busted

Andrea's out playing volleyball with some friends, and I'm holding down the fort here. The kids are in bed, so I decide to help myself to a bowl of
Neapolitan. As I'm dishing it up, Bekah comes upstairs to get a stuffed animal she "can't go to sleep without" and catches me in the act.

Bekah: Wait, what are you doing?
Seth: I'm getting a bowl of ice cream.
Bekah: Ice cream? Why do you get ice cream?
Seth: Um... Because I'm 30 years old and I can have ice cream if I want it.
Bekah: But, Dad, that's not fair! Seriously!
Seth: Look, you can have ice cream tomorrow for desert, Ok?
Bekah: Fine, but... seriously, Dad! Ice cream? At this hour? It's the middle of the night!
Seth: Bekah, it's like 8:45. It's not the middle of the night. Stop lecturing me.
Bekah: Fine. But I'm telling Ana.

Sheesh, a guy can't eat a bowl of ice cream without getting the third degree from his own kid.

Baby magic trick

Question: How does a baby go from this before her nap ...

 

... to this when I go to wake her up from her nap?

Answer: It doesn't matter. As long as this girl has her thumb, she's happy.

Winter cabin trip

Just like in years past, we loaded up the snow clothes and kids for a quick winter retreat to Grandma and Grandpa Hendricks' cabin in Island Park (March 8-10). This time, however, we took an extra occupant with us. Grandpa Dennis was on his own trip to sunny Nevada, so we asked Grandma Susan to come with us to the cabin.

Not that she needed to, but she definitely earned her keep. She took care of Winnie while I napped Saturday morning, and she stayed with Winnie at the cabin Saturday afternoon while we took the girls out on a walk to find a good sledding hill. (And, yet again, I forgot to bring my real camera.)

Seth pulling Miriam in the sled while Bekah pulls her own sled and Analee walks alongside.

Bekah found a short, steep hill to sled down.

When the girls got tired of walking, this is how they coped: Seth pulled Miriam and Bekah in the bigger sled, and Bekah held onto the rope of the little sled that Analee was riding in. It's a good thing Seth is such a tough guy to pull all three girls.

Usually when we stay in Island Park for a weekend, we just attend church up there. But with Seth's ward clerk duties and our 1 p.m. church, we figured we could drive home in our pajamas Sunday morning and get ready in time for our own sacrament meeting. It's a good thing I was browsing Facebook after we got home and while I was feeding Winnie, because I read a friend's status that mentioned daylight savings. Even though we knew about it ahead of time, we had both forgotten that we would be losing an hour. Luckily, we (read: "I." Seth had already showered, and I had already gotten all the girls dressed and their hair done.) were able to pack our church bags and be ready in time.

Library carnival

Have I ever raved about our public library? If I haven't, it's because I spend all my time internally raving about it. It's INCREDIBLE. Not only does our library have everything you'd expect (books, magazines, movies, study rooms, comfy couches, nice librarians), but it also has so much more (story times for different age groups, a summer reading program, summer story times for older children that include Greek myths and Shakespeare, and a winter reading program AND CARNIVAL).

Although we've participated in story times since Rebekah was a toddler and in the summer reading program for a couple of years, this was our first time signing up for the winter reading program. We spent a couple of months reading books that teach about or depict different time periods (this year's winter reading program theme was "Trespassing Time"), and we earned admittance and tickets to the carnival.

Not having attended a previous winter reading program carnival, I didn't really know what to expect when I took our girls there on Friday evening. (Seth was out of town getting all sorts of tests done in preparation for donating bone marrow. I think his experience warrants a post of its own, and I think the donor ought to write it. ;-)) They shut down the ENTIRE LIBRARY early that evening and set up stations throughout the building. They had everything you'd expect at a school carnival (duck pond, fishing hole, ring toss, snacks, etc.) and some things we don't have at ours (karaoke--my girls sang a 3-minute rendition of "Old MacDonald"--photo op stations, crafts).

I was dumb and forgot my real camera, so all I have to show for our two hours of carnivaling is cell phone pics.

 Analee, Miriam and Rebekah at the Old West photo op.

 Miriam (wearing the crown she made) at the explorer photo op.

 Analee the explorer.

 Miriam getting bit by a crocodile.

 Analee looks a little worried having her hand in the mouth of a croc.

 Bekah is alarmed.

 My girls, the pirates.

 We tried putting a pirate hat on Winnie, but it kept falling over her face ... so we gave her a sword to hold.

 Analee the pirate.

 Our girls don't know much about the fashion of yesteryear. They assumed this was a "Ken and Barbie" photo op.

 And they had no idea what was going on in this one.

 "Mom, why does this man have long hair?"

 The cupcake Miriam won in the cake walk. It only took her seven tries to finally get her number called.

Analee (wearing the crown she made) and Miriam showing me a little 'tude while wearing the sunglasses they won at the dolphin ring toss.

Art projects

Back in January (that's how bad I am at updating this), I took the big girls to the art museum for their special family day. We spent a little time looking at the art on display, a lot of time in the kids' room (it's spectacular ... if any families in the area haven't yet had the chance to explore the museum, I'd recommend it JUST for the kids' room), and some time making art projects.

 I did the wax scratching in Miriam's; she did all the painting.

Analee's project.

Bekah was upset at how hers turned out.

Bekah's donation

Rebekah used to have super-long hair.

Two-year-old Rebekah in January 2008.

Then she got into the habit of sucking on her hair, which caused snarls, which caused trauma when it came time to brush her hair. So we chopped it off, and she had it short for quite a while.

Four-year-old Rebekah in March 2010.

When she promised she had kicked the hair-sucking habit, we allowed her to grow her hair out again. It took her a year or so, but her long, golden locks returned. However, the battle over brushing resumed, and when I suggested that a haircut would make washing and brushing easier, Rebekah decided to chop away. We rushed her to the salon, and she was able to donate eight inches of her corn-silk hair.

 Bekah's long hair before the cut. 

After the cut and holding her donated pigtails.

Before the stylist started hacking, Rebekah told her how she'd like to look after the haircut.

Rebekah: Do you know what American Girls are?
Stylist: Yes.
Rebekah: Do you know who Kit is?
Stylist: I'm not familiar with that one.
Rebekah: I want to look like Kit.
Andrea: She wants a chin-length bob.

(Here's Kit, for comparison's sake.)

I'll admit, I kind of miss Bekah's long hair. I FINALLY figured out how to French braid someone else's hair, and I was having a fun time doing new things with it. And on Sundays when I'd get out the little curling iron and curl her golden mane ... goodness. Her hair was gorgeous. 

But every other day of the week when she wouldn't let me touch her hair, it didn't look nearly as put-together or lovely. I'll admit ... with her new cut, it's much quicker and easier to do her hair, and she can finally wash and rinse it on her own. As for snarls, they're pretty much nonexistent. It's a trade-off, but with a headstrong second grader, it's for the best.

Miri-ism #12

Miriam understands the gist of the phrase, but muddles it.


Miri: Goodbye, alligator.

Miri-ism #11

Miriam was making some funny noises.

Andrea: Miri, what are you doing?
Miri: I'm hicking up.

Ana the artist

 

Artist: Analee Grover

Title: The Octopus

Date: 4 March 2013

Medium: Play-Doh

Q: What inspired you to create this piece of art? 
A: Nothing. And the material I made it with is Play-Doh. It's all Play-Doh.
Q: Why did you choose to make an octopus? 
A: Because it would be cool.
Q: Do you like octopuses? 
A: Yeah ... they're my favorite kind of water animal.
Q: What makes your octopus special? 
A: Because it's all out of Play-Doh.
Q: What are the orange things? 
A: They're BUBBLES!
Q: Is there anything else we should know about it? 
A: Uh-uh. (Shrugs shoulders.)

Thumbs up

All my girls have been very short-lived thumb suckers. Being the fourth daughter in the family, Winnie's working hard to be remembered for something, so she's taken on the roll of long-term thumb sucker.

She still likes her pacifier, but if the kid is ever feeling tired, she just starts shoving her hands into her mouth until she finds the part she wants. It seems like she favors her right hand so far. 

I have no objections to her being a thumb sucker as long as it doesn't become a problem sometime down the line (the dentist had to threaten to cut my thumb off when I was 5 and still sucking).

Caught with her thumb in her mouth.

Stylin'

Yes, that's my child wearing a fuzzy brown backpack, a Tinkerbell bow, skull sunglasses, fringey hair and a purple hat. Why do you ask?

And guess who dressed the baby in the fluffy headband? See above.

Smart aleck

I'm totally blaming this on Seth's genes ... after all, I was a teacher's pet, not a class clown.

The other day, Rebekah brought home some typical papers from school with something atypical at the top. Make sure you look closely. Here's the conversation that followed:

In case it's too hard to read, in Rebekah's writing it says, "Name on it." In Mrs. Funke's writing it says, "Rebekah."

Andrea: Rebekah, what did you write on your paper?
Bekah: "Name on it."
Andrea: And why did you write "name on it" on your paper?
Bekah: Because Mrs. Funke handed me a paper and told me to write my name on it.

More little miracles

She's only 4 months old. She proved to us once that there are guardian angels watching over her ... I guess she just wanted to remind us of that fact.

One week ago (2/4), Winnie developed a barking cough. Since she's so young, I called the doctor's office first thing the next day and made an appointment. The doctor looked her over, told me she was okay and let me know that if she started having a hard time breathing or got a fever to bring her right back in.

By Friday night (2/8), the cough had transformed from a barking cough to a junky cough. She felt a little warm that evening, so we took her temperature. It was 100 degrees even, so we gave her some Tylenol. It kicked her temp back down to normal, and she seemed fine.

Saturday morning, no fever. Same cough. Saturday night, a temperature of 101.8. I called the pediatrician on call, and he said if she didn't seem to be acting too sick (which she wasn't ... she was being her same sweet self) or having trouble breathing, she could take some more Tylenol and wait to see the doctor until the next day. Or if she seemed to be doing fine Sunday, we could just watch her and determine if we thought she needed to see a doctor later on.

Sunday morning, no fever. We took her to church and to Grandma's. Sunday night, a temperature of 100.4. The Tylenol took care of that again.

Today was her 4-month check-up, as previously discussed. If she hadn't already had an appointment scheduled, I may have made one anyway ... I don't know.

Either way, I'm grateful we went in today. I'm grateful we have a skilled doctor. I'm grateful for the chest X-ray torture chamber of doom.

And now I'm grateful for antibiotics. Not only does she have bronchiolitis, but she also has early signs of pneumonia. We're instructed to give her medicine and keep an eye on her. She'll be fine staying at home unless she seems to be having a hard time breathing.

Isn't this the sweetest pneumonic baby the world has ever seen?

Gwendolen's 4-month check

Her stats:

Weight: 11 pounds, 5 ounces (3rd percentile)
Height: 23 inches (17th percentile)
Head: 16.33 inches (73rd percentile)

She's a typical Grover: big head, scrawny everything else.

Winnie's had a cough for a week and a fever the past three evenings, so the doctor suggested we delay her 4-month immunizations until she's feeling better. And after listening carefully to her lungs, he suggested that we get a chest X-ray. He said it sounds like she has bronchiolitis, but he wants to make sure it's not developing into pneumonia.

If you've never had a baby get a chest X-ray, you're missing out. I thought all devices like the Iron Maiden were a thing of the past. I really wanted to get a picture of my precious baby squeezed into a plastic tube, but Analee and Miriam had my phone in the other room (when the staff asked me, "Is there anyone else with you who can stay with them?" and I shot them a look that said, "Do you SEE anyone else here with me?") so they could play Angry Birds, and I was busy holding Winnie's hands up above her head. But since words won't do the procedure justice, here's a picture I borrowed from the Intertubes:

Here is an empty pigg-o-stat, as it's called. How does this help your wee one get her chest X-rayed?

By squeezing her into the tube with her arms above her head. This one has holes for the kids legs--Winnie just had hers tucked under her body so she was kneeling.

Looks traumatic, no? I'll admit I was a little nervous as they closed it around her tiny little body. But my sweet little Winnie was very content as they took the X-rays. She just spent her time in there chewing the piece of plastic just below her face.

We should hear back from the doctor's office later today. If she has pneumonia, she'll get to experience her first antibiotics. If it's just bronchiolitis, she'll get Tylenol as needed.

Miri-ism #10

Miriam mixes up a couple of exclamations:

Miri: Holy sakes!