Square One

Potty training. It should be a foul word. I'm no longer soliciting advice about it because, I think I'll just go crazy.

We've been through a plethora of tactics, none of which have succeeded. Some have helped, none have completed the job. We started roughly 6 months ago. Two weeks ago we gave up diapers for what I thought was for good. I stayed home 3 days straight to nail down the concept, having her go potty often (not waiting an hour between). She did well as long as I told her to go, otherwise we could expect an accident. This isn't bad for learning, but she hasn't improved for 2 weeks. It is necessary for her to learn to tell us when her body needs to go.

We've about resorted to punishing her, but I don't feel that will do the trick at all. It has to be her will. So, we decided to give her the choice: underwear or diapers? She chose diapers. So here we are again. Square one.

I'd like to let her lead from here on out. No coaxing from me. When she's ready to go potty or wear underwear, she will be the initiator. It will be hard for me to stop reminding her, but it's like kicking a dead door nail; she's not taking it upon herself to learn. I really just hope she will want this by the time she's 4.

Dear, sweet Avery. We really do love her to pieces, just can't stand to potty train her anymore. I just hope putting her back in diapers won't make me just as irritable again for other reasons. :-/ Sorry to vent guys!

Ma-ma

Aspen starting saying ma-ma 3 days ago! It's always a "mah mah mah" when she's fussing and sad, but I love it! She can sit up by herself now, with only occasional tips. She can prop herself up on her arms and tuck her legs under her (not simultaneously). She has begun going to sleep by 8 or 9 (instead of 10 or 11) and only wakes up once (at 2 am)... twice she has slept all through the night. Rock on, little baby! Love this kid to pieces!!!!!! She is such a sweet and happy baby.

Charmer

Avery: Mommy, hurt-a-arm?

Mom: Yeah, mommy has an owie.

Avery: (gently clasping my arm) Kiss-a-better?

Avery is such a sweet girl. She is polite, kind, and affectionate. She is fun and gets excited for things like: friends over, pee in the potty, candy, swimming, Aspen waking up, watching Dora or Elmo. Last night she went to mutual (church) with dad and cute-ed on him the whole time. She was very obedient, kindly asking to play with a ball or hold a drink instead of fussing for it. She even asked to go potty when she needed. That girl is a true charmer; dad was certainly won over.

I took the girls out for a bike ride for the first time this summer and for Aspen's first ever. All went well and I look forward to getting more exercise like this!

Baby Boo

I ran across these recent pictures of Aspen. I've got a lotta love for that baby.

Avery getting Aspen to giggle with splashes!

Defeated

I can't remember the last time I had a day like this, but all I feel is defeated. It's been rough.

Avery locked herself in the car. I allowed her to play with my keys while I talked to a neighbor. Big mistake. I didn't panic until after 5 minutes of coaxing her into pushing the lock button UP not down to no avail. I called Brian a few times with no answer. In panic of a smoldering child inside my car, I called the locksmith. Immediately after, Brian called and told me to look for the spare key while he borrowed a co-worker's car to drive home. I found the key. Called the locksmith not to come. That was scary.

I completely missed my visiting teaching appointment without knowing.

The kids and I drove 45 minutes to Lowe's in the truck. Can you guess what happened? Locked the keys in the car upon arrival! (At least this time no child in the car.) Locksmith came in 25 minutes. $30 fee.

Spent goo-gobs of time in Lowe's returning things and picking up stuff. Thankfully, my kids were champs through it all and Avery did not wet her pants (we visited the potty twice and I nursed Aspen once... this is what takes the extra time and effort). The huge downer was they had no decent closet doors in stock that I came to pick up. I hate spending all the money on gas taking the truck and for no good reason. I wanted to cry. I think I did.

Well, it's still only 3 p.m. and I have a house to clean. Hopefully better luck the rest of the day. These things should cheer me up: Watching Burn Notice tonight with Brian and setting out the large rug I picked up at Lowe's for the living room. I also enjoyed having my two sweet kids beside me in the truck while I drove home (no airbags). Aspen sucking on a carrot, Avery eating a sandwich, and the sky was warm gray with a sweet oncoming rain.

Yum Yum and Yum

Recently I have sooooo been craving sandwiches everyday (I even made them for dinner once, haha!)! It's all about the bread- this sourdough deli stuff that goes on sale occasionally is to die for! I stock up. Yuuuum.

My avoiding-unhealthy-snacky-crap diet is working out so far (if you look away from those chips on that plate. I promise I limited myself.). I had some leftover cookies from a R.S. activity that I gave half away to a neighbor and avoided eating the rest with the mentality "better to waste them than to eat them" (unfortunately my husband felt obliged to take care of them instead. oops.). I had a half-eaten candy bar in the fridge and thought "mm, I need to just finish that off don't I..." With the better half of me screaming "NO bonnie. learn discipline. don't do it," then my body kept getting closer and closer saying "Oh, just try and stop me." I had the thing in my hands, peeling away the wrapper and just before I went over the edge in sheer indulgence, I said, NO. Hurriedly I put it back in the fridge, feeling proud. It takes some discipline but can be conquered.

P.S. A friend invited us swimming and I'm glad I could do this on my own thanks to the safe kiddie pool. I'd been avoiding swimming because how do you do it with 2 young kids? Problem solved. Thanks Elise! Avery had a TON-o-fun! Aspen loved it when Avery splashed her.

Avery took this pic. She can always get Aspen to smile!

Stages

Aspen has approached a new stage. You know, it's to the point where I don't have to nurse her immediately before I leave the house or else. She can last longer and I'm not worried about her starving. I'm glad she also has rice cereal as a back-up and help-meet. This means I'm now comfortable leaving her with a babysitter. I'm still not sure how she'll fare with a different care-giver and with a bottle (need to experiment), but I'm ready to try... yes I'm definitely ready. Brian and I don't date and we need to. (Unless you count night at home after kids are asleep, which is for sure something that keeps you going... but... I want to date.)

Considering how much extra things cost when you factor a babysitter, it almost just doesn't seem fair or worth it. Plus, your mind is half preoccupied with how the kids are doing anyway. Then all you talk about is the kids, which is what you could have been doing at home.

With that said, I have the belief that regardless of this, a date needs to be had. If it becomes more regular, then perhaps you'll feel less burdened when doing it and it's more fun and a great relationship builder for the two of you. In a couple weeks we plan to go swing dancing in town (my idea). I'm totally stoked! This is the FIRST time we're ever getting a real babysitter that you pay. Crazy. It's pretty exciting.

20-week AFTER

Alright, so, it's technically been more than 20 weeks since delivery and I'm feeling concerned. I still have a bump lingering. Not big, but enough for Brian to inquire, "Are you pregnant? That looks like a 20-week bump." Great... I'd make sure he lost a few brownie points for that if it weren't for the fact that he actually seemed concerned we were having another child now. haha. Made me think about buying one of those tests to be honest, but let's just face it... I've inherited a new little pudge. Oh bother.

I've never had to care about what I ate, though I do try to eat healthy. If I wanted to indulge in something tasty, I didn't have to think twice. Has my luck ran out? Will I actually have to be more careful? Say it isn't so! The sad truth is we have too much snacky stuff lingering around that I'm not used to and I haven't been exercising one bit either (not that I did before really, but it's a good thing to do). My excuse for eating more often is I'm secretly paranoid I won't make enough milk for baby- but I'm sure cheese balls and gummy worms aren't helping. sigh.

On the bright side, this gives me a chance to make some health-wise goals. I do love to be healthy. It will just start taking more effort and sacrifice now.... wish me luck!

summertime girls

What is this summer all about? A lot of the following...

Playing on the bed

Climbing on things, washing feet, standing in sink and splashing mirror...

Avery loves to help Aspen check out the toys

She handles these well, so I let her.

Getting her hair wet and shampooed is her least favorite thing, so why not have fun with it, right?

Playground time and trolley around town, fun at the grocery store, etc.

Climbing again...

Avery happy about her new froggy potty! Good investment. We're trying a no-diaper routine again for the next three days. We'll see what happens this time around!

Aspen is a champ. Avery loves to smother her... I guess she gets that from me...! I can't help it; she's just so irresistible!

It's fun to let Avery feed Aspen. She doesn't do half bad, but you still have to expect rice cereal in the toes and on the floor. :)

Love our new flooring!

We spend our Saturday's working on the house (When in an apartment, we used to sit around wishing we had our own place to do projects on... now I guess we see the light..haha). I still think it's wonderful to see so much progress in the house. Avery pitches in! She looks cute in a pony tail.

Aspen 6 months

Aspen has big smiles

This is Avery at 6 months.

I'm beginning to see that my girls definitely have their own looks. They're also different developmentally. Aspen can roll over and enjoys being on her tummy, but cannot sit up alone. Avery was the exact opposite at this point; she spent lots of bumbo time learning to sit up straight, but Aspen likes to lean heavy on one side. Aspen can roll over on a dime, but Avery had more mass to move around! Both love to stand. Aspen is 14 lbs. 11 oz. which is about what Avery was at 3 months. Funny how kids are just different. She's very healthy, growing at a fine rate and is 24.5" in length.

Aspen eats baby food at least once a day and can't get enough! She loves it. She goes down for the night at 10:30 and wakes up once or twice during the night. Not too bad. She's a well tempered baby, generally very happy, but will let you know when she's mad. She loves for people to talk to her. She doesn't like the car much (neither did Avery). Not any sign of teeth yet and I can't wait to see some hair! Oh, and she loves to suck on things and put stuff in her mouth (what's new there, right?).

Look at that!

Done! On Thursday night, Brian finished putting in our laminate flooring upstairs. I can't tell you how AWESOME it is! We are one big step closer to actually inviting people over to our un-upheavaled house. We've bought moulding/trim and thresholds and will promptly be putting it all in (along with painting all the doors white and putting in new shelves for the closets). It's gonna be a gem. Oh! I also bought a clearanced 5x8 ft. rug at Lowe's to put in the living room for $20! It'll brighten and soften up the room! Can you tell I'm just so excited??? Great work, Brian!

P.S. The title comes from Avery who now loves to say "Look at that!" or "Look at this!" or "Watch this, mom!" She totally picked it up from other kids who like to do stunts. She's growing up and gets more and more funny. Her latest stunt was holding herself up on all fours, bracing on the tub's edges... would show you the pic but she's kinda naked!

P.P.S. I love Aspen in the morning- so happy to see you! here's a video. Cute Avery trying to wipe away her tear when she started crying.

The Orange Sun

Our sun shines bright orange through the smoke... the day we left and the day we're back.

(this is today from our house)

We've been gone for 10 days on an impromptu vacation over the evacuation of Los Alamos. The Las Conchas fire began Sunday, June 26. It grew from 500 to 45,000 acres overnight! By Monday there was a mandatory evacuation of Los Alamos and we went to Santa Fe to stay with friends for a night. By Tuesday, we decided to take the long drive up to G&G's house in Ogden UT and stayed until yesterday.

While gone, the weather in Los Alamos was dry and windy without any rain; extreme effort was put forth to keep the fire out of the Lab and the town. They have been successful in doing so, and we are back home thanks to the national guard and fire fighters. The fire still burns today and is over 130,000 acres. We are sad for our beautiful land, but are extremely grateful for the blessings of safety and the preservation of our town. Here are some pictures (from Greg Kendall) of this journey:

The national guard

The fire fighters

Our town at bottom is not on fire too; those are just lights.

A burnt ridge top

Hard workers

Survivors

Here are some pictures of our trip away... We enjoyed staying the night in Pagosa Springs on the way up (walking by the water, eating ice cream). Next day we took a beautiful scenic route and stopped in Silverton for a couple hours:

We had fun with G&G (grandma and grandpa great). Brian helped in the shop. My brothers came to visit us. We got to sleep in the RV. It was so nice to be with them and to get to sleep in every day!

Yes, she can really bite and suck water from my bottle.

On our return, we stayed in Durango for a night. I love all these lovely places and can't wait to visit them again. Brian bought a truck from Grandpa and we drove 2 cars back home! Aspen was an angel (not as much so on the way up, but this time was awesome).

The first thing Avery said when we pulled into our driveway today after I say "Avery, we're home!!" She says "I muh-muh-nuh-nuh gah-ma's house"... which is her sad/whiny way of saying- I want to go to grandma's house. Cute. Despite this, she was happy to explore our forgotten home again and her toys. She even went to bed at 7:30 (after a week of 10:30 bed times!)

There's our 2 cars. I just took this picture and thought I'd let you know it smells like camp fire outside. I actually like that smell.

Well, that's all... Our tomato plants have survived. I want to thank you all for your concern and prayers for us. I know that God is aware of us and am thankful for your petitions to him on our behalf. I am thankful that it was his will for our community to be preserved. We still pray for rain. I am thankful for the gospel in my life because with it, anything that may come is ok. I know we are alright no matter what.