The Sweetness

It took two trips, but we finally got some good shots of Joshua. Target has a good deal right now; no sitting fee, a free 8 x 10, and 1 sheet for $3.99 (expires Sept. 10). The only way he would smile was when I was holding him up in a standing position. Such a stinker.

Did your kids do this?: He likes to roll onto his tummy when he's sleeping and then gets all mad because he can't roll onto his back again. I remember Andrew doing this, too.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

I'm fully convinced that there is a "crafty" gene; and I'm fully convinced that I've inherited this gene from my mother. From a very young age, I've loved doing "crafty" things, and since I've entered the world of motherhood, I've been able to fully embrace this instinctive need to create.

My mom's craftiness has surpassed all comprehension in the last few years. She picked up sewing, and she's gotten really good at it. She enjoys making gifts for others, and I've been the lucky recipient of many of her creations. Check out her website, D&M Custom Creations.
(She gives great discounts!)

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” ~Marianne Williamson

Silver Lake

We got to escape the heat this weekend and took a short trip to Silver Lake. There's a boardwalk/trail that circles the lake (wide enough to fit a double jogger). It's a great walk for little monkeys that need to expend some energy.

First Tooth!

Joshers cut his first tooth today! It doesn't seem to bother him too much.

He does the cutest thing: When he wants to reach for something that we don't want him to get, his shakes his head. He also shakes his head when he's done eating. He also does it when he's happy or bored, so it may not necessarily mean "no," but sometimes I think he really is trying to say no. Andrew's first word was "no."

The SL Bees Biggest Fan

We went to a Bees game tonight. Andrew would have gone home with the Bee mascot if we would've let him. It was so cute to watch him follow the Bee around and Grandma said, "He just thinks you're the best," so the bee knelt down and gave Andrew the biggest hug (I missed it as I was running to get the camera):



There was lots to keep us occupied while at the game. There was a train to ride on, a huge jungle gym, and a bouncing tent.

Thanks for taking us Grandma & Grandpa!

Hallelujah! The Kid Rolls!

I was talking on the phone yesterday when I heard Josh let out some yelps and whimpers. I went into the living room where I had left him and he was on his tummy (with one of his arms still stuck under him). At 7 months, the kid rolls. Go Josh!

During Sacrament Meeting today, the Primary children sang a song about Pioneers for Pioneer Day (July 24th). After the singing, Andrew stood up, started clapping, and said, "Thank you! Thank you for the singing!" Ok, how cute is that!?!

A Call For Harry Potter, Book 7

We don't buy books. One, we don't have room for them, and two, they're expensive. So, if any of you want to lend me the new Harry Potter book, I'll make you some yummy chocolate chip cookies and I'll forever be your friend. I'm pretty excited to find out what happens to the characters we all love!

If you're feeling especially nerdy, there's a great website to go to after you've read the book: http://www.beyondhogwarts.com/.

Every time I look at this picture, I'm surprised how big he looks-he's completely lost his baby-ness.

My Sweet 7-Month Old

He can sit up (and he is so happy about it).

He loves to get his hands on any object within reach.

He can't stand it when he's unable to get his hands on objects NOT within reach. Unfortunately, his cute chubby legs and his cute big belly won't allow him to roll yet. In the meantime, he carefully surveys each room he's in, making note of the things he'll delve into once he's mobile.

He's become an adventurous eater and will eat just about anything I feed him.

He ADORES his big brother-and will laugh easily for him (while it takes great efforts from his parents to laugh at them).

This kid will melt your heart with his smile. So I thought our second attempt to Kiddie Kandids would be a success....he was as straight-faced as he could possibly be. We managed to get a decent one, but then we found out the price tag. We're off to Target next week (free sitting fee and 8x10).

A First!

Andrew has never done this. I just finished feeding the boys, put Josh down for a nap, and then got distracted with taking pictures of the high chair I want to sell. Andrew was watching a Thomas DVD and passed out right in the middle of our living room floor!

The Pursuit of Happyness

If you haven't seen this yet, watch it. Amazing story.

It Takes A Village

I love that there are always friends nearby that let me bounce my parenting ideas off them. Thank you for listening, validating, and giving great advice. I heard someone say once that it take a village to raise a child; I'd have to agree.

Cristiana emailed me a fun article from BabyCenter and I loved these ideas:

The BabyCenter Seven: Ways to turn your child's frown upside down

What do you do when your child's in a slump? We asked BabyCenter parents, who shared their favorite tried-and-true tips to chase away the blues and bring a smile to their child's face.

The power of praise: Whenever Chloe gets stuck in a crying jag, I try to find something to praise her for. It can be any little move she makes toward calming herself, like going to get herself a tissue or taking a deep breath. She can't help smiling when I do this. Then the meltdown is over and she's able to move on with her day.
— Kate, mother of Chloe, San Francisco

Get your ya-yas out: I have a very physical, "spirited" child. It took me forever to realize that whenever Ben was really grumpy or frustrated, what he needed most was to get outside and play or simply run around the house for a few minutes. Even if I'm busy and trying to get ready for dinner, I stop and announce to Ben that it's time for him to "get his ya-yas out." Now he even uses that term when he's feeling out of sorts. Getting his ya-yas out always cheers him up.
— Colleen, mother of Ben, Atlanta, Georgia

Take a good mood car wash: One day when my daughter was in a funk, I got the idea of putting her through a car wash that would wash her bad mood away. I have her push an invisible button to enter the "good mood car wash," and then I twirl her around, tickle her, and make silly sounds. She's falling over laughing by the time we're done.
— Sheila, mother of Charlotte, Westport, Connecticut

Stop and listen: When my older son, age 8, is feeling upset, sometimes he just needs me to listen to him. With kids, we're often in a rush to try to find an answer to their problems or a cure to whatever is bothering them. But I think it's often more helpful to stop everything and be in the moment and simply ask him what's wrong. If he's not ready to talk about it right then, I give him individual attention, play with him, and make sure I'm just there for him.
— Elisse, mother of Noah and Aidan, Berkeley, California

Foster a social butterfly: My two sons always seem happier when they're surrounded by a group of family and friends. Some of the times I've seen them happiest are at large family gatherings, when they've had a chance to interact with a lot of people they know and love. For that reason, we include our sons as often as possible in social outings. I also like that it teaches my sons about the joy and skills of interacting with many different kinds of people.
— Jim, father of Chris and Alec, San Francisco

Make a pizza: I use the same trick as the dad in William Steig's book Pete's a Pizza. When my daughter's grumpy, I say, "Okay, time to make you into a pizza." I pick her up and knead the dough and toss her in the air, which is really just tickling and gentle roughhousing. Then I sprinkle her with make-believe cheese, tomato sauce, and pepperoni — another good chance for tickling! Then I plop her in a pretend oven (the couch) and presto, her bad mood is over!
— Fred, father of Hazel, Burlington, Vermont

Let the air out: When we're driving in the car and my daughter is feeling upset, we roll the windows down all the way, even if it's freezing out and snowing, and then we blow all the "bad" air out of our bodies. She always feels better afterward and so do I!
— Chandler, mother of Lily, Monterey, Massachusetts

Two Healthy Babies, One Lucky Mama

Andrew & Joshua had their well-child checks today. Here's the stats:

Andrew
31 lb. (37%)
3 ft. 2 in. (65%)
Tall & skinny little dude

My concerns for Dr. Allred were minor-eating and potty training. Dr. Allred wasn't concerned about either one, so neither am I.

Joshua
18 lb. 6 oz. (54%)
27.7 in. (79%)

My concerns for Dr. Allred were Josh's disdain for fruits & veggies and his motor skills. He still hasn't rolled over, but he's getting close to sitting up. Dr. Allred said to not worry about the baby food and it looks like he's developing just fine. Josh's reflux is just about over-he still spits up occasionally, but he no longer needs medication. Yay!!

Dr. Allred made the comment that my smile was bigger at this checkup. I was pretty much a basket case those first few months of Josh's life. Two kids at ages 3 years and 6 months is WAY better than at ages 2 1/2 and newborn! I'm loving being a mama of 2-it's the best and I'm so grateful for every minute I have with them.

Please Admire My Bathtub

I clean my bathroom once a week, but the bathtub never gets as clean as I'd like it. The little skid-resistant grooves on the bottom still hold on to the grime, no matter how much I scrub or what cleaner I use. When Maintenance came to do their annual cleaning, they couldn't get it completely clean either. Well, today, I searched on the net to see if I could find some tips and someone said that Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser would do the trick. I had one on hand and tried it. With very little effort on my part, my tub is now sparkling white!! I'm so happy, I had to blog about it.

Happy Independence Day!!

Every time we make the annual 4th of July trip to Uncle Lewis & Aunt Amaria's home in Midway, I'm reminded of how much I love it there. It's heaven on earth and I really hope they build a big hospital there so we can call it home. A girl can dream right?

We spent the day with the fam-eating way too much good food and playing in the backyard. Andrew monkeyed around with his cousins and especially loved following Cassidy around wherever she went. He also made himself useful by helping with the bonfire. Josh enjoyed being passed around and being able to stay up WAY too late and eventually falling asleep in his mommy's arms.

The fireworks display from Memorial Hill is awesome, especially when the hill catches on fire from time to time. We watched from the backyard, but you can hear cheers and whistles from all around town. It was a fun holiday, one of my favorites.

First Harvest

This is the first picking from my garden-the bite marks aren't from pests. I picked this zucchini and proudly showed it to Andrew. We rinsed it off and I let Andrew hold it while we walked back to our apartment. Before I knew it, I heard Andrew say, "Mmmmm. Yummy!" He was chomping away......and I wasn't about to protest! When we got home, we chopped it up and steamed it, added a little butter and Mrs. Dash, and had a tiny feast!

Happy Campers

Don't I look pretty? We spent three days in American Fork Canyon this week. I've come to find out that three days is PLENTY with two kids, but we had a really fun time. The highlight for Randy was the fishing; for me, it was Jacob's amazing storytelling abilities; for Andrew, it was learning to pee in the trees and getting filthy; for Josh, it was being able to spend most of his time slung on my hip. We camped with the B-Team crew and each family was in charge of one meal, so we ate great. The kids slept (surprisingly) well in the tent; Andrew kept us warm by sleeping with us in our bed and Josh slept super-bundled in the Pack 'N Play. The only complaint I had was our air mattress that has a hole, we had to inflate it two times during the night. It was a fun B-Team reunion and a joy to be surrounded by such good friends.

The B-Team

From left to right: Jacob, Randy, Brayden, Matt, Mike

Est. 2004

(sometime during the 1st block of medical school)

Facts compiled during our camping trip:

• Jacob needed a friend and someone to study with-he sought Matt as his obvious choice, Mike was Jacob & Matt's lab partner and joined as well
• Randy was studying in the room they wanted to use, he joined by default
• Brayden became a "staple" soon after
• Fellow classmates formed a group of their own and were endearingly labeled the "Dream Team" due to their incessant question-asking abilities, their eagerness for being at the top of the class, and their front-row seat tendencies, this is how the "B-Team" got their name
• Study sessions consisted of talking out the material and the World Series of Flatus (Matt won, Randy received all the publicity for it)
• Nicknames (don't ask): Matt-Weak sauce, Jacob-Hot sauce, Brayden-Uro sauce, Randy-Mercapto (a.k.a. stinky) sauce, Mike-Bleep sauce
• If they could be the Scooby Gang, Jacob would be Velma; Mike, Daphne; Randy, Scooby; Matt, Fred; Brayden, Shaggy
• 2 Members of the B Team are AOA (top 5% of the class)
• On our first camping trip-3 children tagged along; on our 2nd camping trip, there were 9.
• At least one B-Team wife has been pregnant throughout medical school; Brayden & Cassy contributed every other pregnancy; most of us had a baby during 3rd year (the hardest year).
• I never worried about Randy when he was gone, he was surrounded by good men.

Coolest Cakes

Just wanted to share the most awesome cake website. It's called Coolest-Birthday-Cakes.com
Here are some of my own creations that I've made with the help from this website:







And here's a fabulous recipe for butter cream frosting that Cristiana gave me:

1 cup shortening (or half cup butter and half cup
shortening)
2 tablespoons water (warm)
1 Tablespoon Karo syrup
Blend together till smooth

Slowly add 4 cups of powdered sugar
and blend until desired stiffness.
Set some stiffer icing aside for decoration

Add more corn syrup or water to make icing smoother
for icing the cake.

You can also add a little butter flavoring to the icing to
make it taste even better. You can find it in the
spice aisle.

Just Another Day In Paradise

Note to self: Keep the Eucerin Cream out of Andrew's reach.

The Big Three

We spent a lovely weekend with Randy's parents to celebrate Andrew's third birthday. Grandma & Grandpa's place is Andrew's heaven. There's a big yard to run around in, a tramp, lots of attention and spoiling, and Grandma & Grandpa have lots of "oldies but goodies" toys that Randy and his brother and sister played with when they were kids. In the words of Mater: "It don't get much better than this."

He got a fire truck from Grandma & Grandpa (and some other fun things), which is his new sleeping companion:

This is the best picture I can get of him with his fire truck as we still keep him in the buck when he's home.

Grandma & Grandpa Hellyar got him a Ready Bed. The first night he slept in it, he slept an extra 2 hours! Hopefully we'll have the same luck when we take it on our camping trip next week!

When I put Josh in the bed with Andrew, Josh just started giggling up a storm.

Aunt Maranda & Uncle Tyler got him his very own Spidey fishing pole. It was a hit! Another must for our camping trip:

He also got a Savings Bond from Grandma & Grandpa Carroll, a monkey hand puppet (very fitting) from Uncle Russ & Aunt Lisa, and a big stuffed snake from Grandma Doris. Thank you for the gifts and for making Andrew's day special!

On his actual birthday (June 18th), we invited all of the neighborhood kids to eat cake & popsicles and play with Andrew's new Thomas sprinkler. We also took him on a train ride to get a Jamba Juice.

Here are some fun facts about Andrew:

• His favorite color is red
• His favorite foods are popsicles and any kind of processed meat (bacon, sausage, hot dogs, pepperoni)
• He's given a new nickname to Josh, "Cuckoo"
• He loves to jump on our bed (and we let him) while singing "5 Little Monkeys"
• He's happiest when he's playing outside
• He's still obsessed with caterpillars and can make just about anything look like one

We couldn't get the candle on his cake lit because it was too windy outside, so we sang "Happy Birthday" to him and then told him to make a wish, he then made the action like he was blowing out a candle. I don't know why, but I thought it was so cute and wish I got in on video.

Happy Birthday, Bud! We love you!

Whinefest

So I'm going to indulge in a whine-fest. If you don't want to hear it, kindly move on to the next blog.

Go on. I'll wait.





So I just wanted to complain about my stupidity. I love oranges. They give me canker sores. Usually I just tolerate the minor pain and it goes away in a few days. Well, I have a canker sore on the bottom part of my tongue and it rubs up against my teeth when I'm talking or eating-my two favorite activities-so pretty much I'm in pain all the time.

Yesterday my boys (I love saying "my boys") and I went swimming. I didn't wear sunscreen. My back is scorched. Last summer we had a pass to Raging Waters-I didn't wear sunscreen and I never got burned so I thought I was ok-and besides, I had Josh in a sling, so I thought my back was mostly covered. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Ouch! From this day forward, I vow to ALWAYS wear sunscreen. Being burned stinks.

And lastly, I really hate cleaning poop from my child's underwear.

Ok, I'm done.

Here's Andrew tormenting Josh, and Josh loving every minute of it.

It's funny that two people can get together and create two very different babies; but what cuties they both are!

Andrew at 5 months.

We had to do back flips in order for him to even crack the slightest smile.

Josh at 5 months.

He'll smile any chance he gets.

Home-grown Therapy

There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling. ~Mirabel Osler

Between 6:30 and 7:00 am you will find me at my smallish 4' x 8' garden plot amidst a beautiful community garden. I feed Josh, bundle him up, and we head out while Andrew is still asleep and Randy is getting ready for the day. The sun is just up, the air is cool and breezy, and the world is quiet. I love to get my hands dirty and I love that I can be a part of creating something so beautiful.

Here's what's on the menu in a month or two:
Sunsugar cherry tomatoes
Roma tomatoes
Cherry chili peppers
Green bell peppers
Cucumbers
Zucchini
Basil
Chives
Parsley
Sage
Cilantro

Gardening is about enjoying the smell of things growing in
the soil, getting dirty without feeling guilty, and generally taking the time to soak up a little peace and serenity. ~Lindley Karstens

The Naked Method

Treats, toys, stickers, charts, threats, scowls. Yes, these tools probably will help toilet train your child, but thank goodness I listened to Lorena & Cristi's advice and let my child run around naked-our path to potty training has been........well, pleasant. I say this trepidatiously (is that a word?) because I know we're FAR from having this down pat and I expect to have many accidents along the way; but for now, I'm just feeling so stinkin' proud of my little monkey.

A is for Frog

I'm just starting to teach Andrew the letters of the alphabet. We do a letter a week and we started with the letter A:

Mom: A is for apple. A is for Andrew.

Andrew: No mom, A is for Frog.

Mom: No really, A is for apple. A is for Andrew.

Andrew: A is for Frog.

Then a few days later, Randy came up to me and said, "We've got a problem," and showed me one of Andrew's Baby Einstein Alphabooks. On the front cover of the "A" book there was a.........yep, you guessed it........frog. Upon further investigation, apparently J is for mouse, N is for turtle, Q is for baby, U is for dolphin, and W is for Owl. I thought that maybe Baby Einstein named these animals and that was the reasoning, but when I looked on their website, the frog that's on the letter A is named Shakespeare. Holy heck, let's just confuse the crap out of my child. If Andrew didn't LOVE these books, they'd be in the recycling bin right now.

Butterflies

Sometimes I miss our dating days when Randy could take my breath away with just a look. I still remember vividly the first time it happened: Randy walked me home to my apartment. I think he gave me a hug goodbye (keep in mind, it took him 25 dates before he felt adventurous enough to kiss me). For some reason, I had to walk back out to the parking lot to get something out of my car and Randy was just getting into his car. I said something to him to get his attention and he got out of his car to turn and look at me-and POW! I felt my knees buckling, the butterflies were in a flurry, and I literally had to catch my breath. Randy gave me butterflies like no other-that's how I knew he was a keeper.

Well, 6 1/2 years of marriage later, I wouldn't say that our marriage is perfect; on some days, it's far from it. But then again, we have moments when Randy still has the ability to take my breath away. Yesterday, we took the kids on a hike-the wild flowers were in full bloom and it was an incredibly beautiful day. Randy spotted a deer off in the distance and we stood still for a few moments to look at it. Randy leaned over to give me a quick kiss-and POW! I felt the butterflies awaken.

With the rush of life, these moments are few and far between, but I sure do love it when they come along.

And the Award for the Worst Mom Goes To....

Yep, that would be me. I really scare me. We were on our way to soccer. Deborah was with me and was helping me load the kids in the car. The Ford is in the shop, so I had the Kia-no automatic locks. It's a habit for me to unlock the doors and then throw my car keys onto the front passenger seat while I load the kids in. I unlocked the Kia (you have to unlock each lock manually), threw the keys onto the front seat, loaded Josh in, and then locked his door and the passenger front door, walked around to the other side to load Andrew in. The doors were locked, with Josh locked inside. Thank goodness Deborah was there-she waited with Andrew and poor Josh while I drove to the hospital, ran up to the 4th floor, grabbed Randy's car keys ("Don't ask me questions, just give me the d@!# keys!") and got back-it took me about 10 minutes. A tiny miracle: Josh didn't scream and was fine. What would I have done if Deborah wasn't there?!!

p.s. I didn't really swear at my husband.

Soccer, Week 3:

No whining. No crying. Only a couple of moments when he wanted me to hold his hand. He did such a good job. The coaches tried to get them to play an actual game-it was hilarious. Grandma came with us today; I think she's good luck.

5 Months

Joshers is 5 months today. He is sweet, sweet, sweet. Oh! He's so sweet! His smiles come easily and he LOVES to talk and coo to us. He's eating cereal like a pro now, and I love having a good eater. We love you Josh!

First Potty Adventure

So, I introduced the potty to Andrew yesterday. He wanted nothing to do with it. It's amazing how he KNOWS how to annoy me in just the right way. So we practiced putting Lamby on the toilet; he thought that was fun. I made a big fuss when Lamby sat on the potty, pretended to feed him a skittle, and then asked Andrew if he wanted a turn. Uh uh, no way.

Then Grey's Anatomy came on, so I decided to put the potty in the living room while I watched TV. I enticed Andrew with a popsicle and said he could have one if he sat on the potty-it worked! He sat on the potty while he ate his popsicle, and amazingly he peed! Randy and I made a big fuss over the 3 drops of urine that made it into the potty, had Andrew carry the bowl to the toilet, flush it, and wash his hands. He thought it was so fun, that we repeated the process about 6 times. So I'm thinking he's ready. Am I ready? Maybe in a couple of weeks...

A New Frontier

I'm feeling brave today so I got out the potty chair that's been sitting in our closet for almost a year. I'm not going to start training until Andrew is over 3, but I guess I feel like we need to start talking about it at least. This is something I've been dreading ever since our pediatrician told me at Andrew's 18-month checkup that it was never too early to start. I looked at him like he was a crazy person and threw his advice to the wayside. I guess I just haven't felt the push-I'd much rather change a diaper than have to find a nasty public restroom wherever we go. And not one person has told me that potty-training was a pleasant, easy experience; and I'm all about easy.

Does anyone want to come over and potty-train my child for me? Anyone?...........Anyone?..............Hello?

Here is one of my all-time favorite pictures of Pete & Andrew (March 2006), it cracks me up every time I look at it:

I know, Andrew, I'm a little scared, too.

I think Joshua is starting to warm up to Andrew, even when his big brother does things like this to him...


I even caught him laughing at Andrew yesterday.

Bribery. It's a Beautiful Thing.

Soccer, week 2:

Mom: Are you ready to play soccer today?

Andrew: No. No, play soccer. Not today!

Mom: Do you want to run around and kick the ball and play with your friends?

Andrew: No.

Mom: If you go play soccer, then we can go to the store and get a treat after.

Andrew: Mm. Hmm.

And that is how we got through our second week of soccer-I had to keep reminding him that we'd go get a treat after. He did pretty good. He whined most of the time, but he did what his coach asked him to do. Sometimes I had to hold his hand (literally) for him to do anything. We didn't make it the whole hour, but I think we're making progress.

We got Slurpees from 7-11 afterwards. It was Andrew's first Slurpee experience, and he hasn't stopped asking for one since.

The Best Time Is Summertime

I read a license plate frame recently; it read: THE BEST TIME IS SUMMERTIME

I love all the seasons, but this year I especially welcome the summer, it really is the best time of year:

1. The heat puts my kids into a sluggish trance and they sleep better.
2. Popsicles.
3. My garden and the hope of fresh veggies grown with my own two hands.
4. Flip-flops.
5. Ice cold water after playing out in the sun.
6. Eating dinner outside.
7. Being able to go for a walk with my kids in the early morning hours.
8. The sun doesn't go down until 9 pm.
9. Sprinklers and kiddie pools.
10. Getting dirty and sweaty, and then taking a nice warm shower before bed.

Q3

This is a shout-out to my husband who works very hard for our family. LOVE YOU!!

Randy is doing a 3-week rotation in the ICU and Q3 means that he has call every three days. What this really means is every 3rd day he works a 30+ hour shift; sleep is fleeting and the work is very busy. I LOVE that we're just a five minute walk away from the hospital-we get to bring him dinner on his call nights, which hopefully, makes his burden a little lighter. Some intern programs do this for a full year. We will not be applying to such programs.

Maybe Someday...

I'll be able to get some decent pictures of my two boys AT the same time. The first attempt was when Josh was 6 weeks old; with my mom's help, we took the boys to Kiddie Kandids-we had to wait 1 1/2 hours before they were ready for us. Josh was an angel. Andrew was toast.

The second attempt was last March, my good friend Danielle took some pictures outside; it was windy. Andrew was a sweetie. Josh went ballistic:

I must say, I have the cutest, handsomest, sweetest little boys on earth in the universe.

Little League Adventures

Being the nut that I am, I signed up Andrew in little league sports (soccer, T-ball, kickball) for the WHOLE summer. Today was his first day of soccer and he had Grandma, Dad, Baby Brother, and me as his cheering squad. As soon as he entered the giant indoor field house, he ran around like a banshee-kicking the cones and soccer balls. Then they did roll call and broke into groups, that's when the real fun began.....

He didn't want to kick the ball with his group.

He didn't want to play "follow the coach" around the cones.

He didn't want to kick the ball into the goal.

Instead, he......

Threw a real nice tantrum, and I was so proud.

Kicked the ball by himself all over the field, and refused to share the ball with anyone else.

When given the option to either listen to his coach or go home, he chose to go home. Yeah, Love and Logic works real well.

My plan for next week:
1. Give it one more chance before asking for my money back.
2. Tote Josh in the Baby Bjorn, pretend I'm the little kid, do everything the coach asks me to do, and hope Andrew follows my lead.
3. Spend Family Night practicing.
4. Spend more time with him during the week, maybe he's not getting enough attention and he's acting out (he recently has also refused going to Nursery).

Oh, the joys of parenting.

Ahhhhhhhhh. Breathe.

Josh is 19 weeks and 3 days old. Today he took 2 long naps in his bassinet. I finally feel my shoulders returning back to their original position-I hadn't realized until now that they were up to my ears.