You know it's been six weeks when ...

... Nana is back in town! During the cooler months in Arizona, my mom consistently comes down about every six weeks unless we go up to Utah, then she adjusts her travel schedule. It's great to have her come visit our crazy life! Here's a quick recap of what we did with Nana:

- Took her to the Desert Botanical Gardens and visited the Butterfly exhibit they have there right now. I thought it was so cool to be with so many butterflies. One landed on my hand and another landed on the flower in Rachel's hair.
- Arizona Museum of Youth (sorry to be harsh, but it's so lame compared to the Phoenix Children's Museum, which is unbelievable) - I don't think we'll go back anytime soon
- Painted Rachel's toenails silver to "match" Nana's gold toenails after her pedicure
- We took Nana to Rachel's last day of swimming lessons at Aqua Tots. We did only one month's worth (got a groupon deal) and it was her first experience with lessons without me right there. She did pretty good, put on a brave face, and even had fun. Although she was glad when it was over. Coach Jamie said that she did great and even floated on her back all by herself briefly. We'll do more swimming lessons through the city this summer.
- Took Nana to our favorite Thursday activity - at the mall, you can get 1 free ride on the carousel, then we like to eat at Chick Fil-A (our favorite fast food place)
- Nana pulled lots and lots of weeds, and I didn't even ask her to do it, I think they just call her name too loud that she can't even stand it. Nana also mowed and trimmed shrubs and blew away old leaves. She's an energizer bunny when it comes to yard/house work.
- Did Nana's version of "Monday Work" to my house and got it all clean in one morning (wow!)
- Nana read a ton of books to Rachel - I loved this, because I am always wishing I read more to her
- Andrew smiled lots at Nana and then he turns and buries his head, like he's shy or something. Nana pushed Andrew in the swing and he was totally terrified - he makes the most hilarious faces and grabs the ropes.
- We went to Red Lobster for dinner one night and the highlight for Rachel was when the hostess pulled a lobster out of their tank for her to see. She had no fear, was shaking his claw and petting him everywhere. I had a chicken dish - we went for Nana & Brandon who both were in the mood for lobster. I always try a bite, I'm just not a big fan.
- Went to garage sales on Saturday and found some great stuff! My favorite was a double jogging stroller with rotating front wheel for only $20. That made me so happy (not that I want to jog with both kids, but that I can get my run done in the morning now that it's starting to get warmer)! Only 12 weeks until the Ragnar Race!

- Brandon worked a lot this week, but that's not much different from how things have been going since the beginning of January. He seems to be managing the busyness well, and I feel like I've been pretty supportive and not flown off the handle too many times. :) On average, he tries to get home around 6pm so that he can see the kids and help put them to bed. Thank you for that! Many nights he goes to bed early, but it all depends on when he's waking up the next day. Sometimes he doesn't leave until 6am, but a lot of days he's up in the 4am hour and gone by 5am or earlier!

The fruits of my mom's labor in my yard - this is from the gardenia bush out back

We Are Fam-i-ly!

Being part of a family means that when one person gets sick, we all get sick!!  This weekend we took turns taking care of each other's nasty colds.  Yuck!

Thursday night I knew Rachel had croup, but I was trying to hold off so that I could go to the pediatrician's office instead of the ER.  I was so indecisive about it and weighing all the pros and cons, which proves to be less effective at 2am with very little sleep.  There were lots of factors, but anyhow I opted to wait it out, so we watched movies, spent time with the steamy shower and the humidifier.  (Brandon had to go into work super early just in case you were wondering where he was during all this.)  She finally fell back asleep on the couch at 6am and slept for about an hour while I got Andrew fed and ready just in case we needed to get somewhere fast.  When Rachel woke up, she had the scariest croup-coughing-panic attack, and was seriously struggling to breathe - I was so scared and nearly dialed 911.  I hated the feeling that I may have waited to long - all to avoid the ER.  I grabbed her and Andrew and made my way to the car.  I held her close to me and tried to remain calm - thankfully she calmed down and her coughing wasn't as violent.  I got her in her carseat and she fell back asleep.  So here it was - only an hour or so before my doctor's office opened and I was headed to the emergency room for something that could have been treated so quickly and easily at my doctor's office - I just needed the steroid for her - we've obviously been down this path before.  I was nervous for when she would wake up again, so I had a few plans of where I would take her - I only made it to Banner Gateway and I really felt like I had to get her in fast.  We had to be there for over 4 hours for the whole ordeal, which is exactly what I was hoping to avoid.  I had both kids in tow and looked like a disaster mess.  A nurse asked me if I had help coming - because it probably looked like I needed quite a bit of help, but I didn't - Brandon had a big deadline at work and so I just dealt with it.  I had to remind myself that I can do hard things.  Andrew was being so good and patient with the whole process and Rachel was so brave.

I took these pictures a couple weeks ago and thought they were appropriate for this post - Rachel was playing with her doctor kit.  She loves going to the doctor and she actually loves going to the hospital too.

This week wasn't all bad.  To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, I took the kids up to Fountain Hills and saw the big fountain that they turn green.  It was as close as I could get to the Chicago River being dyed green!  It was such a beautiful night and it was at a darling park with lots of green grass, so I'd like to go back again next year and make it a tradition.  I also went with the Young Women to do Baptisms at the Temple on Tuesday and on Monday, Brandon came home early (like 1:30pm) and spent the day with us - so fun!!  We went to the Chandler Mall to shop and then stopped at a park afterwards to let Rachel get out some energy.

p.s.  I used BLURB and got my first blog book printed.  I have it printed up through the end of 2009 and I was SO pleased with the final product.  Although I still think Blurb's program is a little finicky and obnoxious, (like I spent countless hours reformatting the whole thing) but it was worth it!

Fountain Hills, AZ - I forgot to bring a camera, so I got this one online

Bubba

My little 5 month old keeps changing so much.  This weekend, he cut his bottom two teeth - right on schedule since Rachel also got her first teeth at that age.  Goodbye nursing (just kidding)!  Although, I can't keep up with him anyway.  I don't produce as much milk as he needs so we've been supplementing with formula since he was about 4 months (have you seen the guy? he's solid!).  When he hit 4 months, my milk supply went way down, which was weird since I had only nursed him up to that point.  First thing in the morning is the only time I can give him a full feeding - every other feeding, I have to give him a bottle since I don't have enough milk.  

Lots of people comment on his cheeks - they're definitely pinchable.  And either his hair has gotten a lot lighter or his head is getting a lot bigger and the individual hairs are spreading out.  :)  I've also been hearing from a lot of people that he looks a lot like Rachel.  Just for kicks, I put together a few pictures of her when she was about 5 months old to compare.  I can see some similarities for sure, but their little personalities are very different so it's hard for me to say.  Oh yeah, and their weight is way different - Drew, at 5 months is the size Rachel was at 9 months.  

Drew is enthralled with his big sister.  I love the way he watches her.  She's the next best thing since sliced bread.  I can't even begin to think all the wonderful and not-so-wonderful things she's going to teach him.  She is always in his face and if she gets too close he's finally learned to pull her hair.  I can't help but laugh when Rachel is stuck in his death grips.  

He really is loving his jumper - don't let the expression fool you ... he was ready for bed at this point, all jumped out

One of those weeks

This last week was one of those weeks where it seemed like I spent - what seemed like - all of my time trying to get on top of all the laundry and housework.  Everywhere I turned there was a new mess or area that needed organizing.  Yikes!  And then the weekend came and we made another mess that I hope I can tackle tomorrow and Tuesday rather than drag it out all week like I did last week.

It made me think of the way my mom cleans house.  It makes so much sense now - it didn't make any sense when I was growing up, of course.  We always had "Monday Work" and were expected to do a deep clean of the house every Monday after school.  That makes so much sense now because we always make the house such a disaster over the weekend!  However, I am not as diligent as my mom and realistically, I can't get all my cleaning done in one day with small kids.  It's just not possible.  So I don't have a set day - I tend to do different jobs on different days, but I do find myself doing most of my bigger cleaning projects on Monday - just out of habit, I guess.

"Go, Cubs, Go!"

Today, Brandon took Rachel on a date to a Cubs Spring Training game - 80 degrees today, baby!  I am in denial that baseball season is already here.  Didn't football just end?!  I am also boycotting baseball for a little while - ever since I found out how much the players make per year, I am truly sickened.  Brandon just teases me now and says in his economist way that their pay is set by the market and that it is what they are worth.

They enjoyed lunch at the game and seats on the lawn in the outfield.  Rachel had a very hard time sitting still, but had a great time with the music and food.  And from what I understand, there was a lot of sun bathing by the crowd and Rachel was enthralled by everyone's tattoos and bathing suits (cue embarrassing comments from Rachel).  And I think Rachel's favorite part was on the way home when they stopped to get ice cream at McDonalds.  As hard as it is to believe, baseball is here and I'm excited ... for Brandon.  :)  Go, cubbies, go!