Some randomness.

Some pictures from my phone

Jace at the dentist for the first time.  He did great despite the kid next to him who acted like he was being tortured.  If I ever need to bribe Jace to brush all I'll have to say is, "Remember that kid at the dentist?  He had a cavity. . ."

Tough Cam Spam who still really needs his nap.

Pretty Livvy who always wants her hands in her mouth.

Me and my Jace the Space.  

Sometimes I think about him in kindergarten and I can't wait.  Then other times I think about it and cry.

Funny face pictures.   

Cam "decorating" his sister.

And then being super sweet.

Livvy Liv getting big too fast.

And telling me all about it.

And two videos. Ignore my annoying voice.  I hate listening to myself.

After church on Sunday I plopped Little Liv on my bed to take some pictures of her in her cute little dress.  I'm definitely no girl baby dresser expert but I do have fun putting her in the dresses I do have.  And taking pictures of her in them because she will probably not get to wear them that many times.  And they're so cute and I want to remember them all.  

She is a really good sport for me.  She is actually a really good baby.  I was pretty worried during that first couple of months when she was fussy a lot, but now that she can be entertained by things other than food and sleep she doesn't usually fuss unless she is really sleepy.  She has been sleeping pretty good through the night, from her last bottle at like nine or nine thirty until about seven thirty in the morning.  She even manages to sleep through the early morning disruptions by the boys who get up at six and are constantly in and out of my room yelling, crying, whining, begging, and making all other kinds of noise.  I wish I could sleep through all of that. 

The other two are giving me a run for my money, especially the precious middle child.  I'm not sure if its a mixture of exhaustion from the wear and tear of just being a mom, or Brice being gone a lot, or maybe just hormonal changes, but I have been on a roller coaster ride these last couple of weeks.  I've been pumping instead of nursing since Liv never really was able to latch right, but I think I'm ready to give that up.  Which is a process in itself.  But then maybe my body will get all the way back to normal and I'll only be crazy once a month, and I'll be able to know what's causing the craziness, when it's coming, and prepare accordingly.  Sometimes I feel like I should be some sort of wild animal and a warning bell should be sounded when I'm  on the loose and all the village people (like little rowdy boys) should run to their rooms for cover when I get in my "bad mood". I hope I'm not scarring them too bad.     

Today I listened to a talk from Elder Holland that I saw a link to on Pinterest about motherhood.  I locked myself in my bedroom, while Cameron pounded on the door nonstop, and listened to it and cried.  But then I felt better.  

Being a mom of little kids is just hard.  I know it's hard for everyone.  Right?  Just some people make it look so easy.  This morning as I looked around at the piles of laundry, and the dirty kitchen, and the boys room--where the floor couldn't even be seen-- to my room--where you have to step strategically like Jenga to keep it from coming down--and the bathroom that was spotless on Saturday and now a disaster again--I just felt so discouraged.  I know I always feel better when the house is in order, but that rarely happens.  And I try to reassemble it in the evenings but that's when I'm the most tired and once I sit down, getting back up to clean is like actual physical pain.  

But I try to tell myself that it won't always be like this.  And I'll miss the markings of little kids everywhere.  I'll miss their stickers on the wall and dirty underwear under my pillow (yeah I don't know how that happened).  Right now I don't see that I'll miss it.  But I guess I probably will. In the meantime I suppose there is nothing to do but carry on and hope that I'm doing an okay job.   And count my many blessings.  Because I know I do have a lot of them.

Sometimes I like to put Livvy's hair in this little green curler that Aunt Melanie gave me.  Also it's very useful for scrubbing off that dead skin on her head.  Cradle crap.  I know it's really called cradle CAP, but I always just say the other thing because I think that's what it should be called. Usually I put it in like a little mo-hawk curl but this time after her bath I put it in like a front curly curl.

Awww so cute.  Since the weather has been nice and the boys want to play outside alll the time and I don't/can't I've devised a little compromise.  If they stay in the front side of the house by the sidewalk/sandbox/trampoline, I can see them looking out the window of the computer room.  So I can sit in there and feed the baby or play with her and still watch and hear them.  We have a yard that is completely fenced in, but it's just a chain link fence.  And our street is a little sketchy.  And even if we lived on a nicer street with a privacy fence I think I would still  be too nervous to let them play outside without me watching them like a hawk.  I wish that wasn't the kind of world that we lived in now.  But it is.  They get a little more freedom when we go visit Granny and can play in her back yard, out in the country.  

Jace was out playing with chalk (in his super cool shirt from probably the eighties that he wore as pajamas and then all that day) and he sounded pretty happy.  Too happy.  When I looked out on closer examination I discovered why he was so happy.

He was out scribbling with chalk as hard as he could and then rubbing his hands in it and smearing it all over his clothes and body.  And then running after Cameron and trying to "disguise" him as well.  I believe I even heard him gleefully tell Cameron, "We'll be so disguised no one will even know the truth!"  The truth about what, I wonder.  

 Even though I was dreading the fact that I was now going to have to give him a full blown bath, he was having so much fun with it that I just let him keep at it.  Which later warranted a, "You're the best mom," from him. Lest you think he is always so praiseful, this morning I heard him telling Cameron, "Mommy took the play-doh stuff to nursery.  So we don't have it.  Because she is a bad mommy.  But don't tell her that.  We still love her."

Cameron wasn't thrilled with the disguise.  Tough luck.

I never really did a side by side comparison with Cameron and Jace because I knew they looked completely different.  But since Olivia could be Cameron's twin I had to do one.  And also I couldn't leave Jace out.  You can see how different he looks from the two of them.  I should have put Olivia in that same onsie.  Same head.  Same droopy cheeks.  Same double chin.  Same little nose. Same eye shape, though Liv's eyes are a little lighter.

Little Liv got to sit outside for the first time yesterday and she thoroughly enjoyed it. She got that tongue out there and everything. She loves to watch her brothers play and smiles and coos at them, though they rarely give her the attention she wants when they're playing together.  

I love this picture of Cameron.  I got this right after he dumped a bunch of sand on my legs and I yelled, "Why did you do that?!"  Then he gave this look.  It's his I-know-you're-mad-at-me-but-how-can-you-stay-mad-at-such-a-cute-face look.

Too bad for him he didn't have a chance to give it to me about two minutes ago when he got up from bed for the fifteenth time.  He was too busy running back to bed holding his butt saying, "Not a spanking!"

Don't worry, I didn't give him a spanking.  I rarely do because then he cries as if you've broken his little heart.  I just shut his door.  And the next time he gets up the child proof door thing will be going on the knob.  That threat usually seems to do the trick, so we'll see. 

Also I decided that if I had a quarter for every time Jace gives me this look I could probably raise enough money in week for a nice getaway at a nice hotel.  Too bad no money comes with it.  

Jace loves the sandbox and Cameron loves his bat.  

So there you go.  It's eight o'clock.  And Brice still isn't home yet.  I should go straighten up the house.  But I don't want to.  Bad move sitting down at the computer. . . 

Our computer was acting up so before it died completely I took it to this place called Computer Aid.  Just a guy named Mike I guess who fixes computer on site or has them dropped off at his home/office.  He had some pretty good reviews so I tried him out and for 49 bucks he spiced up our computer, cleaned off any viruses, and physically cleaned the fans and stuff (which was the main problem).  I was pretty impressed.  Unless later I find out he installed some sort of steal-your-money-spyware or something.  Here's hoping that he didn't. 

When Olivia was born she was given these cute newborn shoes.  And here's how they looked then.  

And now three months later they actually fit her. 

She is a great little sleeper in the morning after she eats so that's when we usually run our errands.  On this morning she kept sleeping even after we got home and I took her out of her car seat to wake her up.  She was sleep sleepy I guess. 

It's finally been warming up outside.  Well actually it's been going from warm to cold, to warm, to cold, to warm again.  I'm pretty sure that this week its going to get up to 80 at some point and then down to 50 for a high at some point.  I'm just hoping Cam Spam doesn't get sick again.  Because he will literally have to be coughing nonstop for me to take him to the doc.  I don't know if I can handle another round of steroids. 

On one day it was warm enough for a light jacket so we went outside for a while.  Cam is a lot braver on the trampoline this year than he was at the end of the warm season last year.  

Jace spent most of the time out there blowing bubbles for the dog.  Actually he started blowing them for Cameron, but after Cameron was plowed into several times I put him on the trampoline.  For safety.  From crazy Andy who doesn't look at anything that might be in his way when he's got something in his sights.

And then Jace started climbing the fence so of course Cameron had to show that he could do it, too.

Then last weekend, conference weekend, the boys got to play with this fun jumbo ball.  Brice's friend from work gave it to them, and they looooooved it.

Of course it isn't real fun without some tears, right?  And who do you think caused the tears?  Yes, it was daddy.

 

And when they fell out of the hole like this, Brice called it getting "pooped out".  No wonder the boys talk about poop so much.