Ignoring the Elephant

I wrote this over a week ago... wanted to get pictures, but that will come once we get our computer!

So, up until today I think I've done a pretty good job ignoring the elephant that has been hanging out in the room. If I just pretend I'm not going anywhere, then I won't get sad or cry or start binge eating. Well, the elephant presented itself today and all the above has started to happen. It's been a crazy weekend, too.

Friday was Ellie's birthday and she insisted I go with her to the zoo, which was a lot of fun. Then an hour after we got home 6 girls came over for a birthday party. It was quite the party. Painting of nails, decorating of cupcakes, decorating of picture frames, eating pizza, dressing up with feather boas and taking fun pictures, singing birthday songs, eating cupcakes, and opening presents. Then of course a few minutes to play with said presents, because who doesn't want to check out the gift they give a friend? Overall it was a lot of fun and I think the girls had a great time. I had made some adorable (if I do say so myself) reversible bags for the girls that had the boas, sunglasses and lip gloss cell-phones inside. Ellie headed home with Mom for an overnight at Grandma's. That evening we had a friend stay and play games until I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.

Saturday Steve threw a last party for all the scouts he has had since we've been here. It was supposed to be from 10-3, but the last boy didn't leave until almost 5. They played video games, ate pizza and played target practice with paintball guns. Perfect for a batch of 12-year olds.

Mom and Sybil/Dick arrived with Ellie at 4:45 and we soon after headed out to eat. Our kids are actually really good at restaurants, but the food took awhile and after having lemonade spilled on me twice I was ready to be done! After we ate we came home for more presents and cake/ice cream treats. Ellie was in heaven yet again. Her new doll, Liz, was a big hit and she has been carrying her around everywhere today. We're excited to take her to New York so she and her friend Emma can play dolls together. Steve and the kids all crashed at 8 and I stayed up until after midnight doing laundry (washing and folding 7 loads-worth) cleaning up and getting the house organized for the movers and taking a 1/2 hour treadmill break.

Then today hit and I knew I had to acknowledge that life is changing. I don't like saying good-bye because it makes me so sad. But I've made so many great friends here. This is the first place that I will truly miss when I leave. I know that sounds sad, but it's true. In the past I've been a bit of a hermit and just survived our posts. But here I have so many great friends. We've done cooking classes, music classes, play-dates, joyschool, many parties (who would have ever thought I would be the one throwing parties?) and just plain having fun hanging out. My kids love their kids. I love the moms and I have felt like myself around them. Sheesh... I'm gonna start crying again. I am going to miss everyone so much. My primary kids were so sweet today and gave me hugs and the sweetest cards telling me that they'll miss me. So yeah, this is hard.

It's a good thing we're headed towards friends, too. Otherwise I think I might go AWOL!

Easter Picture

Cynthia and her family came up for the weekend and we had an awesome time staying up late playing games and the kids loved having cousins around. Then we all went to church together with my parents in Normal on Easter Sunday.

Less than 3 weeks before we move. It's really hard to believe!

Tommy at 9 Months

Okay, so he technically will be 10 months in just 5 days, but we did take these pictures right around 9 months, I've just been a slacker and haven't posted. And I actually got him in to the doctor within that same week. That is practically unheard of these days!

Here are some fun things to note about Tom:

He's a big 24-pound boy that is wearing 18 month shirts and 12-month pants.

He is finally crawling. Happened right around 9 months. It started out very slow and deliberate, but he's now quite quick and disappears rapidly.

Has decided that he's attached to me. He's happy until I leave the room or move away from him. I am definitely home base right now.

Will only eat baby food if it is mixed with yogurt. Likes to eat table foods and is quite good at it.

Has 5 teeth!

Makes all sorts of fun noises and likes to copy or be copied in those sounds. Still nothing consistent.

Wakes up between 1-4 times at night. Thankfully we're most consistent with the 1 time per night. And he still needs to be swaddled to be a happy sleeping boy.

Is pulling up to his knees on furniture. Still not up to his feet. But I am okay with that!

Is still a sweet snuggler. I love how cuddly he is. I have certainly enjoyed this little guy. It is bittersweet to have him growing and changing. He is truly a blessing in our lives.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Last night Ellie and Katie were insistent that a leprechaun was going to come visit our house. So they left a note, a cupcake and hoped for the best.


Are leprechauns real? Only if you really believe... But someone or something colored the picture, left a note, took a very tiny bite out of a cupcake and left some gold (chocolate) coins for the kids to enjoy.

Happy Anniversary

TO ME!!!!

Eight years ago today I married my sweetheart in the Logan, UT temple and made the best decision ever.

Steve gave me a beautiful necklace, which was so, so sweet. And he also surprised me by having a sister in the ward (thanks, Sister Williamson!) come stay the night with the kids. I was a bit nervous to have her come, as she's a single mom with a grown son, so this would be a big shock! But she was willing, so away we went. We went out to eat, had our favorite ice cream, watched a movie and headed to a hotel. It was so nice to sleep a whole night with nobody waking me up! We had a continental breakfast in anticipation of a yummy lunch then drove another 2 hours down to the St. Louis Temple to do sealings, which is such an awesome thing to do, but especially close to a wedding anniversary. We got through just 5 before the incident outlined in the last post. And so Mom took over for Sister W, (who I guess was exhausted by Saturday afternoon- 5 kids under 7... yeah!). And that ended our wonderful anniversary weekend.

Although there were certainly dents in the road, it was wonderful to spend quality time with Steve without little ones vying for our attention. I am so grateful to be married to such a sweet, wonderful guy who takes care of me and our family and is just an awesome priesthood holder.

Mastitis

Medical dictionary definition:

inflammation of the mammary gland usually caused by infection

If only it were so cut and dry like that!

So, Saturday I got to find out what a full-blown infection felt like. I had one with Ellie that resolved on its own. I had been feeling a bit of pain for a couple days, but thought it would go away as well. Steve and I were actually in the temple doing sealings and I got light-headed. I asked for a drink of water thinking that would help. I went back in and started to feel really faint. It was time to head out. As I changed clothes I got really cold. Then I felt nauseous and hung out in the bathroom for a few minutes while I waited. Nothing happened except for worrying a few really nice sisters. I finally made it to Steve and as we left the temple I started shaking uncontrollably. And that is not an understatement. I've had the shakes after my c-sections and that was pretty miserable, not being able to relax without shaking. But this was amplified about 5 times. I had to bite down on my pillow in the car to keep from biting my tongue. It stopped my teeth from chattering, but it moved down to my legs or hands or whatever else. Even tensing up didn't relieve it. Steve rushed me to the hospital, which thankfully was basically across the street and in we went. And then we waited, and waited and waited. Nothing like being in an emergency room and have things move like molasses! I think we were sitting for about an hour. They were nice enough to bring me a heated blanket, which actually helped calm down the shaking.

By the time I reached my room the shaking had stopped but my head was pounding. My brother-in-law, Tim, was kind enough to drive over and assist Steve in giving me a blessing (thanks Tim and Cynthia!!!) It was discovered I had a 102.3 temp, so after some Tylenol, an IV drip of antibiotics and a prescription we were on our way. I slept most the way home (3 hours) and Steve was awesome to drive even though he was tired. I ate some pretzels on the way home, but those came back up a few hours later (second time ever since we've been married). Headache still hadn't gone away. I went to bed at 8, but was up every hour with either chills or sweating bullets. It was a miserable night. I awoke to a fever and headache, but after some more Tylenol and rest that finally went away. I ate a few saltines and drank a few sips of 7-up on Sunday afternoon, but that just made my stomach hurt worse. The infected area has gotten more red and the tenderness still has not gone away. I have been able to eat a little bit of food today, which is giving me a bit more energy. I'm hoping by tomorrow I'll feel much better and that infection will just go away!!!

Steve and I joked that the only way I've been able to lose weight this time around has been when I was sick and couldn't eat for a couple days. Didn't plan on doing it again just a month later! Although, I am 10 pounds lighter than I was a month ago after the first bout of stomach bugs. Exercise and diet didn't accomplish what starvation did... :-/

So yeah, miserable, miserable, miserable. And on top of it all, I think my milk is drying up. Ah... C'est la vie.

Katie's winter pictures

When we took Ryan out the other day for picture, Katie insisted on getting her picture taken as well.

Disaster Boy Turns 2

How did it happen that my little guy is turning 2 today? He has brought an enormous amount of love and laughter to this family.

Here are some of my favorite things about Birthday Boy Ryan:

He loves, loves, loves to snuggle and give hugs and kisses. He is the sweetest little boy. In the morning especially he likes to come down and snuggle with Steve.

I can't believe how polite he is. Ryan is the only one of our kids who consistently says please and thank-you. He knows if he says please he'll get pretty much whatever he wants. Why haven't the girls picked up on that? His language skills are improving significantly as well. I can understand Ryan-ese much better than most, but he is really taking great strides.

He has earned his nickname and more. Ryan can get into anything and everything. In a way I totally admire his determination. He doesn't just whine and wait for someone to do it for him. He takes matters into his own hands and accomplishes what he wants accomplished. Raiding the candy stash, tearing open a favorite snack (goldfish all over the floor), moving a stool over to get a cup and attempt to get water from the fridge by standing on the dishwasher, etc. There is almost always a mess in the wake of Ryan.

Ryan is a furniture mover. It allows him to complete those tasks outlined above.

He is learning to fight back. Sarah gets her hair pulled a lot. Katie and Ellie get hit quite a bit. We all get a tongue-out raspberry when he's frustrated. Tommy occasionally gets shoved aside when precious lap space is being infringed upon.

Ryan adores Tommy. He's constantly giving him hugs and kisses and brings him toys when he's sad. Again, there's only jealousy when Ryan wants the snuggle that Tom is receiving.

Every meal is called "yunch". If he's hungry, that's what he asks for. He eats just about everything. Luckily his food allergies have all but disappeared. I'm still careful with eggs, but that is really it. The only foods I know he can't stand and won't eat: bananas and eggs....well, up until yesterday, he devoured the scrambled eggs I made and seems to be ok with them! We don't even have him on his allergy medicine anymore which is a blessing (though that may be due to it being around zero degrees outside!)

Ryan is such a girl sometimes. He changes clothes multiple times a day (yet again, since I won't do it for him, he does it himself.) He has favorite clothes that he prefers to wear if they are clean. He does not like to be dirty for long. He screams like a girl. But I suppose that's not completely his fault. He likes to wear bracelets and carry around a purse. He likes to push babies in strollers. He loves, loves, LOVES shoes. It's really quite scary how much he likes his accessories. Ryan even loves to wear a tie to church and as soon as he knows it's church day he runs to his room and picks one out.

But he's also such a boy. He climbs on everything. He growls all the time. He loves balls and cars. His latest is to put a basket or bucket on his head and walk around trying to scare everyone. Really quite funny.

He loves to have his hands in his pockets. It always makes me laugh because he looks like he's being all "GQ" when he does it. I have to be very careful when it's time to do laundry. I have found grapes, chapstick, marbles, crackers. All sorts of fun things.

Ryan has serious separation anxiety. We've had the same babysitter for almost 2 years and he still cries when we leave. He refuses to go to Nursery alone. Steve has become Ryan's favorite, finally. My dad ("abapa") is probably a close second. Typically anyone that talks to Ryan gets a blank stare or a scowl.

We have not kicked the pacifier habit yet. We have restricted it to bedtime. He is definitely addicted! He's still in a crib, too. I'm not ready to give up either crutch yet.

He loves to read books. Some favorites (and it's funny to watch him pick up a book, look at it, and throw it down for a different one that he likes more):

We're Going on a Bear Hunt

Moo, Baa, La la la

I Feel My Savior's Love

5 Little Monkeys

Winnie the Pooh board books

I Can be Reverent

What Makes a Rainbow

10 Little Ladybugs (now destroyed...hmmm)

Ryan is the perfect addition to our family. I can't imagine life without this cuddle-bug. Happy Birthday my sweet, sweet boy.

(We had a snow-globe snow this morning and I made Steve go out and take pictures. We got some awesome ones of Katie, too that I'll post tomorrow.)

Sick, Sick, Sick

I feel as though that is the theme around here. Tommy has had a cough/cold for over a month. Ryan had a fever and cough on Christmas (thank you Walgreens workers for being in on Christmas day), Ellie was at the ER at midnight last night with an ear infection, etc... We have all been pretty miserable this month.

But this is about sweet Tommy. Yesterday we decided it was high time the poor little guy got checked out. He had a fever and the cough was sounding worse. Steve took him in to the doc and he prescribed a steroid and antibiotic. Then he sent us down to a lab in Champaign to get some chest X-rays taken, just to be sure. Well, have you ever seen how they take X-rays of little ones? Because babies are obviously very squirmy. I just had to take a picture on my phone. And let me tell you, our little guy was such a trooper. We sat in the waiting room for 1 1/2 hours to get 5 minutes worth of x-rays. So we went back, and after removing his shirt, Tom was placed into this little tube thingy.


I cannot believe how mellow he was about this. That's some COLD plastic! And Tommy? Just sat there wiggling his fingers and swinging his feet. The tech couldn't believe it and had some of the other techs come take a look because he was so cute. I even got him to smile while sitting in there! He had an x-ray from the front and back. The results: pneumonia! Not good. So, I took him back to the doctor where they gave him two shots as boosters to get his body healing. He was back at the doc today for a follow-up and they put him on another antibiotic to make sure and kill it for good. But, being the sweet boy he is, you'd never know he didn't feel well. All smiles and sweetness. I sure love this little guy. I hope we can get rid of this so we both can start getting more sleep at night!

A couple things I've been wanting to say...

There have been so many blog posts running through my head lately that I thought I'd just put a few things down while I have a minute.

First of all, Ellie has finally ditched the training wheels! Hooray! And once she decided to do it, she learned in no time at all (apparently she did it first try). We actually got her a new bike (since 2 bikes for 3 girls was causing some serious complaining), but I took these the first day she rode without the training wheels.

Tommy likes to be sitting upright or playing in his exersaucer now. He doesn't like to be left on his back for long; although he still isn't rolling from back to front.

Okay, so this is a bit of a trip down memory lane for me. These outfits were mine when I was little. Can you tell what decade I danced in? Ha!

But there's an interesting lesson that I've learned from remembering that pink one in particular. Elder Bednar was here this weekend for Stake conference and he and Elder Ward from the Seventy talked a bit about what we're teaching our kids. Let me explain where I'm trying to go with this. When it was time to buy a leotard Mom took me shopping and I found this one. I just had to have it- it had the cute little belt just like Miss Janet, my dance teacher! I tried it on and convinced my mom that yes, it was perfect and I had to have it. I would guess that it was not cheap and we didn't have money to just buy "things" when I was growing up. Well, we got it home and the first day of class I noticed that those cute straps were digging into my shoulders. Apparently it didn't fit as well as I originally thought. But you know what? I never once mentioned this to my mom. I knew the sacrifice she had made to get me the one thing I really, really wanted. There was no way I was going to hurt her feelings by telling her that it didn't fit. So I wore a too-small dance outfit the whole year. I felt beautiful, but more importantly, I took responsibility for my actions. Now on to my lesson. I love to buy kid clothes. It is just fun for me to dress my kids up cute. But I've noticed that they are becoming less and less appreciative of the nice things I buy them. "It's itchy," "I can't find anything that matches," "the sleeves aren't long enough," etc... I hear these comments and while it sometimes bugs me and sometimes hurts my feelings, in the end it really is my own fault. Just because I can afford to buy my kids nice things doesn't mean I need to go overboard. It is time for me to assess what is important in life, and material things aren't it! And I want my kids to know that as well.

**quite a lesson just from 2 dance outfits, huh?**

And that leads me to another lesson I've been learning (or re-learning) lately. Priorities. I have gotten into the whole coupon craze that has hit around the country. It is just so much fun! But it takes a ton of time and that is time that really should be spent elsewhere. And so I have decided to step back and just worry about the necessary groceries and play the coupon game when life is a tad bit less hectic. So sad! Just because it's a good deal doesn't mean I need it!

Steve and Tommy

Make that THREE posts today!

I pointed out that Tommy actually does look like Steve (we've been trying to figure out just who he resembles.) What do you think?

Tommy 5 months

I know, two posts in one day... amazing

I took Tommy in for his well-baby appointment this week and he's a big boy! (Yes, I'm over a month behind on his appointments.) So my 5-month old is off the charts for everything. A baby this age should not be 21 pounds and wearing 12-month clothes!

We tried baby food today for the first time.

He's not convinced...

Tommy just figured out how to roll from his tummy to his back. Mostly he's happy just watching what's going on, not really interested in moving. I call him my chubba-lump.

I sure love this little guy!

A peek at Halloween fun

One of these days I will do an actual blog post. For now you just get more pictures. We didn't do any trick-or-treating this year because we got to go to my Dad's concert instead. My sister's kids dressed up with my kids and as we didn't get many good pics, we'll try again at Thanksgiving time.

A picture in true Western style!

look at those chubby legs!

two little Indians

two warriors

Tim with the Indians at the concert

Cynthia's sweet Sam

Fall Pics

My beautiful girls :)