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.

Jophes Smith

Rachel made two loud announcements to us during sacrament meeting on Sunday. The first was that she found cereal on the floor and ate it. The second was that she knows who Jophes is, "it's Jophes, it's Jophes, it's Jophes Smith!" Both of these announcements were made loud enough for at least our half of the chapel to hear. A few days ago, Rachel asked me if it would be OK for her to choose a husband when she is 10. I told her I thought that was pretty early, but she assures me she won't marry him at 10, just pick him out. "somebody I haven't met yet."

The kids have all been very into my growing abdomen. They know there is a baby in there and are constantly asking me questions about it. This morning I was cuddling with Lilly and she kissed my arm and said "mom, your arm looks like there is a baby in it!" I have chosen to take this as a compliment about my well developed guns.

Carson is still not talking a ton, but he has added a couple of words. He finally says "bye" and sometimes "stinky". My favorite new thing he says is "yay!" He says it all the time, anytime he gets to do anything remotely fun. And he says it with such enthusiasm. I asked him if he wanted to go outside with his dad and he started jumping up and down and said "yah! Yay! Yay! Yay!"

We have been spending most of our time at home over the past few weeks. We leave the house for karate twice a week and that is about it. Mostly we have all been enjoying this, and my house has never been cleaner. Really it has been nice to spend so much time with my kids without the stresses of life. They are fun little people.

Lilly's Weak Tummy

It all started a couple of weeks ago, when Lilly cut her finger with Shelby's razor. We all know a razor cut does not really hurt, but it does bleed like crazy. Lilly was beside herself, and knowing it did not really hurt, I just shrugged my shoulders and said "you shouldn't have played with Daddy's razor." Shelby took to the task of bandaging her finger up. After a couple of minutes of trying to get her to calm down by offering her sips of water, she suddenly said "I don't feel good, I have to sit down." Shelby's response was "you're fine, just hold still." Then it happened. She threw up everywhere. What we learned from this is Lilly does not do well with blood. What she learned is, if she cries hysterically and does not immediately get a glass of water, she will throw up. And she does. This has happened on several occasions since. If Rachel pushes her down, if I get after her for something, if she gets her feelings hurt, chances are about 1 in 5 that she will toss her little cookies. It starts with the crying, which escalates pretty quickly followed by a request for some water, which if she does not get, she pukes. It is all in her head, but how do you explain that to a three-year-old?

I hate to make today's entry all about Lilly, but I have other news. She is really into negotiating lately when it comes to time. And usually she negotiates in my favor. A perfect example would be "How long do I have to sit in time-out?" My response: "about 5 minutes." Then her insistence "no, 30 minutes!" I don't think she quite gets the concept of time yet.

Rachel is a phenomenally good big sister. She is concerned about the welfare of her siblings almost to a fault. Especially when we are somewhere other than home. At home she vacillates between great big sister and great big tease. Yesterday she was giving Carson piggy back rides around the living room. It was so delightful to listen to him laugh so hard, and to see Rachel be so pleased with herself. When her and Lilly watch movies together, Lilly is very easily frightened. She always buries her head in Rachel's shoulder and Rachel puts her arm around her and says "it's OK, Lilly." This all pleases me to no end.

So I played tag with Rachel for the first time ever I am sure. It is the first time I have played tag period in about 10 years. I could not stop laughing. We had so much fun. Lilly joined us as well. I will tell you this, I tuckered out pretty quick. No wonder little kids burn up so much energy.

I Like Bad Stuff!

Rachel keeps asking me to tell her stories about when I was a kid. I do my best to find the most entertaining stories, and to tell them with as much enthusiasm as possible. The last couple of days she has had a specific request. She wants me to tell her all the stories about bad things I did as a kid. There are plenty of stories to tell, but I am worried about giving her any ideas. I asked her yesterday why she wants to hear about all the bad things I did as a child and she said "I like bad stuff." I have a feeling we are going to have to watch that girl.

Poor Lilly is such a middle child. Sometimes it seems like her identity gets lost in the crowd of three children. Carson is a little kid, Rachel is a big kid, but what is Lilly? When Rachel is allowed to do something Lilly isn't, or if Rachel is better than her at something, she tells me "I don't want to be a little kid anymore!" Later in the day, when something is required of her, such as to clean up a mess or take her thumb out of her mouth, she declares "I don't want to be a big kid anymore!" another middle child trait, she absolutely does not want to make anyone feel bad. Yesterday we asked her who her best friend in her primary class is and she proceeded to list every kid in the class. We get the same response if we ask "who do you like better, mom or dad?" Rachel would not hesitate to choose one, depending on who had recently been the nicest to her. Lilly cannot bring herself to choose, and always says "I like mom and dad!"

The game is on with stubborn Carson. I know he can talk, he just won't! On Saturday he wanted me to pick him up and I wouldn't until he said "up". I figure this is a nice easy word to start with. The little stinker would not say it! So I didn't pick him up. Instead of fighting with me about it, he shrugged his shoulders and ran off to find some other form of entertainment. He wanted to get up on the counter today so I tried again. "say up." Carson nods his head as if to say "yes up is what I want," I shake my head and repeat myself "say up!" He signs the word "please." I shake my head and repeat myself again. This time he shakes his head no as if to say "I'm not doing that." After about 10 minutes of trying to get me to pick him up, he finally said it! I made a big deal out of it and he seemed pretty pleased.  I won the battle. I will let you know how the war turns out.

Rachel asked me to tell her a story about when I was a kid. I told her that when I was her age my favorite dinner that my mom would make was pizza with pineapple and sausage. This is a meal she made frequently, but has not made in years. Rachel said she wanted to call her and ask her to make it for her. My mom was a great sport about it and invited us over last night for pizza. Rachel liked it fine, Lilly was too preoccupied with her cousins to bother with eating, and Carson ate a whole bag of Captain Crunch during church, so he was not interested. The rest of us however scarfed it down. I enjoyed it just as much last night as I did when I was 6.

January 11th, 2011

Yesterday Rachel told me what "heal" means. "Heal is when you put mud on your eyes and then you go in the water and you wash then you can see really good." At first I was a little confused at what she was getting at but by the end I understood. In primary she learned about Jesus healing the blind man.

Lilly has gotten into the habit of telling me no when I ask her to do something. She must not really think through it before she says it. I always say "excuse me?" She gets a panicked look in her eyes and quickly says "no, no, no, I said 'yes sir!'" I don't know which is worse, her telling me "no" or thinking I am a "sir". Sometimes she makes some other excuse up, like "No, I was saying no to the table!"

Carson keeps bringing me things. Usually it is something I not only do not need, but really do not want. For example, garbage, or items of clothing he has pulled out of my dresser. Sometimes he will bring me some trivial thing such as a color crayon while he is holding in his other hand something I need (or need him not to have) like my cell phone or a bottle of Tylenol he has found in my purse. He is insistent that I take what he offers, and only what he offers. If I say "no thank you" or "I don't want it, put it away" he becomes extremely persistent and agitated. If I try and take the thing he does not offer, he usually tries to run away. The easiest thing is to take what he offers and enthusiastically say "Thank you Carson! This is just what I needed!" The problem with this is that it is encouraging and he usually scampers off to find some other meaningless gift to give me. 

I watched the girls do karate for a little while yesterday, and I noticed something for the first time. The two of them stick together like glue. They were playing tag at the end, and anytime they would get separated, Rachel would yell across the room "Lilly, over here!" and Lilly would come running to her. This seems to be mostly Rachel's initiative. I think she is trying to look out for her little sister. Even though the two of them can really get into it at home, it is nice to see that they are so concerned for one another when they are out in the world.

January 3rd, 2010

Carson had croup last week. He was absolutely painful to listen to with his horrible cough. I have no idea how he got enough oxygen for a couple of days, he was so congested. He seems almost over it now, but both Rachel and Lilly came down with it almost simultaneously Friday night. Lilly woke up early Saturday morning sounding like death. I gave her some children's Tylenol and rubbed her down with Vic's and put her back to bed. Miraculously later that morning she seemed almost back to normal. Saturday night she came down with stomach flu and by Sunday morning the croup was back in full force. After one bout of throw up she asked me in a concerned voice "is it I have a baby in my tomach?" Both Lilly and Rachel almost completely lost their voices, which made communicating with them very amusing. Rachel sounded like a little mouse. This morning both of them are still a little croupy, but better. Rachel has now come down with the stomach flu as well. Lilly still isn't keeping any food or water down either. At least Rachel is old enough to make it to the toilet. Lilly is still at that age where she doesn't want to admit she is going to throw up so she just stays put and pukes wherever she is at the time. My kids have been blessed with amazing immune systems, so they are rarely sick. That is why all of this simultaneous coughing and throwing up is a little shocking to us. Like me, they are so rarely sick that when they are, they think they are going to die.

Since Lilly has not been able to make it to the bathroom, I gave her a bowl and told her it was her new best friend, and to carry it with her everywhere. A few minutes later she started crying because Carson was "trying to take my best friend away!" In my optimistic nature, I am planning on the three of them being completely better by morning.