Yay!

Anya has figured out how to use a straw sippy cup!! Woot! Now she can get liquid from a source that isn't me!

That's all! :)

I'm Still Here

I know it's been quite on the blog front this week but I wanted to at least pop in and let you all know I'm still here. Deep in "Sookie Week" as I call it. Book 9 of Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse books releases May 5th and in preparation, I'm rereading books 1-8 to refresh my memory a bit. So this week is all about reading lots and lots of Sookie.

Love y'all and will catch up soon!

Biggest Loser Reading Challenge

As I mentioned previously, I signed up for a reading challenge to try to slim down my massive to-be-read pile. Today was the "Weigh in" for the first week.

Individually I read 8 books equaling 4.2 pounds according to Amazon.com weights! In an average week I normally read 3-4 books so this is an awesome week for me! I can only hope I can keep it up through the rest of the challenge.

My team (4 people) read a total of 21 books equaling 12.59 pounds and we came in second for the week out of 10 teams. I'm thrilled with the results and look forward to the rest of the challenge.

The books I read this past week were:
An Assembly Such as This by Pamela Aidan
Duty and Desire by Pamela Aidan
These Three Remain by Pamela Aidan
Girl's Guide to Witchcraft by Mindy Klasky
Blue is for Nightmares by Laurie Faria Stolarz
White is for Magic by Laurie Faria Stolarz
Silver is for Secrets by Laurie Faria Stolarz
Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

The Pamela Aidan books have already been received by a new reader (shockingly enough given the fact that they were sent Media Mail) and at least 3 others will be mailed out this week I hope.

8 down...180 some odd books to go...

New Words

About a month ago, I was starting to really wonder about Inara in terms of speech. I knew she understood pretty much everything I was telling her but was just quiet and not particularly expressive. So I started watching and listening to her more to try and get an idea of her vocabulary (this is not a particularly telling exercise but everyone always says "oh little Jimmy says XX number of words..." so I figured I'd try). I didn't last long at actually counting but decided to just keep listening. Then just in the last few weeks she's suddenly stringing words together to make small phrases and has embraced a few choice words.

"Me!" - This one is accompanied usually by her pointing to herself or thumping her chest like Tarzan. It generally follows one of her sisters being given something by me or me doing something with them (i.e. someone other than her). Today I was covering Anya's head with a blanket and playing Peek-a-boo and Inara came over with her blanket and shoved it in my face and proclaimed "Me!" Then when I didn't immediately transfer the game to her, she said "Me! Up" and held the blanket over her head.

"Mine!" - This one is fairly new on the scene and hasn't taken firm ground yet but I fear it will soon. It's pretty self-explanatory.

"No" - Now normally, I don't particularly like it when my kids tell me no. Today, however, I asked Inara to do something small. It wasn't particularly important but I asked her to do whatever it was (I don't remember now) and she just looked at me, grinned, shook her head and said "no". It wasn't a strong, attitude-y "NO!" - it was a sweet and comical and light. Carefree almost. If she knew to shrug her shoulders with it, it would have been perfect. I couldn't stop myself from laughing which I'm sure will diminish my authoritative power in the future but it was funny!

She's a funny little kid...

Jane Austen

Jane Austen is where I turn when I've had a particularly harrowing day/night. I either pick up one the books and read a few chapters or I put in one of the movies to watch and just relax. There is something about Jane Austen's writing and stories that seems to bring me back to center.

Last night was one of those nights. Bluto and Gimli were rampaging around the house - possibly stirred up by the rain that was in the air. Anya was screaming bloody murder and pushing away from my arms even as I held her (because she was screaming bloody murder on the floor too). Jadzia kept wandering over to see what I was doing instead of cleaning up before bed and Inara kept trying to climb in my lap as I was trying to keep Anya from flinging herself into the wall or something in her fit. I would have collapsed right then if I didn't think that I'd be assaulted by two dogs and three kids right from the start.

Already on a thin thread, Jadzia finally comes to say she's done cleaning and I immediately see she's left a half dozen toys laying the living room. Done...uh huh, RIGHT! As I'm pointing out things to clean up, my neighbor rings the doorbell thus setting off the dogs and restarting the screams of Baby Spawn. She looks as harrassed as I feel so the meeting is thankfully brief and I return to the Spawn and dogs. Jadzia picks up the rest of the stuff and we head upstairs for the bedtime routine. Inara thinks it would be AWESOME to run up and down the hall while I'm attempting to get her ready for bed and Anya thinks screaming will make it all go faster.

I finally get the older two to bed and then set about getting Anya down for the night. This would have been easier if the dogs weren't still a little wound from the door bell previously. So in addition to their hallway races, they are occasionally letting out yips and barks just to make my night extra special. Finally I get Anya asleep and down, I give Bluto some food, attention and then let him outside and fall into the couch with my copy of Pride and Prejudice firmly in hand. After about 45 minutes of reading, I feel re-centered and less likely to strangle the first living thing in sight (namely Bluto probably).

Jane Austen is the new yoga - at least for me.

Crawling Video

Crawling

Well, kinda. She's trying - she's REALLY trying to crawl. I think the slick floors are somewhat challenging in that respect as she can slide around. I have a couple videos I will try to upload later.

Meanwhile you can just imagine the increased number of "Anya! No!" that is heard in our house. Both from me and Jadzia. Apparently Anya has a penchant for dog food and Inara and Jadzia's sippy cups (yes she has her own - she's not interested!)

Inara - the puppy?!

Yesterday I was TRYING to read and Inara came up with Gimli's food dish (empty) and some mardi gras beads. She forced the beads into my hand, put the bowl in my lap and moved my hand over the bowl and then waited for me to drop the beads in it. When I didn't she started prying my fingers open until the beads dropped. Then she put them back in my hands, moved the hand away and then back over the bowl and repeated, over and over and over. She also will take my hand and put it to her face or head and then lean into it kinda like when a puppy nudges at your hand until it's resting on his head.

When she wants me to do something to play with her and am not immediately accommodating, she finds a way to make me do it if it's in her powers.

Reading Challenge

I joined a reading challenge on Paperbackswap to read as many paperbacks as possible over the next 5-6 weeks so if I'm a little sparse in posts - that's why. After the kids go to bed (which is when I typically blog), I now jump right into reading to get as much time as possible. I fully intend to come back and post and then go to bed reading without thinking about it. :)

It's no wonder ya know...

That Anya, at nearly 10 months (and can she really be almost 10 months?!), still doesn't crawl. Over the last week or so she seems to be getting SOOOO close. She gets in the position and rocks, and focuses on what she wants and then will put one arm forward a bit, plop on her belly and scoot. Then get back into the position and repeats. It's actually rather funny to watch. And she can get anywhere she wants by this method and rolling due to the wood floors downstairs. It's easy for her to just slide around on her belly like a penguin.

Anyway, the reason it's no wonder is because of Jadzia and Inara! Tonight I was trying to entice Anya to crawl to get something and put it just enough out of reach that she'd have to crawl.

So she got in the position, looked at the toy, looked at me, grinned, looked at the toy, rocked...

And Inara picked it up and put it in front of her.

I snatched it away cheerfully and placed it back where it belonged as the crawling bait and continued to encourage Anya.

So she got in the position, looked at the toy, looked at me, grinned, looked at the toy, rocked...

And Jadzia, laughing, picked it up and put it in front of her.

Grr! Argh!

Again I tried to remain cheerful as I moved the toy back so as not to upset Anya at removing her ill-gotten prize. Again my attempts were foiled by Inara who seemed convinced that I was placing it too far away for Anya to reach.

When I took the toy back AGAIN and placed it out of reach, Inara - cunning little pixie that she is - picked a different toy and put it right in front of Anya. Anya then happily took up the new prize and ignored the bait.

And so I conceded defeat and have realized Anya has no need to crawl because Jadzia and Inara will happily retrieve any toy she wants. What's more is that when she starts to fuss and is on the floor, they both run off to get toys, blankets, etc to pile around her to try and make her happy. Why crawl when you have such service?!

One should never...

1) Go to the grocery store without a list - or at the very least knowing what you have and do not have in your house already. We went to the commissary yesterday and did so without a list. I came home and realized that I already had some of the items I just bought so now I have extras.

2) Take 3 kids to the beach without a plan or an additional adult. It was a good theory. I wanted to get out of the house and off the base. I remembered my mom wanted a couple shirts from North Shore so I figured we'd drive up and the kids could splash around for a few, play in the sand - then we'd shop and come home for lunch. Living in Hawaii, it's not really a waste to only spend an hour at the beach because...well we can go anytime we want really. Anyway, I packed up the kids, filled a couple of water bottles, grabbed the towels and we drove on up. Anya was happy to gnaw on rocks and eat sand while Jadzia and Inara wanted to play in the water. Being one adult with only two hands, I couldn't just leave Anya sitting alone in the sand and wade out with the other two but I still wanted them to have SOME fun. I let them walk along the edge while I stayed somewhat in the middle of Anya and them. They were happy tossing rocks in the water but every once in awhile Jadzia would start to walk further in and then Inara would start to follow. After about 45 minutes I realized I obviously didn't have the arms or the eyes for this particular trip at this particular moments. So I let them throw a few more beach rocks in and then we headed back to the car to commence shopping. They DID have fun so, as I said, it wasn't a total bust. I need to recruit a neighbor I think if I want to try again. Or take the play pen tent we have so I at least feel Anya is a little more secure in her location (although I'd still not want to wander too far I suspect lol). Anyway, we shopped and then came home since Anya was ready for a nap. As chance would have it, Anya fell asleep in the car and then was no longer ready for a nap when we got home.

Anyone know where I might get a third arm?

Why is it?

That when Anya decides to have a "bad" night it involves waking up a half dozen times? I woke up this morning feeling as if I had barely slept given how often I was getting up. So alas I am tired and not particularly witty or full of blog-worthy tales. Do not despair, I will come up with something entertaining for tomorrow I dare say.

Night night now...

Mommy Jadzia

While playing yesterday, Inara started to whine about something or other. This isn't totally unusual as Jadzia, the dogs, Anya, Bob the ghost, etc interrupt her peace by some means or another. She usually is over it fairly quickly and the whining stops.

This time, however, almost as soon as she started whining Jadzia said in the sternest voice possible (which is impressive given her soft voice) "Inara Elizabeth Houser!!".

And Inara stopped.

Of course she may have stopped because I was suddenly laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes. But she stopped.

Anatomy Lesson

While I was writing the blog about Anya's teeth, Jadzia and Inara were coloring in the living room. Jadzia was drawing a picture of Mommy and Daddy and when she finished she showed it to Inara (or so I gathered from her conversation). Inara, I gather, pointed to the stick figure that was supposed to represent Daddy and said "Mommy!"

Jadzia corrected her and said "That's Daddy! Boy's have a penis!" *giggle*

Inara, undaunted by the reproof, "Mommy!"

Jadzia, still giggling, "No mommy has a vagina! Daddy is a boy, boy's have a penis!"

At this point I was in a fit of giggles myself and did not hear if Inara learned the lesson or not.

A few minutes later, when I'd recovered my breath, Inara randomly interjects a "Daddy?" into the conversation.

To which Jadzia replied "No, Daddy's in Iraq with his penis."

And so started the giggles again!

Teeth!

Last week I noticed the tell-tale white line of a tooth under Anya's top gum. As my children almost always cut teeth in pairs, I expected the second to follow soon. Yesterday, while checking on the tooth progress, I noticed not only the partner to the first tooth but another pair coming in as well - making four teeth at once! Egads!

So today, while she was eating I noticed something on her bottom gum. I hoped it was just a bit of cracker or something but realized it was, in fact, ANOTHER tooth.

In case you are too tired or have forgotten elementary math - that's 5....five teeth coming in together!

And lest we get the pairs thing! While it's no guarentee - I certainly expect to see tooth 5's partner soon as well.

She'll go from a 2 tooth girl to 8 within a couple weeks!

Don't Judge a Book by its Cover

And don't judge a person by their looks...

Susan Boyle <----Link, click it! ;)

Hard Boiled Eggs

Ya know what I love about Easter? An excuse to make lots and lots of hard boiled eggs. Of course I don't end up eating most of the now pink green, orange, blue eggs BUT I like the idea of having them available to be eaten. Mostly I eat the left overs - ya know the ones that just don't pass the Easter Bunny muster - yeah I eat those.

We made cake and cupcakes today for the Easter Bunny. No it's not like the cookies for santa thing really but it seemed like as good and excuse as any to make cupcakes (and then eat them). Did I mentioned that I like Easter?

Oh and the chocolate! The chocolate in my fridge waiting for the kidlets to wake up and have a mini-Easter egg hunt and for mommy to eat the chocolate. I love Easter.

I love holidays in general - especially with little kids. It's like a built in excuse to buy and eat junk. Is that the BEST attitude to have? Probably not - but I'm still eating the chocolate and the cupcakes. I think next year we'll continue the cupcakes for the Bunny tradition...I like that idea. Now I'm gonna go hunt down my Bunny ears *wink*

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Rainy season in Hawaii generally lasts from November/December until March or so. I had thought the rain was done and we were on to pleasant, dryer time but today of all days it rained, and rained, and rained. Today I meant to run a few errands but due to the rain I only accomplished one of the three - and that was with getting soaked enough. It was not coming down SO hard when we left the house. Of course it seemed to get worse while we were out and then proceeded to slow down AFTER we got home.

As a result of the rain, the yard is a muddy swamp which means I'm loathe to let the dogs out for too long. Bluto, in particular, enjoys a good romp in the mud. He then tracks the mud back into my house and bounds all over the place trying to get the water droplets off him (and onto the kids, the couch, the floor, etc). Unfortunately, I have never made a point of taking him out on the leash much and as a result, when I do, he is a little crazy and often pulls at it trying to slip from his collar. I attempted to let him out front on a leash this afternoon to prevent the mud bath but he just yanked and twisted about until I brought him back inside.

On a side note, today was the 100th day of the year. Random factoid for you.

Eight Hours!

While I didn't go to sleep RIGHT after I posted last night, I did go to sleep before midnight - which is rather early for me as of late. I got to sleep until 8AM so I ended up with eight hours of sleep, totally uninterrupted by the kids! My back, however, was sore most of the night make it not the most perfect sleep but still - eight hours! OMG! I woke up feeling rather refreshed. It's amazing how sleep can do that to you.

The girls got a package from grandpa today which contained finger puppets and Mardi Gras beads. They were very interested in the idea of the finger puppets until they saw the beads. Then the puppets were put aside and the beads were used to make a lot of noise. Eventually they realized they could play with the puppets AND wear the beads at the same time making it all so much better.

Sleep, need sleep

The long nights of kids waking up constantly are catching up to me so I am going to try to go the bed early...like right after I post this. I don't know if I'll succeed but if I'm in a super mood in the morning, hopefully that means I did.

After all the chaos of the last couple days - today was actually pretty calm. The kids and I sat around and watched DVDs all day mostly. And read Dick and Jane over and over and over again.

Those short 2-3 word sentences really start to grate on the nerves after awhile.

Look Jane. Read Jane. Cami sleep. Read Jane. Read. Read. Read.

Oh What a Circus!

I should have known. I just should have known today was going to be one of those days. So, I mentioned my kids being sick right? Did I mention that they're out to get me? Cause I think they are! Last night they took turns waking up because of the sicks.

First it was Anya (not sick, just hungry). Feed Anya, put Anya down, go to bed.

Then it was Jadzia. She's thirsty and feverish. Give drink of water, give medicine. Go back to bed.

Next it was Inara. She's feverish. Give medicine. Go back to bed

Then it was Jadzia again. With a sore throat - she needs more water. Stumble back to bed, try not to crash into wall.

Then it was Inara again. Thirsty this time I think (it was about 430AM and she doesn't use many words - I took a guess). Water Inara, contemplate sleeping in hall -return to bed.

Around 6AM, Jadzia wakes up AGAIN. The fever is back and she's thirsty. Of course I didn't get this out of her right away. I must have looked mean because when I opened the door this time all she did was look at me and lay back down. When I asked her what was wrong she started crying. I asked if she was hot or thirsty and finally got out of her that she was so I watered her and medicated her and got back to bed.

Then Anya woke up for the morning. I turned the monitor down on her morning chatter and buried my head with a pillow. I suspect she started crying not long after that but I was still buried for a bit.

And that was all BEFORE we got up for the day. My goal for today was to go to the commissary because we were out of lots of things. Anya, due to my tuning her out in the morning, was ready for an early nap a little after 10AM so I figured we'd go after she got up. Shortly there after, Inara acts like she's pooping, this is not a blog worthy event in and of itself as she poops daily but the fact that I had to help extract the blockage of rock like poop is. Well maybe it's not but it all leads into my grand chaos of a day.

Around 1130, I decided to lay down on the couch to rest since the yo-yo sleep of the night before was killing me. Naturally, she woke up about 30 minutes later. So we all got up, got dressed and ready. I fed Anya and put the dogs up.

Thinking myself smart, I went out to try the car first before loading up everyone. (If I was REALLY smart I would have tried the car before doing everything else but I digress). Naturally the car was dead.

Click. Click. Click. Nada....

Grr! Argh!

So back inside we go. I call my neighbor to bitch about the car. I figure I can push off the commissary another day and maybe borrow her car tomorrow for a trip and to get a new battery. I don't wanna bug her husband at work.

I decide to walk up and check the mail and just let the kids play on the playground there while I re-evaluate my plans for the week sans car (not that I had anything grand planned).

My neighbor has her own plans and sets a whole plan in motion before I've even contemplated how to blow up the car. Her husband came home briefly to give us use of their car, she took him back while I watched the collective monsters (i.e. our children). Then I took their car to the commissary to do my shopping with just Anya. When I got back and unloaded Anya was cranky and my mom was video calling me. Then I get the information on the battery over to her and take the monsters back to my house so she can go get a battery without us having to try and rearrange all the carseats (4 kids 4 and under between us so all in carseats).

She gets the battery for me, her husband installs said battery for me and poof - the car is alive. Again! It's ALIVE!!! *cue music and thunder and lightening*

By the thim this is all said and done, Anya is ready for bed (truth be told so am I) and darkness is creeping up on us. While I normally choose to put Anya down AFTER the other two, she's losing it so I get her asleep and down, get the clean up started, get THEM put to bed and here I sit.

It's worse than that, it's dead Jim! AGAIN!

Yes folks, that's right! I went out to the car, loaded the kids and no vroom vroom! This time the car at least seemed to TRY to start. It made noise at least...sort of. So we decided to take a walk to the PX. We really didn't need anything bad enough to make the walk BUT I needed out of the house - in spite of the sickie kids. So walk we did. It's not that long of a walk really and it was a nice breezy day so cool without being too cold.

Tonight my neighbor's husband once again came to my rescue. The car gave some resistance this time but it did eventually come back to life. If this happens again, I can't be held responsible for what happens to the car. (I say with jest).

Anyway, the kiddos are still feverish and sickish but they seem to have their ups and downs (that seems to reconcile with when they have been recently medicated). Anya is, thankfully, unaffected thus far.

My kiddos are sick again

Jadzia and Inara are running fevers and Jadzia complained about a sore throat last night. This morning she walked up to me and choked out "Mommmmmy, I don't feeeel betttter!". Poor kid. Inara, though feverish, is not nearly as cranky. Of course now they are medicated and are laughing so I guess they'll survive. More later.

Three Months

As of yesterday, it's been three months since Robby left. Some days I can well believe it - particularly when the kids are extra crazy. Other times, I actually feel surprise to think it's been three months. I suspect, like with pregnancy, most of the year will go by with alarming speed but the last couple months will drag on and on and never seem to end.

Today we went over to my neighbors for dinner and a movie. Her husband wanted to watch Twilight - which we own - so we took it over. Jadzia and Inara had a good time playing with their son. Besides each other, they don't often get a chance to play with other kids so it's good to let them socialize. Inara, growing more tired and clumsy toward the end of the movie, fell down half the stairs twice before we left. I suspect she'll have a shiny little bruise in the morning. Other than a few minutes of crying, though, she seemed okay once her boo-boos were all kissed. Oddly enough she had boo-boos everywhere - or so she claimed. I suspect she just wanted me to keep kissing her.

Anya, true to form, cried almost every time I put her down. She did, however, allow herself to be held by someone that wasn't me for a couple minutes - until I walked into the room when she started crying for me again. The child is all too attached to me. She has also recently discovered the fun of screaming for the sake of screaming. This is not a "I'm pissed" scream I'm refering too but a "let's make a lot of noise" scream. She does it quite well and manages to make her sisters laugh at her antics.

While the neighbors' son was over here for a little bit earlier in the day, I took the opportunity of having a boy to take pictures off - isn't he a cutie?! He wasn't really all that cooperative but he's two and two year olds rarely are cooperative.

They Melt in Your Mouth...

Not in your hand! Okay so that doesn't really apply to the kids but it suits their shirts. Enjoy the pictures! And in case you're desperate for actual written blog posts, I suspect I'll be out of pictures to share after this and will have more antics from the spawn soon.

Jadzia says:

I'm ready for my close up Mr. Deville! (Okay so she doesn't really say that). She's such a little model sometimes!

And now for Inara's moment!

She was really more interested in playing with her dress than actually smiling. Nevertheless, the play made for some fun pictures and is very Inara. And here are a couple in another outfit I got for her since she's not always a "dress" girly girl.