Child #4

So after my rant a few posts down about our rough Sunday morning, I've had time to reflect and there were a few tender mercies to make the day bearable and somewhat enjoyable - in hindsight. It's rare when Jeff gets to attend our ward with us and he was even there before we were. Which he should be because his commute is about 100 steps from the Stake Offices to the chapel.  We were sitting behind the Lisonbees (we are in the babysitting co-op together) and their daughter Laura (she's Lea's age) was turned around with her fingers on top of the bench. Jeff started teasing her trying to get her fingers. Then they switched roles and Jeff was too slow and there was this loud SLAP! She had hit his whole hand! I look up to see Nerissa (Laura's mom) turn around in surprise because it was Jeff! and not Lucas as she had expected.......She jokingly scolded him she was going to send him to the hallway and did he need to be moved.....yes, please! :)  So who knew I had 4 kids.......thought I still had 3........Thankfully Nerissa's husband Darin agreed he was the same way - just made me feel better I didn't have the only disruptive husband in sacrament meeting......love you hubby! :)

I think he gets it from her...... :)

Realization

Another Sunday moment......a harsh realization that I'm getting older and my kids are growing up so fast! In RS there was an announcement for "It's Great to be Eight" for all kids turning eight this coming year. Lea is turning 7! We are only a year away from attending this and a year and a half away from her baptism.......where did the time go?! Seems like yesterday we only had her but at the same time that seems ages ago. I look forward to her going to Activity Days and being baptized. She's excited too as she's been to plenty of Activity day activities in the past 3 years when I was leader. She looks up to those girls and they were good examples for her.

Sunday Highlight

Lucas was asked to give the opening prayer in Primary (unlike his mother at age 3, he can do it by himself!) Jeff and I were both there and in the back row. He stood up to the microphone - a counselor was behind him and I think asked if he needed help. Instead he pointed to the back of the room and said something to her about his dad being on the back row. :) Little shout out for his dad and buddy. He said the prayer and sat down - what a cute kid!

Too soon for terrible two's.....

Who would have thought this cute little thing could cause such problems on Sunday morning.....she slept in, I woke her up in time to get ready for church and out the door, but no such luck. Once dressed, I went to fix her a bottle and as quickly as I could turn around, she had her dress off and was playing with toys. Fine, we'll go to the car in her onsie.....arching back, kicking, screaming, flailing all the way, I finally put her down outside the car and turned the car on. Fear struck and she reluctantly got in the car and I strapped her dress on - a simple jumper thank goodness.

After grumping all the way to church - now 20 minutes late (we have a 20 minute drive and leaving at 9 when church starts at 9.....doesn't exactly bode well for on-time reverent Sunday attendance.....) We made it, fixed her hair in the lobby and Jeff was saving a place for us - this is rare. Sacrament meeting was less than reverent, but I managed to ignore my childrens' chattiness and listened as best I could - what would you know the talks were on missionary work (talking to your neighbors) and the clincher: Forgiveness. I was feeling less than forgiving at this point, but I listened and tried to keep from running to the lobby in tears (did I mention that pretty alison is back and therefore very emotional too - lack of sleep, miserable and the pressure on my sinuses pushes tears right to the brim at all times. It doesn't take much for me to tear up anyway, but now it's just that much closer...)

Happy to leave Sacrament meeting, my kids run to primary, she decided to be happy about leaving the chapel, but once in nursery opted for the "You can't leave me here...." cry. I quickly walked out the door and kept walking as she screamed away. We're finally home, she's taking a nap and I'm not far behind her. She opted out of napping and instead received 3 hours of solitary confinement in her crib while the rest of slept.

Guilty party - it's a good thing she's cute and loves her mommy! She knocked a kid over to get out of nursery!! :)

Presidents of the United States

In honor of Presidents Day: James Carter was President the years Jeff (1978) and I (1979) were born.

I've never been much of a politics person so I couldn't tell you the first thing about any administration, but I love a good human interest story. I remember the Bushes (Dad and W.), the Clintons were.....well, memorable that's for sure.... and now Barack Obama - we'll see what happens. Although I may not agree with everything they say or stand for, I do believe they are great leaders who are here to do great things - not everything will be a success, but at least they're willing to do it. I'm not. :) Happy Presidents Day! Enjoy the Olympics too - GO USA!

The Presidents

18th Century

1. George Washington

2. John Adams

19th Century

3. Thomas Jefferson	15. James Buchanan
4. James Madison	16. Abraham Lincoln
5. James Monroe	17. Andrew Johnson
6. John Quincy Adams	18. Ulysses S. Grant
7. Andrew Jackson	19. Rutherford B. Hayes
8. Martin Van Buren	20. James Garfield
9. William Henry Harrison	21. Chester A. Arthur
10. John Tyler	22. Grover Cleveland
11. James K. Polk	23. Benjamin Harrison
12. Zachary Taylor	24. Grover Cleveland
13. Millard Fillmore	25. William McKinley
14. Franklin Pierce

20th Century

26. Theodore Roosevelt	35. John F. Kennedy
27. William Howard Taft	36. Lyndon B. Johnson
28. Woodrow Wilson	37. Richard M. Nixon
29. Warren G. Harding	38. Gerald R. Ford
30. Calvin Coolidge	39. James Carter
31. Herbert Hoover	40. Ronald Reagan
32. Franklin D. Roosevelt	41. George H. W. Bush
33. Harry S. Truman	42. William J. Clinton
34. Dwight D. Eisenhower

21st Century

43. George W. Bush

44. Barack Obama

Who was President when you were born and what President do you remember most?

"Graduating"

First Sunday of January. 1.3.2010 First Sunday of our new Trailside Ward, we were actually early for church (hasn't happened since) - it was a great day! We now meet at our Stake Center and even Jeff came to Sacrament meeting with us. I didn't know he was coming, he just did.

Lea is CTR6 - again....the naming of classes changed again so it's the age you are, not the age you are going to be. :)
Lucas - a SUNBEAM!
Abbey - 18+ months and happy to be in Nursery.

 

 

Another upgrade

Another much needed upgrade. Jeff's mom, dad and Grandma Risenmay were coming to visit the weekend of Jan 30. I realized I only have 2 guest towels which I've had for about 12 years - freshman year at BYU.....wow, I'm old.....

Decided to change things up a little and buy new guest towels. I spent a lot of time wandering the same three aisles in Walmart, putting stuff in my cart, finding something new and returning stuff back to the shelf....probably a good hour trying to decide on colors. My favorite colors are blue and black, Jeff loves green, but I was trying to branch out......so hard for me!

So I came home with this and put it together before I got Jeff's opinion - I wanted to see it all together before we decided yes or no. For some reason he was home on a weekday and this is what we have.......

When Lea came home from school - she was so excited and informed me that the other "beach" curtain was actually "ugly". :) Plus I don't know the last time I changed out the liner - it was time.

Merry Christmas to me!

Christmas was a month ago - let's not go there k? 

My present from Jeff was to buy the pavers for our extended patio and have them installed. He was even willing to pay someone to install them!!!?!?!? Now if you know Jeff at all, this is HUGE....he's a big proponent of "doing things himself". hehe 

Well of course work got in the way and he was unable to do it himself. So the pavers came and sat by the side of the driveway since the first week in January.

We tried to have them done a couple weeks ago and my luck, it's the only 2 weeks it rained so the ground was too wet......more waiting......been waiting for this since we moved in......2005.

Friday was the big day - Feb 5th - I think Jeff was trying to stretch this out for Valentine's day too. :) Lucky for him I'm not a big fan of $50 for a dozen roses and chocolates so we celebrate the next day with the clearance flowers. :) Another post on how cheap we are. haha!

the BEFORE

prepped ground - took them 5 hours to get the ground level and ready to go.....thank goodness they did this and not us!

stacked pavers

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The BIG REVEAL!

AWESOME! And it rained Saturday night, woke up to a lovely patio and no more mud!!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you! (to Jeff, Guillermo and Alberto)

Sweet sounds

Sweet sounds of the Risenmays:

*Jeff - Sun/Mon was a cross between Darth Vadar and Marge's sisters from the Simpsons and he missed Monday of work.

*Lea sounds like a barking dog - dry cough that just hurts to listen too. lucky it never got into her lungs so no breathing treatments - whew.

*Abbey has just been whining and crying - her ears have hurt and I think she just got used to the whining....

*Lucas - well he just repeats himself every 2 seconds until you finally respond - grrrrrr.......

*Me - this is what Jeff likes to refer to as "Pretty" Alison. Congested (allergies, possible sinus infection), can't breathe, sneezing, can barely hear, kleenex up my nose because it just. feels. better., just need a nap - why won't you sleep too!? :)

Ahhh, Sweet Harmony. :)
And thank goodness for the sale on kleenex last week. We've been pretty snotty.

Quick update

Lea's fever is gone and she's back to 98.9 - haven't seen that temp for her in a while. YEAH no doctor visit today! For some reason, when she gets sick, her fever spikes immediately. Always has - she's been known to wake up with a temp of 104 and Jeff saw 105 a couple weeks ago when she had the flu. It always comes down and settles around 102, but it's always been like this. So the throwing up was a one time thing last night and she slept soundly for the rest of the night. Now she's bored to tears literally and wanting to play, but I won't let her (mean mom - that's me!). Another day of school missed and it was a half day anyway. Crossing our fingers she's back tomorrow for another half day.

Nap time was mandatory today and everyone slept for at least 2 hours - that was beautiful!

Day 3

I thought we were in the clear. Lea had a 102 fever Monday night (day1) and a yucky cough. The cough (because of her past asthma problem) worried me more than the fever so we headed to Dr. Kanagal at Scottsdale Children's Group Tuesday afternoon. Tested for strep - nada, ears - nothing, tonsils - nope, lungs - clear...........waiting to hear back on the culture for strep to the out-of-office lab. Come back Thursday if she continues to go down hill. K, great - it's only my second visit to her in the past 5 days. Took Abbey in last Friday and she had a double ear infection, runny nose, wheezing and just all around miserable. She's doing better and full of life now.

Lea missed Tuesday (day 2) and today Wednesday (day 3) of school and seemed ready to go back. Our only exercise was walking to the park and she wasn't allowed to play, just hang out by me. Ate dinner, bathed, bed. Now it's 11:26 pm and she has just thrown up and the fever is back to 102.6. She's asleep on my bedroom floor in the designated puke spot. Looks like we're headed back tomorrow - good thing we love our doctor. We see her A LOT.

Lea's teacher is very understanding and I met with her the other day - she loves Lea and gave me her homework for her to work on. And not to worry about getting it right back - she needs to feel better first. Mrs. Noyes is great - knows what she's talking about, positive, loves teaching and loves the children.

Pray for Lea to recover and pray for the rest of us that we don't get whatever she has.

Things to be Grateful for:

wonderful doctors

modern medicine

battery operated and QUICK thermometers

puke buckets

  good health insurance

prayer

a warm place to sleep, running water and electricity

and a mom who taught me by example or I wouldn't know what to do.

My list could keep going, but this will do for now.