I'm remembering

just how busy it is to have an infant in the home.   Especially when the infant had his shots and is feeling miserable and I am trying to create a summer schedule and make dinner and the house and backyard are filled with the other kiddos and their friends.   Oh well.   There's always tomorrow, right?   :)

April Top Ten

Top ten things done, said, or otherwise experienced in April 2011:

10-Isaac: If a girl tries to . . . you know . . . like tries to kiss me before I’m married . . . (dramatic pause) . . . I’m gonna use karate on her. HIYA!

Hmmm, maybe I should have him sign a contract on that one.

9-Lucy’s aversion to eating green food (read “anything healthy”) continues. After loading up her fajita (sans meat) with cheese, sour cream, and tomatoes, I told Lucy, “You need something green on that.” She looked at me. She looked at the food spread out on the table. She looked at me again. She grabbed one single piece of cilantro, threw it on her tortilla, and starting laughing hysterically.

Everyone’s a comedian, I tell you.

8-Adam, a wordsmith in the making.
A: (while playing Go Fish) Mom, do you have a stunk?
M: Umm, no. Go Fish. And that’s a squirrel.
A: Oh, it looks like a stunk.

Skunk, Stunk . . . seems like it could have been more aptly named, doesn’t it?

7-With the arrival of the new kid came those wonderful postpartum hormones. Zach took a bite of my toast as I left to run to the hospital, and I was so irrationally enraged I almost punched the wall. Well, okay, maybe not. I don’t punch things because I’m afraid it will hurt my hand. But you get the picture, right?

And then there was the morning Kye asked if he could join the Pokemon club at school. I burst into tears. Literally. Burst. Into. Tears. I said, and I quote, “We just (sob) can’t do (sob) one more thing right now (sob).” Which made Kye burst into tears. *Sigh*

6-Baby #5 made it home. After 12 long days in the NICU, Dr. Paxton busted Eli outta there. We were expecting at least another day, so I was thrilled. I called Zach to let him know we were on our way home, so he took the day off work. The kiddos were on their first day of spring break, so everyone was home when I walked in the door carrying Eli. There was screaming and clapping and dancing and even a little crying. It was the first time we were all together as a family and it was a little fantastic.

5-A: Can I see the swimming poodle? (aka the pool noodle)

4-M: I need to feed Eli.
I: Mom, you should invent a baby feeder.

I think Heavenly Father did a pretty good job with the invention of mothers, but what do I know?

3- Feeding specialist at the hospital: You have FIVE kids? You look way too young to have five kids.
M: You are my favorite person right now.

2-L: Mom, Isaac just totally believed my April Fool’s joke that you were going to have another baby.
M: I just had a baby!
I: I know, but it’s cause your tummy is still, you know . . . (complete with hand motions to indicate a round belly).

Kids. Gotta love their honesty, huh?

1- Our second new arrival. Can anyone say “swagger wagon?” That’s right baby. We are now the owners of two (yes, TWO!) minivans. Until we figure out what Zach’s next car is going to be, he gets the old MPV. We thought he should take out the back seats and put in some subwoofers and make himself a sweet ride. Whaddya think?

Derby for Divas

For our Relief Society additional meeting this month, we had a mother/daughter Diva Derby.  Lucy and I designed a ruby slipper car and did (almost) all of it ourselves.  (After breaking two scroll saw blades, my friend's hubby came out, gave me a look of deepest sympathy at my ineptitude, and cut out the last piece.  Which was totally cheating because the only rule was that men couldn't touch the cars.)  It was a good thing, though, becuase it would have taken me another hour to finish.  I promise I know how to use power tools, just not the wimpy ones like scroll saws.  Anyway, after cutting, sanding, painting, and glittering, we went to the Diva Derby.

The mom, the daughter, and the car:

 The derby was also a carnival with cotton candy, cookie decorating, face painting, and a picture guessing game (moms brought pics of themselves as kids and you had to guess who it was):

 Oh, and a photo "booth":

 We had a blast.

As we have no previous derby car experience, we didn't add weights and our car won exactly zero times.  But we had fun.

p.s. Amberlyn, remember how we were talking about junior high pictures and how they should all be burned? 

 p.p.s. Beat THAT!

My Kinda Sorta Really Late Behind the Times Make Up February/March Top Ten Post

10-Struck by the curse of home-improvement-store shopping:  So, our dryer died.  It didn't actually DIE die, but it was showing it's misery by squeaking so loudly every time it rotated that we could hear it all the way upstairs.  So I bought a new one online complete with delivery, hook up, and hauling away the old one.  Zach swore we had the right cord so I didn't need to worry about ordering a new one.  Um, wrong.  Zach headed to Home Depot to get a new cord.  I figured as long as he was going, he could pick up some stuff for the nursery, like some paint, chair rail, crown moulding, wood strips, etc.  Once at the store, Zach called me no less than 4 times--should he get this or that?  what if they can't match the paint color?  how many feet of chair rail?  which kind?  We decided it would be better if I went with him to pick everything out.  After all that and a trip to Macey's for groceries, I asked him to hook up the dryer as soon as everything got unloaded.  Wouldn't you know it?  He'd forgotten to buy the cord--the whole REASON for the trip. Sounds like something I would do.

9--Adam:  Tonight I want to be a spiduhman . . . or a flying guy . . . or a blastronaut!

8--I'm not sure where my kids get this one.  I love to sing.  I don't do it so much anymore, though.  I guess I've gotten too many "Stop singing, mom!"'s from each kid the second I open my mouth.  (Adam's taken it to the next level though with his "That's soooo annoying!" when I sing.  Rude.)  Even in my heyday, I wasn't much of a shower singer.  Still, I've got a couple of those now.  Isaac just joined the throng.  Funny thing is, he doesn't ever actually sing a real song.  Mostly just random notes and occasional deep growls. Perhaps he just discovered the bathtub echo.  I'll let you know if he actually ever tries to carry a tune.  (He may or may not succeed.  Depends on which of his parents he took after in this department.)

7--The sniffling symphony takes over the house.  I kid you not.  We were sitting through scripture study one night and I counted at least 350 sniffs from one kid or the other (slight exaggeration possible). 

6--Baby #5 obliged us by staying in utero a heckuva lot longer than we expected him to.  (You would think with all that time on bed rest I would have noticed and written down more of what my children said and did.  You would think WRONG, then.)

5--You know those words that your children say wrong that become a part of every day lingo and pretty soon you are saying it wrong all the time without actually meaning to?  Some of my past favorites are scritchpurs, mazagines, spirsty, and witchywitchywitchyho (delicioso) to name a few.  Adam gave us our newest with gisdusting.  He's obviously got some language skills, though, because it changes and becomes alliterative depending on what he is describing (bisgusting basgetti, for example).  My possible favorite was his telling Lucy she was a "gisdusting stister." 

4--More Adamisms

• Can I have some flamingos please?  (He meant dried mangoes.  It still makes me throw up a little in my mouth when I think of eating dried flamingos, especially after smelling them at the LA Zoo last year.  Blech.)
• Mom, can I eat these raisins . . . because I'm the best guy I ever met.
• The bird that only has one leg is exactly called a flamingo.  (That one after I tried to clear up his confusion between flamingos and mangoes.)
• Isaac, you'd better stop or mom is going to pull out your tongue.  (It is possible that I threatened that one when Isaac figured out how to click his tongue and did it incessantly for 3 weeks.)

3--Isaac: I used to think that food went from your mouth all the way down to your feet and back up to your tummy.

2--Lucy and Kye=the most amazing helpers ever.  Though it couldn't have been easy, the kids survived the bed rest thing.  In fact, it seems like they thrived, they were so helpful and kind and thoughtful.  Lots of volunteering to do this or that or help with Adam and Isaac.  I was thrilled.  And, of course, Zach picked up the slack like a true Mr. Mom.  Carpooling kids, making food, taking care of everything, yelling at me every time I moved, reminding me to take my medicine, cleaning up, doing dishes, and working.  Props to the Z-man.

1--The miracle of  heart growth.  It's absolutely amazing to me how your heart expands as soon as you see your newborn come into the world.  There is a place that wasn't there just the minute before, and it's full of love for the new kid in the family.  Our little Eli's birth was the definite high point of the month.  Love that little guy to pieces.

Feeling the Moomer's Day Love

I had a delightful Mother's Day on Sunday.  I thoroughly enjoy the kiddos' homemade cards and gifts made in their classes.  I got a Kindergarten cookbook from Isaac.  Recipes galore for macaroni and cheese, cakes, cookies, brownies, and even a pb & j sandwich.  Isaac's Pokemon Cake recipe was my fave: "2 eggs, wheat, flour, sugar--Mix it.  Put a little more sugar.  Then you bake it at 10 degrees for 10 minutes.  Take it out and let it cool down.  Then you wait to eat it.  Then it's gone." (Though I have to admit that one little girl's ingredient list for chocolate chip cookies came in a close second.  "2 butters, 3 eggs, 2 whole cups flour, black dark oil, 2 scoops sugar, white stuff that looks like sugar, but tastes like salt."  I actually laughed out loud.)

Kye's Top Ten reasons he loves me
1) Mom lets me play Wii
2) Mom lets me play computer
3) She lets me play with friends
4) Mom buys me books
5) She takes care of me when I am sick
6) Mom wants what's best for me
7) Mom loves me
8) She lets me do fun things
9) Mom is nice to me
10) Mom cooks for me

And he finished it off with a lovely portrait of me . . . completely bald, and a note saying "I love you so much.  Thank you for cooking me food.  Thank you for leting me play wii.  Thank you for leting me play comptuer.  Thank you for leting me do fun things like takeing me to Trafalga and letting me play with friends.  I love you so much.  Love you best son: Kye Bradshaw."  (The last name presumably written so I wouldn't get confused with all the other Kyes running around here.)

Lucy gave a me a coupon book decorated with devil horns and angel halos.  (I refuse to see any hidden meanings in that.)  This year I get coupons for "doing my hair whatever way you want, 5 candy bars of your choice, watching KIAE, sleeping in (can be used continuously), 10 BIG hugs and 10 BIG kisses, playing whatever game you want with me, watching Adam and playing with him, alone time with Dad (I will watch the kids)."  Purely delightful.

Zach made my mother's day with a themed gift revolving around My Favorite Sayings.  He had the kids list the things they hear me say a lot, like "If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride, Talk to Heavenly Father like he's your best friend, because he is, I can do hard things, I love you back, Make it a great day, I love you a million, You let me help you . . ." etc.  Then he got 3 gifts based on a few of those sayings--a book called "If Wishes were Horses," a framed picture with the saying "I can do hard things" and a cookbook with a 9x13 pan (I lost mine ages ago and have been meaning to get one ever since).  I had a wonderful, wonderful Mother's Day and am so grateful I can be a mother to 5 mostly delightful and sometimes naughty kiddos.

Someday

I have a list of blog posts raring to be written

• Top Fives for February, March, and April
• Reflections of a Mother on Mother's Day
• Amazing Eli and his Capacity to Grow Exponentially
• Kye's Amazing 8th Birthday and Baptism
• Everyday Life Stories

Problem is, the only time I have to blog is after the 4 older ones are in bed.  And that, as every mother of a newborn knows, is the ideal time to keep said newborn awake so that both of us get some sleep at night.  And that is the time that Eli wants to be asleep.  (His preferred awake time is 11:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.  Ummm, no thank you.)  So he fusses the whole time, and unless you interact with him constantly, he nods off.  So, someday I will catch up on my blogging.  But today is not that day.  Happy Mother's Day!