Life Within the Cuckoo's Nest: October 2016

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Family Pictures!

We had the opportunity to get our family pictures taken by a good friend of mine in the neighborhood/ward and I was soooo excited! I had a blast searching for new clothes for everyone and I daydreamed about how beautiful everything would look. Then the actual day came and I was horribly disappointed.... You see, I had underestimated my children. I guess normal children tend to not cooperate for family pictures.... something nobody told me. I didn't even want to see what our pictures would look like because I was so certain that we had failed miserably!

Then, I got the email that our pictures were ready!

A part of me didn't even want to open the email, but curiosity got the best of me! OH. MY. GOODNESS!!! Chauntelle is a genius! She somehow managed to capture the crazy and turn it into beautiful! I have no idea how she did it, but I am grateful. So now we have these really pretty pictures to look at and some fun stories to go along with it :).

Josh turns 32!!!

It was a crazy week for a Birthday which was kinda sad for Josh, but he took it like a champ! I guess as you get older, Birthdays aren't that exciting anyway. I had a fun day all planned out with just him and I, while my Mom slept over the night before so she could be there all weekend to help with the kids! Then came the crazy....

At 4am Austin woke up barely breathing and coughing that horrible croupy cough. Great. My Mom and I were up trying every home remedy we could think of to help him breathe since the doctors office wouldn't open for another 4 hours and we really didn't want another ER bill on our hands. Luckily I found some left over steroid from the last time croup ravaged our home which was an answer to prayers! However, instead of spending the day going to restaurants and enjoying each others company sans kids, I spent a good portion of the day in the doctor's office waiting with all the other sick kiddos and their miserable Moms....

It would have been amazing if that were the only dramatic event but sadly it got worse. At around 5am we got a horrible phone call from my little sister, Briana, that she had been drinking too much and was raped and is now in the hospital. Yeah, you can't even script this stuff. So of course my Mom, aka babysitter, left us to go take care of my little sister.

Eventually we all made it back to the house and my Mom said she would stay late so we could fit in dinner and a late movie. She's such a gem! We tried our best to forget all the drama of the day and enjoy our couple hours of freedom. Olive Garden was amazing as always and we saw The Girl On The Train which we have been dying to see! We both read the book and loved it!

Then we came home to our sick kiddo and put everyone to bed, exhausted as ever. So much for our much needed relaxing day!

The next day (Josh's actual Birthday) was Sunday so Austin and I made Daddy some Birthday cupcakes and a yummy BBQ dinner and we all had a quiet celebration at home after church :). It was relaxing and quiet. Well, as much as it could be. One thing I can say about Josh getting older is he handles disappointment so much better than he used to!

Happy Birthday my love! We all love you so much and don't know what we would do without you!

Sunday, October 16, 2016

LaFeber Life Lately: Beautiful Fall Days

Their new babysitter, Ms. Amy, took them on a field trip to the pumpkin patch! How cute is it that he has his arm around her on the train?!

As I was taking the kids for our usual afternoon walk, it felt official. FALL IS HERE! Out are all the scary Halloween decorations that we love to see and talk about as we stroll. Austin runs ahead and points out every pumpkin, every scary spider, and every skeleton. Evie happily munches on pretzels and cheerios as she sits in the stroller, taking it all in in her own way. FALL IS HERE!!!

I love the way he walks! Fists clenched, long strides, so determined...

Stopping to say hello to the scary garden gnome.

Counting all the pumpkins.

I haven't written in a while, mostly because I have to choose between writing and sleep, and sleep always wins. As usual, we have been busy and life seems to be ever changing as the beautiful fall leaves. If there's one thing you can count on, it's change! Sometimes I welcome it, and other times I dread the day when life won't be exactly as it is now. One of those times was the night when we had gotten the kids bathed and dressed in fresh pajamas, and then in sheer exhaustion Josh and I laid on the floor of Evie's room and just watched the kids play. Eve had a fun pink castle tent in her room at the time (which is now destroyed thanks to Austin...surprise surprise...) and both kids were having a ball playing in it together! Austin called it his temple and he held Evie's hand and helped her inside so the two of them could "get married and wear garments." hehe! They did this over, and over, and over, yet somehow the excitement of their wedding day never dimmed! That was a moment I could live in forever. There was also the fun moment when I took Austin to a Barre class in the park! Seriously, he was so adorable! He tried so hard to keep up with the exercises and was feeling like such a big boy! It made me smile every time I looked over at him :). Another moment I could have lived in forever.

Laying out our yoga mats.

Is this cute or what?! He tried so hard to do everything I did!

Other moments, not so much....

Like the day I was playing with the kids in the front yard and a neighbor walked by with her dog. I was helping Austin with his car and before I knew it, Eve had disappeared! She had followed the dog and was clear down the sidewalk just a foot away from the busy street! I screamed and ran, yelling for her to stop. That of course sounded more like "run Evie, go faster!" in her little brain so run she did! Luckily, nobody runs faster than a Mother who is about to watch her baby get squished by a car. I saved Eve just in time, only to turn around and find Austin completely naked and pooping on the sidewalk.... yep, that happened. Or how about the night when Josh went out to dinner with a friend, leaving me outnumbered with the offspring. I was doing pretty good and was feeling proud of myself until bath time. I had just gotten Evie out of the tub, dried off, lotioned up, and dressed. Next it was Austin's turn but I made the rookie mistake of getting the toothbrushes out first. In just the second that it took to pull them out of the cabinet, Evie had crawled back into the bath tub, jammies and all. And let's not forget the day Austin decided to shove a cotton ball up his nose! The kid was supposed to be taking a nap (ha) but instead came downstairs sneezing like crazy! I gave him a tissue and ordered him back to bed, but then had the thought to ask him why he suddenly can't stop sneezing (always ask!). He informed me all nonchalantly that he tore apart his teddy bear and thought it would be fun to take out the stuffing and shove it up his nose!! Yep, that happened. We blew and blew, and he sneezed and sneezed, until it finally all came out. THANK GOODNESS!!

Austin is also in the fun stage of talking back. Yay. When did it become okay for kids to grow up and think for themselves? If I say, "Austin! go upstairs to time out!" he yells back, "YOU go upstairs to time out!" Or how about the time we were on a walk and I said, "Austin, you have to look out for cars!" and he responded with, "No Mom, you have to run away from them..." in a totally annoyed tone that I could possibly be that stupid. Lots of fun....

Basically we are constantly caught up in a state of sheer joy, sheer exhaustion, sheer love, and sheer pain. Sometimes you can feel all four at once! Other times they rotate every 15 minutes, sometimes an hour. I'm not sure how that's possible, but it is. Whenever I find myself about to lose my mind, I try to remind myself that fall is here and someday I will find myself sight seeing alone. Someday I won't have a cute little boy to chatter with or a sweet baby girl to chauffeur around. Someday those special moments will be just a memory. We are going to have some really beautiful memories....