Catching up

Well, since it's been something like ten days since I've written, here's a lame catchup post. 

I got the flu. I still have a sore throat and cough from it. Nothing super noticeable though. It just seems normal now. ; )

I turned 30. I went to breakfast at chick fil a with Brady and Elizabeth and then went to lunch at salt grass with Klaudette and Kelsey and the kids. Chris and the kids and I drove to Laramie in the snow and watched mark's hockey game. They won and it was great. 

Saturday in Laramie was a blast. We had an awesome breakfast, hung out (me and Elizabeth)/ swam (everyone else) at the pool, saw the peanuts movie, ate lunch at mccallister's (or something like that... Panara-ish place), watched the byu football game in the hotel lobby, and went to marks other hockey game. They were losing badly and we left after the second period. We survived a white knuckle drive for the first 40 minutes with crazy blowing snow and the rest of the drive was fine. Got home around midnight and crashed. 

Sunday- so so so so so crazy tired. Sang in the choir, Elizabeth had another doll assail blowout during sacrament meeting, church was great, RS was awesome (Tracie taught on being grateful for miracles or something), chris had visits, I napped, I went to an emergency prep fireside, got kids to bed, and did five loads of laundry, cleaned, and packed until 5:30am. Brady woke up sometime in there and maybe Elizabeth? I can't remember. I was exhausted beyond belief and stumbled around in a daze. Got Abigail to school, Klaudette came to tend kids while I helped in Abigail's classroom. I realized I forgot to pack her a snack and apologized. She forgave me. Came home and Klaudette had changed Elizabeth's leaked out diaper. Whoops, thanks. I guess I should have changed that during the night. I kept trying to pack and realized that all the kids clothes I had laid out for Abigail, she had put away thinking it was clean laundry and that she was helping me out. So frustrating but so sweet. She and Brady also put away all of his clothes too. Kept frantically packing and getting everything ready. It's so much harder to pack during wintertime than summer. Also hard to be doing laundry (because I had to throw in another load) and pack instead of packing when everything is already clean and put away. 

Eventually we left for the airport. I was having so much travel and packing anxiety, I had horribly sweaty hands and was taking deep breaths the whole drive. Also almost started crying. Still not sure why it was so bad, but when we were almost there, our flight got delayed and I felt at ease. Also, Abigail wheeled Chris's bag the whole way from the car to the counter. She was that extra set of hands that we needed and offered without being asked. It was such a huge blessing and answer to my prayers. 

The airport was super empty like it was when we flew last year for thanksgiving. Our flight took off an hour late. The kids were all perfect on the flight. Super easy. We got in late. 12:30 maybe? Waited for our bags forever. Got home late. Slept in on Tuesday and then mom was looking at nursing homes. Afternoon was hanging out a bit. Chris took Marta downtown to join dad for the dikembe mutumbo reception and mom and the kids and I walked around the block. We ate and then left for the gardens. We drove two cars on fun back roads and neighborhoods and arrived at the same one as Walter and Liza. All of us started the fun with lights at the gardens and dad and chris joined later. It was wonderful weather. Crowded, but so fun. Got home late. Abigail crashed but Brady was wide awake until 12:30 or so? He wasn't tired or in the mood to sleep. Crazy kid. 

Brady woke up around 8:30. I woke up around 9:30, and Abigail slept until almost noon. Literally 11:50. Ha. All day was mom and dad on phone calls with the hospital doctors, social workers, hospice care, nursing home reps, etc. set up hospice care for papa as we were just told this morning to expect two to three weeks or less. I'm so glad to be here in Atlanta right now and that I didn't wait until Christmas to come. I'll see papa and granny when I go to the farm this weekend. 

Dad made the quick decision to go to the farm to help care for and transition papa and granny. It stole my heart how he recognized a need and jumped into action so quickly. He has his family gathered for thanksgiving and he left it all at the drop of a hat to care for his elderly in laws. Abigail cried when she hugged dad goodbye because she just wanted him to stay. It broke my heart but I told dad it just means that he needs to come visit us soon. ; ) Chris took the kids to the airport park this afternoon for a bit. Liza and the kids came over. Kids all played. Walter and bekah and the boys came over. We all hung out and ate dinner and made ice cream. It's not the thanksgiving I'd imagined at all. Not carefree. Not roasting marshmallows in the backyard or drinking dad's wassail and eating popcorn while we all gather in the den to play games. But we're spending time together, we're figuring out what is best for papa and granny, and we're all enjoying being with one another. On that note, I can never get enough of being with my mother. It's a good thing I met chris and got married, because otherwise, I'd totally be that thirty year old living with her parents. I just love it here and even tonight, I kept going back to talk to mom. Eventually she told me to go to bed because she wanted to get to sleep. Whoops. ; ) 

Tomorrow is thanksgiving! How did that happen already?!  Elizabeth will be six months old on Saturday. How did that happen already too?! Papa is 95 and finishing out his time with us. How did that happen already?!  

Everything is so wonderful but so fast. I'm just trying to soak it up before it passes me by. It's a struggle but I guess we just do the best we can. 

But seriously. Super speed. Everything is always in super speed. Which is a good thing when I can't wait to get to the farm! 

Give or take

The original forecast a few days said it would snow on Thursday. Then it changed and said it would be sunny on Thursday but that it would snow on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday... Y'know, every day EXCEPT Thursday. And now, it says it will only snow on Saturday. So, should we recap? It'll snow basically every day next week except that it won't actually snow. 

Maybe I'll follow up and tell you if anything actually happened. 

When I went from sore throat to almost dead

Friday 11.13.15

Both kids got up bright and early. My Thursday morning sore throat was much worse than the previous morning, but still doable. The kids had time to play trains a bit before breakfast. Still, no kid has said a thing about the rest of their toys disappearing (to the basement). They do say, however, "do we have time to play trains more before bed?" and "if we hurry in the morning, can we play trains before it's time to go to school?!"

Sibling bonding. 

Brady said he wanted to play with Marshall again. So Marshall came over at ten. He's the youngest in his family and is intrigued by Elizabeth. "Where's the baby?!" 

I started going downhill with feeling sick. My whole body got achey and I started experiencing the chills. We needed to get out of the house. I needed the kids to be in an environment where they could be completely independent of me. We dropped Marshall at his house on the way to the library and then I died.  At 2:30.  I couldn't believe it was still so early in the day. Going downhill super fast. So cold. So achey. My ankles were even sore. 

When we got home, I gave Abigail and Brady leftover pasta and put frozen on. And then I climbed in bed. With Elizabeth. Pictures are deceiving. Because I wasn't feeling smiley. I think I was smiling at Elizabeth's reaction to seeing her fact in the front camera. Brady has low attention span to tv that isn't sports. Also, he's like a magnet for me. And for Elizabeth. And especially for the two of us together. 

Honey finally got home sometime after six and fed the kids more. Meanwhile Elizabeth put herself to sleep because she was getting ignored. 

I helped put kids to bed. After spending 20 minutes giving myself a pep talk. Finally I took Elizabeth to bed. I think I was asleep by 8:30.  Brady was awake (for the first time) by 9. He woke up and/or snuck into our bed so many times I lost count. Elizabeth usually wakes up once, but this time woke up none. I had the craziest dreams, was so horribly achey, and alternated between freezing cold and burning lava hot. One of the times, I woke up and realized I was soaked and had sweated through everything I was wearing. I stripped down and got dry clothes and climbed back into bed only to discover that all my sheets were also wet and cold. Thank goodness for our king bed that I had room to sleep with honey on his side. Brady was awake by six. And both kids and me by 7.

Hooray!  

Free cafe rio

Saturday 11.14.15

After our less than restful night, I stayed in bed until 1:30 pm, only getting out briefly to pump a bottle (she only ate one side because she slept all night... That's why I actually like that she still wakes up once) and carry Elizabeth upstairs to put her in her crib. Seriously, I couldn't make myself get out of bed. Even though I was feeling improved from the night before. 

Honey delivered this sweet little bundle to me and  then took Abigail and Brady to breakfast at kneaders with some friends of ours. 

Abigail's hair is so fine that it tangles like a spool of thread. Suggestions? I only bathe the kids once a week so my favorite hairstyle for Abigail is the messy bun. It's quick and easy and Abigail loves that we don't have to painfully brush out her hair. 

As a result, she growing one crazy dredlock out of the top of her head. I tackled part of this mess before finally giving her another messy bun and sending her off to breakfast. ; ) 

Oh, there you are. I forgot you were still here. I should probably unswaddle you now. 

Honey took the kids to sports authority, aka "the golf store" and Brady loved it but hated coming home. He emptied this colander of food toys by saying "here's some cheese" and flinging the cheese at Chris's head, and on and on. I thought it was hilarious. 

I took this picture when I walked past their room. Well Abigail's room but they both sleep there. It looks like a quilt made of books. Also, Abigail's diaper leaked out on her bed but I felt too sick to wash her sheets and do laundry so I had the brilliant idea to have her sleep on the crib mattress and move Brady to the sofa. With a fitted mattress pad and crib sheet. It works well. 

My friend Sarah is cheaper than I am. She alerted everyone in our ward fb group of free cafe rio (a meal for you and a guest) for the first 250 people that signed up. I signed up for two so we wouldn't have to share ours with the kids (pork burrito for them). It was delish. Not as good as costa vida, but still great. Woohoo for celebrating the grand opening of cafe rio in castle rock! 

Abigail was so cute when she was making Elizabeth laugh. 

Brady was acting mostly normal but kinda sick and had a snotty nose. He was crying at dinner because his lips were so chapped he couldn't eat. The poor boy. Also, honey started on his spiraling downhill decent and felt horrible at cafe rio until his three ibuprofen and two DayQuil kicked in. He took two naps this morning before 1:30. Two. 

On our way home, honey and I were lamenting that it was only 3:39, which was not late enough for all of us to go to bed. We killed an hour at the park and actually enjoyed ourselves. Honey listened to his favorite songs on repeat and I talked to him, repeated everything ("I got the gist of what you were saying..." "No, you didn't. If you got the gist, you would have known that I bought them.") three times, and watched our kids and their little mannerisms. It was great. Also, we played this game where we swing our kids in the baby swings and then honey throws snowballs at them while I record it all on video. See that one headed for Abigail? 

Sliding down the slide. They do everything together. 

Also, have I mentioned before that I feel like I have twins? It's like Abigail and Brady are the same age. All day, every day, I think to myself "it's like they're twins!" Which is crazy because they are 2.5 years apart. In Abigail's defense, I do think Brady seems advanced for his age in terms of... most everything. 

See that snowball in the sky? 

We came home and had some hot chocolate. And all five of us hung out in bed before we headed upstairs for the night. 

Also, Brady woke up with the goopiest eye today. So much thick, green, goop stuck in his eyelashes that he couldn't open that left eye. No signs of redness and my research online told me this. What did people do before the Internet? Would I have been clueless and forced to take my kid to the doctor? 

All kids were asleep by 6:45 or so. It's 9:15 right now and Brady has already woken up three times, crying inconsolably. I gave him painkiller (which he screamed about) and wiped his nose and eye. I also held his hand while he fell asleep.  This always takes me back to summer/fall 2014 when I did that for every map and at bedtime. 

So, in summary, I still feel horrible, but honey has the man flu and "doesn't want to get the kids sick", so I'm probably gonna just be loving life for the next 48 hours or so. ; ) 

In honey's defense, I think he genuinely just doesn't understand the role of being a mom and caring for the sick while being sick and the details of how all of that works. Also, I know he's going to suck it up tomorrow and go to church and do the million things he has to sowing out even appearing sick because that's just the kind of person he is. 

I'll say home with Brady and Elizabeth and try to steal a nap somewhere in there. 

I was a good mom

11.12.15

Today, I didn't scroll through my fb feed. Not even once. I checked notifications, but nothing else. As a result, my day felt less busy, more calm, more peaceful, and much happier. When I nursed Elizabeth, I was just focused on that. When the kids were playing, we used my phone to listen to church music on pandora instead of me checking out while checking fb. I felt like I was far more present than what I have been in too long. 

Brady wanted to walk in the show after we got home from dropping Abigail off. It was adorable how into his footprints he was. 

Then we cleaned up the trains (I took almost all of the kids' toys to the basement Tuesday night because I was sick of the clutter) so I could sweep and mop the playroom floor. That hasn't happened in forever and Brady was so into helping me. The elf on the shelf watched me mop. 

Once he saw the playroom completely empty, he put socks on his hands and feet and grabbed his hockey stuff to skate around the playroom. It was precious. He always purposely falls down while he's playing sports because that's what all the sports players do. And because "the ice is slippery."

Picking Abigail up, I decided to implement a schedule for the day and really stick to it. It worked super well and the only thing we changed was skipping watching a show and adding playing in the snow. 

Get home and do our things (put away shoes and backpack, go potty and wash hands, etc)

Eat until 1pm

1 o clock hour- reading time

2 o'clock hour- coloring/cleaning/play in snow

3:30-5:30 build tracks and play trains

5:30- straighten up and do puzzle

5:45- eat dinner (we had spaghetti, peas, and crescent rolls)

Bedtime

I'm planning on trying a similar schedule tomorrow and hopefully it will also work well. 

We put together Abigail's necklace before reading together. 

Adorable. 

Hot chocolate to warm up. 

Trains. Should I be concerned that neither kid mentioned anything about 90% of their toys vanishing? It makes me ashamed. They have way too much. 

Thy played trains so well together. It was like Christmas morning and they'd gotten a new present.  I can't believe we gave this set to Abigail for Christmas* when Brady was one week old and now they're playing it together like best friends. They seriously are like having twins. 

Elizabeth bites and sucks on everything. I'm trying to be better about giving her stuff instead of just letting her chew on her hands and soak her pjs. 

This was her face as she watched Brady run in circles around her room. Because that's this thing that he does. He runs in circles and pretends to throw and catch an imaginary football with you. 

And he falls. Because that's what football players do. 

Twins. Abigail has major FOMO. 

Sisters. 

She has the rosiest cheeks. Sometimes we call her cheeks. They're out of control. ; ) 

Honey helped me tame the wild beast of a baseman since it was resembling our neighbors' garages. It only took 30ish minutes and it is greatly improved. 

I even have some visiting teaching scheduled for tomorrow morning. 

I just feel really good about life right now. I wasn't sucking today! 

Happy early birthday to me!

Honey ordered a fit bit recently from Amazon. And today he got it... Times two. It was fulfilled twice. Two separate boxes and everything. Honey was all "umm, that's kind of a big mistake for Amazon to make.  It's not like I ordered notecards and they sent me an extra pack.  I mean, they sent an extra Fitbit."  Of course he contacted Amazon to tell them about the mistake but Amazon is like costco in that they have excellent customer service. So they said something along the lines of "thanks for letting us know... Consider this a thank you from Amazon for being a valued customer."* 

So now we have his and hers fitbits. I'm having honey give it to me for my birthday. ; ) 

*i have always been a luckier than average person. I'm not sure how this happens, but I do seem to experience these kinds of situations more than most people... And I have a knack for winning raffles and cake walks and anything else that is pure luck and no skill. Don't worry... I recognize this as a gift and am extremely grateful for it. 

"My Marshall friend"

Today we woke up to our first real snow. Last week wasn't enough to count. 

It was gorgeous. I love Colorado. 

Abigail got decked out in her patriotic gear for Veterans Day. 

Marshall came to play at ten. Abigail bossed them around after we picked her up. 

They played some sports. 

They're kind of like twins. Everyone at church always mixes them up. 

Elizabeth used to always shift down in her crib. Apparently now she shifts up. And to the side. ; ) 

Her head was originally where her belly is. 

Marshall loves trains. So the boys did that most of the time. 

Abigail can find a way to make a mess of anything. ; /

Kids cleaned up. Marshall left at 4. Abigail and Brady watched the Barbie movie until 5:30 when honey got home. We all ate and went up for bed. I love putting my kids down ridiculously early. Like 7. Ha. 

Is tomorrow already Thursday?! Life moves so fast!