cousin star and cousin Sara came to visit!

I started the day with my 6 week appointment.  I forgot to schedule with Christopher to watch the kids but luckily we just barely made it work.  sadly, that meant that I didn't have any time to just stick around and catch up with shirelle.  I'm gonna miss her.  I told her I was going to try to get pregnant again within the next 18 months so we can be back to seeing each other all the time.  she said she'll still be there.  not sure where she lives but I wish we could be bff's and hang out all the time.  she's so much fun and we just get along so well.  

I was sitting at the kitchen table later, just eating oatmeal with elizabeth, when out of the blue I got a text message from cousin star that she was in Denver and wanted to get together.  she didn't have a car but coordinated things with cousin Sara.  so Sara and her kids picked up star and then drove down to Parker to visit me!  

once star told me the plan, it was a mad dash to feed Andrew and then get the house all picked up.

woohoo!  I couldn't even believe my eyes!

I love taking pictures of these girls when they're together because they're the same age... even though you can't really tell.  Abigail is older by four days.

star refuses to give me the original of this photo.  ; (  I'm still working on it.

I was driving to Kelsey's baby shower at brio at the mall and the sky was just amazing. pictures couldn't capture it but I sure tried.

I have Abigail and Brady pick up at least ten times times a day.  it doesn't matter if she's going into her room to get a pair of socks or to put a book away.  her clean room will inevitably turn into this within 30 seconds I swear.

Wednesday

within the last week, I gave my kids new toothbrushes.  can we guess which one belongs to Abigail? also, would it ever be appropriate to give a child a puppy chew toy? I feel like maybe we have some sensory needs that aren't being met.

they decided to match.

just look at how excited elizabeth was.  although Abigail was probably even more so.

still loving the baby.  she's not obsessed like Brady was with her, but she still REALLY loves Andrew.

when you know nothing about picking paint colors but the HOA says you have to repaint the whole exterior of your home.  neighbor Stephanie to the rescue.

another day down.  summer is just moving right along!

recreating order

I'm in the process of trying to reclaim my house.  every area just seems so cluttered and disorganized and even though I've enjoyed months and months of not having to deal with it, it's still annoying at how long it takes to get everything right again.  

I feel like I spent most of the day trying to recreate order but only organized two cabinets (that hold all our canned foods and snack items) and the drawer that holds baby bottles right now and all the papers from Abigail's craft drawer.  taking those out has allowed us to be able to open and close the drawer again (WIN!), but still looks like this... ; (  I'm going to have her organize what's left so hopefully she'll feel some ownership and responsibility about the space and contents. I'm only mildly hopeful... we've done this before.

honey was watching some video online with some guy noisily eating a head of lettuce in a college library.

Monday pool and friends

Monday was a good day.  I was a good mom all the way until 5:15 and even took the kids to the pool in the morning and hosted their friends all afternoon.

Brady came into my room during the night because he couldn't sleep.  I was awake when he woke up and could tell instantly that he was not miraculously healed from whatever was ailing him.

and down again.

got some Tylenol in the kid and he was feeling better.  we all got dressed for the pool.  although Elizabeth managed to get dressed and undressed and redressed for the pool no less than 15 times before we actually left.  when I got that cute swim dress for her last year, I wasn't anticipating having a two year old stripper that would also be a little zipper happy.  still, somehow we make it work.

Andrew was the easiest baby to the pool experience yet thanks to the stroller I got several months ago.  instead of unswaddling him and waking him up to get in his carseat to click into the stroller, I could keep him swaddled (and asleep) and just place him in the stroller seat fully reclined.  money well spent already.  he seamlessly transitioned from his bed to the stroller and back to his bed after we got home.  eventually he woke up to eat.  thank goodness for this easy going baby.

lisa is traveling and I'm just trying to live vicariously through her.  I can't get enough of the pictures she sends me.

ugh.  seriously, I'm dying.

we brought up a dressup bin from the basement and I couldn't get enough of Elizabeth's outfit.

she's at the cutest age.

and I can't take a selfie with her without cracking up. she just likes to get up close and personal with my phone.

I can't believe Abigail and Lucy still managed to fit themselves into these dresses!

after a while, I noticed that Brady wasn't playing with them anymore but he hadn't come to hang out with me (he doesn't typically play on his own for very long without coming to see me).  this was why.  he'd put on his pjs and just decided to lay down for a little nappy nap. I woke him up and he wasn't thrilled.

have I mentioned before how he doesn't do well with pain or discomfort?  when I take his temperature, I take a picture of his thermometer because it's easy to reference on my phone that he had a fever of 101.5 at 3:45 or whatever.  I took this picture and then laughed out loud when I saw what he looked like in the background.  totally candid and totally typical.

and then sometime after 5, I got out of the shower and nursed Andrew and realized that Abigail wasn't cleaning up what she said she would and honestly, everything just kind of went downhill from there.  but we all had a great day until that point in time!

Brady's feverish Sunday

I wasn't thrilled.  Brady was apparently throwing his oatmeal.  also, I had put this little magnetic dinosaur pack in my purse for the kids to place with during sacrament meeting and he took out all the magnets and threw them all over the kitchen.  awesome.

it's really not usual behavior for him and I told Christopher when he came home for a bit before church that Brady was being unusually naughty this morning.  as we were driving to church he was all "Brady seems really really sleepy this morning."  well, it all clicked together eventually.

just another diaper change where I don't even get around to snapping him up before I get sucked into doing something else.  and then he just puts himself to sleep.  probably because he knows it'll be two hours before I ever get back to him.  whoops.

and this is where I ended up during the second hour of church.  last week, Abigail told me her belly hurt and then fell asleep during sacrament meeting.  so I took her home.  today, Brady fell asleep 15 minutes into sacrament meeting and then woke up and told me his throat hurt.  also, his back and neck and hands were burning hot.  so I had to miss the rest of church again.  I don't like missing church so this is hard for me. Mandi had to drive us home because honey had come home before church so we could all drive together.  ha.  it was fun while it lasted.

not feeling well.

because of this.

what a fun email to get.  I looked him up.  he fathered 24 children.  so I'm guessing I'm not the only one to get this email in my inbox.  ; )

Motrin and Tylenol brought down the fever but you could tell when it would wear off because Brady would get weepy again and his temp would be back up.

he doesn't do well being sick.

also, even while sick, he's full of questions. so now he's educated on fevers and how thermometers tell us how hot our body is which indicates how sick we are.  going to sleep he was all "when will I not be hot anymore?" because he wanted to be able to play with friends when he woke up.  that kid.