Tue Apr 01 2008 22:20 This ain't no April Fool's joke: This morning started normal. Clothe and feed the kids. Throw myself together. Today was preschool day so I was planning on taking Lily and then heading off to the gym with Gunnar. Everything was ready so I went into my bathroom just to brush my teeth and then we were off. Except when I came out of my room, something was missing. The kids.

I called for them, but heard nothing so naturally I went in the front to see if they went outside. I looked up and down the street, but they were no where to be seen. So then I thought maybe they were up to no good in the bathroom or Lily's closet or something and that was why it was quiet. So I ran back in to check. No and no. No one in the backyard, nothing. So I ran outside again and I see Lily loitering by the neighbors car and Gunnar not only across the street but going running up the perpendicular street that was adjacent to ours.

Argh! I can't even brush my teeth for 2 minutes without my kids putting their life in danger. I'm serious, Lily is out to get me. I go to the bathroom and come back to find all the wipes pulled out of the container and strewn across the floor, or a tube of chapstick plucked out and smeared across fingers, lips, legs, carpet. And I already keep those things put up. She pulls chairs up to my purse hanging on the wall or to the kitchen counters or jumps the baby gate altogether. I am telling you constant vigilance or I pay the price of major cleanup. Sheesh, give me a break kid for once leave one dern thing alone.

Needless to say, Lily did not get to go to preschool at her favorite friend's house that she loves playing at so much. What gets me is that she opened the door ushered Gunnar outside and closed it all in 90 seconds flat. I didn't believe it at first, but when I saw the door unlocked, I knew. I guess that is one more thing to baby proof, a bolt for the top of the door.

(1) Mon Apr 07 2008 20:16 Speechless: Today Lily called me a jerk. Hmm, I don't even know what to say about that yet.

Wed Apr 09 2008 11:18 One eyed Jack: Raising kids is like playing the game 52 pickup. You get all your cards organized, high card to low card, then by suit, hearts first and so on. You spend all this time getting everything perfect, every card facing the same way and then someone goes and plays a nasty joke on you, spraying your cards in every which direction. I am so freaking sick of that game right now.

Wed Apr 09 2008 22:21 Death becomes her: I feel like a UPS truck ran over my head, I just checked my kleenex and there was my lung, and my voice has a nice manly pitch to it. Lily had a dermatologist appt for her eye thing and while we were there, it turns out the rash I have on my arm more than likely needs antibiotics...can my body be falling apart any more than this? Ok, I know it can but I want to be dramatic, after all I am sick.

The worst thing about being sick is no energy. If all it is was sneezing, coughing, runny nose, more coughing, sore throat, and pounding headache then it might be a little doable with kids, but I've been leaving Gunnar in his crib longer after his naps (for his own safety plus he is kinda sick too so he has been resting longer), and leaving Lily in front of Dora on repeat (she no longer naps) so I can get a nap myself. I was winded walking up the street to borrow rice from my brother. You don't want to see my house right now.

And to top it off, the bishop called tonight to see if we could speak. I have an excuse now but I will probably be fully recovered by then. Dang.

(1) Mon Apr 14 2008 13:03 Note to self: Never let your little boy walk away without a diaper, if even for just 10 seconds, because he will FOR SURE pee on the carpet EVERY TIME. Gotta love boys!

(1) Thu Apr 17 2008 21:34 Strawberries and creme: I love kisses from my kids after they just ate strawberries. They have such sweet breath and although I said I would never do this, I am a mouth kisser with my kids. Gunnar has not had bad breath yet, and I will be so sad when he starts to because baby's breath is divine. If you can't tell, I have a thing with smells.

(1) Sun Apr 20 2008 23:21 Roughin it: We went camping again this weekend. Second time with Lily and Gunnar both. It went surprisingly VERY well. I am very proud of myself that I ignored my lazy self and did something extra for the benefit of my kids and family. I am sure everyone knows how much work camping involves, let alone taking kids along. Good thing I live near my mom and I can borrow all her stuff (cast iron skillets, cooking supplies already organized and ready to go, and firewood) that totally helped a ton.

We went with a couple other families in the ward and some more friends met up with us for just the campfire and smores at night but couldn't stay over. I never liked smores growing up, but now I can't get enough of them. For everyone that we invited and couldn't make it, but said "eat a smores for me"...mission accomplished.

We headed out just after Aaron got home from school. I spend most the afternoon getting us packed. We grabbed dinner before heading out since we weren't going to get there till 6:30 and not having a fire started let alone hot coals to cook dinner on would have put us eating dinner around 8 at the earliest otherwise. Not good for the kids...or me. We set up as Lily and Gunnar played with our friends' kids. It was fun to watch them enjoy the outdoors. I want my kids to grow up knowing camping and hopefully when they are teenagers and can't stand to be around us, we will still have that past time in common.

After setting up as friends were trickling in, we gathered around the campfire. Lily couldn't wait to roast marshmallows. I actually put Gunnar to bed before we did that in his port-a-crib in the tent and he went down so well. Especially considering he has 3, just about 4 molars coming in. He has been pretty good teething this time around, just a little clingy more than usual. After we hung out for awhile Lily came up to me and ASKED to go to bed! I will never turn that offer down. I think she was just excited to be there and to get to sleep on the mat on the ground in the same tent as Gunnar and us. Nonetheless, this is way outside the realm of her personality. She went to bed great and never came out of the tent or made a peep after.

We stayed up past 1:00am hanging out and warming up by the fire. It was actually pretty chilly that night. We played the 10 fingers game, a campfire tradition we started with our friends the Barton's when we lived in Utah and went up into the mountains to do evening campfires a lot. We camped on private property this guy owns and rents out to campers, so it was just our group. The only thing bad about this place as opposed to Gardener State Park where we went back in Nov was there were no restrooms. At least it had a port-a-potty, but I am not sure which is worse. Squatting in the woods, or that smelly sick thing. It was pretty cold and my face and nose especially froze since I hate sleeping with my head under covers. Aaron can totally sleep with blankets on his head, but I will hyperventilate if I try. I freak out and I hate breathing warm air.

The next morning we had eggs and bacon breakfast tacos cooked over the fire. This breakfast is a tradition and every time Aaron and I have camped, we have made this. Clean-up is kinda annoying, but you just have to get it done. We headed down to this really pretty river bank and Lily pretended to fish with her friend's fake princess fishing rod. There were pretty big fish in the river. She kept saying as she would reel in the line, "look mama, it's a mamisha!" And when I asked her what that meant she said, "it means I speak Spanish." The only problem is that Aaron says that that means not a thing in Spanish. That reminds me when we were at Sea World a couple weeks ago in the penguin area she kept pointing saying "mira!" (Look) All that Dora does do some good I guess.

After a little play by the river (Gunnar hates any water expect his bath tub, he doesn't even like my bathtub, just his otherwise he screams the whole time like he did when we went near the water at the beach) we headed home. This place was only 30 minutes away so that makes it so worth it. The other place was like 2 hours away. There was tons of laundry to do when we got home and I could not wait to take a shower, but I am really glad we went. I waffled between going or not because this past month has been really stressful for me especially since Aaron is so stressed out with his last month of school and trying to get everything done and turned in. Plus we had to speak in church today, and I really get stressed out about preparing for that. I think it did our family good to get out into nature though. I am just so glad our kids did so well sleeping. Lily did wake up upset a little before the morning but she just got in our air mattress and snuggled with me till it was light outside.

Hopefully we can do this once or twice more this summer when Aaron is on break.

(1) Sun Apr 20 2008 23:47 Booboos: Poor Lily. If you have seen any pictures on my picture blog recently, especially her portraits taken recently you will notice that she has a red mole looking thing just under her left eye. She got that thing about 2 or 3 months ago. At first I thought it was a scratch, but then it just kept getting bigger and more raised. It is pretty sensitive and can bleed non-stop if it ever gets broken.

Naturally, I took her to the Dr and they referred me to a dermatologist. The dermatologist diagnosed it as a pyogenic granuloma. However, he was not comfortable removing it because he would have to anesthetize the area and since it was so close to the eye he didn't want to take the chances with a 3 yr old jerking and poking the eyeball. So he then referred me to a pediatric surgeon. So I have an appt with him in May. We shall see. Hopefully once it is removed Lily will not have too bad of a scar there. I feel bad that she will have one on her face, but I think when she is older she will prefer tiny scar if there is one over the red mole.

It is funny because I guess Lily doesn't examine herself in the mirror that much so the other day when she looked at herself and noticed this red mole looking thing she exclaimed, "uhh, red eye!" with disgust. I guess you just had to be there but it was funny. I also had to take her into the Dr because she picked up ringworm somewhere. Probably the beach, and she had this big lesion on her knee that I thought was a scrap but it started spreading. Um, scabs don't travel so I took her in.

I have been to the Dr so much this month with my kids and me. I was sick the other week with a cold so bad it lasted like 10 days and I found out I had molluscum on my arm. Mine wasn't as bad as the nasty picture on wikipedia and I only had a few and NO, it wasn't an std since it was on my arm. That's just weird saying. I paid $254 to an urgent care center to get checked out since I don't have insurance and he gave me over the counter meds for my super cold and froze my bumps with liquid nitrogen. So yeah, Lily and my bodies have been falling apart pretty much lately. Let's hope our number doesn't come up again for awhile.

Tue Apr 22 2008 21:05 On death and dying: Lily has been exposed to this whole topic the past few months with the passing of Pres Hinckley. Every evening we used to pray for Pres Hinckley in her prayers, and then when he died I can imagine it was so abrupt for her to not really be prompted to bless Pres Hinckley but rather Pres Monson now. She keeps saying Pres Hinckley anyway in addition to Pres Monson, and I don't know if I should encourage it or not. And then when I preempt her saying "bless Pres Monson and Pres Hinckley" she will then exclaim "Pres Hinckley died." Hmmm...

So tonight as I was putting her to bed we were having the discussion about why Pres Hinckley died again, that he was sick and he is in heaven now with Sister Hinckley. Then she said "Is Moppie's mommy in heaven? I want to give Moppie's mommy a kiss." I told her that I wanted to give Moppie's mommy a kiss too, and that she could give her a kiss when she gets to heaven. She then said that when she dies she is going to die with her (stuffed) kitty and turn pink and go to heaven. "But I'm not died yet, mama." Yes, and thank goodness for that.

When I was little I used to ask my mom what she would do if I died before her and she would always reply, "I would go to heaven and spake your little bottom if you died before me." So now Lily is asking questions like where is heaven? Exactly where in the sky is heaven and why can't she go visit heaven?

Lily also doesn't quite get the baby thing. L-"When I turn big and you turn little, you will be just little, little in my tummy. I want to be big and have a little baby." My sweet little baby, when you are big and you have a baby, I will come and take care of you. I just love my sweet little girl.

(2) Wed Apr 23 2008 12:55 Talking hands: Gunnar has made such leaps and bounds in the past 6 weeks in regards to communication. He has "out" down pat- sign and I am pretty sure that is his first word. That and no. He says no a lot. Of course "bird" was his first sign, but he has been doing that one for a long time. He attempts to say "tweet, tweet" but it just comes out as "hee, hee". And he can hear them when I open his door to get him out of his carseat so I am usually greeting with him flapping his fingers and "hee, hee"-ing. While reading books he will point to animals and either sign "bird" or "elephant". When he does "elephant" he will just go "ahhhhh" for the sound. I have occasionally gotten a "grr" out of him for the lion or bear roar. He gets "outside" when I do it but can't sign it yet. He just goes running for the door.

Then there is "shoe" sign which he has been doing for a long time too. He loves his shoes and when I tell him to go get them, he giggles and runs and finds them for me to put them on. And ball he has been doing for awhile too. He loves balls. This week he has been practicing "more" and "please". It is amazing to me how children pick up on things like that. If I sign more then I get more of what she's eating, I imagine what was going through Gunnar's mind today when he came up to me again and again to get bites of my sandwich. It is so cute. And then when I tell him to say (sign) please and he does it, I feel like I have a little monkey on a string.

This is such a neat phase and I think one of my favorite. When what you are saying makes sense to them. They can't really talk, but you know by their look that what you are saying makes sense. And they want to communicate with you. It is crazy that I can teach him something, and that his little brain figures out what I am trying to make him do, and he does it. The brain is amazing.

The only trick with two is all this positive attention and yay-ing and horraying for Gunnar, I need to be doing it with Lily as well because I don't want her to feel left out. It is easy to use the happy baby voice a lot with Gunnar when he is accomplishing his little feats, but with Lily she is past the whole "baby talk", but not really because she starts mumbling like a baby to get a little attention too, wanting me to congratulate her. She has been doing so awesome though learning all the signs I am teaching Gunnar and practicing with him. She will ask him "do you want to get out?" and then sign it, so that's pretty cute watching them communicate.

Yeah, I would have to say this is one of my favorite stages.

Thu Apr 24 2008 20:19 TMI: Gunnar pooped in the tub yesterday. When Aaron saw it he quickly got Gunnar out and I got Lily out and we transfered them to our tub to finish the bath, or restart the bath rather. I cleaned up the mess and Aaron bathed the kids despite Gunnar wailing the entire time. For some reason literally ever since he was born he has had this fear of water. I am not kidding. From his first sponge bath in my kitchen sink in one of those pink hospital bins they give you, to present he cries and cries at the sight of water. The beach--mad as heck when I took him near the water. The pool, torture. He cried in the bath tub until he was probably 7 or 8 months old every time. He now likes the bath, but only his bath tub. If we ever change the venue, we better wear ear plugs. It is funny because I have this baby calendar, and it has stickers of all his "firsts" and where you write all the things going on in development and such. For each month there is a spot that says "moments we don't want to forget". I was rereading them the other day and in a few months it says "You HATE baths. You scream just hearing the water running. You cry long and hard, and don't stop until you are in your jammies and are feed."..."still hate baths..."

Anyway, Gunnar's crazy fear of water is not what I came to write about. Today after the baths, Lily realized that she was getting wrapped up in the green towel and not the pink. She always insists on pink, and she demanded it. I reminded her that it was dirty because we had to get her out of the bath yesterday when there was poopy water, and I had to wash it first. She goes "Did Gunnar have brown poopies in the water?"

"Yeah."

"And was there strawberries in it?"

"uh, maybe."

"Uh-huh, and cereal in it too."

Eww, too much information!

(5) Sat Apr 26 2008 20:14 I'm still smiling...: So one of my new year's resolutions was to get into running. Little did I know after making that goal that I would run a 10k 4 months later. My friend Nancy actually talked me into it. I finally came around and was like, sure, why not, I will probably have to walk most of it but what the heck. I kinda started training for it but not like I should. I guess it is just the procrastinator in me, but I did not want to take it seriously. I didn't even run outside until race day, just on a treadmill.

I guess I planned on getting in gear a couple weeks before the race, but what actually happened was Aaron's spring break which we were in Houston for part of the time, and that tail end part of the trip and the whole next week following I was super sick. I didn't even make it to the gym. I had some serious respiratory issues. The week after I went but was a little rusty, and then this whole week I have been working out, but in my mind I had serious doubts about my performance. So I set some realistic goals- try not to walk, and keep a 10 minute mile pace.

During all this race pressure and stress, I also was trying to get the house ready Thurs and Friday for Ashley my SIL who was kindly watching the kids for us so that Aaron and I could stay the night in Frederickburg, where the race was, and have a little alone time. Ha, what was I thinking? I was NOT fun to be around because of my anxiety. But I was able to get the house cleaned up enough, pack, and not forget anything for the big day. We checked into our hotel-Econolodge. It was not that nice but $115/night. The cheapest there was. It probably wasn't worth more than $50/night, but when there are slim pickin's you get what you get. Aaron and I went out for dinner there to a place called Freidhelm's Bavarian Inn. Fredericksburg is a serious German settlement town, so we had to sample the local cuisine. We had (raindrops on roses and) Schnitzel with noodles. Ok, just the Schnitzel with noodles, and Bratwurst with Sauerkraut--the best. The Schnitzel was actually nothing to write home about, but their 7 layer homemade chocolate cake was. I am a sucker for chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate. If there is no chocolate in it--spit it out. We also were able to stroll main street and "window shop" if you call it that. We headed back to the hotel early.

I was in bed asleep by 10:30, however it was not very good sleep at all, and not because the mattress was crappy, which it was, but because I was so scared that I would sleep in and miss the race we had driven up for, that I kept waking up every hour looking at the time. Finally at go-time we made it down to market square where I got my shirt and number and met up with Nancy. I actually like the shirts they gave us. They are green and hippie looking.

We started the race and at mile 3 there was a hill. It wasn't too bad though, and by mile 4 I got my second wind. I felt great and like I could keep going and going. It was perfect. I wasn't in pain, and the run was gorgeous. The streets were so fragrant with flowers and bushes. And I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day- cool and a breeze. Aaron said he was disappointed that he didn't get any "good" shots of me all red faced and sweaty. That's because the wind was so nice, it dried most my sweat. I could salt your fries with the amount of salt dried on my face, but hey...

I finally saw the sign for mile 5 and I felt really good and like I had the juice to turn up the pace. I finished strong. My time was 54 minutes 38 seconds gun time, crossing the start like 54 minutes 28 seconds (8 minute 46 second miles). There was this cutie old 87 yr old man there that ran it in like 1 hour 30 minutes. He was so cutie shuffling along. Anyway, I got 3rd place in my age group- female 22yrs-29yrs old. I actually won a metal! I can't believe it. My goals were to not walk, which didn't even enter in my mind, and to finish under an hour. I know it is not amazing time, but for me, I couldn't have asked for a better first race. It just felt really good accomplishing that.

After the race and waiting around and the ceremony for my metal, Aaron and I went to The Peach Tree for lunch. It is the quintessential Fredericksburg "Tea Room"/gift shop. When my mom goes to Fredericksburg with her girlfriends, you better believe they go to lunch at The Peach Tree. And sure enough, there were a lot of ladies there for lunch. It was really good too, better than I remembered it. We even bought at the gift shop a pink piggy bank for Lily and for Gunnar a seal for the bath tub that flips his tail so it can swim. We got home to the kids doing just fine without us. I never worried though because Ashley is awesome. She has watched her sister's 5 kids before. She will be great with her little one when he/she arrives at the end of this year. Thanks a ton Ashley for watching the kids, even though David was on a scout campout and you were all alone. The weekend was good fun!