Cooper DID Turn 1

Five days after Guy's birthday Cooper turned one. And I felt accomplished to celebrate on time (posting is obviously another story). His present was a bust (came broken out of the box and it took a while to replace), but he got his own cake (which he hardly touched).

Coop says MaMa and Da, but the most important word in his vocabulary is "more." He wakes up saying "more" and signing eat. He tries to help himself to food in the pantry. And most days he eats more than Guy does at every meal and then some in between meals. He's "toddling" around--albeit a little awkwardly. Most of the time he's happy. But he wasn't so happy when he cut a molar about a month ago. He has 5 top teeth (including one molar) and only 2 on the bottom. He goes up an down our stairs without a problem, and I love that.

And the Winner is . . .

Dover, Delaware.

Remember when I moved to Delaware? In November of 2005? That was ages ago - and a different life (pre-marriage).

August 3 or August 10 is Rob's last day of work in the residency and we're off. At least we can make this move in a day.

And we'll be near family and friends.
Built-in playmates - cousins O and Cal.
Key Lime Water Ice.
I'm excited to be there when the Philly temple is finished and ready for the open house and dedication.
Delaware Beaches. Maybe Cooper won't cry the first time (Guy did).
NYC and DC, I will take better advantage. Cherry blossoms and Broadway, here I come. And as for The Mall (as in the Smithsonian), we'll be seeing more of you, too.

We've got a few friends in Southern Delaware already, and I'm excited for that. And for others that are semi-close, the draw will be the Delaware beaches.

I just realized I never posted this news. Oops. Things have been tremendously busy around here. Rob just got back from a 10 day TDY in DC this past Wednesday. It was "fun" to take the boys to all my YW stuff for a couple of weeks as I flew solo. Tomorrow he gets his wisdom teeth out. One of my YW counselors is gone for the month of May - the other is gone for the month of June. In July, I've got my big YW event - Girl's Camp. The week after that Rob has a 10 day TDY in San Antonio (toying with the idea of going).  We move just one or two weeks after that.

In August Rob and I will celebrate our fifth anniversary. We will be moving for the fifth time, too. For that reason alone you would think I'd have less clutter . . . :)

Balance Bike Testimonial

We've got pedals! . . . and no training wheels!

Last spring we got Guy a balance bike. My brother's family introduced them to my family of origin a couple of years ago (at least). Guy has been cruising around on that for a while now. Rob wanted to get him a petal bike this spring. I was a little skeptical, I'll admit (he turned 3 in February!). Even though Guy's been zooming around it still seemed a little early to me. I haven't made any effort to help him acquire this skill. Apparently it only took a few hours broken up in three or four afternoons/evenings for Guy to be able get the hang of it (mostly while I was away at YW stuff). He can now ride around a little island in the middle of our cul-de-sac all by himself. I was so impressed when he surprised me with this accomplishment. Way to go Guy and Dad!

It seems that all of our large purchases have been centered around bikes lately. Guy got his new one, and we invested in a new bike for me and a trailer for the boys. Guess what our plans are this summer? There are some great paved trails around here and we're going to venture out for some family rides.

Sales aren't my thing - but there are a few things in the world that I love enough that I could sell. The top of my short list is limited to Garmin GPS and balance bikes. And by the way, they are becoming more mainstream now (not limited to bike shops). I saw a metal one on Wal-Mart.com for $40.

My Life in Facebook Status Updates

Does anyone else out there ever just think about their life as it would be put in facebook status updates? I do - quite frequently. But rarely (if ever) do I actually post a status update.

And now I'm at the point where I've gone over a month and a half of not posting anything on my blog, at all. If only I'd kept track of all of those thoughts - it would sum up everything better than nothing, right?

Here's a few for the last week or so:

-Why do 10 flu-induced loads of laundry in four days when you can do 11?
-Peanut Butter M&Ms & Nutty Bars are totally acceptable at 9 am when you've been up since 3:30 am, right?
-Hello Spring! Hello Rita's Key Lime Water Ice. The best first day of spring treat. Ever.
-It's March 18th, my kid is 3, and he has no idea that he should have worn green yesterday.
-Minot (ND), Grand Forks (ND), Malmstrom (MT), and Vance (OK) are four of our next potential base assignments. There are 8 more, but I'm pretty much speechless . . .

In other news:
Cooper DID turn one - even though there isn't any digital proof of it (yet). He even got a birthday present (in addition to the combined birthday gift the boys got on Guy's birthday) - over one month late. But he got it, and that's what matters, right?

My kids are at the clueless age, and as you can tell, I'm taking advantage of it. I'm already getting better at some things, and that WILL continue.

Valentine's Day came and went - and I made 3 dozen+ sugar cookies for the YW (Young Women) to decorate - those turned out well (soft and chewy, the best way ever). Guy knows about that holiday, a little - which I consider an accomplishment in itself considering that we celebrated two birthdays 7 and 2 days earlier.

The boys and I flew to Utah for 10 days for my Grandmother's 90th birthday. If I hadn't been so busy before we left (things like New Beginnings 2 days before we left and 2.5 hours in the emergency room the day before we left - Upper Respiratory Infection and Ear Infection, Cooper), I might have tried to make plans to catch up with friends. However, most plans would have likely been cancelled, anyhow. Cooper was miserable for almost the entirety of the trip, Guy got it for a spell, too. And even I was feeling it by the end. It was great to be there for my Grandmother, but I don't know when I'll travel with the boys alone again. Even with the help I got, it was exhausting.

For Christmas Rob got me a silhouette (one of those digital cutting machines), and I LOVE it. The versatility (compared to a Cricut) is AMAZING, so I'm thrilled that I held out. I haven't had a lot of time to use it, but I have used it for a couple of YW projects and I've started my first vinyl lettering project. If you have any suggestions for maximizing use and abilities of the machine, please, send them my way. In our next home I will decorate more!

By the 31st we're supposed to know where our next assignment is - ought to be an interesting day. For now, I'm planning on ND - just not to hope too much. . .

Touché

Needing to put some Aquaphor on Guy's chapped face immediately before naptime, I started quickly looking for it in the obvious places in his room, then downstairs, then on to my room.

He knew I was looking for it, and when I was ready to settle on Vaseline to just get him down, he came in smiling, and holding the tub. Then he said, "Here it is, Mom! It was in my room. Next time you need to look harder."

Hmm... where did he learn that? :)

Amidst the Chaos

of a pretty busy week, the boys finally seemed reach their breaking point this morning. Whiny, grumpy, and topped off with runny noses, I had about had it by 10 am this morning (only getting about five hours of sleep, myself). But even in all of that mayhem, we found a good place.

We've been teaching Guy to pray, and trying to instill in him the belief that we know Heavenly Father answers our prayers.

This morning, on his own, for the second time in a couple of weeks, he asked to say a prayer for lost toys. This time, "to have Heavenly Father and Jesus help [him] find [his] Toy Story toys." Immediately I helped him with the prayer, then I started looking around, trying to help and be a "tool" in his request. Shortly thereafter, I was distracted with one break down or another (there were lots of little ones this morning).

However, this time there was no need for me in this equation (with the exception of helping him say the prayers). He asked, and he found. Not even two hours later. These toys were "missing" for at least a couple of weeks, I think. Simply stuck deep in the couch, and I really thought I'd looked there earlier, in my vain attempt.

I loved witnessing the process, and helping him in the smallest of ways in this incident. It's a moment where I think, "He's already growing up!?!" I'm grateful for his innocent faith and his desires to do what right. He's a witness to me of the simplicity of the truthfulness of the gospel that I sometimes overlook.

Guy's Birthday

 

Yesterday Guy turned 3

 He woke up to balloons hanging from all the lights downstairs. And a bunch on the banister and floor.

 

He and Cooper ate 5 blueberry muffins for breakfast AND a cup of homemade yogurt, too.

 

 After Cooper's ultra long nap, the museum plan was nixed. Instead we went to the store and he chose his cake.

 Then we met his our neighbors/friends at Chick-fil-A for lunch (the selling point - the playplace)

 During nap time, I quickly threw a cake together.

For dinner, we had some friends join us for dinner, serving Papa John's pizza - Guy LOVES the garlic dip and will sometimes eat two whole pieces.

 Then Guy went on a scavenger hunt for a present. That was completely Rob's idea and Guy loved it.

 

Here's the loot. A combined gift for Guy and Cooper from us and Guy's uncles, aunts, and grandparents on Rob's side of the family. With Guy's and Cooper's birthdays five days apart, a shared gift for Cooper's first birthday (when he doesn't know any better) seemed perfect.

We had cake and ice cream.

 Coop loves his new cage. :)

 We almost forgot to give him this other gift - one that was left over from Christmas.

 

Today, to begin a new birthday tradition, Guy had his first birthday lunch with Dad. I dropped Guy off at Burger King and he had an hour of quality dad time.

Cooper has arrived!

See those tiny little buds?

I'm sure it doesn't mean much to you, but after months of seemingly endless (and painful) teething, the boy finally cut some teeth. Living up to my ambitions (go big or go home), four cut through in about a week.

It's about time - we've been running out of things to feed the child, simultaneously facing the challenge of the end of nursing and him not liking whole milk. Never a dull moment, right? Just keep swimming, just keep swimming . . .

From a Cardboard Box

A couple of weeks ago I got an exercise bike. 

It's already getting good use.

 But there are other perks to this purchase.
Guy requested a car to go with his cardboard box house.

And with the leftovers . . .
The last couple of days have actually brought just a little snow.

 

Enough to thrill this boy.

And make this boy want to grow up even faster.

A makeshift sled was a necessity today.

I love cardboard, duct tape, and a little rope.

No Snow

I'm loving that we haven't seen the ice, snow, and general cold that we've been warned about -- even before moving here. My almost native Vegas blood (from kindergarten through HS) just doesn't handle cold well, not to mention circulation issues (even diagnosed). Anyhow, Friday we were out in the beautiful afternoon just playing in our circle. The only reason Coop has gloves on is because it was too cold for uncovered crawling. The rest of us were dressed even lighter.

Today I realized

that in my other life - the one where I was the Director of Communications and Public Affairs for the national non-profit gig I used to work for (and before I became the stay at home mom that I am now) - I met three of the four top contenders for the GOP ticket. Romney and Santorum a few times each, and Gingrich once. They are all great orators and all of those events were fun to attend.

I'm such a far world away from that one now . . .   : )