Full of Poop!

Braxton has started really enjoying looking back and reading some of my older blog posts about when he was young. It inspires me to write more and to let myself loose in my posts like I used to. It's easy to calendar and post pictures about our daily happenings but it's soothing and rejuvenating to me when I am able to express my true feelings and focus in on specific areas of life at this specific time.

Wednesdays are a busy day right now. I get up at 4:30am with Jeff which, although I prefer to get up early, is just a tad earlier than I would prefer. He is commuting a bit for work right now so he get's ready while I make breakfast and lunch for him. When he leaves I am left alone for an hour and a half or so before the boys wake up. I sometimes use that morning time to blog, like I am now, or read scriptures, do homework, yoga if I am feeling really ambitious... I really love this time and it never lasts long enough. And to be honest, I really need this time to mentally prepare myself for the rest of the day.

Once the kids wake up, it's go time. Breakfast, dishes, making lunches, braiding hair, homework, preschool, playdate, volunteer at school, eye therapy, basketball, dinner, scouts... that gives you an idea of our Wednesday. It's a lot.

The kids and I hang out in Bellingham traffic in the early evening driving home from Emmett's eye therapy. Last week there was an accident so we sat, for what seemed like way longer than it actually was. Gage lead us in a few Seahawks chants which distracted us for a while and caused me to almost loose my voice. When we drove past the Birth Center Adelle pointed it out and reminded everyone that that's where she was born. Emmett's wheels started to turn then and without any place for me to go he asks, "So how do babies come out?" I am stuck in traffic, I have all of the kids in the car, and I have a curious 5 year old. So I answer him, just enough to get us through the drive and he immediately is grossed out and another question is asked, "so are babies covered in poop when they come out?" I need someplace to go but I can't move. The car ahead of us is stopped and so are the 500 cars in front of it. I decide to take the conversation in a different direction so I digress and tell the kids that no, babies are not covered in poop, but guess what, daddy actually swallowed poop when he was in his mommies tummy!

Now, I realize that this swallowing poop in the womb is serious business and not a joking matter, but at the same time, imagine 4 kids finding out that their dad swallowed poop. They were completely distracted with that for the rest of the ride home. Laughing, and joking and stinky this and that....

Oh yeah, and an important detail. Jeff is also driving home from work at this same time and he actually has the nerve to call me and say, "This sucks!" to which I reply, "What? Sitting in traffic with 4 kids while they ask about how babies come out?" That shut him up pretty fast. I told him to suck it up and enjoy his own space, time, radio station, whatever.

So fast forward 2 weeks or so to this last Monday night. We are sitting in our front room as a family, have Family Home Evening, and we are talking to the kids about how we are all different and how even though we all think differently, act differently, like differently... we need to cooperate with each other so that our home can be happy, and on and on. I was explaining to them that mommy and daddy are different too and we come from different homes, different families, we do things different ways, and we love each other but we often have to work out our differences to be happy. Emmett interrupts me and simply says, "Yes mom! You and dad are different because you didn't ever swallow poop!"

And that's what I want this blog to become again. A place where I keep a record of our little ones. Their logic and innocence. The steps they take to learn and grow. Their conceptions of life and everything around them. Document the simple facts like which parent is full of poop!

sweetness

Adelle has always been the sweet tooth of the family. The one who asks for treats. The one who wants to make dessert. The one who randomly brings up the time that we had apple crisp and ice cream for dinner and, "are we ever going to do that again?"

I am not a treat your children with sugar mom. I'm just not. And I don't desire to be. I am the mom who takes my kids to parks and on bike rides and lets them watch a movie with fresh popcorn. I tell them bedtime stories and give them yummy flavored fish oil.
But, Adelle's love language is "treat me with treats" and sometimes I recognize that regardless of how I feel about sugar. I want to meet my girls need. I want to "treat" her the way that she likes to be treated. Because she is worth it.

After Christmas just her and  I were doing some returns and errands together.  We had finished up at Fred Meyer and we were waiting for Jeff and the boys who were someplace else, to come and pick us up. We walk out of the store and I call Jeff to find out that he's still a ways out. So, un-naturally, I turn to Adelle and I say, "maybe you and I should have an ice cream date!"

The rest was pure bliss. We both got chocolate cones. They were less money than I expected because it just so happened to be Baskin Robbin's going out of business sale. We sat and savored our ice creams and talked about all the flavors we love and she kept wondering why I got chocolate too and not cookie dough or eggnog. We bought the boys cones too, go hard or go home style, and surprised them when they picked us up. They were equally thrilled. Pistacio almond for Jeff, Cookies and Cream for Braxton, Chocolate for Emmett and Gage got my half eaten ice cream cone, Chocolate.


So that was then, a few weeks ago. And this is tonight:

Adelle: "So this one time when we took our Christmas tree down there were all these candy canes on the table and I took one into the play room and hid it in the couch and I thought, "perfect so now I can come in here and eat it whenever I want. But then, I remembered that Heavenly Father wouldn't want me to do that so I brought it back and put it on the table."

Love my little sugar baby!

Goodbye 2014

As the New Year is upon us I find myself once again recommitting myself to my blog and the weekly updates of life around here. There are so many little things that matter and it’s the little things that I know I forget when the day is through. Here’s to keeping up in 2015!

And some important pasts that I don’t want to ever forget.

Like the nice cold, lovely days that the little boys and I spent playing chase at the park. The beautiful harbor and the fresh air that got us through some long afternoons.

That Saturday when I went outside to find my newly two year old on the roof with his dad. I was immediately labeled “Paranoid Princess” by my husband and ordered to go back in the house.  Crazy boys!

 

Oh yeah, and Gage turned two! Which happened on a Sunday. He was treated with apple crisp, which he referred to as, “apple pie,”  with whipped cream for breakfast and for the week after his birthday he wanted apple pie for every meal and after we would pray he would sing “HappU birthday to me” while eating. It was really funny for a while and at Umpa’s birthday the next month Gage pretty much stole the show singing, “HappU birthday to Umpa.”

  

A couple weeks after Gage turned 2 Braxton turned 9. The flag football party I threw proved to be awesome and he was thrilled to have his buddy’s over for a game of football at the school, where he scored the winning touchdown, of course, after receiving a perfect pass from his dad. Following the game they had pizza and made their own Sundae’s. This boy has really grown up this year. We love him so much. He is currently obsessed with the Seahawks, and Marshan Lynch.

 

To feed his obsession, and that of the rest of us, we sporadically attended a Seahawks block party in Ferndale. One Friday morning while I was running we ran into this party being set up in a neighborhood so I came home, got the kids and Jeff up and we all geared up in our Seahawks gear and went to the party where Braxton was on the radio and we all got on a local news station. 

 

The three boys play football and tackle, a lot. Inside, outside,… wherever.

Back in November I started working for my Aunt Babe as a fill in at Our Diner. After not waiting tables for 8 years I found it all to come back naturally and have enjoyed working the Friday night shift since then.  I had forgotten how much I liked those tips!

Sometimes I receive these little mommy pay checks that amount to zero worth to others but are worth a fortune to me as a mom. Like the time in December when I took Braxton to the dentist only to have the dentist tell me that Braxton had the most well developed teeth the dentist has seen in years. His back teeth are solid, where kids his age are usually still porous, which means there is no need for a sealant and which also means that he is getting plenty of vitamins and minerals that are allowing his teeth to be strong and resilient. Thank you.

The big kids and I soaking up the season festivities at Thanksgiving making pies galore.

 

The week long visit of Andrew and Rachel who came the week of Thanksgiving and who we enjoyed tremendously on all levels. There is something about having people in my home that makes me feel really vulnerable sometimes but having these two was so relaxing and just plain fun!

And, out of order,  last but certainly not least, the summer we got our house looking all spiffy and the day that I watched through the window as Jeff stuck a For Sale Sign in the front yard of my hub.

It’s funny the mixed emotions I feel about this house. On the one hand it’s mine. It has been our home and our haven for what feels like forever but realistically almost 9 years of our lives. Two of my children were born in this house. We took out floors, and walls, and got ripped off on windows back in the early days when we didn’t know better. But on the other hand I am over it. Ready to move on with my life and breathe. I feel like our stuff is creating a cave around us and I want my little girl to have her own closet and her own space.

Into the New Year we go!

This is sort of happening

Gage has been showing a lot of interest in the potty as of late. On Saturday we took him and Adelle to the store and purchased this fabulous singing training toilet. None of my other kids have required a toilet that sings to them as they tinkle and then chants for them to get toilet paper but, Gage isn't one of my other kids.
Walking through the store he is exclaiming in a not so quiet voice, "Where is my toilet? Where is my toilet?" After we found one and brought it down to his level he immediately sat on it, in the store, and then got up and told his sissy it was her turn to go potty.
Since then it's been hit or miss. But that's sort of just life right now. I haven't hammered down and committed myself to training him. In the mornings I have excuses. Breakfast to make, lunches to make, homework to check and make sure it's been done correctly, ... Let's just say if I wanted to potty train him right this second I would. But I just don't yet. It hasn't been the mommy priority. So when the kids are at school and I take off his diaper and ask him if he wants to sit on the potty and he says no. I simply put his diaper back on him and we go on our busy way.
So, simply put, Gage is being potty trained by his 6 year old sister. Who is proving to be more than competent for the job. Adelle gives Gage a piece of her very own gum after he goes on the potty and let me just say, he runs to her after he's gone and not me. He sits in the bathroom with her cheering him on for half the day and they both are so entertained by the toilet that it's more of a game than a chore.
I told Jeff last night that I wish there was a program for Adelle through the school that would actually give her credit for all of her hard work on this matter. I can see the heading of her thesis, "How I used Gum and a Singing Toilet to Potty Train my Two Year Old Brother."
She's doing a really good job and I am so relieved by her dedication and perseverance.