What's worse?

when it comes to being a mom, I find that my entire day is consumed by 2 little words: cleaning up. That's it. That's pretty much all I do. All day. Every day. Clean up breakfast. Clean up blankets. Clean up toys. Clean up clothes. Clean up towels that I folded the night before but foolishly left on the couch -- to become a "play house" for me to, that's right, clean up.
It gets a little old.
And I get a bit burnt out.
But those usually aren't things that are imperative that I do immediately.... so to be perfectly honest, I usually don't. I'll put it off. Sometimes until it IS imperative that I do it immediately.
The things that really stink to clean up are also the ones that are least fun, and, as it happens, the most imperative to do right away. (Again, blast that Murphy!) I used to think that bodily excrements were the worst. I mean, it is pretty bad. In fact I hate it - passionately.
But I think I found something to top it -- syrup. On the carpet. Whole bottle. Big bottle. From Sam's Club. Might not seem as bad, until you realize it just doesn't come out. And then the ants come marching in.
So with all that in mind, is it evil of me to laugh a little that said mess was only discovered because the perpetrator was calling for help, due to the fact that she was literally sticking to herself and couldn't move?

New Words

to "I Am A Child Of God," by Andrea

I'm on a child of God,
So he has sent me here.
Has been a mmm mmm mmmm to there,
With parents kind and dear.
Lead me, Guide me, Walk beside me
Help and find the way.
Show me how I can be stew,
So I can live some day.

Love My Man

Mark has a lot of faults, to be sure. a LOT. Course, I have one or two myself. But all that goes out the window on weekend mornings when after a week of getting up at 4:30am he lets me sleep in and gets up with the kids. He changes diapers, feeds them breakfast and has special "Daddy playtime" with them. And you know the girls just love it. They absolutely adore him. It's even carried over to the point that the girls will try to wake up super early on the weekdays so they can have breakfast with him. (And then they go back to sleep - in bed with me, of course.)
Gotta love a guy that loves his kids.

Andrea-ism

I was making a "quick" run to Wal-Mart (as if that actually exists), and the girls both insisted on coming with me. We hadn't taken but 20 steps into the store - not even quite rounding the first corner yet when Andrea says,
"I miss Daddy."

Some fun pics

The kids and I had some fun out in the yard one night. Andrea cracks me up wanting to be in the big, scary forest-tree.
And when you're in a big, scary forest-tree of course you need to have an umbrella with you. And a stuffed unicorn. Duh.






I never can get over how funny it is when kids fall asleep eating.

So who is this Murphy anyway?

And why does he punish us with his laws? Like 'especially long nights follow especially long days.' Or 'kids get sick only after office hours.' Or 'bad things happen in 3.' Or 'it sucks when your previously potty-trained child reverts back for no apparent reason.' Okay, so I made that one up, but it might as well be one.
These may seem like insignificant little laws, but I'll tell you what - when YOU have a kid running a 102 degree temp, shaking and talking deliriously at 2 am, followed by cries from you husband not 30 mins later that he is passing a kidney stone, is going to 'tough it out' but needs you nursing him through it, and then just when you think the night's adventures are over your oldest kid goes and wets the bed.... Well, that may be the night you just want to punch Murphy in the mouth, too.
Get in line.

Guilt

Guilt-trips are hated for a reason: they're effective. And their purpose is to make you do something different from what you want to do. Or, if you continue doing what you want to do you feel bad about it.
I don't know who invented this weapon, but they must have been a mean, mean person. This stuff is brutal, and yet easy enough for little children to master. Scary.
I'll admit I've pulled it out for my own personal use a time or two, but never understood how scary it is until the following scenario happened tonight:

(Andrea, screaming at the top of her lungs from her bed): MOM! MOM! MOM! MOM, I NEED YOU! MOM! MOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!
Enter Jeanette, aka "Mom"
(Net): What do you WANT, Andrea?
(Andrea): You didn't tuck me in.

After performing requested ritual, Mom tells Andrea to go to sleep and promptly leaves the room. Same "conversation" repeats another half-dozen times with slightly varying requests, and not-so-slightly escalating directives to "be quiet and GO TO SLEEP." The final directive includes a new warning of a spanking that will take place if the silence requested is not given...

(Andrea): MOM! MOM! MOM! MOM, I NEED YOU! MOM! MOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!
Enter Mom, who goes straight to the bed and starts positioning Andrea for the promised spanking.
(Andrea): Mom?
(Net): WHAT, Andrea?! I told you if you kept this up you'd get a spanking, so now you're going to have a spanking...
(Andrea): Mom, I love you.

I'm a Princess

You Are Ariel!

Headstrong and fiesty. You have a mind of your own that's full of romantic dreams about the world around you. Exploring exotic places is your ultimate dream, and although you can be a little naive you'll realize that there is something to be gained from your family's wisdom.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Grateful.

First of all, thank you for all the prayers and kind thoughts and concern. This week has been a little stressful for us with the testing and waiting, and I really can't say enough how comforting kind words are.
Monday, Lacie had her EEG which turned out to be so much less scary than I could have ever hoped for. We went to the Sleep Institute in Plano and wow. It was decked out to make sure the patients AND families were comfortable and at ease. I was so impressed. And Lacie was an absolute champ. They had to put 30+ electrodes all over her head and then bandage her up. She certainly didn't like it, but as long as Mark held her she was pretty calm. Then they had her sit through a series of light-flashing at various speeds. You know the stories where people in nightclubs have a seizure because of the strobe lights? Same deal. They wanted to see if they could induce one. Then they let her sleep, and oh my, she was ready for it! I had kept her up all night the night before and then had to sit with her in the backseat of the car to make sure she didn't fall asleep on the drive up. Not an easy task, by the way.
After that it was a waiting game. The follow-up appt was on Thursday when I took her in to see the neurologist, who was absolutely fabulous. Honestly, I am so thankful for an amazing pediatrician who sends me to the best places with the best people. This neurologist doctor was amazing with Lacie and then very careful to give me straight-forward answers, making sure I understood completely. After doing a physical exam and some tests on Lacie she then addressed the EEG.
The good news is that she says there's no need to panic. She doesn't want Lacie started on any treatment as of yet unless another episode happens.
The bad news is that her EEG was not normal. Not crazy out-of-control not normal, but not good, either. She said it was possible that it could be chalked up to Lacie's young age, which is why she wanted to hold off on any treatment. However, it still wasn't normal, and with all that happened when she was born on top of that, the doc wants to do an MRI and make sure this isn't happening because of damage in the brain.
Honestly, I am thrilled. Not because I want poor little Lacie to be going through this, and certainly I am terrified of the possibility of brain damage, but if I had been given an answer of, "eh, she looks fine - must've been a fluke. don't worry about it," I think I would go crazy with worry that they missed something or I did something to change things that altered the outcome or something. Not having an answer is HORRIBLE, and I know this because of what we've already gone through with her. Ironically, I am getting the feeling that this might actually bring us some closure with all that. If not why it all happened, at least whether or not there are lasting and/or permanent repercussions. I can't even begin to express how much of a relief it would be to know. How grateful I am that we're in a position to get these answers. I already feel like angels have been moving us around like chess pieces to get us to the right places at the right times, and this only adds to it. There are things going on right now that are a direct result of Lacie's original condition that I think I can say made that whole experience "worth it." ? Hmm, I'm not sure if those are the right words for it. Maybe that there were reasons for Lacie having to go through that that are playing out right now.
Regardless, there is no doubt in my mind that Lacie is a very special kid and that there is definitely a reason why she's still here with us. And I am so, so grateful for that.

Thanks again for all the thoughts and prayers. I'll keep everyone posted on future developments.

Andrea-isms

A friend in college called me this morning with a favor for one of her Child Development classes. She needed me to ask Andrea some questions, and of course the answers were funny enough I thought I'd post them.

(Jeanette): Why is the grass green?
(Andrea): That's because there's flowers!

(Jeanette): Why is the sky blue?
(Andrea): That's because it's a Earth.

(Jeanette): Why do we have a nighttime and a daytime?
(Andrea): That's because Daddy goes to work on dark, and you know the morning? Daddy comes back on morning!

(Jeanette): Why do birds fly?
(Andrea): That's because birds are blue.

asking for some prayers

So tonight I get to try to keep little Lacie up all night. Kind of a change. Usually I'm desperately trying to get her to sleep, but tomorrow morning she's going in for a "sleep-deprived" EEG to see if we can figure out why she had a major seizure a few weeks ago.
I realize that it could turn out to be nothing - just a random seizure. But you have to know that I'm already freaking out that this is the bombshell I've been waiting for, connecting all the drama at birth to how it will affect the rest of her life. On the other hand, maybe it can give us some more answers about what happened back then. Honestly, until I have the answers I'm looking for I don't think I'll ever stop worrying that it will come back to haunt us.
Until then, I'm asking for some prayers - that Lacie can be "stamped" ok or at least that we will be able to deal with whatever happens. Unfortunately we won't know anything until the 19th when we visit the neurologist, but I'll be sure to update.

Andrea-ism

In Primary I do the song leading. During the jr's song time I was trying to get them all calmed down so we could move on to our next song. This involved telling all the kids to stop raising their hands as no question had been asked - typical primary moment. Finally, all but a couple die-hards had their hands down and were quiet. Die-hard #1 of course was Andrea. So with a little bit of exasperation I finally said,

"Yes, Andrea? Do you have something you want to say?"

to which she responded,
"Yeah. I want to say..... horses."

Happy Father's Day!

I thought that this year for Father's Day I might show Mark a couple reasons why he can be a proud daddy.



I think it's sufficient evidence, but I thought I'd include a couple more -- to prove my point.






To top it off, Andrea made Mark a Father's Day card at church. On the front she drew a picture of a pear? with a sticker that says #1 Dad. Inside it reads:

My dad's name is _____Daddy Viehweg___
His favorite thing to do is ____make pancakes____
His favorite food is ____pancakes___
His favorite color is ____pink____
My dad loves to ____make a boat____ with me.
I love my dad because ____he's my helper____

So cute! Happy Father's Day Mark! And great job on your talk!

ps. Andrea really likes it when Mark makes her pancakes.

Andrea-ism

I realized the need to be more careful about what I say to "other drivers" while in the car when I we headed down the road and Andrea said,

"Mom, where's the dude? Oh, there he is. C'mon dude! Dude, hurry up!"

For my musician friends

"I was talking to the brown lady" ...

... and other proud public moments with the kids.

Kids are not ones for subtlety. Neither do they understand the concept of discretion. And totally not PC. Yes, Andrea has proven that time and again with statements (very LOUD statements) in the grocery store like, "I'm afraid of the black man!" I mean, really, how is anyone there to know that her parents are not bigots and her to be the same, but that we had just seen a "live" Star Wars exhibit where Darth Vader scared the wits out of her.
It's kind of like that box of chocolates Forrest Gump talked about - where you never know what you're going to get. They open their mouths in public and watch out. No topic is off-limits to them. "Naked" is just another word, and saying how fat the man in front of us is, is merely stating the facts.
And I think most times most people understand that's how kids are. If you're using taboo language in the check-out line, a 3yr old just may call you on it. And if your pants are riding like a plumber's, you'd better believe they are going to notice and say so. And for all the hygenically-challenged, you'll know when you've gone too long without a bath because somehow the same kid who doesn't seem to care that she sits in a poopy diaper for an hour will point out how bad YOU stink.
But none of that is half as bad as when kids repeat. Oh and they repeat. They're just like parrots, but worse. Because it usually has nothing to do with food, unless they're bragging that for breakfast this morning mom let them eat a bag of M&Ms and nothing else. And it's never the stuff you spend hours trying to get them to say/do on command, like reciting the Gettysburg Address or doing a perfect Arabesque. Nope. It's all the stuff they overhear you say while you were on the phone. Fuming. About so-and-so who did such-and-such because they're a blankety-blank. Ah yes, that's the stuff that comes out. In church. Usually to the person's face. Or to their teacher who is best friends with them. Swell. And trying to deny it is the worst thing you can do because they'll insist that they did too hear it -- just this morning when you said this and then that and then you started talking about them. And it's all downhill from there.

By the way, I've been searching, unsuccessfully, on Craigslist for a muzzle. If anyone sees one, will you let me know?

Five Fastest Ways...

...to get me out of bed in the morning:

5: Sounds of the garbage truck getting close.
4: Blood-curdling screams indicating imminent death, doom or another squabble over a toy.
3: Door-bell rings.
2: Andrea informs me that Lacie is playing in the toilet.
1: Andrea runs in yelling, "Lacie is changing her own poopy diaper!"

Andrea-ism

(Mark): Andrea, you are very special.
(Andrea): No, I'm wonderful.

Good-bye Clarks!

Tonight we went over to David and Emily Clark's home to help load up the truck and clean out the house so that they can head off tomorrow to Cincinnati, OH.
I had previously considered sabotage as a way to get them to stay longer, but thought better of it and decided that we should not make them mad, nor get sent to jail, but try to make the best of it and help out. By the way, it's not that I'm always a horrible person - going around slashing tires of moving vans. I'm just in mourning. (and I'm hormonal, so give me a break.)
We have truly enjoyed our friendship with the Clarks so much. I have especially appreciated Emily and some really great times we had together. She is one that always had something nice to say - even when I thought she was stretching the truth. And she was a dang good sport when I roped her into all kinds of last-minute "musical numbers" for who-knows-what. Everything from fiddling to funerals. One night over dinner we discovered some pretty random connections. I know the world is small, and even smaller in the LDS church, but when she knew my sister from college, my brother-in-law from her mission, and we had both dated the same guy from New Haven, CT -- while he was living in New Haven, CT -- well, I think that goes beyond the norm. Especially when you consider that she's from Kansas and I'm from Utah. And my bro-in-law is from South Africa. Go figure.
Anyway, there are lots more things I could write, but I feel they are too personal for a blog, so I'll just say this, I'm really going to miss you guys. Our little ward will not be the same. But I am so very grateful for the opportunity to have such a wonderful friendship. And if we are ever in Cincinnati, you better believe we'll be knocking at the door!
And oh yes, the girls will definitely miss William. What a fun, cute kid! Thank you for all the good times!

It's Grandma's fault!

I thought I was super cool last night by baking brownies and packaging some up for Mark to take to a co-worker who occasionally gives him rides when I need the car.
And I thought I was super sneaky because I had made them stealthily enough that the girls never knew. That meant that when I woke up I would be treated to a breakfast of brownies. (shut up yall, I'm pregnant)
INSTEAD, this is what I found:



What does this have to do with Grandma, who lives hundreds of miles away up in Utah?



Notice the yellow and red chairs, or as I like to call them, destructo-enablers. Any time anything goes wrong, missing or sticky you can just count on finding these wonderful gifts from Grandma at the scene of the crime. I guess in some way they also act as the give-away. Yellow chair in my bathroom up against the counter? Make-up is going to be missing. Red chair in the pantry with a variety of cans and boxes of food spilled on the floor? Someone got into the marshmallows. Both chairs in front of Lacie's crib? Andrea was trying to lock Lacie up in her crib again.
Dang chairs.

Andrea-ism

Andrea had been wanting some of Mark's birthday cake. I told her she had to wait until Mark was there to eat it. Finally he got home and she asked again. After about a dozen interruptions and distractions she resorted to flinging herself at me and begging and I finally told her yes.
Her response:

"Oh Mama, thank you for showing me how to smile!"