In the Trenches

My children are plotting my demise. I know it.

A little background...

This week has not been our best (It's only Wednesday?). On Sunday, Elise sat very quietly in church and we were pleasantly surprised by her good behavior. After heaping on lots of praise following the first hour of meetings, we discovered the poor girl was running a high fever--that explained the reverence. This also meant she had to skip Nursery and then miss preschool on Monday. Sad.

Monday morning I woke up feeling miserable and knew immediately I had mastitis (for those unfamiliar with the illness, it's like having the flu for a nursing mother--but way worse). My amazing husband stayed home from work to help wrangle the littles while I tried to recover. Luckily I got a prescription the same day and started feeling a little better by Tuesday, which passed without much incident.

So back to my scheming kids...

Today went well until around 5:00. Dinner was on the barbecue, Emerson was napping in his swing, and Elise was playing happily in the backyard. Then D.J. called from work to let me know he was caught up and would be home late. No matter. Dinner would reheat easily. After I hung up with D.J., Elise began screeching from the backyard that she "went potty ev-we-weh!" Since this is her first daytime accident in months, I brushed off my irritation and brought her inside to bathe.

Elise asked me if she could bring the earthworm she found into the bath too, and I said no. Cue wailing tantrum that woke the baby. When I finally got Emerson calmed and Elise washed up, I realized dinner was still smoking away on the barbecue. As I scraped the salvaged bits of meat from the grill and tried to save what was left of our food, Elise announced she wet her pants--yet again.

Following the second bath in less than 30 minutes I served dinner. I decided to change Emerson's diaper before I sat down to eat and realized the boy had exploded everywhere in the worst way. Of course it happened in the bouncy chair I rewashed this morning. I carried my disgusting, dripping baby at arm's length to the bathroom which was soaked with water from Elise's earlier escapades.

It was at this point, with Elise whining loudly that she hated her dinner and Emerson gleefully flinging poo from his pant leg with every kick, that I thought, "They're out to get me." 

One horrific bedtime later (I'll spare you the details. Let's just say it involved lots of screaming and crying on Elise's part.) I dropped onto the couch just in time for D.J. to walk through the door.

"I swear, these kids are conspiring against me." I said.

"Probably." he replied. Then he gave me a sympathetic look and held up a plastic grocery sack.

The man brought me ice cream. I love him!

Nevada

The meadow at Birch Creek

Earlier this month Elise, Emerson and I flew to Nevada to meet two of our new cousins, Trey and Mariah, and see Grandma and Grandpa Young and the Young aunts and uncles. 

Can you believe how adorable these kids are? 

The first morning there, Elise ran outside and was greeted by seven adorable border collie puppies! She about died with excitement. Every day of our entire visit she spent hours outside with the puppies. I also received the guilt trip of a lifetime when I denied the repeated offers to take a puppy home with us.

Elise: "Mommy, he can live in my woom."

Me: "We can't have a dog in the house, Sweetie. I'm allergic."

Elise: "He can live in our backyaaad."

Me: "It rains too much at our house. A puppy would be very sad in the rain all day."

Elise: "But it can live in the sed (shed) when it wains."

Me: "It rains every day, and the shed is much too small for this puppy. It likes to run around a lot."

Elise: "But...whyyyy?"

[insert never-ending conversation with a three year-old here]

We also had a serendipitous surprise when my parents' old neighbors, Tal and Ophir, and their son, Yael, stopped by to visit on their way home to Israel. Yael and Elise are the best of friends and play great together.  I've never seen Elise get along with someone so well--except for maybe her cousin Charlotte.

We spent the rest of our time there visiting, helping Grandma bottle pears, gathering eggs, going on the tractor and in the semi with Grandpa, riding horses, meeting kittens, riding 4-wheelers, and having an all-around great time!

I loved visiting with all of my siblings and adoring my new niece and nephew. Having three babies around meant everyone got to hold a baby as often as they wanted!

We love all of you and hope to visit again soon!

Whidbey Island

Last month we decided to take a quick weekend vacation to Whidbey Island, which is over the Puget Sound north of Seattle. It's only a 90 minute drive from us. The island is close enough to the mainland that there is a bridge between the two at Deception Pass State Park. More on that later. 

Deception Pass. Pictures don't do it justice - it's so beautiful! 

We stayed in Oak Harbor at a little motel with a small but deep pool and free continental breakfast. 

Motel shenanigans

Our first stop was at the Whidbey Island Fair. Wow! Maybe I missed out because I quit 4H halfway through the first month, but I never knew a fair could be so fun! Of course, there were the quirky things about a fair - interesting local people, cheap but deathly carnival rides, and any fried food you could ever dream up; but they also had a fantastic array of animals and displays--all by the 4H. We saw everything from dogs to horses, and chickens to Guinea pigs-- all scrubbed up and looking their finest for the fair. We even saw a rabbit that was bigger than a small dog. No joke. 

Elise was unimpressed with most of the "stinky" animals, but she did like the horse that shared Grandpa Young's first name! Notice Ralphie's tongue...

Later on, D.J. and Elise decided to venture out in a raft they bought. Not one foot from the beach, they broke a paddle. D.J. was a sport and improvised for the remainder of the time with one paddle. Elise loved every seafaring minute of it. 

The next day we went to church in Oak Harbor. The kids and I then scouted out a few local parks after dropping D.J. off at the motel to sleep off some flu-like aches. After a long nap D.J. was much better, so we drove over to Joseph Whidbey State Park. Breathtaking!

Elise took the picture on bottom R. Not bad, huh? 

On our final day on the island we went to another beach near Oak Harbor. I don't remember the name. We found lots of interesting sea shells and chased off the seagulls. Elise made sand castles and prepared a "sand-wich" for D.J. to taste.

Finally, we made our way back to Deception Pass and had lunch on the Island side.

We loved our quick stay on Whidbey Island and want to go back soon!