And you think your child is stubborn...

***CAUTION*** Mother venting just a little bit below.

Katelyn is STILL not potty trained. That child has a bladder of steel. She can go 12 hours with out going potty. I kid you not. We have tried twice to potty train her and are now on our second break. She tells us that she is a baby like Baby Girl (Mikayla) and she wears diapers. I have told her that she has to wear at least a pull-up to school so it looks like we are putting some effort in. She will sit at the table at dinner and tell us, "No diapers!" Then she wets in it and wants it changed. She knows what is going on. She has gone on the potty 2 times in the 2nd round of training. The first round I worked with her for 5 days and nothing went in the potty. Mike had to tell me to take a break. I took a month off and tried again. She did nothing for 4 days that was in the potty. And let me just say we did all the fun juice drinks and everything. We did not buy the peeing doll because one, gross and two, she has 3 older sisters who are perfectly good examples on how to use the potty. So I saturated her with juice and tried again and again to get her to sit on the potty. And just so you know if she really has to go she will stop drinking anything because she has made the connection that if she drinks more she pees more. We have a sit that fits on the toilet and a portable one that she can sit one to watch TV. She has stood up from the portable one to pee next to it. I finally got her to go for the first time on the potty after literally 1 hour of talking to her and sitting on the floor next to the potty. Tile floors are not that comfortable. I finally was literally pushing on her bladder when she went. This was at 6:30 at night. She had not gone since 8:30 that morning. We had the party. She got a Cinderella barbie. Yay! from everyone. Next day nothing. The next day she literally went 12 hours with no peeing at all. She held it that long! I was worried about bladder infections and just her needing to just pee in general. Mike put a diaper on her and she filled it with pee within 5 minutes. She just does not want to use the potty. I have looked on all sorts of internet sites for suggestions and none of them work. First of all, those children are willing to sit on the potty. Mine is not. She is fine being a baby and being in diapers. It does not bother her at all.

So if there are any suggestions that anyone can give me, please do. She is 3 1/2 in October and wants nothing to do with the potty. I have done the saturation with drinks, the constant reminders, the demonstrations (not me, her sisters), the party after the first success, the sticker chart, the new character panties, and anything else I can think of. And the thing that kills me about this is I am not a rookie. She is not the 1st kid that I have ever potty trained. She is my 4th!! I keep getting told that she will not go to kindergarten in diapers. If anyone will test that, it is Katelyn. I have never had a 3 year old go to preschool in diapers or pull-ups (okay, Karly did for the 1st week. She was only like 2 weeks into using the potty) and Katelyn is. Honestly, if I didn't love her so much or think she is so cute I would give her away to the Indians. ;0)

All because 2 people fell in love...

I always love to hear how couples met. The whole story behind where they are now. I love to share how Mike and I met because it is different. Since there is a whole lot of the same old, same old going on here I am going to write about how we met because I love this story. :0)

I was starting my second semester at Ricks College. It was the winter 1994 semester. I have always loved getting mail so I was usually the one to get the mail for my apartment. One day just after the new semester had started in January, I got 2 letters in the mail. One was from my cousin, Mike Corbett, in the MTC. He was getting ready to leave for the Dominican Republic soon. And the other letter was from someone that I did not know. I just remember saying, "Who is this Elder Jacobson? I don't know any Elder Jacobson." My cousin had written on the back of his envelope, "Read my letter first." In his letter, he told me about this great guy named Mike Jacobson who was in his MTC district. As it goes, I had sent my picture to my cousin and Elder Jacobson saw it. Elder Jacobson wanted write me. So my cousin told me to be honest with him, if I was actually going to write him to do it. If not, just tell him to get lost. Nice huh. But in the end, Corbett told me that he had "deemed him worthy" to write me. So I read Elder Jacobson's letter. It turned out that we both grew up in Southern California about 20 minutes from each other. We did not know each other. We grew up in 2 different counties, stakes, school districts, and so on. I figured, why not. What could happen from just writing a missionary. I told my roommate about it and she said "You know, Kathy Jacobson does sound good." I told her, "Don't you dare even think that way. Nothing is going to happen. We are just going write each other." Little did I know.

We ended up writing each other for the rest of his mission. Mike got home on November 17, 1995. The first time I saw him was at his homecoming. My best friend, Stacy, and I drove out to Chino to check him out in person. We started dating a couple weeks later. We got married on November 16, 1996 in the Los Angeles Temple. One day before his year mark of being home. He wanted to get married on his year mark but that was on a Sunday.

So in a nutshell, that is how it all started for the 2 of us. It will be 12 years in November and I am hoping for many happy more years. He can always make me laugh. :)

Just for you Faubus!

This picture is for you, Alex. :) Here is the most recent and most decent picture that there is of me. It was after Mikayla's blessing in November 2007. I just prefer to picture myself as I was in my engagement picture. Oh, to be a size 6 again. Then again my body has been through a lot in the last 10 almost 11 years. Having 5 kids in just under 10 years is likely to reek havoc on your body! Good thing they are cute! Susan says that the bad thing about having babies is they become kids! ;)

My kids have a lot of cousins!

We went to California for the weekend of August 9th. My Grandpa Wayman passed away so we all went down for the funeral. Now Mike and I have no grandparents left and my kids have no great-grandparents left. Sad, I know. Karly is more upset about this than anyone. She is already worried about the Ressurection. :0) While we were there we decided it was a prime opportunity to have pictures taken of all the grandkids on both sides! :)

This first picture is all 20 of my parents grandchilren. Susan & Sean have 5 kids (Amy-17, Aaron-15, Kimmy-13, Daniel-10, and Becca-7). Karen & Jody have 3 kids (Katie-8, Mark-almost 6, and Ellie-17 months). Becky & Greg have 4 kids (Megan Jo-10, Kyler-almost 8, Logan 5, and Kirsten-3). I have my 5. :) Mike & Nikki have 2 (Ryan-3 and Lydia almost 2). Sarah & Hayden have 1 (Emily- 2 months).

I would label the picture, but listing them all made me tired! Susan, Karen, Becky and I are all pretty sure we are done. Mike and Nikki say they want more. And Sarah and Hayden want more...just give them a lot of time. They just had one 7 weeks early in July!

What a handsome group and I am not biased at all! ;0)



This is a picture of all of the grandkids for Mike's parents. There are 18 of them. This was taken the day after the funeral. I will list the sibling first and their spouse second. Mike is the 2nd of 9. The order is 2 boys, 5 girls and 2 boys.

Kevin & Ruth have 5 kids (Christine-12, Matthew-11, Nicole-7, Natalie-5, and Kimberly-16 months). Mike & 1 have our 5. Michelle & Jason have 2 kids (Kaylee-12 and Austin-7). Katie & Ryan have 3 kids (Jacob-7, Peyton-5, and Brooklyn-18 months). Kim & Jon have 3 kids (Taylor-8, Logan-6, and Jackson-3). Melissa & Claudio have no kids. Kristin & Jeremy have no kids. Matthew has no kids (I hope not! He doesn't get home from his mission until the end of November!) Kyle has no kids (Again, I hope not because he is only 15!)

This family could only keep growing! Crazy!



Like I said before...my kids have a lot of cousins!

About last night...

I did not sleep well last night. I have been running a low grade fever for about a week and it was bad last night. I did not sleep well. Hence, I did something that I have not done in almost a year... I took a nap. Okay, it wasn't a great one but it helped me get through the rest of the day. I mean, how well can you sleep when you have a 3 year old watching a movie in the same room with her. Mike knew that I still was not feeling great around dinner, so he took the 4 older kids to the school carnival by himself. As crazy as he can drive me sometimes, he can be quite thougthful at times. :0) Having one 1 year old at home with me was quite easy. It was actually quiet for about an hour and a half. Then they all came home and the noise level went up about 2 or 3 octaves. And it is all high-pitched.

Tomorrow is early out from school. Every Friday is early out. So the kids are in for some major chores for the rooms that they have neglected during the week. I know they will love it and have a ton of fun. ;0)

I have also had something that I have not had for around 21 months (but who's counting)... I had my favorite soda, Dr. Pepper. I know, it's crazy but I am almost craving it. I do not drink caffeinated sodas while I am pregnant or nursing because I don't want my drink to be the reason my baby can't calm down. So I am glad it is back in my life.

Thank You!

I just have to post a quick, yet big THANK YOU!!! to Krisanne for explaining to this blogging rookie how to change the backround of my blog! Thank you again, Krisanne for walking me through it. Now I can change it whenever I want! You're the best!

Another Day...

Well, today is another day in my life. I got the oldest 2 off to school. Thank goodness for carpooling! Then focused on getting the other 3 ready for the day. Today is an easy day I guess you could call it. Katelyn only has preschool on Tuesday and Thursday. So that is less time I have to spend in the car.

I am trying to change my weekly shopping trips to Thursday instead of Wednesday so I one less child to deal with at the store. As cute as Katelyn, she is hard to take shopping. She likes to take her time and look for anything that is princess. She is often carried out of the store while I am trying to push the cart. Good times! :)

Megan and Karly both have Activity Days today. So I have to drive them both to the church at 4:00 and then go back at 5:00 to pick up Karly. Megan will brought home by her leader. Yea!

Not much else going on. It's amazing how your day seems the same but in some ways are very different.

Bear with me...

Please bear with me. This is the first time that I have tried this. Some of my friends have blogs and I decided to give it a try. Given how much my husband says I can talk, I hope that I am somewhat successful at this. ;0)

My kids are all very precious to me. And if you saw how much they crive me crazy at times and the fact they are still here is evidence. :0)

Having 5 kids is not very exciting. It is just chaotic. My oldest sister told me that every child you have just adds chaos to your house and I now believe her.

My oldest, Megan, is 10 and in 5th grade. She is very much a motherly type. Which her younger sisters don't appreciate so much. But she is a big help to me. She is 10 going on 19. She is already worried about clothes and thinks that only some boys are cute. (Heaven help me!)

Karly is 8 years old and born second. She is my tiny little firecracker. She has taught me that just because someone is small doesn't mean that they are helpless. She is in 3rd grade and is often mistaken for a 1st grader. She is a sweet girl but don't make her mad.

Monica is the third one. She is 5 1/2 years old. She is in afternoon kindergarten. She loves it being the social butterfly that she is. She always has a new best friend but can never remember their names. :)

Katelyn is #4. She is almost 3 1/2. She is a cute girl with long curly hair. She is obsessed with Cinderella and a lot of the other Disney princesses. She can be cute and very stubborn at the same time. We have discovered this when we have attempted to potty train her.

Mikayla is our last but not least. She just turned 1 and is adored by all her sisters. She is a Daddy's girl and loves to play with him. She has a cute smile that makes you smile too. She is a very easy going baby which is what you need if you have 4 other children.

That's about it for now. The kids are all home from school now so let the craziness begin!