Everything changes

There's a song...Everything Changes by Stain'd. I love it. It talks about, you guessed it, changes. Not THE change, so much, but you get it. I hope.

Anyway, I'm saying this because things are definitely changing for us around here. No, I'm not having another baby. Whew. But I am making a career change of epic proportions! If you ask me, they are epic. I have accepted a job with a surgeon group in Des Moines to be their little nursey nurse in their downtown office. What does this mean? No weekends. No holidays. No NIGHTS. 4Eva. AHHHHHHH!!!! Now normally when a nurse decides to do the office thing, as they leave the hospital, they also leave their pay behind too. But, by the grace of God, literally, this particular move does not have that requirement. In fact, in the end, I'm paid more than I was before. Working days, three days a week. No nights. Have I mentioned that yet?

It shouldn't be a big deal. But it is. My heart sinks when I know I won't spend Christmas Eve, or Christmas Day, or Easter with my family. It makes me sad when my kids think mom is a grumpy old hag, because I am. Or when they bring home things they've made at school that say "Dad watches Eli all the time because my mom sleeps all day." Nice. Whatever is true is not always what is perceived. My children's perception of this night time situation is not correct, but it is what they'll remember.

As I came to the crossroads, I had to leave behind what I thought to be my dream nursing job, for something I hadn't quite considered before for myself. Surgeons? Office? Should I, would I, could I?

Answer. Yes. I'm very excited. I love the office. I love seeing patients and making them comfortable. I love that I am given the opportunity to do this for my family. Picture this: (because I'm having difficulty doing so)...

home EVERY night
sleeping EVERY night
celebrating EVERY holiday
seeing my family EVERY weekend

But I want to recognize what nurses like me do and have done their whole lives, giving up those things for the care of their patients. What a beautiful gift they give.

I'm proud to be a nurse. And even though I'm going a different direction now, it doesn't mean I'll forget what it's like, or what nurses do so gracefully. For now, I have to put my family first. There's only a few short years while these babies are babies. I've got to hold on to that.

Hooorible

I guess sometimes...I just have nothing to say. Surprised? Me too. I can't believe I'm writing a "I can't believe how long it's been" post, but here we are. And I can't believe how long it's been!

I miss blogging. I really do. But I just don't have a whole lot to say these days. Or not a whole lot of time to say it in. Or both. But here we are, and it's 3:55 a.m. and nobody is up but me! I find myself with ample time now. However, the timing is a bit off.

What have we been up to? Girl Scouts x 2, gymnastics, baby, rice cereal, pears, Christmas celebrating (we like the build-up to the big day), work, laundry, bills. You know.

Oh, and I'm dying a slow painful death from working nights. Whatever. There is change on the horizon. If not, I'll be running naked with crazy eyes back and forth across the Iowa cornfields until the first snow fall. I'll probably find shelter with the deer after that. I don't know. It's the first idea that came to my mind.

Anyway....we're excited for all the upcoming Christmas events this year, starting with the annual Christmas Movie Marathon at the Powers home! I've got a whole family full of ugly sweaters this year. Pretty pumped about that. I tried on a bright red button down (all the way down) dress with shoulder pads at Goodwill. Sophie was in the dressing room with me and you should've seen her face. The poor girl tried to be nice. I didn't tell her it was for fun, I just asked how it looked. She said quietly and as kindly as possible, "Hooooooorible. Mom, it's hooooorible." Perfect. That's the idea. But, in the end, it was TOO horrible. I couldn't stop staring at the awfulness. Too much? I wondered. I decided yes, it was. It accentuated my recently post-baby bod just a smee too much for others to be able to enjoy their holiday. So I settled on a red vest that I'll pair with some awesome turtleneck..stay tuned.

In other news, Eli is almost 5 months old! What? Time flies. It really does.

Hope all is well with everyone out there!

Poll: What's your favorite family Christmas tradition?

3 bedroom ONE bath

Sometimes, the smaller size of our house is overwhelming. Sometimes, it's just plain entertaining. Point and case?

We have one bathroom. Count them. ONE.

This morning. Early. Mom has a terrible sinus infection. Eli has just eaten and has fallen back to sleep. (Score)! Mom tries to lay down but can't breathe. Mom is trying not to cough and wake up sleeping baby. Mom dreams of a hot bath, with coffee cup on side of the tub, bubbles, and hot washcloth over eyes. Dark, quiet...perhaps a candle. Maybe I could breathe again.......I wake Steve. I whisper...can you watch the baby while I take a bath? I'm too sick to sleep. He's right here next to you."

Steve: "Just wait 5 minutes. I just want to take a quick shower. Stay here for 5 minutes and then you can take a bath."

Me: Sigh. Fine.

5 minutes later I sneak downstairs. I grab my coffee cup. I enter the ONLY bathroom in our house. I slip into the shower when Steve's eyes are closed while washing his face. He opens his eyes to me grinning. He has screamed like a little girl. He gets out slightly annoyed. He asks why I left the door open.

I didn't. We look around the corner.

Good morning Sophie.

Sophie is on the toilet. Grrreat. I close the shower curtain. I put the drain plug in and lay down. I put the washcloth over my eyes.

"Mom!"

Good morning Olivia.

"MOM! MOM! MOOOMMMM! Why do you have a washcloth on your eyes?"

"BECAUSE". I yell without opening my eyes. 

Olivia fights with Sophie over the toilet. Steve explains that there is only ONE toilet and she'll have to wait. Olivia bangs on the door after Steve shoos her out. This wakes the baby.

Sigh....

The bathroom now smells. Steve is shaving. Olivia re-enters, screams something about life being unfair and Sophie tattle-tailing. Whatever. She is now on the toilet.

Steve has shut off my bath water. It's still about 5 inches short of where I like it. I argue. He states we are saving water. I put my head under the water and try to breathe it in. It doesn't work.

I reach over to my coffee cup. This'll be good, I think. I attempt to take a sip without sitting up. I spill half of it on my chest. Luckily, it's cold since I have ignored it thus far. I wonder if there is coffee scented bubble bath. I wonder if I should invent it.

I sit up, peeved.

"Steve! All I dreamed of was a relaxing hot bath! I just wanted a washcloth over my eyes and a dark quiet room....ALONE."

Steve: "Well, I'm here. Pretty much a dream come true."

Right.

I've changed my dream. 4 bedroom 5 bath. 4 out of 5 bathrooms are mine.

4 month photo shoot

Sad sleeping face

We tried rice cereal with a little banana. Eli loves food. Surprised?

Happy eater

Eli is 4 months old!!!! Isn't he fabulous?!

Conferences

Parent-Teacher conferences were this week.

The dread I used to feel for my conference returned slightly. You know, the incessant prayer that takes place while you wait in the hall for your mom to come out of the conference? God will surely treat you well and somehow convince your teacher not to comment on any previous negative behaviors of yours...

Well, there's no need for dread for these little girls this year. Here are their glowing reviews, in a nutshell.


Olivia: 2nd Grade. Mrs. Barber. 

Olivia has a great personality. She is very energetic and smart. She is reading at a 4th grade level. She sometimes talks too much. (No way). She apologizes sincerely when she is off task. She is creative and caring. Talks openly about breastfeeding. (Great).


Sophie: The Big K. Mrs. Emary.

Sophie is an individual. She thinks about things deeply. Her hearing was checked as it was questionable if she could, in fact, hear...since she often seems to not acknowledge she's a member of this outside world. She passed the hearing test. Sophie CAN follow directions but sometimes chooses not to. When Sophie is asked about not following directions and coloring the sheet her own way she states, "I just thought it'd look better this way." Sophie is intelligent, according to her teacher. She is creative and imaginative. (No way). She reportedly, does not act like a dog at school. This was surprising, in a good way. She is a "delight" to have in class and is excelling in every area.

Eli: Year One. 4 months. Mom.

Rocking it.
Sleeps like a champ.
Eats like a champ.
Weighs in like a champ at 15 lbs.

A boom bada bam da bam.

How could I ask for more?

Signing out...

Proud Mama

The werewolf, witch and the wardrobe

We celebrated Halloween and Sophie's birthday in style this weekend!

A witch, werefolf, cow, and a mom. Oh, and Grandma Jan (Bam) was here too, taking the photo. She was dressed as a bat. She called herself an old bat. He he he!

We twick oh tweeted in our little neighb, then went over to Dan and Amy's to meet up with them and Lianna and Shawn too. They had a nice little camp fire going and lots of little kiddos stopping by. The girls' favorite house was the one that handed out tiny pops. JUST what we needed to bring my girls out of their shells for the night. 

NOT.

We had a party for Sophie on Sunday. She got many awesome gifts. Dogs, of course, doggie bedding, dog figurines, a voice morpher, a tooth necklace (specifically requested by Sophie herself), a sweet scooter she's been wanting, doggie supplies handmade by Bam. Clothes and books, the Nerf gun, window art, and much more. The girl was lovingly spoiled.  :)

The BIG 6. Can you believe it?

My smiley, happy baby. The drooliest, cutest, pumpkin pie ever. 

She's so cool and fierce, caring and tenderhearted, tomboy, doggie lover, and now 6. 

I just love her so much. 

Thanks to all the family that came to help us celebrate!!!

This is a normal family picture, right?

Spooky

Should've taken this picture a bit sooner....

Sophie's first weapon. I've been shot about 10,000 times since yesterday. Mainly by Dan, Steve, & Shawn.

Eli and the ladies

Sophie's best friend Abby

Eli the Cow...just loved this. Can you tell?

 Happy Halloween everyone! And a big Happy Birthday to my baby girl Sophia Grace Clark! 

We love you Sophie!

Third times a....

Swimming. Who's new to swimming? Eli. He has mixed feelings about it. Here are some blurry photos of his initial reaction to the not so warm water....

OMG this is freezing!

Wait! Mom always makes my bath water nice and toasty!

We did have a nice time after this though. Eli warmed up to the idea and must have gotten a little used to the water, because he tolerated it for about a half an hour more. Eli and I hung out in the shallow part and I danced around with him singing swishy swashy songs....then he got mad eventually and I cuddled him in a towel and he fell asleep immediately. 

First swimming experience?  Check. 

In other news...Eli is a bit...well....portly. 

We LOVE it. I LOVE him and everything about him...even his well-fedness. See below for details...

I clearly adore taking low quality pictures of him all day long. He loves it too. (Not.) I like to get in a not joke whenever possible. 

Well, guess what else? Third times a.....

THUMBSUCKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That last one is a little creepy, but you get the idea. He's always trying to find his thumb, and most of the time he gets it. And when it moves away from it's spot, he gets very angry. Wonder how long it'll take him to figure out that he controls the whole deal?

Well, there's the Eli update. We love him. The girls adore him. He smiles like a goon at Steve. We couldn't be happier. 

Pretty pretty PC

Fall is beautiful....and my favorite.

And these are my favorite girls. Of course, these pics are from last year. But there will be new ones soon. And they'll probably contain a small baby too. Yippee! 

Happy Fall

My favorite place

"How long will these people try to make me smile for photos?" - Eli

And now I realize my sunglasses are too big for my face.

Mom & me and the back of Eli's head

Can we try to get Eli's face? I'll move over, you move in, and.....we tried.

Eli's "new" highchair, without the pad.

Eli is suspicious of the number of photos I've taken that are exactly the same.

Eli and I ventured out on a special mid-week trip to Iowa City to see family. I stayed with my mom at her place, she took half a day off, and we visited my favorite place in the world, Wilson's orchard outside of Iowa City.

I truly wished the rest of my little family could've been there to enjoy the day, but since it wasn't possible, my mom bought the girls & Eli little Wilson's orchard t-shirts. And for Steve? A bundle of frozen apple turnovers. The orchard is famous for them, served hot with Heyn's ice cream on top (a local favorite).

We've had lots of great memories at Wilson's. It's more beautiful than any place I've ever seen, and it's right here in Iowa! It's funny how sometimes we miss how truly beautiful things are around us, right here where we live. The leaves are changing, the colors are astounding. On my drive up, I'd arrive at the top of a hill overlooking a valley and little gasp, "Wow." under my breath, outloud...because I just couldn't help it. What a beautiful place.

Mom and I had a wonderful time sitting on a blanket overlooking the valley of the orchard, eating hot apple turnovers and watching Eli smile. Made me remember the year before when we took these:

All fuzzy inside

Like I mentioned in my last post, we've been doing some middle of the week camping. We've had some good moments, like this one:

It was night time and we were all getting ready for bed. Olivia was laying up in the loft on the camper bed next to Eli. Eli was sucking on his paci, staring at her face as she sang him lullabies. He was starting to doze. I climbed up to the camper loft to lay down next to them. Olivia said,

"Mom? Isn't he the best baby in the world?!"

Me: "Yes," I said. "He is clearly the best."

Olivia: "I just feel so fuzzy inside. I feel like I could just explode!"

Me: "That's because you love him. It makes you feel happy doesn't it?"

Olivia: "I don't know why but I'm starting to cry!"

Me: Speechless.

I love my babies, and apparently, Olivia gets it too. :)

Isn't love grand?

Kudos to the mamas + it's FALL!

Kudos to the mamas that have raised three children before me. Wow.

Things have been busy around here lately. It's busy just being home. It's insane to consider even going to the store. But since school started and there's some resemblance of a schedule in some of our lives, things are going a bit better.

Updates on us:

We'll start small....

Eli the Great...is 9 weeks old! His current activities include:

• establishment of good and mostly easy breastfeeding. This is an accomplishment for us and we're proud. I owe much of my success to my mom and my friend Erica for their undying support and tips.
• smiling and laughing
• looking adorable in tiny man outfits
• sleeping from 9-5 every night!!! 

Eli loves to go on walks with Mom and loves to rock in the chair and watch Price is Right. (Who doesn't?)

Sophie the Fierce:

• Sophie loves the Big K. 
• She takes the challenge of good behavior and the Prize Box at school verrrrrry seriously. She moved her clip on the stoplight ONCE and went so ballistic that her teacher emailed me to detail what happened, I think, in case I sued or something. It hasn't happened again and she's so full of excitement about the prize box she can barely speak. Sure hope there's something good in there....
• She loves soccer. We weren't sure if we were going to keep her in soccer after her circus display at her first game. Perhaps not old enough?? But we threatened her with being off the team and bribed her with slushies for excellent behavior only (these are solid parenting tips folks) and waaaallaaaahh....a well-behaved soccer girl.

Olivia the Grown-up:

• Olivia loves the 2nd grade. Her teacher's personality is a lot like hers and it makes for a much easier year. However, the magic 2nd grade has brought on a magical amount of GRADED papers...like...everything. Yep, everything is graded now, and it makes me a bit nervous. I find myself saying things like, "Why did you miss this one? You know that. Pay more attention." And then I feel terrible because they should be happy little kids still right? Achieve AChieve...ACHIEVE children!!!!!! I feel like that's what we do to them. Sigh.
• She LOVES gymnastics. Almost fanatically. Which is fine, because I pay for it fanatically. She looks born to be a gymnast in her adorable leo (whispered.."leo")...some of you are getting my movie reference. I love watching her tumble and swing and roll and flip. Adorable. 
• Olivia has taken on the role of a grown-up and likes to enforce rules on the lower people (aka...her brother and sister), mainly her sister because Eli just drools so far. But she's a big help when it comes to getting things done and being responsible for herself and that is just fine with me. 

Steve and I are doing well too. Steve is busy at work and likes to bother me about buying a duck boat. Ah ha ha ha HAAAA! Yeah right. We'll just park it sideways in our lawn and be super classy like that. I have to remind him often that we live in town and already have more things than we can fit in our driveway. Plus, I'd just adore more payments to make. Wouldn't you? But boys can dream....

I started writing for examiner.com. Here's my link if you are interested. This is a far cry from what I do here. I have to write actual articles (not stories about myself), and include something local in them, like stuff about Des Moines or Iowa. It's fun so far and I like the challenge. Check them out here:

http://www.examiner.com/user/2630101/2064526/articles
We're heading off to do some Fall camping tonight! We've got the camper ready to go. I love everything Fall so this makes me giddy with excitement. The fire will be awesome on a chilly night! It might be bad parenting to take our kids out camping on a school night, but there's plenty of time to be stuck inside because our doors are snow-drifted shut (in a few short months if not weeks). So we'll go to bed on time and do homework still, just in a much more fun setting.

I'm kidding myself about going to bed on time.

I know.

Rosie Posie Clark and Tigress the Fish are doing well too. They are also gearing up for a great Fall season.

I made pumpkin bread yesterday. Whoop whoop! Who's with me? 

Eli the boy

Has there been a cuter baby?! I think not. But that's just me. We particularly enjoy his chin muscles.