2014: Day 13

 Day 13's challenge was to write about my week. Since I've chosen to write about things on my mind most of the time, I often neglect the day to day posts with pictures of my kids and what they are doing.

Last week, my sister went into labor. Yippee! I had told her I would take her 2 kids so my mom could be at the hospital with her and so we got to have a cousin sleepover on Tuesday night.

Do you think they got any sleep? Actually, they did. Surprisingly, the boys fell asleep within 20 minutes. Spidey is usually the instigator and likes to jump on the bed when he has company over so I was glad to have them asleep. The girls fought sleep for almost 2 hours but they stayed in the bedroom the whole time so I can't really complain.

The next day was really fun. I love doing hair so Ellie got a new hairstyle for the day after Petey went to school. Isn't she adorable?

My brother in law's sister came and got the kids in the afternoon and I was just waiting to hear if my sister had pushed her baby out yet!

In the early afternoon, the announcement text came through and I was an auntie again to a new little boy!

 We took these pictures tonight. I've decided to call him Red on the blog. He is one precious little baby boy. He's also really red. :) He is a mix of his two other siblings so it'll be fun to see how he looks when he's a little older.

In other exciting news, I dyed my hair this week.

 And yes, it is pink. :)

Petey was soooo jealous but also really excited! She's been asking for pink hair for months but obviously, that just isn't happening at the age of 5. I decided it fed my wild side and also made her happy. Doesn't get much better than that!

I love my pink hair so much that Facebook has had a few new awkward selfies of me. Yay Facebook viewers! I just don't think selfies are usually all that cute and yet, I keep posting them! It's partly to show off my hair and partly sarcasm.
But anyway, I really love it! Can you tell?!

This past weekend was full of events; happy, sad, and embarrassing.

I went bowling with a bunch-o-friends on Friday night and since I'm probably the most awesome person ever, I sprained my wirst bowling a ball that was apparently too heavy for my weak-sauce wrist.

Boss' cousin had passed away almost 2 weeks ago and his funeral was Saturday morning so I decided my wrist would be fine until the afternoon, even though I could barely move it.
The funeral was beautiful and I am so lucky to know such a wonderful family. I am so grateful I was able to honor such a special young man. I cried a lot more than I would've expected the day he passed away and his funeral brought a lot more tears. There were tears of happiness and sadness as we mourned our loss but were happy for his gain.

We left the luncheon around 2pm and I was almost in tears from the pain I was feeling in my wrist. Since my dad was in meetings and we couldn't figure out a better option for an xray, I dropped my kids off to my mom and sister and I headed to the hospital ER.

A fun 4 hours later and I was diagnose with a bad sprain and given an ace bandage and stronger medication. The ace bandage became annoying after about 5 minutes but thanks for my wonderful friend, I borrowed a better wrist brace that doesn't take up half my arm.
I really am surprised by how painful this sprain is. The only reason I was worried about it being broken was because of the amount of swelling and the PAIN.

But all is well. It feels a teensy bit better today and hopefully by Tuesday, I'll be writing with my right hand again since school is starting back up! Yay me! Wish me luck. :)

Productive Days

What I have learned this week: I feel SO much better about my life and myself when I am being productive.
The week before New Years, some friends and I were talking at the park about resolutions. Everybody seemed to have different resolutions and one lady even said she didn't make resolutions because she doesn't keep them. This may be something that has been true in the past for me. I often don't look at my goals even the day after writing them. But not this year.
This month has been a success so far. I've studied my scriptures more, kept up with our Tot School, and today I did a temple session all by myself for the very first time. School has been so much fun for the kids. They love learning new things and having my full attention to help them with practie the things I am teaching them. Spidey is working on the color green this week......while Petey is working on the letters E, P, and the number 4. These papers are from the first day of the week. She has been a sponge for learning how to write her letters and I am impressed with how well she is doing.
I've also been trying to be a better mother, just in my day to day life. My kids are going to be little for only so long and I want to remember and enjoy these moments with them. Last week, we had some friends over for the whole day and it was so fun for me to be a mom of 4 for the day. Petey enjoys have a "baby sister" in the house whenever L comes over. I had to take pictures of my full car when we drove to the park. I love having my van and being able to fit so many littles in my car. Again, Miss Petey loves L. She was such a good little mommy and helped with anything I needed. And on a side note, these swaddler blankets are awesome and I am totally getting some before we have next baby. :)
It makes me happy to see my kids happy and to see them showing love toward others. Often times, I feel like I've done a pretty crappy job so far as their mother so it's nice when I catch them doing something and I know it's because of the way they are being raised.
I really lucked out. I have two of the best children in the entire world (though I'm sure every mother feels that way).
I know that I am striving to be a better mother and in doing so, I know I will get better at it a little bit at a time.

And that's how Suze sees it.

Baby Day

Yesterday, we had a very special morning. Baby L got to come over and spend the morning with us. Baby L's family goes to church with us. They needed a sitter for a couple hours and we were the winners! I could've held her forever. She just stared at me, occasionally smiling, but mostly just sucking on that cute little pacifier. I wasn't quite sure how the kids would react to her since I wasn't going to be giving them as much attention. I couldn't believe how much they loved on her. Petey made her smile so many times.

Poor Baby L. My kids wanted to constantly be touching her. Good thing they had clean hands.

Petey kept saying, "She is so much cute, Mom."

And when I finally let her hold Baby L (yes, I was being a baby hog), she had the most geniune smile on her face.

Of course, when Spidey wanted to help hold her, Petey's smile dwindled a little bit. I guess she felt the same way I did. We never wanted Baby L to leave!

Having Baby L over that morning reassured me that we are ready for a baby. It may be in nine months and it may be in five years, but we are ready. Even Boss (the one who usually has to take a couple of days to calm down each time I've shown him a positive pregnancy test) talks about how much he wants a baby. It makes my heart happy to know that whenever it happens, we will have so much gratitude. We know how much of a miracle babies are. We may know that we are ready but we also know that God knows what is best for us.

I wish we could have a Baby Day all of the time. If anyone (*ahem, Leyla or Lindsey*) wants to let us watch their baby for a couple of hours, we would LOVE to. :) It's a win-win situation.

And that's how Suze sees it.