Do Over

When I was six months old, my mom took me to get my picture taken. The photo studio liked the picture so much that they asked to use it as a display. In return my mom got the 11x14 framed display portrait when they were done with it. This started a tradition of sorts. She couldn't have an 11x14 portrait of one baby and not the other three. These portraits have been hanging at the top of the stairs for years. Gordy and Leah carried on the tradition. When Little Man was 6 months old, I was so excited. I planned, budgeted and headed to the Picture People. I probably should have stopped when I saw that the photographer was still in high school. Maybe a more experienced photographer would have warned me about putting him in a striped outfit, which was adorable but incredibly distracting against a stark white background. Don't get me wrong, Little Man worked his magic, flirted with the girl and the pictures are cute... just not what I had hoped for.

Fast forward to Bug. He'll be six months old next week. I've since found a photo studio that I like much better and I'm excited again to take him for pictures. So how do I avoid having pictures of Bug that like but don't love? And if I do get ones I love, how do I not kick myself when they are hanging next to each other? May I please have a do over?

Stuff

Big things are happening here and if all goes well I will be carrying this in celebration:

My fingers are crossed, yours should be too!

A new discovery

Little Man had swimming lesson the last two weeks and is swimming like a fish. On the second day of lessons he was so wound up that he was running all over the concrete deck. I'm sure you can see where this going. He ended up with two badly skinned knees and a big scrape on his foot and ankle. He was distraught and I needed to go to the grocery store. So we were off with big promises of new band-aids. He was convinced he needed Scooby-Doo band-aids, until he saw these. Nascar band-aids. I was sure that I was dumping my $3 in the trash since he would want to change his band-aid every five minutes until the box was empty. But, no! These are by the far the best band-aids EVER. Not only did they have cool cars on them, but the %100 waterproof claim on the package is totally true. They lasted through swim lessons, pool day, and bath time. Plus they kept him from being able to pick at the scrapes, allowing them to heal much faster than the last boo boo. Bottom line, they are a little pricey, but were well worth the cost. (They also come in Strawberry Shortcake.)

The one with the most paper wins!

Our local scrapbook store is closing. Today they sent out an email that everything has been marked %75 off (!!!!!!!!!!). This is seriously dangerous.

Bye-Um-Pum-Pum

Wil is out tonight and Zizi was here helping me keep the boys entertained. Little Man was watching videos of himself and wanted to make a new one. This is what he came up with. Sorry about the shaky camera, he was making me laugh.

Here's a little video of one of Wil's favorite old Disney movies, The Happiest Millionaire. Little Man loves the Bye-Um-Pum-Pum song. As you can tell from his Old MacDonald, he likes to put it into other songs when he can't remember the words.

An unexpected vacation

It's been almost two weeks since I've posted pictures of the kids. I'm sure you are just beside yourselves waiting...

We spent a few days last week in Pennsylvania. We drove up on pretty short notice after finding out that a family friend had passed away. We then decided that if we were making the 3 hour drive and didn't have to be home for anything, we would spend a few days with Grandma Becker and Grandma Scheib. We enjoyed taking Grandma Becker to some of our favorite places to eat, Buddy's (birch beer milkshakes are delish!) and the Red Lion. Little Man loves the big lion face on the hostess stand. He'll stand and roar at it every time we go in there. We also spent a lot of time in the pool and on the porch at Grandma Scheib's. She doesn't have AC and the porch gets a fabulous breeze. It's a great place to relax, visit and let Little Man run around. And he was totally drawn to that porch. First, Wil's cousin has a dog named Trooper. Little Man called him "Trooper, the Red, Big Dog" after seeing a commercial for Clifford on PBS. Second, Michelle, the next door neighbor, also had two small dogs. According to Little Man there is a Mommy dog and a baby dog. Third, his new girlfriend. Check her out...

Apparently her name is Lisa and he's going to take her to the temple. Once he lost interest in his new friend, he went back to playing with Trooper...

While we were playing outside, Bug was sleeping. He missed a lot of the action. But he loved Trooper too. He tried to pull his ears and grab his fur. It was pretty darn cute. And just so he won't feel left out, this is Bug and Grandma:
He's getting really big and doesn't look anything like his baby pictures anymore. He's eating real food like a champ and totally losing interest in nursing and sometimes the bottle too. He would love to use one of Little Man's sippy cups. He's scooting all over the place and can even sit up on his own for short periods of time. I'm sure he'll be crawling sooner than I want him to.

A few of my favorite things (for baby)

This post is for Michelle and Amber. We are somehow related to them, but I'm still not sure I understand how. Michelle is also Grandma Scheib's next door neighbor. Amber just had a baby and Grandma (Michelle) is going to be taking care of her. When we were up there this weekend, I spent a lot of time talking to Michelle and sharing some of the things I've learned having 2 kids in 2 years. So here are some of the things I might be able to live without, but really hope I don't have to.

1. Baby Center. I love this website. I don't even know how many times I've looked things up to see if I'm overreacting or how to handle anything from baby rash and teething to potty training. It's a great resource.

2. Spray and Wash Dual Power. This stuff gets poop stains out of just about anything. It's amazing.

3. Mesh Feeder Bags. Little Man was an early teether and Bug is an early eater. These have come in handy so many times. I love them!

4. Avent bottles and pacifiers. There aren't a lot of parts and pieces to them and they rarely leak.

5. Mini blankets/spit rags. A friend of mine gave me the coolest blanket when Bug was born. It looked like the green one in this picture. I've made a few more and LOVE them. They are big enough to cuddle a newborn and small enough to not get in the way. Plus they are REALLY easy to make... it's two pieces of fabric sewn together.

6. Children's Place online outlet. Great quality and seriously good deals! (Right now they have stuff marked $2.99 and UNDER.)

7. The Noisemaker (aka Conair Infant Sound Therapy with Clock Radio). We got ours at Target and love it. Little Man and Bug both sleep better with the ocean waves setting playing in the background.

That's all I can think of for now. Anybody else want to add suggestions or things that have saved your sanity?

Things I learned this weekend

1. Don't introduce your baby to prunes while on vacation, even if he is constipated. It's a bad idea. Really. Bad.

2. Driving with a sleep deprived 2 year old during nap time = heavenly sleep.

3. A few days in Grandma's pool is the best medicine ever!

4. When your body hits exhaustion, it will tell you. Even if it has to yell at you. Loudly.

Movie #6

If you haven't seen this, then you really need to watch it. I'm counting the days until we meet Shana at the Muvico to see it!

Something new!

Our Relief Society has been trying to get together a cookbook as an Enrichment Activity for a while now. In efforts to get things moving we've started publishing it as a blog. Check it out. Answer the poll or leave a comment here and let me know what you think. I would love your thoughts and suggestions.

Thanks!

Letting Little Man Help

Yesterday, after the funeral of a friend we decided to see my paternal grandmother. The place we usually park was taken & so I pulled up to park down the street. As I maneuvered Herbie into place I cut the curb to sharply and we got a flat. I was really unhappy with this and took the kids & wife into the house. I called a few places to see if they could replace the tire. It had a hole in it that I could have put my thumb through.

I called my maternal grandmother to come and get the fam while I put the spare on & got over to Jeck's. Little Man loves to help me do any task that involves tools and he wanted to help me change the tires. I was explaining to him that it was to dangerous because the car could fall and one of us could get hurt. He stepped back up on the curb & then Herbie fell off the jack. I mean litterally the second after he was settled on the curb and I went back to work.

We were all greatful that nobody was hurt. In the end, I got the tire replaced & mounted & back home about an hour and a half later. I am thankful that Little Man listened and I am looking to putting him to work on the crib this weekend.

w.

Adventures in Shopping

We are taking an unexpected trip to Pennsylvania for the next couple days, which necessitated a run to Stuff-mart. I was already planning on meeting a friend for a quick lunch, so I left a little earlier than planned. I took Little Man with me, armed with positive reinforcement for good behavior. Despite being really tired, he was great at the store. He quietly ate his yogurt in the cart while I did my shopping. He picked out a bulldozer as a prize. He even made it most of the way to the checkout before trying to pull it out of the package. Then we headed to Panera for my favorite salad with Rachel. Again, Little Man did a great job, finishing off a fruit cup, a bag of chips and most of the blueberries from my salad. Unfortunately we were in desperate need of swim diapers, so we had to make one last stop. Enter the first in store temper tantrum. We made it all the way to the checkout, where we encountered the candy, a big fat "no" to the Lightening McQueen bubble bath that had snuck it's way into the cart, the s-l-o-w-e-s-t cashier on the planet changing the register tape and the irritated redneck in line behind us. I'm happy to say that we all made it out alive and without yelling. (It was seriously a banner day!) My reward? I got to have the following conversation in the car on the way home:

LM: Mommy, I cyean my Yight-ning shoes for you. I cyean them with my yips.
Me: What?
LM: I cyean Yight-ning shoes with my mouth. With my tongue.
ME: Gross! No! Don't lick your Lightning shoes. (watching him lick the soles of the shoes in the rearview mirror) Please don't put them in your mouth. Stop licking your shoes.
LM: (as he stopped to lick his shoes between each sentence) I yick it. I cyean my Yight-ning shoes for you. I yove you. I cyean for you Mommy. It's spesh-il. Velly Velly spesh-il for you.

Did I mention that he peed on his shoes last night?

The Upside to Unemployment

Today I realized how lucky I've been to have Wil home for the last 6 weeks. He was scheduled to work on the Temple grounds while it is closed for maintenance and had to be there at 7am. That means leaving our house by 6.

At 5:45am Bug woke up to eat and decided not to go back to sleep. About half an hour later, Little Man was up too. By noon, I was done and ready to have a break from them both. Luckily, Wil was home by 1 and both the boys are taking afternoon naps.

I know I'll adjust again to him being at work once the time comes, but for now I'm grateful for the extra sleep and all he does to help with the boys.