Blanket projects

Here are a few baby projects I have finished over the last few months.  And I just realized that they are all blankets.  This one is the one I made to match the bouncy seat I recovered a while back.  It is the second blanket I have ever machine quilted.

 

Here it is with the matching bouncer.  I like the way it all turned out.

Here is a crocheted blanket I made.  I didn't make it specifically to use as a blessing blanket, but it might be used for that because at this point, I don't know if I will get to making another one.  They take a while, and I don't really have a while left.

This is just my simple, crocheted edged blanket.  All of my babies have had at least one.  They spend a lot of time in these blankets because I use them for swaddling.

This blanket is actually the first one I ever machine quilted.  And if you can't tell, it's not for our baby.  I made this for a program called Downy Touch of Comfort.  They ship you a kit with all of the fabric pieces and you assemble it, add batting and finish it off and ship it back to them.  They send them to hospitals to give to kids who are long term stay patients because they usually can't bring their own blankets or toys.

 

I kind of messed it up a bit though.  Hopefully they don't care.  Each individual green and yellow block is supposed to be checker-boarded.  But, in a brilliant effort to be smart and save time (i.e. not follow the directions exactly) I forgot about some seam allowances which resulted in not being able to cut the blocks again to checkerboard them.  At least I realized this before I cut any of the blocks in half or I would have had a big problem.

 

I'm glad neither of my boys is big into tractors, or I might have been in trouble sending this off.

My kids are lucky to be alive.

Why?  Because they almost didn't survive their mother this afternoon.

Lets just say that while I was teaching piano lessons they all snuck outside to play in the monsoon mud and were doing things like this:

(This is my sliding glass door.)

And all looked a bit like this:

(I would only take Damon's picture because I didn't want the older ones to think it was funny.  Because it really wasn't.)

They were all so messy that they couldn't just walk inside to get in the bath.  I had to hose off the patio before I could then hose them off enough to bring them inside.  Which, by the way, they thought was awesome since the water from the hose feels like bath water.

Once clean, the boys would not stop running and yelling... in the same room that I was still trying to teach piano lessons in.  After repeatedly telling them to go upstairs and having them not listen, I physically carried Damon up and made Kelton follow.  Lots of threats later, they understood I was serious and that they were not to come down until I was finished.

So I finish and find Damon like this.  I didn't even care enough to wash him off.

The kids went to bed early tonight.

Dogs

Nate and some of the kids think that we need a dog. I think we already have enough.

The Potty and Damon's master plan

I decided the last time I bought Damon diapers that I wouldn't buy another box, and I would potty train him when they ran out.  They ran out on me faster than I thought and I was caught a bit by surprise one day when I realized I only had about 10 diapers left.  I didn't feel ready to potty train, but I think after doing two kids, I will never really be "ready" to do it again.  And, I also wanted to give it a try before the baby comes and I am quickly running out of time to meet that deadline.

So, on Wednesday night, I used the very last diaper I had when I put Damon to bed.  Thursday morning, we started potty training.  I am using the "3 Day Method" where you never ask them if they need to go potty, or ask if they want to try, or even just put them on the potty.  Instead, you constantly tell them to tell you when they need to go potty.  I knew this might be a slower method with Damon, who is 2 years and 3 months old, but felt like it would be best in the long term with him (or really, any kid for that matter).  This way, they learn to use the potty when they feel the need to go and don't have to rely on a parent remembering to take them there.  (This way was super fast when I trained Kelton, but he was over three years old.)

Day one and day two were filled with nothing but accidents.  But I could tell something was starting to click.  On day three, at dinnertime, (at Denny's with Nate's parents) Damon had his first real success where he told me he needed to pee and then went to the bathroom and did it with his underwear still dry.

As for nighttime... the first time he woke up in a pull-up, it was wet.  But, I think he probably peed in it after he woke up before I could get to him.  The next two nights he woke up dry.  I have never had a child do this at such an early stage of potty training.  So tonight, I put him to bed in his underwear.  We will see what happens.  But I think it will be okay since Damon woke me up this morning (with a pull-up on) at 6:00 saying, "I need to go pee."  Which he then did, in the potty.  I was really happy about that.  Not so happy about the time of day, though.

Today when we went to church, I kept Damon in his underwear.  I kept him in his underwear as we went out and about this weekend with Nate's parents too.  Once I put underwear on my kids, I never put them in pull-ups during the day.  Even a two year old knows its just a diaper.  So, I was a little nervous about nursery, but was prepared to clean up any messes.  Damon actually did great!  He didn't even have any accidents until later this evening.  He ended up having two accidents tonight.  The last one happened while I was on my way home from choir practice.  I have to admit, I thought this whole thing was kind of funny.  Probably just because it didn't happen on my watch.  Damon peed on the carpet.  While daddy was occupied cleaning it up, Damon found a marker, which he knows he's not even supposed to have, and proceeded to make lovely drawings on the walls.

This one shows the wall a bit better.

There were two other walls that looked similar to this one.  When I got home, I caught him with the marker in his hand.  His diversion was good enough to keep daddy busy for a while, but he forgot to factor mom coming home into his scheme. And I am, once again, thankful to the Magic Eraser people for making it possible for me to find this whole thing funny.

As for potty training, it is still a work in progress.  But I feel like he's doing well and will continue to do better each day.  Then, by the end, I will never have to remember or remind when it comes to Damon going potty.  And hopefully our walls will remain mural free.

School!

So, this was my Sunday night indicator that boredom had completely taken over and school really needed to start.

Natalie's first day of 2nd grade was yesterday!  She was so excited to start school again.  She has one of the many new teachers at the school this year.  Actually, I think this might even be her teacher's first year ever.  We will see how it goes!  Natalie loved her first day of school.  When I asked her if she thinks she might like her teacher, she said, "No mom, I know I like her!"  I am excited to see what this new year brings for Natalie.

Kelton on the other hand was not too happy to lose his Natalie.  Actually, I think it was more that he really wanted to go to school too and felt left out, especially when Nate took her to school (she normally will ride the bus--it was just a first day of school thing) and the two of them left together and Kelton had to stay.  I had to take a picture of his pathetically sad, yet cute, face.

BUT... today is Kelton's first day of Pre-school!  He hasn't been too excited about it because he realizes it isn't Natalie's school and that he won't get to ride the bus.  But he was really excited about it this morning.  He got all ready and could hardly wait to get out the door.  He was excited to wear a backpack and his new shoes.

Kelton is going to a preschool that someone I know from church is doing.  I decided that, for now at least, I am done with the whole co-op preschool thing.  It stresses me out.  I'm just not cut out for having a bunch of extra (meaning not mine and don't know my rules) kids running around my house.  Plus, with a two year old and a new baby coming in seven weeks or so, I figured it wouldn't really work out anyway.  And I wanted something more structured for Kelton.  The co-ops tend to end up more as play groups and they don't really learn much with having a different teacher/house every week.  Kelton will be at preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:45-10:45.  I'm excited for him and I hope he loves it!  And for the next two months I will enjoy having only one child for six hours a week!

24th of July

Our vacation for the year was our trip to Snowflake for the Pioneer Days Celebration.  We spent almost an entire week there and it was really nice.  Rob and Tina's family was there too and Melanie came down a few times so the kids had lots of cousins to play with.  Here is some of what we did.

Damon was introduced to earphones.  He couldn't figure out why Tina was trying to put that thing in his ear, but once he figured it out (he had to do it himself), he had lots of fun listening, dancing, and singing.  Mostly he just zoned out a lot while he listened.

I bought bubble gun/fan things from the dollar store for the kids to play with one afternoon.  They worked great!  And the kids had a lot of fun.

Slip and slide.  My kids had never played on one of these before.  They thought it was fun but never mastered the technic.  Kelton doesn't like getting his face wet, so that was a bit detrimental to the whole process.

Damon was very content to stand on the side and play with the water.  Later, we got out the inflatable pool and the kids had a lot of fun playing in there.

On Friday night I had my 10 year class reunion.  There weren't a ton of people there, but a lot of my friends did make it.  It was fun to see everyone.  I was really glad to get to spend some time with my best friend from high school, Rebecca (Baldwin) Norton.  We've been really bad about getting together.  I hadn't seen her for four years.  Here we are.  (Me, Becca, and Carla Free)  I think it's kind of funny that because of the shirt I am wearing and the angle of the camera, you can't tell that I'm 7 months pregnant.  I also think it's funny that I don't think I've really gained any weight in other places until I see myself in a picture and realize that my face is chubbier. 

Saturday morning was the parade.  The kids love this for the same reason I always did... the candy.

 Everyone waiting for the parade to start.

Waiting for more candy.

Candy action shot.

 We had a community bag where everyone would put their candy.  Natalie on the other hand decided to hoard some of her favorites and fill up her own pockets.  Crazy girl.  However, that is so something I would have done too...

This picture makes me laugh.  I wanted to try to get a picture of the two of them, but instead, I got a three feet apart stare down.  Damon and Jade had a tricky relationship.  Basically, Jade wanted to just touch Damon.  And Damon just wanted to not be touched.  They found it fun (only on the giving end) to push each other a lot too.

Getting a ride home from the parade with Grandpa and his new golf cart.

 Nate's brother, Tyler recently got remarried.  Saturday night we had a reception for Tyler and Aurelie.  I forgot to take my camera so I don't have any pictures.  It was at Webb's house.  They had a taco bar and a soft serve ice cream machine.  The highlight for the kids was getting ice cream from grandpa... pre-dinner.  Since Aurelie is Swiss, they had a cake made from swiss rolls and more on the side to eat.  My kids are now in love with swiss rolls and we've had to buy some for treats at home.

On Sunday we took a big family picture with the whole Webb family, minus Marissa and Johnny, who couldn't make it.  (Photoshop is in the plans, I think.)

Here's a picture of just us girls.

Baby sister.

And I thought it would be a good idea to try to get a family picture after the big group picture, since my boys were being so super cooperative (NOT).  We took about 20 pictures.  Massive amounts of swiss roll bribery got us a bunch of pictures that look something like this:

Oh wait, here is the one lone picture where Damon decided to smile.

Overall, this is maybe the best thing we got.  Oh well.  We will try the self inflicted torture again sometime after the baby is born because, you know, it will be so much easier with one more child.

Right before we headed home on Monday night, Damon and Jade went for a walk with Grandma and Grandpa.

Kelton's Finger

If you don't do well with pictures of, or descriptions of injuries, this post may not be for you.  It's not super graphic, but consider yourself warned.

Every Monday (and Friday) I go play volleyball at the church.  I take the kids with me, and so do other people.  The kids were running around and being a bit crazy.  Kelton was chasing Natalie and some other girls.  Natalie didn't want him to.  So she was running around the out of bounds line in the gym and ran into a classroom that is right there and slammed the door shut so Kelton wouldn't be able to come in.  Unfortunately, Kelton's finger ended up in the door.

I knew it had gotten smashed, but then I saw it was bleeding.  I figured it must be the nail.  But then I saw what was really bleeding.  The door had cut through, in a large upside-down "U" shape, the entire meaty part of the tip of his finger.  It was even pulled open and out from the rest of his finger.  I was actually surprised that I couldn't see the bone because this was not a shallow cut of skin.  It really was the whole padding part.  There was a medical resident there playing with us and he helped me wrap it up so we could go to the doctor.  Wrapping it up pinched everything back together.  Unfortunately, (or maybe fortunately for most people) I didn't get a picture of it while it was open.

We then spent a while driving trying to figure out a cost efficient place to have his finger fixed.  We have an insurance plan where we pay every penny up to our somewhat high deductible, so I knew that we would be paying full price for whatever was done.  And can I just insert, it is a huge pain to not be able to know upfront what I will be charged for medical expenses.  When I am the one paying for it all out of pocket, I want to be able to make an informed decision of the cost effectiveness of different places.  Anyway, there is an urgent care right close to my house, but luckily I knew, from someone else's misfortune, that because they are an extension of a hospital in town, they bill at the ER rate and not that of an urgent care.  (Soooo sneaky and shady, in my opinion.)   So, we weren't going there.  We went to Kelton's doctor first, who said she couldn't do anything.  To insert another complaint, it is very frustrating that pediatricians no longer do much more than check on healthy kids and diagnose ear infections.  So, on we went to a walk in clinic in town.  Normally, they would have been able to help, but they didn't have someone there today who could do stitches.  So we then drove into town to an Urgent Care clinic. 

After all that, the nurse practitioner wasn't quite sure what to do and ended up just glueing it shut.  He thought it was staying closed well enough to try glue over stitches.  They did do an x-ray to check for bone fragments.  There were none.  Afterward, it made me wonder why someone else along the way couldn't have just glued it closed.  They can't do x-rays at the pediatrician's office (which they should...) but they could have sent me to another place in town to get the x-ray.  Then they could have glued it closed.  Our medical system is so messed up.  It's like everything is set up to make you pay the most amount of money possible.  It's like they want you to have to go to the ER for everything.

You can see that up the sides and over the tip of his finger is where it was cut.  It was attached at the bottom.  And really, "cut" is the wrong word.  It was sliced all the way through there.

Tomorrow I am going to call his pediatrician.  The nurse practitioner who saw Kelton didn't clean his finger with anything and didn't prescribe antibiotics.  He literally dabbed glue around the edges of the cut and put two strips over the top to hold it together and then put a bigger bandage around it.  He told us not to take any of the bandages off for 48 hours.  I'm not seeing how this isn't going to get infected.  So I want to see what Kelton's pediatrician thinks.

Kelton is doing just fine.  It doesn't seem to be bothering him much at all.  I gave him some ibuprofen a few hours ago, but that's the only medication he's had.  This is the only picture I could get him to give me of his bandaged finger.  He looks so sad and miserable, but really, he is just watching Star Wars and didn't want to be bothered.  :)

More of a Home

Today I finished most of the decorating in our front room. It's so nice to finally have things up on the wall. (The family picture is really old, but our newer, still two years outdated one was oriented the wrong direction.  We are getting a new one soon anyway.)

I somewhat had this same grouping in our other house, but it hadn't been up for very long.  And there is one more picture on there now.  Sorry to disappoint anyone hoping to see a name on the baby's magnetic photo board.  Nate and I both have one to put on there, but for the time being, they don't quite match.  Kind of a problem.  They almost do, but not close enough to call it good. 

I got the idea for this sign from my sister Melanie.  I think she got the idea from esty, which is a great place to go to steal great ideas.  Anyway, you use everyday object to spell words.  The guy at the one hour photo made my day by asking if they were professional photos.  It made me feel good that he thought they were good enough to ask that question (for their copyright reasons, I'm sure).  I have a non-DSLR camera that I fight with all the time and don't really know how to use.  And to give credit, I didn't photograph the "E."  Melanie did, but let me use her file.  If you can't tell, the "W" is my church shoes, the first "B" is a pearl necklace I have, and the second "B" is the top of my gate (turned sideways).  The "E" is the swirly metal end of something Melanie has, maybe an easel.  I am going to put pictures in the two other mat openings on each side.  I'm thinking I will put a picture of Nate and I on the left and a picture of all the kids on the right.

This is a small section of wall by our sliding doors that go to the backyard.  The table is there on the right.  I got the unfinished shelves at Michaels and Natalie and Kelton helped me paint them black.

Closer up view.  I actually made everything on this wall, at least in part.  Including the candles.

Despite how this picture looks, these little crazies didn't really survive the day being neglected by their mother.  Fighting/crying levels were much higher than usual today.  But now I'm done, so we can play more tomorrow.

Church Callings

Just a quick update on my church callings:  After a little over three years of playing the organ, I got released last week.  When asked about playing the organ by a member of the bishopric a little while ago, I did mention that it was going to be a bit difficult, mostly for Nate, once we had this new baby plus our other three fairly young kids.  Some moms have to manage their little kids by themselves during sacrament all the time, but dads aren't as used to it, mostly because they don't do it at home all day long.  Nate barely survived by himself with Damon as a newborn and Kelton as a crazy two year old.  And really, it only worked for me because Damon was bottle fed from really early on.  So, now with two crazy boys who like to fight and bother each other, and a soon to be newborn baby (Natalie is always really good), it was time for me to rejoin them.  I didn't mind playing the organ at all.  I will miss the quiet of sitting alone on the stand for the beginning and end of the meeting.  But it will also be nice to not be worried about not being able to help Nate keep the kids quiet, especially during the Sacrament.  (Or chasing my escaped two year old (Damon) across the front of the stand during the sacrament.  He was ever so nicely repetitively yelling, "NO, MOMMA!" the whole time I tried to catch up with him.)

Today was my first time sitting with my family for all of sacrament meeting since Kelton was about a year old.  I think having me there on the bench for the first 25 minutes of the meeting threw my boys off a bit.  They weren't very good.  It is going to take some re-adjusting/re-training. 

Also, this evening was the third time I have held choir practice.  I was called to be the choir director back in January or February.  But, along with being super not excited about it, I had morning sickeness hit at about the same time.  That pretty much took me out of commission for a few months.  Then we had a few months of crazieness in buying our new house, setting the other house up as a rental, and moving/settling in to the new house.  Once that was all finished, I was able to find some music for the choir to sing and then figure out a time when we would be able to meet.  Our church meetings start at 8:00 a.m. and we share the building with three other wards, plus one more ward that meets in a school because we can't do five blocks in our small building on Sunday, but they still use the building for all other purposes.  So, finding a time for choir practice when people would actually come was a bit challenging.  We meet from 6:00-7:00 p.m.

But we are underway now.  This calling is a bit different for me.  I am way more used to being the one behind the piano.  And directing a choir is different from just conducting the music.  But I am slowly figuring it out and it seems to be going okay.  Hopefully the choir members feel the same way.  We even almost have one song ready to sing.