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.

Brady/norah, Elizabeth/me, homemade pizza

Abigail's hair is like fine thread.  and while she sleeps, rumpelstiltskin, weaves it into this.

every morning, a new 3-D creation greets me.  it's like cotton candy gone bad.

we're in December! so we kept the December page and sent the rest of the calendar to the recycle bin.  but how cute it is that Brady crosses off each day.  he calls it his chart.  I basically turned 2017 into a to do list when I gave him this calendar.  that kid.

I went to the barbell class and then listened/read scriptures while I stretched afterward.

this is Sarah.  I'm a bad friend so I took this picture of her.  she organized a girls night for my birthday and bought me pizza and I just sit on a park bench and take pictures of her looking like a crazy person.  and then she took Brady to Costco with her and Norah and kept him until 4pm.  she is a good friend.

and so lovable.

Norah pushing Brady...

Brady pushing Norah...

while Sarah and I Marco polo'd Marissa.  it was a beautiful moment.

Elizabeth was SO SAD that Brady got to go to Costco with Norah and eat samples and she had to come home with me so I let her ride in Brady's carseat.  the whole way home she's all "so fun!!!"  ha.

I mean seriously, look at that face.  pure joy.

our neighbors have those blow up Christmas decorations on their lawn and they look so nice from 4pm-6am but then when the sun rises, it's like there was a massacre at the North Pole.

Abigail was at school, Brady at Costco with Sarah and Norah, and Andrew asleep in his carseat... so Elizabeth and I had so one on one time and it was AMAZING.  oh my gosh, she is such a funny kid.  she started saying "oh goodness!" out of the blue and only sometimes says it in the correct context so that was fun.  also, she loves acting like a grown up or like she always knows what's going on.  and she's a ham for the camera.  and she was thrilled that we shared a banana and Nutella (if you haven't already... microwave a little bowl of it and it's basically chocolate fondue) together at the start of our lunch.  when she's not driving me crazy, she is seriously the best ever.  so entertaining.

so then I put Elizabeth down for a nap around 1 and then Andrew woke up and then I semi put Andrew down for a nap and he fell asleep while I was in the shower at 1:45 and I spent some time prepping grapefruit for dinner and making pizza dough in my blender and blogging and then picked up Brady (and my mod pizza that I left in Sarah's car last night!) and then got Abigail from school.  we had a good after school time which typically doesn't happen.  the kids helped me make little pizzas.  we made four small pizzas... two cheese, two pepperoni and Elizabeth saying peppy-oni made me want to serve that for dinner every night.  she is getting so vocal with expressing what's on her mind.  during dinner, honey got a few calls/emails that wrapped him up with work and occupied him till 8:00.  and then left him in a rough mood for the rest of the night after that.  I don't want to sound ungrateful because he's got an amazing job, but man, it consumes him.  so then the kids all went crazy at 7 when I asked them to get ready for bed.  why does this happen?! they'd been so calm and listening to that point and they instantly got soooo hyper and silly.  I know I'm a terrible mother but I pretty much hate the sound of my kids' laughter.  It almost always is when they're supposed to be doing something like getting ready for bed but they're just messing around instead.  I really shouldn't care except that I told them to get ready at 7 so we could have plenty of time to read Christmas books before bed... but they messed around for 45 minutes and Abigail barely scraped by to get ready... we had 7 minutes and used that time for one picture book, prayers, and one scripture story... during that 7 minutes, Brady finally decided to clean his room and finished two seconds after I announced to Abigail that it was lights out.  then he went ballistic because he missed his chance and I thought to myself for the millionth time... "this is why I hate the sound of my kids' laughter.  it's just a precursor to THIS."  ugh... anyway.  eventually all the kids were asleep and my kitchen was semi cleaned and I gave myself a pat on the back for surviving one more day.

but seriously... that time with Elizabeth today was pure gold.

Abigail's fashions

we've been having unusually warm weather.  but still, Abigail was anxious to wear her hat, scarf, and mittens.  she walked downstairs, ready to wear this outfit to school.  how do you find that balance of letting your kid confidently wear clothes they love and protecting them from outfits that will have other people making fun of them?  

I let her wear the whole thing except that I had her put on full length black leggings... and I brushed her hair, which naturally broke up what she had going on above her shoulders... since she had on the hood of the hoodie and then the hat and then the scarf.  I can't remember exactly what she looked like when I dropped her off, but it was a significant improvement considering I only asked her to change one thing.

here's our daily Andrew picture.

monkey see, monkey do.

I did a reading lesson with Brady out of his reading lesson book.  for the first time since October 14th.  the book made a pretty significant jump where it dropped all of the special symbols (like a line over the long vowel sounds) and font and went to a regular font and no symbol clues.  it was sooo confusing/frustrating for Brady even though he was fine reading that font in regular books that had no special symbols.  after a few days of frustrating lessons, I just dropped it.  we did some "lessons" of just him reading books to me (mostly bob books) but that eventually faded out too.  he's not a fan of bob books because there's really no plot and his questions never get answered.  so, mostly, he's just been reading random stuff that he sees around and sometimes reads some easy reader books.  I decided to try the reading lesson book again and Brady and I were both pleased and surprised at how easy it was for him again.  so even without formal lessons, the time off was still a time of learning for him.  anyway... we'll see what kind of schedule we do with it going forward.  it's just nice to know that it's an option again.  and just to note... the first lap was reading all of the words two times through, the second lap was reading the story the first time through, and the third lap was him reading the story the second time through while pausing at points to answer reading comprehension questions.

Brady told me a few weeks ago that he wanted a drum for Christmas.  it was the first I'd ever heard of it so I thought it was a fleeting thing.  not the case.  he's really into drumming now... with Lincoln logs and a boppy pillow.

Christopher had a bishopric meeting at 8:30 and bedtime was ROUGH... especially because Brady was exhausted and out of control.  I sat in the hall and waited for my kids to fall asleep while I read this conference talk about how hard is good.  these are screenshots of some of my favorite parts.

and honey and I watched some this is us before bed.  I love that show.

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!