Oh so helpful...

Tonight while I was putting away all of the diapers and wipes (Costco run today) SL emptied the dishwasher for me. She put all the silverware in the drawer for me. Too bad all the silverware was still dirty. Crusty, yucky, dirty silverware. She looked a little insulted when I put it all back in the dishwasher.

Early morning love...

This morning I was serenaded in bed by a sweet 3 year old while we cuddled. It's about the only time she really likes to cuddle. Her songs of choice were all from Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. I guess if you have be awakened at 6:30 in the morning, you may as well get something sweet out of it.

Fall in July....

The kids went back to school two weeks ago. TJ the last week of July and AM the first week of August. It has been great. I've never been one of those mom's who tear up and mourn at the thought of the kids growing up or going to school. In fact, a lot of days I celebrate. (Don't take that the wrong way, I do get nostalgic.) I love my kids and have loved watching them grow, but the whole purpose of being a mom is to watch my kids experience life and all of it's milestones. It's my job to teach them life skills and then step back and let them go.

TJ is 6 right now and so far it's probably my favorite age. He's growing up and we can actually talk and have conversations about things. He can be a very anxious kid and I've learned that if I show any uncertainty about a situation he may be facing that he picks up on it right away and immediately adopts that anxiety. If I play it cool and let him know that I am confident in him and what he decides, he is so much more confident himself. And then the situations that I envision happening never materializes.

He is having a fabulous time in 1st grade. All the anxiety and tears that colored his last month of kindergarten melted away and he is doing so well. He tells me often that he didn't miss me at all during the day. Well good. That's how it should be. Those last kindergarten days where he would cry before school and ask to stay home were tough. I had to be the tough mom and tell him that he would be fine, that I loved him, and then shove him out the door.

AM is 3 and still just a little firecracker. She has really struggled this past year. Apparently moving twice and having a baby sister was too much change for her. But, I think we are finally getting to a point where she is adapting better. She is being kinder and is coming into her own. She lives to be outside and if a sprinkler is on, well... I can pretty much guarantee that she is going to be soaking wet. She is still very much a 3 year old. None of us can keep up with her moods. That is a constant work in progress. She has definite ideas of what she should and shouldn't do. We've finally come to an agreement about her clothes and hair. On Sundays and preschool days I get to choose what she wears and her hair gets done. On the other days, she gets to choose and by choice, her hair doesn't get done. So, she pretty much looks like an orphan those days but we still love her! Whether it shows or not. She has an impressive imagination and loves anything princess. 

She started preschool finally! She's been waiting for so long to go to school like TJ and was rather impatient about it. I'm very happy with the preschool and it's teachers. She's only been twice so I really don't have much to comment about.

SL is so much fun now. She's 16 months old. She has quite the personality and she knows how to use it! She doesn't tolerate pestering from her brother and sister. She knows just how to get it to end. She screams at the top of her lungs, so shrill, that Mom's ears ring. Mom quickly puts a stop to all teasing because her ears can't handle SL being bugged.

She has 3 words. Da, Mama, and uh oh. She is also a champion climber. We thought AM was a climber but SL puts her to shame. I am really tired of hauling her off the top of the table. She likes to try and play with the lights over the table. So far she has tried to climb the book case, shelves, pantry, and the backs of chairs. I found her on top of the swing set on the crossbars, standing on top of the slide, and on top of the table. She thinks she is so awesome and big. She thinks the best thing in the world is sitting in her sister;s booster to eat. Apparently highchairs are for babies, which she isn't. SL is my best snuggler by far and loves to be held, unless we are at church. She just likes to run while she is there.

DA is finishing the basement and it's going rather slow. There are some downsides of being married to a perfectionist. It's going to take a long time, but that basement is going to be perfect!

Me? I'm just trying to survive it all.

Just for me...

This blog has been dragging me down. It's felt like between facebook and message boards that I was writing every experience in triplicate. But then I realized that I've been blogging for the wrong reasons. In the past it has been comment driven. Will people think it's funny? cute? boring? etc. Why isn't anyone commenting? I'm done with that.

This is my blog. It's going to be for me now. I'm going to be writing things that matter to me, and things that I want to remember.

Trama and Drama

Yesterday.....
AM: Mom (wailing)
Mom: What?
AM: It's not working!
Mom: What's not working?
AM : The bike that Santa gaved.
Mom: What's wrong?
AM: I was riding really fast and it ran out of gas! (totally wailing by this point)

So I went out side to check it out and the chain had come off. I just love the way her mind works.

SL at a year

Here are a few videos from about a month ago. She is walking, but she still likes to walk on her knees and bounce on them. The bouncing happens when she is happy and wants to get closer to whatever is making her happy. It can be me, the stairs (scares grandma silly), laundry basket, etc. I just want to get these videos as proof of a silly baby.

Winter

I am grumpy today. As I sit it is raining, with snow to follow. I feel like mother nature and my children are conspiring together. Who knows? Maybe the next post will come to you via a nice, serene padded room.

The difference between boys and girls...

...I find is more than a matter of anatomy. When TJ walks into the bathroom and discovers no toilet paper he comes to find me and gets me to fix it. When AM walks into the bathroom and discovers no toilet paper she says "Oh, we are out of tissue!" then she runs to the other bathroom and gets not one, but two rolls of toilet paper to take to the other bathroom. Even through they are still so small, AM can find anything and remember where she left things. TJ (like his father) can't find things even when they are in front of his face.

Exercising

I have been exercising since late October. While I have only lost two pounds I have lost 3 inches around my abdomen and 2 inches around my waist. However, none of that success will EVER make me like the plank position, or any exercises performed in the plank position. I HATE the plank position.

Three little piggies....

who are all coughing, have runny noses, and are sick. With all the coughing that has happened in my face, do I have a prayer of not getting sick? Is summer ever going to come?

TJ's Dance Program

I was invited down to TJ's school to see what an art grant is doing for the school. Every Friday they go to music class where they dance and learn how to translate what they are learning into free movement. It was fun to see him dance around and it was adorable to see him with this little girl (who I'm not going to post clear pictures of since I have NO idea what her parents think about blogging and pictures) who we will call E. At TJ's last parent teacher conference we were told about this little girl who thinks TJ is pretty special. Over the past few months it's become aparrent the TJ returns the feelings. There have been hand drawn pictures exchanged and cards, etc.  While watching the dance program E and TJ stayed close making sure they were always together. Some of the cutest pictures I can't show because Miss E is in almost every single shot. And when they danced together (once doing the tango and once spinning) it was the cutest thing I've ever seen.

Did I mention...

... I am super excited that birthday's are over until the end of March? Does that make me a bad mom?

The Friend Party

I cannot handle a lot of kids in my house at one time and knowing my limitations we do parties at McDonalds. They get the mess, they get the noise, and the kids get to run around and yell their heads off without it bugging me. Yay for McDonalds!

TJ's Birthday

TJ has been our sweetheart for 6 years now. TJ's tender hearted, loving, and truly caring. He can be responsible beyond his years and then in the next minute be the most obnoxious 6 year old around. We love him so much. For his birthday we went to the restaurant of his choice (Costa Vida) and then came home and opened presents.

TJ and AM's family party

This birthday season was out of control this year. Some how, (and no, I don't know how even though I'm the one who is supposed to be in control) there ended up being 4 parties. AM's and TJ's birthdays are only one week apart. So we started with AM's birthday celebrated by our little family. Then there was the extended family party, which was more of an excuse to show off our new house. Then Toby's birthday with our little family. Then a friend party with both of their friends. At this point I am so sick of cake, ice cream, and birthday stress. Next year the parties are going to be reduced by two.

Anyway, here are pics from the family party.

My sweet AM

Three years ago, at 10:08am, a little whirlwind of energy was born. The past three years she has kept us on our toes, made us laugh, made us cry, and made us glad she was ours.

She was hilarious while opening presents, saying things like "Oh, a package!" and giggling when she found a box under the wrapping paper. Exclaiming "Shoes!" when opening her dress-ups. Saying "It's so cute!" when she saw her sweetheart velour outfit and then saying "More clothes?" when she opened the next box. And apologizing "Sorry sweeties" when she couldn't get the wrapping paper off fast enough. She's our joy.

My Hoover baby

SL has always done things, and hit milestones, much faster than her big brother and sister. And when it comes to eating she is way more advanced. Maybe it's just that fact that she's the 3rd one and I don't have time to sit down and spoon feed her. Not that she'd let me anyway. If she can't pick it up and put it in her mouth on her own, then she isn't interested in it. Also, she's my 3rd baby. I'm not as paranoid as I was with the other two. I started giving her food way earlier. I started giving her big people food at 9 months. Now the next part of this post is mostly for me. I'm trying to keep a list of everything she has liked (almost everything) and the things she hasn't (deli turkey). So far she has loved:

cinnamon rolls
cereal
waffles
bananas
strawberries
grapes
McDonalds Cheeseburgers
chicken nuggets
corn dogs
spaghetti o's (she won't let me feed them to her anymore though)
deli ham
balogna
cheese
pizza
roast beef
roasted turkey
rice
quesadillas
rolls
scrambled eggs

Pretty much she eats anything and everything and LOVES it. She doesn't let the fact of only having two teeth get her down. She is such a fun girl.

House calls

Friday morning dawned and it was the 3rd day AM had been sick. It followed two previous nights where AM had crawled into bed with us (multiple times) burning up with fever. I didn't think much of it because unless the fever was at a high point she never acted like she was sick. Later that afternoon I made the comment to a few friends that I wasn't taking her to a doctor unless stuff was oozing out of her. In the past I've spent probably at least a $100-$200 taking kids to the doctor just to have them tell me it's just a virus or she perfectly healthy, just fussy. So no more doctor visits. Ever. Unless it's beyond obvious that they needed to go.

So, a few hours later I noticed some green snot like liquid oozing out of her tear duct. Hmmm. Haven't seen that one before. It had happened earlier that day, but I thought she had just rubbed snot around during her nap and it went up near her eye. So on my way to the temple I call my sister. I'm planning on taking AM to urgent care the next day, but she has three kids of her own so chances are if this a is a wierd, yet normal thing to happen, she may have experienced it already.

I call her, and no, she's never heard of it. She says, hang on a minute and I'll call David (my BIL) who is a dentist. Since the mouth is in the head region he knows something about the ins and outs of the area. She calls him and he (my BIL) calls me back while I'm in the changing room of the temple. Now I'm supposed to turn my phone off when in the dressing room. Instead I'm having a whispered conversation about green snot and fevers. I'm answering questions like "Are her eyes bulging?" "no" and "Is she in a lot of pain?" "no." It was a guard weekend (he belongs to the Utah National Guard) and he had talked to his buddy who is in the guard with him and happens to be a pediatrician. So I give him DA's cell number so he can give the ped's number to him, frantically call DA to describe all of AM's symptoms and duration, and hurry and finish changing and race up to try and catch the last session at the temple.

I get out of the temple at 10:30pm and call DA. The pediatrician had just left the house. When DA was talking to him (the doctor) he kept insisting that based on the snot coming from the tear duct she needed to be seen tonight and that he would stop by on the way home from guard and see her. Turns out she had so much infection and snot built up in her sinus area that pus was building up under her eyes (hence the leakage). The Dr. was worried about it going behind her eyes and getting into the muscle and causing lots of problems. I found myself sitting in Walgreens pharmacy until 11:30pm waiting for an antibiotic because the Dr. wanted her on it immediately. The doctor had left his cell number with the instructions that we call him if anything changes during the night.

She's been totally fine since then. No more green leakage, and the puffiness that I noticed (once I knew what I was supposed to be looking for) in her sinus area and under her eyes is gone. The Dr. called and checked on her again Saturday afternoon.

I appreciate my BIL recognizing that something was really wrong and I appreciate the caring and concern of this doctor. Even more so since AM isn't even his patient. He could have just told us to take her to instacare instead of coming by our house when I'm sure all he wanted to do was go home. If I already didn't have a pediatrician that I already loved I would totally switch to him in a heartbeat.

Oh so stuck!