Take a deep breath

I have wanted to, thought about, and then not blogged every night this week. So much to say and share! I think that I could honestly call this the “Week of Nigel” since his birthday (his actual birthday day and birthday party day) bookended the week for us. I have also been pondering so many, many things about life, motherhood, cleaning supplies, and calorie counting. Am I a closet feminist? I have seriously considered that this week.

Let’s take a deep breath and begin the week’s recap:

• Nigel turned 8 on Monday. He is awesome! We love him!
• Ernie and I both weighed in on Monday. He is doing awesome at weight watchers, I am doing tolerably well.
• I love my spin class a lot!
• Ernie, Nigel, and Emmaline collectively decided that this was the week that they were done wearing uniforms to school. Nigel wants to know when he can wear regular clothes to school again.
• Relief Society. Lots of Relief Society.
• Absolutely delightful 3 hour break in the middle of the week at the deserted pool with Jenny and Rhonda. Max swam around and Jenny, Rhonda, and I had a fabulous group therapy session.
• Ernie and I had a big fight this week. (Miserable) We talked it out, with a couple of false starts at first, and totally resolved the issue. (Relief)
• Nigel earned his bobcat and went to his very first Cub Scout pack meeting!
• Little Ernie got a belt loop at the pack meeting for- wait for it- video gaming. He was thrilled.
• Nigel’s only birthday request was a fox birthday cake. Fox as in an animal, not the TV network.
• I spent the entire week agonizing about finding or making a fox for the top of his cake. Hobby Lobby saved me the trouble of sculpting fondant. Thank you, Hobby Lobby, for stocking a miniature plastic fox.
• Ernie and I were able to attend a session at the Baton Rouge Temple during the day. He took the day off of work, we left Max with a friend, and we were gone and back while the kids were at school.
• The Temple was wonderful.
• Being in the Temple with all the old ladies got me thinking about what I’m going to look like as I age. I guess I should take a look at my mom and answer my own question.
• I am in charge of contacting all the coaches for soccer.
• Soccer started this week.
• Am I defined as a woman by how well I clean?
• I much prefer to be defined by how well I mother. I just wish my ideas of mothering weren’t so tied up with guilt over not being highly motivated to scrub toilets.
• Two dear friends finalized their divorce. I have survivor’s guilt. I also feel so sad.
• Nigel’s birthday party was a huge success. Emmaline told me afterward that it was the “BEST BIRTHDAY PARTY EVER!” (and yes, she was speaking in all caps)
• Here was my very favorite birthday card. Scott Raber wrote this personal message, on behalf of him and his younger brother, inside of his homemade card: “Hope your birthday’s all fun and games, and we’re glad to give you this gift as a token of appreciation. So, Happy Birthday.” -Scott and Bryce
• I might be the only one that thought that message was funny- but I really, really did.
• Ernie and I have started watching the first season of the most recent “Battlestar Galactica” on Netflix. Don’t judge our sci-fi nerdiness.
• Emmaline and I went shoe shopping on Friday night. She announced that she wished that we had a billion dollars so that we could buy every pair of shoes. I said that I wished that too, but that she still had to choose just 2 pairs.
• After shoe shopping, Emmaline announced that shoe shopping is really fun (it is) and that she loves going on “girl’s campouts” with me (because she misheard me when I told her that she and I were going to have a “girl’s night out”).
• And now, ladies and gentlemen, a few pictures…

It’s Great to be 8!

Today is Nigel’s 8th birthday!! There are many things that I would like to share about Nigel, but the most important thing that comes to mind is how lucky we are to have him in our family. Nigel has a witty sense of humor, a keen mind, and soft heart. It’s been a delight to watch him grow up and to see him want to make good choices. Nigel was the baby who only slept on my chest for the first 3 weeks of his life. He is the boy who loves to climb- which is how I found him up on the counter pulling knives out of the knife block, when he was 3 years old. He is my son who has always (until this year) said that his favorite subject in school was recess. This year he’s fallen in love with math. Nigel is a joy in our home and I am so glad he’s ours. We LOVE Nigel!

So sweet

Max fell asleep in my lap today. Under normal circumstances I would have moved him to a more convenient location, but not today. Today I held him like he was still just a little baby and sat there with him for an hour. My kids are growing up and I know that moments like today won’t happen for much longer. So it seemed to me that in 10 years it will matter much more to me that I sat and held him, rather than getting up to fold the laundry instead.

Totally worth it.

Dinner without Dad

Ernie’s at a business dinner tonight. I knew all day that he wouldn’t be home for dinner tonight and I planned accordingly. (i.e., I happily did nothing!)

Tonight my friend called at 5:45 pm and hastily said, “I’m so sorry! I hope I didn’t interrupt dinner!”

To which I happily replied, “Not at all, Ernie’s not home and I’m currently washing all the windows while the kids run around in their underwear and watch Dora the Explorer.”

Ah, sweet respites.

Now, in case anyone thinks that I like my life better when Ernie isn’t home- well that just isn’t true. I think that I have sufficiently documented my complete adoration for him at length. In fact, I have been driving Ernie to work every morning since the kids started back to school 2 weeks ago, for no reason other than that we like being together. Today Ernie drove himself to work (knowing he’d be going to dinner tonight) and I’ve suffered “Ernie withdrawal” all day because of it.

Just the same, it feels a little bit like a vacation to throw my strict time schedule out the window:

5:00pm- Set the table

5:30pm- finish up cooking dinner

5:45pm- call Ernie and find out why he isn’t home yet

6:00pm- Family dinnertime

6:45pm- kitchen clean-up

7:15- start the bedtime process

I don’t actually follow this schedule every night- even though I tell myself I’m supposed to- and on the nights that I don’t, I am racked with guilt over not providing the set table, full dinner, spotless kitchen, etc. (because I provided cold cereal, ramen, or McDonald’s instead).

Ernie going to dinner tonight saves me from being a slave to the schedule and at the same time liberates me from the guilt of not actually following said schedule.

It’s a fabulous win-win. Especially because I know that tomorrow night he’ll be home for dinner.

Sand Hill, Mississippi

Ernie was on assignment today to speak in the Sand Hill Branch and he took me along as his “youth speaker”. So we got up early, loaded the kids in the car and headed out for the hour and a half drive to the Sand Hill building, which is located out in the country- just outside of a small town called Richton, Mississippi: population 1,038.

The church there is small and they don’t have primary or young men or young womens since the congregation is comprised of only senior citizens. They do have a primary president who is ready to set things up at the last minute, just in case someone brings their grandchildren to church with them. I counted today and there were 19 people there, not including us. So our family bumped the attendance up to 25.

It was one of the best Sundays ever. I’m not sure if it was being in a room full of grandparents and having them be so excited to have us there (I felt like everyone’s favorite daughter!) or if it was because we were simply in the right place today- but Ernie and I both commented on what a special experience it was.

I spoke about the parable of the Good Samaritan and Ernie talked about Unity.

And of course, since this seems to be a Mississippi phenomenon- I had to photograph their LDS cemetery.

Here’s the picture I took from our spot in the parking lot:

 

And here’s one where you can see a corner of the very small building where they met:

Bullet Points

Here’s a summary of our currently crazy (in a totally good way) lives:

• Weight Watchers for Ernie (he’s down 15 pounds so far)
• Weight Watchers for Rebecca (I’m down 6 pounds so far)
• Spin class for Rebecca- this is my new favorite thing about the gym!
• Potty Training for Max, which is only going so-so, since I really haven’t made the commitment to spend a solid week at home yet. (Why is potty training so inconvenient?)
• Soccer for the kids- starting next week, but I am busy calling lots of lots of parents- so for me it’s already started.
• School bus for Ernie, Nigel, and Emmaline. This is early. Every day at 6:40am.
• Homework… or as my friend Cyndy calls it: Momwork.
• School uniforms! This one has highly simplified the morning process, way more than I expected it to. (I actually didn’t think it’d make a difference, but I was wrong.)
• Mosquitoes. They are bad again.
• Lots of thunderstorms, which is probably why the mosquitoes are currently sucking so much of our blood.
• Percy, our pure bred cat is missing, and is believed to be stolen. Little Ernie is seriously distraught.
• Bogart, our awesome border collie, seems a little depressed without Percy, and we are trying to remedy this by inviting him to ride in the car with us a lot. He really likes that and it seems to be helping his mood.
• Cooler weather is starting to show up here and there (by cooler, I mean 88 degrees, which feels fantastic after days of 98 to 108 degrees) and I’m getting anxious for fall. And decorating with pumpkins… lots of pumpkins.
• Shade Clothing is going out of business. This is making me mildly distraught.
• Nigel told me that we have a really cool Smith Team and he thinks that we are all really special. My master plan is working :)

If you don’t have anything nice…

If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. That pretty much sums up my lack of blogging for the past week.

No, it’s not been terrible. Just busy, with wild kids, too much on the calendar, and a couple of migraines thrown in just for fun.

The kids started back to school last Friday and they loved it. Simple as that. I am happy and I think that this is going to be a banner year for each of them in school. Max broke my heart that first day of school as he ran as fast as his little legs would carry him- with a lunchbox with crackers inside grasped in his hand- and tried to catch the bus. He couldn’t keep up with the older kids (who were running because the bus was early on the first day) and he sobbed on the road when he realized he wasn’t going to make it and then the bus pulled away without him.

Ernie had a rough week at work and those issues took a lot of thought and prayer and discussion. I’m grateful to have a husband who is truly my friend and is interested in my thoughts and opinions.

The migraines are getting a little out of control- I think that they are allergy related, but my allergy meds combined with Aleve aren’t fixing the problem like they usually do.

I’ve spent the week reflecting on a lot of things. We have had a great summer with lots of cousin time, lots of pool time, and lots of fun. I think my kids are absolutely delightful and I am amazed at times that I get to parent such cool kids. Just the same, it’s a nice transition to have the older ones back in school and to get back to the things that just Max and I do (or really the things that just I do- since Max hasn’t had a decent nap all summer and now he’s making up for lost time- giving me, by default, lots of free time).

I will have many more pleasant things to report this week- I’m sure of it! I’ll take pictures of the kids in their uniforms. I’ll cook dinner most nights. I’ll go to the doctor about the headaches. Most of all I will say only nice things.

Potty Training: A Spectator Sport

I set up the new potty for Max this afternoon, thinking that there was no time like the present to start familiarizing him with the process. I set it up, took off Max’s diaper, and showed him what to do. Then I put some underwear on him and sent him on his way, with the clear instruction to “run, run, run” to the potty if he felt like he needed to go to the bathroom. Max toddled off and within 5 minutes, there came a rallying cry from upstairs: “Max is wearing underwear!!” “What???” “MOM- WHERE’S MAX’S DIAPER?” and so on, as the 3 older kids ran downstairs to find out exactly what was happening. I explained. And then, Max became the celebrity that he’s always wanted to be. You have never seen 3 more interested children in the potty training process.

I found them all a few minutes later- crowded into the small bathroom, issuing many instructions to Max, and checking every 10 seconds to see if there was something in the potty yet.

In case you were wondering, Max did actually pee in the potty- after everyone left him alone. Then he wet his pants an hour later.