COW MOO FLAGE

We've made the switch. Brielle is finally in a forward facing car seat. She still does not meet the weight requirements and that is why we have waited. She is supposed to weigh at least 20 lbs. and she weighs about 18 lbs. Brian (pediatrician/brother) says it is fine to make the switch because she is over a year old. So, on Friday we braved the snow and my sickness to go in search of a "big girl" car seat. We had decided to buy a Britax Marathon because of their safety ratings. We just had to choose which cover we liked. We didn't see any just plain colored, normal looking covers that we liked so we got the one we loved - the cowmooflage. I think it is so funny and so cute to see Brie riding in this huge cow print car seat. She is LOVING facing forward and seeing us and all that is out the front window. She is copying her cousin Davin at this age and calling every animal she sees outside the window a "Gog". When it really is a dog she gets really excited.

There will be many happy miles to come with Brie sitting in cowmooflage. We wish her luck on her adventures. And if we ever get sick of the spots we'll just buy a new cover.

P.S. Update: If you read my last post I said that I was finally feeling sick, I'm glad to report that I really was just sick. I think I must have had the flu. I am right back to feeling fine. Yipee!

Introducing Baby #2

That is right. We are expecting baby #2!! The due date is September 17. We are thrilled!!! We told our family and closest friends a few weeks ago, but now that we are further along and all is well, we thought we'd spread the news.

It's just been amazing how this all happened so quickly and easily. We always said we wanted to get pregnant again when Brie turned one and that is exactly what happened. Wow. That was a whole lot more simple than the months of hoping when we wanted to get pregnant with our first. I am now 10 1/2 weeks along and really feeling great. All of those who get really sick while pregnant (Kamber, Laura S. and Laura B.) should avoid reading this part, but I have felt no nausea, no tiredness, no anything. This actually worried me, so I told my doctor on our last visit and after an ultrasound showed that everything looked great I decided to count myself lucky. Well . . . three days later I started feeling sick. Weird to start feeling sick in your 10th week, huh? Hopefully it won't last long because I don't like it at all. I really feel for you all that go through months of this and a lot worse.

We went to our first doctor's visit at 6 weeks and saw a tiny little flashing dot, which was the heart. That was very exciting and very reassuring to see. This is baby's first ultrasound picture.

We went again to see the doctor last Friday, at 10 weeks, and the baby had really grown. We still saw the heart beating and we even saw the baby flip around, wave it's arms and do some swimming. How amazing!

My Girl

I am always amazed at how fast my baby is turning into a little toddler girl. She is learning new things so quickly and interested in discovering everything.

We used to have all of her books in her room, but she didn't notice them very much. Scott made a space in the front room for all of her books and it has made a huge difference. I do have to pick up a pile of books every few hours, but Brielle is so interested in looking at them that it is ok by me. All through the day she pulls books out to look at by herself, but usually to read with me. If I am sitting on the floor or couch she climbs right on top of me and sits herself in my lap with the book she's chosen. If I'm not in the room she comes to find me with a book to read. I love it. She definitely has her favorites that we read all the time.

This is Brie with her favorite book, wearing her favorite shoes (she loves shoes) and in her favorite out fit (she loves to be "free").

We opened a can of olives with dinner one night and of course Scott put one on each of Brielle's fingers. She thought it was the coolest and funniest thing to ever happen. She ate so many olives off of her fingers (made for an interesting diaper). Olives are now one of her favorite things to eat because they are just so funny! She laughs as soon as she sees them.
Brielle has also turned into quite the artist. She really likes to have a pen and paper and just draw. The drawings have not landed on the walls yet, but I'm afraid. We got her a magna doodle and she likes scribbling on that also. Here she is working hard on her drawing.
Brielle has discovered the fun of toilet papering! She took the whole roll of toilet paper through the bathroom and hallway and into her room for some fun. She spread it around the whole room and then started shredding it. What a good time!


Some of the other new things she has learned are to fold her arms for the prayer, to go get her shoes when I ask her, to point to her eye, nose, head, feet and toes and to twirl. What an amazing girl, huh?

We're Done!

We're home. The nine days of babysitting four kids ended last night when their parents returned at midnight from their cruise. It was a crazy week. When Scott was there to help things went pretty smoothly and it really wasn't all that hard. When Scott was working all day until 11:30pm, the days were long and hard. It felt like dinner time to bed time was complete chaos! Some of the interesting moments of our time with the Kirks were:

1. On Saturday we had everyone clean the whole house so it would be nice and clean when the parents got home. Everything was spotless, including the kids bathroom. We were walking out the door to take them to go swimming and Henry (4) came crying to me. He had gone running (because the 4 year olds run EVERYWHERE, I never saw them walk) into the bathroom with everything out and ready to go pee and went sliding on the newly washed floor and peed all over the floors and walls and everywhere.

2. Elsa asked me at least 10 questions in every 5 minute period of time. They were all questions with quite obvious answers. Where are we going? Who is in that picture? What are you making for lunch? Does your baby have a stinky diaper? Where is your dad (Scott)?

3. Katie got sick Saturday night. We didn't know how serious it was or if she was faking it, until she started throwing up Wendy's chili! Nasty. She had food poisoning and luckily Scott was nice enough to clean it off the carpet the four times it ended up there. We had given her a bowl, but she missed most times. Poor Scott.

4. I made them heart shaped pancakes for breakfast on Valentine's day. They didn't care. I got a heart shaped pizza for dinner that night. They didn't much care about that either.

5. Henry is obsessed with treats/candy. He begged from the moment he woke up until his last words at night for a treat. He is all about getting candy. He wanted brownies for breakfast and candy for dinner. It was amazing how his mind focused on treats constantly.

6. Brielle wasn't too pleased with the mothering the two girls gave her. (Good to know it's not only Kea.) She would get so frustrated and just start screaming if they came near when she had had enough. She did fall in love with Josh (10) and always wanted to be by him or held by him. He loved it.

7. Katie lost a tooth one day. I started asking questions about the tooth fairy. She said it gave her $20 the first time, $10 the second and then $5 after that. I guess it smartened up. So after they were all asleep I snuck down to steal the tooth and put the $5 under the pillow. She had locked her bedroom door because the boys had been sneaking in. What was I supposed to do??? When Scott got home, he picked the lock and we made the switch successfully! Yeah! My first time being tooth fairy.

8. Josh had a ski class. Scott took him to rent the equipment. He did not want a helmet and threw a fit about having to get one. He kept saying it was "so boring" to have to wear a helmet until the R.E.I. guy said, " You know what's boring? Crashing into a tree and being a vegetable the rest of your life!".

We are very happy to be home today. Brie and I went to Kindermusik this morning and then out to lunch with Scott before he left to work. We then got to come home for naps!! Yahoo! Brie slept from 1:00 - 5:00 and I slept from 1:30 - 4:30! Wow. It felt so good. I guess we were worn out.

I now have $1,000 that is all mine to do with whatever I want. What should I do? I could put it in savings, buy a new camera for me, car seat for Brie and drill for Scott or go on a trip. What do you think?

Suburban Mom

I am just finishing day #4 of life with the Kirk family. We have 5 more days to go. So far, so good. It has been fun and crazy and chaotic and noisy and exhausting to babysit a 10 year old (Josh), 8 year old(Katie) and 4 year old twins (Henry and Elsa) and my own little one year old. What a leap to go from mine and Brie's quiet days of long naps and piddling around the house to the crazy life of a "mother" of five. To just have a glimpse of how our days go, this is how things went yesterday:

I got up with Brie at 7 am and played with her and changed her until I had to go wake up the other kids. We got breakfast for everyone, got everyone dressed and sent the older kids out the door to school. I then drove the twins to preschool and dropped them off. I came back and picked up Brie (she was with Scott) and took her to Kindermusik, which was very fun. We then picked up the twins from preschool and drove straight to dance class. I changed Elsa in the suburban and took her into class. Scott, Brie, Henry and I went to the store during dance class and then Scott went to work and I went back for Elsa. We came home, had lunch and Brie wouldn't take a nap because she had slept in the car. We then loaded everyone up again in the suburban and I dropped Henry off for a play date and went up to the elementary school to pick up Katie. I drove Katie and Elsa to violin class and came home to make dinner. Josh came home from art class, we walked to pick up Henry and then finally started eating dinner. We then had practicing of piano and violin, homework and family home evening to do. Brie was crying and crying because she was ready for bed and hadn't had any nap, the kids were all talking and asking questions and spilling milk and I was exhausted!! Bedtime started at 8 pm and after about an hour or two of yelling and doors slamming (because the boys were breaking into the girls room) and confiscating a few "torture devices", they were all asleep! Whew. Scott got home at 11:30 and then we finally got to go to bed.

It's a very busy life with four very active kids, but I am enjoying it. Brielle LOVES to play with kids and they love her. I love the big, beautiful house - most especially the master bathroom with gorgeous shower and tub and the vacuum sucker thing that you turn on in the kitchen when sweeping so you don't need a dust pan.

I had no idea that there was such a busy, hustle and bustle out on the streets of all these moms in suburbans while I have just been quietly enjoying my house, but there is. I drive around and all I see are other moms with suburbans filled with kids. It's great fun! Hopefully, I can make it through the end. Wish us luck!

Happy Valentine's Day

Scott and I celebrated Valentine's Day today. Tomorrow morning (Saturday) we leave our house at 7 am to go babysit the Kirk family until Feb. 18. We'll be staying with the four kids, ages 10, 8 and 4 year old twins, until next Sunday when their parents come back from their cruise. It should be crazy! So . . . we will be with the Kirks on Valentine's Day, so we celebrated early.

I was getting ready this morning and in came Brielle and Scott with a beautiful bouquet of red roses! Perfect! I was thrilled. They smell so good and look so pretty.

This evening we dropped Brielle off to play with Grandma Rama and Papa Fred while Scott and I went on a date. We went to the Gateway and saw the movie "Pursuit of Happyness". It was amazing! It was a great true story with a very happy ending. The story getting to the happiness was hard though and I cried most of the way through. After the movie we walked around Gateway just to walk and look at people and store windows and then had dinner. It was a very nice night for us and for Brie.

We came home and put Brie to bed and then I gave Scott the present I have been making for him. The picture is below. He loved it and I am happy with how it turned out. I hope you all have a happy Valentine's Day like we did.

The Good Earth

I finished The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck this morning. It was a very interesting book. I really got into it from the very beginning and enjoyed reading it all the way to the end. I appreciate all of you that recommended it to me. I always like a book that takes me to a different time and place. I learn about people and lifestyles and cultures that I would never know about otherwise. This book definitely did that for me. It was fascinating to read about how this family lived in pre-revolution China. As I read about their life I was more and more grateful for my own. I think because we are surrounded by people who are living just as comfortably as we are - cars, house, plenty of food, clothes, etc. - we forget just how fortunate we are. There are, and have been, so many people that live in this world that struggle for the basic things that are just always there for us. I realized this as I visited many small, poor homes in South America and I was reminded of it as I read this book. I am now even more intrigued by Jessica living in China right now. What a different world.

Kamber has now suggested a book called An Assembly Such As This. It is already on hold for me at the library. Can't wait to start it. If you have any book suggestions, please send them my way.

Toddler Fun

Now that Brielle is a toddler, things have certainly been more fun. We have all morning to play together and she is able to get around and interact with other kids/people better. We've found some fun things to do around our neighborhood that are turning into really good outings.

1. Indoor Pool: In Sugarhouse (3 miles away) there is an indoor pool for the kids. They have "open plunge" hours and you can just go play in the pool. It has all kinds of cool things like a lazy river, a slide, big water toys, etc. Last week we invited Greg and his boys, Lincoln and Bradley, to go to the pool with us. It was cold and snowy outside, but warm and fun inside. The kids loved it. And so did the dads. We then took them out to dinner to McDonalds (I think our first time). We'll definitely be visiting the pool again. (I don't know why the pictures are so dark, it was not dark inside.)

2. Book Baby: Every Tuesday and Thursday they do story time for babies at the library. We've been going at 10am (Scott gets to come) and I am so impressed. They give you a hand out of songs that we'll be singing, which is great for me at home. There are lots of other kids Brie's age and she is soooooo excited to see them all. We sing songs and read books and then there are bubbles and music and toys and books for us to read together with her at the end. Brie usually just wants to walk around and check everyone out, but that is good for her too.

3. Kindermusic: We started Kindermusic this week. I am really excited about it. It is a pretty pricey little class, so I babysat a family in our ward to make the money to pay for it. Brie and I went on Monday and were greeted by a teacher and a class of 8 other kids her age and their moms/dads. We sang and danced around the room. We have books and music to listen to at home also. Can't wait for class next week.

4. Vacuum Tag: This is an unofficial game, but a fun one all the same. Brielle used to be afraid of the vacuum cleaner. She would want me to hold her as I vacuumed. She is now much braver, but still a little unsure. The game now is to get as close as she possibly dares while I push the vacuum around and then when it gets too close she runs and hides - just like playing wave tag at the beach! What a great time.

One Year Old Portraits

It's finally done. Brielle finally had her one year old pictures taken last night. We were not able to do it sooner because she had pneumonia and then a little bit of a black eye. We are all over those now and she was ready (somewhat) to pose. We went to Kiddie Kandids this time and actually had a very good experience. They don't work on commission so they weren't trying to push every photo product on us they could think of - you could have a blanket with her picture on it or a mug or a mouse pad, etc, etc. The photographer spent a lot of time with Brie (who kept running off) and was really good. We walked out of the place with a free 8 x 10 and didn't pay a dime.

We would like to buy some 5x7 prints for the grandparents, if you would like. Please take a look at the pictures and tell us which one you like the best. I'd like opinions from everyone so that we know what picture to get for us. Thanks.