An event to remember...

For the first time, yesterday afternoon Baylub gave me a big hug and said "I love you Mommy" without me saying it first. Melt my heart *two tears*. I wasn't expecting that to happen for a long time. We are having a wonderful time this fall just us three (Lulu, Baylub, and me). It will be kind of sad when that ends with the whirlwind of adjusting to a third baby. I know we will find our rhythm though and things will be wonderful still.


5 mos. old

Fall

Fall is most definitely upon us. The weather dropped from a comfy 80 to chilly 50 in less than a 24 hour period. I hope we don't skip some nice 70-ish temperatures completely this fall. Luckily we enjoyed the leaves up Provo Canyon before it snowed. They are breathtaking.

Some small updates, nothing too big or exciting. Lulu and Baylub are growing up and as evidence, Lulu is becoming more fashion conscious in spite of the fact that her mullet is getting more and more difficult to hide. Her sassy little boots are her favorite. That and her squeaky shoes. She just has a shoe fetish in general and loves her jackets. The boots and the jacket in this photo were all her own choice. (note the long hair in back and still no hair on top)



Some other fun facts about the kiddalids, Baylub is becoming more and more reasonable and picking up so many things that shock me. The other day we were having some hot chocolate with lunch (because of the cold weather) and he said very quietly to himself "Oh my heck, this hot chocolate is bery yummy." I laughed for a while and then talked about saying "oh my goodness." I don't think I say "oh my heck" very much but I must if he's picking up on it. He listens better now and I can reason with him through some tantrums (not all, just some).




On the other end of the spectrum, Lulu is declaring her independence with the word "no" and we have little battles of will already, mainly over the books. If it was up to her, we would read picture books all day (mainly Go Dog Go, Leo the Late Bloomer, Green Eggs and Ham, Oh the Places You'll Go, and Clap Your Hands and Stomp Your Feet). I am constantly putting the books back up on the shelf. I LOVE that she loves books, but I have started to try to push the "one at a time and then put it back" concept. She gets it, but she tests her limits refusing to touch the book on the floor until I end up holding her hand to do it. When she does do it on her own after me asking a MILLION times, I praise her up and down. Hopefully it will click soon. It's actually quite funny to watch her try and stand up to her parents. I mean, does she really think she's going to win?

She also surprised me the other day by climbing to the very highest slide on the playground all by herself when I wasn't around and my sister-in-law was watching. She headed up there like she had done it a million times, turned around so she was feet first and zoomed down the very tall twisty slide. I had never let her even climb to that area. Sometimes I think I hold her back because her size and her lack of hair make her feel so much younger to me than she really is. She talks like crazy though, saying new words everyday.

Baylub is also becoming even more social, dying to go outside and play with the older neighbor boys. I really look forward to the day when I can just let him go play without keeping an an eye on him. He always wants to play with the older boys though, like those 3 or 4 years older. Someone once told me that is a sign of intelligence but I think people say pretty much anything is a sign of intelligence in children including hitting, not hitting, focusing or not focusing. People just love to hear that their kid is a genius. I know I do.

Last of all, we found an awesome deal on a bassinet. I have borrowed bassinets in the past but none are available this time around. Bassinets are really pricey so I wasn't sure what I was going to do. I just happened to look on KSL one Saturday morning and saw a barely used one not far from here for a great deal. We went and checked it out. The family looked nice, the house was clean, and the bassinet was in good shape so we got it.




I'm not sure if this is the case with other people, but with each baby so far, there comes a point near the end where some object or piece of clothing just makes something in my brain click and in my mind the baby becomes even more real and almost here. Because of one little baby object, I all of a sudden can't wait to hold him, see his face, touch his fingers and toes, hear his cry, all of those things. With Baylub, it was just one little outfit that I picked out to take to the hospital. With Lulu, it was a second ultrasound I got at 34 weeks. And now with this one, this bassinet has me so excited to see this little guy. I can just imagine him (or her we still don't know I just don't like calling him an "it") lying in it all wrapped up tight so small and cute.


Can you picture it? So, that is my biggest most recent news. Not much, but sometimes no news means life is still good just moving along.

Homecoming

Here are pictures of my baby sister going to her senior homecoming dance. This is for all of those far away who are wishing they were here for the occasion.

Anna Marie, you are a superstar!

We tried out the two dollar Tuesdays at Thanksgiving Point during the month of August and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The last Tuesday at about 7 pm, we decided to quickly check out the dinosaur museum. I thought people would be leaving seeing as it closes at 8:30 and we didn't get there until almost 7:30, but many people had our same idea. It was PACKED!




It was worth the two dollars though. The museum is very impressive. Here is Caleb obediently posing, pointing out ancient crocodiles but in reality anxiously wanting to run over to the camera and look at the picture of himself. That is our new problem with taking pictures. They want to see the back of the camera and not have their picture taken.



Here is a lovely shot of mullet head (aka Lulu). That's what we call her and probably will call her until her hair grows out or until she figures out what we are saying.


So, being heavy laden with a bambino, I get free baby ads in the mail. I still don't know exactly where they get my information from or the fact that they even know that I'm pregnant. Doctors do have the whole confidentiality thing going on still, I hope. Anyway, in this parenting magazine we've been getting, there is an add for baby orajel with a little boy sitting on a Thomas the Train riding toy with tracks and all and simultaniously brushing his teeth holding the orajel bottle. Baylub became obsessed with the picture, asked to ride Thomas everyday for quite a while, and even slept with the ad (we tore it out of the magazine). He kept asking. The toy on Amazon is about $400 so that's not an option. It was so cute that he loved the ad so much, so we finally built him a Thomas to ride on with his big legos and he went and grabbed his tooth brush and tooth paste so that he could completely recreate the idealic scene of the orajel ad.



I was so glad that it satisfied him. There is no way we are buying that Thomas the Train toy, even though it is really really cool.

I really liked this talk. I highly recommend it.

Quote from Elder Russel M. Nelson's talk "The Family: The Hope for the Future of Nations" at the World Congress of Families V in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on Aug. 12, 2009.

"What would happen to the future of nations if the next generation failed to appear in significant number? The answer is alarming! Yes, we would be poorer economically, but even poorer spiritually. Spiritual concerns are of great importance. Spiritually, we need children as much as they need us. They are our spiritual wealth. Children teach us the joy of building goodness that will outlive our own. They teach us the joy of loving someone more than self. That love lifts one to give from the abundance of one's own life to help a child."

A Most Underappreciated Fruit

The last two canning seasons, I have gained a new favorite to add to my repitiore of fruit. It is the plum.



I know very few people who love plums or say that it is their favorite fruit. They are pretty good fresh. But my oh my, everything I have made with the plums (basically fruit leather and jam) has been simply incredible. I think plum jam is the prettiest color. LOVE IT! And it has the most wonderful almost tangy flavor.



I haven't made any fruit leather yet, but last year's leather tasted just amazing, almost like a fruit punch instead of plain old plum. And, again, after being blended together, the dark skin makes the leather the most beautiful red/purple/plum color. I am definitely a fan.

So if you see black plums on sale anywhere, buy a few pounds a try a batch of cooked jam. I highly recommend it.

Three car seats in one sedan....

So, one of the many problems we have faced with the pending arrival of a new bambino is the question of what to do car-wise. The most fun choice is obviously to buy a bigger car. We have researched it down to a Mazda 5. We are fans, especially of the gas mileage. It only seats six but that would have been plenty for us.

However, after a few months, it became painfully apparent that buying a new car was just NOT an option. We tried multiple times to squish our three car seats (one infant and two upright) to fit in the back of our Mitsubishi Galant. Unfortunately, I have the habit of buying big, fat car seats because the look so much safer and more comfortable than skimpy ones. It truly is impossible to fit all three of our car seats in the back seat.

I think in the back of my mind I kept thinking and hoping that somehow, someway we could buy a new car, but in the end I reconciled myself to finding a car seat that would fit. I've seen three car seats in the back of small cars before so I know people do it somehow.


From what I've learned, the Radian or Sunshine Kids Radian Car seat is one of, if not, the skinniest car seat out there.





And it is specifically most skinny at the base, where it really needs to be. It is pricey because it boasts to be extremely safe with a steel frame and other extra safe features. But, by far it is cheaper than buying a new car. It is a convertible car seat so it can be rear or forward facing. We added some little pillow attachments to the straps to help Lulu sleep without her head flopping over into uncomfortable looking positions. So now, with a Cosco upright car seat, a Graco Safe Seat infant car seat, and the Radian car seat, we can fit all three (barely) into the back of our car.

Lets just hope that our current kids will not torture the baby since they will be able to reach him so easily. They will grow up close in age and car proximity.