Uno Moss

Alphabet Days (SUPER LONG POST!)

2012-02-08T19:16:00.000-08:00

So we've been working on our alphabet. Lucy can sing the ABCs by herself, but her letter recognition needs some help.

I'm KIDDING!

She is only 2 :) I don't expect her to know her ABCs already, but I would like her to start becoming familiar with them. We've only done A and B so far. But we have had fun and she is already starting to ask me what certain letters are. She will also pretend to write and she'll say random letters as she scribbles!

Today we were at Daddy's school and she saw the Y on the hill. She pointed and said, "Yooke, mommy, a X!" She was SO excited to see it. I had to tell her it was really a Y and it stood for BYU. She called it an X a few more times, then she called it a Y.

Here is the list of sites that I got our ideas from. I am not very creative when it comes to coming up with these things on my own, so I am INCREDIBLY grateful to others who post their creative ideas for me to use!

OopseyDaisy Alison has a BUNCH of super fun lesson plans. She is very thorough in what she covers. She was a 1st grade teacher and is now a stay-at-home mom. Love her blog!

No Time For Flashcards has a list of upper and lower case letter activities. There are some cute ideas on here too!

Totally Tots has an Now I Know My ABCs section with books and activities to use for each letter! Our library never seems to have these books, but we have used the activities and found fun books while searching for theirs.

Making Learning Fun has some fun ideas for activities and printables to go along with popular books.

There are probably other sites that I have gained inspiration from, but I cannot remember them...So, if anyone finds them PLEASE let me know so I can give due credit! Thanks!

Our first A activity: "Ants on my As"

I cut out an upper and lower case A. We glued it on the paper (with a glue stick) and stuck our fingers on ink pads (I only had pink and purple-they were given to me) and put them on the As.

Then we added little legs and antenna to the fingerprints to make ants!

I think she had more fun with the ink than making them into ants.

But its all about the process, right?

We made an Apple Tree! Oh my, Lucy LOVED this! I told her I had a tree for her to color and she said, "Oh, Thanks Mommy!" "I color a tree?" I wrote As on the trunk and the tree top and she scribbled over them while she colored the pieces.

The 'apples came from some christmas pom poms that were falling apart. This was her first time using normal glue and she thought it was SO much fun.

I spelled out "apple tree' while I wrote it and Lucy wanted to write the words too. This was so much fun.

Next (and as in next I mean five minutes later) we made and ANT! When we finished the tree Lucy looked at me and asked 'What else?' So I asked if she wanted to make an ant and she got very excited! I pulled out her paints and let her pick the colors. Three colors of brown held her over for a while, but when she got to the head she decided she wanted some variation!

Our ant got some yellow, blue and green on it too!

Little man didn't want to feel left out...so he played with everything while attempting to climb up on the table and over to the paint!

Our finished 'beedle'...or ant. She calls it a beetle :)

(and the rag used to wash hands became her 'Mary' hat)

Little man got his wish....a wet paint brush.

The ant activity took a little longer than some attention spans would like, so I think when we do this in the future I will pre-cut and put together the pieces and she/he can just paint them.

To introduce our Bs we made some blue bubbles (using food coloring and a little bit of bubble mix) and using a straw colored our Bs!

Munchkin thought it was a blast!

The bubbles stopped getting blown when she discovered she could make bigger bubbles by blowing into the bowl!

We did have and incident of inhalation (hehe, i shouldn't laugh, but it was pretty funny) she quickly learned you only blow out with bubbles not in :D

Our Bubbled Bs

Our next B activity was making butterflies!

We used coffee filters, some pipe cleaners (chenille), and finger paints.

I didn't get pictures of her coloring them (drat) but she and little man really liked getting their fingers all goopped up with paint and smearing it everywhere :)

They now decorate our fridge! I love them!

Our other B activity (we're doing a couple more the next couple of days) was putting together a mini version of "We're going on a Bear Hunt". Lucy and Cole LOVE this book! I had never heard of it before (Devin knows the song) and we have had so much fun reading the book and doing different activities with it.

Here we are gluing on snow flakes to the snowstorm page.

Well, that's all for now folks! We have been having fun with our letters. I'm exited for the activities we have coming up!

Finding God's Beauty in Life

2012-02-08T12:12:00.000-08:00

When my Dad passed away last May my wonderful mother-in-law got me this plant. Honestly, I didn't expect this plant to last for very long. I have never been able to keep indoor plants alive.

It has been sitting in this window for 9 months now.

At the time it had dozens of beautiful flowers like this

It continued to bloom throughout the summer. Then fall came and it's blossoms came more sporadically...a few times it looked like it was giving up and I would water it and pick off the dead parts. I was sure it would die.

But I believe there is something special about this one....

it must like me or something.

I don't water it as often as I should...it really doesn't get that much sunlight in this little window...and still every now and then,

it gives me one of these beautiful little flowers.

It reminds me of our Heavenly Fathers love for each one of us, of His power and grace. That he would care enough to not just keep this plant alive, but blossoming in the dead of February...I am so grateful for these little reminders that seem to come when they are most needed.

These little blossoms rejuvenate me.
They help me to be happy and to have patience.

Look at all those little beauties!

They remind me
to see God's beauty in all things.

I've got the itch....

2012-02-03T14:46:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to cut my hair for a while....since it started falling out when Little man was 5 months old (he is now 10 months old). But I've enjoyed having it long for so long I'm afraid to go short again. Since I was die-ing for a change around New Years, I cut some bangs. I LOVE them, but it just wasn't a big enough change.

Reasons I'm afraid to go short?
~ Honestly I don't know why I would be scared to cut it all off....I've had short (and I mean short short) hair most of my life.
~First well, Short takes time, you can't just throw it in a pony tail and be done.
~Second, it won't keep me warm (but if I'm always putting it in a pony tail it's not adding to my warmth anyways. )
~Third, I don't know how my poor kids will react. My hair is Little Man's comfort.....When he is sad and I hold him, the first thing he does is reach for my hair....he plays with it while he eats (nurses)....Munchkin has recently started playing with it when I hold her too..
~ Sometimes I still love my hair. But those days are becoming fewer and fewer.

Why do I want to cut it?
~ I feel like my hair is too thin to have long....Just doesn't look as full as it did before it all thinned out.
~ It gets all tangled when I wear it down, and so I end up putting it in a ponytail.
~ Kids are constantly pulling on it...Cole thinks it is his handle.
~ I just want something different.

So...that is what I'm thinking....

Here are are my favorite styles....

Love Sandra Bullocks hair, and our face shape is the same so her short hair tends to look good on me...This would be a simple bob. Not very many layers, which is the only drawback to this one. And easy to style, curly or straight.

I really like the texture in this one. and all the layers :)

This one is just super cute and fun...Don't know if I want to go quite this short though.

I just like the wavy, layered look.

I cut my hair like this almost almost two years ago....I really liked it So I'm including two of this one.

SO...

What is your vote?

Do I cut it? If so, which style do you like best?

Or do I stick it out and wait a few more months?

Here is the most recent picture of my hair

I know...this is a horrible hair picture (but still cute right?)

Naptime

2012-01-28T13:56:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to take pictures of the kids sleeping all week, but I was finally inspired to do it today when I read this post.

Since Cole was born coordinating naps has been a struggle. Well, I guess I shouldn't say that. I LOVE it when their naps coincide, but I try not to force them to nap at the same time. When he was little, he never napped for very long so that was hit and miss, and then for a little while they napped at the same time, then for a month or two they were just missing each other for every nap! (that was rough and nice at the same time).

Cole now takes a morning and afternoon nap (most days) and Lucy just takes her one nap in the after noon. So, usually that afternoon nap is at the same time. This has been really nice lately. It gives me some time to get things done around the house, (or do nothing and spend the whole time on the computer), or work on my (many)projects that I have yet to finish

(that I started last year!).

I love the quiet that these afternoon naps bring. The other day I was standing in their door way watching them nap - they look so peaceful - and when I looked at Lucy she looked EXACTLY like she did when she was two weeks old sleeping on our bed..

this is the picture that came to mind.

I took this picture just a few minutes ago...

My how they grow...

Lucy has a few items that have to be with her when she sleeps (these items she also carries from her bed to our room at night when she wanders in...sometimes it's pretty comical to see her with her big bundle in arms), those items are: her blankie (that her great grandma Dixon made for her), a sippy cup of water, her purple baby (present from Oma on her 1st birthday), and 'baby jesus' another purple baby she got for her second birthday. This baby was dubbed 'baby jesus' after Christmas. He is also the baby she is resting her face on in these pictures...purple baby's head is on the other side.

She lays her blankie on her pillow so it's under her when she sleeps, then she places her two babies on either side and usually puts her arms around each of them, and makes sure the blanket is over their bodies but not their heads :).

Here is little man...oh boy I love this kid.

He just grows up more and more everyday.

One of my FAVORITE things about naps with Cole: When he starts to get tired we go into their room, turn off the lights and sing some songs. When he starts to relax and his eyes droop, I try to lay him down so that he can learn to put himself to sleep. He'll rub his face in his sheets and then turn his head to the side and peek through his hand or over his blanket and smile while he looks up at me, with a look that says, "haha, you thought I was sleeping? Psych!" Then I'll pick him up again, bounce for a minute, lay him back down and he'll go to sleep almost right away.

TANGENT - This is the blanket I made for him for Christmas. It was fun, but I'm not patient enough for a project to last for several weeks. But I am happy that I actually finished it! and he seems to like it enough.

Those are our sleeping kids!

Dinner time

2012-01-28T13:17:00.000-08:00

So we've been struggling the last little while with Lucy eating her dinner. She is usually a really good eater (especially when she likes what we're eating), but then sometimes she will just not eat anything...I know toddlers don't have to eat a whole lot to survive and they will eat more some days and less others. But I want her to get into the habit of eating at mealtimes. We try to have two snacks a day with three main meals - sometimes there are more snacks, it just depends on the day. So this last week Devin and I decided that we wouldn't do snacks after three o'clock, that way Lucy was hungry enough to eat dinner. Some days have been easier than others to say no to snacks after three, especially when she's crying for food (don't worry, I don't starve her! :D ). But when dinner rolls around and we're not having screaming and crying fits, and everyone is eating, I don't feel so bad anymore.

Jambalaya

a.k.a. best meal ever! (recipe below)

Cole LOVES it,

especially the sausage

If the above face doesn't convince you that this meal is good, then you should go and try it out for yourself.

(Okay, so she was eating a zuccini in this picture, but she ate everything on her plate - and then asked for more)

Here is the recipe (this is how I make my mother-in-laws version of it)

Jambalaya

1 kielbasa sausage

1 red bell pepper

1 1/2 cups of rice

1/2 onion

2 cloves of garlic

3 cups of chicken broth

optional: 1/2 tsp of red pepper (i'm not a fan of spicy so I just put in a tiny bit)

Mince garlic and onion. Chop up pepper. Throw it all in a pan with some oil, while you slice the sausage. Put the sausage in the pan and brown it. Then add the rice and broth and simmer for 20 mins, til rice is done and water is all absorbed.

SUPER simple and tastes amazing! You can always add a veggie as a side and there is your meal! A way to make it faster is to cook the rice separately while you are cutting up everything and by the time the meat is brown the rice is usually finished too!

I did it!!

2012-01-24T12:28:00.000-08:00

So for the last two or three months I have been making my own laundry soap! It's SUPER cheap, and I cannot believe how clean my clothes are. Seriously, I've compared this to store bought stuff and it really gets things out. For the last little while I've just been using it in powder form. Borax, washing soda, and fels-naptha soap. You can find the recipe right here. But, it's SUPER annoying to grate the soap and it takes way to long-- this lady grated it a lot bigger than I did, I found it works better if it's grated really small using the zest grater thingy-- anyways, I ended up just grating a little for each load...which isn't really cost effective, because I had no idea how much I was really putting into each load.

SO, finally last weekend I buckled down and made some of the liquid soap (here is the recipe for that kind).

It got really foamy on top and took overnight to settle down.

The finished product on my shelf! I like it in this form. It's a lot easier to work with. But it's really really thick....I think next batch I will try a little more water and see if I can thin it out a little more....right now it's plop-ing out of the jug :)

And because what fun is a blog post with no little kid pictures???

NO FUN AT ALL :)

Here are some pictures from playing bubbles yesterday!

We were trying to catch them on our feet!

Pretty sure Cole just likes watching them fall down.

Here he is trying to catch one!

Oh yeah, don't mind the red eye...I'm really lazy with photo editing and don't like going through and fixing that! So, pardon the evil eyes on the kids and just enjoy the pics!

Homemade finger paint

2012-01-24T12:14:00.000-08:00

We made some homemade finger paint! This stuff was interesting, in that it wasn't like normal paint at all. It was kind of jelly and not liquid. We had fun with it though!

The first time we played with it I had bad timing and little man needed to eat and go down for a nap. Luckily Oma(grandma) was there to play with Lucy while I did that.

Rainbow, circles

Keeping it fairly clean...

Then the following day I pulled it out again and let Cole get in on the fun.

Lucy got a lot more messy with it this time!

Cole wasn't as big of a fan and I thought he would be.

He was content with his straw and patting the one little pile I gave him

We got it in toes and everything!

We had fun! The stuff was smelling kind of funny one the third day so we threw it out. I think we'll experiment with this a little more and see if we can get it less goupy and more liquidy!

'Gingerbread' Nativities

2012-01-22T14:18:00.000-08:00

Forgot I had this in my Drafts!! So here are the Gingerbread Nativites a little closer up and you get to see who made which one!

This was so much fun thank you everyone for doing this!

Cloud dough!

2012-01-22T14:15:00.000-08:00

So there is this thing called Cloud Dough,

it's all over Pinterest, but I got it from this lady. It's just four and baby oil, but it makes this incredible cool 'dough'.

If you run your fingers through it it feels like flour,

but it's mouldable, and light, and smells great!

(it will make your whole house smell wonderful too!)

We had lots of fun playing in it.

The downsides we ran into were that Cole just wanted to eat it the whole time...not sure it would hurt him but the label in the baby oil said not to ingest--so I found myself just constantly telling him not to put it in his mouth--

and then they kept getting it in their eyes!

Which is no fun..So we ended up in the shower after every play session! Which was definitely a fun activity, but after three days of showering three times a day we decided to pack it away an wait a couple of weeks before we pull it out again. I'm tempted to try it with regular oil and see if it works! That way Cole can eat to his hearts delight and I won't have to worry so much.

Christmas

2012-01-22T13:53:00.000-08:00

Christmas was SUPER fun! My sister Esperanza come out from Alabama to visit and Patrick and Whitney (devin's bro & fam) came out from South Carolina to visit also! It was SO much fun to see everyone and get to spend so much time with everyone.

We made Gingerbread Nativities! Such a fun activity! I think we might make this a tradition :)

Here is the array of nativites made. I think everyone did an amazing job! It was so cool to see what everyone came up with.

Eve holding a very tired little Cole-mister.

Lucy wore this bow for quite a while and carried this toy around with her the whole night.

Cole thought Chastity's decorations were pretty fun!

Lucy and Sam throwing balls down the hallway! They did this FOREVER!!!

We got to participate in TWO nativities (both of which Lucy was Mary) and we had a blast. The result of her being Mary for both of them has been her running around the house all day long putting things on her head and saying she is Mary. Mommy and Daddy are now Wisemen and Cole is Joseph. She also has a purple baby that she has permanently named Baby Jesus :)

Nativity with the Wilsons!

The beautiful Angels -- they did such a cute job!

Sam sat on the couch the whole time!! Haha, he just watched everyone.

Mary and Joseph

Shepherd's visiting the stable

Angels and King Herod ( I LOVE Megan's costumes every year! For some reason Herod is always obese, but it is so fun to see what she comes up with!)

Mary holding baby Jesus - Cole and I were sheep for this one

Devin was a shepard in both! I think he fits the role pretty well don't you!?

Here is the Moss crew - Herod who I think was undergoing some extreme liposuction at the time :)

Christmas Morning these two were the first to be awake (no surprise there!) so we sat quietly in the Den and while they ate some of the stocking candy. Lucy ate this whole candy cane while Cole gorged on some crackers.

Opening some gifts...I think this was the only one Lucy actually opened!

She just wanted to sing and play! We had SUCH a blast. Such a wonderful day and break! We were VERY sorry to have gotten everyone sick! I'm pretty sure during the month of December we spread our cold around the WHOLE country! Sorry to everyone that we infected.

Special Moments

2012-01-18T20:32:00.000-08:00

Tonight before bed Lucy asked to read more scriptures instead of the regular books. I thought 'great!' and so we went through the New Testament Scripture Stories. We read about when Jesus rides a donkey into Jerusalem, then read about the first Sacrament. I helped explain about how we need to think of Jesus and his body and his life while we eat the bread and drink the water on Sunday. Then we got to the Garden of Gethsemane. (The scripture stories are pretty simple, but I still feel like I need to explain them in Lucy terms) so we talked about how Jesus felt, and what he went through in the Garden. At one point I almost started crying, and I looked at Lucy and the look on her face and in her eyes was priceless. She got it. She was feeling the spirit. You could see it. I'm grateful for moments like these. They don't come often, but when they come they are amazing. The gospel is simple enough for a two year old to understand. That is the beauty of our Heavenly Father's plan. I am overwhelmed with gratitude and awe that I have been entrusted with the gift and responsibility of raising these two precious spirits to be righteous disciples of Christ. I pray that I can do a good job, and teach them to be like their savior.

Visit to Vegas

2012-01-08T15:20:00.000-08:00

The Wednesday before Christmas we made a last minute decision to drive down to vegas and spend a day with my older brothers and sister. My oldest brother was going to be moving to California and none of these siblings had met my children yet either. I know you are probably thinking wow you really don't see your siblings very often do you? Well, you would be right. We don't get to travel much since we are still in school. And since all of my siblings are still in school we don't really get to see each other very often. Someday when we are all graduated and rich (hehe) that will hopefully be different :)

Adren (Faith's son), T, and Dev and Lucy. Adren brought some legos with him and was showing us the cool things he could do with them. That kid is pretty cute, and fun. It was nice to see him again.

The kids pulled out all their toys and played together for a while. Cole really liked to watch Adren play.

Faith, T, Rodney, Devin. All sitting around talking. This is what my family does when we get together...Talk and eat :) I'm not complaining. We just do a lot of it when we're together!

Rodney and Ximena

Lucy, Adren, Rodney playing some game on Faith's Ipad

My big brother T

Faith and Adren

Rodney in the kitchen. This was his domain. I knew he liked to cook but I didn't realized just how much he liked to cook. I tried to help, and he allowed me to stir some of the noodles for a minute :) Haha! It was pretty funny. He is one amazing cook though. I loved his style of cooking, and we had a scrumptious lunch and dinner while we were there.

I wish we had been able to stay longer and had made trips down there sooner. But you can't change the past and we'll just have to be better about visiting in the future.

Dad's Grave

2012-01-08T15:04:00.000-08:00

In February of 2011 my Dad was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. They gave him three months to live. Since Cole was due to be born in April we knew I had to go as soon as possible. The first week of March I flew out to Arkansas with Lucy to see my Dad. It was a very bittersweet reunion. I hadn't seen him since the year before Lucy was born and we hadn't always had the closest relationship. He was a hard man to love but I still loved him. Hearing of his diagnosis was shocking and saddening but in part it was almost relieving. He had had some major health issues for many years and was struggling in many aspects of his life. I was sad (for lack of a better word, i'm using sad, though it doesn't begin to reflect my feelings) that he was going to pass away, but I was happy that he would get to leave this life and be free of the pain and sadness he was experiencing. And hopefully find the truth he sought after his whole life.

It was hard to see him in his condition. But it was nice to be with him for a few days and for him to get to meet Lucy. When Cole was born we called Dad up and told him Cole Michael Moss had been named after him. He was pretty happy to hear that. In early May Dad passed away. Because of a lack of funds, we had to make the choice of going to see Dad while he was still alive or going out to his funeral. I chose the former.

Since I missed the funeral, we made sure to stop by the cemetery where he was buried while visiting Arkansas for thanksgiving. It was good closure for me to spend some time at his gravesite. Up until then it never quite seemed final or real. I was glad to get to visit and see where he is buried.

We have several pictures of Lucy sitting at the grave of her namesake,

and we wanted some with Cole also.

Dad doesn't have a headstone yet, but it was marked with some pretty flowers and a white rock.

I miss him and love him, and hope that he is happy where he is now. I know our Heavenly Father is merciful and understands our hearts and desires better than our fellowman ever could.

Thanksgiving

2012-01-08T14:45:00.000-08:00

We were so blessed this holiday season to get to see my ENTIRE family. It all started out with Thanksgiving in Arkansas. It was filled with a lot of firsts. Mom got to meet Cole for the first time. My younger brothers got to meet the kids for the first time ever. They kept saying it was weird to see me as a mom :). It was Devin's first time in Arkansas. First time we all prepared the thanksgiving meal! It was SO fun.

We had a lot of down time to just visit and talk with mom and the boys. I LOVED IT! I was sad the kids were not feeling so great -- they really don't do well away from home for extended periods of time. But they were troopers and had fun for the most part.

We discovered some books in mom's storage.

The kids had fun reading them :)

Esperanza, Mike, Devin.

We were all standing around trying to figure out how to get rock band working...

We got it working...here are the boys rocking out :)

Mike making a silly face...I just had to get a picture of it!

Dev trying out the drums!

My 'little' brother Jacob....first time seeing him in 3 1/2 years. So nice to visit!

We were blessed with nice weather! And got to play in mom's big yard quite a bit.

Yes they were still in their pj's in the middle of the day :) Sometimes getting outside just can't wait!

Mike trying to copy Cole's scrunch face -- he did a pretty good job!

Here are some sibling pics of the four who were out there together!

LOVE this pic!

We did a small gift exchange with Mom while we were out there.

Lucy surpressing her excitement over the horse mom got her!

Cole didn't know what to think of the cars...But he LOVES them now :)

We got to spend a whole week in Arkansas, and it was wonderful! I love being a part of a big family but it is so hard when you don't get to see each other often.

LOVE YOU ALL!

Duck Pond

2011-12-18T22:18:00.000-08:00

There is a duck pond south of campus that we try to visit regularly when it is warm. Our last visit was the first week of November. It was cold, and I think the ducks had been a little deprived of visits because they were a lot more friendly then we had seen them all summer/fall. Here is a video and some pictures of our friendly ducks.

These ducks were jumping to get the bread out of her hands. They were successful so many times that Lucy just gave up and told me to feed the ducks. If I put Cole too close to the ground they would bite his fingers too!! It was insane. We had been there every week over the summer and they had never come this close or tried so hard to get the bread.

Because they did that to her, I let her do this :)

(It's only fair)

Cole and Lucy sitting on the ground just watching the throngs of ducks swarm around them.

Cole is still deciding what he thinks of them.

Lucy all bundled in her coat and scarf. Dispite the sunshine, it was REALLY cold that day.

Cole kept tabs on purple baby while Lucy chased more ducks around.

We were such good friends by the end that the ducks followed us all the way to the street

....I think they just wanted our bread...what do you think?

Lucy got a kick out of the ducks following us. We ran around the boardwalk twice just to see if they would keep coming. They did :)

Vacuum

2011-12-18T22:02:00.000-08:00

Yes, his mouth is on the vacuum....

this is the first thing he 'crawled' for...

Every time I turn on the vacuum, Cole moves as fast as he can towards it. I don't know why he likes this feeling so much, but he really does think it's fun. Lucy never liked the vacuum and only lets it touch her if Cole is right there too!

He thinks it's fun when it gets his feet and hands, but he really likes it to suck on his face.

He is kind of weird but we love him!

Halloween

2011-11-11T13:37:00.001-08:00

I know this is late, but better late than never right? Halloween was fun this year. We all dressed up -- which doesn't normally happen. I hate deciding on what everyone should be...but once we figured it out I had a BLAST making the costumes. Lucy was Rapunzel, from Tangled. She LOVES this movie....she can sing most of the songs from it, that is how much she likes it. A few weeks ago Patrick was in town, and made a comment about how Cole looks like Donkey Kong when he smiles.....so that is who Cole became. Devin was a Cowboy. And myself....well....you can decide :)

I got the idea for Lucy's hair from this tutorial I found. It was fun, and I thought she would like it but I was wrong. She wouldn't try it on so I couldn't really finish it. And then she would only wear it for pictures. So maybe for next year we can try it again? I don't know. We'll see. For Cole's costume I pretty much winged it. I got some plush felt, and traced some of his sweat pants and a hoodie that fit him a little loose. They were fun to make and I'm happy with how they turned out.

On Halloween we ended up carving pumpkins! It was a lot of fun. Lucy has never been a fan of touching gross looking or feeling things. So she stuck with the spoon for scooping, and had a lot of fun taking the top on and off. She also helped with some of the tracing on the pumpkin.

Little man on the other hand LOVED the pumpkin guts. We had a big bowl out filled with them and he went to town. No hesitation, just dug right in. He did eat some, but we were careful to not let him get big chunks. Here is a video! (amazing right?? I have one on here?)

Trick or treating was fun. We went to a potluck in our neighborhood. Then headed around a couple of cul-de-sac that had fun lights and decorations. Lucy wouldn't really say anything when we knocked on the doors but was all for the candy she got everytime. She did get a little scared by some of the decorations. Cole LOVED all the lights, and I think being outside when it was dark was a lot of fun for him too! After about 5 houses Lucy asked to go home. She thought she had hit the jackpot with the amount of candy she got. And thoroughly enjoyed eating it. Devin said he is happy if she keeps thinking that a couple of houses worth of candy is a lot :)

Happenings

2011-11-04T21:57:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been so long since I've posted! I got lazy and then got behind which = too intimidated to tackle all that...

SO now I'm using one post to almost catch up! :)

Hope you enjoy the pictures...

I have been told on several occasions that my kids are a lot like me....

Sometimes I have brownie cravings...(okay I have them alot!)

But this time it wasn't me who suggested it! Lucy asked to make brownies one day :) So I let her do almost every step of making them! It was fun, and we thoroughly enjoyed it!

Cole got a hair cut..

Cole's hair has gone through some major transformations since he was born...

remember this head of hair?

It curled when it was wet...

Started turning a little red....

turned a LOT a red...

started thinning out...

thinner....

Aaaannnnd all gone! (okay, mostly)

do you see those random hairs hanging down to his eyes???

those are newborn hairs...there were only say about 15 left....haha,

but they were weird, and long, and kind of groady looking...

So they got snipped!! :)

We like to save boxes and use them as blocks!

sometimes a stool is required.

And we've been really happy!

Can't cha tell?

One cold saturday morning we went to watch Auntie Yainey (Elaine) run!

Here's Lucy trying to find her in all the other runners

and here she comes!!

Playing under the sheets is another favorite recent past-time

Cole gets all sorts of excited when we're under there!

This particular time we were using it as a quiet time activity while Lucy napped...

Once upon a time,

this little girl was potty trained....I thought....

well no longer is that the case (did that sound like Yoda?)

We are full-fledged diaper wearers again...

don't ask what happened -- I honestly don't know :l

Lucy loves this hat

We're revisiting this area of our lives after thanksgiving when our holiday travels have ended...

All Growed Up!

2011-09-25T21:48:00.000-07:00

Lucy's been asking me for ponytails lately!

I feel like they make her look like a little girl...can't decide how I feel about that....

Little man just chillin' while we get ready for the day

Yo?

She tells me exactly how many she wants and where she wants them! Haha, I love it!

Is this how you wear glasses??

Nope...this is how you wear them mom! :)

We were catching bubbles on our hands with socks.... then she decided to wear them like she was supposed to

Mirrors

2011-09-25T21:36:00.000-07:00

Cole likes mirrors....one day Devin placed him in front of it and he just went nuts!!

He'll bang on it and talk to it, and just has so much fun!

He kept getting startled when I would tickle him...

haha, it took him a while to figure out that I was the same person and the person in the mirror!

(Don't mind the dirty mirror)

So I let him play in front of it as much as he like :)

Bed Head

2011-09-25T21:27:00.000-07:00

Do you get bed head??

...This one doesn't really....

But this one definitely does!

check this out!

purely bed made :)

And just because he's stinkin' CUTE!

Gotta love that smile!!

Brushing Teeth

2011-09-25T21:21:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of what it usually looks like....

Thankfully brushing of teeth isn't something we've had a major struggle with! For the most part our kids love it.

Windy Mornings

2011-09-09T12:28:00.000-07:00

The mornings are getting cooler and the wind sticks around for a lot longer now. I've decided I like the Fall. I used to rant and rave about how much I like the summer. I do still like it, I love the sun. I like the warmth, I love being able to go outside and play. But I'm starting to warm up to the Fall. This morning we went outside to play. And I ran back in to grab the camera. I always want to take pictures of the lil' ones outside but I never remember to bring the camera.

So today I did.

And I actually got some really good pictures!!

Cole is starting to swing more.

He likes it alot--as long as you don't push him too high :)

He's still got those blue eyes. And some cute chubby cheeks!

My little berry picker.

She's learning to recognize which ones are 'wheaddy'.

I love how she'll get right up in there.

Lucy pushing Cole for a little bit.

Slowly but surely she's getting used to the fact that he likes doing the things that she likes to do too. Sometimes it's fun and exciting, and other times it's hard to share and be nice.

But she is a great big sister and these too have so much fun together. Being a Mom really is one of the greatest things in the world, and I am so blessed to be one!

New Blogger setup is weird...

2011-09-09T12:09:00.000-07:00

I don't think it is any easier to navigate than the old one. It just took me five minutes to find out how to write a new post....the big orange button. But for some reason that orange button (pretty much the only color on the page) didn't catch my eye. I think I need to go back to the old set up so I can blog more efficiently...Has anyone else tried it out? What do you think about it?

Blanket Fun!!

2011-09-01T10:15:00.000-07:00

OKay, So I have this book with a gazillion activities to do with your baby from 0-12 months. It has some pretty fun ones and others that have never quite entertained my kids. Anyways, I had never done this with Lucy and thought Cole might like it. Well, the baby is supposed to be propped up on the rolled up blanket-- gives them good exercise and a "new perspective on their surroundings". Haha, I guess Cole likes his normal perspective :)

ENJOY!!

NOTE: okay after watching the video it takes him a while to roll over the blanket. When we first put him on it he would just roll and roll and roll over it. He wouldn't stay propped up like he does the first couple of minutes...might have something to do with his toys being right there :)

Ninja Cole

2011-08-31T11:22:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've been saying I'd get videos on here for a while, so here is one! haha!

Cole was being funny while playing with his sesame street toys. He looks like he's doing a karate chop!

hope you enjoy!!

More to come....

Potty Training

2011-08-15T18:43:00.001-07:00

I think we're almost there!!!

Lucy has been potty training for the last couple months, mostly just

here and there stuff.

But the last couple of weeks I've really tried to do it more often,

and she's finally getting it. Up until the last couple of days she would tell me after or as she was going, soo we never quite made it to the potty.

Then,

a couple of days ago she told me twice, and held it both times. And today she has gone almost every time in the potty (except while we were out of the house!!)

Since it is going so well we went and got her big girl panties and she is thrilled!!!!

She picked them out, carried them all throughout the store and all the

way home until she got to put them on.

I'm excited for her to be potty trained. For obvious reasons but also because I think she feels like a big girl. Devin was talking to me today and said he feels like she has grown up so much just this past week. I feel that way too! She's talking a lot more, and just acting like a little girl and not so much like a baby. I know it was bound to happen sometime, but I'm still taken back by how sudden it seems to happen.

Camping

2011-08-15T16:14:00.000-07:00

We went on a ward campout this last weekend and it was SO much fun! (I kinda wish it had been longer). I was a little nervous about how it would all go, but our kids like being outside so much it was a blast. They loved it. Lucy liked being with all the kids and just being outside. Cole thought it was great. Him and the outdoors is like PB&J. They just go together. At 10 when we decided it was time for them to go to sleep they were still wired! It took quite a while for them to calm down enough to sleep. Our tent was a 2 man tent but just a tad too small for the four of us. Cole didn't mind, he slept great! Lucy didn't mind either, she thought it was so fun that we were all there together. But Devin and I didn't get a whole lot of sleep, with Lucy flailing and crawling all over us all night. It was so much fun, we are going to try it again before he heads back to school.

"Chubbalubbs" and "Munchkin"

2011-08-07T19:23:00.000-07:00

The MUNCHKIN

~Lucy is now 24 1/2 lbs ("she's in the 45% for he age that's the highest she's ever been!!" Quote from the doctor, haha). She's 31 inches tall. She's kinda petite, but that's fine, she's a girl. And her personality more than makes up for any thing she may be lacking physically.
~She loves to be outside. If we could play at the park all day she would be in heaven.
~Jumping on the tramp is a must everyday --several times a day. The other day she got on with the sprinkler under it and had a blast! She was on with a couple of boys who were older and bigger and she took it like a champ. Unfortunately she's been hyperextending (we think) her knee lately, so we might need to limit or stop the jumping for a while...
~She still loves swinging and picking berries from the garden afterwards.
~She enjoys our walks in the morning and lately has taken up walking more than riding in the stroller (while this is great and fun, I now need to find a different form of exercise because our walks no longer do it ;( ).
~Lucy LOVES LOVES LOVES animals. Of every kind (well okay, not bugs, she just steps on them or pushes them to go another way). She has recently discovered spiderwebs and isn't quite sure what to think of them yet.

~She is still obsessed with her babies. Tries to feed them, the come to the park with us, they get baths, go shopping (upstairs).

~Oh yeah, and when we really go shopping she has to have her purse, and her crown :) Yes, she wears a crown everywhere. (There was a Relief Society lesson a few weeks back about being children of God and we all got these little sparkly crowns.) Lucy loves it and takes it everywhere with her.

~Lucy talks all the time, and learns new things everyday.
~She likes to read but has a hard time reading more than one book at a time...probably my fault, i don't make the time to sit an read a lot anymore...
~We are working on potty training...it is a work in progress :) enough said.
~Lucy enjoys playing with other kids, mostly babies or kids older than her. She has a really hard time (sharing, etc.) with children her age. Probably because they are a lot like her and she can't get her way all the time :) Haha, it's funny. But it's really good for her to play with other kids because she's learning how to share and be nice.

Watching 'dunder' and 'nightning' with aunts and cousins

~She is such a little girl. She loves any and all things cute. If the thinks its cute or sees her aunts wearing cute things she wants to do it too!

Our CHUBBALUBBS:

~He is four months old, crazy.
~He can role from his stomach to his back--doesn't do it all the time but sometimes.
~Loves good food...bread, watermelon, grapes. Doesn't like baby cereal or applesauce.
~Laughs now. especially when tickling or playing games with him.
~He is ticklish on his feet, ribs, stomach...
~Watches Lucy all of the time. Thinks she's pretty funny too!
~He loves jumping on the tramp as well. If he is fussy and we don't want him to sleep quite yet, we can take him to the tramp and he'll calm right down. Outside does the same thing pretty much. If he is just fussing and crying and we can't get him to calm down, we take him outside--works like a charm.

--Okay, so I know that his eyes look huge in all of these pictures, it's just because of the flash!! His eyes do look normal most of the time :)

~He sleeps great. He will sleep from 8 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. with one to two feedings (for the most part--we still have our random nights where he wakes up every two hours, but that's only once a week or so). Sometimes he sleeps better than Lucy.
~He is doing great with his shots. His legs don't seem sensitive or swollen and he has been happy as ever.
~He weighs 14 lbs 11 oz. He is 24 inches long.

~I'm pretty sure he knows when Lucy is supposed to wake up. Almost every afternoon when Lucy has been asleep for an hour or so Cole will start yelling. He's not really mad, or upset but he'll just yell and yell, and if we're not in our apartment he yells louder (I might be imagining that, but it seems like he does) . Then as soon as he hears Lucy he stops. In retrospect its funny, but in the moment, I really don't enjoy it.

We are so blessed to have these two little ones in our lives. I love them to death!!

We've got a talker!

2011-06-15T16:02:00.000-07:00

So this video is four and a half minutes long....but it's worth it!! Cole loves to 'talk' to us. Sometimes he tries so hard to talk that nothing comes out! I love his smiles and how interested he is in sounds. There is a part in here where I think he is trying to laugh. That is the first time I've ever seen him do that! Anyways, he just woke up and is eating his hand, I should probably go.

I hope you enjoy it!

Recent Happenings

2011-06-15T15:55:00.000-07:00

It's been warm (actually hot! FINALLY) around here so we filled up the little kiddy pool and have been enjoying the fun weather! We swim, play in the sand, swing, go to the park, and go on daily walks. It has been WONDERFUL! Here are some pictures of what has been going on...

Cole is getting CHUNKY! So cute :)

Lucy's favorite movie is Bolt...here is her playing with her 'blankie' while watching.

This is how I found her...I have a love/hate relationship with this item...I'm not quite sure when we'll wean her from it but it will need to happen within the next year, probably.

I had a birthday, shout hooray! Haha, Devin got me a chocolate cake from Costco (I LOVE THESE CAKES!!!) mmmm....there is a reason I only get to have them once a year :D Lucy loved the cake, and smashed her hand in it before it was ever cut!

The final product :)

We now have a red haired boy!! I think we wash more color out every time he gets a bath. And the sun exposure apparently turns it red?! Awesome, he is absolutely adorable! ;)

Lucy and I painted our toenails and fingernails one day! That was lots of fun!

Lucy likes to dress herself now :) or at least pick out her clothes. She pulled this hat out of her drawer, climbed up on her bed so she could reach this coat off of her dresser and proceeded to get ready to go 'atside'... ... don't worry we didn't go out with all this get-up on. But I thought it was super cute how she put her hat on (she did it this way repeatedly)

Getting tan in the sun! Swimming is so fun, I can't wait to go to a big pool and let Lucy try out her floatie from last year....

This is how Cole usually spends our swimming time...napping in the shade or just playing on his mat. He loves this thing!

Lucy coming to show me something

When her diaper fills up with water she looks like an ant...with a big abdomen. It is hilarious! I tried to get a picture but failed....this pic doesn't do it justice. I'll have to get a video one of these days and post it.

Kisses from Cole. Man I love this kid!!!!

Sharing is Caring

2011-06-06T12:02:00.000-07:00

Lucy LOVES Cole. She makes sure we know where he is at all times. She always has to tell everyone about him. She loves giving him hugs and kisses (sometimes more than he likes to get!). She loves to hold him on her lap. Even when he starts to get fussy, she'll just ask for the pacifier and burpcloth, or ask for a blanket. She's not phased by him being upset and feels that she is just as capable as we are at calming him down. It's really funny, I thought she wouldn't want him when he got fussy, but she proved me wrong.
He definitely loves her just as much. He loves to watch Lucy run around and play. He gives her BIG smiles when she comes to talk to him. He will complain and give her an earful if she gets too rough or loves on him too much. But for the most part they are becoming good friends!

I propped Cole up on this pillow so he could see what was going on...Lucy had to give her dolls pillows to rest on too!

Look at that smile! He must think there's something good on that spoon!

Lucy just recently became interested in stuffed toys..

But now she really likes them!

Whatever Lucy does she feels Cole needs to be doing it too!

"What do I do with this?"

Love this face! Classic Cole expression :)

I'm so happy that they get to grow up so close in age! These two are such blessings in my life, they teach me so much...I only hope I can teach them as much. I am so grateful Heavenly Father has entrusted them in our care. We couldn't have asked for anything better!

2 Months Old

2011-06-05T21:44:00.000-07:00

Cole is a funny kid. He loves to be held and usually will sleep better if he is held, but sometimes he just needs his floor time. We've had times where he will just cry and cry and after we've tried everything, we'll put him on the floor and he quiets right down, and even gets happy and smiley! It boggles my mind but I guess we all need our personal space sometimes.

Cole turned two months old this week! (Can you believe its already JUNE???) I can't. Time sure does fly. I'm trying to make the most of it and enjoy this time I have with my children. They are growing too fast! He had his checkup on Friday and it all went great. Our little man is getting chunky and we've now got the proof! He weighed in at 12 lbs! and is 23 inches long! He gained 4 pounds in 6 weeks! That is amazing! And he grew two inches. This kid. I knew his cheeks were getting pretty big, cause he grew out of all his 0-3 month rompers and some of the onesies; and that double chin seems more prominent everyday. But I had no idea he weighed so much! I'm happy he is healthy and doing well!

Here are a couple of pictures of Cole and Lucy on his two month birthday:

Okay so maybe it's more than 'a couple'...but I love these kids and can't get enough of them!!

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-06-05T21:00:00.000-07:00

We had a fun and full weekend! I've REALLY been wanting to go to the zoo again, and thought that Saturday would be the perfect day to go. We were going to be in Salt Lake that afternoon for Devin's Grandpa's birthday party so I figured we could spend the morning at the zoo. Thankfully the weather was still nice so we headed up! Sadly the zoo was PACKED! Parking went about a mile out from the zoo and the line was ridiculously long. Knowing there was no way we would get to see the animals (and fighting those kind of crowds would be no fun anyway!) we decided to check out Wheeler Farms (a state historic farm). Lucy has LOVED going to the Farm at Thanksgiving Point so we thought it would be a good replacement for the zoo. Well, it didn't disappoint! (Sorry no pics). It was really nice and relaxed. We just walked around and followed all of the animals around. It was really fun, and we got to see some fun things! We even got to feed the horses grass! Lucy loved it and we are proud to report we didn't loose any fingers! (sadly a little boy there did get his fingers bitten :( ).
Monday we went to visit some graves of Devin's family. Here are some pictures of Lucy with her namesake

That night we topped it all of with a BBQ with some friends!! It was a wonderful weekend!

Bathroom = Toilet

2011-05-22T21:09:00.000-07:00

The other day Lucy was giving her baby dolls baths in some bowls full of water, but one of the dolls was on the dryer where she couldn't reach it. I was feeding Cole at the time so I told her she would have to wait. After running back and forth a few times she started pulling Cole's bouncy chair out of the bathroom. Well, a dirty rag had fallen on it and I didn't want Lucy playing with it so I asked her to "throw the rag back in the bathroom because it's dirty." She looked at me while I asked her a second time, and kind of gave me a, 'what-ever-you-say-mom' look...She picked up the rag and headed for the bathroom....A few seconds later I heard the toilet lid close....

I guess I should teach her the difference between bathroom and toilet :)

The Kiddos

2011-05-09T14:04:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Lucy and Cole and random stuff from the last little while:

Lucy asks to hold Cole all the time!

When she is done this is the face she makes. She'll start pushing him away and say 'done, done'.

Usually she points at his face and and talks about the different parts.

One day she decided to climb up the changing table while I was changing Cole's diaper.

....and she thought it was pretty funny!

Would you guess this face is happy? She thought it was :D

Discovering that she can climb through almost all of the holes in the jungle gym.

Cole's Sunday outfit! One of our good friends made him the shirt!( Isn't it cute!!) I think he looks all grown up when he wears this!

I discovered that he likes to lay on my shins and look around!

Look at those cheeks!!! You can't see it here, but he has three (yes THREE!) double chins...I guess it's called a triple chin :)

Once again-- Lucy's happy face! I LOVE IT!!

One Month Old (and some change)

2011-05-09T13:48:00.000-07:00

Holy moly, Cole is almost 6 weeks old! I can't believe how fast it has gone by. Here are some things we've discovered about our little man since he has been with us:
~ He is nOiSy!!! He is almost always making some kind of sound, obviously crying is one of them, but he mostly grunts and growls, snorts and sighs (but these sighs are very breathy and almost like a groan). He likes to whistle and sing in his sleep. Not only that but his bodily noises could rival most adults!! Haha!
~ He doesn't like the cold (not that surprising...who does?). When we give him baths he is okay for most of it except for when we have to move him from his clothes to the bath or bath to towel...because that requires our cold hands to touch his back. He is getting better though, as long as our hands are warm when we transfer him he's pretty much stopped crying :)
~ He s a little grease monster...I remember Lucy getting dried out and we always had to put lotion on her after her baths -- she still has dry skin. But our little man doesn't ever need lotion. His hair gets greasy by the end of the day, and his face sometimes glistens..hahaha.

~ He LOVES sounds - even better than he likes voices - I try to calm him by talking to him and it DOESN"T work...not even a little bit. Unless I'm telling him he gets to eat :D So I've been having to practice making sounds and experimenting with different things. I feel really silly sometimes but I guess you've gotta do what you've gotta do, right?
~ Cole prefers men to women...at least to me anyways. Example: Cole cries and cries and cries. Mommy tries to calm and console him by talking to him, making sounds, bouncing him, laying him down, anything and everything other than feed him (because it's not time yet). In comes Daddy, who picks up Cole and starts yelling at him (okay that sounds bad--he's not yelling at him but talking to him loudly). And guess what? IMMEDIATELY Cole is quiet. And happy, and interested. Is Mommy just a little jealous?? OF COURSE!!
~ Coles LOVES to eat. He would eat every hour if I let him. I make him wait at least 2 hours. Because I already feel like I feed him every hour and a half because feeding time is 30 mins. So, 20-30 mins before the 2 hour limit he wakes up and starts fussing cause he wants to eat. But THEN, when I do feed him he'll eat for 5-10 mins and fall right to sleep. So I have to change his diaper and wake the kid up so he'll eat more so he can make it the 2 hours....Oh boy, he cracks me up.
~ He is already smiling! I know people say that when babies smile it''s because of gas bubbles moving through their system...I don't buy it. This kid really does smile. Some times it's a little crooked, but those kind are my favorite!
~ Our little man is very strong. With in minutes of being born this kid could lift his head. When we hold him in a sitting position he has ALMOST perfect control of his head. He can hold it for a ridiculously long time, for his age. For tummy time, at 2 -3 weeks he could lift his head and turn it from side to side. When he straightens his legs he can hold his whole body weight on them. ( I could keep going, but I don't know if any of you even care about this.....I think he is amazing, but I am also his Mom).

I love him! he's so different from Lucy in so many ways. Having children is such a cool experience, especially since each one of them is unique and special in their own way. I'm so grateful for my children and for all that I learn from them.

Last Post Should've Read...

2011-04-05T09:44:00.001-07:00

ONE DAY LEFT!

Cole Michael Moss was born on Friday April 1, 2011, at 10:11 am, weighing 7 lbs 1 oz and measuring 21 in long. We're excited he's here! Lucy loves him, she's been really sick so it's been a little rough of a start. But we're hanging in there and figuring it out. Here are some pictures we've taken so far.

Look at all that HAIR!!

He has such an itty bitty little body

Happy Mamma

Lucy couldn't wait to hold him!!

Proud (SUPER EXCITED) Daddy

She kept pointing at him and saying "baby, baby, baby"

We love our little boy and are happy he's here with us. More to come later on....

Going Private

2011-03-31T14:29:00.001-07:00

I've thought about this for a while, and I think it's time. I would love to still have whoever actually follows my blog to continue reading, so if you want to keep up with our family please leave your name and email in a post or if you don't feel comfortable doing that you can email me at mmmoss08@gmail.com, and let me know. I'll give it two weeks (or whenever I get around to doing it after the baby is born) so post soon and I'll send you an invite when it happens.

Thanks!!

One week left

2011-03-31T13:37:00.000-07:00

Whenever I get on here to post my mind goes blank. I think that's why I've been so bad at blogging lately. I just don't know what to write or how to write about what has been going on. So forgive me if I'm horrible at this, for some reason it's way easier to just write in my journal (it probably has something to do with the fact that people actually read what I put on here, but not my journal).

Anyways, the last month has been full of baby prep stuff. I planned out when I wanted to do what, so that I wouldn't get too excited too early. I don't think that plan worked very well because this last month has dragged and dragged. I think that's how it's supposed to be though, to help prepare you for having the baby. It seems like my days fluctuate every other day. One day I'm full of energy and happy and positive, and the next I'm dead tired and don't want to do anything (if I wasn't pregnant I'd wonder if I was bi-polar, haha). And sometimes I feel like my weeks are the same way. I have noticed that reading my scriptures and just making myself get up/out and doing things really helps me to have a better day. So, for now that is my 'pick-me-up'.

I went to the doctor yesterday, I'm dialated to a 2(meaning something's actually happening...with Lucy I was still a 1 when I went to the hospital)! and today I've been having some rather uncomfortable contractions (I'm just hoping they are doing something too :D ). Anyways, Devin and I are praying this baby comes sooner rather than later so that it doesn't land on/right before finals, like Lucy did.

Speaking of Lucy she has been making her own preparations for the arrival of her sibling. The last 2-3 weeks or so she has become OBSESSED with babies and baby dolls. It's pretty stinking cute (not to mention hilarious). One day she came to me with her 'baby' and started crying (it was a fake cry), then she started patting the baby's back and hugging it. I just about died laughing cause I'd never seen her do that before. Then she went and found the bottle, tried to feed it, wrapped it in a blanket, all the while it was crying and would not be soothed. I don't know where she got the idea to do all of these things, but I hadn't shown it to her. After about 10-15 mins of trying all these things the baby was finally happy. Here are a couple of pictures of her taking care of the baby.

Feeding the baby

Baby crying

I'm really happy she actually let me take these pictures. Usually whenever the camera or video camera come out she stops what she's doing and asks to look at it. I've tried several times to videotape her with her 'babies' because it really is just too cute. And if nothing else it would be great to have to show her when she is older. Here is the face Lucy makes whenever I tell her to smile for the camera...

She'll sit there making this face until the flash goes off, and THEN she smiles :).

Hahahaha, someday we'll figure that out.

As I've been unpacking, washing, and organizing all the baby stuff I've been trying to explain to Lucy that I have a baby in my belly and it will be here soon. I really don't know how much she understands, sometimes she does things that make me think she knows and other times she seems oblivious. Anyways, everything for the baby has been used by Lucy's little baby. The baby swing, the bouncer, the carseat! She asked to strap the baby in the other day and then wanted to take it out to the car! Hahaha, that was pretty stinking cute. Yesterday when we actually installed the carseat in the car, Lucy LOVED it! She helped me carry it up the stairs and outside. Of course, her baby doll was in there the whole time, but that's okay. We've even put a diaper on one of the dolls. I was taking them out (because I wanted to see how small they were) and when Lucy saw it she HAD to put it on her baby. We tried putting the baby in the cradle but when Lucy found out she couldn't be in there with it, it was no longer fun.

Ha, so another funny experience related to baby-ness. Last week, Lucy had been carrying her baby around ALL day. No joke. She wouldn't put it down to do anything. So in the afternoon we were in the toy room trying to play but she couldn't really do anything because she wouldn't let go of the baby. So finally I folded up a blanket and told her to lay the baby on the blanket so it could sleep, she conceded, and when she stood up she straightened her arm and made a face, as if to say, "ow, that hurts." I just laughed because that's what I used to do when I'd hold her all day when she was a little baby.

Among all the preparation for little baby to join us, I've been trying to do some projects that I know I won't be able to get to for a while. I made a flannel board and scripture stories! I've been wanting to do this for a while, and finally got a chance to! I found some incredible websites that have a bunch of scripture stories that you can just print of the images and use. I'll have to take pictures and show you how I did it. I'm really excited to be able to slowly build on the ones I have as Lucy gets older. I make my first rag-quilt. That was a lot of fun. I made it out of some of Devin's old T-shirts. It's baby blue and brown (sorry I'll post pics later) and I think it turned out pretty nice for my first quilt. I started making a dress (non-maternity) but got to a point where I can't finish it until the baby is born because my belly was getting in the way and making it all funky. So that project has been postponed. I know there's more, but I can't think of them right now.

Discovering the Box

2011-02-12T19:27:00.000-08:00

We still have the box from when we got Lucy her front facing car seat. I used it as the stand for our Christmas tree and since then it's just been sitting in our kitchen. This week we needed something new to do -- we were bored of all the old stuff -- so I turned the box on its side and crawled in. At first Lucy was a little concerned, so I played peek-a-boo with her to try and get her comfortable with the idea of someone being inside. I got out and tried to get her to go in but she was still too nervous. Then I put her baby doll in there to see if she would go in after her, and it worked! After that she would bring baby out and then go back in with her. After a while we tried sliding around the room. She liked it, at first, and then for some reason she would crawl out as soon as the box started moving. It was pretty funny. So we took a video. Here it is. (Sorry it's so dark in the box, I took it on the camera).

I have my check up on Monday! I'll be 32 weeks, that means I have 8 weeks left!!! I really want to start getting things ready, but if I do it too early then I'm afraid the time will seem to drag on, and right now it's passing rather quickly (thankfully :D). We need to pull out all the newborn clothes, burp cloths, get the cradle out and rearrange the apartment....I know it doesn't sound like a whole lot, and it probably really won't take that long, but I need to plan out where things will go. I think I'll do that over the next month and then start pulling stuff out around Devin's birthday. That way I'll still have a month before the baby is born and I will be ready no matter when the baby comes.

It was Romanian

2011-02-09T15:38:00.000-08:00

Just found out how to fix it :)

I don't even know what language this is...

2011-02-09T15:20:00.000-08:00

So I was looking at blogs today and...Lucy pushed a button on the computer...I have no idea which one, but the language is no longer English. The language looks like Italian but there are weird symbols that I know are not Italian, I'm thinking Latin, maybe. Anyways, I tried to put a print screen image on here but that wasn't working either. SO, here are some examples... Post = Postare....these I don't remember what they are in English...Setari; Convertiti in bani; Statistici; Tablou de bord; Publicati Postare; Slvati Acum.

If anyone reads this who knows how I can change it back to English....that would be WONDERFUL! :) Thankfully I know where most buttons are that I normally use, but it would still be nice to have it in English or at least a language I understand :)

Hahahaha, it still makes me laugh :)

Pregnancy

2011-02-03T20:01:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted a whole lot about this pregnancy, mostly because I don't feel like there is a whole lot to say. I've had it really easy this time around. With Lucy I was sick to my stomach the first trimester, but I never threw up. Just felt crummy most of the time. Then I felt great til the fatigue of third trimester hit. Other than that is was a good pregnancy.

This one is not much different. If anything it has been better. I wasn't really sick at all the first trimester. There were a few days where nothing tasted good, I didn't have an appetite or food just didn't settle well, but I wasn't sick to my stomach for days on end. Which, with school and Lucy was a wonderful thing. Second trimester was good, I got faint a lot more than last time, but I'm blaming that on the fact that I was crawling and running all over with Lucy where as last time I wasn't doing that kind of stuff.

Now I'm into the third trimester. I'm officially 31 weeks--just about 7 months. I'm still feeling good. Don't get me wrong, I am tired A LOT! Lucy naps twice a day still (thank heavens!) and I nap at least one of those times too. Up until last week I wasn't too tired or anything, but now I have to be wise about how much I try to do each day or I'm wiped out the next and that means grumpy-no-fun-mommy. So instead of trying to exercise everyday I'm just doing every other and trying to get things done around the house everyday instead of a bunch in one day. Oh yeah, I forgot to say, this baby moves ALL THE TIME!!! I'm not even kidding. The other day I didn't feel it for an hour or two and I got worried...hahaa. I know that is silly but that's how active this one is.

This one is from our family pictures back in November. I was 20 weeks in this photo...not the best picture, but I really wasn't showing so the angle is as good as any :) I kind of 'popped' the following week and it has been steady constant growth since then!

Here is the only picture I've taken (sorry it's so bad! I keep forgetting to ask Devin when he's home-so this is all I could do.)

Me at 30 Weeks!

Just for fun I want to compare to my last pregnancy...

This is me at 31 weeks with Lucy...

"Smarty Pants"

2011-02-03T19:55:00.000-08:00

Last night we were eating dinner Lucy wanted some of the grapes. But she wasn't asking nicely she was just whining and pointing at them. So I asked her, "Lucy, will you say please?" Right now Lucy doesn't actually say the word 'please' she just signs it by thumping her chest. But this time instead of patting her chest she reached over and patted mine!!! It was hilarious, to say the least. So Oma (Devin's mom) got her two more grapes to eat. While she did that she said to Lucy, "Well, you're just a smarty pants aren't you?" (or something to that effect) to which Lucy responded by pointing to her pants, nodding and saying "di! di!" Which means 'this' 'that' and in this case 'pants!' Hahaha. We all got a good laugh out of that one. Sometimes she blows me away with how much she understands of what we say.

Growing up

2011-02-03T19:33:00.000-08:00

Oh boy, is she getting big. When Lucy woke up from her nap today we sat at the computer and watched some videos from the last year of her life. It was funny to see her reaction to the most recent ones. I think she remembered doing the things in the videos. But the ones from last summer and before she seemed a little confused about. It was fun for me to see the differences from then to now, but also how many things about her haven't changed. For instance, she is getting bigger, losing a lot of that baby fat and all her rolls--which I'm sad to see go :(. But the things that stay constant, she's talkative, interactive, always expressive (we always say we never have to guess what Lucy is thinking/feeling...that has always been true) and just plain goofy.

Here are a couple of pictures from the last little while...

Lucy was wanting an apple while Devin and I were getting ready in the morning, so I gave her one and set her on the couch...she's never really just sat there but this morning she sat there long enough for us to get ready! Content to just be eating her apples :)

We frequently go on walks...if it's not absolutely freezing outside. Lucy has loved playing in the snow. She mostly likes to kick it or stomp on it. And then when she remembers she can eat it that is all we do :)

Here is Lucy in her Grandparents toy-room. This is the rocking chair she loves, she'll grab one of the many dolls she adores and climb into the chair and rock them. It's pretty cute, I think she's going to be a great big sister. Oh yeah, and the hat? Not for her, it's one of the dolls hats, but she likes wearing it just the same. We've all decided she looks like Mrs. Nezbit (I don't know how it's spelled). Anyways, its hilarious and I had to get a picture.

VIDEOS both Present and Past:

This video is from this last week. Lucy has come a long way with her dancing....haha....Do any of your kids have such awesome moves??? She's a natural and comes up with these things all on her own. ***I think my favorite part of this video is the face she makes at the end--totally out of nowhere. But that's our little girl for ya!

This video is from last summer...she was still working on crawling...I don't know if I've put it on here before but this is one of the ones we watched today after her nap. I just thought I'd put it on for fun to see the difference. Man they grow so fast!

Gradjiated

2011-01-20T21:09:00.000-08:00

I DID IT!!!

This arrived in the mail yesterday...

I'm not going to lie until I got the email saying they were going to be printing this, I almost didn't believe I was really done! I was worried that I had missed a class or something didn't add up right, you know, just somehow it almost didn't seem possible that I was actually a college graduate. Well, now I have proof (as the diploma states).

None of this would have been possible, or at least wouldn't have happened so fast if it hadn't been for my parents-in-law, especially my mother-in-law. She was definitely the biggest factor in all of this!

THANK YOU!!

Thank you to everyone else for you support and help along the way! I definitely couldn't have done this by myself.

Ahh......*big sigh of relief*....a tear or two of joy.....

we're definitely celebrating again tonight! :)

First Painting Project

2011-01-20T20:32:00.000-08:00

Among our many wedding gifts were two framed pictures of fish...At first I have to admit I thought it was really weird. I had no idea where I would put them. Over the last couple of years I just decided I would put them up in our bathroom. I liked this idea, for some reason they just seem to "fit" there. But as I've started putting pictures up in our apartment I realized I really didn't like the white frames on the white wall. I felt it detracted from the overall look of the pictures and the room.

Since we had also recently made some clay imprints of Lucy's feet and hands, I decided Lucy and I should have fun painting. I was a little worried it would become a big mess so we prepped by putting newspaper all over the kitchen floor, Lucy got to wear an old T-shirt of mine, and I made sure that there was a wet washcloth handy--just in case of emergencies.

This is how our project began

If the walls weren't white I think I would like these pictures as they are,Fir

but we will most likely have white walls for the next few years so they needed a little something more.

She even got to pick out the color she was going to use...

I was amazed she didn't react more aversely to having paint on her...she usually doesn't like things that stick to her hands or skin. I think the fact that she was the one putting it there might have made a difference, or maybe it was just the fact that we were both painting things..who knows?

She got a little more excited when she realized what was happening!

This is really all she got on herself--besides an accidental swipe on her face (couldn't get a picture because she was about to rub it all in her eyes). Not surprisingly I got a lot more on myself, or should I say she got a lot more on me. I had paint all over my arms and legs and I'm pretty sure I ended up with stuff on my face too!

Here it is all finished! What do you think?

On the right it reads, 30 DEC...

I know it's a little hard to make out but this was my first try at something like this

so I'm not too worried about it :)

So what do you think? I'm having some second thoughts about the yellow one, I think the blue is fun because there's a stronger contrast in colors, but the yellow doesn't look as good as I wanted it to. I'm thinking of redoing the white with orange and making the spots more rounded...I haven't quite decided yet and it all depends on if I ever get around to feeling up to redoing it. And if it bugs me enough :)

Lamest Blogger EVER!

2011-01-11T15:17:00.000-08:00

Okay so I know I've been MIA the last couple of months. I really want to put up some video's but it's a rather difficult process so I'm just going to put a couple of pictures from the last little while. And whenever I get around to spending the time to convert the videos I'll post them.

Anyways, so life the last little while. Well I finally graduated!! YAY me! :) I finished my classes (independent study) the day before Thanksgiving break. It was a very busy semester, if you want to know how much time I was spending on the computer or with my classes the following story should give you an idea -- Lucy and I were playing and having fun, when I realized I really needed to get back to my studying, I went over to the computer, opened it and Lucy fell on the floor crying... A little dramatic? Maybe, but she got the point across. I needed to spend more time with her. Well, now she gets to be with me ALL day :) It's good most days and other days let's just say I'm not the only one needing a break.

Hahaha!

Thanksgiving break was great! One of Devin's uncle's and fam came to stay here and so we got to see a lot of them. Have I ever mentioned how much Lucy loves boys? or should I say male gender? Haha. Devin's cousin Travis who is just a couple years younger than me was Lucy's favorite person over the break. I don't know what it was but she spent lots of time like this...

Being goofy and sitting with Travis. She warmed right up to Uncle Jim (that is his head in the picture above). I felt so bad for Aunt Karen, Lucy just wouldn't go to her! She let her touch her a few times, but that was it. Thanksgiving day was great! The food was wonderful and I ate WAY too much of it...but at the time I was on a gain weight diet prescribed by my midwife...apparently I wasn't gaining enough weight the first few months. No worries, I have successfully gained plenty...I won't tell you how much, but lets just say the holidays did wonders :D haha.

Not having school after Thanksgiving break was a little weird. I felt like I was on an extended holiday, and I probably treated it a little too much like one. I was not very productive or motivated to do much else other than be with Lucy and get our apartment in order. Devin on the other hand went back to school and finished the semester off beautifully! When Christmas break rolled around he was very excited (to say the least). I've got to go but I will leave you with one more picture of Lucy and I will hopefully write more soon :)

Lucy modeling The Green Scarf (my sisters christmas present to her boyfriend)

and holding her favorite doll!

test

2010-11-28T17:06:00.000-08:00

Halloween

2010-11-07T13:46:00.000-08:00

We had a hard time deciding what to do for Halloween this year. Devin was going to be working, and Lucy isn't old enough to really understand what is going on or say "trick or treat", so I figured we'd just get her a costume and study home and see all the trick or treat-ers. Well, I didn't want to buy a costume, and really didn't know what she should be. The weeks leading up to halloween Lucy had been making dog noises so we thought maybe we should just make her a dog costume, and it could double as p.j.'s after halloween. So I went to Joann's, I couldn't find the material I was hoping for, but I found some cute dogprint fabric that looked like a Dalmation so we went with that.

Since I've been trying to get my homework done, Celecta (devin's mom) was nice enough to sew it all together! It turned out great! I made the hood which ended up being a lot easier than I thought, and kind of fun! Lucy wore the costume for most of hte day, but that was also the day we ended up moving into the basement apartment (which is almost completely finished) so it was a stressful day for lucy. By the afternoon she was sick of it, so before her bedtime I put her back in it and took some picutres.

This one is my favorite! (yes, she is holding our video camera :S)

Acting the part....RoAR!!! Except dogs say bow wow...

(I'm resisting quoting Brian Regan, but for all of you fans, you can laugh to yourself if you know that skit)

And just because she is so cute, here is another picture of our little Lucy :)

Snow day!

2010-11-07T13:34:00.000-08:00

So a couple of weeks ago it snowed here in Orem. We woke up and the world was white! I was shocked, but I think Lucy was even more shocked. She looked out the window and said, 'AH!' in a way that seemed like she was saying, "what happened to everything!" it was pretty funny. She had been out in the garden with her Oma (grandma) for the last couple of weeks when I was getting my studying done, so she was pretty familiar with the plants and what everything looks like. I think it was weird for her to see the world all white. We knew it was probably going to be gone by the afternoon so we got some warm clothes on and went out to play in the snow.

Devin and Lucy when we first went out.

We were trying to catch the snow in our hands

She even got to taste some snow!

Contrary to her face in the pictures she did like eating it...it was just really cold!

I couldn't help but take a picture of this. The apples looked so perfect, and yummy. With the snow they looked absolutely beautiful!

More about Lucy

2010-10-24T14:50:00.001-07:00

~She's learned to fold her arms to pray! Whenever we go to the kitchen, and get food (sometimes when we aren't even eating) she'll fold her arms to pray. She's a great reminder for her forgetful mommy (I'm bad at saying prayers when it's just her and me!)

~She gets really jealous when Devin or I hold other babies....something we need to work on before April rolls around!

~I'm pretty sure she says 'that'...it sounds more like "Dat!" but you know, it's often enough and at the right times I think she knows what she's saying.

~She LOVES to dance! When ever we turn on music, when she's sitting in her high chair, when she's pushing around her shopping cart, or just playing with toys...she has three different moves she does for dancing...it's really cute!

~She still weighs 18 1/2 lbs....apparently snacking on fruits and veggies isn't the best for gaining weight...Doc said she's not worried about her weight yet (because she still has rolly arms and legs) but she needs to be getting HALF of her calories from fats? I didn't realize little babies needed that much. So we're working on snacking on fatty-healthy foods...(hoping this doesn't make me gain weight too!!)

~She loves to be outside, if a whole day has passed and we haven't gone out she'll lead me (or one of her aunts) to her stroller, or go bang on a door! We're going to have to start bundling soon, cause it's getting cold!

~Loves playing with her Daddy~

That's all for now, I'm sure there are others, I'll just have to think about it more.

(Pictures will come soon! i just need to upload them, and camera is charging right now :D )

She's walking!

2010-10-24T14:00:00.000-07:00

This is how it all started.

(SO apparently uploading video's isn't working right now....I have no idea why..but I'll post them when I figure it out!)

We were outside one sunday and Lucy saw this little car. She'd ridden it before but it had been a long time. She crawled right to it, got up and started pushing it along!!! We were shocked, we just watched. Then she pushed it off the grass, and onto the driveway. It was her turn to be a little shocked! She handled the change in speed really well. Devin went to help her and I ran to get the video camera!

Around that time she started noticing the shopping cart her Oma (grandma) has in the toy room. She liked pushing it around and walking through the house with it. Then her little cousin Alden started standing on his own, and one day when they were playing she started standing too! It's funny what a little peer interaction can motivate babies to do!

About a week and a half ago Lucy and I were home with her Aunt Elaine (Dev was at work and everyone else was gone) so we were just playing around. Elaine had Lucy's hands and they were walking when all of the sudden Elaine let go of her and Lucy kept walking!!! She was a little nervous at first but we were all so excited she just thought it was fun and started giggling along with us!

(Video insertion coming soon!)

For the first week she would only walk from one person to another, and only if she felt so inclined. But the past couple of days she been walking from object to object and all around the house! She's feeling very independent. It's fun, but I'm starting to realize what this will mean for me....a lot of close monitoring. I like that she's feeling more independent though because she'd still get upset if I left the room or if she couldn't see me. But now she's getting more comfortable with the idea of us not being in the same room (at least for a little bit) and knowing she can come find me.

It's still weird to see her walk around....weird that my little baby is walking! it makes her look older than she is (at least to me).

Way behind!!!

2010-10-06T14:06:00.001-07:00

I'm so far behind in posting that I'm getting overwhelmed with what I should put up here. So I'm just doing pictures for now and I'm making a list of things that I'll touch on briefly....just so it is recorded somewhere.

To start off I need to finish the vacation....So we'll start with the plantation home. Whitney had looked up this place and been wanting to go for a while, so we all went while we were there (except Patrick who was at work). This was one of the smaller plantations this guy owned but it was still HUGE!

This is the huge plantation home....It still amazes me that people could build this stuff without all the technology we have now.

Lucy and Daddy sitting on a bench by the garden.

Alden and Lucy on rocking chairs on the porch of the plantation home.

This tree was pretty cool. It had this big branch growing down to the ground, thought we'd get a picture with it! :0

Here are the babies, all hot and ready to be done, but thankfully still in good moods!

Georgia Aquarium

After the boys started the long drive home, Whitney and I lounged around the house for a day, and then decided to go to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. It's supposedly the biggest one in the US. I was excited but had no idea what we were going to see or what to expect. It was amazing. From the entrance exhibit to the very last thing we saw, I loved it. I was sad Devin couldn't come because he would've enjoyed it a lot too. So next time we're in Atlanta, we're all going again :)

This is the entrance to the aquarium....it was really cool.

This place was amazing, and the fish were GINORMOUS!

Here are the babies in front of the biggest aquarium I've ever seen. The window into this thing was as big as an IMAX screen. It was pretty awesome. This was the last thing on our trip. After this we had a great flight home (the kids did so great!). We were reunited with Devin (so happy to see him! It was the first time we went without seeing each other for a whole day....That might seem lame, but I was really not excited about it. Glad we don't have to do it again for a while :D ).

The Farm at Thanksgiving Point

Another cool thing we've done in the last little while was going to the Farm at Thanksgiving Point. My friend Gina lives in Lehi and has been asking me to go up for quite a while now. We had been trying to find a time that worked, when my sis-in-law Whitney called and said she wanted to take Alden to the Farm (there was some misunderstanding on my end....I thought she meant the one at Thanksgiving point....she meant the one in SLC!!! SORRY WHITNEY! :( ).

We met Gina up at the Farm and had a blast! The kids really liked it. Aiden (Gina's little boy) has been there a lot and really likes it. Lucy and Alden loved the animals. Alden was fearless when it came to feeding the animals. Lucy let a goat lick her finger and that was the end of it...after that she kept at least a foots distance between her and the animals.

Lucy and Aiden dropping rocks thru the bars by the horses.

Lucy looking at the horses

They had a horse merry-go-round thing...I don't know what to call it....Pony ride? Anyways Lucy looked like she was excited about the horses, but as soon as she realized I was going to set her on it she would have none of it. I was sad, I really wanted her to like it, but she is only nine months old.....She's got a long time to like horses :)

Around the House

Lucy has discovered how fun it is to drive. She backs out of the driveway with Devin whenever he takes to car to school or work. It's funny cause she'll hold onto the wheel until you need to turn it, then she lets go really fast. Thankfully she won't be driving for a very long time :)

Well, that's all for now. Life is great. Schools getting rough, I'm not so sure I'm going to make my deadline. I would probably be okay if I would stop reading books not in my curriculum....but since when have I ever been able to do that? Haha, oh well, wish me luck!

Vacation to the South: Part I - The Beach

2010-09-20T12:33:00.000-07:00

Devin and I haven't been on a vacation in two years...I know crazy. But we've been in school and honestly haven't had the means or opportunity to go. But thankfully August provided us with one! Patrick (Devin's older brother), Whitney(wife) and Alden(son) went to South Carolina for an internship over the summer. We decided it would be fun to go out and spend a little over a week with them, before they moved back and then help with the moving. I think it was a pretty good deal! We left a couple of days after school got out. We thought that taking a midnight flight would be a good idea because Lucy could sleep the whole time and it would make the trip a little easier. Well, needless to say that didn't happen, Lucy woke up right as we pulled up to the airport. She was so excited by all the people and new things she didn't sleep much on the plane. We got there early in the morning and took a long nap while Patrick and Whitney played with Lucy. We spent that day relaxing and catching up, while the little ones played.

Sunday we went to church and drove to Charleston, SC that afternoon. Whitney has Aunts who live 30 mins from the beach and they let us stay with them! They were wonderful, gotta love southern hospitality :) The beach was beautiful and wonderful! The Atlantic has great beaches, they're warm, have great sand, mmmm. It was fun :) I've been to california beaches but they just aren't the same, they're cold and rocky, and the sand just burns your feet! :) Okay maybe they aren't that bad but the Atlantic is MUCH better. It was Devin's first time to a beach and he was very impressed. He and patrick spent the first hour or so boogy boarding. They had a blast and actually caught some good waves.

It was Lucy's first time at the beach as well (obviously) and she LOVED it! We played in the shallow water for a little while so she could get used to the waves, and then we went in a little farther and ran away from them. Lucy really liked this games, she thought it was hilarious. Then we took a little break while the boys tried some skin boarding (this is on a really skinny board and you try to "surf" where the water hits the shore....it's really hard). Lucy and I found a fun little shell and she just sucked on it for about a half an hour while we sat in the water and watched.

After a couple of hours the little ones were beat....

Whitney's aunt has this tent thingy that is really only half a tent. It was perfect for putting the babies in to block the sun and wind!

They slept for almost two hours like this

Can't beat the heat, wind and constant sound of waves hitting the shore...

While the kids slept Whitney and I took our chance to go play in the waves! Boogy boarding is lots of fun! I really liked it.

But if you try to catch wave after wave it can really make you tired.

This is a skin board

After a day of fun and sun we headed back to Charleston to wash up and head home.

Aren't these two SO cute?

Help with Sleep!!

2010-09-08T10:07:00.000-07:00

Yes I need sleep, but this post is more to ask for advice or suggestions on what you do to help your children/babies sleep at night. Lucy will be nine months old next week (crazy I know!) but she still wakes up multiple times in the night. We've tried the crying thing....it doesn't work, she just gets more and more worked up and will cry for hours if we let her. So we don't :). We've tried picking her up and putting her back to sleep then laying her down in her crib. But by the time I'm back in bed she's awake and crying again. So after about an hour and a half of this I give in and she comes to bed with us. She sleeps great, but I don't. I'm selfish about my bed, I'll admit it, I like to sleep with only one person, that is Devin. I really want to help Lucy self-soothe and put herself to sleep at night without nursing or sleeping with us, before the baby comes. So if any of you have tried something other than these two things I am ALL EARS! :) Thanks!

P.S. I know its been forever since I've posted and I have a lot to update on, no worries it's coming...I don't know when but it will come soon :)

Uno Moss mas?

2010-08-09T12:50:00.000-07:00

Yup! We're having another baby in April!!! We found out last week and are super excited! More to come when I know what else to say :D

Sweet Pea Patterns Guest Giveaway

2010-08-03T07:30:00.000-07:00

Sweet Pea Patterns Guest Giveaway

You have to check this out! They have some of the cutest shoe patterns I've seen! Ah, I hope I get some!

Also this lady has some really fun ideas on how to redo clothes into new and fun styles. It is definitely worth checking out, even if you don't want baby shoe patterns!

Can we say "diaper malfunction"?

2010-07-28T18:45:00.000-07:00

DISCLAIMER: There may be some gross pictures of what was supposed to end up in a diaper....but honestly they aren't that gross :D

Okay so lately Lucy has been wetting the bed at night. No we are not potty training yet :) The reason is not that she doesn't wear a diaper (because she does) or that her diaper gets too full. In the morning it's definitely NOT that full....I've seen worse. But for some reason the diapers are leaking! Kind of frustrating, but it's not THAT big of a deal.

Anyways, on to the point of this post... Monday I was getting the diaper bag together because we were going to get Lucy's immunizations. She was sitting on the bed quietly playing with my backpack straps, one of her favorite things to play with, I looked up to see what she was doing and this is what I saw....

Hmmm....what's that between her legs, you ask? Yes, yes it is and YES she was playing with it!! There was no warning. Usually we know when Lucy is filling her diaper, she usually grunts or at least she breathes differently, or you hear it,or something! This time was silent.....SO happy I looked up when I did! :p

Closer view - it may not look like a lot but she was covering quite a bit of it :S

(Don't you love the chubby legs?)

Was she worried or upset about this? No way! She thought it was pretty fun....So we ran into the bathroom, I stood her on the counter to pull off her shorts, which of course were covered, then I looked up in the mirror and lo and behold! I found the source of the problem...

Her bum cheek was hanging out!! I just laughed! This is not the first time we've found her diaper like this and we can't figure out how this happens. (Anyone know how to prevent it?) I took off the diaper and sat her in the sink so I could fold it up...and I found another surprise!

A clean diaper! Aside from the little smudge on the side this diaper could probably pass as new!! What in the world??? How could it only get that little bit on it? I was confuzzled on this one, and still laugh when I think about it.

Sorry for the gross pictures but it had to be documented. This one was just too good :D

Sick...

2010-07-24T09:37:00.000-07:00

Lucy has been sick on and off for the last month or so :(. I feel so bad for her. It been mostly stuffy nose and sometimes fevers (actually she's had one really scary fever in the beginning) but thankfully nothing lasts too long or gets too bad. I've actually been very impressed with how happy she is when she's sick. Of course she gets a little more clingy and doesn't like to do as many things but compared to how bad I know it can get, we've got it pretty good! :D So Lucy needs to get her immunizations on Monday and I've been hoping and praying that she would be better by then so that we could get them over with and not have it magnify whatever she does have. But this morning she woke up on fire (not literally) she was really hot, didn't want to play or be put down, she's been eating a lot more frequently and sleeping a lot (which isn't a bad thing). It's so sad to see her sick. One positive thing though is that we get to hold her and cuddle!! She's not a very cuddly baby because she wants to be doing things and going places. In any case, I would rather have her be busy than cuddly because cuddly = sick.

Happy Lucy

Sick Lucy

(Haha, I totally didn't even know she was drooling, that's our little girl)

Progress

2010-07-11T17:26:00.000-07:00

Lucy just thinks she is SOO big. Over the last couple of weeks she has learned how to crawl (for reals now) she can sit from crawling position (she just mastered this two days ago) and she has started pulling herself up on anything that she can hold on to. Even though she can pull herself up she doesn't really hold onto whatever it is and so she's taken quite a few falls in the last couple of days. Thankfully none of them have been serious. I kept hoping that when she fell she would learn to be a little more cautious or at least hold on to things but, alas, she is still as fearless as ever. She also thinks she can walk. Not that she lets go of things and tries but whenever she holds on to one of our hands she'll pull herself up and start walking! It's really funny cause she is still very wobbly and her feet still point inward a little bit. So I know she's not really ready to be walking, but she tries anyways and thinks it is SO much fun.

Lucy is now ticklish! Under her arms and her thighs. Her laugh has started to change too! She's starting to sound more like a little kid (or a toddler) and not so much like a little baby.

The Zoo!

2010-07-11T14:31:00.000-07:00

Over the Fourth of July holiday weekend we went to the zoo! We've been wanting to take Lucy for a while now and decided that this was probably going to be the best time. I was hoping it wouldn't be too crowded, but boy was I wrong. It was PACKED! We went with Devin's family. Her uncle Ryan had some sunglasses and let Lucy try them on...

I'm sorry to say I didn't get a lot of pictures. I honestly didn't think about the camera for most of the time. I haven't been to a zoo in probably 6 or 7 years. It was fun to see all of the animals! Lucy had a hard time noticing some of them because they were too far back from the path but there were a few that she really enjoyed. We saw some Ostrich's, they were running around and doing funny things with their heads, that was fun and Lucy was very interested. I did get a picture of the giraffe's.

Lucy was mesmerized.

I don't know what was going on with this one, but it just licked the bar the whole time we were there! My favorite part was the bird show. We got so see some really cool birds. It made me miss Puerto Rico and all the birds we had while we lived there. Haha funny story, so on our way to the zoo Lucy messed her pants. We knew she had because she made her face (she always makes the same one :D ) But we what we didn't realize was that she had left us a nice surprise in her seat! Haha, it was great, her auntie megan was adjusting Lucy (she had wriggled herself too far sideways to be comfortable) and while she was helping her straighten our she got a big handful of Lucy poo! Haha, it was great. For some reason we always have a blowout during big or exciting events, we just have to laugh.

Swimming

2010-07-11T14:18:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted on here. I've been pretty busy with summer term, and trying to get all my classes done. It's amazing how much can happen in one month! Some of the things in these posts might be a little out-dated but it's still fun to talk about :D

We haven't been swimming as much as I thought we would. This probably has something to do with the amount of school work I have, but also we live right next to the canyon so if there is any sort of breeze swimming can be too cold....I know that might sound crazy (especially since it's July) but the pool water is still kind of chilly and I don't want Lucy to get too cold.

Here is a fun video of Lucy swimming with Devin. There's no sound because I was inside taking the video. I was supposed to be doing homework but I heard them playing and wanted to watch! :D

This next one was all of us swimming, I just think it's hilarious how she uses her little legs to propel herself! SO CUTE! (but I am a little biased)

Growing Up

2010-06-15T20:42:00.000-07:00

I'm constantly amazed by how fast Lucy changes. Everyday it's something new and I feel like every week she reaches another milestone. Lucy has TWO TEETH! (She's had them for almost three weeks now....It's been a while since I've posted anything) We had a feeling she was teething because she was putting things in her mouth more than usual and was biting on things (that was the tip, she didn't usually bite like she was). Then two sunday's ago in sacrament meeting I felt a tooth!! I was pretty excited about it. But to my surprise on that Tuesday she had a second one right by the first!! It's kind of crazy, but really fun. Lucy loves to watch us brush our teeth, and she used to grab for our toothbrushes, so I decided that since she has teeth now she should have her own toothbrush. So here she is....brushing her teeth :)
She loves to sit and brush her teeth while we brush ours. I'm actually really happy about it because I wasn't sure how I was going to teach our children that they needed to brush their teeth, thankfully, she already likes it. Some of the other things that she is learning to do is she can actually grab food and bring it to her mouth. Unless it's long, or she gets it in her first two fingers she can't actually get it IN her mouth. She can get pretty frustrated about this. The first couple of days I made the mistake of trying to help her....She wasn't too fond of that and let me know very quickly...let's just say there was a lot of screaming and pulling away from me :D. Lucy has also moved from her cradle to a crib. At first I was worried that this change was going to throw off her sleeping (since sometimes we can just rock her and she'll fall back asleep) but thankfully she made the transfer without any disruption, in fact she's actually sleeping better. When we moved her to a crib she also moved into the other room, this is Lucy in a 'Sparky' hat when we were making the move....I think she would make a very cute cowgirl, don't you?

I've been trying to keep track of the outfits people gave us and give them pictures of Lucy in which ever outfit it was. I haven't been the best, so I'm trying to be better. One of my aunts asked about a certain one she sent so I took some pictures of Lucy in it.

Last week the World Cup (soccer) started. To celebrate Devin and I invited some good friends over for the US vs England game and we dressed up! Here is are a couple of pictures.

If you can't tell from this picture Devin was pretty excited about it all :) and the excitement quickly rubbed off on all of us. The game was fun to watch even thought the soccer wasn't the best (that's what I've been told....apparently I don't know very much about soccer :S).

Some other things that Lucy likes to do.....pull hair....this is definitely not a new thing, but she is getting better and better at it with the passing of each day, this is probably due to the fact that she's getting better at controlling her hands and her movements are also getting faster. Here is Lucy pulling her Tante (dutch for aunt) Megan's hair....Megan thought it was funny for a while, but don't be fooled by all the smiles, as soon as the pictures were taken she was done. I can't blame her, Lucy has quite the grip.

Here is Lucy and Devin the first time she got in the pool. The water was freezing but thankfully the day was pretty hot. She liked it! I got to take her swimming again today, but we used a little kiddie pool because the big one felt like I was swimming in ice...someday the pool will warm up, but for now we'll stick to the little one :D
On Friday of last week, June 11, Lucy started to crawl. It's not a full-on hands and knee's going-crawl, she kind of looks more like an inch worm, but she can get around which is pretty exciting! Here are some video's from Friday night. As you can tell from our reactions on the video she had never done this before :D

The video's reminded me of something else. Lucy's screech/sonic-ear-piercing/deafening scream. This was one of the first sounds she made when she was born in the hospital. At that time it seemed more musical. After we left the hospital we didn't hear the sound again until she was three months old. Since that time she's taken to making the sound for about one week out of every month. This last time though it has changed and taken on a new form..She's started using it when she wants something we're not giving her (I haven't quite figured out what to do about it). Hopefully this, like almost everything else she does is just a phase :D. Well that's probably enough for now, I have more, but honestly I'm tired of writing on this post! hahaha, Hope this finds everyone well! Love you all.

The Last Little While

2010-05-30T16:49:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything so here's a fun update of what we've been up too.
I found some pretty sweet pants for Lucy that reminded me of the 80s so we relived the 80's for a day :)

Lucy discovered swings!! She loves them, both when she sits on our laps and when she gets to swing on her own

I'm happy it's finally warming up so we get to be outside a lot!
We visited my sister and her kids (who we haven't seen in a while). It was fun to catch up and spend time together. Here's some fun pictures of Beth-el playing Peek-a-boo with Lucy (these are bad angles but Lucy really was enjoying it)

We'v been staying with a woman in our ward for the last couple of weeks while her husband is in China. She has a high chair with a metal tray. the first time Lucy was in it she discovered how much noise she could make, especially when she has her toys

Here's a video of Lucy with her Daddy
Finally it snowed and Lucy got to play in it! That was pretty exciting

So, that's what we've been doing, that and a lot of homework! :)
Til next time

Food! Glorious Food!!

2010-05-09T17:03:00.000-07:00

Is there any doubt this baby loves food?

She's started spitting....need I say more?
The finished product!

Wanting to be big

2010-04-14T13:29:00.000-07:00

Lucy wants to be big so badly, from sitting at the dinner table with everyone, to wanting to try food. Its quite funny actually. We were given a "high chair", it's one of those chairs you connect to the table (or counter) and it's WAY too big for her so we have to stuff two blankets behind and on the sides of her just so she can sit up in it. I don't think it would be so bad if she could sit up on her own, but she can't quite do that yet, she still falls over after a couple of seconds. Anyways, she loves sitting in it especially when everyone else is sitting at the counter, cause she feels included :D I tried to get a video of her, but she was too distracted by the camera (what's new?), so I set the camera down so she didn't realize it was on...

A couple of weeks ago Lucy became interested in food, it was really funny the first time she realized what it was. I had her in the Baby Bjorn (facing out) while I ate a banana, I peeled it and then brought it to my mouth (which was behind her head) and as I did she turned her head with her mouth wide open.....I felt so bad that I had to let her try it! She didn't care for it, but later that week I let her sample an orange! She LOVES them! Don't worry, we're not giving her enough to chew on, she just sucks on the juice. She gets really mad when it's all gone, but I guess that's something she has to learn eventually. She's also tried carrots, squash, and rice. I'm going to try pureeing some different kinds of vegetables so we can start introducing solids to her diet (I know we've kind of already started 'introducing' them but I want to make it a regular thing, and also have some one hand for when she's feeling particularly left out.... like at dinner time. She also love drinking water from cups, it doesn't always make it's way into her stomach. Sometimes it's just a spit-swap sort of deal, but she enjoys it and it helps keep her hydrated, since she's been sick and hasn't had much of an appetite. I'm excited for her to start eating food! It's fun to watch her reactions and to see her act so big!

We've gone mobile!

2010-04-10T11:19:00.000-07:00

Haha not totally but Lucy rolled over last week!! I laid her on her back and all of the sudden she was on her stomach! I almost couldn't believe she had actually done it! So of course, I rolled her back onto her back to see if it was a fluke or if she really did know how and lo and behold, she does!! This is a video of the third time she rolled...
Devin was at class so I had to video it to show it to him! I was SO excited! She can only roll from back to stomach on her own, she hasn't quite figured out how to get from her stomach to her back. It'll probably take some time since that's a little more difficult. Also she prefers to roll one direction, she can roll over her left side, but for some reason she can't do it as easily. It's pretty funny, I'll help her by rolling her to her left side, and she'll grunt and flex her stomach and swing her leg, but she just can't get over! So she'll give up and roll the other way! It cracks me up every time. Anyways, along with her wanting to be big syndrome, once she gets onto her belly her arms and legs go crazy! She looks like she could be swimming! She wants to move so badly but she hasn't figured it out (and even though I show her everyday, I don't mind if it takes her a couple more months to figure that one out :).
Speaking of crawling did I mention Lucy can RUN?! Check it out!

Oh sorry, I forgot to mention she can run with assistance...
We're wrapping up the semester! Last day of classes was yesterday! I am excited it's almost over but not too excited for summer. We found out that I qualified for spring and summer classes (a good and bad thing). Good because that means that I can take more classes, and bad because I get to take more classes. I'll be taking several through independent study (which the grants will cover! Yay!) but it means I'll have a full load. So wish me luck! I'm probably going to need it. Devin's teacher for his seminary class said that he will probably be invited back for the next class!! I can't remember if I already put this in a post but they want him to continue in the fall with the next course (he was planning on defering until he was closer to graduation so that teaching wouldn't get in the way of classes but that's not what the department has in mind). So he may be teaching sooner than we expected. Devin also got called to teach Sunday School for the 12 yr olds. He's pretty excited about it.
Devin's older brother Patrick, and his wife, Whitney, are headed out to South Carolina for a Summer Internship. We just said goodbye to Whitney and Alden(their little boy) this morning. They had been staying here for the past week and a half before heading out. Patrick will be joining them as soon as finals are over. It was SO fun to have them around and to get to see Lucy and Alden play. They're a funny pair. Alden is a very calm and relaxed baby, and Lucy doesn't know how to hold still (except when she's sleeping, but even then she can move a lot). Anyways, they had fun looking and smiling at each other. Because of Lucy's curiosity about everything we had to make sure she was at least an arms length away from Alden, so she wouldn't hurt him, or vis-a-versa. Well we will miss them while they're gone, but we're also Super excited to see how much Alden changes over the summer. And when they get back Lucy and Alden can really play (instead of just stare at each other :D ).
Well that's all for now. I'll update again soon! Hope this finds everyone well!

Laughing, Laughing, Laughing

2010-03-29T18:23:00.000-07:00

Up until a couple of weeks ago, I had only heard Lucy laugh in her sleep. She's giggled a couple of times, but not for extended periods. Then yesterday we went to a homecoming of one of Devin's cousins and one of his other cousins fiance was there and asked to hold Lucy. Well I have to say that I was just a little bit jealous that a complete stranger could make my little girl laugh! No worries though, the jealousy was quickly replaced by joy, just seeing her laugh was enough to make me happy! Anyways, enough about me (sorry, I can get carried away...). To make a long story short, yesterday was a very busy day, and a very stimulating day for Lucy Mae. We wanted to go to bed around 10 (and we assumed that since Lucy had been up so much she would fall asleep quickly) we took her downstairs and started getting ready....Well she was awake as anything and wanting to play. So I went to take care of something in another room and when I came back this is what I beheld... ... ...

This was the most I had ever heard her laugh at one time! AND I LOVE IT! I can't help but smile when I hear it. I think that's why babies are so special....everything they do is adorable.
We're coming up on the end of the semester and it's now crunch time for finishing assignments and getting ready for finals. I'm excited to be finishing because this is the busiest I'll be with school ever! I found out that grants will cover independent study over the spring and summer terms! As long as I take one class on campus. So, that's what I'm going to do (assuming that I get the grant :D). I'll be taking one class (on campus) for both spring and summer terms and then taking 2 independent study courses. Then in the fall I'll take two more classes and be done!!! Yay! I can't wait. I'm happy that I'm finishing my degree but I really just want to be home with Lucy Mae. That is going to be her present for her birthday - a mom that will no longer be leaving her! :D I am STOKED!
Devin is working hard to get good grades! He will be applying to the Mechanical Engineering program over the summer so we'll know for sure by Fall semester what direction he'll be going with his studies (everyone keep him in your prayers that he'll get accepted, he has worked harder than anyone I know to make this dream come true and I'm really hoping that he'll make it). Seminary teaching is going great as well. They let the students know by the end of April if they're invited back to the next class. If he gets accepted to that he's going to have to defer for a couple of semesters so that he can get closer to graduation before they get him in a classroom. This summer is going to be full of news...I'm hoping it'll all be good news.
Well that is our update for now, Hope this finds you all well and happy!

The other day I held up the camera and told Lucy to smile this was the first picture... Then I said it again and She did it!! ;D

Bottom's up!

2010-03-18T13:23:00.001-07:00

Last week Lucy made big step towards crawling! She lifted her bum off the ground! I was amazed to see it. Usually she'll just kick her legs and move her arms around, but because her belly is so big she tends to get a little high-centered and feet just can't seem to make contact with the ground. But that phase has passed! She's now lifting her bum off and can even get her belly off the floor too! Now we're just working on her arm strength. She tends to use her back to lift her head, so I'm thinking her rolly arms are probably NOT made of muscle :D.

Not only is she learning to push up with her legs but she's discovering that she can roll! She can't do it by herself (I'm the only reason why she's even rolled over) BUT she's starting, she'll lay on her stomach and stretch her arms forward while she leans to one side...so it's not far off :D (or I'm just SUPER hopeful and helplessly blind to my daughters inabilities...either way, I think she'll do it soon!). I haven't captured her attempts on video yet but as soon as I do I'll post it :D

Fudge!

2010-03-18T13:16:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting fudge for a while now, I don't normally crave fudge so this was new for me. Well last night I was sick of craving it so I decided to make it. I have never made it but i've heard of people making it in a jiffy so I figured it wouldn't be that hard....Oh boy was I wrong! Fudge is supposed to firm-up....I don't think firm fudge could do this :D

It's not a total failure though! I found out it tastes great on ice cream!! Yay! This gives me the perfect excuse to go buy some :D

Wanting to change

2010-03-09T20:19:00.000-08:00

I have some changes I want to make in my life, or I guess I should call them improvements. I'm hoping that by writing them here I will be more motivated to make those changes. I know...lame...I have to write it on my blog so that I'll actually do it! Well, there are two possible outcomes: either I'll do it - and you will all know that why I've made better efforts in these areas OR I won't and everyone will know that I've failed... So here it goes:

#1: I want to be better at staying in touch with those I love (i.e. family and close friends). Because I STINK at it :(. I don't know why it's so hard for me, but it is. So, no more procrastinating for me. I'm determined to change my ways and show my love.
#2: I want to write in my journal MORE!
#3: I want to be a better blogger...that may seem silly but I think it's a good way to let those you love know what's going on in your life, especially if you cannot talk to everyone as often as you would like. ALSO, I heard from a sister whom I love that blogging could double as a journal! I think it's a great idea and will help me in my efforts to be better at recording my personal history.

That's it for now. I don't want to list too many or I'll just be over whelmed and not be able to do any of them :D

Cousins

2010-03-09T20:06:00.001-08:00

Devin's older brother Patrick and his wife, Whitney, had a little boy almost exactly one month after we had Lucy. They are exactly four weeks apart! :D I thought that was kind of fun. I was super excited to see how similar and different they would be. I thought that because they were cousins they would have look alike in some way, but alas, they do not. They seem to be almost complete opposites. Alden is SUPER chill, and has some of the cutest cheeks I have ever seen. I always think that Lucy is getting SO big all the time, but then I put her up next to Alden (who is four weeks younger mind you) and she all the sudden doesn't look so big :D It's been fun to watch them grow together these last couple of months, and to see how they change. It's even more fun to see when they actually interact with one another. I can't wait till their chasing each other around the house and playing! It's going to be so fun! Last week when they were all down her visiting we took some pictures!

They are SO very different....

In looks....

But so very NOT different....

In size :D

Bee-jom

2010-02-22T11:56:00.000-08:00

So bee-jom is a thing my dad used to do to us kids! I tried it out with Lucy a couple of days a go and this was the reaction I got!

I think it's a winner!!

Sunday's Best

2010-02-03T11:50:00.000-08:00

Here's Lucy's first sunday outfit! She's finally big enough to fit some of the dresses and skirts we were given! And the headband...I've been waiting and waiting for her head to get big enough so it would fit her and it barely does!

And here's a SIPER short video...i thought I was taking a picture and so did they! Great poses!

Lucy's Smile

2010-02-03T11:44:00.000-08:00

We finally got her! Well...sort of :) We've been trying so hard to get some good pictures of her smile, but whenever the camera comes out she gets distracted or it's time to change activities. She gets bored of things pretty fast :D.

Lucy in Green

2010-02-03T11:34:00.000-08:00

So before lucy was born, Devin and I bought a pack of onsies that were neutral colors (i.e. green, white and yellow) since we didn't know what gender she'd be. Last week Devin made a comment about how he thinks Lucy looks good in green, and he doesn't just want her to wear pink because she looks good in other colors too! So the next day I dressed Lucy in green and we had ourselves a little photo shoot just for daddy :)