Not Real Hardships

Today was a good day. This morning did a quick pick up of all the rooms and I was done by the time the kids all left for school. So the clean house is still here after 24 hours, wow! That's mostly what I've been doing today. I've also spent a bit of time at the computer. I was looking for tips on where to go for some home repairs. I really like using facebook when I'm looking for recommendations. Like when our basement flooded a few years ago, turns out a friend from high school's husband does disaster clean up! Sweet! It was quick getting a recommendation and quick coming out. Plus I had the added blessing of feeling like I could trust them cause I knew them. Same thing happened today. On Sunday evening, the microwave stopped working as Mel was warming up some food. It was dead. Poor Joseph wanted to reheat some mashed potatoes later that night and, poor guy, he had to do it on the stovetop of all primitive things! This was his plan B. Plan A was text his friend and see if he could bring his bowl of cold potatoes over there. But then he'd have to walk, so he asked if he could take the car to drive 5 houses down the street, I gave him a look of "'First World Problems' going on right here...." He replied with a "fine!" as he turned on the stove top, funny.

So I bought a new microwave yesterday but when I plugged it in, it didn't work! What?! Maybe it wasn't the microwave, haha, silly us ~ We just assumed it was cause it's been on it's last leg after Abi heated up a hand warmer in there, thinking she was supposed to warm in up in there like a rice bag. Started to send sparks and made a bad smell, but luckily no fire... so yeah, we needed a new microwave anyway, good thing we thought it was broken to help make it happen. So I went to the breaker box and it was switched off in the middle, but not all the way off. But it wouldn't let me switch it back on. And when something electric won't let me do something, I figure there's a good reason, and not wanting to start a fire or anything, I left it alone. So it might not have just been the microwave, maybe the outlets too? So I threw out an "I need an electrician" facebook request, and hooray less than 30 minutes later a high school friend said her husband is an electrician, he called me later that night, asked what I did when I tried to trip the switch in the breaker box, I told him and then I learned something new: You need to unplug all the appliances first before you trip it after blowing a fuse. Now documented here for future reference. I went up and saw that I still had the toaster plugged in. So I unplug the toaster, go to the breaker box, it resets, and what do you know, it tripped and the toatser and microwave are back on! I called him back and thanked him for being a genius! He jokingly said "That'll be $75 dollars!" The kids were excited to know they won't starve. So the repair emergency was taken care of. There are still 4 more things that need to be fixed - two lights and two outlets that haven't been working since we moved in. He's going to be out next week, go us!

So, sometimes I think I totally would have made it across the plains. The microwave wasn't a big deal to me, but when I freak out about a flooded toilet like I did on this past Friday night, it makes me think maybe I'm not as tough as I thought. Then today as I was on facebook looking for recommedations, I saw this video (heartbreaking) that helps me again remember that our broken microwave and flooded toilets are not big problems.

We are so blessed and should be so grateful each day. I want to help the people of Aleppo. This little kid just makes me think of Natalie and my heart breaks, what desperate circumstances. I haven't done much yet but pray for them. Wesley has been fasting for the people in Syria every Sunday since I showed him this video 3 weeks ago. I still don't know much about what is going on, but have started to watch the videos here and they make me cry. I think I'll donate to the White Helmets. Two videos for my future reference - video 1 who is fighting who and why it's a big mess - and video 2 of how it started.

Dear Father, please bless little Ayah (pictured above) and all the other children in Syria, please be with the, help them, comfort them, we pray for the return of they Son, that he may come and wipe away all tears.

Facebook Worthy

Mel and Daniel were enjoying a Sunday nap together yesterday. It was so precious, look at that little guy and his cheeks!

When the kids do something cute, it makes it on the blog. When it's precious and adorable or really funny, I'll share it on my facebook wall. I try not to post there too much, but that picture above made it, as did this video ~ Mel was practicing her flute and I came in for a minute to talk and we got a kick out of Daniel's expressions... so we quick and got out the phone to get a recording - He apparently was moved to tears and filled with joy at the same time, he couldn't decide which way to go!

We just love him so much. Also I got this picture of Mel tonight - it's a perfect match to the picture of me when I was in the chair rocking two kids watching Studio C. Some day I'm going to make a Memory game using family pictures, cause I have lots of matches. (...I need to get a matching picture of Owen and Daniel in their diapers!)

There's our sweet Owen, we love you, he's our little Linus from Peanuts, always carrying around his blanket.

Daniel has discovered his fists. So tasty!

I just love these little people. We had a great day today, I love it when they don't have school! And especially when it's on a Monday rather than on Fridays. We use our time more wisely on Mondays, Friday's just kinda turn into a longer Saturday, and Saturdays are kinda wasted. On Fridays and Saturdays, they are thinking "Oh, it's not due until Monday..." so they'll put off finish homework and then Saturday's over and they try not to do it on Sundays, so Ethan likes to have me wake him up at 3 or 4 am on Monday morning to finish things... Yeah, they don't use Friday and Saturday's well. But Mondays - we were all over it on Monday. Today the kids were up and working and had to be done by noon if they wanted to go to Wendy's with Corey for the Baconator challenge. And they did it! If it was a Saturday some of them would still be sleeping at noon. So, yeah, loved having the kids home today, the house looks great, we can all breath a sigh of "so this is what it feels like to have a house of order" and we'll see how long it lasts. 

Birthday Date Night Dinner

We took Joseph out with us on our date night last night. Bandits Grill. Good food, not a very good group selfie ~

So far, we've never had to wait when we choose to eat at Bandits spur of the moment, and we almost always decide where to eat spur of the moment - we just start driving "So, where do you want to go?"

Happy Birthday Joseph. One more year and this boy will be putting in his mission papers! That is crazy, especially considering how fast this past year flew by, he's gonna be heading out before we know it. So excited for him!

Damage

Brain Damage.

It's the only explanation.

Exactly one week ago, (I know it was one week cause it happened when Ethan had friends over last Friday night...) the toilet in the kids bathroom was clogged by a kid who used too much toilet paper. Normally the event ends with a different kid discovering it and then coming to tell me it's clogged, I fix it, and we all go on our merry way. Last week though, kids were quarantined in my bedroom so they wouldn't disturb Ethan's social gathering. And thus no one discovered it and no one came to tell me. But luckily I ventured out briefly to change a light bulb in Corey's office, and there, as I stood high on a stool... I heard an unusual drip drip drip sound coming from somewhere in ceiling... "That is a new sound... and that is a water sound, which is not a good sound..." I came upstairs to the room above his office, the kid bathroom, and saw the clogged and over flowing toilet. Clogged by use of too much tp, eventhough I, as principal homemaking committee chairperson, have tried for years to explain and enforce the proper amount of tp to use... so yes, despite my constant efforts, too much was used and clogged the toilet bowl, causing the water level to overflow - because I haven't called the plumber for that toilet yet and thus it's always running which is why we must take extra care children...  So I got the plunger and plunged and got the towels and soaked up and gritted my teeth with irritation and shortly thereafter I called the children in to show them how to properly flush a toilet and how to hear for the successful gurgling sound of the air going through meaning it all went down, and then you can take your hand off the toilet handle and wash your hands. They all nodded, they understood...

So here I am one week later, woken up at 12:30 in the morning by Joseph, who was still up from working on the ice rink - and he just went in to brush his teeth and stepped onto a cold soaked bathmat by the door, the third bathmat in that room, all 3 drenched, cause the toilet was clogged, and over flowing... again, and cold water was all over the bathroom floor... and I'm quoting Bill Cosby in my head "Didn't I JUST TELL YOU?!?!? Uh huh! Then why didn't you do it?!?! I don't know! Brain Damage!!"

Brain damage that is trying to cause water damage around here. ugh, I'm tired of parenthood right now. I love them, I just need each of my kids to have a pause button that I can click when I need to catch up or when I need them to stop. Stop running, stop fighting, stop talking, stop teasing, stop tickling, stop making a mess, stop...

But, as I let out big sighs and shook my head in frustration and said freak and "stupid kids!", I did recognize and try to be thankful for the brightside - that Joseph was still awake and caught the watery mess before it continued to run and soak for the next few hours, which is what would have happened had he not still been up.  Boy, it probably would have been running down the stairs. It would have been BAD...

We had another leak this week too - up high in the front room... see the big bump by the beam at the top there?

That was a bubble of water that I carefully popped with a seam ripper, reaching it by placing a tall stool up on the side table... totally safe! Ok, it's on my list this week - "buy a ladder". So this leak was caused by our cursed north facing house draining area on the roof, which I'd say is more accurately described as an un-draining area cause it's a north facing house. So instead of draining it's just a big ice dam area on our roof and I've been cursing whatever idiot designed this house this way when it was going to be FACING NORTH. So the ice trapped it all in and it started to soak and melt down through into the house yesterday... Ugh. House, toilet, all things on this mortal planet... can you all just not get broken or need fixing anymore?

1:20 am Saturday morning... I'm calmed down enough that I might be able to go back to sleep now. Signing off.

Winter Night in Park City

Corey took advantage of our room in Park City again and took all the kids up tonight for a sleep over. They had fun swimming outside!

Kinda fun to be in your bathing suit in a warm tub with snow on the ground all around you!

The only glitch is that you have to walk from your hotel room across the cold side walk to the hotel. Wasn't so bad on the way over when you're dry, but gets pretty chilly when you're wet!

Run Sophi!! Hurry before you freeze

Back at the hotel lobby to play some chess. They had a good time. Thanks Corey for making these memories for the kids.

Ice Skating

The youth group for our church went skating tonight. Corey and Joseph had a little hope that it would have been cold enough for their ice rink to host the party, but it's been so warm lately that the ice wouldn't have worked. I hope they get another night to skate at all! So, no homemade ice rink - they all went to the Gallivan Center instead.

Abi and Wes aren't old enough to be in the youth group, but Corey likes to milk each opportunity for as much kid time as possible, so they both went along. 

There were other young kids too, the teenagers don't mind. 

Corey spent most of the day in Park City with Natalie and Sophi but got home in time for skating. He and his two little girls stayed there over night last night.

He booked a week up there for a friend and MM investor from Brazil who was in town. His friend left on Sunday and so we had the rest of the week to use it if we wanted. Corey and I and the 4 little ones went up yesterday and spent the afternoon, I left a little after 3 with Owen and Daniel to try and get home for Owen to take a nap and to get home for the kids.

They beat me home, but I was glad to see that Abi and Lily were not locked out like poor Hyrum. The keyless garage opener we just got installed last week worked - they remembered the code, success! Thanks for taking the licking for us all, Hyrum, now we're prepared.

So today Corey came back down. He and Natalie and Sophi had a fun time, doing the usual Park City stuff, like trashing the hotel room... (Natalie, stop sprinkling salt on the table!!)

 

...watching tv...

...playing in tub...

Corey kinda got snowed in up there, mostly cause the car he was driving was wussy. So his Brazil investor friend... we're buying his daughter's car. She was up here for school at BYU Idaho, but it heading back to Brazil now. We've been storing her car for her for a few months, it fits in the garage, is a clutch, good little car. So one reason we went up there yesterday was so that we could have an extra driver to get the car. Yesterday I headed back in the van, Corey brought the new little sedan tonight. There was a tiny bit of snow starting to fall when he left the hotel, so they stopped for lunch and waited out the storm at McD's.
 
After the flurries had passed, and they were ready to head home, they got stuck in the McDonald's parking lot. He said it was pretty lame. We had gotten a ton of snow on the day Corey delivered the car to them when they got in town - they used it while they were here - but Corey got stuck 4 times trying to get it down the street - it's just such a lite car, it couldn't get any grip. A neighbor who was snow blowing that day came and cleared the road for him 3 times. Then it got stuck today in one dinky little layer of snow. He said two burley men who both were driving trucks came over to help rescue him and get his pathetic car out of their way - all they had to do was gently push it with their fingertips. Funny.

Ethan T-shirts

Ethan was excited today that he got a package delivered. In the box was a pile of t-shirts that he and his friends made for their group. They call themselves the "T-rex Gang". As he was pooling money to order these and design them, I shared with him my opinion that having t-shirts for their group might make it seem a bit, shall we say... exclusive? He assured me that anyone that wants to hang out with them can. 

Still seemed a bit clique-ish to me. So, here's hoping they don't seem like snobs.

I just think that if I was a kid that was friends with them and hadn't gotten a shirt, I'd feel like I was officially an outsider. Or even if I wasn't really in their friend group anyway, but I saw everyone wearing matching t-shirts with their names on the side, like you'd feel kinda like I couldn't be one of their gang, right? Or, hey! Can I have a shirt? Who do I ask to get one? Anyway, he was excited about the shirts. Wanted me to take his picture so he could share it on their GroupMe. Here's hoping it opens more doors for more friends instead of closing them.

Eth, if you feel this little post is a bit too negative, feel free to come tell me and we'll edit it and give a positive twist. :)

Happy B-day Joseph

Happy Birthday Joseph - 17 years old. How does it feel?

Taking a birthday picture last year was an easy enough tradition... should I keep it up again for another year? Maybe do another tradition? I guess I could do more than one. But I didn't take a nice picture yet, it was a regular busy school day. But here he is eating dinner. I let him choose what we had. That can be an easy enough new tradition - birthday kid gets to make a dinner request. Joseph asked for french toast or puffy pancakes. I was a little behind when dinner time came around, so we did the french toast. It's faster. We topped it with whipped cream and blueberries.

Nothing like a healthy dinner before having cake and ice cream for dessert.

He's getting older, birthdays have lost a bit of the magic, which I kinda feel is my fault. So he didn't get any presents yet from me and Corey. Sorry Joseph. But I did pay his latest school parking ticket, does that count for something? I had told him over the weekend that he needed to pay this one, then I decided to pay it today sent a text saying "happy birthday!" Yay!

I do have plans to take him shopping to get something - shoes or some tech gadget, whatever he'd like. Also, this year we'll take kids out to eat with us on Date night the week of their birthday... so that will be on Friday, we're making his birthday last longer! You're welcome Joseph. Love this young man, he's a good leader of the pack.

Stomach Flu

So... we're all taking turns being sick this week. Except Owen has had more than his fair share...

Sophi threw up twice on Monday, BOTH times in the toilet! Yes, I love her. Natalie had a fever this morning. When I got the Tylenol to give her, she sweetly said "No thank you!" and then said no thank you with greater urgency as she could tell I was still apparently making preparations to administer the disgusting "grape" stuff to her. She's got a bit of a cough too. Can you tell she doesn't feel well?

Pretty little girl.

I woke up yesterday morning with a nasty sour stomach, burping rotten eggs all day. I don't know why, but that sour stomach smell always reminds me of my older sister. Sorry Moo, again I don't know why... must have been a poignant yet repressed childhood memory. So, After sleeping the better part of the evening I'm feeling better today.

Hyrum went to a full day of school and then threw up after he got home. He had a bowl that caught most of it, then I pushed him to the bathroom where he finished off. "I hate throwing up SOOOO MUCH!!! It is SOOO DISGUSTING!!" He felt better after that. It's just been a 24 hour thing for most of us. Still, I gave him permission to stay home tomorrow. Abi is staying home tomorrow too, she's got a cough. Ethan stayed home today, sour stomach, we bonded with each other over how horrible it smells/tastes. 

Good idea to let the sick kid hold the baby, no? Yeah, probably not, but I figured Daniel's getting plenty of antibodies from my milk since I'm constantly been contaminated by everyone, so Danny Boy will be okay. Plus he just wants to be held, so Eth really helped me out, cause I was able to get all caught up on the blog here! I finished blogging December and thus finished the year 2016 and then order my blog book before the great 30% off discount expired tonight! So yay, another year logged and ordered and ready to file away in the annals of our family history. Now all I have to do is blog each day and not get behind again! Yeah, good luck with that.

Fun Family Games

We got some fun games this Christmas. Two of them I bought during the week~ when we were hanging with the Hibberts, Jerusha had brought a fun game they got called Klask - it's like a mini air hockey board but with magnets. It's a fun simple game. The other one was one I saw at Target when I couldn't find Klask, and it looked so pretty that I looked it up - Otrio - it's like advanced Tic Tac Toe. Great thing about both of these games is that they are quick to play, so Corey and I can actually play with the kids without either being committed to a long game that we don't have time for (Risk) or without being pulled away by some kid emergency (hungry baby, poopy diaper). Both games are quick enough that we can finish a game in a few minutes and then the kids can keep playing with each other if they want. Only cons with both games, as with almost all games, is that there are small pieces. There are currently 4 Otrio circles missing and the black magnets from Klask too. I'm sure we'll find them once we have a chance to pick up tomorrow, which Saturday cleaning is the reality again now that school is back in session. That really was too short of a break!

Then another game we got that just keeps giving and giving fun and laughter was this from my little sister Patrice, who had me for the sibling gift this year - Watch Ya Mouth! - the Original Mouthguard Party Game! Oh, the kids were just dying to play this one!

We actually haven't had a chance to sit down and officially play a game yet, but the each immediatley put in the mouth guards. Natalie won't do it yet, but I bet her cute chubby cheeks wouldn't work with them anyway? Family picture!!

The kids opened the cards and have tried to read them with little success. Practically every word has lots of B, P, and M words which are pretty much impossible. (Wes pronounced Bowtie wrong - he says it like Bow-tee) Fun~

We might try and do song lyrics, rather than the random words on the cards which are pretty random.

We all voted that Wesley's lips were the most tough and flexible... He could cover up his nostrils...

All that trumpet playing, his lips are in good shape.

So the kids spent their last hours of vacation time making faces in the mirror and doing videos - pretending they were rabid wild animals and stuff like that.

Funny stuff! Thank you Aunt Patrice!

Ice Rink 3

Well, the ice rink is ready. Before we had to get back to the grind of life and work that started today, Corey and the kids were able to spend a few hours playing hockey.

These pictures are from Sunday. After I got home from church and was able to take over sick kid duty, Corey went out to see how the ice was doing. It seemed hard. So then he got some of the skates out to test it. Of course his little shadows followed him over. Soon everyone was out there except for Owen who I abandoned for only a few minutes while I went to take pictures. (Daniel and I didn't skate)

Our neighbors, who have been so kind to let Corey and his minion play in the dirt on their property again, were heading out and they joined the kids on the ice for a bit too before they loaded in. Corey getting the goals ready while people test the ice...

They spent most of Sunday afternoon over there. They got the lights out before it got too dark and were set up to have some night hockey too. They played and played. It was good family time. I think they've voted it the best rink yet. Here are some of the pics from the 2013-14 and 2014-15 versions. Good memories

Out with a Barf, In with a Blowout

So.... Last week I woke up to find I had a big stinky mess to clean up, courtesy of Owen. Little did I know it was just the beginning of my laundry explosion for the next few days.

So, Wednesday morning (Dec 28th) the night before, I returned home from visiting with my siblings around midnight. A few kids were still up, including the 7 year old. I asked her if they had said prayer and read scriptures before people headed to bed. "I don't think so... or maybe I was in my room?" was Lily's reply. Oh well, I figured as much. If there was no prayer or official "going to bed" routine, I bet people just collapsed, which means little kids who wear diapers were most likely not changed. So I went in to my room, Owen and Natalie were both asleep. I checked Natalie and changed her diaper, she's a pretty good sleeper and rolled back over to bed when I was finished. I didn't want to touch Owen though - one peep around him or from him and it's all over. So I went to Corey and whispered my question, asking if Owen was changed before he went to bed. "I don't know" he replied. I was pretty sure none of the kids would have changed Owen on their own volition, so I rephrased my query: "Did YOU change him at all this evening?" "No." Ok. So now I was pretty sure he wasn't changed and knew the situation I faced since it was now past midnight and he was asleep. I had a choice to make: 1) Change his diaper and wake him up in the process, but not have to wash his bedding and blankets in the morning. Or 2) let him sleep in a possibly already full diaper and be prepared to face a mess in the morning. I chose #2. And this morning I was ready for the consequences of my decision. It was a little worse than I envisioned, but it made me laugh as I shook my head. He must have pooped while he was still sleeping or right as he was starting to wake, cause I got him as soon as he started making noise, and that little guy had already poop spread all over his clothes, his bed, his blankets, his pillow, his cheeks, his binki, and also had time to grab the sides of his crib and the blinds and the little cord to pull up the blinds... poop everywhere. I've seen worse. He had good coverage but not a lot of density, so it was just small wipes and tracings of poop everywhere. It was glad it wasn't too thick, I was able to clean it up pretty quickly. And thus is what happens when Mom isn't around to enforce all the routines that she's trying to establish!

Little did I know it was just the beginning. So we went up to our friends cabin on Friday evening and spent the night there. Around 3 am, little Owen thew up in the bed we were in. He threw up on Corey, who was holding him, himself, the bed, a few pillows and some stuffed animal toys. Great. Luckily as we had gone to bed, we all just collapsed on top of the bedspread. And luckily that was a thick blanket, cause it absorbed most of the puke. Corey took Owen down to give him a bath and I tried to figure out what to do, hoping not to wake people up. So Owen was crying as Corey attempted to bathe him and I started surveying the damage and washing things off. Corey changed his clothes, I brought down a change of clothes for Owen, and put in items for a load of laundry (luckily the cabin is kinda like a second home to everyone and I knew where everything was that I needed - washing machine, detergent, etc.) The machine was louder than I would have liked, and was right by the bedrooms where two other couples with their kids were sleeping, but what can you do.

Corey decided it would be best if he took Owen home to attempt to not spread the sickness. One glitch - we don't have 4 wheel drive to get up to the cabin, so our car was a quarter of a mile away at the Nordic Center parking lot. How to get the toddler to the car at 4 am? Corey decided to sled down the hill to get it and then took a gamble and drove it up the snowy road. He thought it would be the fastest option. He heard coyotes howling as he went, and was glad he had the Red Ryder sled to defend himself from the wild animals if need be. He made it to the car. Thankfully it has new tires, so he decided, instead of backing up the road and parking before the hill, that he'd take the loop around so he could park by the cabin and then would take his chances going down the hill. The snow wasn't icy and kinda had a grip to it and he made it up, hooray. I held Owen while we waited for Corey to return. Owen wouldn't let me put him down. There was more mess to clean up upstairs. I was also worried Natalie would roll over or kick Daniel in the bed and wake him up, which would make my situation more difficult. So I went up to watch Daniel, Natalie was a little close, but they were both still asleep, so I just watched as I waited and held Owen. I knelt down with him on my lap, thinking to pick up some pieces to a game as we waited. Then Owen threw up again, this time all over me. OoooKay! This is great! I don't have a change of pants! I did bring an extra shirt and underwear, so... la de dah, what to do. I decided to just sit in it until Corey came back. I prayed for Daniel to not wake up and left him at the mercy of his sleeping sisters and went down stairs, thinking it was about time for Corey to be returning. Owen and I took a 4 am selfie. 

Then I took a puke on me selfie...

My poor baby boy, Owen I'm sorry you're sick!

He was holding one of his blankets when he threw up on us. My motherly instincts made me grab it to try and catch the throw up. Then he wanted his blankie back... No sweetie, you can't have it any more. He started to cry for it, so I hid it out of sight and went to the bed where I ever so gently pulled Daniel's blanket off of him, again hoping not to wake him. Phew! So Owen here has Daniel's hot air balloon muslin blanket that Daniel got for Christmas. Good thing I had another change of clothes for Owen, yay. It was pj shorts though. Not going to help keep you warm outside. Hopefully Dad's got the car warm. Owen looks so sad here, like "What is happening to me?!?!"

Corey came and saw what had transpired. Yes, these are my only pants, but I'll be okay, "What are you going to do?" I'll hurry and throw my clothes in the laundry too, and hopefully my pants will be washed and dried before anyone wakes up. We were handling it all very well and I was smiling as I shook my head at this moment in parenthood. Actually, I think I most enjoyed having someone to share it with. Usually at home in the wee hours of the morning, it's just me and the sick kid, so I was grateful Corey was there to share in the joys and pukes of life with me. I was also glad Owen threw up on me instead of Corey. Corey took him out to the car, then realized he left his computer bag. He didn't want Owen to be sad as he left him alone in the car, so he got me on the bluetooth to be a voice keeping Owen company and I kept saying "Hi Owen! I love you!" as Corey ran back into the house and I went back up stairs... Thank you Lord that Daniel is still asleep. Thankfully Natalie's most recent tossing and turning rolled her the other way. Corey made it out, Owen was okay and they were on their way. They made it safely down the canyon and were home at 5:15.

Six people in the bed minus three (Corey, Owen and me) leaves 3 little humans still in the bed. Daniel, Natalie, and Lily, Yes, it was a great night of sleep, ha! It's like human tetris...

So, that was the end of 2016. And the new year is off to a great start too - yesterday was laundry day! I did a ton of laundry because little Owen had a diarrhea explosion last night. I woke up during the night, smelled something bad, figured it was a poopy diaper... I went over and touched his tummy to see if he had wet through his clothes. It was wet. Oh well, we'll clean it up when he wakes up. At 7 am he was awake. I went over to find it was not just pee all over his onesie, that was diarrhea juice. He had it all the way up his front practically to his neck. Crap was hard crusted onto his tummy - OooKay! Holy cow! I was talking to Owen and myself "Wow! Owen! You are sick! This is such a mess!! You made a BIG mess!!" It seriously was the worst poopy diaper mess of an explosion I've ever seen, and for a mother with 11 kids that might be saying something. He hates baths, but I put him in and got in with him and rinsed him off as best I could before plugging the drain, then we bathed in bits of his poo as I tried to scrape his tummy clean. He finally relaxed and seemed to enjoy his bath as I rubbed and rubbed his tummy. But no time to let him bask in the tub, I had to get kids ready for 9 am church! So out we went, I put him in OUR BED (mistake) with Corey and I went to start a load of laundry to wash his bedding and then woke up the kids to get them ready. An hour later we left for church, and Owen stayed home with Corey.

When I came back, Corey and Owen were no longer sick in bed... they were sick in the tub... and our room smelled really bad... What happened here? Oh my, poop all over our bed - he got the comforter, duvet cover, it soaked into the mattress in three spots on MY SIDE of the bed, ha! Thanks guys!! Shaking my head again... So, off comes all the bedding, how do you wipe up a mess out of a mattress? We've had this one since we got married... I haven't been sleeping well lately, might be time to get a purple mattress. I had to take the comforter out of the duvet, a big pain that I try to only have to do once a year, oh well. After the first load of laundry was started, I came and got Owen, put a diaper on him, and the poor little guy just fell asleep right there on the floor on the towel. I put a blanket on him, poor little guy.

So, that was our new years day!! Happy new year, 2017 is coming in with fury! Wonder what other fun times are in store! #KeepingItReal