about ever thing else) so the hot dog bologna roll up with a side of animal crackers it was.
The home from work I mentioned? Due to this awful stone. Blah! Kidney stones. 2 surgeries, lots of pain and it is still there. Looks like it might have formed a protective force field and embedded it's self there. Which would be fine if it didn't hurt so bad and it wasn't blocking something. So, another appointment and most likely another out patient surgery coming up for me. But we do what we can. So, kidney stone, you won this round and the last 5 but I will win the war! And give you to my doctor as a souvenir.
One last note. I did say Mommy...Zero at the beginning of this post, but I am changing that. Little Cody also started saying "I love you." It sounds more like "A hub ew." I'll take it. And hub him right back! So mommy...1 and I say that makes today a winner.

Magic Team Mantor Time

2010-11-24T06:48:00.000-08:00

Ever since Linda arrived we have been waiting for the right time to share with her our favorite eatery. We have posted pictures of our trips here, before. We finally had it in our schedules for all of us to go here together as a happy Team Mantor Family. A few nights ago we went to the Magic Time Machine. We had a great time. This is the place my girls get so excited to go. They dress up. All 3 of them wore tutus. We wore our family shirts, too. They love the attention that brought.At the Magic Time Machine all the servers are dressed as a character. This evening we had Dora the Explorer and the Bride from Kill Bill. Many others stopped by to say hello. The Joker, Captain Jack Sparrow, Tinkerbell, Woody, and more

. We had a blast! Yay Dad! Thanks for taking us!

Epic Fail

2010-11-24T06:32:00.000-08:00

I'd like to say I have been trying, but if that were the case I have tried and failed. The problem with that is that what I am "trying" to do is something I have done successfully before. As is evident from these pictures below I am fat. I know this. I have finally started to try to do something about it the last 2 weeks. But as my kids would say, it has been a fail, an Epic Fail. I realize it only takes one day to totally mess me up. In the week and half I have had a t least 3 "bad" days. Snacking days. That means I have had 7 "good" on target days. Yet, the 3 bad days have succeeded in keeping me at like only a 3 pound loss over all. Ugh! Usually this blog is about me family and our awesome happening and lives. And today was going to be no different, yet when I was deciding what pictures to post with our adventure everyone with me in it was something I didn't want to look at. (Usually I think I am not to bad, but ugh!) I am having a minor surgery today to break up a kidney stone. I was reading and these are more common in fat people. I also have had borderline high blood pressure for the last few months. Also more common in overweight people. Boo. In the past I have done Weight Watchers to get back on track and drop some unwanted pounds. This has worked for me. We can't really afford for me to go to meetings at this juncture. But I do have this handy dandy app on my phone that is great for tracking my points and weight and what not. So I have been using that. I am going to keep doing that. And not cheat and not have bad days. Since I am putting myself on blast here I will happily post pictures of my family and my self and report in February that I am back to the weight most of you remember me at. Which is not skinny by any means. (Still fat, really.) But it will be where I am more comfortable with myself. I am actually making my first little goal to be at my prepregnancy weight. Which like I said, is still over weight, but it is definitely a doable goal, and since I am spilling all this now, I might as well ad this, it is well under 200, and I meed to get there. I can't seem to bust below that number. But I will. I can do it. I know I can. That recent Team Mantor adventure I mentioned above? Well, I will post that on another post. This is a picture from our fun night, though. I think the day deserves it's own lil' post.

And for all you on my same weight loss adventure... I know you can do it, too!

You take the good, you take the bad...

2010-11-17T19:45:00.000-08:00

Hey Cody go sit by Mouse...
He decided to sit like Mouse, too. Ha!

Life and then some. That is what has been going on with me. Man, my boy has a shiner. He looks like a kid that is being abused. Or really clumsy. He has a bruise on his right cheek a scratch on his left cheek and a huge black and blue eye. All of these came from different events. 2 at day care. He is a boy alright. I hate to see him like that because I know it musta hurt him. But he still doesn't talk clearly or enough for me to know exactly what happened and how much it hurt. Maybe I will get a picture tomorrow. He still is missing that front tooth he lost and will be for like, what 7 more years? On a lighter more exciting side, the other day he said his longest sentence ever. Before this the most words he has stung together in a row has been like 2. But at dinner the other night he pointed to the bowl of apricots and said, "Can I have some more... please?" Just like that. I was so excited! He is so awesome. I feel like he is very delayed, but I know he will get it. He mimics voice pattern and inflection so we can hear him singing and counting, and talking but usually the words are not clear unless he is saying just one word as in... I say.. Twinkle twinkle little... The he says "STARRR!" Clear and loud and excited. But more that two he fades to jibber jabber. He knows what he is saying we just don't, usually. We will, though. I know we will one day. I can't wait.

My car was hit today. In a parking lot. Not my fault. In fact....(this description of what happened comes from my facebook) It was not my fault, thank goodness. I was in the store. My car was hit by a lady in the parking lot. Dented the bumper a bit. When I came out my necklaces hanging from the rear view mirror were totally swaying. Then I noticed my car was unlocked. I thought I was robbed. I was freaking out. I checked the back to make sure no one was in there (too many urban legend emails, I guess) then got in. Then a lady came up to my window and gestured for me to roll it down. I cracked it and say..."Yessss?" All Lurch style. And then she told me she hit my car. She had moved and parked like 4 rows away but came back to check the damage. She messed her beast up quite a bit. Oh well. I felt bad for her, right after I felt the relief that my stuff wasn't stolen and no one was gonna shank my ankle and steal my kid. (for those of you who were wondering, the car wasn't locked because I had the key chain with the bad clicker and I thought I locked it but it apparently didn't catch.) Poor Gerty! That is my cars nickname, not the name of the woman who violated her. I was trying to find a picture of her. Gertrude Esmeralda, my car. But I dont have one handy. So here is a couple of pictures of people in her...
And actually while making that collage I did find one that shows part of her... There on the side.

Why Gertrude Esmeralda, you ask? Well, because she is cute and spunky and to have a name like Gerty you've got to have spunk. Plus she is (was...sad face) pretty, too!

Play pretend...Serve yourself...Dance the Night Away

2010-11-09T06:19:00.001-08:00

Little Cody's mind and imagination are growing every day. He loves playing pretend server. He has this Minnie Mouse little plastic thing that came a top a mini play dough years ago. It has tiny castle shaped cookies. He pretends to take them off and serve them to us. He has to make sure everyone gets one and eats it, too. He will also pour you some pretend milk. At nap time I often hear him in his room just talking away. He knows what he is saying I am sure. It seems on Sunday's he always fakes his nap. He is so funny. When he is thirsty he will find a cup and go to the fridge and fill it up. He is happy to do this. We have to lock the water dispenser some times though, because once he is done drinking he likes to pour the water from one cup to another or to a bowl or a toy or what ever he can find. back and forth until most of it is a mess on the ground. When he wants a snack he tells us by standing in front of the fridge and tugging at the door. When you open it he pulls out a slice of cheese or bologna. The girls say he might be a dancer when he grows up. You know how you watch those dance shows and the dancers say, "I've been dancing since I was two" and stuff? Well, that is true for Cody. He dances to Dancing with the stars. He gets out of his ballroom style and gets his funk on with So You Think You Can Dance. He will dance to classical music on little Einsteins and he even does the Hot Dog dance with Mickey Mouse. He is a little singer, too. He doesn't give us all the words correctly, but some he does. And then he goes on with the sound and tone of the next lines. He is so smart. He is great at problem solving, too. Man, I love this kid. Now... off to find him!!

Lions and Tigers and Butterflies... Oh My!

2010-11-08T09:30:00.000-08:00

We went to the zoo this past weekend. Cody is really starting to know his stuff. We had a lot of fun. He loved looking at all the animals!
Even the snakes. (Although this is something he sees daily in our house. Ha!

We are here to trick or treat....

2010-10-31T11:26:00.000-07:00

Little Einsteins got us again. A song stuck in our heads all month long. We are here to trick or treat, trick or treat, trick or treat, we are here to trick or treat. On Happy Halloween.... Thanks.
Last night was our Trunk or Treat. It was loads of fun. Here a a few pictures. I forgot my camera at home. I was able to get a couple of pictures on my phone. (And some before we left.)
Linda brought her friend Anna. Linda was a cat and Anna a cowgirl.
I was a lioness and Little Cody was a lion. Big Cody won a prize for best hat. Hahaha. Love it. The turkey and lion. Rawr!! (And waaahh!)
Cody was literally eating 2 suckers at one time.

Halloween fun

2010-10-27T20:51:00.000-07:00

Little Cody, Linda, Stephanie and I had fun carving the pumpkins. It was a 2 day deal. Stephanie wasn't here the second day and that was when I brought out the camera. I am excited for this weekend. I always loved dressing up as a kid. I love trunk r treat. I am excited so many shows on TV that I watch have done Halloween episodes this year.
We hope you have a safe and fun Halloween! Costume pictures to come...
Here is a preview...
Just kidding!!! That was a pajama outfit my mom got him from China town. He actually wore that to bed 3 nights ago. Hahah.

This is the Halloween preview...

Pumpkin Patch Fun!

2010-10-09T22:35:00.000-07:00

We did not get a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch. We did do a bunch of other things, though. Like have a ton of fun!! We went on a hay ride. We fed some goats. We swung and slid and climbed and hung from monkey bars. We crawled in tubes and tossed bean bags into Christmas trees. We rode bikes and did an Amazing hay maze (as well as a few others that were far better than amazing!) We tried our hand at fishing. We had duck races and so much more.

The sack race resulted in some pure comedy when on the return trip I biffed it as you can see below. It was awesome!!
My family is so great! I love them so much! And this guy... He is the best. He is so patient and loving and kind. I am so very lucky and I know it!

Family Time is Fun Time

2010-10-03T20:09:00.000-07:00

Linda had a community service thing she helped with this weekend down at La Villita (which is off the San Antonio Riverwalk.) We decided to stay and hang out while she was doing her thing. After she got done we showed her some things and took some pictures. I wanted to share some of our pictures.

I wore the worst shirt ever for taking pictures. Ugh.

They have some beautiful old houses downtown. there are some neighborhoods where the houses are lived in and restored, but there are some that are just there.

There are so many awesome spots to take pictures. If I had a photographer with me I could set up some amazing shots. My husband is so great and patient with all the picture taking.

I know it was a lot of pictures here. Thanks for looking/reading. All in all we had a great day!

An Amazing Moment

2010-10-02T15:59:00.000-07:00

As a mom, I am sure many of you fellow moms have experienced a moment where you felt like this. This was one of those heart swelling proud moments for me. My little Cody still has trouble talking. He tries sometimes, but his articulation is not so great. It is usually pretty bad. So, sometimes it is hard to tell what he knows and how much he knows. He is just over 2 1/2 years old.

Today I was in the kitchen cooking and Cody came up and let me know he wanted a drink and he wanted juice. This is done by bringing me a cup and standing in front of the fridge. He knows how to get water himself. I offered him water and he said no and tried to open the fridge. I asked him if he wanted juice. He tried to say juice. I poured him a small cup of juice and went back to making chips. A little bit later we go through the whole process again. I gave him a little more juice in his cup than I did before. He said his version of thank you and walked away. I turned back to the stove.

A few minutes after that I hear Cody near the trash can. I turn around and he has moved the trash can out of his way so he can reach the paper towels on the counter. He was standing on his tippy toes and trying his hardest to reach the paper towels. He was actually touching them and doing that finger thing you do when you are trying to get one to come free. He would have been trying all day due to his barely reaching and all. "Cody, do you want a paper towel? What are you going to do with it? Show mommy what you need it for." I handed him the paper towel. He crumpled it up a little, wiped his mouth and walked over to the other side of the kitchen floor and bent down and it was then I saw the juice he spilt. He wiped it up then looked up at me with his beautiful eyes. I was so proud of him.

His eyes that know and see so much. I am amazed and impressed by him every day. His problem solving skills are great. I can't wait for the day he can talk to me and tell me about his day. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful little boy.

Mariana's party and some Rawrs!

2010-09-12T20:32:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the 2 blogs before this are with a turtle my family brought home "for me." Haha. It has been taken to a near by pond and set free.

Mariana's party was a lot of fun. We started off with a 2 team scavenger hunt around the house. Then we played a game while people were still coming where we taped a cartoon character to each person's back and they had to figure out who they were by asking yes or no questions. Then each girl got to make personal pizzas with roll dough and toppings. I think big Cody had a lot of fun with that, too. His pizzas were pretty fancy. And even had a story to go with them.
We played more games. Had cake and ice cream. Opened presents. And made t-shirts. Played more fund games and had a great time. And in the morning we had waffles!

Linda, Cody, Cody and I went to the museum the other day. This was the last day of the dinosaur exhibit. It was a lot of fun. Little Cody was afraid of the big T-Rex. He loves dinosaurs. He is so cute to watch. I love him so much. He is awesome. (And a crazy man at church.)
I love my husband!

Team Mantor has grown!

2010-08-22T19:01:00.001-07:00

It's a girl! A 15 year old girl! We have welcomed a new addition to our family. For the next 10 months Linda will be staying with us. She is an exchange student from Germany. She got here last night around 9:30pm. She got bit by some strange bug while in between Washington D.C. and Texas. Her first day here and we are battling an injury already. yikes!

We are so happy to have this opportunity to be her host family. She will start school this week. Welcome to Mantorville Linda! Yippie!

Small moments = Big Days

2010-08-09T05:32:00.001-07:00

It was a big day in the Mantor house yesterday. Big Cody and I were sitting on the couch and both of us held our arms out to little Cody at the same time and said, "come here Cody." He looked back and forth at both of us and then ran to daddy and leaped into his arm with a giant hug.

Both of my boys were grinning ear to ear. And I have to admit, I was too.

Cody is talking, Little Cody, that is...

2010-08-03T20:59:00.000-07:00

Big Cody talks, too but it usually isn't anything to blog about.

I need to get some of little Cody's words down here so I will remember. He has a language articulation disorder. That is what they are calling it. (A few other things we are working on with an occupational therapist and so on.) We have been given a few tips and skills we can do to help him. After the 2+ hour screening appointment he decided he was going to start using some of the skills they were testing him on. So besides suddenly talking after being mostly silent of real words for the last 9 months he is also problem solving, identifying colors, putting 2 words together, and communicating better in general. I am really excited.

His word of the week when the girls were here last weekend was "mine." Everything was his, let me tell you. Mine mine mine mine. I thought he was a Finding Nemo Seagull.

This weekend his word was Gool. I love it. He is saying cool, but it comes out as gool. Sometimes he even draws it out. Gooool...

And today it was car. We went to Target and he pointed to every. single. car. car. car in the parking lot and told me it was a car.

He also has said with out prompting (in parenthesis is what is sounds like when he says it): Elephant, Butterfly (utterfly), dog (gog), please (peese), drink (ink), more, all done.

With prompting he says a lot more: Open, Plane, Amen, Cat (at), thank you, Bella, Stephanie (en-en-nee), gramma (gra-na).

He also will finish these phrases.. Ready... Set.. and he says..Go!! and there is 1...2...he says...reee!!

I am sure there is more. I am happy to see and hear these changes. He is so cute. He is so smart and fun. I can't wait tell he can express to me what he wants. He does say Woody and Buzz, too. This was at the Magic Time Machine Restaurant where all the wait staff dresses like a character. We love it!

And his hair has grown back!!

My mommy and daddy came to visit....

2010-08-03T20:43:00.000-07:00

And I had to work!

But we had such a good time. We miss them a bunch!

Just a quicky

2010-07-25T11:51:00.000-07:00

So much to blog about so little time.

It is hard to play catch up with the blogging. I post pictures on my facebook almost as we do things so that is like a photo blog, I guess.

I will start most recent and work my way backwards. I have 6 minutes, let's see what I can do and tell you about.

Last seen on Friday: Mouse, our little cat has gone missing. This is sad to me. I hope he has found a new loving family.

Last seen on Wednesday: Little Cody's front tooth. My little precious 2 year old knocked his front tooth out at day care. He was running after two other boys and tripped on a pillow and some how knocked his tooth out from the root! This was traumatic for me, mostly. He seems to be doing fine.

Out of order: Thursday we had our appointment with a group of doctors and therapists. Cody's official diagnosis was he is not autistic. He has some language articulation disorder and something else. But not autism. This is awesome news. I am out of time. Read me later. :)

Team Mantor

2010-07-03T06:41:00.001-07:00

My husband has been wanting to make family shirts for a while now. Actually he wanted to have them made. We plan to open a shop one day where my husband builds custom motorcycles. We are calling it MOB Shop Customs. (Mantor Owned Bike Shop Customs.) He wanted shirts for that. With the girls we have also been talking about making Team Mantor shirts. Just a family shirt. Well, I had a Hobby Lobby gift card I got for Christmas. I used it and the girls and I made these:

Names on the front. Team Mantor on the back...

We are wearing them to Grandma Alice's house today. I don't have a picture of Cody in one yet. But I am sure I will get one today!

More of My Seester's Visit

2010-06-28T09:20:00.001-07:00

We has fun at the Riverwalk and River Center Mall. We enjoyed the Tower of America. We played at Six Flags Fiesta. We went to missions and to the Alamo. We saw Shrek Forever and went to the Magic Time Machine. It was so fun! I love you guys!

My lil Cody had so much fun the whole week!

Some shots from all the locations...

Jeaniece's Visit. She brought the boys!

2010-06-10T05:18:00.001-07:00

We had so much fun when Jeaniece and Ethan and Drew came to visit. Click on each collage to make it bigger so you can see all the pictures better. For my family it was a stay-cation. These are from random spots/times. I hope to post another blog with more of our activities soon.

They're coming... We're coming!!

Young Women's fundraiser at church! Awesome fun time!!

First next stop: Mission San Jose:

The next 2 colleges I made are not uploading. Ugh ahh. Posting now.

Park adventure leads to mild injury and pain

2010-06-07T11:46:00.000-07:00

The kids and I went on an adventure on Saturday. We wanted to find a good park with a nice playground in our area. We found 6 parks. We played at 3. All of the playgrounds in our area had signs that say they are for kids ages 5-12. My kids are not in that range as we have a 2 year old, a 13 year old and a 15 year old. So, we only used the playground at the ones we were the only ones at. It was a fun and funny adventure driving around using our Sprint Navigation to locate parks. But then tragedy struck. Or rather Mariana's legs struck. She was swinging along riding high minding her own business. I was sitting next to the swing set and just started talking on the phone to give my hubby an update as to where his family was when out of the blue appears Little Cody. Right where the swing would be sitting if it were unoccupied. However, since the swing was occupied it was not there it was up high in the sky. Every thing happened in a split second. I let out a scream. The swing and it's rider came down. Cody fell flat on his face. The swing was poised to come back. I grabbed the little ankles and pulled him to safety so he would not get hit again on the backward landing. Marian and the swing came to a halt. Stephanie (who had been right behind the boy, but not quick enough to prevent the whole thing) came running up. Alas, our park adventure day was coming to an end. We had fun. Cody will be ok. He is bruised and banged up but nothing is broken. He should be walking again by tomorrow. (Which will be day 3/4.)

Oh the joys and horrors of being a mom. I love my kids so much. I am so thankful he is ok.

I am just awful! This happened yesterday...

2010-06-03T05:27:00.000-07:00

These are before
Then after. I didnt even it out because I felt it was getting worse and my husband needed to come home and see it and tell me what to do.

How the days fly by

2010-05-26T22:09:00.000-07:00

As time goes on and the days fly by I find I am not having time to catch up with myself and my blogging. I am happy people are still blogging and posting. I am mostly using the facebook to post pictures.

Cody is 2 years and almost 4 months old now. He is so cute. I know I think it because I am his mom. It makes me feel really happy when total strangers feel the need to tell me when we are out and about. People are sweet and funny and all kinds of random.

Cody really loves his sisters. He has really bonded with them. Every time they come over he runs up to them. He knows they are awesome and love him, too.

He is my sweet sweet boy.

Here is the skinny. There is a lot going on with him. And not enough, really. Here is the run down. I feel so unorganized. This week is vacation for me and my sister is here and I am loving it. We are having so much fun. But this vacation is not the one I get to get caught up with myself and get on task. Maybe the next week I have off. Hee hee. Ok, there was a bit of a tangent. I was about to tell you the info on little Cody. Read on after the jump if you want to. My sister told me tonight that Cody is still like a baby. He should be acting like a toddler but, he is still like a baby. It makes me sad, but in a way it is true. Cody doesn't talk. He has a hard time communicating. He has a hard time in general when his routine is off too much like it is this week. (We are getting bouts of crying fits.) He can't tell me what is wrong. He loves to cuddle. He likes playing ball with people. He likes to clap. He enjoys me reading to him. He loves it when I sing to him. He walks and runs and jumps. He feeds himself and is a great eater. He is a bit small for his age. In the 24 percentile or some such thing. He doesn't change his own clothes or even take them off (except his shoes and socks.) He will put his bowl in the sink and go get the kitty, but never leave the room to get a diaper or his shoes. He still does some signs but uses Please and More interchangeably. He confuses Thank you and Blowing Kisses thanks to his school thinking he was being cute and teaching/changing the thank you to kisses. Some signs he has stopped using all together, as well. What does all this mean? Well, we don't really know for sure. Except that like Jeaniece said, he doesn't seem to be caught up.
"They" told me he would be caught up by the time he was two. That he should be "normal" by then. He isn't. This is what we have been doing: He has the Texas early intervention program, Brighton coming to his day care every other week for an hour to work with him. We have had his hearing checked and found out he has fluid behind his right ear drum. It is not infected. It is causing some hearing loss. We have an appointment next week with the a Speech Specialist. This doctor is not through the state. It is a private doctor. Then 2 days later we follow up with the hearing specialist. This doctor hopefully will know and let us know if tubes will help. (Cody has only ever had one ear infection that we have known about.) The fluid behind his eardrum is not infected. Then in the following weeks already scheduled is the appointment with the Autism network. All of these appointment are second and third appointments following up on tests and analizations they have already done for/on him.

I really think he is handling every thing like a trooper. I talked with my cousin Hollie a few weeks ago. She told me I seem to be handling all of this pretty well. I am not sure how I am handling it. I am loving him. I am doing the best job I can. I wish I had more time to be with him and focus on teaching him and helping him. I don't know how, though, even if I did have the time. So, I am trying. I am taking him to all of these appoints and will get lessons on what we are suppose to do and what we can do to help him. Big Cody, or daddy as we refer to him to Lil Cody is so supportive and helpful. He is so patient and loving and kind. I can see the love and bond between them growing every day. I love my Cody's so much.

This blog took a turn I wasn't really expecting. Thanks for reading. Sorry it is so long, this is more for me than anything else, I guess. I suppose I needed to share.

Big ole Deal!!

2010-04-07T05:23:00.001-07:00

The picture in the post below was Cody's last day with the Binky. It has been a struggle for me at bed time but he is doing pretty great.

Quick with Pic...

2010-04-06T21:34:00.001-07:00

I should be in bed. Here are some quick pictures...

We went to the Magic Time Machine when my mom was here. The kids love it. The wait staff all dress up like characters. We got Laura Croft the last 2 times we were there. The girls loved her. She does a pretty good Laura Croft impression, too.

I had to go on a trip to Houston. I am so glad my mom was able to come here and help out with little Cody.

I turned 33 a few weeks ago. Wowzers! Jeaniece said 30 was my year. I am going to have 33 be my year, too!

Six minutes

2010-04-02T06:46:00.001-07:00

Six minutes

What can I tell you in the 6 minutes I have before I start work?
1. I am at work.
2. I love my family
3. Cody is having therapy starting soon so we can start working on the Autism symptoms. He has emerging Autism. That is the pulmonary diagnosis.
4. Big Cody is excited to have a garage and start working on bikes.
5. I talked to my assistant manager during this 6 minutes so my time is up. 

My Family & Me

2010-03-08T21:17:00.001-08:00

These are from our wedding day.

Bella Ella Ell.. hey hey...

2010-03-08T20:46:00.000-08:00

Best new Bella story. The short version. Bella was missing. My daughter Mariana and I went on a hunt to find her. We recreated her night from the muddy cat foot prints on the top of my car and down the window and on the top of the garbage can. Then we followed the trail to the back yard. Our flash light beheld some cats a few houses away. We ran to the front. And to the house we saw the cats in the back of. There we called for Bella. This little cat came up and jumped into our arms. It was a mini Bella. Like she had lost a ton of weight and shrunk (and in the light it was obvious she lost all the orange from her fur too.) Ok, ok we knew it wasn't Bella. But we brought Little Bella, ella ella home and told Big Cody that it was Bella and she musta had a busy day. Haha. We fed the starving baby and then determined it was a boy. Then we found the real Bella locked in a closet for the whole day! Poor Bella. And she still hates the new cat! We are keeping him. His name was going to be Mouse but I think that is too confusing to little Cody. I wanted to name him see-a-tee. or c-a-t. Cat. Hahah.

Lots of words

2009-12-21T13:16:00.001-08:00

Pictures coming soon!
We arrived. We have been in San Antonio, Texas for a week and 2 days. I am on my second week at my new job. I have met and love my soon to be step daughters (Stephanie and Mariana.) They are super awesome! We spent the whole weekend together. We got our Christmas tree and decorated it. Our family went to the San Antonio Riverwalk and celebrated, Stephanie’s birthday on the River at the Hard Rock Café.’ The 5 of us went and saw Avatar. (It was long for lil Cody, but he still did pretty well.)

So the big news… As if all that is going on isn’t big enough… Our wedding has been moved up! Waaay up. We are getting married in the San Antonio Temple on January 2, 2010! I am so excited! This is a wonderful way to start the new year! Cody and I have been working toward this goal for a while now, individually. And recently together.

The lil’ story of us…
About a year and 2 months ago Big Cody joined the church. I had recently become active and was working on it more. Around the time he became a member I moved into a new ward in Chandler, AZ. I decided I was finally ready to start dating and what not. Cody was being pushed by the missionaries that converted him to start dating, too. He was in San Antonio, TX. One of these young men convinced him to join LDSsingles.com. I had just signed up myself and only paid for one month of the service. I decided I was going to make the most out of my $14.95. So, after the initial email, Cody asked for my number and I gave it to him. We started our long distance relationship over the phone in November of 2008. In Jan of 09 lil’ Cody and I came out to Texas for a weekend and met Big Cody. We has a blast. But, I went home and we didn’t really make plans for the future. (Cody tells me he thought I was too serious for him. I mean, I am a professional and all. Haha!)

Over the next 9 months we kept in contact via phone calls and text messages. Picture messages, too. Some times a month would go by with nothing then he would let me know he was thinking about me. A few months ago about the end of September we decided to try getting to know each other better. We set up phone dates. We has both progressed quite a bit personally and spiritually in the 9 months since we’d seen each other. We started getting more serious. (As serious as we felt wasn’t crazy for the dynamic our relationship. Met once a year ago, talk on the phone, making plans to see each other again.) We made plans to see each other over Thanksgiving and Christmas. We booked his flight to AZ for Thanksgiving and mine to Texas for Christmas. In the mean time I attended the temple for the first time. I went to the Mesa Temple in November. As I was there going through this experience for the first time I could see Cody there with me. I could picture him in the Temple. I think that was when I knew.

I already told you the engagement story via my last post. So that is a bit more of the story of us. On the 29th I will get to see him there in the Temple with me as he goes through for the first time. Then on January 2nd we will be married!