cloud jams

this is a canvas we have hanging in Brady's room.  Andrew loves wearing these "cloud jams" and so Chris took a picture of him next to the canvas of Brady.  I laughed out loud when he texted it to me. 

I laughed out loud even louder when I got the picture of Brady next to Brady.

my honey.  sure knows how to get me.

poor Andrew

Andrew didn't feel well today so we had a lot of snuggling and a doctor appointment.  

honey is out of town so we went to school spirit night at chick fil a.  Andrew's food of choice was strawberry jelly on a saltine cracker.

I paid for a hair cut

I've only paid for a haircut once in my married life (although there could be one additional time that I'm not remembering) because I've somehow gotten by with my mother in law cutting my hair for the first chunk of years, Emmy doing a big chop at the beach, Jodi adding some layers in there, and then my mom doing tiny trims for the past 4+ years as I've grown it back out.  anyway, it's been long for a while and it's looking REAL scraggly so it was time for a cut... and I had no mother or mother in law nearby to help.  luckily, my friend Kristy cuts hair so I went to her.

so many years ago after my last real cut:

ta da!

pampering for us all... we gave Andrew a little mani pedi.

 so basically, it took a number of inches to get my hair from one witch's broom to another.

so worth it... I'll be happy to pay for any haircut Kristy wants to give me.

Andrew is 9 months!

andrew is 9 months old!

Abigail actually woke up and came to me this morning to get started on getting ready for school. this is a MIRACLE and happens once in a blue moon and it just was such an amazing surprise and set an awesome tone for the day.  I helped her get ready and she was able to walk to school with the neighbor kids.

Brady is really into money and having money and earning money and spending money and learning about money.  I need to compile a list of things that he can do to earn money but the tricky part is that I want it to actually be helpful to me.  not just a busy job that creates more work for me.  the only job I currently have for him to help with (besides laundry, which he does not get paid for) is unloading the dishwasher.  his job is to put away everything he can reach... the rest of the things, he has to stack and group for me to put away in the up high places.  I love this because it's such a time saver for me and mostly because I don't have to do any bending over (my back has been so annoying lately) to get stuff out of the dishwasher OR to put it away in low places.  we only run our dishwasher every couple of days and Brady is so excited when he can unload it.  he gets 25 cents for a job well done.

a little after nine, I dropped Elizabeth and Brady off for a playdate with this older lady in the ward.  she watches her granddaughter turning the week until 4pm and has started inviting the kids over for playdates so her granddaughter can have more friends.  it's a win win for everyone involved.  hopefully we can return the favor and have Lillien over sometime.

in the elevator heading up for Andrew's 9 month well check, I looked at my watch and saw that we were perfectly a few minutes early for our appointment and it made me feel so accomplished.  someday, I hope to be so punctual that being on time no longer feels like such a huge success.  until then, I'm just going to love my successes whenever I can get them!

we had a great appointment.  we met with a PA that we'd never seen before.  our doctor that we've had since moving here recently relocated to Indiana and I don't love our new doctor.  she was a little too concerned about Andrew's weight at his 6 month appointment and honestly, it got me stressed enough that I thought I would have to quit nursing. so even though the doctor was not at fault, I wasn't super intent on seeing her for this appointment... I just chose the time slot that was most convenient for me.  I liked the PA that we saw.  she was polite and friendly and asked all the important questions about how Andrew is doing and said that Andrew was growing on his own curve and looks to be just fine.  he did a great job and was so content and cooperative.

my guess is that Andrew's weight would have been closer to 13lbs 13ozs if he hadn't refused to eat before the appointment.  he ate at 4:30am but then wouldn't eat after he was awake for the day.  he actually wouldn't eat until after the appointment when we were in the room waiting for the nurse to come with his shots.  the paper doesn't get that specific, but I think I heard the doctor say that he was .03% when we were reviewing his chart.  he's just a real skinny little guy.

also, I was amazed that he got four shots and stopped crying the second I picked him up.  I think that's a record for the fastest time for any of my kids to stop crying after getting shots. and he actually cuddled with me.  it was amazing.

so then we stopped by the library to get a bunch of books on hold (Abigail is doing a little project at school on Helen Keller) and then to Safeway to get milk (but they had a limit of 2 on the sale price... who does that?!) and somehow also walked out with four packages of various kinds of Oreos (it's a bad idea to go shopping when you're hungry) and I'm super excited about all of them.  I got mint, coconut thins, golden, and regular.  I opened mint in the car and they were delightful.

we went straight to get Elizabeth and Brady who were loving life with Gayle and Lillien because they were playing play dough, had balloons, had done a variety of st. Patricks days crafts (including making a necklace of fruit loops) and also got sent home with a pack of skittles aka rainbow seeds.

we went straight to school for Brady's parent teacher conference and it went great.  the teacher actually apologized that she didn't really have anything to tell me.  "he's doing really great and it's not like we had any concerns before or anything..."  ha.  but it's really great that she said he's come a long way in the classroom, socially.  he's much more outgoing with friends and able to resolve conflict whereas before he would have just conceded and walked away.  her one suggestion is that he work on becoming more of a creative open thinker because he's so literal and so by the books.  but I already knew all of that.  ; )

we had lunch, quiet time, Abigail walked home from school, we all watched a 30 minute movie on Helen Keller, and I got ready to go to the temple with friends from relief society.  didn't make it to the gym but it was a successful and fulfilling day.

catching up a bit

sorry for the lack of blogging... Andrew has been such a crappy sleeper for the past several months (especially in Georgia where he was waking up every two (or less!) hours during the night... and every closet and drawer in my house is in complete disarray and my kids are just really time consuming and I've let myself take some time off from blogging.  as much as I absolutely love writing and posting pictures, it can be pretty time consuming.  thank goodness for the journal my dad gave me for Christmas... it's an every day journal and I can just write a few sentences each day and not feel guilty for not writing more.  I honestly don't know what I would do without it now... it has been such a blessing to me since I'm someone that feels stress at not keeping record of things and events.

anyway, life is good.

over the past week, Abigail has been doing better and our relationship has been going a bit better.  today was big in that I emailed her teacher that she'll be walking home from school each day with our neighbors and I talked to a number of medical professionals on the phone this morning and afternoon (our appointment was cancelled last minute by the doctor not being in the office today) about Abigail's medication and we'll be doubling the dose and hoping to see some positive results.  Abigail walked home from school today for the second time and it is honestly the best thing ever to not load the kids in the car to go pick her up.  and I feel like she's in a better mood when she gets here.

Brady, over the past week or two, has gone down hill, as has our relationship.  apparently these things are inversely related?  he's turned pretty moody and angry and sometimes belligerent.  he says it's because he isn't getting enough sleep and hasn't been napping as much as he needs to so we've been trying to make his naps more of a priority but I don't know that it's helping THAT much.  he's still wonderfully independent and all of his regular good qualities... he's just always angry at me.  I asked him about this and he says he always expects me to say no to his requests so he's just already upset even before he starts asking me a question.  it's not horrendous but it does make me pretty sad right now because I feel like I've lost a friend.

Elizabeth is opinionated and headstrong and holy cow, as hilarious as ever.  everything is her FAVORITE.  I don't think she understands that word very well and probably thinks it just means that she likes something.  literally every song she hears, she declares to be her favorite.  on Sunday, our closing song was "come along, come along" and I can't recall ever hearing that song before and, judging by the singing, or lack thereof, I think the rest of the congregation could have said the same thing.  but don't worry, just upon hearing the intro, Elizabeth is enthusiastically proclaiming that "I LIKE THIS SONG!!! IT'S MY FAVORITE SONG!!!"  also, we decided to all go as a family to Abigail's "it's great to be eight" meeting on Sunday night and Elizabeth had a lot of loud gas.  after each loud toot she's all, "I tooted!" and then proceeded to do it again.  she has an excellent sense of humor and is also developing a lot of opinions about books that she likes to read and favorite clothing/pj's/boots that she likes to wear.  right before Christmas, Elizabeth flipped a switch and went from being terrified and hating (like SCREAMING bloody murder through the whole experience) baths and showers, to being obsessed with showers and begging multiple times a day to take a shower.  Chris was cracking up the other day when he came home from work and saw us all and then was all "you've got the shower on while you just sit in bed?!" and I had to tell him that actually Elizabeth was showering.  she's also started requesting again to use the potty.  I had told her before that she for sure had to wait until after the holidays but I'm still going to try holding her off on that til she's closer to three or potty trains herself.  I can hope, right?

Andrew is great.  he's been sick with the worst congestion though... like soooo horrific.  I try to nose suck him as best I can but he still nurses and sounds like he's drowning and gasping for air.  he'll take three sucks and then turn his head to the side and breath like he's catching his breath for a bit and then he'll latch on and suck three times and do it again.  like he's swimming or something.  he's still mostly happy though, thank goodness, and has actually started sleeping longer just in the last three nights.  since he was previously waking around 11:30, 2:30, 4:30, and 7:30, this is a huge improvement to have him wake just once around 4:30 or 5.  we'll see if he's maturing and really starting to sleep longer stretches or if he's just doing this because this sickness is really taking it out of him.  also, I finally broke down and bought a baby scale.  his weight percentile is less than 0.1% and he only gained 5 or 6 ounces between his 4 and 6 month appointments.  I had some huge days of stress about it and was freaking out about my milk supply and was trying to supplement with milk from my freezer (but he either wasn't hungry or didn't want milk from a bottle) and it was just not great... all of that was happening the week before Christmas.  so I took fenugreek to boost my supply and I started nursing him allllll the time.  like at least every hour or two hours throughout the day and night.  I couldn't even tell you how many feedings he was getting in a 24 hour period because I felt like I was just nursing him constantly around the clock.  but I guess it worked because my supply met his needs and I quit taking the fenugreek and he's sleeping longer at night.  I asked his doctors office if I could bring him in for just a weight check to see if my efforts were effective or not and they said there was a copay for that.  I thought that seemed stupid but we have kaiser insurance so a lot of things about it are stupid.  instead of paying the $50 copay, I bought a scale for less than 40.  I'm happy to report that he's broken 13lbs which means that he'd gained over a pound in that month since his 6 month well check... woohoo!  also, I've realized how inaccurate and varying the scale measurements can be with a wiggly baby and I'm wondering how accurate that weight was that was taken at his 6 month appointment.  anyway, he's still less than .1% but he's growing and I know he's eating a lot and peeing a lot so that gives me comfort.  also, he's super vocal and social and happy and is hitting all of his milestones and sitting up and rolling over like a rockstar.  once he gets over this cold, I'm gonna have to get him weaned from the swaddle because he keeps rolling over and getting stuck on his belly.  Abigail did that too at this age but she was a happy beached whale... Andrew is not the happiest when he gets beached.  other random things to note... Andrews cheeks are almost always flushed and he is biting on everything. I'm still in mourning that we lost our Sophie giraffe a week and a half ago when we went to the library one evening.  I've checked their lost and found twice though (they keep a log of everything) and it was never turned in... which makes me worry that maybe it fell out of the car when I made a huge goodwill run on our way to the library but also gives me hope that maybe it's just hiding somewhere in our car even though our car is clean and there's really not anywhere for it to be. ugh.  so I was resorting to Andrew's next favorite toy and that went missing at the gym last week.  we never lose baby toys and now we've lost our favorite two within just a few days of each other!  major fail.  mostly still sad about Sophie though.  for sentimental reasons but also because of that $25 price tag.  let's all pray for a late Christmas miracle that she shows up somewhere.  I have a reward out for her though and told Brady that he'll get the biggest treat ever if he finds that stinking giraffe.  Andrew's gummy little gums neeeeeed it.

man, those quick summaries get longer with each kid.  this is why blogging is so time consuming... I'm too long winded to ever be quick.

anyway...

honey has been doing well... normal work and traveling and more work and travel.  he stays busy but I try for us to at least feel like we get some hang out time every few days.  tonight I felt like we kind of hung out for a good 20 minutes or so while the kids skated in the basement and I made dinner... so that was nice.  it sounds pathetic when I write it out but honestly, we're just kind of at a busy stage of life right now and it is what it is.

I'm hanging in there!  despite the constant mess and disorganization of my house and life in general, my days are happy.  my days are mostly getting Abigail off to school, taking the other three with me to the gym for a bit, doing lunch, quiet time, Abigail's after school stuff (unpacking backpack, homework, etc.), dinner, and bedtime.  it's a good routine we have down.  we've also been trying to make more of an effort to do fun things as a family and this past Saturday was great with going to the wildlife experience, costa vida, the lone tree library, and then watching beauty and the beast as a family.  we all have a good day if we can make a plan and stay focused on our priorities.  also, because that made me think of it... I am sooooo excited about the come follow me curriculum in relief society this year and counsel meetings and whatever other changes they've made that I don't even know the names of.  but for real, so pumped about come follow me and studying conference talks and having more of a discussion during lessons.  it's been so amazing already.

two kinds of sick

when it comes to kids, I feel like there's really just two kinds of sick. the kind of sick that makes them easier, and the kind of sick that makes them more difficult.

I mean, most people are familiar with how kids are crankier or up at night or crying a lot when they don't feel well, but we don't as often get to experience some of those most prime experiences of parenting when the sick kid is just calm and humble and sleepy and cuddly.  that's how Abigail was earlier this year when I had to take her to the ER for what we thought was appendicitis.  it also makes me think of one time when Abigail was little (she's never been cuddly) and she climbed in my lap and fell asleep on me while I was watching general conference or something.  both times were so obvious.

last night though, I chalked it up to Andrew just being really tired and worn out from being awake for the whole ward Christmas party.  he fell asleep with no problem without a binky (normally he falls asleep with a binky for daytime naps but not during any night wakings) and just seemed soooo extra calm.  during the night, he slept for extra long and I even heard him cry a bit up settle himself back to sleep which isn't terribly common.  I thought maybe something might be up but he's typically just an easy going baby so it wasn't a dramatic difference from his norm.  but make no mistake, he's got his first stomach bug.  he threw up once during the night and then first thing in the morning before I got him up.  then he threw up when I was about to put him down for nap (standing on exact spot of crunchy carpet that is left from when Elizabeth threw up there on Wednesday) and it luckily was all contained on the two of us and my bathroom sink (since I sprinted there).  then I got him all changed and cleaned up and reswaddled and was standing in Chris's office about to put him down for nap and it happened AGAIN and luckily I made it to my bathroom sink again and so neither of us got messy at all.  so third time was the charm... I finally put Andrew down and he instantly fell asleep without a binky and without a peep.

so we'll see how the next 24 hours play out.  I'm hoping it can all get out of his system today since tomorrow is Brady's birthday.  cross your fingers for that one!  in the mean time, my biggest goals and accomplishments revolve around keeping vomit out of our carpet* and preferably in a sink.

*on Tuesday night/wednesday morning, Elizabeth was throwing up in her crib.  upon waking for the day, I knew she was still sick, even though she was acting mostly normal.  but that's a hard combo... to have a mobile playing kid that could throw up at any moment.  it's not like she was laying on the sofa for hours on end where I could just surround her with towels and blankets.  I left her in the kitchen while I went to chris's office (we have Andrew's little travel bed in there for the time being) to put Andrew down for a nap and Elizabeth came in fussing and crying and I couldn't understand what she was saying until she started burping and looking like she was about to throw up.  but at that point, what could I do with a nursing baby in my arms?!  so, we have a big patch of crusty carpet still. and that's exactly where I was standing (about to put Andrew down for a nap) when he started burping and I sprinted to the hardwood and then again to my bathroom sink.  and then SOMEHOW it happened the next time I went to put him down again... standing on that very spot and hearing the burping start.  so I'm starting to wonder if that spot is cursed.  seriously... what're the odds?

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.  ; )

on a roll

from the quick journal I sometimes keep in the notes app on my phone:

so focused. Vacuumed and got dressed for the gym. Stacey came from 8:30-9:30. Got Abigail to school okay and then got to the gym for 10:05 Tabata with Mollee. It was good but didn’t leave me sore at all. Played on the playground while I nursed Andrew, went by chick fil a for calendar chicken strips and birthday cookie and then ate in the car in the Costco parking lot. Got a bunch of stuff from Costco and had to unpack it all when we got home. Always takes forever. All three kids slept for quiet time while I washed my car... so filthy from the road trip out to Utah in the snow. Picked Abigail up. She played outside while I swept the garage and did some yard work. I finally finished chopping off the rest of the lilies. So glad we got rid of some of them... ashamed that it still seems so hard for me to tend to the ones that remain. Also pulled a few weeds and felt good to get that all done. It was such a non stop productive day and then when honey got home, I turned into a complete bum. I had one of those times where I got sad all of a sudden. Trying to figure out what causes those moments. 

such a happy kid.

Elizabeth requested to hold Andrew.  I felt like he was doing a photo shoot on the beach with his side pose he was in.

Brady's latest thing is being a catcher.  backwards hat and wears Chris's hockey elbow pads on his legs to be like the big leg pads a catcher wears.  he's so cute.  who wouldn't love to play catcher by the light of the Christmas tree?

as you can see, Elizabeth takes a pretty passive role in "holding" Andrew.

she kept trying to keep his head looking straight so his body would wiggle less.

it didn't work.

I can't look at this picture without cracking up.  her face.  her hands.  so interested, but so... not actually helping.

back to keeping his head in place.

I texted this to Lisa and told her that Elizabeth was just practicing for when women get the priesthood.  everything about Elizabeth is so, so funny.

Abigail and I had some special one on one time reading kit in my bed by the light of the Christmas tree.  she was fidgeting the whole time with Andrews stuff that was within reach.  when we were done reading, Abigail showed me how she made a wide brim hat for Sophie the giraffe.  that girl is so creative.

and when I was closing up shop for the night, I saw this ornament on the tree.  not sure exactly when Abigail made it (maybe when Brady was playing catch and Elizabeth was "holding" Andrew?), but she put it on the tree without mentioning it.  I was so impressed.  she did such a great job coloring and cutting and designing it.  even the part holding it on was decorated and cut... no glue or tape used... it's all cut from a single piece of paper.  I'm going to have her make more.

it was a really good day.

halloween!

halloween started with a party on my bed... exclusive for those wearing footie pajamas.

brothers

I'm trying to win over my new visiting teaching companion.

reading happy haunting Amelia bedelia, Brady was all "mom, is it REALLY blood?!"  that kid is so dang literal.  the whole book was mostly completely over his head, despite me trying to explain it to him.  plus side: now he knows about things like putting a leaf in the table and cracking the window.

second year in a row being a baseball player.  he might be following in his uncle Wally's footsteps.

all ready for school and waiting for the Quentin bus (as we lovingly call it... bless my dear friend Danielle for picking Brady up for school all the time)... swinging his perfectly matching rockies backpack.

does this kid look pumped or what?!  ps- I didn't have any suitable baseball socks for him so I cut up some little girl tights that had been stretched out after having been used so much.  we used rubber bands to hold up the tops of his baseball "socks" which maaaay have little Mary Janes on the toes.

Elizabeth doesn't know what it's called, but she is excelling at photobombing these days.

this is 100% natural and I can't even handle how much I love it.

I knew I was on to something. 

while the two were napping and the other two were at school, I used my precious kid-free time to finally tackle Abigail's horrible junk drawer and I turned it back into. craft drawer.  no true before picture because you couldn't even see anything really because it was so full.  I found a number of old papers from church and this photo of her and Elle from the primary missionary activity a month or two ago.

part way through.  this is once I got out all the stuff from the drawer and there was just this under layer left that had to all be sorted through individually.

Danielle sent me this picture from Brady's school halloween party.  throwing the cotton balls on the spider web.  Brady explained it to me after school but was all "and when you got it to stick it was kind of like you got a goal."

the treasures from the drawer.  I reimplimented a "special drawer" for each kid.  Brady has a drawer in his dresser and Abigail has a drawer in her desk.  I'm interested to see what will happen when they start running out of space. so far, everything is special enough for the special drawer.

eventually this,

turned back to this.  it's a craft drawer again!

we started Abigail on medication at the end of fall break.  one of the most significant side effects is a decreased appetite.  even knowing that, I am truly shocked at how Abigail's appetite has nearly disappeared.  she used to eat an entire peanut butter and Nutella sandwich, a whole apple (or equivalent in a fruit or vegetable... about a cup... I always use the same size containers), a yogurt, and at least a little handful of pistachios (or other equivalent nut/trailmix).  lately, she eats her yogurt, maybe 3-4 bites of sandwich, a bite or two of apple, and a taste or two of nuts.  at first she would just tell me that she didn't have enough time at lunch but now she's finally started telling me that she's not very hungry and I need to start packing her less food.  she has no idea that this is a side effect of the medication but never asks questions so I haven't had to explain anything to her.  I mean, even giving her just part of a sandwich instead of a whole one, I can see how she's only taken a few bites.  it just blows my mind.  I weighed her before I started her on medication so I would have a baseline... mom fail though because I guess I never wrote it down... I can only guess.  I weighed her again though and she's down to 42lbs.  it is possible that she's lost three pounds in 2.5 weeks?!

Elizabeth was Minnie Mouse for the library party, a lady bug for the ward party, and chose Elmo for halloween night.  she was the most adorable Elmo ever.  pictures don't really do it justice, but she looked HILARIOUS walking around all night. I got SO many comments from people we passed.  even teenagers and older kids were all "ummm, I just have to tell you that that is the best Elmo."  I wish I had gotten a decent picture but that just didn't occur to me so I just had some blurry snapshots.

it was cold but we all survived.  thank goodness for no wind, rain, or snow!  Andrew stayed toasty warm in some fleece footies with his fleece footie costume on top.  I was actually even a little worried about him overheating in his carseat/stroller.

Brady started sorting his candy (he's just methodical like that) and Abigail jumped over to help him.  it kind of made me nervous though because I don't want him to be aware of how much of his candy I'm going to eat.  ; )

another year in the books!  I can't believe little Andrew will be toddling around with them next year!