Trip to Texas

Wow, I'm really behind on posts! It's pretty late, and rather than grumble about how TERRIBLE my kids were today, I'll just share a few of my favorite photos from our trip to Texas last week for my sister-in-law's graduation from h.s. We had a great time playing in the pool, boating, and celebrating birthdays. The twins turned 2 and James turns 4 in a few days. Sob, sob, I'll no longer be a mother of 4 under 4! We've been back for a week, but I think it'll take another month to catch up! BTW--any one know how to cure a 4 year old boy from acting like a boy?

You lookin' at me?

Justin and his family

Storytime with Grandma & Grandpa

One of my bathing beauties

Andrew gets in the pool for the first time!

Andrew's Blessing

Today we had Andrew's baby blessing. He's a beautiful, happy little boy-- and a very big one at that! At 3 months he weighs in at 13 lbs. --more than double his birth weight of 6 lbs. Justin gave Andrew a beautiful blessing--full of promises and instructions for his whole life. We are so blessed to have this little boy. He is a ran of light to his siblings, parents, and grandparents and we are grateful to be his parents.

Better than finding a $5 in your pocket . . .

My girls don't usually work together this well . . . What could they be up to?

Hum, that looks suspiciously like mom's mother's day candy . . . Yep, it is! Two girls after my own heart. What could be better than finding a treasure trove of chocolate!?

Kate found her own little piece of heaven one day . . . before meanie mommy took it away. She must have learned drinking straight from the bottle from daddy!

The Cabin in May!

The kids and I had a great time at the cabin with my sister Kate, her kids, and my mom. It was perfect weather! The kids' babysitter, Tawyna came along, which made all the difference for me! We had a great time digging in the sand, taking VERY short hikes (notice my double load) and playing around the cabin. What a perfect day!

Birthday Party!

The kids were sooooo excited to help me throw a birthday party for their babysitter Tawnya. It was too much fun. I made turquise and hot pink cupcakes the night before and we (I) sang happy birthday to her. It was a lot of fun for the kids, who are just beginning to understand the idea of birthdays.

It's not all bad . . .

I realized my posts have taken a slightly negative/cynical tone lately. Just for the record, as bad as my last post seemed, I actually consider that day a huge success because I handled it amazingly well. I just thought I'd take a moment to remind myself that there are good days and not matter what--I love and adore my family.

Yesterday was a good day. James played quietly making bead / pipe cleaner caterpillars all morning long. Even Kate and Clara tried their hand at beading. It was so sweet to see their tenacity as they tried and tried and tried to get those beads on!

When Justin had to go back to work after lunch James was so sweet. He said, "Don't go back to work daddy. Stay home. I like you. " This morning Kate and Clara gave so much love to Andrew. They greeted him with a serenade of bonks on the head with their balloons. And bless his soul, he slept right through it. It'll only be a few more years that my kids think, as my sister Jeny once said, "that I'm the Sun, the Moon, & the Stars." This year may be very trying, but I know we'll have lots of wonderful moments to fill in the gaps. I am a very blessed woman.

Calgon take me away . . .

6:28 am I awake 2 minutes before my alarm b/c I hear my husband changing Kate's diaper.
6:41 am I hear all 3 older kids awake--I say good bye for good to my plans to get up before my kids and work out/shower.
7:08 Clara in melt down mode b/c she's tired and hungry. (yesterday she had a temp of 102)
7:45 I shower blissfully ignorant and happy. Clara crying somewhere.
8:08 I realize James has totally filled his underwear with diarrhea. Clara crying somewhere.
8:50 Poop cleaned up. Heading to the dentist. Clara happy. Drugs must be working.
10:20 Leaving the dentist--small filling ends up being 2 huge fillings. Dentist warns I might have some sensitivity when the Novocain wears off.
10:30 Arrive home. Clara in bed. Grandma is pretty sure my 19 year old niece who babysat will never have kids after watching mine.

11:30 James off to school

12:00 Clara up & crying. Kate still sleeping in HER crib.

3:00 Clara still crying. I check on Kate who is now in her sister's crib? (there's 2 feet separating them) and has covered it in diarrhea. I let her sleep.

3:30 I try to put Clara down for a nap

4:00 start cleaning up Kate and poop. Clara awake.

4:15 Kate in shower. Clara splits her lip open somehow. Perfect boy Andrew starting to fuss, but not frantic yet.

4:40 Kate out of shower and in Andrew's crib. Clara in Andrew's crib crying because Kate's in it as well. James in Andrew's crib making Kate cry. James crying because Kate won't give him the laundry basket (the contents of which are now dumped all over the floor). I am frantically trying to finish cleaning the poop infested bathroom. Perfect boy Andrew getting frantic.

5:00 Roast over cooked. Potatoes not even started. Kids are getting mac n' cheese.

5:10 mac n' cheese now all over floor. James in time out. Kate is missing her diaper.

5:20 James asks to play on porch. I say ok.

5:30 I realize James as taken saplings soaking in muddy water and painted the front porch, door and windows with mud. James in time out. Kate is missing her diaper again.

5:35 Front porch washed off. James has taken his juice and poured it out on the window sill. James in time out.

5:45 Clara still crying. Kate missing her diaper again. James may never leave time out again. Novocain has worn off and Tooth is Killing me!

6:03 I go to check on James. He has fallen asleep on his bed in the laundry bag:

6:10 I let Clara & Kate play in the bathroom sink. Hey, at least they're not crying. Except Clara keeps trying to push Kate off the chair.

6:20 Clara alone in bathroom, crying. I take her (while holding Andrew) to the bench at the kitchen table and tell her I'll get her ice cream. I turn my back. She fall flat on her face. I lay Andrew on the floor (now crying) and pick up Clara (now hysterical).

6:30 I notice a suspicious yellow puddle under the chair where naked Kate had been standing.

6:40 Clara to bed.

6:48 Kate and I call Daddy to find out Where in the Heck is he?!?

6:53 Dad home. I survived.

On the positive note today: I spent ample time staring lovingly into Perfect Boy Andrew's eyes. I remembered tummy time for Andrew. I made pretty good Pad Thai from scratch for lunch. I got the Kitchen and a bathroom clean. I didn't cause bodily harm to any one of my children.

A few things I've learned . . .

So, lately I've been doing a lot of learning about being a mom. I thought I would record them for myself, so that someday when I'm sending #4 off to college I can laugh at how I was as a new mom.

Me and #4

1--It's ok to refer to my son as #4. It won't put him in therapy. I'm #4 and I refer to myself that way often. Ditto for letting #4 take naps in a swing, sleep through the night without a diaper change, and not spending every waking moment gazing lovingly into his eyes. (this is from the lady who once cut a onesie off #1 because of a blowout.) The point is, I've learned to stop stressing that every other thing I do with have long lasting negative consequences. Kids are pretty resilient.

#1, #2, & #3 hiding in the closet

2--No matter how hard I try to organize my day, my kids will unorganize it for me. The day I think I'm going to get them to bed a little bit early to get some things done in the evening is the night they'll all start throwing up soon after I put them down. Going with the flow and seizing the moment are going to have to become my mottos. Since I can't predict when I might actually be able to do something, I have to take any chance I can. Like how I should be sleeping right now, not blogging.

#1, #2, & #3 with the queen of "seize the moment" --Grandma Sarah.

How's the bird seed taste kids?

3--I'd probably be a lot happier if I quit trying to get stuff done--you know, like showering, eating, and brushing my teeth. Not exaggerating. If, when all four of my kids are awake, I attempted nothing but sitting on the floor and playing with them, my life would be much less stressful. I might by stinky and hungry, and my house a wreck, but at least I wouldn't be having breakdowns over spilled milk. I don't mean that in the cliche phrase way--I really mean spilled milk.

So, there are the lessons for this week. Don't worry--I'll forget them by Monday and have to relearn it all again. ;) Take care!

Andrew turns 2 months old!

Our sweet little Andrew turns 2 months old today! He's a very "good" baby. He plays for long periods of time in his play gym--when his siblings let him have it that is! He goes to sleep around midnight and sometimes sleeps straight till 6 am. He's started giving me lots of adorable smiles and giggles. All his siblings LOVE to snuggle with him--which involves a lot of defensive manuvers on my part to make sure he isn't over loved.

A hint of a smile:

Why we really need a 3rd bedroom.

How the bedroom should be. How I found it.

Yes, I did stop to take pictures before I fished her out. What kind of mom am I? Poor kids.

Kate and her new-found toys. Complement of James.

So the last few nights James has taken to throwing things in his sister Kate's crib. He has been in various kinds of trouble for this, and none of it seems to be working. The other night (after having gone in about 4 times already) I went into settle the kids down only to find Kate's crib filled with every moveable thing in the room--complements of her brother James. We really need to get his boy his OWN room!

james gives a play-by-play on the egg hunt

Easter 2010

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful day remembering the Resurrection and life of our Savior. I'm still trying to figure out how to help 1 & 3 year olds understand the real reason for Easter . . . Maybe next year. ;)
Here we are on the Easter egg hunt. We missed a huge hail and rain storm by minutes. It was a ton of fun, even if they took awhile to get it!

Why clean the cabinets?

Many of you have responded to my last post wondering why I was cleaning kitchen cabinets at all. Well, it comes down to 2 things: 1) I don't want to be known as the daughter that moved in and trashed her mothers' house, and 2) after waking up from my pregnancy induced stupor I realized my children had "claimed their territory" in my mothers' house by gooifying the walls from about 2 feet on down. And doors. And cabinets. And windows. You get the idea.

How are things going? . . .

So, many people ask me how things are going. And things are going much as expected . . .that is sometimes things are going smoother than I would ever dream, and then sometimes I'm pretty sure there's an asylum with a room waiting for me. ;) So today I was reminded why my expectations for myself should remain VERY low for some time:

3:15 I get out a bowl with the goal of cleaning the kitchen cabinets while the girls and Andrew are still napping.
3:16 James sees the bubbles and wants his own bubbles. I oblige.
3:17 I start cleaning, James wants a scrubber to. I get him one.
3:19 I start cleaning, James gets bubbles on his "flower". I get him a rinse bowl to get the bubbles off.
3:21 I start cleaning again.
3:23 Andrew starts fussing. I shush him and quiet him back down.
3:26 I start cleaning.
3:29 James freaks out about something. I try to figure it out and calm him down.
3:30 I start cleaning.
3:31 Andrew fusses again. I change diaper. Nurse and burp.
3:45 I start cleaning.
3:46 I realize that in my absence James has dumped both large bowls of water out on himself and the floor.
3:48 I get out the floor cleaner. Someone left water in it and it stinks.
3:49 Floor cleaner is picking up water, but also leaking much back out. I empty it and fix leak.
3:52 I finally get water off floor.
3:53 I strip James of his water and dish soap soaked clothing and rinse him off in the kitchen sink so as to not risk waking up girls downstairs.
3:58 I dress James. Girls wake up. Andrew crying.
4:00 I give up on cleaning kitchen cabinets.

Sum: 45 minutes . . .1 kitchen cabinet cleaned.

Yes, I think for my sanity I will have to keep my expectations for myself VERY low for awhile. ;)

This week . . .

Here are a few of my favorite photos from this past week. It's been pretty crazy as a mom of 4 under 4, but we're adjusting mostly, pretty well. ;) Baby Andrew is a gem. He's definitely the easiest kid of the bunch. It's hard to be bad when you sleep 20 out of 24 hours! He weighed in at 6 lbs. 13 oz at his 2 week check up today--up 11 oz. from his birth weight. He definitely got his mom's appetite! Kate and James have taken to little brother very well. They both love to hold and kiss baby brother. Kate especially. She runs to the couch to hold him whenever I come into the room with him. Clara on the other hand . . . well we're working through the jealousy issues. We finally got a photo of her holding him. Before she would whack him in the head or try to throw him off her lap. But she's finally coming around. Here's some pictures!

The bonus of having to buy lots of shoes because you can't pass down shoes between twins:

Lots of boxes to stack up! I found a great deal and got 12 pairs of shoes for $70. Dress shoes and boots for the next year or two.

Daddy took the kids to the cabin for the day to give mom some time off. Here they are in the trail of two forests in an old tree trunk.

The first photo we got of Clara finally holding baby Andrew!

Daddy and kiddos at the cabin

Baby Andrew

Here's our newest arrival! Andrew Lawrence was born at 11:50 am on 02/20/2010. He weighed in at 6 lbs. 2 oz and 20" long. He was a little sleepy and pale at first and spent about 1/2 hour under observation from the NICU team, but then he came right back to mom and dad. He's a great eater, sleeper, & pooper! He was named Slow Poke Jochim for awhile because this delivery was the longest yet! We finally picked a name for him Sunday night. Andrew because we liked & agreed on it, and Lawrence is a maiden name from my Washington pioneer ancestors.
James came to see baby brother in the hospital. He really enjoyed holding & kissing brother and riding in mom's hospital bed. The girls have pretty bad colds, so they stayed at home. Now they love to see baby brother and have their own baby dolls that they love to hold. We're all doing well and adjusting to life as a family of 6!

Spring Cleaning

Here we are cleaning off the deck for everyone to play. You would think I would have learned by now if I bring one, I might as well bring three. It took me three trips inside to get enough brooms for everyone! Does anyone know where to get kid size brooms?

A week in our life . . .

So many cute photos of this week, I thought I'd just make a snapshot of them all. We've had a very eventful week with James starting to ride the bus to school, double ear infections--and the subsequent allergic reaction to the meds, a bad cough for me, keeping me up all night--but now I've got my own power meds so that's starting to get better. Everyone is actually well today so we might all make it to church tomorrow! The kids' current obsession is shoes. They love to drag all of our shoes out and stomp around. It's too cute seeing Kate in my high heals. I'm glad someone is using them!

At my latest Doc. appointment my amniotic fluid levels were borderline low (as opposed to being borderline high, which they had been on the previous ultrasound), so they'll do another ultrasound next week to see if they're still low. If they are, they might induce me. If not, I'll have to wait till I'm 39 weeks. So this baby should come in the next few weeks. I'll just have to hang tough a little while longer! Baby came in at about 5 lbs 15 oz (+/- 13 oz.) on the ultrasound. That's quite a margin of error, so I'm not reading too much into it at this point.

Big bellies all around

Here are some family pics of us all with our big round bellies! The kids think it's pretty funny to put balls up their shirts. James is definitely growing up and turning a little wise guy:

Dad: James! Go pick up your mess
James: No thanks. I'll go to time out.

He's also learned the "daddy says no, go ask mommy" game.

Daddy: No, James. The ball stretches out your shirt. No balls up your shirt.
James: (in his sweetest, sad voice) Daddy, where's my mommy? I need to go find my mommy.
Daddy: (not putting 2 and 2 together) She's upstairs on the computer.

James: (with his sweetest smile) Hi mommy! Mommy, ball up my shirt?
Mommy: (not knowing daddy said no) Okay.

And with that James runs down stairs to show daddy his shirt. What a little minx!

Clara with her "big belly"

James, Kate, Mommy & Clara with our "big bellies"
36 week preggie pics

A week in the life . . .

Well, this week has been to remember! Starting on Wednesday with Clara's double ear infections, continuing on to Friday when all 3 kids and I came down with stomach flu, and concluding on Monday when Justin got the stomach flu and Kate got the regular flu . . . We have been one sick house!
So, I thought it was only appropriate that my 34 week belly shot be as realistic as possible. No I haven't worn make up this week or done my hair, and yes, most days I never made it out of my pajamas. And yes, most days my kids either stayed in their pj's as well, or got to dress themselves. ;) See Kate's stylish composition below:

Kate wearing Grandma's apron (backwards) and her favorite rain boots. Somebody must have said the forbidden words--"outside, bye bye, leaving . . ." Any of these words send the kids dashing for their shoes and coats. I guess we need to get out more. ;) oh--fountain of hair on top of her head is because I tried to do her hair in a pig tail, and she just wasn't having it. She pulled it out as fast as she could. Clara, on the other hand, sits and preens in the mirror checking herself out from side to side when I do her hair. I guess we know who's the tom boy and who's the princess. And just so I can say I warned you--when it comes time to pick soccer teams--you want Kate on your kid's side. And if they're not, you might tell them not to get in her way--she doesn't go around, she goes over. Fast. ;)

I didn't get a picture of Clara this day, but the outfit she picked out for the day was her brother's pajama top and a diaper, one sock, one shoe (not on the same foot). And I was just fine with it, because let's face it--at this point ANYTHING my kids can do for themselves without my involvement it a step in the right direction.

Baby #4 is growing and getting strong. I had a mild week as far as contractions and pregnancy stuff goes, but little boy Jochim seems to be trying to make up for all that quiet time by doing jumping jacks on my bladder. Since I was 29 weeks, I've had 2 trips to the hospital for preterm labor, and 2 more close calls at home (large doses of meds stopped the contractions after about 4 hours) and now I'm 35 weeks tomorrow and officially off bed rest! I'm only dilated to about a 1, but that's ok now, since the doctors wouldn't stop labor anymore. Which means, I get to ignore the 10 contractions I have every time I stand up! Yippee for me! ;P For those of you who haven't had babies--flex every muscle in your arm and then try to write your name. That's me walking around like a penguin all day trying to walk through the contractions--not a very graceful sight.

***

Babies born past this date do just fine and if he was born in another week or so, he might even come home from the hospital with us--a thought I haven't quite come to grips with after preparing myself for a preemie baby who would spend a few weeks in the NICU before we brought our bundle of joy home. All my kids have worn preemie diapers and clothing, and now I have to entertain the thought that we might just START with newborn diapers & clothing! Gasp.

***

I have to thank the battalion of friends and family that have come to my rescue and watched my kids so I could rest these past 6 weeks since I first started preterm labor signs. As many of the sisters in my ward can now attest--it is impossible to watch all 3 of my kids and get any sort of rest. I couldn't have done it without all of you. Thank you again!