Fibbing...

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I fibbed to my mom last night...something I haven't done in I don't know how long! I figured by telling all it would be traumatic enough and somewhat therapeutic so that I won't ever do it again. It's been horrible. I found myself blurting said fibb out over the phone to her because I was ashamed of the truth, and without thinking whatsoever, found myself in a horrible place. Anyone who knows my mother knows that there is no reason to lie to her. . . she's the most understanding and compassionate person I know. Then, after finding myself in that spot, didn't quite know how to get myself out of it. I felt actually physically sick all night and didn't sleep very well. I woke up and just knew that somehow I had to make this right. Not really hard to do, actually, but just even all that more embarrassing and shameful than admitting the truth in the first place would have been. You'd think that at 32 I wouldn't have found myself in this spot. But I have to say, it's been a great lesson for me in practicing what I preach to the girlies every day. I called her on her way to Denver and blurted out the truth to her, only to have her tell me that she already knew. Duh. . . I am a mother, afterall. A new mother, but a mother none-the-less. We usually know when our kids are lying to us, right?

I'm telling you all this so that you can learn from my painful experience...don't lie to your moms! I'm also telling this to you to pose the question "Why do we do things we know we shouldn't do?". I'm sure that we've all found ourselves in a place where we didn't want to be because of a poor choice we made. You feel absolutely terrible, you wish you could make the choice over again and do it right the second time around. I'm publicly apologizing to you, Mom. I'm so sorry and I love you.

What is the deal with this stuff?

Dad taught me when Line was a baby that the best stuff for diaper burn was cornstarch powder because of the way it soothes and pulls the heat out of the burn. Ever since then we keep a box handy with the diapers and wipes. Our toddlers just can't seem to get enough of that stuff. Luckily this time Naki caught it before it became too bad. The first pics are of Eva...

When Lose did it as a toddler it was much much much harder to clean up.

I know. . . I'm asking for a mess because after this experience with Lose I still didn't wise up to the fact that I shouldn't keep it where they can get into it. At least they had fun while making the mess.

We think we're almost all healthy. . .almost

Well, it's been a really trying couple of weeks, really, the whole month of January. I had a piano student come over on a Wednesday and hack on Eva just once and by the end of the day she was coughing all over the place. That kid gets a little cough and I know that I'm in for a long road. . . RSV here we come. By the next morning she was feverish and was having trouble breathing. Since we've been down this road twice before, it was all very familiar. What wasn't familiar was that we now had someone younger than her to be concerned for as well. We tried our hardest to keep them separate, but who are we kidding. Just the fact that Dad goes to work and there is only one adult to care for two crying babies tells you that keeping them separate was a joke. Combined with the fact that Eva is completely drawn like a moth to a flame to any babe, keeping her away from Ane was a joke. It got so sad for me to have to keep shoving her away from the baby, plus, I found that I had to hold Ane all the time. I didn't realize how much I like to lay her down just to get things done, oh, you know, like taking a shower, going to the bathroom, you know, just the important things! So, that started to get difficult. Two separate times Eva appeared to be getting better only to wake in the middle of the night with a fever so high that the only way we could get it to come down was by giving her a cool bath...at 3 in the morning. Yes, needless to say, we are walking sleep-deprived zombies around here. The next day we did a round of chest xrays and she had developed bronchitis. Ane's cough had changed from croup to RSV, Eli had an ear infection, the following week Malia developed a raging fever that kept her home from school for two days, Lose followed suit two days later, and Dad also caught the fever two days after that. SO. . . we have gone inactive at church for 3 weeks in a row for fear of passing all of this to some poor suspecting family. Health is definitely one of those blessings that I know I take for granted until I no longer have it within my grasp. Heaven's angels must carry parents of terminally ill children in their protective hands because it killed me to watch my children suffer and I only had to do so for one month! So, needless to say, this is why my blog has sat untouched for so long. I have many many things to post, and will try and get started on that, but am still trying to get caught up on all the piles of laundry, missed homework from the kids who missed school, makeup piano lessons that I had to cancel due to the sickies, and extra weeks of teaching Joy School that the other moms so graciously filled in for me. I have to say, I've always felt like the worst mom for feeling this way, but I can only play the role of caretaker of the sick people for so long, and then my patience and compassion tend to crumble. There's something about the whining and crying that after a certain amount of time tends to chip away at my level of sanity. I think the only thing that kept me going was Naki, who somehow has a magical way of keeping me sane in a completely insane environment. Knock on wood, but as of today, the only thing still lingering is a little cough that Eva still has. . . like I said, knock on wood. . . please?

Closer time, baby!

Tonight!!! Finally, the wait is over.

Father of 6 girlies is "wrapped around all of their little fingers"

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Here's A Birthday Shout-out to Lil' Russell

Happy Birthday, Little Russell. . . we've been calling you that in our house for so long now, but I'm not sure it will fit you for long. What a great boy you are. We are so sorry that we didn't talk to you today. Not as an excuse, but just so you know, we had been waiting to call you when all the girls were home from school. As soon as they got home, Ane started throwing up and I rushed everyone into the car and on to the doctor's office. So, I was distracted and forgot. So Sorry!!! But, we hope that you had a great day. We'll try and call you tomorrow. Other families should be so lucky to have such a great cousin and nephew as you. You're caring, concerned for others, funny, handsome, imaginative, creative, spiritual, so smart, and an all around great boy. We sure love you Russell. Happy Birthday.

Church at Home

Well, I was hoping it wouldn't happen, but it did. In the middle of the night Ane started coughing. We tried our hardest to keep them away from each other, but it was inevitable. So, we're watching Ane very closely. As a result, we stayed home from church today. Naki and I decided that we wanted the girls to realize that it was still a great opportunity to focus on all things spiritual. We assigned Eli to give a testimony, Line and Malia were assigned the musical number, and Lose and Dad gave the talks. Dad talked on the Atonement and Lose spoke on the Holy Ghost. It was so rewarding for me to see what the girls chose to speak and sing about. They are such great great girls. It brought me back to the times growing up when we were snowed in and couldn't get to church. Those moments in the piano room when Matt and Dad would bless and pass the sacrament to us were so special to me. It made the gospel very real, and even more it made the priesthood real. We didn't do the sacrament at home today, but I still felt those same feelings that the gospel is real and is for each one of us. It is something we can access anywhere and feel always.