Life as Lauren...

Welcome Calvin!

2011-11-11T02:24:00.000-07:00

Calvin Steve Andrews. 11/9/11 @ 3:31pm. 8lbs 6oz. 19 inches long. Welcome to our #3!

If you want the full story, keep reading!

I am usually induced. We had an induction scheduled for this pregnancy too. Living so far from family, I like being able to plan when grandmas will be here to help with childcare, not have to worry about Marshall rushing home from work, etc. So we scheduled this newest addition to join our family right at 39 weeks.

Occasionally when considering my birth plan, I feel regret that I don't have enough nerve to let labor start on its own. That I would never have that moment of "Grab the bags; let's go!" Such a romantic vision of the traditional experience that women have gone through for ages. But I'm too much of a control freak to set aside convenience for experience.

7pm on Tuesday my contractions started about 10 minutes apart. Not painful, just noticeable. I start timing.

9pm- Still consistently spaced after 2 hours, starting to feel a little crampy. Maybe 8 mins apart. I call Marshall at work, and tell him that he doesn't need to come home or anything- just that I might possibly maybe be starting labor.

11pm- I call Marshall and let him know that they are still consistent and now more painful. He tells me to lay down and not do anything else for a while and see if they slow down or go away.

12pm- I call Marsh and let him know that after laying down, they are now 7 or so minutes apart, and still painful. For a 3rd birth, doctors like you to come to the hospital when you are 4-5 mins apart. But Marshall was up in Salt Lake, and had to get approval to leave. And then drive an hour home. And we weren't sure how far I'd be by then. So started getting ready to leave, and I called Russ to see if he could come over and stay with the kids.

1am- Marshall and I meet at the hospital. He went to the hospital straight from work, and I drove myself there to meet him. The contractions weren't so painful yet that I couldn't drive or talk through them. The nurses hook me up to the monitors for an hour.

2am- Sure enough, my contractions are 7 minutes apart, but after an hour I'm still at 3cm with no change. The contractions have changed though. They are painful! The kinda painful where you have to stop walking and bend over and hold onto the wall for a minute and concentrate in order to get through them in dignity. But the nurses send me home. Come back when they are 4-5 minutes apart, they tell me. We walk out to the parking lot, me stopping every few minutes to concentrate, and we decide that I'm in no condition to drive myself home. So we leave one car and head home. Russ decides to stay over on our couch because who knows if/when we'll need to go back in.

I sleep the whole night in 7 minute blocks. In the morning, the contractions are sooo painful! Painful enough that I squirm in agony and have to moan through them. But they're still only 7 minutes apart.

10am- After a while they are painful enough that I have to get up and walk, move, crawl, anything during them to try to find relief.

11am- Once I'm up and on my feet, they shoot to 4 minutes apart. I tell Marshall that we're going back to the hospital.

11:30am- Since we only had one car, we had to take Russ and the kids with us to the hospital so they could have a car with car seats to get around for the day. I am thoroughly traumatizing my kids by moaning loudly through my contractions. THIS conversation ensues. Love my kids!

12pm- at the hospital again. They check me, and I'm at a 5! They'll keep me! Woohoo!! I immediately ask for my epidural, thankyouverymuch, but I'm informed that I have to get an IV first, and then wait for my midwife to get there and check me herself, and then a couple bags of fluid in through the IV before they can call the anesthesiologist.

12:30pm- my IV is in, but the fluid is not emptying very fast out of that bag. My contractions are too much to manage at this point. I am sobbing through each one. The nurse is trying to get me to breath through them, but I never took breathing classes! I just get induced and get my epidural first before I feel any of the contractions! The midwife isn't there yet, but they call her and she can probably hear me in the background, and she gives them the go-ahead to just do the epidural already.

1pm- anesthesiologist is present. 1 bag of fluid is in.

1:30pm- He places the epidural 3 times before he gets it in right. I don't even care though as soon as I feel that warm dulling in my legs. So happy! I'm such a better patient when I'm not in pain. I apologize to everyone present for the sobbing display they all just witnessed. Everyone else is worried though, because my blood pressure is something ridiculous like 50 something over 30 something. Obviously not correct, because I'm still conscious. But they keep taking the blood pressure over and over again, make me roll to different sides, and keep asking me very seriously "you don't feel light headed??" It rises slowly and finally gets to 85/60, and they call it good. Apparently that's why you need 2 bags of fluid first. Who knew?

2pm- Jennifer, our midwife arrives. She comes in and checks me and I'm at 6cm, and my contractions have spaced back out to 6 minutes. She breaks my water, and offers to give me some pitocin if I just want to get the show on the road. I love me some pitocin, so I jump at the offer.

2:30pm- Pitocin is started. Jennifer and I sit and chat for a while.

2:50pm- Jennifer talks to us about our birth plan, and Marshall starts getting prepped to help deliver the baby. I love that she is so cool with letting Marshall be hands on with the medical stuff. Some of the nurses have already scolded him to stop looking through cabinets, stop giving suggestions, and stop reading monitors. Jennifer actually asks Marsh if he's ever checked cervical dilation and teaches him how! Marshall gets to check and determine that I am now 9cm!

3:10pm- I can tell from the pressure that I'm complete and ready to push. They start getting the room ready for delivery.

3:20pm- I'm told to start pushing when I feel ready, and so I do. Only the midwife and the delivery nurse are present. The team for the baby hasn't arrived yet. I take a practice push, and he crowns! Jennifer has me do a couple very small pushes and keep telling me to slow down and not push so hard. She delivers the head and then lets Marshall step in and deliver the rest of baby Calvin. I hear the nurse on the phone telling the pediatric team "the head is out! Come in now!"

3:31pm- Calvin is born! Marshall puts the baby up on my chest, where we rub him off, say hi, and Marshall cuts the cord!

Calvin is so cute! He reminds me a lot of how Carly looked. I think they have the same nose.

Russell brings the kids by to visit. Wes easily recognizes that this is the baby we've been talking about for so long. He can identify him by name and gives kisses if we ask him too. But he's not all that impressed. Carly, on the other hand, is just smitten. She crawls up next to me on the bed and just stares at him. She is so quiet and so gentle, and wants nothing more than to hold him. She pays attention to every move he makes, every noise, and wants to know everything about him.

Marshall goes home with Carly and Wes for the night, while I get to snuggle Calvin all night in the hospital.

Today Londa, Kiernan and Kalen arrived from California and came by to meet the newest Andrews.

Friday afternoon we get discharged and should be home!

Having now actually gone into labor on my own, I have to say that the romantic idea is overrated. Seriously, contractions are no fun. And I suck at pain. Getting sent home is no fun when you are in so much pain. I'm glad I have had the 2 experiences to compare. But I have to say that the excitement of surprise labor is so not worth it! I think I'll stick to my controlled, calm inductions in the future if I can help it!

Catching up: Pregnancy

2011-11-08T13:14:00.001-07:00

Some fun stuff this pregnancy-

While in California in August, Kiernan threw me a beautiful baby shower at my parents' house. Big thanks to Kier for the shower, and to my parents for all their hard work getting ready and setting up for the shower. It was a lot of work!

Kiernan's amazing cake!

Also while in California, Emily offered to do some maternity photos for me. We went out into the preserve for like 40 minutes, and these were some of the amazing shots she got. (I was huge at 28 weeks!)

She is so talented! Thank you so much Emily!!

So this pregnancy has been like my others in many ways, and has been different in many ways.

- First, like my others, it has been pretty easy on me. I don't get a ton of morning sickness, and don't really throw up at all. I have some cravings and aversions, but nothing terrible. For the first half of the pregnancy, I could totally be one of those chicks on "I didn't know I was pregnant."

- But unlike my last pregnancies, I have been SOOOO exhausted this pregnancy. From beginning to end, I have just become more and more tired. 2nd trimester 2nd wind- What's that?

- I have also been sick more this pregnancy. Not morning sick, because generally it is comes along with my kids being sick too. Unless that's a new style of contagious morning sickness where the whole house gets the sympathy pukes. I think it may have to do with being so run down this pregnancy. My immune system must have checked out.

- I haven't gained much weight this pregnancy. Or really any. Maybe like 5lbs on a bloated day, and then it goes away a day or two later. But I'm HUGE! All belly out front. I feel like I look way bigger this time around than I did with either of my other two.

Never mind the costumes- just check out that belly!

- This kid is super strong. I felt him even earlier than my last pregnancies, and he kicks a lot harder. It's hard not to notice him. Sometimes, if I'm typing on the computer and kinda hunched over on him, he'll kick me so hard that it takes my breath away or leaves bruises!

- So yes, New Baby is another BOY!! Marshall and I were so sure this one was a girl. So we were in for a big surprise when we went in for our gender ultrasound on July 1st and found out that he is definitely not a girl. Not that we should have been surprised. I mean, the pattern in our families is one girl with a bunch of brothers. So, for now, that pattern continues on.

When we picked up the kids after the ultrasound, Carly raced to the door and asked excitedly what gender the baby was. We told her she was going to have a new brother, and oh my gosh....the tears! She was so sad. Luckily she got over it in about a month. lol.

On a side note, Carly has been really big into questions this pregnancy. She understands that the baby is in my tummy and will come out soon. She loves to feel him kick. She loves to make up names for him. She loves to put pillows under her shirt and be "pregnant too." She loves to sort through baby clothes with me and do the token "awww cute!" squeal.

We have also been talking a lot about how when we're good, the Spirit can live in our hearts, and when we make bad choices, we can't have the Spirit stay with us until we repent. Carly has somehow entwined this with the pregnancy. The other day as we were getting into the car, Wes was throwing a fit. She sternly looked at him and said "Wes! You need to be good or Jesus can't live in your belly anymore!"

- As for names- We have had a very hard time deciding on a name this pregnancy. That's another way this pregnancy has just been so different. Usually we just know the name, and it feels absolutely right. This time around, though, we've wrestled and wrestled because even though we have a list a mile long of names we like, none felt right.

Finally, one day we were going through the baby name book AGAIN just throwing out anything we didn't hate. And we both mentioned one name that had been on our minds lately. A kind of variation on one of the original front runner that never felt quite right. And this name felt right, but it was one we'd never considered. And not everyone loves it. So we'll just leave it at that, and you can all find out on Friday!

- Oh yeah, I'm being induced on Friday!! 3 more days!!

Catching up: Wes

2011-11-07T21:16:00.000-07:00

Wes, my best little buddy. Yep, he's a ham! He's so full of life and energy. He is definitely allllll boy. I don't know if it is a difference between raising a boy and raising a girl, or if it's more due to being the 2nd born, or if it's just all his little unique self, but Wes is a very big personality in a small package. He has to keep up with Carly and do all that she does, meaning he's way ahead on all his milestones. But he has to add volume.

Lots of volume.

Whereas Carly thrived on attention at this age, and was generally cute to catch our eyes, Wes could care less if anyone is paying attention to him. He'll just make his own background noise all. day. long. I have been assured that this is directly inherited from Marshall. He just growls, hums, makes up words, or beeps and bops to his own movements all day. And if you engage him? Growling. Lots and lots of shrieking growls.

Part of him is so independent. We hiked the Y mountain trail back in April (or March? Can't remember). All I remember is that I was 10 weeks pregnant, hadn't hiked it since I was a college freshman, and was very proud I made it the whole way!

Anyway, he hiked the whole way by himself. And he was less tired, slow, and out of breath than I was. He just ran up the mountain!

The other part of him is so cuddly. He is much more of a cuddler than Carly was at this age. He loves to come and give kisses, or rub my back. He's always saying how much he loves members of his family. I love his little "You're my favorite mommy in the whole world!" Melts my heart!

Wes is also at this really fun stage where he is aware of the camera and seems to think that anytime we ask him to "smile," he has to pose. Like this:

Love it!!

He is also super fearless. Anyone been to kangaroo zoo? It's a huge warehouse full of inflatable bounce houses and slides. We went a couple times this summer. These pictures are from our visit in February. So he was 19 months. He zeroed in on the tallest slide in the place and went down over and over again. All on his own!

All of the other parents were appalled that we let this little baby throw himself down the 25 feet or whatever it was. Then they were equally shocked when he emerged laughing, and ran to climb it again.

For Wes' 2nd birthday, we went to Kangaroo Zoo again, and then had a low key party at the local pirate-themed pizza restaurant.

Does anyone remember my post about Butt Pie? Well, for Wes' party we had another Andrews' special: Asphalt Cake.

We bought this Cars cake super last minute at a grocery store, and were running into the restaurant. Marshall had the presents and cake, and I had the kids. The next thing I know, the cake was upside down in the middle of the parking lot. After how elaborate and memorable Carly's cake was just a couple weeks before, I felt so bad that we just flipped it over and ate it anyway (it did have the plastic cover on). We just figured, "he's 2...he won't care."

We let him have creamy alfredo pasta- a big treat since he's allergic to milk.

Carly recently learned how to take pictures on her own, using our phones or a camera. Her favorite subject? Our Wesley. This was one morning when I went to work and left Marshall "in charge." I think you can see how in charge he was. (note the pajama-ed and slipper-ed legs of unconscious Marshall in the bottom of each shot as Wes lords over him.

Marshall doesn't remember any of this, and found the photos on his phone a day or two later.

That's our little growler's personality!

Our most recent parenting triumph with Wes: the binky is gone! Carly was never much of a binky kid. But Wes loved his and saying goodbye has been a little trickier. We started doing the "just at bedtime" earlier this year, but seemed to backtrack occasionally when around other kids with pacifiers, or when he found one around the house and I was too tired to fight him. But for about a month now, he hasn't had one at all. Not even at bedtime. And it's been such a relief.

Fingers crossed he doesn't relapse when New Baby gets here and has his own.

Wes is also working on potty training. But I'm not bringing it up at all. Occasionally he'll come tell me that he needs to poop, and we'll run to the toilet and he'll use it! This happens on average once a week.

Wes had his 2 year check up in July, and he's pretty healthy. He was in the 17th percentile for just about everything. Marshall is convinced I somehow stunted his growth in utero. I have to remind him that he was only in the bottom 10th percentile growing up himself. Genetics.

But Wes is advanced in everything else. Especially in speech. Just like Carly, he's off the charts when it comes to his ability to verbalize. He's been talking in full sentences for a long time now, and just keeps adding new words every day. I love that I can talk to him just like I do my 4-year-old, and know he completely understands me. I also love that he can answer me back, even if most of the time the answer is "No! I don't want to."

We're still working on that attitude.....

But how could you ever be mad for long at a little personality like this??

We love you Wessy!!

Catching up: Carly

2011-11-06T23:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I haven't blogged in forever. And I'm tired of being nagged to get back on the blog-horse. So here go the catch-up posts. I'll start with Carly, since the next post I intended to do was her 4th birthday.

That's right, my little girl is 4 years old! How does that happen?

Does anyone else remember her this size?

So for Carly's birthday, we were fortunate enough to have all of the extended family come visit. Her birthday week started off with a dance recital! We were super excited to have all the grandparents in town to see Carly up on the big stage.

We had been to a rehearsal, but I think that once it was the real deal with all those people in the audience, Carly really wanted to be sure that we saw her. Well, you can see for yourself:

And that was the number she knew the best, so we were a little worried for the second number.
But it was a success! She at least stayed on the stage.

Next up was her big birthday party. We had planned to go to the local water park, but it was a cold, cloudy day. So instead we went to the indoor pool at the hotel where all the grandparents were staying. Kiernan, my amazing sister-in-law, was here- which means Carly got one amazing party!! Kiernan is an incredible party planner, and she really went all out with Carly's Tangle-theme party.

Breakfast was served poolside, and Kiernan made yummy braided pastries, and other coordinating pink and purple foods.

We all ate, and played in the pool.

Afterward, we continued the party back at our house with Kiernan's amazing Tangled cake.

And presents. Lots of those. Including her first bike!

Carly is an amazing kid. She is so so smart. She just blows me away with what she understands and remembers.

Her favorite game is the "riddle game," where she describes an item she is thinking about, and we have to guess using her 3 clues. Such as "What is really big, gray, and has a long nose?" Then we guess "Elephant?" and she celebrates and informs us its our turn. We can play this hours on end, especially in the car.

She is also working on reading. But don't tell her that. For some reason, she sighs and gets all annoyed when I try to sit down with her and have her sound out words in a book. But we often have her guess the spellings of random words throughout the day, since she knows all the letter sounds. I find that she is easily frustrated and has little patience. Apple doesn't fall from the tree, huh?

Carly is very artistic. More than just about anything, she enjoys coloring. She colors pages and pages every day. Hours and hours. We let her hang any pictures she wants on the walls, so our house is papered in her colorful artwork.
Just like her daddy, she is not a big fan of breakfast foods. Every morning I ask her what she would like for breakfast, and every morning we go through the same list. Hotdogs? Nope. Macaroni? Nope. Spaghetti? No. Burritos? No. Peanut butter sandwich? ::::sigh:::: Okay...close enough.

Carly is also very confident, outgoing, and social. She expects that every child she meets will be her friend. She loves to engage in imaginary play, such as house (she's always the mommy), or puppies. Sound familiar?

She is a bright, vivacious little girl, and I just can't wait to see what the next year brings!

SLC Fire 2011

2011-05-26T14:57:00.002-06:00

So, I don't blog when I'm stressed. I start posting about things in everyday life, but this big stress follows me around and creeps into my posts. So I just take a break. Like when I first found out I was pregnant with Wes, and took a 4 month blogging break. I just can't keep secrets, or keep my emotions to myself. So I have to take a break entirely.

Heaven knows the people I've harassed on the phone for the last 2 months know that. I think every conversation has started with "Ugh...:::whine:::...I have no patience...when are we going to knoooow?....why can't they just tell us he's hiiiiiiired??"

So today's the day!!! The day I've been waiting to blog for 2 months, and the day our family has been waiting for for like, 5 years.

Marshall has been hired by Salt Lake City Fire Department!!!!!!

So sit down, pull up a chair, get comfy, and let me tell you a story about why I think my husband is completely amazing.

A little over 5 years ago, in December 2005, Marshall was finishing up his semester at BYU. He was studying psychology. When we got married, he knew he wanted to become a therapist. The plan was easy: finish a BS in psych, go to grad school, and then become rich. Easy right?

Well, one day during finals week, Marshall came home and told me that he didn't want me to harass him about picking grad schools to apply to anymore. In fact, he didn't even want to keep studying psychology anymore. Ummm, okay. My little newish-wed world was thrown for a loop (if only I knew how much of a loop it'd be!)

Me, being the ever supportive wife: "Well, okay, you can pick a new major. What do you want to be when you grow up?"
Him, sheepish: "It's dumb. You won't believe me."
Me, impatient: "Out with it!"
Him: "Well, ever since high school, I wanted to be a firefighter like my wrestling coaches. A lot of them were firefighters."

So Marsh had a quarter-life crisis, and I encouraged him to do what he needed to. I honestly half thought it'd be a phase. I mean, aren't firefighters all big dumb guys who can't get into college, so they just do what they can? Certainly not the kind of people Marshall would have much in common with....I mean the guy had a scholarship to BYU!

I started googling that night. Looking back, it now seems silly just how little I knew about something I feel like a complete pro at now. I remember reading firefighting was really competitive. Like thousands of applicants for 10-20 positions. And that you should go to academy yourself before being hired and getting all certified so that you're competitive once you apply. And, OMG, did you know that firefighters had to be EMTs?

Yeah, like I said, I knew NOTHING.

But luckily, one of the best fire science programs in the US just happened to be located in Provo, so Marshall got all transferred over to UVU and started his prerequisites. And then, the unexpected happened. He loved it! He did a semester and was completely looking forward to the next!

So we were committed. Therapist was officially no longer the path our family would take.

Marshall finished fire academy in April 2007, and the lucky thing was that with all of his generals done at BYU, he magically had 2 associates degrees. He then did some summers of wildland (just awful!) and started working as an EMT at Gold Cross. That was our temporary plan while he started interviewing with fire departments.

Ah the hiring process! A new thing I got to learn all about. Fire departments have a multi step process to create a list of applicants.

First step: the written test. Like mini SAT with some fire based questions thrown in. But a lot of grass:green, sky:____. Marsh always passed these easily.

Next step: the top 100 or so applicants move on to the oral board. This is an interview in front of a panel of 3 or 4 firefighters who rank you on a scale of 1-5 for each of 5 questions. Each person gets the same questions, and then you are scored against everyone else answering those same questions.

Next is a physical agility test. Here's a link to a typical CPAT examination. It's pretty intense, but Marshall has done these a million times. So it's no worry.

After this, the applicants are ranked on a list. You know, 1 through 100 or whatever. When the department is prepared to hire a new hire class of candidates, those applicants at the top of the list are called in for a final chief's interview. Usually the department will invite 2-3 applicants for each position available, so 20 to 30 guys if there are 10 slots open. You meet with the top 2 or 3 officials at the department, and it's a little less formal than the oral board. They are just trying to get to know you, and I don't believe they are scoring your answers. You also do a background check, IQ test, psych profile, uniform fitting, etc, at this stage of the process. A complete physical and drug screening.

Then come the job offers. Marshall has made it to the top 20 of hiring lists many times. But with budget cuts, many places haven't hired in years. Or hire just a couple guys. He has made it to the chiefs interview 3 times. The second time, he was given a conditional job offer as an alternate. Meaning we went to orientation, met all the higher ups, got all excited, but ultimately they didn't have the budget to take him into the academy, so at the last minute he wasn't able to be hired. His 3rd chief's interview was this month, with SLC Fire. And this time, the offer isn't for alternate. It's the real deal!

These last 5 years have been rough. These hiring processes are done just once every 2 years, and each step is like a month apart from the last. There have been many tears shed, and many times we've wondered if we made the right choice to pursue our dreams instead of the more stable option.

Today when he finally got that call..... I just can't explain it. Tears. Lots and lots of tears. Carly keeps asking me why I'm sad, and I have to explain that I am sooo overcome with happiness. I am happy that it finally happened. Happy that we stuck with the process. Happy that Marshall is finally being recognized for his hard work. Overwhelmed with gratitude. There are so so many people who never get the call, never get the job offer.

But mostly, I swell with pride. How many people do you know who actually follow their dreams? Who actually do a job that they love, who picked a career wholly based on what they wanted to do day in a day out- not just on salary or obligation? Not too many people. I am so proud of the courage that Marshall had to walk away from BYU and pursue his dream, even though it seemed crazy. SO proud of the example he is setting for our children. We always tell Carly that she can be whatever she wants to be when she grows up. Literally anything! This week, it's a mountain climber and a mommy. And if that is what she really wants to do, I'll do everything in my power to support her to accomplish that. There are no ceilings on our dreams. You pick a goal- a career- even not knowing the first step to get there, and you can achieve it! With enough persistence and dedication, you can literally be whatever you want to be! I am so proud of Marshall for setting a clear example for our children that pursuing your dreams is realistic.

So congratulations, my dear husband. It's been a long road. But we did it! And I love you for your courage and dedication. You are the best husband and father, and you are going to be the best firefighter that Salt Lake City has ever seen!

I know it's April Fool's Day

2011-04-01T20:13:00.001-06:00

But this is no prank!

#3 should be here sometime around November 17th this year, if all goes well. Right now he/she is busy growing and getting stronger, and has a strong heartbeat of 120 beats per minute. And he/she's the size of a small blueberry- 1/3 of an inch right now.

This pregnancy was a complete surprise, and got off to a nerve wracking start because my symptoms included, well, nothing. I shouldn't say nothing- I am tired all the time. But I feel great! No nausea, no heartburn, no food aversions. My pregnancies are generally on the easier end of the spectrum, but I've only had one other pregnancy with so few symptoms, and I lost that one. So I was a bit nervous.

We've closely monitored my progress so far, and had our first ultrasound last week. That just freaked me out more, because things looked smaller than we thought they should, and there was no heartbeat. Plus BYU lost that day too- just a bad day all around. But we went back yesterday afternoon, and this time we saw what we wanted. A significantly larger baby, and a strong heartbeat! And a bonus, it's not ectopic! Yay!

We are now 7weeks and feeling confident and optimistic. I'm finally letting myself enjoy the lack of an urge to throw up, for however long it lasts. And more and more people know- so we thought it was a good time to share with the rest of you.

So I hope you had a happy April Fool's day, and I promise, this one's no joke.

I'll leave you with the sweetest thing I've seen all week- look at that little heart go! The video is only like 2 seconds long, but just look where I labeled the heart in the picture.

You know what I can't wait for?

2011-03-28T13:59:00.000-06:00

Carly to get older.
But only for one reason- Girl Scout Cookies.

I live in the land of large families; in a state with, most likely, the MOST 8-year-old girls per capita. But somehow I don't know a single Girl Scout.

How can this be?!
I don't know.

And usually I don't think about or care that I don't have any 8-year-old girls in my social circle. Except for today. When I've got a terrible craving for Girl Scout Cookies, and I realize that cookie season has come and gone, and no one showed up at my door soliciting. And then I nearly tear up, because how could I have missed yet another cookie season? How did I not work harder to make 8-year-old friends this last year? I had these same feelings of regret last March!

And, I mean, it's not just my loss. It's really a loss for the Girl Scouts of America too. Did any of you sell cookies? Do you remember those color coded order forms?

If a Girl Scout were to come to my door, I would make hers look like this. No joke.

How can that not be win-win?

So now, I wait. For Carly to hurry up and get old enough to sell cookies. I still remember when I sold cookies, and my mom was the cookie coordinator (is that a real title?) and our living room was 3 feet buried under cases and cases of cookies.

Like Christmas.

Someday, I'll be that cookie coordinator mom. I can't wait.

Death and three-year-olds

2011-03-19T00:09:00.000-06:00

As I mentioned previously, we are reading the Book of Mormon with Carly. It's been going great and has given opportunity to learning more about many life and gospel topics. Sin, repentance, baptism, temples, obedience. It always surprises me which topics or stories spark her interest.

The topic that has had the greatest impact on her? Death.

It all started when we got to the point where Lehi died. Carly was devastated.
"Nephi's daddy died?! Noooo!" I explained that, yes, Lehi died. Everyone eventually died.

Wrong way to go.

"Are you going to die?" Yes, Carly, someday I'll die.
Full blown tears and sobbing. "I don't want you do die!!"
Don't worry, I won't die any time soon. People get old before they die.
"Old like grandpas?" Yes, yes! I'll be a grandma first before I die.
A little more hysterical "Will my grandma and grandpa die?"
Ummmm.... yes, someday they'll die. But not anytime soon.
Sobbing. "I don't want them to die!!"
Honey, everyone dies someday. It's a normal part of life.
"Will my daddy die?! I don't want my daddy to die. I love him too much!"
Yes, he will die too, but not until you are much older. And when we die it's so happy! We get to go to heaven and see all of our family who has already died.
"I'M GOING TO DIE??" Fully distressed at this point.
Yes, someday you'll die too, but not for a very long time. And dying isn't scary or sad.

We hugged it out and I thought that conversation was over. I was wrong.

She has brought up death and questioned Marshall and I repeatedly in the last month whether we are still going to die. Always hoping we'll just lie to her. We've repeatedly acknowledged her fears and then reminded her how normal death is, and how our family is forever so we'll see each other again soon after death. And we've talked about life after death. And about temples and eternity. About how this life is 3 parts, and we are in the 2nd part now, and how it wasn't sad when we were born and left the pre-existence. We've compared it to going on a trip and being reunited later. And really done everything we can to calm her anxiety and not traumatize her any further.

But she still brings it up randomly, and bursts into tears at the thought of one of us or her grandparents dying.

So today we're finishing up 2nd Nephi, and we get to a part about Christ dying. It was just awful. Worse than Lehi dying. "Jesus DIED?! Waaaaa!"

I stopped and we talked about death again. About it's necessity, normalcy. We talked about why Jesus offered to die, because He loved us so much. Talked a bit about the atonement and being free of sin. She was still sniffling when we moved on.

The next chapter was about Resurrection.

Am I really THAT stupid? Really? Why didn't I bring up resurrection any time in this last month?

I explain to Carly that after 3 days, Jesus woke up and His spirit went back into His body, and He was alive again. I explained that Jesus overcame death, and that because He did, we ALL will overcome death someday. I explained that after we die, and our spirits go to Heaven and hang out with our families, after a while we are allowed to go back and get in our bodies again and not be dead anymore.

I watched the BIGGEST smile come across her tear stained face. Puffy, red eyes looked hopeful. "Someday, after you die, you won't be dead anymore?" That's right! After we die, we get to be resurrected and come back to life. Because Jesus did it first.

And it's over! After a month of drawing out my 3-year-old's traumatizing exploration of death, I finally have the answer to her fears. And of course it was the most basic answer. I mean, what comforted Christ's friends when he died? They knew about life after death, but they were still sad. Sad is normal, even when we know how temporary this state is. But seeing resurrection, seeing the promise of eternal life in real-time, that was what comforted Mary at the tomb. And just knowing that it happened comforted my Carly.

Wes has been busy

2011-03-14T22:50:00.000-06:00

The difference between boys and girls is just amazing. Especially since we treat them pretty much the same. We never tried to "girly up" Carly, and Wes just plays with all of Carly's toys, so he has access to dolls and dresses and the like.

Anyway, the little guy is just such a boy. He is so busy, and so laid back, and such fun to just watch. Lately the new phrase I hear all day is I bonka my head (gibberish gibberish) and then the offending object or person. So I hear a LOT of "I bonka my head em..o..wa Carly!" Then he demands kisses.

I love this little guy!

Getting bit in the face by fellow toddlers

Making faces on the screen

Drawing on the steps

Drawing on the screen

Making new "hats"

And just being worn out by it all.

It's been a busy week for Mr. Wes!

You know those terribly behaved kids you see out in public?

2011-03-12T20:32:00.000-07:00

I've decided that they probably aren't normally like that. And just maybe those instances aren't a product of crappy or permissive parenting. In fact, they are probably normally very well-behaved children having an out of character episode.

Yes, must be.

Carly is a bright, articulate, quick little girl. She is normally pretty reasonable, and will comply to a request if you explain calmly why we need to do something. She normally has a desire to please adults and help out.

I can usually walk through stores proudly, while she walks calmly next to the cart holding on to the side. I see the other parents of those terrible children throwing fits and think "see, I'm doing something right!"

Until today.

Yes, today Carly was the WORST child ANYONE has EVER seen in a store. Today it was like a demon possession in the middle of a busy department store.

It started when we first got there. Shopping at 1:30pm without having fed lunch yet = a very bad idea. I was just trying to push through our list and get home, and this was the last stop. And we were just running in to buy one thing! Carly wanted to ride in the cart. But she's way too big, and Wes was in the child seat. So I'm nudging her up the aisles while she mildly whines about what she wants and doesn't want. I'm hissing "come on; we're almost done; we just have to get one thing; I'm sorry there aren't 2 seats; let's go!"

We were buying a spare car seat to leave at the sitter's house, and the box was huge. It teetered on top of the cart and obscured most of my vision. I'm trying to walk down the narrow aisles and not hit anyone while peering around the huge box, and dragging a whiny Carly. I really needed 3 hands- one for Carly, one for the cart, and one to keep the box from falling off.

At this point Carly decides she wants to push the cart. Ugh. Fine. I move up the front and pull/guide from the front so that she doesn't hit anyone.

This really set Carly off. "I want to push it!   You don't touch the cart!   I want to do it ALL BY MYSELF."

I stop, get down on her level, and explain that she can't see and that I need to steer so she can push. We start out again, and once again I hear shrieking "Mommy! Don't touch the cart! I do it myself!" I back off a little, and she promptly hit a rack of clothes, over corrects and hits an old lady in a wheelchair. I grab the front and straighten us out and hear "MOMMY!   NO!   I DO IT!"

My urge to kill was rising. It was 2pm, Wes is trying pathetically to fall asleep in the cart, and I can see hunger all over Carly's face. And were still sooo very far from the front of the store. Why in the world is the baby section always in the very back of the store?? Has any mom of young children ever thought, "I'm sure glad I get to haul my kids through the entire store just to buy a box of wipes!" I grab the handle of the cart, tell Carly she can push with me, and try to set a quicker pace.

That's when my kid became possessed. Like the kind of shrieking you'd hope your kid does if he's ever being abducted. Loud enough to easily hear throughout the entire store. Kicking. Yelling "NO! NO! NO!" And "MINE!  LET GO! MINE!" I stop, get down on her level, and remain amazingly calm. I tell her that no one likes to listen to her, and that she has lost the privilege of pushing the cart because she's ~~acting like a psycho~~ behaving poorly.

It doesn't help. Reasoning won't work. There is snot and angry spittle everywhere.

New plan: get out of the store as soon as humanly possible.

I half jog to the registers, dragging a feral, rabid dog behind me. All efforts of maintaining the image of a mother-in-control are gone. We reach the registers, and start waiting in line. Why isn't there an emergency check out line? Like for when no one else wants you in the store either? You know, screaming child, if you're about to puke, or your water just broke. Those kinds of things. Then Carly starts throwing herself bodily against the cart. Man, she's strong when she's mad! I'm doing all I can to brace the cart so it doesn't shoot into the person in front of us.

I grab Carly, plop her down against the magazine rack, and tell her its time for a time out. Remember, still screaming this whole time. In non-English. She spreads out, laying on the ground, and winds her arms around the cart's wheels, still screaming "No! MINE!" It's been like 10 minutes of screaming, most of it unintelligible. I'm just surprised at this point that it's still about the cart. That's some focus!

And I'm noticing the looks. The ones I would normally give. The ones that say "Whew, glad that's not my kid. My kid would NEVER do that! I must be doing something right." And I want to say "Oh! I know! Where is this kid's parents?" But instead I ask the checker if she wants to keep my child, pay quickly, and grab Carly out of that store.

The screaming continues. Voice hoarse at this point, face red and shining with tears and mucous.

Must
get
to
the
car!

We get to the car, and I release my death grip on Carly's arm. She immediately sinks to the asphalt and begins the thrashing in the parking lot. Great. I lift her up into her seat. She's kicking and hitting...and of course still screaming. I nearly break her arms getting her buckled into her seat, shut the slider, and

:::sigh::: take a deep breath and enjoy silence for the first time in 25 minutes.

I stood in the parking lot at my cart for a few minutes gathering myself before opening the doors again to get a sleeping Wes into his seat, and wrestling that box into the back. Then I climb in myself and surround myself once more with the horrible noise that is my possessed child.

A quick trip through the drive through feeds the demon and silences her for the first time. As we pull out of the parking lot, I see a police car slowly driving up and down the rows of cars, no doubt looking for the reported child abuse. Then I look in my mirror aimed at the back seat, and see Carly's mottled face, tears still wet on her cheeks, and realize that my perspective has been permanently changed.

Never again will I judge the mother of a screaming child in a store. Never.

Picture of a Tuesday morning

2011-03-01T10:56:00.005-07:00

1. It's 11, and we're still in pajamas. I'm obviously not in the office today. Oh, and Carly sans pants? The norm. If I've managed to force her into pants, it's because we are leaving soon to go somewhere.

2. These two are inseparable. Carly wants to dress up in Daddy's shoes? Of course Wes has to then!

3. They just can't leave that shoe basket alone. Or anything else for that matter. Yesterday I spent the day scouring the house. I wonder how long it will take them to destroy it once more.

A closer look

4. We've all been sick around here, and one major symptom has been goopy eyes. All that eye rubbing has led to Wes having infections in his eye lids. Don't worry- he's on antibiotics. But doesn't he look pathetic, like he lost a fight?

5. Carly decided Wes would make a good canvas last night. This is what he looks like after his bath. He was (and still is) head to toe marker.

6. We were lucky enough to have my sister-in-law and niece stay with us for 10 days, and they just left on Sunday. We have been trying to get rid of Wes' binky, but Kalen still has hers, and also he was sick so we give in out of pity. By the time Kiernan and Kalen left, they couldn't find any of their binkies. I guess Wes was stashing them away, because he keeps sporting pretty pink bling now that we're working on taking away his binkies again.

A picture is worth a thousand words, and can sure sum up my morning.

A piranha in a tutu

2011-02-25T20:49:00.014-07:00

So the time has come for Carly to start some extracurriculars. We thought dance would be a great place to start. Tuesday was her first day in "Little Stars," a hip hop/jazz/ballet class for 3-5 years olds.

We went that morning to buy dance clothes, and of course Carly only wanted pink. No black or white. So pink it was.

We got there early to meet her teacher, and as the girls filed in she excitedly announced "Hi! I'm Carly! This is my dance!"

Then the warmups started, and it was incredibly cute. She didn't catch on very quickly, but a group of 3-year-olds in tutus doing anything is pretty darn adorable.

Carly is a very verbal learner. The teacher would tell them to point to the front, to the side, back, etc, when doing ballet warmups at the chairs, and Carly kept pointing her fingers. Too cute! And it was moving a little fast for her, so a couple times she came over and told us, "Daddy, I'm not sure about this." She even spent some time hiding under a chair.

Solution?

Yes, my husband is the best father ever.

Marshall's take on Carly the dancer: "It's a little piranha in a tutu." Fitting.

Frozen adventure

2011-02-24T09:54:00.019-07:00

On President's day, we took the family on a trip up the Canyon to Midway, Utah to see the ice castles. Marsh's family is visiting, so we had a big group.

The ice castles were beautiful, and the kids had fun walking through the icy tunnels.

On the way back we stopped at the lake, which is frozen over.

All across the lake there were ice fishers set up in their tents. We thought it'd be fun to walk out on the frozen lake and get some pictures.

Carly had fun making snow angels, and I think it'll be fun to take her back to the lake in the summer and try to convince her that she had walked all the way out to the middle.

It was a fun frozen adventure, and it was nice to defrost with big mugs of hot chocolate once we got home.

Loves

2011-02-20T09:45:00.000-07:00

Carly was very excited about Valentines Day this year. She insisted that we check the mail every day for her "loves," which were just sure to come. So I sent out the facebook request for loves for my Carly, and the response was fantastic! Carly got loves in the mail every day the week of Valentines Day, and was just so excited. Here she is with her pile of Loves on V-Day.

Special thanks to both sets of grandparents, Kier and Kalen, Russ and Star, Camille, and Rachel.

Playroom

2011-02-12T19:53:00.008-07:00

So this is the next stop in my "look at my new house" series. Part one was the upstairs bathroom, kitchen, living and dining rooms.

When deciding where to rent while in Provo, we had a few options. I really did my homework and shopped around. Over the course of a month I was probably in 30 homes. The biggest concern we had about the town home we chose was the stairs. We really wanted to be all on one level if possible, because Wes had never dealt with stairs. But this place had 3 bedrooms, the middle floor living area in my last post, and this awesome extra living area downstairs as a bonus. I immediately thought playroom. There are NO toys in the bedrooms! LOVE! And after a week, Wes was completely independent on the stairs.

I've had the playroom put together for a while, but I had one last project I was being too lazy to complete. Those rain gutter bookshelves. But I got them done this week, and I think all in all, the room turned out really cute.

This is the stairway going down. I put the aquadoodle up on the wall, which has worked out well.

A lot of the stuff is items we already had, like the toy box, hanging baskets, and valance. The rest is like Ikea exploded in our house (thank you tax refund), and the little arm chairs are potterybarn and were an awesome craigslist find. All of the riding toys- cars, strollers, shopping carts, skateboards -are in the "garage" (the closet).

The bookshelves are my DIY raingutter bookshelf project.

These shelves are the perfect place to display my favorite kids' books from my own childhood, 'My First Steps to Reading' by Jane Belk Moncure. There is a different book for each letter of the alphabet, and they each start out with the classic "Little a had a box. He wanted to fill his box...." And then the character fills the box with all items that start with his or her letter. Moncure has redone these books, but I don't know much about the newer version. I absolutely adore the original artwork of the version from 1984.

I still want to make an ABC wall art project on the wall by their table, and we need some artwork for the stairwell. But I'm finally put together enough to post some pics.

And yes, that bottom stair and landing are the location of the Great Nail Polish Disaster of 2010. Can you tell?

Book of Mormon stories

2011-02-01T17:37:00.007-07:00

Carly has been very excited lately.

At church this year, the theme for Primary is...

...

..wow, I should know this, being a primary teacher and all....

Well, it has something to do with reading the scriptures. Probably "I love to read the scriptures." Either way, the Primary Presidency went all out and challenged the kids to read the whole Book of Mormon this year. That's a really long book with lots of strange words.

I didn't actually think we would attempt to accomplish this at our house.

But this Primary Presidency, they're crafty. They made the BOM challenge into a quest with a map.

Now, if you know Carly, you know she's big on maps. In fact, she loooooves maps. And hidden buried treasure. So when she was given her first map of '1st Nephi Island,' and was told that she'd get a treasure chest once she finished reading 1st Nephi, that was her goal.

Everyday she brings me our big family size Book of Mormon and asks to read more. I would just do the kid version, but the map is colored in chapter by chapter. So we have to stay true to the original, to be fair and all. So at first we were reading the chapter, and then summarizing in kid speak. But her eyes would glaze over, and she wouldn't hear a word. So then I started changing some of the harder words as we went.

brethren = brothers
slow to hearken = they didn't listen
wilderness = forest
etc

And she is really getting the stories! Sometimes we do multiple chapters a day because she wants to hear more of the story. Before we go on to the new chapter, I make her summarize what we've heard so far.

She loved the story of Nephi chopping off the mean guy's head to take his scriptures, and the story about Nephi's mean brothers tying him up and Heavenly Father making a big storm on the ocean until they untied him, and how the magic ball didn't work and tell them where to go unless they were being good. She can tell you all about Lehi's dream, and the big building with the bad people and the yummy fruit on the tree, and how we have to hold on to the "rail" so we don't get lost while walking to the tree.

When reading about the Liahona, I pulled up images on Google of compasses. When we read about Nephi's bow, we looked up pictures of bow and arrows.

It's really been a lot of fun!

It's also been fun to see the real life applications in her 3-year-old little world. When reading, I use the word 'whining' instead of 'murmuring.' The other day she was whining, and I asked "what happens when we whine?" The expected answer was "mommy doesn't hear me." But instead she sheepishly replied "Heavenly Father doesn't bless us."

We finished first Nephi in about 2 weeks, and she was so excited to turn in her treasure map. Now on to 2nd Nephi Beach!

Car update

2011-01-31T09:45:00.006-07:00

After our wreck at Christmas, we got a rental and left our car in Nevada so the insurance adjuster could take a look and make a decision. Wouldn't you know, they decided it was a total loss. Apparently hammering out dents can get pretty expensive.

We negotiated back and forth on a fair price. The adjuster that went out apparently has no idea what he's doing, and we had a few conversations like this with our agent:

Us: "Umm, the car had leather seats."
Bear River Guy: "Oh, really? The adjuster wrote down cloth."
Us: "Yeah, and a towing hitch."
BRG: "Oh, he missed that too."
Us: "And a CD player, and power seats and windows, and power sliding doors, and seat warmers."
BRG: "....oops..."

Ultimately we got what we felt was a fair price.

While the car was in Nevada, we had a local mechanic look at it, and he said that the car looked great! All the fluids came out when it was on it's side, so he filled it back up, put it on a lift, and even drove it around a little. There was nothing mechanically wrong. So we offered to take the insurance company's money, and then offer to buy the car back. They sold it back to us for $600 dollars, the value of the scrap metal.

We drove back out to Nevada and picked up the car. One tire wasn't holding air very well. The front passenger door wouldn't open because the fender was dented. And the passenger mirror fell off. Other than that, all the damage was completely cosmetic.

Once back in town, I took the car to Cascade Collision Repair, where the fender was hammered out and a new mirror was put on for $118 dollars total. I took it to Big O Tires, and they determined that there was dirt in the tire beading, and they cleaned it out and called the tire good as new. For free!

Side note: This is the 3rd time in a row that I have taken a leaky tire to Big O in Springville, and they have repaired it for free. I've never given them a dime, even when I've tried. They've patched twice and rebeaded once... and won't take my money! So anyone in Utah county, take your tire business to Big O Tires in Springville. Seriously great guys!

So here's our car now.

Not incredibly pretty, but I'd say it's great for having gone on to its side. The only damage is cosmetic, and we didn't do any body work other than prying out the fender. The power doors all work- even the slider on the passenger side.

And we were able to take the money insurance gave us and pay off our other car and some other debts. Best crash ever! In all seriousness though, we have just been so fortunate throughout this whole experience.

18 months

2011-01-30T20:55:00.007-07:00

Wes turned 18 months back on the 8th. He has been sick, so I've had to wait to get some pictures to go with this post that weren't entirely booger-encrusted. Gross, right?

So this morning, I rubbed his face raw, and just took some pics before church. And now I can post.

At Wes' 18 month appointment, his stats were as follows:

Weight: 22lbs 2ozs - 7th percentile
Height: 31.2 inches - 20th percentile
Head circumference: 18.27 inches - 15th percentile
Diapers: Size 4
Clothes: 18-24 months

This was his first appointment with our new doctor in Provo. I had tried to get his records transferred before our appointment, but shockingly it wasn't as important to the pediatrician's office receptionists as it was to me. So no records going into our appointment. The doctor walked in, reviewing Wes' measurements from that day, and said "he's small, is that normal?"

You see, when determining if a baby is a healthy size, the actual numbers aren't as important as the growth curve. This is a plotting of his proportions since birth. If he'd been 90th percentile, and then dropped suddenly to 7th, that'd be concerning. But Wes has always had a "shallow curve," as I like to call it. So thanks a lot, other pediatrician, for making this appointment worthless without those records.

I assured the doc that Wes has always been small, and that his daddy was small growing up too (did I ever mention that Marshall wrestled at 112 lbs at one point in high school?).

Otherwise, Wes is ahead in every way!

- Wes doesn't just try to jump; the kid gets air! He can jump and get both feet completely off the ground. His favorite thing is to jump straight from standing to sitting. Ouch. He thinks it's hilarious.

- Wes now fake laughs. He watches social cues and loves to throw his head back and do a hearty "Ha Ha Ha!"

- Wes talks a ton! At first, I was wondering how he would possibly compare to Carly. She was super verbal. And a girl. And a first born. All of those things meant that she had a huge vocabulary for her age growing up. I mean, Carly had more than 300 words by 2 years old. So with Wes being a boy, and being a second born, I had no expectations that he'd be near that. But here he is at 18 months, and he has 130+ words. He is well on track to having more than 300 by 2. He speaks in 3 and 4 word sentences, such as "Carly, come on! Upstairs! Let's go!" Or "Look, it's a cup."

- Wes still has terrible skin. Poor kid lives in a constant state of rashy-ness. His new doctor didn't buy the milk allergy thing (again) and suggested I try a new regimen for eczema, and then add milk back in to see if it gets worse. Well, we did that, and now he is rashed from neck to toes. Fantastic.

- Wes now is in his own room, and is fighting to give up his naps. Not happening. But it is nice that if we are out an about, he can go without a nap a day here and there and make it just fine until bedtime.

- Wes likes to try to count. He says "1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11!" Sometimes he gets hung up around 7 and will do the "7, 8, 7, 8" thing for a while.

- Wes LOVES reading stories. He asks for books anytime we walk by a bookshelf.

- Wes is starting to point out letters, and loves to say random letter names while pointing at words, usually something like "O X E E O X!"

- Wes is incredibly social and loves everyone. He's never met a stranger, which makes the new arrangement of him going to a babysitter a couple days a week so great. He just walks right in and is like "see you, mom!"

- Wes feeds himself and uses and fork and spoon pretty well. Just today he ate a bowl of cereal using a spoon, and kept his shirt more clean that Carly ever does.

- Wes is really fighting me for that binkie. He can go the whole day and his naps without it. But I try to go a night without a couple in his bed, and I am up 2 or 3 times with him. So for now, he wins the binkie war at bedtime. That does mean that I continue to have kids who sleep from 8pm to 8:30am every night.

I just love him to death! Such a handsome little guy!

That's my wuv

2011-01-25T16:44:00.005-07:00

A couple weeks ago, I was driving the kids in the car. From the back seat I hear, "Mommy, my wuv is kisses; that's my wuv."

Oh, really?" I ask. "You're love is kisses?"

"Yep, I give kisses to show my wuv."

"Well then, what's Wes' love?" I ask her.

"Umm, Wessy's wuv is growling."

"So then what's my love?"

"Mommy, your wuv is hugs and saying 'I wuv you.'"

"Then what's Daddy's love?"

.....long pause.....

"Daddy's wuv is farting!"

"What?!"

"Yeah, he farts on Wessy's head because he wuvs him. Daddy gives us wuv farts."

Primary 2011

2011-01-16T20:58:00.011-07:00

Carly and her 'picture of Jesus;' Jan 2nd, 2011

It's a new year, and both my kids had some big first days at church. Carly graduated nursery and is now a Sunbeam. Wes turned 18 months the first week of January, so he got to go to his first day of nursery that same day.

The kids with Marsh before church

Carly going into Sunbeams

Love the duckface!

Wes outside of his new nursery class

My kids are unusual. Instead of the normal anxiety and crying when dropped off with new people, my kids run into class and never look back. Not even a moment of tears or uneasiness when the door closes and they're all alone. Carly never had stranger anxiety as a baby. We thought it was probably just her unique personality. But Wes couldn't be more different in temperament, but he's the exact same in that aspect. Maybe even more so. When the new Relief Society presidency came by to introduce themselves, Wes was practically begging the new strange women to take him home with them. Sometimes I worry I've done something wrong. That there's something wrong with their attachment. They don't miss me! They don't prefer me to perfect strangers! But I know they're healthy kids and securely attached, so I guess it's just an anomaly both are that way. Probably the next will be uber-clingy.

Their first day in class, I of course, had to be the mom-arazzi. So I went back to check on them a few times and caught them with their classes.

Here's Carly in the hall with her class

Here's Wes moving rooms with his class. He doesn't quite get the purpose of the jumprope yet.

Speaking of Primary, anyone care to guess what my new calling is? I should have made a poll when we moved so people could guess ahead of time and get even more entertainment out of my pain. After my second Sunday, I even got a couple calls from friends and family asking if my streak was still going- had I been called yet to nursery/sunbeams? But yes, yes, it happened again. It's getting to be a rather old joke, but once again I am called as Sunbeam teacher within the first month in a new ward. I think the bishopric counselor that extended the call was a little scared when I began bawling in front of him.

You'd think that at some point my bad luck would stop. So it's either that there really is a conspiracy among wards to call the newest warm body to deal with shrieking toddlers, or these callings really are inspired...meaning that God dislikes me. Either way, for the fourth time in as many wards, I am spending my Sundays with the very age group that most tries my patience. Heaven help us all.

Nuga

2011-01-14T10:21:00.006-07:00

Last summer, Carly got her first real imaginary friend. She had previously had imaginary playmates, but none that stuck around for more than a few days. And none that had a name. She went to play at a friend's house for the afternoon, and when I picked her up, told me all about the adventures of her "new friend, Nuga!" ('new-gah')

Nuga?
Where did she get that?

I called my friend, sure that 'Nuga' was a derivative of the name of one of her child's toys, or a character in a book, or TV show at their house. But no, she had never heard of Nuga, or an imaginary horse (did I mention that Nuga is a horse?)

Imaginary horses weren't that far out of the norm for our girl. We have had imaginary ghosts, dinosaurs, and bunnies roaming our halls (Okay hall. Singular. Our apartment was very small.) But they never stayed long, and certainly never had a name. Our girl doesn't name things. Her adored stuffed animals are "my doggy," "my baby," and "my bear." When asked what any of their names are, she smiles and says "I don't know; you tell me." And the names we make up for them never stick long. She just has no interest in naming things. So "Nuga" having a name was very unusual.

And Nuga has stuck around. Carly has a close relationship with her horsey friend. Nuga is insistently included in many bedtime stories, and is usually close by when Carly can be found playing pretend.

For Christmas I wanted to bring Nuga to life.

I had seen some hobby horses at local boutiques, and thought that would be a great, age appropriate toy to aid in Carly's imaginary play. So I set out to get more specifics about Carly's best friend (next to daddy). I found that Nuga was pink, with pink hair. Hmmm, hadn't seen any hobby horses that were solid pink.

I got onto etsy, my trusty source for all things unique. I found many adorable hobby horse shops. One in particular was reasonably priced, and I liked the pattern that the designer used. But again, no solid pink.

According to Carly, Nuga wasn't blue with pink flowers
She wasn't pink with small pink flowers.
She wasn't cream with pink paisley.
She certainly wasn't purple.
She was pink. Just pink. And none of that wussy pale pink. Nuga is bright pink. I contacted the designer, and luckily she was able to make a custom pink horse for me.

Christmas came, and Nuga was wrapped like a present on a stick. Carly unwrapped the box, and opened it to see the pink horse head. She pulled it out, and I held my breath wondering if I'd have to give guided prompts to let her know this was supposed to be Nuga.

But without pausing even a second, she exclaimed "Oh! It's my friend NUGA!" And they rode off into the sunset, happily ever after. Or something like that.

Christmas in Rocklin- 2010

2011-01-13T20:32:00.022-07:00

I join the ranks of the woefully late holiday-catchup bloggers.

Once we made it to California, we enjoyed a very merry holiday with Marshall's family.

First we chased chickens.

And then tried to convince the kids to get together for a picture.

Christmas Eve we walked the Disney Streets and enjoyed the lights.

Christmas morning we had some very excited kids opening presents.

Christmas afternoon we went to the Andrews family gathering.

My kids were sporting their beautiful Christmas outfits made by my mom.

The rest of the week we played, played, played. And took a break to read. And played some more.

What a great visit!

Not our favorite Christmas tradition

2010-12-26T10:14:00.006-07:00

Marshall and I have horrible luck with cars. And driving. Truth be told, I get lots of speeding tickets. And Marshall is an incredibly cautious driver, but he has been in lots of freak accidents. And mechanical problems on our cars come in sets- We had a year of random popped tires; like 4. And a year of replacing 3 windshields. And this last year it was major mechanical problems like transmissions and radiators. Our cars have been egged, keyed, and a couple years ago one was even stolen!

While we live in Utah, our families are in California. This means that driving home a couple times a year, one trip always occurring at Christmas. So when our bad-car-juju and our annual Christmas trip combine, we get our least favorite Christmas tradition: the car accident.

1st time- Hit a deer on the freeway in southern Utah. Snowing and low visibility.
2nd- Spun out while driving 25mph with chains over the Sierras. Hit the center median. Actually ripped a chain and had to spend the night on the side of the road to wait out the storm before continuing the drive.
3rd- Rear ended at 55mph while at a dead stop on the I-5 in California. I was 17 weeks pregnant. The car was totalled. The guy who hit us was an undocumented immigrant, so thank goodness for uninsured driver insurance.

After this point we flew a year, and once Wes was born we decided to reduce our risk and only drive to one family's house in CA and switch off each year, instead of doing the long loop to visit both.

But still the tradition continues.

This year we had Christmas Crash #4, and it broke usual form. Marshall wasn't driving; I was. And I wasn't speeding; cruise was set at the speed limit. The weather was clear.

Marshall worked the night before, so the plan was for me to drive the first half while he slept. I usually stay up too late the night before and only get a couple hours of sleep, but I had packed ahead of time and was in bed by 9pm. But that morning I was still really tired. By Wendover I was yawning, so I pulled off and bought a Mountain Dew. I don't drink caffeine, so when I do I really feel the effects. We got back on the freeway, and I was wide awake.

A mile or two later I slightly drifted toward the left shoulder. I think maybe I was putting my soda down. But even before I hit the rumble strip, I corrected. But the road was a little wet, and apparently icy. The back began to fish tail. I couldn't correct the spin, and apparently if the wheels aren't facing forward in an orderly fashion, the brakes don't work. I tried to pull over on the right, and instead shot us off the freeway. We went down a little embankment, and the car began to go up on two wheels. Marshall yelled "we're going to roll!" and I said "I know, it'll be alright."

We came down on the passenger side. It was completely surreal to be looking down at Marshall, and watching the ground slide past, inches from his head. I just keep praying we wouldn't skid over a rock. The car came to a rest still on it's side. We all sat there a second and took stock, grateful we were all fine. Marshall jumped up and unbuckled the kids. Some truckers had stopped and we passed the kids to them up through the driver's side window. Then we climbed out and waited as police and fire responded.

Everyone was shocked we were fine. More than one person said "you don't just all walk away from a roll." But we did. Not a scratch, not bump, not a sore muscle. None of the glass broke in our car. It was truly amazing. When we got out of the car, we were just elated. We were probably the happiest crash survivors those fire fighters had ever seen. We were laughing, and joking, and taking pictures. We considered flipping the car back over and just keeping on our drive. But the tow truck driver informed us we'd need a rental. Then we considered just driving to CA and announcing our crash once we arrived and people noticed we were in a rental. But instead we sent this picture via text message to our families.

They weren't as amused as we were. Apparently that's not the best way to tell family you've been in a car wreck.

Ultimately we made a claim with our insurance, took a taxi to Elko, got a rental, and were on our way to California once again within 4 hours. We arrived safely, and are waiting to hear from the adjuster tomorrow about what is happening with our car.

We are so grateful we are safe and unharmed. A lot of it was luck with where we went off the road. But our safety was also definitely due to proper seat belt and car seat use. If one of us hadn't been restrained, that crash could have been deadly. Wes was safely cradled in his rear facing car seat. Carly was safely harnessed in her 5-point harness. Our car seats were properly installed.

I've had a few friends ask me about our choices to be overly-cautious with our car seats since the crash, so I'll link to my past post about car seat safety, and to the American Academy of Pediatrics' recommendation to rear face until 2.

Though rear facing Wes definitely protected him in our crash, the biggest difference, I believe, was due to Carly being in a harness. Many people think that once a child reaches 40lbs, they need to be moved to a booster seat. But you can harness children safely in seats that go up to 85lbs! In a roll over, a 5pt harness is more effective than just a shoulder belt. And seeing Carly hanging from her seat made me extremely grateful I wasn't just relying on a lap and shoulder belt (especially since many kids improperly wear shoulder belts, pushing them behind their backs). Yay car seats!

With each crash getting worse than the last, I feel like we are tempting fate a little. Maybe from now on, we'll keep our traveling to the summer months only. Or take up a collection for plane tickets?

The magic of flat irons

2010-12-21T16:16:00.003-07:00

We got a foot and a half of snow yesterday and last night. It's cold, wet, and miserable out there. So in looking for fun things to do indoors with the kiddos, I decided to satisfy my long time curiousity: What would Carly look like with straight hair?

It's much longer than I thought! Wow!

Putting that sewing machine in its place

2010-12-09T21:48:00.009-07:00

I am not great at sewing. My mom is. She majored in it at BYU. I could hardly sew a straight line by the time I left for college. And I didn't have much interest to learn at that point.

But slowly, I have gained more interest. And the more interest I gain, the more I realize just how much I do not know. I can do a straight line around a baby blanket. But a skirt? Scary stuff.

A little over a month ago I was in a fabric store. Just looking. I don't dare buy fabric unless my mom is visiting and can help me accomplish my vision. But while in the shop, I came across the cutest diaper bag I had ever seen. As fate would have it, my diaper bag (that I had been using since Carly was under 1 year old) was just about dead. My heart stopped. Time stood still.

I never considered actually making it. I just wanted to buy the already put-together version displayed in the store. But they wouldn't sell it to me. I begged. Offered large sums of money.

And finally, I bought the pattern.

Too intimidated to even cut out my fabric, the pattern has been sitting sealed on my kitchen counter. Finally, this week, I decided to not let IzzynIvy (design company) terrorize me any longer.

And I started to sew.

After 3 solid days of not doing anything else (my husband can attest to that), I finished my bag this evening. Kids are largely dirty and unfed, dishes are 4 days old in the sink. But I actually MADE that bag! And it didn't turn out too bad.

I ruffled.
I put in a magnet snap.
I basted canvas.
I ironed interfacing.
I zigzagged straps.
I hand stitched.
I bind-ed (bound?) What is the passed tense of put on a binding?
My fingers are poked and bloody.

I believe I can now claim that I can sew.

Proverbs 22:6

2010-12-06T12:21:00.003-07:00

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

My mom had this embroidered on a sampler that hung in our house when I was a kid. I would think about what kinds of things I would want to 'train up' my kids in from a young age.

Be honest
Be polite
Be kind

and bleed BYU Blue!

Santa Claus

2010-12-04T19:17:00.007-07:00

We had our ward party tonight, and it was a lot of fun. There was great food, singing, some showing of talents, and best of all Santa came! The kids were all so excited!

I wondered how my kids would do. The last time Carly took a pic with Santa was a two or 3 years ago, and she wasn't very happy about meeting him at the time. This is Wes' first time meeting the jolly old man, so I figured he'd probably cry and scream.

But surprisingly, both kids did great!

Wes went first. He didn't seem thrilled or anything, but also didn't cry. Success!

Carly went next, and was completely enthralled. She whispered what she wanted and listened to his advice.

Then we had the two of them sit on Santa's lap together. You can tell by this point what they were both most excited about.

Yep, candy cane trumps Santa. Or mom with the camera.

Getting unpacked

2010-12-04T09:42:00.014-07:00

Marshall got into the UVU paramedic program, so we moved back down to Provo. He starts in January, but I really didn't want to move in snow, so I begged to move asap. We're renting- who knows how long we'll actually be in Provo, but most likely just a year.

I've had some requests of pics of the new place. So as I get rooms unpacked and clean, I may post some pics on here. We moved 2 weeks ago today, and these pictures were taken on Wednesday. That's some speedy unpacking!

Main floor:

View from the stairway

Looking past the couch into the dining area

Carly trying to be in every picture

Standing by the table looking back at the living room

Vogue

The kitchen (love the pantry!)

Upstairs bathroom:

Downstairs there is a playroom, a guest bedroom, and another bathroom, and our 2 bedrooms are upstairs. So more pictures to come!

First things first

2010-12-01T20:30:00.010-07:00

We got the keys to our new place on the 18th, and moved in on the 20th. Those first 2 days were spent prepping the house for our arrival.

What could be so important it would take 2 days of work?

The yard.

We only wanted to rent a place with a yard. It was super important. This place was great- the yard was smallish and manageable, and completely fenced. But the yard itself was an overgrown garden. Peppers, strawberries, pumpkins. And lots and lots of weeds.

I wanted a lawn.

Luckily, the yard is smallish (meaning tiny), so landscaping was reasonable.

We spent the first day (and by we I clearly mean Marshall) ripping out all the old foilage. And raking the 2 inch layer of dead leaves. Then we rented a landscaping rake and put down a bunch of topsoil and fertilizer.

The next day we drove to the sod place. I called a bunch of sod farmers and found that the general consensus is that fall is a great time to lay sod. Even in Utah. So we bought our 200 square feet of sod, and loaded it into the back of the minivan. Yeah, we're cheap like that. We at least put down a tarp first.

The van was sooo low. Like trailer hitch 3 inches off the ground low. We took the drive from Orem to south Provo at like 20 miles an hour with the hazards on. All the other drivers on State Street loved that.

When we got home, Marshall did a great job laying all the sod. Russ stopped by to lend a hand. What a great team!

And in the end, wah lah! A green, grassy yard. And it was amazingly cheap, too. The sod was only 40 bucks.

2 weeks later, we had our first good snow, and this is what Marsh and Carly managed on Sunday after church. The face is m&m's, hence the weird bleeding appearance.

Yay for a yard!!

Birth Control

2010-11-30T22:43:00.005-07:00

You thought you wanted (more) kids? Take a while to really make sure. Babies are cute and all, but at some point they reach the age where they can be willfully bad.

And by bad, I mean evil.
And by evil I mean horribly destructive.

Proof:

Yes, yes, this is the work of my 3.5 year old. The 3.5 year old who knows better. Who REALLY knows better. This wasn't just innocent examination. Not just curiosity.

No, no. This is willful destruction.

QUICK willful destruction. I was only out of the room a couple minutes. And I came back to a near empty keyboard and a pile of keys. As I rounded the corner, she was frantic to claw off as many as she could before I came down on her in my wrath.

I considered for a minute just scrapping the computer entirely. I mean, HOW do you come back from something like that??!! I have put a key or two back before. But 37?? I figured the computer had been rendered useless, and was really really sad I had decided last week that we could last until next black Friday before needing another laptop.

The best part (and strongest proof she's willfully bad), is that when I asked her why she did it her response was "I didn't! Wesley did!" Umm, no he didn't. He was locked in his high chair.

A half hour later, and after some yelling and kid-thrown-in-rooming (hey, I'm not perfect), I was feeling much better.

I did have to sacrifice two keys for the cause though. Which two would you have chosen? I choose the [ and ] keys. I mean, really, how often do you use those? It's not like I sit here doing algebra on my laptop. My emoticon options got a bit slimmer, but at least I can type sentences.

Welcome back, computer! Goodbye desire to ever reproduce ever again!

The best week of Carly's life

2010-11-29T22:21:00.015-07:00

Earlier this month, Carly had quite the week. First, on November 9th, she got to go to Yo Gabba Gabba Live. The tickets were purchased months ago and mom and dad waited in anticipation. The day finally came, and Carly didn't fully grasp why we were so giddy with excitement.

We got to the stadium and she took a while to warm up. She didn't quite understand what we meant when we told her that she was actually going to see the Gabbas in person.

But then the show started, and whoa! did she suddenly understand! It was a room full of dancing, singing parents and toddlers. And Carly was in love. At one point, after the intermission, the Gabbas came out onto the floor seating area, and Toodee gave Carly a high five. She continued on to the stage, and Carly was scrambling over the chairs trying to follow heryelling "I'm coming Toodee!!"

We all loved the party in my tummy number.

Daddy was really excited about Reel Big Fish.

And mommy was impressed to see Biz Markie in person for Biz's Beat of the Day.

Awesome concert!

And just when the week couldn't get any better, Daddy scored some cheap tickets to Disney on Ice. This time, Carly knew how to be appropriately excited from the beginning. Lights! Ice skating! Princesses! The perfect daddy-daughter date.

I'd say it was her best week ever.

Repeat offenders

2010-11-08T23:45:00.006-07:00

Once again my wallet started getting a little thin. I had no idea that the hallway vent was going to be a daily problem.

This time it was 100% Wes. I caught him in the act, and chased him down the hall. He dove for the vent, card in hand, as I chased. He was sooo sad when I tackled him and took the goods away. When I got the vent open, I have to say I was impressed. He is getting quicker and sneakier!

And Carly's artistic abilities are really blossoming lately. She loves drawing people, and sometimes monsters. Mostly her drawings have been limited to paper, but the other day she surprised me when I visited the bathroom.

She came in and proudly explained to me that it was a giant, holding a flower, standing on grass next to a tree. And there is a sun and some clouds in the sky. She used 3 colors, and even 'framed' it herself! We left it up this last week to enjoy because we have to scour the walls next week before moving anyway. I can't wait to see what the next draw will be in our new home.

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-01T00:42:00.014-06:00

We live in Utah, and it's no secret Utah has its own little culture. So Halloween was Saturday here. Unfortunately, Saturday it was raining, and I didn't dare bring my expensive camera out in the downpour to get pictures of trick-or-treating in the act. Luckily we took the kids to trick-or-treat at BYU on Friday, so we have some pictures of our monkeys in costume.

BYU hosts a trick-or-treat activity at the Marriott Center where the kids can meet the collegiate athletes. The kids got to meet the men's volleyball team, the swim team, golf team, women's gymnasts and a few others I can't remember. It was a lot of fun.

Carly was helping Wes by holding his pumpkin bucket for him. Then she got the genius idea to take his unguarded candy. So a piece of candy would be put into each pumpkin, and she'd quickly take his out and put it into hers. What a greedy monster!

The best part was Marshall chasing Wes down the corridors. It was a giant banana chasing a shrieking little monkey, and we got quite a few laughs from the other parents.

After the trick-or-treating, we enjoyed the BYU basketball team's first game of the season.

My 3 favorite people.

Saturday, we went to Star's house for a very scary dinner. We were treated with ghoulish dishes prepared by Star and Russ, including fingers, mummy toes, pumpkin wraps, bones (rolls), swamp water, and a very scary (and delish) risotto.

Then we took our brood into the rain to trick-or-treat Star's neighborhood. Unfortunately, the storm put a damper on the Halloween spirit, and many houses did not have candy or no one answered. Too bad.

We still had a lovely Halloween weekend.

A haircut for a little man

2010-10-30T16:52:00.011-06:00

Ok, so I broke down and did it. He was just starting to look too ridiculous. So today we took him to Ihop, filled him with pancakes to aid in the sitting still-ness, and then took him across the parking lot to Great Clips.

Here's some befores:

Preparatory combing:

The first cut!

Doing so well! He just sat there like a little statue. No tears, no squirming, no need for a parent to hold him.

All done! With the hairy sucker.

Some afters once we got home.

It's fall at our house

2010-10-26T18:01:00.008-06:00

Pumpkin bread baking...

Sherpa-lined hoodie buying...

And jack o lantern carving...

Fall is here! And I couldn't be happier.

Hole in the wall

2010-10-26T12:55:00.007-06:00

We have a hole in our wall that just calls to our kids. It must be so irresistible. It's the intake vent in the hallway. Its big, and kid height, and has lots of slots.

I never considered, however, that they would actually be putting things all the way into the hole. Until last week, when I discovered my wallet- completely empty. I asked Carly where all my cards went. She said, "Umm, in the hole in the wall."

Oh no!

A socket wrench and an hour later, I was looking inside the hole in the wall for the first time. It was amazing the treasures it held! (aside from the furry dust....I don't even want to think about that...)

Probably the best find was our Up DVD. We rented up from Redbox like a year ago. And it mysteriously vanished before we could ever return it. Marshall has since blamed me, repeatedly bringing up how I lost a DVD into thin air.

And there it was. Carly had shoved it into the wall.

So from now on, whenever something is missing, we may just look in the wall first!

Halloween Dress Rehearsal

2010-10-25T10:56:00.010-06:00

We had our ward Halloween party on Saturday night, so we got to get out the costumes and do the first full dress rehearsal. It was a little hectic getting out of the house because we discovered that Wes' costume was much to big. So he went to the party sans costume while I scramble to find a better fitting replacement before the real deal this weekend.

Other than that, our monkey whose costume did fit, and our giant banana both looked great.

At the party, Marshall assumed his usual role of free child entertainer. The rest of the adults sit back, eat some appetizers, and chat while Marshall runs wild. He's like the Pied Piper. The kids flock to him and he rough houses, chases, and keeps them busy. Within an hour he was drenched in sweat.

Then we had the typical eat-a-donut-off-a-string-without-using-your-hands contest. Carly loves donuts and really wanted to play.

But she had a very hard time actually eating the donut, and ended up near tears.

Until we told her just to use her hands.

When we got home, Marshall had a very special performance for us.

I hope all of your Halloween preparations are coming along!

Conversation with Wes

2010-10-20T12:20:00.002-06:00

Of course as soon as I was posting this, he came over and watched, and did all the signs. Ugh!

15 months

2010-10-18T18:16:00.002-06:00

So once Wes hit one year, I thought I'd tone these posts down to quarterly. And so here we are at 15 months, and I don't even know where to begin, because he is just so dang cool. Kids accelerate exponentially in their coolness once they hit 1 year.

It's no secret babies are hard. If your newborn makes it to 4 months old in one piece, fed, and unshaken, you've done pretty well as a parent (and this coming from a social worker whose main job is to assess parents' interactions and bonding with babies this age). Newborns are tough!

Toddlers are hard too. Attitude. Talking back. Potty training. Once it starts, all that adorable bliss of babyhood ends.

But 1 year olds! Be still my heart! They are just heaven, wrapped in delight, tied with a giggle.

My parents used to say they wanted to put me in a box and keep me small forever. I must have been 5 or 6 because I remember them saying it. But honestly, the box is only a tempting idea with a 1 year old. Who'd want a perpetual 3 year old? :::shudders:::

And it's not that Wes is a particularly astounding 1 year old. I just think 1 is the height of everyone's cuteness. Carly was perfection at 1. Kalen is at her peak right now. I'm sure my mom liked me best at that cute rolly polly age of adorableness.

So without further ado: my delightful little man.

At his 15 month appointment, his stats were as follows:

Weight: 21lbs 12ozs - 13th percentile
Height: 31 inches - 47th percentile
Head circumference: 18.4 inches - 39th percentile
Diapers: Size 4
Clothes: 12-18 months

- Wes is a curly mess. As previously discussed. I'm still pretty sure we'll cut his hair at 18 months on his way into nursery. And according to my poll, most of you agree.

- Speaking of nursery, church is hard in those months between 12 and 18 months. These little kids are just starting to exercise their autonomy, and DON'T want to be held for 3 hours. They want to "go, go, go" (in Wes' own words). I spend a lot of time and creativity getting to church early to claim a row of chairs in RS to make a chair holding pen. Weeks I am late, I walk the halls. I can't WAIT for nursery.

- Did I mention that we have 1pm church? The. Worst. Assigned. Time. Ever. Wes naps at 1pm daily. For 2-3 hours. I love his nap schedule, aside from Sundays.

- Wes is still a sleeping champ. 12+ hours a night. Heaven.

- Wes signs! He wasn't interested much in Signing Time until just recently. Carly was all interested by about a year, but Wes didn't seem to care until just a month ago. Now he sings the baby signing time song throughout the day, and knows most of the signs in the first video.

- Wes talks! He has 30 words now. (I counted today) Mama, Dada, more, milk, eat, hi, bye, uh oh, uh uh (no...said while shaking his head), no, mine, bounce, wook! (look), light, eye, nose, dog, ish (fish), bird, woof, up, nigh night, please, di deu (thank you), baby, shoe, pop, yay, dance, and go. He'll repeat anything, but he says these words spontaneously and in context.

- His favorite words are Milk and Wook! I am followed around by a chorus of these words all day. My favorite word he says is Please. He is so deliberate in making the 'pl' sound. He sticks his tongue out. He also can't say please without signing it, which is just too cute.

- Wes climbs on everything. Coffee table, chairs, dining table, ottoman, bar stools, toilet. Which means he also falls off of everything.

- With his amazing climbing skills, Wes can also get out of his crib if he is determined enough. He needs something to pile into the corner to stand on, but if he has a blanket or two for height, he can pull himself up onto the changing table. From there, he can fall gracefully to the floor, and play freely until mommy lets him out of his room.

- Wes runs! It's too cute. His little legs pumping so fast that one barely hits the floor before the other is off.

- Wes decided to show off at his 15 month appointment and take off walking backwards for the first time in front of the pediatrician. The doctor was impressed, and I just acted like "yeah, my amazing kid does that all the time."

- Wes loves to jump. He chants "bounce bounce bounce" while trying to get some air. He mostly just pops up really quickly, and either maintains his balance with glee and pride, or falls over. Repeat. All day long.

- Wes is a cuddler. Carly is a really empathic little girl. She can describe other people's emotions and can make assumptions based on her own actions about how other's might feel. It's an amazing characteristic in a toddler! Wes is on his way to share this really cool attribute. He often will stop his playing to walk over an rest his head on my chest or to give me a big hug and pat my back. What sweet children I have!

- Wes is somewhat crazy! It's that 2nd child syndrome where he has to outshine Carly to get the attention. Or maybe it's just that he's a boy. But he will just run in circles while screaming, and loves to shake his head as wildly as possible. When he can get an audience- or even better, someone mimics him- he just ups the energy and pitch until he is falling over in hysterics.

- One of my favorite Wes tricks is "shake it off." If he falls down or bonks his head, and I can tell he's not really hurt, I'll say "shake it off, shake it off." He lights up and starts shaking his whole body. Often he'll chant "dance dance dance."

- Wes now has more teeth than I have accurately counted. Hold on, okay, just counted. He has 10 that are at least poking through. For the longest time he just had the 4. Until about a month ago. While we were in Yellowstone, we noticed that he had the 4, plus 2 molars on top. No sign of the 2 teeth on either side between the front teeth and the molars. We just skipped those, apparently. Now he has one set of missing top ones, and the bottom molars too. So we are still missing 3 sets, but we now have 10.

- Wes loves singing. If I sing "Old McDonald had a farm...." he'll chime in with the 'EIEIO' without fail. If I sign Popcorn, or Wise Man, or ItsyBitsySpider, he'll provide the hand movements. He sings Baby Signing time all day on his own while signing baby.

- Wes loves to imitate faces and to play peek-a-boo (which in our house is more like peek-a-ROAR!) He and Marshall love to get into growling matches. He's pretty fearsome.

- I love watching him try to imitate Carly and do things independently. He loves to try to feed himself with a fork. He loves to try to put on his shoes. He can often be found reading a book.

- Wes is now drinking out of the same sippies as Carly. With Carly we did the whole slow transition off the bottle to a soft spout sippy, and on and on to the cups we use now. This time, we threw out the bottles one day, and just went to the plastic sippies, like it or not. It was the same day we went from formula to rice milk. Just cold turkey. The kid did great! I'm not sure he even noticed!

Wes is such a good natured kid. I love this age, and I love him. I'm not even slightly baby hungry yet, and the idea of a third one is enough to give me nightmares. But I am so glad we felt that anxiousness to have him as quickly as we did. I can't imagine our family without him. I'm sure we have more kids coming our way. Not for a while though. I want to enjoy these two, and don't want to do that hard work of keeping a newborn alive while still in the midst of potty training and teaching manners to these two. But we sure are lucky to have perfection in the little family we have right now!

Some things are better left unsaid.

2010-10-07T18:46:00.004-06:00

Carly, as a 'superhero.' Every once in a while, she insists she's a 'supervillain' instead.

Carly is currently sitting in timeout.

I told her she could come out once she can explain what she did, and can say she won't do it again. (I put her in timeout because she had gotten into a box of photos that is off limits for the second time in an hour. The first time, she got a warning.)

So she is sitting over in timeout calling out all the bad things she did today, trying to absolve herself so I'll let her out. She has yet to mention the photos. The crime obviously is having a hard time sticking with her as an important concern. So I'll let her sit there a little longer.

Plus, this is pretty informative.

"I colored on the TV with marker!"
"I pushed Wes down!"
"I took the milk out of the fridge!"
"I pushed Wes into the door!"
"I hit Wes with the sword!"
"I ate all of Wes' pretzels!"
"I pushed Wes off the chair!"
"I kicked Wes in back!"
"I hit Wes with a shoe!"
"I broke the baby gate!"
"I stole your weminems (m&m's)!"
"I threw your phone at Wes!"
"I put all your necklaces on the floor!"
"I hit Wes with the remote!"

Apparently there is a lot going on around here I am missing! Also, Carly cracks under pressure.

Also, Wes is a rockstar. He hasn't cried at all today. It never ceases to amaze me he has survived this long.

Cell phone tango

2010-09-28T12:30:00.009-06:00

So Marshall and I have been with Verizon for most of our marriage. Him for all. Me, I started out keeping my cell from single days with AT&T.

But during the first summer of our marriage, AT&T gave my number away. That's right. For a whole week other people were getting my calls and I was getting calls for a "Tori." If Marshall dialed my number he got someone else, and my phone didn't ring at all. And I had no clue what Tori's number was, so it's not like I could give her number to people as my new contact info. Anyway, AT&T was super less than helpful, refused to credit me during that whole mess, and told me I was just being whiny and difficult. Uh, yeah! I haven't had use of my phone for a week, and a stranger has been receiving my personal calls! I'd say I'll be as whiny and difficult as I want!

So I dropped them and joined Marshall on Verizon, getting a family plan. Awww! Cute newlyweds with a family plan!

Since being on Verizon we have consistently felt we were paying too much and have always talked about riding our contract out so we can switch to a more economical service. I mean, we are on Verizon's 700 minute plan and we don't go over our minutes, so we must not talk much! 700 minute plans with other carriers are pretty cheap. But Verizon keeps sucking us back in with those dang free phones. You get a new phone after 10 months, but then your contract extends by 14. It's a never ending cycle.

Well, we finally just rode it out with our existing phones. We've resisted the urge to get new cute free phones, and have ebayed when they have died. We finally made it to the end of our contract this week! Freedom!

There are so many options. I looked at plans from Tmobile, AT&T (I'm forgiving), Sprint, Cricket, Alltel, etc. The last step in securing our freedom from Verizon was to review my bill to see the breakdown of minutes/texting/charges etc, so that I could see how much the same package would cost elsewhere.

What I discovered humbled me a bit. Yes, we use less than our 700 minutes. However we REALLY talk about 2500 minutes a month, but most of this is with other Verizon customers. Which isn't counted. Which are free. With that factored in, we can't afford any of the other carriers. Some have numbers you can add to talk for free, but not at the dinky 700 minute plan level.

2 things:
- I talk to Kiernan waaaaay too much! (Is there really a too much, Kier?)

- I could have had a new cool phone long ago.

We adjusted our attitudes, renewed with Verizon, and anxiously await our new cool phones arriving tomorrow. All of you with Verizon should be happy. Because apparently I talk to you a lot, and had I switched it would have hit your pocket book too.

Easy A

2010-09-26T10:19:00.005-06:00

So Marshall took me on a date this week to see Easy A.

I was way excited about seeing this movie! Not because I'm a fan of any of the actors, or because I see all high school comedies in the theater, or because I thought it was going to be particularly good.

I couldn't wait to see Easy A because it was filmed in Ojai!!

The movie itself was your typical high school comedy. It tried to do a take on Scarlet Letter. It was like Mean Girls meets Saved meets 10 Things I Hate About You. And Emma Stone is Lindsey Lohan before she went crazy.

The idea is that a girl makes up a story about a date to get out of an obligation, and ends up pretending to have lost her virginity. This is somehow scandalous and the rumor makes its way around the school. Ultimately she starts trading sexual lies for gift cards. Etc, etc, etc. There is more to it, but this girl is pegged as a "trollop" in a conservative high school for pretending to be a skank.

The unique thing about movie is that, unlike other high schools shot in random locations, Easy A embraces the town it's shot in. Ojai wasn't a nameless backdrop, and the film didn't claim to be shot in "Anytown, USA." Ojai is plastered everywhere!

The high school in the movie, Ojai North, uses the same school colors, the same large 'N' school logo, and the same PE uniforms. The only change was from Nordhoff to Ojai North. (Oh, and we don't have a woodchuck for a mascot).

The film was entirely shot in Ojai, and it is like a travel brochure for the town. Highlighted among Ojai's charms are Bart's Books, the trolley, the Ojai Playhouse, the bell tower, Libby Park, the orange orchards, the arcade including Rains and Ojai Ice Cream, and the beautiful lookouts above the valley.

Also tying the Ojai connection was the use of large number of Ojai teens as extras. It was really hard to watch in the theater because the high school crowd scenes were too much to take in. "Oh, there's _____! Is that _____? I know ______ is supposed to be in here somewhere, watch for him!" I can't wait to watch this at home with the power of pause and rewind. There were so many times Marshall and I lamented that we couldn't rewind to see if that guy who walked past in the background was one of my little brothers.

For as much as this film was "life in Ojai," there was one thing I couldn't get past. Losing virginity being a big deal at Nordhoff? Really?? I don't think so. Her clothing scandalous? Um, not as bad as what I saw actually worn on campus most days. And a profanity getting you sent to Principal's office with the threat of expulsion? Hahaha! Have you met Mr. Mohney??

Easy A kept much of Ojai's backdrop, but definitely not the culture.

Crop the mop?

2010-09-22T22:26:00.004-06:00

The latest debate in our home has been when to cut Wes' hair. It has been getting a bit shaggy.

I think it's cute and that you can really only get away with this hair on a baby. Plus, it keeps him my baby.

Marshall, on the other hand, really wants me to cut his hair. He thinks it's girly and "ridiculous" and looks like Einstein. It probably doesn't help that I like to occasionally put clips and bows in it. Only around the house. Don't judge me; Carly was bald till 2.

My current plan is to hold off cutting it until he's 18 months, and then crop it up like a little man the day before he goes to nursery. tears. That's 3.5 months away.

So it goes to poll. But not really, because Marshall always cheats and rigs them. So I'll do what I want. But I'd like to gather opinions. Thanks! Voting on the right.

Hello, my name is...

2010-09-21T17:13:00.003-06:00

So this morning, Marshall was home with the kiddos while I was at work. It was 8 or 9 am, and they were just starting to wake up. Marsh was enjoying his last moments of rest, watching the kids play in their room on our super-duper cool video monitor. Once the kids are ready to come out, they'll usually start banging on the child-proofed door and will yell to be let out.

As Marshall was watching the screen, the picture began to move. Suddenly the camera was aimed up the nostril of a toddler who announced in her best authoritative-monotone voice, "Hello. My name is Carly Andrews. It is daytime. I am awake now. This is my brother. His name is Wesley Andrews. He is awake, too. You come open the door. We are ready to come out now."

Much more effective than banging on the door! ;)

Yellowstone 2010

2010-09-20T19:06:00.011-06:00

We went to Yellowstone September 9th - 12th. It was one of the best vacations we've had as a family!

Star graciously invited us to stay at her family's gorgeous cabin in Island Park, Idaho. Cabin is not the right word. It's a beautiful dream home in the woods. Kiernan and I kept saying how much prettier nature is, and how much easier it is to appreciate its beauty when you are not camping in it! It was so nice to be able to wander around in nature all day, then go home to cozy beds, roaring fires, and warm baths.

We bought the girls some matching pajamas, which ironically enough said "One of a Kind." Whatever, they were cute!

Before leaving Salt Lake, we of course ran into our obligatory car trouble. Have we ever planned a road trip and not had to visit my favorite friends at AutoZone on the way out? Usually it's a battery, so no surprise when the battery proved to be a problem this time. After lots of jump starts, elbow grease, reading manuals, and visits to AutoZone, we got the car working before we left town. The first morning in Idaho, we awoke to a flat tire. Of course! What kind of trip would we go on that only has ONE car problem? We got it all fixed (when I say we, I mean Russ and Marshall), and took off to the park. But you know what they say about 3's, right? By that evening we had discovered our third- the heater went out. Good thing we brought blankets.

The first day in Yellowstone, we had grand plans to tally every animal we saw and try to see all the ones on our wish list. Unfortunately, we never did see a wolf, bear, or moose. And by the time we topped 40 in our count of elk, we just stopped the tally.

The first day, we were also very cautious of our proximity to the bison.

We took pictures at nice, safe distances.

By the last day, we were less cautious. Okay, not really. This one just walked up to our car, and we were so scared, we rolled up the window!

While at the park we visited Old Faithful, of course. While at Old Faithful, I actually got the privilege of calling and announcing to one of my couples that they had been chosen for a placement. What a fun memory! Hopefully nothing else urgent happened that weekend, because Old Faithful was about the only part of the park where I had any reception.

We also walked over to Castle Geyser. This was an awesome geyser! We waited around for it to erupt, and I hurriedly snapped a bunch of pics of people before it stopped. Yeah. It kept erupting for more than a half hour.

Wes was anxiously waiting for the geyser to start.

He wasn't disappointed.

Kalen was incredibly cute while waiting for castle geyser.

But even when she's a gremlin, she's incredibly cute!

Star and Russ like each other.

These 2 pics of Russ bring endless entertainment when flipped back and forth. It's animated!

Carly was really impressed with how smelly everything was. She and Marshall kept quoting Labyrinth, "Smell Bad!" as we were walking, and then dissolve into fits of hysterical giggles. Those two were their own little team this trip.

We rounded out the first day with a visit to Yellowstone Lodge to sit in the rocking chairs and admire the gigantic fireplace.

The second day we some sights other than geysers. We saw some mud pots, some rainbow pools, and a waterfall. The waterfall was Lower Falls, and the hike down was totally worth it! What an amazing sight! It was breathtaking. The kids didn't seem too scared of the immense height. But the adults couldn't get over how numb our arms felt if we leaned over the fence to take a picture.

One of the places we visited was the Mud Volcano and Dragon's Mouth. Talk about stinky! We parked and before we even opened the doors we were all smacking our lips at the pungent taste of sulphur. We thought we would acclimate, but it just kept getting stronger. Once out of the car and walking around, the smell seemed to dissipate- or we got used to it. But once back in the car, it was again overwhelming. Then we noticed we were parked over the large grated drain. Where all the stagnant sulphur was running off and pooling. Geniuses, I tell you.

Carly did great with letting us know when she had to use the potty. And even did well holding it for a while. But sometimes we were just too far from an actual toilet and had to practice some of our outdoorsmen skills. She did a lot of pottying sitting on logs. Side note- Similarly, we used a lot of port-a-potties. This gave opportunity for me to disclose a phobia of mine to Star and Kier: Biffyman. Ever since girl scout camp when I was like 9, I have been terrified of men hiding in port-a-potties, because that was the big spooky tale I heard at camp. Star and Kier both minimized my fear, and suggested I snopes it so I'd never have to be weird and phobic again. So I'll link my findings here, and set the record straight that men have been arrested for hiding in potties, and I'm not crazy. That is all.

This is the first Andrews' Family trip we've done without Steve and Londa. We were unsure how it would all workout without built in authority to make all the decisions. Not to mention to buy us lunch! Luckily everyone got along really well, and decisions were made as a cohesive group. I think everyone got to see what they wanted to see, and I don't think anyone felt their voice wasn't heard. So now we know, Steve and Londa make for a fantastic vacation. But in a bind, the new generation doesn't do half bad!

Twins?

2010-09-13T12:07:00.003-06:00

While in Yellowstone, Kalen and Wes were mistaken for twins not once, not twice, but 3 times! We were a bit surprised, because obviously they look nothing alike. But I suppose it is possible they'd be twins. Afterall, there are 0ther documented cases of black-white twins coming from the same set of parents.

It still surprised me that the first conclusion was twins, though. Maybe it was due to the double stroller?

More baby blankets

2010-08-24T12:55:00.014-06:00

So I've been learning to sew baby blankets. I like sewing baby blankets. It takes me forever, and there are a lot of flaws. But they are all I can do. They're all straight lines, which I can kinda handle.

Emily had a little guy, Heath, a couple months ago. I had had the fabric to make her blanket for a while, but was intimidated to start because I hate sewing on minky. Its slippery, and sheds, and bunches, and never lays flat. But I had an idea in mind and was committed to do it. So I finally got it done, and sent it off to her. Now that she has received it, I can blog the pictures without ruining the surprise. I am proud of myself because this involved a lot of measuring and extra sewing since I used 3 fabrics (a first for me).

Maranda is due with a baby girl, name tbd, in a couple weeks. I found this cute fabric and knew it had to go to her little girl. This blanket is more basic, just 2 fabrics and both flannel. But it is probably my best yet and took the least amount of time to make. I could tell I was getting better, and think it turned out cute. She just had her shower last weekend, so no surprise ruined here either.

I also (not so recently) made a blanket for Breann's little Amelia. I forgot to take good pictures of it before I gave to her at her shower. But I did get some pics on my cell phone. Sorry about the bad quality. The blanket was flannel on one side, brown furry minky (same as Heath's border) on the other. This was a beast to sew! That brown minky is the devil, and I don't think I'll be using it again.

But now the surprise is ruined for everyone else. If you invite me to a baby shower, you'll most likely get a beginner quality home made blanket.

I'm so glad when daddy comes home!

2010-08-23T21:45:00.014-06:00

Marshall has been working 72 hour weeks the past month, and so we haven't seen as much of him around here. Last week we had an evening where he was actually home, so we took advantage and went on a family outing down to Provo. Where in Provo? BYU of course!

The Bean Museum

Then we hit up dollar bowling night at the BYU Games Center in the Wilk. The guys in the lane next to us were there for their bachelor party! So fun!

(Who knew they made toddler bowling shoes?!)

Then we headed over to the Creamery on Ninth for some traditional BYU creamery ice cream.

On our way to the car, Marshall helped the kids run off some energy.

And then he worked off some of his own energy tossing them in the air.

Wes loved it.

Carly did not.

So Marshall went back to throwing Wes some more.

It was the perfect evening, in the perfect place, with the perfect daddy!

Thanks for the fun BYU!

I hate p90x

2010-08-23T00:08:00.003-06:00

Okay, so hate is a strong word. And I probably won't feel that way next week. But let me tell you- if I don't hate p90x, then at least it must hate me.

Saturday morning I lamely attempted the plyometrics video. And no one part was particularly hard on its own. A bunch of little squat here, jump there and "you can do anything for 30 seconds!"

Yes, yes I can. Then my legs can stop working, and I can feel like dying.

I thought I might feel better the next day.

I feel worse.

My quads are like stiff wobbly jello (is that even possible?) Wobbly for complete lack of control over those muscles; my legs have mutinied. Stiff for fear. Just getting up off the couch and hobbling to the fridge is enough pain to make me reconsider eating. Ever. Maybe that's the real trick of the program- movement causes so much pain that you have to really reconsider if that bowl of cereal is worth it. And wahlah! 15 lbs lost!

I haven't been this incapacitated by physical pain, and my body's refusal to move through said pain, since Carly's birth. Maybe some day I'll post about Carly's birth. Then you can all feel really bad for me. And then you'll remember this post, and feel really really bad for me.

In the mean time, once my legs return to some amount of function, I will continue on in my attempt to develop peaceful feelings toward p90x.

Why I'm Mormon

2010-08-12T16:16:00.005-06:00

My blog is somewhat laced with religion. It's hard to not include my faith when talking about my daily life since the two are so intertwined. My religion is who I am. However, I generally don't talk in depth about my religious beliefs or about the doctrines of the Church because I know that many of my friends who do read this blog are not LDS. I probably wouldn't read some heavy blog about another religion all the time. And this blog is to keep in touch with people and share our life, just as it is to be a record for our family. I don't want to be all preachy like that.

So with that said, if anyone would like to know more about my personal beliefs or why I am Mormon, you can follow the new link over on my sidebar.

Whew! Now on with the regularly scheduled blogging.

Carly lately

2010-08-08T19:10:00.003-06:00

- Carly was being bossy so I asked, "who put you in charge?" She said, "Mommy did." I asked, "I did, huh? Why would I do that?" And without missing a beat she said, "because I've been trained as a pirate!"

- Carly has started to get very opinionated. She has an opinion about which clothes she'd like to wear, and if I bring her an outfit she's not feeling, she'll tell me "No, that outfit's not right for me." She prefers skirts and dresses over pants, and when given the option will always choose pink. How did I raise a girly girl?

- At church a few weeks ago, Carly had to go to the bathroom every 20 minutes. By the 4th time we were in there, I asked her "where did you drink so much water?" She answered right away, "I drank a lot of water today in the bathtub." mmmm....bath water.

- Carly and I were playing a game of "baseball" a couple weeks ago with an imaginary bat and ball. Apparently my imaginary swing wasn't up to par- she corrected me "No, mommy, like this. You have to step into your swing!"

- A couple days ago, Carly had an accident. I asked her to go put new underwear on after she had put the old pair in the wash. She told me, "No, first I have to dry off." She then spent about 5 minutes bending over with her tush aimed at the fan. She would lift one leg, then the next. Only after she was sufficiently dry from all angles, and I had died laughing, did she go get new underwear.

- Today I told Carly she could have some cookies, but the she'd have to pick up her toys once she was done eating them. I asked her if it was a 'deal,' and she agreed. After she finished her snack, I asked her to pick up. "No!" she said. I reminded her we had a deal. She smiled broadly and said "It wasn't a real deal; we didn't shake on it." I was actually kinda proud and worried at the same time.

Low maintenance

2010-08-05T10:01:00.008-06:00

One time my husband and I were out on a date, and I was wearing one of the only 2 pairs of jeans I own (one is maternity!), and he said "I think it's so sexy that you are so low maintenance." I was a little confused- it kinda came out of nowhere. I asked what he meant. He said "Your jeans. I love that you wear them even after they are frayed at the bottom. I love that they are the only pair you own. And I love that I know you aren't going to go buy another pair just because they're worn out."

I was a little surprised. Not because he was wrong. But because he was exactly right.

My jeans had long frayed pieces of denim hanging off the cuff where I had stepped all over the hem, and I hadn't even considered buying a new pair. They still fit. They still covered me. Otherwise they were sturdy. I thought they looked nice! Who notices the cuffs anyway?

Well my mom came to visit about a week later and pitched a fit. "They look trashy" she insisted. I compromised and cut the tattered shreds off.

Most girls have numerous pairs of shoes. Some women are 'shoe girls' and collect dozens of pairs for occasional use. I am not a shoe girl. Maybe I would be if I had money to spare. But in general, while I can admire a cute pair of shoes, maybe even covet, I can't see the purpose of spending money on every cute pair you see. You don't need that many if you have the basic staples.

I have 4 pairs of shoes.

- I have a pair of flip flops I stole from Marshall when we got married. These are my casual summer shoes. They are now 7 years old and in perfectly useful condition.
- I have a pair of Ugg boots I wear every single day as casual shoes in the winter. They are now 5 years old. They leak a bit, but should last one more winter.
- I have a pair of running shoes that gets occasional use. I just bought these new in December, replacing the pair I had had since 2000.
- And lastly, I have a pair of black flat dress shoes. I wear these most days year round. They are my work shoes, worn with my black dress skirts to work, and they are my 'dressier' casual shoes worn with my [one pair of] jeans when 'going out.'

I wear my shoes out. Not just until they're scuffed and a newer pair would look nicer. I wear shoes until I can't anymore. Until it's time to go replace that pair with another similar one for that staple's purpose.

Today I had to buy new shoes.

I'm glad that Marshall thinks it's sexy. My mom just thinks it's sad. And I don't think much about it at all, obviously.

When reality TV becomes beneficial

2010-08-04T01:07:00.003-06:00

My dad was on his way out to visit, trying to catch a flight out of LAX. He was running late, and Delta wouldn't let him on even though the flight didn't take off for another half hour. He was frantic (doesn't deal well with stress) and waiting in a line for Delta's service agent who reassigns flights. The line was at least 40 minutes long, but the last flight that day left in an hour.

He and my mom were calling back and forth, stressing and not sure what to do. They were checking ticketing websites, but didn't want to pay $400 for the last minute ticket. They also didn't want to just lose the money invested in the flight he missed. How could he get to the front of the line? How many seats were left on that flight? How many people in front of him in line wanted the same limited seats on that flight?

But I have a secret weapon.

I am a reality TV addict.

One of those shows is The Amazing Race. It's the finest tutorial on booking last minute airfare around.

"I'll call Delta" I offered. "Sure, why not" they said.
I don't think they thought I'd be able to do much.

3 minutes later, my dad hadn't moved an inch in line. But he was confirmed for the last coach ticket on the 6pm flight. And it didn't cost a dime- they just transferred the ticket. The ticket lady didn't even charge the 50 dollar transfer fee. I'm that good.

Moral: everyone should watch Reality TV. You learn a lot of useful stuff. Either that, or you should have a friend you can call who is a reality TV addict. It's useful when stuck in line at the airport. I kinda feel bad for all those other people who just waited in line and didn't get on that flight. They must not have had such useful knowledge or friends.

My crazy work week

2010-08-01T10:12:00.007-06:00

Work lately has been a bit crazy.

Normally when my mom visits, I just take a few weeks completely off. I plan before hand and take care of any time sensitive issues before she gets here, and don't schedule any appointments while she is here.

Not this time. My mom got here last Monday, and it couldn't have been a busier time at work.

In the days before she arrived, when I would normally be scouring the kitchen and folding laundry, I had an overnight placement. I got a phone call at 8:15pm, and when my work phone rings that late, I know something is up. I called the couple and told them they had been chosen for a baby at 8:30pm, and a few hours later we were all at the hospital meeting the birth parents. We were out until after midnight that night, and then returned the next morning at 9:30am for placement. Then, after all is said and done, and the couple is home having sleepless nights, I am neck deep in paperwork.

Being a caseworker means that every contact relating to a case needs to be documented. So when something happens that quickly, and that late at night, it makes sitting down and remembering every phone call and every bit of information given a little difficult. Did I tell them that? Was that on Wednesday or Thursday? The 4th phone call or the 5th? And then there are the legal documents and reports to write with every placement. The summary of every gift given, every document signed and witnessed, and every statement made showing claiming or bonding.

And then one week after that placement, I got to do it again. Well not quite. It's not an overnight placement. But another couple was chosen a couple days ago, and the birth mom is due any day. So the whirlwind of phone calls and paperwork begins, face to face's on short notice, and reviewing placement documents with the couple.

Not to say I am not ecstatic to be a part of such wonderful events. I LOVE when my couples get babies. It is the best part of my job. It just made for a crazy week- and a dirty house when my mom got here.

It's been a bit of a crazy year in that respect. In the last 12 months, I have placed 14 babies (that I can remember), and taken 2 relinquishments (meaning I was the birth parent caseworker when she placed her baby). I have 3 more couples due to get babies in August.

Also happening this week at work, we are opening the Springville office.

Yes, yes, I live in Salt Lake, and Springville is even further than Provo. But the commute is actually about 5 minutes shorter. Instead of cutting across the valley for 12 minutes, I just continue on the freeway 2 more exits and I'm there! So that is why I offered to go to Springville.

But opening the new office has been a bit crazy. We do not have an adoption manager hired yet, so there has been some confusion and lack of direction in getting things going. For a long time, concrete plans were just being put on hold while we waited to see who would be hired as manager. Then, as it became clear that hiring a manager was a ways off, those decisions were placed on the caseworkers. Luckily the other caseworker transferring with me is a full-timer and in training to be a manager. So she can make those decisions much better than I can. Budget, opening date, which cases to transfer, decorating. We have a credit card with the agency's name on it (literally), and have put it to good use purchasing big framed artwork, and little potted plants, leather ottomans, pillows, and lamps.

We even got a Ford Escape, which is both neat and scary. Neat because it is a different car than most other offices- they all have Camry's. Scary because the reason we got the cool SUV is that our catchment area (the area we cover in our office) goes from Springville, out to Price, to Moab. And clients have to have home visits throughout the year. I may be driving those backroad highways in the dead of Utah winter.

It's a good thing my mom likes shopping, because that is all we did the first half of the week she was here! We open for appointments tomorrow, and while the artwork isn't hung yet (church contractors have to hang it), and we still have a lot more decorating type stuff to buy, my office is mostly put together at this point. We are still waiting on some clocks and pillows. We can't decorate with other than church purchased items until after the dedication, which isn't schedule until August 26th. So for now this is all I can have out. But after that, I'll have up my calendar, some more artwork from home, my degree and licensure, and I have a collection of the photos of every child I have placed.

It will be really nice not having to share my office space. Not that I didn't love my Provo co-workers. But it will be nice to not have to split the available hours, and to able to run in on a day off, and to not have to readjust my chair height every single day, and to always have pens in the desk.

Another part of opening the Springville office is splitting the Provo caseload. We had a meeting a week ago where all of the caseworkers sat down and went over each case and determined if it transferred to Springville, or stayed in Provo based on address. Then we assigned them to their new caseworkers. Typically the part time workers carry a caseload of about 20-25 adoptive couples and 5-10 expectant parents. With all the placements I had in the last year, my caseload was a bit lower to start, about 20, because once couples finalize their adoptions, I close them. You may have noticed that my available couples listed on my sidebar has been shrinking. Well, I transferred 3 of my couples to workers staying in Provo, but the majority were going with me to Springville. Then I received 14 new cases; 13 of which are approved waiting couples. So watch for my list to almost triple!

Also new with work this week- the FSA national conference. When my mom told me she was coming out the last week in July, I told her that that'd be great because she would get to go to the conference with me! I'm not sure how much she enjoyed it; she doesn't eat breath and sleep adoption like most of the people who attended. But I hope she was able to get something out of the sessions we attended. I took her to a birth mother's panel (one of my birth moms was speaking!), to a session on openness, to a class for expectant parents on how to choose an adoptive couple, to a class on the Utah foster care system, and to a panel on the whole picture following a case through the eyes of the birth mother, birth grandparents, adoptive couple, adoptive grandparents, and caseworkers on both sides. I actually got to present on that panel, as the case was one of mine. So now my mom is an adoption expert! (whether she liked it or not)

The last big news at work (of course also happening this week) is that the agency is coming out with a bunch of new policy. This new policy will come out officially tomorrow, and there are a lot of big changes for my couples. So we, as caseworkers, have had a lot of policy to read, and meetings to discuss, and I still feel like I am flying a bit blind. I hope I fully understand the changes before I am answering big questions about them. This also means that I am writing an entire home study this week, and that I am actually scheduling some appointments next week in order to get one couple approved and others' homestudies updated before the new policy would effect them.

Ok, big deep breath. This crazy week will pass.

And my mom is getting to see more of my job than she ever wanted to. And now, if you read all that, you did too!

It's a parade, hooray!

2010-07-25T11:30:00.004-06:00

Spanish Fork Parade 7/24/2010

Yesterday I took the kids down to Spanish Fork bright and early to be part of the float for FSA. FSA or Families Supporting Adoption is an organization of adoptive parents, birth mothers, and adoptees that, well, support adoption. They are a sister group to LDSFS, and all of our couples are members. So basically, it is a large group of mostly our clients. They provide our adoption training for our couples, and also plan different community events to raise adoption awareness. One is the birth mother's day celebration every year, and then participating in various parades.

When I told Carly that we were going to be in a parade, she was very excited. We spent some time practicing our waving; even Wes practiced, which was great because he was an awesome waver on the float. But Carly can't say 'parade.' Either that or she continually misunderstands me. Instead, we were going to be in a "hooray!" All morning long, "Daddy, I'm going to be in a hooray!" The parade was fun, it was great seeing some of my clients outside of dark skirts and nylons, and the kids had a good time.

One year older, and wiser too

2010-07-23T22:53:00.008-06:00

Okay, maybe not wiser. But I did have a birthday last week.

I am now the big 2-6. For some reason, 26 doesn't feel old, just normal. Like I was already 26. I think 27 will feel old. Just like how 25 felt 'old,' and 23 before that. But 26 feels insignificant.

Without further ado, my birthday:

I got the camera out and tried to get a self portrait. I figured that I am usually behind the camera, but should at least have a picture proving I'm in this family too on my birthday. Wes was more interested in the camera strap.

Then we left to go to dinner. Carly refused to get in the car and instead got in the tree, providing an impromptu photo op.

Then we went to my favorite restaurant, Tepanyaki. The show is fun and all that, but I love the food. Soooo good. I got my usual, an unagi roll (eel) for my sushi, and then the filet minon and shrimp with fried rice from the hibachi grill. Yum Yum!

Carly loves the fried noodles and the salad. Wes is a fan of the rice. They both hated the flames when the chef set the grill top on fire. Wes even cried. Too bad I didn't think to get a picture of his reaction. Too cute.

We then headed home for cake. I got two cakes this year. Fantastic!

If you ever buy these candles, let me know if you get them all lit in time. I can't imagine there is a way to light them all before the first ones burn out and wax all over hte cake.

Here's to being 26!

More cabin trip

2010-07-20T11:32:00.021-06:00

Other things we did while in CA:

- We watched Kalen for a day and practiced being a family of 5. I discovered that 3 kids is more than 2. Amazing revelation, huh? We took the kids on a long walk to a park and let them play on the playground and the swings.

- We visited Marshall's family cabin by Tahoe. It is actually at Echo lake. We, okay I was so excited to go fishing! I drug Marshall and Kier out of bed at a disgusting hour the first morning and we went to the lake. 3 hours later we returned home, having just caught trees and rocks, and having nothing but a bunch of broken line to show. Marshall told me that for the last 6 years when I have wistfully dreamed of fishing, he has cringed and pictured exactly our experience- sunburns, boredom, and no fish. Although my big fishing vacation yielded NO fish, I still have fond feelings for fishing. I hear you need to be in a boat to actually catch anything, so we'll try that next time. And I think (hope) that actually reeling one in makes up for the boring hours.

We stayed at the cabin for 3 days. Those 3 days were full of great food, boardgames, Uno, and mega s'mores. It was awesome! This was Wes' first trip to the cabin, and the first time Carly has been since she was just weeks old. The kids had a great time! We were there over the 4th and got to see 6 or 7 fireworks shows on the shoreline of Tahoe from the cabin. By the 3rd day, the kids were filthy, so we bathed them in a makeshift bathtub.

- Back in Rocklin, we took the kids to the splashpark. My kids hated it. Kalen loved it.

- We also picnicked at the Sacramento temple. This temple has beautiful grounds. There is a large wooded park area full of lush grass, shade, and picnic benches. Carly caught a frog, and Kalen and Wes got in a brawl over a binky. Wes ended up in the mud.

It was a lovely trip!

First birthday party

2010-07-19T17:35:00.013-06:00

We did Wes' first birthday party out in California at Marsh's parents' house. Kier and Londa basically did all the decorating. They are so talented!

Kiernan had a #1 cake mold, so we made a cake in that shape, and we did a smaller smash cake for Wes.

We had just some of Marsh's family over for dinner and cake. It was really low key and fun.

Wes enjoyed the cake....

...but not as much as Marshall!

12 months

2010-07-18T22:59:00.017-06:00

Wes turned 1 year old on the 8th! What a year!

One minute old

One week old

One month old

Two months old

Three months old

Four months old

Five months old

Six months old

Seven months old

Eight months old

Nine months old

Ten months old

Eleven months old

Twelve months old

At his 12 month appointment with the pediatrician, his stats were as follows:

Weight: 20lbs 9ozs - 17th percentile
Height: 30.0 inches - 57th percentile
Head circumference: 18.1 inches - 38th percentile
Diapers: size 4
Clothes: 9-12 months

- Wes now has 4 teeth, the two on the bottom and 2 new ones on top.

- He now walks completely proficiently. He hardly crawls at all now. He even tries to run from time to time. I love his walk; he kicks his legs straight and looks so jaunty.

- Wes still has the milk allergy. Ice cream at his birthday party confirmed it. Poor kid.

- Wes is now on soy milk. One day, the same day I kicked Carly out of pull-ups actually, I just stopped with the formula. I expected a rough transition, but it's like he never noticed a difference. 1 can of formula, the generic brand, was 23 dollars. His soy milk is 6 dollars for a gallon, which is more than a can of formula makes. Thank goodness.

- Wes gives the best hugs ever from a baby. Full arms around the neck. Nice firm hugs. I love them so much!

- Wes also gives very enthusiastic open mouthed kisses. What a sweetheart! Though, watch out! He might bite your lip mid kiss if you aren't quick!

- Wes mimics any noise or face we make. If we blow a raspberry, he does. If we bark like a dog, he does. If we make a siren noise, he does. It's so fun.

- Wes loves peek-a-boo. He just uses his hands to "hide" and just places them on top of his head- not actually covering his face or eyes. But it never gets old and he loves to wait and giggle, prolonging our anticipation while we question "Where's Wes? I can't see him! Where's the baby?" until he throws his hands in the air and yells "BOO!"

- Wes can say a few words. Still with the 'mama' and 'dada' and 'hi.' A new one lately is "dance!" He'll start bobbing up and down chanting "dan dan dan" and we all know it's time to boogie.

- Wes has started pointing, and now he walks around most of the time with his index finger outstretched, ready to indicate something new, something funny, or something he wants.

- We all decided that Wes is very much a boy. Even as a baby. He has a lower little voice than Carly did. He's a boy of fewer words. He has an innate desire to throw and growl. And his little torso is already shaped like a V. He's got the broad shoulders and the narrow hips, and no neck. When we were in California, he spent the week in basically just a swim suit, and he just walked around like a little bulldog. He's all boy.

We sure love this kid!

Road trip

2010-07-02T13:35:00.009-06:00

So Marshall and I packed up the kids and headed out to Rocklin to visit his family. We are going to be out here for 10 or so days, and spend some time up at their cabin near Tahoe. My main plan is to force people to take me fishing. It should be a great trip!

We are also potty training right now.

On Monday, I decided I was done with diapers. We were down to our last few, and I didn't want to buy any more. I know I have written a little in the past about our struggles with potty training, but it has been bad. She knows how the use the potty- she has understood for a long long time. It was a matter of wills, really. So I just decided I was done. She would be in underwear full time, and that was it.

It went surprisingly well. We had a few accidents here or there, but in general she was dry throughout the day and night.

Then on Wednesday I panicked.

We were leaving at 8am the next morning on a 12 hour drive- in underwear. I had been brave that week and ventured out 2 or 3 times for an hour or so with my underwear-clad toddler. But 12 hours in a car? Driving through the middle of nowhere?I went back and forth for a while whether to put her in pull-ups just for the drive, or whether to hold firm to my resolve to be done with them forever. Would I undo all the progress we had made? How would it even be possible to potty train across Nevada with a toddler whose full-bladder-warning system had a 20 second limit?

But I went for it. I brought a dozen or so dry pair of underwear in the diaper bag, a bag to put wet clothes in, some absorbent pads for under her butt in the car seat, and the training potty on the floor of the car.

And we set out.

About the time we got to the salt flats, she yelled "Mom! I have to go pee!" I pulled that car over on the side of the freeway as fast as I could, pulled open the slider, and plopped her on the little potty. Amazingly, she did her business! I dumped it in a nearby bush, and we continued on.

For about .17 of a mile.

Then, from the back, I heard "Mom! I have to go pee again!" I pulled back over again. This time, nothing.

We started driving again, and the same thing. Okay, I see the novelty of this. You have all the power to pull the car over with that declaration. I could see that this is going to be a long drive.

So I distracted.

Marshall and I have done the drive to northern California numerous times. And every time, I love when we get to the salt flats and there are hundreds of people's names written in stone on the white expanse. I have always wanted to do that! But usually we are driving that drive in the dead of winter, and it is much too cold to just jump out and carry rocks around for a half hour. But yesterday, I needed a distraction, and we were already parked at the salt flats.

A half hour later, we were dirty and sweaty, but I was really happy we did it and I look forward to forcing Marshall to let me do this each year.

We continued on our way, Carly's new found power-trip forgotten. And the trip went really well! We stopped twice to fuel the car, and each time she easily used the gas station bathroom. And we pulled over a number of times to use the little plastic potty at her feet.

At one point she called out the frantic words, and I hurriedly pulled the car over. She was already sitting on the potty doing her business when I heard, "Mommy, what's that?" I looked down, and I had parked right next to a roadkill fox.

Well, half a fox.

Gross.

It was right outside the slider door. I tried to block her view, not wanting to have the possibly upsetting conversation about cars + animals. But she was squirming to look around me, and not attending to the important task at hand. So I showed her the dead fox and explained that it was an animal that had died because it got hit by a car. And that is why we don't play near cars.

She thought about it for a moment, and then said "Oh, it's so sad that Dannon got hit by a car. Russ and Star are going to be so sad! They will cry!" I explained that Dannon wasn't a fox, and Dannon also wasn't dead.

The rest of the trip I got to hear about how sad Russ was because Dannon was roadkill.

Right before Rocklin, the I-80 passes through the Sierras. As we were heading down the pass, about 20 miles from Rocklin, we heard those words from the back seat: "Mom! I have to go pee!"

We had made it nearly 12 hours, countless bathroom breaks on the side of the road, and the apparent loss of Dannon, without an accident. But there was nowhere to pull over. The shoulder was too narrow, the interstate down to just 2 lanes between the faces of the mountainside. The 20 second grace period ended, and we heard "Oops, I am peeing now!" We made the decision to just finish the drive, and changed her once we got to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

So Carly's triumphant road trip ended in 20 minutes of wet misery. And it wasn't even her fault. I'm glad I decided to be brave and do the trip minus pull-ups. We'll see how the drive back goes.

Music for all!

2010-06-28T10:29:00.004-06:00

So Russ introduced me to grooveshark 2 months ago.

And my life has been changed.

I was able to make a playlist of all of my favorite songs. It has every song! There was not one I looked up and couldn't find. Now all of my fav's are in one place. It's like 3 awesome mixed cd's in a row. (like an ipod, but without having to pay to download the songs, which I am waaay to cheap to do)

I'm in love.

You should go make your own playlist.
Or listen to mine. It's now on the sidebar --->

Carly lately

2010-06-27T23:46:00.000-06:00

Yes, this is just a compilation of a bunch of facebook statuses (stati?) from the last 2 months. And yes, most of you are my facebook friends and will be totally bored reading this. But my blog is bound & printed, and my facebook page is not. And these are the cute moments I want to recount later on and share at Carly's wedding. So here you go:

- One rainy day, Carly asked if we could go play on the playground. I explained that it rained today, so the sand would be all wet. She brought me a towel and said she would dry it all off before playing in it.

- Carly is starting to explore her girly side. I have caught her, on multiple occasions, standing on the toilet so she can see in the mirror while applying my makeup, or a chapstick, or one time it was brushing her hair with a fork (too much little mermaid?). The funniest part is that she doesn't know I'm watching, but will talking to herself about how very pretty she is.

- I love that Marshall paints Carly's nails. Fingers and toes. He has done it 2 or 3 times now, and she is so smitten with him for it. I hardly have the patience to do her nails, and am too OCD to even do my own.

- I love even more that Carly snuck up on Marshall while he was sleeping and managed to paint a few of his nails. Marsh woke to Carly informing him he now had pretty nails, and on closer inspection, she was right!

- One day Carly was whining, so I did my usual "you want some cheese with that whine?" She immediately proclaimed "I do want some cheese with my whine! You go get me cheese!"

- Carly is now a self-feeder. Meaning she doesn't wait for me to get her food. If she wants to eat, she'll go to the fridge and eat whatever she can reach. On at least 3 occasions in the last couple months I have found her gnawing on the block of cheese. Usually hiding in her bedroom. This week it was her + a carton of chocolate ice cream on the kitchen floor. Another time it was a cold hotdog. Apparently she didn't want to wait for dinner. Or for me to cook it for her.

- Carly is starting to love weddings. She talks all the time about how she is going to get big, and go to the temple, and marry daddy, and wear a pretty dress, and have flowers, and dance! And then repeat. She'll talk about her imaginary wedding over and over, more excited each time.

- She is so darn smart. I have this little book my mom made for me when I was a baby. It has a picture of me, and my crib, and my cat, parents, grandparents, etc. Carly loves looking at it. And telling me all about how I used to be a baby, but now I'm big! And how that is the crib I slept in when I was a baby, and that was my pet kitty. And that was my mommy, but now she is grandma. And that was my daddy, but now he is grandpa! And those other people are my grandma's and grandpa's. I think we looked through it once together and I explained it to her. But I never thought she'd get that concept or remember who the people really were in the book.

- I put Carly in time-out yesterday, and explained to her that she was going to sit there because she had kicked Wes in the head. She quickly corrected me, "No I didn't! I kicked Wes in the FACE!"

- Today during the passing of the Sacrament, I leaned over and said something to Marshall. Carly loudly hushed me and then whispered "You have to be very quiet! We're supposed to think about Jesus right now."

11 months

2010-06-22T10:29:00.008-06:00

Wes turned 11 months 2 weeks ago. This has been a bad blogging month. :(

Anyway, here's the update!

- Wes is now walking! Yay! He took his first independent steps on May 25th, and here is a video I took that day. He now mostly walks, and will toddle after me from room to room.

- Wes has been working on breaking the top 2 middle teeth all month.

- Wes is mostly on finger foods. He still has 4-5 bottles a day, but enjoys eating just about everything we eat, from burritos to scrambled eggs, toast, to sandwiches.

- Wes' hair just keeps getting more curly! And he is still totally blonde.

- Wes is talking more and more, but it is still a lot of babbling.

- Wes is pretty easy going and will go to anyone. But he prefers daddy to just about anyone and lights up when he sees him.

- Wes is pretty fearless. He enjoys climbing on things that are entirely too tall for him to be on top of. Lately he's been crawling up onto Carly's bed, and then from Carly's bed onto the toy box, where he'll sit and cry until we get him down, or he'll fall off with a giant thud.

We recently went to the zero-entrance pool, and he was equally as fearless there. He crawled all around the shallows, and would crawl out until his face was under water, and then turn around sputtering and laughing, and then do it again.

- Wes is starting to defend himself against Carly. He pulling hair and slapping. Not the best behavior, but I gotta say I am proud of him for fighting back!

- Wes can hold and use a sippy cup, though we are mostly still using bottles. He enjoys juice and water, though he mostly just gets formula.

- Wes has been coloring a bit this month. He now holds a crayon and will make marks on a paper if given the opportunity. He also eats crayons.

- Wes and Carly are in the same room!!! I can't explain how big of a deal this is. He used to start in her room, and then they'd wake each other up, and he'd come back to our room midway through the night. Now they have been sharing their room full time for almost a month. It has been so nice!

- Wes is still a great sleeper. He sleeps entirely through the night, and takes one nap during the day for 2 hours. I lay him down completely awake and he just rolls over and goes to sleep. He knows the routine.

He is so fun, and so sweet, and so very enjoyable. THIS is my favorite baby age. I say that with every stage, but I really do love the 1 year old phase. They are used to routine and pretty low maintenance, and don't yet talk back or willfully disobey. He's just a big ball of chubby happiness!

The best husband ever

2010-06-20T12:23:00.004-06:00

I have blogged many times about what a great dad Marshall is. Because it's true. I've never met a guy who was a better dad than Marshall is to our kids. He is amazing. Which makes me a lucky girl.

But there are other reasons I am lucky too... he is an amazing husband.

I think amazing husband and amazing father go hand in hand. I am inclined to believe that you can't have one without the other. If your husband is a good husband, he is (or will be) also an amazing dad. I just can't see how a guy who has the status of "amazing" in his relationship with his wife would be capable of showing less love and adoration for his kids.

And in order to be a truly great dad, a man MUST be a great husband. To not be loving, kind, and faithful to his children's mother, is to not give the very best to his kids. I love the quote by President David O. McKay, where he says "The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother." It really says it all.

This last week, Marshall once again reminded me what a lucky lucky girl I am.

He had been telling me for a couple weeks that he had gotten a babysitter so that we could go to the temple on the 17th of June. I thought it was sweet that he had planned a date night. He had arranged for Russ to come watch the kids for a couple hours. When we were getting ready to leave, Marshall kept asking me if we needed to lay pj's out for the kids, or talk to Russ about bedtime. It thought this was odd because we were leaving at 2pm, and would be home by 7 at the latest.

We went to the temple, and had a wonderful time. Then he took me to dinner, which was also a very nice time. We started to head home, and Marshall wasn't driving in the right direction. I asked him where we were going, an he assured me he was trying to find an on ramp. I knew he wasn't going in the right direction, but he gets grouchy when I back-seat-drive, so I just kept my mouth shut. Just when I was getting thoroughly confused, he pulled into the Anniversary Inn in Salt Lake.

Talk about shocking!

He explained that Russ was staying the night with the kids, and that he had overnight items stuffed into his temple bag. I couldn't believe it! I am a such a planner, and I'm pretty nosey. There is not much that goes on in our home that I am not aware of. He had been planning for a month straight, had friends and family in on it, and managed to keep me completely in the dark.

We checked into the hotel, and the desk clerk asked what we were celebrating. (The Anniversary Inn is where people go for their wedding night, or for, well, their anniversaries) Marshall replied "a Thursday night in June."

What a guy!

We had an amazing night staying in the Jungle Safari room. Marshall forgot the camera, but we wanted to show Carly the crocodile in our room, so the next day we went back during their tour hours and took some pictures.

I am the luckiest girl alive. Marshall is an amazing husband and father!

Someone turned 3 last month

2010-06-20T10:17:00.017-06:00

And I was a total slacker and took forever to blog about it. I think I was majorly overwhelmed by the massive amount of photos to choose from. Waaaay too many.

For Carly's birthday, we were lucky enough to have Marshall's immediate family all here. We had Londa and Steve, and Kiernan and Kalen all out from California. And Russ and Star, of course, came over for the party.

Marshall and I decided that Carly already has way too many toys. It's a bit ridiculous. So instead of adding to the madness, we used the money for her birthday to rent a bounce house. Good decision. She loved it!

We roasted hot dogs, had cake and punch, and had a pinata. We had a great turn out, and Carly had a fabulous time. What a great day!

You're invited!

2010-05-28T11:04:00.003-06:00

Yes, YOU!

Tomorrow is Carly's 3rd birthday party, and we are doing it up big. Hotdogs, cake, pinata. We're even going to have a bounce house! So if you want to come celebrate with us, let me know and I'll give you directions.

Love this mug!

2010-05-24T00:30:00.004-06:00

A mouth full of apples + one hilarious mommy = cutest baby faces you ever saw! (and a slight choking hazard)

Therapeutic

2010-05-22T08:06:00.007-06:00

So a friend of mine shared this website with me. http://shitmykidsruined.com/ (please excuse their word choice)

It sure makes me feel better on days like this.

Not only did she destroy her bedding, carpet, and walls, she decided that she'd try her hand at body art.

Not entirely sure how she reached her back to do that one.

Impressive skills

2010-05-20T16:01:00.005-06:00

So a couple weeks ago, I took Carly and Wes outside for a few hours an neglected to apply sunscreen. Mother of the year award! (spare me the lecture, I am aware of how stupid it was and how important sunscreen is) Anyway, Carly got severely sunburned on her legs. To the point of blisters on one of them. She could barely walk and we were using the Motrin and the aloe liberally. Marshall used his fancy first aid knowledge to bandage the leg with the blisters. Carly then decided she wanted the other leg bandaged too. So she got into the first aid supplies, and when Marsh came back in the room, this is what he found.

I can't even tell which one he did vs. which one she did. Impressive!

Birth mother's day 2010

2010-05-20T14:59:00.010-06:00

So I am really behind on my posting. But I took the kids down to the Provo FSA's Birth Mother's Day celebration last weekend.

It is an annual walk at the Provo High School track. There are doughnuts, candy toss for the kids, races, balloons, and Cosmo the Cougar. This year, we also had the Provo Fire Department show up.

Good times had by all!

10 months

2010-05-19T22:34:00.009-06:00

Wes turned 10 months old last week.

- He is now standing independently. He can let go of the furniture while cruising to just stand and play with a toy unsupported. But although he has great balance, he will not yet take a step. It's a fear thing, not an ability thing. He'll try it any day now, and never look back.

- His hair has begun to curl. This was about when Carly's started to curl. I'm so anxious to see how it turns out!

- We still only have 2 teeth. There are little bulges where his fangs would be on top, but they haven't cut. But it sure would be cute to see a baby missing the inner 4 with full fangs!

- He is loving food. All food. I can't eat anything without him chasing me around begging for some. This is especially frustrating for him (and me) because I can't just share most of what I eat due to his dairy allergy.

- His skin has completely cleared up! Dr. must have been right... take out the dairy and he is sleeping even better, is basically not fussy at all, and no longer has that horrible rash that has plagued him the last 4 months.

- Wes has started to have watered down juice in a sippy. We are working on having him hold it himself, and if we get him set up, he's good.

- Wes is so funny with his binky. He's not a super addict who fusses if he loses it. But he sure likes it. By this age, Carly could care less about hers. Wes uses his like a toy. He is constantly taking it out, setting it down, picking it up, examining it, turning it the right direction, and putting it back in his mouth. Like the way an adult fiddles and checks with a cell phone.

- Wes is still very ticklish. Especially under his chin. It is so fun to sit and tickle him when he's in a good mood. He even laughs at the anticipation when my hand gets near his belly or neck.

- Wes is starting to get into everything. The toilet, the trash, the dishwasher. If it's left open- he's into it. I am having to revisit baby proofing.

- Wes makes some funny sounds. He, for the last few months, has this funny cry when he's whining and wants something. It is multi-tonal "oooo!" Like a harmonica. He can get at least 3 tones in his whine. Now, he has added pig "gobbles" to his repertoire. Not inward snorting... but like eating air. That's the best way I can describe it. He loves to do this and then wait and smile while waiting for me to do it back. Too cute.

- We are working on signing, but so far no progress. Though he does clap, kiss, and high five on command. We didn't even start Carly on signing until she was 13 months, so I am not worried. Just looking forward to being able to communicate.

Motherhood

2010-05-09T09:06:00.006-06:00

I haven't blogged much lately because most of my free time has been spent working on a talk. I was asked to speak in church on Mother's Day this year... I was so excited!

I have never particularly enjoyed speaking in church. In the past I have cried as I nervously write late into the night hours before church. I have even turned down the opportunity once or twice, using various excuses. I have never felt particularly connected with the subject.

But when I heard 2 weeks ago that the bishop wanted us to speak on Mother's Day, I had an overwhelming spiritual confirmation. Even before he told us what the 'topic' was, I knew what I was going to talk about.

Ever since working in adoption, I have been accutely aware of the pain that Mother's Day brings to so many. The childless and infertile, the birth mothers. Both sides of the people I serve and love. And I don't believe for a second that this is the purpose of Mother's Day- to honor a small portion, and alienate others.

So without further ado, here is my Mother's Day talk.

When asked to speak on Mother’s day, I immediately thought of this quote by Patricia Holland. She says:

“In a poignant exchange with God, Adam states that he will call the woman Eve. And why does he call her Eve? ‘Because she is the mother of all living.’… Eve was given the identity of ‘the mother of all living’ years, decades, perhaps centuries before she ever bore a child. It would appear that her motherhood preceded her maternity… I believe ‘mother’ is one of those very carefully chosen words, one of those rich words- with meaning after meaning. I believe with all my heart that it is first and foremost a statement about our nature, not a head count of our children.”

I absolutely know this to be true. Mothering is an eternal divine nature. It is not a term specific to just those currently with children in the home, or even those who have ever born or raised a child. It is not a competition or a badge of honor that only some women in the church have earned by Mother’s Day each year.

As women of the church, we are all in different stages of our lives, but we all have our eternal nature in common. We have all been preordained to the eternal calling of Mother.

In a 2003 address to the sisters of the Relief society, President Hinckley took the time to speak to many different groups of sisters. He speaks to each of their unique challenges and triumphs.

To the single women of the church, President Hinckley offers words of advice, including some dating advice. It’s a fun read if you have the time. More relevant to this talk, however, he says the following: “The world still needs your talents. It needs your contribution. The Church needs your faith. It needs your strong, helping hand.”

In the scriptures, we read about the righteous women of the Lord’s church. Some are notable for their marriages, other for the children they raised. There are also others, whose contribution and righteous acts of sacrifice and bravery are not linked to these traditional roles of wife and mother. Though they may have been married, or have been mothers, these roles are not mentioned in the scriptures. These women include Miriam, a leader of the Jewish women and sister to Moses; the sisters Mary and Martha of the New Testament, and Abish of the Book of Mormon. These women had a great deal to offer in service of the Lord, and their examples have taught generations, regardless of their marital or maternal status.

To the single mothers of the church, president Hinckley said,

“Now I speak to you single mothers whose burdens are so heavy because you have been abandoned or have been widowed. Yours is a terrible load. Bear it well. Seek the blessings of the Lord. Be grateful for any assistance that may come out of the quorums of the priesthood to help you in your home or with other matters. Pray silently in your closet, and let the tears flow if they must come. But put a smile on your face whenever you are before your children.”

Hagar was the mother of Ishmael. She was a single mother- cast out of her home and into the wilderness with her young son. She wandered, and when the food and water were gone, we read that she put her small suffering child in a shaded place, and went a ways off to cry unto the Lord. The Lord heard her, and revealed to her a well of water. When all others had forsaken her, and left to provide alone for her child, the Lord heard and answered her prayers.

To the young mothers of the church, President Hinckley said,

“To you young women with small children, yours is a tremendous challenge. So often there is not enough money. You must scrimp and save. You must be wise and careful in your expenditures. You must be strong and bold and brave and march forward with gladness in your eye and love in your heart. How blessed you are, my dear young mothers. You have children who will be yours forever.”

When I think of a righteous mother of a small child, I always think of Mary, mother of Jesus. If we are raising our children to “try to be like Jesus,” should we do any less than try to be like his mother, Mary? Mary was chosen to raise a young boy into the Savior of the world, to teach him his divine nature, and to then stand aside and watch him be scorned and ulitmately killed by those he ministered to. What better pattern do we have as mothers to our own sweet children? To raise them knowing they are children of God, and to know there will be times we will see them suffer, whether by sin or by the hands of the unjust. Her patience, her humility and her faith are all attributes we need as mothers of this generation.

President Hinckley also has advice for the mothers of older children.

“To the women who are neither young nor old. You are in the most wonderful season of your lives. Your children are in their teens. Possibly one or two are married. Some are on missions, and you are sacrificing to keep them in the field. You are hoping and praying for their success and happiness. To you dear women I offer some special counsel. Count your blessings; name them one by one. You don’t need a great big mansion of a house with an all-consuming mortgage that goes on forever. You do need a comfortable and pleasant home where love abides.”

Lastly, President Hinckley speaks to the older sisters of the church. There is nothing I would add to what he has to say about his own lovely wife.

“Now to you dear grandmothers, you older widows, and older lonely women. How beautiful you are. I look upon my dear wife, soon to be 92 years of age. Her hair is white; her frame is stooped.
I take one of her hands in mine and look at it. Once it was so beautiful, the flesh firm and clear. Now it is wrinkled and a little bony and not very strong. But it speaks of love and constancy and faith, of hard work through the years.”

I would like to add to his list a group of mothers who display true selflessness and love for their children, yet are often not thought of or honored on mothers day because they are not raising their children. The birth mother. Those brave women who discover their pregnancies, love their children from that very instant, and then begin to plan and prepare to give their precious children eternal families, which they know they cannot provide at that time. These mothers, who experience the greatest pain and sacrifice for the sake of their children, are often overlooked- it is often thought that their motherhood has been forfeited. But I say it is the opposite. They have embraced their motherhood. They have displayed the truest nature of a mother- a pure love and concern for their children, above the wishes of their own hearts. They walk hand in hand with Christ, becoming intimately acquainted with the atonement, and make arguably one of the greatest sacrifices a person can make in mortality. To forget to honor these women and their motherhood on Mother’s Day would be a horrible offense.

Lastly, I’d like to honor another group of women often overlooked on Mother’s Day. Those women who are enduring the trial of infertility. These are women who know the pain of loss, and the frustration of righteous desires unfulfilled. These are women who face the assumptions and insensitive questions and comments of others who do not comprehend the pain and longing in their hearts. These are women who sometimes feel out of place within the structure of a church that so greatly honors motherhood and the bearing of children.

In the scriptures we read numerous accounts of righteous sisters who have likewise been given the earthly trial of infertility. Rebekah was called ‘barren;’ Sarah struggled with infertility until her old age- we read of her struggle in the scriptures; Rachel was unable to conceive for years, and we read about her pain and jealousy of her sister, Leah; Hannah was infertile- we read about her prayers to conceive; Elisabeth was infertile and ultimately only one bore one child- John the Baptist.

All through the scriptures, there are stories of righteous, loving and faithful women who were infertile. They had no more than two children each- some only bore one. But these women were some of the most wonderful mothers on record- they changed the world. Without having 10 children, and after having suffered great heartache.

Julie B. Beck once said, ”In my experience I have seen that some of the truest mother hearts beat in the breasts of women who will not (or have not yet) rear[ed] their own children in this life.” I completely agree. I have had the privilege of getting to know many wonderful mothers who have not yet been blessed with children. These women are among my clients, acquaintances and closest friends. I am sensitive to the pain many have expressed that is felt on Mother’s Day. I have heard innumerable times that they leave church only to go home and weep having felt marginalized or excluded, or worse- avoid church in total that day. What a horrible shame that some of the truest mother hearts are not honored on Mother’s Day. Today I honor them.

Sheri L. Dew states:

"In the Lord’s language, the word mother has layers of meaning. Of all the words they could have chosen to define her role and her essence, both God the Father and Adam called Eve “the mother of all living” 3—and they did so before she ever bore a child. Like Eve, our motherhood began before we were born. Just as worthy men were foreordained to hold the priesthood in mortality, 4 righteous women were endowed premortally with the privilege of motherhood. 5 Motherhood is more than bearing children, though it is certainly that. It is the essence of who we are as women. It defines our very identity, our divine stature and nature, and the unique traits our Father gave us."

Our motherhood is the definition of our sacred divine nature. Our Motherhood was foreordained in the preexistance; it is an eternal promise and calling. It is not just a priviledge for this mortal life. As Sister Holland said, it is not our maternity or a current head count of our children. It is so much more. Yes, raising children is the purpose of our maternal nature, and I pray we will all have that opportunity someday. However this blessing is not singular to this life, and whatever opportunities we are afforded to raise children in this life are simply preparation to receive our eternal roles.

I recently heard a wonderful talk by Glenn L. Pace, of the seventy. He states:

"Sisters, I testify that when you stand in front of your heavenly parents in those royal courts on high and look into Her eyes and behold Her countenance, any question you ever had about the role of women in the kingdom will evaporate into the rich celestial air, because at that moment you will see standing directly in front of you, your divine nature and destiny."

I testify that I know this is true. This divine eternal nature and destiny IS the meaning of the word mother. And I wish every sister here today a Happy Mother’s Day.

6 years of 'I love you's"

2010-04-24T11:31:00.004-06:00

Today is our 6 year wedding anniversary.

6 years ago at this moment, we were in the temple getting ready to be sealed for time and all eternity.

As this blog is primarily used as our family journal, I realized that I had never recorded the story of our courtship. And I thought our anniversary would be the perfect time to do just that.

We met at BYU because we lived in the same apartment complex, and consequently were also in the same ward. I had just moved in along with Breann, and he had just moved in with his twin, Russ. He was fresh off his mission. Like a week off. And I had just moved out of the freshman dorms. Our first ward prayer of the semester, someone pointed him out to me and mentioned that he was also a social work major, so we should talk. But our very first interaction ended up being during a competitive ward game between apartments. There may or may not have been a little less than ethical play on the part of my apartment, and so his apartment retaliated with guerrilla warfare. During this exchange I threatened him- a stranger at the time- with gross bodily harm. I really didn't like him; he says that this exchange left him intrigued. He had always liked girls who were firecrackers.

Well it turned out that my roommates who had been in the apartment longer knew his roommates. We were in the same FHE family, and the two apartments got to spend a good amount of time with one another. Marshall and I spent more time together, got to talk, and discovered we had quite a bit in common. BUT, he was dating another girl. He moved quickly, only a week off his mission, remember. So I put him out of mind. Or I tried. But we were constantly around each other. And his girlfriend wasn't in the ward, so she wasn't.

One of the traditional activities our apartments did together was going to Del Taco at midnight on Sundays (no longer the Sabbath...lol...bad, I know), and on one such Del Taco night, no one else went. So it was me and him, and we were able to really talk a lot about what we were looking for in a spouse and in life. I liked him even more, but he still had that girlfriend.

A couple weeks later a large group from the ward went to Las Vegas to see the BYU football team play UNLV. One of my roommates decided not to go at the last minute, so there were 2 in my car, and 3 in Marshall's. So I suggested we all ride together to save gas. It was crowded in my little neon, but that was all the better to snuggle with him in the back seat. We spent that whole weekend getting to know each other and holding hands, and snuggling. And I knew we would start dating. The last day in Las Vegas I asked him what we were and what we would be in Utah, and he said that there was only one girl he wanted to date and get to know better, and her name was Lauren.

Side note...I decided while in high school that I would only kiss one man. To me, kissing said 'I love you' and I didn't want to give my heart away to someone I couldn't marry. So I didn't really date in high school. And at BYU I would tell guys early into the dating process that I wouldn't be kissing until they were ready to propose (there is a LOT of kissing to be found at BYU...NCMO anyone?). So I would weed out the ones who weren't ready for marriage right away. All of the guys I actually dated were wonderful...all gentlemen. I'm sure all would have made great husbands (consequently, I don't believe in soul mates...I think any 2 good people who are willing to sacrifice for one another and are committed can make a marriage work and can fall in love). But I was this odd little serious girl who would pray about everything, and made dating and giving my heart away a matter of prayer. I prayed to know if I should kiss and give my heart away.

So we got back to Utah, and he broke it off with the other girl, and we started spending every moment together. We would get together before classes in the morning and read our scriptures and pray together, and get together to watch movies, and go on walks, and go on dates every evening. And talk- a lot of talking. That first weekend to Las Vegas was on October 24th, and by Thanksgiving he told me that he "was falling in love" with me. Well that scared me a little, because I hadn't prayed about it yet, and frankly didn't know what love felt like. So I panicked and told him I'd have to get back to him on that.

I spent the Thanksgiving break at home really praying and thinking. I knew that it was right, I got confirmation that I could marry him and it would work, but I was freaked out that it was so fast. So dang fast. I was second guessing myself because it had been-what- 5 weeks? So I got back and knew he had prayed about it too. But I was still scared and keeping a little bit of distance while I figured it out. He got a little frustrated and I got the feeling he was going to break up with me because his feelings were hurt. I mean the poor guy told me he loved me, and then I avoided him. lol. So one night we went out, and then at home in the parking lot, we were sitting in the car in silence. The night had been tense, and I knew we were going to break up if I didn't get past my fears. So I took a deep breath, leaned over, and kissed him. And he kissed me back.

About a month later, after spending Christmas break with each other's families, we were engaged. 4 months after that, we got married on April 24th. The 6 month anniversary of that first "date" to Las Vegas.

Today we celebrate our love story. Our courtship, but more importantly the 6 years since. And even more importantly the eternity to come.

Happy Anniversary Marsh! I love you.

Wes' 9 month appointment

2010-04-20T20:53:00.004-06:00

Wes had his 9 month well baby check today. His stats were as follows:

Weight: 19lbs 12ozs - 32nd percentile

Height: 28.25 inches - 44th percentile

Head Circumference: 17.5 inches - 23rd percentile

So he is moving up a little on his growth curve. Still a little shrimp.

I braved this appointment on my own with both kids, so I didn't even try to bring the camera. So no pics, sorry.

Wes got one more shot, which he was not happy about. But he calmed pretty quickly once he realized that we weren't going to sneak another one in on him. The doctor also ordered a blood draw to test him for a panel of allergies. Hopefully this will give us a clue as to what, for sure, is causing his never-ending rash. The doctor said he'd be surprised if it was yogurt because he doesn't seem to have a problem with his milk-based formula. So now I just don't know.

Wes' appointment was right in the middle of his nap time, so once he got the shot and calmed down a bit, he was fast asleep before we even made it back to the car. We then drove over to the lab, and he slept peacefully in his stroller through the registration and in the waiting room. I got him out of him out of the stroller and sat him up in my lab when they were ready to take his blood, and he just rested his head on my arm and kept sleeping. I didn't want him to be rudely awoken by a needle, so I jostled him a bit to bring him to.

The lab brought in a few phlebotomists to hold him down, search for veins, and start the poking. Everyone was expecting a screaming child, so we were all surprised when he just kinda sat there and watched with mild interest. They had to use two different technicians and try multiple times on each arm. He didn't cry. Just sat and watched. One of the phlebotomists asked gravely "so he's a really sick kid, huh?" and I just had to laugh because he's not normally so lifeless. I explained that he wasn't sick at all- it was just an allergy panel. That lightened the mood and they joked that all parents should bring kids in really, really sleepy.

We should get the results of his blood test back in a few days. Hopefully they are pretty clear so that we don't have to do more testing. I hate blood draws, even if Wes doesn't seem to mind. Plus, I don't want to press my luck that it would go that well a second time.

Conversations with Carly

2010-04-19T19:30:00.002-06:00

- I was changing her diaper (yes...diaper...don't get me started) at my in-laws' house in California. I spotted a spider crawling on the carpet next to her. I whisked her out of the way and smashed the spider with her diaper. She asked what I was doing, and I told her I killed a spider. She then said "Whoa, there's danger all around!"

- Carly ate a few powdered donuts, and then looked in the mirror and announced "my face is a donut!"

- We bought Carly a BYU football uniform last week, and as soon as she had it on, she decided it was a baseball uniform. She picked up and imaginary bat, and an imaginary ball, tossed the ball up in the air and hit it, and then demanded that we all "run around the bases...really fast!" A little part of Marshall died.

- Marshall made the genius move of buying Carly a Nerf sword. So one of her new favorite pastimes is to hack Marshall with the sword until he lies down and pretends to be dead. Then she relishes hacking off each of his limbs one at a time. We've trained a warrior. She now can often be heard yelling out "I will kill you!" or "I will cut you!" I wonder how that will go over once she gets to Kindergarten...

- Carly loves figuring out what color people's eyes are. Yesterday she studied my eyes until she determined that "Mommy, you have green eyes. Just like a frog!"

- In an attempt to get her to clean her room, I threatened to throw all her toys away. She thought this was a great idea, and got out a trash bag. When I came back to check on her, she was picking up toys, one by one, and saying "goodbye block...goodbye bear...goodbye puzzle" and throwing them in the trash bag. They're in the laundry room and she hasn't asked for them back yet. Threats don't scare this child.

- Whenever I vacuum, Carly gets really excited and declares "The kids are coming over!" I find it sad that I vacuum infrequently enough that she thinks I only do it before playgroup.

- The other day she was just yelling. Lots of noise. Pointless noise. Just to be noisy (Marshall's family assures me this is a trait she inherited from him). I told her to calm it down and be quiet! She said "But mom, I'm being fortissimo!" Is there such a thing as too much Little Einsteins?

9 months

2010-04-14T23:10:00.004-06:00

Wes is now 9 months old. And he is cuter than ever!

And he certainly will no longer lie down next to that football.

He hasn't had his 9 month appointment yet, so those stats are still to come. But he is in size 3 diapers and wearing 6-9 month old clothing and some 9-12 month. I think he may have grown a few percentiles, because it doesn't seem likely he'd still just be hovering around 30%.

- Wes still loves to crawl. And he's starting to get very fast. He follows me everywhere.

- He hates crawling on cold ground with bare legs. So he has a hard time with the kitchen floor in the mornings. But it is really cute, because his solution is to crawl on his hands and toes, with his knees as far from the offending ground as possible.

- He likewise hates grass. Well, I don't know that hate is the right word. But he would rather not touch it. So when placed on all fours on the grass, he'll look slightly distressed and keep his non-essential hand as far from that prickly grass as possible.

- Wes is now pulling up and cruising. Just like with Carly, soon as he could crawl, he had higher goals in sight. Now he'll crawl over and stand using just about anything to support him. The couch, the wall, the rocking ottoman, the tv, my legs. I have a feeling we may see walking in the next month or two.

- Was has 2 teeth now. And no more on the immediate horizon.

- Wes still loves to growl. To express anything and everything. He and Marshall will get in these yelling/growling contests. It is so cute, and very loud. He just thinks he is so fearsome!

- Wes is now eating a lot of different table foods. Mostly the same foods as the purees I made, but now just steamed and cut up small. I am also giving him little bites of whatever we are having.

- He is also eating anything and everything he can find on the ground. That pincer grasp and really developed! And I find I am a much more laid back mom than I was with Carly at this age. He eats a stick or a leaf, I just shrug and know it will come out in a diaper tomorrow. Really my only worries are things he could choke on.

- We have discovered that Wes is sensitive to yogurt. Maybe all dairy? But yogurt for sure. In 3 test trials, he got a horrible red rash all 3 times. Including with the yogurt melts. I am a little worried about introducing milk in 3 months.

- Wes clearly says mama and dada. And he knows who each title belongs to. He still thinks it is a very funny game to only say "dada" when I ask him to say "mama" in front of an audience. This one has a funny little sense of humor. It is obviously deliberate and he smiles and is all pleased with himself at the laughter he gets in response.

- He has still got the cute blue eyes and the blond hair. I actually had someone comment the other day about how much hair he has, a new experience for me since my last baby was bald forever.

- After our trip out to California, Wes picked up some of cousin Kalen's expressive faces. He now LOVES to scrunch up his eyes and nose and sniff loudly at you.

- He has a 6th sense for finding cords. If there is one unhooked somewhere, he will find it and try to shock himself by sticking the unoccupied end in his mouth. Phone, computer, printer. I'm hoping he outgrows this quickly.

He is just about the cutest, most delightful baby ever! I could just eat him up!