I know I'm biased...

but seriously, tell me this kid isn't amazingly adorable!

Handsome

or should I say Dapper?

Merry Christmas!

Uncle

Merry Christmas everyone!

I hope your Christmas day so far is joyful and happy. That you all had fun mornings as we did -- filled with the sounds of wrapping paper ripped from packages, the sight of paper and gifts strewn about the room, and the smell of yummy treats for breakfast.
Wait, what?
It's not Christmas yet?
Christmas is tomorrow?
So... all those presents I tediously wrapped... I get to re-wrap them? with paper I need to go get since I used up all we had the first time around? So I have to pack up my 2 girls and baby boy into the car, drive through holiday traffic to find a store still open, circle the parking lot for 15 mins to find a spot that is still over a mile away from the store, and then do battle with the other last-minute shoppers?!

Oh how I love that special time of morning after Mark has left for work but before I am awake and the kids are left to their own devices.



Little culprit. In case you can't see, that is a chocolate chip cookie she is sneakily eating.

Warm Fuzzy

Story 1:
Late one night Andrea woke up, needing to go to the bathroom. Being such a sound sleeper, it was not unusual that she was more sleep-walking than walking as she felt her way to the toilet. Tonight's walk seemed a bit shorter, and maybe it was for that reason that she stayed more asleep than awake. As she bumped into her seat, she automatically turned around, sat down and 'went,' completely forgetting to pull down her clothes first. In fact, she was in such a deep sleep that it wasn't until I came in the room and found her standing next to her bed and started cleaning her up that she even awoke.

Story 2:
Mark had gotten home late that night. It was already very dark and he was very tired. But being the devoted father that he is, when it was time, he helped put the girls to bed. And, of course, the girls begged him to stay and tell a story. So he laid down on the floor inbetween their beds and told them a story - putting everyone to sleep.
Hours later Mark was startled awake, a little unsure of where he was or why he was getting wet.

Story 3:
I was in the office trying to soothe and rock Hyrum to sleep. It was late and everyone else had been asleep for hours. Hyrum had just calmed down when Mark burst into the room and shouted, "She peed on me!" I looked up to see that sure enough, he was drenched and looking a wee bit yellow.

Conclusion:
Turns out Andrea never made it to the bathroom. In her sleep, Andrea mistook the first thing she bumped into (Mark sleeping on the floor) to be the toilet, at which point she proceeded to sit down and pee on him.

A Christmas Carol

You'd better watch out,
you'd better not cry,
you'd better not pout - I'm telling you why:
Mommy's on a rampage this year.

The house is not clean,
the shopping's not done,
the kids misbehaved and I was up past one.
Mommy's on a rampage this year.

The screaming in the backseat;
the fighting in the cart;
the weather's cold, 3 kids in tow, it's a madhouse at Wal-Mart.

Oh,
You'd watch out,
you'd better run hide,
stop making a mess if you want to stay alive.
Mommy's on a rampage this year.

-isms

Net: "Andrea, what do you want for lunch?"
Andrea: "Mac 'n cheese."
Net: "Well, you're in luck since that's what I'm making right now."
Andrea: "All by yourself? Without any help?"


I was just getting off the phone when I looked down and saw some black marks on my toes. To no one in particular I asked, "What is this black on my toe?"
Lacie came running over and replied, "It's marker."
"Marker?! How did marker get there?"
"I put it there."
"Lacie, you are a pill!"
"I am?"

Baa

Baa, baa black sheep, have you any shame?
Yes, sir! Yes, sir! I feel lame!

So after swearing up and down that my baby had 2 teeth protruding from his lower gums, I must now make a retraction statement.
My pediatrician's office had me come in on account of the irregularity of a 6-wk old teething. Whatever. I figured they didn't believe me and just wanted to see for themselves. Turns out that I was right -- they didn't believe me. They were right. He isn't teething. The white bumps are actually ulcers caused by some nasty reflux he's being plagued with.

I didn't know it could get that bad. Sorry, kid.

Schizo

So naming this kid was ridiculously hard. Turns out it still continues to be a problem. Just 2 days ago Andrea told the neighbors that her brother's name was Emmett, "but Daddy and Mommy don't like the name." Today she informed me that we haven't tried the name Alma yet, and thought we should give that name a go.
So Mark calls him Scott.
I call him Hyrum.
His nickname is Handsome.
The girls call him brother, but Andrea has now switched to Alma.
His birth certificate says Emmett,
and one of our friends in the ward calls him Danger (since that was one of my proposed middle names. yes, for real.)

If this kid doesn't end up with an identity complex it will be a miracle.

That's Un-Be-Lieveable*

I googled "early teething" and according to the net experts, a kid that cuts a tooth at 3 months is ahead of the game. So what would you call cutting 2 teeth at 6 weeks?
A bit skeptical are you? That's ok. So was my mom. And so was the doc when I called to ask about giving Handsome here some liquid gold --

Me: "Hi Dr. Anne -- I'm calling because my 6 wk old son is cutting a couple teeth and I was wondering if it's okay to give him the infant tylenol."

Doc: "Oh. What makes you think he's teething?"

Me: "I can see them."

Turns out poor kid is too young for drugs. So we have to suffer through with nothing but frozen binkys to get us by. It's going to be a long night.
Still skeptical? Some pictoral proof for all you nay-sayers.



okay, I realize the salivatory shininess makes them hard to see, but they're there. They're the 2 white dots in the middle of his bottom gums, just to the upper left of my thumb.
Weep for him.


*ps: 10 pts to any non-Lund or spouse who can name the movie this comes from

Lacie-ism

"Look, I'm shiny all over!"

(see next post)

A new perspective

If you've ever gone to or talked with a counselor, chances are they told you to journal. Helps you sort, vent, get perspective, etc.
Maybe they're right.
Just the other day I was in the living room feeding Handsome when I caught a strong whiff of nail polish aroma. And since my hands were at the moment occupied and Mark was at work, the only other explanation was trouble.
I dashed towards the smell and found Lacie on my bathroom floor with the contents of 2 bottles of polish all over her and the floor, counter, cupboard, and toilet seat (not sure how that last one happened).

Now normally I would imagine a parent's reaction to be that of anger with a lot of yelling involved. Usually that would be my reaction, except instead I found myself thinking about how I could turn this situation into a blog post.
Yeah, my kids so owe this whole blogging thing.

Lacie-ism

While watching a TV show Lacie spotted a bride and said,
"I wish I be married."
Later a horse came on.
"I wish I had a horse."

Stingy

Andrea: "Grandma, do you want 5 M&Ms?"
M'Jean: "That would be great!"
Andrea: "Well, you can have 2."

What gets me through the day...

"Mothers, rock a sobbing child without wondering if today's world is passing you by, because you know you hold tomorrow tightly in your arms."

- Elder Neal A. Maxwell

Andrea-ism

(as told by my mom while staying with us)

As Mark and Jeanette were leaving for their meeting Saturday morning, I watched as Andrea and Lacie saw them to the door with the usual prolific goodbye, goodbye, I want a hug, goodbye, hug, another hug, goodbye, goodbye. Shutting the door, Andrea, with Lacie in tow, headed past me towards the living room. "Don't worry, M'Jean," she said. "We'll keep you company."