I Need To Clean Out My Purse

I went to the doctor last week. I've been having a lot of pain lately and I've been thinking it's time I try some new meds. I'm just so hesitant because all of the medications used to manage pain for my condition have major side effects. My doctor has been telling me I should try the back injections, but for me, the side effects are a huge turn off, and I'd honestly rather live with the pain.

The biggest problem I face is the fatigue. I wake up multiple times a night, because I'm in so much pain and I'm so stiff that I need to get up and walk around for a bit so I can loosen up enough to fall back to sleep. Anyway, I'm getting some tests done and trying a new medication with a sleep aid in it, so hopefully I'll be able to see some results and feel a little less like a zombie during the day.

Anywho, I had to take my little boys to my appointment because my sitter fell through. When I got to the doctor, Magnus had fallen asleep. I got him out and carried him, while juggling my water bottle and purse as well. I stuck my car key in my pocket. I always, always put my key in a little pocket on the back of my purse, so I made a mental note to remember it was in my pocket, so I wasn't searching my purse looking for my key when it was time to go.

After my appointment, I was walking back to the car and rummaging through my purse looking for my car key. It wasn't in there. Ahhhh, I put it in my pocket, right?! I felt around in my pocket. No key. I got the kids in the car (I had left it unlocked because of the juggling act I'd been performing when I arrived, remember? :) and sat in the front and started digging through and emptying out my giant purse that also doubles as my diaper bag. I figured I must have put the key in there while I was in the office waiting. I emptied and emptied and realized it had been quit awhile since I'd cleaned my purse out. It was such a mess. Receipts, papers, pamphlets. Dispers, wipes, snacks, toys. Not to mention 3 pairs of sunglasses?! Really?? 4 bottles of lotion, 2 hand sanitizers, 6 lipglosses?! This was getting ridiculous.

I finally called back up to the office to see if I'd left it up there somewhere. Nope. Not in the waiting room or the exam room.

It had been about 15 minutes and I decided to get out of the car and check my pocket again. The boys were getting hungry and restless. I got out, checked my pocket, no key. Checked my other pocket, even though I knew I hadn't put it in that one. No ke.... Wait a second. My key! And that, my friends, is why I need new medication. Pure foggy exhaustion is what I live with. Basically, no brain power. Add that to "mommy brain" and I'm in trouble.

I got back in the car, stared at the mess on the passenger seat for a second (contemplating going through it all right then), shoved every little thing, including gum wrappers and scraps of paper back into my purse, promising myself to clean it out when I got home.

I haven't cleaned it yet.

My Little Daredevil

My little Magnus constantly has owies all over his face, arms, legs, and head. I recently posted some photos of him climbing on anything and everything. I can't keep up with that boy.

About a week ago, I noticed a few blisters on his chubby little fingers. I have absolutely no idea how they got there or what they're from. I don't remember him crying for any length of time, or anything happening to him, or whatever. After a few days, I wondered if the big one was infected. It looked so awful, and red, and crusty with pus. I almost took him to the doctor, but then it finally started to scab over and heal. It's almost better, but I hope we don't have any more of these mystery owies.

Then yesterday morning, he was climbing once again on his favorite thing-the piano. I'm not sure what he did exactly, I just heard a big bang and then screams and shrieks and crying. I ran into see him bleeding profusely from a gash next to his eye. He was only wearing a diaper and the blood had run down his face, was all over his belly, diaper, and legs. It looked like a murder scene. I know head wounds bleed a lot, but sheesh. I freaked out a little and yelled for Andy (who was working from home, thankfully) who came running and took over. We got him cleaned up, and found that it was just a tiny little cut, but it wouldn't stop bleeding because it was pretty deep, and a chunk of skin was missing. We headed to the urgent care so they could glue it or stitch it or something, but they wouldn't do it because it was too close to his eye. So off I went to the ER again (the third time in 6 months) where M received 2 little stitches.

They numbed it with some topical cream, and then we waited... and waited

The worst part was holding him down for the stitches. He didn't like that one bit. But, it was quick and (hopefully) painless, and then the nurse brought him juice and crackers, so he was happy as can be. It's pretty bruised today, but in a few days, he'll get the stitches out and be good as new. Just in time for his little daredevil self to return.

Baron's Happy Birthday

My Bear is a 4 year old! I can hardly believe it. I think it is more weird for me to have my younger kids getting older than my older kids. Does that make sense?

Anyway, we had a great day. He chose sugary crepes, sausage, and bananas for breakfast. My sweet mom-in-law made it while I wrapped his birthday gifts. Because of our plan to go to the beach, we decided to do gifts in the morning, much to Baron's happiness. (I usually let them open one gift in the morning and then make them wait until that evening to open the rest.)

After breakfast, he got right to opening.He receievd a new swimsuit, a card game, pokemon, angry bird, and super mario brothers toys, and beach toys from Andy and me and his siblings. My parents got him a racetrack (oh the excitement!) and he received many cards in the mail with money from great grandparents, aunts, and uncles. He was a lucky lucky boy.

Laylah and I decorated for his party and then we got ready to head to the beach. After we got home,

we had dinner, Bear's pick of pizza (bacon topped) and soda (orange Fanta, naturally)

While we all showered, grandma put the finishing touches on Bear's haunted house birthday cake. He has been asking for a haunted house birthday cake for months, ever since my mom gave the kids a spooky haunted house wii game for Valentine's Day. I was a little worried how I was going to accomplish this, and then we found out Andy's parents would be here. His mom is an extremely talented cake decorator, so it immedietly put my mind at ease. I figured I would bake a regular cake, and she would be able to come up with a way to decorate it.

Well, let me tell you how above and beyond she went. She brought her special pan and decorating stuff with her, baked the cake, and assembled it (yes, she made a 3D cake. Awesome!) and then did a fabulous job decorating it, including spooky trees and a graveyard. Bear couldn't have been happier. I hope next year's request isn't quite so complicated!

He also got to open one more gift from Andy's parents, and his day of celebration was complete.

He was a happy happy 4 year old boy (except in this last picture.... he was DONE with pictures for the day, ha!)

Baron at 4:

Baron is a big boy. He always has been, and I'm sure he always will be. People always think he's at least 2 years older than he is, just based on his size. He has outweighed Daphne for a couple years now. He hasn't passed her in height, but he's close, within a couple inches. Along with his big size, comes a big appetite. He loves food and loves to eat. He's a terrific eater, and will basically eat anything I place in front of him. His favorites are bananas, apples, oatmeal, cereal, eggs, pancakes, crepes, carrots, broccoli, asparagus, artichokes, mushrooms, turkey sandwiches, yogurt, cheese, raisins, pasta, and any meat. He takes after his mama and loves sweets. Cakes, cookies, ice cream, candy-he loves it all. I'm taking him in this week for his well child check-up. I'm interested to see how much he's grown since last year. He has only gained a few pounds in the last year, but he has shot up and is getting so tall. He's finally started to thin out, but he is still a solid kid. I have a really hard time lifting him anymore.

Baron is pretty challenging right now. He throws a lot of tantrums and spends some time almost every day in time out. It is almost impossible to negotiate with him. When he makes up his mind, he will cry and cry and cry to get his way. Even when he knows I will not give in, he will still whine about it hours later. He is very picky about his clothes. Certain things will "bug" him. In fact, he probably says that phrase about 10 times a day, "But it's bugging me!" and I just respond, "I know, I'm sorry." He also has a few little chores every day and sometimes it is the hugest challenge just to get him to do them. Other days, it's not a problem at all. He is a pretty moody kid, either very happy, or very grumpy. There's really no in between. I am still hoping he will grow out of this tricky and often frustrating phase.

Even with the frustrations though, we still have fun days together at home. His favorite things to do are play the wii, play computer games, and watch tv. Because of his passion for these things, we make deals (if he reads 3 books with me, he can watch 1 show on tv). He gets a 30 minute time limit on video games, and he only gets to choose either wii or computer for the day, not both. He loves to jump on the tramp and play outside, especially with Jonah, whom he idolizes. Baron will copy any and everything Jonah does. Bear loves to ride his bike and scooter, and play at the park. He likes to look for bugs outside, and he recently started soccer and he likes it okay, but he doesn't love it. He has really enjoyed his playgroup this year, and is finally looking forward to starting preschool in the fall. He and Magnus play together once in awhile, but I think Magnus is just a little too young for him still. He mostly gets frustrated that M is touching his stuff or "wrecking" his games when he's playing with toys. He loves to listen to his ipod, especially during his naps (which he still takes nearly every day) and he loves to be read to.

Bear is hilarious and has an amazing knack for memorizing. He is constantly cracking us up with his funny one-liners. One day we were at Costco and he saw a really hairy man with a long beard. He stared at him for a minute and then looked at me and said, "I feel bad for that man." I asked him why and he said, "Well, I don't think he has enough money for a shaver (razor). Look at his beard!" Another time, I made his sandwich on my whole grain bread (you know, the kind with seeds and grains baked into the bread) because I was out of the smooth wheat that I usually use for the kids. I noticed him picking at it before eating it, and I went over to see him trying to pick out every little grain and seed off the bread. When I asked what he was doing, he replied, "Oh, I'm just picking these boogers off of the bread before I eat it." Funny boy.

Bear is so much fun, and I love seeing him grow and learn every day. I can hardly believe in a little over a year he'll be going off to kindergarten and leaving me all day long. He's grown up so much and he is such a perfect addition to our family. We love you Bear, happy 4th birthday!

Grandma And Grandpa For Spring Break

We had some fun visitors for Spring Break last week. Andy's parents came to visit, and we were so happy to have them! The last time they had visited was when Magnus was blessed at 6 weeks old. I'm a bit annoyed at myself because I went through my pictures after they left and realized I didn't take any for the first 3 days they were here. A quick recap of those days: We went out to eat, played at the park, cooked and baked, did haircuts, got ice cream, went shopping, relaxed, watched movies, went for walks, played on the tramp, played a lot of freeze tag and frisbee, and just spent time together.

The day before they had to go home was Baron's birthday, which was such a treat for him to have his grandparents here for his special day. We had planned on going to the beach, but of course, the 85 degree weather decided to leave us for the week, and it was a little chilly. We decided to stay a little closer to home and spent the day at Lake Anna. There is a great beach there, the water was bearable, and the best part? Barely anyone was there. We basically had the beach to ourselves.

We had a fabulous day playing, relaxing, burying people, playing games, eating, and talking. It was a perfect day, which was especially great because Baron couldn't have been happier on his 4th birthday.

Jonah found a fuzzy friend hitching a ride

Magnus did NOT want to leave. I basically dragged him kicking and screaming out of the water, off the beach, and up the hill to the parking lot. People were staring at me and telling me, "Uh, I don't think he wants to go!" Hmmmm, ya think?!?

We spent Saturday morning going to soccer games, and then it was time for them to go. It was sad. By that evening, a couple of the kids started crying saying that they missed grandma and grandpa already. Although living in Virginia is great and we love it, the hardest thing is living away from family. Good thing we are making our yearly trek to Utah in a mere 10 weeks. Can't wait!

And So We Cut It

Laylah had really long hair. I used to cut it pretty short every year or so because it grew so fast and the snarls would get out of control. The last time I cut off a substantial amount was around the time she started kindergarten. She cried a lot because she didn't want me to cut it, and I felt really bad. I promised her that I wouldn't cut it again until she made the choice. But, I made her promise to help take better care of it, and not cry every time I brushed it. She agreed, so it grew. And grew. And grew. We did a trim every few months, put in a few layers here and there, but for the most part, it grew for about 3 1/2 years straight.

I have been bugging her the last 6 months or so to let me cut it. Don't get me wrong, her hair is gorgeous. But, it is incredibly thick and heavy. I was running out of ways to style it because by the time she would get home from school, it would have fallen out of whatever style I had done that morning, and was usually a snarly mess. We were getting to the point where we did a lot of pigtails, ponytails, braids, and buns.

About a week ago, she approached me about cutting it and donating it to Locks of Love. I was all of the sudden unsure if I really wanted her to cut it, funny enough! It is so pretty, and she gets so many compliments on her fun hair-do's, and I really enjoy doing it, playing with it, and styling it. I made her wait a few days and think about it to make sure she was really sure. She decided she was, and voila!

We did a slight A-line and cut-off about 12 inches. So far she loves it, and she thinks it's fun to see everyone's shocked faces when she sees them for the first time. I'm hoping she doesn't regret it, and she thinks it's funny to think that by the time she's 12, it just might be as long as it was when we cut it.

Easter 2012

Easter happened this year, but only just. I didn't make it to the store until Saturday, and there were no egg-dying kits left. Luckily I was able to make some dye from food color.

Also, there was nothing left to fill the Easter baskets. I was mortified, and almost in tears wondering what to do. Andy made it to another store at 11:30 PM Saturday night and was able to get enough to fill the kids' baskets.

Sunday morning we were late to church (and I mean really late) and missed nearly all of sacrament meeting, the whole reason for church in the first place.

I wasn't in a very happy mood, and came home and took a 4 hour nap. Instead of our usual Easter feast, we had cereal and apples for dinner.

All in all, it turned out fine. We dyed eggs, the kids found their (barely) filled baskets that the Easter Bunny had hidden, and we watched an Easter show on Sunday to remember why we even celebrate Easter in the first place... Our Saviour Jesus Christ, with which whom we would be lost without.

I wasn't even going to blog about Easter because I felt it was such an awful day. And then I remembered what it's really about and why we celebrate it. Plus, don't you think I'll laugh about it in 10 years?

Well, maybe 20.

No Wonder I Never Make It To The Gym...

We've had a lot of stuff, random and otherwise, going on here in our house. And after going through these pictures, I'm like, holy moly, no wonder I never have time to go to the gym. We are busy busy. I mashed all of our going on's into one post here, because I'm lazy like that. Yeah, I said it. Oh wait, maybe that's why I never make it to the gym. Moving on...

This boy kills me. He is such a busy body. And a stinker. Here is his first time-out:

He actually stayed there for a whole minute, and even showed me his "soft hands" afterwards (he was there for hitting me in the face).


And here is Magnus learning to play the piano. Not really, but for some reason, he is in love with the piano. At least once a day, he makes his way into the living room, climbs up on the piano bench, opens the piano up, and plays and plays. It's pretty cute.

We made our way to the kids' dentist appointments a month ago. For some reason, that I cannot remember, I made an appointment for all 5 kids at the same time?! It was a little crazy, but thanks to our old school dentist office with ancient arcade games, they were plenty entertained while they each had a turn back in the chair. Vintage fabulous.
Pac Man. Enough said.

Yeah, new tooth brushes! We made it through, and without one cavity. I have to say, I think my kids are awesome. None of them have ever had a cavity. Good teeth? Or good brushing habits? Not sure, but I'm glad either way! We'll be back in 6 months Mr. Dentist.

Magnus can dis-assemble my kitchen (and entire house, for that matter) in about 5 minutes. This is the aftermath of me ignoring him for 20 minutes so I could make dinner. What he does in 5 minutes usually takes me at least 30 to clean up. Sigh.

We had a fun day at the library on Dr. Suess' Birthday. They had a party, complete with story times, games, crafts, cupcakes, and juice.

Laylah had a performance with her Spanish club, Tres Amigos, at a culture fair. They sang songs and danced. It was pretty cute, and fun to watch.

Can you see her back there with her hand up by her mouth?

Los Tres Amigos

After her performance, we were able to check out all the fair had to offer. We ate crepes from France, sausage from Germany, and sugary chips from Mexico. We watched lots of performances, dressed up in some cultural clothing, did some arts and crafts, and were able to try out some instruments in the play room. It was a really fun day.

(In case you may be wondering where the other half of my family is (aka, the boys) just know that I try. They literally run from the camera these days. They were off doing who knows what...)

Baron continues to be bored at home during the day (only 2 more months until summer, yay!) Sometimes we make blanket forts. He will set it up just the way he likes it, and then hang out in there all day.
Daphne had a mother/daughter girl scout activity at Pinkadilly Tea. We had so much fun. We had High Tea, and we were able to try cute little tea sandwhiches, lots of petite desserts, scones, fresh fruit, and delicious fruity herbal teas with lots of cream and sugar. Yum :)

Daphne opted out of tea, and instead had pink lemonade.

The tea shop was darling and had a whole slew of hats for the girls to try on. And try on they did.
These three little gals went to preschool together and I'm glad they get to stay close through girl scouts.

Once again, we have little Magnus. This baby has been so different than all of my other babies. He is into and onto everything. Literally.

He doesn't just like to play the piano, he likes to be on the piano too.

I don't even know how he got onto our counter height table. It's pretty high, and I came down the stairs to see him proud as can be, sitting up there, eating crumbs off the table.

This one kills me, because he pushed his ottoman over to his dresser, emptied out his drawer, climbed onto the ottoman, and then climbed into the drawer. As always, he was so proud. I was just relieved the whole dresser didn't tip over onto him. If you've noticed, he is not a tiny baby...

We did happen to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, even though I feel it is one of the lamer holidays. I made these awesome pancakes. The idea came from one-little-minute.com (I would link, but for some reason my link button is not working, sorry!)

The gold coins at one end and the cloud at the other. Pretty clever :)

And I think I have mentioned this before, but I am definitely not a fan of having the leprechauns come and destroy our house and make messes, much to the disappointment of my kids. Oh well, at least I allow them (the leprechauns) to drop off green treats.

Here we are, back to Magnus (can you tell that this kid alone keeps me very busy? He does.) He absolutely loves to be outside. The problem is, of course I have to be out there with him, and I'm not always able to do that. I am usually dragging him into the house kicking and screaming because he just wants to run into the street and in general, away from our front door and anything that has to do with being inside.

One day, I decided I would just let him go where he wanted to go and see what happened. I followed him and he ran down the driveway, into the street, and over to the neighbor's yard where he stood for about a half an hour. It was kind of weird. He walked back and forth around the yard, sat down for awhile, tried to open their car door, and finally, I picked him up and we headed home (kicking and screaming, of course) Funny boy.

A few weeks ago, I was running through our neighborhood at nighttime and caught this awesome picture of the gorgeous cherry blossoms that line our street. They're all gone now, but it was lovely while it lasted.

We were able to go to a neighborhood Easter party at our clubhouse. They served breakfast, had crafts and an Easter egg hunt, and the Easter Bunny even showed up. Good times.

Magnus wasn't a fan.

The kids had a day off of school, so we biked over to the park and spent a few hours playing. We had a picnic, and I even got my first sunburn of the year.

We've been able to admire and enjoy our own lovely blossoms in our tree. I love Virginia in the spring. It is breathtaking.

Jonah had a few weeks where he decided that following the rules wasn't his favorite thing to do. My mom suggested I put him to work so that he was too tired to make mischief anymore (thanks for the great idea mom!) I supervised while he weeded my entire front yard. It took him 4 days (after school, of course) for a total of about 9 hours, and it sure looks nice in my front yard now!

I think it worked. He's been mischief free since, and quite a good listener as well.

We had a little scare with Laylah a couple weeks ago. She had been having pain in her right side for a couple days. Finally, when she was in tears and couldn't get out of bed one morning, it convinced me that she needed to be seen by a doctor. I took her to the ER because I feared it might be appendicitis. They got her right in, because they thought so too.

Experiencing her first x-ray

Laylah has always been terrified of needles and was practically hysterical when they were putting her IV in. They also took a urine sample, and were about to take her for a CT scan when the doctor rushed in telling us they found out it was a UTI with inflammation of the kidneys.

We were relieved to be discharged with a prescription instead of surgery, and on our way home.

General Conference is so wonderful, but it sure is hard to stay awake while listening to those soothing voices of our modern day prophets :)

And lastly, we have the one picture I was able to snag of my little group I was in charge of when I went with Jonah on his field trip last week to the Children's Museum of Richmond. We had a blast, but it sure was a long exhausting day with a bunch of 2nd graders.

And now, you are caught up on our happy, crazy little lives. It continues with soccer season, of which 4 of my 5 kids are participants in this spring. The busy busy continues...