Continued from the end of my last post...

Here's the very last line of my last post:

"I really hope I'm done with messes until at least tomorrow. Let's just hope no one gets sick. (Did I just jinx myself?)"

That answer would be: yes. Craig got some virus that caused a lot of really (I mean REALLY) icky diapers and one throwing up incident. I have been spot cleaning my carpet and couches every couple of hours for the last few days. Once this is over...and I think it might be...we are steam cleaning everything.

I am NOT going to say, "I hope Ethan doesn't get it." (Wait, did I just say that?)

A Day of Messes

I realized this morning that it has been a week since my last post and I usually try to put something up once a week at least (for now). I began racking my brain, but nothing came to me. And then Craig provided the answer. He created the most recent of three icky messes I've had to clean up in the last 24 hours, each one coming from one of the three males in my life, although Craig's was the least icky. To spare you from too much graphic detail, I've used pictures from Google to represent each event, rather than the actual thing (not that I took pictures of these things).

Mess #1
Date: April 21, 2010
Time: Lunchtime
Culprit: Ethan

Just as I put Craig in his highchair to eat lunch and then carried mine into the living room where Ethan was happily wiggling and bouncing in his "exersaucer"-thing, I smelled a suspicious smell. I noticed that Ethan wasn't just bouncing in his seat, but his feet were slipping on the bottom of his toy in a fun-for-him yet odd way. As I got closer, I realized the smell and the slippery stuff were related. He had blown out his diaper and it had dripped down his leg, providing hours of fun for him, but hours (okay, one hour) of clean up for me. I set my lunch aside, got the shower started, took Craig out of his highchair, sent him upstairs with his lunch (to keep him from discovering Ethan's handiwork), and carefully carried The Culprit to the shower. Of course, Craig wanted in on the fun and he can always use a cleaning, so after washing Ethan, I had to let Craig in the shower. Once everyone was lotioned, diapered, dressed, fed, and down for naps, I commenced the clean-up of the clean-up. After that was done, I finally got to eat my lunch. And the boys rewarded me with them taking some nice long naps. Thanks guys.

Mess #2
Date: April 22, 2010
Time: 3:03am
Culprit: Robert

Robert's been dealing with a sinus infection lately and the doctor prescribed him some nasal spray. He's never taken nasal spray before, so we didn't know how it would affect him. We found out at 3:00 this morning. I was awakened by a voice from the bathroom weakly saying, "Sherry?" I'm not usually the kind to wake up suddenly--it takes me a minute--but this time I sat straight up, knowing something was wrong. Robert was standing there with blood covering the lower part of his face and his shoulder. His nose had started bleeding about 10 minutes earlier and he had just woken up. I helped him get his shirt off and got him an ice pack while he tried to stop the bleeding. Then I had to take on the job of remaking the bed. He had been using two pillows and they both had to be thrown away. I felt so bad for him, but I must admit that this was ickier to me than Ethan's mess. I gagged a couple of times. By 3:45, we were ready to get back in bed. And no more nasal spray for him.

Mess #3
Date: April 22, 2010
Time: 9:00am
Culprit: Craig

I put Ethan down for his morning nap, got myself ready for the day, and then came downstairs. Craig had been quietly playing and watching The Backyardigans the whole time. And then I saw why he had been so quiet. He had gotten a hold of an unopened pump bottle of Dial hand soap. He's never been able to get one open before, but he managed this time. When he saw me, he excitedly said, "Yay! Did it!" There were two large yellowish spots on the carpet, one on either side of him, a couple squirts of soap on the couch, and he himself was covered in the thick slime. This was the least of the messes, and a relatively "clean" one, if you know what I mean. But it was still a pain. How do you clean up soap? Water only adds to the problem. I guess lots of water. I'm still working on it. I scrubbed the carpet with a damp towel until the yellow turned white, wiped up what I could, and then set a dry towel on top. I may have to repeat the process later.

I really hope I'm done with messed until at least tomorrow. Let's just hope no one gets sick. (Did I just jinx myself?)

Desert Botanical Gardens

Yesterday I went with Craig and Ethan to meet Josephine and her two youngest boys at the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix. You wouldn't think there would be much for four little boys ages three and under to do in a place like this, but they loved it. I think there's just something about the great outdoors, blooming flowers, and sunshine that we can't help but love. Heavenly Father's creations surrounding us and filling our souls seem to breed joy and peace. There are truly many beauties around us, even in the desert. :) Ethan, who didn't get out of his car seat much, was so pleasant and quiet and seemed to be enjoying himself, too. Here are some of my favorite pictures.

The saguaro (sa-wah-ro) cactus is only found here in Arizona and the Sonoran Desert of Mexico. A few stray plants can be sound in Southern California, near the border. As you can see, they can grow very tall, between 40-60 feet high. They also live between 150 to 200 years. These are the kind that can grow the arms that you see in Wiley Coyote and Yosemite Sam cartoons. These are not endangered, but thy are protected plants here in Arizona. The saguaro blossom is the state flower. These are the tallest I've ever seen. That's Craig and Josephine's son Benjamin running down the path between them--you can use them as a height reference.

These are called Chocolate Flowers, so I had to include them. They have a very nice, chocolatey smell to them. I wouldn't mind having a bunch of them sitting on my kitchen table.

We saw several lizards. This one is pretty well camouflaged, so I hope you can make him out. He's missing part of his tail and looks like it's just starting to grow back with a stubby little spike on the tip.

Me and my cute boys.

In the spring they have a butterfly exhibit. You go into this greenhouse/covered type thing full of plants and hundreds of butterflies. They land on people and you can go right up to them. You aren't allowed to touch them, of course, but they wouldn't fly away if you tried. They say it's because they're still getting warmed up. There were about 10 different varieties. Craig and Ethan both loved this place.

I had to include this picture that Josephine took. What a cutie.

This is a sundial. A good photo opp.

Enjoying the sun.

The boys found a fountain to play in. Craig was practically crawling in it and got soaked all down his front. I had to carry him away from it, literally kicking and screaming. (We've officially arrived at that development conundrum: The Terrible/Terrific Twos. :))

Next, I think we're going house hunting in Fountain Hills tomorrow! Then hopefully we can make it the Phoenix Zoo again before the weather warms up too much. We are loving Mesa! Anyone considering moving here? Come on down!

Eeyore and Piglet

I made this Eeyore for Craig before he was born, when I had all kinds of time to "nest" and wait for the baby. If I had known what his little personality was going to turn out to be, I would have made Tigger instead. :) Like most mothers of boys, I've learned that there's a reason they call them "bouncing baby boys." For Ethan, though, my pregnancy flew by with Craig being so young still, moving, and all the job drama. I never even thought about making a Pooh character for him until Robert said something a several months ago. We decided that if/when I did make one, Piglet would be the best one for Ethan--so sweet, mellow, and is perfectly content to let Tigger/Craig do all the entertaining. I finally got around to starting Piglet a little over a month ago, got frustrated for a while and put him away, got him back out to work on during conference this weekend, and finally finished him last night. Now Eeyore has a buddy and isn't lonely.

"Thanks for noticing," says Eeyore.
"Sh-sh-sh-sure," says Piglet.

Our Easter

This picture is from yesterday morning, not Sunday. Robert had to leave for work before the boys woke up Sunday morning since Easter is a big holiday at the golf course. The old people...I mean members are still here until they migrate north next month, so this is sort of their last hurrah here until Fall. We saved the Easter baskets until Monday morning because he was off. The best thing about it? I got pretty much everything except the football and the blocks (on the far left) from the dollar store. I love the dollar store. Ethan was just there for the ride, but Craig had a blast taking everything out of the baskets. He ate almost his entire chocolate bunny, too, before 8:00am. The blocks and the football were wrapped and I think my favorite part of the morning was when he unwrapped the football. He was there when I bought it last week so that day he played with it (I think it was Monday), but that night I hid it when he went to bed. He had forgotten all about until yesterday. I thought he'd know what it was right away just by the shape of the wrapping paper, but he ignored it until Robert told him to unwrap it. Once he got the first piece off and saw what was inside, he started ripping the paper off and yelling, "Ball! Ball!" It was so cute--I wish I had the video camera on. That and the recorder, I think, are his two favorite things. Ethan is just happy to watch Craig enjoy everything, grabbing a nearby toy now and then and chewing on it.

We didn't do an egg hunt this year--I think I'll wait until next year to get into all that. We did go to the ward Easter Egg Hunt Friday night and Craig had a lot of fun. He found quite a few eggs. There's a family in the ward with a couple of young kids who we spent Thanksgiving with. They don't have any family that's local, either. We talked about getting together for Easter so they came over anyway, even though Robert was working. It was fun--Craig had some friends to play with and we weren't alone on Easter. Plus I had a turkey I've been wanting to cook up and get it out of the freezer, so it worked out perfectly. Now we have leftovers!