The Poopy Party

This is a story of why I should not throw parties when I have toddlers who refuse to let me clean.

Brian turned 30! THIRTY! on the 14th of December. I wanted to make it a memorable one since it's his segueway into his older man days, so I decided to throw a surprise party for him. I spent all week trying, a little at a time, to get the house clean. It was...a slow process. Wednesday and Thursday were the big days, with Thursday night being the party. I worked all night on Wednesday so I could save Thursday to make pies, cupcakes, decorating, and finish up the cleaning.

Silly me. I should have saved Thursday for leaving the house and returning at party time.

Well, I forgot to get the pie crust recipe from my mom, so I couldn't make it until around 3, right before I had to start teaching piano. That's when everything went downhill. I got the pies in the oven, lesson taught, thought I was successful.

Brian and I make dinner for his Grandparents once per week, so I started dinner early. Just making spaghetti, so that's no big deal, right? WRONG! I overcooked the first set of noodles since I was also trying to get the pie filling whipped up. Got the sauce made, more noodles in the pot, pies in the fridge. Then, Brian's dad called to tell me NOT to make dinner for them since his brother already took some. AHHH!!! Well, since that was my only plan of getting Brian not to come home from work AND I already had the food completely ready, I decided to go anyway.

We all made it, frantic, but we made it to 5:00. Whew! That was a lot of work. Now I had to wash everything in the dirty kitchen. I started washing the dishes and my very sweet two year old brings me a diaper. An empty diaper. A diaper that wasn't supposed to be empty. I threw the dishes in the sink, looked around, and saw her rock-sized poops all over the kitchen floor. I darted for the paper towels to clean it in a hurry so Jared wouldn't think he discovered candy. It was gross....and I started crying. My mom was on the phone and asked if I was ok. Of course I was, but since I was being dramatic, this was the scenario:

Me: Sob. Sob.
Mom: Are you ok?
Me: NO! Claire just brought me her diaper and there is poop all over the floor.

Cue my mother starting to laugh hysterically while trying to console me.

Me: Yes mom, I know that I'll look back on this and laugh, but right now it's NOT OK!....Alright...I'm ok. I really am. But I'm not.

Anyway, It was gross.

Really gross.

I also found a poop in the cupcake tin I let them play with earlier. Sick. Good thing I already made cupcakes and intensely disinfected it after that.

My Thoughts on Seizures

People have told me that I'm strong because I've handled a week long ordeal of Claire in the hospital. I've seen her in ways that I've never wanted to see her and I hoped and prayed that I never had to see it again.

My first thought is that I haven't seen anything in comparison to some of the people I know. Take Brian's friend, Natalie, who has her children in and out of the hospital for what seems like every day. Kidney transplants, surgery, never knowing if their results are going to come back good or bad. I can't even imagine how that must be. Another woman I know had a hard time getting insurance coverage for her son because he was epileptic. Ugh. I know they have medication for these things, but it would still put me on edge.

I ran into the bathroom last night to see what was happening. She's had several fevers since April to ease my fear a little, so I wasn't  terribly scared at this point. I opened the door and she was shivering, but looked scared. I scooped her up, ran to the couch, ordered her temperature taken by Brian (100.4 - not too scary), and then we just weren't sure what happened. She started grinding her teeth and wouldn't open her eyes. There was no convulsing even. She was just acting weird and then we couldn't get her to wake up or respond to anything. So, we went to the ER and it took her about 30 minutes before she acknowledged anything around her. So, that was the beginning.

Here are my real thoughts as everything is happening so fast: I'm terrified. Terrified. I can't stress it enough. I start to shiver, not because I'm cold, but because my body is almost in shock or something. The entire ride to the hospital I was shivering like I was sitting in ice, but my cheeks were red from me being so hot. My heart beats faster and I feel as if my stomach is going to explode. This persists until the fever breaks and we get of the meds.

I start thinking all the negative things I shouldn't. What if she never wakes up? Coma? What if she has brain damage? Oh no, her words are slurring....does that mean something? I can't imagine losing a child and I really don't know what I would do if did. I start to regret every bad mommy moment I've ever done. Especially now, it's hard that she's such a stinker of a two-year-old and sometimes I get so angry. Then this happens and I hold her so close and tell her how sorry I am. She's perfect and will always remain so. I could never get angry with her ever again because I love her so much. I want to keep her safe forever and never let her go.

Our nurse looked really scared and kept telling us how scary this was. I could see it in his eyes. Since this wasn't our first time I knew not to take any stock in his fear, thank goodness. I put a cold towel on her to get her temperature to go down a little bit. It seemed to help. Have you ever felt so helpless with your children? My goodness, it's the worst feeling in the world. Our doctor was fantastic, her urine culture was negative (yay), and we were sent home with a possible viral diagnosis.

She woke up at 5 this morning dry-heaving. I picked her up and she vomited a little. Maybe the flu? Not that much vomit....maybe not the flu? She went back to sleep. I started shivering. I just get so scared. I slept in their room the rest of the night. The truth is that I'm weak and scared. I "deal with it well" because well, what else am I do to? I'm sure, if put in the same situation, you would do the same.

The good thing is that she's acting normal this morning. Still has a fever, but is still stealing toys from Jared and refuses to call me "Mommy" (it's always "mom" and I don't like it). That's my Claire!

Thanksgiving

I feel like November was the LONGEST month this year! It couldn't be that I've been so excited to get on to Christmas since September. Now that December is finally here, I'm trying to soak it all in because I don't want it to go too fast. 

We set up our train a couple of weeks ago. Jared was terrified! I should load the video of it.....maybe later. Luckily, after sitting with him for quite some time, he warmed up to the little choo choo and now chases it in circles.

 Claire absolutely loves umbrellas. She kept playing with mine and almost breaking it, so we got her one that's a little more her size. She just had to have it open in the car and apparently it was just that soothing. :)

Brian got his birthday present early....since he was a stinker and looked at the shipping confirmation email from Amazon when he wasn't supposed to. It's alright, dear. We had fun playing his new game over Thanksgiving. (This is is "I'm so surprised by this gift I already knew about" face.)

Yes ladies, He's single AND he likes kids AND he looks pretty darn cute with them. 

I, for one, am so glad Frosty is staying at grandma and Grandpa's.  There were times when Claire was being too quiet, so I went to find her. Once, she was playing this little electronic, and loud, toy next to Jared after I had just put him down to bed. The second time, she was putting him into mom and dad's bed while saying all sorts of nonsense to him while he sang to her.

Last, but not least, my two adorable boys in their batman attire. Brian couldn't resist the urge to get these little cute pj's for Jared, and then we found Brian's dream pajama pants because they are SO soft. Now they match and I think it's pretty cute.

Thanksgiving was wonderful and the food was wonderful. My mom did way too much work, as usual, and I enjoyed the break from Provo. It's nice to get out every once in a while! It was fun to spend time with the family and play some games. 

I had my first Black Friday at midnight experience. Well, I'll know better next year of when to stand in line. My dad and I went to Kohl's. They are already incredibly slow at checking on a normal day. We spent almost 2 hours in line and went about 20 feet. I wasn't even going to buy anything. I went just to look, but my Dad just HAD to have this toy pirate ship....and it is pretty darn cute. We ended up going to the "short" line of 4 people, but we had to sign up for a card to do it. Even with only 4 people in line, we still spent another 25 minutes in line. Crazy. Next time we'll do better.

TIME FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!

SNOW

Oh the SNOW! We've had so much fun today! We went to Costco first thing this morning for a mad rush for diapers. We were completely out. While we were there, we took a fun stroll down the Christmas isle to look at all of the decorations. Claire and I had a wonderful time while Jared was bored out of his mind. He ended up falling asleep while Claire and I were looking at music boxes. We had so much fun we just HAD to have more. We went to Wal-Mart and strolled through their Christmas stuff. Theirs wasn't as exciting, but still. 

We got Claire outfitted for snow with some new boots, mittens, and the cutest beanie I ever saw. Jared laughed and giggled when I put his on too, so he came ready to face the snow. AND.....we had a blast in it! Claire wiggled and fought getting her snow outfit on, but was golden as soon as she was outside. She loves ice, so this is definitely her wonderland. She ate snow until I bribed her togo inside. We have a few inches and it's still coming down hard. Now? Popcorn, hot chocolate, and the Grinch. We are happy!

Outcomes

I'm never really affected by politics. I'm an apathetic because politics make me ornery. I don't like watching the debates because it just makes me angry that people are so mean to each other. Is that really the most effective way to run for president? Arguing with everyone else. Maybe so, but it brings out the worst in me. Then, after elections, people are so mean about other's political preferences. I just don't like the whole thing.

However, I'm sad. I get more and more sad every day. I was really hoping for a good change for our country, but instead I'm nervous for our future. Hopefully next time!

Christmas Anderson Style

It's November and that means....CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS!!!!!! I was almost hesitant to put the tree up early because we don't have room for it, but we rearranged our living room and I literally was jumping up and down with excitement at the site of our wonderful Christmas tree! Am I five? Yes. Today, I am.

Claire loves it. 

Jared stares at it.

We are happy!

Motherhood

Oh parenthood...sigh. The sleepless nights of parenthood. No, no, that is wrong isn't it. It's the sleepless nights of motherhood. Fatherhood is filled with an incredible ability to sleep through every crazy scream and sound. Motherhood. Yes, that's the ticket to a life of puffy dark circles and insanity lurking around every corner. Just putting them to bed is a whole different story in itself. I've even gotten so lazy the last few nights because it's so much work for me to do it, that I've just waited until their eyes start to glaze over.

As you know, my kids aren't great sleepers. If I could just turn back time to when Claire was 5 days old. Oh, then I could get a solid 10 hours in and wouldn't that be bliss....but I can't. Claire wakes up a few times per night crying for a drink which inevitably wakes her brother up. I shouldn't get the milk, should I? You tell that to 3:30 am me who will do anything just to crawl back into bed! Then, I have to crawl back into bed with a little boy next to me, who really just wants to snuggle and not eat. He doesn't wake up 2 hours later, but I do because my entire right side of my body has gone to sleep in an unconscious effort not to wake the sleeping child, so I haven't (literally) moved a muscle in hours and my right....ahem....butt cheek is screaming for some much needed stretching. The child is returned to his bed after I've been semi-consciously swaying side to side down the hall and then I stumble back to bed, praying that they make it at least until 6. Usually the son returns around 6 am for some more snuggling and I make Brian get that last "late night" milk run to the fridge around seven.

For heaven sakes...even if they don't wake up at all, I DO! I do at 4:30 to make sure everyone is alive because I haven't been summoned and that is a weird thing.

The other day Claire took a nap....she never naps...and it was a long one! So long, in fact, that I started to go in and check on her breathing. Jared was so exhausted, but refused to fall asleep, but alas, after a while he finally succumbed. I stared at them both asleep in their beds and smiled not only because it was finally quiet and I needed to get some cleaning done, but because they are so indescribably adorable and beautiful. I left the room, started sweeping, and I thought, "Isn't it funny that you crave nap time so badly, but when they're sleeping all you want to do is go in and hug their guts out. Oh....but if they woke up at this very moment.... Oh, I would be so mad! Definitely no hugs!"

Cue Claire...."Mommy!"

I think she heard my thoughts. She ran out of her room terrified. We were having our roof re-shingled and the loud noises were scaring the poor thing. I sat on the couch with her and she fell back asleep on my chest. I contemplated putting her back to bed, but decided that my filthy, unswept floors could wait. We snuggled on the couch. I don't get to snuggle with her very often because, well, she's 2. She moves too much and is too preoccupied with poking weird parts of my face when she is close to me. It was lovely. I watched her sweet little eyes open and close, then she'd rub her nose on my shoulder and start to snore. She is beautiful.

Some day I'll forget what it was like to snuggle with her tiny two year old body just like I've forgotten what it was like when she was 6 months old. Some day I'll forget that Jared wakes up just to curl up his little arms and snuggle into my bed with me. He'll pat me on the face now and then to make sure I'm there and completely relax when he knows that I am. It's really a wonderful thing to be a mother, even if you don't get much sleep. I get to see the little parts of the day that Brian doesn't get to. I get to see the quiet times and stare at them while their dreaming, wondering what they're dreaming about. I get to see their little mouths eat in their sleep and watch them smile or laugh at something only they can see. I get to be the one they scream for when they're having a bad dream or when they need a little snuggling. I get to love them all the hours of the day, and I do.

Someday I'll forget, so right now I'll remember how beautiful life is.

Halloween Fun

We have been working really hard around here and I just want to pull a Jared and fall asleep whenever and wherever I want to. We carved pumpkins on Tuesday night and I have forgotten how much work pumpkin carving is. Actually, I probably never knew because my mom would do the clean up when we were done. I wanted to do more than just a face this year, so we got little patterns and boy....I'm not very good at them. Very time consuming. I did one fancy shmancy one and two normal faces. They were much easier. 

Claire didn't really want to participate other than pointing out the fact that we had "punkins" in our house. She was grossed out by the innards.

Jared was up to no good getting into my make-up.

Claire is the orneriest Princess Aurora you ever did meet! My goodness! She HATES having clothes on these days and it's pretty ridiculous when we do try. To get this dress on involved kicking, screaming, throwing things, pulling, pinching, you name it. We threw it on her and ran outside to get the trick-or-treating on just to get her mind off of how many clothes she was wearing. As soon as she was trick-or-treating and realized that she got candy, she was golden. "Wick-o-weet" and "datu" (thank you). 

 You probably can't tell, but I'm Leslie Knope and Brian is Ron Swanson. If you don't know them, then get to know them. 

Sleeping beauty after the partying.

Who's the cutest dragon?????

A new friend! He's a fun one!

Claire was all tuckered out, but Jared's night was just getting better and better. I think he likes it when she goes to sleep first because that means he has free reign over the toys without getting beat up.

Pumpkin Walk

I took the kids to the Orem Central Utah Gardens for their annual pumpkin walk this year and it was actually pretty neat. I have to say that I was pretty disappointed in their 1st place winner. It was creative, but very easy. I'll just leave you with some pictures.

1st place Junior Category winner

 2nd place Adult winner

MY PUNKINS! 

Jared....having a.....great time. 

Brik at his volunteer table. Claire LOVES uncle Brik! 

1st place adult winner....A hamburger. Creative, but not so awesome.

3rd place adult winner and what I thought should have been 1st! 

Jared in his costume.

My new favorite picture. He was about to fall asleep. 

The pumpkins that I grew this year!!!! 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Potty Party at Our House

Wow, It took me a whole week to sit down and do this again. Two reasons why....

1. Jared is teething...
2. Number 1 is enough reason.

So, last week we had a couple of funny potty incidents. First, I came home from the gym Saturday morning. Brian was watching the kids and I had a lovely hour away from any of my motherly/wifely responsibilities (what I wouldn't give for that right now). As I was making myself some toast and talking to my brother, Claire ran into the kitchen, "Mommy! Mommy!" I thought she was just excited to see me, but as soon as she hit the kitchen floor with her feet, she stopped. Looked down at her legs. Stared. As I got closer to her I could she that she was a little, shall we say, soggy.

False.

She was, from waist to ankles, soaked with pee. The poor girl would survive the horrible smell, but I was very seriously worried about the toll it would take on our couches. Luckily, she was an angel and stood beside the couch as she soiled herself instead of on it.

Oh yes, she had a diaper on. It was just so insanely full that it overflowed onto anything absorbent on her body.

This happens at least two times a week. I guess that's what happens when you drink your weight in milk before bed.


Second, as I was getting ready for church on Sunday, I went to check on my early rising children. Jared smelled a little off, but I decided I would let him finish his duty before changing his diaper. Oh dear....that boy can smell up a room since he's started eating applesauce. My goodness! He started to cry, as one does when their pants aren't filled with the loveliest of things, and I decided that I had better go get him. Oh wait....I'll just put on my mascara first. Well, Brian decided to pick him up instead and saved the day. He took him from his room into the hallway. My nostrils started flaring from his potency and I wasn't even close to him! Brian, sometimes having slow olfactory senses, finally realized that the house didn't smell normal and started to sniff around. Slowly, he turned Jared's bottom end toward his nose, but stopped and noticed that there was a large, round poop spot up around Jared's shoulders. Immediately "we" were in frantic mode:

Brian: "Oh! AH! Oh! Ew! AH! Ugh! Take him, take him, take him! Oh Ugh!" All while lifting Jared up as if he were a serving tray, bouncing him as if I wasn't moving fast enough and the poop monsters were going to cover his whole body.

I proceeded to take the poor child, change his diaper, and return him to his toys. Brian proceeded to wash vigorously with soap, his hands and arms. Please note that not one little spec of Jared's bodily fluid reached Brian's skin.


Lastly, Claire took off her diaper, full and wet, and said, "Here Daddy" and dropped it into his lap. A little gross, but survivable. Brian asked Claire to get a diaper for him, so she ran to her room and came back with a little swimmers. "Nemo diaper, Daddy!" Well, those of you who know little swimmers, the pee goes straight through those, so that was a no no. He asked for a Mickey Mouse diaper, instructing our obedient little two-year old a little better. She left the room....and we waited....and waited. Right as I was opening my mouth to say, "Maybe we should check on her"....we hear.... "Mommy!!!! Help me please." Brian ran into the room (I was on the couch feeding Jared and couldn't move) only to find that Claire had peed on the carpet. Upon Brian's arrival to her room Claire said, "Daddy.......diaper...." in a little sad, timid voice. We, her parents, sent her to get a diaper that wasn't there. She had ran out of diapers and I had forgotten to refill her cubby full of her diapers. Poor little thing.

Thank goodness for carpet cleaning products!

For the Family

So, I've been a total slacker on blogging lately....well, since I became a mother of two. Where does the time go? I can't get my laundry folded, there are ALWAYS dishes in the sink, the house is a wreck ALL. THE. TIME. and I just don't feel like I can catch up. Even when I do seem to catch up, tornado Claire comes walking through the house. Naturally the blog has been the last thing on my mind. 

Claire is just as cute as can be, but naughty like every other two year old. She was being extremely mean to Jared. I'm talking REALLY mean. I know that siblings hit each other, but she would hit him, go to time out, come out and grab his hair and shove him (hard) so his head would loudly thud on the ground. Cue the screaming and wailing from everyone in the house. I tried time-out. It just didn't work. I tried spanking a couple of times, but I guess I just didn't spank correctly because she would usually end up smiling at me afterward. The only thing that has really worked so far is talking through the "we don't hit brother.....now give him kisses" scenario and spending more time with her. I think she feels a little left out since he feels the need to be held by mommy all the time. So, Claire and I have had more one on one time, more reading together, and we even had a "Date with Mommy" yesterday. It was FUN! We went to Macey's to eat an ENORMOUS 89 cent ice cream cone. Seriously, huge! Then we went next door to the dollar store and got her a crown for her halloween costume and a princess wand. She thinks Aurora is cooler than sliced bread, so the princess thing is always happening at our house. Needless to say, we both had a wonderful time and I love chillin' with my cute little girl! 

Oh yeah, Claire's new thing is to be completely naked below the waist. I make sure she has her diaper on, but sometimes that is even a trial. She will wake up, "MOMMY! PANTS OFF." As soon as her jammies are off, she must have a pink shirt on right away. No other color...just pink. 

                                               

Jared is teething. Ugh. Poor little guy. I dislike the teething phase almost as much as they do....maybe more. He sleeps really great until the Tylenol wears off, and then I'm up every 1-2 hours with him screaming. I'm just too tired to make my way to the kitchen to find another does of the magical fluid. Other than that, he's happy as a clam. Such a good little boy. He is actually kind of a tough cookie to crack. He doesn't laugh as often as Claire did and you really have to work for those giggles. He still has that shrill scream he was born with and he uses it to his advantage. He has the most gorgeous blue eyes I've ever seen and, well, he's just adorable. He makes me work at his meals as well. He does not like baby food from a jar; however, he can't get enough of the applesauce I just canned. I think he eats his weight in applesauce every day. He flails his arms all over the place until I give him more. He loves my bread and will chow on that as long as there is a supply of it. Where did these 7 months go?

 MIRACLE DAY! Jared will NOT sleep if you move him from the car. The minute the car door opens, he is wide awake even if he looks like a zombie.

Eating bread with mommy

                                      

Claire's other new thing is eating FROZEN PEAS. I think it's disgusting to eat cold peas let alone frozen ones. She loves them and will eat mounds of them. I'll oblige, plus, it's one less thing I have to cook.

Coming soon: This weekends wet/dirty diaper stories.

Pumpkin Patch

There is an adorable place in Springville where you can get pumpkins, but they also have all of these fun things to do for FREE! It's so cute. They have animals, hay rides, hay stacks to climb on and some as mazes, and a "corn box" like a sand box, except it's corn. It was so fun. Claire had more than enough fun down there and I think we'll be going back. Maybe even once per week if she's lucky! 

Petting the donkey. SO CUTE! I may or may not want one of these.

Where did Kylie go? That's right folks, that is A LOT of corn!

Best buds

Jumping into the corn.

Jared trying not to melt! It was h.o.t.

I love this picture of these two so much! They are such good friends and they sure love each other!

I wonder, can you ask yourselves, could Stacy grow corn in her garden next year. The answer would be YES. Claire brought enough corn home in her shoes and her diaper that we could be stocked for 2 years. :) She actually fell asleep in the car on the way home, but once I laid her in bed, she immediately woke up itching around her whole diaper. I opened it up to find your food storage amount of corn and a hearty supply of hay. Nice and itchy....and she smelled like barn.  She had a blast!