As I sit...

I'm currently sitting on the floor of my living room.

 

I just sent my husband back to work after lunchtime, Maddox is now down for a nap, there's bread in my oven baking and the girls are somewhere in the house - giggling about something or other. They have their own little jokes now. Little games and surprises that I'm not really invited to know about. It's fine. They're best friends.

 

I feel extremely grateful lately. My kids are amazing. Absolutely amazing. They make me laugh everyday. They make me mad too, but I'm trying to be better about that.

 

*Holynd*

 

Holynd is reading a lot now. She gets frustrated when certain words "break the rules", meaning they just can't be sounded-out. She has a little notebook she carries around to make "notes". Mostly it's a compilation of the letters she can write and her name. Well, most of her name. She struggles with "d". So a lot of the pages are filled with, "H o l y n Q" - because Q is her "favorite letter to write". Holynd has become quite the social-butterfly. She tends to have more on her calendar then the rest of us combined. Playdates, parties and classes keep her busy. She does better when she's busy.

 

 

 

*Sloane*

 

Lately, when Sloane gets in trouble, she says (in her most serious voice), "I'm not Sloane". It makes me laugh every time! Sloane is an absolute hoot. She's witty and doesn't miss anything. One of my friends recently described her as "spicy!". That's exactly what she is. Recently, Holynd has taken it upon herself to teach Sloane to read. When Holynd first told me this, I just smiled and told her "sure!" To my surprise, Sloane can now identify some letters and numbers. It's quite incredible. Sloane is slowly making friends with a few girls her age. She's a little apprehensive. Sloane doesn't love to share anything, especially food. When we witness her sharing in any way, we turn into quite the cheerleaders. I'm sure we look ridiculous clapping and cheering because Sloane was willing to share a plastic horse with Maddox.

 

 

*Maddox*

 

Oh Maddox. I could write a novel about this little boy. Maddox is his daddy's shadow. He can NOT let Matt out of his sight when Matt is home. Most mornings you can find Maddox crying at the garage door because daddy has left for the morning. It's a little heartbreaking that he's not a mama's boy anymore, but watching Matt and Maddox together keeps me from getting too upset. Maddox loves to rough-house. He's always looking for someone to chase around and wrestle with. Sloane is usually a willing participant, but her go-to move is to sit on him. Maddox doesn't love that. Maddox is still only taking 2 steps at a time. He lives in quite the crazy house, so I'm not surprised. Sloane loves to sneak up on him while he crawling and hit one of his arms or legs out from under him. Even though he face-plants, he doesn't cry. Maddox is NOT a cry-baby. He's had to learn to be tough. Maddox has found a blanket that he just loves. Blankie is never far from where Maddox is. He loves to put Blankie in his dump truck and push it around. All my kids have quite the attachment to certain blankets. I can't help but love that about them.

 

I am so very blessed.

What's Cookin'?

I love when my house smells like food.

I really love it when Matt walks in and the first thing he says is, "What smells good?"

When Holynd was little and Sloane was a baby, I only cooked 2 or 3 times a week. Matt worked late and it seemed wasteful to cook for just Holynd and I. Those were the days when the grocery bill was small. If Holynd and I wanted to get take-out, it didn't really cost much either.

Boy how things have changed!

I now have three very hungry kids. The grocery bill is enormous and getting take-out seems even more expensive.

I used to hate cooking because Holynd never ate what I made. She was the pickiest eater! Sloane and Maddox don't really have that problem. They get that from their dad. Matt would eat a shoe if I seasoned it enough.

I'm starting to realize that Holynd's pickiness was probably mostly my fault. While there are still things she just won't eat (everybody has preferences, right?!), she was probably just used to having me cook things she always liked. If I cooked something that I knew she wouldn't really LOVE immediately, I made her something different.

When Sloane started eating with us at dinner, I realized that it was just getting too hard to make everyone a separate meal. Holynd and Sloane didn't always agree on what they wanted to eat, and Matt and I didn't want to eat what they were eating.

I just basically decided that the kid who didn't eat, went hungry (GASP!). There were too many mouths to feed. I was NOT going to be a short-order cook.

Nowadays, I cook everyday. I do a menu every Thursday and every Friday is Grocery Day. Yes, I take the kids with me. (Except for in the summer, when Twitch is back in town. We love our Nanny!). I plan meals for every night. Sometimes it goes really well, sometimes it doesn't.

Sometimes we do splurge and get take-out, but I really try not to. It's easier when the weather is colder and it's dark by 6pm. We seem to eat out more when we're out enjoying the warm weather. I try to keep my menu somewhat simple, especially on the nights when I know Matt will be late.

People always love to ask questions about how things work in this house, with the kids being so little. My favorite questions are about food and mealtime. I don't claim to know everything. I definitely don't claim to be an outstanding cook. (I'm not!) I've made some REALLY AWFUL meals in the past.

My most favorite question of all is: "What do you feed your kids?"

Well, food! (Duh!) My kids start getting regular food as soon as I can get them to try it. I absolutely HATE baby food. I was able to tolerate it when I discovered, Ella's Kitchen and Plum brand baby foods, but I still started feeding Maddox homemade options when he was really little. I still remember the first thing he tried, Chicken and Dumplings. His face lit up like a kid on Christmas. He's been in love with a home cooked meal ever since.

"How do you get the motivation to cook EVERY night?"

I'm a waste-not want-not type person. Especially when it comes to the food we buy. I can't believe how much it costs to feed these kids and so letting things go bad just because I don't "feel like cooking" just isn't an option.

"How often to you grocery shop?"

Grocery shopping happens once-a-week, usually on Fridays. You can ask my mom, I'm a die-hard schedule person. I can't stand it if the house isn't filled with food by 2pm every Friday. I've literally lost sleep over missing Grocery Day. I wasn't always this way. I used to just keep enough food in the house to make about 7 - 8 meals. Those were the days when it was easy to throw a couple of kids in the car and head to the store if I needed one thing. Those days are gone! We just need the schedule. Especially since now I'm planning grocery shopping around my kids' schedule.

"Do you ever make a 'Back-Up' meal?"

Oh yes! I keep a couple of things in the house for "just in case" type situations. Things that tend to be rotated with our regular food storage anyway. Crockpot Chicken and Rice & Cincinnati Chili. Both can be made from mostly pantry products, both are favorites.

"What do you do if one of the kids just won't let you cook?"

This is where I turn into "The Mean Mom". I had to learn a long time ago that I can't keep everyone happy 100% of the time. Actually, I'm lucky if I can keep everyone happy 65% of the time. By dinner time, all three kids have usually had a meltdown over something else. They've all received some sort of sympathy/attention. When it comes to dinnertime, I'm cooking for the entire family. If you're having a meltdown because someone took your toy, or someone hurt you, or you don't want to eat that, or you want to eat right now - you're basically told that YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN! It's a little harder with Maddox because he's too little to understand - but he's hardly ever the one causing problems during dinnertime. There's been so many times where I've looked at the girls and said, "I'm sorry you're frustrated, but I'm trying to cook EVERYONE'S dinner, not just yours. You'll have to work it out or wait until I'm done!". They're getting to the point now where they just know that when my apron is on, I'm only available for SERIOUS issues (i.e. There's got to be blood). Things get crazy around dinnertime. I've just learned to cope. I finally just asked myself, "Am I going to wait until it's easy?" The truth is, I realize that once my kids hit a certain age, they're probably not going to be around for dinner anymore. Their social lives and outside schedules will take them away. It was either I cook now or never. I can't even begin to count how many nights I've cooked dinner with a screaming child at my feet.

"What do your kids DO while you cook every night?" This question always baffles me. They basically do what they do all day long, Play! I've never been a "Playmate"-type Mother. I've never really had to, there's always been a sibling around! While I'm cooking, toys are usually scattered every where. If you want to see a messy house, come-on over while I cook. My contents of my cupboards are usually out on the floor. Toys, puzzles, paper, crayons are mixed in with the pots and pans. There's ALWAYS toilet paper going down the hallway. Someone's usually got a dirty diaper and, like always, someone is MAD for some reason. I love a clean house, but I just can't keep up while cooking. Yes, the messes nearly drive me to drink, but I just have to turn my Ipod up and keep cooking.

"OK. Do you do your dishes every time you cook?"

Unfortunately, yes. I wish I was the type of person who could leave dishes in the sink, but I'm not. Luckily, I have a WONDERFUL husband, who's totally willing to handle most of the dishes in the house. I really don't mind rinsing dishes as soon as they're used and putting them in the dishwasher, but I really DO NOT love doing a bunch of dishes at once. Matt handles most of the dinner dishes. He's also really good about unloading the dishwasher before he goes to work in the morning. That man knows that I love me an empty dishwasher every morning. ;) I'm not going to lie, sometimes we eat off plastic plates and call it good.

"Recipes. What do you like to cook?"

One of the biggest mistakes I made was making the same things over and over. I got SICK of making them. I had to keep it interesting and so I do try to search out a few new recipes every week or so.

However, there are just some favorites that we can't live without in this house.

*Chicken and Dumplings. I really thought that homemade dumplings would be hard, but they are NOT! My kids love it and the recipe I use is relatively easy. It does involve cutting up a whole chicken, so I guess it's not for those that don't love to break a few chicken bones.

*Kalua Pork. My Sister-In-Law, Angela, is the person to credit for this recipe. I really thought it would be hard, but it so isn't. It does require almost an entire day in the crockpot, but it only calls for a few ingredients and the kids love it. Although, we do tell them it's chicken. ;)

*Creamy Shrimp and Pasta. I don't make this one as much as I used to. Mainly because we now require an entire bag of shrimp to feed us all. It does seem like quite the splurge to spend 12 dollars on just one ingredient for the meal, but my husband does love this one.

*Good ole' Spaghetti and Meatballs. Yes, I'll admit it. I used to buy meatballs from Costco. (GASP!) But my friend Nicole introduced me to the BEST meatball recipe and now I can't go back to frozen. Holynd used to hate "red sauce", but I just kept putting it in front of her and one day she was hungry enough to try it. She's now the one who gets excited about this meal.

*Meatloaf and Roasted Ranch Red Potatoes. I really love recipes where the side dishes are just a given. This recipe is one of the Worldwide Ward Cookbooks. I seriously didn't even give it a second-glace when I got the cookbook, but my friend Nicole (you seem to be mentioned a lot in this post!) told me to try it. I was really skeptical. (It's meatloaf! All meatloaf sucks right!?) All I'm going to say is, there are hardly ever any leftovers.

*White Chili. White Chili also comes from Nicole. It was her grandma's recipe and it's delicious. Matt requests this recipe quite a bit. It must be eaten with rolls. The broth is divine!

The next part of this list, is just basically for me. I made Matt a weeks worth of his favorite meals for his birthday. It was really cute to hear the things he wanted. Maybe I'll make it a tradition... Maybe. ;)

*Kalua Pork made this list. I wasn't at all surprised.

*Crockpot Ribs with Mashed Potatoes. I make my mashed potatoes like my mom does. Lots of butter and cream. ;)

*Cincinnati Chili. Not a lot of people even know what this is. I didn't until I started dating Matt. It was what my mother-in-law made the first night I ever had dinner with Matt's family. My kids have basically grown-up eating this. The packets can be tricky to find. I just buy a package of 10 off Amazon.

*Gumbo. This soup is SPICY. I DO NOT feed this to my kids. This soup also takes a few hours to make. (Close to 3). I don't make it very often. It's basically my go-to dinner when I want to make Matt something special.

*Breakfast for Dinner. I don't have much to say about this one. I'm not a breakfast fan, never have been. However, my husband is. 'Nough said.

So there you go. That's how meals get done in Chaos-ville. I've wanted to record this for awhile. Maybe it'll help my kids later on when they have their own families. Maybe it'll be funny for Matt and I to read about later. (Can you believe how crazy mealtime used to be?!). Or maybe one day I'll wonder why I even went through the trouble.

Ugh....!

 

We've been a little under-the-weather lately.

 

Speaking of weather, MY WORD, it is cold!

 

I'm not quite sure how Matt and I are still functioning, but we are. Barely.

 

I think we're going on 5 or 6 nights of very little sleep.

 

It's been rough.

 

But we're on the mend.

 

It all started out a few days after Christmas, I woke up and could feel it all over my body.

I had a cold. A bad one. I knew it wasn't the flu, but it was a cold and I wasn't excited for what was to come.

 

Slowly, but surely, all the kids got sick. Runny noses, sore throats, hoarse voices, sneezing and coughs. Maddox was not loving life and he was the first to start keeping us awake at night.

 

One by one, we all started to get over it.

 

I was happy that everyone only ended up with a cold.

 

My kids just aren't very sickly. Tummy issues are usually what we deal with.

 

In fact, up until this experience, we had dealt with one case of the Flu. It was Holynd, she was about a year old and it was about a month after her first Flu shot. It was horrible. She was sick during Finals. I'm still trying to get over that experience.

 

About a week ago, I woke up and was sick again. I wasn't entirely surprised. I had nursed three kids back to health, along with myself. The cold had come back around and got me again.

 

I noticed that Holynd was starting to cough again. "Her cold must be coming back too", I thought. Wednesday I sent her to school with strict instructions to blow her nose if needed and to cough into her sleeve. She didn't seem sick at all, except for those few nagging symptoms. Plus, the air quality was so horrible, I really thought that she was fine.

 

Wednesday night, it was apparent, she was NOT fine.

 

Thursday we stayed home from Dance Class. Thursday night we experienced one of the worst nights ever. I don't think we slept hardly at all. Holynd was in our bed just hacking her lungs up. I started to get nervous and asked Matt to give her a blessing. He blessed her she would get well and that she'd be comfortable. I immediately knew that this wasn't going to be an easy road, but that all would end well.

 

After the blessing, Holynd was convinced that she was better. "I'm not sick anymore Mommy. Daddy blessed me." She was still coughing and her fever was slowly creeping higher. I remember thinking, "If only I had her faith".

 

The next morning I knew we'd be going to the doctor. I was pretty sure she had Croup. My one question was: We're they even going to do anything for her if I took her in!?.

 

I knew that a couple of my friends were dealing with the same thing, so I sent out a couple of texts and my friend Jessie called me right away.

 

"Haven't been to sleep yet have ya?" was the first thing she said.

 

"Feels like it." I responded.

 

She told me they might put her on a round of steroids to help her little airways. "If it's serious enough that's what they'll do, it's always a good idea to get their ears checked in these situations anyway." I hadn't even thought about ears. I still haven't had to experience an ear infection, or a sinus infection. Fingers crossed that track record holds strong. 

 

I was pretty sure Holynd's case was serious enough for a round of steroids.

 

I put her in my bed and gave her another dose of Ibuprofen. Her fever was at 103 and I was really starting to freak myself out. An hour later the fever was down to 100, so I calmed down a little - only to get really worried about a half-hour later, when it was back up to 102.

 

Matt came home for lunch and I think he was surprised at what he found.

 

Our little Holynd was just miserable. She couldn't stand or walk and she was barely making sense.

 

She was also coughing so bad that I was worried she was going to start throwing up. I'm now convinced that she would have, had she'd been able to eat the day before or that morning.

 

I took her to the doctor and the NP knew what it was before she even opened the door.

 

"This is a pretty serious case of Croup. I'd like to give her a steroid injection now."

 

Oh boy... I had promised Holynd SEVERAL times that if she went to the doctor they wouldn't give her a shot and here we were and the first thing they were saying was "Shot".

 

They checked her temp, 103.1. I immediately told them that I had been giving her Ibuprofen. They told me to start giving her Tylenol and Ibuprofen every three hours to keep the fever down.

 

After holding down my screaming, coughing child to get a steroid injection, we were on our way home.

 

I was in tears.

 

This was the first time I had ever had to deal with any sort of sickness like this. To top it off, I knew I had to go home, take care of Holynd and somehow make sure my two other babies didn't get the same sickness.

 

Matt carried Holynd in and laid her on our bed. She looked so pale and was refusing to even try to drink water. I went ahead and started her on Tylenol, in addition to the Ibuprofen.

 

Two hours later, she still wasn't improving. But, she was starting to fall asleep. After the night we had experienced the night before, I figured that her just sleeping was a blessing.

 

An hour later, I woke her up to give her another dose of Ibuprofen, she barely opened her eyes to take the medicine.

 

A little less then an hour later, I heard her shout for the bedroom.

 

She was sitting up (hooray!), and yelling at me that she was wet. I felt her bottom and realized she hadn't had an accident, she was SWEATING!

 

Her fever had broken. I helped her get comfortable and change her jammies.

 

She immediately asked for a bowl of ice cream. (Luckily, we had some left over from her birthday).

 

I was so happy! I started calling and texting everyone!

 

Looking back, the scariest part only lasted 24 hours, but it seemed SO MUCH LONGER then that.

 

We didn't send her to church Sunday and she still had to stay home from school Monday, but she's slowly getting better. I never want to deal with Croup ever again. Especially a case that serious.

 

The cough loves to wake her up in the middle of the night, which is really starting to wear Matt and I down.

 

So far, the other two are just as healthy as can be. In fact, Maddox's destruction and exploration skills seem to have a reached a whole new level.

 

But more on that later.

 

All I have to say is, I'm ready for Spring.

 

Now.

But you're MY friend...

Holynd and Sloane.

They've become quite the duo.

The older Sloane gets, the closer they get.

The closer they get, the more problems seem to arise. I knew 18 months was close, but it's becoming increasingly obvious that, for girls, it's REALLY close. Girls seem to fight at any age and at any stage. Emotions run high for little girls, it seems.

Somethings they just learn to cope with. They no longer ask for one snack, they just ask for two - knowing full well that they'll have to give-up the extra snack.

All day long they play together. There a few times during the week where one will come to me and ask to lay on my bed. I'm not usually one to let them hang out in my room, but I've slowly began to understand what they're asking for.

Time Alone.

I feel dumb to admit this, but I really thought my job was to make them love each other ALL THE TIME. I'm supposed to make them get along all day every day, right??

Then one day I realized that if Matt and I spent all day every day together, we'd probably drive each other absolutely crazy.

So, I've had to get passed the fighting and the arguments.
A lot of the time, I just don't say anything when one of them gets mad and walks away from the situation. Actually, I've learned to just appreciate that. It's way better then the knock-down drag-out hair-pulling fights we've had in the past. ;)

I really thought Pre-School would fix most of the problems, but I quickly learned that it made things a little worse. The girls seem to miss each other and when Holynd gets home, both have a million ideas of what they should play first. Sloane wants to show Holynd what she's been doing while Holynd was away. Holynd usually wants to play something related to what they did at school that day. This creates immediate tension. I still haven't figured out how to fix this. I probably never will.

We've also had to establish ownership over quite a few things. We expect the girls to share, but not everything. Someone once said to me, "You wouldn't share your wedding ring. Would you?" No. I wouldn't. Somethings in this house just aren't shared. Mimi's for one have never been shared. There are a few stuffed animals that they aren't expected to share. We really had a dilemma on Christmas because we realized that we couldn't expect them to just NOT share any of their toys they got on Christmas... But if Santa gave them that certain toy, then what could we say about it? So, we had Santa put the presents all in the same place and basically just made sure they had to same amount to open. Santa also made sure that really popular gifts came in "two's".

I really thought I'd have the sister-thing figured out because I had two sisters growing up. We fought a lot. I was sure I could tolerate it and fix most of the problems just from what I remembered from growing up. Having the girls only 18 months apart has totally thrown everything I experienced out the window. Their relationship is on a whole other level then what I remember growing up and most days, I feel like all I did was referee their fights/arguments.

For how much they fight, they love each other twice as much.

I hope.

New-ness

 

New happenings.

 

*I've ventured into the world of Yeast. This was a big step for me. I'm scared of yeast. I finally got over it for Matt. I learned how to make rolls for his birthday. Since then, I've been slowly getting used to using the stuff. It's not as scary as I thought it was.

 

*I'm considering Potty-Training Sloane. Sloane isn't going to go down easy. I expect a lot of tears (from me, not her). Sloane is a spitfire. She knows who she is and what she wants. She's sassy beyond belief. I think it'll be harder then Holynd, which was already pretty hard.

 

*Maddox is currently cutting four teeth. Two top teeth and two molars. I hate teething. He's actually pretty pleasant while teething, but even semi-fussy days make this mama tired lately.

 

*After a week of dealing with an inversion, I'm ready for spring. Holynd and I made sugar cookies the other day and she said, "Mama, can we make flower cookies? I miss the flowers." I miss the flowers too.

 

*I'm starting to notice that Valentine's Day is no longer a go-to-the-store-and-pick-out-a-cardboard valentine kinda holiday. Pinterest has opened the world up to a whole new Valentine's universe! I'm a little peaved. Especially since I just finished putting together a birthday party, but alas, I guess I'll be sitting on Pinterest with Holynd - helping her choose the perfect Valentine to give her friends. Something, I'm sure, she'll take very seriously.

 

*Sloane has reached a stage where she talks A LOT. Something that is very new for us. The problem: She talks about a million miles an hour. Maybe even a billion. It's like listening to the Chipmunks after seven Mountain Dews. Gotta love her though. Her newest favorite: "guys". Any tiny doll/dollhouse person is one of her "guys". She carries them around all day long acting out different scenarios. Most of the time, the two characters fight, hit each other and then Sloane tells them they have to say sorry and make-up. Hmmm... this sounds vaguely familiar.

 

*I'm coming to terms with the fact that I will be register TWO children for Pre-School. Actually, it's safe to say that I'm looking forward to it. Holynd will be taking more hours, more days a week and Sloane will be starting two days a week. Both of them need it so I'm content with it.

 

*Maddox still isn't walking. I'm in no hurry, honestly. He'll push different things around and walk behind them. No big deal. He just isn't quite ready to take-off. I'm not quite ready for the "LET ME DOWN SO I CAN RUN AWAY IN THE OTHER DIRECTION" phase. I've had 3 kids, I know what's coming. ;)

 

*We have FINALLY moved to 9am church. I was a little worried we wouldn't make it there until 10am, but we managed to make it right as announcements started. Also, sacrament was still pure chaos, but manageable. Picture me, in the bathroom with Sloane, toilet covered in you-know-what, and Matt is in the chapel with the diaper bag. Now picture me, wiping Sloane off with toilet paper the best I can, pulling up her tights and praying she doesn't pee on me while I run down the hall to get the diaper bag. And now picture me, running back to the bathroom to put a diaper on. After we get diaper on and secure, we go back to sacrament meeting where Holynd is on the floor crying because she has a HUGE run in her tights which is slowly forming a bigger and bigger hole. Lovely.

 

*Now that Maddox is eating all table food, I've realized that recipes don't seem to be leaving hardly any leftovers. This means that I will soon be doubling all my recipes and, yes, doubling the grocery budget. (Sorry Husband.) I used to think that buying in bulk was for families with over 8 kids. Seriously. But, I do cook every night and things like milk, eggs, bread, butter and flour run out VERY quickly. How does 6 gallons of milk A WEEK sound? Better yet, how does STORING SIX GALLONS OF MILK a week sound?? A small price to pay for the best kids in the world. Needless to say, we're probably going to need a bigger deep-freeze.