Just Another Day

The kids and I have a rotating playdate every Monday and a "moms and tots" activity on Tuesdays, so Wednesdays have become our day to lounge around the house, catch up on housework, and play!

This handsome little man is H-A-P-P-Y- as long as he gets his daily allotted swinging time.
But if there's too much time in the carseat- look out!
I measured Adam for his Halloween costume today, and he is 25 inches long! Doesn't he look like he's about to fall out of the carseat? No wonder my arms and back are achy at the end of the day!

Leah and I had a picnic in the backyard today. It wasn't that cold, but she insisted that we both wear our hoods.
I've started trying to give Leah more opportunities to help me in the kitchen- all of her place setting stuff is in a low cupboard, and she loves selecting just the right bowl, plate, and cup for each meal. She's also in charge of placemats and napkins when we set the table.Tonight we made chicken parmesan for dinner, and while she helped me bread the chicken, she kept asking to get her hands washed. Halfway through told me in an exasperated tone that "all of the ingredients are too messy!" Still, I think she liked it. She's also a pro at slicing bananas and cracking eggs into a bowl.
She is a fantastic little helper (when she wants to be), and I love that we get to spend so much time together every day (usually).

Favorite Places

I love all of the space that we have in this house. The cleaning/tidying up can get overwhelming, but it is completely worth it. I haven't bought a whole lot of new decorations, but I've had fun with what we've done so far!

Kids bathroom-
Adam's room. Still a work in progress, but no big deal because he doesn't sleep in there.
Leah's room. Good thing she tells me 10 times a day that her favorite color is pink, because this room is pinkalicious.

Different

Things are different now...

I have to drive to get anywhere here. Except the mailbox.

I used to know the name and "stats" on everyone in my ward and my neighbors. Now I start every conversation with the basic getting-to-know-you questions. It's testing me.

I can't go anywhere new in this town without a map. That's testing me, too.There are 1,001 undiscovered places in this town that are calling to us. That makes for fun family outings.

Leah is making friends with kids whose parents I don't know very well. That's very different.

Jason is home all day on Sundays. I'm loving it. We don't have callings yet. I'm not loving that.
Adam loves tummy time. Leah hated it. Leah thrives in new and different situations. Adam screams anywhere except home unless he is being held. I think people view me as "the one with the difficult baby".
Leah has started stalling through bedtime and getting out of her big girl bed at night. She found a bug crawling across the toy room at 4:00 this morning.I used to use this blog to keep in touch with friends. Now I use it to keep in touch with family. Hi, Mom!

One More Time

I wanted to go out on my dad's canoe one more time before we left. He was nice enough to accommodate, although I'm pretty sure it took longer to get the boat to the water than we spent canoeing. But it was still fun, and I'm glad we got to do it one more time.

Leah's First Haircut

Leah got her first haircut right before we left Utah- and it was much needed! Her hair has grown in long, curly, and a little mullet-like. I didn't want a lot cut off, since it's still fairly sparse, but at least now it looks uniform.

First day of work? Nope! On our way to the "beauty parlor".She had so much fun at Cookie Cutters (thankfully they have those here, too!) getting the royal treatment with a cut and style.But the real treat was a mini-manicure.
She's a girly girl through and through.

Adam's Blessing

While I'm waiting for Adam to wake up, I thought I'd catch up on posts, starting with Adam's blessing. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful blessing. Adam slept through the whole meeting and through most of the lunch we had afterward.
Not sure what I'm looking at, but isn't Jason handsome?
It was so nice visiting with friends and family- most of them for the last time before we made the move.

All About Jason

We got two very expensive and hard earned pieces of mail this week- Jason's Master's Degree certificate and a bound copy of his master's thesis- Physiological Assessment of Chenpodium Quinoa to Salt Stress.
Jason built a work bench for himself in the garage. I was a little nervous about the whole project, but it's really nice. One of my favorite things about Jason is that he is willing to try anything. He isn't afraid of failure, and is successful with what he tries more often than not. And now he has a little corner of the house that he can call his own.

A Brighter Day

It seems like forever since I've sat down at the computer and wrote complete sentences on my blog. After a rough day, I decided to try to capture the things that I'm grateful for here. And there is a lot. I feel like we are settling in and where we belong at this point in our lives. It's not getting any colder here, but fall is coming. I love the little maple tree that is turning red in our backyard.
There is so much to do just in our house- I don't feel the same kind of confinement that I did in our apartment in Provo. We can easily spend the whole day at home, playing and exploring, without going crazy. Which is nice, because I am still trying to figure out how to get out and about in an unfamiliar town with two kids.

We were playing in the yard the other day, and it started to rain. In just a few seconds, it was a total downpour! It reminded me of living in Virginia. And what fun is heavy rain if you can't play in it? Leah and I grabbed our umbrellas and went for a walk. She loved sending little grass "boats" down the rainfall rivers.Leah is really good at playing by herself when I need to focus on Adam, and loves playing with him whenever she gets the chance. But I think that time with Mom is still her favorite.

Let's See...

Adam refused to nap today for longer than 20 minutes...

Leah fell down the stairs while wearing my highest heels, and now looks like she got smacked across the face with a 2x4... (the swelling has gone down, at least)

I bleached my shirt while doing laundry...

We got another enormous hospital bill...

Or I could mention that we had our first family home evening in our house and Leah had a great playdate this morning.

And I captured this moment today.

But still, I think I'll just go to bed. Tomorrow has to be better than today, right?

2 Months!

Yippee! I'm two months old!

Adam is two months old! I think it's tradition to say that the time has gone by so quickly, but I can honestly say that this has been the looongest two months of my life. I can't believe it was just two months ago that I was walking with Leah down Center Street in Provo, looking for deer and hoping for contractions, not realizing that Adam would be with us by dinnertime!

Not that it's been miserable or anything, but we have done more in the last two months than we had done in the six months before that. At least it seems that way. But I do think Adam is growing at a fantastic rate, and while he doesn't have too many "features" yet, he is starting to smile and coo and interact a lot, which makes him a joy to be around. When he's crying... well then he's just your typical frustrating baby. I am grateful to say that the projectile vomit has stopped, although the diaper blow outs have increased. Guess it's time to move up another diaper size!

In addition to getting to know all about Adam, I'm also enjoying watching the relationship that's slowly developing between him and Leah. She loves him so much, always talks to him in a ridiculously high pitched voice, and let's me know the second he starts fussing. Clearly mesmerized by the story I was reading. I love that they have linked arms.