First Night

We like that this city really knows how to throw a party. Tonight was First Night and there were all sorts of stuff to discover. There were chimes to ring.


A very old fire truck. You can't see James' feet, but he has fire trucks on the bottom.


Under the 1st Street bridge was a presentation of 15 Minute Hamlet. The kids loved how silly the actors were.



There were also a pair of musical Tessla coils (yes, those Tessla coils) playing Christmas carols.


Auditorium Shores features art installations. Elena and Joseph ran around inside a bamboo tunnel-thing, while I staked out a spot near the clock tower.


People had the chance to write a resolution, wish, or whatever on scraps of wood and paper which were then put into the clock tower.


Then we burned it down. Something about the fire lifting our resolutions to the skies and the passage of time. I have to say that seeing a tower of flame with a clock face in silhouette and the hands spinning madly was moving, but I can't quite decide if it was profound. The heat was fantastic for warming up our chilled ears and noses, though, and we saw tons of spark-filled dust devils. It was very cool.


On the way back to the bus stop, we paused to listen to the Biscuit Brothers.


Happy New Year! I hope it's a good one.

Nice While it Lasted

The hormones are gone and my hair is returning to its usual density. I'm shedding everywhere. It's on my coats, in my brush, in the shower... If I run my fingers through my hair I end up with tufts of hair in my fingers. Sigh...

Also, James has started rolling over. He only goes tummy-to-back, and only to his right, but it's the beginnings of mobility. Two more weeks and he'll be up to cereal. Where has the time gone?

Blessed

It sounds so scary, when you hear about a baby going to the hospital and you see pictures of an IV port in a tiny hand and an oxygen line in a tiny nose. We have been so blessed, though. We were blessed to catch the illness and see a doctor before family gatherings where other babies could be put at risk. We were blessed with a pediatrician who was available and able to see us only two days before Christmas. We were blessed with a nearby hospital with gentle and caring nurses. We were blessed that James could receive the care he needed that he couldn't get at home or in the doctor's office. We were blessed with the power of priesthood blessings and the comfort of faith. Throughout it all, I was never afraid. I knew James would be alright, he just needed a little help. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. They have all been appreciated.

Christmas Pictures

Christmas got split a couple different ways, so here are pictures of all the various segments.

Christmas Eve was at home, since everyone was sick. I made a pound cake (let me tell you, creaming butter and sugar for 20 minutes with a handmixer is not fun, but it was worth it), snickerdoodles and gingersnaps. We watched Frosty, Rudolph, and the Church video Joy to the World. We read the Christmas story for scriptures. We watched the tree, with the lights off. Joseph fell asleep in front of the stockings.


Elena and Joseph got to raid their stockings while James and I got set up at Dell Children's.



We opened family presents all together on Christmas night. Joseph got a dinosaur. The dinosaur immediately went on a rampage around the room. Elena got a spelling game "just like at Mackay's house." James was thrilled to watch the mayhem around him. He missed his siblings while he was at the hospital.




Once everyone was back home, we opened presents from cousins, friends, aunts and uncles. Books and the ice cream ball were the hits of the day.

It was a good Christmas, though we missed you all and hope to see you soon.

'Christmas On the Closed Ward'

James' temperature was at 100.2 yesterday evening and topped out at 100.9 at 2am, but after a blessing from Daddy it was back down to a "normal" low-grade fever in the next hour. He was fussy and coughing worse than ever this morning, though, and it being Christmas morning the only thing open was the emergency room at the hospital across the street. Elena wanted to come with me and I let her, with the strict instructions that she obey my every request. She actually did a very good job sitting still and the nurses gave her a picture to color and some crayons. She also let me know when James threw up all over himself and the car seat, just as we were pulling into the hospital parking lot, and fetched me anything I needed from the diaper bag. I'm really glad she was there with me just so that I couldn't be obsessing over James' squeaky cries and raspy coughs. James was having trouble keeping his oxygen levels up, so we got a hose of humidified oxygen blowing on his face and a transfer to Dell Children's Hospital. Jonathan and one of the guys from the ward came just before the transfer to give James a blessing and take Elena home.

The children's hospital is really nice. I'm amused that the mirrors in the bathroom are tilted so the patients can still see themselves. We also have Tarzan stickers on the window of our door and pictures of ladybugs and butterflies on our wall. I honestly can't tell you what any of his nurses look like, though, because they're all wearing respiratory masks. Elena, Joseph and Jonathan brought a paper Christmas tree for our wall and presents for us to open so that we could have at least some Christmas stuff today. Jonathan brought his computer, too, so I can entertain myself. Now, we wait. They're going to start checking his lungs and trying him out with out the oxygen line tonight. He needs at least four hours of keeping his numbers up before we can go home.

Not-So-Silent Night

Jonathan and Elena are just fine. My cold is almost gone, and Joseph's is starting to clear. James has RSV. I got worried when James started throwing up, yesterday. We took him to the doctor and she asked for a follow-up, today. He was coughing worse, today, and quieter than usual. He took his morning naps by himself instead of insisting on being held. I'm not sure if I should be worried about that or not. Anyway, he got a thorough looking-over at the follow-up and that's when we got the unhappy news. No fever, but he squeaks a bit when he cries. I took him to get x-rays to make sure it hasn't progressed to pneumonia. We'll hear back about the results sometime this evening. The doctor said we were not allowed to be anywhere near the kids' cousin, Grant, though, because Grant is the same age as James and would be just as vulnerable. There went our plans for the evening. Ah, well. We're going to settle in with Rudolph, Frosty and Scrooge, instead, while baking gingersnaps and "stickernoodles." We have to make sure Santa has cookies. That is very, very important.

*Cough, Cough!*

The whole family has nasty coughs, some worse than others. James is favoring me with the saddest, most pathetic little tiny-cry ever, today. I guess it hurts too much for the real thing, poor baby. When I was up with the choir, I had to mouth the words to half of two different songs so I didn't turn purple or ruin the song with coughing. I don't know how Jonathan survived his narrator duties. I knew I couldn't take Joseph to nursery like that, though, so when we finished Sacrament Meeting I started bundling up both him and James, who had lost his clothes to a dirty diaper by this time. Elena, however, had sprinted off to Primary the instant the prayer was over and I didn't have the heart to break her the bad news. So, the little boys and I are at home and we'll need to go get Daddy and Elena in just a minute.

Question: What do you do for a 3 1/2 month-old with a cough and a sore throat?

A Glimmer of Hope

We recently started including scriptures as part of our bedtime routine. It seemed like the best place to fit it in where it was sure to get done. We read both Grown-Up Scriptures (The Book of Mormon) and Big Kid Scriptures (the Book of Mormon Stories reader). It's only a few verses, but it works, and Elena reads one verse from hers all by herself so she can practice reading. Now that you have context...

Scriptures go as usual. Small children are wiggling, the baby is fussy, Mom and Dad's patience is wearing thin. It's important, though, so we plow onward. Nephi would do the same, so we can, too. We've heard 1st Nephi so many times that we forget that this is the first time the kids have really heard it. As they leave Jerusalem, they leave behind "all their gold and their silver and their precious things..." Elena's eyes light up. Could this be...? In a tiny voice, almost as if she doesn't quite dare trust that it could be this good, she asks, "Are they... pirates?"

3 Months

It's been an amazing three months. I was so distressed that James' belly button had healed up so fast, and yet I get so much time with him, even with Elena and Joseph climbing all over both of us. We spend most afternoons curled up together in the recliner while Joseph naps and Elena colors, watches a movie or plays Sesame Street games. I knit while he eats and naps. Sometimes I nap, too. He won't sleep in his bed during these naps, but I don't mind because I get to gold him close and watch him. He's amazing! He's starting to smile every time he sees me, so I get lots of smiles, now. The fastest way to get a smile, though, is to change his diaper. He loves diapers!

It's so strange to me that he'll be starting cereal in just another month. How can he be so old? He's still so tiny, right? I'm looking forward to it, though. I'm looking forward to James joining us for meals, and settling down into a more predictable schedule. He's starting to get bedtime figured out, but I'd like to have the rest smooth out, too. I love my baby. Even if he pinches that nerve in my elbow so I can't feel the yarn to keep tension right. Nobody's perfect.

Mischeif Managed

I'm a little slow on Thanksgiving, I know, but these were by far the best photos of the day and I just had to share. One of the cousins had a toy phone that Joseph appropriated and "talked" om while he ate dinner. Very Corporate of him.



Rick went to get Oma, and we got pictures of her with all of her great-grandchildren.


Shortly after Joseph got sick, the kids and I went to Gramma's to visit (and clean the mountains of laundry that always come with sick kids). As usual, Joseph got put in the port-a-crib for his nap, even though his bed at home is open, because Gramma's house doesn't have rampaging 2-year-olds living there and is decorated accordingly. Apparently Joseph is more clever than us, though. I went to wake him up for dinner only to discover that he'd climbed out; opened nearly a half dozen Christmas presents (none of them his, not that it matters); scattered receipts, papers and stickers around the room; then climbed back into the port-a-crib with a pile of old floppy disks from the desk.



I love my boy. Yes, I have white hairs. 'Nuff said.

It Gets Harder?!

We've been busy-but-not-busy for the last little bit, here. Joseph got sick, last week, and the effects lingered much longer than expected, especially for the amount of energy he was still displaying. It's possible that James caught it from him because he's suddenly super spitty. To top it off, James is going through a growth spurt and wants to do little beyond eat, sleep and scream. Joseph also has some kind of viral thing that's giving him sores at the corners of his mouth. We went to the doctor, today, and he came up neg. for strep, but she gave him a prescription to help him feel better while we wait for whatever it is to blow over. Plus, Elena is earning back her Big Girl Panties. She went from forgetting to go, to "forgetting" to go, to not caring, last month, and had to spend a few days in diapers and a week in training pants. She started back with the plain BGPs, today, and has to keep them dry to earn movies, helping with dinner, taking links off our advent paper chain, and her daily peice of Halloween candy. As if this was not enough insanity, I'm working on gifts for family, there's been an outbreak of sobbing at every tiny thing, and I have a talk to give in church on Sunday. Sigh...

I'll put up a ton of pictures soon.

It's getting colder around these parts. Our temperatures may be nothing to those of you rolling in snow, but it's still cold enough to make us shiver. It must be mitten time!

I have plans to button them onto a ribbon that will thread through the sleeves of their coats. Very cheesy, I know, but soooo effective. (And the fourth mitten's in there, it's just hiding behind the pile.)

Very Cute Boy(s)

All day-time naps must be taken with someone, apparently. This poses no problem on Saturday afternoons, when Daddy gets home.

It's a lion! This picture was taken shortly before James The Lion chased the older kids up to bed, accompanied by much giggling.

Sunday afternoon, here. And yup, this is our pacifier child. Since Mommy has run out of hands, and Elena and Joseph can operate the pacifier themselves (and are thus huge helpers) James gets silicone love. Plus, we're hoping it'll stave off the finger addiction that Joseph developed at about this age.


I sat James in the chair so he could get a better view of the room and the others crawled in with him.
Not James, but they are the rest of my very cute boys.

The Hair

A few of you have asked about my hair, since I'd mentioned that I'd found something to do with it. Here you go:(2nd picture courtesy of Elena, thus the focus issue)

It's a bit more Sarah Palin than Kasmira (the girl in the inspiration pictures) but it turned out nicely. It'll work better as the hair grows, too. Yes, I cut my bangs myself and I like how they came out, but I'd like to be able to get a real stylist to do Kasmira's fuller side-swept bangs for me so I can see how it's done.

Author, Author

I was told by the author that it says "Elena wants to go to Sesame Street."

Don't Let This Be a Sign

Joseph, Today:
split forehead open on drawer
1 face-plant & 3 rear-plants off swing at park
self-guided tour of staff-only area of library
climbed to top of bookshelf at library
"chomping" (jumping) through parking lot and off wall overlooking creek
started colored-pencil sword fight
washed coating of toothpaste out of hair

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Previously, on Joseph:
"Rawr, rawr, rawr!" all day long.
Finally, "Are you a dinosaur?"
"No!" he rawred.
"Are you a monster?"
"No!" he rawred.
"Are you a hippo?"
"No!" he rawred.
"Are you a elephant?"
"No!" he rawred.
"Are you a bear?"
"No!" he rawred.
"Are you a lion?"
"No!" he rawred.
"Well, what are you?"
Still rawring: "I'm two!"

Primarily Speaking

I couldn't stop grinning during Sacrament Meeting, today. When it came for the Primary kids to go up to the front, Elena dashed up to her teacher and stood right up at the front of the stand, right next to the pulpit, ready to sing. I could just hear her voice through the crowd. The Sunbeams ended up on the back row, the half-a-row of the choir loft, since there were only three of them but Elena sat on her teacher's lap for a good portion of the presentation so wee could see her smiling at us. When it came time for the Sunbeams to say their speaking parts, Elena popped right up to the microphone and said her part ("Heavenly Father knows me and loves me. He will answer my prayers.") without any prompting, then literally bounced back to her seat. I'm so proud of my big girl! Joseph watched the whole thing in rapt attention. None of those boring grown-ups for him, but he listens to kids just fine. He even sang along with some of the songs.

Meetings

It's been a busy day. It started with James' two month checkup. He weighed in at 10 lb 15 oz and is 22 1/2 in tall. He's been snuffly for a few days, but nothing that would prevent him from getting his first round of shots. Baby boy does not like the shots and screamed the whole time.

After the doctor, we dropped Daddy at work (he has a lead on a second job and could start on Monday, if he wanted!!!) then headed on to Andrea's for a play date. Andrea's house is apparently the play to go, though, because two other friends were there, as well. The kids had a blast, which is good because they've been asking all week "when do we go to Mackay and Beckett's house?" We set up the play date not just so the kids could play, but so we could trade pants. We each bought the same style of awesome coral colored bermuda shorts on clearance from Old Navy but in each other's size because that's all they had. We discovered the funny coincidence last week and decided on a swap.

Joseph actually took his nap, today (he refuses about 20-30% of the time, now) and when we went to pick up Daddy of course the kids wanted to go in and get "bites" from the food court. While we were there, they waved to Santa. Elena now asks when Christmas is about every hour. We also saw a friend that recently moved back from Houston, there with her sister-in-law, whom we see at the library story time.

While discussing dinner, Elena offered up hot dogs, hamburgers and pancakes as options. Joseph voted for pancakes, and Elena flipped most of them all by herself.

So, there's my day. Talking to friends was wonderful. I'm amazed I don't do it more often.

Tactical Reassessment

Have you ever realized, years later, that a crucial piece of equipment, which you've happily done without until now, is becoming more and more necessary? I'm there. I have too many full skirts made of cotton. I have too many sewing projects with seams to press. I have too often delayed hanging my husband's dress shirts, even though I carefully fold them after washing. That towel on the bathroom counter just isn't cutting it, anymore. I need an ironing board.

Change

I feel like I ought to comment on the election, but I'm not sure what to say. McCain was super-classy in his speech, last night, as was Obama. I'm disappointed by all the vitriolic insults toward candidates (I've heard it from both sides, just this morning) but they have their right to do so. I guess it'll just take some time to process it all. This is going to be huge, and I'm very interested to see how it'll go.

Six Years

Yesterday was our anniversary. It's been an interesting, and sometimes rough, six years but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Here's to another sixty years up ahead.

Man, we look so young (and thin?) in that picture.

Reflection

I found out, today, that my good friend Susan died of cancer this morning, just a few days after another friend, also named Susan, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. My heart goes out to both their families. I know that pain and relief are tightly interwoven for both of them. We love you all and pray for you.

So Much Halloween

So, first up was Trunk-or-treat & Chili, last Saturday. Mom wasn't so on-the-ball with costumes, this year, even with Regan giving us some of hers (they were still on the other side of town), so these are discoveries from the dress-up bucket. Elena was all excited to be a "firelady," though, and who can say no to that? Joseph, meanwhile, wanted to be a big kid and do everything the big kids did, so here he is in with all the Primary kids.



They both had a great time trick-or-treating, Joseph learning very quickly that the right words mean candy.


Triumphant (and chocolate-covered, apparently)!


It's fast becoming a tradition to carve a pumpkin on my birthday, so here we are sorting through HEB's ever-shrinking pile.


Elena drew the face and helped cut the lid, then Joseph joined in for scooping.


Such a sweet Jack.


We also got to visit my oldest brother's house for more trick-or-treating, tonight.

Oh, Jamie Boy

Modeling a hat I made as a baby gift for a friend.


Hanging out with Mom, making cute faces.

Teeth Time

The kids went to the dentist for the first time, on Wednesday. We practiced on Monday so they'd know what was going on, and it went pretty well. Joseph climbed right up into the exam chair, and opened his mouth when the dentist came in. Elena wasn't so sure about everything. I had to carry her to the exam room and then to the cleaning room, but once in the chair she was a champ.

Inspiration

Beautiful, no? There's more shots below.



I don't have pictures of my version, yet, but it's working well for me.