First day of summer activities. Work and play.

Happy first day of summer!

$2 Rita's day!

It was a good cool treat for after Saturday jobs (cleaning bathrooms and vacuuming ets), bike riding lessons in my mom's cul-de-sac, swimming in her pool, and all but finishing Julia's blessing dress. 

I have given my kids more responsibility lately and was dissapointed and guilty of not teaching my boys awareness or indtinct. Examples: 

•They asked where to store items from the clean dishwasher. How do they not know where plates and bowls go?!

•Dylan said yes he had washed the pans. Really washed. They are clean! But I kept investigating. He did not use soap or hot water or even a clean wash cloth. (He had rinsed them in preparation for the dishwasher or jand washing and it took way too many questions to get to that realization.)

•They had never cleaned a toilet and did not know what to take in with him. Then had not cleaned around it. 

•Isaac plugged the sink and had water running in it, but I noticed he was pumping lots of hand soap into the dish water. Neither knew to set out a dry towel, use a clean wash cloth, to use hot water, to rinse, etc. I later found the dishes drying right side up with their lids on them. Nice. Keeping the water in, "ay yoy yoy". (I say that too much.)

•Dylan swept the stairs. But left the dust on the tile below. How did he think he did not need a dust pan?! (Side note. Barbie swept our gross floors into our dirty rags pile and left it. Which is actually an example of going above and beyond. She does not know where a dust pan is, nor should she. That was something thoughtful and she probably had my baby strapped to her and had to deal with my crazy boys' drama at the same time. I wrote this before but had not published it yet.)

Wow I have been an enabler, or an UN-enabler. This summer, they are learning to work!

Isaac cried in his bike lesson. And he laughed in surprise as he biked all the way to the end of the street making me run! 

And Julia liked her blessing dress. And her grandma for doing so much of it. 

The dress satin is from my wedding dress. The neck lace is from my mom. The sleeves are from my baptism dress fabric, left overfrom when my mom made it. The over lace is my mom's wedding dress's veil. I will make a headband out of scraps too. 

Dear Julia, you're 6 weeks old

Dear Julia,

You are 8 weeks old. But I pretend you are still 6 weeks old. 6 weeks is more the milestone for me than for you. I get to go swimming and can exercize again. I actually got a little head start on those but it does not show. So instead of me thinking people will think I should have 2 weeks worth of doing a boot camp and that I should be in shape, I like pretending that I am not even supposed to yet. Plus, after 6 weeks people get annoyed when I give your age in weeks. They want month increments. 

But I did jot the following notes down here at 6 weeks so I will leave them untouched. I will post this and maybe add photos later. I just need to save/post this! You are so cute and sweet. 

Smile

Fussy evening

Night owl

Mobiles

Scratch grab face

Coo 4x (You have talked 4 times to date. At 6 weeks)

No noise

Scowel expressions

Hair is growing

Fists w/ lint

Love Your thighs and low hair line

Burps

Stand up on lap a little

Hold head better

Move head over to eat

Pacifier in the car if the car is moving

Water babies

We love having a pool and living near the beach. 

Try teaching Tyler to jump on "3."  He can't wait for it!

We put the boys in swim lessons. Not Tyler. He is making good progress at home. The boys need to swim laps!

Lacey sent me two boxes of headbands and gifts for Julia. Some were significant outfits from her girls, some were new forJulia  like her birthstone bracelet. So mant items I wanted to cry! Each individually packaged with the descriptions. So sweet. 

More to come. 

A long day

Steven said he would take the boys to Vacation Bible School so I would not be so rushed with dropping Julia off at Clara's house. Dropping Julia off was not that big of a deal. If I had forgotten anything, Barbie would have it. And Barbie is so structured and even more loving that I knew everything would be okay.

Meanwhile, steven was U turning back because Isaac had forgotten his shoes. I had 3 missed calls from Steven who wanted to know what to do and if they would be aloud in late. 

I got to work early and ready for our weekly morning meeting. But a patient came an hour rarly so I skipped the meeting. And my next one cancelled. So work asked me to go shopping (clock out for the 3 hr lunch break) until a new patient needed a cleaning. Then another got worked in too before she got her bridge cemented in. But to our surprise, another patient thought she had a cleaning with me right then. She only wanted me because of online reviews. I wanted a lunch break to pump my milk! But I proved to her that I am indeed awesome even though she would not let me try the cavitron. (Hand scaling takes longer.) So with 10 minutes for lunch, I check my phone with beautiful pictures of my sleepy happy baby, I hear about Tyler's melt down, and post our daily Trivia Tuesday question on my iffice Facebook page. Oh yea, and eat lunch, pump milk, and write in charts. Thank goodness my 1:00 patient forgot about me. 

I had no time to worry about my girly firl. I was worried about Isaac who the night before cried because he did not want to go to VBS. About Steven who wasted his whole morning with unexpected issues. About Tyler who did not calm down enough to stay and who might have an accident when his extra clothes and blanket are with Dylan. About Don who was not planning on having Tyler all day and who may not put Tyler to sleep. Whoever said girls are drama?! It's my boys in this family. 

So yea, I called the boys and Don was just then in his way to get the boys. The church called him to remind him. Isaac later said he was only a little worried. That is something I would do. But Tyler napped (on the way to and from VBS then inside still in the heavy awkward car seat. Sorry Don!!! And Tyler stayed dry! Don is so helpful and selfless. He loves us and does so much for us. 

My afternoon was normal-busy so I had time to niss Julia. Barbie was more frequent with the updates and pictures. I missed Julia's smell. I had not thought of her having a smell, but she does. 

no excuses

I had a room mate in college who was a pet peve of mine. I know that's horrible to say, but we just didn't blend, then I was irritated by that. I wanted to have a room mate like my freshman year one. Or like any of those girls on Stover Hall. So this room mate was nice, but would apologize for things like not cleaning the bathroom, borrowing my clothes (that she had previously insulted) and the fact that they were STILL in her dirty clothes hamper, and for having a mess on her side of the room.
I got sick of apoligies. They were meaningless. I wanted to say to quit saying she was sorry and just do whatever she had been putting off.

But now I'm the one feeling like I'm saying sorry all the time. Sorry to my client for not having her gallery up yet. Sorry to my friend who I promised to sew/glue and mail a headband for her [not so new anymore] newborn baby girl. Sorry to my cousin for not sending his wedding gift even though he sent me an invite a year ago and he's already back from his honeymoon. Sorry to my business for not weekly posting anything. Sorry to my e-friends for not posting the birth announcement. Sorry to Julia for not posting the images from her first month. Sorry to my kitchen floors for having dirt stained on them. Sorry to Elisabeth for forgetting the frozen milk AND the formula AND my check book this morning. (Good thing I pumped both sides this morning on the way to her house.) Sorry to Dr. Brayer for not getting to that homework right away. Sorry to my body for not working out even though today marks 6 weeks and I really have no excuse. Sorry to Tyler for not going swimming with him this evening w/ the rest of the boys. This list goes on and on and on. I have ONE thing on my to do list and I'm blogging instead. But it's waking me up. So I'll stop this pointless truly annoying apology and I'll get to work. Once that one thing/client is satisfied on my to do list I can mail letters then craft headbands. Julia's sleeping.

bags are packed

For some reason getting milk together and finding a freezer lunch box milk bag were not on my tonight's to do list. I think I've been putting off thinking about the end part of my maternity leave. It's not pretty to think about. Sorta like the end part of pregnancy- the delivery. If only there were an epidural for the end of maternity leave so that I didn't have to feel this last part. 

The good news is that it's not my first rodeo. I've done the exact same thing 3 times before and I'm leaving Julia with big brothers and with Corrie who took my other kids on my first day back to this same job. And I have a good job that I miss. And I am only going to be gone a half day - just 2 patients after a meeting. 

So, after editing and ordering photos (I've been off of maternity leave for weeks now from photography), I packed my bags. The batteries work for the breast pump, I'll do that on my way to Corrie's. My purse is dusted off and holds some filled photo frames and a brag book full of Julia photos. The pink diaper bag (from Corrie) is packed with extra formula and bottles and diapers and onesies and pacifiers and a water for Tyler. I'm all set! Now I'll say a prayer that I'll hear my alarm clocks! 

Do you know what I just realized? Corrie bought me my diaper bag and the one I had for Tyler. She bought me my purse, and we have both used the breast pump when needed although she had her own. (My mom got it for me when I was pregnant with Dylan.) Yea, Corrie's my BFF. I trust her with more than my life: with my babies. 

Speaking of which, here's an un-white balanced picture of my happy baby girl in some new fun props from Aunt Lacey. She gave us two packages today with so many specially marked individually packaged items. Sooo thoughtful!

One of 3 awesome baby showers for Julia

4/5/2014
(original post found here)

Dr. Brayer always throws fun thoughtful baby showers for her employees.

Did you know that we have had about at least two babies born each year? Some of our patients joke that they are afraid to drink our water! Dr. Brayer had 3 of the beautiful babies herself. She was pregnant along with Tiffany for their first two babies but then had her third right away whereas Tiffany was pacing herself. Tiffany had her 3rd then 4th babies a little later. So this was the 4th baby shower that Dr. Brayer has put on for her hygienist, Tiffany. Because April was a busy month for everyone, we decided to combine the Save the Face Race oral cancer 5K's office outing with the baby shower. Tiffany did not need a fancy shower since this was not her first baby. Dr. Brayer kept her tradition of including all of the families of our employees in our celebrations so many of the kids stayed after our walk for oral cancer. After the 5K on the beautiful Pass-A-Grille beach, we walked over to the pavilion, Paradise Grill. Some of us changed clothes, but we were all still hot and sweaty, but that's okay since we were out on the beach! *added for this blog:* Nathan and Allison and their daughter were at the beach so they watched the boys for me. I told Steven who was on his way home from working over time. He surprised us and showed up at the beach too! How cool!

 We opened presents first, actually! Some of our husbands and kids played in the cool water and in the sand. This would be Tiffany's first girl so she got a lot of dresses... And she got lots of pink things! Of course she needs diapers. Thanks Dr. and Mrs. Nguyen!  Dr. Brayer got Tiffany a whole tooth fairy kit complete with a little place for each baby tooth to be stored. We waited until the beach restaurant started serving lunch before Dr. Brayer bought us our delicious meals. Here is Tiffany with her husband and 3 boys. The came up from the water for a bite to eat before heading home for Tyler's nap and before Tiffany's other baby shower that Barbie threw!  Tiffany had not yet decided her baby's name would be Julia, so Dr. Brayer got a pink cake with no name. It was yummy!!  Then as party favors, she got each of her employees the little dials to store their kids' baby teeth too! She gave one per child (So Tiffany got 4 total, for example.) Such an amazing party favor!    The charity run then the baby shower made for a long morning/afternoon! But it feels so good to raise awareness for oral cancer then to shower our employee of 8 years with girly baby gifts:) 

But Some kids helped with the fun presents!

JT's Dream

My brother's weekly email from his church mission in the Philippines followed by my mom's email to him is as follows. You may want to read it first I guess:

this was a good week

im going to start with a dream i had. its way weird, and doesnt make much sense, but i thought it was funny, so ill share it with you.

so in my dream i was still a missionary, but there was some thing were the zone leaders got to serve their missions in the states for one transfer, to see what mission life is like in america. so i got to america, and was walking through the church, walking towards the room where we were going to have our district meeting. and when i was walking, i was holding tiff's new lil baby, julia. and she was tiny, but she was talking to me. i dont remember the exact words she said, but she said that the celing was pretty, then i looked up, and we were like in a cave, where the celing is like the stalagmite stuff. then we got in the room where the district meeting was, and she looked around and said that she said that she liked the colors of all the elders' ties. then this is the funny part, and the only part i remember word for word. she said "ka-nami kon mangin mga neck-ties 'ta!" haha it means like 'it would be soo cool if we all could become neck-ties!" ha. that was the end of my dream. 

anyways, 

the house we meet at in the place called pari-an is just a house of a member, but there are too many people to all fit inside, so they meet outside. its dirt floor, and theres chickens that run through the plastic chairs of the congregation durring sacrament meeting. but there is a sheet metal roof, but there are holes and stuff, so when the rain started pooring down, we had to huddle inside. 

another funny thing, we were teaching joven, and we asked him where he was in the book of mormon. he always reads the pamphlets, and even looks up all the scriptures, but he couldnt remember where he was, then he was like... maybe 1 nephi13:22. very specific guess. i opened his book and read it, "and i said unto him: i know not" ha. he is doing well though. he has a date for the 14th, but he has to fix some stuff with his life before he can be baptized. but he wants to, and hes even working with us teaching other people and stuff. we saw them last tuesday at the place we were eating lunch, and we asked them where they were going, and they were just walking around, then they decided it would be fun to tag around with us for the rest of the day, so they did ha. him and his older brother jed (recent convert).

other fun stuff... 

DONNA WAS BAPTIZED last week!!!!! i saw elder comilang at our zone conference the other day, and he told me. he also told me that karen-joy, merlita, jennifer, and kaselda are all now baptized as well. all the people elder asi and i found are now members! it made me way happy when i heard that. 

love,

elder gille

HOn Mon, Jun 2, 2014 at 3:25 AM,<vickibeckman@tampabay.rr.com>wrote:

Hey, JT!

Question - you said it rained during sacrament so everyone needed to huddle in a house.  Are you meeting outdoors, or what?

This may be a short email.  I have difficulty staying connected here.

Missouri, it turns out, is hotter than Florida. These nieces and nephews of yours are really smart.  This week is the last week of school here, so there hasn't been much homework, but there has been a lot of awards events.  Don was trying to get out of going to another long, boring program and asked Ella what awards she got in middle school (wondering if Ocean would be getting any similar awards).  Ella remembered she had received straight A awards. Don asked if she thought Ocean had received straight A's.  Here is the funny part.  Ella looked at him like he was crazy and said I suppose so.  In this family straight A'a are assumed and not worth remembering.

Love, Mom

Mornings/days/weeks/maternity leave

If I have something to do in the morning, it's pretty much the only thing I get done all day. So that means the days fly by and I do not have enough of them in a week. In fact, I do not have enough weeks in this maternity leave. This is my last one.

I'm not ready to leave Julia for all day yet. I do feel like I'm ready to leave her for a little to work. I guess it means I have a good job if I'm missing it. I get to see some of my patients because they are also friends (and some are family.) I found out that one of my patients thought he would be one of my first patients but I'm only going to be there in the morning the first two days and he's scheduled in the afternoon. Sad.

One thing people keep asking me is if it's always a surprise seeing girl parts instead of boy parts when I change Julia's diaper. What? Honestly it's not. I have been babysitting since I was 11, and I was a big sister for 4 siblings before that, so have been changing diapers of both genders my whole life. The diaper areas don't surprise me. Even the diaper explosions are expected by now. The thing that I didn't remember is that Julia's diaper fills up in the back and not in the front when it's wet. It drips down and pools in the back since she always sleeps on her back. So now, if she poops, the diaper is already saturated right there sometimes. I do change her lots and lots.

Back to my mornings. Today I got to go to Isaac's Kindergarten awards picnic lunch. They do not do a Kindergarten graduation ceremony, but the principal did show up for hot dogs and for some of the awards. We played outside at the park there from 9:15-1:15. That was my whole morning, and since I played with Julia then took a 2 hour nap then made mac 'n cheese and watched the kids in the pool, that was my whole day! Tomorrow I have Julia's 1 month doctor's appointment in the morning. So there goes that day. I guess it seems like I'm not being productive b/c last night Julia was awake, like usual, and wanting to be entertained/held while I was tired (since I did not get a nap since I did errands in the morning and played with Ivy and they took a nap after lunch then we had piano then a church friends picnic) so I did not stay up to get things done. I ended up just laying down with her since she likes that and we both fell asleep by about midnight.

But recently, Steven picked up the boys for me so the other half of our family could take the said 2 hour nap in my bed. So I feel rested enough to be able to stay up to edit my first photo session. Steven is a good daddy and husband and provider. He went to Isaac's awards lunch. He picked up the kids for me, and he did a ton of yard work before swimming with the boys. He's watching American Ninja Warriors with the boys so I can clean the kitchen blog before he's off to play basketball at the church. At the picnic, Julia was sleeping laying down in the back of the stroller but Steven still picked her up to hold her. So sweet.

Let's Pretend

Tyler likes to play. He has a fun imagination. I wish I could go on his adventures instead of all the other things I need to do each day. 

He calld his Diegos "joe" for some reason. One has "coo-vin-dye-vins" on. (Scuba diver fins) Steven and I love the way he says that. Ducks and frogs also have 'cuvendivins FYI. Tyler always asks why they do. It is just one of hos things. He remembers the story of Steven loosing a fin and wants to find it. At the beach on Thursday, he asked me to take him far away (out to sea) so we could look for and retrieve Daddy's lost 'cuvindivin. He tattled on me to Steven that I did not. 

Tyler called the area at the end of the couch his swimming pool. He would dive in on top of the bean bag and pillows and would ask some of us, if we were lucky, to go swimming with him. Julia and I did not fit although we tried. So he expanded. Tons of pillows and monkeys with various blankets now have replaced our couch cushions.

It was cute at first. But he freaks out if we want our couch back or if uninvited guests take a dip. Oh, and it made another change. It is now a truck like granddad's. He drives us to the doctor's office. And to Pwug-wix (Publix), Home Depot, and to the store. (The T is silent in the word store.) he gets very upset if I do not let him take me on my errands in his truck before we go for real. The boys don't like fighting him to clean. This was Isaac's idea of putting the couch back together so we could go to a swim birthday party. 

Nice. I let it go. 

He makes up pirates or jaguars that happen to be right by some place where I want him to go. Conveniently, he is too scared to retrieve a diaper for me, for example. Steven fights them sometimes. 

He likes to dress up some. He was excited to discover the superhero costumes and various other dress up things too. 

This was the scene at Publix Thursday when getting salad stuff. Tyler was taking pictures with his camera (binoculars.) i was so happy and feeling blessed b/c although I may have boarderline too many kids, the nicely dressed lady in heels next to the tomatoes was frazzled calling for and looking for her giggling hiding son who was a little shorter than Isaac. She had clearly not been at the beach with then napping next to her son all day. Sad. 

He was playing the piano and singing by himself the other day. At least one of my kids practices on his own!

I like my Tyler. He liked watching Dora the other day. TV does not usually hold his attention. Dylan and Isaac are too into TV, computer games on PBSkids.org, and are still in mourning over having haf to turn their iPads in at school. They are creative when prompted. Dylan liked to draw. Isaac builds forts out of Tyler's left over couch cushions. They both love swimming and playing back yard soccer. They painted little wooden boxes yesterday. All 3 of them. I had them look up Bible stories and be ready to report what they learned while I and the babies napped  on Thursday. That worked. I need to do some serious summer time planning for them! I think workbook pages, memorizing poems and scriptures, science experiments, chores, and crafts are in store. 

End of baseball season banquet

The boys had an end of season banquet at Joto's pizza. The coaches got the kids trophys to go along with their metals.

The coach's wife made each boy a baseball card and gave them a couple of copies. The coach made each kid a report on specific tips. The team mom made each kid a goodie bag with a team photo, 3 pics of the kids she took and printed at home, baseball gum, mini Cubs hats (like the ones that they serve Dip 'n Dots in), a baseball tattoo, a baseball bouncy ball, and curly straws.