Cranky

Okay. This was the week. I haven't needed a mommy break yet, I haven't felt overwhelmed by having the kids by myself. Until this week. Elizabeth keeps spiking these crazy fevers. She is eating, she is drinking, and she's sleeping fine. But she has been a wee beast the entire week. We are ALL super tired of her crankiness, screeching, and off-and-on crying. Just when I'd be ready to take her in to a doctor the fever would break and she'd be fine. Then we'd do it all again a day later. She can't help it, she feels super crummy, but good grief it has been a long week. I'm hoping she's gotten over this, she didn't have a fever yesterday or today, just super crabby.

Oh, and her diaper this morning. Hahahaha!

That's a fair representation of what she looked like. Hahaha! She wore a onesie to bed, and then I laid her down to change her this morning and everything just.... smooshed... everywhere. I had to pull this onesie up over her head. With everything smooshed up her back anyway... I have a picture, but I'm not sharing that... Just picture Elizabeth looking a bit like the dog...

Monday - David got more stuff finished with Scouts. The littles and I went and played at the park. Elizabeth fussed. Andrea got a splinter. Peter made a new best friend. Jonathan got dental work done.

Tuesday - We went to Kensington to check out the farm animals. I hoped, really, really hoped that it would snap Elizabeth out of her funk. No dice. But she loved the chickens! Then she spiked a fever again. That was fun. David rescued a turtle out of the road. We always enjoy doing that. It is that time of year, the turtles are crossing roads to find a place to lay their eggs.

Andrea and I made soap on Tuesday. She has two more batches to make to be ready for her sale in two weeks. Now that we are coming up on it I feel like there is a lot to do for that craft fair, but the kids are so excited!

Wednesday - I had dance, I needed the break. Elizabeth slept the entire time. We are learning a new hula, it requires a LOT of ka'o. Ka'o is a stationary step, lift alternating heels so your hips make a figure 8. My teacher says I'm overthinking it, when I don't think it looks great. But then I get tripped up adding in other steps. My brain hurt almost as much as my legs the rest of the day! Then Andrea had dance, her recital is next Sunday. She's excited about the fancy choreography, it is going to be so pretty!

Today we stayed home while Elizabeth ran amok all day.

Tomorrow we are playing it low key again. I really need Elizabeth to get totally better. David is leaving for a campout with his troop. He's so close to First Class! I think this campout will get it for him. He's got grand plans for Merit Badges with Baba this summer, he's really been looking forward to it.

Saturday the kids really want to go to the Chicken Show at the library. Elizabeth will love that.... if she's feeling better. So maybe send some good thoughts and prayers her way.

I am Moana!

 I finished my pa'u Tuesday night. Lessons learned: 1) Start threading the waist elastics from the bottom. Starting at the top and working down makes for a handful of tightly gathered fabric that is hard to work around the further down the skirt you go. 2) Get an elastic threader. Running a safety pin through five yards of fabric is a tedious nightmare.

Dance this week was a trip, my teacher really worked us hard! We are coming up on performance season, so she was really making sure we know all the dances (I don't) and that we are prepared to perform (I'm not). I'll probably wait until next year to start going to performances. I need to learn the choreography and then get the costumes. I'll get there!

Elizabeth felt a little warm Tuesday evening. Wednesday afternoon I took her temperature.

She stayed mostly happy the entire time. She has been on a Moana kick lately, so we watched a lot of "You're Welcome" and laughed at Heihei antics a few times over every day. I don't mind having Moana stuck on repeat... right now. Fever broke yesterday, but we're still watching Moana.

And this week:

Monday - I discovered that for the last two weeks David actually hasn't done anything at scouts. He didn't know how to sign up for merit badges, and he graduated the First Year program so he's not being actively called in to follow a group. It is all up to him now. And he didn't know what to do. So rather than ASK he has just been wandering around. That was frustrating. I am always telling the kids that to get ahead in life they have to ask questions. If they don't know what's going on, find someone that does and ask for help. If they are curious about learning a new skill, find someone and ask. If they see someone successfully doing what they want to do when they grow up, talk to that person, ask them for advice (and follow it), and learn from them. So that David just didn't ask someone what to do next just... ugh. He's 11, he'll learn, he just needs reminding right now. I guided David as we went through his remaining First Class requirements and he made a list of things he needs to do. He will go to scouts next week with a plan and questions to ask and get answered.

While David was at scouts we went and got Andrea's hair cut. She really likes her pixie cut, but she has wanted to grow out the bangs. The last few times we've gone to trim things the stylist didn't quite do what she wanted and she was always unhappy. This time it was done perfectly, and it looks so cute! She was happy, so we're taking notes for next time.

Tuesday - I worked. Really I just worked on my skirt, it really needed to be done. The middles had Cub Scouts. They're done. They completed all of their requirements, we're just waiting for crossover next week.

Wednesday - Andrea had dance. They are working on recital pieces. The entire group is looking really good. They are all working so hard. I can't wait for the recital, it is one of my favorite events!

Thursday - I worked again. I completely finished the shirt I was constructing, and I am so pleased with how it turned out. I also did some finishing on Andrea's Easter outfit. I didn't get the smocking done that I wanted to do, so I gave up on doing a nice dress for Elizabeth. But when I looked for dresses in store or online I just didn't like what I saw. Out of curiosity I had her try on her dress from last year. Still fits! Perfect! So I picked apart Andrea's dress from last year and did some fiddling and managed to get something together for her very easily. The boys already have their nice suits, and they have their bow ties from last year. I think we are all set! My friend asked what hats we would wear this year. Ha! Apparently the ward looks forward to the fascinators, hahaha! I wasn't going to wear one this year, but maybe I'll dust off last year's.

Today's agenda:
- Playing with friends (no school!!)
- Boys need haircuts
- Finish Andrea's pencil skirt
- Make soap
- Watch Moana

Next

David began to complain about water in his ear in January. I sincerely believed it was because of the weekly swim lessons, and the weekly trips to the pool he and I were taking for Elizabeth's lesson. He shook his head, we tried the drying drops, David dealt. Swim lessons ended, but the water persisted.

At the end of February David and Andrea both got wicked sore throats. David tested positive for strep. They also noted the fluid in David's right ear. They put it on record and instructed us to come back if he still had the water/plugged feeling in six weeks, or if it started to hurt. We couldn't do any more at the time because they needed to establish that it was an ongoing problem before doing any more.

This last week, David got an odd look and said "Mom, I can't hear out of this ear." I immediately called in and got him seen. Luckily there is no infection, and the ear doesn't look inflamed or damaged. But when they wheeled in the hearing-test cart I was nervous. Turn your back away from the nurse, hear a beep, raise your hand. Things started off well, but they'd started with the left ear. Then the nurse and tech watched David expectantly, reminded him what he was supposed to do, and waited for him to raise a hand while they pushed buttons and took notes. He totally failed that hearing test in the right ear. Ha.

So we are off to another doctor in a couple of weeks.

Other items of note this week:

Got a lot of the kids' summer clothes. Yay!

J passed the hardest test of his training. Yay!

I'm reorganizing. The kitchen looks great and is much easier to keep clean. Yay! Closets next.

Elizabeth's MRI showed a normal brain. Yay!

Clever titles aren't my thing

I've lost my voice. Don't know what happened, I think it is the waffling weather, but I woke up this morning and my throat hurts and it kills to talk. So it is a good thing the kids know a little bit of sign. It will be a quiet day.

Elizabeth had her MRI done yesterday. We were up at 4:30a.m. to get ready to go. I dropped the middles off with a friend so she could take them to school. Then Lizzie and I headed off to the hospital for a 6:30 check-in. Things went so smoothly, they even got us back earlier than scheduled! That's a first for us. She had to be sedated for the MRI, and the MRI took longer than they'd planned, so I'm glad they were able to get her back early. They offered to give her Versed, which really helps her be calm when they take her away, but it makes her doubly grumpy and groggy when coming out of anesthesia. The other option was to go back with them and hold her while they helped get her to sleep. I opted for that, and I'm glad I did because she wasn't nearly so scared going back, and she was back to her normal self by the early afternoon. We should have results in the next couple of days.

Conference was great this weekend. I really enjoyed a lot of the talks. 


The kids were good and listened a lot of the time. That allowed me to really listen, too. I am grateful for our leaders and the direction and peace found in their words. I can't wait to go back and study all the talks even more.

While listening to conference the kids worked on crafts for their fair. Andrea and Peter are almost fully stocked. David is doing baked goods, so that is really a last minute kind of shop. But he did work on cake postcards! Something fun to offer besides cakes and cookies.

We've gone to the park and on walks a lot the last few days. Spring has definitely sprung (just going to ignore the snow and sleet in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow), and it is getting so much warmer.  I made the summer-wardrobe list and did my audit of the closets. I'm surprised at how much we actually have, shirts from last year should fit for most of the summer (except for Peter, who somehow destroyed every single t-shirt last summer). So we are going to hit up the stores this Saturday and check off the list. Wish me luck!

Spring Break

This week has been a nice, relaxing week. Each day we've done a bit of Spring Cleaning, and each day we've done something a little entertaining.

Tuesday I did a lot of sewing for work while the kids played in the back yard. I'm very nearly finished with a shirt I've been working on for a while. I need to cuff the other sleeve and then sew the sleeves into place. Then done! Probably one more afternoon of work and I'll be finished. I also finished the edges of my fabric for my pa'u. I've been taking hula lessons, and I needed a skirt. I also need to make a bag for my pu'ili. This class is no joke, but I enjoy it so much. I have to admit, it has really made me miss the ocean, is that weird? The Great Lakes are nice, but I miss the salt. It has been six years since I've seen an ocean, eight since I visited California. Someday I'll go back!

We did the zoo on Wednesday. We hit some fun sites we don't normally see. Like the little farm area, where we saw a yak (I had no idea they were actually so small), and lots of chickens, pigs, and a cow. Elizabeth was super excited about all of them. (Maybe I should take her to the farm center in Kensington tomorrow, I bet she'd get a kick out of that!) She also flipped out over the giraffes. During the winter the zoo has them in a giant building, and we can see them in there. So we actually get a closer look at them during the winter, and she just thought they were the coolest things ever.

Today the middles had dentist appointments. Peter chipped a tooth the other day. Rather, he chipped the cap on his front tooth. Dentist said there's no point replacing it because there's no root and the adult tooth is really ready to come through. So it should be loose any minute now. Andrea had bad news. No cavities, but the ramifications of some prior dental work are hitting her hard now. I was hoping I'd have another year to prepare to get her into braces. Not so much. So I'm working a plan.

Tomorrow has no plans. I think we are going to finalize plans for the kids' craft fair items. They are all so excited about running their little shops next month. It has been tricky keeping the kids focused and helping them to think small, haha! They just want to go all out, and I have to remind them that we can't do that, the fair only runs for two hours.

I'm really looking forward to General Conference this weekend. This is David's first time going to the Priesthood session, too. It will be a great weekend. My Conference Craft is more smocking. I don't think I'll be able to get Easter dresses finished for the girls, or ties for the boys, but I'm going to see if I can get the panel finished. If I can I just might be able to make this dress happen. If I can't? Oh well. I have really given a lot of thought to what I commit to lately. Being the only parent in the home really does just take a lot of time. Again, life is not harder, everything just takes longer. So I've started saying "No" to an awful lot that I would otherwise have liked to do. But it is okay because the littles need me a lot right now, and that's the best feeling in the world. I've found that I feel a lot better slowing down and not over-extending myself so much. Who'd've thought, right? ;)