New Babies!

llllllllllllllliiiiiiiiiiiiiizzz

Lizzie just typed her name.

Guess what! We have five new babies at our house this morning! 5 new baby kittens, that is. Our cat, Cinnamon (who is only 10 months old herself) just gave birth to her first (and last) litter of kittens. Here's how it happened:

Russ and I were awakened at 0145 this morning by a screaming Ethan. When we ran in to see what was the matter, we saw Cinnamon on his bed (actually it was Matt's bed--he'll love that) next to a kitten with it's placenta still attached. For some reason, I never thought of the kittens having placentas--I just imagined them all being born by themselves I guess. Anyway, I stayed with Cinnamon and after a few minutes of watching, Russ took Ethan back to bed with him. I stayed up the rest of the night with Cinnamon--the last one was born around 0530.

A little while ago I asked Ethan what he first thought when he woke up and there was a kitten in his bed--did he know it was a kitten? He said, "No! I thought Cinnamon had just brought me a dead mouse! A slimy dead mouse. I didn't know it was a kitten." Gross! No wonder he screamed. The funny thing is, I made two different nests for Cinnamon--one under Matt's bed and one in the back of my closet. Instead she choose to climb up in bed. Interestingly enough, I remember reading an account of my grandmother, Laraine Jones Nielsen, in which she recalled as a girl waking up one night in the bed she shared with her sisters. She said "There was a mewing, wet mess at our feet--our cat had kittens in our bed!"

The next surprise after discovering that each kitten had it's own placenta, was that the mother cat EATS the placenta! She chews through the umbilical cord and then chows down the afterbirth, before she evens licks off the kitten! So, cats eat throughout labor--why can't people? Thank goodness we have other options on our menu. Ew.

The first baby was tan, the second, gray; the third was the runt of the litter--a very small tan one. The fourth kitty was also tan. The fifth kitty has her mother's coloring: a dark orange, with some stripes.

It's a good thing I stuck around watching with Cinnamon, because she had trouble with the fifth birth. I actually had gotten our old Sony Hi8 videocamera out, and thought I had filmed the fourth birth, but I forgot to press record. Yes, retarded, I know. But, I figured it out in time to film the 5th one. I actually had to set the camera down and help her with that one--she was really meowing and moving around alot, and it was stuck with just it's hind legs hanging out. I tried to help gently tug on it, and finally had to use a towel because otherwise it was too slippery. I was afraid I might damage the kitten, so I didn't pull too much--besides, Cinnamon turned on me a few times and I didn't want to make it more painful for her. She was in distress though. The others all came out with one or two pushes. This one took a lot longer. Finally it did come out, but the afterbirth was still partially inside the cat, when Cinnamon decided to jump down off the bed. Since I had backed off and was holding the camera, I didn't see her about to jump until she did it. I thought the fall might have killed that newborn kitten, but thankfully it didn't. Maybe the drop to the floor helped the rest of the afterbirth to come out. Cinnamon licked the baby some, but then started chomping down the placenta, so I took my towel and helped wipe off the kitten. I was afraid from the way it's chest was moving so deeply in and out that it wasn't breathing, so I kept stroking it with the towel until Cinnamon took over. Eventually it did start to mew. After she cleaned it off, I put it up in the bed with the other kittens.

Now it is later morning, and I showed Cinnamon the bed I made for her and the kitties in my closet. I used a dresser drawer, with a towel folded in the bottom, covered by a towel changing pad liner, which fit perfectly. I know that the mama cat likes to move her babies herself, but I didn't want her to have to move them off Matt's bed. I carried the kittens in a towel to my closet, near but not in the bed I had prepared. Hopefully Cinnamon will just move them there herself, and we can call it good. I figure that's the safest place for them, where it's quiet, dark, warm, and protected from children.

For some reason, Russ didn't want to see the video of Cinnamon eating the placenta. I think it's fascinating; he thinks it's gross. I don't know how to get my Hi8 cassette onto my computer, or I would upload the video for all my "avid readers". In fact, I don't even remember how to hook it up to my tv so I can make a videotape of it. Any help?

Matthew will be excited to see the video. I'm sure if he was here, he would have stayed awake with me, watching the whole thing.

Geocaching

We're going to try Geocaching, finally! I got a Garmin eTrex Venture (handheld gps especially designed for geocaching), and loaded up a bunch of sites in Del Rio and San Antonio, and all along the way from here to there. So, I think for our date tonight, Russ and I will try it out. Then we can do it with the kids tomorrow.

Matthew has been in the Laurel Ridge Treatment Center in San Antonio for 3 weeks now. We get to take him out for a few hours on a pass tomorrow, so we'll go have lunch at Pizza Hut and then go do some geocaching.

I haven't posted anything for quite awhile--since May 11th. Things were just too crazy, and besides, what do you say? My child is in a psychiatric hospital? Well, there it is. We think he might be bipolar, and he really needed to be on some meds to help control it. The earliest appointment we could get was mid-July, and that just wasn't going to cut it. Our only other option was to put him in the hospital right away. Luckily our insurance (TriCare Prime) pays for it all, or there's no way we could do it. Acute care was something like $1300/day and even the extended living facilities where he is now is $650/day. They have him on some meds now, which a psychiatrist adjusts as they observe him. Matt goes to summer school there, they swim on Tues, Thurs and Sat. We call him every night. He seems to be doing better each week. Tomorrow we'll drive out there (3.5 hour drive) for a weekly family therapy session with him, and then we get to take him out.

At first Ethan didn't really miss him. But, after 2.5 weeks, he started saying he missed Matthew and wanted him home. We don't know how long he'll be there, but it looks like it could be two months. He needs to be stabilized on his meds and capable of returning home and assimilating back into the family appropriately. He was getting more agitated, irritable and aggressive, making more threats and acting out physically (like destroying property). We're hoping not to have to deal with that when he returns.

We have applied for humanitarian reassignment so that we can be closer to facilities/medical care that our family needs. We expect to move by the end of the summer, probably to Shreveport, LA. That is where Barksdale AFB is,and where Russ will once again fly the B-52.

Okay, now we're going on our date.

You'll get a good laugh from this

Check this out! I can't get the link on here, but just go to jibjab.com and under the category of Mother's Day, play the preview for "Famous Mothers".

Ethan, Lizzie and I have watched it over and over. We still laugh............

Later the same day:

Speaking of a good laugh, this morning while I was watching this video on the computer with Ethan, Lizzie came up and put something in my hand. I accepted it, but then I jumped, screamed and dropped it when I saw half of a wet, dead cockroach in my hand!

Now, here is where I am glad to have cats. I've seen them eat cockroaches before, always leaving at least one bent, hairy leg as a calling card assuring me they are doing their duty. If it weren't for this, I would have been more disgusted (if that's possible), because I would have to guess out of which little mouth that wet, dead half of a cockroach came.

The other day after I cleaned the bathroom, I was looking around for where I had set the sponge. I couldn't find it, and forgot about it, until later that afternoon I saw my cute little curly-headed toddler holding that dirty, damp blue sponge over her face. She also tries to drink out of the hampster's water bottle, cat's water dish and the green water from the neighbor's bird bath.
As a result, this child is hardly ever sick. She is constantly immunizing herself through exposure in small degrees. A worthy example of health-conscious efforts at such an early age. I think my last word of praise for her here is...eww.

Happy Mother's Day!

Isn't this how we'd like to picture our children...

fun-loving, creative and intelligent...

although, more often they look like this type of

fun-loving, creative and intelligent!

Found a puppy

We took a different route to WalMart today, and when we stopped to check out some armadillo road kill, we found a little puppy nearby. We brought her home with us and fed her--she's very friendly and good with the kids, and I haven't heard her bark yet. Probably won't keep her though. Does anybody have an idea what type of dog this is? I need to list it in the paper.

Steel Eel, and other misadventures

Yesterday I dropped Russ and the kids off at SeaWorld while I went to the temple. I joined them later that afternoon. It took quite a bit of coaxing to get Matthew to go down the big water slide the first time. After that he thought it was so fun that he kept going. So, we thought, hey--he's being so brave, maybe he will like one of the roller coasters too. He was just tall enough this time visiting to ride one of my favorites--the old-fashioned coaster called the Steel Eel.

Take an eel-lectrifying ride.

SeaWorld San Antonio boasts the Southwest's first hypercoaster, the "Steel Eel," with its pulse-pounding, 15-story initial drop, speeds of almost 65 mph and non-stop peaks, valleys and camelbacks that create maximum "air time," or weightlessness - a hypercoaster's signature feature. This "eel-lectrifying," state-of-the-art coaster zooms along 3,700 feet of track and covers the serpentine route in approximately two minutes. Height Requirement: Guests must be at least 48 inches tall to ride.

Yeah...

Bad idea. Russ said that from the top of the first hill on the Steel Eel, Matthew did NOT like it. Matt said that when it dropped it "really hurt my stomach". He was sobbing when the ride ended. I fear we may have traumatized the boy for life. I'm sure he will never try another fast roller coaster for a long, long time. With his cautious nature, we should have known better.



Well, other than that, it was a pretty good trip to SeaWorld. Matthew seems to have forgiven us. For that.

In other news, Lizzie crawled out of her crib for the first time today. Boom, crash. I ran to her room (naptime) and she was standing in the middle of the floor crying. But, I figured that if she was standing, that was a good sign that she wasn't injured too badly. Her crib was on the lowest setting already, but propped up on one side by a pillow (to help her breathe easier at night when she's stuffy). I pulled out the pillow after that, but I worry that she may still be able to get out. I don't want to put her in a big girl bed yet, nor let her sleep on a mattress on the floor--she wouldn't stay in bed and sleep if we did. I think I'll get one of those crib tents that can be attached to the top of a crib to keep toddlers from crawling out. Anybody tried those before?

Actually, maybe she can sleep on the floor. After wandering around the house, we found her like this...

...sleeping in the kitty bed.


In other, other news, my sister Deanna is not married. If you find her on Facebook, she's under the name "Deanna Dresden"--she's also listed her birthday as Jan 1, 1909. She's pretty hot-looking in her pictures for such an old lady.

A state of inefficiency

I can't decide whether to take a nap, read my book (Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, which I'm liking so far...I couldn't get through Emma, although I did like the movie), make some Coconut Zucchini Bread, plant some flowers, exercise, play cards with Ethan (not Book of Mormon Battles...again!), do crafts with the boys, finish sewing my duvet cover OR WHAT! So I'm still sitting on the computer.

I want to go get acupuncture done in San Antonio tomorrow (I really need to unblock my chi!), but that would require driving in the car with three kids for 6 hours. Russ has to go anyway to clear up his military portfolio or whatever at Randolph. I don't think he's keen on us coming.

My friend just called me for some advice, so I ended up playing cards with Ethan (the little cheater!!!) while we talked. This boy will go through a whole deck of cards, setting it up so that he has all the winning hands for a game of war... I already caught him looking at my cards while I was talking.

NineTEEN!

These are the mugshots of my boys that are on the wall in the Primary room. Pretty pathetic, huh? Don't they look happy to be there? hahaha

So, I haven't been posting much because I was fairly convinced that hardly anybody read it anyway. I guess I judge my traffic by the number of comments. My sister Deanna tells me that she checks this every day, even though she has never commented. Similar story from my mom. So, I will post more often.

Tonight for Family Home War--oh, I mean Family Home Evening--neither of the boys had their stuff prepared, so we decided to postpone until Wednesday (Russ is night-flying tomorrow). Matt was supposed to have the lesson, which I kept offering to help him prepare, but he put off until he was actually supposed to give it. And then he couldn't find what he was looking for (he had made a puzzle on Saturday at the Primary Activity), and it turned into a full scale breakdown. Ethan was soon to follow--so we just put them to bed. Try again later. Usually it goes a little better than this.

Although, one might wonder just what are we teaching our kids when one hears a question like the one Russ heard from 5-year-old Ethan a couple of days ago..."Daddy, do I have to wait until I'm ninety to go on a mission?" NINETY? No, buddy, nineTEEN. Nineteen.

Poor, Poor Sugar

Guess what minor drama we had this morning....All of a sudden we heard this awful, high pitched screaming. It was the cat. Matthew had taken one of my claw hairclips (the kind that are straight, 3 inches long) and stuck it on the cat's leg. Oh boy, she was NOT happy. Every time I got near her to try to get it off, she would hiss, bite and scratch. Finally I had Russ hold her top half in a towel so I could break the clip to get it off. Poor Sugar. I asked Matt later what was going through his head when he did that. Nothing. Of course.

Tonight for Family Home Evening, we sat outside in lawn chairs for the song, prayer and lesson. Then for the activity, we took some kites over to a field nearby and flew them. The boys did pretty well. Lizzie, not so much, but she was tired and ready for bed. I was cranky, because I didn't exercise today. Plus, you will not believe how many times you can tell a child to go get their shoes on and still see them wandering about aimlessly and looking surprised when you remind them. I swear they will not move to action until I yell. I feel like I'm training basics. Only, you're supposed to be nicer to children.

One person's opinion...

Okay, here's something that just happened yesterday. We were all outside painting (except Russ was at work of course). Matthew got mad at me for something--I don't remember what. It doesn't take much with him. He left us and took the dark blue paint and in huge letters he painted on our concrete back porch the words "Mom is an IDIOT". I had to laugh.

He wrote me an apology later in code. It said, "Mom, I'm sorry I wrote "Mom is an idiot". Can you come outside and bounce me [on the trampoline]? If you can't, can I at least have a cookie? Love, Matthew"

You can just see that keen little mind at work. As for the consequence? I put him out there scrubbing at the paint. When he was ready to give up (which didn't take long, mind you), I gave him the option of continuing to scrub until it all came off, or using his allowance money to pay for a special cleaner from Walmart to get it off. He opted to pay for the cleaner. Smart boy.

Which one is the real Val?

Dinotrivia

Saturday morning I came into the living room to find Matthew and Ethan trying to set up a movie to watch, "The Land Before Time: The Mysterious Island". In an effort to distract me from noticing that they were putting on a movie without asking, Matthew started his filibustering. I know I'm using that word incorrectly, but he does sometimes remind me of a politician, and once he starts talking, good luck getting him to stop. Anyway, Matt's informative speech this morning rather impressed me, so I let them get away with it. After all, Russ was sleeping in and frankly, if they're watching a movie, at least they're not fighting.

Here's what he had to say: "Mom! They're going to get a ride home on an elasmosaurus! But, if it were a REAL elasmosaurus, it would probably EAT them! And there would be mosasaurs, too. But, Mom, all these dinosaurs lived at different times. They have a triceratops and an apatosaurus living at the same time, but apatosauruses are sauropods, and they lived during the Jurassic; but the triceratops lived during the Cretaceous. And, there are ceolophysis, but they lived in the Triassic!"

Huh, what? I can't even tell you the order of those periods of time. Matt reads the Dinosaur Encyclopedia like it's a fast-paced novel or something. That's what he brings for me to read to him for "bedtime stories".

This pic is from Feb 6, 2009. I had given them graham crackers for a snack, which Matt chose to eat into the shape of claws, so he could be a T-Rex. Or velociraptor. That's kind of gross and funny at the same time. I made him eat the rest of those graham crackers. Just kidding.

Tough as Bricks!

Yesterday I was at a friend's house (just finishing a Primary presidency meeting--I'm the new 2nd counselor since our branches combined), when all of a sudden we heard a big crash and guess what it was...my 5-yr-old son, Ethan, had snuck into their attic and fallen through the floor, onto their minivan in the garage and then onto the garage floor. He has a few goose eggs on his head, but seems none the worse for the wear. Good thing kids are tough. I told him that he must have a guardian angel protecting him, because he didn't break a bone and there was not one scratch on him.

New Trick

My first Velociraptor drawing:


The boys are very into dinosaurs these days. Well, they have been for a few years, alternating between them and Harry Potter and Transformers. But, since receiving a 3 disc set of the Ultimate Dinosaur Collection by BBC video for Christmas, they've been all but obsessed (thanks Nikki and Ed!). I do not know how many times they've watched those videos, which are similar to National Geographic documentaries, but the narrator goes back in time and sees (computer generated) prehistoric monsters. I'm not surprised to hear Matthew rehearsing some little known fact to me, or talking about dinosaurs I've never even heard of before. But, now even Ethan is coming to me with such tidbits as "Mommy, did you know that Ceolophysis was the first dinosaur?"

Matthew will spend all day in his room reading one of his numerous library books about dinos. One book showed how to draw some, so this morning he tried to draw it. Of course, he got extremely frustrated that he couldn't get it right, and was going through paper like there was no tomorrow. When I intervened, he shoved the book and paper at me and demanded that I draw him a velociraptor. Um, what? I can't even draw a rose that looks like a real rose. Not even close. It will look like a carnation on drugs. But, I can follow instructions, so I took the book and some time later... "wha-la". [How on earth do you spell that?] And I didn't even trace it. Matthew was asking me how I got to be such a good artist. Well, you know.

President Obama's Inauguration Day

Cute & Cuter
(Russ & Lizzie)

Lizzie taking a stroll outside, enjoying the nice,
warm Del Rio January.

Playing with Matthew. 20 Jan 2009

Lizzie laughs at Matthew's antics.

Matt points to his picture of Barack Obama that he colored
as we were waiting to watch the inauguration.

All of us watching the inaugural speech
by President Obama on cnn.com

Ethan and Matthew...

and their versions of our new president.

Ethan's has a pink suit and yellow face. Nice.
Matt's just has a pink shirt and purple tie. He added the legs.

Christmas Pics

Christmas Eve--the boys were laughing at some silly story I was telling them.

Sugar and Cinnamon take a "long winter's nap" under the Christmas tree.


Ethan teaches the Family Home Evening lesson
by using the flannel board to tell the Christmas story.

Lizzie enjoys an up close spot for the story.


Christmas morning, checking out their stockings.


Ethan thinks this Santa Claus sucker will be good...
too bad it was disgusting. All hard marshmallow.


Matt can't wait to get started reading his books.


Santa brought the kids a truck just like Dad's!

The boy's truck...Russ's truck.

Don't let these pictures fool you: Matt did plenty of the driving!


And normally Lizzie doesn't sit in the back.
Russ followed along right behind them, which is a good thing because...

Whoa! Lizzie almost takes a dive due to her brother's
unpredictable starts and stops. Those crazy grade-school drivers!

AuntDeanna Jones

3 June 2000, Deanna and Valancy

Today is my sister Deanna's birthday. As I explained to the boys that we were calling Aunt Deanna to sing her Happy Birthday, Ethan said, "We should just look her up on noblecollection.com, because they probably have pictures of her there or something...you know, 'AuntDeanna Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark'!
Matthew and I had a good laugh over that one.

That's me on the right, Thanksgiving 1981 so I was six years old. Deanna is in the high chair, and almost a year old. She used to stand up in her high chair and shake her bootie around and sing "Bootie bootie, bootie bootie!" She was hilarious.


I just love this picture, so I threw it in here. This is my mom and Deanna, probably 1982. I think Mother made that litle purple jumper Deanna is wearing.



I thought Deanna was so cute. I loved having a sister.
My hair isn't short here, it's just up around my head in braids.


This looks like Deanna's second birthday. Look how young my mom looks. She was young! She was only 28 and Deanna was number 5! Dang, I'm 33 now and I only have 3 kids.

Mississippi Madness

So, I haven't posted in a couple of weeks, and for anyone who is wondering why, it's because we are busy going mad in a motel in Mississippi. Russ had an airspace class to attend here at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, and at the last minute we decided to come with him. After all, that's part of the beauty of homeschooling--freedom to roam.

We have had fun playing on the beach, although not in the water, which is just too cold since it IS December. What were we thinking? Anyway, this week is better than last, since we've been able to meet and talk to actual people. We went to Russ' instructor's house (Randy Abernathy) for a BBQ and enjoyed being out in a more woodsy neighborhood. Randy has a four-wheeler and I drove the kids around his property. He has about 2-3 acres I think. We also met his lady friend, Charlene, and her son Seth who is 13. We hung out with her yesterday for most of the day. She's about my mom's age, and she is really nice. Southern hospitality at it's best :) She let the kids play with her kittens, Seth's toys and even help her decorate her Christmas tree. She even watched Lizzie for an hour or so while I napped on her couch.

Today we plan to go to Beauvoir, the Jefferson Davis home (President of the Confederacy), which is just a mile down the road from us. We are staying at a Holiday Inn on Beach Blvd. The beach is literally just across the street from us, and we can see it from our hotel room. There is a lot of damage and construction here, still 3 years after Hurricane Katrina. Some buildings and attractions are entirely gone. There is a children's museum here, about 4 miles away, where we plan to spend a few hours today. It is pretty fun, and has an awesome group of tree forts outside. I'll upload some pictures later.

Today (Wed. 10 Dec) is our last full day, and tomorrow Russ finishes by 1:00 p.m. and we head out. We'll go through New Orleans and then get home by Saturday night. We have to be back to church Sunday morning so we can say goodbye to our friends Sven and Chelsea Lundberg (he is also our branch president and she is my visiting teacher). They are going on vacation and then he deploys for 4 months to Honduras while she goes home to Arizona. Then they PCS to North Carolina. They are such great people, so fun to be with and certainly a staple to our branch. We'll be sad to see them go. We also just said goodbye to Brandon and Julianne Mackay after Thanksgiving, about whom I could say all the same things. Our boys played together all the time. We're losing everybody! I guess that's life in the military, but in some ways you never get used to it. I just think that I will see all my friends again sometime, I just never know when or where. Keeps things interesting. Plus, now I can always check blogs and see what everybody's up to.

Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season. In the meantime, I smell a dirty diaper!!!