Random stuff

We had some sunny days this week.  So I got up on the roof and took down the remaining christmas lights. I took this picture of the kids while I was up there.

The Boys finished their first season of wrestling.  I don't think they loved it, but they stuck with it.  We'll have to see how they feel about doing it when it comes around again next year.

Their favorite parts of wrestling were the t-shirts and medals of course.

Dexter's Math Day at school.  Showing off his mad patterning skills.

Scott and I just celebrated our 14th year as a couple. Holy cow, I feel old!

 Echo's braided hair, just because its such an accomplishment at her age to have this level of braided hair.

16 Months

Malcolm-Moo turned 16 months yesterday.  That's the same age Echo was when Malcolm was born ( 16 months and 3 days to be exact).  He still seems like such a baby that it kind of makes me sad that Echo was forced to be a big girl so early.  But they are both happy kids, I guess I can't be too sad about it.

Malcolm is really cute and sweet.  He's really a happy little guy, and is friendly to both strangers and people he knows.  He's running around like crazy now, getting into things and chasing his siblings wherever they go.  He has also started saying some words.  Ball is by far his favorite word, but he also says, this, book, light, uh oh, mama, and dada.    He is truly a little ray of sunshine.Here are a few other fun facts about Malcolm.

1.  He is pretty much sleeping through the night now (thank goodness), but we struggle with naptime most days.

2. He hates taking baths.

3. He loves eating, and will eat WHATEVER I feed him.

4. He loves hugs and kisses

5.  He is often Echo's partner in crime when she is getting into cereal, or crackers, or chips etc.  At least she shares with her baby brother, right?

6.  He loves daddy most of all.

7.  He lives to turn on and off the light switch by the stairs.  Its the only one he can reach.

8.  He loves stuffed animals. He just squeezes and kisses them.  Its pretty much the sweetest thing ever.

9.  He's freaking adorable.  That's right, I consider that a fun fact.

Here are some pictures to prove the #9 fun fact.

This one proves fun fact #5

Don't worry, there was a lid on!

The Joys of Scouting.....Again

Last night Corbin got his Wolf!  He actually earned it months ago, but our ward kind of slacks in the scout department.  We are glad his leaders got on the ball and made it to the scout shop this month!

We are so proud of Corbin because he really enjoys scouts.  He has made some friends there, and looks forward to it every week, which is awesome.  Congrats to Corbin on getting his Wolf!  He is awesome.

Now here are my thoughts about Scouts.  This may be long and turn into a rant.  Bear with me.

I don't know if its been mentioned on the blog or not, but I got called to be a Webelos leader in our ward about 6 months ago.  I was less than thrilled about it.  I've never been a big fan of scouts and almost wanted to cry when I got the call, but I accepted and got to work.  And man, it is work!  There is always something to do, something to plan, and something to stress over.  Lets just say, I've been busy.

Webelos requirements are kind of confusing, but I got together with my sister-in-law, Anngee, and she really helped me figure it out (which I appreciate more than I can express in words).  My partner and I were called on the same day, and didn't have any scout experience between us, so it was quite an information overload for us.  I quickly took the reigns as main leader (not on purpose, I'm just more organized than my partner, and grasped how it works better), and have basically planned everything since.  We make a good team, though, because I am the organizer, and planner, and she is the fun one and really makes some of the lame badges (and believe me, there are plenty of lame ones) way more fun for the boys.

The only problem with this system is that I tend to get overwhelmed.  I kind of feel like I do everything. Our Scout Master is always working, never plans or comes to pack meeting, and is absolutely no help AT ALL.  Since taking this calling in July we have only had two pack meetings, and both of them were held because I insisted due to our boys graduating out and receiving their Webelos Awards and Arrows of Light.  Usually the Scout Master would preform an arrow of light ceremony, but since he is MIA, I planned and did them myself without any previous background or knowledge of the subject.  My super fun and well meaning partner pretty much leaves the details to me, and isn't really reliable in a pinch.  She's always late, and even bailed at the very last minute for pack meeting yesterday, where we were awarding 3 arrows of light and webelos awards and I had to ask another parent to help me with the ceremony.  I'm kind of frustrated with the whole thing.

But.....

I really feel like this ward needed me for Scouts.  I know it sounds crazy and even a little boastful, but NOTHING got done until I started doing it.  I heard that they hadn't had pack meeting for months until I forced them to in November, and at that time the wolves and bears had NO awards to give their boys, even though it had been months since the last one.  I don't know what they had been doing at their den meetings, but it didn't make sense to me that they had accomplished nothing.  At that pack meeting in November, their were 9 Webelos boys, and they each got at least 4 pins, and 2 boys got their Webelos Awards and 1 got the arrow of light.  After it was over I was praised for my hard work and felt really glad I had gone to all that trouble to make it exciting for our Scouts, at the same time feeling bad that the other dens were kind of left on the sidelines.

Well, we had another pack meeting last night.  The Scout Master was still MIA, but the Wolves and Bears had stepped up their game by preforming a skit, and giving out a bunch of awards (including Corbin's Wolf).  And we had quite a big turnout of parents wanting to see the three Webelos that achieved the arrow of light and webelos awards.

I kind of feel like if I hadn't taken this calling seriously because I didn't want to do it, the scouts would be in the exact situation they were in before I got called.  Achieving nothing.  I think the other den leaders were pretty embarrassed in November, and felt like they needed to work harder.  This makes me think it was an inspired calling.  I'm not trying to brag, but they needed someone who would actually put in the time, and that someone is me.

As difficult as this calling is, I am glad that I have it.  I really like those boys and I'm pretty sure they really like my partner and I (one of their mom's pulled us aside to thank us for making scouts fun again because her son hated it before).  I'm learning a lot, and feeling better about it now.

They'll probably release me now that I'm okay with it.

Someday...

Someday.....

I will be able to shower without someone crying at the door, or at the curtain, or clinging to my legs.

I will be able to plan outings with kids without considering nap times, or snack times, or tantrum times.

I will be able to pee without people watching.

My house will stay clean for longer than 5 minutes.

I will be able to grocery shop by myself before 10pm.

I won't hear someone asking for food or drinks every 10 minutes.

The kids will be able to find their shoes without needing help.

My car won't have ground up crackers in the carpet or smell like old fries.

I won't have to buy fruit snacks in bulk.

I will be able to sit through church, doctors appointments, or a even a television show and actually hear what is being said.

I won't have to watch Disney Junior.

I will nap without the consequence being an entire box of cereal spilled on the kitchen floor, or a crayon-scribbled wall.

Life will be slightly more relaxing and I'm kind of looking forward to it.

The Joys of Weaning

I hate weaning.  It's so hard.  I remember weaning Dexter from breastfeeding to a sippy cup. Not fun at all.  I remember weaning Echo from breastfeeding to a bottle (because she wasn't getting enough calories from my milk and losing weight due to my being pregnant).  She refused a bottle for TEN DAYS!  It was rough to say the least!

Despite those hard times, they were eventually weaned.  Hooray for success!

I have two more success stories for you.

First Echo's pacifier.  

 This actually happened at the end of Summer, but I kept forgetting to blog about it, so here it is several months late.  I have never had to wean a kid from pacifiers before.  Corbin and Dexter refused them.  Ivy became disinterested around six months (I think it had to do with her oral aversion), and Malcolm took them for a while, but never really got addicted, and started spitting them out around 9 months.  Echo is my one and only child to become hopelessly addicted.  She had paci's stashed all over the house.  She wouldn't nap or go to bed without one.  She needed one anytime she was sad, or in need of comfort.  But she was already two and I feared how hard it would be to take them away if I let her keep them much longer.  So, I started slow by taking them away anytime she wasn't sleeping.  There was one problem.  Every time I turned around she'd have one.  She kept finding them in her secret hiding places.  So I'd just collect them in a plastic baggie and hide them in a drawer.

Eventually they stopped turning up and I cut her off from having them at naps and bedtime too.  It wasn't that hard.  Since she didn't have it during the day, she didn't really notice when she laid down for nap or bedtime that she didn't have one.  Sometimes she'd notice and cry and beg, and I'd give in, but after just a few days, she stopped asking and completely forgot about them.  It was so much easier than I anticipated!  She has now been cured of her paci addiction for several months!

Next up is weaning Malcolm from his bottle.  

I did nurse Malcolm, but at about 7 months, he started preferring his bottle (I think because of the freedom it provided, he's a mover).  My milk went way down to nothing so he switched to the bottle full time by 8 months.  He has loved that bottle.  I tried to take it away when he turned a year, but he would have none of that.  He'd flip out and totally refuse all sippy cups, and I'd give in and give him the bottle for fear of dehydration.  He had won.

Fast forward to this week.  Malcolm is 15 months old.  I have been feeling like a bad mom at church when we'd see the other (younger) babies with their sippy cups and Malcolm still had that bottle.  The pediatrician recommended at his year appointment that I wean and here it is, time for his 15 month appointment and I still hadn't done it.  So I cracked down.  I ran out of the disposable liners for his nurser-style bottles (The only ones he'll use) on Friday night and refused to buy more.  It was time.  He didn't have a bottle all day on Saturday, and anytime he wanted one we'd give him a sippy cup.  He wasn't happy and would not drink from them.  That night he went to bed ANGRY.  And he stayed ANGRY!  He cried ALL NIGHT LONG!!  At 3am after listening to his crying non-stop for over an hour, I got up and took him to the rocking chair.  He dozed on and off but mostly squirmed and whined. I tried to feed him (thinking maybe he was just hungry), but he refused to eat.  I offered the sippy cup, but he'd throw it in an act of defiance.  By 6:15am with only 45 minutes left until I had to get up for church and with almost no sleep, I had had enough.  I put him in his room, closed the door, closed my own door so I couldn't hear him as well, and went to sleep.  Well, he must have slept because the next thing I knew the kids came in my room asking why we didn't get up for church.  It was 9:50am!  I had slept through the alarm, and Malcolm was asleep too!

Well, we missed church, but Malcolm had grumpily made it a whole day.  Sunday was a little better, he still didn't drink much from the sippy, but no longer threw it in anger.  He also loved drinking water out of a regular cup.  Sunday night he cried only once the whole night.  It felt like a huge victory.  And now today, he's already done drinking one sippy cup.  Its too soon to call him weaned, but we are well on our way!

Christmas 2014

December is a crazy month right?  It got crazy for us, but not just because of Christmas, parties, school programs and shopping, but also because of sickness, injuries, and Scott leaving town.

Here is Dexter at his school program.  He didn't do much singing, but did the actions like a pro!

The first grade

After Dex's program Malcolm, Echo, and Ivy saw Santa hanging out in the hallway.  Ivy was excited, the other two were indifferent or completely terrified, you figure out which was which.

Corbin's program was later that same day.  Corbin kind of sang and did the actions. (What can I say, they don't like singing...)

The third grade

The day of the kids' christmas programs we had a pretty good snow storm.  Here are our lights in the fresh snow.  Looks so pretty. There are actually some inflatables under all that snow, we forgot about them for two days while they were hidden!!

Corbin and Dexter learned to shovel snow!

We got a piano for Christmas this year!  Best Christmas EVER!

The girls plus cousin, Shaliese decorating gingerbread men.

Ivy

Echo

Shaliese

Aren't they lovely?

This is how Scott spent ALL of Christmas Eve and most of Christmas Day.  He was SUPER sick!

Christmas jammies!

We hope you all had a great Christmas!  We did (except for daddy getting sick and subsequently infecting most of the children with that sickness..)!

Our Family's First Stitches Incident

The children in our family have never had to have stitches (besides surgery related stitches). I think that's a pretty impressive feat for 9 years and 5 kids.  Although Dexter probably should have had them in his tongue back in 2008, he didn't so the streak continued.Well, our streak is over.  Last Friday Echo got stitches. Scott was out of town for a couple of days for work and I was home with the kids by myself.  It had been pretty much uneventful until I walked away from Echo and Malcolm to go the bathroom.  They were standing by the Christmas tree while Echo pointed at the lights and named their colors.  I wasn't gone thirty seconds when I heard the screaming.  I skipped using the restroom and ran to the tree.  Malcolm was holding a broken Christmas bulb (I hadn't even heard it break) and Echo was rubbing her disfigured finger on her shirt.  There was blood EVERYWHERE! 

It was quite a terrifying scene.  I took the broken glass away from Malcolm and took him out of the room to prevent him from being injured as well, then took a screaming girl to the sink to assess the damage and stop the bleeding. It was bad.  Corbin swept up the glass for me while I started calling people because I thought she'd need stitches. I couldn't get hold of anyone nearby, so I eventually got a hold of my sister, Max, in West Jordan.  She came right over with her husband and daughter and went with me to the instacare, while they watched my other kids.  The instacare had just closed, so we went back to my house and I sent them home since they had an early flight the next morning.  I thought, maybe I'll take Echo back in the morning, so I put her and Ivy in the bathtub.  In the bathtub Echo's finger started bleeding again. I decided to call the pediatrician's office just to see if they were open on Saturdays.  It was nearly 7 pm so I was expecting to get a recording telling the hours, but someone actually answered.  They were open until 8, and said that stitches needed to be done within 7 hours of the injury, so by morning it would be too late.  So I got the kids out of the bath, threw everyone in the car, called Marde, who was home now, and dropped all the kids but Echo off with her with only about 5 minutes notice.  I was so grateful she was home.  

At the pediatricians office, the on-call doc wasn't very optimistic about Echo holding still for stitches and recommended that we go to the hospital and have her sedated. I asked him to try anyway and if it didn't work then we'd go to the hospital.  When he left the room to finish up with another patient I said a quick prayer that she would hold still because I didn't want to go to the hospital too.  Well, that prayer worked, because Echo held perfectly still the whole time (after the numbing stuff started to work).  She was a champ and I was so glad that it was taken care of, not to mention that I was finally able to use the bathroom!  Of course this had to happen at a time when Scott, who basically never leaves the house, was actually out of town.  It was stressful!

Anyway, Echo got six stitches in her right middle finger, and besides being quite miserable for two days after, she is doing great.  Here are some awesome pictures.