Sleep, Baby, Sleep

I'm trying to get Marcus sleeping through the night. I skimmed through The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley that I read when Ethan was this age, to get some ideas to help. I'm trying to get Marcus's nap schedule back on track to help him sleep through the night. It's really hard to drop what I'm doing to get him down for his naps, but sacrificing those ten to fifteen minutes is worth it, because having him taking naps again is great.

I've been concentrating less on dishes and cleaning the past few days, and I'm not doing any projects this week (even though the nursery is screaming Paint me!) so I can just focus on getting Marcus to sleep better.

If you'll allow me to stand on a soap box for a minute, I'll go ahead and tell you that I don't believe in crying-it-out. I don't believe that it's good for the baby, or for the parents. A lot of advocates of the cry-it-out method say that a baby needs to learn to go to sleep by themselves, so they'll go back to sleep when they wake up at night. But I believe that it is the parents' job to teach the baby to go to sleep by themselves, which is what I feel the book The No-Cry Sleep Solution helps you do. With all three kids sleeping in one room, Alyssa has watched me rock Marcus and lay him down, then rock him again and lay him down, over and over again while trying to get him to sleep, and one night she said that she was mad at Marcus because he wasn't letting me go to bed. I told her that I wasn't mad at Marcus, because babies need to be loved to sleep so they can know that they'll be taken care of and they can feel safe. I told her that we just needed to be patient with Marcus and teach him how to go to sleep. I admit, I haven't been patient all the time. There has been a few times when I've been tired while getting the kids to bed (Remember? I'm a morning person.) and I'll rock Marcus and say, "Just - please - go - to - SLEEP!" while gritting my teeth. (And there have been a few times when I've had to put him down to cry for a few minutes so I could regroup to try again.) It hasn't been easy all of the time, but he has definitely made progress. He's gone from sleeping most of the night in my bed, to actually preferring to sleep in his crib. He's still waking up as frequently as when we started, but he's going back to sleep easier and quicker, and he is sleeping better.

Stepping down from the soap box: Even though I don't like to let my babies cry, I realize that every baby and every parent is different, and if you agree with the cry-it-out approach, that is totally fine, and I'm not sitting here thinking that you're a bad parent for that. I've heard of babies that actually do sleep through the night after crying a few times, and I know that rocking your baby to sleep doesn't work for every parent, or even every baby. All I'm saying, is this is the way I've chosen to do it. That's all.

So here's to sleep, and how wonderful it feels when we get enough of it.

Alyssa's First Day of First Grade (August 27, 2008)

Marcus Whitman Elementary School
Mrs. Gintner / Mrs. Goforth

Jacks Family Reunion in (a lot of) Pictures

Emma's Baptism

My niece, Emma, was baptized on Saturday. Christina made her baptism dress in a Jane Austin type style, and I did her hair. She looked beautiful! She said she looked just like Emma (from the movie) then someone reminded her that she is Emma.
It was a great baptism. She was so cute, sitting beside her dad. The music was perfect. It was a wonderful day.

I Love Having a Husband Around!

It's so nice to be able to say, "Can you hold Marcus while I fill in the blank?" It's wonderful to have an extra set of hands to help get the boys dressed both in the morning and at bed time. But mostly it's just insanely wonderful to have Brian home at all! The past two times he's been home we've had two weeks in between his visits, so we were definitely missing him a ton before he came home on Friday. The weekends that he comes home just fly by, though. We basically get a day and a half before he has to go back to Tacoma.

On Friday, we cleaned the house and tried to start and finish laundry so we wouldn't have to do any chores while he's here. The kids helped clean, then when it got to be abut 7:30, we kept looking out the window for his car to pull up. I was actually vacuuming the stairs when Alyssa yelled, "Daddy's here! Daddy's here!" Then Alyssa and Ethan ran out to greet him, and I had to wait in line for my turn to hug him. As much as the kids love Brian, though, I think they're just as excited about the candy he has left over from his trip than they are to see him. I love that Marcus has been able to see Brian often enough that he doesn't forget him. He went right to Brian on Friday, and he loves to cuddle and play with him.

So today we're staying home from church, mostly because of the colds the kids and I have been fighting the past few days, but partly because it's nice to just slow down and enjoy the time we have with Brian here. I'm so excited, because he'll be able to come home for the next three weekends, and the third weekend he gets a 4-day holiday! Yea!

Edited to Add: He brought home peanut butter M&M's, and he played Wii with the kids so I could take a nap. Oh, how I love him!

We Have Internet!

Oh, I've missed the blogging world.

The kids and I moved into one side of a Hanford "A" house in Richland, and we've been busy painting and moving in. Brian moved in with a bishop in Tacoma, found out that he lives four miles from one of his roommates from college, and is having a great time at the Madigan VA hospital. He comes to visit us at least every other weekend. We're excited, though, because he'll be coming home for the next three weekends, and one of them is a four-day weekend!

Alyssa started first grade, and has a new best friend named Kaitlynn. They're in the same Primary class at church, and they're lucky enough to sit next to each other at school.

Ethan's talking more, although we don't understand a lot of what he's saying. He's discovered the power of the word "No," and he uses it all the time.

Marcus is walking, clapping, waving, saying "Mama," "Dadda," and I think "yeah" sometimes. Everyone falls in love with him whenever we leave the house. His hair is getting longer, and it should probably be cut soon, but I love the little curls at the bottom and I think they won't come back if I cut it. We'll wait a little longer.

Almost Ready to Go

Superficial

In just a couple of days we're heading to Lincoln City for Brian's family reunion. Ever since we received Marcus's little green reunion onesie in the mail, I've planned on posting a picture of him in it and saying something like, "We're headed for fun!" or "Be back soon!" But I just don't feel up to it, and with the way I'm feeling today, all that happiness wouldn't be real.

I am having a tough time. It's been a very hard summer. We've had a lot of fun, and I really don't have anything substantial to complain about, but it's been hard all the same. It's been hard living in the Claypool's house. (Not the Claypool's houe specifically, just someone else's house.) I'm so thankful to have had a place to live this summer, especially since we were kicked out of our rental house when it sold. This is the nicest place we've ever lived in, but it's not easy living in someone else's house. I spent the first few weeks living in fear that we would destroy something. Then I blew up the kitchen. A pan exploded on the stove top, sending shards of glass flying around the room. Where the glass landed, the linoleum melted. Once the shock of all that wore off, I figured we couldn't do much worse, so I stopped worrying constantly, which helped. It's also helped so much that Casey and Shaille are being so wonderful about the whole thing.

Brian's schedule has been hard, too. We've been taking him to clinic and picking him up, and that's really not a huge deal, but it's made planning and making dinners difficult, because sometimes we would drive 25 minutes, spend up to 45 minutes waiting for him, then drive another 25 minutes home. We've been eating dinner late, going to bed late, and getting up early, and it's taken a huge toll on us. We're all tired and cranky.

We've also been back and forth on our plans for the next rotation. That has been a huge emotional ordeal for me. We went from putting our stuff in a storage unit in Richland, because Brian was going to Tacoma alone, to buying camping chairs and folding tables because we were going with him, to taking back the folding tables because he's going alone again. I really feel like this is a good decision. Once we made up our minds for good, housing fell right into place for both of us. The kids and I will be living in one of Brian's parent's rental houses, and Brian will be renting a room from one of the bishops in Tacoma. I know it's going to work, and half of me is excited to be moving back home, but the other half of me is so sad that we'll be away from Brian for so long. I know that military families do it all the time. I know that we'll have both his family and my family there to help us. I know we'll be able to see him sometimes on the weekends. I know all of those things, but it doesn't make it any easier.

And I'm sad to be leaving Oregon! We've made so many friends here, and we've made so many good memories here. We really have loved living in Forest Grove, and I know we will miss it and the people here so much.

So basically I'm just stressed out and cranky, and I'm just having a gloomy day. I've been happy for the kids, but I've kind of been throwing a pity party for myself while I've been cleaning and packing. It's just a rough day. I've just got to suck it up and get through it, then I should be fine tomorrow.

Oh My Gosh - This Poor Kid

So yesterday I was being lazy on the computer, and the kids were having a great time in their bedroom. Alyssa and Ethan were playing fort with the bunk bed, and Marcus was laughing right along with them. All of a sudden I heard Marcus screaming, so I ran into their room, saying, "What happened to Marcus?" The only problem was that I didn't see Marcus, and he had stopped crying for a moment, so I didn't hear Marcus either.

I ran downstairs, yelling, "Marcus! Marcus!" and wondering how I could let my baby disappear like that. Crazy scenarios were running through my mind: the kids left the back door open and he crawled off the deck, he crawled to the bathroom and climbed into the toilet. Well, he wasn't downstairs, so I ran back up and asked Alyssa, "Where's Marcus?"

"Right here," she said, and I found him on the floor in their bedroom, being sad, but not crying or screaming. I picked him up, and I noticed flecks of blood all over the right side of his face. After washing him up, I just found one little cut on his cheek, but then about an hour later, a lot of other little cuts showed up all over his face.

When I rescued him from whatever it was that attacked him, I looked around the room, and there was nothing harmful in the area, so I really don't know what he could have done. My only guess is that we have a foot scrubber the same size as the accumulative injuries, and maybe he wacked himself in the head with it? I have no idea. I'm also wondering how I didn't see him when I went to rescue him. I have no idea how that happened.

Obviously, he's okay. His face looks much better this morning. Half the cuts have healed already, if that's even possible. I can't believe this kid. I think he's going to be our injury kid. He's been to the emergency room twice. He's swallowed chunks of tin foil. And he's not even a year old! I think we ought to take out some seriously great health insurance on this guy, because if things continue as they've gone so far, we'll need it.

Dream House

Brian and I enjoy looking at books and magazines of house plans together. We are actually people with completely different personalities and interests, but this is one of the things we like to do together. We like to sit down and plan our dream house, which we may or may not live in someday. Sometimes I find myself thinking of this dream house, and I thought it would be fun to put it in writing to see how it compares to what we actually end up in someday.

Disclaimer #1: If I heard of someone talking about wanting things in their house that I want, I would probably assume that they were rich snobs who wanted to show off their money. You have to believe that I'm not like that. The elements of my dream house are there because they're things I really want, and if I do get them someday, please don't think that I'm trying to one-up the Joneses.

Disclaimer #2: Brian may or may not agree with my idea of a dream house, so who knows what we'll end up with. He keeps talking about putting in a bat cave, but no one's supposed to know about that. He also wants to have secret passageways, and I think that would be cool.

Here goes, if you're interested. (edited to add: After writing all this, I realize how boring it sounds, and I actually sound kind of snotty. Sorry about that. Keep in mind that I'm referring to a dream house.)

The Kind of House that Will Make Carrie Very, Very Happy

• The feeling: I don't like today's modern houses. I don't like what home plans call the great room, which is basically a huge room that functions as a living room, family room, and sometimes kitchen and dining room as well. To me, these rooms feel too big. They feel great and spacious (Book of Mormon pun almost intended), and kind of make me feel overwhelmed. Okay, I guess I shouldn't say that I don't like them, because I've been in many houses where this is a beautiful arrangement. I just wouldn't prefer to live in a house like that. Another things about modern houses is that they feel too blocky to me. A lot of times they're just a large square or rectangle with windows. So the feeling that I want my house to have could be described as romantic or cozy. I want it to have the feeling of an old farm house or English mansion or Victorian cottage. I want it to have little details that make it interesting. While looking for places to live in Tacoma I came across an Italian bed and breakfast that was for sale, and in one of the bathrooms there was a beautiful, small chandelier hanging over the claw foot tub. I loved that. It just a really cool detail that makes it so much better than just having a light in the ceiling. I love how the older houses here in Forest Grove have the detailed trim around the windows. They're beautiful.
  
• The kitchen: Brian and I have never had a large kitchen. I don't need a huge kitchen, but I definitely want one that's large enough to do some serious cooking in. I would love to have two ovens. You know those lattice-looking wine racks that are sometimes built into the cupboards? I want one of those to keep sparkling cider or Italian Soda flavoring in. Being left-handed, I want the dishwasher to be on the right side of the sink.
• The family room: The family room will be right next to the kitchen, so the whole family can hang out together. I like it when I can have the kids near me while I'm doing dishes or making dinner. We'll put the t.v. in the family room, as well as the computer.
  
• The library: I want a library. It doesn't have to be large, or even medium-sized, but I do want a library. It'll be a place to keep our books, obviously, and to read and have quiet time. There will be no computer in the library.
• The living room: I almost want to call our living room the parlor, instead, because I don't want to live in the living room. The living room will be to entertain guests (usually home and visiting teachers), have scripture study, etc. I don't want it to be off limits for the kids, but I do want it to be a place that's treated with respect and that stays clean so you can feel the spirit. We'll also keep the piano and any other musical instruments in the living room for practicing. Alyssa keeps saying she wants to play the violin, and I keep telling her to wait until she's older.
  
• The staircase: Brian and I love the rotunda staircases, that turn in a circle around the entry way. They're just beautiful.
• The dining room: I've been back and forth on the idea of having a formal dining compared to having a dining area in the kitchen. I love the idea of having a place for guests to come have dinner with us where they don't have to see our messy kitchen and family room, but I also realize that so much happens in the kitchen, and even though it can be messy, it's a great bonding place.
• The ballroom: Yes, you read that correctly. This is one thing that Brian and I disagree on, but I want a ballroom. It doesn't have to be huge, but I want one so bad! You don't even know how many times each day the kids and I have dances together. If we had a ballroom, the kids could practice any type of dance they're interested in without kicking couches and the entertainment center, we could easily host Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, we could have a super cool place to have wedding receptions and murder mystery parties. Brian and I love to have people over, so having a large place to put large amounts of family members/friends would be great. The reason Brian doesn't like the idea of a ballroom is that it would be an empty room that would be used infrequently, but I honestly think that we would give it plenty of use. Anyway, if I ever get a ballroom, it will have lots of windows and probably three chandeliers, one large one in the middle and two smaller on the sides. Who knows?
• The bedrooms/bathrooms: Another thing I don't like about a lot of the modern home plans is that every bedroom seems to have it's own walk-in closet and private bathroom. I don't think this is necessary at all. At all. I can see having a boy bathroom and a girls bathroom, but even that is not necessary.
  
• The rooms, overall: I think with just about every room I've written about I found myself writing, or at least thinking, "It doesn't have to be very big..." I like older homes, because they have smaller rooms, and it just feels cozier to me. The living room doesn't have to be very big at all. The bedrooms and bathrooms don't have to be big. The dining room, if we go that route, doesn't have to be big, either. You get the picture.
  
• The garage: I want one of those garages that are turned to the side, because garages aren't too pretty.
• The yard: I want a large yard that the kids can run around in and have a blast. I love roses, and would love to have a rose garden and roses along a white picket fence, like my parents have. And there has to be lots and lots of trees.
  

Foolin' Around

This is how the kids looked when it was time to take Brian to school yesterday. I got Marcus up and set him on top of Alyssa and Ethan to wake them up. He just laughed and smiled at them, and it took a few minutes for them to even start to come around. I guess we've been playing too hard and staying up too late. But isn't that what summer is all about?

Here's another sleeping picture. Isn't he cute in his little green diaper?

Brian put a Red Ropes bucket on Marcus's head. They both thought it was hilarious. (Don't worry, he was supervised the whole time.)

Ethan is doing great with the potty training. He's been doing it all by himself. I'm so impressed !

The boys fell asleep during lunch. We've never had two go down at once during a meal before.


This is a normal-type occurance at our house. From the look of our pictures, Jacks like putting funny things on our heads. Here, Marcus is modeling a pair of Alyssa's tights.


We (the kids and I) went to the OMSI a couple of times with the Gennings. We got lost on the way home the first time, and it took three hours and me finally calling Brian, crying my eyes out saying, "We're stuck in traffic. I don't know which way to go, and I just want to be home!" Other than that, we had a great time. And we mapped it when we went again, and we had no problems.




















Here's Ethan climbing in the space shuttle. I think he needs to grow a little.



Alyssa and Michelle have become great friends.


Alyssa made a fabulous chipmunk. She was handing out vests to all of the kids and rounding them up to collect nuts for winter.


Marcus loved the baby corner.


You can't go to the OMSI without getting a picture of this.

La La La, I'm Not Doing Very Well With Titles Lately

Something very bad happened today, which I may or may not blog about in a future post. It's not anything too serious, like any one getting sick or hurt or anything, but it's certainly not a good thing. But two very good things happened today also, and I definitely want to blog about them.

I have been tired lately. Tired and cranky. Yesterday Brian offered to take the kids out of the house so I could take a nap, but it just didn't work out. So today after sacrament meeting, Brian took Marcus from me and told me to go home and take a nap. I did. And it was wonderful.

And the next wonderful thing is that Cali Hawkins brought over a loaf of homemade wheat bread. I don't know why she was baking in this heat, but I'm glad she did. We haven't seen the Hawkins all summer, so it was so nice to chat with her for a few minutes. And the bread is delicious. She brought it over while it was still warm, so when I cut off a slice (the ends are my favorite) and buttered it, it melted the butter just perfectly. Ooh, and it was yummy.

Finally, He's Starting to Talk

Ethan busted out with, "Here you go," when he was helping me clean out the dish washer today. He said it so quickly, that I thought at first that it was just his usual mumblings, but when I asked him to say it again, he did. We're so excited! I can't wait to see what he'll say next.

Negligence Has Nothing to do with Negligees

I have been greatly neglecting my blog lately. We've been busy having fun, sometimes I've been busy being miserable, but mostly we've just been busy. The horribly funny thing about this all is that now that I have a few minutes to type a post, I have absolutely nothing to say. I suppose I'll give an update.

We've decided to go to Tacoma, Washington and Oregon City, Oregon with Brian for his rotations. The original plan had the kids and I moving back to the Tri-Cities in August so Alyssa wouldn't have to change schools three times. But we started to rethink that, and with gas prices so incredibly high we decided that it would be way too expensive for Brian to come visit us on the weekends. If we were going to be able to see him, we'd have to go with him. So we'll be heading to Tacoma in August, Oregon City in November, and then the kids and I will move to the Tri-Cities during Christmas break. Brian's last rotation is in Walla Walla, Washington (a city so nice, they named it twice) and he will have free housing there, so we won't be going with him. Plus, he'll only be about an hour away at that point.

Ethan is busy potty training. Brian and I figured out that with both of the boys in diapers (and wearing Pampers) we were spending over $800 each year, not including wipes. I had considered cloth diapers in the past, but never seriously, but once I heard that diaper bill, I started looking into it wholeheartedly. We spent a couple weeks trying out different brands and types of diapers, and for about 200 bucks Marcus is set for the rest of his diapering life. I know, you have to factor in the money to run your washer and dryer, but even then the price difference is amazing. But even more amazing is the fact that I am loving cloth diapering. It's not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I've started to do all my real laundry on Saturday mornings, which leaves everything else free for diapers during the week. I only have to wash a load of diapers every other day - it's really not hard at all. Plus it really is a good feeling to know that my boys are in cloth. It just feels good. My favorite are the all-in-one Bumgenius diapers (2.0 version). Brian got quite a kick out of the brand names: Bungenius, Happy Heiny, etc. Anyway, the Bumgenius diapers are fabulous and very cute.

Oh, and the potty training. Since we've put Ethan in cloth, he's been so much more aware of when he's going, so he started heading to the toilet when he needed to. It's very cool.

Alyssa...well, if it wasn't irreligious I would say that Alyssa thinks that she's God. She is so in charge, and sometimes it drives me crazy. On the plus side, she's found a fascination with cleaning. She loves to steal wipes to clean the walls, and the table, and the counters, and the couch.... On the down side, she's talking back like nobody's business. This morning I was upstairs rocking Marcus to sleep, and I heard Ethan screaming because Alyssa was dousing him with water from the hose. I went to the window and told Alyssa to turn off the water. She didn't, so I told her again. Still nothing. "Alyssa, will you please turn off the water?" I asked in desperation.

"That's what I was waiting for," she said. "You needed to ask me politely." Holy cow. There's been quite a bit of that going around lately.

Brian's doing great. He's not seeing as many patients as he'd like to be, but he's having a good time. Last week I went in and had him check my eyes. It was the first time that he's done it "officially" on me, instead of practicing. Then the next day we picked him up at the Portland clinic and he helped me pick out some snazzy new glasses and prescription sunglasses. One of the things I enjoyed about that is that he started helping some guy who was in there asking everyone if the glasses he was picking were "chick magnets" or not, and the opticians were very impressed with his knowledge of lens types and frame materials. She said that most of the doctors she had worked for didn't bother to stay on top of things like that. It was cool.

We went home for the Fourth of July, and we had a fabulous time. We moved Callie the Cat from Melinda's house (thanks Melinda!) to my parents house (thanks Mom and Dad!) where she'll stay until we move back in December. We had a barbecue at Christina's house where we ate very yummy hamburgers and probably the best pasta salad I've ever had, took the test that you have to pass to become a U.S. citizen, and watched the fireworks from the grass by the stadium. We visited Brian's grandma, who had just had a knee replacement and was recovering at her house.

So yeah, we're having good times. I'll try to be better at posting. I miss this blogging journal of mine.

Summertime

Time is going by so fast. I can't believe my little girl is a first grader! Alyssa absolutely loved kindergarten. She had the best teacher in the whole world, and I think she had the greatest experience to start school with. She loves Miss Chidester!

We've been having a great time this summer bumming around the house, taking Brian to/from school, going to the library, and drinking strawberry smoothies. There have been so many things I've wanted to blog about, it's just been crazy finding the time. We're still here, though, and we're having a great time.

Indulgence

I like to eat. I like to eat good food. There are times in my life when I get too busy to eat or when I just don't feel like eating, and there are times in my life when I just love to eat.

I'm in one of those times.

I made a cake last weekend. Ethan, Marcus, and I have stayed home from church the last couple of weeks, because Ethan's been too sick to go to nursery. So when we were home making dinner, I thought I would surprise Brian with a cake. Now, Brian doesn't like cake all that much. He'll have a piece, and maybe another one the next day, but there are so many other desserts he would prefer to eat besides cake. But this was one of those times that I fooled myself into thinking that Brian would just be tickled to come home and have some cake. (Like when I was shopping at Costco and called home, jokingly saying "I need an excuse to buy this chocolate cake," and Brian joked back, "Well, I was just thinking how much I would love to have a chocolate cake," and even though I knew that he was joking, I said to the kids, "Kids, we're going to surprise Dad with a chocolate cake," and I honestly made myself believe that I was buying the cake for him.) So back to last Sunday. I made a delicious white cake with buttercream frosting that actually turned out to be too sweet, but was still wonderful. There were days this week that I would have a piece of cake for breakfast, and a piece of cake for lunch...and a piece of cake for snack. The kids had a couple of small pieces, but we all know who made the cake disappear.

And I've decided that we're going to go to McDonalds for an ice cream cone every Friday so the kids have a chance to run around somewhere out of the rain/air conditioned where they're fenced in. We've gone the last two Fridays, and it's gotten to where we can't pass McDonalds without Ethan crying if we don't pull into the parking lot. But I think we're going to cut back on the number of cones we buy. Ethan hasn't been eating his, and I have more than happily gotten rid of his leftovers, if you know what I mean.

And lastly, what made me think of this post, is when I was eating lunch today, I decided to grab a root beer from the fridge, and while I was drinking that root beer, I actually caught myself thinking, "Oh, wow! This root beer is really good." Most of the time I would actually prefer to drink water, but I really enjoyed that root beer. Man, was it good.

So I've decided that it's time to cut back. No more cake for breakfast (next week) and I am going to indulge more on fruits and vegetables. We've got a watermelon downstairs that is cold in the fridge and just waiting to be devoured, and there's cherries and fresh pineapple and carrots. I should be eating stuff like that more.

I'd like to close with a quote from Alyssa. On December 3, 2006 she bore her testimony for the first time, and shared with the ward her love of good food. I don't know where she gets it.

What a Way to Pass a Birthday

Poor little Marcus puts everything into his mouth. I know that all babies put everything into their mouths, but Marcus is so much worse - he puts everything into his mouth. Just a few minutes ago I found him in the bathroom with the little round cover that goes over the bolts holding the toilet down (?) in his mouth. (Yuck, I know.) It was firmly stuck between his two bottom teeth that are already out and his two top teeth that are on their way out. It was completely stuck and holding his mouth wide open, but he didn't cry at all until I took it away.

We try so hard to keep things off of the floor and keep him monitored, so that he doesn't choke on anything, but with two other kids running around, that's a hard thing to do. Last Thursday, just before leaving to take Brian to clinic, I put him downstairs in the living room, then ran upstairs to herd Alyssa and Ethan to the car. After getting them strapped into their seats, I heard Marcus cry. It was a "Ow! That hurt!" sort of cry, but I figured that he just bumped his head on something, which is also something that he does all the time. So I picked him up, he had snot all over his face (Which was normal last week, too. He had a horrible cold.) so I wiped him off and headed for the car.

It was then I noticed that he was coughing, and after a few seconds, I noticed that he was choking. I figured he was coughing on snot of phlem, so I let him at it for a minute while I strapped him into his car seat, but when he was still coughing, I pulled him out again and held him upside down a bit, and pat his back. At this point, I still thought he was coughing on his snot, so I put him back in the car seat and ran inside to get the snot-sucker thing. When I sucked his snot, I noticed that there was some blood in it, but again, his throat could have just been irritated from his cold.

So this is when Brian came outside and realized that Marcus was really chocking on something. He did a finger sweep and didn't feel anything, then he actually stuck his finger in Marcus's throat, and he felt something in there, but when he felt it, it got pushed down into Marcus's stomach.

He wasn't chocking anymore, so he was doing fine. All was well. I mentally went though all of the things that could have been on our floor, and figured (and hoped) that it was probably a piece of stale food, and that's why it got stuck and tore his throat up on the way down.

Friday, June 6, Marcus turned seven months old. With it being a Friday, we picked Brian up from clinic, then went to the Compass Room theater to see "Horton Hears a Who." We all loved it, even Marcus, then we went home and headed to bed. It was exactly 8:06 (I know, because I looked at the clock just before) when Marcus started to cry a painful cry. We were trying to have scripture study, so I took him upstairs to change his diaper, hoping that would help. We got the kids ready for bed, Brian tucked them in, and Marcus was still crying and clinging to my shoulders. He wouldn't nurse - he just wanted to cling to me and cry. Poor kid.

We saw two options: 1) whatever he swallowed the day before was on its way out, or 2) he had an ear infection. Brian got out his ottoscope (how do you spell that?) and confirmed that his ear drums were inflamed, so that was probably it. Now, I've been lucky that none of my kids have ever had ear infections, so this was our first time dealing with it. (Or so we thought.)

We treated him for an ear infection for the next four hours. Brian ran to the store, and we put some drops in his ears. I nursed him when he was willing, but mostly, I just held him, rocked him, and let him sleep when he would. I took him up to our bed when he went to sleep, then at 12:20 (Again, I checked the clock. I do that.) he woke up crying. We put the drops in his ears, he let out a big poop, and cried some more.

I changed his diaper, and when I was wiping his bum, I saw something sticking out of it. I pulled it out, which made him cry even more (of course) and found that for the last four hours a 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch piece of hard, square-shaped tin foil had been working it's way through his system. Oh, it was so sad. It explained everything. After it was out, and his diaper was back on, he stopped crying, layed his head back, and went right to sleep.

For the record, I don't denounce Brian's diagnosis of the inflamed ear drums. They were probably inflamed from his cold, just not bad enough to make him hurt. Since this whole ordeal we've been watching closer than ever to make sure everything is kept off of the floor. Yesterday Alyssa came running up the stairs, yelling "Marcus has a green tongue!" and it turned out that he had swallowed a leaf that was on the floor. I've gotten pretty good at the baby Heimlich Maneuver since Thursday, and I was able to successfully get Marcus to cough up the leaf. We've definitely got to be careful, because this kid will eat anything.

"It's Not About Me...It's Not About Me..."

I just have to keep telling myself that. I've been telling myself that, but sometimes it's so easy to forget.

Life is so crazy-busy right now. We get up in the morning, take Brian to Beaverton so he can get a ride into Portland, come home, have breakfast...I get Marcus down for his nap, take a shower, get the kids lunch...then we take Alyssa to school, get Marcus down for his afternoon nap, clean a bit while keeping Ethan entertained, pick Alyssa up from school, have Alyssa do her homework, start dinner, pick up Brian in Beaverton, come home and have dinner, get the kids ready for bed, have scripture study, put the kids to bed...put the kids to bed again...and sometimes a third and fourth time, then I go to bed myself. Seriously, it's been so crazy that I missed Marcus's doctors appointment. Then I called to reschedule it, and missed that one, too. It's that bad.

I really don't mind all the rushing around, because like I keep telling myself, it's not about me right now. Right now, getting Brian to clinic and Alyssa to school and keeping Ethan from destroying the Claypool's house are the important things. It's just that sometimes I get a couple moments of rest where I think, "What about me?!?" And then I have to say it, again, "It's not about me right now."

See? I'm even typing it over and over again. I'm trying to drill it into my brain.

I've been trying to go running in the mornings with Jenny, but we both have kids and it usually turns out that the mornings that she makes it, I have a rough night and sleep in, and vice-versa. It's so fun when we both make it, though. And the mornings that I get to do that, I've had my "me" time, and I'm good for the rest of the day. I've discovered that it doesn't matter how early the kids get up in the morning - as long as I have a few minutes to myself before they get up, I'm good. I've got to be Carrie for a few minutes every day before I have to be Mom.

In a couple weeks Alyssa will be out of school, so we won't have to drive to Joseph Gale twice a day. And Brian just worked everything out with getting a second car, so as soon as we buy that, he can take himself to clinic every day. So hopefully things will slow down soon.

It Took Me Long Enough

I think we're finally settled. We moved out of our old place, headed to the Tri-Cities, went to California, ended up back in Oregon for the first week of rotations, then we took off for the Tri-Cities again for Memorial Day weekend. We are definitely tired of being on the go.

Disneyland was fabulous. Here's some of my favorite happenings:

Carrie: So what are your guys' plans for the rest of the day?
Erin: I think we're going to walk endlessly, drink water frequently, and use the bathroom accordingly.

Cecily (Phil and Erin's daughter): My Gamma! She's my Gamma!
Carrie: Well, she may be your grandma, but she's my mama.
Cecily: She not a mama. She's my Gamma. (I guess it doesn't pay to argue with a two year old.)

Callie (Phil and Erin's other daughter) was terrified of the first half of Pirate's of the Caribbean. She wailed until we finally convinced her that she was safe, and that she was allowed to have a good time. At the end of the ride, Alyssa turned around and asked, "Callie, did you like it?" Not even skipping a beat, Callie said, in the happiest voice imaginable,"I wasn't scared at all!"

Mom and Dad watched all of the grand kids in the hotel Thursday evening, so all of the parents could spend a couple of hours by themselves. We ended up staying together and running around from ride to ride like teenagers. It was great! It was Erin's first time ever at Disneyland, so she was wearing her first time button, and because of that we got to go on the special elevator on Indiana Jones Adventure.

I absolutely loved the Tower of Terror. Oh, it was so much better than I was expecting it to be. I loved it!

It was so much fun seeing all of the cousins together. I have so many cute pictures of Alyssa, Kenna, and Callie together. It was so much fun to go as a family.

Anyway, I'll put up some pictures as soon as I transfer them from Brian's laptop. We got some good ones.

Oh, and by the way, the winner of some super fabulous Disneyland Lemonade (I'd put a picture up, but I'm lazy today) is Tonya! The cashier said that she'd never had it before, but she had heard that it is wonderful. We'll just have to trust her. It's a three pack with regular lemonade, limeade, and raspberry lemonade. No matter how it tastes, it's got Mickey on it, and it sure is cute.