holey

Today was tooth-pulling day. I've been dreading it because the dentist warned me that the injection to numb the mouth in the front is very hard to handle.

I decided to not tell Tyler he was getting a shot, however, he did ask in the car on the way there. Fortunately he didn't believe me when I told him he was, so he went in pretty willingly. I did tell him this morning all about how he'll get to put his tooth under his pillow and the tooth fairy will come and bring him something.

Tyler played it all very cool until the shot came. He laid there with his "nose" on, breathing in the laughing gas and barely moving. It was kind of funny to watch him as it started to take effect. His tongue must have felt funny because he kept trying to stick it out and move it around. And then if I would lean over him he'd very gently lift his hand up and try and touch my nose.


Both the dentist and his assistant kept commenting about how impressed they were that he was sitting so still. Even with the shot, he never moved or tried to get away, though he did cry. After the shot he wanted me to hold him, while he wiped bloody drool all over my face.

Then the dentist came back in and literally yanked that tooth out. I don't know what I was expecting, but I was surprised by what a big hole it left. Then he stuck some gauze in it to stop the bleeding, sat him up and said we could go.

Tyler's been okay the rest of the day. About when the numbness started to wear off he got really cranky, so I gave him some Motrin and a nap, and then he didn't act bothered until just before bed. He kept saying his mouth hurt, and now there's something hanging out of the hole. I'm not sure if it's the gauze or skin, but I'm really hoping it's the gauze!

I think he looks cute, not goofy. Though he does look like he's up to some trouble...

And I'm really wishing I had done some more research on the tooth fairy before mentioning it because that's all Alexis has talked about. You would not believe some of the questions this girl can come up with, and I know she'll remember all of my answers, while I've already forgotten most of them. But, did you know that the tooth fairy is about as big as a barbie, and it comes in the house through the plug outlets? Upon learning that she ran around the house to find the best outlet for the tooth fairy to come in from. Also, the TF doesn't like to be seen because she's shy, which means she also doesn't like to be hugged because she's afraid you'll smoosh her flat. She wants everyone's teeth because she builds her house out of them. Also, there are 5 tooth fairies, not one, and not millions, just 5. They like clean houses, though it's still a mystery why. And even though they are tiny, they can carry lots of heavy things.

So, in honor of Ty guy, a "would you rather".

If you were going to get a tooth pulled,

WOULD YOU RATHER...

use Novocaine that numbs your whole mouth and lasts for two weeks,
OR
have it pulled without any numbing medication?

joy

It seems that all too often I spend my days trying to fill my time with the unimportant, or with things that I think a good mom/wife/person is supposed to do. I cook, I clean, I worry about silly things, I take the kids places to entertain them, I stress over making sure I have "me" time, and as a result I completely ignore the things that are the most important.

Today, because of the snow, I had trouble finding a desire to even get dressed. I wanted to lay around all day in my pajamas. I finally did put on a pair of jeans (my rattiest pair), and a little bit of make-up, but first I joined my children on the couch. I let them climb all over me; I let them tickle me (which is more like a punch in the throat); I hugged and kissed them; I told them I loved them; I let them tell me they love me. I stopped my constant race to nothingness, to smell the roses (figuratively speaking because the kids haven't had baths in several days and smell nothing like roses). Which got me to thinking about all the things that made me smile today.


-Eating breakfast with Jeremy before he went to work
-Playing steamroller until I was too dizzy to move
-Jumping out at Tyler as he came around the corner, which scared him, and is so fun to do
-Letting Alexis run around in her Dora underwear all morning
-Being tackled time and again by Tyler
-Listening to Alexis yell to Tyler "O-G, Go!"
-The proud beam on Alexis' face after she came downstairs, hair fixed and clothes on (complete with pants tucked into socks)
-Kissing little cheeks
-Reading books together, about trains and scooby doo


I did other things today too: read blogs, washed laundry, emptied the dishwasher, lifted weights, thought about cookies, cakes and pies that I want to eat. But none of these things brought me as much joy as I felt while interacting with my family.

It's no coincidence that our greatest joy comes, not from things, but from relationships. We have a loving Father in Heaven and Savior who have made it possible for these relationships to be eternal, and for these relationships to bring eternal joy.

I cannot express how grateful I am for the principal of eternal progression. I'm not perfect, not today anyway. But I can keep trying. Someday I hope to always feel this way about my children. Someday I hope to eliminate the days where they drive me crazy, or the days where I don't find their voices and mannerisms to be the cutest things ever. Someday I hope to always remember that the other things, while they may be necessary in this life, are not the most important. With that, I need to make sure that right now I'm valuing the things I can take with me.

"...What is most important almost always involves the people around us. Often we assume that they must know how much we love them. But we should never assume; we should let them know. Wrote William Shakespeare, 'They do not love that do not show their love.' We will never regret the kind words spoken or the affection shown. Rather, our regrets will come if such things are omitted from our relationships with those who mean the most to us.
Despite the changes that come into our lives and with gratitude in our hearts, may we fill our days--as much as we can--with those things which matter most. May we cherish those we hold dear and express our love to them in word and in deed."
-President Thomas S. Monson, "Finding Joy in the Journey" Ensign November 2008

I feel greatly blessed, not only for those I love, but for these moments of enlightenment that come to me, and remind me to pause and reevaluate life. And I write them down so that I can be reminded whenever I read it.

I hope you can ponder on the relationships in your life that shape you and make you (be it children, spouses, siblings, parents or friends), and let them know you love them. Even if you can't verbally say it.

toothday (you'll get the pun when you read the post...hopefully)

I am feeling uninspired today guys. Uninspired. I had a night of not much sleep this weekend (but much much fun) and between that and the "fun" we've had with Tyler lately, I'm still recovering.

Here's the good news:
Remember his swollen lip? It's come back mysteriously, every so often, and it showed up again yesterday. I finally decided to take him to the dentist because I (with the help of my mother in law!) figured that it was infected where his chipped tooth is. We figured right, it's infected. And we solved the mystery of the swollen lip.

Here's the bad news:
They have to take his tooth out. It's his front tooth, on the top. Which means we are looking at six years or so of goofy toothless grins. Which I'm not really concerned about, I feel worse about the shot they are going to have to give him to numb it.

Here's the worse news:
Since it's infected he has to be on an antibiotic before they'll do it, and Tyler hates to take medicine. I seriously just had him laid out on the floor trying to slip it in his mouth. And maybe some got in his eye--can't be sure about that. So we're looking at torture, three times a day for the next 5 to 10 days. Conveniently it coincides with mealtimes, which are already torture. If only it were Alexis, she loves medicine so much she makes up illnesses just to get some.

And that's all I've really got for you today. Maybe the sun will come back soon, and so will my creativity.

Wordless Wednesday

save me from myself

Tonight Jeremy had a work related errand to run, and I had a pack meeting to attend. He took the kids with him while I sat in a cultural hall, cheering for little wooden cars and hoping the boy's whose was the slowest every race would win at least one. It never did.

When I got home the others weren't there yet. I stood for a minute in my very tired state, contemplating what I should do. The kitchen was a mess, but the living room was actually worse. Tyler was up, quite literally, ALL night last night, which translates into a day of letting the kids do whatever they want as long as it means I don't have to get up off the couch.

In the end I decided to tackle the kitchen since it seemed like the easier task. It wasn't until later that a thought occurred to me. Not too long ago, when presented with this exact same situation, I would have ignored all the messes and read a book in the bath. But tonight, I didn't even think of that option until after I had already started cleaning. Even then, the old Lisa, upon the realization of the more fun alternative, would have abandoned the project then and there. The new Lisa just couldn't do it.

Sometimes I really hate the new Lisa.

So to rebel I'm not sweeping or mopping the floor tonight. That'll show...me.

never say never

Here's what I did wrong: Last Sunday I said to myself, "Wow, winter is almost over and we've made it through without too many illnesses." Which, with kids, is a minor miracle.

On Monday, the coughing began. It was accompanied by the diarrhea.

On Tuesday the coughing worsened. And the nose ran a marathon.

On Wednesday the coughing continued, the throwing up was added, and the sleepless nights due to high fevers and coughs started.

On Thursday we went to the doctor. The nose, throat and chest were all clear. Nothing he could do for us. Another sleepless night.

On Friday the coughing was less often, but still body racking in it's severity. That night it would be Jeremy's turn to stay up with the coughing boy. He had one coughing episode during the night, but otherwise slept soundly. Of. Course.

On Saturday the other child had had enough of being ignored because of the sick one. She and I went to the zoo, Tyler and Jeremy rode in trucks and Tyler played with grandma and grandpa. He also took a three hour nap, which was like manna from heaven. The cough became less and less frequent, I think we're nearing the end.

This morning, I haven't heard him cough once yet. But I don't dare say we're out of the woods, I think I've learned my lesson.

curled up behind the toy box, feeling sick and reading his favorite magazine

Now, some funnies:

Alexis thinks boys underwear has pockets. This amuses me to no end. Also, I told her to sit on the lap of a statue gorilla at the zoo, and this is what she did:


Tyler likes to wear his sunglasses all the time now, especially at night. Go ahead, sing the song. I wear my sunglasses at night...

Wordless Wednesday

*photo courtesy of Sexy People

in case you were wondering how my morning was going

I got up too early this morning. 6:15. That, for me, is too early. And what's worse, I didn't sleep well last night because I was so worried about getting up early. "If I fall asleep now I'll get 7 1/2 hours of sleep. If I fall asleep now I'll get 7 hours of sleep." Then I'd wake up in the night and check the clock to make sure I hadn't overslept. I'm not sure where that paranoia comes from, because I've overslept maybe once in my life--I just can't sleep when I know I've got somewhere to be or something to do.

Add to all that the nightmare I had. A girl's family had been murdered in various gory ways (I'll spare you the details) and she had gone back to live in the house where they were murdered. It was disturbing.

The silver lining to getting up early was that after Jeremy left for work I should have had about an hour before the kids got up, to do with what I'd like.

But two minutes after he walked out the door Tyler woke up coughing and crying. I laid in my bed with him for the next hour while he sang to himself and kicked me in the side, back, side, face. Then he poked himself in the eye and refused to stop crying. I finally fled the room, upset and tired, only to return ten minutes later to a boy with a leaky diaper and diarrhea on my bed.

I threw my sheets in the wash, brought him downstairs, where his bowels let loose again in his diaper, and then again on the living room floor during the one second between removing his old diaper and replacing it with a new one.

And now he's beside me, needing ANOTHER diaper change, making a minor mess of my desk drawer while chanting, "mommy, I WANT a piece of candy."

I'm considering calling in and using one of my vacation days. Oh wait...I don't really get those.


p.s. The bread was delicious. Oh crap.

a boring bread story

A few months ago I informed my dad of my decision to start making all the bread we eat, rather than buy it at the store, and asked him to help me find a few recipes to try. Being the bread making genius that he is, he found a few, helped my modify them to fit my needs and sent me on my way. I have made one of those recipes at least once a week since then, and having almost perfected it, I decided to try the other today. I've put it off this long because it calls for 18 cups of whole wheat flour, which is insane to me. I couldn't wrap my brain around the idea of that much flour--plus I had no desire to spend the time grinding that much flour. Also, something told me I didn't have a bowl big enough to handle that.

That something was right.

I started with my biggest bowl, which was 2/3 the way full from the liquid alone. When I had mixed in about 10 cups of flour I knew I was really in trouble. I made it to 14 cups before my arm was too tired from mixing. At that point I had no room anyway, so I put two cups of flour on the counter and dumped the mixture on it. I then spent the next 20 minutes chasing it around the counter and calling to Jeremy to add more flour.

Here's a picture of the monstrosity (and my double chin), which had to weigh more than most one year olds.
And then I realized that if I didn't have a bowl big enough for mixing, I most certainly didn't have a bowl big enough for rising. So now it's sitting in my largest stockpot, and I'm hoping it'll hold it. I hope it's not super delicious because I'm throwing that recipe away.

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Tyler is a boy after his father's heart. His latest obsession is tires. More specifically, rhino tires. He has spent all morning carrying around the rubber tires off of a toy that he thinks is a rhino. He's been very distressed about it because they torn and he just wails on and on that his "rhino tires are broken!" It's sad and sweet all at the same time. It's no coincidence that his dad currently has the same obsession, except on a much larger scale.

Can you see how he has the little rubber tires loaded in the back of the truck and on the trailer? And the little dog in the bed of the truck just kills me.

---------------

Also, we're excited about Jeremy's brother who just received his mission call to Ecuador Guayaquil South Mission. We'll miss him but are so proud of his decision to serve. And I'm a little jealous of the fact that he probably won't see snow for the next two years.

{Mostly} Wordless Wednesday

Mmmm, Mmmm, Mmmm, dirty air. Don't you want to take a big old gulp of that?

I know what you're thinking

I've been thinking lately.

Despite the fact that reality television stole three hours of my life last night, life is good. The past few weeks I've heard birds singing in the morning, that's always a good sign. Yesterday we went to a neighbors house and we WALKED there, because it was warm. In the evening we played "races" outside (this is where I race my kids and pretend to lose, I'm sure my neighbors think I'm a weirdo) and then when Jeremy came home he took the kids in the backyard as he barbecued some chicken, which means I got to prepare the rest of the meal in silence--I had forgotten what that's like. Thank goodness our yard is so small that a single porch light illuminates the whole thing. And even if the snow comes back, I don't care because I've had a reprieve. It's March 3rd, the worse months of the year are over. Can you tell a little sunshine and some warm weather goes a long way with me?

So I wanted to do another "would you rather" but because I'm lame I decided to steal one from the internet. And then I found this one guys site full of "would you rather's" and boy would I not like to be in this guys head. How he thinks of half of these things I'll never know--one of them has to do with sucking all the snot out of a dog until it's head caves in. Disgusting. But here's a mild one.

WOULD YOU RATHER...
be able to fly
OR
have the ability to read people's minds?

I'm going with mind reading, all the way.

And did I mention I have two hours to myself this morning to sew sew sew? Life really is good.