What the--

Words you love to hear when your husband calls you: "I cut my hand. But not on my chainsaw."

Oh. Well, that's good, at least.

Maturity

I'd like to hope that some day, the sight of a really short chapter for my daily scripture reading won't make me happy. Some day? Right?

Family Matters

I've been out of town. Did you miss me?

This was one of those really fun (well, for me, at least-- maybe not so much for my sister), completely unplanned trips. It all began when my little sister Natalie, who lives in Hershey, PA, called to tell me that, at nearly 38 weeks pregnant, her blood pressure had been creeping up and the doctor was talking about inducing her. An hour later she called again to announce that not only were they going to induce her, she was already hooked up to the IVs and getting ready to go! This led to me running around like a crazy person packing as fast as I could. Don't you love that sort of packing? When you just throw random stuff in a suitcase and hope you didn't forget anything important? Because the truth is, that's how I always pack. Even when I try to carefully plan ahead and make lists of everything I'll need, by the end, it always degenerates into the just-throw-it-in-the-suitcase method. So it was nice to dispense with the pretense for once and just pack the way I REALLY do.

Anyway, we were on the road by 2:45, which isn't bad, I think. And the only thing we forgot to bring was the strollers. Not exactly tragic, although they would have been handy every time we were trying to herd three toddlers through the hospital. Lucky for me I had done laundry the day before and paid bills that morning. That's ready enough, right? And I have to admit that I was kind of proud of myself for managing to swing by my friend's house so I could get back my copy of Dr. Horrible so Natalie would have something to watch in the hospital. Oh, yeah, who's a good sister? (I also brought some political magazines to read, since Natalie is even more into politics than I am, but then I realized that if they were worried about her blood pressure, perhaps these were not the sort of reading she needed right now. Oh, well.) I packed a brownie mix, too, since I didn't have time to buy her a baby gift. More on that later, but suffice it to say, this idea didn't go so well. But I was trying.

We made good time to Hershey and beat the baby's arrival. Whew! I got to have a quick visit with Natalie, and then we left her with her husband (who is an anesthesia resident at the same hospital right now AND who had just finished being on call for 24 hours. Poor Cameron!), and took her 2-year-old son home with us, swinging by Sam's Club to get some pizza for dinner. Natalie's son, Samuel, is exactly in between Bentley and Kendra's ages-- they're each about 8.5 months apart. So watching all three of them is a handful. I was pretty proud of myself when I managed to get all three ready for bed: clean diapers, in their pajamas with teeth brushed. I felt like something of a factory, but I managed it. And then they kept each other awake jumping on their beds until way too late. But I'm glad they were happy to see each other!

At 4:40am Natalie called me with the exciting news: her son had arrived! He'd been born around 3:30 (apparently being at her house didn't give me phone privileges ahead of grandparents), weighing in at 7 lbs and 0.5 ounces, and 19.5 inches long. It took them until the afternoon to finally decide on a name, but they chose Caleb Allen, which I think fits him beautifully.

We visited late in the morning:

The happy family! Cameron, Samuel, Natalie, & Caleb.

My flash was bothering Caleb and causing him to make the CUTEST little squinty face!
Then I stopped blinding the poor kid. Really!

So far, he enjoys sucking on his hands. And anything else he can get into his mouth.

Natalie stayed at the hospital for two days. Because of her blood pressure and the medication she was on for it, she wasn't allowed to eat anything until twenty-four hours after Caleb was born. So my brownies ended up being more torture than anything else. But she assured me that she thoroughly enjoyed them once she was allowed to actually eat them and not just look at them.

Happy mommy with her cute little one. Notice his crazy red hair! We still don't know where that came from...

Caleb was NOT so happy when we changed his diaper and his outfit that evening.
He got over it as soon as we finished, though.

Meanwhile, Craig and I had our hands full with the three older kids! We kept pretty busy. In between hospital visits and nap times, we visited Chocolate World, the pool, got some groceries for Natalie (who had planned to go grocery shopping right after the doctor's appointment that led to her being induced!)... And played dress up. This was lucky, because I had picked up these costumes on FreeCycle Wednesday morning, so with the crazy packing going on, I just brought them along, too. That turned out to be a good idea.

Bentley and Kendra are Lightning McQueen, while Samuel is James the Train.

And okay, I may have let them watch The Lion King about twice a day.
But in my defense, I did have to to occasionally shower and cook dinner.

Friday evening, Natalie (who was finally allowed to eat!) and Caleb came home from the hospital. And Aunt Tracy arrived from New York to help out, too.

This picture is kind of dark, but I still like it. This is my sister Tracy with Caleb, in case you couldn't tell.

With Tracy there to help out, we weren't quite as needed, and Natalie's two-bedroom apartment was starting to feel a tad crowded, what with the four adults and four children all sleeping there. (And that's not even counting Cameron, since he was on-call again that night!) So today we headed home, which is where we are now. It's nice to be home, and I'm looking forward to my children (hopefully) not waking up at 5:30 in the morning tomorrow.

But it sure was fun to sit around with my sisters holding such a precious little newborn!

Welcome to the family, Caleb. I think you're gonna like it here!

Fire Fighters

Today our local fire department held an open house. Between Craig's experiences as a firefighter in high school, and my own crazy delivery with Kendra, we both really like the fire department. So we were excited to take the kids and let them see all the amazing stuff these men and women do for us. Best of all, right before we got there, the mede-vac helicopter arrived, so we got to go see that right away. Craig was in heaven.

I took a ton of pictures, and unfortunately for you, I liked how WAY too many of them turned out. Or maybe pregnancy is just making me indecisive. I can't decide. But in any case, I'm putting a ton of pictures up for you. Enjoy!

Daddy is terribly excited to get to sit inside the helicopter.
It was all I could do to stop him from volunteering right then and there.

Craig asks about the hours and benefits to being a firefighter.

Full shot of the helicopter (so you can see the blades)

That's high up!

From inside the fire truck. (I probably should have used a flash. Oh, well.)

The kids were very excited to get fireman's hats. I was excited because they were free!

Bentley and Daddy chill in the ambulance.

Kendra tries to remember rushing to the hospital minutes after her birth...

Kendra will not believe me that she has the hat on backwards.
(She was also leery of the fire hoses, which Bentley was anxious to try out. So this is her keeping her distance.)

Bentley takes a turn spraying a real fire hose.

Getting the water started. (I like the tiny hat on Craig!)

Spraying full blast. Notice that Daddy looks both proud and a little envious.

The only person more excited than the kids by the big truck with ladders.

I finally got tired of holding the camera and gave it to Craig. Who in turn took my picture.

This one is my absolute favorite. Points to Craig for snapping it.
But points to me for putting Kendra in the fireman's boots and suspenders!

Discoveries

I was making myself a cup of noodle soup this afternoon, when I somehow managed to pour boiling water all over my hand. (Today's tip: don't try to pour hot things while yelling at your three-year-old. It will probably go badly.)

Surprisingly enough, it didn't leave a single mark. No blisters, no reddening of the skin. Nothing. Nothing at all! The only conclusion I can draw from this is that I must have regenerative powers.


I'll begin my life of secretly fighting crime any day now. Probably after I get a cool costume. (No spandex, please. I am pregnant, after all.)

This also explains why, after nearly five years of marriage, Craig's acid hands have yet to hurt me.

It's all beginning to make sense.

It's also a good thing this blog is private. I know I can count on all of you to keep my secret safe.

PDA

Kendra has a new game she likes to play during Sacrament meeting. It's called "Try to Kiss Daddy on the Lips." If you couldn't tell by the title, it's a little disturbing to watch. Basically it involves her playing with Craig's face and trying to mold his mouth until he's finally forced to pucker up, and then, grinning the whole time, she slowly leans in until Craig turns his face away from her. Then she'll wrap her arms around his neck and bury her face in his shoulder for a minute. And then she'll start all over again. We spent the entire meeting laughing that awkward parent laugh that means, "I'm laughing right now, but really, how worried should I be by this behavior?"

We are so afraid for the first boy she gets a crush on.

Issues (mine, not yours)

I hate to be left out of anything. I'd like to think that this is due to my being the middle child; I rarely missed out on any of the many activities my siblings were involved in. But the more likely answer is that I'm just insecure. I hate hearing about a party that I wasn't invited to. I hate knowing my friends have done something without me. Deep down, I know that this is silly and that I couldn't possibly be included in everything that everyone I know does. But in a perfect world, I'd find a way (housework be darned!).

This isn't just limited to social events. Early on in my mission, I realized that I had a hard time enjoying looking at other people's mission pictures because of all the cool experiences I felt like I'd missed out on. There are so many wonderful things to try, amazing places to go. I get so jealous of the stuff others have done that I haven't gotten to try yet. Or that I have tried and want to do again.

Anyway, the obvious flip-side to this is that I also hate to leave anyone out. Any time I make plans with a friend, there's this part of me that is just itching to call up everyone else I know and invite them along, too. The more the merrier, right?* It makes it hard for me to ever plan parties (not that I try very often) because I can never narrow down the guest list and I agonize over every person not issued an invitation. What if they hear about it and feel left out? What if they conclude that I don't like them very much? (Notice that I never worry about which friends that I'm inviting might not want to come.)

This is also the reason why I never mention parties or friendly hang-out time on my blog. I may have had the time of my life with you the other day. I probably did, in fact. But on the off-chance that someone else reading this didn't get to come along, I'm not going to talk about it and risk having them feel left out.

So don't feel bad if I don't write about how fun you are here. It's not you, it's me. Really.




*Oh, wait, no. Because I ALSO hate really big groups. Once you get more than about five people in a room, I begin to feel like no one is listening to anyone and I'd rather just go read a good book. But that's an issue for a different post, I suppose.

Health

I am the biggest wimp when I'm sick. It's a good thing that I'm generally pretty healthy, because if I was one of those people who had chronic health problems*, all my whining would drive away any and all my friends.

So I've had a cold this week. I first realized it Monday evening when it occurred to me that it hurt to swallow. That's never a good sign. That night I couldn't sleep because my throat hurt so much. I laid in bed wondering if this would be the time when I would finally need my tonsils out. (A doctor almost removed them when I was four, but then decided to let me keep them. I've been wishing ever since that he would have just taken them out; they've given me nothing but grief.)

I spent Tuesday living for the moment when I could take more Tylenol (not that it seemed to do much good, but I had to keep trying). And Tuesday night I couldn't sleep again, but it wasn't until Craig was leaving for work in the morning that I realized that my throat no longer hurt, the problem was now my sinuses, which were somehow managing to be in pain, stuffed up, drippy, but at the same time I couldn't blow my nose. Isn't that just the worst??? Add to that an occasional cough which would leave me gagging and struggling not to throw up, and you can understand why I was pretty miserable.

After even a hot shower couldn't fix anything, I decided that Wednesday needed to be a pajama day (which was too bad, because there were SO many other fun things I would have liked to do that day! Sorry to all of you who invited me to do things that I had to decline). So rather than doing anything fun or worthwhile, I sat around in my pajamas watching cartoons with the kids and trying to blow my nose. I felt like I was dying. (I wasn't exaggerating when I said that I'm a wimp when I'm sick!) When I went to bed last night, I finally broke down and used my secret weapon: nasal spray. I hate using it because if overused, your body will become dependent on it. And it just feels awful putting anything in your nose. But the stuff always works, and I figured the most important thing was to get some sleep, and in order to sleep I needed to be able to breathe.

Wow.

What a difference a good night's rest can make! I woke up this morning feeling alive and human again! I still have a stuffy nose and a bit of a cough, and I suspect that those will linger on for a couple more days. But today, those are just incidental. I feel okay again.

Hallelujah.

What about you? How do you handle being sick?



*I actually know a lot of people who do have chronic health problems, and I'm always amazed at their stoicism in the face of such adversity. Really, you guys are incredible. (And this includes Carla, who is not chronically sick, but did just have a bit of cancer removed from her mouth and throat and yet didn't begin screaming at me yesterday when I complained that I had a cold. I did at least acknowledge that her cancer was definitely way worse than my stupid cold and that I wasn't even trying to get sympathy from her. But if she would have wanted to scream at me despite that disclaimer, I couldn't have blamed her.)

So Many Good Things

You know, for all the trash on the Internet, every so often you come across some wonderful gems. Or if you're me, your friends find these wonderful gems and share them with you, and then you put them on your blog as a way of sharing them with everyone else.

Thanks again for this one, Laresa!




About a year ago, Craig and I rented Newsies. My sister Tracy happened to come and visit before we'd had a chance to watch it, so the three of us all enjoyed it together. I think Craig was slightly appalled as he watched Tracy and I morph back into giggly prepubescents, particularly any time Spot Conlon came on screen. But wow, I had fun!

All I can say is, "Never fear, Brooklyn is here."

Pictures

My sister Tracy requested pictures, and who am I to say no? So here goes:

This is one of my favorite dresses on Kendra. Unfortunately, it just barely fits her still. So I had to document it.
Notice how nicely the bow from Aunt Jeni matches the dress-- nice, huh?

You can see the dress better here, even if you can't see Kendra as well...

Our neighbors gave us their old sandbox, which the kids LOVE.
Unfortunately, it means giving them baths about twice as often as before...

Bentley loves making himself go cross-eyed. I hate it. Is it true that that can hurt his eyes?!?!

It's kind of a tight squeeze getting them both in there, but they don't seem to mind!
Bentley has been growing. Kendra used to be nearly as tall as he is!

Kendra demonstrates her favorite yoga pose: dead bug. (Really! That's what it's called!)

Last night after the kids were in bed, Craig and I sat outside watching the clouds and the fireflies.
It was made for an absolutely delightful evening. The clouds were being super cool.
See how the one in front is a different shade of pink than the ones in the back? (You should probably click on it to get the full effect...) The two different colored clouds were traveling in OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS!!!
You could actually see them crossing paths in the sky. It was mesmerizing.

I really like that Craig and I enjoy stuff like this so much. It makes me happy.
It's also why I doubt I'll ever bother getting cable...
Also, props to Craig for managing to capture it all on film so well. He's got skills.

Those are all the pictures I have for now.

But since you're already reading this, I'd like to mention that in one hour, Craig will be down to only 8-and-a-1/2 days of school left! It's nearly summer vacation!!!!!!

But on a sad note: my dryer seems to be dying for real this time. No birds nests to blame it on. If anyone out there has any guesses as to how to fix a dryer that heats up & rotates, but can't seem to actually DRY anything (at least, not without going through at least three cycles), please let me know!*


*And yes, I clean out the lint trap religiously. So it's not that.

Simple, simple pleasure

I'm not sure what makes me happier about this sudden thunder storm: the fact that I was just folding laundry when it happened, which somehow seems like the perfect chore for a so-dark-in-the-afternoon-you-need-to-turn-on-the-lights kind of storm, or the fact that I took the kids to the park this morning, when the weather was absolutely delightful.

Either way, I'm feeling satisfied with today.

I love a good thunder storm. (Except when it flattens my little garden, which is what last week's thunder-and-hail storm did. None of the weeds were flattened, just my tomato plants. Funny how that works, huh? But with a little help from their new cages, the tomatoes seem to have perked back up again, so I'll forgive the hail this one time.)