Filling the last of Morning Sickness Gaps (that I can remember)

Before I forget what little I have left, here are a few things we've had going, that I was a little too sick to record at the time:

Maddie's tender tears:
One night at family prayers, Brian asked Maddie to pray, and as she did, she got all choked up and cried her way through the rest! I was sure she was just sad about our barely functioning family, or that something had hurt her feelings, that I was totally not in tune with--everyone was anxious for her to finish, and see what was wrong.  The culprit??? She had been reading a really sad book (Book Thief)!!!  We were all pretty glad to have a reason to CRACK UP!! Sweet Maddie--I still remember being stunned when she cried at a Disney movie back when she was 5!

Spencer and my FIRST HEIMLICH MANUEVER!!:
Setting:  Missionaries coming to dinner (for maybe the 2nd time in this house--kind of hard in Utah--they have a whole stake to feed them, and they eat at 5, so we have only ever dropped off food since Brian's not home in time)
Mom cooking through nausea (stuffing tissues up my nose to retain my ability to eat what I've cooked)
Kids getting afternoon jobs done before company comes

First, Brian calls, excited to chat about latest work/city council developments, and to let me know he's on his way and will make it home on time.

(meanwhile the clock is ticking...)

Spencer walks in, w/ a curious Emily following, and says, "Mom, I can't breathe."

Mom: "Hang on Brian!"
"Spencer, you can talk (he inhales deeply, and is clearly getting barely any air), can you cough it out?"
Spencer coughs, but again, is having problems inhaling, so I start the Heimlich, the whole time thinking, "Am I doing this right?--was I supposed to use a chair for something?--is there something different to do w/ a child?"as he his bouncing off the floor from my great lifting.

Emily:  "Should I call 9-1-1?"
Mom: "No, not yet, I've got this"

THEN, he throws UP on the kitchen floor (that's my job!), and I can't help but think, "The missionaries are coming! It's supposed to fly out of his throat, not create a big mess!"
 and as I increase my energies, OUT it comes!!--no dramatic flying, but it is unmistakable what was choking my child!!--a HUGE hard plastic rock shaped bead he had been sucking on (he later conducted a younger-sibling speech about the dangers of putting non-food items in our mouth).  The angled edges, and the tiny hole probably allowed what little air he was getting.

SUCH RELIEF!! Picked up the phone, (Brian kept chatting, and soon arrived home), Emily wiped up the floor, and finished getting dinner.  Spencer was duly impressed, and kept saying somberly, "Thanks for saving my life Mom" to which Emily replied, "We don't know you were going to die Spencer."
"Oh no Emily," I corrected her, "Without Oxygen, you die--the Heimlich Maneuver is actually to save lives!" and Dad, who finally caught on to the gravity of things, concurred, "Mom was the hero today Emily."
Spencer then spent the next day deciding how many people he should tell about his exciting day, without embarrassing himself about sucking on plastic rocks :).
Whew!
This is totally a framed picture (you think I could've fit a picture into that night?!), but this was the size--only more 3-dimensional than this woodchip lookalike.

Brian's City Council campaign:
It's exciting around here in the political arena! Sign designing, pamphlet writing, fundraising, door-knocking, etc., and its only JUNE!!! Don't get me started on what a flop of a great wife-supporter I am! Thank goodness for dear friends and a fabulous community full of people who are pro's at this, and totally believe in Brian.  Just this last week, I was finally feeling strong enough to go out putting out signs with the crew (here is the FIRST one put in!), so I am trying to contribute something! (Brian couldn't help but talk to voters as they walked by):

Roommate Reunion:
4 of the 6 of us roommates from my last year at BYU have wound up in Utah recently, so when a 5th was coming into town, we couldn't help but get together.  I was SO anxious in wanting to go, but I was only starting to feel human, my evenings were horrendous still, it was a drive all the way to Orem, and Brian had a City Council Mtg! I rested and prayed, and even w/ good dose of rush-hour traffic, we DID make it, and had SUCH an enjoyable time being together, and the park and night were beautiful, so the kids could have fun playing.  It was SO refreshing to be reminded of sweet relationships :)

Midnight Mouse??

there is INDEED peanut butter on that chin

No, it's just Lucy--once I caught her getting up at 1 AM, and when I went to turn lights off, she was climbing back in her bed, saying, "I just needed to get sumsing to eat really quick!" and there was a bag of chocolate chips on the floor by her bed :). I didn't hear this one, but deduced from the evidence :)--she seems to have her poor Dad's sleeping habits!

 Emily's lofty goals:
Some kids, I feel like take all my energy to raise; others, I worry more that I'm a bad influence on them!
Emily decided ON HER OWN to go w/o TV and computer games ALL SUMMER.  She's just like that! I mean, she did ask if I'd give her $100, which I denied (and explained, that especially for her, it wouldn't be such a challenge, and she didn't NEED such an incentive--she already has the least screen time of the whole family!), but I did agree to take her out for some Chinese food at the end :).  Anyway, she has LOTS of extra time now, and has made up school packets for Anne and Spencer to work on (under her tutelage), has regular nailpainting, or crafty, or just fun "pop a balloon full of candy and put streamers all over your bedroom" parties for the little girls, and one day, made her whole room into a fort.  Now that I see how fun it all is, I think I might see if I can find Dad's old TV lock for ALL the kids!  :) (Actually, I'm using our early-in-the-summer vacation to put off figuring out our summer routine.  So far, we only have rest time down :) )

and of course, a piano recital to finish things off! (poor Brent was home sick!)

--and we are now packed and all but ready to head to GA on Tuesday!!! We. are. SO EXCITED  for the Mildenhall Reunion @ the beach!! HOORAY!!
and Happy Father's Day for Brian, who has been both Dad and Mom lately! Love him so much!

Last Day of School!!!

After our (somewhat crazy) trips to Antelope Island to celebrate school being out, I decided to try a more traditional route this year, and head up Ogden Canyon to Pineview Reservoir to swim.  We took a cousin and a friend, went back for Brian when he got home early, and though delayed a bit by Spencer and some stomach troubles, eventually got to some beautiful, if somewhat more freezing than the Great Salt Lake, swimming, where we snacked on cherries, grapes, crackers and cheese, built sand castles, walked along the beach, swam bravely in the cold, and finally drove home, with Little Caesar's for supper on the way :).  Despite my absentee parenting for the last leg of school, the children all had great years--Maddie doing great with her grades and clubs, getting ready for high school, Brent earning a 4.0 for first and last terms, Emily getting 2nd place AR points for her grade, and Spencer earning Presidential Fitness! (Emily asked if he were adopted :) ).

Bird Refuge

Brian continues to NOT enjoy the part of his job that he cannot control--namely how well business goes from month to month, so after visiting w/ Layne at Grandpa's funeral over his higher volume of business in a rural area, --we started exploring rural options for attorneys.  Apparently, small towns across America are struggling in many professional fields to keep positions filled, and South Dakota even passed a law to subsidize attorneys that would come and work in some of their rural areas.  Sounds crazy, but when there only attorney for hundreds of miles retires/dies, people canNOT do things like write a will, make a contract, get a divorce, etc., etc.  So, in an effort to feel out this possibility, I first searched through my cousin addresses to see if any of them were very rural, and then resorted to getting touch w/ my favorite recipe blog girl (aka--total stranger!), who turned out to be fantastically generous w/ her time and friendship (at least once she found our blog, and could verify I wasn't a crazy stalker :) ).  We've looked at housing prices, listened to more Lake Wobegone and watched Little House (due to the Minnesota locale), and even called the local legal offices.  It is hard to say whether anything will really come of it or not, but this is what HAS happened:

1-When things get tight at work, there is at least hope, that if not this, something else could work out.
2-At the prospect of leaving, the virtues of Brian's current job shine more brightly
3-I feel good about being unattached enough to our house (that I thought would be our last) to be open to change, for real
4-I'm amazed at the children's adventurous spirits in thinking it all sounds great--well, 5 out of 6, (and Brent's appreciation of where we are, that makes him NOT want to leave, EVER)
5-At the prospect of leaving, I am anxious to imbibe as much fry sauce, root beer, and other Utah delicacies that I can WHILE I can, AND to soak up every sweet advantage of living here for as long as we do, from cool summer mornings and evenings, to hiking every trail within 2 hours of us, SO
as soon as Saturday Jobs were done a couple of weeks ago, Brian worked on campaigning, and I took the kids over to the VERY nearby Bird Refuge before it got too hot to enjoy it at all in daylight.  I thought the fresh air would be good, and it was for a while, but by the end, Lucy had urinated on the boardwalk (just a few yards too far away from the bathrooms to make it), and I knelt down--right after, and vomited into the marsh.  Still, it was nice to be out, and I love being with family away from all other distractions. :)

Memorial Day

I was determined to do more for Memorial Day than stay in bed all day.  Since mornings are actually my best time of day, I went with the younger girls who were up to the Syracuse Memorial Day Service at our cemetery.  Brian got to conduct it this year, and then the girls had fun enjoying all of the flowers and decorations of the graves (and would not stand by the flags for a picture) while Brian shook hands and made more city connections.

We had planned on trying a hike that day as well, and some friends in the ward asked if we wanted to do one together, so 3 families all drove into beautiful Morgan Canyon up to Causey Dam, where we hiked around the water, enjoying nice weather, and beautiful scenery.  I was SO grateful to be able to hike without feeling miserable, and again, for the fresh air.  We enjoyed some Subway on the way home, and had an early night.

Mother's Day

A pregnant Mother's Day--it was like a nonstop celebration with a body that would NOT let me forget I'm a mother :).  Bless my sweet family--after already doing extra chores all week, they acted like it was a new excitement to treat me to so much pampering on a special day.  To begin with, we all attacked the yard on Saturday.  With the coming crunch of summer, and my sickness only worsening, we were determined to get are garden ready for planting, the gravel project finished, before the weeds made it 10X the job, and get the weeds under control and "preened." AND WE DID IT!!! It was truly amazing have such a work force!! As I weeded through nausea, I kept feelinglike it shouldn't be possible to be suffering from the curse of Adam AND Eve simultaneously!! I, though still sick, was grateful to be outside in the fresh air.  In fact, I couldn't bear going back in.  I heated up leftover, then came outside to eat, the kids went in to do their cleaning, and I stayed outside to weed (in shady spots).  And then, I begged them to clean the kitchen too--that it was the ONLY thing I really wanted for Mother's Day :)--and the sweet angels did, after all the word they'd already done.  Brian went over to a campaign meeting to help organize things for running for City Council in tandem w/ the mayoral candidate, and I took all the kids to Maddox drive-thru for a fried chicken dinner we could eat at the outside table.

no more hill of gravel in the background!

The kids were wanting to make me breakfast in bed, but to ensure we'd make it to church on time, and because I can never guarantee what I will be able to even eat in the mornings, I insisted for them not to worry.  Brian was such a dear to make a fabulous dinner of Linguine with Clam Sauce, Mushroom Potato Soup, and green salad (sorry, I could only think of pictures after I was full, but it WAS beautiful!).  These children--acting like they're out of a story book, which is the perfect contrast to how my body was feeling--had composed an acrostic poem of "MOTHER" ending with "R is for Rucy (Lucy) and the rest of us too, who all really, really, really love you!"--and showered me with homemade and classmade gifts.  I SO needed the reminder of how much I love having my children!

This is a real picture of the wonderful mother (huddled on the couch--who knows who took this picture :) ) I've been for the month of May (and then some).

I thought I had some positivity and patience in me, but pregnancy dries it out, I'm sad to admit.  To feel like poison is running through my veins, and that I am constantly having to move through sludge wears on me fast.  A week or two into things, I try to stay upbeat and hopeful, but after a month, where the only real relief is losing consciousness, I am easily discouraged, and wondering how I ever could have desired this voluntarily! Even with such good helpers (Brian made Sunday dinner for a month--he even got released from the Bishopric with fortuitous timing!), the house spins more and more out of control with every day, I feel totally unable to be of good to anyone, and I don't know whether to feel worse about my now SCANT preparations for Gospel Doctrine lessons, or that I am scarcely aware of my children's needs, letting them watch untold hours of TV and not able to keep my 5 year-old from riding her bike to the opposite end of the ward w/o telling anyone, and having her go out w/o brushed hair, only to have her come home w/ the NEIGHBOR having done it for me!!--among other things.  I feel foolish for thinking I could be capable to handle this; I feel weak for letting some NON-debilitating and not life-threatening condition push me to such extremes; and my worst fear has moved from going blind to having this HCG feeling somehow made permanent.  I don't know HOW women stay sick for the full 9 months AND have more than one child!! It is so humbling, and so wearing, and has made me have to appreciate the smallest joys, like hearing the music from musical #'s I've tried to organize as music chair; for answers to simple, nearly pathetic prayers; for any outing I survive--to the temple, to our play night for "Secret Garden" w/ Maddie, to recitals, picnics, and for many more I wasn't sure I could even handle; and for this sweet family, always anxious to get anything they can for me, and never complaining about our sad state of affairs (maybe all the eating out helps to ease their suffering :) ). 

Grandpa Duncan's GREAT LIFE!

We were so glad we took a chance to visit w/ Grandma and Grandpa Duncan recently, as Grandpa's health was declining.

He passed away with ALL of his children and wife around him, IN his HOME, rather ideally, and the funeral was SUCH a gathering of posterity!! What a great man, and great life he led--coming into activity in the church from a family that didn't have much to do with it, AND bringing several of his brothers (and hence, their families) with him, and staying SO TRUE to the faith to affect SO many lives with his constant gentle teaching and testifying.  It was so good to be in such a gathering--it is always a blessing of perspective to see the concrete fruits of ONE life!