Such a hard choice, I know! I just spent a week pondering deep issues such as this at girls' camp. It was crazy getting ready for it with kid arrangements, weaning, other calling, bla, bla, bla, I wondered why I didn't just say I couldn't handle it. I felt really good about going, though, and so did Gary. I was operating under the notion that I needed to go and help some girl somehow . . . maybe. I hope a little. But it turns out there was one girl the experience helped that I didn't consider - me.
The food was delicious, we played dancing games, sang silly songs, came up with fun ditties, played games (I learned one called Ninja Strike I'll have to show you), and all the good stuff. But the best part was being in nature and remembering the point of things. I didn't think about budgets or coupons or computers or cars or anything else that makes me crazy. But they did give me time to read the scriptures and write in my journal. And I discovered . . . I LOVED it! It was so exciting to do it and not just be shoving it into the day. Being back now, of course it's hard to fit things in just like it was before, but I tasted of the awesomeness, and I want more.
One experience that shows what I learned (and also how it amusing it was) is the 2nd year hike. There was only one second year from our ward, and I went along with her. The hike was 5 miles, and the uphill portion was straight up. The girl isn't in the best shape, but she's a trooper, and didn't complain on the outset. However, it soon got to be more than she could handle, and she had to stop often. We started out with the front of the pack, and ended up in the very back. I told her that whenever I have a hard time with some physical challenge I sing a song in my head to get me going. I started by singing "Staying Alive," and she was okay with that. Then on the next hill I started singing, "She's going the distance! She's going for speed . . ." She looked at me like I was nuts and said, "Um, old people music isn't going to help." Hahahahahaha. Surely the group of 13 year olds ahead of me would know the song, right? Nope. None of them. My girl mentioned being embarassed by her "old-people-music leader." One more reminder (there were many at camp) that I am "old." (Note to people older than me: You are not old. Old is 80. But then you can be proud of being 80, all the general authorities are. Best ones anyway.)
So, music aside, we got to a place where the hill was very steep, and the girl was very tired. She said, "I can't make it." But I told her she could. And it took some courage-gathering, but she did it! She was so proud of herself for the rest of the day, she was just beaming. I was so proud of her, too. It seems like a small thing, but such a good thing to realize that we can accomplish things that are hard, even when it gets to a point when we think, "No way." We talked later how we really can't do hard things alone, that's why we need people with us, and that the best help of all is the Lord. Even if we feel we don't have anyone to coach us up the hill, the truth is we always have the best coach of all.
Tiring, but inspiring. That's camp in a nutshell. And overall I'd rather have Archuleta as my boyfriend, but Bieber's songs are so catchy . . .
P.S. I only had 3 hours of sleep the night before camp due to preparations. I noted that I started my mission out the same way. And my marriage . . . the other camp director says she does the same thing. Do you do that? Start out events that require much sleep ahead of time with little to none?
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
On the Tough Road to Feeling Better
This is my boys before they found out what surgery really means:
Andrew got ear tubes this morning. Josh got a second set of tubes and also his tonsils and adenoids out (yes, his adenoids had grown back from last time he got them removed.) I'm really excited for them to not have ear infections and for Josh to breathe/sleep/hear better, and so grateful it went well.
Now for the story. We've known these surgeries had to be done for a couple of months now, but this was the soonest we could get in to see the ENT and then schedule surgery. I told Josh that he would be getting his tonsils out, but didn't really get into it until yesterday when I decided I'd better prepare him a little bit. In response to my explanation of what would be happening, he said, "Well, when they put that mask on my face, I just won't fall asleep." Hmm. I decided to try a different tack and get him excited by telling him about the yummy things he would get to eat. He was excited, indeed, and kept asking, "And what else?" I ran out of things and said, "Well, what else can you think of that's cold and soft?" "We could put some fluffy cookies in the fridge," was his answer. Genius.
My kids had yucky colds when I returned from girls' camp on Friday, but they were seeming a little better, so Gary and I started heading to bed at 10:00 last night in preparation to have Josh and Andrew to the hospital by 6:30 a.m. this morning. Right as we were about to go upstairs Noah decided that the middle child would not be forgotten so easily, and came out of his room with a fever of 103 and struggling to breathe. So, a little Tylenol, Motrin, and albuterol later, we were actually in bed a couple of hours later. But not for long. Andrew was up for 2-3 hours in the night. I knew he probably had an ear infection but we couldn't give him anything to eat or drink because of the surgery, so we just waited it out. With the lack of sleep, Gary changed the clock funny, and we woke up and ran to get dressed thinking we were late. But we weren't for once, hooray! Luckily my sweet mother had come to our house last night to help with the surgery kids, so Noah had someone there for his sick self when he woke up.
At the hospital, Josh was quite excited to wear a green gown (his favorite color), and to have a bracelet with his birthday on it. Here he is with the cool hat he got to wear.
Unfortunately the smile didn't last long. Andrew's surgery was first, and not really a big deal, except for the fact he did, indeed, have an ear infection. The doctor said it was ready to burst any minute, so perfect timing. After Andrew got a chance to eat and get some love, he was over the anesthesia and was just sleepy.
However, being back in the recovery area with Andrew meant we heard Josh sooner than we were meant to. And it was very sad. He was crying and choking behind an oxygen mask, then he'd get suctioned, cry, suction, make awful gurgling noises . . . I didn't know the suctioning was standard, and Gary and I were getting tears in our eyes hearing him like that. Not that we didn't think he'd be okay, we knew he would, but it was hard to listen to. When I saw Josh I was so grateful that this was only a minor thing when lots of parents see their kids go through worse things all the time. He was fighting the nurse with the oxygen (he wasn't awake and had no idea what he was doing), so they had me try. He seemed to like me singing in his hear and stroking his head, so they had me hold him, but he still cried for around an hour after that.
Gary and I tried to get him to open his eyes, but it wasn't until a mom of another patient offered for us to let Josh look at her son's Yoda figurine did he really try to open his eyes. And oh, my did he try hard for that. He didn't quite make it, but he was motivated. When he eventually did open his eyes, he calmed down, but wanted his IV out right away, and to go home. Oh, and turns out he had an ear infection, as well, and his tonsils and adenoids were both extremely large.
Poor Josh has been pretty miserable, but fights sleep. Luckily there are popsicles and grandmas. We all pretty much held boys today, as Noah is still sick and battling for the most miserable (barking like a seal). My mom got the kids each a new stuffed animal for their surgeries (or lack thereof), and while Josh has never been a stuffed animal guy, he loves his new anteater. I hate that it has to come to this for me to get cuddle time with my boys, but I do enjoy having it. I am sooo grateful for modern medicine, where things that could have been a big deal years ago really aren't these days. My boys will be feeling better in no time (they say only a couple of days), and they should be better than ever. Awesome. Or for now it's more accurate to say will be eventually awesome. Until then, I'm going to get in some more cuddle time . . .
Monday, June 14, 2010
You Title It, I Can't
* Between me, my two visiting teaching teachers, and my two home teachers, there is not a single girl-child.
*911 never works in my dreams. It's a recurring nightmare that I'm trying to call for an emergency, and somehow my fingers can never get it right. Now the keys on my phone aren't working so well. The dream emotions come flooding back when I dial, especially my friend with three 3's in her number - the 3 is the worst one. Cue Twilight Zone music.
*When you live in the desert and it rains, this is a good thing. Just making sure you know.
*One of life's big disappointments is burning a grilled cheese sandwich. Happiness is getting it just right. The other day I did both, but since we shared them all, we were happy over-all.
*You know what animal scares me? A marmot.
*Earlier today the phrase, "Weaning a baby is for the birds," went through my head. Then I realized that birds don't nurse, and a more accurate phrase would be, "Giving your baby worms is for the birds." Or maybe, "Weaning a baby is for the marmots."
*911 never works in my dreams. It's a recurring nightmare that I'm trying to call for an emergency, and somehow my fingers can never get it right. Now the keys on my phone aren't working so well. The dream emotions come flooding back when I dial, especially my friend with three 3's in her number - the 3 is the worst one. Cue Twilight Zone music.
*When you live in the desert and it rains, this is a good thing. Just making sure you know.
*One of life's big disappointments is burning a grilled cheese sandwich. Happiness is getting it just right. The other day I did both, but since we shared them all, we were happy over-all.
*You know what animal scares me? A marmot.
*Earlier today the phrase, "Weaning a baby is for the birds," went through my head. Then I realized that birds don't nurse, and a more accurate phrase would be, "Giving your baby worms is for the birds." Or maybe, "Weaning a baby is for the marmots."
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Updates May
Yep, it's one of those posts.
May 11:
We had a ton of fun seeing everyone!!! We missed those who weren't there, though. The food was great, the company was greater, and my only big problem was that it went by too fast. (Post note for posterity - we spent mother's day at Sara and Taylor's house to celebrate Jacob's blessing. We were fed TWO meals, lucky moms, and lots of family was there. I lost Josh all day, he was having so much fun with cousins, and I got to chat and nap. Oh, and very cool - Gary made me breakfast and we were still able to make it to the blessing in the nick of time. The very nick, but still in time.)
I tried to make Noah show off while we were there, although he was marginal in his performances overall, he did tell everyone about how the butterflies flew away - a major event for Josh and Noah. I had to try and steal a few moments of motherly pride in Noah to offset the moments of blinking back tears when I see marker on my stairs I just paid to get cleaned. Little monkey, love his guts. Back to the butterflies, Josh didn't want to let them go, which made me want to get him a pet. Much later, though, for now Andrew can be his pet. I'll even let him have all the roly polys in our yard.
Sad news is our neighbors officially told us they weren't interested when I went over with the missionaries. I suspected given the time that had past, but I always want to hope. They are cool people, so hopefully we can be friends and it's not awkward.
P.S. (Mostly to Stacey) Turns out Andrew and I have thrush. When I called my dad for drugs yesterday I told him NO gentian violet. I don't want to ruin any more lives. :)
May 21:
Gotta hurry because I'm typing this before my kids wake up here in St. George . . . yep, we're on our way to San Diego. My sister will take out her endowments tonight and she and her husband and baby will be sealed on Saturday. Looking forward to it! If not for the drive - could we all pray for angel children today?
Yes, Noah is still destructive. One thing that delayed us was that he dumped out Andrew's antibiotic and we had to get it refilled. On Sunday it took us 20 minutes to get the antibiotic into Andrew because Noah first emptied out a container of Lysol wipes, then dumped out a bottle of foundation, then got a dresser knocked over on him. Last one could have been Josh's fault.
Cute thing he did this week (I seek for balance): At Josh's soccer game, every time the team would have a little huddle around the coach, Noah was right in there. After half time the coach was saying who was going to play. He said, "We'll have Taylor, Cole, Josh, and let's see . . ." "And Noah. Noah," came a little voice (yep, it was Noah). All of the parents' hearts went out to him when they learned that he's not even 2 - it's going to be a couple of years.
Most fun thing of the week(s) - Josh's birthday. He was SO EXCITED for days. He had a party and I'll blog about it when I get home. Yuckiest things - Noah barfing, Andrew's 4 medicines, my achy flu the other day that derailed my packing attempts. Craziest hour - The hour right before Relief Society when the teacher had an emergency so I had to teach last minute. And I wasn't dressed when I found out. It went well, though, no worries. I love getting a chance to bear my testimony. It was amusing because then the next hour the Sunday School teacher didn't show. I thought Gary might have to hop in, but one of the other guys did - and had to teach from his iPhone, no manual could be found. Best husband - Gary. Of course.
Pictures of Andrew doing yoga and more about his ears on my blog (emilary.blogspot.com). Off we go to San Diego, with Josh wearing his Ironman mask in the back seat. Hooray!
June 2:
If you really said a prayer for good traveling kids, it worked! I'm pretty sure it was a temple miracle (I was worried about getting there in time for my sister's endowment), but they were great. They slept, took off their shoes and clapped them on their hands, sang and danced to music (Josh said, "Hey mom, I can move my bum back and forth in my car seat!") , made up awesome songs (Itsy bitsy snake, itsy bitsy pig, itsy bitsy dinosaur . . . and so much more), and laughed at Gary's jokes (they COULD NOT get enough of Gary pretending it was a big deal we "smuggled" a pear into California). We made it in time for the endowment, and it was really fantastic, as was the sealing the next day. My sister and her husband seemed great, and it did my soul some good.
My parents rented a house for everyone to stay in, and although it wasn't a mansion, it was plenty big enough. They had a pool with a slide and hot tub, which was probably the most popular thing in San Diego. Josh and cousins stayed in it for around 4 hours at a time, until the tips of his fingers were peeling off from climbing in and out. They also had a pool table, and we had a tournament - Gary won the whole thing, and I at least didn't stink. I was sad he beat me, but glad my man has skills.
We also visited the Wild Animal Park, the beach, a Padres/Cardinals game, and celebrated Noah's 2nd birthday. He was a wreck from lack of sleep by then, but his birthday gave him snippets of happiness. All good times. On the way back we spent two days in St. George, and would have loved to stay and stay. We chatted, took the kids to the park, and Gary was able to see Deanne's Heritage Choir concert. The next day Gary was saying how great the concert was and Josh said, "Yeah, but making a gingerbread house was way more fun." So I guess we chose a good activity for when it was just me and the kids - thanks, Deanne! We arrived home at 1:15 in the morning on Saturday night (Sunday morning?), and immediately wanted to go back.
Yesterday Josh and Andrew had their pre-op appointments with the ENT for their surgeries. The doctor said if you look up pictures of kids who have overly large tonsils, Josh's face will show up. He will get his tonsils out, his adenoids if they grew back, and a new set of tubes. Andrew will get tubes. I'm excited for less infections and better sleep for children.
May 11:
We had a ton of fun seeing everyone!!! We missed those who weren't there, though. The food was great, the company was greater, and my only big problem was that it went by too fast. (Post note for posterity - we spent mother's day at Sara and Taylor's house to celebrate Jacob's blessing. We were fed TWO meals, lucky moms, and lots of family was there. I lost Josh all day, he was having so much fun with cousins, and I got to chat and nap. Oh, and very cool - Gary made me breakfast and we were still able to make it to the blessing in the nick of time. The very nick, but still in time.)
I tried to make Noah show off while we were there, although he was marginal in his performances overall, he did tell everyone about how the butterflies flew away - a major event for Josh and Noah. I had to try and steal a few moments of motherly pride in Noah to offset the moments of blinking back tears when I see marker on my stairs I just paid to get cleaned. Little monkey, love his guts. Back to the butterflies, Josh didn't want to let them go, which made me want to get him a pet. Much later, though, for now Andrew can be his pet. I'll even let him have all the roly polys in our yard.
Sad news is our neighbors officially told us they weren't interested when I went over with the missionaries. I suspected given the time that had past, but I always want to hope. They are cool people, so hopefully we can be friends and it's not awkward.
P.S. (Mostly to Stacey) Turns out Andrew and I have thrush. When I called my dad for drugs yesterday I told him NO gentian violet. I don't want to ruin any more lives. :)
May 21:
Gotta hurry because I'm typing this before my kids wake up here in St. George . . . yep, we're on our way to San Diego. My sister will take out her endowments tonight and she and her husband and baby will be sealed on Saturday. Looking forward to it! If not for the drive - could we all pray for angel children today?
Yes, Noah is still destructive. One thing that delayed us was that he dumped out Andrew's antibiotic and we had to get it refilled. On Sunday it took us 20 minutes to get the antibiotic into Andrew because Noah first emptied out a container of Lysol wipes, then dumped out a bottle of foundation, then got a dresser knocked over on him. Last one could have been Josh's fault.
Cute thing he did this week (I seek for balance): At Josh's soccer game, every time the team would have a little huddle around the coach, Noah was right in there. After half time the coach was saying who was going to play. He said, "We'll have Taylor, Cole, Josh, and let's see . . ." "And Noah. Noah," came a little voice (yep, it was Noah). All of the parents' hearts went out to him when they learned that he's not even 2 - it's going to be a couple of years.
Most fun thing of the week(s) - Josh's birthday. He was SO EXCITED for days. He had a party and I'll blog about it when I get home. Yuckiest things - Noah barfing, Andrew's 4 medicines, my achy flu the other day that derailed my packing attempts. Craziest hour - The hour right before Relief Society when the teacher had an emergency so I had to teach last minute. And I wasn't dressed when I found out. It went well, though, no worries. I love getting a chance to bear my testimony. It was amusing because then the next hour the Sunday School teacher didn't show. I thought Gary might have to hop in, but one of the other guys did - and had to teach from his iPhone, no manual could be found. Best husband - Gary. Of course.
Pictures of Andrew doing yoga and more about his ears on my blog (emilary.blogspot.com). Off we go to San Diego, with Josh wearing his Ironman mask in the back seat. Hooray!
June 2:
If you really said a prayer for good traveling kids, it worked! I'm pretty sure it was a temple miracle (I was worried about getting there in time for my sister's endowment), but they were great. They slept, took off their shoes and clapped them on their hands, sang and danced to music (Josh said, "Hey mom, I can move my bum back and forth in my car seat!") , made up awesome songs (Itsy bitsy snake, itsy bitsy pig, itsy bitsy dinosaur . . . and so much more), and laughed at Gary's jokes (they COULD NOT get enough of Gary pretending it was a big deal we "smuggled" a pear into California). We made it in time for the endowment, and it was really fantastic, as was the sealing the next day. My sister and her husband seemed great, and it did my soul some good.
My parents rented a house for everyone to stay in, and although it wasn't a mansion, it was plenty big enough. They had a pool with a slide and hot tub, which was probably the most popular thing in San Diego. Josh and cousins stayed in it for around 4 hours at a time, until the tips of his fingers were peeling off from climbing in and out. They also had a pool table, and we had a tournament - Gary won the whole thing, and I at least didn't stink. I was sad he beat me, but glad my man has skills.
We also visited the Wild Animal Park, the beach, a Padres/Cardinals game, and celebrated Noah's 2nd birthday. He was a wreck from lack of sleep by then, but his birthday gave him snippets of happiness. All good times. On the way back we spent two days in St. George, and would have loved to stay and stay. We chatted, took the kids to the park, and Gary was able to see Deanne's Heritage Choir concert. The next day Gary was saying how great the concert was and Josh said, "Yeah, but making a gingerbread house was way more fun." So I guess we chose a good activity for when it was just me and the kids - thanks, Deanne! We arrived home at 1:15 in the morning on Saturday night (Sunday morning?), and immediately wanted to go back.
Yesterday Josh and Andrew had their pre-op appointments with the ENT for their surgeries. The doctor said if you look up pictures of kids who have overly large tonsils, Josh's face will show up. He will get his tonsils out, his adenoids if they grew back, and a new set of tubes. Andrew will get tubes. I'm excited for less infections and better sleep for children.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Baby Yoga and Other New Tricks
Falling asleep on the living room floor doesn't seem like a trick to you? It does to me, since I was cleaning up Noah's barf when he did it. Kind of sad, but helpful and cute.
A couple of weeks ago Andrew started doing pushups. I mean MAN pushups, with his knees off the ground. Then, he started pushing his bum in the air and making a bridge with his body. Someone said it looks like he's doing yoga - the downward dog pose. Of course I had to try and capture it, but every time I got out the camera, he would quit. Just second before this photo he was doing his pose.
Do you think he's mocking me?
Finally, yesterday morning I was able to catch him in his crawling position he likes to get into, but still no yoga. (Does he look like Maggie Simpson trying to crawl in this sleep sack?)
Then finally, after church, I caught him in the act!
It seems now he's taking it to the next level and standing up with his back end. What is this, Andrew?
His new mobility allows him to attack Noah. (Noah is starting to call him Andrew instead of Anoos, which makes me a little sad.)
The next trick actually occurred about three weeks ago. We couldn't get Andrew to eat rice cereal in any form imaginable (unless you imagine it mixed with Dr. Pepper, we'll do that next), and it was getting frustrating. Finally we decided to go straight for bananas, but while that was better, it wasn't going so well. Then master baby handler Gary layed him across his lap, and shoveled in the bananas that way. Success!! He's still not a huge solid foods fan (maybe because of always being sick?), but this is progress.
I'm going backwards in time because I liked the yoga best. This is a month ago when he first started really getting around to toys.
He would get himself into interesting positions he didn't know how to get out of. Like under the bouncer seat.
Or under his play mat.
Finally, about a month ago (the dates on these pictures are a year and 4 days behind), I thought he looked cute in his hat one day when we came home, so I thought it would be a good time to document the sitting skills. (He still doesn't love to just sit, by the way.) There are 4 pictures here, but I am convinced that each one shows a different aspect of his adorableness and personality, and must be kept. (I'll realize my foolishness later.)
6 month visit stats: Height 28 inches, 93rd percentile, weight 19 lbs., 13 oz., 80th percentile, head 75th percentile. My only child without a proportionately large head. And what's up with his weight? It's the product of being ridiculously sick this month, he hasn't gained for a while. Or maybe lost and then gained back? At the well child check, once again his ears were infected, and he had to have antibiotic shots. When that wasn't working he switched to a new antibiotic. He also has 2 meds for the yeast he has all over him due to 6 antibiotics in 2 and a half months. Yes, the child is getting tubes, asap. And he didn't get his immunizations yet, either. Our goal is for a 9 month WELL child check. Lest I sound too whiny, I must say that I am extremely grateful it's not something worse than ear problems. This we can handle.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
'Twas the Week Before Easter
And my boys wore these clothes, and we took these pictures. It's Josh's first tie, and he couldn't decide if he looked handsome, or "like a sharp."
Monday, May 3, 2010
Although the Weather Outside Was Frightful . . .
. . . the trampoline was still delightful.
(Early March - as soon as they could get out there.)
Updates April
What is this post? Yeah, it's different, see my explanation here.
April 13:
So, Noah didn't finish his sandwich tonight, and since he's now asleep I decided to finish it off. On my first bite my teeth bit something really hard - does deli-sliced roast beef ever have bones? I opened up the sandwich and there was a large washer in it. Perfect end of the day thing to do for my dear tornado-offspring. I woke up this morning to the sound of Noah saying, "It's all gone!" "What's all gone, Noah?" "The medicine. I drink it." I open my eyes to see an empty bottle of baby gas-ex. Later he broke my glasses while I was in the shower, then smeared yogurt all over the table and chairs while I was putting on makeup. There is more than one reason why I don't get dressed as often as Candacy. :) And that's just one day. Last week he probably set a new record, so much so that I don't remember details. Except that he started the practice of throwing stuff off the top of the refrigerator, that I do recall.
I have to put in a plug for Noah being ridiculously cute and sweet, for the record. (I can't leave this with him sounding awful.) He loves to be held, and runs around singing all of the time. He sang "I Love to See the Temple yesterday, and my heart melted when he sang "sacred duty."
Last week is mostly kind of a blur of running from one place to the next, but on Friday we decided to take a break and went to pick Gary up from work on Friday. While we were driving to Salt Lake Josh started talking about the Children's museum, so my cold heart was melted and we went there for about 45 minutes. Afterward we went to Rumbi - delicious. Fish tacos are our new craving.
On Saturday Josh had his first spring soccer game. Because there are so many kids they're playing 4 on 4 instead of 3 on 3, and Josh seems even more little than he did before. However, if he didn't lead the team in any other stats, he definitely led in excitedly bouncing up and down. It was adorable and contagious. The whole blue team was bouncing after a while. Josh did score one goal, and was excited about that, even though I tried to emphasize that wasn't the important part. I have to try, right?
I had a vision to change our whole house around on Saturday, but only got far enough to make a bigger mess. Oh, well, Gary did the first lawn care of the year, so that was a success, and maybe created a net gain. We tried to get Noah to sleep in his new "cave" but that only produced late nights and middle-of-the nights . . . it doesn't make sense when he gets in and out of the crib at will anyway, but . . . But who knows. I do know Gary and I have both exercised a couple of times, so we're feeling awesome.
April 19:
As for us . . . hmm . . we put sand in our "new" (picked it up from my mom's trash pile) sandbox last week, and it's a hit so far. The kids play and play and then "jump their sand off" before coming in. Noah does a lot of shoveling onto his head, but as long as he's having fun . . .
I went with the sister missionaries to an appointment last week, and it was so good for me. I felt all motiviated for a moment. They are teaching an awesome family, but they live two stakes away from me, so that's disappointing. However, the sisters dropped by on Saturday to say they have an appointment on Thursday with the people across the street. I was so excited! They wanted me to come, but my sister is graduating, so I can't. Pray there's another appointment! (Not for my sake, of course.)
On Wednesday the kids and I went to Utah county to get my hair cut, visit my old school briefly, eat lunch with my sister, and see the BYU dinosaur museum. It was crazy fast, but fun. I drove down 8th north in Orem and felt so sad that there was no Matthew and Rachel family!
My sister ran the Salt Lake Marathon on Saturday, so she came up from St. George the night before and stayed the night with me. I was trying to tell myself that I didn't need to get everything perfect (we're in a mess, trying to do a lot of projects) to impress her since I had been so busy that week . . . and then at the last minute her boyfriend ended up staying there, too. I was so excited to meet him and more than happy to host . . . but what an awful first impression! That's okay, Josh and Noah made a great impression, as did the marathon prep meal we fed him. So maybe he still wants to be best friends with old-sweats-sister . . .oh, well.
Sunday we went to Preston for my nephew's blessing. It was at 9 a.m., so we started early, but got a long day up there. It was such beautiful weather, fun to talk, always great to eat . . . awesome.
Gary put up a garage storage thing on Saturday, toured Utah's Alcoholic Beverage Control place today (he said, "Emily, you've never seen so much alcohol in your life." I don't disagree.), and is good at cleaning the bathroom fast. Josh scored a couple of goals on Saturday, but peed his pants mid-game. Nobody knew until after when I realized it. Good coverup job Josh, just play harder. Andrew rolls around, sits, is adorable, and fell off the bed today. Noah walked into church on Sunday and said to my sister, "Here I am. I got my outfit."
April 27:
So, hey guys, it's me, the one who does Monday things on Tuesday . . . The story of the week is running to and fro, sick kids . . . Okay, I'll give you my triumph of the week. We've been trying forever to get Andrew to eat a little food (he's 6 mo. today), but no luck. He doesn't like rice cereal thick, thin, with formula, with apple juice, with whipped cream, not in a house, not with a mouse, he will not eat it here or there . . . anyway, finally we tried bananas (sans cereal). Gary layed him accross his lap so the food couldn't seep down his chin, and fed him bananas - success!!
On Wednesday Josh and Noah went to a birthday party at a bounce house and LOVED it. There was also a transformers mask given out that Josh wore for the next two days, but the funniest thing was when we were telling Gary about the jumping. Gary said, "That doesn't sound like fun." Josh totally missed the tease, and spent time trying to convince Gary that it actually was awesome.
My sister graduated from BYU last week, and we had a fun day. My sister was a campus tour guide (the golf-cart drivers), so she took us all on a tour. It was amusing to be the one in the golf cart getting looks. Josh and Noah kept saying, "BYU, BYU, BYU," the whole time. The graduation was short and thought provoking, and even though the kids were at the end of their ropes and Josh won himself new shorts due to peeing his pants (and the back-up pants), it was delicious and fun to eat at The Macaroni Grill afterward with everyone.
We're trying to rearrange everything in our house so that we'll have a playroom, so we're doing some major shuffling, and Gary has been quite the run-around guy trying to build and move things. Josh and Noah and I saw a little of the high school track meet and they have been saying, "Mark, set, go, bang," and running around everywhere ever since. My brain is really scrambly due to all of the things we've been doing, but I guess I'll just say we really like to eat ice cream. That's what I remember, the ice cream, two nights in a row . . . mmmmm . . .
May 3:
Noah, Josh, and Andrew kept us up from 2:30-7:00 a.m. as a combined effort one night last week, and at one point Noah had a complaint of hunger. Gary was so tired he grabbed him a Poptart and shoved him in bed with us. The next morning there was Poptart all over Gary's side of the bed. However, with Andrew being sick and us being so tired, we never got around to changing the sheets, and I forgot all about it until Gary climbed in bed that night right on top of it. I said, "Are you going to sleep on the poptart?" "Yes," he barely mumbled out before falling asleep. Don't worry we changed the sheets after Andrew puked all over them.
I love the booty shaking story. Oh, Tessa . . . I'll have to post some of Josh and Noah's moves. We've been doing a lot of dancing the last couple of days, and it's pretty funny. Noah calls it, "dancing on the carpet." If I get off the carpet, I'm in trouble. Anyway, a cousin dance party seems fun. Good luck with the finals, Ted!
So the evil spring cold provided more fun last week. Josh's ear got infected and eventually burst, so he's got two antibiotics for that. He pretty much seemed on the way up last week, though, it was Andrew who turned for the worst. Poor baby got really, really sick. I took him in to get his ears looked at after the first sleepless night he had, but no ear infection at that point. I hate it when I bring them in too fast. The next day he got a fever, and it lasted for around 3 days. We had to use Tylenol and Motrin together to get it down, and he was just listless. He would just lay in our arms and stare into space, which is not like him. (He usually can't resist smiling at people who smile at him, even when he had RSV.) We were worried about that, but when he stopped eating, we really got worried. That's not AT ALL like him. There was a stretch of 32 hours where he didn't hold anything down. I took him to the urgent care, where after all of the tests the diagnosis was, "very sick." He got an antibiotic for an ear infection, and I was told it would also catch any developing pneumonia. He's finally doing a lot better, but still sounds horse. That's a long explanation for one episode of sickness, but we were really worried about our little guy. So glad it wasn't worse.
It was my turn to teach preschool last week, and we had a lot of fun. We had caterpillars sent to our house a couple of weeks ago, and we watched them grow, make chrysalides, and now emerge as butterflies. The kids loved the topic, and Josh and Noah have loved them being in our house. They say the chrysalides look like bananas.
On Friday Gary and I got a rare night out (with Andrew) thanks to baby-sitting swapping, and it was fantastic. We ate barbeque and bought a shower curtain. Romantic! For real - Gary makes me smile. Especially when I'm eating good food.
The neighbors cancelled their appointments with the missionaries twice, but now have a third set up. Their excuses seem legit (there were ambulances at their house today for their daughter's heart problems), so I pray they really are a little interested. Along the church front, they have called two assisstants for girls' camp. Phew.
April 13:
So, Noah didn't finish his sandwich tonight, and since he's now asleep I decided to finish it off. On my first bite my teeth bit something really hard - does deli-sliced roast beef ever have bones? I opened up the sandwich and there was a large washer in it. Perfect end of the day thing to do for my dear tornado-offspring. I woke up this morning to the sound of Noah saying, "It's all gone!" "What's all gone, Noah?" "The medicine. I drink it." I open my eyes to see an empty bottle of baby gas-ex. Later he broke my glasses while I was in the shower, then smeared yogurt all over the table and chairs while I was putting on makeup. There is more than one reason why I don't get dressed as often as Candacy. :) And that's just one day. Last week he probably set a new record, so much so that I don't remember details. Except that he started the practice of throwing stuff off the top of the refrigerator, that I do recall.
I have to put in a plug for Noah being ridiculously cute and sweet, for the record. (I can't leave this with him sounding awful.) He loves to be held, and runs around singing all of the time. He sang "I Love to See the Temple yesterday, and my heart melted when he sang "sacred duty."
Last week is mostly kind of a blur of running from one place to the next, but on Friday we decided to take a break and went to pick Gary up from work on Friday. While we were driving to Salt Lake Josh started talking about the Children's museum, so my cold heart was melted and we went there for about 45 minutes. Afterward we went to Rumbi - delicious. Fish tacos are our new craving.
On Saturday Josh had his first spring soccer game. Because there are so many kids they're playing 4 on 4 instead of 3 on 3, and Josh seems even more little than he did before. However, if he didn't lead the team in any other stats, he definitely led in excitedly bouncing up and down. It was adorable and contagious. The whole blue team was bouncing after a while. Josh did score one goal, and was excited about that, even though I tried to emphasize that wasn't the important part. I have to try, right?
I had a vision to change our whole house around on Saturday, but only got far enough to make a bigger mess. Oh, well, Gary did the first lawn care of the year, so that was a success, and maybe created a net gain. We tried to get Noah to sleep in his new "cave" but that only produced late nights and middle-of-the nights . . . it doesn't make sense when he gets in and out of the crib at will anyway, but . . . But who knows. I do know Gary and I have both exercised a couple of times, so we're feeling awesome.
April 19:
As for us . . . hmm . . we put sand in our "new" (picked it up from my mom's trash pile) sandbox last week, and it's a hit so far. The kids play and play and then "jump their sand off" before coming in. Noah does a lot of shoveling onto his head, but as long as he's having fun . . .
I went with the sister missionaries to an appointment last week, and it was so good for me. I felt all motiviated for a moment. They are teaching an awesome family, but they live two stakes away from me, so that's disappointing. However, the sisters dropped by on Saturday to say they have an appointment on Thursday with the people across the street. I was so excited! They wanted me to come, but my sister is graduating, so I can't. Pray there's another appointment! (Not for my sake, of course.)
On Wednesday the kids and I went to Utah county to get my hair cut, visit my old school briefly, eat lunch with my sister, and see the BYU dinosaur museum. It was crazy fast, but fun. I drove down 8th north in Orem and felt so sad that there was no Matthew and Rachel family!
My sister ran the Salt Lake Marathon on Saturday, so she came up from St. George the night before and stayed the night with me. I was trying to tell myself that I didn't need to get everything perfect (we're in a mess, trying to do a lot of projects) to impress her since I had been so busy that week . . . and then at the last minute her boyfriend ended up staying there, too. I was so excited to meet him and more than happy to host . . . but what an awful first impression! That's okay, Josh and Noah made a great impression, as did the marathon prep meal we fed him. So maybe he still wants to be best friends with old-sweats-sister . . .oh, well.
Sunday we went to Preston for my nephew's blessing. It was at 9 a.m., so we started early, but got a long day up there. It was such beautiful weather, fun to talk, always great to eat . . . awesome.
Gary put up a garage storage thing on Saturday, toured Utah's Alcoholic Beverage Control place today (he said, "Emily, you've never seen so much alcohol in your life." I don't disagree.), and is good at cleaning the bathroom fast. Josh scored a couple of goals on Saturday, but peed his pants mid-game. Nobody knew until after when I realized it. Good coverup job Josh, just play harder. Andrew rolls around, sits, is adorable, and fell off the bed today. Noah walked into church on Sunday and said to my sister, "Here I am. I got my outfit."
April 27:
So, hey guys, it's me, the one who does Monday things on Tuesday . . . The story of the week is running to and fro, sick kids . . . Okay, I'll give you my triumph of the week. We've been trying forever to get Andrew to eat a little food (he's 6 mo. today), but no luck. He doesn't like rice cereal thick, thin, with formula, with apple juice, with whipped cream, not in a house, not with a mouse, he will not eat it here or there . . . anyway, finally we tried bananas (sans cereal). Gary layed him accross his lap so the food couldn't seep down his chin, and fed him bananas - success!!
On Wednesday Josh and Noah went to a birthday party at a bounce house and LOVED it. There was also a transformers mask given out that Josh wore for the next two days, but the funniest thing was when we were telling Gary about the jumping. Gary said, "That doesn't sound like fun." Josh totally missed the tease, and spent time trying to convince Gary that it actually was awesome.
My sister graduated from BYU last week, and we had a fun day. My sister was a campus tour guide (the golf-cart drivers), so she took us all on a tour. It was amusing to be the one in the golf cart getting looks. Josh and Noah kept saying, "BYU, BYU, BYU," the whole time. The graduation was short and thought provoking, and even though the kids were at the end of their ropes and Josh won himself new shorts due to peeing his pants (and the back-up pants), it was delicious and fun to eat at The Macaroni Grill afterward with everyone.
We're trying to rearrange everything in our house so that we'll have a playroom, so we're doing some major shuffling, and Gary has been quite the run-around guy trying to build and move things. Josh and Noah and I saw a little of the high school track meet and they have been saying, "Mark, set, go, bang," and running around everywhere ever since. My brain is really scrambly due to all of the things we've been doing, but I guess I'll just say we really like to eat ice cream. That's what I remember, the ice cream, two nights in a row . . . mmmmm . . .
May 3:
Noah, Josh, and Andrew kept us up from 2:30-7:00 a.m. as a combined effort one night last week, and at one point Noah had a complaint of hunger. Gary was so tired he grabbed him a Poptart and shoved him in bed with us. The next morning there was Poptart all over Gary's side of the bed. However, with Andrew being sick and us being so tired, we never got around to changing the sheets, and I forgot all about it until Gary climbed in bed that night right on top of it. I said, "Are you going to sleep on the poptart?" "Yes," he barely mumbled out before falling asleep. Don't worry we changed the sheets after Andrew puked all over them.
I love the booty shaking story. Oh, Tessa . . . I'll have to post some of Josh and Noah's moves. We've been doing a lot of dancing the last couple of days, and it's pretty funny. Noah calls it, "dancing on the carpet." If I get off the carpet, I'm in trouble. Anyway, a cousin dance party seems fun. Good luck with the finals, Ted!
So the evil spring cold provided more fun last week. Josh's ear got infected and eventually burst, so he's got two antibiotics for that. He pretty much seemed on the way up last week, though, it was Andrew who turned for the worst. Poor baby got really, really sick. I took him in to get his ears looked at after the first sleepless night he had, but no ear infection at that point. I hate it when I bring them in too fast. The next day he got a fever, and it lasted for around 3 days. We had to use Tylenol and Motrin together to get it down, and he was just listless. He would just lay in our arms and stare into space, which is not like him. (He usually can't resist smiling at people who smile at him, even when he had RSV.) We were worried about that, but when he stopped eating, we really got worried. That's not AT ALL like him. There was a stretch of 32 hours where he didn't hold anything down. I took him to the urgent care, where after all of the tests the diagnosis was, "very sick." He got an antibiotic for an ear infection, and I was told it would also catch any developing pneumonia. He's finally doing a lot better, but still sounds horse. That's a long explanation for one episode of sickness, but we were really worried about our little guy. So glad it wasn't worse.
It was my turn to teach preschool last week, and we had a lot of fun. We had caterpillars sent to our house a couple of weeks ago, and we watched them grow, make chrysalides, and now emerge as butterflies. The kids loved the topic, and Josh and Noah have loved them being in our house. They say the chrysalides look like bananas.
On Friday Gary and I got a rare night out (with Andrew) thanks to baby-sitting swapping, and it was fantastic. We ate barbeque and bought a shower curtain. Romantic! For real - Gary makes me smile. Especially when I'm eating good food.
The neighbors cancelled their appointments with the missionaries twice, but now have a third set up. Their excuses seem legit (there were ambulances at their house today for their daughter's heart problems), so I pray they really are a little interested. Along the church front, they have called two assisstants for girls' camp. Phew.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Trying for a Well Baby Check
Andrew was excited to be 4 months old.
He liked to coo at his daddy, and anyone else who liked cooing, and was feeling pretty large knowing that he'd hit 17 pounds 9 oz. at 3 months.
So, he went in for his 4 month check up. Sure he'd been breathing rattly and his nose was the runniest ever. How could he be that sick when he was smiling and cooing all of the time? Well, the scale still read 17 pounds 9 ounces, same as it had the month before. And the rattly chest was RSV. And the RSV had caused ear infections in both ears. Uh-oh, Andrew. (Pic at 3.5 mo.)
I think he was 25 inches at that appointment, but all of the sicknesses he had made me forget - and the doctor didn't give me a paper because of the rest of the stuff she was thinking of. And percentiles? Who knows. Sorry, bud, I'll document you more later. Two weeks later he was 18lbs. 4 oz, but still infected ears, and two weeks after that (5 months) he had reached 19 lbs. 1 oz, and finally a point where he could get shots. Hooray! (Even though a 3rd antibiotic was in order. And a different reflux med.)
He's done a few rolls here and there, but doesn't really roll around the room (until today). Instead he does little wiggles of happiness that somehow scoot his body around. And end him up in some interesting places. (4.5 mo.)
When he's on his tummy he does little face dives and other maneuvering that scoots him backwards. And in circles, too. It's pretty accidental, and after a while he finds himself far away from his toys. (Yes, he started at the toys here.)
He's so chubby I can't help but kiss and kiss him. He is getting more interested in stuff now - mostly in grabbing stuff. He's at that age where eating with him on your lap would just be a plate toss. This week he's been doing ab work and progressing with sitting quite nicely. Today my sister brought a toy he felt was worth sitting up for, and he did it for a minute. We all love to laugh with him and egg him on in his baby-dance of glee.
Want to see it again?
Waiting on Mr. Wendell
Did you ever stay in the same room as your radio for hours on end so you'd be there to press record the second that a song you were waiting for came on? I think I filled a couple of tapes worth of that. Back in 8th grade I rotated listening to those and my Joey Lawrence tape. Then when I tried out for the drill team, our try out song was "Mr. Wendell," and I waited forever to get just the perfect recording of it. When my sister tried out two years later, I was able to get her song much more quickly, because it was "Good Vibrations," which so happened to be background music on The Mighty Ducks, which we owned. So, my sister practiced her tryout dance with occasional sounds of clattering hockey equipment.
I was thinking about that yesterday when I was scanning for a song I wanted to hear while driving. I realized that kids these days don't sit poised over cassette tapes - they run to iTunes. Crazy.
(That was going to be the end, but then this morning at church someone read a quote from Elder Uchtdorf that made the whole thought process meaningful. Look here if you want to think deep, or just stop now and chuckle at your youth.)
I was thinking about that yesterday when I was scanning for a song I wanted to hear while driving. I realized that kids these days don't sit poised over cassette tapes - they run to iTunes. Crazy.
(That was going to be the end, but then this morning at church someone read a quote from Elder Uchtdorf that made the whole thought process meaningful. Look here if you want to think deep, or just stop now and chuckle at your youth.)
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
So Many Birds, So Few Stones
I feel like it's very important to keep track of our little family's history, but just like everyone there are about a million things battling for my time. A few months ago Gary's family decided to send weekly updates to eachother, which has been really fun, and turns out to kill two birds with one stone for me. I think I'm keeping better track of what we're up to lately (when I write), so I've been copying the parts of my letters that tell what we're up to and putting them in blog posts because I want to keep everything all in one place. I haven't been publishing them because I was talking about Gary being gone all of the time, but now that he's home all of the time (not really, but often enough that creepy people beware), I'm posting them. I plan to keep publishing them, a month at a time. I don't really expect most people to read them (like I said, I'm posting them for keeping track's sake), but I thought I'd explain in case anyone wonders. They'll be long, but if you're curious there's stuff in there. They're not well-edited, I reference people I don't explain, I switch tenses . . . and I'm not worried about it. I'm excited that it's written down at all!
Updates March
March 2:
As for us, the saving grace of the week was - Allison is the hostess with the mostest! She totally took care of me, and regardless of the sad reason for my visit, I had a really enjoyable weekend. I was really blessed to be able to find people to take care of Josh and Noah here in the ward. It almost made me cry to see how willing people were to help when they heard why I was going. And Gary was awesome, too - in addition to his slaving for the legislature, he also played Super Dad at night and on the weekend, and even cleaned a toilet. I am totally fine with the large quantities of ice cream and PB & J's consumed . . . the kids loved their "guy party."
The funeral for which I went to NC for was very good. The Spirit was so strong, and although many tears were shed, perspective and comfort were gained. It was fun to laugh at the funny memories of my friend, and discuss feelings with others. I came home that night and told Allison a lot of things, and we had to cry again. My friend's name was Catie, and her husband Steve wrote a eulogy for the funeral that was read by a good friend of his, because her wish had been that her husband sit with the kids through the entire funeral. He posted it on their blog later on, and if you're interested (Allison), the address is www.steve-catie.blogspot.com. I gained a lot of insights this week, and overall want to be a better person and not take anything for granted, especially my husband and children.
Allison cooked and baked awesome food, and we had good times chatting and watching the Olympics. She also took me to Franklin Street, a charming older neighborhood in Chapel Hill where we ate Chinese food. Then, as Allison mentioned, a couple from my mission came down to see me, which was awesome. I hadn't seen them since their sealing - three days before I went to CA to meet Gary's family for the first time! So, a lot has changed, and Allison was sooo awesome to have them over. It was good to see they have grown so much in the gospel and in the church.
On my way home I sat next to a guy who was in the Olympics competing in biathalon. He got 9th, so was disappointed, but he lives and trains by Heber, so if Sara and Taylor want to start their kids in on being biathletes, I'll hook you guys up. I also flew on the same plane as a bobsled-woman (so said the biathlete), and Torah Bright, the LDS Australian girl that won gold in the snow-boarding half-pipe. My brushes with fame kept me from getting too sick after traveling all day long. So now we're all tired, but all together, so we're happy . . . if I could only find the source of the rotten lettuce smell . . .
March 7
As for us, if we had a paper chain until the legislative session is over, it would only have four links on it! Gary will probably take the air mattress and a change of clothes to work this week, but it's the homestretch, baby. So, for one more week Gary's story is spending day and night debating the release of prisoners and other such money matters. His break is today, when he made a fantastic meatloaf and is now playing wrestle mania with the boys. (Body slam, daddy, body slam!) Our story at home started out as trying to get back into our regular routine (everybody was tuckered from traveling/being babysat). And then there's the Story of Thursday.
The Story of Thursday
The day started out with me being worried about those with sick babies (family and ward members). How could I help? Then, I took Andrew to his well-baby check. He was not so well. Turns out he was getting over RSV and had developed 2 ear infections. I felt awful. Poor baby, just smiles and coos and lights up when given any attention, and all the while is a sick boy. So, we had to go get some medicine, so I picked Josh up early from preschool and found out he'd been naughty (Ran away from the teacher-mom at the park along with the other boys.) I'd have to give him some consequences for that. So, we get home from the store (which actually went really well, I was feeling great), and I give the boys some food and then try to feed Andrew. Josh and Noah were sprinkling granola all over the kitchen, but I didn't want to make Andrew stop eating because he was feeling so cruddy. Then, I get a phone call - Could I meet with the bishop that night, and bring my husband if possible?
At this point I started laughing. Just laughing and laughing at the scene around me. I knew the only auxillary that needed reorganizing was the Relief Society, and it was just so funny. Anyway, it turned out that I'll be the first counselor. Phew! President is the hard job (sorry, Candacy, but you are awesome at it), so it will be great. And throughout the day I found out that the people with babies that I was praying for all got taken care of in some sort of way, even though I wasn't able to go help. Isn't the Lord great?
Anyway, my friend that just died was an awesome journal keeper, and it motiviated me to preserve my history in some way. So, before I sign off I'll mention that Noah loves to just suddenly start praying out of nowhere, and Josh helps him. Arms folded and all. Also, he now goes around singing "We all live in a submarine," "Jingle balls," and "Pants on the ground." (It's from American Idol. Youtube it.) It's hilarious. Josh is suddenly really into puzzles, wearing stretch pants and a cape to "be a hero," and is surprisingly able to kind of hit the ball in tennis. And trampoline weather is kind of here!
March 15
This last week was a blur for me . . . Gary was never home almost at all, and then Thursday night at around 12:30 a.m. (techinically Friday), I was sleeping and suddenly this guy jumps on me and says, "We're done!!!" Yeah, it was Gary. Before that I think I did stuff. I had a bunch of women in my ward over on Wednesday night whose husbands were also gone. There is a whole bunch and it makes me feel bad I didn't have more get togethers. However, I'm not sad I'm not in that boat anymore . . . until next time. In all, Gary worked over 230 hours of overtime since January. What a man.
So, we had Martin Luther King day on Friday, and did mostly nothing. It was awesome. Then on Saturday I went to an Early Childhood Education conference, and it was excellent. While I was there Gary took the kids to the Bean Museum at BYU (a.k.a. Dead Animal Museum), and reports were favorable. Then we all went to the Mayan restaurant in Salt Lake - it has cliff divers and fire dancing, so we went there to have a "we made it" celebration at a place that the kids would be entertained. They loved it, so much that we almost lost Noah climbing over the railing to participate. Then yesterday we had President's Day and accomplished grocery shopping, and that's about it. But once again, it was so great to have Gary/Dad around . . . now I have something for Relief Society every night this week . . . ha, ha, Gary . . .(Okay, that's not quite fair, he's been working his tail off. Oh, well, not deleting it.)
April 5: (Really, the rest of March)
Quick recap of life - I've been gone a whole ton with Relief Society, and Gary has been a star at being a dad and dealing with my exhaustion. Gary took the first day of the NCAA tournament off work, and was glad he did. The first BYU game was great, and I threw in some chips and salsa to sweeten the deal. BYU didn't last much longer, but we've still had fun.
Our dishwasher went out, so we've been washing dishes by hand and looking for a new one. We're also trying to get Noah out of the crib (he climbs out anyway) so Andrew can get in, so we bought a bunk bed. Josh could not be more pumped about the bunk bed. From the second it came home he wanted it put together, but fell asleep during its assembly. We had him watching "The Princess and the Frog" with me for a movie night to keep him entertained while Gary built, but even though he liked the movie he couldn't quite focus. "How long is this movie, mom?" he asked. "I've been watching it all night." The next morning he was thrilled to wake up in the new bed, and has declared that the top is a castle and the bottom is a cave. The other night when I went to read him to sleep Josh said, "Dad says you're too fat to get on top with me." O-oh . . .(Actually Gary said he was the fat one, but Josh extended that to all parents.)
On Tuesday I was at the bottom of the laundry barrel, so I dressed us all kind of homelessly, thinking it didn't matter because the kids would be home all day and I would change into church clothes for the General Relief Society training meeting. However, there were huge fires on I-80, making it take a long time for Gary to get home, and effectively cancelling my plans. Gary fell asleep on his long bus ride and missed his stop, so when we had to go pick him up in Tooele, we decided to pick up our new dishwasher at the same time. By the time it was in the car, it was getting late and no dinner had been made at home, so we decided to hit up kids eat free night at Denny's. (This is not something we've ever done before.) I had been thinking earlier in the day that going to see the Easter bunny is an odd thing to do, so I was delighted to see him at Denny's. The whole thing seemed like an over-all awesome situation - wearing our washday finest while dining with the Easter bunny at Denny's in Tooele. The kids loved it, though, so a happy G & E family it was.
Gary installed the dishwasher, and prevailed even through faulty instructions - that's my man. Andrew is on his third antibiotic to get rid of the ear infection he's had since North Carolina, Josh will need to get his tonsils out soon, Josh started soccer practice and put on his uniform (unnecessary) at 9 a.m. for his 5:30 practice, and Noah continues to push the envelope of destruction (poured out a bottle of perfume, broke a mug, and drank Andrew's Zantac all in one day). But, he also pushes the envelope of cute (ask grandma about when he called her and sang "Follow the Prophet"), so he survives to see another day.
We LOVED seeing Sara and Taylor and meeting baby Jake (if you haven't yet, get excited for cuteness), and celebrating Eric and Holly's birthdays. Fantastic company and abundant amazing dessert. Take me back . . . We went to my parents' house on Saturday and Sunday for Easter festivities, and had a great time. We relaxed a surprising amount for two days, and the kids were busy enough for us to get in a little conference (it's always on, but ask Eric about last time . . .). I'll post Easter pics on my blog someday. Today I posted about March Madness and a mysterious camera bruising.
Okay, well have a great week everyone. We plan to, even though April is coming in like a lion. Or are snow showers supposed to bring May flowers, too?
As for us, the saving grace of the week was - Allison is the hostess with the mostest! She totally took care of me, and regardless of the sad reason for my visit, I had a really enjoyable weekend. I was really blessed to be able to find people to take care of Josh and Noah here in the ward. It almost made me cry to see how willing people were to help when they heard why I was going. And Gary was awesome, too - in addition to his slaving for the legislature, he also played Super Dad at night and on the weekend, and even cleaned a toilet. I am totally fine with the large quantities of ice cream and PB & J's consumed . . . the kids loved their "guy party."
The funeral for which I went to NC for was very good. The Spirit was so strong, and although many tears were shed, perspective and comfort were gained. It was fun to laugh at the funny memories of my friend, and discuss feelings with others. I came home that night and told Allison a lot of things, and we had to cry again. My friend's name was Catie, and her husband Steve wrote a eulogy for the funeral that was read by a good friend of his, because her wish had been that her husband sit with the kids through the entire funeral. He posted it on their blog later on, and if you're interested (Allison), the address is www.steve-catie.blogspot.com. I gained a lot of insights this week, and overall want to be a better person and not take anything for granted, especially my husband and children.
Allison cooked and baked awesome food, and we had good times chatting and watching the Olympics. She also took me to Franklin Street, a charming older neighborhood in Chapel Hill where we ate Chinese food. Then, as Allison mentioned, a couple from my mission came down to see me, which was awesome. I hadn't seen them since their sealing - three days before I went to CA to meet Gary's family for the first time! So, a lot has changed, and Allison was sooo awesome to have them over. It was good to see they have grown so much in the gospel and in the church.
On my way home I sat next to a guy who was in the Olympics competing in biathalon. He got 9th, so was disappointed, but he lives and trains by Heber, so if Sara and Taylor want to start their kids in on being biathletes, I'll hook you guys up. I also flew on the same plane as a bobsled-woman (so said the biathlete), and Torah Bright, the LDS Australian girl that won gold in the snow-boarding half-pipe. My brushes with fame kept me from getting too sick after traveling all day long. So now we're all tired, but all together, so we're happy . . . if I could only find the source of the rotten lettuce smell . . .
March 7
As for us, if we had a paper chain until the legislative session is over, it would only have four links on it! Gary will probably take the air mattress and a change of clothes to work this week, but it's the homestretch, baby. So, for one more week Gary's story is spending day and night debating the release of prisoners and other such money matters. His break is today, when he made a fantastic meatloaf and is now playing wrestle mania with the boys. (Body slam, daddy, body slam!) Our story at home started out as trying to get back into our regular routine (everybody was tuckered from traveling/being babysat). And then there's the Story of Thursday.
The Story of Thursday
The day started out with me being worried about those with sick babies (family and ward members). How could I help? Then, I took Andrew to his well-baby check. He was not so well. Turns out he was getting over RSV and had developed 2 ear infections. I felt awful. Poor baby, just smiles and coos and lights up when given any attention, and all the while is a sick boy. So, we had to go get some medicine, so I picked Josh up early from preschool and found out he'd been naughty (Ran away from the teacher-mom at the park along with the other boys.) I'd have to give him some consequences for that. So, we get home from the store (which actually went really well, I was feeling great), and I give the boys some food and then try to feed Andrew. Josh and Noah were sprinkling granola all over the kitchen, but I didn't want to make Andrew stop eating because he was feeling so cruddy. Then, I get a phone call - Could I meet with the bishop that night, and bring my husband if possible?
At this point I started laughing. Just laughing and laughing at the scene around me. I knew the only auxillary that needed reorganizing was the Relief Society, and it was just so funny. Anyway, it turned out that I'll be the first counselor. Phew! President is the hard job (sorry, Candacy, but you are awesome at it), so it will be great. And throughout the day I found out that the people with babies that I was praying for all got taken care of in some sort of way, even though I wasn't able to go help. Isn't the Lord great?
Anyway, my friend that just died was an awesome journal keeper, and it motiviated me to preserve my history in some way. So, before I sign off I'll mention that Noah loves to just suddenly start praying out of nowhere, and Josh helps him. Arms folded and all. Also, he now goes around singing "We all live in a submarine," "Jingle balls," and "Pants on the ground." (It's from American Idol. Youtube it.) It's hilarious. Josh is suddenly really into puzzles, wearing stretch pants and a cape to "be a hero," and is surprisingly able to kind of hit the ball in tennis. And trampoline weather is kind of here!
March 15
This last week was a blur for me . . . Gary was never home almost at all, and then Thursday night at around 12:30 a.m. (techinically Friday), I was sleeping and suddenly this guy jumps on me and says, "We're done!!!" Yeah, it was Gary. Before that I think I did stuff. I had a bunch of women in my ward over on Wednesday night whose husbands were also gone. There is a whole bunch and it makes me feel bad I didn't have more get togethers. However, I'm not sad I'm not in that boat anymore . . . until next time. In all, Gary worked over 230 hours of overtime since January. What a man.
So, we had Martin Luther King day on Friday, and did mostly nothing. It was awesome. Then on Saturday I went to an Early Childhood Education conference, and it was excellent. While I was there Gary took the kids to the Bean Museum at BYU (a.k.a. Dead Animal Museum), and reports were favorable. Then we all went to the Mayan restaurant in Salt Lake - it has cliff divers and fire dancing, so we went there to have a "we made it" celebration at a place that the kids would be entertained. They loved it, so much that we almost lost Noah climbing over the railing to participate. Then yesterday we had President's Day and accomplished grocery shopping, and that's about it. But once again, it was so great to have Gary/Dad around . . . now I have something for Relief Society every night this week . . . ha, ha, Gary . . .(Okay, that's not quite fair, he's been working his tail off. Oh, well, not deleting it.)
April 5: (Really, the rest of March)
Quick recap of life - I've been gone a whole ton with Relief Society, and Gary has been a star at being a dad and dealing with my exhaustion. Gary took the first day of the NCAA tournament off work, and was glad he did. The first BYU game was great, and I threw in some chips and salsa to sweeten the deal. BYU didn't last much longer, but we've still had fun.
Our dishwasher went out, so we've been washing dishes by hand and looking for a new one. We're also trying to get Noah out of the crib (he climbs out anyway) so Andrew can get in, so we bought a bunk bed. Josh could not be more pumped about the bunk bed. From the second it came home he wanted it put together, but fell asleep during its assembly. We had him watching "The Princess and the Frog" with me for a movie night to keep him entertained while Gary built, but even though he liked the movie he couldn't quite focus. "How long is this movie, mom?" he asked. "I've been watching it all night." The next morning he was thrilled to wake up in the new bed, and has declared that the top is a castle and the bottom is a cave. The other night when I went to read him to sleep Josh said, "Dad says you're too fat to get on top with me." O-oh . . .(Actually Gary said he was the fat one, but Josh extended that to all parents.)
On Tuesday I was at the bottom of the laundry barrel, so I dressed us all kind of homelessly, thinking it didn't matter because the kids would be home all day and I would change into church clothes for the General Relief Society training meeting. However, there were huge fires on I-80, making it take a long time for Gary to get home, and effectively cancelling my plans. Gary fell asleep on his long bus ride and missed his stop, so when we had to go pick him up in Tooele, we decided to pick up our new dishwasher at the same time. By the time it was in the car, it was getting late and no dinner had been made at home, so we decided to hit up kids eat free night at Denny's. (This is not something we've ever done before.) I had been thinking earlier in the day that going to see the Easter bunny is an odd thing to do, so I was delighted to see him at Denny's. The whole thing seemed like an over-all awesome situation - wearing our washday finest while dining with the Easter bunny at Denny's in Tooele. The kids loved it, though, so a happy G & E family it was.
Gary installed the dishwasher, and prevailed even through faulty instructions - that's my man. Andrew is on his third antibiotic to get rid of the ear infection he's had since North Carolina, Josh will need to get his tonsils out soon, Josh started soccer practice and put on his uniform (unnecessary) at 9 a.m. for his 5:30 practice, and Noah continues to push the envelope of destruction (poured out a bottle of perfume, broke a mug, and drank Andrew's Zantac all in one day). But, he also pushes the envelope of cute (ask grandma about when he called her and sang "Follow the Prophet"), so he survives to see another day.
We LOVED seeing Sara and Taylor and meeting baby Jake (if you haven't yet, get excited for cuteness), and celebrating Eric and Holly's birthdays. Fantastic company and abundant amazing dessert. Take me back . . . We went to my parents' house on Saturday and Sunday for Easter festivities, and had a great time. We relaxed a surprising amount for two days, and the kids were busy enough for us to get in a little conference (it's always on, but ask Eric about last time . . .). I'll post Easter pics on my blog someday. Today I posted about March Madness and a mysterious camera bruising.
Okay, well have a great week everyone. We plan to, even though April is coming in like a lion. Or are snow showers supposed to bring May flowers, too?
Monday, April 5, 2010
Mad March Memories
From a letter I wrote to my sister in 2005:
Skip forward to 2008. I was hugely pregnant with Noah, and one night Gary presented me with a blank tournament bracket to fill out. So, we both made our picks, set the papers down beside the bed, and turned out the lights. Since I was so large, I had a hard time getting comfortable. I tossed and turned, trying to find a position in which my whale belly and sleep could co-exist. After a while of listening to my rustling Gary said, "Can't sleep because you're excited about your bracket?"
This year Gary decided he'd treat himself to a day off work to watch the first day of the tournament. (He'd been working non-stop.) We had a bracket contest with my family, and Josh picked his winners solely based on the awesomeness of their logos. Thus, he had Florida vs. East Tennessee State in the national championship game. We had a lot of fun watching the first couple of days, especially since we were too exhausted to do much else. After not too long our hearts (BYU - although the first game was awesome) and our brackets (Kansas) were broken, but that's all part of the madness. For some reason Josh has loved the sound of Butler's name from the beginning, and gets excited when he hears they're playing. Gotta end this post because there's only 40 seconds left.
Here's Gary and Andrew loving their March Madness.
Some other boys in the ward assigned girls' names to the teams in the NCAA tournament bracket, and they will take out the girls that make it to the final four. I am Arizona, a #3 seed who is still in the tournament, but I will have to beat Shannon Bloom who is Illinois to make it. That will be tough.Shannon Bloom ended up winning the date, but by that point I didn't care because I was dating Gary. Would have been awkward . . .
Skip forward to 2008. I was hugely pregnant with Noah, and one night Gary presented me with a blank tournament bracket to fill out. So, we both made our picks, set the papers down beside the bed, and turned out the lights. Since I was so large, I had a hard time getting comfortable. I tossed and turned, trying to find a position in which my whale belly and sleep could co-exist. After a while of listening to my rustling Gary said, "Can't sleep because you're excited about your bracket?"
This year Gary decided he'd treat himself to a day off work to watch the first day of the tournament. (He'd been working non-stop.) We had a bracket contest with my family, and Josh picked his winners solely based on the awesomeness of their logos. Thus, he had Florida vs. East Tennessee State in the national championship game. We had a lot of fun watching the first couple of days, especially since we were too exhausted to do much else. After not too long our hearts (BYU - although the first game was awesome) and our brackets (Kansas) were broken, but that's all part of the madness. For some reason Josh has loved the sound of Butler's name from the beginning, and gets excited when he hears they're playing. Gotta end this post because there's only 40 seconds left.
Here's Gary and Andrew loving their March Madness.
You Be the CSI
I went to upload pictures to my computer, and when I got out my camera I found it to be kind of bent and messed up. What happened? I don't know exactly, but when I put in the memory card I found the following photos. Give me your best guess.
There were about 5 more. The memory card was full. Josh was excited to see the pictures. That is all of the evidence I have to submit at this time.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
I Haven't Seen a Sasquatch, But My Boys Are Cute
While Gary watches this show about Sasquatch sightings in Alaska (awesome), I'll take a chance to post some random pictures from the last four months. Starting us off, this picture is of Josh in the Snuggli. We had it out for Andrew, then thought it would be funny to try Noah in it since he's within their advertised weight limit. Noah hated it, but Josh thought it was hilarious. And it was, we laughed and laughed at this one.
Poor Noah was so exhausted one day, he just layed down in the hallway and fell asleep. After taking his socks off, of course.
One day Noah ate a marker. Well, lots of days Noah ate a marker, but one day in particular I thought, "Emily, you always took pictures of when Josh got into stuff, why not Noah." So here he is, marker face. And one day I'll have a nice camera that doesn't make my kids look ghostie. Whatever.
During the summer I relied on sending my kids outside to keep them entertained while I cooked dinner. But then it was winter . . . not possible. By dinner time they're usually tired of roaming around playing with toys, so I've sometimes tried to get something else going. One of the most popular has been turning on music (usually this random satellite kids' channel), and letting them dance. Josh really has some moves, and has been especially exicted about music since I recorded the Spiderman theme song. He'll put in on 30 times in a row, I'm not kidding. It's cute, and I've memorized a new song.
We don't have a picture of that, but here's another idea I had. I put out placemats and a few play dishes, and let them play in shaving cream. It's just soap, and pretty easy to clean. They really loved it for a few minutes, but this activity didn't last as long as I had hoped, because what they really wanted to do was . . .
read books to Andrew. They did this forever. Andrew was a captive audience.
When Andrew was new, Josh thought it was awesome to make special beds for Andrew out of couch pillows. He was pretty proud of what he'd done for his brother.
One day while Josh was at preschool and I needed to do some things, I filled a basin full of snow and put it in the sink. Noah stood on a chair and played in it with spoons and cups. He had a blast, and kept playing even after his hands started to be pink. By the time they were red he was done, though.
Noah is a stuffed animal kid. He loves hugging them when he's tired, needs comfort, or is trying to go to sleep. His favorite one is Piggy. I got Piggy when I was in high school, and he used to be wearing overalls, but Noah prefers his stuffed animals not to wear clothes. Who would have thought when I made my strange purchase (from QVC), that I would someday have an adorable little boy who would love it? Here is Noah taking Piggy for a ride.
One day Noah got Vicks Vaporub all over himself. And the bathroom. And when I discovered him he was lounging back in the sink, relaxed as if he were in a spa.
Here's a closeup. Vicks is clear, so it doesn't seem so dramatic in a photo. But those of you just looking at the photo aren't smelling it. Or cleaning it up.
And we leave you with another crash landing. I swear we could all fall asleep any time, anywhere these days. Here, Josh fell asleep in a corner, behind a recliner. Sweet dreams!
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