Our epic (?) camping adventure

Over a month ago, we planned a camping trip Memorial Day weekend with the McAllisters (Karisa is one of my BYU roommates, aka Superbabe). Unfortunately, John wasn't able to take off as planned to save a camp site, so we left early from Harrisonburg and booked the two hours to Fairfax to try to get a place at Lake Burke (first come first serve). We arrived just after the last camp site was taken. So sad! Still determined, we drove to Lake Fairfax, another half hour away to get a site there. There were available sites, but they were really crummy and besides being $30 a pop were on an incline with tree stumps and the sites were too close together. After finally getting his money back from the teenage employees who adamantly refused to refund his purchase of the campsite from five minutes earlier, Michael drove us to the McAllisters, where we just figured we'd spend the night and enjoy s'mores over the stove. Ever creative, however, Karisa contacted other Superbabe Chelsey's parents who live nearby and arranged for us to camp in their beautiful backyard. They were so gracious.

I failed to get any night pics, but we made it through relatively unscathed. Michael and Robbie slept in the truck tent that he got to go over the bed of the truck. Henry slept in a travel pack n play in the tent with Clara and me, and he woke up several times but we survived. Everyone was up bright and early (surprise surprise) and we enjoyed some time hanging out.

 Eating breakfast--the best part of every camping trip, in my opinion.

 We brought dinner (hot dogs, watermelon, snapea crisps (as our veggie, ha) and s'mores, and John and Karisa made breakfast--killer pancakes, sausage, hashbrowns, and fruit. Note that they are using the back of Michael's truck as a work surface. Worked pretty well!

 Henry didn't love the playard, but it was super great to be able to keep him contained around the fire (pit) and safe while we were setting up the tent.

A major perk of camping in the backyard was being able to jump on the trampoline.


After packing up, we headed to the McAllisters and showered up. Robbie enjoyed a quick bath with Cole and Christian, and Michael and John went to the temple. I always love talking with Karisa and learning from her.

All in all, despite the changes in our plan, the lemons definitely became lemonade and we had a grand time.

Annual staff party

This was the fifth year that we've done a staff dinner for Michael's office. Each year we try to make it a little different, and instead of a luau like last year, Michael wanted to have a low-key game night. I enjoy looking up recipes and planning decor, and Michael helped me execute the food production (down to writing down what times what dishes needed to go in the oven, etc. Very helpful).

Candyland men were hanging out in the Reese's Pieces.

 Checkers + Reese's Cups + Rolos.

Party time!

 The spread. We didn't make the shrimp or dip the pretzels, but we made caprese skewers, sliders, pizza bites, fruit pizza, and chicken puffs. The chicken puffs were good, but I could have done without those as we had a lot of food. We enjoyed some various bottled root beers and Izze drinks and bottled water as well.

 These sliders were really great and you just make a huge pan of ground beef mixed with onion and bread crumbs, bake it, melt cheese on it, and then cut them into small squares on King's Hawaiian rolls. Thanks, Pinterest.

We played some Mexican Train with dominoes, and then two of the staff members brought out their "surprise" game, which consisted of dividing into pairs and having one read a saying from a slip of paper wearing CHEEK RETRACTORS from the clinic while the other person guessed.

 I haven't laughed so hard in a long long time.

 Michael's sentence had lots of s's and t's, which we discovered are easy to say with the retractors in, so I got it without much trouble.

 All in all, the night went well and was a lot of fun. His staff are great and their spouses, too. It's a great team, which is such a blessing.

Swimming lessons

This month has been incredibly rainy and pretty chilly. There were some sunny days, but we are looking forward to some warmer weather. The grass sure looks gorgeous, though!

We have spent quite a bit of time at the RMH Wellness Center this month having Robbie and Clara take swimming lessons. It just so happened that Robbie was in a class with three other little boys, so it was just right for him and he had a great time.

He definitely improved in his confidence. I am hoping to go to the pool more this summer and am glad that we could get this head start on the season.

I had also enrolled Clara in a group class, but it just so happened that the other two kids in her class were not as far advanced as she is, so they switched her over to private lessons. She did well and I was really impressed with her swimming. She still doesn't like to put her head down deep in the water, but that's okay.

Her instructor, Casey, was really nice. She really enjoys the water and I am almost tempted to join the Wellness Center so the kids can go more often, like during the winter. However, it's such a pain to get all geared up and change and unchange, etc--I think I'll keep swimming to just the summer time.

I am glad the kids have had these opportunities--I think my parents were kind enough to get me swimming lessons several times, and I am still not a super great diver or at swimming freestyle (the water always gets in my ears and drives me nuts). Maybe someday I'll take an adult swim class to perfect my stroke.

Mother's Day

I haven't blogged in awhile. Just haven't felt the mood although I always have a lot of thoughts swirling in my head.

Michael and Robbie treated me to some delicious oatmeal and toast in bed.

 Yum-o!

Handsome guy.

Check these out in comparison to one year ago.

 Different colored toes, this time hiding an enormous belly underneath the breakfast tray.

This guy is growing up. Glad he was my buddy in bed again this year!

Despite my inadequacies, I am thankful for the doctrine of motherhood and for the divine role that all women have to mother and help one another.

Brave

Besides Henry getting breathing treatments and new glasses last Friday, Clara also got the booster tDap shot in preparation for middle (!) school next year. Clara has a lot of anxiety about shots. In the fall, I made the kids get the flu shot because Henry had been born. Clara was super upset and kept trying to leave and was crying and screaming very loudly--she finally had to be held down by two large and intimidating nurses on the table while I looked in her eyes and told her it would be okay. She talked about it for days and days afterwards, how I forced her to do it and how terrible the nurses were, etc. I told her, that yes, I had forced her to, but sometimes moms have to do that for their children's safety, etc. Still, though, I felt bad that it had happened like that and wanted to help her feel more in control.

This time around, I was determined to be more prepared. I was reluctant to build up the experience because I felt like it would just make it worse in terms of her stress. However, since just throwing her in had been a disaster the last time, I wanted to try something different this time and see if it went better.

 I looked up ideas about how to help prepare kids for shots, and one helpful article from a psychologist included the idea to give them lots of exposure to kids handling shots well to habituate them to the experience. We watched several Youtube videos of kids being brave while getting shots. The psychologist also recommended watching the Sid the Science Kid episode about shots, which Clara watched three times.

Another recommendation was making a "coping card," which in our case was an index card. I wrote the steps of what would happen at the appointment and then Clara had me write down some positive words for herself to say to herself during the shot. The article also talked about "brave body," which is where the child sits by herself (not on the mom's lap), relaxes the shoulder, rolls sleeve up without a care, looks away, and gets the shot. I liked the author's point that it's not about not being scared; it's about coping with the fear that is what makes you brave. She kept the card with her, took it to school, etc. I don't think it helped a ton during the actual shot, but Clara realllly likes to "know the plan" in terms of what's coming next, so I think that helped in advance of the actual appointment. (The downside is what to do when things don't go according to plan...)

Clara and I role-played her getting the shot several times the night before. She was still very stressed about it but I could tell she felt more confident this time around than the flu shot experience. However, when we got there, Clara was thrown off because there were two other shots she needed to get (not required for middle school but needed nevertheless), and I had also told her we were going to do the HPV shot as well. She started getting really upset, so I walked out of the room and told the nurse we'd just do the required tdap shot and do the others another time.

Here she is, pre-shot, sleeve rolled up and ready to go. As soon as the nurse came in with the shot tray, Clara got even more nervous and tried to leave, crying and really starting to freak out. I held the door closed and told her, "You can do this. We've practiced it and it's going to be fine, etc." Nurse Samantha, who is very calm and unexcitable, just waited, and we finally got Clara over and she stood while getting the shot. The only thing that finally got her to stay still was looking on my phone while she got it, which I confess I was a little bummed by (I wanted her to do it all by herself), but it was a big improvement from the last time.

Post-shot. She made it!! There were some tears and complaints for the next week or so (hard to know if it's overreaction or the fact that she does feel things more due to her sensory processing stuff), but overall I felt like it was a success. And we get to go back to do the other boosters (yay), which will give her even more practice at coping with her fear. I think I am learning that more information and preparation is better than assuming that knowing more will actually psych her out more.

Robbie also had a big day this past week--his first visit to the dentist. I knew he would do great, and he did. He was quiet and didn't talk too much, especially at first, but he got up on the chair without a problem, wore his sunglasses like a pro, and let the hygienist polish and floss his teeth and even take x-rays. No cavities! She did tell me we need to floss his teeth more, though. I was so proud of him and he was proud of himself. I love that he is so open to new experiences and is confident in himself.

Going to the temple: a tribute to my mom

I love going to the temple. Unfortunately, I am often in a rush because of trying to make a session on time and having driven two hours to get there plus a nursing baby besides. This last time, however, we knew we were going to miss the session we had aimed for, so I didn't feel so rushed (the ironic blessing of being late). We also had family names, thanks to my mom's family history research, which was an added bonus. Michael's parents were there watching the kids, so I wasn't anxious about them and was happy to be in the temple with my eternal companion.

As I changed in the dressing room, I focused in on the moment and became present. I thought of my mom as I put on my lovely long slip and and white temple dress and imagined her doing the same thing when she was a young mother. The dress was hers first. She changed the trim to a white ribbon to make it more timeless when she gave it to me before we were married. When I zipped it up and placed white stockings and slippers on my feet, I felt beautiful. I removed my watch, per Elder Scott's advice (a hard thing for a clock-keeper like me to do). I stepped out of the locker feeling confident and at peace. I put my locker key inside a tissue in my pocket so it won't jingle when I walked, as my mom taught me when I first went through the temple with her as my escort.

 Outside the temple before our marriage

I feel at home in the temple. I love how we all wear white, how we are all equal in our Father's sight. I love how a temple workers always greets us, "Welcome to the temple," as Michael and I walk into the temple. I love knowing that I am where I should be. The temple provides perspective and peace. It reminds me that I have the gift of agency to decide how to live my life. No matter what surrounds me, I can always keep my covenants and follow my Father in Heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ. The temple is our Father's home, and so it is ours because we are His children. Of course, we must want to be there; if we want to be there, we will change our lives to meet the requirements to enter. He would never force us to be with Him. The temple is a place for those who are married, those who are single, those who are divorced, those who are widowed. The temple is a beautiful place, and as divine beings we recognize that this beauty is only a shadow of the splendor of our eternal home.

(I stole this pic from your blog, Dad--hope you don't mind!)

On this Mother's Day, I want to honor my mother's faithfulness to her temple covenants. She and my dad serve in the temple weekly, and my mom even served in the temple when she was teaching school full-time and was under a lot of stress. My dad has served as an assistant temple recorder for the past year and a half  (?) with my mom serving as well and they also helped in the temple in the Dominican Republic on their mission. I appreciate my mom and dad's dedication to family history and its important role in helping giving us perspective about what this life is all about. I am so grateful that my parents have made temple attendance a priority and that they were sealed in the temple. I am equally inspired by Michael's parents weekly temple attendance for many years.

I love this poem by Orson F. Whitney, quoted by President Kimball during at least one temple dedication, which is framed and sits on a side counter by the dressing rooms in the Washington D.C. temple:

Enter this door as if the floor within were gold;

And every wall of jewels all of wealth untold;

As if a choir in robes of fire were singing here;

Nor shout nor rush but hush … for God is here.

Because of the temple, I can be with my husband forever and our children sealed to us. Because of the faithfulness of my parents and parents-in-law, we have grown up with a love for the temple. Each time I put on my temple dress, I can remember my mother and give thanks for her.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom. I love you!

Glasses and other stuff

When I took Henry in for his nine-month check-up, I mentioned that Henry still occasionally crossed his eyes when we were changing his diaper on his changing table. Michael had even seen one eye go off by itself, and he had mentioned it to me. Dr. Renick, the pediatrician, suggested we go ahead and do this vision screen where they had Henry look at this machine with these blinking lights. I'm not sure what they were measuring, but the result showed he needed to be referred to a pediatric opthalmologist. The closest one is in Charlottesville, so two weeks ago we drove over the mountain and saw Dr. Carter, who checked him out and dilated his eyes. He held several different lenses up to his eyes and was surprised that Henry's prescription was +8.5 diopters and also impressed that we caught it so early. (The Lord definitely gets the credit for that!) He also has a little astigmatism. Dr. Carter recommended that he get glasses, which was both exciting and sad at the same time. Michael and I had a lot of questions which Dr. Carter answered when Michael called him the following week. I am also blessed that my good friend Chelsey's husband is a pediatric opthalmologist in North Carolina, and he took the time to talk to me one evening as well. The far-sightedness improves with age, and he may outgrow his prescription and not need glasses, or he may need to continue wearing them.

 

Here we are at the optician's getting Henry his glasses! I confess I was hoping that he would have this huge aha moment of surprise when he first put them on, but he mostly just wanted to take them off. This is now day four, and he has gotten better at wearing them although he still takes them off frequently. They also make his ears stick out a little--hoping that isn't permanent! The Miraflex frames are very flexible and come with a strap on the back that can be removed.

 Yesterday the boys were playing on the fireplace hearth--Henry loves climbing up here and scaring us that he'll fall.

Robbie has been a little jealous of the attention with the glasses--I want him to feel loved for himself without putting Henry down, even though his little brother gets lots of the "Awww"s from friends and strangers. It is so fun to see Henry and Robbie play together. Robbie will crawl around and Henry will crawl after him.

The same day that Henry got his glasses, he woke up wheezing and breathing quickly. This is the third time it's happened, and I took him into the pediatrician's office. In the past (and this time as well), his wheezing has stopped after a day and has started with getting a cold. His oxygen level was 95%, which isn't bad, but his lungs were really pulling and they had me give him a breathing treatment in the office and then "gave" (I have to purchase it) me a nebulizer and a prescription for Albuterol and an antibiotic for his ear because he also had an ear infection. (I filled the prescriptions but didn't need to give him the antibiotic, fortunately).

Trying to get him to keep the tube in his mouth for ten minutes to breath the medication was laughable and the breathing treatments weren't as effective as I think they could have been. Hopefully he will outgrow the "reactive airway" he was diagnosed with (a precursor to asthma) and won't start wheezing every time he gets a cold. Poor guy! He is so good-natured and I so appreciate his happy personality.