Take Two

Way back in January I took my kids to the KUED super read-a-thon party. Theme was "Get curious like Curious George" and I was excited for the kids to see Curious George in person, since they love to watch him on tv and we read lots of his books right now.

Well, this is what happened.....



click on photo to be taken to my flickr photostream to get the full details. But in short, it was a disaster.

Last Friday I saw that Curious George was going to make a visit to the Murray Library for story time, so I thought I'd give it a second try, mostly because I am dying to take my kids to Disneyland but know I'll be furious if we spend all that money they spend the whole day crying every time they see Mickey Mouse! I guess this is my way of acclimating them to underpaid actors walking around in heavy costumes.

I asked Adam if he wanted to go see Curious George again, and he gave me a hearty YES! Then I said "are you going to smile and get your picture taken this time?" To which he replied "um, I'll probably cry." I said "we're not going to see him if you are just going to cry again!" So then he changed his tune and said "I won't cry."

So we went.

I should've known better.

First he hid in the curtains



And THEN he cried



And then SHE cried, too.



But here are some OTHER kids that where happy to see him.



Maybe I can just take one of them to Disneyland. Except they aren't nearly as cute as my kids....

When chocolate isn't so sweet.....

Currently the favorite book at our house is Curious George goes to a Chocolate Factory so, being the good mom that I am (yea right!) I have been wanting to take my kids to a Chocolate Factory to experience it themselves.

I've been hoping to take them to Mrs. Cavanaughs. It's right of the freeway in North Salt Lake and I see it all the time. There is a huge banner across the top of the building saying "Open to the Public. Free Tours." So I looked them up on the internet to get more info. According to their own website the tours are free and start daily at 10:00 am. But I was still a little nervous about if it was really all it said it was....so I also called and was told by phone that indeed they do give tours daily. I stored all this info in the back of my head to use someday....thinking I'd pull out this great idea someday we needed a playdate with friends or cousins.

But today I woke up just wanting to get out of the house so on a whim I packed up the kids and told them we were going to a chocolate factory, just like Curious George! They were SO excited.

So we make the drive north (about a half hour drive for me) and when we get there 2 of the 3 kids are asleep. But I wake them up anyway because we are going to see a Chocolate Factory! And isn't that worth waking up for. So I go hauling into the place with the baby strapped to my front in the snuggly and one kid by each hand. We walk in the door and there is a big whiteboard that says "Free Tours daily from 10 to 2." So I'm feeling pretty good at this point. We are actually going to do this thing.

I walk confidently up to the gal at the candy counter and tell her we are there for a tour. She looks at me with that deer in the headlights look. After what felt like an eternity she says "um, I new." And then stares some more. So I say "well, is there somebody else who knows what is going on then?" More staring. She finally waves me over to an old lady sitting in an office.

We walk over there, a little deflated but still hopeful. The old lady tells us that the projector is broken so they can't show the movie and that the lady that dips chocolates doesn't even come in until after 2:00 so could I come back Thursday afternoon instead?

So now I'm explaining to my kids (that I woke up!!!!) that we aren't going on a factory tour after all and they start crying and the gal at the candy counter has the NERVE to ask me if I still want to buy some candy.

HELL NO!!!!!! Was about all I could muster up in my flustered state.

Chocolate is bad for you anyway. I don't even like the stuff.

sweet dreams

the princess is quite funny when it comes to naptime. She never (well okay, hardly ever) fights me about going to her room for a nap. But that doesn't mean she always goes straight to sleep. She often plays or reads books for awhile first. But then when she's done playing she crawls up on her bed and takes her nap.

When I take her up to her room I close the door, mostly so her older brother will leave her alone. But she can't quite open the door on her own yet so I will go back up a little later and open her door back up so that when she does wake up she can come out of her room by herself.

Today she crawled up onto her bed and snuggled in with her doll first thing so I thought she was going to go right to sleep. So imagine my surprise when I went to open her door and found her sound asleep in her car seat. (he car seat was in her room because we went to Ikea yesterday and needed to fold down the seats to bring stuff home so I had pulled out the car seats before leaving)

I laughed, found my camera and took a picture, and THEN picked her up and put her on her bed to finish her nap.

a little internet magic.....

if you are looking for my most recent post it is actually here

More dinner time fun

So, here is my follow up to this post

I am not usually one to share "messy face" pictures because, well, they are usually disgusting. But I thought this one was funny. So sue me.

I was feeding the baby refried beans and I had to step away for a minute. I thought for sure I had put the bowl far enough out of reach.

I was wrong.



Apparently he was so starving he couldn't wait for me to come back and give him more because in my absence he grabbed the bowl and was shoveling them into his mouth with his hands.

yummy.

Royal Kids

I suppose Zoey has spent her share of time playing with "boy toys" and that she decided it was time for Adam to play with some of her "girl toys" Because last night they were playing princess.

Adam said to me, "I am the Queen and Zoey is the princess."

So there you go.

Breathing new life

Baby Monitor
Originally uploaded by Nikitiger

I found a new use for the baby monitor. (which I didn't use all that much to begin with since I found that my kids cry loud enough that I could hear them throughout the house anyway.) With the weather getting a little better the kids are playing outside more. But Adam has this need to know that I can hear him at all times so in the past he has left my slider open, closing just the screen. Well it's really not all THAT warm yet and leaving the slider open freezes us out in the house. Plus when the dead heat of summer comes it's counterproductive to leave the door open while running the AC. SO I came up with a solution.

The Baby Monitor.

I plug it in outside and I can hear everything they are doing! Adam gets the peace of mind that I am aware of him every time he may need me and I get the freedom of closing the slider. It's lovely.

Only problem is that Adam thinks it's a walkie-talkie so he comes and talks into expecting to hear me talk back. What he doesn't know won't hurt him.

My Graceful Princess

Zoey is my clutz. She has taken more trips, fall, stumbles, tumbles, and spills in her short 2 years than Adam has in his 4. I'm convinced she'll be the one we'll be taking to the ER with broken bones or needing stitches. Good thing she is also the one that just jumps right back up and keeps going.

So last night she was being particularly cute and singing me all sorts of songs so I wanted to get her singing me something. What I instead ended up getting was Zoey just being Zoey.

The joys of a self feeding infant

I hate the mess of meal time! When it's time to eat I want to cover the whole kitchen (kids included) in plastic that I can just pick up and toss at the end of the meal. It would make my life so much easier. Harrison is at the REALLY messy phase. He is just starting to feed himself and it makes such a horrid mess. A bib does not save his clothes, no matter how big it is. And my floor and his high chair are totally slimed after each meal.

And Harrison is not the only culprit. Zoey is still pretty messy when she eats, too. She spilled her bowl of cereal just this morning. And needed a bath after having lasagna tonight.

When we were cleaning up after dinner a couple of nights ago Mike was telling me that when he was a kid his dad was always saying that he wanted to just get a big feeding trough to eat dinner out of so he could just hose it down afterwards. As a kid he and his sisters would just roll their eyes and think he was just being crazy. Now that we have our own kids we're starting to think that whole feeding trough idea is not half bad.

I know a really great blogger would have pictures of how messy the kids are, but I just couldn't bear to show pictures of my kitchen that dirty. (okay, really I just didn't think to snap any pictures. but trust me, it's messy!)

The memory of an elephant

Who coined the phrase "you have the memory of an elephant" or "an elephant never forgets" I mean, do we really know that elephants have good memories? That may be a job for the Mythbusters. Because I think 3 year olds (er, I mean 4 year olds...he just had a birthday) have memories far superior to elephants.

Two examples, both from today.

Many months ago during our record snowfall this past winter my son was trying to wear his sandals to go out and play in the snow. Finally out of desperation I told him that he couldn't wear his sandals outside because his feet would turn purple and fall out.

Fast forward to today. I have totally forgotten about the above mentioned conversation with said son. I am picking him up at Grandma's house, where he had been playing while I went to the dentist. Upon my arrival he was walking around in just one sock. So I told him to get his sock and shoes on so we could leave. He told me his sock was wet. I told him to just put his shoes on without socks then. He tells me "I can't wear shoes without socks. My feet will turn purple and fall out." I love when my own words come back to haunt me.

For the second story I need to make a few word substitutions. My oldest son knows all the anatomically correct words for parts of his body. So the following conversation took place using the correct words-but my husband reminded me that this is online and didn't want my insignificant blog showing up on certain kinds of internet searches because it contained certain words. So I am going to use the random and generic word bob when really I mean little boy part.

So anyway, on with the story. So I'm changing the baby's diaper today and Adam starts talking to me again about when Harrison had his bob cut (circumcised) I have NO idea why he would randomly talk about that, but for some reason he brought it up. We did talk about it when Harrison was first born and I would change his diaper and his bob was all red and swollen. I told Adam that the dr. cut his bob a little bit but that it would heal and be just fine. So today out of nowhere Adam asks me really concerned about why the dr. cut Harrison's bob. I told Adam that that was a long time ago when Harrison was just born and that it's all healed now, like his. Adam says, no mom, we never cut my bob, my bob is just long. Glad that at 4 he's already feeling quite confident.


p.s.
funny side note.
Often times when Mike comes home I'm just exasperated with the kids. So when I was telling him the above stories and laughing about it Mike said "see, you do love the kids once in a while." my response was "only when it makes for good blogging."

We are as different as the Sun and the Sea

My children are a constant reminder that little people come from heaven already hardwired with their own independent personalities.

Sure, they both like to play with cars. And they both like chicken nuggets. But the list in ways that they are alike is much shorter than the list of ways in which they are different.

Adam is my social child. From the time he was a newborn he could innately sense if somebody was in the room with him. As long as I was in the room he was happy. If he was alone, tears galore! The child slept in my bed until he was nearly 3! He would still sleep in my bed today if I would let him! And the only reason he sleeps in his own room now is because somebody else sleeps in there with him. (first Zoey and now Harrison shares his room.) In fact right now I am sitting downstairs with Adam. He is laying on the couch opposite me. I got up a second ago to go check on Zoey and as I walked up the stairs he started to cry "I don't want to be alone. Come back."

Zoey, on the other hand is right now, this second, in her room all by herself and happy as a lark. She slept well in her own bed from the time she was born. She has slept in my bed on a few rare occasions, but for the most part is actually happier in her own. (She has actually cried about being put in bed with me before.) She can happily entertain herself and play by herself. While Adam always wants somebody to be playing with him.

Zoey's "naptime" is often a time when she just plays in her room by herself for a few hours. And she is happy to do so. While Adam is asking the whole time she is taking a nap if he can go wake her up to play with him. I think naptime is Zoey's favorite part of the day while it is Adam's least favorite.

The following an all too common scene are our house. (It happened just a few hours ago, in fact.) The kids declare that they are going to play outside. They get all ready (socks, shoes, jackets) and out the go. After being outside for 5 minutes or so Zoey is done and wants to come in. She is happy to let Adam stay outside and come in and play by herself. But Adam is traumatized by the thought of playing outside alone. So he tries to keep Zoey out. She cries. I tell him that if she wants to come in he has to let her in. He cries. At this point Adam has two very strong desires: to be outside and to be with Zoey. His desire to be with Zoey ALWAYS wins out and he ends up coming inside, too.

Adam HATES to be dirty. If he drips one tiny drop of milk on himself he thinks he needs to change his clothes. Food on his face send him into a spastic tantrum. And just forget about it if he get mud on himself while playing outside.

Zoey couldn't care less. She hates having her hands or face washed. And her clothes can be drenched and she won't ask for new clothes.

Adam still wants me to do EVERYTHING him. put my shirt on mom. find my shoes mom. get me a cracker mom. He is often heard saying "I can't do it." I am often heard saying "well, figure out how you can."

Zoey is my resourceful do it herself child. She doesn't want my help putting on her pants, even though she puts them on upside down. If she wants something she figures out how to get it. If it's up too high, she gets a stool (without me telling her to.) She just figures it out and does it on her own. She even "reads" to herself now. She no longer wants my bedtime stories. She would rather sit in the corner with her own book, mumbling to to herself.

People tell me ALL the time that my kids look so much alike. But don't be fooled. They really are as different as the sun and the sea!

A Front Row Seat

We had the lawn aerated on Friday and apparently it was the best show in town. My kids were absolutely riveted to the action. I think I need to pay them to come do it EVERY week because my kids were happy, not fighting and out of my hair for a full 30 minutes.

I believe the conversation taking place in the middle photo was something like "Well, Zoey, what do you think? It was a little slow at the beginning but once you got all the characters introduced I was really engrossed! I give it a thumbs up." "I agree, Adam, the characters were believable . I mean, I really cared about them and what they were doing. The casting director did an amazing jog. And the plot was unique and intriguing. I also give it a big thumbs up!"

For any of you locals we had it done by Farley & Sons Lawn Care. They are fast, professional and very reasonably priced. They also do mowing, edging, and power raking. So if you have lawn needs give them a call. 801-967-6644

All your ducks lined up in a row....

Those of you who read my other blog know that I've been putting off writing this post. So finally, more than 2 weeks after Adam's birthday, I'm finally getting around to it.

BUT by the magic of the internet, I can pretend that I wrote this post about Adam's birthday, ON Adam's birthday. Aren't I amazing? What a good mom I am. (wink)

My dear Adam loves two things: Pixar Cars and trains. So imagine my surprise when a few weeks before his birthday I started asking him what he wanted for his birthday and he told me "yellow squeaky ducks." I thought it was a fluke so I continued to ask him in the days that followed what he wanted and always it was "yellow squeaky ducks." I was a bit disconcerted, since I already had cars for him in the basement....(cars I had bought at Christmas time but decided not to give to him because he was already getting enough toys!)

Well, if yellow squeaky ducks is what he wanted by golly yellow squeaky ducks is what he was getting!



Lots of them. (thanks to a little help from Aunt Natalie and Grandma)



And a ducky cake.



And a few cars toys, too.



My baby is 4 now. Four!

We keep birthdays simple at our house (a topic for another post for another day because I get pretty opinionated about the matter) So we just hung out, played with the new toys, took a family walk, had cake and ice cream, and watched a movie.

I've never taken the time to sit down and write anything about the day Adam was born so here are a few of the things I remember about Adam's first birthday...

The child was 10 days overdue. TEN DAYS!!! Do you know how terrible ten days overdue is? I had started maternity leave at work the day he was due and spent 10 miserable days at home just waiting....half wishing I was still at work because I only had 12 weeks leave and here I was wasting so much of it before the baby arrived.

At a Friday appointment (when I as already a week overdue) My doctor FINALLY scheduled and induction date of April 7th.

Monday the 5th came, still no baby. Mike had a math test at school so I rode to school with him and walked all over campus while he took his test, hoping to induce labor. And apparently it helped. Because a little later that night, around 8:00 I started having some of my first contractions. I didn't sleep much that night as I was uncomfortable (due to the increasing contractions) and I was scared to death (due to this being my first delivery) Mike on the other hand had no problem snoring next to me in bed.

Around 5:30 am I got in the shower and then woke up Mike and told him I was ready to go to the hospital. He got up and showered and then we were off. We arrived at around 7:00 am.

And for a long time nothing happened. I wasn't progressing and I'm sure if I wasn't already 10 days overdue they would've said "go home, come back in a few hours if your contractions get worse." But I think the nurse had pity on me and convinced the dr. on call to admit me and give me some pitocin. (my dr. was out of town, scheduled back that evening since he was supposed to be there to induce me the following morning.)

I remember lots of boring daytime television. There is NOTHING on tv during the day. I also remember a few visitors (my mother-in-law, my brother, my dad....) and I knew they were all well intentioned but I was so embarrassed to have anybody see me that way and mostly just wished they would all leave.

Around 5:00 still no baby, but we were flipping channels and heard on the news that Marjorie Hinckley had passed away. We started making comments that that is why this baby was so late! He was sticking around to meet her before he came down. Probably giving her a high five in passing!

At 7:00 there was FINALLY something on to distract me-American Idol. This was the only season I actually watched American Idol, and I was really into it. And with all the crummy daytime tv that had been on I was excited to have something on I actually wanted to watch. I even remember that it was Elton John night. Crazy, huh?

So of course, since it was the first thing all day that was actually distracting me the nurse comes in half way through and tells me that we're going to start pushing. So we turned off American Idol before I even got to hear them all sing! sigh.

Well, to make a long story short, I pushed for a LONG time and finally the dr. used forceps and sometime after 9:30ish we had our 9 lb 8 oz baby boy.

Then came the people. SO many people came in to see him. Everybody had been waiting for hours in the waitjavascript:void(0)
Save Nowing room and now they all came piling in. And I was tired and hungry (I hadn't eaten anything in over 30 hours) and here were all these people and my hair was messed and my epidural was wearing off so I was starting to be in pain and I know they just all wanted to see the new baby but did they have to see me, too?

My excellent nurse (who really was just so amazing!) gently escorted everybody out, found me something to eat (since it was way past dinner time) and then we tried to settle in for some rest.

And of course I haven't had a good night's sleep since.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADAM!!!! I Love you!

the original birthday


Birthday number 1


Birthday the second



Big number three

First Tooth

Harrison's first tooth broke through today. (Well, at least today is the day I noticed it.) It's on the bottom. Hopefully this is why he's been extra crabby as of late and maybe he'll be in a good mood for a day or two. (until the next one starts to grow in....I love teething.)


And, in other baby news, Harrison has been getting up on his hands and knees and rocking....meaning crawling is just around the corner. It's so exciting and so sad all at the same time. He is growing up so fast.

NEW: Finally some pictures and movie of the baby. Will be crawling any day now, I'm sure. sniff, sniff. growing up too fast!!!!





I was on the Music and Lyrics website creating my happy dance which is why he is "rocking out" to Hugh Grant.




I was wrapping Adam's birthday gifts this night and he was rolling around. He gets up on his knees for just a moment.

Will I really miss this?

it's hard to believe
But you're gonna' miss this
You're gonna' want this back
You're gonna' wish these days
Hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna' miss this
You're gonna' miss this

You're Gonna Miss This Trace Adkins



Yesterday I put the kids to bed and then laid down on my own bed to detox a bit. It had been a rough day and I had yelled at the kids more than I would like to admit. There were 3 blow out diapers and ample amounts of spit up. And lots of arguing and crying from the older two. I found myself longing for the days ahead. Days when there are no more diapers. Days when they all go to school and I get 7 blessed hours all to myself! Days when they actually help with the dishes and laundry instead of just creating more for me.

Then like a bolt out of nowhere the above song lyrics came into my mind, which is crazy because I have literally heard this song only like 1 1/2 times. So why would the lyrics come to my mind? I started to cry and wondered to myself if I would really wish these days away only to miss them later. It was hard for me to imagine after a day like I had just had that I would ever actually miss this. But I thought how sad it would be if I spent all these days angry and upset only to find I could never have them back, and that my kids would remember that I was always angry and upset.

Just then Adam started to cry. Said he was scared. My first inclination was to just yell at him "Go to sleep Adam. You're fine." But instead I went to his room and gave him a big hug and asked him if he wanted to come to my bed for a little while.

While he climbed into my bed I went and checked on Zoey, who was still wide awake. So I asked her if she wanted to come hang out in my bed for awhile, too. She said yes.

So we all climbed in my bed (the hubby was working late) and we put in Enchanted.

When Adam was little, and still an only chid, we used to do stuff like that all the time. I once told my husband that I hoped that somehow he would remember sitting in mom and dad's bed late at night eating popcorn because those are the kind of memories that make childhood happy. But since the other two kids came along such simple happy moments seemed to be few and far between.

Adam fell asleep pretty quickly by Zoey stayed awake through the whole movie. And at the part where they are dancing at the ball Zoey was getting all excited. "Dancing, Dancing" So I pulled her out of bed and picked her up and spun her around and around and we, too, danced. She laughed and squealed. And we made memories.

I hope that for one brief moment my kids thought I was the coolest mom on the block. Maybe they even thought I was supermom...just for a moment.

Of course I was rewarded for those memories by Zoey peeing on my bed this morning (yes, I let her stay in my bed all night and her diaper didn't hold) and then crabby kids because they stayed up late.....oh well. Nothing a little oxy clean and early naps won't cure. And we made memories, right?

This post was submited to Scribbit’s July Write-Away Contest

And now a word on education.....

The word whammer is what you see, you made that super-duper exellently
Originally uploaded by Nikitiger

Ok. Here we go. I know that there will be lots of people with lots of different opinions on the following subject. So let me say right now that this is MY opinion for MY kids and I am in no way trying to tell anybody else what to do with their own kids. But this is my blog so I get to write my opinion. That's how it works.

So, I have been thinking LONG and HARD about the whole preschool thing. You see, technically Adam is already nearly a year behind. Most the kids in his sunbeam class started preschool last fall at the age of 3. Adam will be 4 in less than a week and has not as yet started preschool. Last fall it wasn't really an option for us as we were still working on the whole potty training thing. But this upcoming fall I need to make a decision.

And believe me I have been bombarded with options. Some where he goes 4 days a week, some 2 days a week, some expensive, some less expensive, some require my volunteer time, some I drop him off and don't see him again for hours on end......it's enough to make a mother's head spin. And since Adam is my oldest child and hence my first child there are plenty of women in the ward and neighborhood all too willing to give me their opinion on what I should be doing.

But like I said, I've thought long and hard about it. And here is the conclusion I have come to.......I'm not going to put him in preschool at all. period. end of discussion.

okay, not really the end of discussion, since now I'm going to give you all my reasons for this decision.

See, I think kids are only kids once and school is going to monopolize his life soon enough as it is. Why rob him of precious childhood free time by forcing him into school too soon?

Not to mention I have already confessed that I am a slacker mom (and proud of it, by the way) and the sooner I start him in school the sooner I have to start running him to school on a set schedule certain days of the week, which means packing the other kids in the stroller or car just to drop him off and pick him up however many times a week and I'm just not ready to do that yet.

I really like what Muffy Mead-Ferro (author of the Confessions books) has to say about the subject as well. (side note, reading her books didn't make my decision for me. I don't let people I have never met make my parenting decisions for me. I just happen to really agree with what she says and as she is a published author I think she says it quite eloquently.)

"It's not just my reluctance to drive myself insane by overloading our schedules, though. I also wonder, if I left my kids with no time or opportunity to think for themselves and solve their own problems, even in terms of coming up with something to do to entertain themselves, whether I would really be enriching them. It feels more like shortchanging them. And I wonder, if my daughter always had to leave home in order to qualify as doing something worthwhile, whether she would have the opportunity to develop strong relationships with her brother, her father, or me. I wonder, if my son was pushed to achieve from the time he was two, whether he might burn out at ten. And I wonder if there is any evidence that success in life is so formulaic that we can program our kids to succeed just by enrolling them in enriching activities from the time they are small. How do we know it's not just as enriching, and just as likely to lead to success in life, for them to be mowing the lawn or washing the car?"

She says a whole lot more, but for that you'll have to read her books.

Now some of you may be all up in arms about this! You want to scream at me "aren't you afraid he'll be behind when he hits kindergarten? Aren't you worried the other kids will learn how to read and write and add first? And what about Harvard? How on earth is he going to get into Harvard if he doesn't go to preschool?"

To which I respond, he will be just fine. I never attended preschool and somehow I managed. (Quite well I might add, if I can say that without being obnoxiously vain.) You see, he already knows his colors and numbers and letters and even a few simple words. He also knows rudimentary math skills. (just ask anybody who has seen him bargain with me about how many bites of dinner he has to eat before getting done to play.)

Yes, I'm sure some of those kids that attended preschool will be "ahead" of him in some areas. But that's life. There will always be somebody better then you at some things, as well as somebody worse than you. And perhaps kindergarten is as good a time as any for him to learn that. I'm okay with it if he doesn't look at life as a competition in which he has to be better than everybody at everything! I mean what 4 year old needs that kind of pressure?

For now let's just say that I have decided to give Adam one more year of childhood. I hope that someday he will thank me.