r.A.n.D.o.M.

Because I have adult-onset ADD and cannot think straight for more than five minutes at a time, I am now sharing the few random thoughts that are rolling around in my brain.

...

Tonight three Cub Scouts were in the back of my van.  They were chatting about the presence or absence of relatives in the city.  Suddenly one boy piped up and said, "Sometimes I don't wear underwear to bed!"  Then my boy said, "How is THAT relevant to our conversation?"

...

Kate has mastered sitting up on her own.  She loves a particular toy that makes music when it is moved.  Today she had her first experience in a restaurant high chair--it was great!  The other night Kate rolled over in her sleep while still in her swaddle wrap.  She is now getting used to her new sleeping arrangement, sans wrap, and we are getting even LESS sleep than usual.

...

Gavin's thumb is healing quite nicely.  He split his lip on Saturday, and we opted to skip stitches.  The injury kind of looks like a healing cold sore.  Today at breakfast Gavin was talking excitedly about going to kindergarten soon.  We had to explain how that isn't happening.  He got sad and said, "Not ever?"  At least we had good news for him there.

...

Zach announced the other day that he loved recess because he could watch/listen to music videos in his classroom.  We were stunned by this revelation.  His teacher got an angry email.  Today Zach reported that computer usage during recess has been banned.  Score one for the parents.  Zach also confessed that he has a crush at school.  Oh, we are not ready for this!

...

Garry has injured his knee.  It's probably an over-use injury (Garry has been training with the Couch-to-5K program), but he's pretty uncomfortable.  I went to the chiropractor with some back pain on Monday, and the doctor told me my symptoms indicated a bulging disc.  He outlawed the treadmill for a while.  I'm hoping a few chiropractic adjustments will help the pain, but if not, I get to have another MRI to see what's going on.  Isn't that lucky?

...

Lexi is...still two.  Never before has our family seen a child with so much drama and so many opinions.  In her view, I'm the "baddest mom ever" (and not in the 1990's bad=awesome sort of way) whenever she doesn't get her way, which is often.  Oh, that girl...

...

In better news, my endocrinologist appointment is in two days.  Wish me luck!

All smiles

This boy is not going to kindergarten in the fall.  His second round of testing went badly today.  As Gavin fidgeted and fussed during his appointment, I sat in the corner and watched all hopes of early kindergarten fly out the window.  Of course Gavin was oblivious to the fact that his behavior during that hour was limiting his scholastic potential for the next year (at least).  He was just smiling and having a great time--until he wasn't having a great time anymore, and then we left.  He happily skipped into preschool without a care in the world.

Say what you will about boys needing more time to mature, and pushing education before the student is ready, and letting kids be kids.  I know all about it.  I also know that Garry and I had a very specific, very pointed prompting to help Gavin apply for the Early Access program. Apparently God has another plan for Gavin now, and it's our job to figure out that plan.  

Until we do, I'm comforted by Gavin's two-dimpled grins and nap time cuddles.  Things will be okay. I know one four-year-old who thinks so, anyway.

This week in pictures

Monday

Kitchen haircuts.

The promise of spring: tulips.

 

Tuesday

This looks like a boy with an ear infection.

Cub Scout Blue & Gold banquet.

Wednesday

Children who "don't need naps anymore."

Thursday

Silly girls on a snow day.

Session at the Denver Temple.

Almost ran out of gas on the way home.  I've never put more than 16.9 gallons in the van, even with the "empty" light on.

Friday

Sanity break [aka lunch] at Target.

Gavin's sliced thumb, courtesy of a steak knife (he was attempting to cut a banana).  Jennie came to the rescue, patched him up, and saved us the trauma of the ER and stitches.

Daddy's homecoming and celebratory Red Robin dinner.

Well, we made it.  This was an exceptionally hard week for me.  I had many life-saving helpers, though, and they deserve a shout-out.

To Starr, Melissa, Julee, and Karla: Thank you for bringing me dinner and treats.

To Dr. Yochim, Summer, and Jennie: Thank you for patching up my sick and injured kids.

To Melissa, Julee, Jenny, Leah, and Jennie: Thank you for visiting me.

To the random guys on the street: Thank you for helping me shovel my driveway.

To Leah, Jenny, Sharise, Tammie, Janice, Holly, and April: Thank you for watching my children.

To Melissa and Melanie: Thank you for talking me off a cliff.

To Connie and Tana: Thank you for going to the temple with me.

To Holly: Thank you for babysitting for free for five hours while I went to the temple.

To United Airlines and Garry's dirty old car: Thank you for safely returning my husband to our home.

Today

7:00  Kids wake me up.  We eat and get ready for school/the day.  I don't have time for a shower.  Yesterday's clothes will do just fine.

7:55  Zach is asleep on the couch in his pajamas.  I wake him and he cries that he's too tired to go to school.  I make him go.

8:10  I drop off Zach and Tyler at school.

8:20  The girls and I walk Gavin into preschool.

8:35  The girls and I arrive at ABC Pediatrics for Kate's six-month well-check.

9:00  Kate is coughing but doesn't have a fever.  She's declared well enough for immunizations and a flu shot.  She weighs 16 pounds, 13 ounces--the 68th percentile!

9:25  I wonder how Zach is doing at school as we drive home.  When I get home, I put Kate's car seat in her crib, hoping she will sleep there until preschool pick-up.

9:40  Zach calls from school.  He isn't feeling well.  Can I pick him up?

9:41  I call my only neighbor who doesn't work during the day to see if she'll sit with my sleeping Kate.  She's not home.

9:50  The girls and I pick up Zach.  I have deja vu.  It was about this time last year that I picked Zach up from school while attached to an IV pole.  Carrying a car seat is so much easier!

10:15  Kate's awake.  I feed her a bottle.  Zach and Lexi turn the TV on downstairs.

10:30  Kate's asleep.  I crawl in bed for a few minutes.  After a crazy night with Kate and Lexi, I can hardly keep my eyes open.

11:05  Zach stays home with a sleeping Kate while Lexi and I run to preschool.

11:20  The preschool nurse informs me that Gavin had a hearing screening today.  Gavin has a "raging infection" in his right ear.  What???  He's been super ornery, but has said nothing about his ear.  When I ask him about it, he says his ear has been sore for "many days."

11:30  I call ABC Pediatrics to see if my pediatrician (who I saw this morning!) would call in a prescription based on the hearing screening results.

11:40  The answer is no.  Gavin has an appointment for 12:45.

11:45  Lunch.

12:25  My carpool friend returns my call, and we figure out how to handle her son's school pick-up.  It's my day to drive home, but Zach is home and Tyler has an after-school club.  She will get her own Tyler, and I'll get mine.

12:30  Lexi naps in my bed.  Zach naps in his bed.  I wake Kate to go to the doctor's office.

1:30  Yup.  The ear is infected.  The boy, however, is bouncing off the walls, having the time of his life.  I feed Kate a bottle.  Summer, the PA, sends the prescription to the pharmacy.

1:40  We return to sleeping kids.  (Whew.)

1:45  I cuddle a feverish Kate.  I administer Tylenol.  She falls asleep immediately.  Zach wakes up.

2:00  Gavin turns on a show with Zach and I get in bed with Lexi.  I sleep for one glorious hour.

3:00  I wake up because Kate does.  Her fever has broken and she has sweat through her clothes.  She is clearly uncomfortable.  After I change her, she takes her first full bottle of the day.  Lexi wakes up.

3:30  Zach is clearly feeling fine.  I make him practice the piano and start cleaning up the living room.  I work on the kitchen with a sad baby in one arm.


3:50  I finally take a shower.

4:25  I take the girls to pick up Tyler and leave the couch potatoes at home.  We'll run to the pharmacy for Gavin's antibiotic on the way home.  As I'm buckling her car seat straps, Lexi yells, "YOU'RE THE BADDEST MOM EVER IN MY WORLD!"

4:45 Our "quick errand" becomes a lengthy wait at the pharmacy.

5:20  We are f.i.n.a.l.l.y home.  I quickly feed cereal to Gavin and Lexi and attempt to sweep the floor.  I task the big boys with picking up the family room (my lame effort at saving face with the babysitter who knows my house is chronically messy).  I realize my emotional tank is completely empty.

5:35  I use my phone-a-friend lifeline.

5:45  Babysitter Janice shows up.

5:55  Zach and Tyler and I head to the church for the Blue and Gold cub scout banquet, decorated cakes in hand.  Tyler is thrilled to attend his first pack meeting.

7:55  At the end of the meeting, I help clean up tables and take down chairs.  I think to myself that I should take the opportunity to help because I don't have my little kids with me.  And if I help, they'll be asleep when I get home.

8:10  The kids are not asleep when I get home.  They want DADDY.

8:35  Kids are all tucked in, including the scouts who would rather watch a movie and the two-year-old who insists on sleeping [aka NOT sleeping] in my bed.  I draft this.

8:45  I take Tylenol PM (for my massive headache) along with my evening meds, change into pajamas, and hope for good sleep.

Two days down, three to go.

Six months!

Kate is half-way to her first birthday.  She is such a delight in our family, and she was so adorable during our photo shoot this morning that I had a hard time choosing favorites.

At six months, Kate is a somewhat steady sitter, a prolific roller, a grabber, a mouther, a laugher, a good napper, and a consumer of strained vegetables, cereal, and biter biscuits.  She still wakes up 2-3 times a night, with the occasional almost-all-night effort that gives us hope for better sleep.  She sleeps all swaddled up and is soothed by the white noise from her Sleep Sheep.  I seem to take a lot of pictures when Kate is sleeping and eating.

Kate finds her siblings very entertaining and is always thrilled when Daddy comes home.  She smiles with her whole body (just like her mama did when she was little).  She loves the doorway jumper and the exersaucer.  The swing and the bouncy seat are losing favor, though.  Kate rolled all the way across the living room rug last week and bonked her head on the hardwood floor, giving her forehead its first bruise/goose-egg combo.

The other day Kate found her thumb.  She has also discovered her toes and learned how to give slobbery, open-mouthed kisses that I find completely charming. 

This week we found out how much Kate has grown since her four-month check-up.  She gained just over four pounds and is now 16.8 pounds (68%), measures 25.5 inches (42%), and has a head circumference of 17.2 inches (83%).  Kate's rolls make me smile every day.

Story problem

Question:  If my ironing back-log has 18 clothing items, and I iron at the rate of 14 items per hour, how much of my Saturday afternoon can I spend talking to Melanie?

Answer:  Not nearly long enough!

Second chances

I've been thinking a lot about what I was doing a year ago.  It wasn't pretty.  This time last year, my PICC line was infected and I was headed for a high fever and a week in the hospital.  I was so worried about my 13-weeks-gestation little baby.  I'm pretty grateful today for my happy, healthy, roly-poly, almost-six-month-old daughter!

Here are a few belated pictures from the final portion of Tyler's birthday: his "super 8" little pizzas (Tyler's choice for his birthday dinner) and his scrumptious ice cream cake (yes, he chose purple icing).

Garry spoiled me with a dozen roses for Valentine's Day.  I reciprocated with a kitchen knife and a heart-shaped chicken pot pie for dinner.

  

The latest iteration of cooperative bath time includes Kate in a bathing chair.  She loves it.

I'm down to a two-week wait to see the endocrinologist in Denver.  In the mean time, I'm glad to be experiencing far fewer side-effects from my latest drug experiment.  It's always a good thing when I don't have to send an SOS text from the kitchen floor.

And finally, the kind assistant director of TAG at the school district has agreed to re-evaluate Gavin for kindergarten on February 27th.  Since Gavin came down with a fever right after his ill-fated testing session, she was persuaded that the initial interview was not optimal.  We are thrilled for the second chance.

Sad day

For those who were rooting for Gavin's early acceptance into kindergarten, we have bad news.

The evaluation committee liked Gavin's portfolio and selected him for ability testing. Testing happened today. Although he was happy and excited when I left him in the testing room, Gavin freaked out during his evaluation.  He jumped on a chair and started throwing things and eventually ran screaming from the room.  I still haven't been able to get him to tell me what happened--or why.

Garry and I are completely mystified at Gavin's response.  It's kind of like swimming lessons last summer.  We thought he would thrive, but instead he ran the other direction. We are devastated, and are certainly wondering what purpose all of this has in Gavin's progression.

At this point, we are praying for second chances.  As things stand now, we are at the end of the road with Gavin's application.  No kindergarten next year for him.

What now?

True love

My love language is Acts of Service.

Garry knows this.

So on Saturday,

when he cleaned out the nastiest, smelliest fridge EVER,

he was my hero.

And today he's my Valentine.

Love you, Babe.

Awesome EIGHT

Tyler is eight years old today!  Huzzah!

Tyler is an awesome kid.  He has done some big stuff this year with his grade acceleration, and we are just so proud of him.  Although the social transition was rough at first and he's had some challenges at home, Tyler seems to have hit his stride.  He's a happy, helpful, kind, thoughtful kid, and a great part of our family.

Tyler is thriving on the piano.  We took about a two-month break with practicing and lessons (that's what happens when Mom's the teacher!), but now we're back into the regular swing of things.  Last week Tyler finished the Primer level of piano books and has launched into Level 1.  He seems to "get it."  Hand position, note-reading, and a certain finesse just come naturally to Tyler.  I'm excited to see how he progresses on the piano.  I hope he'll develop a life-long love of music.

Speaking of music in general, Tyler is loving his once-a-week music club after school.  The club has 95 second- and third-graders, and they are putting together a musical about inventions from the last century.  Tyler always comes home humming a tune.  He's having a great time.

Tyler is really enjoying the Kindle he bought with his Christmas money.  An e-reader is the perfect toy for a bookworm!  When he's not reading, Tyler loves to build with Legos.  He has an ever-growing gallery of creations on the top of his bedroom dresser and on a shelf in his closet.

Tyler's baptism into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is coming up in March.  We are so excited about Tyler's choice to be baptized, and about the family who is coming to celebrate with us.  If you can read this announcement, consider yourself invited to the baptismal service.

Another part of turning eight is joining our ward's Cub Scout troop.  Tyler is beyond excited about becoming a Wolf and doing exciting things like racing a car in the Pinewood Derby this spring.  No more sitting on the sidelines for Tyler!

We celebrated our very special boy early this morning.  He is thrilled with his art supplies and books from us, as well as Legos and cash from his generous relatives.  We are planning a yummy dinner of his favorite foods and will finish off the night with a fabulous ice cream cake from Cold Stone.

On Saturday, Tyler had a birthday party.  We departed from the norm this year and let Tyler take three friends (plus Zach) to Art Sports for lots of jumping and playing.  After the trampoline extravaganza, Garry took the boys out for ice cream at Cold Stone.  

So far, being eight is pretty great!