Nanny 911

I apologize to all my MBASA friends who've already heard some of these woes, but for the rest of you, here we go:

So, while Sophie is definitely doing better than she was, she is still NOT a great sleeper. And it seems to be getting worse. For the last week or so, my nights have been a neverending blur of wakings, fussings, and feedings. I'm not exaggerating. LAST night for instance.

7 PM she goes down. 8 PM she's up again. I feed her thinking it will help her to finally stay asleep, but it doesn't. She goes back to sleep by 8:30, but is up again in an hour. Scott takes over holding her as I'm too tired to deal with her. He puts her back down a little after 10 and I try to go to bed as quickly after as that as possible. 12:30 to 2:30 is a blur to me of feeding her and trying to put her back down while she is fussing to be held. I think by 2 I just pulled her in bed with me thinking that would get her to sleep. Meanwhile Scott has been sleeping on our newly aquired hide-a-bed couch in the living room so that he can attempt to get a decent night's sleep. Around 3 or 4 she woke up again and I fed her again and finally managed to get her to stay asleep in the carseat -- which she's still sleeping in because she won't stay asleep in her bassinet. Up for the final time at 6, I fed her and she went right back to sleep in the carseat. Unfortunately, I couldn't even go back to sleep for very long because Scott left around 6:30 to walk to the bus stop (so yes that's how we've solved the getting to work problem) and Grace came traipsing into my room by 7 wanting breakfast. And so my day began.

I'm kind of at the breaking point. There's only so much patience you can have with 3 children under the age of 4 when you haven't slept in a week -- okay let's be honest, I haven't SLEPT in over 3 months.

Especially because of this added stress: (Dun-dun-dun)


I guess that was a bit of foreshadowing in the last post when I was worrying about the neighbor's hating us. Apparently they really do.

We got back from the zoo on Saturday to find this note tacked to our door (I think if you click on the picture it will magnify it and you can read what it says). I don't really know what else to do to keep the kids quiet. This is going to be a LONG summer.

Enter Amy 911. My youngest sister Amy is flying into town as we speak! With her here to help me out for the next month, I think I can do this. When the kids get too loud, I can send them outside with Amy to run off their energy. When the baby just needs to be held, Amy can take over while I sneak in a nap. When I need to go and pick up Scott at the bus stop in the evening, I can just leave the kids with Amy to avoid the whole hassle of loading up the whole gang. I'm beyond excited. Especially because Amy's one of the most entertaining people I know.

Alright, alright time for some pictures. I know I'm a little biased, but look how cute this little girl is. Her poor little skin. In the second picture you can see how we've had to resort to putting socks on her hands to keep her from scratching herself to pieces.



Anecdotal Notes:

Today at the library Ethan shooed a little girl about Grace's age away from him. Seriously, I'm laughing out loud as I type that because he literally said "shoo, shoo!" to her like she was some dog or cat that was making him nervous.

Over the past couple of weeks that we've been here and been introducing ourselves to new people, Grace has alternated between introducing herself as Peter Pan or Wish Bear (as in the Care Bear). She will get upset with ME even, when I call her Grace and not one of these names.

Grace also tried to eat a blue crayon at nap time the other day. I would have thought that she'd be over the phase of putting everything in her mouth by now.

Ethan popped his air mattress on Monday night with the flag he got at our ward Memorial Day picnic. All we had was scotch tape, which didn't exactly hold the air in. I thought packing tape would do a better job, so I bought some at Target yesterday, but I just went in to check on him and its already mostly deflated. That can't be comfortable. Especially since there are no sheets or blankets on it because they're still sitting in the washer waiting to be dried. Let's just say that we've had a recurring problem with wetting the bed and it took 3 weeks before I realized it would be easier on ME to just buy him some Pull-Ups for bedtime.

Alright, I'm out of stuff to write about. And I'm hungry. So, goodnight!

Sophie was the easy one???

Wow, where to begin? I guess I can start with the title. Yes, ladies and gentleman, Sophie our "fussy" one is fussy no more! On last Monday before we moved I took her to a dermatologist for her skin. I sooooooo wish I would have done this sooner. Her eczema was just so bad and the doctor said she was probably just dying itching. So, after being told that we COULD use a steroid cream on her for short term use, along with lots of moisturizing with Aquafor, and a switch to Aquanil for bath time, we have a VERY different little baby on our hands. The effect of the steroid cream was pretty much immediate. We saw a drastic improvement just in the first day or two of use. Now she's a happy baby who squeals and coos and smiles when she's awake and sees us. Talk about relief! I just wish I would have thought to take her in sooner.

So, with Sophie doing better and the help of our "supernannies" -- Laura and Sarah -- Scott and I were able to get stuff packed up and ready to go for our move.

Thursday was a beautiful day and Ethan and Grace were soooooo excited. However, nobody was expecting this trip to go off without a hitch, and we hit our very first one when we got to the airport. Before leaving, I bought a Duoglider (double stroller) from a friend to make it easier to transport Sophie (her carseat can just click right in) and Grace (who is our notorious run-away). Well, I had never used it yet and I couldn't figure out how to open it up. I knew there was a latch somewhere that needed to be released, but I couldn't find it. So, picture a scene where Sophie is crying in the car and Ethan and Grace are running all over the place and Scott is trying to get all our luggage checked in by the skycap outside and there you have me trying in vain to open up the stroller! It was at this point that I realized we might be embarking upon a nightmare.

(Here's a shot of that unopened stroller)

I finally found the latch, and got the kids loaded up in the midst of Ethan throwing a fit because he wanted to ride in the stroller and Scott running to get one of those cart things to load up all our car seats (because they don't check those on) and various carry-on bags that we needed to take with us because we had already checked our limit of luggage.

Getting through security wasn't too bad and we eventually got to our gate. However, we have this tradition where anytime we fly out of the Salt Lake airport we always buy a book from this one bookstore, and we hadn't done that yet. I'm insane or something because I decided that I HAD to go back to the bookstore to get something for the flight, which looking back on it I really don't know what I was thinking because its not like I was going to have any time on the flight to actually read it. I could tell Scott was kind of nervous about it because our flight was scheduled to leave in about 40 minutes and pushing the stroller with Ethan and Grace in it would take at least 7 or 8 minutes each way leaving not much time to browse around finding a book. So, fast forward about 25 minutes later, and the next scene you can envision is one of me running through the airport pushing a double stroller and inwardly freaking out that I'm holding up the whole plane. When I got to the gate Scott was literally one of the only people left there holding Sophie and with a look on his face that told me he was freaking out the same as I was.

(Here are the kids pre-bookstore jaunt)

(Also pre-bookstore jaunt)

So, we got on the plane and the nightmare continued when for some reason I totally was having these panic attacks all during take-off. Seriously, I don't know what was wrong with me. I don't usually get super nervous about flying, but I was freaking out. The funny thing was that Grace wanted to hold MY hand and the whole time I was clutching hers with a death grip!



And now for the next scene to picture. Sophie was a super champ and had fallen asleep in Scott's arms almost immediately (and slept the whole time!) and I was in the row behind with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Grace was going on day 2 without a nap and Ethan was so excited he was literally bouncing up and down in his seat. He kept saying over and over again "This is SO. MUCH. FUN!" I'm glad it was fun for him, because for the next 3 1/2 hours I had to deal with them fighting over the toys I had bought for the plane and listening to Grace whine and cry that she wanted to get up and sit with dad and still feeling slightly weakened from my sprint through the airport followed by my panic attacks at the beginning of the plane ride. The whole time I just kept telling myself that at least this was a shorter nightmare than driving would have been.

Getting the rental car when we got to Cincinnati was also an ordeal -- although we were able to fit all our luggage in the minivan thanks to the "stow -n-go" in the back. That was a minor miracle because we were expecting to have to get a cab in addition to the rental car in order to get all over our suitcases to the hotel that night. By the time we GOT to the hotel it was already almost 9 and the kids had had a long day. But of course, my children cannot sleep in hotel rooms when we're all together, and it was past midnight before they finally fell asleep.

On the way to the rental car

The next day we were able to move right in to our (unfurnished) apartment and the festivities continued to follow us. Starting with a trip to Wal-Mart. I'm sad to say that I became one of THOSE parents you see losing it with their children while shopping. None of us were going on much sleep here, and we were trying to get way too much stuff at once, but what else could we do? We attempted to furnish and stock the apartment as cheaply as possible, although cheap is a relative term considering -- t0 date -- we've made FOUR trips to Wal-Mart, 2 trips to Goodwill and have managed to fork out over 600 bucks on STUFF.

A shot of the city as we were driving over the bridge

We're all sleeping on air mattresses (which is KILLING my back, so as soon as possible I plan on finding a used queen sized mattress for us to buy). And the only "real" furniture we have is a kitchen table, a TV stand, a DVD player and a television (and an un-usable TiVo box which we dragged with us but which we will most likely not be able to use because of needing to spend even MORE money to get all the wires to make it work here).

I've already had a visit on Monday from our downstairs neighbor who wanted to know if we will be home all day every day. Apparently she works from home and my children are "extremely loud starting from very early in the morning." She looked visibly relieved when I told her we'd only be here for the summer. In her defense, the kids had been spiraling OUT OF CONTROL that whole morning due to sleep deprivation. The irony was that by the time she came up to talk to me it was nap time and all three kids had fallen asleep and it was actually blissfully quiet. I met our upstairs neighbor yesterday, and she negates the downstairs one because she is so nice and friendly. She also works from home, but in contrast to the downstairs one she has offered her help for whenever I might need it.

And now for the reason why I'm able to blog away during the middle of the day -- for the third day in a row, the kids are all asleep at nap time:




(I've finally given up on trying to get Sophie to sleep in the pack n' play -- she just doesn't stay asleep in it -- and we've reverted to having her sleep in her carseat. I'm just hoping she doesn't develop a flattened head and need to wear one of those helmet things to correct the shape.)


Despite all the headache of moving with 3 young kids, we actually really love the area we're in. Our ward on Sunday was awesome and we've already gone over to some new friends' house to play and been invited to go with a play group to the zoo. Our aparment complex has a pool -- which is AWESOME as a bribe/threat with Ethan -- and there is also a little playground which, while dinky, is something to do during the day. So, really I shouldn't complain.

Our only dilemma now is trying to figure out how to get Scott to work everyday. The nearest bus stop is a lot farther away than we were led to believe and in order to get there in the morning we'll most likely have to drive him since it takes about 25 minutes to walk to, and he's going to need to catch the 7:10 bus in order to get to work on time. While this might not seem like that big a deal because its not all THAT early, it is a big deal when I'm still not getting a full night's sleep because of a nursing baby. Today he just took the car, which is fine, but it costs money to park the car downtown and there will be days where I will not want to be stranded at home all day long. I'm hoping before long that the baby will be sleeping for longer stretches at night, and then it shouldn't be a big deal to take him to the bus stop every day.

Random side-notes:

I bought Peter Pan for the trip and Grace really likes it. However, when I asked her if she wanted to be Tinkerbell for Halloween she said "No! I want to be Peter Pan!" Ethan wants to be Daisy Duck.

Also, I'm currently addicted to Pop-Tarts. Frosted cherry ones to be exact. Grace is now officially addicted to Otter pops. We bought our first box of the season yesterday.

Grace has way too much attitude for a 2 year old. I feel like I'm dealing with a teenager already.

And I know this is really lame, but I don't know how I'm going to live without TiVo for the summer. How am I supposed to watch episodes of "So You Think You Can Dance" over and over again? Or any other show for that matter? iTunes only has so many shows for sale. *sigh*

Okay, that about sums everything up. I know this is long, but its been a long past week. I hear Grace waking up, so I guess my peace and quiet is over for the day.

Ta-ta for now!

A Baby and a Blessing

Two posts in one week! Well, here are the promised baby blessing pictures. We decided to do them before church -- since it starts at 11 -- and before the kids were a complete mess. Here is the result:






As you can see, Sophie had had enough by the end of our photo shoot. I don't think we'll have to worry about her wanting to be America's Next Top Model. In the end it was a good thing that we took pictures when we did, because once we got to church, I realized that she had been scratching at her legs, and blood had gotten on her dress. It wasn't tooooo bad, and luckily I had my Tide on-the-go pen in the diaper bag, so I think I was able to prevent a permanent stain!

The blessing was really sweet and it helped me to re-realize what a sweet little spirit Sophie has. If we can just get through one more month, I really think her colicky days will be over!

Well, I think I may have been overdoing things lately (you think?) and I think its getting me sick. When I woke up this morning I wasn't feeling great, but I figured once I was up and about I'd be fine. Right before church I was feeling a little achy, and by the time sacrament meeting rolled around I did NOT feel good at all. BUT, the kids were actually doing okay -- thanks to a little extra help from Sarah and Laura -- and I didn't want to be the reason we left church early this week! So, I sucked it up and made it through the meeting. I took some Ibuprofen once I got home and then crashed for about an hour and a half. I feel a LITTLE better now, but still not great, and I'm thinking it might be mastitis. So that would be REALLY great timing with our move this week.

Anyway, I won't bore you with anymore of the mundane details of my life, so I'll leave you with a few charming anecdotes about my children.

Ethan has phased out of calling people sickawucka. While this is nice, he wouldn't be my little Ethan if he didn't have a ready replacement. And so he's coined the term "supermuppet." What? What does that even mean? Seriously, I would love to know what goes on his head. Now, all day long I hear him calling Grace a supermuppet and then I hear Grace fussing and getting mad. (Although the really sad thing is that I actually find this word really catchy and I've called one -- or all -- of the kids a supermuppet at one time or another since he's made it up).

Overheard from Ethan the other day:

"Mom, when I'm a girl can I go to the baby shower with you?"

And finally, should I be a little concerned that my children are learning more from watching television than they are from me these days? When I was driving to pick up my sister a little while ago, I called her on my cell phone to let her know I was on my way, and I hear Ethan inform me in the back seat that Lou and Lou Safety Patrol says you're not supposed to talk on phones while you're driving. Oh, from the mouths of babes.

Okay, that's all folks. I'm feeling steadily worse here, and I need to go lay down. Next time I blog I will most likely be in our new apartment!

Five Years and Counting

Wow, what a week! There's so much to catch up on, that I'll probably just do a quick recap of my crazy life.

Here is a brief chronologue:

A couple of weekends ago -- Scott's macbook totally crashed and he lost everything on the hard drive right at the end of the semester when all kinds of papers and final projects were due. Scott managed to get everything done and keep his sanity all at the same time.

LAST Friday -- Emily and Jeremy come in town for a brief visit.

Saturday -- me, Emily, and Laura all went wedding dress shopping with Sarah to help her find the perfect one. I'm so mad because I brought my camera with me to take pictures, but when we got to the first shop I realized the batteries were dead! Emily had her camera, though, so you can check out her blog to see some of the pics.

Sunday -- Having 3 children ages 3 and under is proving to be very difficult to handle during church. Especially since we have sacrament meeting last and its right during Grace's naptime. Somebody forgot to pack snacks for the kids, and the end result was leaving church.

Monday -- Scott had to study for finals, but luckily Emily was still around to help keep me from going crazy at home with the kiddies. She was so great with all the kids. Especially Sophie, who is proving to be a VERY fussy baby. We're hoping she grows out of it soon.

Wednesday -- Emily had to go home and since Scott was done with finals (yay!) we decided to make a day out of bringing Emily to the airport, and we stayed in Salt Lake and took the kids around Temple Square which they LOVED. Pretty much as long as there's water anywhere, Ethan is in heaven.

(Scott was quite the photographer up there)

Grace insisted on wearing the back pack the whole time.

(Ethan enjoying the water)

The only bad part was the drive home from SLC due to Sophie screaming the whole entire time because she wanted to be held. Can I just say I'm glad we're flying out for Scott's internship and not driving?

After getting home, I had to scramble to get ready for the MBASA book club which I was hosting because I suggested the book (The Kite Runner).

Thursday -- Sarah graduated! Her future in-laws came in town for her graduation and since Scott's parents were out of town, and we had all this extra room, we offered to let them stay at our place along with my dad who came in town as well. In honor of Sarah, I decided to try and be the Barefoot Contessa and host a little graduation luncheon on Friday for her. So, Thursday was a mad dash to clean up the house as well as go grocery shopping to buy all the stuff for the lunch. While I was at Wal-Mart, I got a call from Scott telling me the following had happened:



Apparently Ethan and Grace were playing (?) and snapping around a blanket and Ethan whipped her with it and somehow it gave her a black eye. Yes, Grace is the poster child these days for parental neglect.

Friday -- I managed to get everything ready for the luncheon with a little help from Ethan. He actually loves to help cook. For those of you who are wondering, the food was fab and here is the menu:

Croissants with chicken salad (my great aunt louise's recipe)
Red grapes
Sarah salad (from the Lion House cookbook)
Frappe
Strawberry Shortcake
and a chocolate sheet cake



Saturday -- Shout out to my sister Amy and my old roommate Heidi for their birthday! As many of you know, neither Scott nor I are good at holding in surprises. So, even though it was 2 days before our actual anniversary, we ended up exchanging our presents anyway. Scott got me a brand new glider/rocking chair which is AWESOME due to the aforementioned fussiness of our little smoochy pie. I got Scott a new driver (golf club) because his has been broken for a while now thanks to my brother Freddie.

Sunday -- Andrew's parents were planning on leaving super early on Sunday morning, so you can imagine my surprise (as I'm still sleeping on the couch next to the swing) when I hear his dad coming down the stairs at 10 till 6 calling Scott's name. Well, they had taken Andrew's truck to our place on Saturday night and were planning on picking him up on the way to the airport so he could drop them off. HOWEVER, when they were loading stuff up that morning, they realized someone had smashed in the driver's side window with a baseball bat or something, and they needed to get to the airport or they were going to miss their flight. So, Scott let them take our car and he waited for the police to get there to fill out a report.



As a side note, this Sunday was no better than the last with church, and I ended up leaving early with the kids once again.

Here's a really funny shot of Sophie.

Monday -- Happy Anniversary to us! (Here's where the five years and counting comes from). We decided to make it a full day celebration. My 2 sisters were kind enough to babysit for us. We ate at Macaroni Grill for lunch:

And then ran a bunch of errands sans children which is always fabulous. And then that night we went to eat at Benihana, which is one of our favorite restaurants:

Here I am with my delicious mango colada

And here we are to Tuesday -- I'm tired. Its officially crunch time to get ready to leave for our internship. We fly out on the 10th, and I feel like there's a million things to get done before we leave. I've already made out my To Do lists, and we actually accomplished quite a few things today. Perhaps one of the most important was taking care of Grace's "haircut" from Ethan.

I took her to the mall tonight to get her fixed. She was VERY excited. Here she is outside the hair salon:

Before

During

And after

Ta da. Is it the best haircut ever? No, but this is about as good as its gonna get with a squirming 2 year old and not a lot of hair to work with thanks to Ethan's barbering. The idea of the cut is a very stacked A-line.

Well, thats all folks. We're blessing the baby on Sunday, so hopefully I'll be able to get some pictures then, and even more hopefully we'll actually make it through all of sacrament meeting this time. Ciao.