Pox Times Four

It all started with E, a few weeks ago. Just a single red spot on her side...the next morning, she was crowned our Polka-dot Princess. Fourteen days later, Princess Two had spots, and within days, both the boys joined the Spot Club! E is back at school, but I've been home all week with three poxed kids. Good times.

Fortunately, I know lots of wonderful mamas with kids hoping for pox exposure, so we've had lots of playdates here.

E's case was pretty mild; C has lots of spots (face and torso mainly), but not much itching or other symptoms...the boys are both running hot (102ish), and poor L has TONS of spots on his face, and lots on his torso. Baby OP fortunately only has ~20 spots, thanks in no small part I'm sure to the magic of mama's milk :) This is a long week, but I'm just thrilled that all four kids will have immunity now, and it will all be over relatively quickly!

Here's poor L, looking hazy-eyed, drowsy and poxy...



Next week: San Diego!

Glasses.

Yep, C is now officially a member of the four-eyes club (no shocker, looking at her mom and dad). The poor girl is quite near-sighted (as in, 20/200) at just seven years old. At least they came in her favorite color: purple.

Chicken pox!

Last Friday E came home from school with a few small red dots on her trunk...by Saturday, she had broken out in full-on chicken pox! She has been an absolute champ dealing with them - hardly any complaints, not too itchy, and really not that many spots altogether. She is mostly scabbing over today, so definitely this weekend will no longer be contagious...thank goodness, as this mama needs a break from the house!

Fortunately we have plenty of friends who are willing to expose their kids for natural immunity, so we have been completely isolated...however, when L and C get it (most likely after Sunday, based on the minimum incubation period of 10-20 days), I will officially go stir-crazy! :)

In other news, C is in chess lessons once a week after school - she LOVES it! It's fun to have her so happy about her activity this year.

Little OP is still a smiley, happy little guy...he army crawls all over the house, is finally sitting up (as of today!) and is working on tooth #3. He will be 7 months old next Wednesday.

L is two.

Oh, more than that? He's super busy, Mr. coordinated, jumping, skipping, running, trike-riding...and tends towards the naughty when he can get away with it (as in hitting brother, climbing on the counter...etc.). He is the best ever helper though, and charms us all with his expressions and beautiful eyes. He is also finally talking a ton, and his vocabulary has exploded over the last few weeks.

We are off to San Diego on the 2nd of October for nine days (catch that, D and N!?) while the girls are on Fall Break.

The last big news: D and I are going to New Delhi, India, for 10 days in February for my baby sister's wedding! Yep, alone. As in, NO KIDS. We owe it all to my parents for offering up the tickets, and my aunt in SD who called to say she would take the kids...eek! We will be missing OP's first bday, but there is always time to celebrate. I think we are all looking forward to it!

Monday's Child...

Remember this rhyme?

Monday's child is fair of face,

Tuesday's child is full of grace,

Wednesday's child is full of woe

Thursday's child has far to go,

Friday's child is loving and giving,

Saturday's child works hard for a living,

But the child who is born on the Sabbath Day

Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.

Well, according to that...

Oliver is fair of face; Clara is full of grace; Dan, Elfie and Liam are all full of woe; and I have far to go...

Don't remember what day of the week you were born? Enter your bday here, just for kicks ;)

A few more

This was the best of quite a few shots of the four kids all together...


OP had some frozen banana in a mesh feeder last night...I thought it might feel good on his gums - he LOVED it!



OP weighed in today at 17 lb 14 oz and 26 inches...surprisingly, quite average height and weight, despite what a look at his thighs might make you think :)

Toothage!

Master OP popped his first tooth today. It does help explain the horrible night we had last night, the extra grumpiness he exhibited all day, and the low-grade fever he has been running all day. All in all, a miserable little thing today :(

He is five days shy of six months, and did not follow the pattern his older sibs had set for first teeth:

C - 6 months on the dot
E - 6 months and one day
L - 6 months and two days

So he is our "early baby" so far with birth and teeth...will that trend continue? Hmmmm....

Fashion show (aka gratuitous kid pics)

New duds from Gma P arrived today for the girls...

Camping, round one.

Friday, D came home from work a bit early so we could head North for camping. Hoping to minimize traffic issues heading out of the city, we picked up the girls about 20 minutes early from school and headed on out.


This was our first camping trip with the four kids, and the first tent camping we've done with the boys. A friend and her four boys were going to the Flagstaff KOA, so we elected to join them and save the rougher style camping for a non-inaugural run.

We made great time getting there, set the big borrowed tent up


(thanks, Aunt B), and went exploring the campground. The kids had a ball on the playground, a seemingly silly destination for a camping trip, but a bit of a treat for our Phoenix kids, for whom playgrounds are currently off-limits (too hot!). We pulled in to a comfortable 79 degrees (proof courtesy of our van):





D and I treated ourselves to Late for the Train lattes, took the kids to the best toy store, and stopped by New Frontiers (in its fancy new digs) for yummy food...

All in all, an uneventful and pleasant weekend. We look forward to going again, to a little more secluded spot perhaps, up in the cool, tall pines...

Mama's Little Helper

Friday, while madly rushing around the house, trying to entertain the boys and pack for our camping trip, I momentarily lost track of L. Now, this was not a panic kind of lost, as the doors were securely latched, and he often plays in his room (or the girls' room) alone. However, I went looking around the corner for him, and much to my (very pleasant) surprise, found him busy at work in the laundry room, diligently emptying the clean and dry diapers from the dryer into a laundry basket!

He even remembered the lint trap:


...and then he closed the door behind him, and pushed the basket back to my room!


(what, don't you wear swim tops, underwear and fleece-lined Crocs all summer, too?)

Congratulations to Rixa

I know most of you also follow Rixa's blog, but in case you haven't checked in over there in a while, she was just awarded the Lamaze International 2009 Media Award! Interview here.


Congratulations friend. It is an award very well deserved!

Flashback Friday

Summer 2002, Anchorage:


Fall 2002, Iowa:


Halloween 2002, Iowa:

March 2003, San Diego (the Gerry pack was our original babywearing device!):



Have a great weekend!

It's hot out.

Summer is in full swing here, with temps in the 110-115 range. It's hot outside and our house is hot (we keep the air on about 83-85, as anything cooler would be financially stupid). Our house is simply not capable of cooling with any normal energy expenditure - windows are '70s original single pane, doors have damage from years of dogs (not ours), and the house was poorly/not insulated anyway. So yeah, good times in hot Phoenix! Seriously, we get used to it. But it's hot :)

C is in art camp this week...the other three and I are just keeping busy with splash pads, friends, and swimming. OP has taken a couple of dives of off beds this week (eek!), but aside from trauma is a happy, smiley, super mellow little guy. L is B.U.S.Y. as one might expect a two-year-old to be...but I swear, I forget just how busy they are every time. He can climb on the counter, puts stools on chairs to reach higher, gets his own ice water, and lately has taken to joining us in bed every night...which happens to have a lovely side-effect of him sleeping past 5:00 in the morning! Wednesday he didn't get up until 8! Today was 7:15!

That's the news from here...sorry for the lack of updates. A few pics:

(above: a borrowed Didymos wrap...cotton/wool blend...I loved it so much I had to get one of my own (below)!)


(Light Blue Fische)

OP is a happily wrapped baby these days...too bad there's that heat element!

Rice. A post about my sister.

My sister planted rice in a rural Indian village this last weekend:
(second from left, red shirt, black head scarf)

She also drove on the "wrong side" of the road, playing dodge-the-cows:

I think I've mentioned it before, but I am so thrilled with google video chat and my webcam! I am able to "live" talk with A from half a world away...I often catch her in the morning, as she's headed to bed (12.5 hour time difference), and get all the updates of life in Srinigar, Kashmir, India...for those new to the blog, A is an Urdu language interpreter for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), based in Srinigar, India - the seat of the Kasmiri conflicts.

Silence.

That's what I hear right now. The boys are both asleep, and the girls left this morning with my mom for three weeks in Alaska!

We spent last week in San Diego, visiting family, playing on the beach, cruising the zoo, and generally just enjoying being over there. We lucked out with some amazing weather, but sadly returned to some (relatively) nasty humid heat here in the ol' Valley of the Sun.

Master OP has hit 16 pounds (at 18 weeks); Big L has started saying so many more words recently, and even combining for two-word sentences rather regularly.

One funny (?) from this morning...Big L was getting ice for his water from our freezer, and saw the ice cream. Well, he pointed to the logo and clear as day said "Easy." Confused? It's from Fresh & Easy and he actually recognized the brand! I thought that he did that the other day in SD too, when we drove by a store...but he was in the back seat, and I didn't hear him clearly. I'm convinced now that indeed, brand recognition starts early. Scary.

OP at 16 weeks

Nothing much to report, but Master OP did roll from belly to back on Tuesday. More soon!

Green smoothies and other uses for the Vita-Mix

I have been on a Vita-Mix kick recently! Below are the things I've made in the last few days.


Breakfast this morning: bunch of kale, 2 whole green apples, 1 banana, 2 peaches, some almond milk pulp (more on this below), OJ, and a splash of honey. I actually make a "green smoothie" every morning, but typically I go lighter on the greens and add a little more fruit...I just felt like going super-green today. A typical smoothie would include about a half-bunch of some kind of green (kale, spinach, romaine), blueberries, banana, and whatever else needs to be consumed (mango, apple, orange, strawberry, etc.). I usually add no sweetener (just wanted to offset my whole bunch of kale a little today), and usually use water as the base, not juice...but we happen to have fresh OJ taunting me from the fridge! Can I just say, it makes me SO happy to see my two-year-old (and the girls too) slurping down copious portions of these concoctions!

Almond milk: almonds, water, and a splash of vanilla. It turned out great, but a little thick, so I strained it through cheesecloth. This "pulp" is now being added to other recipes as a little nutritive boost.

Coffee freeze: almond milk, coffee, ice, vanilla and honey. Who needs Starbucks?

Strawberry ice cream: raw goat milk, whole frozen strawberries, sugar, and a splash of vanilla. It was AMAZING. So much better than anything store-bought, and it was Liam-friendly (no cow dairy)!

Peanut butter: peanuts! So flavorful!

Moroccan lentil soup: from the Vita-Mix book...this recipe. I even used home-made chicken broth D made. The only thing I didn't have was raisins, which I'm sure would add a nice sweet to the soup. I thought it was quite good, though the consistency the next day was pretty funny...

I love the Ranch Market!

Today's purchases, for $27.50:

4 avocados
1.4 lb green beans
bunch spinach
2 bunches kale
cauliflower
2 cucumbers
1.7 lb zucchini
1.5 lb brussel sprouts
1.5 lb yams
honeydew melon (3.75 lb)
2 yellow peppers
2.4 lb peaches
5 lb bag apples
pineapple
5 kiwis
2 lb organic Fuji apples
1.6 lb nectarines
4 - 1 lb clamshells of strawberries
5 champange mangos

YUM

I was not the best advertisement for babywearing while shopping however...Master OP was on my back in the mei tai screaming, as I had neglected to feed him BEFORE shopping. Silly mama.

The girls had a busy, tiring weekend...Papa B and Aunt B and Uncle M were over on Saturday to swim and eat; they took the girls home via the rodeo. After a late night, they were up early riding horses and running around the ranch. We picked them up for pictures (coming soon!) mid-morning, then returned them after lunch. They swam and played until about 4:00, when Papa B returned them home. We all went out to dinner, and then the crowd crashed hard! I had to wake up C at 7:45 so we could get her to her art camp on time!

June in Arizona...

...couldn't be more perfect (so far)! We have had highs in the low 90s, lows in the 70s. Every night, we've been opening up the house, sleeping with windows and doors open and enjoying the fresh breeze. The mornings have been more of the same - until about 11:00 when it heats up enough that I have to resort to the air. Honestly, if the house had better insulation and air flow, I could probably get away without any A/C at all! Sadly though, even on a nice day, the house gets too stuffy without.

Anyway, C has been LOVING every minute of her art camp so far. She's on day three today and has been doing paper maiche, jewelry making, dance, and lots of games. Yesterday she was dressed and brushed and ready to walk out the door at 5:30. Yes, in the morning!

The other kids and I have been hanging out - spent some time with friends yesterday, went for a walk just now. E rode her bike, and the boys rode in our new Phil and Ted's double stroller...I finally broke down and got one when they went on sale through Costco for half the normal retail. I hate to admit, but it is nice to be able to walk without a baby strapped on me...just now and then!

D is in Las Vegas for the day at a work conference...he flew up this morning, and didn't have to leave until about 7:00. He dropped C at her camp for me, which was a nice break, and we got to hang out together this morning - crazy! He usually leaves by 5:30.

That's the news. Papa B arrives today, so we look forward to visiting...off to make some food while the house is still cool!

The big update

Now that I have a moment to sit and write, figured it's time to share the "big" news (no, no more babies!!). I have decided to take a break from my apprenticeship. That's right - no more office days, no more births, no more post-partum visits. It was a hard choice for me to make, but one that became more glaringly obvious the more I started doing. Thing is, our family was sacrificing a lot for me to be gone so much, and our kids are so young! I know the day will come when the crew wants nothing to do with us, so right now, while they still love, adore and cherish every moment with mom, I need to spend my time with them. The same goes for D - I felt like I was never home to spend time with my husband, as I took advantage of his being home to do afternoon "work."

So the truth is - we're thrilled! I know I will miss the midwifery work, but I also know that it is there, and will be there when our family is ready to make that choice again. The addition of Master OP just changed things more than I ever thought it would.

The first bit of family fun we're doing is a trip to San Diego at the end of June :) One of my aunts is planning on flying over on Monday (the 22nd) to make the drive with the kids and me. D will then fly over on Thursday afternoon for the weekend. Sunday we will pack up and trek on home. We are looking forward to catching up with the extended family there, and having a little break from our heat (though to be honest, it's not bad yet!). Just a few days after we return, the girls are flying up to Alaska with my mom for three weeks. I'm not going this year, as I was going to be on call and busy at work...but even with my changes, it should be exciting for the girls to go on an adventure by themselves.

We love mei tais in this house!

Here are the boys just moments ago...OP fell asleep moments after the picture, as is his norm in any carrier. L loves going "uppie" in his MT too.

D is wearing a toddler-sized Kindercarry; I have on a Baby Hemp Tai.





Excuse the dorky pose...but I thought for once I'd post a pic with BOTH parents! Shocking :)

(and apologies to those on Facebook...I'm trying to keep my blog updated, so many posts are doubling with what I post over there!)