Life update for January

A month later than I was hoping, and 2 weeks later than I was expecting, the nausea is finally starting to dissipate.  I'm usually ok throughout the day if I keep snacking and drinking but without fail come 7pm I'm queasy and ready to crawl in bed.  This made the holidays a bit less than magical and we had to go super simple on everything.  I've also taken about 5 pictures this month, up from 1 the month before, but still pathetic.  So sorry, this one is all words!
         I've craved some odd things for me the past couple months.  One week it was tunafish, I ate about 2 sandwiches a day loaded with pickles.  Then it was nachos, this was wonderful because it was so simple to prepare.  I have had almost no desire at all for chocolate or sweets, which was actually nice during the holidays as I wasn't tempted to make or partake of most of the usual junk.  I usually don't like cereal or oatmeal but I've eaten plenty of both of those, and while ketchup was something I almost never would eat I'm trying hard to limit my french fry intake even though they are just a vessel to get the ketchup in my body.  I decided to switch doctors mid pregnancy because I was continually baffled by things my doctors would say and advise.  Maybe I was spoiled having my first 3 in babytopia with some amazing Obstetricians, and maybe I just know too much about the process having 3 kids.  I feel like these ones haven't studied medicine since they graduated med school in the 70's, and don't deal with anything but first pregnancies.  So I switched over to a group of midwives! Gasp, I know, Tyler thinks I'm dabbling in witchcraft.  I will still deliver at the baby factory hospital here, and there is a great OB who works with them in case of complications.  I'm very excited.  My belly is officially a baby bump and while watching the kids work with power tools and listening to Tyler saw wood I felt baby 4 kick for the first time.  Like popcorn popping.  Maybe it's a sign that it is a boy.  That's what the girls want, and Tyler. Hands down.  No hesitation, Boy.  I've gotten it in my head that if it's a boy we can be done, and while it seems almost sacrilegious to say that- I want to be done.  This pregnancy has been the worst yet and the real misery that usually hits in the 3rd trimester, yeah I'm already starting on that joy.  No wonderful, comfortable, second trimester with this kid.  So if I can be done, if there are no more spirits waiting up there for us, I'll be one happy momma!  I'll gladly suffer through the preteens and teenage years, if I can just get my body back.  But, if we are to raise more, then I will suffer for another year, because these kids have always been worth it. 
      Now that I'm functioning during the day we are actually sort of people again.  We babysat for a neighbor with 20 month old twin boys and watching Quinn interact with them was just hilarious.  We had friends for dinner, and went on a walk.  Even in the dead of winter I feel like it's spring and the world is new again now that I'm not so sick all the time.  The house is getting clean and as Tyler says "Whoa, I can't believe you are nesting this early."
      As Alex was finishing up Kindergarten last year, we decided to just start first grade curriculum immediately since our traveling rotations would take us into the fall, and the kids always do better with a routine.  It worked out nicely that we were able to take a week off here and there while we packed and moved to a new place, and only do a few things a day instead of the full schedule.  This gave me a degree of confidence that my kids were on track and that we were ahead of the public school children for quite awhile. Since we have been plowing through homeschool at halfspeed since I got sick, I've been a bit nervous about where Alex stands.  The Monday after Christmas we jumped into school with a new routine and it's been AMAZING!!!  The girls all get up at the same time, get dressed and clean their room (they read books at night, and boy they can go through a LOT of books which are then tossed on the floor.)  We go downstairs and eat breakfast and then clean up the kitchen and do any other chores for the day.  This gets them moving and focused and actually excited for school to start!  Then they get the go to start on their folders.  They arn't allowed to play or even touch toys until all of their folders are completed.
    All through November and December it seemed Alex was whining because she just wanted to play and didn't want to do school.  It was hard because I was teaching from the couch and making the big girls take turns playing with Quinn while I helped the other child with school work.  Everyday we had a lecture about how all the other 6 year olds were in school from sun up until sun down and how her life is so much easier.  I'm sure it was inspiration because I had the idea to use folders to organize the kids work.  Each girl has 5 colorful folders and every night I fill them with their assignments.  Many of the things Alex can do on her own with little guidance from me, or I can oversee while helping Heidi or Quinn.  I am very blessed that she catches onto things quickly and usually wants to work alone instead of with my help.  The folders that have a pink sticky note inside are the ones that the girls must do with me and include a lesson or new concept.  They LOVE it!  Not only do they blow through the work twice as fast as when I was directing them and assigning the work, but I overheard Heidi telling my friend that while yes she did have school on New Years Day, it was ok because we've started doing FUN school!  Sometimes I slip an activity in a folder, and Alex usually has a story she needs to read to Quinn.
        Quinn is by far the hardest part about this.  She has a 5 minute attention span and NEEDS to be doing what the big girls are doing.  This means I spend 5 minutes getting our the crayons and paper and locking her in her chair so she can't color on anything else (but she still does, how?) then she colors for 5 minutes and then I spend 5 minutes cleaning up thrown crayons, washing the non paper places she drew on and putting things away.  During this time she has moved on and is tormenting her sisters, grabbing paper and trying to tackle Heidi.  We find a new activity and repeat, for the next 2 hours.  She is exhausting.  She has started to talk quite a bit.  She loves playing the parrot game and mimicking anything we say, and we can communicate pretty well with her now which is super nice.  My favorite thing she says is "Snowball fight" or "Pillow fight!" it's just so cute.  She has turned into a little ball of energy that burns through anything she eats before I set her loose from the highchair.  It seems I'm always feeding, and therefore cleaning up after her in the kitchen.  Sweeping the floor is just a lost cause.  She has caught on to the idea of dress up and must be included with Alex and Heidi's games, usually walking around in princess highheels while pushing a shopping cart full of animals or babies.  I will often catch her laying on her stomach on the floor looking at a book or drawing on her water mat, with her hands propped up under her chin.  It melts my heart.  She LOVES to look at books and especially likes being read to.  She will excitedly run up to me with a book, throw it at me and say "UP, UP, UP" until I pick her up and prop her next to me and read.  She has even caught on to when I'm reading the words and when I'm just talking through the pictures and if I'm not reading she yells "MOM" and hits the book.  I don't feel safe carrying her up the steep stairs anymore so we walk to the steps and then I start crawling up and meowing like a cat.  She can't seem to help herself and even if she is trying her hardest to avoid bedtime she always crawls up the steps next to me meowing all the way.  Bedtime is tricky now that she has realized her crib is a prison and fun things happen while she sleeps.  I can usually hear her yelling at me and jumping like she is on a trampoline for long stretches before she calms down and falls asleep with her blanket over her face.  She is everyone's toy, sidekick and best friend all the time, although Heidi gets to brunt of her anger- head hitting, hair pulling, tackling and hitting.   She adores Tyler and will search the house for him, standing at the bottom of the stairs yelling "Daddy, Daddy" in a serious voice until he answers or appears for her.  She loves piggyback rides, especially down the stairs and says "Ready, Set, GO!!! GO GO GO GO!!!!" As we walk down.  She will always fetch her shoes and coat on request because it means escape from the house.  She loves being outside and free which hasn't happened much with the rain and cold and lack of sun.
      Heidi loves to be taught as long as she thinks she is having fun and it's not hard to convince her something is fun as long as she is fed.  She is reading Alex's kindergarten books and loves her "Explode the code" writing phonics workbook.  Unfortunately her attention span is only slightly longer than Quinn's and when it is spent she negative tries on her work.  She is constantly talking, ALL THE TIME.  When there isn't anyone to talk to she talks to herself or her animals or rocks, food, clothes, anything she can give human qualities to and make into a game.  It's her turn to stay up late and snuggle every other night, and boy I can't get a word in edgewise the entire time.  Getting her to disconnect and get into bed is a delicate battle that can only be won by happily getting her to focus on the task at hand.  She loves unicorns and must sleep every night with Uni her tiny pink glittery purple stuffed unicorn and fuzzy pink and black spotted blanky, as well as her little white sheep Clementine.  She also cries for these items when she has been injured- physically or emotionally.  She loves eating yogurt and dipping bread in oil and her favorite food is pizza.  She is a wonderful, detailed artist and naturally happy.  She is Quinn's best friend and partner in crime and is always so sweet with her unless she is fighting for her life against a Quinn attack.  She loves to help cook and laugh and had decided that potty humor is hilarious although she knows it it frowned upon by mother.  She is still on the little girl side of the line, while Alex has started to cross over to young lady it seems. 
    Alex is constantly surprising me.  She has finally gotten confident enough in her reading that I can catch her with books in the middle of the afternoon, not just looking at pictures.  She values her alone time and keeps all her MANY treasures up on the top of her bunkbed where she sleeps.  Along with many cherished stuffed animals, piles of books and pillows and toys she wants alone time with, getting into bed is a challenge.  She is also a hoarder it seems.  She will sneak away old grocery lists or cut up ads that I'm throwing away and take them to her treasure box.  This has caused Heidi to complain that "I don't have ANY treasures" since it seems Alex has so many, and then I have to explain that neither does Alex, she just collects garbage.  Alex is very good at math and is catching on quickly to phonics and reading rules.  I'm always amazed when I prepare a lesson and think that she may not be able to grasp the concept, only to find that she blazes through it without a second thought.  She loves learning about history and we will be starting our second history textbook of the  year because she never wants to stop!  She has started to care about her appearance and takes care to dress carefully each day.  She requests conditioner for her hair so it will be smooth, and is tickled that her bangs are finally long enough to stay behind her ears!  So am I!  She requested a pair of black flat "church shoes" for Christmas "like Mom's" and looks so grown up with her ballet flats when we go to the library or store.  She has also dipped into the world of lotion, body spray and loofas, I will find her sitting on the sink soaking and cleaning her feet occasionally.  She can be the most Christlike person in the world some days and for better or for worse acts like Quinn's mom most of the time.
      Tyler turned into a human again over the Christmas break.  I haven't seem him completely carefree in years.  We thought that rotations were going to be a breeze after the stress of first year PA school, and perhaps if we hadn't traveled for 5 months of it things would have been different.  Second year involves a lot more studying than I had personally anticipated, and there are still tests to take and the big final test to worry about.  Tyler has been a tutor and will continue to be for the next month which sucks up what little extra time he has, although I know he loves teaching and enjoys the experience.  He started a project with the girls and together they all (even Quinn) made a weaving loom over the break.  They all thrived having a purpose and a hands on project to do together, and I loved watching on from my recliner throne.  It's crazy to think that we only have 7 more months of this (5 months of rotation and 2 of class) and that this summer will bring a new baby, the end of PA school, and hopefully a move to a new and first professional job!  I get excited thinking of all the possible places and situations we might be in one year from now, and anxious to think of all that must happen to get there!  To think that 2 years ago I was almost in the same position- starting to declutter in preparation for a move with a newborn!  Unfortunately I left all my maternity clothes in Utah because we had specifically chosen NOT to get pregnant during PA school (but God had different plans and we decided to obey). 

Christmas and New Year

Despite the haze of sickness that seems to be coloring my days and weeks, we had pretty good holiday all things considered! 

We watched Christmas movies and did a lot of lounging and tidying up.  The girls did almost all of the decorating, especially of the tree.  I should have taken pictures over the course of the month so you could see the ornament distribution progression.  They all started out on the bottom, then Alex redecorated and everything was nice and evenly spaced.  Then Quinn discovered the ornaments could be removed and slowly all the decorations started moving up as we would take them away and put them up higher.  By Christmas day the bottom half of the tree was completely empty.

 There was the annual gingerbread  house making, which I was not feeling well for and so Tyler build the houses and the kids went at it!  They did them all by themselves and I was very impressed with the outcome, especially Heidi's smiley face house.

Tyler graciously sacrificed his back so I could live my dream of having the girls ice-skate around a giant Christmas tree in downtown.  While he was going around with one child, I took the other 2 to the PPG building to see a room full of gingerbread houses!  Then we would buy a cup of hot coco and giant cookie for the iceskating kid and switch children.  I was informed at the end that it was too hot for hot coco anyway mom.  It was a nice warm 60 degree day and while we were leaving, Heidi spotted santa clause in a jogging suit sitting on a bench.  We stared at him for about 5 minutes before going up and saying hi.  Heidi was on cloud 9.
    Probably the biggest and most memorable thing we did this year was the 12 days of Christmas for 2 of our favorite Pittsburgh families.  They live in the neighborhood so it wasn't a big drive, but by day 12 Tyler and I were DONE!  We would always forget until just before bedtime and then have to drag all the kids in coats out to sneak around in the dark.  You can imagine that while this became a bit of a chore for the adults, it was the HIGHLIGHT of the girls day and 2 weeks later Heidi still finds stuff that she wants to go "knock and run" on peoples doorsteps.  Tyler and I enjoyed the process as well, we aren't total scrooges.
    We went to a Christmas party at the Cochran's home and it was fun to get out and socialize and eat yummy Christmas food.  Quinn took a dark blue marker and drew all over on of the beds.

 Christmas Eve the girls were of course wired and so we sent them to bed with threats NOT to come out of their room until they fell asleep and woke up, and they could only go downstairs after checking with Mom first.  Alex was the first up at about 6 (she usually slept in until 9 during the break) and woke me up and then snuck down.  She came back and said "Mom, Santa came and he brought me just what I wanted!"  then she walked away.  "Where are you going?" I asked, "Back to bed."  That lasted about 15 minutes before all the kids were awake and we headed down.

 Quinn instantly found a candy cane and cared about nothing else.  Alex and Heidi played with their Santa toys for 10 or 15 minutes before we suggested opening the gifts under the tree.  Alex got a mermaid barbie hair salon thing with some fancy barbies dresses and lots of barbie shoes.  Heidi got a couple play mobile kits with horses and fairies and unicorns.  Quinn got some magna block things that everyone has adopted as their own, so much fun.

Quinn was really good at opening gifts, but the second the wrapping paper came off one of her sisters inevitably stole the present to check it out and explain it to her.  It was one of the best Christmases I can remember having.  We got to Skype with family and the girls played all day while Tyler and I relaxed, napped and played with the kids.  I wasn't feeling well at all and spent most of the time in my new recliner!  Tyler made us a yummy turkey dinner and we had carmel rolls for breakfast.  It was our first Christmas all alone, able to to whatever we wanted and start out own traditions and I think it went really well.  
    Tyler and I have what we refer to as the "New Year's Curse"  it's actually a "almost all holiday curse" in which one of us is sick or something terrible happens.  This always happens on  New Year's Eve and Valentines Day, with other minor holiday's being effected as well.  This year we didn't plan anything for the new year.  We had some stuff for chocolate fondue that we ended up not using at Christmas, so at 5pm on New Year's Eve we watched a movie, had chicken noodle soup and then dipped some chocolate fondue.  Everyone was in bed and asleep by 9 and it was the greatest New Year's Eve ever.

The end of the western rotations- migratin east.

We finished up our western rotations with wonderful weather and morning sickness, which sort of sapped all the joy out of 3000 miles of cross country travel and our return home.  As I was loading these pictures I realized that since our return to Pittsburgh, the lack of activity caused by constant nausea, and constant nausea has resulted in me taking 2 pictures, an average of 1 a month.  My summer average? about 1000.

While in Wyoming we would see Tyler on the weekends, he lived in Riverton, WY during the week and would return to us on Friday night.  This particular Friday he got off work early and came home to us bearing pumpkin carving tools and the Halloween spirit!  He took the girls outside and gutted and carved pumpkins with them all alone, even helping Alex pick out seeds to roast later. 

We came out of it with a pumpkin for everyone!  Alex's was the 3 pumpkins, Heidi's the cat pirate, Tyler's the gnome and Quinn and I went traditional with plain faces.  

 

Everyone thought I drew Quinn's into a bunny.  It is not a bunny.  The girls were obsessed with ice dispenser on Grandpa's fridge.  They would ask for ice for desert every day and just carry it around in cups and suck on it. 

 
By our last weekend there the girls had the farm chores down pat.  I would park the truck and they would run off to get the buckets and feed the cows and do whatever else needed to be done.  I loved when Heidi took control of things and taught Daddy the ropes one Saturday.

We took an opportunity before we left to drive up and spend a few days with Grandma in Billings before we returned to Pittsburgh.  One of the girls favorite places was the Western Heritage Museum where they got to dress up and play with a log cabin doll house and all sorts of stuff.

There were old typewriters and an old post office, we didn't make it past the first floor.

The girls each got a one on one date with Grandma, and we watched Dr. Quinn and visited the farm to hunt for fossils, it was a wonderful time.

When we got back to the farm there were 4 kittens that had been dropped off and the girls immediately adopted them.  Alex was allergic so we had to cut finger holes in a pair of Daddy's socks to cover her arms so she could pick them up and lug them around everywhere with her.  And she did.

Quinn was pretty enamored herself and the cats were incredibly patient and kind to her, with the tail tugging and hair pulling and all.

Everyday the kids just wanted to go to the farm and play with the cats, for hours.  Since I was reaching the "curl in a ball all day" stage of morning sickness, it worked out that I would lay in the back of the truck and watch as they tried to herd the cats all day.

It was so funny.

During our stay there Grandpa spent every single day except Sunday pregnancy testing cattle.  Usually he was a few hours away, but finally at the very end we got to drive to Thermopolis and see him in action!

It was a double bonus because the operation was right at the head of the Wind Rivier Canyon, one of my favorite spots, and it was beautiful.

Everyone was really nice to the car full of kids that showed up out of the blue to watch the cowboys work.

We got to share in lunch (the kids got an entire soda to themselves and were over the moon about it) and explore.

Quinn wasn't quite sure about all these cows.

When things started going, we had front row seats.

The poop part really grossed them out.

We got permission to drive up on the mountain a bit to catch a picture of the whole operation.  It was on an Indian Reservation.

We drove up the canyon a ways when the girls were done with the cows, poop and dust, and enjoyed the views for a bit.

Our last cat day was a sad one for te girls.

Nothing like a common goal of collecting cats into a bucket to unite 3 sisters.

We also got to stop by "Uncle Mark's place" a couple times to see all the taxidermy creations.

We left Worland on a freezing Wednesday morning and headed toward Devils Tower!  It was sad to go but we were excited to get the driving behind us before the snow came.  It never did and we had great traveling weather the whole time.

We were antsy about time and didn't stay at the tower as long as the girls would have liked, which probably would have been forever, they loved it there.

We took the trail part way around and had lots of rocks to climb on and jump off of.

Everyone got to explore at their own pace.

Heidi and Daddy were on a trust fall kick and kept finding bigger and bigger rocks to jump off of.

Fearless.

Thankfully Quinn didn't quite grasp the concept.

Everyone was sad when it was time to leave.

We made it into South Dakota a ways before stopping for the night and the next day we pushed through to Rochester, Minnesota where we got to spend the entire day of Halloween with our old neighbors and great friends from Pittsburgh who had moved just before we left on our trip. 

It was a FREEZING Halloween but that didn't stop the kids from trick or treating and we had homemade rootbeer, cookies, taco soup and a move afterwards.  It was a lot of fun especially for the kids!

We made it back to Pittsburgh Saturday November 1st and the real nausea hit.  Since then we have been trying to find a "normal" routine which has been terribly inconsistent.  Tyler started his bariatric surgery rotation when we got back and once again was getting up early and coming home late.  This was pretty hard on a Mom on 3 who just wanted to lay on the couch all day but had to wrangle kids into chores and homeschool.  He was amazing though, and did the grocery shopping and plenty of the cooking, cleaning and parenting while I was out.  Also I was super lucky Alex stepped up to the plate and made dinner more than once, did dishes, mothered Quinn, mopped floors and generally helped me and her sisters survive the first trimester.  Heidi was a wonderful help as well, and was great at entertaining Quinn whenever I needed her to be distracted. 
   We had Thanksgiving with friends in the neighborhood, the Lunt family, the girls love their little boys.  It was nice to be with people and not have to cook, although of course we did because we had to bring all our favorites! 
   Now it's nearly Christmas and this has been the least festive holiday season ever.  It's somewhat disappointing because I'm a BIG party, fun, make festivities out of everything person, but the nausea is still lingering now at week 16 and i'm not back to full mothering capacity yet.  Tyler finished his rotation last week and passed his test so we have had him no strings attached for 7 days now and it's been wonderful!