Annabelle update

The day after Annabelle was put on amoxicillin I noticed a huge improvement! Her cold is gone and she’s eating much more now! I’m so pleased! She’s even more active and energetic and, in fact, we’ve had to make some recent furniture arrangements to accommodate her rapidly increasing physical abilities. Last Wednesday or Thursday, I can’t remember which now, we were all in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner, Annabelle was sitting on the tile floor near the fridge and not more than 30 seconds later I heard her squeal and then cry so I ran out to check on her and both Elisabeth and Charles were looking down the stairs and there she was at the bottom of our 13 stairs lying on her back crying, she must have crawled for those stairs full speed and tumbled down. I ran down and grabbed her up in my arms and did a quick physical check and luckily all was fine, no bumps or bruises or broken limbs; I think mostly she was scared. We have a baby gate but it doesn’t work at the top of the stairs and in fact it has a warning on the box that says to never have one set up at the top of stairs because if a baby were to pull up on it(which she can do) it would most likely go tumbling down with her. So for now we’ve moved our smaller couch to block the top of the stairs which works fine because the couch is surprisingly easy to move around on the tile floor where it now sits....it just makes the living room look a little funny, but that's okay as long as I have a safe baby. We’re very grateful that she wasn’t hurt and that her health has improved tremendously over this past week. She has been watched over and blessed.

Grandma Smith's visit

(Some of the following pictures were taken with our video camera so the quality is very poor but others were taken from Grandma's camera, bless her heart. Thanks for sending them to me so quickly!)

Grandma Smith flew out from North Carolina Wednesday and stayed with us through Monday. We loved having her here with us! Here are a few of the things we did while she was here visiting:

Tour at welfare square: Aunt Krissy needed to do this for a school assignment and we joined her and we’re so glad we did because it was really interesting!

Shopping: Grandma spoiled the kids and bought them different clothing items, toys, books etc, but that’s what Grandma’s are for right? They loved it!

‘God’s plan for his family’ tour at temple square: This is a new presentation they have available at the north visitors center for families and we all really enjoyed it, even the kids. They have several rooms decorated that look like different rooms in a home- i.e. a nursery, grandma’s room, front porch etc.- and in each room you watch a short video presentation on families. The entire presentation lasted about 20 minutes.
Decorated cake and cookies: A friend of mine who is a wonderful photographer took our family pictures out of the goodness of her heart, so I told her in exchange I’d do a birthday cake for one of her family members. So Friday I decorated a cake for Emerson’s second birthday…Emerson loves horses so this is what I came up with. Then Saturday afternoon we made Thanksgiving sugar cookies(thanks Grandma for those cute Thanksgiving cookie cutters).
Date night with my hubby: Saturday night we put Annabelle to bed before 7pm and then Scott and I went on a date while Grandma played with the kids and got them off to bed(which we later learned was a bit of an ordeal..sorry Grandma). Scott and I did a little Christmas stocking shopping, then we ate dessert at Chili’s and then got a couple of items from home depot. We had a wonderful, and much needed, evening together alone as a couple. As we were walking into our first shopping destination I told Scott that my only rule for the evening was that we hold hands at all times, and we did….we don’t get to hold hands very often because the kids are always requiring them so this was such a nice treat for us both.

Dinners with Aunt Krissy and Kendall: We had them over a couple of times for dinner and enjoyed their company very much. I hope it wasn’t too chaotic for them eating with our noisy and over excited children, but we certainly had a good time. And they stayed late enough to do our nightly routine with the kids so they got to experience Charlie's nightly 'nakey run'...each night before he gets his pajamas on he completely strips down down, goes potty and then runs out the bathroom naked and runs in circles throughout the upstairs making horse noises! It's very cute and funny!

Thanks Grandma Smith for coming to stay with us! We love you and can’t wait to see you again!

Annabelle is 9 months old

Here are her stats from her doctors visit:
Weight: 14 lbs. 12 oz., 2 %
Height: 27.2in., 37%
Head circumference: 42.5cm, 10%

Annabelle is still such a little thing, in fact three months ago she was at 14 lbs. 5oz. for weight, 26.5 inches long, and her head circumference measured at 42cm which are almost identical to her present stats... they had to measure her twice to make sure their readings were accurate, and they were. The Doctor is a little concerned but I think she’ll be okay. She’s very healthy and normal in every other aspect. She crawls, smiles, laughs, says ‘mama’ and ‘dada’, she whines and she can wave, she does the pincer grasp, is a champion sleeper, has normal bowel movements, eats pretty good normally and on and on and on. `All of our kids have been smaller than average though Annabelle is the smallest, but she's also been sick for the past month. She’s had a cold and the last few days hasn’t eaten well because it’s gotten worse, and I explained this to the Doctor but she’s still wary.

The doctor decided that she should have her blood drawn(I hate having to witness this: adults restraining this poor sweet little thing while we stick a needle in her arm and draw out two tubes of blood. It always brings tears to my eyes) and sent to a lab to check and see if she has a problem with her thyroid. They called me today with the results and said that the test came back normal. I think I just need to make sure that she’s getting enough food in her and now that she’s on antibiotics(amoxicillin) for her never-ending cold I’m hoping, and praying, that she’ll start eating better and growing again soon.

Our sick Annabelle sleeping with Daddy

Talents

Friday our ward had a dinner and talent show. Something neat the ward did this year was they set up several tables, front and center, as display tables for creative artsy talents. There was home made jewelry, origami, wood work, cross-stitches, quilts, scrapbooks, etc. When Scott and I got married we each gave each other a home made gift. His gift to me was this beautiful jewelry box, so we brought that tonight to put on display. I brought a cross stitch that I finished a couple of years ago (thanks Erica for getting me started!) and a photo album filled with pictures of cakes I’ve done. I also brought a cake for dessert: cornucopia.
Earlier that day the kids and I went to Costco. When we got home I set down a couple of items near the top of the stairs so that I would remember to take them down next time I was headed in that direction. One of those items was 2 large boxes of dryer sheets, held together with a plastic wrap. Anyways, the kids were playing nicely in the living room so I was in the kitchen busily decorating the cake. Something caught my attention. I’m not sure what drew me away from the cake first: Elisabeth repeatedly chanting, “Up the hill, up the hill, stomp, stomp, stomp.” Or the increasingly potent smell of dryer sheets. Either way, I stopped decorating and checked on the kids. Elisabeth and Charles had ripped open the plastic wrap, opened both boxes of dryer sheets, strew them all around the living room and were stomping around in circles on the dryer sheets. I was not happy(which you may be able to observe in the picture below because many times the kids faces mirror my own expressions and they certainly do in this picture). I was already in some what of a rush trying to get the cake done in time since I decided to do it very last minute, and now I’d have to stop to help get these up before our entire house reeked. We did get them cleaned up before it was time to leave for the church but even several hours later our house still carried the sweet and strong aroma of dryer sheets.
P.S. April just sent me a picture of me and Grandma duking it out(not with our fists just with our lips on ice :)) at her baby shower so I added it to the baby shower blog on here. If you want to check it out scroll down several blogs.

Floor art and Jane Eyre

Yesterday while I was making dinner the kids sat at the table and colored pictures with their crayons. Well Elisabeth colored pictures, Charles colored the floor. Naughty, naughty. I gave Charles a damp rag and told him that before he ate dinner the tile needed to be crayon-free and lucky for him it came up super easy and fast.
Yesterday I finished the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. The previous week I read her sister’s novel(Emily Bronte), Wuthering Heights. Wuthering Heights was interesting, to say the least, filled with crazy characters who thrived on revenge, cruelty and jealousy. I didn’t like it much. Jane Eyre was wonderful! Here are my 3 favorite quotes from that book, they are excellent and thought provoking:

1.
“It is far better to endure patiently a smart which nobody feels but yourself, than to commit a hasty action whose evil consequences will extend to all connected with you; and, besides, the Bible bids us return good for evil” pg. 55 (Helen Burns speaking to Jane Eyre)
2.
“How minutely you remember all she has done and said to you! What a singularly deep impression her injustice seems to have made on your heart! No ill-usage so brands it’s record on my feelings. Would you not be happier if you tried to forget her severity, together with the passionate emotions it excited? Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity, or registering wrongs.”pg. 58 (Helen Burns speaking to Jane Eyre)
3.
“You said you were not as good as you should like to be, and that you regretted your own imperfection; one thing I can comprehend: you intimated that to have a sullied memory was a perpetual bane. It seems to me, that if you tried hard, you would in time find it possible to become what you yourself would approve; and that if from this day you began with resolution to correct your thoughts and actions, you would in a few years have laid up a new and stainless store of recollections, to which you might revert with pleasure.” Pg. 140(Jane speaking to Mr. Rochester)

First snow!

Wednesday morning we woke up to our first snow of the season! It was pretty exciting for the kids(and I generally enjoy a few days of the snow; I just don’t like when it sticks around for long periods of time and I don’t like driving in snow if the roads aren’t cleared).

Charles and Elisabeth got all bundled up, took their snow shovels out of the garage and shoveled away! They were outside for at least an hour probably more. Our neighbor Jaron was out shoveling snow too and all three came over and shoveled our driveway for us, the sweethearts! Annabelle and I stayed inside to clean the kitchen and then Maren and Brigham and Benji (j/k! I know you hate that name Maren, I had to do it though) I mean Benjamin came by to play in the snow as well. We had a great time! Once the kids got cold and tired they came inside for some Hot Cocoa.

And yes that’s Charles in the yellow jacket and pink striped boots! He’s wearing Elisabeth’s old rain boots because his snow boots from last year are way too small and we haven’t had a chance to find new ones yet.

Reasons why I'm excited for November...

(listed in order of occurrence)

1. Book club (we have this every month but it’s always something I look forward to with delight)
2. Ward dinner and talent show
3. Decorating a couple of cakes for different occasions
4. Grandma Smith coming to visit from NC
5. Our big enrichment and dinner
6. Twilight, the movie, comes out (and I already have my ticket purchased from fandango!)
7. Granny and Grandpa Garnica and Becca and Bella (my sister and niece) will be visiting and staying with us for Thanksgiving

Sleeping with Charles

Well as mentioned before a few of us are sick with colds, and in fact we just went out last weekend and got a second humidifier/vaporizer because it was difficult deciding each night who needed it most. So anyways, we have two now and since Annabelle is the littlest(so more prone to ear infections etc) and may be sickest we decided that one should stay in her room and the other we were going to put in Char’s room but then we decided we’d just stick it in our bedroom and have Charlie sleep in there with us since my cold is pretty bad too. We moved his mattress in Saturday and It’s been rough. Charles talks in his sleep and makes a lot of other noises and tosses and turns quite a bit. In fact the first night he slept in our room, which was the day after Halloween, As Scott and I slipped into bed(and Char had been sleeping for a good while) Charles rolled over on his side, while still sleeping, and suddenly exclaimed, “Trick or Treat!” It was pretty funny. But the good humor didn’t last long. For the next two nights in a row I was being constantly awakened my moans and groans, twice his head bumped up against the power button on our cd player that lies on the floor and turned the radio on, four times or more he’s rolled off of the bed and groaned quite a bit so I would get up and move him back. This morning I told Scott that Charles could just have the vaporizer in his room for himself because I’d rather not have the benefits of a vaporizer than lose sleep from sharing a room with him, which I’m sure isn’t helping me get any better either. We’ve also decided that for the next three days all the sickly people at home will go without sugar since that tends to make more sinus problems and sickness. We’ve done it for one day so far and it went well…we’re all sweets lovers(my fault I’m sure) so we’ll see how it goes.

Cornbread catastrophe

Sunday evening someone (this person has requested anonymity) was getting dinner together while I was back in our bedroom talking to a family member on the phone. All of a sudden I heard the sound of glass shattering and a shout then followed. I quickly ended my call and ran out to see what was the matter. In the kitchen I found broken glass everywhere. And someone was standing in the middle of it, let’s call this someone S. Smith to help the story move along more easily. Apparently S. Smith had taken the 8x 8 glass baking dish filled with cornbread out of the oven and set in on a stove burner to cool. Then He accidentally turned that said burner on thinking he was turning on a different burner that had a pot full of water on top. Well, S. Smith says that about 5-10 minutes later the glass dish exploded. Luckily no one was hurt. We started cleaning up the mess and then stopped to take a few pictures:

I do take part of the blame: if I had been in the kitchen helping my dear friend with the dinner, I probably would have smelled the burning cornbread and could have saved the day, or at least the dish. Oh well. The rest of dinner turned out beautifully and all tasted wonderful.

Happy Halloween!

Superman and Snowwhite

Here is the menu for our Halloween evening:

Chili in a pumpkin bread bowl

Pasta ‘crack’ salad (thanks April for the recipe!). They call it 'crack' salad because it's addicting like crack :)
Macaroni for the kids
Mummy dogs(hot dogs wrapped in a croissant)
Candy corn sugar cookies
Most of us are sick with colds(minus Scott…and Elisabeth’s is very minor) but we still ate a lot of sugar(which I know made us worse) and had a nice time with our guests, Krissy and Kendall. They stayed at home with Annabelle and handed out candy to the trick-or-treaters while Scott and I, hand in hand(it felt just like a date) took Elisabeth and Charles out. After about half an hour it started to drizzle, but it wasn’t too unpleasant because the weather was warm, so we stayed out about a half hour more. Afterwards we came home, ate some more candy, put the kids to bed and then the adults visited and played a game. Thanks Krissy and Kendall for spending some time with us!

Elisabeth helping with the sugar cookies

Aunt Krissy and Kendall, the cute couple

Oh, and here’s a picture of Charlie from earlier that day, raking our leaves with a hoe.