HELP!

After a total of 3 hours sleep last night - and not in a row, I am officially seeking serious help from anyone out there who has successfully combined a toddler and preschooler into the same room. What did you do? How did you do it? Will the waking each other up thing ever end? Any resources you suggest? If you haven't, do you know anyone who has? I am getting desparate!

For the sake of letting the kids get enough rest to get over their colds, I have been letting Chloe fall asleep in Brynn's crib while Morgan does the flop game to go to sleep and then moving Chloe down to their shared room when he is sleeping soundly. The problem is that if anyone wakes up at night, they don't know how to go back to sleep with each other in the room and Brynn is sound asleep in the crib. Also, I realize that this is not teaching them to fall asleep on their own and it is creating interrupted sleep for Chloe and it is a giant pain in the butt!

HELP!

On a positive sleep note...Brynn slept 7 1/2 hours in a row last night! Yay Brynnie! Now, if only I could get the older kids to go to sleep and stay asleep...

Perplexed

Why is it that I am always lacking patience when I need it, but seem to have plenty when I don't? I've been needing patience a LOT lately - anyone know where I can get some?

A Very Happy Day

Saturday was Chloe's 2nd Birthday. I can't believe she is already 2 and yet I can't believe she is only 2. She seems so grown up to me!

Chloe started out as the most amazing and easy baby - calm, easy-going, tolerant, a great sleeper, a great eater and very healthy. I am not sure quite how or when it happened, but she is no longer calm, easy-going or tolerant. She is feisty, she is opinionated, she is demanding, she is mischievous, she is emotional and most of all she knows how to manipulate.

But, she is also very kind, giving, loving, cuddly, sensitive, tender and caring. She is so smart and so determined! She is a great helper and very obedient - as long as she thinks it was her idea (I am becoming a master at making her think things are her idea). She knows most of her colors, has started to memorize songs and stories and has been talking in full sentences for what seems like forever. She loves to read books, sing songs, eat at McDonalds and play pretend. She is all girl - she loves dolls, coloring, cooking, her daddy, my little ponies, hair, clothes, shoes, hats, purses, bows (which has been rather difficult over the past week), lip gloss and mom's makeup (if she sees me getting ready in the morning she comes in and makes me put clear mascara on her while she powders her face). But, she also loves to play cars (complete with sound effects), dig in the dirt, ride bikes and do just about anything with her big brother!

I love her funny giggle. I love that she wants to identify every person by name - in life, pictures, and movies. I love that she makes everyone feel loved and important. I love how she says, "Isss okay Brynnie Bean" whenever she hears her sister crying. I love that she wants all of her favorite toys and books in bed with her (until the morning when I am trying to make her bed and have to do a major clean up to do so). I love that she asks for "hand sanitizer" of her own accord and that she says, "I messy, Mom" as she holds out her hands to be cleaned. I love hearing her talk to her babies as she carries them around the house. I love seeing how much she enjoys creating - coloring, play-doh, crafts - and I am so excited for the day she can be my little scrapbook buddy! I love that she could push her doll stroller or vacuum around the house a million times a day and never get bored with it. I love the way she rocks back and forth to swish her dresses when we get her ready on Sunday and how she says, "I'm pretty" when she looks in the mirror. I love that she has my sweet tooth, and OCD, and ticklishness. I love that she is obsessed with pink and that anything can be made better with a pink treat. I love seeing how much she loves Jesus as she identifies him in pictures, prays to him and listens as we read about him in the scriptures. I love that she gets very upset when Morgan gets in trouble or gets hurt. I love her strength and determination and every day, I hope that I can be more patient with her because I know that she will be an amzing woman someday because of it. Even though she is a handful, I wouldn't trade her for anything! I love my sweet sweet Chloe!

We had a fantastic day celebrating our little sweetie...

Morgan was singing Happy Birthday to her before she even woke up - and frankly, before we even woke up!

Daddy made eggs for breakfast.

Morgan and Chloe took a birthday bubble bath complete with kisses for the birthday girl and played until they were ready to get out.

Chloe got to open her first present: a birthday girl shirt and a little purse, cause a girl can never have enough purses.

Seth and Chloe went on their Birthday Date to IFA to see the baby bunnies and to Costco to pick out a princess sticker book.

We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch - Chloe's request.

The whole family came over for pink bunny cupcakes, cake, ice cream and lots of presents!

She spent the rest of the afternoon playing with her new loot, reading her new books and eventually taking a nap. I made her a baby sling like mine and I had to pry it off of her before the nap - covered in ice cream, birthday cake and marker! She loved her Bella Bunny that Grandma Becky took her to make earlier in the week and has been carrying it around since. I have been hearing a lot of the ABC song from the Leap Frog Alphabet Caterpillar from the Tates. She has been making numerous trips to the bathroom sink to fill her Aquadoodle pen to color the puzzle (when Morgan is not coloring it) from Grandpa Mark. And every morning I regret buying her that vacuum when I hear it rolling around the house on the hard floors - and it doesn't even have batteries yet!

Then, she got to hang out with Grandpa Mark and her siblings while Mom and Dad had a little break.

A very happy birthday for a sweet, sweet girl!

A Very Sad Day

Last Wednesaday was the fateful day...Chloe's Haircut. It was so sad to watch all of that hair fall to the ground. I documented the whole thing in pictures so you could all share the pain...

Going in for the first chop - noticeably more hair on the left than the right

During the cut...it's getting very sad now.All that hair on the chair means not much on her headMy attempt at making her head look like it has hair on it in the back

This look lasts about 3 minutes and then she just looks like a boy from behind

Girl-ing it upMore attempts at girliness

And just in case you forgot what she looked like before she started pulling her hair out

I miss that beautiful blonde head of hair!

Brain Dump

a.k.a.
A Bunch of Random Stuff That's Been on My Mind

Well, I am happy to report that we are finally on the upswing of illness around here. Over the weekend, I made a lot of trips to Primary Children's Hospital (3 or 4 a day, in fact) to get Brynn suctioned out so she could breathe, eat and sleep. We could have gotten her admitted to the hospital, but decided to just keep making the drive for the sake of the other kiddos. Since Seth was home for most of it, I made the drive there and home with just Brynn and me in the car, so I had a lot of time to think about random stuff: thus this post!

~Primary Children's Hospital is so awesome. This has been my first encounter with them in my role as a parent and they are great. Even the valet parking guys are amazingly kind and good with kids! The wagon was a big hit the day I had to take all 3 kids on my own - speaking of which, one parent taking 3 kids to the hospital is not a fun venture. Here is hoping I never have to do that again - EVER!

~The Temple is so amazing! I don't know what I would do without one (or 4) close by. It had been way too long since we had been between late pregnancy, brand new baby and a whole lot of sickness and it was so rejuvenating to sneak away for a few hours and just have peace! Thanks, Seth, for allowing your Birthday Celebration night to be a temple outing! Thanks, Grandpa Mark, for offering to babysit sick kids so we could go out!

~We have the coolest family in the world. My sweet Mom saved me from numerous breakdowns last week, my Dad took the kids and offered his help, Seth's family brought dinner over and played with the kids Sunday night, and countless calls and emails and other kind acts have been extended to us. We are so blessed!

~Babies do not like having tubes shoved up their noses to suck out their boogers. Moms don't like watching it either!

~My kids are really onery when they are sick...I am too...it must be hereditary.

~I already miss my Beehives. I was released as the 2nd counselor in the Young Women's presidency on Sunday (which I luckily did NOT have to sit through since I was home with sick kids) and I get a little teary every time I think about it. I sure love those girls and the strength they have! I have been in Young Women's for about 4 years, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised they are giving me a break (not to mention that my husband is the Young Men's president), but I didn't really want a break. I was happy where I was. I know that it is all part of the plan (sorry for the use of Mormon lingo here), but sometimes I wish the plan could be different. On a positive note, I know those girls are in good hands because the ladies that got called to the new Presidency are awesome and will be great! You are some lucky ladies!!! Also, I am super excited to be able to go to Relief Society. I love Relief Society!

~Why is it that no matter what toy one of my kids is playing with, the other one automatically wants to play with it too? Same goes for books and food. So irritating.

~I love the classic Disney movies! (told you this was going to be a random list) I realized that my kids had never seen any of them, so we have been getting them from the library and watching them. Such great stories, such great music, such good humor! I don't think you can ever really grow out of Disney!

~Snow? Really? REALLY?

~If you go into a gas station and purchase a car wash, don't you think that would be a good time for the cashier to let you know that their car wash is closed at the time? Well, I thought so too, so imagine my surprise when I got into my car, pulled it up to the car wash and found it was closed, and with no good reason either! Let's just say, it didn't make me happy!

~I bought the girls' Easter Dresses today and I am officially excited for a matchy matchy Easter!!! WOO HOO!

~Crocheting is actually kind of relaxing. Yet another domestic activity that I enjoy. I think I have officially become fully domesticated!

~Brynn has become such a fantastic baby! She has been so sweet and happy despite feeling so horrible! I can never resist her big smile and her sweet giggles or those gorgeous eyelashes! Every day I fall more in love with her! I have secretly been enjoying the trips to Primary Children's just because it means uninterrupted time looking into the eyes of my sweet baby girl.

~I am getting used to Chloe's boyish haircut. Still not loving it, but at least I am getting used to it. Today I made 6 matching headbands for each girl, to make it a little less traumatic! I am working my way through the millions of pictures I have taken over the past week and then I will post the new do. Today she asked me to do her hair in piggytails...it broke my heart to tell her she didn't have enough hair for that.

~In less than a month I will no longer be the mother of 3 kids 3 and under - I can't believe my baby is going to be 4!

~Priesthood Blessings are real and I am so thankful to have a husband who is worthy to give them. Priesthood Blessings=Peace

~How did I ever function on so little sleep in college? How do I get back to that more energetic version of myself?

~Chloe loved her birthday. I should really stop worrying that I didn't get enough presents for my kids because I always do and I usually get way too many!

~Just in case anyone was wondering, breastfeeding a child is not equivalent to resting. How come men don't seem to understand this?

~Benadryl has never made me happier than when I give it to my kids at naptime and bedtime - with valid cause, of course!

~Sometimes it is okay to drop the hundreds of balls I am juggling in the air, take a rest and go with the flow. Can you all please remind me that I said this?

For those of you who made it to the end of this post, I am sorry for the very long and random list. I will be back with pictures, details of Miss Chloe's Birthday and inevitably, more rambling thoughts!

Update from the Trenches

First, I must say: Thank you Mr. Sun for shining your bright face this afternoon...we really appreciated the sunshine!

Brynn had the last of her 3 Roseffin shots today. The congestion has not cleared up at all, though, and the infections are still raging in both ears. They tested her nasal drainage this morning and the tests for RSV and the flu all came back negative, so we really don't know what is going on with her. In the meantime, we have to go in to get her nose suctioned out every 4-6 hours as needed so that she can breathe and eat and are hoping that she starts getting better soon - though there are no signs of that at this point.

You would think that since she is our 3rd child we would be seasoned pros at sick babies, but she is the first one to get really sick, so it is all a little stressful and overwhelming (thus the play-by-play narration).

Sadly, this also means we are postponing her blessing which was scheduled for this Sunday, but I will post pictures of the dress and headband for you as soon as I take them! :)

The older kids are still fighting a cold and their need for sleep, so if you have encountered us in the last couple of days, you have likely seen one or both of them throwing a tantrum on the floor while Brynn is screaming because she is hungry and can't eat! This is pretty much the norm right now, so I stocked up on Disney movies the kids have never seen from the library, Kleenex boxes are strewn throughout the house, I have accepted the fact that crying is going to be pretty much constant background noise right now, and I have vowed to never again have a baby in January.

Oh yeah...we are having some serious fun around here! Hopefully things are a little better tomorrow for Chloe's birthday!

Our Home Away from Home

We have spent more time at the doctor's office in the last 2 months than the entire year prior combined. Apparently this is just the curse of 3 kids in the wintertime - someone is almost always sick. Today was actually Brynn's 2 month "well-baby" visit, but she wasn't well at all! The poor little thing has gotten worse since Monday despite the medications. Today it looks like it isn't RSV again, just a bad case of ear infections.

Just to recap for you... 2 1/2 weeks ago, I took her in after a stuffy nose was keeping her up all night for a couple of days in a row. She had an ear infection in her right ear. The following Monday, the congestion had not subsided, so I called them again and they instructed me to give her triaminic. After a few days, she was doing a little better and finished her course of Amoxicillin and by Friday, she was finally well. Saturday, the congestion was back, and by Sunday she was again snorting like a pig. So, I took her in Monday around 5 pm (this week) and her right ear was clear, but her left was infected. She weighed in at 12 lbs. 4 oz. (which is fairly large for 2 months, I realize, but itty bitty as my children go - both Morgan and Chloe were over 15 lbs by 2 months.) They put her on Zithromax and Singulair (just in case we were in early stages of another round of RSV). Monday night, she was throwing up everything she ate and couldn't keep anything down, but there were no signs of dehydration. Since then, she has not been eating very well and having a hard time sleeping.

Today, she weighed in at 12 lbs. even which means she lost 4 oz. from 5 pm Monday to 10:30 am Wednesday. She also had bad infections in both ears. Our wonderful Doctor decided to give her 3 shots of Roseffin (sp?): one today, one tomorrow and one Friday. We postponed her immunizations until she is feeling better, so I get to take her back in every day this week, and again a week later! Not to mention that the older 2 have their well-child visits next Wednesday! So, yeah, the doctor's office is our home away from home!

My Little Piggy's Little Piggies

I love love love these little piggies (not to mention the darling pants and their cute little embroidered bottoms and ruffled bum).

Unfortunately, Brynn has RSV again, so she sounds like a little piggy because of all her congestion. She is back on singulair and some other medicine and we are hoping that it passes quickly. Poor little girl!

So excited for Spring weather to come back so that RSV season will be over and she can wear this adoreable outfit.