is there anyone out there that knows how to get a baby to nap. here’s the situation. this little darlin doesn’t take naps. i have successfully followed the eat, wake, sleep schedule with 3 out of my 4 sugar plums, but sweet puddin has gotten the best of me so far. here is what we do:

after years of waiting and praying, george and ginger chi have been chosen to foster 4 month old twin boys. the twins will be arriving on their doorstep from child protective services on this coming thursday…march 25th. the chi’s have desired children for many years and have been faithful to follow God’s plan for them, even when it was painful and required a patience that, at times seemed unbearable. they, along with their family and friends praise God for His perfect timing and provision. their time has come…and we couldn’t be happier for them. in thanksgiving and celebration, we would like to help them obtain what they need to care for these two, sweet baby boys. the twins have a 2 year old brother and almost 4 year old sister that are currently in foster care with another family. they will be coming to see their baby brothers on a regular basis and spending some of their weekends with the chi’s. following is a list of needs that are needed for the children and contact information if you are able to help supply this Godly family with what they will need for, not just one baby…but TWO, and their brother and sister.

FOR TWINS:

1 white dresser
1 excersaucer
1 pack and play
1 crib mattress
2 bumbo seats
1 play gym (mat with hanging toys)

FOR SIBLINGS:

2 cozy coop cars
1 wagon with high sides
boy toys (appropriate for 2 yr old)
girl toys (appropriate for 4 yr old)

*gift cards to target or babies r us would be greatly appreciated.

donation contact: sixchi@gmail.com

it’s what annslee is doing right now and what i want to do. this child fights sleep like none of the others. i thought i had things under control. she was faking me. babywise…baby whisperer…james dobson…dr. sears…they can all kiss my tired……….(did i just have that thought?)

naps have been a no go. and now, it takes several hours to get her to sleep at night. once she finally goes to sleep, she sleeps all night, but good grief, it takes forever. tongiht, i’m at a point that i don’t really know what to do. i have fed her…twice. i have rocked her. i have walked her around the house. we have swayed. we have lullubied. we have bounced. now she is just screaming herself to sleep. only she is just screaming and not falling asleep. what to do…what to do? do i go get her? do i not? it’s almost 11 and we’ve been at this since 8. i just need for someone to tell me.

it’s 11:26 and she is sleeping like a baby. i went in, layed down next to her, put her pappy back in her mouth and rubbed her head for 2 minutes. she’s happy…and asleep. ahhhhhhhh.

so sunday was my very first ice skating lesson ever. the night before i dreamt that i showed up in one of those ice skating skirt outfit things with the flesh colored hose and white skates. the outfit was aqua. i’m not sure what that dream was about, other than i do remember wanting to wear one of those outfits really bad when i was little. anyways…i did not wear that to my lesson, if anyone was wondering. instead i opted for jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, which was not even close to being warm enough for the frigid temperatures of the ice rink. i made a mental note never to wear one of those little skirt outfits as soon as i took the ice. i just don’t think those are even practical. they need to be in ski outfits instead. they keep the rink at about 50 degrees. after the lesson, i was thinking about how when i was little, the positives always outweighed the negatives and i wondered when that changed. the negatives where louder to me than the positives at my first lesson. like i said, i was cold. my hands where cold and my ears where cold. actually, my ears where more than cold. they were freezing to the point of wanting to wear earmuffs….(which says something, because that would definitely put a damper on my ice skating fashion.) but i didn’t even care because they hurt so bad it was making my whole head hurt. i kept on covering them with my sweatshirt covered hands which would make me sort of lose my balance. the next negative was the rental skates. they hurt my feet really bad. i don’t wear shoes other than flips very often, so these skates are going to take some getting used to. the instructor said that we should get our own skates because they are way more comfortable and have sharper blades so that you can actually do the moves better. (the rentals have to be dull to avoid people cutting themselves…but dull blades don’t grip the ice very well.) i told chad about this little “glitch” in the whole ice skating experience. to which he replied, “we are not spending $150 on ice skates mindy.” i did a huffy breath at that response. i’m not sure he’s taking this seriously. i did really enjoy skating though…putting aside the freezing and aching feet. we learned to “swizzle” going forward and backward; change direction; glide on one foot; and how to hold our arms (that was my favorite part!) at one point, i found myself thinking, “just think…at some point, michelle kwan was learning this very thing.” then i also thought, “too bad she was probably 2 at the time.” i did find myself getting a tiny bit distracted by the little girls in the outfits, with their own white skates doing spins and jumps in the middle of the rink. i wonder when i will advance to the middle of the rink?? the highlight of the lesson was when the instructor told me that i was not a beginner 1…but could be in the level 2 class! and that was while i was skating with my hands over my ears!! i’m really excited for my next lesson. i’m going to have to figure out something to do about my ears, and think about a way to talk chad into my very own skates. i mean…we need to think about this logically. you don’t see people making it to the olympics with rental skates!!

our conversation at dinner tonight revolved around blood. probably not the most appetizing of all conversations…but none the less…

it was really about giving blood. i have given blood numerous times. the first time i did it, i didn’t eat soon enough after and passed out. that was fun. but that has been the only time that happened. anyhow, at dinner i asked the kids a question. here is how that went:

ME: “would you guys give your blood to me if i needed it?”

AIDEN & COLTON: “YES!!!”

COLTON: “i would totally give blood for you if you needed it. how do i do it?”

ME: “they stick a big needle in your arm and take some of your blood out.”

AIDEN (wide eyed): “wait. no. i wouldn’t. i wouldn’t give blood. no.”

COLTON (very thinkingly): “how big is the needle?”

ME: “it’s actually pretty big.”

COLTON: “i would mom.”

AIDEN (yelling): “NO COLTON!!!! DON’T DO IT!!!! THEY WOULD STICK A NOODLE IN YOU!!!”

CHASE (i’m thinking he will be strong and tell me he would give me blood if i needed it): “can i have dessert?”

it’s no secret that i have been trying to get to the olympics since i was about 2 years old and watched dorothy hamill skate. and i don’t mean as a spectator. my mom says that i would stand on the fireplace hearth to get as close to the t.v. as possible and watch intently. i begged, begged, begged to take ice skating lessons, but the nearest ice rink was a good 45 minutes away. then i thought that gymnastics would take me there, but when i realized that i was double their height, i knew that was a no go. i’ve never let go of the desire to win an olympic medal, and that is especially apparent during the olympics. 6 years ago, my plan was to start synchronized swimming. i figured that i could do that easy enough and that by the beijing games, i could feasibly be there. then i heard how much they train. so that’s not gonna really work with my schedule. now, i’m no expert…but i really think i could successfully pick up curling. i did some research and there is this one curler that is competing in these olympic games that is 43. by the next winter olympics, i will only be 39. and…it doesn’t look like you have to be in crazy good shape either. i did find out that she started curling when she was 8… which scares me a little. but how hard can it be? this could be a real possibility. i was beyond excited to watch the women’s skating with my girls. i told aiden for weeks leading up to the olympics that i couldn’t wait to watch it with her…just like i watched it when i was her age. technically, i think annslee could have gone either way, and aiden fell asleep half-way through the night (poor darlin…it was getting really late and she had to put up with a bunch of skiing events and news intermittently.) actually, annslee has been pretty obsessed with the downhill skiing. she will stare at the t.v. when that is on forever. now we call them “her friends, the skiers.” but that’s really beside the point. here is a picture of me and the girls watching the skaters. it does make me happy.

i am very thrilled to report that in a little over a week, i am starting adult ice skating lessons. this is all thanks to my friend, g. she had the very brilliant idea and checked into it. chad is being very supportive of this idea. he became really supportive when i agreed to taking lessons as a single skater instead of the ice dancing lessons that i originally talked about. his response to that suggestion made me laugh. he said, “yeah. i can’t skate and i can’t dance. do you really think this is the sport that i should try to pick up?” anyhow…i digress. the point is, that in a week, g and i will be lacing up our skates and i will be taking my very first ice skating lesson. wow…it’s like 31 years since i first asked for lessons, but i think it’s important to make good on a childhood dream.

i really shouldn’t do this. let you all in on the actual crazy that is in my mind. i think you’re supposed to tame the crazy in front of others…right? i don’t know why, but when i took annslee to the doctor for her 4 month well check up this past week, i told myself that i was going to blog it. not so much for whoever may end up reading this, but for me…because hopefully when i look back on this post, i will realize how far i’ve come in this area of the crazy. counting how many times i’ve been to the pediatrician as a mother is not possible, but i can add up the well check ups at least. they go at 2 weeks, 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, 3 yrs, 4 yrs, 5 yrs. i’ll stop there because that is when they stop getting all the immunizations. so, if my calculations are correct…for my 4 children thus far, i have taken them 36 times for just the well check up. this does not include all the sick or “mychildisscreamingallthetimeandnotsleepingandspittingupcontiuouslyandhasarashthatwon’tgoaway” visits. (annslee has been about 6 times for various reflux/rash reasons). so anyways…this is what i go through EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

cover the infant carrier with a blanket before going in the building. have a wipe ready. have my debit card, hand gel and my own pen in my pocket. use a wipe to open the door and push the elevator button, then use the same wipe to open the door to the office. use my own pen to sign in. tell the receptionist that we are waiting in the hall. use the same wipe to open the door to get to the hall. i gel my hands even though i haven’t touched a thing. i hold the carrier the whole time because i’m scared of all the germs that have “settled” on the floor. (if i didn’t sound crazy before…i’m sure that last sentence pushed me over the crazy edge.) this is when the infant carrier starts to get really heavy, by the way, but i push through and hope we don’t have to wait there long. they come to call us back and i always let the nurse go ahead of me so that i don’t have to touch the door handles. when we get into the room, i put the infant carrier on the paper on the table and ask them if the room had been cleaned after the last patient. they always say yes, but spray the chairs for me anyways. (i don’t know why this makes me feel better because i don’t even sit in them.) while they are asking me questions, i get another antibacterial wipe and wipe the edges of the table where the paper doesn’t touch. i get a thick blanket out of the diaper bag (that is also on the paper) and spread it on the table. by this point, they are having me get the baby down to their diaper. when we go to weigh them, i ask them to put the paper protector sideways and to use 2 of them so that the baby doesn’t touch the scale at all. when we get back to the room, i put them on the blanket while they measure their heads and length. i always watch to make sure that their hands don’t touch the wall. if they do, i wipe them. when the nurse leaves, i pick up the baby and we normally sing lullabies and bounce around the room. the doctor comes in and i somewhat stress about all the other kids that the stethoscope has touched, but i surprisingly don’t freak out or break out the wipes. after we are done, i wipe their hands and feet with a wipe, get them dressed and get them all snuggled back in their car seat and cover it up with the blanket. i fold the blanket with the table side folded in and then i use my own pen while checking out, say no thanks to the stickers, and use a wipe on the door handle and elevator buttons. when we get to the car, i take the blanket off the car seat, click it in and gel my hands. one time i took a can of lysol and sprayed the bottom of my shoes before i got in the car…but most of the time i take my shoes off outside before walking in the house. once we get home, i change clothes, put the dirty blankets, burp rags and clothes in the washer and give the baby a bath. then breathe a sigh of relief that i don’t have to do it again for another 2 months.

*if it is one of the older kids, they walk…but everything else stays about the same except for a lot of “don’t touch anythings.” i will admit, at this point, that i’m quite aware that this is not normal behavior…however it is mine.

9 years old is a good thing. life has changed a bit for dear, little colton. due to being the oldest of 4, he has acquired a few responsibilities that are new to him. for one reason or another, the transition from little kid to big kid has been harder for me than him. not only for sentimental reasons, but logistically too. for example, when do you turn over teeth control? let’s not kid ourselves…if i am not going over them, it will take a small miracle for them to remain cavity free. this is just one small issue that has been a hard loss of control for me. there is also when to start letting them bathe themselves, pick out their own clothes, put their own laundry away, making beds, cleaning rooms, and the one that still plagues me…washing their own hands. i still have the “if it’s gonna be done right i have to do it” voice in the back of my head. however, since adding puddin to the already less than in control equation, i have had to let go. we have come up with a great little idea, and it is called colton gets paid $5 a week to dust the entire house for me, put his laundry away, help chase and aiden get theirs put away, keep his room and bathroom clean, and do whatever else i may ask him to do to help. let’s face it…i would gladly pay him three times that for doing that stuff, but he thinks $5 is the cat’s meow. puddin only takes 1 long nap during the day and it is from about 9:30-12:00. so i have given myself “chores” to maintain what is left of my sanity*. before this plan was in place, i was ready to pull my hair out. i felt like i was spinning my wheels all day long trying to keep it all done and it just isn’t possible. now, as long as i finish my “chore” i feel accomplished. mondays is laundry. (i start it sunday afternoon and then try to have it finished by when the kids get home from school on monday so that they can take it up.) tuesdays i try to hit the grocery store. wednesday is bathrooms. thursday is sweeping and mopping. colton usually dusts on either saturday or sunday. i need to find a good time to vacuum. this never quite fits in because i don’t want to wake annslee up. technically, my house han’t been vacuumed since, like, christmas…but we aren’t gonna focus on that right now. this works for me, because instead of thinking i need to be “getting something done”, i can say, “i finished the bathrooms, so i can sit down and play with aiden instead of going to the next thing”…because there is always the next thing. before colton was born, i cleaned the house from top to bottom every single week and any time we had company. i mean, you just never know when someone from small group might want to poke their head in a linen closet upstairs or something. so, everything was always perfect. today, i would challenge someone to be able to get the door closed to my upstairs linen closet after poking their head in it…due to the fact that about 18 towels and 6 down pillows would most likely fall on their head if they did decide to take a gander. i’ve come a long way!

i’m sure you remember the infamous walton’s bedtime routine. i never even watched this show…but i know how the family said goodnight. the siblings would all say goodnight to each other from their own rooms and beds. “goodnight john boy”, etc. well, last night as i was feeding annslee downstairs in the living room and chad was tucking the kids in, i heard how our family does it.

chase: (yelling from his bed in his room to aiden in her bed all the way across the upstairs) “AIDEN……I JUST TOOTED IN MY BED!”

aiden: (yelling back from her bed to chase in his) “WHAT?”

chase: “I JUST TOOTED IN MY BED!”

aiden: (laughing) “CHASE….THAT’S FUNNY!!”

……..and it was.