birthday pizza!

I literally just listened to this chapter yesterday on my phone at the gym and nothing really stuck out to me and then I opened to this chapter in my little book of mormon and these verses just stood out.  I'm such a visual person.  reading on paper makes all the difference.

I set Andrew on my bed to hang out while I ran upstairs to put Elizabeth down for nap and when I came back, he'd passed out.  ugh.  frustrating when you just need to be in two places at once.

Sarah is one of the most unclear texters I know.  I got this as I pulled in the garage after visiting teaching and was so confused.  even two hours later, I was still trying to figure out who was going to watch my kids, etc.  I wondered if maybe she'd ask Jane to come over but texted my honey and found out that he had plans to be home by 5 so I could go.  what a fun surprise!  I chose mod pizza as our spot and Sarah and Jill picked me up and Janel met us there.

wanna know what else was really fun about the day? Abigail has been talking about this girl, Fiona, that lives on our block (although I just found out which house she lives in) for a while and playing with her after school and we just realized that that's the same girl that we see walk home with her brother after school each day.  I finally told Fiona that I wanted to go over and meet her mom and when I did, I could instantly tell that I liked her.  we talked for only a few minutes before I mentioned that we go to the church on the other side of the neighborhood and she's all "the LDS church?!" yup... that one.  and then she excitedly tells me "my best friend is LDS!!!"  they just moved here from longmont and the LDS friend actually just moved from longmont to New York and I was just hearing all about it but it was seriously the most hilarious thing to me that it gave me such an instant connection with it.  she had so many questions about why there are so many mormons in Parker and why all of the ward buildings here look different than the ones in longmont and she was so excited to tell her kids that Abigail is mormon just like their best friends.  I'm excited to get to know this lady better.  also excited that Abigail's friend isn't part of a weird family where I have to make up excuses of why they can't play together.  ; )

o Christmas tree

church was great.  the speakers were wonderful, Sunday school was great, and RS was a fantastic lesson on gratitude... complete with homemade gratitude journals for everyone.  I loved hearing everyone's comments.

this just made me feel like Abigail should be in a musical or something... even though she wasn't singing.

Chris and the kids put up the Christmas tree.  Abigail was well behaved but Brady was 100% out of control.  Christopher was gone much of the afternoon with calling stuff and home teaching, but the girls and I hung some ornaments on the tree.

and Brady fell asleep on his bed sometime between 6 and 6:30... I shouldn't have been surprised considering most of his bad behavior stems from lack of sleep.  he slept for an hour, woke up to eat something, and then went to bed again.  rough night.

friday

soccer.

do I look legit? I'm wearing a running shirt from a race I didn't even attend.  I've been so self conscious at the gym because I have no idea what I'm doing and I'm just hoping people don't look at me and also know that I have no idea what I'm doing.  it's weird because I normally feel so comfortable in my skin and this is just so out of my comfort zone.  so, I'm just trying to fake it till I make it.

Abigail cuddled up next to Andrew and asked me to take their picture.  how precious is this oldest/youngest shot?

later in the day, Brady did the same thing.  this isn't an uncommon occurrence.  I'm so glad Brady has a brother now.

as I texted lisa... it's like he fell asleep mid snow angel.

like father like son does not apply here.  honey and I were watching some impractical jokers while I folded sacrament programs... he melted into the sofa and then into the floor. honey is not a night owl.

it's all relative

today, honey came home around one, to eat lunch and work from home the rest of the day.  he saw three camp chairs set up in the sun in our front yard and watched as we all hung out and ate tuna sandwiches and said "man, are you guys just livin' the life or what?"  it's true, we were.  but then 10 minutes later, our kids got this idea that they wanted juice (chris mixes up crystal light sometimes and shares it with the kids... so they were begging him for juice, even though he wasn't drinking it at the time) and although chris told them no and brady let it rest, abigail kept whining... so chris took off inside and headed into his office to work.  abigail was all "yeay! daddy went to get me juice!" and i'm all "no, daddy got sick of your whining and went inside to work on stuff... he's not coming back out."  ha.  

so then a little bit later, we came inside to make hummus, eat a little, and have nap time and quiet time.  as abigail sat down at the table, i put the hummus in front of her and told her i was going to cut up a bell pepper for her to eat it with.  she instantly started whining that she doesn't like red peppers and she just really wanted carrots to eat with her hummus.  so i'm all, fine, we've already got an open bag of carrots in the fridge and that saves me from needing to cut up a pepper right now.  so as i'm getting out the carrots, i explain to her that actually she DOES like red peppers and she instantly changes her mind that she wants both... carrots and peppers.  i told her one is all we're doing for lunch and here are your carrots.  and then she won't stop whining about how she wanted bell peppers no matter how many times i tell her that we're only doing one thing and she chose carrots.  i know many people would be happy to have their four year beg for hummus and carrots and then cry because they want bell peppers to, but i was not having it.  i told her she was about to lose her opportunity to eat the food she had if she didn't say thank you and start eating and she gave me a snotty "thank you" and then growled at me.  not sure where she got the growling thing from, but she's been doing that some lately and it drives me insane.  so i told her to go to her room for a few minutes, so she screamed and cried the whole way there and for at least five minutes probably.  i got her and talked to her and invited her to come downstairs with us again to eat.  

then honey came in and brady was eating his granola with milk and abigail had her hummus and carrots and i had an apple pear and everyone was wanting everyone else's food and was getting increasingly whiny about it.  they wanted honey's cheese and cookie and everyone wanted my apple pear and brady wanted the hummus and carrots even though he'd already had his fill when abigail was in her room.  i asked honey if he still thought we were living the life.  ; )

then i hurried to take brady up for nap since it was already almost 2:30.  his nap and sleep schedule has been stressing me out lately because he sleeps so long at night and takes long naps during the day (if he naps) but then i know he's getting older and probably doesn't need so much sleep anymore.  15 hours at night plus a 3 hour nap is 18 hours, which seems like a lot for a two year old.  so ideally i would put him down between 7 and 8 and he'd wake up on his own around 9am and then nap from 1-3 or something... but that's not really how that plays out and he ends up sleeping til at least 10 or 11, even when he goes to sleep at 7.  i wake him up at 9 on days that we have to take abigail to preschool... but it's so hit and miss with him when i have to wake him up before he's ready, that on days when i don't have to, it's practically impossible for me to bring myself to wake him.  several days recently, i've just let him sleep as late as he wants (hanging out in his crib til after 11 or closer to noon) and then having the kids in bed by 7pm.  it's great some days but other days it would work out better to have the morning available for us to get out and the afternoon for me to have a few hours free of my kids.  ; )  all of this is just so my future self can look back and say "man, i used to be uptight" and "glad that turned out to be nothing to stress about."  in the meantime, i'll just keep playing this by ear.  i'm so great at this experimental parenting thing.

ps- i just had such an insanely happy thought.  honey's busiest time of the year is during the time of a traditional school year... when it's cold outside and dark for most of the day.  when work and stress was picking up for him this past fall, i was stressing hardcore about how the future months would be difficult on our marriage and difficult for me as a mother, not having his support as much.  i cried myself to sleep a few nights, knowing the difficult that lied ahead.  especially when i got pregnant and knew that that would add emotional difficulty and fatigue to the situation.  i had a little talk with my honey and let me know that this was stressing me out already because i'd grown accustomed to his help and companionship and i wasn't ready to be solo again.  my honey was so sweet and wonderful and i think he really took in everything i was saying.  i don't think he would have known those things had i not been so straightforward with him about it.  i'm sure my tears helped convey that the fear was real.  well, he rocked it.  he was so awesome about being great at home, even if he'd had a rough day.  and he was so great about helping out around the house and being so sympathetic to my shortcomings as a wife and mother that were and weren't related to pregnancy.  seriously so much so, that i just realized it's really really really spring and he's going to start coming home earlier and traveling less (well, come mid may) and that basically... we made it.  i made it another winter and i never even felt like our marriage suffered (which has been a very real feeling for me in previous winters) or that our family life was really strained.  i didn't even beg him to give up his company and get a nine to five job.  ; )  so, there's my extreme gratitude, poorly portrayed in a simple paragraph.  i am so grateful.  

crying it out, climbing, and brady

crying it out.  it's worth it... every time.

sunday i wrote...

This was Brady's third night of crying it out. I've procrastinated a long time (and it deserves a post of its own) letting Brady cry it out so he can get back to falling asleep on his own instead of needing me to hold his hand. It's one of those things where it's great and it just works until it just doesn't anymore. So after almost two months... We're attempting to break the habit. Night one, I think he cried for an hour and a half. The second night was 1h10. And tonight was about 30 minutes. Writing it out, those lengths seem super long, but, thankfully, his crying hasn't been bad. It's like a semi-cry of "daddy" over and over. Hopefully it won't take long for him to be confident again in his ability to fall asleep without my assistance. 

but then i didn't ever write anything after that.  i'll try to remember what's happened since then.

the next night of crying was only 4 or 5 minutes.  the night after that was maybe 10 seconds.  i think the night after that was like 30-45 seconds.  and then maybe a night or two of 5 seconds.  and the rest of the nights have been just a huff or whimper as i kiss him goodnight but then zero crying.  every night i would give him a binky and put him in his crib as usual, lying down next to the crib and holding his hand.  but instead of laying there forever until he fell asleep, it was only for 5 or 10 minutes and then i would kiss him and tell him goodnight and shut the door behind me.  i didn't want to do cry it out for naptime because naps are typically more difficult for a number of reasons like not being as tired and knowing that everyone else is still awake and playing.  so i just chose not to do cry it out for naptime.  i only ditched him for naptime once the nighttime crying was consistently down to a few seconds.  so for the last few days, i have laid next to the crib for 10 minutes and then left.  and he's been totally fine.  tonight was the first time that i didn't lay down with him at all.  i just put him in his crib, kissed him and told him goodnight and then left.  he let out a "mommy" as i was telling him goodnight, but no crying.  i'll consider this 100% done when he shows no anxiety at all about me leaving the room.  in the mean time though, i'm kicking myself for taking so long to do cry it out... just like i anticipated being the case.  i'll probably occasionally hold his hand for a few minutes before i leave (i won't lie... i've become really attached to that quiet time when we hold hands)... probably on really difficult days where i just need that positive kid interaction, but other than that, i'm looking forward to having some extra time now that i won't be spending 2+ hours of my day laying on brady's floor.  and nap time is longer now.  because before, i would be staying 5 or 10 minutes into brady's nap and he would only sleep for maybe an hour and a half.  now, he plays for a long time before going to sleep (like an hour or so) and then sleeps for longer (at least two hours) and plays for a bit after he wakes up.  on thursday, he was in his crib for nap time for four hours... it was amazing how much i got done!  ...and i do like brady being well adjusted enough to fall asleep independently.  that part is also nice.

for the record... he's still teething.  so far, it's been 2 months and 1 week and while the top teeth have broken the skin... the bottom ones are still just hanging out... as far up as they can without breaking through.  i literally did not know that i could be physically possible for a child to take multiple months for teeth to poke through.

also, since we're already talking about brady... the kid won't stop climbing.  i mean, he's always been more of a climber than abigail when it comes to climbing on chairs and sofas and whatever.  but within the last few days, he's started climbing on my kitchen counter tops and i can't keep him away!  at first it was pretty innocent and he would push a chair over to watch me cook or to get some sippy cups to play with.  and wednesday night he pushed a chair over and started shoving cantaloupe into his mouth (i was dishing up the kids' plates for dinner and i guess he didn't want to wait) and yesterday he was climbing up to check out what there was on the counter, just scavenging for food.  today has by far been the worst though.  this morning i was getting dressed when he walked in my room with a fistful of brownie in his hand (i had a friend drop off a plate of brownies for me yesterday and i'd just left them on the counter near the microwave).  and then he did it again less than 30 minutes later.  so brady had two large brownies for breakfast.  at that point, i had him watch a youtube video of dogs on my laptop while i put the brownies in a tight fastening tupperware and hid them in a cabinet.  but then later i found him with a cookie he'd gotten out of a ziploc bag that was on top of the microwave.  the kid has a super intense sweet tooth.  this evening, chris and i could not keep him off the counter tops or out of the cabinets.  we were both busy doing other things so we only had half an eye on him... but he moves the chair and climbs up so fast it's crazy!  and he's after sweets.  he knows just how to find the skittles and sweet tarts and swedish fish.

does anyone have any suggestions for preventing this?  i know i can move all the sweets to a different location but he even climbed on the counter tonight and was all "heeeeelllllllpppppppp" and i was like "brady... what are you doing up there?!" and he's all "i want a banana."  i really just don't have anywhere else in the kitchen where i can relocate our fruit bowl.  so give me your best ideas.  preferably ones that don't involve tying our chairs to the kitchen table because i'd like to avoid that inconvenience if at all possible.  but this is spiraling out of control at an alarming speed. 

seriously. 

thursday at the farm

cosleeping = no sleeping [for me]

i was taking pictures of the beautiful flowers around grandmother's garden when a bird hopped out from almost under my foot (my foot was about to rest on that tree stump right there) and i was so startled.  but i was even more surprised to find this nest!  there were 11 eggs and i'm still curious to find out what kind of bird that was.

papa is the sweetest.  he insisted on walking out to tell us goodbye.

i can't remember the specifics other than that abigail wanted me to write out her name and then was dissatisfied until she crossed her l's to make an additional uppercase H.

she was being absolutely adorable.  especially in her faces.  she's the cutest when her mind is puzzling to figure things out.

dad continued to masterfully cut this mermaid cake.

from the front, it looked pretty normal.

but all i could think was "lean back!"  she was doing the limbo.

baby girl and her uncle wally.  

gearing up for more airplane rides.  brady was all over it too.  he was not to be left out!

wiped out

my precious four year old

It never ends

Last night I stayed up way too late wasting time online when I should have put myself to sleep hours earlier. I couldn't help but keep looking out the window at a whole lot of white.  So because I'm still like a little kid about snow, before I closed my eyes for the night, I thought I'd hop out of bed and tiptoe to the front door to see how much had fallen. It was gorgeous. Also, I didn't even know we were supposed to be getting snow... And multiple inches at that!

Anyways, our bedroom is on the main floor and as I walked past the base of the stairs I could have sworn I smelled nasty sickness. So I ran upstairs and poked my nose in where the kids were sleeping. Sure enough... Disgustingness. Thinking Brady must have pooped and had another gross blowout before bed, I contemplated waking him up for a fresh diaper. But then I realized, the smell wasn't coming from his bum... It was his head!  

So there he was, sound asleep, head buried in a pool of vomit. What's the protocol in that situation?  I seriously was just standing there in this vomit smelling fog, weighing the pros and cons of waking him up or letting him sleep. I chose to let him sleep so he could wake on his own. Then I could give him a bath in the middle of the night or whenever he woke up and put him back to sleep til morning. 

Well, he didn't wake up til 5:45 and it took long enough to clean up his crib and his clothes and give him a bath a put a little food in his tummy... That kid is up for the day and so am I. Honestly, I would have anticipated it being worse but the time has flown by and it's already the time I would normally wake up for the day. Now I'm just trying to figure out what the heck to do for nap... For Brady. Surprisingly, I feel fine. And it's been fun to hang out with honey before work. 

But can someone please tell me what is going on with my kid?!  He's had weird stomach issues and gross diapers/diaper rash off and on for the past month. Literally I think it was February 5th when this all started when he woke up with vomit in his crib. It only lasted two days last time so hopefully it'll be quick this time too. Especially since he already threw up yesterday while he was eating and that would make us half way through by now! Anyone?  The only thing I can think of is teething... But it's been going on a month and I see zero new teeth. A week ago, his doctor says she just thinks it's GI stuff and to keep an eye on it. I'll have to email her again and see if she has anything new to say...

edited to add: umm two hours later i picked up the crying kid and saw something in the back of his mouth.  thinking it was something inedible, i checked it out.  ummm, it's a molar.  i had only been checking frint and center, just assuming the next tooth would be on the bottom since he's got four on top and two underneath.  i didnt have molars on my radar at allllll.  mom fail.

also, it's 5:18 amd he's been napping since 11:10.  this has got to be a record.  i'm not sure that abigail even ever took a six plus hour nap.  sleep it off brady... you need it.  

saturday

saturday morning was supposed to be palling around (to see chris's grandma and then have lunch with my aunt libby) with mom and the kids but friday night after lisa's show, mother started feeling sick and spent the rest of the night (until morning) throwing up and feeling terrible.  sooo, we were initially hoping it was just some dinner that didn't sit right but it became apparent that it was some sort of 24 hour bug.  so saturday morning abigail and brady and i slept in til 9 or so but then discovered that mom was sick and i'm not authorized to drive the rental car (and dad was at church training all day... their reason for the visit to utah).  so then i was going over as many options as possible of how to best use our remaining hours in utah.  the thing that worked out was calling chris's aunt (see... i married into the family and just treat them as my own) and explaining the situation.  so she came by the hotel to pick up me and the kids and we all went to grandma virginia's house for a nice visit.  i am 100% in love with chris's grandma virginia (my father in law's mother) because she is absolutely adorable.  her voice is sweet and her mannerisms are sweet and she's funny (my favorite is that she always says "i'm going mental" because she's lost much of her memory) but really because she is an absolute saint.  really, everyone that knows her will tell you the same thing.  when we were deciding potential names for abigail, we were trying to figure out a way to name her after grandma virginia.  but with a name like belva virginia... it wasn't happening.  but brady's middle name is robert (for grandpa hillier) so that's our link to these precious grandparents.

anyways, grandma virginia lives alone now and can barely see.  i can only imagine how lonely that must get.  i wasn't aware she knew i was going to stop by, but when i went to her house and saw this on her calendar, my heart melted and i was so grateful that i was able to find a way to get the kids and myself over for a visit.

yes, hillier is misspelled.  and yes, that is her last name too.  i told you she's precious.

 

 

chris's aunt is always giving abigail tons of clothes and dresses and stuff and this time she brought clothes and shoes but also this minnie mouse hair set.  brady's is the curling iron.  they had fun with it while we were visiting.

now tell me this isn't the sweetest thing ever.  and see grandma virginia's shirt?  when we got out of the car abigail was freaking out because she and grandma have the same shirt.  she was talking about the sweater she was wearing in this post.  love it.

i adore this woman.  through and through.  her heart is really as pure as they come and she is one in a million.

and then we got back to the airport at 12:30, just in time to check in on my mom in the hotel room and get our stuff to the curb to wait for my aunt libby to come pick us up and take us to the airport.  the plan was for all of us to go out to lunch... but i guess hitching a ride to the airport is second place.  

this was the setup i used to single handedly get all of us and our stuff to the counter to check in.  that cheap stroller doesn't steer with one hand (especially with 100+lbs of stuff on it) so i was awkwardly squat pulling the stroller (by the carseat) and my rolling carry-on bag.  and i got plenty of audible "she's got her hands full" comments from people amused by the spectacle i was putting on.  also, i asked abigail to stand by the bag and smile.  this is what she gave me.

have no fear.  brady was doing fine under there!

and i'm so sad i missed temple square!  next time for sure.  maybe i'll even take advantage of the free shuttle!

 my honey and mark, john, and nate arrived at the other end of A, so we waited by the escalator for a minute and met up with them.  abigail was thrilled. 

honey told me all about his crazy week (because this was the first time we'd actually talked all week) as we drove home... with a quick stop by the office so he could pick up a few things.  of course both kids passed out in the car.  and going right along with tradition, brady woke up when we arrived and abigail stayed fast asleep.  i let her keep sleeping in the garage for an hour or two and finally unbuckled her and carried her up to her crib.  she woke up when i put her in but was fine once i brought up her pink nalgene sippy (ocd much?) and... slept until 9 am the following morning.  almost 16 hours straight.  this trip wore her out.  brady, on the other hand, didn't go to sleep til after ten.  and woke up at 2:30, didn't go back to sleep for 45 minutes, and then was up again by 9.  that kid.

when we got home, i started the search for my keys, which i'd put in a "safe place" during the trip.  emptying out my purse looking for my keys, i found the rest of my ruby snap cookie and was just savoring a bite when...

i got this text.

fyi, i did NOT text her a picture of my mouth.

 but really, i am soooo craving another maris right now.  apparently you can buy the frozen dough balls and bake them yourself... which is what lisa was eating.  a little less expensive... and you can eat it hot.  mmmm.  

 

 

and then i called lisa up on the phone and made her talk to me for an hour.  because i missed her so badly.  and because i have a hard time returning home from trips.  it's always extremely bittersweet for me.  and christopher wasn't there to comfort me (when we got home and i was looking for my keys, he realized he left his ipad on the plane in the pocket of the seat back in front of him.  so he had to call the airline and go back to pick it up.  annoying mistake but thankfully it wasn't lost for good!

so that's a wrap!  this took way too long but 24 hours after our return... and my whole three day trip is documented!  now i can relive it whenever i want!  i'm already trying to figure out when i can sneak away to utah again... who knew it could be so insanely fun out there?!?!  i'm in love.