Dear Rosie
We got to cuddle today. Putting you to sleep is no longer the worst ever. 4 months ago - we were not friends. I loved you cuz you were my baby girl but... we were not friends. You didn't know how to sleep! You would cry and cry - like hard core hysterical. We figured out that if you had a loud sound in your ear it would calm you down... most of the time. I'm talking hair dryers and vacuums up by your face kind of loud - and hours on end! Your Dad and I would work all evening to put you to sleep and you would wake up 15 minutes later -- screaming away. You had the jimmy legs really bad too. After you FINALLY would go to sleep, I'd relax and start thinking about a strategy to put you in bed and you'd start to twitch - your arms and head flailing around and you would wake your self up again. Or if we jiggled you about too much trying to lay you down you'd wake up. It was infuriating. 

There was much wall punching.

Now. You are glorious.

I always put you down drowsy but awake. You some times fuss but mostly just get your self to sleep. Dad likes to hold you until you are totally konked out. Not because he HAS to but because he WANTS TO. It is so nice.

And today I was thinking how when Dalton was a baby I relished in all the moments to hold him. I some times would hold him through his whole 2 hour nap, just because I could. And I was feeling bad that I don't hold you like that. However, I am SO proud of you that you put yourself to sleep so well now. Also - I have to get you down into bed quick because your big brother is trying to be potty trained and does pee on stuff if you don't keep an eye on him.

Next. Work on your 8 hr stretches. :) Pleeeeeaaaasssseee

Love you Rowie

Mom

- Top picture is you today. Snuggled in with ease.

- Next is you and Dad. Dad really put in some long hours with you... he likes you.

- Last is just trying to get you to sleep where ever I can make it happen. I would build little 'nests' where every I could get you down at. Never lasted long, danget. 

Dear Dalton
You are precious. You try so hard to please me and do a good at all your jobs. Right now one of your jobs is to pee in the potty. I didn't realize how hard this is to learn but you are trying so hard! Most days you do this great success. Today I put you up in your room for a nap... which only happens 2/3 the time. I went out side to work in the yard and came in every once and a while to check on ya. An hour into 'quiet time' I  can hear you crying and yelling GO PEE IN THE POTTY! I thought, ... why are you saying this? You're wearing a normal diaper for nap....

I opened the door and you were standing up in your bed. You had pooped in your diaper, pulled down your pants - ATTEMPTED you take your diaper off, realized you had to pee too with no diaper but surrounded by poop and crying out for help.

I of course was SHOCKED but kept my composure and hopped you off the bed and you ran to the potty.

Aren't you sweet. Wanting to take care of your diapers for me.

Thanks for being awesome.

Now. Go take a nap.
Love you
Mom

Cute Rosie at 7 months

Smart D and Hobby lobby bribs

D is doing speech therapy. He's only had 3 sessions so far - and I think today the lady saw how smart he really is. She had some cars that if you shake them it made them drive a short distance. The more you shake it the farther it drives. It also has an off switch. To help motivate him to say ON - she would snatch the car from him after it drove and turn it off. He would need to say ON before she would give it back. (Half the time he sea lion barked at her GIVE IT BACK - the other half he would make an effort at it.) He was smart enough to drive the car out of her reach - 'I know she'll snatch it from me'. She also would put the cars in a plastic tub then with the lid on it - 'say OPEN' (of course in a very nice voice :)) In order to avoid having to talk he snuck the tub lid and put it far away from her reach. HA! Now I you can't make me say open!

We also had our first outting today with 2 kids. Hobby lobby isn't the best choice for this but cuteness was needed. The outing ended with ipads, french fries, orange shakes, and everyone screaming in the last 5 minutes in the car. Oy. We'll have to try that again tomorrow.

Even on hard days

Today I need to remember something.

Big D is sick. Just a head cold but still a gross one. And he's 2 yrs old. Therefore - he has a right to be grumpy. He was whiney and needy and cried over everything as SOON as I got him up today. Before Ben left for work I said --- today is gonna be rough, isn't it buddy. Everything I did made him mad. Like ragging and gnashing of teeth mad. Part of it was my fault. #1. It is so pretty and warm outside and I'm itching to clean up and the yard and work outside. Usually he'll bee-bop in the back yard for HOURS but not when you are 2 yrs old and sick. #2. I am distracted with church calling stresses and my desire for activities and plans to work out even when I'm the one that is planning them. And when it is not communicated to me that things are in motion...I desire to take over in a bossy-pants manner. #1 and 2 were making me less patient with my little guy. Late morning - I had to put him down stairs in front of Cars movie (God bless Pixar), 5 cookies and milk... while I worked out my calling frustrations.
Then we had to get in the car to drive Dad's lunch to him. Dalton was way ticked off about this too because his movie was over, he's tired, and 'I HAVE TO GET IN THE DANG CAR?!' The drive to Ben's work is like 10 minutes tops. But when we got there I turned around to find him asleep in his car seat. Chocolate chips smeared on his face.  :)
When we got home and it was time to get out --- at the frustration of today melted off with his limp little arms and floppy head that stayed asleep on my shoulder as I carried him to bed. I thought of how I wanted to burn the memory of his fat baby body sleeping in my arms 2 yrs ago and now I want to do it again.... a fat 2 yr old asleep on my shoulder. ( I had a brief moment of rage when I stepped on Scout who asked 'can you think of something blue?' .... thankfully not waking D. Otherwise it would have been a swift end for that bear...) Even as I laid him down in his crib D didn't wake up just plopped flat on his back. Uneven hair cut from when I tried to trim it when Ben's beard trimmers. Chocolate smeared face. Football jersey and softy jeans that look like he's off to the pep rally. And the crib covered in Lighting McQueen stickers from the sticker book to keep him busy after he wakes up.
Even on hard days.... he's not so bad. :)

...simple pleasures

 I had one of those 'toddler days' this week when we just couldn't get along. I didn't want to play what he wanted to play and he didn't want to play what I wanted to play. 

BOY. HOW DO I ENTERTAIN YOU. 

So I put him in front of Sesame Street and turned to pinterest. There are loads of toddler activity ideas - however most of them seem too old for Big D or just lame or require special prep. 

This is what I came up with...

Q-Tip in a Jar

Worked pretty good. Card board lid and kept his attention for 5 minutes. That's pretty good for his age. And he wanted to go back to it later. So that's a win. 

...look at those little hands... :)

Sort Easter Eggs:

Too many things say 'sort' on pinterest for toddler activities. "Sort" means "toss all over the place til bored". Egg "sort" was good at first. Big D didn't really sort them as he just liked to open them to see what's inside. Really liked it - less them 2 minutes of entertainment now what he can get them open easy. But! He always goes back to them. Could recycle if put new things in eggs: treats, cars, cereal, etc.

"Sort" 

More attempt at sorting. Big D really was interested in this apple holder from costco.. until I tried to make him sort puff balls, cereal bits, mallows...even punching holes in the top to push there. Bust.  

Magnet Board

This one is pretty good. The big magnets hold his attention the longest. Unfortunately I only have 12. What's really funny is he likes it until I start quizzing him. 

Don't try and make me learn Mom. :)

 

After all my tricks were out of the bag ... you know what worked the best? What was the most fun? What kept him busy the longest?

...

Ramming his bus against the wall. 

So I think sometimes... we try too hard.  :)

Simple Pleasures 

..Is picking blackberries at Gpa's

Spent the weekend in Salt Lake City with family. Gpa has a LARGE patch of blackberries that Big D was wild over.  

This pained look on his face is because he is worried about the thorns. At our old house we had a wild blackberry bush that Big D would graze on. However the thorns were horrid and often he'd come back to me crying covered in purple juice and scratches. One time his lips were bleeding! What'd you do?!

 BITE THE BUSH?

Gpa's bush on the other hand has no thorns and the berries and 900 times larger. :) Big D still wouldn't touch the branch - he would point and squeal at a berry until you picked it for him. 

I hope Gpa keeps up these bushes. I hope to find Big D sneaking berries with no fear of thorns in the coming years. 

Things you did today

Dear Big D.
You did some pretty awesome stuff today:
- For breakfast ate an orange, banana, blueberries, and 2 scrabbled eggs.  Whoa.
- Slid down the slide without wigging out.
- Swung on the swing without wigging out.
- Climbed through a tunnel without wigging out.
- Got stuck in the chicken coop ( by your own accord) without wigging out.

You are growing up.

btw - You chased the chicks into the cage. They got escaped and you got stuck. We didn't leave you in there a REALLY long time.

Awesome things you are doing.

- You can recognize and point to cars, leaves, flowers, dogs (especially dogs), chickens, tractors (anything not a car is a tractor), strawberries, bananas, oranges, bubbles, and balls.
- You eat all kinds of fruit and with great vigor. Your dad is trying to grow strawberries in the front yard but is having trouble because you dig through the bushes and pick off anything the slightest bit pink.
- You want so bad to do just what everyone else is doing - be a big kid. Following dad around to copy him, carry the eggs back from the roost to the house, dig in the flower beds, sweep and mop, stir up the dinner, and tackle the steps with your feet instead of your hands and knees. (You're just a mite of a thing still).

(Helping Dad dig)

- You just are figuring out how to 'scooch' yourself off the edge of the porch. This is a wonderful and frightening development. (Means you can more easily escape!)

- You love to walk our dog tally. She often will walk to fast and pull the leash out of your hands which makes you mad. You can walk a LONG ways with your little legs if you are walking the dog too. When we do this at the park - every... and I mean EVERY grandma-age lady has to stop and ooooh and ahhh at you. And You often will 'DADADADADADADA' back at them :)

Today you are 15 months old! Look how many things you can do. :) (Slow down a bit will ya...)

Copy Cat

Today you and I spent 2 hours outside working in the yard. I figured out how to be a little more productive doing yard chores... let you help me! I needed to dig up and clean out the flower beds - and if I gave you a spoon you'd dig up right along side me. If I pulled up weeds and threw them in a pile off to the side - you'd pull off a flower or leaf and throw it too. Same with weeds in the dirt - but you'd just get a big hand full of dirt. I also tried to edge the side walk with a butter knife. Ya know - cut the chunk of grass that hangs over the edge of the side walk. I got a lot done because you had a butter knife too! You stabbed the grass and the dirt and the side walk with gusto!  
But my favorite copy cat move you're doing now is getting the eggs from the nesting box, carrying it back to the front door, and into the egg carton (I have brought out). It took some practice... you did trip and smash the egg a couple of times (which made you cry) or just throw it into the house (which made me cry). 
You are the greatest :)
xo. 

Dear Dalton;
Last Sunday during church... you met a girl. You  ran all over the room gabbering at each other and caused a great distraction. But man, it was cute. You were doing most of the chasing, cornering up against the door and talking. The joke was you were practicing dropping off the date at the door step.  :)

You are becoming more of a people person every day - wanting to talk with everyone! Going to the store, at the park, at church... so much to say. Most of the time it's series of DA DA DA DA with big emotion. 
You are attracted to kids of any age. You want to watch them up close and look right into their faces (some times getting right up in their face..). Makes me excited for you to go to nursery and make lots of new friends. 

Reverence lesson

I have decided to try blogging again. 

TRY. 

I certainly have enough going on.

I was in charge of teaching combined Young Women's today. I approached with a couple of goals in mind:  

1. We need to gear up for the new youth curriculum for 2013

2. Setting a standard for our class room that invites the spirit for the new curriculum.

3. Sneak in there a little lecture about how being REVERENT during class 

*sheesh*

It basically went down like this:

  

Identify what they want out of class/what is a good class

(treats, cute hangouts - not just a piece of paper, object lessons, feel the spirit, discussion, personal stories)

-

The distractions: talking over someone, not being prepared, a 'boring lesson' (whatever that means), doing a lot of out loud reading

+

     Using this picture as our guide

How can they be like these 'students' of the savior :

(attentive, wants to be there, respectful, REVERENT)

+

     How can we/I as a teacher -- teach more like the savior

(be prepared, be among the group, give personal examples, object lessons)

=

THE STANDARD for our YW class.

Respectful

Attentive

Reverent

A participate

Positive attitude

The plan is to use the picture + their goals/standard in a wall hanging to remind them of what we want our class time to be like. 

        And because everything is better with chocolate wrapped in cellophane...

"RIESENs to be reverent"   

    

Bugs

Last night at about 4am I felt something buzzing around my face.

Of course you would do some sleepy swats at it.... then

ah - its in my ear...

AH ! IT'S IN MY EAR!!!

I had Ben try and suck it out with a straw, drown and flush it out with water and oil,..

blah. 

So. Went to the doctor and the little bugger was squished up on my ear drum.

BLAH.  But it wasn't too big of a deal to get it out.

In the mean time.. I had an hour to entertain a baby in the waiting room. 

Where did my hands go?

The Garden

 

Looks pretty good huh :)

Many of these babies are going to be coming out and along with us when we find a more permanent location (all the pots, strawberries, raspberries and rhubarb)

This is pretty cool.

Once upon a time we built a strawberry-raingutter stand... that didn't get watered... so it didn't get to live up to it's full potential... BUT if you google image 'strawberry rain gutter' - you'll see my post! Ben has been watching it and has see it come up on other blogs and facebook a couple of times! Cool huh. Here is "Strawberry rain gutter 2.0". When Ben first described it to me I thought it sounded like a red-neck planter box. blah. But it looks nice attached to the chain link fence. 

In baby news. Still working on tummy time. He'll tolerate it with a cheater pillow.. but gets hot mad without it. Poor thing has to lift that big ol head...

The Job

Happy Tuesday

This week has mutual, CASA mock trial, expanding the garden, planning the sunday lesson,  pay bills, laundry every stinkin' day,  face time with Granny, lunch with Ben at work, and snuggles.

I have been out of the work force for almost a year now. Yet - I still wake up every morning with a little sliver of panic over my 'to do list' - Then I remember that this smilie face IS my job. Everything else is second - how cool is that.

 

 I have little day dreams like....

" ..but your honor... I was parenting!

Bailiff! Un-cuff this woman and relieve her of all other obligations!"

*sigh* That'd be cool huh.

Lazy

This last week was rough. Ben was working late with end of residency assignments, I had a LOT of stuff to do young women's service auction, CASA meetings, and all the normal chores.  Blah. So we were excited for the weekend to come. We had some big plans to work in the yard, clean the house, cook/bake, road trip to Chelan...yah. None of that happened.

We crashed. :)

We did have this fun thing happen while getting ready for church. 

Don't we sound like first time parents? 

The baby is sleeping

I'm not sure how you guys do it. 

How does any one have kids and do anything else?! :) I don't mean that negatively. I certainly could do a lot more. House chores, blogging, work out, church stuff, (sadly) bills....

It's just I was told over and over...

"aaahhh! How old is your baby? ... aaaahhh Enjoy these times - they go so fast!"

 

So I have. :)

I spend more time on the couch snuggling while he sleeps watching My Fair Wedding ... or whatever...

.. When in the back of my brain I can hear

"You need to put him down! 

Do you smell that? 

Have you seen the mail pile? 

Remember you have a presidency meeting tonight?

You need to check on the chicks - they are big enough to escape now..

Ben really deserves to have at least a dinner PLAN tonight..

Srew it. 

My baby is sleeping :)

Bath Time is the Greatest

It's been very fun to see D have interests - like BATHTIME. He can be screaming full blast -- but as soon as you start to undress him with the bath water running - he's like YAAAHHH!!

Then cries and cries and cries when it's time to get out.




I have to cold today. blah

(D at 3 weeks)

Okay.
Made it back from Spokane. Not the greatest trip.
Ben had a 103 temperature
The hotel did NOT have the food channel
D had his first blow out -that comes out the diaper soak the clothes - in the CAR. oh yeah.
....
lame.
Though - we learned a lot from this trip to apply to the one next week.


Today I'm trying to put the house back together and pack things for "the trip"
Since my time is cut pretty much in half (for good baby reasons) I have to get a WAY early start.

My favorite part of today was after D went down for a late nap...
I pulled out a saved, frozen piece of Costco's chocolate cake and ate it with my hands
I felt like Bruce from Matilda
It was awesome.

Okay, it's for real now..

Went out to the mail box the other day and *WHAM*
Another trippy moment.

The whole thing is for real when your kid gets mail from the government.

One for each of us ... unfortunately Ben and mine are bills. Danget.

Tomorrow is another practice run for the trip home to Utah next week. Last week Ben was craving panda express and we made a mad dash to Kennewick. I would call it a success.
Tomorrow Ben is giving a lecture to the pharmacy school newbies at Washington State University in Spokane. We are spending the night there too....
So we'll see how that goes down.

Ben's been pretty stressed about it.
Here you can see him 'trying' to study... Dalton is not helping..

Question:
Mama's of the interwebs... D is starting to throw these.. tantrums when he gets tired. Like he's tired, and it's time to sleep but he's forgotten how and it makes him hot mad. If I don't intercept and get him to sleep... it can be a couple hrs of screaming (still cute screaming). Is this when I need to try the weird stuff like riding the drying or running the vacuum or whatever. Or coming up with a wind down routine?
Thank you. :)

Naps

Dear Mamma
Thanks for letting us just sleep this afternoon.
I wasn't feeling normal and it was nice to kick back, nap, and watch x-files with you.
Lets do it again some time.
~Lil D
ps - i'm so glad we skipped to the middle of season 2... the first season was very disjointed and they finally put together come character development..


Dear Baby D:
I really enjoyed our day off today. Though I'm the one who should be thanking you! It was nice to take the extra nap for me too!

Ditto to season 2.
~ Mama