Elderly Friends

These two have quickly become the same person. They play, they laugh, Clairvaux dominates heavily, Vianney gets her hair pulled 1,000 times a day by Clairvaux, Vianney cannot use the restroom without Clairvaux (she is her flusher). Vianney is so easy going and Clairvaux is 100% clown and entertainer. I called John three times today to tell him what ridiculous thing she currently had attempted. She spits into the bath tub after EVERY morning bath. She is just plain unladylike. She sits at the kitchen table and "practices" her memory work on the wall. She forgot she can't read yet. She pretends to throw up after having seen her siblings throwing up. She ran purposely right through her sister's board game today and to avert their madness she leaned in and whispered jibberish in Rose's ear to make her laugh.


I had Vianney and Clairvaux with me today at an appointment. Vianney sat very nicely in the chair while Clairvaux pretended to be very shy and somber. The doctor commented how friendly Vianney was and how shy Clairvaux was. I told her, "Well, Clairvaux wants you to believe that, but she is playing with your mind." She missed the side glances Clairvaux gave her to see if she was still looking at her. She missed the smirks she gave when her head was down.







While I am cooking dinner, it usually works to tell her to go look to see if Papa is home. She runs to the window and checks for about 15 minutes. She will come back to me and question his where-abouts. I then tell her to go look again. It worked for about 45 minutes. John is greeted at the door by her with equal emotion as if he had been deployed for the past year and this is their first encounter. She loses it everytime.









It was a doozy of a week in regards to illness. Man. Our doctor thought Vianney picked up impetigo/MRSA from the hospital when she had her tonsils out. She got a terrible skin infection that blew up over night. Every child saw the doctor this week. Some of them were in multiple times. We were not sick at all this winter, but made up for it this week.

Zoo and IMAX 2012

For the fourth year in a row, we headed to Omaha for our annual Big Zoo trip and IMAX viewing. It is an event sponsored by Nebraska Eye and Laser. They are ridiculously generous to each family that attends. Not only do they pay for the zoo and IMAX admittance, but allow each person a popcorn, pop, and choice of large candy bar from the concessions. After the movie, they cater a fabulous dinner at the Treetops Restaurant that overlooks the Lied Jungle.
The weather was perfect. Dominic and Zellie had been sick this past week so our attendance was iffy, but they pulled through.
To say we look forward to this event every year would be an understatement. Dominic writes on his calendar the days counting backward to scratch off. Lillie and Rose each gave two presentations at CC about the event. They love every bit of it. I would love to know how BIG it is in their heads.

The Lied Jungle is one of their favorite attractions. They love crossing this waterfall bridge. Can you only imagine what that is like to a child? John and I always spend the entire day catching each other's eye and commenting about such and such child. Clairvaux was so good. She about came out of her skin looking at her people-the Monkeys.

When we were pulling up to the zoo, they were squealing with excitement. So many different comments happening at once about what they were looking forward to most. Dominic took pictures of everything to show my sister. There is nothing like looking at other people's zoo pictures. He KNEW she would be excited to see them. Our favorite of the day was the orangutan exhibit. One kept covering his head with a table cloth and then peeking out of different corners to see if people were gone. I told John that a zoo should be 85% primates and 20% other animals. I sat forever watching these animals. So funny. One monkey was sitting high up on a branch balancing himself on his rumpus and holding his feet. Everybody crowds around this exhibit. You certainly don't see people gawking at the rhinos for minutes upon minutes.

Each child has their own way of taking in events. Lillie gets really excited and picks up her siblings 100 times. She just can't believe the fun. What I will remember about her this trip is her wearing this elephant hat all day with her hair frazzled. She was so completely unaware.
She was so busy taking in everything, seeing everything, and participating in every way.

I love that about children. I also want to remember Dominic, Lillie, Rose, and Zellie watching the movie with their big 3-D glasses. The show was about Sharks. They would reach out to grab the fish. When a shark would come, they would lean away from the screen. John and I watched them most of the movie. They enjoy each event 100% no strings attached.

After the movie, I was able to save us a seat right next to the monkeys in the jungle. I ordered the kids each a Shirley Temple before they got there so it was so sweet to see them walk up and see our table. There are very few things that are better in life than watching your child completely enjoy themselves on the simple things in life.

Dominic took around 50 photos of the Desert Dome upon leaving. He kept saying, "I can't believe it's over." I remember those memories of my childhood. He would look back at the dome every chance he could until he couldn't see it anymore. I asked John when this trip will stop being fun to them. He was frantically snapping pictures as we were leaving.

Crazy Town in Ring Town

I was reading yesterday the signs in my baby book about what to look for when you have Preeclampsia. Not that I was question my current state, but it happened to be that chapter coordinating with my gestational week.

Don't get me wrong I think I have hoped at some points I had preeclampsia from the mere and only perspective to explain the swelling and weight gain. Certainly, it couldn't be the amount of food and type of food I am consuming. Nope. Nope. Nope. One of the well-known symptoms is excessive swelling. It EVEN stated in the book that you might have to get your ring cut off your finger if it starts to hinder circulation. I really did think to myself, "Darn, that would be tragic to oneself. I would be sad if they had to cut my wedding ring off."

Jinx. After a nice snooze, I came out to start dinner. On the menu for the evening meal,
Pioneer Woman's Super Sonic Breakfast Burritos. We have become cheese snobs and usually only buy this $5,000,000 per brick cheese at our local Red Clover store. It is magnificently good and worth driving over to buy. Anyway, I knew this cheese would make these savory burritos even more tasty.

John got home from work and I decided to drive over real quick to get the cheese. I was spinning my wedding ring on my finger and noticed that it went all the way around without my finger being stopped at the main Marquis in the middle. I looked down to see this. It was gone and completely broken off.



I was shocked. I called John and told him to which he replied, "GREAT! There goes $32,000!" We have an on-going joke about how much my ring really did cost. I still don't know so he periodically drops funny hints to lead me to believe certain numbers.

It is always a sad feeling to lose something so sentimental, but I think I was more in shock because I didn't even know where to begin to look for it. I had just looked at it ironically that day when I read about preeclampsia and the whole ring cutting off finger ordeal, but what are the chances????

We prayed to St. Anthony to find it somehow.

This morning, I was cleaning up the breakfast dishes. Vianney had thrown her spoon into the sink and it went down the drain, but was sticking out a bit. John had eaten some strawberries and one of the green stems was stuck at the bottom of the sink drain so I grabbed a cup of water to wash it down.

That is when I noticed it. There it was! Sticking on the back of Vianney's spoon, hanging for dear life onto the black sink rubber gripper just waiting to flushed down the drain. I told the kids not to talk. I think I felt any disturbance in the force would make it fall. I grabbed my pluckers and tried to grab it, but only sent it down the drain. Going against all childhood fears and warnings, I stuck my hand down the drain, feeling around near the deadly disposable blade and found the diamond.

I took a picture because I knew nobody would believe me unless I did. When John came home and I replayed the story to him and replied, "That is such a crazy story that it is almost unbelievable."

See it! Just sitting there on the back of the spoon.


Less than 24 hours later I found it! Why there? Where had it been? Why was it trying to end its own life only for me to catch a glance out of the corner of my eye and notice it? Do you know how many people had used the sink from the time I noticed it gone? So weird.

St. Anthony has never let me down, but this definitely wins the award. I almost looked around to see if he was winking at me somewhere.

Dominic

I know you know you are my heart. I know you know that for now you are my only son. History knows the relationship between a mother and her sons is something special. We just click. We have the same interests, loves, passions, and personality. Our relationship is not work. I am grateful to God for you and for you being such a good son. I am blessed by you every day. Most of your qualities you get from your father. The constant reminder to the girls, "Make mom's job easier. Listen to mom." Believe you me, I notice all your good will. I notice every time that you ALWAYS listen the first time. You told me yesterday you want to work at Trader Joe's. "Mom, they wouldn't even have to pay me if they would just let me bring home my favorite foods."
It is not just me, Dominic. People who meet you always tell me what a pleasure it is to have met you. Your sacrificial ways, your awareness of others feelings, needs, and wants. You are always looking to help and make things easier for others.
This evening, I took you to Goodwill to look for a wig for the Patrick Henry presentation you've been preparing. We are like each other even in our Goodwill treasure hunting desires. You scanned each aisle picking up random objects and studying them all with a constant dialogue going on. "Mom, look at this!" "Oh, the girls would love this." "Maybe we should get this for Vianney?" Until you are a parent, you will never understand the joy you bring to my heart even at Goodwill. Also, you will never understand the small heartache that accompanies those precious events in our lives together. I stood watching your almost 10-year-old self half smiling from ear-to-ear and half wanting to cry. How are you THAT big? I know I just had you. I feel like I want to grab the time and make it stop.

My highlights this evening with you were the following:

1. You wanted to buy a plaster bust of Mozart to put near our piano. Although, you did point out that it might bonk Clairvaux on the head so you suggested we buy a small shelf to display it on above the piano.

2. You became enamored by a glass corncob pipe that would be a perfect completion to your Sherlock Holmes outfit. I told you that we could get the pipe to which you said, "Oh no, I don't want to spend your money." I reassured you that it was fine and you insisted. I said, "Honey, I want to buy it for you."

3. You casually walked by a musical carousel that had 80th engraved on the front. You said, "We could get this for someone on their 80th." Yep, we sure could.

4. My favorite-You and your sisters think the YMCA is pronounced YIM-CA. You found a small 2x2 inch marble plaque with a large coin glued to the top. There were several words thanking the recipient for their years of service. On the front of the plaque was a small name plate that said "Vern Braeburn." Oh my, you knew this would complete your treasure collection. You even told me later that your grandkids would love to find this when you were older. You said that you would tell them the story about how you got it and how their great-grandmother bought it for you. We didn't purchase Vern Braeburn's plaque but I will remember you looking at over and over.

I hope I tell you enough what a blessing you are to our family. I really do mean it when I tell you "I am privileged to know you."

Bottom

I was cleaning the bunk bed room the other day with my backside facing the door.
Vianney walked in and said in her lispy, smokers voice,
"MOM! You have a big bottom!"
She then promptly walked out. Darn.
I resisted the urge to say something immature back like "Well, at least I can style my hair (see above picture.) Truth hurts.
So, I simply said "Thank You."

Guest Post-Finding Great Joy

Cynthia over at Finding Great Joy started a great series this week about mothers and the morning routine. She kindly asked me what we do around our home in the mornings so head on over to her blog to read what advice other mothers passed on to her.

I enjoyed reading Monday and Tuesdays posts and especially enjoyed looking through Leila's
Like Mother, Like Daughter organizational tips.

God Bless Your Day!

34 weeks with baby #7

I can hardly believe we are so close to meeting our new baby. This pregnancy has been on warp speed. It is crazy to think in 6 weeks we will be holding someone new. Most of the residents in our home think this new baby is a girl, but as of late I've had a lot of people telling me that I "look" like I'm having a boy. Can we have six girls in a row? We have several names we like for both so that won't be much of issue.

I found this post when I was 34 weeks pregnant with Clairvaux. I guess I like stripes at this stage in the game. I feel like I look different and bigger than when I was pregnant with Clairvaux. I like fat babies a lot.


My actual due date is April 9th which is the day after Easter. For some reason, this due date makes me happy. Easter is always such a joyful time and I can think of nothing better than holding our new baby.