New looks

Zach got his cast off today. He cried and cried when it came off and it took several of us to hold him down, but the mission was accomplished. The doctor said he's about 80% healed, but he doesn't need a cast on anymore for the bone to finish healing. He also said it may take Zach a few days to walk on his leg again, but he is walking around just fine. It's nice to see him with two shoes on again.
Here's Zach checking out his cast...



I also want to show you my new haircut. It's not much different from what I had before, but it's shorter with a few layers...

Sing it...We are family

My family, the one I grew up in...consisted of my parents, my sister who is 5 years older than me, and me. I have a sister that was born a few years before me, but she died shortly after birth. My parents were, are good parents. They did, do their best to take care of me and my sister. My parents had, have their struggles in their marriage, but they have managed to stay together, which I am grateful for. I'm proud and happy to say that I grew up in a two-parent home. They were good examples in our faith and did their best to instill those beliefs in us girls. I am so happy and feel blessed that I have been raised a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. My dad did his best to teach us skills that we would use in our lives, such as cooking, gardening, and car maintenance. I regret my lack of attention and enthusiasm to learn what he had to teach, but I'm glad he's close by to get advise from when I need it. I must say that I do enjoy cooking now and I think I'm a pretty good cook...no one has died from my cooking yet :-) My mom has been a rock of faith for me and I'm glad she has become one of my best friends.
My sister and I had our fair share of fights and squabbles growing up. I can remember being the annoying little sister. I used to try to push her off her bed, but of course being the younger sister, I would always be the one getting knocked off. I always went back for more, though. When she got married at 18 and left me at home with my parents when I was 13, our relationship changed and we started to become friends. I would visit her during the summer when she lived in Texas and Louisianna . I enjoyed that time with her and being away from home, although I was always glad to be back home when the time came. I think it was around this time that I decided I wanted a big family because it could get lonely being the only child at home. Now that my sister and I both have 4 kids to raise and we live in different states, we don't get to see each other very often, but I always enjoy the time I get to spend with her when we do get to visit.
I love my family and I wouldn't trade them for anything...except for a new house and to be debt-free...just kidding!

Surrounded by love

Zoe and Emily started swimming lessons today at our town pool. I was worried that they were going to get rained out today since it has been cloudy and rainy all week, but the rain held off. They have lessons on Thursday and Friday mornings, so my mom will pick Matt up on those days to take him to work and bring him home. Thank goodness for a very generous, helpful mother!

I received a "soon to be mom" carepackage today from my very thoughtful mother-in-law. Eleanor LOVED my new "Blue's Clues" socks, which she then decided were Blue's ears.


My mom treated the kids and I out to dinner this evening. The Ground Round restaurant has a kids' night on Thursdays where kids eat for a penny a pound. It's quite a deal! The food is delicious and the kids get to take home a balloon that the "balloon man" makes for them. Eleanor had a cat, Emily had a pink swan, and Zoe had a blue swan. I say had because the balloons don't last very long the way they play with them.

At prayertime this evening...
Matt: "Eleanor, would you like to kneel down and say a prayer?"
Eleanor: "No!"
Matt: "Is that because you have lost your testimony or you're evil?"
Eleanor: "Evil"

Oh my gayness

I was listening to Dr. Laura today when a Mormon guy called in...who is gay. He wanted to start a relationship with another guy, but was hesitant because he didn't want to hurt his family, and it's not acceptable in the Mormon faith. Dr. Laura suggested that maybe he should switch to a religion that was accepting of gays, but the guy stated that he believed the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was where he belonged. I'm wondering if he can really have a testimony that the church is true and still want to go against Heavenly Father's will for a man to be with a woman. He had mentioned that his Bishop and other people, including family had counseled him that he could learn to want to be with a woman, but he seemed pretty determined to be with a man. I feel for his mom and dad, who have 10 children by the way.

Not long after listening to this call on the radio, I went into the grocery store to pick up a few things. Several guys walked in before me who looked quite gay to me...judgemental?...somethings are just obvious. They happened to be in front of me at the checkout and I looked down at one of the men's feet and his toenails were painted white. Yeah, just as I suspected. Does your hubby walk around with painted toenails???

Why am I telling you this? Because it's on my mind, and it's time to blog. Maybe I'll have something more exciting to talk about tomorrow.
I did find it funny today when Zoe, our 7 year old, asked Eleanor, our 3 year old, how to play a certain game on the computer.

Grammie!

Doesn't this look like Zach is missing his mommy?
Well, he's being held by me and crying because his grammie is leaving.
When my mom and I got home this evening from eating out, Zach went straight to grammie. I just do not exist when grammie is around!

How many?

Today is pick your own topic day, so I'm choosing the topic of pregnancy because......................... I am pregnant with #5! In Maine, people fall over in shock if you mention having more than 2 kids, so this should be lots of fun telling people. I've already had the pleasure of telling the new receptionist at my OB's office when she asked, "Now is this your second?"...me:"noooo, my 5th"...receptionsist:"Oh!"...she was too busy falling out of her chair to say anything else...oh yes, people think I have my hands full NOW, just wait! I still need to get used to saying "5, this will be my 5th baby, I have 4 kids and 1 on the way, I'm speechless too, I'd help you up, but I'm pregnant you know, Yes, I WILL be busy, Yes, my hands are full."
I think people in Maine read somewhere that if they see a mom with more than 2 children they MUST say, "you've got YOUR hands full!" I try to hide my laugh when people say this to me now when I'm in public because EVERYONE says it. A new one lately has been "Are these ALL yours?" I took Zach to the doctor last week and I had the girls with me too. When the doctor walked in she says, "My! You've got quite a crew with you. Are they all yours or did you pick up some stragglers along the way?" So, it will be interesting to hear what people have to say when they see me with (gasp) 5 children.

I felt great when I was pregnant with Zoe. Then I felt a little sick for the first trimester with Emily. I thought for sure she was going to be a boy since the pregnancy was so different. I was more sick during the first trimester with Eleanor and threw up once or twice. Then I was really sick with Zach during the first trimester, throwing up more, and now I feel sick most of the time now in my first trimester, but I haven't thrown up yet and I hope not to. So feeling sick all the time makes me want to do NOTHING, which is why my house looks the way it does, I will fall miserably behind on scrapbooking and photo organizing, and my children's eyes will pop out of their heads from watching too many movies. I have to remind myself lots of times that this shall pass, but it feels like I will feel this way FOREVER! I can't enjoy eating, which is torture within itself. I love food! But nothing sounds good and I have a hard time enjoying what I'm eating. It's very depressing. If only I could feel this way when I want to lose weight!

Anyway, Magnus is due on January 26, 2007...7 months from today. But he'll be late like his siblings, so he'll be born in February. I'm hoping we have another boy. When I was pregnant with Eleanor, I knew she was going to be a girl and then had the feeling we would have 2 boys. Zach was born so now our second boy will be born...if only it were that simple...for awhile now I have been thinking of a boy AND a girl...twins? not likely, and I really don't want to go through another pregnancy, so I'm not sure what to think about this.

My mother informed me the other day that I am doing a poor job updating my blog and it is NOT acceptable, so I will try to do better...no rest for the weary around here!
My mom is a sweetheart, so no hard feelings toward her :-)

Baby's got moves

I told the kids we were going to the Goodwill store today and they were VERY excited. They were so excited that it made me wonder at what age are they are going to realize that Goodwill is NOT a cool place to shop and demand we go to Toys R Us or the mall.
I took some short videos of Zach playing with Zoe's new keyboard. He's foot stomping, body swaying, and head bobbing to the music...


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Matt was pointing to Zach's plumber's crack.

I.need.to.get.out!

Okay, I'm starting to go crazy here with no car. So crazy that having Matt pick us up after work to go play at the church gym while he goes to help someone move sounds delightful!

It's summer!

I'm in a bit of a fog this morning. For some reason Zach, Emily, and Eleanor climbed into bed with me at different times in the early morning and they were all awake at 4:15. I tried to ignore them and sleep, but it was useless.

We have been enjoying the sun this week. My dad has been coming over in the afternoon around 3pm to watch Zach while I take the girls swimming for an hour at our town pool. Eleanor stayed with my dad on Monday since she was taking a nap, but she went swimming yesterday and she did not want to leave when it was over. She kept saying that swimming was NOT over and she wanted to stay and swim. She insisted that the whistle was going to blow again and we could get back in the pool. I picked her up to leave and was thankful she didn't resist. I'm reminded frequently of how easy going she is, usually it's at a store where I'm telling her she can't buy such and such today, but maybe some other time and she says, "okay". Her personality makes it easy to take her places.
I'm thankful that the pool is free to use and it gives us something fun to do during the summer.

Spouse Spotlight

Why my husband is great...where do I begin? He tells me he loves me everyday, he always makes me laugh, he helps out with chores around the house, he takes care of the outside chores, he likes spending time with me and makes it a priority, he knows when I need a break from the children and will encourage me to get out of the house and do something, he works hard to provide for our family, he takes his responsibility as a Priesthood holder seriously, when he's not at work or church he is at home with our family, he's fun to be around, he's smart which encourages me to learn more, he remembers the little things like opening a door for me, and he picked me to spend eternity with...I told you he was smart!

Computer hogs

Zoe, Emily, and Eleanor have been taking turns on the computer ALL.DAY.LONG! They are outside playing for the moment so I am taking advantage of this opportunity.

I don't really have much to say. The past few days I have been busy feeding my children. They eat constantly! I have also been changing Zach's poopy diapers all the time. Does a broken leg affect the digestive system?...no, I guess it's the constant stuffing food in the mouth that would cause so much poop. It's fun changing Zach as he's trying to roll over and get away from me, nearly knocking me out with his cast in the process. I fear that one of these times I'm going to be found unconcious on the floor.

Zach has been walking a little bit on his cast today. The kitchen floor is a bit of a challenge. Press play and take a look.


He prefers to crawl, well it's more like crawl, drag, crawl, drag. He manages to get where he wants to go, including on the table. He always seems to take advantage of that moment when I'm not paying attention.

Eleanor is pretty much potty trained. She still has little accidents here and there, and she doesn't stay dry when she sleeps, but she is getting the hang of knowing when she has to go pee and letting me know. Have I mentioned that I hate potty training?!

She did it!

As of 12:40pm today, Zoe is on summer vacation. She went to school every single day this school year and came home with this to prove it.

Way to go, Zoe!

Breaking News

After spending 6 hours in the Emergency Department last night, we were told that Zach has a broken leg...I suspected that when he woke up from his nap in the early afternoon yesterday and he wouldn't stand on his left leg...before I put him down for his nap I heard him cry and when I went to the kitchen to see what was wrong, he was face down on the floor, near the stool. I thought maybe he had bumped his head by the way he was crying, but I didn't feel any bumps, so I walked around with him until he went to sleep...it was naptime, he must be crying because he's tired...he was tired, but after his nap I realized he was in pain as well. After his nap he didn't cry much, he was quite happy, but when he would try to stand up or put pressure on his leg, then he would whine a little and sit down. He did very well in the waiting area at the hospital. We spent most of the time in the children's room so he could play. He was still going strong at 10pm as we waited to be seen. We finally left the waiting area around 10:30pm to go into another room to wait for the doctor. Zach finally crashed as we waited.


The doctor checked his leg and ordered an x-ray to be taken. Zach, still asleep on the bed, got wheeled into the x-ray room where he slept through his x-ray. He slept through the explanation that he has a todler's fracture and he would be getting a splint there at the hospital, and then he would need to get a cast put on the next day (which was today). It didn't take him long to wake up when the splint was being put on. He cried, and he cried after the splint was on, but after some medicine and realizing we were finally leaving the hospital at 1am, he stopped crying. He slept on the way home and slept through 'til morning. He wasn't able to stand up when he woke up, so that made him mad. I got him situated on my chair, but after a few minutes, he wanted to get down.



I put in a Blue's clues movie and he was content to sit...for about 5 minutes.

I put him on the floor and he threw up all over the floor and his shirt. My first thought was to stick him in the tub, but then I remembered I couldn't get his leg wet, so I cleaned him up as best as I could. It's hard to deal with things on 4 hours of sleep!

Emily, Eleanor, Zach, and I went to Emily's Kindergarten screening (or screeming as Emily pronounces it) in the morning. She is very excited for school...she wants to make a chain to count down the days! Then we went to get Zach's bright orange, very stylin' cast put on. It was fun trying to fill out paperwork while Zach tried to take my pen away, and Eleanor was running around trying to get Emily to play tag with her...it was time to pull out the cheerios...everyone sit down, eat, and be quiet! I'm glad I brought the cheerios, they really saved my sanity. Zach didn't like his cast being put on, so Emily and I kept distracting him with cheerios.
When we got home, it didn't take Zach long to get down on the floor, crawl around, and play.


And it took less time than I expected for him to start climbing again...as I found him in this chair.



So according to Emily who was the only witness to Zach's fall, he tumbled off our stool. I'm sure that's what happened since the stool was nearby and getting on the stool is one of his favorite things to do. The fracture he has is common, and occurs from falling from a low height, tripping, or twisting the ankle. He goes back to the doctor on July 6th. This is a great way to start our summer...I can either bring Zach to our local pool with the girls and listen to him cry because he can't play in the water or we can avoid the pool until his cast comes off. I could get someone to watch Zach while I take the girls to the pool, we just won't go as much as we originally planned to for awhile. Oh well, you do what ya gotta do.

Let's go play!

I am supposed to share a favorite childhood toy, but I can't think of a specific toy I really enjoyed playing with, but I do remember playing outside with my friends A LOT. We would jump rope, swing, play pass with a baseball, ride bikes, play tag, play hide and seek, climb trees, play hopscotch, go for a walk, go swimming, and on and on and on. I loved being outside. Now it's fun for me to see my children discover all the fun things to do outside, which is where Emily and Eleanor want to be right now, so I better go!

WHAT did you say?!

Matt and I were talking with Zoe at dinnertime one night this week and I asked her who she would like for a second grade teacher. When she said, "Mrs. Frecker"...which sounded like...well you can figure it out I'm sure...Matt and I burst out laughing. Zoe found out on Wednesday that she got the teacher she wanted for next year...which means I have the summer to practice saying her teacher's name without laughing or thinking of the movie, "Meet the Fockers"!

So, the one day a week laundry DOES work for me...unless someone throws up in their bed during the week, which Eleanor did Wednesday night. She woke up around 4am and she was sick until around 8am and then she was fine. She's back to her perky little self today.

Hey Sister Harvey, I remember you! How neat you found my blog. It was fun to hear from you!

laundry, laundry, laundry

I've enjoyed reading blogs with this topic on Wednesdays, so I want to play along today. I have finally figured out a way to get a handle on laundry. I hate thinking about laundry, I hate having loads of laundry in the baskets to be washed, I hate having piles of laundry on my chair to be folded, and I hate doing laundry every single day! So, I decided about a month ago to set a couple of days aside a week for laundry. I focused on laundry from the time I got up in the morning until it was done, usually late afternoon. It was all washed, dried, and put away. The baskets were empty and my chair no longer held clothes to be put away. This worked, but it didn't take long for me to get tired of doing laundry twice a week, so I tried skipping the Friday laundry day to see if we could last a week without doing laundry. It worked just fine, we all have enough clothes to last us through a week. So now, Monday is my laundry day. The rest of the week I focus on other chores and things that need to be done, while the laundry baskets pile up for another Monday cleaning. Works for me!

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Zoe had another field trip yesterday that I went on. We went to the nearby children's museum, and then a public playground to play. The funny moment of the day was when we were receiving instructions in the museum. The lady was telling the children to stay with their chaperones, not to wonder off. A concerned boy raised his hand and asked, "But what if the chaperone wanders away from US?!"

My Life Monday

My topic this week is a picture I have taken that represents part of who I am. I like to keep a record of my life and the lives of my family, so here is a picture of a journal I have.
I thought about gathering all of the journals and scrapbooks I have completed, but when I realized how much work and time that would take, I decided one journal would suffice. I have been keeping a journal since I was a little girl, too young to read and write. I would sit with my father and I would tell him what I wanted written in my journal and then he would write it for me. This did not happen frequently, and I didn't keep a faithful record throughout my childhood, but I cherish what I have written. I wrote more and more in a journal as I got older and I continue to write to this day. My blog here is one record I keep. I have gone through writing phases in my adulthood, writing every day for awhile, once every week other times, and the longest I have gone between entries is once a month. I enjoy going back to read what I have written. It's nice to have the record to help me remember, especially since my memory is not very good! I don't like to think of my posterity reading my journals when I am gone, but I'm sure they will appreciate having them to read.
I have also enjoyed keeping a family scrapbook each year, which mainly consists of cards and other memorabilia that I saved throughout the year. I also keep scrapbooks for each of the children...and I'm beginning to realize that I'm going to need another house just to keep the scrapbooks in!...but the work is worth it when my girls get out their books and look through them together. I think they're going to remember their childhoods better because they are frequently reminded of what they have done as they look through their books.
So to wrap this up, I am a record-keeping mama. This is a blessing when I have the finished record to enjoy, but a curse when I'm constantly thinking about what needs to be recorded!

Ugh

Today was my first time dealing with head lice and I hope I never have to deal with it again! Yesterday I discovered lice in Emily's hair, and since I had noticed Zoe scratching her head a lot and she had the same rash as Emily, I knew she had it too. Today we went through the treatment process...and what a process it was! The girls were pretty patient as I shampooed and combed through their hair with the special shampoo and comb. I just know I will be dreaming about the annoying little creatures tonight. I did not want to comb through this...
so Zoe decided it was time for a hair cut.(bless her little heart!) She freaked out a little when I first cut it, but the more she looks at it the more she likes it. I've noticed her moving her head from side to side to make her hair swish back and forth. I'm sure it feels a lot lighter than it did before. It will be much easier to take care of now!...notice the turtleneck...it was rainy and cool here today...a good day to be inside I guess.
When I wasn't in the bathroom today combing out lice, I was washing all of the bedding, well most of it, Matt did some while I went grocery shopping...fun, fun!

I want to watch, too!

This is Zach's new favorite place to be when one of the girls is on the computer. He is getting more and more interested in watching what's on the computer and tv lately.

The REAL reason for school

I asked Emily today what she is going to miss about home when she goes to school next year. Her first answer was tea parties (I assume because we had a tea party earlier), then she passionately mentioned her blankie, she mentioned it a few times, then she mentioned some of her toys. I'm assuming I will be missed, but she didn't mention me. After she was done telling me what she would miss, I told her she didn't have to go to school, she could be homeschooled. She told me she wanted to go to school and when I asked her why, she said excitedly, "real recess!"

Zach's new thing lately is to climb on the chairs and the table. He's sitting on the table as I write this, playing with the utensils. Now he's dropping the utensils on the floor. He's quite happy! I'm going to go ruin his fun.