Woolsey Family Chronicles

Remember #4 of the last blog entry in my "top 10 reasons life is getting crazy in the Woolsey household" about the fact that the girls learned to climb on the bed and may end up killing themselves? Well, a few days ago I was putting away clothes in Ava's bedroom when I heard Elsa crying hard. I walked into the guest bedroom and Ava was trying to console Elsa and Elsa was so upset. I asked Ava what happened but I cannot rely on her information much more than "she fell off the bed" because Ava was afraid she would be blamed for the incident so she would be willing to tell just about any lie to cover her ass. So, I picked Elsa up and cuddled her but she cried for about an hour. Chris tried rocking her and I tried holding her downstairs in a new environment. We eventually realized that she wasn't using her right arm at all. We tried putting a binkie in her hand and she would just drop it. Of course we thought she probably broke it. We put her to bed with some Motrin and rubbed her back until she was almost asleep. I worried about her rolling over on her arm and screaming in pain, but that little girl slept all the way until 7am without a peep. The next day I got the first appointment for the doctor. Ava insisted on going with me because the doctor's office is one of her favorite places to be. The doctor took Elsa's arm and wiggled it all around while Elsa screamed in pain. He told me he thought her elbow was out of the socket but he may have just heard it pop back in but we still had to go get x-rays. At the end of the day, the x-rays showed no damage – no broken bones or joints out of their socket – just a healthy little arm that escaped serious injury this time. Chris took down the guest bed that day. And so begins the dismantling of the guest bedroom

I can't help but to mourn the loss of my guest bedroom a little. I took great care and interest to create a comfortable and attractive guest room with Van Gogh and Degas prints and little touches of France throughout. The guest room was always a beautiful room to me because it is very spacious and has nice views (including the snow capped Sierra in the winter) and its own bathroom. I feel that my house is slowly turning into a children's play center, one room at a time. First it was the billiard room complete with beautiful billiard table and accompanying artwork, later turned playroom. Now that I didn't mind because no one ever really played pool and it was a big waste of space. As a playroom it may not be as attractive but it certainly is functional. Now my beautiful French style guest bedroom is being torn apart to become yet another kid area of the home. My beautiful comforter packed up and vacuum sealed, my random antique night stand now sits homeless and alone in the other corner of the room, the bed frame disassembled to go under the house, the box spring lying against the armoire, and the mattress is lying on the ground being physically abused by four small children at every opportunity. We moved Elsa's crib back in there because as much as I would like them to all sleep together in one room, I think the dynamics work better when Elsa has her own room. Let's face it, everyone gets to sleep a little longer and getting a good sleep takes a high ranking in my top 5 most important things in life. The kids and their toys have fully taken over the upstairs and part of the downstairs. Can I write off most of my house at tax season and call it a preschool or day care center? I guess not since they are my small creatures and not someone else's.

I am having a hard time giving up the babies' morning nap. I put them down at 9am this morning and by 10am I went to check on everyone and they were all just sitting up there in their cribs messing around. I brought them down and implemented plan B which was two babies on a walk with Laura and one baby to Costco with me. Ava was on a field trip to the zoo. So afternoon naps it is. It was a nice long run with the two naps a day but I guess it is time for the babies and I to give them up. We are getting older now and they don't need as much daytime sleep and I need to get a morning routine so we aren't all bored every morning at home. If anyone has any fun and interesting ideas or activities for three toddlers, please comment on it. Our current list of activities are as follows: park play requiring two adults namely nanny Laura or Kathy and myself in which kids throw bark and then laugh hysterically followed by risking their lives atop the play structure nearly falling out of every open area at the very top concluding with swinging and then home; the Costco trip requiring two adults to push three kids in two carts wherein lots of samples are consumed and many "triplets" commentary are tolerated; the toy store rampage – this one is where I take the kids by myself to a toy store and let them run wild crashing carts into displays and touching every toy they can find while I chase them around picking up toys and making sure they don't leave the store or bother other patrons; take the kids to the Roseville Galleria where there are indoor play structure that the kids play and we have one adult on the inside managing the kids and one adult at the exit so we don't have to find one of our kids wandering through Sears again.

In other news, I made four home cooked meals this week. I cooked, cleaned and took care of my kids, and that is a very full life. I am truly a homemaker. I really need to find a hobby.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.