explosion

*Warning* The following is not for the faint of heart or the easily disgusted.

So as I was helping Samuel with his homework and cleaning the kitchen this afternoon, Matthew began to fuss while in his exersaucer.  "Hang in there, Matthew, we are almost done," I assured him as I continued to wipe the counters.  Matthew was persistant so I turned to look at him.  "Hey buddy, what is wrong?"  I looked down at the bottom of the exersaucer and saw this orangish brown goop all over, then the smell hit me.

You know, at times like these, parents go through a series of steps:

Step 1  discovery
"What is that?  Is that...?  Oh.  My.  Goodness."

Step 2 comprehension
"Is that poop?!  Is that poop all over your clothes and the exersaucer and are you JUMPING IN IT???!!"

Step 3 game plan
"OK, it's ok.  Let's ummm..."
At first glance the situation seems impossible.  One may even be tempted to put the desecrated item (baby and all) out on the curb for trash pick up.  Generally, not a good idea, but certainly easier than the realistic choice, the inevitable choice...  I think I am going to be sick!

Step 4 clean up (several steps in one)

This is where it gets really tricky. 
First, save the baby.  Once his clothes have been scraped down so that I can get them off, with a minimal amount of spreading the mess, it is up to the bathtub.  I don't even worry about telling my older boys to stay away from ground zero, the smell does that on its own.
Next, with bathtime complete my much cleaner and happier baby is back in clean clothes and placed on the floor of the family room while I confront the disaster area.  "Maybe we don't need a kitchen anymore."  I think to myself,  "Couldn't we just seal it off?"

Third, it takes an hour, unknown numbers of baby wipes, half a roll of hot, soapy paper towels, and several lysol wipes before I am satisfied with the cleanliness of the exersaucer and floor.

Now I turn to the clothes.  Briefly I consider tossing them, as I have with previous recipients of such abuse, but I love the outfit he is wearing today and it is worth the effort... I think.  Scrape, rinse in scalding hot water, wipe with paper towel under said hot water, then place to soak in washing machine with laundry detergent and oxy clean.  Hopefully that is good enough because I am not touching those things more than that!

Fifth, sterilize all affected areas and areas guilty by association.

Last, wash hands.  Ten times. With hot, soapy water and brillo pad.

Step 5 reflection
Having suffered from constipation for at least half his life, part of me is proud of Matthew for finally getting over that.  A very, very small part.  The rest of me is ready for a vacation- without kids!

And what did my little charmer do while I was cleaning up?  Why, make another mess, of course!  At least this one is only paper.  He found my pile of mail.

8 months

Matthew is 8 months old tomorrow.  Time is flying by so quickly I can barely keep up.  In the last two months Matthew has ceased to be a little lump on the log baby and is now a rolling, scooting, sitting, chattering, smiling, teething big boy.  At a dr.'s appointment a week and a half ago he weighed in at 18 pounds and 11 ounces!  He has almost outgrown his infant car seat.  I find myself hoping that he is an early walker- just because he is getting too heavy to carry everywhere!
I can not wait to take him out to Utah to see my family this summer.  He is going to charm their socks off!  Want proof?  They say a picture is worth a thousand words...

Grammy

Saint Patrick's Day is always a bittersweet day for me.  It is my Grammy's birthday.  She passed away seven years ago in February and her absence is still a gaping hole in my heart and in my life.  Grammy was a mover and a shaker.  Although a self-described "funny old lady"  she had more brains, courage and energy than any ten people.  I am who I am because of her.

I miss you, Grammy

grateful

Today was our fourth major snow storm of the season (although this one was pretty wimpy -only 4ish inches of snow (thank goodness)).  This most recent storm brought our season total up to 78.4 inches of snow.  Crazy!
The one thing that kept going through my mind as I looked out my window this morning at the blowing snow was how grateful I was that we got out heater fixed yesterday. 

You know what else I am grateful for?

endorphins

I hate exercise.  Ok, correction, I hate working out for the sake of working out.  I would rather clean my house (bathrooms included).  I danced from the age of three straight through college and spent a lot of time hiking and biking so it was never really an issue before.  However, right now I am on a mission.  I am desperately trying to lose the baby weight from Matthew plus an extra 10 pounds.  I put on a good 50 lbs with each of my pregnancies and although I loose it eventually this being my last one I am determined to get rid of it sooner rather than later.
Enter my stroller class at the Healthplex.  If you have a baby in a Crozer hospital you can get a one year membership to the Springfield Healthplex for their Mom's in Motion program.  They do charge a $25 sign up fee but that is it!  Free!  They offer pregnancy classes- including an awesome water aerobics class- and post pregnancy classes.  The stroller class is perfect for me because it is in the morning when my older boys are at school and I can take Matthew with me so I don't have to worry about finding a sitter for him.  I have been going three mornings a week (except for holidays, sick days and snow days) since Matthew was 6 weeks old and have only 5 lbs left of the pregnancy weight to go! 
You would think that pushing a stroller around could not possibly be much of a workout.  You obviously haven't met Beth!  Beth is our awesome, die hard instructor.  She has us outside the Healthplex when the weather is good walking/running up and down hills (I mostly walk with a little bit of jogging in between), doing lunges and plies and using exercise bands to work upper body muscles.  We also stop to do crunches, push ups and dips.  When the weather is bad we are inside on the track doing laps, as well as all of  the extra usual exercises and Beth brings out the weights or exercise balls.  I like the track workouts the best because I can keep track of how many laps.  Yesterday I got in 2 1/4 miles with a stop after each lap to do some sort of strenthening exercise.  It felt great!
Fridays are the kicker!  We set up in the gym.  We walk/jog around the double basketball court for a while and then Beth sets up different stations for us to use.  There are 12ish stations:  jump roping, 3 different abs, weights for tricepts and bicepts, rowing, squats, push ups, planks, etc.  We do one station for a minute followed by either two minutes of laps or a mad dash across the court and back then we come back and do the next station.
So the best thing about the class, beside the weight loss and the company of other moms, is that I feel better physically and emotionally than I have in a LONG time.  All of those happy exercise endorphins are really doing a job on me, so much so that I am thinking that maybe exercise for the sake of exercise is really not such a bad thing.  Plus I get to eat what I want and that is always a good thing!

catch up

I have been blogging in my mind lately but have but have not had time to actually post anything.  So here are a few entries that have been bouncing around in my head.

Nathan's Baptism

Today my nephew Nathan was baptised.  For my non LDS readers, in our church we wait until kids are eight years old (the age of accountability) so that they can make their own decision on whether they want to be baptised.  Anyway, John and I and the boys joined my parents and Tyler and Becca and Theo and our cousin Amber at Lisa and Tracy's home in Virginia for the weekend.  Despite the massive amounts of snow in the past week we were all able to make it here with no problems and we have been having a great time!

The baptism itself was amazing.  The spirit was so strong throughout that half of us were in tears. Nathan is a very special boy.  He has the kindest heart and you could tell by everyone's comments that he is so loved and appreciated.  Lisa and Mom gave the talks.  Tyler did the baptism.  Keri, who was unable to make the flight from Utah wrote an arrangement of the primary song "When I Am Baptised" which Lisa, Amber, Mom, Tyler and I sang.  Tracy also bore his testimony- something I have never heard him do before.  It was incredibly touching and so meaningful to his kids and Lisa.  For the closing song Lisa sang a song from "Women at the Well." There was not a dry eye in the house.

I am so proud of Nathan for making this decision.  I am also extraordinarily grateful to him.  My boys idolize Nathan.  He is always so sweet to them and takes the time to play with all three of them.  I greatly appreciate the example he is setting for them.  His baptism made an impact on them today.

It's Snow Fun

Last week we had more snow dumped on the Philadelphia area (and the east coast in general) in a single season than ever before.  The storm on Saturday dumped around 28-29 inches in our neck of the woods.  We had a second storm hit on Wednesday.  This blizzard dumped about 24 more inches.  It was all fun and games until a giant tree branch crashed onto some nearby power lines and we lost power for six hours.  The house was getting pretty cold by the time power was finally restored.  We bundled up the boys and tucked them into our bed to watch a movie on my laptop which was luckily fully charged.  Matthew was not a big fan of being tucked in!

So my conclusion from this week:  being snowed in can be lots of fun- especially if John gets to take some time off of work and we get time to play in the snow with the boys, however, it is NOT fun if the power goes out for any amount of time and shoveling an estimated 4 feet of snow is exhausting!  Maybe we should move to Texas- oh, wait, dallas got snow this week too.  Ugh!

6 Months Old!

Matthew hit six months old last Sunday.  He weighed in at a whopping 18 lbs 6 oz and 26 3/4 in long.  How can he only be in the 66th percentile for weight?!

Matthew is now rolling from his back to his tummy, saying "DADADADA" and other fun babbling sounds and he has started to notice who is holding him.  He is not so sure that he wants to be passed around so much anymore.  However, he loves to smile and laugh and play with anyone who will give him attention.  He is also trying to sit up on his own.  It may take a while, that is a lot of bulk to move!

We are still working on the whole sleep thing...

don't let the door hit you on the way out

I just finished watching the new PBS version of Emma. I have to say that although it is by far my favorite adaptation of the book (Clueless doesn't count, right?), I was a little disappointed in the ending.  It was not the ending of the story itself that irked, I am a die hard Austen fan after all, but the way it was portrayed in the mini series.  PBS put together a beautiful four hour mini series which took the time to explore the characters and major plot of the book but also included lesser known snippets that added a charm to the production.  However, of that four hours less than ten minutes was dedicated to resolution and the inevitable Austenian conclusion-almost as if the producers were apologetic for exposing us to something as trite as a happy ending.  The last ten minutes, instead of maintaining the cohesive flow of the story like the rest of the script, were a series of snapshots of the resolution.  It felt more like a photography session at Sears than the end of a movie. 
I enjoyed the mini series, I just wish that after having invested the time and interest in the characters and concern for their well-being, that the PBS crew had allowed us time to enjoy the resolution instead of hastily pushing us out the door.  If you are looking for a good adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma, by all means watch this.  But if you want a real ending, read the book.