To Grandmother's house we go

Today I just want to take a second and thank the fabulous Margaret Worth, my mother-in-law. Today I dropped all three kids off at her house. She played with and fed the kids while I got the oil changed in the car and went out to lunch all by myself. This is a weekly ritual that I am VERY thankful for. What Mom isn't thankful for a chance to not feel like everybody else is more important for a minute?

My brother, Joe, and his wife, Jessica, just moved their family close to my parents. I miss my mom constantly. She is one of my best friends. So, of course, I am jealous of Jessica. They get to be there for the just-hanging-out kind of days that are so hard to get when you are visiting for a short while. Their kids will be so well known by their grandparents.

But when I start to feel jealous I just think how thankful I am to have Margaret nearby. I'm sure her daughters (and sons too for that matter) are jealous that I live near to her. We are at Grant and Margaret's house for the just-hanging-out kind of days. Margaret knows my kids so well. My kids love Grandma Worth.

But I am thankful to/for Margaret for more reasons than just because she takes care of my kids. She is also a very thoughtful friend and confidant. Plus, she's a riot to talk to. She continuosly teaches me about motherhood, parenting, husband/wife relations, the gospel, life, being happy, living frugally, being self-reliant, dealing with troubles, etc. She is great.

If you don't know her - go check out her blog. There are some great stories, great humor and great lessons to be learned (plus, most recently, some really cute pics of Asher from Thanksgiving).

Margaret's blog

Name That Body Part Answers

I've posted the answers to Name That Body Part above each body part in the previous post. I hope you all did well.

Can you believe the rolls on that boy?

Name That Body Part

(read the following in a cheesy annoying announcer voice)

Ok Folks! It's time for the ever popular game: Name That Body Part! Our subject today is Mr. Isaiah Worth. Watch out contestants! He is chub from head to toes so it may be hard to tell which bit of chub you're looking at.

Body Part 1: Upper leg and bent knee

Body Part 2: Arm

Body Part 3: Forehead
Body Part 4: Ankle and foot
Body Part 5: Arm
Body Part 6: Both legs (and crotch)
Body Part 7: Face

How do you think you did? Boy, that Body Part #5 is a doozey. Stay tuned for the answers tomorrow on Name That Body Part!

(or email me if you're dying for the answers right now)

Rub-a-dub-dub, thanks for the grub

A bedtime prayer by Naomi (age 4):

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for today. Thank you for blessing the food at dinner. Amen

(Maybe this prayer was brought on by me making pumpkin soup for dinner and she didn't like it. )

Chic Made

I went a little crazy yesterday. All day long I thought about, obsessed about, dreamed about the same thing. Then I told Richard what I was thinking about - and he started thinking about it too. Before you know it, we own a domain name and we have a business plan. Tonight we'll make the website. And very soon we will be in business. What business?

I have often made some cutesy little thing and thought "This is cool enough to sell. But it's not really big enough to list on Craigslist or something. And I might only have three of them so it's not worth finding some Fair or something to sell it at." So for those people who think that - we bring you Chic Made. Here's how it works: You send to us the things you've made that you want to sell. You and I decide on a price, which includes the cost of shipping. We list the items on our website (ChicMade.com). Someone buys the things you made. We send you a check. If you want to make and sell more, great. If you want to try making something else, great. If not, great. There is no commitment to make more. There is no commitment to make anything ever again if you've sold something on ChicMade.com before.

What do you think? Are your creative juices running already? Are you thinking of something you could make for ChicMade right now? Well get to work! All you have to do is make it and send it to us. I know I have some very talented family and friends. We really are trying to get this going this week. (Having a web-programmer for a husband sure is helpful.) So make something cute and send it to us. You're home-made something-er-others can be a part of the launch of a soon to be bazillion-dollar website. You'd be making history! So knit it, paint it, bead it, crochet it, manipulate it, cut it, sew it...whatever. Get busy!

Fighting the fluff

OK. It's post Thanksgiving. One of the serious down-sides of hosting Thanksgiving is that all the leftovers are at my house (this is also one of the perks, but you get my drift). There is still pretty much an entire pie in my fridge. There are M&M's and cookies and Kisses and other chocolates in my "snack cupboard". Not to mention that there is still Halloween candy in this house (at least all the chocolate is gone by now). And Christmas is prime cookie time. I can think of at least three kinds of cookies that are emotionally tied to Christmas for me. I want to make them (and eat them) all in the next month.
When I had my Gallbladder removed I managed to loose 10 pounds. I have gained at least 7 of those pounds back. But I really liked that month or so that my jeans were loose. I would like to loose those 7 pounds again plus 10 more. That is my goal. I'm putting it out there for all of you. If you didn't want to know...well, too bad. I lost those 10 pounds in just a week by eating only fruits and veggies - so I figure if I eat mostly fruits and veggies now maybe I can loose those 10 in two weeks. Plus I can exercise so maybe that will help too. The exercise plan is to 1) wear a pedometer and take 10,000 steps a day 2)Dance with the kids every day for at least 10 minutes 3) Occasionally actually exercise (I'm still working on the plan for that one).
All this was inspired by Fight the Fluffy , which my sister, Angela, is a contributor to. It's a great join-the-group kind of support blog. Plus I love calling my extra weight "fluff." Fluff seems much more manageable than fat.
So that's my rant. I know it doesn't technically belong on this blog because it has nothing to do with my cute kids (unless you factor in that I weighed 50 pounds less than I do right now before I had any kids). Anyway, I'll try not to bore you with it anymore but just to comment like mad on Fight the Fluffy. I just thought my goal should be out there for the world to see so that you can hold me to it.

Thanksgiving

I know it's several days after the fact, but I am finally ready to post pictures of Thanksgiving. It took me a day or two to get things together enough to be up to the task. But now the house is back to pretty much normal. And my stress level is back to normal. So now I can look back on the holiday and savor the memories. Here are some of the great shots.


A busy kitchen, of course. Here, Anna is making homemade noodles using the turkey juices. We had noodles instead of gravy. Yum, yum, yum!

This is our dining room and living room set with our three tables. Here's the tally: two of my tables, 12 of my chairs, one table and three chairs from Grant and Margaret, and five chairs from Kevin and Kelly. Don't even get me started on where we got all the silverware and other necessities.

And we all wouldn't be here without Margaret and Grant starting it all with a gleam in their eyes.
Here's the whole group. We squeezed into this corner for a photo where I had jammed all the living room furniture - but for some reason a lot of people seemed to like it there and hung out there, five or six on the couch at a time. There was lots of love in the room.

Cousins watching TV. Here is Asher and Collin enjoying a little bonding time.

Cousins in a tree. Here are Aiden, Emily and Kyle in the tree in our front yard. I think the whole neighborhood knew we had family over. They could hear and see us pretty much the whole day. I think this because several of them have made comments to me. I think maybe they think I'm nuts.

Cousins hugging. Here is Avery, Ashby and Erin hanging out and passing around the love.

Cousins hanging out. Here's an example of too many people piled on the couch like I mentioned before. It was a popular corner of the house despite it's cramped furnishings.

It was a fabulous Thanksgiving. The food was fabulous, the company was fabulous. It really couldn't have been better. So thanks to everybody who came and helped and ate. Any of you West Coast Worths wanna come next year? Our door is always open.

Princess Rantings

Today Richard and I saw the movie Enchanted.

It was very cute and I really enjoyed it. The basic plot is that a fairy-tale princess is somehow knocked into modern New York city. Much mayhem ensues. After the movie Richard and I had a great discussion. Here are my thoughts:
I know there are some people who are against children playing with Princesses and Barbies and such. I am not one of those people. Naomi has many Princesses and I think her total count of Barbies is up to 5 now. They get her imagination going like nothing else. She plays with them in family circles. For example, before she had a Ken doll she used one of her Barbies as a boy by taking all her clothes off. Some are the children and some are the parents. She pretends they go shopping, take naps, eat dinner, play at the park, etc. Basically, she and her Barbies copy our daily routine. Recently she has started them "getting married". But all they do is hold hands and dance together. I don't worry about her getting a warped view of the female body from her Barbies. I think she has a clear picture of Barbies as a pretend woman and me as a real woman. As long as she has positive female influences in real life, I don't worry about pretend life. Some of the Barbies and Princesses are not dressed modestly. I worry about that a little, so she and I talk pretty often about who is modest and who isn't and why modesty matters. Some of the Princesses come with stories that some view as teaching incorrect principles. Maybe that's true. But those same stories have overwhelmingly positive messages too. Here are some of the lessons that can be learned from Princesses and their stories:

You can be happy if you keep a positive attitude

There is a "happily ever after" for those who make correct decisions in their lives

Often, hard trials come before the "happily ever after"

Work can be fun, or at least easier, if you go at it while singing and dancing

Honesty is the best policy, and the sooner you get to the truth the sooner you can be happy

Women should be treated like Princesses by the ones who love them

It's great to have a Prince rescue you, but sometimes you have to take things into your own, strong hands

There are mean people in the world

Are there any more lessons to be learned from these toys and tales?

Pre-Thanksgiving

Today is a busy day for me. My over-night guests arrive tonight. Then, tomorrow, it's 26 people at my house pretty much all day. So, today I am doing laundry, cleaning, baking pies, cleaning, organizing, etc. On days like this all "TV viewing rules" fly out the window (actually they are thrown out with both hands, overhanded, and a little rocket strapped to their backs). So here is what I saw in the family room when I looked in earlier as I whisked past on my way from one chore to another.

Asher is sitting in Isaiah's carseat and Naomi is in the laundry basket. Hey, whatever keeps them quiet, right?

Teeth and spit

Isaiah is very advanced. At the young age of 6 months - he has two teeth! He's been a real sport about getting them, too. Minimal grumpiness. (This always amazes me because I'm pretty sure that if I was getting a tooth or two I would either stay in my room moaning all day or be the meanest person you've ever met. Or possibly rely heavily on drugs. Maybe all three options. But anyway - I have much sympathy for sweet little children who are getting teeth especially since they have no idea why they are in such utter agony.)

So here is a picture of his cute little teeth and a video of the new fun trick he learned now that he has all that extra spit to go with his new teeth.

(I've been kind of video-happy lately on the blog. I hope everybody can see them alright. If you can't, please let me know.)

Four!

This weekend we celebrated my first baby's fourth birthday!!!! Four!!! How did that happen?
Anyway - here are the highlights...

Below is the cake that Richard made. It's Belle from Beauty and the Beast. This was our first attempt at a doll-cake and we learned some lessons. Next time maybe she'll be a bit taller. But as you can see, Naomi loved it. And that's all the matters.

A Barbie from Mom and Dad

A Care Bear from Kevin and Kelly

A Super-hero doll from Grandma and Grandpa

Here she is modeling the nightgown from Mom and Dad along with her entire "take".

And just in case you haven't had enough - here's a video of blowing out the candles.

I tried to wax poetic in some way about my baby turning four. I thought about what I have learned in these four years. I have learned so much that it's impossible to put into words. There is no poetic way to explain how I feel about it because I am still in the process of being totally blown away. Naomi is the sweetest, kindest, cutest, happiest, funniest little girl I've ever given birth to. She makes me happy. I love to make her happy. I think everybody in the world should get to know her - and they would be better people for it. This morning I was reading in the Book of Mormon in Mosiah about becoming as little children and how that will lead us to salvation. Naomi is the perfect example of that. All those traits of hers that I just listed are the things we are supposed to exemplify. Anyway - that's as poetic as it gets around here today. I guess I'll leave the poetry to the prophets.

Rolly-poley

Isaiah finally learned how to roll over. And now that he started - he just won't quite! We had to put him to sleep in a wedge shaped pillow last night so that he would stop rolling over.

The problem really is that he can roll from his back to his tummy but then after a while he gets tired of being on his tummy, but he can't roll back onto his back yet. So he cries. Anyway -below is a video of earlier in the day yesterday when he was still working on mastering the roll. Listen very closely near the end when I ask him a question. His answer is funny - but you can just barely hear it on the video.

Pittsburgh

Sorry for my long absence. After driving to Pittsburgh last weekend I just never really got back onto the blogging wagon (is that a blogon?). The trip was great. Naomi was so excited to see her cousins, Ashby and Avery. And Asher was even old enough to kind of play with them. On Saturday we all just hang around together. Richard and Roger played with the girls outside. Chelsea and I had some time to chat. The kids all watched TV and played with toys.

Then in the evening Richard and I went to see his nephew Reed in 42nd Street. It was amazing. Reed was great and so was the whole show. (as an added bonus - check out my new hair-cut in the photo below)

We had a great visit. We miss their family very much. We're so glad we'll get to spend even more time with them next week.

What's next week? Oh, nothing really. Just 25 people at my house for Thanksgiving. We are so excited to be hosting an East Coast Worth Thanksgiving. I have a page-long list of things to do before a week from today - but I'd rather clean for a big event like this than just randomly anyway. Anybody else out there feel the same? It's more fun when you know it will be appreciated by someone. Anyway, did I mention we're excited? I love having a big party and playing the hostess. I don't love the cooking - but I'll have plenty of help with that part.

Maybe you'll get a tour of my house out of this! I've been meaning to clean up each room and show them off - but they're never all clean at the same time. So maybe I'll get to that. Or maybe I'll be focusing on the dozens of other things on my to-do list. Who knows? You'll just have to wait on the tips of your toes in anticipation.

Happiness

I have recovered from my grumpy day. Actually, just writing that post made me feel a lot better. Ranting is therapeutic.
This weekend we get to see one of our Worth nephews in a play (42nd Street). We are so excited. We'll be super busy so there probably won't be any posting. I didn't want that grumpy post from yesterday to be the thing that you see on my blog all weekend so I thought I'd better post something happy.

Something happy: Naomi has started using the word "disaster" like her mom does. "Oh, Asher, you are such a disaster!" (said when his face is messy) or "Oh, Mom, look what a disaster Asher made of the toys!"

Something else happy: Asher learned how to say "hi". Now he walks up to me and this cute little "hi" comes out. It makes me melt every time.

Another something else happy: Isaiah. He's just a happy guy.

Have a great weekend everybody. I'll be back soon.

Phhhhhhhllllllp

(That's me sticking my tongue out and blowing)

That's how I feel today. Emotionally yucky. I'm a grump. I'm in a bad mood. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I'm PMSing. There's no sunshine in my soul. Whatever you want to say. I am generally a happy person. I've spent a long time getting rid of (most of the) sarcasm and pessimism that I built up in my youth. Now, I try hard to be the perky one. But today is an exception and I am going with it. I'm gonna be emotionally grumpy. Here are some things I suggest doing on an emotionally grumpy day (if you are ever like me) to pass time without actually facing life.

* Let your kids take a long bath with bubbles and more water than usual. Do not gripe about too big of splashes. Do not wash them or their hair. This may seem like just giving them what they want - but it's really a break for you. You could even read a book or magazine if you want. This killed 40 minutes this morning!

* Sit on the floor in the family room and pick up a toy. Your 3 year old will take it from you faster than spit because she thinks it is the best toy in the house since you are holding it. Then pick up a book and start reading it aloud. Your toddler will come sit on your lap. You can space out totally while the 3 year old plays and the toddler sit quietly and you mindlessly increase the toddler's brain power. If the toddler is young enough you might even be able to get away with reading YOUR book aloud to him!

* Go get UNdressed. That's right. Put those PJ's back on. This doesn't really pass time - but you feel better while the time passes.

* Make a gigantic batch of cookie dough. Make a normal batch of cookies from the gigantic batch of dough. Use the dough as therapy - it's cheaper anyway.

* Let your kids have a second snack. Let them play in the water in the bathroom - in fact, hand them 3 spoons and 2 bowls. Ignore your kids when they squabble unless there's blood present.

* Make your Christmas list. Get on the computer and make a list like you used to when you were a kid. Did you know there were prices in those ToysRUs ads when you were 7? No! So just go find all the stuff you want and put it in a list. It's fun.

* Ya know that one thing, or that pile of things, that has been sitting on your kitchen counter/in the front hall/on the stairs for three months? Pick it up and stick in in a cupboard. Or the laundry room. Or under your bed. Wherever. The point is - move it. That way you feel like you've been productive because that pile isn't there any more!

* Get back in bed at some point and pull the covers all the way up over your head. Imagine you're in some other bed from your past when you had less going on. For me - it's my college bed. Imagine the room around you. Imagine the other people in the house with you. Imagine what you're going to have for dinner. Basically - take a vacation in your mind.

*Write a silly blog post to validate your grumpy feelings and the fact that you are being totally non-productive and adolescent.

Any other suggestions on how to pass the time on an emotionally grumpy day?

Let sleeping babies lie

Or is it lay? I don't know. Anyway - the point is that I think most people are concerned that their children do not get enough sleep. I, however, have decided that maybe part of my problem is that I let my kids sleep too much. Here are the recommended amounts of sleep for an average kid (according to the November issue of Parenting magazine)

Birth to 2 months - 10 1/2 to 18 hours
2 to 12 months - 14 to 15 hours
1 to 3 years - 12 to 14 hours
3 to 5 years - 11 to 13 hours
5 to 12 years - 10 to 11 hours

Naomi, who is nearly 4, sleeps 12 hours each night. So she's pretty much right on there. She takes a "nap" in the afternoon - but there is usually no sleep involved. I tuck her into her bed and say goodnight around 1:00 and she stays in bed about, oh, 5 seconds after I close the door. After that she plays "until the 3 comes" on her clock then she knows she can come downstairs. I think it's pretty much miraculous that this system works. I don't think for 2 seconds that any of my other children will be as good about "nap time" as she is - because...well...it's just miraculous.

Asher, who is 18 months, sleeps 12 hours each night too. Then he takes a morning nap that is somewhere between 20 minutes and 2 hours depending on the day. But no matter how long the morning nap actually sleeping part is, he stays in bed for about an hour and a half. How do Mom's get dressed if their little ones don't take a morning nap? Asher is not trustworthy enough to be left totally unsupervised for that long. Anyway, then he also takes a 2 to 3 hour nap in the afternoon at the same time as Naomi. Here is where I think the problem is. That makes a total of 15 to 17 hours of sleep for him. According to that chart he should only need 12 to 14 hours of sleep per day. So if I cut back on night-time sleep does that mean he would sleep better during the day? But then - isn't the point that he doesn't need that much sleep at all? Or should I just let it be since if he's sleeping then he obviously needs the sleep. That chart is just an average calculation, right?

[There is no picture of Asher sleeping here because it is impossible to get one. The second you walk into his room he pops up and bounces on his bed no matter how asleep he was half a second before]

Isaiah, who is 6 months, sleeps 15 hours at least every day. It's hard to calculate him exactly since he kind of cat naps mostly. He sleeps at least 11 hours at night, and takes at least an hour nap in the morning while I'm showering and stuff. And he usually takes an hour or two nap in the afternoon (he goes to sleep about the time the older kids wake up - we'll have to work on that when he's a little older. Right now I think it's great that he's awake when they're asleep so that I can have some time with just him. Eventually though, I'll want a total break during that time). Then he snoozes after dinner too for a while. So I think that all adds up to 16 hours on a bad day.

Am I letting them sleep too much? What do you think? Is there such a thing as letting a kid sleep too much?

(This was an incredibly long, detailed post. If you actually read all of it and you're not my sister Angela, I'm impressed. [No offense, Ang - this is just the type of thing that you and I discuss all the time so I know you'll read it.] Anyway, thanks for reading it all if you did.)

Tagged

A while back my sister-in-law, Chelsea, tagged me. Which I guess means I am supposed to write six things about me that not many people know. That's a tall order since mostly my family reads this blog. But I thought of at least one good one today, so here goes:

* I was once rescued by a UPS man. When I was like 8 I was riding my bike down a monstrous hill and at the bottom I braked wrong or something and flew over the handlebars, skidding on my face. My two front teeth came entirely out. The UPS man carried me home.

* One of my front teeth is totally fake and the other is half fake - see above.

* I went to college at an LDS school, this most of you know. What you don't know is that I basically did it on a bet between me and God. God won.

* I would never marry someone I hadn't know for at least a year - maybe two. Oh...Oops. Richard and I went from meeting to married in about 3 months. And we just happily celebrated our 6th anniversary - so take that stubborn-know-it-all-younger me.

* I snuck out of the house after curfew on a regular basis during high school. Usually just to walk around my neighborhood. Alone. Every once in a while, to meet a boy.

* I was run over by a car on my mission. My companion was driving and she thought I was in the car, but I wasn't. I had leaned in the back door right behind her to put my bag on the seat. She went right over my foot. I was wearing Mary Janes with a huge buckle. Miraculously - nothing was broken. I have great pictures of the tire tread marks on my stockings and my big swollen black and blue foot. Too bad they're not digital.

* Even though I sometimes complain about it on this blog, I LOVE being a Mom. I feel like it is one of the few things in my life that I am really really good at. I know that may sound arrogant - and time will tell how good I am - but it's my dream job and I think I pull it off pretty successfully.


I was really inspired to do this by my mother-in-law. The things she put on her list just totally blew my mind! What an interesting life she has led! So with that, I tag my mother (who doesn't have a blog but I really hope she'll do this anyway and email it to me and I'll post it here), my sister Angela, who has also led an interesting life including foreign travels and eccentric friends, etc., and my sister-in-law Jessica who is Dutch and for sure has intriguing things in her past that I have no idea about. Share, ladies!

Asher is a genius

Check out the video below to see the newest bits of knowledge that Asher has obtained. You can also see his bright red cheeks a little bit. I'll include a photo of the cheeks too. They get red-er and red-er as he plays hard. Here he has just woken up, so they are minimally red. Fortunately, he doesn't feel too bad. But we are in for another quarantined day inside the house. Mommy may go nuts. Just added to the list of things to do: a haircut for Asher - look at that long hair! Funny how I don't notice stuff like that until I see a picture.

Fifth Disease

Our family is in hibernation mode today since we are pretty sure Isaiah, and now Asher have Fifth Disease (otherwise knows as "Slapped-cheeks"). You can see it a little in the pictures of Isaiah in the post below. His skin is pale except his cheeks have bright red spots. This morning we have watched as Asher's cheeks turned red-er and red-er. We are watching Naomi like a hawk. There's not much we can do other than treat any individual symptom. For Isaiah he had a little fever and some loss of appetite. Asher just seems to have the red cheeks at this point. Neither of them is contagious anymore according to most websites - but I worry that the rest of us could spread it around still.
So we all stayed home from church and just had a lazy morning. Now it's 1:00 and I feel like it should be 6:00pm. But naptime approaches like a bright beacon of hope! A nap could be in MY near future too. Ahhhhhhhh.

Isaiah's new discovery

Just Thursday Isaiah discovered he has toes. In the next few days he discovered how fun they are to play with. My Mom once described Isaiah's toes as little blobs of Play-Doh jammed onto his feet. So, no wonder he likes to play with them - they're toys!

Spice Girl Parenting

Something Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice) said today on Ellen cracked me up:

"Ya know, with three boys...it's less about parenting now for me and more about crowd control."

Sometimes it definitely feels that way to me too, Posh.

Any time you want to get together and let the kids have a play date while we chat about other hot parenting issues - just let me know!

Halloween (finally)

Here are the much anticipated Halloween pics.

Getting a picture of a Princess, Pooh, and a puppy was harder than it sounds. Especially since Pooh can't quite sit up yet on his own and the puppy kept running away. But Belle was very lady-like and sophisticated.

Here is Belle "standing like a Princess." Apparently Princess' have broken necks and squinty eyes.

Here is the puppy running around and around the round coffee table in the living room. I don't know if he was chasing his tail -but he was chasing Belle.

Here is Pooh. What can you say? Have you ever seen such a cute, chubby, cherubic Pooh before? I mean, just look at those Michellen arms and legs!

still to come...

My Mom called me at 8:15 (that's 7:15 to her) this morning and asked me why the Halloween pics weren't up yet! Apparently I have set the bar too high. Anyway - I tried to put them up just now but Blogger is apparently having issues and won't let me put them up right now. But Mom, please calm down! They'll be here soon. (A couple of months ago she would probably never have seen Halloween pics - just look at those expectations go!)