First Quarter Report of 2010 - Part 1

Believe it our not, we are already at the end of the first quarter of the year! That's a fancy way to say 3 months, but it is also a time to reevaluate your 2010 goals. With the turn of the quarter I thought it would be fun to share some of the random things we have done over the last few months.

How is Lizzy?

On March 10th, Lizzy hit her three month mark. Here is a status report on how things are going. Lizzy was much like Joseph as a new baby, always awake and always screaming. So far Joseph holds the record for the best difficult Fosburg baby- 8 months of mom and dad having no sleep. Lizzy, I would say holds the record for most 'needy'. Niether of our first two children needed physical touch as badly as Lizzy. Lizzy needed to be held ALL THE TIME! Sometimes if you got her to sleep and carefully placed her in bed, a second later she would be screaming at the top of her lungs. What happened to a baby like Evie, where she would sleep anytime, anywhere, anyhow?

Anyway, I am happy to report that she is starting to come along nicely. She now can pretty much sleep through the night (with maybe 1 - 4 quick 'plug-ins'). We just moved her to Joseph's room, where she sleeps in a crib that Tamy had longed desired. As I mentioned on the 'Toysrus' post, we painted her wall blue and are using a fish theme. One of her favorite toys is the glow seahorse that Grandma & Grandpa Fosburg got her. She loves the light, the music, and the toy.

She also likes her fish bedding! One day while Tamy and the two kids were playing in the room, Lizzy just laid in the crip starring at a starfish (or was it a crab?) for 4 hours. That is one handsom fish!

As far as health goes, Lizzy is doing great compared to her first month. She wieghs 7 pounds 9 ounces, and is 23 inches. Her cheeks are filling out, and she is a long baby. She still doesn't like 'belly-time', but she is much more enjoyable to be around. She is fun to cuddle with, and hold. She even will sit down with me in her own seat. The swing is still by far her favorite place to be- in someways it is a third parent.

The other day after I fed her, Tamy and I were just starring at her and she started to talk! Her little lips started to form an "o", and her legs kicked up as she tried her hardest to force sound out of her mouth. "oooo, oo, awoh" she began to oo and ah. I did my best to mimic her in a high pitch chipmunk voice, and she responded with louder oo's and uu's. We laughed and giggled with her for about 15 minutes. When she is sitting in her little baby chair with toys dangling above her, she is grabbing them and hitting them.Lizzy is starting to develop into a 'real' person. She is smiling a lot, and starting to respond to her siblings and environment. So far she has kept her dark hair which makes her mommy very happy.

A Toy Story

A few weeks ago we decided to go 'out' as a family. But where should we go? We didn't really want to spend a lot of money, and we had already hit the Columbian malls, parks were getting dull, and neither Tamy nor I were up to swimming... If only there was a ToysRus, but alas, we had already searched for a ToysRus during Dec. To our dismay, there used to be a ToysRus but it had sinced closed. Well, the months rolled by and we had given up hope in finding one around our area. Then, one day, Tamy was chatting with her friend who revealed the most startling news, a ToysRus did exist! It was just on the other side of Columbia.

Why, you ask, were we so interested in a ToysRus? Especially when we already had a Walmart. Well, lets get the obvious out, it is a toy store and we have two kids who love toys. Another reason we were interested though, was because we were (and still are) looking for a swing set for the backyard. The one we found just happens to reside at ToysRus.

Before you know it, we had arrived at the fabled store with 3 anxious kids (Evie, Joesph, and me). The first thing we did was look at swing sets, and as luck would have it, it had been "discontinued from that store." Not quite sure what that means, but we are looking for a loophole. Still our spirits were up because we had come to play.

The Unreachable Star!
Evie and Joseph loved it! It was a challenge to keep up with Evelynn as she darted from one pink toy to the other. Tamy found 'the' bedding for Lizzy. You see, she had been searching high and low for a theme to put on Lizzy's side of the room. I say side, because she and Joesph share a room- Lizzy's wall is blue, and Joseph's wall is green. Josesph has a safari theme with lions, tigers and monkeys, and Lizzy, well, she didn't have anything. In fact Tamy had become quite frustrated and discouraged about Lizzy's side. That is until she spotted the fish bedding at ToysRus. Oh how she lit up when she saw those fish! But just like my reserved wife, it didn't even cross her mind to ask if we could buy them. Instead she sighed saying, "This would be wonderful to have for Lizzy's room." Then she placed the product back on it's shelf and began to walk away. I thought to myself, wait a minute, she has scrapped the four corners of the earth looking for a theme and now she passes on one she says would be 'wonderful!' I stopped her and said, "Tamy, why don't we buy the bedding if you like it so much." She froze in place and her eyes started to sparkle and big smile emerged from her lips. "Really!" she said. With that Tamy's quest for a theme had finally come to an end, and I had a happy wife for the rest of the day.

If The Shoe Fits...
Another reason we went to ToysRus was to commandeer new shoes for Joesph. A few months ago one of Joseph's shoes 'ran away from home' and never returned. We had heard that ToysRus had the shoes we were looking for. Surely enough, we found a great pair of shoes for Joseph and some black church shoes as well.

Cars
We went through every inch of that store and its toys. We looked at princess, barbies, Tinkerbell, buses, cars, shopping carts and play food, toys from their favorite cartoons, dolls, animals, and even Cabbage Patch Kids. Evie and Tamy played with hula hoops and Joesph and Daddy played with nerf balls and swords! Finally, we stumbled upon electric cars and jeeps. They were charged, and kids were riding in them. Evie immediately wanted to try one out, Joesph followed closely behind Evie and I really wanted to see them in an electric car. There were two vehicles working. One was a red car, the other was a jeep that looked like it belonged in a Mad Max movie. They got to ride both- Evie drove and Joseph sat with a big grin on his face! After about 15 minutes of the kids riding we decided to make our way to the exit.

We Think We Can
Before we could make it we were cut off by a giant train track. Joseph took one side of the tracks and Evie took the other. Evie's trains went everywhere. Joseph's trains seem to make down through a tunnel and that was about it. He would push it down the ramp and then pick it up after it got through the tunnel and do it again. Tamy & I resovled that nothing esle would stop us from leaving it was time. We made it to the lines, but not before TinkerBell II ended up in our basket. All in all we spent almost 4 hours in that store.

An Undiscovered Land

While we were checking our items out Tamy learned of a hidden secret. Just across the road was a Once Upon A Child! For those of you who don't know what this is, it is a store where you can buy cheap discounted kids clothes, toys, and appliances.  Spokane had a few of these stores and Tamy shopped at them regularly. Upon learning of this great news, we decided that we still had enough in us for one more store. I unleashed Tamy and waited with the kids- execpt Evie who accompanied mom. Twenty minutes later Tamy came out under budget with a bunch of new clothes. All in all we had a great time!!!

Chris Time

So I just have to say, I love my husband! It is so fun being married to my best friend. When we first met, I was certainly not planning on knowing him for so long. He is an amazing man.

As a friend, Chris is great. He's honest, but kind. It's an important combination. I tell him my worries and he reminds me to have faith that it will all work 0ut. I express concerns about my weaknesses and he helps me remember my strengths and create a plan to overcome. I become overwhelmed by life and he sits with me and makes me laugh. But the best times of all are when I don't

say anything and he gives me a smile, a little hug, and we sit together and have a great convesation.

As a husband, he's so patient. He's so willing to learn and grow. He's not afraid to be wrong about something and he apologizes when he is (that's so rare in a man). He's excited to be married and loves to be with me. My favorite thing about him is when he gives me a kiss and tells me how beautiful I am no matter what I'm wearing or how long the day's been. Everyone needs a spouse who is always a boost to the self-esteem.

As a dad, he's unbeatable. I always assumed I'd have kids, but I was never super excited about it. In fact, the idea terrified me. Chris had to teach me how to change a diaper and that was just the beginning. He reminds me to slow down and enjoy the now so I don't have to look back and regret. He loves his kids more than almost anything else. He and Evie are so cute. He's as excited to teach her as she is to learn. With Joseph he is finally starting to really enjoy the "boy thing". He is getting to experience the joy of having a son in the way I realized I enjoyed having a daughter. Getting to share uniquely boy things with your son is really special. Lizzy is still a bit unknown because she's so young, but Chris is extremely helpful with her in all the ways I could need. The best part about Chris' fathering is he's there. He is so active and participatory in the kids' lives and in mine. We regularly discuss discipline, rewards, family time, FHE, and all other aspects of family life. We really do work as a team to be parents. With him I feel like I could actually get good at this thing!

Like I said, "Chris Time". He's such a wondeful man. The fact that he's an honorable priesthood holder who respects his responsibilities to God and family is a blessing beyond compare. He brings such a quiet strength to our family in that way and I am so grateful. Now that he's got a job he loves he is so happy. Though the Air Force was not our first choice it has been a really good move for Chris and our family. I'm so lucky to be married to a man who loves adventure and trying new things like I do.

So, I could go on and on about my husband, I like him that much. But I'm sure most of you know all this, right?!

Day by Day

Each day in the Fosburg home is so crazy. A normal day for us is like several for the Tamy of a couple years ago. Anyone who knows me was aware of my goal-oriented, efficient, productive life style. My motto could easily have been "if it doesn't move us in a forward direction efficiently, it's not worth doing." Well, that just isn't applicable anymore. Goals are still important and I can't give up on my feeling productive so I make lists all the time. The definition of efficiency has definately changed though. Stopping all my work to play with building blocks Joseph likes isn't super efficient. In fact, it makes a mess in the process. Coloring for the hundreth time the sunshine and grass with Evie isn't really what I would call efficient. I end up with another great work of art to somehow fit on my crowded refrigerator. Giggling and laughing with Elizabeth certainly isn't efficient. The whole house could fall apart and I wouldn't notice. Of course, if you recognize the importance of those kinds of activities then efficiency isn't really a good measuring stick.

A regular day in our house starts at around 7am. Evelynn is always the first up for some strange reason. For a completely unknown reason she then changes her clothes so she can wear one of three (sometimes all at the same time) swimsuits that is ridiculously difficult to remove from that wiggly, skinny body. She's in it all day long.

Then JC wakes up around 8am while Evie's been playing in her room (supposedly). I still think she sometimes wakes him up, but it's impossible to tell. Then Lizzy wakes up. So we're all up at that point. Chris gets ready and goes to work and I get the kids changed into something like clothes (most mornings) and we all have breakfast together. Sometimes I even get to eat.

Then mom settles Lizzy into the swing for a nap while the kids help me with the chores like laundry (too much to do all in one day), dishes, phone calls, any projects I want done that day, vacuuming, whatever, etc. Then at 10:30am we all sit down for a snack (or mom gets a breakfast like something). Then JC heads off for a good long nap at 11am.

By this time Evie is so ready for some one on one she's annoying me like crazy. So we have school which changes all the time. Right now she's learning the difference between capital and small letters. Chris is really hoping she'll be reading soon. I'm a bit more realistic and hoping she'll be able to recognize that words are made out of the letters she's learning. So we have mommy A's and baby a's, along with the entire alphabet + corresponding song, counting to 20, identifying numbers to 10, recognizing shapes, colors, directions and colors in Spanish. She's also getting basic Spanish conversation and can now say hi and what her name is. It's so cute. My favorite part is reading two verses from the BOM and then a few of her fun books. She reads the BOM word for word with me and then just enjoys the books. She's so smart if I can get her to sit still long enough. The most common word during this period is "focus." She gets antsy and then her brain stops working. She is pretty darn obedient though and we quickly make it through whatever she wants to work on that day.

After that I get to do some more chores (the list is always quite long and goes by the week at this point. By the day was just too depressing. I never finished anything!) Evie and I have lunch and she then enjoys "rest time" instead of napping. This has now replaced the "quiet time" we used to have right before dinner when JC was taking more than one nap a day. Then Lizzy eats and plays and goes back to sleep in the swing.

At this remarkable moment, I have 1-2 hrs to do "my thing" whatever that might entail that day. Usually, I get to relax for a moment or two and do some of those things that it's impossible to do with kids around. I like to read, study, in-home exercise, watch a program on tv, email, blog, whatever strikes my fancy. Sometimes if the day's been long I even take a quick nap (on the couch).

Then it's snack time by 3pm and we have a little time to play. Now that it's warming up outside that occurs in the backyard. Then dad's miraculous entry from work when everything stops so he can get the hugs the kids are clammoring to give him. And then I start dinner. If Chris is nice, which he usually is, this is when Lizzy gets dinner so that I can actually get a real meal. We try to eat no later than 5:30pm or the kids get too cranky.

By 6pm dinner is over and I'm cleaning the table, the dishes, the kids, the floor, the walls, etc. (kids and food, what a combo) At 6:30pm I get JC ready for bed with jammies (I love that word) and brushing all 10 of his teeth. Then it's Evie's turn but we brush her hair too - like a princess! By 7pm JC's off to dreamland, Evie is cleaning her room and Lizzy is asleep in the swing yet again. Thank goodness for that swing! By 7:30 Evie is in bed and I sit down for a minute. Then I pick up the house so I can stand to be in it for another day.

By 8pm I realize I have a husband again and we sit next to each other and have our first real conversation. We decide what we're going to do that evening. This is only if we don't have home/visiting teaching to do or callings to fulfill that night. A lot of times we watch a news program and talk politics. I know, all the women are saying, " are you serious? That's so boring!" And honestly sometimes I could care less. Thankfully, I can tell my husband that without getting in trouble. A lot of times I feel really smart talking to him about current events. He's always interested in my take on things and sometimes I surprise him with my different point of view. I love when he validates my brains. I would hate to think he married me to be arm candy (yeah right!) Anyway, in the end we do something that has nothing to do with anything so we can just enjoy ourselves after a long day.

At 10pm Lizzy gets her last meal, a good long mommy/daddy time with smiles - laughs - giggles, you name it - and then she's off to bed (now in her room with JC!) Then at this point I always have a hard time - should I stay or should I go to bed now? Most of the time I choose to stay out for an extra hour or two to be with my husband and best friend. I just miss him a lot during the day. When I actually do go to bed, I sometimes read if it's not too late, or write in my journal. Then I slip blissfully into sleep on my wonderful Tempurpedic bed and I start the day all over again.

So, yes, each day is long and don't feel bad if you didn't always hear from me. I'm not being lazy, I'm just busy and I forget!

I love my family and though each day is long, they are good days. I love seeing my kids progress and having my home feel clean and happy. I love the work and even though it's really hard some days, difficult things make us strong (as Mitt Romney says in his new book - a Chris pick.) I love where we are. I love being a mom. I love being a wife. I love being me today.

Hopefully tomorrow I will love it still.