Jumper Baby

Just had to share a cute video from last week...

She loves her jumper and is in it allll the time! So cute.

Poor Natalie Babe

Here's Natalie, a few days ago...

Just had to add that one, because those cheekers are sooo stinkin' cute!

And here's Natalie, tonight...

Notice anything odd?

How 'bout from this angle?...

No, it's not the too-short pajamas that she's growing out of.

It's a duct tape sling. On her right arm.

Poor little baby girl!! She has a micro fracture in her shoulder. It's so sad, but could be much worse, I know. A couple of days ago, her sister (not mentioning names here, ahem...) wanted her to "come play" in a little tent the kids had made in our living room. Natalie ended up being rolled over in a funny way, where her shoulder got pinched underneath her as she rolled. She started crying a really sad, painful cry and I could tell something was wrong. I scooped her up and rocked her, and she fell asleep pretty quickly (it was her nap time). I was hoping she'd just been jostled a bit, and that she'd wake up okay. But as soon as she woke up from her nap, I could tell she was still in pain.

Poor thing, her little arm was just hanging limp by her side. I tried to get her to grab onto some toys, or her pacifier, but she wouldn't respond at all. It was making me nervous, so I got Brian on the phone and he helped me find a doctor in our area, in our insurance network. They worked us right in, and referred us to a different doctor who could do an x-ray. I know I'm not the first mommy to help their baby get an x-ray, but I felt so sad, holding her little arm in place, with that big heavy lead shield on her tummy. She didn't cry too much, but she just looked so confused about the whole thing.

Long story shorter, the doctor couldn't see too much from the x-rays, but determined she most likely has a micro fracture in the top of her shoulder. Because she's a baby, those bones are quite "bendy" -- that's why it was hard for him to see what happened. The good news about "bendy" bones is that they heal up really quickly. He told me just to pin her sleeve to her shirt, since she's too small for a real sling.

Well, I got home and got a better idea. Why not just make a little sling for her out of duct tape?

We had a follow up visit this afternoon, and the doctor was impressed with my ingenuity! Maybe I should patent it? :) It's been working fairly well., actually. Today was the third day we had her taped up, and I think it's helping her to heal. She's using her hand a lot more, and even reaches toys and things up toward her mouth from time to time. I just feel bad she's been hurting. No mama likes to see her kids get hurt, ya know?

She's really not too much worse for the wear, thankfully. We went on a little outing to the park yesterday, and as you can see, she thoroughly enjoyed herself, even with her arm pinned down under her little jacket...

Her little tootsies were just sooo cute I had to get a close-up...

Let's hope she's on the mend now. As her Grandma Bishop says, "Good thing babies are made of flubber, so they can survive their siblings!!"

Oh, and for the record, the unnamed sister at fault felt very bad and has been a great helper ever since!

Happy Easter!

Natalie wants to say...

Happy Easter, Everyone!!

We hope you enjoyed Easter as much at your house as we did at ours. We had a really nice weekend and wish it had lasted longer. The kids were especially pleased that the Easter Bunny was able to find us, even in New York!

We sent him a little email this past week, and asked if he would be okay coming to our house on Saturday morning instead of Sunday this year, because our church is very early. No problem, he wrote back -- from his rabbit hole, can you believe!?(he even told us in his email that he was writing from his rabbit hole, clever bunny.)

And yes he DID come!! He decorated the whole place, just like Sammie had been dreaming, with streamers on the ceiling fan and everything!

And, he brought baskets of fun things for everyone... bubbles, hula-hoops, and toys for Samantha and Spencer; a baby rattle and hair bows for Natalie; combs and deodorant for Brian, and a necklace and cool colander thing for me. How did he know JUST what everyone wanted!?

The kids, opening their loot...

And Natalie was quick to get in on the action... she loved the hula-hoops.

And she decided Spencer's new foamy airplanes are GREAT chew toys!

Samantha wasted no time finding all the hidden eggs and candies the Easter Bunny left everywhere. And she kindly sorted all the candies into kinds and colors for us...

Brian enjoyed a few extra minutes of rest, before heading upstairs to work. (yep. even on Easter weekend. sigh.)

We had a relaxing Saturday, and a great church service for Easter today. After church, we decided to take a drive over this bridge...

It's called the Tappan Zee Bridge, over the Hudson river. I saw it on a map, then saw a picture online, and figured it'd be a fun one to go over. And it was, only, it did not photograph well, at least, not while we were driving on it.

So I had to borrow some pictures from the internet. Here, from the air, is the one that REALLY made me want to go across it...

Quite the bridge, I must say. Another nice internet shot, a side view...

It's actually 3.1 miles long, though it didn't feel that long when we were on it.

Samantha was very excited to go on the bridge (and very excited to see what she looked like in this picture, after I took it.)...

Spencer was... two seconds away from being crashed out...

And Natalie, well...

Maybe bridges aren't her thing yet, I guess?

After Tappan Zee, we took a round-about scenic drive, crossing over another bridge a few miles up river to get back home. The kids got out at an overlook and, well, I am not sure what they were doing in this picture, but it looks like they were having fun?

The view of the Hudson, from their overlook point. I'd actually like to read a book about the Hudson River; I bet it's full of fun historic details.

Like, for example, at this point (pictured above) on the Hudson, during the Revolutionary War, the colonials built two forts on either side. And they built a huge metal chain that they strung across the river in the water, to keep the Brits from going up river. Pretty incredible, huh?

I love details like that. The handy sign at the overlook said the Brits never actually tested the strength of the chain, but they did capture both forts and cut the chain in two. Thankfully, the colonists were able to hold onto West Point, just a few miles upstream, and kept control of the Hudson for the duration of the war. There are links from that chain on display at West Point. Do I smell another little adventure to West Point in our future?? Oh yes. No doubt.

So, that wasn't a huge outing, but it was a nice way to spend some time as a family, before sending Brian back upstairs to work. Again. :)

Happy Easter!

The Tour -- it's a work in progress

You've all see this picture (above) of our new house, here in NY, right? I keep waiting to get things more organized, more "finished" on the inside, so I can put up some decent pictures and show y'all how it looks. Then, I just decided I might as well put up some not-so-decent pictures of our work-in-progress. Because, let's face it... this may be a work-in-progress for a long time.

No decorations hung up yet, and there's still a misplaced futon in our LR, a missing desk in our kitchen, a broken bunk bed in the kids' room, etc... But, it's home. And we're really enjoying it for now. So, here's your tour of the way things look right now...

The Living Room. The rug is my favorite part, and there are some shelves (not pictured) that will be nice, once I get them cleared off...

Living room from the other angle, looking toward the kitchen, hallway, and half-bath...

So, those pictures up there are what the living room looks like at 11p.m., when all the kids are in bed and I've had a chance to tidy things up a bit.

During the day, it looks more like this little tea party...

Or, when I'm not "on duty" (i.e. in the room, picking up as fast as they can tear it apart), it sometimes looks like this...

or this (same day, just a different view)...

The kitchen. Not too big, but not too small, either. Very functional, and we're getting new counters and a sink soon. (Hopefully very soon, as the delivery man dropped them off this morning and they're now sitting behind the kitchen table, waiting to be installed.)...

Yeah, most of the time, it actually looks more like this...

The cute little half bathroom on the main floor. Samantha doesn't like it because it's one where the fan and light are one switch together and she hates the noise of the fan. So, she uses it in the dark with the door open, or she usually just goes upstairs. But I think it's cute...

The super-long hallway leading up to the front door. Check out the new, super soft rug we just got yesterday from overstock.com. I LOVE it!! My feet feel pampered and relieved already!

The entry way, from below...

The entry way, from above. I think a big plant in the corner would spruce it up a lot, no? And maybe a little valance across the window and some eucalyptus in a swag on one side... I've got plans, oh yes.

The big long hallway upstairs, also sporting a new rug that I love even more than the one downstairs. I think I love it most because it means I don't hear every footstep in our hallway allll day long.

Samantha and Spencer's bedroom, with Samantha asleep in her bed, her covers thrown on the floor...

And here's Spencer, in his mattress on the floor. As I mentioned, the bunk beds are broken -- just the safety rails, actually. Maybe a project for this weekend?

Natalie's room. It's bigger than it appears in this picture -- and so is the mess of clothes I've been sorting. It has potential to be really cute, with purple curtains and pink and purple bedding. Fun! It will double as a guest room, once we get that futon moved upstairs.

The upstairs bathroom. It's older, but cleaned up really nicely with a new shower curtain, rugs, and towel rack.

Most people would call this the master bedroom. We should probably just call it the multi-purpose room, since we don't really plan to sleep much while we live here anyway, right? As you can see, there's a sleeping area (Brian needs to read this, so he knows that's what that bed is for!), a baby-entertainment area (swing)...

Also a home office. It's been put to good use many a night already...

A triple-closet wardrobe. You'd think with all those closets I'd have a place for EVERYTHING. But I don't.

And, if I can get it put together, we'll soon have a little library area to boot!

That's the end of the tour for now, folks! I didn't take pictures of the back yard yet... will wait till it's a little warmer and greener. But here's one more of the three cuties, posing as they did for the header shot...

I'm biased, but I think they're all three just scrumptiously adorable. Best part of the tour, if you ask me!

random old vids

I was just sorting through some files on our old computer this morning, and I came across our pics and vids from a few years back. I thought I'd post just a few that made me smile. This first one is of Samantha going down the stairs in our first flat in London. She mastered the stairs by about 9 months, though this video was taken when she was 11 months old...

I remember I'd sometimes just sit right there on the landing and let her go up and down and back up, for fun. I filmed several vids that day that I got this cute one.

Next up is our little niece and nephew. I was trying to take a picture of the two of them together, only Britt wanted to stand IN FRONT of Tristan. Ha! I don't think I ever got a picture of them, but I got a good laugh...

Samantha and a friend "rolling" down a hill. This makes me laugh every time I see it...

I took this one while we were standing at a street corner in Cairo, waiting to cross. I was TERRIFIED to cross with our baby in a stroller... but we survived.

Well, I was going to add a few more random oldies, but as usual, blogger is not cooperating when I try to do videos. That's why I rarely do vids. But I'll have to try again sometime, because there are some fun ones I'd like to share. Oh well.

New digs, new schedule.

Hi.

I'm not blogging a lot. You may have noticed?

Well, I guess it's because I'm busy. But really, I don't feel all that busy. See, we're new enough here that it's not like I have a lot of friends and planned outings yet. But we do seem to find plenty to do to fill our days, most of the time. I'm finding that some days are more productive than others. But basically we're getting a bit of a "groove" that works for now...

Our schedule is somewhat flexible, but usually looks something like this:

6:30 - 7 a.m. -- Natalie wakes up. She's either rolled onto her tummy and can't get back over because she it the crib wall, or she needs her pacifier. Either way, I go in, fix her problem and she goes back to sleep for another hour or so.

8 - 8:30 a.m. -- Spencer wakes up, and then wakes up Samantha. Now that they're sharing a room, he feels it is his duty and privilege to wake her, lucky boy. Only, she's starting to resist, and has had her own little "sleep in" mornings a few different times this past week. So, then Spence wakes me up. Actually, I'm usually already awake and feeding Natalie by the time he comes in.

9 - 9:30 a.m. -- If he hasn't already left, Brian heads out for work. He sometimes slips out way early, before we have started the day. Either that or he has come in late, and doesn't have a "crisis" deadline to meet first thing, so he gets to sleep in a bit, which is nice.

10 - 10:30 a.m. -- Breakfast is over, and we're all dressed or hoping to get there. Natalie goes back down for a morning nap. That's when I lose track of what we do and eventually look up and it's 12:30 or 1 p.m. and I wonder, what happened to my morning?!? Anyone else have this happen? It's crazy. No telling where those two hours go, but Samantha's hair still isn't done by then. I guess I'm usually working on some "household" business -- laundry, cleaning, or organizing. Today I bought carpet runners on overstock.com for our hallways. Yay! Always something to do around the house, eh?

1 p.m. -- lunch time, usually sandwiches, pasta, or something else easy and boring.

Afternoon -- we usually try to do an outing, if it's not too rainy. We've made it back to the park nearby a couple of times, and have tried out a couple of other parks in the area as well. We've also visited CVS, Dunkin Donuts, and Chase Bank. Samantha has quickly learned all their logos and points them out at will when we pass them (on every other corner, nice.) Poor Natalie often takes her afternoon nap in the car, which probably isn't the best sleep, which leads to a crankier evening for her. Sorry, Nattie.

Evening -- I am struggling with the "three kids" thing in the evenings right now. We've had a few 10 p.m. bedtime nights lately, just because I can't seem to get it all done, all at once, all alone. Sigh. But I'm trying to work us back to 8 or 8:30 bedtime. It's just hard work sometimes. Natalie wants to eat her rice cereal meal right at the same time we're eating dinner... That means getting it all ready at the same time, dishing up kids' plates while I'm shoveling cereal in my baby's mouth, and trying to keep Spencer in his seat eating his food while I somehow squeeze in a bite of my own every now and then?

Kids' Bedtime -- Let's just say, I'm ready for Spencer to figure out how to put on his own pajamas, at LEAST! He's not potty- trained yet, and we're still doing the 5-6 poopy diapers a day. Fine. I'll deal with that. But the kid doesn't know how to dress himself at ALL. So, I'm simultaneously trying to change him, dress him, change Natalie, dress her, brush teeth, scriptures, prayers, .... bleah. If I could get him to be just a little more independent, it might help me feel like I'm not going quite so crazy??

My Bedtime -- still can't kick the late night habit. Brian is always working sooo late, and I guess I subconsciously hope that if I stay up late enough I might see him before morning. It's not smart, and I get very tired during the day because of it. But, well... I get things done at night. Like blogging. :)

Hey, whatdoyaknow? Brian just came in! (11 p.m.) Early night for him. yay!!

You know what that means? This post is over, and I'm going to talk to my husband. Sorry no pics... they're coming, as soon as I get our house a little more organized. Promise.

At the park, and other details

I was going to write this in my journal tonight (which I probably still will).

But I thought it was also blog-worthy, so I thought I'd share...

Today is our fourth day at the new place. I should be taking pictures and sharing all the move-in mess, but... well, you can imagine the boxes everywhere, the toys and food and bedding all jumbled into piles in the middle of rooms, etc. (Samantha's made some killer blanket/box forts in almost every room, lovely).We're making progress and feeling more at home here, but we still have a ways to go. Today I spent some time spending money. Fun!!At Costco I spent $170, and at Wal-mart I spent $200. Here's some of what I bought...

At Costco:

-- Darling, BIG living room rug. It was a hundred buckaroos, and already worth it! I walked in tonight and saw it there covering my immense, old hardwood floor, and it filled me with happiness. Now, I'd like to spend another $50 and put a big cushy pad under it. But just having it there is a new joy in our new house!

-- Also bought a fluffy accent rug (technically a bathmat, but shhh,) for my side of the bed. This may sound weird, but my feet are bruised on the bottoms, after just two and a half weeks of this "hardwood" stuff! Ouch!! I need something soothing to step onto when I first hit the floor!

-- Lots of good eats -- ravioli, fish sticks that are "all natural" (the sample lady even told us), delicious green beans, etc. And also some fun sand & surf toys for the kids for the beach this summer.

(Side note -- this Costco is on two levels, with a moving ramp/walkway connecting the two. The kids LOVED getting to ride the ramp, with our cart and everything!)

(Second side note -- people at Costco were soooo nice to me! A man and his wife saw me wrestling that big ol rug into my cart, and the man just picked it up for me and got it all situated. Then another man saw me in the parking lot and asked if he could put it in the car for me. And these are just the customers, mind you! I'm getting a nice impression of New York, so far.)

At Wal-mart: the more practical necessities:

-- Microwave, only $44.95. Steal! I just hope it does the job right, for such a low price.

-- Floor lamps, lots of them, since none of our bedrooms have overhead lights. They're all rigged to turn on one of the outlets with the light switches. Sammie thinks that's some great magic!

-- A new razor, finally. My legs will thank me in the morning.

-- Another new dustpan. I actually bought one there a few days ago, but it was a piece of junk. Worst dollar I ever spent. So, I paid $3.98 for this new dandy. I sure hope it does the trick or I WILL drive back specifically to return it!

-- Surge protectors and computer paper, for Brian's "home office" -- so he can occasionally come home, we hope.

-- Hand soap for the kitchen. Ah, my hands feel so much cleaner, just thinking about it. And two phillips screwdrivers, because we have a billion flatheads and no phillips. Isn't that always the case?!

In other news, I changed 10 diapers today, and 10 yesterday, and 10 the day before. Torture. Especially when most of Spencer's are, well, they're nasty. Almost all of them, almost all the time. Let's just say the kid fears #2, and it's a problem. Sigh.

And, the sweet story of the day...

It was a lovely spring day today, so I took the kids to the park this afternoon (between conference sessions). There's a park about half a block away, which is perfect. It even has TREES, amazing! (Something I was missing, living in Idaho -- trees at parks, trees that actually will shade the playground and equipment and my pasty white kids on those hot summer days.) Oh, but I get sidetracked. What I wanted to tell, was about Spencer...

Those of you who know our Spencer very well will remember that he is a very tender little guy. He's pretty shy and kind of clingy a lot of the time. It usually takes him a long time to warm up to people. He's the one who told me "I don't like kids" when I tried to take him to the child-watch center at the Y a few months ago. Remember? Well, all those tendencies have seemed to get worse with the move. It's been a big transition for him, probably bigger than my patience has tolerated. He follows me around constantly, insists on me doing almost everything for him (get him dressed, find his blanket/toys, even sometimes feed him bites at dinner or at least hound him to sit down and eat every bite), and whines and cries so much it almost brings ME to tears on a hourly basis. It's been rough.

Well, so we went to the park today. And, as usual, Spencer was following Samantha, doing exactly what she did, acting nervous if she or I were more than two feet from him. He was having fun, but was as clinging as always. Then, as he was about to go down the slide, a little boy came up to him. The boy said, "Hi, do you want to play with me?"

Spencer looked down at me, then looked off and away, like he was totally ignoring the kid. Then he went down the slide and kind of walked off by himself, but eyed the boy suspiciously. The kid stood at the top of the slide and looked down at me, as if he wanted some explanation for Spencer's rude behavior. I shrugged a little and said, "Sorry. He's sort of shy."

This sweet little boy, named Logan, nodded his head, then slid down the slide and trotted after Spencer. I was ready for Spence to come running to me, to make me shoo this "intruder" away from him. But instead, the boy repeated his request, and added, "Do you want to play with my trucks?"

To my surprise, Spencer walked off with him. They went over to a little pavilion, where the boy's mom was sitting, and started playing with some big Tonka trucks the boy had brought to the park. Spencer looked back at me just once, to make sure I knew where he was -- and I was half the park away from him. Then he sat down and played with this boy. They played with the trucks, then went and rolled down a little hill together, then slid down the slides, then dug in the dirt, then chased each other, etc. For the whole rest of the time we were at the park, Spencer played happily with his new friend!

It was AMAZING! It was soooo unlike my scared, clingy, whiny little boy who says, "Mom, I don't like kids."

Seriously, I teared up a couple of times, just watching him go! It was like a whole new independent little boy came out to play. Thank you, little Logan, for drawing him out! I needed to see that, to remember that this unsettled, timid little Spencer is just going through some serious adjusting -- as we all are. And that he's going to grow into himself, just give him some time and patience. It was a very sweet moment, and it gave me a little bit more patience for those last few hours before another too-late-bedtime night.

That's all for now. A real journal entry of sorts. Hope you enjoyed! (And I hope Brian's finally done working, so we can go to sleep!)