Friday, May 31, 2013

My little silly

My Emmy girl is such a little silly. We were over at my parents' for dinner a couple of weeks ago and this is what Emmy had for dinner....


Then, a few days ago I went into Cafe Rio to pick up some dinner while Matt took the kids over to look at the nearby fountain. When I came out, this is what I saw...

Emmy was IN the fountain, running and splashing and having a grand ole time. Matt was also in the fountain taking pictures and videos of her.


Of course after she had gotten completely soaked, she announced that she had to go potty. So Matt took her dripping wet into the nearby Pie to go. When it was time to go home, we literally had to drag her out of the fountain. What a silly!

Also, she loves to take care of her babies and animals. This is what I found when I went in to get her from her nap the other day...all of her animals had their own little beds. Ha!


Even though sometimes she drives me nuts, I sure do love that silly little girl.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Wheeler Farm

The other day I packed the kids up and took them to Wheeler Farm. We had a great time. Emily LOVES going to the farm!


Please ignore the 90s pants. They are not supposed to be one up/one down like that.


What a cheeser! The bunnies are her favorite. In fact, in her prayers one night she said she was thankful for her many bunnies. Ha!

Then we had a picnic at the park next to the farm. Emily actually sat at the table and ate all of her lunch. That is a miracle! Maybe we should go on picnics more often so she'll eat her lunch!

The geese were hovering trying to get a bite of Emmy's sandwich but she successfully kept it away from them.

Zach hung out in the stroller having a grand ole time.

I sure do love these little stinkers cuties.


Wednesday, May 15, 2013

7 Months

Guess who's 7 months old today? This guy...

At 7 months, Zach...

-can sit up for several seconds unsupported
-is learning to drink from a sippy cup
-loves baby food
-still can't roll over from back to tummy
-loves to watch his sister
-plays intently with his toys and likes to grab for EVERYTHING!
-STILL is not sleeping through the night. Ugh! (He seriously cried from 1-3 a.m. several nights this week.)
-has a stinkin' cute laugh and smile
-likes to suck on his bottom lip
-is always kicking his legs
-won't take a bottle
-loves to be held and loves attention
-still spits up a bunch
-likes his dangly toys and exersaucer
-likes to grab my face
-likes his binkie
-is better at taking naps
-loves his mommy and gets nervous when I leave
-is really heavy...my hands were getting callouses from lugging him around in his carseat. So the carseat doesn't come out of the car anymore.

We love you Zach! (And hope you learn to sleep real soon.)

Emmy likes to "help" feed Zach!

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Mother's Day

First things first....my Grandpa Russ was in town for Hope's funeral and my other cousin's wedding (it was a busy week!) and I finally had the mind to get a picture of the kids with him. Of course they didn't want to cooperate, but at least I got one!

My Grandpa Russ is a pretty cool guy. He still hikes all over Southern Utah (at 85!) and even went skydiving for his last birthday. I love going to visit and having him take me on a hike. And he tells great stories.

Next up, Mother's Day. If you remember last year, I was dreading Mother's Day because I was feeling guilty that I was a lousy mom. This year, a miracle has happened. I don't feel guilty anymore. I don't know when it happened, but I'd say for the past couple of months, I have really felt like I have been a lot better at embracing motherhood. Sure, I have my moments, but I really feel like there has been a change.

I can't pinpoint what it is, and it's probably a plethora of things. Things like accepting the fact that I'm just not going to get a good night's sleep, trying to be more proactive at coming up with activities to do with the kids, realizing that I choose to work 8-ish hours a week (from home) and so I don't have as much "free time" as other moms to cook elaborately or clean elaborately or craft elaborately or whatever. And I've started increasing my exercise, which not only makes me feel better, but gets me out of the house more often for a break.

And I read this book:



It's pretty much amazing. It helped me to see that it's ok that I'm not doing everything I feel I should be doing. And it reflects on the role of Christ in our mothering efforts. Loved it!

I had a great Mother's Day. Emmy and Zach (and Matt) gave me some flowers, a book, and a cover for my new tablet. They made me some pancakes for breakfast and we had a great time.

After breakfast we went over to my parents' house to talk to my brother Kyle in Russia on his mission. It was fun! Emmy was so excited to go talk to Uncle Kyle and then when we got there, she wouldn't say anything. Oh well.

At church, we had another great lesson in Relief Society about the example of our own mothers in our lives. It made me remember that even though my mom is not perfect (although she probably is nearly perfect!), she was a great example and teacher to me. And even though I'm not perfect, I can be a good example to my own kids and they will overlook my imperfections and think I'm great and love me anyway, just like I love my own mom.

Zach found this rubber duckie and was using it as a binkie! Ha!
After church we went to Matt's moms for a yummy dinner. It was a great Mother's Day and I'm grateful for my two little munchkins who are helping me realize the happiness that being a mom can bring. Even though they drive me crazy at times, I wouldn't trade them. And I'm grateful for Matt for all he does to help me be a mom.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Just some stuff

We haven't really had a whole ton going on around here to document. We've been working on our yard and doing little things here and there. Here's a few pics of some of those "little things"...

Emmy sometimes likes to "read" to Zach. It's pretty adorable. She also likes to give him toys to play with. Then take them away. Then give him another.

We ran out of dishwasher soap so what did Matt do? Put in the liquid stuff. I warned him that this would happen, but he didn't believe me and ran the dishwasher anyway. Yeah, we had suds all over the floor!

Emmy has him wrapped around her little finger. Here he is cutting up her cereal for her. I am not that nice.

We have had lots of bedtime battles lately with Emily. When we were potty training her, I told her she could come out of her room during naps and at night if she needed to go potty. So she started saying she needed to go potty every 5 minutes! And she would not go to bed at night. Then she was refusing to sleep in her bed and wanted to sleep on the floor.

After 2 weeks of terror and her coming out of her room for 2 hours, we had tried everything we could think of. Finally we made her a bedtime chart that has pictures of all the bedtime rules (jammies, brush teeth, turn out the light, get into bed, close eyes, etc.) She gets a star if she does all the things on it and then a prize. It has mostly worked, but we still have our struggles. And she still stalls. Big time. Ugh!

Zach has gotten fussy again and will cry for hours during the night and wants to be held all day. Double ugh! Maybe he's teething? I just want this little smile back....

And he spit up in Emily's shoe at Hope's funeral. Emmy had a cow. It was not fun to be the one with the screaming child during a funeral. But they are mostly fun, and I am enjoying these little moments with them. (The ones that don't involve spit up and screaming!)

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Hope

This is my cousin Hope. She unexpectedly passed away sometime during the night last Sunday. She was only 22 years old.

Photo


I cannot even imagine what it was like for my aunt Claire last Monday morning when she went into Hope's room to see why she hadn't gotten up yet. I cannot even imagine what it would be like to lose a child. It breaks my heart and I'll admit I have been hugging my kids just a little bit harder all week.

Hope had some brain aneurysms a couple of months ago that were operated on. Although there was a scare during the surgery, she came out of it fine, and we all thought she'd be ok. In fact, just two weeks ago, I saw Hope and her sister Emma riding down the street in their van blaring their music and dancing and waving their arms out the window at me. It made me smile.

She had complained of pain a few times since the surgery, and especially last week when her dad and my Dad gave her a blessing last Sunday night. We don't know what exactly happened yet and what caused her death, but I do know that it must have been her time to go.

Hope also had myotonic dystrophy, the same disease my mom and sister have, although Hope had a more severe case of it, along with Hope's mom and two sisters. It makes me happy to think that she doesn't have to suffer from that anymore, that she has been made whole by the power of the Atonement. And I'm pretty sure she went straight to the celestial kingdom. It makes me happy to think that now she will be able to get married and have a family--something that may not have happened here because of those limitations.

Life is fragile. Life is precious. But thank goodness that life on earth is not the end. See you on the other side, Hope!