The McGarys : Amusing April

After two and a half years of being a mama, I have been blessed with the experience of a child pooping in the bathtub. It was Jayda. I guess kids come pre-wired to do certain things. I'm fairly confident Kallie won't ever do it because she never has in her two and a half years. Then comes along Jayda and beats her to it within 6 months of life.

Luckily Jayda pooped in her bath chair instead of the actual tub so it wasn't too scary.

I started reading the Work and the Glory this month and I LOVE it. I now look forward to reading when I get free time more than watching any Tv show. I'd say that's a positive. For the first time I'm really learning and remembering church history and all the people involved. The series is fiction but the events of church history are actually pretty accurate; the author has just added some fictional characters to help tell the story. The fourth volume was hard to read. I cried throughout the whole thing learning about the horrific things that happened to the Saints in those days. I can't believe how many women watched their husbands be killed, were forced out of their homes in the dead of night and freezing cold with screaming babies, toddlers and children, no shoes and no husband. Women that gave birth in wagons outside in the cold and then had to bury their babies because they were starving and couldn't nurse them.

As a mother it makes my heart ache to imagine myself in these situations with my precious children and how unbelievable it is that ANYone could do that to a woman and children. I've always been grateful for my wonderful life and the millions of blessings God has given me but I've never thought about how horrible it would be to live in fear all the time. I have a comfortable, warm home and I don't fear that a mob is gonna break it at any moment and hurt my family because of our religious beliefs. I know I'm addicted to a book when I start neglecting the house, which I've been doing lately.

We went camping for the first time since having kids! Well, Brad has camped loads of times while he's been Scout Master but not with the kids and me. We bought an awesome new tent (sleeps 8 people!) and decided last minute to go camping on a Friday night. We couldn't find a place to buy firewood so we called the camp ground and asked where people usually buy it. He gave us the address of a random person that sells firewood from his home so we stopped and bought it there.

We are able to fit our queen size blow up mattress, Jayda's pack n' play and Kallie's crib mattress with plenty of room to spare. Jayda was exhausted by bedtime so she slept like a champ. We let Kallie stay up a little later but discovered our firewood was damp so we couldn't keep a fire going. We all retired to the tent and Brad and I spent the next 2 hours trying to get Kallie to STAY. IN. BED. I didn't look at the clock but I swear she didn't fall asleep until midnight. I was angry and exhausted. I decided (in my head) the camping trip was a FAIL with little kids and we weren't gonna try it again for a long time.

By the time I woke up to birds chirping, beautiful sun and cool temperatures my mood had lightened and we had lots of fun eating oatmeal and hot chocolate in our pajamas as well as peeing in the woods. We packed up the van and stopped at the beach for a walk on our way home. All in all, camping as a family was awesome.

I bought a couple new watches and I love them but it's really hard to get used to wearing one when my wrists have been open and free for so long. I'm sick of digging out my phone just to check the time though.

Kallie got a double ear infection and then -we think- had an allergic reaction to the antibiotics (red spots everywhere!). Doc gave her a different kind of antibiotic to finish curing the ear infection and thankfully the rash went away in a few days.

No matter how many times I wash Kallie's jean pants and shorts they leave navy blue fuzzies all over her butt and thighs and it's SO hard to wipe off!


I love omelet muffins. My new favorite recipe. I can make two trays and eat them throughout the week.

Ya know how Bumbo recalled their chairs because of a few kids that fell out and died? I don't think that's possible for my babies because their thighs are so chunky they get stuck. Whenever I take out Jayda I have to peel a Bumbo chair off her butt. Speaking of chunky babies, both my girls will get some wicked heat rashes this summer because all of their chubby rolls.

I alternate between two phases of cooking: Actually doing it and having dinner ready when Brad gets home from work, and not doing it at all. I usually do really good for a week and then really bad for three weeks.

Our general conference tradition: my mom's Monkey Bread recipe (she calls them Breakaway Rolls)

I'm getting better at keeping the house clean by following a schedule each week, as well as tidying up the house every night before bed. It's been fun to include Kallie in clean up.

Bath schedules too. Otherwise it doesn't get done until Kallie's greasy hair is sticking to her head and she has perma-sweat.

Kallie definitely still wakes up with a FULL diaper every morning. It only takes one night for her pajama bottoms to smell like pee. She has lots of pajamas.

Kallie at the piano

Lucky for me Kallie loves medicine. Doesn't matter if it's bubblegum flavored, cherry or whatever else they make. I've always hated cough syrup so it's a relief that the process of giving her medicine isn't a hassle. "Mama! More mesin!"

This month, while Brad was camping with the scouts, my brother Joel and I went to the temple (Jayda came along too). We took turns going in to do ordinances and while Joel was inside I took Jayda for a walk and realized I have NEVER been to the Orlando temple on a day with bad weather. It's always sunny and beautiful. On this day the temperature was perfect too.

Even though my best news technically happened in May, I'm gonna say in this post that I have a new nephew! My brother and his wife welcomed their very little (and I mean little: 3lbs 1oz, born 10 weeks early) boy into the world but in spite of spending the next couple months in the NICU, he's doing amazing. David Nyland Christopher is SO cute. I got to see him for the first time a couple days ago but I haven't touched him yet.

We are buying TOO many snack foods right now. I can tell because the top of our fridge is exploding with cereal, chips and all sorts of snacks. Every time we open the fridge door something falls off the top. We made the mistake of trying a couple new snack foods from Costco (dang you Molly and Wayne for recommending that giant bag of kettle corn) and they are SO delicious but SO pointless. They don't satisfy hunger. They just provide light crispy deliciousness to satisfy our need to chew on something while we watch tv or read. Horrible!

Sometimes I feel like I've been tired for many months straight. Even though I usually get "enough" sleep at night and a nap while the girls nap, having two kids exhausts the heck out of me. I think it's the combination of breastfeeding and chasing a toddler. I would much rather take the kids out to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air than stay inside all day; but going anywhere with two kids poops me out every time. As soon as we get home I look forward to naptime or bedtime (whichever is next) so I can plop on the couch and relax. The hardest part is, if anything comes up unexpectedly or doesn't go according to plan it stresses me out because I'm already tired. And I'm sick of being tired. I wanna feel good and have fun. I've thought about the possibility of stopping breastfeeding to give me more energy but I doubt I'll do that. I'd have a hard time denying Jayda her best nutrition.

I saw a quote that read, "Having kids is like watching your heart walk around outside of your body".

My family is Norwegian and we still have a lot of relatives there. My mom's second cousin, Johnny Buer, lives in Spydeberg, Norway. He hasn't seen me since I was a baby (I'm not sure whether or not he's been to the States since then) but he sent me this Norwegian dress for Kallie when she was born. I may have waited a couple months too long to take pictures of her wearing it. It was practically about to burst at the seams. I'll be sure to take pictures of Jayda in it when she's a little younger. Here is how that photo shoot went: