Melanie's Check Up

I never covered Friday.  Aaron had the day off, and after my workout we did some shopping in the city, and had a late lunch when we got back.  Aaron worked with the boys on their pinewood derby cars.  We made grilled pizza for dinner, and then you know the rest of the story when our friends surprised us with free babysitting.  I also covered Saturday with the Pinewood Derby.

Sunday was another great day.  Except that I forgot to put dinner in the crockpot before we left for church.  Luckily it only took 5 hours on high, so I had time to do it after church.  Aaron was gone most of the afternoon home teaching.  I was pleasantly surprised when I followed Aaron and Amy to the primary room, and Melissa F* took her hand and led her into the Primary room, and we didn't have to sit down with her.  Yay!  I'm so grateful for good friends who will help out without even being asked.  Aaron and I got to enjoy all of Sunday School.  I ended up conducting RS, because both Cheryl and Julianna had to leave.  I loved the lesson, but when I spoke up to make a comment Melanie woke up and started crying.  I made my comment quick and then left to feed her.  While I was gone I realized the class would be over soon, and I'd need to close the meeting so I wandered back in while still nursing Melanie.  I wasn't there more than a minute when the lesson was over.  I couldn't hold Melanie and the paper at the same time, so I conducted from the side looking over Bonnie's shoulder while I read off the closing song and who was saying the prayer.  I ended up nursing her for a good 10 minutes after the meeting was over.

We had a quiet afternoon while Aaron and David were home teaching.  I played Candyland and Guess Who with Amy.  I wanted to take a nap, but didn't get around to it.  I made some lime rice, to go with the sweet pork.  We ate around 6:30 and my dad called around the same time.  As soon as we were done with dinner we Skyped with my Mom and Dad.  The kids had fun showing off their origami and paper airplanes, and talking about books, and school and music etc.  We finally had to say goodbye so we could have FHE before it was too late.

Monday was a pretty laid back day.  David had piano lessons, and I took the others to the library quickly.  We had plenty of leftovers in the fridge, so that was for dinner.  After work Aaron had to meet for a dress rehearsal of a flag ceremony.  Some of the scouts were doing a flag ceremony for a breakfast Tuesday morning.  Aaron got home as soon as he could and we just played around until bed time.

Today Aaron had to get up early so he could be at the breakfast at 6:30, and at the clinic for a meeting at 7:30.  After I dropped off Amy at preschool I went over to the clinic for Melanie's 4 month check up.  I got checked in and ran over to see Aaron and drop off something he forgot, and then walked over to the waiting room.  Maria who usually works in peds was in family medicine and saw me walking over.  She asked if we'd been seen yet.  When I said "no", she told me to come in.  She got all of her stats.  Without her clothes on she was 13 lb 6 oz.  (5 oz less than with her clothes on 2 weeks ago)  Her head is 42 cm and she is 25 inches long.  Because Maria called me in early they didn't have a room ready, so I went back out to the waiting area for a few minutes.  Soon after we got roomed Dr. W* came in.  We chatted for a bit, and he checked her out.  Other than a common heart murmur she is perfectly healthy.  We go back in 2 months.  I had to wait for a bit for the nurse, for Melanie's shots.  So I got her mostly dressed, and nursed her.  She was happy for the rotovirus (oral) vaccine and didn't even flinch with the first shot, but that second one is no fun.  So I got her latched on as soon as I could, and all was well.  When she was done nursing we said good-bye to everyone and headed back over to peds.  I saw Elizabeth (pharmacist friend) and we talked about getting our boys to play together - hopefully this week.  Aaron was in with a patient, but I did get to meet the new peds nurse and his wife.  Aaron found him through a mutual friend, and we are so glad that they will be coming.  Melanie and I hung out in Aaron's office for a while and I saw Aaron quickly before he continued with his busy day.  We left in plenty of time to pick up Amy.  Melanie had fallen asleep and I still had 10 minutes, so I did some reading in the van until it was time to get Amy. 

It's getting late but I do have a couple of pictures:

 I tried to capture the sunset the other day, but it didn't turn out that great.

Melanie fell asleep gripping the carseat the other day.

 This is a new outfit for Melanie. 

 She was gripping the top of the mesh on the swing, but she let go before I snapped the picture

 On Monday she was making cute noises

 So I took some cute pictures

That's all for now.

Pinewood Derby 2013

The boys really enjoyed participating in the Pinewood Derby this year. The boys designed their cars over a month ago.  They looked at lots of designs online and picked which one they wanted.  They cut them out at Br. P*'s.  Then they sanded them.  They sat for a while and then they painted them.  About a week ago they started adding weight to the back (they can weigh up to 5 oz).  Then Aaron worked on the axles (to make sure they were smooth) and made sure they were straight, and then there were some final touches (graphite etc.).  The boys wanted to win, so Aaron asked last years' winners for tips, and we bought a book from the scout shop to see what else we could do.  So the boys decided what they wanted to do, and together they did it.  We used our kitchen scale to make sure they were 5 oz.

 Here are the cars, ready to go

 David and his car

 Timothy and his car.

A little background on Timothy's design.  We were talking about how the car needed to be aerodynamic to be fast.  Timothy is always trying to make a joke, so when he found an arrow design, he knew that was the one he wanted, so it could be "arrowdynamic".  He wanted the arrow fin on the top even though we suggested it might add some drag.  But it was his car and his choice.

Saturday morning we headed over to the church for the Blue and Gold Banquet and Pinewood Derby.  The order was different than planned, but I think it worked out well.  We had an opening in the Relief Society room, and then went over to the cultural hall for the derby.  It took a while to get all the cars checked in and in order.  I'm not sure how they figured out which car went in which lane - it didn't quite make sense, but I guess it worked out.

Here's the track all set up.

I got a few pictures and a few videos

David won this one

Timothy won this one

Some of the other cars

David won this one

Timothy got 2nd in this video
 David got 1st in this video
Timothy got 1st and David was 2nd in this video
Again Timothy was 1st and David 2nd

 At first it seems David was going to win by a lot, however soon Timothy began winning every race.  They took the top 4 and raced them several times against each other.  Each time Timothy was first and David was second.  Carson came in 3rd most of the time.

After the derby we went back into the RS room for a presentation from the District Cub Scout Day Camp leader.  Then there was the presentation of the awards for this month.  David finally got his aquanaut and citizen pins.  He earned them a while ago, but the they didn't have the pins.  Timothy should have gotten a bead for completing 3 achievements, but I guess they are doing that in the den meeting now.  Then they got their participation ribbons for the pine wood derby

David and his ribbon

And the big surprise of the morning - Timothy got 1st place in the pinewood derby.  We are so excited for him.  

It was a hard lesson to learn for David.  Timothy often gets overshadowed by David's accomplishments, so I was glad to see Timothy in the limelight for once.  He was excited, but not bragging.  I think he was just as surprised as we were.  I guess his was "arrowdynamic" after all.

We then had a lunch of salads, oranges, and something called beanie weenie loaf.  Basically sliced hotdogs in baked beans over a hotdog bun.  I ate it, but took out the hot dogs.   My kids ate really slow, or maybe they just ate a lot.  The whole room was cleaned up and I had to tell them to throw their plates away so they could put out table away.  Timothy was purposely eating slow so he could have a bigger piece of cake.  Cheryl made a pinewood derby cake that looked like a track, so some of it was taller than the rest.  Timothy wanted the tallest piece.  

Aaron drove separately from us so he could go fishing when we were done.  He met up with Loren and fished locally.  We went home and the kids had to finish their chores since they hadn't had time in the morning with the church cleaning and the pinewood derby.  Timothy and Amy ended up cleaning (mostly playing) in the playroom for several hours.  Aaron didn't last long out on the water - it was really windy.  I was surprised to see him home before 4:00.  We just had a quiet day at home.  We ate dinner and watched the BYU Volleyball game - which we won, and listened to the high school basketball game - which we lost.

Melanie at 4 Months Old

Last Monday Melanie turned 4 months.  I took a few pictures.  OK a lot of pictures.  At least I remembered to tame her hair first.

I was trying to tickle her to get her to smile.

At her sick appointment the week before she was 13 lb 11 oz.  Her well baby check up is on Tuesday.  So I'll have more stats then.
Melanie at 4 months:

• She likes to be around people
• She likes to smile
• When she is really happy she'll "talk" to people.
• She doesn't like to be cradled, she'd rather sit up and see everything or lay on the floor and interact with people.
• She'll fuss when she wants to be picked up.  Especially when we are eating at the table.  Unless she's tired or hungry, she'll calm down as soon as I pick her up.  She just doesn't want to be left out.
• She has discovered her hands.  It's fun to watch her stare at her hands.  She tries to control them, and sometimes she succeeds.  It's fun to see her deliberately grab something, rather than grasp something because it touched her hand.
• Since she's been sick she has not slept well.  She often wakes every two hours at night, and sometimes more often.  I really need to be more strict about keeping her in the crib all night.  Sometimes it's just so easy to snuggle with her in my bed, than wander around until she's out and hope I can put her down without her waking up.
• She's actually been nursing on both sides during each feeding recently.  It feels more normal.  Perhaps she'll grow a bit more now.
• Her eyes are just so pretty.  They are definitely darker than Amy's but so pretty.  The other day while nursing her I just stared at those gorgeous blue eyes.  
• She doesn't have a lot of hair like Amy did at this age.  She still has some long tresses on top from when she was born, but there is more (shorter) hair growing underneath.  She still has a nice bald spot on the back of her head.  Eventually that too will have hair on it.
• She's getting pretty good at tummy time, although it's not her favorite thing.
• She hasn't enjoyed baths recently, so they aren't very often, and don't last very long.  I think once she sits up and I bath her in the tub it will be better.  The kitchen sink is just a little too small.
• The other day I packed away all of her 0-3 month clothes, and pulled out all of the 3 month and 3-6 month clothes.  Some of them are still a little too big, and her drawers and closet are really full now.  Although I seem to have more outfits and less pajamas in this size.  She still has enough though.
• We can get her to giggle occasionally, but still not consistently.  When we tickle her, she squirms more than giggles.  She laughs more when we do something silly, like a funny noise.  But it only works for a minute or two, and then she stops, and it might not work the next time we try it. 

That's all I can think of right now.  I'll have to add some stats when I get them.

Awesome Friends

I've mentioned a few times that we have made some great friends here.  So many people are willing to help when you ask, and also show up to help even when you don't ask.  I've never had a problem getting help cleaning up after an event, everyone just pitches in.  Well this week some of our amazing friends have given us a reason to smile and be thankful twice.  Monday night there was a knock at the door.  We were playing FlipOut.  I realized it was probably Phillip and Julianna.  I have to explain.  For Valentine's Day David got a couple of Krispy Kreme Donut coupons from a girl in his class.  Well, the closest Krispy Kreme is a good 2 1/2 hours away.  The coupons expire on March 15, and we were going to be anywhere near a store before then.  I then remembered that Philip and Julianna were going to the big city over the weekend, and they had said they always try to stop by Krispy Kreme when they go to the city.  So I asked David if he wanted me to give them the coupons.  He said "sure", and then proceeded to cross out his name and write in "The I*s".  I thought he was just going to ask them to bring him the donuts back, but instead he gave them the coupons.  I delivered them to Julianna at the funeral before they left.  She thought it was really sweet of David and said she'd bring him a donut anyway.  So when the knock came I knew who it was, however instead of bringing a donut for David they had brought an entire dozen for him to share!  They wanted to reward him for his generosity.  See - I told you they were awesome friends. 

Now tonight...  We didn't have a whole lot planned.  We were watching the BYU volleyball game on BYUtv. Phillip texted Aaron to see what we were up to.  Aaron invited them to join us.  We were surprised when they showed up, especially since they aren't huge sports fans.  We were even more surprised when we saw that they had brought about 10 kids movies and told us to take Melanie and go on a date.  I really was in shock for a while.  The kids picked a movie and we had to think of somewhere to go.  We took the car since the gas tank needed to be filled up.  Then we headed up to the city to get some frozen yogurt.  We also stopped by Ross to look for some wall decorations.  We bought this house 2 years ago, and we still have empty wall space.  We headed back home at 8:30 and when we got home all the kids were asleep and the kitchen and living room were cleaner than we left them.  Like I said - awesome friends!  We really appreciate what they did for us.  It was a simple gesture, and they enjoyed it too.  We are so grateful for friends like Phillip and Julianna!  Thank-you again!!!

Long Weekend Fun

Last Friday the kids had a day off of school.  It's called a district directed optional day or something.  It means if there was a snow day earlier in the year the kids would go to school that day instead.  That's what happened last year.  However we didn't have any snowdays this year - supposedly that is normal.  So there was no school on Friday, and I was planning to go shopping.  I really needed to go, so I just took all the kids.  It wasn't too bad.  I had them do some clean up around the house first - which they grumbled about of course.  Then we did three stops - Fred Meyer, Home Depot and Costco.  We had plenty of leftovers at home, so I the kids could not convince me to eat lunch at Costco.  Plus I used up my last check last week, and I can't find the refills.  I never carry cash - I forget where it goes.  So we hurried home and unloaded the groceries and ate leftovers for lunch.  Their treat for behaving was having soda with lunch, and ice cream afterward.  Only David got both treats.  I'm trying to remember what we did in the afternoon.  David wanted to invite a friend over, but he couldn't come on Friday, so we planned it for Saturday.  Aaron was on call for the weekend, so I think he was home a little late.

Saturday was a busy day. After morning chores  I had to get a salad ready for the funeral.  An uncle of some friends in the ward died recently and they held a gravesite service here with a lunch afterward for the family.  There were several ladies that came to help, and plenty of food brought in by ward members.  I was glad Aaron came back from the hospital in time, so I only had to bring Melanie.  She slept for about an hour in the wrap.  Then I fed her and she was so good in the wrap for the rest of the time.  She didn't fuss at all.  She did spit up a lot though.  I got home around 1:30.  The timing worked out nicely.  Aaron went back to the hospital at about 2:00.  At 3:30 Taevon came over to play with David.  They had fun.  Amy didn't want to leave them alone and at one point she said to Tae, "Hey wanna check out my room?"  It was only cute because she's only 4.  Aaron made it back before dinner. We watched the BYU basketball game after dinner.  Aaron stopped by the auction warehouse, but didn't stay to bid on anything.

Sunday was a great day.  Aaron went to the hospital after breakfast.  Church was great as usual.  The talks focused on preparing our families for the future.  I was able to take Amy to primary.   I told her that I could stay for a few minutes, and then Michele B* asked Amy if she could sit with her, and when Amy agreed, we switched places, and everything went well. I got to enjoy Sunday School, and then Relief Society.  I was conducting as both Cheryl and Juliana were out of town. I forgot to ask the Young Women about babysitting for Tuesday night - oops.  I got to hear most of the lesson, but Melanie did get fussy, and I had to step out and get her to sleep.  After church I noticed Aaron's car was already gone, so I figured he'd gone back to the hospital - which he had.  We had some lunch, and soon after he returned, we had our home teacher over.  I'm sure the kids overwhelm him every time he comes over.  They all have a million things they want to tell him.  He's a good sport about it though.  After a good dinner we had FHE and dessert.  Amy picked cake mix cookies with frosting in between.  Sunday night my sore throat returned. 

Monday came way too early.  Melanie's nights are getting better, but she is still waking quite often at night.  Aaron was off to the hospital. He'd already been called to the hospital in the middle of the night, so he was pretty tired.  I didn't have much planned for the holiday.  There were a few things Aaron wanted to get done outside, so I had the kids start on those before he got back.  We mostly just did some things around the house, and the boys worked on their pinewood derby cars some more.  Aaron went back to the hospital around 3:00 and was home in time for dinner.  Aaron had bought some Italian flavored syrups (Torani) that were clearanced from a local grocery store.  So we had a fun treat that night while we played FlipOut together.  My throat hurt so bad, it hurt to talk or swallow.  Throat lozenges and throat spray didn't help a bit.  Aaron suggested ibuprofen.  I hadn't even thought about that.  Within 15 minutes the pain started to go away, and was so much better overnight.  My voice was a bit scratchy but at least it didn't hurt anymore.

 The flowers looked so much better on Monday.

Tuesday I was pretty busy.  I got in a workout, but not a very long one, as Melanie didn't sleep much in the morning.  After taking Amy to preschool I ran to a local craft store and picked up some lace for my RS poster.  I did a lot of preparations for our RS night.  I had been working on the presentation, handouts, and invitations for next month's activity.  But I pulled everything together for that night.  I even let Amy have some extra screen time so I could get it all done.  The boys had Cub Scouts at 4:00.  I planned on a pizza that night because I didn't think I'd have time to make something more time consuming.  I tried to leave at 6:40, but didn't get out the door until 6:45.  I went to make copies and realized I'd printed off the wrong page.  At least I had the invitations for next month's activity.  I set up the kids in the nursery, and started the meeting about 5 minutes late.  Melanie eventually fell asleep while Shannon did a great job teaching about starting seeds indoors.  Then Celise and Marylynne taught about taking care of your garden to prevent pests, companion gardening and organic pest control.  Meanwhile Melanie woke up and I fed her.  Then I heard screaming coming from the nursery - I knew it was Amy.  She had fallen off the table or something.  She calmed down and I finished feeding Melanie and returned to the class.  When Marylynne was done I did a quick presentation on container gardening.  I had given Melanie to Julianna, and she was a little fussy, when Julianna came back in Melanie wasn't with her.  I soon realized Aaron had finally arrived - he was on call - again.  So he stayed with the kids until we were done.  However several people stayed after to talk, and I had to lock up, so I sent Aaron and the boys home, and kept the girls with me.  Amy was bouncing off the walls as she usually does when she's tired.  Eventually someone realized I was waiting for them, and I felt bad that I broke the party up, but it was almost 9:00.  It was a great night though, and I think a lot of people got some great information.

Wednesday, I mostly stayed home and did laundry.  I had to wait until Melanie's mid morning nap to exercise, and I was waiting for a package (the shoes were actually coming that day) so when the doorbell rang I jumped off the bike to answer the door.  It was the missionaries returning some dishes.  I was a little embarrassed to be in my exercise clothes, and sweaty, but oh well.  The package didn't come until about 4:00 that afternoon.  David was outside and brought it in for me.  I can't think of anything else exciting that happened that day.

Thursday Aaron worked and had a very full day.  I almost got a full workout in, but Melanie woke up earlier than I wanted her to.  I took Amy to preschool, and took a quick trip to the grocery store. Those two hours go by so quickly!  I picked up Amy and then we had lunch.  I should remember what I did since it was only yesterday, but all I can think of was that I signed David up for baseball.  I also went through all my seeds and tried to see what I needed to buy for this year.  I think I only need to buy potatoes and onions.  Of course I still need to map out the garden this year, I have to move the corn etc.  Then we had some posole for dinner (we froze some the last time Aaron made it).  Aaron was sad to miss it but he had to go straight to Round Table.  I saved him some for lunch today.  I keep thinking there was something more exciting or unusual, but I can't think of it.  So that's all for now.

Valentine's Day 2013

After another awful night's sleep I got up at 6:20.  That's because Aaron took Melanie for me at 5:30.  I didn't make anything special for breakfast.  Aaron put some Grands biscuits in the oven for the kids and made a green smoothie for us.  I wasn't achy, and the chills were gone, but I did have a headache.  So I took some ibuprofen and got ready for the day.  I was still pretty weak, so I didn't do my workout.  Aaron took the boys to school, and helped out in Timothy's class.  I got Amy and Melanie ready for the day.  Aaron got back in time for me to take Amy to preschool.  When I returned he was in a meeting (over the phone), so I got some work done but not very much before Melanie woke up.  After we picked up Amy at preschool we went to a fun little Mexican restaurant on the way home.  It wasn't quite the same as being on a date with just Aaron, but it was fun nonetheless.

When we got home Aaron started working on his dessert.  The men in the ward were asked to make the dessert for the Valentine's dinner.  There was a contest with "unbelievable" prizes.  Part way through he realized we didn't have enough eggs, and I still needed eggs for the lasagna.  So I borrowed some from Carol - again I have great friends and neighbors.  I cooked up a couple of lasagnas for the dinner.  Then we headed over to the church when the babysitter arrived. It was beautifully decorated.  We had collected "how we met" stories, and received copies of songs.  Favorite songs, or "their song".  We played music in the background while we ate dinner (fried chicken, lasagna, rolls, garlic bread, and salad).  Then we had our judges taste all of the desserts. Once they had taken their samples to another room we let everyone else eat dessert.  Meanwhile I had people read the stories on the tables and asked them to guess whose story it was.  Usually it took a couple of guesses.  Most of the time they were able to figure it out, only 2 or 3 times did I have to tell them whose story it was.  Then we announced the winners of the "unbelievable prizes" (a stick of gum, a rubber spatula and chapstick).  We finished out the night with dancing and cleaning up.  We took home some of our lasagna that was leftover, and got home by 8:30. It was a really fun evening!
 
A few pictures:

 Amy's pink tongue after eating some pink frosting

 the flowers starting to bloom

 Amy being silly

Melanie is a cutie

I wish we had taken some pictures of us during the day, but we didn't.

A Busy Week With a Sick Baby

(Last) Thursday was another great day for preschool.  Melanie wasn't as fussy, but she was sick, as I stated in my last post.  Aaron didn't have the day off as her normally does.  That evening was the awards banquet for David's basketball skills team.  Really it was just cookies and soda, and then everyone got a certificate.  We got there a couple minutes late and I got the last 7up - the rest were either Coke or diet-Coke, so the kids were disappointed they didn't each get their own, and had to share one.  Timothy was mad that he didn't get more cookies.  After David got his cookies he disappeared.  I later saw him by the cookies of course - he probably had 10!  Aaron met us there and then took Timothy home since he was giving us a hard time.  There was a district tournament basketball game that night, so after Aaron ate some dinner he took David to the game.  After the kids were bathed I put them to bed.  Melanie did not sleep well at all that night. 

Friday Aaron had a half-day at work.  Melanie only let me get 10 minute of my workout done before she woke up :(.  I still had my lowest weigh in though.  I am now officially below my pre-pregnancy weight - including the 3 lbs I lost in the 1st trimester!  I can't remember exactly what else we did that day.  I do remember that when Aaron got home he started getting ready for scout campout.  I was falling asleep trying to play with Amy, so I took a nap with Melanie on my bed.   Oh, now I remember, Amy and I made cookies.  After the kids got home I made breadsticks.  The scout campout was unique in that they were camping out in our backyard.  They were going snowshoeing the next day, but there weren't any cabins available nearby.  So we cooked up some Costco pizzas while they set up their tents, then they went downstairs and watched Rudy - one of their citizenship in the community merit badge requirements is to watch an inspirational movie.  Aaron was kind enough to let David watch the movie with them, and of course Timothy was not happy that he didn't get to watch it.  After the movie the scouts went outside to play flashlight tag.  Aaron let David stay up a little bit, but then said we were "ruining his life" when we told him he had to come in and go to bed, and that he couldn't camp outside with the scouts.  After the kids were in bed I watched Court Jester.  I had started it earlier in the week, and finally got to finish it. I started another movie, but I was too tired so I went to bed.  Melanie slept a little better, but still woke up way too often, and didn't go back to sleep easily.  It was odd to think the alarm wasn't on and the doors were unlocked in case anyone needed to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Saturday when Aaron came in at about 6:30 I asked him to let me sleep since Melanie had kept me up a lot that night.  He did until about 7:15 when David wouldn't stay inside, and Timothy was trying to get the scouts to buy bookmarks that he had made.  So I got up, and Melanie kept sleeping for once.  Amy got up about this time too.  The scouts had made their breakfast (pancakes, bacon and peaches), and were trying to get ready for their snowshoeing trip.  So I made breakfast for us using the leftovers from the scouts. Then we got to work on cleaning the house.  Eventually we had lunch.  Timothy was supposed to be cleaning his room starting at about 10:30.  At 11:45 he still wasn't done because he was playing instead.  So I told him that he wouldn't eat lunch until it was done.  He protested saying, "Parents don't let their kids starve."  Apparently he still wasn't motivated because he didn't finish until 2:15!!! 

David had a birthday party to attend in the afternoon.  However Aaron had the van on the snowshoeing trip.  I had asked the mom of one of David's friends to pick him up on the way to the party.  Our house is on the way.  She called that morning, and because of some consequences, David's friend was going to have to miss the birthday party (I love when parents actually follow through with consequences).  She offered to take him anyway, but I declined.  Instead I called Carol to ask if Rebecca could watch the kids for 10 minutes while I dropped him off.  She was going out of town with the Pep band (basketball district playoffs), so Carol offered to drive David to the party.  I have such great friends and neighbors!

Aaron arrived later that afternoon and the scouts took down their tents and eventually were picked up by parents.  We got some dinner going, and kids in the shower and bath, and then David came home.  Bryce's mom brought him home.  And that's about it.

Sunday Melanie was still sick, but I needed to be at church for a couple of reasons.  Aaron was giving his talk finally, so I needed to sit with the kids.  And I needed to make announcements in Relief society and collect things from people.  I had to leave right before the sacrament to feed Melanie, so I took Amy with me hoping that the boys wouldn't kill each other before I got back. Then Amy was giving a talk in primary.  She and Aaron had prepared it, but when it came time for her to do it, she wouldn't.  She followed us up there crying.  She wouldn't even turn around.  Aaron was supposed to read the talk and she was going to hold up things she had collected (it was about he creation). However she wouldn't even hold them, so I held as many as I could (I was also holding Melanie).  And that was it.  When we were done Aaron and I left, and Sis. B* quickly got her attention and asked her to help her with something.  That way she didn't scream when we left.  Aaron put away the basket of items and we found seats in Sunday School.  I was grateful to Aaron who offered to take Melanie to Young Mens while I went to Relief Society.  I completely forgot to go back into primary to listen to David's talk :(

I can't remember if I nursed Melanie before we left or after we got home. We quickly ate some lunch because we had guests that afternoon.  Two people were coming to interview for positions at the clinic.  They wanted to to their Real Estate tour on Sunday afternoon, so Aaron offered for us to watch their kids while they were on the tour.  So we watched two adorable little kids about Timothy and Amy's age.  They made themselves right at home.  They were here for a couple hours and had fun, even though Amy threw a fit when the little girl wanted to play with her toys.  And we were really trying to teach Timothy how to play with a friend.  He has a really hard time making friends.  David was ready to step and and play with him even though he is almost 4 years older than the kid.  But we were hoping this would help Timothy a little. We chatted with the parents when they came, but not for long because they wanted to look at a house, and we needed to eat dinner.  Aaron grilled up a salmon fillet, and made a delicious quinoa, with Mexican chilies to flavor it - yum!

We had FHE and then there was a stake priesthood meeting that night in our building.  I didn't remember hearing about it before, and that's because they hadn't scheduled it before.  There was a change in the stake presidency, and there were no stake meetings scheduled in the next couple of  weeks - or months, so they had to call an "emergency" one.  So we have a new counselor.  While Aaron was at the meeting we made valentines for grandparents.  The kids really had fun, and I was pleased to see how creative they were.  I gave them paper, markers, glue and scissors and they did the rest on their own.  Amy asked how to spell "Happy Valentine's Day"  but the rest she did on her own.

Then we had some BYU brownies - that was David's request.  He helped me make them.  My request was that Aaron take as many to work as he could.  Less temptation is better. 

Now things are getting a little blurry.  I don't remember much except that I went to the local grocery store. I needed to get a few ingredients to make some chili for dinner.  That afternoon I took these picture of Melanie.  I set her on the ground - I think I was putting soap in the dishwasher - and when I looked over at her she had her finger on her lip and it looked hilarious.

And the poor scratches on her face from those sharp baby fingernails

David had piano lessons, and I made dinner.  The chili was for the recruitment dinner for the two candidates.  Instead of taking them to a local restaurant we decided to host a dinner at a physician's home.  So we all went to David's house and had a great meal with vegetarian enchiladas, chili and cornbread and a delicious salad.  And pie and ice cream for dessert.  We got to mingle, and really enjoyed having a more relaxed atmosphere.  I felt bad about how fussy Melanie was and her poor cough and runny nose.  I'm sure that looked real great surrounded by 10 doctors.  We got a babysitter for the kids as it was a full house with their 2 kids and David and Adi's little girl. It was nice not to have to keep an eye on them.


Tuesday Amy had preschool.  I did a small shopping trip to Wal-Mart and the Mexican grocery store in the bigger city Southeast of here.  I can't think of much else other than Timothy had Cub Scouts that afternoon.  Things are really blurry because I haven't had much sleep.  Plus I had to cut back my workouts because Melanie is taking shorter naps with this cold.  So instead of taking an hour nap in the morning it was lasting maybe 30 minutes, which makes it hard to fit in a 40 minute workout.  She would wake up 16 or 18 minutes into it and I'd try to engage her for as long as I could.  But that would work for about 5 or 6  minutes and she would get fussy.  After feeding her she wouldn't just lay there while I finished, and I had places to go, so I'd have to shower - usually while she was buckled into her swing screaming, and I never finished exercising :(  I don't even remember Tuesday night.  That's when I started getting achy and chills.  I wanted to make gumbo for Mardi Gras, but I just couldn't do it.  I already had started some French Bread, and I'd turned down an offer for bringing in a meal, so I ended up with French Bread and cooking frozen egg rolls in the oven - quite the combination huh?  I couldn't even eat the egg rolls.  I just had two slices to bread.  Aaron sent me to bed as soon as he came home.  Aaron took Melanie when he could, but we were both up a lot that night.

Earlier in the week I was planning to do my shopping in the city on Wednesday, but then Aaron ordered some shoes.  After he ordered them he asked if I would be home on Wednesday because he was expecting a package.  It's a good thing I didn't make any plans for Wednesday, because I felt awful.  I ended up finding some painkillers, and took those in the morning.  Amy and I made some sugar cookies for Valentine's day.  Then I took the girls to the clinic to get Melanie checked out.  Dr. W* wasn't in the clinic, but we saw Dr. M*.  I met her at the Christmas party.  She was great with Melanie.  I was feeling OK, so I didn't bring up the aches and chills to the Dr.  I did mention the clogged ducts though. While I was in the exam room with Dr. M*, Aaron surprised Amy and took her to get her shots.  She was not happy when she returned and apparently screamed at the top of her lungs when Aaron told her what they were going to do.  She came limping back after the MA swabbed Melanie for pertussis.  It was negative thank goodness.  Her oxygen levels were fine too, so we'll just have to wait this thing out.

We fueled up on gas before we headed home.  We had lunch and frosted cookies.  Crystal K* called and asked if she could bring dinner, since I'd turned her down the day before.  I hadn't prepared anything yet, so she insisted.  It allowed me to take a much needed nap instead of preparing a meal.  I got woken up by the doorbell.  Aaron's package!  I slowly got out of bed, and luckily David was outside and got to the package before Max did.  When he brought it in I knew it wasn't shoes.  It was from Pro Flowers.  Aaron bought me flowers for Valentine's Day - something we'd agreed years ago was too expensive.  I guess he decided to splurge - or got a good deal - I haven't seen the bill yet.  So I got them out of the box and took off all the wrapping and set them up in their vase.  I was so out of it I didn't really read the directions, but I did see the part that said they would perk up after about 12 hours in the water and flower food.

Crystal brought a Chinese casserole, salad, and cupcakes.  We enjoyed the dinner - even Amy who at first refused to try it.  I took some more pain killers so I could get though the evening.  I had to be a the church at 6:30 to take David to Webelos, and I stayed because at 7:00 we were meeting to set up for the Valentine's dinner.  I pulled some toys out of the nursery for Timothy and Amy, but that didn't last very long.  They ended up in the kitchen with Cheryl, Julianna and I.  We were trimming roses and tying ribbons and getting the table decorations ready.  They turned out really great.  I wish I'd had my camera to take a picture.  I had Melanie in the wrap.  She slept for a while, and then I fed her and turned her around in the wrap.  A couple of times she grabbed the rose stem as I was tying the ribbon around it.  I was glad the thorns had already been cut off.  It was about 8:30 before we got home.

OK, that's long enough I suppose.

"Let me esplain. No, let me sum up"

I really have a lot to cover.  Some highlights or lowlights as is may be

• Melanie's sleep horrible sleep patterns messed up her eating schedule as well.  With her messed up eating schedule I developed some clogged ducts, and in turn body aches and chills.  There was no fever, and the aches and chills went away in a couple of days, so no mastitis, or rather I didn't treat it with anything except some meds I got after I gave birth.  Which caused a lingering headache, so today is the first time I've felt normal in over a week.  And that is why I haven't posted much.  Hopefully I'll fix that today.
• In other news I helped put together a Valentine's Dinner for church, and I'm trying to pull together a RS night about gardening.  So I've been busy which didn't help with the sleep deprivation, and ickiness (I guess that's not a word) I was feeling.
 

I really think everything else deserves more time, so I'll post again, soon I hope.

Poor Baby

I haven't blogged, mostly because I haven't had time.  Wednesday Melanie started getting a little stuffy nose.  Thursday night she was up at lot.  She is now coughing, and has had a slight fever off and on for that past 4 days. It's no fun to have a sick baby.  There's nothing I can really do for her.  She just wants to be held.  She sleeps a lot, but mostly while I'm holding her.  Or in the swing.

She wasn't eating well, but now she seems to be doing fine.  She's a little hoarse from all the coughing, so her crying is so quiet and a bit pathetic.  I did get some smiles out of her though. 

The hardest part has been the nights.  She wakes up every hour or so, and she isn't easily put back to sleep.  She isn't hungry and won't nurse.  She doesn't want me to cradle her, and she won't take the binkie- I suppose it's hard for her to breathe.  So I end up walking around with her upright, her head on my shoulder.  However if I stop walking, or sit down, or lay down, she wakes up and cries.  So far the last 3 nights I have been up with her at least twice where it took me 30 minutes to an hour before I could go back to sleep.  Often between 3:00 and 4:00 am.  I'm exhausted.  I took a nap on Friday afternoon, and I wish I could have taken one today.  My left arm and shoulder are sore too.  We'll she's awake again.  So I'll tend to her.  An update tomorrow perhaps.

Blenders and Paper Folding

A few Random Thoughts:
My friend Nancy has been though a lot over the last couple of weeks.  Her husband had a stroke, which was originally thought to be a TIA, but was actually a stroke.  He is doing well though, and after 10 days of intense PT and OT he is home recovering.  I know my dad spent months in the hospital and still doesn't have full use of his right side 12 1/2 years later.  Terry's stroke was not as severe.  He'll be using a cane and will continue PT for a while.  Nancy is dear to me, and she was so good to keep us in the loop through everything that was going on.

Our blender parts arrived on Monday so we can have our green smoothies again!!! It's also been fun to find new healthier recipes again.  I'm so glad I can handle quinoa again.  I first tried it a year ago while I was pregnant, and it was one of my food aversions.  I couldn't handle it.  I am not really great at tracking my food this time around. But I seem to be doing just fine.

The boys are having fun folding paper.  They made these on Sunday:

 And here's the flan Aaron made on Sunday

And an update:
Monday Aaron was on call.  He not only helped the boys with their pinewood derby cars (adding weight), but he fixed the car.  For a few years it's been making this whining sound, and it seemed to have something to do with the idle.  We've taken it to several different shops, but no one seemed to know what the problem was.  Finally on Saturday he sat down at the computer and tried to see what else it could be.  He decided it was a pulley that cost $18 to replace.  After looking at the car manual he decided he could do it himself.  So he ordered the part on Saturday, picked it up on the way to work on Monday, and fixed it in less than an hour.  For $18 he solved a problem (the bearings on the pulley were shot) that has bugged us for over 3 years!!!  I love that he is a fixer!

Amy took a nap Monday afternoon, but still went to sleep at a reasonable hour that night.

Tuesday was a bad day.  Well some parts were bad.  Melanie woke up only 6 minutes into my workout - ugh!  But after I nursed her she went back to sleep.  Kind of odd, but I was glad to finish my workout.  I showered and started to get ready for preschool.  When Melanie woke up she was really fussy.  She didn't really want to eat, so I just held her.  She wouldn't let me put her down.  So didn't get the preparation done that I wanted to.  We did our opening stuff, and then I set them at the table with a couple of activities. Melanie was tired again so I put her down for another nap.  I was able to give them a snack and read them some books, and then she woke up again.  So I put on a Diego movie about road runners since we were learning the letter "r", and I attempted to feed her.  She wouldn't eat.  However she seemed hungry, so I got some hot water to warm up the bottle of expressed milk I had in the fridge.  She eat a little bit, but not much.  After the kids finished the video I tried to read to them again, but Melanie was too fussy, so I ended up just sending them downstairs to play.  She was crying when they girls got dropped off, and when they were picked up - oh well.  Paige's grandma did get her to smile for a second though.  The rest of the afternoon was like that - just really fussy.  I did eventually get her to nurse, and eventually she was back to normal, except now she has a runny nose.  That's 4 times in less than 4 months :(

As soon as the boys got home from school there was tension.  I guess I was still worked up from that morning, and I started yelling at one child in particular who can't seemed to remember what I say less than a minute after I say it. I dropped the boys off and scouts and I was fuming.  By the time I got home I was crying.  Melanie had fallen asleep, and I needed to blow off some steam, so I threw a ball for Max to chase.  I guess that dog is good for something.  I felt so bad for yelling.  Melanie woke up and I fed her, and then I picked up the boys and apologized.  Things went better after that, even if that child still can't remember anything I say.

Wednesday I mostly just did laundry, and played with the girls.  David had his last basketball skills performance.  Aaron had scouts.  Today I taught preschool, and it went much better.  Aleya was so cute and said, "Melanie is so cute.  I want to take her home and keep her because she is so cute."  It's even cuter because Aleya says "tute".  Melanie had a slight fever this morning, but seems to be OK other than a runny nose. That's it really. I'm all caught up.