Sweet Little Blessings

Thursday of last week was just one of those days.  I don't even really remember what made it that way.  Lots of little things.  I feel like I should know exactly why I was feeling the way I was feeling but I can't really remember.  I just know that when Seth got home I was DONE!  I made pancakes for dinner because that's what Luc wanted for his birthday but didn't get the day before I'm guessing because that was one of those days too.  But nobody really wanted to eat the pancakes and I was feeling defeated.  Seth said "when do we get a date?"  I looked around at my messy house, my crazy kids, the uneaten meal and replied "probably never." 

I plopped myself down on the couch having no desire to even think about tackling bedtime.  Seth was playing a game on his iPhone and got a phone call, he grumped "ah Christian (his friend who was calling) you just messed up my game" then answered the phone.  I tried to figure out the conversation (because that's what I do, I am shamelessly nosey) but had no idea and couldn't have hoped for what was to come.

Christian was delivering the sweet little blessing that I needed so badly!  He had just been handed 2 tickets (13th row) to the Phoenix Suns game and he was stuck at work so by default (and some act of God I believe) we were the lucky couple!  Thanks to Christian, our exchange students (aka last minute babysitters) and sweet children who jumped in jammies and got ready for bed lickity split, we got to enjoy a perfect impromptu date!  And Nash got to attend his 3rd professional sporting event in his short little life.

No time for make-up or cute hair but it didn't matter!

Luc-ee Ba-Duke-ee

Four Things I Love about Luc

(on his 4th birthday)



1. He is super-duper cute.  He has this way of shaping is upper lip like a turtle and it used to drive me nuts because it looked nerdy, now it's just Luc and I love it.
2. He is quick to say I love you.  He has night terrors and I know that if I can just get him to respond to me saying I love you Luc than he's woken up enough to go back to sleep and be ok. 
3. He loves his little brother.  (and his sisters but mostly his little brother!)
4. He wears cowboy boots and shorts.  Or rain boots and shorts.  Its adorable.  Totally nerdy but so cute.

SLEEP...

Nash is cute.  Super super cute.  He's fun.  He's a joy to have in our home.  Nash however is NOT a good sleeper.  In fact he is a crappy sleeper.  From about 3-6 months he was pretty good.  He would wake up once in the middle of the night, eat for about 5 minutes and go right back to sleep.  That I could deal with.  

Up at 1:30, 3:30 and 5:45 I cannot deal with.  And when he wakes up he wants to be fed for at least 15 minutes, then you have to stand up and hold him and he might go back in his crib asleep IF we're lucky and lay him down just right.  *We have tried making him cry it out.  Actually we are still trying but he's not catching on.  When we lay him down for the first time at night he does great, cries for 15 minutes at the very most and then goes to sleep.  Not so much in the middle of the night.  He screams for-ev-er!    Not sure what to try next. 

All of this was just to say one thing.  I'm tired.  And when I'm tired I'm grumpy.  And when I'm grumpy it seems the whole family is a bit grumpy.  So if you were thinking of just popping in for a visit... you've been warned.



*We = Seth and I.  Let's give credit where credit is due.  Seth is up just as much sometimes more than me.  If it weren't for him I would be in my bed crying in the fetal position.

BuSy BUsY bUsY!

My life has gotten seriously busy lately.  And not like I-have-4-little-kids-and-have-to-clean-up-all-day-and-night-to-keep-up busy, but like I-don't-even-have-time-to-clean-up-because-I've-been-running-around-like-a-crazy-lady-since-9am busy.

Is this what life with 6 kids is like?  Because if it is, it's exhausting and I love it.  My house is not "loving" it quite so much and I am about a week behind on laundry at all times but if I'm never home to have to look at it then it's all good.  I am a super social person (for those who have some how missed that part of my personality.)  I love being busy, I love having somewhere to go and things to do.  And I've found that being this occupied has helped me truly appreciate the quiet moments when I can just sit and hold Nash and read my scriptures or listen to a conference talk (and sometimes if I'm lucky doze off for a few blissful minutes.)

So why so busy you ask?  Well 2 teenage girls can really fill in those empty slots on my calendar.  This is our first time having girl exchange students ("the teenagers" as Luc likes to call them) and it is a whole new world.  It's been a great experience and we've bonded with them already (girls are more emotional and I think that lends to a quicker attachment maybe).  But they also need to go shopping and need to have sports physicals and need a new phone and need to go shopping some more.  You get the picture.  BUT they also tend children very well.  Which makes my busy life a little less hectic at times.  It makes it possible to run to the store with only 2 children instead of 4 and allows for sweet little moments like going on a quick jog with Seth.  So busy is ok. 

This week's busy has meant dr's appointments.  Too many dr's appointments.  I can do without that type of busy for a while.  It's the hurry up and get to an appointment so I can sit and wait that drives me nuts.  On Monday we found out that Nash has a bit of an egg allergy (which he will hopefully grow out of) and Luc has asthma.  Ugh.  One of the kids was bound to have asthma with our family history but with an almost 4 yr old it's scary, annoying, expensive and quite frankly a bit of a pain in the kiester.  But I feel blessed that we have insurance and were able to diagnose it before anything too scary happened. 

And to add to the busy I have been able to start tutoring Spanish.  Just one sweet girl and just once or twice a week but I love it.  It's been a long time since I've been able to "practice" my Spanish and it feels good to help someone out.  No big deal that we need to get through 2 semesters of Spanish in 4 months so she can graduate.  Sounds a lot like someone else I know.  (me) 

So after all that here is a super quick synopsis on the rest of my life/family:

McKay is doing awesome in school.  She amazes me with her reading (and even more since I don't feel like we do nearly enough to help her at home.)  She's playing soccer and has scored a few goals this season.  They are undefeated and having a blast.

Kimball got glasses a couple weeks ago.  They are adorable and she has been really good about wearing them.  Most of the time.  She's playing soccer too and has a lot of fun.  We are trying to teach her to use a little bit of the aggression she has at home with her siblings on the the field but she'd rather dance around and look cute out there.  (also sounds like some else I know.)

Luc is working hard on mastering Mario Kart and begs me about 12 times a day to play with him.  It's a good thing he has preschool. 

Nash is all over the place.  Not walking yet but working on it.  I'm trying not to encourage it because I know how crazy life gets when they start walking.  As I type he is under the computer desk trying to pull the keyboard off and unplug all the cords.  Time to be done.

This has turned into a novel for goodness sakes.  That's what happens when Luc has a friend over to play Mario Kart with him.  I can sit for 20 minutes.  Now its off to pick up "the teenagers".

Catching Up...

The problem with not blogging is that it makes me want to not blog....  The longer I go without updating the more daunting it seems and so I put it off until I have a few free hours to sit down and get all caught up. (yeah right, if I had a "few free hours" it wouldn't be spent blogging)  I have the same problem with laundry.  So basically in my brain there is this HUGE pile of blogging laundry and I just ignore it hoping that it will go away and I will be able to just start fresh.  Problem is, just like the laundry it doesn't just go away and now it feels like it's starting to over take my mental abilities.  So here I am emptying the laundry baskets.

Since my last post:

• Our exchange student from Brazil left.  He went back to his beautiful and apparently superior homeland.  We enjoyed having him here but I am quite sure he was very ready to go.  It was a good experience and we love him but I don't think he ever really felt at home here (and by "here" I actually mean the U.S. not our house.)

• We had a wonderful stay-at-home Christmas.  My parents are now in Washington and Seth's were visiting his sister in Utah so it was just us and it was nice.  We had Seth's other sister and her family over for dinner and it was just perfect.  I don't think I would love it every year.  I am a big-family-party type of gal but it was a nice little quiet Christmas.

• New Years Eve weekend our two new exchange students arrived!  We are crazy I know.  Four little kids and two teenagers, what are we thinking?  But honestly we love it.  Hailie is from South Korea and quiet as a mouse in groups but delightfully talkative and curious when it's just us.  She will be staying for a year (except she gets to go to Vancouver, BC for June and July).   Luise is from Germany and completely opposite of Hailie.  She's loud, outgoing and super social (she reminds me a little bit of me in my younger less reserved days).  She is also very fun to have around.  They both love the kids (or at least pretend very well).  And the kids absolutely adore them.  I'm not sure what my children will do if we ever stop having "extra" siblings around.  They love it.

• We quickly realized that having to take 2 cars everywhere is a bit of a hassle and uses a LOT of gas.  We also had a bad feeling about the health of our little minivan.  It needed new brakes, the transmission was doing funny things, there was a serious oil leak, two brake lights were out, both the maintenance and check engine lights were on and the automatic doors and locks were giving out on us.  On a Thursday afternoon I emailed Seth and said "I think we should maybe start test driving some cars to see what we want."  By Saturday afternoon we were driving a new (to us) 2007 Ford Expedition which comfortably fits all 8 of us.  It's pretty.  And it's big.  And I love it.  I am spoiled.

That should pretty much catch me up and empty my brain of all excess blogging thoughts.  Oh and it might quiet that little nagging voice that keeps saying "have you blogged yet" or "so are you going to blog today?" and "you really need to update your blog."  (little voice also known as Seth)

Husband of the Year (every year)

It's been a while since I've praised my husband.  (here on my blog that is)

I honestly believe that he is quite possibly the world's best husband. 

I have become extremely dependent on him.  Without him I am a mess.  Without him while being sick I am pretty much useless, which is what the past 48 hours have been.

He came home today, scooped up the baby and just basically took over.  I needed that.  He is almost always exactly what I need when I need it. 

I am truly blessed. 

Today...

I ate chicken nuggets for lunch.  Not just any chicken nuggets, dinosaur chicken nuggets.  Laziness.  Pure laziness.

Seth is "out of town".  Less than 10 miles away.  Apparently good team building requires staying the night together.  A work "sleepover" if you will. 

Nash crawled in to the shower this morning while I was washing my hair.  He scared the poo out of me.  My eyes were closed and I felt something touch my toe.  He is way too mobile way too soon.  But he's super cute so I guess we'll keep him.

I went to Target and they handed me a coupon for $5 off a $25 purchase.  So instead of spending $10 on the things I needed I spent $37 and that was with the coupon.  They are so tricky!  I'm thinking of going back to see if they will give me another coupon. 

Luc had a friend over.  I used to dread having other kids at my house.  I think I was a little intolerant.  I love it now.  Nothing like some one else entertaining my kid for a couple hours.

While Luc was being entertained I finally cleaned out the front coat closet and turned it into the vacuum/storage closet.  (only took me 3 years of living in this house in the middle of Phoenix to realized that we don't really need a coat closet.) 

That's what's going on around here today.

Be Patient with Yourself

Just watched this and loved the sweet message from a disciple of God.  It's 3 minutes and will bring peace to your soul.  A good reminder to be patient with ourselves.

Coming To Terms

There are certain things in my life that I have come to terms with and accepted as reality, just a part of life, no big deal (nbd if you're "cool"). 

For instance, I know I will never again be a size 6.  Not because it's impossible but because I am just fine being an 8/10, I don't love exercising and I do love food.  So that's that.  And it's ok.  nbd

For every one of those there are 5 more that I am not ok with and either need to come to terms with or change. 

Here is my current "issue":

1. Laundry.  I just don't like it.  I don't like doing it, I don't like thinking about it, I don't like seeing it.  It's my enemy in this house.  It's never ending and no matter how I try it just never gets any better.  I spend 2 days getting it all done and put away and within 24 hours it's back, staring at me, taunting me. 

Five minutes ago I changed Nash's diaper, stood up and said "I am going to go finish folding that laundry" and then promptly walked to the computer and pulled up the blog.  I would rather do most anything than laundry yet I hate that it's not done just as much.  To quote a favorite movie (name it if you can)

William: [Spike wearing Will's wetsuit] Can I ask you why you are wearing that?



Spike: Combination of factors. No clean clothes.


William: There never will be unless you actually *clean* your clothes.


Spike: Vicious circle.
I agree, vicious, vicious circle!

First 5 Thoughts

My mind has been bogged down with all sorts of half-posts lately.  Like the first sentence of a post and then nothing more.  So here is my mind-cleansing post that will hopefully lead to happier more productive posting in the near future.

1.  I love my little Nashy-Baby.  I don't think I love him any more than my other kids, that is pretty much forbidden right?  But he is a baby and he is superly-duperly cute and cuddly.  Loving him is just so easy.

2.  I am ready for the holidays.  Not like ready-ready.  Just ready for it all to get going.  Tonight I was actually wishing it was tomorrow night because I am ready to cook/bake.  I'm making 3 pies.  All new recipes.  I hadn't realized that until I just typed it, I hope at least one of them turns out.  (super high expectations for myself, huh?)

3.  I have become addicted to pintrest.  Is anyone else having the same issue?  I love it.  I mostly just look at stuff and hope that I will one day try/attempt one or more of my "pinned" ideas.  I have tried a few recipes and I made this for my sister-in-law for her birthday (I'm like 90% sure she doesn't read this, if she does, well Happy Birthday Carmen!!) 

and I put together little Turkey Tom here for McKay's class "Friendship Feast".  He was definitely cuter on pinterest but still a hit with the 2nd graders.

4.  I have been battling whether or not to blog about "x" and for a while I thought I had jinxed "x" because I hadn't mentioned it yet but now "x" is doing a lot better and so now of course I'm worried that if I do blog about it then I will jinx it.  So I won't.  That's all I'll say about that.

5.  Now I feel guilty for saying how much I love Nash without saying anything about the other four.  I am such a woman/mom.  Well I love them all.  They are all adorable and sweet (most of the time.)  Any advice on a 7year old growing up too fast, a 6 year old who can go from happy to complete melt-down in 2.8 seconds anytime after 7 pm and a 3 year old who cries about everything, would be greatly appreciated.  Did I mention how much I love each one of them?  I do.  And I love being their mom.