Escapee

15 months old and Kiersa is already escaping from her crib. I had to take her pillow out so she couldn't use its thickness as a step-stool.

She also is trying to potty train herself, much to my shock. She's very aware of when she needs to go, so while we're shopping in WalMart, she'll suddenly stop walking, squat down, stare at us and say "Poop!" Sometimes she'll even beckon me to the toilet. I've never had any of my kids trained before 2 years and 3 months, but Kiersa may be my first.

The pox on you!

Was it just me and my sisters, or did anyone else say this rhyme as a kid?

I'm telling on you!
Why?
Because you put rocks in my socks and gave me the chicken pox.



Kiersa got 4 shots on the 19th, one of which was the varicella vaccine (chicken pox). On the 28th, about 5 days after every person in my family was healthy at the same time (which hasn't happened since January), Kiersa came down with a fever. It was strange. Only a fever off and on for 2 days. Then I remembered the doctor said that a week or two after the shots she might get a rash (not contagious) , fever, or spots. The spots would be contagious, because they would be chicken pox. On the 30th, the spot appeared.

How much do you want to bet that Paisli will come down with chicken pox in 2 weeks? Kiersa was cuddling her like crazy on Friday, when I didn't realize she had chicken pox yet, but was already contagious.

Boing!

Some jerk stole 16 springs off of our trampoline during the night a few weeks ago. Now, it sags and bags if you jump too close to those areas. The kids still jump anyway since we have a trampoline enclosure that prevents them from falling in the gaps.

Now where in the world am I supposed to find replacement springs??!!! My mom's barn of course! You can find almost anything in the storage area of a collector of all things used.

Paisli likes to bounce too...in her bouncer. Hyrum put her in it yesterday since she hates lying around looking at the ceiling, and she stayed in long enough to fall asleep in it.


I guess you've noticed that I haven't shaved her head yet. She has the best infant hair of all my kids, so I'm not in a rush. In pictures, it looks a bit like her hair line is very receded, but in person it's not so bad. The dark mullet-like section of hair where her head meets her neck (in the back) is a big irritating to me, but I'm handling it.

This is Hyatt's before and after hair.



Much better in my opinion, though he looked like an entirely different baby since he went from long dark hair to short blond hair. I think Paisli's would do the same because her new undergrowth is far lighter than her longer hair.

Talea and Kiersa had hardly any hair to start with, so no one really even noticed when I shaved their heads.

Here's Talea before and after.



Here's Kiersa before and after.



I usually shave my kids several times and only let it finally grow in when it all looks nice and even everywhere, but I only shaved Kiersa once, and you can tell. Her hair on top is waaaay longer than everywhere else and it get caught in breezes and flaps around. Hyrum commented that she looked like a cancer patient and wants me to trim it, and I would...but it's so fun to grab and play with!


Here's what their hair looked like on their 1 year birthdays.


As far as eyes...
It's funny how Paisli's hair is very auburn, but her lashes and brows look like they might stay reddish,


whereas Kiersa has strawberry blonde hair and her lashes and brows are actually quite dark, considering.


I can't wait to see what Kiersa's and Paisli's hair looks like when it's at it's full thickness and color around 3 years old.

Spring is in the air

It's "dating" season! I have no qualms with telling Talea how it is. She's so curious and has such a thirst for knowledge and how things work. If she asks me how and why questions, I tell her. So when she asked me why bugs are stuck together lately, I told her they're mating so they can make baby bugs. Well...it's true.


Talea heard me wrong. When she saw these bugs, she caught them, then she exclaimed, "Look! They're dating!" When Hyrum questioned her as to what dating was, she said it's making babies. Okay, dating is out of the question for Talea now without a chastity belt!!!

Awwwww...

This is why my heart is full.

(This is Paisli sleeping on Hyatt's arm, by the way.)

Walks

When you have 4 kids, 1 double jogger, and 2 hands, you make do. This is how we end up when I take them on walks (my kids have no walking endurance).

Hair in the hole!

I found my first unruly nose hair today trying to sneak its way out of my nostril. Of course it was instantly plucked, leaving my eyes watering. I felt violated, having my nose overrun by a long hair. How gross! I guess it's just one more piece of proof that I'm getting old.

What's next? 3 inch eyebrow hairs dangling into my eyes?

Darn it

Talea's favorite word to emphasize what she's saying: Darn.

Example:
The other day, Talea's friend, Dean, said, "Talea, you're not my girlfriend!" To which Talea replied, "I know, Dean, but you're just so darn cute!"

I think Talea is just so darn cute.

Pollyanna's glad game

My Aunt Judy once told me that there came a point in her marriage that she prayed for trials in she and her husbands lives since trials make you stronger. Soon after, her husband (a pilot) got in a plane wreck. He survived, but it was definitely a trial, and they grew from it and became stronger in their marriage.

Though I understand the principle, I'm waaaay too chicken to ask for trials, because 1) I don't like trials, tests, or hardships and 2) I like to play things safe and would rather have a life of boring same ol' same ol' rather than an exciting life filled with unexpected challenges and possible horrors.

So even though I've never prayed for challenges/trials to test our marriage or lives, it seems we've been loaded with them nonetheless.

Sometimes I feel like all I do is complain, worry, fret, stress, and plead. My faith waxes and wanes according to my stress tolerance. I wonder what we've done to deserve the mole hill of bad luck that appears to be forming into a mountain right before my eyes as each day passes. I go over the things we should be doing to see if we're leaving something out, and thus "asking for trouble". I go over the things we could possibly do to cast out the demons of bad luck. Will all that's happened to us over the last few months (things I've blogged about and things I haven't), it becomes easy to feel negative about life, get a little blue, wish to go back to easier times (man, I was naive to feel that a college final looming over my head was "stress"), and wish for sleep to come until the good times roll again.

As my little family has mucked along in the quicksand of bad luck, I've realized that focusing on all the negative in our lives has gotten me nowhere. Clinging to this negativity is like clinging to a blade of pampas grass to pull myself out of the quicksand. It's not strong enough to pull me out. It'll break, and just before it does, my hand will slip on it and it will slice my hand open in paper-cut fashion, as pampas grass always does. I've decided that if it's a strong branch I'm looking for, I'd better change my outlook on life and cling to any positive aspects of each negative that kicks us in the rear.

Pollyanna! If you've never seen that movie, why in the world not!!!?? It's a classic Disney. Pollyanna had a game called the glad game that she'd play to distract you from feeling down or grumpy. I'm going to play the glad game with things that I could otherwise choose to view as bad luck.

I'm getting old(er).
I'm glad I'm aging since older women make better lovers.

I'm older than Hyrum.
I'm glad I'm older than Hyrum because wisdom comes with age, so I'll always be smarter than Hyrum! Don't dispute me on this, Hyrum. If momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. :)

I'm getting grey hair.
I'm glad I'm finding grey hairs since the silver sparkles against my brown hair and makes my hair shiny, which is much more interesting than just plain dark brown hair.

My kids have been sick almost nonstop this winter and spring.
I'm glad my kids will now be immune to about 40 strains of viruses since that's about how many times they've been sick these last couple of seasons.

Business is down. Way down.
I'm glad business will be improving since when you're down, there's only one way you can go...up!

We're stuck in a tiny apartment with 7 people and no idea of when our house remodel will be complete.
I'm glad we get this chance to bond so closely. The family that crams together, stays together, right?

I'm finding it difficult to lose the baby weight.
I'm glad I have plenty of food to eat and I don't have to scavenge from a dump like the people I saw on TV.

I have wretched carpal tunnel syndrome that makes it painful to do yard work, fix my hair, apply make-up, hold kids and sleep.
I'm glad I have carpal tunnel as an excuse to not blow dry or curl/straighten my hair because over the last couple of years it's been too painful to fix my hair, so over that time of letting my hair air dry the majority of the time and not styling it or using any hair products, my hair has become the healthiest it's ever been and has more than quadrupled in thickness, and I'm getting compliments on my hair all the time, when that rarely happened previously. I can wear a pony-tail for the first time in my life without it looking spindly and pathetic. I'm also glad that my morning routine is so short because of the lack of styling. I wouldn't have the time for it anyway.

Well, I feel better now. The sun is starting to shine, metaphorically and out my window. I have my little family and that's all that matters. My hair will continue to grey, my waistline will never return to a pre-baby size, business will wax and wane, and life will go on. The only thing that won't change is my love of my family, and their love for me. I'm so grateful for each of my kids and a loving husband who tells me I'm the best friend he could ever have and that he can't stand to be away from me because he misses me so much. Ahhh. Eat your heart out Edward and Bella!

Speaking of Twilight, I listened to the book on Hyrum's phone while I walked in the mornings and all the gaps and strangeness in the movie were filled and explained. I really enjoyed the book, though I was surprised at her use of profanity and sensuality. A good book nonetheless, and now I enjoy the movie much more. We even decided to buy it. For anyone who saw the movie before reading the book, you'll understand why the movie was a little strange to me. I'm glad I saw the movie first though because I think I'd be a little disappointed in the movie if I'd read the book first. The problem now is, I'm anxious to read the next book but the movie's not out yet!! What to do...

Oi, Hyatt!!!

You know how it takes a kid a little while to be able to speak properly? I used to say w's instead of r's (wudolph the wed nosed weindeew). Tilly couldn't say her l's forever (she said her name as Tawea Wiwa). Hyatt can't say the "or" sound.

Anything with "or" in it is pronounced "oi".

Hoise (horse)
Yoi (your)
Doi (door)
Moi (more)
Oinge juice (orange juice)
Foik (fork)

You get the idea. It's so stinkin' cute I don't want him to change.

He's beginning to pick up Talea's characteristics now that he's older and spends ALL of his time with her. The two are inseparable. Talea insists he goes to preschool with her, so he goes since the moms don't mind. Hyrum took Talea on a Daddy/daughter date to a movie on the Saturday before her birthday, but Hyatt was a little bummed he wasn't going so Talea was quick to invite him along and say she wanted a Daddy/daughter/Hyatt date. Since he's with her so much, he's starting to shed his shyness shell he's been hiding in his whole life. I've taken the kids to the park after work a couple times this week while Hyrum's wrapping things up at the shop, and I've noticed that Hyatt has suddenly decided he's brave enough to run onto the playground yelling things like "hi guys!" to the other children and going up to random kids and just chatting with them on a bench for a while. That is soooo Talea, not Hyatt.

Even though he's picking up her courage to make friends with stranger children, he doesn't have her guts when it comes to bugs. He refuses to hold worms because they're too slimy. Kiersa has a lot of interest in bugs just because they look intriguing, but she follows Hyatt's example and doesn't want to touch them. Looking is enough for her. I thought all my kids would be into bugs, but it looks like Talea is alone with the entomology interest. She could be Daisha's child easily (competitive, tom boy, etc).

When Hyatt gets tired, he doesn't fight it like Talea. He simply states, "I'm tired", then he goes and puts himself to bed. He's very low maintenance, though he does cry more than I'd care for.

Oi!!! Isn't he a cutie?

Paisli Taya

Paisli is 3 months old now.

I've been thinking of the contrast between when I had Talea and when I had Paisli. With Talea, being my first, she completely consumed my time. I had no other distractions, so I was extremely focused on her and every single milestone. I didn't have any other noses to wipe, no other crying babies to hold, no other kids to feed, no other diapers to change, no other baby books to update and no other bodies to dress. I wasn't working either. Things are VERY different now. It's strange how I was able to adjust to having several kids when one seemed to take up everything I had in me.

With one, I updated the baby book constantly and most everything was brand new. After the fourth, it seems that I'm lucky to notice when something happens, and I never have a pencil handy or time available to write those milestones down and when they happened. Everything is hand-me-downs from someone or somewhere. Ah, the joys of being the youngest!

I haven't had time to blog lately (until the last few days), so I feel like I've neglected Paisli's newness a little too much. Here's a little catch up on what she's been doing in her life during her first months, and some cute pictures I took the other day.


During her 3 months in this life, Paisli has...
-started to laugh, a little (mostly she just holds it in letting out slight bursts)
-smiled constantly
-slept through the night for the past few weeks, never waking earlier than 5:45am.
-discovered her hands
-started scooting around when she's mad and crying and kicking (she was crying on the bed, then I heard her freak out for a few seconds but figured she was just mad since her crying settled a bit, then sounded muffled...I checked on her and couldn't find her...I found her in the crack between our bed and Kiersa's crib, legs flailing straight up in the air, head-down with her face in the pillows that were shoved down the crack...Hyrum said he put her far away from the edge, so apparently she can move quite a bit now...thank goodness she was only stuck in a crack on some pillows and didn't fall off the edge on our hard floor)
-held her head up almost since birth
-cooed and "talked" to us for a while now
-tracks you around the room with her eyes
-always loved showers and only grudgingly tolerated baths
-figured out the power of crying to get attention
-chunked up faster than Tilly and Hyatt ever did, but nowhere near as fast/much as Kiersa did
-decided she'll make a fuss if she's put down and has started to stay awake for a large part of the day, which makes for tired mommy arms. Thank goodness for slings!

Pooped

Some things in life are just soooo exhausting that they leave you "pooped".


This is how I found Hyatt yesterday. He needed to be wiped, but I was outside and couldn't hear his calls, so he fell asleep. It took me a while to find him because I could hear his breathing, but couldn't find him in any of the beds.

To shave, or not to shave.

That is the question.

I've always shaved my babies' heads around 2 or 3 months old. I just can't stand when babies have the balding spot in the back, or thinning up front when everything else is full, or when the dark wispy baby hair is being overrun by new blond hair, making the baby look like it got a bad dye job. When my babies get any signs of the above, off goes their hair. It usually grows back really fast because of it, and passes up babies who never were shaved.

Now, Paisli's hair has been bugging me for a while. It's seriously receding, thinning in the back, and her new hair is coming in blondish red, making her baby hair look a bit two toned. It's time for it to come off.

But...I'm a little curious as to what my babies' hair would have looked like if I'd never shaved it, so I ALMOST want to leave it alone.

Almost.

After all, if any of my babies was to break a streak of something, it would be Paisli. She was the only one of my kids to be born without a birthmark. She is my only girl to start sleeping through the night at 2 months old (Hyatt did too, but he's a boy...and Paisli sleeps longer than Hyatt did). My other girls refused to sleep through the night until 9 or 10 months old.

So though I'm a little tempted to leave the hair, I think it'll be gone soon. Sorry to those of you who are a fan of the thinning wispies. I'm not.

This is Paisli's most famous expression. She still hasn't gotten past the scowling stage. I can't remember how long it lasted with my other kids. She definitely has the biggest mouth of all my kids, and she and Hyatt have the biggest eyes. She's a perfect combination of Talea and Hyatt.


Here's her hair (the back and front, with her hair spiked and mohawked). Don't you love the mullet? I don't.