Ugh. I have strep throat. I was hoping not, but by this afternoon there really wasn't much of a question and a throat swab confirmed it. Actually, it's ok since at least the ab's should knock it right out!
Anyway, I'm drugged up on some hydrocodone and I'm going to try to sleep. I hope when I wake up I'll feel like a new person.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Hello Everyone,
First of all, happy belated birthdays to Benjamin and Daddy! Benjamin, I wish I could say I thought of you at 5:22 PM (2:22 PM CA time) on the 23rd, which is the exact time you were born, but alas, I was in the throes of caring for sick kids and I did not catch the moment. However, I was aware it was your birthday and now you are officially of Missionary age! Wow! Can you believe you are actually 19? I imagine for a boy, that is such a momentous, anticipated age. Do you remember being a little kid and thinking how grown up the missionary elders were? I remember being startled at 19 when I realized that the boys MY AGE were now on missions. And now all these elders seem so young... I read about your day in your email and I'm glad it was a good one. You continue to be an inspiration to me and I couldn't ask for a better brother.
Daddy, happy birthday to you, too! I know it was your birthday yesterday, and after I sent off my email last night, I felt bad that I hadn't mentioned it. But my internet connection went down again, and so that was that. Did you have a good day? Did your soccer players realize it was your birthday? I must say that you are definitely the youngest 57 year old that I know. Actually, when I mention my parents' ages to my friends, they are all shocked that you are both so young. I guess I must seem old or something! I just hope and pray that I am as energetic and productive and active as you are when I am 57 years old.
Anyway, now for a long and boring update. We seem to have Internet access again. For several days the connection would come and go randomly (mostly go). I even called the cable company to try and get someone out here, but today it has been working almost continuously all day, so maybe it has magically fixed itself.
Ok, so I should give some highlights of the last week. Brigham and Moses got sick last Wednesday morning, both of them throwing up. And of course just one day after I finally finished all my laundry, including blankets and towels! Oh well. That part of the illness only lasted a few hours, though, and by the afternoon they were feeling better. However, by evening Brigham developed a fever and a cough. I left Ben with the boys and went to my exercise class which we have started back up. Our previous teacher couldn't do it anymore since Wednesday nights were like her only night she could spend at home, so I have been nominated to be the instructor. I think it went well and hopefully people will keep coming!
Brigham had a really rough night that night, waking up and coughing so hard that he actually lost the muscular strength even to cough anymore. He just kept letting out these really pathetic-sounding groans as he tried unsuccessfully to cough. Poor little guy. Needless to say, neither he nor I got much sleep that night.
I had kept both boys home from school on Wednesday, and they stayed home on Thursday, too. Brigham battled a fever and cough for a couple of days. On Friday he seemed better, so I sent him and Joseph to school. However in the afternoon he was feverish again, so I guess I really shouldn't have sent him... It was a special day at school, though, because their teacher was being evaluated for her state license and the boys got to stay an extra hour, eat a sack lunch they brought, and even have rest time on blankets they brought from home. They both wanted to go, and it was so fun packing their little sack lunches-- I believe this was the first time I have packed them a school lunch.
After school I took them to Burger King to play at the play place (we only bought drinks since they had eaten lunch), but Brigham quickly began not feeling so good. After a while he just lay down on the bench and told me he was too tired to play anymore. So we went home and I bought "Batman Begins" from Comcast On-demand and we spent a quiet afternoon at home. In the evening Ben came home from work, also feeling pretty miserable. My plan was to have Mosey and Brigham stay home with Ben and go to sleep, and I'd take Joseph on a "date," since he had been cooped up inside so much the past few days. But by the time we were ready to go, Brigham really wanted to go, too, and so I took all 3 boys. We went to Dairy Queen for ice cream sundaes and then grocery shopping. Fun date, huh?
Saturday I went to a Stake Relief Society enrichment meeting, which was a series of classes on relationships. They were very excellent and I came back feeling quite renewed. However, poor Ben was still feeling awful and so the boys had sort of had the run of the house and it showed... I attempted to clean up a bit and then the boys were just at each others' throats having been inside all day, so we decided to take them to the park.
Have I told you about Joseph's obsession with the rock climbing park? There is a park up the road from us that borders onto the Rock Creek lake. There are large coral rocks that line the northern bank of the lake, and there is a cat that has lived there for some time. People leave cans of cat food out for her and she seems to be doing quite well. I always see her when I go jogging. Anyway, Joseph has discovered this cat and is totally infatuated with her! We went to the park last Wednesday and he was wearing his batman cape and hood. We went to see the cat and she just stared and stared at Joseph. I told Joseph that the cat must think he is another cat because his batman hood has ears that look like cat ears. So anyway, every day Joseph has been begging to go back to the park so he could see the cat again. We did go a couple of times this last week, but only saw the cat once. I think she hides in the rocks during the heat of the day.
After the rock climbing park, where we did successfully see the cat, we drove out to a park on the intercoastal waterway where there is a boardwalk leading out through a mangrove forest and ending on a beautiful area of open water surrounded by mangrove islands. It would have been so nice if it weren't for the darn sandflies!! There are no mosquitoes this time of year, but the sandflies were awful. They are these eensy weensy little flies-- smaller than gnats almost, but they bite! You might not even notice one bite, but when there are dozens landing on you and biting you all the time, they get very, very annoying. Luckily they do not leave any lasting welts. So anyway we practically ran down the boardwalk to the end, looked at the beautiful sunset for a couple of minutes, and then ran back. The boys all fell asleep in the car on the way back, so it was a successful outing.
Today I woke up with a terrible sore throat. I have the most irritation-prone tonsils ever! There have been countless times when I have just wished and wished I didn't have tonsils. When I get allergies, my tonsils are most affected. Sore throat-- same thing. So I've been pretty sick today with my throat feeling like it is swollen half-shut. I stayed home from church and slept a little while, but woke up with a pounding headache and couldn't get back to sleep. Ben took the boys to church (and got them ready, too-- thanks Ben!), and stayed after church nearly 2 hours for 5 baptisms. Can you believe it? And these are new members, too, not children already in our ward or anything. The missionaries are doing really well here.
So anyway, here it is Sunday night. I've straightened up a bit to be ready for cleaning in the morning, although there is still a big mess of toys in Mosey's room which I will tackle first thing tomorrow.
Ok, I will attach a few pictures from this past week if my Internet connection holds up. My camera is at the shop now, hopefully getting fixed, so I've had to dig out my old Kodak EasyShare. Man, it is tough to go back to that camera! No zooming capabilities, no way to adjust any settings or anything. But it's still ok and is enabling me to practice with natural window light, which I am getting more and more intrigued with.
All right, that's enough for tonight. Have a good week everyone!
First of all, happy belated birthdays to Benjamin and Daddy! Benjamin, I wish I could say I thought of you at 5:22 PM (2:22 PM CA time) on the 23rd, which is the exact time you were born, but alas, I was in the throes of caring for sick kids and I did not catch the moment. However, I was aware it was your birthday and now you are officially of Missionary age! Wow! Can you believe you are actually 19? I imagine for a boy, that is such a momentous, anticipated age. Do you remember being a little kid and thinking how grown up the missionary elders were? I remember being startled at 19 when I realized that the boys MY AGE were now on missions. And now all these elders seem so young... I read about your day in your email and I'm glad it was a good one. You continue to be an inspiration to me and I couldn't ask for a better brother.
Daddy, happy birthday to you, too! I know it was your birthday yesterday, and after I sent off my email last night, I felt bad that I hadn't mentioned it. But my internet connection went down again, and so that was that. Did you have a good day? Did your soccer players realize it was your birthday? I must say that you are definitely the youngest 57 year old that I know. Actually, when I mention my parents' ages to my friends, they are all shocked that you are both so young. I guess I must seem old or something! I just hope and pray that I am as energetic and productive and active as you are when I am 57 years old.
Anyway, now for a long and boring update. We seem to have Internet access again. For several days the connection would come and go randomly (mostly go). I even called the cable company to try and get someone out here, but today it has been working almost continuously all day, so maybe it has magically fixed itself.
Ok, so I should give some highlights of the last week. Brigham and Moses got sick last Wednesday morning, both of them throwing up. And of course just one day after I finally finished all my laundry, including blankets and towels! Oh well. That part of the illness only lasted a few hours, though, and by the afternoon they were feeling better. However, by evening Brigham developed a fever and a cough. I left Ben with the boys and went to my exercise class which we have started back up. Our previous teacher couldn't do it anymore since Wednesday nights were like her only night she could spend at home, so I have been nominated to be the instructor. I think it went well and hopefully people will keep coming!
Brigham had a really rough night that night, waking up and coughing so hard that he actually lost the muscular strength even to cough anymore. He just kept letting out these really pathetic-sounding groans as he tried unsuccessfully to cough. Poor little guy. Needless to say, neither he nor I got much sleep that night.
I had kept both boys home from school on Wednesday, and they stayed home on Thursday, too. Brigham battled a fever and cough for a couple of days. On Friday he seemed better, so I sent him and Joseph to school. However in the afternoon he was feverish again, so I guess I really shouldn't have sent him... It was a special day at school, though, because their teacher was being evaluated for her state license and the boys got to stay an extra hour, eat a sack lunch they brought, and even have rest time on blankets they brought from home. They both wanted to go, and it was so fun packing their little sack lunches-- I believe this was the first time I have packed them a school lunch.
After school I took them to Burger King to play at the play place (we only bought drinks since they had eaten lunch), but Brigham quickly began not feeling so good. After a while he just lay down on the bench and told me he was too tired to play anymore. So we went home and I bought "Batman Begins" from Comcast On-demand and we spent a quiet afternoon at home. In the evening Ben came home from work, also feeling pretty miserable. My plan was to have Mosey and Brigham stay home with Ben and go to sleep, and I'd take Joseph on a "date," since he had been cooped up inside so much the past few days. But by the time we were ready to go, Brigham really wanted to go, too, and so I took all 3 boys. We went to Dairy Queen for ice cream sundaes and then grocery shopping. Fun date, huh?
Saturday I went to a Stake Relief Society enrichment meeting, which was a series of classes on relationships. They were very excellent and I came back feeling quite renewed. However, poor Ben was still feeling awful and so the boys had sort of had the run of the house and it showed... I attempted to clean up a bit and then the boys were just at each others' throats having been inside all day, so we decided to take them to the park.
Have I told you about Joseph's obsession with the rock climbing park? There is a park up the road from us that borders onto the Rock Creek lake. There are large coral rocks that line the northern bank of the lake, and there is a cat that has lived there for some time. People leave cans of cat food out for her and she seems to be doing quite well. I always see her when I go jogging. Anyway, Joseph has discovered this cat and is totally infatuated with her! We went to the park last Wednesday and he was wearing his batman cape and hood. We went to see the cat and she just stared and stared at Joseph. I told Joseph that the cat must think he is another cat because his batman hood has ears that look like cat ears. So anyway, every day Joseph has been begging to go back to the park so he could see the cat again. We did go a couple of times this last week, but only saw the cat once. I think she hides in the rocks during the heat of the day.
After the rock climbing park, where we did successfully see the cat, we drove out to a park on the intercoastal waterway where there is a boardwalk leading out through a mangrove forest and ending on a beautiful area of open water surrounded by mangrove islands. It would have been so nice if it weren't for the darn sandflies!! There are no mosquitoes this time of year, but the sandflies were awful. They are these eensy weensy little flies-- smaller than gnats almost, but they bite! You might not even notice one bite, but when there are dozens landing on you and biting you all the time, they get very, very annoying. Luckily they do not leave any lasting welts. So anyway we practically ran down the boardwalk to the end, looked at the beautiful sunset for a couple of minutes, and then ran back. The boys all fell asleep in the car on the way back, so it was a successful outing.
Today I woke up with a terrible sore throat. I have the most irritation-prone tonsils ever! There have been countless times when I have just wished and wished I didn't have tonsils. When I get allergies, my tonsils are most affected. Sore throat-- same thing. So I've been pretty sick today with my throat feeling like it is swollen half-shut. I stayed home from church and slept a little while, but woke up with a pounding headache and couldn't get back to sleep. Ben took the boys to church (and got them ready, too-- thanks Ben!), and stayed after church nearly 2 hours for 5 baptisms. Can you believe it? And these are new members, too, not children already in our ward or anything. The missionaries are doing really well here.
So anyway, here it is Sunday night. I've straightened up a bit to be ready for cleaning in the morning, although there is still a big mess of toys in Mosey's room which I will tackle first thing tomorrow.
Ok, I will attach a few pictures from this past week if my Internet connection holds up. My camera is at the shop now, hopefully getting fixed, so I've had to dig out my old Kodak EasyShare. Man, it is tough to go back to that camera! No zooming capabilities, no way to adjust any settings or anything. But it's still ok and is enabling me to practice with natural window light, which I am getting more and more intrigued with.
All right, that's enough for tonight. Have a good week everyone!
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Hey everyone,
For those who are wondering, my finger is doing fine. :-) It just feels a little bruised, but other than that I'm amazed at how little it hurts!
Yesterday was President's Day so the boys were home from school. We did errands including a Sam's Club run, where I treated the boys to pizza. After we got through the line and were finding a place to sit, a lady came up to me (she had been behind us in line) and told me I have the most well-behaved boys she had ever seen at Sam's club! I told her thank you and she said it was a real pleasure to see little boys acting like gentlemen. Yay! Poopy songs notwithstanding, someone thinks my boys are gentlemen! I have to give them credit, they are very well behaved when we are out and about (which is probably why I like to take them out so much-- they are better out than at home!).
Today was cleaning day (since there was no school yesterday), and when we were at Rena's house, she showed me this clipping from a catalog and told me that her son Carter (9 years old) was looking through the catalog and cut out the picture, showed it to her and said, "Hey mom, doesn't this look just like Gabby?" I scanned the picture so you can see (above) and I totally laughed out loud. Yeah, I look like that-- IN MY DREAMS!! But still it was flattering. Completely and totally wrong, but flattering!
Ok, enough brags about myself and my boys. Here's some real honesty. Mosey was being really whiny this afternoon. He was looking at a valentines picture of Rose that the Bradfords sent us (thanks guys!), and kept trying to bend it. I took it away from him several times and told him "No bending the picture!" but he persisted. And yes, he did know exactly what I was saying to him. So finally I took it away from him and put it up, and he threw the biggest tantrum! Tears and everything. I figured he was tired, maybe, so I took him upstairs to try and get him to take a nap. Dozens of songs and stories later, he was no closer to sleep. To make matters worse, Brigham and Joseph came to play in the next room (adjoined by those sliding doors). And then, predictably, they started to fight. As usual, Joseph was doing little things to annoy Brigham and Brigham was completely overreacting and yelling (really shouting!) at me every minute or so, "Hey Mom, Joseph is messing up my train tracks!" "Hey mom, Joseph is putting the tent over my cars!" "Hey mom, Joseph is messing up the blanket on my bed." Try to hear that in your mind's ear in the *most* shrill, whiny, 4-year-old voice that you can imagine. And he cannot just stop there. He must continue to shout this at the top of his lungs until I respond by saying, "Joseph, stop messing up the train tracks!" "Joseph, move that tent to the hallway!" "Joseph, put the blanket back on the bed!" You get the picture. And trying to get a 2 year old down for a nap in the middle of all of this back-and-forth shouting is just really not happening. I was getting more and more frustrated and finally Brigham is yelling for the 100th time about a "stain" on his bed and he needs me to was his sheets and blankets RIGHT NOW, and I just lost it. So there I am literally SCREAMING from Mosey's room, "BE QUIET!!! I DON'T CARE WHAT IS GOING ON, JUST BE QUIET NOW!! I WILL HELP YOU AFTER MOSEY'S ASLEEP BUT UNTIL THEN I CAN'T HEAR YOU. STOP WHINING AND JUST BE QUIET!!!!" Yeah, great Gabrielle. Great way to teach your children to be quiet and well-behaved, by screaming like a banshee. Anyway, they finally were quiet, and Mosey finally did fall asleep, and just as I was extricating myself from him to leave the room, Brigham came up to the door and was crying. In between sobs he said, "Mom, I can't stop crying. I'm trying to be quiet but I can't stop crying."
Ok, bad mommy moment. Really, really bad mommy moment. So I pick him up, take him in my room, lay next to him and hold him and comfort and reassure him as best I can until he is calm. Ugh. So I've been feeling really guilty for the rest of the day. Oh well, tomorrow is another day and another chance to do better, right? And I'm not really emotionally scarring my children for life, right??
Ok, that's it for tonight. Hope you are all having more even-tempered days than I am!
For those who are wondering, my finger is doing fine. :-) It just feels a little bruised, but other than that I'm amazed at how little it hurts!
Yesterday was President's Day so the boys were home from school. We did errands including a Sam's Club run, where I treated the boys to pizza. After we got through the line and were finding a place to sit, a lady came up to me (she had been behind us in line) and told me I have the most well-behaved boys she had ever seen at Sam's club! I told her thank you and she said it was a real pleasure to see little boys acting like gentlemen. Yay! Poopy songs notwithstanding, someone thinks my boys are gentlemen! I have to give them credit, they are very well behaved when we are out and about (which is probably why I like to take them out so much-- they are better out than at home!).
Today was cleaning day (since there was no school yesterday), and when we were at Rena's house, she showed me this clipping from a catalog and told me that her son Carter (9 years old) was looking through the catalog and cut out the picture, showed it to her and said, "Hey mom, doesn't this look just like Gabby?" I scanned the picture so you can see (above) and I totally laughed out loud. Yeah, I look like that-- IN MY DREAMS!! But still it was flattering. Completely and totally wrong, but flattering!
Ok, enough brags about myself and my boys. Here's some real honesty. Mosey was being really whiny this afternoon. He was looking at a valentines picture of Rose that the Bradfords sent us (thanks guys!), and kept trying to bend it. I took it away from him several times and told him "No bending the picture!" but he persisted. And yes, he did know exactly what I was saying to him. So finally I took it away from him and put it up, and he threw the biggest tantrum! Tears and everything. I figured he was tired, maybe, so I took him upstairs to try and get him to take a nap. Dozens of songs and stories later, he was no closer to sleep. To make matters worse, Brigham and Joseph came to play in the next room (adjoined by those sliding doors). And then, predictably, they started to fight. As usual, Joseph was doing little things to annoy Brigham and Brigham was completely overreacting and yelling (really shouting!) at me every minute or so, "Hey Mom, Joseph is messing up my train tracks!" "Hey mom, Joseph is putting the tent over my cars!" "Hey mom, Joseph is messing up the blanket on my bed." Try to hear that in your mind's ear in the *most* shrill, whiny, 4-year-old voice that you can imagine. And he cannot just stop there. He must continue to shout this at the top of his lungs until I respond by saying, "Joseph, stop messing up the train tracks!" "Joseph, move that tent to the hallway!" "Joseph, put the blanket back on the bed!" You get the picture. And trying to get a 2 year old down for a nap in the middle of all of this back-and-forth shouting is just really not happening. I was getting more and more frustrated and finally Brigham is yelling for the 100th time about a "stain" on his bed and he needs me to was his sheets and blankets RIGHT NOW, and I just lost it. So there I am literally SCREAMING from Mosey's room, "BE QUIET!!! I DON'T CARE WHAT IS GOING ON, JUST BE QUIET NOW!! I WILL HELP YOU AFTER MOSEY'S ASLEEP BUT UNTIL THEN I CAN'T HEAR YOU. STOP WHINING AND JUST BE QUIET!!!!" Yeah, great Gabrielle. Great way to teach your children to be quiet and well-behaved, by screaming like a banshee. Anyway, they finally were quiet, and Mosey finally did fall asleep, and just as I was extricating myself from him to leave the room, Brigham came up to the door and was crying. In between sobs he said, "Mom, I can't stop crying. I'm trying to be quiet but I can't stop crying."
Ok, bad mommy moment. Really, really bad mommy moment. So I pick him up, take him in my room, lay next to him and hold him and comfort and reassure him as best I can until he is calm. Ugh. So I've been feeling really guilty for the rest of the day. Oh well, tomorrow is another day and another chance to do better, right? And I'm not really emotionally scarring my children for life, right??
Ok, that's it for tonight. Hope you are all having more even-tempered days than I am!
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Oh man, we'll see how well I can type tonight. I had a little "accident" with my sewing machine tonight... I was mending a sheet (one of my little scamps, you can guess which one, had the bright idea to cut his sheet in HALF! What was he thinking?), and was in a little too much of a rush and somehow managed to impale my left index finger on the needle. Yep, through the nail and out the other side. It took me a while to even get extricated from the sewing machine, and then I had a needle stuck through my finger! Ben called a guy in our ward who is doing his medical residency and he recommended not going to the ER (I only wanted to go hoping they'd numb up my finger before pulling the needle out), but to just pull the thing out and then disinfect and bandage it up. I took a darvocet from after my c-section (knew I kept those for a reason), and iced my finger up as best I could, and then Ben took some pliers and pulled it out. YOUCH!!!!!!! Seriously, this was the most painful thing I've had for quite a while! But the darvocet is kicking in now and all I've got is a dull throb.
So that was the excitement for today. Other than that it was a pretty average Sunday. Yesterday I slept most of the day, and Ben took care of the boys all day long. I was pretty wiped out from the week. Friday we went to the beach and then there was horrific traffic on the way home so I took the boys to eat at Denny's and then went home. They were asleep by the time we got home, and I went to be shortly afterwards. Saturday I don't know what was going on (MS fatigue, most likely) and I just couldn't get myself up. I woke up several times, but sleep just pulled me under again and again. Anyway it was really good to catch up on some sleep and I know the boys had a good time with Ben. They went to the park, tried to catch iguanas, went to see Curious George, and then came back to our house for a delicious dinner of frozen pizza while Melissa and I went to get pedicures. It was my first time ever getting a pedicure! It was very nice, even if my right foot is mostly numb. But when I was finished, I totally and completely forgot to pay. I don't know what was wrong with me. I'm seriously operating at about 1/2 capacity these days. I drove Melissa home, and it was only then that it occurred to me that I forgot to pay! So I raced back to the mall, ran in, and thankfully the place was still open (20 minutes after closing). I paid and apologized profusely and left a big tip. But I felt so bad! I know they must have been totally talking trash about me after I walked out of there. Ugh, I'll never be able to show my face in there again... Seriously, the MS brain fog is a real thing. Scary.
So anyway, that was our weekend in a nutshell. I tried out my camera after letting it dry out several days, and it is not working... Actually everything seems to work on it except the ability to take a picture! The LCD screen works, the menu and functions buttons all work, the flash card didn't lose any pictures, but I just couldn't get the LCD screen to actually show anything through the lens and when I pressed the shutter, the camera recorded only a black exposure. Sigh... So I'll have to send it in I guess to be fixed.
Ok, I'm really out of it now from the darvocet so I better go to bed. Here's to a better day tomorrow!!
So that was the excitement for today. Other than that it was a pretty average Sunday. Yesterday I slept most of the day, and Ben took care of the boys all day long. I was pretty wiped out from the week. Friday we went to the beach and then there was horrific traffic on the way home so I took the boys to eat at Denny's and then went home. They were asleep by the time we got home, and I went to be shortly afterwards. Saturday I don't know what was going on (MS fatigue, most likely) and I just couldn't get myself up. I woke up several times, but sleep just pulled me under again and again. Anyway it was really good to catch up on some sleep and I know the boys had a good time with Ben. They went to the park, tried to catch iguanas, went to see Curious George, and then came back to our house for a delicious dinner of frozen pizza while Melissa and I went to get pedicures. It was my first time ever getting a pedicure! It was very nice, even if my right foot is mostly numb. But when I was finished, I totally and completely forgot to pay. I don't know what was wrong with me. I'm seriously operating at about 1/2 capacity these days. I drove Melissa home, and it was only then that it occurred to me that I forgot to pay! So I raced back to the mall, ran in, and thankfully the place was still open (20 minutes after closing). I paid and apologized profusely and left a big tip. But I felt so bad! I know they must have been totally talking trash about me after I walked out of there. Ugh, I'll never be able to show my face in there again... Seriously, the MS brain fog is a real thing. Scary.
So anyway, that was our weekend in a nutshell. I tried out my camera after letting it dry out several days, and it is not working... Actually everything seems to work on it except the ability to take a picture! The LCD screen works, the menu and functions buttons all work, the flash card didn't lose any pictures, but I just couldn't get the LCD screen to actually show anything through the lens and when I pressed the shutter, the camera recorded only a black exposure. Sigh... So I'll have to send it in I guess to be fixed.
Ok, I'm really out of it now from the darvocet so I better go to bed. Here's to a better day tomorrow!!
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Not much to report on today. Pretty normal day-- school, Target run, home, cleaning, solving fights, etc. When Ben came home we went to Treetops park for a picnic dinner until the ranger came and kicked us out (park closes at sundown which was 6:12 today, apparently, and the ranger was by at 6:14 to tell us to leave!). We went to another park and afterwards drove around for a while, to the grocery store to get a few necessities, to the missionaries because they needed a ride to someone's house, to the gas station, and then pretty much home. Thank goodness the boys were asleep by the time we came home.
Lets see. Oh, there was one interesting thing-- when we were on our way to the missionaries' apartment, Joseph started singing a song. Can you guess what it was about? Yup, you guessed it, poop! This song went on and on-- Joseph and Brigham both took turns making up verses. The verses went something like this: "Pooping at home, pooping at school, pooping on the dog, pooping on the cat, every day everyone poops! Pooping on the potty, pooping in your undies, pooping on the bed, pooping outside, poop is everywhere!" Anyway, you get the picture. And the whole time, when one boy was singing, the other boy was laughing hysterically. I'm really not sure what to do about this. I think it is very normal 4-year-old behavior. If I had only ONE 4 year old, my tactic would be to ignore him completely and this would probably end the problem. However, with 2, each one gets exactly the response he wants from the other, so the thing just keeps going and going! But I have a feeling if I get after them about it too much, it will only become a bigger problem. Any advice? I guess my plan is to ignore it as much as possible when the singing or poop-talking only occurs at home or in the car. But if it starts happening in public, I'll get after them. Why can't they be singing about dinosaurs or even Spiderman and Batman??
Oh, and here is a PSA for all of you out there: If you have a numb leg, be very careful when shaving your legs. I now have a nice big cut on the back of my right knee. It is ugly, but hey, at least it doesn't hurt!!! (You know, numb and all...)
All right, I'm going to bed. I'm going to try very hard to be in a better mood tomorrow. It is outing day so that at least is something to look forward to.
Lets see. Oh, there was one interesting thing-- when we were on our way to the missionaries' apartment, Joseph started singing a song. Can you guess what it was about? Yup, you guessed it, poop! This song went on and on-- Joseph and Brigham both took turns making up verses. The verses went something like this: "Pooping at home, pooping at school, pooping on the dog, pooping on the cat, every day everyone poops! Pooping on the potty, pooping in your undies, pooping on the bed, pooping outside, poop is everywhere!" Anyway, you get the picture. And the whole time, when one boy was singing, the other boy was laughing hysterically. I'm really not sure what to do about this. I think it is very normal 4-year-old behavior. If I had only ONE 4 year old, my tactic would be to ignore him completely and this would probably end the problem. However, with 2, each one gets exactly the response he wants from the other, so the thing just keeps going and going! But I have a feeling if I get after them about it too much, it will only become a bigger problem. Any advice? I guess my plan is to ignore it as much as possible when the singing or poop-talking only occurs at home or in the car. But if it starts happening in public, I'll get after them. Why can't they be singing about dinosaurs or even Spiderman and Batman??
Oh, and here is a PSA for all of you out there: If you have a numb leg, be very careful when shaving your legs. I now have a nice big cut on the back of my right knee. It is ugly, but hey, at least it doesn't hurt!!! (You know, numb and all...)
All right, I'm going to bed. I'm going to try very hard to be in a better mood tomorrow. It is outing day so that at least is something to look forward to.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Hello, hello, hello!
For those who are wondering about my doctor's appointment, the short story is that it didn't happen. The long story is that the address I had for the doctor was wrong. He used to work with this one practice in Kendall, but when I got there (late anyway), the receptionist informed me he no longer worked there. So Mosey and I went back to the car (and I couldn't find where I parked so that was an adventure in and of itself) and drove to the other hospital across town where his new office is. I called his office on the way, but only got the receptionist's voice mail. I explained the situation and said I was going to go there anyway just so I'd know where the office was, and I would reschedule the appointment. So we got there, and it was impossible to park, we actually got the LAST empty parking space in a 6-level parking garage, and walked a mile, it seemed, and finally found the right office. But when I got there, the receptionist had no record of me ever even making an appointment! The only thing she could figure was that one of the hospital volunteers must have been taking phone calls while she was away from her desk, and she obviously didn't know how to make appointments. So anyway, I made a new appointment for March 2. It is just as well, I guess, since I still haven't been able to get my medical records from my old doctor. I'm just going to show up there tomorrow and MAKE someone get them for me!
So anyway, poor Mosey was in the car pretty much all morning. I took him to BK to play in the playland as a reward. He LOVES the BK playland, and still didn't want to leave after we'd been there nearly 2 hours. Mosey also discovered the thrill of elevator rides. He LOVES elevators! In all of our wanderings this morning we took 8 different elevator rides. He would only come out of the elevator when I promised him we'd go find another one. In fact, he was very upset to get in the car after the first hospital because he wanted to go back and ride the elevator again. I told him we were going to drive to another hospital to find more elevators and then he was fine. :-) Whenever the elevator would start and stop he would get this intent look on his face and sort of bend his knees and then do his best attempt at a jump while yelling, "Fun!" He's a funny boy.
Joseph and Brigham stayed at the Curtises after school until I came to pick them up. This afternoon we mostly played outside and then went to the gym when Ben came home. I haven't been to the gym in more than a week so it was good to go back. This whole MS thing has made me quite upset. I'm like half depressed about it and half angry about it. But there is absolutely nothing I can do except make the best of it, and so I am just going to go about my normal life the best I can. Yeah, my leg is numb and weak, but I'm going to go work out anyway! I did 3 miles on the treadmill at about an 8:30 pace (except for the last half mile where I pushed it to a 7:54 pace) which is actually a decent speed for me. There were a couple times when I was a bit wobbly and had to grab onto the side, and when I was done my legs were not happy with me. Both feet were numb and I couldn't walk very coordinatedly, but at least while I was running I seemed pretty good. Then I did some regular arm and shoulder exercises and tried to do back and abs. I like to use this piece of equipment that you can use to work the lower back, obliques, and abs, but the problem is it puts weight and pressure on my hips and lower back, and my right hip and right side of my lower back is really not feeling good. It is hard to explain. I'm half-numb on my skin, but the muscles are really sensitive. It is not a good combination.
BUT, I will stop complaining because at the MS clinic today (the real one), I saw a guy probably in his late 30's who has to shuffle along with a walker, and from the looks of it has also lost bladder control. So I am NOT going to let myself wallow in self-pity when I am still fully functional!
Anyway, it is almost time for me to call in to the conference call to hear Benjamin's mission call! Ben predicts he will be called to Brazil. I think my guess is Checkoslovakia (I'm sure I spelled that wrong). We will soon find out!
Have a good Thursday everyone.
For those who are wondering about my doctor's appointment, the short story is that it didn't happen. The long story is that the address I had for the doctor was wrong. He used to work with this one practice in Kendall, but when I got there (late anyway), the receptionist informed me he no longer worked there. So Mosey and I went back to the car (and I couldn't find where I parked so that was an adventure in and of itself) and drove to the other hospital across town where his new office is. I called his office on the way, but only got the receptionist's voice mail. I explained the situation and said I was going to go there anyway just so I'd know where the office was, and I would reschedule the appointment. So we got there, and it was impossible to park, we actually got the LAST empty parking space in a 6-level parking garage, and walked a mile, it seemed, and finally found the right office. But when I got there, the receptionist had no record of me ever even making an appointment! The only thing she could figure was that one of the hospital volunteers must have been taking phone calls while she was away from her desk, and she obviously didn't know how to make appointments. So anyway, I made a new appointment for March 2. It is just as well, I guess, since I still haven't been able to get my medical records from my old doctor. I'm just going to show up there tomorrow and MAKE someone get them for me!
So anyway, poor Mosey was in the car pretty much all morning. I took him to BK to play in the playland as a reward. He LOVES the BK playland, and still didn't want to leave after we'd been there nearly 2 hours. Mosey also discovered the thrill of elevator rides. He LOVES elevators! In all of our wanderings this morning we took 8 different elevator rides. He would only come out of the elevator when I promised him we'd go find another one. In fact, he was very upset to get in the car after the first hospital because he wanted to go back and ride the elevator again. I told him we were going to drive to another hospital to find more elevators and then he was fine. :-) Whenever the elevator would start and stop he would get this intent look on his face and sort of bend his knees and then do his best attempt at a jump while yelling, "Fun!" He's a funny boy.
Joseph and Brigham stayed at the Curtises after school until I came to pick them up. This afternoon we mostly played outside and then went to the gym when Ben came home. I haven't been to the gym in more than a week so it was good to go back. This whole MS thing has made me quite upset. I'm like half depressed about it and half angry about it. But there is absolutely nothing I can do except make the best of it, and so I am just going to go about my normal life the best I can. Yeah, my leg is numb and weak, but I'm going to go work out anyway! I did 3 miles on the treadmill at about an 8:30 pace (except for the last half mile where I pushed it to a 7:54 pace) which is actually a decent speed for me. There were a couple times when I was a bit wobbly and had to grab onto the side, and when I was done my legs were not happy with me. Both feet were numb and I couldn't walk very coordinatedly, but at least while I was running I seemed pretty good. Then I did some regular arm and shoulder exercises and tried to do back and abs. I like to use this piece of equipment that you can use to work the lower back, obliques, and abs, but the problem is it puts weight and pressure on my hips and lower back, and my right hip and right side of my lower back is really not feeling good. It is hard to explain. I'm half-numb on my skin, but the muscles are really sensitive. It is not a good combination.
BUT, I will stop complaining because at the MS clinic today (the real one), I saw a guy probably in his late 30's who has to shuffle along with a walker, and from the looks of it has also lost bladder control. So I am NOT going to let myself wallow in self-pity when I am still fully functional!
Anyway, it is almost time for me to call in to the conference call to hear Benjamin's mission call! Ben predicts he will be called to Brazil. I think my guess is Checkoslovakia (I'm sure I spelled that wrong). We will soon find out!
Have a good Thursday everyone.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Happy Valentine's Day!!
I hope all of you had a good day. I was thinking back on Valentine's Days of yore, and it was always pretty much a "blah" holiday for me. I never was really bitter or anything, but it just wasn't that great I guess. Except for when I was really little and the whole class had to give Valentine's cards to everyone else and then you got candy... :-) Although I seem to remember a few classes in which the teacher was just really dumb and didn't require all the kids to bring cards for everyone else, and I do remember feeling a little sad when I didn't get as many as others, but that's all in the past now. Valentine's Day with a husband is much better! We're really not huge into Valentine's Day anyway (we didn't exchange gifts or anything), but at least there is someone to say Happy Valentine's Day to and to give and get a hug!
Anyway, yesterday afternoon I was thinking about what I would get for the boys' Valentine's party at school, and I was going to just get some generic Batman valentines or something, but then I had a good idea! So I dragged the boys upstairs for pictures, and they were moderately cooperative, and then I spent last night working on it and managed to get them printed at Walgreens before school today. I'll post the results above. I thought they turned out way cute! I'm slowly but surely learning photoshop. There's probably way faster/easier ways to do some of the things I'm doing, but oh well.
This morning after I dropped the boys off at school I took Mosey upstairs for a Valentine's photo session, and those turned out cute too. I'll get some hard copies printed out for the grandparents reading this! Anyone else who wants a hard copy, let me know and I'll mail you one, too. It only costs me like 30 cents or something to get them printed out so it's not a big deal.
Yesterday the big boys were in quite the mood. I had to get after them quite a bit. We did some errands and I should have known they wouldn't be the most fun errands for them (JoAnn's, Michael's), but still they were stinkers. Then we went to Home Depot which they normally do like but one of the employees there came up to me right after we walked in and told me the boys couldn't sit on the cart (one of those low push carts for carrying big things). I just looked at him and said, "I don't think it is humanly possibly for me to *prevent* them from riding on this." So the guy leaned down and told the boys they had to get off, which they did, except for Mosey. I was just right on the edge of losing it with someone, you know how that feels? Like the next person who crosses me is just going to GET IT. And it just bugged the heck out of me to have some guy tell me that my little kids can't ride on this cart. I mean, come on! It is 6 inches off the ground! And there is just me and 3 kids, please. And if they really are concerned about liability issues (which I'm sure is the basis behind the no-kids-riding rule), they ought to know it is FAR safer for the boys AND for the merchandise if they are confined on the cart and not straggling behind me pulling things off the shelves and stuff. Oh well. Anyway, Joseph got really pouty about not being able to ride, and so as soon as I turned into an aisle, I just told the boys to get back on, which they did, and they were good the rest of the time.
The very sad thing that happened today was that Joseph (in a VERY bad mood because he was up too late last night and had eaten way, way, WAY too much candy) dropped my camera into a bucket of water. On purpose. I was very upset, to put it mildly. I don't think I have ever been so mad at him. I banished him to his room for a very long time until it was time to clean up. As soon as Ben came home he put the boys in the van to go get the missionaries, and of course Joseph fell asleep before they even got back.
Sigh... So I took the batteries out and opened it up as much as possible and I'll let it dry for a few days before trying it out again, but it got really wet. I'm afraid it's not going to make it... I do have a warranty on it, which is good, but still, I am NOT HAPPY. I take pictures almost every day and this is going to leave me without a camera for quite some time.
Anyway, we had the missionaries over for dinner. I did a pink-themed dinner for Valentine's day. Brown sugar-glazed salmon, spaghetti with tomato-cream sauce (evaporated milk instead of cream, btw), strawberry jello with sliced strawberries and cool whip, and then pink-iced sugar cookies and strawberry frozen yogurt for dessert. The boys and the Curtis girls helped to cut out the cookies and decorate them this afternoon. I guess the salmon was a hit because at first all 3 sisters (one was with them on an exchange) declined the salmon saying they really didn't like fish. But then the elders went on and on about it and in the end 2 of the 3 sisters tried it and liked it and went back for seconds! Yay!
Tomorrow morning I have my doctor's appointment. I tried to get my medical records from the other doctor's office but in typical fashion, I was only able to leave a voice mail message for the person in the records office, and also typically, no one called me back. Grrr. My leg is getting worse, though, which is not good. It is actually causing me some pain all the way up to my hip. And I noticed today that the L'hermittes sign is coming back a little, too. Darn it! At least this is giving me a little extra burst of motivation to get medicated and soon!
Hope y'all have a great Wednesday.
I hope all of you had a good day. I was thinking back on Valentine's Days of yore, and it was always pretty much a "blah" holiday for me. I never was really bitter or anything, but it just wasn't that great I guess. Except for when I was really little and the whole class had to give Valentine's cards to everyone else and then you got candy... :-) Although I seem to remember a few classes in which the teacher was just really dumb and didn't require all the kids to bring cards for everyone else, and I do remember feeling a little sad when I didn't get as many as others, but that's all in the past now. Valentine's Day with a husband is much better! We're really not huge into Valentine's Day anyway (we didn't exchange gifts or anything), but at least there is someone to say Happy Valentine's Day to and to give and get a hug!
Anyway, yesterday afternoon I was thinking about what I would get for the boys' Valentine's party at school, and I was going to just get some generic Batman valentines or something, but then I had a good idea! So I dragged the boys upstairs for pictures, and they were moderately cooperative, and then I spent last night working on it and managed to get them printed at Walgreens before school today. I'll post the results above. I thought they turned out way cute! I'm slowly but surely learning photoshop. There's probably way faster/easier ways to do some of the things I'm doing, but oh well.
This morning after I dropped the boys off at school I took Mosey upstairs for a Valentine's photo session, and those turned out cute too. I'll get some hard copies printed out for the grandparents reading this! Anyone else who wants a hard copy, let me know and I'll mail you one, too. It only costs me like 30 cents or something to get them printed out so it's not a big deal.
Yesterday the big boys were in quite the mood. I had to get after them quite a bit. We did some errands and I should have known they wouldn't be the most fun errands for them (JoAnn's, Michael's), but still they were stinkers. Then we went to Home Depot which they normally do like but one of the employees there came up to me right after we walked in and told me the boys couldn't sit on the cart (one of those low push carts for carrying big things). I just looked at him and said, "I don't think it is humanly possibly for me to *prevent* them from riding on this." So the guy leaned down and told the boys they had to get off, which they did, except for Mosey. I was just right on the edge of losing it with someone, you know how that feels? Like the next person who crosses me is just going to GET IT. And it just bugged the heck out of me to have some guy tell me that my little kids can't ride on this cart. I mean, come on! It is 6 inches off the ground! And there is just me and 3 kids, please. And if they really are concerned about liability issues (which I'm sure is the basis behind the no-kids-riding rule), they ought to know it is FAR safer for the boys AND for the merchandise if they are confined on the cart and not straggling behind me pulling things off the shelves and stuff. Oh well. Anyway, Joseph got really pouty about not being able to ride, and so as soon as I turned into an aisle, I just told the boys to get back on, which they did, and they were good the rest of the time.
The very sad thing that happened today was that Joseph (in a VERY bad mood because he was up too late last night and had eaten way, way, WAY too much candy) dropped my camera into a bucket of water. On purpose. I was very upset, to put it mildly. I don't think I have ever been so mad at him. I banished him to his room for a very long time until it was time to clean up. As soon as Ben came home he put the boys in the van to go get the missionaries, and of course Joseph fell asleep before they even got back.
Sigh... So I took the batteries out and opened it up as much as possible and I'll let it dry for a few days before trying it out again, but it got really wet. I'm afraid it's not going to make it... I do have a warranty on it, which is good, but still, I am NOT HAPPY. I take pictures almost every day and this is going to leave me without a camera for quite some time.
Anyway, we had the missionaries over for dinner. I did a pink-themed dinner for Valentine's day. Brown sugar-glazed salmon, spaghetti with tomato-cream sauce (evaporated milk instead of cream, btw), strawberry jello with sliced strawberries and cool whip, and then pink-iced sugar cookies and strawberry frozen yogurt for dessert. The boys and the Curtis girls helped to cut out the cookies and decorate them this afternoon. I guess the salmon was a hit because at first all 3 sisters (one was with them on an exchange) declined the salmon saying they really didn't like fish. But then the elders went on and on about it and in the end 2 of the 3 sisters tried it and liked it and went back for seconds! Yay!
Tomorrow morning I have my doctor's appointment. I tried to get my medical records from the other doctor's office but in typical fashion, I was only able to leave a voice mail message for the person in the records office, and also typically, no one called me back. Grrr. My leg is getting worse, though, which is not good. It is actually causing me some pain all the way up to my hip. And I noticed today that the L'hermittes sign is coming back a little, too. Darn it! At least this is giving me a little extra burst of motivation to get medicated and soon!
Hope y'all have a great Wednesday.
Monday, February 13, 2006
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Bummed, bummed, bummed.
My right leg is acting up quite a bit. Noticed it yesterday and a lot more today. The numbness in my toes never totally went away from my last MS attack, although I really only noticed it when exercising. But now my toes are going numb on/off, and my right foot feels freezing cold all the time (it's not actually cold when I touch it with my hand, but in my foot it feels freezing), and I'm getting those weird tingly/pins&needles/cut-off circulation sensations in my lower leg.
Please, PLEASE let this just be a little thing that does not turn into a full-fledged flare-up! I just got over the last one! Aren't I supposed to have more than 3 months between flareups? It also scares me a lot that maybe this is indicative that my MS is not going to be a really slow-progressing kind. Ugh.
Anyway, for those of you who have been wondering/nagging, I DO have an appointment with my new doctor at 9:45 AM Wednesday morning. Tomorrow I'm going to get my records from the other doctor's office (hoping not to get the run-around on this).
This whole thing is just very frustrating.
On a happier note, we had a great day in Orlando yesterday. We drove up with our ward's youth so they could do baptisms, and I got a session in as well. Only negative was that I had promised the boys we would go either to Downtown Disney or to Oldtown, but the weather was nasty up there. Cold and blustery and rainy. So we kept waiting for the weather to clear up a little and it never did. We did go to the Florida Mall where there was a cool Playmobil store with a bunch of toys out on display for the kids to play around with, and then we ate at Ruby Tuesday, so I think it was ok with them. The boys behaved wonderfully in the car all the way up and down. Joseph actually fell asleep almost as soon as we started back home, and before he fell asleep we told him we would drive by Oldtown to see if it was still open and if there were any rides he could go on. But he fell asleep so we just drove home. Of course, he woke up when we got home and was just so disappointed about not getting to go to Oldtown. His eyes welled up with tears and soon there were these muffled sobs coming from the backseat of the car. Ugh! I just hate disappointing my little guy like that. It hurts my heart. I promised him we'd go for a boat-ride in the lake this morning before church. Of course then we woke up and the weather was cold and miserable HERE, but he was a pretty good sport about it. We WILL go on a boat ride as soon as it warms up a bit.
I've been very naughty with my eating the past couple of weeks, and now have 1.6 lbs to lose again. Sounds like nothing, I know, but it took me like 6 weeks to lose those last 1.6 lbs last time! So starting this morning I am being very good again. Part of the problem was not exercising much last week. And now with my leg being all weird, I'm worried that's going to cut in on my exercise too. Oh well, not thinking about that right now...
I did a photo-shoot with Melissa's 12 year old son last Thursday. It was just at sunset so the light was very orange. I like the lighting, but not the orange cast at all. This is another way in which I am limited by my current camera-- on a better SLR, I could do a white balance in which I calibrate my camera to compensate for color-casts. But anyway, the picture above is one of the ones I did last Thursday. I still need to finish proofing the rest of them, but I thought they were pretty good, especially with a subject who wasn't completely thrilled at being photographed!
The boys were totally hyper tonight just before bedtime. Joseph made up a new new version of "Ring Around the Rosies" which he shouted at full volume while jumping wildly on the bed-- in his birthday suit, no less, having just come from the tub:
Ring around the rosies
Pocket full of poopies
Poopy! Poopy!
We all fall down!
Lovely, eh? Ah, being the mother of 3 boys is always entertaining! This morning Brigham and Joseph were wrestling around yelling, "You're poopy!" "No, I'm not poopy, YOU'RE poopy!" "No, YOU'RE poopy!"
Please! Enough with the poop already! Can I please go 5 minutes without having to think about poop??
Oh, one more thing. Yesterday I went to the distribution center on the Temple grounds and got those books of scripture stories, you know the ones illustrated comic-book style? There's 3 of them, one for the OT, one for the NT, and one for the BofM. Well, the boys seem to like them quite a lot! I'm glad, as I've been trying to find ways to introduce more scripture stories to them. They wanted to read Noah's ark tonight which we did, but then the story of Abraham comes right after and that led into an interesting discussion of God commanding Abraham to sacrifice his son. A little difficult to explain to 4 year olds. Heck, I still don't understand that one!
Anyway, that's it for tonight. I'm going to try extra-hard to go to bed on time to try to nip this MS flareup in the bud.
My right leg is acting up quite a bit. Noticed it yesterday and a lot more today. The numbness in my toes never totally went away from my last MS attack, although I really only noticed it when exercising. But now my toes are going numb on/off, and my right foot feels freezing cold all the time (it's not actually cold when I touch it with my hand, but in my foot it feels freezing), and I'm getting those weird tingly/pins&needles/cut-off circulation sensations in my lower leg.
Please, PLEASE let this just be a little thing that does not turn into a full-fledged flare-up! I just got over the last one! Aren't I supposed to have more than 3 months between flareups? It also scares me a lot that maybe this is indicative that my MS is not going to be a really slow-progressing kind. Ugh.
Anyway, for those of you who have been wondering/nagging, I DO have an appointment with my new doctor at 9:45 AM Wednesday morning. Tomorrow I'm going to get my records from the other doctor's office (hoping not to get the run-around on this).
This whole thing is just very frustrating.
On a happier note, we had a great day in Orlando yesterday. We drove up with our ward's youth so they could do baptisms, and I got a session in as well. Only negative was that I had promised the boys we would go either to Downtown Disney or to Oldtown, but the weather was nasty up there. Cold and blustery and rainy. So we kept waiting for the weather to clear up a little and it never did. We did go to the Florida Mall where there was a cool Playmobil store with a bunch of toys out on display for the kids to play around with, and then we ate at Ruby Tuesday, so I think it was ok with them. The boys behaved wonderfully in the car all the way up and down. Joseph actually fell asleep almost as soon as we started back home, and before he fell asleep we told him we would drive by Oldtown to see if it was still open and if there were any rides he could go on. But he fell asleep so we just drove home. Of course, he woke up when we got home and was just so disappointed about not getting to go to Oldtown. His eyes welled up with tears and soon there were these muffled sobs coming from the backseat of the car. Ugh! I just hate disappointing my little guy like that. It hurts my heart. I promised him we'd go for a boat-ride in the lake this morning before church. Of course then we woke up and the weather was cold and miserable HERE, but he was a pretty good sport about it. We WILL go on a boat ride as soon as it warms up a bit.
I've been very naughty with my eating the past couple of weeks, and now have 1.6 lbs to lose again. Sounds like nothing, I know, but it took me like 6 weeks to lose those last 1.6 lbs last time! So starting this morning I am being very good again. Part of the problem was not exercising much last week. And now with my leg being all weird, I'm worried that's going to cut in on my exercise too. Oh well, not thinking about that right now...
I did a photo-shoot with Melissa's 12 year old son last Thursday. It was just at sunset so the light was very orange. I like the lighting, but not the orange cast at all. This is another way in which I am limited by my current camera-- on a better SLR, I could do a white balance in which I calibrate my camera to compensate for color-casts. But anyway, the picture above is one of the ones I did last Thursday. I still need to finish proofing the rest of them, but I thought they were pretty good, especially with a subject who wasn't completely thrilled at being photographed!
The boys were totally hyper tonight just before bedtime. Joseph made up a new new version of "Ring Around the Rosies" which he shouted at full volume while jumping wildly on the bed-- in his birthday suit, no less, having just come from the tub:
Ring around the rosies
Pocket full of poopies
Poopy! Poopy!
We all fall down!
Lovely, eh? Ah, being the mother of 3 boys is always entertaining! This morning Brigham and Joseph were wrestling around yelling, "You're poopy!" "No, I'm not poopy, YOU'RE poopy!" "No, YOU'RE poopy!"
Please! Enough with the poop already! Can I please go 5 minutes without having to think about poop??
Oh, one more thing. Yesterday I went to the distribution center on the Temple grounds and got those books of scripture stories, you know the ones illustrated comic-book style? There's 3 of them, one for the OT, one for the NT, and one for the BofM. Well, the boys seem to like them quite a lot! I'm glad, as I've been trying to find ways to introduce more scripture stories to them. They wanted to read Noah's ark tonight which we did, but then the story of Abraham comes right after and that led into an interesting discussion of God commanding Abraham to sacrifice his son. A little difficult to explain to 4 year olds. Heck, I still don't understand that one!
Anyway, that's it for tonight. I'm going to try extra-hard to go to bed on time to try to nip this MS flareup in the bud.
Monday, February 06, 2006
Hey Everyone,
Another late Sunday night (Monday morning). So what is new?
Actually, there is something new around here, a very welcome new, I might add! Mosey peed in the potty!! He had taken off his diaper (nothing new there), and peed on the floor. I told him next time he should pee on the potty. A little while later, there he was, sitting on the potty. I think it was just for fun, really. So I told him that if he peed on the potty, he would get a treat. A minute later, there he was, proud as can be, with his first potty success! Is it possible that the end of diapers could be in sight??
Today was a pretty average Sunday. Kids were pretty good, church was good. I spent quite a while uploading some pictures so I hope you enjoy them!
I'm ending now because I really have to go to bed. Have a good Monday everyone!
Another late Sunday night (Monday morning). So what is new?
Actually, there is something new around here, a very welcome new, I might add! Mosey peed in the potty!! He had taken off his diaper (nothing new there), and peed on the floor. I told him next time he should pee on the potty. A little while later, there he was, sitting on the potty. I think it was just for fun, really. So I told him that if he peed on the potty, he would get a treat. A minute later, there he was, proud as can be, with his first potty success! Is it possible that the end of diapers could be in sight??
Today was a pretty average Sunday. Kids were pretty good, church was good. I spent quite a while uploading some pictures so I hope you enjoy them!
I'm ending now because I really have to go to bed. Have a good Monday everyone!
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Just thought you'd get a kick out of Brigham's current "posed smile." When I ask him to look at the camera and smile, this is what I get. Cute, huh? I always have to trick him and take a pic right when he looks over at me, or tell him something funny or something to get a more natural smile. But I still think his fake smile is pretty cute.
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Major success today!! The event we have all been waiting for, and feared would never happened, finally happened! Joseph pooped in the potty!!! He has had such a phobia for such a long time. He has been perfectly trained, don't get me wrong, he just goes and gets a pullup for poops. A week ago or so we were at Target and he saw these little potty chairs that he liked and said maybe he wouldn't be afraid if we got that one, so I did. The last several days, he has sat on the potty a few times, but wouldn't go. Finally this morning, he was looking for the pullups but couldn't find them. He said to Brigham that he was going to go on the potty (Ben was listening from upstairs), and sure enough, success! We were very proud of him, and went to Dave and Busters for lunch (this has been his incentive now for quite some time). So, maybe we *won't* have a 16 year old still using pullups.
We actually had been thinking of going to Dave and Busters last night, but decided on Chuck E Cheese instead because D&B was likely to be very crowded on Saturday night. Chuck E Cheese was quite crowded as it was. Ben was wonderful and played games with the boys so I could just sit and talk with Melissa (Curtises went with us). The big boys fell asleep on the way home, thank goodness. I knew they were tired because Fridays are outing days so we had been on the go all day.
I had WW in the morning (still on track), then after school I took the boys to "Color Me Mine," a pottery painting place for kids. Grandma Jackee made these darling plates for me when the boys were almost 2 years old, with their hand and foot prints. I wanted to make one for Mosey, too, so that's what they did. The place didn't have the exact same kind of plate, but I think it will be ok. Brigham painted a little frog and Joseph painted a shark. We'll pick them up next Wednesday after they've been fired. I felt a little bad because Mosey was pretty fussy while we were in there. I'm sure part of it was because I was paying more attention to making his plate than I was to him! Sad, because it should have been the other way around. He was also tired, though, because he fell asleep almost immediately when we got in the car. We went to the dinosaur park and the big boys played while I read in the car with Mosey. Then we went over to the rock climbing park and Mosey would probably have slept longer, but Joseph woke him up. Mostly because he wanted me to push him on the swing and I wouldn't because I had to stay in the car with Mosey. Anyway, it was ok though because I met another mom pushing her twin boys on the swing. Her boys are 9 days older than Mosey so it was fun to talk about having twins, and all that. She had 2 older girls, too, and had originally gotten pregnant with triplets. Spontaneous triplets are really rare! Sadly, the little girl died in utero at about 6.5 months, but her boys were born healthy at 34 weeks. I'm not really one to start chatting it up with other moms at the park, but I was glad I had the chance to talk to her.
Tonight was the "sock hop" at the church, our annual adults-only activity. I've been thinking that these sorts of "50's nights" are getting pretty outdated since most of the members of our ward were not alive in the 50's! But it turned out to be pretty fun. Ben and I learned to do the "pretzel" and the "electric slide." I finally got the hang of the hula hoop!! Seriously, this is such a victory. I have NEVER been able to do the hula hoop, but tonight I finally got it! It is pretty good exercise for the abs, actually. Maybe I'll go out and buy one.
Well, that is it for tonight. I think Ben and I are going to watch "Hitch" before I have to send it back (trial Netflix membership). Have a great Sunday everyone!
We actually had been thinking of going to Dave and Busters last night, but decided on Chuck E Cheese instead because D&B was likely to be very crowded on Saturday night. Chuck E Cheese was quite crowded as it was. Ben was wonderful and played games with the boys so I could just sit and talk with Melissa (Curtises went with us). The big boys fell asleep on the way home, thank goodness. I knew they were tired because Fridays are outing days so we had been on the go all day.
I had WW in the morning (still on track), then after school I took the boys to "Color Me Mine," a pottery painting place for kids. Grandma Jackee made these darling plates for me when the boys were almost 2 years old, with their hand and foot prints. I wanted to make one for Mosey, too, so that's what they did. The place didn't have the exact same kind of plate, but I think it will be ok. Brigham painted a little frog and Joseph painted a shark. We'll pick them up next Wednesday after they've been fired. I felt a little bad because Mosey was pretty fussy while we were in there. I'm sure part of it was because I was paying more attention to making his plate than I was to him! Sad, because it should have been the other way around. He was also tired, though, because he fell asleep almost immediately when we got in the car. We went to the dinosaur park and the big boys played while I read in the car with Mosey. Then we went over to the rock climbing park and Mosey would probably have slept longer, but Joseph woke him up. Mostly because he wanted me to push him on the swing and I wouldn't because I had to stay in the car with Mosey. Anyway, it was ok though because I met another mom pushing her twin boys on the swing. Her boys are 9 days older than Mosey so it was fun to talk about having twins, and all that. She had 2 older girls, too, and had originally gotten pregnant with triplets. Spontaneous triplets are really rare! Sadly, the little girl died in utero at about 6.5 months, but her boys were born healthy at 34 weeks. I'm not really one to start chatting it up with other moms at the park, but I was glad I had the chance to talk to her.
Tonight was the "sock hop" at the church, our annual adults-only activity. I've been thinking that these sorts of "50's nights" are getting pretty outdated since most of the members of our ward were not alive in the 50's! But it turned out to be pretty fun. Ben and I learned to do the "pretzel" and the "electric slide." I finally got the hang of the hula hoop!! Seriously, this is such a victory. I have NEVER been able to do the hula hoop, but tonight I finally got it! It is pretty good exercise for the abs, actually. Maybe I'll go out and buy one.
Well, that is it for tonight. I think Ben and I are going to watch "Hitch" before I have to send it back (trial Netflix membership). Have a great Sunday everyone!
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Happy Birthday Abraham!!! I told Ben last night that you were going to be 17 years old and he was just amazed. Ben first met you 10 years ago (well, in a few months anyway), when you were only 7. Pretty hard to believe you are only a year away from being an emancipated adult. I hope you had a good day. Too bad you weren't born Feb. 3 because then it would be on Friday and you could really go out and celebrate! I was trying to remember my 17th birthday, and you know? I can't remember! I know it was just days away from the first day of school my senior year, and we may even have been on vacation or something. But I do remember *being* 17 and feeling like at last I was an "older teenager" and was getting some respect! LOL
Well, Feb. 2 for me this year was a little tough. No particular reason why, just feeling very tired and lethargic and unmotivated and impatient. Not a good combination. I'm pretty sure the reason is because I didn't exercise yesterday or this morning (my alarm went off at 6 AM and I just *couldn't* make myself get up), and even missing a couple of days makes my anxiety level skyrocket. I didn't go this afternoon either and I really should have. It's funny how even after 2 days of not working out, and even though I absolutely KNOW it will make me feel better, I just lose the motivation to go. But I am going running tomorrow morning I have decided 100%. Nothing will stop me. And I'm going to bed in a half hour so that I will not be so tired tomorrow!
So this afternoon I pretty much did nothing. I went treasure-hunting with the boys after school, one last run around Embassy lakes before the trash trucks come tomorrow. I'm trying to get a bike for Ben, now that all the rest of us have one. I found a pretty good cruiser bike that is in good shape except for some rust on the handlebar and flat tires. Ben's not much of a bike rider, but I thought it would be fun for us all to have bikes. And if they are free bikes, all the better! I won't feel guilty if we don't use them much. So, is there any product I can buy to remove the rust from the chrome? I assume I'll have to spray the handlebars again with some chrome paint. Maybe I'll make that my project tomorrow.
By the time Ben came home this afternoon I was feeling really discouraged. The house was messy, I hadn't really gotten anything done, and I just had NO motivation. But Ben helped out a lot and got the boys busy picking things up and we got the house very clean in just an hour or so. Thank you Ben!!
And now all 3 boys are asleep in Brigham's bed. I'll have to sneak up there and take a picture before they all end up migrating to our bed, which will undoubtedly happen during the night.
Yesterday I gave all 3 boys haircuts and they look great. Brigham and Joseph are perfect about getting their hair cut, but Mosey wasn't too happy. He let me do it, though, and there's not even too many jagged spots from when he wouldn't hold still.
Huh, I guess that's all I have to say for tonight. I hope everyone enjoys Friday!
Oh yeah, the picture is from a couple weeks ago on Key Biscayne. It was getting pretty dark and my flash wasn't on and the picture was taken by some lady who came up and volunteered since I was taking pictures of Ben and the boys. That explains the camera-shake and the horizontal composition when the picture clearly calls for a vertical shot! Oh well. It's fun to get pictures of all of us anyway. I have a bunch of other fun pictures from that day which I will post tomorrow.
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