May Adventures

So I am pretty obsessed with going to Kensington Metropark it seems. After I wrote my last post, we went for a hike as a family there. We didn't see anything spectacular but the weather was gorgeous and nothing beats quality time together in the outdoors:

Mother's Day was pretty perfect. Tyler did a great job of spoiling me. He made me strawberry crepes for breakfast, chocolate covered strawberries for a treat, bought me a new laptop (because my other one had become virus infected & unfixable), and he made me a club sandwich for dinner (because I was craving it). The boys picked out 2 new pairs of sunglasses for me and Steven made a sweet "about mom book" for me at school (in which he colored my skin with a brown crayon and declared that I like Walmart, mac n cheese and watching Funniest Home Videos).

This week Steven has become obsessed with planting things. He wanted to go out and buy flower seeds and I explained to him it takes a long time for the flower to grow. He told me, "That's ok, I can wait like an hour." 

Steven also wants to plant an apple seed so we can have an apple tree (that only take like an hour to grow too, right?) But Benny doesn't like that idea. And I quote, "I don't want an apple tree because than I would have to shake it to get the apples out and I can't reach that high." That kid, I think we can help him out with that one ;)

The Sister Missionaries came over for dinner this week and apparently Lucy did not approve. She literally would not even look at them and cried the ENTIRE time! Poor Sisters felt so unloved :( Yet Lucy is doing great in nursery so far, apparently no tears and she even smiles some for her teachers.

And since I begun with the place I am obsessed with, we shall end with it too. Yesterday I took another hike there we with Ben & Lucy. We met this old man who was feeding the birds and he gave us some of his bird seed (which was actually just peanuts...) but it worked! I got a little bird to eat out of my hands, and got some to get pretty close. We even fed the chipmunks much to Ben's delight, he was so excited about how fat their cheeks got! We also saw some cranes that were, as Ben says, "flapping their wings on each other" (mating it seemed).

Pretty red cardinal in the tree:

And afterwards we dropped by the farm that's within the Metropark and saw some adorable piglets:

May Is Here

The other week we did a FHE on Emergency Preparedness and showed the kids what to do if their was a fire or a tornado. Tyler would turn on the appropriate alarms/sirens on his computer and the kids would do their thing. They had lots of fun with this and, of course, this got Steven obsessed with tornadoes (again). Using his awesome imagination, Steven came to us with these gems of wisdom:

"If you go high enough on a swing, a tornado can't get you."

"Tornadoes can't break metal."

I'm not sure we did a good enough job with our safety training for that kid...

This week I got another ultrasound. Everything is still well with Penny, and oh my goodness, she is still quite the performer. Here she is being camera shy (or, as my mom believes, shielding herself from the ultrasound waves):

While we were working on learning our ABC's this week, Benny decided to take a dry erase marker and color himself some "angry eyebrows" and a "beard":

Steven got home and was jealous of Ben's marked up face and decided to make himself into a tiger. He also drew faces on his hands and belly button:

But thanks to me, Lucy remained unmarked: 

Have I told you desert rats we are? We get super excited every time we see a squirrel in our yard-- which we shouldn't, because they are literally EVERYWHERE here! One time I was working with Ben at the kitchen table and he literally stopped mid sentence and screamed "Squirrel!" as he pointed to one in the tree out the window. It's just what we do here at the Hatch house:  

And let's end this post with my humiliation. It all has to do with a long straight road that leads to Steven's school and a mother's lead foot. I was literally deep in conversation with Steven on the exciting topic of Vampire Bats, when I saw the police office, saw my speed and groaned- I knew I was doomed. Sure enough, he pulled me over, literally right behind where all parents must enter to drop off their kids. That's right, they all had to go around me and give me the look of shame. And the icing on top? I had left my wallet at home. Somehow I got lucky, and the officer decided to let me off with a warning, "At least if you're going to speed, make sure you have your wallet." Then I got to go drop Steven off and listen to all his friends shout at him, "Steven!!! Your mom got in trouble!!!" Ugh. But the funny moment in the midst of it all, Steven says to me, "Daddy should get a ticket, not you! He's always speeding!!" See, I really am the better driver! At least according to Steven ;)

Volunteering, Vomit & Vanquishing Tornadoes

This week I got to volunteer in Steven's classroom. He was more puzzled by my prescence then excited but I enjoyed being there. It made me miss subbing. Not all subbing was fun but a lot of times it was. Just hanging out with kids, reading books and basking in their joy of having someone new to teach them. Plus kids generally are good for my self esteem--I had several of Steven's classmates tell me how pretty I am ;)

Also this week, my 3 kids were bathing together when Ben decided to bite Lucy's bum. I know with all those adorable rolls it does look pretty delicious but really? Oh my children!

On Friday night Tyler had a scout camp out and Ben decided to choose that night to throw up all over himself and his bed. It was awful! Usually Tyler cleans up the mess and it's my job to love on the poor sickly child...I do not do well with cleaning puke. Ugh. Thankfully, he was totally fine after that incident. And thankfully, all the craziness didn't wake Steven up. The next day when Steven learned what happened he informed me that God put stuff in his ears so he didn't hear Ben crying & that's why he didn't wake up. That kid and his stories!

Yesterday the Halloween costume box was brought out & now Ben wants to wear his Spiderman costume everywhere. He wore it to bed & was extremely upset that he couldn't wear it to church. On our way home from church he informed me that due to the dark clouds a tornado was coming but not to worry, he would put on his costume and then be able to catch the tornado with his spider web. Too cute!

And to end with my favorite little girl, Lucy's new goals in life are 1) to destroy my office and 2) get up the stairs unnoticed. Anytime I leave my office door open or forget to close the gate on the stairs, there is trouble to be had.She now also refuses to wear girly hair bows and has a strong dislike for dresses because they get in the way of her crawling. She is growing too fast!

Kids Will Play

I only nurse once a day now and then pump about 4 times during the day. And while I am pumping the kids can do what they wish and I am completely unable to do anything about it. It's always just so much fun! Can you sense my sarcasm? But sometimes they do productive things, like take pictures of each other that are actually pretty good. Not all of them but there were some real gems in this batch. So all the pictures in this post are compliments of Benny & Steven.

Lucy is positively trouble now. I can't just sit her down and know she'll stay there. She army crawls her self all over the house and is now opening cupboards and emptying the contents of them. Her favorite thing to do is to find little pieces of paper to eat (& then gag on). The other day she managed to find a sticker and I had the hardest time getting it off her tongue. With all the Legos & Squinkies floating around our house it's a miracle she hasn't choked on something big yet! 

Also this week, we got out to the play place at the mall & the splash pad at another mall and both times Lucy was lucky enough to meet some other girl's her age. So much fun to watch babies interact- which basically their interaction is trying to steal each other's toys :)

This picture will be used against Ben someday in the court of law, of this I am sure. Poor Lucy!

Ben is super silly. The other day he showed me the above face and said, "Look mommy, this is my happy face!" If you think this is creepy, you should see the face that he actually labels as creepy. 

This week as Lucy & Steven got some new clothing (I made a mistake of going to Carter's- oh that place is my Kryptonite) Ben finally complained about his middle child status. He wanted new stuff too! Thankfully he has an amazing Grandma who heard his complaints and she got him an awesome shark shirt and she even got him a new "baby" (an Easter chick doll).

Sunday when we were walking back from church I was curious to see if Ben knew what state we lived in so I asked him, "Do we live in CA? How about MN? How about UT?" He did a good job of saying "no" to all of the above so I thought maybe he did know, so I asked, "How about AZ?" And once again he responded with a "no". Wrong answer! Then I asked him: "Well then where do we live?" His reply, "Walmart!" Walmart strikes again! Steven will be working there when he grows up so I guess it would be convenient if we all just lived there anyways...

And I think Ben is growing out of naps...at least long two hour naps. Lately his naps have only lasted an hour. It feels like I just put him down and then he's awake again. So depressing :( 

Steven is constantly trying to carry Lucy around- it's driving her (& me) cRaZy! He has also been big interested in Calvin & Hobbes. He loves to look at the pictures and then is always wanting to do things that Calvin does. 1) Get a box so that he can make lots of Benny's, Lucy's and of course, lots of Stevens. Daddy got him a box from work & I think he was pretty disappointed to find that it didn't actually work. He went inside, the "button" was pressed & then nothing. He's gotta work on his imagination if he wants to be like Calvin... 2) He also wanted a paper bag so he could pop it and make a loud noise, instead he settled for popping plastic baggies. Like several hundreds of them...

This week Steven drew a picture of an anatomically correct girl- do you catch my drift? Maybe you will when I tell you this... When asked about his picture he responded, "It's just a girl. She just has cookies. Chocolate chip cookies..." Yeah, 2 chocolate chip cookies with just 1 chocolate chip in the middle? O-M-Goodness this boy is trouble!

As for me, I have discovered the joys of late night cleaning. It is a wonderful thing to be able to clean the house uninterrupted! No more fights to break up, no more baby to feed- just pure cleaning bliss. Ok, cleaning is not blissful but it is sure a lot easier with the kids in bed. And it is worth the lack of sleep that night--- so worth it! 

The Motherhood Roller Coaster

Today was one of those days... You know the kind that make you question why you ever decided to have children? Or am I the only one who feels that way? I read other mom's posts and blogs where they say motherhood is always so blissful and wonderful. Ugh. Lately motherhood is a roller coaster. And sure, sometimes motherhood is actually blissful but then it takes a turn downward and I look a lot like this-- 

---only angrier.

Anyways, today didn't start off as one of those days. It actually started off wonderfully. The boys were playing nicely together, Lucy was taking her morning nap, and I was cleaning. Then Lucy woke up so we went to The Dollar Tree and we got through the whole store with no incidents- miraculous! Blissful you might say!

And then I pushed my luck. I decided to go return a shirt at the San Tan Mall. I thought it would be fun because afterwards the boys could play at the Splash Pad. Silly me.

The shirt was an epic fail because apparently they only give store credit. Grrrr! Didn't they know I wanted to spend my money elsewhere? And then came the sinking realization that my bag with the towels, Lucy's swimsuit and a change of clothes for the boys was still hanging out in my garage. But alas, I thought, the boys already had their swim trunks on so let's do it anyways! 

Silly me. Steven didn't want to get wet because then he would be cold because he couldn't dry off (yes, cold in 100 degree weather). But Ben did decide to play in the sprink-a-lers (as he calls them) which was great...until he got a bloody nose 5 minutes later. And of course my stroller & diaper bag were on the other side of the splash pad so I had to walk him across with blood dripping down his face as everyone stared.

Then Ben was done being wet and wanted to play at the playground. I thought that'd be just dandy since Lucy needed to finish off her milk so I slowly pushed her stroller over to the designated stroller parking area (yes they have those) while holding her bottle. Only to hear some man complain loudly to his wife that they should move since this stroller was in there way of seeing their child. Well duh, that's what happens when you sit behind the designated stroller parking area. But I'm nice, so I moved. And moments later I discovered Lucy had a nice, giant poop coming out of her cute onesie. And that's when I was done. D-O-N-E, done.

So we went home. And did things improve? Not so much. I went to vacuum the house and the vacuum literally smelled like poop. So I had Steven Febreeze the carpet but he seemed to think he needed to Febreeze my freshly cleaned tile and wood floors too. And when I took the moment to loose my cool with him...well Lucy fell off my bed. And that's when I decided I win worst mom of the day award and it was time to quit all productive attempts. Period. And it worked well because apparently the student I tutored got the memo and didn't come. But dinner did not get the memo and I still had to make it, and poor Lucy with her achy head screamed the whole time I tried to cook. And....

Yes. Motherhood is not always blissful. Sometimes it's chaotic. And NOT a fun chaotic. It's the kind of chaotic that makes you want to collapse on to your bed and not leave your bed for DAYS. Yes, DAYS! Sometimes motherhood just feels plain awful. And you wonder what the heck your doing and why you can't get it all figured out already. For Pete's Sake I am on my 3rd baby! Shouldn't I have things figured out!? Shouldn't I!?

But now it's super late and the kids are all sleeping and it's easier to think of those blissful moments that make it worth it. They may seem fleeting sometimes but they're there....

Like when I find a bunch of selfies on my camera that Steven took when I was busy being productive...

Or when I'm chilling in the pool with the boys and Steven asks me, "Did the water turn your legs white?" And I get to explain how unlike him, sun does not "turn" my skin brown.

And that moment where I was watching Steven walk home from church wearing my diaper backpack. Thinking how in less then 50 days he'll be wearing his own backpack to Kindergarten and what a little man he is becoming.

Plus there's those morning cuddles with Ben. When he crawls into my bed half awake at 6:30 and scrunches up real close to me and strokes my face. 

And the way he pronounces things in his own Ben way. How a fly is a "cly" and one of his babysitter's  is "Brin-ka-ley" (not Brink-ley).

Or the smiles that Lucy gives that literally just light up the room. Made even cuter now that they include teethers.

And the way she reaches for other people but after "testing them out" she always just wants to come back to me.

Yeah, sometimes motherhood sucks. But, those blissful moments do (sort of, kind of) make up for it all. And I, oddly enough, will continue to willingly strap myself in to this motherhood roller coaster, day after day. And I oddly enough, would not trade this life for any other life. Ever. Period. The end.

Summer Days

Starting with the sad news....Lucy has not been quite the same since I returned from my trip. I thought she was a bad nurser before but surprisingly, she was able to get worse. Feeding times were a mess so now I am currently only pumping. Isn't it ironic that now that I am not working and am perfectly able to nurse I have a baby that doesn't like to nurse? Part of the problem, I think, is that she got used to getting milk faster from a bottle. And the other part, I don't produce enough milk for her in the afternoon. And although I hate pumping and wanna just switch to formula, I may not be able to do that. She has been a hot mess lately and I think it might be because her tummy doesn't agree with the formula I was supplementing my milk with...or it could just be teething. I wish she could just tell me what's wrong :(

And on a sillier note...My boys:

Ben's new favorite way to get my attention? By saying "mom" softly, then a bit louder, and then even louder until he is practically shouting "MOM!" And he will only stop once I look at him and say something to him. Oh my goodness it can be frustrating when I am in the middle of something and he starts his tirade but at the same time, I must confess it's kind of adorable. I just wish he would understand that (unfortunately for him) I can't just drop everything and cater to him the second he needs me. I know, what kind of mom am I!?

Other tid bit about Ben...He is always putting on his clothes backwards! Always. No matter how many times I try to show him the right way. We got the VVL Clubhouse last week and were swimming when I realized his swim trunks were backwards and since I'm such a wonderful mom, I left them that way. And right now, as I write this, he has his "don't bug me" shirt on backwards. But on the bright side his shorts and underwear are on the correct way :) 

Steven informed me this week that when he grows up he wants to be a Walmart guy so he can bag people's stuff. That kid has big goals huh!? Tyler thinks I need to stop going to Walmart so much....

Also, Steven is now drawing bodies and arms on his people. I love that he loves to draw so much! It's fun to see his imagination "come to life." And if you know him at all, you know it's a big one!

And something new to us (as of the last couple weeks) is having a teenage babysitter over while I tutor. It's been so nice not having to make the drive to my mom's house and thankfully the kids have got along well with her. I just have to always remind myself to pay her :) I'm not used to doing that, sorry mom!

Broken Bones & Comma

So I decided to be social last Thursday and plan a play date. My sister-in-law Melissa came and so did Mary (wife to my husband's good high school friend, Josh). Well, apparently I shouldn't plan things because it did not go well. First, I got to the San Tan Mall (where we had planned to meet) and the play place was closed for repairs. So I quickly called everybody and we headed out to the Superstition Mall instead. 

I think we were at that mall for a total of like 10 minutes before Miles (Melissa's son) took a leap off the "house" in the middle of the play place. I heard him shriek and then cry so I told Melissa. I didn't think much of it until she came back saying that she thought he broke something. He indeed had. I had never seen a broken arm before and I don't ever want to again- so gross! And so sad! Melissa handled it all so well (I would have been acting like a crazy mom if it had been me). I took her baby, Kyle, and she took Miles to the hospital. And now Miles has a lovely sling and cast. Poor kids is just like his clumsy dad :(

And also this week... have I told you about Steven's invisible friend? His name is Comma (that's right, just like the punctuation mark). Well, on Sunday we received very bad news, Comma had died in a house fire. I was concerned because I thought Comma lived in our house but I was informed he had his own house and now all the Comma's were dead (apparently there are several of them). But never fear, Comma came back from heaven!!! And he/she? has now returned to Steven's side to do all sorts of devious things that I usually incorrectly blame Steven for. But be careful, Steven informed us, if you cry Comma will return to heaven.

And speaking of creepy...The other day I was in the living room with Lucy (laying on the floor) and Steven was on the couch. Ben was asleep and Tyler was out working and suddenly Steven got real quiet, and said, "Someone just walked behind me!" I quickly told him, "Don't say that, that's creepy!" He replied, "It's just the cry baby ghost." Yes, my son sees dead people. I'm sure of it.

And 2 cute pictures--Lucy's hair flower doesn't really match her clothes in the first picture and is askew in the second but her Grandma Hatch got it for her (which is way unusual for her to randomly get anything for my kids) so I had to photograph it :)

P.S. Lucy is consistent in being inconsistent with her feeding & sleeping schedule. On the bright side (though I am probably cursing it) she has been really good at nights lately. Not waking up officially until 6 or later. Goodness I hope it continues!!

P.P.S. I have been night time potty training Ben and last night was a success (3rd night in underwear). Hoping that, that will become a pattern and that he won't be 5 (like Steven was) when he's officially potty trained at night!

Peas

Yesterday we were driving home from Sunday dinner at the Hatch Home, listening to the Articles of Faith songs (the only way we can get Steven to learn them now that he's decided to be stubborn) when Steven asked me, "Does the Holy Ghost have peas in his house?" I was confused at first, not sure what he was asking and then it hit me, "Do you mean peace?" I asked. That was in fact what he meant. We then had a good conversation about who the Holy Ghost is, and what he does. I told Steven about the time I had a feeling that I should stop my car but the light was green and I was going straight and that just seemed silly so I didn't listen. Then a car turned left (they didn't see me) and they hit me. That brought on more questions which I was happy to answer. I love that Steven is starting to understand Gospel Principals and wants to learn more about them. I hope that when Tyler graduates we can be better and have Family Home Evening. But for now I will take these sweet learning experiences as they come. 

Slap Cheek, Potty Training & Other Adventures

It's a little blurry but the picture above is of Steven fixing Benny- Benny was a robot. Other silly things from my Steven last week- at church he was getting a drink from the fountain and some water got on his upper lip, when that happened he asked his daddy, "Will that make my mustache grow?" Also, I was contemplating getting Steven a tie that would go around his neck and he did not like that idea, in his most dramatic voice he declared: "You can't get me a zipper tie, that hurts my body!"

Below I tried to get a picture of Steven's red cheeks but was unsuccessful, you can't really tell how red they were. Last Monday Steven woke up with what looked like a sunburn on his cheeks and then I noticed he had a flat, lacy rash on his upper chest, back and arms as well. After doing some internet diagnosing and then calling the nurse practitioner for confirmation, I found out Steven had Fifth Disease, aka slap cheek. He had had a runny nose for a few days before the rash which I thought was just symptoms for a cold but apparently those are the symptoms before the "disease" and apparently that was when he was contagious. Once he got the rash he was no longer contagious. I felt bad because that meant we diseased everyone we met that weekend. Thankfully Fifth Disease is nothing serious for children. For him (and then later Benny) it just meant a lovely rash and some crankiness.

On Sunday we were getting ready for church and Benny got really quiet and asked "We going to Jesus Christ?" It was really sweet :) Lately Ben has been very prone to start off phrases with "Maybe I..." For example, "Maybe I do" or "Maybe I should" or "Maybe I would like it"  He also has been very good at saying, "Ok mommy" when I ask him to do something- his follow through is less than great though.

This week I begun the torturous job of potty training Ben. Day 1 was awful- I was really having high hopes that it wouldn't be but it was. I started off the morning by showing Ben how his army guy can pee and poop in the potty and get treats. I also set a timer and took Ben to the potty every 15 minutes and then rewarded him with candy just for trying. Well, Ben managed to hold all his pee in until about 11:30am and then he peed his underwear, MAJOR, 4 times in a row- despite me putting him on the potty after each accident. I wanted to die. That afternoon, he finally started to pee in the potty (and I started only giving him candy if he peed) but he was still slightly dampening his underwear in between each sit down and I was taking him to the potty every 10 minutes. We went through like 20 pairs of underwear. It was depressing.

Day 2 was a major improvement! He once again held in all his pee until about 11:30 (despite me taking him to the potty every 10 minutes) had a MAJOR accident BUT when I sat him down on the potty after the accident-- he peed! And for the rest of the day all his pee went in the potty and he stayed dry- it was wonderful!!! However, he did have a BM that night and it was quite awful getting him to sit down and let it out on the potty- bribery didn't even work.

Today (Day 3)- he has been dry so far (it's 3pm in the afternoon) AND I haven't had to take him to the bathroom every 10 minutes to keep him dry. It's been more like every 20-30 minutes. Now I just want him to start initiating more that he needs to go- he has a few times but most of the time he only goes because I take him there.

And in the picture below you can see that Benny wanted to be like his big brother and have a chain counting down to his birthday. The chain also marks when we get to do the Boeing open house with Mike and I added a couple chains so it would go until Easter. Lots of fun things a'coming.

Moments

Before going to church Sunday Ben fell down a few steps- it was quite tragic. As I was fixing my hair I overheard Steven say to Ben: "Were you mean!? Is that why mommy pushed you down the stairs!?" Thankfully Benny stuck up for me & responded: "No, I pushed myself down the stairs."

If you happen to run into Ben, you should ask him to sing Taylor Swifts "We are never getting back together." I randomly overheard him singing it the other day- totally cute! I had no idea he was paying such close attention to the words.

Valentine's was this week and though I didn't make pink, heart shaped pancakes for breakfast or cut my sons' sandwiches into hearts- I did buy them a little fountain and a little box of candy both of which they loved so kudos to me! 

Preschool was at my house this week. It was lots of fun! We played "Don't Eat Pete", BINGO, made Valentine Bags & Heart Monsters & decorated heart sugar cookies.  When it was over on Wednesday and one of Steven's friends was leaving, Steven grabbed a Coke bottle (Tyler had left them sitting by the door) & said, "Here, you can have this" That gesture was not appreciated by the child's mother.

I was laying down with Ben at nap time and Steven, who doesn't take naps but doesn't want to be left alone, suddenly cracked open the door and started to make whistling sounds through the crack. It seemed he wanted me to come out.

And this week we have been blessed to have Brian, Pattie, Leia & Brice staying with us. When I asked the boys who was going to marry Leia, Steven said, "I am!" and then Ben said, "No! I am!" And so the fighting over her has begun. But Lucy has it easy since she has no one to compete against for Brice :)

This week Lucy rolled over from her tummy to her back! It may not have happened again yet but it was still exciting! She is also really getting into her toys- it's fun to watch her grab a rattle or a doll and try to control her movements with it. (BTW she nursed a little better this week but we're still not 100% free of fussy nursing)

And I will end with a fun picture of my kids all dressed up for a Brian's sister's wedding reception...

My Silly Life

And would you believe that was the best picture I could get of my 3 children!? Ben, insisted on holding the scissors, "Cause he wants to!"- His new found favorite phrase, that & "Why?" Pretty much all he says these days. Just now I asked him if he did anything funny I should write about and his response, "I just sat down on the couch." Oh, Ben. I love the picture of him below holding his little sister who looks just as big as him :) 

And here he is looking perfectly devious with the scissors....

This week Steven discovered "America's Funniest Home Videos" on Netflix, or as he calls it, "The Owie Show." He loved watching it! And I do mean lovED because today it disappeared from Netflix- completely depressing! But it was fun while it lasted and I loved how he kept purposely running into things and asking "Is there a camera watching me?" I realized we really should be followed around by a camera though- we could provide it with lots of funny moments-- like when I slid down the last few stairs this week, right into Ben or when I tried to shut the microwave door on Steven's head...ooops...

This week I asked Steven what he did in preschool and he informed me that he married Hannah in the backyard...He also watched Sponge Bob...This co-op preschool is super educational ;) Then the next day he told me he wanted to marry Lucy- so fickle! He has also informed me that when he grows up he wants to be a girl. Why? So then he can feed Lucy. I worry about this child.

And for bragging rights- Steven now has the second article of faith memorized! Hearing him say "transgressions" is pretty cute!

Lucy is still being a bear when it comes to nursing but oh, she is SO cute that all is easily forgiven. Hopefully someday soon she will decide she likes to nurse all the time and not just in the evenings and early mornings (hopefully before I lose my milk!) On a happy note Lucy has become so "chatty" lately- I love her baby babble! And really she is a happy baby- she just happens to be a happy, chubby baby that doesn't like to eat. And also she is already becoming a drooler- check out the wet spot on her onesie in the bottom picture.

And for me, this week has been semi-painful. It has felt like a super busy week and I had a mishap on Wednesday that about killed me. I had just finished cleaning the house- a task that used to take 2 hours but now with an extra child takes 3 hours- and I opened up the dryer to find that Tyler's color changing pen had exploded all over EVERYTHING. 2 days worth of clothes, a couple towels and the dryer itself were all very colorful. Here I was thinking I was finishing my last task until dinner time and then pure mess. I melted down, called my mom for advice on how to clean it all and then got to work. Steven was a super helper- he got in the dryer with rubbing alcohol on a towel and started scrubbing it down- he probably lost some brain cells from the stench but I was SO grateful for his help. The dryer is now a light blue. The clothes- I Shouted out & prewashed like 5 times and all the dark colored ones were basically saved. The lighter colored ones were a pretty hopeless case. Oh motherhood...