What I Gained From Ladies' Night at Church

This Wednesday night was Relief Society night. For those of you who aren't Mormon, that basically means that the women of the congregation come together for a monthly night out. The night is usually filled with lessons and ideas on self-improvement, spiritual growth, chocolate, fun craft ideas, etc. This month, it was mostly about spiritual growth and stress management. I was really glad I went.

One of the instructors was Liam's Sunday nursery leader. I really like her because she's so down to earth and calm with him. Nothing he does seems to ever set her off. She also seems to enjoy being with him in a genuine way. It's not like he's a job to her, but something she looks forward to doing.

The other instructor was Tracey G. She lives down the street from us and her daughters are two of our babysitters. One of them works with Liam twice a week on keeping his hearing aids in. She spoke on stress management and offered four remedies. They were scriptures, service, excercise, and laughter.

Yesterday, I decided to take the challenge and see what came of it. I feel like I manage stress well, but am always willing to try to come up with even more. It started with trading Facebook for scriptures. I am a multi-tasker so I decided to turn on the computer and listen to scriptures while I made the beds. I had Liam play in his crib while I was doing what I needed to do. In my mind, this was accomplishing the scripture part. As I was working, I got so into listening that I didn't check on Liam right away. Before long, I started to smell a very familiar odor. POOP.

I walked into Liam's room and there he was proudly playing with his poop. What the heck is it with my kids and poop? Seriously. We have crayons, play-dough, coloring books, water colors, and markers. What makes these little people think they need to do their art with freaking POOP!?!?!? Further, how are they all such little Houdinis?? Liam was wearing a onesie and an outfit over that when he managed to completely remove his diaper. Seriously?!!? I'm considering taking out stock in duct tape. Rumor has it I can now buy duct tape in fabulous colors and patterns.

The next thing I did was accomplish the service recommendation. I lovingly pulled him from his poop-filled crib and put him into the tub. I didn't even think bad words about the situation. That's service with a smile right there. I scrubbed him down really good, emptied the tub, cleaned it out, refilled it, put some toys in, and let him play in the tub with Rachel and Drezden while I scrubbed out his bed, changed the sheets, and deodorized the whole upstairs. Who knew such a little person could make poop that could be spread so far???

From there, I accomplished the excercise recommendation. I went up and down those stairs more times than I care to count. And I was lifting "weights". Okay, so it was just laundry baskets full of poopy bedding and clothes, but it weighed a lot.

Lastly, the laughter. Really, look at the situation. I've had five kids. This is the third one to find a creative means in his poop. It's hilarious really. Some parents proudly display their children's works of art. Instead, I get to scrub my kids' art...and then disinfect the house. That's funny, right? I guess I'm just glad they're not into the culinary arts. Just imagine the poopsicles we could be dining on. Yikes!

I did make sure I called Tracey to let her know the many effects I gained from her workshop. If nothing else, she got a little laughter from it.

Happy Birthday, CJ

Our little CJ had another birthday this month. I can't believe he's already seven years old. He really has grown up. I still remember when he was just a tiny baby and was first diagnosed with hearing loss. I remember being told he'd likely never speak, would read at a very low level, and would depend on an interpretor for everything. Ha! Boy did he beat the odds. We feel very blessed to have him in our family.

We didn't really know a lot of people in the area and his birthday fell on a Sunday so a party was going to be challenging. I made sure I signed up to feed the missionaries so that he'd at least have them here. I also got him a little Dollar Tree gift for them to give him when they came in. He was delighted!!

We got him a variety of little things, but his BIG gift was a Buzz Lightyear toy. It talks, flies (or makes flying sounds), lights up, and a bunch of other stuff that I don't even remember. The only thing it doesn't do is pee, poop, or babysit. He was pretty excited.

He wanted a Toy Story cake, but I'm cheap. (It's okay. I can admit it. Why spend $24 for a WalMart cake that probably won't even taste that great??) I went to Dollar Tree and found a Buzz and Woody action figure and a package of army guys. Perfect! He wanted all the other junk you see on the cake. I'm not sure what the chocolate chips are supposed to represent. Maybe little alien cowpies?? Beats me.

At any rate, he had a good birthday. I hope it's the start of an amazing year for an amazing kid. We love you, CJ!!!

I Got Crafty

I've been really enjoying keeping our amazing new house all clean and presentable. Everything has a place and a purpose, and I love that. It makes tidying SO MUCH easier. Anyway, apparently I've been pricked by the Little Suzie Home Maker bug because I've also been feeling crafty.

I found this wreath idea here and decided to give it a try. I had no idea it could be SO MUCH FUN!! I ended up staying up until 1am working on it. I must say, for a first try, I'm really pleased with how it looks.

If you decide to try it, there are a few tips I'd share with you.

1. Find a place to buy your ribbon in bulk. It can get pricy.

2. Use the green wreath shaper instead of the white styrofoam. It's more sturdy and only about $1 more.

3. Only cut your ribbon pieces to about 4 inches long or else they get floppy when you pin them in.

4. Wait to purchase decorations for the wreath until it's done. I'd purchased some items to stick onto it, and it was a waste. I decided that it really looked much nicer on its own.

So, there you go. I'm officially crafty now.

What's in a Name

CJ's birthday is this weekend, and I had to do the shopping for it on my own since Byron has been so busy with his new job and wasn't available to me. We had to overcompensate a little bit this year because we haven't been here long enough to have friends and have a big party.

CJ's latest fascination is with Disney's Toy Story. It just made sense to get him a bunch of Toy Story stuff for his birthday, particularly Buzz Lightyear. As I was walking through WalMart talking to Byron on the phone about what I'd choose for him, it suddenly became clear that Disney didn't really think through their decisions when they named their characters. At some point throughout the conversation, I found myself saying the following things:
"Let's get him a Buzz now and he can get a Woody for Christmas".
"Wow! If you look at that bottom of his Woody, you can see that it officially came from Andy's room".
"I can't decide if I'd rather be the one to give him his first Buzz or his first Woody".

Are we seeing where I'm going with this? Really, Disney?!?! Really?? There were NO other names you could have chosen for these two characters?? When you hear their names, it makes you wonder if they were the characters cut from deleted scenes of "Brokeback Mountain". I've named five children, and I'm here to tell you that there were so many names to choose from that it was really difficult to decide. Did the Disney writers not have access to baby naming books or websites with name generators?

Maybe it was just a really funny joke that a couple of writers at Disney thought would be caught before filming started. Since it wasn't caught, they left it. Those pranksters have got to be laughing a ton right now just imagining all the innocent conversations that quickly go straight to the gutter.