luv note

love her

she makes me happy every day of life

her words

her squeezes

her company

her love of capes (blankies tied around her neck)

her giggles

her crazy curls

her "prayer face"

her

Tummy Time

Does anyone else's kids act like
tummy time is cruel and unusual punishment.
Doc says he needs 20 minutes a day. So far we are getting about 11min. broken up over the course of the day. Too many tears. At least more than I can handle. 30 seconds into it and he has given up on happiness and resigned himself to utter misery. I wish there was some way I could make this experience less than dreadful. Any ideas!?! I'm all ears. (you'll have to speak up though I think I've lost at least 60% of my ability to hear since HE was born.)

all done.

Rosemary

Sunday we picked rosemary from our bush out in our front yard. I could not for the life of me get Finley to look at the camera. I exhausted every bribe and funny noise, I could think of. No dice. She was too busy stuffing rosemary into the drainpipe to bother posing for a millionth photo. Can't blame her.

Tucker's Blessing

We made it on time. Against all odds (our track record) we made it to church a 1/2 hour early. It was just enough time to get him fed, happy and back to sleep in time for the 9:00 am meeting to start. It was a beautiful blessing. I am so grateful to have been entrusted to raise such a precious baby boy. We are so happy to have been able to share the experience with our families.

We love Papas & Grandmommys

The grandparents came to visit for the weekend. We had so much fun spending time with family. We miss sharing our day to day lives with them. We visited the children's museum and braved the 38 degree weather for a visit to the zoo. We shopped till we dropped at IKEA. Finley loved swimming in pool and soaking in the hot tub at the Marriott. We endured a horrible dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, not because of the food, but the toddler who came with us. Chad actually stuck her in the naughty corner while we were there... nothing worked. Finally we enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Elephant Delicatessen; warm tomato soup with grilled cheese, fish & chips, fried calamari, tomato basil pizza and coconut macaroons. Truly a feast to behold. The highlighted event was Tucker's baby blessing at church. It was a wonderful weekend.

Look what I can do...yum

I guess I thought nose picking was a hobby enjoyed by those that are at least 3 years old and up. She really caught me off guard this weekend when she began to sample her findings. You've got to love the little discoveries in life.

Fun in February

Its been a while since I've posted. I broke my camera a couple of weeks ago while we were at the zoo, and apparently I can't post without pictures. These are the last of the the FUJI S5000 shots. What a great camera. We loved it! From here on out life will be shot with Nikon D80.

Tagged

Thanks A

The rules:

1) Link to the person that tagged you.

2) Post the rules on your blog.

3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.

4) Tag at least three people at the end of your post and link to their blogs.

5) Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Let the fun begin!




1) For as long as I remember I have painted my toenails. I don't think my husband has ever seen them not painted and I've known him since the 5th grade. Right now the color of choice is BLACK. In no way does it reflect my current mood.

2)I love to pop the collar of Finleys polos when she wears them. Not that she needs any more attitude then she already has, I just think it looks so darn cute and I love the 80's!

3) I am an organizer. I've been called Danny Tanner, and Martha Stewart (a little too often for my liking). Whether it's working as an event planner, or organizing under my kitchen sink I like most things simple, clean and beautiful. It's all part of my self diagnosed OCD. (Just don't come inspect my house right now or you'll call me a big fat liar!)

4) I LOVE Love love FROZEN jr. mints or york peppermint patties, I wish my mouth could always feel that cold and minty fresh, I also love myself a big mouthful of watermellon or grape hubba bubba. It brings me straight back to my childhood watching saturday morning cartoons with a big wad of gum in my mouth.

5) I'm a worrier, ain't no way around it. My family has deliberately stopped telling me anything but the positive because they know how obsessed I become with worry. No one knows this better then my hubby. I have to sleep facing the staircase so that I watch for intruders (so as not to be surprised when they are standing over me). I throw away food that even comes within days of its expiration (not very cost efficient). I worry constantly over the baby, is he too hot, is he too cold, has he been sleeping too long, should I wake him up, is he too full. The list of worry could go on and on but you get the point.

6) I am a terrible speller, one of the worst, I even surprise myself sometimes. (ie tequnique...no that can't be right). People ask me all the time, "How did you pass the 3rd grade?", or whatever grade it was that you learned how to spell. Lucky, I guess. I'm also atrocious at grammar, and use commas like they're going out of style only because I don't know their correct use. (I have Chad proof all of my posts before I publish them) Ironically I worked as an English grammar teacher at an international language school in SLC. Talk about sweating bullets everyday before work. Yikes!!!

Tagged: Sheri, Jessica, Ashley

For more ME click here

sweet tiny one

Congratulations to my brother Bryce and his wife Melinda on the birth of such a beautiful and healthy little girl.

We love you!
Fanny

february 20, 2008 on the night of the lunar eclipse
born @ 10:35pm
6lbs. 7 oz
20 inches long

Prank at Grand Central

I love it!!!! Totally wish I could have been there to see this.

Be Mine

Happy Valentines Day
We love you!

Swears like a sailor

Although not intentional this sweet little thing is notorious for making me blush in public. I love that she is learning to talk and express herself but I constantly find myself having to either do some quick translating or talk over her so loudly that people can't make out what she is saying. Here are a couple of examples of the word blunders I'm talking about which are usually preceded by "I want..." :

sit = s#@!

button = butt
fox = ...you get the picture

Not to mention her growing need to announce to the world over and over every time she has a messy diaper.

Yesterday was yet another perfect example of a red-faced mom trying to hush an overzealous child... We were at the Comcast store which may as well have been the DMV. It was a 45 min wait and the lobby was packed with impatient customers. Lucky for them we were there for some comic relief. As soon as I had parked the stroller my little sailor spouted out, "I sit, I sit, I sit..." probably close to 20 times loud enough for everyone to hear. It sounded nothing like what she was trying to say and more like a terrible curse word. I couldn't make her stop. I tried desperately to distract her with crackers, fruit snacks, her sippy, anything. People were cracking up but that was only the beginning. I had stuffed her so full of snacks that she unleashed the loudest belch I've heard followed by an even louder "toot" which she proudly acknowledged, "I TOOT! I TOOT!" Then came the announcement of the messy diaper. Is there no end to the madness! I tell ya the only thing I had going for me was the fact the Tucker stayed sound asleep the entire time.

21 months old

I love watching Finley as she develops her independence. She's become my little free thinking radical. I've been reading The Happiest Toddler on the Block, and have been working hard lately to: "Replace labels that tear (her) down with descriptions that build (her) up."

Labels that Hinder/ Descriptions that Help
Nosy/Curious
Picky eater/Knows what she wants
Wild/ Energetic
Stubborn/ Tenacious
Fussy/ Selective

Chad told me that one of the traits he loved about his mother was her ability to promote a positive self esteem in her children. I loved that! Dixie was such an amazing woman and mother. I've realized in my own limited experience as a mother that the more positive and patient I am with Finley the better listener she is. Duh!!! That's probably a no brainer for most parents. But it isn't always as easy as they make it sound in all those parenting for dummies books that I've been reading.

There really are so many joys of motherhood. Finley made us laugh so hard on Sunday when I caught her all "Dressed Up". She was wearing my winter hat and a pair of Tuckers teeny tiny socks and was reading her favorite book upside down. It was a great night we danced to some Yo gabba gabba I found on Youtube and were surprised with a darling cake made by the Laurels in our ward.