Baby Blank

What in the world is Charlie doing? Looks like he drank one too many.

Nicole was here visiting from Big Bear and I finally got my hands on baby Blake. Ella is so funny, she thought his name was "Blank." He is to die for adorable, and a total tank. He looks so much like his Daddy, and he has the sweetest disposition. He kept smiling at us and flirting like a pro. I think first babies are sweet and easy-going because it's nature's way of tricking the parents into procreating again. Even though I have a house full of baby boys, I don't have that baby boy, so I just wanted to tuck him in my pocket and keep him. Of course I LoVeD seeing Nicole and catching up with her, but I think she knows it was pretty much about the baby, and I'm sure she's fine with that. We were laughing that once you have kids, you become just a blur in the background. Whenever I'm running errands I get stopped probably a half dozen times by people, and they rarely look at me - except to quickly say "bless your heart" or "boy, you've got your hands full!" (I've even heard "good luck" more than once). We are just the moms after all, pay no attention to the lady behind the stroller.

Nicole, it was sooo good to see you and that beautiful boy. I love and miss you and am praying we can work some magic and get Brett to move you guys here. We have pine trees too you know. XO

Jesus Take the Wheel

Ella's class had a Passover seder at school to celebrate the true meaning of Easter, and they were allowed to dress up as a bible character that day. I didn't have a lot of time to make something great, I wish I could've made her a neat Pharoah's daughter costume or something flashy like that. But I hit my sister up for some rags and thought she could be Mirium with baby Moses in a basket. I was leaning toward a costume of Moses' time because of the first Passover, but Ella really wanted to be Mary and insisted that her doll was no Moses, but Jesus. So I quickly made this little get-up for her, and wrapped her only baby doll in a little cloth diaper and called it good. She looked so cute and not only wore it all day at school, but insisted on wearing it all night at home until bath time, she was even Mary for dinner. But Todd and I couldn't stop laughing when she came speeding by us in the Hummer, the radio blaring, with baby Jesus on her lap.

Murphy's Law

We were supposed to leave for Seattle tomorrow. After 7 months of Charlie's "episodes" and no luck getting any solid answers from the pediatric neurologists in town, our pediatrician set us up to go to Children's Hospital on the coast. And apparently all we needed was to actually make an appointment, because a few weeks after it was set, he started showing some signs that things are finally improving. Murphy's Law. We are thrilled and relieved, now there's some light at the end of the tunnel! Maybe he will outgrow this after all, whatever "this" is. After all the hoops we've jumped through and years shaved off my life watching Charlie go through this, I guess getting him scheduled at Children's in Seattle, making hotel reservations, coordinating visits with friends, having my parents take time off to meet us there to watch the other kids while we are at his appointments, and having Todd take vacation time from was all we needed. I talked to the kids' doctor and let him know we postponed the appointments, he agreed it was a good idea to see if things keep improving or go away completely, but he didn't want us to cancel our trip completely. So for now it's rescheduled for June, and we'll probably head over there regardless since we have some friends and fam we really want to see. It would be a fun little get away for the babies' 1st birthday. And what a great gift it would be if that marked the end of this whole ordeal for our little guy.

Go Gonzaga, G-O-N-Z-A-G-A!

And no, Charlie isn't wearing a hairpiece, that's his real hair.

Dawson's Ditties

There's a song by Barlow Girl called "You're Enough" but Ella always sings "You're a Nut" (go figure). So when the song came on in the car Dawson said, "can I listen to this song cuz it has nuts in it and I'm allergic to peanuts?"

I was tucking Dawson into bed and along with our snuggle time, we usually talk a little bit. I was rubbing his hair and he was really quiet, so I thought he'd fallen asleep. I started to get up and he asked sofly in the sweetest voice "Mom, what does beautiful mean?" I said "it usually means that something is pretty, but sometimes it means that something is amazing or wonderful." He said "like Dad's weed eater?!....and screwdrivers?! They're beautiful!"

Sometimes I ask Dawson the names of body parts that are a little more "advanced" shall we say, just for fun - clavicle, cervical spine, femur....so we were playing this game and he pointed to my chin and said "and that's the part where whiskers live." I hope he isn't referring to my chin in particular.

Four kids and finally....

...someone's first word was "Mama!"

Ella's first word: Dada

Dawson's first word: Dada

Mitch's first word: Hi

Charlie's first word: MAMA!!!!!

Kiss Me, I'm Italian

Okay so maybe that isn't how the saying goes, but I want a kiss toooo. And besides, the Irish and Italians are a lot alike, they both love to eat (and drink from what I've seen), love to talk, and they love and fight passionately. I love St. Patrick's Day because I'm allowed to use my Irish accent all day, and river dance whenever I want to. When I worked at St. Al's, the teacher I worked with used to have a celtic CD that she'd play for the kids in March, and I used to just break out into a good jig when I felt like it. She'd laugh so hard she'd practically wet her pants. What's not to love about that? Amazing we're still friends after she spent 6 years in the same room with me day in and day out. So besides the jigging and the "top o' the mornin' to ya" there's also green punch, which in and of itself is worthy of a holiday. Years ago Todd and I were out to lunch with my sister and his brother (who are married) on St. Patrick's Day, and Todd said I wasn't wearing green. I told him my eyes are green, so there. And he said it doesn't count if it's a body part, you have to wear green, and then he proceeded to pinch me. We started dating 2 months after that, hmmm....Maybe a good pinch is all a girl needs.

May the road rise up to meet you
May the wind always be at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face
And rains fall soft upon your fields
And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand

Floats in the Fort!

Ella had most of the week off of school for mid-winter break (what is mid-winter break supposed to mean anyway? Spring break is in 2 weeks, and we had winter break in Jan, how many breaks does a season need?) so we were foot loose and fancy free. I made rootbeer floats and set up the fort so we could have a little treat in our special hide-out. When I brought the floats in I saw that they had gotten out the doctor kit and Woody, not sure what was about to take place but I have a feeling Woody was about to find out. Ella wanted to have a sleep-out in the fort that night, but she had a cold so I wanted her to get good sleep in her own bed. But Friday she was back to her spunky, virus-free self, so Todd made up a little bed for her under the table and got her all settled in. Now I was prepared for a battle, I figured there was no way this kid was going to fall asleep before midnight, so I gave her the lecture, with my eybrows raised and head cocked to the side, the whole nine yards - "if you get up or call out for us you'll have to go to your own bed" and "Dad and I are staying up so if you can't fall asleep you aren't going to be able to do this." Well, she surprised us and did great! I felt so bad for her though because she was in the dining room off the kitchen, and every time I got into the fridge to get a snack, or when the timer went off for the cookies, er, I mean, when I cut up apple slices and carrot sticks, I felt terrible! That is like Chinese torture! So I kept sneaking into her little tent and bringing her contraband snack items. Can't wait for warmer weather so we can have a real camp-out, bugs and all!

Paper Cuts Hurt

I'm one mad scrapper, what the heck happened to all the scrapbook stores around here?! Am I the only scrapbooker left in Spokane, the last of a dying breed? Apropos - closed, Picture Pages - closed, Huckleberry's Paper Patch - closed! Seriously, somebody help. Text me, email me, call me, comment on my blog...where's a girl supposed to replenish her paper supply, get some funky ribbon, grab a box of great brads? I have a habit to maintain, now I just need a good supplier. I'm gonna have to start meeting behind the dumpster at Michael's to trade Bazzil paper with someone. I need a hobby to keep me out of trouble so help me out before I have too much time on my hands at night, that could be bad.

Toothless Wonder

Minus 1 Minus 2

Ella lost her first tooth!! Followed 2 days later by.... another tooth! She has been chomping at the bit to lose her teeth for over a year now, and she finally got her wish. After dinner on Tuesday night I made the kids ice cream cones and when she bit into the sugar cone her tooth started bleeding and was begging to come out, so Todd got a tissue and popped that sucker out. I CAN'T STAND the thought of pulling teeth, weird since I'm a nurse and have done way grosser (is that a word?) stuff, have been in on surgeries, rotations in the ER - but nothing turns my tummy like the thought of pulling a tooth out, especially one of my babies when I know it hurts. I of course cried which I know you were expecting. I picked her up and held her and honestly all I could think about was the night we brought her home from the hospital and how we got here so quickly - 6 years in the blink of an eye. So today she was eating lunch and same thing, her other loose tooth started bleeding. She asked me to "just get it out, it hurts!" so I decided to man up and gave it a little tug, but no luck. So Ella just yanked it our herself. I always tease that Ella should have been a pioneer girl, she's tough as nails.

After she lost the first one she started chatting happily about her upcoming visit from the Tooth Fairy. Even though she knows it's just me, we have fun playing around and she saw that I had the fairy wings and wand out, well Dawson overheard us and grabbed onto my leg and asked nervously "is that fairy lady comin' into my room too?" So in the middle of the night I snuck into her room quiet as a mouse, or a fairy I guess, and tucked her favorite candy bar and a dollar bill under her pillow. Well, the stinker woke up. And she was a little disappointed that she didn't get coins, so... I was a little smarter tonight and put her next round of Tooth Fairy offerings at the table for her to see when she wakes up, including some change (little does she know that actually saved me money). So now she's missing 2 of her bottom teeth, and what she's lacking in dentin, she makes up for with cuteness.

With a body like this, who needs hair??

Broken promises

Even though I grew up in California and that conjures up visions of sun, sand and surf, we actually lived in the mountains so the climate was a lot like it is here. Mild summers, long winters, and a LOT of snow. My Dad liked to keep the thermostat at 60*, wouldn't want to waste money on something as frivolous as maintaining a normal human body temperature. So my sister and I made good use of those feetsie jammies for a good part of the year, and since I was the youngest I inherited all of Steph's hand-me-downs. Everyone knows that I hate scratchy things - tags, itchy fabric, elastic...I like to be comfy, and cheap polyester pajamas that have been washed 500 times and worn by your sister are not comfortable. And to top it off, my mom used to cut the feet off of the jammies when they got too small. So then you were wearing pilled up, scratchy jammies, and the elastic that's supposed to be around your ankles is now wrapped around your calf and pinching off what remaining blood flow you had, which wasn't much with the heater set at 60. So I promised myself that no matter how poor I was, when I grew up my kids would always have cozy jammies. So flash forward to the present and here we are, midway between winter and spring, and I have 2 babies that are growing like noxious weeds. It's silly to buy more fleece, footed pajamas this late in the season, but that's all I can find in their size. And the pjs they have don't fit any more, dressing Charlie in them is like trying to stuff a sausage back in it's casing. So....I broke my promise. I cut the feet off of Charlie's jammies. Now I tried to think through this, so I cut out just the toe area so that the heel would be intact in hopes that this would keep the elastic from riding up onto Charlie's calves, not that they have a fighting chance of making it past his chubby ankles. But it doesn't matter, I still did it, I broke my promise. I've turned into my mother, all hope is lost. Lucky for Mitch that he's 2 pounds lighter, 1 inch shorter and has smaller feet or his jammies would have met the same fate.

Answered prayer for curly hair

Dawson faked us out with this head of hair

I have a thing for curly hair. I always assumed I'd wind up with at least one curly-haired kid, curls run in the family on both sides so chances were good. My mom hates her curly hair, she thinks it's unruly and unpredictable but I love it and am secretly (not so secretly now) jealous of people with naturally curly hair. Mine is annoyingly in between - not curly, but not straight, just enough of each to make it boring. So as each baby came I waited to see... Ella has perfect hair, light blonde, thick and silky straight. No problem, we've got time and she'll be a happy girl with that hair. Next up: Dawson, he actually had a head of wavy, black hair when he was born. The nurse even commented on how curly his hair was. Score! Well that obviously didn't pan out, now it's blonde and straight. So all we had left were the twins, all hope was riding on these two. They came out the usual way, peach fuzz, no way to tell. But, it looks as if I may have finally gotten my wish! Charlie's hair is getting curlier and curlier, especially when it's wet. I can't even make the classic faux-hawk in the tub when I get him all lathered up with shampoo, it just collapses into one giant curl going down the center of his head. I tried to get some good shots of his curls so I have proof, just in case those sweet curls break my heart and leave.