Sarah's Cake

We attended my niece's baby blessing today (my sister Michelle's new baby). I made this cake for the occasion. I think it turned out pretty cute. Not as cute as baby Sarah...but pretty cute.

Health

Health is a state of physical, mental, (spiritual) and social well being. I'm trying to be healthy in all these aspects. I eat right (most of the time) I exercise and play volleyball twice a week. I am involved in church and our community, I read my scriptures everyday and say my prayers. My mental well being....Let's just say the kids don't help with that much. But I do try to stay as sharp as I can. But it looks Like I have a lot to learn from my little brother on his mission.

He's the one doing the push-ups.
Talk about multitasking. ;) Love ya Boot!

I'm in Trouble

There is a store here in town called Hildi's Gifts. and they sell accessories for $1. Eight hair clips for a dollar! Can you really pass that up? And bracelets for me that I don't care if Lily plays with. Like I said. I'm in trouble.

Can I breathe now?

Well, we went over to our friends house last night for a BBQ and BYU game watching party. Jake peed his pants there twice. I was disappointed, but come on, He was in a new environment playing with friends. Even with my pants inspections, he still didn't make it. The second accident I think happened because he came to get me instead of just going into the bathroom right next to where he was playing. Anyway, He still hasn't wet the bed at night...but I'm not sure that isn't a fluke yet. He also HASN'T PEED HIS PANTS ONCE TODAY! He has been pretty sick and lethargic so I was surprised. I would ask him if he had dry pants and he would say yes, but most of his day was spent laying on the floor whining or me holding him. He didn't talk much didn't eat much, but when the time came, he "ran to the potty fast." So, maybe he CAN wear the same undies and pair of pants all day long. He has today anyway. I'm proud of him for choosing to be a big boy and have dry pants. Believe me...it IS a choice.

Holding my breath and crossing my fingers

Jacob has had dry pants for about 6 hours. I said it, does that mean that I'm jinxed now? He has pooped multiple times and peed in the potty without promptings consistently today. I didn't even have to change bed sheets last night. Randy was right there when Jake woke up this morning and congratulated him on having dry pants and asked if he needed to go to the potty. He did, but then about 20 minutes later he peed his pants. We have only "practiced" twice today and I hope we don't have many more practice sessions ahead of us. It is surprising how exhausting training can be. I did nearly nothing yesterday but train Jake and I fell right to sleep from physical but especially emotional exhaustion. So pray that I can go to church tomorrow without too much incidence. (As if church isn't hard enough already for me.)

p.s. for those of you reading who have no idea what I am talking about when it comes to practicing and dry pants inspections, etc. I use the book Toilet training in less than a day. I highly recommend it.

I lost my 'Micah'...

along with my temper. This boy needs constant motivation or he just doesn't care. As soon as the novelty of treats wore off and he had earned a dinosaur for pooping in the potty all my himself with no promptings, he started having accidents. I don't know if it is because he is testing me to see if I am really serious about all this potty stuff or what. I still have a snake he can earn and I have threatened to throw it away if he doesn't 'practice' and that works for now. Luckily my mom said if he keeps his pants dry then she will take him out to get an ice-cream. he is excited about that....for now anyway. It has been a bumpy road and it seems we have backtracked, there have been tears on both our parts and I am expecting to change bed sheets either late tonight or in the morning. He will get this eventually right? He has to.

Channeling my Inner Micah

I have been trying to 'do as Micah does' today (my sister-in-law). She is my example in all things potty training. I have been scared and nervous about doing this again. Tyler wasn't so bad. It took one day (a long hard day) and he was trained. He had no accidents after that day and only wet the bed once. Jacob is an entirely different boy, however, and I have been hesitant to do this because he is so stubborn and won't do things unless it is his idea and he has great motivations to do it. Tyler is very obedient and likes to please me. I tried training Jacob for a day 6 months ago, but it was painfully obvious that he wasn't ready. He would pee his pants and not even care, or not even realize he had to go in the first place. I loved Micah's post on potty training and I keep telling myself "I am just teaching him a new skill, something I do everyday. It isn't something to get upset over if it doesn't go exactly as planned."
We have only been doing this for about 3 hours so far and he hasn't had an accident yet. (Knock on wood). He has yet to poop in the potty. He is self initiating though and has peed in the potty about 20 times so far. ( he squeezes it out so he can get some chocolate.) Cross your fingers for me that the rest of the day goes as unexpectedly smooth as the morning has.

Story of My Life or at least most days...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We went to the doctor today for Jacob and Lily's well checkups they are healthy and fine albeit a little on the average/small side (which I find really strange).
I took some photos while we were in the waiting room and they tell a pretty good story of what happened. I think you guys can figure out your own captions.

Are you laughing? or do you just want to take them home and paddle their bottoms like I wanted to do? I tried to get a picture of the "I'm sorry" hug but Tyler did it quick so I wouldn't have a picture of him doing it. I'm also fairly sure that the receptionist thinks I am a horrible mom for not intervening but just taking pictures of the fiasco.

Here are some cute pics of my little Lily at the doc's. Obviously before her shots.

Did I mention how much I love this little girl?
Her stats are...
Height: 28 1/4 25%
Weight: 18.6 15%

And Jacob's stats. ( He is usually around 80 for height 60 for weight) I guess he is shrinking.
Height: 37 1/4 50%
Weight: 33 65%

Fun to be One

Here are the pictures of our little birthday celebration we had for Lily today. My parents came over for dinner, presents and cake and ice-cream. Thanks Mom and Dad. we had a lot of fun.

The cake didn't turn out as great as I had hoped it would. I was too excited and had too many ideas going through my head. I thought it would be easier not having a child tell me what they wanted, but I guess not. It was kind of a work in progress with not a solid idea to start out with. I made the cake and it was such an odd shape that I had to cut a lot of cake off to get it level. So I had a level cake, but lots of leftover cake crumbs I cut off. I decided to make cake pops and turn them into flowers (and some bees) and just stick them into the cake. The problem was I put a little too much corn syrup into the almond bark I used for the pedals, so I had floppy flowers. Oh well, they still tasted good. As did the cake. I made chocolate pudding cake with chocolate ganache filling and ganache on the outside....yum.

Lily liked it too. Which is what is really important I guess.

I would like to say that this was her first time eating chocolate cake, but as this is my 3rd child, it is practically a given that she has already sampled most of the good stuff. whether I wanted her to or not.
Happy Birthday (again) sweet Lily!

Lovely Lily

Our Little Lily is ONE year old today! I can't believe how fast her first year has gone by. She is the cutest, sweetest, funniest, adorable-est, most precious little girl in my life.

I will post pictures of her birthday celebration tomorrow, but I have been having fun looking back on her short life so far and remembering that special day one year ago when she became a part of our family. I love watching the Hypnobirth video too.

Thanks for coming into our family Lily Bean! It wouldn't be the same without you.

Teethers

Lily is now sporting her new two front teeth. they have made it almost all the way through her tender little gums. I don't really like it when my kids get teeth. Especially the two front teeth. (Not just for nursing reasons either) They look so cute as babies with their toothless grins and then they get the bottom two teeth and they just don't look quite as cute, but they grow on you eventually. Then the two front teeth come in and the kids just look a little freaky. Am I weird for thinking this? Anyway, if you click on the picture you should be able to see the teeth better. It is the best I could get. Don't worry, I still think she is a VERY cute little girl.

It is done..for this child anyway.

Yes, Breastfeeding rocks! I actually am someone who enjoys it too. I was planning on weaning Lily around a year old. But... I got pretty sick on Wednesday night last week and by Friday, I decided that I was going to choose NyQuil and cold and sinus medication over nursing. I was only nursing her once or twice a day, so it wasn't all that much of a change. She actually doesn't mind either. It kinda made me sad that she hasn't asked even once to nurse since I stopped. Oh well, there's always the next child and here's to all the good drugs I can take now.

That's My Spot! I Called It!

Lily has found her own special spot. I see her hanging out there multiple times a day. It is the perfect size for her and she loves it.

Sometimes Jake thinks it is his spot too, but she will push him away if he bothers her.

Modeling Chocolate Recipe

For those interested, I posted the recipe here. Good luck and have fun with it!

More birthday pics

Jake asked if he could be shirtless for his birthday. So while at home, he was allowed to do just that.



His little sister stealing presents while he wasn't looking.

Happy Birthday Jacob!

My little Jakey is 3 years old today. Boy does time fly or what? He told me he wanted a Spider man cake. Then Tyler piped in and said "With the green goblin too?" and of course he had to have the green goblin like Tyler proposed. Thanks Ty.

Anyway, I made the cake a day early and we went to our friends house for FHE with two other families. We sang Happy birthday and ate cake and ice cream after the lesson. We had a great time.

I made a cool spider out of modeling chocolate to put on top of the cake. It turned out really cool. The kids were fighting over which part of the spider to eat. Most of them got a leg to munch on. It does taste really good.

We love you Jacob and are glad you are a part of our family. It wouldn't be the same without you!