Isaac D

Do you see these eyes?!?

When Isaac was a baby, he was the chubbiest little thing I had ever seen. But he never liked to be snuggled. He always wanted to look out and you had to hold him in this weird position, with his head in the crook of your arm, his belly laying across your forearm. He never slept in bed with us and never fell asleep in your arms. The chubbiest most squeezable baby... that I never got to squeeze.

He has more than made up for all those times that I couldn't squeeze him. He has become the most loving, snuggly boy a mommy could wish for. He wakes up so sweet and sleepy, it is my favorite time of the day. Usually, Roman and the baby are already awake. We'll be in the dinning room and hear the door open and sleepy feet shuffle down the hall. Then we'll see Isaac, rubbing his eyes and completely disheveled from tossing around in bed all night. Then he comes and sits in my lap, where ever I am, what ever I am doing. It takes a good five minutes for him to wake up, and I soak up every minute of it!!

Isaac also has become very caring. He collects "babies"... aka stuffed animals. And he plays "mommy" with them. ( I have tried to explain that he will be a daddy, and that daddys also get to take care of the babies.... just not sinkin in yet, so I just talk about the babies, and not about him being mommy or daddy). He gets toys for them, he tucks them in for naps, he takes them for playdates... it is so cute.

He is really growing up, he loves his big brother and tries to keep right in step with him. They love telling imaginitive stories together. The top story is Isaac telling daddy some grand story, both boys talk with their hands :) I love that my boys are such good friends.

Father/Sons Campout

I have been looking forward to this weekend.... since last year, when for some reason we totally missed it. The boys spent all day cleaning out mommy's car and packing for this exciting trip. I kissed them all and waved good bye at about 430 Friday afternoon. First I buckled the baby in the front seat and climbed in back with the boys. They kicked us out and told us we couldn't come.

I had big plans while they were gone... all of which were some form of cleaning. Why is it that when mom's get a quiet house the first thing they want to do is clean?!? Actually, the first thing I did was feed the baby, who then got tired and insisted on bath and bed. After I put him down and came out of his room, I realized it was 530!!! Mercy, I just hoped he would sleep all night.

Then I fixed myself a lovely turkey wrap and popped a few Tylenol. I've been getting debilitating headaches like once a week, and I could feel one creeping up. Then I decided to lay down for a little rest and get up headache free and ready to clean. The little rest turned into a 2 hour nap... yes, Erin, when you called me that night, I had been a sleep. So then I got up and cleaned the kitchen and finished the undone laundry from earlier in the week.... not even a quarter of my big exciting list of things to do.

As the evening started to get chilly, I decided to call Ben to make sure he was keeping my boys warm. I think it was well after 930. He said that they would be fine and that Isaac was getting ready for bed. When I asked the next day if they slept well, Ben said "Yah, they slept until 7"..... Great, from after 10 until 7, not too impressive. (Hence the four hour naps on Saturday!!)

I guess at the campground the kids pretty much ran a muck. Which my boys thoroughly enjoyed, because I am usually always hoovering and telling them to stay close or be careful. They also experienced the joy of the glow of a gasoline fueled bonfire. Thanks Gary Q. I have decided that there is a reason the mom's are not invited to this thing.... I would be freaking out to see a pile of wood doused in gasoline and Gary dancing around with a match.

It seemed like almost all the boys and dads from the ward were there. Roman and Isaac had a good group of kids they were tromping around with. Ben and Randy L organized a mini hike Friday evening, but I guess that was as organized as anything got. The ironic part of the trip was that Ben cleaned out all the bikes and toys from the car... and when they got up there, found out that everyone else had brought bikes and scooters to ride in the parking lot. Oh well next year he'll know to bring bikes... and he'll have all three boys... and my to do list will have nothing to do with cleaning!!!!

Playin' Doctor

Late Update

I went outside on Tuesday to see if the bees had returned. There were only a few up near the opening of the chimney. I watched as they flew from our chimeny to the tall pine tree in the nighbor's yard, and back. I moved into the back yard and looked closer... to see a volleyball size hive in the tree! I panicked and ran next door to tell our neighbor. We both worried because we were supposed to be hosting parties within the week. I called the exterminator to see if they could get it out of the tree. The very nice lady said that bees don't like to live in trees, so they will either return to the chimney or leave all together. I decided to relocate the baby shower that was supposed to be at my house, while we had enough time to call people. And we locked ourselves in the house for the next day and a half. Tuesday I still had a few bees make their way into the living room. I think they appreciated that I put them out of their misery. By time they made it out of the fireplace they were all but dead.

I ventured out of the house Wednesday afternoon and found that the bees had indeed moved along. I've learned quite a few things through this experience. And I have also learned that a lot of other people have had very similar experiences. Nice welcoming to home ownership... sure wish we could have just called a land lord on this one, but I guess this made me stronger :)

Jumping Jumparoo

My mom got the baby a Johnny Jump Up a few months ago. I can't believe I didn't have this thing for the other two boys. At first he would just hang there and chew on the side... it was pretty cute, but didn't keep him occupied for too long. I put the JJU up for a few weeks, and just decided to bring it out yesterday. This time he had a better understanding of what he was supposed to do in it. He was adorable, jumping, spinning and tapping his little toes.

Isn't This a Stephen King Novel?!?!

Where do I even start... After taking Roman to school this morning, I found 2 bees in the house. I used Roman's handy dandy bug vaccum that he had gotten for his birthday, sucked em up and threw em out. Later I found a bee in the baby's room. I went to get the bug vaccum again, and now there was a lizard under neath it. I don't do lizards. So I went back into the baby's room to just straight kill the bee, and he had found his way out. (The baby's room does not have a screen, which is how it got in in the first place) That's when I called Ben to tell him we had moved into the jungle. Yes, 3 bees, a few ants and a lizard equal the jungle to me.

Soon it was time to pick up Roman. Loaded the kiddos in the car and headed down to the preschool, talking about what we should make for lunch and jamming to country tunes. Poor Jilli is teething... Jilli has 2 teeth!! So she was a little fussy in the back of the car. Hurried into the house to get Jilli's bottle and start lunch. The boys pointed out 2 bees in the same place I found the first 2. Weird, but just smashed em this time. Uh-oh... dead bees don't buzz...

I started looking around and saw one by the fireplace and one in the kitchen window. Then I figured they were coming from the fireplace, and sent the boys back out to the car. I started grabbing everything I would need for 2 babies for the day... and shutting up the bedrooms so the bees would stay out.

Once (finally) safe back in the car, I called Ben to tell him the sitch. He tried to talk me into covering up the fireplace and sticking around to call an exterminator. I circled the block and decided to leave the kids in the car and give it a shot.

Back in the house, there were now five bees... I had only been gone 5-7 minutes. I got a drop cloth from the garage and tried to cover the fireplace. One of the bees caught me and flew towards me. I threw the drop cloth ever him, but he flew out before getting trapped. So I ran out. I regathered in the garage, went back in, and there were six bees. The odds were stacking up against me, so I resorted back to plan A and got the heck out of there.

We went to our friend, Erin's house... she had a little excitement of her own going on. No bees, just 4 extra kids, plus her 2. We barged in and borrowed her yellow pages until we got a hold of this sweet bee keeper/exterminator. He said that he had already had 7 calls that day from PQ. (Side note: My friend and neighbor, Tamara, told me that they had had bees in their lemon tree this week and her husband had wacked them down and told them to find somewhere else to live.... So thanks Paul) The exterminator said that all I needed to do was stick my head up the chimney to see if there were just a few scouts or if there were thousands. Thousands would obviously mean the queen was there. If there weren't thousands, I just needed to tape off the fireplace so that scouts would stop coming towards the light and go look somewhere else.... but yah, he pretty much lost me at the "stick our head in the chimney" part.

I convinced Ben to come home "early" 5:00 to do the sticking his head up the chimney part. So the kids and I headed to my grandma's house, where no one took a nap. The babies each slept for less than an hour, which we all know is not enough for the little ones, so they woke up crabby.

Ben finally came home at 5:30, as I was surveying the outside. I expected to look in through the windows and see swarms. Actually, "all" I saw was one in each of the front windows, and 20 give or take at the back window. Ben got the shop vac and headed to the front lines. He actually sucked up about 40 of the little buggers. They had found a little hole in the track above the sliding glass door, and some of them had set up shop there.

Then my wonderful husband who watches a lot of NOVA on PBS decided to lite a fire, and informed me that their natural instinct is to get away from the fire. He went outside, to see how many were leaving, and there were hundreds swarming around at the top of the chimney. I hurried and called the exterminator again, to see if lighting a fire was sufficient.... apparently the fire thing was not the best idea. He said that if there was a hive, the fire could make it fall and then we would have thousands of bees in our living room. Great. After scaring the ever lovin pants of me, he said to just tape up the fireplace (once the fire was dead and cooled) and waiting until the morning. As we're talking, I am looking out the window and can see bees just every where. Not even looking at the chimeny, just our back yard, they are just all coming and going, and I can't tell if there are more coming or more going.....

So Ben gives the baby a bath while I am on fire watch and bee duty. I had to stir the fire to make sure all the hot spots burned out. I also had to suck up the bees that made it down. The good news is that they didn't want to fight, they just flew straight to the window trying to get out.

Eventually the fire was out and cool, and Ben taped a big box over the opening. For some reason we were still getting bees. They some how were making it through the nice little tunnels made by the mortar between the bricks. A few balls of duct tape fixed that..... wait... I hear something. Am I just going crazy? Bzzzzz... thump. Is it flying into the window? Is the cat playing with it? No. Can't see anything. Sounds like it is coming from inside the fireplace. Bzzz. Scratch. Is he trying to burrow into the house? Pop. Out comes another bee. Are you kidding me?!?!?!?!? Seriously, that just happened! It is 915 pm. Ben is stuffing the tunnels on the other side of the fireplace now. Haven't they learned that this is not a great place for a hive yet?!?

I'm pretty sure that tomorrow we will be calling our new friend again. He said to wait until the morning and check if there were still a lot coming and going (up at the top). Even if there aren't, what am I supposed to do, just take off the cardboard and hope I don't get bombarded with bees? Live in my lovely home with a boarded up fireplace? Well, we'll see what the morning brings. I just hope I am not woken up all night by the imaginary buzzing in my head. Well, I guess that is better than the real buzzing. Can I win this one?

Hopefully there in so exciting follow up tomorrow, put I will keep you posted if there is!

(Sorry this was so verbose... this was more for me than for you. I want to look back on this day and laugh... but for now I just want to get some sleep!!)

A Change in Plans

I was looking forward to hosting Dinner Club at our house tonight. It is always fun to get together, the majority of my friends still haven't seen our house, and my grandma was going to help me with a really yummy dinner. Unfortunately, one of the couples got sick, and so I decided to cancel all together. However, I had already arranged for the two older boys to stay the night at my mom's house, and had already made enough Chicken Florentine Crepes for 10+ people. Sooo...

Instead of cleaning the house for company, Ben and I took a nap :)
Instead of eating the dinner we made today, we went to the Cheesecake Factory, and are taking the mass produced (yet still delicious) dinner to my mom's for Sunday dinner.
And instead of enjoying the company of friends, we enjoyed our youngest boy all to ourselves.

Aaron was so cute at the restaurant. He liked sitting in the high chair and looking all around. Not to mention banging spoons and playing peek a boo with the napkin. It was fun to just enjoy the little one, who sometimes feels like #3.

Don't get me wrong, we would have loved cleaning the house and entertaining friends... just sometimes a change in plans isn't so bad :) We'll try again for dinner club next month :)