Yes she can!

My favorite words spoken by Boston's very distinct and tiny feminine voice right now are: "Oh! I need to go potty!"

After running out of her diapers last week I decided to take a serious leap of faith with my Boo Bear. I've been putting off what was probably due months ago, with very good reason I feel. She's not the neatest child I have. I am still fearful of the clogged toilet I'm sure will come, nasty public restrooms she'll insist on using, touching of toilets I have not cleaned or other disasters I dare not utter. But for now she's doing much better than I thought. I'm very proud of how well she's caught on, especially since I just had the carpet cleaned and we have had zero accidents on it (knock on wood, it probably helps that towels are everywhere). She's even been accident free in public. I'm especially impressed that she's grasped my methods of madness, because mommy has done no research. This is all on the fly: by Alisha P. Chang.

Survivor

It's always a good sign when there's talk of the next camping trip before we're even close to being done with the one we're on. This was Johnson's 4th camping trip in his life and he survived!!!! Yay!!!! We had a great time with great friends. Unfortunately the weather wasn't great, but it was good enough. Good enough even for all the kids to jump in the lake. Thanks everyone for making this a smooth and fun filled weekend.

Beautiful mossy trails, tall shady trees, clear lake water, tents professionally set up by Brian, clean air, laughter, chubby bunny contest, warm smokey fires, bacon grease fires, smores, children at constant play in the woods, little boys peeing on trees, swimming out to the island, crying children on a log, late nights filled with funny stories, great camp fire meals, and zero bear encounters ...priceless.

This is all the kids did. Run and play. They were all so wiped out. One night the Croke boys were so pooped that little Kasen had to speak up and demand "mom take us to bed, please!"

As I was going through this picture I had to stop and think about where all the kids were when this was taken. Obviously from the previous picture the older ones were busy in the woods, but where were the babies?
Oh, if only Vince were here. The EQ tat clan missed their other brother. I personally missed his wife. I was so looking forward to some good ole' stories from sis. Greco.
I know Boston loved camping. She was in food heaven. We'll have to plan a pancake breakfast a little better next time. It probably took us about 2 hours to make pancakes, eggs and bacon. Oh, and in case you don't know this, bacon grease is flammable. I tried cooking our bacon on foil over a fire, not the best idea I've had. (sorry about your pan Trish).
Brian's probably not going to thank me for posting this picture (because of baby #1, i thinks that's what he called it), but his kids are so stinkin' cute. I'll always remember Titus' saggy diaper and the awkward jog I made back to camp to get him a new one.
My little bump on a log. I'm so glad the sun finally made it out on Saturday at like 4 p.m. Boston had a great time in the water with her daddy. Malachi on the other hand took a little convincing. I think once he saw how much fun she was having on this log, he finally changed his mind.


I love living such a beautiful state. I wish our weather was a little better year round so that we could enjoy the outdoors more.

Super Dad! On the way back to camp from the lake both of the girls fell asleep. I'm so surprised Boston didn't fall down, even more surprised she fell asleep up there. But like I said, these kids just kept going, all-day-long.
The chubby bunny winner. And we didn't use regular marshmallows. Nope, we used those honkin' huge campfire marshmallows. Trish was able to get 3 in her mouth and say "chubby bunny." AMAZING!
I only had 2 in my mouth and could not get one word out. This was my first attempt at this game and it was disappointing to say the least. From everyone's expressions though, I think I at least brought some entertainment value.
The Croke boys were so patient with Boston. She was all up in their business, the whole weekend. The night Kasen begged to be put in bed, I thought Kyler was going to loose it with her because she was all over him. Rubbing his face, shaking his head, laying in his lap, kicking her legs, and even yelling in his ears. They just kept having fun with her, allowing her to even wrestle them to the ground.

I guess the moss was soft enough to take a nap on. (Kyler, Chi & Kasen)
Oh wait...we did sight a bear. Boo Bear. This is Boston having a moment while we were taking one last hike. Mommy and Daddy were being so mean by making her walk off all the junk food she ate.
We should of known that she was just tired. Johnson left the group and headed back to camp with her. By the time they got there she was knocked out.
And just for the fun of it here is a cute shot I got of Jordan recently. I think she's 10 weeks old in this picture. This isn't from our camping trip, but since I didn't have many of her I thought I'd throw this one in. This was right after a shower with me. She was knocked out from the soothing warmth before I could even get out. I hated waking her up from this, but she really needed a diaper.

Graduate

A few weeks ago Malachi had his preschool graduation, along with a little show the kids put on for the parents. All I have to say is "so stinkin' cute." I wasn't really quite sure what to expect from Malachi. He can be pretty passive in a big group of kids, but I guess he's become pretty comfortable with his classmates. His class theme for the show was the 50's and so he was a little multiracial greaser, not really what you would see in the movie "Grease," but cute enough. He really enjoyed styling his hair that night and now asks for the "cool" hair do often. I was really surprised that he willingly walked up to the stage and sang every song (2 short songs) and he even did all the little motions to them too. The place was packed with the family members of 4 different classes, plus extended family members and friends of families and so it took a lot of guts for these little kids to get up there. I was very proud of my greaser. All those people and it didn't see to phase him at all. All I have to say is that our daily dance sessions have paid off. We'll be watching this video often.

Blessings

Jordan was blessed today. It's always a special treat to witness the priesthood being exercised in our family. Johnson gave an amazing blessing to Jordan. 2 things stand out in my mind, the first being that she have a testimony fostered by her family members testimonies and the second being the sure understanding of her divine nature as a daughter of God. It was the best gift I was given today as a Mother and a perfect reminder of what it is that I need to be doing to set a good example to my children and what I need to be teaching them. She was awake all morning and then wouldn't wake up at all after her blessing. This was the best we could to do to get a good picture.

Recommitted #2

First of all I hate the work I put in to this blog just to get it going. I can not figure out for the life of me how to load all the pictures and then insert the text after that. And to top it off all of the text is underlined and I can't figure out how to turn that off either. So for all you bloggers out there that may be entertained by my occasional stories, please feel free to pass along any words of wisdom. I'd really love to save my precious time.

Chapter 2 of "Recommitted" is Malachi's 4th Birthday. After just recently having a new baby, I can't help but be amazed that my first born is 4 already. I really wish I could slow time down. We may have created a monster, first by planning a baby so close to Christmas where he now knows how to create lists of desires and second by trying to fill those desires. He's already created a list for next year. I guess we'll work harder to remedy this next year.

His birthday was super fun. One thing that I love doing for my kids is surprising them with balloons that morning. Malachi was really excited this year, especially since Bos' birthday was before his and he knew his were coming. He came running down to my room super ecstatic about them.

I gave a choice about what to have for breakfast and he of course chose "NOODLES." My kids love noodles. I threw some eggs in there just for good reasoning.
I think his only complaint would be that he had to wait all day to open his presents, which he already knew what they were, but it was hard.
I was a little hesitant about his choice of party venue, but in the end I don't think we'll do it any other way again. Thanks Chi! I love that there was really not much to set up and even more there was hardly any clean up. If we had his party at the house I would of had to do all the work of cleaning before everyone came and then everything all over again when everyone left. It was super easy and totally worth it.
Malachi pretty much schools us all in bowling on the Wii and he did a pretty good job with the real thing.
I don't know why it was so hard to get a good group picture of a bunch of 4 year old's who are energized on soda and cake. These were Malachi's 4 friends he wanted to invite this year: Kasen (neighbor and church buddy), Sam (him and chi are 2 peas in a pod at preschool), Zach (from school) and Scarlett (neighbor). He also invited his cousin Sophia...oh and his sister Boston (what a nice big brother).
I did it again. Another homemade cake for my boy. I wonder what he'll be into next year. This one wasn't too bad. They're always a good hand work out with all the piping they entail. The first cut was hard, but Malachi thought it was pretty special and so it's worth the work.
No one really helped him open his presents like most kids do at this age, but they sure did help him with the candles. We had to relight the candles like 4 times because everyone thought it was funny to do it for him. I think his baby sister was the biggest culprit.
His birthday lasted well over the one day he was born on and he may be a little spoiled, but hey he's our first, he's super cute and we can't help but loving this boy too much!
Happy Happy Birthday Malachi dear! May happy days come to you all year. If I had a wish then it would be, a happy happy birthday to you from me. Love you CheeChee!

Recommitted #1

Ok....so I'm recommitting myself to blogging. Man time goes by fast and I have to say I've thought about doing this almost everyday and just have not had the motivation to get on here. But today is a new day and I am recommitting myself. Hopefully I'll be able to get all caught up and remember all the important details. This is the 1st of my recommittment. I thought it would only be appropriate to start with the most important thing that has happened this year...the birth of our 3rd child...Jordan Mattie Chang. There have been other great things that have happened, but this is the latest and greatest of them all.
I have to first say that making the choice not to know what we were having this time was the best thing I have done. It was hard at times, but in the end the surprise was really fun and special. I truly thought and felt like I was carrying a boy. Some might say it was wishful thinking or denial, but I guess in the end I had no clue. Let's just say the Lord's will be done and it's the last time I tell him what to do.
Jordan was born on April 7th at 11:09 pm (6 days after Chi's birthday...phew!) I knew she would come fast, but man she came really fast. I was having contractions throughout the entire day. Went to my weekly appointment in the afternoon and wasn't dialated or efaced. Took the kids to see "How to Train Your Dragon" after my appointment and then went home and did things as usual. When Johnson got home around 6 things started to pick up. I knew she was either coming that night or tomorrow so Johnson went back to work to finish a note, so that he wouldn't have to worry about it if she did come. At 7:37 the contractions started to get more intense so I had Rayshaun (my niece visiting for spring break) start taking down times. They were all over the place, 5 minutes apart, 12 minutes apart...never consistent. 9:17 was the last contraction she wrote down, which was shortly after Johnson got back home and my mom arrived. I had already put Chi and Bos to bed and so Johnson and I decided we would just head to the hospital and call my mom when I started pushing so she could head over with the kids.
It of course felt like forever getting to the hospital and I honestly thought I was going to have her in the car. We finally made it to a laboring room around 9:45, where in just a few minutes I was checked...fully dialated, water broke and .ready to go! There was no time to move me to a delivery room so the nurses set everything up right there. I know I actually look pleasant here, but I have to say that this delivery was a little emotional for me. I don't know if it was hormones or because I knew the pain I was about to endure or just excited to meet my little boy (what I thought), but I felt weak for some reason and so at this point I asked Johnson to give me a blessing. An impression I had gotten a few days before, but was too prideful to admit these feelings at the time. So we asked the nurses to give us a few minutes alone and Johnson gave me a wonderful blessing of comfort and strength, which eased my anxiety up until the next contraction hit.

Just minutes after that my mom, Malachi, Boston and Rayshaun arrived. The kids were of course a little nervous about mom being all layed up, but didn't have to wonder what was going on for very long because the next contraction was it. They quickly left, keeping them from any mental scars and the nurses almost didn't make it back in the room in time. One push and two push and we had a little girl, she truly came on her own. The momentum of that contraction was amazing. At one point someone told me to stop pushing, but I truly couldn't.
No one knew we didn't know what the sex was and so it took Johnson and I a minute to recover from how fast she came before we realized that we didn't know if we had had a boy or a girl. Johnson took the first peak and I didn't believe him at first, but we had another girl in our hands. I have to admit it was a little shocking...well really shocking and I checked her out probably a dozen times that night just to make sure.
She weighed in at 6 lbs 12 ounces. Just a little thing...thank goodness! Not as little as my midwife thought she was going to be, but small enough.
She also came out very hungry. After the torture of all the immediate things they do to babies after being born, not really sure what they all do. She pretty much nursed for 3 hours straight, which was ok, because then she slept for a good 6 hours.

We look so happy here because we just agreed this is the last one. But like a said before, the Lord's will is stronger than our own...so I guess we'll see. If there is another we will for sure have to make this one a matter of prayer.

I know everyone who knows Boston and her personality may be wondering how she's holding up with another hen in the coop. She is actually doing amazingly well and loves her baby sister. If anything she is very protective, especially when big brother gets too close to her baby while she's holding her.
Grandma is very proud of grandchild #6. We are so grateful she's around to help us. It's amazing to me how things work out. We worried about what's going to happen if the baby comes in the middle of day or middle of the night, but twice now things have worked out perfectly. She's arrived just in the knick of time. She was able to bring the kids to the hospital, stay the night with them and then hang out with them until we got home the next day. We didn't have to worry about the kids missing out on meeting their new sibling right away, finding a babysitter or bothering a neighbor. Thanks mom!
This little boy is really going to have his hands full. Two sisters, what a responsibility. He's got the perfect personality for being the big brother. Already i've seen both his nurturing and protective sides.
Rayshaun did awesome. I still have all the times of contractions she wrote down on my chalk board. I keep meaning to take a picture of it. She thought seeing a birth would make her pass out, but she didn't. Not even when the nurse gave us a little anatomy lesson on the placenta. I'm really grateful Tamu and Keith sent her out to stay with us. She was a big help and Boston absolutely adored her.
So there it is. The first entry of "Recommitted." Jordan Mattie Chang. We didn't even have a girl name picked out. Johnson must of searched the web for 2 hours that night. We almost went with the lactation nurses suggestion and drew a name from a hat. But right before we packed up we agreed on Jordan...a city in Utah or the middle East, whichever you prefer and Mattie...after my grandmother and our kids only living great grandparent.
I may have been in denial while pregnant and surprised when she arrived, but nothing is more certain than the love that I have for this little angel. Everytime I catch her gaze and look deep in those beautiful brown eyes I see something very special about Jordan. Heavenly Father has blessed me to be her mother and I know this little girl is part of His eternal plan for me.

My baby girl!

My baby girl turned 2 yesterday. Where does time go? I feel like it was just yesterday that I couldn't believe I was having a second child. Anyone who knows me really well knows that I never really wanted to have any girls and while Boston is quite the handful I am very grateful to have this darling daughter of mine in my life. She has an amazing spirit and is super passionate about her own desires, which right now can be a challenge, but I know without a shadow of doubt she'll grow up to be much like most of the Pixton women I know...which is alright with me.
To celebrate this grand occasion we did a very typical female thing and made it a 2 day event. Yesterday she woke up to a room full of balloons (personal tradition I started with the kids), I made her all her favorites for breakfast, lunch & dinner, we went to the park (an inexpensive fav), opened presents and then went out for some Coldstones. Today we took a day trip to Northwest Trek and then out to dinner with my parents and had yummy birthday cake. I hope my boo bear had a wonderful birthday and knows how much I love her and am so grateful for the day she came into my life!
Boston loves dogs and it really breaks my heart that she can't have one because of me. So to help appease her I try to fit puppies in where I can.

Nothing more precious than a baby girl and her daddy. Unfortunately this was the calm before the storm. Her exhaustion hit shortly after this and she threw a huge fit. I'm getting to the point where I can't really take her out anymore bc she can act so crazy sometimes.

Potty time! I'm not really pushing for her to potty train just yet only bc she will probably be more of a mess than anything, but I thought I'd introduce it just for the fun of it. She always says she has to go potty, but nothing ever comes out....it will soon enough I'm sure.

Happy 2nd Birthday Boston! I love you.