Date

Last night for the first time since Nina was born Adrian and I went on a real date to celebrate Adrian's birthday. I tried so hard to plan out everything for the babysitter. I got Nina nursed and in bed before she came over. Before we left we also put Sophie and Ben to bed, just so that we could be assured that everyone would be in bed and quiet in the hopes that Nina wouldn't wake up. Well that was the plan, but more on that later...

We went to the coolest fondue restaurant. We did the whole experience - we started out with a traditional cheese fondue with bread cubes, apple chunks, and raw veggies - it was ultra-yummy. Then we had a really great mushroom salad and then a meat course were you actually stew the meat yourself on little skewers in a pot of seasoned broth. It was just SO good and then they had tons of sauces to dip the cooked meat in - my favorite was the "green goddess" sauce. But the BEST part was dessert, which was a milk chocolate fondue with bits of strawberries, pound cake, brownies, marshmallows, pineapple and cheesecake. It was all just amazingly delicious. I must also say it was amazingly expensive, so we were happy that it was actually paid for by Adrian's work - they told him after finishing a project to take his wife out to dinner. So there you go - what lovely timing to coincide with Adrian's bday dinner!

All through out dinner we had no calls for help from the babysitter... So feeling good, we then went to a movie - Blades of Glory. Maybe it was late and we hadn't been to a really funny movie in a while, but both of us never laughed so hard at a movie. We thought it was hilarious. Just seeing Will Ferrel and the Napoleon Dynamite guy in those costumes... Wow... :)

I checked my phone a number of times and there were no calls at all, so we were thinking it was all a great success. First date out, Nina slept the whole time, great.... Not so. When we walked in Nina was sitting with the babysitter on the couch and had "screamed like the world was ending" (direct quote from our poor babysitter) all night. I felt so awful. I felt awful for our babysitter, a sweet girl from the ward that said that we were her favorite family to sit for (well up until last night I'm sure), and I felt awful for Nina. Apparently Nina had about an hour of sleep, then just cried and cried. When I picked her up she looked at me with such sad little eyes, you could just tell she had had a hard time. We paid the babysitter well (out of guilt really) and hope that she'll want to babysit for us again.

This morning we discovered the cause of Nina's sleeplessness, a little nub of a tooth coming in on her bottom gum. She has been SO fussy and I'm relieved that we found a cause for it. Hopefully after it comes in she'll go back to being more cheerful.

So getting out is hard to do, but since we didn't know about the horrible Nina sadness going on at home, we actually had a lovely night out. The fondue was great and the movie was funny and Adrian and I got to remember how fun it is to get out and talk and laugh... So happy bday Adrian and hurray for date nights!

Mono-Girl and Pajamas

This is the first night I have stayed up past 10pm in about a week. Adrian has taken to calling me "mono-girl" because I seem to be tired all the time. I'm such a night-owl, so it really has been weird to get tired so early. Last night I didn't even watch all of the new Planet Earths. That by the way is a fantastic new Discovery channel show. Did you watch? The one with the elephants swimming was so neat. I never knew that elephants swam so well before. I love documentaries and especially really beautifully filmed nature documentaries like this one. I have the ones that I missed on the Tivo, and I look forward to watching them soon.

On a different note, today I finally got around to buying pajamas for the kids. Man, kids are expensive. All 3 needed more springy pj's since its been warmer, and all they had in their drawers were heavy fleecy ones. I found great buys for Ben, but the ones for Sophie and Nina were more expensive for some reason. Is that normal? Why are pajamas cheaper for boys than girls? Maybe I went to the wrong places... And I have a huge problem with the kinds of pj's you find in Sophie's size. It seemed like there were tons of silky, skimpy, lacey pajamas. Who buys this stuff for their 7 year olds?? It seemed like it was either weirdly adult looking stuff or Sponge Bob pajamas for $18. I was able to find her a few cute ones, but I was sad that the styles they make in her size are so often inappropriate. I did find adorable pj's for Nina at the Carter's outlet. I must say there is nothing cuter than Nina in her little footie pajamas!

(<-- This group footie pajama pic was taken last month on a "snow day" - quotes because there was really no snow. :) )

Sick Days

So Nina and I got this flu and man-o-man its been a bad one!! Nina has the extra special treat of a double ear infection with it - poor thing. We took her to an urgent care pediatric clinic today because she was running a high temp even with Motrin and was so fussy and sure enough she has quite bad ear infections.

I got the flu last Sunday - so I guess the luck of the Irish only kept the flu at bay on Saint Patrick's Day :). It was literally just as I got up to give my talk in Relief Society that I got the chills that go along with the fever part of this flu. I thought I was just shaking because I was nervous, but it never went away and when I got home I had a 102 temp. That is really bad for me (I never get fevers), but on Tues my temp went all the way up to 104. Adrian had to take a day off to take care of me when the fever was really bad. I couldn't be trusted to take care of the kids who were also still sick at that point. One good point, wonderful friends brought over dinners for us twice this week. I've never felt more connected and taken care of than in this ward - thanks Michelle and Mendy!!

I'm so glad that I'm getting better, just a nagging cough is left. And now that Nina has started an anti-biotic hopefully we will kick this flu out of our family for good. It will be a good riddance...
(Nina was sick, but happy long enough for this "plumber crack" pic today !! :))

Tomorrow I am giving a talk during the Relief Society portion of our ward conference, and I'm not as stressed out about it as one might think. Given my track record I should be feeling nauseous just thinking about getting up in RS, but today my mind has just been on other things... A good friend's house was extensively damaged late last night. Her next door neighbor's townhouse caught on fire and though I don't know exactly what happened or the extent of it all, her townhouse is now unlivable. Apparently their roof caved in in their bedroom and a pipe burst so water poured into their house as well. I am just feeling sick over this trial happening in her and her family's life. I can't imagine having to leave your home with water pouring in and destroying all the things that make up your life. I hope that they are able to recover all those important things like pictures and mementos from their home. Of course the most important thing is that no one in her family was harmed and they all made it out safely. If you get a chance say a special prayer for my sweet friend and her wonderful family. It has truly put my Relief Society talk into perspective and I'm going to try not to sweat the small stuff when such a dear friend is going through something so big.

Saint Paddy's Fun

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Is that Irish food you're cookin, cause I smell Gaelic!

What's Irish and stays out all night?? - Paddy O'Furniture

Knock Knock. Who's there? Irish. Irish who? - Irish you a happy Saint Patrick's day!

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Well that's about all the St. Patrick's jokes I know. I hope you all are wearing the green - I got to pinch everyone in our house this morning! :) Quick update on us: Adrian is doing better, Sophie and Ben are still pretty sick with the flu, and Nina and I haven't gotten it - yay and knock on wood (hopefully the luck of the Irish will be with us)!!

Curse of the St. Patrick's Day Pajama Bottoms

We had a rough night last night or should I say earrrly this morning. Adrian has had a flu for the past couple of days and in his normal sickness style has also had a fever, but last night it got insanely high - 105.8!! He was unusually grumpy and sweaty so I had him take his temp and when he said it was 105 I just assumed it was 100.5, but no it was actually that high and I spent a few minutes trying different thermometers on him to see if it was just some fluke. Again, no I took my own temp w/ the same thermometers and his temp was seriously almost 7 degrees higher than mine. It was really scary and he wasn't make all that much sense either which was equally scary. So I called our doctor's office and got ahold of the on-call doctor, who also could not believe how high his temp was and also had me spend a few minutes checking with different thermometers. Once the doctor realized it probably wasn't that every thermometer in our house was broken he told me to hang up and get him to the ER or call an ambulance immediately.

So I called our wonderful neighbors the V.s and A. came over to sleep on our couch while I rushed Adrian to the ER. I was so worried. Adrian was uber-grumpy telling me he just wanted to go home and go to sleep. I told him he was out of his mind with a fever and too bad we're going to the ER. You can just tell how serious something is when the person is not reacting appropriately. I know, of course, that if it was me with that fever or one of our kids that Adrian would have been racing to the hospital, but instead he was grumbling about how I was crazy and he just need to go back to bed!! But we got to the hospital... They gave him lots of fluids and Motrin and the fever broke at the hospital. They did lots of tests and a chest x-ray, but it all came back that he had the flu, just a really bad reaction, and he was sent home around 6am.

AHHH... It was the most awful night. I didn't sleep at all, but I did get to read some of my book What is the What while Adrian was sleeping and we were waiting for test results. It was a good book to bring with, about the "Lost Boys" of the Sudan. It definitely helped me view this little trial with perspective when you think of what those poor families went through and the inhuman atrocities that happened in the Sudan. It is such a heavy book... (emotionally I mean.)

I came back home around 5am, Adrian was sleeping in the ER and his fever had gone down, so I thought that I should relieve our wonderful neighbor of our couch and try to get a little sleep. But alas, at 5:45 am Nina woke up for a feeding and didn't want to go back to sleep, Adrian called to say he was being discharged, and Sophie woke up complaining that she was hot and of course she also had a fever. UGH! So I sucked it up, got Sophie Tylenol and got everyone in the car to go get Adrian. It was quite the night/morning! I'm just grateful Adrian is alright He's doing much better now and says he's at about 65%, so I'd say that's great compared to last night. And on a side note Sophie and Ben have also developed this flu today. I'm just praying that it does not strike me and Nina at all... It could be one of those stories you hear about at La Leche League were the mom and nursing baby don't get sick at all even when the whole household does - I can hope!!

So why you ask is this post called "Curse of the St. Patrick's Day Pajama Bottoms"... Well (cue up spooky sounding music) yesterday and today Adrian has been wearing our green St. Patrick's day pajama bottoms and it was exactly 1 year ago today that I also decided to wear said pajama bottoms (Adrian and I share them) and I also went to the ER!!! - with kidney stones. I kid you not, one year ago today!! You might say its a coincidence, but we will from now on refer to it as the great curse of the St. Patrick's day pajama bottoms. Dun..Dun..Daaaaahhh!!

Am I a lunatic with 3 heads??

I just did my huge, once a month shopping trip. I probably already mentioned this, but I'm a lunatic and plan all my meals a month at a time. Then I do one major shopping trip (usually to Costco and the normal grocery store) and then a few quick runs back to the grocery store through out the month for veggies, milk, etc.

Well, every time I do the major shopping trip the check out clerks and the poor people in line behind me look at me like I have 3 heads or something! Does no one else shop like this?? Every time people ask how many children I have - my guess is that they look at the amount of baby food and kid snacks I'm buying and guess I have 14. A months worth of baby food IS a lot, I admit, but I like having it all in the cupboard. After my major shopping trip I feel relieved; my pantry is all full again and I get to post my new list of meals on the fridge. So call me crazy, but my big shopping trip makes me happy. Sorry if you ever get behind me at the check out line though... :)

Silly Show, Fun Night

I had the pleasure of having a girls-night over here last night with a few friends to indulge in a guilty pleasure - America's Next Top Model!! And we watched the first episode of Australia's Next Top Model too!! Its one of those shows that you watch, but only tell other people you watch if you think they might too!! :) It's a little like admitting you watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer!! ;) Well I'm just going to out myself - I've watched every season of ANTM! I really can't intellectualize why I like it, but I just do. I guess its all the drama and human-ness behind the scenes. The group dynamics are almost like a sociology experiment. I also find the process that goes into those glossy fashion mag pictures so interesting. The one who I'm pulling for this season is Brittany. Doesn't she look like Joni?!

Anyways, it was tons of fun to watch and chat into the wee hours with such fun and wonderful friends. I love you girls!! I feel so renewed after getting together with girlfriends. It really is so important to laugh, talk, and share. Thanks girls!

A few random things learned this week.

Here's just a few tid-bits I learned this week:

1. Do not eat flaming hot egg rolls.
2. After eating a flaming hot egg roll and burning the roof of your mouth off, do not eat tater tots later in the day.
3. One talks like they have cotton stuffed in their mouth for days after burning off roof of mouth with flaming hot egg roll and then eating tater tots later in the day.
   
4. Nina will probably be at some level of sleep training FOREVER. (Well maybe not forever.. It could be teething or maybe tummy troubles, but our little sweetie-pie is still not a happy sleeper-pie.)
   
5. Snow-days, shmoe days!! (There was not even snow on our side-walk and yet school was still canceled)
6. I Spy Spooky Mansion Deluxe computer game is wonderful for 7 year olds and horribly frustrating for 3 year olds. (learned on our snow day)
   
7. I cannot buy the right amount of food for enrichment night. We seem to always be off, but hey I don't think anyone in my house is going to be sad that I took home a half pan of mint brownies. (We had our RS Bday celebration enrichment tonight - I think it was a success. We made lots of tied fleece blankets for a local hospital's NICU, and those who came seemed to have a fun time chatting and tying blankets.)
   
8. An 8x8 frozen pan of chicken tetrazzini takes at least 2 hours to cook. Should have know this one already, but after 1 hour at 350 expect frost to still be on top.
9. The Green Turtle is not a lovely place to eat with children when your chicken tetrazzinin is still frosty - even if they have commercials on the radio about how kid friendly they are. (Little did we know its a sports bar!!)
   
10. Best to walk out of restaurant with your 3 kids when you realize neon beer signs are the main decorative statement.
    
11. Cheeburger Cheeburger is a lovely place to eat out with kids when your chicken tetrazzini is still frosty and you do not want to eat in restaurant with neon beer signs as the main decorative statement.
12. Cheeburger Cheeburger serves their kids meals in paper model cars - thus making it THE BEST to Benjamin.
13. Basketball is THE BEST to Sophie, and she would rather skip than run during her games.
    
14. Creating random polygons is not as simple as it sounds - ask Adrian. (But his term project and presentation are over, so yay!)
15. Creating random list of things learned in 1 week is simpler than creating random polygons.
    

Ben's Stunts

Benjamin should have been wearing his "I do all my own stunts" t-shirt tonight at dinner when for the 2nd time his fell out of his chair and gave himself a bloody lip. I couldn't believe it when it happened again. I told Adrian that he's going to have lips like Angelina Jolie if we don't do something. So we brought up his much loathed booster seat again, with the promise that he could decorate it with Star Wars stickers. Let's hope that it keeps him in the center of the chair and not falling over the edge. Good grief!!