The Hier Family

August

2011-08-27T18:02:00.006-07:00

So I'm proud to say that since my Bloggy Bloggerson post in June, that I have blogged 10 times! (counting this very blog, but not counting my photo project blog that I post to daily!) I'd say this is pretty good and well on to my hopeful title especially considering I had only blogged twice in the preceding 12 months before that.

We have just finished our first week of a planned preschool week. I've always had an idea of what I want to teach Josh next, but I'm realizing there is SO much that I want to pack in. And of course the only way to get it done efficiently is to have a plan.

I found this cute, affordable and very useful Teacher's planner at Target in the $1 bin. I've looked at a few planners and many (as you would expect) have lots of pages dealing with the class as a whole including pages for students' grades contact info etc. I hate to waste, so these extra pages drove me away from the purchase (dorky I know). But I was very happy with this one, only one or two pages of classroom stuff which I have already taped over with some specific notes of my own.

So anyway, if you know me and my need for structure, this planner (like most calendars) satisfies a craving in me - to plan. It's been great for our first week. It's helped me to map out what Josh needs to learn and how to best incorporate subjects based on knowledge level (prior knowledge and what he's already learned) and time of year (holidays/events). Again, dorky I know. But I enjoy it, and he's learning lots, so it's a win win! This week he even sounded out and read "frog" all on his own! I'm a proud mom. :)

If you're on facebook, then you've seen my post about Cal and his Mickey. If not, here's the mini story - We're in Target. He sees a stuffed Mickey. I hand it to him with the intention of letting him hold it throughout the store and expecting him to lose interest by the time we leave. It was $15. I don't spend that kind of money on a stuffed toy. Just saying. When I handed it to him, it was the cutest thing ever. His bright blue eyes, and his huge toofy smile that made his nose scrunch up all the while squeezing Mickey's neck like he is his bff. But again, he'd lose interest by the time we were ready to leave. Not. He hugged that Mickey the whole time with that sweet smile on his face. So yeah, I guess I do pay $15 for a stuffed toy! :)

This is a picture of him today holding on tight while they watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse together. And because I'm such a sucker (apparently) and want my kids to be happy, I bought a second (identical) stuffed Mickey today to stop all the fighting. Now there shall be peace among the Mickey lovers. :)

This week has also been the beginning of something new - me going to the gym! There could be a whole separate blog about that Ha! But I'll just say I've been trying to figure out what's going to work best for me (and the kids) and I think this may be it. I got a 5-day pass at Mountainside Fitness and have gone the last 2 days. The kids area is super, and both boys have been giving me attitude when leaving. They love it. Which, that alone may be motivation enough for me to be faithful to go - they can have a blast and I can spend an hour sweating with my iPod.

Yesterday marked 13 years since Scott and I have been together, our first date. I remember we had dinner and saw There's Something About Mary at the Metrocenter Mall. If I remember correctly, that was the same day I learned what "ornery" meant since I didn't know what my roommate was trying to say about me. Haha! A lot has happened in the last 1.3 decades, and I know our future will only be better. <3

Thanks for keeping up with us. It's nice to know when people are actually reading my ramblings. :) Follow my blogs and I'll get to know for sure that you've been here.

http://thehierfamily.blogspot.com/

http://heathers365.blogspot.com/

Amazing Lightning Storm

2011-08-04T00:13:00.002-07:00

This picture makes me teary-eyed at how much God loves us.

I pulled over on the way home tonight because the lightning was beautiful, bright, and constant. And even though there was plenty of lightning to photograph, it's hard to capture it. Have you ever tried? It's so quick of course, so it makes it near impossible to get a photo. But not for me tonight. After taking 100+ photos (probably closer to 200), I said a short and simple prayer. "Lord this is so beautiful. Please let me have just 1 awesome photo." Within another minute or so, voila! I love that such a small, otherwise unimportant thing, is still important to Him because it's important to me. <3 I actually ended up with about 10 great photos, 2 very bright and I narrowed it down to this one to post for today's 365 photo. And it was too awesome not to post on our family blog too, and make sure I reach all my blog followers with this one! For more, just look at my facebook album.

Baby Powder

2011-07-28T22:02:00.001-07:00

I should have suspected something when Josh came running in from the other room saying "smell me!" But I just thought it was part of his other random sillyness (like when he drew a picture of himself today holding a toy and told me he was holding God and he wears a belt). Anyway, it was a good 10 minutes later that he came back saying "I'm stinky!" and a curious light bulb went off.

You see they were supposed to be watching Mickey Mouse in the other room while Scott and I finished our movie, Source Code (pretty good movie by the way). So I asked suspiciously and firmly "WHY are you stinky Josh" to which I received the reply "becuz Cal got that white baby stuff on me." AAaahhh man! I knew exactly what he meant. I jumped up to find Cal in front of the TV, all the while displaying his favorite Disney character, shaking a bottle of baby powder every.where. He was laughing and having a blast. To his dismay I grabbed the bottle from him, but really. It was too late. It was empty. There was a white film all over the room, and him. . .

Guilty. How could you not love that face? Big blue eyes.

We had a dog 3 years before we had kids, so the house has long since been "proofed." But I guess there was a lingering something a little person could find and get into. I'm just thankful it wasn't harmful or staining. :)

Change it a little and make it your own!

2011-07-09T15:50:00.005-07:00

Change an ingredient or two and suddenly the recipe is YOURS! Who is with me? I'm a pretty crafty person [scrapbook/baking/etc-crafty, not like underhanded and deceptive ;)]. I've got a good bit of creativity. But to be completely honest, most of my ideas start with someone else's idea, then I just mold it a little to my liking.

One of my current endeavors is learning to become a great photographer because I love photos, and I love photos of my family! And something I've been doing to help me along this process is a 365 project. Today's picture was inspired by something I saw in a recent People magazine. A friend asked about it, so I thought it would be fun to blog about.

In my workshop, it suggests to cut out pictures that you like. This picture of Jim Carrey caught my eye LOL.

I'm really attracted to picture-in-picture type of photos. So I immediately cut this one out and added to my book of fav photos. Most that I save are because I like the composition of the photo, but this one was more of a fun idea to attempt myself.

Here's the simple explanation (more details below):
- While looking in the mirror, I took a picture of one eye with my smart phone.
- I then held the picture displayed on the phone back up to my face while taking a picture with my good camera. (This took about 10 tries.)
- In the middle of adjusting sharpness and levels on the computer, I decided to try it black & white with only the camera picture left in color.
- And the end result. . .

If you'd like to try it yourself, here are some better instructions:
- While looking in the mirror, take a picture of one eye with your smart phone, cell phone, or another camera with a display screen. Be sure to move in/out to make the picture size as close as possible to match the actual size of your face. I held my phone out from my eye about 4 or 5 inches.
- Set up another camera on something steady if you don't have a tripod and set it up for the self-timer. I used my dslr with a 50mm f/1.8 lens because I hugely HEART shallow depth of field (focused subject, blurry background). I set the aperature to the lowest, f/1.8. If you have a regular point-and-shoot camera, just forget everything I just said after self-timer. You can still do this. :)
- Pull up the 1st picture on the screen of whatever you took it on, and practice holding it up to your eye (I took a minute in the mirror so I could remember where to hold the phone). It may take a few tries unless you can get a mirror in front of you to do this step, but behind the camera of course. Focus (half-push of the shutter button on most cameras) and press all the way down to take the picture. The self-time will give you a second to get your hand back down so it doesn't look like a cheesy self pic.
- Upload it to your computer to edit in whatever photo software you have. I shot the picture in RAW format and edited it in Photoshop Elements. Simply adjust where needed, select everything but the phone picture to convert to black and white, adjust lighting, etc. In the RAW editing stage, I increased the blacks slightly and the clarity. The rest was done in the jpeg editing. I sharpened and also used the unsharp mask to make the phone picture more crisp.

I usually adjust as I go, not always remember every single step. So if you have specific questions, just let me know.

Hope you like it!

ABC's & Chore Charts

2011-07-06T13:12:00.005-07:00

On a lighter note (from the last post), Josh has been learning his alphabet and the lessons of responsibilities and rewards via a chore chart. By the way, I think we've settled the bad word problem. The non-chalant approach evolved into, firm warnings, and eventually a spanking. The spanking did it. :( At least he'll remember now.

Josh is majorly into role playing, mostly superheroes but he's not partial. Sometimes you'll see him as a pirate or a soldier. Each day he takes on a new persona and most days there are multiple. Today for example, he's already been Batman and Green Lantern, and it's only lunch time. He's watching Superman right now, so I'm sure that's to follow. I love his imagination.

One day while looking at the big A on his Captain America helmet a light bulb went off.

I had just read my friend's blog about environmental print and the wheels started turning when I saw the letter A. I knew that in order to keep Josh's interest I had to make learning fun and make it something he can relate too. Thus was born "Joshua's book of ABC's." I've been craving some crafty scrapbooking time but haven't been able to make the time, so this was a perfect compromise - a little crafty, and productive!

This picture is an example of how detailed or simple you can go, if you'd like to make your own. Many of the more detailed letters were made with layers of cardstock and scrapbook paper. However, when I knew what I wanted the R to look like, I didn't want to cut out a million pieces of Robin's costume. So I drew in the details and colored it with Stampin Write Markers (from Stampin' Up!). On the flip side, S was much easier. I just pasted an ACU pattern in a Word document (google) and then an S outline, printed & cut. So far, so good. He's been enjoying it, and of course learning his alphabet!

As with most 4-year-olds (or at least I'm hoping :)) chores are a battle, including the chores that should just be everyday maintenance like brushing your teeth. I've been eager to start a rewards system with Josh, waiting until I knew he'd respond. His very first chart was back when he was potty training. He loved putting stickers in the squares after using the potty and washing his hands, but he'd also sometimes get bored of it. Recently, I realized it was time again. I started off small with an app on my iPod touch. It was the free version, so it would only let me make a chart for 1 child (fine) and 4 chores (not fine). He enjoyed pushing the button and seeing the check mark by his chores. He was loving it, and I needed to keep track of more. I found a chore chart at Staples that I really like. It's dry-erase and has magnetic stars.

It's been working wonderfully! Josh has been encouraged to do what I need him to do, and if he doesn't I don't push it. I just make sure he understands that it's his choice and his choice to not do a chore means it's his choice to not get a star. And better than any other avenue of discipline, taking away a star is almost magic. Ha! I'm sure the threat of losing a star works so well because he so badly wants the reward. Which leads me to another point, making it all something he can relate to again, something he really wants. So I give him the choice. For example, after earning 10 stars he can choose to play a new game (like a board game with us, or the Wii which he is just learning to play), 20 stars is a new toy (I keep a budget in my head and guide him to a few choices), and 30 stars is a "big movie" aka a movie in the theatre. So far he has earned an Ironman mask, which was something he had his mind set on (another great factor, having him set goals and work for it) and a movie in the theatre.

I adjust the system as we go, as needed. In the future, I'll take "brushing teeth" off the chart because I believe he should learn to do that without being rewarded for it. A successful visit to the dentist (which usually includes a little toy) should be enough. Funny, but it reminds me of dog training. You start off with giving them a treat every time they sit along with the command, but eventually dwindle off so they sit by command only.

I'm so proud of Josh. Thanks for reading, and hopefully it'll provide ideas for some in the same stage. :)

That train said "What the f***!"

2011-06-28T20:28:00.005-07:00

You can imagine my horror as Josh says to me (in very plain and clear English I might add, despite his many other words he is still mastering), "That train fall down and he said 'What the f***!'"

We (Josh and Cal and I) were playing trains today. Made the biggest track we could put together with the pieces we had, added lifts, and bridges, and tunnels, even put fresh batteries in 2 of the trains so everyone was up to speed. Cal was doing exceptionally well as he sat back and enjoyed watching 2 engines go along the track while holding 1 in his hand. He usually likes to see them go, but also can't stop himself from grabbing one or breaking the track, etc. But today, he was doing great. The track we made today had lots of curves and turns. And Josh's newest engine is sort of heavy and square. I can't figure out who he is. Anyway, around the curve, he got derailed and fell off the track. And Josh, who personifies most toys :), says to me "That train fall down and he said 'What the f***!'"

When he says the word "jet" it sounds just like "sh*t" so I didn't really think his sweet face and innocent lips just dropped the f-bomb. So I asked him again what he said. And it really couldn't get any clearer. I didn't want to freak out and make a big deal of it because you know, that just makes them want to say it more - we're born with that sinful, rebellious nature. So I just didn't say anything for a few minutes as my head was about to explode with all the emotion + trying to figure out what's the effective thing to do.

After a minute or two, I just told him that the word he said the train said was very very bad and we shouldn't say that. He said the sentence again but in question form, and I said "Yes, that one. Don't say it again okay?" And he was fine with that. I asked him where he heard that and who taught him to say that. His answer? Get this . . . Cal. Haha! What a character.

I know he doesn't use this phrase when I'm not around (Ha! what a thought) and he doesn't even know what it means. But man, it hurts my heart to hear it from my sweet boy. Seriously, makes me want to cry. For the last 4+ years, I've told Scott that the day my kids say their first curse word (and in correct context no doubt) that we are going to have a huge fight. I don't feel like fighting though. I just feel sad. It's strange how much I want to cry. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I got the cell phone out and recorded a video to send to Scott at work. Made him sad too.

Workshop from a book

2011-06-26T17:00:00.002-07:00

As many of you know, I love photography but am very amateur. (Is that a correct use of that word? Anyway - ) I got my first DSLR a year and a half ago. It's exponentially better than my point-and-shoot for a gazillion reasons. And to date, I've learned a lot. But of course there is so much more to learn.

Being a SAHM, my time to do anything outside of taking care of my little men is very limited. So I read when I can and play with my camera as much as possible. They are also the best subjects, because seriously, they are the cutest boys - ever. And in pulling out another one of my photography books, I decided this time to really use it. It's called Visual Poetry, and it's been a great resource. But it's also a workshop in a book. There are different assignments at the end of each chapter from photo challenges (of course) to other reading and actions like consulting a local professional photographer. There's also a very helpful website that goes along with the book www.visual-poet.com.

I'm super excited about some structured instruction and challenges. So get ready for my photography journey along with some subject requests! Yes, I need people to photograph. :) So don't be shy when I come a'knockin'.

First assignment, watch the film Annie Leibovitz, Life Through a Lens.

10, um 6, Things I'm Loving Right Now

2011-06-24T17:15:00.010-07:00

The last time I did a 10 Things I Love list was June 29, 2009. My how time flies. So two years later, here's what's on the top of my list right now, in no particular order.

1. My new shelves and desk area, and super cute chair as you may have seen in my 365 blog.

We finally removed Grandma's old hutch from this nook and filled it with Ikea shelving+ and maximized the space. I'm so happy with it. I was super stoked to find a non-office-desk-chair chair. It's the perfect height and I appreciate that it's wide and doesn't have arms.

2. Dream Dinners

A friend introduced me to Dream Dinners a couple of months ago, and it's been great. I love having prepared frozen meals ready to go (minimal prep/cooking time) that isn't processed food.

3. My Pampered Chef Deep Covered Baker

I've been PC'in it up lately as I've hosted a cooking show a few weeks ago and have been attending all my friends' shows since. This is definitely one of my favorite things. If you need a Pampered Chef lady, be sure to check out Trudy Maples. She is the bomb!

4. My recipe holder

My MIL, who is a fantastic gift-giver, gave me this one year. It conveniently folds up under my cabinet when not used and folds down, up and off the counter when I do need it.

5. My Droid 2

October was my initiation to the smart phone club. If you have a smart phone, then I don't need to explain. It's awesome. If you don't, well, it's like having your computer in your hand all the time. Uber convenient and handy. Now I've just got to convince Scott to upgrade his flip phone. :)

6. My iPod Touch

I recently said to Scott "I want to buy a new iPod" and he said "ok". I love him. Besides having extra storage which I needed, it's so handy for so many other reasons. Including, movies to entertain the kids with and keep them quiet! :)

Alright, that's it for now. Gotta get back to serving up the Chicken Pot Pie I made for dinner in my handy dandy Deep Covered Baker!

After proof-reading, I see that "handy" is my word for the day.

New Blog

2011-06-21T22:11:00.002-07:00

A couple of years ago I began a 365 photo project but never finished. I just started a new one, this time sharing via a blog (rather than flickr). So far so good. :) Check it out at http://heathers365.blogspot.com/.

P.S. - A 365 photo project is a challenge to take a photo every day for a year. I love pictures, would like to get better at photography in general, and enjoy the idea of documenting a part of my life. It'll probably be mostly of my kids, since that's what my life is about each day. Ha! :)

Careful! Cal!

2011-06-18T16:31:00.003-07:00

Yesterday the boys and I had a fun time in the sun with friends. We had lunch and pool time. However, Cal is going through this needy & tantrum phase. Although he was a little irritable when we first got there (and any time I'd walk away) he calmed down for the most part and had a good time too. But everything seemed to go down hill after that.

After a nap (which was great for everyone of course), Cal was up to his loud antics. Crying over everything and wanting me to hold him all evening. Even if I wanted to sit and hold him all the time, it's not possible. I had to cook dinner and get everyone fed along with the regular evening routine. Before I know it, Josh is refusing to eat. So I sent him to bed. Cal is following me around screaming as I clean up toys that I couldn't get Josh to pick up earlier. After about a minute of him realizing I'm not stopping to hold him, he goes into the other room (all the while crying) found a penny Josh left on the table and puts it in his mouth!

I run in the kitchen when I hear him choking. He was panicking and started to run behind the recliner. I grabbed him and before I could do anything he began to vomit. I caught what I could in my hand (I don't know why, weird instinct) and discovered the shiny coin. I started yelling at Josh upstairs (because I'm always telling him not to leave money around for Cal to get) and then is when I realized how scared I was. I start crying as I'm yelling at him. He had came out of his room and was looking at me from the railing. I sent him back to his room while I got Cal cleaned up. After the moment calmed down, I had a talk with Josh about what happened. Then it was bath time, and bed time, for everyone!

This morning I went into the boys room and found Cal with his diaper off and playing with a pile of poop. Yes! I pile of poop! What in the world!?! I was trying not to gag as I cleaned everything up. It was under his fingernails and on all his limbs. disgusting. For half a second I thought I needed a picture but decided quickly I couldn't leave him like that for even that long. Aah, nasty. Josh was looking perplexed as he hadn't realized Cal had done that until I went in and turned on the light. He asked, "why Cal do that?" All I could say was "I DON'T KNOW!"

Against my better judgement I still chose to venture out of the house with them today. We went to Lakeshore Learning Store for their craft day. It was too hectic for me to snap a photo. :( But they had a good time and we left before I could buy anything. There's so many awesome things in there.

We stopped for lunch on the way home. I'm loving my new iPod. It keeps them quiet. :)

So glad to be home for the rest of the day.

Bloggy Bloggerson

2011-06-15T22:04:00.006-07:00

I so want to be a Miss Bloggy Bloggerson! I have so many things I "want" to do all the time, but don't have room for them all. It's all about phases of life and what I can handle I suppose. :) In the meantime, I'm really going to make it an effort to blog more regularly. There's so much going on that I want to share and that I don't want to forget.

I'll start with the most recent. We've been busy at home as Scott has been working a lot so each day's goal is to effectively entertain and hopefully teach Josh and Cal something all the while making sure their basics needs are met! Ha! - feed 'em, nap 'em, bathe 'em. We've recently changed preschools. Cal is going 2 days a week, and I've decided to keep Josh home with me. Back in the fall, I started working with him at home, starting with writing his name and other various activities. But now that he's officially home with me, I've been more deligent about teaching him. Yes it's summer, but he doesn't know, and it works better for me to get this whole pre-k school year going.

I've been pleasantly surprised at both of our progress. I really never thought I could effectively teach him much without losing patience. I admire my friends who homeschool but never thought I could do it myself. However, as he's learned so much in just the past few weeks, I'm learning a lot too. I've discovered when and how to get his attention. If he's just not into doing whatever I've got planned, I either re-assess the time or the activity itself. I know it's got to appeal to him and be something he's going to enjoy. In the mean time, it's been really fun for me coming up with new ideas, researching techniques, and seeing the results. It is so satisfying for Josh to learn (and repeat/use) something I've taught him. Wow! We can do it! As this is at the top of our list lately, it's probably what I'll blog most about. I'm excited.

Cal is so much fun lately. He has quite the personality. His big blue eyes will get you every time. He talks so much that I've forgotten to reinforce a lot of baby signing with him like we did with Josh. Some things he says are - daddy, joshy (rarely mommy), ball, car, hot dog (as in the hot dog dance on the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse), choo choo, more, please, no, circle, fish, dog, baby. EVERY morning as I'm changing his diaper, he asks for 1 of 2 things, bahbah or hotdog (bottle or to watch Mickey). Just like Josh as a baby (and Scott everyday :)), Cal is very expressive with his eyebrows. The most entertaining is probably his facial expressions + the baby talk + the awesome voice inflection that says "I really know what I'm talking about and you should listen to me!" Haha!

Josh is the chameleon of superheroes. Each day he is someone new, and many days he is multiples characters. Today was Green Lantern. The boy loves Green Lantern and I can't figure out why or how. The movie isn't even out yet. He may have seen 1 commercial. He tells me often "I love green lantern so much." Haha! Today he actually found a picture from a Target ad, cried (with tears) and explained to me "I don't have this green lantern toy. I really need it." As for costumes or other accessories to make it so, the most popular characters he becomes are - aforementioned GL, Superman, Batman, Thor, Darth Vader, Captain America, Soldier, and my favorite - Super Josh. He's sometimes the villain too. Tonight before bed he was Captain Hook and Cal (without knowing LOL) was Jake from Disney's Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

A couple of months ago we had our annual family pictures taken by, who I should just call our family photographer now after 3 years :), Ashley Bugg of www.buggphotographer.com. As always they were amazing and we have more fantastic pictures of my beautiful family. For more pictures, click here.

Thanks for catching up with us. We'd love to hear from you too. Blog atcha again soon, hopefully. :)

Blogger app

2011-06-02T21:59:00.001-07:00

I downloaded the blogger app for my phone but not so sure it was worth it. I can't access my dashboard & read my fiends' blogs. Boo.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-10T20:36:00.002-07:00

2011. What!?!

The last quarter of 2010 was especially busy and I only sent like 15 Christmas cards out of the normal 40-50, and they were mailed AFTER Christmas at that! Aahh! So this will serve as a belated holiday greeting to some along with our usual year-end recap, as I’ll print & mail to a few that don’t get online very often.

We rung in the 2010 year with a newborn, as baby Caleb and I had been home for less than 24 hours. Cal has been a fun addition to our family and a huge lesson learned for me – kids can be SO different. Haha! He looks a lot like Josh did, but he is certainly a different person. Just when I thought I’ve “been there, done that” Cal proved me wrong. These boys are always keeping us on our toes. :)

Soon after the new year, I conquered my baking fears and took up cupcakes! Just another crafty, and delicious, hobby to endulge in!

In March, Scott and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. It seems like so much longer, in a good way! :) We’ve been together since 1998, and I can truly say he loves me more each day, oh I mean I love him more each day. Hahaha!

We also lost our beloved Sarge that month. :( Oh my gosh, devastating. It’ll be another little while before I’m ready to get another dog.

When we do get another dog, it’ll probably be 2, and be big dogs as usual. That plus how much room two little kids can take up (hahaha) is what led us to trade in my Prius (you should’ve seen a great dane fit in the back, quite funny) for a minivan. It took me a few months to get used to the idea, because I would have rather had another SUV. But I soon came to realize the truth of how convenient and practical a minivan is! Totally love it. I’m officially the driver of a swagger wagon!

Since his 3rd birthday in April, Josh has changed tremendously. The whole maturing process from 3 to 4 is fun to experience. He keeps us laughing everyday. Like when he yelled “wook Mommy! A daddy baby!” when a little person walked by. Aah! I’m sure that’s only the beginning of embarrassing things he’ll say in public.

June marked a new change for me, a lifestyle change. I don’t know how it ever got so bad, but I’m happy to say I am currently down 40lbs and counting!

Scott made the 2000+ mile journey to Ft. Belvoir, VA for a 4-month class in late August. Thankfully, it was “just” VA and he wasn’t deployed overseas this time. Nevertheless, my temporarily-single-parent status ensued and life was busy. We were very blessed to visit with him about every 6 weeks. In early October, the boys and I flew to NC to stay with my family, and Scott drove down for the long Columbus Day weekend. We did it again for Thanksgiving, and then for Christmas. I’m so happy we were able to be together so often, but I don’t recommend flying by yourself with a 3 year old and a baby. I won’t be doing that again anytime soon. :)

Cal turned 1 just a couple of weeks ago, December 28th. He’s walking everywhere and torturing his older brother with a nonchalant-ness about him Hahaha! Scott drove back from NC to AZ and we were all 4 back at home just before the new year. Now, we’re just trying to figure out what our new “normal” is all over again.

I expect this year will be adventurous in the way of camping with the boys, more date nights for Scott and I, and planning our 2012 get-away. Happy New Year everyone!

Cal is 6 months old!

2010-06-28T19:03:00.010-07:00

Another 6 weeks later. . . I get a moment to blog again . . . :)

So my little baby is not so little these days. I can't believe it's been 6 months already since he was born. It's so true that time goes by faster and faster as you get older (and probably the more kids you add to the family, haha).

Blue eyes are still here! And his hair is much lighter than when he first arrived. I won't know how much he weighs until his Wednesday doctor appointment, but I'm guessing around 16 lbs since he was about 14 lbs 2 months ago.

Cal is almost sitting up on his own. He actually does, but only for a few seconds. But he is progressing fast. I think we'll both be happy when he can sit up so he can play with his toys more easily. :) He's been rolling over back and forth for a while now. I put him in the crib one way, and there's no telling what position I'll find him in when I go back to get him.

When Cal started quickly finishing off an 8 oz. bottle, I knew it was time to start rice cereal. I started him off slowly, probably more because I was lazy and didn't want to spoon feed him all the time. I know, I'm terrible. Bottle feeding was much easier. But he's full-on eating solids now! After his bottle, he'll eat a baby bowl full of rice cereal and a whole jar (actually they're little plastic tubs now for Step 1 food) of fruit or vegetables. He's a good eater like Josh was.

Entertaining himself by being able to grab onto toys has been a life saver too. He's learning new motorskills every day. So cute. Keeps him quiet for a little while too. :)

Mr. Droolbox has also been teething. I'm thinking his middle bottom teeth will pop through any day now. His little gums are so white there. And again, it's awesome he knows how to grab something and gnaw on it for a while.

It's been 110 degrees here, average, for the last week or two. So it's nice to get in the water since it's just too hot to do anything else outside. I was glad to finally find a baby float that had an age as young as 6 months; most start at 9 months. Also because it's so hot, when you get in the water, it's just perfect. There's no sudden chill factor which helps when I'm getting him in the water. He loves it. He just lies back and chews on a toy all the while making lots of baby jibber jabber - oh yeah, he's talking lots too.

Josh has been a great big brother. He gets concerned when Cal cries. Shortly after it starts, Josh often comes up to me "Mommy, Cow cie." Like I needed the reminder or announcement, haha! This evening was especially cute as Cal was sitting on my lap. Every time Josh came up to Cal to say Hi, or anything for that matter, Cal would squeal with excitement and laugh. He was so happy to see his big brother every time he came around the corner. So sweet.

Mother's Day 2010

2010-05-15T21:28:00.004-07:00

Okay it's a whole week after the fact, but I'm just getting around to a little blog about Mother's Day. :)

It was a great day. It tried to start of badly, but it all worked out. I woke up with a stomach ache, and I broke my nice CHI hair dryer (Boo!). But church was great as always. And when I got home Scott had cleaned the house and gotten groceries. My in-laws came over and Scott made us all some delicious fajitas!

Josh made me a couple of things. I never knew how much stuff like this would melt my heart. :) First, he made this cute little box at school.

Then on Sunday at church, he made this flower picture. Funny story about that - even though it says "Happy Mother's Day" he apparently made it for himself! Haha!
Me - "Awe, Joshy! Did you make this for me?"
Josh - "No! It's Joshy's!"

A great day. I'm so blessed to be a mother.

Another Quick Recap

2010-04-26T21:50:00.002-07:00

Ok, time for another quick recap. Like I mentioned a couple of blogs ago, I totally enjoy blogging but just am having a hard time finding time for it right now. But I have high hopes that I'll be able commit more regularly in the future. :)

In the mean time, here's what's been going on -

-Cal-
Little Caleb is getting to be such a big boy (I promise to post pix soon). He's almost 4 months old, and has a Dr's appt in a couple of days. So I'll have a few more updates later. He's been sleeping through the night since April 1st HALLELUJAH! and is on all formula now. His crying has gotten better and I think we're learning each others personalities more now. He's also grabbing and reaching for things lately - the beginning of playing with toys and entertaining himself! :)

-Josh-
Mr. Josh is still keeping us laughing. He's been such a good brother and is maturing in different ways each day. He turned 3 this month (again, pix to follow soon). We had tiger cupcakes, and blue cupcakes that we took to his preschool. Since we're usually saying things like "don't touch that" and "put that back" when we go into a store, I thought it would be fun for him to go in a store with the sole purpose of him picking something out. And we can go to Target or Walmart anyday, so we had a little shopping spree at the Disney store. He had tons of fun.

-Us-
Scott and I finally went to dinner together last week without the kids - 1st time in what seemed like forever. I think we need to schedule that more often! It's so easy to put the kids first and forget about us. But we really need that time together. It's so important.

As always, thanks for reading. I'll blog again soon, and with photos!

A few quick pics

2010-03-29T23:39:00.003-07:00

Here's a few quick pics from today. They were just too cute not to post right away. :)

Making Time to Blog!

2010-03-27T21:56:00.005-07:00

I love blogging, I really do. But it's so hard to do as often as I'd like right now. Two little boys keep me very busy. So I'll just keep trying to come here more often, as the busy mommy-life permits. :)

Okay, so some summaries of the last several weeks. . .

-Cal-
Since he's the one that has changed the most and everyone's asking, especially for pictures, I'll start with him. Here's a quick pic. This was from a couple of weeks ago when he was 11 weeks old. He'll be 13 weeks old in just a couple of days.

At his 2 month appointment he was 12 lbs. 13 oz. I believe he's well over 13 lbs. now. He's a much different baby than Josh. He has definitely kept reminding me that he's not the same person. :) Cal seems to need more attention. He smiles SO much. It's awesome. And he's been talking and cooing - oh so precious. And little man isn't quite sleeping through the night as early as Josh did. But we are getting there. I feed him last around 8:30 pm (he won't be woken up to try one more later feeding), and he'll wake up around 3:00 am to eat, and then not again until around 7:00 am. Sometimes, he'll skip the 3am feeding and wake up around 6:00 am - which I get so excited about! It's all progress I'm grateful for. Most recently, we've really noticed a difference in his strength. He's holding his head up so much better, and he's a wiggle worm almost trying to pull himself up working those abs! Haha! Cal is super adorable, and I have to keep reminding myself to enjoy these days and quit constantly wishing he'd be at the next step already. I AM excited though, for the day Josh and Cal and play together and entertain one another so I can have a little more uninterrupted time to myself.

-Josh-
Joshy, as he fondly calls himself, is hilarious. He keeps me laughing. So much fun. We had a little time outside the other day while Cal was asleep. I took advantage and snapped a couple of photos.

Josh is talking much more and is, again, pretty funny with it all. He knows so much more than I realize sometimes. "Mommy, I tall" and "it's dark" are a few things he's surprised me with since we talk about neither of these things very often. Potty training is coming slowly, but surely. I've lost count of how many times he's used the potty, so that's a great sign. AND he's usually the one telling us he has to go. Yay! Josh is great with Cal too. He loves on him and talks to him. It's so adorable. I even heard him say in a sweet little voice "no, no baby" (HAHA!) when Cal wouldn't be still as Josh tried to put a (hospital) bracelet on his wrist. Funny.

-Us-
Scott and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary last week. Although it was a work night (Tuesday), we went to dinner at the Outback Restaurant. And although we had both boys (because again, it was a work night, no use getting a sitter when we'll be home early) we had a great dinner. Both little guys were very well behaved too. We'll get around to having a real date soon. :)

-Other-
Hmmmm what else. . . I've been making more cupcakes and baking in general lots more. I've always avoided baking over all because I don't like exact measurements in the kitchen. I like Rachael Ray's "palm-full" measurements, aka Tbsp. However, I've found something great to appreciate about baking. Just like I love to make jewelry, and photography, and scrapbooking/making cards, baking gives me another opportunity to create something pretty! And let's not forget the added benefit of getting to EAT it! :)

Most of our spare time for the last several weeks has been watching the Lost TV show from DVDs. It's currently airing it's 6th and final season, but Scott and I haven't ever watched any of it. Out of curiousity, we decided to try a few episodes after a friend let us borrow seasons 1-3. If you are a Lost fan too, then you know we got hooked! At least me more so than Scott. It's great to be able to watch it when you want, without commercials, and even go to the next episode to see what happens next! We are currently in the middle of season 3. And my amazon.com order of seasons 4 & 5 have already arrived and waiting for us.

Since filing our taxes, I was reconsidering a trip to NC. But truthfully, I'm just too tired and am not up to traveling with these two kids just yet. Maybe I can talk more of my family to come this way. :) I'm SO excited that one family friend is coming to visit next month for a couple of days.

Today, we made a few more steps into seriously looking for a minivan to swap for our Prius. Josh and Cal are small, but we are crammed into that car with 2 car seats, diaper bag, and strollers. I'm not crazy about the idea of driving a minivan. But I realize it's the most practical for our lifestyle right now, and I'm really looking forward to more space.

Oh, one last thing. Our dog Sarge died about three weeks ago. It was a sad sad day. We had to put him down after he got bloat, very common in great danes. We miss him so much. He was such a good dog. I was surprised at just how depressed I was. But we are all healing well. (Thankfully, Josh seemed unaffected overall and doesn't seem to understand.) We'll eventually get another dog, but probably not until at least the beginning of next year. Having a puppy is like having a baby, and we already have one of those! Plus Scott will be gone for 3 1/2 months at the end of the year for a school (military stuff - I'll save that for another blog). Single-mom life will be challenging in and of itself without the added responsibility of puppiness.

Thanks for reading our family updates. I hope you are doing wonderfully. Comment below, or e-mail me. Keep in touch! :)

Make a Difference Monday

2010-03-01T21:27:00.007-07:00

Make a Difference Monday is an idea I got today from attending a M.O.M.S. group http://www.cschandler.com/moms. The radio station K-LOVE encourages people to seek out opportunities to show kindness to others or help them in some small way http://www.klove.com/BLOG/SCOTTANDKELLI/. I was so inspired today to begin this, what I hope will be tradition, with the boys - or at least Josh for now. :) It is such a simple and effective way to not just bless others but to teach Josh how to be a blessing.

So today we jumped right in. It is Monday afterall. We "helped Daddy" by sweeping and bagging up the leaves from the driveway. Here's a couple of cute pictures I took with the cell phone.

Josh enjoyed the broom. But then we had to "share" with Mommy so we could actually get them in a pile.

He did great with the dust pan. He knows just what to do with that.

It was a little difficult for him to grasp that we were helping Daddy since Daddy wasn't there. But he'll get it eventually. :) I'm really excited about this. I really want nothing more than to teach our kids and be great examples.

Little Cal did great too. He watched from his little baby rocking chair. I'll have more updates about him later this week after his 2 month doctor appointment.

I look forward to sharing more of Josh's making a difference. :)

About the Cupcakes

2010-02-28T16:27:00.008-07:00

So I watched Julie & Julia yesterday, from redbox. Cute movie. It really reminded me of how much I like blogging and that I should get on that! Ha! But ya know, new baby, new mother of TWO kids, yadda yadda yadda - and so time flies by and I don't even know how I got where I am at times.

This week, my newest passion is decorating cupcakes. Similar to my love for making cards as opposed to scrapbooking (although I've done a little and really appreciate the results, just not the journey) is my new love for cupcakes as opposed to cakes. However, after watching a youtube video the other day about crumb frosting, I'm more excited about the next cake I attempt. (Here's a blog about my last cake decorating http://thehierfamily.blogspot.com/2009/04/ace-of-cakes-will-not-be-calling-me.html.)

For Josh's 1st birthday (4/13/2008) my mom and I made some puppy cupcakes from an idea I found in a magazine. They were a lot of work, but turned out pretty cute.

I honestly never decorated another cupcake until last week. A couple of friends came over and we made more doggy cupcakes, this time for another friend's birthday. The cool cupcake book I got for Christmas helped.

Afterwards, I got really excited about the whole decorating thing. And so I plan on practicing more so I can make something really cute for Josh's 3rd birthday. {I can't believe my baby is going to be 3!} I made a batch the other day, just practicing some basics. They turned out pretty cute I thought. . .

We had thought we'd be going to NC in April (but couldn't find 3 tickets for less than $900) and I was going to have my friend make something special. Since we're not going, I found another local reference, but now that I have a little cupcake-decorating-confidence :) I think I'll see what I can pull out of my hat.

Plus, I have a few other occassions that I can practice with before then: St. Patty's day (maybe something with shamrocks or rainbows & pot 'o gold), our 8th wedding anniversary (thinking a surprise for Scott - boston cream cupcakes), and Easter (oh the many cute possibilities). As for Josh's birthday, I actually don't know yet. He's into so many things. Cars. Trains. Animals. Etc.

Now, let's see what I can accomplish between baby feedings and naps. :)

So many things to talk about

2010-01-27T16:26:00.002-07:00

There are so many things I want to blog about. Some just to talk about them, because I'm a girl and that's what I do. And some so I don't forget them (events). And some to just think them out (projects). For now, I'll start with the usual - family updates.

Cal is a month old now and has his doctor's appointment in a couple of days. I'm interested to see how much he weighs. He seems so much bigger to me now. The eating and sleeping thing is not to my perfect preference, but honestly, that's for another blog. Josh is doing very well and loves his little brother very much. I caught him again today keeping the dog from getting too close. :)

Scott is back to work. I wish we could both be stay-at-home parents AND get a paycheck of course. Haha! He's a great help and I really don't know what I would do without him. Well I know. I'd go crazy. Literally. I'd cry all the time from the stress. I'm grateful for him and release a huge sigh of reliefe when he gets home.

Maybe I should make a list of other things I want to blog about so I don't forget. . .
- Nursing vs Scheduling, they don't seem to mix for me.
- Psycho feelings!
- Home projects, painting, photo art, etc.
- Projects for the kids: baby "book" for Cal, and a story book about Joshua and Caleb
- Josh, potty training, talking
- A day in the life of Heather
- Next NC trip?

. . . to be continued. :)

Three Weeks Old

2010-01-18T19:40:00.006-07:00

Little Cal is already 3 weeks old today. A lot has happened in such a short time. As for the baby himself, his cord finally fell off last night :) He's gotten much bigger. As of last week he was 8 lbs. 11 oz., 8 oz. over his birth weight. Yay! And he's already out grown a couple of NB clothes.

(The boy's hair is crazy. I love it. It's like a natural faux hawk. :))

I'm so grateful that my mom was able to visit. She visited for a little over a week. It's always awesome to have her around. I enjoy her company and her help! She is a huge help, even keeping the baby for me one night waking to feed him so I could sleep. She's such a good Nana :)

What else. . . oh Josh loves his baby brother. But he has also given us a hard time lately. It breaks my heart that he feels the need to act out for attention. Scott and I both make time to spend with just Josh, but he still has been fighting us on things he never has. It's a challenge, but in the end I know Josh knows that we love him and that's all that matters to me. :) He's been especially well behaved the last two days. Thank you God! Here's a picture of a project we did together yesterday, animal magnets.

We've been super blessed to have Scott home for almost a month. He goes back to work tomorrow. And unlike my thinking a week or two ago, I'm confident the boys and I will be okay. :) We'll get through the day and I can handle it. I know it's "just" 2 kids, but it's still a learning experience for us all, creating new routines and ways of doing things. It's hard sometimes, but also so fun.

Keep checking in, and I'll keep posting family updates. :)

He's here!

2010-01-01T22:53:00.006-07:00

Our newest baby boy is here! Little Cal was born on Monday, December 28th. We just got home yesterday, on New Year's Eve. I keep forgetting that today is a holiday. :) In fact, I should be sleeping right now, but there's only another half hour or less before feeding time. So. . . I'll blog a little.

After much debate, we finally decided on Caleb Scott. I was literally hooked up to an IV awaiting surgery as Scott and I were talking about names. I love Caleb, and Scott especially likes Cal, which I think is pretty darn cute myself. So that's probably what we'll call him, that is when I'm not calling him Josh by mistake. It's so hard not to call him Josh. It's already slipped a few times. Haha!

He does look a lot like Joshua when he was a newborn. But there are some slight differences. For one, Cal has a lot more hair than Josh did. And it seems to be darker too. And I think his face is a little more broad between his ears and temples, more like my face shape. He's so cute. I'm eager to see how his looks will change as he grows out of the wrinkly newborn stage. :)

The surgery went well, and apparently inevitable. We'd scheduled the c-section for other reasons, but it turns out that if not for those reasons another came up - footling breach. Breach is when the baby's head is up and butt is down, but footling breach is when the feet are down too instead of curled up in the fetal position. I knew this from an earlier ultrasound, but we (nurses at following appointments) thought that he'd turned around. This explains the constant and accurate kicks to my bladder. Ha! Anyway, like I said, everything went well. I can tell a huge difference in recovery since I didn't labor first. I'm healing much faster. Yay!

We were so curious to see Josh's reaction to his new brother. Unfortunately he couldn't come visit us in the hospital (strict rules due to swine flu and rsv etc.), and it was hard to be away from him for so long. When they finally met, Josh had just woken up from a nap, and he just stared at his brother. After a little while, and when the baby would move or coo, Josh went wild with excitement. He points and yells "baby!" So far so good, he seems excited and interested in Cal. And it's so cute how gentle he is with him. He's going to be a great big brother. Oh, and he's already protecting him from the dog, so funny. We put Cal in the swing and Josh would stop Sarge from getting too close on more than one occassion saying "No!" or "Move!" So sweet. :) Here's a quick picture of them together.

As you can imagine there's a million pictures already on my new camera. It'll take me a while to sort through them, so I'll share some here and there.

Thanks as always for reading!

P.S. - to leave a comment, click on "Comments" below (or Post Comment, depending on your blog view), select "Name/URL" in the box beside "Comment as" and enter your name (leave the URL box empty). Proceed with the continues/okays, and type in the security word(s) displayed and voila! :)

Birthday, Christmas & New Baby!

2009-12-26T15:18:00.002-07:00

Well, I'd post a picture or two, but my memory card is downstairs and that's just too much to do right now. :) Later, promise.

Just a few days ago on the 23rd, I turned 31. Wowee. Whatever, I don't really care about age. Haha. Anyway, it was a great day. Josh went to preschool in the morning for a few hours and Scott and I went out for breakfast. We'd never been to The Liberty Market in downtown Gilbert, and it was yummy. Can't wait to go again. Then I got a mani/pedi, last one for a while since baby will be here soon :). Soon after we picked up Josh and all went home for nap. Dinner was at Outback and voila! An awesome day. Now, if you know me, you know that "we" don't mix my birthday and Christmas just because they are close together. However, this year I gave "permission" to receive one gift for both occassions. Haha! As you may have read before, I've really really really really really wanted a new camera. :) So I got one. Yay! Thanks to everyone else who pitched in too! It's awesome. MOre on that later.

Christmas Eve service was great. Boy does Miss Sara have an awesome voice. She sang Emmanuel in a way I've never heard it before. So powerful. :)

Christmas Day was great too. Scott was up early playing Santa but I slept until Josh woke up. We had cookies and cinnabuns for breakfast. I'm such a good mom and wife. Haha! We started in on presents while the buns were in the oven, and it was just so much fun watching Josh. He's really gotten the grasp on things more this year. You ask him, "Do you wanna open some presents" and he'll give you a very enthusiastic "Yeah!" as his whole body jumps a litte. We don't buy him very many toys through the year because he just doesn't need them. I'm usually purging every so many months. But it was fun to shop for things I knew he'd really like, like a tool set. He loves putting small things into small openings and holding my plyers when I'm making jewelry, etc. So that'll entertain him for while.

We watched his new movie Up! and then got ready to head to his grandparents' house. Lots of family and food. It was a great day. Again, I'll get pictures for you later. :)

And now here we are just 2 days away from our growing family. I can hardly believe baby boy #2 will be here so soon. This pregnancy has gone by so quickly. Besides that evil virus I got back in October, this has been an awesome journey - I'd say even easier than my pregnancy with Josh which was really good too. Scott and I were brainstorming again this morning about names. It's so hard! So we'll see. There are 2 right now written on the fridge. :)

As always, thanks for reading and keeping up with our family! I'll keep you posted with further details! :)

10 More Days :)

2009-12-17T21:16:00.002-07:00

It's now official that my hopes for an early delivery are over. That is, I've stopped hoping. My doctor starts her vacation tomorrow and won't be back until the weekend after Christmas. So, I now hope that I don't go into early labor, and can wait until the 28th when my surgery is scheduled.

It's all good. I feel great. I have bouts of tiredness but, I'm really doing great. So I'm looking forward to a scheduled delivery, going in first thing in the morning and being done with it all very shortly, instead of 19.5 hours! :)

Now, what will we name him? . . .

Baby Birthday

2009-12-15T14:17:00.002-07:00

So my c-section has been rescheduled from December 26th to the 28th (doctor schedule etc.) I guess that's good, a couple of days farther from Christmas. . .

Oh Christmas Tree

2009-12-10T08:54:00.010-07:00

Fireworks and Christmas trees are among my favorite things. So rather than suffering crazy crowds on black Friday, we worked on putting up the tree. It's so big it comes in 2 large boxes, 5 pieces total.

Josh and his fake cheesy smile :)

Thank God for Scott (and little helper Josh), because there's no way I could put this tree up alone, much less figure out the lights. It's pre-lit but it's a little tricky plugging all the pieces together and then making sure they all work. Scott's very good at setting it up and figuring it all out. :)

I love this tree and how huge it is. We got it the first year we moved to this house in 2003. So this will be our 7th Christmas with it, wow! Which means to me that we've gotten our money's worth out of it, haha!

I took it super easy this year since decorating this 12-ft thing wears me out on a normal day. I pulled out less than half our ornaments, but just enough to make it pretty and keep the more fragile ones out of the little boy's hands. :) Josh had lost of fun decorating too. . .

And while he wasn't looking, I redistributed the ornaments. :)

Almost 37 weeks!

2009-12-10T08:41:00.002-07:00

Tomorrow marks my 37th week of pregnancy, and I can hardly believe how fast it's gone by. I've also officially carried this baby longer than I did Josh. He was born at 36 weeks and 2 days. My c-section is scheduled for December 26th, and I have a doctor's appointment today to talk about exactly when on the 26th.

I've been feeling great overall. These last several weeks have proven to be a little more tiresome. I'm out of breath more and have to take things slowly. The baby is supposed to be moving down eventually, but I feel like he's moved up into my ribs. :) He kicks and moves around a lot, which is always fun. Oh and this week, I was laughing because I think my nose spread. My face looks very pregnant to me. Ha!

As for preparation, I feel good. There's only a couple of things that need to be done, like washing the cover on the car seat (taking that thing off is a job in and of itself). But I've already got my hospital bag packed with everything we need.

And if you're asking yourself "what are they gonna name him?" Well, we still don't have an answer. :) Scott likes one name that I don't like at all. And I like another that he doesn't like very much. So, that's where we are. . . Maybe after we see his little face, we'll know what to call him.

I Need a Personal Assistant

2009-12-03T22:03:00.003-07:00

I need a personal assistant. Don't we all? If I had one, I'd have her blog about my life. Because I really love my life, but I don't always have time to write about it. And I really want to, so I can share it with all my family and friends.

Today it hit me, that 2009 may be one of my best years yet. We've been so busy but also so blessed. It's held lots of changes and growth, and I'm so thankful for it all.

Well, back to that time thing I mentioned earlier. It's 10:05 pm and I've got to get to bed. Got lots of fun things to do tomorrow including a pregnancy massage. :) Aaaahhh . . .

A Combo Blog :)

2009-11-12T08:54:00.009-07:00

It's only been a couple of weeks or so since the last posting, but there's been at least 3 blog-worthy events. :)

First, Halloween. Growing up, I was never crazy about Halloween. Sure the candy was fun, but overall it was my least favorite of all the fall and winter holidays. But I have to say, since having Josh it's been so much fun. This year was the best yet. He and Scott dressed up as Robin and Batman. They were a hit!

Josh had tried on his costume a few times before Halloween and had some fun times. But this was the first time he'd seen Scott in costume and he was in awe. :)

And a quick family picture before trick-or-treating. No, I didn't dress up. I was Batman and Robin's neighborhood chaperone.

Last year, Josh was the cutest Curious George and had fun at his first trick-or-treating. But this year he really understood on a different level. The difference a year can make, especially regarding candy! He'd manage what sounded like a "cheat teat" when we got to the doors, and he'd blow kisses for thank you's. So sweet. :) And the finally booty! . . .

Two days a week, Josh goes to preschool, and the following week was Spirit Week. Wednesday was 80's day and Josh's 80's do was just too cute. I spiked his hair and dressed him in a little polo shirt with his collar sticking up. So funny. The spiked hair DID remind me of the 80's, in particular my little brother in the 80's. :)

Josh was proud of his look too! Hahahaha!

And finally, the cardinals! :) Well, this actually took place the day after Halloween, but oh well. Anyone grading my blog datelines? lol

Sunday morning, I dressed Josh in his authentic Cardinals Jersey (thank you J&S! :)) for church. As soon as I put it on him, he raised his eyebrows, pointed at his shirt, and said "JJo!" which is what he (and Scott) calls my brother Josiah. I thought it was so funny because YES Josiah is a HUGE Cardinals fan, but it's not like he wears his jersey everyday or even all that often. But I guess it's often enough. So we went downstairs to tell Josiah about it, so he got his jersey and they posed for a pic. :)

So that's it for now. I'll post a separate blog about more baby updates. Thanks as always for reading! :)

Baby Updates!

2009-10-22T13:44:00.002-07:00

Here's a few updates for everyone, and some answers to the FAQs. :)

- We are having a BOY in case you didn't know (I found a couple of people lately that didn't).

- No we don't plan on trying for a girl, sorry. :)

- My c-section has been scheduled for Saturday, December 26th. My doctor will be out of town from the 18th-25th, so let's pray I don't go into labor then. I really want her to do my surgery.

- It is likely, I don't know percentages likely, but it is likely that I could go into labor early like I did with Joshua (36 weeks, 2 days). Which would be ideal for me as long as this boy is as healthy and ready a month early as Josh was. That would be early December, farther away from Christmas and my b-day, the better!

- No, we don't have a name yet. Not even close at this point. I keep asking God what his name is, but I guess it isn't time to know yet. :)

This pregnancy has been very similar to my last, with a few exceptions. I feel like I'm having to slow down earlier than with Josh, which is a little frustrating because I feel like I have lots to do, including keeping up with Josh. I had to do the 3-hour glucose test, but that came back normal, hallelujah! I didn't gain much weight with Josh, 15 lbs total. But with this one, I've been losing weight. I weigh less now at 30 weeks than I did at 6 weeks at my 1st OB appointment, 11 lbs less. Which I'm very glad about of course. This will hopefully keep me from getting plantar fasciitis again. Oh! and. . .

- No, I'm not having another baby shower. . .

NO BABY SHOWER NEEDED!

For those of you who keep asking, I don't need and am not having a baby shower. I've kept so much of Josh's stuff, there's only a handful of things I'll end up buying. We've already turned Josh's bed back into the crib and gotten him his own toddler bed. (It's very cute, matches the crib exactly. :)) I have several boxes of boys clothes, and of course lots of baby toys. I still have the baby tub, 2 diaper genies, etc. etc. etc.

And for those of YOU WHO INSIST ON BUYING SOMETHING :) thank you for your generosity, and please do NOT get any of the following as I have it or just will not use it.
- Blankets! - I counted the other day, and we have 25 baby blankets!
- Bottles - I already have several "Dr. Brown's" bottles that I prefer.
- Breastfeeding pillows - I have two, a boppy and a my brestfriend.
- Thermometer - I have a nice electric ear one.
- Bibs - got a ton of those too.

Like I said, I have lots of stuff but these are the most common things so I thought I'd list those. Just ask of course if you have any questions. Here's a few simple things that I know we'll need if you really feel the urge to shop. :)
- Diapers - I like Huggies Supreme for size newborn & 1, then regular Huggies for 2 & up.
- Baby detergent - I've used Baby ALL, and Dreft before and liked those.
- If you're a gift card person, I usually find the best deals at Target. Babies 'R Us is just too expensive and I almost never go there.

Anyway, I hope that answers all the questions. Got more? Just ask! :) Thanks for reading and keeping up with our family. :)

The Camera Story

2009-10-15T15:40:00.010-07:00

My first camera that I can remember was the very rectangular 110-film camera. Come on. You member, member? The film was so easy to just pop in and out. And during that time (late 80's) there was one in every color. I'm pretty sure my sister had one too.

I snapped pictures of my friends and just stuff around the restaurant (family business, a.k.a. everyday hang out spot). Here's a picture that I found taken by the good ol' 110.

This was in the back of the restaurant. There was a big grass yard.

Later I had a 35mm like everyone else. To this day, loading that film is so annoying to me. So not too many pictures were taken during that big gap of life. Although who can resist the one-time use cameras? That was the "camera" of choice for field trips and other events.

And alas! the polaroid! Gone were the days of having to wait for your file to be developes to see all your photos, oh and trying to use up all the film on your roll so you could just take it to be developes! The last few pictures were always of nothing important - a favorite toy, the sky, haha! Although it was really my parents' polaroid, my sister and brother and I still had some fun with it. But, not too much, polaroid film wasn't cheap! One of my favorite memories was receiving a polaroid picture of the "garbage eater" that my brother made out of a clorox bottle. He mailed it to me with a letter when I first moved to AZ. I think he was 12. Wish I could put my finger on the pic to share with you now.

Which brings me to the real joy of taking pictures - capturing memories. And as a daughter of an artist, and well just being a girl I think, it's so fulfilling to create something beautiful. The brighter the colors, contrast, etc. the better. For me, the digital camera really helped! I know that's like blasphemy to some film purists. But I was finally able to have instant results, and of course no wasting film. Just delete the bad ones. The instant gratification also aided in better learning camera settings and which function worked best for each scene.

Kodak has long been my brand of choice for point and shoot digital cameras. They did event digital photography after all. My first was 2.1mp and it was awesome. 2.1 MILLION dots on 1 photo! Wow how clear! LOL Every 2 or 3 years I've managed to talk Scott into letting me upgrade. :) I think it went 3.2mp, 5.1mp, and my current is a 7.1mp which I've had for about 3, maybe 4, years. So I'm due for an upgrade!

But now, it's not just more megapixels that I'm after. I've discovered (and have been researching for about a year now) the DSLR. In a nut shell, it takes way better photos! It's what the pros use. :) I've got my eye on the Canon Rebel XSi for my "starter" dslr, that I plant to keep for more than just 2 or 3 years. It's so important to have a good camera, especially when you have kids. I don't want to miss anything and there couldn't be a better record-keeping method than awesome photography!

As we all know a bigger camera comes with a bigger price. And we arne't people to just charge the credit card. So I've been trying to save money for months. I say trying because I've spent my "camera fund" a couples of times. We've had some pretty awesome vacations this year. :)

But now I've made a fresh start and nothing is touching that $ until it's time to buy a camera! I've been buying tires and other not-everyday expenses with money from my Mary Kay business. So for my camera fund, I've been saving all the money from my jewelry sales. I started selling handmade jewelry after my jewelry box was full but I still wanted to make more! It's a fun crafty thing to do. And I love when other people love my "crafts". :) SO when you buy my jewelry, you are getting me one step closer to my dream camera!! Heathermade Jewelry

Miracle Beads Galore!

2009-10-12T20:03:00.002-07:00

I made lots of new necklaces and earrings with these awesome miracle beads! Check them out on my website at http://thehiers.web.officelive.com.

AFFORDABLE prices you'll love! :)

3 New Jewelry Pieces

2009-10-07T17:00:00.004-07:00

I've added 3 new Jewelry pieces to my website!
thehiers.web.officelive.com

$17
Turquoise & glass beads, 18 inches + 2 inch extender

$7
Turquoise & glass beads

$10
Glass beads, 7 inches

What a YUCK week!

2009-10-07T13:12:00.003-07:00

Last week was SO much YUCK that there are no pretty pictures to add to this blog post.

It started with a ache in my hip from napping on the couch in one position for too long. The next morning, I had horrible back pain, mid & lower. But to top it off I was having painful chills and it took me a while to get out of bed. I drank some water and gatorade, and after puking that up, I headed off to church. I was moving slow, but okay. In church I actually questioned whether I was feeling mild contractions. Remember, I'm only 6 months. So I decided I'd take it really easy for the rest of the day. And I did.

Monday. Monday was not nice to me. I had more chills, the kind that make your whole body hurt. And then later, I was feeling warm. Little Josh was such a good boy and played so well by himself. I went ahead and called the doctor since I'd vomited again. I don't vomit. Anyway, the nurse suggested some OTC meds and vitamin B6 to help with the nausea. The times I lost my stomach, it was stupid - once after brushing my tongue and another after trying to swallow my huge prenatal vitamin. So I decided not to take any medicine since I wasn't really feeling much nausea. Oh yeah, and I forgot, I had this weird lose-my-breath cough. Totally dry, and completely annoying.

Tuesday, same. :(

By Wednesday I was feeling good enough to leave the house. So I took Josh to preschool and went to the chiropractor. Oh my, was it amazing. I'd also been having this pounding headache through my left eye too. He adjusted my neck and it sounded like popcorn at its popping peak as my neck untangled. So awesome. Later I went to the doctor since my symptoms hadn't really improved. They ruled out any urinary or bladder infections (since my back & sides were hurting) and to my surprise informed me that I was on the downslide of a virus. I never had any congestion, so I was surprised to know it was a virus. I guess I shouldn't have ruled it out since I had painful chills and sweats.

Thursday was better, and I went back to the chiropractor again. Awesome, again.

By Friday, I finally figured out that the back and side pains were separate than the viral thing. My sides hurt from coughing so much. I went to my friend Emily for a pregnancy massage. She has such a healing touch. It was so effective and relaxing. I need to schedule regular pregnancy massages now that I'm in the 3rd trimester!

Saturday was SO much better. Slow, but good over all. No more headaches, chills, or sweats. And I was able to eat well too!

I was getting ready for church on Sunday morning when I started having horrible stomach pains. It felt like I ate something bad and just needed to get it "out." After 4 episodes of vomiting and *more* :( I was still in pain by late afternoon. Fed up with pain, I called my Mom to pray with me. I'd been praying all week, but like I said, I was still in pain. Maybe I needed "two or more to agree" :) After Mom prayed with me she suggested I call the doctor. I really didn't think it was necessary but I'm glad I did.

The nurse told me to go to the hospital to make sure I wasn't having contractions (they're always a little concerned since Josh was born a month early). Scott was on the way home from work (drill weekend) and we headed to the hospital as soon as he got home.

Apparently, I WAS having contractions. They were at the top of my stomach. I thought it was completely gastrointestinal. Boy was I wrong. From being sick all week, vomiting that day, and hardly being able to even sip water, I became dehydrated. And I learned that dehydration is one of the top 3 causes of preterm labor. So after clearing a few tests, they gave me an IV to hydrate me and monitored me until the contractions stopped. It's all good. :) I'm so scared now of being dehydrated I'm drinking water all day long!

Thank God this is over. I'm continuing to pray for full recovery (feeling a little dizzy today and had a little bit of an upset stomach). But I'm so grateful for no pain!! Pain is so depressing. I don't have much longer before the baby gets here, add on top of that the holiday season, and I've got lots to do! So I need to be feeling great. :)

Trading Thanksgiving for September

2009-09-17T17:07:00.008-07:00

With Scott's family here in AZ and my family in NC, we've been trying to alternate the holidays the last several years. So this year's plan is an AZ Christmas, which means a NC Thanksgiving. However, come this Thanksgiving, I will be a few days shy of 8 months pregnant. SO, no. I'm not traveling then. But I haven't been to NC since last November, so I wanted to squeeze a trip in before my 3rd trimester officially starts.

Josh and I arrived in Charlotte late Friday evening. Scott had to work all weekend (drill weekend). We had only 3 full days, and then back to Phoenix again on Tuesday. Despite the short time, we made the most of it and had a really good time.

First, Josh always gets so excited going to my Mom's because there is just so much room for him to run around, unlike our cookie-cutter AZ home with a teeny tiny yard.

He started by chasing the cat, then running up and down the hill with a football, taking a peak over the fence at the neighbors horses, back around the house to the play house, up and down the slide, said "Hi" to Papa working in his workshop, watched the train pass by (above picture) and finished off by climbing up the pool ladder and getting his fingers wet.

After a rest, we headed to dinner with some extended family. I love that we focus gatherings around food! :) And later, back to Mom's with my sister and her kids for a mini photo shoot. We got a few great pictures between crazy boys running in circles and Josh's pants falling down. Good times. :)

Church Sunday was great. Sometimes I get a little shell-shocked going back to a Pentacostal church after so many years. :) But I kept my cool and remembered where I came from LOL. There was a guest speaker and the message was great. That evening, I got to have dinner with my very good friend Erika, also my MK Director. :) It was her birthday, and we had a fun time catching up. Josh was having fun at home with Nana. Yay for me! :)

My Dad had to work the whole time we were there, so we went to his work for lunch to visit. I wish I had more time to spend with him.

My sister was kind enough to let me borrow her awesome camera that day :) and I took this cute picture of Mom & Josh after lunch.

And later that day, we met up with some long-time family friends for dinner. It's always good to see them. This picture is with Josephine and my sister Amber.

Tuesday was here before we knew it and time to head back to the desert. So nap time was priority that day since I knew Josh wouldn't sleep on the plane. He took a 2-hour nap, eventually slept 12 hours that night when we got home to AZ. And then he was still exhausted the next day at preschool. Jet-lag must've really gotten him. :)

We had a good time, as always. And also, as always, the only thing that would've made it better is having Scott there with us. Next time, for sure. Because I don't think I can sanely handle traveling with TWO little people. :)

Aah, September

2009-09-01T07:29:00.004-07:00

Although the forcasted high for today is 109 degrees, I'm still relieved that today is the first day of September, one more step closer to fall. The month entered with a much-needed rainstorm. We haven't seen rain in quite a while. Yes, this is the desert, but we DO get SOME rain, well usually.

It's not unusual for Scott and I to go to bed fairly early, at least be in our room watching TV or reading. So at 8pm last night, Josh and I just finished putting away his toys in his newly marked (with pictures) toy bins, and headed up stairs to start the bed-time routine. Before we finished brushing his teeth, Scott had turned off all the lights downstairs and headed up to join us. The thunder was already rolling pretty loudly, and Josh's face showed a little concern after every rumble. I kept assuring him that everything was okay and there was nothing to be afraid of. After hugs and kisses from Mommy and Daddy, he was in bed and I pulled the door to a small opening.

About 5 seconds later thunder struck again and Josh was screaming. It was so sad really. I went right in to console him but he wasn't having it. He pushed me out of the way as he got out of his bed and walked out the door. I let him go thinking that trying to make him lie there would be pointless. He soon found Scott and ran to him. Scott and I just look at each other. What do we do? Haha. It was the first time Josh was ever afraid to go to bed alone. We of course want to comfort him, but we are also scared of starting bad habits. We decided to embrace the cuddly moments.

We all 3 climbed into bed. Josh tucked himself snugly under Scott's arm and sucked on his little blanket. When he seemed drowsy with sleep, we tried to get up to take him to his room. But he cried that scared little cry, so we just laid back down.

It was such a calm sweet time really. I laid on my right side, which has been most comfortable lately with the pregnant belly, and watched Josh and Scott fall asleep. It took me a few minutes longer as I waited for the baby to stop doing flips and kicking me everywhere, which is always fun too. :) And very soon we were all out, soothed to sleep by the rain. After about an hour, Josh was in a deep sleep and Scott put him to bed. The storm had quieted down and Josh slept quietly all night.

After Scott left this morning, I was wide awake too after going to bed so early. It was nice to sleep until I felt like waking up. Refreshed. September is here.

Girls' Weekend Get-Away

2009-08-31T11:18:00.002-07:00

August brought our 4th annual Girls' Get-Away with the awesome ladies in my Home Group.

The guys go hunting, etc. And we just go away for the weekend and relax. It was so nice to sit down to eat without first cutting up 'someone else's' food. :) Oh yeah, and waking up on my own. No diaper changes for the weekend. I love my Joshy, but Mommy needs a break sometimes!

In a nutshell, our weekend was filled with:

- lots 'o laughs :D

- rest

- pool time

- yummy food

- games

- devotionals

- massages

- freecycling (one of my fav things)

- Walgreens, lol

- fun quotes

- way cool friends

- memories

- nail polish

Love my girls! :)

Our Little Swimmer

2009-08-20T14:30:00.006-07:00

We are so proud of our little swimmer! Josh turned 2 on April 13th, and had finished his first swimming lessons before the big day! Although we don't have a swimming pool, we are very much a "pool family." We knew we'd be in the water a lot this summer and wanted Josh to not only have fun, but to have confidence in the water and know what to do in the worst case scenario of him falling in.

He likes to swim to and from the steps.

And of course back and forth between Mommy and Daddy. . .

Here, I'm in the water looking up at Josh.

We had one span of no swimming for about 6 weeks. So the next time he got in, he had to get used to being underwater again. Here, he's building up confidence again. :)

Josh really likes turtles (which he insists are "gecko!"s) and alligators, and likes to pretend to be them too.

I just thought this was a cute little feet picture. :)

We tried to train with goggles, but he never liked them. So he opens his eyes in the water!

Josh was a great example of a very young (usually no younger than 2 years) toddler who resisted much (I think mainly because the water was still cool in April) but still learned all that he needed in his beginner swimming lessons. Laura George of Little Flippers Swim did an awesome job with him. By the time we went on our first vacation in late April, Josh was suprising us by jumping in the water without being asked. We had to stop and have another lesson about not going in the water until Mommy or Daddy are ready for him! :)

It's a Boy!

2009-08-19T16:29:00.002-07:00

We had our ultrasound this morning, and it's a boy! I know Scott is very relieved. He was afraid of having a girl. :) The truth is, I'm a little relieved too. Haha! It was always the thought of a teenage girl that freaked us out. LOL. Anyway, we are very excited of course.

I look forward to sorting Josh's clothes and toys and not needing much at all for the new baby. We are currently looking for a toddler bed for Josh. He sleeps in the toddler bed version of the converted crib, but we'll switch that back to the crib soon and he'll need a bed. Then, by the time the new baby is big enough for a toddler bed, they can switch again. The crib also converts to a full-size bed. I've been dealing with craigslist but haven't been successful yet. I aim to not pay full retail price at the store. :)

Now that we know we're expecting a boy, we'll start talking more about names. Josh was 3 days old before we decided his name, so I don't expect this boy name to be any easier. It seems harder to pick a good boy name than a girl name for some reason. I really like the J names, so we'll see.

So the wait is over! It's a boy, and we're very excited. :) xoxo

Oh! That's what Daddy was doing.

2009-08-18T13:13:00.005-07:00

Growing up, my Dad very seldom showed his emotions, at least the lovey-dovey type. I think it was partly due to, well he's a man, and the other because he's Chinese. Not that Chinese people aren't loving :) it's just a completely different culture. (He first came to the U.S.A. when he was 27.)

Don't get me wrong, I always knew my Dad loved us very much. I never doubted that. I just remember silly things like saying "Good night Daddy, I love you!" and his response would be "Ok, good night" as his eyes were glued to the TV after work and he was lighting a cigarette (he worked long hours and used to smoke for years). I'd stamp back into the living room and yell "Don't you love me!" And he'd laugh and say while still chuckling "yeah yeah heda lee (Heather Lee) you know I love you." "Then tell me!" I'd say. And with more laughs he'd reply "Ok, ok I love you." :)

(Couldn't find a pic of the two of us, so here's one of me.)

As an adult, I look back and realize how much I didn't understand as a kid, and how much more I can appreciate my dad (my mom too for that matter, but we'll have a mom blog later :)) I see now that his long work hours were his way of loving us, providing the best he could for his family. But most recently I had a light bulb moment. . .

Josh was sitting on the couch watching TV and I knelt down on the floor beside him and just looked at him with a grin on my face all the while rubbing and patting his arms and legs with slight little pinches here and there. I was just having a moment of admiring his handsome little self and thinking about how proud of him I am and how much I love him. And then it was suddenly like deja vu hit me, well sort of, reversed. I remembered how Daddy used to do this all the time to us - sit and look at us and pinch our arms, while we were trying to do something else like watch TV too. Like with Josh, the TV watching moments were probably the times we were actually sitting still for at least a short period of time. So I thought to myself "Oh! That's what Daddy was doing" :)

I thought about it again just last night at dinner. I was enjoying watching Josh eat well. He had buttered rolls (probably too many, lol), steak and gravy, potatoes and green beans. And I remembered again how my Dad used to have a grin on his face when watching us eat. For him, I'm sure it also had to do with the fact that he grew up in China with not a lot to eat at times. Kids eating = healthy kids = happy parents. :)

Too bad we live so far apart now and we can't spend more time together.

I love you Daddy. XOXO

Baby Belly Updates

2009-08-17T14:46:00.005-07:00

I'm officially half-way there at 20 weeks, or 4 1/2 months. And like my last pregnancy, I feel great. I need a little extra sleep, but that's about it. :) The belly isn't too big yet as you can imagine, but big enough to wear maternity clothes.

Here's a picture from yesterday. It's not the best pic, but at least all you far-away folks can see me. :)

We finally have our ultrasound on Wednesday. Two more days, and we can know whether to expect another little boy or (as EVERYONE I've spoken to has wished for) a little girl. It's been a long wait. We had to reschedule because Scott had to go out of town for work, and of course they didn't have anything earlier, only later. So, Wednesday it is! I'm sure I'll post another blog with the big news.

In my on-going decluttering mission, I'm excited to finally find out if I sort all Josh's baby clothes or get rid of them. Either way, that mountain in the back of his closet has to be tackled.

We haven't explained anything to Josh yet as I don't suspect his little mind can grasp the concept of another 4 months. That's a lifetime to a two-year old. So we figure a month or two before the baby comes, and when my belly is much larger and visible to Josh, we'll start preparing him.

As for names, we haven't really discussed it much. Like last time, we'll get more serious about it after we know the baby's sex. And even then, we may keep it a secret this time. :) Just for fun.

Hawaii

2009-08-04T13:26:00.009-07:00

We were blessed yet once again to visit the land of Aloha! This was Josh's 3rd trip! Can you believe that? It was my 6th. I don't know how many more times Scott has been, aside from the fact that he was born in Honolulu and lived there for a little while. I certainly love variety and want to travel all over the world, but I can go to Hawaii over and over again. It's impossible to get sick of it.

It was a great time all around. MUCH better than last time. When we went in April, we had never before been on a 2-week vacation with just the 3 of us, and by that I mean non-stop time with Josh. Ha! Scott especially was shell-shocked. He'd been in Afghanistan for a year, returning in January. So 3 months later, he was still getting used to Josh again. Because we moved around to a couple different islands, Josh didn't adapt well with the sleeping. Up until then, he had never slept with us. By the time it was over, we couldn't get him to sleep alone and it took 2 weeks after we got home to keep him in his own bed. However, this time was great. We brought a kid-size air mattress and he slept on that the entire time. It worked out great!

Scott worked the first week, but then we stayed a few days afterwards to enjoy Oahu. Josh and I kept ourselves occupied at the beach or the pool, and even visited the Honolulu Zoo one day. I also fell in love with these popsicles (nothing special, or Hawaiian about them) from the snack bar by the pool. Josh and I shared one almost every day until he decided he didn't like Mommy taking a bite of his treat. So then we each had our own.

The scenery is obviously amazing and so relaxing. When we vacation, our only objective is pool or beach in the morning or afternoon? Aside from all that outdoor water time, another one of my favorite things about Hawaii is all the delicious food. As you can imagine there are lots of Asian restaurants of all kinds, mostly Asian-fusion and Hawaiian. So yummy. I'm not supposed to eat a lot of fish while pregnant, but I couldn't help swapping plates with Scott half-way through our meal at Roy's. I had an awesome steak but he had a delicious white fish with Asian flavors; I forget but I think it was opah. Mmm, makes me hungry now.

Towards the end of our stay, we went to a luau which is always fun. Josh enjoyed himself too.

It's always nice to be home, but I can't help wonder when our next trip will be. . . . :)

More pictures are on Facebook.

I've Never Been So Prepared

2009-07-17T19:56:00.002-07:00

...for a trip that is! :) I know it may seem like a silly thing to blog about. But, it's part of my life, and it's something I'm excited about!

For the first time ever, I'm packed WAY ahead of time for our trip, organized, and ready to go. And to top it all off, I've packed SO light. I'm just flat out proud of myself! Haha!

I started making lists a couple of weeks ago (thanks to Flylady :)). There's a list for everything I have to do before I leave, a packing list, and a list of things to do as soon as we return home. It feels great to see it all on paper. The whole ceremony of getting ready for a long trip just doesn't seem as overwhelming as it used to. It's still a lot of work. But it's organized and stress-free!

In April, we went to Hawaii for that much-needed vacation after Scott's deployment. I started planning that trip over a year before. I knew we'd need some rest and family time together after being apart for so long. Well, just before we left, we found out that Scott would be going to Hawaii in July for work. My response of course was, "Well, you're not going without me!" LOL

So, tomorrow morning (earlier than I'd like to think about) we'll be off to Hawaii again! Scott will be working for a week, but then we'll be staying another few days afterwards to enjoy ourselves. Josh will keep me busy while Scott is at work. I'm sure we'll both be looking forward to nap time each day.

My facebook page says "I'm so blessed I can hardly understand it." These frequent Hawaii trips are just one example. Josh is 2 years old, and this will be his 3rd time to Hawaii! I wish he could remember it all later. :)

10 More Things I Love

2009-06-29T19:02:00.011-07:00

10 More Things I love :)

1. Beading and making jewelry

I love most crafty things, and making jewerly has been my latest new love. I've always admired that handmade jewelry I see at craftshows, etc. But I've never been crazy about the prices. So I looked at it all one day and thought "I can do that." And I did. And I love it. http://thehiers.web.officelive.com/default.aspx

2. Bed Head smoothing cream

After trying different products to smooth the frizzies without the greasiness, I fell head over heals for this one. My very thoughtful and generous friend Dana gave it to me!

3. Going to the library

Last year it dawned on me to go to the library. I haven't been in years. I love to read. What the heck was I thinking? So I finally went and of course enjoyed every minute. We are talking about free books! Well, you get to keep them for 3 weeks! :) And let's not forget the movies. You can check out DVDs too (for 5 days). And the best part is checking out the Blu-Ray discs. We got a Blu-Ray player for Christmas, but it costs $6 or $7 to rent one. So as my brother says, "if it's free, give me three!" LOL

4. Garlic press by Pampered Chef

If you don't know it, I love garlic. Especially since being pregnant, I've been really tempted to just eat it raw! Ha! (My sister did that once as a kid and breath stunk for a week, no joke! LOL) I finally found this press, again after trying many, and it's definitely my fav. The press inside is flat, not "spoked", and you can put a clove in there without peeling it first. Can you say AWESOME!

5. Oil-free Make-up Remover

Yeah, yeah, again I sell it. Well AGAIN, I love it! :) As a matter of fact, I think this is the one product I sell the most of. It's quite amazing. It's safe for contact-lense wearers like me and takes off even waterproof mascara so easily. Funny story, another Mary Kay consultant told me "it even takes off clown make-up" which came to mind one day when I couldn't get one of those temporary tatoos off of Josh's arm. His poor little arm was red from me trying to scrub it off, and then I remembered the OFEM remover. Voila! One swipe!

6. Sol-U-Mel

Okay, one more product. This is a cleaner with melaleuca oil in it that I order from the Melaleuca company. I'll just say this: It's been the most effective for me on my carpet. It's removed blood, vomit, and poop. . . I know that's gross, but between a dog and a toddler, it's gonna happen.

7. Miniatures

They are just cute. Anything miniature, my eye is drawn to and soon after an "awe" comes out of my mouth. Maybe it's because I never had a doll house when I was a kid. Haha. Scott's grandmother in Colorado makes lots of miniature houses and settings. I love to see them.

8. Planning

I enjoy planning and putting things together. For the most part, this is a quality. Sometimes, it's been to my dismay. lol. I've been known to get caught up in the planning, but then haven't carried it through to fruition. Overall, though, it's been a good thing. :) If it weren't for working weekends and dealing with bridezillas, I'd probably like being a wedding planner.

9. Target!

Do I really need to explain?

10. Our couch! :)

Soon after moving into our house, we started shopping for a sectional sofa. We took one day, I believe on Memorial Day weekend (there's good sales on holiday weekends), to go shopping. Our first stop was La-Z Boy, and then we spent the entire day going from one store to another sitting on couches. After an exhausting day, we went back to La-Z boy and bought the first couch our buns fell in love with. At least we knew there wasn't a better deal out there.

I'm learning to FLY

2009-06-18T13:13:00.004-07:00

In my last blog about my 10 favorite things, I mentioned the Fly Lady. After receiving the daily e-mails for a couple of years, and dibble dabbling on the website, I finally decided to take a more serious look. Last Wednesday, I bought her book Sink Reflections and finished reading it yesterday. All of this information is on the website http://www.flylady.net/ but it was nice to sit and read it all from a book. You know me, I'm a sucker for a book.

I'm definitely not a Negative Nelly, in fact I strive to see the positive in all things. However, when it comes to "hype" in general, over anything really, I'm always a little skeptical. Or at least I take it with a grain of salt, cautiously. So when I started looking into the Fly Lady (a.k.a. Marla Cilley) and her system, I doubted it would work for me. I assumed I'd be bogged down with rules and too much structure. (Although I love structure and would even admit as far as to craving it sometimes, I also hate feeling obligated to it. I need my freedom.) But one thing I always remember is the "definition" of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

I knew what I was doing was not working, so what have I got to lose by trying something different?

I guess I should back up a little and explain my internal dilemma. I stay at home with little 2 year old Joshua. He goes to preschool for half a day on Wednesdays and Fridays. Because we have Home Group at our house on Wednesdays, I spend that Josh-free time cleaning downstairs. By the time Friday rolls around I'm exhausted and just want to take a nap while he's at school. In between the regular life stuff, being mommy, cooking, counterbalancing constant clutter, the laundry would get done here and there. (Scott has done most of it for a while now.) And let's not even mention the condition of the whole upstairs. No one goes up there, so why should I stress about cleaning it? Ha!

Well, the truth is (relating back to that yearning for structure comment earlier), the mess and clutter cause a huge weight on my shoulders. It puts me in a bad mood! And really, that's just not a good excuse to snap at my family. I always tell the story about my days in corporate America. My old boss said to some of my co-workers (on more than one occassion) that she was frustrated by their desk and that she wants them to stop and organize everything exactly the way I had it. If you walked into my home, especially upstairs, and ESPECIALLY my home office, you'd think that whole story was a big fat lie! Why can't we do things for ourselves that we can do for others?

So back to Fly Lady. I decided to give it a try. In 7 days, I have kept my sink shining :), made my bed each day, washed-dried-folded-put away all the laundry, cleared the two clutter corners of our bedroom, actually scrubbed my master bathroom floor, and much much more. And no, I'm not exhausted and burned out. But MORE than the obvious visual results, I love Fly Lady's philosphy behind it all, that I'm not behind, I just need to start where I am. I laughed through much of the book because there are so many principles and life-skills that I've been taught already, in Mary Kay. But again, I didn't think to apply them to myself. The biggest relief is letting go of the guilt that I'm a bad wife and mom because I can't keep this house under control. It's ridiculous really. I wouldn't think that of anyone else in my shoes, so why blame me?

For a split second yesterday I had the fear of "what do I do when the house is clean and there's nothing left to do?" Isn't that crazy? First that it would be a fear, Ha! and second that I would ever think I'd not have something to do. Hahaha! I do however, look forward to a place for everything and everything in its place (or its tossed!). I really need a stress-free (clutter-free) home and most especially as this year progresses, as I get bigger with this pregnancy, and of course when he/she arrives.

So, I'm excited. Excited for the progress made in a short time, and for what's ahead.

10 Things I Love

2009-06-08T22:42:00.014-07:00

A fun idea from a fellow bloggirl ;) - and I think it'll be fun to do it on a semi-regular basis. . .

1. Dell Laptop

First, I'm really partial to the Dell brand. I think it's a great quality product and I love how you can customize your own computer down to how many USB drives you want. Secondly, I love being in bed (or on the couch while Josh is watching Nemo) and being able to do whatever I need on the computer. Like now :)

2. Date Night

Scott and I haven't been going out much lately, and are currently looking for a regular babysitter so that we can! Ideally, I'd love to go out once a week. Even twice a month would be great. Although we are under the same roof, I feel like I really miss him lately. It's because we need more time alone! xoxo

3. Mary Kay Miracle Set

Yeah, yeah, I sell it. But I also LOVE it! The cleanser is so light and foamy, and fragrance-free. The moisturizer is fragrance-free too but smells so healthy somehow when I put it on. The day solution makes my skin feel so soft and my foundation go on smoothly. And the night solution may be my favorite of all of them. It feels so good on my skin, hydrating. Love my Mary Kay Miracle Set!

4. Down Mattress Topper

This pretty much speaks for itself. It's amazingly comfy!

5. Photoshop Elements

I received PSE 7.0 for my birthday in December and it has been a life-saver for my nagging desire for a new camera! ha! It has SO many tools. It's not like any photo-editing software I've ever used. It's a great miracle-worker and photo enhancer.

6. For Dummies Books

Frankly, I need laymen's terms. Er. Well, I guess they are called dummy terms. LOL. These books are so useful and efficient! I have more than one . . .

7. Gymboree's Bubbles

I haven't seen these in years until Ashley recently brought them to our family photo session. I remember my nephew Logan having them, and I thought they were the coolest thing. When I saw them again, I knew I had to get some for Josh. If you haven't ever tried them, this probably sounds silly. Bubbles are bubbles right? Wrong! The wand is awesome for little people like Josh. It produces TONS of bubbles that actually stick around for a LONG time. Very cool.

8. OPI Vintage Nail Polish

My first OPI purchase, and no where near my last! When getting a pedicure with my Mary Kay director and good friend Erika, we chose this color. It was so pretty, almost copper-ish. But THEN. We stepped outside, and in the direct sunlight, our nails sparkled like 3D! It's one color of their Diamond Dust series. I have since bought several other colors with the same awesome sparkle. Vintage definitely sparkles the most.

9. Reusable Bags

Who I am today, is someone my much younger and dumber self :) would've labeled a tree hugger. Many people do way more than I do. But I drive a hybrid, am closed to obssessed with recycling, hate to waste anything, and love my reusable shopping bags. I used to think that my one-person efforts would never make a difference. Now, I don't worry about that big picture. I just do what I can and am happy that I'm doing my part.

10. The FLY Lady

FLY stands for Finally Loving Yourself http://www.flylady.net/. I am in love with her organized way of doing everything, her desire to help those of us who struggle with organization, and her guilt-free approach (I'm always feeling guilty about disorganization). I am going to start taking baby steps and pick up her habits for life.

What about you? What are 10 of your favorite things?

Family Pictures

2009-06-07T14:11:00.011-07:00

Just before Scott deployed last year, we had some pictures taken at Target. Although they served their purpose (getting us all 3 in a photo), they left a lot to be desired. We all wore white shirts, really because we didn't have anything else that matched, and the background was black. Yep, just black. They looked nice enough, but of course Josh outshined us all in his pictures with those 10-month old chubby cheeks and drool. :)

We have since upgraded tremendously! After finding Ashley Bugg our family photos are nothing short of amazing. After seeing some of her work in the church hallways, I went to her website and almost cried. Her photos are so beautiful and I knew immediately that I wanted the same for my family. We first had her come out in December when my sister and her family were here to visit. Unfortunately, Scott didn't make it home (from Afghanistan) until 5 days later and everyone else was back in NC. So, he wasn't in the pictures. Still, they turned out great.

I knew we'd ask Ashley to do another session with us when Scott returned. So we finally got around to it a few weeks ago, and the results? . . . awesome! :) Here are a few of my favorites.

And these are just a few. I'll post more on Facebook. If you're in Arizona and want some awesome photos too, check out Ashley's website! http://www.buggphotographer.com/

10-Week OB Appointment

2009-06-05T21:38:00.002-07:00

Only because they told me at last month's appointment, was I expecting to hear the baby's heartbeat today. I say 'only' because I thought 12 weeks was the marker for this event. I read in my pregnancy book that it COULD be as early as 10-12 weeks. So anyway, 10 weeks proved to be too early for me. After several minutes, we still only heard my heart. Of course I was disappointed at first, but there are actually a couple of great positives about this.

For (1), Scott didn't miss it after all since he's still out of town for work. He'll finally be back tomorrow Thank God. (It's been a long week without him xoxo.) And (2) at my 2nd appointment they wanted to be able to have a measurement marker, and not being able to hear the fetal heartbeat just yet pretty much gives them nothing until next month's appointment. SO, they ordered an ultrasound so they can go ahead and see the heartbeat and start measurements to confirm/fine-tune my due date. Because my insurance only pays for 1 regular ultrasound, this is like an additional one that I'll get to have (next Tuesday). I always enjoyed the ultrasounds with Josh. So cool.

What else, I lost 4 lbs. which is great! That means I've been doing something right by eating healthier and drinking less soda, etc. Yay! I hope to do just as good as my pregnancy with Josh which was gaining only 15 lbs. total. I ate so much better that as he grew, I lost fat. Gotta love that!

That's it for now. I'm going to sleepers now. I went to bed too late last night and was unable to take a nap today. So my lack of rest has given me a headache all evening. Time to turn in. ZZzz z z

Our Father

2009-05-31T12:47:00.003-07:00

This awesome picture taken by my awesome friend Emily is a simple, yet profound reminder that God is always here. He is ever present and loves us so much.

There have been a number of reasons why God's love has been on my mind. I'm sure the main cause is simply God's desire to remind me of His love. A few weeks ago, I had lunch with a friend that I don't get to see very often. We had a great visit catching up, and talking about new things, like being a mother. She's not a mom yet, but is at the point in her life that she and her husband are thinking about children. She asked me what it was like. And I found myself overwhelmed with passion explaining what motherhood has been like for me. . .

. . . The first time I saw him (Joshua), I was in SHOCK that a real, live person is suddenly here! . . . I've always been in awe that God would give ME a child. I can hardly believe He would trust me enough, love me enough, to give me a son. It's such a BIG deal! Why would God allow Joshua in my life! . . . Becoming a mother also changed me in that I lost any concern for what 'people' think, because this is MY family, MY son, and I will do whatever it takes to give them the best. . . It's funny too, I remember waking up in the middle of the night when I was pregnant with an instant realization of how a lion rips another animal apart without hesitation to protect her cubs. I know I could physically tear someone apart too, if the situation called for it. LOL. . . Being a mom is just an incredible thing. It also made me love my mother even more - because you are able to experience this new, pure, unconditional love for your child - and then you realize that someone loves you that way, your own mom. :) . . .

Which brings me to the understanding of what the Bible means in 1 John 4:19 when it says "We love Him, because He first loved us." When I finally understand how my mother has loved me all these years, how she loved me first, I can't help but love her even more than ever. And then this thought bleeds over to my relationship with Christ. Oh. my. God. What an incredible revelation. It brings me to tears to even begin to fathom how much my Father loves me. He not only created me, but created the very love, that perfect love, that I have for my son, that my mother has for me. How much more does the creator of something so powerful actually love ME? My human mind cannot fully consume that fact. But what I do know humbles me immensely.

This is an awesome video that I first watched when Josh was just a couple months old. It goes along with what I've been trying to explain in this blog. I hope it speaks to you like it did me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYKa9E1xzao

Oh yeah :), and church service today once again brought this all to mind - that God is our FATHER who LOVES us. That we can always come to Him. That He wants our hearts, not just our habits. That He doesn't care where we've been, only where we are going.

http://www.rockpointchurch.org

A Few Updates

2009-05-28T14:11:00.005-07:00

I have a couple of different updates for my blog readers.

1: I'm very excited to tell you that you can now leave comments directly on the blog page under each blog entry you read, even if you aren't a fellow blogger/have a blog account. I figured out today how to change the settings of the website. So, if you don't already have an account, here's some simple instructions to leave a comment.

- Below the blog entry, simply type inside the white box under "POST A COMMENT"
IF you don't see a white box yet, click on the blue-lettered "# comments"
- Then, just under the white box in the "Comment as:" drop-down box, select "Name/URL"
- Type your Name, and leave URL blank. Click "Continue"
- Click "Post Comment"

See! So easy! :) I've got lots of great comments and replies to my e-mail. Now, you can post something for everyone to see if you want.

2: Just a quick update on the pregnancy as I'm entering my 3rd month (9 weeks tomorrow). Similar to my pregnancy with Joshua, I feel great. Outside of a little fatique and restlessness when I sleep, I'm doing wonderfully. The only inkling of morning sickness is a very short, like 3-seconds, of nausea. It's over quickly and I move on. Oh, and when I'm hungry, I'm HONGRY! I feel like I'm starving to death and my stomach is going to eat its way out of my torso. But I just eat a handful of crackers or fruit, and I'm good. :)

Here's a paragraph from a weekly e-mail I get that's always interesting. This talks about the 9-week mark.

Your new resident is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. Your baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that your baby's basic physiology is in place, she's poised for rapid weight gain.

I'm sure some of you enjoyed the "she" references. LOL

3: I've been going through some old files and came across the original Heather Letters started in March 2001! Can you believe that? Over 8 years ago! Here's a pic of the very first letter. By 2001, I had been in Arizona for about 4 1/2 years.

Like I'd mentioned before, the Heather Letter sort of dwindled. My last edition was the 20th edition, printed in March 2003. One of the stories included was of our 1st wedding anniversary. You can see a picture of our wedding cake topper that I dropped getting into the car that day.

There's actually some pretty funny stuff, pretty dating stuff too (as in shows how times have changed). I'll try to share more in this walk down memory lane in upcoming blog posts.

Thanks for taking the time to visit the website. :) Remember to stop by regularly as I'm usually posting something new, at least once a week.

Happy Summer!

The 3rd Ikea Bookcase

2009-05-24T21:12:00.004-07:00

While Scott was deployed last year, I purchased a small (4 x 2 cubes) bookcase from Ikea for the living/dining room. It gave me some extra storage and was just a more substantial piece of furniture than the 35+ year bookshelf that was there before. I really like lots of things from Ikea, but especially their Expedit series of furniture.

So in January when Scott returned home, we bought another one. This time it was to serve as part of the entertainment center for the new TV (post-deployment/late Christmas gift to ourselves). The other half of the entertainment center was yet another Ikea bookshelf, just a different line. They work so well together. It's a perfect match for the TV.

And in my continuing efforts to purge and organize around the house, my next mission was to get Josh's toy corner under control. He has only a few toys in his bedroom, and the rest are in the corner of our front living room. SO. . . we purchased our 3rd (identical) bookshelf from Ikea this weekend. After a confusing but conquerable ordeal, we left the store on Memorial Day weekend with Josh's new toy bin organizer for $40 less than we paid for the first 2. Yay!

I had previously used a Target toy organizer seen in this "before" picture. But it's fallen over onto Josh more than once and I've just not been happy with it.

Although unfinished, I'm pleased with Josh's new toy area. It's unfinished because I haven't found the right canvas cube drawers I want to use, and I'm also still purging some of these toys. There's just too many. Some I will give away or put in the garage sale and others will be stored for the next kid. We also decided to put our 13" TV in this corner hooked to a DVD player so Josh can watch his movies without intruding on our sacred HDTV watching. lol.

I wonder what the next Ikea bookshelf will be used for. :)

I NEED PICTURES

2009-05-21T08:33:00.004-07:00

I NEED PICTURES in my blogs. I've noticed I've gotten a little slack on that. Pictures make the story come alive so much more! So I've got to put some more effort into that. . . just like I want to put more effort in being faithful to my 365 photo project that I'm currently so behind on. My last pic was in April. http://www.flickr.com/photos/hhier. I'm severly overdue but definitely plan to pick it back up. I love to take pictures. I remember my first digital camera - aah memories :)

On the "effort" road, I really guess it's more of a time management road, I've working on a lot of things right now. And unfortunately, they majority isn't fun stuff like photography. It's stuff like, um, life. You know, taking care of a 2 year old, keeping the house clean around him (and the currently shedding great dane; that's a lot of hair!), paying bills ontime amongst the paper clutter hinderance, etc. Today, I've got to catch up on some volunteer church work I signed up for. I'm a little behind and have GOT to get that done today.

I've been thinking, and I haven't gotten to share it with Scott yet because we missed our Tuesday family meeting, that I really want to get this house in order. Decluttered. Purged. Cleaned. Organized. All before the new baby comes at the end of the year. I'm so overwhelmed as it is sometimes. I really need things to be in order and everything have a place. I was just saying the other day that I really wish my Mom was close. Scott assumed it was so she could watch Josh for me. I said, "No, its because I know she'd dive in and help me clean and organize!" :) Not everyone will just get involved in your junk and help you sort it.

Well, it's overcast today, maybe I can get the house chores done and get outside with Josh for some fab pix!

We Won't Be Outnumbered!

2009-05-14T20:53:00.002-07:00

As I pointed to the bruise on my arm, I said to two of my girlfriends, "So I had a blood test the other day, and it was positive." (I always bruise a couple days later where blood was drawn.) You should have seen their faces. You can imagine what was going through their minds since vaccines and Hepatitis B and how doctors want to shoot us up with everything under the sun were among the topics in a few conversations ago earlier in the evening. Haha! I didn't mean to freak them out, it just kind of came out that way. "For what?" one asked with the confusion all over her face. :) LOL "For a baby!" I said. And we all laughed, and they exhaled. Haha, still laughing. :) That was definitely the funniest delivery of our big news.

So yes, we are expecting a baby this December. My due date is actually January 1st, but with an expected c-section, the baby's arrival will be scheduled about a week before. BUT if I have any say, I will not be having a baby on Christmas, and definitely NOT ON MY BIRTHDAY (23rd)! I don't want to share. That's my day! Then again, if this pregnancy goes anything like the last, I'll be delivering around the 1st week of December - which I think would be great. The farther away from Christmas (and my BD :)) the better.

We are very excited, and believe it or not scared too. Yes, we already have Josh, so what's there to be afraid of? We already have Josh! What do we do with 2 kids? Ha! I'm excited for a little ways down the road actually when the 2 can play together. Josh definitely needs a playmate. :) And then that's it though, 2 children. Anymore, and Scott and I would be outnumbered! And we have to keep the #s even so everyone has someone to ride with at Disneyworld right? And 4 is just out of the question. Yay to the Moms & Dads who can do it, it's just not for us! :)

All the family is rooting for a girl since there are all boys in this baby generation. I'd love to have a girl (also a little intimidated by the idea of a teenage girl) but would be estatic with another boy too. Whichever God has in store for us, I'll be happy with. <3 And yes, we'll be finding out the sex of the baby, around the end of July.

Names? Scott and I are thinking of keeping it a secret until he/she is born! :)

Loving My Mom Since 1978

2009-05-10T22:45:00.003-07:00

"Loving my mom since . . ." is one of my friend's e-mail signature. Too cute, and I thought it an appropriate title for today's blog.

Today is Mother's Day, and actually my 3rd celebrating as a mother myself. Josh turned 2 last month and it's all so hard to wrap my brain around sometimes. Church was awesome as usual today, and the message especially spoke to me. It was a challenge to be a mother maturing in my faith, modeling my faith, and marking my faith to my child. I've put off focusing on teaching Joshua about God assuming he's too young to understand. And at the same time, I'm so embarrassed to admit such nonsense thinking, really. So I'm excited to committ to the most important thing in our lives, molding Josh into an adult who loves God!

Of course on this special day, I can't help but be so thankful for my own mother. If only I had the words to explain how much I love her. She is my rock. I know, and have always known, that my mother loves me, unconditionally. If my son loves me only a fraction of how much I love my mom, I will be so blessed. I pray that I pass on the same assurance to my own of pure unconditional love, that I can model many of her actions and honor God. I am who I am today because of my mother. I am eternally grateful that SHE is the one chosen to by my mom, that I was chosen to be her daughter. I love you so very much Mom.

Hawaiian Virus

2009-04-30T20:48:00.002-07:00

I haven't logged on in so long I almost forgot my password! Ha! I guess 2 weeks is pushing the threshold of my long-term memory. The day after we got to Hawaii, I got a virus on the laptop and haven't been able to get online since. I'm sitting at the hotel computer right now killing a little time while Scott is getting a massage :) - long overdue.

I don't know what is going on with the last few posts. I thought I correctly hooked up the mobile application where I can text a few blogs. And I could've sworn it showed regular text, so I don't know what all that jibber jabber is about. If it doesn't clear up by the time I get home I guess I'll delete them.

Well, my computer time is already up and I've got to go! Type atcha all later!!! :)

Aloha!!!

Hawaii Day 1

2009-04-16T23:41:00.001-07:00

I'm trying the e-mail posting version from blogger to see if I like it any better. I'm not 100% satisfied with the editing in blogger. Anyhoo ~~~

What a long but great day! It all started at 4:45 am when the alarm went off. This is WAY earlier than I ever get up any more, so it hurt a little. Especially if you know the value I put on sleep! http://thehierfamily.blogspot.com/2009/03/precious-sleep.html. ---> Fast FWD to 8:15 am, our flight from Phoenix to Honolulu takes off, and Scott and I are both anxious to see what the next 6 hours will do to a 2 year old. He had a moment here and there, but over all, Josh did awesome! I was so impressed, as were others. He got many compliments. :) And truthfully, people don't just say things like "he did such a great job" in situations like this if they didn't really mean it! The next flight was only about 40 minutes and he was p e r f e c t ! I was almost stunned.

It was 2:30 pm in Kona by the time we got loaded in the rental car, 5:30 pm back in Arizona. So it's already been a long day of traveling. We made a stop by Costco for a few things since the place we're staying has a full kitchen. After getting to the timeshare, which is TOTALLY AWESOME, we took a little evening swim before a soup dinner and some TV time.

Josh is such a good sleeper, Thank God! and BabyWise! :) And I know he's exhausted too, but I am sitting here so grateful that he is in his own room here! He went right to sleep, no fuss. I actually lied down beside him to see if he need a little comfort first being in a new place and all. But he's not used to my lying down with him, so he pretty much kicked me out of the bed. He was out after only 2 minutes. We kept him up pretty late. It was 7:30 pm here in Hawaii, which is regular bedtime. But it's 10:30 pm in Arizona, and its only our first day. So he should be super tired and will hopefully wake at the regualr Hawaii morning hours. :)

Speaking of, I have so much more I want to share, but my eyelids are so heavy. I'll type more when I'm not soaking up the sun. :)

Windows Live™: Keep your life in sync. Check it out.

2009-04-15T14:27:00.001-07:00

I just activated the e-mail and mobile posting set-up on blogger so i can continue to blog while on vacation! So if you can read this, it worked! :)

Amazing Easter

2009-04-12T21:57:00.003-07:00

What an amazing Easter weekend! I finally got to attend the Good Friday service and it was such an incredible experience. It sounds silly, but I ignorantly thought how do you make Friday, the day we recognize Jesus' death happy since it's Easter, the day he arose, is when we celebrate. Well duh!, it's the very act of his death that bridged the gap, that tore the veil. In fact, I was so moved and thought so much more about his death this holiday instead of his resurrection. Understanding more closely Jesus' death helps me understand His love that much more. He took the weight of ALL my sins, even those I've not committed yet. I've always believed being separated from God would be the most horrible thing. And for the first time I realized that Jesus had to go through that. God the Father had to turn His back and allow Jesus' to take on the sins of the world and DIE for us. For you, and for me. One of my favorite artists is Phil Wickham, and at church we sang one of my favorite songs.

Come close listen to the story
about a love more faithful than the morning
The Father gave his only Son just to save us

The earth was shaking in the dark
All creation felt the Fathers broken heart
tears were filling heaven's eyes
The day that true love died, the day that true love died
When blood and water hit the ground
Walls we couldn’t move came crashing down
We were free and made alive
The day that true love died, The day that true love died

Search your heart you know you can’t deny it
Come on, lose your life just so you can find it
The Father gave his only son just to save us

The earth was shaking in the dark
All creation felt the Fathers broken heart
tears were filling heaven's eyes
The day that true love died, the day that true love died
When blood and water hit the ground
Walls we couldn’t move came crashing down
We were free and made alive
The day that true love died, The day that true love died

Now, Jesus is alive Jesus is alive

Oh, He is alive
He rose again

When blood and water hit the ground
Walls we couldn’t move came crashing down
We were free and made alive
The day that true love died, The day that true love died

Come close listen to the story

And of course Easter Sunday was even that much more significant for me this year after reflecting on His death. What a celebration to celebrate Jesus' resurrection! I can't fathom the love that our God has for us, but the little that I actually do grasp I am so thankful for.

"Ace of Cakes" Will NOT Be Calling Me!

2009-04-11T15:31:00.004-07:00

Although I'm a pretty crafty girl, cake decorating is proving not to be one of my talents. First, I have to say that I'm not a baker. I usually prefer cooking over baking because I don't like exact measurements when I'm in the kitchen. I'm a throw-it-in-there kinda girl. Then again, the ingredients and amounts were not my problem today. There were a list of problems. Ha!

So Joshua's 2nd birthday is Monday, and we are having cake and presents tomorrow while the family is together for Easter. We're celebrating my nephew's 8th birthday also. And I wanted to make a cake for the occassion. I've made a cake before. This isn't my first time. But you'd never know by looking at this!

It's crooked, lop-sided, and messy! It looks like a young child made it! Blah! LOL (I've got to make fun of my self and this ugly cake so I can feel a little better. Haha!)

I suppose my first mistake was picking a cake formula that I've never used. I chose the "Butter Recipe" where you use butter instead of oil. Seemed like a logical choice to me, ya know, sounds much tastier and moist. Well, it turned out too moist and soft.

PROBLEM #1: Cake falls apart coming out of the pan.

Nevermind the fact that I greased the pans, and even used a little of the dry cake mix instead of flour as to not leave white patches on the outside of the chocolate cake. It still stuck, and one layer just crumbled from the center. Scott helped me hold it together while I put a layer of icing on top to "glue" the layers together. Then I was able to add the top layer fairly successfully. I covered the entire thing with chocolate icing and thought I was getting back on track. Even the lettering turned out okay considering I've never written anything in icing before. But then I started to get a little fancy with the icing tips. . .

PROBLEM #2: I don't know how to be artistic yet with applying icing on the cake.

Its all crooked, but whatever. And before adding the bottom piping along the edge, I decided it would be a good time to pull out the wax paper underneath. Again, I thought I was being smart. I added wax paper along the outside edges so it would be an easy clean up after icing the cake, leaving a nice clean platter. But it didn't work out as planned.

PROBLEM #3: The cake came apart from the center (bottom layer) when I pulled the wax paper out from underneath it.

So I did the best I could to shove the bottom layer back under the top layer. Remember, it already has icing and even "Happy Birthday!" on it already. So I proceed with more piping and 'whatever' with the icing tips trying to distract from the now ridiculously crooked cake. I even added polka dots on the outside edges, but they are more like droopy squirts. Ha!

All done! Time to put the lid on the portable cake platter (since we are taking it Josh's grandparents' tomorrow). . .

PROBLEM #4: The lid doesn't fit because it isn't tall/deep enough.

AND SO, I decide to grab the glass cake platter cover, which is very tall/deep, to cover it for now and I'll figure out how to best transport it tomorrow.

PROBLEM #5: The glass lid doesn't fit around the cake since it's lop-sided, so the bottom piping of frosting gets smooshed right off.

Oh well. :) I tried.

The important part is that I'm pretty confident the cake will TASTE good! I'd rather have an ugly and yummy cake than a beautiful yucky cake. And I know Josh won't notice, hopefully Chris won't either. Haha!

But for Josh's Birthday Album, this is the picture I'll include of the cake. Not to bad, and photoshop helped a little too. LOL

Sporadically Single Mom

2009-04-08T21:20:00.002-07:00

Scott comes home tomorrow after being out of town most of the week. When he first told me about the Army trip a few weeks ago, I was FURIOUS. I actually said to him over the phone, "I know this isn't your fault and I'm not mad at you but I'm so angry right now I've got to get off the phone!" Thankfully my husband understands me. I can be honest and say something like this, and he can unoffendedly (is that even a word?) give me my space so I can rationally talk about it later.

I have to say, I'm not an Army hater or someone who holds a grudge against the military. I don't get angry every time he has to go out of town. I completely understand that it's part of the job, and part of Army life. In fact, I appreciate the military life overall and am honored to be a military family. It's just that his Afghanistan deployment is still too fresh for me. I'm barely used to him being home again, and it's frustrating for him to leave even for a few days. I'll blog more later about the whole deployment thing. I'm just not ready yet. I'm still highly emotional about it all.

Anyway, we are super busy these days just before our upcoming vacation with Josh's swimming lessons and everything else that comes along with tieing up any loose ends before a long trip. So I was really dreading doing this "life" thing alone this week. But I am happy to report that these past few days without Scott have been great. WAY better than my negative thinking! :) Thank you GOD! I've been so busy that I haven't had time to be frustrated, Ha! And truthfully, and much to my surprise, I'm still used to just getting things done by myself. Keeping busy is definitely the key to passing time.

So while Scott's absence is never my preferred way of life, I'm also much stronger than I've been thinking of myself. I'm a survivor. :) I can get it done.

And I can't forget to give credit to my awesome group of girlfriends. Without them, I don't know where my mind would be! They keep me grounded and stress free. I love you girls! <3

Annual Farm Fling

2009-04-04T19:02:00.004-07:00

Our awesome friends Emily and Jason Penrod of JEm Ranch have an annual Farm Fling. It's lots of fun and Josh and I had a great time today. Scott had drill - a whole other (Army) story. Anyway, Josh has especially been fascinated with horses lately, so you can imagine the immediate excitement when we pulled up to the ranch. Just approaching 2 years old, I wasn't really sure how he'd react to riding a horse, but he loved it! I got a couple of cute pictures with the camera phone. :)

He did great and really enjoyed the ride. We walked around to see the other animals including Daisy, a miniature horse, and some goats, one of them was miniature too. Then he found his way back to the horses crying at the gate until Jason picked him up to wait his turn to take another horse ride.

We finally settled down for a hot dog lunch and then made our way home to meet 'Daddy'. :)

Another great friend Karrie didn't get to make it because she had her 3rd baby 2 days ago, little Miss Claira. Three years ago, two of our other friends had a baby the same day, same hospital. Although Josh's birthday isn't the same date, the Farm Fling happened to fall on the weekend he was born 2 years ago. So we all had a good laugh about Farm Fling weekend being the time to have a baby!

Joshua Cash

2009-04-01T22:09:00.010-07:00

We love Joshua's middle name Cash. So cute. So cool. :) We like our last name too, but it doesn't match up so well with Cash. That's why we used it as his middle name, to avoid Cash Hier which looks too much like cashier! Kids are mean sometimes, so there's no tellin' what they'd make outta that. haha. Shoot! I was "Heather the feather who tells the weather." If they can do that with Heather, just think what a little Cash Hier would have to endure!

I wanted to blog a little about our little boy ;) - I let his babysite expire, so it's been a few months since I've been able to post any updates. I thought I'd write a little something in a couple of weeks when he turns TWO, but I don't see that happening as we are super busy for the next 2 weeks before the big vacation. Here is our little monkey as I like to affectionately call him. xoxo Josh is SO photogenic. You really cannot take a bad picture of him.

Where do I start? Josh has changed so much from a year ago. Last year this time, we were still getting used to Scott being deployed. He hadn't left Kansas yet (where he'd been since February) so we managed to get him home for the birthday party right before he left the country. What a blessing! Thank you God for those little things that means SO much. Josh wasn't walking yet, just eating a lot and playing with Sarge I remember. Now! Oh my goodness! Now, he has really developed quite the personality. He's such a ham, always keeping me laughing. Josh is very head-strong, independent, and BRAVE ~you can imagine what that means~ :) He is also hilarious, and the source of a pure and perfect joy. His laugh makes me tickle inside. He is precious with his big slobbery kisses, and nothing compares to the feeling of his little arms squeezed tight around my neck. Oh and he still smells so good. It's almost primal as his scent causes a surge of protective aggression in me. Quite funny. It's amazing how much we can love our children. Can you imagine with me for a second: If God created us, and created us to love our children so much, in fact created the love TO love them with. . . then how much MORE does the creator of these magnificent things LOVE US, His children? What an incredible thought. I can't even fathom.

As for milestones, Josh is obviously walking and actually running circles around us. He sleeps in his big boy bed now since December. I'm guessing he's a typical boy when it comes to talking, because he doesn't say too much aside from those natural boy sounds, grunts and hollers. :) He's been saying DaDa for a long time. He recently upgraded MaMa from once in a blue moon to several times over and over just to see if I'll answer. He says ball, car, baby, bye-bye, hi, fish, dog, choo-choo, and more that I can't recall at the moment. Although he's not quite the eloquent speaker, he's great at baby sign language. He's so good at it and understands that its an effective way of communicating since he doesn't know how to say lots of words yet. And the most recent development is him *dragging* you to where he wants you to be, i.e. at the cabinet getting him a cracker, oh yeah he can say cracker too!

Here's a list of some things Josh loves:
Horses! - can't get enough of them
His fuzzy blanket - SO cute when he sucks on it to go to sleep
Shoes - the boy is close to obssessed
Cars - everything with wheels (including the suitcase in the closet) is a car, we've gotta work on this one
Making faces - he has many to share!
Daddy - He will do ANYTHING Scott does. And he wants to be with him, always.
Graham crackers - he knows exactly where they are and proceeds with the aforementioned "dragging."
Books - any book about animals usually gets him squealing

I try to "keep it real" with him despite his little luxurious life! :) Every time he watches Sesame Street I say "Boy! You're living the life watching Elmo in HD!" We want great experiences for him, but we are also highly opposed to spoiling. Just ask Josh, he'll vouch. LOL Although his upcoming tripS (yes plural) to Hawaii, which won't be his 1st time there, don't really support our creed. Ha!

What more can I say? We love our little Joshy.

Precious Sleep

2009-03-24T21:49:00.002-07:00

I remember once when an old co-worker said to me during one of my story tellings "I know Heather! I know your sleep is precious to you!" And it dawned on me that I must value sleep if my friend, who I wasn't very close to on a personal level, would remember something like that. I guess I've mentioned it before!

Looking back, it was one of my main reasons for finding a plan for my newborn before he was even conceived. **Thank you BabyWise!** (It SO worked. That little boy was sleeping through the night at 7 weeks old.) Even being a new mother, the joy was unmatchable, but the exhaustion those first few weeks often brought me to tears. I just cried - because I was so tired. It was also when I had the revelation of why sleep deprevation is used as a torture tactic. I totally would've been the weakling and gave up my country or whatever else 'they' needed during those sleepless weeks. Ha! (I hope not. I hope I'd be stronger than that!) So you can imagine my joy when the gift of continuous sleep was returned to me.

If my To Do List allows it, I try to catch a little shut-eye some afternoons when Josh goes down for a nap. A mid-day siesta is so refreshing. As my husband has often said, and I also heard once from the hilarious comedian Thor Ramsey, "I dream about taking naps." The best naps used to the those from my airport days. I'd come in after sweating my guts out in the Phoenix sun and just crash on the couch. There's something about being suddenly relieved by that cool air conditioner after being drenched in sweat that puts you right to sleep. (It was an old green couch from Goodwill, so don't worry if you're thinking about my gross self on a nice cool couch. Ha!)

And my ideal vacation? sleeping on the beach. Thankfully, Scott shares the same passion. :)

I started thinking about the value I put in sleep as I've been so creativity-hungry. I have so many fun projects and creative things I want to make and indulge in, but there just isn't enough time in the day. I wonder how others get so much more done in 24 hourse than I can. And I tend to believe that they sleep less than me. But seriously! If I don't get 8 hours, I'm so groggy all day and need a nap to recover to full-functioning Heather mode. I guess I'll have to cut something else out of my schedule so I can fit in all the fun stuff. I wonder if the family wants dinner EVERY night?

Boy vs Dog

2009-03-21T16:26:00.003-07:00

We have come to realize that there are many, let me say again many, similarities between the almost 2-year old boy and the 5-year old great dane that live under our roof.

: Both make various sounds instead of using words
: Both run to the door when they hear the doorbell
: Both will eat off the floor
: Both like to go for a walk and go to the park
: Both beg for food at the table and sniff out snacks a mile away
: Both like to wrestle with Scott
: Both have no regard for where they poop
: Both love bouncy balls
: Both enjoy drinking milk
: Both will respond to a snap
: Both understand "No! No!"
: Both like to lie on the living room rug
: Both have puked on my carpet
: Both have pooped on my carpet
: Both get excited when kids come over
: Both tend to be uncooperative when I want to take a picture
: Both like to play with stuffed animals

And there's probably even more worthy of the list, but this is what I can come up with for now. :)

Matthew McConaughey is Daddy?

2009-03-20T22:06:00.002-07:00

The 2006 movie "Failure to Launch" was on TV tonight. After dinner we all were on the couch watching the last half of the movie. Josh has been especially attentive to television lately. He's watching the scene where Matthew McConaughey's character "Tripp" was talking to his mother in the laundry room after the "big reveal" a few days before. (If you haven't seen it, I don't want to ruin it for you.) Anyway, it was sort of a close up of him for a few minutes.

Josh, in his cute little voice points at the TV and says "Da!" - one of his versions of DaDa, Daddy. BUT "da" has also been known to mean "that" when he's pointing to something. However, after pointing to the TV, he points at Scott and says "Da!" He actually did it again, to the TV and then to Scott. It was pretty funny to see the confusion on his face as if he were asking "Dad, how can you be there and here?"

I explained that Scott was Daddy, and not the man on the TV. I asked him 2 or 3 times after that "Where's Daddy?" and he'd point to Scott. So I think we've got that cleared up. :)

The funnier thing is, Matthew McConaughey is far from the 1st celebrity Scott has been compared to (other comparisons have been by adults, well except one more). . .

Harry Connick Jr. - a few people, he gets this one a lot

Kevin Costner - 2 people I think, strangers

The Sand Man from Spiderman movie - a kid from church :)

Kevin Bacon - lady at the dentist's office

Rod Parsley, pastor of WHC - my friend Michelle the 1st time she met Scott

Peyton Manning - Haha, not really. This came about because I made a Mii character of Scott on the Wii before he came home from Afghanistan. His 1st reaction was "that doesn't look like me, it looks exactly like Peyton Manning!" The next time I saw Peyton on TV, I said "Oh my gosh! That Mii DOES look like Peyton Manning!" It was the nose I picked! haha!

But you can decide for yourself :) - here is a picture of the real Scott with a little monkey on his back.

My Path to Blogging

2009-03-17T12:07:00.002-07:00

I think most teenage girls keep a diary or journal at least once in their lifetime. I was no exception. I'm 30 years old and have been through lots of different things, but I still say that teenage years are the hardest. You are learning who you are, who you want to be, and beginning to make decisions that have previously been made for you. So I believe writing helps get your thoughts out, whether good or bad, and sort of makes them more real. Oh the power of the written word.

With that being said as I finally DID learn who I was, wanted to be, etc. I found that much of my writing was a whole lot of venting over frustrations. Cuz let's face it, that time in your life is frustrating! Nevertheless, an important quality I wanted to develop was being positive and keeping a grateful heart. So I stopped writing since my writing mind-set tended to be negative. I also stopped rereading any of it.

When Scott bought me a cute journal one year, I began to rethink my stance on writing. It was a point in my life when I had finally started to experience significant growth in who I was and what I wanted to learn. So I decided to start journaling again, but this time only documenting things I was grateful for, new experiences that made me happy, and valuable life lessons.

A little while later, ♥Josh♥ was born! Many things I did for myself like scrapbooking, crafts, and WRITING got put on the back burner. Josh is almost 2 now, Scott is home from his 1 year deployment, and I think I’m finally getting to a new place that balances all my responsibilities as a wife, and mommy, and woman. Yay! So, here goes the blog. . . . :)

2009-03-11T16:09:00.003-07:00

For the last 2 days I have tried to catch a moment here and there to learn all about customizing my blog. There are so many fun things that I haven't been able to pick one thing. Before I decided to officially start blogging I was weighing the pros and cons, and I've come up with even more pros than before. :) Here's a list of why I'm excited about blogging. (I love lists.)

* It's fun!
* I can decorate and add visuals to the page which is FUN
* It's another great way to share life with far away family and friends
* Blogging can be my outlet for the occassional writing project that I enjoy
* It will be a great way to document life and record wonderful memories as well as life lessons!
* My infamous "Heather Letter" and short lived "Hier Flyer" can be resurrected in a new way
* This will serve as my avenue to finally say OK to myself so that I can DELETE my myspace account. I'm a true Facebooker now also. :)
* Blogging will give me an easy way to follow my friends' blogs too!

Now, back to designing and organizing! . . .

2009-03-09T16:20:00.000-07:00

Aaahh! the sudden feeling of being overwhelmed with new info ~ okay I'm just jumping right into it. I have created my blog but now need to figure out what to do next. I'm not a stranger to the internet or computers so I'm sure I'll catch on quickly. It's all so exciting. I can hardly wait to really get up and running. I am excited for another way to stay connected with my friends and family from all over. We're all spread so far across the country. Technology is such a huge aide in filling the gap. :) Oh and I use smiley faces all the time, usually because I'm most always smiling. :) See.