Sister Snuggles

watching cartoons early in the morning

Socks

Oh my goodness- the focus, intensity, and determination of this girl is starting to scare me!!

Olivia & NF1 Update

Olivia is my hero.

Whenever a new contraption is brought out she is willing to do what she is asked, and usually she does it with a smile.

In January, Olivia saw her eye specialist and aced her eye exam (20/20 - 20/25). Both of her eyes are healthy. We love good news!

Olivia continues to see her speech therapist and we are trying to figure out why Olivia is hard to understand. She struggles with her /l/ sound, but that's pretty common, her pronunciation is improving, and it's not a big concern right now. She pronounces all the other sounds great, especially when we're working one-on-one with her.

The speech therapist decided to do some other tests and try some other thigns based on the report from Olivia's visit to the ENT last year (a report that I don't even come close to understanding because it's all iin doctor-speak). The contraption pictured above measures how much air is escaping out her nose when she talks, but the results were within the normal ranges. Right now the speech therapist is focusing on Olivia's pitch - helping her understand when she is talking "bumpy" or "smooth" - and we'll see if that helps.

Nothing very exciting and we like it that way!

Olivia will have another brain MRI in April so I'll do another update then.

Rock-a-bye Baby

There is something snuggly-sweet about Sophie singing to her baby.

I say this as she is gleefully grabbing handfuls of change and throwing them in the air to rain down around her. It's always risky to sit at the computer during the day.

Pinky Promise

I was lying on the grass trying to watch the clouds go by and I had a few visitors . . . . .

Conversation between Olivia and I-

"Mom, pinky promise that we're going to the store."

"I pinky promise we are not going to the store."

"Mo-o-om!"

 "Mom, pinky promise that we are going to get ice cream."

"I pinky promise we are not going to get ice cream."

"Mo-o-om!"

"Mom, pinky promise that we are going to the store and getting some ice cream."

"I pinky promise that I love you!"

"Mom!"

"And we aren't going to store or getting ice cream."

"Mo-o-om!!"

At least she laughed and gave me a hug.

Help me!

Of course I had to take a picture before I could rescue him!

When is the Pizza Guy going to get here?

Hello Everyone! We have been busy, busy, busy - appointments, school, clubs, getting ready for a wedding, working on our basement, playing in the sun and snow, volleyball tournament, and trying to find a moment the breathe!!! Hopefully I'll have a chance to blog soon.

Mystery of the Vanishing Toilet Paper

Obviously with 6 of us visiting the porcelain throne we go through a good deal of toilet paper. But how much is too much? I recently spent an eye opening half an hour in the bathroom with Sophie. Notice how carefully she puts the toilet seat down? That takes practic - something my other kids could use! She is one very busy girl.

Twice Blessed or Double Trouble?

Well, as the big sister I have to say double trouble! Maybe it's the years and years of mischief I've had to put up with.....

Michael and Keshia, "the twins" {as they are communally known}, are getting married!!

Michael & Laura are getting married April 6th and will have their reception in Herriman, Utah on April 7th. Holy cow! It's less than a month away! 

Keshia and Trevor are getting married on May 26th and will have their reception the same day in Logan, Utah.

The Mystery of the Disappearing Toothpaste - part 2

I love how she is easily distracted.

P.S. I'm only sitting on the toilet while the girls shower. Not the other thing. Thank you Austin for pointing out what other people might be thinking. It's so helpful having a 10 year old boy around.

The Mystery of the Disappearing Toothpaste - part 1

With 5 kids we go through toothpaste pretty fast, but lately it seems like someone is guzzling it down!

Apparently the older kids give Sophie more toothpaste each time she yells. She was not pleased when I didn't cooperate.

What have we been up to?

Decorating the fridge-

Read-a-thon for Dr. Seuss' birthday

Playing with magnets

Establishing individual style :)

finding the perfect snacking spot

showing little sister the ropes

blowing bubbles in the snow (I can't convince my girls it's cold out)

doing whatever the big girls are doing

waiting for a best friend to come home from school

I used to do the same thing with these books!

Sick Sophie

After all that consistent blogging a couple weeks ago (4 whole days of it) I know you must be wondering what's been going on around here. Well, I've had sick kids. Again. Boo. We are mostly better now. It was fevers, runny noses, weepy eyes, coughing, and laying around watching movies - nothing out of the ordinary.

Then it hit Sophie. She was miserable and clingy. I pulled out my maitai carrier and carried her around those few days. At night she wasn't being able to sleep. Which meant Kurt and I weren't able to sleep. Fast forward a couple days to the night before Kurt is leaving on a work trip at 5am and will be gone for a week. Of course Sophie was fine most of the day and didn't start crying and tugging on her ear and waking up from 5 minutes of sleeping until 10pm. Instacare was closed. The on-call doctor at our doctor's office wasn't answering. Tylenol and ibuprofen weren't helping. Home remedies weren't helping. So she and I headed to the emergency room. I knew it was an ear ache. I knew they wouldn't be able to do anything for us. But I was desperate.

Hello Numbing Ear Drops. Where have you been all through my children's lives? Fabulous!! Sophie had a full 9 hours of sleep and I had enough to make it through the day.

The next day she was still miserable, but we had the drops and filled a couple prescriptions. Then her ear drum burst. It's not really a good thing, but I'm secretly happy it happened - the pain and pressure was relieved, she started perking up right away and was running around with her posse by the end of the day.

The other kids were sick too, but no one needed to go to the doctor. Kurt came home. Life's good again.