Raindrops and Dew...

My kids always make me tell them a bedtime story. Every night without fail they will tell me they are afraid of the "monsters" and the "scary stories". I don't know where they heard these scary stories but I swear it is going to be the death of Kirt and I. We try to paint "pretty pictures" in their head and whisper to them till they fall asleep.

Their favorite story, besides "Helga and Igor", is "Raindrops..." It makes them picture happy things before they go to bed, I guess. We tell it very slowly and very softly. It works like a charm. They fall asleep every time! I figured I'd write it down so we can have it forever.

Raindrops

I see the soft raindrops,

 drip dropping.

I see the soft leaves move with them,

 splish splashing.

I look up at the sky,

but no cloud is over head.

I see a sun shine brightly, 

with raindrops glistening.

I see a bright green, beautiful leaf.

It has one gigantic raindrop resting.

Reflecting.

I look into the raindrop and see,

the memories of all the rain.

Happy puddle splashing,

funny drizzle frizzle,

Crazy pouring wetness, 

and soft mist of a cool summer breeze.

Raindrops all around.

Dripping softly to the ground.

Head up,

Tongue out!

Crazy, wild, fun.

The calm of the raindrops

go drip, drip, drop...!

Lexi's Baptism

I have been both dreading and looking forward to this day since I had laid eyes on my beautiful Lexi. For 2 reasons. First reason was because I selfishly never wanted her to grow up. (and I never wanted to admit I was getting old.) Second, I had no idea how I would feel about having my own child accept the gospel as truth. I know this sounds a little strange...let me explain.

It has been a true struggle of mine trying to know what is right and what is wrong to teach you. I was at a cross roads in my own thoughts in how I was feeling about the church. I was so afraid I would ruin your special day for you. My thoughts and teachings to you are always true to the best of my knowledge...sometimes, I feel I know so little. You are so special to me. I want the best, I want the most, I want the everything for you.

It is the most intimidating thing to be a mother. I face this challenge and pray I lead you down a path of truth and that I never fail you. For this reason I worried about how I would feel on your baptism day. I wanted it to be your choice and not mine. And my sweet daughter...it was your choice. You wanted this. You loved your baptism day. After all my experiences on this day, I knew I was teaching you truth Lexi. I knew you were choosing what was right. Your example made me believe again. You are a true gift in my life. This day changed my life.

We had many late night talks about your baptism. We talked about what it meant to be baptized and that you alone could choose to be baptized. Only excitement filled your eyes when talking about it. You could not wait for your "special day".

Your "special day" arrived! The feeling in the home was so different that day. I must admit, I was a little surprised by the feeling I woke up to that morning. It was a feeling of peace and warmth. It was July and the day was sunny and bright. You woke me up and said, "It's my baptism day!" Your smile just melted my heart. You seemed so at peace yet beyond excited for the day's events to start. I smiled right back. You jumped into bed with dad and I and we both cuddled you. Dad and I looked at each other exchanging a look that we both knew. "AWE!"

We finally got up and started the day. Busy, busy, busy. Cooking up a storm for all the family that were to come and fixing Lexi's hair for her special day. You looked amazingly gorgeous.

Your Dad and you practiced a few times on how he would baptize you so you knew what to do. It was so cute to see you two laugh and look into each others eyes. You are Daddy's little girl:)

It was time...

You were the only one with a baptism that day so we had the entire church to ourselves. Aunt Heather, (trevor's wife), gave the opening prayer and Grandpa Michaelis gave a talk. He talked and told you about how your dad was going to baptize you. He had you come up and pretend like you were in the baptismal font and he was baptizing you. He comforted you and made you feel more at ease about how you were going to be baptized.  You loved hearing him talk. Aunt Jenna sang "His Hands".

You asked me to speak. I thought I would die. But for you Lexi, I would do anything. So I spoke.

When I spoke I gave you a very soft and very white blanket. It was to remind you of the Holy Ghost. I wanted you to remember that voice that whispers to you when you are doing something wrong, or when you might be in danger. Remember how soft it is. Remember how gentle it is. Remember that it needs to be kept clean. If you don't listen to it...the whisper will get softer. Be kind to it. Be gentle to it. Make sure you keep yourself soft and kind like this blanket. Make sure you are pure and clean like this blanket. If you do you will be able to always hear the soft whisperings of the holy ghost and have him with you always.

When I was done speaking I had you come up and you took the soft blanket. I told you the blanket was now yours. I told it was now your job to keep it clean. I told you when you sleep, this blanket can be the soft reminder of heavenly father's love for you. This blanket can also be a reminder of the soft whispering of the spirit and the warnings you may need throughout your life. I told you that I loved you. I think you are amazing in every possible way. I am proud of you no matter what you do. I am so grateful to be your mother.

After that, It was time for your father to baptize you. Just you and I went back to the dressing room where we got you in your baptism clothes. I was filled with so much hope, love, adoration, peace, and pure gratefulness that your were my daughter. I mean, WOW LEXI!!! You are just one amazing girl. I just wanted to hold you there and never let you go. I thought my heart would burst with all the love I held inside for you at that very moment. (and every moment) But, I had to let you go:) I had to let go to your father...

Your father outstretched his hand and you yours, he took your hand and he baptized you. I cried. I was so surprised at my emotions. Daddy was a little teary too! Your smile was so bright and beautiful. You came out of the font and squealed, "I'm baptized!!!" I laughed. Yes you were.

Aunt Jenna did your hair and all the family came over to the house to celebrate! So much love for you Lexi! SO MUCH LOVE! This day was so memorable for me. I know it was for you too. I have been asking you to write it down and you have but we moved and lost so many things. I thought it was a good idea we write some special moments in our life down. This is one of my special moments in life. You are a special moment in my life.

I love you so much. You are my favorite daughter!!! Hahahahaha! I love you baby girl. You are smart. You are fun. You are down right gorgeous! I will always be there for you no matter what. Thank you for making every dream of mine come true by just being in my life.               Love,  Mommy

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That did not just happen...

This really did happen, all in one night, and all to me.

Stomach Flu---A Mother's Worst Nightmare!

Kirt, my husband, was coaching my sons soccer practice right around dinner time. Lexi got a little cranky and said, "My stomach hurts!!!" So naturally I think, "Oh my gosh! What a baby! I swear I feed my kids every hour and they are still hungry!!!" So I load Lexi, Beckham and my friend Britney, in the car, (poor Britney came along for the ride). We decide to go to Arby's just down the rode to get the kid's Dinner. By the time we get to Arby's Lexi is practically screaming that her tummy is killing her. Britney and I decide she may have diarrhea by the way Lexi has described her pain. I swerve and park asap. She looks as though she might explode. All three of us are in a panic. I get her out of the car and we are running to get into Arby's. I am pulling open the door into the main lobby of Arby's and Lexi starts to cough. It is the barf cough. "Oh no." I think. "Run!" I shout. And we run to the grass in front of Arby's and State Street. By now, I am practically carrying her. It's too late, she is barfing on my arms and hands. "Whatever." I think. People are driving by and watching my poor Lexi barf. I actually saw one girl see us and turn away and dry heave herself. I couldn't help but laugh.

With nowhere to wipe my hands but the grass and my jacket I smell wonderful. I didn't dare go into Arby's. They were already unhappy with the mess we left in front of their building, I knew coming inside would be pushing it. By now I am feeling really bad I thought she was faking the tummy ache. I picked my pale faced little girl up and put her in the car. I still went through the drive thru and got food for the kids. That was fun. Poor Britney pretended she couldn't smell a thing. WOW! What a good friend.

So, Lexi is very sick by now. It is tax season and Kirt is an accountant. He was gone the rest of the night. I have no idea where. Landon tells me his tummy hurts. By now, I believe my children. I learned my lesson. As he was saying "My tummy hurt's" he let out the most beautiful burp and barf splashed all over my bare feet. I thought, "Awesome. It doesn't get any better than this." Cute little Landon looked up at me with his blue, blue eyes and said, "Oh, mommy, I barfed on you......I'm sorry." As much as I was grossed out, it was totally cute. After this night, my kids were lucky they were so cute......cause they had nothing else going for them......kidding. I really do adore my kids. I'm a really sarcastic person......I'm sure if you don't know me my posts do not translate very well:)

I clean and wash off my feet but still I have not showered. Gross huh? I know. But you know when you don't shower for the day because you know you are going to be cleaning all day? That's how I felt.....I just knew the night was not over.....I knew there was more barf to come. It was pointless to shower.

I decided to make all the kids sleep upstairs in one location. This way I could sleep by all four of them and we could have a community barf bowl and I could get to all of them in one swift movement. So, I set up our big blow up mattress. We watched a movie with no problems and all fell asleep but the youngest. Cute little Beckham. He was being so cute! He had his head on my shoulder and he just kept talking to me. We talked about the dog and the cat. His favorite color. How much he loved his dad and then BARF!!!!! All in my face and mouth. THAT DID NOT JUST HAPPEN! No way.........I am in complete shock while I accidentally swallow a little of my child's barf. "Ok. That did just happen" I thought. I sit up. Beckham is un-phased as he giggles at the sight of his mother's face covered in his previously eaten dinner. The only words out of his mouth is "Mommy, yuck" I slowly get up and am so grossed out, I laugh. How can this night get any worse? "It can't", I thought. The worst is over. I wash off my face and mouth. Amazingly, because my hair had been tied back, the delightful mixture did not get into my hair. Still no shower....totally gross. I KNOW. WHY??? I still felt deep down inside, there was more. More that these little monsters had for me. (and by monsters I mean beautiful lovely children.) I change the bedding. The rest of the night it was Chase's turn. All he did was dry heave. Poor guy had nothing in him.

Now, you would think that is all I have in my family. I would too. But turns out we are both wrong. I have animals too. So I was up until  4:30 AM with my cute babies. AT 4;30 AM my dog River had and ear ache. I knew that because when I finally got to sleep she woke me up with her whining and scratching her ear like crazy. I went to pet her and my hand rubbed into some sticky goo that was leaking out of her ear. That is when I got grossed out. I gave her some doggy pain medication, cleaned out her ear, made a note to get her to the vet, and sent her off too bed.

By then, I was exhausted. I went downstairs to my bedroom where Kirt was, (he got home really late that night). It was pitch black so I had to feel my way to the bed and around to my side. I got into the bed and Kirt asked how everything was. I told him everything. There was a slight pause. "Kirt, did you fart???" There was another pause, "No....did you?" "Um.....No." I said, because he knows I am always proud of my farts and claim them whenever they are mine. I sigh and plop my hands to the side of the comforter. SPLAT!!! That did not just happen!!! I knew what my hand was in before I even turned on the lights. I knew what my hand was in before I even lifted up my hand to move it off of what it was in. I knew what my hand was in as soon as it went SPLAT!!! "*#!*#(*^@#" I said. "What?!" said Kirt. Sounding very annoyed that I kept talking. "I just put my hand in cat crap!!!" I yelled very loudly. "No you didn't" Kirt said. Not wanting to believe he had been sleeping next to cat crap the entire night. "Um....YES I DID!!! LOOK!!!!" I flipped on the light switch and we saw the best sight of the night. It beat all the barf on the hands, feet, in the face, and down the throat by a mile.

Yes. This is when I got the cat and it is still banned from the house. This is when I dry heaved. This is when Kirt dry heaved. This is when.....I did finally give in.......I took the shower of all showers. I scrubbed and scrubbed. I am so clean and yet I feel so dirty. This is when I thought, That there is no way that that day just happened?!!!

Insomnia, kids, and poop...

On occasion  I am up at night because my thoughts just won't just shut off!!! Ohhhhhhh, and it's not about any thing important either.  Just good old insomnia at its best. I love it.

So every night, and I do mean every night, our three year old Beckham sleeps with us. We try our hardest to get him  in his own bed. I have put him back in his bed literally 5 times in one night. So we folded for the time being. Just like I folded with potty training.

Potty training was a totally different ball game with Becks. I thought it would be simple. It wasn't. I first started him in under wear and asked him every half hour or so if he needed to go pee-pee or poo-poo. He always said "No no, mama. I fine." so it wasn't quite time to make him try I thought, so I left the room for maybe 2 minutes. I come back and the heater vent has been removed and I smell something awful throughout the entire house. I go over to the heater vent and Beckham is sitting there all smiles saying,"Mama, I poo-pooed!!!!" and he points down the heater vent. "AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" I thought. I could see the dried poo smear from the top of the vent and knew this was going to be a long clean up. Just so you are aware, the heater vent was running, so  the smell is constantly being blasted in my face while I am cleaning this. Getting to the actual present was particularly nice. Had it been a little More solid life would have been better.

Life seemed a little more hopeful after that, Beckham had peed twice that day and no more heater business. I think we got him to know where the "real" potty was. The next day I awoke to a gross smell. A child poopey smell. Beckham was naked and running around. He was shouting, "I went poopie!!!" I was so excited so I checked all toilets..........no poop........no he didn't. "Beckham where did you poop?" and beckham smiled for a very long time but didn't answer. Then the heater turned on the entire house was filled with the smell of poo. I hurried and searched each vent. Finally I found it and cleaned it as thorooughly as possible. I have never been so frustraited.

He did it again the next day except this time I caught him. We were in the middle of afternoon nap and I decided to lay down this time. I woke to seeing two cute little butt cheeks and a stream a of pee spraying between his legs. I said, "That's it!!! I fold!! YOU WIN!!! Here are your diapers. I a m not up for this. We will try in a month. Beckham smiled. He knew He had just won. But guess what? I didn't care at that point. cleaning that vent was so gross. I need to develop a new tactical plan.

I'm also a big snuggler with my kids. At any given moment Kirt and I have at least one if not 2 kids in bed with us at a time...........we need it to stop. I love them but my brain has been zapped. It doesn't work anymore.

If any of you out there have suggestions on how to prevent your child from pooping in a vent that would be most helpful. Or,  if you had any suggestion from keeping all four of your children from waking you up every single night that would help too. Love my babies just wish I had it all figured out!!!