To Atlanta

We just arrived home from a whirlwind trip down to Georgia to pick up my mom from a conference she was attending there so we could bring her to our house for a few days. Although we had second thoughts about going (we found a plane ticket for less than $150 the night before and it was really tempting) it ended up being a good trip. The kids were so excited to go and were fantastic travelers.

I checked Rachel out from school early on Friday (something she's been dying to experience) so we could leave as soon as Andrew got out of class. We drove straight through the afternoon—stopping only to refill the gas tank and for many, many potty breaks. Benjamin conceded on Thursday that potty training was a good idea (something I've been trying to convince him for months now) and stayed dry the entire day. I was worried about potty training on a road trip but Benjamin really proved his bladder control and didn't have a single accident (though we did put him in diapers just in case).

Benjamin read book after book after book in the car (and by read I mean he flipped through the pages and looked at the pictures), we watched 1.5 movies, Rachel did a lot of reading, Miriam did a lot of drawing. We also packed some magnetic "paper" dolls, some favourite stuffed animals, and lots of snacks.

Oddly enough both Benjamin and Rachel took naps while Miriam did not. That was a little backward from an ordinary day.

Along the way we saw some interesting sites, namely a sign for a place called Grover (in North/South Carolina). There's a place called Grover in Utah that is very close to our heart, which is why we were so excited to see this sign on a road trip:

Found at last

We are the proud new owners of a lousy (beat up, well-read, terribly worn) copy of George Washington's Cows.

Rachel checked it out from her school library at the beginning of the school year—in August, I believe—and then suddenly it was gone. We searched the house over and over again. We checked to see if we'd turned it in at the public library. We rifled through books in her classroom. We emailed the school librarian about it. She was very lenient and didn't charge us for the book until November (I suppose that's lenient though it would have been nice if they had waited a while longer).

When I got the invoice in Rachel's take-home folder I admitted defeat and wrote out a check for $15 to replace the book. That was a hard check for me to write. I don't like losing library books.

Today I scheduled the church for the next Trading Tables and have been organizing a few things around the house that have been driving me crazy (like, for example, the piles of pictures half a foot high). I was reorganizing the puzzle drawer when—at the very bottom—I found the book.

At least it's a cute story, but I don't make a habit of spending $15 for books in poor condition (or even books in good condition). We get most of our books at Trading Tables, thank you very much.

Oh, and just now I thought Benjamin was in his room playing the piano and Miriam was in her room playing with the puzzles but, as it turns out, I had things backwards. So now I probably have to reorganize the puzzles...again.

Reasons I love hanging my laundry out to dry

After living without a dryer for so long (2–3 years between three different countries) I never could have imagined choosing not to use one. I think it was one of the things I desired most of all when we lived in Egypt and I was stuck with a bed-wetter and a spitter-upper with no bedding to spare and only a couple of drying racks on a hopelessly dusty balcony. Not to mention the cloth diapers.

Side note: I saw a post today on the "effects of war" and while I think war is a horrible, traumatizing thing, I also thought to myself, "I could do a similar post on mothering a toddler." The "during" pictures would be shocking.

Anyway, now that I have a high-capacity washing machine (or at least higher than my little Egyptian machine (which I was grateful to have, mind you (because scrubbing clothes by hand in the bathtub...))), reliable power to run the washing machine (usually, the exception being the two times the transformer blew in the past week or so), extra sets of sheets floating around, and two generous clotheslines running through my backyard, well...my opinion of hang-drying clothes has changed dramatically.

A day in the life of...

This is motherhood according to Rachel (written on Wednesday when she was home from school, recovering from the stomach flu and playing dolls with Miriam (remember how I made the kids go outside on the deck to enjoy the sunshine even though they were barfing their guts out?)):

Feel free to read between the lines. 

Somehow or another I have the feeling she's left a few things off the list.

Sure it will

"Add crossbeams," they said.

Home Improvements

Last night Andrew and I talked and laughed before going to bed for the first time since Monday night last week, I think. So that was nice.

And I think everybody had breakfast this morning, even. We're making huge strides over here.

Benjamin's face is healing up nicely. He now looks like he has an awkward little mustache rather than some sort of sickening, bulbous beak in place of his lips.



His teeth survived the weekend without any hint of discolouration, so I think the roots are healthy still, though it's probably about time we got into the dentist for a professional cleaning (if he'll let them at it on Thursday). I've never had a child dislike brushing their teeth quite as much as this boy does. He likes the idea of owning a toothbrush just fine. He's simply not a fan of using his toothbrush for its intended purpose.

This shot shows his frenectomy wound healing quite well, in my (very unprofessional) opinion. I hope that little blip of skin on his lip doesn't reattach to his gums.

You can certainly tell he's kid #3 though.

Kid #1 gives herself a labial frenectomy at age four and I flip out, wonder if I should take her to ER, send pictures of her mouth to a dentist friend for reassurance, and cry about as much as she does.

Kid #3 gives himself a labial frenectomy at age one and I wince, wipe up some blood, pray his teeth will remain rooted, give him some ibuprofen, and move on.

Medal Count

I slept right through the Canadians winning their second gold in Olympic hockey this year. I also slept right through church.

Andrew got up with the kids this morning, got them all ready for church, made it through sacrament meeting (though he spent much of it in the hallway because Benjamin pooped his pants and stripped during sacrament meeting and later bashed his lip against the pew which caused an unusual amount of blood spillage, due to his preexisting lip condition), delivered the children to nursery/primary, taught his primary class, taught Elder's Quorum, picked up all the kids, and came home.

I had just gotten out of the shower.

His day was much rougher than mine was. Three hours at church is exhausting when you're tending children and teaching lessons the whole time.

As Karen said when we skyped this afternoon, Andrew deserves a gold medal.

The Olympics are over now. Hopefully the stomach flu is as well!

Labial Frenectomy II

Two years ago (almost to the day) Rachel managed to give herself a labial frenectomy.

This afternoon Benjamin fell down the deck stairs and gave himself a fat lip. Blood was dribbling out of his mouth, splattering on his shirt, pooling on the ground (or so I'm told—I was in a gastroenteritis-induced stupor). Andrew cleaned him off and then brought him to me. We cuddled on the couch to watch some Daniel Tiger while I attempted to hold ice on his lip.

Benjamin wasn't very interested in having that happen.

"Col'! Col'!" he ket telling me and shoving my hand away.

"How does your lip feel?" we'd ask and he'd put his hand up to feel it before whimpering, "Goo[d]."

"Can I look at it?"

"Nooooo!"

It didn't look too terrible this afternoon.

Benjamin's lip this afternoon

Sick days continue

So much for my stomach of steel.

I really thought I'd avoided contracting this illness but when Benjamin climbed into bed with me just prior to 5:00 AM I knew I'd been wrong. I was so queasy and he kept tossing and turning and making it worse. I was eventually able to coax him back to sleep in his own bed before losing my dinner in the toilet.

Andrew was amazing and watched the kids all day. He fed them breakfast and lunch, took them grocery shopping, and sent them all outside to play. I didn't even see a child until I texted Andrew to bring Benjamin to me so I could feed him. I believe this was after Benjamin's afternoon nap.

Today was one long nap for me, punctuated by sprints to the bathroom.

In the late afternoon things got a little difficult. Benjamin fell down the deck stairs and gave himself a fat, bloody lip. It was one of the few times he even asked for me (the other being when he first got up in the morning).

Miriam fell off some part of the deck (she was sobbing and it was really hard to understand what she was saying—I'm still not clear what happened) and landed on the boat and then fell "with [her] head on the rocks." She needed a few cuddles for that, too.

Rachel came inside for dinner and found me on the couch (I'd been hiding in the bedroom all day), asked me if I was alright, and then broke down in tears. "I hate it when you're sick!" she wailed, curling up beside me.

Me, too, Rachel. Me, too.

I am starting to feel better, though I did set up a substitute for church tomorrow (something tells me I shouldn't be in charge of passing out snacks).

Hopefully we'll all have a clean bill of health soon. My mom's coming for a visit and I need to get our house in order!

Outside work

It's possible that February—at least in North Carolina—is my favourite month. It's when the sun starts to be bright again. It's when the birds start chirping again. It's when the grass starts growing again.

Okay—you got me. The sun always shines, the birds always chirp, and the grass always grows here. But February is different from January. It's just less gloomy somehow.

But February happens before the bugs make their spring foray so we can garden without fear and eat on the deck without being attacked and leave the windows wide open without having anything sneak inside. It's beautiful.

We spent much of today outside. But first we had to clean up the living room so we could relax on the couch and read books: