Living a CRAPPY nightmare

I'm sorry if the title offends you. Believe me, it took all of my self control to describe this nightmare as "crappy" rather than its less attractive synonym.

SUNDAY NIGHT:
 Our basement bathroom flooded.  Water and, you guessed it, crap came out of the shower drain.  This isn't the first time.  It happened within weeks of moving in.  A rooter dude came out, did his job and it worked again, with occasional slow draining problems persisting, but was okay.  After it flooded this time Scott got down on his hands and knees with my dad's toilet snake, which we just happened to still have, and tried to get the clog dislodged.  It didn't work, so we marked the bathroom off limits, but soon realized it would flood if we used our kitchen sink, the dishwasher, the clothes washer, and the master bathroom's toilet, sink or shower.  So we could only use water from the hallway bathroom, and only use that toilet as well.  Not the worst case scenario, but close.

MONDAY:
 I woke up with a horrible case of food poisoning.  I couldn't get off the couch except to use the bathroom, which, lets be honest, wasn't helping our already horrible plumbing situation.  I was unable to preform my normal motherly duties that day, so the kids pretty much ran wild while I felt like I wanted to die.  Scott called our home warranty people about sending another rooter dude.  They gave us a lot of run around and nobody would be able to come until after 6 pm. Sometime around 5 Scott discovered that one of the kids had turned on the bathroom sink, and left it on, so the whole bathroom had flooded once again.  He was really mad (as anyone would be), and I felt responsible since I wasn't watching the kids very well. Scott cleaned up the entire mess by himself. Marde picked up the kids to keep them out of the way when the rooter guy finally showed up. Well, the rooter guy wasn't here 5 minutes before he left and said the home warranty company denied  coverage because of the way our pipes are.  We were very frustrated.  Scott went to Home Depot and rented one of their rooter machines and rooted it himself.  It sort of worked, for a very short time.

TUESDAY:
A plumber came over to stick a camera down the pipes (Yeah, our house had a colonoscopy!), and see what the problem was and try to fix it.  They rooted it (I don't know if that is the right term), power washed it,  found a lot of dirt in the line indicating a break somewhere and called another company to come over and locate exactly where the break is. Turns out there is a broken pipe under our walkway which would cost $3100 to fix, but that isn't even why the plumbing isn't working, which no one can really pinpoint.  Anyway, when they left our house they said, "Well, you can start using the stuff again, it works now."  So I did dishes after dinner.  The bathroom flooded a little, but Scott thought it was just because he hadn't put the toilet back in yet.

Wednesday.

I took a shower.  The bathroom flooded again. Scott had to leave to take a test for school, but when he got back I cleaned the whole bathroom on my hands and knees, scrubbing grout, steaming the tile and shower and spraying multitudes of disinfectant (all while I gagged), then Scott put the toilet back on.  He flushed it.  Instead of water going down, it went up.  I am thanking my lucky stars it didn't overflow after all our hard work, but obviously, the plumbing still isn't working.  We are frustrated.

We can't:
Do the dishes,
Do any laundry,
Let water go down the drain from the kitchen sink or master bathroom sink,
Use the master toilet or shower,
Use the basement bathroom at all, in fact we locked the door to it so no one can even get in.

I'm one more flood away from digging a hole in the yard and making everybody poop in there, and spraying everyone with the hose in the yard instead of baths or showers.  We are already using as few dishes as possible.  We are in paper plate mode until further notice.

If I could give anyone buying a house advice it would be this.  Don't be fooled by an old remodeled home.  Just because it looks nice, doesn't mean it doesn't have 50 year plumbing with ridiculous amounts of problems. I kind of want to burn it down right now.

Valentine's Day is CHD Awareness Day

We try to make Valentines Day special just because its also Congenital Heart Defect Awareness day.  We want all the kids to know that Ivy is a survivor, and that we are blessed to have her here.  But this year we didn't have to make any special plans for it because Ivy raises awareness everyday.

"Did you even know I have a special heart?"

That is something that Ivy asks people.  Seriously. She has asked both Scott and I that question before as well as anyone she has regular contact with.  We're like, "Uh, yeah, we definitely know."

I guess it's good that she likes to tell people.  She's not ashamed, she's proud.  She knows she's special.  Since moving to Utah, it's not something we announced to our ward.  We just started going to church and never said anything, but next thing I knew, they knew and started asking me questions.  Ivy told them.

We planned on doing something special, but honestly, we forgot.  That's right.  It's been 5 years since Ivy came into this world and rocked it.  It's been 1 1/2 years since her last surgery.  It's been a few months since her last Echo-cardiogram.  Ivy's special heart isn't something we think about everyday anymore.  We just try to live life and be normal.  It's not that we forget how blessed we are, or that we forget that her heart is special.  We just don't have to think about it every day because she is so normal.    We are trying not to take this normal part of her life for granted, because we remember how hard it was for the first year, but its hard because we just have normal stuff going on.  We aren't overwhelmed by doctors appointments, physical therapy, feeding tubes, oxygen, or oral aversions.  We are overwhelmed by having so many kids, making them eat vegetables, getting to school on time, keeping fighting to a minimum, and keeping the house clean.  The same things everybody else gets overwhelmed by.

I consider this a victory.  It feels fantastic to be normal. 

 So instead of celebrating Ivy's victory over her special heart, we did what everyone else does on February 14th, celebrated Valentines day (we remembered CHD awareness day a few days before, but by the time it came around, it slipped our minds).  We made homemade Valentine's for the kids classmates, and for the first time made Valentine Boxes (their school in Boise didn't do Valentine boxes).  It ended up being a whole lot of work, but everything turned out so cute and fun, and the kids loved it all.

The boys' "Have a SUPER Valentine's Day!" Valentines.

And Ivy's "I'm buggy over you!" valentines.

Ivy's Hello Kitty Box

Corbin's Finn box, and Dexter's B-MO box.

I also put hearts on all of the kids bedroom doors that said nice things about them, and gave them each a little bit of chocolate.  And Scott and I were able to go out for the first time in years while Grandma Marde babysat the kids.  It was a nice day!  It really is nice to be normal.

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!