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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

We made it!

I have so much to say and many pictures to post, but blogger is telling me I'm out of space, so I can't figure out how to upload new pics.  Hopefully I'll get it figured out soon.

Here's a quick update: we are finally all healthy.  I think the last week took years off my life, but we survived.
Christmas decorations are 1/2 done and I'm out of steam to do the rest.  Thinking about keeping it simple this year.  I got plain brown packing paper and red and white bakers twine to wrap all of our gifts with this year. I'm a terrible gift wrapper, so I'm hoping the simple packaging will help them look a little better.

It was like 23 degrees last night. Winter is here!  I am happy it will be in the 50's-60's the rest of the week.

We have two birthday parties and a baptism to prepare for. A Polar Express Party and a Willy Wonka Party. Reese about died with excitement when we told her that ALL four of her grandparents are coming in January for her baptism.  She is one lucky lady!

I need to get into the Christmas spirit. I'm planning a few service activities for myself and for the kids to do in the next few weeks and Chippy, our Elf on the Shelf will be helping me get the children excited about them.

more soon...

Sunday, November 25, 2012

I spoke too soon.

After 11 days of nursing sickies, combing nits out of hair, and washing and rewashing everything I own, the stomach flu has brought me down, too.  I pray that Quincy and the baby don't get it. And by "baby" I mean Soren.  The man-baby was sick on friday and saturday and is curled up next to me on the sofa.

We're a pathetic looking bunch.  I'm just glad I decided to keep everyone home from church one more day, just in case.

There are 6/8 of an incredible pumpkin cheesecake in my fridge that are going to go to waste because none of us have an appetite.  Is that just the saddest thing you've ever heard?  And I'd deliver it to someone, but a) I can't walk 10 feet without throwing up, so driving is out of the question, and b) even if it IS a fabulous dessert, who wants food from a house that's been full of sick people?

At least the laundry is done, we are totally lice free, and the first two Christmas trees are up. Oh, and I'm pretty grateful the bathroom floor is clean, because I spent a good hour hanging out there.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

"I will not tolerate infestation!"

The stomach flu has finally left the building.
Then, a friend called and told me her kids had lice, so I might check my girls' heads since they all go to school and church together and it is really going around at Cooper.

Lovely.

Fortunately, my girls were only at school one day last week because of the flu and Thanksgiving.
UNfortunately, one day was just enough.  I found 2 bugs on Quincy and one on Reese.

LICE.

Cue Monica.
"Monica" is what Aaron calls me when I go psychotic and deep clean the house like a crazy person.

EVERY textile in my house has been hot washed.  Yes. Everything. Clothes from every dresser and closet, all bedding, rugs, coats, backpacks, carseat and swing covers, towels, even lunch boxes.  All stuffed animals have been through the washer and dryer and are living in bags for the next 10 days.

I vacuumed mattresses and mini blinds and curtains and even the mat to the treadmill.  All furniture was sprayed with the spray and then treated with tea tree oil.

You know that part in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn when Francis gets head lice and her mother goes a little crazy (out of love) and combs her hair with kerosine?   That scenario basically just happened in our house this week.

My poor children all received a torture lice treatment. Twice.  We did the shampoo, then the gel, THEN the spray. Then came the combs. I spent 3 hours with the comb going through their heads and then coated everyone's heads in tea tree oil which smells like death but I don't care. We luckily only found the few bugs, but still...SO SO SO GROSS!!! Aaron and I got treatments as well. Better safe than sorry.

I'm grateful that I'd already been sanitizing everything in the house and cleaning the carpets because of the flu bug.

All of the pillows have been thrown away.

A neat freak friend of mine had lice in her house a year ago and it took them forever to get rid of it because they kept finding eggs and they hatch every 7 days.  I'm lucky that she went through it because I knew to just be psychotic now and clean like a crazy person to get it all...even if it isn't really necessary.

It is necessary for my sanity.

Sooooo yeah, today I am thankful for non-environmentally-friendly harsh bug killing chemicals because they're the only thing I trust, for a good vacuum, for an excuse to sort dressers, buy new pillows, and throw away a lot of stuffed animals.  I'm also grateful for the opportunity to start the holiday season off with a clean house. It was a royal pain in the butt and I itch just thinking about what those 48 hours were like, but as I scrubbed and soaked and vacuumed and now as I pack up the fall decorations, I am just so thankful I have a house TO keep clean.  After the early years that we spent living in rentals, I am truly grateful to have this little home to call mine.  There is always something to fix or update, but I love that my whole family has been a part of the remodel process. I love watching my children chase (and get chased by) the chickens in our yard, dressing our thanksgiving turkey with fresh herbs from our yard, and making a snowman in the front and burning a fire in the stove every winter.  I am thankful for tiny bedrooms that hold my tiny people, for the perpetually dirty kitchen floors that literally show the tracks of my children running through there and circling around through to the family room.  I am thankful for these ceilings that I have retextured and painted every inch of.

 I know every surface of this little house and I am so grateful for these walls. Deep cleaning my home and ridding us of sickness and parasites reminded me of the power I have to protect my children.  As I took inventory of everything we own and fortified my place of living with disinfectant, I felt a metaphoric satisfaction in knowing that our hearts and minds are also about to get a deep cleaning.
Oh how I love a good metaphor.  The year is coming to an end and it is the perfect time to rid my home of unkindness and gross behaviors, like yelling, gossiping, self deprecating comments, and complaining.  These habits are just as disgusting and contagious as lice and the stomach flu, but they are harder to get rid of and the cleanup is worse.  I am probably more at fault than anyone else in my home, and I am supposed to be the example!  I have done a pretty good job at keeping my postpartum anxiety under control, but I have been very short of patience lately and find myself needing some serious change.  I keep thinking I'd be happier if it was warmer, if we were in an bigger house, if Aaron had a job that required him to work normal hours, if we lived closer to family, if Corbin had less special needs, if I could run faster, if I could read more, if I was a better mother, if I could let go of things that make me mad, if I could get more done in a day,  if more people at church immunized, if Aaron and I could go on more dates, if I had more friends or nicer stuff etc etc etc. These "if and only if" type of "someday" thoughts are ugly and ungrateful and frankly, I'm pretty embarrassed to have invited them, and even more embarrassed to have let them get comfortable and feel welcome in my home.

No one opens the doors to their house and says, "me! pick me! You're sick?  Well then come on in because I want the flu, it will make me feel so good and super awesome!"  I believe I may have done just that with negative thoughts and actions.  I need a cleanse, I feel itchy and gross, like I need to go through my life with the lice comb and pick out the yelling and impatience and all of the things that don't belong in a happy home, and once the sickness is out, I'm closing the door to ugly behaviors boarding up the door and not inviting them back.  I thing I understand where the expression "avoid it like the plague" came from.

Also, I'm counting on my friends to help me not complain or gossip, or be so hard on myself which is a challenging balance for me when I'm trying to improve.  Perfection and improvement are not the same thing and I have a hard time doing things my best when my best isn't perfect.  I hope my friends will call me on it, and that I can count on them to help me focus on positive things that bring happiness and peace.

I am excited to bring a little Christmas in here with hope that it will be a reminder to us all to be more loving, more charitable and more Christlike.  His love is refreshing.

...and man, I need to be refreshed. (did you read the parts about the stomach flu and lice? yeah.)

Friday, November 16, 2012

Some Stuff

I have several posts drafted, but want to add the photos and since I seem to have misplaced the USB cord for our camera, you're getting a miscellaneous collection of cell phone pics and random information. 

1) "October, Rock-tober, my favorite time of year!" The girls sing this song daily even though it is no longer October.  Mr. L is the girls' favorite teacher at Cooper (side note: he looks a whole lot like Tobias Funke from Arrested Development) and they look forward to music time with him every week. He has a ridiculously dry personality, but when this song comes on, he comes to life and dances around the room.  

2) Reese and Quincy started tennis lessons at the fitness center.  Reese loves it and she loves that her friends, Jackson and Hannah, are in the class with her.  Quincy does not enjoy tennis as much, but I think that has a lot to do with her confusion over which hand to hold her racket with.  Last week, I noticed she was getting particularly frustrated and kept missing the ball.  I poked my head out onto the court and suggested that she switch hands and she did a lot better.  She whines about going, but once she is there she always has fun.  



3) Reese was the October Terrific Kid for Mrs. Snieski's class.  This is the second time she has been a Terrific Kid at Cooper and she was really excited.  Aaron and I went to the assembly to watch her receive her award and Aaron had the special reward lunch with her on the stage. Way to go, Reese!

4)  This photo pretty much sums up our life last week.  Yes. That is exactly what it looks like.

5) Soren is awesome. Aaron's coworker, Ericka, bought this outfit for him, and Scott and Kristie sent him the hat.


6) Quincy went to the pediatric dentist to have 2 small cavities filled last week. Unfortunately, the dentist's office is like disneyland (TVs on ceiling, laughing gas, treasure towers and stickers galore) and she has no understanding of how frustrating it is to spend $190 on filings instead of something cool like a carpet shampooer (if you don't understand why that is a necessity, please refer to #4 listed above)
After her dental appointment, her face was still totally numb and Quincy kept biting her lips and cheeks.  Obviously, I couldn't send her back to school until the drugs had worn off, and she hadn't eaten lunch yet, so we needed to go someplace to keep her entertained until she wasn't giggly and numb anymore. I had a bag full of chuck e cheese tokens burning a hole in the glove box (thank you, Grandma Lynda) so we went there to play for awhile.  Basically Quincy learned that cavities = a day of  super fun times with mom instead of going to school.  Mother of the Year.

7) The tomatoes are slowly ripening up and I've made several batches of tomato basil and red pepper soup. Yum.

8) Corbin takes swimming lessons while the girls are in tennis.  He loves it, and aside from the first day (when this pic was taken) there is usually only one other kid there each week, so it's like getting a private lesson.

9) We decorated for Halloween and Homeless Hannah put hexes on all of us.

10)  Best baby ever. He slept from 5-10pm yesterday, then I fed him and put him to bed and he slept until 8am. Then I fed him and he slept until 11.  He has an icky cold. It sucks.  He still wins for best baby I've ever known.  He's like a wheezy little koala bear.  All he does is snuggle, sleep, and eat.  Not every night is as uninterrupted as last night, but I probably get a 6 hour stretch 5 out of 7 nights a week.

11) more pics to come, but here is a taste of my halloween costume.
12) I guess I should mention that occasionally Soren wakes up and smiles or plays with toys, or in the case of the photo below, poops. At the doctor yesterday he measured 24 inches long and weighed 12 lbs 15 ounces...or as we like to describe him, "petite and delicate" ;)

13) I'm 70% through Pope Joan: a novel by Donna Woolfolk Cross and so far I really like it.  Someone read it so we can talk about it!

14)  Even though I'm getting enough sleep at night I am completely exhausted all of the time.

15) It wsa 70* last weekend and Aaron took the boat out and it actually worked.  Update: I still hate the boat with the fire of 1,000 suns.

16) Corbin was coughing all last weekend and Soren has been coughing this week.  Yesterday, Reese threw up 7 times.  We had a Harry Potter Movie Marathon and I let her watch the 4th one today. She wasn't scared, surprisingly.  When I took the movie out of the dvd player I realized it is PG-13.  Mother of the Year!

17) I still have not seen the 4th Twilight movie and have zero desire to see the 5th.

18) Aaron and I are loving the Marketplace in Springdale as our new dinner date spot.  The chocolate mess with peanut butter sauce is killer. So is the buttery bread. So is the blueberry vinaigrette. So are the fried chicken and sweet potato fries. I need to go back.

19) I was in charge of the October and November Relief Society enrichment meetings.  They were fun to plan and put together and we had a good turn out. I'll post pictures when I find the camera cord.

20) we harvested sweet potatoes!  They are long and skinny and look a bit like fat carrots or fingerling potatoes. Can't wait to eat them.  Other than the oregano, thyme, rosemary, several onions, a handfull of peas, and some cilantro, the garden is done until spring. Boo Hiss.

21) I miss California a LOT lately.  I want my family to meet my baby.  I miss my brothers and sisters and I wish my kids could be near their cousins.  Arkansas is a beautiful, fantastic, wonderful place to live 9 months out of the year. We're headed into the winter months and I am dreading it. I don't like to be cold, and ever since I had Soren I have been freezing.  I think I got used to dying of heat in the summer and now it is cool and I don't have an extra 40 lbs keeping me warm. I'm super cold all of the time. Aaron and I have a pact that we won't travel at Christmas again until all of our children are old enough to carry their own suitcases. I LOATHE flying during the holidays but I'm ready to cave on this pact due to a trifecta of reasons:
-I haven't been "home" for Christmas in 7 years. Arkansas feels like home to me now, but I miss having Christmas with my family.
-All of my brothers and sisters will be there this year.  I'm dying to meet my new nephew, Ben.
-Aaron has not used any of his paternity leave so we actually have time off available this year. Our summer vacation will be spent in Utah this year (unless we can convince the Willys to go to newport beach instead so we could have the best of both worlds), so I think winter in Ca sounds warm and dreamy.

22) Dear Santa: Les Mis is on tour and I want to go.

23) Aaron is not easy to shop for. The only thing he wants is a tv.  I think Santa should hold out on a new tv until the boat is out of the garage and I don't have to back out into the driveway just to get all of the kids buckled.

24) We actually reached our family $10,000 out of pocket max and our health care for the rest of 2012 is officially covered!  Just in time, too....Soren's latest bill was $12,000. Free doctor visits for the next 60 days!  It's incredible. We've finally made appointments for the dermatologist and podiatrist.   I am so grateful for Aaron's job and that we've chosen to invest in health insurance.
I'm also grateful for mad bargaining skills.  That saying, "You don't receive if you don't ask" is totally true.  Aaron went to the ER for a possible blood clot the night we brought Soren home from the hospital.  I called the hospital billing office last week and asked them if they'd give me a 20% discount on the bill if I paid the full balance in cash right then over the phone.

$700 saved. Just for asking.

25) I am trying REALLY hard to convince my family that we should kill and eat one of our hens for thanksgiving dinner.

26) Quincy got up at 4am this morning and not only downright REFUSED to go back to bed, but turned on lights and threw a tantrum until everyone in the house was awake.  Not cool, Q.  She's been begging to go to sleep since 3:30 this afternoon and I am being mean and making her stay awake until 6:30 so she learns to quit waking everyone up at ridiculous hours. She is SO mad at me right now and keeps falling asleep on the floor, at the kitchen table, in the bathroom, etc.  I gave Reese and Corbin balloons and permission to "bop" her on the head with them every time she closes her eyes.

And now she knows what it feels like to have someone wake you up in a super annoying way when there's nothing in the world you'd rather do more than curl up and go back to sleep.  It's hilarious to see them attack her with balloons every 2 minutes.  I'm realizing as I type this out how terrible it sounds....but it's working, so whatev. 4am, people. 4am.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Why I Love Him

I predicted that Aaron would be an excellent father before I'd even thought seriously about marrying him. 
Every day, he proves my prediction to be correct.
He is a stellar father.

I snapped this picture of him reading to the kids, last night (that clock in the background has never worked).  It was so typical of an evening in our house when he is home.  I was feeding Soren, and Aaron was crawling around tirelessly with children on his back, sending them back to the bathroom to re-brush their teeth, wrestling and chasing them around the living room, and finally, settling everyone down with a book, scriptures, and family prayers before bed.

Ok, so not EVERY night in our house goes smoothly...sometimes someone is still diving off the sofa or crying during stories, and during scriptures...and prayers. But we do our best, and I think this picture truly captures a calm, candid moment of the children and their daddy.  They idolize him...as they should, because when it's 6:30 and chaos, crying, and exhaustion have taken over our house and Daddy finally walks through that door, he's quite the hero to all of us.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Yummy Yummy Thumby

 Something adorable is happening in our house:





It is so cute, it makes us sick.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Scooby Dooby Doo, Where are You?

Happy Halloween! Hope it was Scooberiffic! 
Love, Velma, Daphne, Shaggy, and Fred.