Sunday night, Ruby slept from midnight till 8 am without waking up to eat!!!
My parents and Greg made a quick trip to Utah this weekend. It was great to see them, and Ruby and Jonah were lucky enough to score some time with their Idaho Grandparents while Bentley and Maxwell were "fighting" Greg.
My Mom babysat while I met John for lunch at Costa Vida (it's like Cafe Rio, but closer to John's work). That's two lunch dates in two weeks! Are we lucky, or what?
I think that (for me) baby #4 has been a "tipping point" in my daily routines. Here are a few examples:1. Laundry - Before Ruby was born, I could do one load of colored laundry and one load of white laundry about three times a week, with the occasional extra load. Since her birth, the laundry never seems to end. I'm not sure how one little person can contribute so much extra laundry, but I can now do two loads of laundry every day, and even then I'm not caught up.
2. Going Places - I could take three kids grocery shopping, or to the mall, to the park, or visiting teaching (to moms with other young kids). Taking four kids anywhere, by myself, seems ridiculous. I don't even want to try. I do have to load them up a few times a week to drop kids off at gymnastics or Joy School, but I'm doing everything I can to avoid taking them anywhere that I'll have to get all of them out of the car, control all of them while we're there, and then load them up again to go home.
3. Exercise/Post Baby Weight Loss - Ruby is only two months old, so I do still have time to lose the baby weight, but so far the process is much slower than with the others. I finally bought some new clothes so that I could stop wearing warm-up pants and maternity clothes. :) Even after Jonah was born, I was able to go walking. I'd put him in the sling, and the two big boys in the double stroller, and we'd walk. After a while, Jonah was too heavy, and my walking days dwindled, and then disappeared. And there's not much hope in the near future for them to return. The big ones are too little to follow along, it's too cold outside anyway, and I'm too tired. (see number 2 above for some other reasons I don't want to take all four to exercise with me) The one solution I've thought of is to get up early and go walking alone while John is here with the kids. That's probably not going to happen any time soon. Most mornings I sleep in with Ruby until he's ready to go to work. On one level, I know that if I'd exercise, I'd have more energy, but right now I can't sacrifice sleep for that elusive extra energy.
Who knew that FOUR would be a tipping point? Not me. :)
(Malcolm Gladwell also wrote a book called "Blink." I liked it even more than "The Tipping Point.")
Today our Joy School class had Dannimals Yogurt and Teddy Grahams for snack time, but that wasn't what the lesson plans called for. This is what my manual said,
Ruby of course, but mostly I was thinking of the swing. Without it, Joy School would be really hard, and I would never get dinner made.
Comfortable Shade shirts (that are even better because I got them on sale last month)
my new Mary Jane Crocs that are just as comfortable as my old ones, but cuter
Lizz Blizz SoBeIt's a Pina Colada Flavored Beverage with a blend of Echinacea, Zinc and Vitamin C that I'm convinced helps me fight off colds if I drink it when I start feeling sick.
Joy School was at our house today, and when free play time started, the boys and girls split up. The boys stayed upstairs to be super heroes, while the girls took their dolls downstairs to play house. Suddenly, there was a cry for help. The girls needed the super heroes! Someone had stolen their babies! Our brave super heroes quickly sprang into action, and soon the girls had their babies back in their arms, safe from the awful villains.
Maybe we should go out again. :)
Total cost: $9.54It was a little difficult for him to part with so much of his money (he had $10.41), but he really wanted the paints, and he took comfort in remembering that he'll get his allowance on Monday.
He plans to paint every day while his brothers are napping. That's a great idea, Bentley!
Last night I bought a Clorox Ready-Mop. I've been resisting the urge to try it (or one of the others like it) out for 4 years now. The commercials make them sound like the answer to all my mopping problems: No messy bucket or dirty mop head to deal with. It even dries fast! Plus it kills germs.Yesterday, Bentley got creative. He wanted something to paint, so we got out the finger paints.
He used all of the finger painting paper, and painted several sheets of drawing paper. He made pictures for his brothers, and he mixed the four colors we have (red, blue, green, and yellow) to make more colors. He loved it.
Today, he wanted to continue experimenting with color. So while I was busy feeding the baby, he climbed up on a chair and got the food coloring down from the cupboard (very quietly). Then, he got some clear plastic cups and a spoon, and started mixing. I thought the boys were coloring with crayons until Jonah came running into my room with an open bottle of green food coloring. I had visions of food coloring covering every surface of our kitchen and hall, and ran into the kitchen to find that somehow the boys managed not to spill any!!!
The crayons, on the other hand, had been used to color the table, the floor, a bed, and a wall. At least magic eraser can handle crayon, right?
The other one has a big whole in the middle and is mostly doughy!!!
Any ideas???
(Mindy and Jenny)
(Greg and Mindy)
Ruby had her two month check up this morning.
February 2007 - Maxwell's chin splits open when he hits it on the ground after falling off a chair in the living room at homeConclusion: We need to invest in dermabond.
ps - the red dot at the top of the bandage is from his raspberry ice cream, it's not blood :)
Today was Ruby's blessing day! She was lucky enough to have both of her Grandmas and Grandpas, as well as Aunts Mindy, Elizabeth, Cleo, and Brianna; Uncles Warren, Mikey, Greg, and Spencer; cousins Carlene and Michelle; Great-Aunt Rhea; and friends Crystal and Darren here for the occasion.
(Spencer the Ricks Vikings fan in 1995)
(Spencer and Tator 1995)
(Warren, Spencer, Greg, and Mikey 1997)
(Warren, Spencer, Mikey, and Greg 2007)
(Spencer 1997)
(Spencer 1997)
(Brianna and Spencer 2006)
Yesterday our Joy School group met at the BYU Bean Museum.
This is one of Bentley's favorite parts. You push a button to turn on the screen, which tells you about an animal. (He likes pushing the button)
Mikey came to help me chase kids around. He was assigned "Jonah-duty" and saved me a lot of running. Thanks Mike!
Maxwell had a hard time staying on the right side of the restraining things (despite repeated warnings from his mother). He likes to get up close to the animals.
Even Ruby woke up long enough to see one or two animals. :)
Bentley entertains Ruby . . .
. . . and leaves sleeping Max and surprise (a picture of Batgirl that Bentley colored for him).
Batman (aka Jonah)
Batgirl (aka Maxwell) 
Robin (aka Bentley)
Sleeping Beauty (aka Ruby)
This is what I found yesterday morning. Bentley and Maxwell are sharing the heater vent. Poor Jonah just has his back to the cold glass door. 
The theme for Joy School this week is Interest and Curiosity. It was fun to try new things with the kids and to watch their faces light up when they learn something new, or they really like something we're doing. Sometimes as a Mom, I feel brain-dead. With each child, I feel less that way (maybe I have less time to think about it, or maybe the older kids challenge my intellect more?), but sometimes I still feel like I'm in a learning rut. I like to take community education classes, and to read good books. Those things help, but sometimes I miss college. Not the homework or the stress, but the (book) learning. Today, I was thinking about college classes that I really liked, or that taught me a lot (not always the same thing). Here's a list of my favorites:
