How Can I Find Happiness?

This is a message from one of my favorite leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I think his message is very timely, with the current state of our country (the recession, swine flu, etc...it's all quite discouraging). I hope that this can be something that uplifts my friends, members and non-members alike.

New Form of Punishment

I've again found a new form of cruel and unusual punishment for criminals. Emergency rooms. Saturday night (technically, very early Sunday morning), Sadie ended up going to the ER in the middle of the night for a fever that we couldn't get to go down. Forunately/unfortunately, her situation wasn't as serious as when she had to be admitted last January. The good news is, she was diagnosed with a double ear infection and sent home. The bad news was, the four hour plus wait (from 1:00am to 5:30am). I don't get it. I guess maybe because ER's can't refuse service to anyone, they have to make it somewhat inconvenient. I don't know...I'd like to assume there's some way to call in a few more doctors and speed things up.
Our Children's Hospital has fantastic doctors and high ratings; but if you walked in and sat in the huge waiting room, containing only one 3 1/2 inch TV you wouldn't know it. The whole process is unnerving. First, you have to "check in"...tell the nurse your primary complaints and undergo basic checks like heartrate. Then you sit and wait to have them "register" you...provide basic insurance and personal information. After that, you get to sit down again and wait for triage. Triage is in another room...temperature, weight check, heart rate, etc...From triage you MAY be assigned to a room. In our case, we were just assigned to a "new" waiting area. (The one with the fabulous TV and swarming with other sick kids) There we waited for another two hours. We finally got a room at about 3:00am. They then told me it would be another 1-2 hours before the doctor could see us, so to feel free to sleep (yeah right, with screaming children just outside). We tried...but hospitals aren't known for being a nice place to sleep. First we saw a resident who diagnosed the ear infection and wanted her to drink something before we left to bring down her heartrate. He only brought me a bottle and a big cup...great! I asked for a sippy cup..."hmmmm, yeah, she's a little old for the bottle, she'll make a mess with the cup...well, I dunno where sippy cups are...I'll try to find one". Thanks doc. An hour later Sadie and I were both dripping with Pedialite. At about that time, the "real" doctor came and reconfirmed the prior diagnosis. Then, another half-hour later, the nurse came with a prescription and discharge information. The entire process was torture (I think surely in part because of the time of night). What's a parent to do?
I was so tired coming home that I came home to give Jake her presciption to go fill it while I put Sadie to sleep for a few minutes. By the time I got Sadie to sleep, the other kids were awake (Jake was still at the pharmacy). He got home and I woke up Sadie and got her to sleep, again, before I got to close my eyes. I'm so weak, it's been a long time since I pulled an all-nighter...they're not as much fun as they were in the "good ole days" when I'd pull an all-nighter for fun.

Major Accomplishment

Today has been one of "those days". Grrr...it's a beautiful day outside (okay, only 60 degrees, but beautiful by Milwaukee standards). I'm stuck in the house. Kids were so grumpy today, my biggest accomplishment was holding off until 11:00am to feed them lunch and noon to make everyone take a NAP! I hear it's supposed to SNOW again on Sunday. Why can't my kids be grumpy and mean when its freezing?!

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Real Life Confession

Is it a problem that recently, before I went to a "fitness" night for church, to learn more about diet and exercise, that I was in my car guiltily and carefully getting the crumbs from my onion rings off of my lap? (It was my "night out" when the sitter comes, I didn't have time to eat beforehand and obviously made a poor choice when I ate out...I also had to drag in my "Fox Fudge Freak Out" ice cream to leave in the freezer...heaven forbid it melted!)
I've also been disappointed to realize that calories on the weekend still count. I kind of have been using calories Al Gore style. I figure that if I'm good and "green" all week, that on the weekend I have somehow earned "calorie credits". All of those calories sacrificed all week certainly earn me some extra on the weekend! Someone online had the nerve to imply that all calories count...even on Saturday and Sunday. The nerve!

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lion

We survived March! Unfortunately, in Wisconsin, the promise of lamb-like weather is vain. I just realized tonight, while Jake is at Priesthood, how much catching up I have to do on blogging. So, here's our March, in a nutshell. I feel guilty wasting my life away on the computer, while Jake is out being spiritually nourished...but, hey, we all have to make sacrifices...this isn't about me or relaxing, it's about preserving the history of my family (relaxing and ignoring the messy house is a perk!)
Pictures recap: (I don't think I'm organized to have these in the same order as the pics, I know my readers are sharp)
Trip to the firehouse for preschool--Ty is so into this stuff, we had a blast!
Brooklyn dressed up (and quite beautifully toothless) for a tea-party
Saying "hello" to the Easter Bunny at the mall (it's like Santa, I don't really want to see him, but if I don't, he might not bring me anything)
Brooklyn and Sadie reading together
Playgroup at "Generations at Play"--the kids loved spending time with friends and the huge place filled with toys that no one could lay claim to. Mark this as the first play group ever in my entire motherhood that I've actually been able to enjoy the socializing aspect of playgroup (for Brooklyn's first few summers, I still remember going home in tears from several playgroups...all the time and effort to get out the door, and I'd always find myself chasing her and not getting the time with other moms that I so desperately needed) Hooray for milestones!

Home Show

Last weekend, we used our free tickets to check out the Home and Garden show. Our kids actually enjoyed it, and they made friends at a booth outside the show, that was run by the "New Berlin Historical Society". I took pictures because the ladies there were so enthralled with my kids, and they wanted pictures. They turned out pretty cute...I love those antique school desks...my mom has one...

Blue Harbor

Two weeks ago, we went to an indoor waterpark overnight with some friends. It was so much fun, the kids had a blast! Our only regret was not having more time to play, and that we should bring along a babysitter next time so the moms and dads can play too! There's always next year...

Sadie on Waterslide

On our trip to Blue Harbor, Sadie went nuts for the waterslides. Ty, on the other hand, wouldn't do anything but walk up and drop his fealess companion, a plastic frog, down the slide. Surrounding parents would gasp everytime that Sadie went down the slide, but at the bottom, she was always delighted, saying "again, again!". She weights all of 20 lbs, and looks so much younger than she is, it was funny to watch the reactions of others. Social services was waiting for me when I got back to my room...

Fun Recipes

I made this chocolate cake for a church dinner. It was very rich, but very delicious (and also surprisingly easy for someone who typically uses cake mixes). I can't get the link to work, but this can be found on Hersheys. I just googled "Hershey's Chocolate Cake"; it is "Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake".




This aren't super tasty, but they are very easy, cheap, and fun for kids! We kept it simple and just did the chow-mein noodles with jelly beans for eggs. Couldn't get the link to work here either, recipe is at www.landolakes.com. Search recipes for "nest".

Politically Incorrect

My kids are still learning the intricacies of social correctness. Ty is the worst. During church, when the men are passing the sacrament, he constantly asks (in a very loud voice) "who's going to give us the bread, the black guy or the white guy?". He is referring to the color of the mens SHIRTS (black guys wear suit jackets, white guys just have on their white shirts). The more that we get him to be quiet, the more loud he gets. If were were living in Lehi, Utah, we might be able to just work around it and get away with it. But, Milwaukee is racially diverse and I swear we're going to totally offend someone; likely an investigator or new member. Honestly, Ty. I'm working with Brooklyn on understanding the differences between races without necessarily making a big deal about it. The main reason is that she insists, every time we see a cute little black girl at the park, that she wants to wear her hair the same way; with lots of clips. (So many of the girls during the summer wear their hair in lots of braids with plastic clips on the ends) I just can't begin to explain to her that she just can't do that look. Right now, she doesn't even think about the differences in skin color, which is good; but at some point I might have some explaining to do.

Blog Help

Anyone know how to add a scroll bar to a widget on blogger? I don't want to delete anything in my "kids say" section, but it's getting awfully long...

A Big Step

This morning, Jake left to work very early. I'm not a great wife, so I didn't get up with him and fix him a big breakfast like I usually do. (Yeah, right. The are packets of oatmeal in the pantry, help yourself!) I woke to the sound of Brooklyn and Ty creeping downstairs. The overcast day had me feeling particularly lazy, and I'm by nature not great in the morning, so I decided to wait it out. As quiet as they were being, I knew they were amid a great project. I could hear bits and pieces, and figured out that they were downstairs getting themselves breakfast. I relished in listening to them accomplish a big task together, and didn't go down for a few minutes. I was honestly surprised that they had done fairly well. Both had cereal. No milk was spilled. Brooklyn had also gotten into the freezer and toasted some waffles. She had carefully and lovingly cut Ty's for him and gave him syrup. I have to admit, I expected the worst...cereal all over the floor, milk spilled down the heater vents (again, it's been done!) and sticky syrup all over. The only major mess was Ty's cereal bowl (it was serious kinds of overfull) and that the kids had found some Gatorade mix and tried to make themselves some. The cups were half concentrate and half water, and hadn't been touched. So yucky. I love babies, I love everything about them. But, I am also loving my kids growing up and gaining some independence. It's amazing. It's serious seperation anxiety for me if I dwell on it too much, but it's wonderful! Now, if I can just help them learn to get Sadie out of bed without serious injury...I'd be able to sleep in every morning, right? Maybe they would have MY breakfast too, just waiting.