Happy Halloween!

So, it is Halloween and i don't feel stressed at all! That seems to be a big accomplishment these days! We carved our pumpkins last night which was lots of fun. Tonight I will take some pictures of the kids in thier costumes with thier pumpkins. We have a Halloween party tonight and I am going to go in a party mood, honest! it should be fun and I am looking forward to seeing these friends of ours, it has been a few months. The only downfall of today is that Tyler has been sick. It is just the normal cold/flu but with him everything turns into something bigger. So I have been busy keeping his temp down and keeping up with the breathing treatments. Yesterday he got so bad Jackson asked me why Tyler was "speaking duck" Even I had to admit that his breathing had a quacking sound to it! Years ago this would probably freak me out but years of dealing with it has given me a sense of humor. You do what you have to I guess.
We are going to Tucson this weekend to stay with Sean's cousin Jimmy. I am looking forward to it. We have wanted to go stay with them since we moved back but haven't had a full weekend where Sean wasn't working until recently. They have 2 boys that fit in with my boys wonderfully so I can't wait. Plus they teach a ballroom dance class for adults every friday that we are going to take. Sean said he would do the class only if I promise to let him lead. I do have an issue there but I am going to try to give up control!! :) I will let write how it went next week! When Jason was a baby we took a bunch of classes and they all seemed to end (maybe not all, but a good portion) in an argument. I just need to admit that Sean is a better dancer than I am, that is the first step to recovery! Anyway, it should be fun!
Happy Halloween everyone! Hope it is a great one with lots of butterfingers, snickers and very few tootsie rolls and dum dums! Let's boycot the cheap houses!! :)

It was a long week.....

So last week while Sean was gone I managed to break both the TV and the computer. It just seemed like everything was going wrong and all I was doing to cope with it was getting mad at the kids. So, Saturday I had a mini break down and then we went to the ward Halloween party. Fun! Actually it wasn't that bad, I just don't feel like I fit in this ward yet. So I spend my time with my family and just say hi to a bunch of people that I really don't know very well. This was my whole fear about moving back to Arizona. Everyone here seems to be surrounded by friends that they have had forever and a ton of family. I miss being in military wards where you were all in similar situations and were looking for new friendships. I know I am just complaining because I have hit the 6 month point and that seems to always be my breaking point when we move somewhere new but so much has happened lately to add to it all. Sean has been gone a ton which is never fun, the only person I do spend time with from family is moving away, and I got together with a friend of mine from years ago before I joined the church. I loved seeing her again but it also made me sad that I have missed out on so much time with so many friends I had made over the years that I no longer talk to. One of the downfalls to moving so much in my life is that I feel like I am always starting over and I am terrible about keeping in touch with people. I am trying to change this, Melanie is helping :), but sometimes it just feels lonely. I think Sean being gone is adding to the feeling big time. But on the bright side, I haven't given up... I keep trying and I know it will get better, it always does somehow! In the mean time, I am determined to handle things better this week than last. I refuse to yell at the kids as much and I am going to be more organized about my time. Of course I say that while I waste time on the computer but I needed to get this all out. So Melanie, if you were wondering why I didn't call this weekend, now you will have an idea! :) Anyway, I am off to do loads and loads of laundry. It is going to be a better week even if I have to force it!

Oh, I added the picture of the kids just for fun..

Baby Einstein...It's Crap?

Ok, so my mom calls me yesterday after spending all weekend at some conference on learning and education. (she is a teacher) Anyway, she calls to tell me that one of the topics discussed were the baby einstein videos. Basically, not only will they not help my childrens brains develop, they are completly harmful! Apparently they have done a bunch of studies and for every 1 hour watched it can reduce a childs vocabulary by 6-7 words!! Once again, I feel like mom of the year. It didn't help that my one child who never watched the videos has the best vocabulary and spoke the fastest. So, in my despair over possibly having to get rid of one of the best inventions I had found to make my babies happy, I decided that maybe it wasn't true. Everything is at least worth a google search right. Well... here is what I found...

The claim always seemed too good to be true: park your infant in front of a video and, in no time, he or she will be talking and getting smarter than the neighbor's kid. In the latest study on the effects of popular videos such as the "Baby Einstein" and "Brainy Baby" series, researchers find that these products may be doing more harm than good. And they may actually delay language development in toddlers.

Led by Frederick Zimmerman and Dr. Dimitri Christakis, both at the University of Washington, the research team found that with every hour per day spent watching baby DVDs and videos, infants learned six to eight fewer new vocabulary words than babies who never watched the videos. These products had the strongest detrimental effect on babies 8 to 16 months old, the age at which language skills are starting to form. "The more videos they watched, the fewer words they knew," says Christakis. "These babies scored about 10% lower on language skills than infants who had not watched these videos."

Oh well, I guess it's ruined for me. One more thing on a long list of things to feel guilty for in the life of being a mom.

So, the real question is do I feel guilty for the damage I have already done or do I feel guilty because in all honesty, I wish I had never discoved this and could have gone on watching and loving the videos in blissfull ignorance, thinking I was such a great mom by helping my babies brains to develop. Yeah, sometimes ignorance is a great thing..... If I just ruined it for you as well, sorry. At least now we can complain together!

Bella Mozzarella

So, here is the lastest addition to the Eames Family. Our new puppy Bella, which the kids have adapted to "Bella Mozzarella". She is incredably sweet and the boys love her! The main down fall so far is that, like most girls, she seems to have a shoe fetish. I am constantly chasing her down to rescue whatever shoe she has managed to swipe. On the upside, maybe this will finally cure my family of taking their shoes off where ever they please and just leaving them there!!

The beginning....

Ok, so I am starting one of these things even though I am not completely sure why and I don't fully understand it yet. At least Melanie will read it and I know my mom will check it out. Oh well, I can never seem to find time to write in a journal anymore so maybe this can be close enough.
Last night we went out to spend the day with Sean's parents. They bought a new house about 40 minutes south of us and the only word to describe it is palacial! I don't know what they are going to do with all the space. My mother in law is already missing her old house and I think I can see why. As nice as the new one is, what do 3 people do with 8 bedrooms. We just joked that when we come next time we will stay the weekend and stay in the West Wing of the house.

So, today was church and I really enjoyed it. Both Speakers were really good and thought provoking yet down to earth. Now I am home, Sean had to go back to the church for a meeting, I am supposed to have a meeting for the Stake YW tonight but Sean is most likely flying out to LA tonight so I don't know how I am going to make that one work. His new job is going to take some getting used to. He is gone all the time! Basically Sunday night he flys out and then he flys back on Friday night. If I am lucky they will be walking a store in Phoenix during the week so he will be home for an evening but this may not be the case this week. Anyway, last week wasn't all that bad but give me unil week 4 or 5 when it hits me that I have 5 more months of this and I will probably have a minor breakdown.

I am not sure what else to write, maybe I will get the hang of this soon, maybe not. Stay tuned to see!!