March 16, 2014

Lily spent most of the time behind the camera this week.  She got some great shots that she wants me to share.  On Tuesday morning we met a friend of mine from college at a local cafe for breakfast.  He and his sister were in Rexburg visiting family and called me up to meet them.  It was fun to get out for a visit with a friend.  The kids were on the shy side - and very tired since they were still adjusting to Daylight Savings, but we had a nice breakfast and catch up.  After looking back at the pictures Lily took, I realized we never got one with Alex and Bailey (my friends).  Oh well!

After breakfast we went to gymnastics.  I think Lily took over 100 photos of Annie during class.  Lily was such a proud big sister.  She was cheering and snapping pictures just like a Mommy would.  Annie loved the attention.

Setting her cones on the beam.  During this class, they were working on stepping over and jumping over the cones on the beam.  Before mounting the beam, Annie would go and organize all the cones if the gymnast before her moved any of them.  She is still our little organizer!

Thursday we met Daddy on campus for a lunch date.  It was a gorgeous sunny day.  We sat in an atrium type area and enjoyed the sun shining on us through the windows.  Tommy loved looking out the windows at all the students walking by.  Annie loved standing over the HVAC vents and getting her hair blown around.

Preparing for her career as a supermodel.

Tommy trying his first pickle.  He wouldn't bite it, but he sucked it to death.  I think the cold and bumpy texture felt good on his teething gums.

I found a great idea for a "Calm Down Jar" on Pinterest and decided to give it a try.  Sometimes the kids get on each other's nerves and just bicker all day long.  These jars have helped a lot in the past two weeks.  When I can feel the tension between them begin to build, I send them to their corners with their jars.  I took them to the craft store to choose their glitter.  Annie's is aqua and Lily's is dark blue.  They shake the jar and then set it down and watch the glitter settle.  It takes about 5 minutes for the glitter to settle to the bottom.  By the time the glitter has settled, the girls feel calmer and ready to play again.  It is also a good tool for time out.  I let Annie hold the jar in her lap while we talk calmly about why she is in time out and how to avoid that negative behavior in the future.  Often, she will shake it up again while sitting with me which gives us more time to talk and let her cool down.  I have to confess that these are great for parents too.  I have used it to help myself calm down in frustrated moments.  Watching the glitter sparkle and spin in the sun is really soothing.  Thanks Pinterest for another great parenting tool.  As soon as I have a large plastic jar available, I'm going to transfer the glitter solution to it and super glue the lid on.  The glass jars are a little heavy and awkward for the kids at times; and something tells me that sticky glitter sparkling all over my carpet and kitchen floor is not nearly as relaxing as it is in the jar.

Tommy is old enough to ride in the bike trailer!  The sunshine and warm (45 degree?) weather just called to us one night.  Mommy and Daddy took turns pulling the kids up and down the street.  Tommy was willing to get in and strap in, but as soon as we started moving he started crying.  He was so relieved to be taken out.  Lily tried hard to comfort him and show him how much fun it can be.  We'll have to try again soon.

Tommy is our master mess maker!  I feel like I spend all day picking up after him.  On Friday I decided to take pictures of some of his messes to help me remember this phase.  Here are four of the many just from one day.  He is unstoppable.  Basically if something is in a drawer, cabinet, or container Tommy makes it his personal mission to remove it from where it belongs - while Mommy is busy cleaning up another mess in another location.  Then there is laundry......I try to get it folded and put away while he naps but that doesn't always happen.  And when it doesn't, he pulls it all off the couch and then crawls through the piles.  Busy!  Busy!  Busy!  I just can't keep up some days.

Our week ended on a low note.  Friday night we had a game night with friends.  We all got home and went to bed.  At 12:30 a.m. Tommy woke up hungry.  I got up to feed him and then tried to get back to sleep.  But I just didn't feel well.  At 1:30 a.m. I went to the bathroom and basically spent the next four hours there.  I dragged myself back to bed after 5:00 a.m.  At 6:00 a.m. Annie woke us up.  She threw up all over herself and her bed.  She had a fever and tummy bug.  Jeremy let me stay in bed and took care of all the kids for two hours.  By 8:00 a.m. he was sick with the stomach bug too.  Somehow this one missed Tommy and Lily - Maybe it is the same one Lily had last weekend?  Anyway.  It was a long weekend of bathroom trips, ginger ale, soda crackers, Coca-Cola, dry toast, laundry (lots of laundry) and disinfecting.  We're starting to come out of it and feel better.  Hopefully we're done with stomach issues for a while.  To celebrate feeling better I went all out and cooked us an amazing dinner.....

Doesn't get much better than sticky rice and chicken broth after being sick!  We're hoping for a healthier weekend next week while Puna and Papa are here.

What was really disappointing about being sick was: Jeremy had won tickets through a radio station to the Home and Garden Show in Idaho Falls Saturday morning and we had plans to go to a catered dinner party Saturday night.  But we were just too sick to go anywhere.  That's what we get for trying to plan a date away from the kids!  We are excited about the coming week.  Grammy and Grampy are coming to visit and then Puna and Papa are coming to visit!  Don't worry grandparents - we are going to clean every inch of the house before you get here so we don't share our germs. See you soon!

March 09, 2014

Kind of a quiet week.  Tommy has been having trouble with teething.  He's been staying up two to three hours during the night in pain.  Nothing seems to help - except for drives in the car - which soothe him to sleep.  But the second we try to get him out of the carseat and put him in bed he wakes up and cries all over again.  We got desperate and bought some baby Ora-jel Saturday afternoon. We didn't have to use it yesterday.  He finally slept through the night and has been pretty happy today.

Tommy always wants something cold in his mouth.  One night he grabbed the salsa jar and wouldn't let us have it back.  He just rested his upper gums on the lid and let the cold soothe him for a while.

Lily was hit hard with a stomach bug Thursday afternoon.  More than half of her preschool class got it.  Mommy spent two days disinfecting everything and trying her best to keep Annie and Tommy away from Lily.  The hard work paid off.  No one else got sick.  And after a rough day and night of throwing up, Lily was all better by Friday evening.

Uncle Brady has been so busy with school this winter, but he managed to squeeze in a visit this week.  The kids were so excited to play and wrestle with him.  He is so good and getting down and playing with kids.  Thanks for being a bright spot in our week Uncle Brady!

Tommy's new favorite toy is our pink shopping cart.  He is trying so hard to walk on his own.  This cart makes it much easier.  Tommy pushes it everywhere.  The handle on the front is a bit too high, so he usually pushes it backwards like this.  He feels so proud of himself when he can get around with it.

I had errands to run this week.  Annie wanted to wear her "Anna" dress and her monster mask.  This girl knows what she wants and won't take "no" for an answer!  She wore this outfit all morning to Target, Sam's Club, Winco, the bank, and Broulim's.  She was the star of the show everywhere we went.

Jeremy is still working on the basement.  Here is the beginning of the shelves in the storage room.  We can't wait to get them done - and add shelves on all the other walls.  It is so exciting to have a storage room in our basement.  We're hoping it will help with all the clutter.

No reason for this picture.  Bubba is just totally cute.  This expression reminds me of Jeremy.  This little boy sure looks like his Daddy!

After two and a half days of staying cooped up and trying to prevent the spread of Lily's stomach bug, we were ready to get out.  Saturday was sunny and warm in town.  We decided to take the kids to Baskin Robbins.  It was their first experience at 31 Flavors.  They had a hard time settling on the flavor they wanted to try.  Lily and Annie both chose a fruity sherbet.  Daddy had a raspberry cheesecake and Mommy got her favorite peanut butter and chocolate.  Once again, Annie is sporting her favorite princess dress.  I might need to buy another one so I can actually wash this one every once in a while.  Annie learned the hard way not to eat the bottom of your ice cream cone first.  She bit off the tip and the ice cream started leaking out as it melted.  We're pretty sure she won't do that ever again.

 Tommy loved sharing Mommy's ice cream.  It was the happiest he's been all week. So good to see him smile and feel happy after days of waiting for his top four teeth to cute through.

Happy kids with messy ice cream faces!  Thank you Grammy and Grampy for the BR gift cards.  We really enjoyed the ice cream.  Lily and Annie were dancing around the ice cream parlor.  They loved the opportunity to choose their very own flavor.  Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy ice cream!....and that's sort of the same thing....right?

I find it funny that with all the clothes Annie has to choose from, she always wants her "Anna" dress and "Anna" braid hairstyle.....every single day.  And with all the toys we have, she prefers a good old-fashioned box and her imagination over everything else.  Keep that imagination going Annie!  Your dreams are what make you - YOU!

11 Months

Tommy is now 11 months old.  Only four more weeks until Bubba celebrates his 1st birthday!  He hit a couple of milestones this past month - learning to clap (exactly one week after turning ten months), learning to crawl all the way up the stairs, standing without assistance, and taking his first steps (on February 19).  I can never get him to clap for the camera, but he really loves to do it, especially when we sing.  He took his first steps while Uncle Brady was here visiting.  But he hasn't taken any more since then.  He only walks when we hold his hands or he can hang on to something stable.

He still uses his favorite blankets as teethers/pacifiers.  He is always sucking on a blanket.  It must be comforting.

The bathroom is his favorite place to play.  When we forget to close the bathroom doors, we find huge toilet paper messes and drawers emptied of their contents. Apparently the plug to Mommy's hair dryer makes a great teething toy.

Look at that pucker!  He loves citrus - especially limes, just like the rest of the family.  I could not get him to give up this wedge of lime until it was sucked totally dry.

Love his bright smile and big browns!

Tommy celebrated his first Valentine's Day this month.  He loved opening his cards and tearing up the envelopes - Mommy saved the cards before they met utter destruction.  He also got to try his first frosted sugar cookie.  He is a frosting fan like his sisters.

Lily keeps trying to help Bubba learn to walk.  He just likes to be pulled around by his sister.

Tommy loves working with Daddy in the basement.  He wants to be right on top of anything Daddy is doing with tools and wood.

Lily shared some ranch dressing from her lunch with Bubba.  He licked the plate clean!  Looks like we have another kid with a ranch tooth rather than a sweet tooth.

So big!

Still in love with the bath!

Tommy loves to teethe on cold vegetables.  Carrots and cucumbers are his favorites.  Just look at how happy veggies make him.

Here comes trouble!  Mommy is in no hurry to get Tommy walking.  He is busy and fast enough as a crawler. 

He still has only two teeth.  But the top four look like they will break through together any day now.  He is sleeping great and naps once a day.  He loves trying table foods now and throws food he doesn't like on the floor.  He loves sippy cups but still prefers a bottle.  He really loves other babies.

That's it for month 11.  Almost the end of year #1.