The Last Day

Well, I don't know whether to weep or jump for joy. Today is the last day of school. On one hand, I won't miss mornings of making lunches and following Tristan and Jolie around, announcing the time every three minutes and threatening them about what will happen if they miss the bus, aren't ready for their ride or leave the house without making their bed. I have a feeling I'll start enjoying the hours of 4-8 pm a little more. No rush to get dinner on the table by five or six so that we can do something else or be somewhere else at six thirty or seven. No more long division! No more telling Gavin to be quiet so others can read or conjugate sentences (yes, they do that in third grade now).

On the other hand, I'm going to have full respoinsibility for entertaining FOUR, yes, FOUR kids... 24/7! That's where the weeping comes in. Starting Monday, I will officially be resuming my role as Summer Entertainment Committee Chairwoman (sigh).

Oh, and yes... you're seeing correctly. I gave Tristan a MOHAWK last night before he went to bed. This was my first hair cut (don't look too closely). He's been begging me to let him have a mohawk for the last day of school (to which I replied, "Absolutely not!). I reconsidered after seeing his Spectrum classmate, Liam, at Decade Day on Wednesday. Tristan idolizes him (mostly because of the mohawk, I'm afraid). I decided the kid didn't look that bad so I pulled an about-face. My kids thought I was the coolest mom in the world. That was a first.

We're planning to buzz it off tomorrow.

Tonsillectomy, Part Deux

Ok, I probably spoke too soon when I reported that Gavin was doing well. He's been up in the night SCREAMING the last three nights. I spent much of last night on the floor of the nursery singing primary songs in order to soothe him. We put him in there with our big humidifier because someone suggested it might help.

The strange thing is, Tristan's tonsillectomy (at age 3) was EXACTLY the same. He did remarkably well for the first few days and then started screaming in the night about 4 or 5 days in. Everyone in my family remembers this because we spent part of that time at our family cabin. Tristan was NOT a favorite nephew on THAT trip.

When I was dealing with Tristan's post-surgery trauma I was told they develop scabs in their throat which get really dry and painful.

I knew things were too good to be true. Gavin is also way too hyper and active during the day to take a nap, so I get to deal with the side effects of a sleep deprived kid as well. Happy day!

Tonsillectomy

On Friday Gavin joined the Sans-Tonsil-and-Adnoid Club (and let me tell you, it's quite a club)!

Gavin has been having major sleep problems for a while. Have you ever witnessed a night terror? I've witnessed many. Gavin has also been getting up during the night, sometimes several times. Combine that with the wakefulness of pregnancy and a newborn, plus my sciatic nerve pain and Dan's early work hours and you have two very sleep deprived parents and one very sleep deprived three year old. I didn't attribute Gavin's sleep problems to his tonsils and adnoids until one morning when he was sleeping next to me. I could hear his labored breathing and realized that he was waking himself up, or at least out of a deep sleep, because of his breathing. Our doctor put an oxygen monitor on him during the night and confirmed that he had obstructive sleep apnea.

So the surgery went well. The worst was when he was waking up. The anesthesia made him really sick and he was also very disoriented. He was also pretty upset about the "glove" on his hand (IV). I was extremely grateful that they put IVs into children AFTER they're asleep. I held him in the recovery room for a couple hours and told him stories to distract him. Our doctor said that Gavin's tonsils were large and his adnoids were even larger. He thinks the adnoids might have been most of his problem.

Since we've been home Gavin has done well. Friday evening I stayed home with Mia and Gavin while Dan and Tristan went to the fathers and sons overnighter and Jolie went to a party with a friend. I had to keep telling Gavin to stop climbing and running around. He also wanted to eat things that weren't on our list of soft foods.

Today and yesterday have been the same, although Gavin's throat will start hurting once in a while and he'll ask for some medicine. He was up during the night complaining about his throat but the pain medication seemed to help. Tristan and Jolie seem to think that Gavin is being treated like "royalty". I guess I need to make jello and pudding more often as they're under the mistaken impression that these are fine delicacies.

I'm an Alien

I have a confession to make... I am officially the only person on the planet who doesn't watch American Idol.

This morning I took Mia in for her 4 month well child visit (yes, I know... I'm a month late) and our pediatrician broke the ice by asking me if I was happy with the results of last night's voting. I had NO IDEA what he was talking about. First, I assumed he was talking about the presidential primary and I was a little embarrased that I hadn't checked in on CNN to find out whether Clinton or Obama won Kentucky and Oregon. Then he said something about David vs. David. I was really lost. It didn't even occur to me that he was talking about Idol, because I didn't know until later that both finalists were Davids.

I think Jill was a little shocked this afternoon when American Idol came up in conversation and I asked her who had won. I'm a Utahn, after all. Truthfully, I left the house at 8:30 this morning and haven't had the TV or radio on all day.

Gavin is having his tonsillectomy in the morning so my ignorance of current events will definitely continue for a while. This raises an important point: is a TV show about wannabe superstars really a current event?

Have you had your laugh today?

Did you know that to live a healthy life, you should have at least one deep belly laugh every day? If you haven't had yours today, watch this. Dan and I saw it on SNL a couple weeks ago and I was laughing hysterically.

Two Words of Advice

First, if you're thinking of taking your kids to see the new Narnia movie, Prince Caspian, make sure they can sit still for 3 hours (the film is exactly 2 hours and 40 minutes from beginning to end) AND make sure they're not prone to fear of intense fight scenes, White Witches, "bad guys" and the like. My mom and I took the kids yesterday as I needed an activity while Dan was digging up the yard for our new sprinkler system. I read the Narnia series to the kids a year or so ago and we loved the first film so logic follows that the release of Prince Caspian was something we'd be all over, right?

Let's just say that Gavin, Mia and I spent the last half of the movie wandering the halls of the Cinemark and wasting my money on arcade games. It was a replay of the last Pirates movie, except this time I had a toddler AND an infant and substitute my mom for Dan in the theater with the other kids and my phone, my purse, my keys, and everything else a person might need when they're stranded. Another occasion when I had a lapse in judgement and tried to take all the kids to a movie.

Advice number two: If your kid tells you he has hives, take him seriously! Tristan came down with some itchy bumps on Thursday after he'd been outdoors all day at his Spectrum Olypics. They were at the base of his legs, around his shoes. I looked at them and figured they were nothing serious. I think we put some lotion on them. Friday he complained about them again. I bought some Cortizone cream when I went out that day and we put it on after school. By yesterday morning he was complaining about them big time and they'd spread all the way up his calves and theighs, all over his hands and arms and even some on his face. We've decided that it's poison oak or poison sumac because he'd gone on a hike with a friend on Wednesday and that's about how long it would have taken for him to have a reaction. He's been scratching terribly which is why the bumps have spread. I feel badly because it wouldn't be nearly this bad if I'd taken him seriously from the start.

So there! Take my advice and learn from my mistakes. Actually, there were many other mistake I made this week but these are the two that come to mind at the moment. What did you learn this week?

More Birthday Fun

Happy Birthday to my big SEVEN year old!

I woke up this morning with party hang over. But silly me, it was Jolie's birthday! She requested eggs and toast on the birthday plate. I nearly told her that she'd already got all the birthday attention I was prepared to give her(and it was only 8 a.m.). Fortunately Dan didn't have a hang over so he obliged.

Did I ever tell you my story of May 17th of last year? I don't think I did because at the time I was lying on the floor moaning.

I was sooo sick. It was the kind of sick that you NEVER forget. From the end of April until the middle of July I pretty much wanted to crawl under a rock and die. Sitting here with Mia now, there's no question that it was all worth it.

But still! It was bad.

I spent last May 17th alternating between lying on the bathroom floor (vomitting) and lying on my bed (trying not to vomit). I remember Jolie coming in to ask what we were going to do for her birthday. Honestly, I didn't have anything planned for her birthday as she had kindergarten in a few hours and we were having a HUGE luau the following day, complete with elaborate invitations, tiki torches, dinner and hula dancing (see what I mean about me and parties?)

I guess Jolie didn't get the memo about THAT being her birthday celebration. I told her that maybe we could do something special before school but I needed some time to try to feel better. A while later I received a hand-delivered note that was addressed "here". Inside she reminded me that it was her BIRTHDAY and asked what was my PROBLEM in not showering her with ATTENTION??? I kept the note. I'm thinking that horrid, horrid, morning sickness is probably genetic so someday it will be a nice conversation piece between her and I.

Truly, there's nothing wrong with a girl who loves to be showered with love and attention on her special day, right?

Happy Birthday, Jolie!

My Ears are Ringing

Ay yai yai... my ears are ringing with the sound of screaming girls. We had a birthday party for Jolie this evening and it was pretty loud and dramatic. I'm starting to understand what my friends have been telling me for years. The drama has commenced and is in full bloom.

We had 14 girls at our party. I had planned on more like 7 or 8 but during the course of making invitations, Jolie informed me that she'd already verbally invited five girls from her class. So, not wanting to exclude anyone (including my own children)... there were 17 kids in my house tonight!

It went amazingly well. My friend Donna offered to help, plus my mom and aunt Lisa. We divided the kids into three groups and we did manicures/pedicures, made shrinky dink necklaces, and played "Don't Eat Pete".

Yesterday and today while I was stressing out over getting everything ready for the party, I repeatedly asked myself why I always make things as difficult as possible on myself??? Handmade invitations, 13 guests, grilling lemon chicken and cutting up fruit and vegetables, making an ice cream cake... somehow I find it impossible to take the easy road. All afternoon I went back and forth about whether I should farm the boys out to my dad or Dan and have them take them somewhere. I knew it would be easier that way. On the other hand, it was our celebration of Jolie's birthday so I wanted to include them. Ofcourse I took the high road.

Once I decided to invite the boys I decided to put Tristan in charge of our game, to make him my "helper". He did well with the first group of girls but when we rotated the girls I found him in the family room having his toenails painted bright red. So much for being a helper. I guess he felt more comfortable pretending he was a 7 year old girl. Gavin did three rotations in the living room playing the candy game over and over again. At least everyone had fun.

So, how was your mother's day?

Today a friend and I were catching up on the past week's events. The subject of mother's day came up.

"So how was your mother's day?"

We both agreed on a few things. Number one, there's a certain heirarchy of mothers. The older the mother, the more honored and revered. The larger the corsage. The more she gets to sit back and bask in the warmth and affection of the day.

The events of MY day assure me that I have a long way to climb in that hierarchy. When the extended family had gone and I finally sat down last night, my feet and back were more sore than they've been in weeks. Earlier in the day, I only made it through 15 minutes of church before finding myself in exile (a.k.a. "mother's room") with a hungry baby and a three year old who was near melt-down. I WAS able to hear some of the mother's day commentary over the speaker so that was nice. I tried not to breathe too deeply as the stench of the diaper pail was a little distracting. I was also playing a game of I-Spy with Gavin and nursing Mia, so I have to admit that the speakers didn't have my FULL attention. I walked home from church early to put Mia down for a nap (she'd had it) so if there were kind words uttered about mothers in the third hour I missed them.

Here's the thing. I'll be frank. There were a lot of kind words said about mothers yesterday. We love our mothers. We honor them for all they've done. Our lives would be nothing without them. We like to recite poems about moms whose kids mix the sugar with the flour and sneak bugs into the house. It's all very sweet. But I have some suggestions for people who REALLY want to make the difference in the life of a mother:

1) First and foremost, cut us some slack! If our children are less than model citizens, if we don't manage to find time in the day to exercise or we haven't yet lost our baby weight, if we serve our family processed food, if we show up late for a doctor's appointment... try (just try) to understand! If nothing else, be kind.

2) Offer to take our fussy baby for a walk in the hall so that WE can sit and listen to the lesson (or eat our food while it's hot.)

3) Offer to babysit so that we can leave the house or take a nap or a shower!

4) When we defy all the circumstances that try to prevent us from doing something EXTRA, something kind or thoughtful, something creative, something extraordinary... say thank you! Show us that you understand what it took to accomplish this.

5) How about telling us that we're doing a good job, that our children won't be forever damaged because we yelled at them this morning or neglected to adequately teach them their spelling words this week?

Don't get me wrong, I don't HATE mother's day (my friend's mom confessed that she does.) I wouldn't go that far. I just wish there were more walking the walk and less talking the talk.

Happy Mom's Day

In honor of Mom's Day I'm posting a couple love notes that Jolie brought to me this week. One is addressed to a "special loving pretty mom." There's no better boost to one's self esteem than to discover that, in your child's eyes, you're "ocstrdanere", "ecksiding", "cool" and "intaresting".

Happy Mother's Day to all!

Is Jolie a Meanie?

Jolie started spring soccer several weeks ago and this morning I finally got it together to take some photos. Jolie played with the same team last fall. When the snow started melting and the pink dragons came back to practice this spring, it became apparent that Jolie had caught the competitive spirit. I don't know what happened during the dark cold winter but Jolie is now a competitor! She goes after the ball and she's even made a few goals. Last year and even last fall Jolie was, shall we say, less aggressive. I made the suggestion once that she go after the ball and get it away from the opposing team. I'll never foret her reply, "Mommy!" "That's kind of mean!" That's when I realized that competitive sports may not be her thing.

Now I'm wondering... maybe the competitive spirit can be acquired.

Does This Look Like the Face of a Trouble Maker?

We got an unusual phone call today. It was from Jolie's teacher. It wasn't about helping with the class field trip or my offer to donate juice for "Dads and Donuts". It was about a problem. I was shocked. So was she.

It seems that Jolie was caught in a situation in the girls bathroom where she and two other girls were goofing around with a large quantity of toilet paper. Mrs. J. had gone looking for them as they'd been away from class for too long. She discovered the girls... and the toilet paper. It was one of the other girls who'd been the mastermind but Jolie was guilty by association.

Mrs. J was as shocked as I was. Jolie has a reputation of being an ANGEL. I guess we can blame it on peer pressure.

Frontrunner

This week Dan's parents have been visiting from Virgina. Yesterday we all took an exciting trip on our new commuter rail train, Frontrunner. We rode it to Salt Lake and then made our way to Temple Square to see the gorgeous spring flowers. We had dinner at the Garden restaurant which offers a beautiful view of the city, and then we made our way back home. It was a fun excursion even though there were four million people riding the train with us. I enjoyed seeing the completion of the commuter rail project as it was in the early planning stage when I worked for UTA seven years ago. It was also exciting for Gavin as we've been watching the practice runs for months and talking about the day when we'd finally get to ride.

Mia at Four Months

Mia is so happy! She spends her days smiling and playing. She's also starting to use her hands. If I put her teething beads into her little fists she can raise them to her mouth and chew for a few minutes. She also loves to kick when she's excited. I'm usually greeted first thing in the morning by a smiling, kicking baby.

I should say that I'm greeted IF Tristan doesn't go in and get her out of bed first. Mia has definitely assimilated well into our family. Tristan likes to see her before he leaves for school so he takes any grunt or peep he hears on the baby monitor as an invitation to get her up. It's very sweet but sometimes creates stress for me as Dan has long since left for work and I'm always very busy getting the kids ready for school, making lunches, finishing homework, trying to appease Gavin "I want oatmeal!" "I hate Wonder Pets!" "I'm DOOONE!" (from the bathroom)... and ofcourse Mia wants to eat the minute she's awake. If only I had ten hands.

We're still not completely sure about Mia's eye color. It's still a mix of blue and brown (somehow I have a feeling they're going to end up being brown.) Ofcourse she looks like Dan but more and more people are telling me that she looks like Jolie. I really see her resemblance to Jolie in her eyes and nose. Mia was featured as the first grade show-and-tell a few weeks ago. Jolie was thrilled to finally be able to show Mia off around school. I arrived with Mia a few minutes early while Jolie was in the lunch room. I was immediately swarmed by little girls (I think a few boys, too.) She was the envy of the class during show-and-tell.

I think Mia is fascinated by Gavin more than anyone else. Last week I was sitting at the computer in our office while Dan was holding Mia. Gavin jumped up and tapped Mia on the arm and she laughed! We weren't certain that she'd truly laughed so we asked Gavin to do it again. Sure enough, Gavin was responsible for Mia's first laughs. (Makes sense... it must be pretty hilarious to watch a miniture person jump and run around all day long, not to mention hit people with swords, hulk gloves and light sabers and climb all over everything).

**It makes me a little sad to write this today because Gavin has been very sick. He's been running a very high fever (over 104) since Monday and is not at all himself. I'm sad to see my usual active, happy little buddy so sad and lethargic. I hope he's back to is usual self very soon**

More Brotherly Love

A couple mornings ago Gavin came into my room very early. This actually happens quite commonly, but that's a whole other subject. He climbed into bed with me, laid quietly for a while (as if in deep thought) and then asked, "Mommy, when I get big, can my name be Tristan?"

What a sweet moment. I've filed it away in my subconsciousness so that I can recall it each time one of my children is poking, teasing, fighting, tattle-telling, bickering, or hitting one of my other children.

It was a very sweet moment; and yes, I think of it about a hundred times a day.

I've been tagged

by my friend, Melinda. I'm supposed to tell you 7 interesting things about myself and then tag some of my friends.

1) I'm double-jointed. I can bend my thumb backwards and nearly touch my forearm. I can also hyper-extend my elbows and knees.

2) I was an exchange student in France during college. I spent one summer in the Loire Valley and the next with my French sister, Sophie, in Grenoble (French Alps). I also minored in French.

3) I was once hypnotized on stage. This was also during college... wow, those were the days.

4) I have several dozen eggs in my freezer. I was able to get them for .19 a dozen because I had coupons that coincided with a sale (long story). When I brought home 12 dozen eggs Dan looked at me like I was looney. When I announced that I planned to freeze them (yes, in the shells) his expression went from puzzled to panicked.

5) I rarely have time for TV but I do love my TiVo. I have the entire Masterpiece Theater Jane Austen series recorded right now but I've somehow been unable to watch any of it. It seems that when I do have a bit of time to watch TV, I'm too brain-dead to watch Jane Austen. I usually end up watching Good Things Utah or Larry King or something else that requires zero brain power.

6) As a child I dreamed of becoming a flight attendant. This seemed like the most glamorous job in the world. Looking back, much of the allure seems to have been connected to the uniform. Remember the day when a flight attendant wore a navy suit, a white blouse, high heels, and most importantly, the elegant silk scarf? Somehow it just doesn't seem right for the woman serving my drink to be wearing a golf shirt and khaki shorts.

7) Finally, I've made it to the age of 30-something without learning to drive a stick shift. I tried a couple times but those attempts just ended in frustration (and a long line of cars behind me at a stop light).

So there you have it, seven interesting facts about yours truly.

Now... I'm tagging Jill and Robin.

Look What Mia Found

Mia has been trying to get her fist since the day she was born. I'm pretty sure she sucked on it in-utero but since she came out she hasn't been coordinated enough to keep her hand to her mouth. Well, yesterday she suceeded and look what she found!

Mia is our first thumb-sucker. Tristan and Jolie both loved their passy but I think the thumb is going to be great! No searching for it in the dark after it falls out in the middle of the night... no picking it up off the dirty floor. It doesn't calm her all the time but it's certainly nice to have a baby who can try to soothe herself.

Don't you also love the way she shoves it in her mouth all the way to where her thumb joins her hand?

Ramblings of an Unkempt New Mom

One of the difficulties of having a new baby is that you constantly look haggard, sleep deprived, pudgy and shlumpy. At least I do.

Today was a small triumph as I was able to shower AND wash and blow dry my hair. Mia took a long nap this morning and Gavin somehow found it within his busy little self to sit and watch TWO episodes of Diego. Tales of animal rescue must have been quite enticing as Gavin rarely watches anything on TV.

I was looking and smelling pretty fine, if I may say so myself.

Unfortunately, my pleasant look and odor only lasted a few hours as Mia vomitted curdled milk down the front of my blouse and ALL over my hair.

She was smiling when she did it. I wont hold it against her. I hope you wont either, if you happeed to cross paths with me today.

I hope Diego's doing something exciting tomorrow morning...

The Love of a Brother

Tonight while I was in the kitchen making dinner I happened to glance over at Mia who was having a content little swing. It seems that Gavin decided to share his light sabers with her. These are Gavin's most coveted possessions right now (not to mention the root of most of the trouble he finds himself in on a daily basis). He had them extended all the way so that the ends were resting on the floor. He was talking to Mia in a high-pitched voice, calling her "sweetheart" and saying something about her "guns".

Awwww... how sweet. Nothing says "brotherly love" more than the sharing of deadly weapons.

Oh, and Mia's reaction? She seemed quite honored. In fact, she was working pretty hard at getting her mouth on them. She was looking at Gavin with wide-eyed wonder. I think she understood the significance of the gesture given that she's watched him carry these things around and threaten people with them for the past few weeks.

Ok, ok... I'm not too proud to admit that he's even hit a few people with them, including my visiting teacher, but that's a whole other post...

Crockpot Lasagne

It's rare for me to post a recipe but I need to share this one. Did you know you can make lasagne in your crock pot? I was skeptical but it turned out great! More importantly, it was easy. No boiling noodles or waiting for your oven to preheat while your kids are foraging around in the pantry, telling you they're hungry. I should have taken a photo when I made this last night but I had some of those hungry children to attend to.

CROCKPOT LASAGNA

8 uncooked lasagna noodles
1 pound ground beef
1 tsp. (or more) Italian seasoning
28-ounce jar spaghetti sauce
1/3 cup water
4-oz. can sliced mushrooms, optional
15 oz. low-fat ricotta cheese (can also use cottage cheese)
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Brown ground beef, drain. Stir in Italian seasoning. Break noodles into thirds. Place half in bottom of greased crockpot. Spread half of ground beef mixture over noodles in crockpot.

On top of beef, layer 1/2 of sauce, 1/2 of water, 1/2 of mushrooms (opt.), 1/2 of ricotta, and 1/2 of mozerella cheese. Repeat all layers.

Cover. Cook for 5 hours on low.