Keeping it real

Here’s how my day went today: 8:00 – Woke up and fed Bridget. Got showered – as much as I could, since I was having patch testing for allergies done and couldn’t get my back wet at all. Got dressed. 8:30 – Katie is lying on the floor, telling me that she’s sick and we’ll have to cancel our appointments today. I tell her to quite whining and go get dressed. Miraculously, she seemed fine. 8:45 – I go upstairs to hustle the kids along, and notice a large black mark on one of the new kid desks we bought from Ikea. Apparently Paul had fun with a Sharpie sometime in the morning and decided to draw on one of the white desks that Aaron had just assembled the night before. Thank goodness for Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. 9:00 – I try to gather the kids together for breakfast. Notice that Paul has already managed to pee his pants this morning, so I send him upstairs to change and take a shower. He winds up missing breakfast and has to eat a banana in the car. 9:15 – We’re supposed to be out of the door in 5 minutes. Ha! Neither Averi or Bridget are dressed, Katie’s hair is a crazy mess, I haven’t eaten anything, and Paul needs help putting his shoes on since he can’t find the ones he can put on himself. This is despite that fact that I remind them EVERY TIME we enter the house to take their shoes off and put them in the basket. 9:25 – We finally get out the door. Then I notice our gas tank is very, very on E. We’re already late, so I hope we can make it to the dermatologist’s office and then just fill up afterwards. 10:05 – My appointment was supposed to start at 9:45. Still haven’t heard from the nurse, and we have other doctor’s appointments for Bridget and Paul starting at 10:30. Try to call the other doctors to let them know we’ll be slightly late, but then discover my phone is dead. 10:20 – Miraculously, the dermatologist visit went very quickly once it started. So far it seems that the only thing I’m allergic to is nickel. I have a follow-up and final evaluation tomorrow. We RUN to the car. We have 10 minutes to make it up to Rio Rancho. And then I remember the empty tank. Definitely don’t want to risk driving that far without a working cell phone. Stop to Smiths to fuel up is in order. 10:40 – We arrive at the doctor’s office. I check in at the kiosk so that I don’t have to have the nurse tell me that I am, in fact, late. As if I didn’t already know that. 11:00 – Bridget’s two month checkup went great. She’s in the 50th percentile for weight and 98.5 (th?) percentile for height. Doctor told me not to put too much store by the height since it is so iffy at this age. 12:00 – We finally finish with Paul’s well-child visit and with Bridget’s shots. The doctor was very concerned about his constant accidents (he had one while we were there), and wants to see if we can get to the bottom of this. Finally!! I’ve been to doctors about it multiple times in the past, and I’ve always been told that he’ll grow out of it. But this time the doctor agreed that this was not normal. He orders blood and urine tests from the lab and orders an x-ray to check his spine. If these don’t reveal anything he’s sending us to the urologist. 12:10 – We finish eating the crackers the nurse brought us. Remember, Paul had had essentially no breakfast, and it was lunch time and we still had to go across the hall to the labs to get Paul’s testing done. Hopefully the graham crackers would tide us over. 12:45 – We finish Paul’s blood and urine tests. Without thinking, I had sent him to the bathroom minutes before he was supposed to go in and give a urine sample. He was only able to squeeze out a quarter of an inch, but they said that should be enough. He freaked out when they drew his blood. Can’t say I blame him. 1:00 – We finish Paul’s x-ray. Kids are starving and my nerves are raw from trying to keep four kids quiet and keep them from getting into everything that seems interesting. Why didn’t I ask someone to watch the two girls? Because I wasn’t thinking, that’s why. 1:20 – Hit up Chick-Fil-A for lunch. All budgeting goals go out the window when you’re stressed, hungry, and have more errands still to run. 2:00 – Leave Chick-Fil-A and head to Target to buy a present for a baby shower. 2:30 – While in Target, I see Katie put something in her pocket. Turns out she found something (an interchangeable belt buckle, I think) on the floor and decided to keep it. The belts were right there, and it obviously belonged to that display. Had a big lecture about stealing and honestly. I’m having déjà vu, since I just had the same talk the day before with Paul when he ate a taffy at Sunflower Market without paying for it. Why have my children resorted to thievery all of a sudden? 2:45 – Paul throws a MAJOR fit when I don’t buy him a Star Wars puzzle. I had told him he could have it, but then he went off to play while I was checking out and took the puzzle with him. We needed to get going, so I told him he could get it next time we were at Target. We’re there just about every other day, so not a big deal, right? Wrong. He screamed the entire way home. Had to skip the trip to Hancock Fabrics to buy some trim and fray check that I needed to finish up a Halloween costume. 3:00 – I managed to calmly (only externally) ignore Paul until we got home. Then I told him (calmly, calmly) that he needed to go up to his room to change (another accident) and he needed to stay there until he cooled down. 3:30 – Paul is still in his room and Averi has fallen asleep on the couch downstairs. We were supposed to leave for Paul’s first gymnastics lesson now (supposed to start at 4), but we skip it. Everyone is just too worn out, including me. I tell the kids that they can use whatever they want in the craft drawers, but I need some down time, so they can’t bother me for a while. Bridget is sleeping, so I go upstairs and shut myself up in the study. 4:00 – After checking emails and goofing around a bit, I work on Katie’s Tiana costume. Zipper gets installed successfully (major achievement!) and it all seems to fit well. Feed Bridget, the dream baby. Get myself ready for the baby shower tonight. Wrap present. 5:45 – Go downstairs to prep dinner. Kitchen is a disaster from the kids’ crafting, but I’ll take it. Kabobs are sitting in the fridge waiting to be grilled, so I’m not stressed. About that, at least. 6:20 – Aaron arrives home, and the table is still not cleaned off completely. I have to leave for the baby shower, so I give instructions on the rest of dinner, kiss everyone and Bridget and I head off to a baby shower. Have a very nice time with friends. They had a cute idea for the shower; instead of games, we all embellished onesies for the new baby girl. They were adorable. 8:30 – Two friends and I head out to Chilis to grab something heartier, since two of us hadn’t had any dinner. Two meals out in one day. Terrible! But it was so nice to just sit and chat with friends. I’ve been so checked out of things lately, and it was great catching up with everything. 10:30 – Head for home. A coyote crossed the road right in front of my car. It paused and stared at me and then went on his way. He was gorgeous. I love New Mexico. 11:00 – Finish feeding Bridget and put her to bed. Go upstairs to work some more on the costume. Ignored the very messy house. Wrote blog post. 1 – Bed. I hope.

Quick trip to Utah

We’re back from a great little trip up to Utah.  My Grandma Davis was in town, it was my dad’s birthday, and Aaron had free tickets to a gaming expo, so we had a trifecta of reasons to go up.  And since we’re homeschooling, there were no school schedules to work around.  Aaron had to fly back and forth for work, but he drove both ways with me, which made the whole trip possible.  Fortunately we had free Southwest tickets that were about to expire, so it worked out well.  I had a fantastic time.  Usually when we visit we cram our days full of fun things, but this time we mostly hung out.  I loved just being with everyone all day.  It was more of a “normal life” vacation: I sewed (one costume down, five to go!!); went shopping (lots of this); crafted with my sister and sister-in-law (and then proceeded to leave the hair clip I made at my parent’s house); went to see the townhome my parents are building by Park City; saw my brother-in-law in a improv comedy performance; went out to eat lots; went to the temple with my mom, sister, cousin, and grandma; had a family birthday party; and capped it off with an evening of “My Fair Lady” at the Hale Center Theater.  Definitely a great trip.  I love Albuquerque, but I miss my family so much.  The more kids we have and the more cousins they have, the more I want to move back.  Oh well.  At least we get to visit frequently. Paul with Brayden.  These two adore each other.  One morning my mom was supposed to be taking my grandma to a doctor’s appointment, and she had forgotten that she was also supposed to watch my sister’s two kids.  Fortunately I had nothing at all planned, so I offered to take care of them.  Brayden wanted nothing to do with me once my mom left.  He was sobbing, and then he ran to Paul and wanted Paul to hold him.  It was the sweetest thing ever.  Paul has such a love for little children, especially for his sisters and cousins.  He’ll be an amazing father when he grows up.  Bridget snuggling with her great-grandma. Grandma Davis.  She’s 89 years old, and could probably outmaneuver and outwork many people half her age.  I loved listening to her tell stories.  They’re amazing, even though she doesn’t think so.  I guess her life just seems ordinary to her.  My grandma was converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after she was married, and she grew up as a Baptist.  When she was a young girl, she had a dream about a building she had never seen before, and she knew that it was going to be important in her life and that she would have something to do with that building.  For years she kept thinking about that dream, but she eventually forgot about it.  After she met my grandpa (who was a member, but quite inactive), she had the dream again.  It wasn’t until several years later that she discovered the building she had been dreaming about was the Salt Lake Temple.  When my mom asked her about the dream, she found out that Grandma still had never been to the Salt Lake Temple.  One of the highlights of my trip was being able to go to the temple with her and with my mom, Heather, and my cousin Michelle.  It was a wonderful day.  It truly is one of the most beautiful buildings I’ve ever seen in my life.  Aaron and I were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple, and it was wonderful to go back and do a live endowment session there.  I wish I had taken pictures of us while we were there, but I forgot my camera in the car. (Aaron and me on our wedding day) I had a fantastic time on this little trip.  Huge thanks to my sweet husband who was willing to drive with me so that we could make it all happen!  I love you!

Handsome FIVE year old

Late summer is birthday season around here: between July and September, we have five birthdays in our immediate family and another six more in the rest of our family.  We have another two in October as well.  Paul winds up the family birthday spree on September 25.  We love having Paul in our family.  He is SO BOY.  I don’t know how he could be any more boy.  But at the same time, he’s our most sweet child and very tender.  He wanted Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, and the American Girl doll Molly for his birthday—go figure.  Here’s Paul’s birthday interview: My favorite food is: pizza My favorite movie is: Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog The coolest person on Earth is: Jake My favorite thing to learn about is: space The thing I’m great at is: math If I could go anywhere, it would be: movie theaters My favorite color is: black My favorite superhero is: Wolverine When I grow up, I’m going to be a: baseball player My favorite song is: Covered Wagons A book I love is: Batman Meet the Superheroes When I was little, I used to: play with Scruffy My favorite time of year is: summer The snack I like best is: trail mix One food that I really don’t like is: eggs My best friend is: Henry If I had one wish, it would be: to be a dragon My favorite phrase is: I love you (Aaron and I couldn’t think of anything off the top of our heads, but Paul said that his favorite phrase is “I love you.” And he does say that a lot) My favorite treat is: chocolate cake with chocolate chips on it My favorite toy is: Star Wars Legos

Averi turned THREE!

I can’t believe how big my little girl is getting.  I have to say, she was such a great two-year-old.  For my kids, at least, two is great.  I’d be tempted to keep them two forever.  It’s three that gets hard, and she’s living up to that precedent.  She’s quite opinionated, and is learning the fine art of whining.  But she’s still very fun to be around.  We love her to pieces.  I love the idea of interviewing your kids every year on their birthday (or close to it, since dates lose their relevancy around here).  Here’s what Averi had to say: My favorite food is: chicken noodle soup (Mom: it’s actually eggs) My favorite movie is: Tangled The coolest person on Earth is: Mom (then she changed her mind and said “I am!”) My favorite thing to learn about is: pets The thing I’m great at is: puzzles If I could go anywhere, it would be: I don’t know. Rudy’s. My favorite color is: purple My favorite princess is: Sleeping Beauty When I grow up, I’m going to be a: a ballerina My favorite song is: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (Mom: It used to be Scripture Power.  We sang that EVERY night.) A book I love is: the Ariel book, you know? When I was little, I used to: walk My favorite time of year is: fall The snack I like best is: dried blueberries and frozen blueberries and dried strawberries and frozen strawberries and coconuts and craisins and rasins. I love all of the snacks. One food that I really don’t like is: hot chicken (Mom: not true.  Averi’s a total carnivore.) My best friend is: Ella I guess. If I had one wish, it would be: for a kindle (HA!!) My favorite treat is: I think popsicles My favorite toy is: Pollys, especially the Sleeping Beauty Polly. Averi was on a Tangled (AKA Rapunzel) kick this year.  For her birthday she asked for “a Tangled tassel” (interpretation: a Tangled castle; all k sounds become t’s).  It was too adorable to resist, so I had to search high and low the night before her birthday for a Tangled tassel.  Luckily we found one, along with a Tangled backpack.  She also got some books, but apparently those aren’t as awesome as Tangled tassels.

Santa Fe Renaissance Fair 2011

Here are the pictures from this years renaissance fair. Locals, I highly recommend you go. It’s a fun way to spend a Saturday. Note the very authentic shoes. Fighting the knights. This was definitely the kid favorite this year. Paul got way into it and started taking down everyone else’s knights as well. Reminds me of Monty Python. This had to be one of the most adorable things I’ve ever seen. Averi’s “sword” was as long as she is, and the hits she gave were the cutest teeny taps. The whole crowd was smitten by our fair lady. Katie is her father’s daughter. Check out that tongue! (Aaron pointed out that this could be taken wrong. It is not meant to imply anything indecent. Aaron simply has a very funny habit of sticking his tongue out in the weirdest ways when he's concentrating. That's all.) Stud muffin Paul. The crowd was much bigger at the fair this year, which made it even more fun. I love having a chance to tap into my inner geek (not like I don’t just about every day, but this was even geekier than usual).

Fall Bucket List

Here’s our fall “bucket list.”  We’ll see how many of these things we actually get done, but it will be fun to try!  Let’s set an end date of Nov 15 so we don’t overlap with the holidays.  And enjoy these blasts from the past while you’re at it. 1. Go to a pumpkin patch (Ah, the fun we have as a family…) 2. Balloon Fiesta 3. State Fair (already did that, so it might be cheating, but it’s totally a fall activity) (yes, it’s blurry, but that’s what you get with a self-portrait) 4. Renaissance Fair (again, cheating a bit) 5. Go on a hike 6. Sew Halloween costumes 7. Trick or treating! 8. Family game night 9. Make s’mores over a fire 10. Carve pumpkins (or eat them, whatever) 11. Make a wreath 12. Make a scarf 13. Make chili 14. Go down to the bosque and take pictures in the leaves 15. Make art with leaves 16. Eat al fresco 17. Read on the patio while the kids play 18. Visit to the farmer’s market 19. Make our house smell delicious If you know me at all, I’m NOT a fan of winter and coldness and darkness and the general blech that hits around January.  This means that I approach fall with some trepidation, since I know what’s coming next, and it’s not pretty.  But fall really is wonderful.  In Albuquerque, it’s nice and warm during the day, but there’s a nip in the air at night.  September is absolutely gorgeous, as is October.  And nothing beats that New Mexico blue sky in autumn.  There’s also something wonderful about breaking out the cardigans and sweaters and scarves and boots that haven’t seen the light of day since April.  So this year I’m going to embrace fall, and I’m bringing the rest of the family along for the ride.

Thoughts and Happenings

We have been so blessed to have a lot of family come after we had Bridget.  Aaron’s mom was there when she was born and stayed for a week, and then a week and a half later my mom and sister came out for two weeks.  My house was never so organized and clean, and Aaron and I got to go out several times together WITHOUT KIDS.  Well, except for Bridget.  But newborns are like footballs; you just tuck them under your arm and haul them around with you.  I was seriously tempted to “lose” my keys on the day my mom had to fly home.  When we were loading up the car, Paul said, “I think I’m going to cry when Grandma leaves.”  I responded, “Me too.”  “No, Mom, I’m not kidding.  I really am going to cry.”  I’m not kidding either, Paul.  After my mom and Kiera left, Adam and Julie came out for the weekend.  Julie is a flight attendant, so when Adam got off work early on Friday, they were able to make an impromptu visit to us.  It was Averi’s birthday, so everyone (except for Aaron—boo to having to work!) went to the zoo.  Afterwards we met Aaron at Golden Corral for dinner.  High class, I know, but the kids thought they had died and gone to heaven.  We’ve been very careful about what we’ve been eating lately, so the kids were thrilled to be able to choose whatever they wanted.  Paul especially thought that this was supreme bliss.  I cannot tell you how much that kid ate, mostly because I can’t remember it all.  I do know that he ate two pieces of pizza, two servings of enchiladas, spaghetti with meatballs, tilapia, salad, multiple servings of watermelon, mashed potatoes, cotton candy, strawberries and marshmallows dipped in the chocolate fountain, a chocolate cupcake, and the rest of Julie’s cotton candy.  I know there’s more there that I’m forgetting, as hard as that may be to imagine.  After he finished, he turned and looked at me with those HUGE brown eyes and began to cry.  I asked him what was wrong, and he responded, “My tummy hurts!”  I think it was the first time he’s ever eaten himself sick.  Sad as it was, I did have a hard time not laughing.  How could he be anything BUT sick? Adam and Julie were planning on staying through Sunday, but Julie’s sister went into labor on Saturday, so she flew out so she could be with her.  Aaron, Adam and I took the kids up to Santa Fe to the Renaissance Fair, which is one of our favorite things ever.  I get a kick out of dressing the kids up and only wish that I had a dress myself.  Maybe one year when I haven’t just had a baby I’ll make Aaron and me awesome matching costumes.  I’m a nerd like that.  The camera is downstairs right now, so pictures will have to follow in another post.  We were out in the sun all day on Saturday, and I woke up Sunday morning to a discovery: I am either allergic to the sun (polymorphic light eruption) or to the combination of my sunscreen and the sun (photoallergic contact dermatitis).  Either way, I had the most itchy, horrible rash every where that was exposed to the sun: arms, chest, neck, face, even my ears.  It was awful.  I cannot describe how incredibly itchy it was.  A visit to the dermatologist on Monday gave the two possible diagnoses.  I’m inclined to think that it’s the sunscreen, since the only other time this has happened, I was wearing that sunscreen.  That time I thought it was a reaction to the laundry detergent I used, but now I know better.  This second time was MUCH more severe than the first and only cleared up after a combination of ultra-powerful steroid cream (which also happened to be ultra expensive and not even regularly stocked by pharmacies), anti-histamines, and anti-itch lotion.  I’m sure I stunk to high heaven, and I stayed indoors for several days so I didn’t have to show my hideous self to the world.  But now it’s gone, and I’m just hoping it NEVER happens again. To complicate matters, I had developed pink eye two days before this all happened.  So not only was I looking horrible from the rash, but I had to wear my glasses, which don’t fit right and are the wrong prescription.  I was a wreck.  Fortunately, both the pink eye and the rash were gone by Thursday, so I was able to go to church this Sunday (and watch Project Runway on Thursday night) without looking like a freak. Things are starting to calm down around here.  We’re getting back in the homeschool swing, and I’m feeling so confident that I signed Katie back up for ballet.  I essentially cancelled all activities for the months of August and September (except piano), knowing that I wouldn’t be capable of making it to anything on time or remember anything that wasn’t physically attached to me.  This was a very wise decision.  Life’s still chaotic, and it’s still hard knowing that I can’t accomplish much when I’m spending hours every day sitting and nursing.  But I have been able to sew two dresses for Katie and Averi, and I’m almost finished refinishing an bookshelf for Paul’s room.  So I’m feeling pretty good!  I’m also only 6 pounds away from my “standard” pre-baby weight, although I don’t look nearly as good, since I lost a ton of muscle.  As soon as I feel a little more in control I plan on starting my exercise routine again and fixing that. On a different track: the cloth diapering is still going well and I have absolutely no regrets, except that I wish I would have known about modern cloth earlier.  My favorites are Best Bottoms.  Ask me about them; I could be a walking advertisement.  They ought to pay me.  Also, I’m going to put in a plug for Pinterest.  Best time killer EVER.  Those hours nursing are not spent doing nothing.  Instead, they’re spent looking at what everyone else has done and wishing I could do them.