Happy Birthday Easter

Lulu is one and we are so happy! So is she. We had a fun two days celebrating her first birthday ever. She really didn't know it was all about her except for when we sang Happy Birthday to her and used her name. Then, she grinned a lot and you could tell she felt special.




So far, our family tradition is the birthday girl/boy has to wear a very special hat. She loved it enough to leave it on her head for about thirty seconds, which, considering her age, I thought was pretty good.

Here is everybody helping her open her presents. Bayleb did pretty well not wanting to keep everything himself.



She also needed help diving into the easter themed birthday cake. I wanted it cute but I'm just not hip enough to make an AMAZINGLY awesome cake with fondant and toys and characters on top. I thought it turned out pretty cute anyways.


If you can't tell, its an easter egg.





Easter was very special. The Easter bunny came to our house and brought some books and candy. He brought Lulu a Berenstein Bears book. I have forgotten how much I LOVE the Berenstein Bears. I want to read it every night by myself when the kids don't want to. It makes me want to collect them all. These are their new Easter outfits that Grandma bought for them. They are so cute.



Looking especially feminine and petite, Lulu weighs only 18lbs at one year old. She is in the 95th percentile for height and the 8th percentile for weight. She eats really well, I think she just got her dad's genes.



Caleb went nuts with the easter stickers that came in the egg dying packs. He loves stickers almost as much as candy!


We hope you all had a wonderful and peaceful Easter weekend.

So Proud...

My little sister, Amy, got third place in her age division running the half marathon in Salt Lake City. There were 349 other girls running and she was faster than almost all of them, and she says she didn't train that much. What a champion!





Congratulations Amy. I love you!

Milestones

Only once in my life have I owned a car with over 100,000 miles on it, and that was when my dad made me buy my grandpa's 1983 Cadillac Cimerron after I graduated from high school. My grandpa is an amazingly meticulous man and he kept the little brown car in the best shape it could have possibly been in considering that it didn't even have FM radio. (wha...) I was shocked that three of my siblings actually drove it after I had moved on. I don't remember how many miles it had on it, but there were plenty. So, I felt it necessary to record the milestone when we drove our current vehicle beyond the 100,000 mile mark.



They are a little blurry but you can still see the numbers.



Lulu has been using the office as her bedroom pretty much since she was born. We just put her in the play pen and it works nicely. We finally put both of them in the same room and it all went surprisingly smooth until the last week or so. This is what happens as soon as I leave the room.



They giggle and laugh together better than during the day. So, we end up having to put Lulu back in the play pen until they fall asleep. It is so cute although bothersome. Caleb's face is him trying to smile for the camera. As soon as I walked in the room and he started saying "smile smile." What would life be like without kids?

Eleven Months

So our little angel is almost ONE! I can't believe it. Her first year flew by even faster than Bayleb's. Here she is at 11 months old, crawling around the living room and playing with everything (her favorite pastime).



Please note the hair. We have been putting it into little ponytails for about a month now. She has a lot of hair growing on the sides and back but not in the front, so her ponytails are on the very tip top of her head and stick straight up. It's really cute. I have learned the art of bow-making (kind of) and so try to expand her hair accessory collection. It takes like three minutes to make one, so I have made quite a few.



I have done quite a number of other crafty things I am proud of that I think I should blog about but I never do. Maybe I will someday.



My favorite things about Lu Lu right now are
- she crawls over and snuggles with my when I lay down on the floor,
- her smiles and giggles are given freely and make me melt
- she lets me do her hair although she often rips out the bow
- she has an independent little spirit that I know will carry her far in life
- she pats my back when I give her hugs
- she is not a picky eater
- she is still a light weight and easy on my back
- she loves to snuggle stuffed animals

Hello there....

Isn't it the best feeling when you see the first flowers of spring pushing their way through the dirt?

What beauties eh? I don't even remember what this flower is called but it is beautiful.



It's almost magical. It seems so impossible because it's so dead and cold. You think it will never end. But it does, and always sooner than I think. To me, when the bulbs show up, it truly is spring, no matter what the calendar says.




Here is a little dilemma though. So, we moved in the month of August a couple of years ago. I fixed the front garden area by putting in a brick border. The grass had over grown the east end of this little plot so much so that I moved the border back. I didn't want to deal with cutting out so much grass. So last spring, these little beauties show up on the wrong side of the border. There are no other bulbs in the garden except for the ones that I planted. Notice the one straggler on the bottom right of the picture.



So, does anyone know how to transplant bulbs correctly? I guess I should just google it and add order to the chaos of my garden. It's still exciting though.

Potty potty potty...

Potty training time. No pictures. I thought it would be inappropriate.

The Method:

Naked bum- He is more aware of his bodily functions when there is nothing catching them (gross). He seems to keep it all in unless he runs and hides to do his business. So, I just don't let him hide anywhere.

Frequency on the john- The first few days, it was every half hour: on the hour, half past, etc. It has now been pushed to about an hour.

Potty Candy- To make him tolerate sitting on the pot so much, he gets a jelly belly every toilet visit, with or without the desired results. It makes the whole experience much happier for him.

Books- The candy and books help distract him so he sits on his throne long enough to allow something to happen. It usually takes a minute or two get anything out. (gross!)

Expecting Excrement (gross!!!)- As long as I expect mistakes during this learning process, the whole thing is much less stressful. So, I am constantly armed with a rag, carpet cleaner, extra underpants and jeans for when we go out, etc.

Shower- My friend Shiloh recommended using a shower as the consequence for accidents. Not a punishment, just the inevitable result of making a mess. He doesn't like the shower so I hope it helps motivate him to not have accidents. I may not continue this if it appears to be too traumatic. He keeps saying scary after the shower. I'll keep you updated.


Overall, the last week has proven hugely successful. He has caught on very quickly to the concept and, as I said before, generally holds it in well when he's naked. Hopefully, in the next little while, he will learn how to tell me he needs to go, and will hold it in well with clothes on. Unfortunately, our society does not accept bare bums all over the place.

note: five different words are used to reference the toilet. See if you can find them all.