phone call with mom – Page 3

sad day

It was Lydia’s first day of preschool today. She loved it.

I spent most of the morning and afternoon in the hospital. In the morning, Mary was perfect and spent the whole time quietly eating and watching Dora the Explorer while I sat with Andrea through her contractions.

In the afternoon, Andrea finally gave birth. I have never been to a birth other than my own. The little baby girl was perfectly formed, except her eyes hadn’t quite finished forming. Everything else was exactly like a healthy, live baby…only the cord was wrapped four times around her neck and actually braided (like you would braid hair) down the side. She was one active little child in utero. I felt such grief when I saw her. But I was so inspired by Andrea’s resilience. She has so much faith, and she really knows her baby is okay and in a better place. I admire her so much.

I should also mention what a help Ina was. When I returned from preschool with the girls in tow, Andrea was in transition. Ina has been by Andrea’s side almost the whole time, and when she saw me with my girls, she immediately gave me her place by Andrea and took the girls until the birth was over.

After the birth, I took the girls grocery shopping and then made dinner. We had the Escalantes over for dinner. They are such a nice family, although they must have been so annoyed by how we followed them to their car and kept talking as they were trying to leave. Sometimes, Abe and I like to pretend we have tons of time to kill. It’s a nice illusion, but in retrospect, I feel bad that they had to pay the price.

And now I am exhausted. Andrea’s in-laws and their six kids are staying the weekend in our place since Andrea’s place is so small. When I wake up tomorrow, I guess I will hunt down our blow up beds. In the meantime, I am exhausted. My thoughts and prayers are with Andrea and her family.

Hives and corn

Last night Lydia crawled into bed with us again, and this morning I woke up before her. I turned over and noticed her face was covered in hives. Oh no! The rest of the morning was devoted to bribing her to let me wash them, giving her allergy medicine and going to the doctor. Neither of us even had time to eat until 1:30 pm. This is what she looked like:

I told her not to smile because I wanted my sister-in-law to see the full effect of the hives. It is the BEST having a sister-in-law who is also a doctor!!

She wanted to smile, though, because: Look at what she's wearing! Yes, that was supposed to be a Christmas gift, but I was desperate to get that allergy medicine in her, and I resorted to bribery. She is now Princess Ana. — She wanted to smile, though, because: Look at what she’s wearing! Yes, that was supposed to be a Christmas gift, but I was desperate to get that allergy medicine in her, and I resorted to bribery. She is now Princess Ana.

After we came home from the doctor, I fed Mary lunch, put her down for a nap, and went on a treadmill run while Lydia “crafted.” (That just means she cut paper. Cutting is her favorite “craft.”)

Then it was time for a blitz nap and another doctor appointment–this time for me. I scheduled a physical way back for points with my insurance company. My doctor ended up looking at Lydia, too, and his diagnosis was different than the pediatrician. I don’t know who to believe, so I am keeping her home from school tomorrow just in case. My heart is a little broken for Lydia, who has been looking forward to the first day of preschool…but I don’t want to take chances.

After my doctor appointment, I spent the next three hours cooking. Lydia napped while Mary and I shucked corn.

A caterpillar! A minute later she stepped quite purposefully on him. We're not a bug-friendly family, as a rule. — A caterpillar! A minute later she stepped quite purposefully on him. We’re not a bug-friendly family, as a rule.

Abe came home and took the girls on a run while I finished cooking. I was making enough corn chowder for 15 people. We’re going to eat the rest Thursday, when I have another Primary dinner party.

After dinner, Mary gave me a massage while I filled out Lydia's preschool drop-off stickers. — After dinner, Mary gave me a massage while I filled out Lydia’s preschool drop-off stickers.

Then Abe taught another FHE lesson on Prayer. We started with a “fashion show” from the girls. That just means they twirl around and do “tricks.”

Abe had Lydia think up problems and then had her bring the problems to Mickey Mouse, who was standing in for Heavenly Father. Mickey Mouse resolved all the problems Lydia made up and gave her a hug after each problem. The problems Lydia made up were: 1) Having a problem in school because a friend pushed her. 2) Having problems in swimming lessons because she was afraid of the deep water. — Abe had Lydia think up problems and then had her bring the problems to Mickey Mouse, who was standing in for God. Mickey Mouse resolved all the problems Lydia made up and gave her a hug after each problem. The problems Lydia made up were: 1) Having a problem in school because a friend pushed her. 2) Having problems in swimming lessons because she was afraid of the deep water.

Abe and I have a goal to get to bed early tonight. We never caught up on rest over the weekend, and both of us were feeling it today. Tomorrow I get my lab tests done and find out if I have an actual thyroid problem (I have all sorts of crazy symptoms. At this point, I hope it is my thyroid!). Night Night!

Baking/cooking marathon and Orderville is real

I spent an hour on the treadmill this morning, but the rest of the day revolved around food. I completely undid whatever good that treadmill pain did this morning. We didn’t leave the house because I spent the whole afternoon preparing for our dinner with the Deems and Shala (some teachers in the Primary).

Lydia helped me a little with the baking. We made Martha Stewart’s lemon poppy seed cake, which takes approximately a million steps to do correctly.

In between the four layers of luscious cake, there is a whipped lemon curd filling. Mom, I am making this for you when you come out. I had to give the rest of the cake away to our neighbors because I would have eaten it ALL if it stayed in the house.

In addition to making the cake (which involved: Two rounds of sifting, completing a 1-2-3 batter, whipping egg whites to fold into the batter, making lemon curd, refrigerating curd, whipping cream, whipping cream and curd together, cutting cake into layers, putting curd in between the layers, refrigerating layers + curd together, boiling a corn syrup mixture, mixing that with more whipped egg whites, and–finally–frosting the cake!), I also roasted some lamb that I got on sale at the Farmer’s Market last weekend, made three pounds of mashed potatoes (don’t ask why I thought we needed so many), steamed broccoli, roasted garlic, minced a ton of herbs from the garden, prepared mint water, and cleaned every area of the house the guests would see.

You would think the Queen of England was visiting! But actually, what really happened is that I was just in the mood to cook and bake all day. I found baking with Lydia to be both fun and stressful, and my resolve to not yell was tested and found lacking several times during that process. But even still, I was doing exactly what I wanted to be doing, and everything turned out great (if I say so myself).

The best part, of course, was the actual visit. The Deems are in their late 70’s, and they’re still going strong. We found out their career revolved around a local lingerie chain that used to be the local equivalent of Victoria’s Secret. Shala was also full of interesting stories. She’s from Orderville, Utah. Prior to meeting Shala, I had always assumed Orderville was an LDS myth. It’s not! It was the town that managed to live the United Order longer than any other Mormon settlement, but the order fell apart when one young man from Orderville visited Salt Lake and bought a pair of pants that was different from what everyone else had. That was the start of the disintegration of the United Order. Prior to his Salt Lake visit, everyone wore the exact same style of overalls. After his visit, people wanted to start wearing different things, and it became impossible to live the United Order any longer.

Anyway, Abe is asleep, and so I better wrap this up. Mom, I’m going to get you Mary’s measurements soon. We had to put the kids to bed right after everyone left because Abe had to go do some Elder’s Quorum stuff–we didn’t have time to take her measurements. It was so great talking to you. Love you!

park and lots of time with Lydia

It’s almost midnight, and I just got back from school. Abe has his eye mask on and ear plugs in, so I can blog and he won’t even wake up!

This morning I had a play date with Jen and her three kids at the park. They’ve been in Canada most of the summer, so it was nice to see them again.

…and those were all the pictures I took today. Mostly we just hung around the house, cooked, read books, and spent time together. I felt good because during quiet time, which is usually my time to myself, I actually missed Lydia and voluntarily interrupted her movie so we could spend time together. That doesn’t happen as often as it should, and I was glad it happened today.

Then Isabella came and babysat the girls while I went to school. OH! I have one more picture I took! It’s of the food we made tonight:

Germy conversations and an anti-racist FHE

I started off by giving the girls a bath because I couldn’t recall the last time we bathed them. They were starting to smell. Lately I’ve been trying to motivate Lydia to wash her hands, brush her teeth, and generally keep clean by dramatizing imagined conversations between germs and her body.

During her bath, she made me repeat over and over how she was drowning the icky germs, and throughout the day she kept asking me, “Mommy, what are my germs saying now?” At one point, right as I was relaying what her germs were saying to her body, she said, “Mom, gotta go, I need to brush my teeth!” (She’d already brushed them half an hour earlier, and she loved the idea of brushing all the germs off.)

After breakfast, the girls peeled and broke up bananas for banana swirl.

Then I did my treadmill routine while the kids played and crafted in the very messy basement. (I cleaned it during quiet time today.)

Then we had lunch, books, and quiet time. The picture taking resumed when Abe got home from work.

Abe loves taking pictures of these salads. — Abe loves taking pictures of these Nicoise salads. This was actually a great dinner to have after discussing germs all day. I got to tell Lydia about how all the nutrients in all the different veggies were scaring her germs by making her healthy and strong. She downed them with gusto.

Then I had my Primary meeting, after which I came home and took a walk with Abe and the girls. We visited some of Abe’s home teachees who live up a couple blocks. On our way home, we met the nicest older couple, Bob and Becky. After chatting with them for the better part of twenty minutes, they offered us the bounty of their garden–a huge bagful of tomatoes! The girls were ecstatic. We came home, stripped off their shirts and had a tomato-gorging party.

After that, we had an anti-racist FHE. With all that’s been going on in Ferguson, I realized I need to actively start teaching anti-racism at home. Since Salt Lake is so homogeneous, especially where we live, the issue of race barely comes up. The only times Lydia has ever visited with any African Americans were 1) when my high school friend came and stayed with us two years ago 2) when my grad school friend came and stayed with us six months before that and 3) when one of my culinary school friends came over for dinner (she’s since moved). That’s it.

So we had our anti-racist FHE to at least start a conversation with her. We started simple:

1) God made us in all different colors, and he loves all of his children exactly the same. No one is better than anyone else because of skin color.

2) There are people in the world who think that people with different skin colors are bad. God doesn’t like that kind of thinking.

3) Abe read us this quote:
“I remind you that no man who makes disparaging remarks concerning those of another race can consider himself a true disciple of Christ. Nor can he consider himself to be in harmony with the teachings of the Church of Christ. ”

Amen and good night.

Jon and Shirley’s wedding video! (wherein Abe officiates)

We have the video link to Jon and Shirley’s wedding (the one where Abe officiated)! It is absolutely GORGEOUS. Here’s the link. Theirs was the most beautiful wedding I have ever attended. I was so happy to see the video, especially because I didn’t get to hear the actual ceremony (I was busy taking the girls on a “princess hunt” in the gardens to make sure they didn’t interrupt anything).

We had a busy morning. I procrastinated buying the gift for Addelyn’s birthday until a half an hour before the party, and then we swung back to pick up another friend for the party.

The party. Apparently there was a parade, dancing, and lots of treats. Lydia came home with a marshmallow tiger tail, a chocolate Minnie Mouse cookie, popcorn, and a balloon. She had a blast.

Mary was sad she didn't get to stay at the party (she was still sick, and I didn't want the other kids to get sick). — Mary was sad she didn’t get to stay at the party (she was still sick, and I didn’t want the other kids to get sick). She got this popsicle as a consolation prize.

The rest of the day was low-key. I should have used the time to do homework, but instead I just lay around, practiced piano, and prayed a lot.

After naps, we went outside to play in the hose, pick tomatoes, and play until Abe got home.

Mary thought the big tomatoes were apples. She LOVES pictures of apples in books and won't ever let me turn the page and finish the book if we happen to come across a page with apples. She'd rather just stare at all the apples. Anyway, even though I kept telling her she was consuming a tomato, she kept telling me that she was eating an apple. — Mary thought the big tomatoes were apples. She LOVES pictures of apples in books and won’t ever let me turn the page and finish the book if we happen to come across a page with apples. She’d rather just stare at all the apples. Anyway, even though I kept telling her she was consuming a tomato, she kept telling me that she was eating an apple.

Then Abe and I went inside and were too tired to even eat dinner. We fed the girls and then lay on the couch while the girls tucked us in and gave us all sorts of toys. I sprained a toe running through the sprinklers today, and so I babied it all evening.

I have hopes of watching Divergent tonight on Abe’s new Apple laptop that he just got from work. I guess the homework can wait until tomorrow…

Abe gets a new calling

Today Abe got sustained as the new Elder’s Quorum President. He will be wonderful, I’m sure. It will mean a lot less time home with family and a lot more time out doing visits and giving service, but this is how I feel: God gave me Abe. If God wants me to give some of Abe back to Him, I’m very happy to do that. As long as my husband is alive and healthy, God can have all the Abe he wants and I will just stand by and be grateful to be married to such a faith-filled man.

I had to conduct Primary today. Even though I’m supposedly a trained teacher, getting up in front of people is hard for me. The children were very nice, though. Josh Geiger, my visiting teachee’s son, was very nice and volunteered to say the opening prayer when I realized our scheduled child wasn’t there. He gave me a reassuring wink as he headed up to the stand, and that made me feel happy. I have an ally in Primary!

We were up until 1:30 am last night visiting with Jon and Shirley, and we enjoyed every second of that. It was so hard to stop chatting, but we finally decided to be responsible and say goodnight after two and a half hours flew by without us even realizing it. They stopped by again for a short visit after church and saw the girls. We are so grateful to have such wonderful friends in our lives.

Mary was naughty and ran into the living room while I played the piano. She's not supposed to leave the kitchen while she's eating, and she gets a real thrill disobeying that rule. — Mary was naughty and ran into the living room while I played the piano. She’s not supposed to leave the kitchen while she’s eating, and she gets a real thrill disobeying that rule.

Abe reading a note from Jon and Shirley after they’d gone. They are the sweetest.

Abe reading a note from Jon and Shirley after they'd gone. They are the sweetest. — Mary was naughty and ran into the living room while I played the piano. She’s not supposed to leave the kitchen while she’s eating, and she gets a real thrill disobeying that rule.

Abe reading a note from Jon and Shirley after they’d gone. They are the sweetest.

Misty told me this morning that there was a reptile show at the library, so I decided to bring the kids. The only thing is, now that I am trying so hard to be the World’s Nicest Mom, I can’t figure out how to get Lydia to listen. I sat on the steps for half an hour repeating, “Lydia, honey/love/darling/sweetie-pie/babycakes/sugarpop, can you please put on your shoes?” Thirty-five minutes later, she finally complied, and we arrived to the library just in time to see people streaming out. We’d missed the show.

What a great opportunity for a natural consequence, I thought! “Lydia, honey, we missed the show because you wouldn’t listen to Mommy and put on your shoes. Isn’t that sad?”

“Well, Mommy, the reptiles are scary. I don’t want to see reptiles.”

Um, okay. I guess she won all around.

Playing blithely outside the library. No natural consequences, today!

In all seriousness, though, I’d rather miss a million shows and feel powerless and frustrated than know that my daughter feels scared and shamed and sad, which is how I felt when I got yelled at on Wednesday. So Project World’s Nicest Mom continues, and I’ll just have to learn to be more creative and resourceful when it comes to teaching my kids to listen.

After the library, we came home for lunch and quiet time. Afterward, I played play-doh with Lydia for an hour and half while Mary slept on. (Mary took a four hour nap today. It made me nostalgic for times not-so-long-ago when that was just her norm.)

While playing play-doh, I called my mom. Mom, thanks so much for talking with me. I really needed to talk to you, and it was so great to feel loved and understood. Thanks for everything you do for me! I love you.

Anyway, after Mary woke up, we all went outside to pick tomatoes and play in the sprinkler. Mary doesn’t like to get dirty or wet (which character trait seems incongruous with her otherwise adventuresome spirit), but she’ll get wet if I hold her hand. Lydia held the hose and Mary and I raced through a couple times. After about three runs, Lydia asked if we wanted to get wet again. I hesitated, and Mary yelled, “Nooooo!!” We spent the rest of the time drying out in the sun.

In the meantime, Lydia, my little not-so-adventuresome child, loves to get wet and doesn’t seem to notice or care when she’s dirty. She was pretty happy.

Gesturing emphatically that her hands are dirty. This is a problem, people!!

She also didn't appreciate getting her feet dirty. She wanted me to wash them off about twenty times--but not get any other part of her wet (except her hands, which she also wanted washed). — She also didn’t appreciate getting her feet dirty. She wanted me to wash them off about twenty times–but not get any other part of her wet (except her hands, which she also wanted washed).

OUT! (She wants out of the dirty garden.)

Abe and I also went on a date, tonight! We saw Maleficent. Mom, you would love this movie. I don’t know why, but I love it when movies make me cry. This one definitely did. I asked Abe to give this to me for Christmas–I can’t wait to watch it again!