Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Bad luck with jewelry and reassigned goals.

So to explain my bad luck we have to start with last August when I lost my wedding rings. I'd put them in the bathroom after cleaning them and then got distracted. When I went back to get them they were gone. I suspect that they were either flushed down the toilet or put into the garbage and somehow escaped me tearing the trash bins apart. Luckily, they were insured and I was able to get replacements a few weeks later. Well, about 3 weeks ago I noticed that a stone was missing from my new band! So I had to find a new store, with a jeweler IN HOUSE, and get it fixed (ouch bill). I took the opportunity to have all my daily wear rings checked and found that the stone in my engagement ring was also a little loose, but they were nice enough to tighten that for no charge. Then while sitting in Church on Sunday I though I saw one of the center stones in another ring shift out of the corner of my eye. I thought "No way, another one can't be loose!", I was wrong, it was loose enough that I could shift it with my fingernail!!! So I took that one in too and again the store was nice enough to tighten it free of charge while I waited with Q in the stroller (stocked with Fish crackers and a cup of juice, of course). And of course I figure out the loose stone nonsense while DH is out of town visiting his family. . . Isn't that always the way of things?!

As for my Birthday. As always seems to happen in our family, these thing always get a little muddled up. I happen to hold the opinion that Birthdays and other holidays are pretty anticlimactic when you have small children. They have almost no understanding that its YOUR day. They will be cute for a minute and say Happy Birthday and in the same breath ask you for more Fish crackers and cold juice, or tell you they need a pants change, or other every day needs. To celebrate on the day of, the kids and I ended up going to Trunk or Treat at Church. I took the opportunity to dress up in my favorite costume, myself, rewound about 15 yrs. To those of you who knew me then you would know that the look involved TONS of black eyeliner and mascara, the darkest shadow I could find and very dark lipstick. At the time I had purple hair, but I didn't feel like messing up the platinum due that I have now so that didn't happen. The look also involves the greatest pair of boots I've ever owned and a nearly blacked out outfit. I wore this getup to work when I worked at the hospital in Hancock and messed with my coworkers, in a nice way of course ;) But trying to wrangle L and Q by my self the whole night was not what I'd call fun. . .Q is a little to young for all the games and L is not big enough to go and do them by himself. I was relieved when it was time to hit the trunks and go home. The reason I had to do it alone was that DH came home from work not feeling good. Although he was sweet enough to bring me home some roses! We did go out to dinner with another couple that weekend and had a great time. I'm still trying to get over being this old, but overall it was a good Birthday.

Last week was a bit of a trip. You know how there always seems to be something going around the school, or nursery, or the gym, and no matter how hard you try to keep your house healthy, someone always brings that unwanted bug home. Well this time it appears that DH was that one who brought the bug home. I woke up last Monday morning at 530am to DH typing on the computer in our room. I of course asked him what on earth he was doing and was then informed that he'd been up for an hour or so while his stomach emptied itself of everything he'd had to eat the day before. So he spent Monday and a bit of Tuesday on the couch before he got an appetite back. Next to go was L. Of course we were out when he told me through tears that he didn't feel good, but he was good enough to wait till we were at home to start throwing up. We are very proud of him because he has learned to throw up in the bowl, even when no one is around. Sometimes you just have to find the bright side, strange as it may be. He recovered in about a day. Then it was my turn. Needless to say that the days are not pretty when Mommy goes down sick. Being the stubborn person that I am, I was convinced that once I stopped throwing up I would be ready to go to the store and do the other things I though needed doing. Nope. I laid on the couch for a whole day too. I guess sometimes Mommy needs a sick day too.
Thankfully, everyone has recovered and is feeling much better. Until the next round!


Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Well. . .

Well. . . We're still working on the potty training thing, but it's starting to go well. L is finally starting to figure out when he needs to go to the bathroom on his own. The break through came a few days ago when he was playing and suddenly said "I need to go poop!" and ran to the bathroom. I think I jumped up and down I was so excited. And the last couple days he has made it through the day on the same pull-up. He even decided that it was ok to use the potty at the gym this morning. So I think we've finally gotten away from being afraid of other potties outside the house. I am sooooooo excited! It seems like the end could be in site. . .provided he does not get sick again and regress a whole bunch. But if that happens then I guess we'll just deal with it. I guess we all learned to go poop sometime. To make the situation funnier, and here's the TMI warning, his poop clogged up the toilet! Which I totally fixed, thank you very much, and did a little victory dance.

As I type I'm listening to Q chatter and talk to herself. She's been doing this for the last hour and a half. I was thinking that she was going to take a nap, like she normally does, so that I can get some things done. Instead she has been a little stinker. It would be fine if she just talked the whole time but she definitely had a monster fit a while ago, and I had to go in there and calm her down. She seemed convinced that I was going to pick her up, however I'm not that nice today. Admittedly, I needed some time for myself and I was in the middle of giving myself a french manicure when she was having her silly fit. Since we have been through this nonsense before, and a back rub and some quiet talking later she was laying back down again and going to sleep. Or so I thought! Some times it's just too much for a Mommy to hope for. (At this moment I think I can hear her jumping in her crib. Here's hoping she doesn't hurt herself.)

I think we all have our little guilty pleasures that we indulge in while our kids are sleeping or otherwise occupied. One of my favorites is Rob and Big, another is Fantasy Factory. It's great to just unplug my brain for a little while, or just laugh at people doing things that are just TOTALLY INSANE! At the moment though, I am watching a rerun of Keeping up with the Kardashians/Kim's Fairytale Wedding. I normally don't pay attention to silly people with too much money who are famous just for being famous, but watching these people sometimes makes me very thankful for the life I have. As much as I like looking good and trying to look put together, I am so glad that there is no one waiting outside my house to take my picture. No one cares if I look like crap going to the gym with my kids. No one is paying major attention to whether I lost a few pounds or gained a few pounds. No one outside of my family cares much about my day to day decisions, and I like it that way. If I really screw up my hair and it turns green, there is no major image issues that I need to worry about, other than explaining it to DH. . . While I would like their money and their closets ("can we say fur collection"), I would not trade my husband or my kids or my Mom or my sister and brother or my in-laws for their lives.
In other words, I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Dear Dad

Dear Dad,

Looking at the calendar, I realize that it has been more than two decades since you left this earth to go back to our Father in Heaven on this date in 1990. At first glance this might look like a letter in sadness but I hope that you'll look at this for what it is, a celebration of what has happened since that time.

Over the course of my life I have met many people who, out of the goodness of their hearts, wanted to feel sorry for me because you were not here. At a younger age I might have played into it a little, but as I've grown older, I've realized that I don't want any one feeling sorry for me. True you have missed out on a lot of firsts. First dates, first days of school, first checking accounts, first grand baby. But in my heart I know that you were there for all of that, even though I couldn't see you. You were there with me when I got my first job, when I scratched up my first car. . .you were probably watching when I had my first kiss. Although I kind of hope you were not watching. I also know you were there in my moments of broken heart, when I was convinced that the world was "SO UNFAIR" (although I'm sure you were on Mom's side). I know you were there when I made the decisions to go through the Temple, and the decision to get married to DH there. I know you were with me in the days and months while I was on bedrest with L. You were there in the hospital when they told me I was in labor, 10 weeks early, and that you sat with me that night while I prayed it would all stop so my baby would not be born too early. I know you kept me upbeat while I was sitting on the couch trying to be still and keep Q healthy before she was born. I know you were there when both of them were born and celebrated with Mom (I'm sure she knew you were there). I know that my kids knew you before they got here and that you probably told them all about me and our family, although sometime I think I'm glad they can't remember. Like when you told me about the time I. . . Yeah, never mind.

Looking at it this way, there is no way anyone would feel sorry for me. I know where you are, and that you're here when I really need you. In some ways, you can keep better tabs on us way better than other Dads (at least that was always Mom's threat, "I can't see what you're doing all the time, but you Father can!"). There are definitely times I wish you were here, but I know that you've probably got more influence for good in every one's life where you are. For that I thank you. If nothing else, the promises of the Temple, that our family will be together forever, is what holds me up on bad days. On good days, I smile when I see the Brooks Brother sign, a joke about handle bar mustaches. . . and the sight of a bow tie will always make me think of you.
Love,
Kari

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Full Body Rasberry for today

So the title pretty much describes my day. It started way too early, was way too crappy and I can't wait to go to bed and make it all go away.

I had a meeting this morning at 8:30 (8:30 am!!!!!). Not that I have a problem with meetings in general, it's just that when both kids are coming off being sick and it's picture day so I have to make sure they look good (not to mention trying not to look over worked and under slept), it's just a little too early for me. DH did warn me that he thought it was a bad idea for me to drag the kids to the meeting, but I wasn't about to ask someone to come over and watch my cranky kids. So we all went to the meeting and it was a totally miserable experience, I truly feel bad for NOT staying home. I'd say that for about 75% of the time we were there either one kid or both were crying, fussing or trying to pick a fight of some kind. For L, even the threat of losing all the fun things in his day (treats, fruit snacks, movie in the afternoon, etc.) didn't keep him out of trouble. Then again I should have seen the writing on the wall when L slept till after 7 and Q woke up fussing about needing apple juice. On the upside though, neither kid had a fever today!!!

Last weekend was on the whole pretty good, for a weekend when just about all the plans had to be either abandoned or changed. We picked up my mom, otherwise known as Baba K, from the train station on Thursday night and had grand plans of going to the zoo or one the museums on Friday. That was until L threw up all over this clothes, and then all over my car, that afternoon. The worst of it was that when he threw up in the car, I was stopped at a stop sign trying to comfort him when the guy behind me starts honking his horn! I think it took every ounce of self control I posses not to give the guy the one finger salute and inform him of just why I was stopped at the stop sign. The comforting though I did have was of someone else throwing up all over the nice leather of his Beamer. . .One can only hope. The whole reason for Baba K's visit was to see L in the Primary Program on Sunday and it looked like that whole plan was shot, until Sunday morning. Being the strange person that my mom is, she got up at about 5:30am go for a walk, when she got home at about 6:30am, Liam was standing in his doorway wanting to play with her. And play they did! When I got up, at a more sane time, she informed me that she thought Liam was back to normal. After talking with him for about 5 min I realized that she was totally right and our plan for the Primary Program was back on! He did a great job in the Program, to spite missing the last practice. He sang along with most of the song, even doing some of the sign language, and he said his part (with some help) and I think everyone could understand it.

As Baba V told me on the phone tonight, "I hope that things are better tomorrow". Judging by the fact that I don't have any meetings tomorrow and don't have to be anywhere in the morning, we can already count things on the positive side.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Never a dull moment!

So it looks like DH has found a new project, and it looks like it will be delivered on Saturday.

If you know DH, one of the things you probably know about him is his love of almost all things mechanical; and the fact that he'll get into something, put a bunch of time into it and sometimes get bored and then move on to something else. Since I've known him he's had a total of 6 different cars (not counting the ones that were "mine" after we got married), 2 motor cycles (counting both because the Ninja was his before it was mine) and a snowmobile that was pieced together from many others. The snowmobile was kind of a novelty item that had great uses, he could ride it back and forth to campus during the winters at the end of grad school. They had snowmobile parking on campus. It's just what happens when you go to school in the middle of nowhere and it snows, a lot. But to DH's credit, with each project his mechanical skills have gotten better, he's learned from each thing and from friends (thank you Brian) how to fix more and more challenging issues. To the extent that he took apart the engine of one of his cars and rebuilt it over Conference weekend last spring, there was an all nighter involved, but the car runs great. Anyway, he's decided that he wants to get back into motorcycles, and being the person that he is, he does not want a run of the mill used bike. He's decided that he wants to build himself a custom bike from a 70's bike and turn it into a CafeRacer. And because he has a budget, he had to hunt for just the right one. . . And found it, 3 hours south of here. So that's what we all did with our evening last night, drove 3 hours down state and found the bike. In a great twist of fate there is a mistake on the title and the guy is willing to deliver the bike, instead of DH having to ride a strange motorcycle home. I hope that everything is easy to iron out, given the things age it's amazing it still has a title in the first place. Sometime you just have to smile and realize that you're doing something for no other reason than loving someone else.

It's not my habit to be overly political but right now I feel the need to just vent. Watching the debates and Obama's new plan to fix the debt crisis and peoples reaction to it has made me want to throw things at my TV. Someone please tell me how it's fair that the middle classes are paying 30% tax while those in the upper tax brackets are only paying about 17%? How is it that we went from having no deficit under Clinton and drowning in debt by the time Bush left office? Granted, some horrible things happen with Bush in office but seriously. I also want to know who has a plan to fix the education system?!!!!! Those of us who care find the most expensive places to live so that we can send our kids to good public schools, and even those with educations and jobs are being priced out. Not to mention that the cost of a college education is totally out of control due to most public schools losing so much of the funding they were getting from the Fed. I remember the first time that happened to me, it was between semester of college, tuition went up by more than 14%. Between fall and winter semesters!!! I knew people who could not come back because they did not have the money or the loans to pay for that semester. Our country now has a higher student loan debt load than credit card load. Am I the only one who sees a HUGE problem with that????!! When you have people going 60k into debt to become a teacher and then hoping to make 45k a year, there is a problem. I know a few people who basically have the equivalent of mortgage payments every month in student loans. How are we supposed to be in a good financial position as a country if we force our doctors and educators to go so far into debt to get their credentials that they'll never be able to own a home. Or at least not till the loans are paid off. And that's best case if they don't have any other loans or credit card debt.
And please, please don't get me started on the GOP. I'm so sick of them right now I just want to puke all over one of John Boehner's suits, then make him wear it.

I guess I'm just soooo sick of all the talking heads that talk and talk and talk and talk and never do anything to solve the real problems. Sorry for the rant, I just had to get that out there.

This weeks workouts:
9/20 1hr 43min, 783 cal
9/21 1hr 25min, 884 cal

Sunday, September 18, 2011

uh, the weekend . . .?

Sometimes I think that there is more to do on the weekend than during the week. Much of this has to do with being so involved in Church and therefore getting everything that others would do on both days done on Saturday. Not that this weekend was all that eventful. . .

Friday was reasonably busy. Gym, errands, lunch, school, nap for Q, clean, didn't cook dinner (yay!), bedtime. We did have some friends over for dessert and a great game of Rummycube. The friends who came over are expecting their first child at the beginning of the year. In a few ways they actually had the typical Mormon courtship experience. . . date a couple months, get engaged and get married a couple months later. For some reason it always makes me laugh to hear those stories. Maybe because it's so different from the way things happened with DH and I, but it seems sooooo crazy to marry someone that you've known less than a year and promise to be with them forever. Even growing up with this idea, it still seems a little nuts. . .But, everyone has their own plan. It was really fun to hang out and chat for most of the night. She and I have something in common, we both love shinny things! So when the guys were off talking about guy things, we were having a good time talking about all things shinny and expensive. I think a good time was had by all.

Saturday and Sunday always seem to blend together for me. More errands, playing with Q and L, trying to get them and us ready for Church on Sunday. The big highlight of the weekend would have to be sleeping in till 9 (9am!!!!) on Saturday morning. If you're a Mom you understand just how exciting this is. I did have to have a talk with L this morning about making tooooo much noise when he wants to get up and waking up Q in the process. After hearing "Mooommmyyy" about 150 times, at varying volumes, I decided it was time to go in there and have a talk about being quiet in the morning until he hears someone else awake. Hopefully he remembers this talk and I don't wake up to unnecessary noise anymore. I'm not holding my breath though.

Church was nice, I really love being in Young Womens and being part of the conversations that happen there. Although you would have to pay me many, many millions of dollars to go back and do it over again. I think being around the girls makes me feel like I'm not so far removed from being young (although the face in the mirror is starting to tell a different story ;).

As for the workouts, here we go.
Thursday: about 1hr 25min, 611cal
Friday: 1hr 6min, 718cal
Saturday, I went on a really good walk, but I didn't wear my monitor, walked pushing the stroller for about an hour and a half.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Normal days. . .

I would have to say that that last couple days have been just, normal. I spent most of Monday cleaning the house and trying to find my kitchen again after the weekend. Grocery shopping with 2 small children is always an adventure. Aunt Kimmy was laughing on the phone at Liam's excitement upon hearing that yes, in fact the fruit snacks were on sale and that yes he could put them in the cart, all 10 boxes.

I did have a moment of feeling like a really bad Mom this morning. The kids and I went to the gym as normal, but when I went to pick them up again I noticed that Quinn was walking really funny and favoring on of her legs. I picker her up and looked at her leg to make sure there was nothing obvious, my first clue should have been that the ladies at the child center told me she'd sat with a book for most of the time I was gone. So the next thing I did was take off her shoes and check her feet, nothing. Then I looked in her shoes. . .Turns out there was a sock squished into the toe of each shoe! So her poor little feet were smashed into her shoes and who knew how long she'd been dealing with it and it finally pinched her toe bad enough this morning that it caused problems. Needless to say, I felt like the worlds worst Mom! To make it up to her she got to go cookie delivering this afternoon, without Liam, so we got some time to just hang out while I was driving. That and the 35 minutes we spent on the couch reading the same books we always read. . . Ah, well.

Well, now that I think about it, this week was not quite normal. DH called me from work on Monday afternoon and said that he needed to go to Boston for a meeting. The meeting was on Tuesday. I assumed it was Tuesday of next week; nope I was wrong. The meeting was yesterday, and he got his ticket Monday afternoon. I'm glad that this does not happen very often. . .

Tuesdays workout: 1 hr 42 min, 900 cal (yes, that is 900)
Wednesdays workout: 1 hr 23 min, 611 cal


Sunday, September 11, 2011

We will always remember. . . And somebody pooped!

As everyone watches the vigils and remembrance ceremonies that mark today, one can't help but think about what we were doing that day and if we lived up to the promises we made on that horrible day 10 yrs ago.

At our Young Women activity on Wednesday night some of the girls were talking about the activities the schools had planned for the week and what they were talking about in school. Keep in mind that most of the girls are in their mid teens and were either young kids or toddlers when the attacks happened, so none of them have many first hand memories. They were all talking about the facts and the time lines of what happened as well as the special assemblies that the schools had planned. As they were talking, myself and the other leaders just listened for a few minutes before one of them looked at me and one of them said "um you guys, it looks like Kari is really upset, maybe we shouldn't talk about this anymore". And to be honest I was probably looking pretty upset. I think this horrible anniversary is different for people of my generation. Before that day I think we all thought we knew the world, and we felt pretty safe. After what happened, everything changed. The way we lived our life had to change, everyone was now worried about security, within a few weeks we were at war with an enemy that, technically, wasn't a state, it was a group of fundamentalists whose only message was hate, instead of looking at the world with optimism we all wondered when the next attack would happen. Having friends in ROTC and AFROTC made things more complicated; when they joined up, they did so to pay for school; no one ever thought that they would be shipped off to the other side of the world. I'm sometimes really amazed at how perceptive those girls can be.
Explaining this whole thing to Liam is something else all together. The news was on yesterday morning and he asked me why I was sad watching and I just told him that it was because some bad guys hurt a lot of people and that made me sad. His response was "bad guys like the Decepticons?" "Yup, like the Decepticons". That's the best I could come up with!

On the lighter side of things I did spend my Sunday afternoon and evening doing exactly what I wanted to do, take a nap and then go for a walk.

And the best news of all this weekend: Liam pooped in the potty!!!!! (it was by accident, but it still counts!)

P.S. Friday's workout, about an hour and 15 min, 553 cal.
Saturday's workout, an hour and 23 min, 676 cal.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Diaper Shower and Comparing Notes

It's amazing how refreshing it is to go and just spend a couple hours being my self.
Not being "Mom" or "Hon", but just being Kari is amazingly refreshing and renewing. The diaper shower was not for me, obviously, it was for a friend who is much braver than I am and is having her 3rd boy (thus the diaper shower).

Sometime I look around at some of the other blogs and at some Moms that I meet and I tend to nit pick all of the things that I don't do that some of them seem to do so effortlessly. I think if we're all honest we know that we can do better, and on the other side there are things that we know we do well. On my brag side, I'm pretty good at taking care of myself. I can get to the gym, manage to take a shower and usually put makeup on so that I look like I actually slept (or trying to keep with the trends). I try to cook and bake as much as I can and make sure that the kids eat food that's good for them. On the other hand, I am no where near a patient mom. I want them to do what I tell them to do right now. I want them to follow directions with no arguments and just say "ok Mom". I've also discovered that I need a certain amount of quiet time; time to my self, where no one bothers me and I can do my own thing, even if it's just sitting on the couch watching TV.

Admittedly I do get down on myself for these short comings. I feel bad after yelling at my kids, I feel some guilt when I take off at night or if I leave them with a sitter for a little too long. I'm just not one of those Mom's that cries when the kids get on the bus, not that I didn't freak out on Liam's first day. I was really happy when school started early for IEP kids, for myself and for him.

It is amazing on those horrible days, when you want nothing more than to get them into bed and then die, and you're tucking one of them in and you hear a little voice say "I love you too Mom" and then you just melt. . . nuf said.

As promised here is todays workout.
It lasted about an hour and a half, I warmed up, did a weight circuit, jogged and cooled down. Burned about 630 calories.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

One Craaaazy Summer

Well, here goes!

The last couple months have been really nuts. Over all it's been a good summer with lots of adventures for everyone! Over all, I realized that I need to keep a lot more people much more updated that I have the last season.

Early in the summer we were consumed with the end of the school year and the beginning of summer school for Liam. He did have a little bit of a hard time adjusting to going to school in the morning and not going his regular school. However, the Special Needs Summer School program in our district is awesome! Liam had speech therapy during the whole session, as well as the regular classroom experiences. They also had a number of really great field trips; they went to a nature preserve, an airport (and got to get into a small plane!), had some outdoor water days and made some new friends. He was not the biggest fan of getting up early to get on the 7:30 bus but he quickly got over it. He also had a good summer because he got to see a lot of his Grandparents, but more on that later.

Quinn continues to be her overly cute self. She's finally getting used to being at the gym and is now old enough to go to Nursery at church!!!!! We have only made it all the way through church one Sunday at this point but hey, progress is progress. The time that she spends at the gym has helped her separation anxiety, mostly because there are some nice people at the gym who like to carry her around when they can ; ) so she gets a little spoiled. She's getting bigger though and can finally ride in a forward facing car seat!

In July we had something really exciting happen, my brother got home from his mission! We were able to all get together as a family and go on vacation to Nauvoo. We rented the upper 2 floors of a house very close the the Mississippi and had a great weekend with my Mom, sister Kim and her husband Charlie, my brother Tristan. The last time all of us were together was about 2 and a half years ago. As is my Mom's habit, she insisted that we get a family picture done. We were lucky enough to find one here who was ok with 8 people, 2 of whom being very small children, and was willing to sell us a copy right release with digital copies of all the pictures. I'll post some of them later. I had not been to Nauvoo in about 15 years and it has changed a lot since then. It's more built up and having the Temple in it's former position is really something special. At times vacations with my family can come with drama, but this time I think a good time was had by everyone.

We also spent a big chunk of time in Detroit in July. The reason was not a great reason but these things happen. Over all I'm just glad that we were in a position to help family and keep people who needed to be distracted distracted. The kids had a good time being around their grandparents and getting spoiled while they were there. Their favorite things were going for frozen yogurt with Grandma K (a few times!) and playing with bubbles in Gampa and Grandma V's backyard.

I have to say, it was a good summer.

Now that school has started again we are trying to get back into the schedule. At the same time, I'm trying to get back into the goals that I've made for my self. Over the summer I was not very diligent about my exercise or my diet, not that I didn't make any progress, I just was not as careful as I could have been. Now that things are getting back into a routine I'm reminded of my goal for myself before I turn 30 this October. I'm not sharing the exact goal, suffice it to say that it involves being a bit smaller than I find myself to be at this point. I'm thinking that if If put this goal out there it will require me to be more honest and upfront about my exercise and progress. I have worked with a trainer a few times and gotten workouts from her, hopefully I cam get myself back into the swing of things and lost that extra size that is bugging me!

So I'm putting a challenge out there to anyone who wants to get back to their fighting shape - post your workouts in the comments and we'll see what we can get done before Halloween!
I'll try to post my workouts every day. I'm really terrible about posting food so I'm not going to try that. My goal is to go into GAP and pull on size 10(30) jeans on my birthday in late October (like I said, I'm turning 30).
Post only words of encouragement and hopefully we can all help each other!

Friday, March 11, 2011

Is it Spring yet?

Normally I'm not one that waits with baited breath till the weather man starts talking about Spring, but this year it's different. I don't know if I became a wimp in the 2 years that we were in Maryland or if I'm just getting soft in my old age but I am so tired of winter this year! I'm tired of taking the time to put on a coat, the extra 20 minutes that it takes to get the kids into all their winter gear, and don't get me started on the gas bills. . . Not to mention that this year we seem to have had more than our fair share of bugs going through the house. Everyone has been sick at least twice this winter. I've been blaming it on moving and the new germs in the area, and Moose being in school for the first time. Although the demon we are dealing with right now is teeth! Munchkin is cutting 1 and 2 of her molars are all coming in right now, making for one unhappy little girl. All I can say is thank heavens for Baby Advil and her attachment to her pink burpies. With their help she is still taking naps and sleeping through the night (for the most part). But I am happy to report that her behavior at the gym has improved and I have not been paged because of her crying in almost a week now. Yay!!!!!!!!!

I have always loved spring, as soon as the rainy part of it is over that is. There is Easter to look forward to and all the chocolate that goes with it, and General Conference of course. This year I feel like I have more to look forward to. Our new neighborhood has a number of parks and a lot of sidewalks for Moose to ride his tricycle on (of course he needs to learn how to pedal first, but I'll worry about that later.

I don't know how others feel about this, but the Easter season always gives me a sense of hope, a general uplifting feeling. It's a time in our Church when we especially focus on the Savior and on the sacrifice that he made for all of us. It gives me comfort to know that because of his sacrifice we can all be reunited with the ones that we love, and reunited with our Father in Heaven when our time here is over. For some that time comes too soon, but the blow is always softened by knowing that we will see our loved ones again, that they are never really gone, they are just not in our present.

Friday, February 18, 2011


Sabbath Day of . . .Rest?

I've been thinking about this the last couple Sundays as we hurriedly get ready for Church. So the Sabbath is supposed to be a day of rest, right? Has anyone else noticed that it is one of the more harried days of the week, at least if you go to Church and have kids.

I remember going to Church with my Darling Hubby before we had kids. Sundays in general were usually spent relaxing after Church, watching a movie or two, napping or finishing that last bit of homework when I was still in school. I remember the 3 hour Sunday afternoon nap, catching up on all the sleep that I'd missed during the week of classes or work. How quiet the house was. . . And getting out the door for Church was a relatively simple affair. I get dressed, he gets dressed, we leave. I don't think understood really how good I had it at the time. I had friends who had kids and they joked about the insanity of getting out the door on a Sunday morning, but it's the kind of thing that I don't think you really understand till it's your kids that are hampering your punctuality.

The last couple weeks it has been Grandparents to the Rescue! We've gone through a number of colds and flu's this year (yay Preschool. . .) and so the kids coping skills have been a bit questionable all winter. But there is something about when Grandma says "It's time to put our Church clothes on" that makes Moose take notice and go running into his room to get dressed! Thereby freeing up Mommies hands to dress the Munchkin and get us out the door on time.

Last Sunday was a whole different issue. Grandma and Grandpa were here to visit and play. Saturday night had met us with an unpleasant surprise in the form of Quinn needing a bath and change of sheets (and clothes and burpie) at about 1am. Liam had been coughing all week so it was questionable whether he was going to Church or not. Normally if one of the kids is sick someone just stays home with the sick child and the other two go to Church; this time however it was both kids that were ill. To complicate the situation I was giving a talk in Sacrament Meeting and my Darling Hubby was teaching in Sunday School. . .So no one could skip. Grand Parents to the Rescue! Myself and Darling Hubby were both able to go to Church and get our things done before coming back to tend to our sick kids!

After having extra hands the last two weeks, I hope I'm able to pull things together this Sunday. At least neither of us is speaking or teaching this week, that we know of right now anyway. . .

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Back to the Gym!

One of the things we had to give up when we moved a few months back was our gym memberships. We had to give them up because where we were going was not a national chain, it was just a Racquet Ball club outside DC that happened to have some other classes. It's location was good for my Darling Husband because it was halfway between his work and home, and thus very convenient for him. I used to go to the gym almost every day, granted it was a 15 min drive in good traffic, but the people were nice and they knew my kids (read: fewer freak outs).

After the shenanigans of last week it occurred to me that if I didn't get back to the gym soon, or find another outlet, I would be losing my mind in short order. So after a week of talking it over, and finally conveying to DH just how nuts I was going, he told me to go and get us signed up. Yay! I could now go workout at any time of the day!
So after signing away the equivalent of a weeks worth of groceries every month, I was ready to get started. It was then that I remembered I'd left my workout gear in my car. My 12 degree car. Just long enough for everything to become totally chilled. No big deal, I think, I'll run and warm up in no time. Which I did.

After an hour or so of work I decided it was time to head out, while I could still walk with some dignity, and go home. As I get to the parking lot and hit the clicker to unlock the car I notice that the lights are very dim. Hoping it was just my eyes I get in and try to start it. . .click, click, click. You guessed it, DEAD. So I head back inside to call DH and AAA to get a jump. I pull out my trusty cell phone and call AAA. I'm so busy telling the guy what happened that I almost fail to notice the 'beep, beep, beep' that occasionally cuts the guy off when all of a sudden, CLICK. My cell dies too! (There is a happy ending to all this, I promise).

Luckily for me the AAA guy has the where with all to remember that I tell him the name of my gym and where it's located. As I'm sitting in the lobby wondering what to do next he calls back on the main phone to tell me that my issue has been passed on to a wrecker and that he should be there within the hour. For once, the wrecker is there about 25 min after my call and another 20 after that finds me home.

And I thought I'd be able to relax with my trip to the gym ; )

Friday, January 21, 2011

Ahh, no more bowl.

Well it looks like everyone is over whatever it was that was making them sick. I remembered later in the day that I forgot about one of the bright spots of the whole sickness thing. Moose actually learned to tell me he needed the bowl before be threw up! It was usually preceded by some crying and burping, but he only missed the bowl once. I'm calling that a victory. Needless to say he got much comforting and praise, along with a few back rubs to make him feel better.

After all that going on at home I was in need of some quiet time of my own. As I don't know where the nearest yarn store is (nor do I think it's open past 7pm) and I don't have a gym membership, I headed to the bookstore! I know it sounds totally lame, but there is something so relaxing about checking out the imported magazines, flipping through illustrated books on 19Th century fashion or Elizabethan political drama, all while not having to stop anyone from chewing on anything inappropriate. As a young teenager (before dating. . .) I used to walk to the bookstore near my Mom's house and stay there for hours, I think I liked the quiet of the place.

I think escaping from our kids is one of the things that can make us appreciate and enjoy them more. When I usually escape it's after they've gone to bed, so they've been running a muck and bouncing off the walls since Daddy came home and I'm usually hurrying through bedtime in an effort to get out the door faster. Then I come home and check on them and they are sleeping, sweet and quiet in their beds, looking like little cherubs. I know it sounds cliche but sometimes those moments make it all worth while.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Sick Days

I remember when I was a kid, I'd almost look forward to sick days. I'd get to lay in bed and not really be bothered by anyone, unless it was Mom coming in to check my temperature. I'd get to read or watch movies and sleep to my hearts content. Little did I know that I should have been taking better advantage of these Free Days than I already did.

Our Moose has been sick since very early on Tuesday morning, when I was woken up by him crying some time around 3am. Turned out he'd lost his dinner and had a fever. . . an hour and a half later I was finally back in bed hoping to grab another couple hours before Munchkin woke up. Somehow my Dear Husband managed to sleep through me getting up, cleaning up and getting back into bed; I'm not quite sure how that works but when I figure it out I'll let all the other Mom's know. The rest of Tuesday was spent monitoring his temperature and making sure that he got all the sleep he needed. To add more joy to the week, Munchkin appears to be about to cut some more teeth, so she is in need of the occasional dose of Tylenol and much wiping of her hands due to their great taste.

I think this is just a symptom of this being Moose's first year in school. He loves his classroom and teachers, as well as the nursery in Church. They say that the child who shares nothing else will share his germs, and while he'll occasionally share toys, he seems to be collecting germs this year. Oh well. I have hopes that we'll only be dealing with this phenomenon for the next few years (we still have to get Munchkin into and out of Preschool) before the kids immune system is about to fight off most things.

I do remember the first time that Liam brought home a cold from Nursery and passed it to me, I called my Mom to ask how I was supposed to deal with everything and be sick. Her response with a laugh was "Didn't you know, Mommies don't get sick!"

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

So. . . This is me

OK, after reading an article written by a very cynical woman, although she was very funny, I though it would be nice to put the thoughts of a Mormon Mommy outside of Utah out there for people to see.

I did not grow up in Utah, nor have I ever lived there (nor do I want to). I grew up in the Midwest, Detroit, and now live in a suburb of Chicago. I did not get married at 19, but after I graduated from college, and I'm not all about having the Mormon Dozen children. I love my 2 children, and that's all we're having unless my husband decides to become pregnant. I'm not bashing those that decide to have lots of children, if they can handle it and stay sane more power to them. I just know I could not do it and survive. I don't really sew, I've only canned things a couple times and I'm not the worlds best cook, although when it comes to things containing butter and sugar I think I have a gift. My tastes in fashion also swing a little left of the Typical Molly. In the last 4 years I don't know how many colors of hair I've had, nor how many different styles, and I feel no particular affinity for the Abercrombie/Aeropostale looks that some of my Mommy contemporaries favor. Again I'm not judging, that stuff is just not for me. I don't really do crafts either, although I have been known to knit the occasional pair of socks or baby blanket.

What makes me similar to some other MM's out there is that I am a stay at home Mom. In this part of the country that makes me a little odd, in the DC area that we were in previously I was nothing short of a freak. When people outside the Church would find out that that's what I did, it pretty much stopped the conversation. I had no business ties and was therefore not much use to some people. There was the occasional woman who would put on a fake smile and say "oh, I bet that's so nice for you. . ." The disgust in their voices just masked by touches of faked sweetness when I'd tell them about my kids.

Speaking of my kids, Liam and Quinn, they are in short, the Moose and the Munchkin. Moose is 3 1/2 and could pass for 5, he's taller than at least half of his class and looks like a blond version of his Daddy. Munchkin is quite the opposite, she came into this life small and is still that way. People are astonished to hear that she is almost 14 months, she looks closer to 6 months than a year, and has dark hair and skin like Daddy. When she was born the nurse looked at me and said "Honey, if you want a child that looks like you, I think you're going to have to go for number 3". I'm thinking that's OK, as long as the kids look like one parent, we're good.