Rafe turns 3, Damon turns 5

I'm so bad at keeping up with my blog! Both of the boys had their birthdays and I didn't write about either of them. Now it's been so long it's hard to remember all the little details. 

Rafe turned 3 January 6, which is so crazy to me because I feel like I was just bringing him home from the hospital. He has grown up into one of the funniest kids I know. His personality is so big and funny, you can help but just love him even when he's being a stinker. We spent a week in McCall before his bday and did all kinds of fun stuff. Then once we got home we had a big party and celebrated his birthday, my dads, my brother drakes and his daughter Harlows birthdays. It was fun to be around family and have so many birthdays in one month to celebrate. We spent the day doing some shopping and took him for lunch at chick fil a then for ice cream. Rafe has added so much to our little family. He is either the sweetest kid or the feistiest little man you've ever seen. I always call him my sour path kid. Luckily he's more sweet than sour and when he's acting like a punk if you just say "don't smile Rafe!" He will break out in the biggest smile and just laugh off whatever he was mad about. He is so sweet and tells me "I love you mommy" at the most random times. I swear he knows when I need to hear it the most. Lately my favorite thing he says is "hey mom! I like that baby in your tummy!" Or he will tell me when he thinks I look pretty or tells me I look like a princess when I get ready for church. I LOVE that. Both Damon and Rafe do that and it melts my heart. Nothing makes me feel prettier than when my 3 guys tell me I am. A few more fun facts about Rafe are: he LOVES his big brother and follows him everywhere. No one can make Damon laugh the way Rafe can. Their bond is so special and sweet. Rafe is constantly eating! We always joke that he's part hobbit because he eats 2 breakfasts every day. He wakes up and eats cereal then asks for more about an hr later. He probably asks me for a snack every hour of every day. Even tonight, right after dinner he asked me for a snack! He loves to play monster trucks, color, ride his bike, and play in our little pool and slip and slide. Since Mother's Day, he comes in my room in the morning probably 3 times a week and says "happy Mother's Day mommy!" I hope that never wears out. He has a hard time saying his L's and instead uses a w sound. His favorite phrase lately is "you cheeky wittle rascal!" He always keeps us laughing!

Damon turned 5 on May 6. I'm having a hard time with this one for sure. A few days after his birthday he lost his first tooth, and he just seemed to turn into a little man more and more every day since then. For his birthday we had a party with all his friends at his favorite park. He had been asking me for paw patrol party for months and I have never thrown him a big birthday party besides his one year, so I figured it was time. And we were going to be moving so it was perfect timing to get him together with all his little buddies. We had pizza and cupcakes then topped it all off with a piñata. He told me it was the "best birthday ever!!" So that's good! Haha I'm not a big party thrower and like to keep things simple so I was glad he had fun. Some fun facts about Damon are: he is seriously the best big brother.he has been sweet to Rafe since the day he met him. They are as thick as thieves and just love to be around each other. Damon always watches out for Rafe and makes sure he's ok whether we are at a park and he needs help, or if someone is picking on him, he's always got his back and vice versa. Damon is definitely the more sensitive child. Movies scare him easier, his feelings get hurt, and he will often come to me telling me he's sad because of xxxxx. Sometimes it's if no one is playing with him at the playground or if I don't give him enough attention. He's sensitive to his feelings and other peoples feelings which is a good thing and I love that about him. But some days I can get frustrated at all the different emotions. What would I do with a girl??!  Sometimes I think that's why I keep having boys, I just don't know if I can handle the drama and emotions that can come along with girls. Haha that's what I tell myself anyways;) but Damon is just a little sweet heart. He can be rough with Rafe but 9/10 he will take a beating from Rafe and not do anything back to him because he knows he will a) get in trouble, and b) hurt his little brother and feel guilty. Damon is so smart and picks up on things quickly. He has a hard time focusing so sitting him down and doing preschool is always a struggle. He learns much better if I just teach him through daily things. Letters, numbers, his name. But if I sit him down and try he doesn't handle it well. So I'm a little nervous for kindergarten but it will be so good for him to be around other kids and I think if he sees everyone else sitting and doing their work, he will too. Damon's a very social kid. He loves playing with his friends and every time I take him to a park or play place he makes a new friend. He is a very obedient child. I don't have to ask him very often to do something twice. If I ask them to clean their room Damon always gets right on it while Rafe plays. sometimes he will even clean then come tell me he had a surprise, and I'll come downstairs and his room will be spotless! Or his toy room will be all organized the same way I would do it. He's been doing this on his own for a few months now and I'm just amazed at how well he does it. He likes things to be clean and organized. Likes his bed to be made. Every morning before he comes upstairs to my room he changes his clothes and if Rafe is with him he says "k Rafe lets get dressed!" It's so sweet. He likes to brush his teeth and come breath in my face to prove he's done it! Haha same with washing his hands, he shoves them right up to my nose and says something like "I washed my hands mom! And even used soap!" Damon has the softest cheeks and skin you have ever felt! I smooch on him all day long and one of our jokes back and forth is,"im going to eat your face!" He loves to talk and talk and talk and tell stories. He's still obsessed with cars and trucks and trains. We are going to get him a big boy bike soon so he can learn to ride it, we just haven't lived in a great spot for him to ride bikes so he's still on his big wheel trike. He's getting a lot more competitive and we need to get him in soccer or something! Now that we are finally settled somewhere we can do that soon. And lastly, he is the best eater! He will eat anything you put in front of him. Even if he doesn't like it he will eat it if you tell him what a big boy he is after! Haha he did that tonight with his chicken noodle soup. He loves chicken noodle but thought mine was too "spicy" but he ate it all gone.

Well there's a nice novel about my kids! I just feel so blessed to be their mom. Some days I feel like I'm totally screwing them up, but when I think about how awesome they are I can't help but be proud of the little men we are raising and it makes me SO excited to be having another one in November! I love my boys and can't believe how big they are getting!

Peace out 2014!!

2014 was quite a year for the Morley family! It was filled with lots of changes, challenges, good times, bad times, really really bad times, and great times that I will remember forever! I'll do a quick recap since I haven't blogged in FOREVER!

January started out great. We moved back to Idaho in September of 2013 and lived with my parents until december. So we were finally settled into our own place again. I LOVED our rental. It was a great house and it sat on an acre and the boys had so much room to run around and play. The yard was gorgeous and we spent almost all summer out there. I found a great deal on a swing set that they loved! Damon got a lot of outdoor water toys for his birthday so we played a lot in the little pool and slip and slide. On the side of the house was a big dirt/rock spot that the owner used to use to park his RV. So it was perfect for the boys to go out and dig and play with their trucks. Winter has been a struggle since they are trapped indoors most days! 

Anyways, I'm getting ahead of myself! In April, Dan's little brother and sister came to live with us for a month and half to aerate lawns. Dans other sister Brynne and her husband came for a visit, and his parents came a few weeks later for a visit as well. It was so great to have them all come and see us and fill our house with fun and laughter at a time that wasn't great for us! We loved having everyone,  staying up late and playing games and watching movies, playing with the boys outside, having bbq's and enjoying the summer. 

So Dan has been doing work from home for about a year and a half now. It was kind of a hard transition for me to go from him having a 8-5 to having him home all the time. I really love having him there, but it just kinda threw off my regular routine and it was a hard transition for a while, but now it's great. Dan's first job out of college was with a company who sold online digital goods. He managed accounts for them and gained a lot of great relationships with the people he worked with. When he was let go in January of 2013, he was able to use those contacts to find his job in Austin with Mike Chang. That was a tough environment and so he found something else in the online fitness niche where he could work from home. It's been stressful bouncing from job to job and hitting dead ends with each one, but now that we are settling into his new business, we can look back and see why those things didn't work out. We can see the good that came from each and every job and how it's brought us where we are now. It's been hard, but he wouldn't be able to do what he's doing now without those relationships and contacts and skills he's been learning along the way. The trouble we were having was no one wanted to commit for long periods of time. He was just doing contract work for these people and some would last 6 months, some only 1-3 months. So he was constantly hustling trying to find new people to work for. There were many months with no paychecks, but somehow money always came up and we were ok. But it was so STRESSFUL not knowing what was going to happen the next month. He could wake up to an email or voicemail that would change everything. Sometimes they were good, often bad. People never stuck to their word, and would promise money and not pay leaving us high and dry for months. 

During all of this, Dan was trying to get his own business up and running with his business partner. They have been working on their own fitness product since they've both been working in fitness for a while. Dan has always wanted to work for himself. He's always talking about different business ideas and how to make them work. Sometimes it's a little exhausting to me, but I know it's what he really wants! After clickbank, he ran several businesses social media accounts, and he loved being able to work for himself, and it was the perfect job while we were transitioning to something new. So when he started working from home full time, I knew he wanted to give it another shot. He has an amazing business partner and together they are an awesome team. It was a good time for him to give it a shot. and I wanted him to give it everything we had. I didn't want him to try, and look back and wish he would have tried more. So we were somewhat prepared for what could happen financially, but we also thought he would have other work while they were building their brand. When money was tight, there was investor money we could use. Well, eventually investor money ran out and some of what was promised never showed up. So now Dan and his business partner are just focusing on their job now and will pick it back up when the time is right! 

It has been such a roller coaster ride! The beginning of the year was going great, and within ONE month everything went bad. And didn't pick back up for months. Then it was decent, then nose dived. Thankfully, through it all, we have grown together and not apart. There were times that we resented each other and have been so panicked about finances and how we were going to make it work. I think there was a good 3-6 months where we were just going through the motions and just seemed to be surviving. 

The last 3 months have definitely been the hardest. We've had to rely on friends and family to get us by, which has been incredibly humbling. We have been on welfare, which I only share for this reason...... You know when you're on fb and you see those memes like this....

I used to think a little like this. I used to judge people when they would pull out their food stamp card and buy all kinds of things I couldn't afford. Until I was that lady. I drive a nice car, i have an iphone, I try to dress nice and have my kids dress nice even when i'm just going to walmart. Well let me tell you something, I will never judge people as harshly as I once did. I didn't think I was that bad, but when those shoes were on my feet I didn't like the judgmental stares or when people would say rude things about people on welfare. Everyones situation is different. My husband was trying as hard as he could to find a job, I was looking, we were selling things, we were having to borrow money from people to pay our bills, we had been living in hell for months and it was only getting hotter. Not everyone lives off the government. Not everyone soaks the system. Sometimes you just need HELP. we tried to avoid it as long as we could. We didn't want to have to resort to that, and kept hoping something would come and we would be fine. Well, it didn't. But I will forever be thankful that we had that help. It took more stress off our shoulders than we thought it would. Being able to feed our kids, and have healthcare was such a huge relief! 

 While all this was going on, I was having issues with my gallbladder and needed it out. I waited all year because we didn't have insurance, but it was just getting worse and worse. Thankfully I was able to have it out, which was a silver lining of being poor we were able to get on medicaid, and then I had complications after and had to stay in the hospital for 3 days. I had a bile leak that my Dr. didn't catch while I was in Surgery. He thinks he cauterized over during surgery. It leaked for 5 days before i went back into the hospital to get it check out. One of those fluke things that's never happened to my Dr. before, and I was lucky enough for it to happen to me! haha it was miserable, but I'm glad I was able to have my surgery and am feeling great now! 

I got out of the hospital the day before thanksgiving. My bile leak was healing itself, so I just had to be careful with any physical activity and my diet. Once december hit, life was going to get pretty busy. We had to move out of our rental, we were traveling to Utah for Dan's sisters wedding, and Christmas. Christmas was the biggest weight of them all. What do we get our kids? Our credit cards were almost completely maxed and nothing seemed to be coming through on the job end. Then one day, out of the blue, Dan got a phone call from one of his old clients at Clickbank. Her name's Jennifer Nicole Lee.  Jennifer is a big name in the fitness industry and is needing some help with her brand. She remembered Dan and they've kept in touch since he's been gone from clickbank. She has seriously been our angel. She thinks the world of Dan and was desperate to have him on her team. One phone call. That was it. After months and months of being rejected from jobs, not getting interviews, or call backs, this one phone call trumped it all. This is Dan's dream job. The pay is better than anything he was interviewing for, he is using his skillset, he gets to work from home, and gets to travel and gain a lot of new relationships along the way. It still doesn't seem real to me. I've become so bitter towards the world, and I am very cynical. So when something seems too good to be true, it usually is. That has been the way this whole last year has been. But I think we have finally found something that is perfect for Dan and with a team who appreciates him and what he brings to the table. It couldn't have ended the year any better. He is so happy and I am so happy that things have worked out and now we can look back at this crazy year, all our struggles, and see how the Lord has had his hand in our life. Times that I felt so alone and like he wasn't there or aware of us or our situation. Times that I felt like I couldn't take anymore, then we would get hit with something else, something worse. The lessons I have learned, the patience we've had to have....it was all worth it. It's been a long road, but I believe we are on to bigger and better things. 

This post has been hard to write, and encompasses some of the things we've been through and emotions we've had. It's a raw post and reveals a lot about our life we haven't wanted anyone to know. But I know when I look back on this year, I will be grateful for the growth, and the lessons that I've learned. I want to be real with people, and not just blog about the good things and make it seem that we live some perfect life like some people do. I now look at the world a little differently and these last 2-3 years have been tough, but this last year is definitely one I will never forget.

2015 is starting off great! and I am hoping it goes smoothly and treats us well so we can recoup from last year! I'm starting into my Bachelors degree next week and am so nervous about doing school with 2 little guys, but am exciting to doing something for me. I want this year to be filled with new adventures, good memories, good friends and family. I just want a simple life. I don't want anything extraordinary or filled with monetary things. I just want to be surrounded by the good things in life that really matter, and the stresses of last year to melt away!

Cabo

Dan and I wanted to take a trip for our 5th anniversary, and we found a sweet deal on groupon for Cabo. I was a little nervous about going. I was really excited but I get really nervous about flying and travel, especially to a different country. Our plane out of Boise was delayed long enough that we missed our connection, but it only ended up putting us in to cabo like two hrs later, which was only like 1 pm. 

We had no plans to do anything the whole trip. I didn't even really care to leave the resort. I just wanted to relax and lay around and tan and read books and drink virgin Miami vice's the whole 5 days. And that's exactly what we did and it was amazing!

We slept in every morning, order some room service, then would head down the the beach bungalow and read/ lay in the sun then order some chips and guacamole for lunch, read some more, then head back to the room for a little siesta!  Then maybe go to the pool, get ready for dinner then we would pick one if the restaurants there and go eat, then walk around for a bit then head back to the room for the night. That was pretty much our daily routine and it was so relaxing. Most trips we have a bunch of stuff planned, but this was so nice to just go and relax and do nothing.  The resort was beautiful, everyone was so nice, and it was warm the whole time we were there. And I got the worst sunburn of my life and it was so uncomfortable but that was the only downside;)

Hers some pics of the trip! 

Part of the resort was built into this mountain. It was beautiful!

We are dinner most nights at this spot. It overlooked the bay and where everyone swims with the dolphins. 

Damon's 4th Birthday and beginning of Summer!

For Damon's 4th bday we went to wahooz and let him play some games and ride the go carts. Then on his actual bday we went to the zoo where he whined the whole time until we got to the play area. Haha 4 year olds, man! Damon is such a sweet kid. He loves playing with rafe and is a sweet brother- most of the time. They've started to wrestle a lot with each other. The main issue we have is over cars and trucks and the kindle! They always want to play with what the other one has. Damon is very sensitive to other people and their emotions. He picks up on everything and is always sweet when someone is sad. It's probably one of the sweetest traits he has and it's so sweet to watch him develop and grow into a kind, smart, energetic, loving little boy!

His cake that was sooo yummy!!

My sweet baby niece, Harlow

The boys going down the slide

Beth, her bf David and the boys

I miss my peonies

Beth was here for her bday,  so we partied!!!

Our first pick from the strawberry plants in the backyard

This summer is already going by too fast. The weather had been great so we've been spending a lot if days outside in our little pool and slip and slide.

Gall bladder cleanse

So the other night I was laying in bed trying to fall asleep and I kept thinking about my gallbladder and how I need to get surgery and all that; so I did the smart thing and started googling things. 

What.was.i.thinking?!!

I may or may not have watched a video of someone's surgery. Then had nightmares about some putting some hot torch into a tube in my belly button and burning my insides to separate my gallbladder from everything else. Gross.

So then I started googling cleanses so maybe I don't have to have surgery. Here's my main problems.

Gallstones can be hereditary, which in my case it is. So I can drink a million gallons of apple juice and distilled water and stand on my head and all that other crazy crap, but there is a good chance they will come back, or I won't get them all out. I really want to have another baby despite my Facebook rants, and I need to have this surgery done before that because it gets a million times worse if you're pregnant and have this. So I'm worried if I go the cleanse route, think I'm all good, get pregnant, then have it develop again while pregnant and the risks during surgery are way worse.

All of that I know, and it all makes sense and I know the smartest thing to do it just have the surgery......I just don't want to.

Has anyone done a cleanse? And it worked and they felt better and the stones didn't develop again? I think if other people had luck with it, I'd try it......

And just learn from my stupidity and don't google your health problems at 2 am and watch YouTube videos about it. So ridiculous.

Gall bladder stones

So for about a year I have been having some pretty severe pain in my stomach when I get stressed. So I finally took myself to the Dr. this week thinking I had an ulcer or something. He looked me over and decided I needed an ultra sound for my gall bladder. I kind of thought he was taking things a little too far because the pain isn't that bad that it could be something that serious. I had my ultra sound this morning and I totally went in thinking I was over reacting and this was going to be a waste of money. I got in the room and the tech started the ultra sound. Every time she went up by my ribs I got a sharp pain. That's when I figured.... Ok there has to be something wrong. And there is...... I have gall bladder stones. 

What? Me? I never get sick, I'm fairly healthy, and I'm only 24! Why am I getting these?

These are the questions I've been asking myself all day. Does anyone have any experience with this? How was your surgery? How was the pain before the surgery? Right now mine is bearable and it usually goes away. I'm hoping it will this time too. 

I'm just a little stressed about this whole thing and would love to hear some input from people that have had their gall bladder out or have gall bladder stones and all that good stuff!

Spring time!!

I think springtime is officially here! We are loving the weather lately and hope it stays around! Today it was almost 60. The grass is getting greener and the kids no longer want coats when they go outside. The kids play outside for majority of the day it seems like. They will take breaks and come inside but we are always sending them back out. We have. Nice big backyard and have slowly been adding more out door toys. We recently got them little rakes and shovels and little dump trucks with buckets and stuff. We have a rock area to the side of the house where you can park a motor home or something, but that's where the boys spend most of their time digging in the dirt and hauling rocks around. It's helped with their sleeping and they are definitely more tired at night, which rocks!

We have been moving our rooms around. Tim and Beth are coming to stay with us for 6+ weeks and we really want them to feel comfortable in our home and have their own privacy. We had been talking about switching things up anyways, so we just went for it! It's been a little bit of an adjustment, but I think the worst is over! They would just play at night for hours instead of going to bed, but we've been putting them up stairs at 7 and letting them play for 30 min to an hr and they are usually out by 8:30. Especially rafe ever since I took his naps away. 

It's a pretty cool room/ toy room. They have tons of room and it's nice to keep the mess upstairs. 

Damon has recently starting hoarding his favorite toys..... Or refusing to share the big out door toys. I broke down and bought another tricycle because we've been having a rough time sharing that. I found one at this giant consignment sale I go to for $15. I brought it out this morning and now neither one wants to play with the old trike and they just fight over the new one. Ugh!!! At that sale I also scored a sweet swingset! One of those big wood ones with a slide and monkey bars and a little picnic table attached. It. Is. Awesome! We just have to go pick it up from the peoples house, which stinks. But for $75 I'm ok with it!! I'll have to post a pic when we get it here!

We also have a new addition to the family! We bought the boys some fish! Ones a goldfish and ones a black something or other.... The boys love them. I'm not a big animal person so that's probably the only pet they will ever have! Roofus and mowgli.....yeah. I don't know why we have such weird names for them. Damon really wants a puppy. Dan was even helping him think of names! I had to be the bad guy and say no. Damon wasn't happy about it. 

Other random things that have been happening lately!

Damon likes to sleep standing up....

He's constantly asking for "rides" around the house. I remember asking my mom and dad to do this all the time... It's kinda fun that he's at that age.

I found these super cool crayola color tabs that you drop in the tub and they turn the water whatever color you want. The boys love them!

Damon hates waking up from the car

I made these nachos.... And they were delicious.

I have inforced child labor. Jk he loves to vacuum and I totally don't mind.

Rafe cries a lot.... This was over the tricycle. He's usually pretty happy but has recently turned into a monster. Super stubborn. Super grumpy. Sassy. Violent. And everything in between!

Damon makes me lunch;)

Rafey cries forever at bed time and never falls asleep in his actual bed. He's slowly getting better.

Life is good! We are loving out new place and are so excited to have family come be with us this summer and maybe do a little traveling of our own!