Last Wednesday I loaded the 6 of us on a plane to WA state. Brent bought us all tickets to go home so he could pass his 2nd year finals. I made sure to have a serious nervous break down the night before we left so he would be plenty glad to have us gone the next 2 weeks. I think so far it is working and he is enjoying his peace and quiet. Right Brent?
(I asked him to blog for me since I was unable to for the last few days. I just got to my mother's house tonight. The first 4 days I was at his elderly mother's with the full time job of keeping HER from having a nervous breakdown. No time to stop to use her dial up to blog when you are constantly herding kids downstairs or outdoors. Well, apparently Brent has been too busy too and we have had a boooring blog lately. Sorry!) .
Everyone keeps sympathizing with me over the long plane ride with 5 children. I tell them that it was a breeze! The last time I flew my kids across the country we had no tickets and were hoping to catch all our planes standby. I spent most of the day running back and forth across the SLC airport hauling the maximum amount of luggage for each of us before I finally found 5 seats on a plane. I didn't even care that it didn't fly us to Buffalo. Cleveland was a heck of lot closer than Utah! Brent picked me up there when I refused to attempt to catch any more flights.
Tonight was interesting. Earlier this afernoon we checked into the Cameo Heights Mansion, http://cameoheightsmansion.com - a luxury bed and breakfast, for a 7 day stay. Amenities include a huge jet tub, fireplace, large flat screen TV with cable . . . all in our private suite. And a pool, hot tub, theatre and workout room on the premises.
Not to mention my kids favorite part -the hospitality bar in the basement stocked with ice cold sodas . . . and Grandpa says they can have one whenever they want! Yes, We are all enjoying the new and improved Grandma and Grandpa Fieldings. There are some serious perks to your parents opening a bed and breakfast. Too bad we have to work all week preparing for my sister Alainna's wedding and just can't simply relax enjoying the free room and board that would cost YOU $250 a night. For dinner we ate a yummy roast beef dinner with 4 other paying guests in the dining room. They were very cool about the family reunion we had going on at the same time. And we were very cool about the bottle of wine they enjoyed with their meal. That was a first for our dinner table.
This was the first time my kids had been here since it was finished. They were running around taking it all in when I noticed Caroline kept running by every few seconds becoming a bit frantic. She kept saying, "I can't get back, I can't get back"! It is taking her awhile to get her bearings in a home that is over 10x the home she is used to. I keep having to lead her back to our bedroom so she "can get back". We got the pretty pink room up in the very top of the house since we have all the girls and I guess also because I need lots of exercise. I hope we can all come back to earth after our spoiling this week. Thanks Mom and Dad!
Monday, April 21, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
This little girl
Ten minutes after breakfast, lunch and dinner, this little girl says, "I'm hungry". Two minutes after we drop by your house for a visit this little girl says, "I'm hungry!"I hate it when kids come to my house and start begging so I keep trying to shush this habit. The problem is all of you who immediately bring out the treats whenever she starts up on her dying of hunger speeches. And so this smart little girl keeps it up. Everywhere we go she comes out with suckers, pretzels, chewing gum, and lifesavers.
Yesterday I was checking out of TJMax and she saw the pricey large bags of Jelly Belly's and other gourmet candies at the checkout counter. She asked and I said no. "Too much sugar and we just had lunch." "But I'm Hungry, Mom!" The lady behind us overheard and after we bought our stuff, she tore the tag off the jelly belly's so she could buy them after we left, then handed the treat to a now smiling Caroline to tote out of the store with her.
Could everyone please stop nourishing my child? She really is fed three square meals a day and lots of other stuff in between. I can't imagine that she really is hungry. So please quit contributing to her expectations. She'll only want more and more and more.
Brent is worried that we need to set some limits for our almost 4 year old to gaurd her teeth and figure. This morning she came down at 8 a.m after her egg breakfast at 7:45 and said, "I'm hungry".
Brent told her we just ate and that "You can have some carrot sticks in a couple hours." As soon she dissapeared upstairs he went in the kitchen and brought out a bag of Fire Cheeto's for himself and proceeded to down the entire bag.
Are there any other hypocrites out there? I am always after my kids to not have any cookies before dinner when often I help myself to 2 0r 3 before and 4 or 5 after. I just keep reading about the rising childhood obesity in America, Brent keeps finding cavities in the clinic and so we keep cracking down to keep them healthy . . yet sneaking our own treats whenever we get a chance.
All in the family
One of the ways a dental student family can save money is by Using What You Got. Last week
I visited my dentist (Brent) for a cleaning and my hairdresser(also Brent) for a highlighting. Isn't he diverse? During the Sat. morning conference session we opened the box to get started. It's kind of a tradition now. I get my hair highlighted every six months (Don't most other blonds go every six WEEKS?) during Saturday General Conference. After dumping the contents of the box out though we noticed it didn't contain the cap it usually does. For the first time I actually read the box and discovered that it read, "All over bleach blond look".
Whoops! I usually get a highlighting kit. Well, that was that. I myself was ready to call the whole thing off.
But, Brent . . . asked me if I had any aluminum foil. Then armed with my pastry brush, kitchen shears, and a narrow screwdriver he spent the next 2 hours foiling my hair. I thought it was a very bad idea since it was completely experimental.
Now I have to say- "Wow!"
I couldn't be much happier with the results. And it only cost $5 dollars for a box of bleach, plus a small roll of aluminum foil. Savannah even got to use the leftovers, so we wouldn't waste a penny. Hers was done in about 5 min.by just dumping what's left on her head. She had a little different results- horizontal streaks rather than vertical. But she's happy. She's been complaining that her hair has gone brown ever since we moved to a city that hardly sees the sun.
I visited my dentist (Brent) for a cleaning and my hairdresser(also Brent) for a highlighting. Isn't he diverse? During the Sat. morning conference session we opened the box to get started. It's kind of a tradition now. I get my hair highlighted every six months (Don't most other blonds go every six WEEKS?) during Saturday General Conference. After dumping the contents of the box out though we noticed it didn't contain the cap it usually does. For the first time I actually read the box and discovered that it read, "All over bleach blond look".Whoops! I usually get a highlighting kit. Well, that was that. I myself was ready to call the whole thing off.
But, Brent . . . asked me if I had any aluminum foil. Then armed with my pastry brush, kitchen shears, and a narrow screwdriver he spent the next 2 hours foiling my hair. I thought it was a very bad idea since it was completely experimental.
Now I have to say- "Wow!"
I couldn't be much happier with the results. And it only cost $5 dollars for a box of bleach, plus a small roll of aluminum foil. Savannah even got to use the leftovers, so we wouldn't waste a penny. Hers was done in about 5 min.by just dumping what's left on her head. She had a little different results- horizontal streaks rather than vertical. But she's happy. She's been complaining that her hair has gone brown ever since we moved to a city that hardly sees the sun.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
One very nice dental student family, Rachel and Ryan Nielson,
delivered us a homemade meal sometime in the last month. We talked them into staying and enjoying the delicious chicken pot pie, poppy seed salad and strawberry shortcake with us. Here we are enjoying their dessert along with some of Brent's homemade ice cream.
Then we roped them into staying and participating in a rousing game of Jeapordy for family home evening. It was so noisy! Everyone yelling at once. We were pretty sure they went home glad that they are going to dental school without the 5 kids.
delivered us a homemade meal sometime in the last month. We talked them into staying and enjoying the delicious chicken pot pie, poppy seed salad and strawberry shortcake with us. Here we are enjoying their dessert along with some of Brent's homemade ice cream. Then we roped them into staying and participating in a rousing game of Jeapordy for family home evening. It was so noisy! Everyone yelling at once. We were pretty sure they went home glad that they are going to dental school without the 5 kids.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Marcus's One Month Birthday
Caroline thinks that Marcus is the "Beautiful Sun" that her father expressed his gratitude for in family prayer one bright sunny morning this week. She came over and kissed him right after greeting her brother "Hey Beautiful Son!"
Caroline insists on being called the babysitter. Her duties include throwing away every single dirty diaper (a full time job with this kid) and fetching everything else a mother might need while sitting on the couch ALL DAY LONG! A drink, burp clothes, telephone, remote, book, etc.
It is wonderful to have 4 full time babysitters.
He's our first baby that likes a pacifier! Which translates to way less crying! Even
Camille can keep him happy for over an hour sitting by him and popping it back in his mouth over and over and over. . .
And they all beg me to take him to bed with them every night so they can lay by him for an hour and hold his paci in his mouth.
Savannah is especially good at this and sometimes it really is great to be able to go brush teeth, change, etc and then go get the baby after she has been snuggling him in her bed.
This has probably been one of my happiest months as a mom ever.
Caroline insists on being called the babysitter. Her duties include throwing away every single dirty diaper (a full time job with this kid) and fetching everything else a mother might need while sitting on the couch ALL DAY LONG! A drink, burp clothes, telephone, remote, book, etc.
It is wonderful to have 4 full time babysitters.
He's our first baby that likes a pacifier! Which translates to way less crying! Even
Camille can keep him happy for over an hour sitting by him and popping it back in his mouth over and over and over. . .
And they all beg me to take him to bed with them every night so they can lay by him for an hour and hold his paci in his mouth. Savannah is especially good at this and sometimes it really is great to be able to go brush teeth, change, etc and then go get the baby after she has been snuggling him in her bed.
I think we really did it right, having our kids the way we did. Thank Heaven 4 little girls. And also for a beautiful "sun" !
This has probably been one of my happiest months as a mom ever.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Almost a week
Almost. . . But I just heard from an uncle living in Brazil that he actually logs onto my blog regularly and I thought I better catch up and not disappoint loyal viewers -especially important international ones.
I forgot to mention this before . . . (and forgot about it for a second myself just now when I sat down rather to quickly to play with the kiddos on the wood floor and had a very nasty greeting to remind me.) I didn't even bother to comment on it before because after giving birth in the fashion I did recently I now consider myself an extremely tough woman - one that wouldn't bother mentioning that she did a little thing like crack a tailbone. ( Who really knows if a tailbone is really cracked anyway- has anyone ever had that kind of injury x-rayed? I think it is mostly just self diagnosis.)
2 weeks to the day of giving birth last month I took a big fall in our basement - and smack right on the tail! (Kennon thought she would rearrange the basement the day before and turned what was once my walkway into a surprise -an obstacle course!) With a basket of laundry in my hands there was no way of breaking a very hard fall once my legs went out from under me. I laid on the cold ground screaming until my husband came down to rescue me. By the intensity of my screams he figured I must have pulled the washing machine over on myself. He was confused to find me merely covered with soiled laundry and wondered what the emergency was.
Let me just say that the tailbone is one of the last things you want injure right after delivering an almost 9 lb.er. It has extended my usual swift recovery.
Another headlice update:
Kennon had a long dark haired school friend over for Sunday lunch. She volunteered to make brownies for dessert with blond haired Camille. We all enjoyed them with ice cream for dessert.
Then, the friend went home and Camille and I had brownie seconds to reward ourselves after doing the dishes. Camille suddenly screamed out and started pulling out a long dark hair from her mouth. Seeing me in mid bite she cried out, "Mom be careful! HEAD LICE!
I think I am okay though since I heard in Indonesia mothers pull them from their children's hair, and then bite them in half to kill the little buggers.
Last night we celebrated April 1st in traditional buffalo style -Pizza and Wings! First time we have ordered buffalo wings as a family actually since we moved here. I was feeling like a big greaseball after enjoying the tasty meal. About 10 p.m. just as Marcus should be winding down for the night he started getting really crazy. Up until he was fed a diet of straight grease he has been an excellent night sleeper. Last night he was up grunting, burping, spitting, and tooting till 4 a.m. The poor little guy was seriously uncomfortable. It had to be my dinner, don't you think? I have never noticed my diet affecting my nursing baby before, but after missing almost an entire night of sleep I am a believer. Good incentive to trim the fat and lose some pounds.
I forgot to mention this before . . . (and forgot about it for a second myself just now when I sat down rather to quickly to play with the kiddos on the wood floor and had a very nasty greeting to remind me.) I didn't even bother to comment on it before because after giving birth in the fashion I did recently I now consider myself an extremely tough woman - one that wouldn't bother mentioning that she did a little thing like crack a tailbone. ( Who really knows if a tailbone is really cracked anyway- has anyone ever had that kind of injury x-rayed? I think it is mostly just self diagnosis.)
2 weeks to the day of giving birth last month I took a big fall in our basement - and smack right on the tail! (Kennon thought she would rearrange the basement the day before and turned what was once my walkway into a surprise -an obstacle course!) With a basket of laundry in my hands there was no way of breaking a very hard fall once my legs went out from under me. I laid on the cold ground screaming until my husband came down to rescue me. By the intensity of my screams he figured I must have pulled the washing machine over on myself. He was confused to find me merely covered with soiled laundry and wondered what the emergency was.
Let me just say that the tailbone is one of the last things you want injure right after delivering an almost 9 lb.er. It has extended my usual swift recovery.
Another headlice update:
Kennon had a long dark haired school friend over for Sunday lunch. She volunteered to make brownies for dessert with blond haired Camille. We all enjoyed them with ice cream for dessert.
Then, the friend went home and Camille and I had brownie seconds to reward ourselves after doing the dishes. Camille suddenly screamed out and started pulling out a long dark hair from her mouth. Seeing me in mid bite she cried out, "Mom be careful! HEAD LICE!
I think I am okay though since I heard in Indonesia mothers pull them from their children's hair, and then bite them in half to kill the little buggers.
Last night we celebrated April 1st in traditional buffalo style -Pizza and Wings! First time we have ordered buffalo wings as a family actually since we moved here. I was feeling like a big greaseball after enjoying the tasty meal. About 10 p.m. just as Marcus should be winding down for the night he started getting really crazy. Up until he was fed a diet of straight grease he has been an excellent night sleeper. Last night he was up grunting, burping, spitting, and tooting till 4 a.m. The poor little guy was seriously uncomfortable. It had to be my dinner, don't you think? I have never noticed my diet affecting my nursing baby before, but after missing almost an entire night of sleep I am a believer. Good incentive to trim the fat and lose some pounds.
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