12 of 12 January

1. Playing in the snow from the night before.
2. Snuggled up under our quilt from Grandma. It's been getting a lot of use.
3. I love the light in our house when it is sunny after a snowstorm. So bright!
4. Spending part of nap time menu planning. Why is it so hard? And yet it makes the week so much better if I do it once instead of 7x/week when everyone is already hungry.
5. A sweet email from Truman's former occupational therapy. I sort of wish he still qualified for OT, just for the Katie visits.
6. Waiting for Dad to get home.
7. Millie always requests a smiley face on the back of our Sam's Club receipt. Much happiness that today's marker was magenta, and Darlene drew her smiley face to look just like her!
8. Replacing the sweep on the front door so we don't have to cover it with blankets to retain warmth in our house.
9. Kept the kids busy coloring on the white board while dinner was cooking/the sweep was being replaced. Millie scheduled in a little happiness. :) Also, she's been rocking Article of Faith memorization.
10. Despite the chaos of the evening, dinner was really, really enjoyable. (Hat tip to Millie taking a nap.) We had chicken tacos, but letting the kids make and roll their own somehow made it really fun and less stress. I'm not sure how it worked out that way, but it did. I love this family of mine.
11. Chris helping Millie with her FHE lesson.
12. Each week both choir directors insist on their own podium for conducting. And they fight over who gets the tallest one. Then Truman jumps off during Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam and gives me a heart attack.

12 of 12 December

1. Sent these two birds to school with Chris to see the life-sized gingerbread house and huge tree in the Purdue Memorial Union. (Please note all the girlie-patterns Millie is working.) I was able to get some Christmas prep done.
2. This is the best picture my photographer provided.
3. Cute boy on the ride home.
4. Opening our Christmas book from Aunt Ann.
5. Sometimes it's hard to be the one home in December. It took a lot of will power to leave this box containing Chatbooks of all our Instagram pictures intact to be wrapped up.
6. Connor came to play. Millie and Truman love Connor. Connor's dad has a hard time when Connor plays with our "My Little Pony" figures, so this picture had me cracking up all day long.
7. A lot of hand sewing on the ottoman I recovered to trade for our family pictures.
8. Truman immersed in a library book.
9. Chris lost his other dress glove last weekend in Chicago. I suggested taking it as our white elephant gift. Nikkala suggested naming it this and it was a done deal. (It made a four-year-old girl cry when she opened it.)
10. The spread of food at Chris's department Christmas party. My fruit platter was so impressive (if I do say so myself) that everyone just assumed it was store-bought. Psh.
11. Millie, Collis and Jared at the party. Jared is Chris's classmate, office mate and an all-around class act.
12. When Chris's professor sent out the invite he said he is known to put up "a few Christmas lights." The kids thought the Dineen's house was amazing.

12 of 12 November

1. Continuing to reset from two weeks vacation: whole wheat pancakes for breakfast.
2. Being crazy and feeding off each other at breakfast.
3. "I'm Captain Underpants!" (I have no idea how she knows anything about Captain Underpants...)
4. Beads and pipe cleaners were $2 that Santa spent very well last year. It's November and they're still going strong as a favorite.
5. The past week someone has had to lie with Millie while she fell asleep for her nap (and for once, I've thought it totally worth it). She fell asleep on her own today.
6. Both kids woke up within 30 seconds of each other and then Chris walked in the door.
7. He's keeping them occupied while I finished reading Insurgent. (Knowing how many minutes, according to my Kindle, it will take me to finish is a real boost to my cause.)
8. She bonked on the coffee table earlier this week- bruised forehead. She crashed into the back of a loveseat at play group- scraped up brows and nose. We added a little makeup before dance.
9. A quick dance performance, but one more opportunity for her to dance. She loves dancing, and I love watching her dance.
10. Chris said his meeting would be over "no later than 7:15." Ha. I had to occupy them in his office while he didn't get out until after 7:30. There is a lot of trouble to be had and kids are noisy when it's just college students studying.
11. Chris's office bookshelf. It's kind of pretty, but all I can imagine is the space this will take to move. He reassures me that we'll only be taking 1/3 of it. We'll see.
12. I was one short, so a gratuitous picture of us playing in the remainder of the leaves on Sunday. Chris had already raked mounds of leaves when we got home from our trip. 

12 of 12: Sunday and Solo Parenting

1. I am pretty confident it doesn't get any cuter than a little boy in a shirt and tie with a "leather" jacket over. Heart breaker.
2. Nursery kids were playing "tiger" and Tessie was instructed to "go to sleep." She played it really, really well and wouldn't be woken through all the things Millie and Connor tried on her until she decided she wanted to be awake. Watching these funny things is one of the few good things of being in nursery.
3. Star shirt Sunday and finishing coloring Truman's puppet from nursery.
4. FaceTiming with Nikkala
5. Her people crack me up. Pretty sure that boy has a lot of "chests" going on.
6. FaceTiming with Chris, who left right after church to head to the airport for a fly-out.
7. You want to watch Daniel Tiger on Sunday? Sure! You can get a lot out of me when I'm flying solo.
8. Dinner was just random veggies thrown in some pasta, with butter and parmesan. The kids ate it up. I don't really need more convincing to fly by the seat of my pants.
9. Blueberry banana swirl for desert, because I'm awesome. It always takes forever to get it processed smooth in the food processor. Drives me nuts.
10. I passed the level that had been plaguing me for way too long and had to send Chris proof.
11. Oh good. I'm home with the kids and it will be raining. I'm going to miss being able to send them out in the yard to play as the weather gets worse.
12. Chris was on his way to Cal Poly. The week before when he did IND-PHX on his way to CSU-Long Beach he flew first class. It's a bummer to get taken down a notch.

Solo Parenting is Hard

Lately Chris has been gone doing fly out job interviews. Which is awesome. Except that it's really hard.

I am so much better with him with me than I am as a single mom. Except for that rare day when I know I'm flying solo and have mentally geared up and I am an awesome mom. Then I crash and am cranky and impatient and tired. Or when the alarm doesn't go off for Chris's 4:55 shuttle, but Millie wakes up yelling just in the knick of time and kicks us into high gear. Once the adrenaline wears off and I fall back to sleep morning comes to soon. Kids don't nap. They fight, throw tantrums and cause trouble. It's all I can do to read our two verses of scripture, say prayers and put them in their beds. Then dinner dishes are waiting for me, along with Truman's bowl of potatoes and squash he threw all over the floor.

I am not used to doing this alone. (Thank goodness.) I'm used to being able to check in with Chris during the day.

I've been weighing it in my brain how lots of women do it full-time, and lots of women have it way harder than I do. But that doesn't make my hard less. It's still hard. Chris will be gone 8/10 days when this little stretch is over. He's basically coming home to get clean clothes, give me a bit of a breather and catch the next shuttle and flight, criss-crossing the country to opposing oceans. As soon as this round of fly outs is over there will (hopefully) be more.

Even if there aren't more Chris is teaching a night class second module this semester that meets twice a week. Conveniently placed in the middle of the week so he can book end the weeks with fly outs without having to miss class. And there's a dissertation to write. He was getting up at 4:30 the weeks before his proposal to get it finished. I feel like we're sprinting the last half of a marathon. (And I'm not a sprinter.) We have a school year ahead of us and it feels completely overwhelming.

I keep wishing we lived close to family so I could have someone who felt compelled to bail me out. Or that Chris was a dental or medical student and we lived in an apartment building with six other families in our exact situation. Or Chris was a business man making big bucks that I could spend to help myself (a maid, babysitters, cute clothes, etc). But we don't. We're graduate students living in our cozy little house in Indiana. And sometime I feel really alone. (Despite good friends.)

I'm writing this in the hopes that I remember clearer what the last year of a PhD program felt like. That when someone mentions their hard thing I don't try one-upping it with a "Oh, but when we were in graduate school..." or dismissing it with "It's not that bad! Get over it. I went through worse." I want to remember hard is hard. And once it's hard, it doesn't matter the degree of hard. Validating someone else's difficulties doesn't take away from my experience.

I can do hard things. Chris can do hard things. I am so grateful to be sending out a capable, socially adept and amazing husband for these interviews, because his role in this is grueling. I am very much looking forward to the PhD phase of life to be over.

Then the tenure clock starts...

12 of 12 August

1. Banana chocolate chip muffins for breakfast. We watched Sophie and she told me (more than once), "I think I want a muffin now" when she saw the left-overs on the counter.
2. This is August in the midwest? Sign me up! It has been so cool and rainy this year, and other than a few complaints that I wanted more swimming, it's been pretty alright by me.
3. This year's garden.
4. D@mn squirrels. Eating our tomatoes before they fully ripen. Makes me so mad!
5. I feel like a success when I have something in the Bosch.
6. Playing with sister's dress-up clothes while she's asleep is so much fun.
7. I might be a bad mom, but I find this succession of pictures so hilarious. I couldn't remember what consequence I was enforcing that caused the melt-down, but Millie saw it and asked, "Why am I crying? Because I came out of my room and couldn't watch 'tutu'?" That was it.
8. This kid is a full-on walker now.
9. Reading stories with the door open. Ahhhh, heaven.
10. Pioneer Woman Herb Bread. Made the random lentil soup I threw together seem decent.
11. Truman clapping and yelling to scare away the squirrels stealing tomatoes from the garden. Don't know where he could get that. (At least he hasn't picked up on choice squirrel language. Oops.)
12. Bath time is the best. I would bathe my kids multiple times a day if it didn't require costume changes.

12 of 12 July: Miserable Day

1. For those not familiar with Lafayette, Chris's phone would be at the ER.
2. Truman woke up in the middle of the night screaming with rapid and short breathing. Nothing calmed him down, so we finally decided that the ER was the best choice. We've never had a middle of the night ER visit before. (I found it interesting that one of our high councilors was the doctor on call. I didn't know he was a doctor.)
3. Breaks your heart.
4. Who is excited to go do chores with Mom?
5. A dragonfly as big as her hand.
6. We didn't mind the Hendersons being gone while their raspberries went crazy. Or gathering eggs, either.
7. Chris had planned to be up early like usual (4:55 am) and spend a couple hours at school before we picked him up to go to Riverfest. Instead he went in mid-morning and I got to deal with Millie throwing up. I was so glad it rained like crazy so I didn't feel like I was missing anything as I tended to sick kids.
8. She seemed much better after her bubble bath.
9. "Scrambled feet!" (She was "scrambled" all over after the luxurious soak she had!)
10. I was reading in bed when Millie woke up from her nap. She crawled up in bed with me and promptly fell back to sleep.
11. We had a picnic in the living room, watching Daniel Tiger and eating left-over pizza for dinner. Because we just didn't care.
12. She wrote this all by herself for Aunt Amy's birthday card and I about couldn't believe it, despite watching her do it. (I would tell her which letter was next.) The blob/stick thing is an exclamation point, obviously.

12 of 12 June

1. Off on an adventure to the strawberry patch and only one kid was feeling cooperative
2. My "helpers." They were good in the stroller but that's about all I could ask of them.
3. Four pounds of little strawberries. The picking was slow.
4. "We're in the forest!" It still surprises me how Millie finds the dense vegetation extrodinary, since this is her life.
5. Visiting teaching. I don't love dragging two kids along to appointments and having to police them while we're there. But I do love that early that week Millie pointed to an apartment building and asked, "Mom, is that where we go visiting teaching?" We go visiting teaching. It's what we do.
6. Slice of summer.
7. This kid is getting so funny. He was sticking his finger in his nose and giggling, and then sticking his tongue out and laughing.
8. Race you...
9. ...to MaryLou's Donuts. We saw it on our way to the strawberry patch and Millie couldn't leave it alone all day. Why not?
10. Planting some annuals for color in the front flower beds. I think I'm trying to make up for completely and entirely missing my peonies and irises blooming.
11. Dessert with the girl who was still in her pajamas after dinner. As she so kindly pointed out to the cashier at the nursery.
12. Got an email from the library that The Fault in Our Stars was ready for my to download. And there went the rest of the night... and into the next morning. (It's set in Indianapolis and I loved knowing where some of the things are.)

12of12: Travel Adventure Edition

En route to Hawaii we had to get to SLC to hand off the kids to our parents. The 12th happened to be the day we left Indy. Late afternoon IND-> LAS-> late night into SLC was the plan.

1. Getting the circus through security. Kids = baggage. And a car seat, and stroller.
2. Lunchables are our favorite airplane food for kiddies.
3. My first time ever using a barf bag. As I gave Truman one of the mini-pretzels I thought, "This might not be a good idea." *Hands it over.* It wasn't. It got stuck in his throat (not a full on can't breath-choke) and he whined and fussed for a very long two minutes. Chris and I were freaking out a bit, but trying to keep it cool. Truman refused water, but finally accepted some banana, dislodging the pretzel and his Lunchable. Glad I had the bag at the ready. (Don't worry, the bag wasn't this full. We used it as a trash bag.)
4. Tired, tired kids, running on EDT.
5. Hello, brown desert.
6. Our flight was delayed and Millie would not go to sleep, so finally I strapped her in the car seat and turned on her lullabies. It didn't take long to have two zonked out kids.
7. Our flight was then canceled. Due to weather, so Southwest wouldn't put us up. The desk agent suggested people try HotelTonight for accomodations. Since we're big HT fans, I saw an opportunity, so I started offering up my referral code of DHARTWELL to anyone who would wanted it. $25 off for them, $25 credit for me. These were my people. Are you sure we can use it? All of us? Be my guest!
8. While waiting for Chris to get our new boarding passes, I was hanging out watching the kids. In my Coke bottle glasses. Out the corner of my eye I saw this woman and thought, "Hmm... she looks familiar. Are you Becca...? Yep, Becca Plotts, went to good ol' Burley High, a few years older than me. I ended up giving her diapers to get her baby through until they were home.
9. I hate McCarran. And Vegas. Especially late at night.
10. I only made $100 off the HT gig. I got emails saying several people had used the code but didn't spend $25, so I'll get the credit if they do. Darn you, cheap Vegas hotels.
11. Our nearly $50 (FIFTY DOLLAR!!!) cab ride to our hotel. I hate Vegas. And crooked cabbies who take you the long route. And late nights with travel-weary kids.
12. I think it's safe to say we all felt like this, once we finally got to the hotel room. The non-smoking room that was on the side of the hotel with the band playing outside. (That thankfully we didn't hear). Once the crib finally made it to the room. (We'd given up and gone to bed, Truman still strapped in his car seat.) It was all made worse knowing we had to be up at 4:30 to make our early morning flight. That's the only time I was glad we were running on EDT.

Oh, the joys of air travel with kiddos. Thank goodness they are bona fide troopers who take it all in stride. Champion travelers!

12 of 12 April :: Spring has Sprung!

1. Oh, Mildred! I had to Facebook our breakfast conversation. 
2. The most beautiful spring day for SpringFest. We love this awesome activity Purdue hosts. It's so fun and almost everything is free!
3. Hammock, trampoline, and face paint. She's set.
4. "Leave your brother alone!" 
5. Went on a walk and had to haul these planters home from Rural King on the stroller (Beast of Burden, indeed). Re-planted the blueberry bushes.
6. This kid systematically takes down towers, block-by-block. He isn't so much into crashing them over, though rest assured he will not let a tower stand.
7. Girl in need of a manicure.
8. Months ago we drove past Meijer and Millie started singing, "Meijer, we're dancing through the fire!" We thought her song was random, and she has sung it ever since. When this came on she exclaimed, "It's the 'Meijer, dancing through the fire' song!" A-ha! She's as good with lyrics as her Aunt Karisa! (The lyrics really say "I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, I'm dancing through the fire.")
9. We've been loving the Little House on the Prairie picture books, despite the looks of Miss Sassafras. I love to hear her say "Ma, and Pa and their good old bulldog, Jack."
10. A rousing game of Go Fish before bed. 
11. My favorite part of Saturday— going to bed with a clean kitchen floor. I know it will stay that way until morning. Truman is in the stage where he throws everything off his tray, and it seems like wasted effort to stay completely on top of it. This too, shall pass. 
12. The worst part of gel manicures is the soaking with acetone to take it off. Double-duty, scripture reading and getting the polish off my nails. 

12of12 March: Yet Another Snow Day

1. After the winter we've had I could not believe that schools were canceled. It snowed just a skiff outside. Ridiculous.
2. A little Tom the Tamer before breakfast.
3. She can't be old enough to read the back of the cereal box yet. She might not be "reading" it, but she requested it turned around to face her and she told me all about having watched The Magic School Bus at preschool (love me some Frizz) since it, and other Scholastic characters, were on the box.
4. I think it's required to post a "Gosh, he's cute!" picture every month. Playing peek-a-boo with the toy bucket.
5. Kicking around Truman's therapy ball.
6. Left-over flowers from our RS birthday brunch. Sunshine at the bathroom sink.
7. Therapy has left me saying things like tall kneeling, short sitting and reciprocal patterns of crawling. (Tall kneeling pictured)
8. My reading, and a creepy reflective self-portrait. It's the story of the Pride and Prejudice household help. There were a few very brief scenes that made me wonder if I should put it down, but it mostly redeemed itself.
   
   *Sidenote: how do you handle scenes like that? One of the children's librarians has started giving me recommendations, though this wasn't one. She says she just skips bad parts, but I'm not sure how one skips the questionable, knowing when things get good again. Plus, the junk is already seared into your brain. For the most part. I've stopped taking her recommendations. I think it's better to just go for virtuous, lovely, good report, praiseworthy kind of stuff. But how is one sure they've found it?! And why do authors throw in gratuitous crap?*
9. It snowed a little bit more late morning-early afternoon and I loved the sparkle in our hedges.
10. This little piggie went to market... (then lots of giggling from both parties)
11. Couldn't choose who I loved in bed most, so I chose both. Kids in bed are about the best thing ever. Plus all activities at the church were canceled, so we had a relaxed evening with Chris!
12. Went to Target with Kanien to get some stuff for Ashley's shower. Came home with a coupon organizer and organized my coupons. My purse is grateful for that $1 purchase.

Truman's First

It's late and I'm tired. This will have to do until I can sort out some issues with embedding. YouTube doesn't show his video in my account, but you can find it HERE!

Tough Topics

Things that are hard to explain to a two year old:

• No, you'll never get the priesthood. Yes, Truman will. But yes, you can have the Holy Ghost. 

• Pork comes from pigs. But what's the ingredient? Pig is the ingredient. That's not an ingredient. What is it made from? Pigs. Dead pigs that are cut into pieces. Dead pigs? That not good. Dead pigs are sad. That's what Heavenly Father made them for. Now EAT already!

12 of 12 AND my 1000th post

1. I love the light streaming in after breakfast. It was concentrated enough we had a little shadow puppet show.
2. Marcella's hand-me-down dance costume became her ice skating outfit. (PJs there for warmth. It's cold around these parts!)
3. Is it strange to admit that sometimes I look at these two and can't believe how adorably cute they are? And that they're mine?!
4. She was fixing me some hot cocoa / "lemolade" in her kitchen.
5. Folding the load of colors always gets me. Chris and I dominate darks and whites, but little clothes win here. And it takes a lot of little clothes to get tall stacks.
6. Truman turned a corner recently and has gone to town on the food. And even sippy cups. It's so encouraging! He has his first therapy appointment on Friday.
7. Cutting out heart glasses for Millie's preschool Valentines.
8. Slobberiest kid ever. I got hit with a big drool bomb on my forehead with this picture.
9. One can only take cleaning up so many times during a day. Yet it drives me crazy! So I end up giving up and Chris usually comes home to a scene like this.
10. Lucky for me, I got to run away for a bit when he got home. Happy hour at Hot House Market means cupcakes! Thankfully my friend Melissa works there because I forgot my wallet. I owe $2.40 for Millie's scarf I got for her Valentine present.
11. Independence is hard. For everyone. I think that's a lesson I'll have to learn over and over again.
12. Snuggles with my "baby monkey" are the best snuggles.

A Truman Update

At Truman's six month appointment I expressed some concern that he wasn't eating solids. So Dr. Miller referred us to First Steps and we waited the maximum 45 legals days (so he was then eight months) before he had an evaluation with the therapists.

Martha and Vickie checked him out, noted he had low muscle tone, gave us some exercises to do to get him sitting up on his own and getting out of sitting on his own (before his sister so kindly 'helped' him out of that position). But he wasn't far enough delayed to warrant therapy. They told us they'd be back to check him out in January, if I wanted that.

We went in for his nine month well-baby visit at the end of December and the NP, Noelle, was concerned at his weight. So was I. At six months he was in the 16 lbs range. And when I put him on the scale then he was still in the 16s. And then the nurse asked me to take off his [soggy] diaper. Ugh. My heart sunk. Noelle told me to get on First Steps and make sure they were coming back ASAP.

He had his second First Steps evaluation last Friday. About two minutes before Martha and Vickie got here he crawled on his hands and knees for the first time (yet to be replicated). Since their last visit he's learned to sit, get out off sitting and army crawl. And he's taken to eating crackers and toast, with occasional other foods thrown in (but usually just a few bites before he starts flinging around his left arm, signing all done like a maniac). But he still isn't drinking anything from a cup, straw or sippy, and I refuse to buy more sippy cups to test out without seeing results.

He's still behind in his gross motor skills, and they said all 10-12 month olds fail the measurement set for communication and interaction. So picking that up, he meets the requirement to be behind in two categories by 1.5 standard deviations (or behind in one category by 2 SD). Hooray! He qualifies for services. Now we wait the 10 days required by law before we meet with an intake coordinator and set a plan. Then we can get to work with a therapist!

Early intervention. Something I never wanted for my kids. Now I'm fighting for it with all I've got. This motherhood gig is funny.

We sure love our Truman. He's coming into his personality and he's funny. He's [mostly] patient with his big sister. His little giggle is infectious, and he's starting to learn that if he does something once and people laugh, he should do it again. They'll keep laughing. He's about the most delicious baby around. Low muscle tone makes babies extra squishy and edible.

12 of 12 January

1. We got to church pretty early (like the 10th car in the parking lot), so Millie and Marcella had plenty of time to look at pictures in Marcella's new scriptures before our ward started late, as usual.
2. Signing up to feed the elders. We feed the missionaries a lot with a set of sisters and a set of elders assigned to our ward.
3. Taking it easy in Relief Society before his dad was done playing the piano in Primary and came and got him.
4. I got a bunch of magazine subscriptions for Christmas, so I have to keep up on them.
5. Moved Truman to the Pack 'N Play in the back room in attempt to get him and Millie to nap better. I think he's afraid it all might come collapsing down on him. (Three remaining pre-hung doors take up a good amount of space.)
6. Rolls raising.
7. Glamour girl on her way to the Wallins.
8. Millie and Kanien at dinner.
9. Chris's hands, Jon and Cella at dinner. Before Chris abandoned us to go home teaching.
10. Cella was playing her new DS and Millie got my phone. "Toca Builder is my favorite." She left me evidence.
11. Snuggles before bed.
12. It's a rare day that our bed doesn't get made, but apparently we were in such a hurry to get to church super early that it didn't happen. And then the Pack 'N Play stuff got thrown on it, along with church clothes.

12 of 12 December

1. Truman thought the light was a little too bright. (And why didn't I remember we had this fleece sleep sack sooner? Babies sleep so much better when they're warm—go figure!)
2. Millie loves opening the bag to our advent calendar each day.
3. Left over cinnamon sauce, so I swirled it into our pancakes and spiced up breakfast.
4. Our advent activity was having a Christmas dance party (to this Pandora station), and we could barely buy off Millie until after breakfast.
5. Millie asked me if I wanted to come make candy canes with her. I came into the living room to see her pulling her Rainbow Loom bracelet on the knob to the desk. She had really good form. My heart almost burst. She's seen it done and learning well.
6. After preschool she got to play on the snowy trampoline while I brought in groceries. She thought it was a blast until she got cold. Then suddenly it was NOT fun.
7. You know you have a problem, when you start buying corn syrup by the gallon. It's not sold in that quantities many places...
8. I think this is the first time I've tried reading a book to Millie and Truman together. Truman tried eating the book, Millie tried bossing Truman and I was grateful it was a short board book.
9. The usual song and dance routine Chris puts on to get Millie to brush her teeth was particularly hilarious. Chris had Millie giggling so hard, which then had the rest of us laughing.
10. Millie and Truman's room Christmas decorations.
11. Tupa, our elf, by the glow of their bedroom lights. Millie says she's a girl, but calls her "he" a lot. (She usually doesn't confuse pronouns so it messes with me.)
12. We had most of our presents wrapped, but we watched The Sing Off and embellished them with ribbons and tags. Good times.

12 of 12 November

Here's one for the fan club, who got a little antsy waiting for it. Chill, Papa.

1. First snowfall of the year. We enjoyed watching the sunrise and the clouds change colors during breakfast. The light after a snowfall is some of my favorite.
2. Cleaning out the dishwasher. Millie used to be helpful. Now she makes "ice cream cones" by stacking her cups, plates and bowls.
3. Part of Truman's therapy is making meal time consistent. I'd given up, since it hadn't gotten us anywhere, but we're renewing the effort to include his cute face at every meal. Even if he's only 0.01% interested in food.
4. A mug of hot chocolate to finish off lunch. And yes, I'm still rocking my PJs. I think I should institute more quiet time with a warm beverage time.
5. It's a perfect storm of church stuff I'm in charge of. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. You may notice my towel-head reflection in the screen. Usually I'm showered way before lunch, but today it had to wait until afternoon naps.
6. It was a very handy coincidence that one of the rare times I scrubbed the bathtub fell on 12 of 12. I'm documenting that, baby! (Really, scrubbing is never as bad as I think it is, but it is the chore at the very bottom of my list. Blind + showering without contacts = my shower)
7. I love her groggy just awoken face. Don't love short naps and her being able to let herself out of her room.
8. Millie wanted to go to a "restaurant" for dinner, and I didn't really want to cook. We were bundled up to go (to Sam's Club) when I realized I had told a woman I would be home to collect her order for the Super Saturday. So we made our kitchen into the restaurant and saved us some money by doing so. It's amazing how special paper plates can be when you never use them. Throw in some craft paper colored placemats and we were living large. The gratitude tree in the background has been a huge hit with all memebers of the family.
9. Watching our stories. Scripture stories, that is.
10. A clearance string of lights can remind you how much wonder simple things can hold, when viewed through a two-year-old's eyes,
11. Filling up at Sam's Club, since they only change their prices once a day. It jumped from this to $3.29/gallon in one day. We love the Gas Buddy app.
12. Had a very enjoyable, uplifting and encouraging Power of Mom's Learning Circle meeting. So enjoyable that the time got away from us really quickly. I came home to a sleeping house.

12 of 12 October

1. Clothes laid out for my morning run.
2. Tapering, how I love you. Last "long" run before the half marathon in a week.
3. We went to a tailgate party (hello, delicious barbecue: ribs, brisket and pork), and I encouraged Millie to get this whistle. What is wrong with me?
4. Reading our first chapter book together. I think Flora and Ulysses might be advanced for a two-year old (understatement), but when we stopped at the library to pick it up, she wanted to read it. 
5. Crazy teeth. Lots of them.
6. Energizing Indiana home energy assessment visit. Basically I'm a hippie.
7. Oh, just sitting up. For minutes at a time. No biggie.
8. Hanging up the last of my Halloween decorations.
9. Working on some family values and goals with Chris.
10. Millie would not stay in her bed ("I have to go potty!" constantly) so she got her "poop treats" (her words) taken away. Too bad we don't stock it with anything good.
11. Watching Sherlock. And this is why we don't watch series. I get sucked in and want to keep going.
12. I was one picture short, so enjoy this gratuitous shot of Mr. Handsome, all decked out for church.

12of12 September: Didn't Happen Edition

I completely spaced taking pictures on the twelfth. The next day when I realized it, I mentally inventoried the day and what I would have captured if I had remembered. But then I didn't write those down and I've completely forgotten any specific details of the day.

I've been training for the Boilermaker Half Marathon (just a few more weeks!). And instead of feeling dread, like I thought I would, I'm actually really excited to have it over with. My knees hurt. I'm tired. All the time.

Which brings us to Truman. The nearly seven month old who is still exclusively breastfed. Take that, WHO stats that show that fewer that _ _% of babies make it to six months being EBF. And know that it is not by choice that we're still going strong. Truman doesn't take a bottle and he's not figuring out how to eat solids. Our pediatrician referred us to early intervention at his appointment, so we have a meeting later this week. Hopefully we can get a speech pathologist/occupational therapist on board to get those oral motor skills improved upon. I mean, at this point, I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel to being his only source of nourishment, and the kid is getting too big for that business. 16 + lbs at seven months, and every ounce of nourishment has come from me (and once, his generous Aunt Keese).

Figure in Truman's 600-1000 calories needed each day, a couple of short runs and a long run each week, keeping up with Millie and you've expended about all the energy I have.

Better luck next month, 12 of 12.

Fourth First Day of School

When you don't teach or have classes, the first day is pretty insignificant (so much so that we were still in Idaho when the semester started). The only thing that changes with the semester is Chris's wardrobe. So long shorts, t-shirts and Chacos!

I made Chris promise that I can take first day pictures for the rest of forever. I love seeing the progression of things. It went from Chris, to Chris with baby Millie, to Chris with toddler Millie, to Chris with his arms full. To say nothing of this house we're actually starting to love. (Shout out to the last gladiola for hanging on and being in the frame.) Retrospection makes this ride all the better. So does the hope that maybe, just maybe (and not all too likely) this is the last first day of his PhD program.

12of12: Idaho Vacation Edition

1. Pretty morning run along the canal bank. When we talk to my parents in the morning, I often wondered why my dad didn't buy short-sleeved running shirts. I'd forgotten it actually gets chilly.
2. A little light reading in the recliner.
3. Lunch with my amazing friend, Erika, before she started off on her new adventures in Philadelphia. Turns out, the waitress isn't much better at taking pictures than Millie is.
4. 30+ year old crib mattresses must be magic, because my kids always sleep so well in Grandma's. (Or the cool basement has something to do with it.)
5. Ironing a stack of about 35 different fabrics for a quilt.
6. These two were besties: feeding horses, fish, chickens; snitching berries and apples; and getting all sorts of dirty. Millie's rocking the hat she bought at the Parish Reunion auction.
7. Dad was impressed I recognized the greatness of his new salt and pepper grinders. I declared I get them when he's gone.
8. Papa always prides himself on his corn-eating abilities. Our little Hoosier kept pace, earning herself a few more points with her grandpa.
9. I can't remember what he was doing, but it was such an "I'm home" moment to sit in the utility room and hear my dad and his tools out working in the shop and recognize them so clearly.
10. Sewing after dark on Mom's fancy sewing machine. (My mom is emphatic that she doesn't sew after dark and it's become a family joke.)
11. Reading in bed without worrying about keeping anyone else up. Chris was still in Orlando, so I could indulge all I wanted.
12. (Totally cheating, but I wanted to include this) The quilt top. Mom might not sew after dark, but she probably beat the sun up. And true to her nature, she finished my project. 

12of12 July

July? Already?

1. I love my early morning snuggles with these eyes.
2. First day wearing undies. (The smallest undies are huge undies on that little bum.)
3. Third time's a charm. I wondered why we were planting a garden ("The prophet said to plant a garden, so that's what we'll do..."), and we've been handsomely rewarded for our faith this year.
4. Spying out her bedroom window on her reading books on the hammock. In her undies.
5. What we've been eating this week. Each season it takes me a little while to remember favorites from year-to-year.
6. Found move-in day pictures of our house that I didn't realize we had, so I had to take one to show the progress. There has been a lot of it.
7. I talked to Nikkala for almost two hours (I'd like to say that's uncommon and we were just making up for the time she was at Girls Camp, but it's not all that unusual), and it ended up Millie had a poopy diaper. She completely unmade her bed in the meantime (sheet, blanket, mattress pad, sheet, mattress pad, and the blanket, pillow and quilts on top of it all). Better than her diaper...
8. Rollie-pollie, doing his thing and happy about it.
9. Because of Millie's delayed nap, we had time to kill before we could get on with our night. We do not believe in waking sleeping babies around here.
10. Truman was also napping. He prefers this set-up.
11. Free Chick-Fil-A for cow appreciation day. We love CFA; Millie calls it Chick-A-Fay.
12. Checking out fancy fridges at Best Buy while Chris checked out. (And still rocking those undies.)

12of12 June

1. She loves to pretend the bottom of Truman's bouncer is her microphone and likes to "say" her "tessamony" into it. ('Heavy' Father and Jesus love me and created the world for me. They made my body. They help me get baptized.)
2. Waiting in the eye doctor's office.
3. Nom, nom, nom,
4. Millie and Chris got to have a bunch of adventures while I was at my appointment, including finally getting a ride on the trolley.
5. One... or two. Two... or one. Really, I'm blind and they're both terrible!
6. He really gets the toys a-swinging. Note his immobile right hand.
7. "These my cup head phones!"
8. Mosquito bites. I think they progressed to hives the next day. Ugh. Aren't I too old for these?
9. Our feelings on potty training.
10. There were happy ones, but who can resist that pout?
11. My sweet Jessie. Is today my birthday? Yes, dear. Number 83.
12. Friends at our Power of Moms learning circle meeting.

Millie, Millie, Quite Contrary

Around midnight, when I've gone in to change her diaper, snuggle her and put her back to bed: I'm so glad you're my girl

Whispered back to me: I Daddy's girl.

Is that good?

No, it not good. It really tasty.

Is that so cold?

Not, it not so cold. It freezing.

Oh man, it's so bright outside today!

No, Mom. It not bright. It sunny!

 I think it's too hot.

It not too hot. It really warm.

Oh, synonyms. You're so much fun.

But didn't I ask that she turn out more like her dad than me? Yeesh.

Three Months

I'm pretty sure the past three months have been the quickest of my life. I don't know how I woke up one day and Truman was suddenly three months old.

He recently discovered his hand (almost exclusively his left hand), and after a few days of staring at it and figuring it all out, he's moved on to batting things on the play gym and grabbing at his toys.

He is the happiest, goofiest, smiley guy around. (Unless he has a bubble or is hungry. Then, you will pay.) His eyes have a special way of twinkling and melting your heart when he gives you one of his grins. He's a talker and loves to coo, gurgle and babble. He tells the best stories, and really lights up when you converse back with him.

He barely has any hair on top and just has a fringe around the back of his head. The other day I contemplated shaving off all of it. I still might. He doesn't have much to lose, other than a snaggle 'do.

He went on a hunger strike after getting his vaccinations last week. Three-month old hunger strikes are worse than newborn figure-this-out spans.

Truman takes a lot of aggressive love from his sister. Usually he is a champ, but sometimes she tries "offering" his pacifier a little too forcefully or weasels herself in under the play gym with him.

He was sleeping through the night fairly consistently. Then Chris left to scout camp (perfect timing, kid). I keep reminding myself we'll get there again. And hopefully soon.

All around, we're big fans of the little guy. As long as the minimum standards are met, he's a chill dude.

Strange Satisfaction: Potlucks

Recently I've noticed I get a strong sense of satisfaction from some of the strangest things. Tonight's pleasure? A well-balanced potluck.

Months ago Chris called me from the grocery store. "They have ten pounds of ribs for $12.99. Is that a good deal?"

Not buying ribs often, I wasn't sure that it was stellar, but knew it wasn't terrible, and left it up to him to make the final call. He went for it. Not being at the store, I didn't realize the ten pounds of ribs were frozen together in a box. Into the freezer they went, taking up 1/3 of it.

I figured Memorial Day weekend was as good as any to encourage the cooking of these ribs and a party was born. Chris spent the day tending to the ribs, while I got to go shopping with Millie and help a friend with her moving prep.

We had a nearly perfectly balanced pot-luck. There were chips, soda, green salad, potato salad, watermelon, corn on the cob, chicken, raspberry Cool Whip salad, corn bread, rice and popsicles for dessert. I love when it works out like that. Some pot-lucks end up being a feast of four pots of baked beans, or all desserts, or nothing remotely resembling a vegetable, but tonight's was spot on.

Added bonus that I threw out 5:00 as the starting time, and about 6:30 the heavens opened and a downpour commenced. For the most part every one was done eating and we just had popsicles left to polish off while we played sardines in our cozy (and humid!) kitchen.

A very satisfying night.

12of12 May 2013: Mother's Day Edition

1. Making "main dish" snacks for nursery. They ate a whole loaf of PB&Js.
2. What Mom? We're both in our pajamas, need to leave for church in ten minutes and you think I should eat? Nah...
3. A real piece of work. She was also pretending to be a lion. A crack-up, all around.
4. Chris took Truman out after the Sacrament to change his diaper. I didn't get this text until later. Of course we had a spare onesie. I'm a mom and that's how I roll.
5. Hanging out in the Mother's Lounge, since someone finally decided he was hungry. (I never put my favorite onesies in the diaper bag as the spare, obviously.)
6. A little visit with my sweet Jessie.
7. The two that make me a mother.
8. My gifts. A car detailing kit and registration to the Purdue Half Marathon. I joked with Chris that I wasn't sure if they were hints. 
9. A Purple Superhero
10. Those eyelashes. Blew me away to notice how long they are!
11. I got all three meals on the It's Your Special Day plate. It was a day of good food, too.
12. This guy is a patient little brother. He was good until the play silks got put on his face.

Two Years | Two Months

The kidlets had a doctor's appointment on Monday. Scheduling both kids at the same time makes the appointment seem even less of a hassle than with just one kid.

Millie's two year (plus a month) stats are: 23 lbs 1 oz (7%), 34.25 inches (51%) and 47.9 cm head circumference (60%). She chatted up the nurses that were taking her measurements, much to their amusement.

Truman's two month stats were 11 lbs 10 oz (34%), 23.25 inches (63%) and 40.1 cm (72%). Yeah, he seems like a giant compared to the baby Millie was! He charmed the nurses with his good looks.

On the way there Millie and I were discussing what would happen at the doctor's office. I mentioned Dr. Miller would blow bubbles for her, and she wanted those bubbles as soon as Dr. Miller stepped in the exam room. She had to wait until the very, very end though, and it was about torture. Dr. Miller told me several times how well Millie spoke, how articulate she was, how big her vocab was, and that she spoke better than most three year olds. All of this I was aware of; we chat all day long. Millie kept saying, "Me healthy. Me bigger." Both confirmed at the appointment. Despite friends saying I probably shouldn't, the doctor said Millie can stop drinking whole milk and will be perfectly fine on our skim milk. She had her last sippie cup of whole milk today. (I don't know why that seems momentous, but it does.)

Truman is growing like a champ. He's starting to coo and give the best gummy grins. I can't resist his dimpled little cheeks and his big blue eyes.

Kids Are What You Feed Them

Millie just cooked up some food for Chris and me in her play kitchen. (Sidenote: a free play kitchen is the best thing that's happened to our house in the last while.)

She served up oatmeal with brown sugar and dates. And blueberry kefir to drink. Any guesses as to what was for breakfast this morning? I'll give you a hint: it wasn't Pop Tarts.

I'm a firm believer that kids eat what you feed them. Not that they'll eat and like everything, but they're 100% more likely to eat food that is on their plate than things that aren't. Millie has started showing some toddler independence. "Me not like mango!" after she's eaten 1/3 of one, picking spinach off her sandwich, etc. We tell her that she doesn't have to eat it, but she does have to leave it on her plate. And after she forgets she doesn't like it, she often eats it.

All of this is self-serving. I much prefer pretend oatmeal to a constant diet of pretend chicken nuggets, pizza or mac and cheese.