installation art?

Max has been getting in touch with his artistic side lately. I found this in his room today. I'm pretty sure that tiger won't fit into the washing machine.
I spent most of last week sewing around the clock to make table runners and the like for my sister-in-law's wedding. Every once in a while I took a break and sewed something for myself. I can't get enough of the flowers and ruffles that are everywhere.
Today at the mall I inspected every petal on the shirts and belts at j crew and Loft so I could come home and try my hand at it. Oh, so many projects, so little time...

firsts

A few days ago Ava rolled over for the first time. I know it was a fluke (she is only three months old), but it was so cute to see her laying there with her arm stuck.

friday fun

Two minutes after I finished sweeping + mopping I turned around to see this:Ian, our resident two-year-old, is the mastermind behind most of the messes here at chez scoville. If he disappears, I start sprinting through the house until I find him. And he's quick. The other day he managed to open and distribute an entire bottle of fingernail polish all over my bathroom in the 30 seconds that it took me to find him. And he must be strong because today he managed to rip the door off of the kitchen we just bought him (so he would stay out of mine). Sigh.

(this is what happens when I request a smile)

bits and pieces

Things I want to remember about this weekend:

-Max came up to me and sheepishly asked for a "bar" (kids cliff bar) while his daddy was getting him ready for bed. I was not sure if his teeth had been brushed, so I sent him to ask his dad. He batted his eyelashes and said, "no, I want to ask you because daddy says no."

-How Ian called everyone strange animal names and then laughed his head off..."you're a platypus mommy!"..."you're a rhinoceros max!" And how Max got so upset and said "No Ian! I'm not a rhinoceros, I'm just Max."

-When I picked up Max from his primary class at church, his teacher told me that they were talking about all the things that Jesus made and Max made sure they did NOT forget about dinosaurs.

-Ava discovered her tongue. She used it to create the cutest cooing conversations to date, and to taste her toys. She loves her toys. She "talks" to them all day long.

p.s. she is feeling much better

breathing treatments

I took little miss ava back to the pediatrician yesterday. He doubled her albuterol dose and increased the frequency to every two hours--around the clock. We are all exhausted here at chez scoville. I have an unwanted buzz from holding her too close while giving the treatments. Now I put her in her swing and stand back. The boys follow me into our room and get into EVERYTHING while I give them to her. Oh how I miss sleep and a clean house.

p.s. my quaint sewing corner has been evacuated and replaced with J-P's office. it's totally messing up my bedroom zen. one of these years we'll have a bigger house.

sick

Ava and I just got back from a night in urgent care. I'm starting to rethink the idea of having winter babies. RSV is NOT fun. It scares me to death. In fact, I'm pretty sure I died for a few seconds when Ava's oxygen saturation got down to 77. When I looked at the nurse with panic, she assured me that she would probably be blue if it was really that low. They eventually let us go home with steroids and breathing treatments.

My mom was in town this week to help me take care of my sick kids while J-P was in North Carolina doing his last residency (HOORAY!) for business school. I couldn't have done it without her. Before I drove her to the airport this morning we were chatting about the dream (nightmare?) I had last night. I told her that I was driving at night by myself with all three kids. As I started to go down a winding hill, my lights went out. And then my brakes went out. And then we crashed. My mom started laughing and said "that's pretty symbolic of your life right now". And while it's true that my life is somewhat out of control, it is seems like bliss when compared with teaching junior high.

sunday afternoon

Why is it that everyone gets a Sunday afternoon nap except me? Especially since I was the one up ALL night with the baby the last two nights. I'm pretty positive she has RSV. I have been debating on whether I should take her to the hospital or wait until Monday and take her in for a much cheaper pediatrician visit. Breaks my heart to see her so sick. Oh, and I think Max has an ear infection for the first time in three and a half years.

the temple

My 82-year-old grandma is going through the temple for the first time today. I wish I could be there, but instead I am home babysitting three sick kids. Earlier this week we went to the temple grounds with the kids to walk around. The boys loved running around barefoot with uncle Alex and cousin Braden. I loved the sunshine + spending time with family.

rainy week

This week has been crazy. Non-stop rain, flood warnings, tornado warnings, wind, broken trees. Not the winter I signed up for when I decided to move here. I like the sun. It makes me happy. Anyway, we were holed up at home all week because J-P was off working and I was not brave enough to venture out into wet, stormy weather with all three.

After a couple days we started to run out of things to eat. Whenever there is nothing to eat and I am too lazy to go to the store or get creative with what's in the fridge, we eat blender pancakes and smoothies. Normally I throw frozen blueberries in the pancakes, but decided to change things up and add pumpkin and chocolate chips. Pumpkin is a vegetable, right?

pancake recipe HERE

3 months

My sweet baby girl turned three months old today. Part of me wants her to stop growing. The other part of me can't wait for her to get a little older so I can sew her pretty skirts and plan pretty tea parties. I can't believe she is already wearing the clothes that I was storing away for her to wear next winter. She is very sweet and sensitive and does NOT like it when her brothers scare her with their dinosaurs.