Uh-Oh, Here comes Trouble

Guess what? I walked into Talia's room yesterday, and this is what I found!!! My 10 month old (tomorrow) can pull up on her crib! I thought it was great...until every time we try to put her in bed, either for a nap or sleep, she pulls up and cries. Right now, I'm really missing my good baby who went down for naps and bed without any problem at all. The hardest part is that I know she's tired...she's yawning, rubbing her eyes, and whining...all her ususal "I'm tired" signals, but is fighting sleep. Maybe she'll go back to normal in a few days. I hope.

She's been trying to give up her morning nap for a month or so now. Today, when I tried to put her down (she was giving all the tired signals), she cried for 1/2 hour, even with me checking on her every 5 minutes. So, I gave up on the nap for today. She was cranky all morning, cried most of the time we were in the shower, the whole time I got her dressed and did her hair. She did stop briefly while I fed her, and whined the rest of the morning. I finally put her down for a nap at noon. I was hoping that her giving up her morning nap meant she would take a little bit longer afternoon nap...no such luck, at least not today. I don't think it's too much to ask for a 10 month old to take a 2 hour nap. Just from 12-2, that's perfect. I was in a really bad mood, because I didn't get a nap today either, and I knew I had to go to work tonight. And I'm back tomorrow night. I was really, really cranky, moody, and hormonal, and didn't know how I was going to get through tonight. But Heavenly Father answered my cranky prayers...a spot opened up at the daycare for all day...so now I can take her in the morning, come home, and sleep before I have to come back tomorrow night. Truly a blessing from above, considering I would have had to come back on 3 hours of sleep.

So tonight I'm in RSV land...taking care of 3 babies with RSV, one of whom is on a ventilator. Needless to say, I'm not pleased, but I realize I have to take my turn. And, so far, it really hasn't been that bad...It's just a pain to gown and mask every time I have to walk into one of the isolation rooms. And I'm being especially vigilant, because I don't want to bring this home to my kids. So, when I get home, my scrubs go straight in the washer, and I go straight to the shower.

Today I am thankful for:

1. An all day spot in daycare tomorrow.
2. No kindergarten tomorrow, which means that I can have more uninterrupted sleep.
3. A husband who will go to parent teacher conference, and not complain about it.
4. The development of my baby...knowing that she's doing exactly what she's supposed to be, even though it's bittersweet to see it.
5. My nurse pod-partner. I'm in RSV land tonight with someone I like, who's easy to get a long with, and when there's only 2 of you in a room, that's important.

Tagged

I've been Tagged by Mindy
A: The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.B: Each player answers the questions about themselves.C: At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
10 Years Ago: I was 1 1/2 Quarters (yes, quarters) away from graduating with my Respiratory Therapy degree, with 1 semester to go after that to finish up my Bachelors in Psychology. My husband and I were getting ready to start our family.
5 Things On My To Do List Today: 1. Parent Teacher Conference for Alec, 2. Costco to buy formula for the baby and Gas for the car, 3. Try to get a decent nap, as I'm working as I write this, 4. De-clutter my living room, 5. Try to remember to fold the laundry and put the last load in the dryer.
Snacks I enjoy: I love chocolate, cream puffs, eclairs, and many other things that are good for the soul and bad for the scale.
What would I do if I were suddenly made a billionaire? We would pay off all our vehicles, buy a truck for Cole, expand our house now instead of in 8 years, set up college funds for the kids, get our year's supply of food in order, buy a new TV, Share with our family. Oh, and I would be getting my hot tub now instead of in 5 years.
3 Of My Bad Habits: I am not a morning person. I hate to fold laundry, so sometimes I don't. I collect clutter...I can't seem to help it no matter what I do.
5 places I have lived: Ogden City, Uintah( 2 houses), Washington Terrace (Apt and 1st house) and South Ogden...and I practically lived at Cole's parent's house in Riverdale when we were dating.
5 Jobs that I have had: Started at Matrixx (Convergys now), Moved to SPS, Worked for South Davis Community Hospital (a long term care facility), IHC Pediatric Homecare, and now at McKay Dee in the NICU.
Things people don't know about me: I'm 31 1/2, and my hair is completely gray. My skin is so fair, that it turns translucent in really cold water. I hate green veggies...if it's green, it tastes like grass (or worse) to me. The only exception is celery. I am a diet pepsi addict, and have no desire to get help (Ok, so y'all probably knew that one). I love to re-read books...
I tag:

No one, right now...I don't even know where to begin.

Feels Like Forever....

Since I've been able to post on my blog. Work has been too crazy to post while I'm there, and last night I went scrapbooking with my family. These pages are what I got done. I was all excited to blog about it, and then...my Mom called to tell me President Hinckley had died. I know he was old, and hadn't been in great health since his wife died, but it still is a bit of a shock to me. I'm sad. I told my kids, and they were sad too...and I know it's stupid, but all I can think of is the song "Latter Day Prophets", and how now it will be out of date. And it makes me want to cry a little.

So, about scrapbooking, I was with my mom, cousin Kelly, and a friend Lindsey. We try to get together in Kelly's basement once a month and scrapbook from 2-10. We had a really good time, and I got a lot done.

Today in Primary, I spent most of my time in with the Sunbeams in their class. It really was fun, and just reinforced the fact that we picked the right teachers for that age group. There is one difficult child in the group, and although she was a bit better today, the teacher did really well handling the situation. I was very impressed.

So, I think Kyle's been doing better at school. Apparently, telling him that no one can make him do anything has helped....he was playing with some of the bullying kids at school on Friday.

The rest of what I was going to post has gone out of my brain...I'm watching the news coverage of President Hinckley's life and death, and I'm tearful. Maybe I'll remember more tomorrow.

Today I'm thankful for:

1. Being sealed to my husband and children for Time and all Eternity.
2. Having the fullness of the Gospel here on earth in this place and time to guide my life.
3. My beautiful, perfect, well behaved children.
4. Hugs from my children.
5. A husband who never complains when I want to go scrappbooking.

Eventually, I'll get around to answering my Tag.

I've been "WHAT?"

So, apparently I've been tagged. So, I'll probably try to do the answering questions part, but maybe someone nice will post me a comment explaining how to find other people to tag. Because I've seriously got no clue.

There's been so much going on the last few days...I've been working, and we now have 23 week twins, 26 week twins, 30 week twins in our unit, along with 3 other micro-preemies (under 2lbs). And, there are 3 more sets of twins, all quite small, that we could get at any time. Needless to say, it's been quite crazy at work. And it doesn't look to get slow again any time soon.

So, how do you deal with it when your child starts to go through the same heartbreak you did at about the same age? Kyle has been acting out in strange ways lately, and the other morning after working, as I was trying to fall asleep, something clicked in my brain. So, as I questioned him after school, it turns out that some of the kids (in his same grade, but not his class), are being slightly bully-ing...saying he can't play with them, but Kyle's friends can play. And he's been the victim of a few nasty pranks lately...glue on his chair...and easy going child that he is, he was dared to stick his tongue on a frozen metal pole, with predictable (and painful) results. We talked to him about how no one can make him not play, he just needs to go join in. We encouraged him to play with the kids in his class who aren't being mean. We helped him to understand that if someone is daring you to do something, it probably means you shouldn't do it. The problem is, he's always been the nice kid, the one who wants to be friends with everyone, and now that he's at the age when kids start being mean and excluding, he's a little bit lost. He doesn't defend himself. I was just the same at his age...soft hearted..I can see this hurting him, and it took me until high school to grow a thick skin. I wish I knew how to help him learn to deal with this so he won't be so unhappy. I don't know what to do. This is the hardest part so far of being a mom.

Snow Days and Blessings Great and Small

So, it snowed another foot today. The snow plows actually plowed as well, and the end of my driveway was plowed in by a few feet of snow. To the rescue came Enos and Cody, from the ward. Not only did they snowblow my driveway, and several others in the neighborhood, but they dug out the end of the driveway, the sidewalk, and were moving on to other houses on the street. And they wouldn't even let me make them some Hot Chocolate. I want to cry thinking about the enormous blessing this was to my family today. You see....

Talia started throwing up last night. I had given her table food at dinner (which I always do now), and there was a couple of things she hadn't eaten before. I was hoping it was that, but she threw up all last night until about 10pm. Then, she settled into a restless sleep...and so did I. I was really worried about her....she woke early this morning, starving, and hasn't thrown up since..so I really hope it was a 12 hr bug, or she just didn't tolerate dinner. She's the only one of my kids who's ever had bouts of actual projectile vomiting as a baby, where as I hold her over a towel I can feel her poor little stomach just contract. It's the saddest thing to watch her cry because she doesn't understand why dinner is coming up and out her nose and mouth, painfully. Blessings again, because she's back to her normal, happy self today.

The boys could hardly wait to get outside after lunch and play in the snow. They got some snowball makers/throwers for Christmas, along with a snow-brick maker. They've got snowballs down, but can't figure out the brick maker. I'll have to ask the neighbors how to make sure the bricks don't break.

Quiet Moments are the Best....

I got to hold my sleeping baby tonight. Since Talia turned about 6 months, she's refused to sleep in anyone's arms. If we're home, she wants her crib, and if we're out and about, the carseat will do. Since she's outgrowing her infant carseat, I'm in for some interesting outings. Tonight, however, Talia didn't want to take her normal 5pm nap, she waited until 7pm...and bedtime's at 8pm. So, instead of putting her in her crib, I gave her her pacifier and held her. She fought me for a few minutes, but I stroked her hair and face, and she finally gave in and fell asleep. 20 minutes of pure pleasure for me---it's been hard not to hold my last baby while she's sleeping. I just had to have Cole take our picture, even though I don't have any makeup on.

Speaking of Cole, yesterday his whole day was awful. The tip of his car key broke off in his ignition. He called me right before I was headed to work to tell me. So, I give him the name of a locksmith, and he calls them. He can get service, hurray!!! So, after they fix the car, he calls me...currently, his car will run for anybody. He needs to drive to their offices in Bountiful to get the car re-keyed...but first he's got to drive home and get the spare key, so that they can re-key it right. And the baby's at daycare, and he won't have time to get home, to Bountiful, and back in time to pick her up by 6. Plus, the boys are at home alone. So, I call my wonderful sister in law...she can watch Talia for about an hour, but they have plans after that. So, I call my Mother in Law. She's got to wait for a call from the doctor...she's got to go to the hospital for an infusion of iron, because her iron is extremely low and her stomach isn't absorbing any. So, I call my mom and arrange it...My sister in law will watch Talia until they leave, then drop her at my mom's. Then Mom calls me...can they take Talia out to dinner with them? Sure, but let Cole know. When they get hold of Cole, they're eating, so he leaves to go get the boys food...and isn't home when my parents come to drop Talia off. It was a crazy, day, and I was busy at work and trying to coordinate all this in between all the work stuff. I really hate it when a perfectly normal day turns into chaos...especially right as I'm going to work. But it ended up ok. My kids actually handled it very well, and I continue to be grateful for how easy they make things like this.
Today I am grateful for

1. Brenda, my sister in law who never lets me down.
2. Parents who are always willing to help in a crunch. My mom has never, ever let me down when I've needed her.
3. A husband who mops the floor, because he knows it's the one household chore I hate most of all.
4. Digital cameras and the advantages they have.
5. Costco. I love that place, I really do.
   

Envy...

So, I'm really envious that all my girls got to go scrapbooking tonight, and I'm stuck here at work. Making babies breathe. Running my butt off. Buying birthday pie for the girl here who's birthday started at midnight. Although, I'm working with a really good friend, so that part's good.

Now I'm even more worried about the kindergarten thing...Alec is such a literal child that he would take whatever his teacher says at face value, and not even try to question it. I don't want him to believe he's bad, but if she tells him that (even in the context of the whole class) he'll believe it. I always thought I'd have to worry about him academically, but now I realize it's not the learning that's the problem. It's the way he processes information. This is my kid who when we tease him, his eyes fill with tears and he believes every word we say. Or, if he's accidentally a little to rough with his sister, and I reprimand him, he will burst into tears and think he's bad. I guess I'm going to have to question him a little better about school. And maybe I'll have to try to keep a notebook of his comments, so I can connect the dots later.

Kyle has twice had teachers that I had heard were not "the best", but I've never been anything but happy with them. I've always said I wouldn't request teachers unless I had a really good reason (my mom's a teacher, and requests can cause teachers all kinds of issues)...but I really need Alec to have a good year next year, since this one has been not so great. I can't stop worrying right now....

Oh, and I'm still feeling envious about the scrapbooking. :)

Better Late than Never....

So, I was sidetracked from posting last night, by a bout of terrible abdominal cramps from my Irritable Bowel Syndrome. It was all I could do to curl up in bed, and make occasional running trips to the bathroom. I won't complain too much, however...my IBS has been much, much better since I got pregnant with Talia. I don't have nearly as many episodes as I used to.

So Yesterday's work....It's not the most complicated page, but the journaling took me awhile. It's important to have just the right words when you're telling the story of your child's birth. Which parts to leave out of the main body, to journal later with the photos that accompany that part of the story...but I really am happy with the results.

I took my mom lunch yesterday at the school she teaches at. I've been doing it for years, ever since I moved out of the house. I take either McDonalds or Wendy's, and we talk. I don't get my Mom alone very often, so it's always nice to talk. It was an indoor day for the school kids because of the cold, so we ended up spending part of the time with her students in the classroom with us. It reminded me of why I'm not a teacher. But she's great at it.

I also got all the new stuff Kyle needs for scouts now that he's a Bear...I can hardly believe it. He was really excited when he got home. He can't wait to get started.

Today I am grateful for:

1. A furnace that works well.
2. A wondeful husband who doesn't hesitate to pick up his games and feed the baby when I need him to.
3. Milk delivery
4. Talia didn't wake up with nightmares(at least that's what I think they are) last night.
5. The power and peace of prayer.

Bonus Day

This is part of what I did today on my "bonus day". I call it a bonus day, because I was supposed to have to work last night, but I got called off. Today would have been a recovery day...where I sleep whenever I get the chance, and basically feel tired and cranky all day. But instead of having to recover, I had a whole day to do whatever needed/wanted to be done. Thus, a bonus day. Today I got all the grocery shopping done (I only do it once a month, so it's a process that takes several hours between the shopping and the putting away). I got home, let Talia get a nap, then it was off to Macy's in Riverdale, for their clearance/store closing sale. Let me tell you, I got some killer deals today. New black shoes, a sweater hoodie, lounging pants, a new purse (I'm addicted to purses, my husband will tell you) & 2 dresses for Talia (1 for next Christmas, one just for next winter). The dresses were $40 dresses on clearance for $11 each....who can pass that kind of a deal up? The clothes were 30% off already clearance price, and the purse was 30% off as well....and was a lot less than I normally spend on my purse addiction. The shoes were actually a necessity...I've just recently started wearing black again (I didn't wear it for a couple of years, because I was wearing entirely too much of it, and needed a change) and I needed some dressier black shoes, that weren't church-type dressy shoes. They were also on a killer sale, and I felt really lucky they still had them in my size. Finally I bought some tiny 18k gold plated sterling silver hoop earrings. The stud earring I've been wearing in my 3rd ear piercing is worn through the gold plating, and the underlying metal must have nickel in it, because it's been red and irritated. So I wanted something small and unobtrusive, but still visible. Then, after I cooked breakfast for dinner, I gave myself a pedicure. I haven't had my toes painted since my sister gave me a professional pedicure right before I had Talia. It feels good to have pretty toes again.

At dinner, I thought I would try to just feed Talia waffles. She did great, for about 10 bites. Then she realized that she wasn't getting it fast enough, and that was it...she wanted her baby food and her bottle. She's obviously not ready to go to straight table food, but it was a step in the right direction.

I wanted to get all this done today, so that tomorrow I have time to work on my weekly scrapbook page. And relax, of course. Plus, I still have to take my nativity scene down from the mantel.....

Today I am grateful for...

1. A precious baby girl who is so easy to take everywhere...she was a perfect angel while I got all my stuff done today.

2. Alec's hugs....he loves to hug me all the time, and it's such a mood lifter.

3. The small amount of money it cost me to buy everything I bought today...it's nice when I can have what I want and stay within my budget.

4. Waffles and sausage for dinner. Comfort food that's easy to make, and easy to clean up.

5. 3 children who are not perfect, but are perfect for me.

I'm Counting Down...

the hours until I'm off work again. I'm currently on my 4th shift in 5 days, and I'm really missing my family. Cole said that on saturday night, Talia said mama...mama...mama....all night. And on sunday, she was really, really happy to see me. I could tell that she'd missed me. So, today, when I got her up after her nap, and she saw my scrubs....she was not happy. I know she knew I wasn't going to be home tonight. And of course, I wanted to cry too, because I really didn't want to have to come back to work so soon. So, I'm counting down...4 more hours of this shift, then 1 more shift until I have a couple of days off with her (and the boys, who mostly don't care if I'm gone).

The kids had today off from school. They will only go to school 2 of the 4 Monday's this month...thank goodness they were really good today. Good to me and good to each other. They really are growing up so fast...they play pretty well together most of the time.

I've been looking for snow boots for Alec since the beginning of December. I waited too long, and there haven't been any in his size. I put it off during Christmas vacation, but after all this snow we've gotten (and watching him walk through the mountains of it in only his shoes), I've been hunting. The only thing left around my usual places, even on the internet, were not in his size or more $ than I really want to spend ($40 for snow boots for a 5 year old is ridiculous). To the rescue came my wonderful husband, who stopped at both the DI and Savers, looking for whatever we could find. He found some Shrek boots, 1 1/2 sizes too big, but whatever, at least I can let him go play out in the snow. The boys really want to jump on the snowy trampoline....

I am continually reminded about how blessed I am. At church on Sunday, I watched the parents of a family struggle with their special needs children, and I was reminded that no matter what my children are, they are perfect for me and I am blessed to be their mother. I thank Heavenly Father for them every night, but after that experience, I feel especially grateful and blessed. And I will be praying for those special needs children as well, because I really, really want them to be happy at primary.

Part of the yearly "Simple Abundance" Journey is to keep a gratitude journal. Every day, you write down 5 things you are grateful for. I think it will be enlightening to keep that journal here.

Today I am grateful for:
1. Talia's smile when I get her up in the morning.
2. A wonderful husband who went looking for snow boots.
3. Kyle and Alec playing nicely together.
4. My job, which gives me satisfaction mentally, emotionally, and monetarily.
5. Chocolate. Oh yeah, definitely Chocolate.

Sleepy Days, Long and Crazy Nights

So, I'm on the last night of working 3 in a row. I don't normally work 3 in a row...but every so often the person who does the schedule forgets, and here I am. I've been really lucky this time...It was Cole's friday off, so I didn't need a babysitter and I've been able to sleep. However, sleeping the day away has it's disadvantages...I didn't get to see the boys at all yesterday, and only got to see my Talia for about 10 minutes. Today, I got to see Talia for about 30 minutes, and I got to see the boys, but they weren't really interested in hanging out with mom today. It's really hard not to see my kids for such a long stretch, and I've got more to go....the new schedule starts tomorrow, and I've got tomorrow off and then work Monday and Tuesday. 5 shifts in 6 days. It sucks, and I really hate working a long stretch like that; it's the trade off for having a week off.

It's interesting to see the changes in my baby when I don't see her even for a couple of days...she is now very efficient at the army crawl, trying to stick her finger in the outlets (time to dig out the outlet covers), and wherever I was today, she was trying to get to me. It's nice to know she misses me too.

Work has been crazy, but is finally slowing down a bit. We had 3 sick calls for our shift, so our groups have pretty heavy workloads, and lots of charting. I'm taking care of a poor little baby who's withdrawing tonight....we finally loaded him up with morphine, and he's doing better, but his crying breaks my heart. And there's not much I can do about it, he can't even be swaddled right now, because he has jaundice and is under lights. I just feel very blessed that I had 3 healthy babies. And I know Heavenly Father continues to bless me and my family.

Back to Work

Well, it finally had to happen. I've had a week off work, and it's been wonderful, but I guess I had to go back sometime. And it's been entirely too crazy. Admitting babies, babies not breathing, babies being "naughty" so to speak. It's starting to look like our slow streak is over....and I guess that's ok, because I really can't afford to be called off too much. At least not until I've built my vacation time back up again.

Alec asked me if he could color today. So he got out one of his coloring books, and he was looking back at the pictures he's done, and they're all scribbles (it's an older coloring book). But he doesn't always want to color in the lines, and I've told him that when he colors at home, he can do whatever he wants. So, being the literal child that he is, he said to me, "Mom, it's ok to scribble if I want, because I'm at home." And I told him "Yes, you can do whatever you want with your coloring books at home". And he happily started letting his own creativity express itself on the page. I know that they have to learn to color in the lines, but I feel it takes away from their creative expression to "make" them do it. So, I try to let them do whatever they want when they're at home and it's not schoolwork.

Back to work, we're getting crazy again.

Bittersweet...

Today's work...So far I'm on track for my weekly 2 page layout goal. Yay!!! But seriously, These 3-D ultrasound pics were taken almost exactly a year ago....It made me both happy and sad to work on them today. I had to drive to Salt Lake to get them taken, because my MD doesn't do 3-D yet, and I just had to have it done. Seeing those delicate features...confirming again that it was the daughter that I'd been wanting...it was such a fun day. Even if I did have a huge asthma attack because the air quality down in SLC was so awful that day. I tried really hard to enjoy every moment of that pregnancy, because I knew it was my last. And I've enjoyed every moment with Talia, because she is my last baby. Who now can quite efficiently army crawl, and get herself back up to sitting from on her tummy. It's bittersweet, seeing her make all these sudden changes from little baby to bigger baby.

And what's with the 5 feet of snow that heaven dumped on us today? I love snow, but not in such large, high maintenance quantities. I was so thankful that I had my SRV, because it handles great in the snow. I had to drive Kyle to school in the morning, then Alec a couple of hours later, and then go pick them up a couple of hours after that. I was supposed to have a staff meeting, but it got cancelled, thank goodness, because I really didn't want to venture out onto the main roads. Or have to drive the kids down to my sister-in-law's down in Uintah, because their roads are even worse than ours are up here.

The satellite dish is currently covered in snow, and since I'm too lazy to go brush it off (which involves setting up the ladder, etc)...the kids are playing more video games than they'd normally get after school, and I'm listening to my ipod on a boombox. It's nice to have music rather than tv as the background noise in my house....maybe I'll try it more often.

Lazy Days....

I love to have a Lazy Day. And I don't get too many opportunities. Most of my days off are spent running the inevitable errands that pop up, or recovering from working. But a true lazy day...where I haven't worked the night before, and don't have anything to get done or work to go to...they are a rarity and a treasure to me. So, here's what I did today on my lazy day....
Got up and got Kyle off to school. Got Alec ready for the day. Played with the baby. Took a shower, let my hair air dry. No makeup today. Dressed in sweats. Warm and comfy. Read. Took Alec to school. Fed and played with Talia. Put her down for a nap, read some more. Helped the boys with their homework. Read some more. Fixed dinner for my family. Watched Harry Potter 5 with Cole and Kyle (Alec was invited, but decided to go play, and of course Talia was with us, but she really didn't care about the movie). Put Talia to bed. Put kids to bed. Read. Put Cole to bed. Read some more. I finished 2 books today (I'm an extremely fast reader).
Today was the perfect, perfect Lazy day.

My baby has gone from semi-mobile to full on army crawl. She can get anywhere she wants to....and today she discovered that kitchen drawers open. And close. And open. And close. And so on, and so forth. She spent 2o minutes just opening and closing the drawer. Watching her go after whatever toy she wants makes me laugh. And the way she looks at her brothers....she has them totally wrapped around her little finger. It's hard to see her grow up so fast, but I'm trying to enjoy it

Laughter through Tears

First of all, my 1st weekly scrapbook layout. I decided to use these weekly layouts to start on Talia's baby book. My family album is about a year behind, and I gave up on the idea of doing individual albums for all 3 kids plus a family album a few months ago. At least until they're all in school, and then maybe I'll go back. But every baby gets a baby album. I've been dying to start Talia's, but I'm one of those people who needs to scrapbook in chronological order. However, I figure that technically, I am in chronological order for her book.

Talia went into the doctor for her nine month appointment today. She's 18 lbs, 1 oz (with a diaper on), and 27 1/4 inches long. She's a whole pound smaller than my boys at the same age, and I'm so glad...anything I can do to keep her my little baby for as long as possible. Although, with her newly learned army crawl being perfected every waking moment, I won't be able to keep her small for long. And tonight, she managed to get back to sitting from being on her belly, but she only figured it out the once. She was so funny at the doctor....played with the paper that they put on the exam table...pulled out a bunch of it....and was fine for a minute while the doctor was just asking questions...but as soon as he started the exam, it was like it clicked for her...this will end with shots. She started screaming, and didn't stop until I had her all dressed again after her shots. She was perfectly fine after, and at least she only had to have 2, and her leg didn't swell up this time.

Alec is my extremely literal child. Today, he was eating mini cookie rings (fudge stripes), and had about 6 all stacked up. He said, "mom, is this a cookie hamburger?". I told him it kind of looked like it. Then he said," Do you know why they're all up side up? " "Why?" I asked. "Because I put them that way," he said. He really is the funniest little guy. He completely marches to his own drummer....and sometimes he's way, way off the beat of all the other kids. It never seems to bother him much, except today, on the way to school, we were talking about his preschool friends, and I told him he just made new friends in Kindergarten, and he said something about not having any friends, that the kids were mean to him and tried to trick him. Talk about a knife in a mother's heart!!!! But after school, he told me he played with 2 of the kids, by name, so I hope everthing is alright. His perception of events is so much different than mine, that I may be taking all this the wrong way.

All these emotional events today...plus I'm hormonal. Needless to say, I ended up going out and buying ice cream (Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough), a cream puff, and an eclair. My scale won't thank me tomorrow, but my emotions are soothed.

I've been watching the new American Gladiator on NBC. It takes me back to my pre-teen years in such a wonderful way. Cole and I laughed our butts off last night, and thoroughly enjoyed tonight's episode as well. Ah, Nostalgia.

A Quick Note

It's been a crazy weekend, and I'll post more about it tomorrow. We had a date night on Saturday, we went to dinner at a new place in Layton, called Kasbah Grill. It's Indian and Mediterranean food. We love Indian food, and this is the first place north of Salt Lake to serve it, so we were pretty excited to find it. After dinner, we went to see National Treasure 2. It was good, a fun movie. By the time we got home, it was too late to post. And with late church, it's been a long day.

One more thing...I finished my scrapbook layout for last week!! I'll post it tomorrow.

Good Night.

Progress and Second Thoughts....

Today was a good day. Talia took good naps, and I got a lot accomplished. Most of the family now has clean laundry...Hurray!!!! We went to Costco (I really love that place) and got stocked up on laundry soap, Downey, Clorox 2, paper plates, Similac, and chicken nuggets. Plus, I got a utility table, to set up a smaller scrapbooking station in my front room, since the room I've had my scrapbooking stuff in is also the computer room, and library (for my mountains of books that I can't bring myself to get rid of, but I don't currently have enough bookshelves to store properly). My big scrapbook table ends up getting piled up with everything I don't have a place for...my house is clean, but it collects clutter like crazy. So hopefully, having a smaller table, out in a public place, will both make it easier to do my 2 page layout per week, and make it easy to clean up when I need to. I'm off work until next Thursday, and I intend to get a lot done in the next 5 days.

Mindy sent me the lists of primary teachers for the new year, and as I began updating the classes, I started to worry. A couple of the classes we combined have a lot of kids in them, and one of the classes has 14 kids that come on a weekly basis. It makes me really nervous. But, I guess there's no time to rethink it right now...I'll just pray that we've made the right decisions.

Despite the progress made today, I still didn't get my Nativity put up. I just can't bring myself to do it yet.

Naps....

Naps are very, very important at my house. First of all, because my normally happy baby is cranky without them. Second, because when I've worked, am working, or both, I need my sleep. Third, because unfortunately, I'm one of those people who need more than the average 7 hours of sleep in order to function well.

This week, I was scheduled to work Wednesday night, Thursday night, and be on call Friday night. And, I was unable to get Talia into the daycare at the hospital any of those days. Usually when I work 2 in a row, I take her to daycare in the morning after I get Kyle off to school. Alec is old enough to let me sleep, so he plays downstairs while I sleep. Unfortunately, no daycare today. So, since we're slow, I signed up to be called off. Just in case, however, I needed my naps. Talia did not cooperate today. She only slept 45 minutes this morning instead of her usual 1 1/2 hours. I figured, ok, that means she'll take a good afternoon nap. No such luck, she woke up crying 1/2 hour into her afternoon nap, and I could tell she was still tired. It's my bad luck that she's discovered that her crib is really confining when she's trying to roll around. And to top things off, I hadn't been called off yet, so I was thinking I would have to go into work on less than 4 hours of sleep. So, I felt like a horrible mother, but I laid her back in her crib after comforting her, covered her up, gave her her pacifier, and even though she started crying again, I left her and went to my own room. I shut my door, and turned off the baby monitor. I could still hear her, and she settled down in about 3 minutes, but I still felt terrible. But I really, really needed whatever sleep I could salvage in order to work tonight. I ended up getting called off at the last possible minute. I was so relieved...I was barely functional, and incredibly cranky. My husband came home early, and I went back to bed and got a solid 2 hours. So I feel much better, and peace reigns in my house again. (My family has learned that if mom's not happy, no one is, and they all want mom to be happy).

Alec did the cutest thing today...I was driving him over to school, and he was singing in the backseat. Then I realized what he was singing....he was singing one of the songs from "Guitar Hero II", and pretending like he was playing the guitar. Now, Guitar Hero is not a game he can really play, although he tries occasionally, he just doesn't have the processing skills yet to manipulate the guitar. He does watch Kyle play, and Alec is my performer. I was trying not to laugh out loud, so that he wouldn't stop. He sang all the way to school.

I was just noticing that even though most of Christmas is all picked up, my nativity is still up on my mantel. I always have a hard time putting it away, but this year it has been especially hard. I wish I had a place to display it all year, but it's pretty big (it's the Willow Tree one). I guess I might get that far tomorrow. Or, maybe next week. Maybe.

Back to Normal...Sort of.

Well, Christmas Break was so nice this year, it was really hard to get back to a normal schedule this morning when the kids needed to go back to school. Well, almost normal anyway...Kyle had a doctor's appointment this morning, so we followed our typical morning schedule, then went to the doctor instead of school. So, of course, Talia got off her normal nap schedule...and hasn't slept well the rest of the day. And is cranky. At least that's what I'm told, I'm here at work. It's sad for me to let go of christmas...this is the first year since Kyle first went to kindergarten that I wasn't dying for him to go back after about 3 days of him torturing his brother. Both boys behaved this break, however, which made it nice for us.

Our morning went off without incident....Baked muffins for Kyle (I don't always cook breakfast, but it was their first day back). There was a little discussion about how we don't watch tv on school mornings (they always think I will forget after a break). I had managed to remember to remind them both to pack their backpacks last night, so the morning went very smooth.

Speaking of normal schedules, I tend to cling to a routine, at least in the morning. Part of this is because of work...all the babies there are on 3 hour schedules. And Talia has been on one since the day she got home from the hospital. With my job, I need her to nap at certain times so that both she and I get sleep, and so that I can get her wherever I need her to be. When Cole gets her off schedule on the weekends, it makes me crazy. I think I hold onto that a little too tight, but since Alec never would be on a schedule, and it was really hard on me, maybe it's not so bad to cling to the schedule.

Work is really, really slow tonight. I'm signing up to be called off tomorrow...partly because I don't have a babysitter, and won't get much sleep, and partly because I'm tired of working. I'm hoping to cut back to part time this year....hopefully by June. But we'll see, because there's still that "I like to spend money" issue. I'm working on that.

Happy New Year!!!

Today, I finally dragged myself out of bed at 10:15 am, after my sister called to wish me a Happy New Year. The new year, to me, has become a day of promise. I love the promise of a new year. Today, I spent 2 hours sorting all my 1000 photos that I've printed since Talia's birth. I'm not even close to scrapbooking them, so they've been in a pile waiting for me to organize them. I actually had a good time...I put in my ipod, and went to work. And since one of my goals for this year is to scrapbook a layout every week, I should start catching up eventually.

Resolutions....I don't believe in resolutions. I believe in making goals and aspirations. It's a fine distinction, but a very important one. Resolution implies doing something that we don't want to do, but know we should. Such as...I resolve to not each chocolate for this whole year. It's pretty much guaranteed that you'll fail, because it's not something you want to do. Goals and aspirations, however, have the tone that it's something you really want. I aspire to scrapbook more, I set a goal to watch what I'm eating more carefully, to lose 9 lbs, etc. 9 years ago, when my son was barely born, my mother in law Toni gave me the book "Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy" by Sarah Ban Breathnach. It is a book of essays, one for every day, about simplifying your life. I love that book, and read it every other year, one essay each day. The January 1st essay talks about setting aside time on the 1st day of the year to write down your deepest aspirations. I love to do this every year. I get some hot chocolate, prop myself up in bed, and write in a brand new journal ( I love brand new journals, I have more blank books than I can count, and I just can't stop buying more). It's a good way to start a new year.

Another tradition is Toni's New Years Day dinner. This year, I made Cheese Potatoes (Funeral Potatoes), and they turned out so, so yummy. It's been a long time since I made them, and if I had remembered that they were this easy, I would make them a lot more often, because Cole loves them. So, I will be making them more often. We all (Cole's parents, brothers, wives, and niece and nephew, along with us and our kids) stuffed ourselves, hung out, and talked. It was very nice.

Oh, and the most wonderful thing happened, to make it a truly happy day...Talia said Mama!!!! And not in the babbling way she's been saying Dadadadadada for the last week or so. She was whining a little, and I went over to pick her up, and she said Mama and lifter her arms for me to pick her up. It made me so, so happy. She's nine months today.