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.