For all intents and purposes it should have been a no good, very bad day, but it wasn't.

I could have gotten really upset today when that policeman pulled me over. I probably should have at least cried or something, but I didn't. No one deserved that ticket more than I did. If I make the choice to go 15 miles per hour over the speed limit, with three beautiful children in tow, believe you me, I can acknowledge that I deserve a speeding ticket.

I probably could have cried and thought of some true sob story, to convince my way out of it, but all I could do was humbly hand the police officer my license with not so much as a word. I could have been upset when the heartless cop wouldn't take a break from saying his spiel to me to acknowledge Warner, who was exclaiming over and over again from the back seat "I like your helmet! I like your helmet! Hey, I like your helmet!".  

I really had nothing to say to the police officer. If I did say anything it would have been the truth, which is, I've got a lead foot and an engine that is very quiet. But I figured saying such would only further incriminate me.  In the red rocket you know when you're speeding. Everyone knows. Even the dog down the road knows, because the red rocket, just doesn't speed without making it known to the world. But the van? Well, its a beauty, and it just cruises quietly along without any huffs or puffs. Traffic school here I come.

I should have cried when moments after receiving my speeding ticket I was in a cold doctor's office holding down a little girl who was afraid of getting her shots. Today was Olivia's 5 year check up, which meant a poke and 2 shots, and of course lots of flattery from the doc about how good of a Mom I am.  Yadda yadda.  I should have probably not taken my other two, but I thought they would be fine.  I had prepped Liv for what was going to happen. In retrospect I should have just let the nurse surprise her with her pokes and needles.  It would have at least eliminated the anguish and fear.  She was so scared by the time we got to the doctor's office that she might as well have already been poked.  I like to know whats going to happen to me at the doctor's office, so I figured she would too. I learned that lesson.

Now here we were in the doctor's office, all the flattery and compliments out the door with the kind and gentle doctor, and here comes the nurse, needles in hand. I decided to put down Buster, who immediately started crying (I think he sensed something) and hold Liv who would need comfort.  As soon as the nurse grabbed Liv's finger, Liv went rigged and started bawling. Here I am holding Liv, who is rigid and crying, Buster is crying, nurse is ready to poke, and Warner jumps up and turns off the light. It was very disorienting. I would have jumped up to turn on the light, if I didn't have a sad little five year old on my lap.  That, and the fact that I didn't know the exact whereabouts of the needle the nurse had been holding inches away from my daughters finger the moment before the lights went off. Warner, who had actually used the doctors patella hammer to turn off the light, was not actually coordinated enough or tall enough to turn the light back on.  So, as I, and I'm sure the nurse, who had the finger poking needle and Liv's finger in her hands, thought about what to do, we all sat in darkness for about 30 seconds. Buster was still crying, as was Liv. The light went back on and now it was time for the poke.

Onto the poke. Lots of tears. Then squeezing the blood into a tube, which scared Liv and made her cry harder than the actual poke. I'm trying to console her, singing her soft lullabies and doing the best I can to comfort her.  Sheesh, we haven't even gotten to the shots yet. Liv starts crying and crying about the fact that she does not want to have a shot.  The nurse then tells me in front of Liv "You're gonna need to hold her down tight, and I mean really tight".  It is such an unpleasant thing to hold your own child down. I know I'm not the enemy and neither is the nurse who is just trying to do her unfortunate job, but it sure feels like we are.  I know it's for the best, so, I just do as I'm told and within seconds, screams are let out, shots are administered, and the nurse, thankfully, has left me to console my poor Liv.

I should have cried when I finally loaded all three kids back into the car and headed home from the doctor's office.  What with the speeding ticket and the horrible and emotional experience at the doctor's office. For a minute I worried. Why am I not crying? Have I no heart that that was so traumatic for my child and for me, not to mention stressful and upsetting?  Do I not care that my speeding ticket means three hours of one of my precious Saturdays as well as 100 precious, hard earned American dollars?

I've been pondering this all afternoon. Really I have. And for me, it comes down to this simple fact,  there are much bigger trials in life than speeding tickets and shots.  There just are. I will save my tears.

To tell you the truth right now, I think back on my day and it makes me laugh to think of Warner, the quiet, observant one, so innocent and unflappable by stressful or hard situations. I wonder if that police officer has ever been complimented on the looks of his helmet after issuing a ticket to a speeding driver.  I wonder if that nurse has ever had a 2 year old boy turn off the lights in the middle of her administration of "the poke", because he just wants to see the stars on the ceiling.  He meant no harm in either case. But in both cases his act was not well received.

These are the musings in my head today.

Happy Birthday Olivia Grace

The other day Liv said "Mom I'm so excited that my birthday is on thanksgiving this year, because that means it's a special day". "It sure is Liv!" I said.

Five years ago tonight I was playing a painfully long game of clue with Jord and Taryn and was a day over due with Olivia and ready to pop. I say painful, at no offense to the company I was with, because it wasn't them or the game that really was painful. I was convinced that I was merely suffering from constipation, which I figured was my own fault for eating so much of the delicious thanksgiving dinner that Taryn's mom had so kindly made for us.  I kept making trips to the toilet with no success. I remember eating loads of organic raisens that Taryn's mom kept offering to me in an attempt to help.  It makes me laugh now that I think about it. 

Little did I know that little Liv was on her way. It wasn't until about midnight, when the "constipation pains" started happening about every five minutes, that it dawned on me that I was not constipated, but was in fact in labor.

And thus began the adventure of Olivia coming to earth.  It was a hard and emotional delivery. There were some complications.  For a little while we were worried about the health of both the baby and me. Prayers were sent from all across the nation from loved ones and family members gathered together for thanksgiving day, including my parents who were on a mission in Argentina at the time.

After a traumatic 26 hours, our little Liv made her arrival in the world. And she was the prettiest little black haired baby that I ever saw. Her dad and I wept as we saw her little body for the first time.

Because of the traumatic birth, Olivia had to stay in the hospital two days longer than I did, but we were determined not to leave her there without us. After I was discharged from the hospital we talked to some staff members about paying to stay in the hospital while our baby was there.  So, they let us pay to stay a night in the pediatric unit of the hospital.  The next night, they had to use the room, so we slept on a couch in one of the waiting rooms.  I think that was the longest night of my life. I was sore and tired. I remember waddling to the public bathroom with my peri-bottle, tucks pads, and other accutraments. Then I would waddle down to the NICU with Jaron, wash my hands and go to the little incubater where Liv was laying under the billilights.  I hated that NICU room. I just wanted to hold my new baby so bad, but she had to be under the lights as much as possible. On top of that, they wanted to monitor her heart and almost everytime I tried to nurse her, one of her EKG wires would come disconnected and this machine would let out an obnoxiously loud beeping noise.  Furthermore, she got her little heal pricked more than any human being should have to in a life time while she was in that NICU. I hold no animosity towards those nurses, because I know that they were just doing their job, but it was still hard to see.

I remember crying to Jaron "I just want to take her home, I just want to show her that this world is a beautiful place".  Those 4 days in the hospital felt like a lifetime, but finally the day came when we got to take our little new born baby to her new home. 

Since the day she was born Liv has been, and continues to be, a light and a blessing in our life. She keeps us laughing with her silliness. She impresses us with her ability to learn things quickly, as well as her ability to observe and remember things that we don't even realize she is observing or learning.  She amazes us with her diligence and determination to conquer hard tasks.  She makes us so happy when we watch her take care of her little brothers. She keeps us entertained when she sings at the top of her lungs and makes up new songs as she dances around the house.  She brings so much joy to our life with her bright, fun, creative, social, friendly, sweet, and faithful little spirit.

On this thanksgiving day, I'm grateful for a lot of things, but I just want to say that today I'm most grateful for our little Livie.

Buster the Bunny

A few weeks ago I found this warm little bunny outfit in a thrift store and for $2.99 I couldn't resist.  

Jaron didn't know that I had bought the bunny outfit, and I was waiting the right moment to show it to him.

So the other day I spontaneously dressed up Buster in his bunny outfit right before I knew Jaron was going to walk in from work, and I sat him up on the family room couch.

Sure enough my man came in the door, sweaty and thirsty from his 8 mile bike ride up hill, only to find one cute cuddly bunny smiling and waiting for him happily on the couch. The pictures speak for themselves, but needless to say the bunny was a hit.

 

 

Making her feel special.

This week is a special week, because on Thursday, yes Thanksgiving day, we will be celebrating a special someones birthday. Because I love her so much, I'm trying to do something a little out of the ordinary for her everyday until her birthday. Nothing big, just little things to show her that she is special to me. 

Last night while Warner was napping and Liv was having quiet time I snuck upstairs and got Liv, who was just playing quietly in her room. I had her come join Jaron and I by a warm fire and we toasted to Liv and drank Martinelli's (have you tried the apple-mango- SO GOOD). We even let her have a fancy cup. She felt so special. 

Today I told her we could do a tea party for lunch. She was so excited. She invited all her friends (non-living friends) except for the zebra of course, who was very much alive at the tea party. She set and decorated the whole table, with such care and tact. Oh, and of course she came dressed for the occasion. She even dressed me, but I won't take a picture of my outfit, because I don't think I really looked quite as cute as she thought I did.

Introducing, her friend, and your friend, the zebra.

Pinkalicious Rose (the flamingo) and her daughter Lilly.

And others.

 
 And of course we scooted the babe over to watch us eat. He was much obliged.  

The little zebra exclaimed "Tanks mom for the tea party!" It was so sweet. Liv was so grateful and happy too. A little effort goes a long way with the little ones. 

Then tonight after family night we let Liv stay up a little late. She didn't do anything fun, in fact I said "Wanna help me fold laundry?" but she was so happy to be staying up late that she was even excited to fold laundry. She did a great job and was just happy to have my undivided attention. It was very sweet. 

Warner

Warner is getting more and more mischeveious these days. I never thought the day would come that he would actually start acting like a two year old, because the boy was just born mellow and sweet with stars in his eyes. 

 

Well, I have something to say about that. 

    Kiss it goodbye smalls. Kiss it goodbye.

 

Here is Warner's check list of productivity from last week:

 

*Poo in the tub - CHECK! CHECK!

*Put mom's mascara on my lips and the mirror- CHECK!

*Squeeze a bottle of baby diaper cream on my sisters bed spread- CHECK!

*Drink toilet water, no don't just drink it, fill up a hole cup of it and gulp it down.  - CHECK!

*Take shoes and socks off with out fail every time we get in the car to go somewhere, right before we get to the destination, and especially if we are running late, and chuck them all the way to the back of the minivan where Mom and Dad cannot find them- CHECK!CHECK!CHECK!CHECK!CHECK!CHECK!CHECK!

 

Sigh. 

 

But, in the end there are still moments when I look up from what I'm doing and find him doing things like this:

 

 

And these my friends, are the moments that make it all worth it.  

Olivia

Today I woke up from a little nap with Buster to Liv smiling over me. I had told her that she could either take a nap or just play quietly while me and the boys slept. I heard her singing and rummaging around down stairs as I drifted off into sleep. When I woke up to her grinning over me, I said "Hi Liv. What have you been up to sweetie?" She smiled big, and said, "It's a surprise for you".  She often says this and usually she has drawn a pretty picture for me or picked me some flowers from outside and put them in a vase, but not today. I put Liv in the bath per her request and walked downstairs to start dinner and found the whole downstairs MUCH cleaner than I had left it. I had left all the breakfast dishes out and even had some dishes from last night sprinkled here and there on the counter and the table.  All of those were cleared off the island and placed in a stack next to the sink. The table wiped off. The family room and living room clear of all toys. What a little doll I tell you.


Lately I have been having some stomach issues, and it hasn't been very fun, but the one plus side to it is, I think my kids sense something and they have been trying to be extra helpful lately. Olivia will say things like "Mom I'll let you pick which color of dishes we use for dinner tonight, because I know you are sick". 


At the end of the month this little girl turns 5 and I just can't believe it. I love Olivia so much. She brings so much personality and energy to the Brown table.

Rattle Snake Ridge A Few Weeks Ago

 

 

See those little legs. Well, those little legs completed a four mile hike! What a trooper. Were starting her young. :) And yes she did it happily for the most part. There was the time when we were still about a 1/2 mile from the top when she kept asking "Are we there yet"? "Are we there yet"? "Oh, my legs are getting tired". But nothing that couldn't be cured by an imaginative story about fairies trapped by angry goblins who grunted and snorted but were easily dissuaded by the kind fairy princess who, when presenting them with their favorite freshly baked macadamia nut cookie, stopped grunting and decided to free the fairies back into their magical fairy forest. 

Oh and then there was also the time that I didn't help her squat quite enough and Liv peed all down the back of her pants, and had to hike about 1and1/2 miles with a wet behind. Yea. What a trooper. Other than that it was a great success.  It was so gorgeous. It made us think of the time three years ago when we first came to Washington and hiked it. Now add three years and two kids. Wow. We've been productive haven't we?

 

October 2011 Recital

O Come Little Children

A Zebra, A Skunk, A Princess, and a Birthday

This little sleep skunk was my snugly friend while I passed out candy on Halloween night. The kids were out Trick-o-treating with Papa.

The excited Trick-o-treaters:

The loot

And then we had a birthday. And guess what the birthday girl got for her birthday?
Eye sight. It don't get much bettadendat.