Starting off the New Year

On January 1st, we kicked off the new year by loading everyone up in the car at 4:30am, and taking Jeff to the airport to leave on an 11-day trip across the world to India. He had the opportunity to travel over there for training on new advanced procedures, and it gave him the chance to do free cataract surgeries for people who couldn’t pay. I was happy for him to have the experience, even though it meant I was playing single mom for almost 2 weeks to four kids.

The trip to India was long! Jeff first took a quick flight to LA, then he had a 15-hour flight to Dubai. From there, he had to take another 4-hour flight to Chennai. He didn’t have coverage in India, so I wasn’t sure how he was going to be able to contact me. I checked his e-mail after I knew he should be there and of course, the first e-mail I see is from a Dr that he would be working with, asking him if he had arrived in Chennai because the driver had been unable to locate him in the airport. That concerned me just a little! I didn’t hear from Jeff for another day after that. I was so relieved when he was finally able to call. He found a little wooden box pay phone in a little shop and was able to call me that way. Because it was a 14 hour time difference, Jeff’s phone calls usually came between 1am-4am, so with Matthew also waking up every single night, I didn’t get much sleep the whole time, but I was sure happy to wake up for the calls and have the chance to talk to Jeff for a while.

Before the trip started, I decided to try and come up with some fun things to do with the kids to make the time together as fun as possible, and have things to look forward to while Jeff was gone.

Saturday, Jan 1st- After taking Jeff to the airport, we got home around 6am. I put most of the kids back to bed for a little while, and fortunately they slept! Saturday was a pretty normal day at home. I decided to make the day productive and even though it was New Year’s Day we ended up taking down the Christmas tree and all the decorations. We didn’t leave it up long this year, but I was just ready to have everything back in place. The kids were great helpers. That night during our scripture study, we read in 2 Nephi and ended up having a fun conversation about “Feasting on the Scriptures.” I think the kids will remember that one for a while. Saturday night we did a movie night and watched “Alvin and the Chipmunks.”

Emily "helping" with the clean-up

Sunday Jan 2^nd- This was our first Sunday alone. I don’t know what it is, but sometimes I think Sunday mornings are easier when you’re by yourself. We were early to 9am church. Sacrament meeting went well, the kids were good and pretty quiet for the most part. I think Emily is the most difficult one right now! She just wants to be down playing and moving around. Fortunately she slept for me during Relief Society. Matthew was a little rough in Primary- it was his first week in Sunbeams and he wanted to go back to nursery! He ended up doing much better once I left, and was so proud of the paper crown he got in class. After church, we drove by the temple then headed home for lunch. The kids helped with lunch and cleanup and we enjoyed the afternoon at home.

That night after Emily went to bed early, the boys and I turned off the lights and played a game of light/laser gun tag in the dark. Matthew thought it was pretty fun to get the ‘bad guys’ (Jacob and Caleb).

Sunday night I was thinking about how single parenthood is busy. You need to take care of all the household responsibilities while also meeting everyone’s individual needs. It really takes a lot of time. I had thoughts of projects I wanted to complete, and things I wanted to do, but by the time you finish everything you need to do- caring for children, cleaning, church responsibilities, school/preschool responsibilities, etc.- there’s not much time and all you want to do is go to bed. Even though it was busy and I felt tired; I also felt happiness, gratitude, and love for my kids.

Monday, Jan 3^rd -Monday was back to school for the first time since Christmas break, and also seemed to signal a return to real life. I was really feeling grateful for school transportation this week. It is so nice that Jacob has the option to take a bus so I don’t have to get all the kids up and loaded in the car at 8am to take him to school every day. And fortunately, Jacob enjoys taking the bus with his friends. I picked him up from school that afternoon so we could go pick up his free individual pizza from Pizza Hut as a reward for reading.

Monday night we went to some friends for dinner and FHE with their family. It was fun and the kids enjoyed playing with friends that night. Monday night I was feeling grateful for the Children’s Songbook cd’s and the ability they have to bring peace to the home and allow everyone to feel the spirit. We used them a lot during the week.

Tuesday, Jan 4^th -Tuesday was probably the roughest day, mainly because of a certain 3-year old. I decided to run errands while Caleb was at preschool. Matthew decided to remind me why I don’t love to shop with a 3-year old. He had a major meltdown at the store because he wanted a toy train. Then he had another meltdown at preschool when we went to pick up Caleb because he didn’t want to go potty, then he wanted to stay and play with toys. So I’m trying to drag him out, while carrying Emily in her car seat, all while Caleb is chatting nonstop and wanting my attention. That afternoon, Matthew was teasing Emily, and bugging Jacob and Caleb, who also seemed determined to bother each other, and was constantly asking me to, “hold me.” He kept asking for treats, refused to eat dinner, and had to be force fed. It’s busy enough feeding one baby. After dinner we played a game of “Don’t Eat Pete” which was fun, but a little crazy. We then did baths and attempted a scripture study amid kids bouncing off beds, laughing, and crying. After brushing teeth, I needed to put Emily to bed, so I told the boys to play nicely for 5 minutes while I put her down. When I got back, Matthew had smeared tooth paste all over the carpet. That was definitely the last straw. All the kids were in bed immediately, and I scrubbed the carpet. My mom sent me a text message asking how we were doing. I told her that she should ask me that question later. After cleaning up the toothpaste, I had the chance to think through everything- cleaning seems to help with that. I went to give Matthew a hug and kiss and tell him sorry for getting upset with him. He gave me a big hug and kiss and said, “Thanks for hugging me. Thanks for the kiss.” Talk about melting your heart. I’m grateful he is so sweet and so quick to forgive.

Wednesday, Jan 5^th -Wednesday is early release day for the schools, and I wanted to do something fun. So we picked up Jacob from school and headed to Chuck E. Cheese. $15 dollars, 120 tokens, and 3 hours- it was totally worth it! The kids had a blast and it was fun to let them run around playing games and having fun. We usually end up making it to Chuck E Cheese about once a year, so the kids think it’s amazing. Emily wanted to be down playing with the kids and doing whatever they were doing- she did not want to just sit in her stroller and watch. Matthew’s favorite game was one where you throw balls at a screen to hit various things and win points, Caleb’s favorite were driving games- cars, boats, snowmobiles, etc., Jacob loved lots of games, but especially ones that gave lots of tickets.

Part of fun is just feeding the tickets into the ticket-counting machine. Everyone helped, even Emily wanted to join in. The kids then picked out prizes and we headed home for a dinner of homemade taquitos. After dinner we read stories and the kids went to bed, they were definitely tired! It was definitely an improvement from the previous day, and my kids went to bed thinking they had the best mom ever. I love that.

Thursday, Jan 6^th -Thursday was a pretty basic day. I had to run some early errands, and stop at the bank. Then I worked on some projects at home while Caleb was at preschool. I had a sweet friend, Kimberly, call me up on Wednesday and ask if I wanted to join their carpool for preschool. I thought it would be great, and asked what the schedule would be. She told me that she would drive to school on Thursday, and another friend, Lori, would pick up. Basically, they’ll drive Caleb to and from preschool on Thursdays. We all live close, they don’t have other little kids and figured it would be nice for me to have one less trip with three little ones. I will be the back-up driver if needed. Laughing, I asked Kimberly if she had seen my incredibly dramatic exit from preschool on Tuesday, thinking that I must have evoked some sympathy from the viewers of Matthew’s meltdown. She hadn’t been there, they were just being incredibly thoughtful and I sure appreciated it. I’m grateful for good friends.

Thursday night, I pulled another “Greatest Mom Ever” moment, when I let the kids have TV dinners for dinner. Seriously… is that all it takes?! I did spend a little more and get healthier ones to make myself feel better. I really don’t like those things, but I figure that having them once a year or so isn’t too bad- especially when my kids give such great reactions. We made some yummy fruit smoothies for dessert too.

I love the 'milk' mustache look

Friday, Jan 7^th -Friday was another pretty basic day at home. I did a lot of organizing, cleaning, and laundry. That night we made personal pizzas for dinner. My mom used to do it with us kids when we were young, and it was always so fun. The boys loved making the dough, rolling it out, and putting toppings on their own pizzas. We did a movie night and watched, “Emperor’s New Groove”. I put Emily and Matthew to bed early, but let Jacob and Caleb stay up a little later than normal. For some reason, that didn’t work too well and between phone calls, and both Matthew and Emily waking up multiple times, I was up every single hour that night…cue coldsore.

Saturday, Jan 8^th -Saturday was your typical day. I was hoping the kids would sleep in a little, especially since I had been up every hour and I knew they would be tired too, but our morning started at 7:30am. The morning was spent doing chores, cleaning up, more laundry, etc. That afternoon we needed to get out for a while, so we ran to the store to pick up a couple things then I took the kids to McDonalds for an ice cream cone and to play on the indoor playground. I figured I’d be able to sit back and watch the kids play for a while- what I didn’t plan on was Emily trying her hardest to get over to the playground and play with the big kids. She was so funny! She’d crawl over as fast as she could and start going up the stairs, I’d pick her up, bring her back to the table. She would start to cry and then just try to get over there again. I wish there was a way she could have gone down the slide with Jacob or something, but it just wouldn’t work.

That night was a little crazy, I’m sure it’s mainly because I was tired. The boys were having wrestling matches and wanted to run around. I wonder sometimes, are my kids so busy and crazy because I have three boys in a row? Are all kids this crazy? It was a good night for early bedtime for everyone.

Sunday, Jan 9^th -Another day at church. We were early for the 9am sacrament meeting, and made it through pretty well again, even though I had to take Matthew out for a potty break. Jacob had a talk to give in Primary and did a great job with it. After church, we did lunch and somehow it worked out that everyone was able to either take a nap or watch a quiet church movie. I got a nap. Hallelujah, it was fabulous! That night we played some games together, had dinner, and I got everyone in bed early again.

Always wanting to be outside

Monday, Jan 10^th -It was crazy to think we were already at the beginning of another week. It was nice knowing this was our last full day alone before Jeff was home. I had some fun phone conversations with friends/family during the day. We had FHE that night and played charades and made orange julius for dessert.

I love this picture, because it was just a random candid shot. This is what the kitchen usually looks like in the morning. Kids interacting with each other, playing with Emily, looking at books. This is life.

Tuesday, Jan 11^th -I was definitely excited for this day! Caleb had preschool, I finished some cleaning projects, and home projects I had been working on. I got dinner in the crockpot, and ran some last minute errands. Jeff called me when I was at the store and told me he had managed to get an earlier flight and would be home at 5pm instead of 10pm. It was so fun to load all the kids up in the car and drive to the airport again to pick Jeff up. It was so fun for everyone to see him and give him a big hug. We were able to enjoy dinner as a family , and although Jeff was so tired he fell asleep on the couch after dinner, it was just nice to have him home again.

Matthew put together this set-up and wanted a picture. Funny because then he wouldn't even smile, but I love the shot of my two babies. :)

I was really grateful for the opportunity Jeff had to go, and honestly, it was fun to spend the time with my kids. I really love them, and we were able to spend some good times together. I know I had a lot of help from above. But I am hoping I don’t have to repeat this anytime soon, it’s so much nicer to run a family with both parents!*