Doctor Visits

Doctor Visit 1) Owen: On Saturday morning I took Owen to the pediatrician for a sick visit. I thought what he had on his chin (pic 3) was some kind of herpes simplex. But when he woke up Saturday with more blisters starting, I thought it best if we got some help. I was glad they were open on Saturday. I called first thing and got an appointment for him at 10:30. After taking a look, the doctor had a different diagnosis: Impetigo. I've never heard the word impetigo before, have you? It is spread in saliva, which isn't good news for this drooler boy. The dr. gave me a prescription for a topical ointment and some oral antibiotics. Oral medicine twice a day, ointment 3 times a day. Owen was ticked at me after the first dose, but since then he's been taking the 5 ml of medicine very well and without a fight. We're changing his drool cloths twice a day and starting each day with a clean binky strap. I put the ointment on him when he goes down for his naps. Had to unbutton his shirt on Sunday hoping he wouldn't wipe it off if he turns his face as he slept.

We'll see if it helps ease up his skin blisters - they are all over the left side of his chin. 

A few new spots have showed up on the right side too, but I'm hoping with the medicine they won't flare up. There is one in his neck folds that looks not very good and another behind his left ear that he seems to try to itch at. Left ear looks better today, the neck one looks worse. He's as cheerful as ever though, so that's good that it doesn't seem to cause him discomfort.

Something funny - Natalie has been showing him affection and I'm trying to keep her away so she doesn't catch the rash. I tell her "Don't do that... Owen is sick" and then she looks at me with much sadness in her eyes and says "No! Owen is zero!" She's tired of me trying to convince her that Owen is six years old, when she knows very well he is a big zero. They play with foam ABC letters and numbers in the bath tub, and Natalie is so smart, she knows "N is for Natanee!! S is for Sophi! O is for Owen! Owen is for... ZERO!"

Also Friday night, Corey was feeling a little tuckered out and laid down on the couch for a bit and told Natalie "I'm a little sick" to which she replied "I'm a 2!" We love Natanee!

Doctor Visit 2) Me: just a check up for myself yesterday. I gained 12 pounds over the past 6 weeks, yay. I'm wishing I was in Brazil and didn't have to go in for my monthly weigh ins. But usually the second trimester is the big gain one for me, so hopefully things will plateau now that I'm in the last trimester. Nice thing was that I was in and out of the appointment in just 20 minutes! That usually doesn't happen. Usually it takes hour, 45 minutes of which is me sitting up on the table twiddling my thumbs (when I forget my phone). Speaking of holding things... it makes my hands go numb, which is annoying. So much water retention... if I'm holding a pencil, curling iron, spoon, phone, pushing a stroller, they go numb. It's mostly my right hand. Also when I sleep on my right side. The murmurer in me vows never to do this again (she hates being pregnant.) The "this too shall pass" side of me tries to help me keep things in perspective, but she gets off work at 3:00 and then I'm left on my own to fight off the hormones. Just another 3 months (ugh!) I can do this!

All Together Again

On Saturday night we had all our children return. The Trek Pioneers came home around 2:30. Ethan walked in my room with a smile that said "Look at how dirty I am!" and then he looked in the mirror... and visions of Indiana Jones must have flashed through his head, cause he said "Dang, I look good!" You're a pretty dapper cowboy, Eth. They were anxious to jump in the shower but I made them pause for a quick pic. Ethan insisted they do tallest to shortest...

Ok, now "oldest to youngest" 

Thank you. Ok, you can go shower now, and the boys were off. And that was also the end of the relaxation from all the laundry that I enjoyed while everyone was gone. It was officially over as I started load #1 of many. Owen looked at Melodie longingly. He had missed his second mother very much (so had I!)

"Is it really you?!?!" 

Mel said she liked making things out of the grass - they braided flowers and grass to make headbands and necklaces and other girly things. Shortly thereafter Abi and Lily arrived home from their trip to Arizona. They missed their dad.

Hyrum and Wes arrived after dinner. And with that we were all together again! I'm glad they are back, I missed my helpers. Didn't miss my mess makers - too bad they all have the same clean/messy split personalities! Wes' face got the most sun. They spent a good chunk of their vacation time in the pool. I have some pictures on my phone but can't find the files to upload them. May update later... :)

Oh, and our time together less than 24 hours - Sunday evening at 5:00 Joseph, Melodie, and Ethan headed down to BYU for a music camp. and we shall not be seeing them until Saturday afternoon. They were excited to go. I think Joseph and Melodie still are after day 1, but tonight Ethan called in tears - they put him on the baritone saxophone and he's trying to not want to kill himself. He vented to Corey for over an hour. I was putting kids to bed and haven't heard the whole schpeel, but afterwards Corey kinda laughed, saying that now Ethan is finally getting a taste of those real difficult trials of life that he was supposed to experience on Trek! Lol

Free Time

Well, here I am for the first time in the past two days with no children awake or at home. Sophi is at a friends house and Owen and Natalie are both taking a nap. Doh, spoke too soon... Sophi just came home. Well, that's okay. I did have about an hour there. I had already gotten in my exercise and bath, so the first thing I did in my free time was clean the stairs. On Wednesday I ordered some US Advantage which works amazing on carpets. It is a must have cleaner around here - I use it on all spots, spit ups, throw ups, and other messes - in 2012 I had my first experience that sold me on it hard when it got a big black permanent marker drawing out of the carpet. I've loved it ever since. But I've been low all winter, trying to hang on until they come around again. I gave up and ordered some online on Wednesday, and then yesterday guess who knocked on the door... yep! A solicitor came by, but he wasn't selling US Advantage, but did have a similar cleaner called Clear Magic. We bought a bottle to try it out, and cause I really wanted to clean the carpets with the kids gone and my order was still a week away. So last night I did the first four stairs, which were also the most dirty. Did the next 4 this morning when I woke up. Then just finished off the flight after Owen and Natalie both fell asleep. They look great now, I love having clean carpets! 

Now Owen is awake. It was nice to have an hour of uninterrupted time though. He has been better today than he was yesterday. Not quite as clingy, and his sores don't seem to be bothering him but they still look bad. Poor little guy.

Before they went down for their naps, Natalie and I were painting downstairs while Owen crawled around. Natalie did great and didn't mess up what I was working on - a little colorful abstract art thing I started last night... Since it seemed like I just I sat around all day holding Owen all day yesterday, I spent my time browsing "colorful bright art" images on my phone (fineartamerica gave me some good stuff) looking for inspiration... I had a small goal of painting something this weekend with the kids gone. So I started something last night but didn't finish. I was worried the girls would see me today and come over and that would be the end of my art time. But they've been good. Usually Natalie and Sophi play "dinner" downstairs. 

I'm enjoying the usable space in the basement. :) Ok, better go hold Owen.

A Day Without 7 Kids

Today wasn't that great of a day. It was nice to go on a walk early in the morning - saw the beautiful sun rise and said hello to my lovely roses~

I confess, that picture was taken on the "super vivid" setting... The camera just can't do it justice without a little help! The yellow is too bright, but it captures the pink more accurately that the normal setting. They are just look too pale without it.

They are gorgeous, I love these roses, they make me happy. So after a nice morning walk, I came home and took care of Natalie and Owen. They get up early. Sophi sleeps in too long. I was pretty tired the rest of the day. Probably didn't help that Owen was feeling really sick and just wanted to be held.... I can't sit still. If I do I'll fall asleep. Owen is a little sick again. Ethan must have gotten to close to him cause he gave Owen his cold sore infection, which has manifested itself as herpes simplex on his chin. It's actually looking better, but still looks bad...

But I think he's got a new blister starting on the right there, plus another new one on his lip. Poor little guy. I'm pretty sure I'll be getting a cold sore soon cause I haven't been very careful around him. And Natalie might get one too - she found his left over yogurt today and finished it off. Yes, the infections just make the rounds here. So that is all that is going on here. I wish the kids had been here today to take a turn holding Owen. I'll try to find ways to enjoy the time without them (dinner is easier, there are a lot less shoes to pick up, and I haven't had to do any laundry today!) but I know I'll be glad when they all are back home. 

Off to Trek

It's early in the morning on a summer day ~ but there will be no sleeping in for these teenagers today, cause it's time to get up and get ready to cross the plains.

 

Ethan woke up at 6 to take his last shower this week. Joseph and Mel were up shortly there after getting dressed. I thought this picture was cute - Mel getting ready in the girls room on the left, Joseph getting ready in the room on the right.

Almost ready to go? Into the car then. I drove them over to the stake center to meet up with the leaders and other youth. They had a simple breakfast there and then onto some nice tour buses for a ride to Woodruff, Utah for their Trek experience at Deseret Land and Livestock. Off they go to have an adventure!

One more pic of Mel without the bonnet on. :) They will be back Saturday night, so we have to wait until then to hear all about it. I know they'll have a great experience. Wish we were there with you! Enjoy your time! Joseph commented that it is going to be really weird for Corey and I to be home with just 3 kids. Yes, I suspect we'll be feeling like we've stepped back in time 13 years to when I was pregnant with my 4th and we had three cute little kiddos underfoot. I was on top of my game back then, hoping we'll experience a little of the same this weekend. Mel and Ethan helped clean the house on Monday and it stayed clean all day yesterday, which made Ethan say last night "Well, now we know who makes the messes!" (saying it's the middle kids doing...) I replied "And we also know whose fault it is that we stay up so late..." as it was midnight at the time. I told them a few times over the past few days that they'd want to be sure to go to bed early on Tuesday night. This morning I told them too bad you don't get to take a nap today! Joseph said "This is normal to me..." saying that is how he's used to feeling from the school year. Well I guess that's true, but still, you guys should have gone to bed. Ethan then said "We can sleep on the bus!" I guess that is true too, but I'm sure all the kids will be much to excited to fall asleep on the ride to Trek. Plus it's just like 2 hours away, which I say is not long enough for anyone to get bored and drowsy on a bus full of teenagers. I'm sure they'll all crash hard after they get home, and thus undo any good sleeping patterns they pick up over the next few days of getting up and going to bed with the sun. Well, atleast Corey and I will get to enjoy going to bed at a decent time for the next few days! And I am grateful for that. 

Pioneer Ready

I worked most of the day yesterday helping the teenagers get ready for their Pioneer Trek. Today I took another trip to the thrift store with Ethan and we got more clothes and then came home so I could adjust them all as I attempted (for the first time in a few years?) to brush up on my sewing skills. I made an apron for Mel from an old sheet and then changed four thrift store button up shirts into pioneer shirts for Joseph and Ethan. They are looking pretty pioneer-y! I was almost done with the last shirt late last night when my sewing machine needle broke. So then I was done, and went to the store to get a new one this morning. Then I finished Ethan's shirt, made a brown vest for Joseph (also from a thrift store shirt, and get this - I made a bonnet!!

Made that out of a brown and white checkered jumper from the thrift store. Ugly jumper, but I think it made a great bonnet!! Mel had a red bonnet that I friend let her borrow, but she was hoping we could get a different one cause it didn't match. Hm, I don't think coordinating colors was a high priority for the pioneers, but glad I could help in this area. I actually got the jumper for an apron but she wanted a white apron, luckily I had a white sheet on hand. Ethan was pretty stoked about his outfit...

There he is practicing his early missionary preacher pose I guess?

Yeah, he wore his outfit all day. Said he didn't know I was so sew-ey and that he's sure they'll be the best dressed pioneers on the trail. I don't know about that, but thanks for making me feel like I did impressive work. I do what I can. It was helpful that they played with Owen most of the day as I sat at the machine. We'll see how this weekend goes with all my big baby sitters gone!

Kidcation

Some of the kids are gone on a trip with extended family this week. Hyrum and Wes left first on Saturday with Corey's brother and his family. Then yesterday after church, Abi and Lily left with Grandma and Grandpa. They were super excited to be big kids headed out on their own adventure without mom and Dad.

They met up together with other cousins too in St. George and then headed to Phoenix Arizona. Stopping by to see the Grand Canyon~

The adults have been keeping us in the loop by texting photos to us. Gotta love technology.

I'm sure they've been having a great time so far. Eventhough Abi did call us last night in tears, she was quite besides herself with grief, she just missed us so bad. Cute, but we tried to help her toughen up a little, or atleast keep herself distracted so she could have fun.

So that is what the middle kids are doing. The older kids couldn't go cause they are leaving on a Pioneer Trek with our church on Wednesday. So we're a 6 kid family at the moment (it seems so quiet...) and from Wednesday through Saturday we'll just have 3 kids at home, weird. Natalie is fine and content, as is Owen, but Sophi knows everyone is gone and that she is missing out on something, so we'll probably try to do something fun for her too. She's got pretty simple requests, we should be able to make something happen. :)

Last Day of School

We made it ~ we're all officially out for the summer, yay! Last week was the last of school for Joseph and the jr. high kids, and today the elementary kids finished. Owen and I walked them to the bus stop to say bye for the last time ~ Bye Wes! Bye Abi!

At noon we went over to the elementary to watch the kids perform in a dance festival. Apparently they do it every year, cause Wes was telling me that he knows the dance Lily did for 1st grade cause he did it in 1st grade too. Where have I been for the past 5 years that this is the first dance festival I've been to? It was cute, the kids had fun. Lily did the Hukilau ~

Abi did some India dance "Shai Ho!" was what it sounded like.

Wes did some jumping between sticks thing.

I had Owen at my feet so I wasn't free to move around quick enough to get a better/closer picture of him. The zoom will have to do. Cute smile Wes!

Then after it was all done they got to be doused by a fire truck. They loved that part!

Well, Wes was a little cold. He didn't see it coming... he was talking with his friend Tess when he heard people screaming and then it started to rain big cold heavy raindrops on him.

They also said that happens every year, but I don't remember them coming home from school soaked on the last day... Maybe they were dry by the time the bus dropped them off, or maybe I'm just having total pregnancy memory cramps. Abi's shoulders got a little bit burned - I gotta remember to start putting on the sunblock, cause summer is here!

"The One"

So, now we really might be ready for summer. As you may know, recently I made a little clip board weekly chore list thingys for the kids. First one worked kinda for about a month (but the kids felt like I was torturing them - cereal is a child's right that shall not be encroached upon), the second one didn't really take, but what can you do? It's just me trying yet again to come up with a system that works. How many things have I tried? Here's a few I've tried over the years:

• Job Chart in 2009 (Updated here)
• Chore boards in 2011
• Flylady style attempt in 2012
• Bonus Bucks in 2013
• Job Chart in 2014 (Did those in 2005 and stuff too, before the blog began)
• Life Changing Magic in 2015 (I'm still loving our sock drawers! That book was mostly for me getting the right frame of mind, not necessarily a family plan. And I would like to see an updated version of that book written with mothers of toddlers in mind...)

My blog doesn't go back far enough for all the things I've tried since our family began. I have a filing cabinet that does but I won't pull all that out. Or show all the pinterest boards with chore ideas I've saved. I'll just say, I think we've finally found "the one" - the whole family chore board where I don't have to pay kids, I don't have to buy them stuff, I don't have to keep track really, it's a "everyone set your goals and work on achieving them" board that Corey presented to us last Friday. It's based off of Trello program that they use to manage tasks at work. It's pretty sweet. Friday afternoon Corey asked me if I had a white board. "Yes" "...and post it notes?" Yes. I thought he wanted it for Ethan to use for SBO stuff, but nope, this is for us! Corey got the family artist Melodie and told her what to write and how to make the layout, then she made it. 

That night he gathered the family around and showed them how this system works. 

He's been following up every night, seeing what the kids have in their "done" column, writing new things in their :"ideas" and "to dos". This isn't just for the kids, Corey and I get to put our stuff on here too! I really think this one is going to stick. I think partly because Corey's the genius behind this one. (Cause the kids listen to him!) They are all on task and it's pretty sweet. Kids writing tasks to help them reach their goals.

I'm kind of shaking my head though when I think of all my attempts... all my years of trying to get a chore system in place.... fail, fail, fail. Ok, I guess I had a little success for a few days or weeks, but nothing like what this man can whip out for this family with his first try.

He's tried and proved it at work, so I guess he didn't just whip it out, but I still feel like asking where he was hiding this great idea all these years!

Organized Basement!

Well guess what! I've got exciting news, and this is a first since we moved here 5 years ago... I am pleased to announce that the basement is all organized and clean! It is still mostly unfinished (except for the part we just got re-carpeted) so these pictures probably don't look like much, but I am very pleased. So proud of myself! My one and only goal for summer and I'm already done! As I mentioned in the post about Corey's chore board, he asked the kids for specific goals for summer, and I was ready with my weight goals post baby, but he only wanted summer goals. And then I was stuck - I really don't have any goals other than make a baby. So after a day or two of thinking, I made one big goal that I think will keep me busy all summer: to clean and organize every corner of our house. And I am off to a good start - we're gonna start at the bottom and work our way up. I worked in the basement a lot on Monday with Mel's help and then after a full day today! It is late now, but I am pleased to say that every last bin of "random junk" is gone! No bins or boxes of junk... that probably hasn't happened our whole marriage! Now everything is sorted by item and everything has a place. We have a play area, an art area, two storage areas, and a decor area.

First: Play area with the legos and playsets. The Lego area was upstairs, then we split up the boys about a year ago and the Lego room was packed up to await this in the newly carpeted area, but that room doesn't have any windows or natural light, and so it just didn't feel good to me to think of the kids spending hours of summer in a window-less room. So I moved that over in the unfinished area with a big piece of carpet I got a few months ago that fits perfectly. Yay! Area one, done. The toys are all sorted (well, Legos aren't sorted by color yet, but it's on my list!) The playset is in the middle of the room, giving Owen a nice track to drive around.

His car parks nicely there next to the house when he's home from work.

"Pirate ship" in the middle of the room, Bookshelf on the opposite wall.

Lego area behind that on the brown carpet. You can't see it, but over there by the window.

Next: Art area - The kids have two folding tables to work on, that I don't care if they get covered in paint or markers or scratched with scissors. Those two tables are floating in the middle of the room with easy kid access on all sides.

Then we also moved the desk that was upstairs in the music room (and not being used much up there) down here where now this is another kid create area - right across from the folding tables island.

And I think having the desks and tables downstairs for the kids art/creative area is really going to be great, cause that was a problem before - they'd come in the laundry room or the kid's homework study or my office to do their drawing and it just goes downhill from there. No more! They can go create down there, and there is no carpet to spill paint on or walls to ruin with permanent markers. It's going to be great.

And it's also an area where I can work. I've got my holiday and other decorating stuff close by:

There is a little room on the right there where I keep spray paints and frames and things for future decorating projects.

Lastly - Storage areas. Area 1 is under the stairs. I've had the clothes organized like this for a while. But then moved boys clothes into a bin during the 10 year spread when we just had the little girls. Now that Owen is here, boys are back on the shelf.

Toy storage is under the clothes, and there is also area 2 with seasonal clothes across the room. Lettuce boxes from Costco full of winter clothes and summer clothes, sorted by person.

Season clothes are sorted - now we'll go through it all kid by kid and figure out what we have on hand for this swimsuit season and what we'll need for the next winter season and I'll make a list. Organized and making lists - doesn't get better than that for this mom!

Book of Prensesis

Hope you all had a nice Memorial Day today. I enjoyed things shared of facebook, including this video shared by my little sis. We enjoyed the day at home, doing a run through of what our typical summer days will look like this vacation, which thanks to Corey's brilliant chore board, was full of productivity and no-nagging and lots of doing. Pretty awesome. He took Hyrum, Sophi and Lily to the music store to get some supplies for their goals. Sophi's got a pink ukulele now. When they got home, they practiced chords and worked really hard. Hyrum, Wes, Joseph, Mel, they all did great with their music. Ethan's still recovering from his week of being sick and his cold sore. Good news, he's determined to find a cure for cold sores, giving our family hope for the bright future of medicine. He's hoping to do music tomorrow, it's been over a week, he misses his saxophone.

Something cute ~ Corey printed up coloring pages for the little girls today after their chores were done and Lily put her pictures together in a book that made all of us smile. It is titled "Lilian's Book of Prensesis" It's adorable. Let's read it together... The front cover:

(I'll mostly type the correct spelling here, will put a few of the original spelling in italics, but read it in the pictures to see the rest of her cute 1st grader spelling, love it)

"Hellow! Can you see the princess in the picture? She is a famis arDis (famous artist) and she is Byotfol (beautiful) and so are you and her name is Ellie. Hello again. Now can you see the prince? He is a famous artist too and his name is Erik." (She was going to do Ariel and Eric, but didn't want to plagiarize the little mermaid too much... she knew she was already pushing it with the red hair). Now page 2:

"Hellow aagen. Can you see the princess? Her hair can glow and she is a fammmis Danser." Page 3 (The beginning to this page was my favorite part...) "Hello. This is the last time together in this book. The girl is a famis ardis too and her name is Sindys. Hello. See the horse? She is a good runner . She can do a flip. Her name is Bronys."

(you have to turn the book to see this picture - the girl is on the left pressing her head up to the pony's head.)

And the back cover. "And that's my book of Princesses."

(Lift-the-flap!) "Good Bye!" (nice touch Lil)

Love it Lily, you're well on your way to becoming an amazing author, I know it!

Family Chore Board

Corey showed us tonight a board that is going to be key to the upcoming successful summer we are about to have. Corey had Melodie make it. Just a little something they whipped out. 

Now I don't want to put all my "we're organized and working together" family hopes and dreams into one system, but this one might just be the one. With it's four columns: 

• Ideas
• To do
• In Progress (that was written in permanent marker, but I might try to get that small p off and put a capital P so it doesn't look like one word) and lastly...
• DONE - only Corey and I are allowed to move post its from "in progress" to "done." 

He also told the kids to makes summer goals. Let's take a look at what they are going to do this summer! 

Can you read all those items? Pretty ambitious. I had a bit of a brain freeze. At first I said I'd like to lose 30 pounds by Christmas, but Corey said I can't write that, cause this is for summer only. So I'm only gonna clean the basement maybe. I can get away with that though cause I'm the Mom. Owen doesn't have any goals either. Poor kid - he and Natalie don't even have rows on the board. 

Don't worry O, Joseph will be outta here in two years and then we'll bump everyone up to make a spot for you guys.

Joseph was being super cute with Owen, see that little smile on O? Not sure what Joseph was doing, but cute smile on Owen behind that binky.

Then Joseph practiced the balancing game with Owen which he liked.

We are a happy family! And I think I'm gonna love this chore board.