Aubrie's 20th Month

Ok, so I'm just now getting over the fact that my baby is 1.5 years old... and now it's already two months past that... In just four short months she'll already be two. Does that sound crazy to anyone else? Guess I should jump on planning a birthday party. Last year I waited until after Christmas to do it, and I got too busy and felt rushed. I can't believe it's time again already!

My Aubrie is such a wonderful and sweet baby girl! She definitely has her moments of drama, but it makes her so fun to be around! She loves to snuggle, too. She hasn't been taking naps at MDO lately, so on the way to the front door yesterday, she just whips her legs around and makes me carry her like a baby, and she was totally happy! Of course, I loved every minute of it! The other day, she saw me sitting in the rocking chair in her room, and she came up and said, "Eat! Eat!" But she was holding a sock, so I thought she meant "feet." "No, eat!," she said. She crawled up in my lap, and just snuggled down into my arm. It was a sweet moment, because she sat still long enough for me to just hold her again. Then we went and ate some cheerios; yummy!
She loves her brother! Every time she wakes up, and when I pick her up from MDO, the first word out of her mouth is, "Evan." And if I tell her that he is still asleep, she says, "No Evan leep." She loves to yell at Evan to wake up if he falls asleep in the car, "Evan, akeup!" She just wants to play with him all the time. That is, until he puts her in a head-lock (what he calls a hug...).
She is really talking a lot lately! It's so neat to watch her start to string her words together! When we get to her class at MDO she'll say, "Fun. Fens (friends)." I love that she is starting to express herself with words. She still signs a lot of things, though; I guess from habit. She'll still sign "please" and "more" almost all of the time, while she says the words, too.
I am still watching Kaytlynn & Delaney two days a week, and both of my kids are in love with those girls! It is so fun to watch them all play together. And these are good girls, too, so I'm happy that my kids will have life-long friends with good people. One of Aubrie's favorite things to say to Delaney is, "No, Naney." She calls both girls "Naney," even though we're working on her saying Kaytlynn's name, too.

Random, because I'm behind...

This is going to be a random post about whatever I think of because I've been so bad at blogging our lives lately!

1. I finished nursing Aubrie about two weeks ago. I nursed her a lot longer than I was able to with Evan, and I know that is because I was staying home with her, while I was working while Evan was nursing. It was so much easier this time around. In fact, it was so easy, that I had the opposite problem with Aubrie; she didn't want to stop! Around 18 months old, I started dropping one feeding a week. So we went from 3 to 2, then the next week, 2 to 1, and then I went from 1 to none. Although, I have to admit that I was having a hard time stopping, too, so we spent 2 weeks with her feeding just once before bedtime. Evan was 11.5 months old, but I was pregnant again by the time he was 13 months old, so I didn't worry too much about it. It was harder this time because we're not sure when we're going to have another baby. But, I'm going to enjoy having myself to myself for a while before going through it all over again.

2. Evan has been in big boy underwear for about a month, too! All of a sudden, he just started telling us when he had to go every time. He still sleeps in pull-ups at night, but he'll usually tell us in the morning that he needs to go, even if he's still wearing the pull-up. He's actually only had a few accidents while in the underwear, too. Once on the first day of MDO a few weeks ago, but I'm sure that was because he was so caught up in seeing new people, playing with toys, etc, that he didn't think about going. I'm so proud of him! It's so cute to see him running around like a big boy in his Thomas the Train or Cars underwear!

3. I've become a Thirty-One Gifts consultant! I was really thinking about it last Spring, but they were in a hiring freeze until August. It was great timing, because it gave me time to think about ways to make extra money, and when the time came it was still a great idea, so I did it! I'm really struggling with what the future may bring, financially. Not to the point where I'm worried because I know that God will provide a way for us. But I'd like to stay home with the kiddos as long as possible, and if we don't start making a little more money, then I'm going to have to go back to work next year. I think I'd be able to find a half-time elementary music position in Klein, but it's still more time away from the kids with a less flexible schedule. I'm really hoping that Thirty-One works for our family, because the changes in the school schedules has really changed how much I'm receiving for doing private lessons. I know that God has a purpose for everything, and I will just trust that He has led me Thirty-One so that I can give it my all and use it to help my family! (Plus, it's really cute stuff that I get a discount on, now!).

Naptime Conversations

(Evan talking while going to the potty in his room before naptime, heard through the monitor).

Peter Pan?
Peter Pan? I like Peter Pan.
And I'll blow your house down.
And I'll huff, and puff, and come to your party!
Try to get me! Hehehehe! Wheee!
(whispering...)
Gluegluegluegluegluuuuk.
Oookkk. And I peepeed, and I poopooed like the big bad wolf,
and I chased Peter Pan.
Ho ho ho. Ho, I'm going to bed.
(singing...)
Yes, you're a big bad wolf at our house!
Little piggies! Little Evan, let me come in!
I will blow this down! (puff)
But it's a brick wall! The first little pig, the first little m&m.
Built his house out of sticks. First little piggy, out of straw.
He comeded to a man that had straw, hehehehe.
(pretending to be pigs running with his hands)
Agghh, you got me!

My Cup Runeth Over

I just came down from putting my daughter down for the night, and I'm on cloud 9! I love my children so much, and they delight me in so many ways. Every night, my daughter just smiles at me and lets me hold her so sweetly. She wraps her arms around me, and gives the best hugs and kisses. Today she put her arm around my neck and started patting it, saying, "ok? ok?" She smiles at everything at night, and loves it when I squeeze her tightly giving her kisses. She is so hard to put down sometimes because I know all too well that this time will pass quickly, and in just a short time, I won't be able to do that anymore. Tonight I laid her down in her bed, and she looked at me and said, "appy?" (translation, "happy"). She wanted me to sing I've Got the Joy Down in My Heart, but I know that she was also saying that she was happy. I am happy, too, and I'm so thankful for what God has given me!

Life Since Utah

It sure is great to be back home! Two days after we got back from Utah, the kids and I left to visit my Mom's house, and ended up staying until Wednesday, August 3rd. My sister's boyfriend, Dave, was in town, and it's always nice to visit with him when he's around. We basically did a bunch of nothing; but it was nice to just enjoy each other's company. My Mom bought a water table for the kids, and even though it was 100 degrees outside most days, the kids loved it.

Since we've been back in our own home, we're starting to get back into our routine. Aubrie really seemed to miss her bed, because the first morning back, she just laid in her bed and kept looking around and falling back to sleep. I think she slept until 9:30 that morning, on and off, just enjoying her room. It took Evan some more time to readjust to his room, though. He kept yelling for us if an airplane got too close to the house. I think he was scared that it was going to hit the house, or something. But he's been fine for the last few days, and I think he's adjusted back to the sounds.

There are some things that we definitely miss about Utah; one being the weather. It's just SO hot around here, and it makes it hard to do anything outside. Chris and I have plans to put in some shade in our backyard soon, so hopefully that will help a lot and we can be outside more often. This is going to sound strange, but we also miss the recycling. It feels so wrong to throw out some of our trash when we know that it could easily be recycled. It's just so much harder to do that around here. And, of course we miss the company of some great people! Evan hasn't mentioned Ansley as much as I thought he would, but I hear him whispering her name, or saying something about Bud & Joy's house, when he's playing to himself.

Now we have to get ready for another school year to start. Chris is already hard at work again, getting ready for his first year as a Head Band Director (alone). The girls (Kaytlynn & Delaney) will be coming in another week or so, and my kids will start Mother's Day Out again at the end of August. I will hopefully be able to start up my lessons again very close to the beginning of school, but we'll see how that goes (there have been some crazy scheduling going on with all of this education stuff happening this year). But we are happy to be home, and ready to start another fantastic year!

Evan's 39th Month (3 years, 3 months)

I just realized that I hadn't written any monthly updates for Evan in 4 months! Wow, how time flies!

The biggest change in Evan over the summer, is that he is now fully into the "why" stage of life. For example, this was a conversation he and I had yesterday in the car:

Evan: Why is that Daddy's truck?
Me: Because Daddy is driving it.
Evan: Why is he driving it?
Me: Because it's his truck, and we're following him in case his truck messes up (battery issues).
Evan: Why is he in front of us?
Me: Because he drove off first.
Evan: Why did he drive off first?
etc, etc, etc.

Chris and I feel so lucky to have the kids that we do, because even on their worst day, it's not really that bad at all. They are still cute and sweet. I have to admit that I feel like I'm pretty good at dealing with them when they are having "one of those days," but sometimes I need a break, too. Chris is amazing when he comes home from work and can tell that I'm on a short leash with all of the "why" questions. He just picks it up from there and lets me have a little space, which I definitely need! I don't want to fly off the handle with Evan just because I'm feeling tired of answering his legitimate questions. I know that he needs to ask them in order for his development to be on track, but sometimes it's hard to answer the same thing 15 times. (Love you, Chris, and Evan!).


We haven't been making him take a nap for the last few weeks, and I'm still not sure how I feel about that. In my heart, I know that he probably still needs a nap. But he actually does alright until we put him to sleep at around 7:30. I can tell by 5:00 or so that he missed his nap, and he consequently gets into more trouble because he's tired. He's also been waking us up early to take him to the potty (which is awesome!), but it makes for one tired kid. I think I'm going to try and put him down around 1:00 today and see how he does.

Speaking of potty training, he's doing really well! I think that I am the lazy one when it comes to his training, because I feel like he should already be in underwear (except at night). But he is doing really well most of the time in telling us that he needs to go. He's doing great when it comes to pooping, so that's nice not to have to change any of those kind of diapers anymore! We'll see how it goes, though.

SLC Day 13

We woke up this morning ready to head outside again. We ate a yummy breakfast of pancakes, and then loaded everyone up in the car, along with some friends and family of Alia. We went past Snowbird, up a mountain named Alta, to the Secret Lake trail. Actually, we never made it to the trail. While driving up the mountain, the road was closed about 2 miles ahead of the trail for snow (even though there was no snow on the road as we were walking later...), and then another mile up the trail to Secret Lake. So, everyone decided that we could walk up the rest of the way... We made it about 3/4 of the way before one of Alia's younger cousins fell and twisted his knee. Then he felt lightheaded because he hadn't been drinking water. Then some policemen drove by, and called the ambulance to check him out. As we were waiting for the paramedics, our kids got to play in some snow on the side of the road. We were able to pass out snacks and more water to recharge all of our batteries from carrying the kids in backpacks, etc. The kids really were toast by the time we got to this point, so we decided to turn around and head back to the car. It really was a good hike and workout, and I hope that the kids had fun, too. The scenery was beautiful as always, and well worth the burnt calories.

After naps, we are heading out to Alia's Aunt Rhoda's house for dinner (enchiladas, I think). So that will be fun!

SLC Day 12

Yesterday was a great morning for us to kind of sit back and relax a bit. We enjoyed some breakfast, and just took our time getting dressed. Then we decided that we'd like to go to Trolley Square (kind of like a little mall area) and take the kids (& me!) to the saltwater taffy store. I LOVE saltwater taffy, and it is really good here. It was a fun trip, but there was hardly anyone there. I guess that is why the security guards decided to keep an eye on us, because there was a security guard who kept watching us to do something wrong. Nick actually had to go and fill out a form to take pictures of Aiden while inside the building, and Joy was asked not to take Aiden up and down the escalator. I guess that's why not too many people were there......

Then, again, we just came home and enjoyed the rest of the day together at the house. The kids have so much fun playing outside up here. It's going to be such a shock on so many levels when we go back home! But we will do our best to get them setup so that they can still do some of the things they were doing up here.

After the kids were asleep last night, the 4 of us and Joy walked over to Five Guys (a great burger and fry place), and then to Wing Nutz to pick up food, and then back home. We enjoyed some yummy wings and fries while we watched The Kings Speech on demand. It was such a good movie, and a good time being together.

SLC Day 11

On Friday morning, we all woke up early to head out to Heber, Utah, so that we could ride the Heber Creeper (a train). It was a 3 hour train ride that went from 11-2, but we had to leave around 9:30 to get there and buy tickets. While we were on the train, the kids were having a blast. After we had been on the train for about 20 minutes or so, the train stopped at an old train station. We all jumped out of our seats as we heard a shotgun go off right next to our window! We looked, and someone dressed as a train robber was getting onto our train! They did a great job of running through the train and asking passengers where the money box was, etc. The kids thought it was really neat. Evan kept saying, "But they are nice train robbers..."

After we got back to the original station at 2pm, we pulled out some lunch that we had brought in the car, and let the kids run around in a sprinkler that was setup there. When we got back home, and after kids napped, we all just played in the water table and backyard some more before bedtime. Another great day in Utah!

SLC Day 10

Thursday morning, we woke up and decided to take the kids up to Snowbird (a ski resort) to ride the tram and see the mountain and snow up there. Of course, it took us forever to get ready, so it was lunch time by the time we had all the kids fed and everything together. So we went to eat lunch at one of Bud's cousins' restaraunts named Philly's. It was really yummy.

We saw Bud's cousin while we were there, and she took Alia and I to her Day Spa to get a henna tatoo on our legs. It was a lot of fun, and neat to see all of the different businesses that they own.

Then we all headed up to Snowbird. We all had a blast riding the tram up the mountain, even if it did make me feel sick when the tram would move over the rollers and sway... It was so beautiful once we got to the top! You could see over the entire valley, and the mountains in the distance were just amazing to see. It was also neat to take our kids back to the place that we visited the last time we were in Salt Lake, before we had kids. Now we have "before and after" pictures, since that was 6 years ago. Aubrie loved playing in the snow, as that was her first time to see it. Evan wasn't quite sure about it because he kept slipping, but he liked throwing snowballs at people.

After the tram, we decided to let the kids (Evan & Aiden) jump on the bungee trampoline, and they had so much fun! I wasn't sure if Evan would really do it once he got all hooked up, but he had so much fun! He looked like such a big boy! He kept hanging from the bungee and asking, "Why am I jumping?" After that was finished, and as we were headed back to the car, Alia saw a moose with her little baby! It was so neat to see!