Picture Collage

The first thing I wanted to do when we moved into our split level town home was to create a picture collage going up the stairs. I've seen people have these in their homes and I was always so jealous that I didn't have stairs because I really wanted to make one. (Yes... jealous of stairs...)

I'm really happy with it! No... I love it! 

Week in Review

Lucy's idea of napping

We took Todd to the hospital a couple of days ago. In short: He pulled down a 12lb set of ceramic bowls onto his right foot. It kept bleeding and bleeding and was pretty bruised and swollen. We weren't sure if he had fractured it or not. After xrays and 4 hours of waiting around, it turns out he was just fine. I'm sure grateful for little 9 month old rubber feet!

After the hospital, I took Lucy to go play at the mall and get some icecream (thanks Grandma!) :)

She did amazingly well just hanging out and controlling her urge to push every button and pull on every tube that was in her reach. 

I am constantly reminding Lucy that she has to color on paper... not the walls or couches. Even with all of the constant reminding, I found that she had drawn on Todd's head!! It took a few days for the pen marks to finally wash off. 

A few of Alex's single med student female colleagues asked him if they could come over and play with the kids after their test was done. By all means they could come by! Better yet... have them babysit for us!! 

We ditched them and had a wonderful date at the Cheesecake Factory. Anytime they want to come play with the kids and get their baby fill is alright by me!!

Whenever I hold Todd these days, he surprises me and bites my arm and then yanks his head back with my skin in his mouth. I know you're teething, kid... but gracious! That hurts! I've got bruises to prove it!

Week in Review

Watching the one and only snow fall thus far. (and if you haven't figured already, I LOVE that window! It's got the most perfect light for taking pictures. I'm sure you'll be seeing more pictures of the kids with it.)

We've all been battling the cold this week. I don't know how much tissue we've gone through... well, a lot! And kids with runny noses can only stand their nose being wiped so many times. Being sick sure makes you appreciate being healthy!

I called Poison Control for the first time a week or two ago. Todd and I were napping and I thought Lucy was napping too. About an hour later Lucy comes out of her room to wake me up. The first thing I see is some kind of ink all over her hands, her mouth, tongue and teeth. I jump out of bed and rush into her room to see what it was that she had gotten in to. The weirdest thing is that I searched and searched her room and I couldn't find a trace of it! I was totally panicked because I had no idea what it was and whenever I would ask her where it was she would say, "All gone! Down, down, down in tummy!" To this day, I still don't know what it was.

My favorite sound in the world is when my two children are laughing hysterically at each other. It just warms my heart immensely!

Me and the kids were watching Toy Story together the other day. I had to go put Todd down for a nap, and when I came back to join Lucy again the movie was now in French! It took me a while to figure out how to put it back to English. :)

Poor Todd fell victim to a total hack job of a haircut last night. I'll definitely be trying to salvage it sometime today.

And I think I have solved Todd's dislike of food! (I'm so proud of myself). I discovered that if I put any jar of fruit or veggies with half of a jar of meat he'll devour it!! This morning for breakfast he had a jar of apple, strawberry, and banana with a half jar of chicken. Ate every last bit of it. Sounds tasty, right?
He's such a little man... gotta have his meat!

This last Sunday was a busy one. I had prepared a lesson for Relief Society and a talk for Sacrament. (The Bishop had called me just Thursday night since someone had bailed out). Friday and Saturday were pretty stressful to say the least. Then Saturday night I got a call to meet with the first counselor of the Bishopric before church started for another calling. I had no idea what it could be since I had just gotten called and sustained as Relief Society instructor a couple of weeks before.
I also got a call Sunday morning saying that I wouldn't have to teach Relief Society after all because of some mix up.  I sure didn't mind especially since I was speaking in Sacrament! I'll probably just end up teaching the next week. Well, not the case. I got called to be the 2nd counselor in the Primary Presidency! Totally unexpected but exciting!
It's funny because both Alex and I got called to something only to be called to something else a week or two later! Alex is now serving as Sunday School President (instead of being in the Elders Quorum Presidency).

I have been having some problems with Lucy lately. She has such an attitude. She throws things, kicks, bites, yells, spits... all of that. I'd like to think she is being a typical two year old... but goodness, I've gotta nip this in the bud. I'm about 60 pages into the book On Becoming Preschool Wise. (I read the book On Becoming Babywise and implemented its teachings on Lucy and they worked like a charm!) It's pretty great so far! I can't wait to read the rest of it and hopefully change some of this behavior before she actually does start preschool! (If anyone has any other great reference materiel for me to look into or any tips, I'd greatly appreciate it! I'm kind of at a loss these days).

Have a Happy (and healthy) Weekend!!

"Just Give Me Milk, Mom!"

The Todd Squad is boycotting baby food these days. I don't know why, but all of a sudden he won't eat his food! I even give him only the good stuff to persuade him... still doesn't work. He just sticks out his bottom lip and keeps his mouth as tight as can be. He probably figures that if he holds out long enough I'll give him what he really wants. Works like a charm because eventually I get so frustrated that I just end up nursing him so he doesn't starve!
He's already working the system.

It's True What They Say...

The quickest way to a man's heart is through his stomach.

Valentine's Day started off with delicious bacon and German pancakes topped with strawberries and powdered sugar. I included some heart-shaped sugar cookies in Alex's lunch and sent him on his way. I was so excited for dinner that night. I had planned a salmon dinner with rice and asparagus accompanied by some sparkling cider. I envisioned a candle lit dinner with heart streamers draped across the window and hearts hanging from the fixture above. Add a little mood music and the romantic dinner for two was going to be perfect!

Here's how the day really went: Todd was up at midnight and every half hour there after with a fever and a terribly stuffed nose. Which, when translated, means that sleep was non-existent for both me and Todders. I woke up for good at 6, made Alex's lunch and started on breakfast. The morning was wonderful together as we chatted and awaited to eat the something-other-than-toast breakfast. But of course when we both sat down to eat... Lucy wakes up crying, Todd starts crying, and my breakfast had to wait. Alex hurried and gobbled up his food and took off.
I looked around... two fussy kids with piles of dishes to do, floors to vacuum and clean, laundry piles needing attention, and the list goes on and on. Tack on no sleep and this was a recipe for a fantastic day!
So, pretty much I was a walking zombie all day with a sick little boy attached to my hip. I got nothing done. I made sure, however, to get out of the house and take Lucy to play group with Valentine games and crafts. She loved it! (Phew! I did something right!)

I was so sad that when Alex came home, the dish pile was only bigger, the floor only had more toys on it, and there was no sign of dinner anywhere. I did manage to heart attack the stair railing with some fun hearts and sayings on them and I put together a gift basket for him (which accidentally included a rated R movie... whoops!)

We exchanged gifts then put the kids to bed. Finally we could just be together! Alex ran out and got some bbq food for our romantic dinner for two and it ended up being just disgusting. I didn't know that ribs could be beef jerky at the same time. hahaha.... oh goodness.

But when all was said and done, we had each other. We stayed up until 1am chatting, laughing and just being together. That's all that mattered in the end and the Valentines Day that could have been turned into the Valentines Day I was hoping for. One with the person whom I am crazy and madly in love with.

I am the luckiest girl in the world.

He's a Heart Breaker, All Right!

I found this outfit at a thrift shop here for only $5! He'll be wearing this every Sunday. :) I don't care what people say because I just can't get enough of him with that little bow tie and matching pocket square! Now all he needs is a pocket watch and a monocle...

(I had to snap a few pics of him while I was undressing him. He looks like a little Han Solo...)  :)

Week in Review

My computer crashes at least three times a day now. It is SOOOOOO frustrating! I've got everything backed up on an external hard drive, so if it does actually go out on me for good one of these days, I won't be too sad.

At last night's Relief Society activity, we had a swap of old things we weren't using anymore. I found some tap shoes for Lucy!! They are just a tad too big... perfect for growing into. When we got home, I put them on her and she had a blast "tapping" around in the kitchen, jumping, twirling, and making tons of noise! We then watched some Youtube videos of little 3 year olds at their dancing recitals. She was copying every move! Maybe I need to sign her up for some dancing lessons?

We visited the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art for our date last week. It was amazing! So much beautiful art... and lots of weirder art. We happened to go on the night of the Chinese New Year celebration. It was swarming with people! Tons of activities, crafts, performances, and speeches going on. We even got to  watch a magic show!      

We woke up to a crazy lightning and thunderstorm this morning. It was pretty magnificent! The flashes of light were so bright that I thought someone was actually taking a picture of me while I was sleeping!

We have a split level townhome. I put up a collage of pictures going up our stairs (which I love!). It's not the easiest putting up pictures while standing on stairs, reaching and trying not to reach too far to where you fall down the stairs and crack your head open. Well, instead of reaching and falling, the heal of my foot caught the edge of the stair (the second to top stair to be exact), and I fell flat on my bum, then bounced down the rest of the stairs. I just lay in the entry way for a good ten minutes to recover. I was in soooo much pain! I thought I had broken my tail bone! The best part was that I happened to be on the phone with Alex and heard it all.... my initial scream, my yelps with each bump down the stairs, and my moaning while recovering in the entry way.

In Provo, the library was our place to go. We went a couple of times a week and especially loved story time. We've been to a couple of libraries here but I can't find one just as good as Provo's library. I took the kids to a story time yesterday and it was so lame! I can't tell you how much this lame library made me miss home. I've been holding it together pretty well, but that library almost brought me to tears!

Okay, this lady made me try this bizarre concoction and then I made Alex try it.... Oreos with a dab of Cheez Whiz inside. Sounds nasty, right? But if I were to be completely honest... it truly wasn't that bad. Tasted a little like cheese cake. Weird, I know. But just the thought of it makes you feel like your arteries have already clogged. I don't think I'll be buying Cheez Whiz anytime soon.... ever for that matter!

I've was really excited to become a part of a new ward... make new friends, go to activities, and just try to find my niche in our new surroundings. And as uncomfortable as it is, I've really been putting myself out there and getting involved in conversations and activities. I feel like I have been on a dozen first dates, searching and searching for that thing that we have in common.
I feel like I was doing pretty well and was fitting in alright. But last night, we had an activity where I signed up to be on a panel of judges for some creative discussion. I was totally going out on a limb... I had only been in the ward for two weeks when I signed up. The lady in charge said that we all had to wear big hats during our presentation. I was totally excited because I have this great derby type hat that I have only worn at my bridal shower. I asked the lady if that was what she had in mind. She gave me and emphatic "Yes! That's perfect!!!". The time came where the four of us judges had to go up on stage. I pulled out my big hat, put it on, and walked up to the front. I totally stuck out like a sore thumb! The other ladies who were judging with me wore a baseball cap, a Newsies hat, and no hat at all. Wow, I felt pretty dumb. I felt like all of these ladies who have been in this ward for a while were looking at me, thinking to themselves, "Who is this new girl? Who does she think she is?" Pretty much all of my confidence and excitement I had about being in a new ward went out the window in that small, tiny, insignificant moment. I feel so insecure now. I think I'm going to lay low for a little bit and ease myself into the pool instead of jumping in at the deep end.
............but that's going to be tough to do considering I just got called to be a Relief Society Instructor. Talk about intimidating, nerve racking, and insecurities out the roof!