Kimball's Quotables

Kimball walked into my room and said "mom, I think we should go get me a slurpee so that I don't drink so much water." Following directly in her father's footsteps.

Today while we were watching a golf tournament on tv she said "I want the Utes to win!"

And while taunting her sister with the water bottle that McKay desperately wanted "water for sale, McKay!"

Nana Betty

My Nana Betty passed away yesterday. Thank goodness for our last minute trip down there this past weekend. I just wanted to post a few of my favorite memories of her.

• When we were little she would pay us a quarter to weed her garden. It seemed like we were out there forever, hours on end. I'm sure it was more like 15 minutes and she ended up dishing out a couple dollars for those few minutes of peace.

• Driving in her car with her when she was at least 75 and a great-grandma many times over, we got stuck behind a slow driver and she says "get out of the way grandma" then turns to me and says "if I ever drive like that take my keys away!"

• Coming home from college for a quick weekend, arriving at 3 am to fresh baked banana bread and her waiting up to make sure we had everything we could possibly need in the middle of the night.

• In high school whenever I would have friends over to watch a movie or play games at around 11 she would wander in and say "isn't it time for all the boys to go home." I was always so embarrassed but now it just seems funny.

• After she got back from her mission in Philadelphia she would lock the doors as soon as you got in the car or as soon as you walked in the house. We lived at the end of a gravel road in little ol' Yakima and she was still paranoid and it was so cute. We would tease her that we couldn't go out to get the mail with out getting locked out.

• And going to the local drugstore in Wenatchee (where she lived for 60+ years) to get Cherry Lemon Sours at the soda fountain with her. On a good day we'd sit at the counter and watch them make the drinks. I hope that drugstore is still there when I go up for the funeral because I really feel like a Cherry Lemon Sour about now.

We sure will miss her but the past year she really hasn't been herself. I know that she is so much happier now and finally back home with grandpa.

This is an article my sister sent me from a columnist for the Washington Post. I loved it and thought I'd share.

● Carolyn:
My best friend has a child. Her: Exhausted, busy, no time for self, no time for me, etc. Me (no kids): Wow. Sorry. What'd you do today? Her: Park, play group . . .

OK. I've done Internet searches; I've talked to parents. I don't get it. What do stay-at-home moms do all day? Please, no lists of library, grocery store, dry cleaners. . . . I do all those things, too, and I don't do them every day. I guess what I'm asking is: What is a typical day, and why don't moms have time for a call or e-mail?

I work and am away from home nine hours a day (plus a few late work events), and I manage to get it all done. I'm feeling like the kid is an excuse to relax and enjoy — not a bad thing at all — but if so, why won't my friend tell me the truth?

Is this a contest ("My life is so much harder than yours")? What's the deal? I've got friends with and without kids, and all us child-free folks get the same story and have the same questions.
— Tacoma, Wash.

Relax and enjoy. You're funny.

Or you're lying about having friends with kids.

Or you're taking them at their word that they actually have kids, because you haven't personally
been in the same room with them.

Internet searches?

I keep wavering between giving you a straight answer and giving my forehead some keyboard. To claim you want to understand — while in the same breath implying that the only logical conclusions are that your mom friends are either lying or competing with you — is disingenuous indeed.

So, since it's validation you seem to want, the real answer is what you get. In list form. When you have young kids, your typical day is: constant attention, from getting them out of bed, fed, clean, dressed; to keeping them out of harm's way; to answering their coos, cries and questions; to having two arms and carrying one kid, one set of car keys and supplies for even the quickest trips, including the latest-to-be-declared-essential piece of molded plastic gear; to keeping them from unshelving books at the library; to enforcing rest times; to staying one step ahead of them lest they get too hungry, tired or bored, any one of which produces the kind of checkout-line screaming that gets the checkout line shaking its head.

It's needing 45 minutes to do what takes others 15.

It's constant vigilance, constant touch, constant use of your voice, constant relegation of your needs to the second tier.

It's constant scrutiny and second-guessing from family members and friends, well-meaning and otherwise. It's resisting the constant temptation to seek short-term relief at everyone's long-term expense.

It's doing all this while concurrently teaching virtually everything — language, manners, safety, resourcefulness, discipline, curiosity, creativity, empathy. Everything.

It's also a choice, yes. And a joy. But if you spent all day, every day, with this brand of joy — and then when you got your first 10 minutes to yourself, you wanted to be alone with your thoughts instead of calling a good friend — a good friend wouldn't judge you, complain about you to mutual friends or marvel at how much more productively she uses her time.

Either make a sincere effort to understand, or keep your snit to yourself.

Visiting Nana Betty

FYI the nurse's assistant at a nursing home may not know for sure if a patient is "in the last stages of life."

That's the message my mom received on Thursday. Nana is 85 and we know her health is declining but it was a shock to hear that she may be close to passing. We rushed down to spend the weekend with her. She's not as bad as we had expected and the hospice nurse actually said that she is definitely not in the "last stages" but we are very glad that we got to come see her. It's amazing how child-like she is. Anyway, I am having a hard time figuring out what it is I wanted to say, I wish I could put into words the emotions that I am feeling but it's just not coming to me. So I'll just post some pics and say, I love you nana. What an amazing woman you are.

McKay is such a motherly little girl with such a tender heart. She loves being at nana's side and was so sweet with her, holding her hand and talking to her. It was definitely a precious moment.

What to do, what to do?

I have a trillion thoughts going through my head right now and probably 2 billion things I should be doing other than this but I'm sick... (cough, cough, cough) so I have an excuse not to be doing them, right? So let me declutter my head a bit then maybe I'll have the strength to throw in some laundry or clean up the toilet paper that Luc has so nicely torn up all over the house.

• I want/need to make a quilt for our bed. We haven't had one in a long time, we just throw Seth's old quilt from high school on there and it looks like we're homeless but we're not so I can't really complain. Anyway, I want to make a quilt but I want it to be super simple and non-time consuming but turn out absolutely beautiful. Is that possible?

• Speaking of beds, we bought new sheets this last week. Ikea had an awesome sale 400 count 4 piece sheet set for $9.99! I feel like a queen. I think the sheets we had are like 10 count.

• Kimball told Seth she was fat the other day. It broke my heart. She's not fat. And she's 3!! I think I might focus on my own self-image issues a bit more than I should, especially in front of them. No 3 year old should even be thinking about weight let alone think she looks fat. Ugh. One more thing to try to be better at.

• $13 a week? Seriously? How in the heck am I supposed to stimulate the economy with $13 a week? Hmmm, wait I'm thinking 13x4=52. That's one nice pair of shoes a month. Hey I guess I can try and do my part.

• Octuplets... by choice? I'm not even going to get into the debate of should or shouldn't she have, I'm just saying 3 is more than I can handle most days and 2 of them are potty trained. I'm losing my mind just thinking about it.

Ok that's only about a tenth of it but no Luc needs a nap and his room doubles as the office. Which reminds me of one more thing... I found a house I really like and want to buy, what are the chances it will still be on the market in 4-5 months??? I can always hope.

Will vs Won't

I've been weighing out the likes and dislikes of being a stay-at-home mom, the likes, for me, far outweigh the dislikes. I feel blessed and privileged to be able to be at home with my monkeys. In an effort to remind myself of this honor I have a new little ritual. I have a tendency to think "man I will not miss... when they get older." So I have started following that up with something that I will miss. And it helps. Usually I come up with a list of things that I am dreading the absence of.

Here's this mornings will vs. won't:

Won't Miss: Whining. Whining about any and everything.

Will Miss: Them wanting to be at my side. Sometimes right now this feels like a "won't" but I know the day will come when they would rather be somewhere other than by my side and that makes me sad. 3 little monsters begging for my undivided attention can seem overwhelming but I will definitely miss it when they figure out that being with their friends is way cooler than staying home with mom.

Dang, I'm good.

Warning: I am starting this blog with no real purpose or idea of where it's going. I meant to make my bubble brainstorming chart but never got around to it, so this could be a little discombobulated. (That's an awesome word.)

I took Luc to his 12 month check-up yesterday. Only3 days after his birthday, thank you very much. That's a first with him. He's been late on every check-up so far. And we completely skipped the 9 month one. He was healthy and if they aren't going to poke him what's the point? Anyway, I absolutely love our pediatrician. She is so good.

The first pediatrician I took McKay to drove me nuts. He was an older gentleman, probably in his 60's and he made me feel like such an idiot. He'd say things like "now you need to be careful not to leave her on the bed or couch by herself now that she's rolling she could roll off." Oh really? Thanks Doc I hadn't thought of that. And once I had Kimball, I was informed of his little "no sibling policy." You can't bring other children with you to an appointment. Only the child who's appointment it is. Seriously? In Utah? Give me a break.

Dr. Struble is the exact opposite. Everything I do is pure genius. My kids are the cutest, smartest, most well behaved children in the universe. And it's all because of my outstanding mothering (and if Seth happens to be there, fathering.) Yesterday she said "you are good, you really should have a few more." And when I left I was almost convinced that we really should have a few more, seeing as how I'm such a good mother. So I will continue to drive the 12 miles (20-25 minutes) to take my kids to her. She's worth it. And my self-esteem can always use a little boost.

Hey that blog turned into something that appeared to have a purpose. I didn't know it was in me.

Hot Laundry

I told Seth the other night that a man doing laundry, specifically folding and putting away the piles of it in our bedroom, is super sexy and a total turn on.

He didn't buy it.

Any other suggestions for shirking this motherly/wifely duty? There must be a way to get out of it (besides just letting it pile up and wearing dirty underwear), I just haven't figured it out yet.

The 12 Months of Luc

Totally predictable and not too creative but "they grow up so fast." I can't believe he's already 1. So here are the 12 months of Luc.

February:

We were totally convinced that he would be a thumb sucker... Of course we were wrong.

March:

He was such a good sleeper. If only he could sleep half as well now as he did then. Did I not appreciate it enough? I promise I'd appreciate it now.

April:

Remember when he would just sit there. I don't think he sits still for longer than 30 seconds unless he's strapped in.

May:

I don't remember him being chunky, but he looks really fat in this picture. You can call babies fat and nobody cares. You can also call people fat in Spanish and it's not supposed to be offensive. Although on my mission when the members told me I had gotten "gordita" I didn't take it as lovingly as they tried to make it sound. Oh I forgot, we're talking about Luc.

June:

Baby #1 falls down and we take her to the doctor, baby #2 falls down and we cuddle her and love her and tell her she'll be ok, baby #3 falls down we laugh and take pictures.

July: The binky didn't last very long either. He gave it up at about 9 months and now he just finds joy in taking other babies' binkies.

August:

These jammies were Seth's when he was a baby, isn't he cute, Luc not Seth. But I'm sure Seth was cute in them too.

August:

Nothing better than a baby eating Spaghetti. So cute. We let our kids eat table food really early. Another thing I should probably feel bad about but don't.

October: 7 months and he has already figured how annoying sisters can be.

November:

Climbing. He hasn't stopped since.

December: This should be a picture of him being cute on Christmas morning but instead it's an adorable little wife-beater shot.

January:
Look at that innocent face. I'm sure he didn't just make a huge mess all over my kitchen floor. Good thing he's cute or I'd ship him off to live with his evil aunt.

Happy Birthday my sweet little angel boy.

Luc's Little Predicament

I promise it's worth your time. If you don't laugh out loud there's something wrong with you. Or maybe you're just a nicer mom than me.