Mom, can I borrow the car?

I seriously thought this experience would not happen for another 8-9 years, but it happened yesterday.
Background: I am sitting in my nightgown on my bed, my mom is setting up the crib in my bedroom. It is around 10:20 and the kids are getting ready to go to swim lessons. A friend (Adriana, who has her own car) has been helping out with taking the kids to swim lessons will be going to take AnnaLisa(7 yrs) and Andrew (6 yrs) in a few minutes.

AnnaLisa: Mom, are you going to use the green car (full-size van we purchased and mom drove to town for us a two days ago)?
Me: No.
AnnaLisa: Grandma, do you need the green car?
Grandma (busy setting up the crib): No.
Me: AnnaLisa why do you want to know about the van? Can you ask Adriana to come here?
Adriana arrives. I ask: Did you drive today?
Adriana: Yes.
Me: Oh, AnnaLisa why were you asking about the van?
AnnaLisa: I wanted to know if Adriana could drive us to swim lessons in it.

Well, all I can say is at least they are not embarrassed by it.

Land of the lost

Ok, it is normal for pregnant ladies to "lose" sight of their feet after about 5-6 months. This pregnancy I lost that around 3 months. No big deal, because I am having twins, I should be bigger, right?

Well, I have started losing sight of small children (MaggieMae) and any animals that I am around if they are by my lost feet. Thankfully we don't have many animals around (we don't have pets), but MaggieMae keeps sneaking up on me and we have tumbled a time or two because of her stealth movements. This concerns me because I still have 2 more months to go. In this last week I have put on another inch around my middle (47 inches! that is as tall as my JJ). I have added 3 centimeters to my front (from top of my belly to the bottom of it) - crazy. And I thought all I got done this week was a little laundry and laying in bed on bed rest.

I guess it just shows that while you can exhile me to bed rest, you can't make me stop doing things, even if you can't see them!

blanket envy

Background:
My sister-in-law replaced their queen sized bed with a king. She mentioned that she had queen sized linen that she no longer needed and asked if we needed some. We have a full size (bunk) bed that we recently purchased and while I had sheets, we were using a twin blanket for it. I decided that they were close enough in size that it would work and took her up on the offer.

The story:
During dinner I mentioned that Danika is going to come over and drop of a new (used) blanket for AnnaLisa's bed.
Andrew asks if he is getting one.
No, it is for the big bed on bottom I tell him.
He gets upset, "Why can't I get a blanket from Aunt Danika too?" I ask him, "Don't you like your dinosaur blanket and sheets?"(he worked for months to have good enough behavior to 'earn' them).
I then explained that the blankets would probably be plaid or flowery, no dinosaurs.
Andrew thought on that, then had one last request, "Can you tell Aunt Danika that if she has any dinosaur blankets she is giving away, that I would like them?

make-up class...sign me up

 

Today Andrew and I were discussing Saturday's plans when he asked why we were having swim lessons on a Saturday. I told him because of the thunderstorm, his teacher cancelled class earlier this week and that tomorrow's class was going to be a make-up class. AnnaLisa's eye lit up as she walked into the room. "We are having a make-up class tomorrow?"

I laughed because I know what she meant. AnnaLisa takes things very literally, plus she loves make-up. Above is one of the few pictures we have where she has make-up on. I let her put on some lip gloss for the pictures. She loved it. It was one of those mommy-and-me times where I bend the rules a little. So I realized that I needed to clarify what a "make-up" class was. Once I explained it, her expression fell. "Oh, so no make-up?". Sorry big girl. Have to wait until you turn 12 (another one of those borrowed rules from my parents, that I hated when I grew up, and now as a parent wonder if it is waiting long enough).

Grown up blocked

 

Tonight we were all sitting down to dinner and JJ (who recently got changed to sitting between mom and dad) turns to me and says, "I am Grown up blocked". It took me a moment to realize that he meant that we had him blocked in on both sides. Too funny how this boys' mind works.

In this picture JJ is the shorter one. The taller one is Andrew.

Morning Chore chart

Trying to get ready for these babies, and trying not to neglect my responsibilities as a mother to my other kids, I came up with an idea of making a "Morning Chore Chart". These include the basics like - get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, etc. Then I added the "good habits" like make your bed, read your scriptures, say prayers, etc. Well I thought to add a few more, specialized to each child (each of my children I made the list on the back of a 3x5 card written in ink with a box next to it, glued it onto some card stock of their favorite color, and gave them a pencil). They get to check off what they are done with and when they complete their chart they simply erase and it is ready for tomorrow. I decided to give the older two some "extra" chores such as paino practice, empty the dishwasher and a "chore". I realized that with as early as my kids get up, they will have more available time before school than after. They are also in a better, more obedient mood in mornings. Andrew struggles with it a lot, so he got assigned to empty the dishwasher in the morning.

I was not sure how this was going to go, but gave it a whirl. AnnaLisa practiced piano with her old piano books without any other prompting. She started at the front and worked her way to the through the songs she knew. Andrew has complained very little about the dishes (Andrew should have been a princess with the way he feels about "manual labor").

JJ has actually gotten into it as well. It is making morning routine so much easier. I think it is also making the kids more independent as well. Who knew?

We have also switched around seating at the table. We put MaggieMae in the middle of the two oldest (AnnaLisa and Andrew) because they are always fighting about who got to sit next to her. I thought, they can help her with whatever she needs, I don't have to do it. And now I sit between the boys.

Maverick vs. Fabric

We have some friends who have teenage and adult children. Occasionally they will invite our three oldest over for dinner after church. Usually in addition to dinner they will play with the pool table, the dog, etc. Well, I was chatting one day with the mother of the family and she told me how my kids upon meeting the dog, Maverick, started calling the dog "Fabric". It is a nick-name that has stuck and now the family always jokes about the dog when it comes time to wash him. Shall we wash him in cotton or permanent press?

The funny things that kids say...

 

AnnaLisa answers the phone, listens for a while, determines it is a solicitation, and says, "I am not interesting" and hangs up. (As a side note, I am laying in bed overhearing this comment and try to explain the difference between interesting and interested. Trust me big girl, you are very interesting!

Andrew this morning came and got in bed with me and asked me, "Mom, what is a yolk?". Not knowing if he meant yolk or yoke, I thoughtlessly asked, "Can you use it in a sentence?" His quick response was, "Sure mom, what is a yolk?". Totally my fault for asking the question.

JJ has mastered the "Days of the Week". When ever we are talking about doing something in the future, for example, "On Friday, we will...." JJ turns to me and says, "What today(day) is today?" Then he will break out in the "Days of the Week" song (learned in pre-school) sung to the tune of "Oh, My Darling". It just always makes me giggle.

MaggieMae makes us laugh a lot with the different things she says too. Mostly they are difficult things to translate to text, but here is my attempt. She has learned that while we always hear her, sometimes we do not respond. When this happens she starts fluctuating her voice up and down (much like a yodeler does) saying the word, "Dadadadadadadadad". Usually it is him that she is trying to get to hear her. Other things she does is when she says something that is slightly garbled and you repeat what you think she said back to her, she responds as if you are asking the question. For example, she says something, you repeat back, "Are you asking for a cookie?" and she will look at you and say "Suurre" (like well, if you are going to twist my arm, I will finally give in).

 

This is done by our resident "Master Train Builder" or as I usually call him, JJ. He loves making these really cool layout for his train. Usually after he is done making the fancy parts, he calls in for re-inforcements to finish making it. I am often left with how do I make "this end" meet "that end" into one continuous track?

I am so big!

 

Look mom, I dressed myself! OK, AnnaLisa helped me.

(In case you can't figure it out, her legs are in the wrong side of the overalls. So the back side is actually facing forward.) I really like the color matching on this one. Just for the record, my husband (and I) were not at all involved in this one.

our "new" van

 
Well, we have finally found a van that we think will work well for our family. It has all the "features" that we were looking for - good gas mileage, in great condition, in our desired price range, sliding door ...and a few that I started to doubt we would find like it is not "white" (a good 90% or more of the vans we have seen are white).

The short coming is that it is out of state. So we are sending Grandma Williams to go get it for us (with my health Jeff did not feel comfortable leaving me) and Grandma volunteered. She is getting to see two sets of Grandchildren out of the deal.

It is not finalized yet, we have deposited the money in my sister's account who is going to be actually handling the purchase, but it looks like by Monday or Tuesday she should have the van and then Grandma will pick it up and deliver it next week!

It is crazy how we found it, but it was much like the selling of the PT Cruiser. It just seemed to be there waiting for us.

We told the kids, obviously JJ is more of a "wait until I see it before I believe it sort of guy (see previous post)". They are excited and we spent dinner trying to come up with a good name for it. Right now "Larry-boy" is in the lead, but we have also had "turtle", "Lance the turtle", Andrew (which is Andrew's favorite. Earlier I teased him that since it is green -Andrew's favorite color- that we would call it Andrew and would need to think of a new name for our son.), the Jolly Green Giant, Fabric, and others.

Our "new" van

http://images.craigslist.org/3n73m43p5ZZZZZZZZZ97ddc8e7c02e87b1c85.jpg

the funny things that kids pray

 
Ok, JJ tonight said family prayer. In family prayer we try to encourage the person praying on behalf of the family to pray about what the family is thankful for and stands in need of. Before JJ (4 1/2 yrs old) started my husband reminded JJ to bless mommy and the twins (William and Rosie) for good health. So JJ prays, "...thank you for William and Rosie, and help us find a van...".

I just giggled because he had a lot of the right words, just approaching it differently.

So I helped JJ say his personal prayers and he said, "...bless mommy and the twins to feel good and bless us that we will get lots of money to buy a van and a bigger house...Amen".

One of the sweetest and funnest times as a parent is hearing your child pray. Hearing what is important to them (pizza is the most beloved food in prayer, God has been thanked overabundantly for it) as well as what they are striving to learn is so good.

sleep clock is off!

Here it is approaching midnight and I am wide awake. For some crazy reason I can't fall asleep before midnight and usually am only able to sleep for about 6 1/2 hours. Then I get tired a few hours later and have to take a nap.

I don't know if posts are time stamped or not, but if they are you will notice almost everyone of my post for the last two months or so have been after 10 pm. I have a theory that my sister developed about pregnancy. She believed that the "annoying" things you go through when you are pregnant (morning sickness, having to eat every two hours, not being able to eat a lot at one time, waking up a lot at night, having to pee every couple of hours, etc) were there to help you understand what being a baby is like. It may sound crazy at first, but I think that is one of the contributing factors that helps mom take care of their babies. To me it is natural to think a baby would be that hungry, that soon, and eat such a small amount. Again it is natural for me to think that babies need their diapers changed every two hours (sometimes a lot sooner, but in general).

So all of this leaves me to ponder why I can't fall asleep until midnight. I am hoping that it has nothing to do with this theory of "pregnancy preparedness".

I might also add that my husband and I have a theory about delivery that goes right along with pregnancy preparedness. I need to refine it before I blog about it, but basically the idea is the premise that the unpredictability that comes with labor/delivery are to help you realize that children are not there to be convenient or painless, but rather we are on call 24/7 and may do a bit of suffering for the privileged of parenting this child.

So, how's the pregnancy going?

I get this a lot. I am in the final quarter of this pregnancy - 10 weeks to go. My belly is as big as it has ever been. Today I started scraping it against things as I walk by (usually this happens right after a growth spurt). I measured my tummy to see, but it is the same size. So I go with the other fall back - sleep deprivation. You may notice that a lot of my emails and blog posts are late at night. I just am having a hard time going to sleep. Part of this is probably due to a messed up sleep schedule which is part of my self-ordered partial bed rest. I have been for about a month now, taking morning and afternoon breaks laying down in bed or the recliner. About a week ago I started having babysitters come over to help out (the older three kids, as a result of having Autism and qualifying for Medicaid have "respite" hours which help significantly with babysitting fees - provided I use a licensed adult).

This has helped with the contractions (I have been having these for about three weeks, but they have not been painful or progressive). This morning (4:00)I was woken up by painful and consistent contractions, so off to the hospital we went. Spent several hours there, had to get two injections, but the contractions stopped. So have appointment tomorrow to see what the doctor has to say. But my decision is that I will continue (unless they suggest something more restrictive) to do my modified, self-prescribed bed rest. So you may see me here and there, but probably not for long. I am going to have to notch-up my restrictions as far as what I can and can not do.

I have to say while this has felt like the longest pregnancy, it has not been, in general, as difficult as I feared. It is definitely been harder in many ways than others that I have had, but easier than I expected (although I reserve the right to change that opinion depending on the next two months).

My mother had twins. She said that while it was "not her 'worst' pregnancy, she would not wish it on her enemies". I thought that was weird for her to say, but this last week I feel like I really am starting to agree.

Selling of Jeff's PT Cruiser

I can't find where we stuck those pictures, so maybe I can add it later. We finally decided to sell Jeff's car and buy a van. We checked out Autotrader and such first to see if what we wanted (a 12 passenger van, preferably low miles, few years old) was available. We found a couple, so we thought, sell the Cruiser and buy a van. We thought selling it would be tough - it was gone within three days(another blessing). So buying a van should not be so hard, right? Well, we are on week two of being a one car family. It is a bit difficult, but seems to be working out. Jeff has found a carpool ride for now to work (which is a huge blessing). We have even debated about do we "need" two cars or could we do just as well with one (provided Jeff was able to continue to carpool whether with his current ride, or someone else). It certainly is nice to have that cash in savings right now (we are trying to get enough for a down payment on a second house since selling our current house does not see to be an option). We have debated about selling the minivan after getting a full sized van. I am sure it would not be our permanent solution, but it would make getting a down payment a lot faster for us. I guess at that point we would just have to decide if we wanted two cars or a bigger house.

I guess the insight I am going for, is do we really need two cars? We literally have everything we need (with the exception of Jeff's work, public library and the kid's pediatrician within 4 miles of our house). I am starting to learn how to plan so that I can shop on weekends or evenings which means either Jeff is with me shopping or I am without children shopping (both positive options). It is odd to me after having my own car for 16 years to have to "share" and plan ahead as far as using the car. But I think that, like with most sacrifices, we may gain more than we lose.

Well, I guess we will just have to see how it all works out. Right now plans are to buy a van and not worry about anything else until Dec or Jan because we will be having the twins soon and really will have our hands quite full.

Our new little swimmer

 
Well, AnnaLisa is quite sure that she has "learned it all", but I remain a little reserved. Although she is now able to calmly go under the water (on purpose) and can back float. She knows several stokes and feels confident in the water. We got her two private lessons this week, with Sara's recommendation, she has practiced several times with Dad, once with Grandpa Williams and is doing great!

I finally feel that my kids will eventually learn to swim (I was starting to lose hope). It is great to have one well on her way to being a swimmer and thanks to all who were part of that process. She still needs to get the efficiency part down (she does not move very far with a lot of work) but we have a session next week and if we need it, may do some more private lessons in August.

I am sure we will have to "keep up" on her skills, but I am thrilled that she has done so well. She really needed this confidence and thrill of doing such a good job on something that has been hard for her. Now I get to walk the delicate balance of helping her feel successful, but still realizing there is much to learn. I have found that once she learns the basics of something, she thinks she knows all there is and is not as willing a learner. Oh, well, I guess life will teach her that (I know it did to me).

keys and prayers

 
There is a joke that says as longs as there are tests in schools, there will always be "Prayers in school". I guess this is also reflective of mothers and lost keys as well.
While I pray on a daily basis (and many times within a day) there are times when I struggle with it. Thankfully God has given me wonderful children to help me. Last Monday I was at the Library, we have a goal to go once a week through out the summer. We had been there about half an hour (which is actually really fast when you consider books for four and checking out), when I noticed that my keys were missing. We walked back to the car (via the waterfountain, because I had already promised the kids) look for them all the while. We got back to the car and I searched the car (I left it unlocked which is not normal). I decided time to look inside. We asked at lost and found and a librarian who then spread out and asked around for us. We retraced all of our steps - no luck. The Librarian had no luck either. So I thought, well, let's check outside and the car again (I really did not want to call Jeff at work to come get us). So I checked around the fountain (even though I already knew they were missing before we went there) and headed back to the car. I asked the kids to stay in the shade by the building while I walked to the car, which was only about 15 feet away. I felt like I should pray with the kids for help finding them. It had been about 45 minutes now. I searched the car again, the feeling would not go away, so I decided to pray by myself. I said a quick although sincere prayer. Still no luck. I walked over to the kids and finally gave in. I asked AnnaLisa to say a prayer for us to help us find the keys. AnnaLisa's prayer was more like, "Heavenly Father, bring us our keys". I was really caught off guard. I have very open and frank prayers with my Heavenly Father, but I am not accustom to asking him to bring me what I need in such manner. I suggested we go back inside and start all over again. As we headed back into the library, I called Jeff on the cell phone. I was just explaining what was going on, when I see the librarian walking over to me holding up our keys. I hung up on Jeff and spoke with her. She said "a lady just walked up to me and handed me these keys a moment ago, and are they yours?" As I answered yes they were, AnnaLisa is shouting that God gave them to the lady to give to the librarian. I smiled sweetly to think of the timeline involved, the faith built, and how my children continue to teach me.

What haunts me is that if I had not asked my children to pray with me, they would have been robbed of that opportunity to build faith as well as we may not have ever found them. Regardless of when we found them, to me it was a wonderful miracle that they were found while we were praying (which were close to an hour after I had lost them and a good 20 minutes after I enlisted the librarian for help).

Winter Soldiers needed for Arizona Summer heat (Budget)

 

America has passed through several time periods that "have tried mens souls" and in Arizona we stand again at that precipice. In the past it has been both physical as well as ideological; now while it is still ideological it is also financial. We wait to see what the leaders will decide for Arizona and her people. Just like in centuries long past, the decisions that are made will determine not only how Arizona is shaped by also how her people will fare. This is when we will see if our trust in our leaders are well placed or if they will simply use their power to move ahead their agendas. As a parent sometimes I am faced with what I feel is best verses what is best for my family. At these times I defer to what is best for my family because I know not only is that my higher priority, but it is also the resposibility I have chosen.

What are we calling upon our leaders to do now? We want a responsible budget that will not sacrifice our future or make our children pay for our short-sightedness. If we have over spent now, we need to be pay it back now, not years later with interest. If our tax structure is weak, we need to re-write it so that it reflects reasonably across all income levels and commerce. We also need to keep our long-term responsibilities in mind. There are some costs that while they may not be technically our responsibility now, will greatly reduce if not eliminate costs to which we will be responsible for later.

In the United States we have a Republic and not a Democracy because it is unreasonable to think that each voting member has time to familiarize themselves with all the nuances of the government issues. That is what we have elected/hired you all to do for us. We trust that you will spend time learning how to make good government for us, not simply put the responsibility for that back on us with special elections that cost us more money.

It is time for our leaders to decide whether they are going to step up and start doing what we elected them to do, or if they are going to continue on the path that they currently are on. If we need reasonable cuts to programs, that needs to happen because those programs have been evaluated as being wasteful, not to solve lack of funding issues. As a homeowner and head of household I need to make sure that my bills are paid, that expenses are met, and the needs for my family are paid for. It is time for Arizona and it's leaders to step up and pay for expenses in a responsible way.

We need leaders that our "winter soldiers". Ones that are willing to sacrifice more than they are asking us to, ones that are willing to do the job that we have entrusted them to do.