Well no one else is going to do it for me.

I love my new house. I love love love it. It sucks that we still haven't sold the old one, and that I have a "meeting" scheduled with our renters tomorrow night about how they are responsible to pay for their own propane, but it is all worth it because I love my new house. There are so many great things about my house that I could blog about but today I want to discuss my yard. I love my yard. The original owner of the house was a landscape architect and it shows. The yard, which sits on a hill, is leveled in well designed and quality ways. All of the retaining walls were built with the support beams actually going into the hill.

There are lots of great details. We have beautiful slopes of landscaped river rock and lots of potential flower beds. There are beds for an herb garden with a matching compost bin.

We even have a gazebo with bridge. The house sits on a 1/3 an acre lot and sits next to another 1/3 acre lot. Originally the lost were owned together, (they are even landscaped together with a path going from the gazebo up the other lot to a fire pit are,) but when the previous owner foreclosed, Fannie Mae tried to split them up and sell them separately. Well lucky for us Fannie Mae hires law students to do their closing and no one seemed to notice on the documents that the lot was included. I saw it, asked and the student was like, whatever it's yours now. SWEET. I love it when employees just don't care.
One of the major downsides to the property is that it takes a lot of tlc. It is really hard to find time to work on the yard. Max is old enough to play while I work, but the other downside to the yard is that there is no fence and lots of falls. No place for anyone under 3. Probably under 5 would be better. So I have to work when Mae is napping. Since we bought the house we have had to devote all our extra energy to the other house. (The other house always has a beautiful garden for potential buyers/renters.)
I therefore always feel the need to apologize to my current neighbors for the state of our yard. It isn't so much the lot our house is on but the neighboring lot needs a lot of work. So it is just a little bit here and a little bit there until... well it will probably never end.
Today's task was to get rid of this huge junk pile of leaves and logs behind one of our flower beds. I had been ignoring it for almost two years, hoping somehow it would be taken care of by someone else. I didn't really know who, just someone.
It is the kinda pile that looks smaller then it actually is and it looks like it could be the cosy home of snakes and other lovely animals. Luckily I didn't find any friends, but I am a bit worried that I have inhaled enough mold spores to kill me. I didn't know wood could decompose into some of the colors I saw>

Crazy. I would say that I have gotten about half of it busted up, but then the question is how am I gonna get rid of all the leaves, and all the logs. . Oof. But at least it isn't so visable to people driving by anymore. One step at a time.

Think Twice

If we knew how crabby Mae would become six months ago we probably wouldn't be pregnant right now. I guess it's a good thing we're not clairvoyant. Now in her defense this week she does have some teeth coming in, but she also has some strong personality points that have nothing to do with her discomfort. Last week we were at the store to buy her some socks. She loves socks almost as much as she likes shoes. When we tried to hand the socks over to the cashier not only would she not let go, a fairly normal response from someone that age, but she gave the cashier this withering stare of hatred and death. It was defiantly NOT normal for someone that age. Luckily for us she is still super squishy and cute to look at. We bought her a lady bug costume complete with wings at the Associate Store and I couldn't resist dressing her in it for church on valentine's day. She was adorable. She has started nursery and according to her teacher does well, especially when snack time comes along. What is up with my kids and food? I promise I do feed them.

Max is an absolute doll right now. I suppose it is some sort of balance blessing that he would be so sweet when she is so angry. He loves his swim class and it it fun to watch him swimming. I want to tell the lifeguard to keep an extra close eye on him, cause when he is not doing the one on one time with his teacher he is constantly dunking under the water. He loves to swim. He is obsessed with video games and is scarily good at them. I would say at this point the he is probably as good as I am. Max always helps out and does what we ask. Sometimes he whines a bit, but he always does it anyway. He loves to talk on the phone to my parents and tells them the funniest thoughts that are going through his head at the moment. He asks them to come over every day. (Mae will not talk or make sounds on the phone. She resents being asked to preform for an audience.) I love Sundays and watching Max walk with his class to and from the primary room. His cute little folded arms and he always looks for me in the library and waves shouting, "Hi Mom!" I am told he likes to answer questions even when he doesn't have the answers. He is a bit of a tattle tell at preschool. He likes law and order. He will let me know if someone has been a bad boy/girl and is very concerned about whether they will get a punishment or not. Which is kinda funny since he is usually so good. I guess he needs the added vindication of his good behavior. He gives hugs and kisses so often I almost feel spoiled. He uses the word favorite to describe everything. I am pretty sure he doesn't understand the true meaning of the word. Basically the world is divided in two: his favorite, things he likes; and not his favorite, things he doesn't like or is hesitant to try. I am his favorite.

Optical Illusion or Prophecy of Doom?

So I totally don't believe in those Magic Eye posters that were big in the 90's. I never saw anything and I don't believe anyone else did either. They were just too gutless to admit it. Despite that I am a big fan of optical illusions. They can be fun. Do you see the old woman or the young woman? The bunny or the duck? That sort of thing. Sometimes it seems like ultrasounds are optical illusions. The older they are the harder it is to tell what you are seeing. The following is my very first picture.
Nothing like technology from 1981. Can't make out a darn thing. Times have changed and now you can see some cool things. Some people even get the 4D Ultrasounds which I personally think are wicked creepy. I have found that I can see my kids pretty well in their ultrasounds, or so I thought. Upon closer inspection of this picture of Spike I was reading the caption, "FACE," so wait a minute; I thought this was a profile shot at first. RIGHT???
ARG!!! If this is a straight on shot then that is one hell of a crazy demon baby right? Are those glowing eyes? He's staring right at me. Look at that mouth? Are those vampire fangs? I thought Mae was gonna be my problem kid.

Late Night Conversation

Perhaps a lack of t.v. isn't such a bad thing. Jeff and I have actually been talking to each other for the last few nights. Not too shabby. I commented last night that I was surprised by the lack of comments on the Spike post and thought perhaps it went in the opposite direction then I had intended. I assumed that as most people generally assume that they are the exception, they would assume that in referring to other people's kids name I had lied about, I didn't mean them. And honestly there are more liked names out there then unliked. Jeff's reply was that he was surprised I have any friends left at all. Apparently it was one of those posts that came off a bit scary. Ooops. I think he was about to say that he was worried I had lied to him about our own kids names. Probably he then remembered that I was the main chooser. Anyhoo no hard feelings out there. I like you guys and your kids; just feeling a bit offensively defensive.

For Grandpa

Cause Grandpa Tobler is the stuck at home like us and not off at Disneyland like the rest of the clan....

Today at preschool they had a unit on letters and the post office. Max sent a letter to grandpa his phone buddy.

Jeffrey Spike

It's a boy. I knew it; it felt like a boy. Then again, I never had that feeling with the others so I was just as ready to be wrong as we went in to the ultrasound. He is healthy and growing at a normal pace, so not ginormous like Max was! Max is excited to have a brother but I think he would have been just fine with another sister, because he is just an easy going kid. Part of me is relieved that Mae will not have to share cause that doesn't seem to be a part of her personality, but who knows maybe it would have been good for her. I am bit surprised by people's reaction. Most people are just happy for us, my dad is thrilled, but some people have actually expressed their disappointment. Really? That just makes us feel awkward....um sorry.

Anyhoo, we are happy. Maybe it was a sign that we couldn't come up with a girl name we felt right about. Jeff liked Lauren, but I have known to many snotty Laurens, and we both liked Eve but it didn't go well with the chosen middle name of Jeanne. So it was all for the best that we are having a boy. If you all can remember when I had Max the labor wasn't bad, but the recovery was awful! Jeff was there for me going above and beyond what any husband should have to do. It was then that I decided that if we had another boy I would like to name him after my wonderful husband. Jeff is okay with this but sometimes feels a little weird, I think he is worried people will assume he is arrogant. As for the unusual middle name, Spike, we are dead serious. Deal with it.

Before I get into the story I just want to say for the record that if you don't like it TUFF! In the last few years I have learned that you just can't account for taste when it comes to baby names. Where do people come up with these things? Will the kids get teased? Maybe, or maybe that name will be cool cause the kid is cool. At one school I went to the coolest kid was named Tucker. Really, Tucker, and what does that rhyme with? Why does everyone have to make up weird spellings, it doesn't make kids unique it just pisses off their teachers and makes it so they will never be able to buy pencils with their names on it. What it comes down to is people are gonna choose what they want and it doesn't do any good to tell them you don't like it cause then you just seem like a douche. So that being said, there are many of you out there that I have down right LIED to your face about liking your kids name and if you have the guts to criticize my kids then the gloves will come off.

So we needed a middle name and we weren't a big fan of Jeff's middle name Ronald. Don't hate it just wasn't in love with it. So we thought of family names but came up empty. J is a hard letter to follow initial wise cause we really hate JJ's or JR's or JB's (except the resturant JB'S that has the awesome Pizookies!) I then thought of my dad. When I was a small girl he used to tease my sister and me about our names. He said if we had been boys we would have been named Butch, Spike, and Ace. Now Butch has a much different connotation today then it did thirty years ago, and Ace sounds a little bit too prison stab you with a shiv in the shower. But Spike just sounded right to me. In a way, this is the second kid of mine that will get a middle name after my sister Krista. Guess it's a good thing she's my best friend. Is it a bit out there? Sure, but his first name will be Jeffrey. We are happy to be having Spike and hope everyone will be happy with us. We are going to call him Spike. When we enroll him in school I will enroll him as Spike. We are hoping that if we are blessed enough to have Jeff's aunt Marty knit us another amazing stocking it will be labeled Spike, cause for all intents and purposes that will be his name. And we couldn't be happier.

Mother Complex

So as I have documented we received record amounts of snow these past two weeks. This week we got more then 20 inches! The last time it snowed this much in NWA was in 1968. Now since we plan on living here forever I realized this could be one of the few times to get my kid out in "real deep" snow. This has created some serious stress for me. I already documented how he didn't like playing with mom and dad. Too cold he said. Okay fair enough. Well the sure fire way to get a kid in love with snow is sledding right? Easier said then done. There are no sleds to be purchased in Arkansas right now. So what's the big deal right? I agree, except deep down inside in my illogical mom center I feel like a failure. I usually don't have this problem. I have a good friend who always feels that it is her duty to give her kids every opportunity know to man, but I do not feel this way. I usually don't stress about giving my kids experiences cause some just happen naturally and some that you force can turn out bad. Cause lets be honest, Max is going through an extreme woosey phase right now and so if I do get him on a sled he'll probably be scared out of his wits and complain about the cold. All the stressing for nothing. But I can't help it I just feel this way today. I need to get my kid on a sled so I can have the peace of mind knowing that I am a good mom. I just hit up a ward member to borrow their sled, which this person must have been preforming open heart surgery when I called cause they were really annoyed by the interruption, and Jeff is on his way to pick it up. Jeff is no doubt doing this not to make Max happy but to get me to calm down, isn't he the best?