Mr. Bear

9.15.15

The five words

When Abigail was a little baby, I used to say the same five words to her all day long...

"I love you so much."

She's five years old now. Wanna know the five words that I tell her all day long? 

"You are driving me crazy!" 

Sad but true. I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual. I'm working on it. 

Sunday

9.20.15

Rockies with friends

9.19.15

Honey planned an elders quorum event to go to the Rockies game. There was only interest from two guys, so they decided to invite wives and the six of us went. We carpooled with the millers and the whole night was just perfect. I watched virtually none of the game because I was so into talking with Charees and Stephanie, but it was great. The Rockies even won! 

London babysat for us again. She's great. And this little babe was as cute as ever when I got home to check on her. I was away from her almost the entire day (because I took Abigail and Brady to day out with Thomas) and it about killed me. Elizabeth is precious beyond words. 

Day out with Thomas

Also, we should have studied for this. 

The past two years, I've taken Abigail to say out with Thomas up in golden. The first year, she was still really into Thomas. Last year, it wasn't magical , but we probably had even more fun than the first year... If that makes any sense. Abigail has asked about it several times over the year so I figured I should just take her again. But Brady is old enough that I thought maybe he would want to come too. So, we're kinda going just to go. Not because my kids are obsessed, but just because I think they'll enjoy it anyway. 

So the past two years, I've just woken Abigail up the morning of and surprised her with it. Zero mention of it before. I was planning to do that this time until 30 minutes ago when the kids were with us and honey was all "Brady, are you excited to see Thomas tomorrow?!" So there went that. Ha. I went ahead and told the kids. Abigail was like "yeah, I know. I just heard daddy tell Brady."  So then I'm sitting with Brady while he doesn't fall asleep (because he power napped in the car when we were getting passports but that's a whooooole other painful and long story) and he's asking me, "mom, is Thomas the blue one?"  HA. Yeah, it's safe to say that he never got into trains like Abigail did. Still, I think it'll be cool. I'm mostly just nervous that Abigail will be rude and mean to Brady all day (that's just our life 24/7 around here) and make things unpleasant and difficult for us. Even bigger than that, I'm just anxious about leaving Elizabeth for so long during the day. Night time is different because she sleeps so much anyway, but this will all be daytime hours. And we're going to the Rockies game tomorrow night and leaving the kids with a babysitter so I'll see Elizabeth for maaaaybe an hour tomorrow. I know that's the norm for Christopher (on a good day), but not for me. My heart is already aching at the thought. She's my therapy these days. Just holding her helps my mood so much. I don't ever feel like I need a break from her... Just everyone else. But I guess that's why I'm doing tomorrow. Because those are the people I need to spend more quality time with. Even if it pains me to miss my baby so. 

Wish me luck with that part. I think I'll need it. 

On a somewhat related note. When I told Abigail last year, that morning, is woken up early to take a pregnancy test because I just knew I was pregnant. Even though it showed up negative (there seemed to be the faintest evaporation line though), I still knew I was pregnant. And I let myself believe that the evaporation line was the beginning of a real positive line. I didn't say a word to a single soul, but that day taking Abigail to Thomas was so special to me. Because I knew I had a little baby in me. And when I started to feel so nauseous on that drive home, I knew even more... And was pretty sure it was a girl. It was my first memory of Abigail and Elizabeth and me... Just driving home from day out with Thomas. 

Stake conference Sunday

I guess I didn't take a single picture today. Brady took two though. Of me. Ha. 12:30 and 3:30... I guess I spent a lot of time in bed today. Which was wonderful because apparently weekends are my only time to read. Last weekend I read a book about poop (so even though that's in the parenting category, I'm still counting it that I read a book) and this weekend I'm reading a book about wine (it's just a basic novel, pretty boring and not very emotionally involved... Just the way I like them)... Except I still have about a hundred pages to go so unless I stay up late tonight, I won't be able to finish it. Cold weather brings out the "I want to read" in me and it's amazing. I really love reading. I thank my mom for that. Anyways, today I spent some time reading in bed. And eating Lindt dark chocolate with roasted almonds. It was delightful. 

This morning we had stake conference. I had so much trouble focusing and I hate that. It didn't grip me like our last stake conference. I know it was on my end more than the speakers' end so it's especially frustrating. I'm glad no one will quiz me on it because I would fail to remember a single detail, and I'm also glad that I'll have an infinite number of opportunities to come to learn about the gospel. 

After church we ate more leftovers from Carmine's on penn from Thursday night. And had the kids play quietly for a few hours. We all went on a family walk later  around the neighborhood and it was like we had the whole place to ourselves because the Broncos game was going on so everyone was inside. Our neighborhood turns into a ghost town during Broncos games. By the end of our walk, I was finally getting honey to open up and start talking and when we got home, we all hung out on the driveways and played in the yard. Honey and I sat in our camp chairs and talked. An hour or two later and we headed in for dinner. The kids ate quesadillas and sweet potatoes and pluots while honey did dishes and I took Elizabeth up for bed. Our whole walk around the neighborhood and play in the yard totaled about three hours and she managed to stay awake for the entire thing, so she was long overdue for some sleep. 

First Elizabeth and then Brady and then Abigail. All to bed. It may just be that Brady has progressed into this super awesome kid, or that Elizabeth is so sweet and happy that she brings out the sweet and happy in the rest of us, but three kids for me is easier than having two. Not the transition to three kids, I mean the actual having three kids. Also, I keep having this phantom child feeling that throws me for a loop ten times a day. I'll be watching Abigail and Brady and then have to look or find or consciously remember where Elizabeth is (even if she's in my arms) because she's basically a pet rock. So then even when I have an eye on all three, I find myself trying to place another kid. A fourth kid. But there's not a fourth kid.  Maybe it's because Elizabeth is normally the kid that is there but that I'm forgetting, so when I remember her, I'm still trying to "remember" another kid. That probably doesn't make sense in writin but I can't describe it any other way. 

As honey put it several weeks ago over dinner at Texas Roadhouse... "We should have another kid right now while it still feels like we only have two."

Amen. If that was physically possible for me, I would 100% be all over that. 

Which tape?

AKA "the third time's the charm"

I put this picture frame in Abigail's room recently. And of course it didn't take long before she found a way to semi break it. She bent the stand part so far back that now it won't stand. Last night while I was reading her books, honey walked in... Just getting home from adult session of stake conference. "Would you go downstairs and get me some scotch tape so I can fix Abigail's frame? Scotch tape... Like you use to wrap presents."  He came back with painters tape. "No honey, you call this scotch tape? This is masking tape... I need scotch tape, like you use to wrap presents."  So then he returned a minute later and tossed me packing tape. "Honey, seriously?!  This is packing tape. I need scotch tape. Like the TAPE YOU USE TO WRAP PRESENTS!" I spelled it out as clearly as I could. But then he didn't return. Abigail even prayed in her prayer "please help daddy to find the right tape." Ha. 

So after she was asleep, I went downstairs and found my honey watching the byu game... With some scotch tape on the coffee table in front of him. 

So I fixed the frame and then, during a commercial, took the opportunity to give him a lesson on different varieties of tape. 

Scotch tape= tape that says "scotch" on the outside... Like what you use to wrap presents. 

Masking/painters tape= brown tape and the inside of the roll will say "painter's choice!"

Packing tape= clear tape that you use to pack and mail boxes... The inside will reference the U.S. Postal service. 

Classic honey... He's a genius but he has no clue what the different tapes are called. I was relieved to find out that he genuinely had no clue... Otherwise I would have been annoyed that he was too lazy to get the right tape.  I would have assumed he just grabbed whatever was closest or easiest to get to. So, yeah, this was definitely better. 

Hopefully next time he'll be able to get it right before the third time. 

And she didn't take a bottle

Did I ever write about when we left all three kids with a babysitter a month or so ago? And Elizabeth didn't even take a bottle. Picking the babysitter up I was all "umm, Elizabeth doesn't take a bottle... So hopefully she sleeps a long time.  But I'm just in downtown Parker if you need me to come home."  I ended up coming home to nurse her during intermission of the play we were at and then leaving again telling the babysitter to rock her to sleep. It was kind of a stressful night for me. I think the issue was that Elizabeth frequently wakes up and fusses a bit, but then falls back asleep... And instead of letting her fall back asleep, the babysitter was extra attentive and got her up. 

So for the past month, I've worked extra hard to give Elizabeth a bottle. Every day for a few weeks and then to every other day. All so I would be able to leave her and go to dinner and a play in downtown Denver with honey's Tennessee employees. So even the morning of I was testing to make sure that Elizabeth would take milk from the freezer (it would probably taste different since it was pumped when she was only a week old) and she did great. I felt fully confident about her taking a bottle for the babysitter. All of my hard work would pay off. I had a 7 ounce bottle of freshly pumped milk in the fridge and then I even thawed a bag from the fridge so there was another 7.5 ounce bottle ready. I left out a mug of water and gave the sitter heating instructions. When we got home, the sitter took Abigail and Brady outside to play while I swaddled and nurses Elizabeth and put her in the crib. I left the sitter with a monitor and institutions that she should sleep for at least 3-4 hours and to let her fuss, just not let her get into a hard cry. She was clear on this (especially considering last time how she had to hold her the whole time and I had to come home to nurse her) and I left her with a monitor and told her Elizabeth should fall asleep within 10-15 minutes. All of my hard work... Here it was. My baby would take a bottle from the sitter. 

Well, as I'm driving the sitter home around 11pm I'm asking her how the night was. "How was Elizabeth?" "Oh she was great! She never woke up!" 

Seriously?!  Smacking my head. Elizabeth, of course you did that. Whatever, the end result was the same. I got to go to the night out in Denver with everyone and I would have never attempted it if she wasn't taking a bottle super well. 

And the plus side was that I was able to wake her and change her diaper and reswaddle her and just hold her as a perfect ending to my day. And I didn't even need to feel guilty about it since I haaaaad to so she wouldn't leak out of her diaper during the night. She's my best medicine for my difficult motherhood moments these days. I love her so much. 

So depressed about Walmart

In case you were unaware, I love shopping at Walmart. I know almost every person on the street will bash Walmart and say how horrible it is (I used to be one of those people), but ever since I moved to Parker four years ago, I've been obsessed with Walmart. I love the inexpensive prices, that it's open 24/7, that I can save hundreds of dollars by price matching, and that it's a one stop shop for pretty much everything I need. There are always a million workers and if something isn't on the shelf, I can ask a worker and they happily go check to see if there are more in the back. Tonight I had a worker check and when she came back to tell me the item was out of stock right now, she let me know that they should be receiving more either tomorrow night or the following night. I feel like everyone is always courteous and going above and beyond. 

Over the last six weeks, I've had little things here and there that have been less than stellar, which is unusual since my Walmart is incredible. I didn't think too much of it. I went shopping last Tuesday though and had a downright bad experience with some guy (I think his name is Dave... He normally works evenings) that wanted me to show him the ad for every item I price matched and then threw a fit about price matching my chocolate milk. He even told me "our price matching policy is clearly posted on the wall of the customer service section if you'd like to review it."  He gave me attitude, was rude, and was blatantly in the wrong (because I'm actually VERY familiar with the price match policy and I know it all). Before I left the store, I reviewed the policy (to be sure again that I was correct) and had to really hold myself back on my way out from politely telling him that maybe he should take a minute to review that policy. I also talked to two women working in the customer service dept and they assured me that he was wrong and I was right and I should just avoid going to him next time and I won't have any more problems. 

Wrong. Tonight I went super later after the kids were in bed and got this Asian lady that was almost as bad as that other guy. Checked the ad on everything and was actually doubting me and quadruple checking stuff to make sure it was the right size etc. She doubted my on the vine tomatoes and told me I was mistaking them for Roma and she was trying to do math conversion (as I explained it to her) about the 48 ounce container of ice cream and if that was the same as 1.4 or whatever liters. And when she was taking so long and the line was backing up (because she was the only register open), she yelled out for backup with a very annoyed and loud "I've got a price marcher over here."  Seriously?!  You're blaming this on me?! I've done this for years and I'm here to tell you, I'm not the problem in this situation. 

Anyway, I thought about it on my way home. How could my Walmart of over four years be going downhill so fast?! So I got home and checked my receipt. I didn't recognize the manager name at the top. I went through my old receipts. Sure enough, there it was. My Walmart got a new manager sometime between my 7.29.15 visit and my next visit at the beginning of August. I am so depressed. 

Everything is all clicking now about these rude cashiers acting like price matching is inconvenient or dishonest and stating that it's my responsibility to bring and show the ad which is in complete opposition to the corporate policy (they just say that their store has slightly different rules from their manager because of some price matching issues they've been having), and how the computer system flags price matched items that are at a steep enough discount. I've barely even scratched the surface of my experiences in the past month but it seriously makes me so angry.

Also though, it just makes me depressed. I mean, grocery shopping is a weekly thing and it's kind of a big part of life. Where and how you buy your food. And now I'm trying rid figure out where to go from here. Price match at target? Shop directly at king soopers since it's close and they typically have the best sales? Do Walmart to go on most of my groceries and then just buy the other items wherever they're on sale? 

It shouldn't affect my mood so much (I'm currently looking sleep over this), but I'm just annoyed and sad. Also, what happened to The previous manager and why did this Walmart make the change? I swear I'm going to get to the bottom of this. After I cry myself to sleep. 

Nate plays tennis

Just giving Elizabeth her everyotherday bottle. 

And Brady photography. This messy closet is going to be the death of me. 

Brady's favorite sports are baseball, golf, and hockey. But this morning was all hockey. He put on his hockey shirt and was thrilled to discover these skates. 

So then he tried his hand at hockey with skates. I laughed at him too much. He fell down almost every time we swung his stick around to hit the ball. 

I was reading a book to Abigail when Elizabeth started to cry. Brady immediately jumped down and started reading her his favorite hockey book. It didn't do much for Elizabeth's mood, but it was so precious to watch. 

Walmart has either stopped carrying the kid hangers I like it has just been out of stock for a very long time. I took the kids to target to see if they carried a similar style of kid hangers. They don't. They also didn't have anything at all that I could get myself motivated to buy, including chocolate (come on, just get me that white chocolate coconut something or other you used to have!) so I left empty handed. Well, has empty handed as you can leave with a cart full of kids. I didn't have to pay for those though. The day was annoying me to no end.

Luckily the day got better around 4 when we arrived at nate's tennis match. Abigail and Brady hung out and ate snacks (Brady mostly got trail mix, ate the m&ms, dumped the rest on the ground, and then tried to scoop it into the cup again before eating the rest), and Elizabeth and I hung out and watched the game. Klaudette was so into it (of course), while I was just trying to figure out the general rules. I need a tennis 101 course before I go back. 

Here is Elizabeth's face. 

Here is was you typically can see of Elizabeth's face. She is seriously just Abigail version 2.0 with just about everything, but especially the constant drooling and chomping on her fingers and fists. Her clothes are always soaked. 

We went to the fundraiser night at panda afterward. Seriously thank goodness for tennis and panda because I was about to lose my mind earlier in the day. Which was especially not great with honey being in California and not getting home til later. 

Bird flu still affecting everything. 

Both kids ate great. We got the grilled teriyaki chicken, orange chicken, and walnut shrimp... With noodles and fried rice. We ate it all except for some orange chicken and sides that we took home so honey would have some quick food to eat when he got home. It was delish. 

Brady almost always sleeps on his back and looks as awkward as can be. I love it. 

So happy the second half of my day was so much better than the first (which sucked because of a dead spider and grasshopper in my garage, my slow computer, crappy internet, taking two hours just to transfer and backup pictures, coordinating travel for thanksgiving and Christmas, and not finding hangers at target) and that I lived to blog about it. 

Heritage square park... Or something

Saturday 9.5.15

Honey had the great idea for us to go to this amusement park in golden. Since my kids all wake up early now (have I posted about that? They're all up between 7 and 8 most every morning), we had no problem eating and getting out of the house and we were at the park by 10:15. We got unlimited passes (the other option is buying tickets and paying for the rides that way... But tickets are roughly a dollar each, making each ride several dollars, which is a huge ripoff) for $20 (they're normally $25 but honey had a coupon) and stayed all day. Literally rode out last ride at 7:55 because it closes at 8. It was perfect for the kids because the rides were a lot of fun, but not too big. Also, for someone like me who is afraid of six flags rides and roller coasters, this was my perfect amusement park, completely full of fun rides that will spin around and get your stomach without triggering your fear of heights or scaring the crap out of you. They even had a Ferris wheel, bumper boats, paddle boats, go karts, and 36 holes of mini golf. 

Elizabeth did great and Abigail and Brady had a blast. They're favorite rides were the really low key ones like the swing and banana airplanes and hot air balloon thing... And the spinning teacups. 

I left my phone at home so our pictures from the day are all on honey's phone. Maybe I'll add them later. 

Classic Brady and Abigail

Upon arriving to the pool, Brady says "mom, can I get a noodle?" "Sure Brady." And then off he runs to get a noodle.

I'm pretty returns, Abigail says, "Brady, will you go get me a noodle?" so I tell Abigail, you need to get your own noodle" ...which does not deter Abigail from continually asking Brady to get her a noodle.

An hour later, and Abigail is still asking Brady to get her a noodle. Then she just starts playing with Brady's noodle. So I tell her she needs to get her own noodle to play with. Then she whines and complains about "noooo we share noodles." I explained to her again that the bucket of pool noodles is only 30 feet away, and she is free to go get her own so they can both share. Abigail refuses.  Now no one is playing with Brady's pool noodle and Abigail will likely not ever get her own this visit to the pool.

Typical Brady: just getting it done.

Typical Abigail: taking two hours to do a 20 second task.