Story of my life.

If you are my Facebook friend, you've likely read a shortened version of this story via my status, but it stands to a full telling, I think.

On Friday, Isaac surprised me with the bookshelf I'd been pining after.  Oh, I was so excited!  We carried its hefty boxes in from the car (and don't tell anyone, but my arms are still a little sore), and even though we had more pressing things to do, we opened them up right away.  After carefully sorting the pieces, Isaac began to build her, right in front of my eyes!  I sat on the floor eating peanut butter filled pretzels (SO DELICIOUS, I AM OBSESSED), chattering, and passing tools or parts when requested by the builder.  

It was nearly finished when Isaac unsteadily maneuvered a heavy part, attempting to lay it in a very precise position.  Feeling guilty for my pretzel-eating laziness, I leapt from the floor with the words, "Can I help you?" and just as I took a step forward, my foot tangled with a hammer.  Down I went, crashing into the bookshelf.  

I managed to forcibly rip three shelves from their rightful places and mangle my elbow in the process.

Horror struck, all I could do was stare at the splintered pieces and hyperventilate.  Isaac, in shock, simply answered my earlier question with a quiet, "Nooo."

AHHHHHHHHH!  So frustrating!!  And you should know, tromping around my house like a mountain troll is kind of my specialty.  I break things like its my job.  Remember this?

Olivia, a witness to my spectacle, saw my stricken face and started chanting, "Don't feel bad, Mom.  Don't feel bad.  It's ok, Mom.  We'll just buy another one!  It's ok!" She was so worried for me, it was pretty cute and sad at the same time. 

I pulled myself up, noting my aching arm, and began apologizing profusely.  That poor guy.  He didn't say a word for a good (actually, bad) five minutes.  He just picked up the pieces, nodded to me, then set his mind to trying to figure out a way to salvage the shelves.  The real victims were these little wooden sticks which connect each shelf to the other; a couple were intact, the others were splintered and stuck in their holes.  Amidst my alternating apologies and desperate fix-it schemes ("What could we use in place of those wooden thingies?  Could we whittle some wood chips from the park??" I really said that.), Isaac managed to drill the stubborn little wood guys out and I think he used magic at one point?  But somehow he figured a way to cover up the parts that were destroyed and keep the thing standing in one piece, despite having too few of those connecter pieces.  

AND he was never even mean to me about it, which I think means he deserves a golden statue of some sort.

Here is the book shelf- I haven't filled it yet, obviously, but you can see her in all her non-destroyed glory:

I took out the three shelves on the far left.

We had the most glorious day this week with my car reporting 60 degrees!  

 I mean, yes, it was the proverbial warm-before-the-storm (Is that an everywhere thing or just a Utah thing?  You know, where it's super warm the day before a big snowfall?), and it hasn't stopped snowing today, but it was kind of a best of both worlds thing.  Super warm, jacket temperature one day, winter wonderland the next.

Olivia zipped around outside for the first time on her birthday scooter.

 

And when she got tired of zipping, she ran and ran until her cheeks were pink and she was gasping for breath.  It did my heart a lot of good to see that rosy color since we so seldom have the opportunity to really exercise in the winter.  Can you find her racing little body in the picture above?

I will help you:

That park is a whole lot prettier today, all covered in fresh snow.  

More running.

Nest-building.

Olivia's Yogurtland from last week.  I love that place so much.

She paints such pretty pictures.

Well, this should be up with the other park pictures, but moving it seems like quite the hassle.  She loves to swing, which made my arms all the more sore.  This was an Instagram February photo a day with the instructions "sun". 

Another February photo a day with the caption, "makes you happy".  Ice cream and Olivia, my two favorites!

And this is a picture of Thomas trying on his brother's hat.

P.S. Here's a little video of the little man walking.  It's my favorite.  Sorry the quality is so poor, I can't figure out why since it looked great before uploading.  

The End.

A witty title which fits this post perfectly.

So, I was thinking.

It is the silliest thing.  So often I find myself appreciating some random character trait in someone, or I'm admiring their really great eyebrows, or I'm wishing I could be so composed in front of people as is the girl in church, or I read a blog post that really resonates with me, or the girl in front of me with the screaming toddler is sticking to her guns even though it'd be easier and less embarrassing to give in, and I  a l m o s t say something.  I formulate a compliment inside my head, but then I swallow it for fear of seeming weird or insincere.

What a selfish thing for me to do!  Good, sincere compliments are the stuff of star dust and fairy glitter, and I'm sure I could live off of one for at least two weeks.  5 year old compliments still ring through my brain every so often and give me a little boost on a difficult day- and I'm sure their givers have totally forgotten their kind words.

What a better place this world would be if we were all verbalizing the good we see in others.
(Even if it's only about someone's fantastic hair, which is probably the number one thing I notice on people walking around.)

I'm going to try it.  At the grocery store, at church, with my friends, and total strangers.

And now I'm going to tell you a totally unrelated story:

A couple days ago, Olivia woke up and told Isaac (I was at school) about this amazing dream she'd had where she built a basketball hoop out of Legos.  She was so enthusiastic about her dream that when I came home two hours later, she told me all about it, too.  So finally she pulled the Legos out and recreated her dream.  It barely took her five minutes; she knew exactly what she was doing.

I mean, yes, you may not have known what it was without me telling you first, but here is her dream come true.  And why does she even know what a basketball hoop is?

Mustachioed Olivia. Don't mind her tired eyes, we had some DRAMA the night before.  Bed-wetting, nightmares, screaming, all of it.

A carousel at the mall.  I am not given to spending $1.50 on 2 minute rides, but she had such hope beaming when she asked and I just so happened to have the exact change, so I let her.  She thought I was the coolest mom ever for about 20 minutes until she asked for a milkshake and I told her no.  

I am doing a February Photo A Day thing on Instagram; it has directions for a picture to share for each day of the month.  I'll share some of those here every so often.  The directions for the photo above were "your view today", so I took one of the snowy mountains and my school as I walked in for a Micro lab.  It's terribly blurry because I didn't want to stop walking long enough to take a picture.

This day was titled "hands", so here are Olivia's hands holding the tiniest speck of Play-Doh.  Apparently, it was a baby orange. 

Today's was "10 AM", but I missed the deadline, so here's an 11 AM photo as we walked out the door for church.  The dead winter foliage really adds to the picture, I think.

And you're going to be really proud of me because I FINALLY figured out a way to keep my eyes tear-free while onion chopping!

Voila!  My physiology goggles still have some use PLUS the extra bonus of GORGEOUSNESS!  I mean,  really.

Ok, I was going through my pictures from our family party tonight, and I came across this gem:

I was trying to get Thomas to walk to me; you can see from his disinterested stare that this was not going to happen, BUT!  The real gold of this picture is in the background.  My family's faces are priceless.  Especially Emily and my dad who are on the edge of their seats like they can't believe what's happening and Cameron's cynical smirk from the corner like he doesn't really believe that Thomas can do it.  

And then Thomas, who could not care less.  

Babies (who will soon be toddlers)!  Am I right?

Hopefully you like long, rambling posts wherein I complain, mostly.

- I have a love/hate relationship with school.  I truly enjoy learning, especially when it's something I find interesting (physiology! microbiology! anatomy! english, kind of!), but even when it's not (math.), I still value the learning experience.  It's so great!  It makes me feel like I'm making myself a better person.  When it's a really challenging class, like any in my last 3 semesters, the rush of conquering is heady.  It gives me the sense that, if I really work hard and do my very best, I can do anything.

But.

I am so sick (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) of forfeiting the whole of my evenings to school's greedy hands.  I feel like my entire life is spent keeping Olivia alive and happy, then once she's in bed, I'm poring over textbooks and notes, writing papers, making flashcards, and drilling concepts into my head.  To put myself to sleep at night, I mentally recite all the things I'm learning.  I'm not sure if it's the sleep deprivation from late nights spent studying or just the nature of the material, but this has been the most effective sleep-finding tactic I've ever employed.

- It's not just my evenings, really.  Each of Olivia's baths, during her shows, and while she plays with Play-Doh, I will likely be found clutching some sort of school paraphernalia (that word is hard to spell!).  As a result, Olivia is constantly asking about what I'm reading.  We've had lots of interesting discussions about cells, bacteria, various organs, skeletal structure, and basically any picture she can see on the page I'm currently studying. Today she put her hands on her stomach and said, "My stomach doesn't have bones like my chest does!  What's inside there?"  So we talked about her stomach and intestines (the word 'intestines' makes everything sound gross).  She saw my Micro textbook with its cover picture of green bacteria and asked, "Ohhh, are those green cells?"  And don't make fun of me, but it's kind of fun to have someone to talk to about all the stuff I'm learning.  Even if she's only four.

- I'm excited for the Hunger Games movie to come out.  I wonder if there'll be a midnight showing?  Want to come with me if there is?

- I have plenty of clothing options to choose from in my closet, but somehow all I want to wear lately falls under the categories of: Big, Baggy, and preferably Flannel.  I probably ought to earnestly start running again.

-  I'm experiencing a drought of healthy, tasty recipes lately.  I need some new meals to make our lives more exciting!  But also ones that keep me from committing to elastic waistbands for the rest of my life (I am this close, as it is, if only for their stretchy comfortability!).  Have you made something spectacular lately?  You ought to tell me about it!  I will report back to you and everything.  You could email me, if you wanted, at jenivive86 at hotmail dot com.  I created that email address when I was 16, by the way.  One day I'll make a grown up one, probably.

- Oh, fine.  I will stop talking your ears off (writing your eyes off?) and show you some pictures.

Catching snow!

Catching snow again but in a different way!

Here I am holding a textbook to show you that I was studying while Olivia was creating what she told me were tickets (?) out of Play-Doh.

Olivia told me she wanted to write a journal about her experience in the orange groves at her Nana's house.  She came up with the words on her own (and drew accompanying pictures, but they didn't fit in this collage), then I told her how to spell them.  Four year old handwriting is my favorite.

Keeper of the Sprinkles.

Olivia started crying in bed a few nights ago.  Just hysterically screaming, so I finally went back to find out what the commotion was about.  I immediately wished I hadn't.

"I was looking at this book, (holding up If You Give a Mouse a Cookie) and I saw these cookies.  And then I realized, I dooon't have annny coooookiessssssss!!"

And then she dissolved into a fit of tears.

What am I to say in such an instance?  What could possibly comfort this child, short of bringing her a cookie, which I was absolutely not going to do?

So I improvised.

"Hey!  I have an idea.  Maybe tomorrow we can go to the store and get stuff to make sugar cookies.  Then we can decorate them!  Won't that be fun?"

Sniffles.  A stifled sob.  "Um.  Y-y-yes.  But.  But.  I stilllll want a cooookieeee!!!"

And then I got desperate.  I will just tell you, somehow she wound up clutching two containers of sprinkles and being deemed the Keeper of the Sprinkles (I wish I were kidding right now).  She had to promise to keep those sprinkles safe and IF she could do that, we would be making cookies in the morning.

Seriously, I gave a child two easily-opened containers of sprinkles overnight on sheer trust that she wouldn't open them, consume them, and make a gigantic rainbow mess all over her bed.

But it worked (and the longer I parent, the more I realize the value of simply doing what works).

She slept.  She kept her sprinkles safe and brought them proudly to me the next morning.

So we made sugar cookies.

She told me they tasted like heaven and joy.

 We FINALLY got some snow last night, so Olivia spent a couple hours rolling around in it.  What is this winter doing??  No snow until the end of January?  I'm worried this means we'll have winter until July.

Emily and the crazies.

Thomas.

O and my dad.

The end.

A week in review.

Well.  We've had quite the week.

Sunday: Olivia's birthday.  Hooray, she's four!

We had a big family party for which I can take no credit since it was already planned before anyone knew it was Olivia's birthday.  But, HEY!  I brought an Oreo cheesecake (at my four year old's request), we stuck some candles in it, and suddenly she thought she was at a birthday party all for herself.  I have since learned that I cooked the cheesecake 25 degrees hotter than I should have.  So.  You know.  The edges weren't really supposed to be quite so brown.  She wasn't the prettiest girl at the party, but at least she tasted delicious.

Olivia opened some presents, including this lovely flower crown creation from Alisha.  She's pretty obsessed with it. (Olivia, not Alisha.)

I will tell you, sometimes I feel like I must be the lamest mom on the planet.  I am not the super party planning type.  Nor am I the creative ideas and making awesome food type.  These are just not my talents!  Olivia did lots of fun things for her birthday, like seeing Puss in Boots with Rusty, going out to eat with us to celebrate, plus she opened a bunch of fun presents, and blew out candles, and ate cake.  I thought it was plenty, and she was happy.  Which I think is the crux of it all.  She was happy.

And some year, when she is old enough to want one, I will throw her a party, for crying out loud.  

And I will steal all the clever ideas from Pinterest for it!

Monday: Olivia had her 4 year well child check up.

When I called to make her appointment, my first question was, "How much longer do I keep scheduling these things?"  Because she's been going to them faithfully since she was brand new.  "Her last yearly exam will be when she's five," was my answer.  But it actually makes me happy because I love getting her stats.  It's just fun in a weird, nosy mother sort of way.

Height: 37 inches- 12th %

Weight: 31 lbs- 24th %

24th percentile is a big deal for the little girl who has spent her entire life in the single digits!  But I wasn't that surprised since she grew almost three inches and gained five pounds over the year.  She has really grown in the last few months.

Her doctor told me she was old enough to receive the booster immunizations that she'd have to have before entering kindergarten and asked if I was interested in giving them to her now or waiting until her 5 year appointment.  I decided to get them over with, so she had three shots before we left.  She was so brave!  She definitely cried, but she let them do it and I am so glad to have them done.  Even though we have to go back in a month to get one more booster.  :/

She did get some frozen yogurt out of the deal.

Here she is in all her four year old glory.

She thinks being four makes her terribly grown up.  She was trying (unsuccessfully) to blow bubbles in her gum the other day and asked me to teach her.  I told her it was really tricky and that she'd probably have to learn when she's older.  She replied, "Come on, Mom.  I'm a four year old!  I can handle it!"  Not to mention the time she told me, "MOM!  I'm not a baby!  I'm four now; that means I'm a grown up!"  Ariel syndrome, anyone?

Tuesday: My first day of the new semester!  Microbiology with a lab and Scientific and Technological English!  Plus a random online class for extra credits!  I made spaghetti which is Olivia's favorite meal of all time (she eats it in t-shirts so as not to ruin her clothes).

Which is relevant because verrry early the next morning, I heard a shout from her bedroom that sounded like, "I BLEW UP!" which turned out to be, "I THREW UP!" but I think both are particularly apt in this scenario.  And did I meet that spaghetti for a second time.

Wednesday: was spent laying low and watching poor Olivia throw up five times in a three hour period.

We played Legos and watched an entire season of Backyardigans (thanks, Netflix!) in two days.

She is a pretty happy patient, thankfully.

We stayed home all of Thursday (excepting the part where I went to school), even though Olivia seemed to be totally back to normal.  I started to feel a little under that evening.

Friday: Oh, Friday.  It was finally my turn to vomit uncontrollably, so that was fun.  Isaac had to work the entire day- literally, from early morning until midnight, so I lied on the floor of whatever room Olivia chose to occupy and whimpered, mostly. I also slept a lot while Olivia watched shows and found different things to play with by herself (I refuse to feel guilty).  I would open my eyes at random intervals and discover her in all sorts of places, talking to herself and keeping herself thoroughly engaged.  It was quite the blessing.

Here's a picture she snapped of me while I slept:

She took, like, 47 different shots and maybe 25 short, unintentional videos of herself during this time, which were possibly my favorite thing that I've stumbled across in my entire life.

From my floor vantage point.  Olivia also spent the entire day en déshabillé because I was too weak to bathe or clothe her.

Saturday: I felt just a little weak Saturday morning- it was definitely one of those 24 hour bugs.  I was even able to keep my dinner date with Cara that evening.

And here's our fantastic accidental candid of the night.

And I think my face sums up my week quite nicely.

Equal parts hilarious and terrifying.

Perhaps my favorite part of raising a child lies in the built-in front row seat to human development.  It's really super cool.

I mean, a minute squish of uncoordinated, oblivious newborn humanity (albeit a very darling, heaven-sent minute squish of uncoordinated, oblivious humanity) can typically become a walking, talking, bossing, joking, brilliant human being in a ridiculously brief matter of months.

And really, all of this is to say:  I was going through my phone the other day.

I downloaded a coloring book app which MAYBE I chose because I wanted something to keep Olivia occupied on mornings when she wakes up too early for my liking.  She comes and hangs out in bed with us for a little while, asks for my phone to do her coloring, and I close my eyes for a few stolen moments of peaceful oblivion.  Some days she really loves it and I get an extra half hour, forty five minutes if I'm really lucky, and that works for us.

I got curious and began to scroll through some of her creations recently.

It was fun to see a lot of appropriate colors populating the appropriate places (re: opening paragraphs).

But even more fun to see the inappropriate colors.  What could be better than a regal pink quail?

A black bone.

Purple fire and pink stars.

Green smoke.

What should have been yellow sand is made into an island of green grass.

More pink stars.

A lily pad with a flower which bears an unfortunate resemblance to chest hair.

And don't we all wish camels were pink?

His eyes are my favorite.

And there I was, scrolling through pictures, when I came across this guy:

Oh, hello, Black Unicorn of Doom.

And then I got a look at the next picture:

 There are no words.