A Sister's Instincts?

Brielle is absolutely obsessed with Addison and spends about 99.2% of her day rubbing, touching, hugging, kissing, squishing, squealing at, begging to hold, and in many other ways bothering loving the baby.

This also means that I spend 99.2% of my day telling her to stop, back it up a little, let the baby sleep, let the baby eat, let the baby breathe, etc.

It is D-lightful.

 

Addison was eating and finally getting a little break from Brielle as I turned on Nick Jr. and told her that while I fed the baby, she needed to leave us alone...something I am sure I tell her at least 337 times a day (I have to tell her repeatedly...even when the baby isn't eating.)

 Her show went to commercial and she happened to hear a commercial that said, "Always trust your instincts". 

Her first question: 
"Who stinks?"

Love it!

Anyway, I explained that it wasn't someone that stinks, but the word was INSTINCT.

She - of course - asked what instinct meant.

In my best 4 year old vocabulary, I tried to explain that instinct is basically what you feel like you should do.  Or what you feel is the right thing to do. 

To further illustrate this concept to her I said, "For instance, my instincts were telling me that the baby was crying because she was hungry and needed to eat."

Without skipping a beat, Brielle said, "Well, my instincts are telling me that I need to keep bugging Addison."

Touché.

The reality of being a mom

I usually try to look on the bright side of things.  I try to find the glamorous things in my life and try to focus on how wonderful my kids are.

But sometimes reality slaps you in the face so hard that you really can't think about the glamorous side of it to save your life.

Tuesday morning I decided to kick off my new year - a few days late - by getting up before the kids so that I could actually shower and be ready before 1 in the afternoon.  However, my desire to do so of course meant that throughout the previous night, I was up 6 times between the 3 kids.  They have a momdar (mom radar) alerting them to anything mom may do that is out of the ordinary and they do all they can to ruin it. 

Proof of this momdar can be found in many different situations.  For instance as soon as I sat down to write this post, my previously slumbering baby awoke screaming for nourishment NOW, and my two older kids who were previously enjoying quiet time began fighting and screaming, requiring my attention. 

One may ask, "How can you give 3 kids your attention at once?"  Answer:  You can't, and you don't.  Inevitably one or more children will be left screaming for their needs as you assess who really needs you the most at the moment.  As of now...baby wins.  A couple days ago - pee soaked toddler and couch wins.

Another example of this momdar would be whenever I sit down to eat or grab a quick snack.  Suddenly I am as popular as a crumb of cake in an ant hill.  What the devil!?  These little people wanted nothing to do with me a couple minutes ago.

To add to the joy that is motherhood, I decided it was high time to potty train Claire.  Basically I should have kept her in diapers and bought a puppy, because that's about how successful she was for the entire first day and a half.

After at least 10 pairs of panties (or underwear if you're my husband and hate the word panties) and many, many Clorox wipes we are FINALLY making progress...however she is now running to the potty every 30 minutes...because she knows she will get a treat if she tinkles in there. 

Who's idea was it to make kids so darn smart?


I'm pretty sure I'll never be able to leave the house again.  We're now knee deep in that terrible in-between phase of potty training where they are doing pretty good but you really can't trust that they'll hold it in public. 


Another reason for our hermit tendencies is because I only have 2 hands and with 3 kids it takes a lot of time, planning, energy and patience - which I am lacking a bit of lately - to go anywhere.  I will get to the point where emerging from our hole of insanity will happen...but for now I am just trying to make the most of it.  Hey, look on the bright side, I don't have to do my hair or makeup or really even get out of my pajamas!  The savings alone in laundry soap and cosmetics is worth it...right?


Lucky Marty gets to come home to such a beautiful sight each night.

Then there is the phenomenon known as mother's Murphy's law, which states, "if you want to get something accomplished, something else will definitely go wrong ruining your chances"...or something like that.  I was managing the stresses of potty training, having a newborn, being lonely, having mountains of cleaning, dishes and laundry to do pretty decently.  Then I put in my first - of about 500 - loads of laundry for the morning.

Soon the sound of a waterfall was flowing through our house.  I knew I hadn't installed such a beautiful feature and began searching out the noise.  I was lead to my washing machine where I found water was spilling out the back by the hose.  I quickly turned off the washing machine and stood there...not sure what to do. 

I felt as though this may be the straw to break the camel's back.  I weighed my options:

1. Cry.


2.  Call my dad and cry.


3. Put Claire back in diapers and undo any progress as to avoid unnecessary dirty clothes.


4. Do all the above and wait for Marty to get home so I could cry and make him fix it. 


5. Investigate and try to fix the washer myself and continue on with the day.

I decided to put my OWN big girl panties on and fix the washer.  Basically - in all my technical knowledge - the drain hose wasn't keeping up with the water and was spilling out the excess. There's probably a clog or something but I chose to just stop the washer long enough for it to drain and turn it back on...with a towel underneath just in case.  Problem solved! (kind of) 

Okay...I may have cried too.

So the washing machine is running, the dishes are done (for now), the kids are fed (even if it is their 4th pack of fruit snacks today), clothed (in dress up clothes), and they're happy (because they're watching TV)...but most importantly, mommy is not crying (anymore).  For now that's all I hope for! 

On the agenda for tomorrow - try to find the glamour again.

They LIED!

Coming home from Utah was particularly painful for Brielle as she wasn't done playing in the snow.  The further we drove away, the more she said things like, "I want to go back to Utah NOW to play in the snow!  Texas doesn't have snow!  Let's go back!  Turn around!" 

In all honesty I was just about to take her up on the offer, because I too wasn't quite sure I was ready to leave Utah behind again.  I thought maybe it'd be easier this time around...I was wrong.

The drive home was full of bad weather everywhere we went.  The closer we got to Texas, however, it got more and more clear.  We literally were leaving the snow in our dust.  I was feeling sad as I thought of how disappointed Brielle was going to be that we weren't able to play in the snow again this winter.

Imagine our surprise and Brielle's EXTREME joy as we pulled in to our little community and saw remnants of snow on the ground!  We had been told that Wichita Falls may get one small skiff of snow each year but that it never sticks.  What we were seeing was just slightly more than a skiff however.  We could tell people had shoveled their driveways and plowed the streets as there were some snow piles that were at least a foot tall. (Remember, this is Texas...not Utah, a one foot snow drift is HUGE!)  There were even a couple yards with snow men still standing...even though the snow around them had nearly melted.

As we pulled in to our driveway, Brielle squealed with delight, "Look!  We have two puddles of snow in our front yard!"  Meager as they were, it was still snow.

The next morning Brielle promptly ate breakfast and got dressed.  She then got some "snow clothes" on and begged to go outside.  As she was heading outside she said, "Wow, I can't believe we have snow in our yard!  Someone lied to me, because they DO have snow in Texas!"

She was in absolute heaven as she played in our "puddles of snow". 

Thank you Mother Nature for making Brielle the happiest girl alive!!

Jam Packed Christmas Post...because I know you have an hour to spend reading this...and I'm too lazy to split it up in to multiple posts.

So much to cover...so little desire to make it organized.  A few of the events could probably warrant a post dedicated solely to them...however I am lazy and just need to get these memories down so that some day - when I'm feeling nostalgic - I can read back on all we did. 

So, let's get this party started shall we?

The journey from Texas to Utah was long...20 hours to be exact. Within the first 5 hours, Addison had thrown up (not to be confused with a little bit of baby spit up) 4 times, requiring 3 outfit changes for her and 1 for me.  To make things even MORE exciting, Brielle then joined the band wagon and threw up in the back seat of the van...in a traffic jam...with people driving really slowly by watching Marty dry heave while holding a vomit covered child trying to get her cleaned up on the shoulder of the road.  I would have helped him, however I was dealing with the vomit covered newborn on the inside of the van. 

It would seem that my meager attempt at being prepared by bringing 4 grocery bags for garbage etc. was not going to cut it.  We ended up with all 4 of those bags completely stuffed with vomit clothes and blankets riding in the back for the remainder of the 15 hours...leaving us ZERO bags for poopy diapers, dirty tissues, wrappers etc.  And did you know that baby wipes - no matter how hard you try - will NOT get the smell of throw up out of upholstery?  It was going very smoothly indeed.

We managed to go the rest of the 15 hours with minimal problems, however, and pulled safely in to the welcoming driveway of my parent's home at about 2:30 a.m.  The positive to all that...Claire didn't throw up.

The first few days of the trip are a blur of visiting family members we had missed, playing with cousins, eating...a lot...and soaking in all the wonderfulness of being home for the holidays (Cheesy?  Yes. But it's the truth.)  I forgot to take any pictures of the first few days...and even MORE terrible, I forgot to take my camera when we visited the Davis' at all!!  I still feel bad about this.

Christmas came and went FAR too fast...as always.  A few highlights:

Christmas Eve pajamas by the Christmas tree

Christmas morning...the traditional "rolled out of bed" picture coming up the stairs.

3 of the 6 Granddaughter's with their purses and glasses from Grandma and Grandpa R.  Participation was not on the 4th granddaughter's agenda....that's her purple shirt on the bottom left.

*****

We also had the pleasure of introducing Addison to her cousin Brooklyn (exactly 2 months older) for the first time....which also means I had the pleasure of meeting Brooklyn for the first time.  What a CUTE little girl she is!

(In case you wondered, Addison's shirt says "One Tuff Army Cookie")

*****

We were able to bless Addison in my parent's ward on Sunday while there.  We were originally planning to just do it at their house but found out the bishopric had too many conflicts, so doing it in their ward was the only option.  Marty made me tear up after he finished the blessing by walking across the front of the chapel holding Addison and gently leaning down and kissing her on the forehead.  Don't ask me why it got me choked up...but it did.  It was so sweet.

(Addison is wearing the same blessing dress that me and my 2 sisters, Brielle, Claire and 2 other granddaughters have all worn.  Such a fun tradition!)

Following the blessing, Claire fell head first off the bench hitting her head on the one in front leaving her with a LARGE goose egg on her forehead.  After finding some ice in the freezer at the church, she recovered quickly and within a couple hours it was hardly noticeable.

*****

The kids were in HEAVEN with the snow. 

Nothing quite like cheap labor.

*****

Addison turned 1 month old on our trip.  It has gone fast and she is just the happiest, sweetest little baby and is actually starting to get a little chub on her.

(Pictures were actually taken in Texas...it didn't dawn on me that she was 1 month old until we were back.)

*****

And finally - a couple of my favorite outcomes of our attempted "cousins" photo shoot.  I don't have any that turned out of all the cousins...because I didn't happen to capture any with my camera.  But at least we tried and have those memories!

It was SO great to be in Utah with family for the holidays, I couldn't have survived this Christmas otherwise.