surprise!

this holiday season was strange from thanksgiving on.
right before thanksgiving, we had been told by an acquaintance that we would be paid for a painting that hasn't sold like it was intended to. that money never did arrive. as a result, we were not planning on having much of a christmas. when i mentioned it to my mother-in-law, she told me not to worry, and they would help us out.
i make jammies every year for the kids. the year they turn 2, daddy gives them a big blanket. so, i already had some presents planned, and the ability to make them. a wonderful friend let me borrow her serger to help make things go faster.

my in-laws came through with their promise of help. the kids got new boots and snow pants. those that needed them got socks, pants, and underwear. and the helped us purchase the gifts from santa.

as i mentioned in my earlier post, we had 3 different occasions of people dropping of presents. that nearly doubled by christmas morning. 

the first was last saturday when the gentleman showed up with food.

the second was last sunday when the bishopric brought the money.

the third was when they left the presents on the doorstep and ran.

then, christmas eve, the bishop showed up in the morning with more money. that night, when shaun got home, he asked me what the bags on the porch were from. i had no idea. someone had once again, left us gifts for christmas. there were 3 or 4 grocery bags filled with presents.

then when shaun went over that night to get the stuff from his parents house, there had been another drop off for us over there. i think my kids got more presents this year than they have any other year!

the lord works in mysterious ways

indeed, he does.

saturday night, 2 gentlemen showed up with 2 boxes. on of them chock full of food, the other one had a few gifts and more food.
sunday night, the bishopric showed up with 2 gifts and a hundred dollars.
monday night, there was a knock on the door. by the time we got there, there was only a bag full of gifts and a smaller one with snacks in, sitting on the porch.
this morning, the bishop knocked on the door, and handed me another envelope. he said that someone had brought a check by. inside was another hundred dollars.

the first 100 helped buy my meds that i had just run out of. this second 100 took me to the doctor to find out what was wrong.

i'm SO grateful that we pay our tithing and are able to receive these small blessings.

oh dear...

what can the matter be?

i have ANOTHER infection. seems like since being pregnant with ashley, i haven't been able to get rid of any of them. as it IS christmas eve, the doctors office isn't open (of course). and the less expensive place in st. anthony isn't open either. therefore, i had to go into the urgent care office. it took nearly every penny i had on me to pay the bill at the office. then i had to borrow a little money from my mother-in-law to get the meds.

hopefully, though, this will take care of it.

jammies galore!

wow! i don't think i realized how much sewing there was to make 11 pairs of jammies. now, don't get me wrong, i'm not saying i don't enjoy it, cause i do, A LOT. but, taking care of the kids, and the house, and food, and everything else that comes with being mom, it takes a lot of work.

oh, but i've had fun! a good friend in the ward (she's actually "adopted" the two babies as her grandkids.), told me i could come over and use her serger. we whipped out almost all of them yesterday afternoon. didn't get the sleepers done, cause there were some tight curves, but it helped immensely and made my life easier. (not to mention the fact that she did all the sewing)

i brought them home, and put the finishing touches on the ones we did, and started on the sleepers. i have only 1 left for my good friend that i'm helping out with christmas. and then my kids' to finish up.

on a slightly sadder note, my baby is colicky. i'm not sure what's going on. she's not nursing very well, she just devoured an entire 2nd stage bottle of squash. she's also not sleeping well. maybe 30-45 minutes at a time. heaven help me, she's trying my patience!

from the mouth of mama

ok, this was funny, but it didn't come from one of the kids. it came from me!

i just got elizabeth out the door for school. was telling her goodbye, i love you, the whole shebang.

the i said one of the most stupid remarks i think i'll EVER make. Drive safely!

more word games

one of the pizza shops in town has funny sayings on their marque out front. but, since i seem to be having troubles reading anything, my brain makes them funnier.

sign: xmas specail
me: i was special

christmas programs

the kids had their christmas programs this week. i must say, they were actually quite boring.
elizabeths was on wednesday, and i was not able to be there. shannon had the runs, and they were all over the place. so, the babies and i stayed home, and shaun took the older 2. he was able to video tape the majority of it, so i dind't miss a whole lot. taylors was last night. elizabeth was supposed to dress up as a toy, or other christmas related thing. and taylor was supposed to wear all brown or gray.

i saw some way cool costumes there. there was a rainbow brite, a stitch, a raggedy ann, a yo-yo, and a who from "the grinch stole christmas."

but, i think the best part of the whole program was the granny that did the jig!

sparse christmas

i had a friend yesterday ask me why we were not signed up for "toys for tots" or something like it. i told her it was because we had other options. i CAN make things. i CAN improvise. i HAVE other options. there are so many that don't have other skills that they can fall back on. if i take a spot in the programs, they are not available for those that have no other options.

christmas preparations

i'm trying to get things rolling on christmas presents. something that's not the easiest to do when there are no funds to help.
this year, we're helping out some friends that weren't sure if they were going to have a christmas. that sounds crazy now that we won't have much of one either. every year, i make pajamas for my kids. last year, i also made them for my brothers. well, i added 7 extra pairs to make on top of my normal 4. (yes, you did the math right, that's 11 pairs of jammies!) thankfully, i have entire cupboards full of fabric. not the kind that i normally use or would like, but it will work. after borrowing some money from my mother-in-law, and scrounging for a little more, i was able to get everything (i hope) i need to get all 11 pairs made. i was also able to get the stuff to make shannons quilt. except the batting.
the miracle is that i went through a friends line at walmart to purchase everything. when it was rung up, i was $2 short. she just happened to have $2 in her pocket she gave me!

now comes the fun part! cutting and sewing them all!!!!!
go me!

allergy

well, it turns out that ashley is allergic to penicillin. she'd been on it 2 days, and had a rash that extended down to her knees. i promptly stopped giving it to her, and made plans to take her in after thanksgiving. when i called in, the office was closed, so i took her into urgent care.
he said it was indeed a rash, but didn't guarantee an allergy. (i disagree with him, but that's not the issue) he did give us a new prescription to give her. she's now on a z-pack, and doing great.

healthy teeth

my two older kids had dental appointments today. around 9a, the office called and said that they'd had some cancellations. (gee, i wonder why? it couldn't have been because of the blizzard we were having, could it?) they wanted to know it i'd be willing to move their appointment from this afternoon to this morning. i was totally okay with that. so, i climbed out of bed, and rushed to get everyone ready to go.

both kids are doing GREAT! not one cavity! elizabeth even let them take images of her teeth. something she hasn't done for a long time.

i made an appointment to take shannon in and have her teeth looked at and cleaned in 2 weeks. 

general update

i've had a hard time remembering to put the labels on these. that's going to take some getting used to.

ashely started running a fever yesterday. i gave her some tylenol and kept an eye on her. as i was heading to bed last night, i checked her fever. it was almost 103! i decided to take her in to the hospital, cause a temp that high at her young age is not safe. at the moment, it looks like it's just an ear infection. didn't get back home and to bed until around 2 in the morning.

i have really enjoyed making these suckers. since my molds aren't complete, i have been putting them in my 1/4 size sheet pan, and breaking them into small pieces. so far i've made raspberry, root beer, pina colada, and butterscotch. the butterscotch isn't as strong as we'd like, and the raspberry is a little burnt. *UPDATE* the cinnamon is TOO hot. even for me!
this morning, i made cinnamon. the cinnamon was really strong, so strong that it made my eyes burn while i was mixing the flavoring in. as the syrup was boiling on the stove, taylor stuck his finger in it to see if it was really hot. (stupid child!) he's got a serious second-degree burn on his finger. i've put some aloe vera and melaleuca oil on it. he keeps complaining that it hurts. (well, DUH! you stuck your finger in 250 degree boiling sugar. it's going to hurt!)

shannon, may need to go on the brat diet for awhile. she's got diarrhea. but it's straight liquid. not sure what's causing it.

we've had so much snow the last few days. it snowed all day saturday. it snowed all day yesterday, and it's still snowing. last night, it started to blow. i'll tell you what, it was a lot of fun to drive into town to the hospital last night in the blowing and drifting snow. there was so much blowing and drifting going on, that they closed school throughout the whole area. since it's a short week anyway, idaho falls closed school until after thanksgiving. still waiting to hear what they will decide to do in our district.

last night, i started addressing envelopes for our christmas cards and newsletters. i need to find paper to print the letter on, and get some nice current pictures to go on it, but other than that, they are all done.

suckers

when shannon had her tonsils out, we were at the end of the budget. so, i thought it would be better to make suckers, than to buy them. not only that, but the only things i needed to be able to make them was the flavoring. unfortunately, the timing was off to be able to purchase the flavorings. they only sell them in the stores around the holidays. as halloween was not past yet, they didn't have any of their holiday stuff out yet.

a few weeks later, i was able to find the flavorings. i decided to go ahead and get some, and make suckers anyhow. then i discovered that my molds were not complete. they are the old metal ones, that you have to put together.

this evening, it occurred to me that i could just pour the syrup in a pan, and break it into smaller pieces. they wouldn't have the sticks, but if they would fit in your mouth, you wouldn't need a stick.

as i was trying to make them, i ran out of corn syrup. so, i called my mother, and learned that i could substitute honey. i don't have a candy thermometer, so i was relying on the cold water method. i started to burn my syrup. it wasn't much, but you can taste the burnt part, and not the flavor.

i'll try again another time.

oh joy

first of all, taylor came home without his sister this afternoon, again. i immediately sent him back to look for her. then when they both got home, they disappeared. elizabeth came in, and then went out to tell taylor to come in. then they were gone. as shaun has been at the office in rexburg, i was alone with the babies. i couldn't leave to go find them, so i called my mother-in-law. my sister-in-law was there, and she and her son went out to canvas the neighborhood.
they checked the neighbor across the street, which i had already done, but that's okay. they checked the school. the first places i would have looked as well. then they started out around the rest of the neighborhood. they found them around the corner. they had tried to go play with some friends, but they didn't ask. i had just started calling around the neighborhood as well, and had just spoken with that particular mom. she said they had shown up, but she told them they were leaving, and sent them on their way home. as i was talking with her, my sister-in-law started up the front porch with my kids in tow.
i tried to get taylor to talk to me about what had happened, but as his aunt was there, he was hesitant to.

i have grounded them both for the rest of the week. they are also not going to be walking to school or home with friends. my wonderful neighbor will take them to school, and walk them home. i am sending notes to school with them for their teachers.

it's going to be a LONG week.

word games

my mind has been playing tricks on me lately.

in my email this morning, i got a message from diapers.com. the title read, "Private Sale: 30-40% off select strollers and diaper bags"
my mind read this, "Private Sale: 30-40% off stolen strollers and diaper bags"
dang! what a difference!

 i frequently have to double check what i'm reading to make sure i've read it correctly.

plans gone awry

this morning, i decided that i would take shaun into work, so that i could have the van to run a few errands. (we must get his car registered!) he packed up the computer, and i packed up the kids. unfortunately, we got a late start. so late in fact, that i had to get food in town to feed elizabeth and then run her straight back home so she could make it to school on time. on the way back into town, shannon fell asleep.

guess i'll wait until after the kids get home from school to run errands.

not only that, but i had a check to cash so we could get a friends car fixed. because the check was so "large" ($450), and the account relatively new (2 months), they had to deposit it, and hold it for 3 days. i can go get it out on friday. hope that's going to be okay with the guys fixing the car. i didn't have a whole lot of say in the matter.

home school

in my brainstorming with a friend yesterday, i was having serious problems figuring out what i need to do to get my home schooling started. lesson plans, what's required by the state, how i'm going to run this "school," you name it. the only thing i had figured out was that i could get basic supplies from the dollar store.

when she had left, and things settled down around the house a little bit, i went searching online. turns out, there are no requirements and no guidelines for homeschooling parents in idaho! that means that i am completely in charge of what i teach my kids. i can teach them anything i so desire. now to figure out a curriculum that i like, and find everything i need to be able to teach it.

and, yes, just so i have finally stated it and not alluded to it: next year, i am home schooling my children.

contemplations

in my last post i mentioned that i was considering homeschooling my kids. right now, i'm trying to figure out if i could handle it.
i used to have the patience of a saint. i no longer do. 4 kids and a frequently crabby husband, have killed that. there are times that i have to fight the kids to even get their homework done. but i suppose with homeschool, we could go at their pace, and they could work ahead on the subjects they are better at. but at the same time, i really enjoy having them gone for part of the day.
i'm torn. i want to be more in control of their education, but i'm also afraid to lose part of my freedom. this is going to take lots of prayer, and research. it's a good thing i have until may to decide what's going to happen next fall.

lots to think about

i've had a lot to think about today.

last night i had a dream that usually means there's another child to add to the fray. in my mullings, i told the lord that he had to convince shaun first. i'm not doing this again without his consent and knowledge. (shaun if you read this, you better start paying attention.) basically, the dream went something like this. i was laying in bed, or on the couch or somewhere similar, and was talking with one of my mother-in-laws (one of two, that's a long story if you don't already know it). for some reason, we were trying to think of a boys' name. all of a sudden in our conversation, i blurted out, "jackson! his name is jackson. and his middle name is boggs." strange!

then, in my blogging, i discovered the blog by rachel, from signing time. her story was quite inspiring.
when i was younger and less experienced, i always said that i was going to home-school my kids. when the time came around for them to be starting school, i completely forgot, and was more interested in getting them out of the house for a time.
finding this blog, renewed my interest. rachel, has 2 girls, both of whom have disabilities. ok, technically, the one is only deaf. the second one has cerebral palsy. in their drive for educations for the girls, they have been told repeatedly that, "I’m sorry to tell you that you can expect your child to graduate from high school with a third grade reading level because she’s deaf.” if you were to replace "deaf" with any other description of a child, there would be riots and picketers. black, gay, hispanic . . . the only public place that these children can get an education, and they are being told that the best they can do is .... not only that, but they are unwilling to do what the parents requested to make sure that they got the same level of education as the other kids there.
i am going to do some research. i think it's time to pull my kids out of public school, and educate them at home. in doing that, there are some things that i can teach them that they would never learn at school. like table manners, and i could make sure that they are not being taught the "popular" opinion versus the truth. we would finish out this school year in the public school if i decided to go this route.

like i said, lots to think about.

cleaning whirlwind

as i spent the last 2-3 weeks sewing like crazy, i had to let other things slide.
the clean laundry piled up. in fact, the last week, the laundry didn't get done until later.
saturday cleaning didn't get done.
beds didn't get remade after children wet them.

now that i am done with the madness of halloween sewing, i've been catching up on the cleaning.
saturday, sunday, and monday, i did laundry. washed and folded and put away everything.
monday, i cleaned the front room.
tuesday, i stole my mother-in-laws vacuum and vacuumed things up. (as i was informed that my vacuum no longer sucked)
wednesday, i shampooed the carpets in the kids rooms, and the front room. hoping to remove the urine in the kids rooms from weeks of peeing the bed while it was the floor. shaun asked me if i was feeling ok. i'm great! how are you?
thursday, i've started laundry again. i was hoping to get the kitchen cleaned, but am lacking the drive at the moment.
tomorrow, i will finish laundry up, hopefully finish the kitchen and get the toy room done.
saturday, i will wash sheets, and try to get bathrooms done.
next week, i will start over, but not have quite as much to do, as it was just done this week!

post operative

shannon did GREAT!
the nurses said she was the best 2-year-old patient they had ever had. we were home by dinnertime that night.
the only time she ever cried was when the pain medication wore off. for the first 2 days, i had to give it to her every 3 1/2 hours. if i waited any longer, it was not good.
while we were still in the hospital, she ate half my sandwich. and a yogurt nutrigrain bar. still struggling to get her to drink.
but, she is sleeping a little better!

i feel terrible. here it is, the week of halloween, and my kids costumes aren't even started. i am such a slacker!
and i really have no defense. job number 2 (max's costume from "where the wild things are"), i had all that stuff a week before i even touched it. job number 1 (the gothic/post-revolutionary war "alice in wonderland"), took me a couple of days to alter the pattern. job number 3 (the mad hatter from "alice in wonderland"), took me 3 days to get started on.
ok, ok, ok. i know i hurt my foot last week, and that's put me behind somewhat. but, i'm still a slacker.

as it is, we were late for the halloween party we were invited to, and i had the hosts' costumes. they were jobs 1 and 3. job 3 didn't get finished in time for the party. i spent the majority of said party trying to finish it to the point that it was wearable. the only things that didn't get done were the bottom hem, and the buttons on the sleeves.
now, job 2 is due by this friday, and i'm out of commission on thursday as shannon is going in for surgery.

crap! i'm in trouble!

mess

oh dear. my house is trashed

i have been so busy working on these costumes, that i haven't been able to clean my house, or put the laundry away. shaun helped a little bit the other day, but there was laundry being washed, so it didn't get taken care of. my kids go looking for clothes, and complain that they can't find anything.

and the thing that makes me the most upset, is that i wasn't even able to finish the one costume in time for the party. we got there late, wo is me, and then i spent most of the time trying to finish it up. i got part of it done. to the point that he could wear it, but it still wasn't complete. i brought it home after the party so that i could completely finish it.

tumble, tumble ..... ah!

as we were walking out of the ent's office this morning, i tried to fall down the stairs. not only that, but i almost threw shannon and ashley down them ahead of me. ashley was in her car seat, thankfully, so she would have been ok, but shannon could have really gotten hurt.

now the problem is that my ankle REALLY hurts. i landed on my ankle on the corner of the cement stair. it's all scraped up, and VERY sore. it's not sprained or twisted, cause there's no swelling, but it really hurts. i supposed if it's fractured, only time will tell!

shannon

oh, my sweet little girl is in for a fun time!

she's had near constant ear infections and sinus infections for the last 2 months. about a week of the antibiotics, and we're back in for another dose. rather than wait for things to get progressively worse, i asked for a referral to the ent. her appointment was this morning.

at her appointment, he noticed 4 things.
first of all, her ears looked good, but she did have fluid behind the ear drums. it wasn't infected because she's still on her round of antibiotics from the last ear infection. however, that means that her Eustachian tubes, aren't working (that's the tube between the ears and the throat). he informed me that when fluid is new, it's clear and very liquid. when it's old, it's thick, stringy, and amber colored. her fluid looks old. he said it's probably been there 8-12 weeks. which is when her first infection showed up.
second, he said her nose doesn't show any irritation that would indicate allergies. YAY!
then, her breathing. she breathes through her mouth, not her nose. he said, if i watched her while she slept, i would most likely notice that she sleeps with her head way back. when he said that, i remembered that i often find her sleeping like that. he also said, that when that's the case, if the head tips forward and blocks off the airway, they wake up and toss and turn. (ninja shannon)
finally, he looked at her throat. the grade tonsils from 0 to 4. 0 being not there at all. 4 being they touch in back. hers are at a 3. they are right up to the sides of the uvula (the dangly thing in the back of your throat). he said, typically with little kids, if the tonsils are enlarged, the adenoids are as well. he said he was willing to bet that the enlarged adenoids are what's causing the eustachian tubes to not work.

next thursday, shannon goes in and gets tubes in her ears, and her tonsils and adenoids removed. it's going to be a long day!

color coding

i have a friend, who receives assistance from the women's crisis center. as a single divorced mother of 4, i think she has the right. at the center, they color code their canned goods. they put colored stickers on the cans based on the year they expire. i decided it was a good idea, so i bought some at the dollar store. unfortunately, i ran out. but, as they were inexpensive, it's not that big of a deal, i can get more.

in the process of putting the stickers on my cans, i dropped a can of tomato sauce on my toes. they have quite the bruise on them now. OUCH!

to do list

laundry washed............................in progress
flower bed cleaned......................check
dishes..........................................check
laundry folded..............................in progress(ok, not really)
house cleaned..............................check
       not vacuumed though
sewing........................................haven't started yet
sheets changed...........................check
dinner started..............................waiting for ingredients
shower.......................................what's that?
kids bathed................................um...later tonight
tieing chairs to table....................waiting on rope
       hurry home shaun!
nap............................................not a chance today
time with my husband.................same as above
relaxation...................................i'll plan that another day

ward clean up

today, we had a ward cleanup activity. basically, you tell your home teachers if there's something you'd like help with around the yard, and on the appointed day, the entire ward gets together and helps everyone. i had them help me clean out the side flower bed. it was full of grass, thistle, and lilies that didn't have enough room to breathe, old bark, and black plastic. we dug it all up and hauled it away. they kept asking me if i wanted to save the lilies. i decided it wasn't worth the trouble to separate them and put them back in the ground. i tried that with the tiger lilies in the other flower bed; my kids pulled them back up cause "they were dead." someone is going to come back and round-up the grass around the side.

now, by no means is the flower bed ready for planting. i'm going to need to till it again in the spring, and do more round-up. but, it's a start!

crazy, busy, loud

i'm in the process of making 3 costumes. and, no, those aren't the ones for my children. these 3 that i'm making are for pay!
the one i'm currently sewing has been a work in process. i'm literally brainstorming the pattern as i sew it together. here's to hoping it works out like the picture in our heads. i've already had a few times that my "brilliant" ideas didn't work out, and i've had to fix them. if the final product looks good, and she's happy with how it turned out, i'm good. it's a gothic/post-revolutionary "war alice in wonderland" outfit. (i can't get the picture to attach, sorry. when i get it done, and she's wearing it, i'll definitely get a pic and post it.)
i have another similar time period outfit to make. this one is the madhatter's coat from the new alice in wonderland. it should be EASY as there are no planned alterations to do to the pattern.
the last one i'm doing is the costume that max wears in "where the wild things are." i thought i'd had all the alterations done to the pattern that i needed, but remembered that i need to make the hood attached, and the gloves as well.

for the majority of the day, i've also had the neighborhood kids running around. usually not a problem, but as shaun and i have both been trying to get important things done, it's made it a little difficult. they were running thru shauns stuff that he was trying to reorganize in the office. they were yelling and running thru the house. shaun was already past his limit, so when the neighbor got home from running an errand, i send them all over to her house.

tonight is the kids last swimming lesson. we are all going up. i'm going to take shannon in and let her swim, and the kids' best friends are coming with us. i thought it would be nice for them to be able to play with the kids in the pool, since it's the last day of lessons, and the last night of spud harvest.

bridges update

found out what happened the other night with my neighbor.

she's been in constant pain for the last 3 weeks. that night, she finally gave in and took one of her pain pills. they made her fall asleep. she went into the dr the next day and got a shot for the pain.

hopefully, she starts feeling better!

oh, man!

this morning, shannon sneezed great rivers of green snot.

i called the dr.

took her in, and she has another ear infection. then i got a referral to the ENT.
this is her third ear/sinus infection in 2 months. if her tonsils are the culprit, i want it taken care of quickly. if her ears are the culprit, i want it taken care of quickly. maybe she'll sleep in her own bed all night if it's one of the two and they get fixed.

cold

i've been very cold at night for the last few nights. haven't been able to figure out why. i thought, "i wasn't this cold last year!" then yesterday, it occurred to me that i was pregnant last fall/winter. i wouldn't have been as cold at night then. so, last night, i put an extra blanket on the bed.
we both slept much better, and warmer too!

bridges

oh, how do i begin. i've started typing this twice, but keep erasing it.

my friend was watching the kids today while i helped another friend shop for costume fabric. celia, who's paying me to make her a gothic/victorian alice in wonderland costume, came to get me and ashley, and i took the other 3 kids across the street while i was gone. shaun called me in a panic about 7. he had found shannon around the corner of the house, crying. my friend, was no where in sight. her daughter said she was asleep. shaun went and brought the kids home.
unfortunately, this means that i don't have a free babysitter for awhile. i can't take them to her, if she's not going to pay attention. and shaun informed me that he won't let me take them to her for awhile either.
needless to say, i'm a little frustrated. i trusted her with the responsibility to watch my kids, and she blew it tonight.

i'm not sure what to do.

experiment

so, i have a very good friend who lives across the street. we do a lot of things together. at the moment, she is having a REALLY hard time. so much so, that she has started to revert to some of her previous behavior. and at the moment, the spirit is not in her home right now.
at this time in my life, i am very sensitive to changes in the spirit. it causes some sadness and pain in MY live when i visit her home right now.
in light of the recent revelations, i have decided to try an experiment. i'm only going to go to her house as necessity dictates.

clean freaks

my landlords come and do inspections a couple times a year. normally, that wouldn't bother me, except that they want the house CLEAN. i have never been the neatest person in the world. in fact, i don't clean a lot unless i'm tired of it. the one room i try to keep decent is the kitchen. you can't cook or bake with a messy kitchen.
so, when they inform us that they are coming do their inspection, a crazy cleaning spree ensues. the last 2 days have been such.
shaun spent all day yesterday deep cleaning the front room and the kitchen. this morning, i folded clothes, and straightened up the bedrooms and bathrooms. thankfully, i have a fabulous friend who is willing to help with just about everything. from watching kids, to cleaning house. and since we spent yesterday cleaning her house, she spent this morning helping me finish up. she cleaned the bathrooms, the laundry room, the toy room, and finished vaccuming. i folded laundry and took care of the baby.
i'm not going to mop floors. my house is lived in. a family lives here, i'm raising children. a clean immaculate house is NOT my first priority. but, the house is clean, and everything looks nice and neat.

viral something

i went to the doctor this afternoon, as i have not been feeling well at all lately. can hardly swallow to eat or drink my throat hurts so badly.

don't have strep, he said he thought it was viral laryngitis. i have my doubts, for one, i can still talk. but, it is viral. which means there's no easy fix for me. i just have to tough it out until it's gone.

goody! (sarcasm)

oh, how i love fall!

i love fall. with all the wonderful smells from canning, the trees that decide they are tired of their green dresses and opt for red and orange and brown and rust and gold and umber and sienna and..........i could go on and on about the different colors of leaves. i am married to an artist you know. i know a ton of color names that you would never even think of.

the one thing i don't love about fall, is everyone seems to get sick. my dear friend and neighbor, gets upset because we keep passing illnesses back and forth. my kids get it, her kids come to play, and they all get it. so, we will just keep a closer eye on everyone this winter, and try to stay on top of things.
right now, i'm the only one who hasn't gotten better. it started with allergies giving me grief (after all, it is harvest time, and i have hay fever). then it turned into a cough that everyone had. finally, it's persisted with a sore throat that won't go away. i can't hardly even swallow. and when i do, i feel the pain from my chest clear up to my forehead. so, i made an appointment with a doctor, and we'll see what the diagnosis is.

YAY!

shannon, just went to the bathroom for the first time! lately, i've started taking her in to the toilet when i change her diaper. letting her sit on it, and "try." she's started asking to sit on it when i change her as well.
today, she came in and took her dress off, cause you can't have clothes on when you go potty. pulled off her diaper, and then went in and sat on the toilet. she didn't come right back, so i went in and checked on her. she was sitting on the toilet, there was a poop in the bottom!

all by herself, she went in and went to the bathroom on the toilet!

crafty

the other night, while i was feeding ashely just before i put her to bed, i played with a spool of white ribbon.
i get frustrated when people ask me if my babies are girls or boys. as my last 2 girls haven't had as much hair as elizabeth did, it really does make it hard.
with this spool of ribbon, i discovered that i could make flowers with it. i just had to figure out how to get them to stick together, and how to get them on the head. i have a white headband that was perfect for the cause. i made 3 last night, and sewed them together. i put a colored button in the center, for different colors.

this morning, i tried to figure out how to attach them to the headband. i took a safety pin, and pinned it on. by the afternoon it was starting to have problems. (of course, if ashley would leave it alone and not pull it over her eyes and try to eat it, it wouldn't be such an issue).

finally, it occurred to me that i could put a snap on them, and just snap them to the headband.

they are quite cute, if i must say so! and so is the baby that's wearing them!

flower bed

i have a flower bed in front of my house, right under the front windows. the bed had black plastic and bark filling it
this year, it was full of weeds, and a VERY nasty bush.
the bush was there when we moved in. it didn't ever have flowers, and even after trimming it, it still grew shoots that were 4 feet tall. what made this bush so nasty was that it had thorns that were about an inch long.
at some point this spring, i discovered, amidst all the weeds, that i had tiger lilies in that bed. but as the weeds were taller than flowers, you couldn't see them.
around the first part of august, i ripped out all the weeds. or what i could get to.

this morning, after i got elizabeth off to school, i set to work on that flower bed. i would really like to plant some flowers in it. since that's hard to do with plastic in the bed, i took it out and the bark. i also removed the bush.

 

i am quite happy with the results!

crazy busy

lately, i've done a lot of stuff. like, a lot of stuff in one day. yesterday i mopped the floor, put more peaches in the dehydrator, cleaned the entire house, made 3 ribbon flowers, and did research about shauns classes.
today, i put MORE peaches in the dehydrator, cleaned out the front flower bed; including ripping out a nasty bush, did 3 scrapbook pages - traditionally, washed dishes twice, and bathed the kids.
all of that is with the normal tasks of feeding an infant, changing diapers, doing homework with the older kids, making meals, cleaning up after tornado shannon, and taking care of myself as well.
tomorrow is laundry day for the kids. i'm done with peaches - actually, i ran out of bottles, and now i'm out of peaches. if i had more bottles and peaches, i would DEFINITELY do more.

toothpaste anyone?

i just caught shannon, who's 2, trying to suck the remaining toothpaste out of the tube! what am i going to do with this child.

she likes to pull things out of the garbage. especially food, or anything that she thinks looks like food.

peaches!

so, it's fall, and with it brings canning season. last time i canned peaches, i went down to utah and bought them in brigham city. this time, i don't have the money to go to utah, let alone buy peaches down there. but, broulims, one of our local grocery stores, had some from boise. to buy them there was about the same as driving to utah and buying them there.
i got 3 bushels, and so far, have canned half of that. since i'm almost out of bottles, i'm going to have to dry the rest. but, i'm okay with that. i wish i had more quart jars, cause i'd like to do spaghetti sauce. maybe next year we'll have more money, and i can buy some more jars.

i got 31 quarts. would have had 35, but 4 of them broke. oh, well. i'm glad i got something!

crib or toddler bed? which one it is?!

Our crib converts into a toddler bed. It's been very nice. We've had shannon in the toddler bed/crib, and ashley's been in the cradle. Yesterday, i traded the toddler bed/crib for the toddler bed, and the cradle for the crib.

In order to do such, i had to reorganize my bedroom, & clean it. Since i have such a great friend, i did not have to do this on my own. She helped me move things around in my room, take apart the crib & put it back together.

Now when i walk into my room, i think i've walked into someone elses!

ice cream man

So, my kids bought the whole neighborhood ice cream tonight. We have an ice cream man that comes around once a week. The kids have been begging to get something from him all summer. As he only takes cash, it's not something i've been able to do.

Tonight, he drove by just like always, & all of the sudden, everyone is running through the house & out the door. Then someone comes back in, down the hall, & back out again. That happens twice more. Then i hear dominick asking taylor where the change is. When he can't find it, he starts throwing a fit (which is normal). That's when i realized that they were buying ice cream.

I wasn't happy. I guess i shouldn't be too upset, as it is their money, and they should be able to use it how they want to. But, it was just about dinnertime, & no one had eaten yet. When they did eat, though, they actually ate. And some of them had more than one plate.

labor story

i just realized, after reading thru past entries on here, that i never did tell the story about ashley's birth. so, here goes.

i went to my doctor's appointment that morning, where the doctor informed me that he was going to induce me that day. came home and got things prepared.
on the way in, we needed to stop and make a payment on the van, get shaun's license renewed (it was going to expire in 2 days), shaun needed to stop in at the shop and talk to someone, and i think there was one other thing we did.
got up to the hospital, i had shaun park in the family spots for maternity, since we weren't in labor, and didn't need the close spots. walked in and ran into a couple of people shaun knew. talked to them for a few minutes. got up to maternity and checked in.
they got me back in the room around 2. got me changed and on the monitors, and said they were going to call the doctor to come and break my water. i told them i wanted an epidural before the doctor broke my water. he had told me we could do that, and as painless as shannon's labor was, i wanted that again. (especially since i hyperventilate from the pain)
2:30, the anesthesiologist came up and got my epidural in. since they won't let you out of bed after you get one, i stayed put. they put a pillow under my left side, and my blood pressure dropped and i started feeling sick. the nurse gave me a shot of ephedrine to help with it, and i had that nasty metallic taste in my mouth for a few minutes. my blood pressure dropped again, and i got dizzy and nauseous, she had to give me another shot.
3:30, the doctor came in to break my water. we talked a little bit about the dizziness and the dropping blood pressure. he said it was because i was flat on my back. we raised my head a little, and moved the pillow to my right side because it was cold and more numb than the left. then he broke my water.had another drop in blood pressure and another shot to counteract it. then i discovered that if i was almost completely on my left side, i wasn't dizzy, and i was able to think and talk. spent the rest of the time on my side.
4:30, they started me on pitocin to help the labor along. i wasn't progressing on my own.
5:30, they upped the dose of pitocin.
part of the time, shaun and i talked about his story from his bfa. there were some parts that i was very confused about. we talked about those, and did some thinking on some others.the rest, i actually tried to sleep.
6:45, the nurse came in to check me, cause they had seen my contractions get to the point that it was time. she told me she was going to call the nurse, and to not push. apparently, the baby was VERY ready. not quite crowned, but close. i thought she must be crazy. i hadn't felt any of the contractions, or the need to push. i could feel some tightening right under my ribs sometimes, but that was it.
the doctor showed up, and while he was getting his gown on, i finally felt the urge to push. he got in position, and i pushed. she crowned, and got her head out. half a push later, and she was here. i actually felt her move down the birth canal, it was so cool! easiest labor i've ever had.

ashley nicole was born at 7:16 pm; weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces; was 19 inches long; and had a 13 inch head.

crazy mama day

so, friday, the kids get out early. which also means that the afternoon kindergarten has different times as well. it occurred to me today, that i'm not exactly sure what time elizabeth needs to be to school on fridays. i tried finding the schedule on the school website, but didn't have any luck. i tried calling the school to talk to the secretary, no luck. i called my friend, who's daughter had afternoon kindergarten last year. she said she thought it was 11:30 vs the normal 11:50. by then, i'd already sent her to make sure she wasn't too late.

then shannon refused to take a nap today. i put her down around 12, and by 12:30 she was back out of her room playing. i tried again around 1, but had the same results.
while i was sewing quilt blocks (more on this later), i had her lay in my bed. it was only after she pulled the loaf of bread off the dresser that i realized, I HADN'T FED HER LUNCH! (don't ask why the bread was on the dresser.)

we got her something to eat, and i kept sewing. then the kids got home from school, and the screaming and playing in my bedroom started. oh, my word! if i could have muzzled my kids, i would have! some of you may have noticed that i did offer them on facebook for sale or lease. that was a total joke.

screaming kids all day long. that's what i've had. enough that by the time shannon got into my sewing stuff and pulled out my rotary blade, and elizabeth sliced her hand with it, i was ready to explode. i went out to the office, and informed shaun that i was past done. he went in and cleaned the kitchen floor, and got the kids to clean the front room. i calmed down enough to come in and get dinner on the table and we ate.

(i think i left something out, but i don't know what it is.)

anxieties

ok, for those of you who dont' know, i have some mild social anxieties. that may not surprise some of you, and it might really shock the rest. anyhow, it becomes a real pain sometimes.

for instance, our first sunday in this ward, shaun had to push me down the hall to relief society or i would have say in the foyer the whole time. and we had lived in this ward previously, i knew about half of the ladies there.

last night, was a relief society meeting. they've come up with an adult version of personal progress. i think it's great. my friend and i went together, and just before we left, my mother-in-law called to say she was planning on going as well. so, i had plenty of support there, and should have been ok. i only made it through about halfway. by then, my eyes were glazed, and i could barely talk when spoken to. i'm even having trouble talking about it. needless to say, i was not kind of miserable.

busy

ok. shaun has wondered if i'm pregnant, because of all the things i've gotten done in the last few days. let me say right now, that NO, i am not pregnant. i have energy, and there are things that need to be done. some of them have been left undone for too long.

monday, i folded and put away all the laundry. i switched out ashleys clothes for the next size up and all winter. i made rolls. i ran and got some much needed things - diapers, toilet paper, things like that. i took care of my mother-in-law who was ill.

yesterday, i changed and washed sheets. i made cupcakes for an after school snack. i cleaned my shower from top to bottom.

the plan for today is to change out shannons summer clothes for winter ones. fold and put away towels and sheets. clean the girls bedroom and the toy room. maybe something more or less, depending on what happens.

yard sale

so, we decided to have a yard sale today. my neighbor and i spent 2 days going thru my garage to find things to sell. put things out this morning. set out signs, and got ready to meet the hoards.

i forgot to put sunscreen on, and turned into a lobster. i DID keep the baby out of the sun.
i might be a lobster, but this lobster is $100 richer than she was this morning.

impetigo

elizabeth has a rash-like thing around her nose and lips. it occurred to me the other day that i should find out what it is. there was the possibility that it was related to the abuse from last year. so, i made an appointment for her to see the doctor. hindsight being 20/20, i had taken the babies in the day before for sinus infections. as we saw the dr that was going to see elizabeth and he's very familiar with everything that's happened, i was able to talk to him about it then, and let him know what my concerns were. that way, when she saw him this morning, there was no need to talk about them, he already knew.
good news is the dr doesn't think it's related to the abuse at all. he says it looks like impetigo. he gave us prescription for some cream to apply to it, and said to let him know if it doesn't start looking better in a few weeks.

giggles

i was playing with ashley this evening. i started blowing puffs of air into her face.    


she GIGGLED!!!

sick

so, elizabeth didn't have strep. she had a 24-hour bug of some sort. by dinnertime yesterday, she was fine. she even made it to school today.

first day of school

ok, i forgot to take a picture of taylor before he left for school this morning. i didn't sleep all that well. so, i wasn't quite all with it this morning. i'll make sure i get one this afternoon when he gets home.

back to school night was last night. it was kind of weird having it before school actually started. we got to see the kids classrooms, and meet the teachers. elizabeth complained the whole way to the school. it wasn't until we were there that i discovered that she was running a fever. she said her tummy hurt, but i think that might have been due to the fact that she didn't eat much before we left. when we got home, i took her temperature and it was 100.5! gave her some tylenol, and she was instantly asleep. nothing else is going on. she says her throat doesn't hurt, her tummy doesn't hurt, her head doesn't hurt, she doesn't have a runny nose. it's weird.
this morning, she's still running a fever, so i called to make an appointment with the doctor. we'll find out what's going on, i hope.

last minute parties

we had a sleepover last night. normally, we don't let the kids do that on a sunday night, but school starts on wednesday. and we wanted to be able to let the kids have one last sleepover before the weeks started to get hectic. the plan was that taylor and dominick would spend the night across the street, and elizabeth and jessica would spend the night here. about 8 that evening, jessica was already scared and missing her mom, so the girls switched houses. unfortunately, even that didn't last too long. by 12, elizabeth was back over here. she woke up crying, and jen couldn't get her talk, so she walked her home. just as elizabeth got in the door, she wet her pants. jen felt bad that she didn't know what the problem was. i explained to her that it took us a while to figure out what it was too, so she shouldn't feel too bad. now that she knows what happens, next time will be better. i got her pants changed, and put her bed. she didn't remember anything this morning.

right now, the taylor and elizabeth are on their way to green canyon to go swimming. grandma williams and nana told the kids early this summer that they would do something fun like that this summer. the kids didn't remember, but grandmas did. so, this afternoon, it's just me and the two babies. strange.

tomorrow night is back to school night. and the kids get to meet their new teachers and see their classrooms. taylor and jessica got the same teacher. they are excited. it wasn't the teacher that shaun had, but her twin sister. that's also cool though. and she's in our ward, even better. elizabeth ended up being in afternoon kindergarten. which is fine, and thankfully, she didn't get the naughty neighbor boy in her class. i would have requested a switch if she did.

bleh!

i spent most of yesterday sick in bed. i came home from church about halfway through, and went back to bed. shaun walked me and ashley home, and then went back. i havent' been feeling great for a few days, and yesterday when i almost threw up while nursing ashley, i decided i'd had enough.

i drank a half a gallon of cranberry apple juice in about an hour. i think i was thirsty, and i feel a little bit better today.

life-savers

my mother-in-laws, have been lifesavers.
a couple of weeks ago, when shannon was being treated for her uti, we ran out of diapers. when i mentioned to them that i was going to pull out the cloth ones, they went and bought a bag. last week i did have to pull out the cloth diapers, cause we only had a few disposable ones left, and no money to go buy more. i had to wash them on thursday. this afternoon, they showed up with a bag each.
thank you, mom and des!

stinky mess

taylor stuck the end of his nerf sword:

only his isn't as nice looking anymore. it's a little worn. basically, it's just a stick now.

in the hole of a toothbrush holder, similar to this:

except ours had a fish inside it instead of flowers, and the liquid was blue, and it only had one hole.


in trying to remove said sword, he started banging it on the floor. the bottom broke open and it expunged its contents onto my living room floor.

i pulled out the carpet shampooer, and proceeded to clean it up. i thought i had it all and cleaned out the containers, and went to do a load of laundry. when i came back into the room, i could smell the chemicals from the liquid. so, i filled the container in the shampooer again, and went over it again. the room still smells, but not quite as bad as it did earlier.

whoa, nellie

what a day....

i read a book.

i folded and put away clothes.

washed some sheets & put clean ones on all the beds

found out my phone wasn't receiving calls. - i tried to go to the store to see if they could fix it for me or tell me what needed to be done. they closed 5 min before i got there.

we got partially paid by a former client. enough so that we could go pay rent.

i lost my son. was bathing the girls, and he was out playing. when i went to find him, he was no where to be found. he'd walked down to the park cause he saw his girlfriend there.

doesn't sound like much now that it's all written down, but i sure feel like i tried to run a marathon.

sleep "walking"

he he. ashley can turn herself around. i've walked in and found her laying sideways in the cradle. this time, she ended up sliding her legs thru the rungs and going back to sleep. such a cutie!

smiling

i have tried multiple times to catch ashley smiling on camera. it's difficult. she's just started to smile socially. this is the best i could do. but she sure is cute!

tiger lily

so, in front of my house, i have this little flower garden.one day as i was walking past it, i noticed this flower. apparently, amidst all the weeds, i had a couple of tiget lily plants. i only saw 2 flowers, but they sure were pretty while they lasted.

what is this?

took this pic this spring, couldn't figure out what was growing in the corner.
turns out it was a rhubarb patch. haven't done anything with any of the rhubarb, but i have 3 plants!

sewing

my neighbor, who has become a GREAT friend, wanted me to make her a dress. ok, no problem. she had seen one in a catalog, and wasn't able to get it when she saw it. we found the catalog online, and looked at it. unfortunately, she can buy the dress for less than she can purchase the fabric for.
ok, back to plan a, buying the dress!

fabric

ok, for the time being, my fabric is organized. i have all my cotton in one spot, all my denim in totes, all my knits in one place, all my sheers, flannel, fleece, . . . . . . .
you get the idea. they are all seperated, and put away. i even have a tote full of scraps. and it didn't take ma as long as i thought it was going to. i was afraid that will all the fabric i have, it was going to take me days. it only took me about 4 hours. now, i can find the fabric i want to make things out of. next step is to clean out my sewing corner. that's a project for tomorrow.

now to make dinner!

whoops

so, today i decided that if i'm going to make anything for this baby shower on tuesday, i need to semi organize my fabric. i took the baby monitor, my phone, and myself out to the garage. unfortunately, the monitors batteries died, and i forgot i was in the middle of making bread.
the kids came out and told me ashley was crying, and then i remembered the bread dough that's rising. i came in & fed ashley, now to wash my hands and roll the bread into the pans.

ps. i have A LOT of fabric

street safety

i went across the street this evening to see what my neighbor was doing. shannon came with me. when we got to the edge of the sidewalk, she stopped. she had noticed 2 trucks coming, and stopped to wait for them to pass. she even waved them along.

i was impressed and very pleased that she would stop and wait. she is only 20 months old. but, it's never too early to teach them.

nice lawn

yesterday, i mowed the lawn. two weeks in a row. not bad.

on the plus side, it took me an hour less yesterday to mow it. it did have a weeks LESS of growth that needed to be mowed. the lawn looks great, but my hands hurt and are swollen again. oh, let's not mention that i tried to pass out a couple of times while doing it.

SLAKCER

ok, i'm not a slacker, i just don't have a card reader on my computer. ok, on the tower that sucks, and can't keep an internet connection.

i have pictures to post, but no access to them.
i have pictures of ashley, family pictures, pictures of my 3 kids all missing teeth. i have to figure out a way to get to them. when i figure that out, i'll get them posted

chivalry, feminism, or politically correct?

While i was watering the lawn, The kids were playing "dead man" with the neighbors. As elizabeth was the "dead man," i hear taylor insist that they call her "dead woman," or "dead girl." i wasn't sure whether to laugh or not.
Now the real question is do i call it political correctness, feminism, or chivalry?

sicko

Shannon has been running a high fever for about 2 days now.  This morning when she woke up, all she could do was cry & scream. I decided i was going to take her in to the urgent care & find out what was wrong. They did a strep test, it came back negative. Then they decided they wanted to do a uti test. Glad they did, her urine was full of white blood cells, & blood. They gave an antibiotic and her a shot to help start the healing process. She was not happy about the shot, & her leg hurt the rest of the day.

good times

So, this morning i got a call from some good friends of ours. They were in town for a family reunion, & wanted us to come out & visit. This is a family that shaun met in high school, & he spent a lot of time with. We spent a good amount of social time with them after we go married as well.

Well, we also had a baby blessing we were supposed to go to. Since we spent a good 2 hours at the doctor, we didn't make it to our church or the blessing. But we did head out to spend some time with old friends.

The kids made some new friends, we ate some great food, and had a lot of fun. The kids learned how to "play" water balloon volleyball, they didn't quite get it. They also learned how to play cat & mouse, & flag team tag.

As the family has 9 kids, & most of them have kids of their own it was quite the adventure.

monster!

Shannon has discovered that she has the strength to open the fridge door. We have found her playing with the eggs, eating the cookie dough, trying to get some milk. This evening after the kids are in bed, i'm going to have to go buy a lock for it.

water balloons

The kids have been playing on the trampoline with water balloons this evening. we have kept shannon's balloon pretty small. i glanced over as she decided to put it in her diaper! funny child! the she screamed and laughed about it!

camping

just got back from our first ever camping trip without more seasoned campers. had a blast! because we were only going to be there one night, we didn't take the air mattress, but we were so tired, it didn't matter. we slept like logs!

another first, was cooking over an open fire. that was actually fun. i thought i would need to wait until the fire died down, and i had coals. but it turns out, that it's very similar to cooking on a gas stove. you need the actual flame to do much. as i was cooking the bacon, our friends, who we were with, informed me that you could put the bacon in tin foil, and cook it right over the fire, or in the coals. since i was halfway done with it, we didn't do it, but we did try the sausage that way. it worked really well.
i did take stuff for pancakes, but they didn't work real well. i had put everything in a ziploc bag, and was going to mash everything together, like you do for amish friendship bread. great idea, my method was slightly flawed though. i tried to put 3 cups of mix, the eggs, oil, and water in a quart bag. a quart only holds 4 cups. there was no room to moosh it and get the lumps out.
however, we did have fabulous eggs, and bacon and sausage!

i think i could do it again sometime!

crickets

i was sitting in my bedroom about an hour ago, feeding ashley, when taylor came in. he had caught a cricket, and had to show me! it was cute.

then, he informed me later that he had let the neighbor boys take it. that had me a little concerned, cause i know those boys are not very nice to animals. (case in point, they dug up another neighbors dead kitty, just to look at it. and on another occasion, they threw same kitty against the deck.) i hope he gave it to them, and then left. cause i know what happened after they got it. no more cricket.

savings

we dropped our bills this month by $40!

what? only $40? . . . . . .well, yeah. that's all we've been able to figure out so far.

how? . . . . . .we got rid of our storage unit. a lot of what was in it was junk anyway, but now that it's all here, i can start going thru it a little at a time, and get rid of some it. (i hope)

milestone surprise

shannon, our 19-month-old, has lost her first tooth.
here's the story behind this momentous event:

we had a block party on monday. it was fun. there was lots of good food, and good people to talk to.
elizabeth, while running around, tripped and fell, and scraped herself up. shaun took her home, and then came back to get the rest of us.
he went to catch shannon, who likes to run away from you. he ran up behind her, caught her and promptly tripped. shannon went flying right into the concrete driveway. she ended up breaking one of her teeth. shaun hauled her home, and i rounded up taylor and the baby, and we headed home as well.
i tried calling the dentist, but couldn't get an answer on the emergency phone. so, we got her cleaned up as best we could, gave her some tylenol, and put everyone to bed.
i got a hold of the dentist in the morning, and took her in. we wanted to try and save it, but that required a root canal, and their next surgery date wasn't for another 5 weeks. too long to wait. he could have done it in the office, but she would have been awake, and it would have taken close to 40 minutes. and we would have had to physically hold her down, and the dentist would have ended up being a bad guy. not something i wanted to do to my little girl. so, we decided to pull it. once that was done, he said that if 1/2 a millimeter less had broken off, we wouldn't have had to pull it, it would have been fine.

with her missing tooth, shannon looks like a little imp!

stripper/streaker

shannon, who is 19 months, has found a new hobby. she loves to take her diaper off, especially when she's just peed in it, and run around with nothing on. it's become quite the challenge to keep it on her. the only thing that stops her from taking it off is if she has a onesie on. and the other day, she actually got elizabeth to take the onesie off for her so she could get the diaper off. i know she's ready to potty train, but she can't tell me when she needs to go. i need to teach her the signs for peepee and poop.

obedience

Taylor, the other day, asked me if he could go to the park with a friend. I told him he had to have an adult with them. He went anyway. When i found out, i sent shaun after him. They missed each other. Taylor came home first. I informed him he was in trouble, and that he was grounded for two days because he had done something even after he was told he couldn't.
as the days went on, i discovered that it would have been easier if i hadn't grounded him. At the same time, he wouldn't have learned anything. I'm still not sure he learned anything.


especially since he did it again a few days later. what am i going to do with that boy?

macaroni

The other day, elizabeth decided she wanted macaroni & cheese for lunch, after i was done making lunch. She put it on the stove and made it herself. A few months ago i had taught taylor how to use the stove to make ramen. I'm sure he's been helping her out.
She forgot to drain the macaroni after it was cooked. It was very soupy.

goodbye perry's

well, the perry's were here and now, they are gone. seeing my family is always a little bittersweet. there comes a time when we have to say goodbye. it's always nice to see them, but i dont' like having to say goodbye to them.
while they were here we went to the parade on saturday, blessed the baby, had a lot of laughs and enjoyed each others company. we didn't do a whole lot cause everyone was always tired (they did drive all night to get here), and no one had any money. but in my family, we always manage to have fun whatever we do.
i was able to send them away with a little bit of food storage. i know it wasn't much, but it is the only way i can help anyone right now. food, i have plenty of, anything else we have to scrape for.

blessing reminder

just a reminder, we are blessing ashley on sunday for anyone interested in coming. it's at the grey church on main street in sugar city at 11am. after the 3 block, there will be food in my backyard. if you would like to bring something, you can bring a dessert

ashley news

The other night, i tucked ashley in bed next to me. She slept for 7 hours!
Last night, i put her on her belly to sleep. she slept for a solid 4 hours each time!  (i don't normally do that. Usually, i put them on their sides. But her belly button hernia causes a lot of pain sometimes. She fell asleep on my chest, & i just put her in bed on her belly.)

As for the hernia, it's not getting smaller, it's actually gotten bigger. i'm going to talk to the dr about it & tell him that we don't want to wait for a year before we do something about it. It needs to be fixed now.

greasy!

Shannon yesterday, was quite the little monster. I found her in my bathroom at one point, with a soaked roll of toilet paper sitting on the floor, 2 big towels and a hand towel stuffed in the toilet bowl, and playing in the drawers. I kicked her out into the hall, & proceeded to clean that up.

Later that evening, i found her covered in grease. When i went to investigate a little more, i found my grease can half empty. Normally she wouldn't be able to get into it, but i had just put fresh pan drippings in it, & the salmon grease never hardened.

Boy, was i ever ready for bedtime!

animal?

This evening, shaun comes storming into the house pushing a very upset taylor. Apparently, he had just caught taylor pooping outside in the rhubarb patch.
We had discussed the appropriate place for bathroom needs when we learned he and elizabeth had done the same thing on the front lawn. Apparently, the lesson didn't sink in.
Taylor is grounded for the remainder of the night. And he's not a very happy camper. Although, he should be grateful that shaun had me take care of it.

blessing day

Little miss ashley nicole will be blessed on july 4, for those of you who would like to come. It will be at 11 am, in sugar city. If you need directions, be sure to email or call me for them.

wow.

i sat here yesterday trying to catch up on blogs. i think i was at it for 2 hours. that's what happens when the only thing you have to access the internet is the itouch. don't get me wrong, i love my itouch, but when the screen is only 4 inches wide, it's kinda hard to get everything in.

everyone is alive, so far, and healthy, i think.

not much to write about apparently. i will try to find things.

pink eye, update

elizabeth came down with it yesterday. so i started her on the drops as well, and called in today for another prescription.
hopefully, this is the last one that gets it!

pink eye!

Taylor has had eye problems for the last 3 days. Last night, he woke up and both eyes were covered in mucusy goop. So, i took him in this afternoon.

Diagnosis. . . Pink eye! Ahhhhhhh!

The doc told me to watch the rest of the family, & if any one else started showing symptoms to start them on the eye drops, & call in & he'll get me more meds.

ashley

I am so grateful to be blessed with easy babies. The lord must have known that i would not have much outside help when i had my kids, & so he sent me easy babies.

Ashley is an absolute angel. She rarely cries, & when she does it's cause she's been fussing for awhile and not been heard. She doesn't spit up! It's amazing. In the week that she's been on earth, i've only gone thru 4 burp rags. And those only cause i can't stand to use one for more than a day or two. She nurses like a pro, she sleeps like, well, a baby.

Some interesting features about her...
She has a lock of hair that has no pigment in it. It's white.
She has 2 conflicting cowlicks in back.
She has a birthmark the size of a quarter on her right leg.
she has the long perry fingers, and the long perry feet!

We're not sure who she looks like right now.

As for the bily, we'll see how the numbers are tomorrow. At her 1 week well-baby today, the doc didn't seem too concerned about it. He thinks she's either holding stable or going down. Here's hoping!

Wheeee

So, tonight I was being beat on by Shannon. Any time I am on the floor, it is open season to maul daddy. Shannon is our tumbler too. Tonight I picked her up by her feet and twirled a few times. (safely...I promise, not wildly) Then I started down towards the hallway with her following. I looked back and noticed her weaving a little, but at full speed. I was amazed how she put her hands out before nailing the wall as she missed the hallway. Nadia and I chuckled a bit. Then she goes down the hallway further...and nails the closed doorway into the hall bathroom the same way as before, although falling down lightly this time. We cracked up...it was so funny. And Shannon was having a great time...in her little wound up-don't put me to bed- I'm having fun way. Taylor and Elizabeth do their best not to 'run her over' but often fail miserably. So Shannon is quite a tough little girl. Well, anyway, it was good to laugh a bit. You just had to be there. We love her a lot, through all of her 'messiness'. Because she takes the cake on being messy. And I take the cake on gabbing, so have a good night everyone! :D

oh crap!

shannon has had a particularly bad week. she's had diarrhea for days, and it's not getting any better. i think it's mostly due to teething.

she cries when she has a messy diaper, and when she has a wet one.

tonight, i sat down to add posts that have piled up since having the baby. shannon started crying and screaming. i finally sent taylor to see what the problem was. he comes back and says, "momma, you better go see."

i walked down the hall to her bedroom, and find her crouched on top of the dresser in a spread of poop. the entire top of the dresser was covered. i think she tried to change her own bum. she had even put the messy one in the can. i wonder if it's time to potty train? probably a little early for that, but this is a step.

i had elizabeth go get shaun, taylor had ashley, and i started to get shannon cleaned up.

what a mess!!!!

crazy!

What a week it's been!

Last thursday i went in for my dr appt, & was told that they were going to induce me. He was concerned that i'd been at a 5 for 3 weeks. He was going to try for friday, but they were full. They could take me that day though. So, i came home, we got some things wrapped up, mom came over and away we went. (labor story later)

Came home saturday afternoon, mom had finished up all my laundry, Done all my dishes, & thankfully, didn't have any problems with shannon. The RS brought dinner just after we got home, and then we went to bed.

Sunday, shannon started having diarrhea. At first we thought it was something that mom had fed her. But, i think it's actually teething. She has an incisor that's trying to come thru.  We had to take ashley into the hospital to have her bily checked. It's elevated, & they want to keep an eye on it. The RS was supposed to bring dinner again, but no one ever came. It was a night of leftovers, thank heavens we had some.
Monday, we checked her bily again, still elevated. Shannons bum started turning bright red.

Tuesday, back to check the bily again, still elevated. Shannons bum started to blister. I changed her after her nap, put some stuf on it, & she kept crying. She cried for an hour while shaun held her.

Today, we go back and check the bily again. Hopefully, we don't have to put her back in the hospital for treatment.

stop thief!

My children are criminals!
They rode down to the corner store, which is only a block away.  Apparently, they opened a package of gum, & started eating it. One of the neighbors was there and sent them home. Shaun then took them back down so they could explain what they'd done, & pay for the gum. They are now grounded to the house until further notice. In other words, i'm not sure how long.

She's Here!!! Ashley Nicole Williams!

Please welcome Ashley Nicole Williams! :D Yes, we know some of you know her by Sarah Ashley....but on the way home, we thought of Ashley Nicole... and it felt much better. She's been a tough one to name.So, I'll leave the details to Momma. I'll only say this, Momma had an epidural and nearly slept till the time the nurse came in and checked her only to exclaim: "oh, you're there! If you feel like pushing don't push ok?". Doctor came in, we were all in place...and baby was here in 5 minutes or less...2 pushes I think. Daddy was in shock. The good kind, but what a surprise! Oh, and she was born 2 days before Daddy's birthday, so they will have to share. ;)

why?!

Another false alarm, we think. We'll see how the rest of the day goes.

So frustrating. It's like when we take the cars to dad to have him look at them cause there's a problem, they work just fine. He can't find a problem with them.
We get up to the hospital, and things either slow down, or they stop altogether.

drama

I just told shannon that she couldn't climb up on my lap. She started crying, ran down the hall, and threw herself on her bed.
Funny girl!

saturday is a special day . . .

Have started having the kids clean saturday morning. That way the house is clean and ready for sunday. After the kids are done cleaning, shaun usually vacuums. Today, when taylor told him his room was ready to vacuum, shaun told him to go do it. My kids vacuumed their own bedrooms today! And they thought it was cool!

baby update

Had my appointment on thursday. Still haven't done much. I was a 5-6, and 90% effaced. So frustrated and confused.

dentist

Taylor and elizabeth had dental appointments today. They went well. Taylors was actually to fill a cavity. He had a filling that partially broke off, and that's where the cavity was. Elizabeths was her routine check-up. Both kids did well. Taylor had a slight issue with the needle, but the dr didn't warn him first. Elizabeth took a lot of coaxing. At her last appointment in november, she wouldn't let them take x-rays, or let the dr in her mouth. This time, she still wouldn't let them take x-rays. It did take a lot of coaxing and convincing to let the nurse brush her teeth. But, she let the dr do his looking. That was a step. We'll work on the x-rays. As they aren't essential, it hasn't been a huge concern.

whoa, pay attention!

I had an interesting morning. Wish it had been less interesting. Much less.
I'm on my way home from taking elizabeth to school. Driving down highway 33. I'm going 55, which is the speed limit. I'm less than 500 ft away from an intersection, and a car pulls out in front of me onto the highway. I went from 55 to 0 in less than 300 ft. I didn't even have time to lay on the horn. Wish i had.
I don't think the driver even saw me until i was suddenly parked next to them on the side of the road. They paused for a minute and then drove off.
I was so shaken up that all i could do was sit there and cry. It scared the crap out of me.
As i think about it now, i should have gotten their license plate number. I considered that maybe i should have just hit them, but, the car would have been totaled, and it certainly would have put me into labor, & broken a few ribs. None of those was i interested in having happen. (labor, yes. But not under those circumstances)

more frustration!

So, we were told about 4 months ago, that shaun would be getting on board with a local company on salary pay. Not the most desirable compensation plan, but it's better than nothing and would mean benefits as well.
We knew it wasn't going to be immediately, that it would take a little time. However, now it looks like it's not going to happen.
Our lease runs out the end of june. And we're not sure if the landlords are going to extend it or not. If they don't, we have no ideas what to do. We were hoping to be able to tell them that we had an income, & would not have any problems making rent. That doesn't seem to be an option now.

growing up

The other day, i realized that within 6 months, we were going to need the crib for the baby, Shannon is still using it. So, whether i was ready or not, it was time to transition to a toddler bed. We took the bars off the crib, and put up the toddler bed rails. In about 3 to 5 months, we'll trade it for the toddler bed, or put the bunk bed together for the girls, and put the baby in the crib.

oh, the wait!

At my doctors appointment on thursday, i was dilated to a 5, 50% effaced and baby was sitting at -2. I was sure i would be going into labor anytime soon. Her it is sunday, 3 days later, and we're still waiting for something to happen.
 I've gone into false labor at least twice this last week, maybe more. I called everyone and let them know we were close. A friend came from boise for the sole purpose of being here when the baby was born. And yet, i sit here with occasional contractions, but no progress.
Friday night, i thought it was time. The contractions went from 12 minutes apart to 2 minutes apart almost instantly. Got up to the hospital, and everything stopped. I hadn't progressed any further.
The anticipation is killing me!

knock, knock!

When i put shannon down for her naps, i have to close the door tightly. If i only pull it shut and not latch it, it swings open. I put her down this morning, and got the laundry started. While i was working i heard this knocking. I thought it was elizabeth, until i found her quietly playing in the toy room. I then realized that the knocking was coming from the girls bedroom. Shannon decided she wasn't going to take a nap, & was knocking on the door cause she wanted out.

updates

The girls had their well-checks yesterday. Both are doing well.
Elizabeth weighs almost 50 pounds. Shes in the 90th percentile for weight and height. Shes not fat by any means, just solid.
Shannon weighs about 24 pounds. Shes in about the 25th percentile for height and weight.

baby, get ready

Had my dr appointment today. The test that tracks your average blood sugars over the last 3 months came back normal. He looked at my log of numbers for the last 2 weeks and had to give me a hug. When he checked me, i was at a 5!  He was a little surprised, but i'd already told them a couple of times that his baby wasn't waiting until 37 weeks like the others had. She was coming sooner than that.

Based on a 5, i'd say in the next 24 to 48 hours.

whoops!

Was sitting her playing solitaire after the kids went to grandmas for their play day, and realized that it's laundry day for the kids. It was 3:30!  I hope it gets done, cause i'm not sure i'll be able to do it tomorrow.

is it time yet?

So, i recently remembered that the day before i had shannon, i didn't feel well. As the other 2 were awhile ago, i can't remember that well. Now, every time i have a day when i don't feel well, i wonder if the next day i'm going to go into labor and have this baby.

little mommy

Shannon had a little doll she was playing with. She went into her bedroom and got a diaper. She then tried to put the diaper on the doll. When she "accomplished" that, she hugged it tight, and went on playing.

ouch!

Today, i got the lawn mowed. It took me 2 hours. It's a big yard, but i also took a couple of breaks. One for lunch, and one for hydration. Now i'm extremely sore, & tired.

dinner?

The other day when i asked shaun what he wanted for dinner, he answered steak. It was too cold outside to grill, & they just don't taste the same when braised. I also don't have a broiler pan. But, i figured out how to "fake" one.
I have a half size cookie sheet, and my cooling racks fit inside it. I lined the pan with tin foil, put a cooling rack in it, and had a makeshift broiling pan. It worked like a charm! And the steaks tasted GREAT!

biting

Shannon has become quite the little girl. Lately, she has started biting. Ok, this is phase 2. Now when she gets upset, she bites. Last night she bit both of the kids. So, to try and teach her, i bit her back. (she didn't like that much) today, instead of biting the kids, i watched her bite herself. Then, i think she realized how much that really hurts, she started biting toy food.
What a character!

more computer

I took an old external hard drive in and i'm having the shop transfer my files from my computer onto it. Then we're selling it for parts. I don't have $400 to fix it, and i'm not sure it's worth it. It's $40 to transfer the files. When shaun heard that, he wasn't happy. Since he works for the shop, as a contractor, that's something he could do. He told me it was like charging the owners wife for a job that she should get for free. I'm not as important as the owners wife, and not as visible. I'm willing to pay the money. Especially since he is so busy right now.

busy, busy, busy

Oh the month of may! Why are you always so busy!
This week alone, elizabeth goes to see the new counselor, we've got a male involvement night with head start, and all of shauns late or unfinished assignments are due this week
Next week, taylor has a dentist appointment, i have a doctors appointment, a head start home visit, elizabeth will have another visit with the counselor, and the ward is doing a day of service.
The following week, elizabeh has a dentist appointment, another visit with the counselor, and i'll have another dr appointment. And this is the week that i'm expecting this baby girl to show up.

Even when we aren't having a baby, may is busy!

solution . . . won't work

We told the kids earlier this year that we would try to get them into an activity. Elizabeth, of course, chose dance. Taylor chose karate. So far, we haven't been able to find the funds to do it.
Yesterday, i figured out a way! Unfortunately, it's not going to happen. (What?! You know how to make it happen and you're not going to?) don't get me wrong, i WANT to put them in these lessons. But my solution won't work.
IF i could donate plasma, i could pay for the kids lessons and more.  But, they won't let me donate. Even if i wanted to.

more computer woes

So, we've come to the conclusion that we cannot afford to replace my laptop (i can't even pay the bills i have right now). The one that shaun wants to get me is $750, and that's on sale. Even the bottom end one is $500. Even with the $120 that i will get for parts for the old one isn't going to help a whole lot.
I thought i was ok with it, but i'm having a hard time. Not having a laptop means losing some freedom. That's hard to deal with.
I have to type up blog entries on my itouch and mail them to myself. That's why some of spelling is off, and there are actual capital letters  The computer we set Up in the front room, the internet is finicky.
No more scrapbooking, which i really enjoyed. The computer in the front room is not powerful enuf to support photoshop. Let alone enuf room to store the photos.
No more games. The internet is finicky, and not enuf power to handle them.
I had everything i frequently visited bookmarked, and passwords saved for them. I do have a document that has a listing of all my usernames and passwords on it, but it's on the dead laptop.
I suppose i could lose something worse, like the itouch that has the calendar on it. I wouldn't know what was going on if i lost that. Or, the phone that has all my contacts on it. But still, the lose of freedom is hard to take.

confusing?

so, it occurred to me today, that some of you might be confused as to why i have all the baby stuff ready so early.
i can just hear it now, "but, nadia, you're only 34 weeks. isn't it a bit early to have a bag packed?"
normally, i would say, "yes, it is a bit early."
but, you have to understand that my babies come at 37 weeks.
and with this one, i have the feeling that it's going to be more like 36 weeks.
so, based on the fact, that they typically come at 37 weeks, i have 3 weeks left. if you go by the feelings that i've been having, i have about 2 weeks left. and when i say about here, i mean it could even be earlier than that.