The Isoms

Resolutions....what?

2012-01-11T10:59:00.001-06:00

I decided to bag New Years Resolutions this year. Instead of beating myself up about all the things I'm doing or not doing that are going to mess up my kids someday, I'm just going to give them all one of these this year and call it good - :)

Pre-Christmas pics

2011-12-30T19:15:00.001-06:00

This year I made an attempt at some festive holiday gifts. Here's one we gave to Cash's teacher:

A home-made snow globe featuring a picture of her in elf form. I'll admit, these are not the quickest little gifts you can give, but she almost cried when we gave it to her, so it was worth it. We made them for a lot of people over the season.

Home-made white chocolate popcorn. (I've never done neighbor gifts before - thank heavens we don't live in Utah! Those neighbors go CRAZY! I'm not ready for that kind of pressure.)

We even made some friends join us in re-enacting the nativity.

I got together stuff for some Minute-to-Win-it games back at Thanksgiving that we've used a couple times over the holiday season. Seriously, check out the game faces, people:

And you gotta love this one (holiday kiss - move ornaments from one string to another using only your mouths...how romantic is that?!):

Jingle Box was probably the favorite though. Watching people shake their bootie to try to get ping pong balls out of a kleenex box set to Christmas music never gets old.

Cash's Christmas program:

Lookin' good

2011-12-15T15:47:00.002-06:00

First, does anyone else have a problem using Blogger with Firefox as their web browser? I use Chrome, but when I post it and then view in Firefox, half the pictures are missing. So if you care about seeing my pictures, I guess use Chrome or Internet Explorer as your web browser. I'm too lazy to fix it otherwise.

How cute are these two? They were so matchy after church one day I couldn't resist some pictures. And then couldn't pick just one favorite.

Every time our kids are born, people say, "Oh, he looks just like Ryan!" This time they say, "Oh, now this one really looks like Ryan."

And the frequent view we get as the baby comes in for attack:

The little guy is finally crawling. Such exciting freedom. I'm pretty sure he's eaten something by now that he shouldn't have, but I really only have so much control in this house....

And while not quite as cute, I guess we're not too bad either, on occasion.

Mishap

2011-12-06T09:06:00.003-06:00

In November, Ryan took a lot of call. A LOT. This means in the hospital, sleeping there (all by himself in his nice cozy little hospital room... all to himself...getting a full night of uninterrupted sleep most of the time...all by himself...), ahem, I digress. Anyhow, one night I was getting a little beyond crazy with the kids and the mess and the teething and the fighting and the bedtime madness, and I flopped down on the couch once they were all asleep to survey the damage and muster the energy to face it when I thought, I just want to be in a room, by myself, all ALONE.

The next day I woke up to an email saying the Groupon for the day was a package for spray tanning. Perfect, I thought to myself. Slightly selfish, and very alone.

So Ryan came home, I made my appointment and I was out the door. Now, I had done a spray tan at one place before. It was a nice machine in a nice room with a bathrobe and bottled water, a cap to put over your hair, and a nice gay Swedish man to tell you exactly how to do it and show you how to put the lotion on your fingernails and your toenails and the soles of your feet to block the spray so you didn't go out looking freakish. And then you were left alone with the soothing voice prompts embedded within the machine for the 46-second miracle to work it's magic.

Well, this groupon was for a place where it was done by hand. Alright, the awkwardness factor goes up by a bazillion right there, but hey, it was a really good deal, and I'm sure they do this all the time so it's no big deal for them, right?. Plus, I know that's how the celebs and stuff do it - their own personalized spray tan artist. I guess you can get those hard to reach places better? Plus I thought they were better at matching it to your skin tone and making it look natural, so I thought it was probably going to be a higher-end service and I was probably lucking out to get to try it.

And then I got there and she stuck me in the corner of a very small, and very dimly lit bathroom.

Suddenly it was awkward, and ghetto.

As I was relating this to Ryan later he was saying maybe that should be some kind of red-flag when this kind of place is looking to do a groupon. Point noted.

So once I was down to my skivvies (the minimum I felt like letting her stare at for the 15 minutes we were in there) the lady, who spoke very little English and had used mostly gestures and an isolated word here and there, picks up her nozzle, nods, and says ok like she's ready to go. I'm thinking, um, wait, shouldn't we discuss anything? Like my desired outcome here, for starters? So instead I say, "Do you have a cap or anything I could put over my hair?" "Mmm, good idea," she nods. She walks out for a minute while I try to grapple with what to say next to prolong the start of this episode into the unknown.

She comes back in and I'm still worried that she's given me nothing to put on my nails or the soles of my feet and she hadn't seemed to remember the idea of covering your hair either...but I don't want to annoy her too much when she's obviously ready to go, and maybe the way they do it makes that unnecessary? So instead as she's ready to hose me down once again, I blurt out, "So is there like more than one color to choose from or anything?" "No. Just one color," and she proceeds to blast.

Ah the internal panic. I have had no sort of conversation about what I'm hoping to look like when this is done, and there is only one color...and she is Hispanic as were most of the people I saw on my way through the salon. And that same color they all use is currently coating my body in copious quantities. Gulp.

The spray goes on and on. Really on. Like I'm used to 46 seconds and am rather concerned what the result of this prolonged dousing will be. Finally it's over and she tells me she's going to go get a fan to dry me off. So now I'm in a tiny dark bathroom facing a fan that is sitting on the toilet, freezing my wet, colored bootie off. So ghetto. Yeah, I guess this isn't what I envisioned when I bought this package.

After 10 minutes or so she comes in and pulls back the curtain and I look in the mirror.

Gasp. All I see are teeth and eyes.

Everything else is a mass of dark that blends into the shadows of the poorly lit bathroom. Instant panic sets in. I try to act composed in front of her, but as soon as the door is shut I'm silently screaming and darting in random, agitated movements around the room. Do I really have to walk back out in front of all those people that just saw me walk in here a pasty white lady just a few minutes ago??? Do I really have to take Cash to school tomorrow? Why can't it be one of those rare days Ryan goes in late?!? And if I try wearing a hat it will just shadow my face and make me look even darker!! There is seriously no escaping this....

I walk out with my face turned away from as many people as possible, mysteriously fascinated by something in my purse, and I walk up to the lady at the front desk - the one white person in there. "Is this the real color this is going to stay?" I ask in a hushed but intense voice. "Or is this going to wash off when I shower and fade into something lighter?" The one I'd done before had an instant color that while strong (yet nothing like I was now experiencing), would wash off the next morning and leave a nicer color developing underneath.

"No," she says, "This is what it will be." Aaahhhh! "But it looks nice on you." Are you kidding me? "Um, I look like a different nationality," I blurt out. She keeps trying to reassure me, "But this color is good - it won't be orange on you like other kinds."

Oh the horror. I get in the car and send Ryan a text:

"I look like Pocahontas."

As I pull into our garage I'm a little mortified to see how busy the parking lot is with so many people coming in and out. They all know me here. We're notorious. So I'm darting through the parking lot hiding behind cars as people pass and hoping the coast is clear when I make the final dash. Thank heavens I'm the first apartment inside the building.

I walk in the house and Ryan turns around. "Oh, wow," he says. "Um, that looks really bad." Awesome.

Well, one thing for sure, she was right about it not looking orange. I had remembered a friend before telling me that St. Tropez (the kind this salon had) was the best kind of self-tanner because it was green-based rather than orange based. I looked down at the bottoms of my feet - they were a solid mass of greenish-black. Perhaps the effect was magnified by the black towel she had me standing on? Whatever they case, they were putrid. Ryan made a gagging face seeing me look at them and said, "I am not getting in bed with you." I could only imagine myself at playgroup kicking my feet up on someone's ottoman with those. Note to self: wear boots and ignore the take-your-shoes-off-in-my-house rule.

You're not supposed to shower for 12 hours after getting your spray tan. I paced in an agitated panic at home for 40 minutes and after turning myself away from it multiple times, I finally freaked out and stuck my face under the sink and scrubbed and scrubbed. I hated to wash money down the drain...but I couldn't take it anymore. (I left the rest though figuring at least I had to be able to look at my face.) When I've done the other spray tan before, I still look a little unnatural being so tan (this happens when I'm even tan just from the sun)....like I sort of border on looking homeless. You know, that worn leathery look. This wasn't even that this time though. I was like this green/dark creature from another country. Or planet. It looked so off. And of course, my nails and feet were heinous.

So what do you know, the next day when I showered I did look much improved (I'm sure washing it off my face helped immensely), and as it faded, it turned out to be my favorite spray tan. (Ok, even though it took 3 days and about 17 layers of exfoliated skin for my feet to be able to greet the world again.) Anyhow, it really wasn't orange at all, and did look like I do when I've had time in the sun. Who knows, maybe I will even get my moneys worth and finish my sessions, when originally I had been certain I would never be walking back in that salon again. Just have to figure out how to go into hiding for that first day or two....

Seriously. I'm such a dork. Sometimes I sit and imagine people that lived like thousands of years ago that had to battle like mastadons and starvation for survival, and picture them looking down on me and the ridiculous things we do nowadays and just shaking their heads in disgust.

I seriously love this video!

2011-12-01T20:54:00.000-06:00

Why have I been wearing a scarf such boring ways all these years? Besides this girl is just so darn cute you just want to watch this video. I want to be in bed but I can't stop watching it (even with the strangling hazards I keep running into trying to keep up with her while trying some of these styles). If you wear scarves or contemplate it, you should watch. Heaven knows I love me some scarves...especially with the chilly temps now...you know how weak we Floridians get when it's in the 70s.

Picture catch up

2011-11-28T15:29:00.001-06:00

My mom has been begging me to post a picture of Cash dressed as a Mormon pioneer. It was the multicultural day at school and you were supposed to come dressed representing your heritage. At first I thought, oh great, everyone is going have all this great stuff from their Latin countries and Cash is going to be the kid in blue jeans representing the "Average White American Kid." Then I thought I'd make it a little more interesting and go with our Mormon pioneer heritage. He was pretty stinking cute.

Boys trying to get some shade at the pool:

The twins with their preschool friends:

Just playing:

Loved that these three happened to be snuggled up reading a book and all wearing red:

I love watching these two sleep. I often go in to find one of them sleeping with their foot across the other one's face. Can't you just imagine them in the womb like this?

I mentioned we've been to Disneyworld a few times now since we got annual passes. It's been fun...and exhausting. I'm not really sure Ryan and I can keep it up cause man it wears you out. Hauling all those kids and all that stuff on and off of trams all day, standing in line, etc. Plus we usually drive home after and so get back to Miami at like 1am and are totally wiped out. Even with that said, I still am wanting to go again since it's been a few weeks!

Watching the parade (we've even dragged Grammy along):

And we've managed to see it decorated for different seasons now:

Although this poor kid is just like, why am I here and where is my bed? And why on earth am I still up at this hour? He doesn't love it, although he had some pretty good squeals watching Mickey in the parade.

Shoot, that safari ride in the Animal Kingdom is pretty good. Took us a week on safari in Africa to see the Big Five, and you can get it in 20 minutes at Disneyworld.

And this would be the biggest reason Ryan and I may not last through many more of these trips:

Yeah, we were so sore the next day from carrying babies and kids all day long! Next time I'll insist we get one of those big Disney strollers for the older kids. We thought they could hack it but man were they whiney. But then we looked down and realized that they had to take three steps for every one of Ryan's - that really is a lot of walking.

Ryan and I got to go in one morning and stay for breakfast at Cash's school during spirit week. It was "mix and match tacky" day. He couldn't get the idea of trying to not match (I swear it would have happened naturally had I not tried to tell him about it), but we at least got him to try to look goofy and it was pretty funny. (Um, not to mention all the parents didn't recognize me out of my pajamas.)

And we got to go one night for his exhibit night at school.

And man, we thought the tub was getting snug before with three men in a tub....

Halloween is so last month

2011-11-15T21:09:00.001-06:00

But whatever. We've been to Disneyworld and had strep throat since then so late will have to do.

Ryan and the baby and I were a trio:

Did you guess? A lion, a witch, and a wardrobe. (The green face was a last-minute idea I thought the kids would like or we might have gone theWizard of Oz route.) When I came out dressed to go Ryan looked me over and asked jokingly, "What happened to a sexy witch?" (since that's the take on every costume in Miami). "Yeah," I said, "Cause this is definitely not it." And while I did make for a really ugly witch, Ryan was sure the cutest little wardrobe out there. (I sort of gave him an ultimatum that he dress up this year or else....) I did get multiple compliments on my wig, however. (Which sadly, was just my own hair and took all of about 2 minutes to get that way.)

If you can differentiate from the messy table we have - Pirate/Captain Jack Sparrow (Ashton); Bumblebee Transformer (Phoenix); and Spiderman (Cash):

Frankly the baby didn't seem all too smitten with Halloween for the most part.

I think we managed to capture probably the one smile on camera.

Ashton at the bean bag toss at the ward party:

We stopped in at Ryan's work:

And I even managed to throw in another Halloween party.

Cute pin-the-nose-on-the-pumpkin that Betsey brought:

Raising their hands for who wants to eat ghost poop :)

And alright, while this looks like we're doing a seance or something, I actually included a new little activity this time on my homemade light table that was pretty fun. We used witches wands (glow sticks) to make magic bubbling witches potions (vinegar + food coloring + baking soda). They actually really liked it.

I even had a pretty good collection of Halloween lanterns I'd made by the end of the month:

And I made a plethora of spiders to hand out for the whole two trick-or-treaters that came to our door.

But let's be honest here. The reality of the season was I was a little Halloweened out by the time the 31st rolled around, the weather on Halloween was yucky, trick-or-treating here was lame (the boys went for like an hour and only found 4 houses giving out candy), the baby hated his lion grass:

Captain Jack hated his hair -

it took bribery and possibly a few threats to get him to wear it, it was so much effort getting everyone ready I remembered why I've never dressed up myself before, it rained during the ward trunk-or-treat and the kids had to fight a madhouse of teenagers to get some candy inside the over-crowded building, I had to walk around our building planting candy on people so our kids could flippin trick-or-treat on Halloween, and we didn't get any cute Halloween-setting pictures in costumes (the baby's costume is still sitting out waiting to be put back on for a cute photo shoot. Should probably just scratch that idea at this point).

Oh well, I still have good memories. And now can move on to some real holidays. Like my birthday.

I am the best

2011-11-15T13:12:00.001-06:00

Yesterday Ryan said to me, "Turning on closed captioning was the best thing you've ever done for our kids."

Shoot. I'm such a good mom.

Seriously, give it a try if you want to feel better about yourself for letting your kids watch tv. Ryan really thinks that's why our kids can read so well. (Um, ok, there were a few survival years in there where our kids may have watched a lot of tv.) I guess I could take that statement the wrong way considering all the other monumental things I've done for our children, but I'm just choosing to pat myself on the back for being the best mom in the world right now. :) You never knew it was so easy to be so phenomenal, did you?

Cutie face

2011-10-27T08:58:00.004-05:00

I am seriously so in love with this stinkin' cute little guy.

We sure had a rough couple weeks with him being sick though (I think it may have actually been RSV). Anyhow, it was really lucky my mom was in town because this kid has been the neediest of all my kids when he's sick. (At least that being a clone of his father thing is consistent. :) I seriously spent the large majority of a week and a half in his room holding him in the rocking chair for hours at a time so he would sleep. I swear this kid thinks he's an only child or something.

Good thing that's over though because I really love this age! Here are a few pictures over the last few months to catch up.

This little guy is so in love with his brothers and gets so excited to see them or chase them around. Whenever we walk out in the hallway and he sees the boys all start running down the halls he gets so excited and starts flailing his arms and digging his heels into me while he's sitting on my hip like he's telling me to giddy-up. He's starting to get some crazy wild curly hair. I've never had to groom a child's hair so much, but this kid has such tight curl on the sides that he starts getting little poof balls that look Princess Leia buns if I don't try to tame it. He's currently getting his 5th tooth, and he got the first 4 in a matter of about 2 weeks. He has even managed to chip his front tooth before it has even grown in (I have no idea how). Awesome. He has such bad stranger anxiety I finally quit the gym since I got 3 minutes of working out every time I tried to take him. He just likes what he likes, and currently that is only 5 people in the world. (And Grammy was at least finally tolerable by the end of 2 and a half weeks.) We affectionately call him the little prince since he is the only person in the family with their very own room, and his wants, needs and preferences pretty much run the household. I was really serious that this kid thinks he's an only child.

He's so much fun to have around though. We're already anxious for the next stage. Whenever Ryan sees busy little babies running around getting into everything he just shakes his head and says, "I don't want a one year-old!" (I keep reminding him at least it's not two one year-olds.) So we're enjoying the cuteness...and immobility, for as long as it lasts.

Halloween Festivities

2011-10-22T14:46:00.007-05:00

I am not a Halloweener (he he). I did not grow up in a Halloweeny home. I can never get my husband to dress up and last year was my first adult year dressing up only because my kids kept asking me what I was going to be for Halloween.

So I am trying to reform. Trying very hard to be Halloween festive. Enter the internet. So many great ideas! (I know pinterest would be a great resource, I'm only concerned with getting into it for the potential amount of time I could see myself wasting there.) So we started off with a great idea I saw here - power tool pumpkins. Genius idea for a house full of boys and no carving involved.

I forgot to take a picture of it lit up. Hers looked better, we should have tried to make the holes bigger since we didn't have a bigger drill bit, but it still looked cool. And was fun.

Then I decided to have some little Halloween parties for my kids. I did one with the little kids we do preschool with for the twins. Then the next day I did one with some kids from Cash's class at school.

I chocolate-dipped a bunch of pretzels and tried to make them festive looking.

Then I talked about how it was October and because of Halloween I found the weirdest foods at the grocery store. Like...

Mummies. And....

Monsters.

And yes, even...

Since there was such strange stuff at the store I tried to look elsewhere to see what else I could find to eat. But since it's rained here so much lately, well, guess what I found a lot of....

Yep, worms. Lots and lots of slimy, wiggly worms.

Then I had to concoct my Witches Brew. Pour in some bat juice (I debated calling it spider blood or something but wanted to stay on the side of gross rather than gory), add a few spider eggs (raw sugar crystals), and then I asked Cash what his dad did for work. "He's a doctor." Right, and what kind of doctor? "An eye doctor." Yep, so I had to have dad bring something home from work so I could complete my potion. Eyeballs.

It may not look like much in the picture, but the effect was great.

It was so fun watching them laugh and squirm and giggle and get so grossed out! Phoenix covered his mouth and backed away every time I came near him with a worm, and Ashton never even broke down and tried one. They were made of jello that you pour over a bunch of bendy straws with the necks extended that you then squeeze out one at a time. It was hilarious. Even when I was squeezing them out of the straws some of them I swear would keep moving and give my mom and I the willies! I found them here, and she referenced this person who had an unbelievable likeness in the ones she made! I also got the monster pudding cups from this same blog (I've made lots of stuff from her blog and love it), saw the mummy ideas here, and got the ghost poop idea from a very Halloween-savvy friend.

I made a bean bag toss and gave away prizes when they played.

We also did a couple crafts - some simple spider pops,

(Although they looked better the second time we made them since I cut the pipe cleaner a little shorter, and I would have liked to find all red suckers so they would look like black widows but no luck.)

And then we did these super cute Halloween lanterns I saw on my cousins blog. She's the one who led me to find them here and all the other great stuff I have since found on that blog.

It was so fun and turned out so perfect! The crafts were fun and really cute, not too hard for kids too. (I'd already pre-cut all the shapes out of construction paper).

As for that witches brew, I have to say I love these new submersible lights I got - (interjection - they made for great bath fun too with some baby food containers filled with water and food coloring and then closing one of these lights inside them.)

Anyhow, there you have it. I am now officially Halloweeny. The kids had a blast and it was super fun.

Who knew the three year-olds would be so much easier to control than the five year-olds? Man, those kids were wild! We did invite a set of triplets, however, so maybe we were asking for it. :)

I'd say I could make it a tradition - but I think I already used up all the good ideas I could muster. And of course I can only do it if my mom decides to keep up her annual October visits...and she will probably change her mind after this. :)

May your Halloween season be just as spook-tacular!

Random thoughts

2011-10-12T20:32:00.001-05:00

Last night as we walked in from the parking garage to our building, we saw our neighbor at the garbage chute - in high heels, a strapless mini-dress...and an apron. Ryan and I exchanged amused glances and as soon as the door was shut, the exact same thoughts came out: "Jealous?" I asked at the same time he said, "How come I get the shaft?" There are multiple thoughts on this - first, who on earth cooks dinner in strappy high heels?? Second, I know this woman is married, so it's not like she putting on a show for some suitor. Third, this woman is definitely in her 40s or maybe 50s, so is it possible she has been doing this every night for 20 years?? Fourth, stop giving my husband crazy notions that this kind of behavior is normal.

Next disconnected thought. The other night as I printed off the 33 pages of homework for the week (yay for going green!!!) I realized I was glad I wasn't the parents of the triplets in Cash's class. 100 pages of Kindergarten homework to print every week? It's ridiculous enough for one child. (Mind you, this isn't including the mathbook, the 30 minutes of reading a night, or the educational websites they're supposed to work on every day....)

My mom just came in town. I gave her the true Miami experience today as we went to a dollar store in Hialeah. You know we're on the wrong side of town when at the light before we turned into the parking lot, some guy rolls down his window to ask if we were lost. That corner alone boasted 2 dollar stores, 2 flea markets and a Salvation Army. Charming little neighborhood.

I think I was discussing my feelings on all the red tape you have to go through to get your kid from school here with Ryan and then realized, "Well, I guess I shouldn't expect any less since even the deodorant in Miami is under lock and key." I kid you not. I have to hunt down employees at CVS just to buy my husband some dang deodorant around here.

The end.

The good old days

2011-10-07T14:15:00.003-05:00

The other day we were at Costco. I had the twins in the cart and the baby in the front pack (not even the whole herd like usual), when a little old lady passed by with a twinkle in her eye and said, "Those were the good old days." It took me a minute to register my emotion, and then I realized - relief! I understand if you live somewhere else, comments like that may be common. But here, I usually have to brace myself and fasten on my social graces when I see someone about to open their mouth to me. There's the ever common "You have your hands full," but here is said without a hint of admiration; rather, it's said with the same reaction my children have to dogs - the person scooting to the other corner of the elevator before one of my children breathes, sneezes, coughs, pees, or gets their grimy fingers on them. (Of course, you have to remember that Miami is the place for singles who want to hone their bodies to bronze perfection during the day and flaunt them at the clubs at night. Children are a serious threat to their lifestyle.) "You're done, aren't you?" is another frequently used one, often followed by, "You should be." (My dentist here emphatically used this multiple times...before I had my last child.) "Are they all yours?" of course, but a version of this I infer from the looks of the Miami crowd when we're anywhere near the ghetto and they see Ryan and I together is, "They all from the same daddy?????"

Anyhow, I reflected on this woman's comment on the way home and wondered if at some future time I would say that to someone else. When my eyes got teary thinking about it, I decided the answer must be yes. Even now as I sit here, baby napping, twins happily (and humorously) playing Mr. Potato head, and I sit munching on cookie dough as I steal away for a few minutes on the computer...what could be better?

I love, loved this talk this past weekend in general conference by Elder Andersen.(General conference is a bi-anual event where we listen to the leaders of the church and it's broadcast throughout the world.) He said very simply, "We believe in families. And we believe in children." He talked about how where the standards of the world and the standards of the church used to be compatible, they now are often widely separated. Having kids was one of these since many people now marginalize the importance of having children or suggest delaying or limiting children in a family. It was just a nice reminder that it takes faith to have kids in the world today, and especially not to be afraid to rank children as more important than all the luxuries, money and perfect body we could have if we focused on those instead. I'll admit, it definitely takes faith to live on one salary in Miami - it's an extremely unpopular and uncommon scenario here. It takes doing without a lot of things that would be nice to have, but I have to remind myself it's a worthy trade for my kids to have each other and for me to be here with them.

The thing I really don't get here is all these rich people have one or maybe two kids who get a mercedes when they turn 16, get their ivy league college degree paid for and a house as a gift when they graduate. But then it seems that all the underprivileged people here are the only ones I see with big families. Doesn't make sense. Shouldn't all these educated and wealthy people be the ones trying to re-populate the world? Is the world going to get progressively dumber?

Anyhow, there are the few people though that look at us warmly and I get the sense they have their faith in marriage and family restored. The rest of them may look at us with disdain... but their children think we're awesome.

Order

2011-10-07T13:38:00.000-05:00

Yes, most of you guessed it: Phoenix, Cash, Diesel, Ashton.

Name those babies

2011-09-30T21:15:00.000-05:00

Alright, I'm pretty sure you can figure out who is who (except maybe the twins, but that's always the case). Kind of fun having all boys who wear the same clothes (and smile with their mouths wide open) so you can really compare similarities.

What I walked in on this time

2011-09-23T21:32:00.000-05:00

Good thing we don't just limit ourselves to honey around here.

Twinners

2011-09-19T08:30:00.004-05:00

We had a LOT of this from Ashton over the last little while:

It was kind of a rough summer with him. I knew it wasn't even just me when one time my sister got back from watching the kids for a while, and as we were about to leave again Ashton said, "I'm going in Julie's car!" at which point she blurted out, "LIKE HECK YOU ARE!!!" which made us all burst out laughing knowing that she had experienced the fullness of Ashton's tantrum-throwing. Luckily since we've been back we've been working on it's a LOT better. They seem to take turns though being totally uncontrollable for some period of time because my family was all surprised thinking Phoenix was the difficult one when he was quite angelic all summer. Thank heavens there seems to be some sort of switch that at least alternates rather than having them both like that at the same time or I'd really lose my mind.

(Can I say how much I love these shirts my friend made? We have a few styles and I love them all.)

Anyhow, my chubby little twins are growing up and losing their baby look. They're totally little boys now who run around the house yelling things like "BOO-YAH!" and "modified!" (some sort of souped up car terminology I'm assuming). I know growing up and losing babyhood is usually kind of sad or bittersweet. I'd say in the case of the twins it's actually swaying in favor of sweet rather than bitter. :) People told me the first 6 months of having twins was hard. A few said the first year was hard. I got to one year and was constantly running two different directions after self-endangering toddlers and wondered how they only thought the first year was hard. Then I got to two years with tantrums and stubornness and defiance and no one listening to me and still running different directions and wondered how anyone survived the twos. But hey, guess what? After three years it's finally easier! The independence is sooooo welcome. It's like we've finally tipped the scale to where they are now more fun than work.

In fact, I'm sure all the independence is quite responsible for the really pleasant time we're having right now. I should knock on wood, but I'm feeling pretty good about 4 kids at this point and I'm loving their ages. There are a lot of factors that play into it - last year we were gone 4 hours every morning while Cash was in school since we would just wait up there for him rather than have to drive an extra hour back and forth. I also used to go to the gym and take naps every day. Well, guess what I found out? When you're not out of the house four hours every morning, don't go to the gym, and don't take naps, and you have a baby that actually does finally take naps on his own...well, you actually get a lot done. I'm even sort of being the kind of mom I want to be. I realized this is why other moms don't usually feel as crazy as I did - they actually have time to do things and get housework done and aren't trying to squeeze it all in after 3 in the afternoon. And even though I abruptly killed my naps when we took the twins' away at the end of the summer (so they would zonk out at night and not keep Cash up now that they're in the same room), I haven't become the total beast I thought I might.

Anyhow, it just seems every month the twins get more independent - and it makes such a huge difference not having to climb in the back of the car, the middle seat, and the other side of the car just to get everyone's seat belts on, or to have to chase everyone down and get each of them dressed multiple times a day, or help them with the bathroom every time, or to have to pick them up all day or carry them around. I mean, I really had to ponder how bad I wanted to go anywhere before I went because of how much effort it was to get in and out of the car. But now I have such appreciation for just dropping in an infant seat and going.

Someone even said the most miraculous thing to me yesterday, to which I said, "What?" just to hear those words come out of her mouth again. She said, "Your kids are all so good in church." Then she said they'd sat by us two weeks in a row and felt more crazy with two kids than we were with four. I was speechless for a minute, then realized they really had been good the last couple weeks. Granted, they're not sitting with folded arms listening to the speaker, and usually someone is playing on the iPhone by the end of the meeting, but it's a far cry from rolling down the aisles and running up on the stand like we've had the past few years.

These two are really at the cutest age and play so well together. I think when any two of my kids are together rather than any three they play better, but really, with Cash at school, these two play all day long together and are so stinking cute. I love hearing their funny conversations about rock and roll or superheros, love hearing their creative play with different games and rules they make up, and love how well they get along for the most part. It really almost makes me sad Diesel doesn't have a twin. Almost.

And for some reason, when we are twins we must do this all the time:

(Seriously this happens every time I tell them I'm going to take their picture.)

Or even this:

I guess all that independence has it's downside - they always dress themselves and I can never get them to dress alike anymore! I know I need to let them be their own person, but it's just so stinking cute and makes everyone in the world who sees them smile. So I've taken to bribery and about once a week and I pay them to dress alike. :) So far it still works. And on my day there will be no ugly character shirts, you better believe that. In fact I've taken to hiding those for most of the week or using the "it's dirty" excuse.

Anyhow, I smile so often during the day watching these two. I'm sure this is the time people were telling me about all along, that this time would come - and they were right. It's fantastic.

Kindergarten

2011-09-09T20:48:00.002-05:00

Alright. We're officially three weeks into school here. Cash got in to the charter school at the Miami Children's Museum. Big hooray, since I'd been hoping for years he would get in there and it was all up to a lottery. We knew people who didn't get in. We were lucky. And it is close. Very close. No more driving 25 minutes to school. It's unique. I'm pretty sure my kids will never get to go to school in a children's museum again, so that was a big plus. And it has more than 0 white kids, unlike our local "F" rated school that we're zoned for.

BUT.

Wow, what happened to the good ol' school days like we used to have? Cash had 20-something pages of homework this week in addition to the 30 minute reading log he has to fill out every day. Now, I'm all for reading, don't get me wrong. But I just have such little down time with my kids - by the time we get back from school, get the baby fed and down for a nap, do his reading and homework... it's time to make dinner, then baths and bed. I mean, really? Is it not fathomable that perhaps I would like to do something with my 5 year-old other than sitting at a table being his task-master while he traces the letter C fifty times? Perhaps you don't realize my child has more important things to be doing at this age, like running around outside or playing pretend or jumping on the couch with his brothers. I mean, I really can't imagine that 6.5 hours of school a day (kindergarten is full-day here) isn't enough to learn whatever the requirements are by the time he finishes kindergarten. I had half day kindergarten and no homework. And I remember a big play-house in our kindergarten room. My husband didn't even know his alphabet when he started kindergarten and he's a doctor. Unless kids these days are going to be building rocket ships by the time they graduate high school I just don't see why it's necessary.

I will say some of it is just the flavor of parents down here. Maybe the Latin influence. These parents are kind of intense. (The teacher seems a little intense too. I asked Cash one day if his teacher smiles and he had to think about it. ".....No.....well, maybe sometimes.") Anyhow, I overhear the parents here bombarding the teacher with the pettiest little things. Even if they are stay-at-home parents, their kids have been in "school" since they were two. Last year the Pre-K teacher said we had no idea how many parents ask for homework (yeah, point 'em out to me and I'll take care of that).... Anyhow it's silly to me. If my kid fails kindergarten because he didn't do his homework you can totally blame his mother. The other night when it was time for bed and we hadn't done his reading because we'd been out I just said forget it. I am not keeping you up for homework when you are five years old.

Actually, the teacher's introduction to the homework on the back-to-school night was as amusing as anything. She starts off giving this big speech about "Here at the Children's Museum we are going green." She even uses the word "paperless" and then proceeds to tell us how we will be uploading the homework at home. I start thinking, "Wow, uploading? Really? Like scanning it in or what?" Then I listen further and realize, oh, no, she means downloading. She says, "Every week you will have to go on our website and print the homework off at home for your child to do and then bring it to school to turn in the following Monday." At this point I almost laugh out loud - then I look around at all the other intently-listening parents and I'm like, wait...are you buying this??? I so wanted to raise my hand and say, "Right, but that's not really going green, now is it - since we're still using paper?? That's just a covert way of saying we're not going to be using your paper - we're going to be using my paper at my printing expense." I seriously wanted to laugh so hard that they were trying to pass it off in the name of "going green!!!" and that everyone else was just nodding their heads feeling so proud that they were going to be teaching their children the importance of being conservation-minded. And they're telling me this just after I had to bring in three reams of copy paper for the school supply list. (Which brings me to another whatever-happened-to-the-way-things-used-to-be? When did parents have to start supplying everything from lysol and kleenexes to reams and reams of copy paper for the school? I guess it's just because there's not enough money in education? I certainly never did that when I was in school. Caught us off-guard as first time school parents. I would so rather pay a supply fee and have them get exactly what it is they want than have hundreds of parents all running around fighting each other in the store for the last "yellow folder with claps" and "blue plastic folder with pockets" or having to buy "kindergarten paper - found in educational stores." Why do I have to hunt down an educational store to go buy one item?)

Anyhow, back to the good things, Cash is a stellar student. Shy, but stellar. He says he's "too scared" to play with anyone at recess, but he's gotten on the good list of the few students that have gotten to go out to the museum to play every week. And he never gets moved down on the behavior chart. He seems to enjoy it, which is great. We get to hang out at the museum after we pick him up which is at least a nice way for him to blow off some steam after school. So 2 or 3 times a week we stay after school and the kids have a great time playing around.

Our museum visits are also increased because of the pick up situation. This also boggles my mind a little. I seem to remember the school bell ringing and everyone just running hog-wild to get out of the building. Now I have to potentially sign in two different places to be able to get my child from school at the end of the day. Because it's a museum and not originally designed as a school, there's not a great drive through area. The parking lot isn't even paved, it's dirt. And if it's a rainy day, you have to go all the way inside to pick up your child. Right, so instead of one kid getting wet, I have to get all four wet... and 4-wheel through the muddy/grassy/weedy parking lot with a stroller. And it's not like I just walk in the door. I have to enter the museum and sign in that I'm going to the school. Then go all the way to the back of the museum into the school area, wait for the tiniest little elevator with every other parent trying to pick up their K-5th grade students, go up to the second floor, and then maneuver my stroller through the tiny and overcrowded upstairs where the classrooms are, where I will again sign out my child and possibly even show ID. Talk about inconvenient. So my question is - is it just like this everywhere now? Is that how the world is? Or is this place as weird as I think it is? Miami is not really known for efficiency or running things in a manner most would deem sensible, but maybe the whole world is getting frisked and finger-printed to get their children from school and I was just oblivious.

Anyhow, overall successful. Not the most convenient - especially since in Miami at 3pm during hurricane season it is apparently raining more often than not. But having to get everyone out of the car go in and pick him up all the time means we're already in there so they might as well run around and play. And keep the mess out of my house.

More happy summer

2011-09-03T21:19:00.005-05:00

I loved some of the every-day shots my mom took of the summer. It seems like when I had my camera out it was to try and get one great shot of the kids, but when I saw hers I was so happy that she had just captured what our summer was really like every day.

Although my picture-taking efforts did turn out some cute ones of everybody as well.

My cousins wedding reception made for a cute backdrop to try to get some pictures of the baby with everyone. And while he didn't always perform, there were still some cute shots!

Although the most winning photo of the whole summer had to go to Grammy:

I couldn't believe it. I take hundreds of shots with my boys trying to get a decent one with everyone looking at the camera, no one picking their nose, no one holding toys up for the camera, pulling faces or throwing a tantrum... and it NEVER happens. My Christmas cards usually involve body parts and faces from about 17 different pictures being photoshopped together. So when I said, hey, sit here with the boys, and we got a perfect shot on the first try - and a picture I adore - it was nothing short of monumental. Now that picture really sums up their summer. Just a natural, casual picture out in the front yard on a beautiful day with their Grammy.

It was the best.

(She deserves a good picture with them. She put up with A LOT this summer. And is still recovering. :)

Vacation

2011-09-01T22:06:00.002-05:00

We had the BEST summer in Utah. I never realized how blissful Utah is for having children until now. Everything is so accessible! So much to do with kids. And people expect that you have multiple kids so prices are more reasonable and places are set up to accommodate it. Blissful grass that you can run around in barefoot all summer (and people that don't yell at you for letting your kids do so). For living in a tropical location, we sure have the nastiest crab grass here. Ouch. Anyhow, we had our fill of parks and playgrounds, bounce houses, children's museums, indoor play lands, hide-and-go-seek, ice cream and more ice cream.... Anyhow, as soon as we landed in Utah I saw a lady pushing 2 kids in a double stroller while carrying a baby in the front pack and I knew I was HOME! :)

Here we were at the airport ready to go (ok, well, this was the first failed attempt). But I loved seeing the boys walking through the airport carrying their lunchboxes.

Burning through all my planned entertainment.

Spent lots of time with cousins. Boys, lots of boys. Leading to lots of time spent like this:

Lots of time in the backyard - really the point of my trip. I just wanted my kids to have a normal "kid" summer with a backyard and sprinklers and walking down the street to swimming lessons. And bearable temperatures. It was exactly what we got. The boys were a bit hard to convince at first. They're really not used to being out that much because in our life it's an "outing" to go outside - meaning everyone has to be dressed, ready, bags packed to go out, no one napping.... So in Utah when I'd first say "Let's go outside!" they were all like, "No, we want to stay inside." And then when I'd get them out, every few minutes I'd have to go fetch someone out who had gone back in. Finally they got used to it and loved being out. I was mad I didn't have my camera though - the first time we ran through the sprinklers was probably the most sheer delight I have ever seen out of Cash. He was just screaming and yelling, "WOOOO!!! I LOVE this!!" all over the place. It was so cute. (The twins were terrified and wouldn't go near the sprinklers.)

We got to meet up with Brooke and her boys a few times while we were there which was great. Also our friend Rochelle who I probably haven't seen since college.

And some good old family entertainment.

(And I won for the worst pores on my nose. How lame is that?!)

And here are the kids at swimming lessons. I kept wondering why Ashton was coming home with dry hair when all the other kids were wet, and then the day the parents came to watch they had them duck under the water - one...two...three! And there goes Ashton, eyes squeezed shut, big breath of air in, holding his breath - and ducks all the way in...until his chin is under water. And stops there. And the teacher keeps saying, "Maybe you can get your eyes in this time!" Too bad I didn't get a picture, it was pretty funny.

And gymnastics:

Enough for now.
I'm tired.

Too big

2011-08-22T21:06:00.000-05:00

This is to give you an idea of just how much the little baby outgrew his clothes while we were on vacation - this picture was on the flight home. I left here with a 4 month old baby - the biggest clothes I took were 6-12 months. I had no idea that wouldn't be enough. These same pajamas he burst through in July were the same ones the twins were still wearing at Christmas (they were born the same time of year - end of February). My kids are all big, but so far Diesel takes the cake.

Family fun

2011-08-14T22:18:00.001-05:00

Just got back from a fantastic summer full of family and good times. I'll have to catch it all up sometime, but in the meantime, here was our totally raw attempt at a "one-take" video that my brother-in-law put together. (And you can see we totally didn't make it in one take!) Probably more amusing if you know our family. :)

Baby boom

2011-08-11T12:54:00.000-05:00

I always manage to have babies the same time as everyone else (always spring/summer - apparently it's historically survival of the fittest - more babies are born during spring summer months because of better chances of survival I've heard? Or maybe that's if you were a caveman?) Anyhow, we had another boom recently and these were taken after church one day.

I love pictures of lots of babies. Poking each others eyes out, falling on each other, and our little guy putting the moves on already.

Gymnastics

2011-08-09T00:50:00.001-05:00

The kids took gymnastics a while ago in Miami (pictured). Then they took it again in Utah this summer, and they also took swimming while we were here. Cash, of course was a stellar student, but it was funny that teachers from both classes commented on the twins' differences. The gymnastics teacher said, "I had trouble telling them apart at first, but soon realized Ashton is the one off in his own world while Phoenix is really focused and trying to do it right." The swimming teacher (probably after a few of Ashton's tantrums) said she too had trouble telling them apart until they figured out Ashton "is the more dramatic one."

Birthday

2011-07-28T23:34:00.002-05:00

Still catching up.

Cash had a birthday back in June. Ryan went and did some magic tricks for his school class. It was really fun and a great age to do magic tricks for and made Ryan look really awesome. :)

We had a little party during our usual park day - Backyardigans at his request (my kids for some reason think you must always have a tv-show themed birthday party - probably because they watch too much tv :), and as always the cake took me way too long and I wished for my day back and a store-bought cake instead (although it was tasty since I don't like cake much so I doctor it up a lot and add lots of yummy fillings and stuff).

I even spent hours filling up about 180 water balloons for a really fun water balloon war - we did boys against girls on opposite sides of the fence and the balloons were up sort of close to the fence so they had to get wet or dodge the throws to get their balloons. Little did I know that my three wimps would have one water balloon burst near them and spend the rest of the time crying their eyes out (the birthday boy especially) so much so that Cash only threw one water balloon the whole time. Oh brother.

Not even a week after he turned 5, this happened:

The first lost tooth. For some strange reason, more than anything - more than a child starting kindergarten or whatever, this losing a tooth makes me feel OLD. I don't know why, but I feel like an old mom now. I think especially since I wasn't ready for it at all. It seemed so unexpected that I wasn't prepared to be a mom with a child getting adult teeth I guess. But Cash was totally unfazed. I think because no one else his age has even started losing teeth he was just like - hey, my tooth fell out. What's for lunch?

But Cash is still a sweet boy. It seems to be a little more of an emotional age, a little more dramatic, more crying, more knowingly devious actions towards his brothers, but a fun age too. Our conversations regularly challenge my brain as he asks me how old he is. Then how many months he is. Then how many weeks, days and seconds....(this gets progressively harder as he asks the same questions about my age). Time references are also the same - how long until we go to such and such a place? How many seconds is that? He regularly refers to himself as 61 right now (that would be his age in months if you're confused when he tells you this). He is a good listener to his teachers and can come home and tell me everything he learned in church. It's also sweet to see him develop sympathy. I haven't dealt with death much with my kids knowing it would come up on it's own eventually, so since we've been in Utah Cash has asked about my dad. When I told him my dad had died and wasn't here any more he so sweetly and genuinely looked at me and said, "Oh, that's so sad." He's a good kid and definitely my loving child. He has even started paying attention to the baby - which is a total rarity among his siblings. Now Ryan's only concern is that I fatten him up so his food-loving brothers don't pass him up. Well, it's not my fault he got Ryan's genes and the twins got mine.

Pre-K program

2011-07-19T12:20:00.000-05:00

Cash had an end of the year program at his school at the end of Pre-K. I was a little surprised that for the kid who cries at the top of his lungs when he has to sing up on the stand in church, he did a great job. Even though he was nervous, he was very focused on doing all the steps exactly right and was super cute. It was a pretty ambitious program for an elementary school - his class did 2 numbers from "Cats" and then there were about 20 other numbers from all sorts of various musicals, etc.

For thinking our kids are so big, he sure isn't the biggest kid in the class. He's a June birthday though so a lot of them are 9 and 10 months older than he is.

I will say I'm pretty impressed with all he learned in his pre-K class. I would have preferred one that was a little more creative, but you can't really complain when your kid can read and do math at age 4. And when he can rattle off the continents and tells you there are 4 oceans and you have to say, "Oh, right. Um, what are they?"

And of course, another classic attempt at a family pictures.

Beds

2011-07-12T23:26:00.001-05:00

This is the bed I want to get for the boys. I love everything about it - even the cute girl bedding - too bad it will not look that cute when we really have it. I'm sure if the boys have their way it will be covered in something aesthetically unappealing like Spider Man. Why do we have to have such different taste? I should just get whatever I want and say it came with the bed and then they won't think they have a choice - the only problem is that I'm sure I can't afford whatever it is that I would want.

Anyhow, does anyone have any other suggestions for bunk beds or any other three-kids-in-a-room options that they like? I love that this has stairs and a trundle and full size beds. I wish it was cheaper, but all the cheaper ones have ladders or uglier designs and look less solid. I'm sure this bed will see lots of action in it's time, so sturdy is probably better.

Little baby Diesel is going to be the prince of the house being the only person who has a bedroom all to himself. (I will be slightly jealous. :) But I'm sick of sharing my room with all my babies and maybe this will help little fussy sleeper become a little more routine.

Oh, and um, I guess you should get your 5 year-old out of a crib before he starts Kindergarten. Don't tell him it's totally weird that he's still in one... he doesn't know any better! It's just if he had one the others would want one and they were naughty boys who needed crib tents so no way was I letting them in big beds without any restraining options. I mean, Cash can climb in and out of it fine....but yeah, pretty sure that doesn't make you the cool kid in school. :)

Welcome home

2011-07-12T15:02:00.000-05:00

Nothing says Utah and heals those travel woes like a nice thick milkshake and some french fries with fry sauce. :) We did make it. It wasn't fun, and I'm not really sure I would do it to myself again, but we did it. Although faced with the same budget we have now and another chance to come home for a month, maybe I would forget by then how it was and do it again. And it's true, the further west we got the nicer people were and some old couple even helped us off the plane in Utah. And in the end, it was probably worth it. My kids have already let me know that "Utah is awesomer that Miami."

I agree.

(And in case you don't know the awesomeness of fry sauce you are really missing out on the ketchup/mayo combination that for some reason is really GOOD! And really Utah.)

Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

2011-07-07T19:28:00.002-05:00

I just spent 7 hours in the airport. I am back at home. That's right, 7 hours, no luggage, and haven't moved an INCH. I usually console myself that these flights by myself are, I figure, just one miserable day out of my life. Not so this time. Due to mostly one gate attendant's mistakes I have to get up and do it all again tomorrow. I already exhausted most of my airport entertainment and all the special treats I'd bought for the kids. The baby was a fussy mess and only slept 20 minutes during that whole time, and my back is already worn out from holding him all those hours. My great plan to keep the kids up from their naps so they'd sleep on the plane really backfired when we, well, never made it on the plane. Made those long miserable hours waiting in the airport even more miserable. And some angry woman turned around and shushed me - for a crying baby. Seriously?

Cash and I were both in tears by the end of the day.

May the airport odds be ever in my favor tomorrow.

Crazy

2011-07-05T21:09:00.003-05:00

It has finally sunk in and I'm feeling a little frantic. In the middle of the night I woke up and realized: What if I have to wipe a bum? I can NEVER just set the baby down! So what do I do when I'm on the plane nursing a baby and having to wipe a bum at the same time?!?? So yes, I've been trying just not to think about the flight because there's just not a whole lot I can do about it - except worry, so I've been trying to ignore it. It's probably just a given that at some point I will be trying to juggle a nursing baby and 3 nutcases and will probably flash the whole plane. It's probably a given that I will (again) have to spend 20 minutes sticking my head out the lavatory door suggesting people go use another one since my toddler will possibly be in there until the plane lands. And it's probably a given that I will just shut my eyes and pretend that I, too, am wondering who's screaming child that is over there across the aisle.

So today I've been frantically trying to tie up loose ends and get stuff ready so I can be gone for a month and a half. And the house went crazy! Not only was I running back and forth between rooms feeling all over the place and frenzied, but every time I'd come out to the kids it was total mayhem. First these kids are going to eat me out of house and home. Not 10 minutes after breakfast I come out to this sight:

Ashton rummaging around in the cupboards helping himself to granola bars and whatever else he could find in there (with no pants and a bum full of un-wiped poop); and yes, that's Phoenix tipping back on a Costco-sized jug of honey. Good grief.

Then we find Ashton had so sweetly covered little baby Diesel in his blanky that was soaked in pee from his morning bed-wetting episode.

After I go put that in the wash I turn back around to find one kid chasing down another kid with the powered on dustbuster, while the third is balancing the 4-foot long squeegee over his head trying to clean the ceiling light fixtures....

Ten minutes after that I hear Ashton howling for help and go in to find he's trapped himself in a butterfly net and can't get it off....

Honestly if I even make it to the plane alive it might be a miracle.

Luckily the little butterball takes it all in stride.

Takes whatever toys his brothers decide to pile on him that day.

And entices us to at least stop and smile for a few minutes amidst all the craziness!

Nice

2011-07-03T21:20:00.000-05:00

Ryan has been off for a couple weeks. He had a week of vacation and now has a week between when residency ends and fellowship starts. Man, I need a hubby who gets summer break - it's AWESOME! We haven't gone anywhere big since it's too hot for Disneyworld or anything to sound appealing to us, but we go swimming all the time, take the kids to movies, go to the park, go to Chuck e Cheese. It's been so nice. (I'm totally laughing re-reading this: who doesn't long for their spouse to have time off so they can go to Chuck e Cheese together???)

I also crammed in a super quick project when I realized I had a coupon that was going to expire and tried to hurry and do a scrapbook for the twins. I had meant to get around to doing a baby book for them before Diesel came, but of course that didn't happen. But with a hubby at home I hardly slept or showered for 2 days and got it done! What turned out to be all 132 pages of it! It was less, but then as I was looking through the blog for some pictures I got to reading some of the old posts. It was so funny and there were so many great details in there about them that I just had to add some of it in here and there into their baby book. I'm sure some day they'll be happy to have it. I would love to know what I was like as a kid or stories about funny stuff I did, but I'm sure no one remembers a lot of exact details. So I hope they'll like it. It did make me glad I blogged so much. There was so much I'd already forgotten and that time in my life is such a blur that it made me remember exactly what it was like! In fact, after doing the picture portion of the scrapbook, I was like, "Sheesh, Ryan, the twins were so cute. Maybe they just got a bad rap because there was two of them. Look how cute and smiley they were!" Then I got to reading the blog and I had even forgotten all the naughtiness I thought I was remembering! Wow. But it also made me sad that I'm too busy to blog all the funny every day things as much as I used to and now it's just trying to keep up with the big stuff.

Anyway, another week of spousal bliss and then I'm off to Utah with all 4 boys by myself. Sheesh, it seems to get worse every time. I thought 3 and a huge belly was bad....

Here's to two more...

2011-06-30T07:48:00.003-05:00

Ha. I just re-discovered this article I found about Miami before we moved here. It's even more funny and spot-on now that we've actually lived here. In honor of gearing up for two more years here, I thought I'd post it again:

MIAMI IS IN NO UNCERTIAN TERMS NOT LIKE MOVING TO ANY OTHER CITY IN THE US. Heck, it isn’t even moving to the U.S. What you must understand is that if you are from another part of the country, no matter if it’s some self-proclaimed “melting pot” like New York or LA or Dallas, you will experience culture shock when you cross the Dade County Line.

So buckle up and don’t unpack too much, because without the proper instruction you, like so many Americans who think this might be a fun place to live, will not make it through your first year.

I am not going to make it sound like this is an awful place to live, but you have to have the right mindset in order to survive in this city. It is not the fast-paced, competitive mindset of New York, or the laid-back mindset of LA, but more the frenetic, anything goes mindset of, oh, say, El Salvador.

If you are young and single, there is no greater city to live. People in your demographic are really the only sane people who should ever consider moving here.

Married, people, seriously, Miami is not the town for you. I’m sure you are a very nice couple, possibly with very nice kids, but that is precisely why you should avoid this place like your mother-in-law on Christmas. I can almost promise you that your family will be worse off for having moved here.

Typically the only people who decide to begin a new life in Miami arrive by raft, but if for some unknown reason you thought moving to a city full of sex, drugs and corruption was a good idea for a young married couple, then Bienvenidos!

Moving on, and not really moving on

2011-06-26T19:50:00.000-05:00

Ryan had his residency graduation last weekend. I almost would have forgotten that it's a big deal. I guess just the fact that we're staying here, not moving anywhere for fellowship and not starting a real job like we actually could be at this point just kind of makes it easy to look over since everything is pretty much staying the same. But it was a really fun evening, and fun to have Ryan and the other graduating residents be the guests of honor, complete with a little slide show of pictures from throughout their life. We even had a spot at the coveted center table this year. (You can see the gift boxes from Tiffany's as well. Of course every girl hopes to see something other than like a personalized candy dish in there, but hey, it was still cool and still from Tiffany's. :)

So many good friends we've made here over the past few years. It hit me that while we will still be here, a lot of them will not, and that was sad. Our friends the Jacobs are taking a job we've coveted in Minot, North Dakota (believe it or not, and we're just not done like they are or we may have battled it out with them)! I'm sure they'll be missing us though by, say, next January. :)

Our neighbor, Ryan's ride for the last three years, and "cool uncle" to our kids, Justin (left) is headed to Atlanta, but at least we're keeping his fiance hostage in Miami so he'll have to come back and see us now and then.

Ryan and his fellow graduating residents and their program director:

I always get the shaft though having Father's day be the day after his resident's day so that when we're tired from being out late I have to let Ryan be the one to get the naps. Speaking of which, happy Father's day. There were actually a couple funny "telling" moments about my hubby this past week. On Father's day I whispered to Cash to go tell dad he was the best. Cash looked at me and said, "He's the best?" And I said "Yeah!" and he said, "Oh, but he never listens to you!" I had a good laugh that even my 5 year-old can pick up on the tune-out-your-wife technique.

Then we were watching a little of the Bachlorette on tv and Ryan was just staring into the tv somewhat deep in thought and said, "Man, being the bachelor would be like the worst thing ever. Just having to talk about your feelings with like 20 different women...all day long." I laughed so hard. Forget 20 gorgeous women vying for your affection and doting all over you, having to talk about feelings is seriously my husband's worst nightmare.

Then we were getting ready for bed in the bathroom the other night and I was trying to discuss some issues and make plans. When he walked off to go to bed I was like, "What the heck? Why can't you talk to me about this?" He said, "What do you mean, we've been talking the whole time we were in here!" To which I said, "Wait, you mean the 'conversation' that went like this?":
Me: "Blah blah blah, blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah blah....??
You: Shrug.
Me: "Blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah, blah blah blah,blah....
You: "Mmmmm."
Me: "Blah blah blah, blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah blah, blah blah????
You: "Dunno."
"Is that the 'conversation' you were saying just happened??"

Ah, gotta love my "typical" guy. But he's a darn good doctor and a great father, so I guess that makes up for a lot. :)

Anyway, back to the career, it's kind of weird being at that point where I thought we would be done, the time I had originally set my sights for being on a plane out of Miami. But we're not. So I have to remind myself that graduation from residency is awesome and is progress even though nothing is really changing from my perspective. I'm sure Ryan will enjoy doing more retina surgery and stuff though. But it is another hoop jumped through and three years closer to a real job! Now onto the two year fellowship.

Occupied

2011-06-20T16:31:00.000-05:00

Oh poor blog, oh, house, oh, details in life, oh, other children, you've all been so neglected. And really, this is the reason:

But seriously, how could you resist that face? Anyhow, turns out that #4 isn't going to put up with being stuck in a bouncy seat or a corner somewhere, or sleeping half the day away while we carry on with all the details of our busy lives. Nope, being #4 I guess he came wanting to make sure to command some attention. So he just likes things the way he likes them. And will only sleep being held. So if you come around our house, you may be put to use doing something like this:

I really have spent up to 6 hours a day holding this little guy. That is why you probably haven't heard from me much. But having gone through this three other times, I am realizing how fast these stages pass, and really, spending half your day holding a cute little baby certainly isn't the worst thing in the world. It just seems to be a short term gain. I'm tired, he's tired. During nap time either I hold him and we all get some sleep or he cries and wakes up every 20 minutes and I fight and fight to get him back down. So being held just keeps winning out. And then he's well-rested and pleasant!

I never really even got around to blogging about the two trips my mom has made out here since the baby was born, the one trip my sister made, or Ryan's trip to Ethiopia. He did over 180 cataract surgeries in a week or less. Amazing. Patients came from hundreds of miles away and just slept on the ground. He has some videos of taking bandages off for the first time from people who hadn't been able to see in years. It was pretty amazing. My mom and I did remarkably well with the kids and even managed to get out and have some fun.

The first time she came back in March after the baby was born, she got in late at night and I wondered how the kids would feel waking up to her in our living room after not seeing her for months. When I came out of the bedroom that morning to this sight I realized I need not have worried.

And here was Grammy on parade in the halls with the crazies trying to burn off some energy.

And my cute sister who even had to spend her birthday with us. Thanks to all the nice people who helped us out over the last few months. I haven't been very on top of things to thank you all, as you can tell!

Feeling nostalgic

2011-06-07T17:28:00.001-05:00

This beauty got sold the other day:

(The stroller, that is. Although depending on the day I may have offered the children as well. :) But I'm feeling a little nostalgic. This was such a part of our family and our home for the last few years. (How could it not be, sitting in the middle of our living space for the last 3 years??? That was the final deciding factor of why it had to go.Besides the fact they all walk everywhere now.) This stroller allowed me independence, saw me through downpours, Disneyworld, restrained children who could scream the entire walk home, and brought us no lack of attention. I will miss the comments. I will actually miss the stares. I will miss strolling down hip Lincoln Road with you and hearing the gasps and the commentary from the single and swanky crowd. I am sure you inspired birth control among countless passersby.

But I will welcome the open spot next to the kitchen table. And the fair penny you fetched when we sold you. So long. I doubt the next owners could ever look as cool in you as we did. :)

Pay it forward

2011-06-01T20:53:00.001-05:00

To whoever you are, nice woman, who stopped and gave me and my sopping wet children a ride when we were caught in a freak rainstorm, I sincerely thank you. And I will write it down to remember someone in Miami was courteous to me one time while we lived here. :) (Seriously, this is a much more common scenario!)

I know this scenario of me getting caught in a freak storm with all my children out at the park is not an unfamiliar Miami story. This time we were all out, along with everyone else in the neighborhood for Memorial Day at the park. Ryan was about 30 feet away from me and I hear him yell to me, "GO! FAST!!" I still didn't know what he was talking about until I looked down on the ground right in front of me and saw the splatter of a raindrop the size of a tennis ball. Good grief, these things sure come out of nowhere. I had the baby in my arms and tried to cover him with a blanket to shelter him, but with the sudden wind and all there wasn't much success to that. Ashton was screaming so much Ryan shoved him in the infant seat in the stroller and I tried to herd the other two kids along, but with all the running and chaos, shoes kept falling off, bodies were lagging behind, and I wasn't sure whether we should try to make it all the way home, try to go run into a closer building, just huddle together and wait for a minute or what. So there I stood at the edge of the road getting soaked, looking around trying to figure out exactly what I should do.

Then along came the nice woman who rolled down her window and yelled at us to get in. I protested that we would get her car all wet, but her nice passenger friend got out and even took sopping wet Phoenix onto her seat with her in the front while Cash and the baby and I climbed in the back. Ryan and the covered large child in small seat just ran through the rain.

Since thanks wasn't quite enough, all I could think to wish her was that someone would do the same for her someday. Just like I always put a quarter in the meter for a stranger when I see their time has expired. You always hope it will come back around.

The joys of boys

2011-05-18T14:19:00.000-05:00

Phrases and happenings around here recently:

Cash saying in his sweetest voice to Phoenix, "Phoenix, will you take my socks off?'' To which Phoenix replies just as sweetly, "Okay!" and obediently sets about the task while his brother lounges on the couch. Ah, the privileges of being the oldest.

One day I hear Phoenix running out of the bathroom yelling, "NO! I do it by MYSELF!!" And I see Ashton running after him wailing, "Noooo! I wipe Nee-nik's bum!!" Really? Who'd have thought I'd have to institute a we wipe our own bums in this house policy?

Cash is at that age where he can just talk and talk. Our poor unsuspecting neighbor got an earful the other day when Cash descriptively told him about all the places on his body that he doesn't have hair like his dad does. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was more than he was looking for when that conversation opened up. :)

And now I'm in hiding because my boys are all so curious after listing off all the people in the house who had little penises and then following with the ones who had big ones like dad, and mom. After informing them I didn't have one they were all shocked and now keep trying to figure it out. And they keep trying to figure their own out. Man, I really had no idea what I was getting into with all these little boys.

If the name fits

2011-05-15T15:45:00.000-05:00

I realized I should have put this on here in case I ever get around to making the blog into a book, and since any other form of scrapbooking is becoming less and less likely.

It really was no illusion that I've been getting robbed of the baby stage with this little guy. At his two month appointment a few weeks ago he weighed in at 14lb 7oz. He was 95th percentile for height and weight. I hope he keeps it up - if you've got three older brothers to wail on you, you're going to need all the help you can get. At least we chose the right kid for the name!

Blessing

2011-05-05T13:08:00.001-05:00

Blessing. Great word. We had Diesel's blessing, he is such a little blessing, and I even felt many small blessings that day and over the weekend. It was much needed coming on the heels of some rotten weeks. One blessing about church on Sunday was that my kids stayed quiet during the meeting which is no small miracle, and Phoenix even fell asleep in my arms. That has NEVER happened. It was so sweet. Most especially since neither he nor I ever sit still - let alone at the same time. It was so fun to be able to sit and look at him and study his little features and look for the baby face in the little boy he has become. And there were 4 baby blessings that day in church. I could have sat there and listened to them all meeting long it was so special. It was such a happy day to hold and behold all my little ones.

I tried out a few comparisons here just for fun. It was hilarious to see how Diesel filled out every inch of the same blessing outfit that was so baggy on Cash. Poor little Cash was the skinniest baby you ever did see. Diesel was also a little older when we blessed him. It's funny that when all my friends and I had our babies here 2 months ago, we noticed that you could line them all up and know exactly which family they belonged to. So while Diesel is his own little man, I guess you can tell he really is one of us, and not totally unlike the twins either. Here are some comparisons:

Cash, Diesel, Phoenix, and Ashton

(Cash was just too skinny at his blessing to look anything like his future self, so the above picture is slightly older. The one below is a skinny version.)

Phoenix, Diesel, Ashton

Saturday afternoons

2011-05-01T20:38:00.000-05:00

It was when the 4th body joined the bed yesterday that I realized there would be no Saturday afternoon nap for me. :)

Survival mode

2011-04-25T16:33:00.005-05:00

Alright, I'll admit we haven't taken to 4 children as gracefully as I had hoped. I have lots of friends with 4 kids and they don't all seem ready to lose it at any second. I even had a night full of dreams of how out of control I am - forgetting the baby and leaving him at the mall, driving the kids around without car seats, forgetting to pick up Cash (he's in tears if I'm ever a minute late) and having him never talk to me again, and then waking up to find my husband had gone over the deep end and chopped up all the furniture in the house to make bunk beds for the kids and I had to just smile and say it looked great because I knew the stress of his life had finally made him go crazy. :)

Currently we're all sick, I'm going in for another MRI this week, spinal injections again next week, and every night seems impossibly worse than the last. The baby won't go to sleep before 12 or 1am (which means neither Ryan or I either), and then last night there were periods of time when something was happening every 20 minutes. The baby was miserable and crying (he's sick too), the twins were having nightmares, and then Ryan's pager (he's on call) was going off all the time until he finally got called in at 3am. Phew. And next week Ryan leaves for Ethiopia for two weeks. At least he'll get a vacation from the chaos. Thankfully my mom is coming to the rescue again - I don't think I've had more than 5 hours of sleep a night since she's left. And my house hasn't been cleaned since my sister left 2 weeks after the baby was born. :)

This isn't really a cry for help or anything, we're doing the best we can. I'm trying to at least find someone to come clean the house or something, and I'm trying to eliminate any non-necessities right now. I guess I'm just writing to have something to look back at someday when my kids are old and I miss these days. :) And then remember that I might not miss everything about these days.

But I will miss this cute face!.

Anyhow, here's when your brother's try to play with you (I walked in the room and panicked for a minute when I couldn't find the baby!):

At least some things are making it worth it all.

Random snapshots

2011-04-13T20:28:00.001-05:00

Every so often I have to laugh at the things you never thought you would hear or say before you were a parent. Like overhearing myself at the park saying "Don't wipe boogers on your brother." Or "Stop shoving money in the cracks of the dishwasher." Or today, Phoenix came out of the bathroom and needed a bum wipe. As I was hurrying to get a wipe, I see him leaning his backside against the couch and yelled out a big, "No! Don't lean on the couch!" Sure enough as he steps away we all notice poop smeared on the couch. So then I have to laugh as Ashton runs to get a wipe to clean his brother's poop off the couch (how sweet) and then I see him wagging his finger in Phoenix's face saying in his deliberate manner of speaking, "Nee-nik (his form of Phoenix), don't put your poop on da couch. Nee-nik. Don't. Put. Poop. On. Da. Couch!"

Then as I was in the other room I hear the front door shut. Oh no, I think to myself. I run to the door and look out in the hall. Sure enough I overhear three little boys trying to coordinate actions to figure out how to open the door and then maneuver the trash chute open so they can throw away the diapers. While it is helpful that they've taken the job of throwing out the baby's diapers upon themselves, I usually have to brace myself. Not only are the three stooges barefoot and parent-less roaming the hallway, but, as I suspected, Cash has nothing but underwear on and Ashton has absolutely no underwear on at all. Thank heavens for the sake of the other tenants that at least Phoenix was decent. But really, three very small, very naked boys trying to throw out a bunch of poopy diapers (which had fallen out and were all over the hallway floor) by themselves must have been a pretty funny sight to come upon.

Or like last night Phoenix was eating dinner bare-bummed. At one point he was standing up on his chair to reach something and when he pulled back off the table his cup of milk came sliding off. Luckily he was able to catch the cup at the last second - right between his bare legs, his little boy parts sitting right in the top of the cup. It was such a sight that we hardly knew how to react. Good catch? Why in the world don't you have any stinking pants on at dinner?! Thank you for not spilling your milk on the floor like someone does at least once a meal! Or just WHY ON EARTH AM I SITTING AT THE DINNER TABLE LOOKING AT YOUR LITTLE WIENER IN A GLASS OF MILK?!?!?

Ugh. Sorry for all the potty talk, but I realize the problem is that I'm always sitting around nursing and these boys aren't the most adept at putting their pants back on after they go to the bathroom, or they just don't like to. Which makes for a lot of naked incidents. But seriously, as there was one random thing after another yesterday, I thought, man if you just captured all these random snapshots of our day on film, you could have a pretty good gag reel.

Time flies

2011-04-03T08:57:00.003-05:00

At about 4 weeks I realized why is it that the last 4 weeks of pregnancy seem to last an eternity and the first 4 weeks after the baby is born seem to fly? This baby is growing way to fast! It doesn't help that he's also my biggest baby and is bigger at this point than any of my other babies were. He was 11lbs at his 4 week visit and was like 97th percentile for height and weight. Slow down baby! I feel like I'm getting robbed of this baby stage!

These next pictures pretty much sum up the rest of the household - crazy and full of personality.

(This is Phoenix and his preferred mode of transportation around our house. Seriously, even if you tell him to go to the bathroom he'll go get his scooter and ride it into the bathroom):

Although I have to say these guys are so much fun right now and say the funniest things. I don't know if it's just that I'm sitting around nursing so much that I get to observe them playing together more, but they are playing together so well and it's so funny to hear the things they come up with. It's been a huge blessing. Of course they fight and clobber each other the other half of the time, but at least there are good moments.

The other night when we put the kids to bed there were the million demands and complaints as usual. I guess Cash got sick of being ignored so we finally hear a very stern, growling yell from him- "HERE'S THE DEAL: I JUST WANT MY BLANKETS!!!!!!!" I don't know where he gets these funny phrases like "here's the deal" and then yesterday he was showing our neighbor all the cool stuff on his Leapster and while trying to add to the awesomeness of what he was about to show him, he pulled out a trendy version of "Wait for it....wait for it...." which had our neighbor busting up (as I'm sure he was already dying to see yet another trick on the Leapster....) I don't know where he comes up with these things.

Sometimes we even manage to get some brotherly love among these three.

And so I have to laugh that while it is virtually impossible to pull off a cute, posed, look at the camera and smile picture in this family, I finally realized - and am trying to embrace the fact that at least we have pretty accurate depictions of how life really is here. These crazies really are a lot of fun.

Stupid human tricks

2011-03-29T08:38:00.000-05:00

It seems in my old age my plumbing has gone awry. Apparently I've sprung a leak and can squeeze milk out of my armpit.

Nope, you're not any better off knowing that. :) But I do wonder if there's a market for special people like me. :)

This is what I expected

2011-03-21T15:43:00.007-05:00

Yesterday I was out the door for church an hour late, with orange hair (a mishap from the night before I didn't really have time to fix), I actually hadn't prepared my church lesson (gasp - I know my husband never prepares a lesson in his life, but that is so not my style) and I slid my way into class without a second to spare. I then realized that my hot rollers (that never actually made it into my hair) were still plugged in 30 minutes away at our house that I had left covered in a mess of clothes that hadn't fit. Sigh.

Before I had children, someone once told me, "Motherhood is a great equalizer."

I hadn't fully understood what she meant until I had children. Once I had my first, I got the message loud and clear - if you think you're on top of your game, give motherhood a shot.

I remember after having our first how much I'd look around at other moms thinking - wow, I know exactly what you went through to get out the door this morning, and having all new appreciation for them. I also felt slightly deceived at first as well - why didn't any of you warn me what my body was going to go through?!? You all act like this is OK??? But yes, suddenly I wasn't breezing out the door by myself in the morning, looking all coiffed and polished, going the extra mile for everything, getting paychecks and traveling on airplanes and feeling like I had it together. Suddenly my life, my body, and so many other things felt out of my control. But I knew I was on the same footing as every other mom out there.

I think I've been reflecting on this as I've hit that point with a new baby where exhaustion starts to win out over euphoria, I realize I never get anything done, my beautiful baby is covered with cradle cap and baby acne, and every time I sit down I have to tuck the overhang back into the maternity pants I wish I could say I wasn't still wearing.

And I realized, boy, have I embraced this lifestyle of total imperfection or what?

It's probably a good thing. (Although I always figure if I take a few decent pictures, touch them up and throw them on the blog, people will just assume I'm on top of my game. Is it working? :)

The fact of the matter is that I am not going to be walking around my house on an average day wearing a stylish ensemble from Anthropologie, I will probably not be doing crafts with my kids, sewing my own curtains, throwing super-themed dinner parties for my friends, or making cute handouts for my next church lesson.

The reality is that I will probably be late, I will probably forget one or many things I was supposed to bring with me, do for you or take to my child's school that day; at some point and to your horror, one of my children will probably eat something off the ground without a word of discouragement from me, I will probably smell like spit-up, my kids will probably watch too much tv and eat too much sugar, and one or all of my children may not be wearing shoes at any given time.

Yep. I'm getting pretty used to it.

And then I smiled today when my aunt (thanks Susie!) sent me an article by April Perry that reinforced my thoughts exactly and helped me gear up for tomorrow - when my mom leaves.(Yikes.)

"How we feel about our lives depends on the relationship between our expectations and our realities. One way we can understand our potential and the nature of family life is to accept the fact that the world is made up of opposites. If it seems like the world is against us some days, and that we’ll never “reach our potential” or create the “perfect” family life, that’s okay. In order to enjoy the good, we need to experience the bad.

We wouldn’t know how beautiful an entire eight hours of undisturbed sleep is if we hadn’t had nights where we saw the clock change every single hour. When we become mothers, we need to expect opposites and realize that we have the capacity to grow and nurture our families—even when times are tough.

If you wake up in the morning saying, “Well, I know I’ve got my work cut out for me today. Hard things are definitely going to come my way, but with the help of Providence, I am ready for them,” then when hard times DO come, you think, “This is what I expected. And look what a great job I am doing!”

On the other hand, if you wake up thinking, “Today better be less crazy than yesterday. This is my itinerary, this is what I need to get done, this is what I want to happen, and if anyone gets in my way, there’s going to be heck to pay!”, then when the challenges come, we scream, “I've been cheated! Today turned out horribly! This wasn’t supposed to happen!”

I know that I’ve been guilty of these misplaced expectations. I’ve made the overflowing to-do list and been upset when nothing got checked off. I’ve been surprised when I went to the store with three little children and didn’t get complete cooperation.I’ve also been frustrated when the house turned into a pit on a day I was babysitting four other children. What on earth was I thinking when I hoped for anything different?

Now I think like this: “Expect the worst, and be happy if things don’t get there. It’s okay for some things to be mediocre.When my expectations are realistic—not low, not “giving up,” I start to see my potential in a totally different light."

I love that - this is what I expected. And this is what I chose. So yes, expectations will be pretty low around here for a while. (Ok, and have been for, oh, like 3 or 4 years. :) But I'm going to try to just enjoy it.

You can stay this way

2011-03-16T09:12:00.002-05:00

I thought that I was enjoying the baby stage so much this time because this baby is a better newborn compared to the others as newborns. Then one day I was sitting there as two children were throwing screaming tantrums in their beds or in time-out, and the other was throwing toys all over the house and making a mess of everything - and it dawned on me. Nope, I enjoy the newborn stage this time because I know what can happen when they grow up. :) Yep, no talking-back, no tantrums, no sassy and defiant attitudes.... I don't know why we didn't appreciate the baby stage before. :) I guess this time it's the contrast that makes it apparent.

Actually my kids are great, but it's like that poem - There was a little girl, who had a little curl, right in the middle of her forehead. And when she was good she was very, very good, but when she was bad, she was horrid. Amen to that. The boys are so sweet and love to fight over who can show the coolest toy to the baby, they all say the funniest things, and I love their little personalities. But darn if they can't be stubborn and miserable and fight ALL day long. I went to the park for the first time by myself with all 4 yesterday and had to drag Ashton barefoot and screaming bloody murder all the way home while steering the stroller with the other. Really? I couldn't look half-way in control at least once in front of the whole neighborhood?

While my sister was here Ryan and I managed to go out to a movie. When we left the house I asked what keys he had. When he said the Xterra and saw my face, he said, "What, you want a hot date on the town in the minivan?" Which I did, and so did he. Such a cooler car. Anyhow, then we went to a movie. We got in there late and couldn't buy tickets at the kiosk, so we went up a few floors to where the movie was showing so I could ask the ticket guy if it was sold out, or if we couldn't buy tickets because it was after the show had started. He didn't know which but let me go in and check as long as Ryan stayed out there. I came out and told Ryan there were only seats in the front two rows. I tried to turn on my sweet side and then asked the guy if we couldn't just go in since there were only bad seats left anyway and we weren't able to buy tickets. He didn't look amused by my proposal. I tried to butter him up further telling him we were out for my husband's birthday. He said he didn't know if it was really his birthday or not. I said it was a few days earlier but we were just celebrating now. And then added that it was because I had a baby last week and was out for my first time. He then looked at my midsection skeptically (I had on loose clothes, not a flat stomach, don't worry), at which point I grabbed the excess belly skin in proof. At that point he waved us in - with a look like, "Awwww, seriously lady? Do we have to go there? I'm an innocent teenage boy.... having to look at some lady's post-baby fat is so not in my job description...." So there you have it. If you ever want to get something free, just start getting into postpartum issues with a teenage boy and he'll do whatever he can to get out of that conversation ASAP. :)

Week one

2011-03-02T20:34:00.001-06:00

So we actually brought our two new babies home same day, this being the other one:

(I know, I should have got a glistening in the sun by the ocean photo for better effect.) But she's a beauty. And so technologically savvy.

Actually how it happened was I just got home from the hospital. Within about 5 minutes Ryan told me he had to go pick up the new car and he was leaving me with all the kids - for about 4-5 hours since he'd have to take the train down to get it since we couldn't all fit in our car - and he couldn't take all the car seats with him, so all the kids were staying with me. So much for easing back into things and into life with 4 kids! Within a couple of hours I called and told him I was about to pass out and we would be watching tv for the rest of the night. :)

Then Monday Ryan went back to work and I was by myself for two days until my sister got here. When Ryan got home, his comments were all about how tired he was and how there are so many demands on him at work. (Like I would feel sympathetic for him???) It was even funnier because, I told him, "I just read in my book today that 'preschoolers typically demand that their caretakers deal with some kind of need or desire at an average rate of three times a minute.' And I have three of them. Plus a newborn." Yeah, top that Mr. work-is-so hard. :)

That must be why one of the highlights of last week was when a nice friend dropped off some food for dinner - the boys and Ryan were out at the moment, and before they came back, I hurried and piled up my own plate, sat on the couch and watched entertainment tv while I ate my dinner - all by myself. It is so rare that I eat anything that I haven't had to prepare myself, and then to sit and actually enjoy it without having to fight over it and feed a whole table full of other mouths was seriously a heavenly few minutes.

I also had to laugh when he came home because he got home really late that night and was telling me good job that I even had the kids all in their pajamas on my first day alone. I should have gracefully accepted the compliment, only I couldn't hide my smile - that we really never got out of our pajamas that day.

I still am loving the baby stage this time so much more than with my others. He's a great baby, plus I'm sure I just get it better than I did with the others. And he spends much of his time like this:

Typically Ryan and I can't wait for the baby phase to be over (mostly so we can just get some sleep), but this time I don't want him to grow out of it! It's so much fun. And messy. Man, I forgot how messy babies are. I've had explosive poops all over me, multiple pees on the couch, lots of clothes of mine in the wash with spit up on them, and complete wardrobe changes with every diaper.

Now if only Phoenix didn't get a raging case of pink eye the day after we came home from the hospital life would really be great. And now he has a fever and is throwing up. Awesome. That's the only real misery right now is my paranoia about the baby getting it.

But we've had great people bringing food, helping take Cash to school, picking up things for me at the store - and even a friend who cleaned my house for me when I was 9 months pregnant. (If you want to give someone a good present - that would be it.) Everyone has been great.

Poor Ryan gets the shaft though having a birthday right after our babies. I had good intentions, really.... sorry hubby. At least you got a full night's sleep for your birthday! Value wise, that's really a pretty hot commodity if you think about it....

Speaking of which, I am so tired that every time I wake up I have two overwhelming emotions. Where in the heck am I???? Is always the first thing that comes to mind. I just crash so hard I have no idea where I am or what I should be doing, sometimes I even wonder if I'm still in college. Then the second is when I remember where I am and go into complete panic about where in the world is the baby and have I slept for 5 hours and totally forgotten about him????? Bizarre. Speaking of sleep, do other people wake their babies up in the night to feed them? I asked a friend the other day how long you have to keep up this feed every 2-3 hours business since I'm so tired. She was like, "You mean, you wake your babies up at night?" I was like, um....I thought I was supposed to. Isn't that what they have you do in the hospital? But then it sounded a little ridiculous to me too, like yeah, why would I really be doing that in the middle of the night?

Here's Cash "reading" a book to the baby - showing him photos of when he was a baby and telling Diesel how much he looks like him. :)

And a few awake photos:

Little Diesel even had his first face-time on the iPhone the other night. Man, my kids get more advanced each time.

Diesel Knox Isom

2011-02-24T19:36:00.001-06:00

2/20/2011 9:25pm 8lbs 12oz 21 in

Finally some pictures! Everything is great here! Got induced Sunday in a rather slow-going process. Usually I go in, they break my water, give me pitocin and the babies come out within a few hours. This doc was pretty conservative - he started me off, put some pill in to get things going and said, "Ok, I'll come check on you in 4 hours." My mouth fell open and I was like, "What? I thought this thing was going to be OVER in 4 hours!" So after that first 4 hours I had dilated all the way from a 1 to a 2. Oh brother. So then he started pitocin, but still didn't break my water. After another 3 hours or so, I had gone from a 2 to a 3. I was dying. So then he broke my water and I started having good contractions, enough to get myself an epidural, and after another 3+ hours he came in around 8:20pm and I had dilated from a 3 to a 4. Now I was really dying!!

At that point we started to worry that we were doing the wrong thing and trying to force out some baby that just wasn't ready. That morning some resident had checked me and measured the baby as pretty small and told me it wasn't going to be more than 7 pounds (shows how much she knows) - and then Ryan was starting to question if I was sure I'd calculated my dates right.... So then we're wondering if we're trying to force out some runt that wasn't even ready....

So anyway, after the doctor left when I was at a 4, I called Ryan who had gone home to help put the kids to bed and sadly told him to just wait around at home and I'd just call him when something started happening since we'd had nice friends watching our kids all day and nothing had happened yet. Later I checked the times on my phone - 12 minutes after that call, I called Ryan to tell him he better get back to the hospital - now. Seriously, 10 hours to get from a 1 to a 4, and then 12 minutes to get to a 10. Sheesh. The nurse was in serious disbelief when I called her in - since everyone had left me alone at that point, Ryan was gone, and the doctor had gone over to another hospital to do consults. (And my epidural had just stopped working on the whole right side of my body which I wasn't happy about.) She was like, "but he just checked you and you were a 4." I was like, "I know, that's why I feel stupid, but I really think something is going on!" So she went and found a resident, had them come in, and the resident was also in disbelief and said, "If you really are already at a 10, that would be like the fastest 4 to 10 in history." She checked me and was like, "Ok, I guess I'm going to go page the doctor!" So after she paged him she asked if I wanted to start pushing and I said I really kind of wanted to wait for my husband. So Ryan made it, then I waited for the doctor - so I was sitting there at a 10 waiting to push for over 30 minutes! It was pretty funny, but at least it added some excitement I guess. We were laughing at this planned induction business since we've never done it before. It was pretty weird to wake up and have the kids say, "Where are you going?" and to be like, "Oh, I'm going to have a baby. See you later!" Anyhow, the baby came out with one contraction and it was all smooth. I even felt kind of proud when Ryan told me it was my best delivery yet. :)

Cash's reaction when we brought the baby over for him to see was super cute and he's been great with the baby, trying to talk to it in a cute baby voice.

The twins were pretty much like this: :)

Although every once in a while we can get them to acknowledge him. Hasn't seemed to rock anyone's world too much so far. (And frankly our kids aren't used to getting that much attention from us anyway. :)

The boys spent most of the time at the hospital like this.

The first thing I said was that I was so happy he came out with dark hair! And he looks so much like Cash did, which makes me happy. Now we can have two of each.

Naming the baby was a bit of drama. Every time the lady came in I told her we didn't have a name yet and to come back. She finally said, "I leave at 3:30 today, and I need it by then." I told her to come back at 3. She came at 3. We told her to come back at 3:15. I wanted to name him Knox, Ryan (and the twins) wanted Diesel, and Cash really really wanted Keaton. (I really liked Knox while I was reading 1776 back in the fall - from Henry Knox, one of Washington's generals.) I said I wanted to just give him three names and we could all call him whatever we wanted. Ryan wasn't up for that. So she finally came back and we were still totally undecided. So I said, "You tell her the first name." So Ryan said Diesel. Then he said, "You tell her the middle name, and I said Knox. So there you have it. Diesel Knox. Yes, I feel a little bad Cash's choice got left out, but next time I won't make the mistake of asking our kids opinions. :)

They kept us at the hospital an extra day - they kept saying we were such a late delivery they hadn't really had time to watch the baby for 48 hours plus he had had a lot of mucus and his bilirubin levels were too high. Funny, we delivered the same time with the twins on a Sunday night and I was begging for an extra day since I wasn't ready to go home with twins by myself yet and they refused! This one I felt fine and they kept us. Whatever. Too bad I wasn't at the same hospital as last time with the hot tub and the massage therapist....

Ready to go home:

Seriously I can't believe how much fun #4 is. I think the first is so stressful, we didn't know what we were doing, I was in lots of pain everywhere, nursing was complicated, he was colicky....then with the twins there were just two and everything was complicated and exhausting. By #4 I may actually be getting the hang of this enough to just enjoy it! I'm not usually a huge one to dote on babies, but I could sit around and stare and cuddle this little guy all day. It is really SO fun. I'm blissfully happy. And tired. :)

Now if only I can avoid getting staph infections, yeast infections, plumeting estrogen levels causing menopausal symptoms, mastitis, blocked ducts, open wounds, and herniated discs (all which have happened with my past babies)...then I will really consider this my best delivery yet. :)

(Delivering at my inner-city hospital is probably another story in itself, but hey, it's always comforting to have an exterminator called in to visit your room while you're there, right?)

Things I will miss about this pregnancy

2011-02-19T14:38:00.007-06:00

Yes, there are actually some things I may miss about being pregnant. And just to be warned, there's a fill of belly shots in this post.

Strange as it is, I will actually miss my pregnant body. I really think I like my pregnant body more than my non-pregnant body because it is actually how it's supposed to be then. Curvy where it should be curvy (and where it usually isn't) and even if I have a big belly, at least it's firm, which will not be the case in a matter of days. And all that excess skin that stretches forward to accomodate my growing belly will spring back into love handle position as soon as this baby is out. Blech.

I will also miss not necessarily my pregnancy cravings, but more like the foods I've been addicted to with this kid which will always remind me of this pregnancy. I took a serious loving to fresh tomatoes and mozzarella. I salt and pepper the tomatoes and then put them with a big slice of mozzarella- I get a kind from Costco, not actually a fresh mozzarella, which would be better, but this one is pretty darn moist and good. And then after weeks of eating this on a daily basis I realized the package said "whole milk mozzarella" and it finally occurred to me - oh, that's why it's so good. Isn't most the kind we get part skim? Oh well, eat on.

And granola. I had a couple friends get me into making my own granola recently, and while I think it may actually be pretty calorically dense, I love all the good stuff I get to put in it - flax seed, wheat germ, powdered milk for some extra protein, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, nuts, whatever. And so I eat it all the time. And now I love seeing what I can eat it with. Besides eating it for breakfast every day, my afternoon snack has taken me through gallons of vanilla yogurt with granola in it. I've made layered parfaits with yogurt, granola and fresh fruits that have been fabulous. Some of my staples have been yogurt, granola and one of the following... chocolate chips, m&ms, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, or my new favorite - pomegranates. Mmmmm. My latest batch is in the oven as we speak.

I will also miss the strange fact that my leg hair doesn't grow much while I'm pregnant. Random, but the awkward-to-bend-over-belly appreciates it.

I will miss my kids shaking my belly to get my attention. I guess it used to be my leg or something, but once I looked at that picture of my shadow with Phoenix standing there I had to laugh when I realized exactly what they see so prominently at their eye level. No wonder the belly shake is the chosen mode of attention-getting right now.

And sleep. I've remarkably well considering my condition, and I think I've even trained myself to ignore the bladder enough to stay in bed the whole night.

But I know it's time to have the baby because every time it's my last Sunday at church before having a baby, I get a ridiculous and uncharacteristic amount of gawking and comments on my belly. This has happened every pregnancy. Eyes follow my belly as I walk into any room, everyone gives you the you're still here? look, people comment on how huge I am, and those who know enough not to tell me how big I am give me the sympathetic smile that says, "oh, you look huge and uncomfortable, but I have enough tact not to tell you that...."

I walked into the gym for the last time the other day with my two pregnant friends, all three of us due within about the next 2 weeks. (The three of us on the left are the gym-goers - disregard the grossness of an after-gym picture, and ignore the skinny girl on the right who claims to be 24 weeks pregnant. :) We dropped our kids off at the kids club and then walked out and I said to the others, "Look, that trainer is totally laughing at us." Then I looked up to the sea of aerobic machines in front of us and said, "Um, no. Everyone is laughing at us!" Seriously, 90% of the gym was staring at these three ridiculously pregnant women walking in the gym. We must be quite the sight. They must think we have some maternity fit club or something. That's why I'm at least glad I got to work out with them for the last couple months - to at least distribute the stares among all of us. :) Too bad all that working out hasn't sent me into labor yet!

I will say that this muscle or ligament at the top of my belly protrusion that seems to be saying "I can't hold it any longer!!!" - is about enough to get me past the terror of having a baby. And the fact that I've had the worst back pain with this one that I have with any of my pregnancies. But even with all that, I have to admit I'm not in dire condition dying to get this baby out like I was with the twins. Thank heavens I don't feel like I did last time at the end. Just to really give myself something to appreciate at the uncomfortable end, I decided I had to have some comparison, so once again, love or hate them, here's a belly shot - twins on the left, #4 on the right:

I'm not sure it's a totally fair comparison since the one of the twins was probably 36 or 37 weeks, not 39.5 like this time, but it does give one something to appreciate. :)

Birthday

2011-02-15T16:02:00.000-06:00

We had such a fun birthday party for the twins on Saturday.

(Ok, some people still managed to be grumpy for some of it, of course.)

And it's miraculous to say it was so fun since by weather standards it was a total disaster! I don't understand why their birthday is destined to be rained out every year! But at least it wasn't quite as much of a disaster as last year. But seriously, it was a freakishly cold day - the coldest in over a month, and when the first guest pulled up to the park at 9:30 - it started raining. And rained for two hours - until we pulled out of the park to leave. Just my luck. Thank goodness I had decided to do it at the only park with a fully covered pavilion that I even know of, so we toughed out the cold and partied on.

The twins wanted a Diego party so I did my best on an attempted jungle cake and set up an animal rescue mission for the kids to go on (not exactly how I'd planned with the weather but we improvised). We had to find and rescue baby bunny who was stuck in a tree, which involved following the map, figuring out directions, getting the bunny out of the tree and doctoring up his wounds, and figuring out which animal tracks to follow to get him back to his mommy. Since no Diego adventure would be complete without it, we had tools (magnifying glasses, compass rings, whistles, etc.) to help us rescue the bunny in everyone's Rescue Packs:

Then throw on some Diego music and a bubble machine and who knew kids could be entertained for so long? Guess that's the beauty of a rainy day.

(Although some people are entertained by lesser means.)

(Almost had some eyelash singe on the candle blowing.)

And there's only one real way to eat your birthday cake, of course.

Anyway, I can't believe we have so many great friends that braved the rain and 50 degree weather to have our party with us - it made it memorable at least!

Enjoying their presents:

Phew. Thank heavens the twos are over. That was a rough year.

*And no one tell them their birthday is really on the 24th, as far as they know it's over and done (before this baby comes along! :)

Silhouette

2011-02-07T14:21:00.002-06:00

I caught a glimpse of my shadow the other day. It seemed to say a lot.

And it said it much more politely than did the pictures of me at the beach. :)

Cash

2011-02-03T20:03:00.002-06:00

I love that Cash seems to have inherited my disability for determining song lyrics. I still get made fun of by Ryan for singing along to a song with totally wrong words that make no sense at all. The other day I had Cash unloading the silverware and as he was putting a butter knife in the drawer I heard him sing, "like a knife at night," instantly recognizing the tune as "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz (the line he was singing is supposed to be like it's dynamite). I had no idea he knew that song! We listen to the radio, but it wasn't one we necessarily play a lot or have around our house. So I was quite amused as he continued and all the lyrics related to things he knows. So instead of Sayin' ay-o, gotta let go, it comes out as "Say Diego, got a Lego...." Love it.

Then when we went to the hockey game, the kids first heard "We Will Rock You" by Queen and became instant fans. Although this fondness was first discovered when we kept hearing him sing, "Feed the, feed the rocket. Rocket." Because why wouldn't that make more sense to a 4 year-old than we will rock you? Even Phoenix has stood up on the bench and done a lovely rendition of this in the middle of sacrament meeting. Awesome.

In fact just to test my theory that they're picking up more than I realize, the other day I started out the Rhianna song, "Oh, na na..." and then stopped, and all three kids filled in, "...what's my name..." Great. Makes me realize I better watch what we listen to around here since you never know what may come out during sacrament meeting. :)

And I had to document the first, "Look mom! I drew a picture of you!" This was one he drew a few months back. At the time, I'd never seen him draw a person or a stick figure (let alone one of us), and he'd never really discussed my pregnant condition, so I had to laugh when out of nowhere he drew this picture of me:

So proud that my girth was such an inspiration.

Cash is doing great in school, can read quite a bit, knows when all the kids birthdays are at school, and is already sad for next year when he'll have to miss all his friend's birthdays since he'll be going to another school. He asks me cute things like "When I'm 10 years old will I still be your kid?" And says he doesn't want to become and old man or have body hair that makes him look like a monkey like dad. Or when I put on my fat pants for the billionth time during this pregnancy he says, "Why do you have to wear those pants every day?!?!?" He's also sad that when he's 5 he won't be home for naps (even though he rarely takes them). Darn that all-day kindergarten in Miami. Now we're just waiting to see if we happen to get the lottery for any of the schools we're trying to get him in. Stress.

Baby ramblings

2011-01-28T13:15:00.010-06:00

I have lots of contractions. This could get me excited until I remember that I had up to 60 a day with the twins for 6 weeks and it obviously meant nothing. And when I sometimes let myself think - hmm, maybe I'll go early like at 37 weeks or something, and then I realize - I didn't even go that early with twins, so yeah, I better gear up to be in this for the long haul.

Although I did go into my doctor this week and at the end he said, "I want you to rest as much as possible the rest of the time." I blinked my eyes a few times and sat in confused silence for a minute before I said, "What?" As if trying to confirm that he just told a mother of three little boys who has had a totally normal pregnancy that she should seriously try to rest the duration of her pregnancy. He said, "Why? Are you doing anything that's not restful?" (Like living my every day life?) "Um, I went to spin yesterday," I finally said. To which I was given a strict injunction not to spin anymore and not to exercise anymore for that matter. I was a little bugged. I'm all about doing what's healthy for the baby, but there's nothing unhealthy about exercising while you're pregnant and I have no complications. And I've been doing it the whole time and actually attribute my feeling pretty good during this pregnancy to it. When I asked why, he said it was because my cervix was starting to soften and since I'm already having contractions he didn't want me delivering for at least another week or two. I told him I've been having these contractions for 6 weeks and I had them for like 2 months with the twins and still went to almost 38 weeks with them. He said, "Well, I bet you were doing spin when you were pregnant with them." Point taken. I was laying on the couch like a beached whale for months with them. Anyhow, whatever. I decided to swim today rather than go to my usual Friday step class.

So last week I was given last minute notice that we were once again invited to the fancy gala in West Palm Beach this year - when I will be about 38 weeks pregnant. Lovely. Last year I both had a dress and was skinny when I found out we weren't invited. Seriously? So here I am thinking - I'm going to have to buy an evening gown that can be worn nine months pregnant? Bet I'm going to get a lot of mileage out of that one in the future....
Besides, where on earth do I find a dress? When I was complaining about having to be seen out in public that big and pregnant while trying to look composed next to all these other swanky (and skinny) people, I loved my friend's advice - "just go, have a great time....and don't take any pictures."

* Well, since I started writing this post a few days ago, I have found out that we are actually not invited anymore, and believe it or not I was slightly disappointed. Who knew I would find a cool British designer that actually had some decent maternity gowns? So just imagine me all dolled up in this (waddling around some swanky event in West Palm Beach).

I also really like this dress, although it maybe wouldn't have been dressy enough for the event and too bad there's no sense in buying it now.

So alas, no importing a cool British dress to drape my largely pregnant self in to wear to a fancy ball.

In other news, I did manage to see the, er, lovely inner city hospital where I will be delivering (the one upon first seeing where Ryan was working I immediately said, "We are never having children here." Then I followed that statement with - "and when you come home at night you drop your clothes at the door and head straight for the shower.") But I actually don't think it will be so bad. I asked the nurse about it while we were there and she said if I was a resident's wife I would get a private room. Well, that's better than my first delivery. And she said I might even get a suite. And hey, I figure if you're the only white baby in the hospital it's probably pretty hard for someone to steal off with your baby, right? Anyway, I have heard though that it's a very skilled facility, so if there's something wrong with your baby, that's where you want to be. If you want a glass of water though, get it yourself.

And now I'm just getting a bit anxious about the disposition of this child. I would say I hope for an easy baby, but I've never had one of those, so I don't plan on it. And my life never works along those "should happen" lines, so I will plan on another colicky child since at least it's not twins. For a while I was thinking this baby wasn't as active in the womb as my others and was taking that to hopefully mean he would be a mellow child. I was basing that on the fact that I knew even before the twins were born that Phoenix was going to be my trouble maker. He was always more crazy and active in the womb and I've pretty much been one step behind him since then. But since Christmas this child has proven me wrong and now seems to be the craziest child I've had in the womb yet. I'm surprised people don't worry that I'm having epileptic fits with how much my body shakes while I'm just sitting there.

Having watched my neighbor's baby a couple of times now, I realize our house is a bit hazardous for babies. Objects fly, bodies fling, and really, I'm going to have to have lots of safety zones to keep this child from getting clobbered. I'm not even sure a play yard would do the trick since I have no doubt numerous dangerous objects would manage to make their way in. So I'm also back to accumulating baby restraining devices since we gave everything away last time for the sake of my sanity since we have no space here so I would have been living on top of two swings, two bouncy seats, etc.

Enough random and disconnected thoughts for now. Time for a nap before the crazies all wake up.

Random thoughts while the hubby is away

2011-01-22T21:16:00.007-06:00

My husband is away for the weekend at a cataract conference. There are lots of reasons this is bad for me.
A. He left me alone with an entire thing of flan that one of his patients brought him. I never considered myself a real flan fan, but this stuff is good. Realizing my days of not caring how many calories I'm taking in are numbered, I also pulled out a jar of Nutella that I happened to spy hiding in my cupboards. (I'm sure I was hiding it from myself. At least it worked for a while.) I seem take in lots of comfort food when the hubby leaves me by myself with the kids.
B. I can't ever manage to go to bed at a decent hour when he's not home. I don't know why this is, but I always stay up later when he's gone and can't force myself into bed. Then I'm mad that I got so little sleep when he was gone when really I should be taking advantage of the lack of all the flopping and twitching next to me in bed and actually get a good night's sleep.
    But perhaps it's because when he's home, he's always on the computer at nights, so when he's gone I finally get a turn. So I've been looking at baby names for hours now. I never ask for opinions on names since I may name my child that and I'll probably remember what you said about it (case in point: first child, gender unknown. Mom keeps sending me lists of names. Finally tell her she can stop sending names since we've decided if it's a girl it's Audrey, if it's a boy it's Cash. Reply email: "Then I will pray for a girl.")
    So since familiarity breeds acceptance, back at Christmas I started mentioning to the family that we like the name Diesel. So I will mention it again since it is still on the list. :)   And by the way, yes, it is a fuel. And yes it is an engine. I am aware.
   But, it was so named after it's inventor, Rudolf Diesel, so it is first of all a surname (like all the rest of our kids names), and an increasingly popular first name in the U.S. and especially in Germany, Belgium and Australia. (Although I'm not really sure how big the population in Australia is, so saying it's the 118th most popular boy's name may mean there are like, 5 kids with that name.) And yes, I've also heard it's a dogs name. But Max is the number one dog's name in the U.S. too, and do people say that to everyone that names their child Max?
    But we also like Keaton, and Anderson, and Crosby, and who knows what else. I guess I should say I like a lot of names. Ryan isn't much for agreement or suggestion which puts us at quite the standstill most of the time, but he has admitted he likes Diesel and Keaton, which is why I will mention them again so your brain can familiarize itself just in case. :) Phoenix and Cash sit in the car arguing back and forth over it. Cash: "Keaton." Phoenix: "NO. Diesel." Cash: "NO. Keaton." Phoenix: "NO. Baby Diesel." I never knew they would be so opinionated.

Back to my list.
C. It would be prudent if Ryan was home so we could go car shopping. No, we will no longer fit in the Xterra, sad as it is. But yes, we will finally become a 2-car family again which will be nice. I do have dreams though that I'm at the hospital and panicking that we don't have a car to come home in. And since everyone asks, we will probably get a Honda Odyssey. With a DVD player if I get my way.
D. I have been sick. And am 35 weeks pregnant, did I mention that?
E. I am uncomfortable and tired. And have 3 kids to take care of. And am still 35 weeks pregnant.
F. My house is dirty and I am, once again 35 weeks pregnant and will not be bending my big bootie over anytime soon to scrub the floors that haven't been cleaned since, oh, before I left for Christmas.... (I did make Ryan get me a Groupon for housecleaning for Christmas - I just called to get an appointment and they said they were booked until March!?! Blast.)

So alas, I sit here to the melodious sounds of a child who has been screaming bloody murder in his bed for the last hour, contemplating hitting church alone again tomorrow, watching alien movements taking over my abdomen (seriously this kid shakes the bed at night he moves so wildly)....and wondering how soon the hubby will return.

Christmas catch-up

2011-01-20T19:18:00.002-06:00

I feel so behind! Like how I had a goal to get some baby books finished for the twins before this next baby comes along. (Like three years wasn't long enough to be able to get some scrapbooking done?) Looks like that won't happen. Just like I just don't have the time for blogging so much anymore. Which is why I am now just trying to finish up Christmas.

Some brotherly love on Christmas eve.

There were a lot of fun moments this Christmas since they're all at such fun ages. Like watching them all grab their stockings to set them out for Santa and spontaneously run around yelling "trick or treat!" to everyone. Or finding the plate of treats for Santa empty before everyone even went to bed...and then finding all the empty candy wrappers in their stockings. :)

Let me mention my next comment on this photo - Cash. We've had to have multiple discussions in our house that just because your tongue is long enough that you can pick your nose with it doesn't mean you should. Blech. He's a constant slobber face.

Lots of fun and excitement Christmas morning. Games, hot wheels, remote control trains, a scooter, and Cash got a Leapster so now he can hang with the big kids all playing their electronic devices.

Getting in some snow time and more cousin fun.

Watching Ryan carry both twins back up the hill was the point where I thought, phew, good thing I'm big and pregnant and can't go sledding.

All squished in the front seat rying to warm up.

The hockey game.

I really had no idea my kids would be so enthralled going to a sporting event since we've never taken them to one, but they still keep asking to go back.

I loved looking over one night to see Cash cozying right up to his cousin.

Good times.

Now time to move on and think about the next things in life. Like having a baby.

Christmas pictures

2011-01-12T15:31:00.000-06:00

Of course there were also many fantastic moments over the holidays. Number one for my kids had to be hanging out with cousins. I loved seeing Cash like this on a different cousin every time I turned around. And then hearing in his sweetest little voice, "Can I have a turn?? Can I play with your iphone?" Luckily he got a Leapster for Christmas so he could join in the male cousin sit-next-to-each-other-and-play-our-various-electronic-devices bonding.

He even attempted his first sleepover with the cousins (didn't last of course):

The boys loved visiting temple square. (And of course I love all the bodies to help keep track of them. :)

All great until it started snowing and my Miami-bred child was beside himself.

Everyone was in love with nickelcade.

And it's really fun climbing up the skee-ball game to put your balls in. Until your twin throws one overhand and gives you a goose egg in the head.

The best Christmas Eve surprise was answering a knock at the door to find dad finally making it there just in time for Santa.

Although not everyone could quite happy up for Santa. :)

Super happy with the remote control Thomas trains Santa brought.

Mom and I worked up a new duet for the program this year.

Cash sang "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" with the actions he learned from school, and Phoenix played and sang a lovely rendition of "Jingle Bells".

So much fun with the family!!

Guess I'll have to post more pictures later to finish the trip since I haven't even made it to Christmas day yet.

Christmas

2011-01-07T21:46:00.002-06:00

Let's start with the minuses, shall we? Like our bank account after Christmas, for one. Or like Phoenix erasing my mom's hard drive on Christmas eve. Yes, that's right. I have no idea how a two year-old erases and completely re-formats a computer, since I'm sure I have no idea how to do that. It's not like there's some big flashing button that says ERASE ME somewhere. And I had used the computer only moments before, turned around to finish my phone conversation, and looked back to see Phoenix sitting there in front of a really funky screen that said ATTEMPTING SYSTEM RECOVERY. That was the point where my stomach dropped and I immediately contemplated what moment during the Christmas festivities would be the best to tell your mother that you just lost everything on her computer. Especially knowing that she had been working on a 200+ page life history of her aunt, numerous family history files.... and she had no computer backup.

I guess the other minuses would be the amount of sickness that got passed around over Christmas, staying up all night with kids that couldn't breathe and finally calling my pediatrician at 2am and begging her to call in some steroids or something, and more of me getting sick and throwing up while extremely pregnant. Although that didn't seem to result in any more minuses on the scale, and instead I seemed to gain an average of 2 lbs a week over my three-plus week stint there. Yikes, I hope that sure doesn't keep up. I did manage to lose a good deal of my field of vision as pertaining to the lower half of my body, and my discomfort increased about 10 fold. Which made me realize if I had been scared to fly out by myself with three kids pregnant, I was terrified to fly back even more pregnant, this time with all of us totally sick and hacking up a lung, having to wake the kids up four hours earlier than they were used to waking up to get to our flight, and then realizing we had TWO layovers on the way home. Yes, we endured a good many tantrums on the plane. Yes people stared at our hacking brood in disgust silently praying they didn't have to sit by us. Yes, I finally just shut my eyes and ignored everything while everyone craned around to see who was throwing an absolute fit the whole descent since my child wanted nothing but to play with the seat tray in front of him and to get "OUT!!!!!" And yes I again just stood there and watched and waited when the other twin lay on the jetway off the plane in complete tantrum-y meltdown so I just scooted his flailing body over so at least everyone could walk past us on their way off the plane. I'm sure it was an amusing sight for everyone passing all of us, all our gear, my big belly, and my flopping child. And I'm sure it reassured those praying passengers that didn't end up by us that their prayers had been answered. But yes, I was rather grateful for the miracle of Benadryl that had at least made the first few hours of the flight more tolerable.

So yes, the computer in the shop explains the lack of holiday blogging. We tried our best to get it all figured out before we left. Ryan said it was taking 10 years off his life trying to put her computer back together and I spent my "restful" holiday up until 1am every night looking one by one through the 50,000 items that were recovered (most of them junk). Thankfully most of my mom's documents were recovered, except not all of the family history stuff and never the final draft of the life history in all it's glory. :( Some previous drafts in good form, and probably the latest mingled in with a corrupted and funky version of itself. So sorry about that.

Oh, and we'll be looking for a good deal on a DVD player to send you since Phoenix probably broke that at your house too. Um, happy holidays! Bet you can't wait for us to come next year!

Loving it

2010-12-23T21:02:00.001-06:00

Can I say how much I'm loving being in Utah??? Ok, flying all across the country 7 months pregnant by myself with all three kids (and they were still alive when we got here) was nothing short of a Christmas miracle, but we did it. And 4 hours later I spent the night throwing up, but hey - can you imagine if that had been a few hours earlier? While I was on the plane alone with all my kids?? For that reason I couldn't even be mad about being sick.

Back to being in Utah. I used to think maybe the gooey goodness of the Utah folk would drive me crazy after living out of state, but OH NOT SO. Can I tell you I almost started crying last night in Costco when the lines were crazy long and I saw two women going for the same line and when the one noticed the other there, she said, "Oh, sorry, were you coming for this line?" To which the woman cheerily responded, "Oh, no problem, I'll just go to another one!" I about died. Can I tell you THIS WOULD NEVER HAPPEN IN MIAMI! And anytime someone was near me in the aisles they would so sweetly say, "Oh sorry, I'm just going to sneak around you here if that's ok!" People have stopped to let your car in in crowded parking lots, chatted with you in store lines and talked to me as if I was the coolest person in the world with my out-of-state license. The Wal-Mart workers are actually helpful (in Miami when I've asked for an item I couldn't find they say, "Did you see it? If you didn't see it, we don't have it.") All the stores here are well-stocked, employees actually know what they're talking about, and Costco even carries different stuff that's cool and that local people would want. And people here actually think like I do. It's been so pleasant.

The last little while in Miami my children and I have been screamed profanities at by some grown man who apparently wanted to cut into my line of traffic but I couldn't understand his ambiguous gestures out the opposite window of the way he wanted to go.... I've seen other grown men jump out of their cars and get in fights with pedestrians on their way to work; I've been trying to get on a train pregnant with a triple stroller and had not one person scoot over to let me on (when they easily could have and instead just sat there and stared at me without moving while the train stalled for 3 minutes. I had to wait for the next train.) I have watched a man irritated with the ridiculous wait at the post office walk out the door and then turn and kick the post office door, bashing it in and shattering the glass all over the other customers.... And I've called my doctor's office when I finally got my test results after asking for them for months to say, "Um, the wrong tests were done on me" to be met by a prolonged silence and then a, "So? What do you want me to do about it?" Oh, I don't know, fix it?? Oh, Miami.

So a little Christmas cheer, some snow, family, courteous people, and lots of holiday festivities have been so welcome. We have done so many fun things here - and it seems to all be so much easier and accessible than Miami. The kids have been in heaven. We've gone to an indoor kids place full of bounce houses, the Children's museum, a hockey game, birthday parties, a nickel arcade, Temple Square to see the lights, cookie exchange parties, plus spent so much time with family and cousins. And the kids have even slept in until 9am every day. (They won't go to bed until late, but it's so weird because it's not due to the time change because that's 11am our time!)

And oh Curves. Let me take a minute to talk about the entertaining nature of Curves. I was worried that I would totally lose any level of fitness I had at this stage in the pregnancy while here in Utah since I was used to going to the gym a lot in Miami, so my mom came home one day and said that I could do 30 days free at Curves where she goes. So I really know nothing about the place and have never been, but I figured it would be better than nothing. Let me tell you, the first time I went in, it was me, 4 geriatric women with perms in those cozy brown old lady shoes and a 300lb woman with oxygen tubes in her nose. Oh my goodness. It was really hard not to laugh. Let's just say it's probably good for my pregnant self esteem - in Miami everyone is like exotic and Brazilian, full of implants in all sorts of places, perfectly spray-tanned, and they all have amazing bodies. So I get comment after comment from the chatty old ladies about what good shape I'm in. :) And it's even cuter because in between each machine they have these little mats that you are supposed to just move in place or do something aerobic on and I love seeing the old ladies "jog" in place, dance around and twist their hips, or some just wave their hands in circles. Oh man, it's fun.

Not to say we don't have any fun in Miami. I did realize the bonus of Christmas activities in Miami is that you can stand outside for hours and enjoy them cause it's like 75 degrees. So here are a few pictures of some Christmas festivities we did before we left Miami.

(About as good as a "cute" posed Christmas picture of the boys gets)

Cash and one of his best little buddies, Samuel:

Hope you all have a merry Christmas!!

School

2010-12-18T11:03:00.001-06:00

I haven't mentioned much about Cash and his school since the start when he wasn't so fond of it. It took a good couple months for the first words out of his mouth every morning not to be, "I don't want to go to school!" Man, I thought I hated mornings before - but having to get three dependent and unwilling children out the door by 8am every morning is miserable. It usually involves lots of yelling as we get closer and closer to 8am and the kids have been sitting in front of their breakfast for 35 minutes, multiple children have been put in timeout for yelling and screaming all morning and inevitably everyone has to poop at 8:01.

But, at least Cash finally enjoys it. His teacher says he does very well and I have to laugh when I hear him talking about continents and all the things I wouldn't think he would know yet at this age. We got to go for a little Thanksgiving party with him back in November. It was so funny to see that as soon as he came out Phoenix was beside himself with excitement running right up to him laughing and yelling "Cashy!!" and would hardly leave him alone the whole time we were there.

I could tell people were a little overwhelmed by the energy of my twins there (you can see the devious look on Phoenix's face as he's making a break for the tricycles in the play area when we should be sitting and listening to the Pilgrim lady give her lecture. Somehow other people's children sit still....) Anyhow, it ended up with me dragging them out of the place in a tantrum-y screaming disaster as usual - but hey, what's new.

We've also been doing a little pre-school with some friends for a few of our toddlers. This of course also involves a lot of timeouts trying to get them to just understand appropriate behavior for seriously a few minutes out of the week. But for the most part it's really fun and we've done lots of fun activities with the kids. I think some of these pictures are from a Halloween party (complete with treasure hunt for treat bags), B week with a "birthday" party and modified form of "bingo" and decorating gingerbread houses at Christmas.

Of course while the other kids are busy making gingerbread houses I look over to see this (not even just picking the candy off??) -

(And of course days when I host I usually make extra materials and repeat it with Cash when he gets home so he doesn't feel left out.)

Now if only the twins were as well-behaved at school as Cash. Oh, actually, he wasn't at first, believe it or not! I forgot about that. When he first started I asked him what they did out at playtime and he said, "We play fight." Confused, I said, "You mean chase?" He said, "No, fight." Sure enough one day when I was waiting to pick him up I saw him turn and hit some kid next to him, who then shoved him back and all the boys then started wrestling and fighting and throwing each other on the ground. I was in shock! Cash has never played that way with anyone! That's why I had no idea what he would even mean by playing fight! So yeah, my child was corrupted only weeks into school. :) Luckily I think it's settled down a bit now.

Trouble makers

2010-12-09T23:56:00.004-06:00

The twins are at a fun age. It's so fun to watch them become little people and learn to communicate and especially interact with each other.

And they are going to be the death of me.

(At least I tried to start out positive. :) They are really going through such a hard stage right now! They are so deliberately disobedient, scream, cry and throw tantrums half of the day, and I have absolutely zero control over them. I'm not sure what to do - I'm just trying the survive-until-they-grow-out-of-it tactic right now. We follow through with consequences - they could spend half their day in time out and it wouldn't phase them. They are totally unaffected by their behavior making me sad or upsetting me (that totally worked on Cash - he will still start crying if he ever sees me crying). They are just such a different breed than he was. I know that having two of them to think up mischief and make the other think their behavior is ok definitely plays a part, but man I'm hoping they chill out before this baby comes!

They're the type that when I say "don't throw that in the toilet!" will defiantly stand there and do it right in front of me. I walked in on them the other day reading books so nicely that even though it was time for naps I thought, I'll let them have 5 more minutes because I love it when they get into reading. So five minutes later I go in to a room literally full with piles and piles of pages ripped out of books. Sigh. And their tantrums and fits are just the kind that are totally unpredictable and completely irrational. Like one time Phoenix dropped a grape in the car and I couldn't reach it and he screamed for the next thirty-seven minutes straight while I was driving. And they seriously think up so much mischief that I wouldn't even imagine! Like standing up on the kitchen tables today while eating breakfast and literally throwing their untouched bowls of cereal off the table. And they are so destructive. Heaven help me.

As another case in point, tonight was our first trip to the ER with any of our boys. I guess I should count myself lucky that we've made it this long. They had pushed a chair over to the kitchen, and were having a grand time sharpening all the pencils in the electric pencil sharpener. I came in to check on them and they kept telling me to "go away!" Knowing that this age is all about the quest for independence I thought I could let them feel like big boys and keep going by themselves. I kept going in to check on them or periodically fill requests for pickles, etc. The activity seemed to wear off, and soon Ashton was over sitting on the floor watching a show with Cash. I heard a sound that I know from frequency is a head hitting our floor so I went out to see if Ashton was ok, and I saw him try to sit up and hit his head again. I was telling him to stop hitting his head on the floor as I went out to him and I picked him up and noticed he seemed a little lethargic. So I sat with him for a minute and then Phoenix came over to me sticking out his tongue with something on it - and carrying a pill bottle of Ibuprofen, but that one was still closed. At that point I yelled for Ryan to come out since right as I was scraping the remnants of a pill out of Phoenix's mouth, Ashton started throwing up and was throwing up a lot and hardly catching his breath so his face was kind of swelling. So everything pretty much broke loose all at once...and then Ryan noticed a bottle of Ambien that was open on the floor. SERIOUSLY. Of all the medications in our cupboard that was the one they managed to get open?? They had pushed the chair over, climbed up on the counter and gotten in the far cupboards of the kitchen? So pretty soon Phoenix couldn't stand up straight and was falling all over the place and we realized they'd both taken some, although from our estimation it was probably only one pill each, but could have been two or three, although we'd seen Phoenix's reaction of wanting to spit out just one - so hopefully he just had had a half of one before I got it out of his mouth. Ashton had obviously had more.

So I called poison control and they said we should take them to the emergency room. So it took us a while after a few more puking episodes and kids that couldn't move independently, so by the time we actually got to the doctor they were over the worst of it and were just still unsteady and a bit loopy. They didn't have to pump their stomachs or anything and just wanted to keep us for observation for 4 hours. They got a little more active, but were then just hazardous trying to climb all over things in their drunken state. Their little bit of delirium was actually kind of cute too. By the time we were done, we had been moved back out to the waiting room just so they could watch the tv and stop going crazy in the one small room - and they were screaming and throwing tantrums and climbing on the furniture and getting into everything we told them not to. As the nurse came out and was discharging us she said the idea was the effects of the medication should have worn off in 4 hours. Looking at my kids laying on the floor screaming and yelling, I said, "Don't worry - they're exactly back to their normal selves."

Sadly, I realized my kids are far more tolerable when heavily sedated. :)

But I realized that thank heavens we didn't have to sit in the ER for four hours with them under normal consciousness or it would have been really unbearable. And boy was I glad Ryan was home uncharacteristically early today. And that it wasn't any worse than it was.

But I do love the interaction between my boys. I'm sure if one of them was a girl it wouldn't be nearly the same. And it warms my heart when I hear Cash say that Phoenix and Ashton are his best friends. I love the things I find them all doing spontaneously together. So to remember that, and just to be thankful that all my boys are home safe and sound tonight and everyone is ok, I'll end with some pictures and forgive all the trouble-making for a few minutes.

And a few good ones to remind me of their cuteness. :)