Eventide

My evening routine currently looks something like this:

• Make some kind of food available to my family for the last meal of the day. This might be something awesome like roasted chicken and butternut squash (eating the leftovers as I type, delicious), something less awesome but still acceptable like taquitos and tator tots, or something acceptable to my kids but not to me like cereal. Probably cereal.
• Spend that meal sitting on the floor of the great room/living room with Topher while I call good-manner reminders into the kitchen where the kids are eating.
• Gather everyone for scriptures and family prayers.
• Read scriptures, intermittently remind children to put down books/crayons/toys/baby brother and pay attention to the scriptures.
• Pray.
• Give hugs and remind them all to please brush their teeth. This will be repeated throughout the night. It will most likely be ignored.
• Get Topher into pajamas.
• Give more hugs. Give kisses. Sing bedtime songs if time and Topher allow. Turn bedtime over to Bryan.
• Sit down in my Ikea chair in my dark bedroom and feed Topher. During this time I:
• Read my scriptures/General Conference talks/Sunday School lesson prep if I haven't already that day.
• Listen to an audiobook while I play solitaire on my phone until my eyes won't stay open.
• Switch over to YouTube videos until I'm awake.
• Go back to book. Repeat process for about two to three hours.
• After he's finished eating I hold Topher for a bit, then put him in his bed. This starts the countdown. I have between ten and forty minutes until he wakes up and wants to eat again. Yes, seriously. I usually only have time to eat something (nursing requires many calories), sometimes I prep a quick blog post, occasionally I get to spend time with Bryan.
• Topher wakes up and we repeat the whole Ikea chair bit, but this time it usually only lasts for an hour.
• After I put him in his bed, I fall into my own. Sometimes I remember to brush my teeth. I guess my kids should have reminded me.

I am living in a state of constant exhaustion. Because of this, I often remind myself of the concept of seasons. This is a season of my life, one that won't last forever. My season of babies began almost thirteen years ago when Peter was born. Since I believe Topher is our last, this particular season is coming to a close. I think that's why I'm okay spending so many hours in a chair, taking care of him, ignoring many other duties. This time with him is precious. He is precious.

I'm thankful for this season.

First Food

After yesterday's post Bryan reminded me that he recorded a movie of Topher eating rice cereal for the first time, so now you can see his full reaction. Bonus, you get to hear Peter's low voice. He's sailed past the voice change landmark of sounding like his mom, onto sounding more like his dad.



I'm thankful for technology that makes it possible to share this moment and to watch it again and again.

Not a Fan

Topher is now a seasoned six months old. That means he was recently introduced to solid food.

He did not enjoy it. After a few servings, he still does not enjoy it, but he's willing.

I'm thankful that the big kids were all so excited for Topher to eat solid food and that they delight in everything he does.

Reflections

Phoebe is participating in her school's Reflections contest. Last year she entered a piece of art. This year she has written a short story. The theme is Heroes Among Us. She went through several drafts. Each time I read it I would ask her questions about what she remembered from that day and how she felt. Each version had more detail. She finished the story yesterday and I asked her if I could post it here.

My Hero

by Phoebe

It was a hot hot Memorial Day in New York. Me, my brothers Peter and Cooper, my sister Sophie, my dad, mom, and my uncle Dallin, were in New York City to see the Brooklyn Bridge.

After we were in New York for a few hours we stopped at McDonalds to cool off. We decided to order something. We ordered an orange soda with ice. Then we left. Me, Sophie, Cooper and Peter were taking turns drinking the orange soda. Soon it was gone. Then we started to suck on the ice.

At first it felt good cooling off but I soon felt a lump in my throat. I tried to swallow it but it wouldn't go down. I turned around to tell my mom about the lump in my throat but I found that I could not talk! Suddenly I realized that I was choking! My eyes grew wide, they started watering. My heart was beating very fast and I couldn't breath  I was very scared.

My mom asked me “Are you choking”? I slowly nodded my head. Then she came up from behind me and it felt like she was giving me a bear hug. But she was actually doing the Heimlich Maneuver. The ice flew out of  my mouth. The ice went on to the street. I started to cry my mom gave me a real bear hug. I had mixed emotions. I was happy and scared.

My dad said, “Let's stop sucking on ice.” We all agreed. The nearest trash can we found we threw the cup of ice away.

When my mom did the Heimlich Maneuver she saved my life. If my mom didn’t do the Heimlich Maneuver I might not be here today. My mom is my hero.

Professionally Trained

This weekend Phoebe was struggling with a story she was writing for school. She wanted my help. Can you see what I wrote on my otherwise empty (it's a new month, I haven't filled it up yet) calendar which happens to hang next to the computer where she was working?

Here, I'll give you a closer look.

A quick explanation of dramatic structure wasn't exactly the kind of help she wanted, but I enjoyed it. And don't worry, I explained exposition, I just wrote down "background" for clarity.

I'm thankful that I find ways to use my college degree in my career as a mom.

Make the Time

Bryan and I made time yesterday to vote. I wasn't sure it was going to happen since Tuesdays are our busiest day, and yesterday was worse because it was my turn to teach preschool. But things fell into place so that I was able to leave the four older kids at home with Peter as babysitter while Topher and I went to vote.

Apparently I arrived at the perfect time: I only waited for a few minutes. By the time I got there at 4pm, the slips of paper for our names and the "I Voted" stickers had all been used. When I signed my name I think the woman said I was number six hundred and four. An hour and a half later, Bryan was in the eight hundreds.

I'm thankful to live in a place where we can vote. I'm thankful that I made time to vote. And I'm thankful that so many others made time as well.

Gross Fun

These three tried Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans on Saturday.

Some were good.

Some were not.

I'm thankful for fun activities that will (hopefully) become fun memories.

Take Shelter

Today I am thankful for our basement. I'm also thankful that Bryan put together an exercise space in one corner of said unfinished basement and that he included a foam floor. These things made our tornado warning on Friday at nearly midnight much more manageable. Bryan and I were able to wake the kids up, grab pillows and sleeping bags, and head downstairs without much fuss or time wasted. Then, though no one actually slept, everyone could have if they'd wanted to.

I'm also pretty thankful that the tornado warning didn't turn into an actual tornado.

Good Morning Grin

I am so incredibly thankful that Heavenly Father sent us this sweet little boy.

The One Where They Got All the Candy

Our Halloween celebrations started last week with Cooper's parade. Then they continued on Friday with Phoebe's parade, which was immediately followed by Bryan's work party, then a direct drive to our Ward's Trunk or Treat. We all crashed hard that night and slept in late on Saturday.

Here's Phoebe in her school parade as Annabeth Chase from the Percy Jackson books. She was so sad that only one person at her school knew who she was. I thought it was a great costume, but she's decided that next year she needs to be something more obvious, in part so people stop asking if she forgot her costume.

We didn't take many pictures at the work party. Thankfully we took advantage of the backdrop to snap a few. Here we are as a ninja, Drift from Fortnite, Annabeth Chase, Angelina Ballerina, Mama Dino, Baby Dino, and Bruce Banner.

I'm so glad we got this picture of Sophie with her ears and whiskers because the ears disappeared that night after the Trunk or Treat and I completely forgot to draw on the whiskers on Halloween night.

The ward Trunk or Treat was so fun that we completely failed to take any pictures. One highlight was Peter and the Deacons acting as human targets in their Nerf version of Duck Hunt. The Youth were in charge of the activities for the kids and this was what the twelve and thirteen-year-olds decided on. It was a hit, pun intended.

And here we are on Halloween night, about to go Trick or Treating. I was going to stay home with Topher to hand out candy. Then I realized that if we were home Topher would want to eat, which would make handing out candy frustrating for him and awkward for me. And since he's usually happy people watching in the Bjorn, I decided at the last minute to take the kids around the neighborhood. We were out for about an hour and a half and Sophie wore out before Topher did.

We have sorted and traded and weighed the candy. After eating some of what she got from Friday's activities, and some from last night, Phoebe has ten pounds of candy left. She thought that sounded like too much, so she pulled out about half a pound to take to school and share with her class. I think it's a good beginning.

Wednesday had lots of strong feelings and some of our small people almost had to stay home. I'm thankful that we pulled it together and that the kids all got to go Trick or Treating. And I'm thankful that, for the most part, the kids remembered to say "Trick or Treat" and "thank you" without prompting.