a 2nd non-email

I don't like change, especially time changes. Let's just get that out in the open so we can move on to other things.

So this week was good. It was looking bad for the baby hero but she pulled through in the end and cut another top tooth. One more to go and she will have conquered all evil Pain until the next set. She finally slept through the night the last two nights, waking once to nurse each night. Some things she likes: prunes, shoes (especially ones with tasty filthy soles), paper, magazines (we found some text hidden in a poopy diaper and have reason to believe she's a secret agent), colored pencils, Potter's rawhides, and cheerios, the nordi-track when I'm trying to exercise. Things she doesn't like: getting dressed or undressed, her own toys, cereal, beans, teething, church during nap-time, me taking the things she likes away.


Emmie had a good week. She loves going to preschool and although one of the youngest and definitely the shortest she knows more, primarily because of doing school with Sarah and myself during the summer. I actually had a small stroke this morning when she picked out a top and pants to wear today!! Apparently all her "bootiful" dresses were dirty. Obviously it's laundry day.She's sure someone is going to get her a new Cinderella or Aurora dress for her birthday and I'm a bit nervous because we are getting her a princess dress, but it's not a disney princess dress. My parents chose to get her regular dresses she can wear during the week which are "bootiful". She loves to sing and has started the "why" phase this week. Why? I don't know. Emmie also began drawing objects that actually resembled what she said they were. My favorite are the spiders; circles with lines coming out all around them. She also drew a pumpkin which she said was, "scary, spikey, and grabby."

Sarah has started writing us letter this past week. They are delightful. Last night she wrote me this: Dear Momy, I am glad monstrs are pretend. Love, Sarah On the back she had drawn a Halloween picture with monsters, bats, and jack-o-lanterns. Yesterday in Primary one of the songs was "I love to see the temple" and this is currently one of Sarah's favorites so she belted it out with all the gusto she could muster. Her voice carried way above the rest of the primary and she attracted much attention from teachers, children and me. There was an abundance of smiles and general amusement and love. I admit that I have a pride issue when it comes to Sarah and love for her to astound people by reading scriptures in primary when it's her turn. She's so tiny compared to the other children her age that the affect is pretty cool.

I had a nice week primarily because I had my birthday to look forward to. Alan took the day off and we had a nice time. I got a new set of kitchen knives and my parents watched the girls so we could go to the temple. One of the greatest things was that I didn't have to cook dinner 3 days this week. Mom and Dad Wessman took us out on Wed. night, Alan and I ate at the temple on Thursday, and Alan cooked Yakisoba for us on Sat. I also enjoyed phone calls from everyone and was happy that Korihor met an untimely end. (I like to pretend that I'm reading the story for the first time and can't wait to see what happens next.)


Alan made some good progress on his consulting work this week and now has one more major part left to write. Mind you, it's huge and will take awhile-awhile meaning several years. :) He has been sneaking off this week into the backyard with his binoculars to look at comets. I think he is actually a secret agent with Alyssa. (NO of course I haven't checked his poopies for messages! How could you even think that?!)

not an email

I am not an emailer. I love to read everyone elses' weekly updates though so I decided to blog my email and thus avoid trying to figure out how to send it to you all. The last couple of weeks have been nuts. Mostly because Alyssa isn't sleeping well and when I'm tired more than a couple of days I get very tired. (Not as tired as Scott though.) Thankfully Alyssa has cut 2 of her top teeth with the other two soon to follow from the looks of it. She is so cute and says "Ba ba ba and ra ra ra." She is also pulling herself up on things, not wanting to be left behind by Holly-although I don't think she'll be walking as quickly as Holly.

Emmie is a delight as always. She is finally letting me put her hair, what little there is, in pigtails. She loves dresses and is hoping to get a dress-up Aurora dress for her birthday. We got her a princess (non-disney) dress and I hope that will be good enough. Her favorite day is Sunday because then she gets to wear a "bootiful" dress that I otherwise won't let her wear during the week. She is Cinderella every day and Sarah is the prince. They go to "bouncy balls" and give each other presents. (Presents are toys wrapped up in doll blankets.) She is really enjoying preschool even though she already knows all that they are focusing on in regards to colors, shapes, numbers, and letters. Truthfully she still has about 6 letters to learn. Lately we are working on teaching her how to spell her name. I decided to teach her Emily even though we call her Emmie. Is that bad? I don't know. Emily seemed easier to spell but maybe I'm out to lunch.

Sarah is wonderful as usual. She loves kindergarten and I love helping there on Wednesdays. It's so amazing to see the huge spectrum in abilities. Her teacher is great and she is learning and making friends. Last night around 9:30 pm Alan heard her whimpering in her bed and went up to see why she was still awake. Her legs were so itchy she couldn't sleep. I had already given her benedryl at bedtime because she was complaining about them and I couldn't give her any more. I came upstairs and she said, "I prayed to Heavenly Father four times to help my legs not be so itchy so I can go to sleep and it's not working." She was about in tears and so tired. Poor little thing. She had scratched them to the point of making them bleed in some places and so when I put cream on them it stung. We told her the story of Joseph Smith when he had the operation as a child to distract her but she was still pretty distressed. Thankfully she didn't wake Alyssa or Emmie. My theory is that she doesn't drink enough milk and so doesn't get enough milk-fat and that along with the dry air of winter makes her skin dry out and her legs itch. They also itch due to allergies, hence the benedryl. I need to start creaming them after every bath.

Alan...is busy. He seems to like his new calling as YM 2nd counselor. He borrowed Scott's camping stuff and used it camping last weekend. He is still trying to finish his consulting project and hopes to finish the main components by Christmas. I hope he finished before Sarah graduates from college.

Well that about sums it up. I have to call the scout office and find out how to rent a pinewood derby track for the activity girls pinewood derby. (I can't believe they want to do this. It is NOT something I think would be fun. I can't believe I have to organize this when I'm not even in scouts.) I have to come up with some sort of creative thank you card the children can make for their teachers for sharing time and do the laundry. I am very glad: Coralee's mouth is recovering, Rob and Dawn made it to the game and are getting out of the apartment, Stanley is learning the word versitle and most of all that Alan didn't get into a doctorate program. :) Have a lovely week.

Emmie being "bootiful" in her new dress I got off of ebay. 

Emmie and Alyssa in matching outfits. 

What cute girls. 

Alan and his girls. 

My niece Taylor got these dress-up clothes and Emmie is posing so cute with her cousins. 

I think this is so cute of Emmie eating an apple. Maybe it's the fact that she has to use two hands. 

Alyssa's first tub bath. 

baby leopard

Halloween came early at our house this year. This morning Alyssa woke up with spots. Yep, she looks like a baby leopard. So I did the only natural thing to do on a Sunday. I called my mom. "Mom," I said, "Alyssa looks like a baby leapard."
Mom: "Did she had a high fever for a few days and did it go away?"
"Yes," I said. "She got a fever Wed. night and it just broke last night."
"She's got 'baby measles' or 'Roseola'. Don't worry about it. You can't do anything about it. It's really common for babies to get it and it will go away in a few days, usually 3."
Great. Meanwhile she won't nurse, is cranky, and rubs her eyes and scratches at her head. But at least it's nothing serious.

needs vrs wants

This month my goal is to only spend money on needs. All of the sudden all these deals are suddenly showing up. Yesterday Sarah brought home a book order. Ohhh, so hard to not justify books as needs.
My mind: Books are needs. Children need books.
Me: Yes, but we can borrow them for free at the library.
My mind: True, but you can't always get to the library, the baby is sick remember?
Me: I know, but I already have hundreds of books.
My mind: But not all on Sarah's reading level.
Me: She hasn't read all the ones on her reading level yet!
My mind: But you can get the Magic Tree House books 1-8 for only $12.95! Do you know what a killer deal this is?
Me: I know, but it's still not a need.
My mind: Go ask Alan to get them as a Christmas present. He hasn't made this stupid commitment.
Me: "Alan? I want to show you something."

playing house

I chatted with a mom in Sarah's class last week who was also volunteering and when she found out I had 3 and Sarah was the oldest she said, "Oh you poor thing. I'm sorry. Your kids are so close together you must be going crazy." -or something to that effect. Actually, I told her, I'm having a great time. The girls aren't that close together and they are so fun. After that she changed the topic. Anyway I was thinking later that I am having a great time playing house. It's like when I was little only the babies are real and the pretend messes I used to clean are real too. I love playing house, most of the time. The girls are all in such cute phases. Alyssa coos and crawls and laughs so adorably. Emmie sings and says funny things. She dresses up all the time and is so fun. Sarah also says really funny things and is so fun to teach and I love to do her hair. I don't mind the housework because I do something different every day and most of the time I don't even mind cooking dinner anymore because I love to see the enjoyment everyone gets out of it. Alan's theme song of "White and Nerdy" fits him and I'm thinking of one like maybe "The Happy Homemaker". I wonder how come more moms don't find it so enjoyable to be home, but then I also wonder how come I have the greatest husband ever and such darling children. Obviously today has been good so far. Maybe my next post will be about wanting to quit and go on a sabatical.