Full Circle

It has been 5 years in the making but we have officially gone full circle once Brittany entered 'The Truck' again and pulled away. As if it wasn't bad enough, her face lit up with excitement when I ran outside to snap her photo. So happy.


Anywho, to bring everyone up to speed, last week we went to CALM and had a great ole time.


Then we had a great weekend with family and friends for Memorial Day - We even ressurected the Fun Island (AKA Death Island) in the pool at Grandpas. Only a few children got stuck underneath the giant floating raft. I am pretty sure some of the kids had near-death experiences; Savannah cried for a while. Good times.


Let's see...oh yes. My wonderful mother came over yesterday with a KITTEN! Or better known in the Ray circle as "The 'K' word". Everything was great until the kitten had to leave. I'm pretty sure it was like chopping Andi's arm off and giving it away.


I got her to finally calm down when I asked her if she wants to do something fun. This usually works for her because she knows that when daddy says those words...something awesome is about to happen.



The end.

It has begun...

I'm not sure what was worse for Brittany...
Me losing my job or her giving up blogging rights.

I guess now would be a good time to put my disclaimer.

'The up-coming posts were performed on a closed course with self-proclaimed, semi-professional stunt artists. Although we cannot say for certain about the children, no animals were hurt during the making of this blog. Please do not try this at home.'

Rolling with the Punches

I've have gone back and forth about whether or not to post about this, and finally decided that since I make my blogs into a book once a year I need to do it for the sake of my family journal keeping.
It has been a tough week for us, but as of today we feel very blessed and loved and are grateful to our wonderful friends and family. Thad lost his job Tuesday morning, which came as a complete shock. We knew the company was making cut backs in some areas, like taking trucks away from some employees, but as of the Man power meeting Friday morning there was no mention of impending layoffs. Tuesday morning however Thad found out that every district in the Company was told to lay off 5 engineers, and being at the end of the senority line meant Thad.
So of course the minute he got home Thad was sending out resumes and looking on line for jobs in the area, but being that most companies in the industry are in the same boat, I don't think he was feeling very positive about it. I however was. I kept saying he'd have a job very soon and that the severence the company gave him would then be like a bonus towards our "I need a bigger master bath" fund.
This is what I was praying and fasting for the next day. Our prayers were definitly answered but it seems the answer never comes exactly the way I had planned. I know I've been saying that over and over again for at least 6 years, but it still amazes me when it happens. My wonderful friend who has employed me off and on since I was 11 years old, as a baby-sitter, part time at her office during HS and full time during my college summers, called Wednesday morning. She told me I could come back to work for her full time as soon as I wanted.
So for the next few months as Thad continues to look for employment we will be switching roles. Thad get's to be Mr Mom, and as he keeps telling me with his obnoxious grin "There's a new sherriff in town!" He has also informed me that since we are switching places he is taking over the blog. You have all been warned.
It should be an interesting few months, a growing and changing time for us both I think. And being the slightly OCD control freak that I am, I can see I have a lot of gorwing to do in learning to let go.

milestones and mothers day.

Both kids have hit some fun milestones lately. Sammy's all physical, Andi's a little more mental.
Friday Sammy started doing this:


He doesn't actually move with it yet, but at least he's up and seems to like getting up there. He is surprisingly mobile these days though. Between his rolling, and the scooting backwards he moves all over the floor.
I realized last week as well, that he should be starting to sit up on his own now, but because of the wonderful invention that is the Bumbo chair he hasn't had to try. So I have retired the bumbo and brought out the high chair for meal times.

and in just a few short days he's doing this:


It really has been an exciting few days with Sam. Plus he is transitioning down to 2 naps a day, and yesterday one of those naps was 3 hrs long! it was very nice.
Andi had an eventful Mothers Day. The primary kids always do a musical number and being a sunbeam she was old enough to go up this year. However, her potty break came at the wrong time and she walked back in to the chapel just as the pianist began playing. So Andi came back and stood by me where I was sitting and sang as loud as she could along with the other kids. She didn't care at all that she wasn't standing by them, she was just excited they were singing songs she knew. And I was very impressed with how well she sang both songs.


She also gave her very first talk in Primary. She talked about baptism and it went really well if I do say so myself. She is definitely not a shy child and LOVED being allowed to talk into the microphone. When she was done you could tell she was very proud of herself. She marched back to her little seat with a big smile on her face. It was a fun mothers day at church. We spent the afternoon/evening at Thads parents house for a BBQ and family time. It was really nice.
We also managed to squeeze in a yard sale over the weekend and got rid of a bunch of stuff, including our old camera. Which also meant we got to go get a new camera! It's so much faster and lighter than our old one. I love it.

Finishing Touches

I have mentioned in the last few posts the finishing touches Thad has been putting in our yard. Like the water feature that now has plants and fish in it. And the bench swing I have been wanting to go next to it. We still have a few things to plant around the base of the water feature, And I have to make the awning for the swing, but here are the pictures as promised.

Feature in the dark

Andi on the swing. The feature is to the left of the swing.

6months going on Tank!

Sammy had his 6 month check up yesterday, He's such a beast, are you ready for this?! He weighed in at 20 lbs 2 oz, and that's without his shoes. He's 29 inches long and as you might guess is in the 90 - 95 % for both height and weight, and 95% for his giant Charlie brown head. I thought Andi was big, but comparing the stats, Sam is the size she was at 1 year! Little Dude is going to be a linebacker or something.


I had Andi in at the same time again for her allergies. Everytime we go to the Dr's and the nurse comes to call us back, Andi walks up to her and says " I have a snot nose." and whether we are actually there for her or not it's always true. Earlier this month they gave her an antibiotic to clear up her sinus infection and changed her allergy meds, which worked for a few weeks and then everything came right back. So now on top of her daily Zyrtec & Singulair she has to have a nasal spray, and an antibiotic again for 2 weeks. My poor drugged up kid. We are really crossing our fingers that the combination of the three daily meds will control her allergies, if not, they are talking about allergy shots. Yuk. I've realized that Andi is probably always going to have some chronic problem, and the minute we think we have it all fixed(like getting her tonsils& adnoids out & tubes) something else will pop up.


I am starting a little bit of work from home next week. It's kinda funny, becuase there are days when I can't seem to get dressed and out to the grocery store, when I really have absolutely no excuse and no reason for not getting going. But it seems I work better with a very full plate. When it's empty I do nothing. So knowing that I am going to have to be more on top of it to get this work done on a daily basis and keep up with the house and the groceries, and the cooking, and those kids, I have been on such a roll, my house is so clean! Being productive just makes me feel so much better.
Thad has been busy with the yard lately. He's been "perfecting" out little water feature. I love it. Again, I have no idea why I haven't taken pictures of it yet. I will make an effort to have pictures of our yard improvements in the next post.

Conversations with Andi

Andi is getting to the stage in her verbal development where she says things like she is a little adult. Things like, "can I watch TB's(TV)? I won't freak out." meaning if you let me watch a show I promise not to throw a tantrum when you turn the TV off. We've been having some interesting conversations lately; for example:

context- she was looking at a book about kittens
Andi: Momma, I want a smiley kitty
Me: you do?
Andi: ya, I want a kitty at our house.
Me: that would be fun, but we can't have a kitty because mommy is allergic to them. They make Momma very sick.
Andi: well, you can just stay at Grandmas house.
Me: But If I stay at grandmas who will take care of you?
Andi: the kitty.
And that quickly I am replaced by a cat.

Context- we were in the car and Thad and I were trying to figure out a time reference on something and I said "I think it happened right after we got married."
Andi: what's married? (simple enough question but how do you explain it for a three year old to understand?!)
Thad: Married is when you go with a boy to the temple.
Andi: But how do you get married.
me: When you go to the temple someone seals you together forever.
Thad: And then you get to be like Mommy and Daddy.
Me: I went to the temple with daddy and we got married.
Andi: but, who goes with me to the temple?
Thad: a boy
Andi: what boy?
Me: whoever you want.
Watch out sunbeams, Andi is on a mission.

Context- Sammy was being pretty fussy and Andi wasn't getting a lot of attention.
Andi: Momma, put Sammy back
Me: put him back where?
Andi: put him back in your tummy, I don't want to play with him anymore.
Me: but he won't go back in, he doesn't fit anymore.
Andi: make your tummy bigger and put him back in.
Only a 3 year old would think it a better idea to put him back in the womb than just put him in his crib.

Easter

Easter was an interesting experience this year with Andi. My mom gave her a tinkerbell egg dying kit a week before Easter and she carried it around everywhere. The first thing she asked for when she woke up every morning was "mom, wheres my eggs?" So needless to say she was really excited Saturday morning when I told her we would finally be dying eggs. She did really well this year and only cracked one of the eggs. When she went down for a nap I took all the eggs over to my moms to be hidden thinking that was the best way to get them off her mind.
oh no! She woke up looking for the eggs and would not stop asking. Thad and I hadn't really wanted to push the whole easter bunny issue, but Andi just wouldn't take"the eggs are hiding and we'll find them tomorrow" as an answer. And after ten minutes of "but why mom, where are they, I need them" I finally broke and said "the bunny took your eggs." She just stared at me trying to figure it out and then "why does the bunny have my eggs? tell him to bring them back." So she doesn't really get the whole Easter bunny thing, but to be honest I have no idea why a bunny hides the eggs either. She did love finding all the eggs however!


Church is at 9 for us so we waited till afterward to have an egg hunt at my moms and then a big lunch with all the family. We had way too many eggs for just Andi and Walter, but we couldn't talk bradon or any of the older kids in to hunting, so both little ones filled up two baskets. Don't worry I only brought one basket home. Later we went to Thads Grandparents for a nice quiet dinner. It was a really nice day.

adjustments

Sammy has been in the shoes for a full week now and I have to admit they are not that bad. The first night was awful, but after a whole day on motrin he slept fine the next night and has adjusted to them quite well. He is even rolling over like crazy. But he definitely gets excited when we take them off for baths and things. He does this weird chipmunk sounding laugh and kicks his legs around like crazy. Oh, and huge bonus to being out of the cast, he fits in the bumbo again! He loves sitting up and looking around.


I forgot to mention earlier that we started Sam on solids, or the baby mush version of solids a couple of weeks ago and he loves food! He sort of growls at his food when he takes a bite and makes a huge mess because he always sticks his hands in to "help". The draw back, we now have colorful spit up. . . on everything. Apparently I blocked out that part of Andi's first year but the first time he spit up carrots all over me it came rushing back with a vengance and I'm really hoping he outgrows this sooner than she did.


Andi had her first taste of grounding this week. She's been throwing tantrums like you would not believe and after a battle royal Sunday night I finally had it. No tv, no computer games (yes my 3 year old plays computer games) no friends, and no grandmas house. Harsh I know, but trust me, she deserved it. We had a "big girl jar" that we used when she was potty training, whenever she had dry panties all day we'd put beans in the jar and when it was full she'd get a toy. So I brought back the jar this week, and when she let me do her hair without a tantrum she got beans, or ate her dinner without a fight, or picked up her toys. And if she threw a fit we took beans away. You would have thought we were cutting off an apendage when we took a couple of beans out of the jar, but by Thursday she seemed to have figured out the whole crime and punishment angle, and that good behavior was the only way to get to see her friends.

In fun exciting house project, we got trees and plants in the backyard!!! I haven't taken pictures yet, I don't know why, but It's amazing the difference a couple trees, vines, and bushes can make in the backyard. It finally looks finished. Plus we planted a garden on the side of the house. Corn, tomatos, carrots, cucumber, zucchini, lettuce and strawberries. It's small, but Andi had a lot of fun digging, and will be so ecited to actually eat what we planted.

Sammy's Stupid Shoes

I took Sammy to LA today to get his final cast removed and get fitted for his "Dennis Brown Bar" and shoes. If you couldn't tell from the title of this post I hate these shoes, with a passion.I realize it has only been a matter of hours since we got them, but I really really hate them. Through out this whole process nothing has really bothered me. I mean, sure put a cast on my 4 week old, not a problem. Do surgery on my 4 month old, go ahead. People kept asking me, especially in the beginning how I was doing with it, and my silent mental response was always, "stupid, I'm not the one in a cast, so obviously I'm fine with it." I seriously did not understand why people kept asking me that question. Until today. The casts have not hurt him, he woke up from surgery and after a bottle acted like nothing had happened. But today, it took me almost a full half hour to calm him down after putting the shoes on. They hurt him! Then he cried half of the way home, which for those of you who don't know, it's a 2 hour drive, meaning he cried a full hour in the car on the way home. Then I took the shoes off to give him a bath tonight, and again a full 30 minutes to calm him down when we put them back on. All I have to do it look at those dumb things and I want to cry for him.


When the Dr told me he would need these shoes he explained it was kind of like braces, once you get them off you wear a retainer. Again my silent mental retort "I wore my retainer a total of 3 days and 10 years later my teeth are still perfectly straight" Bad attitude I know, but I just hate this!
Anyway, on a lighter note here are some cute picture of Sammy and Charlotte from our play date earlier this week. These two are 2 months apart, and Sammy finally realize this last time that there was another baby in the room and kept watching her and laughing.




We also had Grandpa Richards 92nd birthday party on Sunday. Some of Thad's cousins were able to come in to town for it, and it was a lot of fun to see everyone. 25 people in all, many of them children. There is a back room at the Richards that has seen years and years of madness and chaos as it is the room that all the kids go into and shut the door while the adults talk. Most of the kids at this celebration were in the 6-10 age range, except for Andi Paige & Kate who are all 2 &3. Part way through the night I realized that Paige and Kate were sitting with their parents and Andi was the only little one in all the noisy screaming chaos. So I went back to make sure she was okay in time to see her run across the room and jump on the back of one of the 8 year olds and like swing from his neck. Apparently it was like a prison rules wrestle mania going on and she didn't know that she wasn't one of the big boys. That's my little princess. . . way to go Thad.

DISNEYLAND!!!!!

"It's a world of laughter a world of tears, it's a world of hope and a world of fears". . . the perfect description for a 3 year olds' first trip to Disneyland.

We had a long great day, here is the blow by blow with pictures included. First we woke Andi up at 6:30, which I know is normal for most little kids, but that's an hour before her normal wake-up time. She was very cooperative about rushing to get ready and out the door by 7, even when it was time to put a pull-up on. She does not like how they feel, but we decided it would be better to wear those then have her panic every time we had to run find a bathroom, and change her if we didn't make it in time. She was really good on the drive there and only asked a couple of times if we were there yet; which really made me laugh, because it's funny how even a 3 year old knows to ask the same annoying question over and over.
When we got there we snapped on the cute teddy bear harness that we borrowed for the trip and it lasted all of 2.3 second. Not that Andi was fighting wearing it, she just thought that it was sorta like when she helped Kelsie walk the dogs and they drug her all around the neighborhood. Andi though she was supposed to drag us around the parking structure and weave in and out of people. Dumb. So we took it off and she stayed with us all day just fine.


We of course headed straight for fantasy land where all the little kids rides are, and the first one we saw with no line was Snow White, which I thought would be prefect because she's been watching it a lot lately. It too was great for about 2.3 seconds and then most of the ride focuses on the wicked queen and it was dark and very loud and Andi was traumatized on the very first ride! But Dumbo and the teacups restored her smile and confidence in us as parents/protectors.
She loved peter pan, casey juniors railroad, and the jungle cruise, the Carousel, and Winnie the pooh.

Waiting in line for Dumbo

On Dumbo
Watching the Teacups

Sitting in the teacups

In line for the Jungle Cruise

On peter pans flight

We came to the conclusion as we entered the star tours line that her biggest issue of the day was dark and loud. We told her we were going to see C3PO and R2D2 and she was vey excited untill we got into the dark and noisy room, she saw them and was like okay, now we can go. And as we headed further in she started crying and yelling"No Dark Vader!" so obviously we headed right back out.

She was good with Small world, alice, and the toon town coaster. I was glad she like the toon town coaster and took that as a green light to try bigger rides, as long as they were outside rides and not noisy, She is tall enough for all of them, however big thunder railroad killed that idea quick and we headed back to fantasy land to try to find Tinkerbell and Nemo.
We "saw" tinkerbell. They have this whole place set up called pixie hollow and I was very excited to take Andi to this because she loves tinkerbell. Pixie hollow however is not on the map, and is not in a logical place in the park, and there are no signs for it. We finally found it after asking directions to find out that it was closed for the day. But we walked around the giant blades of grass to the tinkerbell shop and saw that she was indeed still in the hollow. So of course I turned into one of those pushy parents because Andi was really excited about seeing tink. So I took her in the exit and we saw her taking pictures with little girls. Don't worry I didn't get too crazy, I wouldn't let Andi cut in the line, we just stood back and waved and took a picture from where we were. Next time though, we are hitting pixie hollow first and getting a picture of them together!

Her face painting outside of the elusive hollow

She had one meltdown the second time we were in the dumbo line. By then it was almost 8 she had not had a nap, her legs were sore from walking around all day and she was just spent. Dumbo however dried her tears, we found her some tylenol, and she was happy again, so we decided to ride Nemo and then watch the fireworks show.

Asleep in the Nemo line with her tinkebell wand in a stroller we found that had been abandoned

Of course the minute the fireworks started she was covering her ears and hiding her head. So we just ended up leaving and beating the crowds out of the park. All in all it was a really fun day. I loved watching her get excited about seeing characters like pooh and tiger and singing along to the songs she knew on the rides. Hopefully the next time we go she'll be ready for the bigger rides;)

Almost there

Sammy got his cast changed on Wednesday. I was really surprised at the huge difference in his foot after only 2 weeks. Really I didn't think his foot looked all that bad before the surgery, but now it looks perfect. Only 2 more weeks in this cast and then we go down to LA again to get him special shoes. I swear he'd be crawling now if it weren't for the full leg cast. He holds himself up so high now and squirms around trying to get his legs underneath him, but obviously it doesn't work. He is now rolling over, at least front to back, and scooting around in circles when he's laying down.



Andi woke up sick this morning so I have to get her in to the Dr today. Her allergies have been acting up all week, at least that's what i've been thinking it was, but now she's coughing and sounds so hoarse, so i'm taking her in. I am crossing my fingers hat it's nothing she won't be over in a few days because we are taking her to Disneyland on tuesday. yay!!!!! I'm very excited to be going, and i'm not sure if it's just for me or because I know she is going to LOVE IT! We checked the height requirments for the rides, and she can ride everything but space mountain I think. the cut off is 40 inches and she's 41, so Thad wants to make her a shirt that says "i'm 41 inches" just so we won't get stopped all the time.


In other very good news Grandma came home Tuesday and is getting better little by little.

the teething monster

We had a check up with Sammy's foot Dr today. They took an x-ray and from it the Dr said the surgery was a success. He said already his heel has dropped and is pointing the direction it is supposed to. So yay for that! We go in again next week to get the cast changed, but in the meantime we started to decorate the cast he's got.

As you can tell from some of these pictures Sammy is in full teething mode the last two days. It's bad! I don't remember it being a big deal with Andi. It only seemed to bother her at night, and then once we gave her tylenol and some teething tablets she was fine. But he has been clingy, and more than fussy. He has these fits where he will straight out scream if I sit down. It usually lasts an hour before he calms down again. Hopefully the teeth come through soon.

This is a pretty normal example of Andi being "loving" to Sammy and smothering him.


And this is what happens when Andi tries to help Sammy play in his jumper. He's just a little dizzy.

Andi has been really in to walking her baby doll lately. Mostly I think because I have started walking a few times a week. Okay I just started this week and I've only been twice, but I'm going again tomorrow and I'm going to make it a habit. The kids have been pretty good on our walks and it has been so nice to just get out and get a little bit of exercise. I haven't done that since Sammy was born, but now that my wonderful friend Tarin let us borrow her double stroller, we've been getting out of doors more often.
We've had kind of a crazy few weeks. My Grandma has been in the hospital for almost 2 weeks now and so all of my dad's siblings came in to see her. It's been really nice to see everyone, just unfortunate that it's because Grandma is sick. She is out of ICU now and on a regular floor and hopefully will be coming home soon.

Pay it forward

Okay, I am giving in and playing the game. You know the rules, the first 3 people to comment get a homemade gift from me but you have to re-post this on your blog as well.

A surprisingly good day.

Yesterday came and went and I think the hardest part of the day was just having to get up at 3 am and drive to LA. Seriously, Sammy did so well. The Dr kept telling me that once he woke up he wouldn't really notice anything had happened, but I didn't believe him. I should have. We got to the Surgery center at 5:30 and they took us back about 5:45 and did Sammy's work up. Keep in mind he hadn't eaten since 8:00 the previous evening and he sat there and smiled at all the nurses and gave us a big smile when they took him back in to surgery. When he woke up he only cried until we gave him a bottle and the rest of the day it was like nothing happened. His new cast is plaster so it's much heavier than the other ones he's had, and he's having a harder time moving his leg because it is a full leg cast again. But on the bright side, this one we get to decorate and keep as a souvenir.


The rest of the day we hung around the house working on yet another project. Surprised? Didn't think so. We are working on Andi's bathroom now and thus far Thad has put in the new medicine cabinet and lights, put the new sink on and re-vamped the old vanity cabinet, and put new hardware on everything. Next is tiling the tub and floor. I helped by painting. Once the tile is done I'll put up some before and afters. Andi enjoyed having Thad home and managed to talk him into some interesting play time.

This is her "Argggg!" face

Thad got to be Captain Hook.

I'm still not sure who's idea this was.