Colorado

We spent last week in Colorado with Johnny's mom and grandma (Mary and Mary, or Gaga and Gigi and the boys call them). Mary had just gotten two puppies so we had to bring the boys out to see them!

Gigi held this little guy for 5 days straight. His days consisted of being fed, rocked to sleep, fed again, laughing, pondering, and complaining about the -14 degree weather.

Auntie SueSue gave Gigi a short break so her arms could rest.

And there was, of course, exer-saucer time

This is how this guy spent the whole week. In January he was gone a few days a week, every week, so what did I make him do the first week in February? Drive 11 hours with kids to visit his mother. He was a good sport, even though he will turn around and do the same thing this month...

Because it was FREEZING outside, there was a lot of watching cartoons and playing with toys.

At Drake's request, we did a sunglass photo shoot. All poses were on his own, he's very dramatic.

Here is Bubbs photo shoot, against his request.

Drake about to get nailed in the head with a car, and who knows whats going on in the right picture.

Proof I have two crazies. They loved this sunroom and spent most of the time in here.

The puppies who happen to be sisters!

Cinnamon Girl

Maggie Mae

On Saturday morning we said goodbye to Johnny's family...

and said goodbye to the cars.

...and headed the opposite direction of home to Alamosa, CO to visit Didi! She is there going to school and getting super fit playing lacrosse. We went to Walmart and got her some groceries, let the boys run around a bit, then started the loooong trip home.

Here's a lonely tree, braving the negative freezing weather.

We spent the night in Parachute, CO where my dad's mom, Grandma Candy, lives. Sunday morning I went to her home where she showed me AWESOME old photo albums of her, her parents, and my great-great grandpa and his relatives. We then went to church with her (very amazing considering she hadn't gone to church in over 25 years until two weeks ago) then got on the road.

It was a long trip, but it was so wonderful to spend time with Johnny's wonderful mom, who never stops telling us to make ourselves at home, cooks great meals, bathes my boys, does their laundry, and lets me get out of the house to re-group : )

Johnny's grandma is the kindest women who never tires of holding babies and it was so nice having her their to help!

Johnny's aunts are all like second grandma's to these boys and the boys love them as much as I do! It was so good seeing them.

This is just a precursor to April when Johnny and I go out of town for two weeks and let all of those wonderful women watch them, I hope they don't regret agreeing to it :)

Some Randomness and a sad story

In case you weren't aware, January 29th is unofficially Take-Loads-of-Pictures-of-Chubby-Babies-in-Exer-Saucers Day (TLPCBES Day, for short). To celebrate, I did just that.

If you didn't celebrate, I took enough pics for the both of us.

I never get tired of watching D-rake play with these little figurines, quoting Toy Story in the different ways he remembers it..."There's a snake in my boot! Buzz, look in your boot too."

This is the last picture you will ever see of Bubba with a binky. Remember this post? Well not only did this guy take a binky super easy, he also weened himself off of it last week. You see, his binky collected fuzz from a cozy blanket he was sleeping with, and he didn't like having fuzz in his mouth. So, he quit his binky cold turkey. I can't even put it in his mouth, he won't open it! Some of you would say this is a good thing, but now I get to listen to him cry himself to sleep at night because NOTHING else soothes him like the binky did (not even my angelic, tone deaf singing voice). It also shows me that my Bubba is growing up and I may have to start calling him Pierce. Isn't that such a sad story?

A Drake Post

This little guy is 3, and sometimes I forget. The fact that we can carry on a pretty normal conversation makes me feel like there is another sleep-deprived person in the house (maybe because me, sleep-deprived, puts me at the same intellectual level as a 3 year old)

Typical interaction:

M: Don't do that.

D: How why?

M: How why indeed!

D: Yes mom, how why indeed.

M: I love you Drake

D: I love Toy Story 3

He corrected the peeing-all-over-the-house episodes, thank heavens. He says "NO!" way too often. He gets along with Bubba 2% of the time, and is hurting him the rest. He loves his baby Con, snuggles him and always holds his hand. He eats peanut butter and nutella sandwiches every meal. Drinks his weight in Crystal Light. Still loves being clean. And takes about 2 hours to get to sleep every night ("I need a drink", "I need to go the bathroom", "I want songs", "I want dadda", and on and on and on...)

But I love him more than anything, and the patience and compassion he is teaching me is worth every frustrating moment.

Sound asleep

He got twinkle lights as a 'night light'. He's very scared of the dark.

Loves his name on everything, especially his new pillow.

GQ in his sleep, the boys a natural.

"What does Mimi call you, Drakie?" "Sweet Guy."

I think you can see why.

Boys

Me: "Go get it, its downstairs."

Drake: "I not going downstairs, dere's monsters down dere!"

Me: "There aren't monsters now go get it."

Drake: "Dere is a monster! His name is Jose!"

Me: "Jose the Monster lives downstairs?"

Drake: "Yes, he does."

Me: "How old is he?"

Drake: "Two!"

Me: (trying not to be racist and automatically assuming this toddler-monster is Latino) "What color is Jose's hair?"

Drake: "Uh, white!"

Me: "What color is Jose's skin?"

Drake: "Also white!"

Me: "What color are Jose's eyes?"

Drake: "White too!"

Me: "So Jose is albino?"

Drake: "Yes, its Jose Albino!"

Glad I now know who haunts the basement.

My dad taught Drake how to stick balloons to his head. I'm surprised at how this kept him entertained all day.

This is how this guy stayed entertained. He also rolled over for the first time today! 4 1/2 months ago he was hiccuping in my belly, and now he's rolling! Crazy.

Saturday

Our Saturday was spent painting the mantle. We haven't done too much decorating, so the room is a little bare, but I think the white looks so much better.

I'm sure you're all very interested. Stay tuned for the eventual addition of a rug and coffee table.

Frost

You know how in the movies they always spray frost on the windows, in an oval shape to make it look all wintery? I had never actually seen it on a window until the other day, so I had to document it.

HELP

We potty trained Drake back in November. Things went pretty easy and he only had occasional nighttime accidents or a small accident when he was too involved in playing to get up and go.

For the last few days, however, he's been peeing in his pants and on the floor! One time he was just sitting watching TV and a few other times have been in the bathroom, right by the toilet! I am sooooo frustrated (and grossed out) and don't know how to communicate with a 3 year old. And every time I ask him why he didn't just go in the toilet, since he was already in the bathroom, standing right in front of it, he says "because I went on the floor."

Yesterday I tried to re-potty train him all over and he still had 2 accidents.

Any ideas on why this is happening and what I can do?

This picture is meant to embarrass him in a few years, for putting me through all this grief.

4 month checkup

Con had his 4 month checkup yesterday (everything looked great) so I thought I'd put together a little side-by-side comparison. I think its safe to say, if I have another boy, he'll be chubby and happy.

Big Deal

Johnny started this "Big Deal" of the month thing where employees send in different submissions on why they are a Big Deal and Johnny (the self proclaimed Biggest Deal) chooses who wins for the month. Last months winners got a months supply of apple juice, this months winner gets to go bowling with Johnny and the previous Big Deals.

They also get a framed and signed picture of this to sit on their desk for the month of January.

Just thought I'd post this in case you weren't aware of how cool Johnny is.

Holiday Break

Summary of our Holiday Break:

Johnny took half a day off work so he and I could go snowboarding. I don't really know how to snowboard, so Johnny spent most of the time trying to teach me and watching me crash down the mountain. It was actually a lot of fun and I loved spending the afternoon with him!

Christmas Eve, the PJ tradition. Bubbs and Drake liked theirs, Con wasn't too thrilled with his super-tight onesie.

Christmas morning! The boys loved their Lightening McQueens from Mary and their flashlights/lasers from Mimi. (It is SO funny watching Bubba chase a laser like a dog, but even funnier - to Drake - when Johnny chases the laser.)

Christmas night we headed up to my uncles hotel to play games, a regular tradition. Bubba enjoyed the food.

Here's the group playing Catch Phrase

Here's how Johnny and I spent the evening, corralling children. Maybe someday we'll be able to play games, but for now, we'll just sit back and watch everyone argue, ha.

The hotel was right by Temple Square, so Johnny dropped me and Drake off to take a few pictures. I LOVE this temple, it makes me proud to be a Mormon : )

There won't be any posts on New Years Eve because I fell asleep on the couch and ended up going to bed at 11:30.

We had a wonderful holiday season and I can't believe its over! It was so fun spending time with friends and family. Now for the looong winter....

Merry Christmas

If you thought we forgot to send you a Christmas card, we didn't. We didn't send them to anyone. And when I say "we" I mean "me", and I'm sorry. Next year I'll be on top of things.

We've had a busy year! We were so lucky that Johnny's job took us out to Philly for a couple years, and even more lucky that it brought us back here to be close to family and friends. We moved back in May and shortly after moved into our first house. Right after that, we welcomed another chubby little boy into our lives, Conrad.

This year, 3 year old Drake has learned to speak in sentences, saying things like "I'm telling you to stop it mom 'cause yore be-in annoyeen" and "How-why do I need to stop hittin Bubbs?". He's now potty trained and loves to wear 12 different pairs of underwear a day, sometimes at the same time.

21 month old Bubba is developing a feisty little personality and continues to show us how fearless he really is, belly-flopping off the couch and running on the counters. He loves to sing and can be heard, while endlessly entertaining himself, singing the ABC's and Twinkle Twinkle. I love it.

Little Conrad, 4 months old, is as pleasant as can be - that is, if I don't eat dairy, fried or greasy foods, tomato based sauces, or beans (not leaving me much to eat). He's starting to laugh and smiles at everyone, and doesn't even mind when Bubba pokes his eyes.

Johnny loves his job and I love being home with my boys. We get cabin fever from time to time and wish we could take a weekend trip like we were able to back east. We then look at our three boys and realize that family vacations will be have to be put off for a few more years : )

We are happy and healthy and are grateful for the wonderful friends and family in our lives!

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Meeting Santa

Last week we went down to The Riverwoods in Provo to see the lights and let the boys meet Santa for the first time (although Johnny doesn't want to introduce the Santa concept to the them, wanting all credit for the gifts they receive on Christmas). The boys loved running around the lights and playing with Mimi and Papa.

Papa and Bubbs waiting in line

They weren't quite sure why they were supposed to sit on this mans lap, and were a little apprehensive. When Drake was being held by Santa, he said "I'm getting a roller coaster". Maybe next year he'll learn how to ask.

Bubba grabbed some candy from a basket and booked it out of there, not to fond of the old man.

Me and the Chubbacon keeping each other warm

These boys LOOOVE their grandparents. It was a fun night!

Yesterday morning we woke up to this. I'm excited to have a white Christmas!

Shoes

I am not a shoe girl, to my mothers dismay. However, once every few years a pair of shoes will catch my eye that I just LOVE and long for. Here are two examples:

Would I wear them to drop kids off at a playdate? Or to the park? Or getting groceries? No. But I like to think of a lifestyle that would include these shoes, and escape there when Bubba has eaten wet toilet paper for the 5th time, or Drake has drawn on the wall and couch and chair and floor, or when the baby has spit up all over me again...