Alexis is 3!

Oh, my sweet baby! Birthday celebrations are fun, so I was excited all day for Alexis! I had planned things I knew she would love... after school. But I knew I needed to keep moving, all day, so that I wouldn't have time to think about how sad I actually was that my baby girl was growing.

It was RED day at school, so Alexis wore red. We'd already planned a trip to Disneyland (the weekend after her birthday), so we decided not to have a birthday party with friends. I did bring some goodies for her to give to her 14 school friends. And I stopped by Crumbl to get cookies for her to share with them. So essentially, she had her birthday party at school. No chaos, no noise, and no mess for me to clean up. Win-win! Oh, and she'd wanted sushi for lunch, so I picked some up, too! I'm sure Miss Jodi is very confused about Alexis' food choices at this point. She'll pick a carrot over a cookie any day. But I couldn't really bring carrots for Alexis to share with her friends- that would've been a little weird... Anyway, she's not the peanut-butter-and-jelly-sandwich-every-day kind of girl. Sushi. Caprese salad. Melon-prosciutto. That's my girl!

After school, she did take a short nap. A really short nap. And after we got the kids from school, we drove straight to Build-a-bear, where Alexis got to pick an animal and "stuff" it. She picked a unicorn and added a heartbeat, a cupcake smell, a tutu, and a leash. It was perfect for her! She named it Rainbow Unicorn.

We then got ice cream at Frost, and thanks to the Birthday sticker that Alexis got from Build-a-bear, we got her ice cream for free!

William beat us home and we left all together to go to the Rainforest Cafe. Alexis had never been, or at least not that she could remember, and I knew she'd love it. And she did. She loved the gorillas, the elephants, and all the other animals hiding in the restaurant.

When we came home, we let her open her presents. A microphone from Kendall. Elsa and Anna dolls from Logan and Taylor. A unicorn stuffed animal from mommy and daddy (see, I knew she'd love a stuffed unicorn). And an Elsa dress, an Ariel dress, and a Rapunzel dress, also from mommy and daddy).

After she played with her new toys for a little while, we sang to her and let her blow out the candles on her pink cake. She loved all the attention and special surprises on her special day. And she is so special to all of us that I feel she deserved all of that, and more.

Logan and Taylor's birthday party

So, I'm in the Primary Presidency now, which is a super sweet calling now that church is only 2 hours long. I have to say, though, that I'm thankful I'm not the President. There are a lot of meetings involved with that calling. But as the first counselor, I have it pretty easy.

Anyway, I'm bringing that up because I should have known when I scheduled the boys' birthday party that it would interfere with the Stake Primary Camp. The camp was from 9 to 3:30. But the drive was 1:40. I knew they'd come back super dirty and tired, and I couldn't send them to their own birthday party like that. In reality, I wasn't even sure they'd be back by 5:30, which is the time that their birthday party was starting. 

That morning, I woke up at 6 and got Kendall and Alexis ready to meet at the church building for a 7 AM departure. Kendall had had a movie night (Descendants 3) with a few of her friends the night before, so she didn't get to bed until 10:30 the previous night. She was exhausted, that poor girl. We'd invited, Katelyn, Vivian, Brookie, McKinley, Olivia, and Berkley. 

Anyway, since I was in the presidency, I figured I should pull my weight and I offered to drive up. I told the President about the birthday party situation, and that I couldn't stay and chaperone. Still, some people had camped there overnight, so those people could bring back the kids that I would drive up. We had it all figured out. So I drove nearly 2 hours there and 2 hours back. I had left the boys home alone, but they knew they could call me if anything happened. They knew they could also call William, who was a lot closer. William had decided to go golfing that morning. So, he couldn't watch the boys and Alexis. So Alexis got to stay with me for 4 hours in the car, 2 of those with Kendall, Layla, Brookie, Charlotte, and Grace in the car. Thanks, honey.

Anyway, so the boys had decided to do their birthday party at Main Event. Everyone who they invited made it, except their church friends. The guests included: Kai, Luke, and Eli. Then Taylor had invited Dylan and Zander, and Logan had invited Lilian, Ishaan, and Trenton. LeiLani and Lilian's mom stayed. Dylan's parents hung out at the bar. And everyone else just dropped off their kid.

The kids started at the gravity course. They'd had the option of the gravity course, bowling, or laser tag, and they'd both picked the gravity course. I would have picked that one, too. Only Eli was too small to do it. And Luke got too scared. The boys rocked it! 

We then went to our table for pizza, ice cream cake, and presents. Then the kids got some cash cards to play arcade games. And that was it. 2 hours of babysitting, and no one got lost. That was a great group of kids. Everyone got along great. And I got to meet their parents, too, which was nice.

Logan and Taylor's birthday

It's become a tradition... I stay up late the night before the boys' birthday, decorating their bedroom door and capturing a kiss while they sleep. 

Last year, taking the boys out to lunch took so long that I figured it wouldn't be a very good option. It's hard now that they're both in different schools. Plus, Alexis had preschool, so I had to be very prompt. Instead, we decided to go out to breakfast and get to school late. I could have brought Kendall to school at the regular time, but I was tired in the morning, so we took her with us. I'd thought we'd go somewhere fancy, but the boys wanted to go to Chick-Fil-A, so that's where we went. Since we were there anyway, we picked up lunch for them to take to school.

After school, I surprised them by taking them to Cold Stone for a special treat. While we were there, William called to say that he was on his way home. By the time we got home, he was there already, so we gave the kids their gifts. Pokemon cards and Yu-gi-oh cards. That's all they wanted. Kendall had a mandatory cheer practice, so I took her to her practice and the boys to Jiu Jitsu where they saw their cousins. Then we drove up to Scottsdale to eat dinner at Fogo de Chao. We did that last year, as well, but they picked it- it's one of their favorite restaurants.

Happy 10th birthday, Logan. You are one smart cookie, witty, helpful, cuddly, and confident. And happy birthday, Taylor. You are funny, imaginative, smart, and caring. I can't wait to see all the things you will both accomplish. The sky is the limit!

Melissa

July 17

"Melissa was an amazing mother, wife, and person. She was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in December 2017. She was pregnant with Sydney at the time and planning a move to Minneapolis to build a life with her husband Joe and older daughter Aria. While gracefully balancing a new city, new home, pregnancy and a new job for Joe, she battled breast cancer with numerous rounds of chemotherapy, multiple surgeries and courses of radiation. Sydney was born healthy on June 13, 2018.

Ultimately, her disease progressed and she passed away at home on July 17, 2019. She was 32 years old. Her legacy is her children who are now 2 and 1 year old. Prior to her passing, she requested that any donations in her memory to be split between her childrens' college funds (529's), which were recently established."

When I saw this on Facebook, I couldn't believe it. I didn't know Melissa well, but I'd had a class or 2 with her in high school, and she was the nicest. Friendly, sweet, caring, quiet, smart, and real and natural. She never got in trouble, stayed out of the drama, and always stayed true to herself. She wore simple clothes and hardly wore any makeup. You could tell that she was comfortable with herself and didn't feel the need to get attention from others.
It's hard to see that she died so young, leaving 2 very young children behind. 
Through some digging, I also discovered that her husband was a urologist. And now I feel even more connected to her. We, doctor wives, stick together, because no one else understand the loneliness, the quiet nights at home, the feeling of raising kids alone. I feel like we could have been really good friends if we had gone through this process together, in the same city. I hope that she had a good support system during her sickness. I hope that her husband's program director understood the situation and allowed him to spend time with her and their children. I hope that she felt loved and cared for in her last months, days, hours, minutes.
That very day, I finally scheduled a mammogram. I'd been putting it off, but considering my family history (Meme had breast cancer, Bonne-Maman had cancer that was caught so late that we don't even know where it started, and Marraine has had it 3 times).
The very next week, I went in for my appointment. I was definitely nervous, but Alexis was a good distraction. She couldn't go into the room with me, but the front desk girls took very good care of her. She didn't even cry, which surprised me so much. I had been told so many times that it hurts really bad to have your breasts squished like pancakes, but I guess the perk in having small breasts is that it didn't hurt at all. 20 minutes later, they told me that the results were normal.
But the next day, my OB/GYN said that the radiologist had recommended that I see a cardiologist. After talking to William, and getting a second opinion from Paul, I decided that I didn't need to see a cardiologist. I'm young, so there is absolutely nothing wrong with my heart.
Back to Marraine... at the beginning of August, she went for her annual mammogram. She's had mammograms and biopsies every year for over a decade, again, because of the family history. I guess that the last time they told her there was a little something there, but that it probably was nothing. Well, this time, this little something was bigger- stage 2, actually. Marraine won't have to go through chemotherapy, but she will need to have that breast removed and do radiation. I was surprised that she didn't opt to have both breasts removed, to decrease the chances of the cancer coming back. I expressed that to Marine, and since then, it sounds like she may actually have both breasts removed. One operation, one recovery. Less worry.
Speaking of breasts. I've been looking into getting breast augmentation. It's something I've wanted to do for over 20 years. I've finally put enough money aside to have the surgery. Now I just have to find the perfect plastic surgeon, have a consultation, and schedule the surgery. I'm a little nervous, but mostly excited.

First day of preschool

July 29

Alexis' first day of school was rough. Sure, a small part of me was looking forward to getting some stuff done without having to tag her along - like doctors' appointments and grocery shopping. But the biggest part of me was sad about her growing up. She would be the youngest in her class, at the age of 2, still. And yet, I knew she was ready. She's very mature for her age. She talks well, she learns fast, etc. but she needs a little time apart from mommy to grow into her own person. 

The parents were welcomed into the classroom on the first day. Alexis was clinging to me, knowing that I wasn't staying. Eventually, Ms. Jodi grabbed her by the hand, and the screams and cries came. I could feel my eyes starting to water and I knew I had to get out of there. Nicole later told me that Alexis only cried for about 3 minutes, and then she was okay. Rindy later told me that she'd told Dempsey to be a good friend to Alexis. I am so grateful that Alexis knows Kira and Dempsey.

I had booked a massage to celebrate this next stage of my life, but it didn't really feel like a celebration. I was sad. 

Later, Nicole and I had scheduled to have lunch with Michelle, and I was grateful for the distraction. But it was weird to eat and talk without the distractions of a toddler.

I went back to the school 20 minutes early, and just waited. I wanted to hear all about her day. When she came out, she was all smiles. She told me she colored and sang and played with Kira and Brooklyn. She also told me there was a little boy in her class and that he was her brother. Um, ok. 

So overall, I'd say her first day of school was a success. Oh, and she loves her unicorn backpack!

First day of school

July 23

I was nervous about the teacher assignments. I knew Logan and Kendall would get amazing teachers, and even if they didn't, they'd manage fine. But I was nervous about Taylor. Taylor needs structure, but he also needs direction and love. There were 2 teachers that I was really hoping he wouldn't get. The first one was Mrs. Smith. Logan had her for 2nd grade, and he did fine with her, but at the end of the school year, I started hearing that she was a yeller. Logan confirmed this, and so did Kendall who could hear her yelling form down the hall. The meetings that I'd had with her were okay, but always short and to the point. I knew she would not be a good fit for Taylor. The other one was Ms. Dalton. Kathryn told me that she made some girls feel bad at cheer because she yelled and criticized them. I didn't hear anything about how she was in her classroom, but I guess that it'd be the same. Still, every interaction that I had with her at cheer was fine, so I didn't want to judge too quickly. 

Sure enough, Taylor got Ms. Dalton. I'd considered talking to the Principal if Taylor had been assigned to Mrs. Smith, but now that he was getting Ms. Dalton, I wasn't sure what to do.

Kendall was assigned to Mrs. Dorame whom I've only heard positive things about. The kids love her and the parents adore her.

And Logan got assigned to Mrs. Wendt, who is new to the school, so there was nothing to judge her by.

Once I met all the teachers, I decided that it'd be a great year for everyone... or at least I'm hoping.