Monday, March 12, 2007

Ben's Big Day

Friday was Ben's 1st birthday. We started off with a bang at the doctor's office. He officially weighs 20 lbs on the nose and is 30 inches. He can now ride in his new car seat. He also received his next round of immunizations and was a trooper. After getting stuck he crawled over to the nurse and gave her a big hug! It was really cute and the nurse almost cried. We invited the neighborhood over for cupcakes that evening. About 20 people showed up to eat the 50 cupcakes we made. The boys had fun helping to make them and Charley did a great job entertaining the boys while Mom frosted them. We went to McDonald's for dinner and Ben clapped jabbered and was so excited to be turned around in the car. It was funny watching him get so excited to see things we take for granted on the normal car ride. Lately he loves to crawl to the edge of the stairs and throw things down watching them bounce all the way. The other kids love to throw balls up to him and have him throw them back down. I can always count on a good 10 minutes of work time if I suggest this activity however after 10 minutes the game gets a little brutal and we have to find a new one.

Sam's latest achievement is to put away his clothes and get dressed all by himself. We have labeled his drawers for him so he knows what's in each drawer. He sometimes gets lazy and gets things out of Joseph's drawers though. It depends on whose helping as to whether he gets away with it or not. I came home from grocery shopping on Saturday to find Sam wearing Joseph's clothes and Joseph wearing Sam's clothes and when I mentioned it, Ronny shrugged and said that's what they brought me. Sam has also started a new way of getting out of trouble. He seems to be hitting a lot lately and when called on it he runs and with the most pathetic face and sugary sweet voice says, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry". He's figuring the system out, however he still gets put in time out.

Charley is doing much better lately. She is playing with the boys and not complaining so much. Happy day for this! Of course now that I say something she will have a bad day today.

Ben has just found me so my time here is done.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Disappointed Charley

Last night Nana called and said she had missed her flight to come this weekend. Unfortunately she isn't able to come for another couple weeks. We have been counting down the days until Nana comes so you can imagine the kids were a little disappointed. The boys puckered out their lips and complained but then we told them she would come in a few more days so they were satisfied with that. Charley on the other hand took this to the extreme. I think she was tired to make matters worse. She cried for a good hour wailing and screaming and all, you would have thought someone had died the way she was going on, oh the drama. When we finally calmed her down and got her into bed she slept very soundly. We know Nana feels really bad about this but this is a good lesson for the kids to learn, life just happens and we need to be flexible sometimes.

We are now trying to come up with some ideas to do with the kids for Ben's birthday. The kids just want to go to McDonald's (not my first choice!). We are watching the weather and might be able to make a trip to the zoo or the coast or maybe we will just go find a new park to play at if the weather is nice.

The kids will be out of school the last week in March so we will get to spend a few extra hours with Nana when she is here. We will have to do something fun then. Ronny will also be off school then too, however that really doesn't mean anything anymore. We may get him to take a day off though.

Tomorrow is Ben's 1st birthday. Fun! He is so much fun to have and is such a good baby, most of the time, he wouldn't nap for anything yesterday. We decided to make a cupcake tower instead of an actual cake. We will make the cupcakes together as a family tonight. The kids are all very excited.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Busy February

Ok, so here is my very first post. I would add pictures to this however we can not seem to find our cable to download pictures from our camera to the computer. Another day I guess. So this has been an extremely crazy month, more so than usual which is saying something for us.

We started off the month with Ben and Denise taking an unplanned trip to California to conduct a moving sale and pack up what boxes we could from the house I grew up in. It took three different flights and airports to get us there as the airline canceled our flight and changed our arrival destination twice but we finally arrived in LAX. It was a bitter sweet experience as it was a monumental task that needed to be done and the house we had been praying would sell finally sold, however at the same time it was sad knowing that it was the end of the family ties I knew growing up. My parents are hopefully towards the end of their divorce and then we can all move on as a family separated, yet still very closely knit together. It was probably the last time I will return there and that is sad to know. I am happy I was able to go and do what small things I was able to accomplish and have that last sleep in the house I grew up in. At the same time I had the very distinct impression that that house was not home to me anymore.

Ben and I arrived home that Sunday morning to find Ronny passing a kidney stone and Joseph running a high fever. We called two neighbors to come and give Ronny and Joseph a blessing. Once we were able to get the kids to bed that night I stayed up to put Charley's Brownie patches on her vest as she and I were scheduled to man the cookie booth at the store the next day. Monday morning came and Ronny was still having pain but was able to take advil and tylenol to alleviate most of it. Joseph however was still running his fever so I called the doctor and was able to get him in later that morning. I made Ronny come with us so in case he fell over in pain we were only down the street from the hospital. I didn't think Joseph was too bad, I thought he just had a cold and he would be fine in a day or two. I was wrong. The doctor looked at us and asked how long Joseph had been sick. Only a couple of days we told him he shook his head and told us Joseph had pneumonia. I was stunned. We were told to bring him back on Wednesday if he was still running a fever for a chest film. Ahhh! We filled his prescription and took Ronny to work on the way home. After getting home Joseph took a turn for the worse. He was moaning and delirious. I was ready to take him back but said a little prayer and hoped the antibiotics would kick in soon. He slept the rest of the day. We called his school and informed him he would be out for at least a week. I also called Charley's Brownie leader and told her we couldn't make it. This was too much in one day.

Tuesday came and Ben and Sam were sick. Ben was running a fever. I called and got him in to see the doctor as soon as they could. He has extremely small ear canals so I am not able to see in his ears at home with our otoscope. Ben had a double ear infection. I filled his prescription and went home hoping we would not have to go back the next day.

Happily we made it through all that within about a week and a half. Joseph bounced back and was able to make it to Tyler's birthday party and returned to school after a week off. I was ready to send him back. The next week was filled with errands trying to make up for all the time we spent at home. During these nights Ronny would put the kids down and then work on his pinewood derby car. The Elder's Quorum decided to have their own derby. Although Ronny didn't win he did have the "smoothest" car and won a prize for that. We took the family to watch the race. Between the races the boys would race their matchbox cars down the track. They loved it! Some of these cars we really cool. You could tell these guys spent a lot of time on them. It turned out the Elder's Quorum Pres. car won overall but the two guys that took 2nd and 3rd place were new converts which was really nice.

During all this we were selling and delivering Charley's girl scout cookies. She ended up selling 100 boxes, the most in her troup. We are happy to have the last boxes delivered and all the money turned in. I have also started to wean Ben. He is doing well with this and hopefully we will have an easy transition. He is looking forward to turning around in the car and being able to see were we are going as opposed to the back of the seat. We also finally sold our van. Hooray! It only took 11 months and 3 weeks to do it but its finally gone, ironically to a neighbor so we will still see it everyday.

We are looking forward to a calmer March and a visit from Nana. Ben will also celebrate his first birthday.

Friday, March 02, 2007

Things I love

My sister Liz tagged me. Apparently I'm now obligated to share 5 things I love.

1. I love my family. I love Denise. I love Charley. I love Joseph. I love Sam. I love Ben.

2. I love fresh air. I used to think I loved warm weather. After living in Utah, where the weather may be warm, but occasionally the air is horrific, and living in Oregon, where the weather is oft-times dreary, but the air quality is superb, I realize that I just want fresh air. I can take care of the rest with the right equipment, but I can't fix the air.

3. I love to run. I don't necessarily mean to go running here. I love long and deliberate strides. I love the rush of power. I love the idea that I'm getting somewhere faster than I would if I walked.

4. I love sleep. I miss it, but I'll love it just the same when I see it again.

5. I love discovery. That moment when you realize that you've found something entirely new to you is amazing. It may be self-discovery, when I learn something new about myself. It can be academic or spiritual. I love learning new things and probing and testing and hypothesizing and experimenting.


... you can now mark me as "tag fulfilled" Liz.