7 Weeks, She Is

A craft project we did that Dragon Master saw and REALLY wanted to do.  DG had a fun monster cold like all of us this week, so she spit up just so I would change her into this.

Also, DG is smiling up a storm.  She coos and makes the most sweet facial expressions.  This week she slept 5, 6 and then 7 hours the last few nights.

The Plague! The Plague!

That's what we get at our house this fine spring break week.  It started last week with TQM, then Dragon Master.  Then, I'm pretty sure, Judy faked it for 1 day to get out of piano lessons and chores.  Then, wow, Husband got it big time...poor guy couldn't breathe yesterday.  Now Hulk and I seem to have acquired it.  You try so hard to not get diseased but when you kiss and clean and hug and cuddle kids and touch all the stuff they touch, it feels impossible.

BUT before I felt ick and while none of the kids seemed too ill, we went to Camel's Back Park yesterday.  My favorite in-city hiking experience!

 We feast...sort of...

 We climb.  TQM and Judy took the crazy steep high way.  Dragon went up the "easier" way, and behind him, Postpartum Mom (the worst superhero ever) and Hulk and DG came along.

Hulk was so cute and never gave up or complained tiredness, even though you could tell he was working pretty hard, but he did want to hold my hand most of the time, presumably for moral support.  What a man!

 Above are Judy and TQM waiting, waiting for us.

Then DG (poor baby acne girl-it won't last forever, Sweet Thing, I promise) feasted...again...while her siblings played on the big playground.  She napped beautifully the whole hike but did get a bit of sun despite the overcast day.  Power to the Vitamin D, yo!

And, despite the off and on illness and the long hike, the kids ALWAYS, ALWAYS have energy for the playground at the end.  It was a great afternoon, though TQM likes to go ahead, disappear, climb dangerous precipices with reckless abandon.  Zest for life or death wish?

In other news, TQM had his first private SLP session today.  I really hope things move along.  Sometimes paperwork and evaluations drive me nuts, but I realize we have to start somewhere.  That kid is a good sport...mostly, most of the time, all my kids are.

SIX weeks

Life is currently full of its....

 HIGHS

 and its...

LOWS

Sarah, Plain and Tall - That's Me

Oy vey!  I have a 7 am dental appointment tomorrow.  I won't be a sociable person, but I will be there.

I have to remember this Sarah thing, though.  It's been an eventful/exhausting couple of days.  Hopefully I will write a quick summary soon but not tonight.

Sarah, though... I was visited by 2 members of our Relief Society (women's organization) presidency last night.  They dropped off the sweetest little hat and booties and a blanket.  Two different women in the ward make these for the new babies.  Ah, you can tell that in this ward there are way less babies that come along than in our last one.  The excitement, the meals, the offers of taking care of the baby during church, the ogling...very refreshing...oops.  Sarah.  So one of the counselors asked if I had ever watched Sarah, Straight and Tall.  I was wondering if she meant Plain and Tall and she said yes.  We read this as the class novel in, I believe, third grade and after her comments I want to go back and read it again or watch the movie which I recall being pretty good.  She said I remind her of Sarah because there I was right after DG was born going about my business, always so calm and together and unflappable.  The president said, yes, you seem to have everything figured out and like you don't need our help.  Well, I do have it down to where I don't need a ton of help, although my MIL and neighbors (visiting teachers) were invaluable in the first few weeks.  I liked that they view me that way, although I can't say it is how I feel on the inside or how I act consistently.  Something to aim for, I suppose, rather than feeling overwhelmed day after day and worrying that I will never get my monstrous to-do list done.

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

I was grocery shopping this noon hour.  I am a morning errand runner, but Judy's piano teacher wanted to tune our piano and we set this morning as a good time.  It was must VERY quiet while a piano gets tuned.  Therefore, Hulk, DG, and I hid out in our master bedroom to stay out of the way (oh yes, and Hubby lay sick in bed while we did this).  I attempted to style my hair.  I fed DG.  I talked with Hulk.  I made my grocery list/weekly menu.  I "snuck" out to switch my laundry.  Hulk loudly yelled SHHH during that whole trip to the basement as I had told him we must be very quite while walking through the house.  So, at last, when I went to pick up The Quiet Man, off the 4 of us (can you believe that's skeleton crew? 4 of us!!!) went to the grocery store.  At checkout, there was another mom with 3 kids, 2 girls and a baby boy in a car seat in the cart.  She asked if the baby strapped to me was a girl and we both thought it was fun how she had 2 girls and then a boy and I had 2 boys and a girl.  Then she said she had 2 more girls at home.  I said I had a boy and a girl.  She said it's so busy huh?  I said yes, I often feel a little overwhelmed.  She said she was glad that someone else felt that way and knew what she felt like.

For example, you know that laundry I switched out.  Laundry is currently a 3 day process.  Start on Monday, trying to get a head start.  Plan on finishing Tuesday, only to really just get it all almost washed and dried and then actually fold on Wednesday.  If something comes up, then forget about even putting it all away until Thursday.  RI-DIC-U-LOUS but it is reality for me...at present.

My lovely spacious room a bit cluttered with the day's laundry in progress.

OH REMEMBER WHEN?????

Laughing at this sad predicament earlier, life 14 years ago came back to me.  Living in the dorms.  I just bought a ton of underwear (enough for every day changing), and I only had to do laundry every 2 weeks to a month, that being 1 load of darks, 1 load of whites.  The whole process was done faster than I can eat a pint of Ben & Jerry's or a bag of chocolate.  My how times have changed!

(And I know I'm not the only one who did that.  It was normal for lots of college kids, so too bad if anyone is weirded out).

Wish me luck that for this week, at least, I can finish the whole process tomorrow and rest until Monday on that front.  I do have Visiting Teaching, so we will see...deep breath.  

Overwhelmed

Yep, it happens every so often.  Since baby was born and a maybe lots of days before then, my life is just the precarious balance.  I rely on certain things helping me out and going my way to make it all fall into place, but sometimes it does not happen.  Then my day goes down like dominoes.  That's why it is great there are only 24 hours in a day and some of those are spent sleeping.  Then I get a do-over.

5, count 'em, 5 weeks

Oh the ups and the downs of watching children grow.  So excited for them to accomplish things BUT then that means they are 1 step closer to being on their BUT then that means they have to do head butting to prove there independence from you BUT then that means you just wish they could be uncomplicated babies again BUT, BUT, BUT...

And to think that whole line of thought started with seeing a pic of The Quiet Man around 18 months old. 

 So cute and babyish and now he is going to be in Kindergarten.  Speaking of TQM, his first private speech therapy lesson is at last approved by insurance (thugs) and scheduled for 3/26.  I am hoping and (should be religiously) praying with all my heart that in the relatively small number of sessions he is alotted we can have a breakthrough, some obvious progress, anything to help him be heard by the world.  Mostly all I see is his eagerness to be understood and his never getting very frustrated when he can't quite get his message across.  As his preschool teachers point out, he has become master signer and pantomimer to get his points across.  That makes me feel so proud (and want to cry a bit too that he has to work so hard), but a few things said at his IEP just make me feel so urgently that we've got to hit this hard.  I don't want him to ever want for friends his age just because kids don't understand what he is trying to say when he tries to play with them.  That just seems like a heartbreaking future possibility.

In less heartbreaking matters, baby acne be darned, here is our precious 5-week shot.  

 DG (who spit up thoroughly during Primary on her beautiful pink dress) is interestingly wearing Judy Moody's take home from hospital outfit which was handed down from my sister, Mere, after who knows which of her kids wore it.  Anywho, the outfit has history, and below are my "bookends".

 The Judy Moodyinator got some hand-me-down Gap jeans from a neighbor, and bless my soul, they are bootcut/flare/relaxed fit.  All the jeans available in regular stores seem to be skinny jeans, skinny jeans, skinny jeans, so that is what she had, but apparently if we up classed and shopped at the Gap, we could get different looks.  Regardless, she and I are both loving them (no plumber's butt-read being skinny is harder than some might think).  My babelicious and sometimes so sweet eldest.  A bit more on her-she is rocking her Coldplay "The Scientist" recital piece.  She has been so helpful lately and so patient with imperfect parents this weekend.  This morning I went into our disaster zone kitchen (working the majority of my hours on Friday/Sat leaves it sadly neglected if no one lends a hand) to see her scrubbing and polishing cabinets.  It seemed comical to have beautiful cabinets and cruddy counters and dirty dishes but I knew she was trying to be sweet.  I did point out it was the Sabbath, probably not the best day for it, but I had to compliment that good work, regardless.

What can I say about Hulk and Dragon Master (aka The Great Origami)?  Well, I'm sure something at some point this week.  I will say Hulk tried his hand at a little eye poking and maybe trying to pick baby sister up (I didn't see but Dragon Master and Judy Moody did) for the first time today, and his sibs freaked out at what he was doing and scared the heck out of the little guy.  I guess what he was doing looked mean and painful, so hopefully he learned with that reaction he shouldn't do it again.  I remained calm because that's my job, right?

Silent Night

See DG be a sweet girl.  It is calm here at my house while I work until the wee hours later tonight, but when the oldests get back I'm sure the chaos will up to near normal levels.  For now, I like looking over at an adorable little girl in between typing reports.

Speaking of reports and this week, see below to notice how kindly Hulk and DG were to let me shower the other morning without interruption-no easy feat but with some good vibrations and Clifford, we pulled through.

And, yes, DG pic overkill, but if she's my last I'm going crazy, so there.  Rather than in one of her many sleepers, it is so fun to see her in outfits.  I got this number on clearance earlier this week so she has at least 1 0-3 month outfit besides Sunday dresses.  A little girl cardigan?  YES!  Check out the baby leg chubby thigh crease.  Love her so much.

Unfortunately, I do have a pic of Judy Moody, but it was throwing a fit, so, um, I'm just not mean enough to post it...only to take the picture.  Bwahaha!

Cats!

No.  Not the Broadway musical.  I ALWAYS said cats were my favorite animal growing up.  I loved all our farm cats.  I would nurture the sick ones, "help" the mommy kitties feel comfortable when they gave birth, take care of the deformed ones (don't ask, maybe radiation, maybe inbreeding), beg my dad to not hurt any of them, cry when they got shot by teenagers or ran over or disappeared.

Our indoor cat has made me think cats aren't so great.  The outdoor cats were kind of living to survive.  Their stimulation was mousing, outrunning hawks or coyotes maybe.  Our indoor cat's stimulation is finding any cup filled with anything and batting at it until it falls over, spilling its contents.  He is obsessed with our kitchen and opening any plastic bags containing food or possible food he can find.  He drives me crazy.  Yep, for those of you who have already heard of my rants about him, I am complaining again.  Husband has trained me to be used to dogs but indoor cats, they don't give a...care.  They do not respect or feel loyalty.

Alas, our cat with stay.  This is his...forever...home.  BUT ONLY BECAUSE I LOVE MY FIRSTBORN DEEPLY!

Positives of Being Back to Work

Money (a little), more regular blogging (right before I work I take a minute to do this.  When I wasn't working, this wasn't happening), not having the whole company change on me (in the past I've had to change teams, get new computer programs, would forget all my passwords.  a lot can happen in a huge corp in a month or 2).

What the Atonement Can Do IF We Let It

Soo, I'm going off my beaten path today.  I follow the blog of a sweet sort of middle aged/older lady who lives in England.  I'm an anglophile to the core.  Her blog is at http://andthenweallhadtea.blogspot.com.  She is so fun and whimsical and does art and is very reflective and apparently a great cook, though I haven't tried any of her food blog recipes.  Anyway, from her blog today I found another blog, and it dawned on me that this blogger is local:  http://themomentswestand.blogspot.com/

 I read about her husband's murder in the papers 3 years ago and made all sorts of assumptions about him, the murderer, and the murderer's wife.  Oddly, I barely thought about his widow and their 5 kids.  I felt sorry for her and wondered how she felt briefly and that was about it.  Well, I read several of her blog posts.  It seems like she is maybe remarried now and has started this blog to share all the hard (understatement) things she has gone through and how she was able to deal with it, etc.  Some parts of it made me cry because I wonder how could she make it.  I know when you know what you need to do you just keep plodding along, but what heartache, what despair must have been felt.  But she is so great at tying in the Savior's part and I can tell she has a testimony and has forgiven and just seems like a way nicer wife/person than I might have been in that situation.  The Savior can nurture and carry us through anything!!!  That is brought home to me again and again.  ANYTHING

Wassup!

Hey, it's my 100th post.  Who knew that I would ever get there.  I was going to write about how this first day back to work has been exhausting...not because of work so much as the meanest headache/upper body muscle ache inducing cold.  Kind of a pain.  Still, it is a bummer to not be able to take naps...must figure out a way around that.  I am thankful to have the most considerate supervisor when my "special" company couldn't possible find a way to let a lady who just had a baby have any kind of maternity.  I'm sure some kind of law somewhere or at least some women's rights group would be rootin for me.  Anywho, didn't have to worry because my boss realized the idiocy of the situation I was put in and allowed me to take off whatever time I needed.  Four weeks fit the bill.  Life is crazy as I'm trying to get back into the swing of EVERYTHING.  I've tried to add 1 or 2 things at a time (aside from the kids which obviously needed immediate attention from day 1 every day).  I feel pretty ok and when I feel a little down in the dumps I need to realize that I no longer look like this:

I don't care how many people said, "What a teeny belly!"  It was huge.  It carried a 9-pound little giant, and it is now mine again, including an innie belly button!

Four Weeks

Fencer pose.  Hanging in there.  I start work tomorrow, so I am nervous about the great balancing act getting added to.  I can only try my best!  DG is smiling more, though not consistently.  Poor girl has the sniffles but is persevering well.  She is my beautiful little silly one as she tries to focus those eyes-loves when I wear striped shirts.

Keeping it real with piano and Judy.  We have started having to be like hawks (concerned, patient, loving ones) as her piano teacher was concerned.

Dragon Master is still enjoying Cubs, obsessed with Star Wars origami, and giving me piles of video game facts always ( time to unplug?).

My dear little Quiet Man-we have started the process of getting him private speech therapy.  Our insurance covers 28 sessions.  Miracles prayed for always appreciated.

Hulk is a delight but says NO to most things we ask him to do, even under "duress".  He did set the table today all by himself and put stuff away...pretty good for a 2 year old.  

All in all, I can't get enough of these guys.

Three weeks

No complaints here.  DG made it through her first 3 hour block today.  She has really worked on getting her eyes to work how she wants them to this week.  SHE DOES NOT LIKE TO BE ALONE (which after 5 kids I finally get it.  Why would a baby who has never been alone for 9 months suddenly not mind?  It's probably quite terrifying.