Mother Torture

Here's a rundown from last night...

8pm - Kids finally in bed. I put together a quick list and Brad runs to the store for me. I work on my Sunday School lesson and get a shower.

9:30pm - Brad goes to bed. I go downstairs to finish folding laundry and doing dishes.

10:15pm - I head upstairs to bed, only to realize I hear Eli bawling in his room. I go in to comfort him, but he is really upset. He won't let me touch him, but doesn't want me to leave the room. It takes a long time to get him settled.

11pm - I finally go to bed, but have a hard time falling asleep.

12-ish - Owen wakes up to nurse. I keep him in bed with me after that.

2-ish - Owen wakes up. I can't remember if I nursed him or not.

4am - Owen wakes up to nurse. I feel like I haven't gone into a deep sleep yet tonight.

4:20am - Just get Owen back to sleep and I hear Eli creep into our room. He gets in our bed.

5:30am - Eli is still laying awake in our bed, so I'm still awake. Brad gets up to get ready for work, Eli insists he needs to "EAT." Brad gets him a bagel and puts him in his room with a DVD.

5:45am - I realize Eli probably won't go back to sleep with the movie on, and he needs to be rested so he's not a beast at church since I will be flying solo with both kiddos. I go get him and take him back to my bed and tell him it's time to "GO NIGHT!."

6:30am - Eli finally falls back asleep and I start dozing.

7:30am - Owen wakes to nurse and wants to be awake for the day...I keep him in bed hoping he'll doze off again and he eventually does... I start to doze.

8:30am - Eli wakes up for the day and starts babbling, which wakes Owen again who starts his "baby talk." Eli heads downstairs to play. I can hear him; I'm laying next to Owen listening to him as well; yet I CAN'T MOVE or open my eyes. Laying there totally wiped out, I'm thinking about how we are all going to be late for church because I have to get the boys ready by myself and church starts at 10am... and I just CAN'T get up.

9:10am - I finally WILL myself out of bed....

The sad thing is, I've had more nights like this than not lately. I'll admit that I was feeling pretty sorry for myself this morning! Tired does not even describe the feeling. I was so grumpy that if I didn't have to teach a lesson at church I might have just stayed home! I manged to get us all dressed in record time, and when I came downstairs, Brad had left me a sweet note before he left for work. It really lifted my spirits, and I was able to head to church in a good mood. We were only 10 minutes late - AMAZING =). It ended up being a pretty good day too! Eli was good in Sacrament meeting, my lesson went fine, and we had linger longer (the ward provides lunch for everyone after church once a month). To top it off, the weather was GORGEOUS today. So gorgeous, that it took us an hour and a half to get from our car in the driveway back into the house when we got home. Eli HAD to play outside, so we stayed out there in our church clothes, throwing rocks into the ditch full of water. So even a day that starts off rotten can turn out pretty good. I just hope I get a little sleep tonight.

Maple Sugaring

Yesterday we went to Ioka Valley Farm in Hancock, MA to see how REAL maple syrup is made. We got to learn about and taste the different "grades" of syrup (light to dark amber) as well as some other things made with maple syrup. We saw the "sugar house" where the sap is boiled into syrup - that's really all it is when you buy REAL syrup. Check out the ingredients in YOUR maple syrup, lol. The good stuff just says "maple syrup."


We also got to check out the maple trees, and the 30 miles of tubing they use to get the sap from the trees down to the farm - no more individual hanging buckets! It is pretty amazing all the work that goes into it year round, when the window for getting the sap is a very small one from the end of Feb to early April, depending on the weather.


Eli loved playing with the little toy tractors they had set up in little "sandbox"full of rice. It was hard to tear him away for the tour. After our little tour, we ate at the "Calf-A" and had pancakes, cinnamon french toast, and of course, SYRUP! It was so yummy, that Eli ate an entire adult sized order of french toast AND fed it TO HIMSELF! He even DIPPED his toast in the DRIPPY syrup - AMAZING. We hope we can go back just for some more food.

Owen was dreaming about tasting some!

We brought THIS home with us!

We stopped in the barn to say hello to the "seep" (sheep), goat, and "yamas" (llamas).

Spring FEVER!

I am SICK TO DEATH of this winter business! Seriously, really, and truly sick of it. The snow is mostly melted at least (thanks to a *brief* warm-up) but it is still so cold the ground is frozen solid, every little puddle is frozen, and I still can't stand to be outside for very long. Really, being from Arizona I think I have tried darn hard to have a good attitude about winter. But COME ON, enough already! I was starting to feel hopeful that at least March is here, just a few more weeks... when I was informed that blossoms do not even start around here until the END of April, and that it does not get *warm* until the end of May. Of course to me, I might settle for even 50 degree weather as *warm* right now.

GRRRRR.... can you tell I'm feeling cooped up in this little two bedroom place? I just feel like I want to GET OUT of here! Yes, we get out to the library and to our friend's house usually once a week, but I've had it with bundling and un-bundling kids, trying to fit them in carseats with coats and blankets, getting them out of the car to be blasted with an icy wind, trying to carry them to and from the car across a sheet of ice without breaking our necks etc. Last summer seems like *forever* ago. It is depressing and is making me eat cookies, which is sabotaging my baby-weight loss plan!

To top it off, Eli has been sick about every two weeks since September. He just started with another cough and runny nose yesterday - he's had fluid in his ears for months and his adenoids are swollen up, so now we've been referred to an ENT for a consultation on tubes and adenoid removal. And I blame Winter! I just KNOW he'd be getting better if it would JUST. WARM. UP. ALREADY!Plus with the heater on (esp on those nights when it's single digits out) I've got to pump saline in the kids' noses and run noisy humidifiers just to keep their sinuses from stuffing up from the dry air... which doesn't really work and I get extra night waking from each of them.

Is anyone with me on this???? Thanks for reading, I needed to vent today.

4 Months!

I can't believe my baby boy is four months old already! Where has the time GONE? He had his check up yesterday and the stats are in: 19lbs 10 oz and 27 inches long. So, he's the height of a 7 month old, weight of an 8 month old, and "off the charts" for percentiles. However, when his height and weight are compared in proportion to each other, he's "only" in the 90th percentile =).


Owen is really the light of our lives these days. We all love him to pieces - including his big brother Eli. Dozens of times a day, Eli wants to "Owen, kiss" and has to give him kisses. He reminds me that "Owen need hep (help)" whenever Owen cries, and tries to give him his binky saying "here go Owen." His addition to our family may have come as a surprise, but since the day he showed up he seemed to just fit right in, and we can't imagine life without him!

At four months, Owen is a very smiley and friendly baby. His dark hair is falling out, and blonde hair is growing in. He has beautiful blue eyes, and long babydoll lashes. He LOVES to be held, but is not content JUST to be held... he must be ENTERTAINED! He loves to watch Eli, play with toys, be tickled and teased and wrestled with, rocked, and sung to. He seems to get bored easily if things slow down too much, so I think he's going to be quite the mover when he can get enough momentum behind that big body of his. He will let you know immediately if he's getting bored, and so we affectionately call him "squawker." He likes to lay on his boppy pillow on his tummy to play with toys, and especially likes the old Baby Einstein playcenter that we recently pulled out of the basement and put back together. He is so strong he can already rotate himself in the seat around the entire circle of toys. Eli likes it too, so he helps to keep Owen entertained in there.

Owen's quite the "grabby" little guy, and will snatch anything that is within arm's reach. I have to be careful about what I think I can have in my hands when I'm holding him - today he grabbed a fistful of butter as I was trying to butter Eli's bagel for breakfast. He seems to be really observant, and pays attention to everything that is going on. He has also recently made friends with his hands... they are always in his mouth, and he loves to just twiddle them and look them over.

Owen can slobber with the best of them. We tease anyone who gets doused as having been "slobber-dogged." I think his favorite time of day is bathtime. The simple act of getting his clothes removed with the bathwater running in the background sends him into fits of grins, giggles, squawks, and wiggles. He and Eli take a bath together every night, then promptly zonk out afterwards by 7pm. Owen likes to be rocked to sleep with a binky in his mouth, a blankie around him, and a song hummed in his ear if he is particularly tired. He still sleeps in our room - in his co-sleeper about half the night, then right next to me the rest of it. He nurses several times a night, and lately has been restless due to his stuffy nose from the dry winter air.

He's getting into 12 month clothes, and since all the ones I own in that size are summer clothes, I borrowed a bunch from my friend Amy to get us through until the warmer months. He's doing great in cloth diapers, and now wears the same size as Eli - good thing I stocked up on that size! Owen is growing up way too fast for me, but I'm delighted every day to see him learn and develop, and to see the loving bond that he and Eli are forging already. We sure love this "little" guy!

Here's a MILLION pictures of the cutie pie - there's a LOT. I can't help it! =)

Playing

Modeling

Snowshoe Hike

Brad and I got to go on a DATE today! Eli went to play at Stew's house, and we went on a snowshoe hike in the woods. I've always wanted to try out some snowshoes - and they are pretty cool! We borrowed them from some friends in the ward, and followed the trails through Kennedy Park in Lenox. It was really warm today, and a lot of the snow is starting to melt, so it was slushy but lots of fun. I think it's a winter sport I could actually embrace if we end up living somewhere long term with snowy winters. We "shoe-ed" in for a bit, then stopped and ate a picnic lunch. We sat on a rock on the side of the mountain where we could see the frozen lake through the trees down below. It was beautiful, and actually romantic! Owen slept through most of the hike. Pretty much every other hiker we passed by had to ooh and ahh about how adorable he was with his puppy dog hat.

Washington DC

We didn't think that Washington DC was going to be a possible destination this year, but Brad was able to trade around his days off and arrange four days in a row at the last minute.... so we headed down to DC to stay with Julie and Glenn (one of my longtime best friends and her husband). They've been in DC for the past year while Glenn worked as an attorney for President Bush... since there' s a new president now they will be moving in a few short weeks and we were lucky to catch a visit with them, and get a tour from people "in the know."

It took us 9-ish hours to drive down there, and we were able to drive through Gettysburg, PA though it was dark when we got there, darn it. And while Eli is an expert traveler now, Owen HATED every minute of it and was sure to let us know! We were pretty frazzled after the drive, but the next two days totally made up for it. Glenn and Julie live in Northern Virginia, right on the border of DC. So we were able to ride the Metro (public transit, like the subway) into the city. On Friday we were able to take a scheduled tour of the Capital (where the Senate and House of Reps meet). It is such a magestic building, and really set the tone for the rest of our visit. The only bummer was that in going through security to get in, I had to throw away all the snacks I had brought for us for the day- no food allowed! It was fabulous to see the inside. I would have loved to actually see a session of Congress, but that wasn't part of our tour that day. I spent most of the time chasing Eli rather than listening to our tour guide, but it was still neat to see all of the history in there! Something I noticed while walking around DC is that it seemed really quiet, clean, and peaceful downtown for a big city.

Riding the Metro

Inside the Metro tunnel

In front of the Capital

Inside the Capital, looking up into the dome.

From the grounds at the Capital, we could also see the Supreme Court Building and the Library of Congress.

Supreme Court Building

Library of Congress

After our tour, we had lunch at one of Glenn and Julie's favorites - Potbelly's. It was a yummy sandwich place with live music! Right across the street from the White House, we felt like true city folk dining there =). After lunch, we headed over to the White House. From photos of it with the sprawling lawn and trees, I hadn't realized that it was really surrounded on all sides by the big city. If you weren't looking down the right street for it, you might miss it. I was surprised by that... at the same time it reminded me that it's an actual RESIDENCE for the president and his family =). I wondered out loud that it didn't look like what I expected, when Julie reminded me we were looking at the back of it, lol. The front entrance is structured differently, which you will see next.

The White House

We walked around to the front of the White House on our way to the monuments, when Julie spotted people out on the lawn, and tipped us off that "something" was about to happen. We waited around for a few minutes, and were able to see Marine One (the Presiden'ts helicopter) and the two decoy helicopters fly right over our heads. Marine One landed right on the White House lawn! Of cours we were on the other side of the gate, so the helicopter blocked any actual view of President Obama when he got off, though we're sure one of the pairs of feet we could see were his. It was pretty exciting to see those choppers buzz over us, the wind from their blades whipping our hair and their loud humming in our ears, with the Washington monument in the background! We really got lucky on this one.

Washington Monument and Marine One

Marine One leaving White House lawn

After the White House, we walked up to the Lincoln Memorial (Monument?), passing by the WWII and Vietnam Memorials. It really is stunning in real life. I wish we had more time to enjoy it, but by this time we had all walked our legs off, it was getting cold, and the kiddos were worn out! I'm so glad we got to see it though!

Outside the Lincoln Memorial

Inside with Lincoln

Eli with Derek and Evan (Julie's boys) on Lincoln Memorial steps

Reflecting on Vietnam

On Saturday we were all rested up and ready for more adventure! This time, we rode the Metro into the city all by ourselves - pretty exciting! We started off at the National Archives and were able to see the ACTUAL Magna Carta (800 year old copy!), the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. They are kept in a dimly lit room (no flash photography so my pics are blurry) to help preserve them, and the lighting along with the reverent hush really reminded me how blessed we are to live in this country, and to have the Constitution. Our forefathers truly sacrificed so much to found this land and to protect it - men and women die every day to continue protecting our freedoms. I hope we all realize and appreciate this on a daily basis, and do our part to keep our freedom and our Nation safe.

The National Archive

The Constitution, first page

Eli's favorite part of the trip was Saturday afternoon when we visited two of the Smithsonian museums. First up, the National Museum of Natural History. We saw lots of awesome things including a life sized whale, a real hammer-head shark ("Hamma Sock" according to Eli) and Dinosaur bones! It must be the kid in me, but I've always wanted to see a T-Rex skeleton, it was great! We also stopped at the Air and Space Museum. We didn't get to spend a lot of time there, but the airplanes were a hit. There was one exhibit that was half of a passenger plane that you could go in. Eli loved it but threw a fit that he wasn't allowed to cross the ropes and sit in the seats... the kid loves planes! I figure he'll either be a marine biologist or a pilot one day =).

The Natural History Museum

The Air and Space Museum

The drive back home went a little more smoothly. We took a slightly different route home through Lancaster, PA and the Amish country out there. It was beautiful, even in mid-winter. I'm disappointed that my camera battery was dead and I didn't get any pics. I really fell in love with Pennsylvania. And that's our trip! We can't thank the Ropers enough for wearing themselves out taking us around, and taking such good care of us. We are lucky to have such great friends, and to be able to make such lasting memories while we are out here!