piece of my mind...

I'm not really the type to give people a piece of my mind. I really do like to give them the benefit of the doubt unless really provoked.

But today I served up a big giant piece of my mind on a silver platter to the nurse at our pediatrician's office.

First of all, do not insinuate that I don't care about my daughter's health if I just want to drop off her urine sample instead of coming and waiting endlessly in the after-hours care when there are no day-time appointments available. Of course I care about her health, that's why I'm calling.

I also know that waiting in a waiting room to have a doctor say "we need a urine specimen" creates the exact same results as walking in and leaving the specimen with the nurses before closing time...I'm already well aware of the fact that "we need a urine specimen." I know from two years experience exactly what a UTI smells and looks like. There's no question in my mind.

I also know that the doctor can't diagnose which bacteria are involved in the infection simply by looking at her sweet face covered in cold sores again because of the stress these darn things cause. So why in Heaven's name to we have to "see" a doctor to leave a specimen??

And of course, I also know that I have to adhere to some small-print rule in the crazy doctor/insurance-agreement-to-get-as-many-co-pays-from-you-as-possible-conspiracy that I have to have our pediatrician diagnose the darn UTI before I can take her to the urologist specialist once again who told me last time that he thought she had finally outgrown her reflux.

I should have known better.

After all, I am her Mother.

This "talking-down-to-me" nurse is the same one who acted like I have no sense in my brain whatsoever when I was dealing with Lucy's syndrome diagnosis and what further steps need to be taken. And again on a mild diaper rash I didn't take Lucy in for the instant it showed up since we were up in the mountains away from doctors or phone reception. It was a diaper rash for crying out loud! One of dozens that this particular girl has had and I knew waiting a day wasn't going to kill her.

I let her know on no uncertain terms that I am a Mother. I have five children. I have dealt with everything from ear infections to insomnia to rare syndromes and mysterious rashes. I do know a thing or two from my hundreds of trips to various specialists and time and time again to my pediatrician. And I know my kids much better than she does.

After the poor nurse digested the piece of my mind I offered she came to her senses. The specimen is on it's way to culture and Dave's picking up yet another round of our trusty antibiotics I can't stand to have filling our fridge.

Whoa! That sure just spilled out but I feel much better now. I know this nurse was probably just trying to do her job. And I really don't think she was intentionally trying to be smug. I just felt like she really needed to know that Mothers DO know a thing or two. Sure, she's gone to school and she knows much more than I do about the nuts and bolts of medical matters. I respect that. But I hope she'll think twice before she talks down to a Mother again.

Merry Christmas!

I got too tired to write up some witty little thing about what we were up to this year on our cards...I figured I could say it all in pictures.

But for record-keeping sake I wanted to sum it up in a few words too.

1,387 tantrums thrown
46 pounds of "baby" to lug around
6 different doctor specialists visited
0 trips to the emergency room (don't worry, I just knocked on wood)
1 syndrome diagnosed
3 trips to Mexico
10 reams of paper filled up with creative drawings
4 therapists we are indebted to
4 family entrepreneurial businesses started (Elle's dance/gymnastics classes, Max's lawn mowing, Grace's child care and Elle's photography)
9,495 pictures taken (that's not including the thousands of deleted ones)
1 book published
1 half marathon run
2 new members of the family now snow-skiers
2 car wrecks
1 additional Priesthood holder
1 baptism
14 rounds of antibiotics taken
1 kid in Jr. High
4 girls in the same school
1 thankful family

We wish everyone such a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from our house to yours!

catch-up

I love Lucy's face in this picture:
But on to my "catch-up" post...

Aside from the "I Love Lucy Project" hoopla (which could be a full-time job in and of itself) and all the Christmas gear-up, there's been other stuff swirling on around here that I haven't had a chance to write about.

And I know that if I don't write about it before Christmas, it's not gonna happen.

And then it'll all seep out of my brain and the richness of it all will be gone...all faded into the blur of the passing of time.

So here's some major catch-up:

First off, Dave had a birthday:
He looks SO very excited about it, don't you think?

My favorite thing about it was Grace's "card" she got up early in the morning to put together:
I especially love the last line. That's Grace in a nutshell...butter people up and then go for the punch.

But, sadly, despite all her efforts, we're still dog-less.

Lucy was tuckered enough to actually fall asleep on the couch. First time ever.

Dave took the kids to run the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving.

...while I stayed home with this rash and the girl who was harboring it.

My Mom and Dad came for a visit:
We soaked them in with all our might.
My Mom and I did our little "Motherhood Secrets" schpeal at a couple boutiques...which was good practice since we get to speak at "Time Out for Women" in February and March 2010.
I wish we had more pictures, but here are a few of the lovely ladies who showed up.

My Mother-in-Law was among them. She's the greatest.

My parents loved getting to see Lu board her bus. Seriously, I don't blame them because it's the cutest thing ever. She has to give anyone hanging around kisses and hugs. Then she gets on there in her spot where she can see us, and waves and blows kisses 'til she's out of sight.

Max was pretty happy to have another male around.

And Grace was pretty happy to have someone help her finish her A.R. goal.

Out with the old Thanksgiving Tree...

...and in with the new. Elle was a serious help this year bless her little heart. Man alive, Christmas decorations are no small feat I tell you!

Dave wrecked his car...we are so glad no one got hurt. (He was on his way to the airport when it happened...luckily he was still able to make his flight. This pic. is when he got home after a big storm. Dave is not one to have a dirty car.)

After pestering me for an entire year, Grace finally got her wish and started her own Mother/Daughter book club. (No, she shouldn't have to pester, but she's child #3 and sometimes, she has learned, it takes some persistence to get what you want. Luckily persistence is not in short supply when it comes to Grace.) We had fun doing the same Ida B. thing we did when we hosted Elle's book club the month before. Gotta LOVE that Ida B.

Elle had her Christmas orchestra concert.

The kids had their piano recital. They all played solos and Elle played duets with both Max and Grace.The recital was in a retirement home with the sweetest residents watching and cheering the kids on.
Josh and my Mother-in-Law came. We were all pretty happy about that...

Dave has been out of town a few times. He missed out on some great Christmas card stuffing and stamping action, wrestling Lucy on the bleachers during the orchestra concert, cleaning up 49 milk and juice spills back at home, Claire accidentally pooping in her pants on the way to gymnastics...you get the picture...we missed him.

Lucy "helped" me stamp some of the Christmas cards and got some stamp sticker souvenirs. This is how she follows me around on our errands. I love that she loves sunglasses. It's actually exactly what she needs to help protect her eyes for future problems.

Speaking of eyesight and Bardet-Biedl, our dear friend we met through this blog who also has a child with the same syndrome came to town for business. We had such a great evening with him. He and his wife have been SO proactive with this whole deal and we could never thank him enough for all his research and ideas. I hope so much that we can follow in his footsteps as we help Lucy along the way. I think Lu and Claire had a little crush on him...they adored him.

One of my very favorite "moments" this month was happening to be in the vicinity of the temple one evening while coming home from some errands and serendipitously stopping to soak them in. I just had Claire and Lucy with me and I LOVED seeing their delight with SO many lights blinking around them. It was fifteen minutes I'll treasure in my heart for a long time.

Claire got to make this in school of all things. And for some reason it just made me so happy. Obviously it had the same effect on her...

In other news:

--Max, Elle, and Grace all got some serious teeth pulled in preparation for more orthodontia work,

--I found out I have love handles (they introduced themselves to me in the Target dressing room last week),

--we're still working on endless little pieces of our house "spruce-up" project (pictures after Christmas). I use the word "we" very liberally...mostly it's me not being able to make up my mind and Dave being frustrated with me

--we are in love with snuggling by our fire in the early morning and at night,

--it's orange season here and it makes my mouth water just thinking about it,

--we had a family bike ride around the neighborhood to check out all the Christmas lights last night.

Phew. Now I'm heading to bed. Sleep tight!

Cabo San Lucas

In November Dave took me to Mexico.

Cabo San Lucas to be exact.

With some of our favorite friends:

I hesitate to even write about it because, well, it was pretty amazing.

But when your friends can get accommodations like this:
With this view:
...and this kind of service:
for free... and they invite you to come along, what are you supposed to do?


We hung out at our house and at the close-by Sheratin (where a couple of the couples stayed):

And on the beach:
These boys were just like kids trying to body surf. Body surfing is one of Dave's fav. hobbies, so he wasn't complaining.
We also spent some good time in our local Mexican Wal-Mart which produced some pretty funny moments...but I'll spare you the details.
We walked around this beautiful harbor a few times:
We all packed into this sweet van to cruise around:
We found some very good Mexican food:
...but my favorite meal consisted of some authentic Mexican tacos we found in a little make-shift local restaurant right by the marina. Mmmmm.
On the last day, we went down to the harbor to try to find someone who would take us out deep-sea fishing.

We hit the jack-pot.

This guy took us to see Lover's Beach:...and then on to the great, wide ocean.

The coolest thing was that the driver and his helper spotted a huge marlin (they claimed it was 140 pounds...how they would know that I have no idea).

Did you know that you just follow those babies to fish for them? Yep, I didn't know that. Too bad it didn't end up being hungry enough to take the bait, but man oh man we were excited about the "hunt."
...and about the gorgeous sunset:The next morning we left this gorgeous spot:...and came home to these happy kids...with their amazing Aunt Charity who had stayed with them and gave them one heck of a fun time.
Thanks Char! We miss you!

Christmas Spirit

I sit here watching my twelve-year-old slumping over the piano in his piano lesson, noticing how big he is. He looks like a man sitting there, full-size, plunking out the new notes he is learning. And my heart is swelling up thinking about how much I love him...and wondering when he's going to pass me up in height.

I listen to my girls upstairs playing "school" with their friends, glee shining through their excited voices...there is no school today (so they make up their own...?). We all bask in the warmth of Christmas...the lights on the garland going up the stairs, the fragrance of the Christmas candle wafting through the house, the weight of anticipation building each time they pass the presents under the tree...their fingers itching to unwrap that colorful paper to unmask what it is so deftly hiding.

Church whipped me into shape yesterday. It's time to slow down. And sleep. And enjoy. I have the most precious gift I could ever ask for right in front of me...my family. And I better not rush around so much that I forget to "see" them.These guys (minus Lu) sang in church yesterday for the Christmas program. Heart melter even with one monotone voice shining through. Christmas Spirit begins to really seep in.

We delivered goodies to church teachers all piled in our car with Christmas music blasting and the windows down to help dissipate the stink of Lu's diaper (forgot to bring and extra)...I watched all the kids lead Lucy gently up to the doors to yell "Merry Christmas!" and the Spirit leaked in even more.

We read my favorite last night before bed in the glow of the Christmas tree lights:
I only cried once since as we read there were three doorbell rings delivering Christmas treats. More Spirit.

And we're off to fill the rest of this week with the Spirit, vowing we're going to each do as many nice things for each other as we can to make that Spirit flood into our home and fill it to the brim.

Because this time next week it'll all be over, and I'll be sad, longing to cling to that warmth that only Christmas can bring just a little longer...

Claire, arms & teeth

Let's stop all this Christmas craziness and talk about Claire for just a minute.

Because there are three things I want to remember about her right now, and I'm determined to keep a record of them, gosh darn it!

1) Claire faked a broken arm at school. She had a bunch of kids duped that something was wrong when she finagled an old tank top to look like a cast. I'm telling you, this girl's creative. Apparently it was a very good disguise. Grace came home and told me the news (I can count on Grace give me the scoop on anything that has to do with anything else...she knows her stuff).

"Hmmm," I thought.

Dave and I went out of town the next morning before I could get to the bottom of the fake broken arm incident. We came home to a message from her teacher asking about her arm. When I called back to explain what the deal was with the fake cast this is the story I got:

At circle time Claire's teacher noticed that she had a "cast" on her arm.

Teacher: "What happened to your arm, Claire?"

Claire (very solemnly): "I cut it off."

Teacher (trying to ease the worry of 25 kindergartners whose jaws had promptly dropped to the floor in shock about this breaking news): "Oh dear, Claire, that sounds horrible. How do I still see your arm, though, if it got cut off?"

Claire: "Well, we got a new one that the doctor sewed back on."

She proceeded to tell about the doctor appointments and to reassure everyone that she was now, indeed, just fine.

Hmmm. You think she needs some more attention around here?

Luckily, attention is what she got because Claire has some BIG news:

2) She lost her first tooth. And let me tell you, I forgot how dang exciting that is. Her eyes have been as big as saucers and glittering like nobody's business with every wiggle.

Finally the other day she announced she was ready. Yep, she was ready for the good ol' dental floss tied on the tooth and on the doorknob trick to pull that baby out. Oh man I love pulling a good tooth. Especially when kids opt for the "doorknob pull."(Do you like how Max is handing me the phone at such an opportune moment?)

Unfortunately, Claire left her lost tooth smack dab on the middle of the counter, and it got lost in the after-dinner-shuffle. She was sick about it. Dave tried to pass off a left over piece of rice for the precious lost tooth. Claire held it in her hand and looked up at him very perplexed and said, "it's a little bit squishy..."...trying to believe him with such a confused look on her face.

Luckily either the tooth was found or Dave passed off one of Grace's old teeth she keeps in her treasure chest as being Claire's little gem, and all was right in the world once again.

I love how she has a new smile now: one that sticks out her bottom lip a little further...just enough to show off that gaping hole. Boy howdy is she proud.

And last but not least:

3) Claire got a reward for growing out of her UTI related bed-wetting (that is, before she lapsed back into the darn things). It is a "copy of an American Girl Doll" (yep, that's what she calls it). I'll tell you what, I'm in love with Target once again because of these dolls. They are SO cute, and they are seriously just like American Girl dolls, except they cost $20 bucks (...and they don't have that luxurious hair, but hey, Claire's not complaining.) She got to bring her for show-and-tell and she was so excited to be her twin. She adores this thing, and it has about forty-five names now because she can't settle on one.These are the clues she wrote up all on her own to help her class guess what was in her "sharing bag."

I LOVE that she says it "is a kid," and that it starts with an "m" for 'Merican Girl. Oh man I love how kindergartners write. It makes my heart turn all mushy.

Ok, one last thing....for my sister's sake. This was Claire's Thanksgiving turkey:
I love that out of her top five "thankfuls" she chose one sister, one friend, and one aunt: "mi ant cherdee" (which translates to "my Aunt Charity"). Sorry other Aunts, but Char's the one who came and babysat her right before Thanksgiving...

Love this girl, arms falling off and all.

one question

I have one big question today:

How in the world did it become December 17th so darn fast? Honestly, it seems like yesterday I was SHOCKED to look at the calendar and realize it was the 4th of DECEMBER. I honestly could not believe it. And now we have eight days 'til Christmas.

In my dreams Christmas is NOT supposed to be like this. Mothers should not be running around like chickens with their heads chopped off. Mothers should be snuggling with their children drinking hot cocoa draped in the warmth of dim Christmas lights nearby, or happily gathering with extended family for parties and good food.

My visions of a good Christmas season don't generally include being too busy to even talk to your husband or to take time to follow through with your favorite Christmas tradition of reading a Christmas story under the Christmas tree every night. We should be through a good fourteen heart-melter stories by now. We've had TWO. (Although I'm going to go ahead and count one of them for like five 'cause we were all crying we were laughing so hard about Frosty the Snowman...but that's a story for another day.)

Every single year I make a vow that next year will be different. "Next year I'll be on the ball," I reassure myself. But the next year comes, and it's the same frantic rush. I've come to the conclusion that I just need to ride the waves and try to make good choices...since after all CHOOSE the best part is still my "word" for the year. There will always be something to fill up the time. If it's not photography it's a concert. Or a fund raiser. Or being more involved in the school. Whatever it is, I just need to turn my heart more to what matters...and sleep more...and then all is right in the world again. Yeah, much easier said than done.

So tonight my sweet Elle called us all over to the Christmas tree and read us The Tale of Three Trees...one of my all-time favorite Christmas stories. (Maybe that's the key...have one of your kids pick up your slack...and even though Elle was the one reading I still cried.) And once again, that Christmas spirit spilled right in. There's a light at the end of the tunnel. I'm always one step behind, but I think the steps are getting smaller.