Chaos and Cupcakes

I am seriously living in a zoo! When I got out of the shower this morning, I heard African dance music blasting from the living room. The boys had found a song on the piano with a beat that enthralled them. So they got all their pillows and blankets and made a mountain in the middle of the living room. Then they frantically pranced around to the beat of the music, pretending that they were deers being hunted by dangerous animals. It’s a good thing my video camera was close by!

Speaking of the boys being animals… this morning Andrew got angry with Taylor and said, “Taylor, we’re going to take you back to the pet store!” Taylor replied, “I didn’t come from the pet store! I came from Target!”

The moment I have been trying to guard against occured today. I turned my back on Olivia for literally ten seconds at the most and she crawled over to the stairs and fell down all 6 of them. She is too fast! She cried for about one second until I scooped her up, but she is fine, thankfully.

Before I became a mother, I knew that a lot of sacrifices would be required of me. There are the usual sacrifices that come with having a baby that one reads about in all the “What to Expect” type books- your pre-pregnancy body, sleep, being able to go to a movie or shop whenever you want, etc. But yesterday I had to make a sacrifice that I didn’t think about before having kids; not, of course, that it would have prevented me from having my angels. We went to Lagoon for Novell’s Employee Day and Jared and I weren’t able to ride the roller coasters. We both love roller coasters and water slides and things of that nature. But with 4 kids all under 46 inches, we were sidelined. It was still a really fun day, though. We were able to take the 3 boys on the Log Flume and switch off holding Olivia so we did get one fun ride in. Also, Andrew (being the adventurous boy) and I rode a kiddie roller coaster and I did get one quick trip down a water slide. The kids had a blast. Lagoon is a nice park. There are tons of rides for little kids, a train that goes through a small zoo, and a great water park. The kids loved the water park. There were 3 little slides for kids to go on, a lazy river, and splash swings.

Jared is taking tomorrow off and we are going to go swim at Scera Pool for an hour in the morning and then going to the doctor’s for the 3 boys annual check-ups. Our doctor is the best doctor. He really takes his time and talks to us and the boys and is so thorough. After the appointments, we are going to go to UVSC so that I can meet with my advisor and get my ID and parking sticker. I feel like I am 17 all over again. I am very excited to start school again. I am glad that I got my English degree because it gave me a really good knowledge base from which to teach the kids, but it would have been so much easier had I just gone to nursing school in the first place.

Olivia has been reaching milestones like crazy the past couple of weeks- coordinated crawling, pulling up to stand, cruising, standing alone, and climbing stairs. But the milestone I have been anticipating for years has finally arrived… today, I put a clip in my daughter’s hair. Yes, Olivia now has enough hair for clips! I have a vast array of bows and barrettes that have been anxiously awaiting the day that they could adorn some lucky Ottley girl’s head and now that day has arrived. I am on cloud nine. Whoever knew such a simple thing could bring so much joy into my life? And let me tell you, Olivia looks adorable with a tiny little clip sweeping her bangs off to the side.

I woke up this morning to a very long to-do list and a nasty bout of mastitus. I seem very prone to mastitus for some reason.
I tried to tackle some things that have been on my to-do list all week that I haven’t gotten around to. Why haven’t you gotten around to them? one might ask. I asked myself that same question and decided that in order to see that I have actually accomplished a lot this week, I need to make a list of what I have done:

-cleaned poop off the bathroom floor and toilet from Andrew (who was too busy playing to realize he needed to go until too late)
-cleaned up pee from Andrew (who was too busy playing to realize he needed to go until too late)
-cleaned up pee from Cameron (who refuses to wear any clothes and who got too busy playing to realize he needed to go until too late)
-cleaned black permanent marker off the kitchen wall after Cameron decided he was a graffiti artist
-cleaned blue magic marker off the stairs because Cameron is convinced he is a graffiti artist
-cleaned white paint off my brand new Suburban and my garage fridge- still not sure how this one happened
-watched Olivia like a hawk as she has this week learned to crawl like a speed demon everywhere, including stairs, learned to go from crawling to sitting and from sitting to standing (she can even stand on her own for about 10 seconds!); this means that the moment I am dreading is just around the corner- my little girl will be walking soon (hmm, must be time for another one…)
-tried to explain to Taylor why it’s not ok for him to get Olivia out of her crib and carry her down the stairs:
Me: Taylor, it’s very dangerous to get your sister out of bed and carry her downstairs.
Taylor: But she’s not heavy and I’m very strong.
Me: But you’re not her mother.
Taylor: But when Dad is at work, I am the dad!

Man, is my life fun or what?! Life has been fun, actually, for the most part this week. Taylor had t-ball and he and Andrew both had swimming lessons. It’s so cute to watch them. We all went swimming the other day and Olivia is born to be an Olympic swimmer.