Sharing some journal entries of the past couple weeks.

May 26, 2013

Neighborhood on Santa Fe just north of 19th St.

Wow what an UNREAL week! It’s Sunday and yesterday I hit my 37 week mark. See usually you get to this point in your pregnancy and you’re just excited to have it over with, but even more to have your little angle in your arms. Well both of those are true, more the latter than the first because the Lord has truly blessed me and my discomfort/pain at this point are most definitely minimal. But unlike other phases of life where I got to just look forward to the new addition to our family, this week has had my mind in a WHIRL! Not only have I been trying to get home projects done, and clean out closets, and prepare my little nest for the baby, but Monday our world was almost turned upside down.  A massive tornado touched down just 1.5 miles from our home and grew into a mile wide beast! We had a storm shelter installed in our garage just March 1^st so although I knew it was close, I felt very safe and calm. The kids got a kick out of cracking their glow sticks, and eating from the 72 hr kit. J Adam was at work and was following the tornado on the radio as he raced home. He made sure to stay behind it but was terrified because they were projecting it would take the same course as the May 3^rd 1999 tornado which took out most of our neighborhood. And also had the highest wind speed recorded on the earth, 318mph, pretty serious stuff. Well we were spared and blessed tremendously because the tornado stayed just south of us. But our community of Moore was devastated. Two elementary schools were demolished and 7 children were killed. In total 24 deaths were recorded. Two of which were our neighbor’s wife and 7m old baby. Devastation is one thing on TV, but it’s another thing in your community, and even another emotional level when its people you know and so close to home. Over 40 homes of members were affected, and roughly 20 of those are a total loss, but thankfully no deaths or serious injuries.  So yeah for us it was a measly 24 hrs without power. But the mental comprehension of things slowly grows with each passing day as we try to reach out to those affected by the tornado.  This weekend has been Adam out with helping hands practically all day Saturday and Sunday. I’m lousy offering to be out there picking up debris, not to mention I have 3 kids I’d have to pawn off on someone. So I’ve just been kind of stuck at home, but at least I’ve been able to watch kids for others. That has made me feel much better and like I could contribute to the cause in my own special way.

If a tornado wasn’t enough, Wednesday had its own emotional rollercoaster. We attended the Lusk “School’s out” pool party for the youth since Adam is in the Bishopric, and Brother Lusk personally invited me to bring the kids to swim.  While there a boy almost drown, and Adam performed CPR on him. Caleb Nichols is his name, 11 yrs old, and he was teasing the other kids about drowning all night, so when he really was in trouble no one took him seriously. Finally a young woman swam down and got him at the bottom of the pool and Adam rushed over to try and revive him. It was a surreal experience, watching my husband try to save a gray lifeless body by the side of the pool. After 5+ minutes of just throwing up constantly the paramedics arrived and Caleb had just begun to take in air. He has remained in the hospital since then, and is still on a ventilator. Probably still has a week or two of recovery ahead of him. Adam said in reflection that he was remarkably calm for the whole situation, and it wasn’t until it was all over that it started to really settle in. Mostly just hard mentally, realizing what had happened, and mulling over thoughts of, “What if it had been my child?”

So glad the week is over and looking forward to a much needed Memorial Day break…if you can call pulling up carpet, and tearing down a fence a break. Yeah we’ll see what gets done with a super beat, sun burnt husband. But at least the kids will get some time with him, so important after having him gone all day Saturday and Sunday.

But on a lighter note I have three ADORABLE children who are growing and changing SOO much. Especially McKay, he’s just at that stage. The last month for him has been leaps and bounds in communication. He doesn’t just say words, he says complete statements. Like: “Dat’s my soccer ball!” and he uses a p sound for his f’s calling his foot a put. Which is interesting cause Ephraim used an s for his f’s .

 Oh and McKay is my first child to be so adamant about a favorite color at such an early age. What is the color? Yellow. I’m sure having siblings demanding certain color bowls, cups, and everything else has had its impact. But I still find it quite intriguing and amusing that Yellow is his favorite color. Every time he goes potty he asks for a “yellow bean”, which is a yellow jelly bean. Yeah, doesn’t help that there are maybe 20 yellow beans in the bag of 300 that I bought. 

I started potty training him on May 8^th. Figured I didn’t have the energy, but he was showing all the signs of being ready, and if I put it off, I’d miss my window and be fighting him on it with a nursing 2m old baby girl.  So even though we still have a long way to go he has made some serious improvements, and at least he’s for it, not against it. He tells me now when he needs to go…although I still try to take him every couple hrs max. But he also will feel it coming such that his underwear gets just slightly wet and then he says “Potty Mommy…potty!” And I run him there and he holds the rest of it till he makes it! J Pretty impressive! I’m predicting three more weeks of real effort on both our part, and then hopefully accidents will all together disappear. HA….ok but maybe they’ll be real sparse, cause in three weeks I’ve got myself a newborn and this boy needs to be pretty self sufficient by then.  Regardless of how long the full process takes, I don’t think I’ll regret starting the efforts when I did, because he’s getting a head start and a head start will be better than no start once baby sister takes front and center on the stage of life. J

Ephraim and Emeri are both a joy, but considering its 9:28pm and they are both still screaming and giggling in their room I better try and elaborate on that another day when my memory isn’t so clouded. J  ~Love Jessica

My darling Adam composed this video for me for my 5th Mother's day, and frankly its got some embarrassing photos, but none the less a tear jerker for me. Nothing makes being a mother more wonderful that having an amazing man beside me being a superior father! :)

Here are a couple videos of the latest progression in my little kiddos.

McKay is so good at reading his scriptures, and it doesn't hurt having two good older examples.

And just yesterday we had weather in the upper 60's. So lovely. So of course we had to spend two hrs at the park. Super windy though as you'll no doubt notice.

I was super impressed with Ephraim though cause only two days earlier he was insisting help for the monkey bars, and here he just tackled it all on his own with out my noticing. When I did notice I knew it had to be recorded.

Back From the Dead

So, ill just dispel any excitement from the title of my post right now. No, no miraculous moment has happened with any of our health, nor do I even have a remotely dramatic story about a vehicle, or a pot of soup revived from a dying status. No dear friends it is I... My blogging self back from the dead. Yes my last post was of McKays 1st birthday, and no I am NOT wired to be a blogger of any sort. So why am I back? Because I guess 9 months was just long enough to get some of my sisters and sister in laws to ask why I stopped. I wrote initially for my Mother and family in India. It's hard being a grandma 5000 miles away. But truth was they're life there was so hectic crazy that my mother never checked my blog. So once my driving purpose was gone so was my motivation to blog. But now my family is situated up in cozy Canada, and all my siblings are in school so what else is my poor mother to do besides read my blog right? That's the hope at least. We'll see how it fares. Plus I'm revamping my journal organization and if blogging and I can ever get past our differences I think we could create a stellar Wadsworth family history. So here's to effort #527. :)

This was our CRAZY FUN/Exausting week of birthdays and valentines day. Here's a quick recap:
Tuesday: first dentist apt in 2 yrs. rocked cause I got to invite two of the workers to come to church, one a less active since she was 12. (Missionary work always gives me a high) Adam also turned 28! Tried to plan some fun lil things, but the first LAGIT snow fall of the winter kinda cramped my style. It was 50 and sunshine the day before. But nasty driving conditions just when I was gonna surprise him with lunch and balloons from the kids. So we waited it out and made it happen at 2:30 in the afternoon instead. No biggie cept McKay only got a short car nap and so he rest of the afternoon he was cranky and needy, just when Mommy needed to be cleaning the kitchen, making Adams birthday dinner and creme brûlée! Well yeah, Adam basically made his own creme brûlée after he got home. But he did get to do a confusing treasure hunt to find his present... A tool box. ( I know.... Can't wait to see what I'd give you for a birthday present huh?) Look you get old, you get a lot of expenses, (kids) and you get practical. Don't judge me!
Then after the kids are down I should be getting up decorations for Emeri to see in he morning, but I'm burnt out.
Wednesday: LUCKY mom gets a daughter who miraculously sleeps in and I can sneak out and bring in her surprise Tinker Bell balloon. Then we get ready and go on a surprise birthday outing to a jump zone place with a couple of Emeri's friends. Super fun, and totally made me feel like I was a good birthday mom. Had pizza, then cam home and crashed for naps. The rest of the day was torture waiting for Daddy to get home so we could have our "party" aka... Emeri was dying to eat her princess cake. Adam had the ingenious idea of making a mini princess cake so we didn't have masses and masses of leftover throw out. Worked like a charm! Emeri went at it shamelessly! Thought about other cake options since we did a princess last year, but this girl just loves being a princess... no other cake would really suffice.

Thursday: Supposedly Valentines day...but since my kids aren't in school yet, I figured this burnt out mom could designate whatever day she wanted as Valentines. So we took a much needed party break on Thursday and made our Friday Valentines instead. The kids and I painted/crafted valentines for Daddy, and we all went out to PeiWei for dinner. (First time for us, and frankly a little disappointed.) Chowmein noodles were unbearable...missed Panda Express sorely. But after dinner the kids got to enjoy the delivery at the door when "the man kicked the door". A Wadsworth tradition where a sack of treats and toys are dropped off by an anonymous man (Dad), and the kids get to revel in the excitement of it all. Fun thing was Mommy snuck in Daddy's new cable speed jump rope. Its a hit! Adam is on a week fast from sweets, and is determined to work out at least 3 times, and not eat past 7pm. All in effort to lose weight. I wish he'd be this gun-ho when I'm all flabby after having a baby instead of during my 24th week of pregnancy when its nice to make excuses for a blueberry shake every night. But regardless I'm proud of him and glad that he's not complacent about his health. That he's determined to look and feel his best even if he is happily married for over 5 years.

Yes, that is what a lagit starwars valentine looks like.

McKay's 1st Birthday

So McKay is a darling tank of a boy! Just solid. He was 31” and 23.8 lbs for his 12m check up. He’s got 5 lil’ teeth. Top two, bottom two, and the extra guy on the right top. Don’t know where his pair is, but it hasn’t hindered McKay’s ADORABLE smile! He’s really quite the charmer. I rarely make it in and out of a store without someone saying something to him and him just beaming back. They then always comment on what a happy smiley baby he is. 

He just recently (2 weeks) has convinced himself that spitting is humorous.  I’ll be holding him, and he’ll lean in spurt his lips on my shoulder, lean back admire his wet spot work, look at me for approval with a chuckle, and go to do it again.

He is walking more and more throughout the day. He’s got the cute Frankenstein stance...hands out in front for balance.  The only thing holding him back is he has yet to master standing up by himself in the middle of the floor.  So every time he falls he crawls the rest of his journey till he can use furniture to get him on his feet again.  He’s got the spirit...just still seeking the balance.

He doesn’t use any words yet, but I’m not thrown off by that. I have done very little sign language with him...so mostly he grunts, sometimes points, but mostly cries, until mommy guesses what he needs. He does do an adorable “Uuuuuuhhhhh” sound when he throws back his head...and he knows now it’s pretty much a game to have Daddy do the sound, and then he mimics it. We’ve got some GOOD videos.

He’s a rascal too...no fear. We’ll say “Go get em” McKay...Ephraim and Emeri will scream and run away, and off he’ll crawl at lightening speed to tackle them. He’ll hold his own too in a wrestle/roll match. He weighs almost as much as Emeri, and Ephraim is really good about playing with him gently.  The kids love him, and he follows their every move.  I’m confident they’ll have their bouts, but I’m very hopeful that they will be a tight lil’ group of friends growing up.

With all the “chasing” McKay has also picked up and mastered the tiger growl. And he knows exactly what it means too. J So cute!

He’ll also laugh quite a bit, especially when he’s tired. He’ll crack himself up!  Overall he’s just too adorable. But truth be stated, he is SOOO needy. I honestly put him as the most demanding, fickle child yet. He’s a permanent hip ornament. He loves the toilet, and he always gets into the cabinets...such that he broke our glass cuisinart blender.  It was just the motivation we needed to put child catch latches on all the doors.  J He is sleeping through the night just great, but is waking up often around 6-6:30...which is rough. This morning It was 5:30...Adam tried for 15 min, but he refused to go back to bed. So I took over so Adam wouldn’t be a zombie at work. By 7:30 I was shot. So I put him down and tanked myself for an hour. J Thank goodness for PBS kids!
One last thing different with McKay was he had a real reaction to his chicken pox virus which neither of the other two did. There's a pic below. But he would flare up with red spots all over every time he napped. He'd wake up super rashy, and then it would slowly fade, until another nap rolled around. My guess is his body temp rising during sleep caused the rash to be more prevalent. Anyhow it only lasted 3-4 days and he never seemed unhappy or irritated by the rash, so that was a huge blessing.

Sure do ADORE this baby, even if he does DEMAND muchos muchos attention!!

His aggressive attack on a can of root beer. 

Just the most darling smile

His birthday party invites...He chose not to pose with the hat.

Got out the new slip n' slide for some birthday adventure. Had to show the kids how it was done.

Emeri helping him get excited about a carrot cake elmo cup cake. Thanks for the sweet idea Meredith...but I've now learned twice, that no matter how good cream cheese frosting tastes...it is NOT for decorating...

My splotchy man just after waking up.

And his ADORABLE curls I still can't bring myself to cut.

FIRST Home Improvement Project

So our first MUCH needed improvement to our home was to change out the lighting in our kitchen. It was horrific...there were two of the ancient golden cymbal hanging and we went for a pendant and chandelier. It turned out to be a rough project considering we bought one of each, returned one because an essential piece was missing, then returned the other because the electrical chord was clipped...both issues you'd like to know before assembling and mounting the thing...but alas. The finished result was well worth the three trips to Home Depot. 

 The rest is just some more pics for Grandma Taylor to enjoy. 

I LOVE Being a MAMA!

So for Mother's day I thought it appropriate to post some lovely videos of my darling rugrats who gave me the blessed title of MOTHER. Plus GRANDMOTHER hasn't got to see hardly any of their growing the past year and although a little long and boring to some, these videos capture some of the fun quirky nature of my children 

Ephraim and Emeri playing Alligators down a hotel hallway. The perfect way to unleash after driving in the car all day.



So McKay does this eye roll thing that is CLASSIC! If he gets bumped unexpectedly or something surprises him...he freezes and rolls his eyes back in utter disbelief of what has happened. Its so adorable and unique. We thank him for all the entertainment he affords us, and his patient subjection to our insatiable teasing. :)

The ladder video is when Daddy was up hanging out new light fixtures. McKay also has a unique trademark or looking up and grunting. He now will do it on cue...and his Daddy LOVES it! :)

Last of all our lil' rascal beginning to get the feel for walking. With only 2 weeks till the big birthday he's getting pretty steady and shouldn't be far behind big brother if not ahead of him.

It has been a wonderful Mother's day and a perfect 28th Birthday. We had another family over to enjoy some DELIGHTFUL Indian food. Adam made some dangerous German chocolate cupcakes....so light and delicious you could eat five with out blinking....and I'm not a cake girl.

But back to mother's day...Adam and I both spoke in church today and it was stressful preparing, but ultimately a great blessing to ponder on the beautiful truths we know about mothers because of the restored gospel.  I've included just a couple of wonderful quotes we found.

Heber J Grant: "Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind. It places her who honors its holy calling and service next to the angels. To you mothers in Israel we say God bless and protect you, and give you the strength and courage, the faith and knowledge, the holy love and consecration to duty, that shall enable you to fill to the fullest measure the sacred calling which is yours. To you mothers and mothers-to-be we say: Be chaste, keep pure, live righteously, that your posterity to the last generation may call you blessed."

Joseph F. Smilth: "As a rule the mothers in Zion, the mothers of Israel, are the very best women that live in the world, the best that can be found anywhere. … The good influence that a good mother exercises over her children is like leaven cast into the measure of meal, that will leaven the whole lump; and as far as her influence extends, not only to her own children, but to the associates of her children, it is felt, and good is the result accomplished by it."

It is my testimony that Motherhood IS a DIVINE calling. Especially in those moments when it feels anything but divine and glorious because you've given your all, you're spent physically, mentally, emotionally and yet demand for more still barks loudly in the voice of a neglected hungry 11 month old.  Its in those moments when there is nothing left to give, that the Lord will help us stretch to give more. The enabling power of the atonement is REAL! We just must have the faith to seek after it and use it in our lives. All my love to the mothers of the world giving their all to raise a righteous generation.