Leaders gifts: wrist cuffs

I made something new for my Cubbies leaders this year and handed them out last night. I forgot to take pictures of the actual gifts before I wrapped them, but here are some extras. The ones without ruffles are also reversible to a different pattern/fabric. I had a LOT of fun making these, and now I love my new snap tools (size 16 snaps and attacher tool bought here).

Lucyism

"Nate, I'm gon' check your heart beep!"

Nate's blood work came back showing nothing, which is good. Symptoms have been gone for about a week, which is also good. Here's what he brought home for me today:

Levi videos

I have no health updates on the kids except that I took Nate to get his blood drawn yesterday--haven't heard the results yet, though.

In the meantime, here are some Levi videos:

Proud of himself driving the remote-control car:



I love how he says "bye" so clearly (that's what I was trying to get him to do in this vid):



And here's the picture Jon took of the kids to put on the front of my Mother's Day card--love it:

Never a good idea

It's never a good idea to take all three children to the doctor for three separate check-ups. But I had to take both Nate and Levi, so I figured I'd get Lucy checked too since I'd been wondering if she had an ear infection (seems like she hasn't been hearing as well lately). The boys' problems have been stranger. Nate has thrown up four separate times in the past three weeks, all without really being "sick"--he can still eat a little later that same day; he can walk around and play just fine (instead of being splayed out on the couch). Levi also had a throw-up episode (twice) this past Sunday night, but he also could eat the next day and didn't seem sick (just fussy). He has also had some... shall we say... diaper problems for several weeks. Awful stuff. I mentioned perhaps it was an intolerance to eggs, since I started feeding him eggs at breakfast every day about 6 weeks ago, but I really don't know.

The doctor couldn't find anything wrong. What a wasted hour and 20 minutes! I did my best to dole out snacks and read books, but there's only so much you can do to keep three young kids happy in a 6-by-6-foot space for that long. And actually, the test the doctor ran on Nate showed his bilirubin levels were a bit high, so there could possibly be something going on with his liver (even hepatitis A), or he might have reflux. Poor boy. She wrote a referral for him to see a gastroenterologist, and I also need to take him for some bloodwork to see about hepatitis. She also gave me a bloodwork write-up for Levi if his symptoms don't improve (and I don't think they will). And again, just like when I took Lucy to the doctor several weeks ago sure there was something wrong with her, there was also nothing wrong with her this time. Go figure. (They did do a quick hearing test with normal results.)

Just overheard

Lucy:

"Oh, look! A ant! I'm gon' die him."

Nate's party

We had a great time at Nate's 5th birthday party today. Jon picked up In-n-Out for everyone, and we had cake too of course. It was fun!

This morning at the house. We gave Nate a new game, 3 books, and 2 made-by-Mama shirts.



Here he is waiting for everyone to arrive to the party.



Party pics and video (the cousins, the Andersons, and one friend from school):

Clean house = happy mama

I'm sure it's annoying to see that Lucyisms post at the top of the blog all week... Sorry!

In the absence of anything else I can think of to post, I will note that I just booked my first ever house cleaning service, and I am so excited. It's going to be once a month, and we are canceling cable TV in order to pay for it. That's a win-win-win in my mind! Much cleaner house (happier wife and mama) = win! Much less cleaning I have to do (or feel guilty about not doing) = win! Less mindless TV watching = win!

Speaking of TV, here is where Levi chose to watch from today (extra carseat in the house after getting cleaned):

Lucyisms

Lucy sometimes adds an extra syllable into words.

Neil and Casey's dog, Daphne, is "Daph-uh-nee"
Today, volcano was "vol-uh-cano"
Glasses are "guh-lasses"
Necklace is "neck-uh-less"

I'm drawing a blank right now, but I know there are more!

And yesterday at dinner, Nate said something was ridiculous. Lucy said, "Nate, don't say that. Don't say 'ridick-uh-luss.'"

(And by the way, her behavior is a little bit more bearable. It isn't wonderful, but it's better.)

Play pics

We don't really have sidewalks in our neighborhood, so lately Lucy has asked a few times, "Mama, can we go play in the street?" All you need is some sticks and running room (and a mom to watch for cars)--who needs toys?

Technohusband

We were having problems with our computer shutting off randomly because it was overheating. It's a new computer (got it last year), so this was really annoying. Jon figured out what the problem was and took the entire laptop apart to fix it. Amazing man.

Lucy

Besides the obligatory birthday post, you may have noticed a lack of "look how cute Lucy is being" posts. That's because there's been a lack of Lucy being cute. That is only partially a joke; she is still cute, but it's greatly overshadowed by some extreme... what shall I call it? Irritability. Meltdown over the slightest thing or imagined thing (like thinking I was about to reach for the wrong kind of ketchup). Picky attitude about every possible thing (items of clothing, types of food, where items need to be placed on the table or placemat). I'm really not exaggerating when I say crying/fussiness takes up 80-90% of the day.

This past week to 10 days has been much better. It might be because Discipline Nazi-- a.k.a. Mimi--was here for a week and really backed me up and gave renewed vigor to the discipline-right-away-on-the-first-offense bandwagon I knew I should be on but had strayed from a bit. (My justification is that since EVERY. SINGLE. THING had turned into a battle, I had started to let some "minor" things go so I could keep some semblance of sanity. But of course we all know that attitude just causes more suffering in the long run.)

So, in summary, things have been pretty terrible-ish with Lucy the past month, but things are looking back up right now and I'm hopeful they stay that way. I really hope the terrible attitude thing doesn't stay for several more years, which I hear is a possibility. If it looks like that's going to happen, I think Mimi will just have to come once a month for a week to relieve me and encourage me and threaten Lucy. :)

Levi, aproned

This last one is titled, "Zombie child wants mom to have a taste."

Brothers

Levi and the stroller

Levi likes to pile random things into the toy stroller and push it around. Some of his piles from this week:

- Toy bus, toy bulldozer, toy car, and headband



- My shoes, his shoes, his socks, toy pliers, puzzle pieces, toy cars

Levi language

Bedroom reveal

While Mama was here this past week (she left today), we did a lot of work in Jon's and my bedroom. I am now in love with the room. It's calm, clean, and still colorful--just what I wanted. I took some before pictures, so I'll put those first, and then you can scroll down to see the redo. (My favorite parts of the room? Hard to pick, but the chandelier is wonderful, and I also love the April Mist on the walls. A lot.)

BEFORE:




AFTER:




Here are some side-by-side comparisons:















I'm really proud that the whole redo was funded by my pattern shop! And none of this would have gotten done without my mom... Thank you, Mama. We miss you already. :)

I also put all the before/after pictures into a flickr slideshow here.

OK. One more addition: I made this pillow last night. The pleated/ruffly part is ribbon.

Lucy's birthday

Oh, our Lucy. It's hard to put into words the extreme cuteness and the extreme difficulty of Lucy at 3 years old. The difficulty can wait for another post, but for the birthday post, I'll focus on some of the cute stuff. :) She loves princesses, purple and pink, all things sparkly. Her favorite show on TV right now is Fresh Beat Band (music and dancing), and she was mesmerized the other night when she saw some of Dancing with the Stars for the first time. She is a good sleeper/napper and a great eater.

Dancing at the party:



And some pictures, including new Tinkerbell outfit, party at the park, and purple cake (click to enlarge):

Hooray! Hooray! My mom's coming today! :)

Books

I am at "work" today (a long-scheduled day in the office for a freelance editing job) while Jon is home sick. And Nate is sick too. :( I'm feeling terrible about that but am glad Jennifer was able to come over to watch the kids so Jon can stay in bed.

Meanwhile, to make myself feel better about being absent, I used my lunch break to find a couple of cool books I'm getting Nate for his birthday. I got three of the Nate the Great books. I hope they are good!