The cats away...

The mice will play! Sometimes I have to leave the room for a minute. I'm learning to wait as long as possible to leave the room, and to make sure nothing "bad" can happen while I am otherwise occupied. We also have locks on the pantry door and a gate on the playroom. One morning, I let the kids play with stickers on some paper while Elin was having Tummy-Time. I thought everyone was pretty well occupied. So, I snuck out for a minute (I drink a lot of water). I was gone for no more than three minutes! It's a good thing she is such an easy-going baby who likes attention from them. She may not survive long otherwise. We are also getting more/higher locks on all the doors to the outside world. They've been able to reach the locks for a long time. They just recently decided that they're going to use their skill. Olivia, especially enjoys going outside while Mommy is putting Elin down for her nap. Aislee likes to open the door, but her irrational fear of buggies keeps her on the door step, while Olivia takes off down the drive way and Ewan hurries after. No one has been hurt. I have suffered a few near heart attacks. We've had a few talks about cars, scary strangers, and the fact that bugs will eat your toes if you go outside without Mommy or Daddy. Olivia hasn't done it for quite a few days! And, I'm getting better at shutting the gate to the playroom when I put Elin down for her nap. Better to have angry toddlers than something much worse!

The squeaky wheel

Upon returning home from Oklahoma in August, I needed to do some laundry. We had done a lot of it before we left because we don't really like traveling with loads of dirty laundry, and we don't have a lot of clothes. But, I wanted to wash blankets and pillow pets after being in the car for many ours and knowing/not knowing what may have been spilled on them. I ran a load, but something was different when I got things out of the washer. They were covered in little rubber flecks. The floor was also covered in water! Paul checks it out and calls Whirlpool to make a repair appointment. We haven't had the washer for more than nine months, so we knew it was still under warranty. This was on Sunday night, and the earliest appointment they have was Tuesday morning between 9 and noon. I was really worried that it was something I had done. I know that I do a lot of laundry. I was trying to figure out if I loaded it too much, or something had gotten caught in there that shouldn't have been washed...I worried until Tuesday morning. The repair man came, and said that there were little holes in the "bellow", the rubber portion that seals the front-loading washer. He assured me that he had the part in the truck and would be back in a few minutes. Forty-five minutes later he comes in and tells me that he doesn't have the part and that he put an order out for it. It would take 10-14 days. I just kinda looked at him for a minute, trying to figure out how we were going to survive 10-14 days without a washer. I'm sure my face showed a little shock because he soon said that if I called the costumer service line they can usually get it in a little faster. After he left, I called Paul and had him call the costumer service line because he's better at getting information out of people and getting them to do things. I am known as the "push-over". So, he calls back and says that the woman he spoke to said she would try to get it there in a few days. Thursday comes around and my dear, sweet, good neighbor allowed me to do a load of pajamas and kids' clothes at her house while we had a play-date. She was/is a life-saver! I got home, got the kids down for a nap, and was lying on the couch for a minute when Paul calls to tell me that the part for the washer was back-ordered until October! I couldn't believe it. There was no way I was going to mooch off my very gracious friends for two more months! I know they would have let me, but laundry is a big deal for a big families! I could easily do a load a day, and I have little mess makers. So, I looked up the number for the Whirlpool head quarters. I was going to be a squeaky wheel by-golly! I hadn't even had the washer for a year and it was falling apart. There must be something wrong with the part if other people are needing it 'cause it's back-ordered to October! I called, and tried not to get upset with the service person on the other line. I knew it was not his fault and I told him that I just needed somebody to listen to my issue and get me to someone who could do something about it. After talking for a few minutes, the poor guy felt pretty bad for me. Four kids under 3, potty-trained/training twins, newborn spit up, just got home from a long trip to a broken washer...he was very nice. He got in contact with a few more parts' dealers and said that he would do all that he could to get me the part. A few days past, a few loads of laundry we done at friends' homes, and a few more phone calls were made to Whirlpool. I finally told the man on the line (a new guy) that if I didn't get my part in a few days, he was either going to send me a new machine to replace this one with an extended warranty, pay me hourly for the  inconvenience of going to laundromat, or get my part here as fast as he could. He was not as nice as the other guy. However, ten minutes after I got off the phone with hm, FedEx came and delivered a part. The repair man came back the next morning and fixed the machine (he wasn't as nice the second time around either). A week later another replacement part came. Sometimes, it's okay to be a squeaky wheel. I don't like doing it, but the functionality of my home was at stake. I am very grateful for modern conveniences...especially the smell of fabric softener, Tide and dryer sheets.

Yes, I'm THAT mother

I've been struggling with something for a few months..okay, maybe a little longer than that. My son bites. I don't want to label him as the "biter" because I don't think it tells the whole story of what happens sometimes. Here's a little background before I get into any of the stories. Ewan has two older sisters that love to tease him. They love to take his toys because he always seems to pick the toy that they wish they would have grabbed. They also like to hug him and get in his face. This has been the way it has been since day one. He also can't communicate as well as they can, and for a little while they were bigger than him. Not true anymore, he is right between them. For a while, his only line of defense when Mom was not there to intervene was to bite. It got them moving away from him very quickly, and he got his toy back. I didn't know what to do with this little guy and his biting. We had countless Family Home Evenings on our bodies and how we need to be nice to other people's bodies and not bite or hit. We had the twins saying, "No, Ewan. Teeth are for eating. We don't bite," if he bit them. Sometimes it happens, but often times they come to me in tears with teeth marks on their hands or arms from him biting them. I'd ask them what happened. Between tears and wailing, they admit that they had taken his toy (it's nice when they're honest). So, instead of just punishing the reactor for reacting, the "toy-stealer" sat on the couch as well.  It's not always them doing something, but a lot of the time it is. I tried putting him "time-out", but I am awful at that! And, he seems to kinda like it because he is by himself and no one is bothering him. Then it happened...Nursery! It was somewhat of a difficult Sunday for everyone. Paul had just gotten called into Elders' Quorum, Elin was still very little, the girls were being potty-trained, and I was teaching our very rambunctious Primary class of six 6 year old boys by myself. I'm sitting in Primary when I hear Ewan crying, and one of the primary teachers brings him to me. "He bit four kids. He can't come back. You might want to talk to him about it," she says as she hands me a very sad little boy. Talk to him about it? Do you know how many times I have talked to my 19 month old about biting? I took him out in the hall and we "talked". He was very sad, and probably didn't quite understand what was going on, but he knew he was in trouble. I rocked him, and we once again, went over why teeth are for eating, biting hurts, and how we love him, but he really can't do that anymore. I was praying in my head to know what to do and how to make this right. Four kids?! A thought comes to mind, not my own, "Take him back in, have him see the owey, have him give a hug and a kiss and say 'Sorry'." So, we walk the 8 miles back to Nursery to "make it right". I'm getting a little emotional just typing my story. I ask the leaders who he bit, and they point to the little girls. Only three were present, because the boy was crying and was taken to his mother. I sit down with him next to the little girls, they're all older than him and ask them where their oweies are. I show Ewan, and he understands that it's owey because he says, "Oooh, owey" and points to it. I have him give a hug and kiss and say "Sorry". Now, it's time to find the mom with the crying child. Not hard to find, because he's still crying. We repeat our new ritual. I felt like things were made right. I tried to do my best. I asked the head Nursery leader what happened. She told me that it wasn't just Ewan, but that he had a toy that everyone seemed to want. It wasn't the first time, and it wasn't the last time. I don't know if the mothers of the children my son bit really understand what it's like to have a child who bites. I came home in tears, and have come home in tears a few Sundays because of this. I have made it an effort of fervent prayer. I have talked to him countless times. We sit and rock in his room when he bites one of the twins and we talk about oweies. We then go back to play and give hugs and kisses. He's getting to the point where we don't have to go in the room. I just have to show him the owey and he gives a hug and a kiss and says Sorry. I don't know what else to do but wait 'til he's big enough to understand a little more. He really is a sweet little boy. He loves to give hugs and kisses. He adores Elin, and worries when she cries. He likes to cuddle and sing songs, and read books. What else to do but wait, and hope that those other mothers know that I am doing my best?

Lock Down

I thought I'd better blog about this before I forget the details. We're trying to figure out what we'd like to do with the yard. I called a couple companies to come and give some quotes on a few of the big jobs. I had a guy scheduled to come at noon on Thursday. It was Thursday morning and I had my day all figured out on how I was going to have kids all fed and down for naps before the guy came. The twins have been waking up kind of early lately, so an 11:30 nap time works well. Elin was fed and asleep. The twins had just gone potty before naps. I'm heading Ewan's room to lay home down when the doorbell rang. The guy is at the door a half an hour early! So, I blame this chaotic episode completely on him! In that half an hour, I would have had all four of them asleep and we could have discussed landscape options without little ones.Here goes it. I send the kids into the playroom so we can talk for a few minutes. It wasn't supposed to take very long. I show him the picture of what we want to do and explain in what sequence we're needing things. We then walk outside to look at the grandeur that is our backyard. The little ones follow. It's over 100 degrees already and it's not even noon! Ewan tries to walk out to the backyard, but soon realizes that it's way too hot for his little feet. The guy goes to measure some things, and I put the kids in the nice cool house. I put a Dora on so we wouldn't be distracted. I shut the back door to keep the cold air in and keep the little ones in. I'm standing at the shut door talking to Paul on the phone to get specifics while the guy measures some more. We have a window the length of the door, so I'm looking in at Ewan. He reaches upto the knob and locks the door. He's been doing this a lot lately. Aislee comes over and I try to explain to her how to unlock the door so I can get in. She reaches up and deadbolts the door. Yes, that's right. She deadbolts the door. I tell the guy that we're locked out of the house. He laughs and says, "Seriously?" We walk to the front of the house and find out that I locked the front door behind him as he came in, and the 3rd garage door is also locked. Yes, indeed. We are locked out of the house. We walk back around to the back of the house. He sits in one of our nice lawn chairs while I call Paul and tell him that he needs to come home and let me into the house. He's on his way. I continue in my attempts to explain to two and a half year olds how to unlock the deadbolt and doorknob. The doorknob is unlocked. Ewan is crying because Aislee took the grass samples from him. Olivia is crying because someone pulled her hair and "Mommy needs to come in and talk to them". I can hear all this, but can't do anything about it. I tried to calm the crying children down, and convince the other to reach up like she does every day, and unlock the deadbolt. I'm doing this while trying to convince the nice landscape guy that my life isn't always this chaotic. We were out there for about 40 minutes talking, trying to get them to unlock the door, and then I hear Elin wake up. She has been woken up by the crying of the other two. I'm praying that Paul gets home soon, and feeling extremely helpless with this very nice man who's asking me if we plan on having more kids "'cause you sure make cute ones". I was seriously waiting for Danny Tanner or the Olsen Twins to come around the corner! This doesn't happen to normal people! Paul arrives. My hero! He goes to talk to the guy while I soothe three crying children, and try to convince them that Mommy did not mean to leave and not help them. Lesson that I have learned, carry my keys at all times, you never know when the landscape guy is gonna come over early and you're not gonna be able to get everyone to sleep and a toddler will accidentally lock you and the landscape guy out of the house. We're safe, unscathed, and probably not gonna go with the quote this guy gave us, as nice as he was.

Motherhood

This topic has been on my mind for the last week or so. Paul and I were asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting this coming Sunday, and our topic is "our divine nature and destiny" stated from The Family: A Proclamation to the World. Since, I feel that our divine nature and destiny is to create families, I'll be speaking on the divine role of mothers. I talked to my mom about it a lot because she is a mother of ten, and always has very good insight. She's also spoken many times and usually has a talk that fits right in with the topic. Being a mother does have it's challenges, especially when so many people think you're absolutely crazy for doing it. But, it has so many more rewards. While I was researching, actually I was blog stalking a friend of mine, I found an interesting article she posted about a woman who is obsessed with reading "Mormon Mommy Blogs". I found it quite fascinating that this woman; atheist, single, "overly educated" as she put it, would be so interested with the everyday in-and-outs of these stay-at-home Mormon women. I highly doubt that anyone outside of our circle of friends and acquaintances read my blog. Anyway, this women talked about these "Mormon Mommies" with super-attentive husbands, Gap model children, perfect homes, and crafts up the wazoo. I will admit that I have a very attentive husband, but I'm glad when my kids are clean, my feet don't stick the kitchen floor, and I don't have any hand-crafts around the house at present. What makes the stay-at-home mom so fascinating? In this article, it seemed that this woman was saying that women who choose to stay-at-home are uneducated, unable to do things outside of the home, or trying to fit in a cultural norm. I read many of the responses to her article, and found that most of them were feeling a little resentful at her article and how she portrayed "picture perfect" mothers who probably took large amounts of prescription drugs to compete with one another. I had to laugh! Most of the stay-at-home moms that I know and associate with are well-educated, highly-motivated, inventive women who try their very best to do what they love to do; be a mommy. There houses aren't always perfect, their children may have peanut butter on their shirts, she may have to turn off a football game to get her husband to make eye-contact with her, but she's doing the best she can, and are usually too busy with the household of children to compete with anyone. This may be silly to blog about, especially since I don't usually share my thoughts on controversial things on my blog (maybe that's why no one comments...), but I'd been thinking about my role as a mother for a while, and had some thoughts.  It's really what I always wanted to do. I did have a Plan B. I wanted to be a pediatrician, but Paul found me during my junior year at BYU, in the midst of O-chem, Functional Anatomy, and Nutrition Through the Life-Cycles, classes I use every day! Although there may be days when I wonder what my life would be like if I hadn't meant the sweetest, kindest, cutest guy to sweep me off my feet, I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be a mother, to be surrounded by good women who are mothers, to have examples such as my mother-in-law, sisters-in-law, mother and very capable sisters that help guide me through the chocolate stains, peanut buttered couches, and apple juice spills. The influence of mothers (women) reaches far and wide throughout the world. Who are we without our mothers, those good women who nurture, love and care for us inside and outside our home? A friend of my mom's posted this about my late sister, " I remember when Tessa and Wes were in Nursery. I thought Tessa was the cutest and smartest girl ever, not to mention, very well-behaved! Then I found out why. Megan was patiently and lovingly teaching her in the hallway at church. I was very impressed and I wished I could be more like her in teaching my own child. She was a great example to me even though I didn't know her very well." We never know who we can influence as a mother, especially when no one is watching or when we think no one is reading. I hope that woman who wrote that article continues to stalk those blogs, maybe someday she'll see us a little differently when she becomes a mother.

My mom and the twins right before I had Ewan.

Paul's Mom dancing with Ewan.

The Einfeldts

Mary (my sister-in-law), Blair and their three girls.

Arianne (my sister), Adam, and their five kids.

Me, Mom, Grandma Crimin at the twins' blessing.