Wow

Yeah! Emma has said her first word, other than mamammama, and da. Last night I was feeding her some milk before bed and she let loose with a 10 second fart. When she was done she popped the bottle out of her mouth and said, "wow", then she popped the bottle back in. I laughed so hard because she enunciated so well and kept her little mouth in the shape of an O. Since last night she has said wow several times and seems easily impressed. The boys have also started using a new word- "dolt" meaning being of age. They have many questions about why they cannot stay up and watch t.v at night, or drink Coke, or any of the other things that "dolts" do. Dylan says it almost like an insult. " Yeah, you can do it cause your a dolt."

Christmas

I picked up Gram 2 nights ago and she was excited to come to our house. We have had my grandparents stay at our house for Christmas since we moved to Oakley and it has been awesome. This is the second Christmas without Gramps and there was definently something missing. Gram was quiet and seemed a little melancholy, but tried to put on a brave face for us. We had our traditional fondue dinner and the boys ate all the shrimp and most of the the chocolate stuff. We cut Dawson off after 25 cream puffs, but he would have had more. The boys have been a little sick the last week or so, so it was good to have them eat something. The last several days have been long and filled with so much whining, that I couldn't wait for Christmas to be over with. Next year, I am definently going to do more talking about the true meaning of Christmas and less threatening of what Santa can or can't see. The kids opened their traditional p.j.'s and Dylan was pumped about Spiderman jammies but Dawson said "Power Rangers? I don't like Power Rangers!" I could tell right away, that we had once again gotten out of control with their presents. Next year, I SWEAR, I will only get them a few things. On Christmas Eve, we decided to forgo naps in order to have the boys go to bed easy, but it backfired with Dylan. That kid needs his sleep, especially a nap. For the first 3 hours he was in bed, he was in that weird sleep/kind of awake state, and he kept calling to us because his hand was falling off. Dave went in about 3 times and "glued" it back on.

We got up about 7:30 Christmas morning and the kids were very excited. We had a great time opening presents. Emma didn't quite get the opening part, but she just hovered around whoever was opening a present and just bounced in front of them. She got a little Dora Push/Ride thing and she loves it. I tried to pick her up to get her in the tub and she just tightened her grip on the steering wheel and her thighs around the toy. I had to shake her a couple of times until she let it go. She finally did, but not without a lot of grunting in protest. Dawson's favorite present was a Leapster Learning thing, and a Power Ranger's padded suit and mask. (surprise, he does like Power Rangers) Dylan loved his big "digger" and his evil light saber. It seems funny to me that my kids never want to be the good super hero. They love to play evil super heros, hopefully that is not some kind of foreshadowing.

We opened presents until 9:00 and then we had to hurry and get breakfast started. All of Dave's family always comes for breakfast on Christmas morning for his famous omelettes. Luckily they were running a little late, so we had time to get things started. The kids had fun running around with the cousins and getting all of their presents out of the boxes.

Later in the day, Gram and I took some wreaths to put on Gramps grave. I took a broom to get the snow off of his headstone, but someone had already shoveled him out. Then I took Gram back to Lucy's. It was a good Christmas.

We got up about 7:30 Christmas morning and opened presents. Emma didn't quite get how to open her presents, but she made the rounds and just kind of bobbed in front of whoever was opening a present. We had to beg Dylan to open his last 4 presents. Every year we swear we won't go overboard, and every year we do.

My First Baby Girl

The last half of my pregnancy with Emma was spent in a panic attack, when I found out she was actually a girl. I had about a thousand ultrasounds before my official ultrasound at 20 weeks. 6 different residents had confirmed this was going to be my third boy which I was ecstatic about. I have never yearned for a girl due to several reasons, namely, I am not very good at emotional stuff, and being sympathetic, and girlie stuff. Plus, one day when I was a smartass teenager, my mom cursed me with having a daughter just like me one day, so that I would know what I was doing to her.

Anyway, when she finally arrived, one look at her and I was just smitten. I have had a great time dressing her and buying tons of pink stuff and bows. She finally has enough hair to put into a couple of vertical pigtails. It looks so ridiculous, that it is adorable. She has been so fun and the best behaved baby I have ever encountered.

As a side note, my mom confirms that, that is how I was in the beginning too.

We took the kids to the pool tonight. It was a long day due to the artic weather and the excessive pre-Christmas adrenaline, so when Dave came home and said let's go get nachos, I almost got weepy. However, while he was in the shower, he hollered to me that we ought to go swimming instead. Swimming? Freak, what would I rather do- get into a swimsuit, or go get nachos, and add to the reason I don't want to get into a swimsuit. Hmm... We ended up at the pool, mostly because I am an unselfish, wonderful, awesome, mother, and because I knew it would wear the little hoodlums out. We had a great time. I am glad that all the kids love the water. Emma likes to climb out of the pool and sit on the edge and then fall over into the pool. I am sure if she could walk she would be doing cannonballs. It is so funny to see her eyes wide open under the water. She comes up sputtering, but laughing, which is good. The boys, including Dave were trying to come down the waterslide as fast as they could. Dave took Dawson's life jacket off so that he could reach maximum speed, and he ended up going pretty fast. He was pumped. None of them reached the speed or force which I attained when I was 9 months pregnant with Emma. I remember feeling like I was going to go out the sides of the slide and then when I came shooting out the bottom of the slide I hit the pool floor with such force I thought I cracked my pelvis, and the cement. After the pool we went to Timber Creek for dinner. It was so freaking cold, my hair froze in the 5 minutes it took to get there, and when we got home, the life jackets were frozen solid. It was a good time though, and the kids fell into bed :)

Heart Break

Dawson is having a hard time today. He asked me what time Ransom was coming up tonight, and I had to tell him Ransom probably wasn't coming to our house anymore. (Hannah and Ransom broke up last night.) Anyway he got really upset and was asking why. I told him that Hannah wasn't going to have a boyfriend right now and he started to tear up. He said that he wanted Ransom to stay and not Hannah. He really gets attached to people, especially guys. He has asked me a million times today about Ransom and gets teary. I took him with me to Heber to get groceries and on the way back I was talking to Jeff on the phone. When I hung up, Dawson said "Does Jeffy still love Mallory at least?" I assured him that he will have an Aunt Mall for a long time. He has been bugging Hannah while she has been at our house, he asks her over and over why she doesn't love Ransom anymore, which isn't easy for her either. Change is hard.
Emma is really being funny. She has been the most pleasant little baby ever. She got her first tooth finally at 10 months, and we didn't even know. She never makes any fuss. She has really started climbing and loves to climb into the dishwasher and on the computer desk. She grunts to get people's attention and really seems to communicate with the boys. She has a special relationship with Brynley, the baby sitter's daughter, who is 4 months older than Emma. Although she is older, Emma has her by about 3 inches and 10 pounds. Whenever Emma and Brynley see each other they start shrieking. They get so loud and out of control. In church last week they made a real scene with their conversation. It is pretty funny to watch.

Christmas Spirit

I couldn't get tickets this year for the Polar Express, so we decided to improvise by taking Trax to the temple to see the lights. We met Hannah and Ransom at Red Robin in Murray for dinner. Dylan still has some sores on his tongue, so he didn't eat very much, just laid on Dave's lap. Emma ate about 10 fries, when she could take her eyes off of Ransom. She is pretty smitten with him. Anyway after dinner we bundled up and boarded the train. I was pretty nervous riding Trax, because the majority of our crisis patients arrive and depart on Trax, but our ride was fairly uneventful, and after several stops we made it to the temple. It was a great night and the lights were beautiful. The boys were in awe and really well behaved. They loved the lights and the train, and giving change to the panhandlers. It was a fun night.
The boys are getting excited about their presents and are full of questions. They don't really respond to "Santa's watching" anymore, due to the naughty kid in Polar Express still getting presents. At least Dawson is starting to repeat the mantra of "Fire isn't really a kid toy", I hope he won't be disapointed when there isn't a flame throwing spiderman under the Christmas Tree. They are getting really good at shooting the Santa ornament on the ceiling fan with their Nerf dart guns. I really wish it was a tad warmer than 7 degrees outside, they really need some outside time.
Last night Dawson was getting out of the hot tub and made a leap from the wooden steps to the concrete steps and they water had turned to ice. His legs went right out from under him and he smacked his chin and chest on the concrete. He only got hysterical when the blood started gushing from his mouth and chin. Luckily though, he didn't lose any teeth or need stitches. I am in total amazement that we have not had one episode of stitches with the boys. They are counting their blessings too, I know. A couple of months ago we were at RC Willey looking at appliances for our new house and the boys were running around like usual. I just got down on their level and explained to them in explicit detail what getting stitches was like. I used a very calm voice and maybe exaggerated the size of needle a little bit, but it worked for awhile. Before I knew it though, there they were, jumping from mattress to mattress-"Hey look mom, no sharp corners!"

In the last few years we have transitioned from drawing names for Christmas gifts, in Dave's family, to getting names from social service and each family sponsoring a child instead. At our family Christmas party, we show off the gifts that we bought for the child and wrap them. It is a lot better than everyone just exchanging gift cards for each other, and as the boys get older I hope that they will understand and appreciate what they have. This year we have a 7 year old boy named Malachi, whose dream gift is a bike. He has an older sister with a serious heart condition, and his wish list had warm clothes and socks and necessities on it. So I loaded up the crew and we headed off to Provo. Hannah came with us and I am glad. She has been on enough trips in public with me and the kids to know what it entails, and yet she continues to come. I love her very much. We decided to go to lunch first and tried a new Mexican restaurant. We had to have a conversation with the boys about what Hispanic people are called a while back, after Dawson came home from his friend's house talking about " Mexicans." We told him their wasn't any need to differentiate when he was talking about someone. " You can just say, That man, or that kid, or whatever." Dylan popped in with " Yeah, we don't say Mexican, we say Nacho!" ( He loves Nacho Libre). Anyway as we sit down in this very authentic Mexican restaurant, Dawson can't remember why we can't say Mexican, so he starts asking questions very loudly. I was grateful to have chips to shovel in his mouth every time he opened it. We made it through lunch and Dylan had to go to the bathroom, so Dawson took him. Hannah and I were sitting their enjoying a few minutes of adult conversation when the boys came out of the bathroom and I could tell by Dawson's face something had gone down. We got outside and Dawson started re-enacting how he jumped to get a paper towel for Dylan and his finger got stuck on the knives that tear the towels off. Just as he finished he looked down at his finger and noticed a few drops of blood. He just freaked out. He was bawling and hysterical and Hannah grabbed a napkin to cover it. When he started breathing again I was trying to calm him down, but to no avail. We finally got in the car and Dylan was singing Christmas carols, and Dawson was screaming that the singing was making his finger hurt worse. This could be my fault. Maybe I should give them more sympathy when they are hurt. When they are wrestling or screwing around I always say, "I am not going to feel sorry for you, so don't tell me unless you are bleeding."
Well, for the next 3 painful hours we went to 4 different stores and tried to feel the Christmas spirit while picking out presents for Malachi. The whole time Dylan was trying out different ways to make Dawson's finger hurt without actually touching him. Dawson was intermittently whining about his finger, and Dylan's antics, and Hannah and I got the shopping done. Poor Emma, she is so good natured and pleasant to have around. She is always so happy, and she loves to watch the boys, I think she single-handedly balances our family.
Tonight while we were cleaning up dinner, Dylan started to get in his snow clothes. He had his snow pants on, gloves, and his snow hat pulled down over his eyes. I asked if he was going outside to play and he said no, that he was a scuba diver. He laid down on his stomach on the kitchen floor and dragged himself around with his hands. He kept a good look out for sharks, but it was really hard to clean the kitchen with him worming around on the floor. He finally got too hot and he and Dawson turned the flood lights on and played outside in the snow. I was surprised that they would go play outside in the dark, since yesterday they came in because they were sure they saw coyote tracks in our fully fenced backyard. They played outside with each other so great for an hour and then came in and fell into bed. It was a good day.

Thanksgiving

Ah, Thanksgiving. I usually work Thanksgiving, for a mulitude of reasons, largely so that I can have Christmas off, but also for reasons that I will not say, since family members read this sometimes. Love ya!
Today I am stuck in triage, so I am able to count my many, many blessings, as I assign the different patients to their rooms. My emotions feel like a pendalum today. This morning I was put out, and irritated by the patients that were coming in, especially the patient that tried to hand me her shit in a sandwich baggie. But, I realize that my life is so good. I have everything I need and want, and my family is healthy. We have recently added a domestic violence screening to the triage. The questions are hard to ask, but the answers are even harder to hear. I love caring for immediate, life threatening illnesses and injuries, but when they are done intentionally to a person, it takes it's toll.
I had a coupon for a free turkey at Smith's, but when I went to get it they only had the "smoked" variety, which the coupon specifically said not valid for. Well, my time was running up in the kid drop and I must admit, I was curious about a "smoked" turkey, so I just scanned the checkers for the dumbest looking one and stepped in line. There was a little resistance at checkout and the checker couldn't figure out why my coupon wasn't going through. He checked the weight of the turkey about 10 times and then in exasperation just took the total off my bill. The longer I stood there the more guilty I felt, but I took my bag with the turkey and went to pick up my innocent, trusting children. On the way home I called my husband and told him what a monster I was. I told him that I was sure our turkey would taste of deceit. If my kids don't end up in jail, it will be all Dave's doing.
I just talked to Dave and asked him if our turkey tasted of dishonesty and he said no, it tasted just like ham. Hmm.. I like ham.

We took the kids to the zoo this afternoon, and the weather was warm and beautiful. The boys are never all that interested in seeing the actual animals, but stand in awe at the different animal poops, and the monkeys with the bright red butts. They also like to see what the animals eat and all the "garbage" in their cages. They like the train, and they especially like the snake house and always try to find the kind of rattlesnake that almost killed us on a hike this summer. The kids played at the zoo park for a little while and Dave and I made fun of the various funny looking kids and parents. I took Emma over the board walk to look at the ducks, and this snot-nosed kid with a roll of quarters stood across from us pelting the ducks with the food he bought. I felt like I ought to say something, especially with the amount of quarters he had, but a part of me identified with him, and I probably would have done the same thing, had no one been around. After the park we went to the Olive Garden for dinner and the waiter knocked over Dave's coke into mine and Dawson's lap. Dave and I exchanged a few 'Why didn't we just hit McDonalds' looks through the meal, but all in all it was a good day.

Errands

Today we had a full day of errands, which usually means a lot of yelling and threats about being good in the store, but the boys were excited to go to "Cost-a-co" for the samples. On the way down the canyon we had a good talk about what we say about other people in public, and how loud we say it. Last Costco trip we had an incident where a very elderly asian lady came up and was cooing at the kids. Dawson was a little confused and said- "Hey, are you an old lady, or a little boy?" I whisked them right away so as not to continue to offend. I completely understood what he was talking about though. She was so old, she was starting to look young again. That same trip, we happened on a midget giving samples of sausage. I saw him before the boys did, so I just took them aside and said "the next table has a really short man, but don't say anything about it, and we can talk about it later." So we get our samples from the tiniest midget I have ever seen and the kids don't even blink an eye. I asked them a couple aisles over what they thought, and they both agreed it was the best sausage ever. Their idea of strange and mine are two different things.
They were good enough at Costco today that we went to McDonalds' for lunch. The boys looked at the toy display and didn't like what they saw, so they got salads. When we sat down in the playland, I could feel the other mother's stares as I cut up the chicken on the boy's salads and then enjoyed my own Big Mac and fries. They can eat what they want, but I don't go to McDonald's for salad.
The kids are getting excited for Thanksgiving and are full of stories from school. Dawson was telling me that the indians came on a ship called the Speeedwell, but then it broke down, so they got on the Mayflower. I tried to explain to him that the indians were already here, it was the pilgrims, but you can't tell that kid anything. Last year he came home from school and told us about Miss Terri (his preschool teacher) and how she ate for 3 days and then went on a boat and had to use the bathroom in a bucket. Dave and I thought she must have gone camping or something, so I asked her about it. She laughed and said she is never sure how much of the story the kids pick up, but she was just telling them about the pilgrims on the boat and the celebratory Thanksgiving feast, and she wasn't sure where the bathroom bucket came in.

"diet coke and a pizza please, diet coke I'm on my knees"

What a day! We are all just getting over the 16 hour poop and puke, and are starting to get our second wind. I have been listening to a lot of Mika lately, and the boys have really gotten into the song, 'Big Girls- (you are beautiful)' they don't really get that "big", means fat, they think that they are "big" boys, so it just means grown up. So about every 30 seconds today they kept saying "Hey Big Girl, you are beautiful" to me. Each time they said it, the pronunciation changed, the emphasis on the syllables was different, and I didn't get a wink every time, but it was still majorly irritating. I laughed it off until the afternoon, but then I told them to knock it off. That, in kidspeak, actually means I want you to relentlessly say that over and over. It finally ended when I threatened to take away their bikes, and fed them some AquaDots. (just kidding, I wouldn't take away their bikes.)
We went for a walk this afternoon and saw Dave coming down the road. Every time he comes home the boys hide from him, and he makes a game out of finding them. They started to panic when they saw his truck and had nowhere to hide, but finally dove into the ditch. It was pretty cute. It was nice to get out in the fresh air, that is one reason I love living here.

Little Hoodlums

Our neighbors, (who have teenage boys) get toilet papered regularly. Dawson was curious as to why anyone would put toilet paper all over someone's yard. I told him, it just meant Forest and T.J. had girlfriends. A few days later, some toilet paper from the neighbors drifted over onto our trees. Dawson woke me up very excited because now that we were toilet papered, it must mean that he has a girlfriend. He is very excited and tells everyone that he has a girlfriend, although he doesn't know who she is, or what she looks like, he is in love.
He and Dyl were asking me about smashing pumpkins, and I just told them it is something that teenagers do. They were bummed that they weren't teenagers yet, so last night we put our black hats on, and snuck out of our house to smash our own pumpkins. The boys were whispering and giggling, as they crept up our porch, trying not to let their dad know they were outside. We took the pumpkins out to the street and tried to smash them, but they were a little to old and just kind of crumpled. The boys thought it was hysterical though. They wanted to put them in the middle of the road so that cars would run over them. After the pumpkin fun they wanted to doorbell ditch, so again we attacked our own house. I think they inherited their love of mischief from their dad.

The Skate Park

At the end of the summer Dawson asked to have his training wheels taken off, because his friend didn't have them anymore. I told him that he probably needed to practice a little bit more, but before I could say to much, off he went on his friends 2 wheeler. Dave took his training wheels off that night, which prompted a melt down from Dylan, because he wanted his off too. I told him no way, that he needed to practice for a few more years. Well, he whined and bawled so much we took the training wheels off to teach him a lesson. After a few trips around the block, he also was riding like a pro. What do I know, I am just the mother. Well, last month we decided to go to the skate park to ride around the top area for a change of pace. I had just gone down into the bowls to get out of the wind with Emma, when I heard "Hey mom, watch this!" I turned around just in time to see Dawson come down eight stairs on his bike. In one hour at the skate park the boys had mastered the stairs, and were dropping down into 10 foot bowls . Their little legs couldn't keep up with the speed of the pedals, so they just stuck them out to the side. They beg to go to the skate park now, so I make sure their helmets fit right and our insurance premiums are paid up.

Dawson's Birthday

Yesterday Dawson turned 5. He is such a great kid. He loves to help with anything, and takes pride in all the big kid stuff he can do. He is so smart that it scares me a little. For his birthday, we told him he could choose whatever activity he wanted to do, and since I don't cook, where we would eat after. It went down like this.
" Can we go to the State Fair?"
"No."
"Can we go to the circus?"
"No."
"Can we go to Grandpa Randy's?"
"No."
"Can we go to Jungle Jim's?"
Ah, freak. Jungle Jim's it is. So we set off for a Saturday at the Jungle. We had to drop the boat off to be winterized in Provo first and as we were driving, we passed Tucano's, one of our favorite restruants. Dave and I met eyes and then Dave says "where are you thinking about for dinner, Daws?" Dawson's great idea was pizza at Jungle Jim's. So I say " You know that pizza isn't very good." Dylan wanted to know if it was dog pizza. " No, not dog pizza, but how about a special place where they cut your meat off of a big stick?" Eventually, throughout the day we convinced him, and we had a lovely dinner. Sunday we had a big party for the family and Dawson had a great time playing with all the cousins. He is such a great kid, and so fun to be around.

Happy Halloween!!

Note to anyone that trick or treats at our house: we get rid of last years candy first. This year we had a great Halloween. We met Hannah's fiancee for the first time, his name is Ransom, and the boys were very excited to see him. Just like with canines, we went through obedience lessons with them before he came. Don't jump up on him. Don't drag your toys out for him. He is not going to throw the ball for you, ect.. They had a great time with him though, and he was a good sport. We went to the trick or trunk a little late and came home with most of our candy. Hannah, Ransom, and Dave took the Black Power Ranger, Motocross Man, and the Skunk around the neighborhood when we got home and they collected a haul. After their little shaking bodies were in bed that night, we properly inspected the candy for razors and ate our fill too.