Under Where?

Bristol stashes her underwear. Everywhere. That's right, underwear. The first time she uses the bathroom her pants go back on but her underwear hides. Bizarre? Yes. Hysterical? Yes. I try to remind her, but I also try to let V and B handle the bathroom routine on their own. So, we end up with underwear in all kinds of weird places. The other day, we had friends over and the four year old little boy entertained himself by finding Bristol's underwear all over the house. I think he found four pairs in like 1/2 an hour.

The last few weeks, when I found her hiding places I tried to remember to take pictures:

 

 

The Sidewalk

Getting three kids buckled into the car (and back out of the car) on my own is an ordeal. The most stressful part is leaving one of the girls alone for a few transition minutes. I've spent the last four months drilling into the girls that they STAY ON THE SIDEWALK.

This afternoon we rushed out the door to pick up Dad from school (we were late...of course). I tell Bristol to stay on the sidewalk, and start putting Hudson and Vienna in the car when Bristol calls to me, "Mom I need to do a pee!" I glanced over and see her coming towards me into the parking lot so I say, "Bristol no! On the sidewalk!" She retreats and I turn around and finish buckling Vienna and Hudson.

I turn around just in time to catch Bristol peeing on the sidewalk - SERIOUSLY? The one time she was obedient and did EXACTLY what I said all day. As I walked over, she smiled and said, "Look mom, I'm on the sidewalk!"

Toothless

This little guy seems determined to grow up as fast as he can. He got his first tooth about 2 1/2 weeks ago and two days ago he got his second. I feel like mom's sometimes pay a high price for teeth! Hudson was going to bed on his own and sleeping through the night (aww bliss) until his first tooth made its debut. Hudson seems to have a hard time with teething (my girls didn't - thankfully) he had the works: fever, runny nose, watery eyes, ear aches, grumpy, exhausted - but not sleeping. And, we finished round one just in time to start round two! I found the entire process exhausting and now have real serious empathy for mom's who do this with every child and every tooth. How do you mom's do this? I will take any advice I can get! (I know it seems funny to ask for advice on child three :) But my girls were super easy. We didn't even know they were getting teeth until we could see them)

We are now back on track with sleeping and we have our cheerful, low-maintenance baby back. I know there are more teeth on the way, but for now I am loving his cute little smile - teeth included!!

Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome

According to the Mayo Clinic the definition of Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome, CVS, is:

         Cyclic vomiting syndrome causes bouts of severe nausea and vomiting that can last for days. The disorder has no known cause.

         Symptoms of cyclic vomiting syndrome typically begin between the ages of 3 and 7 years. While the disorder occurs most often in children, cyclic vomiting syndrome can begin at any age. Adult episodes tend to occur less often than do episodes in children, but adult episodes usually last longer.

        Cyclic vomiting syndrome appears to be associated with migraines in some cases. Most children outgrow cyclic vomiting syndrome when they're teenagers. However, children with this condition are at increased risk of developing migraines.

For the last several months Vienna has been getting an extremely volatile flu every couple of weeks. She wakes up around 4 in the morning and vomits every 10-15 minutes until about 1:30 in the afternoon; then, she takes a nap and wakes up and seems to be completely fine. Strange.....

Last time she got sick, I decided to take her to our Pediatrician - I was worried about what he would say was wrong but  felt like if we just knew what we were up against then we would know where to go from here. Vienna has CVS and our course of action is to first, determine how often her cycle repeats itself and then we can discuss whether we want to medicate her.

As we left the doctor's office I was feeling pretty helpless. There is nothing I can do to fix this and I can't be sick for her, all I can do is hold her and comfort her and wait it out. There is nothing harder than watching your kids suffer. I knew when I held Vienna for the first time that a day would come when I wouldn't be able to protect her or keep her from hurting, but now that the day has arrived I feel totally unprepared. Even harder - knowing there are many more moments of sitting and watching on the way.

Rights of Passage

I think what makes a person a mom is going through certain rights of passage. They are those things that all moms go through sometime or another - often more than once. They are things that are difficult, heartwarming, sad, terrifying, and funny (sometimes the humor doesn't come right away!) After three kids I have hit several of these marks (with plenty more to come) - carrots in Vienna's nose, a bead in her ear (seeing a trend?), rushing to the doctor in the middle of the night, first fevers, first smiles, fingernail polish, first laughs, getting thrown up on, first I love yous...the list goes on and on.

Recently I decided that I should keep track of these moments. Someday I want to tell my children about them when they are new parents and to remind myself of the humor in the things that happen with my kids.

Today I hit a new right of passage.....THE PERMANENT MARKER. It constantly amazes me how FAST my kids can get themselves into a whole lot of trouble. It is very possible that they could hold the world record. Paul and I were upstairs lamenting BYU's losing Brandon Davis when Vienna came up and said quite nonchalantly "Bristol is using Mommy's marker." This is never a good sign.

I went downstairs to find Bristol using a black permanent marker with surprising efficiency, considering her lack of practice. We now own one less pair of pajamas and several books went through a redesign process. Miraculously, our carpet was spared and the girls didn't really have too much marker on them. I realized in retrospect I should have taken a picture - I will next time because lets face I am guaranteed a next time!