Tuesday Gems

Timmy likes to watch Cinderella because it has lots of animals in it.  Here he is watching it, eating dry "ranen" (ramen), just like he likes it, and holding Michael's smurf.  He loves that smurf so much!  He saw that I was about to take a picture and gave me an even cheesier grin. 

 

Jill has a Band-Aid on her forehead.  It's not because she has a cut.  It's because she bonked her head on the corner of the bathroom counter.  It just got a little red, and she insisted on looking at it in the mirror.  And then she went out and informed Papa that she needed a Band-Aid.  He got her one and Grandpa put it on her.

 

It was a long night last night.  I hadn't been feeling well, and both of the little ones came to our bed crying for some reason.  They kept waking up sad over and over.  At about 4:00 I took Jill to the potty, and when we came back she stole my sleeping spot.  So I curled up at the end of the bed.  Then she missed me, so she came and curled up by me.  Then Timmy missed me, so he came too.  By then Jill was asleep and I was worried that Timmy would roll off the bed, so I grabbed him and went back to my spot.  Then he kept waking up and Jill woke up again.  Jill finally decided it was ok to go lay by Papa, but Timmy clung tightly to me.  When the alarm went off he was mad that I got up to turn it off.  I had to climb back in bed with him for a few minutes to get him to go back to sleep. 

 

And then Jill was all awake when it was time to take the boys to school, crying so hard and begging to go with me to take the boys to the bus stop.  I promised her repeatedly that she could go, but she didn't calm down until I put her coat, shoes, and socks on.  I finally got everybody ready and out the door.  We made it to the bus stop on time, and then I pushed Jill in her stroller back up the hill and home.  When I got there Timmy was awake, crying to be let out of my bedroom.  Darn it!  Well, I got them both breakfast and turned on a "muggie."  (That's how Timmy says movie.)  Then Jill started crying because her leg was hurting again.  It must be growing pains or something.  She cried and cried.  I ended up holding her in he blankie until she fell asleep.  And there she is all bundled up on the ottoman that used to be her bed.  And Timmy is still watching his muggie, which is kind of a miracle because lately all he wants to do is stand on the piano bench and change the movie over and over and over and over.  Our poor DVDs are getting pretty scratched.  Silly boy!  Good thing he's cute. :)

A Scratchy Tale

 

 

For the last few months of 2012 Joshua had one thing on his mind every chance he got: he wanted a rat, and he wanted it right away.  He spent hours talking about how much he wanted one, daydreaming about it, begging for it, and watching countless YouTube videos about rats.  Whenever he was bored he would sit next to me and say in my ear, "I want a rat," so many times I thought I just might explode.  He told me how wonderful it would be to have his rat sit on his shoulder while he did his homework and how much fun it would be to feed it popcorn.  He would probably name it Scratchy.

 

The issue was not that we didn't want to get him one.  We were all agreed that having a rat would be a good thing for Joshua.  The problem was that there are no pet stores in town and we were kind of short on money.  We weren't able to put up the money for a cage, food, and whatever else a rat might need, let alone a rat.  And so he had to wait.

 

Well, there was somebody else who wanted Joshua to have a rat.  There was one particular Sunday when he took Joshua aside and talked to him about rats just so I wouldn't explode from hearing, "I want a rat" countless more times.  And then he gave Joshua a cage complete with a water bottle, a wooden house, a food bowl, and a salt wheel.  Jeremy picked up some food and bedding, and Joshua got the cage all ready.  

 

And then Joshua still had to wait.  He was assigned to make his bed faithfully for two weeks to prove that he could be responsible and able to take care of a rat.  He did that, and then he had to wait still.  Finally, on Saturday, December 22 we all went together to the pet store in Mesa, and Joshua chose his rat - a medium-sized gray male.  We got him an exercise wheel and more food, and Joshua happily carried him out to the car in his little box.  Before we got home, Joshua was sure that his rat's name was Scratchy.  He played with him all the way home and was so happy.

 

Scratchy has spent a lot of time hanging out on Joshua's shoulder.  Scratchy is actually an appropriate name for the little guy because he is always scratching him.  But he loves Joshua!  The day after Scratchy came home, Joshua was sitting on the couch with him, and Joshua would move his finger back, and the Scratchy would grab it gently with his teeth and pull it back to him.  It was so cute! 

 

Scratchy also realized soon that he could squeeze through the bars of his cage.  We were awoken many times because Scratchy would crawl out of his cage on the dresser next to Joshua's bed and into the bed with Joshua.  He was lonely, I guess.  The first time that happened, Papa and Joshua made a wall behind the back of the cage with a cookie sheet and Hyrum's wooden shield.  That worked for that night.  But the next night he was back in Joshua's bed again.  We tried all sorts of things.  We put him in our huge stockpot with some bedding and food, but by morning we found him crawling around the rim and then sitting on the handle.  And after that he could get out easily.  He just jumps!  Then we tried his travel case - a plastic cat carrier.  That worked for a couple of nights, but then once again he made it into Joshua's bed.  Jeremy went and inspected the carrier and found that Scratchy had chewed a hole in it to get out.  Silly little guy!  So nowadays, I carry the whole cage out to the kitchen table every night, and so far that keeps him out of Joshua's bed.  We make sure he has food and water, and he just stays all night.

 

One day last week Timmy gave us a good fright.  We were sitting in the living room after the boys had gone to school, and here came Timmy holding Scratchy by the tail!  He was so pleased with himself.  I still have no idea how he got Scratchy.  He dropped him on the floor.  I ran over and scooped him up, and the poor little scared guy tried to run up my the front of my shirt to perch on my shoulder.  I put him back in his cage and he just looked so scared.  Poor guy.

 

Another day, Elizabeth woke up and checked on Scratchy in the morning and found that he was not in his cage.  What in the world?!  He doesn't get out of his cage if Joshua's not there to be found.  We looked everywhere we could think of.  We looked through and shook out Joshua's blankets.  I had no idea where he might have gone, but I was afraid he'd found a hole in a wall and gotten outside.  (We did used to have mice, but we're still not sure where they came in.)  We looked in and under beds, in the bedroom closet, under piles of laundry.  I cleaned up the laundry room and looked everywhere in there, praying the whole time.  I even called the school to see if he'd gone to school with Joshua.  I was really worried.  It would not be fun to tell Joshua that his beloved pet was just gone.

 

Finally I decided that while Joshua's bed was torn apart I may as well wash the sheets.  I had the blankets piled on the floor, and when I went to put them back on the bed, Scratchy tumbled out of one.  I'd already shaken out those blankets twice!  He scurried under the bed.  Oh, I was so happy to see him!  By that time I had looked at his food bowl and realized that it was empty.  That's probably why he got out.  He was probably hungry.  It's hard to tell if there's anything in his bowl or not because Scratchy puts bedding in it.  I pulled out the bedding and put some food in there, and I held the bowl out to Scratchy under the bed.  He sneaked up and grabbed something and started munching.  Poor hungry fella!  I scooped him up and up him in his cage with plenty of food, and that was that.  So now we have been extra careful to make sure he has food.  And I was very thankful that day that Heavenly Father heard my prayers and helped us find Scratchy.  Yep, He even cares about pet rats. :)

 

It has been fun having Scratchy around.  Joshua loves him so much, and he is a sweet, nice friend for him.  Joshua likes to hold him up to his face and exclaim at how cute he is.  He likes how Scratchy will sit on his soulder and wrap his tail around Joshua's face, giving him a mustache.  It is all so sweet and cute.  I am thankful to have him in our family. :)

 

And in other news, Jill woke up this morning throwing up in Elizabeth's bed.  With Elizabeth's help, most of it ended up in the garbage that was right next to the bed.  And then Jill got a bath and got to cuddle with her Papa.  She kept telling us about how she "coughed in the garbage," and she wanted to do it again.  I took her out to the living room with me to watch Enchanted while I made Jeremy's lunch and breakfast, and she insisted that she needed to cough in the garbage some more.  She thought it would be so fun to do it again.  She had me hold her and she tried to throw up again, but it didn't happen until everyone was out there all ready for prayers.  That time it wasn't as much fun apparently, because she hasn't asked to do it again. ;) Silly girl!  She threw up again right after we got home from taking the boys to the bus stop, and now she's sleeping again.  Poor girly - but I'm glad she can sleep.  I hope she feels better soon and that we don't spread this sickness around!  The boys are on their weekend after today!

 

Also, Timmy really likes Benji's wooden train set, and he's getting pretty good at linking all the pieces of track together.  So cute!

On Timmy and New Beginnings

 

I know I missed the New Year's resolution time by a full 3 weeks, but if my goal for this year were to be write on the ol' blog more than once a month, I'm doing pretty good. :)

Here we see a picture of my sweet, innocent, 2-year-old Timmy.  He really is a sweet guy.  He hugs me quite often throughout the day.  I may have also mentioned a few billion times that he is obsessed with my hair.  So his hugs always include his tugging at my hair a bit followed by his grabbing a few strands with the intent to pull them out so he can eat them.  And he doesn't want to just chew on them.  He wants to actually ingest them.  I know.  It is kind of disturbing.  And it hurts!

Timmy also does not take naps very well.  Even as a newborn he wouldn't.  The only way he'd sleep then was if I was nursing him.  I could not put him down for anything.  He still needs naps, though, but I simply cannot get him to take one until too late (around 2-4).  That means that he wakes up cranky at dinner time, and it also means that I'm up until all hours waiting for him to go to sleep.  He prefers to be cuddled in the rocking chair with his blanket, but his version of cuddling means he's going to climb on my head and eat my hair, scratching my face with the all-to-necessary saftey pin that doesn't let him zip down his fuzzies.  And every now and then I'll have a bout of wishful thinking and just take him to bed with me, but that makes it all about 50 times worse.  In short, it is painful to me to put him to sleep.

And when he finally slips off to dreamland he looks so peaceful and angelic I couldn't possibly be mad.  He is one lucky guy.  He dang well better know that I love him despite all the pain he's put me through during his two short years on earth.  He is definitely the one who has hurt me the most by far, but somehow, it is all worth it anyway.  I love him.  I love all of my family more than I can even think to say.

And switching gears now, I have felt lately that I'm at a crossroads in my life, a stand-still where my life has been turned completely upside down and I'm sitting here scratching my head and wondering what to do next.  But I think I'm coming out of it, and maybe that will mean that I can start blogging and taking pictures regularly again.  I have just been so lost in thought and trying to figure things out.  I guess it is natural, then, that pictures and blogging would kind of drop off.

You all know by now that we are expecting baby #7.  That by itself is enough to turn the world upside down, even if I don't get morning sickness very bad.  And then, a few days after I knew I was pregnant (and a few days before I took a test), we had another addition to our home.  A girl in our ward was just recently baptized.  Her name is Elizabeth, and she has had a really hard time of it, especially since joining the church.  Her dad basically told her to leave, and so she was invited to come and live with us.  She will be 19 in a few days and is taking classes at our local college. 

I can't pretend that it has been all cheery and wonderful.  This has been a rough transition, especially for Elizabeth and me.  I'm still not quite sure what my role should be in her life.  Sometimes things seem to go smoothly, and sometimes things do not go right at all.  Really, it is to be expected with two adult females learning to live together.  But we are trying, and I hope I can get my act together eventually and figure it all out.  Lately I don't like to blame things on pregnancy hormones because it was a definite choice to become pregnant in the first place, so I don't feel like I should complain.  But I can't deny that my dang hormones have played a role in this rocky new beginning.  Hopefully things will simmer down.  And I hope beyond hope that if we give Elizabeth nothing else, we will at least give her a sense of permanence, a sure belief that even if not all good things last, some things will. 

Yes, that does raise the question in your mind: do we plan to adopt her?  For now we don't know and we probably don't have the money for it anyway.  But we will see.  We will fast and pray and go to the Temple.  We will figure it out.

Surprise!

A few signs that you might be pregnant:

You mean to tell the boys, “Get ready for bed!” or “Stop fighting with your brother!”  But instead you say, “Buckle up!”

Brushing your teeth makes you queasy.

You get emotional at odd moments of the day for no reason.

You go change your shirt and then realize hours later that you didn’t take off the first shirt before putting on the second.  Good thing it’s winter!

Yes, I am pregnant!  We are due September 16!  We are excited to meet our new little #7!