From a distance, the world looks pink and lime green

I spent a few blissful days in El Paso during the middle of April. My sister Robin lives there, and even though we are technically in the same state now, it still took 9 hours to drive there. That's almost as long as the drive from Denver to El Paso. But it wasn't a bad drive since I-10 is 80 mph the whole way across. Plus, all the children are decent travelers (did I mention I made this drive by myself with three kids?) and they cower to the power of....dunn,dunn,dunnnnn....THE GOOD BEHAVIOR BAGS!

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Let me explain. Robin has travelled solo a lot with her children. She's learned a few tricks that I would love to pass along to each of you (these can be applied to any long car trip with or without two parents).

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1. Before you leave, spend a little time at the Dollar Store or the dollar spot in Target buying at least 5 new toys/special treats for the children. This time spent will be quadrupled in time not spent yelling at the kids to stop fighting or whining.
   


2. Wrap the toys up in a few brown paper lunch sacks (the more, the better). These are the Good Behavior Bags.
   


3. The children earn the GBBs by, well, having good behavior. They don't get to ask for it when they want it, you just pass one to the back seat when they are behaving and least expecting it.
   


4. Give them a really special, fun toyed GBB at the beginning of the car trip. Then feel free to use the GBBs at leverage to elicit a quiet, peaceful ride. If the kids start fighting, just remind them that they won't earn a GBB that way. If whining occurs, feel free to use the phrase, "Aww, that's too bad. I was just about to give you a Good Behavior Bag, but I can't now because you're using your whiny voice."
   


5. And just as a side note, don't start the dvd player until after the halfway gas stop of your trip. Fill the time up with books, music, coloring, toys, etc. If you introduce the dvd player too soon, the kids will get bleary eyed and whiny long before it's time to get out of the car. Think about it: how would you feel after watching 6 hours straight of Dora on a screen 2 feet from your face?

I will get off my carefully placed soapbox now.

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Text topic: El Paso, Texas!

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We had a delightful time in El Paso. We ate lots of Mexican food, did a lot of dishes, changed a lot of diapers, picked a paint color, went to parks, and took naps. It was a successful vacation, in my book. .

Robin took us to Border Highway. That's right, we drove right along the fence separating the US and Juarez, Mexico. There were border patrolmen about ever 200 yards. And a huge chain link, barbed wire fence.

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We also went to the El Paso Saddleblanket store. It is a store full of everything you could buy for cheap at the tiendas in Mexico if we were allowed to go into Mexico. I bought a bird cage. My children rode a horse on a real Mexican saddle.

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We also went swimming at the next door neighbor's pool. Correction, it was too cold to swim in the pool, so the big kids played in the "hot pool" while the little 'uns and the grown ups chatted it up on the deck chairs.

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We also went to the El Paso Zoo. It is literally a block from the border. Here is the sign saying so: It says "You are leaving the United States." Quick! Turn! I don't have my passport!

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This photo was too priceless to leave in my hard drive. I gave all the boys haircuts one evening. After Andy's haircut and before his shower, he could be seen doing some acrobatics on the trampoline in his underpants. So funny.

Did I shave my legs for this?

I have hit an all-time low. I actually shaved my legs in the car on the way to church yesterday we were running so far behind. Church starts at 1pm and we haven't been on time once.
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In other news, Allison came to visit for a week. It was wonderful. She had two purposes of coming (that I made up in my own mind). These were to eat gallons of ice cream (check!) and to watch at least an entire season of Psych (check! check!).

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We also squeezed a hike to Austin's "Mountain" (it's only about 800 ft above sea level), a trip to the Texas State History Museum, Imax, and Capitol Building. Alli absorbed so much information, she was teaching me about Texas.

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We also took a little trip down to Blanco, Texas, where our grandfather was born and where our great grandmother "married that Mormon and left. How did that happen anyway?" There are pretty strong Church of Christ roots still there in our second cousins once removed. We had a delightful visit, nonetheless, and I will probably go back in June for the Lavender Fest because apparently my cousins farm lavender. Who knew?

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And if you are interested, Deana has a few things to say.

If you were missing my children...

...than this is the post for you.

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Today at the park. Thomas LOVES the swings.

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These photos were from our trip home from El Paso. We stopped in Small Town, Texas, at a local mexican food restaurant for lunch. All the locals shook hands when someone entered. My children keep me entertained. Thomas was pulling all his funny faces keeping Andrew and Joshy in stitches.

Trying to be positive

I am missing home today. I can't call any of my family or friends because it would probably be too hard. Denver is not Austin. Austin will never be Denver. Creme Brule can never be jello. . So here is my list of things that I like about living in Austin. Today. We will see how tomorrow goes and hopefully it won't morph into a "things I hate about Austin", or worse, a "things I miss about Denver." That would just be too heartbreaking. .

Here goes:

1. I like my new apartment. I like that the garage is huge. I like that the bedrooms are big and I can fit all three little boys into one room. I LOVE air conditioning. I love that it is a gated community.


2. I like humidity. I haven't needed to slop on the lotion at all since I've been here. If I weren't going through some strange hormonal phenomenon, I'm sure my skin would love it here too.


3. I like getting to know new roads and discovering where these roads can take me. It seems like all the roads here at 65 mph, which suits my driving just fine.


4. I like the highways and interstates. Everything is elevated on huge pillars and it looks like a space world.


5. I like that Target is just exactly the same as the Target at CornerStar. I know where everything is.


6. I like how friendly people are. A nice man in a cowboy hat held a door open for me the other day, and I actually had a pleasant experience at Home Depot because someone went out of his way to help me find something. That's a first.


7. I like that every where I look there is an American flag. There is usually a Texas flag flying right next to it. It makes car rides colorful as Andy and Joshy try to collect the most flags by hollering out " 'Merican flag! Texas flag!" when ever they see the set.

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That's it for now. I'm sure something more is bound to turn up soon.

No photos, but I need somewhere to vent

Bear with me. I can't get blogger to do the paragraphing I want. I promise it isn't one long run-on paragraph. . So I ran a lot of errands today. The one I was most excited about was our trip to the local library. I love the library and my children have learned to love the library and the kind librarians who are always ready to suggest a book or help out. There were always hundreds of choices and always more things we wanted than there was room in our library bag. . That was in Colorado. 'Tis not so, apparently, in Austin. The children's section was about the size of my big toe. There were five racks of children's books and about 50 kids' movies, most of the Anime (sp?). So please transfer that same criticism to the Adult section of the library. I went in looking for a "Bonnet movie" (read: some movie translation of Jane Austen) and there was nothing. Nada. Ziltch. What self-respecting library doesn't carry any Jane? . I asked at the front desk about online electronic options available in the district and gasp! They don't do electronic anything. What is this? 1990? . So I can check out from a limited selection of books; I can't check out the movies I want (or the kids would want), and I can't upload anything to my mp3 player. . We have fewer TV channels here in Austin than we did in Colorado, so I can't supplement a poor prime time line up with an episode or two of Criminal Minds. The pickin's are slim. . I have a pit in my stomach. After my children go to bed, how will I fill my time? Kraig works and works. I never see him. There are no free books. No free movies. No free TV. I think I might cry.

Amazes me everyday

Well, the video doesn't really display it well, but Thomas pulled himself up in his crib while we were cleaning the boys' room yesterday. This is a HUGE accomplishment for my little guy. Three cheers for Thomas!

Oh and just ignore me getting mad at Joshua in the background. He was shaking the crib :)

Hey, y'all! I'm a Texan!

So we moved to Austin, Texas last week. That's why I haven't posted for a while. My life leading up to the move was a whole blur of boxes, doctor appointments for Thomas, cleaning, and crying. We also had 2 very successful yard sales, which was fantastic because we filled our 26 foot trailer up to the door. Kraig's brother Kyle flew out of Colorado to help us drive the truck. He was a lifesaver. I certainly wasn't going to drive that beast and with Kyle driving it, Kraig could drive the van and I could take care of the children.

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. We made the trip in two days, just taking our time along the road. We made a lot of stops. Here is our 10 pm Hawaiian pizza dinner at Pizza Hut. They didn't put on any pineapple, but locked the doors before we could go in an complain.

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Texas is a whole lot of flat and hot. Mostly what we saw was closed up farm towns. Then we got to the pretty part of the state. Hiphiphooray for the green in Eastern Texas.

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We are getting settled. My days are still filled with boxes and trips to Target, trying to get us organized. Our new home is a three bedroom apartment. We like the complex. I will really like it when it's just a titch warmer and we can spend our day at the pool. Kraig is working 13 hours days, so we don't see him much. He is working hard and we are very grateful for his job and the opportunity to be here in Texas.

I am sending out Change of Address cards. I would love to send one to each of you, so send me your address!

Classic

Where or where has the little bee gone?

Thomas' First Birthday

My baby is one. I can't even believe it. I feel like it was just yesterday they pulled this little darling from my belly and Kraig whispered to me that he did have Down syndrome. All the emotions are still fresh, but they are so much more rich and full now that this little boy has blessed our lives for 365 days. I am such a lucky mommy to be the first to hug and kiss him every morning and the last one to kiss him at bed time. He brightens my life and spreads his sunshine to all who meet him. Strangers are drawn to him (don't touch, please!), and his grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins dote on him. I am such a lucky mommy.

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We celebrated Tommy's special day a few days early so that he could party with his Grandpa Rencher (they are practically birthday twins). Thomas was a good sport and even smeared enough frosting to make for great photos (although he wanted nothing to do with the cake. If he hadn't have come from my body, I would have wondered if her were really my son. Cake. Mmmmm).

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In other news, I gave Thomas his first hair cut. As much as I loved his long hair, he looked like he had a comb-over. Now he's all trimmed up and handsome as ever. Me, on the other hand, I could use some obvious help with my hair.

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And just to prove once again that Andy and Joshy will do anything to be like their daddy, Joshy broke out in a "Non-allergic side effect" to the amoxicillian he was taking for strep throat. I don't know, you tell me. I think it looks pretty horrible, but it didn't itch or bother him at all. It was all over his chest, back, neck and face. And there was nothing we could do for it. Thankfully it was gone after 3 days. It looks a lot like the psoriasis we're battling on Kraig. Really, I just wanted to put a half naked photo of my husband on the blog. Oww! Oww!

Shark Repellant Bat Spray. I didn't even know they made that. Where can I get some?

Hang in there and watch it all the way to the end. The writing on this thing is GENIUS!!



So long. For a minute.

Love Potion #9

Usually for V-day I do something for the family like heart shaped biscuits for breakfast or heart shaped calzones for dinner. Not this year. I decided to just spoil my Valentine.

I got this idea from my friend Trish. I scoured the grocery stores to find 9 different kinds of root beer. Unfortunately, I only found 8 since I didn't want to include store brands. They were some unusual kinds we'd never tried before, making it more exciting. I left a note on Kraig's lunch bag after he fell asleep last night and then laid out each type of root beer for him to find. Kraig leaves at 6:30 each morning and there was no way I was waking up to see his reaction (let's just leave it at sick, crying kids all night long). But he did call to say thank you and that he loved it.

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I love my Valentine! Love Potion #9 is waiting for him when he gets home!

Just about ready to write the screenplay

Has anyone seen James Franco in 127 Hours? I haven't seen it, but apparently it's the true story of a man who was out hiking, fell, and had to cut his own arm off to get out. I think. Like I said, I haven't seen it. The other afternoon Thomas was making quite a racket during his nap. I ignored him, just thinking he would tire himself out and fall back asleep. After a while I went in to get him and he was missing one of his orthotics. Poor boy had his foot stuck out of the crib and cruel mommy just let him figure it out himself. I think he was just about to whip out his Swiss Army Knife when he popped his foot out of the orthotic and left it behind in the crevice behind his bed. Every man (or corrective footware) for himself, I say.

Super Granny

Sometimes our greatest burden is our greatest weapon.

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You might have to suffer through a commerical first. That's the problem with letting someone else embed a video on my blog. If, for some reason, the video that comes on isn't a handsome british accent narrating a jewelry store robbery, click on playlist to find it.

Chefs Webb

Friday night Kraig and I catered a wedding dinner for the daughter of a friend in our ward. The dinner took place up in a huge cabin up in Breckenridge, CO. There was a lot of menu changes leading up to the week before the wedding, but our final menu was lasagna, chicken Marsala, bow tie Alfredo, roasted veggies, Cesaer salad, and spinach salad. We also served a few dozen of my rolls. It was a huge success even though the mothers were causing problems for the bride. The bride ended up rearranging the schedule for the evening because people were having a difficult time getting up the mountain in the snow storm. So instead of dinner at 7:30 after the ceremony, she wanted to do dinner before the ceremony at around 6:30. Thankfully we were right on top of things and pulled it off.

All in all it was a fun experience that I never want to repeat. No more brides. Ever.

On the way out of town we stopped at the winter festival in Breckenridge to check out the snow sculptures. Amazing. Who says to himself, "Hmmm...college isn't working out for me, I'm going to try snow sculpting"?

The NOT Sleep Study

So tired. My eyes feel like I've been crying for hours, when in actuality I haven't shed a single tear in weeks.

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Because of the Down syndrome, Thomas has small nasal passages. He snores like an old man. It is pretty cute on his 18 pound body. Cute in the sense that I don't have to share a room with him and can admire his cuteness when I go and tuck him in at night.

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Well apparently it's not cute for 11 month olds to snore. We're talking, ENT specialists, talk of surgery, and last night, Tommy's first sleep study to see what is actually going on while he sleeps.

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It all started out innocent enough. Tommy looked cute in his two piece jammies and was having a great time flirting with the nurse and playing in his new crib.

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Then we spent 60 minutes trying to attach a bazillion electrodes, straps, tape, and wires to his little body. He didn't love that so much. They mummy wrapped his head so he wouldn't pull them off (he still managed to get two out of the gauze) and told me after 60 minutes of him fussing to try and get him to sleep. Um. Ok. My child falls asleep alone in his room listening to piano music. Mommy rocking him while his body is being unnaturally probed isn't going to cut it.

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But, finally the exhaustion wins over and he falls asleep (his exhaustion or mine?). This was around...I don't know...10:30 maybe? We'd been there since 7:15. Tom's normal bedtime is 7:30. Right now all you mommys out there should be nodding you heads because you know what's coming. The nice, patient nurse then comes in and tells me they have to put a cannula on his nose and an additional sensor over the cannula to measure his O2 intake and CO2 output.

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Here's a little side note: Do you remember when Thomas had RSV when he was 6 weeks old? Ever since that week we spent in the hospital being pinned down and having his nose suctioned by strangers the poor boy has serious issues with people touching/looking at/wiping his nose. I can't blame him. So inserting the cannula did not go over well. Not only did he not like it there, but the additional sensor made it impossible for him to suck his thumb (I know, I know. Don't talk about the thumb sucking); the wires made it impossible for him to sleep on his stomach; the beeping/noisy machines and VIOLA! we have a perfect recipe for a disastrous night.

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Long story short (really, my mind is just too muddled with sleep deprivation to form too many more sentences), we will be really lucky if there is enough collective data from which to draw conclusions.

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He hated the crib, so we tried putting him in my bed with me (read: taking over my bed so I sat out in the hall and read my book). I am pretty sure I have scarred my little boy for life. And unfortunately he will have a lifetime of doctors, hospitals, and treatments. Early analysis of his results tell us he's going to have to be on oxygen while he sleeps.

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Sigh. I'm tired.