What a Week!

Do you ever have one of those days where you are so busy, you go non-stop doing things you just have to do, and by the end of the day you are so exhausted that you just want to cry? This past week was full of days just like that. By Tuesday night, I seriously did not know if I was going to make it through the week. Obviously I did, since I am here to tell about it.

It began on Sunday with a meeting for Cub Scouts at 10AM. I then had to hurry home so that we could get to the church in time for Jacob to have his baptismal interview with the Bishop at 11:15. While we were there, I ran into a friend from our old ward. She had been my visiting teacher and it was great visiting with her again.

Then we had church which goes from 12-3 which is a horrible time when you have little kids. It just messes up any sort of schedule we have. Oh well, it was nice to actually attend all of Sunday School and Relief Society that day...it was the first time in months!

That evening we had a Family Home Evening on Baptism in preparation for Jacob's upcoming baptism.

Monday morning began early with a dentist appointment for me to fix a tooth that had chipped on Friday. Ends up that I need a crown on that tooth, so for now, Dr. Matheson just smoothed out the rough edge so that it would quit chewing up my tongue. I will have to go have a crown put on sometime soon. Luckily, a good friend from the ward was able to watch Annalise at a last minutes notice.

I then went home to meet up with the Bishop's wife who came over to help with some cleaning. While she was there, I got a chance to talk to her a bit about things that are going on with a couple of my boys and get her advice. It was nice of her to clean my bathrooms, but it was even nicer to be able to talk with her.

After Bryce's speech therapy, I spent some time on the phone trying to get a speech evaluation set up for Jacob, and then made a quick trip to Costco to order the cake and sandwiches for the meal after the Baptism.

I ended the day by joining weight watchers...again! It is just getting out of control. I am now at my highest weight ever at 10 pounds more than I weighed when I gave birth to Annalise. It's just disgusting and I have to get it moving in the opposite direction. I'm sure it will be slow this time, but anything down is better than what is happening now. It isn't even about the looks, it's just that I have lots of kids to take care of and carry around. Bryce and Annalise aren't getting any smaller and I need to be around to take care of them for a long time. So, my first goal is to loose the amount that Annalise weighs...20 lbs! And then I will go from there.

You have already heard of the best part of Tuesday, Bryce's casts coming off. While I was loading the kids up to leave from there, I got a call from the boys school...I always dread what I am about to hear when I see them as the caller. Anyway, it was about some things that are happening with our little guy Spencer. He is having some tough times and it is showing itself in some very unpleasant ways. Luckily, everything was OK at the moment and I didn't need to go in right then. That call came about 2:30PM. Luckily, I had a meeting with William's teacher at 3, so I just picked them all up then.

I had left Bryce with a respite worker and Annalise at the Naylor's home during the meeting, so I picked Annalise up and got home just after 5, just in time for the respite worker to leave. It was pack meeting night so I had about 45 minutes to change clothes, feed the kids, grab some cookies at Bashas for Cub scout refreshments, and get to the church. Oh, did I mention that John had called earlier in the day and said that he would have to work late (the stress that he is under at work right now is a whole other story for another time) which left me taking everyone to pack meeting by myself.

Well, as I began to get Bryce's food going I realized that there would just not be time to do everything and still make it on time to pack meeting, so I packaged up Bryce's milk to feed him on the way, quickly changed a couple of diapers and my clothes, had the boys dress in their uniforms, and loaded everyone into the car. We then stopped at Bashas and I ran in while William "babysat" the others in the car. We then drove through Burger King's drive through (real great for the diet) and ate dinner on the way to the church.

We got to the church, unloaded everyone and went inside. The kids were playing a game with balloons. Bryce and balloons don't mix! He kind of freaks out around them and if they come too close, he gags. I was trying to keep him to the side of the game while I helped with some cub scout stuff, but I obviously wasn't watching him closely enough and next thing you know I turned around to look and him and he is totally gagging. I quickly handed Annalise off to a lady there, left the room with Bryce and tried to get him calmed down. But, just as I entered the hall, he threw up all over himself. The same thing happened at the Ward Christmas Party, I should have known better and never had him in that room, but anyway, I was just trying to do my calling! Unfortunately, I didn't have any other clothes for him, so with the help of the other bear leader who was out there and saw the whole thing, we cleaned him and his chair up as best we could and put on a new bib. We made it back in as the meeting was beginning. Bryce was upset at this point, so I was holding him on my lap.

We made it through the opening game and then as the awards were being handed out (I think that is what was going on) Annalise, who had been walking around, fell and knocked her head on the floor. She, of course, began screaming so I handed Bryce off and left the room with Annalise until she got calmed down. Her little helmet arrived the next day and seems to be helping some now.

By the time I got back in and settled back in my seat next to the bears that I am in charge of, the meeting ended. I seriously did nothing to help as a leader at that meeting. If anything I felt totally useless and disruptive. I love the boys I work with, but I have no idea why I still have that calling. Actually, I don't know why I was ever called to it in the first place, but that's OK.

As soon as I could, I loaded the kids back into the car and headed home to begin the bedtime routine. I was exhausted. By this time, I was seriously ready to just climb into bed and never get out. However, I had to be in Phoenix by 8:30 the next morning, so I got a few things together for that day, went to bed and started again Wednesday morning. One major blessing that night was that everyone, even Bryce, slept through the night. That seriously hasn't happened in months...maybe even years, and I know that was a direct blessing from the Lord.

Wednesday morning we met with Dr. Aleck. My sister Sheri was in town so she met me at his office and helped with the little ones. I love it when she is around. I wish I had enough money to just hire her as our full time mother's helper! The rest of the day was spent doing therapies, phone calls, faxing paperwork to the early intervention people, and music class for Spencer.

The great thing about Wednesday was that I didn't have to worry about dinner. I knew someone from the church was bringing dinner in. What I didn't know was that our neighbor (our renters) were also bringing dinner over. The lady from church actually brought a meal for Wed. night and one to put in the freezer, so we ended up with 3 dinners in one day which lasted us the rest of the week, and I still have the one in the freezer! It was so nice not the have to worry about cooking for a couple of days!

Thursday was Bryce's 90 day review. That went well, but I found out later that his support coordinator messed up the hours for speech, so I will have to make some calls and deal with that tomorrow or as soon as I can get a hold of her. Bryce spent Thursday morning with my sister and Thursday afternoon my parents arrived. They were able to stay through Saturday for the baptism. It was good to see both of them again.

Thursday afternoon I was at the doctor for me and while there, found out that I was running a fever. I didn't even know I was sick. I've had a cough and slight sore throat for a while, but nothing major. Kind of weird. I'll be going in sometime this week for some lab work.

Thursday afternoon I also got a call letting me know that the appointment for Annalise's testing that was suppose to take place all day Friday had actually been booked on the wrong day. It is actually scheduled for Feb. 14th instead of January 14th. So, since we had a whole day, and my Mom and sister were here, we spent the day getting the house ready for the luncheon after the baptism. We ended up having it at the church, so that wasn't really necessary for that day, but it was nice to have a clean house and to have a couple of things organized. It was also great to have one day this week that was not spent in a doctors office!

The three older boys went to Nathan Peterson's birthday party Friday evening.

Saturday morning began bright and early with a ward fun run and breakfast at the park. We ran, walked a distance (I was told it was a mile, I'm not sure) and then had a pancake breakfast. Rhett and Brooklyn Smith pushed Bryce and Annalise through the run, so I stayed with the three older boys while John ran the whole thing. We would have had a bit faster time, but the boys were too interested in everything along the way and had to stop many times to see what was around them. This is the exact reason that I will be running my 5K the end of Feb. on my own. It was a fun time with them though.

After the breakfast, John brought us home to get ready for the baptism while he headed to Costco to pick up the food. My parents and sister arrived shortly after we did. They had stopped on their way down to pick up the gifts for Jacob that I had totally forgotten about until that morning. Poor kid. Luckily I remembered and Mom and Sheri were here to save me once again!

The baptism and luncheon were fantastic. By the time we got everything cleaned up, it was almost 3:30 so we dropped William and Jacob off at the Johnson's house just in time for Kimball's birthday party. We brought his gifts when we picked them up. Spencer has been wanting to do something with just me for a while now, so while the boys were at the party, John kept the two little ones and Spencer and I went out for about an hour. He wanted to go to the $1 store, so that is what we did. He spent his $2 of allowance that he had and thought it was just a great time. We then picked the older boys up on our way home. Everyone was still full from lunch and cake and ice-cream, so I just fed the little ones and once again, headed for bed.

So there you have it, last week in a nutshell, at least the parts that I remember. Looking ahead, this week seems less hectic and I hope it stays that way. Tomorrow is a holiday for the boys, so we will be going to buy them new shoes, since I can see there toes through the ones they have now, and then to ride bikes in the park for a little bit. It should be a fun morning!