Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

She just wanted to cry.
He just wanted to tickle her.
She didn't know what to think.
He knew to go straight for her toes.
She smiled at him.
He laughed.
She kicked him.
He laughed harder.
She got annoyed and started crying again.
Rinse.  Repeat.

Being a parent...

....means the wins are few and short lived.

I don't mean for that to sound like parenting is horrible.  It is the exact opposite, but the statement is still true.

A few weeks ago we went to the grocery store and discovered Michael was picking grapes out of the package we hadn't paid for yet.  When we took them away he had a complete melt down in front of everyone.  That was a fail for us.

I took Michael to the zoo alone last week and let him walk around while I had Elli in the stroller.  For those of you that know the zoo you will laugh when I tell you we only made it to the elephants.  He wanted to do his own thing, climb on everything imaginable, and stare at the baby elephant for half an hour.  He didn't respond to me asking him nicely to stop climbing on the benches, he didn't respond to my threats when he was climbing up fences, and he didn't follow me when I walked away hoping he would come after me.  That was a big fail for me.  I became the mad mother at the zoo instead of the one who gently controls her kids, and encourages them to do things by positive reinforcement.

Then there's the fact that Elli is 8 months old and still doesn't sleep through the night.  Yup, big fail right there.  Of course, there are other factors involved in that, but still a fail.

Then yesterday happened.  Something just went right yesterday.  We went to lunch with Josh and the kids were happy, well mostly.  Josh had a class so he stopped home and we all headed up to campus.  I dropped him off and I took the kids to the zoo.  Michael walked the whole time and Elli was in the stroller, and both kids were completely content.  Michael loved it.  Elli was happy and smiling.  Everything was great.

Even though there are a lot of fails, I still find try to find the joy (or the humor) in them.  No, it wasn't great for Michael to be yelling at the grocery store, but I couldn't stop laughing when I noticed him sneaking grapes.  The zoo was painfully boring when he stared at the elephants for half an hour and tried to climb in with them, but it was adorable to hear him call them puppies every 20 seconds.  I don't love the fact that Elli still wakes up at night, but I do love holding her in my arms when she falls back to sleep.

Parenting is full of mistakes, fails, headaches, embarrassment, shock, and diapers.  It is also full of love, laughter, joy, and to make you feel like you can really do it, occasionally a win.

Photo Update

Mostly of Michael again, but I can't help it!  Besides....why would I take a picture of myself?

See those cheeks??  They are just like his dads

Josh was trying to do homework and Michael decided to steal his ruler

FAVORITE PICTURE EVER!

He loves the piano

Cute baby hand and huge swollen prego hand

Thanksgiving and Black Friday

We don't have any pictures from Thanksgiving.  I haven't taken many pictures lately because...well I feel huge in all of them!  But we had a great Thanksgiving!

Josh went and played football with my brother-in-law and some of his friends.  I know he had fun, but I didn't enjoy the complaints that his arms hurt all day :)

For lunch we went over to my parents house for a non-traditional lunch of BBQ turkey.  We had tons of fun and enjoyed the good food.  We could have gone to a movie but Michael doesn't do well with movies, so we went to our second Thanksgiving.

We had dinner with Josh's grandparents, his mom, and his brother.  It was a traditional Thanksgiving and very yummy.

On Black Friday we didn't do much shopping.  We ended up going to carter's later in the day and got a few baby clothes, but that was about it.  We had some friends come over and spend the night.  It was fun, but we had a few little problems, correction: Michael had problems.  He had a stomach virus and I ended up taking him to the doctor Saturday morning.  Josh went and played football again with some of his friends from high school.  Thankfully he wasn't as sore this time!

I should write a post about everything we are thankful for, but I have another post or two to write tonight, so I'll simply say I have the best family and I love them very much!

Michael's Party

Michael had an amazing birthday party!  I want to thank everyone who came and showed him their love.  He was definitely spoiled, but I think he deserves it!  We had a dinner of lasagna followed by a star wars cake.  You'll notice the cake says the traditional Happy Birthday Michael, it took some convincing on my part to make sure the cake did not say May the Force be with You.

Without further ado, the pictures...

His favorite part of opening presents was playing with the tissue paper

He wasn't too interested in the cake.  He enjoyed making a mess of it on his high chair try, but very little got in his mouth

Thanks again to everyone who came!

1 year old!

Michael is 1!!!!  I really can't believe it!  In the last month so much has changed.  Michael has:

• started crawling everywhere!!
• started jibber-jabbering like crazy
• become even more of an attention seeker
• started listening to commands
• started ignoring commands
• learned that the house is for him to explore
• found a fascination with plugs, door stops, and heater vents
• figured out how to un-babyproof a few things
• discovered his love for tubs, toilets, and laundry rooms, but he still hates the shower
• pulling up everywhere, and holding himself up really well!
• figured out how to pull up on the piano bench, scoot over and grab the piano, and start playing it
• copy whatever Josh and I do

For Michael's birthday Josh came home a little early from work.  We took him to get his first hair cut.  I can't believe how much he needed it!

Before the hair cut in his cute little car

I asked for the easiest hair cut to maintain and he got a faux-hawk

Playing with the balloon he got :)  He loved this balloon!! I felt bad taking it away, but he was trying to eat it and pop it with his teeth

After we went to a party store to pick up stuff for his party on Saturday.  We were going to take him out to dinner but he started getting really fussy.  So we stopped by Wendy's and get him his favorite food, french fries.  He enjoyed more than half a medium fry by himself!  Normally I would freak out about that, but I figured it's his birthday and all he gets at home is formula, fruit, cheerios, and occasionally snippets of our dinner.  

Here is just a little (okay, big) overview of how much he has grown in the last year

About ten minutes after birth

The first time I got to hold him

Leaving the hospital

1st week home

First bath

6

7

8

9

10

11

12 months!

We have been lucky enough to have you with us for the last year!  You've given us some scares, and many sleepless nights wondering if we were going to make it (mostly before you were born). We've learned a lot from you, like patience, burping while you squirm, diapering while you squirm, and laughing when you puke and poop simultaneously on us.  Happy Birthday little man, we love you!

What we've been up to...

I feel like we've been up to a lot of random things lately that I want to blog about.  So here are what we've been doing (I'll save stuff about Michael for his birthday post tomorrow):

• Michael and I have made quite a few trips out.  We went to the zoo one day when Josh had a break between classes.  We went to the aquarium (which really is more fun for me).  We've walked around Trolley Square and City Creek.  We went to Gardner Village and bought some cute head bands for Elli (you can get the stretchy head bands for $1 at a little kids boutique there, they are usually $4 everywhere else). Josh has been able to meet us uptown quite a bit so we've enjoyed a lot of family time!
• Attempting to get ready for winter.  It took the first snow like two weeks ago for us to realize Josh needed to do that stuff.  Since then Josh has had an eternal struggle to keep the lawn mower 'winterized'.  It isn't ours and we don't know how his grandparents have winterized it in the past.  After watching 5 hilarious attempts of Josh driving the lawn mower up planks to get it into the too small shed it ended up outside under a tree.  We ended up covering it with a tarp, but that refuses to stay on it.  Every few days Josh is out there putting more and more rocks on the tarp to get it to stay put.  
• Seeing a ton of deer.  If we bought a tag we wouldn't have to go anywhere, just sit outside and wait for the deer to come eat our plants.  We see one on average once a day, they are usually in our driveway at night.
• I've been getting bigger and bigger.  If you haven't noticed I have posted very few pictures of myself lately.  I believe that the camera adds 10lbs, but when you're pregnant it adds 30lbs.  In reality I don't think I'm bloated like pictures make me look...so I refuse to post them.  People keep asking when I'm due.  I think they expect me to say in a week, but I still have one trimester left :(.  When you're as short as me the baby just doesn't have anywhere to hide.
• We've both gotten new callings...sorta.  I'm an activity days leader and have my first activity on Friday, but still have no idea what's going on.  Josh is soon to be in the scouts.  He was told to do all the certification stuff for it.  We still feel out of place in this ward.  I know it takes a while to fit in, but this is a deep rooted ward.  People have been in it for the last 40+ years.  They know each others grandkids.  So it will take a while to find a place.
• My sister had her 30th birthday party and we had a murder mystery party :).  It was pretty awesome and worked out great!  Josh was basically an Italian mobster and I was his pregnant fiancé, who was really impregnated by his twin bother who was killed.  Then we had an amazing cheesecake! 

 Life has been moving at a rapid pace.  We feel like we are just running and running.  It's hard to imagine that a year ago today Josh and I were out eating spicy food, going on a walk, and trying to get our baby boy would be here.  

Halloween

I've been so slow to update because Josh's computer is the only one I upload photos to, and he's had it at work and school a lot lately.

For Halloween we did our usual, went to my sisters for dinner and trick-or-treating around her neighborhood.  We love this tradition and hope it continues.  Usually we walk around with my nieces to a few houses and head back and watch a movie.  This year we took Michael out.  Josh didn't really want any candy so we walked around to houses but only went to one or two doors.  Here is our adorable little lion!

He wasn't thrilled with the hood

Josh trying to get Michael to roar

Chiropractor

Michael has started crawling!  It has been amazing!  It took forever but we are excited!  Last week we found out why it took so long. 

Our home teachers came over and we found out one of them is a chiropractor.  He asked about Michael and he took a look at him.  It turns out his sacroiliac joint was out.  He put it back into place for us. 

The chiropractor said that some babies start crawling the same day they have something that big put back into place, but he didn't.  However, he started making progress.  He was getting up on his knees every chance he could, he started pulling up more, and he somehow became even more active than before.  Fast forward to 3 days ago and he started crawling. 

Now it may seem a little crazy that he really had something out.  I was skeptical at first.  How could Michael have his leg out and we not notice?  He didn't seem to be in pain.  He wasn't favoring one leg over the other.  His doctor didn't say anything was wrong.  He just wasn't crawling. 

In retrospect I assume it's been out sometime between when he was 4-8 months.  At 4 months he was rolling around and considered to be ahead of other babies.  He should have sat up on his own around 6 months, but it didn't happen until he was 8 months. 

I learned a valuable lesson.  When you think something is wrong, it probably is.  My quick developing baby got so far behind for "no reason". 

I've been converted to believe that chiropractors can do a lot of what they promise.  When Josh officially gets his job and real insurance we are both going to the chiropractor (if you've ever heard Josh pop some of the things on his body you would send him to one).  I'm still a little wary about whether they can cure things like ADHD, but I guess I'll find out if I ever cross that bridge.

Little Lion

11 Months

It's a little blurry but I couldn't resist posting this cute, crazy face!

I can't believe it's been almost a year!  Time is whizzing past.  Michael has been pretty busy this month.  Michael has:

• Pulled up for the first time
• Started pushing himself up on his knees from his stomach
• Pushed himself up to sitting from his tummy

I know he will start crawling soon! 

Today we got some good news.  After months of seeing doctors and specialists about Michael's throat his specialist told us today that he believes the white lump in his mouth is benign.  It's such a relief to us!  Michael is too little to be put under for an "elective" surgery to see if the lump is cancerous or not.  Since it hasn't changed in the last 3 months the doctor is pretty certain it isn't anything to worry about. 

Now to planning his first birthday party...

10 months!

Michael turned ten months old the other day and all I can think about is his amazing personality!  Michael is:

• Independent!  He knows what he wants to do when he wants to do it.  Since birth we have let him create his own little schedule and we have followed him.  We have let him go at his own pace with a lot of things.  Some things he wants to do quickly, like feed himself.  Other things he has decided to hold back on, like crawling.
• Curious!  When he gets a new toy he has to look at it for a while.  Then hold it and turn it over and over.  Then finally he will chew on it for a long while.  He wants to get into everything!
• Observant....This one is great for him but not so much for us.  He wants our phones all of the time.  He knows which way to hold it and put it up to his ear.  He also knows when he has the wrong remote. 
• Talkative!  Michael has always been a little loud :)  He doesn't cry very often but it's not unusual to hear him talking loudly in church.  He said his first word today!  He's been saying mama and dada for a while but he hasn't figured out who is who.  Today he said yeah.  I asked him questions and he would respond yeah to those that deserved a yes answer.  He gave me a sour face with the no questions.  His great-grandma watched him while I was at the doctor and he was doing it for her as well.
• Adorable :)  Just have to add this one in! 

He hates the camera!

So...see that ring on the floor?  Guess what it is?  Yes, it is poop. Michael had a blowout diaper. Instead of crawling he just moves on his butt and turns around.  Well he turned around and around while he was pooping until there was a perfect circle.  What a little artist :P

Too much time on the computer!

So I haven't taken as many photos recently as I've wanted to.  Part of that was because I couldn't find our camera for a week after we moved.  But here is what I have

He's sitting on his own in the tub now.  For a long time we were sticking him in the bumbo while we bathed him but he finally stopped wiggling long enough for us to bathe him

My sister watched Michael while I went to classes the first day and Michael peed through his outfit. Michael came home wearing my 2 1/2 year old nieces clothes, just rolled up a little.  In his defense he isn't a huge baby, my niece is still wearing 18 month clothes

I don't know what he's enjoying more, hanging out with daddy or chewing on the remote

BAT BABY!!

9 month appointment

I took Michael to the doctor last week and he is in perfect health!  Here are his stats:

Weight: 18lbs 2oz; 11th percentile
Height:  28.25"; 45th percentile
Head:  17.9"; 53rd percentile

For the last 5 months his weight has stayed around the same percentile.  His height and head continue to increase.  Overall he is fairly well-rounded.

He didn't have to get any shots but we decided to get him a flu shot.  He was pretty good about it and seemed to enjoy the bugs bunny bandaid, especially later when he pulled it off his leg and we caught him chewing on it.

The only bad news we got was about his spider bite.  The doctor did confirm it was a spider bite and said it could take 3-6 months to heal.  His poor little, chubby leg will have an ugly red mark on it for quite a while.

9 months

Again the time has come for me to look back and smile with pride at the milestones, cry with the bumps and bruises, and ache for my baby to stay little forever.  Michael will never be my tiny baby again, but with each day he is getting a personality that I can't wait to see develop more.  Here is what he has done this month:

• Started feeding himself.  He also will grab any food within his reach and cry when it's taken away
• Becoming more mobile!  He still isn't crawling, but he doesn't need to.  He knows if he turns around and rolls three times that he can get to any toy he wants
• He now has 3 teeth!  The two he got on the bottom a few months ago and a little one on the top
• He got a spider bite somehow.  It still hasn't gone away, but he's been good about it.
• He is very, very aware.  He happened to be in the room when Josh was taking down his crib.  Every time a piece was moved he started bawling.  He knows it's his bed and that things are changing.  Luckily he got over that with some cuddles and treats
• He hasn't graduated to 9-12 month clothes yet, and I don't think he will for a few months.  His PJ's have shrunk, but most of his onesies are huge on him.  He is finally showing that he is in the 10th-20th percentile for height and weight.  
• He really needs a hair cut!  The front of his hair is crazy and his bald spot is starting to go away.  I'm trying to hold off on it because I love his thin baby hair!
• Copying sounds and noises really well.  Unfortunately the only sounds he won't copy on demand on mama and dada sounds
• Again he has gone camping and proven that he loves playing in the water no matter what the temperature, is fine sleeping in a cold tent, loves the boat when it's moving, and hates hates HATES sunscreen on his face

Life has gone by too fast since he's been born.  I like to blame it all on school and moving repeatedly, but that's not it.  Time would pass by just as fast if none of that was happening.  I'm glad I get to have the time I have with my little boy.  He is such a sweet guy!  

Unfortunately our internet is not working at our new place quite yet.  When everything is set up I'll have another photo overload of our place and (what you all read this blog for) Michael.

A few things about us

So I really don't talk about Josh and I that much on here...I prefer to make this about the cute little guy.  I figure an update every 3-ish months is sufficient.  So here goes!

• Josh and I went up to Flaming Gorge with my family a couple of weeks ago.  That's where we took the adorable Magic Mike pictures.  I've gone almost every year for my whole life for 1-2 weeks a summer.  Josh loves it up there as much as I do and we plan to continue the tradition.  At one point my whole family was up there.  Josh's dad even joined us for a few days.  We spend the days on the boat wakeboarding and wakesurfing, swimming and cliff jumping when it's too hot, watching Josh and my brothers almost kill each other having tube wars, and chasing little kids around.  At nights we eat some of the best dutch oven meals ever!  

Josh is pretty good at wakesurfing

• We are moving...we just don't have an exact day.  Josh's grandparents are leaving for the MTC on the 13th, but they will be coming home at night for 1-3 weeks.  We want to get settled before school starts, but we haven't decided whether to move right before they go to the MTC or after they leave.  Anyways we don't have too much moving to do besides Michael's things.  Plus I've become an expert at moving quickly at this point.
• Speaking of school...I believe we start on the 20th.  This will be a busy semester for both of us, but we need to get some stuff done before this new baby comes.  Thankfully Josh's work is very flexible and I have some amazing family members that are willing to watch Michael!
• And speaking of the baby...I went to the doctor last week (finally!).  The baby is healthy and still due Feb 1st.  My doctor thought there might be some discrepancy on the due date since I was recently pregnant, but it was exactly what I thought.  
• I know I said this was about us...but this concerns me!  I took Michael to his throat specialist and it looks like he is just fine.  Which is a huge relief to me.  Michael gets scratches and bruises every once in a while and I'm learning to deal with those, but I couldn't handle weird white bumps in his throat.
• Last week we went camping with my dads family.  It was great to see all of them!  Josh and I even got to go on a little 4-wheeler ride.

We are continuing to be really busy.  We are doing a lot of work on our garden (which we planted way too much corn in) at least once a week.  We have had a lot of family camping trips and get-togethers lately.  We are enjoying seeing some of our friends before we move and before some of them move.  I think we are trying to get as much in as we can before school starts again.  We both know that winter break is never really a break, well not sufficient to get over the burnt out feeling, so we are living it up to the fullest!

Photo Overload!

So I am finally posting pictures...of Michael only.  I don't want to go through the ones of Josh and I yet.  Let's face it, you just want to see my cute little guy anyways :)

He loves Grandpa.  He stared at him while he washed the dishes for a half hour.

Notice the drool

I took Michael to the aquarium and he spent the whole time chewing on his stroller strap instead of looking at the fish

He's pretty good at getting a sippy in his mouth, but he prefers to chew on it

Whenever I hold him up to the piano he swings his arms like crazy trying to make as much noise as possible

He's been rolling under things lately when I'm not looking

He just got caught

I still don't know how he got under here without hitting his head

Don't you love mid-sneeze pictures?

 We went to Flaming Gorge about two weeks ago with my family.  Michael did really well!  He loved the water and would splash around in it.  You'll soon see what his favorite part of the boat was

Huge life-jacket

First time in the water 

This is what we like to call Magic Mike!  This is the pole for the table