Oh What a Beautiful Morning!

A few weeks ago it hit 97 degrees here . . . which is rather hot for TX in April. Apparently Mother Nature has decided to make up for it. The high yesterday was 50, which we hit just after midnight. The temps went down from there and it's currently in the mid 40's. And it's raining. Not the quick thunderstorms we're used to down here (although there is thunder and lightning), but the heavy, drenching rain we used to have in New England. The rain is good - it's been the driest spring since 1917 and there are fires all over the state, so we really could use it :) I love cold, rainy days. Days that are cold enough to wear fuzzy sweaters and make hot cocoa and homemade cookies or bread. I may have to take a break from my diet and make one or both of those :)

Although my preference on days like today is to get the kids a hot breakfast and then have them climb into bed with me and watch movies, we had doctor appointments this morning for both Kylie and Eva. They were pretty early, so I planned on getting everyone up with Megan and Kylie and leaving shortly after Rob left to take Megan to school. That being the plan, of course we slept through the alarm . . . and all five kids slept late too, which NEVER happens. It figures that the one morning we needed them up, they all sleep in. On mornings when we can sleep in, they are all awake by about 6am.

Anyway, so Rob and I woke up about 15 mins before I was supposed to walk out the door with the kids. Rob was a huge help and we managed to get all five up and dressed (and we even warmed their clothes in the dryer!), made hot cocoa and grabbed chocolate toaster pastries so they could eat breakfast in the car, and left only about 15 mins after I planned to. I admit I was just a tad frazzled at that point. About a minute after pulling out of the driveway, I looked over and my protein shake had spilled . . . all over my jacket, the center console, the cd case, the passenger seat and the floor. At that point I decided that I could either laugh or cry, so I laughed. On the plus side, I have come to the conclusion that stop lights instinctively know when you are actually looking forward to being stopped at a red light (such as when you need time to put on your lipstick or clean your spilled protein shake off your purple coat), so we didn't hit a red light almost the whole way to the doctor. We got the dr's office almost on time, but of course there were no parking places in the garage, so the four kids and I hiked across the parking lot in the rain . . . me in a coat covered in my shake (I sort of got it wiped off . . . I think the rain washed some of it off too), the kids running through the puddles (Beth was wearing her slipper shoes, which was also fun). Chalk it up to adventures in motherhood :) At least Eva slept through it all and didn't wake up and have a blow out diaper or something! It could have been worse :)

Both appointments were just check ups. Kylie is doing well :) If she keeps growing at the same rate, she'll end up about 5'6". We'll have to see how accurate that ends up being! Kylie's about 1/4 inch away from 4 ft exactly and weighs about 60 lbs, which the dr said is perfect for her. Eva's growth was a bit more dramatic. She started off five and a half months ago, born a month early and in the 5% for weight. She now weighs almost 18 lbs (17 lbs 11 oz), which is in the 90% for weight. She's also 26 inches long (55% for length) and her head is 17 1/4 inches (90%). She's supposed to be rolling over (which she started doing 2 months ago) and holding her head up and sitting with assistance (she now sits on her own), so she's doing fantastically well! The dr also agreed with me that she will probably be crawling within a month, which is also way ahead of schedule :)

We are getting really close to my residency. It's only about a week and a half away! G'ma K flies in to help us in a week, which we are really looking forward to! Rob especially is secretly hoping that his father surprises him and comes down for a few days as well, but my guess is that this time it's just G'ma. The kids are so excited that she's coming and are making all sorts of plans :) It's been almost 3 years since we saw her and we've never gotten to show her TX! She and I are going out for Mother's Day pedicures and she and Rob are going to the temple together one evening. We're so glad she willing and able to help us out! It's going to be an interesting week! Rob and I are kind of excited to see how changing roles affects us :)