Random Bits from Lately

My camera is lost! I had it outside to take pictures of the sandbox we put in under the swingset, as well as the new flower garden, and haven't seen it since! That was a couple of weeks ago... I'm worried that it's gone forever, and as you know - I feel paralyzed without it!

Anyway, in absence of any new pictures to upload, here is an awesome read about ways you can connect with and cherish your little ones on a daily basis. I know I'm not alone in having days where I get to the end and realize that even though I was here with the kids all day, we somehow managed to go the entire day without really "connecting" (especially with all the time spent trying to unpack and organize lately!). The blog is called Bloom and I highly recommend it!

In other news, the boys had Hand, Foot and Mouth Virus AGAIN this summer! What??! Aren't you supposed to only catch that once? Apparently we are just that lucky. At least it wasn't as bad as last year (which you can relive in this post).

Also, today was my last "official" physical therapy visit. I am SO THANKFUL to the friends who have watched my kids week after week so that I could get treatment. I'm still not all the way better, but at least now have the tools I need to get there, and am in much better shape than when I started out. Apparently the right side of my body (mostly back, hip, leg) is much weaker than the left because of dysfunction from the original injury (so we're talking like 15 years of misuse), so things get thrown out of whack just walking around and carrying heavy kids. I'm working on strengthening it, but it's easier said than done quickly... it's hard work, and it hurts. I went in with a back problem, and now it's a "hip and leg" problem, lol. I'm so very, very glad however, to have been put in the hands of a gifted therapist who has me on the right track.

We had the 2010 National Biker's Roundup here at the fairgrounds this last week, in which motorcyclists rode in from across the country! We saw some interesting folks and motorcycles around town, but I won't miss hearing the roaring of bike engines all hours of the day and night... we live about a mile from the fairgrounds, but it sounded like it was in our backyard!

And that sums up what's been going on around here lately! I hope to get a "milestones" post up for Eli and Owen as we've flown past their 1 1/2 and 3 1/2 year marks this summer!

Hair Cuts

When Brad and I got married, one of my longtime/childhood best friends gave us a hair cutting kit as a gift. I was shocked when Brad actually wanted me to use it to cut his hair! I had never cut hair, other than trimming my sister's LONG hair.... a man cut with clippers was totally new to me. We sat down in front of a mirror so he could see what I was doing, and he guided me through it (his Dad had always cut his hair so he knew a little about the process). It took about 2 hours and I was covered in hair and unsure if I ever wanted to attempt it again. Fast forward 7 1/2 years and I not only remain Brad's exclusive stylist, but I now have two little tow heads to keep trimmed up as well. It's not a process that I necessarily look forward to, but I'm much faster now, I've learned a few things, and it saves a lot of money.

Owen Before:

Owen After:

I use a combination of clippers and scissors for Brad and Eli, but I wanted to keep Owen's hair relatively long. It's much shorter than I was going for, but I messed up his bangs, then I watched some helpful videos on youtube and was able to fix it with a complete scissor cut. I find it helpful to use smaller scissors on toddlers, and to invest in some blending shears! I also sprang for a child's cape and a cape for myself this time - I figure 7 1/2 years of detesting the feeling of hair stuck in my clothes warranted me a cape! It also helps to strap the kids in a booster chair, plug in a movie on the portable dvd player, and give them endless goldfish and yogurt raisins!

The Setup:

Here are links to the video series I watched in case you are inspired to try this at home.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

A Little More Easter

Wow. I think the main reason I blog is simply that I cannot email ALL of the pictures I take ... I'm sure my Dad is relieved to view them here rather than having them crash his computer while uploading as in the past =). Anyway, on Saturday night the boys got to put on their new Dinosaur jammies from the Easter Bunny, and opened their little gifts from my parents. They were thrilled to see WHALES! They knew immediately which type they were... "oh, an Orca Whale and a Sperm Whale!" They also got some little dog figures, though Owen couldn't stop calling the Dalmation a Cow. It gave them something fun to do for the evening while Brad was away attending the Priesthood session of General Conference (General Conference - the worldwide broadcast put out by our Church twice a year featuring talks given by the Prophet and General Authorities/leaders of the Church... you can view the sessions or read the text of the talks here if interested).


On Easter Sunday, we had the yummy breakfast I posted about below. The boys really enjoyed helping me make the honey cream!


We watched conference together via the internet, as we don't have satellite or cable to pick it up on the tv. What a wonderful and inspiring way to spend the day! We took an evening walk to another park together and let the kids go crazy on the slides, and blow some of the giant bubbles from their Easter baskets.

Owen got frustrated that he couldn't work the bubbles just right.

We walked around the little pond there and saw Canada Geese, deer tracks in the mud, and all kinds of birds. We could hear frogs croaking, bugs buzzing, birds singing, and geese honking... we LOVE spring!


The wind really picked up on our walk home. Apparently a storm was blowing in, as that night there was a tornado and hail warning... luckily all we saw was some rain and thunder.

It was a beautiful weekend, and a wonderful time to remember the GIFT of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It has been so exciting to teach our children about the Resurrection, and to see Eli's enthusiasm especially as he can retell the story about Mary finding the empty tomb, and then discovering that Jesus was the LIVING being standing there before her. I am so thankful for these two precious boys of mine, and I'm thankful that because of Jesus' sacrifice, these boys will be mine FOREVER.

Inspiration for Mothering

I've been reading this amazing blog written by a woman who has raised 11 kids (she's the mother of a friend of a friend) ... she has some wonderful insights on raising children lovingly - connecting with them and helping them build their own internal moral compass without harsh discipline. Much of what she says flies in the face of many "mainstream" techniques (ie. Supernanny, Love and Logic etc), but it definitely makes sense and resonates with the desires I have to parent in this way... I often seem to lack the actual know-how to follow through with my "ideal," and so far I have found a lot of inspiring things on here. The best part is that it's written in a Q&A format, so you can actually write in specific questions if you want. Here is one sample of something she wrote today:

Motherhood took on a whole new meaning for me when I adopted a more proactive approach that was based on some basic goals. The two goals that I have as I raise little children are 1) to preserve and strengthen our relationship and 2) to develop their deep, inner feelings of right and wrong. When your children emerge from these early years and become teen-agers, you will want to have firmly established those two things. It isn’t the easiest method of parenting. It takes constant thought and focus. The focus is on building a strong bond of love, helping children to succeed at what you ask them to do, and teaching instead of constant disciplining.

Physical discipline is destructive when you consider both of those goals. Not only does it damage the relationship, but it absolves a child of responsibility for what they’ve done. They have paid for the crime so there is no need to feel sorrow for it. At best, it is a deterrent—and if our goal is just to produce acceptable outward behavior, then it’s useful. The motivation will be fear of punishment. But our goal is to develop our child from the inside out—the motivation being a desire to be good.

So if you have the desire to parent more lovingly, or just want some good ideas from a wise woman who has been in your shoes, click on over to Asking Jane!!!!!

So Sweet

I love it when I catch my boys being sweet... like the other morning when I woke up to see this next to me:


And this evening when Owen insisted he bring a baby into the tub and proceeded to love on it... then Eli wanted in as well and took over washing the baby's hair, "helping" it sit up, and chattering away about how "cute" his little tiny baby is.






One minute these kids have me tearing out my hair (ie. read Dumpster Diving post) and the next minute they are melting my heart!

Fat Lip

Owen is my little daredevil. He has had more bloody lips and bonked heads than I can count, and yet he is never deterred from danger. I have to keep a close eye on him, and even then he manages to get hurt.

On Monday we had a busy morning - Owen had a well check at the Dr's office, then we went to the store, then to visit a friend in the hospital. Owen ended up with only a 10 minute nap in the car, so maybe the lack of sleep affected his coordination. When we got home, we were inside the house for less than a minute before he managed to fall face first onto the tile floor while pushing a little toy. There was much crying and blood, as he nearly put his teeth through his top lip! Thankfully, nursing right away will stop the bleeding of any mouth injury because there was no way he was going to suck on a rag or anything of the sort. Within minutes, he was up and at it again, rough housing with Eli in the new tent and tunnel that we finally got from a Christmas exchange (thanks Grandma and Grandpa B.!). He had a nice fat lip, and the next day it turned completely purple from the inside out. It's only been 4 days, but the bruise is already fading - amazing how the human body works!

By the way, his well check when great. He's officially 27 pounds, and a genius, lol. He scores in the 24 to 26 month range in language, fine and gross motor, and right about 16 to 18 months for social something or other (I don't remember the exact name of that part of the scale). It was his 15 month check, though he turns 16 months this week. We love you O man!

Poop, Snot, Barf

Sorry for the unattractive title, but these are the inevitable unpleasantries of motherhood... made especially fun when you get to deal with them all at ONCE. Hence, the lack of blogging in the last week... I've been "up to my elbows" as they say =).

First, the potty training. Eli has been officially in underwear for two weeks now. Really, it has gone more smoothly than I could have hoped. After all of our half-hearted attempts to start, I just had to let go of diapers cold turkey. And guess what - not a SINGLE pee accident in all that time! And he's gone to church, the store, and friends' houses! Wow. I still have to remind him and take him throughout the day, but if I forget for a few hours, he will just hold it rather than pee himself (and he won't tell me he needs to go, lol). But the poop... OH. THE. POOP. I have had to clean up poop out of his underwear EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. He refuses to tell me when he needs to go, and never produces on the potty even if I sit him there for a half an hour. He sneaks away somewhere quiet (usually playing trains) as soon as I am busy (ie. putting Owen down for a nap). He has a sticker chart, bribery chocolate, and knows as soon as he poops on the potty he will get a NEW TRAIN, and yet, no success. Ugh. Thank goodness for my diaper sprayer! For those of you unfamiliar, it's like a kitchen sprayer that hooks to your toilet tank - I use it for spraying poop off the cloth diapers, and it also works great for messy undies and little training toilets!
And since we are discussing nastiness, of course winter illness brings on even more! Owen ended up with unexplained diarrhea for a couple of days two weeks ago. It figures that I had recently re-committed to cloth diapers full time and we had no disposables in the house. After hosing diapers out all day, I called Brad at work and begged him to bring some home with him! We lost a few nights of sleep over this illness, because it seemed to hit hardcore in the middle of the night.

Owen recovered from the diarrhea and had a good week last week, and then this week got a major cold. The WEIRDEST thing though, is that after I put him to bed on Sunday night, he woke up and puked ALL OVER the bed, himself, and nearly missed Eli. I thought he was getting the flu on top of it, but he was fine the next day. I washed up all the bedding (you know what a task that is), only to have him to it again the next night! Again, fine the next day, and the next night, then Weds night he lost his cookies all over MY bed! The best we can figure is that he was just having a little gag reflex to the thick cold secretions when I'd lay him down. Ugh. Washing bedding 3X in one week is NOT fun, not to mention getting up in the middle of the night to clean puke off of a crying kid and then try to find somewhere clean to sleep. Thank goodness for Brad and his help - the poor man was on-call and getting woken up all night by his pager as it was. Last night was much better - no puking, and Owen slept pretty well most of the night. So hopefully we are OVER IT.

Naughtiness and Fun

Well after the marathon holiday catch-up, I thought I'd post some funny and naughty things I caught my kids doing in the last month. The pictures are from my camera phone because my good one is still broken, so sorry about the quality!

Story #1: Little Picassos

The boys were pretty inspired after their trip to the art studio in January. One morning I had the bright idea of letting them "paint" the wall with water. They were THRILLED. They were getting along so well and seemed to be so wrapped up in making water "rainbows" that I snuck away to fold laundry in the bedroom.



When I came out to check on them, I was shocked to discover that the water had somehow turned the wall black and blue! Then it dawned on me... Eli had gotten into the pantry and helped himself to the actual watercolors (did I mention after the Cheerios post that there is now a LOCK on that door?!). It took quite a bit of scrubbing to get it off, but he helped me clean it up. Then he repeated all day "we don't put real paint on the wall, only on paper."

Story #2: Headbands

The boys love my headbands... what more can I say? They fight over who gets to wear them, and actually broke my favorite black one with the flower... grr! Though I have to admit, I think they look kind of cute in headbands =).

Story #3: Monkey Business

One afternoon the boys found it hilarious to run shrieking through the house with monkeys hanging on their necks. Brad and I got a good laugh at that one!

Story #4: The Dentist

Eli had his first trip to the Dentist... not only no cavities, but NO PLAQUE. And he really did GREAT. He was excited to go and was very cooperative - even with the tooth brushing, flossing, and flouridating. The hygenist was awesome with him, and the waiting room was really set up fun for kids. We had to stay for 20 minutes after our appointment just to play. Owen got his teeth briefly looked at too, but he wasn't as excited or cooperative =).

Story #5: Giant Dinosaurs

Eli and Owen each picked out a giant dinosaur for their birthdays (with a giftcard from a friend). Good old Stegosaurus and Triceratops are lots of fun and very splashy in the bathtub! Between the four of them, I end up with water dripping down the walls after their bath together. The kids also love bubble baths, but have emptied out TWO brand new bottles into the tub in ONE week... I will be locking our new bottle up as well =). Much laughter, squealing, and splashing occurs during bathtime around here!

Tornados

The first Wednesday of every month out here the city tests the Tornado warning sirens. It's a little eerie, as is the thought of a real tornado ever blowing through here. I sure wish I had heard the warning sirens today though, because a HUGE tornado DEFINITELY blew through my house today! Needless to say, I am buying a child proof doorknob cover for my pantry TOMORROW. Eli has been a little too confident about helping himself to snacks... this was an entire brand new box of Cheerios.



I believe in natural consequences, so in lieu of some other punishment, Eli got to spend 30 minutes sweeping and vacuuming up the mess he made. I helped with the sweeping part - as did Owen, who of course ended up just scattering the O's into every nook and cranny in the kitchen. I couldn't help but smile though, as Eli worked and sang to himself "when we're helping, we're happy and we sing as we go... tra la la la la la la la, tra la la la la la..."


The good news is that I got my camera back and it worked long enough for me to take these pictures. The bad news is that it is definitely still broken, won't focus, and has to be sent back... DARN IT. At least I was able to upload my holiday pictures, so expect some belated Christmas fun coming up soon!

Perfect

This conversation occurred today while I was getting the boys dressed. Eli has a pair of adjustable waist jeans, and I noted out loud that they were getting tight and I actually had to loosen them up a setting.

Brad: Eli, is mommy fattening you up?

Eli: No! Mommy is NOT fat!

Me (gently sarcastic): Yeah Brad, geez!

Brad: Eli, is mommy pretty?

Eli: No! Mommy not!

Me: Well what am I Eli?

Eli (looking right in my eyes and with a serious voice): You're PERFECT.


You had better believe that I scooped that boy right up in a hug and wiped a tear or two from my eyes. He doesn't know that I've been struggling lately with doubts and discouragement about my own parenting; that I've been trying really hard to be a more patient and joyful mother; that I've been frustrated and worn out a lot. But apparently whatever I've been trying to do is good enough for him. Thanks for the pick-me-up Eli! Maybe 3 years old won't be so bad... =)

Mr. Mom

Don't you love when your little ones try to imitate something GOOD that you? I've been "wearing" Owen in the wrap a lot lately in the afternoons - he tends to get pretty fussy that time of day and he's been a resistant napper lately, so this way he is at least relaxed and sometimes will fall asleep for me. One day when I had him in there, Eli got an idea and started begging to "hold mine baby in mine wrap!" So I adjusted one of my ring slings for him and he carried that baby all afternoon! He sang to it, kissed it, and walked around the house hand in hand with me as we rocked our babies together. I don't think any of us could have been more pleased....



PS - it took at least ten tries with the self timer to get this shot. This is as centered as it gets!