Overwhelmed with how much I have to catch up on!!! First Summer Post: Camping

Oh man, I have SO much to catch up on! This summer flew by with no time to even think! We had company most of the summer which was so fun and so exhausting. I love having company and I love cooking for big groups and having dinner parties, so I loved it (but I'll admit, I was tired and a little stressed too by the end. Sorry, guys, if I was grumpy or short with any of you!). So, to simplify all that's been going on this summer, I'll break it down into several posts. First off, camping. One of our visiting families this summer was the Andrews family (Brice's sister Melissa and her brood). Melissa and Wes had a great opportunity to attend BYU-Idaho's Education Week for free so I agreed to watch their four kids for a few days.(Also pictured: Liliana. I watched my friends' two-year-old a few mornings a week so she could finish up her last semester at BYU. With 7 kids already, what's one more?)

It was a busy few days for Brice and I decided that, rather than try to keep 7 kids entertained at my house for a few days, I'd be better off taking them all camping. That was an adventure! But WAY better than staying home, for sure. It took me HOURS to get all the food together and try to get all the kids to pack their own gear. It was a good lesson in going without. Raelin didn't pack herself a darn thing. No sleeping bag, no clothes, no pillow, nothing. What was she doing all that time? Anyway, she lived (fortunately it was plenty warm even at night). We finally got the Suburban all loaded up with 8 people, 2 dogs, food, clothes, and gear for two nights and two to three days in the canyon. We had pizza in the dutch ovens for dinner. I must say, that was genius. Two pizzas divided into four quarters and everyone gets to top their own section. No complaints that night! We got camp all set up and everyone fed just in time to send them all to bed late enough that they zonked out.
In the morning, we went for a hike near a creek and the kids had a blast playing in the water.
My brother's dog, Lady, who was with us, loves the water and the way she plays and bites and talks to the water is hilarious! Zuma thought the water was too cold (baby!). But Mckay and Elias didn't!Mckay worked himself up until he was brave enough to dunk his head in the frigid water, but I missed getting it on camera so I made him do it again... Hee hee hee.
And Elias kept falling off this log over and over again! It was hilarious and he didn't seem to mind at all. And since we were camping, neither did I. Get as wet as you can, kids! There's no house to muddy for miles!
I love wearing Alaina all different ways, but this is by far my favorite way to wear her (as long as we aren't in a get in get out kind of situation. It takes a few minutes to get her secured back there). Nothing on my shoulders, no buckles or straps--just a rectangle of cloth! I can carry her for hours this way and it doesn't hurt at all. She likes it enough to fall asleep there too.

When we got back from our hike, I had some crafts for the kids to do. When I was in girl scouts, we used to paint rocks, make key chains out of lanyard, and all kinds of stuff out of yarn and embroidery floss. I remember loving all that stuff (and wishing we could throw in some canoeing and archery like the boys scouts as well), so I came prepared.

Other than that, I just let the kids do pretty much whatever they wanted. They came up with all kinds of games and found things to climb. I even let Ryker play with the hatchet (as long as no one was within a hundred feet of him)! Leah loved Zuma a little too much, I think, for Zuma's liking. I did have to put a few time outs on play time with Zuma now and then.

Mckay and Raelin had a lot of fun coming up with games to play together.Ryker pretty much just tormented everyone. I can't count how many times I heard, "Rykerrrrrr! Stop iiiiiiiit!"

And poor Elias got plumb tuckered out! Here he is passed out on the edge of the outside of the tent (with Zuma curled up by his head). At first, he was laying face down in the dirt, but eventually he moved so that part of him was on the tent. I missed getting the picture of him with his hands behind his head and his legs crossed.

I got all kinds of awesome funny faces from all the kids:

"Hey, Ryanne" "Huh?"

Elias is so funny!


Why do they all make the same face? It's like they're related or something...

Alaina, I think, had the least amount of fun. She didn't sleep well and I didn't hold her as much as she wanted me to or feed her right when she wanted me to. With six other mouths to feed and food prep that was extra time consuming (except for the roasted hot dogs--oh, no, I had to build a fire for that one--it, too, was more involved than popping them in the microwave), sometimes, she just had to wait and it did NOT make her happy!
Ryker with rocks and sticks as usual

Brice came up late the second night and stayed until we left the third afternoon. Here, Ryker has been doing something naughty (again) and is getting a stern talking to from a daddy that just woke up. Nice hair, huh.
Ryanne somehow managed to fall asleep in the chair for a good long nap one afternoon.
Alaina cuddling with Daddy in the hammock (sorry about the picture quality on some of these. I'm not sure what was going on...)
All the kids at the end of a fun and very dirty campout. Bath time!!!

Ryker's first trip to the ER

I'm completely amazed that Ryker lasted 4 whole years without needing a trip to the ER. Saturday was his first time, but most certainly not his last. If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you know that Ryker is super accident prone and gets hurt constantly.

Ryker and Brice were at a fathers and sons campout on Friday and Saturday up Hobble Creek Canyon (10 or 15 minutes from our house). The property they were at had this awesome and enormous see-saw. It was made out of a 24 foot long steel pipe and Ryker was having a great time playing on it Saturday morning. Then he fell off. He fell from about 4 and a half feet up or so (chest height on Brice) onto his side. I'm sure that didn't feel too great all on its own, but then the see-saw came off its pivot and fell on top of Ryker. It landed on his hips and gave him a pretty good pounding. He wouldn't move his legs so Brice held him and monitored him for a while, but when he didn't calm down after about 10 minutes and especially when he wouldn't calm down to accept a treat being offered to him, Brice decided a trip to the ER was in order. He called me as soon as he was back in cell phone range and said I should meet him at the hospital. So I packed up the girls and some books (we've been to the ER with Raelin a few times so I wanted to be prepared for A LOT of waiting) and we headed out. On the way to the hospital Ryker started to go into shock complete with shivers and a ghosty face. Fortunately, by the time he got to the hospital he was becoming a bit more responsive and he started to answer questions and talk a little. They strapped him to a backboard and tried to put a neck brace on him but his little face was too small and it wasn't doing anything. He looked so pitiful in it though! They took us right to a room and nurses were there immediately taking vitals and whatnot. A doctor came in and checked his tummy and his range of motion and then ordered x-rays. Ryker knew all about x-rays because Brice had been prepping him on their drive over. Once the x-rays were taken the waiting began. The nurses brought the kids some little toys to play with and we read books for a while. One sweet moment was when Raelin said, "I love you Ryker," and he said, on the verge of tears, "Do you wish this didn't happen to me?" and Raelin petted his hair and said, "Yeah, I wish you didn't get hurt." I love it when they are sweet to each other. It's so adorable! The nurses all just fell in love with Ryker. He was so good and tough and he kept saying clever or funny things. One nurse said that he had the special room that only special people like the President used. I asked him if he remembered who the President was and he said, "Yes, President Monson." What a good kid! (He remembered the US President's last name after we gave him his first name.) He started to get pretty bored while we waited for the x-rays to come back and he wanted to sit up, but when we tried it hurt him too much and he was sad. Eventually the x-rays came back negative and the Dr. said that nothing was broken but that he was going to be really sore for a few days and that it would get worse before it got better. Ryker's been doing great, though, and he's crawling around well enough now. The first day he just watched movies all day (he and Raelin were so excited about that!) but since then he's been doing well enough to play. I think it hurts him to sit though because he plays laying on his tummy. We took him to church in a stroller on Sunday, which was hilariously small for him, and he perfected his army crawl that day. On Monday he was crawling around on his hands and knees and today he can stand up, but weight bearing on his left leg hurts enough that he falls when he tries. It's kind of hilarious to see him crawling around on his hands and knees outside on the concrete and in the kitchen--anywhere where kids don't usually play on the ground like that. I know, I have a cruel sense of humor. We're headed to California tomorrow evening so hopefully he'll be walking and running in time to really enjoy the beach this weekend!

Pictures finally!

No, my computer isn't fixed but Brice took the camera to school and made a disk for me so now I can share all our news properly. Yay! Now where to start... I think I'll just get some pictures up and write what goes along with them.

I mentioned earlier that Alaina is crawling...

...and getting stuck..

...and sitting...

...and has a tooth (you might have to click on the picture to make it big enough to see the tooth--spit is shiny in pictures! Her second one is just breaking through the gums but I don't have a picture of that yet)...

...and eating solids...Alaina likes baby cereal but she's not so sure about fruits and veggies!

My Grammy Quinn sent me this cool puree thingy that I LOVE! I made a bunch of baby food with it: apple, pear, apple and pear mixed, and butternut squash. I was going to make yams too, but I forgot the thing was in the oven after I pulled out the squash and turned the oven off. I didn't realize the sweet potato was still in there until the next day!

Alaina's tongue is extraordinarily long. At least she got something from me!

Her brother sure loves her and Raelin can make her laugh like no one else can. Alaina thinks Raelin is hilarious!

Alaina is always full of smiles. Even when she's tired and grumpy she smiles.

Look at her go! I'm not sure what happened to the picture quality of this one, but this is one muscly girl! She's about 5 months and one week here. Maybe 5 months and two weeks. I'll have to check.

Ryker's birthday was on July 7th; he wanted a helicopter birthday. Here's his cake:

He got lots of nice things for his birthday and we had lots of family around: Mimi and Papa were in town and so were William and Angel and Liam. Uncle Jesse came back from Canada just in time, too. And Grammy and Granddad came, of course. So we had a fun get together with dinner and yummy cake (I thought the cake was a bit disproportionate and goofy-looking, but it had lots of pudding in it and it was tasty!) and presents and helicopter toys.

This is the gift Brice and I put together for him--his own work bench, complete with real tools and everything. The tools capable of doing the most damage are chained to the bench so he can't destroy the house. He's really enjoyed it and spent a lot of time out there hammering away. We thought an outlet might help him learn to control himself (thanks, Grandma, for the idea).

Birthday kisses

Granddad trimmed this tree just for Raelin. She loves to climb trees so Granddad cut the limbs leaving 8 inches or so for Raelin to climb to the top with. She got scared/stuck and Brice had to go up and coach her down. She fell out of a tree yesterday (don't worry, she's fine. Just a couple scrapes). That's the first time that's happened but probably not the last.

Uncle Jesse was only in town for a few days before he was off to Alaska for his next great adventure. We're taking care of his dog while he's gone. Lady and Cooper are having a blast together!

So, we had a (fortunately) short-lived problem with Ryker peeing in inappropriate places like his room and his sister's back. So after the third time it happened, Brice and I were trying to figure out what to do. In a fit of frustration I said, "If we can't trust him not to pee in his room, maybe he should just sleep in the bathroom!" So here he is asleep in the bathtub.

We went to Scofield the other day to collect some things and my dad and I were sitting in the yard making dinner and watching the kids when Brice came walking out with this:

My dad said, "Whoa, no way! Now that's impressive!" For any of you who don't know my dad, that's a big reaction! But apparently they usually move these things with a crane...

Pretty Raelin

Ryker has come down with a case of geeby smiles for pictures to match Raelin's.

And last but not least! I got a puppy! I wanted one for my graduation present/birthday present (back in April), but never got one. Until now. Brice's mom got her for me (I helped a little with graduation money I'd been given. Thanks Jack and Sue and Grammy Quinn!) when she was out for the Fourth and Ryker's birthday. The puppy was 8 weeks old when I got her and she's 10 weeks old now. She's a strange mix: Cavalier King Charles Spaniel mixed with Rat Terrier. Kind of an odd combination, but she's been great. She's got the short hair and the spunk of the rat terrier, and the features and cuddliness of the spaniel. Her name is Zuma and we love her! I never thought I'd be one to like a little dog, but I'm really enjoying it! Easier to train, take places, control, catch, and clean up after, and lots cheaper to feed. And she doesn't take up the whole bed. But she's got some sharp little teeth!

I didn't catch any pictures of this, but when we were in Scofield, she went with the kids and my mom to walk around a little and she found a patch of cactus! My mom (who's allergic to dogs) carried her back to us with big chunks of cactus stuck to her whole belly from chest to tail. She was so good about it (and my mom was a trooper for carrying her despite her allergies). She held as still as she could as we plucked out all the spines. She didn't like it when we had to get the ones out of her armpit and she yelped and squirmed. But then she slept for the rest of the day and now she's as good as new.

Raelin loves her to death and I often have to fight her to hold my own puppy!

The first time Alaina saw Zuma she laughed and laughed!

I don't know if I can move this video to the crawling part of this post without losing it, so I'll just leave it here. Alaina's got her own way of crawling, but it's effective! She's just started to alternate hands in the past two days instead of doing the fish flop.

Boring!

Another post without pictures. I know, boring. Sorry. One day we'll get our computer fixed. Until then, HELP! Alaina is having the hardest time sleeping! Or rather, I'm having the hardest time getting her to sleep. I don't want to use the cry it out method. I did it with the other two and there has got to be a better way. Plus, Alaina won't cry it out ever. She's too mobile (She sits, she crawls, she has one tooth and is cutting a second one, and she's on a potty strike--see other blog for more on the potty strike). I can't tell you how many times I've come in to find her on her hands and knees keeping herself awake but with her tired little head drooping. Or stuck with her legs between the crib bars. It's pitiful. I usually rock her to sleep or something, but there are days where trying to soothe her to sleep three times a day is just asking too much. That's how I know what the cry it out method would yield. She is so resistant to having help falling asleep (she arches, screams, flails, then calms just long enough to get almost asleep then we do it all again). For some reason, blowing on her face helps sometimes. I think it makes her close her eyes, and if her eyes are closed, she's more likely to sleep (duh).

So how do you do it? How do you get a 6 month old to learn to just GO TO SLEEP!? Why does it have to be a battle? Why does she fight it? You'd think I would have learned this with my human development major, but my infant development class was a joke. Plus, I've read 100 books on parenting anyway and I want something different. Alaina's such a happy baby, full of smiles and giggles, but when it comes to sleeping she's a totally different baby. I just want her to learn to fall asleep peacefully, but I don't know how to do that. No matter what I try, she never falls asleep peacefully. If she's overtired she will, but if she's overtired then she's been grumpy and fussy for a while already so that doesn't count as peaceful. We generally have a nursing, swaddling (but it's getting too hot for that and she's too wiggly), rocking, singing, white noise routine, but it's not helping. I want a simple, 3-4 step plan that works without making her cry and takes less that 15 minutes. Maybe I'm picky, but I'm just not into taking her for a walk every night and every naptime or going for a drive three times a day to get her to sleep. I don't want her to run the household due to her picky sleeping issues. I don't mind holding her or cuddling her, but I don't have an extra half hour to invest in getting her to sleep every time she needs a nap and I don't like fighting her to get her soothed. I need her to just calm down and fall asleep when she's tired. How does one go about teaching this? I guess, in the end if all the things I try don't work and she's going to cry anyway I might just have to resort to the cry it out thing. Oh, bother.

Technical Difficulties

Sorry for the long silence. Our computer is pooping out on us. We had to do a total reboot, which means I have to re-download my picture software and that is proving to be a bit of a pain. Then, my memory card malfunctioned and I need to get it fixed hopefully without losing the pictures that are on there. Especially the video I took on my camera the other day of Alaina learning to get up on her hands and knees. It took some effort that first day, but the second day, she was popping right up and rocking. The third day she would plant her toes and get up on her feet and hands! What does she think she's doing!? She's barely 5 months old! Today is the fourth day, so we'll see what she does!

We've had lots and lots of fun lately. And lots and lots of company. We've gone camping in the rain, shooting, swimming (Raelin suddenly decided that she was ready to be a swimmer and she removed her life-vest and immediately started swimming around underwater wherever she wanted to go! Go, Raelin!), to the Children's Museum in SLC, and I can't remember what else. Once I get my pictures going, I'll catch up. But for now, I mostly just wanted to brag about my 5-month-old almost crawler and my little swimmer. Ryker's been mostly breaking things, so I guess I could brag about how he broke Raelin's headband into 5 pieces with one snap... That's pretty spectacular, right?