Mother's Day

I know, UCMama. It's been too long since I've blogged. I think of things to blog about. But then life gets in the way. The only reason I'm blogging right now is because Sweet Pea is sleeping in the room I have scheduled to pack today.

I wanted to recap Mother's Day. Our children have this idea in their minds that Mother's and Father's day=breakfast in bed. The problem being that BA had board review from 8 am until 6:45 pm. So they all woke up at 7:00 and made me breakfast. The rule is that even though I'm awake (before anyone else), I have to pretend to be asleep until breakfast gets brought up to me or the kids are devastated. So I waited. When they came up they had presents for me (from the dollar store- I'm low maintenance:) Here's a picture of all my presents and breakfast:

The flower thing I'm holding up is a fly swatter that K-K says can double as a back scratcher. And, Sweet Pea love my hat so much she played with it through much of the morning.
Doe gave me a craft he had made at school. It has these flowers coming out the top. When you pick a flower, it has a chore on it that he will do. This is what he says to me when I opened it:

That's for when you need any of us to do stuff around the house.

I laughed pretty hardily at that and we cleared it up that it was actually when I wanted him to do stuff around the house.

Later on he says, "You know the best part about what I gave you mom? You can only use each flower once." Apparently he knows I will take him up on the work offers.
Up at the top of my most favorite gifts, was this:

Doe made it at a stake Valiant boys activity a week ago. It's so funny to me that he thought I would enjoy a framed picture of *Pokemon*. Then again, what mother wouldn't.

From 8:00 until 12:00, I cleaned the whole house (amidst cries of "We aren't supposed to clean on Sunday!! To which I replied, "Well, if it would have been cleaned yesterday, we wouldn't have to clean it today!") and got all the kids and myself ready, including my long process of curling my hair.

BA was able to come home from board review for Boo's violin recital. Here is a picture of Boo and her teacher. After I post this, I'm going to go back in and try to upload the video of her performance. She did a wonderful job. This song is called "Witches Dance" and it has quite a few low and high fingers in different spots, making a little more difficult song.
After the recital, we (without BA Baracas- who went back to board review) hurried over to church in time for primary. I love being in the primary and will miss it when it's time for us to go. Third hour all the women got to go to Relief Society. It was great...except that I had a 15 month old walking/stealing terror with me. Kind of makes it hard to relax and enjoy.

After church, I made dinner and we ate. K-K took this picture of Boo and Me.
And, everything was cleaned up when BA got home.

Part of me wanted to be outraged that on Mother's Day I didn't get pampered. But, I try not to get worked up about stuff like that. So, I got to the end of the day and was happy that I was able to serve my children and husband the whole day...and not put my feet up. At all. Except for the 10 minutes of breakfast in bed. Does that count? Ya. Life is good.

Wow, this uploaded much faster than I expected. Here she is:


I do want to mention a couple of things. First of all, how amazing she is at using so much of her bow! Most violin students like to use 1 or 2 inches of their bow. Her teacher has worked a lot with using different parts of the bow for different sounds, etc.

Second, I am puzzled as to why the quality of this video is so poor. I have a wonderful digital camera. And I've never had quality this poor before. Here is my only guess as to why it turned out like this: The battery was low. In fact, at the end, I didn't even push the off button. The camera turned off because it had no more power to stay on.

If I had to choose between getting a second or two of great quality pictures and having a video of the whole thing with poor quality, I choose poor quality. The sound is great and that's really what matters. So enjoy the talents of my amazing, talented daughter:)

Two stories that happened yesterday:

BA Baracas picked the kids up from school, as I was on a plane home from Utah, where I went to my brother's wedding(pictures later). Since Boo is homeschooled, she stayed at home with Sweet Pea, so there were 4 BOYS in the car plus BA. He pulls up to the house where the two other boys live and decides to see how long it will take for anyone else in the car to realize they have reached their destination.

Door open.

Wait 2 minutes. Listen to boys talk about Pokemon.

BA gets cold.

BA: Hunter...

Hunter gets up and leaves the van. This leaves boy #2, who lives next to Hunter, but apparently hasn't figured out that he does. Because he just sits there.

BA: Bo...

At which time Bo's brain returns and he realizes they are at his house as well and promptly gets out. Funny thing is that if Boo was in the van, there wouldn't have been even a 10 second delay in those boys getting out. But, that's what we've all gotten used to.


Story #2:

On the way home from cub scouts, BA tells Doe that for pack meeting next week everyone is supposed to bring a family dish.

Doe: Cool, spaghetti

BA: No, it's supposed to be more like something that is unique to your family. Something that your family has a lot.

Doe: OK, tacos.

(This might be funny to you if you knew that we have had tacos once in the past year. Sometimes I just don't know what planet Doe lives on!)

Vacation (and recipes)

When I get lots of things I need to do, I make a list. For 4 days now, I haven't even dented my lists. But, the major things are done, so I thought I could spend an hour chronicling our vacation. And, since it was so wonderful, I'll just put pictures with minimal detailing.

Our family after church Sunday.



Our traditional Christmas dinner. My mom bought "12 days of Christmas" salad plates years ago. Whichever plate you have, you sing that # when we do the (loud) singing of the song.



BA Baracas and a few other adults took all the kids sledding. The moms spent several hours making bows.



The 24th was spend at BA Baracas' parent's home. We had pictures. Yep. The whole family. All 20 adults and million kids. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of it, although a video might be more entertaining.




Then, we ate at the church, as there are few places large enough to fit said number of people. Eating followed by talent show and nativity.




After clean up, we drove 45 minutes to my parent's home for the traditional opening of presents from Nana and my aunt.

Christmas morning found my dad waking us up at 7:30. The kids were thrilled about the Wii Santa left.

The cousins exchanged presents.

And, the men did a "white elephant" gift exchange. BA Baracas got this awesome BYU hat.

My parent's gave us this neat wood saying. My dad made it out of rose wood that was native in his mission (Brazil).

And, Sweet Pea loved her first major indulgence in sugar!




The day after Christmas, I got together with some friends from high school and our families. It was fun to get together and catch up. (Recipes are at the bottom, girls)



Later,we rode the train up to Temple Square with some of my family. Our kids love to ride the train. For the first time on our vacation, it felt almost cold enough to make me think we were home.


The morning we were going to drive down to check out the city we are thinking of moving to, I was sick. So BA Baracus took Ubby and made the trip. It's a done deal now. That's where we are going.

New Year's Eve we spent at BA Baracas' parent's home. I tried to go to sleep a little early (I'm sure that's no surprise to anyone who knows me) but BA Baracus woke me up right before midnight.

We left to drive home Jan. 1. Stayed overnight in a hotel. Our only drama on the way home was when Doe threw up all over himself as we were driving. Gross. Oh well, at least we weren't shocked.



* Recipes:

Avacado Salsa
1 can black-eyed peas (drained)
1 can white corn (drained)
5 diced tomatoes
5 diced avocados
4-5 green onions (sliced)
1 bunch cilantro
1 packet zesty Italian seasoning


French Bread and Dip
2 1/2 oz. dried beef (can be hard to find if you have never bought before--with the canned meat)
8 oz. cream cheese
8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese (shredded)
8 oz. sour cream
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup chopped onions

Mix together. Hollow out a loaf of French Bread and fill with mixture. Wrap with foil and bake for 1 1/2 hours at 200 degrees. Serve warm.

Tails

So as I mentioned, last night was pack meeting. And since it was Doe's first( in this pack), he got a tail tied to his belt loop and he wasn't supposed to take it off until he did a "good turn".

By the time we got home, it had fallen off (who tied that thing anyway?) And Doe asked me what it was for. I explained it to him and he said, "What is a 'good turn'?" I told him it was what we refer to as a "helping hand". I also told him he would have to wear it to school tomorrow unless he did a helping hand (I was totally kidding and I think he knew that, but just in case, he wanted to take care of it.)

Now that the 2 foot rope is detached from his body, it is a toy. And while he is completely enthralled with this toy, he asks me if I know a helping hand he can do. I tell him he has to figure one out on his own. And immediately after that, I gave half a dozen assignments to each of the children (put coats, shoes away, clean jobs in kitchen, etc.)

And, yet, while still entertained by his rope, Doe can not figure out a helping hand.

After at least 5 more times of repeating myself to get everything done that needed to be done, we start up the stairs. I am carrying the laundry basket. Two steps before the top, Doe's brain starts to work and he says, "Mom, I'll carry that basket up for you for a helping hand." Not a chance!!

After no less than 17 more opportunities to do a helping hand, Doe consigned himself to going to bed without any of said opportunities.

This morning after threats of wearing a "tail" to school, and without the rope in his hands, he promptly figured out a helping hand.

Seriously, his future wife is in trouble. No multi-tasking for him.

Happy birthday, Doe

(I realize this is long. I'm not sure if I'm normal, but I love to hear other woman's labor and delivery stories. Maybe just hearing a story of how a child was brought into this life brings me a little closer to my own sweet memories of having my children.)

Eight years ago tonight I was the most uncomfortable and miserable I ever was as a pregnant woman.

Eight years and 8 weeks ago I was put on bed rest after going into labor early. And after some further tests, I was in labor.

And so I waited and laid down for weeks. Only getting up to go to the bathroom (and to stay sane, but don't tell the doctor:)

And at 36 weeks along, I had done every ounce of scrapbooking I could possibly do, being restrained to my bed, and I had read every book I could focus on, and I was done with bed rest.

And so within a day or so of getting up and around, I was in the hospital. I was checked in. My wrist band was on. No one was telling me to go home. I signed all the papers. This baby was coming.

But not really.

After getting my wrist band on (which was the ultimate symbol that I was indeed going to have my baby in the next 24 hours at least), we waited. And I fell asleep. And my contractions stopped. They didn't start back up. And so the next morning the nurses asked if I just wanted them to get some pitocin going and they could start me back up.

Are you crazy?!!

I just spent a horrible night in the hospital getting checked on every 1/2 hour. I was sleep deprived. One thing you don't want me to be, is sleep deprived. So I opted to go home and sleep. I was pretty sure I'd be back by the next afternoon.

Two weeks later I was starting to rethink the decision I had made. I went through all stages of false labor on a daily basis. So when I woke up with contractions on that beautiful Tuesday morning, I got up and watched TV. My OB appointment was at 8:30 am and I was determined to make it until then. BA Baracas asked if I wanted him to stay home from work and take me. No way. I was good.

And after stronger and stronger contractions, I decided to go to my appointment early. I got there at 8:00. When the doctor checked me, he said, "Well, we'd better get you down to the labor department. You probably ought to hurry. You are at a 7."

And when I called BA Baracas from the office phone, I lost it. I blubbered something about him coming quickly.

Life got really good after I got an epidural. I love epidurals. But not for the reasons one might think. I've had children all 3 ways. Yes, there are 3 ways: 1- natural 2- get an epidural 3- get an epidural and feel all the pain anyway.

The reason I like epidurals is because I wasn't in pain and because I was able to enjoy the process so much more.

With my epidural, I was ready to deliver but they asked me to wait for an hour or so for the doctor to be on lunch break. I didn't care, so I agreed. This gave BA Baracas and I an opportunity to bask in this great outpouring, where the veil was so thin. And I knew this child was a special child. Not special like everyone's child is special. OK, special like that, only more special because he was coming to me.

When the doctor came in, three things happened pretty much at the same time: I threw up, my water broke, and a baby started coming out. Doe Doe was born at 12:07 and was 8 pounds 2 ounces.

I love Doe. He is a special kid. He is our peacemaker, although I try not to say that because then the others think they can be the warmongers.


One time when Doe was 2 or 3, I lost him in Walmart. And the first thing I thought was, "How can I go back to Heavenly Father and tell Him I lost one of his most precious spirit sons?"

When we lived in Kansas, Doe was 18 months. Our neighbors had a 4 year old. They couldn't have more children. They would look at Doe longingly and say, if only we could have another little boy like him, our family would be complete.

Doe doesn't look at people and judge them according to what they have, or how they look. He has the most kind heart of anyone I know. He can't handle people to be mad at him. He never cries. So on those rare times that he does cry, it takes all the restraint in me to not decapitate whomever it was that made him cry.


He loves Pokemon. I hate Pokemon. He hates sweater vests. I think he looks good in them. We have to frisk him every Sunday before going to church. Sometimes we forget.

He is very smart. On his report card last week, he got lots of "E"'s (E=exceeds). His teacher wrote a note that he got 100% on his quarterly math test. He got a "2" on "Uses common sense"(The citizenship grades go from a 1-3). When he gets with other kids- boys especially, I'm not sure where his brain goes. I guess it's true: One boy, whole boy. Two boys, half boy. Three boys, no boy at all.

I am so thankful for Doe. He is a special gift in my life.