2017 Family Pics

 Family pictures.  I've been holding on to these for over a month because I didn't want to ruin the surprise of my Christmas card.  I'd never thought about it really, but last year my brother made a very pointed comment about how difficult it is to get excited about a Christmas card with pictures he'd seen splashed all over Facebook and Instagram.  I thought he was being totally annoying.  I love Christmas cards, even if they are pictures I've seen a million times before but I took it to heart so I've saved these ones.  I did post one of the kid's ones on Instagram so my father in law knew I had them and begged me to send him one.  I finally did so now Mr. Squish will finally be on the grandkids wall.  He is only 15 months old.  It isn't my in-laws fault though.  Last years pictures were such a fiasco that I still get mad talking about so they didn't get much play. 

This years pictures I'm much more pleased with.  I benefited from last years lessons.  I had two outfits for each kid to choose from (four for Gigi).  So they all picked what they wanted.  The negative on that is all my older kids picked blue shirts and there was less pink and teal then I'd intended but at least everyone was happy.  I'm very pleased with all the shots.  Excuse me my motherhood but my children are beautiful.  The only bum deal, I don't love the photographer. This was my second time doing photos with her.  She took some of a cake smash for Mr. Squish and she just never does a good job of putting me at ease.  I miss Jessica.  It is nice when you love the person taking your picture.  Then you can one have fun, and two when things go to pot, like they always do when you are taking pics you know they will understand, and you trusted them to squeak out amazing.  Thanks a lot Jess for giving me such high expectations :)  I miss you!

Hamilton

I have negative feelings about our soon to be president and if you are excited about him feel free to call me up and we can argue about it ad nauseum, so honestly what is the point.  Personally I think there is a 50% chance he will end up being impeached.  I see you Mike Pence just bidding your time quietly.  I do have three things to say though.  One, get your kids into coding and robots.  I don't care what the president has half the country convinced of, automation is the future and nothing is going to stop it.  So make sure sure you and your kids are ready for it.  Don't believe me, just look at how that "triumphant" Carrier Deal went down.  Two, "fake news" is not news you don't agree with.  Fake news is actually just straight up fake news.  News is suppose to be a presentation of facts. We've seen a blurring of this as we've gone more to online news presentations and blogs to receive our news.  The most innocent presentation of this is opinion pieces read as news.  Newspapers have always had opinion pieces but now they can be found on the same page as the actual news as opposed to in their own section where they are in a paper form of a newspaper.  They are usually marked as an opinion piece but I don't think people take the time to think about the fact that if you can hear the authors voice it is opinion  and should be read with a grain of salt.  The worst are stories that are just plain made up.  Because of twitter and facebook these stories can get a lot of traction.  Just because a piece says what you believe to be true, doesn't mean it is.  Check sources.  And Third, the point of this entire blog is Hamilton is so far from being "overrated" it is not funny.  You have to seriously question the judgement of anyone who who say that...sure that is just my opinion but if you want to take it as fact I'm okay with that ;)

I've been obsessed with Hamilton since last spring.  Some of my friends kept talking about it.  Andrew, Nancy and Bridget and I'm talking about you.  Good grief it got so annoying.  Why does everything have to be Hamilton, Hamilton, Hamilton.  They were constantly making Hamilton references, posting videos, or talking about how their kids were obsessed.  I've loved musical theater since I was a kid.  I think I watched Gigi 100 times the year I was 9.  It wasn't appropriate. I asked my mom why she let me watch it.  She told me I loved all things musical and she couldn't stop me.  So it isn't surprising I caved and finally put Hamilton on my Pandora.  The first song that came up dropped an F bomb.  I turned it off real quick because the kids were running around.  Andrew told me there was edited version.  I was like, great but I still just didn't get it.  Then I sat down and listened to the song Burn.  IT WAS GORGEOUS!  Seriously it was the female songs that lead me into this musical.  After Burn I listened to Helpless which lead me to my first Hamilton Facebook reference.  Then I listened to Satisfied and It's Quiet Uptown, That Would Be Enough, and Take a Break.  After I became obsessed with those songs I bought the edited CD's.  I started listening to the music while I did my lawn chores.  I fell in love with Leslie Odom's voice next.  "Talk Less, Smile More."  Aaron Burr, Sir, Wait for It, Washington on Your Side, Your Obedient Servant, The World Was Wide Enough...oh his voice is so good.  "I hear wailing in the streets, somebody tells me you'd better hide. I see Angelica and Eliza were both at his side when he died.  Death doesn't discriminate..."  Guys this musical is so good.  I often wake up with the words of one song or another going through my head, "I'm not throwing away my shot..."  I wonder what used to be in my head before Hamilton.  I must dream Hamilton.  I wish I could have seen it in New York before the original cast left but since I couldn't I'm extremely excited that my mother in law promised to get me tickets for when it comes to Utah.  It seriously will make my year.  If you like musicals, or music, or history it is definitely worth checking out.  You can listen hear for free or buy the cleaner version here. It takes a little bit of creative license but you can read all about Hamilton here if you want to know what was changed.    

A Good Nights Sleep

A couple of days ago Peach woke up with a black eye, or more specifically a purple eye.  For the life of me I have zero idea how this happened.  She went to sleep and woke up black and blue....or maybe I do know how this happened.  Check out how my kids sleep.

 This is an almost nightly thing, Peach sleeps with books.  Not just one or two, but like twenty.  I'm guessing a corner got her.

 While we are checking in on Peach, let's look at everyone else.  Here is Captain E.  Wow, even in sleep the kid is tense, I mean seriously.

 Then here is G-bear.  She looks normal, what you can't see in this picture, she is on the very edge of her bed.  She has a whole bed to sleep on, and the other side is on the wall but every night I find her and inch from being on the floor.

Preemie Life - Day 24 Hey We Are Here As Well

I wasn't new to motherhood when my baby Cheetah entered the world just over three weeks ago.  That gift came almost seven and half years ago.  He was joined five years ago by a sister, and then two and half years ago by another sister.  It means that when Cheetah comes home she will have plenty of company.  It also means that since the hospital has closed the progressive nursery and NICU to anyone under the age of 18 during RSV season that any time I spend at the hospital is time away from my three older children.  It is definitely a hard balance, the kind of thing that keeps one up at night.  I've been exceptionally lucky though to receive tons of help from friends and family.  Dr. J's mom was here for five weeks and my mother is here this week for the holidays.  If you can't raise them yourself who better to do it then the woman who raised you right?  We've tried to be a little more flexible.  We fully realize that while this situation has been traumatic for us it has been equally traumatic for our children, so when they whine or cry, when they are having a bad day, when they doing a little more shouting then normal, or seem a little more grouchy we try to be just a little more forgiving.  We've also tried to keep their schedule as close to normal as possible.  Bed time has stayed the same, Grandmas read the bedtime stories, bath time has stayed the same, school has stayed the same, homework is done at the same time, the same way.  Since our son was just a little tiny babe we've found that a schedule gave him security.  It doesn't mean that we don't occasionally break from it when necessary, but we try to keep some consistency.  We've also tried to do some fun things on Dr. J's few and far between days off to thank our children for their patience.  It's the reason I took my bruised and cut body to the Chucky Cheese just a week after Cheetah's birth.  We wanted to give the kids something fun, and what says more fun then unlimited tokens in an arcade.  We've also taken the kids to the Children's Museum, and luckily Grandma's keep things lively.  Life might not be perfect but at least we can make some attempts to enjoy it!

Preemie Life - Day 12

 Today was a sweet day!  Cheetah now weighs 3 lbs 7 ounces.  That means that since Sunday she has gained almost half a pound.  I talked with the NICU doctor today and she said that tomorrow they will take the PICC out and then we will really just be moving into getting fatter and breathing on her own.  They still won't let me attempt to nurse her until she is 34 weeks.  Something I personally take issue with since I feel very strongly about wanting to move her successfully to the breast as soon as possible, but they worry about her aspirating, which honestly would be a really tragedy since it could open her up to infection.  And truth be told she's still having quite a few brady's with just her pacifier so who knows what a nipple would do to her.  I want to do what is best for her but sometimes it is difficult to be patient.  Maybe my daughter is more like me then I realized!  I'm still not completely sure how it will all work once Grandma leaves but I'm sure we will figure it out.  Or I guess we will have to figure it out?  That is life right :)

Yesterday was the day of Jessicas!  I came home from the hospital to a package with these sweet little clothes in it.  My good friend from grad school, Jessica, sent Cheetah her first clothes.  They are so tiny!  Can't wait to get my little one home to wear these cute little outfits.  She also sent cartoon socks for the other kids and they were so stocked.

 Then in the late afternoon we went over to my friend in the neighborhood, another Jessica, and she took these beautiful pictures of my children.  I mean just beautiful!  How she did this is a small miracle.  We were out there for probably only fifteen minutes before it got to dark to see.  Gigi was refusing to open her eyes.  Captain E was being a major goof, tackling his sisters, doing a grimace smile, and spiting all over the place.  Peach wanted to spend all her time holding hands with Jessica's twin girls, who are almost the same age she is.  Still with all the craziness she got these beautiful shots.  Amazing are they not? She is a seriously amazing!

Believe you me I can't wait for little miss feeder/grower to come home so Jessica can come by and capture some nifty family pics and the "newborn" shots I so hoped to get after my perfectly uneventful 40 week pregnancy.  Haha, funny how life doesn't always follow your plans!

Can you tell I let my daughters dress themselves?

Did We Pick the Wrong Name?

My mother has always been very anti TV with one notable exception, for some reason she had no problem with musical, and so in my earlier years of life while most kids were spending their time with Disney I spent my time watching Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, Gigi, Carousel, South Pacific, Fiddler on the Roof, Annie, Oklahoma, Kiss Me Kate, Singing in the Rain, My Fair Lady, West Side Story, The Sound of Music, and I'm not even going to comment on how this influx of music and sometimes questionable material :) probably forever warped my ideas of relationships but I bring it up to say that my very favorite of all of them was the musical Help staring The Beatles.  It was my earliest exposure to rock music, and it ingrained in me a love of music I've never been able to shake.  I love this band, and who can blame me, it is widely accepted that they were the greatest band every formed.  Just a few of my favorite songs....

Ticket to Ride, Hey Jude, Yellow Submarine, Help, Want To Hold Your Hand, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Love me Do, Twist n Shout, We Can Work it Out, And I Love Her, Here Comes the Sun, Let It Be, Can’t Buy Me Love, Obla Di Obla Da, She Loves You, From Me To You, All My Loving, Eight Days A Week, A Hard Day Night, Paperback Writer, You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away, The Night Before, Do You Want To Know a Secret, PS I Love You, I’m Only Sleeping, She’s a Woman, I Should Have Known Better, Two Of Us, I’m a Loser, Nowhere Man, I Feel Fine, I Wanna Be Your Man, If I Fell,You’re Gonna Lose That Girl, Strawberry Fields, Michelle, Get Back, Sexy Sadie, Imagine-which I realize is just John

Turns out these things run in families.  A certain little Peach happens to agree that the Beatles rock, although judging from her favorite song, maybe we gave her the wrong name :)

Chicken Soup

Every family has a couple of go to comfort dishes, and chicken soup happens to be my personal favorite.  My mom would chop up the veggies add tons of chicken and then we'd garnish with lime, cilantro and chips.  The combination of salty, tart, and just a little sweet was always divine.  Last week when everyone was still sick I decided to cook up a pop of chicken soup.  My kids love their soup with noodles so I threw in some egg noodles.  Egg noodles how I love you.  A make a pile of flour in a bowel and mix in a sprinkle of salt.  Then I stir in one egg.  Too sticky, add more flour, too dry add another egg.  When I have a nice dough I roll it out, cut it into strips and add the noodles to the boiling pot of soup a small handful at a time.  They take 10 minutes to prep, 2 minutes to cook, and just a few seconds for my kids to eat.