I once again forgot about my recently acquired sensitivity to mushrooms and ate an amazing Vietnamese dish at the ward potluck. Since I am suffering the effects, this will be brief.

I had an appointment with my new doctor on Monday. She seems much more willing to treat me like a person than the people in the last office did. It was nice to come out of there feeling happy and well-treated.

Sydney's allergies have flared up a lot since she started school. Although the doctor put in a prescription for Claritin since she has had it before, she has not been doing well this weekend. I've had to add cough suppressant and breathing treatments of steriods and albuterol to keep her from coughing hard enough that she throws up. It's made for hard days and a couple of rough nights.

I started watching my friend's six-year-old on Tuesday and Thursday nights. He is a really well-behaved little boy, and he praises my cooking. Who knew that pasta with spaghetti sauce and barbecue chicken sandwiches could garner such gratitude?

Tansy has a developed a funny way of telling me that she is lonely. She ask, "Mommy? Where Nay-nee?" I'll say, "You know where Sydney is." She'll reply, "Nay-nee at 'chool. Daddy at Teckas." Then we usually read a book or something to get her mind off of it.

Zack is determined to get a mouth full of teeth one painful tooth at a time. This round of teething has gone on forever. He is such a moody guy. It's like he has a switch because it is so fast when he changes. It definitely keeps me on my toes.

You will notice that Sydney wrote her name backwards on this paper, including the letters except for the "y"s. When I asked her about this, she said, "I was mad because they wouldn't let me see my mom and dad, so I wrote my name backwards." How's that for revenge? Five-year-olds can be absolutely diabolical. Despite this incident, Sydney is really enjoying school. She's a much happier girl when I pick her up than I expected. She had her first school lunch last week and told me it was awesome. I still only get tidbits here and there, but I'll take what I can get.

The other benefit of school is that Tansy's sentence structure has improved immensely. I now notice how much Sydney talks for her, even though I swore I wouldn't let that happen. Another parenting absolute down the drain. With all of this reality flushing my good intentions, I may need to keep a plumber on standby.


This isn't a great picture because Zack was eating and not cooperating and it was a day and a half later, but Zack gave himself a black eye. What catastrophe caused this? I don't know. His face was fine when he went to bed Thursday and bruised the next morning. Syd had a bruise in the middle of her forehead and Tansy had a big scratch on the side of her head as well. I know I slept soundly that night, but seriously, kids. What did you do?

This was also the morning of Zack's well child visit. He's still very middle of the road with his height and weight and has a big fat head. We got a referral to a physical therapist since Zack is significantly behind on his gross motor skills. He doesn't roll, crawl, or cruise. He only stands holding on to my fingers but not to any stationary objects. He gets around by throwing his feet out in front of him and scooting up to them. He is actually getting pretty fast. He doesn't go in until September 2.

I played the piano in Primary for the first time today. It went really well. I had a lot of fun and was really grateful to have a Primary calling that has a really low incidence of full-body contact. There are some wild kids in there.

Ben got to go to the Dallas Temple yesterday. He has been wanting to go since he got there. It is a little closer than the St. Louis Temple is to us, and he doesn't have to manage kids. We are planning on getting out to St. Louis when he gets home. It's quite an adjustment to have the temple 3 1/2 hours away now. More like planning a weekend trip than an evening. At least it is accessible, and I am grateful for that.

So, we got The Prince of Egypt from Netflix last week, and Sydney was absolutely in love with it. This is her version of looking like an Egypt guy. It is also what she is currently planning to wear on our trip to Egypt. Good thing that is a LONG way off. Perhaps we will master modesty by then.

Sydney found a leotard in a box of clothes we were going through to see what fit her. She also found some black, shiny Sunday shoes in the same box and asked if they could be her pretend dance shoes. Tansy found a swimsuit and some white Sunday shoes that were her size in the box and couldn't stand to be left out. I've been treated to several shows by my two dancers.

Each of the kids has experienced a big milestone this week. First, I turned Zack's car seat to the forward-facing position. He loves it. He rarely fusses about getting in the car anymore and seems much more comfortable. The first time I put him in, he just kept grinning and grinning.

Sydney started school! She is officially in Kindergarten as of Thursday. On Wednesday night, she got up a couple of times to tell me she was having a hard time sleeping because she was so excited for school. She had her lunch planned a week in advance. She wore her "new" hand-me-down clothes that were "very perfect for Kindergarten." I had a hard time waiting for the report on the first day because Sydney takes a while to unwind before talking about things. Seven hours of school is a lot to recover from. However, shortly after dinner, I got the scoop. She loves it and is excited to go back tomorrow.

On Friday, I took the plunge and started potty training Tansy. It's been almost three years since I started with Sydney. I forgot how hard it is. We have teeny-tiny bathrooms, and at one point yesterday, all four of us were in there with two dozen books, a Mr. Potato Head, and a harmonica. Yikes. Tansy is excited, as you can see by her supermodel pose in her new training panties. I'll be excited one of these days. I hope. The new baby is due in five and a half months, and I am hoping to only have two in diapers.

I have also acquired a little monkey. How long before she breaks her arm?

One of the best things about Sydney going to school is that I have found the perfect time to go to the gym. I drop off Sydney at 8:15, then I can head to gym from there. There is a mothers' room with a plexiglass barrier through half of it. One side has a DVD player and toys, the other has treadmills, ellipticals, and bicycles. I can see my kids the entire time. More important, they can see me. As soon as we get home, it's time for Zack's nap. I pop a movie in for Tansy and take a shower. Awesome. I didn't know about the mothers' room until Thursday so Friday was the only day I have gone, but I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Ben is continuing to do well at tech school. He is getting excellent scores on his block tests and only has six more weeks to go before we get him back for a while. We are all looking forward to that.

I am counting on the fact that all of my faithful readers would be absolutely crushed if I failed to post today, so I dragged my lazy body off of the couch and all the way to the computer to write this. You're welcome.

Our week started out with a trip to Lee's Summit to get Zack's one-year portraits. Lee's Summit is about 45 miles away. However, I live in the middle of nowhere, so we either had to break the bank for a private photographer or go to WalMart. One WalMart portrait experience was enough for me to vow that would never happen again. So, off to JCPenney. I am fortunate to have amazing friends who watched the girls so I wouldn't have to manage them while trying to get Zack through portraits. When I had this great idea, I forgot that I would have to go back again this week to pick them up. But who can complain when they have such a great military discount. All of my proofs through email for free, $3.99 traditional portrait sheets, no sitting fees, and a free 8x10. Got all of my pictures for $17.33. That was worth the drive, friends.

Tuesday morning, Sydney had Kindergarten screening and registration. When we got there, one of the teachers said she was taking Sydney to the library while I filled out paperwork. Sydney was a bit hesitant about this so I wondered how she would do. She completed all of the tasks they gave her except for one. She actually told me that she did everything "very perfect." She was so excited. She is in the same class as a little boy in her class at church, which she is happy about. Although, maybe not quite as happy as she is at the prospect of finally breaking in that stegosaurus lunch box this Thursday. She's already planning what she will pack for lunch. I am already planning on using an entire box of tissues to get me through the seven hour school day.

Tuesday afternoon was the long anticipated dance class. Sydney loved it. I didn't. The waiting area has twelve chairs, which were all occupied by the time we got there. The opposite wall was also completely lined with people and there were more people standing. I had to wedge myself and the babies into a small area right by the counter where people had to step over us to get to the desk. It was awful and got really hot. I thought it was crowded until the kids for the next classes started arriving. It was nearly impossible to get out, and Sydney so desperately wanted to show me what she had learned, despite being crushed. I found out the next day that they are finally started a dance class again on base on September 1. Since we've paid for August, we'll finish that month. Then I'm switching. I don't think Syd will care as long as she gets to dance, and I can just drop her off and come home since it's right here and not twelve miles away.

Zack has been getting three teeth, so when Wednesday night rolled around, I was hardly in the mood to pack them all down to the church for Enrichment meeting. However, they were serving dinner, and I knew I could pawn him off on someone else for a little while, so off we went. Since I was watching kids, I didn't get to help with the service project, but I did get some much needed adult time.

Thursday I got a real break. One of the twelve-year-old girls at church wanted to do some service and asked me if she could babysit my kids for at least ten hours over the next few weeks while Ben is gone. Since she is one of the most responsible kids I've met, I jumped at the chance. In less than an hour and a half, I went to the post office, WalMart, and the bookstore. I didn't know that was humanly possible. The kids love Savannah, and she is going to watch the babies on Wednesday while I take Syd out to lunch and to finish getting ready to go to school.

Thursday and Friday afternoons, we set up the pool and had friends over. Thursday we had a little girl that Sydney likes to play with and her little brother. Everyone seemed to have a great time and it was really mellow. Friday, I had invited friends that only had boys. Four boys in my backyard was intense. What was even scarier is that these are all well-behaved, polite little boys. Am I ready for Zack to grow up? Do I really want this baby to be another boy? I'm not sure. However, fun was had by all, and I would do it again.

Except for the two horsefly bites on Tansy's head. Man, I thought those would never stop bleeding. She was so funny about it too. She came up to me and said, "Mommy, head hurt." I kissed her forehead to sent her back to play. A minute later I noticed a HUGE bug on the back of her head and asked my friend to get it off. Her head immediately started dripping blood. When I went to see what was going on, I noticed she was bleeding on the side of her head as well. These horseflies are seriously enormous. We were wrapping up anyway, so it was in the house for a cuddle and a cleanup. Poor baby.

Today I was called to be the Primary pianist. I'm really excited and glad to have something to do at church. Zack will just make the rounds through laps until he is old enough to go to nursery. Church has become so much easier since I arranged for some help from an eleven-year-old girl named Kaija to help with the kids. Zack typically wants to go to sleep right after the sacrament, so Kaija will come sit with the girls while I take him out. Then Sydney had to go to the bathroom while Zack was sleeping, so Kaija took care of that too. She takes them to their classes after sacrament meeting, then picks them up and helps me get everyone in the car after church. Tansy believes that Kaija is her best friend and loves to sit by her and hold her hand. She is an absolute life saver.

Those girls are just a couple of examples of the amazing help I have received from the members of the church here. They are so giving and concerned for me, I rarely feel like I am taking care of these kids on my own. I don't think I have enough doctor's appointments in the pregnancy to take everyone up on the child care they have offered. There are so many people who don't just see a need, but offer specific solutions to help.

It has also helped that I have been working really hard on my daily scripture study. I have felt the spirit in our home change as I have been changed through the words of the gospel and prayer. I have more patience with the kids and they listen better because of that. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father is watching over my little family in Missouri (and Texas).

Zack has reached an exciting milestone. He can stand up while holding on to something. He is working hard to figure out how to get up there himself. He has made a few good attempts though.
He is also eating more and more. Of course, there are times that he needs to eat everything at once. It was so funny to watch him try to work that cracker into his mouth without letting go of the crackers in each hand.

And since he has sped up his scooting, this is what happens when I leave the room for mere minutes. I don't mind the movies as much as the books. I think he's caught on to that, because he hasn't touched the books for a few days.

But the most exciting thing about Zack this week is that he turned one! His birthday was Friday, but, since I wasn't looking at the calendar when doing some scheduling, the kids and I had plans that night. So Saturday afternoon, we fired up the webcam and enjoyed some cake and presents while Ben watched. That's why the candle shot is kind of weird. Trying to be photographer without letting the baby get burned was a tricky job.

He wasn't quite sure about this whole thing at first. He figured out the present thing and was having a lovely time with his new toys, when they were so rudely taken away from him. Distracted by the candle, he quickly calmed down, but then I blew the candle out. Then all he got was something squishy and sticky, and he was not impressed. He threw his cupcake twice before I was able to get it in to his mouth enough for him to get a taste. Then he was all business and so messy. It was a perfect first birthday fiasco!

Tansy has been working hard on her artistic skills. Since she's gotten in trouble for coloring on the walls, the couch, and the dining room table, she decided to try something else. This happened Wednesday and wasn't completely off until Saturday. At least it was gone in time for church. And speaking of church, she decided to try out something else and colored on the pew. Sigh.

We're also trying to work out naps. If Tansy naps, it is impossible to get her to stay in bed before 9:30 or 10:00 at night. If she doesn't nap, sometimes this happens. She had been crying because I wasn't cooking dinner as quickly as she thought I should and had suddenly stopped. I tried talking to her and got no response. I realized that she had fallen asleep at the kitchen table. It was less cute when she woke up.

And, of course, what does every 2-year-old want to do when they get up in the morning? Go back to bed! But there is nothing going on back there, so why not bring the bed into the kitchen?

And Sydney is just waiting. Waiting for dance class. Waiting for school to start. Waiting for the next play date. Waiting for it to get dry enough to go play at the park. Waiting for me to finish with the babies so I can play a game with her. Waiting for dinner so she can have dessert. Waiting for Dad to come home. That's a lot of waiting for a little kid. She's a good kid who has been a great help to me.

On Thursday, she came out of her room and said, "Mom, what a great surprise you gave me. You got me new sheets and made my bed. Thanks!"

On Friday, the bishop's wife told me that when she taught Sydney's primary class, the lesson was on Abinadi and Sydney insisted on telling the whole story. It made me feel so good to hear that my little girl is listening and learning.

However, I didn't learn my lesson at that point, because it was late when we got home, so I decided to just have the kids say Good Night to Ben and go to bed. When I told Sydney to come talk, she said, "Mom, we didn't read scriptures yet." I said, "I know, we'll make sure to read them tomorrow." She said, "Mom, Heavenly Father wants us to read them every day." Thanks for the reminder, Syd. What a sweet girl.