I think these chubby legs confirm my answer of "yes."
And this little chunky foot that likes to pop out when I'm nursing:
And this leg that likes to always bend back while he eats, too.
I love him bad.
How does one ever stop having babies?
***
This week is Nevada Reading Week (and spirit week at the kids' school).
Monday was "Pajama Day" and Tuesday was "Favorite Book Character" day.
Grace was Pinkalicious and Adam was Peeta from The Hunger Games.
I received a call that afternoon from my brother + cousins who were on their way back to Utah from Phoenix (for Nate's homecoming).
They stopped by and visited for a bit.
Josh had fun with my cousin, who was a fun play-mate.
And Sam got to meet Uncle Mo for the first time.
That evening was the Pinewood Derby car weigh-in. To save money on track rental, our Pinewood Derby is being done as a stake this year. With so many boys needing to race, they weighed the cars early.
***
Adam woke us up at 2:00 in the morning early Wednesday, yelling, "Josh is making funny noises!"
We ran in, and the boy who had been fine all day on Tuesday, was struggling to breathe with a bad case of croup.
We've done croup several times with Adam and Grace, so we ran a hot shower and held him in the room with the door shut tight (so the steam would open up his airways). We tried cold drinks and cold air.
After all the hot water was gone, he was laying on my bed, shaking and sounding like a fish out of water.
Having asthma, and knowing how absolutely, positively terrifying it is not to be able to breathe, tugged at my heart strings, and I asked Mike to take him to the E.R.
Some medicine, several breathing treatments, a blessing, and 4 hours later, he ran in the door happy and yelling at us to wake up and get ready for the day.
Man, I'm thankful for good doctors, insurance, and Mike.
That day was "Wacky Wednesday."
Adam and Grace did their best to be super-wacky.
I think they succeeded.
***
Thursday was "Spirit Day" at the school.
Plus, "Lunch With a Loved One."
I hauled Sam, Josh and some Sonic + grapes down to the school.
We had a fun lunch and then toured the kids' decorated classroom doors for the "Classroom Door" competition. Each class chose a book and decorated it for the week.
Grace's was Reading Gives You Wings.
Adam's was Through the Looking Glass.
It was a long, fun day.
***
On Friday we cleaned and cleaned.
My house still looks gross.
Babies are adorable, sweet, delicious-smelling things that suck all of the time + energy away that is normally used for house cleaning.
(Maybe that's how people stop having babies).
We learned about Greece, ate chicken gyros, watched Greek folk dancing videos, a buncha fights broke out, and I swore I was done with "Foreign Fridays."
But, they are so much fun, I'm probably not.
***
Saturday was Adam's third and final (sniff!) Pinewood Derby.
("Sniff"? Who am I kidding? Thank-freaking-goodness is more like it).
;)
There were 27 boys racing, and by my figuring, he placed 6th. We will get his "official" placing on Tuesday. He won 3 of his 4 races, and (most important) had a great time. Both he and Mike had a great time planning, building, and racing his car.
That night, after some more cleaning (house is still gross), we had spaghetti (Mike worked late... the only way we get to eat spaghetti around here, as he hates it), and baths.
We threw Sam in the big tub for the first time.
He loved it.
So did Josh.
***
On Sunday we went on a drive after church + lunch to see this gorgeous, recently-abandoned church in our stake.
And finished dinner off with some "no bake cookies."
We started Monday out at the grocery store, after dropping the kids and Mike off, stocking up on healthy foods.
It's been 6 weeks since my baby boy was born... and it was time to get healthy!
I have 6 pounds to lose before I have lost all of the baby weight from all of my babies (I am 6 pounds away from weighing what I did before I got pregnant with Adam).
Then I will move onto the 28 "Miscarriage Depression" pounds.
It's a process.
:)
After we stocked up on fruits and veggies, my little photography assistant and I tried to get a good picture of Sam for Elder Rice's homecoming on Saturday.
I'm not sure about how Sam feels about my assistant's techniques for maneuvering heads.
***
On Tuesday, we had Pack Meeting.
Adam earned the Webelos pins for "Outdoorsman," "Naturalist," "Artist," "Athlete," "Readyman," "Sportsman," "Family Member," "Fitness," and "Scholar."
Yay, Adam!
***
On Wednesday, Mike had the day off.
Which meant some more weeds got burned.
I started taking down my February mantle:
I have four blocks on it that rotate with the words "XOXO," "Love," "Hugs," and "Kiss."
Mike and Adam spent all month spelling every word that they could think of that had nothing to do with love:
Punks.
While Mike was at mutual, we made posters for Elder Rice's homecoming picture.
We can't make it down to Phoenix (boo!) for his airport arrival, but we are hoping a picture of our family with our posters will help him know that we are there in spirit.
***
On Thursday morning, I had everything set up for a photo shoot to take pictures with our posters for Elder Rice's homecoming.
We only had a few minutes to do it, and a fight broke out.
So, it didn't happen.
We dropped the family off at school + work, went to Zumba, came home, ate lunch, fed Sam, and I savored his legs scrunching up (like only newborns do).
I miss having a baby already.
While I showered, Josh went ahead and took a "selfie."
Along with 50 more random pictures of our house.
***
Last week, Josh took my keys to open the car doors for me.
He came in and told me that he had thrown them into the tree instead.
(He had just been tossing them up, and they got caught in the tree on accident).
We have spent much of the past week staring up into the tree trying to spot those darn keys!
Finally Mike did on Friday morning:
We got some shopping done that afternoon. I am the luckiest mom alive to have 3 helpers who scan and bag all of the groceries for me while I keep Sam occupied.
That night we learned about France. The kids loved learning about the Louvre, the Lascaux Caves, and the Versailles Palace.
And they really loved eating Croque Monsieurs, french fries, grapes and eclairs for dinner.
***
On Saturday Grace and I read all of the updates my mom was leaving on Facebook about Elder Rice's arrival in Phoenix.
We moped.
We soooo wanted to be there.
We took the posters we made and snapped a picture of the kids (not the whole family, but ya gotta do what ya can).
It made Grace feel a little better.
There is a famous family-owned bakery here (Freed's) that does a once-a-year $1 cupcake sale.
(And while I know that logically I could make 24 cupcakes for a little over $1, it's fun to do once a year).
So, we headed over to Henderson, got some super-crazy-yummy cupcakes and played at the park in the absolutely gorgeous weather.
Park play (where she completed the monkey bars for the first time!) + strawberry cream cupcakes made Grace feel a whole lot better.
(Though she would've traded 100 cupcakes to be able to squeeze her very best buddy in person).
***
On Sunday, Sam went to church for the first time (and I went back, too).
Matthew 5:44 "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."
March 2014 Quote:
“Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” -Mark Twain
For President's Day, Mike worked both jobs, we cleaned and caught up on homework.
Our RS President brought us over the makings for root beer floats.
We have so many sweet friends who are keeping us full of sugar.
:)
***
After a 4-day weekend, the kids happily went back to school on Tuesday, Mike sleepily went to work, and Josh and I got started on the massive pile of laundry in our living room.
I figure I nurse Sam for about 8 hours every day.
That takes a serious chunk out of time I have to get stuff done.
I love nursing him, and it's completely worth it, but it's a time commitment for sure.
Which explains the huge pile of laundry we plowed through.
In-between feedings, Sam slept on the chair next to me in the living room while I folded.
Occasionally accompanied by Josh.
And (somehow) when my back was turned, that Sam went and snuck a Red Vine.
Tricky!
(Kind of reminds me of this stunt that Grace pulled on Josh when he was a baby).
Except, while Grace was trying to torture, Josh was just trying to "share."
***
Mike's day off this week was on Wednesday.
He let me sleep in a little (felt so good!) and went to Harbor Freight.
He came home and told me he was going to take care of the weeds.
I was super-happy and (shocked) that he had volunteered to take care of them.
Until I saw the super-cool tool he had bought to take care of the weeds.
Fire makes weed killing bearable, apparently.
***
On Thursday, we went to Zumba in the morning, for the first time in over a year.
And afterward, I felt just a bit like myself again.
(The whole postpartum thing is pretty hard for me).
That afternoon, Josh went ahead and T.P.ed Sam while I ran back to our room to answer the phone.
FYI, I will no longer be answering the phone.
;)
***
On Friday I made my kiddos extremely happy when I told them we were going to the library.
We haven't been since before Sam was born.
And because we used to go once a week, these kids were dying for some new books.
When we got home we whipped up some stir-fry for dinner.
Foreign Friday was delayed because I had a ton of veggies I had to use up, and stir-fry is the best way to get them used up... next Friday we have plans to learn about France.
Josh adores stir-fry.
I found him on the stove sneaking leftovers out of the pan before I had put them away.
We picked up Mike from work at 7:30 then went over to Krispy Kreme so these guys could redeem their report card "As" for some free doughnuts.
And until Adam can be convinced that getting good grades and studying are beneficial to his life, free doughnuts are an awesome motivator.
***
On Saturday, we watched from the sidelines as Grace cheered for the volleyball team.
We went straight from the game to D.I. to pick up Mike... who ended up having to work an hour extra.
I will not complain about having his job (because what an enormous blessing having a job is), but being salaried means we never really know his schedule, because every day he either stays later or goes in early.
Normally, it's not a big deal (other than us having to wait in the car longer), but we had plans that night!
Luckily, Kristi and Mike were very gracious hosts when we showed up over an hour late for dinner (we got lost, too).
We had a yummy dinner and the kids had fun playing together.
***
On Sunday I asked Grace to hold Josh after church while I made lunch.
She (and Josh) went ahead and introduced him to their most favorite toy in the house:
Our red chair.
It spins better than the teacups at Disneyland.
I quickly rescued Sam.
(He has had quite a week).
That evening after scriptures and prayer, Sam started crying to be fed. I had dinner dishes to wash, a kitchen to clean, and another enormous pile of laundry to fold.
And you know the best part of not letting your kids watch TV ever?
That when you offer to let them watch Cake Boss with you if they will fold laundry, they all happily oblige, and that laundry gets folded/hung/put away in no time because they are SO excited to get to watch TV.
I'm going to have to try that again one of these days.
On Monday, I realized it had been 4 weeks since Sam was born.
So, I decided to be a big girl and clean my entire house... scrub tubs, dust, organize the closets, sweep, mop, etc.
Which means that now when someone visits I will actually let them in my house... rather than making up an excuse as to why they should stay outside.
;)
Now, I need to deal with the million weeds that have popped up in the last month and clean the van.
And by the time I get those done, it will probably be time to scrub the bathtubs and mop the floors again.
That evening, Adam finished his black history project on Nelson Mendela. Grace did her spelling homework. Josh rode his bike around the house. Sam ate and ate.
Mike slept to get ready for his night job.
And I (grumpily) envied him.
***
On Tuesday, we had some friends visit who brought the best baby gift Mike has ever received:
Girl Scout cookies.
Adam worked on the "Art" Webelos pin at Scouts that night. Mike dropped him off and then went back into work for 4 hours (a sweet friend brought Adam home for us). Josh got hit on top of his head with a hoe by our visiting friends on accident (there was blood, but luckily, it was a small cut).
I re-discovered the beauty of the store-bought rotisserie chicken.
And of store-bought Valentine's (they went with Fun Dip ones).
***
For the past 2 weeks, I have been super-spoiled/blessed. Sam tends to get up around 5:00am. I nurse him until 5:45ish, get the kids and Mike up, get breakfast and lunches going, etc. He has to be at work at 8:00, so he has been dropping the kids off at school at 7:45, going to work (while I go back to bed for a little more sleep... Josh is a night owl/sleeping in kinda boy), and coming home at lunch, so I can have the van to drop him back off at work and pick-up the kids.
And pick him up from work an hour-and-a-half later.
It's worth the extra sleep I tell ya!
On Wednesday, he had to be at work at 7:30 (and the kids can't be at school until 7:45), so I had to be a big girl again and stay up and bring them all to work and school.
It made me feel like I deserved a Thin Mint for breakfast.
;)
Josh went outside to play in the sandbox (like he does almost every day) and drug in 1/2 pound of sand with him.
Like he does almost every day.
Seriously, I'm surprised that sandbox has any sand left in it at all.
Cheerleading practice, homework, chores, piano practice, and dinner all happened that evening.
Mike left for mutual.
Then Adam reminded me he had been assigned to bring a Valentine box to school the next day.
(Not his fault; he has reminded me every day since it has been assigned; I just kept putting it off).
So, we started to work on it.
Then Grace told me she had one due, too.
So, we started to work on it.
They both had class parties, so we made pretzel Valentine M&M hugs (here) for them to bring. They were adorable.
We got finished with it all waaaay late.
Then Grace confessed she had lied; she had just wanted a box because Adam had one.
It had been so insanely hard to make both Valentine boxes, get Josh ready for bed, take care of Sam, clean up dinner, get things ready for the next day, and make the party treats by myself.
Grrrr!
She's lucky that she wrote me that note last week about my hair.
Or she wouldn't be here with us right now.
;)
***
On Thursday, we got Valentine boxes, Valentines, treats, and kids to school; Mike off to work.
And then we went to the doctor for Sam's 1-month well check.
Baby boy is BIG!
11 pounds 15 ounces and 23 1/4 inches long.
Almost 100th percentile for each.
I adore that chub.
And his beautiful blonde/brown/red hair.
(Auburn, maybe?)
Josh and I ran errands, came home, had lunch, took care of Sam, talked to Mike, and went back to pick up the kids.
They were laden with treats, Valentines, and lots of stories of their super-fun day.
We quickly ran to Target (I had accidentally shoplifted earlier in the day, so we went to right my wrong.)
Darn having kids who notice these things!
;)
We came home, where Josh lamented that he didn't have a party.
So we had a little family pre-Valentine party, which involved us eating too many treats from kids' school parties, reading Valentines and dancing.
Afterward, Grace held a crying Sam so I could get a few things done.
***
On Friday, there was no Valentine-themed breakfast or lunch. My kids didn't wear pink or red. And Mike had to work late, and wouldn't be their for our traditional family dinner.
And it's okay.
In years' past, I would've sacrificed the 4 hours of sleep I'm getting a night these days to make it the most special Valentine's Day ever.
I've matured/gotten lazy/become realistic/value my 4 hours of sleep too much to make that happen.
And it's okay.
Instead, we stayed home and cleaned bedrooms, while blasting our essential cleaning music (iHeart Radio Kid-Friendly Pop).
Josh played in the sandbox and cleaned the entire backyard by himself, making a nice place for the kids to ride their bikes around.
That evening, we had our traditional meatloaf Valentine dinner, and when Mike got home, the kids opened small gifts from us.
***
On Saturday, we headed to downtown Las Vegas, to the Emergency Arts Center.
The kids' school has an annual fundraiser each year where they have each kid paint a picture on canvas, get the Emergency Arts Center to donate their building for the day, and hold a silent auction to raise money for the school, while the choir and cheer teams perform to provide entertainment.
And, honestly, I would rather pay for a cute piece of my kids' art then a box of frozen cookie dough, so I love it.
I felt very brave, parking downtown, walking the 6 blocks with Sam in my Moby, and Josh gripping my hand tight, with Adam and Grace close-by.
They were all a little nervous. Downtown Vegas is artsy/vintage.
It's a way cool park + shopping center built entirely out of containers. And it has been on our we've-got-to-do-this-now list since it opened in December. We were tempted to go check it out, but didn't have time. Now that we know where it is (and I feel much braver about doing Downtown by myself) we are going ASAP.
Container Park is so cool.
(Most especially the slide. And the fire-breathing praying mantis.)
Anyway, once we saw Container Park, a place that was kinda familiar to us, we all relaxed, found the Emergency Arts Center, and got Grace to her coach.
We watched the cute JV Cheer girls perform their darling dance:
Walked around, talked to friends, and bid on Adam and Grace's artwork.
Sam started to fuss, so we walked/chased Josh (he was feeling much more brave) back to the car, and headed home to feed him.
At home, I fed Sam, the kids played, and we had grilled cheese for dinner.
***
On Sunday, I taught Sam all about "selfies."
I am almost itch-free (yay to Allegra + Zantac + time + lots of prayers), and the weather has been pretty warm, and we haven't been sick yet this winter (huge blessing), so I think I'm heading back to church next week.
Mike, Adam, Grace, and Josh all walked in the front door and each handed me a couple of Hershey kisses they had saved from their Bishop's-office-candy-jar-raid.
Sweet!
(And, if the Bishop is handing out chocolate rather than Dum-Dums these days, I will definitely go back to church next week).
;)
After changing clothes and eating lunch, the kids headed out to the sandbox where they re-created Lehi's family traveling across the ocean to the Promised Land:
And went out front to play basketball.
And played soccer inside.
I love that Sam only sleeps well if he is in the living room, with everyone playing, laughing, yelling, and kicking soccer balls around him (I guarded him, don't worry).
We finished the day with a visit from friends (who brought us cake + cookies), dinner, baths, scriptures, prayer and bed.
After they were asleep and the kitchen was cleaned, I fed Sam while I watched Blackfish on Netflix and bawled.
I'm not even what I'd remotely call an animal lover, but baby orcas should not be taken away from their Mamas!
