FOUR!

The last time this was my blog title it was for Allie's fourth birthday, and I got a few comments of people thinking it was a pregnancy announcement. I got a good chuckle out of that because I had never even thought of that.

Well, Allie isn't turning four again....

....so.....

....I guess that means that NOW we are announcing our FOURTH baby will join our family the end of May! Hooray! It will definitely be a memorial weekend.

I'm already exhausted. What were we thinking?

Needless to say we are excited. Even more so now that the nausea has run it's course. We are fourteen weeks along, so hopefully within another 6 weeksish we will find out if we'll even out the score with boys or if we'll add another little princess to the gang. I personally think it's a girl. We'll keep you posted!

Now I'm going to go have a nap. Oh wait, I have a toddler. Nevermind.

Update on Mom

After a nearly week-long stay, my mom is home from the hospital. Happy to be back in her own bed, I dare say!

She did very well during the surgery, and also did great during her hospital stay. The only bump in the road was trying to find the right combination of meds to keep her pain under control after all the tubes, wires, and IV's came out. But, I think they've got it figured out. She seems to feel a bit better every day, now just has to go through the process of healing.

As for a diagnosis, we are still waiting. It looks like a cancer, but no definitive word on what type. Hopefully today we will know, then we can move on to treatment.

As usual, mom is staying chipper. She is very much looking forward to having her whole family together for Thanksgiving. I agree- I am so excited to be with my family soon. It's not too often we all get together. We definitely have many things to be thankful for this year!

Prayer for Mom

Tomorrow my Mom goes in for a major surgery to get a biopsy of some questionable tissue in her lungs. The first biopsy was inconclusive, so now they have to dig in deeper and get a better sample to find out if it's entirely inflammatory tissue or if her lymphoma has returned. Her type of cancer is not curable so we knew it would be something we'd probably encounter again. She'll be in the ICU for a few days for recovery.

The thing about my Mom is she is one of the most positive, optimistic people I know. Even her nurse this evening commented on how nice it was to have an upbeat, positive patient. Kudos to my Mom that despite her many bumps in the road with her health, she is always marching along with a great attitude. As she constantly reminds us, everything is in the Lord's hands- and that is all that really matters.

So, my dear Mom, I send a special prayer out for you that all will go well tomorrow and throughout your recovery this week. I pray the doctor will be guided and use his expertise for your very best care, and the nurses who watch over you will feel what a special, amazing person you are, and that there are many out there who love you so very much.

Love you!

Word to the Wise....

...If you're going to be naughty and color on places you shouldn't, then it's probably not a good idea to sign your name. Just sayin'.

Halloween Happenings 2011

Many thanks to a talented Grandma, the girls were able to be angels for Halloween. They got their first chance to don their angel apparel for the Primary Halloween carnival. Loads of fun, plenty of treats, and of course, paint. Yes, they painted a pumpkin. In their white angel costumes. Needless to say, I had to pull out the bleach. I didn't get the paint entirely out, but fortunately the worst was taken care of.

Here we are all dressed up and ready to par-tay. Lovely little angels, I must say. Not an ounce of devil in them. *sarcasm*



You never know when you'll pass by an angel on the street:


And, of course, here's the paint. Allie decided she wanted an all-black pumpkin. Naturally when you're a 4 year-old wearing all white you want to use black paint:


And here is the Ty Man with our next door neighbor who is just 4 weeks younger than him:


This made me think of a picture we took of them when they were babies. She was so petite! But, she did beat him walking. I love this picture. Not much has changed, he bit her the other day (where is his mother?):


Instead of dressing up as a free-for-all at Kenna's school, they celebrated International Children's Day the Friday before Halloween where all of the kiddos were invited to dress up as someone from history, or someone in their family, etc. The day before, Kenna kept saying she didn't want to dress up and be in the parade. So, I didn't worry about finding her something to wear. Of course the next morning she really wanted to dress up, so I threw together a random, 10-minute costume. Here is my little sheep herder! (I know, I know, my artistic abilities astound you. Ha!):


Speaking of sheep, we ventured into town last Saturday for the annual Sheep Festival Parade. There's nothing like watching 1000 head of sheep journey down mainstreet. Still undecided if it was worth it. But, if anything we have fun together:


Let's hear a big round of applause for my little Ty who is finally walking! He is so very proud of himself and loves to practice his new found skill.


And, last but not least, my little angels are geared up to go fill their buckets with candy on Halloween. One of the most beautiful, pleasant Halloween evenings I have ever seen, I must add. I should have dressed Ty up as a devil. But really, someone that cute just doesn't need a costume.


Another Halloween down for the record books. Now on to November! I am going to try my best to enjoy the month of November, even if WalMart was playing Christmas music today. On November 2nd. Love me some Christmas, just not 2 months of it. I'll start with Thanksgiving, thank you.

GIRLS

I'm certain there are plenty of men out there who, upon finding out their wife is pregnant with a little girl, wrinkles up their nose and says, "A girl? What will I do with a girl?"

Well, have no fear. Here is what you do with a little girl. Two girls in fact.

First of all, you cut and stack wood. One little girl gets to push the lever on the wood splitter (isn't it every girls dream to help operate heavy machinery?):


While the other stacks:


Then, SWITCH! Give each little girl a rich learning opportunity:



And of course, every little girls dream is to set gopher traps with her dad. But the real excitement comes when dad lets them take the dead, smashed gopher home and squeal with delight when they shout out to show mom their treasure, "MOM! Look what we caught! And look at those HUGE teeth! WOW!"


And that, my dear fathers out there, is what you do with a little girl.

*Just to make myself, the mother, feel better, I MUST add that they do like to play with dolls and paint their nails. Whew.

Just Another Sunday

It's been a little over 3 months since I've joined the Sunday Single Mom Club. The kiddos and I enjoy trying to catch daddy's eye and give him smiles during Sacrament Meeting while he tries to stay awake up on the stand. Really, it's only been 3 months? I could very easily have a few more years of this. Ay.

Yesterday as I was driving to church, I thought to myself that I was finally starting to get a bit of a handle on being alone with the three amigos during Sacrament. It has definitely taken some getting used to. The girls- well, they really are great. They color quietly, read a little book, and sometimes even try to listen to the speakers. Ty- now he is another story. This little cherub does not like to sit still nor be confined. Hence, one hour of trying to be reverent, quiet, and somewhat still are a big challenge. Big. After a few weeks of trial-and-error, we have found the very best place for us to sit is in the back overflow area in the gym. This way Ty has a bit of an area to move around, and I don't distract the entire audience repeatedly during the most sacred hour of the block as I chase him up the aisles.

Yesterday was business as usual. We found a nice spot in the back and got settled in for a nice meeting. I had to pull Ty down from a chair occasionally, but for the most part it was going alright. The bread had been passed and the water was on its way back to us. That's when my little Ty man got my attention as he made it audibly known that he had just filled his shorts while standing next to the chair in front of us. I tried to casually look around to see if he had gotten anyone else's attention, then just giggled to myself that no one else had heard. I figured I could take the water, then head out to change the diaper. That was until Allie looked down at Ty, nudged me and said,"Mom, what is Ty standing in?"

I looked down and saw that Ty was in fact standing in what looked to be a little puddle of something. Almost immediately I was horrified to realize the contents of Ty's diaper were dripping down his leg and spreading out on the floor. Not to mention it was SO. SMELLY.

Someone pinch me and let me wake up!

I grabbed a diaper and the wipes, threw some wipes down at Allie and said, "Clean this up!" (Seriously, what was I thinking? She's 4!) Then I scooped up Ty so he was horizontal to avoid any more drippage and hurried out of the gym to the Mother's Lounge. The whole time wondering if this was for real!

I laid him down on the changing table to assess the damage. His shoes had poop on them. His socks had poop on them. His pants were soaked. His onesie was covered. And finally, the last article of clothing my son had on- his shirt- had poop on the back of it. Watery, slimy, yellowish, diarrhea. So what does a single church mom do?

SHE LAUGHS!

Yes, I stood there laughing at the irony of the whole situation. Just as I was thinking that I was starting to get used to being alone.....I spoke out loud to Ty and said, "If ever I need your dad, it's right NOW!" And then I laughed some more.

Thank heavens there is a little basket of extra's in the Mother's Lounge that includes some little bags that can be used to put dirty diapers in so they don't smell up the whole area. So, I had one bag for poopy socks and shoes, one bag for his pants and onesie, and one bag extra to take with me to put the wipes I would use to finish cleaning up the mess left on the floor.

Next dilemma: do I take a diaper-only baby back into Sacrament Meeting? That would be really....odd. But I most definitely couldn't put his pants back on. So, I did the best I could and put his little button-up shirt back on and tried not to put my hand on the part in the back that was soiled.

If ever I was grateful that I was in the back part of the gym, NOW was that time. I was able to sneak in the back with my partly-dressed baby where the majority of people in the ward didn't see me. And of course I just HAD to sneak a peak up in the front of the chapel to see Jacob with a bit of a puzzled look on his face.

When I came back, someone had gotten some more paper towels there for me. So as reverently as I could, and without trying to draw extra attention to myself, I pulled out a bunch of wet wipes, kneeled down on the gym floor (in my dress, mind you) and proceeded to wipe up the puddle of poop. One of my visiting teachers offered to hold Ty- I tried to whisper a sort of thanks-but-I-could-never-do-that-to-you. FINALLY I got it all cleaned up, grabbed my car keys, and headed off with my three little bags of goodies to take home and wash or throw away. My two little angel girls were brave enough to stay in Sacrament and wait for my return. Many thanks to fellow ward members who were more than happy to help keep an eye on them.

I was able to change Ty and make it back to sit in the foyer for the last little bit of the meeting.

I tell you what, that was an experience I will NEVER forget! The funniest part was that people sitting near us thought it may have been throw up! Haha haah haaa haha ha! How disgusting is that?

And in all honestly, it's probably best Jacob wasn't there. Because then there would have been throw up.

Sunday, a day of rest? Mmm, not yesterday.