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