Fun without TV

First of all, I can't believe my little baby is already 6 weeks old, almost 7 tomorrow. Wow! She's getting her own little personality and is so laid back. She hardly cries when she's hungry and has a smile for everyone. She even puts up with her brother and sister's choke hold hugs. It's amazing how much they change week to week.

That beautiful smile!

The kids have been playing in the backyard the last few days, a welcome relief from being inside and begging to watch tv. I must admit, in these last few weeks, tv has been my "first resort" so I can get some time to feed the baby and get dinner ready. It also helps when my son wakes up at 5:30 in the morning, and I've gone to bed at 12:30 the night before, to just pop in one of his favorite videos, Ratatouille, or CARS. One of these days, he'll decide that getting more sleep isn't a punishment... but on to more happy things. Besides my black undereye circles, I feel pretty good, especially now that I have my iPod cranked up to Switchfoot's "Awakening" which is definitely one of my favorite songs of the moment.

When you look at the next picture, notice the outcropping of weeds that are engorging our sandbox. Poor thing doesn't stand a chance of surviving and I'm not going to do anything about it at the moment. Maybe when i can't see the sandbox anymore I might go hack a few down. The kids are rescuing sow bugs in their red wagon.

I think they had about 4 sow bugs in there and Tyler kept trying to hold all of them at once. Mikayla made the comment that they "had hundreds" of bugs in the wagon. She likes to use numbers to describe things lately. If she likes something, she'll say something like, "I like those so much I could eat a hundred of them." If only she knew what she was saying.

So while the kids were playing with the bugs, I decided to try to tackle the area in my backyard that used to be called a garden. With the pregnancy, the last thing I wanted to do was climb up into my 4' tall garden bed and prune the roses and dig out weeds but, while talking with my hubby on the phone, I noticed our rose wasn't a rose anymore, it was a tree. I'm sure the neighbors were rejoicing when they saw the tree trunks start to disappear. After snagging myself numerous times and putting more holes in my already holey sweatshirt, I managed to conquer the beast and tame it into submission. Just to give you an idea of how much it likes my backyard and how "free" it was getting, here's one branch, complete with thorns.

Ha Ha Ha (said with an evil undertone), here is the tamed beast. Give me a break, the kids are down for a nap and I have free time-I can be a little strange.

Here's just a cute shot I got of Lynnea. Lately the only shots I get are of her in her bouncy seat since that's her favorite place to be.

In my spare time, as you know, I enjoy sewing. I wonder how I have any spare time but if I really think about it, it's probably when Will comes home, after dinner, or during naptime. Believe it or not, I have actually used the sewing machine with Lynnea in her Baby Bjorn. Here was my next project-a diaper bag for myself. Every time we go to church, we have to drop off Tyler in nursery with a diaper bag so I always have to have 2. I decided to make another bag for myself so I could carry it with me and drop off the old one with Tyler. Besides, it gives me an excuse to use my fabric. I love fabric....

The front

The inside, with pockets even!

And here, to end the unusually long blog entry (sorry if I've already lost you), I had to include the beautiful bouquet that my hubby brought home yesterday. They say flowers make you feel happy and these certainly do. If you're feeling down and need a little cheering, have your husband bring home a colorful bouquet. It did wonders for my day! Thank you babe! I have a wonderful husband.

And so ends this blog. I think I've already listened to "Awakening" about 20 times. YAY!!

Everyday Bliss

Ok, so the word "bliss" is a little exaggerated but there is always something redeeming about every day even if it has been filled with pandemonium and discipline. With the things that have happened this last year, I am just thankful for the health of my children and my family. This last week wasn't too crazy and, toward the end of the week, I called up my mom and asked if I could come for a visit. She let us hang out for a little while so I could be in the company of another adult for a few hours.

Mikayla is our very vocal, creative child. Last night, over dinner, she wanted to practice her sign language. Just to let you know, she has never learned sign language, it is just her interpretation of what sign language would look like. She started out making humming noises while she tried to use her hands to speak and we told her sign language is SILENT so she attempted to make us understand her with just her hands. In this picture, she's trying to tell us that fish swim in water. Don't ask, it's a 4 year old thing. Just thought I'd mention it since I'm out of interesting things to write about.

And here's Tyler with his truck. He didn't want any dinner so he just played.

For dinner, my loving husband satisfied my craving for sushi and went to this place close to our house that we just discovered for a crunch roll. We also got a spicy tuna roll. There are just times that you need wasabi in soy sauce. We had a relaxing night at home and then went to Target, our outing for the night, and stocked up on snacks. See, it's hard coming up with stuff to write about in my blog all the time. If you're bored with all the meaningless info, just wait until my next blog. I'll try to have something more important to say.

In other important news, I finally got a haircut and highlight. I decided to wait until after I had my baby to get the all-inclusive highlight AND cut so that I could feel better about myself even with the baby weight still clinging to my tummy. I would show you a picture of my hair but it looks really similar to the way it was and my kids wanted to get in the picture. Wouldn't you rather see a picture of the kids than just a haircut?? Until next time, have a wonderful Sunday and thank God for all of your blessings.

Cousin Craziness, or is my cousin crazy?

My cousin Cheryl came back from her home in Washington to finish up her junior year of college and was wonderful enough to come and grace us with her presence yesterday and today. The kids LOVE her and pretty much abuse her when she comes over (tickle-fights and jumping attacks) and it's a wonder she even returns to the Lee house at all. But, as you can see in the first picture, Cheryl is a kid herself. Tyler loves to give kisses and Cheryl is a favorite so he planted at least 20 kisses on her throughout the night.
Cheryl's friend, Erin, came over to see Lynnea last night. It was fun to catch up with her. After dinner, these 2 went to the $1 movies and saw 2 movies in a row. I was impressed. The last time I could physically do that, I think I was....yep, in college. It's amazing how a few years (and a few kids) can cause you to need a bedtime of 10:00, even though I don't get to bed that early most nights.

I've discovered that this is the favorite sleeping position, and place, for Lynnea. She loves the vibrating bouncy, on her side, in her blanket. As we all know, this takes a lot of D batteries. As we also all know, one of my husband's favorite phrases is, "never pay full price," or "get the best deal possible." This means that my D batteries are of the rechargeable kind and must be recharged every day to be at full power. After a total of about..oh...1 hour, the bouncer stops shaking as much and I have to replace one of the other D batteries from the music compartment to make the bouncy experience up to par for Lynnea. I do this a few times a day, enough for me to want to actually *gasp* BUY unrechargeable D batteries. Now I just have to convince Will that it is the best idea for our, I mean MY, sanity.
An embarrassing moment happened today. I feel quite guilty about it as well. It has to do with this carton of ice cream.

Will and Josh Nelson purchased it for our Amazing Race finale "party" on Sunday and it was much better than I thought it would be. White chocolate and dark chocolate are a winning combination. (I endured the milk chocolate) Anyway, a few days later, Cheryl and I each had a bowl of it for an afternoon snack and then put the rest into the freezer. This afternoon, I had a sugar craving and decided to pull out the ice cream. I MUST say that there was ONLY 1/2 inch of ice cream at the bottom, I think, so it didn't warrant getting out a bowl to put it in which is my excuse for only grabbing a spoon and the carton. As I sat there gorging on ice cream in front of the tv during my kids naptime, which is the only time I'll exhibit this type of behavior, my daughter came out to show me a drawing she had done in her room. Normally I tell her to go back in but I had showed her how to use tracing paper and she was so proud of herself. So...she came out to show me and there I was, spoon poised to dig into the remainder of the ice cream left in the carton. In my own way, I was silently horrified and unable to excuse my behavior as she stared at me incredulously. To make myself feel better, I gave her a heaping spoonful of ice cream. I think she went back to her room confused as to why I was able to pig out on sugar and I'm always warning her of the cavity potential in too much sugar consumption. Today the phrase, "kids learn more from your actions than from your words," took on a whole new dimension.

Accomplishments are Wonderful

Our little angel turned 5 weeks last Friday. Here she is, the picture of laid-backness (is that a word?) She's been awake more. Coincidentally, her awake time just happens to be right when the other 2 are sleeping. The joy of having 3 I guess. Hopefully I can change that when she gets more on schedule (schedule? in the Lee house? It happens once in a while). Her newest thing is "talking" to us with little coos and smiling when we talk to her or bicycle her legs for gas. We all know that getting gas out takes half of our lives as a newborn's parent. In regards to that, it strikes me as funny that, lately, the only time I feel a sense of accomplishment is when I hear that roar of sound coming from my infant's rear end. Wow, I need to get out more.We went to Dim Sum again, as we do most Saturdays, with Will's parents. This particular time it was a little crazy and the food wasn't as good. After a good half hour of Dim Sum, the kids were getting restless and I was almost at the breaking point when the jello cart rolled by. There are times when I'm so grateful for the tacky decorations that come with some of the Chinese food and this day was one of them. Thank goodness for paper umbrellas. For the next 15 minutes, my children were pretending that rain was falling in the restaurant (Tyler was also using it as a devide to clean daddy's ear of wax) and that made mommy happy the rest of the time. Here are some pictures of their excitement. Mikayla had to try on mommy's sunglasses and wear a fashionable bandanna today. She likes to try different clothing styles and her idea of "matching" is not necessarily mine. She's cute no matter what.

So the shingles thing...Here is my husband handling the baby. Since he's been diagnosed with shingles, he hasn't been able to handle the baby for the remote chance he could spread them so I've been responsible for all things baby. There was one morning that I begged for a little time to take a shower so he snapped on gloves and burped her for me. As a side note, I'm so thankful that Will's shingles haven't been that bad. He didn't get any kind of extreme pain and the pills the Dr. gave him have taken all of the rashes away before they even produced any blisters. Praise God!I've got to shout out a big thank you to Melissa, my MOPS leader, for coming over to say hi and for bringing a homemade pizza for dinner. For all of you who have brought meals, I cannot thank you enough for saving me from having to spend time putting something together. Words cannot express our gratitude!! By the way, Melissa, the pizza was DELICIOUS! Will polished off at least 3 large pieces. SOOO good.

I know some of you will look at the last 2 pictures and say, "where does she get the time?" As a crafter/sewer/do anything creative to feel like I'm accomplishing something person, I have to at least have a project in the works. The project of my chair covers has been in the works since we remodeled our kitchen almost a year ago. The fabric had been sitting on my chair, in the background, for a LOOOOOOONG time and I had finally had enough. I sat the kids in front of the tv and other various "babysitters" and went to town. It didn't take that long to finish since I had all of the pieces already cut out. Now I can go a few weeks feeling really good about myself!! I finished something!!!

BEFORE

AFTER

Do you like them? After all that work I'm now paranoid about the kiddos spilling all over them. I think I'll wrap theirs with saran wrap for now.

Accessorize!

All I can say is Lynnea will definitely be styling as she grows up. Thanks to some very trendy friends, she has a killer wardrobe and the greatest accessories. This hat was made by my incredibly talented sister who can crochet very well. I had seen an adorable crocheted hat online at this artsy website called Etsy.com and thought that my sister could do just as good a job. I was right. I commissioned her to make me one and she went crazy and made me 3! She'd love to take orders from anyone else who wants one! =) The picture below shows the cutest clip I got from my friend Janette and the outfit is courtesy of Mina whose little girl outgrew her adorable clothes and she passed them on to me. I am so blessed by such generous friends and family and I am so appreciative to them for all that they have provided.The other day one of my friends came over with her husband to hang out. We hadn't seen them in a while so it was fun to catch up over pizza. Here is Joey, a total natural with the baby. She fits so well in the crook of his arm.

Jenna got to hold Lynnea too and she fell asleep on her.

Of course when Jenna comes over, the other 2 have to take advantage of play time too. Tyler had to show off his "nudies" and had to be attacked and kissed by Auntie Jenna.

We had Lynnea's one month red egg party (a tradition in Chinese culture) this last week. Unfortunately, my family couldn't be there but our friends Robert and Kathy joined us for the festivities. It was so nice to have someone there that I could talk to (and laugh with...especially after Kathy thought the chicken was pork). We had it at a different restaurant this time and the food was really good! Lynnea saw part of it but she did sleep a little too.

Robert and Kathy enjoying their culinary experience.

Disney Princess

First of all, thank you for all of your prayers this week. Will is coming back tomorrow from Las Vegas and things haven't been as chaotic as they were in my nightmares. Thank you, Emily, for letting me crash your house this morning with the kids. It is so nice to have kids for them to play with so I'm not swamped with requests all day. You're a lifesaver.

Mikayla had the priviledge of going to Princesses on Ice about a week ago with Will and the Chou family. After I initially lost the tickets in the melee on Christmas morning, Lena was gracious enough to call and get us new tickets (Lena, that will never happen again) and they were off to an awesome night that Mikayla can't stop talking about. Here are some shots that Will took.

I've never seen such large cutlery..

The next day, thanks to Kristine, Mikayla was able to go to Disneyland with my parents for a fun-filled day of more princesses and Mickey and Minnie Mouse. That was her one goal, to have her picture taken with Mickey and Minnie and she accomplished it. Thanks, mom and dad, for taking her with you. Mikayla had so much fun. The day before, Mikayla had asked me if she had to go to her room and rest and I said, "of course you do" (for my own sanity) and she answered back, "because today is my special day and so is tomorrow, when I go to Disneyland." Apparently she thought she got to skip room time because she was doing something special. I can't blame her for trying.Mom and dad bought her a princess hat. She's actually been talking about this hat since she went the first time, about 2 years ago. They also treated her to "hair candy" which she must have finished: none made it home.

..and they're not the roof shingles.

When Will called me from the Dr's office this morning and informed me that the pain he had been feeling in his abdomen is a recurrance of a virus called Shingles, after the day I had just had, all I could think was, "why me, why now?" He's had it before, in junior high, and it comes as a result of stress (if it's not the first time you've had it.) I racked my brain to try to discern if there has been any stress in our lives as of late and, yes, I guess some things would qualify. Shingles wouldn't be such a bad thing except for the part where it is CONTAGIOUS. On top of all of the other responsiblities at home, now I have to practically boil my husband's clothes so the nasty germs don't leap onto my infant's pajamas and cause us all to make a middle-of-the-night visit to the ER. (Will wants me to let you know that it is only contagious after the boils burst so he's not completely leprous...) I do feel somewhat sorry for Will. Not only does the virus cause a lot of pain, it produces large boils that can burst at any time and spread the chicken pox to anyone who hasn't already had the joys of itching themselves silly. Poor Will...ok, I'm over the feeling sorry part. No, seriously, I do feel bad but I wish I didn't have so much else to take care of and could take care of him. I think when the boil appears, I'll ship him off to his parent's house. That way I only have 3 kids to wait on hand and foot, not 4.

Back to the beginning of a wonderful week. It started with aches, pains and a fever. After coming to the conclusion (thanks, Amanda!) that it wasn't the flu, I realized that it was something called mastitis (a milk duct clot in the breast) and it was making me feel like crawling into bed and never coming out again. Add to this a total "asleep" time of about 3 hours last night due to a wide awake and gassy baby, my husband's trip to Vegas next week for a work convention that leaves me with 2 noisy and rambunctious toddlers and an infant to take care of by myself, and my parent's trip to Florida that will take them out of the"here, take the kids" range for a week, I think I just might go crazy.

You can understand why I feel, at this crucial juncture, like I'm in the eye of a tornado trying to find my happy place. My mom called this phase "survival mode" and I couldn't agree more. I'm trying to see that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow but I don't think I've found the rainbow yet. Don't get me wrong, I'm still at the point I can laugh about it but I do kind of wonder what God's trying to teach me. Maybe it's that my house doesn't need to be picked up all the time, I don't have to be the world's greatest teacher, cook or cleaner, or maybe that I should lean on Him to see me through the times when all I can do is survive. Having friends that love me for who I am, even if I'm wearing the same clothes I slept in last night, and family that will just let me call and cry, is irreplaceable and such an incredible gift.

Week of Firsts

OK, so it might have been gas but here's one of Lynnea's first smiles. She always smiles when you bicycle her legs for gas, even though this wasn't one of those times. I love her 2 dimples, just like daddy. I can't wait until she smiles because she wants to...or I'm funny (which surely will only last for a month or two).

Looking at me with her wide eyes. She's holding her head up pretty well.

The other day I decided to get really fancy in the kitchen and make rice krispy treats. To be honest, I've never made them before so it was really fun. The kids loved helping me make them but they loved helping me eat them even more. I must admit that I loved eating them too. On the box it says that it's better to eat them the day you make them so we wanted to test that theory. I did send half of them with Will to his guy's night out but the kids and I polished off the rest of them that night.

So I finally went back to Dim Sum the other day. I had gone on Christmas but it had been about a month since I've been back to the Saturday routine of breakfast with the in-laws. Our favorite place is being renovated so we had to revert to the second best place. Let me just say that they have the world's best dessert EVER at this place. Every time I come, I save room for what I lovingly refer to as "almond soup." It is a DELICIOUS almond flavored milky liquid that comes in its own ramekin with blanched almonds at the bottom and a puff pastry on the top. The point is to break the puff pastry into the almond soup and eat it together. WOW!! Usually I'm not so hot on the Chinese dessert which tends to consist of bean paste or oh-so-yummy sesame seed something-or-other, but they do score a perfect 10 on this one. Here's a picture of the decadence.

The inside

The kids love this dessert. Here is Tyler finishing up his bowl.

Some of Will's parent's friends come often. Here is Ruby holding Lynnea. She was a big hit this Saturday.

This morning was Lynnea's first time in our Adult Fellowship class. It is definitely weird doing the baby thing again but I'm cherishing every moment since I know it's my last one. I had to dress her in a cute, coordinating outfit for her first visit. After this, I'm not sure she'll make it out the door with matching clothes.

Don't you love the shoes? I didn't think they made them that small. I love little girl clothes!!