A rough day for Lucy

Anyone out there who has experience nursing will understand this and for those of you out there with no experience I will explain. Right now Lucy is busy building up my milk supply. This requires her to nurse almost constantly for about 24 hours. It is tiring, frustrating and exhausting work for both of us. The end result will be fine but until her goal has been achieved it will be super frustrating for both of us. Today she has spent most of the day crying or nursing. Then taking a cat nap which she wakes up from irate and seemingly inconsolable. Only I will do for her right now and a bottle isn't an option. Otherwise my body won't respond to her needs and we will start the weaning process. I think this is hitting both of us by surprise to some extent because she really didn't do this at the other times she was supposed to. Babies usually go through this 4 times. 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months. My boys hit every single one. Lucy coasted through the first two but this one is about ready to do her in. I am just praying that we will be done with this by tomorrow because multiple days of this is for the birds!

Walking in a Spring Wonderland?

What is up with the snow? I thought we were supposed to be firmly in Spring by now. At least the kids think it is fun and I suppose it is quite pretty!

Look what Lucy found!

A Thumb! A Thumb!

All my babies have sucked their thumb at one time or another. I even have ultrasound pics of Lucy sucking her thumb in my belly. She found her thumb before Zane but after Andrew comparatively. (because I know you were curious) I think that it is funny that all my kids have had a love affair with their thumb. It must just run in the family although neither Eric or I ever sucked ours. Still, I know the babies are mine when the thumb sucking starts! Now I have to remember to feed her though. She is so content with her thumb that she forgets she still needs her mommy. Trust me though, mommy's body doesn't forget!

Checkups for two

Today Lucy had her 2 month checkup and Andrew got his kindergarten booster shots. Lucy is doing great and has gained some weight. She is currently 13 pounds and 12.5 ounces. Pretty decent size but not as big as either of the boys at this point. Maybe she will be dainty after all (ha ha!) Lucy is also 24 inches long which means she should stay in this size clothes for a little bit longer. (Current size fits up to 25 inches) There were lots of shots at the visit today but they always seem to knock her out. I don't know if it is the shots and the upsetness or the Tylenol I give before hand but my kids sleep, sleep, sleep after getting shots.

Like I said, Andrew got his kindergarten boosters today. He is so goofy. He woke up this morning and came into my room and told me he was sooooooo excited to get his shots today. He was an absolute champ getting them too. He didn't even cry. I think part of his excitement was that he thought he was going to start kindergarten tomorrow. We had to explain that it wasn't until after we got done with the summer first. I think that was ok with him too. Now I just have to make an appointment for Andrew to register and we will be all set!

Curriculum Night

Tonight was curriculum night at the high school for Crystal. It was my first experience with a parent/teacher conference and it was a pleasant one over all. All Crystal's teachers had good things to say about her and more than one informed me that they didn't even have to look at the grade book, they knew she was getting an A. I took that to mean that all her hard work was paying off, including all those 1 and 2 am study sessions that she does. I don't know how she does it, I wouldn't even be able to tell someone my name if I was up that early let alone complete essay questions and multiple choice. Andrew seemed to think it was a lot of fun talking to the teachers too. I think I could have just sent him with Crystal since he did the majority of the talking. Now I just hope that my experience will be just as pleasant once my kids hit high school!

Easter Egg Fun

We dyed Easter eggs tonight. Here are Andrew and Zane's Easter egg instructions:

Step 1: Place egg in cup and stir with spoon.

Step 2: Lift egg periodically to check for color strength and vividness.

Step 3: Fall off stool and bonk head (photo not included). Have a quick snuggle with daddy and giggle while he dances to the bowm-chicka-bow-bowm song. Eggs dry in the meantime.

Step 4: Put stickers from package on eggs. Maintain very serious expression entire time. You wouldn't want anyone to think you were having fun. Scream bloody murder when anyone touches your eggs or suggests that if they were to be spun around you could put stickers on the other side.

Step 5: Show them off in great excitement.

I hope you have enjoyed Andrew and Zane's demonstration. There were no children punished or permanently injured during the recording of this event. Mommy and Daddy are glad that it only happens once a year though!

Pictures for Cale

We just found out last night that our nephew Cale got in an accident at work and lost 3 toes (yikes). The boys decided to color him pictures. Andrew took much longer to color than Zane did but they both did a good job. We are going to go and see him today at the hospital. They say he will be alright but his foot modeling days are over!

Piddle Piddle Everywhere

As if a piddling puppy wasn't enough, Zane decided to join the ranks of peeing on the floor last night. The kids took a bath, I got them out and dried off, brushed teeth and sent Zane into his room to get some pj's. I specifically asked him if he needed to go potty and should we sit and try. He declared NO! in true 2 year old fashion. Then I hear him opening his door and yelling "OH NO! Pee mommy Pee!" Sure enough he had peed all over his door which of course made a puddle on the carpet upstairs. I cleaned it up with considerably less irritation than when the puppy goes on the carpet and used the pet odor spray on the spot. Hey, it can't hurt and maybe it will help.

To top it all off this morning Zane decided to take off his diaper while he was still wearing his pj's (blanket sleeper variety) and pee in them. It was quite the feat. I couldn't find a puddle this time though so I think the pj's caught it all. Yeah pj's!

On a positive note all puppy accidents in the house have been of the pee variety for quite some time. Those are much easier to clean up and even though they still infuriate me I can handle them with minor amounts of gagging.

Lucy's Gift

My girl gave me a gift last night. She slept from 1 until 6. That was 5 whole hours of uninterrupted sleep that I desperately needed. I can't wait until she is sleeping through the whole night. That will be awesome!

Lucy Fern- 2 Months!

I can't believe it! My girl is 2 months old today and cuter that cute in my opinion! We celebrated the day by going and getting her passport. Or at least filling out all the paperwork and sending it off. We are planning two trips this summer first to Disneyland (please don't mention it to the boys! They don't know yet and they will drive me crazy when they do) and then to Whistler. Since we are flying to California it will be easier to do it with a passport than a birth certificate and the same goes for our trip to Whistler. Lucy's photo was awfully sweet. We got it taken at Costco, can't beat $4.99 for a passport photo and it was super fast too. Then we went and filled out all the paperwork at the Lake Stevens police department. That was cool too. Especially since we did all the other ones at the downtown Everett post office and ended up sitting in line forever. Not fun with little ones. I was telling Eric that it was good we were spreading out the paying for passports. It is not cheap and this way when they are up for renewal we will be able to spread it out then too.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all!

Aquarium Fun! EMP Boredom :(

Today we went on a Seattle adventure! We have been promising Crystal a trip to Seattle and finally we followed through on our promise. The whole thing actually started with a trip to EMP with Crystal's exchange program group. We got into the museum for only $5 which was a great price since I thought it was possibly the most boring museum that I have ever been to. That even includes the super tiny Lake Steven's museum which I find more interesting. Sad, I know. Anyway, Crystal had fun there with some friends and Eric and I were amused by the science fiction half of the EMP building. The boys were bored in general but they were excited about going to see the fishies at the aquarium.

After a super quick lunch at Old McDonald's (just McDonald's for everyone else) we hustled back to the van and headed on down the hill to the aquarium. I should point out that I love the fact that Eric works in Seattle every once in a while. He scoped out good parking last night while he was at work and double checked how to get to all of the places so we didn't look like idiots today. Plus we managed to only spend $10 on parking that was really close to everywhere we wanted to be and yes that included parking by the Center and by the Aquarium.

Once we got to the aquarium I was rewarded with a super excited boy to go and see the fishies. Andrew talked to one of the employees for about 10 minutes about the different fish in one of the tanks. He was very impressed. Zane was..... well, Zane was a 2 year old who hadn't had a nap all afternoon. He was not terribly cooperative if you know what I mean but I was determined to get some cute pictures of him anyway. I think of the 50 pictures I took with him in them only about 5 have his face showing. He was just in a mood and would not agree to smile for the camera or even just hold still.

Crystal and Andrew looking cute!

One of the few of Zane that turned out!

This is what Lucy did almost all day. When she wasn't sleeping she wanted to eat. Fortunately that was not a problem!

Finally, we went out to the New Hong Kong Restaurant in the international district for dinner and had some super yummy Chinese food. Crystal even ordered some dessert for us. It was fun to see her interact with the waitstaff in Cantonese. She got awfully flustered by it but Eric and I thought that it was cool and Eric kept trying to guess what she was saying and what they were saying back. The funny part was that a lot of the time he was right. I guess restaurant conversation remains the same regardless of what culture or language you speak.

After a very long day we headed home. This was how the day affected the boys. Not bad if you ask me!




Hopefully we will have lots more adventures with Crystal before it is her time to go home :(

Eric and I made a list and it has about 7 more thing on it to do. Man are we going to be busy!

Phoenix- K9 in training

We are now fostering a K9 puppy through a lady in Snohomish. We named him Phoenix and already he is showing a fantastic prey drive. Poor Calvin has already had a toy stolen right out of his mouth but he did nothing to correct the puppy. He is just going to have to learn to be more assertive with him. The boys are warming up to the dog but they are not excited about him running and jumping up or nipping at thier clothes. We found a rag for Phoenix to chew on and that seems to be helping.

Our job as a puppy foster family is to socialize the dog and house train him. Also we are supposed to give him experiences in lots of environments (like the mall and stores) so that he won't be freaked when he becomes a working dog. Unfortunately we will have to give him up in about a year or so. I think we are learning about holding onto things loosely. First Crystal and now Phoenix. I wonder what I will be given to hold loosely next!

Real Success!

Last night Zane had true success on the road to being potty trained! He has been sitting on the potty before bath time for a couple of weeks now and last night was no exception. While he was sitting there I asked him if he had any pee pees that needed to come out. He said yes and then looked down and started going! I almost fell over I was so excited. The other successes we have had have all be flukes. Never has it been on purpose! Zane got lots of kisses, his Mickey Mouse sticker on his potty chart and then plunked into the tub. I am going to have to get some M&M's too. I am not above bribery where potty training is involved. If I can just get him to do that a few times in a row, big boy underwear will be in his future and we will say goodbye to diapers, at least for him :)

I love Craig's List!

I guess it would be more accurate to say that I love my hubby who loves Craig's List. I have no patience for checking all the time and being firm about how much I want to spend. I am much more inclined to just go to the store and spend the money than to wait. Anyway, Eric found us this rockin' Maclaren double stroller for $100. They normally retail upward of $250 so it was a really good deal, especially since it looks hardly used. The cool thing is that Zane and Andrew can use it too. They would be a lot to push and it is really meant for Lucy and whoever is tired but if someone is naughty that would work too!

Lucy started smiling. I tried to catch one on film but they are pretty elusive at this point. I think you will all get the drift though! 7 weeks yesterday. I can't believe it!

Too Much Imagination

Stay with me while I get this whole story out!

Last night we went to Alice and Gene's house like usual for dinner. We took Calvin with us also as usual. Unfortunately, Calvin has a tendancy to roam while we are at their house. (I realize that this is not being a good doggie mommy) I have told Eric about it before but he never had seen it and so he didn't think it was that bad. Just me be overly paranoid. Alice and Gene live in a relatively rural area so there is lots of room for Calvin to play which is why we take him. Plus, all Eric's dogs growing up were outside without a fence so that was just normal to him. Anyway, last night Eric finally saw how frustrating and scary it can be when the dog doesn't come back. We called and called when it was time to leave and after about 5 minutes in trots Calvin looking happy as a clam. However, Andrew by this time had completely started to melt down and was in tears over the dog. He sobbed that he had a bad dream that Calvin had gotten smushed by a car. Now, I have no idea where he would have gotten that idea other than his own little boy brain but it was very sweet and super sad to me that my little guy was so upset over his doggie. He called his scary thought a bad dream which was super helpful to me because he periodically gets up within minutes of going to bed to tell me that he is scared and had a bad dream. Now I know that "bad dream" is his lingo for a scary thought. Now I can understand his lingo even though all I really can do is pray with him and tell him just to think about something else!

Then tonight just before bed Andrew pops out with this question to Eric, "Who would we stay with if you and mommy died?" WHAT???? Why is my 4 year old even thinking about that? I don't know what could have brought that one on but I assured him that he didn't have to worry about it. Then he asked again! So, I just simply told him that he would stay with Penny (his actual guardian- Eric and I were on top that in our will) and that seemed to reassure him completely. He did ask where he would sleep but didn't seem too concerned when I didn't know. He went to bed fine tonight so it must not be on his mind too much but it was so hard for me to reassure him about us dying. I think that just being honest was the best way to go about it, but I still wanted to only protect him and not have him worry about it at all. Unfortunately, I think if I hadn't told him the truth then he would have obsessed about it or felt like he shouldn't ask me those type of things and that would be the last thing I want. Maybe since I don't want to think about me dying and not being here made the topic weird for me. Sigh.... I just hope he is done with those type of topics for a little while. They are kinda draining for this mommy!

P.S. Calvin is now completely forbidden to go to Alice and Gene's house without being chained up. I am not willing to deal with another hysterically sobbing 4 year old anytime soon! And Eric agreed that he is not to be trusted to stay around the house :)

The whole crew

Here is the whole crew! We took pictures because Crystal got Lucy the Seahawks cheerleader outfit and she looks super stylin' in it.

Eric keeps having a fit about how short the skirt is. I think that he should save his fit throwing for when she is a teenager.

You can't see them right now but Lucy's legs are starting to get rolls on them. They are super cute and adorable!

Eric and the big 30!!!

Today we celebrated Eric's 30th birthday. His actual birthday is tomorrow but with church and all we decided to celebrate it today. He got lots of cute stuff including the Cars Playstation2 game from my brother. I don't know who was more excited about it Eric or Andrew. I didn't get to see it because I was sitting on the wrong side of him but apparently Andrew's face lit up like Christmas when he saw the game. I had told Reece that Andrew and Eric mostly played the racing game (apparently it was Grand Tourismo which requires some finesse) but that it was a little bit hard for Andrew. So, in the spirit of father/son bonding, Reece came through with a little person racing game. They tried it out and it is much easier and a whole lot less frustration for Andrew. This was the best picture that I took of all of the boys. I know that Zane's face is half cut off but all the other pictures had funny looks on everyone's faces. Oh well, not every picture session can be a overwhelming success!