Monday, November 30, 2009

Many Thanks


Many thanks need to go out to my in-laws for putting together a great Thanksgiving dinner for us. With the whole family being near by, we get a pretty big group together for our meal, and it's not easy to find a place for all of us to gather. It seems that the general population around here has figured out how nice it is to hold Thanksgiving dinner at a church, and so the local churches were all booked up and we were unable to find a location for our dinner this year. Luckily there is a building near by Morris and Carol that has a big Relief Society room with its own little kitchenette. (Are you kidding me? If went to church there, I'd store ham and Swiss sandwiches in the fridge and sneak them out during the lesson!) I wasn't sure we'd be too comfortable in a little room, but it turned out great. Plenty of space, a much more cozy atmosphere than the gym. That' s partly because my mother-in-law brought lovely Christmas music and nice table decorations and everything. There was a spare room for the kids to go nuts in (a definite requirement when you have 11 kids ages 0 - 15). And of course everyone brought really scrumptious food. My favorite? Kathleen's yams, in which she accidentally doubled the butter. Can't go wrong there! Anyway, it was a total success. Thanks!







Sam and Kathleen's baby girl turned two on Thanksgiving, so we decided we could have a birthday pie for her. She is such a dolly, so cute.

Go Away, Axel

I believe it was back in April that I cheerfully blogged about Stomper's new addiction to the song "Axel F." Oh, I thought it was so funny that he loved this song so much after seeing the President play it for the aliens in "Monsters vs. Aliens." Yeah, well, it's not funny any more. He has learned how to open itunes, find the song, and put it on infinite repeat. Ahhhhhhhhh! I checked on itunes the other day, clicked on "most played." The 2nd most played song is "Let My Love Open the Door" by the Who at 88 times. Guess I like that song... Anyway, the top most played song is of course Axel F at a whopping 385 times. I guess that was money well spent, considering it cost us one buck to buy it. But I had to quietly come put my arm around Stomper's shoulders this evening and calmly whisper, "I can't listen to Axel F any more today."

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Nothin' Like a Girls' Night

Oh how I love going out to the movies with the gals. One gal, two gals, a gaggle 'o gals, any number will do. Even if I have to prop up my eyelids a bit the next day, I just love it. Becky, were you TRYING to make a silly face (like you'd ever do something like that...) or did we just catch you at a bad moment? Sorry, I'm posting the picture anyway! Cheers to girls' night!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Loved This.

Happy Thanksgiving


Sunday, November 22, 2009

Twilight Thoughts

I think it has now been three years since I was out to dinner with The Misty (we were at Bombay House....mmmmmmm.......) and she and I were chatting up books we were both reading. She told me about a romantic tale by the name of Twilight...never heard of it. She insisted that I had to read it so I ordered it and its sequel New Moon and got to reading. I will confess that I read both books within about four days while my household crumbled steadily around me. I didn't think the books were especially well written, and actually the style was a quite heavy handed. (Yes yes, we know he's gorgeous, but enough about your breath stopping at the sight of him.) But something about those characters and story pulled me to a place of memory and emotion that just exploded. It sure was fun. And it was my own little private escape.

I must say, I'm very happy for Stephenie Meyer, who's daydream has blasted her off into major stardom, wealth and hopefully additional creativity. (Read The Host if you haven't; it's much more grown up and well written.) However, since the entire planet now knows all about Twilight and all it's goofy lovey-doveyness, my own private little escape has been slightly overrun. At least overpopulated. And exposed my silliness to all. Some people feel the same way, some people don't, but everybody knows! Kind of sad.

I did get the chance to go see an early showing of New Moon the other night with The Becky, and I'm not going to deny that it was a treat. Bundle was a perfect little lady and slept right through it, bless her. She must have sensed just how much mommy needed a night out, even if she was tagging along. It was super fun. Much closer in vision to my ideas than the first. One comment to the movie makers: If you're going to fill a movie with someone like Jacob who is so large and brown and lovely, you can't throw a pasty white skinny boy like Edward at us. It just doesn't compare. No offense, Book Edward. Movie Edward needs a wax and a trip to the gym. Okay, I confess. No matter how silly, I will always love it and will continue making a mental trip to the land of Forks when needed.

The Return of Bundle


My Baby Has Returned!!!! Oh MAN. The past few weeks have been a little rough. Ever since we transferred her into a crib, my perfect little sleeper has been a waning miracle, down to the point where something was really truly wrong. Lots of screaming. Little did I know that the crib was the key. I mean, I wasn't surprised that she had some transition time between sleeping in her car seat and sleeping in her crib, but it was the actual lying flat that flushed out our trouble that I think has been here all along. Too bad I didn't figure that out a month ago. I have been going nuts doing all sorts of things to figure out the problem. She used to sleep 8 - 10 hours at night and by this weekend it was down to 3 hours at a time max, usually with interruptions in between. So I was trying to drink a TON of water every morning wondering if because I was drinking most of my daily water at night so was she. She's been miserable during her meals, crying and pulling away and not eating much. I have tried eliminating all sorts of foods from my diet wondering about upset stomach. I've had a yeast infection and been treating her for yeast too. I actually think that all of these things have helped her a little and are not crazy, but still poor Bundle has not been herself. I was trying to not just think that she had decided she was not a great baby after all, but it sure felt that way! Finally I called the on-call doc yesterday to ask a couple of questions about the yeast medicine she's been on. Well, he said he had a different idea and proceeded to describe her exact behavior. It's reflux. She's not spitting up at all, which is usually a big key to reflux, but I guess there's something called "silent reflux," in which there is little or no spit up. He recommended an over the counter medicine to give her every time I feed her, and if that works, we'll give her a once daily med. Well guess what. I gave it to her yesterday, and her first meal after that was the first peaceful one she's had in a few weeks. And guess what. I gave it to her last night and she slept soundly in her bed from 7:30 last night to 5:00 this morning. I woke up so surprised and excited that I actually couldn't go back to sleep. Ironic, right? I was so excited to get some sleep that I couldn't sleep. And right now she's zonked out for the longest nap she's had in I don't know how long. And it all started with her lying down flat in her bed.

Sorry to be obsessing here, but seriously, when all I do is be a mommy all day and something is wrong with my child, there is little else I can think about. Usually I find there is not one clear answer for most behavior, this time, it seems that we've found it. Ahhhhhhhhhh.

Good bye, spooky burps, Hello sleep. And hello again to me going out to late movies, one of my favorite things. YAY!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Someone's Got a New Trick...



Just so you know, she's going to stay "Bundle" for a while. I got a split vote on "Cookie" and "Posey," plus a few requests to just leave her name alone. So, I think I'll keep her as Bundle until she's one and then we'll go from there. In case you care.

So Bundle pulled a fast one on me. She decided to sit up. She's of course not perfect at it - no way am I leaving her on the kitchen floor like this, but she's a lot more steady than I thought. It was Bitty who wouldn't sit up much at all until she was eight months old and then decided What the Hey! and was not only sitting but crawling and pulling herself to standing all within two weeks of each other. That is so Bitty for you. Bundle seems to be a little more on the slow and steady track, praise be.

I'm wondering how many pictures I really need of Bundle sitting. Today I think I took about 20. When I went back through to edit them I couldn't delete any! Pathetic, I am. Who knew.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Headline: Fall Photo Shoot a Success!

I am so excited! There is this weedy little area in front of our house (okay, there are several of them...) but this one gets really pretty every fall. Yesterday the sky was cloudy in just such a way to make all the fall colors really pop. I decided to try for a little photo shoot of the kids. I knew that the second I said "pictures" they would throw fits, so I just asked them if they'd help my wish come true. (Manipulation can work wonders, I've found.) Thus, pictures were successfully taken with only brief shedding of tears on Bitty's part after she accidentally let Bundle roll off her lap. Ooops. Bundle was fine, Bitty cried for a while. After a few hugs from Daddy we got snapping and I'm pretty thrilled with the results. I might actually get pictures printed and hang them on my wall, believe it or not!








And I have to throw in one of sad Bitty because it kind of melts my heart:

Sing To Me, Jackie!

The last words I heard before I made a run for the door just now were, "Mom, what is that horrible smell?" It happened to be dinner that my kid smelled and couldn't handle. And he had a point. I totally messed it up, came very close to sitting on the floor and crying, and decided instead to head for the nearest Little Caesar's. Luckily I have a husband who not only shooed me out the door all by myself but placed Jack Johnson's Curious George soundtrack into my hand on the way. Smart Man. I turned up Jack and let him sooth my wrinkled brow all the way there. I'm wondering if the cashiers at Little Caesar's are getting familiar with the sight of a half crazed mother, hair askew, baby snot on her shoulder, shoes untied, careening in there and demanding pizzas at any cost.

Monday, November 09, 2009

Best. Husband. Ever.

Bundle is not sleeping well. Bitty has started waking up again. (Melissa, I have to admit that after reading your blog I really have nothing to complain about, but still.) So Bitty, who seems to need a lot less sleep than other kids, comes wandering in our room the other morning at 5:00 just as I start feeding Bundle. Troy shoos her back to bed with the promise of a kiss from me after I feed the baby. He leaves to go to spin class. (Yes, he's awesome.) I feel sure that Bitty has gone back to sleep until she comes back in and tells me that it's taking me a really long time to come give her a kiss. So she climbs in bed with me and lies there chatting quietly with herself until 6:30 when Bundle wakes up. Gonna be a great day. What's up with this 5 a.m. thing I'd like to know?

In an effort to Look On The Bright Side, I did take some very cute pictures of the kids in bed together...


...but the day kind of went down hill from there. Sensing that I might be in distress (a weeping mommy is surely a sign of something gone wrong, I'd say) Troy, in an act of selfless heroism, (and a dash of self preservation) took Bitty with him on an errand to Layton, during which ride Bitty gave herself a nap. They took just long enough that he had to drop her off at school and I didn't see her until after I had a two hour nap with Bundle. Good work, Troy. Today's crisis averted.

I think it was later that same day that Bitty uttered a pretty cute prayer. It went something like this: "Bless that everything will be yummy, even spicy and mint."

Sunday, November 08, 2009

Hang in There, Thanksgiving!


I'm just going to state here and now that I am now celebrating Thanksgiving. Just because Halloween is over does NOT make it Christmas time yet. I know the stores and television commercials would like to make you think so, but I am here to say Oh No You Don't! This week as I packed away the hanging jack-o-lanterns and dangling spider decorations I very resolutely placed my fall leaves on the front door and dried corn on the piano. And now I'm going to just sit around and Be Thankful. Happy month of Thanks, everyone. I'll pull out the Christmas tunes later.


Friday, November 06, 2009

Just Can't Stop It

As hard as I try, I just can't convince Bundle that she should stop growing up. Okay, there have been more rough nights than usual lately which makes the growing up not all bad, but mostly all I can do is kiss and smooch and squeeze and nuzzle her as much as I can. Of course, when the big kids do this I yell at them to "Get off your sister!" but when they aren't looking I do it myself. So, Bundle is now five months old. I am thinking that perhaps "Bundle" is no longer an appropriate name for her since she is starting to hate being bundled up the way she used to. My ideas for a blog name for her are Cookie ('cause I wanna munch her), Posey or Boo. What do you think?

To celebrate the triumphant completion of her fifth month I decided to feed her some cereal. She is definitely not going as long as she used to without a meal at night and I'm wondering if it's because she's just hungry and growing. Here's what she thought about that:








Sunday, November 01, 2009

Epilogue

Remember how I was talking about my mom and her little Halloween problem? Well, I guess my dad's in on it now. Behold:



What did I tell you? I invited my folks to our Trunk-or-Treat so they could see the kids' costumes and they kind of upstaged everyone else there. They were so funny. They were a troll and her troll-trainer. And guess where they were going next. Out dancing. I hope my mom didn't twist her ankle dancing in those troll feet!

Well, Halloween treated us right this year. We had quite a mellow day. You may remember that the kids got me up at 5 in the morning (curses!) so I took them for a drive around 2:30 and they all zonked out for 1/2 an hour. I don't know that we would have made it otherwise. After that we donned costumes and went to visit Troy's parents. That's a really fun tradition. Every year our first stop is to see Grandma and Grandpa, collect our first candy of the evening and then trick or treat up and down their circle. It's really great.


At the last minute Bitty put a Bundle toy on her head and decided she was a princess kitty.

After that we had to scurry off to our Trunk-or-Treat to set up our car. I'm so glad we did a car this year. There was a UofU football game last night and so there were pitifully few cars there. Luckily I brought tons of candy and I think it was okay.


After that Bitty was pretty much fried so we took her home, along with Peter and Sheri who came to enjoy the Trunks with us. Stomper went out for some serious candy collecting with friends and didn't come home for two more hours. Meanwhile, Peter, Sheri, the girls and I ate pizza, simultaneously cleaned up and made more messes, and plopped the big girls in the tub.



Now there's only two things left to do. Clean up and eat candy.