Sumo Baby Takes a Stand

So Morgan's 9mos. today, and officially doing the stand up thing now. So I'm like, Dan, time to lower the crib mattress, Morgan's standing up now, and I don't want her to dive head first out of the crib (reasonable enough), and he's like okay. Then he walked away, and I'm like um, aren't you going to do it now? And he's like, no, we don't have to do it right this minute. So I pulled, the old, that's fine, I'll just do it myself thing, and then I started rummaging through his tools and pulling out random pliers and wrenches. Needless to say, he shook his head and then he went and did it himself, leaving me happy and satisfied that my sumo baby was safe in her bed, and so grateful that he humored me, that I didn't even complain when he watched a bunch of boring March Madness games this weekend.

Resurrection Sunday...

So here it is Easter Sunday, and I'm trying to figure out how to post a slide show of our pix from today (yeah right). We had a beautiful day today, and our resurrection rolls actually sort of worked in toddler church so that was fun. (The resurrection rolls are crescent rolls wrapped around a giant marshmallow which evaporates when it's cooked, thus creating a hollow roll, which symbolizes the empty tomb). So church was good, we had our traditional Easter breakfast pot luck. Afterwards, I did give the kids some pagan plastic eggs filled with candy mostly because I really wanted the candy, and seriously who can resist Target's holiday aisles? They're marketing geniuses over there, and you all know it.
Besides that, the 1st week of Spring Break flew by. We did have an unexpected visit from the Binky Fairy. I basically got fed up with the twins' binky addiction, so instead of waiting until they turned 3 (as I did with Lorelei) I told them the Binky Fairy was coming to take away their binkies and if they left them all out on our porch for her to pick up, there would be a big girl Barbie doll (like their sisters) awaiting them in the morning. Needless to say, I was shopping for brunette Barbies at Target at 9:30 Thursday night. I went in for barbies, and walked out with barbies, a random assortment of groceries, and placemats. Did I mention that their marketing geniuses over there already or what? Seriously, Target's my happy place.
Enjoy the pix.

Spring Break!

First of all, Heidi update: She's doing pretty well, baby Judah is hanging in there and as we continue to pray, hopefully she'll get stronger and stronger each day! Thanks for your prayers and support!

Meanwhile, Spring Break has arrived. I have a break from the 3 classes I usually teach Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and so yippee we're going to catch up on all things; sort the closets, take the kids to get their pictures done, haircuts, dye eggs, birthday parties for Auntie Bethie, squeeze in some playdates, St.Patrick's Day green 7 up, Toddler church Resurrection bread recipes, visit Mimi and Papa, catch up on scrapbooking, plant a vegetable garden, and ...... well you get the point.
In gist, I can't wait till classes start again, it's only Monday morning, and I'm already exhausted at the mere possibilities of the next 2 weeks, and to top it all off, Regis and Kelly are all reruns.

Heidi

So you know how sometimes, someone you haven't talked to in a while pops back in to your life seemingly out of nowhere? Well, my former college roommate, Heidi, and I recently got back in touch. Now that she's doing the mom thing, she calls more (people mistakenly think I know stuff about raising kids since I have 4). She has a 16mo. old girl named Navy.
So first lemme tell you this about Heidi. As former TMC alumni could attest to, she stuck out like crazy on our conservative little campus, big wallet chains hanging from her belt, baggy, saggy pants and combat boots, and she bears an eerie resemblance to Angelina Jolie. She had a terrible old car that she had spray painted black with the #54 on it, and she drove me to Visalia, and the brakes went out on the grapevine in the snow, she remained calm.
But really, my favorite memory was this: She would always borrow my stuff, and so one day when the annual finals week gift basket arrived at our door, I swore I would not share one thing in it with her. (The school would have parents buy these baskets and send them to their kids during finals to cheer them up, and they were full of crackers and chips and chocolate and stuff). And true to my selfish little word, I remained. I ate everything from my basket in front of her, and refused to let her have any of it, on principle you know. Later in the week our phone rang, Heidi was out. It was her mom, and she wanted to know if Heidi had received the basket SHE had sent to HER. I had just assumed the basket was from my parents because they had sent them to me in the past. Any of you ever heard of eating humble pie, and begging for forgiveness? Well that's what I had to do, but what was so great, was the fact that when I told Heidi that the basket had actually been for her, she just laughed hysterically for like an hour.
So what's my point? Well, Heidi texted me on Friday morning that she was in labor, and to please pray. She was only 26 weeks pregnant, and despite efforts, Judah Lee, another baby girl was born to Heidi 3mos. early at 3pm Friday afternoon. She weighs 1lb. 30z and she's fighting for her life. If she makes it through the next few weeks, Heidi can expect around 4mos. in the NICU. Please take a moment this week to pray for her and the baby, and for little Navy and her husband at home. As moms, we all know how difficult this must be.

She Has Her Moments....

Okay, so I felt a smidge guilty that Noelle was recently labeled biggest pest of my four children by, well, by me basically. So here she is in all her cuteness redeeming herself with a smile.

Oh, but enough of my kids, wanna hear something really cool?
We think some type of lizard or rodent died in the walls of our hall cabinets because the hallway currently smells like dead possum. It's delightful really, makes me want to have you all over for dinner. Initially I thought one of the girls hid an old rotting sippy cup (oh like you haven't found a couple of those under beds from time to time) or perhaps somehow a rolled up stinky diaper missed the trash can. But ahhh.... no such luck. My brave beloved husband searched underneath the house, but found nothing. I looked online, and fellow sufferers tell me, I've just gotta wait it out. For those of you interested in the stock market, I suggest you invest in scented candle companies.

Melting Down...

So even though I happened to take an incredibly cute picture of Noelle this weekend, I thought I'd post this one of Maisy instead because, well, it really captures my reality more. I'd like to tell you all that we had a bunch of fun adventures this week, that I taught my kids some French, we took long walks around the block identifying birds and insects, and for a treat we baked some gluten free cookies, but the truth is this: This week I had pink eye, Lorelei threw up and had a fever, the twins learned to say, "I'm the best, no you're not the best, I am," Morgan SCREAMED the entire 25 minute ride home from church tonight, and this week we subsisted mainly on cheese its and Trident (because gum keeps them quiet when I'm on the phone, and they sneak it out of my purse all day anyway).
So yeah, I'm tired right now, and I feel somewhat defeated by my multiple failures as a mom, but let me say this, despite all of my kids' annoying qualities, I love them so much. I watched Lorelei in her gymnastics class on Friday morning and she was so, well........not good (she inherited my severe lack of coordination), and yet I was still so completely proud of her! God gives us this incredible, amazing love for our kids. What I can't imagine is that He loves us even more than we love them. That supercedes all of it, doesn't it?
Well, that was just a brief moment of reflection, I assure you most of the time I'll just post obnoxious pictures of my children, and write self-indulgent tidbits about my life with them. And for those of you who care and are still with me, I'll probably post each week on Sunday or Monday nights.