Burdens

In the last LDS general Relief Society meeting, Linda Burton said, "Oh, sisters, we all have burdens to bear and burdens to share." (September 2013)
This phrase as stuck with me over the last few weeks.

Day 3

For weeks ago, I was given a two week challenge to become closer to my Savior. I'm doing awesome, I'm on day 3. It made me think of Elder Bednar's talk from November 2008, Pray Always. In it he says,

There may be things in our character, in our behavior, or concerning our spiritual growth about which we need to counsel with Heavenly Father in morning prayer. After expressing appropriate thanks for blessings received, we plead for understanding, direction, and help to do the things we cannot do in our own strength alone. For example, as we pray, we might:

• Reflect on those occasions when we have spoken harshly or inappropriately to those we love the most.

• Recognize that we know better than this, but we do not always act in accordance with what we know.

• Express remorse for our weaknesses and for not putting off the natural man more earnestly.

• Determine to pattern our life after the Savior more completely.

• Plead for greater strength to do and to become better.

Such a prayer is a key part of the spiritual preparation for our day.

During the course of the day, we keep a prayer in our heart for continued assistance and guidance—even as Alma suggested: “Let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord” (Alma 37:36).

We notice during this particular day that there are occasions where normally we would have a tendency to speak harshly, and we do not; or we might be inclined to anger, but we are not. We discern heavenly help and strength and humbly recognize answers to our prayer. Even in that moment of recognition, we offer a silent prayer ofgratitude.

At the end of our day, we kneel again and report back to our Father. We review the events of the day and express heartfelt thanks for the blessings and the help we received. We repent and, with the assistance of the Spirit of the Lord, identify ways we can do and become better tomorrow. Thus our evening prayer builds upon and is a continuation of our morning prayer. And our evening prayer also is a preparation for meaningful morning prayer.

I love his example, because I almost always need to improve on that. Probably most of us do.

Busy

Would you like to know about my life.  Its been very busy.  My 7 year has turned 8, he has a life, and on top of that is now involved in cubscouts.  My 5 year old has a life, and is learning to read.  My toddler is a toddler so he is a mile a minute and keeps me busy, plus a new baby who wants to eat constantly.  So yes, I'm a little busy.  Plus my baby got blessed the same weekend my 8 year old got baptized in our church.  Then 10 days  later we all drove to Utah to go to my family reunion/grandma's 90th birthday.  Yeah, life is a little busy.

Here are some of our adventures in pictures.  My husband turned 32.  Since I had a new baby, I planned out birthday valentine week ahead of time.  The kids wrote out all their valentines before the baby was born, and I bought pie for my husband, and bought all the presents before the baby.

 J joined the chess club at school and learned lots of about the game, then went to the district tournament, and won third in 2nd grade.  1st place was also in his school class, and according to his teacher they have become quite celebrities.

 The next day he turned 8.  We also had a small birthday party, with three boys, frozen pizza, ice cream sundaes and xbox.  It was the best birthday party ever! as far as being a mom goes.

 We brought cookies into school for his birthday, which his little sister passed out, the next day we ended up at the doctor she had strep.  Awesome huh?

 Dad and J spent the week making a rice crispie treat chocolate chess board cake for the blue and gold banquet at cubscouts.

 The day Nan had strep, Mr. A also had an ear infection, they had been on antibiotics long enough that we all go to go to the blue and gold banquet. It was Ike's first day out if you don't count prek drop off and pick up.

 This picture doesn't show it well, but on day 8 of amoxicillin, Mr. A developed a rash, he is allergic like his daddy.

 At cub scouts J made a bird house he was beyond proud of mad building skills.  Turns out all those first Saturday of the month home depot building days has been very useful for his fine motor skills. He didn't need help from his leaders.

 J and his bestie at J's baptism. We are beyond sad they are moving, because we are all losing friends. :(

 Here is our adorable family at J's baptism.  There was a snow storm that day, March 1, which is only fitting since he was born during a snow storm.

 Grammy and Grandpa came for his baptism, we ended the day at Texas Roadhouse for dinner.

 The next day was Baby Ike's baby blessing.  He is such a happy baby as this picture shows.  (Oh wait, he isn't, that is sarcasm.)

 I've been so busy, this is one of the best pictures I have of him in his blessing clothes.  Maybe if I fade the background... and the foreground. (Turns out cowhide dyed and cut to look like zebra isn't not durable for kids.)

 The day I drove my parents to the airport, Aunt Kim stayed over night on her way to her new job and adventure, Nan was pretty thrilled to talk to her. Those pjs Nan is wearing, are her favorite, they are beyond small.  I think I need to get her some new hello kitty jamies but I'm sure they won't be the same.

 We also had wacky wednesday at school.  She is wearing a bathing suit on top of her clothes, with a tutu, and my socks which were covered with her cowboy princess boots.
(Want to hear the story of the princess cowboy boots?  Last year she fell on a trampoline and wouldn't walk. She told us her friend stepped on her soul.  We eventually figured out what that meant, but I can't remember. We had already been to a few months earlier for when she fell down the stairs and wouldn't walk.  And inbetween both adventures she fell on a playground and broke her arm.  I couldn't bare to take her back if it wasn't actually broken.  So we called up a friend who is a doctor, before he would be home from work we had time to kill, so we took all the kids to Kohls to look for shoes for my husband.  On our way, I realized if she found shoes she liked she would either be cured or know she really needed to see the doctor.  She found this princess cowboy boots which were about three sizes too big in the clearance section.  Instantly she was up running and jumping around. When we took them off she instantly couldn't walk again.  Our friend said she was fine, and she only wore these boots for a week. They are the miracle boots.)

 Its still snowing, somedays. And since its spring, its a wet snow, and the kids can finally build a snowman, instead of the dry winter snow.

 We had the pinewood derby.  J designed the car himself, did most of the work himself including the paint.

Oh I should also mention that since he is growing his eyes are rapidly getting worse, so he just got new glasses 6 months after the last set.  The first was brown, then the next pair blue, now he is on red.  One eye is two clicks worse, and the other three, that was the official report from the dr. 

 In utah we only had time to see one cousin from the paternal side, another red head!  Finally by this point Mr. A's cold from before the baby was born was finally gone! Yeah for runny noses being gone. 8 weeks later.

 Here is the birthday girl, with her great granddaughter and great grandson.  Nan is beyond obsessed with Ike.

 Here's my family with my grandparents.  My grandma turned 90 on Mar 15, my grandpa turns 90 on june 6th.  At one point he said grandma was a cradle robber, it was super funny.

 My brother with Ike

 Another brother with Ike. Who knows if I have a picture of my sister with ike, she has her own baby 7 months older.  Plus I can no longer keep up with my life.

 J and his two year old cousin on dad's side were best buds.  J is awesome at playing with toddlers since he is a big brother. Plus all my kids go to bed early other than J, and this cousin stays up late too.

 My busy life with two babies, both in gray stripes.  This is what we do all day, hang out on the couch taking turns with which one I hold. Mr. A is super good with Ike for being less than 18 months apart.

 And now we are on spring break.  I've been such a lame mom lately with all my pregnancies, I want the kids to have a fun spring break. So I decided we would go the pioneer museum, its free and I've been meaning to take them for about two years.

 My baby was hungry, so I fed him while the kids played in the kids room.  I was trying to get them out to see the second half of the museum, when I saw my toddler trip, in the doorway.  Before he even went down, I knew it was going to be bad.  I knew his head as about to hit an 100 year old SOLID metal door hinge.  As I grabbed him, I knew he would need stitches, luckily my burp cloth from feeding the baby was on the top of the stroller and in arms reach, I grabbed it as I was getting my toddler and shoved it on his gash to keep the bleeding to a minimum.

 Thankfully multiple women helped me.  One buckled Ike back into his carseat that he was laying in, while another got wet paper towels from the bathroom.  One of them was EMT so she helped me get the first aid kit from the front desk and tape up his head until we could get stitches.  I called Brent to tell him we were picking him up from work in a half an hour, and please find the closest insta care. One of the ladies and the manager at the museum helped me get all four kids to the car, which was serendipitously exactly in front of the museum. Also it was nice that the baby was fed, and finished feeding before the toddler tripped.  He needed four stitches, it was a big gash, but apparently he was a trooper and only cried once during the numbing shot.

Yes, my life has been a little crazy since I had my fourth.  I'm not sure its ever going to calm down.  The kids only have 8 more weeks of school.  I'm in shock, my daughter only has 8 more weeks of pre-k. I can't believe she has gone and done it, she grew up on me. She has been in preschool classes since her second birthday (three and half years), and now she is almost done. I can't believe she'll be in kindergarten in the fall.  (My oldest only had one year of preschool, which will probably also be the same with his little brothers.) And today is exactly two months since I've had my baby.  His colic crying peaked at 5 weeks, thankfully its not as bad, and he is a better sleeper.  Unfortunately he has ton of blow outs.  He is looking big and not a newborn anymore.

I would hope life would calm down, but I don't think it will. Brent is about to start traveling for work again.  Plus soon he is going backpacking (sort of). Overall I tell him I'm the best wife ever (for letting him be gone so much). During the summer we'll need to do swim lessons, we are going to visit grammy and grandpa, while Brent and I going to El Salvador, for our 10th wedding anniversary. (Which isn't until December, but we decided it would be easier to take the baby the younger he is. Yes, I'm taking the baby, I'm barely able to leave the toddler. My husband said we could take him since I was sad about leaving him, since he's not two until august. My reply was heck no I don't want to take the toddler, even though I'm sad.) Then once my toddler turns two we'll need to potty train, and we'll be busy with school again.  
Whew.... 
I got to go fold laundry, I have so much laundry!
And prepare 72 hour kits, and a lesson on them, fire season is almost upon us. I'm praying it snows through June, like the first year we moved here.

Eye Color

My daughter has had this romantic notion about the eye color hazel during the last month.  Finally I couldn't take it any longer, I didn't really even know what eye color hazel was.  I looked it up on wikipedia while feeding my baby.  Turns out its a mix between brown and green.  As I read about eye color I found it fascinating. My daughter and I have green eyes.  My husband and sons' have brown.  The last baby I think will have brown, he has navy eyes like his brothers all did as newborns.  My daughter had light blue until she was about 10 months old when they started to go green.  Wikipedia told me, "A study of Icelandic and Dutch adults found green eyes to be much more prevalent in women than in men." I find this so interesting since only the girls have green eyes in the family I created.  My husband's eyes use to be a deep brown color like my oldest boy's, but they have faded over the years, so now they are fairly hazel-y.  Mine use to be a vibrant green, but after high school, they too have faded as I've aged.  Now mine are barely greener than my husband's.  But I know my daughter has mine, because we have a lot of yellow mixed in our green. I love that all my boys have brown eyes. As a teenager I was fascinated to find out I have my maternal grandma's eye color, since my mom has brown eyes. Most of my siblings have either blue eyes like my dad or brown like my mom.  I guess overall I find eye color fascinating, maybe its because I had this random color unlike the rest of my immediate family.

I had a baby

I had a baby.  He is pretty swell. His initals are ish. The first few days he had his nights and days mixed up and we were about to return him, but the place he came from has no return policy, so instead we let him cry during the evening, so he would be tired when we were, and things are going much better now. On a side note, I feel crappy in sweatpants, I'm about ready to put on my jeans even if they don't quite fit yet.  (No not my normal jeans, 18 months ago, I bought new jeans I could wear until my old jeans fit again.)

Everybody is pretty obsessed with him.  Especially the big sister. I think I mentioned this before, but I thought a kid had to be 6 before they were helpful, and finished with their exasperating age.  Not her, its been a night and day different since her fifth birthday.  She is so helpful, being the big sister is a point of pride for her, and she works hard to earn her role. Being older than two brothers has really been good for her. She often puts the pacifier back in when the baby starts crying, its super great.

The little big brother has also been surprising.  Everyone told me, oh he doesn't really know what is going on.  What they don't know is, they don't know what is going on.  From the minute A met I, A has loved I. A is anxiously concerned for Baby I's wellbeing.  When the baby is crying, Mr A wants me to feed him and fix him all better.  Somehow he knows only I can make the baby better.  He has had a cold since before the baby was born, and there has only been about two times Mr. A will not willing turn me over to the baby when the baby needs something.  He is very conscientious of the baby, its very sweet.

The biggest brother also thinks the baby is swell.  He got very nervous right before the baby was born, but has been fine since the baby was born, and is super helpful.  I'm not sure I could handle babies 18 months apart without him.  Everyone should have an 8 year old help them with a new baby. He is a little more hesitant to touch the new baby, then again he is like his momma and doesn't like people in his personal space.

Lastly, my husband has been super awesome with the me and the new baby.  I'm kind of a basket-case this time around, but he has been awesome.  I could share lots of stories, but I'm sure he would be more grateful if I didn't share them all with you.

Lastly, my epidural was super awful the time, well once it work it was fine, but the pain during the application was probably near a 9 or 10.  I'm not sure I've rated my pain that high since my first labor experience that was over 24 hours long.  The pain after it wore off was terrible.  I could barely stay in my hospital bed to sleep, or sit it was so bad. I went to my chiropractor when my baby was only 5 days old, because the pain was so bad.  I think my chiropractor thought I was crazy I was out so soon, but I couldn't stay in with such pain. I would like to hope I'll get to writing my birth story but who knows with as busy as life with four is.  I'm not sure I'll post it on my blog, so if you want to read it you should contact me.  

I'm finally reading again

For months I haven't read anything, I don't know what it was about my third trimester, but I just couldn't get into any books.  
During Christmas my husband started reading Ender's Game to my 7 year old.  My kid could have read it to himself, but as my husband wrote, " I am making him listen to me read them rather than turning him loose for selfish reasons. Basically I can make sure he understands so he likes them more. Too good of literature for him to give up before he gets to the good parts like he tried to do. He wanted to stop reading after a couple of chapters and I pushed him on." I enjoyed listening to my husband enough I told him maybe he should read me Ender's Shadow.  He had been asking me for months to read it, and I just wasn't getting around to reading.  Then he went on a business trip half way through the book.  So I finished the book myself. 

Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In some ways I enjoyed this book more than its companion book, Ender's Game. Ender, the main character of Ender's Game has a lot of love and compassion. Something I personally don't relate to too well especially since he is a small kid. While Bean, the main character in Ender's Shadow is unfeeling and calculated, it personally makes it a more enjoyable book for me. But parts of the book seemed really forced to me to make the plot coexist with the companion book.  Other parts seemed forced in order to keep the shadow series moving.  But like I said I for the most part enjoyed the book.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I reread this book in January of 2014.  My 7 year old kept meaning to read it, but never got around to it.  So I challenged him to a reading race to see who could read it faster.  I was only aloud to read it while he was at school or playing on the computer.  I just barely lost.  Anyway, I think I enjoyed the book more this time, maybe because I was reading it with my kid.
Written in August 2010
This book was fairly good, but I struggled to want to read it.  Even though it wasn't my favorite book, it had some good qualities.  I really liked that one of the central plot themes was it was ok to be dyslexic and have ADHD.  I also liked that one of the characters was described as a bookworm and had dyslexia.

Curtsies & Conspiracies by Gail Carriger

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first book in this series slightly annoyed me, so I'm not sure why I reserved this book from the library.  I was surprised I found this one quite enjoyable.  Maybe because there was more teen romance, it was nice and clean, but what boy does she like more? What boy will she accidentally encourage more?  Will either boy make a move?  These are fairly small plot details but oh this book did not disappoint.  In this book the school goes to London.  The vampires, werewolves, and robots seemed less annoying in this book.  More just random characters thrown in, instead of forced in like the first book.  I'll wait for the third. Also I enjoy that the girls are both girly, and powerful females that can be in control. Yea! girl power.  (I know that sounded so late 90s) 

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this book with my son to help him fulfill a goal he had set in school.  (To find and read books on a 7th grade reading level.) I didn't read it with my son, we read it individually at the same time.  He had already read the abridged version and enjoyed it, so he was totally into the book.  I found the book so boring, but indeed more challenging to read than most of the fiction that is popular right now.  The book was no double spaced, it wasn't on small pages with small margins.  I'm not much of a lover of classic animal literature.  The book seemed to get more and more depressing, which I mentioned to my son.  He told me it gets better, so I forged through, missing Francois and Perrault, needless to say I was thrilled when John Thornton entered the picture. Still it took me an embarrassingly long time to read this book.  Plus I didn't even read all the short stories in the end which my kid did.  I'm lame. 

The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book 2, this time I didn't even keep up with my 7 year old reading it. (I was bogged down in Call of the Wild.) He loved it, the weirder it got the more he loved it.  I quickly read it in fear he would return it to his school library before I finished. I think I probably enjoyed this one more than the first too.  In my opinion these books are more interesting when I look up the Greek Mythology on wikipedia.  

King of Shadows by Susan Cooper
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was another 7th grade reading level book to read at the same time my son was reading it.  It was a fine example of a book, that technically he could read, but emotionally did not get, because of his young age.  During the first 50 pages, I wondered why we were reading this, but then once Nat went back in time to Shakespeare's time, the book got a lot more interesting. The last third me and my son both very much enjoyed.  In fact I was enjoying it enough, that I took the book with me to the hospital so I could finish it before my fourth baby was born.  The minute I finished it, I ordered my epidural.


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One Week

In a week I'll have another baby.  A little odd to think about.  I'm not sure I'm ready for this one.  In preparation, here is day old pictures of my other three. 

 And blogger is super awesome, and doesn't allow to rotate pictures after upload.  Get with the picture blogger.

 This was my fat baby, coming in almost 2 lbs heavier than the others. His hat wouldn't stay on, because he was too big.

I really don't feel ready for this next baby.
How will I take two under two grocery shopping?  How will I make sure all four bathe on a regular basis?  Until #3 was big enough to bath with #2, he routinely bathed only once a week.  Yes, I'm that terrible of a mom, I just couldn't remember to get it in my schedule.
I'm ignoring the horrors of school pick up with two under two, and a 5 year old that likes to cry at any trigger.  Its already an awful daily event, that takes 45 minutes, so you know we'll just add to the madness. This doesn't actually stress me out, I'm either in denial, or pass caring. I'm sure it will get worse, but I'm not sure how it possibly could, so I've made peace.

By the way, I'm not ready, having a baby in the middle of the school year with two children in attendance is super stressful! Like beyond stressful.  But I'm so excited, for #4 to be in our family.  I've wanted my last two close together, this just makes my family seem perfect.  For years, I wondered what the future of my family would be, when I would finally feel like it was the the right time to have another. (I know three years does not seem like a long time for most, and some have to endure much longer, but it was still plenty challenging.)  I regularly got a peaceful feeling of right now your family is perfect... So even though society deems one son and one daughter perfect, I knew in time there would be more.  So now I'm thrilled to have two close together, because that has just never been our path before, but the first couple of months will be crazy!