Locked Out!

The door locks on our house are weird because when the doors are locked you can still open them from the inside, but you can't from the outside.  We've always worried that we would lock ourselves out and today it happened.  Thank goodness me and Tim were both home so that one of us could stay with the kids while the other went for help.  Ha!

Tim and the kids went outside and I was in the kitchen boiling potatoes for dinner.  I went out to say something to Tim and when I turned to go back inside, the door was locked.  It wouldn't have been such a big deal, but the potatoes were boiling on the stove.  I always start them out on the highest setting and then lower it once a good boil starts, and I wasn't sure what setting I had it on before I came out and I couldn't tell by peeking through the window.

The van Tim drives to work doesn't get parked in the garage and it was locked but the window was cracked.  Tim was able to get the garage door opener to check if the garage door to the house was unlocked, but it was locked too.

We borrowed our neighbor's phone and called a locksmith.  They said it would take 30 to 40 minutes for them to get there.  We figured a locksmith would be a lot cheaper than breaking a window.

Then we noticed some orange poo on Olivia's pants.  Of course she would poop out right as we were locked out of the house.  There are three families from our ward that live in our subdivision and thank goodness, one of them has a baby too.  Both Tim and I were barefoot too of course.  Haha!  Anyway, I walked to that family's house and asked if we could have a couple diapers and some wipes.  They quickly shared and offered to let us come stay, but I thanked them and said that the kids were just playing in the backyard and we had shade.  Their baby is older than Olivia but in a smaller size diaper, but I figured it would be better than letting her sit in a poopy diaper, getting a rash.  So, I walked back (barefoot) to our house and cleaned her up as best as I could without a change of clothes.  She just had to keep wearing her poopy onesie, but it was on the outside of the diaper, so she was fine.

The best part was when Lindsey had to pee and we just had her drop her drawers and go on the grass.  It took her three tries before she finally peed.  I thought it was pretty funny since we don't live out in the country.  I wondered what the neighbors would think if they saw us holding her, folded in half, bare bummed, peeing on the lawn.  Haha!

Anyway, I went next door to return our neighbor's phone and she was so sweet and had put together a bag of water bottles and snacks for us!  She has been so kind and sweet to us!  She's given the kids treats and even gave them each a dollar once before, and she brought over baby blankets and a wipe warmer for Olivia.  I'm so grateful to have had such good people befriend us everywhere we have moved.

The locksmith came, and thankfully the burner was at a 7, which is still high, but it would have been much worse if it had been on the highest setting.  Of course the one night I actually plan ahead and put some effort into fixing dinner, this happens.  It was crockpot Italian chicken on mashed potatoes.  I needed to feed Olivia so Tim hurried and whipped up some fake mashed potatoes for us, and it still tasted good.

Things could have been a lot worse and we are grateful for how well everything went.  We learned our lesson (a $50 lesson) and hid some spare keys outside.  We had thought to do that several times before and never got around to it.  It's always got to be something, right?

Indiana!!!

We got to go to Indiana to visit my Grandma Cosgray and family over Memorial Day Weekend!  For Mother's Day all of us siblings and my Dad went in on a plane ticket for my Mom to come out at the same time.  It was so good to see everyone!  It was sad to see my Aunt Charlene suffering so much from the cancer.  I'm so glad to know that this life isn't the end, and families can be together forever.

My sweet babies were so good on the drive.  We loved having our new van with DVD player for the trip.  The only rough part was changing Olivia's blowouts every time we stopped.  Poor little thing.  We packed summer clothes and it ended up being a bit chilly there, so with that and Olivia's blowouts, we ended up buying Coop a jacket and Olivia some more clothes while we were there (a few of them have since been pooped on and some didn't even make it back to Alabama due to poop).  My kids were so good . . . I love them so much!

Tim took the kids swimming at the motel, but the water was cold.  It's a lot of work to take little ones swimming, and then get them all bathed and dressed again, so we only let them swim one time.

The kids loved getting some much needed attention from all the family!!!  Everyone was so good to play with the kids and hold Olivia.  When we left the motel the final morning to head back to Alabama, Lindsey said, "Can we go to Grandma Cosgray's house?"  They were already missing everyone.

Four generations! :)

Grace and Grandma Cosgray.

Lindsey and my Mom talking on their "phones".

Little Livi fell asleep on Grandma's lap.  So sweet!

We miss everyone already, but will probably be making this trip a lot more now that we only live 7 hours away.  Any trip you can make in one day seems like nothing to us now after going back and forth across the country over the last few years.  It will be a lot easier to travel once the kids are older too.

Sweet little angel was rolling all around and finally wore herself out.

Cute little grin!!!

Daddy and Coop playing the piano.

My two babiest babies.  I was doing something in the kitchen and came out to find them like this.  I love watching my kids interact with and love each other.

Some other type of bird has inhabited the old robin's nest.  These pics are for my Dad.  You can't tell because the picture is so small on the blog, but behind the feathers is a spot of bright blue.  It's got to either be leftover robin eggshell or one of the eggs that never hatched.

HELP!!!

Why does my baby have 4 or 5 blowouts EVERY . . . SINGLE . . . DAY!?!?!?!?!?!?  I am completely worn out of this!  I am ready to just quit nursing because it's probably something I am eating, and it is impossible to figure out what.  I just don't understand!  Has anyone else's baby had constant blowouts?  And it hasn't just been Olivia, I think all of my babies have struggled with this.

We've tried formula a few times and Olivia just throws up and formula is SO expensive.  Plus, Gracie peed the bed the other day and that has not happened since she was being potty trained.  Then she peed on the bathroom floor twice.  So I basically have 4 kids/babies poo and pee to clean up all day, every day, and I feel like I am running a daycare.  We almost ran out of wipes today too waiting on a diapers.com order to get here.  Thank goodness the order just got here, with probably 5 wipes total left in the house, and we have 3 or 4 wipe boxes spread throughout the house, and they were ALL empty!

Plus, I am so tired of snarfing down every meal as fast as I can before someone needs something, or having to wait until after I've nursed to eat.  And I am so tired of trying to figure out what to make for meals. I just feel like I am in constant chaos!!!  No wonder I've been having breakouts on my face (went to see a doctor about a sinus infection and he asked if I wanted acne medication) and I'm having headaches every day and I got dehydrated and had to have IV fluids last month.  I just can't do everything that needs to be done over and over and over . . .

And why won't Olivia take naps?  She sleeps great at night, but no naps is really draining me!!!

Love my kids, but had to whine somewhere and the blog is just where I tend to let it all out when I'm overwhelmed!  Tim is such a great help, but what do I do for the 10 1/2 hours he is gone every day?  I hate to admit it, but I am looking forward to the furlough just so he can be home more.  The furlough was going to be 22 days, then it was shortened to 14, and now it is only going to be 11, so that is a blessing financially for us!

I guess I'm done complaining for now!

Happenings of Late . . .

Olivia rolled over for the first time on her 5 month birthday!!!  I probably already said that in the blog, but here is an actual picture right after she rolled.  Now she is rolling front to back, and back to front, and she has really good control when she does.  It's so funny because we got all excited when she rolled over for the first time, but the kids still come running to tell us all excited, "Olivia rolled over!!!" even though she has done it for awhile now.  They sure love their baby sister!

The girls were all proud after they posed their monkey and sheep and they wanted me to take a picture.  Gracie had her sheep posed like the monkey at first, with a book in front of it, "reading".  So cute!  Then Lindsey copied her and was very proud that she could get her monkey to pose too.  Then Grace wanted her sheep to cross its legs.  Silly girls!!!  I chuckled at Lindsey's pose too!  She did that all by herself with no promptings from me.

Then of course Cooper ran to get his lion so that he could get a picture too!  They have sure loved those stuffed animals Sarah!!!

For Mother's Day for the Grandmas the kids drew pictures to send in the mail.  I was very impressed that Gracie traced her own hand and foot and added nails and wrinkles all by herself.  Little smart artist!

Lindsey has been getting better and better at writing letters and has been really working on writing her name. It's so amazing how fast they learn new things.  Good job smartie Linds!!!

For my Activity Day Girls we had a Mother Daughter pajama party and watched Disney's Brave.  I saw this cute idea online where they decorated the table to look like a bed and I copied it!  I was pretty proud of it.  I also had a cute M&M saying to go with a bowl full of assorted M&Ms that said, "The best M&Ms are Mom and Me!!!"  We had a really good turn out and we were able to put Spanish captions on for one of our Spanish Branch girl's Mom.

Summer has started in Alabama!  It's been hot enough to eat popsicles outside!  Cooper was a sweaty mess, poor guy - it's going to be a long summer for him.  We are loving having a shaded yard and covered back patio with ceiling fan!  This last week I've really started to notice the humidity whenever I have gone outside.

We hadn't experienced spring at our house yet, so it was fun to see the bushes around the house bloom.  The pink ones in the back are really pretty.

Tim stayed home from church on Mother's Day with Cooper and Olivia since they were sick.  It was fun to see the girls sing in Sacrament Meeting, and the Mom's sang with them.  It was "Mother, Tell Me the Story".  I almost cried!  I came home to these fun gifts and a YUMMY meal!!!  I wish I would have taken a picture of my plate before I ate it!  Steak, mashed potatoes, rolls, oreo pudding, and strawberry shortcake!  YUM!  Tim spoiled me!

All their cute little handprints were inside the card.  I love those precious little hands!

Cute pictures the girls colored/drew for me at Church.  So adorable!!  I love them!

Coop watching basketball with Daddy!

She's gotten so rolly that I surrounded her with a ring of pillows. She hasn't been napping very well and the timing has always been off with Cooper's naptime (they share a room).  I'm afraid to put her in her crib when he's asleep because she's been waking up screaming after only sleeping 5 minutes, and I didn't want her to wake him up too.

She's so long and chubby!!!  I love it!  At her last doctor appointment she weighed 19 lbs 14 oz and was 28 inches long.  Her head, height, and weight, were all over the 98th percentile.  That's how all my babies have been for the first year!!!  I love chubby babies!!!

Precious little hand.  I love it when she holds my finger like this.

Tim tried to get me a piano for Mother's Day that cost $200 on Craigslist, but when he called, it had already been sold.  I checked Craigslist the other day and saw one for $150!  The ad said that he was moving and needed the piano gone that day.  I called to see if he still had it and he did!  I told him I just needed to make some calls to figure out how to move it by that night, and he said he'd give it to me for $100!!!  His last name was Reeves too, so it was meant to be!  He also gave me the sheet music that was in the bench.  :)  There was one stuck key, but when I lifted the top to look in, somehow it became unstuck, and now it works just fine!

We were able to move it in one of our mini-vans.  We paid a couple of neighbor boys to help move it and they had a piano dolly too.  I have missed having a piano so much!!!  The kids love it too!  Gracie has already learned how to play "Mary Had a Little Lamb".  I'm going to try to teach some piano lessons if I can find any students, since I haven't been able to find a job.

And I have since told them to NEVER put their sippy cups on the piano.  Haha!!!

Cooper wearing his hat Mack Murdoch style!  Haha!  Mack was a great guy that lived down the street from us when I was a kid and he always just sat his hat on top of his head instead of wearing it like normal.

This boy is confused about shoes!!!  He is obsessed with wearing them in the house and always has them on inside (he loves wearing the girls' dress up shoes too! Ha! Tim hates it).  Then the minute we go outside, his shoes are off, and he's running around barefoot.  Silly boy!

He calls his sippy cup, a sicky puck, and I think it is so cute when he says it!

Little Roo has been my little helper.  Whenever I need diapers or wipes or a burp cloth, she runs and gets it for me.  She always gets really frustrated with her siblings when they aren't doing what they are supposed to and she lets me know right away when they are getting into things.  :)

Lindsey immediately ran and got our hymn book and children's songbook when we got the piano.  It was so cute!  She loves music!

The other day she was playing outside, and I heard her say, "You're irritating me!"  I'm not sure who she was talking to but it cracked me up.  She's also been taking a medicine that gets mixed in her drink and I told her she needed to drink it all for the medicine to work.  She was drinking and drinking and then she started eating.  Gracie said, "Lindsey!  You need to drink it all!"  Lindsey scowled at Gracie and said, "Well Gracie! Sometimes I need a break!"  I laughed so hard!  I love these little cuties!

I think they are all going to be great pianists!  They can't get enough of it, and they all play such cute little songs.  Gracie played so delicately and then asked me, "Mom, did you like my song?"  Precious.  It's hard for me to get a turn to play myself!  :)