Nexcare waterproof Tattoo bandaids! They are waterproof, they don't leave the sticky bandaid patch after you take them off...and they come in themes! Nemo is what works at our house. The most effective band aid placement is not actually on the sore spot, because those places are hard to see. We have found that the best place for them is one on each forearm. A regular conversation we have:Random person: "Oooh, what happened to Gavin?"Me: "He hurt his foot."RP: "He hurt his foot?"Me: "Yes."RP: "Then why are the bandages on his arms?"Me: "Because he couldn't see them on his foot."In all honesty we did try them out on the actual hurt place first, but like I said...much less effective. And where do you put a bandage on a rough day? Forearms are best, with the picture upside down so he can see who it is.
So I was giving the kids a bath last night in full faith that we would be going to church this morning(and we did). I had to run out of the room for a second to grab something and when I came back in I was just in time to see Gavin grab himself...take careful aim...and pee on Jane! Yet another time in parenting when the urge to laugh hysterically AND completely overreact, disarm me for a few seconds...I settled for trying not to let Gavin see me laughing, and then quickly ending bath time.
Survival of the fittest...the competition for resources:
This picture was taken right after Jane stole the rock from Atticus and Atticus stole the stick from Jane.
By the way, the kids are doing much better today(I think even the low grade fever is gone)...well, they are at least acting like the feel better! The crazy thing about this is that my kids haven't developed a single blister...they might not even have this stupid disease, but because they have been in constant contact with their cousin who does have it, and because they have persisted in acting like they don't feel well(even though that started LAST week) I feel like I have to be safe and not expose anyone else to this. That being said, if we do not have some sort of rash or blisters by Sunday morning(cue karma to come and bite me) then we are going to church!
Today was a really hard day. Jane was a permanent fixture on my shoulder, whimpering every so often from the miserableness she is experiencing...and crying like her heart was breaking if I didn't hold her 'just so'('just so' changes a lot!). Atticus wasn't acting sick(knock on wood), but he is normally my clingy 'hold me' boy, so most of my day involved balancing the two of them on my lap. Incidentally, they have started trying to push each other out of my lap...which would be pretty funny if they weren't bawling their heads off at the same time. Gavin has cabin fever. Bless his heart, he is a very active little boy and is struggling with being cooped up and kept even from the relief of grandma's house...Anyway, all of this being said there are two people I need to thank....1)Kenneth...he took over this afternoon when I was about to go completely bonkers. He took all 3 cranky, snotty kids on a long walk down to see/feed the horses...and kept them away until I was a much saner person(at least sane enough to endure the 2 hours before bedtime that involved both twins impersonating sirens while I was trying to give breathing treatments, medicine, baths,etc...)2) Sister Jarrell...who showed up within an hour of my deciding that I was just going to curl up in fetal position on the bed and try not to exist for a while. She brought dinner(she didn't even know my kids were sick she was just being nice) and a confirmation that I was not forgotten. The Lord is aware of me. Thank you Monica...the food was great, but more importantly your simple act of service enabled me to regain some perspective, gird up, and dive back in.
If we were a herd of cows they would take us all out, shoot the lot of us, and then burn our carcasses! I might actually prefer this to being cooped up with 3 sick, cranky kids who are highly contagious...we can't even go to my mom's house because she has a contagious staph infection! This has been a month....
This morning makes the third time this month for us to go to visit the pediatrician. We managed to miss cold/flu/rsv season, but allergy season has visited our house with a vengeance! Anyway, what has been my trial(cranky demanding kids, cooped up in the house, etc.) has been Kenneth's heaven. 
Apparently when Jane is sick she has no problem snuggling with daddy and falling asleep on his chest. He is finally getting the daddy/daughter bonding time that he craves!
I saw an interview with what I would term a "fundamentalist" attachment parenting devotee. In the interview she went through the baby store and gave all the baby items names like 'mommy substitute' - pacifier, 'lazy mommy' - swing...and the one referred to in this photo...'the baby prison.' She was of the opinion that a baby should be with you all the time, in your bed sleeping with you or on you hip in a sling. I am not saying that this point of view is wrong. Different strokes for different folks and all that, but in our family we quite enjoy the 'baby prison!'
I hear Jane gagging, which is a clear indicator that she is playing with Gavin. Sure enough there he is shoving a medicine dropper down her throat. Is that the medicine dropper of the special prescription cough medicine for the twins that I opened just this morning? Closer inspection. It sure is..."GAVIN!" I notice as he runs away that he leaves a sticky patch where he touched my bed...and he has a dark patch on his shirt right under his chin. Where is that bottle of medicine!?! Oh here it is, and it...is...completely empty...grrrr, "GAVIN!" I hear the front door slam as he makes a hasty bid for sanctuary at Grandma's house. That ain't gonna help buddy. I follow him and collar him just as he is trying to get Grandma's attention, presumably to help rescue him from me. I sit down with him and explain that drinking someone else's medicine is wrong. That taking any medicine that mommy hasn't given you is wrong. That hiding from mommy when you have done any of the above is wrong. He is unrepentant, and laughs the whole time I am talking and all through time out. Time for more drastic measures...Oh Gavin, this is going to hurt me worse than you...out comes the apple cider vinager. This is a lesson you need to remember! When you take medicine that doesn't belong to you the consequences are yucky. Down goes 1/2 teaspoons of apple cider vinager...he isn't laughing anymore but sobbing and gagging and burping up the smell of dyeing easter eggs. Poor little boy! After he calms down he is incredibly mellow the rest of the evening...whether it be because he is properly chastened and repentant(ha!)...or the fact that the medicine he took was almost pure DM (dextromethorphan) and he is a little drunk!
Other lessons learned by Gavin recently. Don't touch the stove. Ask mommy before you go down the road to your friend's house. Instant mandatory nap time ensues if you poop on the floor.
Bless his little heart, but Atticus is scooting around with a size 4 diaper on his 20 lb body...for those of you unfamiliar with diaper sizing, that is about 6 lbs too soon...but maybe that will keep the poop where it is supposed to be!
I feel like laughing and crying...argh! The past two nights Kenneth and I have been double booked. Kenneth was asked to dj the stake dance and I had volunteered(it is way past my turn) to be the young women's leader on duty. Unfortunately when I volunteered I didn't realize that my mother/babysitter would be nigh unto death...so Gavin and the twins got to go to their first stake dance. Whoopee! So much fun for the first five minutes then the fact that the dance STARTS at their bedtime begins to sink in. Then tonight I was asked to sing in a quartet for the quad ward missionary fireside...and guess what...Kenneth is the electronics set up guy for our building(and the young mens president, and the lawn mower repair guy, etc. etc...the pain of being married to someone so talented! =)...so Gavin and the twins got to go to the missionary fireside. The movie "Finding Faith in Christ" was on the program right before our musical number so I took the wiggly loud twins into the foyer and let them crawl around while I 'listened' to the movie. Having seen this movie roughly one gazillion times on my mission, I recognized when we were in the last 30 seconds of the movie and I started the gathering process so that I could run in and sing. At this point I notice that Atticus, for the first time in 6 months, has completely blown out of his diaper. Panic. The lights go on in the chapel and I see another woman in the quartet start heading for the stand. I am frantically scanning the crowd for Kenneth, whom I have seen only briefly the whole fireside. Just in the nick of time my next door neighbor sees my stricken face, runs to the door, and takes Atticus out of my hands. I sprint into the chapel, run smack into Kenneth, send him out to change that diaper, and dash to the stand! It was a great frame of mind to sing in, let me tell you! After the musical number I marched off the stand, grabbed Gavin, got the twins from the hall and went HOME! Enough is enough.
An explanation for being in the emergency room on Friday night. My mom has had an ear infection/ache for the past 2 weeks. She has seen a Dr. twice(well kind of, I will not mention the Dr.'s name, but if you happened to be from Vidor and I told you who it was you would realize what I mean when I say 'kind of') My most wonderful mother-in-law finally convinced her that she needed to see a specialist and pulled some strings to get her an appointment asap. Unfortunately asap = Tuesday and it had progressed to the point that my mother was non functional from the pain(she said it felt like her ear was in labor), we headed to the ER.I was under no delusion that we would be taken care of quickly. I know if you go to the ER you get to wait, and I was pretty proud of myself for the first 4 1/2 hours for waiting and being pleasant to the medical personnel who crossed our path. After that, when I realized that the outcome of sitting there patiently was that my mother was going to be told to keep taking her antibiotics until her Tuesday appointment...Wow, I don't think so. I began to get edgy and to pace...and at this point my non-confrontational mother started trying to distract me from my desire to march down to the nurses station....
She has had an ipod for over a year at least, and mostly uses it to listen to audio books, but recently has been experimenting with downloading music from itunes. She asked me if I wanted to hear my parents "song" from when they were engaged. Gamely I sat down and it was a nice romantic dancing song. I was listening and imagining my parents twirling around the dance floor...then I remembered that this was my dad we were talking about...the one who announced to his future in-laws "Brother and Sister Hilton, Rachel and I are going to be married...I think I'm going to vomit!" and the same one who while dancing with my mother(before they were married) swooped her down into a low romantic dip...gently laid her down on the dance floor, walked off...and didn't come back. Yep, that is my dad, Captain Romance. At this point I had to ask my mother if my dad even knew that they had a song, and giggling she admitted that he didn't. We sat there laughing and giggling, and discussing examples of how "romantic" my dad is. I am sure if he had known about their song he would have teased her unmercifully. Now I must admit that the older my father gets the softer and sweeter he gets toward my mother. He is going to end up one of those old men who absolutely dote on their wife...but this development is after almost 30 years of marriage. Ahhh romance! 
This did provide a lot of fun conversation while we waited...but alas it did not stop me from eventually walking down to the nurses station and demanding a few things take place and soon as my mother was HURTING. I don't know if once you begin harassing the nurses/pa's in their sanctuary they figure it is worth their while to get you out of there, but amazingly, those things did take place and we were out of there 45 minutes later. It surely did not reinforce the idea that being nice and patient will bring its rewards...at least not in the emergency room!
Before I was married I was beyond scrupulous about hygiene. Shower everyday...check. Deodorant...double check. Teeth brushed...ummm that one I am ocd about, 15 times a day.... check. Since the advent of my child rearing years I wouldn't say that my hygiene has declined so much as my energy levels, motivation, and memory have slowly diminished. Anyway, for some reason this week I rested comfortably in the knowledge that my last shower was 'yesterday.' I am not sure where this came from, but as anyone knows if you showered yesterday and you don't have time today you are ok reapplying deodorant, touching up your make up, and putting off the shower till tomorrow.
Cut to Friday night, I am waiting in the ER for them to call us back(I was there for my mother who is alive and recovering...I post more on that later) So I went to the bathroom and was inspecting myself in the mirror, killing time. Hmmmm, bags under bloodshot eyes...nice. Hair pulled back into a messy, thin pony tail. I lift my arms to inspect the relief society saddle bags...and that is when I discover it...I haven't shaved under my arms in what appears to be at least a week! Ewwww! At that point I realize that my unconscious assumption that I showered 'yesterday' is quite inaccurate as I look like I am trying out for the European swim team. And to make it worse...I cannot for the life of me figure out when the last time I showered was...I don't even have the assurance that is was Sunday, since last Sunday was General Conference! At this point all the ickyness of my predicament began sinking in. I could feel the oils on my head and face and my whole body felt like it was coated in grime...it was like the time when I was little and someone told me my tounge was covered in bumps and for a while I almost couldn't speak through the bumpiness of it. Luckily, like I said, I was in the ER...I mean if I had to be out in public at least I wasn't at a place known for cleanliness where I would stick out like a sore thumb.
Anyway, as I was climbing out of the shower today I finally remembered when the last time I showered was...my memory came back because as I climbed out of the shower I realized that my blow dryer was still packed away in our travel bag from when we went to Kenneth's parents house to swim...on Wednesday(which is part of the reason that hairy arms where an issue...I didn't bring my razor)! Huge sigh of relief! 3 days isn't going to set any cleanliness records, but hey, it could have been last Saturday!
P.S. No I did not climb into the shower at 1:30am when we finally got home...but I did shave under my arms =)!
I am done being apologetic for being pregnant again. We didn't plan it, it happened. I cried when I found out, but we are very excited now. There is a spirit that is supposed to come to our family right now! I am done trying to explain to people the whys and wherefores of it...If someone has a problem with it they should mind their own business...talking to me about it isn't going to change the fact!Let me break it down...I know we were crazy when we got engaged after dating a week and married six weeks later. Guess what? We are still crazy in love, and everyday thankful that we followed that prompting...I know we were crazy to get pregnant when neither of us where through with school...I wouldn't trade my kids for a doctorate...my life is hectic and unpredictable, but we are happy.I know we are crazy for having 4 kids and living in a 750 square foot apartment...trust me it makes me crazy some days...but you can't beat the location, and being near family covers a multitude of other shortcomingsWe are crazy for quitting a steady paycheck when we are pregnant with our 4th child and no secure and sure means of support...I have faith in my husband, he will support us and we will create a better life for ourselves out of the ashes of a dead end job.I am done apologizing...I am not a bit sorry, I wouldn't trade where I am for anything. Everyone has different goals...luckily Kenneth and I found each other, because we both share the goal of first and foremost a big, happy family!
what kind of mom lets her eight month olds eat chocolate marshmallow mateys for breakfast(or at all for that matter)! today stinks...ugh.
The time is finally here. I have been waiting for it not so patiently, especially lately...the twins are entertaining themselves and each other! I knew it was coming, everybody told me I was crazy to want them to crawl...but I remembered this time with Gavin. My thought is, I don't clean my house on a regular basis anyway, it is much easier for me when my kids can move and don't want me to hold them all day. Seriously, I had to pull Atticus out of the bathroom 3 times yesterday while Gavin was bathing...that kid can do a sprint army crawl down the hall...it blows me away!
