More catching up: November & December

I know, you are shocked. What!?! you are saying She is still catching up?!? Yes. Always catching up. Also my favorite hot dog topping. You know, ketchup. ;) Someday I will be ahead in something in life and probably also no longer eating hot dogs, and will no longer need ketchup. Not today, though, friends...

November 2011. Not a very exciting month for us.

We took half of the rail off of Paul's bed, allowing him to actually climb out of his bed on his own... and fall asleep on the floor. (Yes, his carpet is pink. Lovely, dusty rose pink.)

I got a new haircut, with bangs (sort of). Don't get too used to it, as it's all grown out now and will probably be cut off soon. :)

Mark's sister Dusty took family pictures for us, for our Christmas cards that never happened. Oops. But aren't they cute?

 Paul even fell flat on the cement and had a big bluish purple goose egg forming, and Dusty still got him to smile. And also did a great job editing the goose egg out. Anna was just far more interested in the quilt we were sitting on (that was supposed to be the backdrop until the kids didn't cooperate) than anything else going on.

Dusty also did Anna's 3 month pictures, with the quilt I made for her (like we did for Paul. because I have to have at least one matchy-matchy mom thing of my kids, right?). Do I have the best sister-in-law ever or what? (To all of my sisters-in-law reading... yes, of course I mean you...)

And, then we rounded out the month with the annual Turkey Trot. This year we saved some time and money by just doing our own thing [instead of paying someone else $25 to run 3.1 miles around a parking lot after standing in the cold for 30 minutes after the race was supposed to start. But hey, we got hoodies.] Jace, next year, we want some swag. :)

And then in December, I and 4 of my sisters (2 in-laws, if you want to be technical about it) ran the Expedition St. George Relay. We were pretty much the most amazing team there:

Thanks to Rebecca's genius (and my handiwork on the shirts, which I am UBER proud of), we took home the award for the best team name: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Sweaty Pants. Oh, and the back of our shirts says "You've just been pantsed." Yup, we rock. As if you couldn't tell from the picture.

Mark and the kids came down, too and were the best cheering squad ever. Paul had a blast "chasing Mommy" and Mark was sooo patient to deal with my mini-panic attacks about him finding us along the route so that I could nurse Anna.

It was really quite a feat that all of us made it there, actually. The morning before we left, Paul puked. Repeatedly. We still decided to try the trip, with a handy dandy leftover Easter basket (bucket) as the puke bucket in the car. Paul and Anna both traveled great -- Anna slept the entire way there and Paul didn't puke until we pulled into the driveway at my uncle's house where we were sleeping. Then, as Sarah, Greta and Rebecca were driving down, it was pretty much a blizzard. I'm so glad we had fun or it would have been a terrible weekend. :)

Paul still loves Anna as much as ever. Most mornings (even still), I find them like this: Paul hanging over the edge of her crib. Sometimes talking to her, sometimes giving her toys, and, most often, poking her eyes. At the time, the eye-poking had me at my wit's end (which, most days, isn't really that far of a travel from my normal spot). One spanking and a few good solid time outs later, the eye poking is no longer a problem, thankfully.

Even after having her eyes poked, she's still nice and bright-eyed in the mornings :)

Everyone is enjoying Daddy's new (school) iPad. Everything we do on it is purely educational, of course...

Paul (sometimes) loves to hold Anna... but she's big enough now that she pushes him over....

When the weather is clear, we go walking with my mom once a week. Anna finds it quite soothing, and stayed asleep all bundled like this for close to an hour after we returned home one day:

And, no, she isn't cheering for BYU. We have firmly instilled in her a love for the YMCA, and for touchdowns.  Go Aggies!

And who doesn't love a frothy-mouthed baby? We thought she had SO much hair, but compared to what she has now, she looks pretty bald in this picture. :)

One of my big projects for December was a Jessie (the cowgirl) dressup for Sofie, my best friend Debra's little girl. Pretty darn proud of it. Although I'd do the hair differently next time.

Christmas Eve, Mark's family has a new-ish tradition of having cereal while watching The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. We each get our own box of cereal, so we feel pretty darn spoiled.

 Paul even got TWO boxes of cereal this year, because Grandma Shelly is just awesome like that.

We decided to join everyone and their dog and have Paul open pajamas on Christmas Eve. (We don't actually have a dog, though, so we can't be like this family or this family yet.) They were Thomas the Tank Engine -- thus the sheer delight on his face. :)

We also gave him a game that we played as a family -- a Thomas matching game. He actually lasted through a whole round, so we consider him advanced for his age since the box says age 3+...

Then, Christmas!!! Paul was SO spoiled this year and we thought he'd be SO excited to open presents, but he just really wanted to get his morning reading in first (see, I told you he is advanced! ;)

Anna liked the wrapping paper, so next year we're just giving her the paper

And Paul, oh my goodness, Paul was completely overwhelmed. This picture was one of the first presents:

And it quickly went downhill from there. By the time we got to the grandparents, he was cranky and done opening presents. Oh well, he loves them all now! And next year, we're doing less. Hopefully. I get a little carried away with online shopping, you know...

We spent one day of Christmas break at the bounce house with cousins. Sorry about the terrible pictures...

Paul was NOT going to jump on that trampoline by himself:

but he was more than happy to do ANYTHING with Daddy. By the time our hour was up, Mark was exhausted and Paul just wanted more, more, more!

We ended 2011 with the annual party at my brother, Chad's. We celebrated with New York at 10 pm, and I believe we will do that every year because everyone was still SO happy and not yet cranky. We all stayed up until midnight here, but the looks were a little more glazed by then:

And Anna saw no reason to stay awake since she couldn't eat any of the yummy treats anyway. 

And of course, the morning after...

Happy 2012... now that it's 1/3 over... :)

Catching up: September and October

Slowly but surely, I'll get you caught up on our lives up to the present day. :)

September 29 was Paul's 2nd birthday! The hat was about as exciting as it got ;)

He did love opening presents and was totally spoiled. Mom (me) really struck out on the vehicles puzzle though... the noises scared him, so we had to turn them off. :)

We blessed Anna over Conference weekend. It was so nice to have so much family there! But, I forgot to take pictures. I'm pretty terrible, I know. Thankfully Dusty and Leslee took some. :)

Paul opened some of his presents then since it was a blessing/birthday party at lunch.

Anna was a dream, but her scowly face is just too cute not to share. :)

And here are some random happy faces :)

In October, we went to the circus with our neighbors, the Dennings. Their little girl, Jane, is just a week older than Paul and we LOVE having them as our neighbors.

Paul wasn't sure what to think before the show started

 

and then he knew that he did NOT like the loud noise

(those are tears)

but Anna didn't seem to mind at all. :)

At Anna's 2-month checkup, she got SO many shots. Really, it's no more than normal, but it is still SO sad. She was fine for a few hours and then just cried and cried. Breaks my heart.

She is part of a research study where the participants have one less shot than the current traditional vaccination schedule, but she is part of the control group, so she gets regular shots but we keep a diary and she gets a nice check when she's finished with the study. :)

The Waddoups tongue... always out :)

Paul loves to play with Anna, and takes her toys often,

but he will share even his most prized blanket, too :)

This is what having two kids means at our house:

While Mom is making dinner, Dad is reading to both kids (one of whom is sleeping) while watching ESPN gamecast. :)

But all the reading pays off: Paul loves to read and is often found reading to his friends, SuperWhy and baby.

This is what a sick day is at our house: breakfast (a banana) in bed while we play on the iPod. :)

For Halloween, Mark and Paul were spiders. Anna and I were just us. :) Slacker picture taker that I am, I barely even got a decent picture of Paul:

Paul won the most colorful pumpkin award at the ward Halloween party. You can see the winning pumpkin here (scroll down, it's the one with the blue nose).

And, we got our first snow! Paul was so excited.

The snow didn't stick around very long, but we finally got some snow last week and Paul loves to help shovel it. :) Pictures soon!

At long last, an update...

I started this update last fall (of 2011) and just never quite got it finished. Quiet time (and sometimes even NAP time) is going really well, though, so I thought I'd take a few minutes to finish it up and finally publish it. It's selfish of me to enjoy all of your updates and then never share about ours. Hopefully I can make this a more regular thing, too! :)

Soo.... last time I blogged here Paul had just started walking. Which was pretty much an eternity ago. Here's what we've been up to in the last 6 months... the nutshell version :) Some pictures are a little out of order, so sorry.

Table manners are pretty lax around here... feet on the table and just use your fingers, even with soggy cereal.

Sofie (and Debra) came for a visit and a kiss...

Paul is quite the cook....

Paul took his first big tumble, connecting his forehead to the cement of our front porch for the first of many times. The bump is always in the same spot, too.  

We shopped for a new car in April, and Paul helped. (We did buy a new car, a Nissan Versa, which we all love.)

Happy Easter!

I made Paul's "suit" jacket and pants from a suit jacket that Mark couldn't wear anymore... because the magic goop from the Creepy Crawler Machine had dripped on it. :(

Paul loves Easter candy... One day I caught him with EIGHT whopper eggs stuffed in his mouth. All blue, so at least he is learning his colors. :)

For his school's talent show, Mark was Justin Bieber (and his principal was Ludacris!), so I was the costume designer.(I'll have to find the video, and some pictures of his awesome shoes that I painted.)  Paul wasn't a big fan, so we are confident that we are raising him with good taste. :)

Paul moved into his big bed, and we all love it. Easiest transition EVER.

At the annual Art City Days 5K, we had lots of family run and earn awards. I walked since I was very pregnant and very out of shape. :) Mark's goal was to place in the stroller division with Paul, and he did! Paul carried the plaque around for a week.

We visited the Hawkins in Texas -- that's the Alamo to prove it. :) Best trip EVER.

Paul thought it was pretty awesome, but also HOT and miserable

We loved playing at the Gulf of Mexico. So much warmer than Oregon beaches and less crowded than California beaches.

We saw the balloons at the Provo Freedom Festival.

Mark and I went on a "babymoon" while Paul stayed and played with Aunt Sarah. We went to the childrens' museum in the Gateway and got the special "pedophile" wristbands for the adults who show up without a kid. Biggest waste of $18 ever. Apparently it's meant for kids and not just adults who still think they are kids.

At my family's annual reunion, Paul got his first boat ride. He loved it!

Daddy taught Paul to play with the laundry basket, so now Daddy gets to pick up all the dirty clothes that Paul dumps out of the laundry basket when he wants to play with it. :)

Anna was born!

August 13, perfectly timed so that Mark was done with one set of trainings but had a couple of days before he needed to be back for the next set.

Paul adores Anna. THAT is what makes having two kids fun. :)

Anna's newborn pictures by Aunt Dusty

At two weeks old, we took Anna to her first Orem Owlz game. She wasn't all that impressed, but Dad was getting stir crazy. Yes, you read that right -- DAD thought he needed to get out more, and Mom went along with it. :)

Paul loves the Owlz games and still talks about seeing Hootz and Holly, the mascots.

From birth, Anna has had Mark wrapped around her little finger. This is going to be trouble :)

The day that Anna was born, I went out to a bunch of yard sales and washed the car. Paul helped:

Paul loves to help give Anna baths. Anna isn't so fond of it.

Paul  has lots of fun playing with Anna, and he's very good at sharing his stickers:

Okay, that's the update for now. I've been doing *much* better at taking more pictures, so maybe I'll get another update here soon...