Transition Time

We've been undergoing a lot of changes around here as of late! Adelyn is now in a "big girl" twin bed and Dallin is finally in her crib- not the pack 'n play. Addie still doesn't do all that well in her bed, every night comes with requests of several drinks, stuffed animals, change of clothes, and her crib. And we usually get a good crying  fit with the door closed before she gives up and falls asleep. Nights have been the worst- it's like she's reverted to being a baby again where she wakes up several times a night and needs our reassurance for her to go back to sleep. Not enjoyable. But we have hopes that with constancy comes results, and therefore are NOT looking back to much happier days with her crib.

Dallin on the other hand is doing great- except he is sick so that comes with extra nightly wake up calls than usual. Needless to say, if our family is a little more irritable than the norm, you can understand why! He also turned 7 months and is so fun at this age! Every age brings new challenges and excitements, but I have to say that 6 months to 10 months are probably my favorite during that first year of life. The exploration they experience is just so fun to watch! Dallin can crawl, but still does a alternation between scooting and crawling to get to places. He loves to play with whatever Adelyn is playing with and so the sibling confrontation begins!

We also got a grey tabby cat. It was sort of a Valentines gift to Jared since he's always wanted one and our friends were giving it away. It's been good so far- the cat's really well behaved and the biggest problem we've had with it is naming it. We finally settled on Toodles. The kids really love it- Dallin crawls after it, and Addie tries to pet it constantly and when it finally tries to get away from her, she chases after it saying, "there it goes!".


 If you haven't already heard, Jared's company cut all their employee's hours down to 32 hour work weeks. As stressful as that's been financially, it's been a very sweet blessing in disguise. Jared works about the same hours during the week with the exception of having Friday's off. How wonderful that's been! It's great to have that extra day of family time that we have been feeling like is lacking in our lives. We try to take that day to do something fun together and go somewhere where we can enjoy each other's company. For example, one week we went to the zoo, but usually it's somewhere like the park or mall.

For my personal record, I want to add that Jared and I went to see the play, Wicked on Saturday and it was amazing!!! Jared got me the tickets for Christmas and it was a wonderful idea- wouldn't mind if I got tickets for a play every Christmas! (.....and birthday and anniversary and Valentines....haha). Also as a side note, my sister got engaged on Friday night! Whoo hoo!! They will be getting married in California in June, I'm glad she found such an awesome guy!

Drama Queen

We have a little drama queen in our house lately. She knows what she wants and most of the time knows how to get it. Addie likes to state her recent found independence by changing her outfits frequently throughout the day. I guess this is one of those things I deserve since I hear that's all I did at her age too. Sorry mom and dad....I already had enough laundry before, and I'm sure you did too. The thing that just kills me is that our generous neighbors just gave us a bunch of their daughters outgrown clothes. They are super cute, but the only item in there that she wants or will wear are these hot pink princess jammies. And no, we don't wear them to bed- just everywhere else. If you've seen us lately, I'll bet 10 bucks she was wearing them.

We are also extremely verbal about everything these days I suppose that's about the only advantage/disadvantage about a chatty 2 year old. She talks non stop!  Some of the funny things she says or has said are:
"I not!"
"I not going!"
"I won't go!"
"I want to go to the mall"
"I won't wear these pants...their too busy!"
"Hey stinky boy" (Her usual greeting to Dallin)
"No Dallin! That's not for you!"
"Daddy gave toots!" (She likes to announce that whether or not it is indeed true :D)
"Addie can be Belle, Daddy, you be John? Mommy be Wendy? Okay, Dallin be Peter Pan"
"What is it?" (for EVERYTHING)
"uHHHHH.....Whats wrong Addie??"
"Which one do you like, mommy? Which one do you like, Addie?"
"Me try on these panties? Okay, you can wear them"
"It's not scary, just pretend"
"They're all clean now!" (usually referring to her dirty princess pants)
"Look what I found!"
"I want to watch something. Okay! Just a little second, you can watch it"
"Aw bummer"
"It's Addie's turn to pick a movie!" (can you tell she likes TV?)
"I don't like this song, it's not my favorite"

And we sing EVERYTHING! I wish I could record all the songs she sings all the time, but to name a few: Popcorn Popping, I am A Child of God, Little Einsteins theme song (below), Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme song, "How does She know that You Love her?" (song from Enchanted), Mary Poppins songs, Book Of Mormons Stories, "Like a Love Song" by Selena Gomez, and other songs haven't figured out the titles of yet. We love this new- found independent, funny, spunky two year old!

Birthdays

Jared's birthday was yesterday- he turned 31! Wow! Thirty didn't seem weird to me- but 31 just seems a little crazy! He had a birthday when we were just friends and he was turning 27- I teased him then about being an old man- well, I guess we all get a older every year.....Since my brother is sort of a computer nerd and he is leaving on his mission in 2 weeks- we decided it was now or never to invest in a new computer (he built it for us). So Jared's birthday present was that new computer, along with a movie (the Adjustment Bureau) and a toy helicopter that he's had his eyes on since seeing them flying around at the mall. My parents actually got him that- and boy was he excited!

We had another birthday(or unbirthday- depending on how you look at it) in our house this month. Dallin turned 6 months! WOW, that flew! I am taking him in tomorrow for his doctors appointment so I don't know his stats yet, but here are some fun things to remember and stages he's in right now!

Loves: His Momma, being played with, stealing Addie's blanket (and hanging on tight when she tries to get it back), rolling all over the place, electronics, the "slippery fish" song, being carried
Hates: his nose being picked, shots, is starting to tolerate car rides
Eats: breast milk and baby food
Nicknames: Mister D, D Man, Slobber boy, Rolly Pollie, Tooter boy, Mister Man, The Human Steamroller
Personality Traits: Determined, laid back, always has to be where all the action is, always happy
Accomplishments: rolls non-stop, eats some baby foods, puts everything (and everyone's fingers in his mouth) sits up...sort of, is starting to grow some hair
Funny stories:  I hear Addie hollering, "Let go Dallin! That's mine!" and I look over to see Dallin clinging on to her blanket with a huge grin on his face while Addie's trying to yank it away. It took both of us to get it away from him- the kid's got quite a grip!
Whenever Addie starts playing with something, Dallin will immediately start rolling his way right to where she is so that he can start "playing" too. Addie is always less than thrilled as he starts slobbering all over them!
Whenever I leave anywhere and leave the kids with Jared, I always get a phone call saying Dallin won't go to sleep no matter what. The second I come home, and try putting him to bed, it takes 5 minutes...what can I say? He likes his momma!

 We just love having this bundle of joy in our house- what a fun guy to have around! P.S. notice the green grass Jared put in our back yard???

Flagstaff

The day after Christmas we headed north 2 hours to Flagstaff so we could enjoy some vacation and snow. We stayed in an apartment with some friends that came up with us and went to play in the snow. For future remembering: taking your kids out to "have fun" during nap time is not a great idea. Dallin did alright, but Addie wouldn't stop crying, and when she finally did- she wanted nothing to do with the snow. She actually just layed on us like a limp fish the entire time. Even when we took her down the hill on the sled, she didn't even care. Jared and I had fun though! Wish it would have been more enjoyable for the kids- next time we'll plan better!

The next day we went to a neat little history museum that I actually really enjoyed. I usually don't particularly get excited about that kind of stuff- but the iron lung there was very intriguing to me. I'd heard the term, but not known that it was an actual machine that physically keeps someone alive. One lady in particular was paralyzed from the neck down thanks to polio, so this submarine looking contraption, would basically do compressions on her to keep her breathing. Her neck was the only thing sticking out, and she lived like that for 48 years!!! Geesh, that seems like the worst way to live. But

the man who worked at the museum said that they actually got to speak to her (she died in 2008) and she had a real optimistic way of looking at her situation. Apparently a lot of people lived that way due to polio and they had a hospital where they all were cared for. Once, the power went out (these things wereelectricaly powered) and so the staff had to hand crank to keep these poor patients living-which was an extremely difficult thing to turn. Eventually, the power returned and when it did, everyone just collapsed from being so exhausted. Can you imagine???

The following day Addie and I played in the snow in the backyard while Jared and Dallin rested. I'm glad I got a chance to expose Adelyn to the fun part of playing in snow since Jared got pretty sick that day and we ended up just leaving around 7- we had the apartment another day but he wanted to be at home. I was bummed, but it was still nice to get out and have a much needed vacation!

Christmas

Christmas this year has been somewhat more special this year for several reasons. One big one being that Adelyn has really understood the actual Christmas story and constantly wants to be told about Baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the star, shepherds and everyone else involved. It's been really neat for her to be able to recite the whole story and see her so excited whenever she sees anything having to do with the birth of Jesus. I think this year I've had a different perspective than I've ever had before because of her. It's made me realize that yeah, Santa is fun, but it really is so exciting that Jesus was born! I'm grateful for the chance I have to raise children who remind me how to be humble and excited

for the real important things in life.

It's also been neat since, like Mary, I now have a baby boy (who played the part of Jesus this year for our Nativity reenactment) and the neat feeling that is. I can't explain it, but love having a boy and a girl shows me how different and special each gender is. I love thinking of Heavenly Father's purpose for each of them!

We had a lot of fun with Christmas this year. Most of the pictures are self explanatory- and our camera battery died Christmas morning- so unfortunately there aren't a lot of pictures anyways. Addie was so funny with the Christmas Eve Nativity, since she couldn't make up her mind on who she wanted to be. She kept switching between an angel, Mary, and the shepherds. Dallin also enjoyed his part of the play- he loved watching everyone and just layed there with his arms extended- sucking it all in!

Breakfast

So, Addie has been pretty terrible at eating breakfast lately. What's new- she's never been an eater. But this particular morning she didn't want to eat anything I wanted to feed her...including offers of making breakfast (which is not my forte).

Me: Do you want rice crispies?

Addie: no

Me: How about oatmeal?

Addie: no

Me: eggs?

Addie: no, no eggs!

Me: birthday cereal?

Addie: no, no birthday cereal!

You get the point, and as typical as this conversation has become lately, this particular morning I was pretty darn annoyed....to say the least. I hope that I'm not the only parent that gets so frustrated that I feel like telling her, "Fine! Just never eat and never gain weight- less work for me anyways!". So I decided to take her potty (we are all potty trained now!) and while she was sitting there I used that time to tell her how disgruntled I was.

Me: Addie, it's not nice to always say no. You need to eat your breakfast so that you can grow. You hurt mommy's feelings. No more saying, "no" you need to eat. Do you understand?

Addie: silence

Me: Adelyn, you need to eat. When we're done going potty you need to tell me something you will eat.

Addie: silence

Me: Adelyn, you are making mommy sad, I really want you to eat. You need to be nice to mommy

Addie:.......I'm sorry mommy

*Cue "awww" from a Full House episode*

It made me melt, maybe it doesn't mean anything else to anyone, but I want to remember that since it was so sweet. Yes, my two year old know how to give a thoughtful "sorry" and that means a lot to me since she knew I needed it. Thank you Addie.

And no, I wasn't very upset after that- kids have a way of calming you down when you stop to talk about it.

Thanksgiving/Oak Creek Canyon

Like almost every year, we went to my aunt Jeanette's and uncle Erik's house for Thanksgiving. As usual, it was beautifully decorated, fun to see those family members whom we don't see quite so often, and wonderful dinner to boot! Some different things were: Addie decided she wanted to sit at the picnic table with Jalen (her second cousin), and Kara's(my sister) boyfriend joined us this year! We also decided to put up Christmas decorations when we got back, which ended up being a family event when my parents came over too! Addie was more than ecstatic!(To say that Addie is obsessed with Christmas this year, is an understatement)

Friday, my parents, Karrett, and us went on a hike in Oak Creek Canyon, Sedona (about a 1 1/2 hour drive north) which proved to be an example of how horrible I can be at not anticipating problems. I brought new pants for Addie- fortunately- since she somehow soaked through her pants and diaper...just on the drive up! Still not sure how or why she did that. But I didn't have any other change of clothes for anybody- including Dallin...what mess could he possibly do??? Well as you guessed it, that was my big mistake since we got to our stopping spot on the hike (where we usually turn around) to discover that Dallin was dripping from the diaper. Ahhh!! Yes, he also soaked through his diaper poor kid, and I had no extra clothes for him....and it was very cold without any sun. Yes,yes I felt like a terrible mom- shouldn't I just expect that EVERYTHING will go wrong in hopes to be prepared enough. Hopefully our kids can

survive into adulthood despite my stupidity!

It was really nice to be out in nature again, though and the kids did really well. Dallin stayed in the backpack content as a cucumber and Addie pretty much wanted to be carried the entire way. Things did get a little tricky when we headed on our way back (still hiking) since it was definitely nap time by that point. But considering the fatigue- she did really well.

Besides all that mess, we had a lot of fun (except when Dallin screamed the entire way back home) and it was nice spending that time with my family!