Resolutions

I wasn't going to post my resolutions here, because basically this blog is a forgotten entity. But I decided I should be accountable somewhere, even if no one even reads this. And it's too much to write in a Facebook status.

I have two resolutions this year. Clean and organize the house, and get healthy. Simple, basic. Stuff most people resolve to do every year and give up within a week or two. But still, I hope to actually accomplish these two things.

Resolution 1 - Clean and Organize

My plan for cleaning and organizing is FlyLady. I am starting with the 31 simple baby steps to establish habits and routines for decluttering and eventually having a clean and organized house.

I started by "shining" my kitchen sink. Because I have a tan-colored granite composite sink with a matte finish, it won't actually shine. Even the fixtures won't really shine, being oil-rubbed bronze. But I can clean it thoroughly and make it gleam. When it's clean it's beautiful. I first "shined" it on January 1st. Over a week later, I have maintained that state of cleanliness.

Forgive the beat-up walls and lack of back splash. That's something we'll work on later this year.

Anyway, what started as a clean sink slowly spread throughout the kitchen. Wanting to keep the sink clean, I've kept up with the dishes. The counters get wiped more often.

Even the table gets cleared and wiped, instead of leaving dishes and crusted-on gunk for days at a time.

Now the whole kitchen, despite being incomplete (like I said, we'll finish the remodel later this year), is a clean and pleasant place to work in. I have actually been making bread because I have a clean surface to knead the dough. And I clean up that surface immediately, wiping away the flour and the sticky bits of dough off the table and washing the measuring and mixing dishes before the dough has been rising for 10-15 minutes. And it feels great!

A clean kitchen encourages cleanliness elsewhere. I have been able to get the living room in some semblance of order. Even though there's still a pile of wood in the corner that needs to be put out in the shed, at least we can walk from one end of the room to the other without stepping on toys and papers.

I even decluttered the computer desk. This was a huge area of clutter for me - trash and papers and all sorts of junk would pile up and pile up. There was barely enough room to move the mouse around, and I was constantly worried that one pile of papers or other would topple over if nudged too hard. But now the computer desk is cleared off, all the trash thrown away, and all the important stuff put away. It's much more pleasant to be at the computer now.

Of course, this is just a small portion of the house. There are still two bathrooms, four bedrooms, a large family room, and a laundry room that are all filthy. So my goal is to continue to use the FlyLady system and eventually declutter all throughout the house. Once I've gotten rid of what we don't need, don't use, and don't love, I'll be able to truly beautify our home.

Resolution 2 - Get Healthy

This resolution comes with a lot less of a plan, and a lot less initial success. But here goes nonetheless.

This year I want to lose weight and get healthy. I've been gaining weight steadily since Audrey was born four years ago. Now, at about 210 lbs, I am the heaviest I have ever been. I am not going to pick a specific amount of weight I'd like to lose, or a specific dress size I'd like to eventually be. My goal is not about weight or size, it's about being healthy and feeling good about myself.

That being said, there are some non-scale victories that I definitely want to see happen this year, in no particular order.

- I want to be able to sit in my reclining chair without feeling like my neck fat is trying to choke me.
- I want to lose my double chin.
- I want to be able to put on my shoes and socks without having to grab my pants to heave my foot up to where I can reach it.
- I want to be able to sit comfortably on the floor, and then stand up easily.
- I want to sleep comfortably on my side again, without my weight causing pain in my shoulder and numbness in my arm.
- I want to be forced to buy a whole new wardrobe of cute clothes that fit me properly and are flattering.
- I want my upper gut to not stick out farther than my lower gut.
- I want to have less heartburn.
- I want my waistband to not dig into my tummy when I sit.
- I want to be able to wear my wedding ring again.

I had a great deal of weight loss success years ago by keeping track of my calories and exercising regularly. I've tried on a few occasions to get back into doing this again, but always seem to lose motivation quickly. Well, FlyLady advocates doing 15 minutes of "loving movement" (aka exercise) everyday. Once I add this to my daily routine I should be more motivated to get it done. If I can just get my eating under control I really hope to be able to accomplish at least some of the things I listed in the next year.

Anyway, this is what I hope to accomplish this year. With FlyLady I've made a promising start. Maybe I'll actually even post updates throughout the year, no promises though.

My Dream

Everyone has their own little day dreams. Things that they really want, but haven't been able to achieve yet. Open a restaurant, write a book, stuff like that. My day dream? The thing I think about and yearn for but don't know how to achieve? To be the kind of person with a clean, beautiful house. To be able to look at my surroundings as enjoy what I see. To be the person who washes the dishes right away, who puts things away right away, who does a quick clean-up before bed each night.

I keep seeing commercials for swiffer sweepers, wet jets, dusters. They are supposed to make cleaning easier, make it so you spend less time cleaning and more time enjoying your life. For me, using any of those items would be adding to the work I do - since I don't do any sweeping, mopping, or dusting in the first place.

I tell myself that if I get the house clean, I'll be able to keep it that way. But it never turns out that way. We have cleaned before, gotten the house looking nice. We've had people come over and help us clean. But I never keep it up. Inevitably, the mess creeps back in and the house looks disastrous again.

I want so much to go through the entire house and throw away everything we don't need, don't use, don't want. I want to start from scratch, clear out the house and put it back together one piece at a time. Paint the walls, renovate the kitchen, make over the bedrooms, the living room, the family room, the bathrooms. I want to decorate, and make everything look pretty. I want the clutter gone. I want everything to have a place, and I want everything to be in its place.

But I want it all at once. I feel that if I do anything, I have to do everything. If I clean the kitchen, I have to clean the dining room. If I clean the dining room, the living room needs to be done too. Then I have to clean the bathroom, and the upstairs bedrooms. If I do the upstairs, I have to do the entryway and the downstairs. The family room, the kids' rooms, the bathroom downstairs. Clean the walls, paint over all the "art" on the walls, replace the carpets, take down the wallpaper, install new fixtures in the bathrooms, scrub the grout, build a bed frame for our bed, find beautiful artwork, reupholster the wing chairs in the living room, get rid of the hide-a-bed and move the couch, rearrange all the furniture.

And the list in my mind keeps growing and growing, and I get so overwhelmed I give up before I start, and nothing ever gets done.

Anyway. That's just my rambling. Whatever.

Phillip's Birth

Finally writing this down, two weeks later, so that I get it taken care of before I forget everything! :)

On the morning of Monday, Aug. 13, I went in to the clinic for my routine weekly check-up. Earlier that morning I had been having contractions about 4-5 minutes apart. I thought that I was in labor, but they petered out after about an hour and a half.

At my appointment, everything was fine except that my blood pressure was high and my hands were looking puffy. My bp had been high the previous week as well, so the midwife suggested that I go to OB Emergency Services at the hospital to be screened for preeclampsia. I was a bit concerned with how long this would take, since that day was school registration for Zaylee and Thomas, and I didn't want to miss that.

I spent a couple of hours at OBES, where my blood pressure was checked every fifteen minutes. Blood tests for preeclampsia came back negative, but my blood pressure continued to be high. Because gestational hypertension (pregnancy-induced high blood pressure) can quickly escalate to preeclampsia, which can be harmful to both mother and baby, the midwife on duty, as well as the high-risk doctors she consulted with, strongly recommended that I be admitted for induction right away.

Induction with pitocin was something that I very much wanted to avoid - I'm passionate about natural childbirth. But the risks to baby's health and my own overrode my desire to avoid medical intervention. I did ask about the possibility of breaking my water to start labor, but as of my check-up that morning, baby's head was too high in my pelvis and there would be a risk of cord prolapse.

So I was wheeled across the hall to Labor and Delivery. By this time, Jeff had registered the kids for school, found someone to watch the kids for the night, and arrived at the hospital to be with me. I got all set up in the delivery room and hooked up to an IV. All that was left was for the midwife on duty at L&D to come and talk with us a bit, and order the pitocin.

Waiting to get the show on the road!

Jeff and I waited for the midwife for several hours. We sat through episode after episode of House Hunters International, we chatted a bit, we sat around doing nothing. Finally, a little before 7 in the evening, the midwife came in and talked to us a bit about what we were going to do. Then her shift ended and a new midwife came in.

By this time, I was tired of waiting! But the long wait ended up being a blessing in disguise. When the midwife checked my cervix, she found that during our long wait the baby's head had descended enough to make it safe to break my water - minimal risk of cord prolapse. Hooray! So we were able to induce labor a bit more naturally and avoid the pitocin altogether.

When the midwife broke my water, she discovered meconium in the amniotic fluid. This didn't really make any difference in the labor and delivery - there was already going to be a pediatric team in the room for the delivery because I had a history of shoulder dystocia (shoulder getting stuck in the pelvis, this happened when Audrey was born).

After my water was broken, Jeff and I were left alone to do our own thing for a while. I spent early labor listening to my affirmations, deep breathing, and basically just relaxing as much as possible. Soon though, the contractions started getting stronger and I got the shakes. I could not stop shaking violently. I felt like I was going to chew my tongue off and I couldn't control it. I had Jeff help me through the contractions by pushing really hard on my lower back, and later on my knees, as the contractions got more and more intense.

I was so grateful for the midwife at this point. She helped me to stay focused during the contractions. She reminded me to keep my voice down low instead of high-pitched, she told me how great I was doing, she helped Jeff provide counter-pressure by pushing on one knee while he pushed on the other. She remained calm despite my yelling and roaring. It was just so helpful to have her there with me.

As I got closer and closer to delivery, people started coming in and getting everything ready. The pediatric team was working on the warming table, the midwife was working on her stuff, and the nurse kept reminding me not to push yet, don't push yet, try not to push. Yeah right. At this point, I was doing whatever my body felt like, and it felt like pushing! I feel like everyone was running around frantically while I sat there and pushed. The stirrups were going up as I felt the head in the birth canal and yelled, "He's coming!" A few pushes later, and he was out. It was 12:23 am, August 14.

The midwife put him right up on my chest and I said over and over, "My baby, my baby! It's over, it's over! My baby!" I was alternating between being so happy that my baby was there in my arms, and being absolutely ecstatic that I was no longer in labor.

Baby was taken over to the warmer to be checked by the pediatric team. He was given a bit of oxygen, and because of hospital policy, that meant he had to be taken to the nursery for observation. But they left him with my for about 15 minutes before taking him, which allowed us to have our first feeding and some sweet bonding time.

We have named our sweet boy Phillip Stephan Basker. Stephan is pronounced STE-fun, like Stephanie without the -ie. At birth, Phillip weighed 7 lb. 14 oz, and was 21 inches long. He has a head of somewhat dark hair, and looks so much like our other kids did when they were born. He's only been here for 2 weeks, and I already can't imagine life without him.

A Kidly Update

Been a while since I posted, so I thought I would put up an update on the kids.

Zaylee: Has been doing very well in school. School time isn't her favorite, she would rather be playing. But once we get into her lessons she does well and forgets that she's supposed to be kind of grumpy. Her favorite subjects are Language Arts, when we read stories together and talk about them, and History, where we are learning about the continents and various countries and customs in each continent. Her least favorite subject is Phonics. Even thought she is good at it, I think the repetition makes it kind of boring for her. I haven't figured out a way to make it more interesting and fun for her yet.

Zaylee is also growing in other ways. She just lost her second tooth today, which means the tooth fairy needs to get on the ball and see if she can't find a quarter floating around somewhere. Zaylee is also a huge helper around the house. She helps keep Audrey entertained by playing with her, she helps to set the table for meals and clear the table afterwards (though we often have to remind her). Whenever I need help with something, she's my little go-to gal, and is almost always willing to lend a hand. It's great having her around.

Thomas: Has also been doing well in school. He attends a communication-based special-ed preschool once a week, to help with his talking. He continues to improve, and not only can Jeff and I understand most everything he says, but a lot of times other people can understand him too. There are still several sounds he has difficulty in making, but he'll get the hang of it all eventually. He really loves going to school. He's so excited to get on the bus on Friday mornings, I think it makes him feel very grown-up.

Potty training is still a difficult issue with Thomas. When he remembers, or when we remember to remind him, he's good about peeing in the potty. And he has pooped in the potty a few times. But he still poops his pants every single day. His poor little bottom is sore from all the poop, but we just haven't been able to get him to potty-poop with any regularity. Any ideas for that would be happily welcome!

Audrey: Is growing up so fast! She turned two in November and is constantly surprising me with how big and how mature she is getting. She's not my little baby anymore, she's turned into a charming little girl with a vivacious personality. Her smiles are big and sparkly, and her fits are big and loud. She loves singing and dancing, reading stories, and playing with her big brother and sister. She's also learning more and more phrases, and again surprising me with what she knows how to say. It's fun to be around her, always discovering new things about this adorable little person

Tough couple of days

So now Audrey, Thomas, and Jeff have all gotten whatever I am just now hopefully starting to get over. Even the cat joined the party by throwing up on my bed some time today. The only one who isn't sick (so far, knock on wood) is Zaylee.

Yeah. Wish us luck and speed in getting over whatever is plaguing us, because it ain't no fun!

Christmas

Well, we had a pretty nice Christmas yesterday. It would have been even better if I hadn't been sick all day, but we'll just take what we can get. :)

The kids were nice and didn't wake us up until after 8 (thanks, kids!). I watched from a chair, trying not to throw up, as Jeff and the kids enjoyed the fun and chaos of opening presents. Some highlights - Thomas received a train set and a go-fish game, both of which he has been having fun with ever since. Audrey got a plastic book toy that plays music, and she loves pressing the buttons and dancing to the songs. Zaylee was happy about her bath doll with its accompanying bath toys, and also her new book about the princess and the pigs, in which everyone learns how fun it is to get muddy. Jeff got the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie, some new clothes, a couple bottles of hot sauce, and a big bag of jerky. And I was super excited (as excited as I could be considering how sick I was) to receive a book about making amigurumi, and a serger! I've wanted a serger for a long time, so this was a very happy surprise. I haven't been able to get it out and play with it yet, because I'm still not feeling 100% yet, but I did crochet a very cute little hamster just now.

Here's the couple pictures that I managed to take, all three of them.

The tree and the presents, with Thomas modeling his new pajamas in the foreground.

I made each child their very own apron. Here's Zaylee in hers.

Thomas and Jeff playing with the new train set.

After the presents were all opened, I went back to bed and spent the rest of the morning reminding myself why I had to go to church that day. As the primary pianist, I needed to be there to accompany the primary's songs for the program. But it was sure a struggle getting myself back out of bed and dressed for church!

I survived though, and the program went well. After the primary sang, I took Audrey to the nursery where she played with the toys while I conked out on a chair until church was over. I know, what a way to spend Christmas, right?

For Christmas dinner, we had ham, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie. I ended up eating most of the casserole, because it really helped soothe my stomach. We didn't end up eating the fruit cake that I've been really excited about for weeks. But we'll get around to it, and enjoy it all the same!

2 months in a nutshell

I've been sadly neglecting this poor little blog of mine. Has it really been two months since I posted? I'm not going to do a huge catch-up post, because that would overwhelm me and I would give up before I started.

Just a few highlights - Zaylee had a field trip and got to meet her teacher last month. We do k12, so I'm the one who teaches her lessons, but she has an actual teacher that does online classes and keeps up with her progress. It was fun to meet her, and we got to go bowling. It was Zaylee's first time, and she got a couple spares, so we had a good time.

Thanksgiving was wonderful. We visited my Aunt Kathy and had a delicious meal. I brought rolls and two pies. My favorite dish was the mashed sweet potatoes. We had to leave early because Jeff had work that evening, so we grabbed several slices of a variety of pies, and took them home with us. While I loved all the pies, I have to admit that my favorite was the pretzel (faux pecan) pie that I made. The recipe is here. It just turned out so yummy!

Audrey had her 2-year well baby checkup early this month. She's doing well, 26 1/2 pounds, about 33 inches (though she wouldn't stand still so the nurse had to estimate). She was very upset with the doctor and the nurse, apparently she doesn't like being poked and prodded and stuck with a needle. And here's an observation I just now made: she also doesn't like it when I take away the whole apple Zaylee gave her, and instead give her the apple shes already taken several bites out of. I had to cut it up so she couldn't see the bite marks before she would condescend to eat it.

Every year for the past few years I've made a Christmas fruitcake. I have a recipe that I really like, though it's more like a guide since I use my own combination of fruits and nuts instead of the ones given. I soaked the fruits and nuts yesterday and all last night, then made the cakes this morning. They baked for three hours, and made the whole house smell divine. Now they're all wrapped up, and will sit and ripen for a while, then it'll be time to dig in! I plan on saving one for Christmas day, but the other one will probably be eaten up long before then. Mmmm! Love me some fruitcake.

At some point, I'll upload all the pictures from my camera and try to get some posted. For now though, I'll just be satisfied with the fact that I've actually updated my blog!

Mommies play with blocks too

Today we had an awesome Super Saturday. There were several fun autumn crafts. The one I worked on was a set of holiday letter blocks. I've wanted a set of these for quite a while, but couldn't make myself get around to actually making some. So when I learned that it would be one of the Super Saturday projects, I was so excited.

The blocks - cut, sanded, and painted, were provided. Then we mod-podged pretty scrapbook paper and 4 die-cut letters on each  block. They turned out so pretty and so neat! I love looking at my mantle now.

For anyone interested, here is the info for what goes on each block.

Number the bottom of the blocks 1-16. Leave the top empty. On the four remaining sides of each block, put these letters/pictures:

1. P U D M
2. P O D E
3. H R E (heart)
4. R A F E
5. U N O Y
6. C L Y G
7. L R G W
8. H I R D
9. P S O V
10. B I S W
11. T E U C
12. D M E K
13. T I N 1
14. N A S 4
15. A (christmas tree) (flower) (star)
16. E J T (leaf)

With these letters, you can make such words/phrases as:


HAPPY HALLOWEEN (blocks 3,4,1,2,5,8,14,6,7,9,10,11,12,13)
THANKSGIVING (11,3,15,5,12,10,7,13,9,8,14,6)
MERRY CHRISTMAS (1,2,3,4,5,6,8,7,13,9,11,14,10,15, christmas tree on 16)
WINTER (7,8,5,11,2,4)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY (3,4,1,2,5,10,13,7,11,8,12,14,6)
I LOVE YOU (13,7,5,9,4,6,2,1, heart on 3)
HAVE A NICE DAY (3,4,9,12,15,13,10,11,2,8,14,5)
NUMBER 1 (5,1,12,10,2,8,13)
HAPPY NEW YEAR (3,4,1,2,5,13,12,7,6,11,14,8)
LET IT SNOW (6,4,13,8,11,14,5,2,7)
VALENTINES DAY (9,4,7,2,13,11,8,14,12,10,1,15,5, heart on 3)
HAPPY EASTER (3,4,1,2,5,12,14,9,13,11,8, flower on 15)
APRIL SHOWERS (4,1,3,13,6,14,8,2,10,11,7,9)
SPRING (9,1,7,8,5,6, flower on 15)
FALL (4,15,6,7)
MOTHERS DAY (12,9,11,3,2,4,10,1,15,6)
FATHERS DAY (4,3,11,8,12,7,9,1,15,6)
SUMMER (14,5,1,12,4,7)
4TH OF JULY (14,13,3,9,4,16,1,7,6, star on 15)
I LOVE AMERICA (13,7,2,9,4,3,1,11,8,10,6,14)
WELCOME FRIENDS (10,2,7,6,9,1,11,4,3,13,12,5,8,14)
JANUARY (16,14,13,1,3,7,6)
FEBRUARY (4,2,10,8,1,14,7,6, heart on 3)
MARCH (1,4,8,11,3)
APRIL (4,2,3,8,9)
MAY (1,14,6)
JUNE (16,1,14,4)
JULY (16,1,7,6)
AUGUST (4,5,7,1,10,11)
SEPTEMBER (14,4,9,13,12,1,10,2,7)
OCTOBER (5,11,13,9,10,2,8)
NOVEMBER (13,5,9,11,12,10,2,7)
DECEMBER (1,4,6,11,12,10,2,8)

There are more words and phrases you can make with these blocks, but these are the ones likely to be most useful. Of course, SHALOM (14,8,3,6,9,1) and NAMASTE (13,3,1,4,9,11,12) might come in handy too. And SUPER BOWL (9,1,2,4,8,10,5,7,6) could be useful, for those that are into that sort of thing.

Happy Birthday Zaylee

Yesterday was Zaylee's 6th birthday. My first baby is six years old! Why, she's practically all grown up.

We celebrated with a rainbow cake, as per Zaylee's insistent request. I used m&ms for the rainbow colors, and marshmallows for the clouds. So pretty, and especially yummy!

Zaylee's gift was a princess set - a red satin princess dress, a pink jewelry box with acrylic jewel stickers to decorate it, and sparkle elastic cord and shiny plastic beads to make her own special princess jewelry.

She decorated her jewelry box last night, and has been making herself jewelry ever since.

She's currently wearing, in addition to her dress, a pearl bracelet, a ring, and a necklace, and is making a second bracelet. She's so cute, carefully threading the beads onto the cord in just the right pattern.

Happy birthday to my wonderful little princess!

A Story

Once upon a time there was a little boy named Thomas. Thomas was especially excited, because today was the first day of school. He had been looking forward to school all summer. He loved to see his friends and teachers, and play with the toys. And this year Thomas was very pleased with himself, because he would be wearing big-boy underwear, instead of wearing diapers like last year.

Buckled into his car seat, Thomas could hardly contain his eagerness as Mommy drove to the school he loved so much. Mommy chatted as she drove, "Are you so excited for school?"

"Yea! I get to play with toys!" Thomas grinned as he thought about all the wonderful things he would get to play with - the playdough, the blocks, the crayons.

Finally they arrived at the school. Thomas unbuckled himself and grabbed his backpack. He knew just what to do and just where to go. As Thomas approached the school with Mommy, he saw lots of kids walking out of the school in long lines. Mommy explained that it was a fire drill. He didn't know what that meant, but he forgot all about it when he saw his teacher, Miss Emily. He cheerfully waved hello as she started walking toward them.

Thomas looked around as Mommy and Miss Emily talked. He heard snatches of their conversation - "Sorry, they changed some things ... They were supposed to send out a letter ... Not starting until the 16th." He wasn't really listening until Miss Emily leaned down to talk to him.

"Sorry, Thomas. There's no school today. You can come back next week and then you will have school, okay? Sorry buddy."

Slowly, realization dawned over Thomas' little mind. No school today. No school today. How could that be? He had been so excited. Mommy had told him that it was time for school. But now Miss Emily said No School Today.

He felt like his little heart would break in two. Thomas' face crumbled as he turned dejectedly to walk back to the van. No school today. Were there any sadder words in the whole world? All of Thomas' hopes and dreams of a wonderful day at school were crushed, and by the very teacher that he admired so much. He couldn't stop the tears from streaming down his face. No school today.

Mommy walked beside him back to the van. When she had helped him into his seat she gave him a big hug. "Don't worry, big guy," Mommy said gently. "You can come to school next week, and you'll have a great time." Thomas sniffled and nodded. Next week. Maybe that wouldn't be so bad. Thomas was still very sad. But he knew that everything would be okay.

The End ...

... until next week.

First Day of School

Zaylee and I started school today. We're homeschooling/online learning through k12. And boy was today an adventure!

As the learning coach, I have access to all of Zaylee's courses and assignments. But even though today was the first day of school, nothing was showing up in my daily plan except an Intro to Online Learning that I was supposed to complete. Well, I did the first section, and saw that the rest were scheduled throughout the week, but still no assignments for Zaylee. So I thought that this week would be easy-peasy, and the hardest thing would be finding enough extra stuff for Zaylee to do in order to get in her required school time.

Then I decided to do a bit more of the Intro to Online Learning (thinking I was getting ahead, ha) and realized that I was supposed to have started it a while ago and gotten it completed by today. Each time I completed a section, assignments started popping up for Zaylee to do. So by the time I finished the whole intro (which was just teaching me how to be a learning coach, and how the lessons were supposed to work in each subject) the week was full of assignments and coursework. Zaylee and I had to get started right away!

At this point, it was already 3:00 in the afternoon. As a kindergartener, she's only required to have 2.75 hours of school each day, but I didn't figure in how much time it would take for me to read through the lessons, figure out what I was supposed to do, and prepare to coach Zaylee through each subject. Not only that, but as a not-quite-6-year-old, she needed frequent breaks. It was about 6:45 when we finished all the required work and I was able to successfully mark her attendance for today. She ended up with 3 hours and 5 minutes.

Despite not being at all prepared, the day went pretty well. In Math we reviewed shapes, in Language Arts we read a poem and started a 3-part lesson on Cinderella, in Phonics we learned about /m/ and /t/. Wow, written out like that it doesn't look like much. But anyway, it was actually a lot of fun. Zaylee enjoyed her little lessons, and Thomas made sure that he was involved by coloring in a coloring book while Zaylee did her worksheets, and by participating in the lesson on shapes right along with us. I think he'll make a jolly little classmate for Zaylee.

As soon as we finished dinner this evening though, you can bet I was on the computer preparing for tomorrow's lessons!

Thomas Birthday

Today Thomas turned 4 years old. He is my sunshine sweetheart, with curly hair and a smile that makes me happy when skies are gray!

Oh the curls!

We spent a couple hours this morning at the Hogle Zoo. It turned out to be a great day to go to the zoo, because right now they're featuring "Zoo-rassic Park" - dinosaurs all over! We rode the train and saw several small dinosaurs in addition to the live animals, and Zaylee and Thomas were pretty excited about it. There were also several animatronic dinosaurs situated throughout the zoo that the kids were able to look at.

There was also a dinosaur dig - a great big sandbox with dinosaur fossils hidden in it for kids to dig and find. That was definitely popular with Zaylee and Thomas.

There was a small display in one of the buildings that featured real fossils and dinosaur paraphernalia. A hadrasaur footprint as big as Thomas, a giant dinosaur femur, an allosaurus fossil, a game to guess whether an object is a rock or a bone (I think they were all bones, though most looked like ordinary rocks).

 

Of course, there was the always favorite big elephant. Thomas is still scared of it, so he stayed away. But Zaylee ran right up and had some fun with it.

Hmm, maybe a little too much fun...

And just to prove that Audrey and I were there too, here's a picture of the two of us (p.s. I love my mei tai, I have been able to use for all three kids at a variety of ages, it's awesome).

After leaving the zoo (Thomas was NOT happy to leave, he wanted to stay at the zoo all day long!) we stopped by Smith's and got some freezer pizzas, a cake, and a carton of ice cream. I would have made a cake but we just got home from Idaho yesterday, were at the zoo this morning, and Jeff has work this evening so there was no time to make a cake. That's okay, Thomas got to choose a fun, colorful cake from the bakery and we were all happy with it.

Here's the traditional singing of the birthday song:

We enjoyed the cake and ice cream for a little while, but as soon as we gave Thomas his gift, he and Zaylee pretty much forgot about their cake and ice cream because the present was too much fun to pay attention to anything else! We got him a Thomas the Train set, with train tracks, a battery-powered Thomas engine, a freight car, and a little factory where you can drop a load of chocolate into the freight car. Way too much fun!

Overall it's been a good day.

Idaho Visit

We spent the past week in Idaho visiting family. Tuesday was spent driving up and then recovering from the six-hour drive. Wednesday I wasn't feeling well, so I ended up spending most of the day in bed, but Jeff and the kids played at the park and just generally had a fun time hanging out with family.

Thursday Jeff and I enjoyed the opportunity to go on a date. Mom watched the kids while Jeff and I went to Olive Garden. I had Steak Gorgonzola, which was incredible. Jeff had some sort of Ravioli with bacon and truffle sauce, which was also incredible. We had some melty cheese with bread as an appetizer, incredible. And the lemon cream cake for dessert, also incredible. Yeah, it was all really good (by the way, I left my box of leftovers in the fridge; if anyone there wants them, dig in). Then we walked around Best Buy and Micheal's for a while, just for fun. By the time we got back to Dad's house, Michelle and her boys were there, so lots of fun playing with cousins.

On Friday and Saturday we went to Kuna for the L family reunion. Way too much good food, lots of chatting and laughing for the adults, lots of running around and playing for the kids.

Hi Cousin Sindy!

Friday evening Grandma and Grandpa told stories about when they were younger. Grandma talked about life without electricity, Grandpa talked about when his family lived on the goat ranch. During the stories, the kids watched a movie but Audrey decided that Grandma and Grandpa weren't entertaining enough on their own, and so she entertained us with her antics (sorry it's so dark).

On Saturday we took family pictures and hung out some more. Saturday night I got sick and ended up in the bathroom more than I would prefer, so again on Sunday I stayed in bed while Jeff took the kids to church. Eventually I was able to make it out and eat a little bit, a couple pieces of potato, a small piece of Marie's birthday cake, some water. Sunday evening I slowly made my way around the house getting everything ready for our return trip. By the time I was done I was exhausted and spent the rest of the evening sitting around doing nothing.

Monday I was feeling a lot better - not 100% but okay - and we left for home around 7:30. We had another very long 6-hour drive, during which all of us except Jeff slept most of the time, and another afternoon and evening of recovering from the drive. And that was our trip.

Scariest Moment Ever

Zaylee and I had a really scary time this afternoon. I was on the computer while Zaylee and Thomas were playing in Zaylee's room. I suddenly realized that Zaylee was crying in a way that is not normal for her. I'm used to her yelling at Thomas when she's irritated at him, but this was very different. She sounded panicked, and in pain. I got up to see what was the matter.

The worst moment in the world isn't the one when you walk through the door and see what's happening - it's the moment your mind actually registers what it's seeing. What I saw was a rope tied tightly around Zaylee's neck as she stood her closet, her face swollen and purple. The other end of the rope was tied to the closet pole. She was crying desperately that it was choking her, hurting her. I still don't know how she got the rope so tight, I couldn't fit a finger between the rope and her neck. When I ran out and came back with my thread clippers I couldn't even get the clipper blade between the rope and the skin. I had to cut at the rope a little bit at a time, reassuring Zaylee that she would be fine, I was there, everything would be okay. I was reassuring myself too.

After what seemed like forever but was less than a minute, I got the rope cut off of her neck and just held her in my arms for a really long time. I held her a lot more this afternoon and evening than I usually do, cherishing the fact that she is okay.

Zaylee has recovered quite well (we made cookies tonight, she's happy as a clam), though her face and neck are showing the consequences of what happened. There are small red dots all over her face and neck above where the rope was. In some areas, they almost look like freckles. It's where the capillaries burst from the exertion.

 

I never want to go through anything like this as a mother ever again. I'm just so glad she's okay.

Lagoon

Jeff's work had their company party on Saturday at Lagoon, a local amusement park. This was our first time going to Lagoon, and we had such a good time! We spent most of the time in Kiddie Land, where Zaylee and Thomas had a blast driving cars, piloting airplanes, and riding dragons. We all thoroughly wore ourselves out having fun.

Audrey's excited to get going!

This is Thomas "Say cheese!" face. Not exactly smiling, is it?

We couldn't find Zaylee's brimmed hat, so she got to wear a kerchief instead. She loved it.

Me in my new sunhat. Jeff was there too, but somehow we didn't get any pictures of him.

The kids were so excited that to go on the car ride that they actually hugged each other!

"Driving" the car.

Zaylee, ready for "Puff the Little Fire Dragon." She laughed so hard on this ride!

This ride splashed the kids so much that by the end, they just ducked and stayed there, trying not to get any wetter.

My little ladybug riding a little ladybug.

Buckling up to fly a plane.