My Very Own Punky Brewster

We have friends who have girly girls. We have friends who have tom boys. We fall in the middle of that spectrum. Abby is stuck someplace in the middle, wanting to be have painted nails occassional pretty things, but also can't resist a mud puddle or anything gross. She never thinks twice about picking up a bug or lizard and then letting it crawl on her head once she does catch one.

Today I had some errands to run when Tom got home, so I decided to just bring Abby along with me. Of our four kids, I think she is most often the one who is under my skin for one thing or another. She has a great sense of humor and has this amazing inability to focus on anything. She gets insanely jealous of Millie and so totally bugged by the boys, who get insanely bugged by her because she can generally out do them in most areas of whatever they are competing over at the moment!

So, we went to Target and she was walking into the store in front of me and I stepped back and realized how cute she is, but also to most people how goofy she must have looked! She took a shower this morning and pridefully got totally dressed by herself. Then, a HUGE accomplishment for Abby, she was still in the same clothes when tom got home and I was ready to leave the house at 3pm! Normally she has gotten them dirty in some way or has peed her pants or God knows what, but she changes her clothes atleast 3 times a day as a necessity. In the process of getting herself dressed today, she decided that she wanted two different socks so she took two pairs and then took one sock from each pair. Along with her bright flower capris, striped pink tank and her hair flopping out of her hair clip, it all colorfully just said "Abby!"

Before I had kids I am sure I would have judged the parent walking around the store in such an outfit. Now that God has entrusted me with Abigail Louise, I have a deeper appreciation for kids who have such a great sense of fashion and the lack of concern for what others might think and will wear their fabulous outfits with great pride and nonchalance. You go Girl!

First time Mom vs us with too many kids

Yesterday I took the kids to McDonalds for lunch. I had the twins and Millie. As we sat at the table, in the Playground of the Germs, I watched a mom with two little ones come lugging in her luggage for her short visit to the playground. She had her toddler who was probably a bit over two and then a baby who was probably about 8 months old. First she walked in, set down the baby carrier, diaper bag, high chair cover, purse and sippy cup. She immediately told the little one not to touch anything and pulled out her container of Clorox wipes and proceeded to wipe down the table, and the bench, and the underside as far as the munchkin might be able to reach his short little arms. Then she found a high chair and, you guessed it, wiped it with a wipe, THEN put the seat cover on it and THEN put the baby in the high chair. She then opened a bottle of water and poured it into a sippy cup for the baby to drink. Then her friend arrived with her two kids, one about 2 and one about 4'ish. She assured her friend that she had wiped off the table and seats, as the friend promptly starts to put away HER container of wipes, not needing to steralize the environment first. So Mom A goes out to get their food, comes back in, then Mom B goes back out to get food for her family. Then the food prep beings. They both lay out the burger wrappers, take the burger off the bun and break it into pieces appropriately sized for a gnat (even for the oldest boy) the buns were discarded. Then they open the empty cups from the counter and pour in the apple juices, 1/2 full, and then dilute with water from home. I must admit that I was shocked to see they actually got french fries for the kids.
So, the kids all sit and eat, then get up and enter the Germ Ground. They play. Then they return from the tubes of tiny bacteria and return to the table where Mom B promptly puts sanitizer on their hands before they are allowed to touch anything. This repeated several times through out the meal. The baby lost her sippy because she dropped it on the floor, it was then requiring proper sanitizing before she could have it back, so she went thirsty.
I had to chuckle I remember when Harrison was little, I always though "Oh my gosh, what AWFUL parents! Not only do they feed the kid McDonalds, but they let them actually go into the playground!"Then there were the parents who let their kids go into the playground while they stood out and ordered food! Didn't they realize there was a fire door that someone could take the child out and you would never see them again?? Well, then I had twins and the McDonalds playgrounds became a necessity because it was a great energy outlet for Harrison, someplace that I could have the twins in their strollers, hopefully sleeping, and he could run like a madman. Watching these two young Mom's I had to keep from laughing to myself. I had to realize how far I have come.
Example: I can meet my friend at McD's with her kids, we can send them all into the playroom ("watch Millie!") and we stand and order and fill drinks and occassionally look over our shoulder to make sure no one has snuck out the door and is playing in traffic. Millie ate her food yesterday on a napkin, which sat directly on the table top, it did occassionally touch the actual table, which had not been properly sanitized!
Then, as I watched them get ready to leave, I thought to myself about how my kids are probably healthier than theirs are. My kids aren't the type to catch every little thing and miss a lot of school. I am one of those horrible mom's who lets her kids play in the dirt, occassionally I even have to rinse the tub after bathtime to get all the sand out of the bottom. I let them drink from the hose, play at McDonalds, go to parks etc.
I think the funniest part was the hand sanitizer between bites and playing, that is what got me the most.....

Sixty Two Degrees

Ok, so this is the time of year to freeze, atleast if you are a Lyman. Tom prides himself in how cold he can get the house each night. Each of the bedrooms has a fan in it, for noise etc. We started that when the kids were all babies and it has just worked, so why fix it if it isn't broke? We also have ceiling fans through out the house which are very effective at cooling the rooms on a hot day. Then, there is an oscillating fan in the playroom/computer room, because the heating/cooling system isn't very good at keeping up with that room.

So, this time of year, it gets to be about 80 something during the day and at night it gets considerably cooler, to about 55. My husband loves this time of year and eagerly accepts his personal challenge to beat last years record.

Record? For what you might ask? Well tries very hard to see just how cold he can get the house at night. Yes we have four small kids, that doesn't seem to bother him much. His theory is that everyone in the house sleeps better when they are frozen. I think you could probably prove that theory correct, bodies that are frozen using cryogenics, in fact, do not wake up each morning or possily never.

I don't know how cold the house got last night, but I do not that at 8:30 when we got home from taking Harrison to school the thermostat was reporting 62 degrees. No wonder I used the heater in the van on the way to school!

Please note that I am not a cold person, I am rarely cold actually. I can wear a sweatshirt in the winter and not need a coat, I am fine in a tshirt in the house during the winter. For some reason the past week or so, I have been freezing! Perhaps it is the shift in weather, perhaps I have finally lived in NM long enough that it has permanently affected my internal temperature.

So, to prove my point, I just called Tom at work to see just how cold he has been able to get our house, he proudly said "I don't know, probably only 58 or 59" Did you catch that word... only? As if 58 or 59 is a shameful accomplishment?