I'll laugh later?

Today was quite the day! I have been planning for today for sometime now - I started potty training the twins. There wasn't much on the schedule and I thought it would be a good day to start. We started a bit rough - by 10:00 this morning, we had gone through 6 pair of panties. I threw both twins in the bathtub this time while Abby was at pre-school. I got Piper out first and was drying her hair (still in the bathroom) when I heard Paige coughing/choking and quickly turned around. She was spitting/throwing up my shampoo. I quickly washed as much as I could out of her mouth and ran for the phone. I called poison control (yes - I have the number memorized) and was reasurred that she would be fine. The soap is an irritant to the stomach so they said she would probably throw up a couple times, but she would live. I gave her some juice to try to dilute it some - and we finished drying both girls hair. Right as we were walking out the door to go get Abby - Paige threw up - luckily we still have reinforcements we can call and my mom came to the rescue and picked up Abby for us. I called poison control back to report the throw up - but they again reassured me this was normal - even good.

I got all the kids lunch and then put the girls down for a nap. While I was trying to get them asleep - there was a knock on the door and my brother-in-law was asking if he could park in our driveway for the 2nd grade end of the year program. I had completely forgotten about the program - Ethan was in the program too and I was supposed to be there. Long story short - I was 1/2 hour late for the 35 minute program - and I felt like an awful mom.

The day continued to go worse - well actually I have some good news to report as well - the babies woke up dry from their naps and I got both of them to the potty before any accidents - YAY - in fact I gave out 6 potty treats today. Well - onto the other rough happenings - Abby was outside playing with Miles and one of his friends when Miles came rushing in saying Abby hurt her mouth. I dashed outside to see blood dripping out of her mouth. I finally got it cleaned up enough to see what was wrong - her front tooth was knocked back into her mouth. I called Courtnie to come stay with the other kids while I rushed her to the dentist. She has a 50/50 chance of loosing that tooth - the x-ray didn't show a break in the root - so the dentist said it could go either way. We have another appointment Tuesday to reevaluate what he needs to do - until then - he said no chewing (yes - Tuesday is 6 days away). This picture doesn't quite do justice to the injury - her lip is swollen , but you can kinda see the front tooth on the right is behind the other teeth - you just can't tell how far behind the others it is (it is far). She has been a champ though - and she still likes the dentist.

Oh - and as a result of this "accident" - I was able to clarify some of our family rules regarding the trampoline - yes, a snowboard IS considered a toy AND no, toys are still NOT allowed on the trampoline!

We rushed home from the dentist and got the boys to baseball practice - then got ready for Pack Meeting. Miles thought he was getting his Bear tonight -so we made a special effort to be there (and it was effort since we had another "potty accident" as we were getting ready to walk out the door). Turns out - I never confirmed with his leader that he finished the requirements and he didn't get his Bear tonight - I felt like an awful mom yet again today. He will get the award next Pack Meeting though - and he didn't seem to bothered (I was just frustrated because it was so much effort to get us there and I probably wouldn't have gone had I known he wasn't getting that award).  On the bright side though - Ethan earned a belt loop - and get this - it was for video games. Yes - they give a belt loop for kids that play video games - so we didn't come home empty handed.

This day was pretty ironic in a way.  Just yesterday I was down in St. George interviewing for daycare for the girls next year.  On the way home I will admit - I cried.  I don't want to leave my babies to work - and I was feeling sorry for myself.  After today though - I might have a little brighter outlook on the whole daycare situation - I mean, do you think that the daycare would let my 2 year old drink shampoo or my 10 year old jump on the trampoline in a snowboard with his 4 year old sister - yep, maybe my kids will be a bit safer in daycare???


I am now finishing this post weeks after it really happened - so here is a little update on the tooth.  There is no infection in the tooth so they want to leave it in to keep the spacing right in her mouth - it has however died, so pictures of Abby now come with a black tooth :(  Abby is able to look on the bright side however - the other day she came over to me and said "Mom - there is a really good thing about my broken tooth - now I can't bite my fingernails anymore".

Naptime and Bedtime

I feel like I need to explain why I haven't been posting anything lately - it is not because I have nothing to write about. I had a great excuse from January to May - between student teaching and finishing my college classes - I had zero free time. I was so excited for school to be over so I could start on my many projects with all the time that would be freed up (I was even looking forward to cleaning my house). I had exactly 2 glorious days of naptime and bedtime to start some of those projects (I did go through all the twins clothes and put them away and get out the new sizes - that is about all I have gotten done though). Only two days - can you guess why? If you guessed that the twins have now learned to get out of their cribs you would be right. Notice I said they could get out of their cribs - not climb out of their cribs. Piper can climb out of her crib - she is actually quite fast at it and very careful not to get hurt. Here is a short clip if you are interested to see how she does it.



Paige on the other hand watched Piper climb out and wanted some of that freedom for herself - she however is not very good at it. She fell out of the crib 3 times before I stopped putting her back in. The first 2 times she didn't get hurt - the third time however...


Here are the battle wounds to show for the third fall - and yes, I feel awful about putting her back in the crib just to have her fall out and do this - but I really didn't think she could get hurt - and I still don't know how she managed such a nice bruise. So now they sleep on the bottom bunk - only they don't sleep. It takes me an hour to get them down for their nap and at least 2 hours to get them to sleep at night - so there went all my "project" time. If anyone has any REALISTIC ideas on how to get my kids to sleep without me having to physically hold them in bed - please comment. I said realistic because the suggestions I have been given include turning the cribs over on top of the kids (yes - like a jail) and making a lid to put on the crib. I'm not quite desperate enough to do that yet.

"Sting" Soccer

Miles was invited to play on a "traveling" soccer team this spring. Today was their last game of the season. It has been a great experience and the boys on the team are some of the neatest kids. He still prefers to play forward - and had one goal this season (the only game that I missed - Ethan had a piano festival that same time - but I heard it was quite the shot). I meant to get a picture of the whole team - but we were late getting there (it was in St. George - and it was right after graduation) - and I forgot after the game. Here he is with one of his very best friends - who just moved to St. George - we really miss him. "Sting" (that is the name of their team) is getting a Summer Games team together though - I will be sure to get a whole team picture for that!

WE DID IT!!!

Finals are over! I now have a Bachelors of Science in Mathematics Education!!! There are so many people that I need to thank though - this degree has truly been a group effort (as the title was supposed to suggest)! First - my Heavenly Father - I can't even begin to recount the many miracles I have witnessed this past two years. He has truly given me wisdom and strength above my own. My parents are next on my list to thank - and again - there is no way to recount all they have done for me. My kids have yet to go to daycare though - so that should speak volumes on what they have been doing the past two years (especially the 12 week stint of student teaching I just finished). They have been so much more than babysitters though - I can never thank them enough for all they have done/continue to do for us. I also am indebted to my incredible siblings - for babysitting, borrowing clothes, editing papers, and much much more. My extended family has been incredible as well - they have taken so much worry and burden off my shoulders by helping so generously with Paige's medical bills - as well as supporting me by traveling so far to come to graduation (I actually didn't send anyone graduation announcements because I wasn't even going to walk - I already had my degree and didn't think it should be a big deal - but I didn't take my name off the walking list in time - so I walked). I also have incredible friends who brought dinner during finals (every semester) - watched my kids (sometimes last minute) - and are always thinking of ways they can help me. The math faculty here at SUU is incredible - they have really gone above and beyond to help me get this degree. There are so many more people to thank - I just want to say - Thank You to everyone who has helped me - sounds so trite - but I really really mean it!

I found pictures from my last graduation - here I am in 2000 - same school (SUU) - different color tassel (brown - Economics) - same dress - different shoes though.

Here I am with my Grandma and Grandpa Alvey (and mom).

Grandma Alvey made the trip again - and I am sure Grandpa was there in spirit.

Caleb graduated as well - his tassel was the light brown of the business department. His college was at 8:30 this morning (which we missed - sorry Caleb - but had we not been aiming for 8:30, we would have never made it to my ceremony at 11:00) - so I just borrowed his robe for my ceremony. It worked out great for me that way - I didn't have to pay for a robe, but we also didn't get pictures together - this was the best we could do - the robe almost fit around both of us.

Thank you SUU - I have great memories from my (many, many) years here!