The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

I don't really have anything huge to report, but I feel like I should take advantage of the fact that I'm  all caught up with our family history and just jot down a few of the day-to-day events of our lives.

1 - A few weeks ago, we were singing "I am a Child of God" as a family.  I was sitting next to Bronson.  I noticed that he sings it a little differently than the rest of us.  He says, "Lead me, guide me, not behind me."  I love it!  He's got a point.  I can't lead him if I'm always struggling just to keep up with him!

2 - Dave almost died last week.  Okay - that may be a BIT of an exaggeration, but not much.  He got a sore on his knee.  We have no idea where it came from - the skin didn't even appear to be broken.  He just had a red lump on his knee cap.  Within a day, his whole knee was swollen and hot and bright red.  Then he broke into a whole-body illness.  Having lost an uncle to blood poisoning when I was in high school, I forced David to go to the doctor.  He had some sort of infection (cellulitis).  He was put on a pretty strong antibiotic.  When that didn't seem to be helping much a few days later, I forced him to go back to the doc.  This time, they drained the wound (I won't go into details) and put him on two more antibiotics - one shot and a second oral.  This seems to have done the trick.  Thank heaven for modern medicines!!!  I would have hunted David down in the spirit world if he died right before our fifth child was born!

We took a million pictures, but none of them even half-way did it justice.  Just imagine this leg looking a whole lot worse than it does here.

3 - Nicki made me laugh the other day.  I was driving the girls to school and I could feel a sore throat coming on...again...  I said something to the effect of, "Girls, I swear - if I get sick again, I'm throwing myself off a cliff!!!"  Nicki was a bit shocked by my threat.  She sat quietly for about two seconds, thinking it over.  Then, as if she had it all resolved in her mind, she scoffed at me and said, "Mom - you'd never even make it up the hill."  Good point.  I guess I won't jump off a cliff after all.

4 - Earlier in the pregnancy, I told David that naming this child was just too stressful for me.  I gave him total control over the baby's name (retaining veto rights, of course).  Apparently, David misinterpreted this to mean, "Take your time naming the baby.  In fact, don't really worry about it until after he's born..."  That's not what I meant and now I'm starting to freak out about the fact that we don't have a name picked out.  Dave's been working hard on this problem over the past little while, but to no avail.  Nothing seems right!!  Ahhhh!

5 - Josh is going through a tough spell right now.  I'm not sure what's going on with the little guy, but he seems to be regressing in just about every single area.   I'm pretty frustrated with prolonged potty training issues. I'm frustrated with the way he interacts with his siblings. I'm frustrated with his obsession with the computer. I'm sure it will pass, but for the time being he's my child that I worry about and pray for the most.

6 - Speaking of Josh, he was already born by the time I was this far along in his pregnancy.  We're officially in the "any day now" zone.   I'm glad. I hurt. Bad.  And I'm huge.  And uncomfortable.  And really, really cranky.  I'm trying to be patient, but it's hard when you feel like this.  I know that once the baby arrives, a whole new kind of exhaustion sets in, but I feel like I'll be better able to handle that kind of exhaustion when I don't have a hard, violent mass sticking out of my stomach and literally sucking all the energy out of me.  How's that for keeping it real?  I sure hope I haven't ruined my daughters' view of motherhood and childbirth.  I really do love it, but it's killing me.

I took this about 10 minutes ago.

7 - Alison's been busy at school.  She has a really fun teacher who does so much for her class.  They have quarterly lunch parties where parents come eat in the classroom with their kids.  A few weeks ago was "Colonial Days" where she dressed up in period attire, and spent the entire day making bonnets and dolls, learning and performing couple's dances, eating colonial food, etc.  Yesterday was the 100th day of the school year, so she dressed up like a 100 year old person and had a class party.  Since she's such a good reader, she's been asked to donate her afternoon recess time to go to the 1st grade class and help them with their reading. She wasn't thrilled at first, but I think she's liking it now.  She has projects and assignments, and parties all the time!   I try to stay positive about all the activities, but I have to admit it's getting a little old.  I am constantly donating something or helping with a project or going to the school to be involved in something.  Oh well, at least she is really enjoying it - and that matters an awful lot!

I should have taken pictures of Colonial Days too, but I forgot.  Here is 100 year old Alison.

8 - Nicki has a little friend in our neighborhood named Jordyn. They became friends last year, and even though they're in separate classes, they're still close.  This past school year, we've started driving her home from school every day.  She's in our ward boundaries, but her parents aren't active at all.  Jordyn told Nicki that she wanted to go to church, but she couldn't because her mom doesn't have a dress.  So as time has gone on, we've invited Jordyn to activity days, then to church with us.  She comes every single week - she even came to stake conference with us last week.  She's a cute little blonde girl, and I think everyone in our ward thinks she's one of our kids - they must have just miscounted or something...  Even Bronson thinks she's part of the family. Whenever we're driving around while the other kids are at school, he'll say from the back seat, "Mom.  We're missing somebody!"  I'll ask who we're missing and he'll answer, "Dad, and Alison, and Nicole, and Josh and Jordyn."

9 - 'Tis the season around here.  January/February may SEEM like they are not very holiday-filled, but they're packed if you celebrate the little ones like we do.  Civil Rights Day, Chinese New Year, Ground Hog Day - these are big deals around here!  I've written in the past about how I cook special meals on these days, and this year was no exception.  The only problem was, this year the kids hated it!  At each special meal which I planned and shopped for and slaved over, the kids complained like I was poisoning them.  "Ewww!  I hate coleslaw!",  "I won't eat fried rice!",  "This dinner is GROSS!!!"  It's almost enough to make we want to stop being a fun mom.  But, instead I went with the "You're going to love this or else!" approach.

Our "disgusting" southern Civil Rights Day dinner.

I'll end with a picture or two of the baby's nursery.  I still need curtains, a laundry bin, a lamp, and a few decorations, but we're ready with the basics at least.  Maybe we should name him Jonah!