thoughts on a sunday

• This might be my last post for a bit.  We're going to Utah this week and I just might take a blog vacation like I did last time.  But.  Brian will be all alone in Florida, so I'm sure he'd appreciate the updates.  So I can't really decide.  I guess we'll see.

• So yes, the time has finally come for Brian to do his rotation in Tampa, Florida.  He flies out on Saturday morning.  For. Eight. Weeks.  We're just trying not to think about it too much, and we've been trying to really enjoy our last weekend all together.  Sometimes I wonder how I'm really going to do this.  I can hardly handle him being gone for twelve hours a day.  I feel like lately I've been barely hanging on with just that.  I already miss him.

• October seriously can't come soon enough.  He's going to miss a lot- Layla's birthday, Mack's birthday and the first day of Kindergarten.  At least he'll be back in time for Ellery's.  After this Florida rotation I feel like we can just fly through the rest until he graduates.  Nothing can be worse than being on completely opposite ends of the country.  Seriously, how much farther could he get from Oregon?

• I've been trying to knock a million things off my list to do before we leave.  This week I started the startings of a mom-preschool, made strawberry jam, did a bunch of errands, and took family pictures.  I still have a lot to do before Thursday, including finishing this preschool thing, and cleaning our house and carpets, and packing, and laundry, and going to the library.  Maybe that doesn't seem like a lot, but I like a simple schedule and mine seems too cluttered this week.  

• Layla has had diarrhea for the last week and a half.  I have no idea why and I don't need to talk in depth about it, but she has got the meanest case of diaper rash I've ever had in a child.  It just won't go away.  We tried Desitin, we tried Eucerin, we tried the fungal stuff that Grandma told us about and we even went out and bought Butt Paste for the first time ever and none of them are working.  She screams every time we change her (which has been about four times a day) and has been having lots of baths, which she loves.  I do not love how she's been going in the middle of the night.  What is wrong with her, really?

• McKay gave a talk in primary today.  The topic was The Temple is a House of God.  I wrote out a little talk for him on Friday night.  When I started to go over it with him, I decided to see what he could  come up with on his own.  These are his thoughts on the temple (with just a bit of coaching from me, otherwise it would be two lines long :)

The temple is a house of God.  We need to be reverent when we go to the temple because it is God's house.  In the temple we can pray, read the scriptures, get married, get sealed to our families, and make special promises to Heavenly Father.  I am not old enough to go to the temple yet, but I like to walk around the temple with my family.  It makes me feel good and peaceful inside.  

• I think that's a pretty sweet talk from a five year old. . .except the part about special promises.  I snuck that in there myself.  But he did great- he had most of it memorized.  I was proud of him.

• When we go to church, I feel like a complete circus.  Like really, our family is a circus.  It's embarrassing.  

• Just about the meanest thing you can say to Ellery is, "You're Mother Gothel."  She cries immediately.  And you can tell when she's really mad at you because you can bet you'll be called Mother Gothel on the spot.

• Ellery has been really fascinated by the fact that someday Brian will be her baby's grandpa and I will be their grandma.  This is really great news for her and she talks about it all the time.   She's even going so far as calling her sister Aunt Layla.

• I have been loving Fridays because those are Brian's days off.  I always want to remember Friday morning this week.  All five of us.  In our bed.  Snuggling and talking and laughing.  Then we had donuts for breakfast.  What could be better?

• Layla has been saying more and more words lately.  She can say hi, daddy, momma, bye bye, and uh oh.  My favorite is when she says hi.  She has this little sing-song way of saying it and its' really cute.  This morning she was saying "maya" over and over and over while holding onto one of Ellery's stuffed bears.  Finally the kids determined that she had named the bear Maya and Ellery was thrilled with the new title.  

• Layla's on a little aggressive streak though.  I nurse her three times a day now- early morning, mid-afternoon and right before bed.  Anyway, she doesn't take too long to eat, but if I'm not getting swatted in the face by her little hands, I'm getting bitten.  And these swats to the face aren't just playful and sweet, they are serious and deliberate and hard.  It's getting kind of scary for me.

• She's had a couple of passing out episodes since the big one last week, and I am afraid that I'm never going to let her cry hard, ever.  But now, every time she cries McKay yells, "She's  passing out!" and she never really is.  Now I think that he thinks that her crying is passing out.  We're all a bit confused.  

• I am quite impressed with the kid's primary teachers.  Ellery has been going on and on about Shadrak, Meshack and Abednego.  She loves to say, "Their heads didn't hurt.  Their arms didn't hurt.  Their legs didn't hurt.  Jesus was with them in the fire."  Today she learned about Joseph and his coat of many colors.  McKay told us the story of Heleman and the stripling warriors today at dinner.  His area of emphasis was that their mother's taught them how to fight.  :)

• Brian just had to fork over some more money to get a Washington nursing license.  He's now licensed in four states.  He'll be going to Seattle Children's hospital sometime this Fall, which was not in his original schedule.  He's been busy getting his resume and references all squared away and now the job hunt has officially begun!

• He's a good husband.  I like him a lot.

• I finally decided it was time to tell the kids my black widow story.  I have avoided it up til now because I thought it would scare them.  But they totally loved it, and are now constantly on the hunt for black widows.  The fact that it was in my bed hasn't crossed over in their minds yet, which is what I was worried about.  Maybe I'll have to share that story on the blog another day. 

• Today we got a new relief society presidency.  There was a very sweet, tender spirit in relief society today and I was touched by the thoughts of the new presidency.  I hugged Stephanie, the old  rs president, after the meeting and as I was thanking her for all she's done for me and telling her how amazing she is, I just couldn't hold back the tears.  We both cried has we hugged and I know almost every woman in our ward could have had that same interaction with her today, and many did.  Never has anyone's example touched me in such a way.  She is about as close to perfect as I've ever seen and I feel so honored to have been able to have her in my life in that capacity, even if it just might be a few short years.  I have never seen anyone so genuinely and sincerely give their love to others the way she does.  I write this down only to be able to remember how amazing she is, and how she has truly changed my life.  But of course, how could I forget that?

• So I mentioned that we took a few family pictures today.  I wanted to get them done before Brian left. And when I say "get them done" I  mean have my friend Starr, who is not a photographer, be our photographer.  We had gotten into position and had taken maybe five shots when suddenly, a bird that was perched high above us in a tree pooped right on Layla!  It was quite a shock for all of us and I was totally horrified, but laughing so hard at the same time.  It got on her headband, her cheek, and the big whammy on her shoulder.  She didn't seem to mind though, and we were all grateful that it landed where it did and not in anyone's hair.  McKay wasn't sure he could ever touch her again.  

Happy Sunday!