No Leap Year

You might think this post is for all those people who DON'T get to celebrate their birthday this year, because there is NO February 29th.

It's not.

Although I do feel for you.

Nope, this post is to tell you that at her weight check yesterday, Daisy weighed 12 lbs. 13 oz. What a chunk. Yay! She is officially on the charts now.

0.23 Percentile.

How many calories are feet?

My Second Favorite Flower

I was going to say it was my new favorite flower, but I realized that nothing could ever replace the Daisy, especially after I named a child that, so the Tulip will have to settle for second. But oh, what a second.

Tulips.

You remind me that there was a reason I lived through winter. You promise that flip-flops will be bought again, and jackets left in the closet. You tell me that color is great, that Easter is coming (not to mention Cadbury mini eggs!!!). You remind me of Jesus, and expanses of beauty. I have such happy thoughts when I see you; I can't really describe it. I saw you at Costco and couldn't resist buying you since the weather has been so phenomenal. There were so many of you, I had to share with others...yay!! It was great to share a piece of Spring with my neighbors (and in February at that).



I'm sorry I don't live closer to you all, so the rest of you will just have to settle for pictures. So, gaze long, breathe deeply and remember that Spring is indeed around the corner. Wait, how did a Daisy sneak in there?

It Doesn't Matter if You're Black or White

Grandma came into town last weekend and I thought that would be a great time to get some prints done and give them to her. My film was overexposed and grainier than I would like, but in the end, I still like the pictures (come on...they are of my kids). So enough of my blathering for one post. Here they are. Wait, one more blather; the last picture is a friend of ours, NOT Tyler on a scruffy day.

Dogs? Good for Nothing?

Well, I think she is good for ONE thing, and there it is...



...she makes Robyn happy. Other than that, useless. I mean, what do you get a dog for anyway?

Protection maybe? Yeah, our dog is the size of a rat. Even if she decided to bite someone (which she wouldn't do—she would go hide under the bed), then someone could kick her from here to next week.

I personally would like a dog to clear my yard of rodentia.

Oh, if you are an animal lover, you should stop reading here. However if you don't count garden-eating, hole-digging, disease-carrying vermin as animals, then feel free to continue. Okay, back to rodentia...

I realize this is more of a cat's job, but since Moxy is the size of a cat, I don't see why she can't fill the shoes (or paws, I guess). Just today I saw a vole running around the yard. I hate the stupid voles and they have been burrowing under the snow during the winter and now that the snow has melted you can see a literal maze of pathways in our yard. Stupid voles!

So I tossed the dog out the back door hoping she would do something useful. Moxy proceeded to curl up on the step in the sun. Stupid dog!

So I went outside myself and Moxy dutifully followed. I flipped over a chair and there was the blasted vole. "Get it!! Moxy! Look! Mouse! Fetch! Anything!" I yelled, prodding her with my foot. Yep, the dog rolled over on her back (practically on top of the vole) to have her tummy scratched.

The vole, not much smarter than the dog, moved a few inches away and sat there. I tried again to get Moxy to take some interest in seizing the pest, but I couldn't get her back on her feet. I was holding Daisy this whole time, so it was a bit difficult trying to maneuver the stubborn dog (oh, and I was on the phone with Tyler too, who was telling me to just smash the thing with a shovel, but as much as I hate the things, I can't splatter their guts with my bare hands). I finally wiggled my hand under the dog and picked her up. I put her nose right on top of the still-sitting-there-stupidly vole and low and behold, Moxy attacked, grabbing it in her mouth.

For two seconds I thought, 'Wow, my dog has instincts and everything. Look at her go, I should probably avert my eyes from the carnage.' And then Moxy dropped the rodent and turned away as if to say, "Ew, I just grabbed that thing in my mouth, and hello, it was still ALIVE!" Turns out she is not the predator that she didn't appear to be in the first place. I mean check out that vicious beast.



However, I think her one bite did a number on the vole, because it didn't move much after that, so I scooped it into a jar to make sure it didn't crawl back into some hole (and to save it in case Tyler felt like practicing his shovel smashing later on).

Three is the Magic Number

Well, my eye is still red, but I couldn't put off this post any longer since the birthday has come and gone (although Ivory is convinced it is her birthday still).

Friday was a day of festivities. Grandma came down to celebrate.



The girls love Grandma (in fact I am pretty sure that June said she was sick just so she could stay home and see Grandma arrive). Grandma came early and took Ivory off into a whirlwind of shopping. She tends to spoil the girls rotten but they both enjoy it (the girls and Grandma). I hate to say it, but they may have inherited my shopping gene (every single one of them—okay, it is hard to tell whether Daisy has it, but judging by her skills right now, she would be a better kleptomaniac...that girl grabs anything within reach).

I forced everyone to reconvene at 2:30 so we could go to the Draper temple.



It was such a great experience. Granted the girls were probably most excited by the bus ride to and from the temple, but I think they got some sense of the sacredness of the Lord's house. I had never been to a temple open house before, but I thought it was very well organized (right down to the reception area at the end with refreshments (oh, I take that back...the girls' favorite part was probably the cookies). It is a very beautiful temple, and I plan on going back with Tyler when it is open. I have to admit that without the temple, I wouldn't get to be with this family for eternity and that would be a shame; I am a bit attached.



After we got back home there was a flurry of gift opening, and celebrating. I would say there was cake eating, but the girls were not so hot on the angel food strawberry shortcake. I thought Ivory would love it (since her party theme was Strawberry Shortcake) but she wouldn't even try a bite without a little coaxing.



Oh well, I thought it was pretty good, although anything that calls for a cup and a half of egg whites is not worth making (that leaves about eleven lonely egg yolks).



Happy Birthday Ivory. Here is a note for you:

Ives,

I love the stuffing out of you. You have so much attitude and personality, it is almost overwhelming. You give the best hugs and your giggle is contagious. You are so serious about your likes and dislikes and you understand so much of what is going on around you.



You are a such a cheeser! It is hard to be your mom sometimes...you come with so much drama, but I have to remember that it only takes a second to turn your frown into a smile if I handle it the right way.



You honestly feel bad when you have done something to disappoint me. You are vivacious and exuberant. I love, love, LOVE you! Kisses my cutie (although you would probably be a stinker and turn your head away).

Love,

Mom

Devil Eye

Ug...I have so much to blog about since this weekend was so incredibly busy, but all I want to do is go to sleep. I think I am worn out evidenced by the fact that my devil eye is back.

I usually get the devil eye when I go to sleep with my make-up on. I will usually wake up to a red irritated eye. It is not pink eye, but it looks just as bad (if not worse). I have some drops that help and it clears up in a few days, but in the meantime, I look frightening. Kinda like this.



Well, maybe less red in the pupil and more in the whites of my eye.

I was going to try and find you a picture of a real person, but 1) it was hard to find one and 2) the more searches I did, the worse the pictures looked and the more my eye hurt looking at them. So I am going to put this eye to bed and blog about my weekend another day.

p.s. Everyone else is pretty healthy though. It is just me who is feeling yucky. Wish me luck getting through Monday.

In the Blink of an Eye

3:45 pm: June and Ivory get in an argument and I send them to their beds to think about their decisions.

3:55 pm: June and Ivory are asleep (apparently it is tough work thinking about that kind of stuff).

4:00 pm: Robyn is chatting with me while I feed the baby.

4:05 pm: Robyn is asleep (I guess watching me feed the baby is not the captivating experience I thought it was).

4:10 pm: I am relishing some one-on-one with Daisy before I start dinner. I call Tyler to tell him that three of the kids are asleep (wahoo!!).

4:20 pm: I call Tyler back to tell him that dinner will not be ready when he gets home because I am headed out the door to the doctor's.

(rewind)

4:11 pm: June woke up crying that her ear hurts.

4:12 pm: I made a frantic call to the Dr.'s because I don't want to see an after-hours guy (since I already forked out $100 bucks on Tuesday for three copays, two negative strep-tests (at least that was good news) and more medicine since Ivory's ear infection was not responding to the pink medicine).

4:14 pm: Woke up a grumpy Ivory and put her shoes on.

4:16 pm: Woke up Robyn and dressed her since I didn't think she should wear her leotard to the doctor's.

4:19 pm: Packed kids in the car and thanked my lucky stars that the baby had just eaten so she should be relatively happy for the trip (she was). Remembered I was supposed to be making dinner, so I went inside to call Tyler.

It is amazing how quickly everything can change.

The Butt Battle

Man, it has been a bumpy ride with Daisy's posterior lately. It all started when she went to solids for good because her weight was down (this was right around six months and she is seven months now, so I would say this battle has been going on for about a month). I guess her body wasn't quite used to the solids so she developed a little rash on her bum...which got worse and worse. I finally talked to the doctor and found out it was a yeast rash, but the cream she prescribed didn't really do the trick. It helped with the yeast a little, but other parts were getting redder and redder and almost bleeding.

The main problem in all this was that Daisy was pooping like every twenty minutes (I kid you not). Every time I turned around she had gone again and I was changing a diaper and putting more cream of some kind on her. Her little tush was not getting a break. Then I started wondering how I was supposed to use the cream (specifically the yeast cream here). The directions say to put in on twice a day, and the doctor had said three times. Well, let's do some math: if she poops every twenty minutes, after two applications (or forty minutes later) we are done for the day? That didn't seem right.

And to make matters worse, there was the problem at night. She was starting to wake up and scream because she had a dirty diaper (I don't blame her here in the least. In fact, I considered waking her up to change her, but if she wasn't dirty, I didn't want to interrupt her sleep). So now she had gone from sleeping through the night to getting up regularly at 2 or 3 in the morning and often at 5 or 6 again.

I was at my wit's end. I had had it up to here (you have to imagine me holding my hand somewhere around my forehead). We tried a lot of creams. I mean, pick your poison...



Then we decided to switch diaper brands, AGAIN. We switched when she was little, so I thought we had found a good match, but apparently, it was time to switch again.

And now, I think there may be a light at the end of the tunnel. Her stomach is finally calming down, and I think the new diapers are helping. Last night she got up twice, but each time she was only wet. So now I just have to retrain her to sleep through the night; no problem (blech).
Her little bum is starting to look halfway normal and through it all, she has been such a good baby. I can't imagine how horrible it has been to have a sore bottom for a month, but she has been a trooper.



So, if anyone needs size two in Luvs, we have about 13 diapers left, up for grabs.

Anecdotes

I guess we will just go in birth order today.

JUNE

I was cleaning out some of my old jewelry today and I found a lot of broken necklaces. Young children are hard on jewelry, so I am not surprised at the amount of stuff that is destroyed, but the good news is that beads can be used again (if you have the time, energy, and supplies). I just need to find a spot where I can put all the beads to be used at a later time. June found all the beads in a pile and she sat down to organize and play with them while I took a nap. I woke up to find this self portrait. Pretty creative huh? Tyler likes the toes (anatomically correct).



ROBYN

Robyn says things that make me laugh all the time, and I always forget to write them down, but here is one I caught yesterday.
Moxy was outside finishing her business (yes, Robyn and I were watching again...you have no idea how much she loves that dog), and Moxy was taking her time. I opened the door and Robyn yelled, "Moxy, Moxy, MoooooXY!" Moxy dutifully came running and I heard Robyn mutter under her breath, "Well, that sure got her attention."

Then today, Robyn had gotten out a game and spread the pieces all over the room (typical) and I asked her to clean up. I heard her upstairs coercing Ivory.

Robyn: Just come and help me and I'll give you lots of surprises.

Ivory: I don't need any surprises.

Robyn just hasn't learned that all you need to do is promise Ivory candy and then she will do practically anything.

IVORY

Ivory was finally invited to a birthday party of her very own. We have enough kids that people usually only invite the girl closest in age (and I totally understand that), so June has been to several by herself and even Robyn has been to a few birthday parties, but not Ivory.
Needless to say, she was ecstatic to be invited to a princess party today. Um...too bad she woke up with a fever. I told her that she couldn't go and she was heartbroken. But, I didn't want her to miss out, so I dressed her up anyway, and we delivered the gift.



And she was able to bring a cupcake home (and that is probably why she was going in the first place, so maybe she didn't miss out at all).



DAISY

Yep, still adorable.

Hodge Podge

I got a little behind this weekend, so you get a bit of everything.

Friday night we got together with some friends. We ate good food and played some fun games. And we laughed really hard!!
Since most of you weren't there, this won't mean a lot to you, but I am writing down a few notes because I want to remember.

We played Beyond Balderdash, which was really fun. Here are some of the best moments:

*Defining Haboob (that word alone should get your creative juices flowing). I about died when Tyler started talking about Habeeb's Haboob shop, with an Indian accent.
*Steve saying that the initials G.O.T.A. stood for Get Off The Airplane. Can you imagine a stewardess calmly announcing over the intercom, "Passengers, please G.O.T.A. If you don't know what G.O.T.A. stands for, please refer to page nine of your safety manual."

Ahh...good times.

Saturday, we went over to another friend's house (yes, our babysitter made out like a bandit this weekend), and we played Wii. I have never really played before except some brief bowling at one time. This time we played Olympics and Outdoor Adventure. It was so much fun, but I was so sore the next day; especially my arms. The best moment was probably Tyler and me competing on the floor mat together. We were doing something called the Conveyor and it mainly consisted of running and jumping. It got progressively harder and towards the end we were just jumping around like fools. Our dear friends were going to take a video of us, but fortunately for us all, they didn't think about it until too late and then Tyler died (yes, that is right—I ROCK!!)

Also, (and this really deserves a post of its own) we have been playing with my new camera, a Nikon D90. It is a sweet camera, but it has so many buttons, I will need to do some homework before I figure it all out. However, that doesn't mean we can't play. I'll leave you with some fun shots.
Look at this cheeser.



A scrabble game with June, and yes, I spelled my name as a word.



Oh, and then did I mention that I can't get enough of this baby?



I love how curious she is now. When we put her in the bumbo seat she is always looking around, usually trying to see what we have left within reach.



Yep, just some more cuteness.



Look at that small baby bum in the background (too bad it always seems to have a rash. Speaking of which, does anyone have suggestions for good butt creams—we are having a beast of a time keeping her rash-free).

The Escalator

I love how kids keep things interesting. They give me something to blog about almost daily.

Yesterday, we went to the Mall to do some shopping. Luckily Tyler was with me and he was strolling the baby (normally I have my hands full with Daisy). My kids are like all kids and they are fascinated with the escalator. They would go up and down and up and down if we would let them (we don't). We had just got to the mall and we were trying to decide if we would tilt the stroller and take it down the escalator or go into Dillard's and find an elevator down. I turned to see Robyn take off on the escalator.
Now when I say take off, she literally took off. She had grabbed the moving hand rail from the end and it had pulled her right up and she had wrapped her legs around it to stay on. This is all fine and well until the hand rail starts to descend and Robyn was going down head first. Add the fact that suddenly there was nothing between her and the huge drop off the side. Sometimes there are stairs next to an escalator (in case you prefer walking) but there were none here and it was a loooong drop to the bottom. I looked on the internet and this is as close as I can come to an appropriate idea. There obviously weren't such tight walls at the top or she couldn't have gotten on in the first place, but the height is about right.



It all happened quickly. I simply took several steps down and plucked her off the edge. She was already yelling, "Mom, mom, mom!" since she couldn't get down. It wasn't a big deal and yet I might have saved her life. I held onto her the rest of the way down and then she curled up on my shoulder and sobbed (she was really scared, poor girl). It is moments like this that I am just happy that things turned out the way they did. No one would want to hear the sad version of this story.

Pay It Forward

My friend Kaylene, is having a fun little game on her blog. I'm playing along. So this is how it works..... The first 3 people to leave a comment on this (my) post will receive a hand made gift from me during this year. When and what will be a surprise.
There's a small catch...You knew there would be didn't you? Post this on your blog then come back and leave a comment, telling me you're in. Fun, huh? Remember, only the first 3 comments receive the gift.

p.s. I posted a comment on her blog before reading the whole post, so I am now dutifully putting this on my blog.
moral: Read before you leap.

No Pain, No Gain

Tuesday morning I woke up with what I was sure was the start of a bad sore throat. My kids and husband have been sick off and on, so no doubt it was my turn at last.

But hello, I don't have time to be sick (what mother does?). I weighed my options.

a. Take more vitamin C
b. Take a nap (yeah, like that would happen)
c. Do nothing and let illness overcome me for a few days (not a pleasant option with a busy weekend ahead)
d. Gargle something putrid

I chose option 'd'. I hear salt water can help, but I went with straight vinegar because that is so much nastier. I figured the more revolting, the more the germs would hate it too. The actual gargling wasn't so bad, it was just trying to spit it back out without having the vinegar touch too many taste buds that was the hard part. I can not describe in words how terrible it was. I gagged multiple times and almost vomited.

However, my throat is feeling better—almost like normal. I don't know if I would recommend this solution to others. I don't know if I could do it myself again knowing how bad it is, but I can't argue with the results.

My Italian Luvah or Why People Can't Get Over How Pale I Am

So, we headed back to the doctor's office today. The original errand was to pick up some micro-lipids for the baby, but while I was there I got the most use I could out of the doctor (by the way, I totally LOVE my pediatrician—she is amazing). We weighed the baby (up another 2 ounces, but not past 12 lbs. yet), diagnosed a terrible yeast rash on Daisy, got a prescription for some eye drops that we love (not at all related to the visit), and diagnosed Ivory with yet another ear infection (I guess she was able to will herself another one for some more pink medicine after all).

But what was really funny to me was the conversation I had in the waiting room. The receptionist was watching Ivory run around and was exclaiming over my cute baby (this is normal procedure; Daisy draws a crowd wherever she goes).

Receptionist: So, is your husband brown, because it seems like both your girls have more of an olive complexion?

Me: No, although he does tan well, where I just burn. My second child has my fair skin, but these two seem to have more of an olive tone.

Receptionist: And look at their dark eyes...is your husband Italian?

At this point I was called back to see the doctor so I wasn't able to give this curt remark:

Me: Nope, he is just a normal Caucasian man, but I can see you are having problems believing these are really my children since they don't have my deathly pale vampire skin or my light eyes, but I promise they really did come from my womb...savvy?

Dear God,
Can my next child please have blue eyes, so I can claim one of my children. Oh, and God, I don't wish this pale skin on anyone, so you can still send them with that cool olive stuff.

She Had a Bad Day

I realized as I wrote the title that there are so many girls in this family that you might need some clarification, as to which 'she' I am talking about.
Unfortunately, it was Daisy's turn today.
We got ready for church as usual. Tyler was speaking, so I was already gearing myself up to have all four kids with no help. Women do it all the time, so I figured I could stick it out for one day. And truthfully, the kids weren't too bad while we were in the Chapel. It was just when we decided to leave for a moment.
I was sitting there singing the opening hymn, and I looked over at Ivory and realized that she was in panties today (she still goes back and forth between diapers and underwear, depending on the mood she is in), and that she hadn't used the bathroom since earlier that morning. This meant that she was a ticking time bomb, liable to go off at any moment. I briefly contemplated trying to last through Sacrament meeting, but visions of a wet pew quickly banished that idea. Next problem... I had Daisy and no Dad to hand her to (since he was up on the stand). I thought about handing her to a friend, or maybe June could watch her for a minute. I was thinking about these options as I leaned over to tell the girls that after the song I was going to take Ivory potty, and Robyn chimed in with a, "Oh, I need to go potty too." Fine, we will just take everyone. So after the song, we all filed out. Robyn goes by herself but Ivory needs a bit of help still. I balanced the baby on one knee, and held up her dress. Robyn finished up and Ivory wanted a wipe. I just didn't have the hands I needed, so I put the baby up on the counter and asked Robyn to make sure she didn't roll off.
Six seconds later, I regretted that decision. I was pulling up underwear and I hear the baby start to cry and I turn around to see her on the floor. (!@#!@^&^@#) I'd like to say that I was an understanding mother who didn't make the second child feel like dirt for letting her baby sister fall on the ground (not so much), so shortly there were two children crying (I apologized later). I never would have left her there with the baby if I didn't think she could handle it. It seemed simple...don't let baby roll off. If she rolls toward edge, push her back. For heaven sakes, she only weighs 11 lbs, she can't be that hard to move. Regardless, the damage was done, and it wasn't that serious. Daisy had a rosier cheek on one side, and some hurt feelings which I swiftly cuddled away.
The only good news is that Tyler is thrilled that he doesn't have to worry about being the first person to drop the baby (it has been him with the other three—and when I say 'drop' it usually means 'rolled off the couch' or something like that. I didn't want you people, who have seen Tyler toss our children around, to think he is not responsible).

For Every Up, There Is a Down

It rained yesterday! Rain is not snow, so I think that is good.

I can see half of my lawn again since some of the snow melted.

I went outside without a jacket and didn't have to amputate any limbs.

I took my kids for a bike ride.


. . .


I think I just found a tick in my house.

Landscape Photos

I have been working hard in my photo class. Our first assignment was landscape. I don't know if I have the skill for landscape, but here are a couple that I don't hate. These were taken down at Utah Lake.



This is the one I am turning in for a grade. I really like the sun peeking through the branches.



And then of course, I printed a couple of my favorite subject. I probably want to redo the first one a little lighter.



It was fun to develop the one of Daisy, because everyone was doing trees and landscapes today, so there was this random picture of a baby mixed in and everyone was oooohhing over it. Okay, I can be a little proud of my cute baby right??

Our next assignment is portrait. Excellent. An excuse to take another whole roll of my kids.

Flattered

She's cute, isn't she? I like her a lot, and apparently, she likes me too. I know we get along famously, because she laughs at almost all my jokes and we are attached at the hip (literally). In fact, I just want to eat her up (look at me trying in this picture).



I kind of felt this way with all my babies, but Daisy is the first one who seems to really care when I am gone. With all my children, there have been brief moments of separation anxiety, but I don't remember it happening this young.
I volunteer in June's class twice a month and that means an hour without Daisy (or I guess in her eyes, an hour without Mom). I think of her as such a mellow, pleasant child, that I am always surprised to hear that she cried a bit, or that she was not happy. Deanne mentioned that she did well today (only five or so minutes of crying), but when I dropped her off a second time in one day, I think she had had enough. I was only gone twenty minutes and I came back to find her bawling (sorry Sunny, thanks for loving on her anyway). I think she was honestly sad/mad that I left again.
So this is a bit new to me. I am sure she will grow out of it quickly, I say somewhat glumly. After all, it is flattering to be so loved.



By the way, I am adoring these little leggings I got her.

A conversation while watching the dog go to the bathroom...

Robyn: It seems she only pees and poops.

Me: Do you do more?

Robyn: Uh-huh....throw-up.


There you have it. The wise words of a four year old. Should I tell her that dogs throw-up too?

Do You Ear What I Ear?

Ivory is funny. She LOVES medicine. I'm not sure if she just feels special when she gets a little extra attention when we take her aside to give her medicine, or if she really thinks it works, but she loves the stuff. When she had a bit of a cough the other week, we were putting Vick's Vapor Rub on her feet and chest at night. Well, several nights later, she came crying out of bed because we had forgotten her 'feet medicine'.

"Honey, you don't have a cough anymore," I explained. But that didn't stop her asking for it for several more evenings.

Then she got an ear infection, poor duck. She was very unhappy about the whole thing, but the pink medicine made it all worth it. She was thrilled to get it day and night (you all remember the pink amoxicillin—it really did taste good).



But all good things come to an end and she was very sad when there was no more medicine. She talked about going back to the doctor and getting more, and I really think if she could have willed herself to have another ear infection, she just might have.

Perhaps her willing went astray, because only days later, Robyn got an ear infection. She didn't plan hers as well, and we ended up going to InstaCare on a weekend instead of seeing our normal doctor. And being on that subject, why do Pharmacies open an hour later on Sunday? If you are going to be open, just BE OPEN. Why save yourself an extra hour of sleep and confuse all the people who are used to the pharmacy opening at 9:00 (do I sound bitter?).

And so begins the regimen of Robyn's day and night medicine. I hope Ivory doesn't get too jealous.