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Eagle Mountain, Utah, United States
My name is Lauren, and I live in the bubble. I am wife to Marshall, the biggest BYU fan in the world; and mother to Carly, our big girl, and Wes, our wild man, and Calvin, our new addition. I graduated BYU with a degree in Social Work, and I went forth to serve at LDS Family Services. I like scrapbooking and going out to eat at nice restaurants. I am fascinated by new cleaning products at the grocery store, so I have to shop in wide circles around the perimeter to avoid the temptation to buy. I love chocolate.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Pumpkin Patch 2009

I LOVE our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. It gives me the opportunity to do my favorite "photo shoot" of the year. I plan outfits, hair, time of day we go. It's quite the production, and I get my favorite photos of the year. The trip is honestly more about the photos than any of the attractions.


Well this year our trip was an epic fail. We went and bought sweaters, picked a clear day, and drove to our local patch. Unfortunately it was cold. Not October cold- it was dead of winter cold. Shockingly cold. Immediate face numbing cold. We stepped out of the car in the parking lot and had to stiffle choice words, the shock was so immediate and surprising. And windy. Which made it colder. I strongly considered getting right back into the car and driving home, but Marshall knew how important those pictures were, and he knew what stress I had put the family through today in preparation, so we decided to at least try.

We found one location, took pictures of two poses, and then both kids fell completely apart.

Suprisingly, we actually got a few good pictures out of the 3 minutes worth of shooting.

When we finally made it back to the car and let our faces defrost, this was how Wes expressed his feelings about the torture we just put him through...

I'm excited for next year. Hopefully we don't wait until after snow has already fallen on the pumpkins.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Potty training

**Disclaimer: this post is about peepee and poopoo**

Yesterday we decided to take a different approach to potty training.

So far I have done a few different approaches, and none that worked. Mostly what I have tried has been Carly staying in her pull-ups, and then I ask her every 15 minutes if she'd like to use the potty, and actually make her sit and try every half hour. No success. Okay, very little success. I'll occasionally catch a peepee, but mostly she sits for the obligatory 5 minutes or so, then puts her diaper back on and promptly fills it.
We tried panties... same story.
I tried letting her lead (laying off).
Taking her in the bathroom when we use it.
Making her stay on the potty until she made peepees.
Potty in her room.
Potty in the living room.

It has all been horribly frustrating and really fruitless. She totally understand what we would like her to do. She has EVERY SINGLE readiness sign. She has potty books that she loves to read. She knows she gets candy if she makes potty. She makes her dolls and toys potty on their own make-shift potties. She doesn't like being dirty and will take her own diaper off (has been for months and months) and tell us she needs a new one.

She gets it. She is really stubborn.

Or maybe I have been trying the wrong approach...

Yesterday I tried the very last resort in potty training...the thing I have been avoiding out of sheer terror for the horrible mess it would involve: Bare Butt Potty Training. This is a method that many of the ladies in my ward use that they all swear by. You basically strip your child down and let them run naked for a few days. And there will be accidents, but you can try to direct your kiddo to the potty as soon as you see them start. And not having the feel of a diaper or of panties is supposed to help them know that they aren't meant to 'go' in them.
I have been hesitant because we are in a small, enclosed apartment. And getting a carpet cleaner up 3 flights of stairs is daunting.

Plus, lets just be honest: I don't do well with poop. I lose it when it comes to human defecation. Cannot handle it. Biggest trial as a mother, hands down, is the poop. Some people gag when other people throw up near them. I have that retching reaction when it comes to poop. Dis-gus-ting!

Yesterday morning I got Carly out of her room, and stripped her down. I put her potty chair in the middle of the living room. I got out the bribe candy. And I waited.

It went well!

She peepeed in the potty like 9 times between 9am and 2pm, and even did a big poopoo! I didn't have to direct her to the potty much at all. She just kept walking over, doing her business, and demanding her candy reward (1 smartie for peepee, 1 large candy of her choice for poopoo). We did have one little peepee accident in the kitchen, but it was when I was running water, so I can't really blame her.

This morning I got her out of her room and made a big deal of the potty again. I stripped her down and got the bribe candy out. Potty chair in the middle of the room. I was jazzed and ready. Ready to take this on again. Ready to be done with diapers. Ready to have a potty trained 2 year old.

Carly was not ready.

I asked her if she wanted to try the potty. "No," she said, "I want my diaper." I showed her the bribe candy. Talked about big girls. Put her on the potty. "I want my DIAPER! I NOT want candy!" She ran to her room, got a diaper and handed it to me.

We'll try again tomorrow, I guess.

She is really stubborn.

Monday, October 26, 2009

The art of sleeping

My kids have it mastered.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Making the "police beat"

I can now say I have been featured in BYU's police beat.

Another lifetime goal reached!

http://universe.byu.edu/node/2984
(2nd item down under "Disorderly Conduct")

Little punks got what they deserved.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Because we were all wondering...


Monday, October 19, 2009

3 months

Wes is now 3 months old.
In the last month, Wes took his first trip to the pool. He went to Las Vegas for the first time and enjoyed the Bellagio water show amongst other fun activities.And really developed his love of watching BYU football...just like Daddy!He is getting better at tummy time all the time! And has started grabbing at his toys as they dangle.
He's even rolling over now! He started rolling back-to-front on October 15th.


He has even started to giggle, but I haven't been able to catch it on video yet...it's difficult to tickle under the chin while still holding the camera steady.

He's just gotten so BIG and so fun!
See you again at 4 months! There are bound to be some halloween photos!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Pregnancy Loss Remembrance Day


October 15th is National Pregnancy Loss Remembrance Day. A day to remember the babies we never got to hold.

On October 15th, a wave of light travels the world in honor of our lost babies. At 7pm in your time zone, you are invited to light a candle in honor of each of your lost pregnancies, or in honor of the loss of a friend. Keep your candles lit for one hour, until the next time zone lights their candles.

To learn more visit http://www.october15th.com/

I will be lighting a candle. For myself, for dear friends, and for many of my clients.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Sabotage

We were eating at Rainforest Cafe, and they brought us 2 kids' menus and sets of crayons because our 3 month old obviously wanted to color too. Well, Marshall and I decided to have a little contest and see who could color the best curious george using only the provided green and red crayons.

Carly was the judge. She had good taste and chose me as the winner, obviously.

Marshall good offended and took matters into his own hands.

Sabotage!

Carly was very disappointed with daddy's poor sportsmanship.

Carly vs. the hotel


Have you ever taken a 2 year old to a hotel? It can be interesting.

First, when we got there, the elevator doors tried to eat Carly. Literally. A guy was holding the door, and I jumped on, overriding the closing mechanism. Then we overrode the doors closing again loading some bags on. I had my foot in the door and the elevator started beeping at me. And the doors started closing despite my efforts to pull them open again. Apparently you can only override the doors' desire to close so many times. Carly, who was outside the doors, got very upset that the doors were closing me in and her out, so she decided to make a break for it and run through the doors. With the doors rapidly closing and a small 10 inch gap becoming smaller, she tried to shoulder her way in. I saw her life flash before my eyes as I tried to yank the doors open. Marshall (outside) dropped the bag he was slinging and grabbed her out of the way of certain death. Wes and I had to ride the elevator up to our floor, and Marshall and Carly shortly followed. When she reached me, she was still sobbing and very visibly shaken and upset. Poor kid spent the rest of the trip gingerly jumping through the elevator doors as quickly as possible lest she be eaten once again.

In our room we had pack-n-play style cribs for each kid to sleep in. The problem with this is that Carly is old enough to climb in and out at will. This led to a very sleepless first night in Las Vegas, as Carly thought it was a party and the whole room was her playground. We were exhausted and spent a number of hours drowsily commanding her to stay in her bed before falling asleep. We were awoken at 5 am by the sound of running water. Carly's bed was empty except for her pajamas and diaper. We found her in the bathroom happily giving herself a bath.

We spent one afternoon by the pool eating lunch. I sat with Wes on a lounge chair and Marshall and Carly were swimming. I was having a chicken caesar salad. Carly loves salad. Soon Carly, too, was having chicken caesar salad. By the handful. While walking back and forth to the hot tub to visit daddy. Eventually the pool was having chicken caesar salad too. What can I say, we're bad guests and lazy parents. Or, we were on vacation and didn't want to fight with her, so sure, bring handfuls of croutons into the hot tub. Why not.

One day, Carly had a meltdown in the lobby. She was laying on the ground having her tantrum and I very calmly told her that she could cry all she wanted, but that I wouldn't recommend laying on the ground because the ground was where people's dirty shoes went and the ground was icky. The next day we were walking through the lobby again when Marshall and I noticed we were minus one in our party. We looked back and Carly was standing at the border between the tile and carpet yelling at us. "I NOT walk on carpet. It icky. You carry me! It ICKY! I NOT walk!" We couldn't convince her that the carpet wasn't icky. We had to go back and pick her up and carry her highness across the lobby.

Like I said, 2 year olds and hotels. Interesting.

6 years later

6 years ago a group from the BYU 177th ward took a trip down to Las Vegas for the BYU - UNLV football game. A guy named Marshall and a girl named Lauren went with their roommates and returned to Provo a couple.

Married 6 months later, this couple has returned to Las Vegas for every BYU football game since.

Glad to say what happened in Vegas didn't just stay in Vegas.

Sunday, October 04, 2009

Killjoy

Note:

If I am walking across campus in 40 degree weather at 11 oclock at night carrying my baby after the BYU game and you decide to throw a water balloon at me, I will call campus police and you will be charged with a misdemeanor. You little punk.

Hitting a lady with a small baby with a water balloon = Not Cool

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