I guess my morning wasn't busy enough for ya'll! So when my dad got to my house - we built a swing set! And yes, that is Eric using a drill!!! We were all so impressed with his skills. (If you don't know Eric, just know that the words 'Eric' and 'drill' have never been used in the same sentence before.)
And this is my dad, Grandpa Bob. Fortunately, he is very accomplished with the drill. That's where I get my skills!!
And here's the boys "helping". He he he.... The box came in very handy when trying to keep the them out of the way.
And we're almost finished building! Just a ladder and climbing wall to go.
5:15 am - alarm ringing, jump out of bed and stealthily throw on whatever running clothes I can fish out of the drawer in the dark. I'm sure I look like a clown, but it's too early to care. Eat and hydrate without making a peep or else I'll wake the tantrum beast, Luke.
6:00 am - out the door to meet my partners in crime (aka Jenna and Kayley) to run 10 miles, but first we have to drive to flatter terrain. (It's all good, flat, fun, right ladies??)
7:00 am - wondering: if I sprained my ankle could I possibly get out of this run???? Also wondering: can I get carbon monoxide poisoning from car exhaust while running???
8:20 am - in the shower with Adam.
8:30 am - get out. Get dressed. Get Adam dressed. Get Luke dressed. Get Cameron in her dance clothes. Dry my hair.
8:50 am - get everybody in the car to drive dance carpool.
9:00 am - drop all the girls at dance.
9:10 am - home. Folding laundry.
9:50 am - boys back in the car to pick up girls from dance.
10:10 am - finally get home to put on my makeup and change laundry. Start the daily fight with Cameron over what she can and can't wear to school. "But Mom! These flower tights look so cute with my red and silver sparkly Valentine's shirt!" (eye roll) I have a feeling that Valentine shirt is going to mysteriously disappear very soon.
11:00 am - lunch time. Sponge Bob (Adam) and Patrick (Luke) don't want to get off the boat (overturned patio chair) to eat. Fine - eat on your dumb boat!
11:15 am - change the boys clothes because there's peanut butter everywhere. Adam doesn't want to wear a Pull-Up. (eye roll) Scrub them both down with baby wipes. "Hurry up! You're going to be late for school!"
11:25 am - boys climb into Jenna's car headed for school. Hallelujah.
11:30 am - call Cameron home from Lizzie's house to eat some lunch. "Hurry, hurry, you're going to be late!"
11:55 am - at the bus stop waiting for the bus.
12:00 pm - they're all gone at school for an hour and a half..... I'm actually sitting on the couch alone right now. My dad will be here in a minute, but I'm not moving off this couch till he gets here.
Okay, I'm going to stop my 'day in the life' right here. Maybe I'll catch up later, but now I need to eat again and try to vacuum before the rugrats get back. See you later, Alligator!
Sorry to be so disgusting with the title - but such is my life.... I officially give up on potty training. Luke and Adam will probably be the first boys in drivers ed wearing pull-ups. I can't do it anymore. If anyone has advice for me, I'll take it. Remember when I used to find clever little ways to laugh at potty business?? Those days are LONG GONE. It's not funny anymore. I'm not joking when I say that my blood pressure/stress level are up to heights unseen. I knew it was trouble when I offered my teenage niece $2000 to toilet train the boys and she didn't take it. Seriously, help me, PLEASE! What do I do? The stress of it is making me a very unpleasant person! (and I'm usually such a delight....)
Cameron came into my room a few minutes before bedtime. She picked up a book off my nightstand and opened it up and looked at a few pages and checked out the cover again and said, "Mom, can I take this book to bed so I can read for a few minutes?"
The book was A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. She is my daughter after all!
Cameron: "Dad, Mom said that she wants to poke her eyes out with a stick. You need to tell her that it would hurt."
(This just after Mom had melted down over messy underpants for the fourtieth time of the day.)
Make yourself comfortable, this is going to be a long one. I realize that lately I haven't been particularly funny or my usual, cynical self. I've had a lot on my mind. This blog has been better than any therapy session I've ever sat through - so I'm doing a little soul bearing tonight. (All in the name of therapy.)
Tonight I attended a fireside (for all my non-Mormon friends, a fireside is a church meeting held on Sunday nights - usually a motivational speaker-type thing). Bishop Chris Williams spoke about about forgiveness. If you don't know who that is, please click on the link for a summary of his story. He lost two of his children and his wife, who was 6 months pregnant, last February when a drunk driver hit their car.
In February, when the accident occurred, my own 16 year old brother was in a rehab program after he'd been involved in a drunk driving accident. It's probably not appropriate for me to share much of his story here so I won't say more than that. But I couldn't help but see the similarities between the two stories. My brother was the same age as this other drunk driver and in fact, acquaintances with him. It very easily could have been a situation that our family might have been dealing with. (Gratefully, nobody was hurt to that extent in my brother's accident.) But I've spent a lot of time thinking about what that boy's family is going through.
It sounds strange, and maybe backwards, to be thinking of the drunk driver's family more than the actual victim's family. But that's where my mind has been. So tonight, to hear from Bishop Williams, the love that he has for his family, and this teenage boy's family was so moving. The stories that he shared were so personal, I'd feel weird sharing them on a blog. I will say that I have no doubt that he genuinely has forgiven this boy. Half of his family was taken from him less than a year ago at the hand of a recklessly acting teenager and this man feels such love. How can that be? (And here is where the soul-bearing comes in.)
I have made a lot of friends here in the blogging world. I've shared so much of myself, my family and my friends. And for some reason, I tend to feel hesitant to share my beliefs in my Heavenly Father and our Savior. I believe that our Heavenly Father is mindful of our needs. I believe in the power of prayer and in the atonement of Jesus Christ. I believe that Heavenly Father wants to help us and wants us to be happy. Our lives are so full, sometimes with hard things, but so much good is out there too. There is no way for us to steer around life's trials, but the atonement of our Savior provides us a way to heal and to feel love and forgiveness.
So there's a part of me that some of you have never seen and it's scarier for me to share that than all the crazy things my kids do. (What's wrong with that picture?)
Tonight a woman sang a hymn that is very near and dear to me. It is based on the scriptures in John 14:27; 16:33 and Hebrews 4:14-16. I love the words -
Where Can I Turn For Peace?
Where can I turn for peace? Where is my solace when other sources cease to make me whole? When with a wounded heart, anger, or malace, I draw myself apart, searching my soul?
Where, when my aching grows, where wehn I languish, where in my need to know, where can I run? Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish? Who, who can understand? He only One.
He answers privately, reaches my reaching. In my Gethsemane, Savior and Friend. Gentle the peace he finds for my beseeching. Constant He is and kind, Love without end.
I usually talk about the kids but today it's time to give thanks to the person I call Mr. Wonderful. My husband is the nicest, smartest, strongest (don't under estimate his muscles, when he takes his shirt off he looks like a body builder) and sweetest person in the world.
Whether he's fixing the plumbing, building out our basement or cooking an amazing italian dinner, he's always take time for me and the kids. Sometimes I wish he could just take time to smell the roses. I always feel guilty on the weekends when he's up before 6:00 AM and has already weeded the backyard, trimmed the edges and fed the kids. And that's only the things he does before I get up. He's like the Energizer bunny always cleaning, fixing and in his down time reading his scriptures.
I love you Eric...thanks for being my Mr.Wonderful!
Cameron: "Mom, I have to tell you a secret."
Me: "Okay, what is it?"
Cameron (leaning in to my ear): "Process of elimination. Don't tell anyone."
I remember being newly married looking around my neighborhood and ward at all the stay-home moms. I was so envious of their 'carefree' lives. They didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn to sit at a desk all day. All I could think about is how much free time they must have!
Then I had kids and quickly realized that a 9 to 5 job was a cake walk compared to the 24/7 on call duties of a mom of babies. At least my co-workers at the office wouldn't throw a kicking and screaming fit if I didn't get something done within 5 seconds of the request.
So then I started watching the moms of the elementary school kids. They put their kids on a bus in the morning and got them off in the afternoon. What did they do with all that time to themselves?..... They must be off having lunch and pedicures with friends and seeing matinee movies while eating buttered popcorn. HA!
Granted, my kids aren't in school for the full 8 hours - but I'm getting wiser at this 'greener grass' game. I am realizing that having all the kids in preschool has absolutely nothing to do with me having spare time. There are constantly projects like the VIP booklet for Cameron, fund raiser for the media center, VIP poster for Adam, show and tell, field trips, book orders, room mothers, PTA meetings...the list goes on and on.
Oh remember the lazy days of summer? Before the dreaded parasite? We had it so good for a couple of months. (I don't know if I'll ever get in a pool again.) Really there's no point to this post. I'm just exhausted and venting. (I'm sure running 15 miles last night didn't help. Yea, I had to add that in somewhere. "Good, flat fun" right Jenna and Kayley?)
I had to take Adam in to see his orthopedic surgeon today for his annual check-up. It's amazing to me that still, every time I walk into Primary Children's Hospital, it brings back a flood of raw emotions. I'm like one of Pavlov's dogs only instead of salivating, my blood pressure creeps up a few notches and I'm near tears.
We've come such a long way from where we were two summers ago. Adam was born with what genetics specialists call mid-line malformadies. He had a cleft lip and some spinal abnormalities. He had his first surgery when he was three months old (finally 10 pounds) to fix his lip and two hernias. By the time he was a year old, he couldn't sit or stand or support his weight in any way so his pediatrician decided that it was time to start investigating. We took him to geneticists, a neurologist, an endocrinologist, an orthopedic surgeon and let's not forget the two surgeons who had already operated on him. All of these doctors were incredibly thorough, which I am grateful for. But this also meant tests and tests and more tests. And because Luke and Adam are identical twins - Luke had to do several of the tests too.
Luke checked out fine on everything. Adam had a few concerning things with his growth hormones, his congenital scoliosis and an MRI found that he had sustained brain damage from lack of oxygen to the brain before he was even born. I'm not sure words can describe how devastating all of this was for me. The doctors weren't sure if he'd ever progress from where his development had stalled at about the mentality of a 4 month old baby. It all just felt like too much! I was trying my best to take care of Adam, but there was a two year old Cameron and Luke to take care of too!
***And I totally forgot to mention that both Luke and Adam had Torticollis (a development problem with the neck) which led to Plageocephaly (flat heads) and they both had to wear those awesome helmets for a few months each. I just couldn't leave that out because we were constantly driving back and forth to physical therapy and the helmet maker place for fittings. And let's not forget how hideously ugly those things are. (Yea, Missy, I haven't forgotten.) And all the fighting with the insurance company to pay for these things...and all the bills...
I promise that I'm coming to a point here - not just throwing a pity party.
Needless to say I was maxed out emotionally. I was completely wrapped up in myself and my kids and felt overwhelmed beyond belief. Then one day in December 2005 I was taking Adam back to Primary Children's Hospital for another appointment when I noticed something peculiar. As I was walking down the hall I started noticing other kids in the hospital. They were all over the place, laying in wagons with a tower of tubes and IVs hanging all over them. Lots of kids had bald little heads from their chemo treatments and they were so frail. And here's the amazing part....there were moms there with them and they looked even more tired than I felt. It sounds ridiculous, I know, that I had never really noticed the other patients and moms before. Suddenly flat heads didn't feel like the earth-shattering catastrophe that I'd made it out to be. These moms were hoping their little ones would make it to their next birthday and here I was hoping my son didn't have to wear a dorky helmet.
Now when I go to the hospital I take every opportunity I can to smile at the other moms and especially the kids. It will always be humbling to me to go there. Like I was telling Cameron the other day about running a race, "there will always be someone faster than you and there will always be someone slower, just keep going."
We just signed our kids up to run in a 1K race on September 29th. So this is a fair warning for all of you who say "I would have done that too if I'd known about it." Now you know! We want all our friends to come do it too! Just click on the link and it will give you all the information. It's at University of Utah - don't tell Eric or our kids won't be running...
Yesterday we had a full day! First thing in the morning I went and ran the Wasatch Woman 5K at Thanksgiving Point with a few friends from my neighborhood. I'm finding that I'm not a speedy runner - I'm more of a distance runner. But we had a great time!
This is Mason, Abbie and Paige, then me with Bode Richards and my Cameron on my lap and Natalie (Bode's mom). And yes, my hair is really ugly right now....that's another story.
Anyway - we had such a fun and busy day and I'm wishing that I'd gotten some pictures of us at the race....ooooo, or maybe I'm glad I didn't. The only thing worse than my hair right now is my hair just after running.... not pretty.
This picture is how much my washing machine liked the comforter. Remember that old movie 'Mr. Mom' when the washing machine is practically chasing Michael Keaton? Apparently that's how my day is going. It's completely blocking the laundry room and door to the garage.
This morning I came home from a miserable run to find Luke looking like he had a scary skin thing going on on his face. I rushed over seeing a bruised looking ring on his cheek, wondering when the doctor's office opens. Then Luke says, "Mommy, Adam bit me on my face." For the love! When will Adam stop this??
Every single parent out there can relate to the anxiousness of putting your child on the bus for the first time. You hear all those stories about kids being bullied on buses and it's almost enough to make you drive your little ones to school. Almost. Cameron is the youngest one on her bus because she's not even in Kindergarten, she's in preschool. So you can imagine my horror when I got a phone call from a concerned parent (whom I will keep anonymous).
Me: "Hello?"
Other Mom: "Hi. Did Cameron tell you about what happened on the bus today?"
Me: "Uh, no. Did something happen?"
Other Mom: "My son told me that he was running around the bus today and when I asked him why he told me that Cameron (and two nameless partners in crime, also girls) were hitting him and scratching him with their nails."
Me: "Oh my gosh. I'll call you right back."
I sat Cam down for a talk and she 'can't remember' and 'doesn't know exactly' what happened. So I told her not to move off that chair till she 'remembered.' She must have sat in that chair for over an hour, crying the entire time! The rest of us had eaten dinner and cleaned up while she sat there. Then she cracked and told me that she had indeed hit the boy. I was devastated. The good news is that she was completely devastated too. I made her walk up to the boy's house and apologize to him and his mom. And she couldn't ride the bus or play with friends today.
Where did she get the idea that behavior is okay? I am mortified. This morning, she's been a little better than yesterday and she didn't complain when I drove her to school. We've had countless conversations about it and I hope she's learned a valuable lesson. I just can't bear the thought of my sweet baby being the bully.
We're still in the potty training process (has it ever taken anyone longer than me?). So they had to wear Pull-Ups, but we're hopeful that within a couple of weeks they'll be in big-boy-undies all day.
This afternoon my niece Jessica came over to play with the kids. She's 17 years old and taking a child development class and my kids get to participate for the next semester!! How fun! She took them outside to play with play dough. I got some cute pictures.
Please note that only one of kids is actually looking at the camera.
What a nice day to feel like my kids are getting a little more independent. For so long, this whole motherhood thing has been so overwhelming. Now if we could just conquer the potty thing - we would be home free!!
Last year I had to listen to endless hours of "I got the Sunday Ticket, I got the Sunday Ticket, I got the Sunday Ticket on DirecTv!" (sung to the tune of 'I've Got the Golden Ticket' from Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory) He still has the ticket this year, but the song got lost somewhere (thankfully).
Here is Eric in the zone - don't try to talk to him right now. And here is Jenna's hubby, Raul, with their boys, Gabe and Andrew.
We also had the Meinzers and Bettinsons over, but I didn't think to take a picture before they started leaving. It was such a fun time. I guess I don't hate football season as much when I have all the friends around. One last picture of all the pizza rolls - there were just SO MANY!!!
Can I take a minute to just brag? Who am I kidding? Ya'll are pretty much a captive audience anyway. Jenna, Kayley and I ran 13 miles this morning and we did GREAT! You better believe that I'll be tooting my own horn all day long.
There is nothing in the world like running. Of course, there is a love/hate relationship involved, but I still love it. I love being with friends and having the camaraderie of knowing that you're not alone in the pain and exhilaration. I love the independence of it too. Putting my headphones on and completely zoning out. I love being out before the sun comes up. I love the selfish boost of confidence after completing a long run.
Eric has been calling me Hero all morning and if there's anything better than my husband thinking I'm a hero, I don't know what it is.
Last night I hosted book club at my house. It's so much fun to get together with these girls!! We met living in our townhomes, in Draper, as newlyweds. We've since all moved out of the neighborhood, but we remain close through our book club. When we get together there is little, if any at all, talk about the book. There are many in depth conversations about our kids, husbands and other friends. We have such a great time together!
The book I had chosen this month was The Tale of Desperaux. It is a children's book and I thought it would be an easy read for the end of summer. But I didn't finish it. I love books more than almost anything in the world, but for some reason when it's assigned reading, I can't ever seem to finish the book! And it was even my choice!
Our September book is Twilight. The good news is that I've already read it, so I'm already a head of the game. Our October book is A Thousand Splendid Suns and I'm already 25 pages into that, so it's looking good. If you have a good book recommendation - please send it my way! I LOVE BOOKS!
Anyway, Betty, Shanna, Emily and Valarie - Love you all! Thanks for being such amazing friends! And next month we're going to get a picture of all of us together!
What a spoiled day I had yesterday! I paid to have my house cleaned. You know, the thorough deep cleaning that nobody ever has time to do? Walls, baseboards, blinds, light fixtures, windows...etc. The ladies that I hired are, honest to goodness, polygamists. Certainly not the kind who wear dresses over their pants and braids that wrap around their heads. These ladies are the Big Love (HBO tv series) kind of polygamists. They have acrylic nails and perfectly highlighted hair. And they are, by far, the nicest, most outgoing cleaning ladies I've ever met. They also cleaned better than any that I've hired.
I've always been so intrigued with polygamists. Don't get me wrong, I know that it's illegal. But there is something to be said for people who believe so much in their religion that they choose such a hard path in life. It cannot be easy to live with such scrutiny. I've often wondered if I have the kind of faith to stand by my beliefs in the face of so many trials. Just something I've been thinking about.
The other day I was at Target with Cameron just doing a bit of shopping. We'd been there for a while and had a nearly full cart when Cameron decided that she needed to go potty RIGHT NOW. Can't hold it - right now. So, feeling the urgency, I make a beeline to the front of the store, park the cart and steer Cam into a stall. Ya'll can sympathize with the 'you've got to be kidding me' feeling.
"Phew! Disaster avoided. I deserve a medal. Wow, I did all that within 20 seconds - I deserve a Coke too.... kinda sweaty, gross." I'm thinking all this to myself.
Cameron (from the other side of the stall door): "Mom? Are these the toilets that flush all by themselves?"
Me: "Probably not Cam. You're okay."
Cameron: "No. When I came in, I saw one of them flush."
Me: "Okay, then they can flush themselves - does it matter??"
Cameron: "Yea, I don't like these toilets. I'll just hold it till we get home."
Yesterday Eric and I taught the nursery class at church. We had done the "lesson", snack time, singing time and we were playing toys just waiting for 2:00. I was sitting, nearly comatose, on a chair trying not to fall asleep. Eric was pacing the room singing songs that he doesn't even know the words, let alone the tune. He was grooving along snapping his fingers when Elle (2 years old) started clapping uncontrollably with the goofiest smile on her face. She thought he was dancing for her! She lined up about five of the tiny little chairs, put a doll on each and sat down the enjoy the show. Eric was so excited that he had an audience! He started singing Crocodile Rock and really dancing and basically making a fool of himself all to the pure delight of Elle. I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe! It was hard to say what was the funniest - Eric singing Elton John and doing the twist, Elle clapping like a proud parent at a dance recital or the other kids completely unaware of any of it. Eric is ready to start scheduling play dates with Elle because his own children don't even notice his extraordinary talent anymore.
Cameron: "Mom! We fired marshmallows!!"
Last night Eric took the kids "camping" in the big, bad outdoors. In Eric's parent's backyard to be exact. They set up a tent on the grass, roasted marshmallows in a little fire pit on the patio and told stories with Grandpa! How fun is that? Nothing better than 'firing' marshmallows!
Last summer Cameron got invited to a Build-a-Bear birthday party for one of her friends. I wasn't able to go with them to the actual building site so Cam was completely on her own for designing her bear from the ground up. All of the little girls had chosen white, fluffy kittens rather than bears and decked them out in Hello Kitty jammies or tutus with bows stuck on their ears. But not Cameron. She has always had a very strong sense of style (or sometimes lack of). But I was not prepared for what she brought home from that party. Her bear was wearing a wife-beater tank top with a dragon on it, black wide-leg jeans with a chain going from front to back and enormous white trainers. The only thing that bear was missing was a bloods/crypts bandanna.
Yesterday Cameron came downstairs wearing her school t-shirt backwards. I immediately suggested that we fix it. She would hear nothing of it. She likes the raccoon on the front. When she came home from school I asked her if a lot of the kids were wearing their shirt (they wear them every Friday) and she said, "yes, but I was was the only one like this!"
She's just so darn proud of her individuality, I don't want to take that away from her. Probably her teacher thinks that Cameron's has a blind mother - but I don't care. I have to pick my battles and clothes is not going to be one of those battles. She wore cable knit tights, a long skirt and a hoodie on her first day of school and it was 98 degrees outside! So if you see Cameron looking a little like Punky Brewster, just know that I'm also scratching my head but very proud of her just the same.
