Lily's Birthday Cake Video

Ben put together this awesome video of Lily's birthday cake eating extravaganza - The Cakening. Check it out. It's about the cutest thing I've ever seen. She's goes from being upset that her hands are dirty to shoveling the cake into her mouth by the fist-full. What a cutie!

Christmas Eve Baby

So, Lily was born on Christmas Eve last year, which means that celebrating can be a little, for lack of a better word, cray-cray.

Normally, I think we'll be celebrating two Saturdays before Christmas, but this year we were in Utah with the Wards and held a combined birthday for Lily and Jarom. As it was Lily's first birthday, we did the Cake Thing—you'll remember that Tommy had some good cake action himself. So, without further ado, we present "The Cakening":

December 2012

Here are some things we have been up to lately:

We've been going to the zoo often, trying to make the most of our membership before it expires next year.

We've been spending lots and lots of time outside.  We love our backyard and the beautiful weather we enjoy now!

Look what the UPS man delivered!

Lily ate bacon for the first time and loved it (this is not surprising, of course).

Our kids are cute in their brown footie pj's.

Lily got tubes in her ears a couple of weeks ago. She hasn't had any ear infections, but she apparently couldn't hear well out of her left ear. She has failed her hearing tests in that ear since birth, so we finally did tubes and it seems to have done the trick! I was surprised how easy the actual surgery was. It was nothing like what she went through in September (thank goodness). We got to the hospital at about 6:30 am. We waited around until about 7:30. They did all the normal prep work and changed Lily into a peach colored gown that made her look so angelic. She started to get restless and fussy because she hadn't eaten for over 12 hours, but she really was a trooper. Around 8:00 they took her to surgery. I waited for about 10 minutes before the doctor came to tell me they were all done. It was very fast. I heard her crying as soon as I stepped back into the recovery area. They told me, "That's normal, she's coming out of the anesthesia." Really, I think she was just hungry. I nursed her for about 15 minutes and then she was totally fine. Like eerily happy. She sat up and smiled and clapped her hands as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. I changed her into a onesie and realized that it was too cold outside to take her home like that, so I wrapped her in my jacket and pushed her out of the hospital like that. This was just a regular medical center and they must not see babies very often because I felt like a total celebrity as I paraded Lily through the halls on my way out. Nurses literally swooned and fell to the floor to get a better look at the adorable baby wrapped in a jacket. Now, I think she's pretty dang cute, but even I thought that was a bit overboard. She took a great nap that afternoon and has been fine ever since. Thank goodness for the miracles of modern medicine! Speaking of modern medicine, I have been looking for awhile now for alternatives to it so we don't have to go to the doctor so often! I recently discovered Essential Oil Love where they host free online classes about using essential oils to relieve common ailments like stress, headaches, and tummy issues. It has been great for our family so far. We've all had the flu this week so we have been using those oils like nobody's business and they really work! I use oils like lavender and wintergreen right before bed and I've been sleeping better than I have since Lily was born last year. Check it out if you have a minute:)

As far as our employment situation goes, things are looking pretty good. Ben has been able to carve out a decent career as a full-time freelance writer. We have been very blessed. He is still open to other career opportunities that present themselves and he has also applied for a PhD program that could be awesome. We'll see where we end up. For now we are just so grateful that we can pay our bills. We've been so grateful for all the help we have received from friends and family. Thank you so much to those who have helped in any capacity, whether it be prayers in our behalf, meals, notes of support, or financial aid, we really appreciate it. I feel so humbled and grateful to be the recipient of so much love and support.

Thanksgiving and a Visit from the Chattertons

This year we got a special treat when the Chattertons came to visit us for Thanksgiving! We love those guys so much. In the days before Thanksgiving we went to the park to feed ducks, played at home, and shopped at Sam's Club for six months' worth of cheese. Dale fixed everything that was broken at our house and cleaned out our garage. They took the kids on several shopping expeditions and put the kids to bed while Ben and I went on a date. We love those guys and wish we could see them more often:) The night before Thanksgiving Tommy was sick. He was sick at least 7 times during the night so there wasn't a whole lot of sleeping going on for anyone but Lily. There was, however, a lot of laundry being done at 3:00am. We were grateful that Dale was in town so he could help Ben give Tommy a blessing. In the morning we weren't sure what Thanksgiving was going to look like since we were so tired, but it all came together perfectly. All four adults helped prepare food, wash dishes, and entertain the kids. Tommy was so sick he just laid out on the couch, watched Donald Duck, and drank his slushies. By the afternoon we had put together a beautiful and delicious meal comprised of turkey, stuffing, rolls, roasted potatoes, green beans, yams, pumpkin pie, and apple pie. After our feast Sharene entertained Lily while the rest of us napped. It was a wonderful day where we pulled together as a family and helped each other out. It was the lowest-stress Thanksgiving I can remember. Gratefully, by about 6:00pm Tommy's fever broke and his appetite returned. He's been healthy ever since.

Grandpa snuggling our sick boy. Do you like his sick table? Complete with barf bowl, slushies, and movies.

Today, the day after Thanksgiving, we are very sad that Grandma and Grandpa Chatterton had to leave. They are the best in-laws a girl could wish for. The kids (even Lily) loved playing with them and missed them a lot today. To make ourselves feel a little better we went outside and swam in the pool. Can you believe it? November 23 and it's still warm enough to play in the water. Crazy, but fun.

Funderemployment

Ben actually coined that word. I think it should go in the dictionary, don't you?

Anyway, that's our status now. Underemployed. We've tried to make it fun. But let me tell you a little secret: It's not really fun.

It's not that we are starving. Or homeless. Or even close to being so. We aren't rich, but we have scraped together a decent emergency fund and food storage over the past four years. We don't have debt. We wear clothes that probably should have been thrown away years ago (yes, Mom, I'm speaking of the sports bra I wore on my mission that I still wear that grows mold and no longer has an elastic). We drive one old car that has a habit of breaking down in my mom's driveway in Utah. We are ok financially for a bit. So that's good.

The not-so-fun part is the stress. The stress of wondering what will happen in the next few months if we are still underemployed. The stress of applying for jobs that aren't necessarily in Phoenix, meaning we might move at some point soon. The stress of evaluating the wisdom of spending any money on anything. The stress of knowing that we have thousands of dollars of hospital bills that are going to start rolling into our mailbox any day now.

The funny thing is that we have a lot of hope. We have hope that this layoff is forcing us to change the course of our lives, and that's actually kind of exciting. Scary, but exciting. Is it funny to feel like a lot of good is going to come from this layoff? That maybe this was the push we needed to do something amazing that we wouldn't otherwise do? Do you feel jealous now that you aren't being laid off?

In all seriousness, sometimes I think we need to be reminded that Heavenly Father is there and that He cares about us. Sometimes we need to be reminded of how very dependent we are on His care. There is nothing like a good old fashioned trial that opens up my eyes so I can see how very blessed we are. I mean, we have a beautiful house. We live in a beautiful place. We are all basically healthy.  We have amazing kids that make us happy, even when they wake us up multiple times during the night. Ben and I love each other maybe more now than ever.

I have again been humbled by the kind service of others on our behalf. As soon as people found out that Ben had been laid off we got cookies on our doorstep and a meal brought in a few days later. It's amazing and humbling to me to see how loving and thoughtful people are. It makes me want to do better, to serve more, to love more, to be more mindful of what others are going through and to help them. We have been recipients of so much loving service and prayers lately. Thank you, and know that they make a difference to us. Know that you change us as you serve us. It's good to have our rough edges polished smooth once in awhile.

Lately I have read and reread 3 Nephi 13:25-34. It's the part about clothing the lilies and all that. "Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things." What a comfort!

Let me just leave you with some pictures and a funny story. We got some family pictures taken a few weeks ago that turned into a fiasco. A guy in our ward was doing them for cheap, but we had to drive a little ways to get to the park to meet up with him. Anyway, it was early afternoon and Lily was tired and upset. Tommy fell asleep on the way there and was really mad we woke him up. We got a couple of shots of our whole family, and then he wanted to do some of the two kids. Well, that was fine until Lily fell off the bench and smacked her head on the sidewalk while I was supposed to be making sure that didn't happen. So then she screamed and a big bruise immediately formed. Our photographer was more than a little freaked out. We fumbled through a few more pictures but none of them were very good. It just wasn't a good day for our family. Oh well, at least they were cheap!

I promise our kids smile, just not this day!

This is post-falling-of-the-bench.  What a trooper.  You can see the bruise above her left eye.

This one's not actually too bad.  I think Ben was behind the photographer doing some kind of slapstick comedy routine to force that tiny smile out of Tommy.

Mugshot anyone?

Our Home Show!

Sadie made this gorgeous invitation for our event this next Tuesday. Isn't she talented? We look forward to seeing many of you at the home show! Remember, if you can't attend, please participate online and help Wes and Jamie adopt a baby! More details here.

Books for Babies

I am so excited to introduce our fundraising event held for the benefit of my brother, Wes, and his wife, Jamie.

Wes and Jamie have been blessed with two beautiful children. However, they feel that their family is still incomplete. Due to some medical conditions they are unable to have more children on their own. They have lovingly and selflessly decided to adopt a baby, two if possible.

The expenses of adoption are immense. I thought I had it bad when I received labor and delivery bills for my son, but those expenses are only a drop in the bucket compared to the costs associated with adoption.

Any of you who know Wes and Jamie know how hard they work. Since they made the decision to adopt a couple of years ago they have worked hard to earn and save extra money. They have held a garage sale, taken on odd jobs like babysitting and lawn care, and have scrimped and saved their pennies by couponing and buying their clothes second-hand.

Please join me in helping Wes and Jamie raise the last bit of what they need to adopt. Their family profile is currently being shown to birth mothers and they could be receiving a baby any day now!

Jamie and Wes with their two kids.

On Tuesday, October 23, from 4-7pm we will be holding an Usborne Chilren's Book Open House at my mom's house in Sandy, Utah. We will donate 20% of the retail value of all sales to Wes and Jamie for their adoption expenses. If you cannot attend the home show directly you may participate online here or contact me directly to make an order. Direct donations are also appreciated and can be sent directly to Wes and Jamie through Paypal or by clicking the "Donate" button to the right just below our family picture.

I love this event because everyone wins! With Christmas just around the corner it's the perfect time to stock up on gifts for the children in your lives: your kids, grandkids, friend's kids, nieces, nephews, etc. Usborne books are some of the most beautiful and educational children's books out there. You get to share these wonderful books with the children you love the most while helping Wes and Jamie complete their family.

Please pass the word along so we can get as many people involved as possible!

Here are a some of my favorite Usborne books:

For infants/toddlers:  Baby's Very First Black and White Library, Lullabies (great for baby showers), That's Not My..., Baby's Bedtime Storybook
For preschoolers: There's a Mouse About the House!, Wipe-Clean Collection (sold individually as well), Big Book of Things to Spot
For early readers: Farmyard Tales, Beginners Adventure Collection (sold individually as well), Ted and Friends
For older kids (8 yrs+): Write Your Own Story Book, Discovery Starter Collection (also sold individually), Drawing, Doodling, and Coloring
Family reading: Bible Stories, Illustrated Stories, Illustrated Classics

Remember, from now until the end of October, 20% of all book sales made online and from me directly will go straight to Wes and Jamie to help them pay for their adoption! We hope to see many of you at our home show on the 23rd! Pass the word along!  And Thank You!!

Disclosure: As an independent consultant for Usborne Books & More I do earn commissions on all books sold. For this campaign, 80% of commissions will be donated directly to Wes' family. The remaining 20% will be used to fund the home show and to pay for all other expenses related to this fundraiser. If money remains after all expenses are paid it will be donated to Wes and Jamie as well. Usborne Publishing Ltd. (UK) has no connection with this page and does not sponsor or support its content.

Games With Daddy

OK, still playing catch up. Here are a few games that Tommy and Daddy have made up together in the past few months. The first one is called Box Computer. Tommy spontaneously did this on his own. Ben has an extra mouse that he lets Tommy drag around. This morning Tommy decided to plug it into the cereal box and play a game. It's amazing how vivid his imagination is. I can almost see the chip game and I don't even have an imagination!

This next video is the dump truck game. It's one of our favorites.

Spring Training

I'm going back through our older entries and finding drafts that are all ready to post. I guess you actually have to press the "Publish" button for it to show up on the blog, don't you?

In April we went to a Spring Training game at the Goodyear Ballpark. It's a fun chance to see major league baseball teams play without having to spend much money. We sat on the grass and bought ice cream. It was one of the first hot days of the season, which was unfortunate. I kept Lily in the shade of my body for most of the time. We had a great time, though. We played in the grass, took walks around the stadium, and ate homemade gourmet sandwiches. When we left Tommy said, "We should always buy ice cream when we go to the game." Yes we should, Tommy, yes we should.

Denver - May 2012

I know this post is so late, but better late than never, right? In May we went to Denver for about 10 days to spend time with Ben's family. We even got to see Aunt Steph, who flew in from Provo to spend some time with us and run the Color Run. She's so cool. We drove to Denver in one day this time, which is something we will never attempt again. It took us nearly 18 hours. Tommy threw up twice before we even got to Flagstaff, Lily hated her carseat, we had to stop frequently to nurse/change diapers/go potty/run around and scream like crazy people, and when we finally pulled into the Chatterton's driveway three of us were in tears. Real family bonding time. On the plus side, our Ford turned over 100,000 miles on the way up, so that was fun. Our trip back to Phoenix was much better. We split it into two days. Awesome.

Although the driving was no fun, the part in between driving to Denver and then driving back home was very pleasant. The Chattertons are so fun. We always just relax and hang out and relax and eat and chat and play in the backyard when we are there. It's awesome.

Mad baby with a gun. Watch out.

Tommy and Grandma walked to Sprouts and bought "medicine candy" (Tootsie Rolls).

Grandpa and Lily

Awesome shades we bought for Lily. Yes, America's Next Top Model, here we come!

The Color Run. My arms were stained green in places for a couple of days following. Steph is so hardcore.

Helping Grandma plant seeds. Yes, he is wearing an apron with a jacket over it.

That's Tommy and Steph playing Ghost. They built a fort and slept in it together.

We went to a prairie preserve one morning, which was pretty fun. I think Tommy must be saying something about poop to the chickens because Grandma is laughing.

Videos!! 

Here is a video of Tommy and Grandma playing a game called Cashoes. It's a mix between croquet and horseshoes.

Here is Tommy playing with Grandpa. He basically just grabbed balls and anything that looked like it could hit a ball and played.

And finally, here are the kids in a hotel in Santa Fe on the way home from Denver. We wised up and split the drive into two days. We had been in the car for about six hours and I think at this point it was past 11:00 pm, but the kids were just happy to be out of the car. We had a hotel room with two double beds, so Lily and I slept in one and Tommy and Ben slept in the other one. Before we left the hotel the next morning Lily did what she does best and pooped all over everything. We literally had her strapped in her carseat when we realized she had pooped, so we had to pull her out and use the hotel towels to clean everything up. It's her special way of saying "Thank you." But this video is really cute and not related to poop at all, so you should watch it.

We love you, Chattertons! And we'll even drive to Denver again one day to see you!

An Update On Lily

I wanted to give everyone an update on Lily's condition so I didn't leave you hanging after that last post! After spending nearly 48 hours in the hospital Lily was able to come home and has been doing great ever since. She is actually happier now than she's been for several weeks. She's back to being the easiest baby in the world, the baby that makes you want to have more babies. Now we just have to keep a Band-Aid over her incision and make sure she gets her meds (can I get a shout-out for baby Loritab anyone?) for the next few days. Ben and I were reminiscing today about where we were last week at this time - in the ER, waiting to hear if they were going to do to surgery that night or the next day, cold, worried, tired. We are so grateful to be home this week:)

Thank you again to everyone who helped out with Tommy and with meals for us. Thank you to all those who offered to help. We had way more helpers than we even had need. It touched us and humbled us to be the recipients of so much love. Thank you to those who prayed for Lily and who called or sent messages of love and support. Your prayers and your love were and still are warmly felt. We are so grateful to be home together again and to have a happy and healthy baby.

Tommy was a trooper through the whole ordeal. By Friday, though, he had had enough and was feeling very neglected and jealous of Lily. So Friday afternoon me and Tommy went on a date. I let him choose what he wanted to do. Of all the activities in the world, what Tommy wanted most was to go to Food City (our Hispanic grocery store) in our pj's. So we did. After I put Lily down for her nap we changed into our pajamas and went to Food City to get a cookie, buy some produce, and ride the electronic digger out front. He's been very well behaved since then.  Small thrills, anyone?  It was really good for both of us to spend some quality one-on-one time together.

To Celebrate Lily Turning Nine Months Old...

And then there was the day we took Lily to the ER and she got herself some surgery accompanied by some really awesome pain medications.

It all started a couple of weeks ago when the kids and I got sick with nasty colds. Lily developed what looked like a swollen gland. The area right under her jaw on her right side was swollen and red and hot. We took her to the doctor. Doctor #1 said it was probably just viral. Then she said it could be mumps so we got some blood work done. Then we switched doctors because we thought Doctor #1 was insane. Doctor #2 said it was an infection and prescribed a 10-day course of antibiotics. Lily got diarrhea because of said antibiotics. It was delightful.

After a few days her swollen gland started looking less and less like a swollen gland and more and more like a really swollen bug bite. It got hard and red and purple. We were worried. We took her back to Doctor #2 who told us to go the ER. Cue the tears and some minor hysteria. Tommy asked me, "Mom, why does your voice sound funny?" In my most chipper voice I told him it was because I was crying. Then he said, "It's ok, Mom, it happens. Are you going to be happy again?" Bless that boy's heart.

We have been blessed by amazing friends who have dropped everything to watch Tommy while we took Lily to the hospital. We have been blessed by amazing friends and family across the country who have prayed for our sweet baby.

We got to the ER at about 4:00 on Monday. They did an ultrasound and determined that the abscess was 2 cm across and 1 cm deep. Pretty big for a little baby neck. We watched Monday night football (Green Bay vs. Seahawks) and several snippets of various Disney movies. Lily was a trooper and played games and laughed even after we had been in the hospital for hours. It was cold and we had to sit around a lot. Lily couldn't eat because they thought she might need immediate surgery. Here we are hanging out in the ER when everyone was still happy.

By about 10:00 they decided to admit us to the hospital. They put an IV in Lily's arm, which I'm pretty sure is the most awful experience any of us have had to endure. They stuck both her hands and one foot looking for a vein. She's so chubby they had a really hard time finding one. After at least 20 or 30 minutes they finally found one in her arm. She screamed until she was hoarse. I tried to stay strong and not cry as I held her. Ben held me in return. They had to put her arm in a splint and tape it from her wrist to her shoulder so she wouldn't bend her arm. Cue more tears.

After this they started her on some antibiotics through the IV. I lay down with her and sang primary songs until she fell into a restless sleep, interrupted by hiccoughs from crying so much. Ben went home to get Tommy and try to sleep a bit. Lily and I were finally ushered into our room at the hospital around midnight.

We both slept lightly until 5:15 am when they started Lily on more antibiotics. She woke up screaming and didn't stop until nearly 7:00. I just held her and tried to stay calm and suppress my tears in spite of myself. The surgeon and the anesthesiologist came and talked to us. They gave Lily a drug called Versa that was a wonderdrug. Within one minute she calmed down completely, looked at me through half-closed eyes, and smiled. She was totally stoned as she let her head flop around and giggled. I laughed. It felt really good to laugh and to see Lily smile again.

All ready for surgery. You can see the infected site on the right side of her chin.

The surgery was very short. They apparently drained her lymph node of a truckload of puss. Then they looked at it under a microscope. Doesn't it sound fun to be a doctor? They still aren't sure what caused the infection, or what bacterial strain it even is. Hopefully we'll know in the next day or so.

Taking a long snooze this afternoon.  Pain meds = amazing.

Ben came bearing gifts of deodorant, socks, and fruit. It took Lily 30 minutes or so to wake up. Then she ate for over and hour. Then she slept. The rest of the day, that's how it's been: eating or sleeping. I feel like I have a newborn again.

We are hoping to go home tomorrow. It has kind of been nice to step out of my busy life and just hold my baby all day, but I'm ready to go home. Lily is ready to go home. I miss Tommy. I miss my own bed. I'm still wearing the same outfit I wore yesterday and slept in. I miss my shower. I'm sure everyone else wishes I would shower, or at least put on the deodorant Ben brought me.

Being in the hospital with my baby conjures up a whole host of mixed emotions and paradoxes. I am saddened beyond belief to see her in pain, but I know she has to be poked and prodded a bit in order to get better. I hate being interrupted every 30 minutes by somebody coming into our room to check on Lily, but I am grateful to be surrounded by capable nurses and doctors who are working hard to help her heal. I hate being in the hospital, yet I am grateful for the wonders of technology and medicine that make a potentially life-threatening infection something routine and simple. My feet are cold, yet my arms are warm from snuggling my little girl. I am so tired, but I feel energized from taking a break from my busy schedule. I miss my boy, but I am grateful for the hours I have to focus completely on my girl. I miss snuggling with Ben, yet I love him more deeply as I watch him tenderly care for our children. It's so emotional. I kind of feel like I'm a new mom again in the maternity ward, except I can walk and pee by myself.

Thank you so much to those of you who have watched Tommy or brought in meals. Thank you for the text messages, the phone calls, and the Facebook messages wishing us well and offering your services. Thank you for the prayers and for the love you send. We feel it and it is so humbling. Cue more tears.

This evening she felt well enough to play with toys for a few minutes before going to bed. Her gown doesn't stay on very well.

The Most Important Thing I've Learned As A Mom

What are the most important things you have learned as a mom? For most of you it's probably something along the lines of "I didn't know I could love somebody this much" or "I never knew I could enjoy waking up repeatedly with my children". You are good people. For me? The lesson I am most proud of myself for learning is that messes can be cleaned up. That's the whole thing. Hands can be washed. Clothes can be burned. New sheets can be bought. Floors can be scrubbed. It's all good.

We went to McDonald's last week yesterday a couple of weeks ago to get Tommy a "brown ice cream cone" because I am not above bribing my child. It was one of those soft serve ice creams dipped in the chocolate sauce that hardens. We both got one and they were delicious. And messy. And they started dripping as soon as the McDonald's guy handed them to us. And they kept dripping and pretty soon Tommy had ice cream flowing down his arm, off his elbow, and onto his lap. Did I mention they were messy? And that we used at least 87 napkins to clean up? I was busting up laughing while I watched Tommy try to eat this thing. He literally had ice cream all over his face, both hands and arms, his chest, and his lap. You have been duly warned. If you need to bribe your child to do something like not pee in their bed maybe you should choose a treat that's not so sticky.

"It's a good thing there's a bathroom!" - Tommy

A couple of weeks ago we had some really beautiful weather. It was cloudy and rainy for a few days, so we took advantage of the cooler mornings and evenings to go to the park a few times. I don't know when it has ever been cool enough to walk to the park in August in Phoenix, but there you go. I don't know when it has ever been cool enough to walk to the mailbox in August in Phoenix.

Anyway, we went to the park and the field that is usually grassy had turned into a small lake. Tommy wanted to step in it and I thought that would be a splendid idea. Little boys are supposed to splash in rain puddles, right? Well, what I didn't think about was that we live in Arizona and the grass is constantly infested with biting ants (all ants here bite). So I sent my little boy into the bug-infested water and even after he looked back at me and said his legs hurt, I urged him on and cheered and clapped at his boyishness. Once he started crying I stopped clapping and realized that he was being eaten alive from the feet up. So then my mama bear instincts kicked in and I whisked him out of the water and tore off his shoes and socks and smashed all the ants. All of them. Then we were left with a little dilemma. Lily was in the stroller and Tommy was barefoot and his shoes were still crawling with ants. I had no choice but to squish both kids into the stroller and you know what? It worked great! They loved being squished together. Aren't they cute?

Sometimes when Lily wakes up and I am in the middle of something I send Tommy into her room to keep her company until I can come. The other day I walked into her room to find that Tommy had climbed into her crib and promptly stole one of her binkies. He said they were playing garbage truck and that Lily was driving.

A couple of weeks ago Tommy woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 4:45am. I decided that since we were all tired we would trek over to the zoo where we could walk several miles and burn off all our excess energy. The morning was cool enough that it was actually pretty enjoyable. It rained a bit while we were there and just when the sun came out we played at the splash pad inside the zoo. Bonus. Tommy fell asleep on the way home, which was my conniving plan all along. Even though he fell and skinned his knees at the zoo and then insisted on being carried everywhere after we got home because his "blood hurt" we had a great time. We love our Tiny Tom. If you ask him what is his favorite thing at the zoo he will respond 100% of the time "the tractors". I'm glad he was willing to share them with his little sister.

Floating Baby Collar?

I was browsing Amazon today looking for some swimming stuff for my kids and was amazed to find this. I can just imagine what the engineers were thinking: "I know, babies can't swim on their own so let's design this collar made of plastic and attach it to their necks! They'll swim in no time, if they don't get strangled or suffocate first!" Seriously? I'll just stick to life jackets and kickboards, thank you very much.

I Need a Nap Just Thinking About This Post

This post is comprised of several short stories about Tommy. Most of these happened around March and April. He is such a good boy, but he sure is a handful! He keeps me on my toes constantly, in a good way, of course:)

The first three pictures were all taken on the same day. It was a progression from one messy activity to the next. It all started when I was grinding some wheat outside so I could make bread. I always grind my wheat on the porch because it can be really messy. That day was no exception! Tommy wanted to help me measure the wheat and dump it into other bowels bowls, so by the end he was just covered from head to toe. Then he got wet in the hose while I was washing off the porch so he had a layer of pasty flour all over him. I stripped him down to his underpants so he wouldn't track flour into our house. Next thing I knew, Tommy was washing his bike and getting all wet. This was fine, of course. It kept him busy while I cleaned other stuff up. Then we went upstairs to take a bath and I thought it would be fun to use "bath paint". It's really just shaving cream mixed with some food coloring. We had an amazing time painting his body and the bathtub with our bath paint. He stayed in the bathtub until the water was cold, and even then I had to coax him out. Daddy got in on some of the bath paint action, too:)

The next story was much more exhausting on my part. Again, it started with making bread. Somehow I got distracted and left a bunch of flour sitting on our counter. Tommy's two-year-old fingers couldn't keep themselves out of it! After coating our entire kitchen in a nice layer of flour I convinced him that I needed help doing the dishes. I figured he could play in the water at the sink while I cleaned up the flour. This worked just fine until he decided to "help" me clean up the flour on the floor by pouring at least a liter of water onto it. He's such a good helper, isn't he? So while I cleaned up the water Tommy stripped himself down naked (since his clothes were wet) and threw his underpants around the kitchen. After getting hit in the head several times by said wet underpants I got desperate. I broke into our Easter stash, threw some jellybeans into a bowl, and sent Tommy to watch a movie and eat candy. Remember, at this point he was still naked. I didn't care, but he thought it was the best thing ever. All he could talk about for days after that was how I let him eat jellybeans naked. What a weirdo.

"I drive my mom crazy on purpose so she caves and gives me Easter candy before it's Easter and lets me watch a movie and eat candy whilst naked."

The last story is told best through video. I'll just give a little bit of background. I used to (used to) let Tommy play in our big container of rice. We have about 20 pounds or so of rice in a plastic box that he loves to drive his cars through, scoop up, and push around. One day I was nursing Lily in the living room and Tommy was playing in the rice in the kitchen. He can usually keep himself occupied in that box for at least 30 minutes, so I thought I was set. Little did I know that he would take advantage of that time when I was otherwise occupied to experiment in the rice. I think it started as an accident, and then he found that it was actually very fun to dump rice on the floor and throw it around the kitchen. When I finally got Lily down for a nap and walked around the corner to see the mess he made my heart just dropped. It was a mixture of thinking it was funny and having a complete panic attack. (Those of you who know me well know how much I can't stand even small crumbs on my floor.) Don't worry, I kept my cool and Tommy and I had it cleaned up an hour later. I still find rice in the cracks and crevices in my floor once in awhile and this happened six months ago!

Lily is a Poopy Baby

Ever since Lily was about four weeks old she has been on a fairly consistent schedule of pooping every 10 days. This is blissful, of course, until Poop Day. She inevitably blows out of her diaper and we have to change clothes, take baths, and sanitize her entire bedroom. I actually think it's a great tradeoff:) At least it only comes around every 10 days.

Back in June one afternoon I left Tommy downstairs to paint while I took Lily upstairs for a diaper change. When I returned downstairs to see Tommy's progress he excitedly pointed at this picture and said, "Mom look! I painted a blow up!" Then he looked at Lily and said, "Lily is a poopy baby."

Any of you who have had babies know that Tommy picked the exact right color for baby poop. Any old kid can color a truck, but a kid that can capture the essence of newborn baby poop is a rockin' genius.

The Two Most Adorable Kids You Can't Live Without

Thanks, Sadie, for the swimsuit!

Here are a few pictures of my kiddos taken in the past week. Aren't they cute? Tommy is quickly turning into a little man. He is learning how to read, he no longer uses Pull-Ups at night, and he knows how to get himself completely dressed. The other morning I left at about 6:30 am to do some shopping. When I got home at 7:30 he met at the door and proudly announced, "I went potty and got dressed all by myself!" Every mother's dream. He is very stubborn, which is good and bad. The stubbornness pushes him to do things like dress himself and put on his own seatbelt, but it also makes it difficult when I need him to hurry faster or do something that he doesn't want to do. Take this picture, for example. We were going swimming at a friend's house and it was a struggle to get sunblock on him. So when he put his shirt, his shoes, and his sunglasses on all by himself and all backwards, I just had to laugh and take a picture rather than insist he do it the "right" way. Some things just don't matter:)

Thanks to Jamie for the shoes and headband, and to Sharene for the dress!

Lily is a delight to have in our family. She is truly a baby that makes me want to have more babies. She is not crawling yet (gratefully), but she can sit by herself happily for 30 minutes sometimes and play. She loves to growl at me and she loves to laugh. She is getting more and more into solid foods. Tommy always gives her a taste of his popsicle or sucker and even lets her have a bite of his sandwich or an apple. Those two are so cute together. It makes me really happy to know that they love adore each other.

No, Lily, you don't push that button.

We went to the Dinosaur Museum this week and the kids hid in this awesome cave.