4th time around = a piece of cake

It was about this point in my pregnancy with Lucy that things were complicated (and even comical?). Most people I know have probably either remember this, or have at least heard this story before, but I wanted to have it in writing.


When we were just a family of three...ooh that chubby little cute Kilian...we lived in a small 2 bedroom house. We decided to move further out in the DFW suburbs to Wylie. We were building a new house with four bedrooms since we knew we wanted a large family.


We sold our 2 bedroom house a little faster than we expected, and of course our new house's expected completion date got bumped later and later until it landed on Lucy's due date, December 15th. We had 2 very generous and brave friends offer to let us live in their homes until ours was ready and we decided to take them up on it.


A couple of weeks before we had to be out of our old house, I fractured my foot. I was just walking to the parking lot for group lunch at Spring Creek BBQ. I somehow slipped, on a perfectly warm and sunny day, and wound up skipping the BBQ and being driven to the ER. It is hard to hop into a hospital on one foot when you are about 7 months pregnant.


So we managed to pack up everything, put it in storage, and move in with friend 1. A few weeks into that, Brad blew his ACL. So he had surgery and was on crutches, too.

Picture us homeless, both on crutches, chasing an almost 2 year old boy!

I got off crutches and we moved in with friend 2 on the day before Thanksgiving. Brad recovered fairly quickly, we celebrated Kilian's second birthday, then moved into our new house abut 36 hours before Lucy was born. It was wild, but we survived, had lots of fun with our friends for those weeks of being "roomies".

==========================================================

Coincidence?? Today, while I'm 7 months into this pregnancy I had to take Lucy to get her foot x-rayed to see if it was fractured. She has been limping for several days. Luckily it isn't.

==========================================================

Just before Camille was born, we decided to move from DFW to West Texas. Brad was interviewing and looking at houses before and after she arrived and we moved when she was about 6 weeks old.

So this time, we aren't moving. No one is starting a new job. No one is on crutches. This is so easy!!

Butterfly Catcher Extraordinaire

We received Kilian's "painted lady butterfly" caterpillars in the mail. Now we are watching them get fat and waiting for them to build their chrysalises. In the meantime, Kilian spent a good part of his spring break in our front yard chasing butterflies. I believe he caught 17 total, and 7 on the best day.

He very carefully transferred each one from his net (a Christmas gift from Santa) to the butterfly house (a Christmas gift from Grammy & PawPaw)

He was very concerned about keeping them fed (sugar water on a wadded up paper towel) and at a comfortable temperature, but spent most of his time making sure his sisters were gentle enough with the butterfly house. He let all of them go after a few hours.

We haven't been good about taking him fishing, but I think this might be the next best thing!

Lucy lately

This girl keeps me laughing.

Lucy came to tell me that she was almost out of soap at her sink after she washed her hands today. I had already been planning to go buy a few different scents of foam soap at Bath and Body Works soon, so I asked her what she would like her new soap to smell like. She just looked at me. I gave some suggestions like, "apples? lemons? flowers? rain?".

Her response: "Do they make bacon?". Yep!! Nothing says clean like the smell of bacon!

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

Also, as we ate lunch a few days ago I was asking who wanted more carrots. I added that they help make your eyes stronger so you can see far, far away. Camille was nodding and reaching for another carrot.

Lucy passed on the carrots and said: Well, so does a telescope.

Disappointing

Kilian and Camille were playing in the front yard just now when I heard him yell, "Sprinkles!! It's sprinkling!! Mom, it's raining!!!" Of course this is very exciting news for this area lately.

Camille ran in the house asking me "Do we have sprinkles? Can I have sprinkles?" I don't think she is as excited about these sprinkles

as she would have been with these sprinkles.

Interview with Lucy, age 5

1. What is something mom always says to you?
"I love you”

2. What makes mom happy?
"hugging you”

3. What makes mom sad?
"when somebody kicks you”

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
"by tickling me”

5. What was your mom like as a child?
"short hair”

6. How old is your mom?
“50”

7. How tall is your mom?
She got on her tippy toes and held her hand up above her head and said “this tall”

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
"play with her daughter”

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
"do her computer work”

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
"it will be for being so good"

11. What is your mom really good at?
"being the mom”

12. What is your mom not very good at?
"running”

13. What does your mom do for her job?
"do work”

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
"gumbo”

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
"when she tickles me”

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
"Swiper” (the bad fox on Dora. I have no idea why!?!)

17. What do you and your mom do together?
"go to Sonic”

18. How are you and your mom the same?
"our hair”

19. How are you and your mom different?
"by our skin…you have polka dots and I don’t” (referring to my freckles)

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
"because she does stuff that is all about love”

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
"the mall”

So very true for our family

I saw this link on Facebook and thought I would post it here.

I'm considering making a bumper sticker purchase...

It looks like I would have to purchase 2 of them. Any takers for the second one?

My new shining moment in motherhood

All the kids and I have been sick this week. Kilian got over it on Monday, but the girls and I are still sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever and I don't think I'm allowed to take Nyquil. Oh - add watery eyes to the list for me. I look like I just watched Steel Magnolias for 24 straight hours.

We made it through the day yesterday. After picking up Kilian, I cooked dinner, cleaned the kitchen and went to bed early. Brad was watching a basketball game, the older two kids were asleep, but Camille had apparently napped too much to be sleepy. She brought a diaper and wipes to me and this is how the conversation went:

Camille: I need a new diaper (I should note it was the unpleasant kind).

Sleepy me: Daddy can do it. Can you go ask him?

Camille: I want you to do it.

Sleepy me: but Daddy is such a good diaper changer. He is in the living room.

Camille: Moooommm

Sleepy me: I'll give you a sucker if you go ask daddy to do it.

Camille: ...(pitter patter of little feet running to the living room).

Me: smile and close my eyes.

She did get her sucker...and I'm not proud of my bribing.

Just wondering

what our neighbors think about my parenting as they hear our girls singing "It's a hard knock life" at the top of their lungs near some open windows today. Hmmmmm.

Forget sugar and spice and everything nice. This is what our little girl is made of.

This has been Lucy's meal (and snack) of choice for over two years now - whole wheat spaghetti noodles and Parmesan cheese - no sauce. She could eat this every day and be perfectly happy.

Fire the air controller...

that gave clearance for all these landings.

We have a very skilled paper airplane maker here

and an impressed apprentice.

Fever induced kindness

Poor Kilian has had a fever all weekend. I found this note taped to my side of our headboard, above my pillow last night.

The message inside...

(you can click on the image to make it bigger if it is hard to read)

More little Camille funnies

• Several mornings lately she will look down at her p.j.'s and if she doesn't have a nightgown on, she'll say "I don't look like a princess" and then insist on putting on a dress on right away. (Usually before she even has breakfast). She will then change dresses about 4 times a day. This is not helping my laundry situation.

• "Look, the laundry gave me these beautiful socks!" she says as she runs into the room a clean matching pair (pulled up to her knees).

• Camille, with her hands on her hips to Pippin after he scratched Kilian a little bit on the arm while they were playing outside: Pippin Thomas James!! (that is Kilian's middle name, not Pippin's)

• Camille to Lucy after Lucy got caught pouring water back and forth from cup to cup in her room (and spilling): Lucy, if you do that one more 'gain, you're going to get a spanking!!

• Camille to me, while Lucy is whining in the car: Oooh mom, I don't like the whining. Do you?

• At the risk of letting everyone know where we are with potty training...she said I'm not too tired for the park. I'm just too tired to go get a diaper. She usually brings them to me when we need a change.