Who Are These People: Jack

*Disclaimer: Writer will not be held responsible for electrical problems that result from drool onto computer*

Jack.  Baby Jack.  Jackapoo.  PoohBear.

Every Momma should have a little boy.  Goodness.

He is learning how to sleep through the night right now.  It was super sad for about two days, then he caught right on!  He is still getting up once at about 4:00, but just two weeks ago he was asking for me at 11:00, 2:00 AND 4:00.  Winning!

He is ALL boy.  He is daring and reckless and has a post pubescent voice!  When he bellows, babbles, or bawls - you can tell he's a he.

All of our kids are great eaters, but Jack is the most impressive right now.  He can put it away!!  He is brave to try new things and is seemingly bottomless!  Here is Papa Terry feeding him sweet potatoes.

As we near the anniversary of my Papa Eells' death, I can't help but think that maybe Jack would have been his buddy.  He loved a baby...he especially loved a chill, happy, well fed child!  

He is such a happy pumpkin.  Smiling is his favorite.

His sisters adore him, big time.  They ask about him first thing in the morning, every morning.  They look out for him.  They mother him.  They smother him.

He is also the third child.  This happened last week while it was snowing.  I left the back door open to take some pictures of the girls.  When I turned around, Jack had army crawled outside (in the snow, with one sock on) to see what was going on!

We kinda have a 'thing' going on.  He may be a bit of a Momma's boy.  I basically light up his life...even looking like I sometimes do.  We make out, we snuggle, we just like to be touching.  He will see me across the room, scootch/army crawl over, and if I don't immediately pick him up, he just rests his little head on my foot and begs.  Rotten.

I feel the same way, love.  And I don't even get all my nourishment from you!

We found out that we were unexpectedly expecting Jack when the girls were the age that he is now.  I get it. This is an awesome age, and really the first time that that silly thought crosses one's mind...well, maybe just one more....

Jack, my love, I'm so glad God knew best.  We NEEDED you, sweet boy.

-Momma

Keepin' It Rrrrrrrreal.

Dear Kate, Lauren, and Jack's wife,

Women.

Moms.

The Guilty.

We are so good at feeling bad about ourselves.

Do a pinterest Valentine, think it cute and healthy, get to school and find only one other mom even sent Valentines and they are not homemade (but completely sweet and acceptable)....GUILT.

Be the mom who sent the off-the-rack Valentine...GUILT.

Be the mom who forgot it was Valentine's Day....GUILT.

The mom who thought that surely two year old can skip that holiday one more year...GUILT.

We are just good at it.  We are so aware of it that we can let the fear of making another feel guilty stop us from being crafty or staying at home or cooking a meal or sharing our day with others.  

I think about this a lot.  This blog's main purpose is to keep a record for our family.  To be the memory keeper FOR US.  It's for Dan and me.  It's for Kate and Lauren and Jack.  

But, it's also a little for my ego.  It's for the Facebook comments and emails.  It's for the people in Laverne who stop me and tell me they enjoy it and can relate.  It's for me.

But I don't think to post about the crap stuff.  I don't tell you about the afternoons that I ignore the crying/fighting/whining because I'm reading Fifty Shades.  I don't tell you about the cereal-for-supper nights.  I don't tell you that your dad and I sometimes sit in the same room, each on our phones, don't speak, and then go to bed at different times...still not speaking.  Not because we are mad, because we are just so tired and have nothing to say.  I don't tell you about LOVING that all three of you are in Mother's Day Out now.  I never tell you that the hour that you all nap at the same time is my favorite hour of the day.  I would hate for you to know that I count it a successful day by whether or not I got my to-do list done, not by whether or not I sat and played with you.

But real is real.  My real probably looks a whole lot like your real.  So, please never let this record of events make you feel like I was better at it than you are.  I'm not.  Not even kinda.  

Just so you know how the REAL rest of the day that I took super cool Valentines to school went...

*I realized when I got to school that I hadn't brushed my teeth.

*I spent more money than I should have at Target - on nothing of consequence.

*I locked my keys in the van.  I had to knock on the car door of the hot mom who made me feel bad about myself, the one who was sitting in her new Escalade, looking (and smelling) nice, talking on her phone...and tell her that I was about to lay down under my beast of minivan, would she please not back out and run over my legs.

*I lost my debit card.  (Probably on the ground where I laid down at Target, I am NOT going back.)

*I had to meet the plumber to unclog the nasty, stinking disposal and dishwasher at home.

*I had to show the Orkin man where the mouse droppings had been, where the noises come from...

Yes, I made super cute homemade Valentines to take to school when you were two year olds.  But I think we can agree that real is real.  Mind your own business.  And just keeping telling yourself that the hot mom in the Escalade was probably talking to her therapist, 'cause she has no friends. 

And I do love you best.  I do that better than anybody.

-Momma

Who Are These People: Lauren

My Lu.  LuBear.  LuLuMagoo.  Warlen.

A sweeter, more sensitive child I do not know.  She is a lover.  She is bashful.  She the Yin to that other one's Yang.

She is dutchy.  Like serious-style.  Sometimes I try to convince myself that she's speaking in that hoped for 'twin language', but if she is, Kate doesn't understand her dialect.  Every once in a while, she'll pop out a sentence that is as plain and clear that anyone who heard me say she was Dutchy, would roll their eyes.  Others, baby girl needs an interpreter.  A few words I try to set her up to say:

Orange - aweeenchhhhh

Oklahoma - hOkEmOma

Jackapoo - just a sweeter version of how you'd say it

She gets so excited about things.  Big eyes, O shaped mouth, palms up, shock and awe.

She has lots of tricks - she jumps from everything, she climbs up on anything, she does jumping jacks and somersaults.  And before she does, she always says, "Watch!" about 49 times.

She is such a lover.  She likes to play with big kids and adults who will hold her.  She still loves to be wrapped and held like a baby.  One of her latest tactics to get us to snuggle her is to say either, "I tired" or "I cold" when she is neither, she just knows that those things involve snuggling.

They've got my number at bedtime.  They are both weaned off of their pacifiers (suckers)...just for the last two weeks, I'm weak.  But instead of taking away one thing to think of at bedtime, it has been replaced with about 14 others.  Now, they have to have a drink, and their blankets covering them in a certain order, and their babies and their blankies.  It's ridiculous.  Dan gets irritated with me, because I allow the nonsense, I did however recently put my foot down and say 'no'....when Lauren said she needed her gloves on.

This child is sensitive.  Yell at her, she cowers like a beaten dog.  Yell at anyone around her and she just wilts...and then cries.  Tell her 'no' and mean it - cry.  Slap her hand when she's doing something that could hurt her - cry.  Comfort her sister who is hurt - she cries.  In church, Christmas eve service.  Kate was being a hoodlum and bouncing around.  She caught her chin on the pew in front of us and busted her lip.  She wailed, Pop scooped her up and left the sanctuary.  And then Lauren REALLY wailed.  She was not hurt, she was not feeling sympathy pain, she just needed to know that sissy was ok.  They're such good friends.

The girls don't always do everything together, but they are always together.  Maybe one is playing babies and one is reading a book, but they are backed up to each other.  Maybe one is sitting at the big table for lunch and the other refuses and wants to sit at the kid's table...they'll be together before I get everything on the table and sit down myself.  It doesn't seem to be a power thing.  One does not give in, they just naturally end up together.  This weekend, Kate was down for her nap a little longer than Lauren.  I needed to run to the store, and I thought it would be so fun for Lauren to go - just the two of us.  She was so excited to get her shoes on and get into the car to go shopping!  And then, on our seven minute excursion (we were in Laverne) she asked about or mentioned Sissy 8 times.

She is a little momma.  Where Kate is the bossy one, Lauren is the comforter.  All her babies always are crying.  She has to swaddle them and nurse them (hilarious!) and shhhhh them and rock them.  She works so hard keeping her babies happy.  I love to see and hear familiar things though...bouncing and patting the baby who is resting on her shoulder, kisses that make it 'allll behhhr'.  Presh.

For every characteristic I recognize in Kate, there is one that I am in awe of in Lauren.  She is patient and quiet and reserved and calm.  Her hair lays in soft, beautiful curls right out of bed each morning.  She is lean and strong and  able.  She makes whoever has her feel like she is their girl.  She makes me go a little slower - not because she needs extra help or is slow herself, but because in watching her, I can see that there are times that it's just more fun to slow down and take your time.  She makes me more sensitive - because sometimes it doesn't have to be loud and busy, sometimes quiet and calm gets the job down just as well.  

I'm watching you, little girl.  Be patient, Momma will learn the lesson...

There are no words for just how much....

Momma

Who Are These People: Kate

It's been so long since I've given you the details on these people!!  While they change so quickly this will be untrue in about 4 seconds - here's Kate today.

Kate loves life.  She wakes up laughing most mornings.  She says "Good Morning!" to each member of our family, even if Jack is still sleeping or Dan is gone for work (very Walton-esque).

Her hair is straight out of control!!  It is curly and thick and unruly.  She refuses to leave bows, clips, or ponies in.  Wild, but oh, so fitting!

She flashes thumbs up like it's a gang sign.

She speaks pirate.  "Jack's a pullin' a me hair!"  "Momma, where's me shoes?"

I straightened her hair at Christmas time.  When we were at Meme's someone commented that it was harder to tell them apart when you couldn't count on Kate's curls.  THEN, sweet child attempted to 'run' across the living room to the front door...bounce, bounce, bounce, trip, slide, giggle, up, bounce, bounce, bounce.  I don't care if they look IDENTICAL, watch her move for 7 seconds and you can tell it's Kate.

They run circles around our living room often.  They always say, "Momma, I so fast!".  Without fail, Kate has to add, "I falled."

I already embarrass/irritate her (motherly duty, you know!)  I'll be singing along, or dancing, or trying to play with them...Kate sighs, says "No, Momma" eyebrows down, serious style.

She LOVES to sing.  She can sing all of the words (and pretty on pitch, I might add) to the A-B-C's, Jingle Bells, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Jesus Loves Me, Twinkle Little Star, and The Itsy-Bitsy Spider.

She's busted out a few 'Moms' lately.  I hate it.  I want to be 'Momma' even when she's 40.

She loves her sister BIG time.  Lauren was sick a few weeks ago.  She didn't eat dinner with Kate, instead let me rock her in the living room.  She was lethargic at bathtime, laid right down in her bed and closed her eyes.  I put Kate to bed too, then went in to the next room with Jack to nurse him down.  I could hear a little voice from their room.  I thought it was Lauren moaning or whining.  Not loud enough to be my Kate.  After I got Jack down, I went back into their room.  Lauren was asleep.  Kate was as close to Lauren as her crib would allow, arm stretched out in her direction, and was saying over and over, "Sissy, you ok?  Sissy, you ok?"  Sissy was fine, I walked out sobbing.

She loves to pray.  Any time of day, for lots of reasons.  We pray a lot while going to the bathroom.  I sit on the edge of the tub across from them and it's just a good place to chat!  While we were so worried about Pop, I may have passed some of my crazy on to Kate.  Still, to date, 24 days after we no longer pray for Pop's throat, Kate still starts every prayer with "Dear God, Help please Pop's throat." and then goes on to whatever else might be on her mind.

She is a BOSS.  First born, and maybe a little like her Momma, FOR SHIZZZZ.  "Warlen, come here."  "Warlen, sit down."  "Warlen, let's go!"  She has no regard to personal space while bossing either.  She gets up in 'Warlen's' face, about an inch and a half from her nose and delivers her directives.  I haven't told her yet that there's a chance that Lauren and Jack will be bigger than her someday and then...

She makes me laugh EVERYDAY.  And most of those laughs have to behind my hand or shirt or in another room because I'd hate to promote such behavior.  She hugs TIGHT.  She laughs with her head thrown back and so hard she always has to stop to come up for air.  When she cries in public it's so loud and emphatic that I'm certain someone reaches for their phone to call 9-1-1.  She is soft and uncoordinated and strong willed and has a sweet tooth.  I've said many times about lots of children that I could just eat them up.  But with Kate, I mean it.  If I wouldn't miss her SO much, I would eat her.  Delicious.

A friend said about her daughter on Facebook today, "If you don't know her, you totally should."  I couldn't agree more.  I hope you've had the pleasure.

Love,

Momma.

Annual Review

2012.

Farewell 2012.

Looking back, the word for 2012 was survival.

We survived a sudden death in the family.

We survived our house being on the market for what seemed like FOREVER to me at the time (pregnant, chasing 2 toddlers, and having to leave the house looking like only a single, home decorator lived there every time we ran to the grocery store.  Ugh.)

We survived moving, three times.  1) Half of our stuff into a storage shed.  2) Essentials into our Albuquerque rent house. 3) Everything to Edmond.

We survived losing a chunk of money on the sale of our home.

We survived (and loved) the birth of baby Jack.

We survived leaving our friends and patients in Albuquerque.

We survived opening a new practice in Edmond.

We survived the threat of a serious disease in our family.

I think if we did one of those stress quizzes, we might have topped out.

But we did survive.

Who wants to just survive, though?

Thrival

Thrival is the *made-up* word for 2013.

I don't want a marriage that just survives.

I don't want to raise kids who just survived.

I don't want to have a business that just survives.

Thrival.

That's not to say that there won't be stuff that comes up that we'll have to survive.  It'll come.

But, it's time for there to be some fun in The Prince House!

And that would be my only resolution for 2013!

Happy New Year!!!  (Seriously, so happy to see you, New Year!)

-Erin

The Remedy

There was a time, BC (before children), that I did not believe in the Germ Theory of Disease.  I believed that sickness happened when your body was unable to fight well, not when the germs were present.  Then, I had babies.  They are cesspools of cooties.  (I say most of this in jest, I really still think as I did BC - our bodies are just tired and therefore, truly, unable to fight well.)

We have all had a cold.  Well, all but Kate - she fights well.

Colds are really nothing more than a nuisance, right??  They don't hurt that bad, they usually don't last that long, but while you are in the thick of it - it is just no fun.

We try to just let sicknesses run their course.  We don't pop many pills here in the Prince House.  I have, however, tested and tried a few helpful things to speed the inconvenience along...

**The Neti Pot
I cannot tout it's praises loudly enough.  It's gross and weird and not talked about in polite conversation, but if you don't Neti, treat yourself.

**Homeopathics
Oscillococcinum by Boiron is the one of the only things in my medicine cabinet.  Works well and quickly and doesn't make you feel stoned.

**The Sweat Bath
My recipe is 1 cup Epsom salts, 1 cup baking soda, 10-20 drops essential oil (lavender is my favorite, but eucalyptus is super helpful for congestion.  We like Young Living oils) in a full, hot as you can stand it, bath.  The key is to sit there long enough to sweat and then to just keep sitting there and keep sweating.  I usually add hot water to the bath a few times and stay in about 30-45 minutes.  I take a glass of ice water with me and usually then yell for Dan to bring me more - parched.  It's gotta be good for you.

**Hydrate
I'm a water fan.  If it's cold out I try to have less coffee and down some hot tea.  Regardless, hydrate up.

**If-it's-not-the-holidays-and-you-are-smarter-than-me...Avoid Sugar
I hate this one.  For years I argued that this was a myth.  It's not.  You will feel better and your immune system will work better if you avoid refined, processed, sugary things.  Boo.

In health,
Erin

Lord, Have Mercy

I fear that if I were taking a seminary class and had to write out the definitions of 'mercy' and 'grace' I would have trouble.  I think I could make them sound very much the same...or maybe put the wrong definition on the wrong word...or something like that.

This week, though, I got to see one or the other or neither, I'm not quite sure.  Did the Lord have mercy on us and spare us?  Or did He give us grace and protect us?  Or was it just that He did one of those super cool compound karate moves where He allowed us to witness a miracle AND smack us (ok, maybe just me) upside the head with a little 'Are you listening, at all????'?

My dad doesn't have cancer.

Yip, that's how the story ends.

He did have a giant mass on his thyroid, though.
And he did answer all the questions incorrectly to calm any fears about it being a cootie.  (Does it hurt?  Were your thyroid levels affected?  Does it make you have a tickle in your throat?  Did it slowly show up or just appear one day?)  Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong answers.
I paid just enough attention in pathology class to be dangerous.  Well, that, and I have a neurosis called 'ImagineTheWorstScenarioAndThenMultiplyItBy49-itis'.

By all accounts, we should be making appointments with oncologists this week.  And learning details about a disease.  And preparing ourselves for a new normal of prescriptions and doctor's appointments and illness.  (And by we, I mean just him physically and the family at large in action and spirit.)

Even the surgeon was suffering from a case of 'ImagineTheWorstScenarioAndThenMultiplyItBy49-itis' and was blown away.

We witnessed a miracle.
And we were blessed beyond measure by that miracle.
And none of us did anything to deserve that blessing.

And I learned a big lesson.
You can deal with witnessing something like that one of two ways.

You can be of great faith, and say, 'Well, yes!, of course, God healed him!  That's exactly what we have been praying for!'.

Or you can be of lacking faith and witness the same miracle but instead answer, 'Are you sure?  Should you check again?  How can that be?  But I thought you said...'.

I want to be of great faith...and just like my daddy.

-sis