Six Minutes

At 5:00 on April 16th, the boys and I headed inside after a few hours of backyard bug exploration. Spring had finally arrived, and we still felt the warmth of the sun on our skin. Jamin and Travis played dinosaurs as I started dinner.

At 5:02, Libby woke up from her evening nap. I put her on the family room floor to sit with her brothers while I got back to cooking. Wanting to enjoy the beautiful spring day just a bit longer, I opened the kitchen window.

At 5:03, I caught a whiff of smoke in the air and quickly brushed it off as a neighbor's burn pile.  There had been several that week.

At 5:04, one of the kids said something to catch my attention. The family room's air was tinged with smoke. Lingering my gaze for a moment, I noticed that the smoke seemed unusually strong for a burn pile. Maybe we should say something to that neighbor once dinner is finished. As I turned back to the kitchen, the house rattled with a roaring BOOM and then a CRASH. 

I ran outside. Flames and smoke barreled through the garage window. Immediately, I rushed back inside to our bedroom to alert Scott, who was sleeping in preparation for his graveyard shift that night. As Scott assessed the damage, I grabbed the kids and hurried to the end of the driveway to call 911.  

At 5:06, our smoke detectors began to ring. The first fire truck screamed down the street a moment later. In just six minutes, life had changed drastically.

The next five hours blurred together as family, friends, and neighbors gathered to help. The kids and I stayed next door while Scott fielded the fire team and nonstop phone calls (including calls to Janine and Paul, who were in Phoenix for a wedding). 

Initially, we ignorantly assumed we'd be back home later that night. Walking through for the first time provided a sharp reality check: our flashlights revealed a peek of the extensive smoke and water damage that would eventually result in cataloging all of our belongings before shipping them to either the dump or the cleaners'. And the smell was indescribable. Thick, caustic smoke that choked the lungs at first breath.

Still, we are grateful. 

Grateful that the damage wasn't greater. The fire itself (which was started by the turtles' heating lamp switch) was contained to the garage. We were told that five more minutes likely would have spread the fire to the rest of the house. 

Grateful for everyone who has been of assistance to us at this time. Seriously, we have an amazing community and feel blessed to have such incredible people in our lives.

And, most of all, grateful that we're all okay. Though the majority of our stuff will end up in the trash, it is just that: stuff. As I mentioned earlier, Scott was asleep in the master bedroom when the fire began. He has slept through smoke alarms before. And, due to the vent system, the master bedroom was the most smoke-filled room in the actual house. Had I gone on a walk before cooking dinner as I had considered, there's a good chance he wouldn't have survived. So yeah... we're grateful.

Killing Time

Here are a few random pictures of the kids from the past week:

We're just waiting, waiting, waiting... and trying to keep from going too stircrazy in the meantime. 

Four Months

I can't believe our baby girl is 4 months old already! She actually reached this milestone a couple of weeks ago, but I'm posting this now because she had her well-baby check yesterday.

Libby is teensy. She weighs 12.37 pounds (16th percentile). Jamin weighed 12 pounds at 2 months. Travis weighed 12 pounds at 2 weeks.

She is slightly taller than average at 24.88 inches (65th percentile). I can't remember the boys' exact measurements, but Jamin was in the 90th percentile at this age, and Travis was in the 99th. So she's still much smaller than I'm used to. I'm in no hurry for her to grow up, though... other than sleeping through the night. Plus, a smaller Libby means she fits in those oh-so-cute girl clothes that much longer. So I'll take it.

Here are some other details about Libby:

1. She loves tummy time. In fact, she prefers to be on her tummy and gets frustrated that she can't quite roll there herself. But she's getting very close.

2. She's been rolling from her tummy to her back for some time now.

3. She adores her brothers and doesn't mind how they smother her with attention. She actually seems to like when Jamin picks her up (though I freak out every time; he only does this when I leave the room).

4. She's a talker. She jabbers her nonsense constantly. We'll need a very liberal cell phone plan someday.

5. She loves to smile and finds basically everything amusing.

6. She has the funniest laugh. It comes from deep in her tummy and sounds kind of like a frog.

7. Speaking of laughing, she's very ticklish.

8. She could jump all day long.

9. Although she has very little hair, I'm able to doll her up with headbands. And she doesn't complain. I've heard that many babies don't tolerate this, so I'm relieved.

10. She thinks she's ready to crawl. She's started scooting sideways and in circles pretty well.

We love you, Libby Jean! We're excited to learn more about you as you grow. And I'm very excited to do your hair once you have some!

(Sorry for the lack of picture. I don't have access to my camera's USB cord at the moment.)

Elephant in the Room

Yes, we had a house fire.

Yes, we're all okay. Except for the turtles.

We've been asked to keep many details of the situation quiet for now, so we'll share the rest at an appropriate time. 

Thanks to everyone for your help, prayers, and support!

Flower Power

Let me preface this by explaining that I'm the least crafty person you'll ever meet. Or  maybe just the least crafty LDS stay-at-home mom you'll ever meet.

So I thoroughly surprised myself the other day.  After buying some crocheted headbands for Libby from my friend Joey, I really, really wanted some fun flower clips to attach. The problem is, most flower clips you find are ridiculously overpriced.

The next day, I found myself eagerly wandering around Michael's on the hunt for supplies to *gasp* make some clips myself. I'd read earlier that you can make them by just cutting off a silk flower bloom and gluing it to an alligator clip. Simple enough... even for me. 

I faced another problem in the silk flower section: I had purchased so many different colors of headbands that there was no way all coordinating flower colors could possibly fit in my budget.

Then I got crafty.

I bought some scrapbooking flowers in individual layers:

 

 And I bought a big bag of random buttons:

Then I assembled them as I wanted with the help of my trusty (albeit rarely used) hot glue gun.

Voila:

 

Here are a few more shots of Libby, just cause I 

think she's cute:

Thank Heavens for Vacuums

How does this:

Become this?:

Leave the room for two minutes to get a new load of laundry.

Gotta love boys.

On the Bandwagon

Yes, I've finally given in and created a blog (and yes, I technically did have a blog before, but I hardly think an annual "I-completely-forgot-this-existed" post qualifies).

A good number of our long-distance loved ones have requested more updates. And this is the best forum for copious amounts of family news & pictures (read: I don't want to be one of "those" Facebookers). So here we are, on the blogging bandwagon.