Fri Jan 05 2007 21:01 A moment's peace: Wow, it doesn't feel like it has been over two weeks since I updated. I guess I will begin at the top. For Christmas David and Ashley came in town as well as Julie and Chuck. For an activity, Lorna volunteered to baby-sit for us while Aaron and I went to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra Concert compliments of Ben. It was a pretty amazing show and perfect music for the holiday season. It was my first time leaving Gunnar, so I was apprehensive but once I was there I knew everything would be fine.

I still haven't ventured out in the real world with both kids by myself. I doubt I will for another month or so and only if it is an emergency I imagine. Lily is just to vivacious for me to take on another.

Christmas was great. We got lots of goodies: $, a deep fryer, tools, new silverware, gift cert, my salad spinner finally!, jewelry, nice grill, clothes, and Lily got her first tricycle and some other toys and clothes. Alyson and the boys came into town the next day. Aaron was great about letting me step out for a couple hours at a time to go shopping and even once to the movies. I saw The Holiday with David, Ashley, and Michelle and it was pretty good minus some casual sex. It was a little misleading and irresponsible I think to portray relationships like that.

Aaron and I even went to see Night at the Museum together with some family. I really liked the show and thought it was funny. Gunnar was pretty good for it too, and Michelle and Lorna took Lily shopping for us so we could go. I was sad to see the out of towners go. New Year's was non-memorable. We watched fireworks again this year from our bedroom window this time with Lily. She was scared of them and reminds me everyday that fireworks are "scary". Speaking of Lily talking, she will not be quiet for a second. She is starting to boss which is laughable to see a tiny thing like that do, but it is also irritating. She says things like "No dinner, want it...I want candy". I still feel sad for her that she is not the only apple of Aaron and my eye anymore. It must be hard for her to deal with. Luckily, she is being pretty loving to Gunnar. She always wants to hug and kiss him.

Aaron returned back at school on Wed, and I was bummed about that. It was nice to have his help. Two kids are hard. I feel like I never get a moment to myself let alone to clean the house up. Hopefully things will get better as Gunnar eats less frequently and is on a more permanent schedule. I also dove head first into my "lose the baby fat" diet. Hopefully I can take it off faster than I put it on. It kinda sucks not being able to eat what you want, but at least I didn't have that to worry about when I was pregnant.

I almost forgot; Aaron and I bought a new truck. We got a good deal on grey Ford 2007 Ranger. Aaron insisted that he get a truck for his projects. It is nice to have I admit, and driving it takes me back to high school when I drove a truck similar to it, standard and all. I like being higher on the road, but it is not so huge that it is scary to park. It is a pretty car I think, and am relieved that I don't have to drive for an hour to pick Aaron up at school with two grumpy kids in the back. I don't love another car payment but fortunately our other car will be paid off in Feb. It feels pretty good finishing up those payments I took on over 5 years ago. I own a car and I paid for it all. That's a good feeling.

Well, back to folding laundry. My life is so exciting!

(1) Mon Jan 08 2007 12:49: I only have one goal for this week. That is to have Gunnar on a schedule by Sat. Shouldn't be too hard, right?!

Wed Jan 10 2007 10:00 Where did December go?: Even though I have no desire to get out all my Christmas decorations again or see them for another year, I kinda miss Christmas and the holiday season. It seems like it went by so fast, but this year was a really good one for me. We didn't have to travel and I still got to see all my family. I still feel like saying "Merry Christmas". And Lily still wants to sing Jingle Bells (another thing she must have picked up in nursery).

Also, Gunnar is turning 6 weeks old tomorrow. Six weeks really is a magical number. It really is about the amount of time you need to actually begin to start feeling somewhat normal. I noticed I am not sore really anymore. Lily is being pretty good around Gunnar and is pretty used to him being around. I am not as neurotic about keeping Gunnar away from germs. Like I don't flinch after the thought of bringing him into Wal-Mart in his car seat with a blanket over the seat anymore. And although I don't feel capable at all juggling two kids just maybe Gunnar is picking up on this schedule thing and I can feel some sort of semblance to my day.

I was able to get Gunnar's portraits taken too at one month. The earliest I have of Lily is 4 1/2 months and I regret that. I wanted to get hers done of her in her blessing dress but by the time I actually felt comfortable leaving the house with her other than being forced (Dr. appts, church, quick trips to the store) she didn't really fit well in her dress. The difference between Gunnar and Lily is that so far. Lily started to grow out of her clothes way after the norm and Gunnar is already growing out of his clothes. He weighs a little over 11 pounds as far as I can measure and I remember it taking Lily forever to hit the 10 pound mark. Both cute in their own way.

(4) Sun Jan 14 2007 15:54 Some things never change: Today was my first official day back at church after "maternity leave". Maybe I have just gotten to be a better mom or maybe Gunnar is sooo different than Lily. He was so clam today at church. No going in the hall (okay, we were late so we were sitting out in the foyer) but not a peep really the whole 2 hours I had him. I teach the third hour so Aaron had him and he said he was good.

When Gunnar was tired, well he just went to sleep then. Lily at church was a nightmare. She was and is a very social person so of course with all these new faces to look at there was no way she was going to tear her eyes away for a second to go to sleep. No way. How boring?! Unfortunately, Lily was the type of baby that had a schedule of napping and if she missed a nap she remind us that she was still awake and not sleeping by making life miserable for Aaron and me. Not so for Gunnar. He could care less about looking around. As long and he was snug in my arms he slept or laid there quietly.

Now you may be saying to yourself, "that's because he is only six weeks old." This might be true, but for Lily she was the way she was at six weeks old. Wide awake all through church. Never able to sleep unless she was snug in her crib belly down and no one in there to make a noise. She could hear someone lick their lips and wake up, that girl.

So I am not really surprised that lately Lily has been having issues with going to sleep. I mean with all the excitement of having a baby brother, and knowing he is still in the room with mom and dad and she is all alone in her room. She wants to be part of the action. It takes her forever to go to sleep now. Plus kids won't go to sleep with a dirty diaper. Well, Lily calculates when bedtime is and I swear saves it until we leave the room and then lets it all out as punishment to us. We hear her playing, climbing, talking, and singing for half an hour to an hour and finally Aaron or I will go and check on her to smell that indeed, she has a dirty diaper. Her best payback is when she gets naked, diaper and all, and gets poop all over her carpet and wall. Yes, that did happen. A disgusting and horrifying story for another day. Usually though, her diaper is just wet, thank goodness.

Part of the tricks we play to get her to sleep is that we tell her that we are going to sleep to. So as we get up to leave the room she says, "Papa nigh-night too, Mama nigh-night too, Gunnar nigh-night too, Lily nigh-night too, animals nigh-night too". She has a basket full of animals that she sleeps with, and on some nights she makes me kiss every one goodnight including her sippy cup. Anything to get out of going to sleep.

Gunnar is getting the hang of a schedule thank goodness, and hopefully after this week he will be predictable and happy because I will know what he wants. You know what is sad is for the holiday tomorrow, I made Aaron promise me to watch both kids as if I am not home so that I can shut myself in my room and clean it top to bottom. For once and for all, including the bathroom. I have not been able to get at it with Gunnar still in there afraid that if I do anything in there too long while he is sleeping I will lose my precious hands free time. So my life has come to this. Being excited about cleaning by myself with no one to attend to or interrupt me. How sad is that?

24 season 6 is on tonight!! Can't wait.

(1) Fri Jan 19 2007 22:17 Happy Anniversary...: to Aaron and me! I can't believe it has been 5 years.

(2) Sat Jan 20 2007 22:59 Busy Little Bees: My, this has been quite a week. In the beginning, we like the rest of the country had freezing weather. So bad that in addition to Aaron getting Monday off for Martin Luther King Jr day, he also didn't have to go to school Tues and Wed because the roads had iced over. It was fun having him around and so nice since I was able to do some damage control and clean for extended periods of time since Gunnar was born. What a relief to be able to walk on the floor in my room without clothes there. You would not believe how many loads of laundry that have been done the past week.

This week Lily has decided she no longer wants to sleep during her nap time. She really has only slept a total of an hour and a half this whole week while being in her room for naps. I would prefer her to get her rest (she has been incredibly full of naughty energy this week) but if not I am still determined to keep her in her room for at least 2 hours each day for quiet time. Still kinda likes it anyway. Every time I check on her she has a new outfit on. Which brings me to another bane. Lily is very good at dress up these days. She wears mismatched outfits all day long. If I don't like the dreadful one she has on...not to worry. It will be something different in half an hour. I don't even bother dressing her for the day anymore until we are two seconds from leaving.

The poor little troubled girl has also been doing something very worrisome to me. For fun she pulls out her own hair and chews on it and swallows it too. Sometimes 5-6 strands at a time, usually just one. She is going to go bald, I swear. I mean the poor girl has pathetic excuse for hair anyway with how stringy it is, it has just been getting worse. At least in nursery when they complain about her pulling out girls' hair I can tell them at least she doesn't discriminate. She pulls out fistfuls of her own too.

Friday was Aaron and my anniversary. Jake and Erin so graciously offered to tend the kids. I don't think they knew what they got themselves into. Nonetheless, everything seemed to go well. Aaron took me downtown to eat at a nice fine cuisine restaurant called Oro. I took the night off of my "diet" and had amazing food. I ordered the lamb sirloin that had the most tasty sauce reductions. It was very satisfactory, and Aaron had the boar chops which were equally yummy. For dessert we spilt the chocolate volcano cake. Writing it now makes me want more so bad. It was very rich though, so I am glad we split it because if you over did it you could feel ill. Oh, it was so good though.

That's about the extent of my week. It went by so fast. I guess one more thing happened this week. I started to let Gunnar cry himself to sleep for naps. It is not something I like to talk about or do. It was time for me though, and I hope not too early for him. Poor little guy. It breaks my heart, but it came down to that or my sanity this week. At least he has done well since. He doesn't carry on for more than 15 minutes and usually just like 10. I hate thinking about it though.

Thu Jan 25 2007 23:24 Hello Tax Return: I love you.

Fri Jan 26 2007 13:59 Say click, take a pic: I have finally done it. I have wanted to post pictures, but didn't want to bother my cousin Leonard every time I wanted it done on my blog. So I came up with a way I could. I created a picture blog here: http://4yourconsideration.blogspot.com/

Here is a direct link.

So there you go. If you want to see my cute babies grow or understand the "see it to believe it stories" that I might talk about with Lily, then go there every so often and see. Yay! Pictures!

(1) Sat Jan 27 2007 22:04 Brain food: Two shows I have seen recently have given me cause to internalize. The first one is An Inconvenient Truth. I really wanted to see this film to judge for myself and be informed. The judgment is I liked it. Al Gore was even human-like in it. I enjoyed it so much I keep giving Aaron subtle hints to watch it so that we can talk about it together. He has no interest to do so, but I would love to talk about it with anyone who has seen it to get their perspective because I don't know very much about global warming. I would recommend this film to anyone.

Secondly, I just saw Freedom Writers tonight. I thoroughly enjoyed that too. It is nice to be reminded of why it is important to be compassionate especially for me when I can get totally consumed with my life and me. If anything see it for the good acting and fast moving storyline. I don't think you would be disappointed.

(4) Wed Jan 31 2007 09:03 Death by Magic Cake: How is one supposed to lose "baby fat" when one's husband goes around making delicious to die for things like this? If you have never had Aaron's "magic cake" he calls it, oh boy, you better not even start because you will not be able to stop. I will say I have only had one piece and that's all though. What self control on my part considering how delicious it is.

(1) Thu Feb 01 2007 09:22 Lily's anecdotes: The other day while on a walk in our neighborhood, a black poodle came walking up beside us. Lily loves doggies and was very happy to see the dog, but when I crossed the street Lily looked up at me and said, "uh spankings". I was a little confused and wondered why she was telling me spankings, so I said "what do you mean spankings?" She said, "Doggie es spankings." She said it like that too, like she was speaking Spanish. I swear she always says "es un..." or "es en..."I guess they are just her filler words I suppose. I had to laugh though because what she was telling me was that the dog was going to get a spanking because the dog followed us into the street, and she knows the rule: If you go into the street without mama or papa, you get a spanking. Therefore, the doggie broke the rule and was going to get spanked.

Sometimes when we are driving she will just randomly say, "'member ah rule? Street? Es spankings?" and then she will say "'member ah deer?" because every time she says remember, she remembers the first time I asked her if she remembered something which was when we were reading a book and there was a deer in it and I asked her if she remembered the time when we were on a walk and we saw a deer. So that is why she says "'member ah deer?"

Also, on the same walk as the doggie incident she started to tell me when we were passing stop signs. I remembered a week earlier I told her about stop signs but since we were moving and I didn't really stop and show it to her, I just said look there's a stop sign, and I didn't think she really understood what they were. But that day she all the sudden was interested in them and kept telling me where they were and she said they were red and white, so she surprised me that she remembered because I didn't even think she was listening.

On Sunday we went to mom's house to celebrate Joe's birthday, and on the way we were telling Lily it was Joe's birthday. She said "yay, birthday cake". Aaron and I told her she could have birthday cake, but that we had to eat dinner first. She said, "uh want it dinner, no" and then she does this thing with her hand that looks like a rapper flashing gang signs. That is her way of saying I don't want it. Sounds a lot like I want it, so we have been trying to teach her I don't want it. She has used it a couple times. Lily loves birthdays though. She loves to sing happy birthday and eat birthday cake.

The battle of pulling out her hair and chewing on it is still a losing one. This morning I came in and she showed me the ball of hair in her mouth. She said, "look mama, no pulling hair” and showed me her hair. Nice. If you run your hand from forehead to crown you can feel all these little spiky hairs. Pretty sad. I really want to take her to get her hair cut this weekend. We have been meaning to and hopefully once it is shorter she won't want to pull on it as much.

Thu Feb 01 2007 22:07: I forgot. This belongs in the last entry. Another funny thing that happened with Lily was she was being a little pill and I said jokingly, "you are a monster!" and she said, "no! I no Elmo." like duh, mom do I looked like a furry thing to you?

She is also very good with names. She always asks my friends at church where their children are by name. I don't even know all my friends' kids' names, but Lily does.

(4) Wed Feb 07 2007 15:26 American Idol: in San Antonio. Last night's show was boring and forgettable...sounds like something Simon would say. And I didn't recognize anyone. I wasn't thinking I would but it would have been cool if I did. I think the show didn't do us justice. It isn't boring and forgettable here if you ask me.

(2) Wed Feb 07 2007 15:35 50 is the new 40: My mom turned 50 yesterday! We had a big party at her house with some of her friends that were turning 50 in Feb as well. Her friends from HS (the McColms) came into town to surprise her as well. Ben had El Chaparral cater it and the cake was from Nadler's. It was lots of fun and lots of good food.

My mom doesn't seem 50 to me yet. I think she has aged pretty well. This is one of the reasons why I love living near family. Getting together for birthdays and holidays are so fun and a privilege.

Aaron told me of something Lily did last night. She grabbed Cynthia Prestige (a friend of mom's) by the hand and told her "Come on, come in here" and took her into Lorna's room and held Cynthia's hands and jumped on Lorna's bed and squealed "hands! jumpers!". I am amazed but not surprised at her gumption to take the hands of strangers and make them apart of her life. What a crazy spirit.

(1) Thu Feb 08 2007 21:09 Mama's boy: My baby is 10 weeks old today. Time flies, it really does. The days are long and the weeks are short. Gunnar is such a sweet little baby. Good thing he is easy going because Lily's energy and high pitched "Hi, Gunna, ahh Gunna, hugs...uhhh (tight squeeze)" while I am trying to feed him, he takes in stride. He has finally caught on to a routine. He is on the Babywise routine, which is such a relief because now he is eating about every 3 hours instead of every 2. He is also eating for about 10-15 minutes instead of 20-30 now too. It is pretty nice to get my life back instead of being tied to the couch every hour and a half.

What I am really liking most about his routine is he has consistently been able to sleep a good 5 hour stretch at night then 3 hours, finally waking up around 8:00ish. I am so glad neither Lily nor Gunnar has made me wake up before 7:00AM on a daily basis. I am lucky there.

I took Gunnar to his 2 month appt last week. He was 22 1/2 inches long which is 75th percentile for boys. The nurse weighed him at 10# 12oz which is so false. That is part of the reason why I am switching him to Lily's pediatrician as soon as he is 3 months old. I know for a fact that two weeks ago Gunnar weighed 13 pounds on the electric scale at Lily's pedia's office. I didn't want to make a big deal about the nurse being wrong but I will be glad when I don't have to go to the office anymore. Gunnar got 3 shots too. I have never heard him cry like that. He was soo sad.

Gunnar is a mama's boy in the making I'm afraid. He loves in the wee hours of the morning to snuggle up to me and "nurse" until I wake up numb from lying in the same position to find out that an hour and a half has passed. Gunnar will sleep a lot longer in the morning too when he is in my bed rather than his crib. He is such a teddy bear though, and I love having him around to kiss his chubby cheeks and smell his sweet baby skin.

(5) Fri Feb 09 2007 15:27 The embarrassment ensues: Today on our walk, Lily hollers to me, "Is that a black man, mama?" as we walk by our African American neighbor who is getting in his car. And just in case he didn't hear the first time, Lily repeats herself again and again and again. I am sure he wasn't offended, but Lily knows her colors too well for her own good.

Mon Feb 12 2007 15:42 Problem solved: We got Lily a haircut on Sat, finally. So she no longer has a mullet. It is pretty cute...you can check it out on my picture blog. When they were done with it, she looked like a boy Aaron and I both thought. But after I put it up in pigtails, it was cute. And people keep telling me they like it, maybe just to be nice but since a lot of people have commented on it, I think they like it too.

(1) Mon Feb 12 2007 15:55: After uploading Lily's haircut pictures I got a little crazy and uploaded more...I'm having way too much fun with that thing.

(4) Wed Feb 14 2007 20:03 Sweethearts: I got the best Valentine gift from Aaron. I was even surprised and didn't see it coming. He got me an iPod Shuffle. It is perfect for what I am going to use it for. I wouldn't want a Nano because they are too expensive and I wouldn't really use all that space and I don't need a display screen. So I am so happy and excited to use it. Aaron had a message engraved too on the back. He also got me lilies and picked out and bought a vase separately-pretty impressive if you ask me. The vase is really cute. He also got me chocolates, and made me a special dinner tonight (since we couldn't go out with the kids) of lobster tails, stuffed chicken, twice baked potatoes, asparagus with Hollandaise sauce, and magic cake. I feel pretty spoiled.

I surprised Aaron with tickets to the Montgomery Gentry concert this weekend at the Stock Show and Rodeo, and a Halo 3 fleece. He also got a new suit and 4 new ties for V-day (not a surprise). I always love a bargain so I have to brag we got a $700 suit for $150. I guess you could say he needed a new suit and so we called it a V-day gift even though we bought it two weeks ago.

Lily had her first trip to the dentist today. She was so good; they were shocked at how cooperative she was. She was very nice and obedient and didn't cry. They couldn't believe a two year old was that pleasant. I knew she would be, she loves people and is so trusting. She got a little goodie bag with stickers and toys in it for being so good. It is crazy; I waited for 40 minutes in the waiting room so they could do a 5 minute check-up. My biggest pet peeve with Dr.'s. They always think their time is more valuable than ours. It is so rude. Anyway, they checked her teeth with the mirror for cavities, and brushed her teeth with a fluoride treatment, and I got a lecture about how I am supposed to brush her teeth everyday, blah blah blah, and that's it. I guess it is no wonder she was so good, there was no time to really be bad.

Hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day!!

(8) Thu Feb 15 2007 09:54 Playgroup discussion: I fully intend on letting Gunnar play with dolls if he wants to, and I hope he does.

(2) Tue Feb 20 2007 15:12 Pillow Talk: Often times at night Aaron and I will repeat things Lily says or say things the way Lily would have said them to each other. We laugh and crack each other up. Who would have thought Lily would be so hilarious.

(3) Thu Feb 22 2007 09:04 And so it begins: My hair is falling out. It took longer with Lily for it to do that, but alas...goodbye to my thicker hair. It was great while it lasted. Of course my hair falling out sooner might have something to do with me dying it recently, but that's ok. Let's just get it over with already.

(1) Thu Feb 22 2007 22:30 Let's Rodeo: We went to the Rodeo Saturday night for the Montgomery Gentry concert. After having our babysitter fall through, one of Aaron's nice classmates volunteered to watch the chid-rens. We were running late because we were trying to make the job as easy as possible for Crystal the babysitter, holding out till closer to bedtime. I was happy when she reported it was one of the easiest babysitting jobs she had ever had. Then again she said she used to baby-sit a family of 4 kids, 2 of them being twins.

It is a good thing we got to the "concert" late because someone forgot to tell us it wasn't a concert but indeed a Rodeo. In my defense, I have never been to the "Stock Show and Rodeo" held here every year even though I have lived about 20 years of my life here, but still. The music didn't start until 10:20ish and we left around 10:40 because we didn't want to leave Crystal too long since she was doing this out of the kindness of her heart. Plus the band wasn’t that great anyway. Don't get me wrong though, the rodeo was fun to see. There is something thrilling about watching grown men throw themselves off their horse onto a calf while in a full sprint to tackle and lay the calf down, or the guys ride bare back on a bucking bronco or bull, but in a I shouldn't be watching this because I'm married sort of way. It was just pure raw manliness. Plus I felt sorry for the calves. I think everyone should go to a rodeo at least once in your life though to understand why kickers are kickers. The skills they show really would be and are useful if you are raised on a farm and have to care for livestock. You don't realize how gutsy these guys are until you see it in person.

I am really glad this week is coming to a close. Aaron had an Oral Path test today so all this week he has been gone till after I put the kids to bed. It is the hardest part of the day and when Aaron is not there it makes it all the harder. It is just so busy having to get dinner ready and the kids getting tired so they are more grumpy not to mention Gunnar is being a boob lately and wants to be held all the time. I don’t know what his deal is, maybe it hurts to go through a growth spurt which I feel the 3-month one is coming on since he has been wanting to eat every 2 hours again lately. Plus I am officially moving him onto 3-6 month clothes. He doesn’t really fit into his 0-3 sleepers anymore, and that is on my list of things to do tomorrow is take out the old and put in the new stuff.

The child literally screams bloody murder when I bathe him. It sounds like I am killing him slowly the minute he hears the water running...it is like he knows. He turns red from the upset all the way until 5 minutes after he is dried and his clothes are on. It is actually comical how much he loathes his baths. Poor guy. Then there is Lily who strips anytime she hears the water running and likes to sit in Gunnar’s baby tub with him and "help" me with the soap and water. It's sad because I don't know what's worse: to get upset with Lily for wanting to help and making her feel bad telling her to leave, or to let Gunnar endure her so that Lily doesn't feel left out or that I like Gunnar more than her. I'll let you know when I figure it out.

(4) Tue Feb 27 2007 23:08 Questionaire: We all get these all the time, so I thought instead of emailing it out I would post it on my blog. Feel free to post your answers on your blog too. I am interested to see everyone's answers.

Also, sorry about having no spaces. I was not about to put a "< p >" in between them all.

> > > >Come on......take a minute to de-stress and do this silly thing! ;) > > > > > > What you are supposed to do with this email... Copy (not forward) the > >entire email, and then paste it into a new email that you'll send. Change > >all the answers so they apply to you, and then send this to the people you > >care about, including the person who sent it to you. The theory is that you > > >will learn a lot of little things about the respondents, if you did not > >know them already. > > > > 1. What time did you get up this morning? Which time? 5:00, 6:00, then 7:00...Gunnar is being weird > > > > 2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds > > > > 3. What was the last film you saw at the movies? Just saw Ghost Rider with friends. It was cheesy and yet still demonic...strange. Don't recommend it. > > > > 4. What is your favorite TV show? This season Lost. Also enjoy Heroes and 24 > > > > 5. What did you have for breakfast? Scrabbled eggs > > > > 6. What is your middle name? Jewell > > > 7. What is your favorite cuisine? Italian but it depends on my mood > > > > 8. What foods do you dislike? Not really a fan of Indian curry foods. (Alyson would know why) I also don't like olives but I love olive oil > > > > 9. What is your favorite chip flavor? Nacho Cheese Doritos or Salt and Vinegar > > > > 10. What is your favorite CD now? A mix CD the Julie made me with her favorite bands...good stuff > > > > 11. What type of car do you drive? Mazda 626 (2000) > > > > 12. What characteristics do you despise? Fake people, disagreeable people, people that always have to be right even when they are wrong > > > > 13. Favorite item of clothing? Since I rarely leave the house these days, t-shirt and sweatpants or pajama bottoms > > > 14. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would it > >be? Italy...what can I say, the food. Oh, just kidding, the architecture > > > > 15. Favorite brand of clothing? I suppose Gap/Old Navy by default and also because it is the only thing I can afford practically > > > > 16. Where would you like to retire to? Not sure, too early in the game to decide. Hopefully near family > > > > 17. Favorite time of the day? When Aaron gets home. Having two kids is hard! Whaa me. > > > > 18.Your most memorable birthday? I remember my last one most (25th) and it was pretty awesome too. > > > > 19. Where were you born? Provo, UT > > > > 20. Favorite sport to watch? Tennis, but I would rather just do something sporty instead. > > > > 21. Who do you least expect to send this back to you? Not sure, haven't thought about who I am going to send it to yet. > > > > 22. Who do you expect to send it back to you first? Probably no one because they have all done this a thousand times. > > > > 23. Fabric detergent do you use? Liquid Tide for me, Dreft for Gunnar's clothes and they come out smelling so good and so much like a baby. I don't want to switch because it smells so good but it doesn't get stains out well. > > > > 24. Coke or Pepsi? Neither, I think both taste bad > > > > 25. Are you a morning person or a night owl? I love the feeling you get when you wake up early and start your day right but I rarely do it because it takes a good 10-15 minutes of feeling miserable before that. But kids wear you in and what used to be early is now sleeping in. I like to stay up at night because it is the only time I get to myself and I can get stuff done. > > > > 26. What is your shoe size? 7 > > > > 27. Do you have any pets? No, thank goodness > > 28. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with your family and > >friends? ditto on the Julie is engaged to be married to Chuck Browne in June. Wedding in >Utah. > > > 29. What did you want to be when you were little? a neonatal nurse, I loved babies and wanted 12 kids when I was little or was it 10? Anyway, a lot. > > > > 30. When is your birthday? Aug 30th, and Gunnar's is the 30th too but of Nov, and Lily's is 3 days before mine. I have something in common with both of my kids’ birthdays besides being there when they were born. > > > > 31. Favorite Shampoo? Halo by Graham Webb. I am a shampoo snob. > > > > 32. Day/Night? Nothing beats a beautiful day > > > > 33. Summer/Winter? Both, but when they are in their lesser extremes (I guess you could say Spring/Fall for me) > > > > 34. Drinking? You mean do I drink? No, but I am drinking a water right by me. I keep my Nalgene bottle close and I measure how much water I drink everyday. > > > > 35. Eating? Not right now, but I like to eat...a little too much. > > > > 36. Thinking about? Getting ready to go on a walk today with the kids. Just waiting till Gunnar gets tired because he goes right to sleep on walks and I want to keep him on his schedule. > > > 37. Listening to? Lily watching Dora. She’s not allowed in the office because she immediately destroys things and so if I am on the computer she is usually watching a show to keep her occupied. Oh, I thought I would never see the day I used TV as a babysitter. What have I been reduced to? > > > > When was the last time you: > > > Cried? Don't remember. It has been awhile. My hormones weren't too bad after the baby. I think I only cried once. I get mad more than upset these days...I need to work on that. > > > > Met someone new? Um, I have met a couple new people at playgroup that are new in the ward. > > > > Cleaned your room? About a week or so ago. It is too hard to keep up on my room with Gunnar still in there, argh! > > > > Drove a car? Saturday...and today is Tues. See, I told you I don't get out much. > > > > How many hours of sleep? about 8ish hours in bed sorta give or take a half hour. Gunnar woke up a lot last night, so I can’t wait to get back to the solid sleep. > > > > Do you believe in ... God? Yes I do > > > > Yourself? I try to > > > > Your friends? Yes, otherwise they aren't really my friends > > > > Santa Claus? Not really > > > > Destiny/Fate? Well, yes and no > > > > > Ghosts? Not scary ones > > > > Who have you known longest of your friends... All my sisters are my friends and I have know them all my life give or take a couple of years. > > > > Who do you go to for advice? My mom, Aaron, Alyson, friends; depends on the issue >When do you cry the most? I really don't cry that much. I want to cry the most when Lily makes huge messes or poops all over the place and smears it on her wall and carpet but I am too mad as well that I don't. I also usually want to cry by the end of the day when Aaron has a long day and I am counting down, but I don't ever get to the crying part. Wow, I have a lot of self-pity don't I? > > > > Now - lets hear about you . . . . .

(4) Thu Mar 01 2007 09:23 Now dumber: I watched the Oscars on Sunday. I can't believe I actually sat through the whole thing (over 4 hours long). Afterwards I felt more unfulfilled. I suppose I just wanted to see what everyone was wearing mostly and I was interested in who won in the 5 big categories. Plus, I like Ellen DeGeneres. They make you wait till the end though for all but one of the big categories, and Ellen only really did stand up in the beginning.

I can't believe how many people read their acceptance speeches. I mean these people are in showbiz where you have to wing it. That's their job...to make stuff up. Some of them memorize movie scripts. They can't memorize one lousy speech? I just thought that was interesting. Next year I vow not to watch it. Maybe just the red carpet before the Oscars.

Thu Mar 01 2007 22:40 Scooters and movers: Oh no, it's that time. Gunnar now scoots himself into the corner of the crib and starts head-butting it when he is mad. I put him down for a nap and I have to keep going back in there to make sure he isn't in the corner and still kicking. It looks like he really wants to roll over now. He tries kicking up in a rainbow, but we'll see. I don't think it is time for him to roll over for another month. It goes by so fast; I can't believe Gunnar is already 3 months old. I can't believe even more he is getting ready to do baby stuff. Don get me wrong, it will be nice for him to be able to grasp a toy and keep occupied with that but it is just so strange to think he is getting to where he is going to start doing stuff. He has really been making eye contact too and responding to us. I talk to him and he coos back so well. He has even giggled. Lily never interacted the way Gunnar does. It wasn't until Lily was over 12 months before she started laughing. It is interesting how kids differ.

Lily is doing more things too, mostly naughty ones. She can speak pretty well and has even taken up bossing me around. When I tell Lily to pick things up she has responded, "you do it." Or I will start counting when she is disobeying and say "that's a one...that's a two..." if she doesn't stop, and now she tries to finish it "that's a two, that's a three". One of the things I love, and have been waiting for is Lily will now go out in the backyard by herself and play and entertain herself for a solid half hour usually. It is especially nice when I make dinner to leave the sliding door open (we are having great weather) and to check on her every few minutes, but to be able to get dinner ready without stepping on toes. I love to see her imagination in action when I check on her. She is usually playing with rocks and wood pieces and putting them in her little tricycle basket or getting on the slide or pretending to push her doll on the swing. She used to want to go outside only if I was out there with her but it is like having another room in the house. Lily's play room.

Mon Mar 05 2007 08:57 Night Out: Friday I called up my mom to see if she wanted to go see Rent playing at the Majestic that night since there were still $25 tickets available. We ended up not going to that but deciding to see a movie instead because it would be easier and closer. Mom really wanted to see The Queen because she has really liked Princess Diana since I can remember, and since Helen Mirren won best actress for it I said why not.

I actually liked it. It is refreshing to watch a movie that isn't too serious and deep and/or offensive and that doesn't have Hollywood all over it. My mom thought it was kinda like a glorified Made for TV movie and it kinda was but for me it was one of those that you think about a couple days after you watched it. Not like Ghost Rider which was laughable yet still demonic. It was like 'oh my gosh, that guy looks like a disgusting nasty freaking thing yet I still want to laugh at him for being so lame'.

So in short, The Queen: go see, Ghost Rider: don't waste your time.

(1) Fri Mar 09 2007 17:00 How they grow: I took Gunnar to the Dr yesterday. It seems like he changes everyday. His measurements are: Length = 25.0 inches

Weight = 14.75 pounds

Head circumference = 16.0 inches

Length = 75th percentile

Weight = between 50th and 75th percentile

Head Circumference = 25th percentile

I used to think he was a big boy, but really he is right about average. I guess he is slowing down a bit growth wise. I think that his chubby cheeks make him look bigger than he is. He's got the Jeffery R. Holland jowls thing going on. He is on the tall side, but so was Lily when she was under 6 months. So, who knows.

New this week, I had to take Gunnar somewhere and to keep him from crying I tried to entertain him with a stretchy toy monkey hanging on the car seat handlebars. I wrapped Gunnar's little fist around the monkey's leg hoping that he would play with it. Something worked and when I went to get him out he still had his hand wrapped tightly around the leg and he had put it in his mouth. Just that little step of hand-to-mouth movement progress in development made my chest leap realizing my baby is this little person. Pretty soon he is going to be rolling over and then sitting up and then crawling and it will be his first birthday and Aaron and I will be wondering where the time went. Like it already has between 0-3 months. On the one hand, I am excited that pretty soon he will be able to sort of entertain himself, but on the other hand when I looked at pictures of him right after he was born and saw how tiny he was part of me wanted to hold that little baby just one more time so I could remember. That sounds so sappy but there you have it.

(2) Sat Mar 10 2007 21:14 I don't know where she comes up with this stuff: During dinner Lily accidentally dropped something and she shouted' "ahh, freak". Not the best thing for people to hear your two-year-old say. She then went on to enchant us with "farting" on demand. Her words: "I fart". And then during bath she said, "Don’t touch my butt." I said, “No, it's your bottom.” She then pointed to her front and said, "No, this is my bottom, (pointing to her backside)this is my butt!" And shortly after the bath while she was playing before bed she dropped "oh crap" after she lost one of her toys.

We seriously need to start filtering what we say. The other day she was repeating every word I was saying on the phone. The upside to her speaking more is that in the car on the way to somewhere, Gunnar was screaming as he hates his car seat and screams anywhere we go in the car; Lily was trying to console him saying "Aww, Gunnar it's alright. I love you. It's okay. He needs his milk mama, he needs milk." It was really cute and sweet to hear her give an unforced "I love you". Also, when we are putting Lily to bed the sweetest thing you could ever hear is when she says “I want hugs. Soft hugs. Now tight hugs.” And she squeezes your neck so hard she grunts “uh”.

Poor child though. I don't know what she did to deserve us as parents. Us with our potty mouths.

(2) Thu Mar 15 2007 14:13 My own bit of dirt: At the beginning of this month I purchased seeds again for our garden. By now at least one of everything planted has sprouted. It seems as though this batch is so much healthier than last year because everything is growing beautifully and fast. Especially the cucumbers, yellow squash, and zucchini. I really hope we get a good crop of basil too because at the store they are selling like 2 branches for like $3. Hardly the 2 cups that I need to make Susie's pesto sauce, and not worth it to make homemade at that price. This way I can make it right instead of making it with spinach leaves like I did a couple weeks ago. It still came out delicious but not the same.

Last Sat Aaron and I worked out in the yard. It needed it so bad since I didn't really touch it when I was pregnant. First it was too hot and it made me sicker, and then I couldn't bend over. So Aaron mowed, edged, and weed eated. Our yard actually looked nice after that. It is amazing that just doing that little helped so much. I cut out all the dead parts of our plants and flowers and pulled weeds. It reminded me of Frances writing about what she did each day. "Today I pulled weeds." That's what I felt like. Pulling weeds...the never-ending process.

Aaron's spring break we have a lot of projects. Get the rest of the yard into shape. Aaron is going to get the garden plants into the ground. We are going to replant some things that didn't take. We already added 3 pretty shrub bushes with pink flowers that took the place of our dead Angel Trumpets, and we added some pretty gold and red flowers in our front bed. I wish I remembered the names of these. I need to rip out our Canna Lilies. They always come out looking diseased since it is so hot here. And I need to replace one of our Japanese Yew's. The other one is huge but this one I don't think we buried it properly.

Aaron also needs to finish the deck and we need to water proof it. The ominous job of painting Gunnar's room and installing the chair rail and crown molding is still hovering over us to do and we better get it done this spring break or else. I am tired of sharing my room and I want it back! I also want to repaint my room and rearrange it. Hopefully I can report these things as being done by next Sat. What a fun spring break ahead of us. At least we will get to see Atticus and Samuel while they stay with mom so Aly can go help out John and Susie. Dave will be here too but I doubt we will be seeing him much since he still has plenty to do on his dissertation. Fun stuff...

(1) Mon Mar 19 2007 14:29: I've added pictures again to my picture blog. I probably went overboard posting too many, but I sure like looking at them even if no one else does. Gunnar is learning how to grasp at objects better. He likes his exersaucer and playing on his belly. He is so sweet and will coo and giggle at anyone that wants to hold him and talk baby talk with him. I still can't get over how much he smiles and talks back more than Lily did.

(4) Wed Mar 21 2007 15:05 No longer a coasterless home: Okay, so we did this about 4-6 weeks ago, but I am just now getting around to mentioning it. It really is not a big deal to anyone else, but to Aaron and me it was quite exciting actually. We made our first (big) furniture purchase since we have been married. Well, beside our bed. And when we bought my recliner in which Aaron then used it every night from then out even though it was for my pregnant feet. But it's our first nice dining room table.

I love it. I love the color and the style and the fact that our chairs' screws won't strip and break. I love everything about it. And it has a leaf. The good thing about that too is the leaf is attached to the bottom of the table so we don't have to store it. So we could probably fit 8 people max comfortably with the leaf in. However, we don't have more than 4 chairs, but we can always order them when we are rich! Seriously though, I think this table is going to last us a long time even though Lily has already begun to gouge out the top of it with her banging the table with her utensils. Nice things...what's that when you have children?

Wed Mar 28 2007 14:52 My beau, my Bug, and my Boo: This week has been especially hard with Aaron being gone till after the kids are in bed. I don't know why it is that from 5:30 on is the hardest part of the day. Those couple hours are harder than the whole day before it. Gunnar is usually not in a good mood, dinner needs a fixin', and I have had it by then. It's just been one of those weeks...or months depending on how you look at it.

However, some things have happened worthy of note. Two nights in a row Gunnar has woken up in the wee hours of the morning on his back! My little rolly polly. Yesterday it was around 2:00AM when he woke for his first feeding and he was sideways and on his back. And then again last night he woke up at 1:30 and he was on his back. I wonder how he got that way not really being awake or active. I guess for all I know Gunnar always wakes up around 2:00AM for some play time before wanting to eat. So there you go. Just a few days shy of being 4 months old. I just want to see it be done now.

His sleeping has been pretty standard for some time now. He usually goes down around 7:30-8:30 and then sleeps till 1-2 and wakes again around 4-5 and sleep some more until 7-7:30ish. It's not too bad considering. I do get my evenings which is SOOO nice. I would rather that then to keep him up until 11 or midnight and not have as many awakenings in the night. Even though that seven hour stretch, give or take half an hour, of sleep would be pretty nice. There's something about solid sleep, then again I love when I wake up at 2:00 and I know I still get to sleep for another 5 hours. I would say overall I prefer the down time at night and take on one more night feeding in exchange. I mean I hardly remember it half the time anyway when I wake up. I just know it is always twice and then the early morning wake-up call. I really think Gunnar would sleep until like 8 or 8:30 though if I changed his diaper in the middle of the night, but I'm too lazy. I kid you not, the boy wakes up at 7:00 every morning with wet jammies because he has peed so much and it comes out the top of his diaper. I think the discomfort wakes him early.

I am seriously a zombie though, I barely remember even getting him out of the crib and putting him back. Lucky for me his favorite is lying down nursing. Sometimes between the 5:00 feeding and 7:00 feeding I just leave him in bed with us. What a spoiled boy! Almost 4 months old and still sleeping in our room. Lily was out by the time she was two months old for sure if not 6 weeks. At least he doesn't wake up when Aaron and I talk in bed at night. Lily would have never let us get away with that. By the way, I used to think I was an expert on babies' routines and guess what? I'm not. They just do whatever they want. You can kinda tweak their routine a little but they do whatever they want anyway. Gunnar...he still eats every 2 hours. Yeah, not happy about that. And the testimonials of babies sleeping through the night: the parents are lying because my kids sure don't. I don't think anyone can have a baby sleep for 12 hours straight, I just don't believe it. And don't even say your child did because I won't like you anymore. Baby Wise Shmaybe Wise Baby Whisperer Shmaybe Whisperer.

In between Lily throwing her body into convulsions every time we make her go to her room for a nap, she does find a place in my heart that makes me smile when I think about her at the end of the day. Today she remembered the owie on her thumb and made me kiss it better again and then she kissed her thumb better too "ummah". And then she said pointing to her pinky, "Is this a thumb? No, that's a pinky. Is this a thumb? No, that's a finger (ring finger). Is this a thumb? No, that's a pointer. Is this a thumb? Yeeesss, good job Lily" as she claps for herself. Those of you who have seen Diego, Animal Rescuer knows exactly how these questions model it. And she likes to go around the house saying "thanks for helping". And she calls the camera "take a pic". She loves Dora so much that she turns on the TV all the time now without my permission and puts in her DVD. We are going to have to work on that.

(5) Wed Mar 28 2007 19:54 Gah!: I ventured out, by myself, with the two kids in tow, listened to Gunnar scream the entire way to Costco because he hates being in a car seat, was in rush hour traffic because that's when my kids woke up from a nap, listened to Lily scream because Gunnar was screaming, got all the way to Costco, picked up a package of diapers and D batteries because Gunnar was out and he had literally zero diapers, and the bouncy seat had been out of batteries and unusable otherwise with no vibrations or music, so as you can see this trip was a must otherwise why would I be so stupid to go out under these conditions, and it was put off a couple days because I knew this would happen, had to do it during the day because Aaron has been gone till after Costco closes to study for a big test, not to mention the frozen yogurt I bought Lily to bribe her with she insisted on holding in her car seat in which I gave in because there was only a little bit left and didn't want to hear the crying all the way back in which she then proceeded to smear it all over her body behind my back, only to finally get home and to realize Lily only has about a dozen diapers left as well and I didn't buy her any. Ugh. I am seriously having a bad week and only hope that finals week has mercy on me. I would be the most awful single parent; I don't know how people do it. Probably go crazy like I am doing right now.

(2) Mon Apr 02 2007 13:44 Fun Stuff: So I recovered from my awful week last week because Jenni felt bad for me and called me up Thursday and told me she was going to watch my kids for me and made me leave the house for at least two hours. It was so nice, let me tell you, and she didn't even have to tell me twice. I took her up on it right away. I decided that I should drive out to the Distribution Center at the temple and get some new G's since I had been meaning to, but dreading the 30 hour trip there and then again back with the kids. I also stopped by Old Navy and bought Lily the cutest brown paisley-ish swimsuit to get ready for Moppie's pool in the summer. Last summer I was so bummed when I bought her a cute "lily" swimsuit from Gymboree and she only got to wear it once because it disappeared after we went to Bandera while everyone was in town for David's wedding. It must have been left on the banks there when I changed Lily but I could have sworn I put it in the trunk. When I get to the afterlife, these are questions I want to have answered, like where did all the things that got lost go? I would love to know.

I also went to Bath and Body Works because their Wallflowers were on sale, and I needed a new one since mine all the sudden stopped working. I also went by Costco for gas and Lily's diapers...can't forget those. It's amazing all the things you can get done when you don't have to strap kids into car seats or get them in and out of the car. Thanks Jenni for watching the kids!! I owe you big time.

I continued my shopping spree on Sat when Aaron was home and I could get away again. I went to Rack Room Shoes and bought myself some new running shoes to go with the gym membership I signed up with. I debated back and forth whether I needed a gym membership or not, and I didn't really want to pay for one but in the end it came down to this: Gunnar is getting too heavy to carry in the pack, I have a double jogging stroller but Gunnar doesn't like it yet-can't blame him, I wouldn't want Lily sitting next to me throwing her sippy cup on my head either, it is starting to get hot outside and I know Texas summers are not conducive to going on a "nice walk" outside, when it is not hot it seems like it is raining, and I need a little time to myself and this gym has a nice kids center.

Another fun thing we did this weekend was getting together with Josh, Jenni, Jake, Erin, and the kids to watch General Conference together and making brunch and dinner. This is the last one we can do this as a triplet because Josh and Jenni are moving, boo hoo. To carry on the tradition, the girls crafted in between the sessions while the boys watched the kids. I use the term watched loosely. More like while they played World of Warcraft online. This time we decided to make wood vinyl signs. Jenni got all the stuff (saw and router) for V-day, and so she cut us some pieces of wood. We painted it and then printed out the vinyl letters off of her handy dandy notebook-haha, just kidding, her handy dandy Cricut which is so awesome by the way. I made the cutest sign ever. I love it. It is going in Lily's room but I painted it green in case I want to move it to Gunnar's or put it in another future boy/girl's room.

So it was a nice relaxing weekend after a bad week. Luckily, I think I am over it though for now especially since I have my gym outlet. I can go even if it is yucky outside.

(2) Mon Apr 02 2007 23:01 The day Gunnar was born: I have been meaning to fill one of these out since Lily was born for her. I think it is a little too late in her case but I went ahead and finally got one done for Gunnar before it was too late. It is just a little questionnaire about what the world was like when the baby is born. It is mainly for me and Gunnar’s baby book, but I decided to post it here in case anyone wanted to read any of it.

What baby’s names are you considering for a boy? Gunnar, Liam, and Dregan in that order…we were thinking about Gunnar Liam, Gunnar Paul, and Gunnar Aaron besides Gunnar Walch. In the beginning, Aaron wanted McKinnley Bexar but I vetoed Bexar and everyone kept saying McKinnley for a girl right? How could we ever name a boy McKinnley after that? I liked Seth but it’s a good thing it doesn’t sound good with Smith behind it because Melanie and Joe ended up using it.

What baby’s names are you considering for a girl? We weren’t really thinking you would be a girl so we didn’t really talk much about it, but Aaron liked Abigail (Abby) and I liked Grace and to be honest I can even remember right now.

What is your favorite TV show? 24 and Lost and Heroes

What was your favorite movie this year? Favorite? I wouldn’t go so far but I like Devil Wears Prada, The Holiday, and The Prestige

What was the last book you read? The Right Attitide to Rain by Alexander McCall Smith

What were the last three videos you rented? Eragon, Flushed Away, Casino Royale

What headlined in the national news the day your baby was born? Not sure

Where are you currently living? 9306 Dublin Green SA, TX

Who are your neighbors? Mike and Margie, Christi and Aaron Easton up the street and Jake and Erin a couple streets over

How do you feel physically and emotionally in your eighth month? Very ready to have you already. I felt as if I couldn’t get any bigger. Excited to not be pregnant but scared to have another baby.

How do you feel physically and emotionally in your ninth month? Well done. You were induced 11 days early so I knew I only had to hold out so long. Very anxious to get the projects we had done. Aaron built the deck right before and after you were born, and I wanted your room done, but alas it is still not even started. Also, your Aunt Hailey was out stealing everybody's thunder with her baby news. First she tops Melanie's twins announcement with her own twins announcement and then she schedules the twin's induction a month early on your induction day, the nerve, only to one-up me again having them the day before. We get it Hailey. Not only are you having TWINS but you are having GIRLS. Is it enough that they will probably be the favorite of Grammy Smith out of the passel of grandkids she got last year (being that she loves to buy clothes for girls) but to steal everyone's thunder as well, mine in particular?! (Anybody that knows me, knows I am totally teasing Hailey and mean no malice at all.) At least I had you early because then you would have been the last straggler out of the group.

How do you feel physically and emotionally now that your baby is born? At first I was scared about having a boy because it was new territory, but after I got to know you in the hospital, I loved having you and knew that you were such a sensitive sweet boy that liked his mama. I was scared though of what Lily might do to you and she did give you a couple battle wounds. I loved that I had one of each, boy and girl now. Physically I couldn’t have felt better after giving birth. Your recovery was so much easier than your sister’s. You came out in 3 pushes.

Who was present at the birth of your child? Aaron, Mom (Grandma Taylor), Dr. Finney, and 2 nurses one being Diane Montoya in Park Wood ward

Who visited you in the hospital or birthing center? Poppie Taylor came to the hospital and almost witnessed your birth thinking you were already out, Michelle as well, then Lorna and Amanda came soon after with Lily and were able to come up to the recovery room with us and see you in the nursery, Jenni and Erin swapped kids and came both nights in the hospital, Nicole Voge, and Kajsa Nielson came to visit me too. Joe and Louise came, and of course my mom, your grandma.

Who visited or helped out when you and your baby went home? Mom brought me dinner as well as Aunts Jenni and Erin. Michelle Easton, Irene Hibbs, and Sis. Anderson brought dinner from the ward too. Grammy Smith came about a week and a half after you were born for about 2 weeks, and Aunt Aly came to help and brought Atticus and Samuel. For your blessing Grandpa Walch was there as well as Ga-Ga and Grammy Smith, Poppie and Moppie Taylor, Michelle, Lorna, Joe, Louise, Josh, Jenni, Caden, Austin, Jake, Erin, Luke, Leah, and Amanda and even some friends came too. Aaron Easton, James Partridge, Brian Partridge, and Matt Wheelus were in the circle at your blessing and unfortunately Kris Easton was running late otherwise he would have been there too. If I forgot someone it was because there were so many people there.

What were the country's top headlines/World News Headlines? (I looked this up on Wikipedia and it was generally just in the month of Nov.) The 2006 Atlantic hurricane season officially ends with a total of nine storms having formed. At least 300 people were killed in clashes between Sudan's army and former rebels in the south earlier this week, aid workers say. Windows Vista goes on sale for bulk license holders with home users being able to buy it on January 30, 2007. Avian influenza (H5N1) outbreak. G20 summit. Immigration law debates in the US. Iran's nuclear program. 2006 North Korean nuclear test. Iraq War. United States, House of Representatives, Senate (one third: "Class I" Senators), and many Governors.

What were the most popular internet searches on that day? On MSN today right now some popular searches are: Flex fuel, Inflation, The Da Vinci Code, Steroid probe, ‘Star Wars’ stamps, Bindi Irwin, Bao Xishun, Patty Griffin, Will Ferrell, Cormac McCarthy.

What our politicians were doing? Getting ready for the 2008 Presidential Election

Who was playing & winning in sporting events? Colts won the Super Bowl, NCAA championship is today (Ohio State and U of Florida)

What was happening in the world of business & commerce? The Stock Market had a mini crash a few weeks back, but the market looks like this right now: Dow12,382.30+ 27.95 NASDAQ2,422.26+ 0.62 S&P1,424.55+ 3.69

What the weather was like, did it rain? It actually was raining the day we brought you home from the hospital and I noticed that gas had gone up from $2.11 to $2.19 while I was in the hospital too.

Which celebrity was in the media spotlight and why? Don’t remember and don’t want to remember it forever either.

What were people wearing? It was still relatively warm. The rain cooled it down some but I remember being so bummed because I was always hot being pregnant with you and it would not stop getting into the upper 80’s. It wasn’t fair! Brown was/is the new black that season. Wedge heals, head bands, and camo are some of the fashions.

What was showing at the cinema? Not sure about that day but right after you were born I saw Night at the Museum and The Holiday, both I liked and Aaron saw The Pursuit of Happiness but they spelled it Happyness which I guess is now correct to spell that way too. Videos of popular TV ads that day? Right off the top of my head I can think of the commercial of the Mac vs. the PC played by two actors pretending to be the brains of the computer I guess you could say. Aaron thinks they are do dumb, but I find them hilarious.

The top 25 CDs, DVDs, Computer Games and Toys? Ok, I checked the Billboard top 10 today and this is what is on there, couldn’t get it the day you were born: Akon, Fergie, Beyonce and Shakira, Mims, Gym Class Heroes, Gwen Stefani, Avril Lavigne, Rich Boy, Justin Timberlake, and Daughtry. New Releases out on DVD Rocky Balboa, Eragon, Casino Royale, Stranger Than Fiction, The Prestige, The Departed, Flags of Our Fathers, Flyboys, and Little Miss Sunshine just to name a few. Aaron is playing Halo 2 still and currently wrapped up in World of Warcraft. Lily is watching Dora, Blue’s Clues, Backyardigans, and Wonder Pets. Toys are centered around those themes too. I think that’s it.

How much it cost to buy milk, bread and coffee? Milk was about $3.79 for whole and bread was $3.75 at Great Harvest but at the grocery store around 59 cents to $2.50 depending on what you bought.

What are the top 20 baby names that week? These are the top 10 boy and girl baby names in 2006: Girl Names- Emma, Madison, Ava, Emily, Isabella, Kaitlyn, Sophia, Olivia, Abigail, and Hailey. Boys names- Aiden, Jacob, Ethan, Ryan, Matthew, Jack, Noah, Nicholas, Joshua, and Logan.

And finally a couple things I thought of on my own: President was George W. Bush, VP Dick Cheney. Price of a movie ticket: $6.50 with Student/Military ID or $7.50 regular. We brought you home in the 2000 Mazda 626 (Maroonish).

(3) Wed Apr 04 2007 00:19 Conversations: Me:"Do you realize that Luke was Gunnar's age when he got his first haircut?"

Aaron:"Gunnar already gave himself a haircut."

(4) Tue Apr 10 2007 14:09 Easter, a couple days late: Easter was a success this year even though there was record low's made. The weather was not pretty. It was raining, cold (in the 30's), and it even hailed on me on the way home from a bead class Jenni, Erin, and I took together at Michael's on Sat. We were sad because Sat morning I got up and got the kids ready and myself ready just to find out that the Easter Egg Hunt the Lunt's put on was cancelled from the rain. It was pretty icky, but as the day went on it got colder and colder. I met up with Erin and Jenni for our class and afterward the guys and the kids and we went to dinner. We then had an Easter Egg Hunt for Caden and Lily inside the house. It turned out great for 2 and 3 yr olds because the eggs were pretty easy to find.

On Sunday, the Easter Bunny left Lily a pink pig toy bubbles machine and an outfit. I figure she had gotten enough candy the night before. I got woken up that morning to her talking underneath the door crack saying, "Mom, I want the pink pig!" I put the Easter basket on the counter because I didn't want her to get into it without being there because I know Lily, and I know she would open up the bubbles and spill them all over the carpet. I got her basket down for her and showed her the things in it. She held the "cute outfit" in her hands for about 1.5 seconds before tossing them on the floor and grabbing the pink pig. She loves bubbles.

Sunday we had dinner at my mom's and she made ham, cranberry walnut salad, rolls, and artichoke dip. I brought the sour cream potatoes. As if Lily didn't have enough candy, my mom and the girls set up a little Easter Egg Hunt at my mom's house too. She had fun looking for tons more eggs and found a "Lily basket" (a small basket) with a porcelain doll in it and treats. She didn't pass up another opportunity to flirt as Leah's boyfriend, Derrick, was there. Lily loves boys. The girl gets crushes on everyone. She definitely knows all her uncles and likes to talk about them, I'll tell you that much. And the same goes for boyfriends like Chuck and Derrick. She talks about her soon to be Uncle Chuck and how he is in Utah at least every other week, and she has only met him twice.

Overall, I was thrilled that Lily was old enough to "get" Easter, at least the part about looking for eggs and enjoying that fun of it. We will have to work on the Resurrection aspect because it went over her head this year. Holidays are so much fun when you have kids; I had forgotten how fun they were. It is like you get to live the excitement through your children again like it once was for you.

A little update on Gunnar. He rolls over pretty well now. I finally witnessed it and he likes to do it when he goes down for a nap for some reason and I have to go back in there and turn him back on his tummy. He also found his thumb and really likes to suck on it. Something that has made car trips less upsetting is the vibrating monkey that Aunt Erin gave Gunnar. He loves looking at it and sucking on it. It usually cheers him up or keeps him occupied for a few minutes. He is such a cute little guy and he sure loves his mama.

(4) Thu Apr 12 2007 13:09 It's not easy being green: So I have been sick these past couple days. Thrown up, just having an upset stomach and feeling weak and queasy if I stand up and move. Pretty much the feeling I get when I am pregnant. Me being pregnant is not possible though, but I would really like to know what is wrong with me and why I have been getting an upset stomach every other week and why this round is lasting more than overnight. You can learn a lot about your kids though when you are sick and slow down. Yesterday I was watching Blue's Clues with Lily and it asked "What's your favorite color?" Lily said, "Purple.....and PINK!" Surprise, surprise. Another 2 yr old girl that likes purple and pink. What is it about those colors that girls like them so much? It's like it is engraved in their brain when they are born. I know those were my favorite colors when I was little. I had a hard time deciding between them. It just amazes me I guess how little boys gravitate toward cars and trucks and weapons and girls toward dolls and princesses. Anyway, I hope I feel better. It isn't fun napping on the couch in between Gunnar being awake, and heaven knows it isn't fun watching Dora. A person could go mad. However I am glad I got to spend some extra time with Lily doing what she likes to do.

(2) Sat Apr 14 2007 18:16 The chid'rens: I love this phase Gunnar is at right now. He has figured out how to play with his toys! Yay, less crying in the car! He can entertain himself for longer than 5 minutes. What freedom. He has also found his thumb and so putting him down for naps has been so much easier. He falls asleep in less than 10 minutes with minimal crying.

He is also getting cuter and less of that alien baby look (sorry, I know a mother shouldn't be admitting that their baby looks like an alien) and growing more into his own personality. It really amazes me how different Gunnar and Lily are. They really do come down with their own disposition. Gunnar is the nicest baby. He is always talking to you even if you are not looking at him and once you do look at him he will unleash his flirtations. He is the biggest coo'er and ahh'er and giggler. You can get him to laugh one fingertip away even mid-cry. And did I mention the most adorable dimples? Well, one obvious one and the other cheek is very slight and sometimes noticeable. He will just sit and smile at you on your lap, and he loves getting his diaper changed because that means more face time! He is just an all around happy guy. Very sweet, and he loves his mama.

We also introduced rice cereal a couple days ago. Success! He loves the stuff. He has finished off every bowl so far. He is not great at it but manages to keep most of it in his mouth, much more than Lily did. I think he takes after me loving food. I was talking with my friend and Jenni the other day on when to introduce rice cereal and I have come to this conclusion. With Lily I wanted to wait the full 6 months I guess because a lot of places say they have a lesser chance of getting food allergies, etc. Plus, I admit, I didn't want my baby growing up too fast and becoming less dependent on me for food. I loved the bond of nursing even if I had to force it upon Lily in the beginning. We started Lily on rice cereal at 5 1/2 months only because Aaron pushed me to. He is good at getting me to let loose for example getting Lily into a twin bed. She would have been in a crib until she could climb out if it were up to me. Gunnar though, up until this week has been eating every 2 hours. And now it is 2 1/2 hours because I am trying to put my foot down and not feed him as much as he would like because if it were up to him, he could suck all day. That's why I gave him rice cereal because I think he needs the extra calories, and plus I know it won't hurt him. So when they say 4-6 months I really do believe 4-6 months. Some babies begin at 4 months (Caden) because they are starving and want more, while others may not need it until later. This just proves to me once again that all babies are different. I don't know if one person can ever mold a baby into sleeping through the night by 8 weeks-4 months either. I just don't believe the books that say you can. Because if you can, tell me what I am doing wrong?!

Poor Lily has been acting out a little more lately. This past week she has been STUBBORN! She just tested the limits 24/7. I felt like I was in a constant struggle with her. She has also been doing baby talk for the past couple weeks. All this I assume to get more attention. One of Lily's quirks is lately she wants to see her poops when we change her diaper. She says, "I want to see my brown poopies." And then she will say, "Gunnar has yellow poop." She is very observant, that one. Closer to being potty trained, they say, when they are interested in their own poop. Hopefully soon she can potty train herself. Or better yet, Aaron can step in once again for me and do it. Maybe when he is done with school in about a month. Ha!

(5) Mon Apr 16 2007 09:45 Just like Betina:

Last night's prayer...

Me:"Please bless what?"

Lily:"Please bless celery (pause for me to repeat everything) and red, and blue, and orange, and purple, and pink, and black."

Me:"Please bless Papa."

Lily:"And white."

Me:"Please bless Gunnar."

Lily:"Bless Gunnar. Amen."

(2) Thu Apr 19 2007 21:53 When the oppressee becomes the oppressor:

This past week Lily has gathered her troops together and gone at me full force. To make matters worse Aaron has been studying till 10:00pm this week too for a couple nights. She has been a firecracker that girl. I think this week it is mainly because she is sick. And because she is 2. In her streak of deviancy, these are things that I have heard come out of her mouth:

To Gunnar while he is crying in the car: "No, Gunnar, stop it. That's a one, that's a two, that's a three. Time out."

Last night at 11:00pm after Aaron got home from school, she came out of her room and said, "I all done with bed, mama. I all done."

While sitting on my lap watching American Idol: "What the freak. Stupid." I don't know what spurred that?! Maybe seeing Sanjaya perform, who knows?

While I am counting down for her to stop unless she wanted to go to time out- Me: "That's a one." Lily: "And that's a three." As she skipped to three, showing me just how much I scare her. And she carried on with what it was she wasn't supposed to be doing, I have forgotten but it was proabably something to do with sticking her fingers down Gunnar's throat and watching him gag.

And my favorite, while trying to put her down for bed for the umpteenth time because she kept getting out, she started running her fingers through my hair and said, "Ah, mama, you hair es pretty. Mama, has pretty brown hair." She knows the meaning of the word manipulation before she even knows what it is called. Ha!

The good news is that Gunnar is becoming a lot easier to handle. Either that or I am finally getting a grip on this whole multiple children thing. It threw me for a loop, that's for sure. Seriously though, I am starting to enjoy moments of my day again. Still running around like a chicken with my head cut off, just not the whole time.

(4) Wed Apr 25 2007 11:49 Feeling crafty: So last night at a friend's house I learned how to make bows. And cute ones too, I might add- see. I think I like the brown clip best. The hot pink one got messed up somehow in the curling process.

Now I don't have to buy them at Gymboree for $3.99 anymore. I can just take an hour to make one. Hmm, $3.99/hr. Oh well, it was fun and I think they make cute gifts. Hopefully I'll get faster at it. Now Lily can have a bow to match each outfit.

(2) Wed Apr 25 2007 12:26 Quarantine: Poor Gunnar. He's a sick kiddo. He has been super good though as a sick boy. He sleeps a lot and has been pretty nice even though he feels icky. Poor thing has pink eye and croup and he even threw up this morning. His eye is all puffy and half shut. It is cutie looking at him and when he smiles even though his eye is all swollen. Lily is just getting over whatever cold she has. Gunnar has taken to his thumb even more since he has been sick.

And even though he is sick, yesterday at the Dr.'s office he managed to roll over from his back to his front for the first time. Just like that. It seemed so effortless for him. Lily I remember it being more difficult for her. Anyway, I did update some more pics on my picture blog of the kiddies.

Fri May 04 2007 15:50 Girl's Overnighter: Tuesday and Wednesday I was lucky enough to get away on a day tripper and overnighter to College Station with my mom, Lorna, and Julie who just arrived in town. We went to see Michelle for her 20th birthday. And I took along Gunnar of course. I got a friend to watch Lily Tues afternoon until Aaron got home and then Jenni and Erin to watch Lily Wed until Aaron got home.

Mom had to make a stop at the outlet malls at Talbots and I did some shopping in a couple stores right by Talbots as well. When we got into town we went to dinner with Michelle at Cheddars. IT's kinda like Chili's. Then we came home and hung out and talked until about 12:30 am. Gunnar did pretty well considering he was not in his usual surroundings. He pretty much slept like he normally does, waking up a couple times at night. The next day we went to Jamba Juice to grab breakfast and then we finished up getting ready and then went to lunch at the University Club where Michelle works. It is like the Sky Room in the Wilk except this place is only open to faculty. Afterward we stopped by Old Navy and Bed Bath and Beyond to get a present for Michelle.

We then headed home stopping at Freebird's for dinner. It was fun to hang out with my sisters (but we missed Aly) and Gunnar did well for the most part. He loved being fought over who gets to hold him next with his aunts. Who wouldn't? I came home to Aaron and Lily-who missed me very much. The next morning she screamed outside the room even after Aaron assured her that I was still home until she got to come into the room and investigate for herself that I was indeed still home. I love living close to family so we can do these types of things last minute. I was happy to be back home though again with my routine. My kids and I thrive on our routine; I would die without some sort of structure.

Aaron and I are excited to have Julie around since she has happily volunteered to baby-sit for us so we can have date nights. Plus, Julie is so funny, she can make me laugh all day. Tomorrow we plan on going to Spiderman 3 at the IMAX. Can't wait!

Sat May 05 2007 08:11: Right about this time last year I fell off the face of the earth from morning sickness. Ahh, it's good to be back.

(4) Mon May 07 2007 15:16 On the rise: I can't believe that I just spent $39.94 on gas today. Gas prices are so ridiculous. And the price of stamps went up this month.

And when am I going to get a son or daughter that looks like me? Gunnar is looking more and more like his dad everyday. Which isn't so much a bad thing since his dad is hot. While observing him today I realized that he does have Aaron's ears. At first I didn't think so but now they are starting to stick out. And his head shape is all Aaron. His hair is starting to come in nice too. It is so soft and fuzzy. It is definitely staying dark unlike Lily. Their hair is pretty different. Gunnar's all fell out on the sides and on top, but didn't get the bald spot too bad on the back of his head. Lily kept the top, lost the sides, but had a bald spot on the back forever. Speaking of Lily, someone told me at church yesterday too that the older Lily gets the more and more she looks like Aaron. I can't complain much though. At least my kids are cute.

A fun thing happened today...Gunnar found his toes.

(2) Wed May 09 2007 22:11 Like mother like son: Lately while I go and check on Gunnar during his naps I will see him in this position. I couldn't believe it at first so I would lay him back on his tummy. It didn't look comfortable teetering on his side but he loves it apparently because he would just squirm and get back on his side right after. How cute is that? He must get it from me because I love sleeping just like that...slightly on the stomach but mostly on the side. He's my cute little tank chunk.

(1) Tue May 15 2007 14:29 Sleepwalker: So the good news first. Gunnar is making progress with sleeping through the night. Every third night or so he wakes up only once for a feeding instead of twice. Last night it happened to be 5:15. After I put him back in his crib I noticed a glow under the door. Lily had gotten out of her bed and turned on the TV and was watching Rugrats on Nick Jr. This is not the first time I have found her in the family room at random times at night. When she was sick last week she was out there twice in one night. I guess she was restless or something. Usually she goes back down right after I take her back to bed.

This makes me wonder how often she does this. How long is she out there before I do catch her? Usually she is up and about before Aaron leaves for school around 7:00 so that means she is probably getting up around 6:45 AM every morning at the latest. This takes me to my gripe. Where did my late sleepers go? Well, Gunnar has never really slept in. He is usually up around 7:00 anyway and then I feed him and emerge from the bedroom to fix Lily breakfast around 7:30. I remember when Lily used to sleep in till 8 or 9. These early mornings are killing me. And lately Gunnar has been waking up around 5:00 wanting to play and coo and giggle and gurgle. I can't sleep with that going on. And there is no way in heck I am letting him think he can wake up that early. No sir, 7:00 is already pushing it.

He is getting old enough where he knows we are in the room with him. His crib is at the foot of our bed and he pushes his chest up with his arms and cranes his head and looks at us in bed. The other day after I got out of the shower while he was napping I came out of the bathroom to find him looking back at me staring. Scared me half to death to see him looking at me practically up on all fours because I was expecting a sleeping baby.

So I am thinking it is about time we finish up his room already and get him out of ours. For reals this time. I sound like a broken record but I think it is time. Even though I will dread the longer walk from my bed to his for night time feedings. I prefer it when I am on automatic pilot and I just know I woke up but not for how long or any of that.

(2) Wed May 16 2007 22:43 Poor Aaron: It was his birthday this Sunday. On MOTHER'S day. Not Aaron's day. A day for mother's. I know he feels bummed this year because he doesn't feel like he even had a birthday. I got an idea to have this elaborate getaway entailing a babysitter, hotel room, and shopping. Alas, it never came to pass. At first I thought since Julie was in town I could provide her with the best birth control around- babysitting children. She is getting married June 16th by the way for those who don't know. It worked for me at least. I would get a little baby hungry and then I would go and watch Alyson's boy(s) and then my cup would be filled for awhile longer.

So I had asked Julie to watch the kids overnight while Aaron and I went away to Austin to spend some QT together. The more I thought about it though, the more I didn't want Julie to hate me. I mean seriously, Gunnar won't even take a bottle hardly let alone a bottle in the middle of the night. He would freak. And it takes a mother's love to wake up in the middle of the night once or twice. I just didn't think it would go over well. Then I thought about taking Gunnar with us to a hotel. Then I woke up. What fun is that? What's the point? So we can be really quite and not even get to watch TV in our room for fear that Gunnar would wake up?

So then my big fun plan turned into Julie just watching the kiddies while we went to IKEA and the outlet mall in north Austin. It was fun. We got a new desk to go into our room after we get Gunnar's room done and some other random things at IKEA. I got a couple pairs of workout shorts and Lily some new Crocs (her fav) and Gunnar an outfit at Gymboree and Lily and Gunnar outfits at Children's Place at the outlets. But Aaron could not find anything he wanted. That was the whole point of going shopping. Was for him to pick out what he wanted for his birthday. I usually can come up with something for him but this year I just can't think of anything.

I did however come up with doing something for him, but I doubt he considers it a birthday gift. I do anyway. I mowed the front lawn for him. It was my first time really mowing a yard ever. I did do a couple rows in Utah once, but I mowed the entire front yard for him, and it was tall grass. It was actually kinda fun and satisfying mowing down those long blades of grass. It is like vacuuming and hearing tons of dirt being sucked up and feeling good like you just popped a zit or flossed your teeth and got a popcorn kernel out or cleaned out someone's ear that had really bad wax (Gunnar). It feels like you just lost 10 pounds or something when you do those things. So anyway, that was my birthday gift for him. He's got another one coming his way if he or I can just think of something. I don't really feel so bad about his birthday because he didn't really do anything for me for Mother's Day, which is fine. It was like a trade off. They canceled each other out. Happy 27th Belated Birthday to you, Aaron!

(4) Fri May 25 2007 21:09 It was the best of times, it was the worst of times: This month has won the award for busiest month of the year so far. Aaron survived finals: We are officially third years! That's the happy news. Josh graduated; also good news and Aaron's parents came in town for Josh's graduation as did Aaron's cousin Tyler and fiancé Andrea. Upon arriving in San Antonio, Sherry found out shortly after that her sister and her husband were involved in a fatal car accident for both. Unfortunately Aaron's parents had to cut the trip short and went back to AZ to be with Sherry's mother and family. It was fun while it lasted. We went to dinner altogether one last time at Pappasitos and saw Shrek 3. Then Sunday after the graduation we had a family dinner and birthday party for the twins and an early birthday celebration for Austin and Luke (they turn one in June!) while everyone was together. The babies did not dig into the cakes like I thought they would have...it had been a long day.

As the week began Aaron and I kept busy getting some cleaning done here and there. We also tried to squeeze as much time in with Josh and Jenni and the kids before they had to leave. Wed early morning Aaron left for his brothers' annual Memorial Day backpacking/fishing trip. They made it to Utah just in time for their Aunt Ardy and Uncle Dick's funeral. Jenni and the kids spent their last day with me since she turned in her key to the house to the new owners. Lily and Caden made sure to live it up. They wildly played Wed and Thurs until Jenni left for the airport around 1:30pm. Things are going to be so different without them here. I miss you guys already!!! So sad. I wish they didn't have to leave us so soon.

I can't believe dental school is halfway over for us. It feels like just yesterday we arrived back in San Antonio green and ready to begin. We thought Josh was so far in advance being a third year. Now Aaron is going to be starting third year and it feels like the previous 2 years have flown by. That's good news though, when it goes by fast it means we had fun and there were good times to be had.

Now I am all alone with the kids. After Jenni left yesterday afternoon it felt so lonely. Now I remember why I don't like Aaron going on these trips. I have a hard time being apart from him. Even little things like the Mother-Daughter campout I can't fully enjoy because Aaron is not there to share the fun with me. At least Aly is coming into town Sat night to keep me company. I have been looking forward to their visit especially since she will be staying with me and will be all mine...sort of. And Julie is in town so we have been spending a lot of time together.

Another happy/sad thing that has happened this month is my step sister Meg had her baby boy Brennan. She has chosen to place the baby with a family that's wonderful I hear. This has been the hardest decision of her life as anyone can imagine. I went to see her with Julie at the hospital. It was tearful to watch Meg love her baby so much and not want to waste any time and to hold him every second. No one had the heart to ask to hold the baby the whole time she was in the hospital. I think she slept 5 hours total the 2 days she was in there. She said something that struck me so true. She said she would work 3 jobs and stay fat and ugly her whole life if it meant she could keep him, but that it wouldn't be enough. Her life is nothing; she needed to give him his own life, a good one with a family that can care for him better. She wanted nothing less than the best for her baby boy. She knew it was going to be hard, but she didn't know it would be this hard, that she could love somebody so much. She had no idea. I admire and respect Meg so much for making that decision. One of the hardest things to do in this life I imagine. That's true love right there that I witnessed. Hopefully things won't be dark and dreadful too long her. All these harrowing events this month…life is too short.

Lately, I don't think it is possible for me to write a post that isn't 2 pages long. Sorry for being so long winded!

Sat Jun 02 2007 20:58 Big Boy: Gunnar is 6 months! Half a year old! I took him to his check-up for shots on Thursday. He was exactly 17 lbs and 26 3/4 inches long and head circum was 17 inches. That's 50th percentile in weight and between 50th and 75th in height. I don't know why those numbers interest me on the growth charts. He's starting to slow down on growing and I am hoping he didn't get the Walch genes on height.

Gunnar has hit another milestone besides age. On Wed he got up on his hands and knees and started swaying back and forth. He is pretty good at it now and does it in his crib when I put him down for naps and bedtime. I am going to have to lower his crib now so that he doesn't fall out. Not looking forward to that extra bit of energy required now to pick him up in the middle of the night.

Right now Gunnar is sick. He sounds hoarse and had a temperature last night. Poor little guy. Shots and getting sick all in one week.

Aaron is back from his camping trip thankfully, and Aly is here visiting me with Atticus and Samuel. We have been having a blast. Especially Lily. She loves the company the boys bring. Two more weeks till Julie's wedding....ahhh!

(1) Mon Jun 04 2007 09:39 She's the boss: When I come in the office to check my email when Lily is awake, quite often she comes in after a couple minutes to investigate. Usually getting into whatever it is I put in the office behind closed doors to make sure she doesn't get into it. It is a toss up between which room she can cause the most monetary damage, either my room or the office. My room I have jewelry she loves to get into, but in the office there is just stuff and projects and what not.

So naturally when she comes in here I want to deter her from wanting to be in here so I usually threaten to turn off her Dora show or what not. This morning she was particularly adamant about me not turning off her tv. When I said, "Oh, are you all done watching tv? I'll just go turn it off." She then ran back to the family room and poked her head around the corner and said, "NO! turn off MA-YAH TV. Never get my tv. No, mama, NO!" She repeated this a couple times in case I didn't quite catch it the first time. How can you get mad at something so cute? Heehee

Wed Jun 06 2007 23:05 Vivid imagination: Today Lily kept talking about "time for school, let's go to school." I don't know where she got the idea that she was going to be going to school. It is probably a coping mechanism because she kept saying, "yay, let's go to school" on the way to the gym and when we pulled into the gym she flipped because we were supposed to be going to school. Duh, mom. School is like her happy place she thinks of when we go to the gym I guess because lately she hates when I leave her in the day care there. I shouldn't say lately. She hasn't liked it for awhile.

I can't put my finger on why she doesn't like it. She loves nursery and is just about the friendliest toddler out there. It must be because the kids aren't as friendly as the ones in nursery. Or that there is no structure while she is there like nursery has (snack time, music time, etc). Or maybe the workers are flat out terrible with kids. All I know is she hates going. "I don't want the gym." Poor girl. The things I make her go through for my vanity.

(3) Wed Jun 06 2007 23:09 Killing time: There are tons new pics on my picture blog.

(2) Tue Jun 12 2007 15:40 Precious: First off, nap times are the best. The kids have been asleep extra long this afternoon I think recovering from Atticus' 7th b-day party last night at Moppie's house. It was a pool party and Alyson made homemade pizzas and cake for the crew. Our newly acquired soon-to-be brother-in-law Chuck's birthday was yesterday too. Julie and he came over after the party so that the boys could play World of Warcraft (currently my latest bane) and Julie and I passed the late night hours away scrapbooking her guestbook she is having at her wedding.

I was checking my email this morning and Lily climbed up on my lap, and normally when I am at the computer I dread this because then she starts reaching for pens and scissors and everything else she can tote around with her and hoard and later use to ruin stuff, but this morning she just sat there cutely. She was just jabbering away about things and was being so sweet and cute that I gave her a squeeze and said "I love you." She turned around and said "I love you too." And then gave me a kiss. She has never really spontaneously done that before. I mean she has said she loves me before but today it just seemed genuine. It was such a sweet reward and made me think that putting up with her during her terrible two's has been so worth it just hearing her say that. Like ahh, she really does care about me and isn't trying to make me lose my mind on purpose. She is such a special girl and I can't believe how smart she is because she sure doesn't get it from me. She is always full of surprises and I love that she isn't shy at all like I was when I was a girl. I think I missed out on a lot in life because of my shyness and I love watching Lily interact with the world. What a cute girl she is if I may say so myself.

Wed Jun 13 2007 08:40 Tales of a two yr old: As I hear gags from the other room, I go in to inspect while calling out for Lily. She responds back to me, "I'm feeding Gunnar." She was putting her sippy cup of milk in his mouth. What a nice sister she is!

Thu Jun 21 2007 21:46 Another one about the chids: First let me preface this entry with- I know I am probably the only one that enjoys reading and talking about the progress of my kids. Onto the news…

You wouldn't believe what I found yesterday. A tiny tooth sticking out of Gunnar's lower gum. Just one has broken through. Poor guy. It started Tues night he woke up from his last nap so upset and sad. I couldn't figure out why he was crying and I knew it was the "in pain" cry. It's weird how a mom knows, but she knows her babies' cries. Gunnar didn't have much of an appetite but he went to bed with no problems so I didn't give it another thought expect to blame it on constipation which he has kinda been since he has been eating solids. So then yesterday (Wed) Gunnar did it again after his afternoon nap. He was extra sensitive to Lily getting in his face and I couldn't get him to eat his rice cereal and green beans. I finally got the idea to check his gums and sure enough there was a little tooth right there. Today he has been grumpy pretty much all day so I have been giving him baby Motrin.

That's not the only new thing with Gunnar. Last week he picked up a little piece of cereal with his pincher fingers. Nothing major but cute nonetheless. He can't put the food in his mouth yet though. I'm still waiting for him to be able to sit up on his own for extended amounts of time. I set him down but he just sits forward with his arms barely keeping his chest from touching the ground. His eyes are starting to turn. He definitely won't have the crystal blue eyes that Lily has. I'm thinking brown like his dad and a hazelish in the sunlight.

Tonight as I put Lily to bed she was playing with my hair and said, "Oh, mama, so pretty. Pretty brown hair. So cover-y." Whatever cover-y means. Today at the gym too the worker (which is a guy) said she wanted to be held by him. She just walked up to him and said "hold me" and she just chilled on his hip for awhile as he went about running the computer and letting people in. He was about 18 yrs old. Her crushes are downright alarming. When ever she sees my step sister Leah's boyfriend Derrick she always walks up to him all bashful wanting a hug and kiss. She talks constantly of her uncles and her latest obsession is Julie's new hubby Chuck. He is such a flirt, she loves that.

Speaking of them, their wedding is over and done with. It was great. Very pretty. So fun to be able to spend time with family. It is weird no one else is in town anymore. Alyson and the boys were here so long and then everyone else started trickling in. Now they're gone and I miss everyone. We got lots of girl time in with Julie before she was Mrs. Browne.

This afternoon since Gunnar has not been sleeping well I went to the mall with Lorna. I figured if he was going to be fussy I might as well be doing something to pass the time faster. I don't know if it was worth it since Lily was energetic- my euphemism for wanting to paw everything in the store or else, and Gunnar wanted to be held the whole time and I felt like my arm was going to fall off. This whole teething thing makes me appreciate what a good baby Gunnar is generally.

(2) Tue Jun 26 2007 22:26 Vacation?!: Gunnar has been sick and before that was teething so it has been sometime since I have slept well and had a "laid back" day. I hate, hate, HATE going to the Dr. Why do they think they can schedule appointments and then actually see the patient an hour later? Schedule the appt an hour later then.

Lily told me to stop bugging her yesterday when I was teasing and poking her. I love that girl. She has such boundaries and if you get into her space she will let you know it. She reminds me of me. I like to have my bubble.

I am packing up for our 10 day vacation to AZ and Zion National Park. While it will be fun, I don't quite think it has hit me what I have gotten myself into. We will see how well Lily does sleeping in the same room as us for a few nights. Or should we say how well Aaron and I do. Hopefully I don't saw my arm off from insanity and can type about it when I get back.

Fri Jul 13 2007 16:17 Vacation pics: New vacation pictures are up...Detail to come later.

http://4yourconsideration.blogspot.com/

(1) Mon Jul 16 2007 13:54 Zion and everything after: We have been back for over a week from our Summer vacation. It seems like I am so far behind in blogging that I keep putting it off causing me to put it off even further because I know the next time I sit down it will require more than a few minutes. But I will try and keep the rundown brief so I don't end up with a page and a half of text.

First we flew into Phoenix and stayed with Aaron's sister Melanie and Joe and the kids Collin, Kate, Logan, and Seth. It was the first time in 9 months that I got to see the twins in person (both sets for that matter. Lucky and Laney were so adorable and always dressed in the cutest outfits.), and they had just moved into their new house so I loved getting to see that. I can't wait to see it after all the decor and painting projects are done too. Gunnar played very well with Logan and Seth. Lily adored her cousins...all of them. She and Kate probably played the most in AZ since they are closest in age, but at Zion's she got to see Caden and Lily coupled with Caden and Ethan were the new rat pack. Kate introduced Lily into the world of make believe and pretend and followed suite making the princess fall in love with Prince Eric.

In fact after we got home I heard Lily playing with her dolls saying "Let's get naked. hehe Yay, we're naked." Not quite sure what to think about that. It's probably harmless though since we chase her after the bath and say "naked baby". And I guess it is nothing new since almost every time Lily and Caden played together they would eventually end up naked or just in their diapers. One time I heard Lily in her room with Caden saying, "Come on Caden, let's get naked." But seriously, I know Lily had a fabulous time everyday. I bet she was having the time of her life because she just loves people and she loves playing with her cousins and she throughly enjoyed all the activities that went on everyday.

At Zion National Park we had a great time going to the river, doing the activities after dinner with the group, seeing the beautiful red rock scenery, and catching up with all the cousins. I lucked out because Aaron has such an awesome family/extended family. I feel like all his cousins are my cousins. We got in some solid Werewolf game time. I am not sure I could ever get sick of this game. And yes, we did repeat the tradition of last year by playing into the wee hours of the morning.

On the way home from the family reunion we stopped at the Grand Canyon. I had been once before as a child but it is nice to redo things in your life like this and see it as an adult since I barely remembered it. Gunnar pretty much hated being in his car seat the entire way there and home. It was not a pretty sight. The poor boy has not been healthy since his 6 month shots which gave him a cold and fever, then teething which brought on another cold and fevers, then a week and a half later just about after the first trauma was over, he got a second tooth and right before we got home he was spiking hot hot fevers come to find out he had an ear infection in each ear. Other than that Gunnar did well on the trip. Sleeping wasn't too bad. He got really good at sitting up on his own for long periods of time and without having the help of his arms supporting himself. He scooted around pretty good. He has been eating all kinds of baby food like crazy. He has begun to stare and Lily and just crack up from watching her silliness. He developed stranger anxiety on the trip but I think it is mainly because he was ill most the time. He was very clingy with me. Someone would be holding him and he would see me walk by and he would start fussing. It took me by surprise, Lily never really did that. Gunnar is a mama's boy though so it figures. He has always been really good about letting strangers hold him. I just forgot how bad teething is. They get so fussy and so clingy.

Onto the 4th of July, we had a BBQ at Aaron's parents house. We went home (Mel and Joe's) afterward and didn't stay up to watch fireworks because we were so beat after traveling till 1:00 in the morning the night before. The kids were done for too. We did make it to church at the Springdale ward at the chapel at Zion's that Sunday, which was nice because it seems like I missed church the year before and I love singing the patriotic songs. It's one of the best parts about the 4th.

Aaron had to leave early to go back home and study for the boards that he is taking this week. In case you don't know, it's a big deal test. We missed him and I survived the plane trip home with Gunnar and Lily by myself but not before I wrapped up my vacation with a trip to Cafe Rio. Gotta love their chicken salads...the best!

It is great to be back home. We have lots of work to do around the house. I can't believe the summer is almost over. Aaron has school starting up again next Monday. The year is halfway over too and it feels like we just barely got into 2007. I am already looking into Christmas travel plans. Strange.

A side note about my pictures post. Some of them are blurred, mainly the ones we took at the Grand Canyon. I am so bummed and I can't believe how dense I was seeing the LCD screen and thinking it was some malfunction and not thinking to wipe the smudge that was on the lens. Duh! At least most of them turned out.

(1) Thu Jul 19 2007 14:40 It's been awhile: Since I have done a movie review. Aaron and I have been lucky enough to have seen 2 movies this past week. The first one we saw was Harry Potter on opening day. Aaron called me up last Wed saying he wanted to go and to get a babysitter. I really wasn't in to mood to get all dressed up (because I don't wear make-up unless I leave the house) and go to the movie last minute. I like looking forward to things, but Aaron knows best and I really did enjoy myself and am glad he insisted we see it opening day. I really only agreed because Jake and Erin were coming with us so I knew it would be fun and we sneaked in pints of Cold Stone for the show.

I was pretty skeptical of the movie because I love the books and I think the movies are terribly lame. Even the 4th movie which was better than the first 3, was still LAME. Maybe it is because it isn't the actors first time around the block but I really enjoyed it and recommend it.

Second, Aaron and I took Lily and Gunnar to Rattatouille at mom's invitation. Lily sat through about half of it pretty good, a quarter of it ok, and the end not at all. Gunnar was really good the entire time. I probably wouldn't have picked the movie, but since mom invited us, we saw it. I really like it. It was really cute. I sorta missed the climax and so I didn't get to enjoy it like I would have if I watched it without kids but it was cute. I think we will wait another 6 months to try out a theater again with Lily. last time it was Cars and it lasted about 10 minutes. At least we were able to stay the whole time through this one.

Gunnar is pretty much crawling now. He has been able to get around for weeks scooting but not really a controlled one leg in front of the other and alternating hands thing. A funny thing happened yesterday morning. When he wakes up at 6:30 (he rarely wakes up after then) I usually put him in the bouncy seat so I can get a little bit more sleep until he starts fussing. Well, yesterday morning I heard him fussing and I got up to go get him and he was at the side of my bed on hands and knees staring up at me. It was so cutie. I guess he wriggled off the bouncy seat and crawled over to me. He's actually been laying on the floor several times by the bouncy seat too when he starts fussing. Geez mom, ever hear of the buckle?

And Lily the other day said something funny. On one of her toys there is the Yankee Doodle song. She wanted to sing it and said to me, "Let's sing Macaroni Cheese-O song".

Wed Jul 25 2007 10:27 Happy Pioneer's Day, yesterday: I miss those days off in Utah. Now Happy Birthday to my brother in law Davey. It has been raining all week here. It is kinda nice, I would rather it rain than for it to be a drought. Plus it cools things down quite a bit. I wish I knew that this whole summer was going to be one big long monsoon before I hired someone to put in sprinklers in our yard. Now we only have one more summer to water before we move and it totally isn't worth it for that. Not that we even got the sprinklers. We paid all the money and hired the guy but unfortunately for us he didn't really know what he was doing, but that is a whole other story in itself. Lessons learned.

Aaron and I had a fun adventure Friday night at midnight going to our local HEB (grocery store) and bought our copy of Harry Potter: DH. There was no line, and we picked up some groceries and started reading in the car straight away. Aaron finished it Sunday night (technically Mon morning). I on the other hand prefer audio books and I called libraries first thing Saturday morning. I got the last of 50 books on cd at the Spanish speaking library branch close to downtown. Each branch had 2 or 3 copies. Now the wait list is in the hundreds.

Anyways, it is nice to have something to do inside on rainy days, however, it doesn't entertain my children. I need to finish already though because Aaron is dying to talk about it with me. He keeps asking how far I have gotten.

(2) Wed Jul 25 2007 22:42 Funnies: Yesterday, while Lily was saying her prayers she asked for daddy to be blessed at school, and then she paused and said, not mama...mama is too little for school. Teehee

I went to Hairspray for girls night out tonight (cute flick) and came home to cookies that my visiting teacher dropped off. So sweet!

(1) Fri Jul 27 2007 10:50 Free at last!!!!!!!!: Yes, that statement deserved all those exclamation points! We finally put Gunnar is his own room!! Just writing that makes me smile. During the day I will open my door and check around my room just to see how wonderful it looks without a crib or a sleeping baby in the crib there. Just like when I mowed the lawn I kept looking out the window to see how nicely it looked. Or when I make something crafty, I will look at it and think, "my that is dang cute". Does anyone else do this? Just me? I figured I was the only one wacky enough, but I like to appreciate the end results. And this end result? SLEEP. And a cleaner room. And Aaron and I talking before bed. And not having to be quite as I wash my face before bed. And scripture study on the bed. And some other stuff involving a bed. Just kidding, we don't do that.

The first thing I did when we put Gunnar in his room: laundry. I folded clothes on my bed. By myself, as loud as I wanted. It is so wonderful having your own room. You just don't realize it until you go without for awhile. You are probably thinking it's my fault for having him in my room for so long anyway and I'm weird for doing it, and you would be right. I basically did it because he was still waking up at night and I didn't want to walk across the house as opposed to two steps to get him. Plus we have had people in town from Julie's wedding and other family events that it was always, "Oh after this event we will put him in there". So finally we have and it has made life better. Now we just need to move the computer from his room to our room. We just have to set up the new desk we got at IKEA. Hopefully it won't take us another 8 months!

Mon Jul 30 2007 20:17 Finished!: With Harry Potter. It was awesome!

(3) Tue Jul 31 2007 13:45 While the cat's away: This mouse made jewelry. Aaron wanted to watch the Simpson's movie really bad and since I didn't really want to spend $7.50 to watch it, he went with Jake. I stayed home and created these beaut's. When Aaron came home I showed him the fruits of my labor and he said, "they all look the same". Um, kinda but I really liked each way, so I strung them up. Of course I will never expect Aaron to understand how girls accessorize. I think if he did I would be scared.

(2) Wed Aug 01 2007 17:37: Ok, so it's already Aug. Can you believe it? I went into Hobby Lobby a couple weeks ago and they already have their Thanksgiving stuff and Christmas stuff in. How insane is that? Where did the year go?

(1) Mon Aug 06 2007 10:32 Wrong side of the bed: Last night Lily would NOT go to bed. I already had to remove her light bulbs from her light a couple nights ago because she was getting out of bed and playing into the night. So she had no lights on but she would not go to sleep. Finally, at midnight I went in there and in a moment of weakness when she asked, "Mama, I want to 'sweep' with you and daddy," I agreed for her to come sleep in our bed. Big Mistake. She kept tossing and turning and talking and keeping me up. Of course Aaron sleeps through anything so he was in dreamland the whole time. Finally when Gunnar woke up at 1:15 to be fed and I fed him and put him back to bed she followed me out of the room and turned on the tv. I had HAD it. I took her back to her room and closed the door. She melted into a puddle of tears on the ground crying out under the door crack, "You're making me angry! Stop embarrassing me. Don't embarrass me. I'm so angry." It was hilarious. Where on earth did she hear about someone getting embarrassed? She certainly doesn't understand what it means. I know where she got the angry word because I told her she was making me angry that she wasn't being quiet and still.

This girl. I don't know what we are going to do with her. I finally opened the door and she agreed that she would be a good girl if I let her come back into our room to sleep. We both probably fell asleep around 1:45-2:00. Needless to say, I was so tired when I woke up this morning. It'll be awhile before I fall for the "she is so cute, she'll just snuggle up to me in bed and sleep" routine again. You try to be nice and you get no sleep.

(2) Mon Aug 06 2007 17:33 Boards: Aaron passed!! He thought he did awful but it turns out he didn't do bad at all. Now that is behind us, two more years of dental school and another set of boards and we are all done with school. Wow, never thought I would see the light there marrying a freshman. I can't believe we are halfway done with dental school.

Good job Aaron! I'm so proud of you, I am not gifted like that in the sciences so I know it's not easy.

(1) Mon Aug 13 2007 22:57 Twins, again: It happened again. I got another set of twins. In my eggs. I picked it up and thought, hmm this one looks longer than normal and I broke it open and out came two cutie yolks. Second time it has happened. I mean I eat eggs all the time. It's bound to happen to me again.

Good news about my garden. My first eggplant is growing. It is about the size of a softball. I discovered that I love eggplant in my stir-fry. The basil we have is going out of control and it has been heavenly getting as much roma tomatoes as we have. I love that I don't have to buy them at the store because I go through a lot of tomatoes too. There you have it...eggs and eggplants.

Tue Aug 14 2007 23:20 This boy gets around: Today while Lily was napping and I was in the kitchen cleaning up, Gunnar was playing in the family room with some toys. I looked up to see what he was doing and I couldn't see him so I went to look behind the the chairs to see if he was playing with the toys there, but he wasn't. I then saw my door open and thought maybe he had crawled in there, but he wasn't there either. So then I went back over down the hall to find that he had crawled all the way into Lily's room and was sucking on a doll on the floor.

He crawls pretty good now, but it made me laugh to myself that he got all that way without me even noticing he was gone. He's getting so fast. And sometimes when I leave him in the family room to get on the computer in my room all the sudden I will see him pop his head around the corner of the door and see me and start squealing and crawling towards me. I think it is so funny and cute and yet new and bizarre for me to see him this way now with a mind of his own and deliberately deciding on which way to explore. Such a cute little curious boy.

(1) Fri Aug 17 2007 12:19 Scent and Sensibility: MAybe it is just me and I am weird, but I have a pet peeve. It is I really don't like it when someone holds my baby and I get him/her back and they smell like the person that just held them. I guess it is not really a pet peeve but just annoying.

I feel like a mother bird and I come back to my nest only to find my eggs smell wrong. Not like my babies anymore. Instead the scent of someone else handling them. This is not to say that I would abandon my kids like the birds do, but I do feel like washing them off so they smell like my babies again. Is this weird that I really don't like my kids to smell like someone else's perfume? It happens a lot when I take Gunnar to the gym and since he wants to be held the whole time he usually does come back to me smelling like someone else. Not a bad smell usually just different. Oh well, I better get over it if I am planning to keep going.

Along that note, I love kissing Gunnar's cheeks after he has just had his morning baby food. There is nothing like the lingering smell of strawberry-apple and baby's breath.

Sun Aug 19 2007 22:42 More: For those that care.

(4) Tue Aug 21 2007 22:22 Nice buns!: So awhile back I got a fun HUGE package in the mail from my sis-in-law Jenni for my birthday. A sweet KitchenAid. Her mom gave her the bigger one so she graciously handed down to me her old one. It's a dream. I guess she remembered me saying that I never make rolls and cookies because it was too much of a hassle without a mixer. With this in mind, she gave her old mixer to a good home.

Today I made for the first time in my life ROLLS! I also made for dinner turkey, mashed potatoes (the cheating kind), stuffing, jello salad, and pumpkin pie. It was fun and I now have a lot of leftovers. That is what I mainly made the turkey for because 1) turkey sandwiches on wheat with a little mayo and a lot of cranberry sauce is the best, and 2) I love Hawaiian haystacks. And I made a lot of stock and cut up a lot of turkey for a few meals of those. Now my back hurts from standing up in the kitchen too long.

Thanks Jenni!

(4) Sun Aug 26 2007 21:30 The conversation went a little like this: Lily: "I want en-chee-ladas for lunch. With sour cream."

Aaron: "Hey Lily, do you want salsa on your enchiladas?"

L: "No. It's too spicy. I don't like spicy."

A: "Come on. I'll just put a little Tabasco sauce in it just like daddy."

L: "NOOOO! I don't want it. I don't want spicy."

A: "Yes you do. It's good."

Kristen: "Aaron, why do you do this? You like listening to her cry?"

L: "Yeah Dad. Stop annoying us."

Tonight while putting Lily to bed after singing & prayers Aaron was giving Lily hugs nigh-night and I was waiting my turn.

Lily: "Hey Dad, can you get off of me now?"

I don't know whether to laugh or feel sorry for Aaron...oh well, I am sure I will be public enemy number #1 when she is a teenager and I cut up her bikinis and thongs and throw them in the trash and screen her phone calls like my mom did. Might as well soak it up now.

(2) Mon Aug 27 2007 09:15 Happy Birthday To Lily: A big 3 yrs old today! We are having a family birthday party for her tonight and I asked her what kind of cake she wanted and she said "chocolate". That's my girl!

(5) Wed Aug 29 2007 23:27 This and that: I feel so far behind in blogging, that or just a lot has gone on lately. First things first...the story behind Gunnar needing glasses. To answer questions, yes he does need glasses, and no they are not a fashion statement. Trust me, I would have spent the $95 on my clothes rather than a pair of "sunglasses" as Lily calls them.

Back to the beginning: after Gunnar was born and once he was further along than a newborn, people including family and people I hardly knew would comment saying they see a "lazy eye" or "cross-eye" in Gunnar. After I got over the "how dare anyone think let alone SAY to a mother their child is imperfect" phase I finally decided and then a few months later remembered to ask his pediatrician about it. The pediatrician referred me to an pediatric ophthalmologist and thus I went. The ophthalmologist immediately diagnosed Gunnar with Pseudostrabismus which basically says it looks like he has a lazy eye since he is a baby and doesn't have a nose bridge, but he isn't cross-eyed. He said it was just an optical illusion and that he will out grow it. He then said just to be sure let's go ahead and dilate his pupils and take a look.

So they put in the eye drops and I waited a half hour for them to take effect and then he brought me back into the office to check Gunnar out again. The Dr. got his little flashlight out and lens thing and looked into his eyes and right away exclaimed, "this boy needs glasses. He is nearsighted!" Ok, imagine my surprise. "Glasses on an 8 month old?" I asked, "Are you sure?" "Oh don't worry. He'll love them. He will love being able to see the world in high def." He then projected an "E" on the wall about 15 feet away, the size of an sheet of paper and said that Gunnar could see that E but anything smaller he would not be able to make out.

So then I called and searched every optical place looking for infant glasses that weren't too hideous and I finally found some at solobambini.com. They aren't the cutest things but they are very durable (no screws) and about half as much as the other baby glasses I was seeing. When we put them on his face for the first time he giggled. So I think he likes them, although he does fuse sometimes when I put them on, but he mostly leaves them alone. He always takes them off in the car when he is just sitting there though. Lily will tell me "Gunnar is eating his sunglasses!"

I never needed glasses nor Aaron so I need to adjust to cleaning them and remembering to put them on. I wish that there were some cuter frames but with a baby there are not many options. As you can imagine I get stopped all the time in the store or wherever with comments about his glasses, but at least everyone gushes about how cute he is. I still don't feel like they are apart of him, so I don't really think they are that cute but it helps when other people think so. I can't complain though because it could be worse. I am very blessed to have two very healthy kids, and that is all I ask for.

In other news about Gunnar, he is cutting his two top teeth! Much sooner than Lily did. He isn't as fussy as when his lower ones came in and thank goodness for that. I thought someone switched babies on me. He also crawls really fast now and is very good at pulling up on things. I even went in his room yesterday morning to get him and he was standing up in his crib looking at me: a first! It was so cute. He still takes tumbles but is getting better at it. He hasn't tried walking along things but it is only a matter of time. Whenever Gunnar is missing from the family room I know he has escaped to his favorite spot:Lily's room. He loves playing in there, but only when he forgets that he wants me by his side every minute and every second of every day. That boy is so clingy. If I am not holding him he is not happy about it.

The other thing about Gunnar is he eats all day long. The boy is always hungry wanting to eat solids. He eats what we eat for dinner now along with some baby food to supplement. Sheesh, and it is costing a fortune. I am also not excited about the highchair phase of a big mess on the floor after every meal. I am back to having to sweep and mop all the time now like it was with Lily. Another naughty phase is he won't sit still for diaper changes anymore. Why do kids torture us? As if changing a poopy diaper isn't bad enough, they throw in moving around and crawling away into the picture. And lastly, Gunnar got his first haircut as you can see in my picture blog. He got woken up from a nap so he was not happy. And it doesn't even look that straight. Oh well. This turned out longer than I thought so I will just make another post for Lily.

Wed Aug 29 2007 23:39 Onto Lily: She, like Gunnar, got a hair cut. It is a cute pixie cut. She looks better with short hair because it is so wispy. Maybe she will get nice thick hair when she is older but for now, shorter is better. She had her first day of preschool like it says in my picture blog too. It was funny because I asked her how she liked it and she kept saying "the lady got mad at me...the lady said I can't go outside without my shoes on...the lady said not to touch the piggy...the lady put me in time out...the lady told me not to turn off the tv..." So now it begins. Lily remembers things and she is not afraid to say so. I better watch more of what I say because she holds full on conversations with me now. It is funny because it is the very week she turns three that she has showed major signs of growing up. Like the other day I overheard her on the pretend phone talking to someone, "Whatcha doing? Oh just hanging out." Never mind she was holding a conversation with herself, she is hilarious saying adult things.

She got this Dr.'s kit for her birthday from my mom and she loves it. She loves pretending to do "Dr.'s appointment" with me. And in the car she totally likes to jam out now. She tells me to "turn it loud" when her favorite song Old MacDonald comes on. Yesterday when I went to see what Lily was doing in her room I caught her sitting on her bed with her shirt up and her princess shoe resting on her belly. I asked her what she was doing and she said "I'm feeding my shoe." Nice.

I am really liking this phase. I love the hilarious things little kids think of in their heads. And Lily's behavior has improved a lot. She is a lot more obedient. Like Gunnar, she has been very clingy too. Not quite sure why.

Yesterday Aaron came home with stitches in his thumb. He cut it to the BONE on accident while doing lab work. Poor guy. He was mostly concerned that he would not be able to play video games for a few weeks and plus football season is starting up in a week. Me on the other hand, I could get used to him injuring himself like this. j/k babe! Love ya!

(1) Sun Sep 09 2007 15:43 Happy Birthday: to Jenni!! We miss you here :(

Sun Sep 09 2007 23:02 Meet the Smith's: I posted a big family facts thing on my other picture blog. Check it out.

(2) Mon Sep 10 2007 23:25 Potty Training Chronicles: Day 1: It's not easy. Pretty miserable in fact. Lily didn't really make any progress today. Secretly, I was hoping that she would be one of those stories of "she was potty trained in one day". Nope. It is probably pretty much all my fault, I have no doubt. It is not like I know what I am doing, having never done this before. We started the day with new! training! pants! with flowers! She loved those so much that after she peed in both pair, Lily refused to wear her oh so treasured princess panties. Alas, I finally got her into them with a plastic panty over them.

I kept asking her if she needed to go potty and she would say yes and then I would take her to the potty but then she would just sit there and then get a ton of toilet paper and wipe and say all done. One time I caught her crossing her legs and holding her part and I asked if she did but she was already wet. She did pee just a tad though so there is a pin hole of light. One time she said she had to go potty and she sat there and pretended and wiped and then when she was "all done" she said now I can have my treat. Umm, it doesn't work that way kid, sorry.

Well, today was wet panties 4, pee pee in the potty 0.3. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

(1) Tue Sep 11 2007 22:29 Potty Training Day 2: This sucks. I hate it!!!!!!!

(4) Thu Sep 13 2007 22:27 Gah: Is all I have to say about this week. Sometimes I swear Lily thinks in her head "what would make my mom the maddest?" and then she does it. I think because she has a runny nose is the reason she is being extra naughty this week. Yesterday, halfway through the day she was still peeing in her training pants and after she wet them at the gym I just thought forget it. Maybe again in a couple months, but I think I did my part trying it out. Now I know she is not ready. I mean other than the 0.3 time she peed in the toilet, that was it. Do you know how much a person pees a day? That was how many wet clothes I went through. I think I have had enough torture. (And potty training is not what I am calling Lily being naughty. She has been extra abusive to her brother, and that is what I am referring to when I say naughty, but that on top of the stress of having to ask and sit her on the potty all day long.)

Today Lily got into my closet and she got on top of the dressers that I have in there and dumped everything on the floor and took off every single belt on the holder there was. Seeing it all on the floor, Aaron and I have a lot of belts put together. I feel so guilty because it's the same thing everyday. She wants to play with the Playdoh but I don't want to get it out because it makes such a mess. Then she wants to do all these puzzles, but I don't want to get them out unless I have a certain amount of time devoted just to her and helping her do them and taking them right back to the closet where they go, or they get strewn everywhere and I end up putting together 32 zoo animal/abc's puzzles. What a mean mommy I am. It's not to say I don't let her play with those things but sometimes I just get really tired of picking up after 4 people (me and my 3 kids 2 kids and husband).

But I am writing this down by some small chance I go back reading through this again and I might be having a bad day and hopefully it might cheer me up. My dirty room and messy kitchen had been nagging at me today and I wanted to start cleaning since I just put Gunnar down for a nap but Lily asked me to read her books. I thought to myself I better do this because when your daughter is begging you to "hold me like a baby" they probably want your attention. I sat Lily down by me and gave her a squeeze and she said "Mama, I wuv you. Oh, you're so cute. You're my little sweetie pie." It doesn't matter that she stole those lines from me, it is still adorable. And maybe she does like me and doesn't try to torture me. Maybe I will let her live to see another day.

(1) Mon Sep 17 2007 13:45 Lily's version of Hide and Seek: "Mom, you count and I will hide in the quilt." And then there's me counting and as soon as I finish I hear footsteps running toward me and Lily says, "Mom, you found me." One of her new favorite games.

(3) Mon Sep 17 2007 22:46 New stuff and New Favs: Cheap thrills...actually not so much, but money well spent. For my birthday Aaron got me a Bissell vacuum. I love it. My carpet feels soft and fluffy after I vacuum. It really makes a difference.

Also, new to the Smith household are 6 new fish and an aquarium. Fish I can do, mammals I cannot. Check out the cutest thing you can see on earth. He loves watching the fish swim as does Lily. The fish's names are Papa, Lily #2 and Gunnar #2 (Lorna gave Lily goldfish and that is what she named them, they only lived a couple days), Tank, Magnum, and Blue Steel. We took over naming the fish because Lily ran out of names to give them after the first three. Also new in this picture is two top teeth on Gunnar.

Some of my new favorite things lately have been Chocolate Peppermint Stick Luna bars. They are THE BEST! They taste just like Girl Scout Thin Mints, but better for you. I love having them as a snack when I am craving a treat. Try them!

Also, I love salads and my all time favorite salad dressing isAnnie's Goddess Dressing. Lately I have branched out and have tried new flavors that are also incredibly delicious. Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette is very tasty and also Artichoke Parmesan Dressing is great. It almost tastes like a really good pasta. The nice thing about these dressings are they are all natural and good for you. After watching Dr. Oz on Oprah and finding out that most salad dressings contain high fructose corn syrup I was so relieved to find out it wasn't in my treasured dressing. I already have it in my ketchup, I don't need the stuff in my dressing. So I am loving these, and if you haven't had em, go and get them. They will not disappoint.

Lastly, Aaron and I went out to lunch with the kids a couple Saturdays ago. We discovered something better than Olive Garden's Soup and Salad. It's Carino's Soup and Salad. Anyone who knows me knows I love, love, love bread! I love french garlic bread, cornbread, biscuits, pancakes, homemade bread, focaccia bread, rolls, cinnamon rolls, any type of bread, you name it, I love it. I guess you could just say I love baked goods...cookies, cakes, and the like. Anyway, this is my new favorite lunch spot. I love Carino's bread and dipping olive oil, and their salads are pretty good too. Not much of a soup person, but they were fine if you are into that.

And just so all my new favorite things are not all food (what a one track mind I have) here is a link to the new dinner plates that I ordered with my gift card I got from my dad for my birthday...so I can eat all this good food on something pretty.

(2) Sun Sep 23 2007 22:03 Premier Week: Here I come!!! I can't wait for Heroes tomorrow for starters. I know some people think TV is evil and for the most part they would correct, but sometimes at the end of the day all I can do is sit and watch a good show. Hopefully I can stay on top of the laundry better now that I will have some good clothes folding time in front of the TV.

(2) Wed Sep 26 2007 12:37 When you're gone: Lily has been doing great in preschool and loving it. Gunnar, though, is not adjusting well to Lily being gone. He almost knows immediately now when she gets out of the car to go into the house that his little friend will be away. He can sense that she isn't coming back for awhile. So the whole way to the gym he cries and cries because there isn't someone back there to make faces or talk to him.

He isn't just like this when Lily goes to preschool. When she takes her nap, the whole time I keep having to grab him as he crawls down the hall and goes to Lily's room. His little face is so happy when sometimes he makes it to her room and pushes the door open. And then he cries when I pick him up and go back in the family room. It's weird that he is so fussy when Lily is napping because when she is awake all he gets from her are doors slammed in his face and toys taken away or pinches or squeezes. He just loves his sissy though and wouldn't have it any other way.

I think Gunnar is cutting another tooth because he has been sad and ornery lately. I think my hip is going to fall off from carrying him so much.

Sat Sep 29 2007 13:04: There is nothing more scrumptious and snuggly than a chubby baby in a onesie.

Sun Sep 30 2007 15:35 Spacing it: I wanted to wish twins Logan and Seth a happy one year old birthday, yesterday. Where does the time go? Weren't they just born?

(2) Thu Oct 04 2007 23:02 Like mother like daughter: If you're lucky, you just may be able to get Gunnar to wave at you. Once he gets started he doesn't stop. He swings his arms around and round.

I feel so bad for him lately. I am beginning to see the effects of my anal-ness in that Lily will now close doors in Gunnar's face. To explain, I have my bedroom door, the bathroom door, and what used to be the office door now Gunnar's room door closed and the knobs have those things on them. Surprisingly, Lily has not been able to figure them out. One time finding Lily in the bathroom like this, and finding her in the office with magic marker over the computer screen, and in my room with lotion everywhere- I decided I didn't want to live my life cleaning messes or following Lily around the house to make sure she wasn't into anything. Lily will literally explore everything and she just has to test things out hands on to see what it is about. So she isn't allowed in those parts of the house without me present anymore. Just ask Jenni what she and Caden did in her room when we weren't watching. She is the master at creating messes.

The result is now that Lily closes her bedroom door ALL THE TIME to make sure "Gunnar can't go in my room". She doesn't seem to have a problem with him going in her room while she is there for nap time and hasn't fallen asleep yet when he goes looking for her. But if I am in my room then she will follow me in there and close the door behind her or really whatever room I am in and she can shut Gunnar out. It is sad but funny how little kids mimic adult behavior. Now that Gunnar is last in the pecking order, she limits him, just like I limit her.

It's too bad but I am not about to let her start roaming about the house freely. In other news, Gunnar has a birthmark. It showed up about 2 months ago and it is a light colored little blob on the inside of his thigh. My mom said when she found mine on my ankle she thought it was some dirt and tried to wipe it off. When I noticed Gunnar's I thought some of the stuff from his diaper got out and I tried wiping it too without results. Then I figured it out.

(2) Wed Oct 10 2007 15:52 hou-AHH: The day before yesterday, my mom called me up spur of the moment and asked if I wanted to go to the outlets with her. Rule of thumb: never turn down the opportunity to go shopping, especially at the outlets. So we went and stopped at Las Palapas on the way there for lunch. We shopped till the kids dropped- literally, Gunnar had it by the end and my arm socket felt like it was just being held in place by ligaments and I felt like I needed a hip replacement by the time we were done. Pottery Barn had such a great sale- everything in the store was 40% off already marked down stuff. I bought Lily's Halloween costume there. It was 70% off of get this--$90! Hello? Where does a company get off charging insanely ridiculous prices for a little bit of fabric and thread? But since it was $27 instead of $90 I got it. It's a cute little witch costume and good thing because Lily said she wanted to be a witch out of the blue. She can be a witch and Gunnar is going to be a wizard (Harry Potter). Not planned but very fitting.

So after spending a small percentage of our annual income at the outlets, the next day I woke up feeling queasy. I shrugged it off thinking it was just an empty stomach. I was also in a rush because it was Lily's preschool day and so I put it out of my mind so I could hurry and get out the door.

After dropping Lily off at preschool, I went to the gym. I felt a little fatigued during my workout. Afterward, Gunnar had a meltdown in the car (lately he has been loathing his car seat) so I just decided to pick Lily up early from preschool and get home to settle Gunnar down because he was so worked up. He had been screaming and quivering 25 minutes straight from the gym to the preschool house and then to our house so I decided to get him first instead of Lily first which I usually do since she can walk in by herself and I can't really hold Gunnar and get her out. When I came around to her side and opened the door Lily just had this blank expression on her face and all the sudden "lost her lunch" or her cupcake she ate for a snack at preschool. She threw up everywhere and I had Gunnar in my arms and could barely get her out in time for her last blah to be on the lawn. Looking back, that's why she didn't feel like breakfast that morning.

I myself felt that way but forced myself to clean it up knowing how hard it would be to clean it up after I felt better. Interestingly, Lily acted as if she never felt better, in fact making jokes about "I throwed up" and proceeding to reenact it for me with hand gestures demonstrating a waterfall of vomit and of course sound effects. Ok, whatever, I am going to lie on the couch. And I did. Sipping water and eating dry Cheerios.

When it was my turn, Lily was down for a nap but Gunnar was up playing at my couch-side and eating Cheerios I was tossing to him off the floor. I quickly reached for the bowl beside me and turned my stomach inside out. Gunnar was so traumatized and upset, he started bawling. I don't know what he thought was going on but I think he knew his mama was not ok. He's such a bleeding heart. Afterwards, he had tears streaked down his face. Hey, when I am sick I will take the sympathy wherever I can get it! It was too cute.

I am feeling much better today, and come to find out my mom is so sick with it coming out on top and bottom. I think we were poisoned at Las Palapas. Otherwise, why would all three of us get it? And this is something I have been thinking about a lot lately, how I go to eat at different places and I am sure back in the kitchen it is not pretty. I have just been sicked out altogether with fast food places and call me a food snob but I just am past that phase of my life. It seems like if I am going to go out to eat, I am going somewhere nice, or not at all.

(5) Tue Oct 16 2007 23:06 Star bashing: Sick and Disgusted: So I open up Foxnews.com and look at some headlines. I like to stay afloat of current events and stuff like that, even if just to skim headlines...I've only got so much time during nap time. I scroll down to the Entertainment part and I see a headline: Supermodel to Super-Waddle: Milla Jovovich's Pre-Birth Body Blues. Okay, let's see what the 100lbs actress/model has to say about gaining weight to have a baby. First, let me run and grab my Kleneex. I especially love the advice she gives to people about weight gain, to quote the article "so far, she has a simple suggestion for future moms who don't think they could wear the excess weight. "You might want to adopt," said the retired runway royal". First off, there is nothing wrong with adoption. It is wonderful. However, if your motives for adoption are so you can keep a perfect body, excuse me when I ask could you get any more vain and self-absorbed? The article gets better. In the interview Milla goes on to say, "Milla, 2004's highest paid model, even believes she would have been more mentally equipped at age 16 for the lumps and bumps having a baby brings. But once she hit the hottest of the hot list, the pressure of perfection has made her aware of every dot and dimple. Oh, I'm sorry you CHOSE to be a model and let everyone examine your body naked and bare and then remarked about it good or bad. Let me give you some advice- keep your clothes on your rear and you won't get people talking about your dimples they see. It is interesting that she says she has this "pressure of perfection" because she is apart of the very profession that perpetuates that pressure she claims to be a victim of.

The Entertainment "news" gets laughable to worse. It talks about Britney Spears losing custody of her sons. Yes, the paparazzi are relentless and cruel, but I have two kids myself. I am not out all night partying because, why? I am home watching my kids and being there to witness their lives. Maybe she should do that more and her pictures wouldn't be splashed across magazines and tv shows and she will have the privacy she claims to desire. She obviously does not take advantage of that time with them so I don't feel too terrible about the whole situation in fact I don't think anyone high on drugs and alcohol should be in change or infants and toddlers.

Then in the headline there is Lindsay in rehab. Yet another "DUI" celeb that isn't even old enough to purchase alcohol. Where were her parents 10 yrs ago? Oh yeah, that's right, getting her an agent and sticking a 10 yr old into the "Hollywood" garbage. Smart. What do you expect a child to do with all that chaos and freedom? Enough said.

And then there was Natalie Portman. Natalie Portman Promotes Her 'Free Online' Steamy Sex Scene Oh, Natalie! I love how her friends said that she would only do nude scenes if there was art behind it. Oh, in that case it isn’t sleazy at all. The logic of celebs dumbfounds me.

So with all these female role models (whether you want them to be or not) how do we expect female teenagers to even make it with this kind of garbage being thrown in their face day in day out. --To be interesting and have value you have to be thin, party hard and get wasted, be anorexic and get boob jobs, and sell your body for money and fame. Nice job society we are well on our way to the Second Coming. I just hope and pray Lily and Gunnar and any future children I have can make it through unscathed.

(8) Thu Oct 18 2007 22:33 TA-DAH!: I am so happy. You don't know how long I have been waiting for this moment to happen. Over a year to be exact. After Aaron and I found out we were having a BOY! I thought long and hard about how I wanted to redecorate our "purple" office for Gunnar's room. It was actually a purpleish, muddy, clay color not "olive greenish" as my mother called it. That's another story. So I looked at bedding and finally came up with a plan. An interior design plan. Just look at my picture blog and you will be so impressed. And by the way, it is patented so if you use my idea then you will have to pay me royalties. Hehe. Yes, it's that good.

So this is how it went down. I pretty much begged Aaron to do the whole thing by himself at first, since I was pregnant and couldn't inhale the fumes of paint. Since that whopper didn't work, I had to wait till life was sane again and I could handle taking on superfluous work which was pretty much 9 months after Gunnar was born. Then there was the complications of Gunnar sleeping in the very room we needed to work in. I finally persevered and painted the room first the top half a khaki and then another day the second half a milk chocolate. A month later I painted the chair rail and crown molding and then a few weekends later Aaron and my brother David put the woodwork up and I did the finishing paint touches.

If any of you are wanting to do this, be warned: it is so much more work than you can imagine. I don't know what possessed me to want crown molding in my whole house so much but it is SO MUCH WORK. But it looks awesome. My next house I will pay for it to be done. Just doing Gunnar's one room wasn't too bad, just a weekender project but small bites at a time is wise and advised.

So I am so proud of it and I think it looks perfect. And when we sell our house it will be a great office/boy's or baby boy room/guest room, or pretty much fit any need of the new buyers so I feel good about that. I would feel so embarrassed if people looked at my house and said, "if we buy this house, we would have to repaint everything". That would be such a blow to my decorating taste. However, I admit there is the story about the notorious red wall as Betina has mention in her blog. I have one and I am sooo over it and wish I could do something with it. Maybe before we list the house.

Back to the story. So I thought in the beginning that I wanted to do the browns on the wall and then have baby blue bedding but the bedding I was watching was not going on sale at an affordable price and so during a mall trip with Aaron we stopped into a Pottery Barn Kids. If you know me, you know that I don't buy things unless they are on sale. However, when they are on sale it means you can buy as much as you want, after all you can't afford not to get it because you would have to have it anyway and so I basically spend the same as the next person, just I come home with twice as much stuff. Not really "saving money" but hey. So in PBK, this particular bedding was like 70% off. I paid like $25 for the quilt and bumper each and $14.99 for the crib skirt, and I had to throw in the valance (at $14.99) and rug (at $69.99) because I was saving so much I could justify it. People, the rug was originally $300. Now do I know how to shop, or do I know how to shop? Ok, maybe I was just lucky. So anyway, there you have it. Finished product, and feel free to pick my brain for decorating ideas in the future! :P

(2) Wed Oct 24 2007 16:33 7 things: First, I was tagged by Jenni (http://hootieshowl.blogspot.com/) Anyhow, now I get to tag 7 people on their blogs and follow these rules :

1-Link to your tagger, and also post these rules on your blog

2-Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird

3-Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs

4- Let them know they are TAGGED by leaving a comment on their blog

Here they are: 1.I love to get into a deep strategy game, or just any board game I really enjoy.

2.In 4th grade I was hospitalized for pneumonia.

3.I love natural light. I always have to have the blinds and curtains open during the day.

4.Much to Aaron's lament I am a multi-tasker and I prefer to be multi-tasking. He calls me a busy body.

5.I still have my baby blanket and Lily insists on sleeping with mine and Aaron's including all of her own.

6.I was the fastest girl in running the mile in my PE classes in elementary school, middle school, and also on the tennis team in high school. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case.

7.I had an earring in my left upper ear when I was 18 for about a year.

So Erin has taken all my people so in addition to them, I will add my sister Julie: http://juliebrowne.blogspot.com/

and some cousins: Rachel http://www.crummy.com/rachel/

Susie http://www.crummy.com/swishina/

John http://www.crummy.com/traffic/

Leonard http://www.crummy.com/

Jill http://www.crummy.com/jill/

and brother Joe http://www.crummy.com/joe/

(2) Tue Oct 30 2007 21:42 Gunnar's glasses: This is where I got Gunnar's glasses: http://www.solobambini.com/photogallery.php I submitted his picture for their photo gallery and they put it up!

Mon Nov 05 2007 22:10 More pics: take a looky.

(1) Tue Nov 06 2007 21:21: Everyone needs to stop blogging already so I can actually update mine and not be reading everyone else's. :P

(3) Wed Nov 07 2007 12:02 It happened 10 years early: Lily has croup and to cheer her up this morning I turned on her new favorite show Super Readers or Super Why or something like that on PBS and then I started dancing with the music to make her laugh. She looked as me with this deadpan stare and said, "Stop mom." I said, "Why can't I dance." And Lily said, "Because you can't" with this attitude reminiscent of my teenage years. Sheesh. I can't believe I am embarrassing her already.

To top that off, the other day I was getting her out of her car seat and I was teasing her and kissing her cheeks and she goes, "Stop bothering me." You see the way I get treated around here? At least Gunnar laughs.

(3) Fri Nov 16 2007 23:10 I can do it myself, I'm a big kid now: I wish I could have put the last couple days and the next ones coming in fast forward. I have begun potty training again with Lily. Going through this has made me second guess whether or not I want more children. I would rather gnaw my arm off than potty train. I will say that Lily is doing loads better than the original attempt. I see a pinhole of light at the end of the tunnel.

So basically my sister in law Hailey swears by the DVD Potty Power, so I checked it out from the library. Lily watched it over and over and then again and again and a little more. So with the combination of Lily's enthusiasm and Gunnar now having croup and us being homebound because of that I decided that I should multi-task and try and get through this potty training thing while Lily was still showing interest and me having to be home anyway.

The first day Lily woke up and I put the DVD on for her and afterwards we did the "say goodbye to diapers, bye-bye" schtick in the show. (Aaron and I have all the songs memorized by now.) She was really into saying goodbye to diapers that she did not want to wear one that night for bed. I also tried to talk her into wearing a diaper for her nap but my sister Aly called during our standoff and she urged me to take a chance on her not peeing while she was asleep so Lily could get used to being in panties and having her newfound independence. She also told me I am potty training and thinking of ways that were counterproductive for Lily in hopes of not having to clean up more human waste that I had to were, ugh, just that- counterproductive. I followed her sage advice and to my absolute shock, Lily did not wet the bed during her nap. Wahoo!

But I digress, back to saying goodbye to diapers. I put her in big girl princess panties and a shirt only. I wanted to know right away when she had an accident. I then proceeded to ask her every 5 minutes to sit on the potty chair. (We brought the chair onto the entry way tile--hey, she said she wanted it in the family room and not the bathroom.) She would pretend to go potty and then 2 seconds later say all done- whatever. It was so tedious and frustrating and boring all at the same time. FINALLY! Lily said she had to go potty and she sat on the chair and then said I am done a couple seconds later. I went in and looked and saw she had gone like a tablespoon. I was so ecstatic. I was so proud of her and gave her a treat and let her put a sticker on her chart. While I went into the bathroom to clean up her bowl I came back and Lily exclaimed she went potty again. I looked into the chair and sure enough. She went a ton! I was so happy even though she peed into the chair part and not the bowl. Who cares if I had to wash out the chair. My daughter went pee pee in the potty chair all by herself! It was awesome and it only took 2 hours, ha.

We had a minor setback when I had to take Gunnar to the Dr. because I was really getting nervous about his breathing. His chest was compressing so much and he was really wheezing. I wasn't surprised when the Dr said he had croup because Lily just had it last week and it was a matter of time. I was just glad he didn't have pneumonia or something. While we were at the Dr's I encouraged Lily to tell me when she had to go potty, and of course right when I said that she said she had to go. Just great. I took her into the restroom and tried helping her while holding Gunnar. Of course she had to do it herself and while trying to get on the toilet she fell in and got her jacket wet. (I wanted to cease and desist training right then and there. Why must I endure such torture was all I could think.) of course she was just pretending (or was she?) that she had to go potty because right after she sat down she said "all done". Literally 5 minutes after that she peed her pants. Nice. At least the training pants I put on her before we left contained the problem mostly.

Then we had the victory of staying dry during nap that I already mentioned. She went again on the pot before Aaron got home and after he came home we went to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate as a reward for Lily.

Today, the second day of potty training, we got off to a rocky start. She wet herself at preschool (not surprising), but stayed dry again for her nap. Then she got caught up in playing and I got too lax in asking her to sit on her chair that she wet herself again after her nap. Again I was in a crushing depression that this was never going to end, but then things looked up after she went in the potty all by herself. She still hasn't gone #2 in there but she knows that she gets to help put the gingerbread house together that I bought and we get to go to Chuck E Cheese again after she goes #2 in the pot. I think she is scared to since yesterday she held it until we put her pull ups on for bed and tonight she didn't go at all.

Hopefully she will be a pro by the time Thanksgiving Break is over because I don't know how many more days I have to stay home and ask every 5 minutes for her to try again. She does love prancing around in her panties though and I wonder if I can ever get her to wear pants again!

Another note of my bad week, yesterday I was trying to light the grill and finally it lit with a poof and when I sat down at the table Aaron exclaimed that I singed my bangs, eyebrows, and eyelashes. Wonderful! I love having curly strays and no eyelashes. And to top it off I did it again today except I singed my hand hair only. My hand is still tender. Gotta love the curve balls of life.

(2) Sat Nov 17 2007 17:30 We have lift off: Third day's a charm. There is a poopy in the potty. I am so elated. We went through all of today will NO accidents and we even went to a store and Lily told me she needed to go and she didn't wet herself. While we were out and about she saw this princess pack thing that has earrings and a brush and purse and the works in it. Lily wanted it so bad and I told her she could have it after she went poopy. Well, when we got home she sat on the pot and went. I think she really wanted that princess thing. The girl has literally had nothing but treats today as a reward, but I could careless. For a couple days she can live off Oreo packs for all I care just as long as she keeps this up.

I am so glad the hard part is over. It was like labor. When it is bad, it is bad, but now I've got the baby and things are so much better. Phew! I know she will still have accidents but at least I know we can work with it and that things will get better everyday. YEEHAW!

(4) Mon Nov 26 2007 13:11 Manic Monday: I love Mondays. Today was a sad day though, because Aaron had to go back to school. For some reason this holiday break really felt like a Christmas-type break where he would get a couple weeks off. Sadly, it was just 2 days and the weekend, however I do have something to look forward to today. Monday nights are always a treat. The longer I am married to Aaron the more and more I have learned that Aaron and I don't really have a lot in common. Back when we were dating I only put up with his video gaming because he was insanely hot and I thought it was just a phase that teenage boys go through and then grow out of. The truth is, they don't grow out of it, it gets worse. I ABHOR video games. I have learned to put up with them, though, and deal with them even though they are the bane of my existence. I don't know if I have ever admitted this to Aaron but one time back when we were first dating in '99 (Nintendo 64 was the console back then) somehow the Golden Eye Bond video game (the choice game) got kicked under the lazy boy chair and I saw it there while laying on the floor. I didn't bother to mention it to Aaron that I knew where it was when I heard the boys talking about not being able to find it for a couple days. Of course they found it later, but did I feel bad for what I did? Not one bit.

Another thing I equally detest is football games on tv. I think this stems from when I was a child and after church my brothers and my Dad would hog the tv ALL DAY watching football. I know football season is not year round but it felt like it. So I would sit and watch a couple minutes thinking maybe since they thought it was great, I would soon like it too. Never happened. In fact anytime I rounded the corner into the family room and saw it on, I would turn right back around. I don't know why, no offense to anybody that likes football, I just hate it. (I know hate is a strong word.) I hate the noise and endless standing around with nothing happening. BORING!

So back to the point, Aaron and I don't really share common interests, but one thing we do share is Heroes. We watch that and Journeyman together on Monday nights. (After FHE of course. I mean usually uh, ummmm, never.) It's nice for me. It is like a date night. A time when we aren't fighting over who got the tv last for video games or a show. I don't know what we will do with ourselves Monday nights after the last airing in Dec because of the writer's strike. Maybe something productive, but don't hold your breath.

Wed Nov 28 2007 11:36 Heavenly: Sleeping on white freshly bleached sheets. Who doesn't love this?

(4) Wed Nov 28 2007 13:04 Giving thanks: Now that things are settling down here I can finally post a bit about how our Thanksgiving holiday went. It is hard splitting your time between two families but it was done. First we had our traditional dinner with my family on Wed night. The Taylors have a tradition to go to Mo Ranch for Thanksgiving so while Aaron went to the turkey bowl and I took the kids there. It is a buffet style and the grounds are beautiful, but it is always colder in the hill country so you can't enjoy it as much as you'd like. Aaron met up with us, and the whole crowd was there: Ann Taylor (Ben's mom), Ben, Mom, Joe and Louise, David and Ashley, Aaron, the kids and me, Michelle, Lorna, Meg, Garrett, Leah, Amanda, and Ben's dad and his wife. We missed Julie and Chuck and Dave, Alyson and the boys.

We came home and went to Jake and Erin's for another Thanksgiving feast. Davey and Booner drove all the way from AZ to be with us. It was great just hangin and later we went back to our house for pie and chill time. I made 3 pies homemade: pecan, lemon meringue, and french silk and Aaron made 2 pumpkin pies from a pumpkin. They all turned out good except Aaron for some reason thought the lemon pie could be left out over night and it didn't hold up too well. That was the one that took the most time too. Blast. Now we know.

The next day we caught all the sales for Black Friday. I made a list out of all the places we were going to go and Aaron even wanted to go with me. I wanted to head out at 4 AM because that was when Kohl's was opening. Aaron thought he set the alarm at 3:30 but it was really set at 4:30 so we got to Kohl's late and the line was insane. So we left since all the things I wanted to get were gone anyway. Target didn't open till 6 so we headed over to JCPenney's and I pretty much got all my Christmas presents there. Then we went into Target and ended with Walmart. Amazingly, Walmart was a ghost town by the time we got there at like 7:00. It was so weird and there were plenty of things left. Last year Walmart was terrible. We got the kids' Christmas presents and Gunnar's birthday present and came home. Oh yeah, our kids were watched by Lorna so we could shop but when we got home everyone was still asleep. Aaron's cousin Tyler came around 8:30 because his finance was shopping at the outlets since midnight. He didn't end up leaving to meet up with her until like 6. Can you imagine over 15 hours of straight shopping? Go Andrea! So the real reason why Aaron was so nice to get up and go shopping with me was so he could get his shopping done. It was now his turn. Costco. 9AM. 50" flat screen. Yep. We did it. We bought the plasma tv, and yes I do feel very guilty that we live off loans yet we spent that money on a tv. Judge away. But it is done and Aaron is thrilled. Oh, I guess I like it too. So there you go. I can't spend anymore $ for a long time. I need to get out of the mentality of sales. No more, even if it is on sale.

I am grateful for a lot of things that aren't things though. I am grateful that we have so much family around that we have to divide up holidays. It is hard and I hate feeling like I am hurting people's feelings but there is nothing better than to be surrounded by family during the holidays. We only have 18 months left in SA, and I am already starting to be sad that we are going to go. I love that I can call my brother David up 7 houses down and ask him to keep on eye on Lily while she naps so I can take Gunnar to the Dr. I love that I can let Lily run loose in my mom's house and all her aunts and step aunts dote on her. I love that Lily and Gunnar get to play with their cousin(s), now just one, and make memories with them.

I am grateful for Aaron and his hard work in school. He is really so smart and just the other day he was saying something about a sore in the mouth and was like "sporal pepticauctal seratus". That wasn't even the words, I forgot it already, but it was some medical speak and I can't imagine how much knowledge he has in his brain. I could never make it through dental school I don't know how he gets all that stuff let alone how he leaves the house every morning at 7AM and gets home around 6PM. How he survives on 6-7 hours of sleep, maybe, every night and still has the mental stamina to put up with me after he is done at school, I will never know. I will entertain the kids, clean, cook, and run errands any day over doing that. I love my job as a mom, and there is nothing better. And there is nothing better than a husband that affords me the opportunity to witness my kids' lives.

Which is a good segue into my third thing which are my kids. I love that I have kids (plural). I thought nothing could be better than my Lily but sure enough there was. Gunnar is equally as good. I love them both and the differences in a boy and girl are awesome. I love having both my babies around. This year was hard for me, and I feel as though I have gone through another rite of passage. I feel older but in a good way. Last night as I was tucking Lily into bed at 10PM because she was still up and continuing her habit of being the last one to leave a party (this girl has the biggest case of FOMO ever), I was giving her butterfly kisses and she then got to thinking about how other animals kissed. She asked me how lions kissed and I said, how do you think they kiss? She then said "'roar' but softly so we don't scare Gunnar." That cracked me up so much because when Gunnar was first born Lily would get in his face and "ROAR" so loud and it would make his little arms fly up all startled and he would bawl and bawl. (And you wonder why Gunnar would never let me nurse him sitting down, because every time Lily would assail him with roars or scratches.) So even though sometimes it feels like she doesn't listen I know some of what we have taught her is rattling around in that brain of hers.

There it is in no particular order. Not very surprising but I figure I better write it or I would be an ingrate indeed.

(3) Fri Nov 30 2007 15:52 Happy Birthday Gunnar Boy: Happy birthday to my little nerd. I just love him. He is the sweetest boy and so huggable. We threw a birthday party for him on Sunday already since I thought there would still be some family in town. There wasn't, but it is a good thing because Gunnar was a stink the entire time. Sundays are just bad. He doesn't get his first nap and then the second one is just never enough and he always wakes up grumpy. For some reason he was extra grumpy at his party refusing me to not put him down at all.

I made a camouflage cake for him (as best as I could) and the little stinker didn't want to even lick the frosting let alone grab a big handful and stuff his face with it. Lily was much more fun in that regard on her 1st b-day. I thought maybe after he tastes it he will want more so I stuck my finger in his mouth but that just made him more mad.

Oh well, he did get a little early birthday treat a couple weeks ago when we went to Cold Stone and I shared my ice cream with him. He had a lot and loved it. No breakouts or rashes or sickness so I guess we are in the clear for milk. Here we come!

Sun Dec 02 2007 22:45 Slew of birthdays: As you guys know, Gunnar's birthday was two days ago. Gunnar's twin cousins, Lucy and Laney, were born just a day before him. Today is Caden's birthday (Lily is sad to miss Caden's b-day) and tomorrow is Alyson's birthday. My sister is turning 30!!! Happy birthday everybody.

(6) Tue Dec 04 2007 15:55 Seems fitting: After last night's fiasco and considering it happened almost exactly a year ago too, I thought it is a sign and I should "blog it". This post is not for the faint of heart, just to warn you.

So imagine yourself, with a newborn, and another little child who was dealing with an addition to the family the best she knew how, and you yourself being about a week postpartum (think stitches). My mother-in-law was visiting, thank heavens, because Aaron was neck deep in FINALS. In dental school. Second year. The. Worst. Year. Of. All. Dental. School. Why we thought it would be a good time to have another baby, I will never know.

I really think Lily loved the weeks that ensued after Gunnar was born, I really do. Yes, she acted out, but I think it was because she knew she could take control of me and the situation because I was so short fused, and because it was fun to see my reaction to everything. After a particularly challenging day of trying to keep Lily from scratching Gunnar's cheek or hugging him so tight he turned red, Lily refused to nap. What else was new? She was in her room playing and wreaking havoc, and every time I came in to tell her it was time to go to sleep, the room looked dirtier and dirtier. This was back when Lily had her two dressers in her room and on one of those dressers it had a hutch. On the hutch I had things like picture frames and Disney snow globes and such. Lily's favorite nap time past time was to first take all the clothes in her drawers out and throw them around the room. Then she would take the drawers out so she could climb on top of each one finally getting to the top of her dresser, and then proceed to trash and destroy everything that was in the hutch. I had HAD it. I didn't think it could get any worse. I probably went in there again and begged Lily to be good and to go to sleep. Of course she didn't and I just left her in there until there was something terribly wrong. There was silence. I opened the door and the offense had hit me right then and there, infiltrating my nostrils. What was that terrible smell? OH. MY. GOSH. I could not believe it. You have got to be kidding me, I thought. It figures she would do this to me. Lily had gotten naked and pooped on the carpet and then picked up her poop and smeared it all over herself and legs and then on the wall, and also on her little table and chairs, and Jake and Erin's futon pad (sorry guys, I cleaned it really good). "Sherry come quick," I called to my mother-in-law. She was horrified. She didn't even want to touch her. She quickly got some water running, and made Lily stand in the tub while she tried to get the chunks, yes chunks off. See, we had chili the night before. And if you didn't know that, then you would have known then and there because in a sea of brown there was red kidney bean skins everywhere. Oh, it was awful. I scrubbed and scrubbed, trying not to pop a stitch out, and trying to get the brown smudges out. The chili grease (red tomato stain) was dying the carpet and I finally got it pretty much off, but had to do some touch ups the next day because you could still see a little brownish on the carpet.

To make matters worse, the little newborn who slept all day decided to wake up right amidst the action. Sherry was hosing Lily down, and I was cleaning the carpet trying to get it all done so by the time Lily was washed, she wouldn't be able to go back in the room and paint with her poop as she so creatively did before. So there Gunnar was bawling in the swing, and Sherry and I were working hard to get rid of all traces of the poop. I wanted to curl up and die.

As you can imagine I took pictures, because I had to prove it to Aaron how bad my day was. I knew words were not enough. When he got home I told him to look at the pictures in the camera. That is how bad my day was and that I was going in my room for some alone time and not to get me until the wild animal was in bed.

Well, last night Lily didn't want to go to sleep...as usual. She pooped her pull-up and finally called to us that she was poopy. Aaron and I were watching Heroes and so I told her to come to me so I could change her. She had poop on her hands and it was spilling out her back. I thought that maybe she had just discovered it back there but she went further. When Aaron went in her room to get a new pair of jammies, he was not pleased. No wonder why the house smelled. She decided to paint the wall and her night light with it again. Gross girl! I don't know what her deal is, but occasionally she will do this. Like when she still slept in her crib she would always take her diaper off and jammies and sometimes there was poop in there and sometimes she would mash the poop into the port-a-crib meshing. Who knows, maybe she will stop in High School.

(1) Fri Dec 07 2007 16:49 Seasons Greetings: Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here's what you're supposed to do:

Just copy this entire blog entry and paste it into a new post on your blog. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Here we go...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Definitely wrapping paper for Christmas, but I am so terrible at wrapping.

2. Real tree or artificial? Fake. I say this to be “green”, haha, but really I would like to in the future though have a fake one that is nice and coordinating, and a real one that has all the mismatched, homemade ornaments, like what we had when I was little.

3. When do you put up the tree? I would like to the day after Thanksgiving, but this year it was Dec 1st. I just worked out that way.

4. When do you take the tree down? Usually Jan 2nd ish give or take a couple days.

5. Do you like eggnog? Not really. I mean it is ok, but I don’t think it is worth the calories. I’ll just have extra cheese fondue please.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I remember that one year my dad took a couple of the kids shopping together and he got a cd player saying it was for my brother. When we got home we all told David he was getting the best present. To my surprise Christmas morning it was for me and my dad was just trying to surprise me. My first cd was Counting Crows. Ah, the memories.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, my brother got one for me while he was on a mission in Nicaragua. I really would like a nice one when I get a bigger house to fit one.

8. Hardest person to buy for? My dad and father-in-law. They have everything and if they want it, they just go and buy it.

9. Easiest person to buy for? The kids no problem.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I can’t think of a bad Christmas one, but the worst gift I received was my graduation present. I got luggage and a nail polish set. At the time I didn’t appreciate it at all.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards? You have to mail them. It just isn’t fun the get them in email as much.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? It’s a Wonderful Life—watching it was a Christmas tradition every year. When we were little we would watch Frosty the Snowman all the time too.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I have been known to start in Aug. I like to get it done early.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Nope, definitely returned some, but never regifted.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? All the treats that people bring to your house. But please don’t bring me any, I will eat it all!! And my mom’s petal bread.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? I used to be all white, but I like them both now. White icicles on the house though…

17. Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night, is there anyone who doesn’t love this song? You have to listen to anything with Frankie and the boys Christmas music though.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Last year was the first time I didn’t have to travel since I got married because I moved to my home town, and it was awesome!! Travel expenses is pretty much our Christmas present.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yeah if I sit and think about it.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? We don’t have a tree toper. I bought one last year I think but I didn’t like it. I think it was an angel.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We were never allowed to open anything early growing up, but Aaron’s family always gets to open their new pj’s Christmas Eve.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Definitely the crowds.

23. What I love most about Christmas? The family time and the spirit of the holiday season.

WISHING YOU ALL A WONDERFUL & JOYOUS CHRISTMAS!!!! Hope to read your "lists" soon!!!

(4) Tue Dec 11 2007 22:02 Fish out of water: So sad. Our fish that Lily named Jake hopped out of water a couple days ago. Aaron noticed it was missing and we looked around and it was dried up behind that dresser. Stupid fish. It was my favorite too. It had a swordtail and it was bright orange. Aaron was pretty sad about it mostly.

Our crab also jumped out of the tank. It likes to dry out, but this time it went too far. Aaron saw something scurry across Lily's toys which is halfway across the house from the tank. Apparently it got out and was running wild in the house. Aaron thought it was a spider at first. It is a good thing he found it when he did because it would have been a shriveled up piece of crustacean too.