Walls and Ceilings

We have walls in the basement! These were taken last night, and since then they have been taped and mudded. It feels so different down there with the walls up. Smaller, definitely. Paul says once the paint is on the walls it won't feel so small. But I guess it's a good thing that it looks small, because that means there are rooms and usable space instead of a big open empty concrete bunker! It looks FANTASTIC. It's really getting done! I am so excited.

Den on the left, bathroom on the right. The purple drywall board is used in the bathroom because it has extra protection against mildew and mold. There was a little left over after doing the bathroom, so it got put up over the den.

Here's the rec room. The ladder is where the TV will go.There's the bedroom entrance. We're putting french doors on it so that the light from the window in there will be added to the rest of the big room, but there will be curtains that can be closed over the doors to make it a private room when someone is staying in there.

There's Adam standing in the bedroom closet.The furnace/storage room is to the left. Then there's the nook under the stairs. We also cut out some of that wall to open up the stairwell a bit, giving the room a larger feel.

And the toy box!

Lastly, the stairs up and out. Yay!

Some Things You Should Know About Tommy: Month Seven

1. Tommy LOVES solid food. When he sees me getting it ready, i.e. melting the cubes from the freezer, he knows what it means. He gets all excited, bouncing up and down in his high chair, giving high-pitched squeals. His hands-down favorite is sweet potatoes, and for awhile he did not like peas one bit. But he's even starting to gobble those down, and carrots too. He also likes pears and apples. We're starting to try foods that have a bit more texture. We gave him baby-milled blueberries this week. He seemed to like the flavor, but the extra texture of the skins made him gag a little and drool them all out. I should add that Tommy in NO way intends on slowing down his nursing volume just because he's eating more solids. In fact, I believe he wants to nurse more often, just to let me know that I'm still his favorite. And that's just fine by me.2. Tommy's sleeping seems to be getting back on track. That means he's only waking up three times to eat at night and taking good naps again, instead of the constant night-waking which requires constant night-nursing and needing to be held to sleep for any long stretch at all.
3. Tommy likes to dance! Sometimes we listen to tunes when I'm making lunch or dinner. Tommy likes to sit and watch me from his high chair. Often times I turn around to see him bopping away in his seat, mimicking my dancing. Awesome.4. As seen in previous photos, Tommy has become a sitter in the past month, and gets better and better at sitting solidly every day. He's pretty balanced and only tips over when he gets excited about something or tries to reach too far for something he wants. Sometimes he gets tried and starts to fold over too, but he's good about letting me know when he's uncomfortable by giving a loud annoyed squeak.5. Tommy is starting to make a few consonant sounds. He's making the "da" sound, sometimes it's a solid "DA DA DA DA" and other times it sounds a bit like he's adding some tip of tongue to the gums so it comes out more of a "thda." He also makes a bit of a "t" sound, repeated like "t-t-t-t-t." He also says something that sounds suspiciously similar to "hey," and yes, I am sure he absolutely does it on purpose because he's obviously a genius baby. :) In addition, he still endeavors to be the raspberry blowing champion of babydom. It's loud, funny and non-stop.6. The spitting-up for Tommy is tapering. He still spits-up from time to time, but the volume is way down. He's down to one dose of baby Zantac a day. The spitting-up dampness, however, has now been replaced by drool dampness. So, although I do not like the way the drooler bibs cover up his cute little outfits, they are the only thing that keeps me from having to change his shirts 10 times a day.7. Tommy loves to laugh at/with all of us. He gets a good chuckle out of games such as, "Boo!" and "Where's Tommy?" Also on the funny list are "I'm Gonna Get You" that includes reaching for his belly with fingers curled into tickle position, and "Mommy's Hiding, There She Is!" Splashing in the bath is another huge hit for the boy. He kicks the water with his feet, making a huge mess and getting a big laugh! What am I saying?! For Tommy, almost everything is on the funny list.8. Tommy is happy with his whole body. When he's excited or joyous about something, which is most of the time, he shows it with every wiggly muscle in his body. If he could leap into my arms, I know he would!9. Tommy makes me think of the song, "Somebody's Eyes Are Watching" from Footloose, because he is ALWAYS watching me. "Don't you dare leave the room, Mommy! I see you! I'm good as long as you just stay in my line of sight." I love glancing over at him in his exersaucer, or on the floor, or in his high chair, or in Adam's arms, to see him intently staring at me, and the second we make eye contact it's like his dearest dream has come true! He is so happy! He squeals with delight and arches his back towards me, like, "OK! You see me here! Come get me now!" And how can I say no to that?!
10. Tommy has the saddest cry in the world. And he uses the fact that it breaks my heart to his every advantage. But as soon as we are together, and he is in my arms once again, bliss returns.
Golly, I love this boy! Just thinking about him fills me with joy. What would my life be without my Tommy?!

Six Days

I was reminded tonight by my girls, Al, Sis, Jen and Mom that it's been SIX days since my last post! I am lame! So here's why I have not been able to blog for the past six days:

• Seven soccer games this weekend. Yep. S.E.V.E.N.
• Soccer practice, soccer practice, and soccer practice. Oh, and then soccer practice and soccer practice. Throw in there scouts, piano and soccer practice and you've got our evenings.
  
• Three boys with fevers over the past four days.
• A dining room filled with stuff...which makes my brain full of stuff...and my focus full of stuff.
• Tile to pick out, lighting to decide on, questions to answer, inspectors to wait for, too.many.decisions to be made...AAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHH!!!
• Exercise: because I think the results are finally beginning to reveal themselves, so I can't slack now! Five pounds to go!
  
• Feeding Tommy food, nursing Tommy, feeding Tommy food, nursing Tommy (repeat all day/night long).
• Seriously. This one has been touched on in this list already, but I have discovered why I have to have my home organized and neat. The chaos in the house right now is REALLY getting to me. It is hard for me to function when my environment is so chaotic. I can deal with chaotic schedules, chaotic personalities, chaotic moments, chaotic anything really, anything other than my environment. I need that to be settled. And it's just not right now. It's making my BRAIN chaotic!!
  
• With the fever going around the family comes a cough and a majorly runny nose. The cough has caused gagging in Luke twice, which of course, for my gag-sensitive boy, has also caused barfing...usually at about 11:45pm. So, late night cleaning barf, bed and boy+nursing all night=s l e e p y, staring off into space, unable to think much at all mommy.
• I also have the cough and runny nose. Gross.
• Orthodontist and dermatologist appointments to clip wires poking Zach's cheek and check the size of Josh's birth mole. It's fine, btw.
• Food therapy has started! Interesting stuff. SO nice to have other parents who know first hand what I am going through to talk with. And to see other kids who are struggling with food too.
  
• Finding spare moments to snuggle on the couch with a boy or two and a book or two; or just one, my one, Adam.

So don't give up on me, friends. I have some good posts ahead: Tommy was 7 months yesterday, the basement has walls, and some select photos of all those soccer games. I just have to go to bed first because I am so tired. Like, right this instant. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

Monkey Feet!

While on the subject of Tommy...I LOVE Tommy's monkey feet! Not since Zach have we had a baby so in tune with his lower limbs. They are just slightly less useful to him than his hands, truly. He uses them to bring toys closer to him, bounce himself in his bouncer seat and exersaucer, or just to kick at things to make them rattle. He also uses them to announce displeasure, thumping them loudly on the floor or his high chair. And even, when his binky is out of reach, to suck on. And I don't blame him. I want to nibble on those juicy-grape-like piggies too!! (please ignore the fact that my baby looks like he should be sitting in his garage at 2:30 in the afternoon drinking a forty in this picture, I had changed 4 drooly/spit-up shirts already so I just decided to leave him au naturale).

Sit. Stay.

From the look of utter surprise on his face in this picture, all he can possibly be thinking is, "Oh.My.Gosh. I'm doing it! Don't move...don't move. Just staaaaay. Yes! I sit!" After tipping and tilting, leaning and folding Tommy can finally sit on his own. Unless he's trying to reach for something, that is. And he's ALWAYS trying to reach for something. So the only way to get him to stay is to put something in his hands and hope that nothing else will distract him for at least a few seconds while he works on those sitting skills. It's about time, I say. The boy IS six point five months old!

{Mother}'s Day

Usually for Mother's Day I am given the gift of a day-off from all the less-desirables of motherhood, like poopy diapers and dirty dishes. But with Adam down for the count after overdoing it coaching three games on Saturday (after his "procedure" on Monday), my Mother's Day celebration was put aside, by wifely mandate. In other words, I banished my poor, aching husband to the bedroom for the day to heal and rest, so hopefully he can spoil me rotten on a later date. At first I was a little disappointed in how the day was sure to go when I realized on Saturday night that Adam needed a day-off much more than I did, but I took a deep breath, said a little prayer, and quickly adjusted my attitude from the selfish to the get-to-it.So I spent Mother's Day:

Getting my children dressed and ready for 9am church.
Receiving handmade cards, flowers, puzzles and pictures from my five treasured boys while eating my breakfast of cold cereal in the kitchen.
Arriving too late to church to get a soft seat.
Having Tommy and Luke (who had a runny nose so I didn't send him to nursery) during three hours of church swapping turns on my lap, and sometimes sharing it.
Wiping runny noses again and again and again....
Listening and learning from lessons that touched my heart.
Spending time with many other mothers who I love, respect and admire.
Arriving home and promptly putting first Tommy down for a nap, and then Luke.
Spending an hour making and cooking a double batch of crepes with strawberries and homemade whipped cream that I wanted for Mother's Day.
Over-mixing the whipping cream while distracted by the two pans of cooking crepes, ending up with sugary, vanilla-flavored butter.
Dancing in the kitchen with Tommy while cleaning up the mess from lunch with a happily full belly.
Watching Ben joyously make a habitat in a milk jug for a snake that our neighbor found on their front patio.
Telling Ben he cannot keep the snake in the house.
Telling Ben "that's why it couldn't be kept in the house" when the snake escaped the jug through one of the air vent holes.
Taking Luke's temperature when he woke up from his nap more rosy and warm than usual.
Comforting my feverish boy and administering Children's Motrin.
Jumping on the trampoline in my swimsuit with my boys in the warm sunshine with the sprinkler spraying us from below.
Making more sweet potato puree, because Tommy LOVES it, and making my first batch of carrot puree.
Playing catch with Zach and his new Velcro ball catcher game.
Blowing bubbles for Josh and Luke with Josh's new bubble machine.
Calling my mom and my mom-in-law to tell them I love them and am so glad to have them as my mothers.
Making myself and my boys my chosen Mother's Day dinner of lemon-pepper pork chops with a veggie relish recipe I made up all on my own.
Sending Zach to bed early because he wasn't feeling well.
Administering more Motrin.
Letting my dinner get cold so I could help him with his 10 minute braces-brushing routine then tucking him in and singing him a song to help him sleep only to have him come down 15 minutes later feeling better and hungry for dinner.
Getting all the boys ready for bed and tucking them in tight.
Hearing, "I love you, Mommy!" "I love you, Mama!" and "I love you, Mama Mia!" as I walk down the stairs.
Doing dishes and sweeping the rice-covered floor.
Hoping for a bath, but instead...
Cuddling a coughing little Tommy who is having trouble sleeping with his stuffy nose and post-nasal drip until 11:30.
Collapsing into bed exhausted, but satisfied with a day well spent.

...In other words, I spent Mother's Day being a mother. A calling I cherish, with every bit of my heart.

I Am Late

Don't get excited or, depending on who you are and how you feel about me having more children, terrified. That's not the "late" I'm talking about. I mean the literal late. Read on.

I'm one of those people who doesn't mind "fashionably late;" to me that is acceptable, and throughout my adult life my arrivals have often fallen into this category.

When I was 19-years-old and visiting Guatemala for a service trip, the missionary family who we were staying with told our group that we needed to kind of "let go" of the time table. We'd do our best to stick to our plans, but the culture outside of the big cities of Guatemala was one that had never really adapted to the Western value of time management. Bus schedules were more of an approximation; the dinner "hour" could stretch to dinner "hours;" when waiting for someone to show up, be prepared to wait, and wait, and wait. I suppose patience in rural Guatemala is a greater virtue than timeliness. I think I'd do very well in this culture.

What I'm saying is that I've never really been an on-time kind of person. I know that's annoying to those who are very on-time kind of people. To them, fashionably late is just plain late. It's not that I planned on being a late kind of person, or feel that my time is more important than other people's time. Honestly, that's just how I am, it's part of me; I think my inner clock is broken and always has been. And with all the things I'd like to improve about myself, this trait is just at the bottom of the list. However, I've never been consistently really late. Mostly my lateness has fallen within 5 to 10 minutes of the time given.

But ever since Tommy's arrival I am well beyond "fashionable" when it comes to my lateness, and it really annoys me to be so late. I try. I really do! Perhaps it's because I always seem to try to do one more thing and then all is lost. Or perhaps I need to try to get started on preparing to leave earlier than I think I should. Perhaps if I aimed to be EARLY, I'd be on time. But I know the truth: it's my children, conspiring against my efforts to be timely. It is! Just wait and see!

Today I did everything right. I ignored the one more thing. I planned to leave early, so I could arrive early. I prepared everyone and everything ahead of time. And yet....

"OK, guys! Let's get shoes on and get ready to go!" time: 11:07am
"Where're my shoes?" time: 11:09am
"They should be in your bucket, Josh" time: 11:09am
"But they're not!" time: 11:10am
Shoe-search with much mommy grumbling time: 11:10-11:14am (shoes located underneath pile of garage sale items)
"I need to go potty" time: 11:11am (notice the mingling of shoe-search time and potty time, at least I multi-task!)
Pottying plus hands-washed-and-dried time:11:15am
Shoes actually on feet time: 11:20am
"Tommy stinks" time: 11:14am (stench detected while shoe-search took Josh within range of Tommy's exersaucer)
Diaper changing time: 11:15-11:18am
Shoes back off feet time: 11:21am
"Why did you take your shoes off Josh?!" time: 11:21am
"I need to get my Pokemon cards from my room and you say no shoes on the carpet!" time: 11:21am
"No. You don't need your cards, bud. We're going to preschool, but thanks for respecting the carpet/shoes rule" time: 11:22am
"I need to go potty" time: 11:22am
Deep sighing time: 11:22am
Sitting time: 11:22-11:24am
"No, I not need to go potty" time: 11:24am
More deep sighing time: 11:24am
Hands washed and dried time: 11:25am
"You gotta come see, Colleen! Framing's done!" time: 11:26am
Following Paul the Boisterous to the basement to check out framing time: 11:26am
Oohing and Ahhhing time: 11:26-11:31am
Dashing up the stairs time: .4 seconds
The sounds of Paul and Paul on the stairs time: 11:32am
"We're done for today, time for inspections! Man! I wish I could go out and tan, but it's COLD man!" time: 11:33am
Trying to curb the long, chatty Boisterous Paul goodbye with Silent Paul standing silently by time: 11:33am-11:37am
Tommy in the car seat time: 11:38am
Garage door closed time: 11:40am
"I need to go potty" time: 11:41am
"Sorry, Luke, it's time to go. You can go when we get there" time: 11:41am
In the car time: 11:43am
Seat belts buckled time: 11:44am
Car started, pulling up the street and preschool start time: 11:45am
Oh no, drat, dang it time: 11:45am
Arrival at preschool time: 11:54am

LATE AGAIN. So, you see?! It's my children conspiring against me! And maybe the Pauls are in on it too.

I can always come up with a good excuse...or five of them! But really, I'd just like to be back to fashionably late. And until I adjust to the new time allowance that having five children requires, I guess I just hope that I am someone worth waiting, just a bit longer, for.

Picture If You Will...

...the basement that will be. Hopefully it will be by the end of May!

When we bought our house two years ago there were a lot of little changes we wanted to make, the hideous bathroom linoleum (that still covers our bathroom floors), the outdated light fixtures and fans throughout the house (that still hang from our ceilings), the appliances in the kitchen (yes! those are new!), but mostly we wanted to finish our basement. It has been planned and re-planned for two years, and now it's getting done! Yessir!

After interviewing three contractors, we chose Sonney, who took awhile to warm up and needs a lot of help on his spelling skills, but who knows his trade and now that he's warmed up a bit cracks us up all the time. Along with hiring Sonney, we also hired his two workers, Paul and Paul. One of whom is Paul the Boisterous (and refers to Sonney as "boss" all the time), the other is Paul the Silent. And don't worry (Shaina!), before making our final decision on Sonney we did an internet search and also got a good referral so we wouldn't end up as one of those poor families on HGTV's Holmes on Homes.

It's weird having strange men in your home all day, especially with a breastfeeding baby. And making some of the decisions that we hadn't already thought through in our two years of planning has been stressful. But it's been so exciting! We have a skinny budget, so it's going to be simple, but we can't wait until it's done. It will be so nice to have the extra finished space (and an extra bedroom...come on and visit us, you get your own bed not one of our kid's!). The boys are excited too. Ben has become BFF's with Paul the Boisterous and all four of the older boys practically sang Sonney "So Long, Farewell" when he left last night. Although I think they are going to be sad once it sinks in that they no longer have an indoor space for riding their skateboards, scooters and roller blades.

Here are the before pictures...just try to see our vision....

This space will be the office, or as Adam calls it "The Man Cave." Can I even put into words how excited Adam is to have a "room" of his own? I don't think I can.

This is the side of the stairwell. We are taking out that framing so we can open it up. As you come down the stairs you will be able to see into the basement. And then we are finishing underneath the stairs with a little nook, I like to picture it as a little reading nook with pillows and blankets, but more likely it will become a fort of some kind.

This furnace space will be closed off but left unfinished for storage and furnacey kinds of things.

This is a photo of the rec room end of the big open space. There will be a built-in along the far wall with an entertainment center and cabinets. Along the wall under that window on the right, we are putting a built-in bench with storage space for toys.

This end will be the bedroom. It's going to be pretty large with a huge closet for even more storage. We're all about storage here! There is a chance those water barrels will stay there forever, so we might have to figure out how to build a bed on top of them. Sorry, 55 gallons of water is just too heavy to move! :)

Here's some of the framing that was put up today. They are nearly done with the framing, just the bedroom and the soffit are left. Then the plumbing and electric will be put in. And then we have to wait for inspection.This is a different view of the "Man Cave," which will be to the left of the sleeping bags, and then the bathroom will be to the right. The sleeping bags will no longer be there. Here's the framing put up today: you can see the future doorways to the office and the bathroom both there.

Here's a gross picture. Last night when we went down to see where they were at when they stopped we found spatter. Blood spatter! Ewww. We've had our first and hopefully last "on the job" accident (I guess it looked worse than it was because Sonney, Paul and Paul were all here and happy today and promised me there would be no more blood).

Here's a picture of Adam's summer project. When the basement was originally planned (we got the actual builder plans when we bought the house) the bedroom was planned for the bottom of the stairs with the rec room on the other side of that. We felt this would shut off the space a lot, so we opted to move the bedroom to the other end of the room. But that means that the 30-inch-deep window well required by code is now in the rec room, but needs to be in the bedroom. So Adam gets to dig out our window well outside of the bedroom this summer to make it deeper before we can pass final inspection. So fun!Here's another drawback of having the basement out of commission right now. The picture below is of my dining room/living room. Or was. Now it is our temporary storage space. The other temporary storage space is my parking spot in the garage. Hrrumph. I am so stressed out by all that mess just hanging out! I can't wait until it's all finished! Can you see why so many options for storage are being incorporated into our basement plans? :)I know I've said it already in this post a number of times, but I just cannot wait for the final result! I will post pictures ASAP!

OK, That's Quick

It was a long day at the races. Ben and one of his good buddies from his class, Luke, decided that they wanted to run the mile at this week's Landsharks race. Of course, the mile is the last race of the night. So we sat on the grassy hillside in the sunshine and heavy wind until the sprinklers came on, waiting for Ben's race.

I was a little worried about Ben's choice in running the mile. It is usually open to only 3rd through 5th graders, but his coach had received an email saying that anyone who wanted to run it could. So Ben and Luke got all excited and were determined to do it. Ben's coach wanted to clear it with me and Luke's mom before letting them run it. And we figured, why not? We laughed and joked with each other that at least our boys would sleep well that night. But inside I was a little apprehensive. I didn't want Ben to be disappointed, he's so proud of his running, and I was worried he'd start out fast and then lose gas because he hadn't run a mile on the track in a race situation before and it's just different than trail runs at practice. Plus, as the time wore on...and on...and on...and on.... Zach and Josh were running amok and Tommy was getting cold and hungry. And I was ready for home and bedtime. I was thinking, "Maybe we should have just done the 800 and gone home."

But I am glad we stayed. I worried for no reason! Out of 30 runners, Ben ended up coming in 4th with a time of 7 minutes and 34 seconds, although on the official report from the website it says 7 minutes, 15 seconds, but I have a photo finish so I don't know where they got that. Ben was so proud of himself. And I was too. All I can say is AMAZING. I can't run that fast and my legs are twice the length of my tiny Ben's!

Prayer Stylings

We had a wonderful lesson on prayer in Relief Society yesterday (Relief Society is the portion of our church day where the women meet together). What a blessing we have in the ability to speak to our Father in Heaven through prayer! It can give us such peace, guidance and comfort, even when the answer isn't what we expect or hope for.

We do a lot of praying in our family. We pray before bed, usually all together, each saying their personal prayer for all to hear; the boys and I pray before they leave for school; we pray before meals, especially dinner; we pray for ambulances, fire trucks and police cars and the people they are helping when they drive past, sirens blaring, assisting in some unknown emergency; we pray for little things during the day like finding lost items or help with a test...all in all Adam and I feel we are doing our best to help our sons live a life built on prayer.

Often their prayers are tender and sweet, I love hearing the things that are on their minds through their prayers. And I love that I can share with them how I feel about them by praying for and about them. But sometimes the kids remind us in very humorous ways that they have a ways to go before prayer for them becomes a true communion between themselves and God. These are some of their recent classics:

Sometimes Josh goes through the motions of prayers, saying the same thing every night even when we encourage him to really think about the day and help him with questions that could give him ideas on what he might want to pray about. He got one prayer so ingrained over the past three years that it still pops up sometimes: "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you that there are no emergencies, thank you that the missionaries are safe, especially Uncle Aaron and Uncle Brennon." "Um, Josh, remember, Uncle Aaron and Brennon have been home from their missions nearly a year now." "Ha ha! Oops! Oh yeah!"

Luke has begun shrieking in dismay, "YOU FORGOT PRAYERS!!!" if the light is shut off before prayers are said, and making sure each of us says ours, not just boys, mom and dad too. You may not leave the room without saying your own prayer, and it must be a long one. If it is not, Luke will let you know that you forgot some of your prayer. He does the same thing for his lullaby. "You forgot all of Puff The Magic Dragon." Much to my dismay, there is no more condensing with this kid.

Recently we gave the boys these cool posters that we found online that say "Who is Your Hero?" Each poster has a depiction of a person from the Bible or the Book of Mormon and has some verses from their scripture story. Ben received the poster below, showing Enos in prayer. The story of Enos in the Book of Mormon tells that while in the process of repenting and turning his heart towards the Lord, Enos spent all day and night in fervent prayer. So the other day Ben asked me if he could skip school and stay home so he could pray all day. After a hearty laugh I told Ben that if I thought he would actually pray all day and not ask after 20 minutes of praying, no, make that 2 minutes of praying, to play his D.S. I would gladly let him. As Zach has gotten older his prayers have become more thoughtful and insightful, it's been wonderful to hear him pray. He has recently prayed for help for Luke with potty training (maybe that's why it's gone so well!), prayed that he and Ben will work hard in their studies even though it's hard to do at the end of the school year, and tonight he prayed for his dad to feel better soon, "soon, REALLY soon" is what he said (although he doesn't know why Adam is under the weather...snip, snip!). But my recent favorite came last week when he said the opening prayer at our Cub Scout meeting, "Dear Father in Heaven...and please help us to listen and be calm since last week we were too spazzy...." I guess my lecture about our Scout meetings being more than a chance for Wrestle-mania on the car ride home the week before sunk in!