Author: lilydarais

Mary did not want to go to ice skating today. Last week I found her sitting in front of a professional wrestling match on the lobby TV during the post-lesson free skate. I think she might do better in another year or so…

Lydia, on the other hand, passed snowplow 2!!! I probably should not have been so shocked, but honestly, I was. And I was also so proud of her! We celebrated by eating Jimmy Johns, going to The Chocolate Shop, and eating our food while listening to a RadioWest debate about the new blood alcohol level for a DUI in the state of Utah. Senator Jim Dabakis enraged me. I kept having to switch the radio off because it was so painful to listen to him speak. During those pauses, Lydia and I had great conversations about the way men should speak to women.

Senator Dabakis is the Democratic equivalent of Donald Trump and kept loudly, rudely, and stupidly cutting off Dr. Bella Dinh-Zarr, the intelligent, articulate chairman of the National Transportation Security Board. Dr. Dinh-Zarr had science and a superior working brain on her side (she supports the new law), and Senator Dabakis kept cutting off her well-researched, calmly stated arguments so that he could loudly say the word “draconian” again and again. I feel like he thought that word made him sound smart, so he said it a lot. Ugh.

But it was nice talking current events with Lydia. We have had to cool it with political talk and even avoid too much NPR because she was getting really scared of Donald Trump. Even though we’ve been on political hiatus, just last night she had nightmares wherein Donald Trump tried to kill her, all of her friends, her Nana, and all of the grandmas in the world. She self-therapized by changing the dream when she woke up. She immediately ran to the schoolroom and drew out all of the superpowers she and her friends used so that he couldn’t hurt them.

With that uplifting image, I will now get ready for bed and great bedtime reading–NDE stories!!

This morning Mary had her first sports camp. We missed the first day (Monday) because I am a disorganized mess these days. But we remembered today! And Mary was so adorable running all over the place chasing her little soccer ball. I forgot my camera, but I will bring it next Monday.

Lydia and Ammon spent her camp in childcare while I swam, and then we did some grocery shopping before dropping Lydia off at school. Then I fed Ammon and Mary, put Ammon down for his nap, and attempted a piano practice with Mary. Afterward I lay in bed exhausted, only to hear Ammon wake up from his nap an hour early. My mom was so sweet and watched him a while so I could sleep.

Then we picked up Lydia, came home, and I made my grandma’s Swiss chicken and some steamed asparagus for dinner. Then we knocked out homework and harp so that Lydia could go outside and play with the neighbors while I finished up by baking yet another chocolate buckwheat cake. I have baked this easy cake so many times that it is starting to be an early spring equivalent of the autumn plum torte (which I bake, no joke, almost daily when Italian plums are in season) or the apple sharlotka  (another cake that makes a regular appearance in the Fall).

After dinner the girls had the time of their lives dancing to Moana. My mom even joined in at one point! I had the presence of mind to remember I had no pictures from today and grabbed Abe’s phone to capture their happy dances.

On the Abe front, work just keeps getting crazier and crazier. Today one of his deals from months ago got dug up by another team that wants a cut, and so it will end up in arbitration. On top of that, Ammon completely broke Abe’s glasses today, and contacts irritate and depress Abe. Abe’s allergies are also acting up. Between the work stress, the glasses situation, the allergies, and all of the extra work that he brings home, I am surprised he is as helpful and functional as he continues to be. Right now he is taking care of a Mary tantrum. I should wrap this up and help so he can get back to work!

Also, I have kid anecdotes for them to look back on when they get older.

Lydia: Today we were practicing harp, and I said, “Lydia, stop talking and wasting precious time!” Lydia looked startled and replied with great sincerity, “Why are you calling it ‘precious time?’ To me, this is, like, horrible!” I laughed so hard when she said that. We have such different perspectives on the value of harp practice.

Mary: Have I mentioned Mary has a lot of energy? Surely I recorded that she did approximately six hundred jumping jacks during one practice session the other week. Anyway, one way this energy manifests is that she rides an imaginary horsey everywhere. For example, for the past several weeks whenever I unbuckle her and turn her loose on a destination, she mounts her pretend horse and yells, “Giddyup, horsey!” She then gallops to the destination, dismounts, and parks her horse before entering our destination. I make mental notes to record this in the blog and forget every time…until now!

Ammon: Ammon’s teensy vocabulary is expanding! He is saying “Mommy” now, and that melts my heart. He also says, “Gagu.” That means, “Thank-you.” We will prompt him by saying, “Ammon, say ‘thank-you,'” to which he will reply in his sweet little voice, “Gagu!” He also can reliably meow at the cat. 🙂

 

The warmer weather changes our behavioral patterns. Specifically, we spent a LOT of time outside today. After school the girls spent the entire afternoon and evening playing outside with the neighborhood kids. I took Ammon out after his nap so he could join in the fun.

Other than that, it was a pretty low-key day. I finished my book club book, so there’s that. I did not get around to my clothes-sorting projects, so the laundry remains on our bedroom floor. I did get around to booking a hotel for Seattle, so that’s exciting.

Abe is already in bed flattened by stress and pollen. I guess I will wrap this up because my laptop is on his legs.

For FHE tonight we went to Lowe’s and got soil and little seed pots to plant our seed starts. All of our heirloom seeds came a couple weeks ago, and we also traded and shared seeds with our friends, the Crofts. Between their seeds and ours we had an abundance of exciting starts!

Also, Mary’s piano lesson went better than expected. We had a breakthrough in practicing today, and I think that helped. I just learn that we need to block out at least an hour and a half because Mary can get through ten repetitions if I let her a) read a book at the beginning b) let her play a matching game in between repetitions c) give her a coloring activity between repetitions. It takes a looong time, but it is more effective than what her teacher suggested: jumping jacks and sips of water. I tried that last week. Mary did six hundred jumping jacks and didn’t seem phased or tired in the slightest–not to mention she had trouble refocusing on her practice.

And, in other news, Abe hit his quota today!!! We are very grateful. Not that it means his stress is alleviated–he is still busy and working like crazy, but at least that pressure is off for the next week and a half (until we start the craziness all over again in April).

On Sunday I taught a lesson in Relief Society while Abe took Ammon on the peaceful walk I took last Sunday. We had a beautiful morning, and when my mom, the girls and I arrived home, Abe had prepared lunch for us. I am usually home when everyone else gets home from church, and I almost never prepare lunch. Usually I spend that precious quiet time in other ways–but it was such a beautiful experience to come home to a family lunch. I want to do better and make that happen in the future.

After lunch we napped and prepped for dinner.

Abe’s college friend, Liem, and his wife, Phuong, joined us. They were in town for a ski break, and they drove down for dinner before their flight back to Boston. It was a delight to see them and visit with them both. We actually remembered to take a picture at the end, too!

I mis-scheduled both the symphony and the ballet in my calendar. On Friday we realized the symphony was scheduled for Saturday morning, and we also had tickets to the ballet Saturday night. When I looked at my receipt, I realized that the ballet tickets actually were for last Friday night. I have no idea what happened when I put these things in my calendar–was I on drugs???? Anyway, everything worked out and we ended up going to everything in one day.

Abe and I woke up early to get work done before the day started. I wrote my Relief Society lesson while he worked like crazy on more work stuff. Then I got the kids ready while Abe rushed to the church to do our cleaning assignment. After he got home, we got everyone in the car and drove to Salt Lake. Tom met us there and walked Ammon around Temple Square and City Creek in his stroller while the girls, Abe and I attended the symphony.

This performance was part of their family series, so it was pretty kid friendly. They had some endearing mimes who helped entertain everyone in between pieces, and the pieces they picked were great. The concert was Mozart themed, so everything they played was composed by Mozart.

We have learned that Mary is too young for experiences like this. Well, actually, Lydia could handle sitting through the ballet at age three, but at four and a half, Mary simply can not handle formal performances. Luckily, we were in the almost empty balcony so she could run around without annoying anyone.

Then I dashed into Deseret Book to get a birthday present for a party the girls were about to attend and we enjoyed the beautiful weather and fountains at City Creek.

I also went to the Gap and used my 60% off discount to get Ammon and Lydia’s summer clothes. By the time I was done, we were starving, so we drove through CrownBurger before driving down to Orem and dropping the girls off at Nickel City for a birthday party. It was their first time in an arcade.

One of the parents told us that when it came time for laser tag, the girls just stood there with their lasers. When asked why they weren’t playing, the girls said that their parents had told them never to shoot a gun, and they didn’t want to disobey. The adults then explained that they were holding lasers, not guns! The girls then went ahead and had a great time.

I was so proud and touched by this story, though. I have been seriously, seriously struggling with their behavior issues, and knowing that they were so sweet and obedient when we weren’t around warmed my heart.

After laser tag, the girls played outside with the neighbors while Abe and I lay around on the couch feeling tired. Then it was time to pack up for the ballet, so everyone, including my mom (but except Ammon), headed to the Covey Center to watch Snow White.

If we thought Mary was off-the-walls hyper at Beauty and the Beast and the symphony (which she totally was), that wasn’t anything compared to the ballet. I promise she was doing her own interpretive dance the entire ballet long–complete with runs, jumps, and kicks. Again, we were lucky and were sitting in an empty part of the theater, but wow. I will probably wait ten years before trying to take her to another performance. Right now I have tickets to the next symphony in the family series and a folk dance performance, and I will just give those away to one of Lydia’s friends. Mary just can’t handle it.

On that happy note, I will now review my lesson which I teach soon.

The leprechauns visited us on St. Patrick’s Day! Those sneaky tricksters made a huge mess! They built a block tower, scattered gold chocolate coins around, brought us plants, set out Lucky Charms, dropped their hats…and peed in our potty. The girls were most thrilled about that last part. They couldn’t believe leprechauns used our potty. (I was concerned that the green food dye would stain, but thankfully it flushed right off!)

Mary had an eye appointment right after breakfast, and from there we rushed to drop off Lydia at school. Then I went swimming, came home and put Ammon down for a nap.

Friday is an early-out day for Lydia, so after putting Ammon down I picked up Lydia and did errands. We returned one of the dresses I bought Thursday and did more shopping.

In the evening we headed toward Salt Lake because I thought we had tickets for the family-series of the Utah Symphony. Luckily, we discovered en route that the tickets were for Saturday morning–not Friday night! So we made a quick detour and took the girls to Beauty and the Beast. We had no idea it was opening night, but the crowds at the Thanksgiving Point megaplex reminded us of Disneyland–no exaggeration. There were literally thousands of people going to the movies. It was quite an experience, but we will never use that theater again!

Thursday was a doozy. Well, it started out fine. The cleaning crew came and so I tried to get out of their hair by packing the kids up early in the morning and going on an outing. We went to the mall parking lot where I read them The Twins and the Bird of Darkness: A Hero Tale from the Caribbean. It is their new favorite book.

Then we headed inside to find some shoes for Ammon and some maternity clothes for me. I have been trying to soldier through with no clothes for a while now, and finally yesterday I decided to bite the bullet and just get some. I feel so much better having clothes that fit!

Also, Ammon’s feet are incredibly fat. According to the foot scale, he should be a size five. But his feet are so fat that he needs a size six. I think this is beyond adorable.

After the mall we dropped Lydia off at school and came home. Mary and I read books made yogurt bark together after I put Ammon down for his nap.

After Ammon’s nap we picked up Lydia and got Ammon a haircut. I put Lydia in charge of photography because I knew I would need to be trying to calm the poor baby down. She took lots of pictures.

What threw a wrench in the day is that my girls keep having these crazy meltdowns. Mary throws tantrums all the time about the craziest things. Lydia throws tantrums about crazy things. By the time it was time to go to ice skating, we had just done harp and piano practice, and the subsequent additional behavioral challenges had driven me pretty much out of my mind. I drove the girls to ice skating wondering what I am doing wrong. Is it that I don’t have a commanding enough presence? Is it because I am not always consistent? Is it because I am too hard on them? Spoil them too much? Is it (I hope and pray) a phase????

Anyway, I spent the rest of the evening under my own little thundercloud. Abe was really sweet and put the kids down and gave me a back massage. That helped me fall asleep, but he had to stay up until past midnight working. His job is really crazy right now. It was so sweet of him to spend time with me when it meant he slept less and had to work even later. I love him.

Girl!!! …Or, at least, that’s the nurse practitioner’s 70% guess. After visiting teaching, I headed straight to my OBYGYN appt, and the nurse could not find the heartbeat for the baby. I had five minutes of pure repentance while she went to get a handheld ultrasound to see if she could see the baby’s heartbeat.

Before she came back, I prayed so much and told God I was sorry that I have not been more enthusiastic about this pregnancy. While wondering whether there would be a heartbeat I discovered very quickly that I WANT this baby!!! And I am grateful for the privilege of being able to conceive and bear life!!!! I have taken that for granted I think and focused way too much on selfish things. But wow, I have had a change of heart and can not wait to meet this next member of our family.

Anyway, the nurse came back with the ultrasound and found the baby’s heartbeat. She also discovered that the baby is a girl. She showed me the ultrasound, which we studied together. The baby really does look like a girl!! We spiritually felt that we would have a girl next, so this was confirmation of those impressions.

After the ultrasound, I went to pick up Lydia and then we met up with Jessi and Henry in a mountain park. I actually told them the wrong park, and so the kids and I set up a picnic and ate most of it before discovering my mistake. Whoopsy! Thankfully, Jessi and Henry were in a neighboring park, and we fixed our mistake. We didn’t have  a long time to visit, but it was nice to see them.

Then the girls came home and played for hours with the neighbor kids. We brought them their dinners outside so Ammon and the adults could have a peaceful dinner inside. Bless this warmer weather.

Lydia’s stomach was feeling a little better today, and that was a relief to all of us. She gave us quite a scare! Her test results were normal, so phew.

I was grumpy after ballet this afternoon because I felt fat and tired. Between all of the sugar for Lydia’s ongoing birthday celebrations and the fact that today was the RS birthday (for which I baked a cake and sampled the frosting) AND pi day (which we celebrated at the Crofts’ Pi Day party), I am really scared to get weighed at the OBGYN tomorrow. I have been working out a lot, but let’s be honest–weight is mostly about food intake, right? I am supposed to control my weight this pregnancy, and this week has been out of control.

I’ll get back on the wagon tomorrow, I guess. In the meantime, the only thing that cheered me up when I was sitting on the couch feeling exhausted and so, so chubby was Ammon. I love his smile and his pure, sweet personality. I even enjoy observing his boundless energy. Abe took these pictures after he got home and I gathered energy to finish baking my quiches for the Pi Party.

And he took a funny video and some subsequent pictures of the girls. My favorite part is when they fight on command and then reconcile on command. It’s hilarious (to me).

Then in the evening we went to the Crofts and overindulged in pie. Betsy made the Momofuko Milk Bar grapefruit pie. It was out of this world.

This is a picture of the party right before we left and remembered we should have taken a picture earlier. Oh, well. This is what was left at the end: