up to my ears...

(Ethan with his project board. He chose "Why Volcano's Erupt"

(Harmony with her project on Global Warming)

This week (uhm yeah hello it is only Wednesday!) has been a busy one.

**We finished all Science Fair projects! Wahoo! After a lot of stress, and working hard, we got them all done. And Ben very sweetly took the kids to school so they didn't have to drag their ginormous boards on the bus!

**I have a side dish and bread to make for the funeral today. I have muffins to make (although am thinking maybe of doing sticky buns instead hmmm...)for the father & son camp out this weekend. Then on Saturday I am providing fruit and a side dish for the boys bbq after baseball. Lots of cooking and baking to be done!

**Yesterday as I was leaving the school, after picking up Iv-Guy (yes that is what I call him) my van was hit! agh! The girl who did it was driving a gov't vehicle. Oh goodness. At one point I swear there were 10 security guards out there. Her Chief came and personally apologized to me. I thought that was nice. I filled out forms and about 45 minutes later was on my way! We will see what happens with getting it fixed!

**For all of you who are state side, this is your conference weekend right? Well, not for us. We record the broadcast and watch it the week after. So next week, which is Easter Sunday for everyone else, will actually be conference weekend here. Make sense? Well how about this, this Sunday will be our Easter Sacrament meeting...Hmmm

**Their is a father & son campout on Friday!And we have deemed that Ivan is finally old enough to go too! You know what this means right? GNO! Girls night out. Too bad for Harmony, that Ben and I have just accepted the challenge of not eating out for the whole month of April. So what will we do instead? Harmony's choice baby!

And as I have a million and one things to do today, I will leave you with that!

perspective

I had planned to write a post about the boys first baseball game. How exciting it was for them to be out in their uniforms. We topped it off with a night of babysitting. I was annoyed with all the fighting that my kids were doing. And then there was a knock on our door.

My friend stood their bawling. A young man from our church, was out at a youth activity. He hit his head and drowned. He was 16. He comes from one of the sweetest families that you could ever, ever meet. The news came as a crushing blow. Ben was gone at the time, and when he came back, he knew right away that I had been crying, and I told him why.

Later, Ben was on the computer. A friend of ours, had posted a link to a newspaper article. A fellow CEC officer, has been killed in Afghanistan. Ben said it is the first time that we have lost someone for a very long time.

I feel such a loss. And all I can tell you is that I hugged my kids a lot harder last night. I feel guilty for bringing a baby in this world, when there's were just taken away. I feel for both families. Hug your babies a little closer today. Try to be more patient and let the little things slide. We never know what day will be our last with them.

I seriously wonder how boys who don't live on military bases, do scouts? The boys here have sooo many options. Just have your Dad take your den to work! Seriously!

Ben arranged for the Wolf den to go to his work and learn about the environment. ** He offered to take them to the water treatment plant, saying "it doesn't smell THAT bad", and I declined!!**

Harmony' GS troop actually went on a submarine once.

We have gone to the security compound and saw the police dogs, and got on the security boat, atv's etc.

What can we say? Military Dads (and Moms) have cool jobs!

One of the dad's in Connor's den is a Captain ( I believe) in the Coast Guard. He arranged for us to go and tour a boat. So on a very, very rainy Thursday the boys and I headed down for the tour. Harmony opted to stay home!!

**********Note to Uncle Steve***********************
I realize that you probably don't read this, but just in case, I am sorry for not knowing the proper terms. You will probably cringe as I describe our experience. Sorry!
***********************************************************************************

OK continuing on.... I don't know what size this boat was but we headed down to the mess hall first. Next to the tables were a tv and several different game consoles. Of course every boy had to tell them what their favorite game was!

They looked in the kitchen (I won't complain about my kitchen anymore! There's was tiny!)

They got to look in the different rooms, like the engine room. They got to see all the guns lined up and of course the bathroom. Very exciting. Their beds were like "racks" on the Navy ships and didn't look comfortable at all!

While walking around, Ethan told one of the men that, "My Uncle is in the Coast Guard." One of the men said, " That's cool. What is his name?" Ethan responded with, "Uncle Steve."

They got to go to the top and "drive" the boat, play with the guns (all the boy's favorite), climb ladders and ran around like crazy boys!

By this time, I have to say that I was beyond sea sick! I thought I was going to throw up over the side! :) We got pictures with some of the crew and headed out.

As the boys were getting off, some of the crew said, "OK you guys are going to join up now right? Join the Coast Guard?"

Of course all the boys said yes! They started walking down the ramp and out to the cars when one of the boys very calmly said, " Are we going to go join up now?" So cute.

It was a fun and wet outing! We are so grateful to all those who serve! Even if they aren't in the Navy! :)

it's funny...

I have been having such a hard time updating my blog. I keep thinking that there is nothing going on. Then, all of a sudden I have like 50 posts that I want to write. So here is another one...

Every Tuesday and Thursday I drive all the boys down to baseball practice. The older boys get out. Ivan stays in the car. We wait until Ben comes and than we go home.

Every Tuesday and Thursday Ivan screams and cries about not being able to get out.After Ben telling me he was going to get someone out to condemn the bleachers I have said no.

Every Tuesday and Thursday Ben tells me I don't have to wait around, I can drop the boys off and go.

Every Tuesday and Thursday I tell him I can't do that. What if one of the boys get hurt and neither of us are there?

Every Tuesday and Thursday I threaten Ivan with bodily harm if he doesn't calm down.

Every Tuesday and Thursday he still screams and cries. He uses his "nice words" like please and than gets upset when Mom STILL says no.

Every Tuesday and Thursday I feel like screaming and crying and using nice words. I always remember, "THERE'S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!" and I try to be tough.

After lots of screaming and crying (on both of our parts) we came home. Ivan said, " I go watch a movie on your bed." I say "fine." I start on dinner and mess around on the computer. I hear crying. And screaming. I want to pull my hair out.

He is all by himself. No one is there to mess with him. I ignored him FOR AN HOUR. I finally had enough and went to check on him. His elbow was stuck in the slats of our head board. " Mommy I have been stuck here forever already." I felt awful. I got his elbow out. Gave him lots of kisses and asked why he didn't say, "Mommy come help me". He looked at me and said "no Mommy I not say that." Yeah no kidding.

He snuggled with me and gave me kisses. And with red, swollen eyes fell asleep on my lap. Poor kid. Life is rough!

Poor Flat Heather

(At the beach)
(Getting out of the mailbox...STRETCH!)
(You have to wear a seatbelt, even if you are flat!)
(This is a caribou that was on the side of the road. He was tied up but I wasn't getting any closer! So the actual "Flat Heather didn't get in the picture!"


My niece Heather, chose me to send her "Flat self" too. If you have no idea what I am talking about...There is a popular children's book right now called Flat Stanley. Stanley goes all over because his parents can just pay for postage instead of airline tickets! So Heather made a flat version of herself and sent it to me. I feel bad because I had sooo many good ideas and than...I would forget to bring her along! In the end I really wish I had done more! But Flat Heather is headed back to Mesa, so I figured I would show Heather some of the pictures that were taken! I hope she likes them!

Help wanted...the lunchbox dilema

This morning I got up to make the kids lunches. And in went the same old, same old! Juice, pretzels, sandwich, orange slices and a fruit snack. Basically this is the same every day. Maybe it is grapes instead of oranges, or a different kind of cracker instead of pretzels. But here is my problem...

1)The kids get so tired of sandwiches. Really I can get away with one a week. Tops. Otherwise they just keep bringing them home...UNEATEN.

2)They have no way of heating anything up. So if I sent them with dinner leftovers, they have to eat it cold.

3)I feel like I spend half my grocery budget on lunch items (juice boxes, fruit snacks, granola bars etc)

4)School lunches are out of the question. They are 3.25 per kid, per day. I could go to McDonalds and get them food off the dollar menu and pay less than the 9.75 it would cost per day!

So I am asking ( this was also my facebook status!) WHAT DO YOU PUT IN YOUR KIDS LUNCHES? I am making a running list, so help a girl out, would yah? :)

It's a...

After quite a bit of uncooperation (totally made that word up) we got the result. And it really should not come as a surprise anymore....it is yet another boy for the Turner family. The boys shrugged their shoulders...Harmony bawled. She wanted a sister so badly. Unfortunatley, this was her last chance!

Although the middle name has not been completely decided on, we have decided that his first name will be Mason. The kids would like the middle name to be a vowel so his initials will spell something. So I am leaning toward like Mason Allen or something. Like I said, middle name is yet to be determined! :)

I had hoped and prayed for a girl, but was honestly not dissapointed when I found out. How can you complain about a healthy baby right?!

*******************UPDATE****************************************************

After talking to Ben, we made a change with the middle name. We have decided the middle name will be Charles (after his grandpa). So there you have it, Mason Charles Turner.

Stay tuned....

Today is the day! We have our ultrasound at 1pm local time It is only 7:30 now! The kids are so anxious. The three older kids want a girl soooo badly! I keep telling them that Heavenly Father will send whoever needs to be here. They don't listen though and have been crossing every toe and finger and chanting girl!girl!girl!

As for me, I think everyone knows where I stand..."as long as the baby is healthy" :)

Personally I do not want to have to deal with the older kids if it's not a girl. They will be very upset!

I will announce it when I get home, lucky for all of you, I can't keep a secret!

Answered prayers

I don't really talk to much about my religion/faith on here. I guess I just find that crazy things my kids do to be more interesting! :) But I am going to share something with you. Now I realize that not all of you who read this are Mormon. So you can feel free to skip this post....

When I found out I was pregnant, I was very happy& excited. But also racked with guilt. At the time, Ivan had hardly been in school and we were still struggling with how to help him. He had a lot of struggles at the time. I felt guilty because I kept wondering how could I give to another child, when my other 4 are not getting all that they need? Then of course, bring on the morning sickness and I really wasn't good to anyone! :)

So while I was feeling physically & emotionally..."spent" I still had a lot of things on my plate. Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, church, babysitting, not to mention that it was the holidays! ( Apparently I forgot to send my Mom a family picture in her Christmas card...at least she got one I guess!)I felt a huge burden.

For a while now I have been talking about clearing my schedule and how busy we are. But I honestly didn't know what to do about it. Maybe because "I" was trying to figure it out. I want to be the best Mom & wife that I can be, but I knew that I was failing miserably. I prayed. And I prayed. I was emotional, tired, frustrated etc.

I am so grateful that even though I don't have all the answers, I can pray to someone who does! Today I recieved a call from Ivan's teacher. He has made such huge strides, that he will now only be recieving two days of services. His speech therapy has been completely stopped because they feel that he doesn't have a problem with language at all. He is making such progress. He has also been declared "not severe enough" to need summer school. He is now only in school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Leaving me 3 days during the week to get all those things done that I have been slacking on. That I have needed help on...that I struggled with.

I have had a lot of experiences with the Lord answering my prayers. However this time it just means so much more. I was wondering why I got pregnant if I couldn't handle it. Now I know that when we follow the Lord and do what he asks, we will be blessed. He will make sure that we are getting what we need.

Happy Birthday Seabees!!!

(Don't we look like we are having fun? And that I am trying to keep my top from showing anything!lol!)
(Navfac wardroom aka the people Ben works with)
(The spouse club)
(My very fancy ball shoes! My dress was really long and you couldn't see my feet. I also knew that the parking garage was not close to the ball room, so I took advantage!)

(The birthday cake with frosting that turned your mouth blue!)
(My centerpiece that I won, thanks to Ben!)
I have really struggled to keep this blog updated, ecspecially on non-pregnancy related issues!:)

I was trying to decide if I wanted to go to Seabee Ball this year. Finding a formal maternity dress, figuring out hair, make up, jewlery, babysitting etc. etc.It is a lot of work! Once I found a dress though, I was all in! I found it online and was excited when it got here on time! The top was a little big and needs to be taken in, but thanks to safety pins and double sided tape...it worked! :)

Our friends took the kids over night. It was so nice because we just met them at church the next day. I didn't even have to wake up early with kids. Ben and I slept until 8! Lovely sleep, lovely!

We had a great time and I was glad I went. Last year I was really involved in our Spouse club, but with my crazy schedule this year that just hasn't happened. So it was fun to get together and catch up. Although I have to say that my favorite part (besides being all dressed up and on a date with Ben) is when everyone stands up and sings the Seabee Song. I just love it! Anyway,it was a lot of fun.

**And just to add some little pregnancy news, 2 more days until we find out! Wahoo!

the diabetes question

Ahhhh...I am so happy. I have NOTHING that has to be done today. OK laundry but seriously that is like an every day thing that has to be done. :)

So I have had some people ask me about the diabetes situation. Are you ready for this? OK here goes...I am normally the kind of person who follows my doctor's advice to a T. I listen and assume that they know what is best. After my meeting with the dietician I am feeling...not so sure about the information given. When they called to make the appointment, the phrasing used was, " Your levels are just way to high, you have to start checking your blood sugars." I was scared. To be honest, I did a few days of research and read all about things that go wrong and things that go right. But I was nervous. OK I was really, really scared!

Imagine my surprise, when I went in and found out that I had "failed" my tests by 4 points. Uhm, those are "seriously high"? They were less than what I had at the one hour test. We talked and she gave me an 1800 calorie a day diet. As soon as she said that, I could see red flags. I am a pregnant Mother and you are telling me to eat that little? A "typical" lunch is 2oz. of protein, 2 servings of a fat, 1 grain and 2 servings of vegi's (did you know a serving is only half a cup?) oh and 1 serving of fruit. So I had a salad with 1 cup of lettuce a little bit of chicken breast, salad dressing as the fat, a slice of toast and a half cup of pears...And I was starving. All I could think about was food. Did my blood sugar stay low? Well yeah,but I was starving not only myself but the baby.

The dietician I saw is not diabetic, she doesn't have any kids and so has never been pregnant. I thought she was a very nice person but...wasn't sure if she knew exactly what the answer was. Ben reminded me that military doctors do not have the same kind of experience as civilians. Yes they go to med school, and have their military training but then they are thrown right in. Ben thinks that they are very, very cautious.

This post is getting long but this is where I am right now. I don't feel like my blood sugar is the main problem. I feel like the problem is my weight and activity level, which of course leads to adult onset diabetes. I have been talking to people with diabetes (Mom, sister, friends) and they have all given me advice. I have researched and prayed and feel like my answer does liewithin watching what I eat. Not necessarily sticking to a low carb diet, but eating low fat well rounded meals. I have been really careful and eating low fat, good healthy foods. I am not starving myself. I am not starving the baby. I have had lots of energy and am not feeling dizzy or anything. So I am doing what I feel is right FOR ME.

I have been reminded that I am my own advocate. I know what my life is like. I know my history. I know my religious beliefs. I know my priorities.

I did have to laugh at one point when she told me that I was to eat 3 meals and 3 snacks a day. And I should have "no problems following the schedule because since I have kids we already have a set schedule". I laughed at the set schedule part. Monday's schedule is different from Tuesday's. Tuesday is different from Wednesday and so on and so forth. For example last night I had a snack at around 5:30 but had a church meeting at 7:30. By the time I got home at 9:30 I was hungry and decided to eat dinner. At almost 10 at night. I don't think that is a normal "dinner time" do you?

So give me some opinions here...How many of you have ever thought that your doctor/s weren't right and did your own thing?

behind

I have fallen so very far behind. Not just on this blog, but in everything! Sometimes I think to myself, what is the purpose of me staying at home...when I am never really at home? I just want to stop everything...stop Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, baseball, babysitting, doctors appts., school drop offs and pick ups. Just have absolutely no reason to leave the house for awhile. I feel like every day I am running around like a mad woman trying to get everyone where they are supposed to be. For example here is what today is shaping up as...

**drop Ivan off at school
**go pick up and deliver book orders to Connor's class
**go walking
** come home and take a shower
**go pick up Ivan from school
**go get my hair cut
** come home and try to do something worthwhile in the house until the kids get home
**help with homework
**get the boys ready for baseball
**go drop them off
**come home and try to get something worth while done
**Ben comes home and drops the boys off, kisses me good bye and heads off to the church for meetings
**get kids off to bed and fall asleep because I AM TIRED

And the reason why I am so behind is because every day is SOMETHING. All of my days look very similar to this one!

I am ready to take all of my kids out of all of their activities just so we can relax...and maybe I can catch up!

answering machine...

" Hi Mrs. Turner. This is Dr. Borja calling. I just wanted to let you know that we re-checked your glucose levels and....they are just too high. You are going to need to start testing your blood sugar...." Why don't doctors ever call just to tell you that you are absolutely fine and to have a great day?!

I was VERY cranky with my kids this morning. Then I felt in a bad mood. I was somewhat productive while Ivan was at school, so I felt better. Until I got that message. I need to get out of this funk...but how? Normally I would turn to chocolate, but I think that is probably what got me in this mess in the first place!!

more pregnancy woes

I just got a call from my doctor, informing me of "elevated glucose levels". During my first glucose test I scored a 189. Normal levels are 100 or under. So I went back and took a 3 hour test and 2/4 of my samples were elevated.

I am waiting on a call from the nutrionist. I am being put on a diabetic diet, and than a few weeks from now, around 26 weeks, they will retest me. If they are still elevated I will have to start checking my blood sugar levels and all of that good stuff.

So that is what is going on for now. The ultrasound appt. is set for March 18th!! We are excited to find out who exactly this little peanut is!

Bed time

Ivan is spoiled. He is. Being the baby. Having some of the problems that he does. Well it leads to a lot of, doing what you can to keep him happy. And for the next couple of months, he can enjoy that position! Lately, we can only get him to go to bed if we let him lay on our bed and watch a movie. After a good 20 minutes he is sound asleep. No harm no foul right? Wrong. Because he also needs, "Mommy you come lay me". I have to go lay down with him. And in all honesty...I am usually asleep before he is! :) I mean we have all the lights off,snuggling under covers...it is hard to not close those eyes. So for the past few nights, I have been going to bed at around 8:30. Today I got up at 3:30am, and couldn't go back to sleep. Maybe because I had already slept for 7 hours. I don't see how my kids can be so grumpy when they wake up, they sleep from 8-6:30! Hmmm...anyway being up early has allowed me to have a little bit of quiet alone time. It is nice. I have also been getting my house straightened up without little interuptions.

The whole point of this is to share something I read on a blog. I don't remember where I found it, and am misquoting ( I am sure) but the jist of it was this...
The blogger was saying that in these days ×, girls know how to use computers, cell phones, ipods. They learn quickly how to text and how to find their favorite celebrity online. But they don't know how to boil an egg, or use an iron. They don't know how to clean house or cook.I thought it was really interesting. I admit that I struggle with cooking every day, cleaning every day etc. But I don't want Harmony to lack all of these skills. After all, she will have her own house to take care of some day. So I have been trying to have her help me in the kitchen every day. One day it was just showing her how to turn the oven on, set the timer etc. But she has also helped make a Watergate salad, Chicken Divan, apple crisp (although she was not a big fan of peeling apples) and a few more. Every time she helps make something, I write it down on a recipe card and put it in her box. I just hope that when she heads off to college or after getting married, she can pull that box out and feel a little more comfortable in the kitchen. After all, she will have made it before!

All right, I am off to clean up. I have to use the quiet time while I can!