My Baby Boy

I want to take pictures of Nathan with my fancy new cameras, and I keep thinking I will do this  post once I get his pictures done. But those pictures may never happen. So here's a snap shot in words of my baby boy at age 1.

He repeats everything you say like a little parrot. It's so cute. He won't say it again though. Like seriously I've heard him say so many words! But just mimicking what I've said and not really saying them. Words he uses himself are: Mama, Dada, woowoo (for dogs), yaya (Olivia), abba (Abigail) and thank-you. I think that's it.

He's walking more and more. Ooh I made a video! Let's see if I can figure out how to upload it here.



The other lady being excited with me was a random grandma at the museum. She was so funny. She started crying after watching him walk. And she was the one who made sure I got it on video. She was a sweet lady.

He still crawls some, but I think he's starting to prefer walking.

He's the lightest sleeper ever. He never wants to miss a thing. He has to be sure his sisters are going to bed for him to go to bed as well. If hears them at all he starts screaming because he's missing out on the fun.

Screaming. He is a screamer. It drives me and I'm sure everyone else that lives in this house nuts. If he wants something he screams a blood curling scream. He's started using other sounds and signs which is good. And hilarious. He just smacks himself in the head as a general sign for "I want that". Which as I thought about it... most baby signs do involve hitting yourself somewhere on your head or face, so I guess he's not too far off.

His favorite time of the day is bath time. He absolutely loves taking a bath. He hates getting dressed. Cue the blood curling scream. But he also loves getting out of the house. If he's grumpy just going outside instantly improves his mood. He really enjoys the car, and just going places.

My favorite thing about Nathan is his inability to NOT suck his thumb if he touches something soft. It's like a reflex for him. He truly can't help it. He pets the dog, and instantly the thumb is in his mouth. Every night he cuddles up with his soft blanket and sucks his thumb and rests his head on my chest and I just soak it in. I mean how long will a little boy want to sit on my lap and cuddle me? I know this time with him as a baby is short so those moments when we cuddle and he sucks his thumb just melt my heart every time.

And I think that about sums him up. Loud. Talkative. Thumbsucker.

My iPhone ruined my blog

Before blogging was so easy because all my pictures were so easily uploaded from my blog to my phone. I haven't figured out a super easy way to do this with my iPhone so I don't know.

I don't even know what I'm talking about - most of my posts never even include pictures so that's a bad excuse.

Christmas was wonderful.Well for the kids. I got sick shortly after they opened their presents. Like out of nowhere it hit me like a ton of bricks, so sick. It was no fun. I ended up spending all day in bed. Aaron was like, "At least you got to lay in bed all day like you've always wanted." Which is true. I just wish it didn't happen on Christmas day. And that I didn't have a 102 temp and body aches and vomiting all day. Kind of ruins the whole thing really.

But thank goodness Aaron was home so I could rest all day. I couldn't imagine what the day would have been like if he wasn't here.

And now he's sick. Sicker than I was. So today I kept the kids as far away from him as possible.

This year for Christmas the kids got three presents (each) from Aaron and I, and two presents from Santa. We decided on Olivia's first Christmas that we would do three presents. Originally I think our plan was for three presents total (like Jesus got three presents...) but things have evolved. It's just so easy to go way overboard, and they have so many people who love them that they have more than enough stuff. Growing up all of our presents were from Santa. Aaron had "Santa presents" and then presents from his parents. I think it's a little confusing. But at least this way Santa doesn't get ALL the credit. Santa brought the girls Power Wheels. They were a huge hit and it's hilarious to watch them drive all over the basement. Today Olivia took Nathan for a little drive on her lap. He loved it.

I also got spoiled this year. Aaron got me an awesome, amazing, fantastic fancy DSLR (is that what it's called?) camera with lots of different lenses and whatnot. I am SO excited to learn how to use it. Right now every picture comes out pretty fuzzy. But I'm excited to start a hobby of photography. And lucky for me my mom also got me a camera. The one from her is more of a point and shoot. Granted it's 14 megapixel and also super fancy and awesome -- it's easy to use. I love them both. Here are some pictures from the camera from my mom...

Sparkly setting on my camera

Three

Two

One.. we're out of here!

Rambling thoughts

This time last year I was a few days away from my due date with Nathan. Super stressed about traveling right after my baby was to be born. Stressed about the end of the semester. And just life in general.

I don't even remember New Year's Eve last year. Really, like at all. Was I still in AZ?

All I know is that I like to live life one day at a time. Sometimes one minute at a time. And then things happen and life forces me to think into the future and make these big huge decisions about a thousand tomorrows from now. And I'm like, I can't even decide what to cook for dinner! How am I supposed to decide if and where Aaron should do a Pharmacy Residency. Of course it's a decision we are making together. And with the help of prayer and all that. But still. It stresses me out to literally not even know where to register Olivia for Kindergarten next year.

It is a stressful time.

But at least I'm not pregnant.

Sometimes that thought is my saving grace. Wow these kids are driving me crazy! At least I'm not currently growing another one.

That probably sounds horrible. If you think I am horrible for thinking this I invite you to come spend 24 hours with my little crew.

See how fast you get your tubes tied.

Kidding!

But really...

No, no, my kids are great. In fact, old blog, you might want to know that Nathan isthisclose to walking. He will just stand right up and I know he's just getting ready to take off.

Also, tonight Abigail told me I'm the best cooker in the world of soup. (I made a really yummy black bean soup for dinner. Which Aaron only gave a 4/5 so I won't bother sharing the recipe...)

Also, did you know Netflix got the rights to Disney movies? There are a few titles already available like Dumbo and Pocahontas. When I told Abigial Dumbo was on Netflix and we could watch it whenever she wants she happily exclaimed, "THIS IS MY MAGICAL DREAM COME TRUE!" Her magical dream. So cute. So we watched Dumbo, twice.

Oh I've also been meaning to tell you Abigail has an imaginary friend. Named Abigail. She will often talk about "the other Abigail". From what I know so far she always wears pink. And lives in a pink house. And she taught Abigail how to peddle her bike today.

Olivia is seriously my biggest helper. Most days. Tonight while giving the kids a bath, I was letting them play and Olivia took a wash cloth and cleaned Nathan's face for me. She is always trying to cheer him up if he's crabby and tonight she shared her ice cream with him. She really has a good heart.

Speaking of which, when she emptied her piggy bank and counted her money ($1.57) she asked me if she could go buy something for Abigail. I said sure when Dad gets home. Then she asked if she could just give it to an orphan. Or maybe that little girl in New Jersey whose house got washed away. Or maybe someone in Japan whose house got washed away. Finally deciding on an orphan since that is just the saddest thing she could possibly imagine. So we are sending her money to a local orphanage. She wished she had hundreds of dollars so she could give it to everyone. When I asked her if she would buy anything for herself she said, "I don't care about myself, Mom. I just like to help people. Isn't that what Jesus would do?" Yes, yes I think it is exactly what Jesus would do. And that's what I told her. And she beamed.

Maybe I do like these kids after all.

A Post To Make You Feel Better About Your Parenting

Last night I forgot to feed my children dinner. Completely forgot.

There is a story behind it, I guess. But the bottom line is I put my children to bed without feeding them dinner!

So here's the whole story. Maybe it will improve your opinion of me a little bit...

Last night I cooked dinner early while Abigail and Nathan were napping. It was just homemade burritos, that we could warm up later. So dinner was all done and ready by 4:00PM. When the little ones woke from their naps we watched a show, and then made those cinnamon Christmas ornaments you see all over Pinterest. It was a total mess. So when we were done I made the kids go straight to the tub. And then my brain just switched to our bedtime routine - totally forgetting they hadn't eaten since lunch. Kissed them goodnight and went downstairs to make some cookies for a project I'm working on. Still never even thinking about the fact that they didn't eat dinner! I had eaten so much while cooking, that I wasn't hungry, so I guess that was factor. Anyway I went upstairs to check on them and heard them chatting. I opened the door to tell them to go to sleep, and they both said, "But Mom, we're SO hungry! We never had dinner."

*slaps forehead*

Mom of the year, right here! And to make you feel even better about your own parenting skills I will tell you what I did next.

I gave them each a giant cookie that I had just made. To eat in bed. After they already brushed their teeth.

I need a  vacation. Good thing my husband is taking me away tonight!! I can NOT wait.

An eventful week.

Aaron was off all of last week.

Tomorrow it's back to the grind. I'm not looking forward to it.

Although this week with him home was anything but relaxing. We spent Monday getting everything done so we could enjoy the rest of "vacation".

Woke up Tuesday morning to the news that my friend was in labor! On her due date! Who does that?! Anyway we had arranged for me to watch her little girl while she was in the hospital. So for the next three days we had an extra little person around. Oh and then Obama won the election that night... it was a ROUGH night!

I have also been feeling extremely helpless as I watch my hometown grieving at the lose of our Jersey shore. My heart seriously broke. And I sat here racked with this feeling of wanting to do something but what can I possibly do from 2,000 miles away? We are living on student loans so it's not like we really have money to donate or anything. Well then I got a crazy idea about a cookie fundraiser. I made a facebook page and started taking orders. I got pretty busy. Baked dozens and dozens of cookies and raised $255 to donate. It made me feel great to be helping, but it was insanely stressful.

We did take some time to got the Phoenix Children's Museum, which is always a good time. Although it was really crowded and as we were leaving Abigail said, "Mom - I tried to have fun, but I was scared of all those people." She is kind of a homebody - like someone else I know. But really they had a great time. (Thanks for the Groupon Mom!)

Nathan is going to be 11 months this week.  !!! Time is crazy. He is crawling everywhere, but I'm sure going to just stand up and start toddling off any minute. He will stand for longer and longer periods of time. He walks around every pushing things around. Chairs, strollers, etc. His vocabulary is growing - added "ow" and "uh-oh" this week. And we're pretty sure we heard a "woof" when he was petting the dog. And then the rest of the time I'm pretty sure he's speaking Parsletongue. And he's our first child who likes Daddy best. It's sad being the reject parent, but after having Olivia and Abigail attached to me 24/7 it's nice to have a baby leap from my arms and into Aaron's.

Abigail and Olivia have the most volatile relationship. But they end every day as best friends. There have been quite a few nights lately where we find them in the same bed. Or hear them singing to each other. I love when they get along. Olivia is loving preschool. She is learning letter sounds now, and will be reading soon. I'm excited for her. Abigail and I do Mommy school most days when Olivia is at school. I cherish the time with her so much. She is such a sweet girl and tells me she loves about 526 times a day.

Just thought I'd do a quick update of what's been going on lately. There are so many times Aaron and I try to figure out what we did for say... Abigail's second Halloween. Were we in NJ? Did we stay in Erie? Let's check the blog! It has answered lots of questions. So future self.. there ya go.

Three Years Goes By So Fast

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why do Mormons Have so Many Babies?

I'm writing this post to answer some questions no one has ever directly asked me, but I know they've wondered. So for those of you too afraid to ask, here's the answer you weren't looking for.

If we have more babies we get a better spot in heaven.

KIDDING! Some people think we actually believe this, and I find it kind of hilarious.

Okay the truth is -- we aren't allowed to use birth control and we all like sex a super lot.

KIDDING again! (And did I just say the "s word" on my blog? Oh my gosh Aaron is going to make me delete this post.)

Mormons and Catholics have actually do have quite a bit in common, but forbidden birth control is not one of them.

So why then? Why do Mormons have so many babies? Well for one - that's a stereotype, and stereotyping is evil. I know plenty of Mormons with 2 or 3 children. Although, yes the majority seem to have at least 4. I mean my husband is 1 of 8. His mom is 1 of 9, and his dad is 1 of 8. So the stereotype definitely got started somewhere.  The truth is I really have no idea why.

But I can tell you what I think. Well I for one want six kids. This desire goes back long before my Mormon days. I don't know why 6 - but I know that's what I've always wanted. Although I won't lie, 4 looks like a better number every day. But I had this thought -- when I'm all old and can't have anymore children I can't imagine the pain of what it would feel like to wish I had had more children while I had the chance. I can't imagine being at that stage in life and thinking "Man I wish we never had those last two. They are so lame!"

And that is my complete reasoning for wanting six kids. I'm afraid I might regret it if I don't. Of course by the time I reach this post-menopausal age I will probably have lost my sanity as well as my ability to have children and maybe I will be wishing I had less children. Who knows?

So for me 6 is a number I have always wanted. And when I pray I feel like that is right.

We also believe that before we existed here on Earth our spirits are eternal and they existed in a premortal life.

Kidding! -- No, actually that one is real. We believe in a premortal existence. And I do believe my children were spirits before I gave those little spirits bodies. And I believe these spirits were designed to be mine. And I do believe there are more little spirits waiting for bodies. Little spirits meant to be part of my family.

I also believe that me and these little spirits of mine will all be spirits together again some day when we are finished with our bodies. I don't believe I was married "until death do we part". I was married "for time and all eternity". Which is like a really long time. And a really long time to hear some spirit child who never got a body complain. Okay, now that part I'm kind of joking about. I mean if I do believe in this premortal life and that spirits existed before, what does happen if there are 6 but I decide for my sanity's sake to stop at 3 or 4? Will those spirits never get a chance to have a body? I don't think so. I think God has a plan for that. I have no clue what -- but I think He has it taken care of so I won't worry.

Aaaaaaaaaaand this is the kind of post that happens when I don't sleep for days. Sorry folks. Also, this is in no way an announcement of any kind. Opie Baby #4 will have to wait a while longer before getting a body. My own body needs a break!

So uhh, did I answer your question?

Oh the age in which we live

Abigail had a toy phone and was playing around with it. Then she looked up and told her friend she was talking to "Siri".

Later her and Olivia were playing restaurant. Abigail ordered some chicken. Olivia informed her, "Sorry Abs, but our computer doesn't have the recipe for chicken. Let me see if I can download it on my phone."

These words would make absolutely no sense 20 years ago. It is crazy how much technology changes so fast these days, and how it's just part of my kids lives. Downloading stuff to a phone?! Seriously these kids don't miss a thing.

Mommy - Son Date Night

I should really start this post by saying how awesome my birthday was. I have the greatest people in my life. Thank you everyone for making my birthday so special. I had a great day that involved the consumption of many delicious meals, lots of loving phone calls and well wishes, and presents, and cards, and just all around a great day.

However, I kept expecting my husband to surprise me. He always does something to surprise me. Like remember that time he got me a camera and actually we were going to Disneyland? Okay that was for Christmas, but still - he set the bar pretty high for himself. So all day I kept getting sad when he didn't randomly walk through the door. Then I finally got over it, realized we're big kids now and he had to work. I made my own fun. 

Fast forward to this morning -- my sweet sister-in-law told me she wanted to babysit for me this morning so I could actually take a shower and get ready for the day. Really Aaron had asked her to babysit so we could go out to breakfast. I thought Aaron had left for work, when really he went to the gas station and got changed into his normal clothes. I prepared myself for a day of flying solo - including packing up the van for the daddy-daughter camp out this weekend. Well you can imagine my surprise when Molly asked me to come downstairs, and Aaron walked back through the door.

Kind of funny story - Molly told me she was going to watch the kids for an hour or so, so I could get ready. Well it doesn't take me an hour to get ready, but I figured, hey she wants to spend an hour playing with my kids, I'll take my time. So instead of getting dressed I checked some blogs. And then she called me and was like "Uhm, sorry I thought I had more time but I actually have to go do something for school." And I was like, oh bummer. So I hurried and got dressed, but she said now she had like a half hour so I figured I still had some time to lounge around. I may or may not have climbed back into bed hoping for a quick 15 minute nap, when Molly called me again. This time she asked me to come downstairs so she could ask me something. Sheesh, I thought. So much for my hour! Why is she rushing me to get ready? I thought this hour was my birthday present! Well it all made sense when I found out my husband had been waiting out in the car for me.

So we went to breakfast and some randrom Friday garage sales. It was great. Then he packed up the van and got everything ready for his trip. I took a nap with Olivia. It was a great day. Much better than the day I had been anticipating.

And it was topped off with a great night. Aaron left with the girls around 3. Nathan and I cleaned the basement (somewhat) and facetime chatted with my mom, and my aunt and Nanny. Then we went out for a slice of pizza. Then we came home and put on some PJ's and snuggled and watched some TV. He was not a big fan of How I Met Your Mother. He figured out how to turn the TV off. So I put him to bed... and watched 2 - okay 4 - okay possibly 5, maybe even 6 episodes of HIMYM... Think he'll sleep in tomorrow?? Let's cross our fingers.

He ate an entire slice of pizza. He is a piggie.
And I love his shoes. They actually stayed on his feet the entire night!

Playing Ketchup...Catch up, whatever.

Hello Lauren's blog, this is Aaron. I decided to hack in and write up a guest post while Lauren naps because we have been up to a lot of fairly fun things, but not a lot has gotten to the good ole bliggity blog.  I would put a comment here about how I know everyone is dying to know what is up with our family, if anyone has said something funny or eaten anything they really shouldn't have, but I won't, because I have pictures, and I think people enjoy pictures over reading anytime. So why am I still writing, you ask?  Good question...

A few weeks ago we were fortunate enough to get some tickets to the Diamondbacks game from a friend who had some extras, and so we decided we would go with the whole gang.  I have grown up loving the Diamondbacks, and Olivia and Abigail have both been to games, but this was Nate's first.  He seemed somewhat excited by all the noise, but was a tad nervous that the home team would get a "W"

Will they win???

I told you I like the ORIGINAL team colors!

Lauren wanted to get Nate to show his Dback spirit, but the only thing he showed was how quickly he can go from being happy to full on screaming...

Aside from the need to torture our children with oversized head gear, it was a good night.  Kids acted well, lasted until the 6th inning, lots of treats, and the Dbacks won!  Also, the roof opened up, which was lots of fun to watch. I have a video of it, but can't get it to load. I guess you dodged a bullet there (maybe).

  

We then decided that it'd been over a month since we shoved our whole family in a car and driven for at least 4 hours to go on a whirlwind weekend trip, and that meant it was time to go to Rocky Point!  In all seriousness, we went over General Conference weekend with my family to their place in Mexico.   It is a fairly large house on a beach outside of the town.  My kids loved being so close to the beach!

Note the old school playpen to keep Nate from munching on too many shells

Although, during low tide, I think I had to take like, 100 steps to get to the water...talk about roughing it, sheesh.

See? See how far away it is now?!?

But in all honesty, low tide was the best.  The waves almost entirely disappear, and the sea floor is so flat, you can go out forever and not have it too deep.  It led to some mighty expeditions by my brave explorers, wh to get pics:

And I am about 20 steps into the water at this point

 

"Look Dad, a SHE SHELL!! I think a clam live in this him she shell"                                     

                      As well as some relaxing while surrounded by gentle waters

                           

                           

While I kept trying to take pictures of the schools of fish that would swim all around...can you see them?

                            

NO? What do you mean no!  Oh well, just know it left me itching for fishing.  Of course we had to go hit up the night life

My kids did so great! They were up wayy past bed time and they just were fantastic, whether walking by the store fronts

Or rocking out with their aunts and uncles, dancing to La Bamba and twirling so fast I couldn't get an not blurry picture

Bed Time? We don't need no stinkin Bed Time!

Rocking with aunt Rachel

Will you slow down so I can get a picture?!?

Notice the rest of her is still moving so much its blurry, but at least she held her head still!

Much thanks to all my family, especially my brothers and sisters and their willingness to be such a help with the kids at the beach/ocean so that Lauren and I could do a little relaxing as well!

Well that just about wraps up this...BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

I guess I better maximize my time here on the blog, and besides, I have some more pictures! Everyone knows more pictures=more blog post.  One day I came home to find my family had been replaced by characters from Peter Pan

From Left to Right: Peter, Lost Boy, Wendy

And Tinkerbell, don't forget her! Or the rope, that becomes important...

 Unfortunately, that really only left one character for me to become, and so I discovered I was Captain Hook!

See, told you the rope would get into this.

It was all fun and games, until Tinkerbell decided she needed to use her magic to make me disappear, which happened to involve a filthy slimy stuffed duck that had been sitting in a dog's water bowl all day, me, and my poor work clothes.

Hell hath no fury like a Tinkerbell with a soggy duck...or something like that

Sure, she looks all cute and innocent, but there's a faint gleam of malice in that baby face

Last but not least, 2 days ago a minor miracle happened.  All 3 children took long, late naps.  So we decided we would all go to the high school football game.  Liv and Abbi were very excited to go see their aunt in the band, as well as watch the "baseball" game.  We even told Olivia we would stay for "both" games since she napped (side note: Olivia thinks that at all sporting events 2 games happen, since she wants to stay until the end of the game but we usually have to duck out at half time or midway through, so we...uh, well...lie and tell her there are 2 games and the first one is over.  Don't judge).

Making faces at Nate so he will stay happy

Really?  Zone Read Triple Option?  That's so last week coach...

So happy to watch the "second game"

Well, if you read this far you deserve something for your time.  But I am out of pictures, so you are free to go.