A-Maize-ing

Jason with his co-advisor Mitch Tuinstra

 Jason competed in the Purdue University Corn and Soybean Innovation Competition this year, and Miss Emma and I got to attend the awards banquet in Indianapolis earlier this week to see if Jason's team won the $20,000 first place prize.  Leah and Adam stayed home with Alexa the babysitter, who, according to Leah, is "almost as fancy as Auntie Allison and Auntie Jenny... almost". 

The dinner was fancy and the venue was beautiful and thank goodness Emma was well-behaved, but my favorite thing to see was Jason working the crowds to earn the "People's Choice" Award for best invention.

His team created a corn-product-based waterproof protectant that can be applied to small electronic devices and keeps them working underwater.  They sent texts to phones that were sitting in bowls of water.  They had an iPod playing music underwater for the two hour duration of the dinner.  Pretty slick, I'd say. 

The grand prize went to a make-up product team (robbed, I tell you.  He was robbed.  Would you really put corn make-up on your face?)  The runner-up was the football helmet padding team.  And Team Aquaverto?  Thanks in no small part to Jason's equal parts salesman, entrepreneur and genius, they took the People's Choice award.  Each member of the team was given an iPad... Yay!  Now we'll have one to keep after graduation when Jason has to relinquish the lab iPad that he has lovingly adopted.

If you want to check out the product in action, go here.  And who knows?  Maybe we'll make millions off of it some day!

The Octopus

I frequently call myself names to my kids- particularly an elephant, because I have to remember everything or an octopus, because if I had 8 arms I could do everything needed all at once.  Wouldn't that be nice, especially around mealtime?  I'm guessing I'm not the only one that occasionally wishes she had an extra set of hands to help with all of the diapering, feeding, playing, snuggling, reading, swinging, wiping, and cleaning that needs to be done each day.

Once in a while an extra set of hands pops in for a visit, and we all love it!  One pushes the kids on the swings while the other makes lunch, one changes a diaper while the other unloads the dishwasher, one comes to "look at this" while the other goes to "look at that".  And if we're really lucky, we all get to nap at the same time.

And who can shake a stick at adult conversation during the day?  Not I!  Thanks for the visit, Grandma- come again soon!

Swingin'

Motherhood Is Not For Wimps!

I started this post in the middle of our week away without Jason... predictably, things have been much better around here lately, but I'm posting this anyway, because it's still true.

I've been thinking a lot lately about how hard motherhood is.  Of course, it's incredibly rewarding, as I think most of the posts on my blog indicate, but I don't want to gloss over the fact that it's one tough job.  The hardest job I've ever had.  I'd like to think that someday, 25 years from now when my children are becoming parents, they will be able to look back on my time as a young mom and recognize that I've been there, too, and maybe even learn something from my experiences.  Or at least know that they're not alone.

Some days are a lot harder than others.  Some days I feel completely overwhelmed by all of the dirty hands, hungry bellies and wet bums that need my attention.  Days when I just can't seem to get into the latest make-believe scenario, days when I don't want to play what my kids want me to play.  I just want to do what I want to do- go running or sit down and read a book or play the piano or chat uninterrupted with another adult.  But being the mom means that you spend most of your day doing what someone else wants you to do, or needs you to do because they can't do it for themselves.  And you do it, because it's your job- the job you have wanted your entire life- and you do it because you love your babies.  But doing something because you know it's the right thing to do doesn't always make it easier.  Just because I know it's the right thing to wipe up the third spilled cup of milk from breakfast doesn't make feel anymore joyful about getting down on my hands and knees again.

There are days (especially when I'm sleep-deprived because I'm still getting up with Emma 3 times a night) when I feel completely exhausted at the thought of tackling the mountain of laundry, the dishes piled up in the sink, the bills in the mailbox.  And exhausted by knowing that it's my job to take care of it all... eventually.  Some days the stress and the messes fade out to the sweet faces and voices of my babies, but some days I can't see or hear anything but the work before me.

There are days when I want to quit my two part-time jobs (creating a website for Jason's lab and teaching piano lessons) and my calling (Relief Society secretary) because they take my focus away from my full-time job as a mother.  Then there are other days when I want to quit my full-time job because I think might be failing miserably at it.  There are just not enough hours in the day to do all of the enriching of my children's brains, healthful feeding of my family, teaching of the gospel and good functioning-people skills, maintaining of a perfect home and keeping of a super-hot relationship with Jason... and even if there were enough hours in the day to get it all right, sometimes I just want to throw it all to the wind and eat cookies for breakfast and snuggle up with my kids on the couch and watch cartoons all day.  But I don't do that because I'm the mom, and the mom does what's best for her babies (most of the time), not what's the most fun for herself. 

There are days when I sit down to nurse Emma at bedtime and I can hear Jason struggling to get the kids to listen to a few verses of scriptures (the illustrated kind even!) and I think about the meals I prepared, the bumps I kissed, the squabbles I broke up... the laundry and the carpooling and the dishes.  And I think to myself, "Wasn't I just here yesterday?  And won't I be here again tomorrow?"

And I feel tired.

But then I realize that, someday, tomorrow won't come.  Of course, tomorrow will come, but the exact same day will never come again.  The demands on my time and my heart will change.  Instead of worrying about preschool and buying new sandals for everyone and whether we should go to the children's museum in the morning or the afternoon, I'll be worrying about Leah's new boyfriend or Adam's perpetual need to debate with me or Emma's constant eye-rolling.  These are my kids, after all, I know these will be issues.  And probably not even the most pressing ones we'll face.  There could be accidents, illnesses, disabilities, real heart aches.

And then I feel really tired.

And I want to turn back the clock and hold my babies a little longer and really, truly give tomorrow my best shot.  Because, as each one slips by, I'm realizing that today is all I've got.

*****

Things I've read that help me realize I'm not alone...

Mothers Who Know

Don't Carpe Diem

Being Enough

Q & A Being Enough

Luck O' The Irish

We woke up to a leprechaun scavenger hunt- 

And woke up the whole neighborhood- 

We found Lucky Charms-

 And ate lots of gold-

We searched for 4-leaf clovers- (no luck)

We all wore green to avoid getting pinched-

We ate rainbows for dinner-

And called the day a hit.

Saturday Is a Special Day...

It's the day Daddy naps with Adam.

In Leah's bed, because it's the comfiest. 

Facial

 Adam learned today that A+D ointment does not make a very nice face lotion.  

But it does make for some pretty cool hair styles!

Now if I can just figure out how to get it out of his hair... and his pajamas... and my bedspread...

Raking Grasp

 And that's why baby-food-eating babies aren't generally invited to dinner picnics on the living room floor.

Child Geniuses

I love looking back on our blog and seeing how excited we have gotten over basic childhood milestones, convinced that our offspring are pure geniuses.  This post is no exception.

One of our favorite pastimes around here is "that numbers-story questions game"- aka math.  Leah and Adam love taking turns figuring out how many cupcakes they would be left with if they had 5 and gave one to each member of our family, if there were 3 clouds in the sky and 2 of them floated away, or if they had 2 cats and 2 dogs how many animals they would have altogether.

I can only pray they always have such a love for math.  Given that I've shared my genes with them, the chances of that are fairly slim.  But they do have Jason's genes rooting for them as well, so I guess there is a possibility they will eventually know what statistical probability is that they would inherit Jason's affinity for numbers over my aversion to them... and then they can tell me!

Hello Spring!

Beautiful spring weather means lots of...

And all of that action leads to lots of baths, lots of naps, lots of snacks and lots of giggles.  Except, apparently, when Emma's in the wagon.

The Trade-Off

Miss Emma took a 3-hour nap this morning... the trade-off was missing half of church but enjoying a bright-eyed baby again.

Totally worth it.

The kids went to bed early tonight... The trade-off was the Duplos-trains-baby-strollers-gold-dubloons-covered toy room left to be cleaned up tomorrow.

Totally worth it.

I put myself in time-out last night... the trade-off was no place for the regret that always comes after losing it with my kids (who surely miss their daddy just as much as I miss my parenting partner).

Totally worth it.

I stopped at a lemonade stand on the way home from church today, all the while wondering who might be seeing me break the Sabbath by buying a 25 cent cup of lemonade (is that breaking the Sabbath?)... the trade-off was a huge smile and thank you from Leah for a drink to cure her hiccups.

Totally worth it.

I laid down to "nuggle wif me" with Adam while he fell asleep tonight with his sticky arms wrapped around my neck... no trade-off could have not made that totally worth every second of it.

Best Big Brother Ever

Adam and Emma have become the best of swinging buddies. 

These pictures are all the way back from August.  Amazing how different these two look already. 

Adam LOVES his baby Emma.  From the day they first met, he has been a gentle, kind, sweet big brother.  He uses a high-pitched, soft voice to say, "Heeeeyyyy, Emma, Emma, Emma."  He never gets upset when she takes his toys, he lets her chew on his Tiny Buzzy toy (despite his major dislike for her sliming it), and the only time he's ever knocked her over was after giving her a great big hug while she was first learning to sit up. 

I like to think of the relationship that these two are forming.  I hope they will be best buds for years to come.

My older brother Aaron and I are also two years apart, and some of my favorite growing-up memories include the fun times we had together....

When we lived in Alabama, he threw sand in my face.  When we lived in Rhode Island, we made up clever songs in our carport while he played his guitar.  In New York our rooms shared a wall, and I thought he was so cool because he had a CD player in his room and could draw Calvin and Hobbes just like Bill Watterson.  My first date to a drive-inn movie theater was in Utah with Aaron- we ate Red Vines.

In Virginia he drove us both to seminary in his rickety old Jeep with the top down.  I wore a towel over my head to keep out the cold and protect my hairdo.  Two years after I got a traffic ticket for driving without a license (because I was 14 and had no license) and then hitting another car, he forced me to get behind the wheel of that same old Jeep.  When a gear shift detaches itself from the car you are learning to drive mid-shift, it does not help overcome said driving fears.  

We went to Ricks College together for a while.  We went snowboarding, made dinner together, and went ice caving in the middle of the night.  Aaron slipped and fell and had to go to the ER.  That night resulted in the infamous "Who are your parents?" conversation I had with my groggy brother-in-law.

I've always looked up to my big brother.  I'm glad Emma has such a great big brother to look up to, too.

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home

My sister snapped these pictures- unbeknownst to me- with her phone right after Jason got back from his 3 week trip to Mexico.  I'll be glad to have another moment like this when he gets back from his latest trip.  One more day!

Utah Phone Pictures

 Red-headed Grandpa with his red-headed Emma.... or two baldies, you could say.

 The king bee sitting on his throne in the Beehive State.

 Loving the great big wooden park.

 Playing the xylophone with the original drum major.

Watching the stars in the middle of the movie theater... 

and no one got stepped on!

(L to R- Auntie Al, Emma, Adam, Cousin Claire, Leah)