Surviving Motherhood 101: Kid swaps

When Teya was first born I had the luxury of living near family. When I went back to work after taking a maternity leave, my mom, who lived less than a mile from the school where I worked, took care of her. Things got even more convenient 6 months after she was born when we moved into my sister's basement. Suddenly I had a live in "Mommy partner" to help out if I needed to run a quick errand or just needed someone to watch her. I never once had to pay a babysitter, it was always family. For the first 15 months of her life I was spoiled rotten like that.

Then we moved to Tennessee and it was quite a shock to face motherhood all alone. I'll never forget the first time we had to find a babysitter. We were new, we didn't know anyone. There were some young women from church who we were told liked to babysit, but it's not like we knew them. I went with blind faith and picked a girl off the list and asked her if she could watch Teya for an evening for us. When Taber found out he was all panicky about some "stranger" who we'd never actually met watching our kid. I sarcastically said, "Well what did you want me to do? collect resumes and do interviews?" And in dead seriousness he said, "yes."

Needless to say we all survived the experience. : ) But then came a whole new shock when we had to shell out more money than we spent on our dinner and movie to pay for the babysitter!! We didn't realize how good we had it back home! I tried to do as much as I could just lugging Teya around with me to avoid paying a sitter after that. We even went on dates with her (and I'm sure you can imagine how romantic those dinners were ; )

But then I got pregnant with Brinley and with all my appointments and the impending overnighter in the hospital I knew I was going to need help. That's when I discovered the wonderful world of swapping. How did I not know about this before? You watch my kids, I'll watch yours. No steep babysitting fees involved! Since then swapping has saved my life. For a girl who doesn't live by family it still feels like I have plenty of "family" to help out when I need it! Dentist appointments, Doctor visits, training runs, grocery runs, you name it! I can do them all, sans children, thanks to the genius idea of kid swapping.

On the other end of it, we love having friends over when it's our turn to watch on the swap. We've had quite a few lately and though I haven't taken pictures of all of them here are some cute ones that I had to post.

We had these 3 over during the evening so we popped up some popcorn and had a movie night

Last weekend we experienced life with "twins" (sort of, these two are 6 months apart) It made me really really respect mother's of multiples!

I also tried my hand out as a mother of 5. The older boys actually helped a ton so it wasn't too bad. We rode bikes and even took the gang on a walk to the pond.

These last two are from a play date but I figured play dates are just as important as swaps for surviving motherhood because they guarantee some adult conversation in your day!

7 little monkeys jumping on the tramp!

Backyard Tent/clubhouse. Always a hit with the preschool set.

Thank you to all my mommy friends in TN, MN, and NH for being on my mommy team. Seriously couldn't do it without you ladies!

Random April Pics

It's hard to believe that April has already come and gone! Here are a few random pics from April that never made it into their own post : )

When your Dad works for a yogurt plant these are the kinds of toys he brings home to play with:

The girls enjoyed making yogurt towers and knocking them down.

By the way, if you ever need yogurt stop on by, our fridge is overflowing with it!

April gave us many beautiful sunny days. Teya transitioned from biking around the house to biking outdoors. It's cute how she likes to give her Elephy a ride in the front pouch. Brinley likes to cruise down the hill with Teya in her pink car. We sure have a lot of pink at our house.

On another sunny day we used the Volleyball pit at our friend's complex as a giant sand box for the kiddos. They were in heaven!

Grandma Karen sent some popbeads out to Teya. Awesome craft for a four year old! She spent at least a straight hour making necklaces, bracelets, and pop bead creatures.

You may also notice her new side swept bangs. Yeah, she cut those herself.

Brinley has become obsessed with dress ups. She is always asking for a "Cwown" and will bring dresses to me and say, "I pincess, I pwetty" Then she'll spin around and say, "oooo! loog ah me! pweety!"

This next picture just makes me happy. I love the popsicle and food stains on Brinley's shirt, the juice stains around Teya's mouth, and their dirty bare feet. You can tell they've had a good day. : ) I also love how happy they get when their Daddy comes home. I wish I got a greeting like that every time I walked in the door!

These last few are from the Boston Children's museum. On Friday I met my friend Melissa, who lives in Boston, down at the museum. It was awesome and the kids had tons of fun exploring all the fun hands on activities.

The water and sand tables were a big hit.

And speaking of big hits, Brinley has been getting into them lately. That's what landed her in time out in the green screen room. Little stinker!

Posing outside the museum by the Boston Harbor

April was good to us, now we're looking forward to more warm weather and sunny adventures in May!

Sometimes you have to take a sick day

Yesterday was rotten. I woke up with my stomach in knots and a dull aching throughout my body. I spent the first half of the morning being sick in the bathroom and the rest of the day camped out on the playroom floor in my pajamas while the TV supervised my children with nonstop cartoons. They occasionally prodded my listless body to move when they were hungry or needed a diaper change. But for most of day things were pretty much Lord of Flies over here.

I'm lucky to be blessed with good health almost all the time. So when I get sick, even just a little stomach bug, it throws me for a loop. I feel so alien in my body when it's not working the way I want it to. Every little thing was so hard to do, it was just a really lame and frustrating day.

Thank goodness for good friends and an amazing husband. My friend Becca stopped by with Saltines, Ginger Ale and Gatorade to help with my stomach. Then Taber came home and completely saved me . After a long day at work he only had a short 2 hour window before he had to go back for a meeting on 3rd shift. He used that 2 hours not to unwind or take a break, but to relieve me from the pathetic attempt I was making to take care of our kids. I was able to take a hot shower and get in a little nap while he oversaw dinner and bath time. Once the kids were bathed and in a fresh pair of pajamas he kissed them goodnight and went back to work. I'm sure he was exhausted, but all he cared about was making sure I got a break. I know I've said this before but I really, really love that man.

Thankfully my sickness was only a 24 hour bug. Today I woke up and my stomach and body felt great! I took Teya to a birthday party, ran errands, took Brinley to the park, we jumped on the tramp, I got a nice run in, and all is well in Rigg land. Hopefully my girls won't be too damaged from their day of endless cartoons but sometimes even Moms have to take a sick day!

The Long Awaited Trampoline

Ever since I can remember I have wanted a trampoline. It seemed like ALL my friends and neighbors had one but me. Amy Eager, Vanessa Welch, Nicki Hawkins, Justin Olson, Emma Gordon, I could go on and on. They were all my neighbors, and they all had trampolines. For whatever reason my parents never gave into my constant begging for one. I guess it was a good thing my neighbors had them though because I still got quite a bit of jumping in on theirs : )

Still, I've always dreamed of having one and after we bought our first house in Tennessee I started asking for one again, this time it was Taber, not my parents I had to soften up. In TN he felt like Teya was still too young to enjoy one and we knew we were going to be there pretty short term so that was a no. Then in Minnesota we didn't have a yard so that squashed the idea entirely. But once we moved here and I saw the perfect spot in our backyard for a trampoline I started putting on the hard sell!

While I only had happy memories on trampolines; sleepovers, sprinkler jumps, crack the egg and other classics, Taber had a different view. He grew up with two trampolines and recalls broken bones, injuries, and dare devil stunts that he didn't want our kids exposed to. So after weeks of discussing pros and cons, promising to have strict rules and be super careful, talking to the family lawyer (Taber's brother ; ) researching liability insurance and taking all the necessary safety precautions, my trampoline dream has FINALLY COME TRUE!!!

We put it up on Saturday and Teya wanted to be part of every little step.

She sorted poles, brought us screws, and carried around springs and handed them to Taber when he needed them

Once the frame was together and we started attaching springs she didn't leave his side.

Taber did all the muscle work getting the springs on. Good thing he was wearing leather gloves because at one point he pinched his finger so bad that it ripped through the leather!

Teya then helped us tie on the mat

The last step was putting up the safety enclosure. One of the crucial components to making the tramp safer and therefore permissible in our backyard : )

Finally after 2 1/2 hours in the sun, it was finished! The last 10 minutes Teya was really getting ansy. She started whining to get on and said, "Mom I just can't be patient anymore!" Poor thing. Once she started jumping though she was a happy little clam.

Taber showed her some of his sweet moves. And I was just beaming the whole time. I've waited a long time for this so I just wanted to savor the moment : )

On Monday evening we went out for some jumping after our FHE lesson. It was Brinley's first time on it and she LOVED it! Once the kids got off I hopped back on for some solo jumping time. Since I didn't have to be careful without the kids there I really let loose! Oh man it was AWESOME!! Pretty good workout too. Thank you Taber for giving in to my begging. I'm sure we're going to make a lot of fun memories on that thing : )

Here's a cute, short 1 minute video of Teya and Brinley's first time jumping together.

Trampoline Fun from Rigg Family on Vimeo.

Birthday Celebrations!

Here are some picture highlights from Taber's Birthday Weekend : )

The girls came storming into our room at 6:30am, shouting "Happy birthday Daddy!" and demanding to open presents.

They helped Daddy open some that Grandma Karen had sent out. Grandma was thoughtful enough to include some that Taber could use to play with the girls : )

After Taber came home from work we had a special birthday dinner for him (Salmon and potatoes, his favorite) and then we had some yummy cake!

Teya couldn't resist taking a little dip before we lit the candles : )

After cake it was present time again!

Taber got some great books and DVD's as well as some new grilling goodies. The highlight though was the Garmin GPS watch his mom got for him. He took it for a 6 mile test run on Saturday and LOVED it! Thanks Mama Rigg!

On Saturday we got a babysitter and went to dinner at Outback. After dinner we got together with friends to watch Avatar in the Hann's awesome theater room. Now that I've watched a movie sitting in those amazingly comfy couches, I don't know if I can ever go back!

The movie got over around 11:30pm, but we were still feeling the party bug, so we called our babysitter to see if she could stay a little longer and then headed over to Chili's for desserts! Molten chocolate cake and Paradise pie. Mmmm....two of the many reasons I love Birthdays!!

Top Picture: Us at Outback: Bottom picture: Desserts at Chili's

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TABER!!!!

Today is Taber's birthday and I'm so happy I can dedicate a post to him to let him know how happy I am that he was born! I think I will follow his lead from my birthday and do a list of the top 10 reasons I love my birthday boy!

1) He makes me feel safe. I'm definitely one of those girls who likes the "protective-take care of your woman type "and that is Taber! He's always looking out for me, making sure I'm warm if it's cold out, safe when I'm running, comfortable when I'm sick and rested if I'm tired.

2) He is an awesome cheerleader! Whether I'm running a race, giving birth, or just trying to overcome a daily challenge he is right there cheering me on and supporting me all the way.

3) He is a such a hard worker! He works so hard to support our family and it means the world to me that I can stay home with our kids thanks to him. Yesterday I was sitting on the grass in the warm sun, watching the girls play and enjoying the beautiful afternoon. In that lovely moment I thought of Taber, who was at work, missing out on that moment so I didn't have to. His sacrifice for our family does not go unnoticed and I'm so grateful for all he does to support us.

4) He is calm and patient, a great quality for a guy who lives with three emotional girls!

5) He is such a good Dad. I love that he jumps right in when he gets home and really plays with them. Watching him read them stories, give them piggy back rides and play chase around the house makes me happier than anything :)

6) He is smart with money and good at budgeting. Thank goodness because I'm terrible at it! I'm so glad he's helped me in that area so we can make wise financial decisions for our family.

7) He laughs at my jokes. Even if I'm not that funny, he makes me feel like I've still got it : )

8) He never questions how I spend my time, even on the days I'm not as productive as I should be. : )

9)He has a strong testimony and leads our family with faith.

10) He is generous with his compliments and is so good at making me feel beautiful and appreciated!

Happy birthday my love!

This is your 9th birthday we've celebrated together since we've been married. In honor of your special day I thought it would be fun to find pics from the 8 previous celebrations. It was tricky since our computer blew up back in 2007 and we lost a lot of old pictures. I was able scan a few in though so here's what I came up with, minus your 25th birthday which I could not find evidence of anywhere! (sorry babe!)

24th: Provo, Utah. 4 months after we got married.

25th: Provo, Utah. A week before we graduated from BYU

26th: Moorpark, California. Got you a boogie board and wet suit. Too bad we haven't been able to use those in a LONG time!

27th: Moorpark, California, getting ready to go back to Utah for Grad school (hence the BYU sweatshirt present)

28th: Orem UT. 7 weeks after you became a Dad!

29th: Orem, UT. Same week you graduated from Business School

30th: Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The one and only time I was able to convince you to let me throw you a big bash! Brinley was still just a bun in the oven.

31st: Maple Grove, Minnesota. Cozy family party followed by a hot date at Granite City Restaurant.

32nd!!: Nashua, New Hampshire. Today and the rest of the weekend are dedicated to you! Happy birthday! Love you babe!

Friday Foto: It's hard being the little sister

Poor Brinley is getting to that age where she wants to do EVERYTHING her big sister is doing but she's still a little too young.

Last week when Teya and I were getting ready to go on our Mommy/Daughter date she was trying to get into the pictures but mean old mom scooted her out.

She gave me a look that went something like this:

Don't worry Brinley, someday you'll get to do big girl things too : )

If you like Samoa Girl Scout Cookies...

Then I bet you'll like this!

(click to enlarge)

Very EASY toasted coconut ice cream Sundae recipe which tastes to me, like a cold and creamy Samoa girl scout cookie.

Just pour about a cup (or however much you want) of shredded coconut (the baking kind) on a cookie sheet and toast it in the oven at about 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, stirring it up occasionally to make sure it doesn't burn. You want it to be a tan color.

Meanwhile stick your ice cream on the counter so it can soften up. When the coconut is toasted, dump it onto a plate and let it cool down for a minute. Then make a ball with the ice cream and roll it in the coconut till it's covered. Top with hot fudge, caramel and whipped cream. Heaven in a bowl!!!

American Girl Doll Fashion Show

On Saturday Teya and I got to go on a special Mommy/Daugther date to an American Girl Doll Fashion show. I was originally thinking it would be a nice way to introduce her to the dolls and get her excited about someday getting her own. At the last minute though I realized the show was for girls and their dolls.

I should've just grabbed one of her dolls and called it good, but an irrational part of my brain panicked and thought, "Oh no! If she doesn't have a real American Girl doll she'll feel like a deprived outcast!" (Yeah right, the kid is 4, like she would've known the difference!)

But I wasn't thinking about how a 4 year old would handle the situation. I was thinking about growing up in a family where money was tight and I was one of 5 girls who shared everything. I remember seeing an American Girl doll in one of my mom's magazines and wishing she could be mine. But I didn't even ask. I was smart enough to know that even if my mom could afford one for me, she had 5 daughters, and 5 of those dolls would break the bank!

So, in that moment of emotion I got online, found the perfect American Girl doll for Teya, and ordered it to come by next day shipping. I know my 4 year old daughter who has never seen nor desired an American Girl Doll did not need me to splurge on such a purchase. But I guess I just got caught up in some of those old emotions of my own childhood and thought that somehow buying that for her would make up for me not having one as a kid.

Thankfully Taber was very understanding when I explained why I spent so much money on a doll that Teya didn't even ask for, and Teya was genuinely excited about her new look-a-like friend. She named her "little Teya" and spoke to her like a real person.

The Fashion show ended up being a lot of fun. Not because I bought that doll, but because I got to spend some one on one time with my sweet little girl.

Me, Teya, and little Teya getting ready to go in

The girls posing outside with their dollies

Emerson, Teya, Ali and Ave all fancied up with their dolls

The fashion show featured the main character American Dolls and explained the way clothes have changed for women through out the decades. I love that all the clothes were modest and the stories of the girls were really sweet.

The Mommies: Pam, Becca, Jenn and me

Our table was right near the end of the runway so we had a pretty good view

After the show I asked Teya what her favorite part was. She said, "The cookie with the sprinkles." Glad she was paying attention ; )

At the end of our fun day together I thought back on my silly emotional purchase and realized that there was nothing "deprived" about my childhood.

I didn't always have the nicest things as a kid, but I did have the nicest parents!

Next time I'll remember that my kids don't need me to spend a lot of money on them,

It's the time I spend with them that makes all the difference.