Birthdays

It has been birthday mania at our house this week. Tuesday was my birthday, and Carson's was yesterday. Rachel gets the whole birthday thing happening only once a year, but Lilly just feels left out. She does not understand why it can't be her turn for a birthday now that Carson and I have had a turn. She knows hers is next, but the fact that her birthday is months away is hard for her to grasp. I think we might have to have a happy 3 1/2 year birthday party for Lilly in a couple of weeks. Carson had no idea what was going on for his birthday. He loved the cake and the presents, but I am pretty sure he doesn't know why he got all of this attention.

Carrington College does free teeth cleaning and dental checkups. Since our insurance doesn't pay for cleanings anymore, I decided to sign the girls up. Of course when you get something for free, you have to expect something to be less than perfect. In this case, the appointments last two and a half hours! The girls went yesterday, and I could not be more proud. That is a long time for a little person to sit in a chair and let someone play with their mouth. Both Rachel and Lilly did great. I spent most of the time with Lilly because it was her first time at the dentist and I thought she might be nervous. Rachel has been before, but never in a setting like this. I could see Rachel from Lilly's chair, and I could tell she was talking the hygienist's ear off. While Lilly got her x-rays, I went to check on Rachel. The conversation went "I thought you was going to stay with Lilly."  "I was, but I thought I would check with you and see how you are doing...do you want me to leave?" Rachel at this point pauses to consider her next comment, I am guessing to decide whether or not she would offend me. Finally she tells me "I want you to leave." I spent the rest of the appointment with Lilly, who was visibly bored, but other than that behaved perfectly. Rachel on the other hand was interested in everything the hygienist did, which was pretty cool considering even I was horribly bored. In the end we had no cavities, and lots of compliments on how cute the girls were and how clean their teeth were.

On my birthday , Shelby surprised me with an ultrasound to determine the sex of the baby. We are having (drum roll please) another baby girl. I am excited, even though it would have been much more convenient to have another boy. I feel bad that Carson won't have a brother, but upon expressing this Rachel corrected me. Carson does have a brother because right now Rachel is a boy. So according to her it is perfect. Her and Carson will be the brothers and Lilly and the new baby will be the sisters.

Grandma Rayl

The girls have been playing house all morning. I have been assigned the guest role of "Grandma". I would probably take this in stride if it weren't for the fact that my 30th birthday is tomorrow. Thus it has been hard on my pride to play the role of Grandma to my children.

I took the kids for a walk on Friday. Both Rachel and Lilly insisted on wearing their flip flops from last Summer. Even though it was kind of cold I let them, mostly because it did seem much easier than tracking down socks. Over the last stretch of the walk, Rachel and Lilly raced home. I should explain that when we bought Lilly her flip flops for a dollar, I did not realize I had bought two left shoes. Also, one of her flip flops keeps falling apart. These two things put her at a disadvantage while running, and about 100 yards from home she bit the dust. She scraped up her nose and lips, but also got a nice little gash on her forehead, which bled pretty good. And we all know how well Lilly handles blood. I was woefully unprepared for this injury, as I had no band aids. What's more, I thought the little gash in her head might need a stitch or two. I hummed and hawed over this for some time and then decided to clean her up and bring her to CCS so Shelby and all other adults could give me their opinion. They were no help. Most were as undecided as I was. In the end, Shelby bought some super glue and glued it up. It looks good as new, and was much cheaper than a trip to the doctor. That resourcefulness is in Shelby's genes. He gets it from his grandmas on both sides!

Carson watched Glee with me last night. I so enjoyed him as a viewing companion. He mostly sat on my lap and let me cuddle him. But every time a song came on, he slipped out of my lap and onto the floor so he could dance along. He was hilarious! I hardly watched the show during these times because Carson's dancing was so entertaining. There must be something innate in kids that age that every time they hear music they want to dance. When Rachel was that age, we were just sure she had some crazy aptitude for music since she responded so passionately to it. Three kids later, it is clear to me that music is something we are all born to love.

Carson and the Big Kid Bed

We have been trying to convert Carson to a big kid bed over the past few nights.  He falls asleep in our bed and then we transfer him to his crib . So far he has done great with it. I thought I would try it for nap time yesterday. I put him down and did not hear another word from him. About an hour later I was in the middle of patting myself on the back for being such a competent mother when I heard someone banging on a door. My first response was to tell Lilly to stop it before she wakes Carson up. But then I realized it was coming from my bedroom. I went in to find the contents of my jewelry box spread out all over the floor. I think he spent about two seconds in my bed before getting up and entertaining himself. So for now, nap time will still be in his crib.

Lilly and I have had a routine for the past couple of weeks. In the morning she gets up and climbs in bed with me so we can cuddle and talk a little before we get up for the day. I love this time, and so does she. The problem is, she has been getting up progressively earlier as the days have gone by. These days she is up quite a bit earlier than I would like to be woken up. At first I just let her climb in anyway, and made her promise to be quiet and hold still so I can sleep a little longer. But no matter how still she tries to be, she is a squirmy thing. This morning she was exceptionally early. I put my foot down and told her to go back to bed, but it broke her heart. I guess I will have to do without those extra 30 minutes of sleep. If you have ever heard Lilly's heart be broken, you will understand why I gave in.

Rachel wants to be a boy. She asked me to give her some boy name choices, and of those I gave her she chose David. The problem was, she kept forgetting her new name. Eventually she got tired of asking me to remind her, and changed her name to Andre. That must not have stuck well because yesterday she asked me if she could just be a boy called Rachel. I would be worried about this little phase if it weren't for the fact that in all other ways she is incredibly girly. Yesterday she got irritated with me because about six months ago I took her to get her hair cut and now she misses her long hair.

Runaway Kitten

I took the kids for a walk the other day around the block. We were on our way home when a little black kitten came running out of the neighbor's yard and right up to us. All three of my kids were thrilled with the kitten and the whole way home tried to convince me to let them keep it. I explained that we already have two cats, and if we got another one dad would likely leave. Rachel's solution to this was to get rid of Jackie (her cat) and keep this one instead. I also explained that the kitten most likely belonged to another family that would be sad if we kept it. This did nothing to convince them since both Rachel and Lilly completely lacked empathy for said family. The kitten followed us all the way home, and I cruelly made it stay outside while I made the girls stay inside. It spent the afternoon mewing outside our sliding glass door. My kids spent the afternoon on the other side of the door doing their own begging. They worked me over good. I knew we couldn't keep the kitten but it was really cute. I also hated telling them no when they wanted it so bad. In the end I took it back to the house where I thought it belonged. Sure enough, that little kitten had two little children who would have been heart broken at losing it. Rachel especially seemed reassured by this information. Still the next day Rachel requested that we go on a walk, and pass the house with the kitten. I am sure this was in hopes of having the kitten follow us again.

Saturday was a beautiful, oddly warm day, and we all spent the afternoon outside doing yard work. While we were working Rachel asked me what would happen if you bought too much food. I was only half listening when I answered "some of the food would go bad." Rachel thought for a minute and asked "you mean like monsters and bad guys?"

Aunt Merry calls Lilly "Lilly-Pants". We call her "Lilly bug". Whenever someone asks Lilly her name she says "Lillian Katelyn (she pronounces Katin) Rayl Bug, and Merry calls me Lilly-Pants." Never mind most of these people do not have a clue who Merry is.

Baby on the Brain

Rachel has been asking me these wonderfully insightful questions that are sometimes challenging to answer. Among them are the following: "What will happen when there are no more babies to be born?" "Did someone paint the sky?" And the most challenging, "Why did Heavenly Father put bad guys on the Earth?" She has a unique perspective on her world, and I love to hear what she is thinking. Rachel has also found herself a new imaginary friend. A sister actually, named Emily. Emily showed up right after I suggested to Rachel the new baby we are going to have might be a brother, not a sister. Rachel must be old enough to understand that other people might think having imaginary friends is crazy. Every time she mentions Emily she holds her hands out to me and quickly says "she's just pretend."

All three of my children are affectionate, but Lilly takes the cake. She has always been good for a cuddle. I did not think it possible but lately she has become even more affectionate. I am constantly being bombarded with hugs and kisses, and requests to be cuddled. The cause of this increase in affection must be one of two things. We have really been working with her on giving up her thumb-sucking, and she may be looking for other ways to be soothed. The other possibility is that she is subconsciously worried about a new baby coming into her world. I love a cuddle, but this new need of hers is time consuming! I just continue to remind myself that someday she will not want to cuddle with me at all, and am trying to take advantage of her affection while I can.

So, my suspicion is confirmed. Carson can talk. He pointed to my sunglasses while I was buckling him in his seat belt and said "eye!" I tried to get him to say it again, but all he would do is smile and say "uh!" I have also heard him count to three, fairly clearly, and today he vaguely repeated a sentence I was saying to nobody in particular. What Carson does not do is speak on demand. To him it is a game, and he is always the winner.

We had a mega birthday party at our house on Sunday. It was in celebration of Carson, Ella, Brady, and Ian. What a zoo! We have had parties this size at our house before, but they have never seemed so crazy. The kids were insane! Usually in events like these, we do potluck. This time pretty much everyone showed up with dessert. We had cake, cupcakes, cinnamon rolls, and three different kinds of cookies. Still, everyone ate and was full, so I call that a success. Rachel and Lilly lived their lives last week in anticipation of this party, and they were not disappointed. Rachel does well as queen of the house when we have guests here. She does her duty to show people the ropes, and make sure everyone does what they are supposed to do. Lilly is the hospitality expert. She sees to it that everyone is happy. Papa was playing with all the kids, and Ella was happily observing. Lilly approached Nonna and said "You have to take care of Ella. Papa is not playing with her." Carson's role in all of this is to ensure he is wherever the party is, and spends most of the time chasing the big kids down.

The Celebrity

In our world, my house is LA, I am Angelina Jolie, and my kids are like paparazzi, minus the cameras. Everything I do is news. this morning while I was brushing my teeth I looked in the mirror to see 3 little faces staring  back at me, like it was the most interesting thing they had ever seen. They think wherever I am is where the entertainment is. The other day I went into the bathroom only to have Lilly follow me because, and I quote "I want to watch you pee." I have had to go to locking the door when I use the bathroom, and hiding while I eat my lunch. I really have to watch what I say and do, because it is bound to be repeated to any number of people. The only major difference between my kids and the paparazzi is that my kids are well taken care of by the celebrity they follow around. How many  paparazzi do you know who are served 3 square meals a day plus snacks by their celebrities?

We have a new no talking rule while I am on the phone. The girls are no longer allowed to cry, ask me questions, or play near me if I am talking to someone. This all came about because of a conversation I had with the customer service representative from Intermountain Gas. In the beginning of our conversation Rachel was yelling impatiently for me, which was distracting and annoying. Whatever her need was, she wanted me to come to her. Finally I held the phone away from my ear and yelled back "I'm on the phone!" The lady on the other end muttered a "whoa!" She asked for a confirmation number which was upstairs. I went up to the computer room where the kids were just in time to see Rachel and Carson fall off the desk chair. Both started crying, and I could not hear a word the lady was saying, so what did I do? I ran away. As I have already said these children follow me everywhere, so they were hot on my heels. I am not sure why, but at this point Lilly had also started to cry. I ran back to the computer room and locked the door. All three children were banging on the door crying, and the customer service lady was asking some inane question that had nothing to do with the reason I called. It was a question I did not have the answer to off the top of my head so I finally told her that I could not deal with this right now and we would have to do it later. Then she hung up on me. I don't think she has kids.  In the end I was stressed, and the kids were beside themselves. Hence the new rule. Despite all of this lack of patience on my side, they are still my number one fans.

Carson usually is my alarm clock in the mornings. I can hear him talking, which lets me know it is time to think about getting up. I have had to be a little quicker lately once I hear him talking or I am bound to come in and find him naked. He must get bored waiting for me, and with nothing else to do, he takes his clothes off. Not a big deal unless he hasn't had his morning pee before he takes everything off. I haven't woken up to poop yet.