The other night, Adam came out from Blythe's room chuckling a bit and told me I should go give her one last kiss. So I went in, sat on the edge of her bed, and she began to explain to me that she didn't like sleeping by herself(very dramatically, with lots of gesturing) because "Pax and Blaise get to sleep together and you and Daddy get to sleep together and I'm" (head shaking, more gesturing) "I'm just in here with God and wisdom!!!"
Somehow, I manage to only smile at her as she says this so earnestly; and I tell her that maybe someday soon, we could get a cat...."yeah...and then the cat could curl up on my pillow or sleep on a little bed next to my bed and...." at this point I'm kissing her, saying goodnight, and heading out the door-- and wondering who, exactly, wisdom is!
But I'm pretty sure if she has anything to do with it there will be a cat named Wisdom here very soon. Or Lucy. She likes Lucy, too...
"I'm just in here with God and wisdom!!!"
seems like pretty good company to me :)
9.30.2013
9.26.2013
Diary of a P.A. student('s wife): So we had a Monday. (and my baby has a concussion.)
Monday...ahhh, Monday. It started out pretty well; everyone slept, I had hot coffee and time with God to start my day. Even got a shower...although a certain tiny boy was up at that point. Actually, all 3 of them were up and running, at 6:30. So, that was the beginning of it-well, that and the part where Adam took an extra 20 minutes to study and then still decided he could "fit a run in" before he left. Which made him dash out the door 10 minutes late (I think we said "good morning!" in there somewhere...), not horrible but not good on a quiz day. Ok, we can settle into our day now, right? Until I saw his briefcase. Still sitting on the counter. Ten minutes AFTER he'd left. A quick phone call, a sigh, a car turned around, another phone call to ask if I'd meet him at the end of the driveway, 8 minutes of waiting at the end of the driveway chatting with the construction workers; a quick kiss thru the window, and I thought Monday could settle down.
After the baby finished breakfast, I set him down and let him run around the house while the others eat, do devotional with me, etc. Then I started the never-ending dish cleaning....
...and quickly discovered that Blaise is now tall enough to see onto the giant island in the middle of our kitchen. Where he spotted his sister's bracelet, full of tiny beads, which I'd confiscated from him sometime last week. He asked (ie, pointed and said, "dat! dat! dat!") if he could have it; I told him that wasn't for Blaise, that it was sister's, and turned back to scrubbing the oatmeal pot (ohh, the oatmeal pot!).
My children are strong-willed. Have I mentioned that before? ALL of them, chiefs. Which pretty much means that half the time they assume what mom says is just a suggestion, or possibly means, "try harder". So, quietly, he scooted the step stool over to the oven door; then proceeded to climb onto it. I glanced back just in time to see him try to climb up the oven...and too late to save him from falling, hard, onto the unforgiving tile, cracking the back of his head. Thankfully he hit his cloth-diaper covered bum first. But he screamed, I quickly checked and picked him up, he screamed, Blythe stood in front of the freezer deciding which cold pack to get him, I grabbed one out, he screamed....poor baby. He cried and cried for at least 5 minutes, which is a long time in little-kid-injury-cry-time. Then he just lay on my chest, and that was my first clue that something was not right. I mean, other than the fact that he'd just cracked his head on the tile...but kids hit their heads a lot, and B had dance class, so he lay on the couch while I helped her find her tap shoes, a tutu, braided her hair, grabbed sand toys for the boys, and got everyone into the car. Thinking his behavior a bit more unusual than the normal head bonk, I texted Adam and told him what happened, asking him about concussion symptoms. He sent me a check list back, asking if he'd thrown up, how his pupils were, etc. I glanced at him quickly and thought they looked ok and no barfing, so probably he was mostly ok. He was still crying off and on in the car and was quite pale, so I gave him his plug, thinking it would soothe him.
By the time we'd dropped off the books at the library, he'd fallen asleep. At that point, I was pretty sure we had a mild concussion on our hands...and then he woke up and threw up everywhere.
Miraculously, I'd managed to arrive at dance class 10 minutes early; which every mom tries to do always because of potential barf or blowout issues but, well, you know how that goes. I was fully prepared to send Pax in to drop off B at class. But, thankfully, I managed to get it all cleaned up in time to get her into class. She met up with her little friend Elizabeth, and Elizabeth's mama walked out to the playground with us.
I think we made it all of 10 feet before I told her what happened...see, Elizabeth's mama was a pediatric trauma nurse before having her oldest. It's helpful to have these friends...make a note of that :) As I got to the part where Blaise had fallen asleep and then thrown up, I could see her face change. She asked if she could hold him for a minute and gave him a quick check; then explained that while he seemed mostly ok (he recognized her, smiled, no issues there) he most likely had a mild concussion and I needed to keep a close eye on him. That afternoon before naps I also noticed that his right pupil WAS slightly bigger than the left...but they were both reacting to light equally. So, we went the path of close observation and lots of prayer...after another call to Adam, more checking, waking the poor guy up every 30 minutes during naptime to be sure he would wake up easily; a call to my cousin the ex-paramedic for more tests to check for signs of bleeding, coordination, cognition, etc; and one final check by Adam with his cool pen light when he got home. (it IS handy to have someone in the medical field in the house) Verdict? concussed, yes. Mild, yes. Ice? almost impossible with this particular 17 month old, even WITH a head injury...but accomplished with the help of a lollipop and lots of singing and rocking. And other than sleeping more than usual, he's pretty much back to normal now...although we're still supposed to "keep him quite" for the next few days to a week. Not exactly sure how that will work, especially since the kid was back to climbing whatever he could on Tuesday; I think our youngest may be the one to give me my first grey hair. And I'd like to thank the city of Scottsdale for their impeccable timing in ripping up the street right in front of our house with many "mighty machines" for the past 3 days- that was quite seriously the best thing my two boys have watched in a loooong time. Their sister liked it, too. Hey, I liked it! We gave water and caramel cookie bars to the "workers" :)
Despite the craziness and stress of Monday, (I felt like I could sleep for a week by the time the kids went to bed that night...) I'm SO thankful for the prayers of family and friends and that little buddy is healing quickly. In fact, since Tuesday, the day after his fall, he's had a crazy language explosion-both in vocabulary and in the clarity of his words. Slightly ironic, I know. But I'll take it!
After the baby finished breakfast, I set him down and let him run around the house while the others eat, do devotional with me, etc. Then I started the never-ending dish cleaning....
...and quickly discovered that Blaise is now tall enough to see onto the giant island in the middle of our kitchen. Where he spotted his sister's bracelet, full of tiny beads, which I'd confiscated from him sometime last week. He asked (ie, pointed and said, "dat! dat! dat!") if he could have it; I told him that wasn't for Blaise, that it was sister's, and turned back to scrubbing the oatmeal pot (ohh, the oatmeal pot!).
My children are strong-willed. Have I mentioned that before? ALL of them, chiefs. Which pretty much means that half the time they assume what mom says is just a suggestion, or possibly means, "try harder". So, quietly, he scooted the step stool over to the oven door; then proceeded to climb onto it. I glanced back just in time to see him try to climb up the oven...and too late to save him from falling, hard, onto the unforgiving tile, cracking the back of his head. Thankfully he hit his cloth-diaper covered bum first. But he screamed, I quickly checked and picked him up, he screamed, Blythe stood in front of the freezer deciding which cold pack to get him, I grabbed one out, he screamed....poor baby. He cried and cried for at least 5 minutes, which is a long time in little-kid-injury-cry-time. Then he just lay on my chest, and that was my first clue that something was not right. I mean, other than the fact that he'd just cracked his head on the tile...but kids hit their heads a lot, and B had dance class, so he lay on the couch while I helped her find her tap shoes, a tutu, braided her hair, grabbed sand toys for the boys, and got everyone into the car. Thinking his behavior a bit more unusual than the normal head bonk, I texted Adam and told him what happened, asking him about concussion symptoms. He sent me a check list back, asking if he'd thrown up, how his pupils were, etc. I glanced at him quickly and thought they looked ok and no barfing, so probably he was mostly ok. He was still crying off and on in the car and was quite pale, so I gave him his plug, thinking it would soothe him.
By the time we'd dropped off the books at the library, he'd fallen asleep. At that point, I was pretty sure we had a mild concussion on our hands...and then he woke up and threw up everywhere.
Miraculously, I'd managed to arrive at dance class 10 minutes early; which every mom tries to do always because of potential barf or blowout issues but, well, you know how that goes. I was fully prepared to send Pax in to drop off B at class. But, thankfully, I managed to get it all cleaned up in time to get her into class. She met up with her little friend Elizabeth, and Elizabeth's mama walked out to the playground with us.
I think we made it all of 10 feet before I told her what happened...see, Elizabeth's mama was a pediatric trauma nurse before having her oldest. It's helpful to have these friends...make a note of that :) As I got to the part where Blaise had fallen asleep and then thrown up, I could see her face change. She asked if she could hold him for a minute and gave him a quick check; then explained that while he seemed mostly ok (he recognized her, smiled, no issues there) he most likely had a mild concussion and I needed to keep a close eye on him. That afternoon before naps I also noticed that his right pupil WAS slightly bigger than the left...but they were both reacting to light equally. So, we went the path of close observation and lots of prayer...after another call to Adam, more checking, waking the poor guy up every 30 minutes during naptime to be sure he would wake up easily; a call to my cousin the ex-paramedic for more tests to check for signs of bleeding, coordination, cognition, etc; and one final check by Adam with his cool pen light when he got home. (it IS handy to have someone in the medical field in the house) Verdict? concussed, yes. Mild, yes. Ice? almost impossible with this particular 17 month old, even WITH a head injury...but accomplished with the help of a lollipop and lots of singing and rocking. And other than sleeping more than usual, he's pretty much back to normal now...although we're still supposed to "keep him quite" for the next few days to a week. Not exactly sure how that will work, especially since the kid was back to climbing whatever he could on Tuesday; I think our youngest may be the one to give me my first grey hair. And I'd like to thank the city of Scottsdale for their impeccable timing in ripping up the street right in front of our house with many "mighty machines" for the past 3 days- that was quite seriously the best thing my two boys have watched in a loooong time. Their sister liked it, too. Hey, I liked it! We gave water and caramel cookie bars to the "workers" :)
Despite the craziness and stress of Monday, (I felt like I could sleep for a week by the time the kids went to bed that night...) I'm SO thankful for the prayers of family and friends and that little buddy is healing quickly. In fact, since Tuesday, the day after his fall, he's had a crazy language explosion-both in vocabulary and in the clarity of his words. Slightly ironic, I know. But I'll take it!
9.19.2013
A Glimpse of Fall. WARNING: extremely long and LOTS of pictures...and some rambling.
This blog is, mainly, my way of digital scrapbooking and journaling. I use it to keep track of our family's events, silly stories, and the things God is teaching me; which means sometimes you get deep profound thoughts and sometimes, well, you just get life :) This past week, we made another lightening-fast trip to Durango; this time, for a very happy occasion. An old student of ours, Sarah Branch-Boyle, was engaged to be married and had asked Adam several months ago if he would perform the ceremony. Of course, Adam told her that if it was at all possible with school, he'd be honored to do it; and as the summer went by we figured that we could make it work. So last Wednesday morning, I packed up the kids, picked up Nicole and Peyton Lobmeyer, and we headed to the cool of September in Colorado. Nicole was going to be a bridesmaid in the wedding of another old student of ours; so carpooling worked out perfectly! Adam and Jason left Phoenix late Thursday evening with their older 3, after Adam was out of class...I was a little nervous about their drive, I'll admit. It was pouring rain, they would be driving very late into the night....I prayed, a lot :)
After fresh pain au chocolate for the kids and a croissant with coffee for me (just one of the perks of having inlaws who live over a bakery!), the kids and I spent Thursday morning at the Discovery Center with my sister-in-law and 3 nieces...I couldn't help but laugh at the contrast in their clothing. It was (to us!!) cold and rainy-my kids were dressed for Arizona winter. My nieces all showed up in summer dresses :)
The discovery center is fun for all, and since it's small enough that the kids can roam at will, Tiff and I had a few minutes to talk, which feels like another rare occurance. We decided next time we're in town, we must figure out a way to go get pedicures, just the two of us... it's always fun to see how the middle 4 cousins just pick up where they left off. And Nina, our oldest niece (who, by the way, turned TEN today; which is crazy, since she was born 6 weeks after Adam and I started dating!) loves playing with and looking after Blaise.
This is the rocket Violet made for herself and Pax :)
The next day, with Adam safely arrived at about 2 am and a short break in the rain, we went to the "triangle park". See my very tired eyes? That's because someone got sick AND decided his pack and play was extremely uncomfortable...the only time he slept all night was on me. Which, as all mamas know, means not much sleep for Mama :)
This girl. She's an emoter, that one, and although it can be challenging when she's angry or upset, watching her in full-joy-mode is delightful! Her cute little rain jacket was a gift Grandma brought back from their last trip to Paris, and she wouldn't be parted with it. No matter that the sun was actually shining for a few minutes....
I love the relationship that is already there between our boys. And I love my husband's goofy side (wearing Pax's fleece, which disappeared...now it occurs to me we may have left it at the park that day. I told you-no sleep!) 
Tiff and the girls came, too-cousins swinging! Yup, now that I look at this picture, I'm convinced we left the fleece at the park. Glad to have that mystery solved, anyway...
Fall colors. Miss this so, so much! And I adored our little taste of fall...it's my favorite season (at least in Colorado); which may or may not have something to do with the fact that I was BORN in the fall. ahem.
We spent the morning climbing, running, playing hide and seek; then in the afternoon Adam and i made one of the most beautiful drives ever up to Silverton for the rehearsal dinner. it rained the whole way up, but cleared for the rehersal. Aside from being incredibly touched at the thoughtfulness of Sarah and Alex towards their family and friends and those involved in the wedding, it was so nice for Adam and I to just talk...and talk...and run through eye disease flashcards...romantic, I'm telling you! Saturday morning I had the opportunity to do 2 photoshoots, both for good friends of ours. In the middle of the first shoot, Jill (the mama) answered her cell phone-it was my sister-in-law, Tiff.
"Oh, sure, he can come. No problem!" she said, and I'm thinking to myself, "Oh no, my son did NOT just invite himself to a birthday party..." but yup. Apparently he literally sobbed when he heard Violet was going to Jack's birthday party (he loves the Palmer kids...Kale introduced him to Star Wars Legos. Pretty sure he's Pax's hero right now) and wouldn't let go of her; so Auntie Tiff of course called and asked if he could come along. (Her exact words to me that night were, "If it had been one of my kids I would have just told them to "suck it up, buttercup" but it was my nephew and I just couldn't....") Thankfully, Jill's pretty much great and so is Mark and so Pax got to go to a Star Wars themed birthday party; and loved every second of it. Blythe was thrilled to go off with Madi and Nina and Blaise to Farmington to watch uncle Yay-Yay coach peewee football; and somehow came home with her first Barbie-like doll: Cinderella. (ahem. Aunt Tiff again.) All in all they had a fabulous day...and so did Adam and I!
It rained, once again, all the way up; but the clouds kissing the tops of the mountians and the waterfalls rushing down in the distance were absolutly spectacular. We even saw the first snow on the mountiantops of Silverton, although it had melted by the time the ceremony was over. The rain stopped literally 5 minutes before they started the ceremony, and the sun came out. It was chilly and majestic and perfect. Adam did a wonderful job with the service; and the personal touches Alex and Sarah added (including washing each others' feet and communion with their parents) made the service one of beautiful worship, as well as a marriage celebration. It truly was an unforgettable wedding!
Below, you can see the view from the gazebo and the mountains with the low-hanging clouds clinging to them...it was spectacular.
Sarah is half Irish, half Hispanic, which meant that both parents walked her down the isle. I couldn't hold it together, watching the three of them walk down the path; proud of the woman Sarah has become and seeing her parents love for her; and, yes, thinking a bit about our own only-daughter.
And the bride and groom :) see? Sun!!
The reception was very nice, although we left a bit early in order to pick up our kiddos and put them to be ourselves that evening. And to pack the car. We actually had everyone in the car and pulled away from the bakery at 6 am; although after gas and a few other errands we didn't actually get out of town until an hour later. But, really, that's how it goes! The drive home was almost-uneventful, with more eye disease flashcards and a little carsick girlie who unfortunately takes after her Mama. Even with a car-full of sick kiddos and very little sleep-I'm so very glad we made the trip happen. There's just something special about watching old students get married...and then, I love hearing Adam share his heart so eloquently...and seeing family was just the icing on the cake! And, a week and umpteen loads of laundry later, I think we're almost recovered. I think.
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| Blythe the builder. With Blaise and Madi in the background! |
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| It's so fun when Daddy gets to come!! |
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| Nina and Blaise "building" together. |
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| Violet |
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| Seriously...the kid was in heaven! |
This is the rocket Violet made for herself and Pax :)
This girl. She's an emoter, that one, and although it can be challenging when she's angry or upset, watching her in full-joy-mode is delightful! Her cute little rain jacket was a gift Grandma brought back from their last trip to Paris, and she wouldn't be parted with it. No matter that the sun was actually shining for a few minutes....
I love the relationship that is already there between our boys. And I love my husband's goofy side (wearing Pax's fleece, which disappeared...now it occurs to me we may have left it at the park that day. I told you-no sleep!) 
"Oh, sure, he can come. No problem!" she said, and I'm thinking to myself, "Oh no, my son did NOT just invite himself to a birthday party..." but yup. Apparently he literally sobbed when he heard Violet was going to Jack's birthday party (he loves the Palmer kids...Kale introduced him to Star Wars Legos. Pretty sure he's Pax's hero right now) and wouldn't let go of her; so Auntie Tiff of course called and asked if he could come along. (Her exact words to me that night were, "If it had been one of my kids I would have just told them to "suck it up, buttercup" but it was my nephew and I just couldn't....") Thankfully, Jill's pretty much great and so is Mark and so Pax got to go to a Star Wars themed birthday party; and loved every second of it. Blythe was thrilled to go off with Madi and Nina and Blaise to Farmington to watch uncle Yay-Yay coach peewee football; and somehow came home with her first Barbie-like doll: Cinderella. (ahem. Aunt Tiff again.) All in all they had a fabulous day...and so did Adam and I!
And the bride and groom :) see? Sun!!
The reception was very nice, although we left a bit early in order to pick up our kiddos and put them to be ourselves that evening. And to pack the car. We actually had everyone in the car and pulled away from the bakery at 6 am; although after gas and a few other errands we didn't actually get out of town until an hour later. But, really, that's how it goes! The drive home was almost-uneventful, with more eye disease flashcards and a little carsick girlie who unfortunately takes after her Mama. Even with a car-full of sick kiddos and very little sleep-I'm so very glad we made the trip happen. There's just something special about watching old students get married...and then, I love hearing Adam share his heart so eloquently...and seeing family was just the icing on the cake! And, a week and umpteen loads of laundry later, I think we're almost recovered. I think.
9.17.2013
Because, well, I can.
I'm working on a post about our quick trip to Durango last weekend, buuuuut I'm also editing and I just had to share these pictures. I'm having so much fun! This first one is of the Palmer kids, Kale, Kate and Jack...they're laughing at their goofy Dad. Pax managed to crash Jack's birthday party later that day-I would have been mortified when my sister-in-law called in the middle of the session to ask if he could come too, as apparently he was clinging to his cousin and sobbing at the thought of not being able to be there, too...but it was Jill, after all. She's great like that!
And this one...is little boy-newborn-brother perfection. Our friend the Steph asked me a few months ago if I could do newborns when their youngest son was born (props to Steph for being up for a photoshoot 5 days after giving birth!!) and of course I jumped at the chance to photograph them again. I'm especially loving the plastic horse up Asher's nose and Kaiden's impressed expression :)
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