More medical fun

This was Joseph all this week...sick. He had a fever in this picture and Chad wrapped him up in his blanket. Joseph actually stayed where he was put! Do you like his little slippers poking out? :)

After a week of every-other-day fevers and non-stop coughing (no joke) last night, I made a trip to the nearest open medical clinic. Joseph's left ear and throat are nice and red. We got cough medicine and an antibiotic. And as I so rarely get to report, the cough medicine is working! He's sleeping now and he's quiet! This means we'll get more sleep tonight. Ahh...bliss. Oh yeah, I don't get more sleep, just less worry. Chad is the one that gets more sleep.

I skipped my nap today to take the kids (minus Joseph) shopping. I was buying groceries and doing some shopping for Joseph's b-day next week. (He's going to be 2! He weighs all of 21 pounds, and he's not talking, but he's going to be 2!) It was not a good idea for me to take 5 kids shopping (Chad had stayed home with Joseph so they could both get naps.) on a Saturday, after a week of mothering. I had no patience and I was not a nice person. But, too be fair, my kids weren't nice either. They can't talk to each other without fighting, and Leah only talks to people - her parents included - with an air of disgust and impatience. Still trying to figure out how to stop that little problem.

Anyway, we survived, though some of us lost weight through our tear ducts. (I wish that could really happen.) We got home, I fed Sarah and then put Joseph in the van and headed back out again. At least everyone got to go somewhere.

I gave Sarah a bath tonight. As I was looking at her little naked baby body, I was amazed at how chubby she's gotten. She's more than half of Joseph's weight and is only 10 weeks old. She takes after her mommy! But check out this picture...even I have ankles! So very cute.

And here she is two nights ago. She's supposed to be going to sleep. Can you tell?

Lastly, here is proof that I do spend time with my kids. Chad snuck a picture while I was reading them a book. There is Sarah - drooling all over my arm. (No wonder she doesn't fall asleep at bedtime!) You can see (kind of) my haircut and perm.

My hair is naturally straight and very resistant to perms. You're seeing the curly part. The straight part is pulled up out of the way. I'm not quite ready to give up on this new 'do', but I have to do something as the haircut wasn't meant to have some straight hairs falling across the curly ones. *sigh* Nothing is easy.

Down in the dumps

There are few things in the world of mothering that are more tiring than have sick kids. Having YOUNG sick kids is worse.

Joseph is not feeling well and his nose is constantly oozing. The only thing I can't do while wiping his nose is take a shower. I think I've done everything else. He comes up to me, pointing to his nose, saying, "uh, uh." And the coughing is getting Sarah sick. I can hear her nose start to fill up. Great. I just started getting her to sleep in the bassinet again. I expect we'll be back in the swing before the new week begins.

Normally, this would be challenging enough. But I'm running on reduced sleep rations and really only want to get a nice, uninterrupted nap. The night before last, I didn't see the clock during the 11 pm, 3 am and 5 am hours (Joseph came in crying at 6:00). I saw it every other time. Last night wasn't quite as bad...I only woke 3 times before I really had to get out of bed.

Such sporadic sleep opens the door for really interesting dreams. Two nights ago, I dreamt the entire plot for a mystery novel. I was sure I could remember it, and was recalling it during one feeding time. But once the sun came up, it was gone. A literary wonder the world will never know.

So now that I'm so tired (physically and emotionally), I have no desire to clean the house. This is unfortunate, because things are piling up around here. No one else seems to care, so things get worse and my guilt meter rises.

And getting my kids to care requires serious bribing/threatening. That's tiring, too! We didn't get to have prayer this morning because the boys couldn't move their incredibly lazy rear ends fast enough. Daniel ran onto the bus with his coat, backpack and scout shirt in his hands. Grr.. Sometimes I just want to squeeze that boy! More guilt.

Daniel has a TMJ check-up today. I'm taking everyone but Nathan with me (since he'll still be in school) for a 35 min drive on the freeway, each way, because I didn't know who to call to come sit in my house for two hours and didn't want to burden anyone with a sick and cranky Joseph. I guess we'll sit in the van and watch a movie or something while I send Daniel in. Maybe I can get the doctor to talk to me at the back door so I can stay in the parking lot with the kids? Are things supposed to get this tricky?

I got the bill for taking Rebekah to the Dr. to pull the cactus needles...$183. Wow. He's thinking he's a little more skilled with those tweezers than I observed! We'd better make sure to use the free ice cream coupons he gave us. I want to get my money's worth!

And so when the FOP called this morning (Fraternal Order of Police) I hung up on them. That was free.

Now, between feeling sorry for myself and just being in a sorry state, it's a regular fun-fest around here! Woo hoo!

Catching Up in 20

Wow. My days are busier than they used to be. Things have been happening in my tiny little world, but I haven't had time to share many of them. I do spend a lot of time at the computer, but it's usually while holding (and usually nursing) Sarah, so I only have one hand to use and that means slow typing. I'm taking a moment now to play catch up. I'll list 20 things that have happened, but leave out the details. If you want to hear an extended version of the story, just leave a comment and mention which numbers in the list you're interested in. That way, I won't bore everyone telling them how much fun I had cutting my toenails (that isn't and never was one of the twenty things).

1. I got a hair cut and perm.
2. Daniel doesn't complain of jaw pain anymore. The TMJ treatment seems to be working. We have a follow-up appointment on Thursday. Still need to figure out who's going to watch 3 of my kids!
3. We brought one of the kittens inside to be house cat and mouser. He only lasted about 4 days. Hope the mouse traps can do the job. Who knew a cat would forget he was litter box trained?
4. We went letterboxing for the first time in over 3 years. The kids had a blast.
5. Rebekah landed on a cactus plant while rushing towards a letterbox hiding spot and got a palm full of cactus needles. It took a trip to the doctor to get all the hairlike prickles out. She still talks about it.
6. Sarah now weighs 11 and 1/2 pounds! Way to grow!
7. We've avoided Swine Flu, but do like to get sick. Daniel and Nathan have had a "Saturday Night Fever" with cough, but on different Saturdays. Now Joseph has it. His is MonDAY Fever.
8. We went to a Straw Bale maze earlier in October. It was a lot of fun and Daniel threw a fit when we left.
9. I've started indexing records for the FamilySearch program. Some people have really bad handwriting. So far, I've done over 1400 names (thanks to nursing Sarah)...since 18 October.
10. We carved Halloween pumpkins. Two were Chernobyl pumpkins.
11. We got some great pictures of the kids in the leaves. These are just a few. Sadly, the leaves are still on the lawn - the piles are somewhat scattered.
12. The kids got to parade around the school in their Halloween costumes. I got to take 3 kids to the school twice that day and run around helping kids get costumes finalized. I miss Chad's flexible work schedule!
13. Choir practices have resumed. I really feel like an idiot in there sometimes. I can't get over feeling inadequate and therefore keep saying really dumb things. And of course, I keep telling myself that the choir would rather have someone else lead them. If you could even call it that. I have some issues to work through (obviously).
14. I've made so many squash recipes this last month that my kids will probably not eat squash the rest of their lives.
15. Our ward Halloween party was last week. The kids had a lot of fun dressing up for that (in addition to the school event) and for trick-or-treating the next night. I'm so glad Halloween is over.
16. My first week of weight loss ended in a gain. (There was a loss at first, but I found it again in the sugar cookies I made last Monday.)
17. Sarah does not like chocolate milk. Or should I say, she doesn't like chocolate in her milk?
18. The kids had a day off from school last week when the wind storm knocked out power to the middle school. The whole district was out for the day, though the power came back on.
19. I have been creating lots of digital scrapbook pages lately. Maybe I should update the slide show on the blog.
20. Two friends and I are singing in church next week. I don't get nervous in practices.

OK...that was a little difficult to think of so many things. And now you're probably glad I didn't go into too many details.


Here's a cute shot of Joseph on the afternoon we went letterboxing. He saw me taking his picture and stopped his climb down the steps to pose. He's so fun to take pictures of!

Anyone have a match?

My kids are SLOBS! I realize that most kids are, by nature. I think my kids are overly slobby. Maybe it's just because I hate the clutter. Maybe it's because I feel overwhelmed and their rooms are the last places I can get to.

These are pictures taken just moments ago. I'd like to light the rooms on fire and get rid of every offensive piece of laundry, toy, book, piece of garbage, etc. Unfortunately, that would get rid of the garage and eventually the van. I don't like to walk too far.

Sarah and Joseph

Guess who is two months old today?! That two months has really gone by quickly. It does pass more slowly at night. I was trying to change a diaper last night and couldn't keep my eyes open! I've fallen asleep doing a lot of things, but never changing a diaper. It was only 12:45 am or close.

But I survived, as all mothers (somehow) do. And isn't she worth it? I just took these pictures of her. I was calling her name and she was looking around for me, but I think I was still too far away to focus on. (If I get too close with the camera, the flash takes over.) She gave me a couple of half smiles and I tried to capture them.

She's survived two months. Kudos to her parents for not failing in their efforts.

These next pictures are of Joseph...well, his feet anyway. This shot is from this morning. I couldn't resist getting the camera when I noticed a size 4 sandal paired with a size 5 church shoe. Each shoe was on the wrong foot. I told him to stop so I could get a picture of his feet and he stopped to hold one up to the camera for me. I finally got him to show me both at the same time.

And this picture is nearly 12 hours later. He'd fallen asleep (finally) and I noticed his feet. At least this time he got the left church shoe on the left foot. I suppose this means he has two left feet. Apparently he has no lungs because I don't know how he's breathing under there!

Silly Joseph. He turns two in two and half weeks. He's already practicing his terrible two tantrums. He's really quite good!

Plan B

My original plan for the morning involved visiting teaching and leaving the three youngest kids in the van with a movie while I stepped inside the houses briefly. I only planned such a thing because both houses said they were harboring/recovering from illness. It is the last week of the month after all...it's now or never!

Unfortunately, a big wind storm knocked out power to some of the schools and school was cancelled for the entire district. Of course, we didn't learn this until the bus was nearly 20 minutes late, the kids had stood outside in freezing temps for 10 minutes and I called the school to ask.

SO...instead of taking kids with me to sit in the van, I gave Daniel his first official babysitting job. I made sure he knew how to call my cell phone, got a sleeping Sarah into the swing and drove to the first house, 1 minute away. I was there about 10-12 minutes and on to the next house, another minute away. I was there about 20 minutes.

When I got home, all six kids were in my room. Sarah was still in the swing and the rest of them were sitting on my bed watching Sesame Street. I asked Daniel if anyone called. He said no and then said, "You're back? You left already?"

He was babysitting and didn't even know it! I don't think we'll be going on any kid-less dates for a while yet. I probably won't even be leaving the block. But I do look forward to having built-in babysitters...several long years from now.

Going Public

I've decided to make myself more accountable for my weight loss efforts by going public. Maybe you all can encourage or chastise me...whichever is more effective (without reducing me to tears).

I weighed in at a new low (since Sarah was born) this morning, so I was motivated to start this. I will post my weight weekly over on the right side. Right there at the top. So everyone can see it and shake their heads in disappointment when appropriate. Just knowing some of you are doing that will give me the power to pass up more goodies than I have been able to lately.

And this is very timely for me since Halloween, then Thanksgiving and Christmas are looming ever so near! Yikes! It didn't help that I made what seems like a thousand sugar cookies for decorating at FHE tonight. They definitely pass the sugar cookie test. I inspected them...thoroughly.

Kids! I shake my head in confusion.

I know! It's been over a week. I'm sure 2 of you have been going through withdrawals. The rest of the readership didn't even notice.

I have things to catch up on, but right now I just have 2 short stories about my perplexing kids.

Last night at the table, Daniel convinced himself that his dinner smelled like throw up. This is usually Leah's complaint about things. Anyway, he didn't want to eat his dinner because it had eggplant in it (I don't know what's wrong with him...it's only about the 3rd time in a week that we've had eggplant in some form.) So Daniel disappears into the bathroom for a little while. When he comes back he has tissue stuffed up his nose. I guess he figured that would solve the problem. Of course, I sent him back to the bathroom to remove it and told him if he couldn't get it all out, he'd have to go to the doctor. REALLY...I've heard of young kids shoving things up their noses, but not 9-year-olds! He never did finish his dinner and didn't get any apple pie afterward.

Second story:
Leah, Rebekah and Joseph had a bath Saturday and left their dirty clothes in the middle of the bathroom floor. They were still there last night. (It's a big bathroom, so it's easy to ignore a big pile of clothes - which we do.) This morning I was going to rescue Leah's pants from the pile because I didn't figure they were very dirty. I went into the bathroom and couldn't find the pile. I thought Chad must have gathered them up and put them in the washer, so I gave up my rescue effort. Later this morning, as I was getting clothes for Joseph, I started pulling out clothes that didn't belong...his sisters' dirty underwear was the most obvious. Apparently, Joseph stuffed them all into his drawer (his room is across the hall from the bathroom) during his 90 minutes of refusing to stay in bed and go to sleep. It was a little mind exercise trying to remember what all 3 of them were wearing Saturday to be sure I got it all out of the drawer again. Maybe I need to point out the washing machine to Joseph.

Sarah's Blessing

It's been almost a week and I haven't even posted about Sarah's blessing yet. Where are my proud mommy manners?


The blessing went really well. I only had a chance to give Sarah half of her 2nd breakfast, but she ended up handling all the loving and the blessing itself without crying.


Chad did a great job with the blessing. Sarah had 2 grandpas in the circle with her daddy and a member of the bishopric. A very nice family in the ward handed us a copy of what they were able to write down of the blessing. The rest of the kids will have to assume that their blessings were similar...no copies of those!


We got some cute pictures of her and some with our family.


Dress and afghan


Looking to the right. Here you can really see her cheeks! :)

Looking to the left and right into the camera. Such a sweet face!

This is when she let us know she was done. Still a sweet face...in a different sort of way!

And here is our family shot. Can't get Chad to keep his eyes open. We took 5 pictures...someone should have pinched him on "3." Rebekah had thrown a fit just before the pictures (of course), so she's looking chipper.
"Are they all yours?" Yes...that's why I'm yelling at them and calling them by name! :) We get that question a lot. I always think of the best lines when it's too late. Still, they are a handsome little bunch of kids. I guess we'll keep them.

Welcome to the family, Sarah. You'll get used to being here. ;)

Robber or not?

I just found this news story online. (Apparently, you can find the original here, but I didn't see it in the first few minutes of searching.) This copy is from the AP.

Robber loses wallet, then asks victim to return it

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Police said a would-be robber was in jail after losing his wallet during the attempted robbery then phoning the victim and asking for it to be returned. Little Rock police said the 23-year-old man was arrested on robbery charges Tuesday.

Police said the man tried to rob a man at gunpoint at his home but fled and dropped his wallet then later called and told the man to return the wallet at a service station in North Little Rock.

Little Rock police were interviewing the victim when the call came and notified North Little Rock police who found the suspect outside the service station and arrested him after a short foot chase.

What I'm wondering is, why didn't the robber return and steal his wallet back? He didn't bother to ask for something that wasn't his in the first place. Why ask for something that is? If I were an Arkansas tax payer, I wouldn't be happy that my tax money was being spent on him! ;)

Percentages

Sarah says "hi." She's in my lap, as usual. She's not nursing this exact moment, but I'm sure it won't be too long. If she's awake, she's hungry. But you should see the cute double chin she has at 6 weeks, 6 days. And her legs have several creases. Now, if I could just get her to stop trying to leap from my lap, I'd be a better typist.

And all this brings me to the point of my post. While I was feeding her after our nap, I was thinking that I spend an awful lot of time (it's not ALL awful) taking care of this tiny creature. I'd guess about 80% of the day is Sarah's. How is that fair to the other kids? I decided they probably get about 50% of the day.

I'm no math whiz, but I'm able to add percentages. It would seem that 130% of the day is for the kids. Luckily, I can multitask because there's no way I'm really giving 130%. My guilt meter actually reads about a 60% effort. I'm very grateful for Chad. He takes a lot of the burden when he gets home. And because of that, I only blow my top about 30% of the time.

"Go Fetch!"

The sound of "Go fetch" fills the background of my morning while I finish up my bowl of oatmeal and clear cereal boxes from the table. Rebekah is repeating the command over and over and over again.

As I'm scooping up soggy cereal from the table and clearing abandoned bowls, I look up. My mind now registers what it's been hearing for the past couple of minutes.

Rebekah is throwing pieces of homemade wheat bread around the living room and Joseph is gathering them up. He likes bread. They are both happy. And now they both get to gather bread from my living room carpet.

*sigh*

New Blog Address

If you're reading this, you've got the new address! If you're reading this 3 months late because you finally learned the new address...sorry. But I did try to get everyone notified and not a lot of people sent in their e-mail addresses.


The address comes from a favorite poem of mine. I thought seeing the address often might inspire me to be better. (I am in need of some good, constant inspiration.)

The title: Sixlets - All underfoot, came from my current state of overwhelming mommy responsibilities. It was kind of a quick thought that I just typed. The address and title should probably be the same, to avoid confusion, but that would go against everything else "normal" in my life.


Glad you're still following along with me.

Fast Food

This is an update on the mouse in our van.

It seems the mouse wasn't actually living in the van, but rather stopping by for the gourmet offering of crumbs and goodies we'd generously left for it. Did you know that cars/vans/trucks, etc. are not mouse proof? We didn't.

Considering the area we live in (ripe with field mice), it is no surprise that we'd been found out by the local vermin. Now I just wonder...how long have they been rating us in Zagat? We must have been like a 5 star restaurant for these guys! I am the type to need motivation to clean. I think I've found the ultimate motivator.

So now, the van is crumb-free (if you don't count the stuff embedded in Joseph's car seat) and we haven't eaten in it yet. I know that won't always be the case, so I'll have to be more vigilant with the vacuum. Darn it.

Ultimately, I'd like to catch the mouse that's on to us. We've set various traps. He's very good at getting what he wants and escaping the trap. What are those 7 cats good for, anyway?

why,Why, WHY???

Why do kids stand RIGHT IN FRONT of you when you're trying to walk?

AND - When do they stop doing it?

It does not matter when or where or what time of day, my kids have me blocked. It was bad when I was pregnant and couldn't see the littlest attackers. Now that I'm only fat, but carrying a baby, it seems worse. Maybe it's because I don't have any hands available to break my fall.

And it doesn't matter that I try to anticipate the problem and change direction; they read my mind and alter course, too.

Of course, it's my fault that they're knocked to the ground.

For some people, it's only a matter of quickly lifting a leg and stepping over the child. Unfortunately, they'd have to prostrate on the ground before my leg could clear their head. And then I'd likely just be off-balance and step on them anyway.

Sometimes I've had to give a firm nudge to the side, and other times I've completely lifted them off the ground and set them somewhere less invasive. Some of them have learned to run. I'm only waiting (though not patiently) for them to take a little step right or left.

Hitchhiker and Anatomically Incorrect

This is two posts in one because my oatmeal is getting cold and I wanted to post before I forgot details.

First off, I noticed quite a bit of paper shreds in our van today as I climbed in to take Daniel to the TMJ specialist. (It went well and Daniel is hoping the pain will subside soon.) Things only get shredded in that fashion by one creature. The droppings confirmed it...there is a mouse somewhere in our van!

Eww! But I didn't have time to search, so it got a ride to and from the Dr's. Each way is 30 minutes on the freeway. And I know it went to the church with me last night. I don't know how long it's been in there. We drove 30+ minutes the other way for groceries yesterday morning. It was probably in there then, too.

Now, the van is sitting in the driveway with both side doors open. The kids are cleaning out garbage. We'll have to remove car seats and floor mats and get the vacuum out there (then change the vacuum bag)!

UPDATE: The van has been cleaned out. The garbage (bags of it - the kids kept kicking it under the seats) is out, the car seats have been removed and the entire van vacuumed. Leah is now vacuuming the last floor mats. Reuseable shopping bags, towels that are supposed to be under the car seats (but rarely are), a blanket and a hoodie are now in the washer.

That mouse had been there a while. There were little dropping and paper shreds throughout the van...including the glove box. Is nothing sacred? I even vacuumed little black poops out of the tracks for the sliding doors.

I vacuumed out Joseph's car seat and checked everyone else's. The van is as clean as I could get it without shampooing the carpet or washing hard surfaces (I can't do everything; I'm only one woman!). I even checked under the hood, but saw nothing suspect there. That would mean more if I was qualified to examine that type of thing.

Now, we're not neat freaks, but we're not that bad! I've never seen such a thing...and I've seen a lot. I never saw the actual offender, so I don't even know if it's gone. We'll have to put a 5 gal. bucket in there tonight with a little yummy in the bottom. We've learned that mice can't get out of buckets. The thought of the kids eating the banana chips after they got dumped on the floor of the van yesterday just makes me shudder. No wonder we're fighting nasty germs! We're probably all suffering from Hantavirus!

Second post: The kids were cracking and eating peanuts in the kitchen while I made my lunch. Nathan was having a hard time getting one cracked open, so he decided to sit on it. My first knowledge of this was upon hearing Daniel say, "Nathan's sitting on his peanut!" My mind skipped ahead of Daniel a little and I SO thought he was going to say something else!

Lefty

I asked Daniel if he wanted to open the cans as I made dinner tonight. He was quite excited to do it. I handed him the can opener and left the room for a bit. When I came back, I noticed that he had taken the entire tops off three cans with the can opener! I asked him to show me how he'd done it.

This is when he picked up the can open in his left hand and placed it OVER the lip of the can, instead of to the SIDE. It never even occurred to me that the appliance would work that way.

Do they even make left-handed can openers?



The can looses a lot of its strength when the entire rim is removed...it squeezes very easily. I'm sure there is a great physics lesson in there.

I didn't realize that my oldest son didn't know how to use a can opener. I wonder what else he needs to learn?

Rebekah and Joseph had to help stir the dinner. Awesome teamwork!

Increased Security

You may have noticed I changed the title of my blog. I'm trying to make us a little more anonymous online. Along with some other Settings changes that I've already made, I'm also changing the address of the blog.

Because I'm not trying to get rid of any current readers, I'll send you the new address, if you let me know you want it. Please send your request via email or give me your email in the comments - I'll delete it as soon as I get it. If for some reason you don't want me to know that you've been reading my blog (some people really enjoy their ability to be invisible), feel free to get the address from someone else - if you can. And I don't care if you share the address with others, I'm just trying to be less available to the predators of the world.

This may be a wasted effort, since I don't use nicknames for anyone in the family and post I their adorable faces all over the place, but I'm trying to avoid using last names and city names. I am the only one with my name in the entire country...can you believe it? Such individuality. (That sounds weird. Is it really a word? Must be...spell check didn't flag it.)

So, sorry for the inconvenience. I'm just trying to keep my family a little safer, despite all the info I share in nearly every post! :)

New Header

I thought I'd create a festive blog header since my sick baby is having trouble sleeping.

Not my first choice for something to do at 12:45 AM, but it was a little fun.

Did it surprise you when you first saw the page? I'll probably be surprised myself until at least the middle of the month.

Sick Six

All six kids are sick, as of the middle of the night. We are not throwing up, but have some sore throats and some REALLY runny noses. (My apologies to anyone we have infected. I did not know we were so generous with our germs.)

I feel bad for sick kids, but my heart really breaks for sick babies. Sarah sounds like she's trying to breathe under water. I've sucked out quite a bit of mucus. Her coughs seem to choke her. But once in a while, she smiles in spite of it all.

Even Chad is sick. It was my turn last week, but now I'm the only one who isn't sick. I hope this isn't one of those germs that mutates and makes a second pass.

Getting Married

A conversation Rebekah and I had while in the car together the other day:

R: When I get married, I'm going to get married to a very special boy.
Me, eyebrows raised: That's right! Did you talk about getting married in church?
R: No. I'm going to get married in the temple!

She also expects that Daniel will marry a very special girl when he gets married. (He didn't like us talking about that.) Someone has been talking about marriage with this girl. Maybe Grandma? Maybe she came up with it on her own. She does surprise us once in a while.

Cat Flavored?

Winter has begun to creep in. We've been below freezing several nights now. I think the momma cat even took her kittens somewhere warmer. (Don't know where that is, really.) So colder temps mean less bugs.

When I stepped out to dump some cat food out for the cats, Sticky Feet (our free roaming rooster) came running from the garden at the back of the yard. He stepped right up to the food dish, causing our biggest cat to back off.

As a cat, it must be really offensive to have what would naturally be breakfast, end up eating your breakfast!

And I've been wondering...if a chicken eats cat food, does he end up "cat flavored"? I hope it doesn't work that way, because he could also be "grasshopper flavored". A delicacy in some countries, but really very gross.

TMJ

Daniel saw the TMJ specialist yesterday. It's confirmed; my nine-year-old has TMJ. And from the wearing away of the jaw joints, he also has arthritis in his jaw. Isn't that nice?

The doctor worked Daniel's jaw a little yesterday, to improve mobility, but we have to go back next week to have his bottom molars "built up" so that the jaw and bite will be aligned right.

Here are some images from the CAT scan they did in the office. Here is his head. He looks weird without a nose. He looks like he's wearing a helmet. And look at that mouth full of teeth! They are all crowded in there, fighting for their own spaces. So pretty. I thought this image was perfect for the upcoming Halloween season!
















These pictures show the jaw joints (both sides). The doctor drew on them to show me that the joints should be round, where Daniel's are flattened. And the bone is looking a little thin. It should be thicker.


















Daniel will need braces and it looks like we're going to be visiting with an orthodontist as soon as this round of treatment is over and we're sure it's working. The doctor only had one orthodontist he recommended as he feels the other ones in the area only mess up the TMJ patients. I wonder if they are relatives?!

When the assistant showed me what the charges for all of this would be, I nearly stopped breathing. We haven't even started on Sarah's and my medical bills yet. This is like getting another 1/2 of a baby! We were planning on our first trip to Disneyland a year from now. We may have to wait another year.

Life doesn't get boring for too long!

Pain...

A nasty, four-letter word and Daniel's new enemy.

Remember the jaw/cheek pain Daniel had at the beginning of the summer? We saw a chiropractor and that seems to take care of the problem. When it returned on the other side of his head last week, I took him to a chiropractic office closer to home. We were there Monday and Thursday (yesterday).

The chiropractor worked on him and said things should be better; twice. He didn't charge us for either visit. I am still grateful for that as it would have been about $100 by now. But last night at dinner, Daniel was about to die from his discomfort. He wouldn't even eat dinner (and there was no way we could get him to set the table). So I drove him to the medical clinic in a town 20 minutes away.

That doctor is going to see if a TMJ specialist (40 minutes away) will see him. The doctor was not sure he'd take such a young patient. Apparently, it's quite rare for children to be suffering what Daniel seems to be suffering (this according to just about every Dr./dentist we've seen). If he won't see him, he'll send us to an Ear-Nose-Throat specialist who will see children. Sending him to Primary Children's in SLC came up once, too. I don't really want to drive 40 minutes, so I'm pretty sure I don't want to drive to Salt Lake! And he mentioned "MRI" and "CAT scan" if the specialists aren't helpful, but we're not running to expose him to unnecessary radiation.

But the doctor doesn't work today (nor does his nurse) so nothing will be done with that until Monday. Yipee! Another weekend of moaning, groaning and crying. Oh, and don't forget the drugs.

Sharing

I just went in to get Sarah in response to her cries. Joseph met me in the hallway to "tell" me she was crying. "Uh..uh.." point, point

When I got to her bed, I looked in and found a baby doll on her head. Joseph was giving her a baby to play with. How sweet! He probably conked her right over the head with it. Poor Sarah. Love hurts.

Critic's Corner

New television shows are coming on scene and old favorites are returning. I don't watch a ton of TV, but I do have some I enjoy quite a bit. Some I watch just because my first choices aren't available or because I can't stand reruns. And then there are a lot of shows (most of them really) that are so bad, it's better to just turn the box off.

Last week we watched Jay Leno's new show. I think we caught every night, but might have missed one. It was a little disappointing. It really is just like watching the Tonight Show, with a few minor tweeks. I'd love to see more "Jay Walking" and "Headlines", etc. and less interviews. I know it's too much to expect him to get cleaner acts. I don't know why some things are so funny to people. For example, that Dan guy who did the bit at the car wash? He's very talented; he's funny, sings well and performs well. But he's dirty and crass. That really took a lot away from his performance. And the "Uninvited Guest" (what's his name) was a little hard to listen to. I don't even understand the title of the segment. He's obviously invited.

But the reason for this whole post is last night's viewing. My favorite show is NCIS. I feel like I miss it a lot, but strangely catch all the reruns of what I have seen. And the fact that it's on at 7 PM makes it really hard to catch. That's when we're putting our kids to bed! So I was looking forward to last night and a new episode. Sarah and I retreated to the bedroom just before 7. It was just as good as always. The humor is great and the character chemistry is perfect.

I don't watch TV (or movies) because of "hunky" actors and besides Mark Harmon, I probably couldn't give you the names of the actors on the show. But I know their character names and personalities.

There has long been hype of the new spin off: NCIS Los Angeles. I was skeptical as most spin offs just aren't as good. And I am very loyal to my NCIS. My impression of the show? Not as good. It seems like too much "gadgetry" (is that a word?) and hi-tech special effects and not enough connection between the actors. And there are so many people in it! The conference room was always crammed with people. I wasn't sure who was who and why they were supposed to be so important to even be there.

The acting was not as good as NCIS with the exception of LL Cool J. He's pretty believable. The short lady (Kindergarten Cop...but don't know her name) was good, too. I guess I just have a hard time placing her in the roll. Chris O'Donnell needs to lose some "boyishness". But I have to say, I learned yesterday that he has 5 kids (with the same woman - his WIFE even) and I'm VERY impressed!

The story line was good though. I think they just need to get better at acting (though I'm no revered critic) and quit using so much fancy technology (or at least, quit making it so obvious). That's the opinion of a conservative, 30-40 year old, white woman of middle class.

Noisy Sleeper

Here is video of Sarah last night, before we went to bed. She was a pretty sleepy little girl last night!

I told you she was a noisy sleeper. Here's two minutes of proof.

Joseph just got up from his nap and came into me where I was having a nap of my own. He cried and threw up on the floor by my bed. What is it with my kids? Is that the only way they think they can get me out of bed? Sheesh. I'm going to have to get the carpet cleaner out later. At least Leah had the decency to run all the way to the kitchen!

Here is a picture of the poor little guy just after lunch. Don't get too close; those are some nasty germs!

Nasty Germs...Help!

We are being invaded. Leah has been sick. I let her go to school yesterday because she said she felt "good". During my nap, she got into a coughing fit and threw up all over the kitchen floor. My stomach did a little flip-flop at that one. When I saw her eyes were still a little red and dull last night, I told her she would be staying home today. We have a very upset little girl today. She's really in love with Kindergarten.

Last night, Joseph was sick. Chad spent some time with him. Eventually, he ended up in bed with us and I noticed he had a fever. Currently, he is crying for attention and still hasn't been dressed or had his diaper changed.

But I've got to take care of Sarah right now. How do I handle all of this? I'm trying to keep the germs from Sarah. Joseph really needs to be held. Leah doesn't get the staying home sick thing and is asking to invite friends over. Thankfully, Rebekah is not ill. Yet.

I may break down in tears before the day is out. Chad gets home in 9 hours! We can do it! ?

Influential

There is a family (somewhat local) that just enjoyed their first Family Home Evening in many years. The parents of the family were married in the temple nearly 12 years ago. They have 4 children, two of whom have been baptized. I assume they are full tithe payers (since they have temple recommends), but I don't really know those kind of details...and don't really care either way.

The family blog yesterday relates their experience with FHE and mentions how excited the kids were. They had all sorts of fun and look forward to (hopefully) having more FHE successes. Sounds great, right?

The blog post starts out mentioning why it has taken them so long to get "into" FHE. Apparently, it's my fault. Approximately 20 years ago, I ruined the FHE experience. Wow. I never dreamed I could be so influential. And all along I thought no one cared.

I guess it's easier to blame things on others than admit you may have been holding out on your own. Anyone else want to blame me for something? Did you yell at your kids? Haven't renewed your Ensign subscription? Fail your driver's license test? I am available and the possibilities are so great!

Maybe I should feel flattered. I'll work on that ... as soon I get done telling myself not to feel bad that I'm currently held in such obvious "high esteem".

Friendly Competition

We change Sarah's diapers on the bed in our room. When we're done, we roll up the diaper and throw it to the garbage can. I try to imagine a bullseye on the wall above so it will bounce in perfectly. I make it only about half the time (but hey, it's often the wee hours of the morning!) and then there are lots of little diaper balls on the floor all around the garbage. I call it scatter decorating.

But now the diaper throwing sport has become a little more competitive. If Joseph is on the bed when the diaper is changed, he grabs the diaper and throws it himself! He does throw it in the right direction, but NEVER reaches the target. In fact, sometimes it just lands on the other side of the mattress. I don't penalize him for bad form though because he often is the one who stops and picks up all the diapers on the floor and ensures they make it into the garbage.

Maybe I should have him watch me clean up his room more. Then he could compete with me in that, too.

I can't take the noise!

I just spent the last hour being tortured. It's currently 2:21 AM.

Chad and I were trying to go to bed at about 11:30, but Sarah wouldn't play her "sleepy baby" part. Chad took her and I crawled (gratefully) into bed. I heard her fussing occasionally as I drifted off.

My next notice of anything came at 1:18. I heard Sarah again, but it was more grunting type noises than crying. I woke up enough to realize that she was in her bed and Chad was asleep. I knew for sure that she was awake because it wasn't natural to make that much noise and remain asleep. As a nursing mother, I learned with Daniel not to jerk awake at every sound because babies are so noisy. Sarah is really testing me on this; I have never heard such a noisy sleeper. Ever. I should get a little video of it sometime for you all. I just have to talk myself into doing it in the middle of the night.

So it's the wee hours of the morning and I'm half awake, ready for the cry that tells me she's ready to eat. It doesn't come...just the continuing grunting. Then Chad joins the party (or maybe I finally woke up enough to notice him). Chad snores (love the man, not the snoring). He is so good at it that he can snore while sleeping on his stomach. I don't know how he was sleeping, just that he was snoring...loudly. Woodsman kind of loud. Now I'm right between two very noisy, but sleeping people. The one with the most decency to remain quiet is the one who is awake!

For almost an hour, I nearly lost my hearing. I kept waiting for Sarah to wake up enough to demand food. She was just so noisy, I couldn't believe that she was really asleep! I had the thought to put my pillow over my head. The worrying part of me didn't like that idea because what if all the noise was to keep me awake because this is the night Sarah would narrowly escape SIDS? The guilt would be too much. Eventually, the situation got to me.

I jiggled around in the bed enough to make Chad change position and quiet him down. As he did, I worried that the change in sound would actually wake Sarah up. It didn't, but she didn't get any quieter. I finally got up and prepared to wake her so I could feed her and get some sleep. (I have no idea why that would help. Is the stomach in any way connected to breathing/grunting?) Just as I was about to get her out of bed, she got quiet. FIGURES! I turned the little light back out and started to go back to sleep. It was 2:19.

Sarah started crying.

I wanted to join her.

I took my nursing baby and fled to the computer (obviously). She nursed on one side and now I can't wake her enough to finish what she started. She's breathing normally now (maybe there is a connection), so do I dare try to go back to sleep? I'm afraid the association with her bed will remind her to either cry or grunt. Neither one is going to help me get any sleep.

Well, it's now 2:51. I've typed much of this one-handed. I'm going to try to put her back to bed and salvage the rest of the night. I am not very optimistic about it all. Church starts at 9 AM.

Sarah's Baby Blessing

For those family members planning on driving out, up or over for Sarah's blessing:

Fast Sunday is 11 October - the week AFTER General Conference. The meeting starts at 9 AM (Sorry. I can do NOTHING about that.). There isn't a lot of room here for sleeping over, but more if you don't mind the floor.

If you still plan to come, and plan to come to the house first, please come early. You're welcome to change clothes here if you need to, use the bathroom, etc. But if you're in the driveway, so are we! We want to get to the church in time to get enough seats. Of course, you can always drive directly to the church. We can give you directions if you need them.

We'll probably have a few crockpots of lunch simmering. If there is anything specific you'd like to bring, go ahead. I'm not going to plan and coordinate food and try to make it through the morning, too. Not that I don't care that you're bringing anything; I just don't want to worry about who and what and when.

Church lasts 3 hours. If you've got other plans and are leaving earlier, you're welcome to stop by the house and help yourself to lunch and the bathroom (just don't steal the valuables - dirty laundry not included).

Hormone Therapy

My poor kids are going to need therapy for the abuse they've been getting while I wait for my hormones to balance out. Bluntly said, "I am WAY cranky."

There are few chances given around here lately. The first sound of fighting earns my wrath. If you don't respond after the 2nd time, you're likely to be singled out and faced with a very unfriendly comment. I have learned to leave the room when I'm feeling too crazed.

I feel bad about my recent attitude, but only upon reflection. It does nothing to keep me from losing control the next time something irritates me. So not only am I dealing with little sleep, crazy hormones, a depressed sense of self-image, I'm feeling large amounts of guilt, too. Yay for me and the family!

But it's not all my fault. When Daniel thought it would be funny to make his sisters and brother put very spicy hot pepper seeds into their mouths, my first thought was...Give him one, too! I didn't feel bad when he cried (and he made sure he cried the loudest and longest). Daniel usually does irritating things, but this was too much for the hormones. Little Bully, meet Big Bully.

And when the boys somehow got water all over the table, chairs and floor and then left it? I waved the soggy mail I'd peeled from the table, lectured them and dealt a punishment. If I can't count on the oldest ones to show some responsibility, I expect the crankiness to last a while.

Since I'm so cranky, I feel like it's showing weakness to smile or laugh, even when it's deserved. Earlier today Rebekah yelled from Joseph's room, "Joseph is drawing all over his arm!"

Me: "What is he drawing with?"
R: "A pen."
Me: "Did you take it away?"
There is a pause. The next thing we hear is Rebekah saying to Joseph, "Give me that!" and then she yells out, "Yes!"

Everyone laughed, but I tried to keep it in (unsuccessfully).

Something else to add to the stress around here...Daniel's jaw is hurting again, on the other side. When Daniel is in pain, everyone knows. It becomes his excuse for everything he doesn't want to do. He is suddenly addicted to children's pain meds and lies around moaning, groaning and sometimes screaming. I guess I'll have to find him a chiropractor to go to around here. I know where one is 40 minutes away, but I'm hoping for a little less road time. Why is it that medical problems ALWAYS happen at the end of the week? It makes for very long, cranky weekends.

I've seen two quotes as I've been driving around this week. Some of you may have seen them, too. I'm only sharing them because I liked them. This is not a jab at anyone, nor am I trying to send any "messages" at all.

First one on a sign of a local church: Hold up your head but keep your nose at a friendly level.
Second one at a local business: Borrow money from a pessimist...they don't expect it back.

In the KITCHEN!

Do not give gogurts to young children and simply tell them to stay in the kitchen. You must remain with them and repeat your demand often while physically putting hands on them and turning them away from the kitchen exits. I left the kitchen for 5 minutes and returned to find Joseph now trying to eat from the CLOSED end of the gogurt tube. This resulted in blobs of yogurt on the carpet and his clothes. Even then, I was having to repeat myself about legal eating areas until the wrappers were in the garbage.

Speaking of "in the kitchen," I've spent my morning there. My fridge, though not perfect, is much cleaner. We had a bottom freezer model in our old house. This fridge has the freezer on top. It's so much harder to clean this one, not to mention finding hidden food that's beginning to qualify as science experiments. I haven't been able to bend over that far for several months and since having the baby, I'm just barely there again. So I worked on the fridge. It had been a long time since its last cleaning, but it was better than I expected.

From there, I got to sweep the floor. Nasty job in this house. Even though one of the kids is supposed to sweep each night after dinner, they seem to miss about 80% of the mess. I swept and mopped two days ago (and only felt the sting of my incision a little) because I finally decided that it felt like I was walking OUTSIDE, not in the house, in a room where we prepare and consume food.

All jobs in the house right now seem to take 3 times as long as they should as I often have to stop and comfort Sarah. She knows when she's not being held! I finally got the baby swing out yesterday and cleaned it up. I was afraid she'd be too small to like it, but it's the only way I've worked in the kitchen this morning. (As I type, I listen for her to start complaining.) I love that swing. You may remember gushing about it when Joseph was a baby. You can refresh your memory here.

Most of the house is a mess. Things have a funny way of creeping out of their hiding places while you're not looking. Two days ago, I heard Daniel say, "Now I know how Mommy feels! I just cleaned up this room and it's already messy again." A teeny tiny taste of satisfaction for the mommy with that comment! But then this morning, I walked into the library that Chad had cleaned up last night (it was so nice to walk in and know I wasn't going to step on ANYTHING) and found a big mess of books and crayons, etc. I thought Joseph had done it. No. It was Daniel. He'd started cleaning it the other day, but got tired or distracted or something. This morning, he saw that while the library was clean, the books weren't actually in the right places. So he pulled out the offending books and then left the room (again). It's still a big mess. I'm not quite up to crawling around on the floor yet.

And now for a little comment that's been on my mind since hearing a judgement relayed this direction a few weeks ago. If you think I complain about my kids too much and shouldn't have 6, then you'll probably want to take me off your blog list. I'm no saint and don't have a day job or a near-by relative to dump my kids on whenever I want a break. This (my blog) is where I get rid of the stress without leaving the house or the kids. If you had 6 kids (all under the age of 9.5), you'd not only be very happy and love each one of them, but you'd be a little more understanding and less judgemental (maybe).

I thought newborns were supposed to be sleepy

This isn't the first time I've done this newborn thing. Even so, I'm having a hard time remembering something. Aren't new babies supposed to sleep all day? (Experience has already taught me they are up all night.)

I had two opportunities for naps today. Sarah didn't let me take either one. I finally got her to sleep 10 minutes before my first nap time was over. At least I got some computer time in that way. (A neighbor had called up and offered to take Rebekah and Joseph for me so I could get some rest. It was a really good idea - or so I thought.)

During our official nap time after lunch, Sarah was determined to stay awake. She started out asleep. Just as I started to doze, she woke up. Over half the time was gone before she started getting really sleepy again. Even then, I had to put my arm over her and set my face mere inches from hers. I was cross-eyed and she was getting an earful of my warm breath. I guess she liked it because she settled down and went to sleep.

Unfortunately, in order to get my face that close to hers, I had to put my unused arm (which was under me) behind me. Eventually, that part of me went to sleep, too. It was a little tricky getting up after that!

And what of this evening? Sarah has been awake for the past 6+ hours. She's looking all around, her tongue is slowly poking in and out of her mouth, she waves her hands in the air, occasionally she asks to eat or have her diaper changed, but she doesn't fall asleep. Combined with this morning and afternoon, this is a lot of "alert" time. Aren't newborns supposed to be sleepy? (I know I'm sleepy!) She's not even 3 weeks old. I am hopeful that this means she'll sleep really well tonight, but she won't make it through the night with her tiny tummy. I sure pray that she won't get her "second wind" and keep me up all night, too. I want some sleep!

Sarah - Center Stage

OK...time to put a story to the pictures and get them into some sort of order.

These first pictures are all of the kids on their second visit to the hospital. They all wanted a turn holding Sarah. You can see that Joseph found a way to stay in the chair, regardless of whose turn it was! Such a sneaky boy.

These next few pictures were taken one quiet morning before the sun came up. The nursery would keep Sarah until she got hungry and then a nurse would bring her to my room for a feeding. If it was past 6 AM, I didn't bother sending her back (it takes her an hour to eat anyway) and chose to enjoy a little pre-dawn bonding time. That doesn't mean I was able to stay awake the whole time, but we bonded anyway. :)

Here she is, past ready to eat. Her tongue is working and looking for food. Hey! No starting without me!

Ahhh...! Contentment comes in a good swaddle and a full tummy. You can see the sunlight is starting to gather and is reflecting on the sheets behind her.

Here is what you get if you are not swift enough with getting her majesty into a good, solid feeding latch!

Such peace. She stopped liking that pacifier. We'll have to convince her eventually that she likes it again.

The hospital provides a "Stork Dinner" for the mommy and a companion on the night before her release from the hospital. I chose Chad as my companion. :) Here is our dinner. It was really yummy, especially in the shadow of being labeled "hospital food." I couldn't eat very much and wasted about 3/4 of some very good cheesecake. That's probably a good thing, but when am I going to get cheesecake again?

Here is Sarah on Sunday afternoon. She's all dressed up and ready to go home. I've learned that "newborn" sized clothes don't give much room to grow when you start out at 20 inches long. The outfit is not too big!

Here is Chad, dressed down from his church clothes of the morning. Maybe if I was an expert photographer, I'd be able to snap a picture of him with his eyes open. Sarah was upset at the delay and was letting us know her feelings.

We finally made it home and have had to hold the kids back ever since! They all want to hold her! Joseph has had a cold the whole time. I'm hoping Sarah has enough natural antibodies to keep her safe during this round of germs. Short of isolation, I don't know how to keep her from being exposed.

Here, Rebekah and Joseph are loving their baby. Such a cute bunch of kids!

These last two pictures are to show just how tiny and adorable our new baby is. She only sleeps this soundly when the sun is shining. I think she's part owl. The last picture is Sarah sleeping on her blanket, which is spread over my pillow (it has a green pillow case). It's just a standard size pillow. She fits on the pillow with more than enough room to spare!

These videos were taking during an early morning bonding time. Moving pictures are always so cute.





Even when they're just videos of a crying, hungry baby.