Random Thoughts and Happenings

I've been pretty busy this week. I really wanted to do a 'three week' post for Lilah, but she was three weeks old on election day and I was pretty preoccuied. Then Mike went out of town and it's really hard to take pictures of an infant by yourself...so I'll wait and do a 'four week' post in a few days.

Yes, my husband abandoned me only 3 weeks after I'd given birth and left me alone with all four kids. Why am I afraid to be alone with my kids? We've survived and are looking forward to his return this afternoon. Mike had to go to Logan UT for his business. That is where the headquarters of our franchise is. My sister, Betsy's husband was also in Logan for his job and he and Mike ended up in the same hotel. How crazy is that?

Today was the primary program and it was entertaining. I was glad to not have to juggle all four kids alone for the whole meeting. Keeping them all under control until the sacrament was over
was hard enough! Lilah woke up and needed me to hold her - so I was a bit handicap with the kids - at home I can threaten and bribe the older kids and I can hold Madeline and Lilah at the
same time - at church - that stuff doesn't really work as well and I have to be quiet and be careful not to give anyone a show since I'm wearing a skirt....its just harder! As soon as the sacrament was over Anna Elise and Calvin got to sit up front. Madeline was really determined to go with them, but her Aunt Rachel talked her into staying with us. Madeline very loudly and repeatedly pointed out 'Talvin' and 'Lise' to everyone. Anna Elise did very well. She had her part memorized, but was a bit shy and her teacher didn't give her much of a chance to say it before whispering it to her, but that was ok. She did a very good job singing. Calvin had a great time doing the program. He had the whole congregation laughing at him, and he knew it! He is a little jokester. He told me all morning he wasn't going to sing. I begged and bribed him to sing but he said he wouldn't. He marched right up there and yelled the words to the first two songs before I caught his eye long enough to give him a stern look and shake my head. Yelling for a song is cute, yelling for the whole program is distracting and tiresome. He was a good little boy and listened to me and stopped yelling (I was suprised he obeyed so well) He did yell his part into the microphone, but sang in a normal voice for the rest of the time. Everytime he was tempted to yell he would get a grin on his face and look at me - then he would shake his head and keep singing. After the program he came running over to me and said "Momma, I tricked you, I did sing". He'd spent all morning telling me he wouldn't sing to trick me!

I am adjusting to having 4 now. I think as long as I have a stroller or shopping cart I'll be ok. My first outing to the library was a disaster. We always keep both strollers in the car. I had forgotten that Mike had taken them out. So there I was with all the kids and no stroller. I should've gone home and come back later, but I didn't. Madeline ran all over the library, I usually just go to the children't section but that day we saw a lot more of the library. All three kids dropped their books repeatedly since we didn't have a place to put them. On the way out to the car Anna Elise took advantage of the situation and tried to go her own way back. She listened when I told her to come back, but Madeline, who copies everything they do and say, followed Anna Elise out but didn't come back, so while I chased her down Calvin tried to cross the street himself and thanks to some lady he didn't. I told the kids when we got back to the car that if they were ever that bad at the library again we wouldn't come back. I'm willing to try it one more time with a stroller and see how it goes.

My maternity leave is half over and I can't believe how fast the time is flying by. I have to go back after Thanksgiving. I am only back for a little over 2 weeks and then I'm taking 2 more weeks off to go home to WA for Christmas - so it shouldn't be too bad. I'm going enjoy the next weeks just being a mom!

Halloween

Here are pictures of the kids on Friday night.  They had a good time trick or treating with their dad.  The kids all have colds and Calvin was pretty grouchy.  He whined the whole time.  Anna Elise is really shy but did manage to say trick or treat for the sake of getting candy.  Madeline wore another gender neurtal costume and got called a boy all night again!  Last year she was a pea pod and she was also mistaken for a boy - why is boy the default?

 This is Calvin - he went dressed up as an NHance shipment (that's my husband business and these are the boxes we get all our product shipments in).

Here's our little giraffe

Here is the giraffe exploring the eye holes of the our shipment

Here is our little princess, our shipment and giraffe all together!

I've been tagged

My sister Janet tagged me.  Since she posted the most hilarious post a few days ago, I'll comply and do the tag.  If you haven't seen Janet's cool falling off the bed trick, click on her blog on my list and go see it! 

Here is the 3rd picture in my 4th folder, as requested... it's part of our NHance display that we use for the fair and homeshowes.  It broke and Mike took pictures to email to somebody to see if they could fix it.  Pretty boring.  Maybe I won't get tagged anymore!

Pumpkin Carving

Halloween is almost here. We went to the branch trunk or treat on Saturday. Unfortunately we took the camera but not the memory card so we don't have pictures. But, we have another chance on Friday. The kids had fun. Madeline kept handing her candy back to people and asking them to open it for her.

On Monday night we carved our pumpkin for FHE.

Calvin had spilled dinner on his shirt, that is why he is with out one (he is normally fully clothed).

He had a great time helping with the carving and cleaning.

Madeline was terrified of the inside of the pumpkin. Here she is screaming when Mike pulled the seeds and strings out.

I tried to be a bit more diplomatic about showing her it was harmless and she calmed down but still wasn't too sure about it.

By the time we were done we had talked her into touching the seeds. She was very proud of herself for touching it! Anna Elise wasn't really that interested in carving the pumpkins...

But we talked to her into cleaning out a couple of handfuls of seeds.Mike absolutely refuses to put his hand into pumpkins or touch anything that comes out of the pumpkin. After a few scoopfuls I got exasperated and switched places with him.

This is how you clean a pumpkin out!

Mike carved three different faces onto the pumpkin. I took some pictures and he didn't like them. So he deleted them and after taking only 1 picture the battery died. So I don't have pictures of the other two sides of the pumpkin. Here is the 'space man' face that Mike liked, you're missing out on the 'nervous' face as well as the 'happy' face. Happy Halloween!

Grandma Brown and Grandpa

Grandma Brown (my mom) came to help out with Lilah. She got here Wednesday night, only a few hours after Lilah and I came home. She was a huge help playing with the kids, doing my dishes, helping with Lilah and babysitting while we went to the Dr and while I took a nap most afternoons. Grandpa came for a day too and the kids had a great time playing with him. They left to go explore more of the east coast on Thursday and we miss them!

I do have to mention that Calvin was very interested in how they would get home, what color their airplane was, was it the same airplane we would ride to go see them, ect. After this converstation, Calvin watched them leave and load their stuff into their rental car. He ran to our door, lifted the mail slot and yelled "Grandma, how are you going to get your car home?" He is always thinking and asking questions. It cracked me up. We then had an in-depth converstation about rental cars and how that works.

More Lilah

The kids continue to shower Lilah with their love - constantly wanting to hold her and touch her. Madeline is so excited everytime she sees Lilah - I don't think she has realized that the baby is staying. We were able to get some pictures of all the kids together - I've included several because the different expressions on their faces just crack me up! We also got several more pictures of Lilah - every day the swelling goes down, her eyes look bigger and she gets cuter!

Yeah! We finally got a good one!
Anna Elise and her fake smile -
Madeline
Calvin wouldn't look up at the camera
Lilah

Lilah's profile so you can see that she does have hair in the back and you can also see the pronounced ridges on her head (they should go away in another week or so)

Lilah Claire Russell

Lilah was born at 4:24 pm on October 14th. She weighed 8 pounds, 10 ounces. Everything went very smoothly and we were able to come home after only 24 hours in the hospital!

Lilah had a fast trip and has some light purple bruising, was VERY swollen, and has some ridges on her head, but all that will be resolved in a week or two.

Here's Lilah with Daddy
with mommy
getting her foot prints
about 48 hours old at home

The kids LOVE Lilah. All three of them want to hold her, hug her, feed her, carry her, ect.
Anna Elise carried her, Madeline tried to feed her cheerios, Calvin lays on her when he hugs her (and he is heavy) and she is still alive. I hope to get a few pictures of Lilah with the kids in the next couple of days.