I miss you

My parents in law took the kids for the week. Today Gerry sent me this picture. Sometimes it just hits me. This little girl of mine is so wonderfully beautiful. She's also sweet, generally. I miss my kids, but have had a productive week. On the way home from Idaho I realized I only had one child, which essentially means that I could go running ( I don't have a double stroller and the two young ones are two young for any other option I have come up with). So I made a point of it to run every day we aren't traveling this week. So far so good.

This never happens...

Olea NEVER sleeps in the car.
Olea NEVER takes naps.

But today. Gloria. She did.
This is good, because Olea was being a "turkey" this morning.
I could tell she was tired. Wonderful.
All three of them fell asleep.
Genève was no surprise but Zurich was, he usually doesn't fall asleep in the car either.

However, I feel guilty when my kids sleep in the car.
Why?
I feel guilty that I think it's so great that they are asleep and quiet and restrained.
I feel guilty that their heads all are drooped over, it makes my neck sore just looking at them.

Zurich had his 18month check.
I immunize my kids. Don't try to convince me otherwise.
He didn't even flinch at the shot. That's my boy. Then he came home and his sister kicked him off the ottoman and then he bent over to get a bottle of lotion and miscalculated where the bed was in relation to his head... and smacked himself right on the brow... bad. Poor kid.
At least he was bruise free for the doc this morning.
He's about 22 lbs and yes his head is in a totally different percentile than his body. Head.
But he's a smarty with over 35 words in his regular use vocabulary.

Jammies

Me and my girls. I made us all matching jammies over the years. They are all a little different and I made the patterns. Olea's is a night dress that as she got older I made capris that go under it so it works as she grows (since the girl only gets taller not any thicker). Genève's is a baby jammie bag, (which as she gets older I can remove the elastic from the bottom and she has a night dress) and mine has a top pannel to cover nursing access. They each have gathered neck and sleeves and a black bow in the front. I put a black bow in the front of Olea's pants so she knows front from back. They are lovingly referred to as our "princess monkey jammies."


Olea just opened a bill from the mail and said, "Look Mama, we got a free new envelope, isn't that great?!"
Ya, it's so great I am going to use it to send all of our money away to pay a medical bill.

Mirror Mirror on the wall...

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall,

Who the heck is that?!

Do you ever look in the mirror and the person you see looks unfamiliar...
not like, didn't do hair or make up unfamiliar,
but like... I really look like that?
not like, I don't know who I am...
but like, the reflection surprises you.
?

like and stuff...

This happens to me on occasion.
For instance when I walk into the bathroom for something and happen to catch my own reflection...
and it startles me because I didn't expect to see anyone.

... maybe I don't think I should have a reflection... not sure.

P.S. Diaper Rash

As a reminder to myself to tell my sister... (Who I can't call at the moment because I am on hold with Hospital Financial Services) who called asking about diaper rash and I told her I hadn't recently had that problem with my little ones... the next day Genève got one... pretty bad. She'd had it at least a week and a half as I tried to figure out how to ease it.

So now I have cured Genève's diaper rash.

A+D ointment in and of itself wasn't working. Desitin wasn't either... and even less. I tried a few other things as well... But what worked is what is important so I am skipping right to that.

After diapering dry off their little bum and apply A+D (the gold one) and then liberally apply Johnson's Baby Powder Medicated. I think it took a day to two days to completely clear it up being really consistent and quick on the diapers. I feel better, I assume Genève does. :)

Dictionary

So I was reading the dictionary the other day...
Don't laugh.
That's not the funny part.
The funny part is that the past three books I have read talk about reading a dictionary.
Gideon The Cutpurse by Linda Buckley-Archer
Pillage by Obert Skye
Eldest by Christopher Paolini

Three different authors... and so when I find myself reading the dictionary for the benefit of my E vocabulary... I have to laugh.

Success and failure

So lots of people have told me that three was the hardest when it comes to having kids.

I guess I was warned.
But do warnings really stop us from all the success and joy that could be had for a serious amount of effort?
No.
Reminds me of a sign I saw in Oregon.

Ok... good, what? am I supposed to do something?
I've been warned but I can't do anything about it because I am on the road now and can't turn around. Besides this is the road that leads to my destination, so, I go forward and appreciate the warning.
So we're adjusting.
Olea watches more movies than she used to... (which I have plans to do something about)
Zurich gets away with more because I just don't have the hands.
Genève has a diaper rash...
And that's okay.
Stretch a little.

Rocks:

Zurich has some nice bruises from his stretching...

and I lowered my own thyroid replacement because I could tell I was getting major anxiety though that may be due to current events and I just wasn't handling it well due to thyroid levels... either way:
Plants knocked over multiple times, sat on etc. by Zurich...
Then the washing machine broke and it's out of warranty. But I was sure I knew what the problem was... (according to my mother in law, I have a sixth sense) and Bless Gary for proving me right and getting the thing running again. Somehow a nursing pad got stuck in the drain pump. (and yes, that's what I told Gary I thought it was). Look how much fun he's having! yay.

Everyone crying at the same time.
Lots of things going undone for days...
Not getting dinner made
I could go on, but anyone who has kids or ever been around kids for a period of time can imagine what else has stressed me the past weeks.

But I am grateful:

Even if they don't say it....

Pictures pictures everyone

Because I haven't posted pictures of the kids' Easter... because I wasn't there (in the hospital, remember?) But thanks to my parents they still had a hunt and Olea was thrilled that she got "a lot of eggs this time" (she panicked at the ward Easter hunt running out into the center and back to the edge without picking up a single thing, Zurich got more than she did). I don't know why Olea's head is screwed on wrong in the pic of them in their Easter dress...probably because she is a poser. (There is another one that looks really strange that I didn't post) My dad took the pic of Zurich and his basket... It's a GREAT picture. I love it.

And of course pictures of the new little one.



P.S. I lost yesterday's battle with the permanent marker today. Olea broke two rules about using them... she didn't put paper underneath the one she was drawing on and she put her paper directly on the carpet rather than on my computer chair mat... Thus getting permanent marker on my my carpet... Solution: Rubbing alcohol and lots of q-tips and it's "good as new" or at least "no one would know."

Pick your battles

• I let Zurich eat an apple slice WHILE he was in the bath. (yup, it was immersed in the water bit on and dunked again...)
• I let Olea sit WAY too close to the mini tv.
• I let Olea and Zurich play with the baby play center while I nursed Genève (it kept them away from the plants)
• I let Zurich play with the scissors... till Genève was done nursing.
• I let Olea eat snacks upstairs.
• I chose to not hear what Olea was currently up to, till I was ready to deal with it. (playing with her dolls in the sink)
• I let Zurich brush his hair with his sister's toothbrush. (hehehehe)
• I let Zurich suck on Genève's binki (because it looked like his) during the day time (he's not supposed to have a binki unless he's in bed)
• I let Olea use my assortment of Sharpies. (Typically permanant markers are not for her use... wonder why?)
• I let Zurich go through the pen cup uncapping them all.
• We ate a lunch of Oranges, and apples dipped in peanutbutter.
• I let Zurich fuss in his crib longer than I normally would so I could finish up a project.
• I let Gary take Zurich on the motorcycle from the front of the property to the garage
• I let Zurich and Olea stay up late to watch a movie with popcorn.
  

Kidlets

Zurich understands posing for a picture. "Cheese!" he says and is loving it. He was spectacular in almost all the snaps I took... the girls on the other hand...

I knew it.

but it doesn't matter
I told him
but it doesn't matter
*chuckle*
We're all stubborn about something.
Today I took the babe in for a Bili level.
It's gone up.
yup
she's a yellow belly...
(no, not a coward, a jaundice kid... which call me crazy but if it wasn't a medical condition, I think it would be kinda a cute name, Jaundice...)
So early tomorrow I have to submit her again to a heel prick and then see if we need lights or not. Probably we will. Since in two days she went from an 8 to a 16. From low risk to the top of high risk.

So what did I tell him?
Not that she would have jaundice, I'm not that smart.
I told him that if we spelled her name the French way EVERYONE was going to say it wrong.
Duh.
But he insisted.
Ok fine.
You can call her Geneva (Geneeva) or the French Genève (genev (soft g)) that's all good.
We call her both.
Something I hadn't anticipated though: Genevieve (you know like the dog in the Madeline books)
That's what everyone called her today.
Heck, my name is Coretta. I was named in sorts after Coretta Scott King. A black Lady. I get Black book club mailings and things of the sort, just because of the Coretta thing. It's all good. And sometimes people spell it with two Rs and one T.
Whatever.
Who cares.
Like Gary says: Her name is Genève. It doesn't matter what others think or if they can't get it, it's her name.

Announcing...

We're all doing well. I was admitted at 4pm and she was born 3 hours later. Because of the fast delivery she has some bruising, but she is lovely and has really dark hair, darker than the other two. YAY! We'll be here till Tuesday afternoon likely so come see us if you so desire. :)