Misnomer

At this point, I am pretty sure we can start calling Tanner's mutant head cold by its other name: Influenza.

I have been "over" the bug since Tuesday and yet I still have no energy whatsoever. Taking a shower overwhelmed me so I took a nap in my wet towel. You don't even want to know about my trip to the store; let's just say that I heavily weighed the social and other ramifications of sitting on the floor of Walmart for "a little rest".  (In the end, I lacked the intestinal fortitude for such a medical risk.)

What can I say, the dairy aisle was exhausting.

This is the lamest Spring Break we have ever had... unless you count last year's spring break when we had RSV. Or the year before that when we had the Swine Flu.

Irony

The great irony of my life is that I think my devious, curious, destructive, disobedient, messy, candy-sneaking, toilet-splashing, lunch-smushing, front-door-escaping, back-door-escaping, sneaky little Crewzer is a far more "typical" three year old than either Kinley or Tanner ever dreamed of being.

Give me strength.

Beauty Is

"“Beauty is found in the girl who believes in the power of her divinity. The light in her eyes shows her goodness inside. She is honest and kind at all times. When you care more about living the way Christ did, that’s when you’ll know what beauty is.”"

I love this song.

For Love of Emma

Facebook is a funny place; it's where my 1st-cousin-once-removed Chuck found me. He's one of our Seyferth family historians, up my biological father's side of the genealogical bush. He's a great man and I'm proud to call him family. He recently reconnected me with his daughter, my long lost 2nd cousin Crystal, and it's been wonderful to follow each other's blogs and visit over email!  From the time I was eleven years old, I haven't had much association with extended family and I find myself marveling sometimes to have found such kindred spirits in the family tree.  (Sending a loving shout-out to the whole Midwestern Seyferth extended clan; you know who you are!)

Crystal and I have many things in common, including a stillborn child.  Emma Catherine would have been 11 years old this past February.  In memory if their special angel, Crystal and her girls sewed their first batch of diapers, donating these 16 beautiful little treasures you see below to Genesys Regional Medical Center in Grand Blanc, Michigan.  The good folks at Genesys took care of Emma and her family during the beginning of their journey 11 years ago.  I know that the angel families at Genesys will really appreciate the special donations made in honor of their lovely, beloved Emma.

"Just before taking the diapers up to the hospital, the girls and I sat and prayed for the families that would be receiving a diaper. As I was walking out the door Sissy said, "Wouldn't it be neat if a family needed one of these today?" The innocence of a child right? Of course it would not be "neat"...sadness, grief and destroyed dreams accompany these diapers, but yes, it would be neat to fill a void for one of those families. My biggest prayer is that God provide comfort to a family that suffers an infant loss and if the family is not a believer, that somehow, God uses their experience to draw them near to Him."

Sniff, Sniff

Tanner has been sick with a vicious mutant head-cold all weekend.  He shared it with me because misery loves company.

Mommies aren't supposed to get sick.

But if a mommy has to be sick, she is very lucky if she has a Kinley to keep the household running while Daddy is working and mommy is hiding under her covers.

In related news:  I don't think Tanner will be sneaking drinks out of public water fountains again for a very long time.  I think my point has been illustrated sufficiently, so I'll just let the phobia run its course.

Happy spring break.

Spring Cleaning

It seems that my secret junk drawer has clown car capabilities.  How on earth did all of that fit inside??

Fabric from Aimee

Very early in my journey, I connected online with my beautiful and generous friend Aimee, whereafter we became blog and email buddies. Her little miracle, Connor, was born just a few weeks after my boys.  He had a rough and tumble 4 months in the NICU and is now a thriving little three year old!  She and another NICU graduate mom created a blog and facebook page to support families that are going through or have survived the NICU experience.

The Sprik Family donated money for diaper fabric through our Teeny Tears Paypal account.  I was able to buy several yards of beautiful fabric and I can hardly wait to tear into this pile!!  Thank you so much, Sprik Family!

This post will embarrass her, but I'm too grateful to not post it  :)

Crew's Pringle Picnic

Ride 'Em, Cow Kid!

Who needs a pony when you have a Kinley?

Kiss Kiss

The best part of my day.

P&P

What is 5 hours, 23 minutes long and captivated my big kids Friday and Saturday night?

Now Kinley and Tanner have seen both movie versions of this classic tale and are in agreement that the BBC version is better than the Keira Knightly movie (though we all really like the Keira version too).

The brainwashing is well in hand.

Favorite moments:

1.  When Kinley flipped to the second disc, Tanner was confused, asking, "Why does it have two DVD's?"  Kinley quipped, "Now you know why it is called Pride and Prejudice.  We just finished up Pride and now it's time for the Prejudice!"

2.  As the movie ended, Crew yelled, "Ova!  Kiss!"  (Translation: Over!  Kiss!)

K-I-N-L-E-Y!!

We are SO PROUD of our little spelling champion!

After qualifying in the class round, Kinley took FOURTH PLACE in the Third Grade Spelling Bee Championship at her elementary school!  She has maintained an amazingly positive attitude while she has worked diligently to prepare for this event.

If you need to know how to spell "slantindicular", she's your gal!

Calling Daddy to tell him the great news!

Way to go, Kinley!!

The Messy Monster

Dr. Destructo has been "exploring" the recesses of our closets, cupboards, and drawers lately.  It's awesome, not annoying.

AWESOME, I said; not annoying. At ALL.

Awesome, not annoying... awesome, not annoying... awesome, not annoying... awesome, not annoying... awesome, not annoying... awesome, not annoying... awesome, not annoying... awesome, not annoying... awesome, not annoying... awesome, not annoying...

Reader's Theater

Kinley is collaborating with some school friends to prepare for Third Grade Readers Theater in April!  Let's be honest: it's really just an excuse to get together with friends outside of school.

Awesomeness

Words that made my heart sing at Crew's first parent-teacher conference: "Well, Mrs. Bradshaw, in these first three months of preschool, Crew met almost every single one of the goals that we had made for him to accomplish during this entire school year. I'm afraid we have had to make all new goals!"

Chomp

For a little girl that has never had one single cavity in her life, she sure has cost us a pretty penny at the dentist office.

Last week one of her baby molars shattered right in her mouth during a movie, crushed by a tilted back molar. The dentist had to dig out the remaining pieces. Fortunately, her replacement molar is close behind so we don't need a space maintainer.  In fact, the x-rays say that she should start raining teeth in the next few months, a few years ahead of schedule.  Aye, aye, aye!!

Losing teeth is not her forte.  In fact, the only teeth that she has lost without assistance are the front four teeth. The rest have needed extraction for one unavoidable reason or another. She has her mommy's giant teeth and her daddy's not-so-giant mouth. It's going to be a very expensive combination--it already has been!  Fortunately, she's a great sport about it.  She doesn't even remember what it's like to lose teeth the old-fashioned way.

On a related note, did you know that you can order a frosty from Wendy's at 10:30 in the morning??

Wednesday Nights

Just hanging out at the local Deseret Industries, volunteering for an evening with the gals.

These are a few of the hoodlums darlings with whom I spend my Wednesday nights.  It's always a good time, whatever we're doing!

Someone To Watch Over Me

We are children of a merciful, loving Father who cares for us very much and loves us personally. There is a Heaven; there is life after death. Our loved ones who pass from this life continue to be deeply interested and involved in our lives. Although we may be generally unaware of their presence, they are always watchful and ever close. They are all around us, whether we see them or not, feel them or not.

How do I know all this?

Because Crew told me so.  And I believe him.

Crew's First Shower

Little Crew took his very first shower this week. Oh my, he loved it!

Mommy's shampoo smells really nice.

Good times.  Good times.

He was in there for about 40 minutes (Hush up.  I've already been reprimanded by the bo$$).  I eventually dragged his slippery, shrieking little body out of the shower to get him dressed; he was exceedingly mad about it.

Reader

Tanner has become a more confident reader.

And we are really excited about that.  Even Crew.

Houston...

We have a problem...

What's Love Got To Do With It? Got To Do With It?

Every Valentine's Day, Justin desires the predictable-for-him: clean house, home-cooked Meggie-dinner, and shiney shoes.  We deliver.  The shoe-shining part is especially exciting...

Kinley is the ever-patient mentor.

We love you, Daddy!

More Words from Crew

Off
Walk -- bock
Milk -- buck
Mmmmm, good
Apple
Yay!
Mater -- Puddah
Help me please -- hep me peeze
Help you -- hep you
Bear -- bayoo (one syllable)
Don't touch!
Kiss
Mad -- bet (with scrunchy face)
Mickey Mouse -- Bicky Bus
Minnie
Zebra -- dee-buh
Sticker -- ticka
Song -- nong
Goofy -- Guffah
Snake -- ssss-take

Hop on Pop!

Last week was Dr. Seuss week at school; for Hop on Pop Day the kids dressed up like their handsome Daddy!

Prayer Rocks

Kinley prepared and delivered a wonderful Family Home Evening lesson this week about prayer. For one of her chosen activities, she and Tanner created prayer rocks.

Tanner really liked making his rock, but he cried when he thought he had to sleep on top of it. I cried when he left it at the top of the stairs for someone (me) to trip on.  Prayer rocks are so complicated.

Sacagawea

When I watch enough episodes of Project Runway, I get delusions of grandeur. Lately I have had a secret desire to find out whether I can sew something other than diapers. When Kinley announced that she wanted to dress up as Sacagawea for her oral biographical book report, I saw my chance! Without saying a word to Kinley, I purchased the fabric, bubble-traced her nightgown, and sewed up the tunic while The Princess was at school. I would say that I just wanted it to be a surprise, but the truth is that I wanted plausible deniability if my sewing project accidentally turned into a ghost costume for Halloween. Or if I gave up and transformed the failed frock into diapers...

Fortunately, when she hopped off the bus, I got the "you're the best mom in the world" declaration that I was going for. She spent the afternoon designing the neckline, headband, and bracelets.

She made her own headband to match the neckline design.

Project Accessory, eat your heart out.

Sacagawea laced her own wolf purse.

She did a wonderful job with her report!

I was sad to realize that making your own costume is not exactly less expensive than buying it ready-made on Amazon.  But it was a lot more fun!  It seems that we are all set for Halloween. And she doesn't have to be a ghost.

For Love of Leah

The very first TTTS friend that I made on my journey was Melissa H.  Our relationship began with a tentative email exchange way back in April of 2009.  Our friend Cyndi H. joined our tiny nontraditional support group in August of that same year.  We are all mommies that lost one child due to Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome before spending long months in the NICU with our micropreemie survivors.  I could go on forever (and ever), but suffice it to say that I dearly love these women and their families.

Cyndi and I came up with an idea that has been, frankly, very hard to keep secret from Melissa! We conspired together to create a diaper collection in memory of Melissa's angel daughter, Leah. We wanted to complete the package in time for Daphne and Leah's third birthday tomorrow. We finished just in time and surprised Melissa yesterday.

Cyndi cut out and mailed me a stack of diaper pieces....

And I sewed! We ended up with 122 diapers for the angels born at Mount Sinai Hospital of NYC.  (86 tiny diapers and 36 bigger ones.)

Happy birthday, Daphne and Leah!  We love you and your whole family!

For more about our project, please visit Teeny Tears.