Mothers All Over America Are Celebrating

I've been feeling a little guilty the last two weeks because I've been so ready for the kids to go back to school. We've had a lot of fun this summer and it's flown by, but there comes a point when everyone needs a change.

The guilt came because one day, about two weeks ago, I acknowledged that I was ready. I talked to a couple other moms on the phone that day who gave me the, "oh, I'm so sad summer is almost over" schpeel... "I will miss my kids so much..." This cooincidentally was the same day that I had seven kids at my house, I'd spent the entire day waiting on them hand and foot, giving in to their every need and demand, and my toilet had overflowed. I'd just been on my hands and knees wiping poop off the bathroom floor and Mia was making a b-line toward me.

I finally had to pick up the phone and call someone whom I knew would not give me the "I'm so sad" song and dance. I knew the person to call. I knew she'd tell me I wasn't a bad person for wanting summer vacation to end.

So enough about that... school started yesterday. We're all thrilled!

Some highlights:

1. For Jolie, it's all about the clothes. We went school shopping a couple weeks ago and she picked out some cute outfits. She's had them draped over objects in her room with her favorite one slated for the first day. She ended up wearing MY favorite thanks to my mom who had a heart to heart with Jolie about how important first day of school photos are to certain moms. (who,ME?)

2. For Tristan it was all about the friends and his freakishly large backpack. He missed Back to School Night because of football practice so I had to fill him in on the details of his new class. He wanted to know which kids had dropped out of Spectrum and why, who was sitting at his table, and had all sorts of technical questions about his backpack. When he puts it on it looks like he's going backpacking in the Unitahs.

3. Gavin asked if we could go see his preschool when we were in route to one of the kids' schools. It seems that he's caught the back to school spirit (he doesn't start for a couple weeks).

4. I feel my mental well-being slowing returning. Gavin, Mia and I took a nice, leisurly trip to the grocery store yesterday and I have to say, there was no happier person wandering the aisles of Smiths Food & Drug than I.


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The Cabin

We spent last weekend at the cabin in Island Park, ID. Jolie and Gavin got a head start with Grandpa and Grandma on Friday. Dan, Tristan, Mia and I drove up after Tristan's football game Saturday night (arrived at 11:30 pm).

We took our mountain bikes and bike trailer and were able to do some biking while we were there. Tristan was as much of a speed demon as he was last year. Jolie made her biking debut this time around. Last year she was very upset that we made her ride in the trailer with Gavin after our first ride. She just wasn't strong enough to keep up with us. She's come a long way in the last year. We were on rocky, bumpy trails and she did fabulously! She got a little tired on our long ride to the brige but eventually made it there.

We also took a long (car)ride through the northern area of the park (Yellowstone) and saw some things we hadn't seen before. Some very majestic waterfalls, paint pots, gysers and a herd of elk. We told Grandpa that we'd pay him 100 bucks if he'd find us a bear but no cigar there (we did that in Orlando years ago and he found us an alligator!)

The weather was GORGEOUS! The kids spent hours playing on the dock; they collected minnows, water skeeters and played with the boats that Grandma brought for them to paint and float on the river. We roasted marshmallows and made s'mores at the fire pit. The kids watched the beginning 20 minutes of five movies. There was just too much going on for them to sit still.

Lessons Learned from the Game of Football

I'm just between loads of laundry and fulfilling snack/meal/drink requests from the kids and their neighborhood friends. I thought I'd post some photos from Saturday's big football game.

I'm still learning a lot about the game of football. For example, did you know that you're not allowed to sit... ever... in football? Even though there's a bench? I'm still trying to figure out why there's a bench on the sidelines, but apparently it's just to hold the first aid kit and water bottles. (This is very puzzling to someone who comes from a long line of basketball players. Your point guard doesn't yell at you if you have a little rest on the bench once in a while- hey, you deserve it!)

Also, did you know that there's a lot of yelling involved in football? Did you know that football players and especially coaches are the loudest humans on the planet? And they don't only yell when they're "lit UP" (angry) or trying to intimidate, either. They yell when they're happy, excited and even bored.

There's also the tell-tale sign of approval and encouragement: the hit on the helmet. This one's kinda endearing, though.

Yes... important things to know.

Oh, and I recommed to other football-moms-to be that you have your kid try on his game pants when they are issued to him in case they are 3 sizes too small. I wouldn't recommend waiting until the morning of his first game when the football office is closed. Then you would be faced with him either wearing his unsightly practice pants (wrong color and covered in mud) or squeezing your kids butt into the three-sizes-too-small game pants. Bad idea.

He still looks pretty cute though, doesn't he?

A Little Twist

This is for all the moms who find themselves in a rut of ponies and piggies... this do is called the corkscrew braid. I found some inspiration here the other night when I was mindlessly surfing.

This summer has been a rut of hairdos for Jolie. It's been a braid or ponytail almost every day. (Either that or the unkepmt-uncombed-hair-hanging-in-the-face do which is coincidentally also the favorite of all of the Grandmas.)

While I'm on the subject of Jolie's hair I should tell you about HOW SHE CUT IT a couple weeks ago. I gave her the opportunity to stay home by herself for the first time EVER. I had to run Tristan to football camp one morning and I gave her the choice of coming with Mia and Gavin and I or staying home (for about 20 minutes). She said she'd stay home and apparently made a B-line for the scissors the minute I shut the door. I didn't notice until several hours later when I was doing her hair. I discovered some pieces that were cut almost to her scalp. Turns out she decided to give herself BANGS while I was gone. Nice.

Gavin's 4th

This week we celebrated Gavin's fourth birthday with seven of of his friends at a dinosaur party. We've been planning our party for weeks. We made dinosaur bones out of plaster of Paris and buried them in sand. We also made paper mache dinosaur eggs and filled them with toys and treats. The boys each got to take one home and crack it open. Grandma made dinosaur cupcakes.

The party was a lot of fun. I had all the boys convinced that a mommy dinosaur had laid her eggs in our back yard. Most importantly, Gavin was over the moon about his bithday. Wednesday morning I awoke to him standing next to my bed, whispering, "Mommy, today's my birthday!" I loved watching his excitement all day long.

Are You a Football Freak?

Yes, it's true. I've been promoted from soccer mom to FOOTBALL mom. Who'da thunk? I can't think of anyone blood related to either Dan or myself who's ever played football, and honestly, I don't even understand the game.

I guess I better get a copy of Football for Dummies because it looks as if it's taken over my life. Did you know that football is a five to six day a week commitment?

Tristan attended a football camp this week as well as what equates to tryouts. Last night was his first practice with his team. His coach spent the first 10 minutes of practice going over some information with parents. One of his talking points was about the fact that each team had been given only two "X Men" (boys over 90 lbs) so there would be four smaller, lighter boys who would have to play the line. Like I said, I'm no football expert but I understand the disadvantage of a smaller boy taking hits from a bruiser. By the tone of his voice I also understood that he knew some parents wouldn't be happy with the situation.

While these words were literally leaving the guy's mouth, I looked on the field and saw my son raise his hand and step forward, apparently volunteering to be one of those smaller, lighter boys. That's when I remembered that Tristan had left football camp the first day and announced that he wanted to tackle people.

I have a feeling that you'll be hearing a lot about football between now and October. Let's hope that all of my news is good news.

Mia's on the Move!

Holy moley, our baby is scooting across the floor! Last week when she officially turned seven months old she was getting up on her knees and rocking. Now she can do the army crawl from one end of the room to the other. What is happening??? I've been a little shocked at how quickly this is happening. I think I actually believed this baby was going to stay an infant forever. Wrong!

Last week I started a post about her acheivements at seven months but I never finished. So here we go...

Mia's two bottom teeth popped through about two weeks ago. This was a long time coming. She's been a fussy teether for a few months and I've been waiting and watching. She likes to stick her fingers in her mouth and chew on them. I think she likes the feel of her little chompers.

Mia went from rice cereal to pretty much everything else overnight. She loves to eat solid foods and we discovered that she can sit in the high chair (which we finally let Gavin out of just a few months ago). She will sit and play with a toy or try to pick up bits of a cracker or some peas. That's another major development: she can grab at objects (including my beautiful new sterling silver starfish earrings, now broken) and she can pick things up. It's funny to watch her. Occasionally she will raise one of her hands in front of her face and slowly open and close her fingers. It's like she's fascinated by what a fine tool she has right there at the end of her arm.

She is also very, very interested in the goings on in her world. Changing her diaper and nursing her are not nearly as easy as they once were. She's constantly trying to turn over or craning her neck to see something fascinating. Sometimes I find her doing the snowplow (butt in the air, pushing off with her feet) when it's time to go to sleep. It's as if she's learned this amazing new skill and she must practice it nonstop!

Sometimes I find myself thinking back over the last seven months and asking myself if I'd turn back time and make her a newborn again. Strangely, I don't think I would. She was precious then but I love seeing her learn all of these amazing new things. Most of all, I love the way that she lights up and kicks her chubby legs when our eyes meet. After all, that's what's really happened over the past seven months. We've become a part of each other. And I wouldn't trade that for anything...

Proof that I'm Going Crazy

I can't believe summer is half over. We've been staying busy and it seems that I'm running from one thing to the next all day long. The biggest splurge of the summer has been my hiring a babysitter to come over at 8:00 every morning so I can go walking. Dan has been working a lot of hours at his new job and so my morning walk (a la solitude) has turned out to be very beneficial to my health.

And I'm not just talking about my physical health.

I did something the other day that provides tangible proof of my fragile mental state. After a few days of grungy hair I decided I simply MUST give it some attention. I got in the shower and talked Jolie into getting in there with me as her hair needed some attention, too. (Too much Cherry Hill isn't always a good thing). I also ended up bringing Mia into the shower with me as I was running late for something and figured that would save me a few minutes of bathing her downstairs in the kitchen. Long story short, after bathing three people, I got out of the shower and started to blow dry my hair. Something just wasn't right. My hair wasn't cooperating. Despite my efforts it wasn't drying at the roots. After wasting a precious 15 minutes with the hair dryer and my round brush I decided I must not have rinsed the conditioner out of my hair.

I ended up dunking my head under the bathtub faucet and starting over. Except by then I was out of time so I ended up going out of the house looking like a hag anyway.

Oh, and something else. What's with the women at the water park who come perfectly coiffed and made up? Makeup, earrings, hairspray, the works. What's with that? It makes the rest of us feel like hags regardless of what our morning routine has been like.

In Honor of Pioneer Day

Yesterday we spent the day at This is the Place State Park. We learned a lot about the lives of the pioneers who settled the Salt Lake valley. The kids made corn husk dolls, rode in a covered wagon, and one of our favorite areas of the park was the schoolhouse. The school mistress told us all about how misbehaving pioneer children were disciplined.

But then again, if you were schooled in Texas like my sisters and I (fortunately it was only for one miserable year) you'd be familiar with public humiliation and the paddle.

The 4th

We went to a breakfast and carnival on the morning of the 4th and watched fireworks from Grandpa and Grandma's deck in the evening. My kids seemed to be the only ones who were up for the dunking booth at 9 a.m. Tristan was the first taker and it didn't take much to talk Jolie into it. He tried to force Gavin into the chair but Grandma and I rescued him.

Mia's Marriage Proposal

Gavin can't get enough of Mia. I had to get a play pen because lying her on the floor for tummy time is a dangerous proposition. There's always someone jumping over her, dancing over her (one foot on each side of Mia), hugging her, picking her up to make her "dance", etc . When Mia's on the bed, Gavin is usually stradling her while telling her a story or singing her a song.

A few days ago Gavin was holding a small drawstring bag which held a ring of Jolie's. I'll recount our conversation:

(Gavin) "Mommy, do you know what I have in this bag?"

(Me) "Yes, it's a ring. Are you going to give it to me because you love me and you want me to marry you?"

(Gavin) "No."

(Me) "You're right, I can't marry you because I'm already married to Daddy."

(long pause)

(Gavin) "Mommy, when Mia gets big, I'm going to marry her."

I truly hope that Gavin's fondness for his little sister will last and that she survives infanthood with a brother who "loves" her so much.

Where's the Beef?

Last night Mia had her first taste of solid food. She was more than ready. She's been rather fussy in the evenings and I think we've decided she's been feeling hungry and left out of the dinner routine. We were having rice a few nights ago and I put a few grains on a spoon for Mia. She was yelling and grabbing at the spoon and basically acting like a starved animal. She LOVED the rice cereal we gave her last night. She sucked down the whole bowl and was amazingly content the rest of the evening.

Introducing solids has been a welcome development for the rest of the family. For weeks the kids have been wanting to give Mia all sorts of interesting treats. It's pretty amazing how bad their judgement has been in this area. I'm glad we've trained them to ask before they act (at least when it comes to the baby). Tristan would probably have tried to feed her a rib eye by now if it had been up to him.

Yesterday they were all with me when we went grocery shopping and you'd have thought the box of rice cereal was the most exotic food on the planet. Other kids were fighting over who got to hold the lucky charms; my kids were fighting for posession of Gerber rice cereal. Go figure.

Ballerinas

Last night we attended Jolie's ballet recital. She's been taking ballet for three years and she's really quite good. A few weeks ago her teacher asked me whether she was going to take next year. I confessed that we weren't sure. Jolie has been nagging us about taking gymnastics and I've told her she can only do two activities at a time (for my own sanity). Jolie's teacher seemed devastated. She's always telling me what a great student Jolie is and how much she depends on her.

I seem to have come across another parenting dilemna: does one encourage their children to focus on one activity and develop and hone their skills so they become really accomplished at that ONE thing? Or, does one encourage said children to try their hand at a lot of things, whereby potentially never becoming good at anything? And if you opt for the former, how do you know what that ONE thing is?

I'm having the same dilemna with Tristan as he's announced that he wants to play football (yes, that's right... FOOTBALL). He started with baseball and soccer and this year he really wanted to play basketball. Now football? Yikes. Not only do Dan and I know NOTHING about football, but they practice five days a week!

Who knows... maybe gymnastics and football will be our thing.

I think I'll still encourage Jolie to stick with ballet.

A Book Recommendation

I don't know that I've ever looked so forward to book club. I will be taking my copy of A Thousand Splendid Suns and checking out of this joint in exactly 42 minutes. But who's counting? Melinda, don't be surprised when I show up on your doorstep at eight o'clock on the dot. And don't be surprised if I'm the last to leave (but I guess that wouldn't be anything new.)

So why so much anticipation you ask? First, I loved the book. Anyone who's read it will understand. More importantly, I love the thought of getting out of the house tonight. It's been nine intense days of summer vacation (again, who's counting?)

Since Monday I've been daydreaming of what tonight will be like: nobody asking for a snack, no wiping ketchup off the kitchen chairs, no breaking up quarrels, no dropping whatever I'm doing to run a kid here or there, no picking up after some aborted science experiment, no threats, no violence... just calm, intellectually-stimulating conversation and snacks laid before me.

Ahhhhhh... 33 minutes and counting.

Blackberry Cobbler

I'm so glad it's tomatoes and not blackberries that are linked to the salmonella outbreak. I've eaten more than my share of the cobbler I made last night. I highly recommend it.

Blackberry Cobbler

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons cold butter
1/2 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
5 cups fresh blackberries, rinsed and drained

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in 1/2 cup boiling water just until mixture is evenly moist.

In a separate bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in cold water. Mix in remaining 1/2 cup sugar, lemon juice, and blackberries. Transfer to a cast iron skillet, and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Drop dough into the skillet by spoonfuls. Place skillet on the foil lined baking sheet.

Bake 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until dough is golden brown.

Oh, and I recommend it a'la mode.

Mia at Five Months

I've been meaning to post about Mia's recent achievements but there always seems to be something going on with the other kids. Don't be deceived. I still spend most of my waking hours holding her, kissing her and being otherwise completely infatuated with her.

Mia rolled over a couple weeks ago. It was actually mother's day when she was lying on my bed and rolled from her back to her stomach. I think it surprised her when she found herself on her tummy, she didn't know quite what to do. Two days later she rolled herself off the bed. I hesitate to make this confession as I know it will bring much condemnation. Look, it happened. She cried but no permanent damage seems to have been done. The important lesson was learned: don't underestimate a baby who can roll. Strangely, we've had to learn this lesson four times.

Mia is still our most content baby. She loves to smile. She kicks her little legs when she's excited. She has settled into a sleeping and eating schedule. She stays up late with me (I'm holding her and typing with one hand right now). She takes a long nap in the morning if she's allowed to do so. She gets fussy in the afternoon and evening but I've decided this must be par for the course with babies. She needs someone to hold her from four or five in the afternoon until midnight. It makes me a less efficient person and sometimes requires creativity (i.e. brushing someone's teeth while holding baby) but we've learned to manage.

Mia has discovered her feet. She's trying to figure out the significance of "this little piggy went to market". She thinks it's a pretty weird rhyme. She likes to spend short periods on her stomach. She will push up and give me a big smile of triumph. Then she kicks her legs for a bit, looks around, and inevitably calls for help after about five minutes. She's getting better with her hands. She can hold a toy to her mouth for a while. We dug the baby toys out of a box in the basement yesterday and found all kinds of gems for her to play with.

I'm amazed at how well Mia does in the car. All that I remember of my other three is long periods of crying and screaming and my stress level rising. Mia seems to love rides in the car. Sometimes I forget she's back there. I often have to ask the kids whether she's awake or asleep. I'm sure it helps to have three specimens to stare at while she's riding along (what could be more entertaining than them?)

She's developing an interest in food. A few nights ago the kids were eating Creamies and she wigged out. I couldn't figure out why she was so fussy and realized she was craning her neck to see the kids eating their treats. She wanted one! Maybe someone had sneaked her a little taste last time the Creamies came out of the freezer? Who would have done such a thing? Chocolate ice cream treats aren't appropriate for babies, afterall.

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?