It's reading time with Alli and Cole

Hey, so you know how your kids want you to read the same books over and over and with some of them you're like, YA I like this book, and others you're like NOT AGAIN! Well....I decided to post about a few of my kids book favs in hopes that you might share the ones you actually don't mind reading time and time again. Then, I figured I'd hit amazon and make some new purchases! Here goes:

Fav #1 I love you through and through by Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak
This book is so darn cute. I think it's how every mom feels about their child. Love it!

Fav#2 Olivia by Anne Schwartz

My sister-in-law gave this book to Allison when she was young and I LOVE how it reads just like how things must have happened to this woman's little girl in real life. My favorite part? The last page where the mother tells Olivia she really wears her out, but she loves her anyway, and Olivia replies, "I love you anyway too." Baaa! I just love this book.

Fav #3 Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems

I ordered this from Audrey when she was having one of those scholastic book sales. One of my favorite purchases yet. It's about a case of mistaken identity between two girl's knuffle bunnies. The illustrations are a crack up and the story, again, is like a small journal entry from an experience parents had with their daughter. (It's being sold in hard back at Old Navy right now....but kinda pricey)

Fav #4 Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson

This was a luck of the pick from the library. I went online to look at other books she wrote I love this one so much. I want to buy this book for sure. It's a cute story about a witch (hello? Match made in heaven....Cole LOVES witches. (We won't go into his pronunciations of witch though) Anyway, it rhymes the whole way through and is very cleverly written. So cute!

So that's it for now. I cant' think of any other books that really stick out as my favorites. But let's hear some of yours!!

Help!

Anyone have a crib tent? Yep--Cole's climing out. I removed the bumper and put a door knob cover on the inside of his door. Wish us luck at nap time.

Mystery Pain

With each of my pregnancies, at around 20 weeks I've experienced this excruciating mystery pain in my lower stomach. The first time I had it I was pregnant with Allison and I was visiting in San Diego (I was living in Utah at the time) and I spent a few hours driving to different urgent cares and when I finally ended up at the hospital, the pain melted away in the parking lot, and left me thouroughly exhausted. It came back 2 weeks later but since all the hospital did last time was give me vicodin, I just drugged myself and it gave me a buzz, didn't relieve the pain, and just made me not care.
Then with my pregnancy with Cole I got it again during General Conference weekend and was in the hospital again. They suspected it was kidney stones, but I still don't think that's what it was. It came back at least one other time and I felt like I was having back labor at like 35 weeks. Shannon took me to the hospital and when the nurse who didn't seem to care finally gave me something for the pain--it was Nubane...my best friend. I felt it numb my body from my head to my feet. Then I liked her. After hours in the hospital, they finally sent me home with more vicodin, I puked on the side of the road on our way home and peed my pants while doing it. Sweet.
I'm now a little over 19 weeks and I shouldn't have jinxed myself. I'm pretty sure it was yesterday that I was saying that it was around this time with both pregnancies that that mystery pain came. And I have a bad feeling, that this pain that is emerging....is IT. I'm dreading today. Where's the vicodin.

Get down tonight

So I will admit, it's nice not to have a commitment to a calling on Sundays or really during the week. All I'm in charge of is helping to come up with ideas for 4 ward activities a year. Not too bad right? Well, unless it is the few weeks prior to the activity.

We threw our first Valentine Ward Adult party last night and I will have to admit...it was pretty fun. The decor looked awesome--I should have taken more pictures. The company was great....but the turnout--sooo small. We had 11 dessert sign-ups so we figured at least 22 people from that plus the 4 people on the committee and their husbands...well, only 4 of the people showed that signed up for dessert and I think we totaled 30 people at the party. But that's ok---really, those of us that DID go had a really really good time. The theme started out as a mock prom idea...totally fun--but then we got poo pooed and were told we couldn't use the word "prom" so as not to exclude the singles (I tried to argue that most of our youth go stag anyway so why not just say "come stag or bring your date"--it didn't take.) So we improvised and said it was a dance, and to wear an outfit from the 1940's to the 1980's. I'll admit. I didn't really think about my costume until about a week before and then I was getting desperate. There's just something about dressing up in a costume while pregnant that just makes the whole outfit look weird. Not to mention I wasn't really in the mood to spend money on it. So...I improvised. I wore something I normally wear to church and then made the hair an make-up "make" the outfit. Shannon and I chose to dress up from the 40's----it really was fun. We looked up videos on YouTube on how to do your hair 40's style. Shannon was able to do an amazing job on her hair, and I had the help of my mom and some jimmy-rigged sponge curlers that I rolled my hair in to get the look. (Let's face it, my hair is "virgin" so it slips out of everything, and stick straight so it doesn't curl well, and thin, so getting body to my hair seems nearly impossible, meanwhile, Shannon, with her highlighted, thick, wavy hair makes these amazing rolls.) She really did amazing on the hairdo. With a little bit of thick eye-liner, red red lipstick and some fake eyelashes, the look was complete....oh, also a little bit of black tulle and a honkin' huge flower, and a boa (really a scarf) for accessories. I think we could all use a little lesson from the 40's. Women really dressed lady-like. And everyone seemed so proper. We need a little of that respect back these days. Plus I think Dan really liked wearing the hat and looking "bad." He kept saying he needed a Tommy gun. Easy babe.

We had a couple from the ward teach us a few swing moves and we had awards for best costume, best dessert (the one homemade dessert won--banana cream), grooviest moves, and best picture. We had everyone bring pictures from their high school or college days. The bishop's was by far the sweetest picture. I didn't know a white person's hair could fro that big. Holy cow...it was awesome. Then we did a naked leg---I mean bare feet ID. We pulled 5 guys secretly from the culteral hall and bishop let me paint his toenails red! It was so hilarious. Then we brought them out behind these chalkboards and a sheet covering them to their knees so you had to guess who's feet belonged to who. We matched the names above where we thought the feet belonged. The bishop's wife was so confused and was SURE that the painted toes were not her husbands. When they revealed themselves, the poses were priceless. I hope to get a hold of those pictures. They mixed the ID of the bishop with someone else and everyone was fooled.

Bishop and his wife gettin' jiggy.

Here's a picture of some of the decor.

We even crowned a Valentine King and Queen. It was a couple in our ward that had been married the longest--66 years! They were so cute dancing together. I'm glad they came. And we had one single lady who bless her heart was there dispite the fact that last Sunday she celebrated the 5th anniversary of her sweet hubby's passing, and this month would have celebrated 63 years of marraige. Dan got her on the dance floor for a little slow song and she thought that was sweet.

All in all, I think it was a success. Those of us that went had a great time. I just wish more people from the ward would have come so they could have joined in the fun.

After a quick clean up---thanks to the help of many that stayed to assist, a few of us went to IN-N-Out in our costumes. We got some smiles and double-takes. By then end of the night with decorating and dancing, my feet were killing me and I was able to take a replenishing nap today after church--love those.

Now I get to sit back and relax for another few months until the next activity.

Cole had a birthday!

Our little guy is 2!! Cole threw me for a loop when we had him. He wasn't following the book like Alli did. He HATED the binky and after purchasing every brand of binky made, I realized I wasn't worth it to try anymore when he would triple in pissed-off-ness when he was already mad and I'd try sticking one of those in his mouth. He has ALWAYS cried when we put him down to bed. He hardly took 30 minute naps when he was a baby. He slept pretty good at night but at times, he would cry for 45 minutes before falling asleep. He still cries for at least a minute of not 5 when we put him down (hence the reason I will keep him in a crib as long as possible.) He takes really good naps now but I always get nervous when a sitter puts him down and I have to prepare them to hear him whine for a while before he'll give up and go to bed.
Cole has ALWAYS been a smiler (when he's not crying about bedtime of course). He has the cutest little dimples and bright blue eyes. He gives this coy little head-tipped smile when he's shy. I think it's so cute. He started talking a few months ago and now his vocab is really exploding. It's cute hearing him say new words like "hecicopter" and "Dinniland." Along with that growing up comes the defiance. He's saying no a lot more and starting to hit. Not fun. But we are entering the 2's so there's no getting around it.

The kid loves music. He loves to sing just like his sister and he loves dancing. His favorite songs right now are The Wheels on the Bus, The Mean Old Witch (A Joyschool song from Halloween), Popcorn Popping, and of course, Happy Birthday. His favorite show is this Little Eistein episode with a witch (I'm seeing a pattern here) from the story of Hansel (so hot) and Gretel. And he loves the movie The Fox and the Hound. Hearing him ask to watch that movie is so cute. Cole likes salad. I think he's the only kid I know who eats salad. He likes it with Italian Dressing like his daddy. He gets a bitter face on when he puts it in his mouth and then he begs for more. He also likes to dip his chips in spicy salsa, and eat eggs with Tabasco on them (all Dan foods of course). He'll eat most things but when he's not in the mood, he has the tightest lips I've seen.

It's so crazy to think that 2 years have gone by since the struggle with him as a baby. I think that's partly why I was wanting a girl...I was/am yearning for an easier baby like Allison and was hoping that a girl would do that for me. I'll try not to keep my expectations to high so maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. Three kids at home will be interesting--good word for it huh? I can hear all you moms with 3+ laughing that mean laugh right now. I know I'm in for it. But I'm as really as I'm gonna be. I really thought we would have a 3 year gap between Cole and the next, but deep down I knew it wouldn't happen that way. I'm really glad for the way things are working out.

I felt bad because Cole's birthday yesterday didn't start out as anything really special. We came in his room and sang to him...he LOVED it. Then early in the morning, we had a doctor's appointment. Nice mom, schedule the day to get shots on my birthday. Allison and Cole both had appointments together. I really didn't mean to schedule it on his birthday it just happened that way. So the kids did AWESOME and Allison was so brave. She even left me and Cole in the room with the doctor and went with a nurse to do her hearing and seeing test...(20/20 and passed the hearing test by the way). So then it was time for the shots. My kids see me do shots ALL THE TIME so I figured, they don't see me cry from them (cringe--yes, whimper--sometimes, but really nothing too bad.) So the nurse had her lie down and I held her hands and the nurse asked me if she knew what was going on. I said kinda (even though she had no clue this was the shots part) and I said, "Do you know how mommy uses the needles everyday in her tummy?" And she said, ya, and I said, you're gonna get a little sting but you can be brave just like mommy....and IN went the first one. A look of alarm came on her face. IN went the second one and she started to cry with this look on her face like what are you letting them do to me!? And then the 3rd came and went and we did our best to distract her with the glitter bandaids. She really was brave and let me cut the consoling time short so I could help Cole be brave. I layed Cole down and he only needed one shot---the flu shot. The nurse did it and Cole didn't even flinch. He just went. "Oww." That was it. We had a good laugh at the comparison. To give Alli credit, she didn't do much after the first shot either...the 2nd and 3rd were what put her over." Anyway, my kids are tall for their age--big shocker I know, and average for weight. (Cole used to be on the light side.) Cole is 8 lbs heavier than his little cousin Holly who is 6 weeks older than him!
Of course I rewarded the kids with some ice cream cones from McD's even though it was raining and cold out. Allison felt a little cheated when I handed her the dinky 50 cent cone--what can I say, I'm cheap. No really, the big ones are such a mess.
Cole LOVED hearing people sing happy birthday to him all day. He kept saying, "my birthday" and "I'm two!" (That would be after people would ask him how old he was and he'd say, "boy" first.)
After Dan got home from work, we headed over to McDonalds for dinner (I just realized we went to McD's twice in one day...wow, sick.) Anyway, Cole was sooo excited--he was hopping around the restaurant waiting for his food. After they ate, we watched Alli and Cole play in the playland. It was actually pretty fun. They were playing so good. Cole just followed Alli wherever she went and would call for her when he couldn't find her and vise versa. Then we went to Walmart to get Cole a bike his size. We didn't realize he didn't have the motor skills for it yet so we got him a boy scoot car thing (he rides Allison's princess one so we decided to get him a manly one.) We got home and sang Happy Birthday to him with cake and he loved us singing to him and blowing out the candles soo much he asked us to do it again. So we did. Allison didn't want cake so I gave her a Big Stick popsicle....and you can guess when happened next...Cole wanted nothing to do with the cake so he asked for a popsicle. We should have put a candle on that instead. They really are like their mommy that way.

Here's me with my pint of Pralines and Cream ice cream on my birthday from Baskin Robbins with my candle on top.

Here's Allison with candles in her requested birthday brownie.

And there's no candles, but you can tell he enjoyed his birthday popsicle!

Sucky day

Yesterday was one of those days. After the third time of shutting myself outside so I didn't have to listen to the whining for one more second, I finally broke down in tears. And who comes to the rescue? Well, first my sister-in-law. She happened to call right when I was outside in the backyard on the brink and when she called, I fell apart. It didn't help that I still hadn't caught up from staying up until 3:30am a few nights before. I think she couldn't understand me through the blubbering. She told me she would come take my kids and give me a breather. So sweet. Then, I called Dan and he said he was coming home for lunch soon so I let Shannon off the hook and calmed down and covered up my splotchy face with some make-up before Dan got home. When he got here, at least he saw the reality of what I had been dealing with all morning. Cole honestly wouldn't stop crying or whining all morning long. And to top it off, Allison had a breakdown of her own and after a hitting match with Cole, I had to take her to her room, with kicking legs and screaming in my ear. Good times. Anyway, Dan came home and I peacefully went to the grocery store by myself. Solace. I like shopping alone. Silence. Left to my thoughts. He even put both kids to bed for me that night....after Allison had another melt down at the end of FHE...love those. By the end of that night, Dan was saying we needed to put me to bed. I was grumpy let's face it. I didn't disagree. I went to bed at 9--way early for me, and got 10 restful hours of sleep.....much, much needed sleep.

Today went much better. I was so well rested. It could have also been that Allison went to Joyschool for 3 hours and I went with Shannon down to Good Will to look for a freakish costume/outfit for our ward V-day party with no luck (but Shannon did get a cool little chair) and then we went to Nordstrom's Rack to look for these jeans I would die to have....no luck again. But that's ok, it was still fun and Cole liked it because I gave him about 3 fruit leathers and 3 dum dum suckers to keep him happy. When we got home, Dan came home for lunch and then changed Cole's poopy diaper (Cole had already graced me with 2 before Dan got home) and put him down for a nap. I love my hubby. He is soo good to me. Then Allison took a nap and I had a silent house all to myself. Heaven. What did I do? I kicked my feet up with some candy and I watched a 2 hour episode of the bachelor. It was thoroughly enjoyable and by the time the kids got up I felt refreshed and relaxed and rejuvenated. *Sigh*