Miriam-ese

I've been wanting to do this forever, so of course now I won't remember all the words I wanted to remember.  But here is a little Miriam dictionary.

Dise- Simon
Baps- bath
Cots- Scott
Nacks- Snack
Gocks- Sock  (Are you seeing the pattern?)
Gaca- Baca
beh-beh- baby
Yai- Eli
Dosh- a mix of Dog and Misha
Dabba Dabba- Yo Gabba Gabba (I know she's technically not old enough for t.v. but this girl has active ingredients and I just need a few minutes of peace sometimes. This is the first cartoon she has actually sat down and watched, and now she loves it.  Nothing ever held her interest before.  I've got to say, I love it too for the reasons aforementioned, despite its initial creepiness.)

She also says, of her own accord, Mom, Daddy, milk, go, juice, shoes, hi, bye, house, and more I'm sure.  She is also getting pretty good at saying words back to us, parrot style.       

Her new favorite activity is feeding "Dosh".  Of course now that she wants to do this the boys are fighting over whose turn it is. 

She also says "NO!" really well.  She still has no name for Cameron that we have identified.  I hope it isn't some expression of her subconscious feelings about him.  Hopefully it's just a hard name to say.

little Simon

Si, Si our little fry.  He was seven months yesterday.  He had/is having a major growth spurt.  He practically skipped the 3-6 month clothing category.  I finally cut his hair, the comb-over was cute but his little 'do needed a fresh start.  His new hair growing in needed a chance to catch-up.  It still has a reddish hue, but it's not the same.  This is very sad to me. 

He's rolling all over the place and loves attention from anyone.  Now that he is getting a little more interactive his siblings are getting a little more involved.  I'm trying to keep Miriam from feeding him things that might cause him to stop breathing and prevent her from sitting/stepping/pulling on him.  He has his first appointment with an allergist today, and I'm hoping the Dr. will tell me I can relax a little.  We'll see. 

 I watched the pilot episode of Wonder Years on Netflix (awesome! right?) and there was a line where Kevin said  "This is my friend Paul.  He's allergic to practically everything."  That's our little Simon.  All he needs is some glasses. 

Flag Football

I entered the world of organized sports very reluctantly. I knew that it would forever change my life and it wasn't a change I eagerly anticipated. But it seems that sports and extracurricular activities are part of raising a well-rounded child and Heaven knows how much we middle-classers want well-rounded children!

I'm still struggling with how to handle said activities and still eat dinner together as a family every night. But for now it's just one child, one sport and I think I handled it okay. We were lucky that Cameron's coach lives down the street and took Cameron to practices twice a week. Richard would meet him there and bring him home. I have no regrets- it was a great chance for fatherly involvement and Cameron thrived in the athletic environment. Take note that I didn't say he excelled. He played well, but he enjoyed every minute.

My only complaint was that even though the season extended into October there was only one game where the temperature was below 88 degrees. In the beginning at the games when we were all perspiring the parents joked about how by the end of the season we'd be in our coats and beanies. Not so. Not in 2011.

Cameron and his buddy Marcello- whose dad was the coach.

Parents in a day

sharing is nice

We've had my niece, Antonia visiting since we came back from Las Vegas.  She is staying with Baca (Grandma) mostly but spends some time around our house as well.  This morning the following episode took place.  I love it because, it is hilarious, and it is such a great example of one frustrating aspect of parenting.  Eli clearly understands the concept intellectually, but fails at the practical application.

Eli: Antonia! You need to share with her. (Miriam.) Remember that Baca said you have to share? Sharing is nice.  Not sharing is bad.  Sharing means give it to her, give it to yourself, give it to her, give it to yourself...  Hey! I was going to have that pig! Give it to me! It's ours!

More on motherhood

Before I had four kids I responded to emails. 

Before I had four kids I did projects and put up decorations for the holidays.

Before I had four kids I was on time to appointments.  (Haha, who am I kidding with that one?)

Before I had four kids I returned phone calls. 

Before I had four kids I kept my house clean. 

Before I had four kids I wrote regular blog posts.

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed these days.  I'm accepting a new normal with a house that is only mostly clean and hobbies that must be set aside.  In my selfish moments I resent that I don't have spare time for my personal interests.   On Sunday Richard and I watched a couple conference talks that we missed from the Saturday afternoon session.  There was a quote in Elder Anderson's talk that pierced me to the core. 

  “Motherhood... is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in. It is what God gave you time for.”

The quote is from Rachel Jankovic, a Christian blogger.  If that quote pierced me, her entire post shredded me.  She both empathized with me and inspired me.  Her thoughts articulated exactly how I feel but her gentle rebuke exposed and chastened me.  I love this woman, a stranger to me, for being a source of guidance outside my regular, often underappreciated, sources of guidance.  I'm so far from the ideal she sets forth, obviously all the things I listed above rank higher than my calling as a mother.  But she has given me courage that I'm not alone and reminded me of the value of children, even [or perhaps especially] my children. 

Antonia comes to visit

We brought my niece Antonia back with us.  Miriam is cute, yes, but it's good she wasn't old enough to get a complex from all the compliments Antonia received about being adorable.  She is.  I'm not sure why I took this picture but looking at it now I recall having no idea what to do with her hair.  With the help of friends I've made a little progress in the hair department.  Girls are so high maintenance. 

She stayed mostly with my mom but hung out with us a few days while Baca was at work.  She came in very handy pushing Simon in the swing outside.

We wanted to give the city mouse a Kuna-country experience so we took her to the pumpkin patch.  All the kids had a great time and the abnormally warm October weather was very accomodating. 

Alright- who wants to take one of my kids for a couple weeks?

travel travel TRAVEL

The first weekend in October we drove down Utah to see these two darlings get married.  Richard had been in Pocatello for work so we met up with him on Wednesday in Twin Falls.  We had planned to spend a couple days before the wedding having a family vacation of sorts.  Unfortunately a mysterious fever plagued each of the kids and kept us from pursuing the activities we had planned.  Such is life with four little germ-carriers.

It is always a pleasure to be gathered with my family.  Evan is the youngest of the children in my family, and the last to be married.  Jenessa is everything we look for when we choose our siblings partner.  Okay okay, we didn't get to choose her, but I am confident we would have, given the chance. 

After losing three of my four children in one day, as previously described, we got the heck out of Provo and headed to where the sun always shines in Las Vegas. 

The story about the picture above: The kids were watching a "scary" - not really scary at all Wallace & Grommit- movie and Eli and Thea were not interested.  A while after they left I went upstairs to make sure they weren't getting into trouble (Eli & Thea? It's laughable) and this is how I discovered them.  I needn't have worried.

We had some quality cousin time in Las Vegas, but not-so-quality pictures.  They were taken with my phone.  I forget to take my camera everywhere and think that my phone will suffice but it's just not so great. 

We drove back from Las Vegas with five children (to be explained in the following post).  Richard had long since flown off to another city so my mom accompanied me. 

For the chance to look back with not-so-fondness; during the two weeks surrounding the wedding Richard slept in five different cities.  Boise, Seattle, Pocatello, Provo and Las Vegas.  This does not include two trips to Atlanta and two trips to New Jersey in the month prior.  Whoa.  I'm out of breath just typing it. 

Kathleen

Five years ago this month I began employment at Carter Dental, where I continue to work one day a week. For the last five years, nearly every Monday I drive to work, enter through the back door and walk down the hall. Without fail as I flipped on the lightswitch in my operatory I would hear Kathleen's pleasant greeting to me. "Good morning." "Hello!"

While I was on maternity leave after Simon was born Kathleen was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and she passed away on Friday, two days before her 35th wedding anniversary. Kathleen was consistant and kind, I appreciated the reliable way I could count on her to be positive and friendly. For some people, unselfishness comes so naturally. In my last few conversations with her she still thought mostly of me, asking all the right questions about myself, work and kids. I have already missed her at work.

She had a very interesting life, you can read about here if you like.

Pierre & Monique: an exemplary couple